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

Until 2011, she was executive assistant to the Under Secretary for Political Affairs William J. Burns. Wells was then named executive assistant to Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, working with her until 2012. At that time, she moved to the White House, becoming special assistant to the president for Russia and Central Asia. Since 2013, Wells has served as an assessor at the Foreign Service Board of Examiners.   read more

She went to Harvard Law School, where she became close friends with Obama. Butts was brought onto Obama’s staff in 2008, serving as deputy White House counsel after the inauguration. She again helped with the vetting process, checking into the background of Supreme Court nominees. In 2009, Butts was made a senior adviser to the Millennium Challenge Corporation (MCC).   read more

The government does not necessarily collect evidence before designating a U.S. citizen or foreign national a terrorist. As long as officials are just pretty sure a person is suspicious, an unsuspecting person can wind up on the watch list. Being on the watch list can mean more than having trouble boarding a plane. It can make it more difficult to land a job and can mean someone is subjected to extra scrutiny during an encounter with police, such as a traffic stop.   read more

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) deliberately used fake identities and Social Security numbers to sign up phantom people under Obamacare. The sting operation involved a dozen fictitious applicants, all of whom save one managed to get subsidized health insurance. Six of the online applications were initially rejected, but when investigators used the call-in service, they were approved.   read more

U.S. Air Force officials overseeing the space-based surveillance say they were willing to discuss the mission to warn countries like China and Russia not to mess with American satellites and spacecraft orbiting the earth. The satellites will position themselves 22,300 miles above Earth, putting them in near-geosynchronous orbit, where a satellite maintains about the same relative position over the earth, to improve observational efforts.   read more

The typical minor league player earns somewhere between $3,000 and $7,500 a season, which can include spring training and fall instructional leagues, the plaintiffs contend. Compare that to MLB salaries, which averaged $3.3 million last year, with a minimum annual wage of $500,000 in 2014. The big difference is that MLB players are unionized, while their minor league counterparts have been prevented by the league from bargaining collectively.   read more

Another study revealed another kind of divide among the believers and non-believers of climate change: the English language. The market research firm Ipsos MORI said in its “Global Trends 2014” report that the three countries with the most climate-change deniers were the United States, the United Kingdom and Australia, all English-speaking nations. All have some of their media controlled by Rupert Murdoch.   read more

Among all residents surveyed, 46% reported plumbing problems, 39% had roaches or insects, 22% complained of rats, mice or termites, 21% said their heating or air conditioning didn’t work properly, 20% have endured mold, and 18% suffered leaky roofs, among other concerns. The study, conducted by the Right to the City Alliance’s Homes for All Campaign, also found that only 10% of tenants in Los Angeles and 26% in Riverside had ever met their landlord in person.   read more

The fire may have been the result of diesel oil building up on the vehicle’s engine. Shortly after that event, a container with radioactive waste sprung a leak. Regardless, the Department of Energy (DOE) awarded the contractor, Nuclear Waste Partnership (NWP), a $1.9 million bonus for its “excellent” work at WIPP during 2013. Included in the criteria for that bonus is safety and maintenance. The bonus was delivered five days after the truck fire.   read more

Currently, U.S. businesses can claim they are foreign owned if only 20% of it is actually the property of overseas investors. President Barack Obama says this ceiling should be raised to 50% foreign ownership to slow down the rate of companies leaving the country.   read more

Food safety advocates point out that 160 countries have either outlawed the drug or limited its use, while also noting the existence of 160,000 reports of pigs becoming ill or dying after being fed ractopamine. The nonprofit Center for Food Safety cited information from the European Food Safety Authority showing ractopamine can cause increased heart rates in humans.   read more

Starting late last year, McLennan County decided to send a sheriff’s detective to the home of any person requesting a court-appointed lawyer. The purpose: to see if the individual was poor enough to not afford their own legal counsel, or determine if they were lying.   read more

Forty-eight percent of unaccompanied children, when interviewed by the UN Refugee Agency, gave societal violence as a primary reason for fleeing their home country. For children from El Salvador, the number was 66%. Another factor is poverty. Two thirds of Hondurans are poor, while the rates aren’t much better for Guatemalans (55%) and Salvadorans (45%).   read more

The two banks “used the options to build special accounts for their hedge fund clients in their own names and claimed they owned the assets when it was, in fact, the hedge fund clients that exercised full control of the assets.” The structure of the basket options also allowed the hedge funds to borrow up to $17 for every dollar in an account rather than the 50 cents on the dollar that broker-dealers are restricted to according to limits that go back to the 1930s.   read more

The state that’s home to the maker of oxycodone, one of the most abused painkillers in the United States, is also the only one in the nation that doesn’t have a government prescription drug database, thereby encouraging misuse of medications. Other Republicans have grown frustrated with Schaaf’s obstructionism, particularly those in neighboring states trying to stem their own drug abuse problems. With Missouri being so lax, drug addicts often cross the border and buy what they need.   read more

The research revealed beef cattle utilized 28 times more land, required 11 times more irrigation water for feed, used six times more nitrogen fertilizer that pollutes waterways, and discharged five times more greenhouse gases, particularly methane. On average, eating beef is about ten times more costly to the environment than eating any other animal-based foods, according to the report.   read more