This Sunday the entire New York Times Magazine will be composed of just one article on a single subject: the failure to confront the global climate crisis in the 1980s, a time when the science was settled and the politics seemed to align. Written by Nathaniel Rich, this work of history is filled with insider revelations about roads not taken that, on several occasions, made me swear out loud. And lest there be any doubt that the implications of these decisions will be etched in geologic time, Rich’s words are punctuated with full-page aerial photographs by George Steinmetz that wrenchingly document the rapid unraveling of planetary systems, from the rushing water where Greenland ice used to be to massive algae blooms in China’s third largest lake.The novella-length piece represents the kind of media commitment that the climate crisis has long deserved but almost never received. We have all heard the various excuses for why the small matter of despoiling our only home just doesn’t cut it as an urgent news story: “Climate change is too far off in the future”; “It’s inappropriate […]
Benito Mussolini and Adolf Hitler in Munich, Germany. Credit: National Archives Collection of Foreign Records Seized, 1675 – 1958
President Donald Trump is a symptom of a much larger problem. New research suggests that Trump’s supporters are so motivated by racism and bigotry that they may willing to overturn American democracy so that white Christians like themselves can maintain continued power over our society.
Ultimately, history teaches many lessons. The question then becomes whether we are willing to learn them. How is Donald Trump similar to, or different from, authoritarians and fascists such as Adolf Hitler? In what ways are “regular people” and Trump’s “average” supporters implicated and responsible for his assault on democracy and campaign of cruelty? To what extend does the cruelty of Trump and his enablers toward immigrant children and other groups channel the evils of the Nazi regime? Do individuals working together have a chance to slow down Donald Trump and the Republican Party’s assault on American democracy?
In an effort to answer these questions I recently spoke with Richard Frankel,
Sad! Survey Shows Shocking Percentage of Americans Are Unable to Name a Single First Amendment Right
First Amendment demonstration
According to the Freedom Forum Institute’s annual “State of the First Amendment” (SOFA) survey, it looks like a shocking number of Americans are unfamiliar with their First Amendment rights.
Of the more than 1,000 people surveyed in May and June of this year, only one person was able to name all five First Amendment rights. A whopping 40 percent, however, couldn’t name any. (emphasis added)
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Among those who could name one or a few, the right to freedom of speech was the most commonly remembered, with 56 percent of respondents being able to list it.
The other rights didn’t fare so well, however, with just 15 percent of respondents naming freedom of religion, 13 percent naming freedom of the press, 12 percent naming freedom of peaceful assembly, and a measly 2 percent naming the freedom to petition the government.
Among some incorrect […]
The Trump administration has overturned bans on the use of pesticides linked to declining bee populations and the cultivation of genetically modified crops in US national wildlife refuges. (emphasis added)
The move, reversing a policy adopted in 2014, has attracted heavy criticism from environmentalists.
It was announced in a memo by the US Fish and Wildlife Service.
Limited agricultural activity is allowed on some national wildlife refuges.
The Fish and Wildlife Service’s deputy director, Greg Sheehan, said in the memo that the blanket ban on neonicotinoid pesticides and GM crops on refuges would end, with decisions about their use being made on a case-by-case basis.
He said genetically modified organisms helped “maximise production”, and that neonics might be required “to fulfil needed farming practices”.
Mr Sheehan added that the move on GM crops would improve the supply of food for migratory birds including ducks and geese, which are shot by hunters on many of the nation’s refuges.
The memo names more than 50 national wildlife refuges where the new policy now applies, covering about 150 million […]
Lawrence Sedita, a 74-year-old former carpenter, said he lost his health insurance about two years ago after his union changed the eligibility requirements. He and his wife filed for bankruptcy after living off of their credit cards for a time. Their financial difficulty “has drained everything out of me,” he said.
Credit: Roger Kisby/ The New York Times
For a rapidly growing share of older Americans, traditional ideas about life in retirement are being upended by a dismal reality: bankruptcy.
The signs of potential trouble — vanishing pensions, soaring medical expenses, inadequate savings — have been building for years. Now, new research sheds light on the scope of the problem: The rate of people 65 and older filing for bankruptcy is three times what it was in 1991, the study found, and the same group accounts for a far greater share of all filers.
Driving the surge, the study suggests, is a three-decade shift of financial risk from government and employers to individuals, who are […]
Schwartzreport Podcast
Remote Viewing the Year 2060
