Gov. Rick Scott’s anti-science purge begins: State employee banned for uttering ‘climate change’ A Florida state employee has been reprimanded and told not to come to work after Gov. Rick Scott’s (R) administration banned the use of the terms “climate change” and “global warming.” Earlier this month, reports said that officials in the Scott administration ordered Florida Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) administrators not to use the terms in documents or meetings because they asserted that the climate science behind global warming was not a “true fact.” More
Portman among 47 GOP senators to sign letter to Iran WASHINGTON — In a move Democrats denounced as trying to sabotage the Obama administration’s foreign policy, Sen. Rob Portman and 46 other Senate Republicans yesterday warned Iran’s leadership that any agreement to limit Tehran’s apparent efforts to build a nuclear bomb would need Senate approval to stay in effect beyond 2016. More
Coalition on immigration bill clears first tests The bipartisan coalition behind a contentious overhaul of immigration laws stuck together on a critical early series of test votes Thursday, turning back challenges from conservative critics as the Senate Judiciary Committee refined legislation to secure the nation's borders and offer eventual citizenship to millions living illegally in the United States. More
Republicans to back Obama's student loan plan House Republicans are willing to give President Barack Obama a rare win, the chairman of the Education and Workforce Committee said Thursday in outlining a deal that would let college students avoid a costly hike on their student loans. More
GOP boycotts health care advisory board House and Senate Republican leaders told President Barack Obama Thursday that they will refuse to nominate candidates to serve on an advisory board that is to play a role in holding down Medicare costs under the new health care act. More
“IRS Commissioner Danny Werfel said he would resign with nearly three years left in his term, leaving the government Monday rather than waiting for President-elect Donald Trump to remove him,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Werfel’s decision to quit on Inauguration Day sidesteps a looming confrontation between the tax agency chief and the incoming administration.
New York Magazine: “Free speech as a value has historically been the domain of the American left: In the 1950s, its archenemy was Republican senator Joseph McCarthy; Black civil-rights leaders saw it as essential to the success of their movement; and in 1988, Republican presidential candidate George H. W. Bush tarred his Democratic opponent, Michael Dukakis, as a ‘card-carrying member of the ACLU.'”
“But over the past ten years, Donald Trump and other right-wing provocateurs have co-opted free-speech values to advance an agenda often at odds with liberalism and social justice (see Elon Musk’s X), while Democrats, progressives, and, arguably, the ACLU have retreated from the ideal that free speech needs to be protected regardless of the viewpoint being expressed.”
“The national debt will reach 99.9% of gross domestic product later this year and surpass its post-World War II high as a share of the economy by 2029, the Congressional Budget Office said Friday in updated projections,” the Wall Street Journal reports.
“Annual deficits will stay above 5% of GDP for the next decade, remaining at levels the U.
“I told Jim Jordan that I despised Jamie Raskin so much I would trade ranking members with him. I would rather smell shit for five straight hours than listen to Jamie Raskin lie like a dog! To properly understand that juxtaposition, you need to ride in an elevator for a few floors with Jordan’s ranking member, Jerry Nadler.”
— Rep.
The garbage truck that President-elect Donald Trump rode in as a comeback to remarks by President Joe Biden will make an appearance at Monday’s inauguration, WLUC reports.
Back in October, Biden referred to Trump’s supporters as “garbage,” prompting Trump to climb into the passenger seat of a garbage truck.
The Republican National Committee on Friday reelected Michael Whatley as chair, continuing the tenure of President-elect Donald Trump’s second hand-picked leader for the GOP, Politico reports.