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

Gibson Dunn insisted that disclosing the information would cause the ARC to “suffer competitive harm because its competitors would be able to mimic the American Red Cross’ business model for an increased competitive advantage.” The firm did not specify who the ARC’s competitors are.   read more

In 2013, Susan Johnson, president of the American Foreign Service Association (AFSA), wrote an op-ed for The Washington Post decrying s a breakdown in the Foreign Service system in favor of political appointees and regular civil service employees. Shell Smith and another Foreign Service officer circulated a letter expressing disagreement with the op-ed. In response, 11 former AFSA presidents asked the Senate Foreign Relations Committee not to approve Shell Smith’s nomination.   read more

Food and Drug Administration (FDA) inspectors allow nearly all food imports to enter the country without undergoing visual examination. “The FDA has been outgunned and overmatched for years as a rising tide of imported food has found a place at the U.S. dinner table,” FairWarning’s Rick Schmitt wrote. “Because of budget constraints ordinarily only 1 percent to 2 percent of food imports are physically inspected by the agency at the border each year.”   read more

As the National Security Agency (NSA) examines the communications of millions of people in the United States and around the world, they had someone keeping an eye on them as well. Greenpeace on Friday flew its 135-foot blimp over the NSA’s Bluffdale, Utah, data facility. The blimp read “NSA—Illegal Spying Below” and “StandAgainstSpying.org.   read more

At least 1,600 people have killed themselves by jumping off the Golden Gate Bridge since it opened in 1937, or about 21 a year. The Golden Gate Bridge, Highway and Transportation District voted Friday to approve the expenditure of $76 million to install nets about 20 feet below each side of the bridge. The nets should discourage jumpers. Anyone who jumps anyway will likely be injured, but not killed, when they fall into the barrier.   read more

he was instrumental in negotiations with FARC, the rebel army that had taken over much of Colombia’s interior. He did this despite FARC’s kidnapping of his daughter Juliana in 2000 from his alma mater, Javeriana, where she was studying political science. She was held three months before being released unharmed in March 2001 and later worked as a political consultant.   read more

In 1995, Prince Rainier III appointed Maccario Doyle consul in New York and two years later she was named Monaco’s consul general, a position she held until being named to the Washington post.   read more

From January to March, the nation’s gross domestic product (GDP) took a big step backwards, contracting at an annual rate of 2.9%. The decline was the sharpest in five years. Economists attributed the weak economic showing to several causes: shrinking business inventories, a terrible winter throughout much of the country, and an unexpected dip in health care spending. That sector is expected to be volatile as the new health care law, which is expected to cut spending, takes effect.   read more

The Manhattan district attorney’s office has sought access to the Facebook accounts belonging to 381 people as part of an investigation into public workers, including police officers and firefighters, accused of defrauding the government with fake disability claims. Facebook’s executives have refused to comply with the warrants, saying it is compelled to protect the privacy of its users.   read more

Of the 188 countries in the world, only three have no paid family leave—Papua New Guinea, Oman and the U.S., according to a new report from the International Labour Organization (ILO). The other 185 governments have adopted laws authorizing mothers, and in 78 cases even fathers, to take time off and still receive paychecks while caring for newborns or other relatives.   read more

Ligorría also had many corporations as clients. He represented Enron when that company was trying to take over the electric utility for the city of Puerto Quetzal in Guatemala. Enron won the contract. Ligorría has also worked for Coca-Cola, Universal and JPMorgan. In addition to his consultancies, Ligorría is partner in a company, MAN B&W, selling German industrial engines to companies throughout Latin America.   read more

Kyaw was named ambassador to the United Kingdom in 2011. While in that post, he played a role in getting most European Union sanctions against Burma for its human rights violations lifted. As ambassador to the United States, a big part of Kyaw’s job is to push for more U.S. investment in his country despite continuing human rights problems.   read more

The U.S. Supreme Court dealt President Obama a significant blow Thursday when it unanimously ruled the recess appointments he made two years ago were unconstitutional, thus making the appointments invalid and raising questions about any NLRB actions involving those appointees. Obama’s counsel had argued that Republicans used procedural trickery to prevent any appointments to the NLRB and the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau to stymie the two agencies’ operations.   read more

From the White House to Capitol Hill, the natural gas industry has employed relatives of politicians as part of its strategizing. Burisma, a Ukraine gas firm, now counts the son of Vice President Joe Biden among its board members. Biden recently announced a $50 million aid package that could increase Burisma’s profits. Rep.Bill Shuster, chairman of the House committee that oversees pipeline safety, has a brother who lobbies for EQT on the regulation of shale gas and pipeline safety.   read more

Accounts presented in court this week included that of Sarhan Moniem, a traffic officer on duty in September 2007 when the Blackwater team started shooting in Nisour Square. Moniem said he tried to help a victim inside a sedan. “There was a lady. She was screaming and weeping about her son and asking for help,” Moniem told jurors. “I asked her to open up the door so I could help her. But she was paying attention only to her son.”   read more

With the blessing of the Department of Commerce, two oil firms are now planning to ship ultra-light oil to foreign buyers. Industry experts say the deals represent a real change in U.S. export policy, even though technically the petroleum is not unrefined crude oil, which hasn’t been sold to overseas interests since the mid-1970s. The White House, though, insists the sales do not mean the administration has shifted U.S. policy on the issue.   read more