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

In recent years, immigrants from China have increasingly tried entering the U.S. through the Mexican border. The numbers are substantial enough for the federal government to now post signs near the international crossing that feature warning messages in English, Spanish and Mandarin.   read more

Methamphetamine production has become so rampant in fueling crime that many law enforcement organizations are calling for states to remove the drug’s key, over-the-counter ingredient from pharmacy shelves. But the pharmaceutical industry, which makes that ingredient—pseudoephedrine—is fighting new laws that would make this drug prescription-only.   read more

Despite its success in eradicating its own chemical weapons, some Albanian officials want nothing to do with Syria’s lethal agents, not after their country stopped being “Europe’s garbage dump,” a distinction that evolved after years of importing non-hazardous waste from its neighbors, like Italy. In fact, a two-year campaign led by environmentalists produced a referendum that resulted in a government-sanctioned ban on importing waste products into the country.   read more

Sana Majeed spoke of an incident back in 2005, when a group of men in black confronted her on the street for wearing inappropriate clothing and not covering her hair. “Islamist parties started to control Iraq and that was the worst nightmare Iraqi women have ever faced,” Majeed, who now wears a black abaya and head scarf, told Reuters. “Religious parties and militia have stolen free life from Iraqi women.”   read more

Americans who don’t purchase insurance will be penalized. A family of two adults with two or more children, for example, would pay $285 or 1% of the family’s income over the $20,300 filing threshold, whichever is greater. If a person is due a refund from the Internal Revenue Service, the government can deduct the penalty from the money owed. Otherwise, there isn’t any legal mechanism to punish people for not paying.   read more

The four largest banks—JPMorgan Chase, Bank of America, Citigroup and Wells Fargo—today are 30% larger than five years ago. that the five largest banks “now hold more than half of the total banking assets in the country. One study earlier this year showed that the Too Big to Fail status is giving the 10 biggest U.S. banks an annual taxpayer subsidy of $83 billion.”   read more

Afghanistan’s government suspects that members of an elite U.S. Army unit were involved in the mysterious disappearance and deaths of 17 civilians. The Afghans vanished from Wardak province after being detained by U.S. Green Berets between October 2012 and February 2013. Bodies of 10 of the men were eventually discovered in shallow graves outside the U.S. base that housed Operational Detachment-Alpha, or A Team.   read more

Farmers dedicated more acreage to opium production: about 209,000 hectares this year versus 154,000 hectares in 2012 and 193,000 in the peak year of 2007. Two more provinces began producing opium (Balkh and Faryab), bringing the total in Afghanistan to 19 provinces—out of 34, which means more than 50% are now supporting the illicit drug trade. Almost half of the production takes place in Helmand Province.   read more

Under the Affordable Care Act (pdf), the federal government is supposed to “promptly and without undue delay” transfer the applications of those going through HealthCare.gov that meet the requirements for Medicaid eligibility to states. But the Obama administration has failed to carry out this important provision of the law. Unlike regular insurance coverage accessed through the website, which can begin on January 1, those eligible for Medicaid can be covered immediately.   read more

An example from the movies analyzed in the study was the “Die Hard” film series. The 1990 adventure “Die Hard 2” was rated R, but a later sequel, 2007’s “Live Free or Die Hard,” was rated PG-13 in spite of having more gun violence.   read more

The spying uncovered that Saudi Arabia was secretly producing more oil than it claimed, which undercut the organization’s goal of inflating oil prices. The NSA learned that the Saudis were releasing inaccurate totals about the country’s oil production, which confirmed suspicions by officials in the Central Intelligence Agency, the State Department and the Department of Energy.   read more

The most recent bystander shooting occurred in September, when two officers near Times Square fired at a man they mistakenly believed had a gun. The man was not wounded, but two female bystanders were, one of whom is now preparing to file a lawsuit. The lawsuits that are filed by innocent bystanders as a result of officer shootings are referred to by New York City as “no-pay cases,” an indication of how black-and-white city lawyers view these incidents.   read more

Under current law, asylum seekers are prohibited from working legally for up to 180 days after filing their applications. However, the report shows that the wait is often much longer, sometimes lasting years, because the government can “stop the clock” if it determines an applicant has done something to delay proceedings. HRW says it is unclear “what stops and restarts the clock”— a practice that impacted more than 260,000 asylum seekers in 2011 alone, or 92% of all pending cases.   read more

With the website’s many hardware and software problems preventing people from signing up for insurance, the administration has called on insurers for technical help. But consumers may find themselves going directly to an insurance company’s website for information—and companies would not be required to tell visitors about other plans available through competitors.   read more

The bill would wipe out Section 716 (pdf) of Dodd-Frank that requires banks to use a non-bank entity for trading commodity, energy and other swaps. In other words, if the legislation becomes law, financial institutions could return to conducting high-risk trading with funds that are backed by the FDIC (i.e. the taxpayer).   read more

six states—Texas, Georgia, Louisiana, Mississippi, Oklahoma and West Virginia—have refused to comply, despite the fact that the president has the power to call National Guard units into federal service and that the federal government pays for nearly all Guard funding. Nevertheless, the states say the units are state agencies that must abide by state laws.   read more