Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) sent messages to all members of Congress terminating their positions, stating “Your performance has not been adequate to justify further employment.” All Democratic and independent members of Congress, as well as two Republicans, found themselves locked out of their offices after everything inside had been confiscated.   read more

U.S. law prohibits domestic abusers, drug addicts, fugitives and felons from buying guns, but not suspected terrorists. There are about 700,000 people on the terrorist watch list, and none of them are prohibited from buying a gun as a consequence of being on that list. “The majority of the victims in Paris were shot with Kalashnikov rifles, which are sold at...gun shows across this country. There is simply no excuse for Congress to not close this dangerous loophole,” said Sen. Feinstein.   read more

Experts said the rules don’t go far enough to really impact corporate inversions. For example, in response to the proposed regulations, Pfizer has reportedly begun to structure its purchase so that Allergan would technically be the buyer, even though Pfizer is making the purchase. Such a maneuver would, Pfizer believes, prevent the deal from being classified as an inversion and cause it to fall outside the scope of new federal rules.   read more

Since 1964 the fund has provided money for parks and conservation projects in every county in the U.S. But Bishop's goal is to turn the fund into a gift for oil and gas drillers. His bill not only would gut the LWCF, but would earmark 20% of its revenues to return to the energy industry to help finance oil and gas exploration. It would also severely hamper LWCF’s ability to purchase land and make it nearly impossible to do so in the West, an area particularly attractive to fossil fuel producers.   read more

The former drone operatives see a link between recent terrorist attacks and the program for which they had worked. “We cannot sit silently by and witness tragedies like the attacks in Paris, knowing the devastating effects the drone program has overseas and at home,” they wrote. The killing of innocents in drone strikes has, they say, served as one of the most “devastating driving forces for terrorism and destabilization around the world.”   read more

The U.S. women’s incarceration rate has climbed steeply, according to the report. “In the U.S., we are not only incarcerating women far more than nearly all other nations, but we are also incarcerating women far more than we have done in the recent past. The sudden growth of incarceration in our country has been staggering; our incarceration rate nearly tripled between 1980 and 1990,” the report said.   read more

According to an investigation by the Tampa Bay Times and the Center for Investigative Reporting, Kids Wish has given out less than 3% of its donations to sick children. The rest has gone to fundraising and salaries to its founder and former president, Mark Breiner. He or his companies have received $4.8 million over the past 10 years from the charity. More than $110 million has gone to professional solicitors. During the same period, the charity gave only $3.3 million to children.   read more

Trying to help fix Healthcare.gov after its shaky rollout, Slavitt tried to create an account for himself, but it didn’t work. He joined CMS in 2014 as Principal Deputy Administrator, having to get an “ethics waiver” from the Obama administration. As he awaits confirmation, Slavitt has taken criticism from Sen. Orrin Hatch for conflicts of interest that his appointment would create. The liberal group Public Citizen also has questioned the appropriateness of the nomination.   read more

Breysse joined the faculty of Johns Hopkins University in 1986 and remained there until joining the federal government. His research there included a study on smoking in cars, which found that smoking in autos left twice the levels of secondhand smoke than in bars. He directed a secondhand smoke exposure assessment laboratory at Johns Hopkins and conducted studies in the field around the world.   read more

While stationed in Manila, the embassy began work on an expansion of its office space. During the construction, unexploded ordnance from World War II was found on the construction site. Each time a piece was found, Riley told State magazine, “We thought that would be the last of it but, no, there was always more. . . . Our employees had worked there for more than 60 years and lived there for more than 50 years, unconscious of the potential danger.”   read more

The FDA said food companies would not be required to label the salmon as having been genetically engineered. Many consumer groups reacted negatively to the news, claiming the safety studies were inadequate. Friends of the Earth warns that the salmon approval by the FDA will set a precedent that could make future GMO animal species easier to put on the market. The group claims there are at least 35 other species of genetically engineered fish, cows, pigs and chicken currently in development.   read more

“I have now seen firsthand how devastating profiling can be - written on the face of a member of my team,” Rosenbaum said. “This is, in my view, exactly what our profiling laws are meant to prevent. Black Lives Matter is a social and political movement, protected by the First Amendment. Association with Black Lives Matter does not create violence and does not deserve intrusion by the state.”   read more

The Great Recession and weak recovery has caused a reversal in the U.S.-Mexico immigration relationship, with more heading south than traveling north. Pew researchers found that most of those returning to Mexico have done so voluntarily, and that only 14% were deported. They estimated one million Mexicans and their families moved to Mexico from 2009 to 2014. Over the same period, 870,000 Mexican nationals left Mexico to come to the U.S., according to data from the U.S. Census Bureau.   read more

His specialties were emerging infectious diseases, food safety and responses to complex outbreaks. In 2001, he was one of CDC’s point men on the anthrax outbreak a month after the 9/11 attacks. In 2003, Ostroff took a similar role during the monkeypox outbreak that arose from exotic animals being brought into the United States. In 2014, he used his position to urge pregnant women to eat more non-mercury-tainted fish and in 2015 he began the process of banning trans fats in U.S. processed foods.   read more

In 2005 McSwain was made Deputy Director of IHS. Beginning in 2007, he served as the agency’s Acting Director and the following year was confirmed by the Senate as Director. During his tenure, he came under fire from Congress for mismanagement of the agency. One example was a Government Accountability Office investigation that showed almost $16 million worth of equipment and other types of property could not be accounted for. McSwain claimed the charges were overblown.   read more

Maplight reported that senators voting for two Senate resolutions (S.J.Res.23 and S.J.Res.24) targeting EPA regulations “received, on average, 17 times as much money ($75,802) from the coal mining industry compared to senators voting against them ($4,464) between April 1, 2009 and March 31, 2015.” Thirteen senators received more than $100,000 from the industry during that period—and all of them voted for both resolutions. The Senate approved the resolutions by identical votes of 52-46.   read more

The Bible calls on Christians to “welcome the stranger,” and Matthew 25:41-43 says “we cannot say to those in need, ‘you are not our problem.’” But governors such as Bobby Jindal of Louisiana and Pete Ricketts of Nebraska have essentially said the Syrians fleeing their war-torn land are not their problem. “The anti-refugee position has struck many observers as hypocritical," wrote Lee, since before the attacks they had "invoked their Christian faith...calling for tolerance."   read more