Sunday, March 9, 2025
CDC posts 'conflicts of interest' database on vaccine advisory group
"Many people have conflicts. You'll find huge numbers of them in the Trump administration," Caplan said. "The way you deal with them is not just to say, 'No one can have them.' You have to manage them."…
House Republicans unveil spending bill boosting defense and trimming all else | House of Representatives | The Guardian
The 99-page bill would provide a slight boost to defense programs while trimming non-defense programs below 2024 budget year levels. That approach is likely to be a non-starter for most Democrats who have long insisted that defense and non-defense spending move in the same direction...
The November election that still hasn’t been certified - The Atlantic
"The problem is not that no one knows who won. Justice Allison Riggs, an incumbent Democrat, won by a tiny margin—just 734 votes out of 5,723,987. That tally has been confirmed by two recounts. But certification is paused while Republican challenger Jefferson Griffin, a judge on the state court of appeals, asks courts to throw out roughly 60,000 votes and put him on the state's highest court.
The votes that Griffin has challenged fall into three groups. Most are from North Carolina residents whose voter registrations don't include driver's license or Social Security numbers. Although this is now required by law, these voters registered using old forms that did not require either; the state never asked these voters to reregister. The second set belongs to overseas residents who have never lived in the state, such as the adult children of North Carolinians who live abroad; state law entitles them to vote in-state. A third consists of overseas voters, including some members of the military, who didn't submit photo identification with their ballot, again because it was not required."…
A Call to Arms for Europe - The Atlantic
"Europe is at a crucial juncture of its history. The American shield is slipping away, Ukraine risks being abandoned, and Russia is being strengthened. Washington has become the court of Nero: an incendiary emperor, submissive courtiers, and a buffoon on ketamine tasked with purging the civil service.
This is a tragedy for the free world, but it's first and foremost a tragedy for the United States. [President Donald] Trump's message is that being his ally serves no purpose, because he will not defend you, he will impose more tariffs on you than on his enemies, and he will threaten to seize your territories, while supporting the dictators who invade you..."
‘She is evil’: Amy Coney Barrett under attack by right wing after USAid ruling | US supreme court | The Guardian
"She is evil, chosen solely because she checked identity politics boxes. Another DEI hire. It always ends badly," Mike Cernovich, a prominent rightwing influencer and conspiracy theorist, wrote on X, referencing diversity, equity and inclusion policies which Republicans have demonized.
Fox News host Mark Levin claimed in an online post that Barrett had "deceived people into thinking she was a reliable constitutionalist". He added: "The power has gone to her head. It happens with frightening regularity the last half century."…
Russia Is Losing the War of Attrition - The Atlantic
"Ukraine is not on the verge of collapse, and it is Russia, not Ukraine, that is losing the attritional war, which makes the Trump administration's decisions particularly shortsighted and tragic. Ukraine has plenty of cards, even if Trump and Vance cannot see them. If America's leaders could only bring themselves to put pressure on Russia comparable to what they put on Ukraine, they could help Ukraine achieve something much more like a win."…
Trump threatens new tariffs on Canada, including 250% tax on dairy | CNN Business
A day after offering Canada a one-month reprieve on punishing, virtually across-the-board 25% tariffs, President Donald Trump has threatened new tariffs as soon as Friday on Canadian lumber and dairy products. It's yet another twist in a serpentine trade policy that seems to shift on an hourly basis...
Funding bill skips measure to avert physician pay cuts, a blow to GOP Doctors Caucus - POLITICO
A key Republican said inclusion of the language would be a "line in the sand" necessary for his support...
Poland plans military training for every adult male amid growing European security fears
PM Donald Tusk says country needs army of 500,000 and backs withdrawal from treaty banning landmines…
The Scary Truth About the Trump-Zelensky Press Conference (Bradley Onishi and Daniel Miller; Straight White American Jesus podcast)
In this bonus episode of ‘Straight White American Jesus,’ hosts Brad Onishi and his cohost delve into a critical analysis of a tumultuous press conference between President Trump and Ukrainian President Zelensky.
They explore how the event sheds light on Trump’s worldview and his approach to foreign policy, characterized by dominance and transactional relationships, a stark departure from traditional American exceptionalism.
They discuss the implications of Trump’s tactics, contrasting his approach with historical U.S. policy and the symbolic significance of Zelensky’s stance.
The episode also features listener questions and a humorous story from Dan.
Interview:
The Atheists Ignoring the Real ”War on Science” (Hemant Mehta and Jessica Bluemke, The Friendly Atheist podast #573)
— Prominent atheists are weaponizing the “War on Science” to push right-wing grievances. (4:07)
— Rep. Mark Alford tells fired KC federal workers “God has a plan” at hostile town hall. (26:00)
— Former Secular Coalition for America leader wins special election for Maine legislature. (31:15)
— Survey: Christianity’s decline has slowed down… for now. (34:57)
— WV Republicans want their Constitution to say the Bible is a “foundational text.” (42:16)
— Christian lawmaker still wants teachers to be able to hit students with disabilities. (45:19)
— Iowa lawmaker rages against colleagues for passing anti-trans bill: “Shame on you, Christians!” (1:01:53)
Interview:
— Rep. Mark Alford tells fired KC federal workers “God has a plan” at hostile town hall. (26:00)
— Former Secular Coalition for America leader wins special election for Maine legislature. (31:15)
— Survey: Christianity’s decline has slowed down… for now. (34:57)
— WV Republicans want their Constitution to say the Bible is a “foundational text.” (42:16)
— Christian lawmaker still wants teachers to be able to hit students with disabilities. (45:19)
— Iowa lawmaker rages against colleagues for passing anti-trans bill: “Shame on you, Christians!” (1:01:53)
Interview:
Final Exit (Dan Barker and Annie Laurie Gaylor, Freethought Radio podcast)
This week, we track a tsunami of (mostly bad) bills in Wisconsin, Oklahoma, Texas, Iowa, West Virginia and North Dakota.
After hearing sneak previews of some of FFRF’s other shows — “Ask an Atheist,” “Freethought Matters” and “We Dissent” — we talk with Brian Ruder, president of the board of the Final Exit Network, which offers people who are unbearably suffering an intractable medical condition the option to die legally and peacefully.
Interview:
Prosperity Gospel, Prosperity President (Bradley Onishi and Daniel Miller; Straight White American Jesus podcast)(Spirit and Power S2: E1)
In this episode of Spirit & Power, Dr. Leah Payne speaks with Dr. Gabriel Raeburn – Senior Research Fellow, Harvard Slavery Remembrance Program, Harvard and the Legacy of Slavery Initiative – about the health and wealth preachers who love Donald J. Trump, and their affinities with tech billionaires like Elon Musk & Peter Thiel.
Fully embracing the glitz and glam of Trump’s 21st Century second term, prosperity preachers are setting their own political agendas and living the high life with their favorite president, a long way from their impoverished, Depression-Era roots.
Interview:
Give Me Your Slave! (Dan McClellan and Dan Beecher; Data Over Dogma podcast, Episode #100)
First, we're covering a very interesting letter Paul sent to his buddy Philemon. Aside from revealing (rather casually, really) that he was in prison when he wrote it, Paul seems to speak out for his new helper, runaway enslaved person Onesimus. What does this letter reveal about Paul's view of slavery? What is Paul asking of Philemon? Why is everybody in prison all the time?
Next we cover a topic that you hear about on this show a lot, but may not know much about it. What is the Septuagint? Why is it called that? Where did it come from? And why are we using a Greek text as an early witness to Hebrew scripture?
Interview:
Next we cover a topic that you hear about on this show a lot, but may not know much about it. What is the Septuagint? Why is it called that? Where did it come from? And why are we using a Greek text as an early witness to Hebrew scripture?
Interview:
FFRF turns violations into success stories (Freethought Today, March 2025)
The Freedom From Religion Foundation’s legal team gets thousands of requests every year to look into potential state/church violations in schools and other government agencies. FFRF takes this role seriously . . . and it shows! After FFRF determines if there is a constitutional infraction, it initially sends out a letter to the organization, asking for the problem to be rectified. Often times, this is enough to get the offending group to end the violation or alter their actions going forward.
The following write-ups are from 30 recent successful outcomes (victories!) of FFRF’s initial letter contacts, organized by state and listed alphabetically.
The following write-ups are from 30 recent successful outcomes (victories!) of FFRF’s initial letter contacts, organized by state and listed alphabetically.
https://www.freethoughttoday.com/sections/100-front-page/ffrf-turns-violations-into-success-stories/
Saturday, March 8, 2025
The News Roundup – Domestic and International (The 1A) 2025-03-07
Domestic
As Donald Trump’s trade war against our closest neighbors and global competitors heats up, the stock market is going down. The S&P 500 has now lost all the gains it had made since Election Day.The president’s address to the joint session of Congress this week was certainly one for the history books. It was the longest speech of its kind in the history of the presidency.
DOGE continues to claim that its saved the American taxpayer tens of billions of dollars as it roots out wasteful spending in the federal government. However, watchdogs and analysts continue to find errors in posted receipts.
Interview:
International
Following a turbulent meeting in the Oval Office, President Donald Trump says that Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy is ready to make a deal.While the U.S. is moving away from Europe’s eastern borders, European leaders are moving towards it. French President Emmanuel Macron and U.K. Prime Minister Keir Starmer are taking lead on forging new links with Ukraine.
At a summit in Cairo, Arab leaders endorsed Egypt’s plan to rebuild Gaza, allowing over 2 million Palestinians to return to the Strip.
Interview:
Federal prosecutors who worked on the Eric Adams case escorted out of workplace
Two federal prosecutors in the Southern District of New York who worked on the case against New York City Mayor Eric Adams were placed on leave Friday and escorted out of the building by federal law enforcement officials, multiple current and former law enforcement sources told NBC News…
Donald Trump is turning America into a mafia state | Jonathan Freedland | The Guardian
" The pattern is inescapable – with just one caveat: organised crime bosses occasionally display more honour…"
U.S. citizen detained by ICE questions vote for Trump: 'Just following Hispanic people'
"They didn't ask me for any ID," Machado said. "I was telling the officer if I can give him ID, but he said just keep my hands up, not moving. After that, he told me to get out of the car and put the handcuffs on me."…
Trump administration declares TSA screener union contract void - POLITICO
"They gave as a justification a completely fabricated claim about union officials — making clear this action has nothing to do with efficiency, safety, or homeland security," AFGE National President Everett Kelley said in a statement. "This is merely a pretext for attacking the rights of regular working Americans across the country because they happen to belong to a union."
Donald Trump's pause on Ukraine aid prompts GOP concerns
Republican lawmakers are starting to urge President Trump to reverse his decisions to pause U.S. military and intelligence assistance to Ukraine, warning that a prolonged stoppage of U.S. help for the war effort would have a seriously detrimental effect...
RFK Jr. Says Cod Liver Oil Can Treat Measles — Doctors Disagree | HuffPost Life
"The lack of truth in the statement he made is that giving vitamin A in the form of cod liver oil as like a panacea for all the people in Texas ... is unequivocally wrong," Patel added...
Murphy fears more Medicare pay cuts will kill private practice
"We're at a crucible where if we don't fight these cuts now, if we don't get rid of them, we don't reverse them, I don't see how private practice survives," Murphy said Thursday during The Hill's "State of Medicare Physician Payments."
Pence whacks Trump’s tariffs - POLITICO
Pence has also sharply criticized Russian President Vladimir Putin for starting the war in Ukraine, and called for Trump — who touts his friendly relationship with the Russian strongman — to do the same...
Hakeem Jeffries rejects Mike Johnson's shutdown plan
Democrats are holding out for language that will restrict President Trump and DOGE from being able to slash government programs already authorized and funded by Congress...
CDC to study potential links between vaccines and autism despite research showing no connection | Trump administration | The Guardian
It's unknown whether Robert F Kennedy Jr, who has promoted anti-vaccine views, is involved in study…
Trump announces rollback of chemical disaster protections - The Washington Post
"We've been here before, and the losers are always the families, workers and first responders," said Adam Kron, a senior attorney at Earthjustice, an environmental law firm. "The EPA should be implementing its chemical disaster safety, not rolling it back."…
Elon Musk tells Republicans he isn’t to blame for mass firings of federal workers
Trump and Musk appear to make parallel efforts to distance tech billionaire from radical job slashing in government…
‘You get sucked in’: crypto scam victims on how they lost thousands
Like in any call centre, the script is always the same. For the victim it starts by clicking on a (fake) social media ad or news alert. The promotion tips a great crypto investment but it's a trick, leading only to fraudsters impersonating a real business.
Eager investors hand over a relatively small sum at first, say £250, and before they know it – thanks to clever software displaying a seemingly live trading screen – they are getting rich. But the profit is fiction, serving as bait: victims lose the big money trying to cash out. The windfall is "just one step away", blocked by the need for one more payment – a broker's fee, or a tax bill. It only ends when the victim is broke...
Russia launches huge strikes across Ukraine as US halts intelligence-sharing
Attacks come as Ukrainian delegation prepares to meet with US counterparts in Saudi Arabia for ceasefire talks…
SpaceX’s Starship explodes in second failure for Musk’s Mars program
Back-to-back mishaps indicate big setbacks for program to launch satellites and send humans to the moon and Mars…
Overheard (March 2025) (from Freethought Today)
Here's what some people are saying about ideas like Christian nationalism and Project 2025.
Friday, March 7, 2025
Federal judge extends block on Trump administration's funding cuts to medical research - CBS News
A federal judge on Wednesday blocked the Trump administration from drastically cutting medical research funding that many scientists say will endanger patients and cost jobs.
The new National Institutes of Health policy would strip research groups of hundreds of millions of dollars to cover so-called indirect expenses of studying Alzheimer's, cancer, heart disease and a host of other illnesses — anything from clinical trials of new treatments to basic lab research that is the foundation for discoveries...
Trump questions if NATO would defend US, but 1,000 allies were killed in the war on terror - ABC News
In fact, NATO's Article 5 clause has been invoked only once in the alliance's 76-year history, and that was on September 12, 2001 -- the day after Al Qaeda killed almost 3,000 people on American soil...
Veterans cuts spark GOP backlash on Capitol Hill - POLITICO
"It's political malpractice not to consult Congress if that's what you intend to do," Graham said. "Maybe you've got a good reason to do it. I like Doug Collins — he's a great guy. But we don't need to be reading memos in the paper about 20 percent cut at the VA."…
US plans to close European consulates and cut state department workforce | US foreign policy | The Guardian
Critics say the potential cuts in the US diplomatic footprint coupled with the dismantling of the US Agency for International Development (USAid) that provided billions of dollars worth of aid globally risk undermining American leadership and leaves a dangerous vacuum for adversaries like China and Russia to fill...
Trump’s CHIPS demand creates a $52 billion headache for Congress - POLITICO
"First of all, how is he going to cancel it, right? Can you do it through budget reconciliation? Maybe he'll try," Sen. Mark Kelly (D-Ariz.) told reporters Wednesday. "But you normally have to do this through legislation, and you need 60 votes in the Senate, and a ton of Republicans are supportive of the legislation."…
Judge blocks Trump administration from freezing federal funding without congressional approval - ABC News
Judge McConnell noted that his order is "not limiting the Executive's discretion or micromanaging the administration of federal funds," but rather it reiterates the limit of the president's power.
"Rather, consistent with the Constitution, statutes, and caselaw, the Court is simply holding that the Executive's discretion to impose its own policy preferences on appropriated funds can be exercised only if it is authorized by the congressionally approved appropriations statutes," he wrote.
In his ruling, the judge offered a history lesson to explain why the funding freeze was unlawful...
Judge says Trump illegally fired National Labor Relations Board member - The Washington Post
A federal judge says Gwynne Wilcox must remain at the agency that oversees relations among workers, labor unions and employers, setting up a Supreme Court showdown...
Pentagon Cuts Threaten Programs That Secure Loose Nukes and Weapons of Mass Destruction | WIRED
Documents obtained by WIRED show the US Department of Defense is considering cutting up to 75 percent of workers who stop the spread of chemical, biological, and nuclear weapons...
Trump's crypto reserve is a dream come true for his oligarch donors
When the scheme inevitably goes belly up, the government will then have a vested interest in bailing out the industry...
Trump to revoke legal status for 240,000 Ukrainians as US steps up deportations | Reuters
The move, expected as soon as April, would be a stunning reversal of the welcome Ukrainians received under President Joe Biden's administration...
Trump puts new limits on Elon Musk - POLITICO
Complicating the matter further, Trump declared during his address to Congress Tuesday that Musk is indeed the "head" of DOGE, a label that immediately reverberated in several of the Musk-focused court cases. Trump's assertion conflicted with the White House's representation in court last month that Musk had no independent authority to make policy decisions...
Top Trump allies hold secret talks with Zelenskyy’s Ukrainian opponents – POLITICO
As Washington ramps up its pressure on Zelenskyy to step aside, his rivals are talking to Trump's team...
Republicans can't meet their own budget target without cutting Medicare or Medicaid, budget office says
The House GOP has ordered the Energy and Commerce Committee, which oversees Medicare and Medicaid funding, to cut $880 billion in a bill to advance Trump's agenda...
States push fight against mRNA vaccines
"It's as though state legislatures wish to take over a function of the Food and Drug Administration, and they're simply not in a position to do that. They don't have sufficient knowledge and background to evaluate the effectiveness and safety of vaccines,"…
Packed Pacs: how billionaires in the US are bankrolling Republicans at the state level
According to a research document obtained by the Guardian, the contributions are not limited to federal elections but extend to state-level campaigns and aim to influence policy at the state level. Priorities include dismantling government, targeting "culture war" issues – particularly abortion – and advancing school privatisation...
Plan to skewer US sanctuary city mayors backfires on Republicans
"If you wanted to make us safe, pass gun reforms," Boston mayor Michelle Wu said. "Stop cutting Medicaid. Stop cutting cancer research. Stop cutting funds for veterans. That is what will make our cities safe."…
"This federal administration is making hard-working, tax-paying, God-fearing residents afraid to live their lives," Wu said. "A city that's scared is not a city that's safe, a land ruled by fear is not the land of the free."…
Thursday, March 6, 2025
U.S. and Israel dismiss $53B plan endorsed by Arab states to rebuild Gaza, prevent mass displacement | CBC News
According to a 112-page draft of the plan obtained by The Associated Press, hundreds of thousands of temporary housing units would be set up for Gaza's population while reconstruction takes place. Rubble would be recycled, with some of it used as infill to expand land on Gaza's Mediterranean coast.
In the following years, the plan envisages completely reshaping the strip, building "sustainable, green and walkable" housing and urban areas, with renewable energy. It renovates agricultural lands and creates industrial zones and large park areas.
It also calls for the opening of an airport, a fishing port and a commercial port. The Oslo peace accords in the 1990s called for the opening of an airport and a commercial port in Gaza, but the projects withered as the peace process collapsed…
Supreme Court rejects Trump's bid to avoid paying nearly $2 billion in foreign aid
Chief Justice John Roberts and Justice Amy Coney Barrett were with the three Democratic appointees in the majority, while Republican-appointed Justices Samuel Alito, Clarence Thomas, Neil Gorsuch and Brett Kavanaugh dissented…
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Click Older Posts above to see more.