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

Clients of ID Analytics, a subsidiary of Arizona-based LifeLock (since March) that specializes in credit analysis, include the top five credit card issuers, top four wireless carriers, auto lenders and other big companies. ID Analytics looked at 1 billion applications for bank cards, store credit cards and wireless service over a nearly four-year period.   read more

Until recently, Bank of America was in a prime position to sway “independent” reviewers who decided whether the bank had wronged homeowners during foreclosure proceedings. The reviewers are charged with examining the cases of 4.4 million homeowners. Victims are eligible to receive up to $125,000 in cash compensation and in some cases get their homes back.   read more

Agent Brian Terry was murdered in December 2010 by cartel members in Arizona using firearms purchased illegally from Lone Wolf Trading Co., a gun shop participating in the operation at the request of U.S. government agents. Terry’s relatives are going after Assistant U.S. Attorney Emory Hurley and six ATF agents involved in the operation. Attorney General Eric Holder was not named as a defendant.   read more

Citizens who don’t comply may be charged with obstructing a governmental operation, according to Stovall. For “people who buck us…we are prepared to throw your hind-end in jail,” he promised. Legal advice apparently was not sought before making the decision. When asked if his plan was different from imposing martial law, Stovall said he wasn’t sure if there was a difference.   read more

When Adam Lanza, 20, gunned down 20 children and six adults at the Sandy Hook Elementary School, the firearm he used was an AR-15 assault rifle. The AR-15 was also employed by James E. Holmes, 24, the man accused of killing 12 people in a movie theater in Aurora, Colorado, July 20. Jacob Roberts, 22, who shot and killed two people before taking his own life in a Happy Valley, Oregon, shopping mall on December 11, also used an AR-15.   read more

The Investigative Assistance for Violent Crimes Act was first introduced last year by supporters who contend federal law does not allow the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) or other U.S. agencies to quickly provide help whenever a mass killing is taking place. But the proposed legislation is currently bottled up in the Senate, after a senator used the upper chamber’s rules to place a “hold” on it. The same rules allow the senator to keep his or her identity from being revealed.   read more

The Obama administration claims the plaintiffs, who are relatives of the deceased, have no legal ground to sue the government for the attacks. Federal lawyers also have threatened to invoke the State Secrets Privilege, which allows the government to seek dismissal of a suit if it could expose national security secrets.   read more

A more extreme example of the unending nature of sunset clauses is the one relating to the creation of the U.S. Parole Commission, a semi-autonomous agency within the U.S. Department of Justice that decides parole cases involving certain federal and District of Columbia (DC) prisoners. It was supposed to cease to exist in 1992, but its life has been extended five times since then, most recently in 2011. It is now due to dissolve in November 2013.   read more

According to the application, Crossroads planned to spend half its efforts on “public education,” 30% on “activity to influence legislation and policymaking” and 20% on “research,” including sponsoring “in-depth policy research on significant issues.” In fact, Crossroads spent more than $70 million from anonymous supporters on the 2012 election.   read more

“Changes over the past 65 years in the top marginal tax rate and the top capital gains tax rate do not appear correlated with economic growth. The reduction in the top statutory tax rates appears to be uncorrelated with saving, investment, and productivity growth. The top tax rates appear to have little or no relation to the size of the economic pie.…However, the top tax rate reductions appear to be correlated with the increasing concentration of income at the top of the income distribution."   read more

Created in 1962 as part of the Executive Office of the President, the USTR functions as the president’s lead negotiator on all international trade issues. The agency has seen its score decline by more than half—from 74.2 to 32.7—since 2009, when former Dallas Mayor Ron Kirk took the helm from Susan Schwab.   read more

Under broad new powers authorized by Attorney General Eric Holder, since March federal counterterrorism officials have been able to collect information on every American citizen, regardless of whether they are suspected of doing anything wrong. The Obama administration quietly authorized the controversial plan that allows the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) to collect data on U.S. citizens, even if there is no reason to suspect them.   read more

Driven by an ever-escalating “war on drugs,” the number of federal prisoners incarcerated in the United States has increased by ten times in just 30 years—27 times faster than the rate of population growth. As a result, the Federal Bureau of Prisons (BOP) is operating at 39% above capacity, creating dangerous overcrowding for guards and prisoners.   read more

Almost half of the 700,000 service members deployed for the gulf war have filed disability claims with the Department of Veterans Affairs, and more than 85% of these have been granted benefits. According to a 2008 VA report, about 25% to 32% of Gulf War veterans suffer from “Gulf War syndrome,” a medically recognized condition whose symptoms include chronic pain, memory loss, persistent fatigue and diarrhea.   read more

The abuse of the law should not come as a surprise. At the time that the JOBS Act passed through Congress, Democratic Senator Carl Levin of Michigan warned, “We are about to embark upon the most sweeping deregulatory effort and assault on investor protection in decades.…It will allow vast new opportunities for fraud and abuse in capital markets.”   read more

At the top 500 companies in the U.S., women this year accounted for about 14% of executive officer positions and 16.6% of board seats, according to the research organization Catalyst. Catalyst also found that 25% of all Fortune 500 companies had no women executive officers, and 10% had no women directors on their boards.   read more