Stephan: Democracy in America is increasingly honored in word but not substance.
Georgia was among the southern states where hundreds of polling places have been closed since the U.S. Supreme Court overturned part of the Voting Rights Act in 2013, a new report by the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights revealed. Credit: Jessica McGowan/Getty
Civil rights advocates said Tuesday that The U.S. Supreme Court must restore a key provision of the Voting Rights Act after a sweeping new report showed how the court’s decision led to the closure of nearly 1,700 polling places across the American South.
The Leadership Conference Education Fund’s study, “Democracy Diverted,” revealed Tuesday that nearly 1,200 of the polling places were closed between the 2014 and 2018 midterm elections, “underscoring the scale of this assault on U.S. democracy.”
The group is the research and education arm of the Leadership Conference on Civil Rights Under Law, the nation’s largest coalition of civil rights groups.
“We must recognize that closures are taking place at alarming speed amid broader efforts to prevent people of color from voting,” said Vanita Gupta, president and CEO of the Leadership Conference. “And meanwhile, […]
Stephan: When I was young and you traveled abroad you were warned about the water. Only drink bottled water from known brands, and only use it to brush your teeth. Fail to do this and you do so at your peril. Today it is completely reversed. In many American cities because of decaying infrastructure tap water is problematic and, because Grifter Trump is gutting safety regulations wherever he can, wading or swimming in rivers and lakes can be dangerous.
Here is Trump's latest atrocity. Yet the Democrats continue to dither over impeachment, the courts are undergoing fundamental change, and most Americans are entranced by their television, smartphones and tablets and have tuned it all out. There will be so much to regret but, by then it will be too late.
The southern end of Yellowstone National Park is seen at the Lewis River and Lewis Falls in Wyo., on July 12, 2018. Credit: Patrick Gorski / NurPhoto/Getty
The Trump administration rolled back a major Obama-era clean water regulation on Thursday, reversing protections for certain waterways and wetlands that had fallen into a legal grey area after a series of Supreme Court challenges.
Announced by Environment Protection Agency Administrator Andrew Wheeler during an event at the headquarters of the National Association of Manufacturers, a trade group that had long lobbied for the 2015 rule to be repealed, the rollback will limit the number of waterways the federal government will protect from pollution and chemicals — which President Donald Trump has argued infringes on the rights of farmers, real estate developers and landowners.
“Today’s Step 1 action fulfills a key promise of President Trump and sets the stage for Step 2 — a new [Water of the United States] definition that will provide greater regulatory certainty for farmers, […]
Stephan: Culture, society, is created by the aggregate of individual intention, it is literally the expression of mass intention. That is a key to understanding the psychophysiology of politics. I laid out the research in support of this statement in The 8 Laws of Change.
Understanding that dynamic is important to appreciating this story fully. Within that context what effect do you think, the profile described in this Gallup study on a culture in which nearly half of the population is concerned about being shot in a mass killing?
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
48% worried about being victim of mass shooting
Women, younger adults and Democrats continue to be most worried
More than 10% have avoided large crowds or bought weapon because of worry
Stephan: I found this story in a German publication, it's getting no attention from American mainstream media at all. Yet I found it absolutely gobsmacking, and the latest in an important trend. American governance overall, yes, yes, I know there are exceptions, is so incompetent, greedy, and shortsighted that we are literally falling apart. Whether it is Flint or Newark, or a 100 other cities, the most basic thing in life, the water, is unhealthful to dangerous. The bridges are collapsing, under-river tunnels have come into question. I don't need to tell you about potholes or airports. So, with that as context, read this story. Then ask yourself this question:
Can you imagine the United States developing the political will, and committing the necessary resources to build from scratch a new New York, or Seattle, setting it up and making it a major presence in the world?
No, neither can I.
So which country do you think will become the dominant economic power in the world in the second half of the 21st century? It is very strange to me to watch my country take its democracy, and itself apart.
The Ping An International Finance Center (Ping An IFC), centre left, and other buildings at dawn in Shenzhen are seen from the Ma Tso Lung district of Hong Kong, China, on Thursday, June 8, 2017. Shenzhen is pivoting from its legacy as ground zero for China’s manufacturing boom into a center for research, development and production of advanced technology. Credit: Justin Chin/Bloomberg/Getty
At night, when the sky clears, it’s not difficult to guess where the bridge leads. The clouds on the other side of the bay glow orange, illuminated by the city of Hong Kong, with its population of 7 million, just beyond the horizon. Another glow can be seen farther north: the high-tech boomtown of Shenzhen, with 13 million inhabitants. There is a third and fourth patch of light in the sky even beyond that: Dongguan, with 8 million people, and Guangzhou, population 15 million.
In the haze of daylight, the Hong Kong-Zhuhai-Macao Bridge, modern-day China’s most recent gargantuan building project, seems to end somewhere out in the open sea. But it […]
Christopher Flavelle, Climate Writer - The New York Times
Stephan: This isn't getting much attention, but I see this story as an early datapoint in what is going to become a huge trend.
Canmore, Alberta, in 2013. Flooding there was the most expensive disaster in Canada’s history at the time. Credit: John Gibson/Getty
GATINEAU, Quebec — Along the coast of the United States, people who lost homes to Hurricane Dorian are preparing to rebuild. But Canada — which has faced devastating flooding of its own — is testing a very different idea of disaster recovery: Forcing people to move.
Unlike the United States, which will repeatedly help pay for people to rebuild in place, Canada has responded to the escalating costs of climate change by limiting aid after disasters, and even telling people to leave their homes. It is an experiment that has exposed a complex mix of relief, anger and loss as entire neighborhoods are removed, house by house.
“Canadians are stubbornly beginning to reconsider the wisdom of building near flood-prone areas,” said Jason Thistlethwaite, a professor of environment and business at the University of Waterloo in Ontario. “It’s taking government action to obligate people to make […]
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
