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

Nealon took a job as deputy chief of staff at the embassy in Peru in 2007. While in Peru, Nealon wrote a report, later released by WikiLeaks, expressing concern about “anti-system radicals” who might “lay the groundwork for a more systematic assault on the pro-growth model.” In December 2012, President Obama proposed Nealon as the ambassador to Bolivia, but, not surprisingly considering his comments, Nealon was rejected by the Bolivian government.   read more

Before the Internet came along, the NTIS served a real purpose--providing government reports that at one time were available nowhere else. But now it may be time for NTIS to go the way of the World Book encyclopedia, say U.S. senators Claire McCaskill and Tom Coburn. They have sponsored the Let Me Google That For You Act, which would eliminate NTIS. “Why would anyone buy publications from NTIS when they’re free on the Internet?” McCaskill said.   read more

Florida legislators tried to keep the car title loan business out of their state in 2000. But where’s there’s a buck to be made, unscrupulous companies will find a way around pesky consumer-friendly laws, and TMX Finance appears to have done just that. TMX requires borrowers to purchase costly insurance on their cars from them. If a payment’s missed, TMX repossesses the borrower’s car. Sometimes borrowers get in so deep that they just give up.   read more

An urgent manhunt is on in Northern California for a man who’s infected with tuberculosis. Law enforcement hopes to find him before he infects anyone else with what might be a drug-resistant strain of the disease. Eduardo Rosas Cruz showed up at the San Joaquin General Hospital in Stockton in March and was diagnosed with TB. He was told to stay for a health worker to administer his medication. Instead, he left. Officials got a statewide warrant for his arrest last Thursday.   read more

After Obama’s inauguration, Lippert was a deputy assistant to the president and then was named chief of staff for the National Security Council (NSC). Lippert left the NSC in 2010. If confirmed, Lippert will be the first political appointee to head the Seoul embassy; the job has previously been filled by career Foreign Service appointees. However, the South Korean government is reportedly eager to have an ambassador with such close ties to Obama.   read more

In 2003, Beecroft was named special assistant to Deputy Secretary of State Richard Armitage, and the following year was special assistant to Secretary of State Colin Powell. Beecroft remained in the job when Condoleezza Rice took over the State Department. Beecroft served as ambassador to Jordan from July 17, 2008 to June 4, 2011. Beecroft was transferred to Baghdad, Iraq, on July 14, 2011.   read more

Foreigners can jump straight to the front of the immigration line in the U.S. if they have half a million dollars to pay to the government. The money must be invested in new U.S. ventures that establish 10 full-time jobs for Americans in rural areas or those with high unemployment. However, projects are often gerrymandered into high unemployment areas miles away. Critics say the program “has become a magnet for amateurs, pipe-dreamers, and charlatans."   read more

Numerous civil rights groups have sided with the internet provider industry on the issue of net neutrality after getting lucrative partnerships and financial support from telecommunications companies. The Minority Media and Telecommunications Council (MMTC), a law firm for civil rights groups, has worked with many of the firms opposing common carrier status for the Internet. MMTC raised more than $1 million from telecom companies at fundraising luncheons from 2011 to 2013.   read more

The USDA decided it would be a good idea to spend $34 million on getting Afghan farmers to grow soybeans and for Afghan consumers to eat them. But the USDA struck out on both counts. The U.S. also paid about $1.5 million to build a soybean plan. When the crops failed, it paid to have 4,000 metric tons of soybeans flown in from the U.S at a cost of about $2 million. But no American expert could convince Afghans to incorporate soybeans into their diet.   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