Rumors are spreading that the U.S. Supreme Court will vote 5-4 to rule that a U.S. president cannot be prosecuted for anything he does while he is president. Some Democrats are suggesting that Joe Biden bring a gun to his first debate with Donald Trump. If he shoots Trump, he would be immune, but if Trump shoots Biden he would be prosecuted because he is not a sitting president.   read more

“We’re talking about changing the rules at the last minute,” Hughes said. Dallas Woodhouse, the Republican official, eventually fled into the building, where lawmakers from his party introduced a flurry of bills during a surprise special session this week to undermine Cooper by stripping him of his ability to make key appointments to state and local boards and mandating, for the first time, legislative approval of his Cabinet. “They will see me in court,” Cooper warned.   read more

The judge blocked an executive order offering protections to LGBT employees in state government as unconstitutional. Judge Hernandez ruled that Gov. Edwards acted outside the scope of his authority when he created the anti-discrimination law. “We continue to believe that discrimination is not a Louisiana value and that we are best served as a state when employment decisions are based solely on an individual’s qualifications and job performance,” the governor said   read more

“It was like I was standing out there naked,” said Annette Taddeo, a Democrat who lost her primary race after secret campaign documents were made public. The impact of information released by hackers on candidates in nearly a dozen House races around the country was largely lost in the focus on the hacking attacks against the DNC and Hillary Clinton’s presidential campaign. But this untold story underscores the effect the Russian operation had on the American electoral system.   read more

An Energy Dept official called the 74 questions a hit list and said Trump's team appeared to be going after top scientists and employees working on the Iran nuclear deal and climate change. Some questions left DOE workers "unsettled," and others could cast doubt on Trump's commitment to scientific independence — a fundamental tenet at the agency. Democrats called the questionairre a modern-day political witch hunt that could have a chilling impact on federal workers.   read more

The report, the largest and most comprehensive of its kind to date on the effects of fracking on water supply, comes as President-elect Donald Trump has vowed to expand fracking and roll back existing regulations on the process. His choice to run the EPA, Scott Pruitt, attorney general from Oklahoma, has built his career on fighting EPA regulations on energy exploration. He now faces scientific findings that urge caution in an energy sector that Trump wants to untether.   read more

Gov. Christie has made no secret of his disdain for the news media. The bill would eliminate requirement for public notices, which could cost already-strapped newspapers millions in ad revenue. “It’s a broadside against a free press, nothing more, nothing less,” said Assemblyman Wisniewsk. “I think it’s revenge.” Legal notices are a longstanding tradition in America, dating back more than 200 years.   read more

The lawsuit "seeks public disclosure of specified government records to make sense of the pivotal role of the FBI, as well as of other agencies, in perhaps the most controversial presidential election in modern U.S. history.” It notes that several people have credited the FBI, which claims to be apolitical, with swinging the election in Donald Trump’s favor. The suit comes on the heels of CIA accusations that Russia interfered with the U.S. election to sway it in favor of Trump.   read more

While Tillerson's not a diplomat, he has an agenda overseas that doesn't always mesh with the U.S. government. His willingness to cut a deal regardless of the political consequences speaks volumes about Exxon Mobil’s influence. In Iraq, Tillerson and his company outmaneuvered the State Dept, which he has now been nominated by Trump to lead. “[Exxon and Tillerson] are very powerful in the region, and they couldn’t care less about what the State Dept wants to do,” said Atlantic Council's Seznec.   read more

Perry was a harsh critic of Trump, even calling the billionaire businessman a "cancer to conservatism," but later endorsed him. Perry has been a vocal skeptic on climate change and is likely to shift the department away from renewable energy and toward oil and other fossil fuels. Sierra Club's Michael Brune called it "an insult to our functioning democracy. Putting Perry in charge of the Department of Energy is the perfect way to ensure the agency fails at everything it is charged to do."   read more

“The [United] States can invest there in other ways that can actually promote other ideology among the people over there,”Ali Jaber said. “These drones are actually really helping al-Qaida attract people because they are saying, ‘look – the [United] States are killing you. Come join us so we can kill them.'” Ali Jaber said people in his area “do not know anything about the [United] States but the drones.” He says the strikes constitute extrajudicial killings in violation of international law.   read more

With the incoming Trump administration seemingly committed to deporting undocumented individuals, there is worry among immigration advocates that the identifying data collected as part of these driver license programs could be used by federal authorities looking to send people back to their home countries. ICE might have to rely on its subpoena power. Even then, states could refuse to provide the information, thereby forcing the federal government to sue for the driver data.   read more

American students have a math problem. "We're losing ground — a troubling prospect when, in today's knowledge-based economy, the best jobs can go anywhere in the world," said Education Secretary John B. King Jr. The PISA study is the latest to document that American students are underperforming their peers in several Asian nations. "Everything is just going down," said Peggy Carr, acting commissioner at the National Center for Education Statistics.   read more

Concern about police militarization ranges from the NAACP and ACLU to the libertarian Cato Institute. Prof. Kraska said there's nothing to justify most police departments having such equipment. "We don't want local police departments to be incentivized to get the types of equipment that in most cases are a better fit for the war zone," said Koch VP Ruger. Added prof. Kraska: "It just ramps up the probability that this kind of kind of high-end military hardware is going to be misapplied."   read more

Republican lawmakers effectively blocked Obama safety rules aimed at keeping tired truckers off the highway. But there's more coming down the road. American Trucking is pledging to come back next month, when Republicans are in control, and try to block state laws that require additional rest breaks for truckers beyond what federal rules require. The group says there should be one national rule on work hours for interstate truckers and that the extra breaks aren't necessary for safety.   read more

Tillerson’s stake in Russia’s energy industry could create a very blurry line between his interests as an oilman and his role as America’s leading diplomat. “As secretary of state, he would be called upon to negotiate with world leaders like Vladimir Putin,” said prof. Klare. “In these negotiations, one has to wonder what would influence the types of deals he is making. Questions arise over whether his actions would be benefiting his company or the interests of the U.S. and its allies.”   read more

Recording interrogations is a way to know whether police can be confident in the confessions that result. City officials say that 5,000 interrogations have been recorded, and that every detective bureau now has the equipment. But two judges testified that they had seen few cases in which the interrogations — as opposed to the confessions — were recorded. “One can speculate that some old-fashioned detectives may not want to have their methods on video as it might embarrass them,” said Dwyer.   read more