Trump said, “We need people to be afraid. Right now many Americans are surprised when protestors are killed, but they’ll get used to it.” Trump did add one suggestion: “Try not to kill white people. That gets too much attention. Stick to protestors of other colors.”   read more

“If it was on the books that Jews couldn’t hold public office, or that African-Americans or women couldn’t vote, that would be a no-brainer,” Todd Stiefel, chairman of Openly Secular, told The New York Times. “You’d have politicians falling all over themselves to try to get it repealed. Even if it was still unenforceable, it would still be disgraceful and be removed. So why are we different?”   read more

“Many Americans—even policymakers—seem unaware of the shocking prevalence of child poverty in many of our nation’s most important and iconic cities,” Curtis Skinner, director of Family Economic Security at the NCCP, a research center based at the Columbia University Mailman School of Public Health, said in a press release. “Reducing child poverty is critical to the social and economic health of cities, now and in the future.”   read more

The chamber’s new dress code informs women appearing on the House floor to be “sensitive to skirt lengths and necklines.” Furthermore, they must only wear “business formal” attire, defined as “a suit or dress slacks, skirt, jacket, and dress blouse or suit-like dress and appropriate shoes (flip flops, tennis shoes, and open-toe sandals are not considered appropriate).” And forget about leggings because they “are not considered dress pants.”   read more

The House passed a government funding bill that included an amendment that would have ended the ability of the National Security Agency to conduct “backdoor” warrantless surveillance of the content of Americans’ electronic communications. The bipartisan amendment passed with a veto-proof 293 votes. However, it was stripped from the bill by House leadership before it was sent to the Senate.   read more

Joanna Schwartz, an assistant professor at UCLA law school, Schwartz reviewed data on police civil rights settlements from 44 large and 37 small or midsized police departments from 2006 to 2011. In 9,225 cases from large cities, officers paid only .02% of the settlements, or $171,300 out of $735 million. In the small or midsized cities, officers didn’t pay any of the $9.4 million awarded to victims.   read more

A study conducted by Japan’s National Institute of Public Health showed that at least one unnamed e-cigarette brand contains 10 times the level of carcinogens found in a regular cigarette. The substances found in e-cigarette vapor include formaldehyde and acetaldehyde. Two studies conducted in the United States came up with similar results. They focused on “tank” cigarettes, which contain batteries and are refillable.   read more

France will put $60 million into a fund to be administered by the United States that will go to survivors, their spouses and their estates who were transported via SNCF railway to German death camps. Between March 1942 and August 1944, SNCF transported about 76,000 Jews and others to the Nazi camps. Fewer than 3% survived.   read more

No one can accuse Brennan of taking the easy road to the top. She began with the Postal Service in 1986 as a letter carrier in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She subsequently worked her way up the ladder as a delivery and collection supervisor, processing plant manager in Reading and Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania, and a district manager in Springfield, Massachusetts.   read more

Senator Mark Begich (D-Alaska) is trying to give a goodbye gift to the American people. The senator, who was voted out of office in November, has introduced a bill that would direct the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to add calls from Super PACs and other dark money groups to the list of those to whom the “Do-Not-Call Registry” would apply. Also subject to Begich’s ban would be robocalls and push-polls, which instead of measuring public sentiment are actually attempts to influence voters.   read more

The New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife is now the proud owner of 16 M-14 automatic rifles, supplied by the Department of Defense’s 1033 program. Department of Environmental Protection spokesman Larry Ragonese told the Newark Star-Ledger, "we will not engage in a public dialogue in the media to detail our operational procedures.”   read more

Even the state of Alaska, normally sympathetic to oil interests, has taken notice of the problem. A 2013 report called the problem “unprecedented…due to the distance that sulfolane has traveled in groundwater, and the number of properties affected with private drinking water wells.”   read more

Mark R. Rosekind, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), was nominated by President Barack Obama on November 18, 2014, to lead the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. During his career, Rosekind has specialized in issues relating to sleep and fatigue. At his Senate confirmation hearing on December 3, Rosekind said that, if confirmed, his “first focus will be on the recall defect and reporting process."   read more

In 2009, Kariyawasam was made high commissioner to India, as well as ambassador to Afghanistan and Bhutan. While in New Delhi, Kariyawasam created a controversy when he urged that some Indian Members of Parliament be investigated for ties to the Tamil Tigers, the rebel group that fought a civil war in Sri Lanka for more than 25 years.   read more

Under President Obama, whom many conservatives claim is a tax-and-spend liberal, federal spending has declined after decades of increases. Data from the Office of Management and Budget shows that in 1965, government spending was $118 billion. For the next 44 years, that figure steadily went up through 2009, when outlays totaled $3.5 trillion. But starting in 2010 and for the next four years, there was no growth in nominal spending.   read more

The target of the federal case is FastTrain II Corporation and its owner, Alejandro Amor, who ran seven private schools across Florida until they closed in 2012. The complaint says that the company “employed female exotic dancers as admissions representatives at least one campus to lure young male students.” A 15-count indictment against FastTrain says it conspired to steal government funds by filing false claims with the Education Department.   read more

Tagtow has been somewhat of a lightning rod for criticism from the right for her work to make food systems sustainable and ecologically sound, being accused of wanting to force plant-based diets and grass-fed meat and dairy animal products on Americans.   read more