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

Led by Senator Ron Wyden (D-Oregon), 12 other senators want the administration to accept restrictions on spying on Americans who communicate with foreigners that have nothing to do with terrorism. Those siding with Wyden include conservative Senator Mike Lee (R-Utah). “You have this potentially large pile of communications and nobody knows how many Americans are in that pile,” Wyden told The Washington Post.   read more

An investigation by the Boston Globe found that ICE freed more than 8,500 detainees convicted of murder, rape, and other crimes over the past four years, usually because their home countries refused to take them back. More than 20 nations have turned down U.S. requests to receive deported criminals.   read more

A Humanist and president of West Point’s Secular Student Alliance, Page said he witnessed routine prayers at mandatory events for cadets and rewards to students who participated in religious retreats and chapel choirs. Page served two years in the Army as an enlisted soldier before entering West Point, where he majored first in chemical engineering and then in management.   read more

Many documents produced by the U.S. government are confidential and not released to the public for legitimate reasons of national security. Others, however, are kept secret for more questionable reasons. The fact that presidents and other government officials have the power to deem materials classified provides them with an opportunity to use national security as an excuse to suppress documents and reports that would reveal embarrassing or illegal activities.   read more

The 6,000 page report is said to conclude that “enhanced interrogation” techniques—including waterboarding, sleep deprivation, forced nudity and physical abuse—contributed little or no intelligence that could not have been obtained legally. Waterboarding used to be called “water torture,” and the U.S. hanged Japanese interrogators who used it on American POWs during World War II.   read more

The committee is offering several inaugural packages, each with a different mix of goodies and named for a president: Washington ($1 million from institutions and $250,000 from individuals); Adams ($500,000 from institutions and $150,000 from individuals); Jefferson ($250,000 from institutions and $75,000 from individuals); and Madison ($100,000 from institutions and $10,000 from individuals).   read more

Under the new rules, the State Department would get 48 hours to review Twitter posts and five days to approve a blog entry, speech, or remarks prepared for a live event. The agency also would require 30 days to examine manuscripts before books go to print.   read more

Beginning last week, officers and supervisors initiated inspections of all Air Force locales to remove any calendar, poster, briefing slide or other photo that displays women in a sexual manner. The decision impacts all levels of the Air Force, including reserves and Air National Guard units. The goal is to completely remove the photos by December 17.   read more

Despite the President’s focus on $250,000, the dividing line appears to be at $300,000. The expiration of other Bush tax cut provisions, including limits on deductions and higher taxes on investment income, will raise taxes for only 32% of families with income between $250,000 and $300,000, according to Citizens for Tax Justice, while 77% percent with income between $300,000 and $350,000 would see an increase.   read more

Dempsey suggested that the Joint Chiefs review the staffing, travel privileges and other perquisites provided to senior officers, who often travel in corporate-style jets and have their own cooks, drivers and dozens of aides who perform personal errands. Such cushy treatment can be addictive, leading to a sense of personal superiority and entitlement. General Ward, for example, is accused of assigning staff to run errands for him and his wife.   read more

Republican lawmakers shifted $73 million from family planning services to other programs so that Planned Parenthood clinics, which offer abortions, had less money to work with. But the move could result in nearly 24,000 more babies being born to low-income women during 2014-2015 due to reduced access to state-subsidized birth control. In FY2011, the state family planning services helped 202,968 people. In FY2012 that figure dropped to 75,160.   read more

The day before the election, a state Judge ruled Martin’s candidacy invalid because he did not live in the district, but election workers did not have time to post signs that Martin could not run and he won by nearly 1,300 votes. Although there is little doubt as to where Martin resides, his Republican opponent, Kelly Hurst, has dropped his challenge because it would be heard by the Nevada General Assembly, where Democrats outnumber the GOP 27-15.   read more

U.S. District Judge Kimberly J. Mueller, an appointee of President Barack Obama, rejected a petition from four counselors, two families, a professional therapists organization and a Christian therapists group to block the law. She cited research by 10 groups that conversion therapy “can pose critical health risks” to patients. Mueller said there was no constitutional right for people to choose a course of treatment that has reasonably been found by the state to be harmful.   read more

From 1993 to 2000, the Army Corps of Engineers released more water than planned from the Clearwater Dam in Missouri. But federal attorneys claimed other factors may have caused the trees to die off. The ruling clears the way for the Arkansas commission to be reimbursed for the flood damage.   read more

Known as Pe’ Sla, the land is considered sacred by the Sioux, who objected to the owners, Leonard and Margaret Reynolds, selling off the 1,942 acres to another private party. The public outrage convinced the Reynolds to cancel the auction and sell the land back to the Sioux tribes for $9 million. The U.S. government seized the Black Hills in 1877 following battles between the Sioux and the American cavalry.   read more

Spaun can perform up to eight different tasks, including drawing images, counting numbers and performing fluid reasoning, which is the capacity to think logically. The next goal is to provide Spaun with adaptive plasticity, which would allow it rewire its own neurons and learn new tasks through performance instead of just programming.   read more