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 use of biofuels, specifically certain trees grown and burned to replace the need for oil and coal, could worsen air pollution and cause more than 1,000 premature deaths a year.   read more

Tracking down illegal immigrants has become the dominant law enforcement priority of the U.S. government under President Barack Obama.   read more

Operated and maintained by the FBI, the federal Combined DNA Index System (CODIS) database contains data regarding 10 million offenders and 1.3 million arrestees, and is growing at an accelerating rate. At present, however, prosecutors have an iron grip on CODIS and only nine states—Colorado, Georgia, Illinois, Maryland, Mississippi, New York, North Carolina, Ohio and Texas—have laws granting defendants access to DNA databases.   read more

Under the terms of the agreement, BofA will pay $3.6 billion directly to Fannie Mae, and spend another $6.75 billion to buy back mortgages from the housing finance giant. BofA also agreed in a separate legal case to pay an undisclosed sum as part of a $8.5 billion settlement reached between federal regulators and several large banks. Bank of America officials assured their investors that the entire sum of the BofA payouts will be covered by reserves and 2012 fourth quarter set-asides.   read more

A third provision in the measure would mandate that mobile services reveal the names of the advertising networks or other third parties with which they share consumers’ locations. Franken says his privacy bill is needed to prevent companies from creating a precise profile of consumers’ family connections and professional associations, as well as political and religious beliefs and even health status.   read more

The mandate in the Obamacare law says insurance companies must provide details in no more than four pages that utilize plain English, and include easy-to understand formats. Wendell Potter lauded the change in law because he felt the industry had “profited for years by using legalese and gobbledygook in describing their policies, and also by purposely withholding information we really need to make informed coverage decisions.”   read more

“Smart guns” can come equipped with biometrics and grip pattern detection that allow only the registered owner of a gun to fire it. The iGun, made by Mossberg Group, requires the owner to wear a special chip-implanted ring that activates the gun. TriggerSmart in Ireland makes a childproof smart-gun that can’t be fired near schools that have the requisite technology installed on campus.   read more

Taxpayers for Common Sense estimates that oil companies will receive $78 billion in tax breaks and subsidies between 2012 and 2017. In March 2012 a majority of senators did vote in favor of the Repeal Big Oil Tax Subsidies Act, which would have eliminated $2.4 billion in deductions gained by the five biggest oil companies, but the bill needed 60 votes to pass. By the end of the fiscal cliff negotiations, Republicans and Democrats left all of the subsidies in place.   read more

When individual citizens are investigated and prosecuted for white collar crimes or other wrongdoing, they often agree to pay a financial settlement to the federal government as a way to avoid prison time or criminal charges. When corporations are in similar situations, they often go on to claim the settlement payments as tax-deductible business expenses, something individuals cannot do. In effect, such corporations get taxpayers to foot the bill for their misconduct.   read more

Nearly 85 percent of the weapons, or about 1,260, were loaded—which is illegal. Under TSA rules, passengers with proper permits may fly with unloaded guns stored in hard-sided checked baggage, but not in carry-on items or on a passenger. If one accounts for airport size by measuring gun confiscations per passenger enplaned, the list leader is Provo, Utah, Municipal Airport, with its rate of 134.6 guns per million.   read more

Frieman, a lawyer and nonprofit consultant, was ticketed in October for driving in the carpool lane during restricted hours, and failed to sway the police officer by waving his papers of incorporation and claiming the company’s company as sufficient qualification under the law. Frieman’s attorney, Ford Greene, told a reporter for the Bay Area News Group that “when a corporation is present in one’s car, it is sufficient to qualify as a two-person occupancy for commuter lane purposes.”   read more

The ACA includes a provision requiring insurance companies to cover breast pumps and visits to lactation consultants at no cost to the patient. Previously, 31 states required Medicaid to cover breast pumps, and some private plans included coverage for a fee. Now, Obamacare requires insurers to cover “comprehensive lactation support and counseling…and costs for renting breastfeeding equipment” in conjunction with each birth.   read more

The company has admitted to violating the Clean Water Act, and will pay a total of $1.4 billion in civil and criminal fines and penalties, according to the U.S. Department of Justice. As part of the criminal settlement, Transocean will pay the National Academy of Sciences and the National Fish and Wildlife Foundation $150 million each. These monies will pay for oil spill prevention and response in the Gulf and natural resource restoration projects.   read more

In the wake of the March 2012 massacre of 16 Afghan villagers by an American soldier, the U.S. gave the victims’ families $50,000 for each of their murdered relatives, and $11,000 for those wounded in the attack. Even the Afghan government got into the act by making compensation payments of $2,000 for each death and $1,000 for each person wounded.   read more

The California Court of Appeal for the Second District ruled that sex-by-impersonation is only rape when the impersonator is pretending to be a spouse. The three-judge panel voted unanimously to order a retrial of Julio Morales with instructions that the lower court, essentially, ignore his trickery. However, the court also urged the California legislature to change the outdated 1872 law to expand the definition of rape to include impersonating a boyfriend or significant other.   read more

Her sexual orientation has made her a historic figure already, but there’s much more to Kyrsten Sinema than just being the first openly bisexual member of Congress. The financial struggles she endured as a child motivated her to overachieve. After growing up in a Mormon family, she experienced homelessness in the 1980s following her mother’s divorce, which forced her family to live in an abandoned gas station for two years.   read more