President Donald Trump has repeatedly expressed outrage to aides because there have been no violent mass street demonstrations against his statements and policies. He believes he needs violent demonstrations against him in order to declare a national state of emergency that would allow him to do anything he wants.   read more

While Washington’s rhetoric has focused recently on the coming end to the war in Afghanistan, its spending on the conflict is not at all waning.   Between this year and next, the federal government plans to spend nearly $200 billion on the war. ...   read more

Americans should not have to pay hundreds or even thousands of dollars just to read the product of taxpayer-funded research, says Representative Mike Doyle (D-Pennsylvania), who has introduced legislation creating free public access.   Currently...   read more

A new plan forged by the Obama administration to help end hunger in Africa relies heavily on investments from large-scale agribusiness while disregarding contributions from organic and small farmers, critics contend.   President Barack Obama ann...   read more

For the first time since 2006—before the financial crisis struck—the seven-member Federal Reserve’s Board of Governors will be at full strength now that the Senate approved two of President Barack Obama’s appointments.   Joining the Fed’s board ...   read more

Why would the Department of Defense spend $17,000 for a helicopter drip pan when it could buy the same component for one-eighth the cost? Because a powerful congressman wants it this way.   The pricey drip pan, which catches leaky transmission f...   read more

The Department of Defense has refused to give up on a costly missile defense system that has yet to prove its worthiness for the battlefield, arguing that hundreds of millions of dollars more should be spent to keep the program alive.   The prog...   read more

Coming in response to a White House executive order that was never implemented, a bill is now moving through the U.S. Senate that would prevent the disclosure of campaign contributions by government contractors.   S. 1100, the bizarrely named “K...   read more

Human Rights Watch (HRW) released a report this week seeking to call attention to the more than 70 civilians who died as a result of NATO bombings last year in Libya.   After conducting a seven-month investigation, HRW concluded that at least 72...   read more

A lawyer, academic, and politician, Felipe Bulnes became Chile’s ambassador to the United States in May 2012.   Bulnes was born in Santiago on May 27, 1969, to lawyer Francisco Bulnes Ripamonti and journalist Maria Teresa Serrano. The ambassador...   read more

Career diplomat Josip Paro began his appointment as Croatia’s ambassador to the United States in 2012, presenting his credentials to President Barack Obama on May 2.   Paro holds a bachelor’s degree in philosophy and comparative literature from ...   read more

Fruit Roll-Ups and other manufactured fruit snacks by General Mills do not contain real fruit, but that’s okay, said a federal judge ruling in a lawsuit seeking an end to the misleading advertising.   Bay Area mother Annie Lam filed a class acti...   read more

In another sign of the coming end of the United States’ Caucasian orientation, the majority of babies born last year were minorities—a first in American history.   Just over half (50.4%) of the U.S. population younger than age 1 were minorities ...   read more

Lawmakers in North Carolina want to prohibit inmates on death row from watching television.   The legislation, which cleared the state’s House Rules committee this week, was introduced after a convicted murderer described his “life of leisure” w...   read more

Energy-rich Azerbaijan, strategically located south of Russia and north of Iran, has become accustomed to being wooed by both Russia and the United States, especially when it comes to energy development. With relations hampered by the lack of a fu...   read more

An economist and international development specialist, Paul G. Altidor was named as Haiti’s ambassador to the United States in January 2012 and presented his credentials to President Barack Obama on May 2.   Altidor, 39, was born in the port cit...   read more

A New York federal judge has temporarily blocked provisions of the controversial National Defense Authorization Act approved by President Barack Obama on December 31, 2011, which allows the military to indefinitely detain terrorism suspects, inclu...   read more