The science and research fields are alarmed by President Donald Trump's anti-science policies.  The White House would argue that it is pushing for  gold-standard science . What is that? The administration released their  MAHA Report , injecting politics into science. And in a “Gold Standard Science” executive order last week, President Donald Trump outlined a new level of oversight over what counts as quality evidence and what does not, putting “a senior appointee designated by the agency head” in charge of overseeing “alleged violations.” Michael Kratsios, director of the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, said in a briefing that the goal of the executive order is to “rebuild the American people’s confidence in the national science enterprise … the status quo of our research enterprise has brought diminishing returns, wasted resources and public distrust.” A petition led by the advocacy group Stand Up for Science with more than 5,000 signatories says th...

Yes, again, global warming.  But first, that  stunning decision by the Colorado Supreme Court for Donald Trump to be removed from the state presidential primary ballot  on 5 March 2024. My thoughts: The Supreme Court will either quickly reverse or find a way to delay Colorado's decision, not particularly because they're supporters of Donald Trump, but for constitutionality and timing reasons. Democrats are saying, sure, about time, for he's a bad dude. Behind the scenes, they are saying, oh no, our ticket to a landslide on November 5, 2024 has vanished.  There is no finer candidate that day for Democrats, as all the trials and tribulations of Trump will convince 5-10% of Republicans to not show up on election day, plus perhaps 5% of independents too, hurting Republican congressional and state candidates.  If Haley or DeSantis runs, that will not happen. Here is how a few Republicans responded to that decision: Nikki Haley:  “ I will tell you that I don’t th...

One way to gain a reputation of being smart is to keep abreast of what is happening around you.  Here are some tips, in priority order. LIFE Today is June 20, the Monday holiday for Juneteenth, if you live in the U.S. and work for the federal government or live in those 18 states approving day.  Here are  other countries with a national holiday today , as for example Flag Day for Argentina and Corpus Christi in Columbia, which just had a presidential election: Gustavo Petro, former mayor of Bogota, was elected as the first leftist ( for social equality and egalitarianism ) president of the country.  While you would have surmised that the country's relationship with the USA would improve, just the opposite, for Petro has been very critical of the U.S. war on drugs.  There is room for agreement, as he further is strong on reversing global climate warming. The vice president is  Francia Marquez , the first Black women in that office, who vows to stand for "nob...