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 U.S. Department of Energy has activated Titan, the world’s fastest supercomputer. Scientists hope that Titan will support their research in areas ranging from climate change to biofuels to nuclear energy. For the past three years, Japan, China. and Germany variously held the titles for the fastest computer.   read more

A new United Nations report criticizes the U.S., China, Russia, Japan, and European Union members for aggressive industrial fishing that threatens the food security of developing countries. Emerging nations are cautioned about “shady access agreements” that have allowed bigger countries to take advantage of their ocean resources.   read more

A Polish newspaper reported that traces of explosives were found in wreckage of the plane carrying President Lech Kaczynski and 95 others that crashed in 2010 in Russia. A public uproar condemned the Polish government, which had called the crash accidental. The newspaper issued a retraction, calling its report inconclusive.   read more

Secretive campaign donors—mainly corporations and rich people—favor Republican candidates over Democrats by a margin of about 4½ to one. Some 82% of the money, $164 million, has been spent attacking Democrats or supporting Republicans; $36 million has gone to opposing Republicans or helping Democrats.   read more

Antiabortionists seeking to grant embryos new legal status in order to challenge the legality of Roe v. Wade have lost their attempt to get the U.S. Supreme Court involved. The justices rejected without comment an appeal from abortion opponents in Oklahoma who proposed a constitutional amendment to grant the unborn “personhood.”   read more

In many states across the country, companies receive their employees’ personal income tax payments, either directly or indirectly, because of tax-break programs designed to encourage job creation or job retention. More than 2,700 companies in 16 states are collecting nearly $700 million each year in tax payments.   read more

While the East Coast was battered by Hurricane Sandy, Mitt Romney and Paul Ryan’s preference for privatizing FEMA became the focus of attention. The Romney/Ryan ticket seeks to dismantle FEMA, publicly demanding that the federal government only disburse disaster relief funding if Congress offset it with budget cuts elsewhere.   read more

Billions of dollars have been spent over decades to reduce harmful runoff into the Gulf of Mexico, where fish and other species die off each year. But the longstanding efforts have failed to slow down the problem. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency calls it the costliest and most damaging environmental problem facing the country.   read more

Chevron Corp. gave a $2.5 million contribution earlier this month to the conservative Congressional Leadership Fund, which is dedicated to electing Republicans to Congress. Chevron’s gift accounted for most of the $3.1 million raised by the Congressional Leadership Fund during the first half of the October.   read more

The American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) is suing the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) for violating the constitutional rights of Americans who try to use cameras near ports of entry. In different instances, CBP officers prevented two Americans from taking photos at border crossings, thus denying their free-speech rights.   read more

Mecca and Medina, the two holiest cities of Islam, have undergone dramatic modern developments at the expense of historical buildings and places, which has provoked anger at the Saudi royal family. In Medina, three of the world’s oldest mosques are slated for demolition so Saudi officials can expand the Masjid an-Nabawi mosque.   read more

State officials in Tennessee in July decided to close two detention centers housing minors in order to reduce the Department of Children’s Services’ budget. It has cost dearly in terms of violence.   read more

The United States is labeled as “An Iconic Brand in Decline” and is ranked eighth in the world based on the Country Brand Index (CBI) in a survey taken by FutureBrand.   read more

Citizens of Ohio are now enduring a record-breaking onslaught of presidential campaign commercials in what is being called an “advalanche.” Besides the parties themselves, seventeen different outside groups have funded the waves of commercials to influence the outcome of the race between President Barack Obama and Mitt Romney. All but three of these groups are pro-Romney or, more accurately, anti-Obama.   read more

Fracking so close to a nuclear power plant seems like a bad idea, especially in light of a report released in March by the Ohio Department of Natural Resources concluding that a rash of 12 earthquakes in the Youngstown, Ohio, area between March and December 2011 was likely due to nearby fracking operations. Shippingport is less than 45 miles away from Youngstown, with similar geology.   read more

At least four 2012 swing states–Pennsylvania, Virginia, Colorado, and Florida–rely at least partially on machines that produce no paper ballot and are thus even easier to hack. Those four states account for 71 electoral votes in the presidential race, more than one-quarter of the 270 needed for victory. In Pennsylvania, 80% of voters will use paperless systems to cast their ballots, and in Virginia almost 75%.   read more