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

So far this year, Vermont shipped prisoners to Arizona and Kentucky; Idaho sent prisoners to Colorado; California exported prisoners to Arizona, Oklahoma and Mississippi; and Hawaii sent prisoners to Arizona. A fifth state, West Virginia, intends to ship 400 inmates to private out-of-state prisons. Prisoners in these private out-of-state facilities are held between 450 and 3,000 miles from their home states.   read more

Numerous specialists in the field were surprised and not pleased by the board’s decision—some saying they expect it to lead to major setbacks. One of them, Dr. Elizabeth Stier of the Boston Medical Center, has been treating male patients for a decade and expected to sign up about 100 men for the anal cancer trial. Those men will have to be replaced with women.   read more

In Lebanon, Ohio, (pop.: 20,033), for example, cops and firefighters can work with a .04 blood alcohol level. Under Ohio law, drivers under 21 can be ticketed for drunk driving for blood alcohol content above .02—meaning an officer could write a ticket to someone more sober than he or she is.   read more

Barely three weeks after largely avoiding historic first-person testimony by Pakistani victims of U.S. drone strikes, Congressional lawmakers killed a proposal to force the government to publish an annual count of the casualties caused by American drone attacks. In fact, none of the 15 members of the House Intelligence Committee who voted against the idea bothered to attend the victims’ hearing.   read more

In 2012, an average family of four in the U.S. was defined as living in poverty if its pre-tax cash income was below $23,492. The rate varies widely from state to state—from 24.2% In Mississippi to 10.0% in New Hampshire.   read more

Just 3 donors accounted for 28% of Crossroads GPS's funding, while million-dollar donors gave at least 54% of it. Priorities USA, the Democratic-leaning political nonprofit founded last year by some former aides to Barack Obama, claimed a relatively modest $8.4 million of revenue on its 2012 return, including a donation of $2 million, three of $1 million, one of $900,000, and three of $500,000. Thus 89% of the group's revenues came from eight donors.   read more

The three pro-fracking bills were HR 1900, which would fast-track pipeline construction, HR 1965, which would speed up oil and gas drilling permitting on federal lands, and HR 2728, which would weaken federal fracking regulations. Although none of the bills is thought to have a chance of passing the Senate, critics decried the financial influence of the industry.   read more

The federal government has unveiled new rules governing the use of drones in U.S. airspace, sparking debate over how the technology can be employed without compromising Americans’ privacy. The new regulations unveiled by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) were produced so that Washington can move forward with testing drones at six sites across the country. The testing sites will be operated by private contractors still to be determined.   read more

More than 1,400 wastewater treatment plants in the U.S. and Canada discharge 4.8 billion gallons of treated water into the Great Lakes basin every day. The study found that six chemicals (an herbicide, an anti-seizure drug, two antibiotics, an antibacterial drug and an anti-inflammatory drug) were detected frequently and had a low rate of removal in treated effluent.   read more

Since 2011, the Pentagon has paid $1 billion to Rosoboronexport to provide 63 Mi-17s. Those helicopters are either on order or have already been delivered to Afghanistan. Lawmakers and good government groups complained about the contract, saying the U.S. shouldn’t be doing business with a company accused of selling weapons to Iran and Syria.   read more

Thirty-nine out of the 50 largest fines assessed over the five-year period reviewed were never collected. This included a Shasta County facility that operated without a license and was fined $250,000, but never paid a dime.   read more

Little did Palmer know that her action left her liable for $3,500—the amount KlearGear charges any customer who agrees to the site’s terms and conditions, which included for a time a Non-Disparagement Clause. Palmer wasn’t billed for the $3,500 for three years. Once she learned about the fee, she tried to take down her negative review on Ripoffreport.com—but they charged $2,000 to do so.   read more

News photographers have been banned from events like Obama meeting with former Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton at an outdoor lunch, and his meeting with Israeli and Palestinian negotiators. In both cases, White House staff took their own photographs and posted them online.   read more

Starykowicz,was found guilty of four charges and told that a payment of $54,000—which he claims the prosecutor referred to as “blood bond money”—would result in the return of his passport. Starykowicz blamed the accident on IMG, saying it was dangerous to design the bike course with aid stations in the center of the road.   read more

The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation offered $100,000 each to anyone coming up with ways to encourage condom use and reduce unwarranted pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. Those ideas include using cow tendon or fish skin to make condoms, crafting them with “shape memory” so they mold to a specific man, or including “pull tabs” to allow for easy donning.   read more

André, who has extensive experience in Africa, has been acting envoy and director of the Office of the Special Envoy for Sudan and South Sudan at the State Department since 2011. André served as deputy executive director for the Bureau of African Affairs from 2010 to 2011.   read more