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

• The U.S. government doesn’t exercise the kinds of cost controls that other countries do. As an example, the U.S. paid an average of $947 per person for prescription drugs in 2009, nearly double the $487 per person paid in the OECD as a whole. Yet “we don’t take twice as many pills,” said Holland. “We just let big pharma charge whatever it can get away with.”   read more

The Government Accountability Office (GAO) found 8,400 individuals with security clearances between 2006 and 2012 who owed $85 million to the IRS. About half of the 8,400 had not arranged a repayment plan with the IRS). The average amount owed was $3,800. Some owed as much as $2 million. About half of them (4,700) were federal employees, while the rest were contractors.   read more

The echinacea included Parthenium hysterophorus, a plant that can cause rashes, nausea and flatulence. St. John’s Wort contained, in one instance, only rice, and in another instance Alexandrian Senna, an Egyptian shrub that acts as a powerful laxative and can cause liver damage.   read more

China subsidizes the programs, and in return, the Chinese government dictates what can—and cannot—be taught at the CIs. At the University of Chicago’s CI, school officials don’t even dare hang a photo of the Dalai Lama, whom the Chinese government considers a threat because of his Tibetan independence views. “CIs are managed by a foreign government, and accordingly are responsive to its politics,” Marshall Sahlins wrote at The Nation.   read more

Tort reform bills limit liability for negligence or personal-injury lawsuits. Tort reform, corporate front groups realized, is not a politically popular issue—not nearly as powerful as getting tough on crime. Judges who are supportive of a “tough” approach to criminal justice tend to be conservative overall, and thus more likely to support pro-business tort reform efforts. It could even be called a case of “bait and switch.”   read more

Overtime has become a form of entitlement at the Department of Homeland Security (DHS), with some employees padding their paychecks by 25% with extra pay for work they don’t necessarily perform. Workers refer to overtime pay as a “candy bowl,” according to seven whistleblowers who talked to the Office of Special Counsel (OSC).   read more

Back in 2009, the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ) got wind of allegations that several Silicon Valley tech companies had been colluding among themselves since at least 2006 to drive down salaries by agreeing not to recruit each other’s employees. The plan was evidently hatched by Apple CEO Steve Jobs. DOJ filed a civil suit alleging violations of the federal antitrust laws.   read more

The lawsuit claims that Pfizer pursued a two-prong approach, publishing only data that supported Zoloft’s efficacy and engaging in a “ghostwriting program to misleadingly enhance Zoloft’s credibility.” Defining ghostwriting as “a process where someone with a vested interest in an article, like Pfizer, that does not want their association with the article to be known, provides a written draft to an author who then publishes the article under that author’s name.”   read more

Cecilia Abadie, a Google Glass test participant, was pulled over for speeding, but the officer added driving distracted to the ticket, which Abadie posted online. The ticket reads in part: “Driving with Monitor visible to Driver (Google Glass).” Google Glass is a wearable computer device that allows hands-free access to information that is displayed on a lens strapped to the user’s head.   read more

The 27-page document even includes the recommended statement (found under the subheading “Sound Bites That Resonate”): “I much prefer to be here today explaining these programs, than explaining another 9/11 event that we were not able to prevent.” Other talking points insist the NSA’s work is “lawful” and compliant with all federal oversight, and that “allies benefit too” from its intelligence gathering (unless they’re targets of NSA snooping, presumably.)   read more

Coal ash, a euphemism for the solid waste produced by coal-burning power plants, contains arsenic, barium, boron, beryllium, cadmium, chromium, lead, mercury, molybdenum, nickel, selenium and thallium, which have been linked to cancer, birth defects, digestive illnesses, reproductive conditions, and other health problems. About 600 U.S. power plants generate 136 million tons of it every year, which they dump in about 1,160 ponds, landfills and mine shafts.   read more

A large coalition of media and consumer organizations have asked a federal appeals court to unseal a mysterious lawsuit involving an unidentified company accused of product safety violations. The unidentified business, known only as Company Doe in court records, is supported by business groups, such as the National Association of Manufacturers, the American Coatings Association and the Association of Home Appliance Manufacturers.   read more

In 2006, Goldberg was named an ambassador for the first time, and sent to La Paz, Bolivia, for an intended three-year term that ended after two years with Goldberg’s expulsion as a persona non grata. A series of incidents in 2007 and 2008 indicating that U.S. embassy personnel were attempting to recruit Peace Corps volunteers and visiting American scholars as spies raised tensions.   read more

Career diplomat Michael S. Hoza has been management counselor at the U.S. Embassy in Moscow, Russia since 2010. From 2007 to 2010 Hoza was management counselor and acting deputy chief of mission at the embassy in Nairobi, Kenya.   read more

The FDA approved the sale of Zohydro on October 25, despite a warning from its own staff in 2012 that said the drug will be abused more than traditional hydrocodone products like Vicodin, which was the most prescribed medication in the U.S. three years ago. The United States reportedly consumes 99% of the hydrocodone that is used around the world.   read more

Amos and others allegedly deprived accused Marines of due process, made misleading statements under oath, tried to hide evidence, and attempted to undermine the reputation of a Marine Corps whistleblower who exposed the unethical activities of Marine leaders, according to the letter. The allegations stem from 2011 when scout snipers in Afghanistan filmed themselves urinating on dead insurgents.   read more