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

A tanker loaded with Iraqi oil has been sitting off the coast of Texas, a floating pawn in an international game of chess, intrigue and subterfuge involving the government of Iraq, the U.S. State Department and federal court system, and the semi-autonomous region of Kurdistan inside Iraq. The Kurdish tanker, carrying more than one million barrels of crude oil, has so far refused to dock, given the risk of being seized by order of a federal judge.   read more

The FBI's resumption of its investigation into tainted forensics evidence was ordered by the Office of the Inspector General, which made some alarming discoveries. Among other things, the IG discovered that three defendants had been executed and a fourth died on death row during the five years it took the FBI to reinvestigate 60 convictions that may have been tainted by improper conduct on the part of federal agents.   read more

The Dept. of Defense has announced it may ship 5,000 Hellfire missiles to Iraq, which its air force can fire from jets or aircraft such as the Cessna Caravan. The deal is valued at about $700 million, which is good news for Hellfire’s maker, Lockheed Martin. The Iraqi military welcomed the news, having used up its supply while fighting the incursion of Islamic militants. Human rights advocates were dismayed by the deal due to Iraq's indiscriminate airstrikes in rebel territories.   read more

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry is in Delhi this week as Washington tries to reset ties with India. When Prime Minister Narendra Modi was elected in May, the U.S. found it had to do business with a leader to whom it had denied a visa in 2005 over anti-Muslim riots. So the U.S. finds itself in an awkward position. This is unfortunate since both countries are natural allies: both are democracies, targets of Islamic terrorism, and worried about China’s rise.   read more

After weeks of media coverage about the influx of unaccompanied children into the U.S., a strong majority of Americans say the young immigrants should be treated as refugees, and not like undocumented adults. A survey revealed 69% of respondents felt that the children should remain as refugees “if authorities determine it is not safe for them to return to their home country.” Eighty-three percent of Democrats, 66% of independents and even 52% of Republicans agreed.   read more

The EPA has been faulted by a federal watchdog agency for failing to properly oversee hundreds of thousands of underground wells involving hydraulic fracturing. A new report by the GAO said the EPA has inconsistently performed safety inspections of fracking wells. EPA has also failed to maintain proper records for the wells and has not updated its guidelines for dealing with the fracking boom in the oil and gas industry.   read more

For the majority, Judge Gerald Tjoflat wrote: “The Act simply informs physicians that inquiring about a private matter irrelevant to medical care isn’t part of the practice of good medicine and that...a physician may face discipline for [doing that].” Judge Charles Wilson dissented, saying “a gag order that prevents doctors from even asking... about firearms” is unacceptable. Doctors must have the discretion to decide when gun conversations are relevant, he added.   read more

If you can fight fire with fire, then why not fight big money with big money in the world of elections? That’s what a coalition of liberals, Republicans and wealthy donors have decided in creating a super PAC called Mayday, which plans to spend millions of dollars to reduce the influence of big donors in campaigns. Two of the super PAC’s founders are Lawrence Lessig, co-founder of Creative Commons, and Mark McKinnon, former adviser to President George W. Bush.   read more

For the second consecutive month, a major social media website has admitted to manipulating its users, all in the name of Internet experimentation. In June, it was Facebook, which said it had deliberately changed its news feed to 700,000 people to gauge their emotional response. Users did not respond well to the news. Now, it’s the popular dating site OKCupid, which revealed that it had conducted experiments on its members.   read more

Spending by outside political groups has grown so large this election that politicians running for office find these shadowy organizations already defining them and dictating the messages that bombard voters. “They have become a shadow party that’s effectively impossible to dislodge, and they will shape, if not control, the [national] dialog,” said Sheila Krumholz. Money pouring into TV ads is expected to eclipse $2 billion this year.   read more

Tens of thousands of federal workers with security clearances owe millions in back taxes, putting the information at their disposal or the facilities in which they work at risk. That raised new concerns about what kind of job is being done to vet workers with security clearances in the wake of the NSA disclosures and the Navy Yard shooting affair. "Federal tax cheats with security clearances could unnecessarily put our nation’s classified information at risk," said Sen. Tom Coburn.   read more

The U.S.’ decade-plus of fighting the Taliban in Afghanistan may have been hampered by allowing hundreds, perhaps thousands, of weapons to go missing and possibly fall into enemy hands. A new report said many of the 747,000 weapons given to the Afghan National Security Forces can’t be accounted for. “Weapons paid for by U.S. taxpayers could wind up in the hands of insurgents and be used to kill Americans and Afghan troops and civilians,” said SIGAR's John Sopko.   read more

The U.S. Department of Justice has drawn attention to itself for helping an organization opposed to Iran maintain secrecy of its records. United Against Nuclear Iran is operated by a who’s who list of American and foreign politicos, including former intelligence chiefs from Israel, Germany and Britain. A Greek shipping magnate accused by UANI of violating sanctions by doing business with Iran. But the Justice Department stepped in to block the request in court.   read more

There has been a decline in the number of women in the U.S. workforce, and a new study suggests it might be a result of this country’s backward maternity leave policies. The White House Council of Economic Advisers recently reported a small reduction in women who are working or who want to work, while pointing out that the U.S. is the only developed nation not to adopt laws such as paid family leave and subsidized child care.   read more

Expansion of healthcare access under Obamacare and the release of expensive drugs have state officials breaking into a sweat over how to pay for high-priced treatments for those who need them. The arrival of Sovaldi, Gilead Sciences’ new treatment for hepatitis C, is one perfect example. The drug costs $84,000 per patient for a 12-week regimen. In Oregon, the $360 million cost could mean that state Medicaid officials may have to deny the drug to some who qualify for coverage.   read more

One retailer has been aggressively going after members of the U.S. military who have fallen prey to its collection tactics. USA Discounters has been described as “ruthless” in suing those who fall behind on payments on overpriced goods. Military personnel are supposed to be shielded from such litigation. But nothing prevents a company like USA Discounters from choosing where to file lawsuits. Often, that means traveling across country or the world to appear in court.   read more