Trump pulls US out of UNESCO for second time
The withdrawal from the Paris-based agency, which was founded after World War Two to promote peace through international cooperation in education, science, and culture,
will take effect on December 31, 2026.
Reuters
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Sydney Morning Herald
an hour ago
- Sydney Morning Herald
Trump's efforts to control information echo an authoritarian playbook
Washington: An old rule in Washington holds that you are entitled to your own opinions, but you are not entitled to your own facts. President Donald Trump seems determined to prove that wrong. Don't like an intelligence report that contradicts your view? Go after the analysts. Don't like cost estimates for your tax plan? Invent your own. Don't like a predecessor's climate policies? Scrub government websites of underlying data. Don't like a museum exhibit that cites your impeachments? Delete any mention of them. Trump's war on facts reached new heights on Friday when he angrily fired Erika McEntarfer, the Labour Department official in charge of compiling statistics on employment in America, because he did not like the latest jobs report showing that the economy wasn't doing as well as he claims it was. Trump declared that her numbers were 'phony'. His proof? It was 'my opinion'. And the story he told supposedly proving she was politically biased? It had no basis in fact. The message, however, was unmistakable: government officials who deal in data now fear they have to toe the line or risk losing their jobs. Career scientists, long-time intelligence analysts and nonpartisan statisticians who serve every president regardless of political party with neutral information on countless matters, such as weather patterns and vaccine efficacy, now face pressure as never before to conform to the alternative reality enforced by the president and his team. Trump has never been especially wedded to facts, routinely making up his own numbers, repeating falsehoods and conspiracy theories even after they are debunked and denigrating the very concept of independent fact-checking. But his efforts since reclaiming the White House to make the rest of the government adopt his versions of the truth have gone further than in his first term and increasingly remind scholars of the way authoritarian leaders in other countries have sought to control information. 'Democracy can't realistically exist without reliable epistemic infrastructure,' said Michael Patrick Lynch, author of the recently published On Truth in Politics and a professor at the University of Connecticut. 'Antidemocratic, authoritarian leaders know this. That is why they will seize every opportunity to control sources of information. As Bacon taught us, knowledge is power. But preventing or controlling access to knowledge is also power.' British philosopher Sir Francis Bacon published his meditations on truth and nature more than four centuries before Trump arrived in Washington, but history is filled with examples of leaders seeking to stifle unwelcome information. The Soviets falsified data to make their economy look stronger than it was. The Chinese have long been suspected of doing the same. Just three years ago, Turkey's autocratic leader fired his government's statistics chief after a report documented rocketing inflation.
The Age
an hour ago
- The Age
Trump's efforts to control information echo an authoritarian playbook
Washington: An old rule in Washington holds that you are entitled to your own opinions, but you are not entitled to your own facts. President Donald Trump seems determined to prove that wrong. Don't like an intelligence report that contradicts your view? Go after the analysts. Don't like cost estimates for your tax plan? Invent your own. Don't like a predecessor's climate policies? Scrub government websites of underlying data. Don't like a museum exhibit that cites your impeachments? Delete any mention of them. Trump's war on facts reached new heights on Friday when he angrily fired Erika McEntarfer, the Labour Department official in charge of compiling statistics on employment in America, because he did not like the latest jobs report showing that the economy wasn't doing as well as he claims it was. Trump declared that her numbers were 'phony'. His proof? It was 'my opinion'. And the story he told supposedly proving she was politically biased? It had no basis in fact. The message, however, was unmistakable: government officials who deal in data now fear they have to toe the line or risk losing their jobs. Career scientists, long-time intelligence analysts and nonpartisan statisticians who serve every president regardless of political party with neutral information on countless matters, such as weather patterns and vaccine efficacy, now face pressure as never before to conform to the alternative reality enforced by the president and his team. Trump has never been especially wedded to facts, routinely making up his own numbers, repeating falsehoods and conspiracy theories even after they are debunked and denigrating the very concept of independent fact-checking. But his efforts since reclaiming the White House to make the rest of the government adopt his versions of the truth have gone further than in his first term and increasingly remind scholars of the way authoritarian leaders in other countries have sought to control information. 'Democracy can't realistically exist without reliable epistemic infrastructure,' said Michael Patrick Lynch, author of the recently published On Truth in Politics and a professor at the University of Connecticut. 'Antidemocratic, authoritarian leaders know this. That is why they will seize every opportunity to control sources of information. As Bacon taught us, knowledge is power. But preventing or controlling access to knowledge is also power.' British philosopher Sir Francis Bacon published his meditations on truth and nature more than four centuries before Trump arrived in Washington, but history is filled with examples of leaders seeking to stifle unwelcome information. The Soviets falsified data to make their economy look stronger than it was. The Chinese have long been suspected of doing the same. Just three years ago, Turkey's autocratic leader fired his government's statistics chief after a report documented rocketing inflation.
Perth Now
3 hours ago
- Perth Now
Democrats seek to block key vote by leaving Texas
Democratic lawmakers in Texas are leaving the state to deny Republicans the quorum needed to redraw the state's 38 congressional districts. Republicans are seeking to protect their narrow US House majority in next year's midterm elections. President Donald Trump has championed the redistricting plan, telling reporters he expects the effort to yield as many as five additional House Republicans. Republicans hold a narrow 220-212 majority in the House of Representatives, with three Democratic seats vacant after members' deaths. Democratic Representative James Talarico said the redistricting plan amounted to "rigging" the 2026 elections. "My Democratic colleagues and I just left the state of Texas to break quorum and stop Trump's redistricting power grab," Talarico said in the video posted on X on Sunday. Several other Texas Democrats said on X they were headed to Illinois, whose governor is Democrat JB Pritzker. Republican Governor Greg Abbott said in a statement on Sunday that any Democrat House member who didn't return would be removed from the Texas House. "Democrats hatched a deliberate plan not to show up for work, for the specific purpose of abdicating the duties of their office and thwarting the chamber's business", the governor said in his statement, adding that leaving amounted to an abandonment of the office. States are required to redistrict every 10 years based on the US Census but the Texas map was passed just four years ago by the Republican-dominated legislature. While mid-cycle redistricting occasionally takes place, it is usually prompted by a change in power at the legislature. Republicans have pursued redistricting in a special legislative session that will also address funding for flood prevention after the deadly July 4 flash flooding that killed more than 130. Under the current lines, Republicans control 25 seats, nearly two-thirds of the districts in a state that went for Trump last year by a 56 per cent to 42 per cent margin. Redistricting experts have said the plan could backfire if Republicans try to squeeze too many seats out of what is already considered a significantly skewed map.
