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

It is taking much longer these days for the Nobel committee to decide whom to honor for achievements in science. At one time, the lag time between breakthroughs and Nobel prizes was shorter. Before World War II, those having to wait more than 20 years for their recognition occurred only 11% of the time in physics, 15% in chemistry and 24% in medicine. But since 1985, such delays have happened much more often. Some scientists have died by the time their research was deemed worthy of honor.   read more

A new report from the GAO shows Floridians, in 2012, had the longest average wait time in the nation at polling places: 34 minutes. About 16% of voters had to wait more than an hour. Alaska residents, however, rarely had to worry about cooling their heels while waiting to vote. Their average time before entering the voting booth was only 1.4 minutes. Their state’s delays come on the other end of the process—getting the votes counted.   read more

Chicago is being sued for an honorary renaming of a street after Bangladesh’s former president, Ziaur Rahman, with the suit claiming the move honored a ruthless dictator. Critics compare Rahman to Iraq’s Saddam Hussein and Chile’s Augusto Pinochet. “Said sign has been erected to honor a dictator that oppressed the people of Bangladesh,” the complaint states, calling it “an affront to the Bangladeshi Community of Chicago.”   read more

Uyehara was sent to Frankfurt, Germany in 2008 as director of the Regional Support Center at the U.S. Consulate. In 2010, she was named management counselor for the Department of State at the U.S. Tri-Missions in Vienna, Austria. Her most recent assignment was as executive director of the Bureaus of European and Eurasian Affairs and International Organization Affairs in the Department of State in Washington.   read more

Keeping the deadly Ebola virus contained to West Africa is proving difficult, given that airlines flying out of the region are relying on the honesty of passengers and the competency of newly trained airport screeners. The CDC sent out experts to help improve airport screening programs. But a key component of the screening efforts—and what some critics say is a major flaw—is the reliance on passengers to be truthful about their exposure to the virus and how they are feeling.   read more

“You are not going to find this neat, clean, secular rebel group that respects human rights and that is waiting and ready because they don’t exist,” said Aron Lund. “It is a very dirty war and you have to deal with what is on offer.” In the end, the U.S. may be dancing to the tune called by ISIS, just as the George W. Bush Administration took Osama Bin-Laden’s bait and attacked in Afghanistan and Iraq, causing the radicalization of many in the Middle East.   read more

A woman died while being moved by a private prisoner transport service from Kentucky to Florida. There have been other incidents of transport officers sexually assaulting and raping their prisoners, and threatening them with a gun to keep them quiet. The lack of safety standards for prisoner transport has led to prisoners being burned alive in worn-out vehicles that have caught fire. There have also been incidents in which untrained guards have been held hostage by prisoners.   read more

The law requires those seeking an abortion to present evidence justifying the abortion and proving her maturity. The law also charges the D.A. to investigate the case, bringing in family members, boyfriends and teachers to testify as to the teen’s fitness to make such a decision. “This law aims to shame a young woman into not having an abortion,” said the ACLU's Susan Watson. “Why should she be put on trial and treated like a criminal for a constitutionally protected procedure?”   read more

State computer systems contain a lot of information, including names, addresses, driver’s license numbers, birth certificates, Social Security numbers, credit card numbers, and banking information. Health records in particular are valuable to criminals. It’s not only a question of personal information getting into the public domain. Computer system breaches also affect the public’s trust in government and cost taxpayers millions.   read more

More than 3,000 of Ferguson’s 21,000 residents have registered to vote since the August 9 shooting of unarmed teen Michael Brown by a white police officer. “It could completely change the political landscape, the power structure, the decision making,” Brown attorney Anthony Gray said. “The service to the African American community would almost quadruple because they would be viewed as a credible and legitimate voting bloc.”   read more

The level of familiarity Americans have with current affairs can largely depend on what the mainstream media is focused on, a new poll shows. The questions most respondents got right was that the federal minimum wage is $7.25 an hour and that Syria is one of the Middle East countries partially occupied by ISIS. Only 20% of respondents knew that 15% of Americans live below the poverty line, and 20% knew that the federal government spends more on Social Security than any other program.   read more

Wittig was named Germany’s ambassador to the U.N. in 2009. He successfully campaigned to win Germany a nonpermanent seat on the Security Council, speaking to 190 of 191 representatives in the process. Germany won a seat in 2010, but the campaign, while wound down, didn’t completely cease as the nation made noises about being given a permanent seat on the Security Council.   read more

Kılıç’s first ambassadorial post came in 2008 when he was named envoy to Lebanon. He was brought home in 2010 to be secretary general of MGK, Turkey’s National Security Council. He was sent to Tokyo as ambassador in 2012, a post he held until being named to Washington. Since coming to the United States, Kılıç has had to deal with various groups’ recognition of the Armenian Genocide of 100 years ago, in which the Ottoman government killed about 1.5 million ethnic Armenians.   read more

The Obama administration’s effort to weaken the Islamic State (IS) inside Syria through the use of airstrikes has had the unintended consequence of helping the extremist group gain supporters. Syrian rebel group Abu Qusay publicly said it “won’t be allied with the West in a war against Islam” following U.S. attacks on IS positions. The attacks also might cause Al Nusra and IS, which have been at odds, to move closer to one another in a battle against the common enemy of the U.S.   read more

The closures were prompted by the law’s new requirements that abortion clinics meet the same building regulations as surgical centers. Clinic defenders called it a veiled effort by conservatives to deny women the choice of aborting pregnancies. The “ruling has gutted Texas women’s constitutional rights," said Nancy Northup. "It is an endorsement of politicians’ disingenuous tactic of undermining women’s safety under the false pretext of protecting it.”   read more

Policymakers in Washington have a sticky situation on their hands involving all things honey related. The honey lobby wants the U.S. Department of Agriculture to adopt rules that clearly define what honey is and what it isn’t. Industry representatives also want the government to crack down on illegal imports of honey, known as honey laundering. Customs agents recently uncovered as part of “Project Honeygate” at least two American honey plants breaking the law   read more