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

Foreign businesses and individuals are barred from contributing to U.S. election campaigns. But what about an American firm that’s foreign owned, such as the one Restore Our Future gave Mitt Romney $1 million?   read more

Claiming immunity from civil action, the Obama administration is fighting one lawsuit claiming AT&T helped the National Security Agency eavesdrop on them and another on behalf of all Americans who have been subjected to illegal spying by the government.   read more

As part of a new national campaign, the FDA contends that almost all Internet drug stores are frauds that often sell counterfeit drugs and Americans should not do business with online pharmacies located outside the United States.   read more

African Americans living in St. Louis housing projects may have been subjected to radiation-laced spraying by the U.S. military during the Cold War.   read more

Those who lost their belongings banded together in a class-action lawsuit that challenged the legality of the officers’ actions on the basis that the police threw away their possessions without providing the campsite residents a way of getting them back. The lost possessions included tents, sleeping bags and medicine. The city will cut $796,050 in checks to 1,143 people involved in the case. The checks are expected to range from $400 to $750.   read more

The GAO concluded that the agencies were only buying in bulk 5% of the time, which amounted to a savings of $1.8 billion. This savings represents only one-half of one percent of procurement spending.   read more

The victim, whose disabilities include cerebral palsy, mental retardation and hydrocephalus, cannot speak and was only able to testify in court by using a keypad, on which she responded yes or no with just her right index finger. The state Supreme Court voted 4-3 to uphold the appellate decision after agreeing that the victim could have expressed her opposition through biting, kicking or screeching, as she had been known to do if she disliked the food she was given.   read more

Shell was president of Comcast Programming Group from 2005 to 2011, responsible for Comcast’s national and regional television networks. Since 2011, Jeff Shell has been president, but not CEO, of NBCUniversal, based in London, U.K., and responsible for overseeing International TV Distribution, Global Television Networks, and International Television Production.   read more

The system, called “VoiceGrid Nation,” can match a recording to a database entry in only five seconds (based on a scan of 10,000 voices), with an accuracy of 90%. Dozens of countries have invested in the company’s biometric technology, with the biggest markets in the Western Hemisphere, Europe and Asia. These include dictatorships, such as those of Belarus and Uzbekistan.   read more

BART’s unprecedented disruption of service in August 2011 occurred when protesters began to gather for a rally days after a BART police officer fatally shot a knife-wielding homeless man at the San Francisco Civic Center station. BART was able to cut off service because of agreements it has with wireless carriers who operate a highly controlled network that can be turned off with practically a flip of a switch.   read more

Beekeepers first noticed a problem when they discovered their honey turning shades of blue and green. An investigation by the beekeepers revealed the bees were getting into M&M waste at Agrivalor. Presumably, the coloring came from the multicolored shells that encase M&Ms.   read more

Joining Ford Motor Company after graduating with her MBA, Boerio held a number of finance positions in the areas of product development, manufacturing, sales and corporate business planning, from 1976 to 1995. From August 1995 to September 2000, she served as the finance director for Jaguar Cars, Ltd. Retiring from Ford, Boerio transferred to the political realm, serving as chief of staff for Congressman Joe Sestak (D-Pennsylvania) from February 2008 to January 2011.   read more

According to the latest figures released by the Bureau of Labor Statistics, the U.S. unemployment rate for September dropped to 7.8%, the lowest it has been since January 2009, the month of Barack Obama’s presidential inauguration. This represents a 1.2% decrease since the same month a year ago. Coincidentally, this is the largest month-to-month annual drop since November 1984—the month that President Ronald Reagan won reelection.   read more

Overall pesticide use went up by 404 million pounds from 1996, when the first GE herbicide-tolerant crops were rolled out, to 2011. Herbicide use increased by 527 million pounds while insecticide use decreased by 123 million pounds. Most of the increase has been caused by is the spread of weeds that are resistant to glyphosate, an herbicide created in 1970 and marketed by Monsanto as Roundup. It is the most commonly used agricultural herbicide in the United States.   read more

The Obama administration immediately fought back against the decision and convinced a three-member panel of judges from the Second Circuit Court of Appeals to overrule Forrest’s ruling. Like Forrest, all three judges, Denny Chin, Raymond Lohier and Christopher Droney, were appointed by President Obama. The judges said ‘the statute does not affect the existing rights of United States citizens or other individuals arrested in the United States.”   read more

The law restricted individual contributions to the governor’s race to $630 and contributions to a state legislative candidate to $160, although the amounts were adjusted for inflation after each election cycle. The law also limited the total amount political parties could contribute to a campaign—for example $22,600 for a gubernatorial candidate. With less than a month before Election Day, deep-pocketed interests can now spend unlimited amounts of money on campaigns   read more