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

Tiny oil-rich sheikdoms of the Persian Gulf have been great customers for U.S. defense contractors, which have enjoyed arms deals worth billions of dollars from the region.   In order to become a stronger military presence in the Gulf and challe...   read more

Since October 2007, veterans of the Iraq and Afghanistan wars have been dying at a faster rate in at home than in combat, according to government figures.   For example, 113 veterans of the two wars died in the U.S. in May 2010, while only six...   read more

Sanctions by the U.S. government against Iran have caused a multitude of problems for Iranian-Americans with ties to their home country even though Americans of Iranian origin are overwhelmingly opposed to the ruling regime in Iran.   For inst...   read more

Limbiye Edawe Kadangha Bariki became the Togolese ambassador to the US on July 14, 2009.   Bariki graduated from the University of Benin in Togo (now known as the Univerity of Lomé) and the National School of Administration in Lomé, Togo.   ...   read more

The Obama administration’s effort to make an example of a former National Security Agency (NSA) whistleblower has largely failed, now that its case in federal court has fallen apart.   Thomas Drake, an NSA computer specialist, was brought up o...   read more

More than 200 hundred years after it was produced, a book on cryptology is finally being declassified by the U.S. government.   The National Security Agency (NSA) decided that the 1809 book, Cryptology: Instruction Book on the Art of Secret Wr...   read more

Since October 2002, the U.S. State Department has kept track of American citizens who die in other countries from non-health-related causes. The State Department notes that their database is unavoidably incomplete, particularly because most U.S....   read more

Since October 2002, the U.S. State Department has kept track of American citizens who die in other countries from non-health-related causes. The State Department notes that their database is unavoidably incomplete, particularly because most U.S. c...   read more

A native of Pennsylvania, Patricia McMahon Hawkins has served as the United States Ambassador to the West African nation of Togo since August 22, 2008. Hawkins attended Barnard College in New York City and graduated from East Stroudsburg Univer...   read more

Four veterans have launched a class-action lawsuit against the Department of Veterans Affairs over the use of a large VA campus in West Los Angeles.   The plaintiffs, aided by the American Civil Liberties Union and supported by the Vietnam Vet...   read more

Americans are continuing to be killed in Afghanistan and Iraq, and members of Congress are debating whether the U.S. should continue bombing in Libya. But in the meantime, pretty much out of the glare of the media, U.S. forces have been fighting...   read more

The veto has not been a significant political weapon used by President Barack Obama during his two and a half years in office.   Obama has issued a total of just two vetoes since taking office, an average of one veto every 435 days. This avera...   read more

Webcamgate is continuing to haunt school officials in Philadelphia.   Yet another lawsuit has been filed against the Lower Merion School District for illegally spying on students by remotely activating webcams on school-issued laptops. About 1...   read more

British hedge funds and European financial speculators are buying up large tracts of land in Africa as part of investment schemes for American universities. The “land grab,” as described by critics, threatens to force thousands of people off the...   read more

After issuing a report two years ago warning of a possible rise in rightwing extremism, the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) has minimized its efforts to thwart such a threat.   A few months after President Barack Obama took office in 200...   read more

The distance from Wisconsin to Connecticut is not as great as their political divide.   While one state, with Republicans in control of the state capital, is piling up conservative legislative victories, the other, under Democratic control, is...   read more