This is the guy destroying Earth. A drop in Earth's oxygen content means NOTHING to him.

In May 2017, (click here) Dan Jorjani was appointed the Principal Deputy Solicitor of the Office of the Solicitor in the Department of the Interior. The Principal Deputy Solicitor in the 2nd highest position in the Office of the Solicitor,  with six deputy solicitors reporting directly to him on the issues of Energy & Mineral Resources, Public Lands, Parks & Wildlife, General Law, and Indiana Affairs and Water Resources. The Office of the Solicitor describes its role as “perform[ing] the legal work for the United States Department of the Interior.”

Daniel Jorjani recieved his undergraduate degree at Vanderbilt University, went on to get a Master’s degree from Columbia and his Juris Doctor from Cornell Law School.

In 1999 Jorjani was a corporate associate at Akin, Gump, Strauss, Hauer & Feld, L.L.P., a law and lobbying firm. In 1999, the firm received $810,000 from the oil and gas companies, $320,000 from mining companies, $560,000 from steel production companies and $500,000 from electric utilities companies in the following payments: $780,000 (Exxon Mobil), $40,000 (Tyumen Oil), $220,000 (Barrick Gold Corp), $80,000 (Poongsan Corp), $20,000 (Banro American Resources), $560,000 (Pohang Iron & Steel) and $500,000 (PG&E).

In 2001, Dan Jorjani was hired by the Department of the Interior (DOI) to be the Counselor to to the Assistant Secretary of Policy Management and Budget.

Giving a damn about human life and environmental safety is not in Jorjani's job description. He is bought and paid for by corrupt corporate interest. Conscience is not required to be him.

In 2010 and 2011, Dan Jorjani was a “PGM Officer Research” at the Charles Koch Foundation where he was paid $100,500 (Calendar Year of 2011) and $127,045 (Calendar year 2010) for forty hour work weeks and was one of the five highest paid employee at the Charles Koch Foundation. The position he held and the responsibilities he had are difficult to say, it is likely PGM is “Program Management” or a similar title.

The Trump White House and Cabinet is the most corrupt in recent history. And, don't forget, it is backed by the most corrupt Congress overseen by Mitch McConnell and Paul Ryan.

These are the people the media needs to address. Give them information so they can protect the land.

January 10, 2018

By Brian McCauley

Taking care of the land comes naturally (click here) to Miami County resident Bob McLean because that’s how he was raised.

Bob, who lives and farms on several acres along 287th Street north of Paola, is continuing a family farming tradition that has spanned generations.

His father, F.I., grew up south of town, and eventually acquired the family’s land north of Paola in 1946. There, F.I. and his wife, Naomi, raised Bob and his brother, John. John still lives on a three-acre tract next to Bob on 287th Street and operates a business south of town.

Bob said his dad practiced good land conservation strategies, such as terracing, and he even won a conservation award many years ago.

Now, it’s Bob’s turn to be honored, as the Miami County Conservation District plans to present him with the Bankers Award during the district’s annual meeting Tuesday night at Paola High School.

Bob, who grows mostly corn, beans and hay on his fields, said he practices minimum tillage, and he also utilizes other conservation strategies such as terracing. Lately, he’s been busy trimming hedge rows along his fields.

“It’s only here once,” Bob said of the land. “When the dirt washes away, it’s gone.”

While news of the award caught Bob off guard, he said he is honored to receive the Bankers Award, and it helps to honor the legacy of his parents, who have passed away.

The media can bring excellent and important information to people armed with skills, ability and insight, but, without the clout they need to impress the people and protect the land.

January 10, 2018
By Andy Eubank

The Annual Conservation Awards Luncheon (click here) yesterday wrapped up the 75th conference of Indiana Soil and Water Conservation Districts, and the final recognition was reserved for the retiring Indiana State Conservationist, Jane Hardisty.

“I want to thank you all for all of your support, putting up with my pushy ways as I’ve been told, my pushy style, my commonsense style, my fun way of doing things, and my love of the land, and most of all the love of you people, she told those attending the luncheon. “It’s been my honor to be your State Conservationist. Thank you very, very much.”

In 2010 Hardisty spearheaded the Soil Health movement. Through her leadership the movement is stronger than ever today and has put Indiana on the map as a conservation leader in the U.S.

“As you know, the bar has been set pretty high for Indiana, so I am really counting on you all to keep carrying that soil health banner.”

Jamie Scott, President of the Indiana Association of Soil and Water Conservation Districts told HAT one of Hardisty’s best accomplishments has been to simply get more out of the people who are a part of the conservation world....

Trump's White House and Republican Congress are out to destroy morality.

Don't be so naive to think an article to bring awareness to stupidity is going to work with influencing this White House and Congress.

To begin, Trump doesn't have a pet in the White House and Trump never owned one. Trump has broken a 150 year old TRADITION (click here) in the White House, the "First Dog" or in the case of the Clinton's, "First Cat."

The media has to stop pretending that the INFORMATION provided in articles as the one below from the "LA Times," will ever effect the Trump Administration. Ain't going to happen.

Donald Trump is the greediest SOB on Earth, only second to Scrooge. When people file bankruptcy they usually learn from their mistakes and move forward to deal honestly and forthrightly. That is morality. Learning from one mistakes to never make them again is a moral value. Trump has no such values. Trump USES laws like bankruptcy laws to increase wealth. He has no morality. 

Trump is a greed merchant. He wants your money for his own, which included subcontractors on his buildings. There is no moral fiber to this President nor his Cabinet nor his majority Republican Congress. They are seething with hatred for Americans and they want to end every government program that benefits them.

Trump, like most Republicans, wants a strong military to conquer lands and not simply for national security. This administration and Congress have to be the most untrustworthy in American history.

The article is interesting, but, the focus will never be realized by Trump, his cronies, his cabinet or the Republican Congress. The country is at extreme risk by greedy White men.

December 27, 2017
Host: Neal King

Noel King talks to Larry Lieberman (click here) of the organization Charity Navigator, who explains why the increase to the standard deduction could cause a drop in charitable giving....

I think it is prudent for all environmental and conservation organizations to scrutinize the new tax policy for any deliberate penalties to non-profits. They need to establish a base of support past any TAX DEDUCTIBLE contributions.

January 10, 2018
By Ayana Elizabeth Johnson and Jeff Orlowski

The Trump administration (click here) announced last week that it would open 90% of our coastal waters to oil and gas drilling. It declared last month that it would shrink or eliminate several national monuments — both terrestrial and marine. Last year, it rolled back safety requirements that prevent spills like the Deepwater Horizon, and it stated it would reconsider protections of national marine sanctuaries. The reigning principle here, to the extent that there is one, is to put short-term economic gains first, way ahead of the environment.

Apparently lost on the administration are two simple facts: If we want to keep fishing, we need places where there is no fishing. If we want to maintain coastal tourism economies, we need places without drilling.  

This is not about hugging whales and waxing sentimental about coral reefs. We need to use the ocean — food security and jobs depend on it. But we must be careful not to use it up. And right now, despite its vastness, we are indeed in danger of using it up.

Think of the ocean as a trust fund. If you want to rely on that fund for the rest of your days, you can only use the interest. For millenniums, humans lived off the interest of the earth’s abundant natural resources. But in the last century, we’ve been rapidly, dramatically depleting the principal. We are also hurting our interest rate — destroying nature’s ability to heal itself....

Personal solar and wind. It is the only way an American will receive relief from the greed Trump signed in the tax bill.

Trump's rhetoric stated Americans would be receiving relief and have more disposable income. I don't think that is going to happen anywhere in the USA. The drive for greed is deep seated and growing. There will be no relief for the Poor or Middle Class in the USA.

January 9, 2018

By Jack Money

A split Corporation Commission (click here) decided Tuesday morning it won't require utilities to immediately cut their customers' bills after getting a significant cut in their corporate tax rates through the Tax Cut and Jobs Act of 2017.

The act, approved by Congress and President Donald Trump, cut tax rates for utility providers such as Public Service Co. of Oklahoma, Oklahoma Gas & Electric and others from 35 percent to 21 percent.

Oklahoma's attorney general prepared orders for the commission to consider on Tuesday that would have required five of the state's largest utilities to immediately cut their rates to compensate their customers for increased annual profits the companies will enjoy as a result of the cut.

The amounts, which varied by company, were calculated by considering how the corporate tax change would have impacted financial data the companies had filed with the commission as part of recent rate cases.

They ranged from amounts as large as $52 million for OG&E to less than $1 million for CenterPoint Energy and Arkansas Oklahoma Gas.

January 8, 2018

By Doyle Rice

...The U.S. (click here) endured 16 separate weather and climate disasters with losses that each exceeded $1 billion last year, with total costs of about $306 billion, a new record for the country. It broke the previous record set in 2005, when Hurricane Katrina and other disasters caused $215 billion in damage to the U.S.

Last year's disasters killed 362 people in the U.S., including Puerto Rico, NOAA said. However, NOAA climatologist Adam Smith said the death toll could increase based on information that continues to come in from Puerto Rico.

It was also the most expensive hurricane season on record at $265 billion and the costliest wildfire season on record at $18 billion, Smith said.

The news comes only weeks after the House passed an $81 billion disaster aid package. The Senate did not take up the bill and is working on its own version.'

...Rainfall from Harvey caused massive flooding that displaced more than 30,000 people and damaged or destroyed more than 200,000 homes and businesses, NOAA said....

It looks as though 2018 is off to the same start. There is not a death toll listed for 2017.

The death toll for the USA will reach into the thousands when all are counted in Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands.

January 9, 2018
By James Queally, Joseph Serna and Michael Livingston

At least eight people (click here) were killed Tuesday when a rainstorm sent mud and debris coursing through Montecito neighborhoods and left rescue crews to scramble through clogged roadways and downed trees to search for victims.

The deluge that washed over Santa Barbara County early Tuesday was the worst-case scenario for a community that was ravaged by the Thomas fire only a few weeks earlier. In just a matter of minutes, pounding rain overwhelmed the south-facing slopes above Montecito and flooded a creek that leads to the ocean, sending mud and massive boulders rolling into residential neighborhoods, according to Santa Barbara County Fire Department spokesman Mike Eliason

“It’s going to be worse than anyone imagined for our area,” he said. “Following our fire, this is the worst-case scenario.”

Eight people were killed and at least twenty-five were injured after a heavy band of rain struck around 2:30 a.m. causing “waist-high” mudflows, according to Kelly Hoover, a spokeswoman for the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Office. She could not offer any specifics about the deceased, except that all eight had died in Montecito....

California did all they could to protect people. Mudslides follow wildfires.

January 9, 2018
By Darran Simon

Thousands of Southern Californians (click here) were ordered to evacuate Monday amid fears that heavy rainfall could trigger mudslides in regions charred by wildfires.

The wildfires, including several blazes last year, have burned acres of protective brush on hillsides, leaving little to no vegetation to prevent mudslides and debris flow, The first major storm of this rainy season was expected to drench Ventura and Santa Barbara counties and Los Angeles overnight Monday through Tuesday.

In Santa Barbara County, more than 6,000 people were under mandatory evacuation orders, including residents in parts of Carpinteria, Montecito and Goleta, located below areas scorched by the wildfires over the past year and a half. Those fires included the massive Thomas Fire that started in December and is still not completely out, according to Gina DePinto, a county spokeswoman.

Voluntary evacuation warnings were in effect for another 20,000 people, including others in those same communities, she said.

Los Angeles County officials issued mandatory evacuation orders for residents of Kagel Canyon, Lopez Canyon and Little Tijunga Canyon, areas affected by the Creek Fire. Police and fire officials in Los Angeles helped with evacuations in areas damaged by the Creek and Fish fires, officials said....

It was handy having a black man on the court to write the dissenting opinion.

January 8, 2018

By the AP

Washington (AP) — The Supreme Court (click here) is giving a Georgia death row inmate whose execution was called off last year another chance to raise claims of racial bias on his jury.

The justices voted 6-3 Monday to order the federal appeals court in Atlanta to take up the case of inmate Keith Leroy Tharpe. A juror used a racial slur to describe Tharpe years after Tharpe was convicted of killing Jacquelin Freeman, his sister-in-law, 27 years ago.

Justice Clarence Thomas called the court’s unsigned opinion “ceremonial handwringing” in a dissent that predicted Tharpe ultimately would lose his appeal. Justices Samuel Alito and Neil Gorsuch joined Thomas.

The appeal stems from interviews Tharpe’s legal team conducted in 1998 with Barney Gattie, a white juror. Gattie freely used racial slurs and said his study of the Bible had led him to question “if black people even have souls,” according to court filings. Gattie signed an affidavit, though he later testified that he voted to sentence Tharpe to death because of the evidence against him....

Where are the strict constructionist now? It seems as though Thomas, Alito and Gorsuch prefer prejudicing the lower courts. Maybe they miss their old jobs?

September 28, 2017
By the AP

Atlanta -- Shortly before he thought he would be put to death, (click here) a Georgia death row inmate recorded an apology to the family of the woman he killed. 

Keith Leroy Tharpe was scheduled to be executed at 7 p.m. Tuesday. But the U.S. Supreme Court stepped in, granting a temporary stay to give the justices time to consider whether to take up an appeal in which his lawyers argued his death sentence was tainted by a juror's racial bias.

Tharpe, 59, was convicted of murder and kidnapping in the September 1990 slaying of his sister-in-law, Jacquelyn Freeman.

The Georgia Department of Corrections allows condemned inmates to record a final statement in a holding cell at about 5 p.m. on the day they are set to be executed. They are then given another opportunity to make a statement, which is also recorded, in the execution chamber minutes before the lethal drug begins to flow.

The corrections department on Thursday released a transcript of Tharpe's holding cell statement in response to an open records request from The Associated Press.

Tharpe starts his brief statement by apologizing to Freeman's family.

"You know because, uh, you know, me taking the life of her was very wrong and uh, I sincerely wish y'all would be able to be forgiving one day," the transcript reads. "You know and uh, like I say, I'ma say it again, I'm very sorry. And, uh, and, God bless y'all. That's all I can say."...

Textualism, there is nothing like giving the dictionary as much brevity as the USA Constitution and Bill of Rights.

The strict constructionist is an excuse for not thinking that lends itself exceptionally well to politics.

Scalia v. Scalia (click here)

Contents Acknowledgments

Introduction

1. Textualism as a Response to the “Living” Constitution 
2. Textualism in Scalia’s Speeches and Extrajudicial Writings 
3. Interpreting a Clear Clause: The Eighth Amendment’s Cruel and Unusual Punishments Clause 
4. Interpreting Competing Clauses: Mediating Religion between the Establishment and Free Exercise Clauses 
5. When the Constitution Is Silent: Rejecting the Right to an Abortion Conclusion: Scalia’s Opportunistic Textualism 

Notes

Bibliography Index

Sample (click here)

Richard Nixon was the first candidate for president to use it. He promised to pick strict constructionist judges to the Supreme Court. The opposite of strict constructionist is "broad construction" looks to what someone thinks was the "intent" of the framers' language and expands and interprets the language extensively to meet current standards of human conduct and complexity of society.

There is no such thing as "activist judges." I would think judges that don't practice within their license is impeachable.

Laws, when written, cannot foresee the future, ie: the digital age. Laws cannot be expected to carry brevity when the circumstances are hideous for the age we live in; ie: Carriage horses have the right of way of any automobile. That is an absurd example, but, there are still statues on the books that reflect such things. A better law is for requiring the Amish to put tail lights and turn signals when driving their carriages at dusk or later.

The hideousness of the a poor interpretation of requiring Amish horse driven carriages to proceed along their way without such modern adjustments would be irresponsible if upheld as a religious right to die on country roads because of the lack of warning lights.

Strict constructionists are ideologues that subject citizens of the USA to the enforcement of political dogma. It is ridiculous and Scalia was the king of it, always seconded by Thomas.

Saving lives and social programs are expensive.

There is a plutocrat in the Whtie House and his minions are Republicans that want to defund the government by 2020.

200 hundred thousand people are a city. They could have grown a city with an economy in the USA and they would be welcome to stay.

There is no compassion and Americans are taking for granted all but the Whtie people that are descendants of the Mayflower will be allowed to be citizens. Maybe the descendants of the revolution of 1776, too. Soldiers and junk like that.

Donald Trump is German on his father's side. His mother Scottish. The only American born wife he has had is Marla Maples. That makes his children, except for Tiffani, Boarder Babies to the Czech Republic and Slovenia.

Sorry, that gives all his children other than Tiffani a dual citizenship,  not boarder babies. They were born in the USA. I am sure the calculation to that was realized before the births.

Ya know, dual citizenships in Russia are costly. The dual citizen Russian has to declare (not branded with a branding iron to that fact, yet) and pay annual fees to maintain their dual citizenship. Otherwise, the Russia that may very well be its diaspora recruited to return to Mother Russia, has to give up the dual citizenship where parents probably live.

I am sure the recruitment for the return of the Russia diaspora was to balance the dropping Russian birth rate. Who wants to bring children into a world that victimizes them as an asset to the country. Who needs it?

Yes, while Vladimir Putin is the strong man everyone loves to vote for, the facts are plain, his Russia is not producing the kind of happiness, security and comfort a married couple needs to want a family.

My guess is that Trump's America will dissolve all dual citizenships and send everyone possible to their other country of origin.

Trump does all this dumb stuff and doesn't stop to realize the future looks dim for his family, except for Tiffani. This level of racism masked as a hostile funding act, will only build in crescendo in the future. THIS IS ONLY THE BEGINNING TO WHITTLING DOWN the people allowed to stay in the sovereign USA.

HELLO. Trump and the Congress are already treating Puerto Rico as a foreign country.

The law doesn't have to be signed when the Ruling Party has already declared a decree. There is an overwhelming TREND to limit the ethnic footprint of the USA. They call it peaceful genocide. Remember? This is simply more of the same that has gone on for over a year now. Sorry, nearly a year; it simply seems longer.

January 8, 2018
by Miriam Jordan

Los Angeles — Nearly 200,000 people (click here) from El Salvador who have been allowed to live in the United States for more than a decade must leave the country, government officials announced Monday. It is the Trump administration’s latest reversal of years of immigration policies and one of the most consequential to date.

Homeland security officials said that they were ending a humanitarian program, known as Temporary Protected Status, for Salvadorans who have been allowed to live and work legally in the United States since a pair of devastating earthquakes struck their country in 2001.

Salvadorans were by far the largest group of foreigners benefiting from temporary protected status, which shielded them from deportation if they had arrived in the United States illegally. The decision came just weeks after more than 45,000 Haitians lost protections granted after Haiti’s 2010 earthquake, and it suggested that others in the program, namely Hondurans, may soon lose them as well. Nicaraguans lost their protections last year....

Regardless the faith; Pope Francis is the real leader of the free world.

No government grandeur can match that of the Vatican. Beautiful.

8 January 2018

By Christopher Lamb

Pope offers (click here) contrasting global vision to Trump in address to diplomats

Pope Francis today issued a blueprint for geopolitical stability, calling for a de-escalation of tensions in Korea, for nuclear disarmament and for world leaders to recognise that migrating to another country is a “fundamental human right”. 

He set out his vision this morning during his annual address to diplomats.

His message runs counter to that of US President Donald Trump, underlining the Pope's role as an upholder of the compassionate, internationally-focussed, post-war consensus.  

Speaking to ambassadors from the 183 countries which the Holy See has relations with, the Pope made an indirect criticism of Trump’s policy on Jerusalem which the president recently decided would be recognised as the capital of Israel. This move ran roughshod over United Nations’ resolutions on the matter and Francis – stressing the city is “sacred to Christians, Jews and Muslims” – called for those agreements to be a respected through a commitment to keeping the “status quo” of the city. 

Francis’s address this morning took place in the Sala Regia, a room full of medieval frescoes in the Vatican’s apostolic palace. The speech is the closest thing the Holy See has to a policy document on world affairs, although as the Pope pointed out in his speech, Vatican diplomacy "seeks only to promote the spiritual and material well-being of the human person and to pursue the common good"....

NOTICE from the Town Crier: Prepare for Nuclear War

Public Health Response to a Nuclear Detonation (click here)

CDC’s Public Health Grand Rounds Presents:

“Public Health Response to a Nuclear Detonation”Tuesday, January 16, 2018
1:00 p.m. – 2:00 p.m. (ET)
Global Communications Center (Building 19)
Alexander D. Langmuir Auditorium
Roybal Campus

In like Flynn.

I trust Barbara Starr more than I would ever trust General Flynn. Rather than a set of US Generals setting up the USA for still more failure, there needs to be an independent review board that will be able to insure the USA's national security. I don't trust Trump as far as I can skip a stone.

I really think the tensions are over with North Korea. I think South Korea has advanced the idea of peace on the Korean Peninsula and should receive the acclaim of the global community.

Trump has proven himself to be nothing but a big bag of wind. North Korea made a fool of him.


January 7, 2018
By Barbara Starr

The Pentagon (click here) is putting the finishing touches on the first comprehensive review of US nuclear forces in nearly eight years. It's shaping up as President Donald Trump's signature nuclear weapons initiative in the face of a growing North Korean nuclear threat.

The review, which may allow Trump to put his mark on the nuclear inventory for decades to come, could lead to more than $1 trillion in spending over nearly 30 years.

There have been three such reviews since the end of the Cold War, the most recent in 2010 under President Barack Obama....

That opinion holds water, too. Trump oversaw the largest nuclear build up ever by North Korea. It started with "W"s Axis of Evil and has concluded with Trump's Big Bad Wolf Act. Why is it Republicans don't believe in peace? Wait, I forgot. Peace would mean they would lose campaign financing from the military and nuclear sector. Yep. The world's security hangs in the balance because of Wall Street greed.

January 7, 2018
By Nyshka Chandran

North Korean leader Kim Jong Un (click here) has ignored recent peace overtures from Seoul but he's due on Tuesday to hold a formal dialogue with his southern neighbor for the first time in more than two years.

The sudden interest in talks may have something to do with Pyongyang's nuclear arsenal. "The North has made significant advances in its ballistic missile and nuclear weapons program so I think they feel a bit more willing to engage in talks now that they've actually demonstrated an incipient nuclear capability that can strike the U.S.," said Taylor Fravel, associate political science professor at MIT.

In November, the rogue state launched a new type of intercontinental ballistic missile

capable of reaching the U.S. mainland. Known as the Hwasong-15, it can fly over 13,000 kilometers, or 8,080 miles.

Speaking on the sidelines of the UBS Greater China Conference in Shanghai, Fravel said he isn't expecting much from Tuesday's discussion, which he believes will largely focus on potential

North Korean participation at the Winter Olympics in the South Korean city of PyeongChang....

There is some messy language in the media stating Trump enjoys a consensual presidency.

The Oath of Office:

I do solemnly swear (or affirm) that I will faithfully execute the Office of President of the United States, and will to the best of my Ability, preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States.

Article 2, Section 1 of the Constitution requires that before presidents can assume their duties they must take the oath of office. The completion of this thirty-five-word oath ends one president's term and begins the next.

There is no such thing as a consensual presidency. I will admit though, Trump presidency might appear consensual because of his best ability to carry out the office. His best ability really doesn't measure up, now does it?

The United States of America

The Robert's Court is extremist. The government belongs to the people. All the people. The idea a person cannot be served by a government worker (ie: marriage license clerk) is wrong.

If government is going to impose laws and there is a religious nut case in the office that carries out the law, that is institutional religious bigotry. What this is going to cause is oppression of anything where the government has laws, of people deserving of the service of a government worker. If a person working for the government carries this level of bias because of the doctrine of their religion, then they will have to be placed in a capacity that does not effect the smooth operation of government where it interacts with the people.

This is boiling down to a civil rights problem and there needs to be amendments to state constitutions carried out in all states to insure there is no discrimination of any citizen. 

January 8, 2018

By Greg Stohr

The U.S. Supreme Court (click here) left intact a Mississippi law that lets businesses and government workers refuse on religious grounds to provide services to gay and transgender people.

The justices turned away two appeals by state residents and organizations that contended the measure violates the Constitution. A federal appeals court said the opponents hadn’t suffered any injury that would let them press their claims in court.

The Mississippi fight in some ways represented the flip side of a Colorado case the high court is currently considering; the question in that instance is whether the state can require a baker who sells wedding cakes to make one for a same-sex couple’s wedding.

The cases are testing states’ ability to regulate what happens when LGBT rights come into conflict with religious freedoms. Colorado is aiming to bolster gay rights by enforcing an anti-discrimination law, even though the Denver-area baker says he has a religious objection to same-sex marriage....

The Mississippi Law was to protect people from lawsuits, it has nothing to do with refusing service to the people. The people cannot be oppressed in any way when satisfying THE LAW. Basically, the Mississippi law protects people from their own religious bias. YES, RELIGIONS CAN BE BIASED.

So, government workers in sensitive positions where they interact with the people satisfying THE LAW, cannot hold those jobs. The religious bias makes them unfit for the job. Every job description in government that interacts with the people has to have specific wording to provide for service to all people. I don't care if another person has to be called, but, government MUST allow the people to satisfy THE LAW. 

...The measure says religious people can’t be sued or penalized by the government for declining to provide services for same-sex marriage ceremonies. The law also protects people who believe gender is an immutable characteristic or who object to sex out of wedlock....

Lindsay Graham said it all.

The Republicans don't care about the country anymore than Trump does. The reason they won't ever impeach a ineffective and dangerous President is because they can exploit his lack of knowledge and push through their policy goals.

As long as there are Republicans in government power the USA is at risk for failure.

January 8, 2018
By Chuck Todd, Mark Murray and Carrie Dann

Washington — Over the past year, (click here) we’ve witnessed prominent Republicans — who’ve been critical of President Trump and his volatile behavior — still stand behind the president or his policies.

Retiring Sen. Jeff Flake, R-Ariz., who denounced Trump on the Senate floor back in October ("When the next generation asks us: 'Why didn't you do something? Why didn't you speak up?' What are we going to say?"), has consistently voted for Trump’s policies and nominees.

Retiring Sen. Bob Corker, R-Tenn. – who also blasted Trump last fall ("His governing model is to divide and to attempt to bully and to use untruths”) — still voted for Trump’s tax legislation.

The cartoon below are not policy changes, they are hate. And there is plenty of hate to go around from this administration, including the new tax LAW. The wealthy have permanent cuts to this income, while the national debt grows out of control. As the debt grows every year the wealthy continue to enjoy their tax cuts and who pays for it? The Middle Class and the Poor. The Middle Class and Poor receive growing tax burdens for ten years to oppress any gains they may have had. That is hatred. Recognize it and know Mnuchen is not the man for the job either.

And Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., who said Trump was “crazy,” “unifit” and “a kook” during the 2016 GOP presidential primaries, has emerged as a key Trump ally.

On “Meet the Press” yesterday, Graham explained why he still sticks up for Trump: 1) because Trump is president, and 2) because Trump can help him with his policy goals....

This is the president they insult and dislike and criticize and this is what leadership to them looks like. A president engaged in watching TV and tweeting. This is the president that claims there is false news in the media. He wastes his time watching false news and mitigating it to his political favor. I suppose the US Congress considers his propaganda vital to their purpose and believes Trump should spend more time in front of television and tweeting, rather than trying to be president.

January 7, 2018
By Jonathan Swan

President Trump (click here) is starting his official day much later than he did in the early days of his presidency, often around 11am, and holding far fewer meetings, according to copies of his private schedule shown to Axios. This is largely to meet Trump’s demands for more “Executive Time,” which almost always means TV and Twitter time alone in the residence, officials tell us.

The schedules shown to me are different than the sanitized ones released to the media and public.

• The schedule says Trump has "Executive Time" in the Oval Office every day from 8am to 11am, but the reality is he spends that time in his residence, watching TV, making phone calls and tweeting.
• Trump comes down for his first meeting of the day, which is often an intelligence briefing, at 11am.
• That's far later than George W. Bush, who typically arrived in the Oval by 6:45am.
• Obama worked out first thing in the morning and usually got into the Oval between 9 and 10am, according to a former senior aide.

Trump's days in the Oval Office are relatively short – from around 11am to 6pm, then he's back to the residence. During that time he usually has a meeting or two, but spends a good deal of time making phone calls and watching cable news in the dining room adjoining the Oval. Then he's back to the residence for more phone calls and more TV....

Al Gore's Twitter account is dogged by some of the most uninformed and idiotic people I ever read.

Vice President Gore doesn't argue with the commentators to his posts, he doesn't have time for it. But, the latest thing with his Twitter account is siting the events that occurred between 1981 and 1983. 

The so called experts that can pass judgement on Vice President Gore's life's work don't even understand the definition of climate. If I may? Climate is defined as the weather conditions prevailing in an area in general or over a long period.

There were two winter SEASONS recorded; the winter of 1981-82 and the winter of 1982-83. The first mentioned winter was very severe causing crop losses of peaches and the second was a very mild winter (after a severe one) whereby notably odd temperatures were recorded.

This is typical of those who dislike Vice President Gore and disdain his ability to capture the meaning of scientists and put it into the language of average Americans. These so called anti-climate crisis experts glom onto one fact that seems to suit their purpose and exploit it until it becomes reality. They are very, very wrong and are endangering lives and compromising the well being of people on Earth.

Go, Vice President Gore, Go! 

Review of the Unusual Winter of 1982–83 In the Upper Midwest (click here)

W. M. Wendland, L. D. Bark, D. R. Clark, R. B. Curry, J. W. Enz, K. G. Hubbard, V. Jones, E. L. Kuehnast, W. Lytle, J. Newman, F. V. Nurnberger, and P. Waite

Regional Climate Coordinating Office, Illinois Department of Natural Resources, Champaign, III, 61820

Climatologists from the climate centers of 12 states of the upper Midwest contributed temperature, precipitation, and related data for December 1982, January and February 1983. Analyses present the month-to-month spatial anomaly patterns of these parameters. Mean monthly temperatures were much above normal (30-year means) during the three months in virtually the entire region, with maximum magnitudes (+ 4 to + 9°C) extending from the Dakotas to Iowa, and to Indiana (December) and Missouri (January and February).

December precipitation was also above normal with anomalies of + 100 mm in much of Missouri, Illinois, extreme southwest Michigan, and Indiana. The maximum anomaly was over + 250 mm in southern Illinois. January and February precipitation anomalies showed only little deviation from normal.

Impacts of the mild winter were generally favorable to consumers in that heating demand was reduced from normal, and particularly reduced from that of the previous year. Costs for urban snow removal were much under budget, as well. The only potentially negative impact was a relatively high survival rate of insect larvae, which is usually controlled by normally colder winter temperatures.

The 1982 peach crop of southern Illinois was essentially lost during the 1981–82 winter due to record cold temperatures. The 1983 crop was also lost largely by a late spring frost, even though the winter was one of the warmest on record.                                   

This is a weak president. I don't call this global leadership.

January 8, 2018
1430.40z
UNISYS Water Vapor Satellite (click here for 12 hour loop)

This is called pandering to the Russians. Alaska is a part of the USA, yet, this satellite is not allowed to include it in the overall WEATHER image. This has been occurring for weeks now and I guarantee you this satellite will go dark. 

UNISYS is a tech company that provides information to airline companies. This satellite is not it's only business, but, it is service they provide. I have been looking at UNISYS satellites for over 15 years. There was never a day that goes by there wasn't a reliable image, until now.

The satellites in orbit around Earth are reliable and when they are reaching their full age of function, they are brought down and will have been replaced long before an image like this would be generated. 

There are plenty of other satellite images to look at, but, this is a national disgrace and should not be tolerated.