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

Public Access to Court Electronic Records (PACER) provides any American with complete access to docket text, opinions, and all documents filed regarding court cases. PACER has been described as “a tremendously useful tool” by its supporters. But there is a big drawback to PACER. Users must pay for downloading, viewing, and even searching for case materials.   read more

A petition was filed with the White House’s “We the People” website requesting the rule changing, while citing the story of Mina, a dog who served nine tours in Afghanistan. Mina was promoted to sergeant and received an honorable discharge from the military, before dying at the age of 13 back in the United States.   read more

Four years have made quite a difference for John Brennan. In late 2008, the 25-year veteran of the Central Intelligence Agency (CIA) was forced to withdraw his name from consideration to be Director of Central Intelligence (DCI) because of his public support of the Bush administration’s program of illegally sending kidnapped terrorism suspects to foreign prisons to be tortured. Shortly after his second inauguration, however, Obama again nominated Brennan to be the next DCI.   read more

Under heavy pressure from the National Rifle Association (NRA) in 2005, Congress passed the Protection of Lawful Commerce in Arms Act (PLCAA), which makes licensed manufacturers, distributors, and dealers of firearms immune in state and federal court from civil liability in most negligence and product liability actions. The NRA then launched a “corporate partnership” drive targeting weapons makers that has raked in between $14.7 million and $38.9 million.   read more

This year’s budget for CARSI is $26.2 million, with another $47.5 million going to Caribbean Basin Security Initiative (CBSI). Most of the drug war money is spent on equipment made by U.S. companies, including aircraft, patrol boats, night-vision goggles, body armor, radios, weapons, and X-ray equipment for scanning cargo containers. CARSI also funds counter-drug units comprised of FBI and DEA agents working with local police.   read more

The Minnesota Fair Campaign Practices Act made it a gross misdemeanor for someone to intentionally prepare, disseminate, or broadcast political advertising or campaign material “that is designed or tends to elect, injure, promote, or defeat a candidate for nomination or election to a public office or to promote or defeat a ballot question, that is false, and that the person knows is false.”   read more

The San Jose Mercury News reported similar cases of BASM overbilling, including $5,760 for a colonoscopy, instead of the going rate of $2,555, and $13,662 for a circumcision instead of the average of $3,619 for an in-network job. Hashemieh and Sarnevesht see themselves as Robin Hoods, taking from the rich insurance companies and giving to the doctors (with BASM taking fees of 15-25%).   read more

Halfway through his presidency, the U.S. is more than halfway toward achieving Barack Obama’s goal, announced at the Copenhagen climate summit in 2009, of cutting carbon emissions that cause global warming by 17% from 2005 levels by 2020, according to a report released last week. America’s greenhouse gas emissions have already fallen 10.7% from the 2005 baseline.   read more

Whistleblower Protections: The Whistleblower Protection Act in 1989 protects executive branch workers from retaliation for reporting waste, mismanagement or law-breaking, but Congressional employees have no such protections. Keeping Workplace Records: Although a number of workplace-rights laws require private-sector employers to retain personnel records, including injury records, for a set period of time, Congress has exempted itself from all of these requirements.   read more

Hutchenson also concluded that ex-prisoners who gain employment pick up more illegal income than those ex-prisoners who are unemployed. “The same human capital variables that lead to success in the conventional labor market,” wrote Hutchenson, “also lead to success in the illegal economy.” Being white also increases the acquisition of illegal incomes, as does belonging to a gang.   read more

The percentage of those viewing the government as a threat represents a six-point increase from nearly three years ago, when 47% said they felt that way, and a 23% jump from November 2001, when Americans rallied around their government following the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. Conservative Republicans are the largest group who distrust Washington, with 76% expressing fear for their personal freedoms. A majority (54%) described the government as a “major” threat.   read more

The plan, which the National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) okayed this week through federal regulations, allows the Navy to conduct testing and training exercises off the Atlantic coast, in the Gulf of Mexico, and off Southern California and Hawaii. These tests and military exercises could injure or kill tens of millions whales, dolphins and other sea creatures over a five-year period (2014-2019), according to the Natural Resources Defense Council (NRDC).   read more

The biggest killer among food-poisoning incidents was poultry. Between 1998 and 2008, 277 people died from eating tainted poultry, compared to 236 vegetable-related deaths. Most of the poultry deaths were attributed to Listeria monocytogenes or Salmonella, with the numbers increased by outbreaks related to turkey deli meats.   read more

“I Give God 10% Why do you Get 18?” read the note on the receipt from Alois Bell, who was charged an automatic 18% tip because she was with a large group at the restaurant, five adults and five children following services at the Word Deliverance Ministries church. Thinking the note was both funny and insulting, waitress Chelsea Welch took a photo of the receipt and posted it on Reddit.   read more

This week, BP agreed to 11 counts of manslaughter for the workers killed during the 2010 Gulf of Mexico oil disaster, when the Deepwater Horizon oilrig blew up. But no one from the oil giant will serve time for the convictions. Instead, BP will pay a $4 billion fine, which is equivalent to what the company made in revenue every four days last year. Also, BP will have five years to pay the fine. This news left some family members of those killed on the rig feeling bitter.   read more

Cowan, who is African-American, becomes the second black member currently in the Senate, joining Republican Tim Scott of South Carolina. This marks the first time in the upper chamber’s 223-year history that two African-Americans have served simultaneously. If African-Americans were represented in the Senate relative to their proportion of the national population, there would be at least 13 Black senators.   read more