The subcommittee, led by Rep. John Culberson, voted to eliminate funding for the National Institute of Justice and the Bureau of Justice Statistics, two of DOJ’s most important research and statistics agencies. Experts said the plan was a terrible idea and would cripple the Justice Department’s research efforts. “During a period of national attention to police-community relations and prison reform, Congress should strengthen, not destroy, [these agencies]," said criminologist Richard Rosenfeld.   read more

ATF has been criticized repeatedly in recent years for botched operations. Its Operation Fast and Furious embarrassment allowed thousands of guns to pass into criminal hands in the U.S. and Mexico. ATF also was exposed by the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel for a local operation in which agents lost guns, arrested the wrong people and used a mentally disabled man as a source. These messes and others led the Center for American Progress to call for ATF’s elimination and merger with the FBI.   read more

Robert Doggart, who ran unsuccessfully for Congress last year, has accepted a plea deal from federal prosecutors in which he admitted to interstate threats. A wiretap revealed he was plotting with a private militia to carry out a terrorist attack on a Muslim community. In one call, Doggart reportedly said, “we’re gonna be carrying an M4 with 500 rounds of ammunition...a pistol with 3 extra magazines and a machete. And if it gets down to the machete, we will cut them to shreds.”   read more

The change was so dramatic, researchers weren’t sure they had crunched the numbers correctly. “I was shocked, I’ll be honest with you,” said epidemiologist Jeffrey Bridge. “I looked at it and I thought, ‘Did we do the analysis correctly? I thought we had made a mistake.’" Explanations included “that black children are more likely to be exposed to violence and traumatic stress...[have] early onset of puberty" and more likely to be subject to “aggressive school discipline.”   read more

Rep. Stephen Fincher's bill would change consumer protection provisions to almost exclusively benefit Clayton Homes, a company controlled by Buffett’s Berkshire Hathaway. Clayton buyers are often stuck with loans that come with interest rates that can exceed 15%. Loans offered by Clayton companies average 7 percentage points higher than conventional home loans usually cost. Clayton dealers also get kickbacks for steering business to companies linked to their corporate parent.   read more

The NSA has the ability to transcribe phone call conversations into written—and searchable—formats. Documents provided by whistleblower Edward Snowden revealed that the NSA 10 years ago developed a system to search recorded phone conversations and “even use sophisticated algorithms to flag conversations of interest." This “has happened with no apparent public oversight, hearings or legislative action. Congress hasn’t shown signs of even knowing that it’s going on,” said The Intercept.   read more

A new HRW report says 62% of military personnel who experienced unwanted sexual contact and reported it to military superiors were retaliated against in fiscal year 2014. In comparison, only 5% of military sexual assault cases in FY 2014 resulted in a conviction. This means victims were 12 times more likely to suffer for speaking out than attackers were to be punished. It is no wonder that only 25% of victims report sexual assaults to military authorities.   read more

The ban on military gear is by no means all-encompassing. Law enforcement will still have access to plenty of other military goods, including wheeled armored vehicles, manned aircraft, drones, specialized firearms, explosives, battering rams and riot batons, helmets and shields. These and other items will, however, come under stricter controls, including new requirements that police departments get approval from local government bodies before requesting military equipment from Washington.   read more

The military knows that children can become addicted to video games and that some, such as “Call to Duty,” can get them excited at the prospect of going into battle. The key is to get contact information on the potential recruits. That task has been made easier thanks to the No Child Left Behind Act. Part of that law’s mandate is that schools turn over personal information on students to military recruiters and allow them access to the schools for their message.   read more

The National Security Agency (NSA) is offering technology to local law enforcement agencies, including programs that pick different voices out of a crowd; cryptographic key generation; transmitter location; and even one that can facilitate the sorting of large amounts of data, such as that that might be gathered in a cell tower dump. Some of this technology can be used in conjunction with devices such as a Stingray, a cell tower mimicking device provided to some agencies by the FBI.   read more

The study showed that homes in predominately black and Latino neighborhoods were three times as likely to be foreclosed on than those in white neighborhoods, with those in mixed neighborhoods also at a higher risk of foreclosure. The problem was exacerbated when white families fled those neighborhoods and black or Latino families, taking advantage of lower housing prices, moved in.   read more

“Four people lost their lives and their families lost loved ones because DuPont did not have proper safety procedures in place,” said David Michaels. Despite the tough words, OSHA proposed a fine of only $99,000 for the violations. Considering DuPont generated $34.7 billion in revenue last year, the fine won’t amount to so much as a blip in the company’s annual report. In response to the OSHA citation, DuPont's Aaron Woods insisted that “safety is a core value and constant priority at DuPont.”   read more

The House Appropriations Committee has denied funding to the Congressional Research Service (CRS) to make its reports available to the taxpayers who pay for those reports. CRS’s talents lie in dissecting policy issues without regard to the ideological biases of those making its budget. Former CRS analyst Kevin Kosar wrote earlier this year that their reports are often not respected by Congress. "Lawmakers ignored our work or trashed us if our findings ran contrary to their beliefs,” he said.   read more

In 2010, there were 3,036 deaths in the U.S. involving heroin overdoses, a rate of 1.0 per 100,000 population. By 2013, the number had jumped to 8,257, a rate of 2.7 per 100,000. The demographics of the overdose victims have changed almost as dramatically. In 2000, African-Americans aged 45-64 had the highest rate of overdose deaths. By 2013, it was whites aged 18-44 who predominated. Men were far more likely to overdose than women.   read more

“Because the entire file has been kept secret, it’s not possible to know why Roberts, who is the chief judge of the D.C. circuit, has let Zubaydah’s case languish,” ProPublica reported. “But this much is clear: Keeping Zubaydah from telling his story is exactly what the CIA wanted from the moment it began to torture him." According to a CIA cable, the tortured and waterboarded Zubaydah is supposed to “remain in isolation and incommunicado for the remainder of his life.”   read more

Petraeus, who commanded U.S. forces in Afghanistan before running the CIA, fell from grace when he was caught giving diplomatic and military secrets to his biographer and then-lover, Paula Broadwell. A coalition of media groups has now asked the judge in the case to release his written reasons for the punishment. Petreaus’ attorney has agreed to turn over a media-requested sentencing memo, but wants one sentence blacked out. It’s unknown what the sentence says.   read more