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

Judge Rakoff has frequently criticized federal prosecutors for not being tougher on Wall Street defendants in the wake of last decade’s financial crisis. This time, however, the 71-year-old judge was miffed that the Justice Department (DOJ) said the commission was not permitted to recommend that case evidence be shared with criminal defendants. Accusing the DOJ of valuing “strategic advantage [for prosecutors] over a search for the truth,” Rakoff resigned to draw attention to the DOJ decision.   read more

Under the current system, it is possible for a Democratic presidential candidate to pick up one of Nebraska’s five electoral votes. Barack Obama accomplished this rare feat in 2008, which marked the first time that had happened for a Democrat since 1964 with Lyndon Johnson. GOP leaders now want to change state law and turn Nebraska into a winner-take-all state, as is the case with 48 other states. Republicans don’t want to see a Democrat snatching away any of those votes again—even one.   read more

States that attract elderly Americans for vacations or winter stays sometimes have higher testing rates for certain procedures. Florida, long a popular getaway for seniors, is one such state. The Times found three years ago that Florida doctors ordered more than twice the number of nuclear stress tests, echocardiograms and vascular ultrasounds per Medicare beneficiary than in Massachusetts. Florida is an “epicenter of Medicare abuse,” wrote the Times.   read more

Looking at the death records of 32,000 adults, researchers found those who identified as conservatives were 6% more likely to die during the study period, which covered 15 years. The results were surprising because earlier studies have shown that Republicans claimed to be healthier and happier, which often is accepted as a key indicator of longer life. Party affiliation was examined in the new study, too, and there it showed independents lived longer than both Republicans or Democrats.   read more

Volpicelli, now an adult, sued the IRS over $13,000 that the agency took from him at age 10 to cover a tax liability owed by his late father. They took the funds wrongly believing they belonged to the father. Volpicelli claimed he didn’t file his lawsuit until after he had turned 18, because he didn’t learn of the wrongful levy until then. The IRS contended that the lawsuit should be thrown out because the federal statute of limitations is nine months for challenging IRS’ tax levies.   read more

The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) collects a lot of crime data from cities, counties and states, but does not ask law enforcement who they are killing and why. While governments get ready to possibly gather that information, the website Killed by Police is attempting to fill the gap by crowdsourcing the question through Facebook.   read more

Eighty percent of those in this country could live for a month or less on the money available to them from checking and savings accounts and cash at home, according to research by the Pew Charitable Trusts. Even when counting the money that’s hard to access, such as that in 401(k) retirement accounts or getting more credit, the average household could replace only four months’ worth of income.   read more

If manufacturing is what’s boosting the recovery, the economy is hanging by the thin thread of computers and electronic components. That segment of the economy was responsible for 110% of all manufacturing growth between 2000 and 2009, according to a study (pdf) from the Information Technology & Innovation Foundation. That means that the rest of the manufacturing sector was actually performing worse in 2009 than it had been at the start of the decade.   read more

The blackout on information will include such minor details as the number of Afghans who are serving in the army or police force, their salaries and data on infrastructure projects. The restrictions directly affect the American watchdog in Afghanistan, the Special Inspector General for Afghanistan Reconstruction (SIGAR), John Sopko, who has regularly reported on spending blunders, shoddy construction of infrastructure and other mistakes made by the U.S.   read more

E-cigarettes, which vaporize liquids containing nicotine, have been marketed as a less harmful way of smoking and a way to help kick the old-school tobacco habit. The report acknowledged that vaping may, indeed, be safer than cigarettes, but that doesn’t mean it is safe. “Exposure to nicotine during adolescence can harm brain development,” it says, while maintaining there is “no scientific evidence that e-cigarettes help smokers successfully quit traditional cigarettes.”   read more

The number of immigrants waiting to see a judge is staggering; about 430,000 are currently backed up. In California alone, there are more than 85,000 people, the population of a medium-sized city, whose cases are pending. Texas is next with more than 74,000 people waiting. All those people are waiting for a spot on the calendars of only 230 immigration judges. The average wait is 600 days.   read more

Eight organizations filed suit last week against the EPA for failing to control emissions from large feeding operations that do not permit animals to graze. These are known as “concentrated animal feeding operations” (CAFOs), of which there are at least 18,000 in the United States. There are two suits, one (pdf) dealing with ammonia pollution, the other (pdf) with methane and other air pollutants.   read more

At the time, African-Americans were forbidden to attend the University of Tennessee (UT) in that city. As a senior at Knoxville, however, Olden was allowed to do some research at UT, but had to take all his classes back at Knoxville. Olden got a measure of payback for having to attend segregated schools and being forbidden to enroll at his home state’s largest university. In 2004, the University of Tennessee put him on their short list to be named the school’s president.   read more

Despite the mandate from the Affordable Care Act that prohibits insurance companies from discriminating against patients with preexisting conditions, many of them are getting around the restriction by charging HIV/AIDS patients much higher rates for their drugs, which causes them to switch to other providers.   read more

About two-thirds of these wars saw intervention by another country or outside organization—and that the most common reason for this intervention had to do with oil “over and above historical, geographical or ethnic ties.” The research also revealed that the more oil a country had, the more likely a third party would be to enter the conflict   read more

A Chinese company with a history of environmental problems in its home country is building a methanol plant in an area of Louisiana where cancer rates and other health problems are already high because of the activities of U.S. petrochemical companies in the area. The methanol plant would be in St. James Parish, which is 90% African-American, and whose residents say they had no voice in the decision.   read more