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6 days ago
2 min

Virginia Republicans Prefer Wacky Trumpist, Amanda Chase for Governor in New Poll

Virginia will elect a new Governor this year and the state may provide an early indication of Donald Trump's hold on the GOP. A new poll released this week by Christopher Newport University found that a Trump acolyte, State Sen. Amanda Chase, leads in the race for the Republican nomination for Virginia's highest office. Many Virginians remain undecided, but Chase leads with 17% while 10% back former Virginia House Speaker Kirk Cox and 6% support businessman Pete Snyder. Wealt

Feb 19
1 min

Scientists Successfully Cloned an Endangered Species for the First Time - Welcome Elizabeth Ann

American scientists have successfully cloned an endangered species for the first time, a remarkable achievement that will boost conservation efforts in the US. US Fish and Wildlife: "Black-footed ferret recovery efforts aimed at increased genetic diversity and disease resistance took a bold step forward Dec. 10, 2020, with the birth of “Elizabeth Ann,” created from the frozen cells of “Willa,” a black-footed ferret that lived more than 30 years ago." Elizabeth Ann was born to

Feb 14
2 min

Trump Acquitted by Most GOP Senators, But Forever Branded as a Traitor to Democracy

Many Americans are distraught this morning because Donald Trump was again able to avoid justice. That's understandable, but the verdict was widely anticipated. The nation's founders made it extraordinarily difficult to remove a President and Trump is still quite popular with many voters in the Republican base, especially white evangelical Christians in the Southeast and Great Plains. GOP Senators from those regions were not going to sacrifice their political futures to convi

Feb 13
2 min

New Research: White Evangelical Christians Have Widely Embraced Trump's Conspiracy Theories

No demographic group in America has aligned itself more closely to Donald Trump than white evangelical Christians, who make up about 20-25% of the electorate and a big chunk of the Republican "base." 75% of them supported Trump in November, down a bit from 2016, but not by much. We have joined many other commentators in noting that it's an odd relationship considering the former President's rather sorted history, but no revelations about his past marital indiscretions, proof

Feb 12
2 min

New Research; More Crimes Go Unreported in Cities that Cooperate With ICE

Police officials and researchers have known for some time that many individuals in the Hispanic community are reluctant to contact police about crimes they have witnessed or suffered if the city has a policy of cooperating with Immigration and Customs Enforcement [ICE]. That's why many city officials have elected to become "sanctuary cities" which don't automatically detain undocumented individuals so they can be turned over to ICE. They believe that a "sanctuary" policy incr

Feb 6
2 min

A Momentous Day in Richmond; Virginia to End Capital Punishment

Virginia is poised to be the 23rd state to ban capital punishment, but the first in the South. It's quite a change of heart for the state that holds the national record for most executions - 1,389. The death penalty used to be quite popular in Virginia, but, public opinion has been slowly changing on the issue. The use of DNA evidence to review convictions demonstrated that prosecutors and juries are way more fallible than we imagined, and decades of research showed that capi

Feb 5
3 min

The Biden Doctrine: A Return to Moral Leadership & an End to America's Pandering to Putin

President Joe Biden has decades of experience in US foreign policy and he demonstrated yesterday that he clearly recognizes the damage that Donald Trump and Mike Pompeo did to America's standing in the world. He also understands that Trump's "America First" campaign was simply a meaningless bumper sticker meant to provide a veneer of respectability to a hodgepodge of reckless and amateurish policies that accomplished nothing while undermining the nation's ability to influence

Feb 4
2 min

Fox & Other Right-Wing Media Outlets are Undermining Efforts to Get Americans Vaccinated

Only 45% of Republicans are willing to receive a Covid vaccine compared to 83% of Democrats, according to a recent Gallup poll. There are a variety of reasons for the substantial disparity. Studies have consistently found that Republicans are less trusting of science, the media, and government than Democrats and Independents, and the larger anti-vax movement started gravitating toward the GOP in the last decade. Moreover, Republicans were fed a constant diet of conspiracy the

Feb 2
2 min

New Research Finds that Minimum Wage Hikes Don't Negatively Impact the Job Market

Conservative opposition to a minimum wage increase is based, they say, on its negative impact on the job market. They argue that companies will hire fewer workers if they have to pay them more. While there is some logic to that argument, economists understand that there is a countervailing effect which tends to increase employment. When workers are paid more they purchase more, creating greater demand for goods and services in the economy. Greater demand increases pressure on

Feb 1
2 min

Marjorie Taylor Greene, Jewish Space Lasers & Anti-Semitism Within the White Nationalist Movement

Historians in the future will look back at this era of Republican politics and wonder if someone laced their coffee with LSD, perhaps at a CPAC conference. Political Scientists look on with a mixture of horror and amusement as the GOP sinks further into the muck of QAnon, stolen elections, Bill Gates virus hoaxes, deep state cabals, and now Jewish space lasers. Newly elected Republican Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene of GA is becoming the post-Trump face of the GOP by being just

Jan 30
1 min

Biden Restores Funding to the UN's Population Fund, "A Ray of Hope for Millions" of Young Women

This week President Joe Biden restored funding to the UN Population Fund [UNFPA], a women's reproductive health organization that America helped to found in 1969. The agency works in the developing world to provide comprehensive sex education, maternal health care, and access to birth control. Additionally, it has become the global leader in fighting the scourges of child marriage, gender-based violence, and female genital mutilation. Former President Donald Trump had cut fun

Jan 29
1 min

Research: Prescription Drug Prices are 2.56 Times Higher in the United States

The prestigious Rand Corporation released a study this week comparing prescription drug prices in the United States to other nations. On average Americans pay more, lots more. They found that we pay 2.56 times more than patients in other nations. The gap was especially high for brand-name [non-generic] drugs. Rand: "Prices in the United States are higher than those in all comparison countries U.S. prices were 256 percent of those in the 32 comparison countries combined. In co

Jan 28
3 min

Anti-Maskers, Anti-Vaxxers & Trump's Insane Anti-Science Legacy

There have always been people who are quick to reject science and latch onto outlandish conspiracy theories, but the Trump era is something quite different. Our former President mainstreamed insanity. He was the poster child for anti-science disinformation and our pandemic death toll is his lasting legacy. For months, Trump downplayed the efficacy of mask mandates, social distancing, and stay at home orders, with deadly consequences. His supporters took his lead to claim that

Jan 27
2 min

Biden Restores Relationship & Aid to Palestinians & Calls for Two-State Solution

The Biden administration announced yesterday that it was restoring relations with the Palestinians and renewing contributions to the U.N. agency that provides them aid, a sharp reversal of Trump administration policy. Richard Mills, acting U.S. ambassador to the United Nations, also informed the UN Security Council that the Biden administration would again seek a two-state solution to the conflict between Israel and the Palestinians. Mills announced the policy changes during

Jan 24
3 min

Russians Getting a Bit Fed Up with Putin's Corruption; Thousands of Protesters Jailed Across Russia

Russian police arrested more than 3,400 people yesterday as tens of thousands in Moscow and across Russia took to the streets demanding the release of opposition leader Alexei Navalny, President Vladimir Putin's most prominent foe. Navalny was arrested upon his return from Germany where he had been undergoing treatment after being poisoned with a military-grade nerve agent. Few doubt that Putin ordered the attack and it follows a series of earlier political assassinations. Mo

Jan 23
2 min

Joe Biden & the Liberation of Anthony Fauci and Science

There may be no one happier about the election of Joe Biden than the nation's top infectious disease expert, Dr. Anthony Fauci. He seems practically giddy since Trump left the White House and it's quite understandable. Yesterday he told MSNBC's Rachel Maddow that he wanted to appear on her show for "months" but was blocked by the Trump administration. He explained to Maddow that in his 40 years of working for both Republican and Democratic administrations he had never before

Jan 22
2 min

Research: The Covid Baby Bust Worsens Falling Fertility Rate in the United States

At the beginning of the Covid-19 pandemic, some researchers thought the lock-downs and perhaps general boredom might lead to a baby boom in the United States. Others believed that economic anxiety resulting from layoffs would result in fewer pregnancies. It turns out that the latter group was correct. America is experiencing a Covid baby bust, exacerbating America's already decreasing birth rate. It's still a bit early to tell how much the pandemic will depress births, but a

Jan 21
3 min

Biden Begins to Wash Away the Scourge of Trumpism with a Wave of Executive Orders

President Joe Biden made a good start yesterday in expunging Donald Trump's shameful legacy. There is much to do and some of it will take legislation by Congress, but Biden demonstrated that he won't waste any time in reversing Trump's most reviled policies. Immigration: Biden ended the "Muslim ban" which blocked travel to the United States from several predominantly Muslim and African countries and strengthened DACA protections for the children of undocumented immigrants [Dr

Jan 19
2 min

1776 Report: Trump Releases "American History for Idiots" on MLK Day

Historians responded with a mixture of anger and laughter yesterday after the Trump White House’s “1776 Commission” released a report it claimed would provide Americans with a "patriotic" understand of the nation’s history. Washington Post: “It’s a hack job. It’s not a work of history,” American Historical Association president Jim Grossman told The Washington Post. “It’s a work of contentious politics designed to stoke culture wars.” ... “I don’t know where to begin,” said p

Jan 18
1 min

Trump Leaves With Historically Low Approval Rating, But 1/3 Still Love Him Despite Scandals

The good news is that Donald Trump's involvement in the attack on the Capital and his tiresome lies about the election have finally eroded his base somewhat. The bad news is that despite all that, his second impeachment, and his chaotic and incompetent response to the pandemic, about one-third of Americans still support the outgoing President. Trump will depart for Florida on Wednesday with an approval rating of 29%, the lowest of his presidency, according to a new poll from

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Virginia Republicans Prefer Wacky Trumpist, Amanda Chase for Governor in New Poll

Scientists Successfully Cloned an Endangered Species for the First Time - Welcome Elizabeth Ann

Trump Acquitted by Most GOP Senators, But Forever Branded as a Traitor to Democracy

New Research: White Evangelical Christians Have Widely Embraced Trump's Conspiracy Theories

New Research; More Crimes Go Unreported in Cities that Cooperate With ICE

A Momentous Day in Richmond; Virginia to End Capital Punishment

The Biden Doctrine: A Return to Moral Leadership & an End to America's Pandering to Putin

Fox & Other Right-Wing Media Outlets are Undermining Efforts to Get Americans Vaccinated

New Research Finds that Minimum Wage Hikes Don't Negatively Impact the Job Market

Marjorie Taylor Greene, Jewish Space Lasers & Anti-Semitism Within the White Nationalist Movement

Biden Restores Funding to the UN's Population Fund, "A Ray of Hope for Millions" of Young Women

Research: Prescription Drug Prices are 2.56 Times Higher in the United States

Anti-Maskers, Anti-Vaxxers & Trump's Insane Anti-Science Legacy

Biden Restores Relationship & Aid to Palestinians & Calls for Two-State Solution

Russians Getting a Bit Fed Up with Putin's Corruption; Thousands of Protesters Jailed Across Russia

Joe Biden & the Liberation of Anthony Fauci and Science

Research: The Covid Baby Bust Worsens Falling Fertility Rate in the United States

Biden Begins to Wash Away the Scourge of Trumpism with a Wave of Executive Orders

1776 Report: Trump Releases "American History for Idiots" on MLK Day

Trump Leaves With Historically Low Approval Rating, But 1/3 Still Love Him Despite Scandals

Images of the Week

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Please visit our Friends at Feline Design: Making superior quality cat furniture in the US since 1986.