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In there's no way Vader signed off on this news, this is the 'Nino Star Products Pool Float Black Outdoor' available from Amazon. It costs around $25, kinda looks like a Darth Vader a kid drew, and I can't imagine Darth doesn't wish they all melted in the destruction of the first Death Star. "What am I, a joke to you?!" I imagine him demanding as he Force-chokes the commander who signed off on using his likeness for a cartoony pool float as the other who signed off on the line of upcoming Vader sex toys casually backs out of the room intending to catch the first dropship to Tatooine. Keep going for one more shot of Vader at his most humiliated.

The Government's testing tsar has said he is "confident" that the 100,000 daily target for coronavirus tests will be met on Thursday.

Catch up with up to three friends via Whatsapp's group video call feature

George Thompson, 64, a former employee of the Transportation Security Administration in Minneapolis, pleaded guilty today in federal court to violating the Matthew Shepard and James Byrd Jr. Hate Crimes Prevention Act by assaulting an 83-year-old Somali man on May 4, 2010.

No one understood this better than Gerardo Hernandez – a passionate public servant who stood on the front lines of our struggle to prevent terrorism. But what made Gerardo Hernandez a hero was not only how he died – in the line of duty, becoming the first member of the Transportation Security Administration to lose his life in service of his country.

Attorney General Eric Holder today released the following statement regarding the case of Dzhokhar Tsarnaev.

by J. David McSwane

The Transportation Security Administration ignored guidance from the Department of Homeland Security and internal pushback from two agency officials when it stockpiled more than 1.3 million N95 respirator masks instead of donating them to hospitals, internal records and interviews show.

Internal concerns were raised in early April, when COVID-19 cases were growing by the thousands and hospitals in some parts of the country were overrun and desperate for supplies. The agency held on to the cache of life-saving masks even as the number of people coming through U.S. airports dropped by 95% and the TSA instructed many employees to stay home to avoid being infected. Meanwhile, other federal agencies, including the Department of Veterans Affairs’ vast network of hospitals, scrounged for the personal protective equipment that doctors and nurses are dying without.

“We don’t need them. People who are in an infectious environment need them. Nobody is flying,” Charles Kielkopf, a TSA attorney based in Columbus, Ohio, told ProPublica. “You don’t take things for yourself. It’s the wrong thing to do.”

Kielkopf shared a copy of an official whistleblower complaint he filed Monday. In it, he alleges the agency had engaged in gross mismanagement that represented a “substantial and specific danger to public health.”

TSA has not required its screeners to wear N95s, which require fitting and training to use properly, and internal memos show most are using surgical masks, which are more widely available but are less effective and lack the same filtering ability.

Kielkopf raised a red flag last month about the TSA’s plan to store N95 respirators it had been given by Customs and Border Protection, which found more than a million old but usable masks in an Indiana warehouse. Both agencies are overseen by DHS. That shipment added to 116,000 N95s the TSA had left over from the swine flu pandemic of 2009, a TSA memo shows. While both stockpiles were older than the manufacturer’s recommended shelf life, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said that expired masks remain effective against spreading the virus.

Kielkopf and another TSA official in Minnesota suggested that the agency send its N95 masks to hospitals in early April, records show. Instead, TSA quietly stored many of them in its warehouse near the Dallas-Fort Worth airport and dispersed the rest to empty airports across the nation.

“We need to reserve medical masks for health care workers,” Kielkopf said, “not TSA workers who are behind an X-ray machine.”

The Number of Travelers Passing TSA Checkpoints Has Dropped to Historic Lows

The TSA didn’t provide answers to several detailed questions sent by ProPublica, but spokesman Mark Howell said in an email that the agency’s “highest priority is to ensure the health, safety and security of our workforce and the American people.”

“With the support of CBP and DHS, in April, TSA was able to ensure a sufficient supply of N95 masks would be available for any officer who chose to wear one and completed the requisite training,” the statement read.

“We are continuing to acquire additional personal protective equipment for our employees to ensure both their and the traveling public’s health and safety based on our current staffing needs, and as supplies become available,” TSA said.

A review of federal contracting data shows the agency has mostly made modest purchases such as a $231,000 purchase for gallons of disinfectant, but has not reported any new purchases of N95s.

An internal TSA memo last month said the surplus of N95s was expected to last the agency about 30 days, but the same memo noted that estimate did not account for the drastic decline in security officers working at airports. ProPublica asked how long the masks were actually going to last, accounting for the decreased staffing levels.

“While we cannot provide details on staffing, passenger throughput and corresponding operations have certainly decreased,” the TSA statement said.

The trade journal Government Executive reported this week that internal TSA records showed most employee schedules have been “sharply abbreviated,” while an additional 8,000 security screeners are on paid leave over concerns that they could be exposed to the virus.

More than 500 TSA employees have tested positive for COVID-19, the agency reported, and five have died.

The CDC has not recommended the use of N95s by TSA staff, records show, but that doesn’t mean workers who have or want to wear them can’t.

In one April 7 email, DHS Deputy Under Secretary for Management Randolph D. Alles sent guidance to TSA officials, urging them to wear homemade cloth face coverings and maintain social distancing. But the N95s, which block 95% of particles that can transmit the virus, were in notoriously short supply and should be “reserved” for health care workers.

“The CDC has given us very good information about how to make masks that are suitable, so that we can continue to reserve medical masks and PPE for healthcare workers battling the COVID-19 pandemic,” Alles wrote.

But two days later, on April 9, Cliff Van Leuven, TSA’s federal security director in Minnesota, followed up and asked why he had been sent thousands of masks despite that guidance.

“I just received 9,000 N-95 masks that I have very little to no need for,” he said in the email, which was first reported by Government Executive. “We’ve made N95s available to our staff and, of the officers who wear masks, they overwhelmingly prefer the surgical masks we just received after a couple months on back order.”

Minnesota Gov. Tim Walz had publicly asked that anyone who had PPE donate their surplus to the state’s Department of Health, Van Leuven said in the email to senior TSA staff.

“I’d like to donate the bulk of our current stock of N-95s in support of that need and keep a small supply on hand,” he wrote, adding the Minneapolis-St. Paul International Airport had screened fewer than 1,500 people the previous day, about a third of which were airport staff.

Van Leuven declined to comment, referring questions to a TSA spokesperson.

Later that day, Kielkopf forwarded the concerns to TSA attorneys in other field offices, trying to get some attention to the stockpile he felt would be better used at hospitals.

“I am sharing with you some issues we are having with n95 masks in Minnesota,” he wrote. “And the tension between our increasing supply of n95 masks at our TSA airport locations and the dire need for them in the medical community.”

Weeks went by, and finally, on May 1, Kielkopf wrote: “I have been very disappointed in our position to keep tens of thousands of n95 masks while healthcare workers who have a medical requirement for the masks — because of their contact with infected people — still go without.”

DHS did not respond to ProPublica’s questions about why it transferred N95 masks to TSA despite a top official saying they should be reserved for healthcare workers.

“So now the TSA position is that we desperately need these masks for the protection of our people,” Kielkopf said. “At the same time, most of our people aren’t even working. It’s a complete 180 that doesn’t make any sense.”

Do you have access to information about federal contracts that should be public? Email david.mcswane@propublica.org. Here’s how to send tips and documents to ProPublica securely.

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Photo: Toyota The Japanese Government Told Toyota to do the Same Now's not a good time for Toyota, and it's not a good time for the 2010 Prius hybrid, a kind of "halo" car for the company. Yesterday, I wrote about an acceleration problem that Apple

Activists everywhere were outraged by their latest public service message.

Two Jedi performers ascend the world’s tallest building

The PetSafe® Automatic Ball Launcher Makes Playing Catch Easy

Learn more about the 2016 PetSafe® Bark for Your Park™ grant-giving program in this video.

Two Jedi performers ascend the world’s tallest building

The PetSafe® Automatic Ball Launcher Makes Playing Catch Easy

Learn more about the 2016 PetSafe® Bark for Your Park™ grant-giving program in this video.

Мессенджер затянул, как минимум, запуск групповых видеозвонков..

Argentina defeated Russia 5-4 in a dramatic FIFA Futsal World Cup Colombia 2016 final at the Coliseo el Pueblo in Cali to win the country's first-ever Futsal World Cup title.

If there is one thing that made the FIFA Futsal World Cup Colombia 2016 a turning point in the history of the sport, then it was Argentina's maiden title win. ​FIFA.com ​looks back at a groundbreaking tournament.

MEDELLIN, COLOMBIA - SEPTEMBER 27: General view of play during the FIFA Futsal World Cup semi-final match between Iran and Russia at Coliseo Ivan de Bedout on September 27, 2016 in Medellin, Colombia. (Photo by Jan Kruger - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)

MEDELLIN, COLOMBIA - SEPTEMBER 27: General view of play during the FIFA Futsal World Cup semi-final match between Iran and Russia at Coliseo Ivan de Bedout on September 27, 2016 in Medellin, Colombia. (Photo by Jan Kruger - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)

MEDELLIN, COLOMBIA - SEPTEMBER 10: Players of Russia huddle prior to the FIFA Futsal World Cup Group B match between Thailand and Russia at Coliseo Ivan de Bedout stadium on September 10, 2016 in Medellin, Colombia. (Photo by Alex Caparros - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)

MEDELLIN, COLOMBIA - SEPTEMBER 20: Players shake hand at the end of the match during the FIFA Futsal World Cup round of 16 match between Russia and Vietnam at Coliseo Ivan de Bedout on September 20, 2016 in Medellin, Colombia. (Photo by Jan Kruger - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)

CALI, COLOMBIA - SEPTEMBER 24: The Russian dressing room is seen ahead of the FIFA Futsal World Cup Quarter-Final match between Russia and Spain at the Coliseo el Pueblo Stadium on September 24, 2016 in Cali, Colombia. (Photo by Ian MacNicol - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)

CALI, COLOMBIA - SEPTEMBER 28: The Stadium is seen prior to the FIFA Futsal World Cup Semi Final match between Argentina and Portugal at the Coliseo el Pueblo Stadium on September 28, 2016 in Cali, Colombia. (Photo by Ian MacNicol - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)

Players of Argentina celebrate after the FIFA Futsal World Cup Semi-Final match between Argentina and Portugal at the Coliseo El Pueblo stadium on September 28, 2016 in Cali, Colombia. (Photo by Alex Caparros - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)

CALI, COLOMBIA - SEPTEMBER 28: Argentina are seen prior to the FIFA Futsal World Cup Semi Final match between Argentina and Portugal at the Coliseo el Pueblo Stadium on September 28, 2016 in Cali, Colombia. (Photo by Ian MacNicol - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)

A Montage showing Sergey Skorovich, coach of Russia, and Diego Giustozzi, coach of Argentina, at the FIFA Futsal World Cup Colombia 2016

CALI, COLOMBIA - OCTOBER 01: (EDITORS NOTE: Image has been converted using digital filters) The name boards of the two finalists are seen ahead of the FIFA Futsal World Cup final between Russia and Argentina at Coliseo el Pueblo on October 1, 2016 in Cali, Colombia. (Photo by Jan Kruger - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)

CALI, COLOMBIA - OCTOBER 01: Gianni Infantino is seen during the FIFA Futsal World Cup Third Place play off match between Iran and Portugal at the Coliseo el Pueblo Stadium on on October 1, 2016 in Cali, Colombia. (Photo by Ian MacNicol - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)

The official ball of the Colombia 2016 FIFA Futsal World Cup is photographed ahead of the final match at the Coliseo El Pueblo stadium, in Cali, Colombia on October 1, 2016. / AFP / LUIS ROBAYO

Gianni Infantino is seen during the FIFA Futsal World Cup Third Place play off match between Iran and Portugal at the Coliseo el Pueblo Stadium on on October 1, 2016 in Cali, Colombia. (Photo by Ian MacNicol - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)

Diego Giustozzi was a tennis player and customs agent before deciding to focus his energy on his main passion: futsal. A perfectionist and always eager to learn, the 38-year-old was the mastermind behind Argentina's historic triumph. He observed first-hand how Manuel Pellegrini, Pep Guardiola, Luis Enrique and Gerardo Martino, among others, go about their work, and adapted his findings to futsal.

Brazilian futsal player Falcao receives an award from FIFA President Gianni Infantino during the Colombia 2016 FIFA Futsal World Cup at the Coliseo El Pueblo stadium, in Cali, Colombia on October 1, 2016. Falcao played five World Cups, won two world titles, two golden balls and one golden boot among others. (Photo by Gabriel Aponte/LatinContent/Getty Images)

Brazilian futsal player Falcao receives an award from FIFA President Gianni Infantino during the Colombia 2016 FIFA Futsal World Cup at the Coliseo El Pueblo stadium, in Cali, Colombia on October 1, 2016. Falcao played five World Cups, won two world titles, two golden balls and one golden boot among others. (Photo by Gabriel Aponte/LatinContent/Getty Images)

Several dozen fans followed Argentina to Colombia and the team responded to that show of passion, winning six games and drawing just one. The two most important results came at crucial moments against title rivals: a 5-2 win over Portugal in the semi-finals and, pictured here, the 5-4 victory over Russia in the final in Cali.

Teams line up for the national anthems during the FIFA Futsal World Cup final between Russia and Argentina at Coliseo el Pueblo on October 1, 2016 in Cali, Colombia. (Photo by Jan Kruger - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)

CALI, COLOMBIA - OCTOBER 01: Fernando Wilhelm of Argentina holds the trophy during the FIFA Futsal World Cup Final match between Russia and Argentina at the Coliseo el Pueblo Stadiumon October 1, 2016 in Cali, Colombia. (Photo by Ian MacNicol - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)

At the first seven editions of the FIFA Futsal World Cup, Brazil and Spain were the only nations to ever win the title. But at Colombia 2016, Argentina caused an upset with a team that combined tactics, technique and fighting spirit. The winners of the individual awards underlined the quality of the champions: Fernando Wilhelm took the adidas Golden Ball and Nicolas Sarmiento the adidas Golden Glove.

CALI, COLOMBIA - OCTOBER 01: Players of Argentina celebrate after the victory during the FIFA Futsal World Cup Final match between Russia and Argentina at the Coliseo El Pueblo stadium on October 1, 2016 in Cali, Colombia. (Photo by Alex Caparros - FIFA/FIFA via Getty Images)