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 continuing drought of 2012 may soon prevent barge traffic from navigating the critical 180-mile stretch of the Mississippi River between the confluences of the Missouri River near St. Louis and the Ohio River at Cairo, Ill., along which river depth is 15 to 20 feet less than normal. At the same time, oil companies conducting fracking operations in North Dakota are demanding immense quantities of Missouri River water be diverted to them, further threatening levels on the Mississippi.   read more

In 35 years of handing out awards to singers, musicians and actors, the center has recognized only one Latino American: actress Chita Rivera in 2002. Rivera’s father was Puerto Rican. Advocates have repeatedly called upon the Kennedy Center to recognize more Hispanics, citing many examples of deserving artists: Anthony Quinn, Celia Cruz, Desi Arnaz, Rita Moreno, Edward James Olmos, Joan Baez, Carlos Santana and many others.   read more

Today, only about 20% of young adults will reach a higher level of education than their parents, a rate that’s among the lowest rates in the developed world, according to the OECD. Schleicher says that a major problem in the U.S. is that the skyrocketing cost of going to college has created a barrier for many young Americans who do not come from wealthy families.   read more

For many of these women, they are caught in the middle of a Catch 22 mess: they don’t qualify for mortgage modifications unless their name is on the loan, but many lenders won’t add them to the note until they pay any amounts that are past due. As a result, many women 50 and older are losing their homes because they are outliving their husbands while being unable to cope with pension cuts and rising medical expenses.   read more

The case studies include 17 Louisiana cows that died of respiratory failure after an hour’s exposure to spilled fracking fluid; 70 Pennsylvania cows that died after 140 of them were exposed to fracking wastewater from an impoundment breach; and a Pennsylvania herd whose pregnant cows had a 50% rate of stillborn calves after grazing in a pasture contaminated by fracking chemicals from an overflowing waste pit.   read more

Under Arizona law even the two students found with a joints’ worth of pot face possible prison time because they were apprehended on school grounds. They are exactly the kind of low risk, minimum to medium security prisoners off of which CCA makes much of its profits. This constitutes a clear conflict of interest   read more

, “militant leaders” of anti-U.S. groups like the Pakistani Taliban, the Afghan Taliban, or al-Qaeda, constituted only about 30% of those killed by drones under the Bush administration, and only 13% under Obama. The rest are local insurgents, as in Pakistan, where for two years most strikes have targeted militants fighting the Pakistani government or American troops in Afghanistan   read more

Since May 2011, the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS) has handed out more than $3.6 billion to 74,317 medical professionals and 1,333 hospitals who agreed to switch from paper to electronic files. But the agency hasn’t bothered to verify that doctors and hospitals are meeting the required quality goals, according to a report by the Department of Health and Human Services’ inspector general (IG).   read more

Planned Parenthood got none of the $237,522.99 raised by Integral Resources, while MDS Communications brought in $1,278,658 on behalf of Tea Party Patriots, but only turned off $15,603 to the group. At the other end of the scale, InfoCision raised $5,831,672.34 for The Leukemia and Lymphoma Society and kept only $17,111.25.   read more

The report details several structural problems of the Israeli economy, including its lagging labor productivity, which is in the lower rank of OECD countries, just behind crisis-ridden Greece; growing employment gaps between Israel and leading western countries; and high interest payments on its debt, which last year were higher than the country’s entire education budget.   read more

The U.S. birth rate (measured as the annual number of births per 1,000 women ages of 15 to 44) in 2011 was 63.2, the lowest level since reliable records were established in 1920. Between 2008 and 2009, the rate at which women aborted pregnancies fell 5%, bringing the rate down to an all-time low.   read more

A 2012 study from Yale University concluded that 63% of male, and 77% of female homeless veterans suffer from PTSD and/or a mood disorder. Of these, more than 90% of men and 75% of women developed their PTSD as a result of exposure to combat. By some estimates, homeless veterans represent between 20% and 25% of the overall homeless population.   read more

TLieutenant Colonel Earl A. Evans, the mission support group commander of the 174th fighter wing group, asked a local judge to prohibit the peace activists from not only approaching Hancock Base, but also his home and school, according to the restraining order. They also cannot communicate with Evans in any manner, including by phone or email.   read more

The statements include: • “When you smoke, the nicotine actually changes the brain—that's why quitting is so hard.” • “Tobacco companies intentionally designed cigarettes to make them more addictive.” • “All cigarettes cause cancer, lung disease, heart attacks, and premature death.” • “More people die every year from smoking than from murder, AIDS, suicide, drugs, car crashes, and alcohol, combined.”   read more

“Einstein's brain differs from the average human brain,” Falk told NPR. “In various parts, it’s more convoluted. It’s bumpier, and that may be related to an increase in the neurons.” Einstein’s brain was only average in size. But several regions featured more convolutions and folds than normal. For instance, Einstein’s prefrontal cortex, which facilitates planning, focus and perseverance—was greatly expanded, compared to other brains.   read more

The project is backed by several Arab nations, as well as Turkey, Pakistan, Cyprus, Iran and even Israel. The latter two participants stand out, due to Iran’s vow to wipe Israel off the face of the earth, and Israel’s desire to destroy Iran’s nuclear capabilities.   read more