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

A veteran of the Iraq War who suffered a skull fracture when Oakland police fired a lead shot-filled “beanbag” into an Occupy protest settled a suit against the city for $4.5 million. After Olsen was hit, protesters attempted to help him. Police did not. Instead, one officer, Robert Roche, fired a tear-gas round into the crowd. Oakland police tried to fire Roche, who has been involved in three fatal shootings, but Roche is fighting his termination.   read more

She managed Homeland Security’s Science & Technology Countermeasures Test Beds until 2005, when she joined DNDO. Gowadia moved quickly up the ladder in that agency, starting as assistant director for assessments. In 2007, she became assistant director of the mission management directorate before becoming deputy director of DNDO in 2010. She took over as acting director of the agency in 2012 before being formally appointed as director in 2013.   read more

Most of Jaenichen’s 30-year Navy career was spent in submarines. He served two years as director of submarine/nuclear power distribution, overseeing 4,500 submarine officers and aviators. His last posting, from October 2010 to May 2012, was as deputy chief of legislative affairs for the Department of the Navy. After retiring from the Navy, Jaenichen in July 2012 was appointed deputy maritime administrator. The following June, he was appointed acting administrator.   read more

Those using government planes for “non-mission” purposes included Attorney General (AG) Eric Holder and former FBI Director Robert Mueller. The 395 trips by Holder, Mueller and other officials cost $7.8 million. Whether flying for business or pleasure, the attorney general is required to take government jets for security reasons. However, the AG is also required to reimburse the Treasury for this expense if the travel is personal in nature.   read more

Popovic, who took over the agency on January 26, told members of Congress in February that ATSDR lacked the authority and expertise to determine if the toxic well water had caused cancer. This assertion contradicted what ATSDR’s own scientists said in 2008, that such a study was feasible.   read more

Border Patrol Chief Michael Fisher announced that agents would no longer be allowed to shoot at people throwing rocks at them, or fire at vehicles trying to escape. The directive also ordered agents to not step in front of moving vehicles, which had been used in the past as justification for opening fire. Agents are to seek cover in the event of a rock-throwing encounter, but can use deadly force if the objects pose an imminent danger of death or serious injury.   read more

Smith was asked to join the Obama Administration in October 2009. His first assignment was as deputy assistant secretary for Oil and Natural Gas in the Office of Fossil Energy. He served as the president’s representative to the National Commission on the BP Deepwater Horizon Oil Spill and Offshore Drilling in the wake of the Gulf of Mexico spill. Smith has been acting deputy secretary in the fossil energy office since February 2013.   read more

In 2012, Kia’aina ran for the Democratic nomination for Hawaii’s 2nd district. That seat was vacated by Mazie Hirono, who ran for and won a U.S. Senate seat. Kia’aina lost her race, placing third. She was then appointed by Gov. Neil Abercrombie to be deputy director of Hawaii’s Department of Land and Natural Resources, a position she held until her Interior Department nomination.   read more

Kansas’ secretary of state sued the U.S. Election Assistance Commission after it refused his requests and similar ones from Arizona to add state-specific instructions to a national voter registration form. The EAC preferred to only require would-be voters to sign a legal form swearing under oath they were citizens, while Kansas and Arizona wanted documented proof of such status.   read more

Under a deal reached with the federal government, Toyota will pay a $1.2 billion financial penalty as part of the deferred prosecution agreement drawn up by the Department of Justice (DOJ). The penalty is the largest ever imposed on an automobile company by the U.S. government. However, considering that Toyota has cash reserves of $59 billion, company executives aren’t complaining.   read more

With the help of the grassroots progressive group CREDO Action, the letters went out with only two variations: one batch indicated the person requesting the meeting was a constituent, and the other batch came from those professing to be a donor. Members of Congress were four times more likely to meet with donors than constituents, and their chiefs of staff were five times more likely. Overall, access to senior staffers tripled for donors.   read more

Among the complaints were 4,700 about mortgages, 3,800 regarding debt collection, 1,700 on credit card issues, and 1,500 pertaining to banking services. There were also complaints regarding credit reports (1,200), consumer loans (600), student loans (400), and payday loans (100). The overall complaint volume from military people skyrocketed 148% from 2012 to 2013, the agency said in its report.   read more

The biggest controversies related to this procedure, known as hydraulic fracturing, or “fracking,” have to do not with the drilling itself, but with the injection of wastewater back into the earth. These injection wells are thought to have caused earthquakes and groundwater contamination. Now, a geologist is proposing that a way to solve the United States’ problem of nuclear waste is to inject it, as well, into shale formations.   read more

The pro-defense lobby focuses on the Pentagon’s discretionary budget, while conveniently ignoring the other $500 billion in tax dollars that help maintain the nation’s security each year. For starters, there’s the money allocated for “Overseas Contingency Operations”—a fancy term for funding the war in Afghanistan. This budget item (separate from the Pentagon’s discretionary spending) eats up around $80 billion annually.   read more

Two years ago, the “American” oil giant signed a lucrative deal with Rosneft, Russia’s petrochemical behemoth, to jointly explore offshore oil and gas in the Kara Sea in the Arctic Ocean and the Black Sea, where the Crimean peninsula is. As part of the agreement, Rosneft acquired a 30% stake in 20 ExxonMobil offshore oil and gas exploration blocks in the Gulf of Mexico.   read more

The program can look “into the past” and allow spies to “retrieve audio of interest that was not tasked at the time of the original call.” When a subject is identified, the NSA can use the month’s worth of calls to get a history of his or her movements, associates and plans. Civil libertarians warned that it is just a matter of time before the NSA expands the program to more countries and employs technology that allows it to go back even further in time.   read more