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

Over the last 50 years, the jobless rate for blacks has consistently been twice as high as the rate for whites, according to the Economic Policy Institute. In 1963 the ratio of black unemployment to white unemployment was 2.2; in 2012 it was 2.1. In 1967, the median black household earned 55% of what the median white household earned. By 2011, that gap had nudged up only to 59%.   read more

Chambers, who is black, was performing Curtis Mayfield’s “People Get Ready,” which he had dedicated to Trayvon Martin and his family, when Andrews-Potter climbed on the stage and attacked him. The moment was captured on video and shows the 43-year-old woman being wrestled to the ground by onlookers. Chambers was taken to the hospital in an ambulance.   read more

The FBI eventually identified 1,553 pages of potentially responsive records and released 356 pages (some redacted) including training materials; notes about particular groups or elements; program assessments; electronic communications; and maps. The agency argued that the remaining 1,200 pages were exempt from disclosure because they could affect law enforcement proceedings. The ACLU disagreed and filed suit.   read more

Prosecutors withheld “significant impeachment evidence” by not disclosing that key witness Barbara Cabral—whose testimony was the only evidence directly linking Seda to the Chechen mujahedeen—had been paid $14,500 by the FBI. “The records of the FBI’s payments…would have shaded the jurors’ perceptions of Cabral's credibility,” wrote Judge M. Margaret McKeown.   read more

From 2004 to 2010, Winfree was chief litigation counsel for Freeport-McMoRan Corporation, which through its subsidiary, Phelps Dodge, is one of the world’s largest producers of copper, gold and other industrial and precious metals. He also founded the Eight Iron Golf Apparel Company to market his two patents, registered in 1995, for a “sport shirt or other garment provided with a load-distributing shoulder yoke for relieving the strain resulting from carrying a golf bag.”   read more

Sarah Blakemore, director of the Cluster Munition Coalition (CMC), a campaign working to ban the weapons, noted that the U.S.-Saudi Arabia deal comes at a time when the two countries have condemned Syria’s use of cluster bombs against rebels trying to topple the regime of Bashar al-Assad.   read more

Critics of the decision said it would deny a large portion of the federal workforce some due process rights. They also warned that agencies could use the ruling to punish employees without worrying about the MSPB getting in the way. The administration proposal refers to a new regulation under consideration that would allow the government to categorize virtually any federal position as national security “sensitive” and therefore outside the civil service system rule of law.   read more

On September 1, the city’s mayor will once again oversee the police. Not since 1861 have city leaders controlled those responsible for maintaining law and order in Missouri’s second largest city. The city lost its authority over the police just before the outbreak of the Civil War, when pro-South politicians wanted to keep Union sympathizers in St. Louis from gaining power.   read more

President Barack Obama has nominated an Indian-American woman to be the next assistant secretary of state for South and Central Asia Affairs. Assistant administrator for Asia at the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) since September 2010, Nisha Desai Biswal will be the first person of South Asian origin to head the bureau.   read more

“The court is troubled that the government’s revelations regarding NSA’s acquisition of Internet transactions mark the third instance in less than three years in which the government has disclosed a substantial misrepresentation regarding the scope of a major collection program,” Bates wrote.   read more

It just so happens that these four senators represent “states with mining and metal-processing interests,” Steve H. Hanke, a Johns Hopkins University professor, wrote in a Wall Street Journal op-ed arguing against the plan. But Americans may not like the idea. Two years ago, when similar legislation was introduced, a poll from Lincoln Park Strategies found that 76% of respondents “strongly opposed” the idea of the dollar coin.   read more

The latest twist in the case came when the government filed a brief saying atheist leaders can be ministers, too, because atheism can function as a religion. That would mean leaders of an atheist organization could qualify for the exemption. Annie Laurie Gaylor, the head of FFRF, said no thanks, and has asked the judge overseeing the case for help to stop the government from granting her the exemption. “We are having to tell the government the obvious: We are not a church.”   read more

Bower was later informed of her positive drug result, which was used by a LCCYS caseworker to remove the baby from her mother—even though the child tested negative for opiates. Bower denied using any drugs, and claimed the Supreme Pasta dressing she ate before going into labor contained poppy seeds. Mother and child were kept apart for 75 days, and after being reunited, Bower sued LCCYS.   read more

The common link among the 10 counties is frustration with the Democratic-controlled legislature, which has been accused of ignoring the concerns of northern Coloradoans on issues like gun control, oil and gas drilling and renewable energy. Liberals have made fun of the secession talk, saying the new state could be called “Weldistan” or “Fracktopia.”   read more

As the storage capacity of cell phones rises, that position could become harder to defend,” wrote Timothy Lee of The Washington Post. “Our smart phones increasingly contain everything about our digital lives: our e-mails, text messages, photographs, browser histories and more. It would be troubling if the police had the power to get all that information with no warrant merely by arresting a suspect.”   read more

Fewer personnel are volunteering because drone pilots lack opportunities for promotion to higher ranks. Also, the military hasn’t done enough to cultivate respect within its ranks for these non-traditional pilots. The same reasons explain why the dropout rate for drone operators is three times higher than that for traditional pilots.   read more