Scientists have been more concerned about West Antarctica, where the ice has been melting faster in recent years, Rignot said. But the Denman Glacier is so big — at around 10 miles wide — that its […]
Thursday, March 26th, 2020
Stephan A. Schwartz, Editor - Schwartzreport
Stephan: [caption id="attachment_51245" align="alignleft" width="300"]
Credit: fivethirtyeight[/caption]
Yesterday I published a Gallup report on Trump's approval rating. A number of you wrote me offlist, or posted comments on one of the SR editions saying you didn't believe the Gallup survey, it couldn't possibly be true. Well, here is today's 2 p.m. fivethirtyeight meta-analysis (compendium analysis of a range of polls) and it shows the same thing as Gallup. Three days ago Trump had a 42.3% approval rating, which I thought inexplicable at that level. Today, according to fivethirtyeight he is up 2.3% to 44.6%.
You may find this hard to believe, I may find it hard to believe, but on the basis of well-conducted research, this is the reality. One of the biggest problems we face as a country today is that a large percentage of Americans, because of fear, racism, ignorance, or a desire for an authoritarian government, just aren't interested in democracy or societal wellbeing.
NOTE: There is no click through on Editor's Notes. Everything is in this one bloc. 3 Comments
Thursday, March 26th, 2020
Tim Miller, - The Bulwark
Stephan: Here is how and why we got into this Pandemic crisis. Very clearly, on the basis of hard data, the reason is the incompetence, basic nastiness, and grudges of Donald Trump.
Digital collage by Hannah Yoest / photos: GettyImages / Shutterstock
For ten weeks President Trump downplayed the threat of and ignored warnings about the potential severity of COVID-19 with a series of lies, exaggerations, and outright fabrications that have been well documented. And yet despite the video record of the president’s words, the White House is trying to establish an alternate reality where in which Trump was a competent, focused leader who saved American people from the coronavirus.
If only it were true.
On March 18 the Trump campaign put out a list of actions the U.S. government took to prepare for COVID-19. They meant this as exculpation; instead, it highlights just how asleep Trump was at the switch, despite warnings from experts within his own government and from former Trump administration officials pleading with him from the outside.
Most prominent among them were former Homeland Security advisor Tom Bossert, Commissioner of the Food and Drug Administration Scott Gottlieb, and Director for Medical and Biodefense Preparedness at the National Security Council Dr. Luciana Borio who beginning in early […]
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Thursday, March 26th, 2020
Jake Johnson, Staff Writer - Common Dreams
Stephan: Pay the peasants enough to actually help them? Not on my watch say Republican senators Lindsey Graham, Tim Scott, and Ben Sasse.
As I have said before I do not think it is possible to be a Republican and an ethical moral person. I say that not as a partisan statement but as an expression of compassion, and in support of wellbeing. I just do not see how these men take these positions and live with themselves. They do obviously, but it takes a very different worldview than anything to which I can relate.
Sen. Lindsey Graham (R-S.C.) speaks while flanked by Senators Tim Scott (R-S.C.) and Ben Sasse (R-Neb.) during a press conference at the US Capitol March 25, 2020 in Washington, D.C.
Credit: Alex Edelman/AFP/Getty
Republican Sens. Lindsey Graham, Tim Scott, and Ben Sasse on Wednesday threatened to delay the Senate’s multi-trillion-dollar coronavirus stimulus bill because they believe the legislation’s unemployment provisions are too generous.
In a joint statement, the GOP senators claimed there is “a massive drafting error in the current version of the coronavirus relief legislation could have devastating consequences: Unless this bill is fixed, there is a strong incentive for employees to be laid off instead of going to work.”
As Vox‘s Matt Yglesias noted on Twitter, “That’s not how layoffs work. You can quit your job, but then you’re not eligible for [unemployment insurance]. You can’t lay yourself off.”
The trio of Republicans went on to say that they “must sadly oppose the fast-tracking of this bill until this text is addressed, or the Department of Labor issues regulatory guidance that no American would earn […]
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On March 20, 2020, the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission (NRC) convened the first of a series of telephonic public meetings between the NRC staff and nuclear industry representatives to manage “regulatory issues” emerging out of the fast moving Novel Coronavirus (COVID19) pandemic. Central to those issues is the potential impact of widespread absenteeism from a highly contagious and debilitating virus on the industry’s highly specialized workforce and the challenges it presents to the reliability of the nuclear industry’s electricity production and the protection of the public safety from a nuclear accident.
