President Donald Trump invited the Dodgers to the White House. Many of their fans feared that the team, by accepting, would humiliate themselves and betray the team’s large Latino, Asian and African-American fan base. Dodgers controlling owner Mark Walter, along with co-owner Magic Johnson, have proposed a solution. Trump has promised that if he can keep the championship trophy, the Commissioner’s Trophy, he will end all seizures and deportations of immigrants.   read more

Scientists from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) estimated that cats take down 1.4 to 3.7 billion birds and 6.9 to 20.7 billion mammals annually, including shrews, chipmunks and voles. The numbers mean that cats kill off more birds and mammals than cars, pesticides, and collisions with buildings, making the felines one of the biggest threats to wildlife in the nation.   read more

The new cyber warriors will go to work under one of three types of missions: “national mission forces” will work to protect computer systems that support electrical grids, power plants and other key infrastructure for the nation’s economic and political security; “combat mission forces” will help military field commanders plan and execute attacks or other offensive operations overseas; and “cyber protection forces” will protect the Defense Department’s computer networks.   read more

An extra $6.2 million was awarded to just 18 employees at General Motors (GM), Ally Financial and American International Group (AIG), which received a total of more than $250 billion in bailout funds. In 2012, the Office of the Special Master for TARP Executive Compensation approved pay packages of $3 million or more for 54% of the 69 top executives of AIG, GM and Ally.   read more

The U.S. military is in the process of setting up a drone base, most likely in Niger, which would permit aerial surveillance of Islamic rebels in neighboring Mali. It has been estimated that such a base would have upwards of 300 military and contractor personnel. Officials in the Obama administration say the base would only launch reconnaissance missions for now. But carrying out missile attacks from the unmanned aerial vehicles could happen as well, they acknowledged to The New York Times.   read more

During Obama’s first two years in office, Fried was busy negotiating with foreign governments to get them to take many of Guantánamo’s detainees. The total at the prison dropped from 242 to 166 under Fried’s efforts, with three men dying in custody. But the repatriations nearly ground to a halt last year, when only four detainees were moved out of Guantánamo.   read more

“It appears that fewer people contract influenza during warm winters, and this causes a major portion of the population to remain vulnerable into the next season, causing an early and strong emergence,” said Sherry Towers of Arizona State University, the lead author of the study, which analyzed climate patterns and flu cases from 1997 to the present.   read more

Lawmakers in six states have adopted so-called “Ag-Gag” laws that make it a crime to take videos or still photos on industrial farms that reveal illegal or unethical practices towards livestock. The legislation adopted in North Dakota, Montana, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa and Utah was suggested by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a conservative organization known for promoting corporate agendas.   read more

Ortiz tried for three years to seize Motel Caswell on grounds that it had become a haven for illegal drug deals. The motel owner, Russ Caswell, fought the seizure, claiming he was not responsible for the actions of his guests. Caswell also argued that other nearby businesses had had more illicit drug activity, and that the government wanted his property because of its worth (more than $1 million).   read more

After the education department revised its numbers based on the same federally-mandated criteria used to measure publicly-run schools, only 28% of charter schools met the benchmarks. And none of the 12 cyber charter schools providing online in-home instruction to students met the benchmarks. Meanwhile, 50% of traditional public schools met the criteria   read more

The recent terrorist attack at an oil complex in Algeria that left dozens dead, including three Americans, has prompted one analyst to point out that the raid on Osama bin Laden’s compound two years ago produced documents showing the former al-Qaeda leader was communicating Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb (AQIM), a group that opposes the Algerian government. It would appear that the Algerian attack was carried out by an offshoot of AQIM.   read more

American citizen Saeed Abedini has been sentenced to eight years in prison by the Iranian government for allegedly helping establish underground churches in the Islamic republic. Abedini, an Iranian-born convert to Christianity, reportedly led secret churches in the early 2000s when the pro-reform presidency of Mohammad Khatami tolerated such activity.   read more

In the 1970s, however, the Senate changed its rules in ways that had the unintended consequence of fueling an increase in filibusters by no longer requiring senators to physically hold the floor via marathon speeches (also called a silent filibuster). Liberal and progressive critics were disappointed, especially with the retention of the silent filibuster. Senator Bernie Sanders said,"Most Americans grew up believing that in America the majority rules. That is not the case in the Senate.”   read more

The Constitution uses the phrase “the Recess,” only twice, neither time defining it or distinguishing it from “a recess” or from adjournments. Nearly all of the 659 recess appointments made by the five most recent presidents would be invalid under the new ruling, and any government actions that relied on such appointments could be voided.   read more

The report analyzes 873 exonerations between January 1989 and February 2012. In total, the 873 spent more than 10,000 years in prison for crimes they did not commit—an average of more than 11 years each. Five of the most common reasons for wrongful convictions involved reckless or intentional misconduct, including perjury or false accusation (51%), mistaken witness identification (43%), official misconduct (42%), false or misleading forensic evidence (24%) and false confession (16%).   read more

Under Schedule II, Hydrocodone refills would be forbidden without a new, written prescription from an M.D.—not a physician assistant or nurse practitioner. Distributors would have to store it in special vaults. However, the 19 to 10 vote revealed skepticism that the change would have much of an impact on drug abuse. Some panelists also argued that the change would simply redirect addicts to other drugs like heroin   read more

Some are questioning whether the ACA is too burdensome on smokers, especially since smokers tend to be lower-income and to work in jobs without insurance benefits. For example, a 55-year-old smoker could pay a smoking premium of as much as $4,250 a year, while a 60-year-old could pay up to $5,100.   read more