President Donald Trump invited the Dodgers to the White House. Many of their fans feared that the team, by accepting, would humiliate themselves and betray the team’s large Latino, Asian and African-American fan base. Dodgers controlling owner Mark Walter, along with co-owner Magic Johnson, have proposed a solution. Trump has promised that if he can keep the championship trophy, the Commissioner’s Trophy, he will end all seizures and deportations of immigrants.   read more

The lawsuit claims that Pfizer pursued a two-prong approach, publishing only data that supported Zoloft’s efficacy and engaging in a “ghostwriting program to misleadingly enhance Zoloft’s credibility.” Defining ghostwriting as “a process where someone with a vested interest in an article, like Pfizer, that does not want their association with the article to be known, provides a written draft to an author who then publishes the article under that author’s name.”   read more

Cecilia Abadie, a Google Glass test participant, was pulled over for speeding, but the officer added driving distracted to the ticket, which Abadie posted online. The ticket reads in part: “Driving with Monitor visible to Driver (Google Glass).” Google Glass is a wearable computer device that allows hands-free access to information that is displayed on a lens strapped to the user’s head.   read more

The 27-page document even includes the recommended statement (found under the subheading “Sound Bites That Resonate”): “I much prefer to be here today explaining these programs, than explaining another 9/11 event that we were not able to prevent.” Other talking points insist the NSA’s work is “lawful” and compliant with all federal oversight, and that “allies benefit too” from its intelligence gathering (unless they’re targets of NSA snooping, presumably.)   read more

Coal ash, a euphemism for the solid waste produced by coal-burning power plants, contains arsenic, barium, boron, beryllium, cadmium, chromium, lead, mercury, molybdenum, nickel, selenium and thallium, which have been linked to cancer, birth defects, digestive illnesses, reproductive conditions, and other health problems. About 600 U.S. power plants generate 136 million tons of it every year, which they dump in about 1,160 ponds, landfills and mine shafts.   read more

A large coalition of media and consumer organizations have asked a federal appeals court to unseal a mysterious lawsuit involving an unidentified company accused of product safety violations. The unidentified business, known only as Company Doe in court records, is supported by business groups, such as the National Association of Manufacturers, the American Coatings Association and the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers.   read more

In 2006, Goldberg was named an ambassador for the first time, and sent to La Paz, Bolivia, for an intended three-year term that ended after two years with Goldberg’s expulsion as a persona non grata. A series of incidents in 2007 and 2008 indicating that U.S. embassy personnel were attempting to recruit Peace Corps volunteers and visiting American scholars as spies raised tensions.   read more

Career diplomat Michael S. Hoza has been management counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, Russia since 2010. From 2007 to 2010 Hoza was management counselor and acting deputy chief of mission at the embassy in Nairobi, Kenya.   read more

The FDA approved the sale of Zohydro on October 25, despite a warning from its own staff in 2012 that said the drug will be abused more than traditional hydrocodone products like Vicodin, which was the most prescribed medication in the U.S. three years ago. The United States reportedly consumes 99% of the hydrocodone that is used around the world.   read more

Amos and others allegedly deprived accused Marines of due process, made misleading statements under oath, tried to hide evidence, and attempted to undermine the reputation of a Marine Corps whistleblower who exposed the unethical activities of Marine leaders, according to the letter. The allegations stem from 2011 when scout snipers in Afghanistan filmed themselves urinating on dead insurgents.   read more

At the hundreds of military bases set up in both countries, the U.S. military often resorted to disposing of waste by burning it in open-air pits. Everything from human waste to dead animals to plastics to asbestos and more were thrown into them, doused with jet fuel, and ignited. The result was thick, black plumes of smoke that filled the air with not just foul smells, but extremely unhealthy particles inhaled by soldiers.   read more

John L. Estrada is a native Trinidadian who has been senior manager for Lockheed Martin Training Solutions since 2008. Estrada immigrated to the U.S. at the age of 14 and enlisted in the Marine Corps at the age of 18 in September 1973, staying 34 years and serving as sergeant major of the Marine Corps, the highest-ranking enlisted Marine, from 2003 to 2007.   read more

from 2003 to 2006, Daughton served as deputy chief of mission at the embassy in Algiers, Algeria, from 2006 to 2009, where he got involved in a minor kerfuffle over a travel book about author Michael Mewshaw’s 4,000-mile trek across North Africa, including a visit to the U.S. embassy and a chat with Daughton. According to the book, Daughton was unusually—and undiplomatically—frank with Mewshaw, stating for example that Algeria’s “government is sclerotic and self-serving.”   read more

The NSA has operated a project called MUSCULAR that involves infiltrating Google’s and Yahoo’s network cables running between their data centers. The effort has also involved Britain’s intelligence agency, the Government Communications Headquarters (GCHQ). A classified document revealed that in one 30-day period from early December 2012 to early January 2013, the NSA processed and sent back 181,280,466 new records—including who sent or received e-mails and when.   read more

Among the prosecutors accused of wrongdoing were six named “prosecutor of the year” by the Arizona Prosecuting Attorneys Advisory Committee. Of the cases examined, only two prosecutors were eventually punished. One was disbarred, while the other received a short suspension. As for those tried by these prosecutors, only two had their death sentences thrown out by appellate courts.   read more

McCall has criticized Zazzle for buckling under to the government threats rather than fighting back. Furthermore, Zazzle refused to supply copies of the government letters to McCall’s lawyer, offering only to read them over the phone. Meanwhile, McCall found another online partner, CafePress, to help him sell his shirts and mugs.   read more

The device—known as StarChase—fires a GPS bullet that sticks to the vehicle. From there, law enforcement can more safely track where the person is going without pursuing at top speed. Another advantage of StarChase is that once a police car falls back, a suspect might mistakenly assume his pursuers have given up and slow down as well. This increases the chance of them being caught and decreases risks to other motorists and pedestrians.   read more