Trump ordered that the term Homo sapiens be changed to Hetero sapiens. In history books and on websites, the airplane from which the atomic bomb was dropped on Hiroshima will no longer be identified as the Enola Gay, but rather the Enola Straight. Trump also ordered billionaire Mark Cuban, who supported Kamala Harris in the 2024 election, to change his name to Mark American. If he does not do so, he will be charged with terrorism.   read more

The last three domestic slaughterhouses in the U.S. closed in 2007. Since then, unwanted horses have been shipped to Mexico and Canada for slaughter. In 2012, 68,429 horses were shipped to Mexico and 64,652 to Canada. Lawmakers in Washington decided to allow horse slaughtering again after they learned that the animals sent over the borders were subjected to horrible conditions that were documented by the Humane Society.   read more

Female avatars exposed more than twice as much skin as males. Among male avatars, 71% covered between 75–100% of their skin while only 5% of females did. On the flip side, only 1% of males covered only 0–24% of their skin while 10% of females did.   read more

Neile L. Miller, who has been the principal deputy administrator for the National Nuclear Security Administration (NNSA) since August 2010, will become acting administrator on January 18. 2013. In the private sector, Miller has worked for Cogema, Inc., and as a consultant for clients including DOE, Sandia National Laboratory, and the government of Germany.   read more

The National Lawyers Guild (NLG), which is helping the group, said the appellate decision marked the first time a court has affirmed Americans’ ability to sue the military for violating their First Amendment (freedom of speech and assembly) and Fourth Amendment (freedom from unreasonable search and seizure) rights.   read more

On September 2, an American missile destroyed a Toyota truck loaded with 14 Yemenis from a village near Radda. The attack killed 11, including a woman and two children. The Yemeni government tried to claim that its own air force carried out the assault, and that those killed were al-Qaeda militants. Many locals refused to accept the official explanation, and eventually Yemeni officials were forced to acknowledge that the strike killed only civilians.   read more

Next year the LA City Council will vote on a plan to prohibit circuses from using elephants in shows. Pushed by animal rights advocates, the ban would mostly affect The Ringling Brothers and Barnum & Bailey Circus, which has been bringing Asian elephants to the city since 1919.   read more

Michelle Obama’s speech, in fact, was the highest of any given by a presidential nominee’s wife at a convention, according to Eric Ostermeier of Smart Politics. Her address was also higher than those given by her husband, President Barack Obama, during his the State of the Union speeches, all of which have rated at an 8th grade level.   read more

Sworn in as a board member on April 7, 2010, he was confirmed by the Senate on June 22, 2010, for a term ending on August 27, 2013. He left for private practice, co-founding the Buffalo, New York, law firm of Creighton, Pearce, Johnsen & Giroux, where he practiced union and plaintiff side labor and employment law from January 2002 to April 2010.   read more

By December 31, Congress must adopt a new five-year farm bill that includes addressing milk subsidies because the current statute is expiring. If lawmakers don’t act, the government will be forced to operate under a 1949 dairy price subsidy that mandates the U.S. Department of Agriculture to purchase milk at inflated prices. That could mean a doubling of milk prices in stores, from the current average of $3.60 to somewhere between $6 and $8 per gallon.   read more

According to “No Room at the Inn: Trends and Consequences of Closing Public Psychiatric Hospitals,” a study by the Treatment Advocacy Center, per capita state psychiatric bed populations plunged in 2010 to 14 beds per 100,000 population, identical to 1850, when the movement to treat seriously mentally ill persons in hospitals began. The number peaked at 300 beds per 100,000 in 1950, and has been declining ever since.   read more

Abbate tried to intimidate Obrycka into giving him the videotape, which she refused to do. Then, a city official who was friends with Abbate tried to bribe the victim by offering to pay for her medical bills, as long as she didn’t press charges. Abbate was initially charged with misdemeanor battery. But after Obrycka released the video to the media, the district attorney elevated the charge to aggravated battery. Abbate was convicted in June 2009.   read more

Almost 52% of households are now relying on cell phones for their day-to-day communications. Demographic groups most likely to use cell phones only included Americans between the ages of 25 and 29 (60.1%), renters (58.2%), Americans between the ages of 30 and 34 (55.1%), adults living in poverty (51.8%) and Hispanic adults (46.5%). An estimated 1.9% of adults have no phone at all.   read more

Hall has been a Republican for only nine years, after switching parties in 2004 to boost his chances of reelection after redistricting changed the makeup of his northeast Texas seat. He does not hold the record for the oldest person to serve in Congress. That distinction goes to another party switcher, Strom Thurmond of South Carolina, who left the Senate on January 3, 2003, at the age of 100.   read more

About 90% of all new mortgages are backed by the government, three times more than in 2006. Fannie Mae and Freddie Mac, the taxpayer-controlled, semi-private housing giants, were saved with infusions of $187.5 billion of public funds starting in 2008, and now guarantee 69% of new mortgages, up from only 27% in 2006, while the Federal Housing Administration and the Department of Veteran’s Affairs back about 21% of mortgages, up from just 2.8% in 2006.   read more

The majority of the deportations (55%) involved individuals with criminal records, which represented another record, according to Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE). Another 21% were repeat immigration violators. The total number of those deported in Obama’s four years in office has nearly matched all deportations during the eight years of the George W. Bush administration.   read more

NHTSA officials say expanding the use of the data recorders in all new cars and trucks will help them better assess the cause of accidents. The boxes have heretofore recorded a vehicle’s speed, its location and total number of passengers at the time of an accident. There will now be a requirement that 15 types of data be recorded. Privacy advocates don’t want the data in the black boxes to be used by marketers.   read more