Stephan: In my opinion, the Biden administration has not gotten the credit they should for restoring the economy after the debacle of Trump, and radically reducing things like unemployment aid. And don't call out inflation, because there is very little a president can do about inflation. What is going on now is being driven by the effect on oil and gas prices in light of the Russian invasion of Ukraine and has nothing to do with Biden.
Employers manned booths with banners promoting their companies benefits, free logo branded swag and listed salary pay scales and in some cases recruitment bonuses in order to entice job applicants to approach their booths. Credit: AP/Rogelio V. Solis
WASHINGTON, D.C. — The number of Americans collecting unemployment benefits fell to a 52-year low after another decline in jobless aid applications last week.
Jobless claims fell by 17,000, from 249,000 to 232,000 for the week ending Feb. 19, the Labor Department reported Thursday.
The four-week average for claims, which compensates for weekly volatility, fell by 7,250 to 236,250. It was the third straight week of declines after rising for five straight weeks as the omicron variant of the coronavirus spread, disrupting business in many parts of the U.S.
In total, 1,476,000 Americans were collecting jobless aid the week that ended Feb. 5, a decrease of about 112,000 from the previous week and the lowest level since March 14, 1970, the government said.
First-time applications for jobless aid generally track the pace of layoffs, which are back down to fairly healthy pre-pandemic levels.
Giles Fraser, Rector at the South London Church of St Mary’s, Newington, U.K. - UnHerd
Stephan: To more fully understand Vladimir Putin, his religious views must be factored in. Here from an Anglican minister and journalist is an important aspect of Putin's personality, one that is almost never even mentioned. Worth reading.
Threatened by an uprising of his treacherous generals, the Christian Emperor Basil II, based in the glorious city of Byzantium, reached out to his enemies, the pagans over in the land of the Rus. Basil II was a clever deal maker. If Vladimir of the Rus would help him put down the revolt, he would give him the hand of his sister in marriage. This was a status changer for Vladimir: the marriage of a pagan to an imperial princess was unprecedented. But first Vladimir would have to convert to Christianity.
Returning to Kyev in triumph, Vladimir proceeded to summon the whole city to the banks of the river Dnieper for a mass baptism. The year is 988. This is the founding, iconic act of Russian Orthodox Christianity. It was from here that Christianity would spread out and merge with the Russian love of the motherland, to create a powerful brew of nationalism and spirituality. In the mythology of 988, it was as if the whole of the Russian people had been baptised. Vladimir was declared […]
Stephan: Get really clear in your mind. The Republicans are trying to restructure our democracy such that the forms remain, but the substance has been drained away. If you value democracy you must vote Democratic. This is a two-party system, third parties don't win, and you can not be an ethical person and vote Republican. That is not a partisan statement, it is based on facts.
U.S. Supreme Court Associate Justices Brett Kavanaugh, Amy Coney Barrett and Neil M. Gorsuch Credit: Alex Wong/Getty
In a late Friday afternoon filing as war raged in Ukraine and as President Joe Biden announced Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson as his nominee to replace Justice Stephen Breyer on the U.S. Supreme Court, North Carolina Republicans dropped their own bombshell: a legal filing in the Supreme Court that if successful would not only restore the state legislature’s ability to engage in partisan gerrymandering and perhaps tip control of Congress, but would radically alter the power of state courts to rein in state legislatures that violate voting rights in federal elections. There are strong arguments Republicans should lose this case, but don’t count them out before a polarized and politicized Supreme Court.
A few years ago, in a case called Rucho v. Common Cause, the U.S. Supreme Court shut the federal courthouse door to partisan gerrymandering claims—claims that political parties drawing maps for electing members of Congress or state legislative bodies manipulated those maps purely for partisan gain. The Rucho court majority opinion […]
Stephan: Outlawing abortion does not end abortion, and the development of new pharmaceuticals has radically changed the dynamics of this struggle as Texas illustrates.
Credit: Eric Gay / AP
Requests for abortion pills skyrocketed in Texas after a state law that bans abortions around six weeks of pregnancy went into effect last September.
A study published Friday in JAMA Network Open, by researchers at the University of Texas, found requests made by Texans to an international humanitarian organization called Aid Access, which provides abortion medication by mail, soared by nearly 1,200 percent the week Senate Bill 8 went into effect.
During the following three weeks, that number fell, but daily requests remained significantly elevated — an average of 37.1 daily requests compared to 10.8 requests prior to the law going into place. Requests from all other U.S. states also increased during the same time period, but by much smaller amounts.
“What we are seeing here is keeping in step with what we’ve seen in other places where abortion has been severely restricted,” said lead study author Dr. Abigail Aiken, an associate professor of public affairs at the University of Texas, Austin.
It’s unclear how many of the requests led to at-home abortions.
Stephan: If you have been watching the various news and "news" channels perhaps you are as amazed as I have been that the Republicans have put their naked fascism and support for Putin on display. Tucker Carlson is now being run on Russian state media. Can you believe it?
My personal view is that the Republicans have a fantasy view of Russia. They see it as an authoritarian White christofascist nation, with carefully controlled pseudo-elections, and that is what they want for the US.
Putin supportingChristofascistsSteve Bannon, Rick Scott, Vladimir Putin, Donald Trump and Tucker Carlson Illustration by Salon/Getty
On the surface, it seems like Republicans can’t decide how they feel about Russian President Vladimir Putin invading the sovereign country of Ukraine. On one hand, the more old guard GOP leadership is formally denouncing Putin and trying to score their political points against Joe Biden by claiming that this is evidence that the U.S. president is “weak.” But both their de facto leader, Donald Trump, and their de facto party agenda-setter, Tucker Carlson, have been out there making their love and support of Putin known. As with every internal conflict in the GOP, the smart bet is the Trumpian wing will win over the traditional conservatives, even though it once again means that Republicans will be siding against America and democracy in favor of the forces of authoritarianism.
It’s tempting to write this off, as so many in the mainstream media like to do, as evidence that the
