https://livingheritagejourneys.eu/cpresources/twentytwentyfive/ jilibet 006
2025-01-27
jilibet ph m home
As bad as many of us believed a Trump 2.0 administration would be, President-elect Donald Trump ’s promises and actions since he won underscore that it will be even worse than we could have imagined. Look no further than the basket of deplorables he has put forward for Cabinet and White House posts: radical right-wing polemicist Stephen Miller as deputy White House chief of staff ; Russia sympathizer Tulsi Gabbard for director of national intelligence ; defender of soldiers charged with war crimes Pete Hegseth for defense secretary (who paid off a woman who accused him of sexual assault but denies her allegations); former wrestling executive Linda McMahon for education ; pseudoscience promoter Robert F. Kennedy Jr. for Health and Human Services ; and snake-oil-peddling TV doctor Mehmet Oz for Medicare and Medicaid , to name a few. What can be done before Trump and his gang of delinquents start running the show? The first line of defense occurs over the next nine weeks. Joe Biden is still president until noon on Jan. 20. Democrats still have the majority in the Senate until Jan. 3. It is incumbent on them to use their powers to the maximum to lessen the damage that lies ahead, by highlighting the threats from unqualified and unacceptable nominees and from the dangerous policies that Trump and his team are set to implement. Let’s start with the president. Biden has already acted to protect Ukraine as much as he can from Trump’s virtual promise to sell Ukraine out to Vladimir Putin’s Russia . In addition to this week lifting restrictions on Ukraine so they can launch U.S. missiles into Russian territory, he has agreed to send U.S. land mines and allow U.S. military contractors to deploy to Ukraine . He can follow up by delivering as much aid and as many weapons as possible, and by releasing to Ukraine several billion dollars we hold in frozen Russian assets and convincing our allies to do the same. It is critical that Biden put Ukraine in the best standing and negotiation position before Trump takes over and presses the nation to accept any press deal. Neal Urwitz Nov. 21, 2024 Biden cannot prevent Trump from eviscerating NATO, withdrawing U.S. troops from South Korea, withholding support from Taiwan and creating a global trade war, but he can use his bully pulpit now to lay out why the political, security and economic framework crafted since World War II is far better than the hellscape Trump proposes with an alliance of vicious dictators and a regime of huge tariffs that will raise prices for all of us. Whatever pain America endured in fighting wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, a world where our allies in Europe, South Korea and Taiwan are threatened could drag America into bigger wars and create global economic catastrophe, a small version of which would occur with a trade war over tariffs. Whatever the limits of our global trade structure, it has avoided a global depression. Biden should also wield his pardon power to protect the innocent people whom Trump could target with bogus prosecutions – starting with retired members of the U.S. military whom Trump and his defense secretary nominee are threatening to charge with treason over the withdrawal from Afghanistan. Trump has vowed to prosecute a long list of his perceived political enemies , from the three Democrats against whom he ran for president – Biden, Vice President Kamala Harris and former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton – to Special counsel Jack Smith, Manhattan District Attorney Alvin Bragg, former Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Mark Milley, former FBI Director James Comey and the Democrats in Congress who ran his impeachment hearings, among others. He’s also threatened Republicans who dared to challenge him, from outspoken former House GOP Reps. Liz Cheney and Adam Kinzinger to lawyer and Lincoln Project co-founder George Conway, as well as those closer to him – his niece Mary Trump and his former lawyer Michael Cohen. President Gerald Ford’s pardon of former President Richard Nixon on Sept. 8, 1974 occurred before any prosecution against Nixon, so we know it can be done. Of course, even with preemptive pardons for imagined offenses, that does not mean that Trump and his attorney general cannot invent new charges. But prosecutions of that sort would look even more punitive and illegitimate than what Trump has threatened so far. The fact that Trump could also use the pardon power for malignant ends should not stop Biden from employing it for legitimate ones. As for the Senate, its first and most urgent responsibility is to act as a judicial confirmation machine before the next Congress begins on Jan. 3, working night and day to fill every federal judicial vacancy for district and appeals courts. Senate Democrats have confirmed a slew of Biden-nominated judges , and they are confirming more. But the pace is still too slow, and the willingness to cut deals with Republicans is too great. Senate Judiciary Committee Chair Dick Durbin must not be swayed by the use of the so-called blue slip – a norm that allows senators to block the confirmation of judges in their home states. There is zero doubt that if Durbin allows seats to stay vacant for this reason, the GOP will ignore the blue slip when they take power, only to fill seats entirely with right-wing Trump loyalists. Albert R. Hunt Nov. 6, 2024 These judicial appointments are particularly important to ensure the legal system can be used after Trump’s inauguration on Jan. 20 to impede maneuvers by Trump and his cronies to bypass laws and conventions. If lower court judges who can be appointed now put up some speed bumps and stop signs to slow down Trump’s reckless policies, even this pliant Supreme Court is unlikely to green-light all of them. The Senate can also act immediately to oppose Trump’s nominees and raise the alarm over White House officials and policy who are not subject to Senate approval. Once the GOP controls the chamber in early January, it is unlikely to give the president-elect’s picks the scrutiny they deserve. Some appointees, like anti-immigrant extremist Tom Homan for border czar ; tycoons and political dilettantes Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy for the made-up Department of Government Efficiency ; and Miller for a senior White House job, are not subject to Senate confirmation despite wielding enormous power. Trump’s destructive plans – from detaining and deporting immigrants and awarding ginormous tax cuts to the rich to eviscerating health protections and destroying the civil service – need to be spotlighted and stopped before they are inflicted on the country and the world. We need every Senate committee to mobilize for pre-confirmation hearings on this rogue’s gallery of Hegseth, Gabbard, Kennedy and Oz, not to mention Pam Bondi for attorney general , John Ratcliffe for the CIA and others. This isn’t what Democratic senators and their leader, Chuck Schumer, want to do over the holiday period. But it’s vital that they frame for America the very dangerous consequences of Trump’s victory, and the dire implications for all of us if his worst excesses aren’t blocked. This is no ordinary time, and it cannot be met by ordinary responses. Norman Ornstein is an emeritus scholar at the American Enterprise Institute and co-host of the podcast “Words Matter” on the DSR Network.The US says it pushed retraction of a famine warning for north Gaza. Aid groups express concern.Unhoused people in Los Angeles' Skid Row last month. Ringo Chiu/AP Homelessness in America reached the highest level on record last year, according to new data released by the Department of Housing and Urban Development—and it will likely only get worse, in light of both a Supreme Court decision issued in June and President-elect Donald Trump’s forthcoming presidency. The annual report —which estimates the number of people staying in shelters, temporary housing, and on the streets on a single night—found more than 770,000 people experiencing homelessness on a single night this past January, up 18 percent from a night in January 2023. The increase in the rate of families experiencing homelessness was even steeper, rising 39 percent from 2023 to 2024. And there was a 33 percent increase in children experiencing homelessness, bringing the amount recorded earlier this year to nearly 150,000 kids. (Experts say the numbers are likely an undercount.) HUD attributes this rise to “significant increases in rental costs, as a result of the pandemic and nearly decades of under-building of housing,” as well as natural disasters—such as the deadly August 2023 Maui wildfires —that destroyed housing. Other factors include “rising inflation, stagnating wages among middle- and lower-income households, and the persisting effects of systemic racism [that] have stretched homelessness services systems to their limits,” the report says. (Black people remain overrepresented, accounting for 12 percent of the US population but 32 percent of those experiencing homelessness, according to the report.) California and New York had the highest numbers of people experiencing homelessness. Some of the nationwide increase, the report notes, was also due to “a result of [communities’] work to shelter a rising number of asylum seekers.” In New York City , for example, asylum seekers accounted for almost 88 percent of the increase in sheltered homelessness. HUD points out that the counts were conducted after Republicans in Congress blocked a bipartisan Senate deal that would have funded border security and before President Joe Biden’s border crackdown via executive action—a reference Sen. John Cornyn (R-Texas) aimed to use to his advantage. Balakrishnan Rajagopal, the UN Special Rapporteur on the right to adequate housing, responded on X that this was a “misdiagnosis of its causes,” adding that he has a report forthcoming on “this easy scapegoating of migrants for the homelessness crisis.” Despite the bleakness of the data, there were some signs of progress: Homelessness among veterans dropped to the lowest number on record: 32,882—an 8 percent decrease from 2023. The report also spotlights a few places ( Dallas , Los Angeles , and Chester County, Pennsylvania) that saw significant decreases in people experiencing homelessness thanks to targeted efforts to increase the availability of housing and other supportive services. Still, it’s hard not to see the data as an indictment of one of the world’s wealthiest nations, where basic necessities— housing , food , and healthcare —are out of reach to many low- and middle-income families. And, as the report intimates, it is likely that people experiencing homelessness will face even greater challenges in light of Grants Pass v. Johnson , the June Supreme Court decision that essentially greenlit the criminalization of homelessness. (As I have reported , domestic violence prevention advocates expect the ruling will be catastrophic for survivors, given the role abusive relationships can play in driving victims to homelessness.) Ann Olivia, CEO of the National Alliance to End Homelessness, said in a statement she hopes the data will spur lawmakers “to advance evidence-based solutions to this crisis.” (Vice President Kamala Harris made new housing construction a key part of her campaign.) Some Democrats agree that politicians have to act—and fast: “As housing prices increase, homelessness increases,” Rep. Maxwell Frost (D-Fla.) posted in response to the same AP article . “Homelessness is a housing problem.” But don’t hold your breath: Trump’s acolytes have signaled their desires to slash the social safety net and enact mass deportations of undocumented people, which experts have said will likely exacerbate the housing crisis given the role immigrants play in the construction industry. The closest his budding administration has come to offering a solution is VP-elect JD Vance’s claim that mass deportations will solve the housing shortage by freeing up units.
jilibet ph m home
。
Top 5 Biotech Stocks Dominating Retail Investor Conversations In 2024
NoneNathan Ake calls on Man City to show character after latest setback
SPRINGFIELD — The minimum wage in Illinois will increase to $15 an hour on Jan. 1, completing a six-year transition period since the increase was approved in 2019. Beginning New Year’s Day, Illinois workers making minimum wage will see wages rise by $1 and tipped workers will see their paychecks bump to $9 an hour. Youth workers under 18 who work fewer than 650 hours a year will have a $13 minimum wage. The final increase, ending a six-year ramp which began with the minimum wage rising from $8.25 to $9.25 on Jan. 1, 2020, puts a bow on Gov. JB Pritzker’s first major legislative victory. He signed the wage increase in February 2019 about a month after being sworn in for his first term, checking off a top campaign promise. “Since day one of my administration, I’ve made it my mission to build an economy that works for everyone and raising the minimum wage to $15 an hour fulfills that promise to our working families,” Pritzker said in a statement. “This increase honors the workers who power our state and ensures they can better support their families, bringing us closer to a stronger, more equitable economy for all.” Illinois will be one of 10 states with a minimum wage of $15 or greater, according to the National Employment Law Project. Twenty-two other states are also increasing their wages on Jan. 1. The minimum wage increase is one of many economic changes that have happened since 2019, including effects of the pandemic, Illinois Chamber of Commerce CEO Lou Sandoval told Capitol News Illinois. He said those have caused businesses to adjust their operations in a variety of ways, such as increasing automation. “I think you’re starting to see businesses pivot in terms of how they’re adjusting,” Sandoval said. “You’re seeing this at the national chains.” Some restaurants, for example, are “moving away from larger sit-down areas into grab-and-go.” Illinois job growth has been slow since October 2019, according to a November report by the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability. The state has seen a net increase of 28,700 jobs from October 2019 through October 2024. That’s a growth rate of 0.5%, compared to the national rate of 4.9%. The rate of new job postings by businesses at the beginning of the year will shed some light on how the jump to $15 on Jan. 1 is impacting business operations, Sandoval said. To help small businesses with the change, the state provides a tax credit through 2027 to businesses with 50 or fewer employees for wages paid to minimum-wage workers. The 2019 minimum wage law marked the first increase since the wage hit $8.25 in 2010. Senate Majority Leader Kimberly Lightford, D-Westchester, introduced a bill to raise it to $15 an hour in 2017 that was passed by the General Assembly and vetoed by Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner. Lightford sponsored the initiative again in 2019. “As a state, we have helped countless workers make ends meet, reduce financial stress, and provide a more solid foundation for their futures,” Lightford said in a statement. “The $15 minimum wage is a testament to our commitment to economic justice and our belief that everyone who works full time deserves a living wage.” The value of a $15 minimum wage, however, has changed since lawmakers acted in 2019. A person making $8.25 in February 2019 would need to earn $10.30 today to have the same buying power after inflation, according to the Consumer Price Index. A $15 hourly wage today has the buying power that $12.02 had in February 2019. A person would need to make an $18.72 wage today to have the same buying power that $15 had in February 2019. Top Democrats didn’t say if they will push for new increases. “As a Senator of 25 years, history has shown my commitment of fighting to ensure workers are paid a living wage. That commitment still holds strong today,” Lightford said in an email statement. Pritzker said he supports ideas that will help workers make more money, but didn’t commit to supporting any plan to raise the minimum wage further when pressed about it at a news conference Dec. 11. “We always are thinking about how do you balance the need for higher wages with the needs that businesses have to hire people and do it affordably. But I think we did it the right way when we did it back in 2019,” Pritzker said. The new $15 wage equates to a 40-hour-per-week annual salary of $31,200 before taxes. That equals the federal government’s poverty level for a four-person household. The poverty level is $15,060 in a single-person household. But according to calculations in a national project by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, $15 hourly still doesn’t equate to a “living” wage in Illinois, based on U.S. Census Bureau cost of living and other cost estimates provided by federal agencies adjusted for inflation. A single adult with no children needs a $22.86 hourly salary to make a living wage in Illinois, while a two-parent household with two working adults and three children would each need to earn $31.69. In a two-parent household with one working adult and one child, the worker needs $36.49 to make a living wage, according to the MIT project. Inflation is making it hard for workers to benefit from wage increases, Sandoval said, adding rising wages also cause businesses to raise prices. “They might get the wage increase on one side, but their cost of living goes up accordingly,” Sandoval said. Gov. JB Pritzker announces support for stricter rules around hemp products like delta-8 THC during a news conference on Friday, Dec. 13, 2024. Get Government & Politics updates in your inbox! Stay up-to-date on the latest in local and national government and political topics with our newsletter.One thing nearly all former presidents have in common is a love of sports. For Donald Trump, the game was golf. For Barack Obama, the sport was basketball. President George W. Bush owned Major League Baseball’s Texas Rangers. For Jimmy Carter, the sport was tennis. At the Jimmy Carter National Historical Park is a clay tennis court. The tennis court was installed during Carter’s childhood on the family farm. The farm and his childhood home later became the location for the park in Plains, Georgia. In his 1975 book “Why Not the Best?” Carter described how he would play against his father as a teenager. “My father ... was an excellent tennis player,” Carter wrote. “I could never beat my father. He had a wicked sliced ball which barely bounded at all on the relatively soft dirt court.” RELATED STORY | Former President Jimmy Carter dies at age 100 Carter was able to upgrade his court when he entered the White House in 1977. The complex had a court installed during President Theodore Roosevelt’s tenure. But during his time in the White House, the use of the tennis courts became political fodder. Staffer James Fallows wrote in The Atlantic that Carter would personally sign off on when the White House tennis court could be used, and by which staffers. “The in-house tennis enthusiasts, of whom I was perhaps the most shameless, dispatched brief notes through his secretary asking to use the court on Tuesday afternoons while he was at a congressional briefing, or a Saturday morning, while he was away,” Fallows wrote. “I always provided spaces where he could check Yes or No; Carter would make his decision and send the note back, initialed J.” Carter was asked by Bill Moyers about whether he personally signed off on the tennis court’s use. Carter told Moyers he delegated the task to a secretary. Carter’s love of tennis came home to Plains in 1977 during his first year in the White House. World Team Tennis staged a match in the small Georgia town, which was attended by Carter’s mother Lillian. The competition was between a team of Soviet Union stars against top Americans playing on the Phoenix Racquets.The Dallas Cowboys are shutting down CeeDee Lamb for the rest of the season after the star wideout played through a shoulder injury for nearly two months. Lamb initially sprained the AC joint in his right shoulder on Nov. 3 but has not missed any of the Cowboys' first 15 games this season. "Additional examinations and scans this week on CeeDee Lamb's shoulder have determined that his injury has now progressed to a point that he will be listed as ‘Out' for the remaining two games of the season," a team spokesperson said in a statement to media outlets. "He will undergo a process of treatment and rehabilitation for his shoulder, is not currently expected to require surgery and is projected to make a full recovery." The Cowboys (7-8), eliminated from playoff contention, face two division rivals to close the season. They visit the Philadelphia Eagles on Sunday and will host the Washington Commanders in Week 18. Lamb, 25, hauled in 101 receptions for 1,194 yards and six touchdowns this season. It marked his fourth straight 1,000-yard season, and he may be selected to a fourth straight Pro Bowl for his efforts. Lamb signed a four-year, $136 million contract extension in August, covering the 2025-28 seasons. --Field Level Media
Ducks fans fly out to Indy for Big Ten championship game: 'Penn State's in for a rude awakening'
‘Unhinged behaviour’ – Naomi Osaka shares her panic as she survives first day of preseason training
Akamai Technologies Inc. stock underperforms Tuesday when compared to competitors
