FDL Review

Florida and New York have comparable population sizes and densities . However, their governors—Ron DeSantis (R., Florida) and Andrew Cuomo (D., New York)—have taken starkly different approaches to the coronavirus pandemic. Ron DeSantis ( Naples Daily News ) Florida's DeSantis has implemented few COVID-related restrictions, with a local CBS affiliate reporting that "there is no statewide mask mandate. There are no restrictions on restaurants, and the governor says restaurants will stay open." In an acknowledgment that COVID-19 primarily affects senior citizens, DeSantis dispatched the National Guard to nursing homes and banned visits until September. Even today, indoor visitation at nursing homes is limited to family members and caregivers. Conversely, New York's Cuomo has opted for centralized control, dictates, and regulations, basing his decisions on regional hospitalization statistics, test positivity rates, and other metrics. Indoor dining in New York City ...

In the past several days, congressional Democrats and Republicans compiled a 5,593-page spending bill that is “so unwieldy that it kept crashing Congress’s computers.” Unfortunately, it is likely that the bill—which provides COVID-19 relief and funds the federal government through 2021—will pass without any member of Congress having read it in full. Among other things, the $900 billion of coronavirus-related funds  extends $325 billion for small business loans, boosts state unemployment benefits by $300 a week, allows for 50 weeks of unemployment benefits instead of 26, and offers a $600 check to Americans who made less than $75,000 in the previous year (and another $600 for each of their children). Separately, the $1.4 trillion in government funding provides everything from foreign aid money to plans for presidential libraries . The Washington Post , hardly a bugle for austerity, disapprovingly reports , “The proposal includes numerous provisions -- from Smithsonian Americ...

On Tuesday, historian Larry Schweikart announced that President Donald Trump appointed him to the National Board for Educational Sciences, which assists in the management of the Institute of Education Sciences (IES). The IES's mandate is to gather the statistics necessary for developing federal educational policy. Larry Schweikart Schweikart announced his appointment on Twitter, writing, "Pleased to report I have been appointed by President Donald Trump to a 4-year appointment to the Board of Directors for the National Board for Educational Sciences. This is a non-revocable appointment." He added, "I am now an embed in the unfortunate case Trump cannot overturn the fraud." Schweikart is a longtime supporter of Trump. He is a retired professor of history at the University of Dayton who co-authored A Patriot's History of the United States and Why Trump Won , along with many other books and pieces of academic research. All unsigned FDL Review content is the p...