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

The FCC accused AT&T of misleading its customers about the company’s “unlimited” data plans. In fact, “AT&T severely slowed down the data speeds for customers with unlimited data plans and that the company failed to adequately notify its customers that they could receive speeds slower than the normal network speeds AT&T advertised,” the FCC said in a statement.   read more

The National Bio and Agro-Defense Facility will be operated by the Department of Homeland Security on the campus of Kansas State University in Manhattan. It’s replacing a facility located on Plum Island, off New York’s Long Island. It was put there in 1954 because it’s far from agricultural facilities and the prevailing winds blow out to sea, and would take any outbreaks away from land. NBAF sits in the path of Tornado Alley, a large stretch of the Midwest vulnerable to violent storms.   read more

The 2002 case accuses Attorney General John Ashcroft and FBI Director Robert S. Mueller III of ordering authorities to detain hundreds of people, mostly Muslim men, who were rounded up for immigration violations and questioned. The Department of Justice’s inspector general said the government didn’t distinguish for the most part between genuine suspects and Muslim immigrants with minor visa violations. The reports also documented widespread abuse at the detention center.   read more

Nine years ago, a white boa constrictor named Lucy or Diamond Princess was smuggled from Brazil’s Niterói Zoo by Jeremy Stone, a collector, breeder and seller of reptiles. Lucy wound up in Utah, where she had eight offspring while kept by Stone. Stone was able to sell Lucy’s offspring for tens of thousands of dollars. The Federal Bureau of Investigation eventually seized eight snakes, while federal prosecutors charged Stone with unlawfully transporting wildlife in the U.S.   read more

“We decided this week it was no longer an effective use of our resources to continue in a process where companies wouldn’t even agree to the most modest measures to protect privacy,” wrote EFF’s Jennifer Lynch. Facebook recently released its Moments mobile photo app, which will tag the faces of those in the photos. In Britain, all the attendees at the Download music festival last weekend were subject to being captured by facial recognition technology.   read more

“This action is expected to reduce coronary heart disease and prevent thousands of fatal heart attacks every year,” said FDA's Stephen Ostroff. The change could result in 20,000 fewer heart attacks and 7,000 fewer deaths each year from heart disease. “This is the final nail in the coffin of trans fats,” said Michael F. Jacobson. “In terms of lives saved, I think eliminating trans fats is the single most important change to our food supply.”   read more

“Clinical experience is something that should be considered as additional information, but absolutely never take the place of scientific data,” said NCHR's Zuckerman. “By urging FDA to get away from randomized clinical trials, drug makers may have more power to urge the FDA to consider data that is favorable to their product.” Scientist Moore said: “They are pushing the FDA to consider types of evidence that’s not been previously regarded as reliable enough.”   read more

Even worse is this from The Washington Post: “VA officials had prepared to tell Congress that the records had been destroyed by Hurricane Sandy, according to previously undisclosed records, until a senior adviser in [then-VA Secretary Eric Shinseki’s] office pointed out that the timing was wrong and the excuse wouldn’t hold up.” The VA's Jan Frye, who uncovered the purchases, accused the Veterans Health Administration of operating a culture of “lawlessness and chaos.”   read more

The Nordic island nation was designated the most peaceful nation on earth, according to the Institute for Economics & Peace’s latest Global Peace Index. The United States was way down on the Global Peace Index, placing at No. 94, but a definite improvement from last year’s 101. Part of the improvement came from the partial withdrawal of troops from Afghanistan and U.S. efforts to secure a nuclear deal with Iran.   read more

The 424 immigrants included convicted rapists, child molesters, and kidnappers. ICE failed to track the criminals after releasing them, or to ensure that they registered as sex offenders. Some re-offend and are jailed, including at least one man who tortured his children. Others get into homeless shelters. “The public ought to be outraged,” said Homeless Trust's Ronald Book. “I don’t know that ICE intentionally set us up, but it left us vulnerable, which is what we want to try to avoid.”   read more

CBP reviewed shootings in which 19 people died, several of which involved people who Border Patrol agents said were throwing rocks at them. Two agents were disciplined, receiving oral reprimands. One independent study “found a pattern of agents firing in frustration at people throwing rocks from across the border, as well as agents deliberately stepping in front of cars apparently to justify shooting at the drivers,” the Times’ Brian Bennett wrote.   read more

The Obama administration has little moral ground to stand on when it comes to computer espionage, particularly after Edward Snowden exposed just how often the U.S. government has pried into public and private electronic systems overseas. The NSA infiltrated the servers of the Chinese firm Huawei, which was deemed a security threat by Washington. The NSA monitored the firm's executives and obtained information about its inner workings that Huawei says connect a third of the world’s population.   read more

One contractor, USIS, spent years rushing through investigations of government employees seeking security clearances. Company officials said they had to speed through the reviews because their payments from the government were linked to how many investigations they performed. USIS lost its contract after an employee filed a suit, eventually joined by the Justice Department, about the company’s practices. The system is “just producing shoddy investigations," said AFCIA's Carolyn Martin.   read more

The FBI believes the infiltration occurred because some Cardinals officials sought revenge on the successful Luhnow, who was viewed as a polarizing figure during his time with the Cardinals. This is “way, way beyond anything we’ve seen in baseball before. Maybe beyond anything we’ve seen in professional sports,” wrote Craig Calcaterra at NBC Sports. “If this…was something people in Cardinals management knew about, it could be one of the biggest scandals baseball has ever seen.”   read more

Unlike American cops, most British police patrol their streets armed with no more than batons and pepper spray. The elite police who do carry guns almost never use them. In Britain, police view themselves as working for the public, not the state. “There’s a huge emphasis on human rights...on proportionality...on considering every other option," said police chief Fahy. British police "fear getting it wrong...cops in the U.S. fear getting shot." Those are different worlds, said Sir O'Connor.   read more

Some of the drugs have been “linked to abuse and an increased risk of falls and fractures among the elderly,” said ProPublica. Anti-anxiety meds can be addictive, cause disorientation, and have a longer-lasting effect on older people. Consequently, the American Geriatrics Society advises against their use by seniors suffering from insomnia or agitation. ProPublica said the startling Medicare statistics that its investigation uncovered reflect “a failed policy initiative by Congress.”   read more