A total of 20 now serve in the U.S. Senate (an all-time high), while the House also reached a new high mark with 17.9% female representation. Despite this success, there are still six states that have yet to elect a woman to the House of Representatives: Iowa, Mississippi, Delaware, Alaska, North Dakota and Vermont. Internationally, the United States still ranks in only 77th place in terms of the percentage of women in its national legislature.   read more

“Obama has thrown disclosures to Congress into question by claiming these new rights for whistleblowers ‘threaten to interfere with my constitutional duty to supervise the executive branch,’” Canterbury wrote. “This is especially disturbing given that Obama has long supported whistleblowers and has previously kept every promise to strengthen protections for them.”   read more

Oxfam recommends that the rich donate all of their earnings from 2012, which totaled about $240 billion. The report also suggested that world leaders take action to reduce the widening gap between rich and poor, with a goal of bringing inequality back down to at least 1990 levels. Oxfam proposed that closing tax havens and taxing capital gains at normal rates would raise at least $189 billion a year.   read more

During the 2010-2011 school year, there were 1,065,794 homeless students in preschools and K-12 schools, according to the National Law Center on Homelessness & Poverty. This marked the first time in history that public schools reported more than one million homeless children and youth.   read more

I want people around the world to look at the United States as a model. If people are afraid to speak their minds for fear of government oppression, I want them to think, “I want my country to be like the United States of America.” If they are malnourished or starving or their children are threatened by disease, I want them to think, “I wish my country could be like the United States of America.”   read more

Obama’s 2012 win also makes him only the seventh President in modern political history (since 1932) to win two presidential elections. That places him in some elite company, including Franklin Roosevelt, who won in 1932, 1936, 1940 and 1944, Dwight Eisenhower (1952 and 1956), Richard Nixon (1968 and 1972), Ronald Reagan (1980 and 1984), Bill Clinton (1992 and 1996) and George W. Bush (2000 and 2004).   read more

• Far-right violence increases during presidential election years and the years preceding. • Far-right violence increases when political conservatives win power in Congress. • Far-right violence is concentrated in heterogeneous areas, where peoples of varying ethnic and religious backgrounds interact. • The South is no longer the hub of far-right violence. Judged by per capita attacks, the worst states are Oregon, Maine, New York, Vermont and Massachusetts.   read more

More than $507 million was paid to just four political consulting firms, mostly for buying attack ads on behalf of super PACs and nonprofits. The top recipient among consultants was Mentzer Media Services, which earned nearly $204 million from conservative super PACs and other outside groups. Second was Crossroads Media, which was paid about $163 million by conservative super PACs and nonprofits.   read more

Three polls show greater support for gun control since the shootings in Colorado and Connecticut. Gallup found support for tougher gun laws jumped to 38% from 25%. Pew Research revealed 85% support background checks for private gun sales and at gun shows. Washington Post-ABC News showed 52% are more supportive of gun control.   read more

According to a secret State Department cable from U.S. consul general Scott Frederic Kilner, the government of Syria used chemical weapons on its own people on December 23 in Homs. That act could have provoked a tough response from the United States, but to date the White House has not become more involved in the crisis.   read more

In 2011, the number of low-income working families increased to 10.4 million, up from 10.2 million a year earlier, according to the Working Poor Families Project. One-third of all working families may not be able to meet basic needs. There are 47.5 million people living in working poor families and the number could reach 50 million within a few years.   read more

The suicide total among military personnel was the highest ever recorded since the Department of Defense began keeping track in 2001. More soldiers committed suicide (349) than were killed in the war (295). The new mark shattered the previous high of 301, set in 2011.   read more

Noting that the number of contingent workers has doubled in twenty years to more than 2.5 million, the report underscores Bureau of Labor Statistics data that they suffer higher rates of injury and death than other employees. Because contingent employees rarely have health insurance or even workers’ compensation coverage, employers are able to shift the financial burden of workplace injuries onto the public, and often skimp on safety training of temps.   read more

This portable device, also called an “IMSI catcher” or a “stingray,” sends out a signal that fools nearby wireless phones into connecting with a fake network. It can then capture all sorts of personal data from all of those phones, including location data that can then be used to track a person’s movements in real time. A stingray can be handheld or mounted on a motor vehicle or an unmanned surveillance drone. The FBI argues that wireless phone users have no reasonable expectation to privacy.   read more

Federal officials are hoping the revised system will reduce the number of food-poisoning cases in the United States. Currently, about 48 million Americans consume contaminated foods annually, resulting in 128,000 hospitalizations and 3,000 deaths. Among other requirements included in the 1,200 pages of regulations, farmers must provide adequate restroom and hand-washing facilities for farm workers. Food processing companies will have to do the same.   read more

The report attributed two-thirds of the discrepancy of life expectancy for men to American males dying before the age of 50. These early deaths were due, to a great extent, to car accidents, gun violence, drug overdoses and alcohol abuse. The U.S. also had the highest rate of poverty of the 17 countries studied and a large population of people who are uninsured.   read more