ECONOMY

Trump Threatens to Cut $1 Billion From National Park Service Budget

Image

He’s still mad about the Inauguration crowd size photos showing Obama’s crowd much larger – By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. – Still furious with the National Park Service for releasing photos showing his inauguration crowd size to be half the crowd who showed up in 2009 for President Barack Obama’s inauguration, President Donald Trump…

One Hundred Days in Trumpville: The People Must Act to Stop This Madness

Image

The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. – Rather than changing the name of the Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America, if Trump is allowed to continue transforming this country as he has tried to do in his first 100 days back in the White House, we might as well…

The Sun Sets on Human Possibilities on This 55th Anniversary of Earth Day

Image

The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – It is a sad time for Planet Earth, maybe the saddest of times since the first Earth Day 55 years ago today. By the 20th anniversary in 1990, after news organizations developed specialty beats to cover “pollution” of the natural environment in the United States and around…

What Could Possibly Go Wrong? Vengeance Most Fowl

Image

The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – “What could possibly go wrong?” Donald Trump and Elon Musk could learn a thing or two from British animated comedy team Wallace and Gromit. That is if they were the least bit interested in learning, as opposed to destroying education and the concept of human learning in…

A New Red Scare Threatens American Democracy From Within the White House

Image

Can factual reporting diligently investigated and brilliantly written still make a difference? – The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – A new Red Scare threatens American democracy. This time, it’s not a deranged Senator from Wisconsin making all the noise and ruining lives. It’s the president himself, seemingly serving the interests of the new…

Elon Musk’s Boring Company Is Tunneling Beneath Las Vegas With Little Oversight

Image

By Daniel Rothberg for ProPublica and Dayvid Figler, City Cast Las Vegas – Elon Musk’s Boring Company spent years pitching cities on a novel solution to traffic, an underground transportation system to whisk passengers through tunnels in electric vehicles. Proposals in Illinois and California fizzled after officials and the public began scrutinizing details of the…

Liz Cheney: Helping Kamala Harris Make the Closing Argument Against Trump

Image

By Glynn Wilson – No matter how this election turns out, my retirement from political news and journalism is imminent. Social media has made news, journalism and facts irrelevant, even as Mark Zuckerberg and Meta are making the first big social media program Facebook irrelevant, by ignoring and downplaying news and politics. No matter that…

The Question that Will Not Be Asked at the Biden-Trump Debate

Image

What to do about the electric power demands of artificial intelligence data centers? – The Big Picture –  By Glynn Wilson – CATOCTIN MOUNTAINS, Md. – It’s a lovely summer day in the mountains, and the last thing I want to be doing is thinking about this Biden-Trump rematch presidential debate everyone on news talk and…

Going Forward On the Economy, Inflation: A Non-Partisan, Practical Approach

Image

By George Zadigian – While we often like to think America is “Number One”, underneath that veneer of bravado, we often feel like our free-market economy is less than stable and fair. Inflation has undermined family budgets and our financial plight often feels far from prosperous. As we try to cope with these challenges, rather…

Biden Administration Seeks Public Comments on Large Offshore Wind Project on Virginia Coast

Image

Staff Report – WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Biden administration is seeking public comments on a large offshore wind farm project along the coast of Virginia in the Atlantic Ocean. The U.S. Environmental Protection Agency announced the opening of a 30-day public comment period on Jan. 29 for a draft Clean Air Act Outer Continental Shelf…

Biden Administration Proposes Historic Ban on Cutting Old Growth Trees in National Forests

Image

By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — On the heels of a historic agreement in Dubai calling for the first time for countries to transition away from fossil fuel use for powering energy and transportation, the chief cause of climate change due to global warming, the Biden administration just announced a proposal to conserve old-growth…

Study: Google and Meta Owe News Publishers at Least $12 Billion

Image

The Big Picture – By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — Do you like reading news online but hate paywalls and popup ads? There is a solution. But it will take a smart law firm to file the right kind of legal case against Google and Meta to bring it about. It has long been…

New FBI Headquarters Will Be Built in Greenbelt, Maryland

Image

By Jennifer Shutt – Maryland Matters – ANNAPOLIS, Md. — After years of wrangling between politicians in Virginia and Maryland, it appears the new Federal Bureau of Investigation headquarters will be built just north of Washington, D.C. in Greenbelt, Maryland, according to a statement from the General Services Administration. The Greenbelt site appears to have…

The Times Buried the Lede: A Criminal Conviction Would End Trump’s Chances of Being Elected President Again

Image

Public Opinion – National Politics – By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — Wait just a doggone minute. Did The New York Times just bury the lede? In the Sunday Times, a banner headline promoting a public opinion story about the 2024 presidential election proclaimed that President Joe Biden was trailing former President Donald Trump…

Budget Gridlock in Congress Could Carry Over Into 2024 Election Year

Image

By Jennifer Shutt – Maryland Matters – ANNAPOLIS, Md. — Congress will need to pass a second stopgap funding measure before Thanksgiving if lawmakers want to avoid a government shutdown, though pushing off final decisions on full-year spending bills until next year would put lawmakers smack dab in the middle of what’s expected to be…

House Votes to Approve Aid for Israel With No Money for Ukraine

US_Capitol-night5e

The Dead on Arrival Bill Included a Partisan Poison Pill to Cut Federal Spending – By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — In a crass attempt to appear to side with Israel in its war with Hamas in Gaza the new Speaker of the House Mike Johnson brought up a bill which included $14.3 billion…

Public Attention to Political News Drops: Implications for the Future of News and Democracy

Image

By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — As wars continue to rage in Israel-Gaza and Russia-Ukraine, and the Republicans still can’t seem to find a Speaker of the House they can get behind, what is the American public paying attention to and concerned about these days? Judging by what people seem to be interested in…

Government Shutdown Will Close America’s National Parks, Impede Visitor Access and Services

IMG_6153

Staff Report – WASHINGTON, D.C. — The Department of the Interior held a press conference on Thursday afternoon to inform the press and the people about what they can expect to happen if and when Congress fails to compromise to keep the United States government open and running and forces a massive federal government shutdown…

National Parks Set Visitation and Economic Impact Record: Biden Administration Addresses Funding Shortfalls

Image

Staff Report – WASHINGTON, D.C. — While the American public appears to be divided on political issues these days and sometimes disagree on the role of government, there is one federal program most people love no matter what political party they vote for at election time: National Parks. Documentary filmmaker Ken Burns called this “America’s…

Rebuilding American Infrastructure With Millions in Grants

Image

By Glynn Wilson – WASHINGTON, D.C. — There was a time in a previous reality when creating tens of thousands of good paying jobs while rebuilding America would have been big news in newspapers and on television news channels. Not anymore. Social media sensationalism and silly memes and videos have replaced the grocery store checkout…