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War on women: The link between white supremacy, “men’s rights” and anti-abortion politics
ANTHONY DIMAGGIO, - Salon
_Stephan:_
_I have been making the linkage of White supremacy, male dominance, the anti-choice movement, the incel movement, and the Republican Party for years, as regular SR readers know. Now others are beginning to see this same linkage. Here is an example._
_Woman getting m ... ⌘ Read more_
Lauren Boebert lashes out at gun bans: ‘We’re not a democracy so quit with that!’**
David Edwards, - Raw Story
_Stephan:_
_How much clearer does it need to get that the MAGAt Republicans neither like nor support democracy? The voters in the 3rd District of Colorado who elected this cretin to Congress should be ashamed of themselves._
_MAGAt Republican Representative Laure ... ⌘ Read more_
Employers spend more than $400 million per year on ‘union-avoidance’ consultants to bolster their union-busting efforts
Celine McNicholas, Margaret Poydock, Samantha Sanders, and Ben Zipperer , - Economic Policy Institute
_Stephan:_
_Anyone who actually knows anything about American history, which almost by definition means no one who is a Republican ideologue, knows that the middle class in America was ... ⌘ Read more_
Texas Lawmakers Have a New Scheme to Punish Renewables and Prop Up Fossil Fuels
Molly Taft, - Gizmodo
_Stephan:_
_Texas has become a very weird state, in my opinion. Its elected state officials do one thing after another to harm the wellbeing of the people who voted them into office. Degraded schools, Degraded healthcare for women and children. Degraded childcare. Degraded elder care. Degraded preparation for the impact of climate change. ... ⌘ Read more_
House GOP’s Energy Package Slammed as Harmful ‘Giveaway to Big Oil’**
Kenny Stancil, Staff Writer - Common Dreams
_Stephan:_
_The Republicans have become a danger to the wellbeing of the United States. I know that sounds partisan; it is not. I care about objectively verifiable social outcome data. I support that which fosters wellbeing at every level and by that calculation the Republican Party is a danger. This report is one of the reasons I say this._
![] ... ⌘ Read more
Climate change is causing a youth mental health crisis — and it’s time for adults to step up
Kathryn Molloy , - National Observer (Canada)
_Stephan:_
_This is a Canadian story and the numbers are a little different, but the problem is the same in the United States. We are not dealing properly with climate change, and that, plus what is happening, is causing great stress and that is producing a mental health crisis in both countrie ... ⌘ Read more_
Senior care is crushingly expensive. Boomers aren’t ready.
Christopher Rowland, - The Washington Post
_Stephan:_
_Here we see the beginning of an emerging trend that is becoming a healthcare crisis. We so desperately need universal birthright single-payer healthcare. But to get it the people of America must make the White House and both houses of Congress strongly Democratic._
_Beth Roper, ... ⌘ Read more_
Texas Judge Strikes Down Free HIV Drugs, Cancer Screenings Under Obamacare
Alice Miranda Ollstein, Staff Writer - Reader Supported News / Politico
_Stephan:_
_If you don't get that Republicans don't care about the wellbeing of Americans consider this wound by a Republican judge appointed by a Republican president, and the response of a Republican House. I had a hard time believing this story when I first heard about it. Given the already poor stat ... ⌘ Read more_
Missouri Reps Just Voted to Completely Defund the State’s Public Libraries
Claire Woodcock, - Vice News
_Stephan:_
_How insecure, how fearful of reality, do you have to be to deliberately sabotage public libraries? It says I do not want to educate, I want to indoctrinate, and I am afraid of the truth. The people of Missouri are going to have to decide the nature of their society. They have to want wellbeing over fears, resentments, and hates. Tha ... ⌘ Read more_
GOP Rep. Barry Moore Wants AR-15 as ‘National Gun of America’**
Kaitlin Lewis, - Newsweek
_Stephan:_
_The Republicans want to make the AR-15 military weapon, the favorite gun of mass murderers in the United States the "National Gun of America." Really. That's the Republican state of mind. I'm surprised they aren't circulating pictures of the dead children._
_A customer looks at a custom- ... ⌘ Read more_
Missouri Reps Just Voted to Completely Defund the State’s Public Libraries
Claire Woodcock, - Vice News
_Stephan:_
_How insecure, how fearful of reality, do you have to be to deliberately sabotage public libraries? It says I do not want to educate, I want to indoctrinate, and I am afraid of the truth. The people of Missouri are going to have to decide the nature of their society. They have to want wellbeing over fears, resentments, and hates. Tha ... ⌘ Read more_
These Are the U.S. Senators Who Have Taken the Most Money from the NRA
Katie Couric Media, - Katie Couric Media
_Stephan:_
_When I talk to you about political whoring in Congress, and renting congress members for political ends nowhere is it clearer than in the gun violence issue. Here are the top 10 recipients of money from the NRA. Do you notice something about the list? Every congress member on the list is a Republican. And which party is blocking ... ⌘ Read more_
Exxon in the classroom: how big oil money influences US universities
Oliver Milman, Staff Writer - The Guardian (U.K.)
_Stephan:_
_When I read this report two things stood out in my mind. First, the grotesque wealth inequality in the United States, and the ability of rich individuals and corporations to use their wealth to shape society to their needs and wants. Second, America is now defined by a complete lack of ethics. Colleges and congress members t ... ⌘ Read more_
Why We Must Defend Against the GOP Plan to Destroy Public Education
Randi Weingarten, President of the American Federation of Teachers, AFL-CIO. - Common Dreams
_Stephan:_
_The Republican Party is trying to dismantle public education. Why? I think because the strategy of the Republicans who are a declining minority party is to turn American citizens into compliant peasants indoctrinated not educated, who can be controlled by stimulating their angers, fe ... ⌘ Read more_
House Republicans Pass First National Bill Targeting Transgender Youth
Zane McNeill , - truthout
_Stephan:_
_One of the defining features of MAGAt world is its severe sexual dysfunctionality. MAGAts are obsessed in a very sick way with the LGBTQ community. I think a large part of this has to do with gender equality, which is creating a society where White men are not by default the controllers and leaders. Indeed, what is the Incel movement, but ang ... ⌘ Read more_
‘We’re not gonna fix it’: TN Republican says Congress can’t do anything to stop gun violence
David Badashand, - AlterNet
_Stephan:_
_MAGAt Republican Tim Burchett speaks for his party, and the corporate death merchants who make the weapons that have already killed 10,009 people and wounded another 7,568 in the United States in the first 88 days of the year (unless there are more gun deaths between when I write this on Tuesday and yo ... ⌘ Read more_
Taking Guns Away Is Not the Answer’: Scalise Encourages Prayer After Nashville School Mass Shooting
, \\-
_Stephan:_
_MAGAt Republican House Majority leader Steve Scalise_
The official line from House Republicans on Monday’s mass shooting at a pr ... ⌘ Read more
Stress of mass shootings causing cascade of collective traumas
Zara Abrams, - American Psychological Association
_Stephan:_
_When you have 10,009 people killed by guns and another 7,568 injured by shooting in just 88 days, whether the MAGAt Republicans admit it or not, you are in a war zone. And, as this report lays out, the negative psychological effects of that reality have become a major trend in this country. The data is irrefutable._
![](https://www.s ... ⌘ Read more
When the Shooting Stops
, \\- Everytown Research & Policy
_Stephan:_
_Here is more evidence about what I have come to see as the second effect of gun violence in the United States, one that is altering in a negative way the entire culture of American society. The gun violence issue is about guns. Today I have been listening to and reading Republican after Republican step in front of a microphone to say gun violence is not about guns it is about race, evil, transsexuality, education, yadda...yadda ... ⌘ Read more_
The growing crisis of food and water insecurity, and homelessness, afflicting the United States
Stephan A. Schwartz, Columnist - Explore
_Stephan:_
_I wrote this essay because day after day as I do the research for SR I see reports on children not getting enough to eat, whole cities that having water issues, and cities filled with what amount to homeless barrios of impoverished people. All of it screams to me that our values ... ⌘ Read more_
America Pulls Back From Values That Once Defined It, WSJ-NORC Poll Finds
Aaron Zitner, Reporter and Editor - The Wall Street Journal
_Stephan:_
_By every measure I can find the American people are in a crisis that is creating two countries. Here is the latest rigorously done poll. The only common interest we seem to share is an interest in making money because it is the only thing that matters. A very sad business and I do not see how we go on like ... ⌘ Read more_
Marjorie Taylor Greene blames Biden and other ‘gun grabbers’ for Nashville school shooting
Gideon Rubin, - Raw Story
_Stephan:_
_This is what Marjorie Taylor Greene, one of the MAGAt leaders in the House of Representatives has to say about the Nashville school mass murder today. She wants to see more guns in schools. Really, she actually said it. Can you have any doubt that the Republican Party values guns more than children? Can y ... ⌘ Read more_
‘Live free and die’? The sad state of U.S. life expectancy
Selena Simmons-Duffin, - npr
_Stephan:_
_We are the greatest. We are the most advanced. We are the world leaders. You hear this kind of crap repeated endlessly in America's corporate media. And that is exactly what it is, crap. Try this, instead, "American children are less likely to live to age 5 than children in other high-income countries." A few days ago I published a report on the decline of life expec ... ⌘ Read more_
Quack science and the GOP
Thom Hartmann, - Raw Story
_Stephan:_
_One of the things that has been made very clear by the Covid-19 Pandemic is that the MAGAt Republican Party is not working to create a society based on facts, and neither understands nor cares about science. For the MAGAts, based on what they themselves say, it's all about ideology and putting profit above wellbeing. This is part of why the life expectancy of Americans is dropping while the other developed democracies are increas ... ⌘ Read more_
Biden designates new national monuments in Nevada, Texas
Rachel Frazin, - The Hill
_Stephan:_
_Here is some lovely good news. I have been to both Avi Kwa Ame (Spirit Mountain) in Nevada and Castner Range in Texas and am very happy to see Biden make them national monuments. In both cases, it respects the views of local indigenous people, and it preserves for everyone beautiful scenic areas that lighten your soul when you visit them. The MAGAts opposed these designa ... ⌘ Read more_
Michigan offers real hope — and a roadmap back to democracy and common sense
DENNIS AFTERGUT, FormerFederal Prosecutor, Currently of Ccounsel to Lawyers Defending American Democracy - Salon
_Stephan:_
_Here is some more good news. How do we save democracy in America? Michigan shows the way, as well as showing why how people vote affects their own wellbeing. What did they do? They voted Democrats into power. Compare this with what is happening in ... ⌘ Read more_
Child Labor Is on the Rise as Republicans See an Answer to Labor Shortages
Tyler Walicek , - truthout
_Stephan:_
_The International Labour Office defines child labor as “work that deprives children of their childhood, potential and dignity” and that is “harmful to (their) physical and mental development.” Last summer I started tracking this trend after seeing research reports about child labor in the United States in the professional and academi ... ⌘ Read more_
Staffing shortages plague schools nationwide, as 40% of parents fear lack of qualified teachers
Sophia Naughton, Assistant Editor - Study Finds
_Stephan:_
_Public schools were the key to creating the American middle class, and why the United States became the world leader in technological and medical development. Now all that is being dismantled by a Republican Party that seeks indoctrination of children not their education. Th ... ⌘ Read more_
Teachers to Parents: “Stand By Me”**
Kim Hernandez, - ADDitude
_Stephan:_
_Here is what the teachers have to say about what teaching in American public schools is like today._
_To read the full academic report upon which this article is based see: Our Next Assignment: Where Americans Stand on Public K-12 Education_
_Stephan:_
_The corporate oil interests pour tens of millions of dollars into renting corrupt members of Congress to make sure that their tax basis is absurdly low, their environmental regulations are as minimal as possible, and their profits are as high as they can be rigged. The fact that these schemes end up killing thousands of people each year is ... ⌘ Read more_
Minnesota power plant to temporarily shut down after new leak of radioactive water detected
Meredith Deliso, - abc News
_Stephan:_
_This is the second leak of radioactive waste in this one plant in Minnesota (see SR archive). This, and the issue of thousand year waste are why I am against any expansion of nuclear energy._
_In this Oct. 2, 2019, file phot ... ⌘ Read more_
‘It’s heartbreaking’: Idaho Republican women vote against providing girls free tampons
Maya Boddie, Staff Writer - AlterNet
_Stephan:_
_This story amazed me, but did not surprise me. One of the things about MAGAt Republican world is that MAGAt women are totally in synch with MAGAt men about limiting support for girls and women and controlling them._
_Credit: Elena ... ⌘ Read more_
The undeserving rich: Putting the bank bailout in context
Robert Reich, - Robert Reich substack
_Stephan:_
_American wealth inequality is shaping the country's entire culture, and destroying our democracy. The tax laws, and the regulatory laws of the country are all being rigged to favor the rich and create a society of wealth nobility and a compliant peasantry. Getting rid of democracy and replacing it with anocracy is another part of the christofascist strategy ... ⌘ Read more_
US maternal mortality is more than 10 times higher than in Australia. Why?**
Moira Donegan, Columnist - The Guardian (U.K.)
_Stephan:_
_This report opens with, "America is in a maternal health crisis. According to new CDC data released this week, the rate of maternal mortality – defined as deaths during pregnancy or within 42 days of giving birth – rose by 40% in 2021." I find that so alarming I cannot put my reaction into words I can use in SR. The ... ⌘ Read more_
Medicare Advantage Industry ‘Scare Tactics’ and Lobbying Intensify Over Efforts to Curb Fraud
Jake Johnson, Staff Writer -
_Stephan:_
_As if we needed yet further evidence that what passes for healthcare in the United States is really just a complicated grift to promote profit, here it is. Sadly, the Republican Party promotes this grift, and other than Democrats Bernie Sanders, Elizabeth Warren, Katie Porter, and maybe AOC I don' ... ⌘ Read more_
Fears of Monarch butterfly extinction as numbers plummet 22% in annual count
Brett Wilkins, - Raw Story
_Stephan:_
_This is a very sad story, and I hope that Americans who live along the route the monarchs fly hear about this and plant milkweed so we do not lose these beautiful beings. And, do I need to say it again, never ever use Roundup on their property._
_Credit: G ... ⌘ Read more_
How hate has become the GOP’s main political weapon
Thom Hartmann, - Raw Story / Commentary
_Stephan:_
_Thom Hartmann, I think, echoing what I have been saying in SR for several years now, has nailed it, and this is what worries me more than anything else. Hate, and resentment are crippling the United States and destroying our democracy at a time when unity of intention, and preparation for what climate change is doing have never been more essential. The 2024 election ... ⌘ Read more_
Secession Is No Longer a “What If” Scenario
MICHAEL J. LEE, - truthdig
_Stephan:_
_While the media speculates endlessly about Trump, basically with little of the actual facts, the secession trend is growing in the United States day by day, without any really serious conversation. My prediction is that the U.S. will survive as single nation, but through a series of conservative Supreme Court decisions, which will continue until two of the MAGA contingent die or retire and a Demo ... ⌘ Read more_
Are we growing more dumber? Americans’ IQ scores drop in four of five measurements
John Anderer, Contributing Writer - Study Finds
_Stephan:_
_This is not good news. Exactly why the IQ of Americans is dropping after a century of rising is unclear but, based on objectively verified data, it is happening. This at a time when MAGAt world is trying to dismantle public education. Already many Americans could not pass the standard 1895 graduation ... ⌘ Read more_
The doctors leaving anti-abortion states: ‘I couldn’t do my job at all’**
Poppy Noor, - The Guardian (U.K.)
_Stephan:_
_I told you the Red states were going to seriously degrade the quality of their healthcare by the laws passed by Republicans to control women. In Sandpoint, Idaho the only hospital in the city has ended obstetrical care. Ob-Gyns are leaving Red States because it is too dangerous to practice in them. Here is the evidence._
_Stephan:_
_While the Republican Party tries to protect criminal Trump, and persecutes women and the LGBTQ communities, and the Biden administration approves the Willow Project in Alaska, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change is giving us their final warning about climate change. Get with the program or mi ... ⌘ Read more_
Reconstructive Justice — Public Health Policy to End Mass Incarceration
Eric Reinhart, M.D., Department of Anthropology, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA; and the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Northwestern University Feinberg School of Medicine, and the Department of Psychiatry and Behavioral Sciences, Chicago Center for Psychoanalysis - The New England Journal of Medicine
_Stephan:_
_The United States has the largest and most rac ... ⌘ Read more_
Homelessness can be eradicated by 2027 with close cooperation: Report
, \\- Helsinki Times / Ministry of the Environment (Finland)
_Stephan:_
_Based on objectively verifiable research Finland is considered to be the happiest country in the world. Why? Because the Finnish government, and the culture itself, make fostering wellbeing the first priority. It is a measure of how powerful greed and power are that people choose that path and not the path of w ... ⌘ Read more_
Iowa Is Set to Become Eighth State to Ban Gender-Affirming Care for Trans Youth
Zane McNeill , - truthout
_Stephan:_
_This is such a sad story of a trend is completely in contrast to fostering wellbeing. If I had a child with these issues, I would move, and I think that is what a lot of families are going to do. The Red states are ruining their already sadly compromised healthcare. It is becoming very revealing to watch the developing contr ... ⌘ Read more_
Iowa Is Set to Become Eighth State to Ban Gender-Affirming Care for Trans Youth
Zane McNeill , - truthout
_Stephan:_
_This is such a sad story of a trend is completely in contrast to fostering wellbeing. If I had a child with these issues, I would move, and I think that is what a lot of families are going to do. The Red states are ruining their already sadly compromised healthcare. It is becoming very revealing to watch the developing contr ... ⌘ Read more_
What’s on your plate? 60% of foods in America contain unhealthy additives
John Anderer, - Study Finds
_Stephan:_
_It becomes clearer with every research study I read that much of the health problems Americans face arise from the food they eat, which is filled with toxic food additives. Please always buy organic food when you can, and never buy processed baby foods. I want my readers to have long healthy lives._
_To read the research paper upon whic ... ⌘ Read more_
Homes in Flood Zones Are Overvalued By Billions, Study Finds
Zoya Teirstein, - EcoWatch / Grist
_Stephan:_
_I have been telling you for years that Florida faces a multi-billion real estate nightmare coming as a result of sea rise and climate change. (See SR archive) Well, as this report describes, that disaster is almost here. Ron DeSantis who, as far as I can see, is a vulgar racist christofascist incompetent as governor is more focused on drag queens than cl ... ⌘ Read more_
What’s Driving the ‘World’s Fastest-Growing’ Brain Disease’?**
Batya Swift Yasgur, MA, LSW, Contributing Writer - Medscape
_Stephan:_
_Like the additives in food, the toxins that pollute the homes of most Americans, such as Trichloroethylene, are a source of serious illness. It's all very profitable, but these products do not foster wellbeing. Stop using them. Read the labels. Make all your soaps and cleansers organic. Stop using air-fresheners of any kind. Take the ... ⌘ Read more_
Citing staffing issues and political climate, North Idaho hospital will no longer deliver babies
KELCIE MOSELEY-MORRIS, Reporter - Idaho Capital Sun
_Stephan:_
_The MAGAt Republican hysterical obsession with controlling women, as I have told you over and over, is having all manner of consequences in American healthcare, far beyond a woman being able to choose whether to terminate a pregnancy. I have published in SR reports ab ... ⌘ Read more_
Bill aiming to end corporal punishment for students with disabilities fails in Oklahoma
KOKH Staff, - KOKH - Sinclair Broadcasting Group (Oklahoma City)
_Stephan:_
_Did you think that in the second decade of the 21st-century school children, particularly handicapped children could still be subjected to corporal punishment? No? Well in 19 Republican-controlled states, it is still practiced and legal. The Republican Party is sanctimon ... ⌘ Read more_
Nuclear Plant, Minnesota Officials Hid 400,000-Gallon Leak of Radioactive Water for Months
Kenny Stancil, Staff Writer - Common Dreams
_Stephan:_
_This is why I do not support expanding nuclear power, and why I think it should be shut down. Everything is fine until it isn't and then it can take decades -- consider Chernobyl, or what is happening in Ukraine -- maybe even a century to make whatever the accident affected safe again._
... ⌘ Read more
Global fresh water demand will outstrip supply by 40% by 2030, say experts
Fiona Harvey, Environment Editor - The Guardian (U.K.)
_Stephan:_
_if you read me regularly you know I have been telling readers for years, that water is destiny, either too much or not enough, and that we are not preparing properly for what is coming. Here is a just-released report on what this means in terms of potable water._
 at the end of life. I urge all my readers, particularly those who are older to reorder your life to increase your wel ... ⌘ Read more_
The Willow Project and the Race to Pump the “Last Barrel” of Oil
Noah Gordon, Acting Co-director of the Sustainability, Climate, and Geopolitics Program and a Fellow in the Europe Program at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace - Carnegie Endowment for International Peace
_Stephan:_
_The Biden administration has done some very positive things to deal with climate change, approving the Willow Project is not one of them. This is a bad mistake for a w ... ⌘ Read more_
Averting Crisis, Europe Learns to Live Without Russian Energy
PAUL HOCKENOS , Berlin-based writer - Yale Environment 360
_Stephan:_
_The invasion of Ukraine by Putin's Russia is a crime against humanity of epic proportions. But there is something good that will come out of this disaster. Embargoing Russian oil and gas, is compelling Europe to develop an alternative multinational energy system that is not carbon energy based. This is a planetary big deal becaus ... ⌘ Read more_
Nazi salutes, pepper spray and pistols: Ohio drag event devolves into an extremist melee
2.4k Will Carless and Doug Livingston, - USA Today
_Stephan:_
_There are more and more of the kind of incidents described in this report. As a society we are not dealing properly with MAGAt world's violence, and it is damaging the quality of life in America._
_Dozens of p ... ⌘ Read more_
Partisan rancor in Oregon spills over into Idaho effort to absorb its rural neighbors
Kyung Lah and Jack Hannah, - CNN
_Stephan:_
_So powerful is the culture war in the U.S. that this Oregon-Idaho border issue is an extreme example of the Red Blue Great Schism Trend. I think this may be where we are headed, a realignment of state borders. That is not secession. I don't think the culture war is going to dissipate, and it is going to re ... ⌘ Read more_
Abortion Training in Texas is Vanishing
Calli McMurray, Staff Writer - Texas Observer
_Stephan:_
_The degradation of medical training in the Red states that have passed all these socially destructive laws about controlling women is something I found completely predictable. I wrote about it, when Dobbs occurred. (See SR Archives) Now, as this article describes, it is playing out. I predict we are going to see all kinds of negative women's health medical issues arise in those Red st ... ⌘ Read more_
Biden Signs Executive Order on Guns to Enhance Background Checks
Chris Walker, News Writer - truthout
_Stephan:_
_We have had 112 mass shootings since 1 January, 8,598 people are dead from gun violence. Do you think that's a problem, I certainly do. Here is some good news from the Biden Administration. It's only a fraction of what is needed, but good news for all that._
_President ... ⌘ Read more_
Scientists Have Discovered an Enzyme That Converts Air Into Electricity
, \\- Monash University / Science Daily
_Stephan:_
_Here is some very interesting post-carbon era research that may become a big trend, and I will be following it._
_Reference: “Structural basis for bacterial energy extraction from atmospheric hydrogen” by Rhys Grinter, Ashleigh Kropp, Hari Venugopal, Moritz Senger, Jack Badley, Princess R. Cabotaje, Ruyu Jia, Zehui Duan, Ping ... ⌘ Read more_
‘It is so insane but our viewers believe it’: Tucker Carlson’s producers quietly trashed Fox News’ audience
Brandon Gage, Staff Writer - AlterNet
_Stephan:_
_The big takeaway from what the Dominion lawsuit, and now the second Smartmatic lawsuit has provoked is proof of what I have been saying for years. Fox is a propaganda operation specifically designed to provoke the fear, hate, and resentment of about three million ... ⌘ Read more_
‘Another crisis is building’ at Fox News as second defamation lawsuit gets green light for trial
David Edwards, Staff Writer - Raw Story
_Stephan:_
_The Smartmatic lawsuit for $2.7 billion added to the Dominion suit for $1.6 billion may do what shame and disgrace has not been able to do, and that is put the Fox propaganda operation out of business, or at least cause it to change how it operates. I certainly hope Fox loses both ... ⌘ Read more_
EPA proposes first-ever limits on PFAS in drinking water
Zoya Teirstein, Staff Writer - Grist
_Stephan:_
_Here is some excellent good news. The Biden administration is finally taking on the crisis of forever chemical toxins in the drinking water of much of America. Not a perfect solution, but at least a first step._
_Credit:_ _Manolo Guijarro / Getty_
The Environmental Protection Agency r ... ⌘ Read more
Americans are Prioritizing Safety and Quality Education While Rejecting Book Bans and Restricted Curriculums
, \\- Navigator
_Stephan:_
_Here is some more good news. It seems that in spite of the endless culture war being perpetrated by MAGAt world and its disinformation propaganda outlets the majority of Americans still are focused on fostering wellbeing. Let's hope that is reflected in how they vote in November ... ⌘ Read more_
Trump-Era Deregulation Deemed a Key Culprit in the Failure of Silicon Valley Bank
Jake Johnson, - Common Dreams
_Stephan:_
_It is amazing to me that poor and middle class Americans simply don't seem to be capable of undertanding that Republicans only govern for the benefit of themselves and the oligarchs who rent them as needed. Whereas the Democrats, as they did in this Silicon Bank debacle, do the best they can to promote wellbeing, jus ... ⌘ Read more_
The New Children’s Crusade: Recruiting for America’s Culture War
JOSEPHINE LEE, Investigative Reporting Fellow - Texas Observer
_Stephan:_
_The perversion of Christianity, into a gun-toting, White supremacy, militant heterosexual cult, I think, is a nasty trend that is not only doing immediate damage to American democracy, it is also going to fundamentally damage Christianity for more than a generation, perhaps longer. And, of course, christofascist oligarchs ... ⌘ Read more_
“Coordinated at a higher level”: White supremacist propaganda soared to all-time high last year
AREEBA SHAH, Staff Writer - Salon
_Stephan:_
_MAGAt world has awakened a level of hate, antisemitism, and racism in the United States greater than anything I have ever seen. I don't remember anything this bad even at the height of the civil rights conflict in the 1950s and 60s. That epoch was mostly in the Southern states and the anti ... ⌘ Read more_
‘Shocking’ ban of book about Holocaust survivor’s granddaughter in DeSantis’ Florida
Brad Reed, Staff Writer - Raw Story
_Stephan:_
_The MAGAt world is not fact-based. It cares about the indoctrination of children not education, and this leads to all kinds of weird anti-historical efforts, of which this story is but one example. What is particularly strange in this instance is that Florida has a notably high percentage of Jewish residents. ... ⌘ Read more_
House GOP Refuses to Denounce White Supremacy and ‘Great Replacement’ Theory
Julia Conley, Staff Writer -
_Stephan:_
_This is how definitive the Great Schism Trend has become, and how racist the Republican Party is. When asked to condemn White Nationalism and White Supremacy not a single Republican member of the U.S. House Oversight and Accountability Committee would sign, while all 20 Democrats on the committee enthusiastically signed. I take thi ... ⌘ Read more_
Republican Budget Plan would Throw Millions off Social security
, \\- Politicususa
_Stephan:_
_It is a measure of the hate and resentment of MAGAt world that they put their hate and resentment ahead of their own wellbeing. Anyone needing childcare, or who is a vet, or is soon going to be on Social Security, or is poor enough to need Medicaid, who votes for a Republican is voting to degrade the quality of their own life as this report describes. And yet as w ... ⌘ Read more_
The GOP Wants You to Pay More Exorbitant Credit Card Fees
Rebecca Burns and Julia Rock, - Reader Supported News / Jacobin
_Stephan:_
_Here is yet another example of political whoring by Republicans made possible by the legalization of bribery authorized by the Citizens United Supreme Court decision. We are not going to solve the corruption of Congress, which is at banana republic level, until we have publicly funded elections, and contributions like those of the ... ⌘ Read more_
How Obamacare Enabled a Multibillion-Dollar Christian Health Care Cash Grab
J. David McSwane and Ryan Gabrielson, - ProPublica
_Stephan:_
_This report makes clear the link between grifting Christian clergy and churches, and grifting Republican politicians. It is one of the great tragedies of the last 50 years that Christian churches and fascist Republican politicians have joined forces to the detriment of the members of those churches. This is ... ⌘ Read more_
A growing plastic smog, now estimated to be over 170 trillion plastic particles afloat in the world’s oceans—Urgent solutions required
Marcus Eriksen , Win Cowger, Lisa M. Erdle , Scott Coffin, Patricia Villarrubia-Gómez, Charles J. Moore, Edward J. Carpenter, Robert H. Day, Martin Thiel, and Chris Wilcox, - PLOS ONE
_Stephan:_
_For every person on earth, there are 21,000 pieces of plasti ... ⌘ Read more_
Plastic particles could cross over from mother to unborn fetus, experts say
Nicole Karlis, Senior Writer - Salon
_Stephan:_
_When most people think about plastic waste they seem to think about plastic bottles that have been thrown away. That's a threat to the environment to be sure. But it is when plastic breaks down into teeny tiny bits -- microplastics -- that the real danger occurs. This story ought to seriously scare you. So why isn't anyone ... ⌘ Read more_
The surprising reason credit scores are lower in the South
Alex Henderson, Staff Writer - Raw Story / Alternet
_Stephan:_
_There are so many bad indeed in some cases evil things about America's Illness Profit System, but here is one I had never even thought about -- your credit score. It is a measure of the corruption of the American Congress that in spite of all these negative aspects the illness profit industries have such a strong stranglehold on the Congress ... ⌘ Read more_
The Republican Push to Bring Back Child Labor
TOM CONWAY, Staff Writer - truthdig
_Stephan:_
_I simply cannot convey in publishable language how vile and evil I think the Republican Party has become. The party of Lincoln and Eisenhower has morphed into America's political cancer, dnagerous, life-threatening, and potentially lethal. And nothing illustrates this more than the Republican attempt to legalize child labor. In my opinion, you cannot be an ethical person and vote Re ... ⌘ Read more_
Editor’s Note – A level of criminality never before seen
Stephan A. Schwartz, Editor - Schwartzreport
_Stephan:_
_Today's SR is mostly focused on a growing trend that should concern all of us. I am speaking here about the level of criminality that defines the Republican Party. I've picked just a few stories that have come out in the past several days, and I could have added half a dozen more. Both parties have had criminals amongst their number, I want to be clear ab ... ⌘ Read more_
Biden proposes $6.8 trillion budget to make rich pay “fair share”**
Hans Nichols , - Axios
_Stephan:_
_To provide contrast to the rest of this issue, here are the details laying out Biden's budget iand what it is designed to do. What do the Republicans want? Cut Social Security payments, increase the retirement age, cut or eliminate Medicare, and lower taxes on the rich. What I find amazing is that the people who make up MAGAt world are so, what can I say but ... ⌘ Read more_
Sold the Statehouse’: Jury convicts 2 well-known Ohio Republicans in $60 million racketeering case
Alex Henderson, Staff Writer - AlterNet
_Stephan:_
_Every week I see one or two stories, sometimes more, on Republican politicians being arrested or indicted for some kind of criminality. Here are two leaders of the Republican Party in Ohio recently found guilt of a $60 million dollar bribery scam._
_Tennessee Republican MAGAt Representative Andy ... ⌘ Read more_
Former Trump campaign chairman hit with $3.2 million fine to settle tax-dodging charges
Mary Papenfuss, - Raw Story
_Stephan:_
_It just goes on and on, I could do another half dozen stories like those I am publishing today. I want to be clear, there are Democratic politicians are are dishonest, but, and this is the important point, the criminality of Republican politicians is unlike anything ever seen in the United States before._
! ... ⌘ Read more
Inside the “Private and Confidential” Conservative Group That Promises to “Crush Liberal Dominance”**
Andy Kroll, Andrea Bernstein, and Nick Surgey, - ProPublica
_Stephan:_
_Here is an excellent detailed account of how a small group of oligarchs is plotting and acting to turn the United States into a christofascist anocracy controlled by the oligarchs. As the article lays out Leonard Leo, assisted by the Republican Congression ... ⌘ Read more_
Rail Workers Warn Safety Bill Loopholes Are Big Enough to ‘Run a Freight Train Through’**
Brett Wilkins, Staff Writer - Common Dreams
_Stephan:_
_I thought it very revealing that this morning has the CEO of Norfolk and Southern Railroad was about to testify before the Senate committee looking into the railroad industry Norfolk and Southern had yet another derailment. Why is this happening over and over? Why, because the railroad industry ... ⌘ Read more_
U.S. surpassed 106 mass shootings in only 67 days
Jacob Knutson, - Axios
_Stephan:_
_This story was published by Axios on 6 March and was out of date by the time I am citing it today. There have been 6 more shootings as of the 9th. This has become the norm in the United States because in this country we value guns more than people. And the mass deaths are overwhelmingly carried out by MAGAts -- basically hate-filled resentful White men and boys. Do you think anything wil ... ⌘ Read more_
Countering GOP Attacks, Biden Proposes Tax Hike on the Rich to Strengthen Medicare
Jake Johnson, Staff Writer - Common Dreams
_Stephan:_
_President Biden is proposing something that, in my opinion, should have been done years ago. The American federal tax structure is a racket rigged to so blatantly favor the rich that a school teacher pays a higher rate than an oligarch billionaire. Biden's proposal will also assure the uninterrupted cont ... ⌘ Read more_
The growing crisis of food and water insecurity, and homelessness, afflicting the United States
Stephan A. Schwartz, Columnist - Explore
_Stephan:_
_While the country including the media is trapped in the Republican hate theater and culture wars serious trends negatively impacting millions are hardly remarked upon. Here is an example I published showing an example of what I mean._
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Bipartisan rail safety bill runs into Republican roadblock
AL WEAVER AND KARL EVERS-HILLSTROM, Staff Writers - The Hill
_Stephan:_
_The Republicans block rail safety regulation. This is what corporate lobbying achieves with what amounts to political whores in Congress._
_A burning train forced evacuations in the East Palestine, Ohio, area on Feb. 3, 2023. Credit: Channel 19 News, Clevela ... ⌘ Read more_
Children of same-sex couples fare at least as well as in other families – study
Nicola Davis, Science Correspondent - The Guardian (U.K.)
_Stephan:_
_A woman, who I suspect is a MAGAt, wrote to chastise me about my support for individuals who want to enter into same-sex marriages and even worse, in her opinion, want to have children. "Stephan, you are so predictably liberal and you don't live in the real world. Surely you understand that same- ... ⌘ Read more_