Imagine that China’s dictator, Xi Jinping, sends one million Chinese troops to invade the United States. Fighting breaks out all over the U.S. as U.S. troops and civilians battle against the Chinese invaders. Hundreds of thousands, if not millions, are killed. Meanwhile, China has taken over Florida and declared it an overseas province of China, with Chinese nationals taking over control of the Florida government.   read more

Due to reckless industrial development, huge swaths of Chinese acreage contain harmful heavy metals, including cadmium, arsenic, lead, nickel and mercury. As much of 20% of China’s arable land is polluted in this manner. As for Chinese produce labeled “organic,” it’s unclear that eating that is healthier than consuming locally grown, non-organic foods. Organic crops are often fertilized with animal manure that could be contaminated with heavy metals.   read more

When forms are submitted, third parties are then authorized to provide birth control to the insured. The court endorsed Wheaton’s refusal to use mandatory forms for the transfer on the grounds that they led indirectly to the use of birth control. Sotomayor wrote that the court had undermined its own ruling in the Hobby Lobby case, which upheld the use of the forms. “Those who are bound by our decisions usually believe they can take us at our word,” she said. “Not so today.”   read more

Cases of Porcine Epidemic Diarrhea (PED) virus have swept through the pork industry. The virus strikes piglets that are two to three weeks old and kills virtually all the animals it infects. Larry Baldwin of Waterkeeper said earlier this year in a press release: “Hogs are commonly buried in low-lying areas adjacent to wetlands. They often sit out for days waiting to be transported for off-site disposal while blood and other fluids seep into the ground.”   read more

US Investigations Services LLC (USIS) was sued by the Department of Justice for cutting corners while conducting investigations of people seeking clearance for sensitive government jobs. The firm also was embarrassed in two high-profile incidents last year when it was reported that USIS had performed the background checks for National Security Agency leaker Edward Snowden and Washington Navy Yard shooter Aaron Alexis.   read more

According to the GAO, the Pentagon spends an average of 99 cents per unit for a sample of 78 drugs (33 brand-name and 45 generic), while the same drugs cost 82 cents a unit when purchased by Medicare Part D and 62 cents by Medicaid.   read more

U.S. physicians write 82.5 prescriptions for opiate analgesics for every 100 persons in the country. Expressed another way, there are 40,000 daily doses of OPRs consumed here for each million inhabitants per day. The second leading consumer of OPRs, according to a United Nations report, is Canada with 20,000 daily doses per million. By comparison, Mexico consumes only 85 daily doses per million inhabitants.   read more

A law taking effect this month forces foreign financial institutions to let the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) examine its records to ensure that U.S. citizens abroad are not hiding taxable income from the federal government. Before FATCA went into effect, the IRS depended on citizens to self-report their foreign income.   read more

EQT Corporation, which operates a fracking well near Finleyville in Washington County, has offered $50,000 to those willing to sign a comprehensive no-liability waiver that prevents them from ever suing the company for any problem stemming from the drilling. EQT initially tried to get at least 30 Finleyville residents to sign the agreements, with the understanding that the money would only be paid out if all the local landowners came onboard.   read more

Only 25% of active-duty service members in the older age group reported feeling stress during the previous day, the lowest number in the survey. On the other end of the scale, 46% of civilians and discharged veterans in the younger age group reported feeling stress on the previous day.   read more

Project members will meet with NASA officials this week to get final permission to bring the craft into its new orbit. The group will have to prove that the craft is functional and that it has a valid scientific purpose. And just as a teen’s first stop in his new car is often a fast-food joint, the reactivated satellite will be controlled from—where else?—an abandoned McDonald’s restaurant on the site of NASA’s Ames Research Center in Mountain View, California.   read more

Ramirez was born in San Clemente, California, to parents who were immigrants from Mexico. She went on to attend Harvard Law School, where she worked with Obama on the Harvard Law Review. Since joining the FTC, Ramirez has focused on children’s privacy issues and other electronic privacy issues.   read more

The small town of Jones has experienced more than 2,500 earthquakes magnitude 3.0 and greater since 2008 that researchers say were triggered by a significant increase in wastewater injection volumes. The four well sites have disposed of approximately four million barrels of water a month deep below the earth’s surface. Geologists say the injection of so much water could increase subterranean pressure near underground faults, helping push them past their tipping point.   read more

Seven states experienced a drop in their median age during the same span. Some of this decline was attributed to the oil and gas rush that’s been taking place in the Dakotas, Montana, Wyoming and Oklahoma since hydraulic fracturing opened up previously untapped reserves. Demand for drillers and other industry workers has prompted many younger Americans, mostly men, to relocate to these states for employment.   read more

Officials in charge of the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP, formerly known as food stamps) recently announced that the rate of assistance going to ineligible households (or to eligible households in excessive amounts) dropped to 2.61% last year, the lowest level on record. SNAP’s achievements have come despite significant increases in the number of Americans relying on this government assistance during and following the Great Recession.   read more

Chelaifa was sent to Australia in 2010 to become his country’s first ambassador to that country. He was there only a short time before returning to Madrid as ambassador to Spain in 2011, a position he held until coming to Washington. Chelaifa will probably serve only a short time in the United States as he was just more than a year from retirement age upon assuming the post in Washington.   read more

As international oil companies began to show interest in drilling in São Tomé and Principe’s territorial waters, Neves served as president of the assembly’s increasingly important oil and gas commission from 2004 to 2006. He served as advisor to the assembly from 2008 to 2009. Subsequent to that, Neves was director of the national petroleum agency’s administrative and public department until being named ambassador to the UN in 2012.   read more