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 U.S. Supreme Court has put an end to lawsuits against telecommunications companies for helping the Bush administration spy on American phone calls and emails. Illegal surveillance by the Bush administration outraged civil libertarians who filed more than 30 lawsuits, which prompted Congress in 2008 to grant retroactive immunity to companies aiding the NSA.   read more

Wells Fargo should have to pay for lying about bad home loans, according to a federal prosecutor who has sued one of the nation’s largest banks. Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara is going after Wells Fargo for concealing problems with more than 6,000 loans that it submitted to the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), which insures private lending. Calling the loans “seriously deficient,” Bharara said the government lost $190 million when the mortgages failed.   read more

Their lips may say “yes,” but their contributions say “no way.” While publicly supporting President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform plan, health insurance companies have given millions of dollars to Republicans dedicated to repealing it.   read more

Securities regulators are still trying to determine who was behind an immense burst of phony high-speed trading last week that accounted for 4% of all U.S. stock market activity. Officials say a mysterious algorithm was unleashed from the Nasdaq that placed orders in 25-millisecond bursts involving about 500 stocks. The computer program cancelled all of the orders, resulting in none of the trades going through.   read more

Billionaire developer David Siegel has made it clear to his employees who they should support for president, if they want to remain employed. Siegel, founder and CEO of Westgate Resorts, sent an email modeled on a chain letter to his 7,000 workers warning them that another four years of the Obama administration might destroy his company.   read more

The National Bank of Canada is taking advantage of a loophole in the law to threaten hundreds of state homeowners with foreclosure if they don’t pay off credit card debt the financial institution bought up in a secondary market. Credigy Receivables, a unit of the bank, buys judgment liens from California lawsuits over unsecured debt and then files foreclosure lawsuits using the liens. The bank is also active in other states.   read more

As far as the Archdiocese of Atlanta is concerned, an organization dedicated to helping women fight breast cancer is “evil” because, church officials claim, the group gives money to Planned Parenthood. But the local chapter of the group, the Susan G. Komen for the Cure, says the archdiocese is mistaken about the funding.   read more

The U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether it was constitutional for Louisiana to take five years to try an indigent man for murder because it lacked the funds to pay for a court-appointed attorney.   read more

It might seem like common sense, but researchers have validated the assumption that cracking down on deadbeat companies by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will result in more taxes being paid. In a paper published by Accounting Review, three academics concluded more IRS audits yields more government revenues.   read more

Small towns with small budgets in Alabama have become golden opportunities for companies offering to take over government services. But critics worry whether the price they pay to outsource traditional government services includes diminished civil rights and due process.   read more

A deadly outbreak of meningitis has been traced back to medicine produced by the New England Compounding Center in Framingham, Massachusetts, a specialty pharmacy that the federal government does not regulate. To date, eight people have died and 105 have become ill from a steroid used to treat back pain and joint disorders.   read more

Informing consumers about foods containing genetically engineered (GE) ingredients is required in 61 nations. The United States has resisted calls from advocates for mandatory GE food-labeling laws but with Proposition 37, advocates hope California will spearhead a new movement for labeling.   read more

While the American median household net worth plummeted 39% in the Great Recession from 2007 to 2010, the median estimated wealth of lawmakers increased 5% during the same period, according to The Washington Post. For the richest one-third of Congress, their wealth expanded 14%.   read more

Police in Dallas, Texas, have claimed a 12% drop in crime, which coincided with new rules making it harder for businesses to report shoplifting. The Dallas Morning News found that almost a third of the crime reduction could be attributed to a new policy discouraging the reporting of shoplifting cases under $50.   read more

Lockheed Martin has really been spreading the campaign contributions around the U.S. House this year. So far, nearly 90% of representatives have received money from the largest defense contractor in the country. Of the 435 House members, 386 accepted such Lockheed-related contributions.   read more

To help Americans learn how the United States government spends their money, AllGov asks each of 350 departments, agencies, and programs to reveal their 10 leading contractors. Most of these entities cooperate, but the U.S. Botanic Garden would not.   read more