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

Even as President Barack Obama has railed against leaks, the number of security clearances granted to government workers, contractors and others has steadily gone up during his time in office. That number has now exceeded 5 million. “[The] growth in the number of clearance-holders... exposes classified national security information... to an increasingly large population,” an OMB review states.This "has created a culture in which...clearances are now too often granted by default."   read more

Not a single banking leader has been indicted, Justice officials say, because it has been too difficult to prove executives intended to harm clients. Law professor Peter Henning has proposed a solution: Adopt a new legal standard for corporate recklessness. “If a primary reason for the lack of prosecutions...is the high threshold for proving intent, then one response," he said, "can be to reduce the element needed to establish a violation so that it is easier to pursue a case."   read more

The Yakama Nation in Washington state is demanding that marijuana growers stay off its lands. “We have had a long and unpleasant history with marijuana, just as we have had with alcohol,” said Yakama Chairman Harry Smiskin. “Marijuana is the biggest problem for our people up to age 40,” the tribe’s attorney, George Colby, told Reuters. “It’s a bigger problem than alcohol.” The state has received 1,300 marijuana business applications alone in 10 of its counties.   read more

Military veterans are making good use of the GI Bill and its support for those seeking college education. More than half of vets on the bill have completed their two-year or four-year postsecondary education programs, according to a Student Veterans of America study. Many veterans don’t stop at achieving just one degree. More than 30% who earned vocational certificates, nearly 36% who received an associate’s degree, and 21% of bachelor’s degree grads went on for more schooling.   read more

The recipient of this promotional money is the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), which buys ads to encourage Americans to eat more beef and pays lobbyists to fight off efforts by animal rights groups and others advocating policies the NCBA opposes. Four large corporations—Cargill, Tyson Foods, JBS, and National Beef Packing—now control 85% of the meat-packing business.   read more

An investigative report by USA Today found nearly 187,000 criminal cases not being pursued by police due to lack of time or money to have fugitives extradited. This total includes tens of thousands of wanted felons, with more than 3,300 accused of murder, sexual assault and robbery. The decisions to not pursue extradition are “almost always made in secret, permit fugitives to go free in communities across the country.”   read more

It’s questionable whether spending to shield terminals and other airport facilities from attack, as opposed to the mission of keeping terrorists off airplanes, makes sense from a cost-benefit perspective, the study shows. There were 20 attacks on airports in the U.S. and Europe between 1998 and 2011, killing 64 people. During this same time period, 31 attacks were recorded on aircraft, including the 9/11 attacks.   read more

One study of inmates serving time in the New York City jail system found that only 7.3% of jail admissions involved solitary confinement. However, 53% of inmates who tried to hurt themselves and 45% of cases where self-harm was potentially fatal happened to those whose admission included solitary.   read more

Female judges on average sentenced people to 1.7 fewer months than male judges. Judges appointed by a Democratic president were 2.2% more likely to exercise leniency, Yang found.   read more

Between 2009 and 2011, states spent $20.4 billion each year to expand their roads. The 8,822 lane-miles added is less than 1% of the U.S. road network. To maintain the other 99% of America’s highways, states spent only $16.5 billion annually during the same period. In 2011, only 37% of roads were deemed to be in “good” repair.   read more

Of all crude oil imported to the U.S. in 2006, 22% came from Africa; nearly a third of China’s oil imports currently come from that continent. It has been projected that those percentages will increase for both countries. African oil is particularly desirable to refiners because it tends to be high-quality with a low amount of sulfur.   read more

A U.S. appeals court gave banks a victory on Friday when it overturned a decision that would have limited what financial institutions can charge businesses to handle debit card transactions. Senator Dick Durbin (D-Illinois), who sponsored the amendment that set a cap on swipe fees, called the ruling by the appeals court “a giveaway to the nation’s most powerful banks and a blow to consumers and small businesses across America.”   read more

Data released Thursday by the U.S. Department of Education shows that nearly 5,000 preschoolers were suspended from school during the 2011-2012 academic year. Black children comprised 48% of those suspended more than once despite being only 18% of the student body.   read more

Running as an independent, he won and became Youngstown's first African-American mayor in 2006. While mayor, he worked to transform Youngstown from a decaying rust-belt city to a tech hub. One of his programs urged the removal of abandoned buildings in the city, accepting the idea that Youngstown wouldn’t be as big as it once was. Williams won re-election in 2009 running unopposed. President Obama tapped Williams in 2011 to be his auto czar.   read more

Numerous trade groups oppose the regulations, including the National Association of Music Makers, the Art and Antiques Dealers League of America and the National Rifle Association. Opponents include celebrities like Grammy-winning musician Vince Gill, who fears he won’t be able to take any of his 40 classic Martin guitars featuring ivory pegs and bridges overseas. The opposition wants the rules rewritten to account for ivory that has been in the U.S. for generations.   read more

The Department of Health and Human Services (HHS) has finally approved the sale of federally grown marijuana for a study that would research whether pot could help veterans cope with Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). The Food and Drug Administration approved the study back in 2011, but University of Arizona Professor Suzanne Sisley, who will conduct the study, and the Multidisciplinary Association for Psychedelic Studies (MAPS), which is funding it, were unable to get marijuana.   read more