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

Since 1998, Rodriguez has been at Arizona State University (ASU). She first was an assistant professor in ASU’s School of Criminology and Criminal Justice and in 2004 was made associate professor in that school. In 2012, she was named ASU’s associate dean for student engagement in the College of Public Programs. Rodriguez recently completed a study of prosecution and sentencing practices of imprisoned drug offenders before and after Arizona’s mandatory drug treatment law was enacted.   read more

At least three people have died in New York State from shoveling snow during the extreme storm that hit the region—a higher fatality count than the number of people who have died from Ebola in the U.S. Once the storm ends, the media coverage of it will melt away. But the reporting frenzy over Ebola could continue indefinitely. However, shoveling snow is a bigger health problem for Americans than Ebola. Dr. Franklin said the annual number of deaths from shoveling snow might be close to 200.   read more

Oops, they did it again. The Republican Party, despite vowing to be more inclusive of women and minorities, has chosen white men to lead all but one House committee. Over in the Senate, all but one standing committee will be led by a man. “Republicans promised to be more welcoming to women—but passed over women to give every single new committee chairmanship to a white man,” Spokeswoman Emily Bittner at the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee said in a statement.   read more

The commission recommended that the federal government create a way for police and firefighters from different jurisdictions to communicate with each other in a crisis—something they couldn’t do during the response to the 9/11 attacks. Congress authorized the FCC to reserve certain broadcast frequencies for public safety use. The FCC auctioned off a band of wireless frequencies to telecommunications companies, which netted more than $11 billion to establish the network, FirstNet.   read more

The focus of the controversy is the Border Patrol’s Sandusky Bay Station, which has disproportionately targeted Hispanics since 2008, the plaintiffs say. Professor Kara Joyner says 85% of those arrested by Sandusky Bay agents have been Hispanic, even though the minority group makes up only 3% of the local population. Emails obtained as a result of the lawsuit show that Cory Bammer, who’s in charge of the Sandusky Bay office, has used racial slurs to refer to Latino workers.   read more

Prosecutors won their case against Jackson by relying on the testimony of then 13-year-old Edward Vernon—who recently admitted he lied under pressure from police about what he saw on May 19, 1975, the day Franks was shot and killed. “The detective said that I was too young to go to jail, but he would arrest my parents for perjury because I was backing out,” Vernon said. “My mom was sick at that time, and that really scared me. I didn’t want my parents to get in trouble over this.”   read more

While some would argue the salaries of the chief executives were too high, the point of the Institute’s report is the many tax credits, loopholes and deductions that allow businesses to reduce their tax bill and in some cases, get money back from the federal government. Boeing had the highest CEO salary of the seven, with $23.3 million going to top man James McNerney Jr. Meanwhile, the aircraft manufacturer and major government contractor enjoyed an $82 million refund from the IRS.   read more

A document from 1961 by then-Defense Secretary McNamara regarding development of strategic nuclear missiles was fully released for public viewing in 1996. But the version of the document at the National Archives has been “heavily excised” of key information … that, again, was made public 18 years ago. Similarly, another 1961 memo, this one from the Joint Chiefs chairman to McNamara was mostly declassified long ago. But the National Archives and Pentagon censored large portions of it.   read more

In the period from 2011 to 2013, employment among veterans of both genders of the wars was 79%, compared to 70% of nonveterans. Employment among male Gulf War veterans was 84%. Men who served in Iraq and Afghanistan last decade had a lower, though still impressive rate of 78%. Both groups of veterans were better off than nonveteran men, whose employment rate was 75%. Similarly, women who served in both wars have struggled less with unemployment.   read more

Police were suspected by a defense attorney of using the StingRay system, which can capture information about cell phone calls and users, to collect data about their client. So the lawyer pressed Detective Haley in court about how the department obtained certain evidence against the accused. The judge told the officer to answer the question, but the prosecution instead withdrew evidence, including a handgun and cellphone, from the case so they wouldn’t get in trouble with the FBI.   read more

Government installations covered by overflight restrictions include the Kennedy Space Center, the sky over presidential retreat Camp David, and the Bush family compound in Maine. But then there’s restricted airspace over Disneyland and Disney World, brought about by a provision slipped into a 2003 spending bill. Aircraft are also barred, of course, from flying over the conspiratorially-rich secret government complex in Nevada, Area 51.   read more

"Potential modern slavery cases were reported in fifty states” in 2013. Most of those in the U.S. reside in slave-like conditions because of prostitution or financial debts, and they can be found in many areas of society. “The report explains that slaves are forced to perform domestic work and home healthcare, they work in the food industry, as well as in construction, agriculture, nursing, factories and garment-manufacturing, among other sectors.”   read more

Two of al Qaeda’s top financiers are reportedly living with impunity in Qatar, according to U.S. treasury official David Cohen. Both men are on an international terrorism blacklist. They also have close ties to the country’s ruling elite. Meanwhile, the Qatari government insists it does not support terrorism, and it refuses to disclose any information about al-Subai and al-Nuaymi. Qatar is scheduled to host the 2022 World Cup.   read more

The IG’s 2013 audit report revealed that the agency’s IT operations had 6,000 cybersecurity vulnerabilities that needed fixing and it listed 35 corrective actions to be taken. Stephen Warren, VA’s IT executive, said that the 6,000 vulnerabilities isn’t really that large of a number if viewed in the proper context: “When you talk about 6,000 vulnerabilities, we treat them all as important, but when you look at it on the scale you've got to put some balance in it.”   read more

The employees who died had responded to a faulty valve that was releasing deadly gas throughout the plant. Inspectors from OSHA hadn’t checked the plant in seven years. At that time two violations for management of hazardous chemicals were issued. DuPont had been hit with tougher penalties by the EPA after the agency found violations of hazardous waste management and air emissions standards. The plant had also has been cited by Texas regulators for repeatedly breaking state laws.   read more

“The 113 plant illustrations...seem to depict no flora found on Earth," wrote Allison Meier. There are also "visuals of the cosmos, a small army of naked women cavorting through pools of water, and the arcane alphabet that has so frustrated linguists and cryptographers." One theory is that the manuscript was created to serve as a medieval guide to creating medicinal drugs. A linguist in the UK devised sounds to match the book’s unusual symbols and claimed that he decoded 14 of them.   read more