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

When it was first proposed, the project was expected to cost a total of $1.1 billion to complete. Now, that figure has soared to $6.5 billion, and the cost might increase further because the roof revision burned through nearly half of NNSA “contingency” funds, the GAO found.   read more

The military took no action against 187 individuals, according to the IG, while 141 subjects were categorized as either unknown, or accused of “unfounded offenses.” Only 11% (59 individuals) were convicted for either sexual assault offenses or lesser non-sexual assault offenses in 2010. About 40% of suspects received some form of “adverse action,” the IG report said.   read more

Food wasn’t listed in the budget, so perhaps McDonald’s assumed that cost would come out of the $27 for daily living it recommended. Daniel Gross at The Daily Beast noted that if a McDonald’s employee is a teenager living at home, the budget might make sense. “And time was, people in such a situation comprised a big chunk of McDonald’s workforce,” he wrote.“But that’s no longer the case."   read more

Companies such as Exxon Mobil and Sempra Energy have asked the Obama administration for permission to export as much as 29 billion cubic feet of natural gas a day. These efforts represent quite a turnaround for the industry. Less than a decade ago, domestic production of natural gas was so low that facilities were being built in U.S. ports to import foreign natural gas.   read more

The execution of Warren Hill, 52, was blocked for the time being by Superior Court Judge Gail Tusan after Hill’s attorney claimed in a court filing that his client’s rights were violated by the Lethal Injection Secrecy Law, which makes the identity of the suppliers of the sedative pentobarbital a “state secret” to thwart protesters from boycotting such businesses.   read more

What is that is unspoken Snowden would appear to be using the “blueprint” material as a backup to be released should the Obama administration attempt to do him harm. In addition, his possession of such material might explain why the Obama Justice Department is charging Snowden with espionage.   read more

Autumn Katz, the lead attorney for the CRR, told The Guardian that the decision will not affect anti-abortion laws in other states, but it adds to “a growing list of court cases that are striking down totally unnecessary and restrictive laws.” “The only reasons these laws are passed is to restrict women's access to abortion care,” she added.   read more

U.S. District Judge Yvonne Gonzales Rogers’ decision (pdf) to involve the FDA came in the lawsuit against Gruma Corp., which sells tortillas, guacamole and other products under the brand name Mission. Lead plaintiff Elizabeth Cox sued the company in San Francisco, arguing that the defendant had no right to claim its products are “all natural” when they contain corn grown from bioengineered seeds.   read more

Robert Plant, a computer information systems professor at the University of Miami School of Business Administration, told the Times that consumers can rarely control or have access to this data.. Thanks to technology provided by such tracking companies as California-based RetailNext, which boasts on its web site “Learn How Shoppers Behave in your Stores,” retailers can even track individual customers and tailor ads and discounts to them.   read more

Part of the drop is attributed to old-fashioned economics. The cocaine industry has branched out, increasing exports to Europe and “emerging markets.” This, combined with a reduction in production in Colombia and increased adulteration of cocaine being sold in the United States, has led to a near-doubling in prices, which, in turn has led drug users to turn to cheaper products such as methamphetamines and bath salts.   read more

The gaps meant veterans couldn’t prove to the Department of Veterans Affairs that they had fought or been wounded in battle, causing delays in disability benefits. The VA accepts medical and personnel records, but when those are inadequate, claimants must often track down long lost comrades at arms to sign sworn affidavits regarding their combat service. Building a disability claim from witness statements can take much more time.   read more

The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency did its part, approving the new standards in 1996. It was then up to the Fish and Wildlife Service and the National Marine Fisheries Service to review them. Instead, the two agencies “did nothing,” according to Nina Bell, NWEA’s executive director.   read more

U.S. power plants in the past year have actually increased their use of coal while decreasing their use of natural gas, reversing a recent trend from gas to coal. The reason for the shift, according to EIA, is simply that the price of gas rose while that of coal dropped. Many utility companies have technology allowing them to switch between coal and natural gas, and do so depending on which option is cheaper.   read more

The primary reason for the good budget news is the slowly recovering economy. June’s unemployment rate of 7.6% was down from 8.2% last year, net corporate income taxes were up by $29 billion, payments to the Treasury from Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac are on the rise, and American employers added 195,000 workers in June.   read more

For 35 years, the FISC has acted in complete secrecy: government requests for surveillance are sealed, only the government is allowed to participate in hearings, and the court’s opinions—which have the force of law—are kept from the public as well. As a result, the FISC has created a corpus of secret law pertaining to vital constitutional issues like the Fourth Amendment and the right to privacy.   read more

A PPD, while neither a law nor a regulation, is a statement by the President directed to the Executive Branch of the federal government that implements or interprets a federal statute, a constitutional provision, or a treaty. As such, a PPD becomes part of the particular legal framework that grows up around any statute or program. Keeping it secret means that the public is prevented from fully understanding the laws that govern them.   read more