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

The United States has ramped up its drone war campaign in Yemen, where 10 civilians, including a 10-year-old girl and her mother, were killed last weekend. The attack provoked outrage among Yemenis, while the American media, which rarely pays attention to the war in Yemen anyway, was largely distracted by the Democratic Party’s national convention. The 10 killed were among 29 who died in Yemen within a week, as the result of multiple drone attacks.   read more

However, it is unclear if the same rules apply to House committee Facebook pages. In the case of the House Financial Services Committee, its Facebook page includes a photograph of President Barack Obama, the title “BETTER OFF?” and the tag “#WECAN DO BETTER.”   read more

Since 1994, the IRS has provided a letter-forwarding service for individuals, companies and organizations trying to track down taxpayers who are owed money from pension funds and other sources. The IRS announced that due to budget constraints, it would limit its letter-forwarding program to assist those seeking to convey a message for a humane purpose or those in an emergency situation.   read more

Republican lawmakers adopted the law claiming it was necessary to restrict access to early voting in order to curb voter fraud and that voting on the weekend and Monday interfered with preparations for Election Day. Democrats counter that the real reason the Republicans want to limit the hours for early voting is that those who vote in the weekend before the election are more likely to vote Democratic.   read more

Officials fired security guard Kirk Garland, the guard who actually apprehended Sister Rice and the others, and are scapegoating him for the systemic security lapses—including inoperable security cameras and guards ignoring alarms—that allowed them to breach the facility with such ease. The government pays $1.2 billion for security at Oak Ridge every year, leading one unnamed DOE official to wonder “what are we getting for it?”   read more

The U.S. Attorney’s Office in Phoenix quietly announced late Friday, just before the three-day weekend, that it would not prosecute Arpaio on abuse-of-power charges. Federal prosecutors spent four years investigating the 80-year-old law enforcement official, who bills himself “America’s Toughest Sheriff.”   read more

1. Nursing, psychiatric, and home health aides—33.1% 2. Postal service mail sorters, processors, and processing machine operators—30.5% 3. Barbers—27.7% 4. Security guards and gaming surveillance officers—27.2% 5. Railroad conductors and yardmasters—27.2%   read more

1. Dredge, excavating, and loading machine operators—0.0% 2. Medical transcriptionists—0.3% 3. Cabinetmakers and bench carpenters—0.3% 4. Dental hygienists—0.5% 5. Farmers, ranchers, and other agricultural managers—0.9%   read more

The statements revealed that the firm Romney founded got away with not paying income taxes on at least $1 billion in accumulated fees by converting them into investments that produced capital gains, which are subject to a federal tax of only 15%. Had the fees been recorded as income, Bain would have owed 35% in tax.   read more

In a similar case, on January 31, 2011, DHS seized the sports streaming sites Rojadirecta.com and Rojadirecta.org. However, on August 29 the government dropped its case against Rojadirecta and returned the domain to its Spanish owners without explanation. To date, DHS has seized about 700 domain names as part of “Operation In Our Sites.”   read more

At one point, according to Hayes’ complaint, “Barr moved the entire contents of the offices of three male employees, including name plates, computers, and telephones, to the men’s bathroom at ICE headquarters.” In addition, “Barr took an ICE blackberry device assigned to a male Special Agent in Charge and sent a Blackberry Messenger message to his female supervisor indicating that the male employee had a crush on the female supervisor and fantasized about her.”   read more

1. Drywall installers, ceiling tile installers, and tapers—59.7% 2. Graders and sorters, agricultural products—51.5% 3. Miscellaneous agricultural workers—49.5% 4. Cement masons, concrete finishers, and terrazzo workers—47.8% 5. Roofers—47.3%   read more

1. Appraisers and assessors of real estate—0.0% 2. Chiropractors—1.3% 3. Medical transcriptionists—2.1% 4. Financial analysts—2.7% 5. Artists and related workers—2.8%   read more

Recently, federal and state judges have blocked some of these laws. In most cases, the judges issuing the opinions have been those who were appointed by Democratic presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama. However, this is not always the case. The most notable exemption has been the rejection of Texas’ redistricting plan, in which two of the three judges who denied the Republican redistricting were appointed by President George W. Bush.   read more

Republicans claimed it was necessary to restrict access to early voting in order to curb voter fraud and that voting on the weekend and Monday interfered with preparations for Election Day. Economus disagreed with the rationale. The Clinton-appointed judge wrote that all Ohioans have a constitutionally protected right to participate in elections on an equal basis.   read more

The judges found the new legislative and congressional boundaries violated the Voting Rights Act and weakened the political clout of minorities who were the reason why Texas grew in population and gained four more seats in Congress. Latinos accounted for 65% of the increase, blacks 13.4% and Asian-Americans 10.1%, yet Latinos did not gain any seats in the Republican redistricting plan.   read more