Bipolar disorder, which used to be called manic depressive illness or manic depression, is a mental disorder characterized by wide mood swings from high (manic) to low (depressed). Periods of high or irritable mood are called manic episodes.
James Byrd, Jr. was not engaged in a federally-protected activity when he was lynched and killed. The Matthew Shepard Act expanded the 1969 Federal Hate Crime Law to cover these and other types of brutal murders.
In the United States, several states have had laws against blasphemy even though such laws violate the U.S. Constitution. Pennsylvania enacted a blasphemy law in 1977, which was struck down by the U.S. District Court in 2007. The last conviction for blasphemy in the U.S. took place in Arkansas in 1928.