The National Cancer Institute would be hit with a $1 billion cut compared to its 2017 budget. The National Heart, Lung and Blood Institute would see a $575 million cut, and the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases would see a reduction of $838 million. The administration would cut the overall National Institutes of Health budget from $31.8 billion to $26 billion.

The National Science Foundation, which dispenses grants to a variety of scientific research endeavors, would be trimmed $776 million, an 11 percent cut. NSF had not been mentioned in Trump's budget outline released in March. The new, full budget echoes the earlier one in calling for the elimination of a number of research-related programs, such as the Department of Energy's Advanced Research Project Agency - Energy (ARPA-E).

The president's budget seeks an $82 million cut at the center that works on vaccine-preventable and respiratory diseases, such as influenza and measles. It proposes a cut of $186 million from programs at CDC’s center on HIV/AIDS, viral hepatitis, sexually transmitted infections and tuberculosis prevention. One of the biggest cuts, $222 million, is to the agency’s chronic disease prevention programs, which are designed to help people prevent diabetes, heart disease and stroke, and obesity.

The Crimson Cyclone wrote:Brennan confirms Wikileaks was working with Russians

Former CIA Director John Brennan says he thinks Russia cooperates with WikiLeaks through middlemen.

Brennan told the House intelligence committee on Tuesday that Russia has used intermediaries to work with the WikiLeaks anti-secrecy group. The website released material hacked from email accounts of the Democratic National Committee and Hillary Clinton campaign officials during last year's presidential campaign.

He says that if someone tracks WikiLeaks' releases over time, it's clear that they are often timed to coincide with certain events or to undermine national security.

Brennan says that Russian protests that they are not working with WikiLeaks and WikiLeaks protests that they are not working with the Russians are both "disingenuous."

"You have to understand that I like Ted Cruz probably more than my colleagues like Ted Cruz, and I hate Ted Cruz." He is "just a special guy."

The Crimson Cyclone wrote:2nd "don't touch my hand" moment from Melania on this trip as they deboarded the plane in Rome

https://twitter.com/DaniellaMicaela/sta ... 5926435841

RichmondPhilsFan wrote:

The Crimson Cyclone wrote:2nd "don't touch my hand" moment from Melania on this trip as they deboarded the plane in Rome

https://twitter.com/DaniellaMicaela/sta ... 5926435841

That's really quite remarkable.

PORTLAND, Maine (AP) — The nation's first voting system approved for statewide elections that allows voters to rank their top candidate picks runs afoul of the Maine Constitution, the state supreme court said Tuesday, opening the door to legislative action to undo the voter-approved law.

The Supreme Judicial Court unanimously concluded that the election overhaul aimed at ensuring a majority vote for the winning candidate is in conflict with the constitutional mandate that says only a plurality, not a majority, is needed to win elective office.

"The plurality requirements in these constitutional provisions have not changed since 1880. As last amended to address the public's lack of confidence in the elective process in 1880, the language of the Maine Constitution today is clear," the justices wrote.

The nonbinding decision was requested by state lawmakers who were considering whether to implement or eliminate the law approved by state voters in November.

Ranked-choice voting has been successfully implemented in municipal elections across the country, but Maine was the first state to try to implement the system on a statewide basis.

The referendum would've allowed residents to rank their ballot choices from first to last in a system that ensures a candidate wins majority support while eliminating the impact of spoilers and rejecting party extremists who lack centrist appeal.

A candidate who gets a majority of first-place votes is the winner. If no one gets a majority, however, then the last-place finisher is eliminated and voters' second choices are applied to the remaining candidates. The process repeats until someone gets a majority.

Democrats point out that such a system could've thwarted the election of Republican Gov. Paul LePage, who was twice elected in three-way races.

Democratic Sen. Cathy Breen said she'd submit a bill to start the process of amending the Maine Constitution to allow ranked-choice voting. Her late bill would require approval from a council of legislative leaders before lawmakers could take it up.

Although Democrats like to focus on LePage, his election victories were not an anomaly. The winner in nine out of the past 11 gubernatorial elections has failed to get at least 50 percent of the vote.

And the ranked-choice voting concept has been percolating behind the scenes for years. The League of Women Voters in Maine first began studying the idea in 2008, after Democrat John Baldacci was re-elected with 38 percent of the popular vote in 2006.

On May 16, a story was posted on the Fox News website on the investigation into the 2016 murder of DNC Staffer Seth Rich. The article was not initially subjected to the high degree of editorial scrutiny we require for all our reporting. Upon appropriate review, the article was found not to meet those standards and has since been removed.

stevemc wrote:Didn't realize the bitter feud between Christie and Kushner until I read about it this morning. Christie helped put Kushner's Dad behind bars. I'm surprised Christie got as close as he did to Trump during the campaign considering how much venom Kushner has for him.

The Crimson Cyclone wrote:Fox News pulls bullshit Seth Rich story and posts this:

http://www.foxnews.com/politics/2017/05 ... n.amp.html

On May 16, a story was posted on the Fox News website on the investigation into the 2016 murder of DNC Staffer Seth Rich. The article was not initially subjected to the high degree of editorial scrutiny we require for all our reporting. Upon appropriate review, the article was found not to meet those standards and has since been removed.

Jon Lovett wrote:Now it's just their lead host spreading a disgusting baseless conspiracy theory in primetime.