Degen Pener

When the case reached the Supreme Court, the Court held that systems of political patronage like the one established by Thompson violate the First Amendment. Quoting one of its first patronage decisions, the Court reaffirmed that “conditioning public employment on the provision of support for the favored political party ‘unquestionably inhibits protected belief and association.’” Doing so “pressures employees to pledge political allegiance to a party with which they prefer not to associate, to work for the election of political candidates they do not support, and to contribute money to be used to further policies with which they do not agree.” It is “tantamount to coerced belief,” something the First Amendment plainly forbids. Nor did it matter that Thompson had not issued a direct order specifying that only Republicans would be hired, because “what the First Amendment precludes the government from commanding directly, it also precludes the government from accomplishing indirectly.”

Right now, DOGE is saying that any new hires have to be approved by their office.
In 1980, when IL Governor Thompson said any new hires had to be approved by his office, the Supreme Court said it was unconstitutional politicization of hiring.
What about now?
www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archiv...

World's richest man ends America's modest aid to the world's poorest people.

I'm not a big believer in hell, but willing to make an exception

Picture of two little mushrooms with yellow caps. Sun is shining through the thin caps, lighting them up.

Sunlit basidiolichen, Lichenomphalia umbellifera. Northwest Territories, Canada. #lichen #mushroom #fungifriends #fungi

Transfixing:

Please re-tweet so I can quit X. I've got 45k followers there, just 500 here. When I get to 5k I can dump Musk forever

I'm the director of @centerforbiodiv.bsky.social. Follow me for real-time, insider takes on endangered species, climate, public lands, oceans, toxics. We sue Trump alot. Very alot.

An all-black hoverfly with wings open on a bright yellow buttercup flower

Apparently it is #BlackFlyDay (I think that's what it's called 😛) - here's a lovely velvety black hoverfly, Pipiza species (probably P. noctiluca) from Somerset last spring

This is a wild plan to combat cane toads in Australia:

Some interesting results from Jo Carpenter! Impacts on beech last is from sheer numbers of rats rather than prey switching as thought? #NZES2024

Mourning Dorid (Jorunna funebris) Mourning Dorid from Makadi Bay, Hurghada, Egypt on August 7, 2014 at 11:57 AM by Hsini Lin. big one

Jorunna funebris is our #Nudivember species today. They feed on sponges in the Indo-Pacific regions.

www.inaturalist.org/observations...

Big likes for auroch like:

Quite the thread botanically speaking:

The phrase “magic poo ring” was not on my Tuesday bingo card:

Hedgehogs under threat in Scotland as population falls by more than 100,000 in 20 years Hedgehogs have been listed as “near threatened” by a global wildlife organisation as the population in Scotland is down nearly 50 per cent over the past two decades.

The hedgehog, once common throughout Scotland, has been updated from “least concern to near threatened” in the latest International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List of threatened species

Story by me for @theferret.scot

theferret.scot/hedgehogs-ne...

The slender-billed curlew is declared extinct This is the first mainland European bird declared extinct in 500 years.

It's an official goodbye: The slender-billed curlew declared extinct, the "first mainland European bird to go extinct in half a millennium": www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/new...

Gray Wolves Found in Lassen Volcanic National Park for the First Time The California Department of Fish and Wildlife (CDFW) has reported the presence of a new gray wolf pack within Lassen Volcanic National Park.

Wolves find their way to new territory : www.activenorcal.com/gray-wolves-...

Why SoCal Is the Next Great Hub For Design See how L.A. is taking the design world by storm. Meet the creative minds behind SoCal Design and explore the city's thriving furniture design scene.

For the new winter issue, C magazine gave me the opportunity to meet and interview six amazing furniture designers based in the greater Los Angeles area - meet these six inspiring creators here: magazinec.com/design/why-s...

Why the Art World Is Making Nature Its Boss | Atmos To fight the climate and biodiversity crisis, cultural organizations are looking to recruit nonhuman voices to governance.

In tandem with the rights of nature legal movement, some nonprofits and other organizations are now giving a place for voices of nature on their boards, writes Sophie Tolhurst at Atmos: atmos.earth/why-the-art-...

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