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 21-hospital chain, citing a controversial court decision invalidating three recess appointments to the board by President Barack Obama, said it wouldn’t abide by two of the board’s recent decisions. One decision said that unions could collect dues even after a contract had expired and the other directed employers to provide unions with certain materials during an investigation.   read more

The database contains 190 million employment records, salary records and health insurance details involving more than 30% of all U.S. adults. And much of this data, including how much people have been paid, is sold to third parties, including bill collectors and banks. Equifax obtains its information from thousands of businesses and the federal government. Because the information is considered a credit report, federal law allows Americans to obtain their own records for free once a year.   read more

The killer is probably a loner who did not serve in the military and likely will use a semiautomatic handgun. This conclusion was formed after reviewing details of 29 mass shootings since 1999 in which five or more people were killed, beginning with Columbine High School in Colorado (which was the only one studied involving more than one killer). The shooters were almost always male, acting alone, between the ages of 17 and 49.   read more

The judge, Army Colonel James Pohl, did not authorize the blackout and said it never should have happened, particularly during what had been an unclassified discussion. As the feed resumed, he remarked that it seemed as “if some external body is turning the commission off.” One of the defense attorneys then asked, “Who is controlling these proceedings?” Pohl would only say that the subject was forbidden for discussion in open court.   read more

The NCLC found that many states, like Arizona, make it difficult for residents to sign up for direct deposit with the state government. And in at least five states—California, Indiana, Kansas, Maryland and Nevada—direct deposit is not an option at all. The consumer group contends that this situation is illegal under federal law prohibiting states from requiring benefits recipients to open an account with a specific bank.   read more

“Between 2005 and 2012, the American Chemistry Council (ACC) and its members spent over $333 million lobbying Congress and federal agencies on, among other things, a protracted campaign to prevent government agencies from designating formaldehyde, styrene, and chromium as carcinogens,” the Center wrote in its report (pdf). The actions by the Office of Advocacy ran counter to the wishes of most small business owners.   read more

Biotechnology companies are lobbying lawmakers across the country to prevent generic versions of biological drugs (or biosimilars) from reaching consumers in an effort to maintain high profit margins. Name-brand biological drugs, made from living cells, constitute about 25% of the $320 billion spent on medications in the United States each year. Just as generic alternatives arose to non-biotech drugs, companies making biosimilars want to offer consumers a cheaper version of biological drugs   read more

Scientists from the Smithsonian Conservation Biology Institute and the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) estimated that cats take down 1.4 to 3.7 billion birds and 6.9 to 20.7 billion mammals annually, including shrews, chipmunks and voles. The numbers mean that cats kill off more birds and mammals than cars, pesticides, and collisions with buildings, making the felines one of the biggest threats to wildlife in the nation.   read more

The new cyber warriors will go to work under one of three types of missions: “national mission forces” will work to protect computer systems that support electrical grids, power plants and other key infrastructure for the nation’s economic and political security; “combat mission forces” will help military field commanders plan and execute attacks or other offensive operations overseas; and “cyber protection forces” will protect the Defense Department’s computer networks.   read more

An extra $6.2 million was awarded to just 18 employees at General Motors (GM), Ally Financial and American International Group (AIG), which received a total of more than $250 billion in bailout funds. In 2012, the Office of the Special Master for TARP Executive Compensation approved pay packages of $3 million or more for 54% of the 69 top executives of AIG, GM and Ally.   read more

The U.S. military is in the process of setting up a drone base, most likely in Niger, which would permit aerial surveillance of Islamic rebels in neighboring Mali. It has been estimated that such a base would have upwards of 300 military and contractor personnel. Officials in the Obama administration say the base would only launch reconnaissance missions for now. But carrying out missile attacks from the unmanned aerial vehicles could happen as well, they acknowledged to The New York Times.   read more

During Obama’s first two years in office, Fried was busy negotiating with foreign governments to get them to take many of Guantánamo’s detainees. The total at the prison dropped from 242 to 166 under Fried’s efforts, with three men dying in custody. But the repatriations nearly ground to a halt last year, when only four detainees were moved out of Guantánamo.   read more

“It appears that fewer people contract influenza during warm winters, and this causes a major portion of the population to remain vulnerable into the next season, causing an early and strong emergence,” said Sherry Towers of Arizona State University, the lead author of the study, which analyzed climate patterns and flu cases from 1997 to the present.   read more

Lawmakers in six states have adopted so-called “Ag-Gag” laws that make it a crime to take videos or still photos on industrial farms that reveal illegal or unethical practices towards livestock. The legislation adopted in North Dakota, Montana, Kansas, Missouri, Iowa and Utah was suggested by the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC), a conservative organization known for promoting corporate agendas.   read more

Ortiz tried for three years to seize Motel Caswell on grounds that it had become a haven for illegal drug deals. The motel owner, Russ Caswell, fought the seizure, claiming he was not responsible for the actions of his guests. Caswell also argued that other nearby businesses had had more illicit drug activity, and that the government wanted his property because of its worth (more than $1 million).   read more

After the education department revised its numbers based on the same federally-mandated criteria used to measure publicly-run schools, only 28% of charter schools met the benchmarks. And none of the 12 cyber charter schools providing online in-home instruction to students met the benchmarks. Meanwhile, 50% of traditional public schools met the criteria   read more