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 many cases, Jeong said, the videos and materials used during anti-bullying programs gave kids new ways of tormenting others, including the use of texting and social media. “The schools with interventions say, ‘You shouldn’t do this,’ or ‘you shouldn’t do that.’ But through the programs, the students become highly exposed to what a bully is and they know what to do or say when questioned by parents or teachers,” Jeong said.   read more

Something like brake pads may seem innocent enough, unless they wind up in Iran, whose air force is in need of parts for U.S.-made jets purchased before the Islamic revolution 34 ago. Three of the many companies that are likely to benefit from the administration’s decision are Lockheed Martin, which makes C-130 transport planes, Textron, builder of Kiowa Warrior helicopters, and Honeywell, which outfits military choppers.   read more

The Department of Homeland Security (DHS) suggested earlier this year during the sequestration debate that Congress reduce the “bed mandate” after years of it being raised again and again. GOP lawmakers objected, however. They responded by setting the mandate at 34,000 detainees and ordered ICE to spend nearly $400 million more than the agency requested.   read more

Local officials and police in Oakland developed the Domain Awareness Center. The Center is planned as a high-tech operation, fully staffed 24 hours a day, which will display its streams of data on banks of giant wall monitors. Initially data collection will focus on the port, traffic camera coverage, license plate reading and 911 calls. Eventually, the system will add surveillance of schools, state highways and commuter rail.   read more

The U.S. Department of Justice prosecuted a 10-year-old boy as a sex offender two years ago, it now has been revealed, sparking a debate about trying juveniles using laws intended for adult pedophiles. In 2011, federal prosecutors won a delinquency finding against a boy accused of engaging in sex acts when he was 10 with five younger boys (ages 5-7) living at Fort Huachuca, an Army base in Arizona. The child was one of the youngest defendants ever pursued by the Justice Department.   read more

Winters have grown shorter, and in New Hampshire, that has exposed moose to more ticks. Some animals have been found carrying as many as 100,000 of the parasites. Milder winters are occurring more often now, which is bad for an animal made for cold weather. This development has led to heat stress, which can cause exhaustion and death for the moose.   read more

More than 40% said that the ACA provides subsidies to undocumented immigrants to buy health insurance, establishes something resembling a death panel, and reduces benefits for seniors currently enrolled in Medicare—none of which are true. In addition, a Public Policy Polling survey showed that 27% of Americans—including 47% of African-Americans–didn’t know that Obamacare and ACA are the same thing.   read more

All 2,400 prisoners at the North Fork Correctional Facility in Western Oklahoma are from California, which shipped them there in 2007 . The lawsuit alleges that CCA and its former warden, Fred Figueroa, didn’t train guards properly and left some positions understaffed, which led to the “severe and permanent physical and mental injuries” suffered by the four plaintiffs   read more

Segarra found out that during the $23 billion El Paso/Kinder Morgan merger in 2012, Goldman had a $4 billion stake in Kinder while also advising El Paso on the deal—a clear conflict of interest. Segarra thought that Silva would back her up, based on comments he had made the prior December that he was worried that if the extent of Goldman’s conflict management problems became public, clients might leave the firm and cause serious financial damage, according to Segarra’s notes.   read more

But Karzai insisted he could not unilaterally approve the deal with the immunity provision, saying tribal leaders would have to okay it. So the agreement must go before a Loya Jirga, which can include hundreds and as many as a thousand elders, leaders and other influential people. If the assembly does not approve the plan, the U.S. is unlikely to keep any forces in Afghanistan after 2014.   read more

Parents-to-be whose DNA has been tested for various traits would access a database of sperm and egg donors whose DNA has also been tested, allowing the former to select a donor based on the odds of particular characteristics being expressed in potential offspring. Nothing but higher odds is, or could be, promised.   read more

Threatening to upend a tradition of equality that dates back to the founding of the country, Republican political leaders in Kansas and Arizona are discussing plans to establish a multi-tier voting rights system for their states if they lose a voting rights case currently in federal court. The net effect would be to bar some U.S. citizens—mostly immigrants, racial minorities, the elderly, and the poor—from voting in state and local elections even as they cast ballots in federal contests.   read more

Reuters examined county property records in 25 states and found thousands of cases where people purchased homes not knowing that a developer had retained all underlying mineral rights. Homebuilders have been motivated to secretly keep mineral rights because of the booming fracking industry, hoping that someday energy companies will show up wanting to drill underneath the properties.   read more

The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) took legal action for the first time against a drone pilot. The drone operator, Raphael Pirker, got into trouble over a video he made from a drone flying over the University of Virginia, with the citation alleging that the video records a series of aviation violations, including flying too low over vehicles, buildings, people, streets and structures, and even aiming the craft at a person, who Pirker says was his spotter.   read more

Obama inherited a culture of secrecy from the George W. Bush administration. But rather than change it, Obama became “more aggressive” by increasing the use of the 1917 Espionage Act to pursue those accused of leaking classified information. Under Obama, the Espionage Act has been used to go after six government employees and two contractors accused of revealing secrets to the press. In all previous administrations, there had been just three such prosecutions.   read more

Obama fundraiser Timothy Broas is getting a do-over. Despite an embarrassing late night arrest for drunk driving and resisting arrest in June 2012 that killed his nomination to be the next ambassador to the Netherlands, Broas was re-nominated by Obama on July 18 of this year to be his man in The Hague.   read more