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

On May 30, 2010, David Jimenez was cleaning Christ’s face with soapy water when the marbled statue came loose and knocked him to the ground. The crucifix then landed on his right leg, crushing it so badly that doctors had to amputate. Jimenez was cleaning the crucifix on a voluntarily basis. He offered to do so after he prayed for his wife, Delia, to recover from ovarian cancer, which she did.   read more

A new book from historian Stuart Laycock says that over the course of British imperialism, the empire invaded nearly 90% of the 193 countries that are currently members of the United Nations and two others (Kosovo and Vatican City) which are not UN members but are recognized by the government of the United Kingdom. Only 22 nations were spared, according to Laycock, a group that includes Guatemala, Luxembourg, Tajikistan and the Marshall Islands.   read more

The Chamber’s scorecard for the Senate was particularly poor, winning only two out of 26 races. This despite spending $24 million on multiple races to defeat Democrats who wound up winning, including Timothy Kaine of Virginia ($4.4 million) and Sherrod Brown of Ohio ($4.3 million) and Bill Nelson of Florida ($3.8 million). In the House, the Chamber won six out of 33 elections after spending $7 million.   read more

In the end, spending by super PACs and other outside groups did not have as much influence as many observers feared, wrote Dan Eggen and T.W. Farnam in The Washington Post, characterizing the largesse as “the dog that barked but did not bite.” In several cases, the big three gave money to the same candidates, so here are their final individual records: Sheldon Adelson: 0 wins; 8 losses Harold Simmons: 1 win (Orrin Hatch of Utah); 6 losses Bob Perry: 0 wins; 5 losses   read more

The managers enjoyed broad powers allowing them to dictate labor contracts for city employees, dissolve local agencies and authorize academic changes in school districts, among other things. Michigan has seven local governments currently operating under emergency managers, including Ecorse, Benton Harbor, Flint and Pontiac, as well as school districts in Highland Park, Muskegon Heights and Detroit.   read more

Commissioners for Cook County, Illinois, which includes Chicago, have approved a $25 tax on each gun sold. The revenue generated from the tax, about $600,000 a year, will go towards helping pay for healthcare costs from gun violence. The levy represents the first time a major city has used taxation to mitigate the costs of gun-related violence. About 670 victims of gun violence were treated by the county’s health system in 2011, at an average cost of $52,000 per patient.   read more

Republicans wanted the prison, claiming the corrections system would need more bed space. Critics objected to an all-solitary confinement facility, citing a lack of need, as well as Colorado’s unnaturally high rate of isolating its prisoners. Democratic lawmakers didn’t want the prison, but they did want a new medical campus for the University of Colorado. So they brokered a deal with Republicans to support each other’s projects, and the prison got the green light.   read more

The decision to become the 51st state ultimately rests with Congress, but it is unlikely lawmakers will approve statehood as long as Republicans are in charge of the House. This is because Puerto Ricans are viewed as more supportive of the Democratic Party. President Barack Obama had expressed support for the referendum. Puerto Rico's representation in the House consists of a resident commissioner who can only vote on procedural matters and in committees.   read more

With the state already represented by two women in the U.S. Senate (Republican Kelly Ayotte and Democrat Jeanne Shaheen), voters chose Democrats Carol Shea-Porter and Ann McLane Kuster over Republican incumbents Frank Guinta and Charlie Bass, respectively, for New Hampshire’s two congressional seats. In addition to the congressional victories, another woman celebrated on Tuesday—Democrat Maggie Hassan—who won the governor’s race over Republican Ovide Lamontagne.   read more

Heitkamp becomes the first woman whom North Dakotans have ever elected to Congress, and only the second to serve in the Senate. Jocelyn Burdick was appointed to a brief three-month term in 1992 to fill the vacancy caused by the death of her husband, Senator Quentin Burdick. Heitkamp’s victory leaves four states that have still not elected a woman to either the Senate of the House of Representatives: Delaware, Iowa, Mississippi and Vermont.   read more

Romney’s home-state defeat was the worst since Republican John C. Frémont, who in 1856 received only 18.8% of the vote in his home state of California. Fremont didn’t even place second, finishing behind Democrat James Buchanan and former president Millard Fillmore, who ran for the American Party. The third-biggest home state loss took place in 1920 when Democrat James Cox of Ohio lost the state by 19.9% to Warren Harding. However, Harding was also from Ohio.   read more

St. Louis has not controlled its police force because of an 1861 law that created a state board to oversee the city’s law enforcement, even though the police department is funded primarily by city taxes. But this arrangement will end at the conclusion of the current fiscal year after voters overwhelmingly approved Proposition A on Tuesday. The measure will turn police authority over to city’s Department of Public Safety.   read more

More than half of the 11 propositions on the California ballot yesterday appeared courtesy of wealthy individuals who had a vision and the cash to shape the focus, by and large, of the state’s political discourse over the past six months. Only two of the six appeared to have won their contests, and they were arguably the most progressive of the bunch. Three of the other five measures, put on the ballot by the state or a member of the public lacking mega-bucks status, appeared to have won.   read more

On Wednesday morning, Husted’s office announced that 199,403 provisional ballots and up to 116,678 absentee ballots won't be counted for another 10 days and that Lorain County had not yet reported its number. In 2008, 80% of provisional ballots were ultimately approved for inclusion in official vote totals.   read more

One-sixth of all retired representatives and senators (79 of 463, or 17%) currently earn at least $100,000 from their pensions, according to the Federal Times. Among the six-figure Congressional pensioners are former Senator Bob Dole (R-Kansas), former Senator Trent Lott (R-Mississippi), ex-Representative Dick Gephardt (D-Missouri) and ex-Representative Newt Gingrich (R-Georgia).   read more

Last Friday, the House Committee on Oversight and Reform released via YouTube a one-minute video slamming the Obama administration for overspending federal dollars on state dinners. Committee spokesman Seamus Kraft said the video was “fully consistent with House rules and did not incur any additional taxpayer expenditures for its production.” He did not explain why he chose to use the word “additional.”   read more