All posts tagged: Congress

Trump Abruptly Fires First African American Librarian of Congress

Trump Abruptly Fires First African American Librarian of Congress

Published by skeptic

This content contains affiliate links. When you buy through these links, we may earn an affiliate commission. Welcome to Today in Books, our daily round-up of literary headlines at the intersection of politics, culture, media, and more. Trump Abruptly Fires First African American Librarian of Congress With seemingly no warning, the first woman and the first African American to be Librarian of Congress received an email from the White House’s Presidential Personnel Office notifying Carla Hayden that she was fired. AP News reported that Hayden had recently come under fire from conservative advocacy group American Accountability Foundation for “promoting children’s books with ‘radical’ content and literary material authored by Trump opponents.” AAF took to X to celebrate the termination hours before the news was made public. Democratic leaders have condemned the move and praised Hayden’s leadership, with New Mexico Senator Martin Heinrich saying Donald Trump was “taking his assault on America’s libraries to a new level.” It is exhausting to be this horrified by the callous takeouts of good people doing good work, and I …

Former Google CEO Tells Congress That 99 Percent of All Electricity Will Be Used to Power Superintelligent AI

Former Google CEO Tells Congress That 99 Percent of All Electricity Will Be Used to Power Superintelligent AI

Published by José

In Harlan Ellison’s disturbing 1967 short story “I Have No Mouth, and I Must Scream,” a sentient superintelligence named AM has taken over the earth’s resources and exterminated humanity after combining the powers of three US, Soviet, and Chinese supercomputers into one. A small group of survivors has been kept alive for AM’s amusement, forced to roam the supercomputer’s endless electronic innards. It’s a grim setting, but evidently one that billionaire tech tycoon and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt imagines for the future of humanity, if his comments to the House Committee on Energy and Commerce are any indication. “What we need from you,” Schmidt told lawmakers, “is we need the energy in all forms, renewable, non-renewable, whatever. It needs to be there, and it needs to be there quickly.” The wannabe tech overlord was appearing in front of the government panel to talk AI — specifically, what the future holds for it. “Many people project demand for our industry will go from 3 percent to 99 percent of total generation… an additional 29 gigawatts by 2027 and …

Congress has power, but question of will

Congress has power, but question of will

Published by Sam

President Donald J Trump addresses a joint session of Congress as Vice President JD Vance and Speaker of the House Mike Johnson (R-LA) listen in the Capitol building’s House chamber on Tuesday, March 04, 2025 in Washington, DC.  Jabin Botsford | The Washington Post | Getty Images President Donald Trump is on a tariff spree — and it’s unclear if Congress will try to stop him even as it has the potential power to do so. Trump unveiled a nearly global tariff regime on Wednesday, slapping a blanket 10% duty on almost every country on the planet and saddling dozens of them with significantly higher tariff rates. The sweeping policy pronouncement promptly torpedoed stocks in the U.S. and around the world, ratcheting up recession fears and triggering aggressive retaliation by China. The new U.S. import duties follow other protectionist policies that Trump, who champions tariffs as an economic cure-all, has rolled out since taking office in January. Trump’s tariff powers Trump’s executive order implementing his so-called reciprocal tariffs says that he derives his authority for …

An Open Letter to Members of the United States Congress

An Open Letter to Members of the United States Congress

Published by skeptic

From United States Members of the Sisters of Charity Federation As women religious and members of the Sisters of Charity Federation in the United States, we are committed to serving the most vulnerable. United in mission, we embrace our calling to respond to the needs of those living in poverty and on the margins, while also caring for our common home. We can no longer be silent as we witness abrupt and devastating policy changes that threaten the well-being of our communities, particularly the most vulnerable among us. Our faith, along with the values our country was founded on, calls us to act in solidarity with all people, especially those who suffer injustice, exclusion, and hardship. As members of Congress, you bear the profound responsibility of shaping policies that reflect the moral values of justice, compassion, and respect for human rights and human dignity. We urge you to recognize your moral authority in making decisions that impact the lives of countless individuals. Your votes and actions matter—they define our nation’s character and determine whether we …

Tell Congress to Oppose the Educational Choice for Children Act!

Tell Congress to Oppose the Educational Choice for Children Act!

Published by skeptic

Tell Congress to Oppose the Educational Choice for Children Act! Humanists, They’re at it again: the religious right has unveiled a bill that would completely overhaul the US tax system to send billions of taxpayer dollars to religious schools. We need to speak up NOW–we’re hearing from friends in Congress that there’s a good chance the majority will try to sneak this proposal into a larger legislative package. As humanists, we know that school vouchers do a world of harm. The religious right says they promote “educational freedom,” but private school vouchers do not provide real freedom or choice to students and parents. The “choice” in voucher programs is given overwhelmingly to private schools, which can choose to legally discriminate against students for reasons including disability, sexual orientation and gender identity, religion, academic achievement, and economic status. Private school voucher programs undermine our nation’s public schools by diverting desperately-needed resources away from the public school system to fund the education of a few, select students in private, often religious, schools. The Educational Choice for Children …

Reclaim Religious Freedom – Tell Congress to Support the Do No Harm Act

Reclaim Religious Freedom – Tell Congress to Support the Do No Harm Act

Published by skeptic

Photo by Matt @elevenphotographs on Unsplash The Do No Harm Act has been reintroduced in Congress by Senator Cory Booker (NJ) and Representative Bobby Scott (VA-3). This bill is fundamental to the goals of the American Humanist Association—and we have the power to make it law with your help. Act now—tell Congress to cosponsor the Do No Harm Act! Whether we are Black, White, Brown, or Indigenous; whether we identify as women, men, or nonbinary; regardless of whether we’re Muslim, Christian, humanist, Hindu, or Jewish; whether we’re gay, straight, or somewhere in between; we share a fundamental belief: every person deserves the freedom to be their authentic self and have equal access to services and opportunities. In the years since the Religious Freedom Restoration Act (RFRA) was enacted in 1993, the far-right has been misusing it to weaponize religion. Today, the law is being insidiously used to undermine nondiscrimination laws and to manipulate our country’s longstanding definition of religious freedom—a freedom that should ensure all people can practice their faith or philosophy, so long as …

Hamilton’s Folly: The U.S President’s Pardoning Power and Questions of Forgiveness

Hamilton’s Folly: The U.S President’s Pardoning Power and Questions of Forgiveness

Published by skeptic

“The benign prerogative of pardoning” At the birth of the United States, Alexander Hamilton argued in Federalist 74 that “Humanity and good policy conspire to dictate, that the benign prerogative of pardoning should be as little as possible fettered or embarrassed.” Yet, long before Trump and Biden’s recent pardons, the pardoning power has been controversial almost from the start. As Duker (1977) wrote in the aftermath of Nixon’s pardoning, the pardon is part of the very bedrock of Anglo-Saxon common law as an essential prerogative of the monarch. Unsurprisingly, the question of the pardoning power was taken up by the Founding Fathers, where the least restrictive form of the pardon found its greatest champion in Alexander Hamilton. In Federalist 74,  Hamilton offers two arguments for a strong pardoning power—expediting mercy and quelling insurrections. Hamilton felt mercy was an essential feature of government, and should not be stuck behind political impediments. Hamilton believed pardons were essential for any president to negotiate with insurrectionists, who might otherwise fight to the last if they could not surrender. Thus, …

New Year, New Secular Representation in Congress

New Year, New Secular Representation in Congress

Published by skeptic

The American Humanist Association (AHA) and Center for Freethought Equality (CFE) staff met with new and returning Members of Congress on the very first day of the 119th Congress session to begin establishing important relationships and putting a face to the powerful secular constituency. Although Congress continues to be more religious than the country as a whole—CQ Roll Call survey reported that 95 percent of Senate and House members identify with a religious faith, while a Pew Research Center survey found 70% of Americans affiliate with a religious faith—there is a growing cohort of nonreligious members. For Democrats, incoming Arizona Representative Yassamin Ansari identified as “agnostic,” incoming Washington Representative Emily Randall identified as “none” (she will also be the first openly queer Latina in Congress), and California Representative Jared Huffman continues to identify as a “humanist.” Ohio’s Dave Taylor is the one Republican who did not specify a religious affiliation. CQ Roll Call stated that, “another 21 Democrats did not specify a religious affiliation.” Hemant Mehta recognized CFE Political Manager Ron Millar for encouraging Ansari …

US Congress Reforms National Park Rule Limiting Commercial Photography

US Congress Reforms National Park Rule Limiting Commercial Photography

Published by skeptic

In a late-term legislative move, President Joe Biden signed the EXPLORE Act, whose name is short for the Expanding Public Lands Outdoor Recreation Experiences Act. The law reforms existing rules that restrict film and photography in national parks. A part of the law, the FILM Act, will also address long-running concerns about burdensome permit requirements for filmmakers and photographers seeking to take footage in the parks. Under the old standards, permits were mandatory and could be denied for various reasons that some detractors saw as inconsistent. The process was challenged in a lawsuit in December 2024 by the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression (FIRE), the National Press Photographers Association, and videographers Alexander Rienzie and Connor Burkesmith. The groups claimed the government’s restriction as unlawful, arguing the procedure violated First Amendment rights. Related Articles The new law takes away permit requirements for small groups carrying out photography on national park land. Fewer than six people are now allowed to shoot footage of the parks, provided they abide by regulations by avoiding disruptions to the habitats …

119th Congress Gains Much-Needed Nonreligious Representation with Rep. Yassamin Ansari

119th Congress Gains Much-Needed Nonreligious Representation with Rep. Yassamin Ansari

Published by skeptic

Yassamin Ansari’s election to the U.S. House of Representatives for Arizona’s 3rd Congressional District marks a significant milestone for the representation of secular individuals and the principle of separation between church and state. As an openly agnostic individual, Ansari joins a small but growing cohort of non-religious lawmakers reflecting the increasing diversity of non-religious beliefs among Americans. The religious composition of the 119th Congress remains predominantly Christian, with approximately 87% identifying as such according to Pew Research Center, despite nearly 28% of Americans identifying as religiously unaffiliated, which includes humanists, atheists, agnostics, or those with no particular religious affiliation. Ansari’s presence in Congress helps bridge this representational gap, offering a voice to millions of secular Americans whose perspectives have historically been underrepresented in the federal legislature. Ansari’s agnosticism is deeply rooted in her family history, with her grandparents fleeing Iran after the revolution of 1979. She says her family generally left religious practice behind in the trauma. “I actually consider myself agnostic… I respect everyone’s faith, but I do not personally practice one,” she is …