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 American-German cooperation went on for at least a decade. The news is embarrassing for Merkel, who was vocal about the NSA tapping her phone calls. “You don’t spy on your friends,” she said at the time. But Germany’s intelligence agency did just that by sharing intelligence gathered from its “eavesdropping facility in Bavaria to monitor email and telephone traffic at the Élysée Palace, the offices of the French president, and of key EU institutions,” said The Guardian.   read more

One study warns that rising global temperatures could kill off one out of every six plant and animal species worldwide. If the temperature increase is 7.7 degrees, the loss of species could jump to 16%. Another study warned that a temperature increase of five degrees Fahrenheit could produce a 62-fold increase in heat extremes. "What used to be a one-in-1,000-days event or a one-in-three-years event becomes, for instance, a four-in-three-year or five-in-three-year event,” said Erich Fischer.   read more

Since taking over as ambassador, Akuong has had to contend with the U.S.-initiated threat to impose sanctions, through the United Nations Security Council, against South Sudan unless President Kiir and Machar can come to terms to end a civil war which began in December 2013 and has killed ten thousand and displaced an estimated 1.5 million citizens.   read more

Djerdj Matković assumed the position of Serbia’s ambassador to the United States on February 21, 2015, after the post had been vacant for 18 months. In August 2012, Matković began advising Deputy Prime Minister Aleksandar Vučić on foreign policy issues and continued to do so when Vucic was elevated to prime minister in 2014. Matković was Vučić’s main advisor during the beginning of the crisis in Ukraine, keeping Serbia on a narrow path between Russia and the United States.   read more

The seven whistleblowers also urged Congress to adopt legislation, the Surveillance State Repeal Act, which would end the Patriot Act and roll back government surveillance on Americans’ personal lives. They also criticized the administrations of President Barack Obama and George W. Bush for trying to punish whistleblowers.   read more

Defense Reform Consensus, a group of 38 analysts from a list of think tanks representing all parts of the political spectrum, say the government should close more military bases and reduce the number of civilians who work for the Defense Department, among other recommendations.   read more

The Death Tax Repeal Act of 2015, which cleared the House 240-179 on a nearly party-line vote, would amount to a $334 billion tax break for 25 of the nation’s billionaires. Republicans insist they just want to prevent mom-and-pop companies and family farms from being affected by the tax, although the GOP hasn’t been able to produce one such example.   read more

During the 2014 midterms, 31,976 donors (out of 323 million people) were responsible for pouring $1.18 billion in disclosed political contributions at the federal level. And that doesn’t even include dark money that was spent through the use of loopholes in federal tax laws that allow the uber-rich to avoid revealing certain contributions.   read more

Dr. Micah Young was dean of health sciences and career programs at Malcolm X College until February 4, when he was fired for “alleged performance issues.” But Young claims the firing had more to do with his report of the discovery last summer of four decomposing bodies in an unrefrigerated walk-in safe on campus.   read more

A court ruling that legalizes same-sex marriages would allow GOP candidates to publicly decry the decision, giving their conservative supporters what they want to hear. But it would also allow them to concentrate on other issues instead of continually defining themselves as socially intolerant leaders whose views are unacceptable to millennials, the next generation of voters. If they can’t change this perception, the consequences to them could be even worse in the years ahead.   read more

The Wall Street Journal has reported Obama “secretly approved a waiver” that gave the CIA “more flexibility in Pakistan than anywhere else to strike suspected militants.” That may have cost two hostages, American Warren Weinstein and Italian Giovanni Lo Porto, their lives. “If the exemption had not been in place for Pakistan, the CIA might have been required to gather more intelligence before that strike,” Adam Entous reported in the Journal.   read more

“Francis sullies his office by using demagogic formulations to bully the populace into reflexive climate action with no more substantive guide than theologized propaganda," wrote Maureen Mullarkey."Pope Francis...would do his flock and the world a disservice by putting his moral authority behind the United Nations’ unscientific agenda on the climate," said Joseph Bast, president of the Koch brothers-funded Heartland Institute.   read more

At least a dozen people protesting the decision not to prosecute the police who killed Eric Garner were detained by the NYPD. They later said they were questioned about their political associations and other matters related to their involvement in street protests. The interrogations could have a chilling effect on Americans lawfully exercising their right to protest and may also put the department in violation of a 1985 consent decree that came out of a federal court case.   read more

Tyson’s move “sends a message to other producers that the tides are turning,” said Nicole McCann, director of food campaigns for advocacy group Green America. The move also makes good business sense. Eighty-six percent of consumers support the availability of drug-free meats in grocery stores, according to the Consumer Reports National Research Center. Next, Tyson plans to talk to its suppliers of beef, pork and turkey about eliminating antibiotic use in their meat.   read more

If all of the permafrost becomes exposed, it could release more than 10 times the amount of carbon than has been discharged into the atmosphere from burning fossil fuels since the Industrial Revolution. The carbon deposit in the Arctic is so great it would represent two and a half times more carbon than already exists in the atmosphere today. This could amplify climate warming, which would cause more permafrost to thaw and release more carbon, and so on.   read more

What’s $300 million when a project could end up consuming more than $50 billion over its lifetime? Rep. Jim Cooper (D-Tenn.) called the continued funding of the MOX facility a “zombie earmark.” DOE officials are so fed up with the project that they were ready to shut it down. But backers in Congress, including Sen. Lindsay Graham (R-S.C), made sure there was $300 million in the 2014 year-end spending bill for MOX. They even prohibited the Energy Department from putting MOX in cold standby.   read more