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 case, King v. Burwell, is challenging the provision in the Affordable Care Act that allows the federal government to provide financial assistance to people who buy insurance through the 37 state insurance exchanges operated by the federal government. If the plaintiffs are successful, the court’s decision could eliminate these subsidies, which currently help 13 million people afford their coverage.   read more

Late Friday, as many were heading out for the holiday week, the GOP-dominated House Intelligence Committee quietly announced what several other investigations had found: There was no wrongdoing by the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA), the U.S. military or other high government officials in the September 11, 2012, attack on the U.S. diplomatic compound in Benghazi, Libya, that resulted in the deaths of four Americans.   read more

“Illegal immigrants in considerable numbers have become productive members of our society and are a basic part of our work force. Those who have established equities in the United States should be recognized and accorded legal status.” President Ronald Reagan July 30, 1981   read more

The Waldorf-Astoria, built in 1931, is the permanent home of the U.S. ambassador to the United Nations and hosts presidents and other top officials when they’re in New York. Now that it’s being sold by Hilton Worldwide Holdings for $1.95 billion to China’s Anbang Insurance Group, which reportedly has ties to the Communist party, U.S. officials fear the new owners could use their new property to gain intelligence information from their guests.   read more

Bush, the former governor of Florida, has four businesses registered to the same address in the Miami suburb of Coral Gables that don’t appear to have conducted any business anywhere, according to an investigation by ThinkProgress. Bush also has a consulting firm, Jeb Bush & Associates, registered to that address.   read more

As part of broader immigration reforms, the Obama administration announced Thursday that the Secure Communities program, which mandated that local law enforcement submit biometric information on those suspected of being undocumented immigrants to the federal government, is going away. In its place will be the Priority Enforcement Program, which specifies that those held must be likely deportable or have a removal order in effect against them.   read more

Another milestone has been reached in the ongoing war against suspected terrorists in the Middle East and elsewhere—the United States has launched 500 attacks, or “targeted killings” in governmentspeak. The “targeted killings” aren’t as well targeted as they might be; 473 civilians are among the 3,674 who have died in the attacks.   read more

An investigation by USA Today found that 55% of suspects in these kinds of cases were black and more than a third were Hispanic. The total is more even than the percentages of black and Hispanic people caught up in the criminal justice system, much less the population in general.   read more

She was sent back to St. Petersburg in 2008, this time as consul general. In 2010, Gwaltney was assigned to Moscow as deputy chief of mission. She eventually served as chargé d'affaires, ad interim. As such, she was in charge of the embassy after Ambassador Mike McFaul left, and she handled much of the U.S. response to Russia’s annexation of Crimea and invasion of Ukraine, events she had warned of earlier.   read more

In 1992, Pettit got to put her knowledge of the Soviet Union to first-hand use when she was named a political officer in the embassy in Moscow. Her husband was also there, as were their two children, when a constitutional crisis swept the country. The Pettits and other embassy personnel and their families were forced to remain in an underground shelter for two days during the unrest.   read more

“In 2006, Bush gave a 17-minute speech that was televised by all three networks that was about deploying 6,000 National Guard troops to the border. Obama is making a 10-minute speech that will have a vastly greater impact on the issue. And none of the networks are doing it,” said a senior administration official. The only broadcast networks that carried Obama's immigration talk live throughout the U.S. were Spanish language Univision and Telemundo.   read more

From liberal Democrats to community bankers, opposition is lining up to President Obama’s choice for Under Secretary for Domestic Finance at the Treasury Dept.: Antonio Weiss. “Neither his background nor his professional experience makes him qualified to oversee consumer protection and domestic regulatory functions at the Treasury,” wrote Sen. Elizabeth Warren. She criticized Weiss for helping U.S. corporations relocate in countries that demand fewer taxes.   read more

In 2003, Lee went to work for Google as its deputy general counsel and head of patents and patent strategy. She advised the search engine giant on its acquisition of YouTube, participation in the Nortel patent auction and on mobile phone patent issues. Lee left for government service in 2012 to head the newly opened Silicon Valley outpost of the USPTO.   read more

More than 4,000 American cameras are listed on the website. In all, the site has webcam footage from people in 152 nations. Voyeurs can watch everything from babies in their cribs to college campuses to the insides of small businesses. The site also reveals the GPS location of each webcam along with links to a map. “[They claim] what they’re doing is entirely legal because they’ve hacked into cameras where the owners didn’t change the default password," said CBS.   read more

Since 1998, Rodriguez has been at Arizona State University (ASU). She first was an assistant professor in ASU’s School of Criminology and Criminal Justice and in 2004 was made associate professor in that school. In 2012, she was named ASU’s associate dean for student engagement in the College of Public Programs. Rodriguez recently completed a study of prosecution and sentencing practices of imprisoned drug offenders before and after Arizona’s mandatory drug treatment law was enacted.   read more

At least three people have died in New York State from shoveling snow during the extreme storm that hit the region—a higher fatality count than the number of people who have died from Ebola in the U.S. Once the storm ends, the media coverage of it will melt away. But the reporting frenzy over Ebola could continue indefinitely. However, shoveling snow is a bigger health problem for Americans than Ebola. Dr. Franklin said the annual number of deaths from shoveling snow might be close to 200.   read more