Comey tried to reveal Russian plot before election — Obama administration officials blocked: report

FBI Director James Comey attempted to go public as early as the summer of 2016 with information on Russia’s campaign to influence the U.S. presidential election, but Obama administration officials blocked him from doing so, two sources with knowledge of the matter tell Newsweek.

Well before the Department of Homeland Security and the Office of the Director of National Intelligence accused the Russian government with tampering with U.S. elections in an October 7 statement, Comey pitched the idea of writing an op-ed about the Russian campaign during a meeting in the White House’s situation room in June or July. “He had a draft of it or an outline, he held up a piece of paper in a meeting and said, ‘I want to go forward, what do people think of this?’” says a source with knowledge of the meeting , which included Secretary of State John Kerry, Attorney General Loretta Lynch, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security director and the national security adviser.

Lithuania Gears Up for War With Russia

Donald Trump may admire Vladimir Putin, but Russia’s neighbors are readying for war. Over the past few years, the government of Lithuania has ramped up defense spending, begged NATO for troops, proposed building a fence along its border, and distributed detailed manuals briefing its three million citizens on what to do if Russia invades. The country has also reinstated military conscription, which was abolished in 2008. Men between the ages of 19 and 26 must now complete nine months of compulsory military service. So far, though, the move has proven premature: So many citizens have volunteered for duty that the government hasn’t needed to implement the draft.

Here’s How Much Internet Providers Gave Lawmakers Who Voted To Let Them Sell Your Data

House Republicans voted to overturn privacy rules Tuesday that were introduced by the Obama administration to prevent telecommunications and cable companies from sharing customers’ personal data without their consent or knowledge.

That data may include your web browsing history, Social Security number, information about your health and other sensitive details.

Bombardier Execs Get 50% Raise Amid Layoffs, Government Aid

MONTREAL — Bombardier's senior executives saw their compensation rise by nearly 50 per cent last year at a time when it laid off thousands of workers, sought government aid and saw the first CSeries passenger jet take flight.

Total compensation for the Montreal-based company's top five executives and board chairman Pierre Beaudoin was US$32.6 million in 2016, up from US$21.9 million the year before, according to a proxy circular ahead of its May 11 annual meeting.

Iowa GOP abortion bill will grant parents of unmarried women rights to control adult daughters’ bodies

An anti-abortion bill being offered by Republicans in Iowa would effectively ban all abortions and give parents rights over the bodies of unmarried adult daughters.

A state House panel on Wednesday voted to send SF 471 — the so-called “personhood” bill — to the full committee. The bill states that life begins at conception, giving fetuses the same rights as people.

Theresa May’s Empty Brexit Promises

Brexit has begun. On Tuesday evening, Theresa May, the British Prime Minister, signed a letter formally giving notice that the United Kingdom intends to leave the European Union. On Wednesday, Sir Tim Barrow, the U.K.’s Ambassador to the E.U., delivered the letter to Donald Tusk, the president of the European Council. Next up: a long set of talks about the terms of Britain’s exit.

“When I sit around the negotiating table in the months ahead, I will represent every person in the United Kingdom—young and old, rich and poor, city, town, country, and all the villages and hamlets in between,” May told the House of Commons on Wednesday. “It is my fierce determination to get the right deal for every single person in this country. For, as we face the opportunities ahead of us on this momentous journey, our shared values, interests, and ambitions can—and must—bring us together.”

BC Pays a ‘Huge Premium’ for Contracting Out Health Admin: Analyst

When looking at how payments to a private contractor to administer the Medical Service Plan and Pharmacare programs have ballooned, the real comparison should be to what it would cost the B.C. government to do the work itself, says a former government policy analyst.

“It’s a huge, huge premium we’re paying for this, compared to what it would cost if we were doing it in house,” said Don Scott, a retired civil servant who worked for MSP from 1998 to 2004.

The people behind the Planned Parenthood videos were just charged with 15 felonies in California

California prosecutors charged two anti-abortion activists with 15 felony counts on Tuesday for invasions of privacy associated with the Center for Medical Progress’ deceptively edited Planned Parenthood videos.

The Center for Medical Progress published the videos online in 2015, triggering a wave of controversy, threats, and attacks — both political and physical — on Planned Parenthood. David Daleiden, one of the two activists being prosecuted, said that the videos show Planned Parenthood conspiring to sell “aborted baby parts” for profit.

Two black women hit Fox News with lawsuit claiming ‘top-down racial harassment’

Two black women filed a lawsuit on Tuesday against Fox News for racial discrimination they experienced while working at the news network, the New York Times reports.

Tichaona Brown and Tabrese Wright, who managed and coordinated the payroll department, accused Fox’s former comptroller, Judith Slater, of “top-down racial harassment.” Brown and Wright allege in their case that Slater made comments calling black men “women beaters” and about black people wanting to cause physical harm to white people.

Republicans Just Voted to Let Internet Service Providers Sell Your Browsing History

The Republican-controlled US House of Representatives on Tuesday repealed privacy rules that would have required internet service providers such as Comcast and Time Warner Cable to get consumers’ consent before selling or sharing their web browsing data with advertisers and other companies.

“Consumers should be in control of their own information,” Rep. Jared Polis, (D-Colo.) said in testifying against the bill. “They shouldn’t be forced to sell and give that information to who-knows-who simply for the price of admission for access to the internet.”