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

A federal prosecutor in New York accused Yudong Zhu, Xing Yang and Ye Li, all of whom are Chinese citizens, of accepting bribes from a Chinese medical imaging company, United Imaging, and SIAT, a Chinese-sponsored research institute. In exchange for the money, the three shared nonpublic information about their NYU work. It is thought that Ye returned to China before she was charged.   read more

Critics have detailed a number of concerns regarding BLM’s latest rules draft. Among them is a provision that allows drillers to not disclose the chemicals they are using until 30 days after they have begun drilling. Another rule allows drillers to withhold trade secrets without being required to explain their reason for doing so. Observers also note that there is no requirement for well operators to collect and disclose air and water quality data prior to fracking.   read more

The U.S. Air Force’s Office of Special Investigations detected a problem with the machine in 2002, the year after it came on the market. They notified the manufacturer, Lafayette Instrument Co. Inc., who advised them how to work around the glitch—by using a manual mode of testing rather than the less effective but easier-to-use automatic mode. However, they apparently did not correct the problem or notify other users of the equipment.   read more

Of the responses to the emails written with Latino aliases, 31.3% were either non-informative, inaccurate or ambiguous, whereas 24.9% of the responses to Greg Walsh and ”Jake Mueller” fell into these categories. However, the report did conclude “that states with stricter voter ID laws did not exhibit greater differences in response to Latinos versus non-Latinos.”   read more

The government classified the shooting as a “workplace violence” incident, and not an act of terror or combat-related. Soldiers wounded in the shooting have been fighting for more than three years to win combat pay and medical benefits, which have been denied due to the technical classification of the assault.   read more

The largest number of the deaths in FY2012 occurred in Arizona near Tucson, which is also the busiest stretch of the Mexican border for illegal crossings. Another dangerous stretch is in Texas’ Rio Grande Valley. There, 77 bodies of immigrants were recovered between October 1 and April 30, an average of almost three a week. Last year, more than half of the dead were identified as having come not from Mexico, but from Central America.   read more

The cyber-attacks, in fact, may have been aimed at learning the identities of Chinese intelligence operatives under surveillance in the U.S. by the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI), The Washington Post reported. Google technicians discovered that its database containing years of information on surveillance operations had been breached. Included were classified court orders approving surveillance of U.S.–based foreign agents, diplomats and terrorists.   read more

The VA reported that men made up nearly 40% of the patients treated in 2012 for conditions linked to “military sexual trauma.” VA statistics revealed that 20% of women and 1% of men screen positive for military sexual trauma, which the agency defines as “any sexual activity where you are involved against your will.”   read more

This surveillance “benefited a number of corporations and banks that were subjects of Occupy Phoenix protest activity,” including JPMorgan Chase, according to the report. For example, when JPMorgan CEO Jamie Dimon visited Phoenix, the bank’s security department reached out to the local fusion center, whose members assured them that the Occupy movement was unaware of Dimon’s visit.   read more

In parts of Europe and Asia, anti-Islamic sentiments went up, while growing anti-Semitism was noted in Venezuela, Egypt and Iran. The International Religious Freedom Report quoted Egyptian President Mohammed Morsi, who praised comments by a religious leader calling for Allah to “destroy the Jews and their supporters.” In Venezuela, state-controlled media published multiple anti-Semitic remarks, including opposition to a Catholic presidential candidate with Jewish roots.   read more

It is estimated that there will be more than 72 million Americans over the age of 65 by 2030, according to the Department of Health and Human Services, which is nearly twice as many currently. Meanwhile, the U.S. will need 70% more home aide jobs in the next seven years, and people are not beating down the door for these positions that pay an average of about $20,000 a year.   read more

Four Iraqis claim the contractor helped torture them while providing interrogation services at Abu Ghraib. All of them were ultimately released without being charged with a crime. They allege that CACI subjected them to a variety of torture techniques, including “electric shocks; repeated brutal beatings; sleep deprivation; sensory deprivation; forced nudity; stress positions; sexual assault; mock executions; humiliation; hooding; isolated detention; and prolonged hanging from the limbs.”   read more

Currently, just five banks control 90% of all derivatives contracts: JPMorgan Chase, Citigroup, Bank of America, Morgan Stanley and Goldman Sachs. The Commodity Futures Trading Commission (CFTC) had planned to require firms wanting a price for a derivatives contract to contact at least five banks. But after lobbying from financial institutions, the CFTC lowered the requirement to two banks.   read more

What seems to happen is that immigrants, as they settle into their new American lives, adopt the unhealthy habits of those already here—smoking, drinking, eating fast food, and not exercising.   read more

Many other cases remain unsolved, including the December 10, 1964, death of Frank Morris in Ferriday, Louisiana. Morris, who was black, died when a group of men set his shop on fire. The Concordia Sentinel revealed that a suspect in the case was still alive—someone who had been implicated in the murder by his own family. But the FBI never charged the man, saying they were unable to compile the credible evidence necessary to charge him. The suspect, Arthur Leonard Spencer, died last week.   read more

Residents of Center Point, Alabama, who received citations as a result of a new traffic-camera system were told they could appeal their tickets in court. But there was a catch: it turned out there was no court to hear such cases. That’s the contention of two women, Rhonda Lashon Stubbs and Celeita Snow, who are suing the city and Redflex Traffic Systems, which was hired to install the cameras to catch speeders and other moving violations.   read more