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

Florida received a sizeable sum of money ($300 million) as part of a national settlement with five large banks to resolve allegations of wrongful foreclosures and other mortgage servicing abuses. But six months later, the Sunshine State is sitting on this money, due to a disagreement between state Republican Attorney General Pam Bondi and the GOP-controlled legislature. Bondi wants to make the funds available to homeowners, while lawmakers insist it go into the state budget   read more

A crackdown on drug legalization would follow other efforts by the Obama administration to shutdown medical marijuana dispensaries operating within state law in California and elsewhere. If Mitt Romney wins the presidential election, he would probably take the same position as Obama, having stated that marijuana is a “gateway drug” and that he would fight legalization “tooth and nail.”   read more

The Energy Department’s inspector general (IG) found that of the $361 million allocated on travel over the past six years, contractors spent 85% of the funds. This averaged out to a little more than $50 million annually. Energy officials were criticized by the IG for not doing more to control contractors’ travel, which involved more than 90,000 international trips during the six years reviewed.   read more

His attorneys insist that Ferguson is not competent because he believes he is the Prince of God and that he will ascend to the right hand of God and his body will return to Earth after his execution so that he can save the United States from a communist plot. Bradford County Eighth Judicial Circuit Judge David Glant agreed that Ferguson’s delusions were “genuine.” But Glant also decided the delusions were not “significantly different than beliefs other Christians may hold.”   read more

Anders Hemdal traveled to Spain and Morocco with other members of his Spanish Club, during which he had consensual sex with his girlfriend in a hotel room in Casablanca. The act was caught on cellphone video by a third student who shared the images with others, which prompted Hemdal and his parents to contact school officials for help. Instead of getting help, Hemdal was suspended. School officials said his sexual activity amounted to “disorderly conduct.”   read more

Journalist Giustino Parisse, who lost his two sons and his father in the earthquake, wrote in the newspaper Il Centro that he does not “feel able to take my anger out on those men. I have shaken hands with some of them over the last few months, including during the trial, and I did not find them to be stained with blood.   read more

Since Obama was inaugurated in January 2009, the Dow Jones industrial average has gained 67.9%. Jeff Sommer of The New York Times characterized the increase as “an extremely strong performance—the fifth best for an equivalent period among all American presidents since 1900.” The Dow recently concluded 81 straight days without a 1%+ decline. The streak was the longest since the 94-day one that occurred during the Bush administration, from July through November 2006.   read more

Two of the biggest manufacturers of handguns, Sturm, Ruger & Co. and Smith & Wesson, are enjoying substantial jumps in sales. Purchases of Ruger-made weapons have gone up 86% since Obama became president, while Smith & Wesson’s sales have climbed nearly 44%. Overall, gun sales are up 18% nationwide.   read more

The OSCE’s pre-election report noted that “Some 4.1 million citizens that are residents of US territories are not eligible to vote, while some 600,000 citizens of the District of Columbia are only eligible to vote in the presidential election. A further 5.9 million citizens are estimated to be disenfranchised due to a criminal conviction.”   read more

The programs, though, are becoming victims of their own success. So many people are accessing the online tools that slowdowns occur, causing bottlenecks in the system. Advocates want the Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), which funds some initiatives, to expand funding from $10 million a year to somewhere between $50 million and $100 million. The BBG says it may not be able to make such an increase, not when Congress has demanded it trim its overall budget by $50 million.   read more

Russ George was anointed the world’s first geo-vigilante in The New Yorker this week for dumping 100 tons of iron sulfate off the coast of British Columbia in July, triggering a 10,000-square-kilometer plankton bloom that the California businessman hoped would pull carbon dioxide from the atmosphere and take it to the Pacific Ocean’s depths.   read more

Critics argue that the state’s $5 million advertising campaign implies that photo ID will be required, which could discourage some voters who lack such ID to mistakenly believe that they should not even try to vote. They point to a bus ad featuring a large photo ID with “SHOW IT” in big block lettering; the ad also says photo ID is not mandatory, but in much smaller type. Further, it took the state more than two weeks to remove billboard ads stating the IDs were mandatory.   read more

Suggesting that climate “volatility can be an opportunity,” Cargill CEO Greg Page explained last year that “The big part of our business is the physical handling of tens of millions of tons of food. If we believe the world is headed toward a varied weather pattern, those services become more important.”   read more

The single biggest source of funding for the Democrats’ gathering in Charlotte, North Carolina, was an $8 million loan from Bank of America that was secured by Duke Energy. The Republicans leaned heavily on wealthy individuals to finance their convention in Tampa, Florida. Topping the list was Las Vegas casino mogul Sheldon Adelson, who contributed $5 million. Another key contributor was Bill Edwards, who gave $4.6 million through two of his companies.   read more

1. Tax crimes—6 years 2. Securities and commodities fraud—6 years 3. Damage to religious property—7 years 4. Nuclear materials offenses—8 years 5. Kidnapping of a member of Congress, the Supreme Court or the president’s cabinet—8 years 6. Damaging certain computers—8 years 7. Murder of foreign officials or official guests—8 years 8. Torture by a law enforcement officer—8 years   read more

While serving as director of the budget development staff, Bergeron was in contact with hedge fund analyst and short-seller Steve Eisman, who complained to Bergeron that the rumored weakening of regulations pertaining to for-profit colleges was driving up stocks in companies that owned such colleges. In 2011, Bergeron was accused of lying about the Department of Education’s awareness of the activities of Eisman and other short-sellers.   read more