The House passed a massive National Defense Authorization Act late Wednesday, and tucked inside of it, a provision that would allow federal contractors to fire employees for being lesbian, gay, bisexual or transgender.The language, slipped into the bill by Rep. Steve Russell (R-Okla.), would dismantle President Barack Obama’s 2014 executive action that makes it illegal for government contractors to fire or harass employees based on their sexual orientation or gender identity
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Trump’s Health Secretary Pick Leaves Nation’s Doctors Divided
Donald Trump picks another controversial figure to head the health department. Tom Price, a physician, has conservative opinions on healthcare and favors “patient choice and market-based solutions” and wants to reduce “excessive regulatory burdens” on doctors. But Mr. Price is criticized for opposing affordable care act, contraception and gay rights as well as medicare and medicaid as it stands!
Donald Trump set to ‘eliminate arts funding programs’, cutting off NPR and PBS
President-elect Donald Trump is believed to be planning on shutting down arts and heritage programs as part of a raft of budget-tightening measures. The Hill, whose source is an unnamed member of Trump’s transition team, reported that Trump will eliminate both the National Endowment For The Arts and the National Endowment For The Humanities, and privatise the Corporation For Public Broadcasting.
I Was Trained for the Culture Wars in Home School, Awaiting Someone Like Mike Pence as a Messiah
I grew up in the far-right evangelical conservative (Christofascist) movement; specifically, I was homeschooled and my parents were part of a subculture called Quiverfull, whose aim is to outbreed everyone for Jesus. I spent my teen years being a political activist. I was taught by every pastor I encountered that it was our job as Christians to outbreed the secularists (anyone not a far-right evangelical Protestant) and take over the government through sheer numbers. I was part of TeenPact, Generation Joshua and my local Teenage Republicans (TARS)
TSA’s Own Files Show Doubtful Science Behind Its Behavior Screening Program
Newly released documents from the Transportation Security Administration appear to confirm the concerns of critics who say that the agency’s controversial program that relies on body language, appearance, and particular behaviors to select passengers for extra screening in airports has little basis in science and has led to racial profiling.
Dakota Access Pipeline to win US Army permit for completion
The US Army has informed Congress that it will grant permission to complete the controversial Dakota Access Pipeline near tribal territory. The notice comes after Donald Trump formally backed the project last month in one of his first acts as US president. Thousands of predominantly Native American protesters have boycotted the $3.8bn (£3bn) pipeline's construction in the state of North Dakota.
State G.O.P. Leaders Move Swiftly as Party Bickers in Congress
When Republicans in Kentucky seized total control of the state government last year, Damon Thayer, the majority leader in the State Senate, began asking around for advice from counterparts in other capitals where the party already dominated both the legislative and executive branches. How should we handle all this power? he wanted to know. One answer impressed him, Mr. Thayer said, from a senior Republican lawmaker in Wisconsin: “Move quickly.” Kentucky Republicans have done just that, swiftly passing laws to roll back the powers of labor unions and restrict access to abortion.
DHS chief signs sweeping new deportation guidelines
Homeland Security Secretary John Kelly on Saturday signed sweeping guidelines giving federal authorities more power to aggressively detain and deport illegal immigrants, The Washington Post reports. According to the report, Kelly detailed plans in a pair of memos to hire thousands of new enforcement agents, widen the classification of immigrants who should be prioritized for removal, speed up deportation hearings and use local law enforcement to make arrests.
I am an Arctic researcher. Donald Trump is deleting my citations
As an Arctic researcher, I’m used to gaps in data. Just over 1% of US
Arctic waters have been surveyed to modern standards. In truth, some of
the maps we use today haven’t been updated since the second world war.
Navigating uncharted waters can prove difficult, but it comes with the
territory of working in such a remote part of the world.
Energy Secretary Rick Perry wants to know if solar is eroding the electricity supply
The solar industry may only have 60 days to prove it’s not destroying the electric supply of the United States, or Energy Secretary Rick Perry will start dismantling its federal infrastructure, returning the United States to its rightful place as the world’s leading 19th century energy producer.