WASHINGTON (AP) — With more than a year to go before the 2024 election, a constellation of conservative organizations is preparing for a possible second White House term for Donald Trump, recruiting thousands of Americans to come to Washington on a mission to dismantle the federal government and replace it with a vision closer to his own.
Led by the long-established Heritage Foundation think tank and fueled by former Trump administration officials, the far-reaching effort is essentially a government-in-waiting for the former president's second term — or any candidate who aligns with their ideals and can defeat President Joe Biden in 2024.
With a nearly 1,000-page "Project 2025" handbook and an "army" of Americans, the idea is to have the civic infrastructure in place on Day One to commandeer, reshape and do away with what Republicans deride as the "deep state" bureaucracy, in part by firing as many as 50,000 federal workers.
"We need to flood the zone with conservatives," said Paul Dans, director of the 2025 Presidential Transition Project and a former Trump administration official who speaks with historical flourish about the undertaking.
"This is a clarion call to come to Washington," he said. "People need to lay down their tools, and step aside from their professional life and say, 'This is my lifetime moment to serve.'"
The unprecedented effort is being orchestrated with dozens of right-flank organizations, many new to Washington, and represents a changed approach from conservatives, who traditionally have sought to limit the federal government by cutting federal taxes and slashing federal spending.
Instead, Trump-era conservatives want to gut the "administrative state" from within, by ousting federal employees they believe are standing in the way of the president's agenda and replacing them with like-minded officials more eager to fulfill a new executive's approach to governing.
The goal is to avoid the pitfalls of Trump's first years in office, when the Republican president's team was ill-prepared, his Cabinet nominees had trouble winning Senate confirmation and policies were met with resistance — by lawmakers, government workers and even Trump's own appointees who refused to bend or break protocol, or in some cases violate laws, to achieve his goals.
While many of the Project 2025 proposals are inspired by Trump, they are being echoed by GOP rivals Ron DeSantis and Vivek Ramaswamy and are gaining prominence among other Republicans.
And if Trump wins a second term, the work from the Heritage coalition ensures the president will have the personnel to carry forward his unfinished White House business.
"The president Day One will be a wrecking ball for the administrative state," said Russ Vought, a former Trump administration official involved in the effort who is now president at the conservative Center for Renewing America.
Much of the new president's agenda would be accomplished by reinstating what's called Schedule F — a Trump-era executive order that would reclassify tens of thousands of the 2 million federal employees as essentially at-will workers who could more easily be fired.
Biden had rescinded the executive order upon taking office in 2021, but Trump — and other presidential hopefuls — now vow to reinstate it.
"It frightens me," said Mary Guy, a professor of public administration at the University of Colorado Denver, who warns the idea would bring a return to a political spoils system.
Experts argue Schedule F would create chaos in the civil service, which was overhauled during President Jimmy Carter's administration in an attempt to ensure a professional workforce and end political bias dating from 19th century patronage.
As it now stands, just 4,000 members of the federal workforce are considered political appointees who typically change with each administration. But Schedule F could put tens of thousands of career professional jobs at risk.
"We have a democracy that is at risk of suicide. Schedule F is just one more bullet in the gun," Guy said.
The ideas contained in Heritage's coffee table-ready book are both ambitious and parochial, a mix of longstanding conservative policies and stark, head-turning proposals that gained prominence in the Trump era.
There's a "top to bottom overhaul" of the Department of Justice, particularly curbing its independence and ending FBI efforts to combat the spread of misinformation. It calls for stepped-up prosecution of anyone providing or distributing abortion pills by mail.
There are proposals to have the Pentagon "abolish" its recent diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives, what the project calls the "woke" agenda, and reinstate service members discharged for refusing the COVID-19 vaccine.
Chapter by chapter, the pages offer a how-to manual for the next president, similar to one Heritage produced 50 years ago, ahead of the Ronald Reagan administration. Authored by some of today's most prominent thinkers in the conservative movement, it's often sprinkled with apocalyptic language.
A chapter written by Trump's former acting deputy secretary of Homeland Security calls for bolstering the number of political appointees, and redeploying office personnel with law enforcement ability into the field "to maximize law enforcement capacity."
At the White House, the book suggests the new administration should "reexamine" the tradition of providing work space for the press corps and ensure the White House counsel is "deeply committed" to the president's agenda.
Conservatives have long held a grim view of federal government offices, complaining they are stacked with liberals intent on halting Republican agendas.
But Doreen Greenwald, national president of the National Treasury Employees Union, said most federal workers live in the states and are your neighbors, family and friends. "Federal employees are not the enemy," she said.
While presidents typically rely on Congress to put policies into place, the Heritage project leans into what legal scholars refer to as a unitary view of executive power that suggests the president has broad authority to act alone.
To push past senators who try to block presidential Cabinet nominees, Project 2025 proposes installing top allies in acting administrative roles, as was done during the Trump administration to bypass the Senate confirmation process.
John McEntee, another former Trump official advising the effort, said the next administration can "play hardball a little more than we did with Congress."
In fact, Congress would see its role diminished — for example, with a proposal to eliminate congressional notification on certain foreign arms sales.
Philip Wallach, a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute who studies the separation of powers and was not part of the Heritage project, said there's a certain amount of "fantasizing" about the president's capabilities.
"Some of these visions, they do start to just bleed into some kind of authoritarian fantasies where the president won the election, so he's in charge, so everyone has to do what he says — and that's just not the system the government we live under," he said.
At the Heritage office, Dans has a faded photo on his wall of an earlier era in Washington, with the White House situated almost alone in the city, dirt streets in all directions.
It's an image of what conservatives have long desired, a smaller federal government.
The Heritage coalition is taking its recruitment efforts on the road, crisscrossing America to fill the federal jobs. They staffed the Iowa State Fair this month and signed up hundreds of people, and they're building out a database of potential employees, inviting them to be trained in government operations.
"It's counterintuitive," Dans acknowledged — the idea of joining government to shrink it — but he said that's the lesson learned from the Trump days about what's needed to "regain control."
I have a theory in my mind based on my observations of human nature, especially human nature when under the influence of a mob and this is what I call the Give us Barabbas Syndrome. The condition in which a mob, when given a choice, will choose bad before good, wrong before right and the sinner before the saint.
This is one summary of the story as provided by Bard Ai:
At the Passover feast, the Roman governor Pontius Pilate gave the crowd the choice of releasing either Jesus or Barabbas, a notorious prisoner. The crowd chose Barabbas, and Jesus was crucified. This event is a reminder of the human tendency to choose violence and hatred over peace and love.
Like many stories in the Bible, is this to be taken literally or metaphorically or both? The issue is the when given the choice between good or evil, we, the crowd, the mob, often choose evil. Because of the context of the story, the Jews chose Barabbas who was set free over Jesus, who was crucified. Hence antisemitism is given justification to call the Jews the Christ Killer. Isn’t that convenient. The Jewish Massiah, The Prince of Peace, the Son of Man, is somehow condemned by his own people and yet adopted as the Savior by the gentiles, the Romans, who were in fact responsible for the persecution of the Jews and the very reason they were seeking a Messiah in the first place. Like layers in an onion the metaphorical irony is inescapable. The crowd chose evil over good and we, people do it over and over again in our misanthropic history. The mob is currently choosing Trump, an arrogant, misogynistic, narcissist over Biden a reasonable, rational responsible human being. We seem to be choosing dominance over democracy, ideology over idealism and sadly hate over love. Why?
Question: Can you define, compare and contrast these three terms:
objective Truth, Facts, Perception, Opinion, BeliefCertainly, I'd be happy to provide definitions and comparisons for these terms:
**1. Objective Truth:**
Objective truth refers to a statement or proposition that corresponds accurately to reality and is independent of personal opinions or perspectives. It is universally valid and can be verified through evidence, observation, and logical reasoning. Objective truths are consistent and do not change based on individual beliefs or perceptions. Scientific laws and mathematical principles are examples of objective truths.
**2. Facts:**
Facts are pieces of information that are objectively true and verifiable. They are statements about reality that can be proven or disproven based on evidence and observation. Facts are concrete and can be agreed upon by different individuals regardless of their beliefs or opinions. For example, "The Earth orbits the Sun" is a factual statement.
**3. Perception:**
Perception refers to the way in which individuals interpret and make sense of the sensory information they receive from the world around them. Perception is influenced by an individual's sensory organs, past experiences, cultural background, and cognitive processes. It's important to note that perceptions can vary from person to person and might not always accurately represent objective reality.
**4. Opinion:**
An opinion is a personal judgment, belief, or view about a particular topic or issue. Opinions are subjective and are shaped by an individual's values, experiences, emotions, and personal preferences. Unlike facts, opinions are not objectively verifiable; they are open to debate and can differ among individuals.
**5. Belief:**
Belief refers to the acceptance of a statement or proposition as true or real, often without requiring direct evidence or proof. Beliefs can be based on religious, cultural, philosophical, or personal factors. They may or may not align with objective truths or verifiable facts. Beliefs can be deeply held convictions, even if they are not universally accepted.
**Comparison and Contrast:**
- **Objective Truth vs. Facts:** Objective truth refers to the broader concept of universally valid statements, while facts specifically pertain to verifiable pieces of information. Objective truths encompass principles that might not be immediately verifiable but are considered universally valid, like certain ethical or moral principles. Facts, on the other hand, are claims that can be checked against empirical evidence.
- **Perception vs. Facts and Objective Truth:** Perception is individual and can sometimes lead to misunderstandings or inaccuracies about objective truths or facts. For example, someone might perceive a stick in water as bent due to the refraction of light, even though the objective truth is that the stick isn't actually bent. Our perception is influenced by subjective experiences and can sometimes deviate from objective reality.
- **Opinion vs. Belief:** Opinions are short-term judgments that might change with new information or experiences. Beliefs are often deeply ingrained and may be formed over a longer period. While opinions can be swayed, beliefs are typically more resistant to change.
In summary, objective truth and facts are rooted in verifiable reality, while perceptions, opinions, and beliefs are influenced by subjective factors and may or may not align with objective reality.
There are many different ways to meditate, but here is a basic guide to get you started:
Here are some additional tips for meditating:
Here are some of the most common types of meditation:
No matter what type of meditation you choose, the most important thing is to find a technique that works for you and to practice regularly. With time and practice, meditation can be a powerful tool for reducing stress, improving focus, and increasing your overall well-being.
Sure, here are a few apps where you can communicate with AI:
These are just a few of the many apps that allow you to communicate with AI. The best app for you will depend on your individual needs and preferences. If you are looking for an app that is designed to be your friend and companion, Replika may be a good choice. If you are looking for an app that can hold conversations on a variety of topics, LaMDA or Xiaoice may be a better option. And if you are looking for an app that is based on the latest AI technology, ChatGPT may be the best choice for you.
I hope this helps!
Why Buddhism Is True" is a book written by Robert Wright, published in 2017. The book explores the intersections between evolutionary psychology, neuroscience, and Buddhist philosophy. It argues that certain aspects of Buddhist teachings align with modern scientific findings and can offer insights into human psychology and well-being. Here's a summary of the main ideas in the book:
1. **Mindfulness and Meditation**: The book emphasizes the value of mindfulness meditation, a central practice in Buddhism. It suggests that mindfulness can help individuals gain a clearer understanding of their thoughts, emotions, and behaviors, leading to greater emotional regulation and well-being.
2. **Evolutionary Psychology**: Wright discusses the concept of "natural selection" from an evolutionary psychology perspective. He argues that human minds have evolved to possess certain cognitive biases and mental states that were advantageous for survival in ancestral environments. These biases can lead to suffering in modern contexts, but meditation can help individuals become more aware of and manage these biases.
3. **The Illusion of the Self**: Buddhism teaches that the concept of an enduring, independent self is an illusion. Wright explores how modern psychology supports this idea, as neuroscience suggests that the self is a construct of the brain, and meditation can help individuals perceive the fluid and impermanent nature of the self.
4. **Suffering and Happiness**: Buddhism identifies attachment and craving as sources of suffering. The book delves into how understanding the impermanent nature of desires and practicing mindfulness can lead to reduced suffering and increased happiness.
5. **The Role of Emotions**: The book examines the role of emotions and how meditation can help individuals become more aware of their emotions, leading to greater emotional intelligence and better decision-making.
6. **Altered States of Consciousness**: Wright explores the concept of "enlightenment" in Buddhism, discussing how certain meditative experiences can lead to altered states of consciousness and a sense of interconnectedness with the world.
7. **Compassion and Ethics**: The book discusses how Buddhist teachings on compassion and ethical behavior can lead to a more harmonious and morally grounded life. It suggests that cultivating empathy and compassion through meditation can contribute to personal and societal well-being.
In essence, "Why Buddhism Is True" argues that the principles and practices of Buddhism, particularly mindfulness meditation, align with modern scientific insights into human psychology and cognition. The book suggests that incorporating these practices into one's life can lead to greater self-awareness, emotional regulation, and overall well-being.
The Selfish Gene is a 1976 book by Richard Dawkins, a British ethologist and evolutionary biologist, that popularizes the gene-centered view of evolution. The book argues that the fundamental unit of natural selection is the gene, and that individual organisms are merely vehicles for genes to replicate themselves.
Dawkins begins by defining the gene as "a unit of heredity consisting of a sequence of nucleotides in a DNA molecule". He then argues that genes are the "selfish" entities that drive evolution. Genes are "selfish" because they are only interested in replicating themselves, regardless of the consequences for the organism that carries them.
Dawkins uses a number of examples to illustrate his argument. For example, he discusses the case of worker bees, which are sterile females that do not reproduce. Worker bees are able to survive and reproduce only because they help to raise the queen bee's offspring. The queen bee, on the other hand, is able to reproduce and pass on her genes to the next generation. From the gene's perspective, it is more "selfish" to be a queen bee than a worker bee, because queens are more likely to pass on their genes.
The Selfish Gene has been both praised and criticized for its controversial thesis. Some critics have argued that Dawkins' view of genes as selfish is too simplistic, and that organisms also play a role in evolution. Others have argued that Dawkins' book is too reductionist, and that it ignores the importance of other factors, such as the environment, in shaping evolution.
Despite its critics, The Selfish Gene has had a major impact on the way that we think about evolution. It has helped to popularize the gene-centered view of evolution, and it has inspired a number of other scientists to study the selfish gene.
Bard ai
John and Karel have been our dearest friends since our arrival in Hendersonville. Their steadfast kindness and friendship made Hendersonville truly feel like home. We think of Karel with fondest memories of all the times we shared together and she will live in our hearts forever. Pete and Tess
Aug 1, 2023
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The Celebration of Karel's Life was Saturday. The ceremony was recorded and is available for those who missed it and are not going to the NJ ceremony. If you are going to the NJ ceremony, I suggest that you don't watch it now.
Karel Bodamer, 80, died June 13, 2023, with her family by her side in Hendersonville, NC.
She was born May 6, 1943, in Sisters, Oregon to Roger N. Carstensen and Maretta Marie Carstensen. Her father was the President of the Christian College of Georgia and President of the Institute for Biblical Literacy. Her mother was a teacher and secretary. When Karel was 6 years old, the family moved to Oklahoma.
She graduated from Phillips University in Enid, Oklahoma.
From 1972 through 1983, she lived in Missouri, where she worked for the Bureau of the Blind as a traveling social worker.
In 1983, she moved to Tenafly, NJ, where she was an active member of the Presbyterian Church at Tenafly. The untimely death of her son, Brian, in 1985 set her on her spiritual path. She began her studies at the Barbara Brennan School of Healing and continued a lifelong journey of spiritual learning for the ensuing decades. She was a source of light and love and truly touched the lives of everyone she met.
Karel met John Bodamer in 1999 and they married in 2001. Shortly after, they bought a second home in Hendersonville, NC and spent the next 13 years splitting their time between the Big Apple and Apple Country. In 2018, they decided to make North Carolina their year-round home. Karel and John found a wonderful faith community at Trinity Presbyterian Church.
Karel’s greatest joys were sharing meals with family and friends and traveling the world (and playing bridge) with her husband. Her favorite holiday was Thanksgiving, which was apt, as she was the embodiment of gratitude.
Karel is survived by her devoted husband, John Bodamer; son, Alex Eastman; sister, Deborah A. Carstensen; brother, Phillip R. Carstensen (JoLynn); nephew Michael Carstensen (Lauren); nieces Kelly Carstensen, Becki Morrison (Oneil), and Stacey Mueller (Paul); stepdaughter Jen Thatcher (Jesse); stepson Dave Bodamer (Samantha); and countless extended family members.
She was preceded in death by her precious son Brian Eastman, her beloved twin sister Karen Norris, her sister Connie J. Carstensen, and her brother Roger “Rick” L. Carstensen.
A Celebration of Life service will be held at Trinity Presbyterian on Aug 5.
Posted online on June 27, 2023
Published in Hendersonville Times-News
As the world looks to curb climate change and reduce fossil fuel emissions, some companies are focusing on a relatively untapped but vast and abundant source of energy — tidal waves.
On opposite sides of the Atlantic, two firms are working to harness ocean currents in different ways to try to generate reliable clean energy.
Off the coast of Scotland, Orbital Marine Power operates what it says is the "most powerful tidal turbine in the world." The turbine is approximately the size of a passenger airplane and even looks similar, with its central platform floating on the water and two wings extending downwards on either side. At the ends of each wing, about 60 feet below the surface, are large rotors whose movement is dictated by the waves.
"The energy itself of tidal streams is familiar to people, it's kinetic energy, so it's not too dissimilar to something like wind," Andrew Scott, Orbital's CEO, told CNN Business. "The bits of technology that generate power look not too different to a wind turbine."
But there are some key differences to wind energy, primarily that waves are far more predictable than winds. The ebb and flow of tides rarely differs significantly and can be timed far more precisely.
"You can predict those motions years and decades [in] advance," Scott said. "But also from a direction perspective, they only really come from two directions and they're almost 180 degrees," he added, unlike wind turbines that must account for wind from several different directions at once.
Tidal waves are also capable of generating more energy than wind, Scott says.
"Seawater is 800 times the density of wind," he said. "So the flow speeds are far slower, but they generate far more energy."
The Orbital turbine, which is connected to the electricity grid in Scotland's Orkney, can produce up to two megawatts — enough to power 2,000 homes a year — according to the company.
Scott acknowledges that the technology isn't fully mainstream yet and some challenges remain including the high cost of the technology, but the reliability and potential of tidal energy could make it a useful tool in the fight against climate change.
"It is becoming increasingly apparent that … climate change is not going to be solved with one silver bullet," he said.
Around 3,000 miles away from Orbital's turbines, Verdant Power is using similar technology to generate power near Roosevelt Island in New York City's East River. Although not on the market yet, Verdant's turbines set up as part of a pilot project help supply electricity to New York's grid. But rather than float near the surface, they're mounted on a frame that's lowered to the bottom of the river.
"The best way to envision what Verdant Power's technology is, is to think of wind turbines underwater," the company's founder, Trey Taylor, told CNN Business. And river currents tend to provide the same advantages for energy generation as ocean currents, he explained (though the East River is also connected to the Atlantic).
"What's nice about our rivers and systems is that could be 24/7 power," he said. "Not to ding wind or solar, but the wind doesn't always blow and the sun doesn't always shine. But river currents, depending on the river, could be 24/7."
Over the course of eight months, Verdant has generated enough electricity to power roughly 60 homes — though Taylor says a full-fledged power plant built on its technology could generate enough for 6,000 homes. And by his estimate, the global capacity for tidal energy is enormous.
"The potential for energy is something like 250 gigawatts around the world," he said, which is enough to power 250 million homes for a year. "There's lots of room and we really hope our competitors succeed too, for the sake of the industry."
The biggest obstacle to reaching that goal at the moment is how expensive it is to set up and scale up tidal power systems.
"Generating electricity from ocean waves is not the challenge, the challenge is doing it in a cost-effective way that people are willing to pay for that competes with … other sources of energy," said Jesse Roberts, Environmental Analysis Lead at the US government-affiliated Sandia National Laboratories. "The added cost of going out into the ocean and deploying in the ocean… that's very expensive to do," he added. According to 2019 figures from the US Department of Energy, the average commercial tidal energy project costs as much as $280 per megawatt hour. Wind energy, by comparison, currently costs roughly $20 per megawatt hour and is "one of the lowest-priced energy sources available today," according to the agency.
Roberts estimates that tidal energy is two or three decades behind wind energy in terms of adoption and scale.
The costs and challenges of operating underwater are something both Scott and Taylor acknowledge.
"Solar and wind are above ground. It's easy to work with stuff that you can see," Taylor said. "We're underwater, and it's probably easier to get a rocket to the moon than to get these to work underwater."
But the goal of tidal power is not so much to compete with those two energy sources as it is to grow the overall pie.
"The low hanging fruit of solar and wind were quite obvious," Scott said. "But do they have to be the only solution? Is there room for other solutions? I think when the energy source is there, and you can develop technologies that can harness it, then absolutely."
