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

Right-wing factions took control of the government in early 1980, forcing out Zamora and assassinating his brother Marrio. Rubén Zamora then fled El Salvador, staying in exile for seven years. Zamora was often a spokesman for the rebels fighting for control of El Salvador, whose government was backed by U.S. President Ronald Reagan. Zamora was blocked by the Reagan State Department from entering the United States during this period.   read more

The fenceline zone is one-tenth the distance of a vulnerability zone for a given facility. African-Americans make up 12.2% of the U.S. population, but are 21.3% of those living in fenceline areas, according to the report. Similarly, Latinos make up 16.1% of the general population, but 25.7% of those in fenceline zones. The numbers are similar for poor people. Those in poverty are 14.3% of the U.S. population at large, but 21.5% of those living in fenceline areas.   read more

Nearly 10 years after its dismissal, a $10 billion class-action ruling has been reinstated against a leading cigarette manufacturer accused of misleading consumers about “light” and “low tar” products. In 2008 the FTC rescinded a four-decade-old policy dictating how cigarette makers could describe tar and nicotine levels in their advertising and packaging.   read more

Information not being disclosed about these groups include: Names of their chief executive officer or board of directors; issues of national importance to which ads refer; and names of candidates that the ads are targeting. Groups that failed to be properly identified included those with both conservative and liberal points of view.   read more

From 2002 to 2005, Whitaker headed the Cuban Affairs Desk for the State Department. During a visit to Havana in December 2002, he met with dissidents and was expelled by Fidel Castro’s government. In 2005, he was named deputy chief of mission at the U.S. Embassy in Venezuela, another country with which the administration of President George W. Bush was at odds.   read more

He had his first posting to the United States in 1997, when he was named counselor in the Cypriot embassy in Washington. He later was named deputy chief of mission. Chacalli’s first ambassadorial posting was in 2004 to Hungary. That posting was followed in 2006 by being named ambassador to the European Union, a post he held until 2010. Then, he was sent to Stockholm as ambassador to Sweden, with additional responsibilities of Norway and Latvia.   read more

President Obama lashed out a Republicans over their vote, and other Democrats backed him up. “Their vote today defines their priorities,” said Sen. Patty Murray. “It is the equivalent of looking American women in the eye and telling them they don't deserve a living wage. It is telling our middle-class families they don't deserve a fair shot.” Multiple national polls show a majority of Americans support raising the minimum wage, which is currently $7.25.   read more

The NRC report found the huge increase in the number of prisoners held across the U.S. is doing more harm than good for society, making it imperative for policymakers to reconsider the tough-on-crime laws that led to this development. With 2.2 million adults behind bars, the U.S. not only has the world’s largest prison population, but it also accounts for 25% of all people incarcerated on the planet—even though it has only 5% of its population.   read more

Nearly 60% of the campaign ads aired this year by independent expenditure groups have been funded by secret donors, according to an independent analysis of campaign spending. Of group-sponsored commercials related to Senate races, 59% were paid for with “dark money”—the term used for funds spent by groups that aren’t required to disclose the identities of their contributors. The rate was nearly the same for ads for House races: 57%.   read more

Military expenses dropped worldwide last year, mostly because the U.S. spent less on the armed forces. But countries in Asia, Africa and the Middle East ramped up their warfare spending. Worldwide, military spending consumed $1.75 trillion. Western nations cut back, particularly the U.S. due to its scheduled withdrawal from Afghanistan, the end of the Iraq war, and budget cuts. America’s dip equaled 7.8%. But outside the U.S., military spending internationally increased by 1.8%.   read more

The U.S. military has been required since the early 1940s to provide new recruits with American-made clothing and food. But for many years now, the armed forces have had to give out foreign-made athletic shoes because these kinds were the only ones available in the U.S. But now the Department of Defense says it will make sure military recruits use their one-time stipend for athletic shoes during basic training on brands made in the USA. That is just as soon as some become available.   read more

In a major victory for the Obama administration’s environmental policies, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled Tuesday that the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has the authority to regulate cross-state air pollution. The case focused on EPA rules issued in 2011 that were designed to reduce the amount of air pollution, primarily from coal-fired power plants, that drifts from 28 Midwestern and Appalachian states to the East Coast.   read more

Attempts to ban the drug outright within state boundaries are being made elsewhere, such as Ohio, where lawmakers have introduced legislation on the subject. Members of Congress from Kentucky and West Virginia as well as from Massachusetts have introduced bills to ban Zohydro. In addition, 29 state attorneys general have asked the FDA to reconsider its approval of the drug.   read more

To the delight of education leaders, the U.S. high school graduation rate has reached its highest level on record. The U.S. Department of Education reported Monday that 80% of seniors received their diplomas in 2012, the most recent year with available statistics. For comparison, the non-governmental Editorial Projects in Education Research Center, which publishes the national magazine Education Week, reported that the high school graduation rate in 2007 was only 69%.   read more

The nation’s largest federal appellate court has a full complement of judges for the first time in 22 years. The Ninth Circuit Court of Appeals is supposed to have 29 judges, but has had at least one vacancy since 1992. Friedland, a San Francisco attorney with Munger Tolles & Olson, was approved by the Senate on a mostly party-line vote, 51-40, with only one Republican senator, Susan Collins of Maine, supporting her.   read more

Russia became the first nation to drill for oil in the Arctic after Gazprom, the nation’s leading energy company, set up the Prirazlomnaya platform, which was designed to withstand extreme weather conditions, including sea ice. Upon the ship’s arrival in Rotterdam Thursday morning, Greenpeace International activists attempted to interfere with its docking and 31 people were arrested by Dutch authorities.   read more