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

Wildlife Services has killed animals on behalf of more than 2,500 customers, including Fortune 500 companies, ranchers, prisons, country clubs, airports, federal agencies and other clients. Corporate clients include BP, Chevron, Coca-Cola, Dow Chemical, Ford and Toyota, Walt Disney World, Wells Fargo and Pfizer.   read more

The use of killer robots also calls into question who would be legally responsible if one of them committed an illegal act, such as targeting civilians. The robots themselves could not be sued or otherwise punished and it is unlikely that any action would be taken against military commanders, manufacturers or programmers, so that, in the end, no one would be accountable.   read more

Picking up where the George W. Bush administration left off, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) under President Barack Obama is attempting to allow corporations to own newspapers as well as television and radio stations in the country’s top 20 media markets. Obama and Vice President Joe Biden, while serving in the U.S. Senate, opposed FCC rules permitting media giants to control newspapers, TV and radio all in the same big-city market.   read more

Another bishop, Daniel Jenky in Peoria, Illinois, compared President Barack Obama to Adolph Hitler and Joseph Stalin during a homily delivered at his cathedral. The foundation also called attention to the actions of Rev. Billy Graham, who took out an ad in The Wall Street Journal and other periodicals urging his followers to vote for candidates who opposed abortion and same-sex marriage.   read more

Petroglyphs are created by chipping into the dark surfaces of rock with a harder stone. That exposes the inner rock, which lacks the darker oxidation of the exterior, and provides a contrast that makes the designs visible. They differ from pictographs, which are painted on the rock. The carvings depict an earlier Native American culture of hunters and gatherers believed to date back 8,800 years in a region known as Volcanic Tableland.   read more

“Some observers offered the possible explanation that blue states tend to adopt stronger safety laws, while red states opt for looser regulation, presumably leading to more fatalities.” But, Silverstein added, “the sweeping generalization doesn’t hold up under scrutiny,” noting that both red and blue states have adopted seat-belt laws for motorists. Another proposed explanation is that Republican-leaning states are more rural, so their citizens tend to drive more miles.   read more

Since 1979, Dauphin Island has been hit by nearly a dozen hurricanes and major storms, including Hurricane Katrina in 2005. Most recently, it was blasted by Hurricane Isaac in August of this year. The community of 1,300 has received at least $80 million in federal tax dollars has been given to Dauphin Island over the decades. This amount—more than $60,000 for every resident—does not include another $72 million provided to homeowners from the federal flood insurance program.   read more

The Zetas drug cartel is now selling millions of dollars worth of coal each year in northern Mexico, across the border from Texas. This relatively legitimate business allows the cartel to launder money gained from drug trafficking. In Coahuila state, which produces 95% of Mexico’s coal, the cartel produces or buys 10,000 tons of coal a week and sells it to the Mexican government at inflated prices, earning $22 million to $25 million annually.   read more

Real earnings, in fact, are now equal to what they were in December 2005. Wages have been trending downward for about four decades, according to The Hamilton Project at the Brookings Institution. Researchers say the median working-age man with a job earns about 4% less than he did in 1970, after factoring for inflation.   read more

115,000 women each year lose private health insurance following a divorce and 65,000 lose all health insurance coverage. This occurrence stems from wives being on their husbands’ health plans and their inability to pay for their own coverage following the breakup of a marriage. Researchers at the University of Michigan found that women’s overall insurance coverage remains lower for more than two years after divorce.   read more

Under current law, travelers arriving in the United States must declare if they are carrying more than $10,000 in cash, traveler’s checks or other negotiable currency. However, according to a proposed amendment to the Bank Secrecy Act, the Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) has authorized the Department of Homeland Security (DHS) to also scan prepaid cards in possession of anyone trying to enter the United States.   read more

Although Diplomatic Security funding and personnel increased considerably between 1998 and 2010—the budget grew nine-fold from $200 million to $1.8 billion and the workforce doubled—since 2011 Republicans in Congress have pushed to cut BDS funding by tens of millions of dollars and the agency has experienced staff shortages. In 2008, about one-third of BDS’s domestic sub-offices had vacancy rates greater than 25%.   read more

The problem for the federal government is that it does not have the resources to fight a war on pot possession by itself, not in two medium size states and certainly not nationwide, given that there are about 750,000 marijuana possession arrests in the U.S. every year. With respective populations of 5.1 and 6.8 million, Colorado and Washington annually see about 12,000 and 16,000 pot arrests.   read more

Wal-Mart bankrolled five petition drives in California last year that, if approved by voters, would have qualified the company to bypass the landmark California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA). Once the company gathered the 15% of signatures necessary to qualify the measure for the ballot, Wal-Mart would offer a deal. The cities could approve the petition themselves or face a costly election battle. The strategy worked. Four cities enacted the Wal-Mart petition in 2011 without an election.   read more

The committee blames the euphemistic nomenclature used in the toxic cleanup industry, which calls sites “closed” and considers them “successes” even though contamination remains that will require long-term oversight and funding. Although industry professionals in both the private and public sector understand how these terms are used, the general public does not, and may assume that a successfully closed site has been restored to pristine condition.   read more

The complaint goes on to say Hershey “has knowingly failed to fulfill its promises. Instead, Hershey has continued to produce and sell chocolate that is the fruit of child and forced labor. If the company has knowingly supported or exploited the use of child or forced labor in Ghana or the Ivory Coast, Hershey itself has acted unlawfully or aided and abetted unlawful conduct.”   read more