It’s Official: Obama signs USA Freedom Act

6/3/2015 Well, the rapturous joy that recently liberated American phone call enthusiasts have exuded will now be quelled after a rousing 48-hour celebration in the streets of major U.S. cities everywhere. The Mardi Gras-level celebration quickly subsided as individuals began shouting from the rooftops last night, “Hang up your phones! The Freedom Act is coming,


TSA’s Explosive Failure

6/3/2015 ABC News reported late Monday night that Transportation Security Administration (TSA) agents recently allowed 67 of 70 fake bombs through airport security checkpoints in a widespread test conducted by Homeland Security special agents under direction from the department’s Office of the Inspector General. In one case, the tester even set off the metal detector


Facebook, Apple, among others are Fighting Back against NSA-Spying

6/2/2015 Knowing how to kick a law when it’s down, Facebook unveiled a new encryption component to its website, which allows users to send and receive emails as well as Facebook notifications that organizations like the National Security Agency (NSA) are unable to view. In the wake of the temporary halting of the NSA spying


Standoff in Springfield

6/2/2015 Much like Sunday’s last-minute drama in the U.S. Senate over extending parts of the Patriot Act to authorize the NSA-spying program, the Illinois legislature was hard at work Sunday night trying to patch together a massive budget gap before the end of its spring session. The results of the failed last-ditch effort to reconcile



FIFAIL! How did Blatter get Re-elected?

6/1/2015 Somehow, some way, incumbent FIFA president Sepp Blatter was re-elected on Friday, May 29th despite Wednesday’s U.S. Justice Department’s 47-count indictment and the arrests by Swiss authorities of several executives at FIFA’s Zurich headquarters. The shocking nature of Blatter’s election to a fifth term is the fact that it wasn’t really very shocking. This


Pound Institute names Issacharoff Inaugural Appellate Advocacy Award Winner

5/31/2015 Officers and Trustees of the Pound Civil Justice Institute announced on Thursday, May 28th that they have awarded New York University Law professor and BP settlement attorney, Samuel Issacharoff the winner of the think-tank’s first Appellate Advocacy Award. Issacharoff is being awarded the honor for his tireless efforts working on the Deepwater Horizon lawsuit against


How long until Power Morcellators are Banned?

5/29/2015 Despite the ongoing FBI investigation of Johnson & Johnson’s manufacturing division, Ethicon, and a strong Food and Drug Administration (FDA) warning issued last year, power morcellators are still legal. The device grinds up tissue mass, and is then removed through a series of small incisions. The device, which is used to provide minimally invasive


‘World Cup of Fraud’

5/28/2015 In what looks to be the most widespread and lucrative corruption scandal in the global history of sport, the U.S. Justice Department has unsealed a 47-count indictment against 14 executives of the worldwide soccer governing body, FIFA. The executives are being charged with racketeering, wire fraud, and money laundering. The Justice Department alleges that


Supreme Court Rules War is not Excuse for missed Whistleblower Deadlines

5/27/2015 In a decision that helps to define the statute of limitations for whistleblower cases, the Supreme Court unanimously ruled Tuesday, May 26th that whistleblowers do not get extra time to file false claims complaints during a time of war. The case revolves around former Iraq contractor, Benjamin Carter, whose 2011 complaint under review alleges