When Pope John Paul II visited Damascus in May 2001, Bashar used his welcoming speech to denounce the Jews, saying, “They tried to kill the principles of all religions with the same mentality in which they betrayed Jesus Christ and the same way they tried to betray and kill the Prophet Muhammad.”   read more

There seems to be a disconnect between Americans’ perception of crime rates and the actual amount of crime in the United States. A new Gallup poll showed 70% of respondents believe crime has gone up since last year, when 63% said crime had risen from 2013 levels. But government data has shown a downward trend in crime rates from the mid-1990s to the current decade. Americans’ perceptions of crime “are not always on par with reality," said Gallup's Justin McCarthy.   read more

Rawson-Neal Psychiatric Hospital in Las Vegas released 1,500 patients several years ago and put them on buses bound for other states. Patients were given names of homeless shelters or advised to dial 911 when they reached their destinations in California. San Francisco said it spent $500,000 to service the needs of 24 people who ended up there and the city filed a class action suit against Nevada.   read more

Researchers looked at the effects of people staying indoors and exposed to indoor pollution. Two dozen participants spent six eight-hour workdays in an environmentally controlled office space for the study. Some days they were exposed to conventional office building environments, which tend to have high concentrations of VOCs. Other days they remained in green office buildings with low VOC concentrations. “The results were striking,” wrote Reynard Loki.   read more

The record was 18,967 days on Oct. 28, which stretched back to President John F. Kennedy’s assassination on Nov. 22, 1963. The previous mark was 18,966 days from George Washington’s inauguration on April 30, 1789 to William Henry Harrison’s death by pneumonia on April 4, 1841. Eight presidents died in office during a span of 122 years, which included three by assassination—Abraham Lincoln, James Garfield and William McKinley— during one 36-year stretch.   read more

“There are few things in this job that literally make my jaw drop,” said Sen. McCaskill. “But of all the examples of wasteful projects in Iraq and Afghanistan that the Pentagon began...this genuinely shocked me." A similar natural gas station was built in Pakistan for only $500,000. But this one ballooned from $3 million to $43 million. Are there any cars there running on natural gas? Not really, according to Sopko, who investigated the project despite efforts by the Pentagon to thwart him.   read more

Scientist Lundgren made the accusation as part of his whistleblower case. He said his bosses at USDA began to “impede or deter his research and resultant publications” more than a year ago. He also has said the agency tried to keep him from speaking about his findings for political reasons and interfered with his ability to review the research of other scientists. Lundgren said he was suspended by the agency, harassed and put through "utter hell."   read more

The Bureau never bothered to verify Davis’ stated intentions for the horses or follow up on where the horses were going. The IG also found that the Bureau continued to sell horses to Davis for at least three years—spending $140,000 on their delivery—even after receiving information alleging that Davis was sending the animals out of the country to be killed. The inspector general’s office referred Davis’ case for prosecution, but federal and state officials declined to take action.   read more

“Wow,” said sociology professor Samuel Preston. “This is a vivid indication that something is awry in these American households.” Said study co-author Deaton: “Half a million people are dead who should not be dead. About 40 times the Ebola stats. You’re getting up there with HIV-AIDS.” The cause of the higher death rates for this cohort may have something to do with being unhappy, according to data collected by two Princeton economists.   read more

A quarter of the 825 committees were based in the Department of Health and Human Services, with many of them connected with the National Institutes of Health. In total, the committees leaned on the expertise of more than 68,000 individuals. Some of these members were paid for their time, which cost $33 million. Another $43 million was allocated for their travel and per diems.   read more

The investigation revealed Northrup contributed $4.6 million to the campaigns of 224 lawmakers since 2010, demonstrating a long-range lobbying strategy devised to win the contract. In all, the defense contractor spent $85.4 million to lobby Congress, the Pentagon and other agencies on the bomber program as well as other military spending issues. It also hired more than 100 lobbyists and others, including five former members of Congress, to work specifically on defense issues.   read more

Muslim and Arab advocacy groups, who were invited to preview the website, complained the effort to combat violent extremism framed the topic heavily in terms of threats by Islamic groups, even though those groups aren’t the biggest threat to students and schools. The New America research center reported that white supremacists, anti-government fanatics and other non-Muslim extremists had murdered 48 people since the 9/11 attacks. Muslim terrorists had killed 26 Americans during the same period.   read more

Basham said he was unaware that agents were shooting suspects in the back with the Tasers. “I’m not condoning [it],” he said. “If you’re in a highly tense situation, it’s always better than pulling a [gun,] but it’s no excuse.” The agency advised not Tasing anyone more than three times, or cycles, but in at least two cases, individuals received five jolts from the weapon. Two people were shocked while they were handcuffed, and three others died after being hit by Tasers.   read more

Council members adopted a new law making it a crime to show “the female breast below a point immediately above the top of the areola, for the purpose of sexual arousal or gratification or which is likely to cause affront or alarm.” They said they changed the law because Springfield is “a ‘family friendly’ tourist spot, and the breasts of women undermine this mission.” The law exempts adult entertainment businesses and infant feeding.   read more

An official at the hotline told The New York Times that potential spies could be Chinese or foreigners. “Anyone can be a spy,” he said. “And anyone can also not be a spy.” Citizens were warned in a post on social media that foreign journalists, some workers for non-governmental organizations and those with extensive time studying abroad could be spies. Locals were also informed that those using the hotline to settle scores with enemies would be punished.   read more

The VA has changed its wait-time calculations in what may be an attempt to hide the ongoing issue. The L.A. VA claims the average wait time was less than four days in August. But an internal document obtained by CNN showed the average wait time for new patients seeking mental health care at the LA VA was 43 days that month. “They’ve started to measure the numbers differently more than they have actually improved the patient's actual wait time in many cases,” said a CNN source.   read more

Four Senate Republicans have formed a group that will “focus on ways we can protect our environment and climate while also bolstering clean energy innovation that helps drive job creation,” said Sen. Kelly Ayotte. “I’m not a scientist, and I’ve got the grades to prove it,” Sen. Lindsey Graham said in the Republican debate. “But I’ve talked to the climatologists of the world, and 90 percent of them are telling me that the greenhouse gas effect is real. That we’re heating up the planet.”   read more