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 big trees, more than two feet in diameter, were found in decline from Southern California to the Northern Sierras. Some areas of SoCal showed nearly a 75% decline. They were in decline even in the wild, where logging and development were not factors. The study compares the numbers from 80 years ago with a survey taken between 2001 and 2010, so the current four-year drought is not a factor.   read more

, Lloyd’s of London filed a suit seeking reimbursement from multiple parties, including Salman. In the lawsuit, Salman was identified as an “individual patron” of al-Qaeda and as the leader of the Saudi High Commission for Relief to Bosnia and Herzegovina (SHC). According to the lawsuit, “Under Prince Salman’s leadership, the SHC served as a primary front for supporting al Qaeda’s operations in the Balkans.   read more

Robert MacLean was fired after he exposed what he considered to be a reckless decision by the TSA three years earlier. In 2003, the agency issued an alert of a possible hijacking plot on a commercial flight. Air marshals were on alert, but TSA officials canceled overnight missions for MacLean and others in an effort to save money on hotel lodging. MacLean thought the decision was shortsighted, and revealed the decision to the TSA inspector general.   read more

The National Housing Trust Fund, created by Congress in 2008 to support affordable housing projects across the country, has not received any funding since its inception. But the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA) announced late last year that Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are now strong enough, now that the housing crisis has abated, to contribute to the National Housing Trust Fund. The decision will result in $325 million in block grants being distributed to states starting next year.   read more

Turner’s actions, which included organizing Illinois lawmakers to advocate for the sanctions removal, landed him in federal court. He was accused of conspiracy and two counts of failing to register as a foreign lobbyist. He avoided prosecution on the latter charges, but was found guilty of the first.   read more

In November 2012, Diagne left his position at RTS and was appointed ambassador to the Gambia, a nation almost entirely surrounded by Senegal. Much of his work involved advocating for Senegalese held in prison in that country, many of them facing death sentences. He also obtained a grant from Senegal’s government to support women’s projects in the Senegalese women’s community in the Gambia. He served there until being sent to Washington in 2014.   read more

The future of cyber warfare will mean paralyzing “computer networks and, by doing so, potentially all the infrastructure they control, including power and water supplies, factories, airports or the flow of money,” Spiegel reported. The NSA is taking the lead within the U.S. military, putting it on the potential frontlines of future conflicts. NSA director Admiral Michael Roger oversees an “army” of 40,000 specialists versed in digital spying and “destructive network attacks.”   read more

In his letter to Obama, Burr requested “that all copies of the full and final report in the possession of the executive branch be returned immediately.” Burr’s move is “apparently aimed at keeping the full version of the report from being released to the public,” said the Post.“I strongly disagree that the administration should relinquish copies of the full committee study,” said Feinstein. “Doing so would limit the ability to learn lessons from this sad chapter in America’s history."   read more

The latest mess generated more concern among opponents of the Keystone project who say the recent accidents demonstrate how dangerous the pipeline could be for the environment. Keystone would cross the Yellowstone about 20 miles upstream from the Poplar Pipeline spill. Sen. Tester said it was important for the government to have more inspectors checking oil pipelines across the country. “We need to take a look at some of these [old] pipelines...and say, ‘Are they still doing a good job?’”   read more

It’s probably no surprise that Vanuatu hasn’t come up in any of the speeches. Even some of our North American neighbors have been snubbed: the Bahamas, Belize and Guatemala are still waiting for their big moment. And there are a few countries of strategic importance that have escaped mention. The United Arab Emirates, a huge oil producer; Belgium, home of the European Union; and banking capital Switzerland all have been shut out. But Norway got a shout-out from George W. Bush.   read more

The 11 unsolved murders required considerable work on the part of sculptors to recreate what the people might have looked like before their deaths. All of the cases “had all met ugly deaths and were found as skeletons in desolate places across New York City — train tracks, wooded areas, in a basement,” wrote The New York Times. In some cases, the bodies were dismembered and the skulls crushed. This work is a last resort for investigators.   read more

The research has produced results that sickened veterinarians working for the U.S. Department of Agriculture, which oversees the complex. Pigs wind up having offspring that are born frail, and wind up being crushed accidentally by their mother. Surgery and breeding techniques have forced cows to bear twins and triplets, instead of just one calf. The calves “often emerge weakened or deformed, dying in such numbers that even meat producers have been repulsed,” said the Times.   read more

State prison policy forbade the growing of a beard for security reasons, claiming the facial hair could be used to smuggle contraband. Only neatly trimmed mustaches are allowed under departmental rules governing inmates. Holt challenged the prohibition, arguing it violated his religious rights. The Supreme Court agreed unanimously. Justice Samuel Alito wrote the prison’s “interest in eliminating contraband cannot sustain its refusal to allow petitioner to grow a half-inch beard.”   read more

Same-sex marriage has gone from being a hard-won right to a requirement for many gay couples. With many states now authorizing (or at least not banning) gay marriage, some employers are phasing out domestic partnerships and telling couples they have to get married in order to keep their benefits. The way companies see it, there’s no point in keeping domestic partnership rules if marriage is legal. However, this could have implications for heterosexual couples' domestic arrangements.   read more

The ITC Maurya hotel, where Obama will be staying, has been taken over by Secret Service personnel and a multi-frequency control room manned by the U.S. officials has been set up. 15,000 CCTVs have also been installed across the capital, and American security personnel will be part of the teams manning the control rooms set up to monitor this footage.   read more

Pope Francis says climate change is a serious problem and that mankind is responsible for causing and fixing the problem. But at least a dozen GOP Catholic lawmakers reject the idea that humans are responsible for global warming. One of them, Rep. Virginia Foxx of North Carolina, said she believes it is ridiculous to think humans are the cause of climate change because God created the climate.   read more