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 new EPA rule comes despite independent studies that show glyphosate can be harmful to human health as an endocrine disruptor, according to The Cornucopia Institute. The institute said a June 2013 study concluded glyphosate “exerted proliferative effects in human hormone-dependent breast cancer.”   read more

The new law cuts the maximum unemployment benefit by about one-third, from $535 a week to $350, and slashes the maximum weeks of benefits from 26 to a sliding scale between 12 and 20 weeks. Because the new law violates a federal requirement that states maintain current benefit amounts in order to qualify for extended federal benefits, the new law will stop benefits for about 70,000 workers who have exhausted their state benefits but cannot find a job.   read more

According to last week’s Wiretap Report from the U.S. Administrative Office of the Courts:"In four of these wiretaps, officials were unable to decipher the plain text of the messages. This is the first time that jurisdictions have reported that encryption prevented officials from obtaining the plain text of the communications since the AO began collecting encryption data in 2001."   read more

The power of these mega-donors is highlighted by the fact that not only did their money go to every winning congressional candidate last year, but 84% of those elected took more money from the mega-donors than they did from all of their small donors (those who gave $200 or less) combined.   read more

Judge Gerald Bruce Lee dismissed their claims, ruling that CACI cannot be sued for its role in torturing them because corporations are immune from civil claims for wrongs committed outside the U.S. Baher Azmy, CCR’s legal director, said that the “ruling effectively created lawless spaces where even U.S.-based entities can commit torture and war crimes with impunity.”   read more

Latif wrote to his attorney that he was “happy to express from this darkness and draw a true picture of the condition in which I exist. I am moving towards a dark cave and a dark life in the shadow of a dark prison. This is a prison that does not know humanity, and does not know anything except the language of power, oppression and humiliation for whoever enters it. It does not differentiate between a criminal and the innocent.”   read more

EMSI estimates that temps have accounted for 15% of job growth despite making up only 2% of the total U.S. workforce. Grabell writes that the “overwhelming majority” of the temp job growth has been in “blue-collar work in factories and warehouses.” In 1993, 60% of temp jobs were white-collar and 30% blue-collar. By 2012 the ratio had shifted to 47% blue-collar and 40% white-collar.   read more

The report says renewables are now the fastest-growing types of power generation and will comprise almost 25% of global energy by 2018. Only two years ago, renewables made up about 20% of the planet’s power sources. The amount of non-hydro energy generated by wind, solar, bioenergy and geothermal is expected to double, from 4% in 2011 to 8% by 2018.   read more

Castillo never went to war. He sustained a foot injury while training to play football at the U.S. Military Academy Preparatory School (USMAPS) and didn’t even apply for veterans’ disability payments until 27 years later. In fact, after the injury he went on to play quarterback and linebacker at the University of San Diego. His injury during his one year at USMAPS qualified him as a veteran and made his company eligible for contracts set aside for disabled veterans.   read more

Archuleta served as a senior advisor on policy and initiatives from October 2005 to May 2009, working closely with Mayor John Hickenlooper. After the election of Barack Obama in 2008, Archuleta served as chief of staff to Secretary of Labor Hilda Solis from 2009 to 2011. She was then appointed national political director for Obama for America, i.e., the President’s re-election campaign, a position she held from 2011 to 2012.   read more

The next ambassador to Australia will be a longtime federal administrator and Barack Obama supporter, who will also be the first openly gay envoy to the land down under. If confirmed by the Senate, Morrell John Berry, who goes by his middle name, would succeed Jeffrey Bleich, who served in Canberra starting in November 2009. Berry has been director of the Office of Personnel Management since April 2009.   read more

Judge Carlos Samour, who will preside over the case of accused shooter James Holmes, plans to call 5,000 potential jurors. By comparison, the ongoing trial of George Zimmerman in Florida for the killing of Trayvon Martin required a jury pool of only 500 and the current trial of mobster Whitey Bulger in Massachusetts started with a pool of 858 potential jurors.   read more

Nelson worked for dentist James Knight for 10 years until he fired her in 2010 because of her looks. Knight claimed that she was too attractive to keep around, lest he be tempted to sleep with her and endanger his marriage. The ordeal and court ruling of the “irresistible employee” became a national story on news shows and comedy programs. Nelson asked the court to reconsider its decision, and this week it agreed to do so.   read more

Hackett was named executive director of CRS in July 1993, and was appointed president in 2003. During his tenure, he started a division focusing on outreach to Catholic dioceses, parishes, organizations, and colleges, and laypeople were first appointed to the CRS board of directors. The organization’s budget—which despite the word “Catholic” comes not from the Church but from governments and private donors—nearly doubled under Hackett, who retired in December 2011.   read more

President Barack Obama has nominated one of his top fundraisers to serve as the next ambassador to Denmark. Rufus Gifford, who most recently served as finance chair of the Presidential Inaugural Committee, raised millions for Obama’s two presidential runs, especially among the gay community, where he and his former partner were dubbed “Obama's Gay Gold Mine” in 2008.   read more

“Do not use any electronic device,” Francis says, “such as the telephone, cell or smartphone, BlackBerry, iPhone, PDA computer, the Internet, email, any text or instant message service, any Internet chat room, blog or website such as Facebook, MySpace, YouTube or Twitter to communicate to anyone any information about the case.”   read more