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

Herndon found multiple problems, including selective exclusion of years with high debt and average growth, a problematic method of weighing countries, and a coding error in the Excel spreadsheet that excludes high-debt and average-growth countries. The errors all had the effect of overstating the dangers of debt and overselling the benefits of austerity. The data simply do not support the idea that too much debt inevitably ruins an economy.   read more

Despite an anti-corruption rule adopted in 2002 barring high ministry bureaucrats from becoming ambassadors, the new ambassador to the U.S. is Kenichiro Sasae, most recently vice minister for foreign affairs. Sasae served as deputy minister for foreign affairs from 2008 to 2010, and as vice minister for foreign affairs, the top civil service job at the Foreign Ministry, from 2010 to 2012.   read more

Schnepf served as secretary of state for foreign relations and security in the office of Prime Minister Kazimierz Marcinkiewicz from October 31, 2005 to June 1, 2006, when he was forced to resign over comments he made in support of a controversial gas pipeline, although some said that he was simply caught in an internal power struggle. Schnepf’s exile from government did not last long. In December 2008, Schnepf returned to serve a second stint as ambassador to Spain.   read more

Treatment clinics in more than two-thirds of the states are already at or approaching 100% capacity, AP reported, and state budget are being cut. In Minnesota, an estimated 491,000 people in need of substance abuse treatment, but there are only 3,900 inpatient beds available in the whole state. In Illinois, there are 92,000 patients receiving treatment, but more than 230,000 more addicts and alcoholics currently without insurance will become eligible in January.   read more

Michael J. Elli claims he was ticketed by an Ellisville police officer for flashing his headlights at oncoming traffic on November 17, 2012. Elli said he flashed his lights in an effort to warn other drivers about a nearby speed trap that police had set up. In suing the small town (population: 9,200), Elli, who is being represented by the American Civil Liberties Union of Eastern Missouri, argues that the ticket he received represents a violation of his right to free speech.   read more

Residents of Memphis, Tennessee, aren’t nearly as positive about walking their city streets alone after dark. Only 55% said they feel comfortable doing such a thing, giving Memphis the lowest marks from the polling. Some of the other least safe cities for walking at night are New Orleans, Riverside, California, Houston and Jacksonville.   read more

He is no stranger to the U.S., having served in Boston as consul from 1983 to 1985 and as consul general there until 1989, and as consul general in Los Angeles from September 1994 to 1999. Panagopoulos served as ambassador of Greece to Cyprus from 2000 to 2005, and as ambassador to Serbia from July 2005 to late 2008. Back in Athens, he was director of the Diplomatic Cabinet of the Foreign Minister, and of the Alternate Minister, from 2008 to 2012.   read more

From May 2008 to late 2012, Altangerel was ambassador to the United Kingdom, resident in London and concurrently accredited to South Africa, Ireland and Iceland. Altangerel speaks Russian, English and Spanish. An enthusiastic equestrian, Altangerel owns a dozen horses and even attended Royal Ascot while posted to London.   read more

Those arguing against the need for a warrant argue that the time it takes to obtain one allows alcohol to dissipate from the bloodstream while a judge is being found. Justice Clarence Thomas alone took the position that the possible dissipation of alcohol is always more important than obtaining a warrant. Justice Sotomayor, on the other hand, pointed out that warrants are easier to obtain than they used to be, thanks to technological developments.   read more

A new ABC News/Washington Post Poll revealed that 86% of respondents said “yes” to backing a law requiring background checks of people buying guns at gun shows or online. This level of national support wasn’t enough to convince several key Democrats to back the legislation. All of them represent states that voted against Barack Obama in 2012.   read more

USCIS was acknowledged for information contained in its “About Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals” FAQ. The Center noted that the FAQ’s intended audience was people “who don’t speak English as their first language AND it involves children. The tone indicates that the writer does not see the reader as a person. This is written in such bureaucratic style that someone who was born and raised in this country may not recognize this as English.”   read more

Following the Boston Marathon bombing, critics complained about Obama’s initial public remarks, which left out any mention of “terrorism.” If anything, the president was taking a one-day break from using the word—which he’s said an average of once a day since taking over the Oval Office in 2009. Eric Ostermeier of Smart Politics, found that Obama had mentioned terrorism or one of its related usages 1,469 times.   read more

The bottom line according to Wadsworth: More sex makes people happy, but even better is knowing that you’re having more sex than those you know. In that sense, claims Wadsworth, sex is similar to income because of people’s habit of feeling better (or worse) about their situation depending on how much their friends or neighbors have.   read more

The 577-page report said that never before had there been “the kind of considered and detailed discussions that occurred after 9/11 directly involving a president and his top advisers on the wisdom, propriety and legality of inflicting pain and torment on some detainees in our custody.” Furthermore, the use of torture has “no justification” and “potentially increased the danger to U.S. military personnel taken captive.”   read more

On Wednesday the Senate rejected a proposed law that would have required background checks through federally licensed dealers on all Internet and gun show sales despite the fact that 56 senators voted for it and only 44 voted against. Such a restriction might have prevented Gerard Toolin, a wanted fugitive from Rhode Island, from trying to buy an AK-47 assault rifle online.   read more

More than 1,800 of these patients had one or more complications that could have been prevented, like blood clots, pneumonia or infected incisions. The findings of the research included the following: • Patients with private insurance who had a complication provided hospitals with a 330% higher profit margin than those without a complication. • Medicare patients with a complication produced a 190% higher margin.   read more