The majority of voters did not vote for Donald Trump for president; the majority of voters did not vote for Republican candidates for the Senate; and fewer than 51% of voters cast their ballots for Republican candidates for the House of Representatives. The Republican Party now controls the White House, both houses of Congress and the Supreme Court, no matter how that came to be. I believe it is worth bearing in mind that a majority of U.S. citizens did not support the Republican winners.   read more

The most recent Department of Defense report lists buildings in 38 foreign nations and territories. The U.S. has 179 bases in Germany and 109 installations in Japan. Even where the U.S. doesn’t send military personnel, the U.S. does send weapons. The United States is the world largest arms exporter. From 2010 to 2014, Americans sent weapons to at least 94 countries.   read more

Give the Forest Service credit—they’re persistent. The agency in 2012 allowed Arch Coal—the nation’s second largest oil company—to exploit an exemption in the Colorado Roadless Rule designed to protect wilderness areas in the state from mining. Environmental groups sued. A judge last year blocked Arch’s plans. Now, the Forest Service is trying again to allow Arch to put six miles of road, along with 48 vent pads, in 19,000 acres in the southwestern part of the state. .   read more

The research showed that buildings hooked up to well water had a 21% higher radon concentration than those connected to municipal supplies. In addition, buildings in townships, where there is more fracking, had 39% higher concentrations of the gas than those in cities.   read more

The largest of the flipped counties is California’s San Diego County, which was 55.4% non-Hispanic white in 2000. By 2013, only 47.2% of its 3,211,252 residents were in that category. The next largest is neighboring Orange County, California, long seen as a bastion of white privilege and power. The greatest percentage shift was seen in Rockdale County, Georgia. That county, which is east of Atlanta, went from 72.8% non-Hispanic white in 2000 to only 37.8% in 2013.   read more

Servers are required to wear at least bikini bottoms and pasties, so they’re not so much X-rated as a hard R. In addition, partitions are placed between the building and the street to protect children and others who don’t want to see the servers. Coffee stands whose workers wear regular clothing often declare themselves to be “family friendly.”   read more

One of the U.S. Navy’s biggest embarrassments continues to produce serious fallout for top military personnel. The scandal has unearthed stories of “yummy” prostitutes, Spanish suckling pigs, and spa treatments. Three admirals have been censured for accepting “lavish gifts from Leonard Francis, known as Fat Leonard for his corpulent profile and grandiose lifestyle,” wrote Katherine Peters. Navy Capt. Dusek admitted to passing along classified information in exchange for prostitutes and cash.   read more

After arriving in the U.S. five years ago, Morales became a community leader on immigration issues in Iowa. He applied for asylum, explaining that he would be in danger if he were deported, but the petition was denied by an immigration judge. He sought help from Iowa politicians, including U.S. Senator Chuck Grassley (R), asking them to help him remain in the U.S. The efforts failed, and he was deported to Mexico on September 2, 2014. On April 5, Morales was shot to death.   read more

Judge Richard Griffin wrote that St. Johns’ ban “implies, without any evidence, that charities would be negligent in failing to conduct timely pickups of donated goods, in maintaining the appearance of the bins, etc.” Charity bins are a form of communication, said the court. “A passer-by who sees a donation bin may be motivated by it to research the charity to decide if he wants to donate [and] will gain new information about the social problem the charity seeks to remedy."   read more

There are some non-organic ingredients allowed in foods labeled organic. These are permitted because they are judged to be not harmful and there are no organic alternatives. Those ingredients are removed from the list after five years unless the National Organic Standards Board votes to retain them. But USDA changed its policy in 2013, allowing such ingredients to remain on the National List of Allowed and Prohibited Substances unless the board specifically votes to remove them.   read more

The group Women on 20s says Andrew Jackson is the perfect candidate to be replaced on paper money. Although he was a great military leader, Jackson was also a slave trader and responsible for the forced resettlement of Native Americans from the Southeast United States to Oklahoma on the “Trail of Tears.” Coincidentally, he also favored the use of gold and silver over paper money, which makes his presence on U.S. currency somewhat ironic.   read more

First built in the 1960s, Cheyenne Mountain was set up as a critical communications center deep inside Colorado's Rocky Mountains, where it was believed Air Force personnel could survive a nuclear attack from the Soviet Union. The Air Force had since largely pulled out of Cheyenne Mountain, believing there was no longer a nuclear threat. Military officials haven't explained why they are now upgrading the complex, for which defense contractor Raytheon won a $700 million contract.   read more

Warrants were issued for Jonathan Bank, former CIA station chief in Islamabad, and John A. Rizzo, formerly the top CIA lawyer who legally authorized drone strikes inside Pakistan. Justice Shaukat Aziz Siddiqui of the Islamabad high court said both Americans should be tried for murder in connection with a December 2009 attack that reportedly killed at least three people. The legal move forced Bank to leave the country. He now works in the U.S. military’s intelligence wing.   read more

Tax cheats in the Dallas area who owe less than a $1 million need not worry about the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) knocking on their doors. Five years of budget cuts has forced the Dallas IRS office to forego pursuing individuals who owe between $100,000 and $999,000. “I have to say, sorry, we can’t get that money,” Richard Christian, supervisory revenue officer in the Dallas region, told The Washington Post. “Nobody’s ever going to knock on their door.”   read more

The first-ever murder trial to come out of the nation’s highest-security prison has prompted the judge in the case to assign jurors special anonymous identifiers as a security precaution. After a juror asked if it was safe to be involved with the trial, District Judge Robert Blackburn remarked: “Our security protocol is robust and comprehensive both inside and outside of court.” He added: “Without trying to sound immodest, our security record is impeccable.”   read more

Campbell was not participating in the Zombie Walk, but was taking photographs of the undead while standing in a crosswalk. Pocci, who is deaf, found his car blocked by the zombie walkers. When he began to get rattled by the strange scene in front of him, he blew his horn and tried to drive ahead. That angered the zombies, who jumped on his car and broke his windshield. Becoming even more concerned for his safety and that of his passengers, he inched forward, struck Campbell and ran her over.   read more

The last two officials to run the FDA’s dietary supplement programs previously worked for the NPA, a trade group that has tried very hard to convince Congress not to create tougher standards for supplement makers. Daniel Fabricant was a senior NPA executive before joining the FDA. He has returned to the NPA as CEO. “To have former officials in the supplement industry become the chief regulators of that industry at the FDA is like the fox guarding the hen house,” said Michael Jacobson.   read more