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

Only nine states—Colorado, Virginia, Florida, Iowa, Ohio, Nevada, New Hampshire, Wisconsin and North Carolina—are considered competitive. This concentration of competitive states explains why 93% of the $746 million spent to date on TV ads (or $697 million) has gone into so few states. These hotly-contested states contain less than 25% of all American voters.   read more

Experts say the number of Protestants has declined because more Americans are not part of any religious movement or institution. One-fifth of respondents said they have no religious affiliation, and among people under 30, the rate is even higher: one third. For the first time in history, there are no Protestants on the U.S. Supreme Court and, also for the first time, neither of the members of the Republican presidential ticket is Protestant. Mitt Romney is Mormon and Paul Ryan Catholic.   read more

In small Brooks County in South Texas, the remains of 50 immigrants were found in 2011. This year the number has already reached 104. Most of the victims came from Central America. The main reasons for the increased death toll this year are thought to be extreme heat and drought conditions, as well more aggressive border enforcement that has forced human smugglers to venture into more hostile terrain.   read more

Of the $117 million spent by political action committees on advertisements concerning the presidential race since Labor Day, about 75% (or $80 million) have had anti-Obama messages. Overall, 90% of the ads have attacked either Obama or Romney, while less that 10% have had a positive message.   read more

Instead of obtaining statistics from the National Marine Fisheries Service, as current law allows, “the public might have to go through private fishing companies to access information about their fishing and its impact on the ecosystem,” according to OMB Watch. This change could create a conflict of interest, OMB Watch adds, because fishermen might be afraid to reveal details about their catches.   read more

The U.S. Supreme Court has put an end to lawsuits against telecommunications companies for helping the Bush administration spy on American phone calls and emails. Illegal surveillance by the Bush administration outraged civil libertarians who filed more than 30 lawsuits, which prompted Congress in 2008 to grant retroactive immunity to companies aiding the NSA.   read more

Wells Fargo should have to pay for lying about bad home loans, according to a federal prosecutor who has sued one of the nation’s largest banks. Manhattan U.S. Attorney Preet Bharara is going after Wells Fargo for concealing problems with more than 6,000 loans that it submitted to the Federal Housing Administration (FHA), which insures private lending. Calling the loans “seriously deficient,” Bharara said the government lost $190 million when the mortgages failed.   read more

Their lips may say “yes,” but their contributions say “no way.” While publicly supporting President Barack Obama’s healthcare reform plan, health insurance companies have given millions of dollars to Republicans dedicated to repealing it.   read more

Securities regulators are still trying to determine who was behind an immense burst of phony high-speed trading last week that accounted for 4% of all U.S. stock market activity. Officials say a mysterious algorithm was unleashed from the Nasdaq that placed orders in 25-millisecond bursts involving about 500 stocks. The computer program cancelled all of the orders, resulting in none of the trades going through.   read more

Billionaire developer David Siegel has made it clear to his employees who they should support for president, if they want to remain employed. Siegel, founder and CEO of Westgate Resorts, sent an email modeled on a chain letter to his 7,000 workers warning them that another four years of the Obama administration might destroy his company.   read more

The National Bank of Canada is taking advantage of a loophole in the law to threaten hundreds of state homeowners with foreclosure if they don’t pay off credit card debt the financial institution bought up in a secondary market. Credigy Receivables, a unit of the bank, buys judgment liens from California lawsuits over unsecured debt and then files foreclosure lawsuits using the liens. The bank is also active in other states.   read more

As far as the Archdiocese of Atlanta is concerned, an organization dedicated to helping women fight breast cancer is “evil” because, church officials claim, the group gives money to Planned Parenthood. But the local chapter of the group, the Susan G. Komen for the Cure, says the archdiocese is mistaken about the funding.   read more

The U.S. Supreme Court will decide whether it was constitutional for Louisiana to take five years to try an indigent man for murder because it lacked the funds to pay for a court-appointed attorney.   read more

It might seem like common sense, but researchers have validated the assumption that cracking down on deadbeat companies by the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) will result in more taxes being paid. In a paper published by Accounting Review, three academics concluded more IRS audits yields more government revenues.   read more

Small towns with small budgets in Alabama have become golden opportunities for companies offering to take over government services. But critics worry whether the price they pay to outsource traditional government services includes diminished civil rights and due process.   read more

A deadly outbreak of meningitis has been traced back to medicine produced by the New England Compounding Center in Framingham, Massachusetts, a specialty pharmacy that the federal government does not regulate. To date, eight people have died and 105 have become ill from a steroid used to treat back pain and joint disorders.   read more