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

Among those remotely watching the Periodic Review Board of Abdel Malik Wahab al Rahabi were members of the media and human rights organizations. The hearing took place at Guantánamo, while video of the proceedings was transmitted to a facility in Arlington, Virginia, for observers to view. Fifty-six other Yemeni prisoners already approved for transfer have remained at Guantánamo for more than four years after their release orders.   read more

The plaintiffs insisted they were entitled under the Fair Labor Standards Act (pdf) (FLSA) to overtime for putting on and taking off flame-retardant jackets, pants, hoods, hardhats, work gloves, leggings, special boots, safety glasses, earplugs and respirators. But the employer rejected the claim, saying nothing in the collective bargaining agreement (CBA) between U.S. Steel and the workers’ union mandated compensation for that time.   read more

Within many of those letters of cancellation, the insurance companies said the policyholders would be switched to a new plan unless they chose one and notified the insurers of their decision. Many people only read as far as the fact that their policy was canceled and didn’t notice the switch provision deeper in the letter they received. In many cases, though, the policyholders selected a new plan and still got signed up for a second one by their insurance company.   read more

America’s labor force has shrunk in size to a level not seen since the Carter administration in the late 1970s. The percentage of Americans employed or seeking employment, 63.3%, is now the lowest since 1978 (63.2%), according to data compiled by the Bureau of Labor Statistics.   read more

In Florida, private firms can add as much as 40% in surcharges on top of the debt owed by probationers. In Illinois, the add-on fees can amount to 30% of the standing debt. Former law enforcement officials control this industry—at least in Georgia—having leveraged their connections into profitable contracts. “This is completely dominated by retired state probation people and wardens of state prisons,” Putnam County Sheriff Howard Sills told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution.   read more

Arizona’s Republican U.S. senators have finally lifted a hold on most federal judicial nominees for their state—a delay that left one candidate waiting two and a half years for her confirmation. Rosemary Márquez, a private practice attorney from Tucson, was nominated for the federal bench by President Barack Obama in June 2011. She is expected to receive her confirmation hearing this week.   read more

Over the past five years, more than 50% of U.S. households receiving food stamps have been adults age 18 to 59. The Associated Press (AP) reports that multiple factors have caused more working-age adults to utilize food stamps (officially known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP). These factors include persistent high unemployment, stagnant wages and dwindling middle-income jobs.   read more

The last time lawmakers approved an increase in the minimum wage for waiters and waitresses was 1991: $2.13. That wage has stood since then, even though inflation has robbed nearly half its value. Today, the $2.13 is really more like $1.24. There are 3.3 million tipped workers nationwide, two million of whom are waiters and waitresses, whose median salary is $9.22 an hour including wage and tips.   read more

The most alarming part of the Afghan government’s story was the photos it showed that purportedly proved the collateral damage inflicted by the U.S. American officials and the Times countered that the images were taken four years earlier, after a NATO-led attack killed 70 Afghan civilians in a different part of the country.   read more

Bayer Chief Executive Officer Marijn Dekkers said a ruling against his company would amount to “essentially theft.” “We did not develop this medicine for Indians,” Dekkers said, according to Bloomberg News. “We developed it for western patients who can afford it.” It is actually rare that patients themselves pay for the drug. Most of the cost is covered by insurance companies or government, which drug companies refer to as “payors.”   read more

Marotta fought the state, insisting he was only a sperm donor, per the contract he signed. But under Kansas law, a man is legally a sperm donor only if a doctor performs the insemination. In the case of Schreiner and Bauer, no physician was involved during insemination. This led to Judge Mattivi ruling (pdf) that Marotta was the “presumptive father” and not a sperm donor, which puts him on the hook to financially support a child he’s never known   read more

Songwriter and activist Pete Seeger died on Monday at the age of 94. At the Obama Inaugural Concert in front of the Lincoln Memorial, 89-year-old Pete Seeger led the audience—including Barack Obama—in singing the Woody Guthrie song “This Land is Your Land,” and sang the original radical version rather than the nice, but watered-down one we learned in school.   read more

Contrary to Obama’s assertion that the Patriot Act (pdf) authorizes the program, the board concluded that the very same law makes it illegal to conduct such surveillance. The controversial program also has not helped protect the U.S., the board found. The board examined a dozen terrorism cases cited by intelligence agencies that involved information which was obtained using Section 215, and largely dismissed them as irrelevant.   read more

The board noted that the NSA has clearly demonstrated it can monitor the emails, web searches and conversations of scientists and engineers. Such an approach would be far more efficient than reliance on satellite photos, which the study said would be of limited use, even though there are 200 satellites engaged in “earth observation.”   read more

Incidents of sexual abuse and harassment were committed by more than half of the prison’s staff, and more than one-third of them were found to have had sex with prisoners. There are 900 female inmates at the prison. The prison lacked any kind of system to track complaints lodged against staff, resulting in dozens of violations by individual guards, some of whom were labeled sexual predators, according to the report.   read more

Once the agency began rounding up key terrorism suspects, it needed a place to stash them and conduct brutal interrogations. The government of Poland proved a willing ally. The money was flown via diplomatic pouch from Germany to Warsaw, where two CIA operatives personally delivered it to Agencja Wywiadu, the Polish intelligence service. For $15 million, the CIA got a former training base located in Stare Kiejkuty, about three hours north of Warsaw.   read more