“It is unconstitutional," said Republican Rep. Steve King, speaking of Obama's plan to grant amnesty to millions of immigrants. But that uproar in Congress stands in contrast to how lawmakers reacted 30 years ago when two Republican presidents took similar actions. In the 1980s Ronald Reagan and George H.W. Bush each granted amnesty to illegal immigrants without the help of Congress. “There was no political explosion then comparable to the one Republicans are threatening now,” wrote the AP.   read more

The last president who was in office six years to veto as few bills as Obama was James Monroe, who vetoed one bill from 1817 to 1825. Even considering the Republican landslide this month, the GOP, the House and Senate would need a two-thirds majority to override a veto, and that’s not likely to happen.   read more

The systems electronically mimic a cell tower, enabling law enforcement to collect location and other information about calls. When used in a small plane, they pick up information about tens of thousands of calls in one flight. Those familiar with the program say sweeps are being approved by judges, but since the orders are sealed, it’s unclear whether the courts are aware of the breadth of the systems’ coverage.   read more

The drop saved $11.9 billion in healthcare costs, according to the March of Dimes. The uninsured rate for women fell from 20.1% to 19.8% and it’s likely to drop further with the enactment of the Affordable Care Act. Smoking among women fell from 20.8% to 20.5%. Another cause of preterm births is the practice by some of medically unnecessary inductions or Caesarian sections, which have also fallen slightly from 8.1% to 8.0%.   read more

Lockheed Martin for years has been running one of the government’s most important nuclear research facilities, Sandia National Laboratories. Five years ago, its lucrative contract with the Department of Energy (DOE) was coming to an end, so Lockheed started to lobby officials to win an extension. That lobbying included using some of the money paid by DOE for Lockheed to run Sandia. Under federal law, this is a big no-no. But Lockheed did it anyway.   read more

Consumer, environmental and worker safety regulators in Washington are supposed to ensure the concerns of small businesses are included in rulemaking. But increasingly federal agencies are instead giving too much weight to the voices of large corporate interests that have “hijacked” small business representation. The EPA, OSHA and CFPB have allowed trade associations and corporations they represent to “capture” small business review panels that are there to help the little guy.   read more

At least three nations have deployed missiles that can destroy enemy positions without any guidance from human operators. “An autonomous weapons arms race is already taking place,”said physicist Steve Omohundro. Norway has the Joint Strike Missile, which can lock in on targets without human control. The Pentagon is testing Lockheed's Long Range Anti-Ship Missile, but officials won’t say if it can attack on its own. Many fear autonomous weapons will make warfare more likely or destructive.   read more

U.S. drone technology is now in the hands of Iran, which claims to have reverse-engineered an unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV). In December 2011, the Iranian military captured a Lockheed UAV after it strayed into Iran’s airspace from Afghanistan. Iran claimed they’d hacked into the drone’s electronic system, allowing them to take control and divert it to their country. Engineers reportedly took the drone apart and figured out how it works, allowing them to build their own version.   read more

Consumers count on the FDA to keep food safe, but the agency tests very little of the produce sold in the U.S. for pesticides The FDA tests only one-tenth of 1% of the food imported for use on U.S. dinner tables, and that’s actually far more testing than happens to domestic food. This is startling considering that “from 1970 to 2007, hundreds of millions of pounds of pesticides were applied annually to U.S. food crops to protect them from pests,” the GAO wrote.   read more

Perhaps they should change the name to the Inland Patrol. Courts have ruled that the Border Patrol needs stronger justification for stopping people when they’re more than 100 miles from the border. However, officers in Texas have arrested people as far as 350 miles from the border with only the racial appearance of the arrestee as justification.   read more

The decline in use was greatest in thermoelectric use, where it fell by 20%. Getting the credit for that is power plant closures, less use of coal-fired plants and more efficient cooling technologies. Next was irrigation use with a 9% drop and public supply, which fell by 5%. The decline in public supply usage was a first and came despite a 4% population increase.   read more

In the U.S. House, women hold fewer than 20% of the seats (81 out of 435). That number might improve as four outstanding races that involve women are decided. The Senate will still have the same number of female senators—20—but that number could increase to 21 if Senator Mary Landrieu (D-Louisiana) survives a runoff next month. The honor of being the 100th woman in Congress goes to Rep. Alma Adams (D-North Carolina), who won a special election Tuesday and thus will take office immediately.   read more

The Pentagon's inspector general essentially concluded that the department should do a better job of monitoring development of new weapons systems to avoid soaring costs. Not that there haven’t been a lot of examples of this problem. Among them is the USS San Antonio, an amphibious transport dock ship, that took three years longer than planned to build and consumed an extra $846 million along the way. The IG recommended an oversight office but the Defense Department is resistant.   read more

If there was a silver lining in Tuesday’s rather dark outcome for Democrats, it was the many progressive ballot measures embraced by voters around the country. Advocates for legalized marijuana were successful in Oregon, Alaska and Washington, D.C. Despite heavy opposition from the soft drink industry, voters in Berkeley, California approved a 1-cent-per-ounce general tax on sugary beverages and sweeteners. Opponents of fracking also celebrated in three states where communities banned drilling.   read more

, polls showed Democrats to be slightly more popular than Republicans, 44% versus 40%. But that didn’t stop the onslaught of losses by Democratic candidates in battleground states. Voters were angry and they took it out on many incumbents, including some Senate Democrats who came into office in the Obama wave of 2008.   read more

Dr. Margaret Chan, director of the World Health Organization, said the drive for profits by drug makers prevented an Ebola vaccination solution from being available by now. “A profit-driven industry does not invest in products for markets that cannot pay,” she said. “WHO has been trying to make this issue visible for ages. Now people can see for themselves.” Chan has called the Ebola crisis “the most severe acute public health emergency seen in modern times.”   read more