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 researchers found the age of the animal does matter. Not only did participants who looked at pictures of cute baby animals outperform those who didn’t, they also outperformed people who looked at pictures of adult animals. Viewing pictures of pleasant-looking foods did not improve performance.   read more

Americans aren’t as interested, as some politicians would like to believe, in downsizing the federal government across the board. When asked in 2011 about whether they would increase, decrease, or maintain spending levels, respondents strongly favored upping the budgets for education and veterans, and, to a lesser extent, for social security, Medicare, health care and combating crime. Where Americans most want to cut funding is foreign aid.   read more

The web sites of government agencies—those with URLs ending in “.gov”—had the highest level of accuracy, 80.9%. National organization—with URLs ending in “.org”—also did well, at 72.5%. The most inaccurate websites belonged to retail businesses, with an accuracy rate of only 8.5%. Blogs also did poorly at 25.7%.   read more

The biggest settlements were: • GlaxoSmithKline (GSK) paying $3 billion to resolve criminal charges for promoting its best-selling antidepressants for unapproved uses and failing to report safety data about Avandia, a much-prescribed diabetes drug, and other products. • Johnson & Johnson paying a $2 billion fine for off-label promotion of the antipsychotic drug, Risperdal. • Abbott Laboratories paying $1.6 billion for its illegal marketing of the antipsychotic drug Depakote.   read more

The hospitals get away with what they are doing because it is mostly legal and because the Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services, the federal body responsible for administering Medicare and Medicaid, actually provides little oversight of billing practices. If the winners in this scheme are the hospitals, the losers are taxpayers, who foot the bill, as well as patients, who see their co-payments increased.   read more

Using measurements of risk factors and psychological makeups, social scientists and criminologists have developed tools for assessing the extent to which an inmate exhibits high-risk “criminal thinking,” and they have determined that these felons with substance abuse problems don’t pose any greater threat to the public than non-three-strike prisoners.   read more

In July 2009, just a few months before the surge, insurgent attacks totaled about 2,000, while in July 2012 they attacked about 3,000 times, an increase of about 33%. (Because the precise number of attacks remains classified, precise statistical analysis is impossible.) The same is true for every month in 2009 compared to every month in 2012 for which data exists: The insurgency launched more attacks in 2012 than it did in 2009.   read more

According to an unprecedented legal theory apparently adopted by the Obama administration, persons and entities who leak or publish classified information are “enemies” of the United States punishable by death or life imprisonment. If this theory had been applied to recent leaks, it would have meant death or life in prison for Lewis “Scooter” Libby, who leaked a CIA agent’s identity, and Post columnist Robert Novak, who published the operative’s name.   read more

The most recent case is that of Damon Thibodeaux of Louisiana. In 1996, the then 22-year-old was sentenced to death for the killing of his 14-year-old step-cousin, Crystal Champagne. After 15 years at the notorious Angola prison farm for the crime, Thibodeaux was officially cleared via DNA testing and released on September 28, 2012. The case illustrates the problems of inaccurate eyewitness testimony, police overreaching and false confessions that so commonly lead to wrongful convictions.   read more

Among states where fracking is widespread, Utah, which does not require disclosures at all, had the highest rate of companies withholding at least one ingredient (94%). Second was New Mexico, which does have some mandates on publishing fracking chemicals, at 84%, followed by California at 80%. Companies with the highest tendency to kept chemical details secret were BP America Production Co. and Howell Oil & Gas of Texas.   read more

Although the debate over marriage equality seems at times to center on the social and emotional costs inflicted on gay couples by the denial of legal recognition of their relationships, 83-year-old widow Edith Windsor can place a precise dollar amount on its cost to her: $363,053. That’s the amount in federal estate tax she had to pay when Thea Spyer, her wife and partner of nearly 50 years, passed away in 2009. Had they been a heterosexual couple, Windsor would have paid nothing.   read more

President Obama last week ordered a Chinese company to sell its interest in four wind energy projects located within the airspace of the Naval Weapons Systems Training Facility in Boardman, Oregon, where the military conducts training missions for unmanned drone aircraft. The Chinese were also ordered to remove all structures and other assets stored at the site.   read more

According to the report, “More than 90 percent of the delinquent taxes owed are employment taxes, which include monies withheld from employees’ wages that are required to be remitted to the IRS on the employees’ behalf. These taxes are necessary to support Federal programs like Social Security and Medicare.”   read more

A group of doctors, researchers and cancer patients filed a petition with the Supreme Court asking it to review the case of Myriad Genetics, which owns two patents associated with hereditary breast and ovarian cancer. The company has used the patents to perform genetic tests and tell patients whether they are at risk of contracting the diseases. The plaintiffs claim the patents “exclude the rest of the scientific community” from utilizing the genes for testing and research.   read more

During a thunderstorm, their 8-year-old Labrador mix, Avery, escaped from the couple’s backyard and was picked up by animal control. Jeremy went to the Fort Worth Animal Care and Control shelter to pick up Avery, but did not have enough cash on hand to pay the fee. He was told that a “hold for owner” tag would be put on Avery and he could pick up the dog a few days later. But when the Medlens returned, the shelter had already killed Avery.   read more

The Central Asian nation of Tajikistan, a one-party state dominated by President Emomali Rahmon, has sent a new diplomat to the U.S. who has significant experience defending his country’s human rights record in global forums. On May 26, 2007, Shamsov was promoted to ambassador to Austria, a post he held until his July 2012 appointment as ambassador to the United States.   read more