Trump announced that from now on the NFL will be known as the NTL: The National Trump League. The Super Bowl will be renamed the Trump Bowl, and professional players must be called Trumpball Players. Anyone, on any level, who refuses to comply with Trump’s orders will be arrested and charged with being a threat to national security.   read more

JPMorgan Chase recently notified customers who work in adult films that they must close all of their accounts with the bank by May 11. Chase gave no reason for the closures in the hundreds of letters they sent out. Banks have been able to take this stand since a 2012 warning by the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation that included adult entertainment on a list of businesses that might have a higher risk of consumer fraud.   read more

Gilbert’s nomination was approved by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee and it now awaits approval by the full Senate. A major campaign bundler, he raised $1.2 million for Obama’s various campaigns. Gilbert was on Obama’s team long before he was on Obama’s campaign and diplomatic teams. Gilbert played seven games in 1985 for the Chicago White Sox, whose most famous fan is the president.   read more

Nahón was named Argentina’s secretary of International Economic Relations in December 2011. She held that post until her posting in Washington. Nahón’s appointment was seen by many Argentinean observers as more evidence that the La Cámpora movement, which grew out of Perónist values and espouses policies of social justice and state intervention, is gaining ground, as some of the old guard are being pushed out in favor of younger La Cámpora members.   read more

“You have people who say, ‘Ewww, I am drinking someone else’s toilet water,’” said Teresa Rose. “But...everyone downstream is already drinking someone else’s toilet water.” The plan “is a bit grotesque,” said Pastor Bob McCartney. “Nobody is excited about taking a leak and seeing it come back at you in the shower,” agreed George Berre.“ Yet converting sewage into drinking water may indeed be the wave of the future.   read more

After years of intense opposition from industry, Vermont is about to become the first state in the nation to require labels on food containing genetically modified organisms. “Genetically engineered foods potentially pose risks to human health and the environment," said Vermont House speaker Shap Smith. "I am proud to be the first state in the nation to recognize that people deserve to know whether the food they consume is genetically modified or engineered.”   read more

The Pentagon informed the Egyptian military, which still controls the country, that 10 Apache helicopters will be heading its way. The decision to ship the Boeing-made hardware was made despite the admission of Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel that the U.S. is “unable to certify that Egypt is taking steps to support a democratic transition.” Secretary of State John Kerry also said that he could not offer any evidence that Egypt was heading back towards democracy.   read more

Characterized as the most important changes for coal miner safety in 45 years, the regulations require companies to provide workers with new technology that warns when the coal dust around them reaches harmful levels. The rules also call for reducing the amount of disease-causing dust in mines. “This is a historical day for coal miners in this country,” said Joe Main. “We’re issuing a new rule that’s going to change your lives.”   read more

The U.S. Senate still requires disclosure of campaign contributions on paper that later get digitized. The system is so out of date that if senators or candidates e-file their campaign finance reports, they get into trouble. The problem resides in the Senate’s “byzantine” filing requirements. Paper copies of reports must be sent to the Senate secretary, who sends them to the FEC, which gives them to a contractor to digitize. The data is then posted weeks past the filing deadline.   read more

College students with private loans whose co-signer, often a parent or grandparent, dies or declares bankruptcy are often being forced to repay the entire remaining balance immediately. Individuals caught in this situation include those in good standing who have kept up on their loan repayments, leaving federal regulators puzzled about why lenders are putting these people at risk of defaulting.   read more

Nashiri was held at several secret CIA prisons before being shipped to Guantánamo Bay, where he has been detained since 2006. His lawyers contend that he was tortured at the clandestine facilities, including being subjected to waterboarding and threats involving a gun and a power drill while CIA officials sought information from him about future terrorist plots. This information, if turned over to the military court, would not be released to the public, according to Pohl’s order.   read more

A total of 2,800 employees who were disciplined for all types of misconduct collectively received $2.8 million in bonuses, extra paid time off or raises between October 2010 and December 2012, the inspector general found. The IRS doesn’t take into account if a worker has paid his or her taxes, or whether they have gotten into trouble, when administering bonuses and other awards.   read more

Recidivism among prisoners is still quite common in the United States, with 67.8% winding up back behind bars within three years of being released. A new study from the U.S. Department of Justice (DOJ), the first such federal survey in nearly 20 years, revealed an even higher recidivism rate within five years of inmates being let out: 76.9%.   read more

Thomas Cushman, a sociology professor at Wellesley College, told Reuters he was concerned that the financial advantages of having Chinese students at a U.S. university could lead to pulling of punches and self-censorship when it comes to discussing topics deemed sensitive to China.   read more

The Obama administration has been ordered by a panel of federal judges to release its legal justification for assassinating Americans suspected of terrorist ties. ACLU lawyer Jameel Jaffer called the decision “a resounding rejection of the government’s effort to use secrecy, and selective disclosure, as a means of manipulating public opinion about the targeted killing program.”   read more

Utility companies fear the growth of mom-and-pop solar operations will eventually eat into their profits. So lawmakers in Oklahoma have decided to help utility companies charge higher rates to those who generate electricity through wind and solar power. Legislation—which passed in spite of opposition from solar advocates and environmental groups—represents a reversal in state law that’s been on the books since 1977, when legislators prohibited utilities from charging extra to solar users.   read more

Only two nations in the world use dolphins for military purposes—the U.S. and Russia—and this summer the two sides may wind up nose. Twenty U.S. dolphins will spend up to two weeks participating in NATO military exercises scheduled for the Black Sea. They will reportedly be testing a new anti-radar system designed to disrupt enemy sonar, and may even try out a new kind of armor. But they may also encounter Russia’s new military dolphins, recently acquired during its annexation of Ukraine.   read more