President Donald Trump gleefully announced that, under his direction, U.S. military troops had swooped down on the Governor’s Mansion in Sacramento and kidnapped California Governor Gavin Newsom. “We’re charging Newscum with fraud.” When a reporter asked for specifics about the fraud charges, Trump pointed to Attorney General Pam Bondi. Bondi, clearly taken by surprise, said, “We’re looking into it and will let you know the details as soon as we’ve created them.”   read more

Nearly 90% of the wealth generated in the post-recession U.S. economy has gone to corporations, while American workers received a tiny fraction of the money.   A new study from Northeastern University in Boston found “corporate profits captured ...   read more

If the Republican Party goes on to nominate one of its prominent female candidates as their 2012 presidential challenger, it might be a good idea to hire a tutor so they can brush up on their American history.   Both Sarah Palin and Michele Bach...   read more

State health officials in Kansas blinked this week and granted a license to Planned Parenthood to perform abortions, avoiding becoming the only state in the nation without a single provider of the controversial medical procedure. But a federal jud...   read more

“Closed” became the operative word for Minnesota’s state government on Friday, once Republican lawmakers and the Democratic governor failed to reach a compromise on the state’s new budget.   With no spending plan in place for the new fiscal year...   read more

President Barack Obama choice as the next U.S. ambassador to Mexico is Earl Anthony “Tony” Wayne, a high-ranking career diplomat who has spent little time in Latin America.   Born in 1950 in Sacramento, California, Wayne grew up in Concord, wher...   read more

1. Growing Controversy over Use of Medtronic’s Infuse for Bones 2. Dictator of the Month: King Abdullah of Saudi Arabia 3. Revenge of the Wrongly Foreclosed: Florida Sheriffs Threaten to Seize Bank of America Assets 4. Profile of Kenneth Mels...   read more

No American president wants to bring home troops from war without declaring victory. Given the importance of avoiding any hint of sacrifice-in-vain, President Barack Obama emphasized that his recent decision to withdraw 30,000 soldiers from Afghan...   read more

Determined to secure its claim to a wealth of underwater natural resources, Russia announced plans to deploy two army brigades to the Arctic, where receding ice flows are opening up new economic opportunities.   Russian military leaders are stil...   read more

The Obama administration made it clear this week with a memo to federal prosecutors that Washington is not going to allow large-scale cultivation of medical marijuana by local governments.   With the growing acceptance of medical marijuana dispe...   read more

Robert P. Jackson assumed the post of U.S. Ambassador to Cameroon on September 17, 2010. It is his fifth posting to Africa.   A native of Tennessee, Jackson received his B.A. degree in Government and Legal Studies from Bowdoin College in Brunswi...   read more

Peter Taksoe-Jensen took over as Denmark’s ambassador to the United States in September 2010.   Born in 1959 in Copenhagen, Taksoe-Jensen received a law degree from the University of Copenhagen.   He served in the Danish Ministry of Justice fr...   read more

Two.   That’s the number of CIA torture cases involving detainees that the Obama administration will continue to investigate after spending two years reviewing just over 100 instances of alleged abuse during the George W. Bush years.   Outgo...   read more

Once again a member of the Karzai family, whose patriarch serves as leader of Afghanistan, has been accused of helping defraud the nation that the U.S. has so generously supported.   Mahmoud Karzai, brother of President Hamid Karzai, allegedly...   read more

General Motors is being sued after it selectively recalled its 2007-2008 models of the Chevrolet Impala sold to police departments.   At issue is the Impala’s rear wheel structure, which allegedly causes misalignment and premature tire wear. T...   read more

Phillip Carter III was sworn in as U.S. Ambassador to Côte d’Ivoire on August 23, 2010.   Carter graduated from St. Dunstan’s Episcopal High School, in Christiansted on St. Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, in 1976. He earned his B.A. in Economics a...   read more

Pavlos Anastasiades became Cyprus’s Ambassador to the United States on September 16, 2010.   Anastasiades was born on May 4, 1953, in Famagusta in northeastern Cyprus. From 1965 to 1971 he attended the First Gymnasium for Boys. After two years...   read more