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

From 2006 to 2009, he was counselor for management affairs at the embassy in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania, and chargé d’affaires ad interim, and from 2009 to 2011, he was chargé d’affaires and deputy chief of mission at the embassy in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. Since 2011, Mushingi has served as deputy executive secretary and executive director of the Executive Office of the Secretary of State. Mushingi bears an unusual resemblance to President Obama.   read more

The case centered on Myriad Genetics, a Utah biotech company that held the patents on human breast and ovarian cancer genes (BRCA1 and BRCA2) for two decades. “Myriad did not create anything,” Justice Clarence Thomas wrote for the court. “To be sure, it found an important and useful gene, but separating that gene from its surrounding genetic material is not an act of invention.”   read more

Federal workers employed in intelligence gathering can tell their complaints to the inspector general of the agency employing them or with members of Congress sitting on the intelligence committees. However, intelligence employees working for private companies like Booz Allen Hamilton (such as Snowden) can be fired by their employers if they report potential abuses to inspectors general.   read more

The bookless library will have 100 e-readers for people to borrow in order to read any of the 10,000 digital titles that will be available. Residents also will have access to dozens of computers to browse, study, and learn digital skills. One of the inspirations for the Bexar paperless public library was the bookless engineering school library at the University of Texas San Antonio, which has been open for three years.   read more

Padalino practiced law in El Paso at Kemp Smith LLP from 2003 to 2009, representing rural water districts, litigating commercial cases and handling appeals in state and federal appellate courts. He also took leave from his law practice in 2008 to volunteer as a field organizer for Obama for America in Texas. From 2009 to 2012, Padalino served in a number of positions at USDA, including chief of staff for USDA Rural Development Under Secretary Dallas Tonsager.   read more

With so many companies taking part in America’s spying activity, it is no wonder that private sector workers hold about 22% of all U.S. government security clearances and about 29% of top secret security clearances. The Obama administration promised four years ago to substantially reduce this figure and put more of this highly sensitive work back in the hands of federal employees. That hasn’t happened yet.   read more

Within the White House, the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) has caused more than 120 new rules to become bottlenecked, the Coalition for Sensible Safeguards complained in a new report. Some rules, such as those proposed by the Department of Energy, have sat for two years awaiting approval—despite a White House mandate adopted during the Bill Clinton years that requires OIRA to act within 90 days of receiving them.   read more

The nations with the most technically recoverable shale gas resources are said to be China, Argentina, Algeria, the United States, Canada and Mexico. The nations with the most technically recoverable shale oil resources are Russia, the United States, China, Argentina and Libya.   read more

In one instance, a senior manager pushed for three of his college-age children to be hired for department internships last year. The unnamed official, who worked in the Office of Energy Efficiency and Renewable Energy, contacted 12 colleagues, including a high-ranking human capital official, to encourage the hiring of his three kids. But the family lobbying paid off—all three of the children got jobs in DOE.   read more

Under the leadership of Chief Justice John Roberts, the Supreme Court on Thursday responded to Howell’s ruling by issuing a new regulation that orders visitors to “maintain suitable order and decorum within the Supreme Court building and grounds.” It also bans “picketing, speech making, marching, holding vigils or religious services and all other like forms of conduct."   read more

In 2009, the FBI reported to Congress that it had used Section 215 only 21 times to access business records. That total had soared by last year to 212 requests—a 1,000% increase. Experts say this indicates a broadening interpretation of the provision on the part of government, so that it is being applied not only to targeted individuals but to Americans who have no apparent ties to terrorist activity.   read more

The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported this month that wages in the U.S. declined 4.3% during the first quarter of this year. The drop was the steepest on record, going back to 1947. But the first three months of 2013 were fantastic for banks, which posted a record $40.3-billion profit, according to the Federal Deposit Insurance Corp.   read more

Following the political uproar over rising numbers of rapes and examples of commanders throwing out punishment rulings for sexual assaults, legislation was introduced that would prevent generals and admirals from being able to interfere and overrule in such cases and, instead, leave it solely to military prosecutors to handle.   read more

Created in 2004 at the suggestion of the 9/11 Commission, the PCLOB didn’t hold its first meeting until 2006, and its first report was so heavily edited by officials in the George W. Bush administration that it resulted in one board member, Democrat Lanny Davis, quitting. The board lacks staffing and full-time members (a product of Medine’s delay as chairman), and doesn’t even have a website yet.   read more

In Germany, the issue of government snooping is especially sensitive, given the decades of domestic spying by the East German Stasi during the Cold War. Britain’s Foreign Secretary William Hague informed Parliament that British intelligence services have not colluded with the U.S. to circumvent the country’s laws. Some observers suspect that the leaders of foreign allies have known all along what the U.S. government was up to and are just posturing publically for domestic consumption.   read more

Lawmakers who say they were never told about the program are dismissive. “It's playing with words. What does ‘brief’ mean?” Senator Jay Rockefeller (D-West Virginia) said to NPR. “I would [typically] go up there to the White House and get briefed, and come back knowing nothing.”   read more