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 IARAA would fundamentally change the way independent regulatory agencies operate in two crucial ways by (1) giving the president the power to force independent agencies to submit proposed and final rules to the Office of Information and Regulatory Affairs (OIRA) for approval and (2) requiring agencies to conduct a so-called “cost-benefit analysis” of such rules.   read more

World Trade Center Properties sought an additional $8.4 billion in damages, which included the estimated cost of replacing the two towers that were destroyed, but Hellenstein capped their potential gain at $2.8 billion, the value of its lease of the property from the Port Authority of New York and New Jersey.   read more

Since the storm passed and the waters receded, tar balls, tar mats and oil have been found on the beaches of Alabama, Louisiana and Mississippi, mostly in places where heavy oil deposits occurred during the spill. The oil forced officials to close a 13-mile stretch of Fourchon beach in Louisiana Tuesday, where a dead whale washed up and officials have banned commercial fishing within one mile of shore. Isaac made landfall near Fourchon August 28 as a Category 1 storm.   read more

Apparently BSEE has chosen to rely on Shell to regulate itself. Steiner added in a prepared statement for PEER: “A simple emissions test report for my car is far more rigorous than what BSEE has produced for Shell's Arctic capping stack. From this, we still don’t know that this critical piece of equipment will work if needed.”   read more

The deadlines are part of the Food Safety and Modernization Act (FSMA), which President Barack Obama signed into law in January 2011. FSMA includes a wide range of guidelines, including a foreign supplier verification program, increased inspection of records and improved certification of laboratories tasked with inspecting food products. According to the plaintiffs, FDA officials submitted the new regulations to OMB, where they have sat awaiting action.   read more

Without citing any security-related need or problems, the state of Alabama has decided to require visitors at prisons to undergo fingerprinting. Under the prior system, guards had only visitors’ photo ID cards to rely on for verifying someone’s identity. That meant taking more time to stop and review each driver’s license before allowing visitors into a correctional facility.   read more

One of the towns whose residents fired the first shots in the American Revolution has now become the first to shoot down single-serve plastic water bottles as a menace to the environment. Concord, Massachusetts, which is governed by its Town Meeting, voted 403-364 in April to pass a bylaw banning the sale of the bottles, which is set to go into effect January 1, 2013. It was given a final seal of legality by state Attorney General Martha Coakley last week.   read more

The Pentagon does not lack for security policies, according to the agency’s inspector general. The trouble lies with the number of such policies—43 in fact—and the lack of coordination among them. “DoD security policy is fragmented, redundant, and inconsistent,” wrote the IG in a new report. “The sheer volume of security policies that are not coordinated or integrated makes it difficult for those at the field level to ensure consistent and comprehensive policy implementation.”   read more

The case was expected to produce a sensational trial, originally scheduled to begin next month. But prosecutors decided to skip a jury trial and have Judge John Torrence decide the case in a brief court hearing that lasted little more than an hour. Finn’s conviction stemmed from the case of Reverend Shawn Ratigan, who got into trouble in 2010 after it was discovered he had photographs of young girls’ genitalia on his computer.   read more

Off the coast of Reedsport, the first commercial wave-energy device is scheduled for launch. The hope is that the cannon-shaped device will generate enough energy to light 1,000 homes while floating in the ocean. Ocean Power Technologies, the New Jersey company that built it, is also hoping the 260-ton invention will withstand winter storms and not sink. Wave-energy technology is so new that there is no set design yet for this untested renewable energy.   read more

A prostitute sentenced to a state correctional facility is costing taxpayers $18,538 a year, and those sent to lower-security state jail are costing $15,500 annually. Criminal justice reformers argue that convicted sex workers belong in community-based programs that cost considerably less, about $4,300 a year.   read more

The company in response says the tactic was done merely to save time while serving customers. It also claims bills were adjusted both up and down, resulting in the company not making a profit off the practice. However, it has offered to now only round down.   read more

The court document blasts BP’s leadership in no uncertain terms. Referring to “A Culture of Corporate Recklessness,” it states that “The behaviour, words and actions of these BP executives would not have been tolerated in a middling size company manufacturing dry goods for sale in a suburban mall.”   read more

Jones assigned himself the case on July 3 and then ruled orally on August 22 that the “none of these candidates” choice was unconstitutional and must be removed. However he never issued a written decision. Jones was accused of dragging his feet to prevent any appeal from putting the option back on ballots, which election officials must start printing by September 7. A three-judge panel of the Ninth Circuit acted quickly, voting unanimously on September 4 to stay Jones’ ruling.   read more

The United States has ramped up its drone war campaign in Yemen, where 10 civilians, including a 10-year-old girl and her mother, were killed last weekend. The attack provoked outrage among Yemenis, while the American media, which rarely pays attention to the war in Yemen anyway, was largely distracted by the Democratic Party’s national convention. The 10 killed were among 29 who died in Yemen within a week, as the result of multiple drone attacks.   read more

However, it is unclear if the same rules apply to House committee Facebook pages. In the case of the House Financial Services Committee, its Facebook page includes a photograph of President Barack Obama, the title “BETTER OFF?” and the tag “#WECAN DO BETTER.”   read more