Mallory Pickett, - The Guardian (U.K.)
Stephan: Donald neither respects nor understands science. Why is unclear; I don't know whether it is willful ignorance, or he simply lacks the IQ to process science data. Either way, we have gone from being a world leader in science to a nation that deliberately debases and sabotages science.
Work by one Landscape Conservation Cooperative helped the i’iwi, an endemic Hawaiian honeycreeper, listed as ‘threatened’ under the federal Endangered Species Act. Credit: Jack Jeffrey/AP
Scientists and officials around the US have told the Guardian that the Trump administration has withdrawn funding for a large, successful conservation program – in direct contradiction of instructions from Congress.
Unique in scale and ambition, the program comprises 22 research centers that tackle big-picture issues affecting huge swaths of the US, such as climate change, flooding and species extinction. They are known as Landscape Conservation Cooperatives – or were, because 16 of them are now on indefinite hiatus or have dissolved.
“I just haven’t seen anything like this in my almost 30 years of working with the federal government,” said a scientist at the Fish and Wildlife Service who worked for one of the LCCs and wished to remain anonymous, because federal employees were instructed not to speak with the Guardian for this story. “There is this lack of accountability.”
“Congress approved $12.5m for the existing 22 landscape […]
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Stephan: One hears a lot about how many jobs were created each month. What one doesn't hear is how many layoffs occurred. Without knowing that one cannot know the real situation. Here is the data you rarely hear about.
The U.S. saw its highest level of layoffs in a first quarter since 2009, data from staffing firm Challenger, Gray & Christmas released Thursday showed.
By the numbers: Employers cut 190,410 jobs in the first 3 months of the year — 10.3% higher than the number of layoffs announced in the fourth quarter of 2018 and 35.6% higher than job cuts announced in the same quarter of 2018.
The impact: It’s the highest number of job cuts in a quarter since 2015.
Details: The financial industry saw the third highest number of layoffs and the year-to-date total was 239% higher than it was in 2018.
- Retailers continue to lead all sectors in job cuts this year with 46,061 in Q1. However, that number is 18.5% lower than retail cuts announced in Q1 2018.
- Retailers have announced plans to close 4,048 stores so far this year.
The bottom line: The report said worry about an economic slowdown was the main driver of companies’ layoff intentions.
Go deeper … “Job market is weakening”: Private payroll job growth hits 18-month […]
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DAVID BADASH, - Raw Story
Stephan: This is the kind of judiciary Trump supports. I don't see how anyone could dispute the fact that Trump is a White supremacist homophobe. He says it explicitly.
As for the judge, in my view, he should be removed from the bench.
Judge Brian Hagedorn
President Donald Trump on Friday took to Twitter to praise Wisconsin Judge Brian Hagedorn for his “surprise win” in Tuesday’s State Supreme Court election. The President might be surprised to learn the race is still too close to call, with about 6000 votes separating the two candidates in what the technically is a non-partisan race. It’s more than likely headed to a recount – even though Hagedorn immediately declared victory.
But Trump’s tweet is also a signal to his base that he remains a virulently anti-gay white supremacist, given Hagedorn’s far right wing conservative Christian beliefs and ties to a powerful anti-gay hate group.
“Congratulations to Brian Hagedorn on his big surprise win over a well funded Liberal Democrat in the Great State of Wisconsin for a very important Supreme Court seat. Republicans are producing big for Wisconsin!” Trump claimed, ignoring that Democrat Tony Evers defeated incumbent Republican Governor Scott Walker in the November election.
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Jake Johnson, Staff Writer - truthout
Stephan: Republicans do not like the form and rules of government the Founders created. I think it cannot be disputed.
From left, Sen. Joni Ernst, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell and Sen. Roy Blunt conclude a news conference after a Senate policy luncheon st the Capitol on April 2, 2019, in Washington, D.C.
Credit: Tom Williams/CQ Roll Call
With Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell expected as early as Wednesday to use the so-called “nuclear option” to speed up the confirmation process for President Donald Trump’s right wing judicial nominees, progressives raised alarm and urged Americans to pressure their senators to stop the “reckless court packing” by the Republican Party.
“McConnell has signaled he is ready to use the so-called ‘nuclear option’ to further pack the courts with Trump’s lifetime judicial appointments,”tweeted the progressive advocacy group 5 Calls. “Tell the Senate to block McConnell and stop further erosion of our democratic norms!”
On Tuesday, Republicans failed to reach the 60 votes necessary to advance S. Res 50, which would change Senate rules to cut debate time on district court nominees and other lower-level judges from 30 hours to just two hours.
The vote, which was […]
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Jared Holt, - Right Wing Watch
Stephan: Here in as clear a statement as I have ever read is the world view of Donald Trump and the White nationalists who support him. When you get to the lick log this is what it is all about.
Stefan Molyneux
Stefan Molyneux, a self-described philosopher who reaches hundreds of thousands of people on YouTube, told his audience yesterday that white people are demonized in society because other racial groups “feel that they cannot match” white people’s achievements.
Molyneux is at this point a well-documented white nationalist and a rampant plagiarist who interprets nearly every major news and cultural item as a warning about the supposed decline of white people. Despite this, high profile figures in right-wing media continue to affiliate themselves with Molyneux, including Mike Cernovich and Diana West.
In a video uploaded to his channel yesterday, Molyneux argued that white people have become a global scapegoat for whatever problems people in a society are facing.
“Every culture, every ethnicity, every country has that choice: they can look at some of the white achievements and say, ‘Wow. That’s good but we can do better.’ Fantastic. Wouldn’t that be wonderful to have this leap-frogging forward into freedom and liberty and beauty of free speech and property rights and more markets and more charity, more beautiful art? […]
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