Stephan: The Republican Party of North Carolina would be outrageous in a novel, uninterested in democracy, utterly corrupt, disdainful of the law, and incredibly racist. And proud of it.
Republican Lt. Governor Dan Forest Credit: Forest Official/ Flickr
Republican North Carolina Lt. Gov. Dan Forest, who is currently exploring a bid for governor in 2020, delivered a sermon on Sunday denouncing America’s diversity and multiculturalism and calling for Christian assimilation.
Delivered as part of the Salisbury-based Cornerstone Church’s “Celebrate America Service,” Forest issued a stern warning that diversity was destroying America.
The comments were first noticed by American Bridge, a progressive research organization.
“[N]o other nation, my friends, has ever survived the diversity and multiculturalism that America faces today, because of a lack of assimilation, because of this division, and because of this identity politics,” Forest claimed.
Anti-multiculturalism rhetoric is popular among the growing white nationalist wing of the Republican Party. Rep. Steve King (R-IA) has made similar comments in the past, and the Southern Poverty Law Center has attributed the rhetoric to white nationalist hate groups.
Forest’s fact are also simply wrong. America’s founders enshrined in the Constitution a clear separation of church and state in the First Amendment, stating that “Congress […]
Stephan: Americans have an hysterical fear of socialism, not realizing that the United States is a totally socialist economy; it's just that the socialism is entirely for the rich. When you have socialism -- read social policies designed to foster wellbeing -- for the middle class and poor, what you get is a happy productive healthy society. Facts are facts.
Norwegians in Norway Credit: Disney
Go to your happy place. Go on, close your eyes and picture it. Take a deep breath and hold it in your mind’s eye for a long, joyful moment.
Already, you feel more relaxed, less stressed, happier. And you aren’t even physically there.
My happy place looks and feels a lot like the common motifs many share: It’s both in nature and insulated from it, like a cabin in the woods. I’m sitting by the golden light of a fireplace in a stuffed chair, under a blanket, with a warm beverage and engrossing book in hand. Music is playing, but it’s slow and quiet. Family and friends are there, too. We’ll play an unhurried card or board game and share funny stories. We’ll eat a delicious meal together. It’s snowing or raining, and we watch the weather unfold, go out in it and then enjoy coming back inside again. I don’t need any other distractions in my happy place. I […]
Stephan: The Trump administration doesn't like science, because science tells people Trump and his minions are corrupt liars. So what to do? Here is their solution. The result is going to be the crippling of American agricultural science, higher food prices, lack of preparation for climate change, bankrupt farm families, and that's just for starters.
In 2020, I expect those farm families to vote Republican, then whimper and whine about what is happening to them.
Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue and President Trump speak during a signing ceremony for a farm bill. Credit: Jabin Botsford/The Washington Post
The Agriculture Department is offering employees a rare choice: accept a forced transfer to a post 1,000 miles away or be fired.
The Trump administration’s plan to move two agencies from the District to the Kansas City area includes a document with two blank boxes on it, sent to employees on June 13. Check one, it instructs: Accept the transfer by July 15 or “be separated by adverse action procedures.”
That means getting fired, with an opportunity to appeal the dismissal through what could be an expensive process. Getting fired could also make it more difficult to find another federal job in an area where the government dominates.
Although a limited number of buyouts and early retirement opportunities will be available for what union officials expect to be fewer than 15 percent of those affected, and while some USDA employees might find work in government positions elsewhere […]
Stephan: It took decades to build the scientific infrastructure that made America a world leader in agriculture research. Now, because Trump and his corporate cronies, don't like what science is saying about climate change, this entire matrix of science is being disassembled. It will leave the United States grossly unprepared in hundreds of way to have the scientific expertise to deal with the consequences of the change in climate.
Consider just this from the report that follows. "The studies range from a groundbreaking discovery that rice loses vitamins in a carbon-rich environment — a potentially serious health concern for the 600 million people world-wide whose diet consists mostly of rice."
Rice loses its nutritional value when atmospheric CO2 goes up.
The Trump administration has refused to publicize dozens of government-funded studies that carry warnings about the effects of climate change, defying a longstanding practice of touting such findings by the Agriculture Department’s acclaimed in-house scientists.
The studies range from a groundbreaking discovery that rice loses vitamins in a carbon-rich environment — a potentially serious health concern for the 600 million people world-wide whose diet consists mostly of rice (emphasis added) — to a finding that climate change could exacerbate allergy seasons to a warning to farmers about the reduction in quality of grasses important for raising cattle.
All of these studies were peer-reviewed by scientists and cleared through the non-partisan Agricultural Research Service, one of the world’s leading sources of scientific information for farmers and consumers.
None of the studies were focused on the causes of global warming – an often politically charged issue. Rather, the research examined the wide-ranging effects of rising carbon dioxide, increasing temperatures and volatile weather.
Stephan: Expect food prices to start going up significantly. I suggest you start looking around for a farmers' market, or a CSA. Food, like water is going to become an increasingly stresssful issue for average Americans.
A flooded cornfield. Credit: Succesful Farming
DES MOINES, Iowa — While all of the corn crop is still not planted, the first U.S. soybean crop condition rating of the year is sharply below a year ago’s rating.
Today’s grading of the soybean crop’s condition is the lowest initial rating of the year since 1992, when it hit 52%.
CORN
In its Crop Progress Report Monday, the USDA pegged U.S. corn planting at 96% complete, behind the 100% five-year average.
The planting rate is below what the trade had expected.
In its report, the USDA pegged the corn crop as in 56% good/excellent condition, below last week’s 59% rating.
As of Sunday, Ohio’s corn crop was rated 39% good, excellent; Indiana 43%, Illinois 47%, Iowa 62%, and Nebraska 77%.
Also, 89% of the U.S. corn has emerged vs. a 99% five-year average.
SOYBEANS
In its report, the USDA pegged the U.S. soybean planting completion rate at 85% vs. a 97% five-year average.
