According to aides who were present when Trump discussed the issue, but who choose to remain anonymous for fear of retribution, Trump said he was sick of Vance and wanted to fire him. “I wanted him to be my attack dog,” said Trump, “but he appears foolish on television. He dropped the college football trophy. He met with Pope Francis and the next day the pope died. Vance is toxic, and I don’t want him to come near me. He just doesn’t look as good on television as I thought he would.”   read more

No one can accuse Brennan of taking the easy road to the top. She began with the Postal Service in 1986 as a letter carrier in Lancaster, Pennsylvania. She subsequently worked her way up the ladder as a delivery and collection supervisor, processing plant manager in Reading and Lehigh Valley, Pennsylvania, and a district manager in Springfield, Massachusetts.   read more

Senator Mark Begich (D-Alaska) is trying to give a goodbye gift to the American people. The senator, who was voted out of office in November, has introduced a bill that would direct the Federal Trade Commission (FTC) to add calls from Super PACs and other dark money groups to the list of those to whom the “Do-Not-Call Registry” would apply. Also subject to Begich’s ban would be robocalls and push-polls, which instead of measuring public sentiment are actually attempts to influence voters.   read more

The New Jersey Division of Fish and Wildlife is now the proud owner of 16 M-14 automatic rifles, supplied by the Department of Defense’s 1033 program. Department of Environmental Protection spokesman Larry Ragonese told the Newark Star-Ledger, "we will not engage in a public dialogue in the media to detail our operational procedures.”   read more

Even the state of Alaska, normally sympathetic to oil interests, has taken notice of the problem. A 2013 report called the problem “unprecedented…due to the distance that sulfolane has traveled in groundwater, and the number of properties affected with private drinking water wells.”   read more

Mark R. Rosekind, a member of the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB), was nominated by President Barack Obama on November 18, 2014, to lead the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. During his career, Rosekind has specialized in issues relating to sleep and fatigue. At his Senate confirmation hearing on December 3, Rosekind said that, if confirmed, his “first focus will be on the recall defect and reporting process."   read more

In 2009, Kariyawasam was made high commissioner to India, as well as ambassador to Afghanistan and Bhutan. While in New Delhi, Kariyawasam created a controversy when he urged that some Indian Members of Parliament be investigated for ties to the Tamil Tigers, the rebel group that fought a civil war in Sri Lanka for more than 25 years.   read more

Under President Obama, whom many conservatives claim is a tax-and-spend liberal, federal spending has declined after decades of increases. Data from the Office of Management and Budget shows that in 1965, government spending was $118 billion. For the next 44 years, that figure steadily went up through 2009, when outlays totaled $3.5 trillion. But starting in 2010 and for the next four years, there was no growth in nominal spending.   read more

The target of the federal case is FastTrain II Corporation and its owner, Alejandro Amor, who ran seven private schools across Florida until they closed in 2012. The complaint says that the company “employed female exotic dancers as admissions representatives at least one campus to lure young male students.” A 15-count indictment against FastTrain says it conspired to steal government funds by filing false claims with the Education Department.   read more

Tagtow has been somewhat of a lightning rod for criticism from the right for her work to make food systems sustainable and ecologically sound, being accused of wanting to force plant-based diets and grass-fed meat and dairy animal products on Americans.   read more

The average income last year for Telfair residents was $17,536 after falling 1.2% from 2012. That’s more than $6,000 below the federal poverty line ($23,283 for a family of four), according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Telfair has only 16,000 residents, 61% of whom are white. African Americans make up 36% of the population.   read more

José Luis Fialho Rocha, a longtime member of his country’s foreign ministry, took over as Cabo Verde’s ambassador to the United States on May 12, 2014. Cabo Verde, also known as Cape Verde, is located off the coast of West Africa and has a population 0f about 512,000. More than 100,000 Americans are of Cape Verdean ancestry or were born in Cabo Verde.   read more

Justice lawyers obtained a record amount--$5.69 billion--in deals negotiated with the likes of Bank of America (BofA), Johnson & Johnson (J&J) and other violators this past year. Never before had the Justice Department exceeded $5 billion in cases under the False Claims Act. Since Obama took office in January 2009, the agency has produced $22.75 billion in settlements under the act. BofA and J&J accounted for half of the monies collected for fraud and false claims cases during FY 2014.   read more

With so much riding on the success of the new health law, the Obama administration felt it necessary to inflate the number of Americans who had signed up for health insurance. They tried pulling off this statistical sleight of hand by combining the number of people who had purchased dental coverage on the exchanges with those buying health insurance. Somehow, the officials didn’t think anyone would notice…despite the fact they had previously reported the dental and medical totals separately.   read more

Tom Colicchio, José Andrés, Art Smith and Sam Talbot are among the 700 chefs supporting a congressional bill mandating GMO labeling. The petition they signed states: “As chefs, we know that choosing the right ingredients is an absolutely critical part of cooking. But when it comes to whether our ingredients contain genetically modified organisms, we're in the dark. It’s time for Congress to move us forward, not backward, when it comes to our right to know what’s in our food.”   read more

Tom Atchison makes those living at his homeless facility work concession stands at various sporting events. The homeless also perform construction, landscaping, telemarketing, moving, painting, and grant-writing for Atchison. No salaries are provided for the jobs they perform. They receive only food and shelter. All of the money earned at the concession stands goes to Atchison's operation.   read more

The buyer determined after driving the truck about 3,000 miles that the vehicle was defective, and returned it to Paccar, demanding a refund. Paccar went so far as refunding the purchase price of $135,847 plus interest. But it refused to refund the $53 title fee. So the customer sued Paccar in court, and wound up winning a $369,196 judgment, plus a $157,697 attorneys’ fees award. Paccar is now on the hook for half a million dollars all because it wouldn’t cough up $53.   read more