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 CIA will be exempted from the rules for at least a year. Agency leaders objected to being bound by the playbook, citing the pressing need to continue bombing Taliban and al-Qaeda targets in Pakistan before the U.S. withdraws from neighboring Afghanistan, where the drones are based. Critics of the government assassination program view the playbook as indicative of the institutionalization of the U.S. killing policy.   read more

two products with specific functions for surveillance, filtering and censorship―ProxySG and PacketShaper―were in widespread use. ProxySG was detected in Egypt, Kuwait, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates, while PacketShaper was in Afghanistan, Bahrain, China, India, Indonesia, Iraq, Kenya, Kuwait, Lebanon, Malaysia, Nigeria, Qatar, Russia, Saudi Arabia, South Korea, Singapore, Thailand, Turkey, and Venezuela.   read more

Some observers said the email was intended to strengthen McConnell’s support among conservatives. The Senate minority leader faces reelection next year, and the McConnell camp may be worried about heading off a potential primary challenge. McConnell was blasted by those on the right for helping resolve the fiscal cliff drama, with some calling the deal “the McConnell tax hike.”   read more

Obama met with the White House press corps 79 times over four years. His predecessor, George W. Bush, held 89 press conferences. Bill Clinton had 133, and George H.W. Bush 142. Reagan held only 27 press conferences during his first term. When meeting with reporters, Obama demonstrated a preference for fielding questions from certain news outlets over others. ABC led the way with 29 chances to query the president, followed closely by CBS (28), the Associated Press (27) and NBC (26).   read more

The provision buys Amgen another two years of selling the drug without federal caps. That’s great news for the company’s bottom-line, but bad news for Medicare, which will pay an extra $500 million for the drug. The delay will go a good way towards making up for Amgen’s most recent criminal activity. On December 19, Amgen—as a corporate entity—pleaded guilty to illegal marketing of its anti-anemia drug, Aranesp, and agreed to pay penalties totaling $762 million.   read more

Last year, the legislature eliminated $1.8 million from school safety programs, while Governor Rick Scott vetoed $5.7 million for mental health services. But lawmakers made sure $10 million in taxpayer money was available to help weapons makers, as well as Hollywood production companies and video game designers that produce violent entertainment. The state government also made it easier and cheaper to buy high-powered weapons, by cutting the cost of obtaining a weapons license by $5.   read more

The amount of refunds that prisoners tried to receive also skyrocketed, from $68 million in 2004 to $2.5 billion in 2012. In many instances, inmates used stolen identities and other false information as part of their schemes. The IRS has taken actions to catch many of the phony refunds before they are sent out. In 2010, the agency received $757 million in refund requests from prisoners, but only issued $35.2 million (about 4.6%).   read more

I want people around the world to look at the United States as a model. If people are afraid to speak their minds for fear of government oppression, I want them to think, “I want my country to be like the United States of America.” If they are malnourished or starving or their children are threatened by disease, I want them to think, “I wish my country could be like the United States of America.”   read more

Corporate bashing of President Barack Obama’s economic policies have belied the fact that companies are enjoying huge profits since the Democrat came into office. Under Obama, corporations’ after-tax profits have leaped 171%, which is more than under any president since World War II, according to Bloomberg News. Corporate profits are also at their highest level relative to the size of the economy since the government began keeping records in 1947.   read more

Obama’s 2012 win also makes him only the seventh President in modern political history (since 1932) to win two presidential elections. That places him in some elite company, including Franklin Roosevelt, who won in 1932, 1936, 1940 and 1944, Dwight Eisenhower (1952 and 1956), Richard Nixon (1968 and 1972), Ronald Reagan (1980 and 1984), Bill Clinton (1992 and 1996) and George W. Bush (2000 and 2004).   read more

After reviewing financial disclosure forms filed by the 94, the Center for Responsive Politics determined that the median estimated net worth of the freshmen is more than $1 million. At $1,066,515 the net worth is nearly $1 million more than the typical American household, whose median net worth is $66,740. The richest of the incoming members of Congress is Rep. John Delaney (D-Maryland), whose net worth is estimated at $139 million.   read more

Bank robbery, selling child porn, selling slaves, genocidal eugenics: all these federal crimes carry a maximum sentence of 20 years, less than half the 50-plus years that U.S. Attorney Carmen Ortiz and prosecutors Stephen P. Heymann and Scott L. Garland threatened against Internet genius and activist Aaron Swartz, who killed himself on January 11 at age 26, mere weeks before he was to be tried on charges of stealing academic journal articles from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT).   read more

• Far-right violence increases during presidential election years and the years preceding. • Far-right violence increases when political conservatives win power in Congress. • Far-right violence is concentrated in heterogeneous areas, where peoples of varying ethnic and religious backgrounds interact. • The South is no longer the hub of far-right violence. Judged by per capita attacks, the worst states are Oregon, Maine, New York, Vermont and Massachusetts.   read more

The FBI and the BOP, which make nearly two-thirds DOJ’s hires, indicated they relied on the background investigations in lieu of reference checks out of concerns over contacting current supervisors too early in the process and over the large number of references that would need to be checked. The IG report, however, criticized those concerns.   read more

Efforts to limit access to the lucrative business of tax preparation were struck down last week by a federal judge in Washington, DC, who voided Internal Revenue Service (IRS) regulations purporting to license and regulate the nation’s 600,000 tax preparers. The effort, which included mandatory continuing education, testing, and registration.   read more

ITEP found that the bottom 80% of Louisianans in income would see a tax increase. The poorest 20% of taxpayers, with an average income of $12,000, would see an average tax increase of $395; the middle 20%, with an average income of $43,000, would see an increase of $534; while the largest beneficiaries would be the top 1%, with an average income of more than $1 million, who'd see an average tax cut of $25,423.   read more