According to aides who were present when Trump discussed the issue, but who choose to remain anonymous for fear of retribution, Trump said he was sick of Vance and wanted to fire him. “I wanted him to be my attack dog,” said Trump, “but he appears foolish on television. He dropped the college football trophy. He met with Pope Francis and the next day the pope died. Vance is toxic, and I don’t want him to come near me. He just doesn’t look as good on television as I thought he would.”   read more

The 2.5 billion gallons of ash, which contains heavy metals such as arsenic, mercury and lead, is endangering nearby aquifers in violation of the federal Clean Water Act. “TVA has allowed the very pollutants that the coal ash ponds were supposed to treat and remove to enter the groundwater and nearby surface waters, including the Cumberland River, directly and through hydrologic connections in the groundwater, all in violation of the Permit and/or the Clean Water Act,” the complaint states.   read more

Dr. Christian Head testified about efforts to retaliate against him. “Isolate. Then defame. Moving me to a storage bin...they are sending a message. They are trying to suppress [whistleblowers’] willingness to try to make a better life for these veterans.” Head said the locks to his office were changed, that he was relocated to a “tiny, dirty...closet-sized office” and nearly kept away from one of his patients. Other VA whistleblowers have committed suicide due to the harassment they endured.   read more

The program is geared towards defending these systems from attacks by China and other countries. The $5 billion expenditure represents a moneymaking opportunity for arms makers, non-traditional suppliers and international firms. The government is seeking new technologies for rocket launchers, communications, remote sensing, satellite control, sensors and other systems to expand the Pentagon’s ability to monitor space-related activities.   read more

“It’s really clear that we have no basis to make almost any conclusions about the safety of the current food supply,” said Public Interest attorney Laura MacCleery. “We don’t know what people are eating.” The GAO report even stated that the FDA’s oversight process does not help ensure the safety of all new food ingredients, and it criticized companies’ ability to use new added ingredients deemed generally recognized as safe without informing federal food regulators.   read more

Koch Industries, the fossil fuel giant owned by ultra-conservative brothers Charles and David Koch, is trying to increase its visibility on college campuses, both to improve the company’s image and to recruit employees. The strategy is being implemented through a media buy and sports sponsorships that include 15 colleges or universities located from Texas to Minnesota. “Koch is looking for a way to connect on campus,” said Roy Seinfeld, rights holder for 10 of the schools and the conference.   read more

Some experts wonder if the Arctic Ocean will really be free enough of ice in just two years to allow for the unusual competition. “Although end-of-summer ice conditions in the Amundsen route of the Northwest Passage (the route they would take) have become milder over the past decade, ice conditions have been, and will remain, highly variable,” said Mark Serreze. “At the end of summer 2017 the route might be more-or-less completely ice free. [Or] it may be choked with ice."   read more

Soltan was working as a journalist translator covering the protests and was shot in the arm during a 2013 demonstration. For the past year, he has been on a hunger strike to protest his arrest and detention. Thousands of Egyptians are in prison for opposing the military-backed government, which has been accused of vast human rights abuses. The verdict comes in the wake of Obama releasing hundreds of millions of dollars in military aid for Egypt despite the lack of democratic reforms.   read more

The VA had been warned about cost overruns by contracting officials and even its contractor, Kiewit-Turner. “I must beg you once again that we re-think our strategies...” wrote the VA's Adelino Gorospe Jr. in an email. “Without a change in strategy, my estimate would be around half a billion dollars in total cost overrun: $500 Million! That’s how risky this type of contract is. Another reality check! Where in this economy are you going to find the money?”   read more

A new report from the National Employment Law Project says a majority of these two minority groups make less than $15 an hour. For Latinos the percentage is 59.5%, for African-Americans it’s 54.1%. The numbers are in stark contrast to those for white workers, nearly 64% of whom make more than $15 an hour. Black and Latino workers are heavily concentrated in the industries, such as food service and home health care, which pay the least.   read more

“In killing and maiming unarmed civilians, these defendants acted unreasonably and without justification,” said the U.S. attorney's office. “The sheer amount of unnecessary human loss and suffering attributable to the defendants’ criminal conduct...is staggering.” Judge Lamberth said their actions "can just not be condoned by a court." Said defendant Slatten to the judge: "The verdict is wrong. You know I am innocent."   read more

“If a person is not going to run for office, this money shouldn’t be able to sit around forever,” said Takano. So far he has not garnered a single coauthor for his bill. Former Democratic Sen. Evan Bayh, who left office after 2010, still has nearly $10 million in his old campaign account. Disgraced Rep. Mark Foley (R-Florida), who stepped down in 2006 after being caught sending sexually explicit messages to male congressional pages, still had more than $1.2 million left in his account.   read more

When corporations underpay their workers, the government must step in to keep low-income individuals from slipping even further into poverty. Meanwhile, these companies are raking in enormous profits as a result of keeping their labor costs down. “The low-wage business model practiced by many of the largest and most profitable employers in the country not only leaves many working families unable to afford the basics, but also imposes significant costs on the public," said Sarah Leberstein.   read more

It was Attorney General Holder who urged the White House to try a different strategy. While the Pentagon and the CIA had urged that Farekh be killed, Holder “was skeptical of the intelligence dossier on Mr. Farekh, questioning whether he posed an imminent threat to the United States and whether he was as significant a player in Al Qaeda as the Pentagon and the C.I.A. described," said the Times. And so the Texas-born Farekh was arrested last year in Pakistan and will stand trial in Brooklyn.   read more

In New York City, a light projection group—the Illuminator Art Collective—lit up a hologram of whistleblower Edward Snowden atop a column in Fort Greene Park in Brooklyn. The likeness of the former NSA contractor was projected to replace an actual four-foot-tall, 100-pound bust of Snowden that was taken down by authorities. “To me it's about, if someone removes the statue, that the idea and the conversation can still take place, even though that material structure is gone,” said Grayson Earle.   read more

Melissa Sickmund, director of the National Center for Juvenile Justice, said that putting juveniles behind bars is a mistake. “If you’re detaining the kid — unless they are really a threat to the community — it may be causing more harm than good, it may be putting them in the presence of other bad actors who are worse than them and they just learn bad stuff,” she told the Juvenile Justice Information Exchange. “We could be traumatizing them, and it doesn’t help and it’s expensive.”   read more

The incident began in 2010 when Lakeland Eye Clinic hired a new employee named Michael Branson. Six months into his employment, Branson began appearing at work wearing makeup and women’s clothing, saying he was transitioning and should be called Brandi. The company terminated Branson, claiming the position was being eliminated. But Lakeland Eye Clinic then hired a replacement for Branson two weeks later. The EEOC settled its case against the Florida health clinic for $150,000.   read more