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Politics

Betsy DeVos testifies before the Senate Health, Education and Labor Committee confirmation hearing to be next Secretary of Education on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., January 17, 2017.

Betsy DeVos testifies before the Senate Health, Education and Labor Committee confirmation hearing to be next Secretary of Education on Capitol Hill in Washington, U.S., January 17, 2017.

The U.S. Senate voted Tuesday to confirm the nomination of Betsy DeVos for secretary of the U.S. Department of Education. With two Republican senators defecting, Vice President Mike Pence made history by being the first ever to cast a tie-breaking vote to confirm a Cabinet secretary.

Mrs. DeVos is a school-choice champion, education advocate and philanthropist, who has pushed for national education reform for more than two decades. The Michigan native spent more than two decades helping unprivileged children gain quality education and served as the chairwoman of the American Federation for Children.

The group’s stated mission is to “improve our nation’s K-12 education by advancing systemic and sustainable public policy that empowers parents, particularly those in low-income families, to choose the education they determine is best for their children.”

Democrats in the U.S. Senate spoke all night Monday into Tuesday in a last-ditch effort to filibuster and defeat Mrs. DeVos. While Democrats have now obstructed President Trump’s Cabinet picks to make his the slowest administration to get confirmed since George Washington, they made the nomination of Mrs. DeVos their hill to die on.

School choice is overwhelmingly supported by the American people, including minority voters in the inner city. But the American Federation of Teachers, the nation’s largest teacher union and bankroll for the Democratic Party, opposed her nomination. The AFT and allied groups spent millions to defeat Mrs. DeVos, who wasn’t without the support of outside groups.

Read Also – Following the Money Behind Opposition to Betsy DeVos for Education Secretary

“The teachers unions used their money and power to pick off two liberal Republican Senators, but their full-court press for one more Republican vote was defeated by the Club for Growth, as part of a concerted conservative effort,” said Club for Growth president David McIntosh. “Betsy DeVos’ work for school choice presents a clear threat to the status quo of the teachers unions and they declared war on her nomination.”

Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, the two Republicans who voted “No” on the cofirmation, both are on the teacher union take. Sen. Collins received an “A” grade from the National Educators Association (NEA) in 2008, which the group says was based on her voting record and “effective behind-the-scenes advocacy.” Sen. Murkowski was endorsed by the Alaska chapter of the NEA in her 2016 reelection campaign, a group that spent $2,734,000 on lobbying in the same year.

“That’s why the Club launched a six-figure investment in TV and digital ads, and robocalls, to caution potential Republican defectors,” Mr.McIntosh said, adding his group will “tell constituents in some conservative states that their Senators voted with Washington special interests.”

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The U.S. Senate with Vice President Mike

Economy

NYSE-Traders-Reuters

NYSE traders digest data on the floor of the exchange. (Photo: REUTERS)

The Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEXDJX:.DJI) and the Nasdaq Composite (INDEXNASDAQ:.IXIC) hit record highs at the open on Tuesday.

The Dow opened to 20123.50 before tapering back off to 20,098.61, still up 46.19 or 0.23%. The Nasdaq opened at 5673.88 and continued to climb to 5,681.35, or 17.80 (0.31%) as of 11:39 AM EST. The S&P 500 was up 4.15 at 2,296.71, or 0.18%.

Investors are optimistic over corporate earnings but still evaluating whether the post-election gains on stock prices are justified. Fourth-quarter earnings are now estimated to have gained 8.1%, which is the largest increase in nine quarters.

“We’re a stone’s throw away from all-time highs and the market has been sitting in a relatively tight range, looking for a fresh theme to commit capital,” said Andre Bakhos, managing director at Janlyn Capital in Bernardsville, New Jersey.

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The Dow Jones Industrial Average (INDEXDJX:.DJI) and

Opinion

President Donald J. Trump, left, sits with Bill O'Reilly for an interview that aired during the Super Bowl on Feb. 5, 2017.

President Donald J. Trump, left, sits with Bill O’Reilly for an interview that aired during the Super Bowl on Feb. 5, 2017.

Back in the 1980s, I would get very agitated when folks made excuses for brutal communist regimes by asserting that the United States also did bad things. This “moral equivalence” argument is now being recycled by Donald Trump, who basically excuses Putin’s brutality because America supposedly isn’t in any position to throw stones.

Here’s the interview, set to start at the point where Trump discusses Putin.

[brid video=”111604″ player=”2077″ title=”Bill O” Super Bowl interview with President Trump”]

This is wrong. Absurdly wrong.

Though let’s start by acknowledging that the United States is far from perfect. Our history includes black eyes such as slavery, mistreatment of native populations, incomplete legal rights for women, internment of Japanese-Americans, Jim Crow laws, persecution of gays, and other sins.

Even today, we have plenty of bad policies that restrict human liberty, often exacerbated by examples of thuggish actions by government.

But, at the risk of sounding jingoistic and patriotic, the United States began with a wonderful set of ideals and our history largely reflects a struggle to extend those ideals to the entire population.

Now let’s look at Putin.

When I tweeted my columnabout Russia’s flat tax two days ago, I screwed up by making a joke about the Trump-Putin “bro-mance.” I got savaged on Twitter by people who accused me of somehow endorsing (or at least accepting) the many repressive policies that exist in Russia.

The silver lining to Trump’s disturbing interview is that it gives me an opportunity to make clear my disapproval of both Putin and the silly doctrine of moral equivalence.

With regards to Russia’s president, do we have any reason to believe that he is motivated by the principles of classical liberalism? Does anyone think he wants to make Russia a free society? That he respects human rights and the rule of law?

Heck, even Trump didn’t dispute the premise that he’s a killer.

Moreover, how can anyone believe in moral equivalence when there’s a huge gap between the United States and Russia on measures of liberty.

Consider, for instance, the Human Freedom Index. As you can see, the United States is far from perfect. We’re ranked #23 for overall freedom, #28 for personal freedom, and #16 for economic freedom.

But we look good compared to Russia, which is #115 for overall freedom, #110 for personal freedom, and #102 for economic freedom.

And the Freedom House rankings show an equally dramatic difference.

The United States has a score of 90 on a 0-100 scale, with the highest rating for political rights and civil liberties.

Russia, by contrast, only has a score of 22 and gets the next-to-last rating for political rights and civil liberties.

To conclude, some folks sometimes say the continuing imperfections in the United States mean that there’s only a “difference in degree” between us and Russia.

My response is that if the “difference in degree” is large, then you also have a “difference in kind.”

There is no moral equivalence.

P.S. On a separate topic, you won’t be surprised by this report from the Washington Times.

More than half of IRS employees found to have intentionally cheated on their taxes last year were allowed to keep their jobs, according to numbers released by the inspector general that suggest the agency is still reluctant to punish its own staffers for breaking tax laws.

Yet another example of hypocrisy in government.

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I’ve noted the IRS has thieving employees, incompetent employees, thuggish employees, brainless employees, protectionist employees, wasteful employees, and victimizing employees. Now it has slapped-on-the-hand employees.

[caption id="attachment_49899" align="aligncenter" width="740"] President Donald J.

Politics

Betsy DeVos testifies before the Senate Health, Education and Labor Committee confirmation hearing on January 17, 2017. (Photo: Reuters)

Betsy DeVos testifies before the Senate Health, Education and Labor Committee confirmation hearing on January 17, 2017. (Photo: Reuters)

Democrats in the U.S. Senate spoke all night Monday in a last-ditch effort to filibuster and defeat the nomination of Betsy DeVos for secretary of education. With two Republican senators defecting, Democrats argued she was unqualified for the post and hoped to persuade just one more Republican.

Mrs. DeVos is a school-choice champion, education advocate and philanthropist, who has pushed for national education reform for more than two decades. The Michigan native spent more than two decades helping unprivileged children gain quality education and served as the chairwoman of the American Federation for Children.

The group’s stated mission is to “improve our nation’s K-12 education by advancing systemic and sustainable public policy that empowers parents, particularly those in low-income families, to choose the education they determine is best for their children.”

School choice is overwhelmingly supported by the American people, including minority voters in the inner city. But the American Federation of Teachers, the nation’s largest teacher union and bankroll for the Democratic Party, opposes her nomination.

We decided to follow the money to let you decide for yourself whether opposition to Mrs. DeVos is really about her qualifications, or even the children for that matter, rather than special interest funding.

In 2016, the American Federation of Teachers spent $1,350,981 on special interest’s lobbying activity, alone. According to OpenSecrets.org, the organization as a lobby has a long history of ramping up spending after Republican victories, including the most ever spent in one year being in 2011. The Republicans had just wrested back control of the House of Representatives from a Democrat supermajority. That year, the AFT kicked out a record $1,471,065 for lobbying.

Of the $249,867 spent on committees, both via individual and PAC contributions, only $23,679 was spent on the Senate Committee on Health, Education, Labor and Pensions (HELP).

Last election cycle, the organization spent some $1,801,142 in individual contributions to Democratic lawmakers in D.C. juxtaposed to only $8,000 to Republicans. And what of those Republicans?

Well, it just so happens Sen. Lisa Murkowski of Alaska and Sen. Susan Collins of Maine, the two who announced they would vote against Mrs. DeVos, both are on the teacher union take.

Sen. Collins received an “A” grade from the National Educators Association (NEA) in 2008, the highest grade possible, which the group says was based on her voting record and “effective behind-the-scenes advocacy.” Sen. Murkowski was endorsed by the Alaska chapter of the NEA in her 2016 reelection campaign, a group that spent $2,734,000 on lobbying in the same year.

With the exception of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders, Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer, D-N.Y., was also among their top recipients for donations in 2016.

Even as spending on education at the federal level has increased nearly 190% since 1970, scores have not showed dramatic improvement. While it’s certainly easy to chock up the money to an agreement on policy and ideology, the former doesn’t hold up to empirical data.

public school trends

Source: CATO

If the top priority of the unions and those who support them is the welfare of the children, then the chart above would be enough to convince anyone to change their mind.

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Follow the money behind the opposition to

Polls

Judge Neil Gorsuch speaks after he is nominated by President Donald J. Trump for the U.S. Supreme Court on January 31, 2017.

Judge Neil Gorsuch speaks after he is nominated by President Donald J. Trump for the U.S. Supreme Court on January 31, 2017.

Most voters view Judge Neil Gorsuch, who was nominated for the U.S. Supreme Court by President Donald J. Trump, as mainstream. Further, more voters support his confirmation than they did for President Barack Obama’s nominees.

Eighty-six percent (85%) and strongly believe that Judge Gorsuch will be the next Supreme Court justice, according to a round of polling conducted by Rasmussen Reports.

Him being viewed as mainstream is fueled in large part by 68% of likely voters believing the Court should rule based on what’s written in the U.S. Constitution and legal precedents.

Only 26% feel the court should be guided mostly by a sense of fairness and justice instead.

Broken down by ideology, 84% of conservatives and 61% of moderates agree the Supreme Court should only rule based on a strict interpretation of the U.S. Constitution, rather than on each judge’s sense of fairness and justice; liberals are closely divided. By party, 83% of Republicans and 67% of unaffiliated voters believe that should be the case, and a large percentage of Democrats (55%) agree.

Judge Gorsuch, 49, who serves on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit in Colorado, was appointed in 2006 by President George W. Bush. In July 2006, the U.S. Senate confirmed him unanimously by voice vote. He had the support of the very same Democrats who are now objecting to his nomination, including Sen. Schumer, then-Sens. Obama and Biden.

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Most voters view Judge Neil Gorsuch, who

Fact Check

President Donald J. Trump shakes hands with Judge Neil Gorsuch, whom he nominated for the U.S. Supreme Court on January 31, 2017.

President Donald J. Trump shakes hands with Judge Neil Gorsuch, whom he nominated for the U.S. Supreme Court on January 31, 2017.

Democrat Minority Leader Chuck Schumer erroneously claimed Republicans need “60 votes for confirmation” of Neil Gorsuch to the Supreme Court. On January 31, President Donald J. Trump nominated Judge Gorsuch for the Court vacancy left by the death of Antonin Scalia.

“Requiring 60 votes has always been the right thing to do on Supreme Court nominations, especially in these polarized times,” he said. “But now in this new era of the court, in this new administration, there is even heavier weight on this tradition.”

His assertion has been repeated by Democrats in the House and Senate, and regurgitated by TV talking heads. At the White House, a reporter asked President Trump if he would support Majority Leader Mitch McConnell changing the rules to “go nuclear” and allow only a simple majority to confirm Judge Gorsuch if Democrats attempt a filibuster.

“I’d say, Mitch, if you can, go nuclear,” the president responded.

There’s just one little problem with this conversation: The claim that 60 votes is needed to confirm a Supreme Court justice is completely false.

In fact, not only is there no constitutional requirement nor legal precedent to back him up, but two sitting justices did not receive 60 votes and yet serve on the high court right now. Justice Clarence Thomas was confirmed with only 52 votes after a smear campaign he referred to as a “high-tech lynching” of a black man who doesn’t subscribe to liberal orthodoxy. Justice Samuel Alito, another conservative, was confirmed with only 58 votes.

As a matter of fact, the other frequently cited argument from Democrats also doesn’t hold up to historical scrutiny. Many on the left claimed they will filibuster as a protest of the Republican majority’s decision to not even meet with or hold a hearing for Merrick Garland, who was nominated by Barack Obama in his final year.

But implementing the “Biden Rule” isn’t new nor was it a terribly long time to hold the seat open. The longest vacancy since the court went to nine justices in 1869 was 391 days. President Donald J. Trump and the GOP have until March 12, 2017, before the vacancy record will even be broken.

As People’s Pundit Daily (PPD) explained after Mr. Obama nominated Judge Garland, the history of obstruction relating to nominations to the high court is heavily weighted toward Democrats. Of the 15 longest confirmations, 10 were rightwing or conservative nominees, while only 4 were leftwing Supreme Court nominees and 1 independent nominee.

Judge Gorsuch, 49, who serves on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 10th Circuit in Colorado, was appointed in 2006 by President George W. Bush. In July 2006, the U.S. Senate confirmed him unanimously by voice vote. He had the support of the very same Democrats who are now objecting to his nomination, including Sen. Schumer, then-Sens. Obama and Biden.

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Democrat Minority Leader Chuck Schumer continues to

Politics

Missouri Republican Governor Eric Greitens signs "right to work" legislation.

Missouri Republican Governor Eric Greitens signs “right to work” legislation.

Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens signed “right-to-work” legislation on Monday making The Show-Me State the latest in a growing movement backed by the public.

“Today, I signed Right to Work,” Gov. Greitens said in a statement. “This is about more jobs – Missourians are ready to work, and now our state is open for business!”

Missouri now joins Kentucky, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin and West Virginia at a time when the Bureau of Labor Statistics has found union membership at a 100-year low since the year 2014. Now, with a string of victories, right to work proponents will now target New Hampshire with an aim to reform one of the labor unions’ last remaining strongholds.

If passed, The Granite State will become the first in the Northeast to approve “right-to-work” legislation. The bill, which prohibits unions from forcing employees to join or pay dues, is set for a vote in the state’s House next week and has already passed the Senate.

Consistent with year-over-year declines measured in the past, just 10 percent of Americans identified as union members in a Gallup poll conducted in August last year. At the heart of unions’ declining membership problems lays a long-observed ideological shift in America and distrust that is fueling increased disapproval in organized labor.

“At the same time Americans express greater approval than disapproval of unions, they widely support right-to-work laws,” said Jeffrey M. Jones at Gallup.

A whopping 71 percent of Americans say they would vote for a right to work law, while 82 percent of Americans agree that “no American should be required to join any private organization, like a labor union, against his will,” a central tenet of right to work philosophy.

In January, Kentucky GOP Gov. Matt Bevin signed a similar bill after it overwhelmingly passed in the Republican-led legislature. In New Hampshire, right to work hasn’t been and still won’t be as easy to get through even though Republicans won the governorship in New Hampshire last November.

State Rep. Stephen Schmidt, the Republican chairman of the House labor committee, said there are Republicans who are not going to support the bill. Republican Gov. Chris Sununu is expected to sign it if it passes, but Rep. Schmidt said it could come down to one or two votes.

“I believe it will be a very tight vote one way or another,” he said.

A similar measure passed the legislature in 2011, but was vetoed by then-Democratic Gov. John Lynch. The local branch of the AFL-CIO, which was an ally to the former governor, claimed the bill would hurt working families’ ability to bargain for higher wages.

“This bill will silence the teachers who advocate on behalf of smaller class sizes for our children, the transportation employees who negotiate for the equipment they need to keep the roads clear after a blizzard and the police and firefighters who negotiate for the staffing levels they need to keep us safe,” the New Hampshire union said.

As Republicans move right to work in the states, the vast majority of which they control completely, lawmakers in Congress are introducing national versions despite union pushback. Still, even before the widespread Democratic defeats down ballot in 2010 and 2014, then again in 2016, 24 states had already passed right to work laws.

“This bill will silence the teachers who advocate on behalf of smaller class sizes for our children, the transportation employees who negotiate for the equipment they need to keep the roads clear after a blizzard and the police and firefighters who negotiate for the staffing levels they need to keep us safe,” the New Hampshire union said.

Last week, Rep. Joe Wilson, R-S.C., unveiled and introduced the National Right to Work Act, which would amend the National Labor Relations Act to give American workers the “right” not to be forced to join a union or pay union dues.

The Supreme Court ruled on the issue, as well, but stopped short of dealing with public labor unions.

“Right-to-work states, like South Carolina, have seen first-hand that job creation and economic growth comes from expanded freedoms. We need to expand common-sense reforms, like those in the National Right to Work Act to protect American workers and create jobs,” Rep. Wilson said.

But AFL-CIO President Richard Trumka cited lower wages, which Republicans argue are due to artificial labor markets created by unions and are the cause of state budget crises.

“Right to work is a lie dressed up in a feel-good slogan. It doesn’t give workers freedom—instead, it weakens our right to join together and bargain for better wages and working conditions,” Mr. Trumka said in a statement responding to Wilson’s legislation. “Its end goal is to destroy unions. Numbers don’t lie. Workers in states with right to work laws have wages that are 12 percent lower. That’s because unions raise wages for all workers, not just our members.”

While Republican President Donald J. Trump is seen by union leadership as a friends to labor, White House Press Secretary Sean Spicer said he supports the efforts in the states and on the national level.

“The president believes in right to work. He wants to give workers and companies the flexibility to do what’s in the best interest for job creators,” Mr. Spicer said.

Missouri Gov. Eric Greitens signed “right-to-work” legislation

News, US

Casey Anthony (C) smiles at Defense Counsel Cheney Mason and Dorothy Clay Sims.

Casey Anthony (C) smiles at Defense Counsel Cheney Mason and Dorothy Clay Sims.

Casey Anthony, the infamous mother charged with killing her 2-year-old daughter Caylee, protested against President Donald J. Turmp at his Mar-a-Lago resort. At one point, before and after she was cleared in the 2008 case, Casey would never have been able to safely walk the streets in Florida.

But she was embraced by anti-Trump protestors in West Palm Beach. The video below shows Anthony, 30, wearing a backward cap, glowing wristbands and the same necklaces and wristbands as the protesters.

[brid video=”111401″ player=”2077″ title=”Casey Anthony Spotted at AntiTrump Protest”]

Search crews found little Caylee Anthony’s body stuffed inside a trash bag in the woods near the family’s home in December 2008, only months after she disappeared.

Anthony was acquitted by a jury in 2011 after defense attorneys argued that her daughter drowned in a swimming pool. The police botched the investigation and Jose Baez was able to punch holes all through the prosecutions case, even though she was a proven serial liar who wanted to party rather than be a mother.

Casey Anthony, the infamous mother charged with

News, Science, US

Enceladus as viewed from NASA's Cassini spacecraft. (Photo: Courtesy of NASA)

Enceladus as viewed from NASA’s Cassini spacecraft. (Photo: Courtesy of NASA)

Enceladus, the sixth largest moon orbiting Saturn, has become a promising lead in the search for life beyond Earth in our solar system. At only 157 miles (252 km) in mean radius, or a diameter of 314 miles (505 kilometers), Enceladus is a rather small satellite.

But under its icy crust is a global ocean potentially housing hydrothermal activity.

The latest images released by NASA were obtained by the Cassini spacecraft at a distance of approximately 81,000 miles (130,000 kilometers) from Enceladus (Image scale is 2,566 feet (782 meters) per pixel). The Cassini mission, which in 2005 revealed watery jets sending icy grains into space, is a cooperative project of NASA, ESA (the European Space Agency) and the Italian Space Agency.

In 2015, researchers analyzing data collected by Cassini over the years found a very slight wobble as it orbits Saturn, which can only be occurring if its outer ice shell is not frozen solid to its interior. The findings seem to indicate a large sea about 6 miles (10 kilometers) deep beneath the southern polar region, under an ice shell about 19 to 25 miles (30 to 40 kilometers) thick.

Scientists believe hydrothermal vents spew water vapor and ice particles from an underground ocean that hold organic compounds, such as volatile gases, carbon dioxide, carbon monoxide, salts and silica. Europa, another icy moon orbiting Jupiter, is believed to offer scientists similiar promise.

Enceladus may be relatively small, but it is one of the brightest objects in our solar system.  It was first observed by Sir William Herschel and his 1.2-meter telescope on Aug. 28, 1789.

Enceladus, the sixth largest moon orbiting Saturn,

World

Obama-Paris-Climate-Change-Conference

U.S. President Barack Obama speaks at the Paris Climate Change conference on Nov. 30, 2015. (Photo: AP)

A high-level whistleblower at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said they used a flawed global warming study to influence the Paris Climate Change Conference. This so-called evidence touted at the conference was not only designed to influence world leaders at the summit but based on misleading, “unverified” data.

Dr John Bates, a top NOAA scientist with an impeccable reputation, has given The Daily Mail “irrefutable evidence” that NOAA–the world’s leading source of climate change data–intentionally rushed to publish a landmark paper that exaggerated global warming.

The timing of the released report was also intended to bring about the historic Paris Agreement on climate change.

Data Science,Climate and satellites Consultant John J Bates, who blew the whistle to the Mail on Sunday

Data Science,Climate and satellites Consultant John J Bates, who blew the whistle to the Mail on Sunday

Dr Bates, one of two Principal Scientists at the National Centers for Environmental Information (NCEI), accused the lead author of the paper of “insisting on decisions and scientific choices that maximized warming and minimized documentation.”

According to the Mail report, Thomas Karl, who was until last year director of the NOAA section that produces climate data, engaged “in an effort to discredit the notion of a global warming pause, rushed so that he could time publication to influence national and international deliberations on climate policy.”

The NOAA report allegedly concluded that the “pause” or “slowdown” in global warming during the period from 1998 to the present–which was revealed by UN scientists in 2013–never actually occurred. Further, they cautioned that world temperatures had been rising even faster than scientists previously believed. The report was cited repeatedly by climate change-believing politicians, the mainstream media and policy-making think tanks.

Dr. Bates designed an internal review process for such studies, which he said was bypassed. The flawed conclusions of what is known as the Pausebuster paper were widely cited by delegates at the Paris Climate Change conference. Mr. Karl had a longstanding relationship with then-President Barack Obama’s chief science adviser, John Holdren, giving him a direct line of influence to the White House.

Source: The Mail -- The red line shows the current NOAA world temperature graph - elevated in recent years due to the ‘adjusted’ sea data. The blue line is the Met Office's independent HadCRUT4 record. Although they are offset in temperature by 0.12°C due to different analysis techniques, they reveal that NOAA has been adjusted and so shows a steeper recent warming trend.

Source: The Mail — The red line shows the current NOAA world temperature graph – elevated in recent years due to the ‘adjusted’ sea data. The blue line is the Met Office’s independent HadCRUT4 record. Although they are offset in temperature by 0.12°C due to different analysis techniques, they reveal that NOAA has been adjusted and so shows a steeper recent warming trend.

“They had good data from buoys. And they threw it out and ‘corrected’ it by using the bad data from ships,” Dr. Bates told The Mail. “You never change good data to agree with bad, but that’s what they did–so as to make it look as if the sea was warmer.”

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A whistleblower says the National Oceanic and

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