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At the onset of the 2020 coronavirus pandemic, store shelves were quickly emptied of toilet paper, revealing the commodity’s prominent, yet unspoken role in modern-day society. Although humans have cleaned their bottoms for as long as they have walked the Earth, “three-ply” and “extra-soft” didn’t always describe toilet hygiene. Before the introduction of mass-produced, commercially available toilet paper in the mid-1800s and the continued improvements made into the early 20 century, people relied on less luxurious ways to wipe their bums. From Seashells to Communal Sponges Through history, local customs and climate often dictated how anal hygiene was carried out....

Thousands of National Guardsmen were forced to vacate congressional grounds on Thursday and are now taking their rest breaks outside and in nearby parking garages, after two weeks of sleepless nights protecting the nation’s capital in the wake of the violent assault on Jan. 6. One unit, which had been resting in the Dirksen Senate Office building, was abruptly told to vacate the facility on Thursday, according to one Guardsman. The group was forced to rest in a nearby parking garage without internet reception, with just one electrical outlet, and one bathroom with two stalls for 5,000 troops, the person...

The casket for President George H.W. Bush, who died on Nov. 30, lies in state in the U.S. Capitol Rotunda until Wednesday morning, where the public may pay their respects to the 41st president of the United States.

The Obama administration lately has demanded much from American soldiers, who now face possible reductions in the number in their ranks as well as higher payments toward their health benefits. That’s in addition to duty in Afghanistan, or worse. In the latest slap to the face of U.S. Department of Defense personnel, Obama now is asking those soldiers to oversee the digging of toilets at a girl’s school in Kenya, his “home country,” as First Lady Michelle Obama once publicly put it. The Naval Facilities Engineering Command is tasked with coordinating the endeavor, involving the construction of a building containing...

In a year when the electorate is expected to repudiate the president’s policies at the polls, there is a certain irony to the fact that this rejection may include not only Barack Obama’s home state, but his old Senate seat as well. Illinois has been a solidly blue state for over a decade now. This is not so much because its residents have abandoned traditional Midwestern values as it is because the Chicago machine’s corrupting influence has been so effective in keeping Democrats in office for so long and in suppressing opposition. Yet, even with the machine’s tentacles extending into...

In 2006, conservative activists repeatedly claimed that the problem of people casting fraudulent votes was so widespread that it was corrupting the political process and possibly costing their candidates victories. The accusations turned out to be largely false, but they led to a heated debate, with voting rights groups claiming that the accusations were crippling voter registration drives and reducing turnout. That debate is flaring anew. Tea Party members have started challenging voter registration applications and have announced plans to question individual voters at the polls whom they suspect of being ineligible. In response, liberal groups and voting rights...

The Nevada Republican Party called on Senate Majority Leader Harry Reid Tuesday to personally explain how somebody who confessed to a sham marriage with a Lebanese national later deported ended up on his staff -- and precisely when he found out about her past. The challenge came after FoxNews.com reported Monday evening that Diana Tejada, the senator's former Hispanic press secretary, had confessed to taking money for "some of her expenses" in exchange for fraudulently marrying Bassam Mahmoud Tarhini in 2003 so he could obtain permanent U.S. residency. According to court documents, Tejada owned up to the deal in November...

PHOENIX -- A federal appeals court on Tuesday struck down a key part of Arizona's law requiring voters to prove they are citizens before registering to vote and to show identification before casting ballots. The decision by a three-judge panel of the 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals found that the law requiring voters to prove their citizenship while registering is inconsistent with the National Voter Registration Act. That federal law allows voters to fill out a mail-in voter registration card and swear they are citizens under penalty of perjury, but doesn't require them to show proof as Arizona's law...

Raleigh, N.C. — Democrat Elaine Marshall has narrowed the gap with U.S. Sen. Richard Burr, but she still trails by a wide margin a week before the election, according to a WRAL News Poll released Tuesday. SurveyUSA polled 1,000 North Carolina residents Friday through Monday; 857 were registered voters and 590 said they were likely to vote. If the election were held now, Burr would garner 53 percent of the ballots cast by likely voters to Marshall's 38 percent. Libertarian Mike Beitler would finish with 5 percent of the vote, according to the poll. The poll has a margin of...

Who is the largest single political contributor in the 2010 campaign cycle? You can be pardoned if you answer, erroneously, that it's some new conservative group organized by Karl Rove. That's campaign spin by the Obama Democrats, obediently relayed by certain elements of the so-called mainstream media. The real answer is AFSCME, the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees. The union's president, Gerald McEntee, reports proudly that AFSCME will be contributing $87.5 million in this cycle, entirely or almost entirely to Democrats. "We're spending big," he told the Wall Street Journal. "And we're damn happy it's big." The...

WASHINGTON -- Less than a week before Election Day, President Barack Obama is using the power of his office to reach Democratic voters in a final effort to get supporters to the polls and nudge close races in his party's favor. Though Obama is off the campaign trail for three full days this week, he's personally targeting key Democratic constituencies from the White House, holding conference calls with union activists and campaign volunteers, and doing interviews with radio stations that draw largely black audiences. He'll also target younger voters when he tapes an appearance on "The Daily Show with Jon...

As President Barack Obama gets ready for his final campaign swing before the midterm elections next week, many Democrats — and even some White House officials — are warning against expecting too big a bump from his barnstorming. Obama hit his first major pothole in a month of high-profile, feel-good campaign appearances on Monday in Rhode Island when the Democratic gubernatorial candidate reacted to the news that the president was not going to endorse him by saying he could “shove it. On Tuesday, White House Press Secretary Robert Gibbs dismissed the dust-up as nothing more than a distraction, while trumpeting...

With less than a week before the midterm elections President Obama is in full campaign mode, supporting his fellow Democrats and plunking down political red meat at rallies across the country. In recent stump speeches Mr. Obama has said, “We don’t mind the Republicans joining us. They can come for the ride, but they’ve got to sit in back.” It’s widely expected that Republicans will make major gains in the U.S. House of Representatives and the Senate, leaving Mr. Obama in a tough situation. “I think the president is in some ways caught in a trap that’s partially of his...

Latrine duty: a real waste By DANI DODGE Scripps Howard News Service April 18, 2003 BAGHDAD, Iraq - Someone has to do it. Thursday, builder construction man Adam Helschein, 25, and steelworker 3rd class Olivo Guerrero, 19, got the task: Burning the waste - human waste. "The first time," said Helschein, of Las Vegas, "I almost threw up." Getting rid of human waste in the war zone is probably one of the most unglamorous jobs the Seabees do. John Wayne sure wasn't given the mission in the movie "The Fighting Seabees." The Seabees from Naval Mobile Construction Battalion 4 have...