Stephan: As I write this Trump has 32 more hours being president. He is obviously trying to do everything in his power to harm the country, because he lost the election, and to pay back his cronies, and those who picked up the tab for these last four years of madness. There is nothing like it previously in American history.
Oil rig operating in polluted air.
The Trump administration was accused Thursday of giving a “parting gift” to fossil fuel companies with a finalized rule that seeks to prevent large financial institutions from refusing to lend to specific sectors in a purported effort to ensure “fair access.”
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) announced the finalized “Fair Access to Financial Services” rule less than two weeks after the public comment period ended. Roughly 35,700 comments were received, 31,290 of which were opposed to the proposal, the OCC said.
The regulation, proposed in late November, covers banks with over $100 billion in assets and directs them to not refuse financial services unless “documented by measurable, empirical, quantifiable data evaluated under the bank’s established, impartial risk-management standards established in advance by the bankand.” The rule, Bloombergreported,
is partly a response to 2018 announcements from firms, including Citigroup and Bank of America Corp., that they would stop doing business with some firearms makers—decisions that angered conservatives. Other lenders decided not to finance oil and gas companies that drill in the Arctic, prompting outrage from […]
Stephan: Have you noticed that Republicans are absolutely obsessed with sex, and want to control what people can and cannot do with their genitals, and with whom they can do it? I have always thought this exceedingly weird, and the Republican constant attempt to pass legislation to compel their prejudices almost psychotic. This report, for instance, describes how nasty their obsession can get. The Red states and the Blue states are diverging in very serious ways, with the result that the red states have increasingly dismal social outcome data.
It’s only the second week of 2021, and legislators across 13 states have already introduced 19 bills aimed at stripping away the rights of transgender people.
This onslaught suggests that the U.S. is on track to see a huge amount of anti-trans legislation, according to a tally by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) provided to VICE News. There were 52 bills that explicitly attacked trans rights in 2020, a record, the ACLU found.
The bills introduced so far in 2021, like those from 2020, are mainly focused on prohibiting health care for trans kids or keeping them from participating in sporting events that match their gender. Their texts are, at times, identical, suggesting that they could be based on model legislation provided to state legislators by a special interest group. This kind of “copy-and-paste” legislation occurs across the political spectrum but is a prominent tactic among conservative groups.
“It’s certainly the most aggressive attack I’ve seen,” said Chase Strangio, deputy director for Trans Justice at the ACLU. “At a time when perhaps bill-drafting and government might be slowed down by the states due […]
Stephan: If you have ever wondered, this is what political whoring looks like.
Two of Congress’ most prominent political whores
A new analysis entitled “Bankrolling the Disenfranchisers” calls out the corporate and trade association political action committees that—despite any condemnation of last week’s attack on the U.S. Capitol—poured millions in campaign contributions to the 147 Republicans who voted to object to President-elect Joe Biden’s win over President Donald Trump.
Released Wednesday by Public Citizen, the analysis finds that these groups have given roughly $170 million to the slate of anti-democratic lawmakers since the 2016 election cycle.
Nineteen of the 100 PACs gave more than a million dollars over the past four years. Topping the list is the National Association of Realtors, which gave $2,061,307. The $1 million+ givers also include weapons behemoths like Lockheed Martin at $1,410,500 and communications giants like AT&T at $1,617,000.Tired of ads? Want to support our progressive journalism? Click to learn more.
The analysis further notes that 46 of the PACs funded at least 50% of the election certification objectors. The National Association of Home Builders, for example, contributed to 123 […]
Stephan: This report lays out the last, the biggest, and the nastiest "middle finger" to America from Donald Trump as he slinks away from the White House. Not only was there no national plan for getting vaccines into the arms of Americans, but there were also no stores of vaccines to deliver. I confess there is a part of me that wishes that Trump and the Red States and the MAGAts they have sent to Congress could go off by themselves and sink into the well-deserved cesspit of failure they have so consistently sought. I am ashamed of feeling this way but I am also tired of their incompetence, corruption, debasement of a once-proud religion based on loving one's neighbors and helping those less fortunate, their racism, and their fascistic vision of government.
Democratic Governor of Oregon Kat Brown Credit: State of Oregon
The Governor of the state of Oregon launched an attack on President Donald Trump, after learning, she says, the federal stockpile of coronavirus vaccines does not exist.
Governor Kate Brown, a Democrat, says “there is no federal reserve of doses.”
The federal government allegedly had been holding back some COVID-19 vaccine.
“I am demanding answers from the Trump Administration. I am shocked and appalled that they have set an expectation on which they could not deliver, with such grave consequences,” Gov. Brown said on Twitter.
“This is a deception on a national scale. Oregon’s seniors, teachers, all of us, were depending on the promise of Oregon’s share of the federal reserve of vaccines being released to us,” she added.
Brown says the news was confirmed to her “directly by General Perna of Operation Warp Speed: States will not be receiving increased shipments of vaccines from the national stockpile next week, because there is no federal reserve of doses.”
Corey J. A. Bradshaw, Daniel T. Blumstein, Paul Ehrlich, Matthew Flinders Professor of Global Ecology, Flinders University | Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles | President, Center for Conservation Biology and Bing Professor of Population Studies, Stanford University - The Conversation
Stephan: For the last four years, the United States under Trump and the Republican-controlled Senate has done nothing of consequence to prepare the United States for what is coming with climate change. Worse, they have done everything they could to sabotage or dismantle what had been done previously. Now the piper will have his coin. Here is an article which should make your stomach clench. It proves Schwartz' First and Second Laws of Climate Change more strongly than all previous. reports: First, whatever science predicts will when it happens, be worse than predicted. Second, whatever time frame science predicts will end up occurring more quickly than predicted.
To get the full academic paper: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcosc.2020.615419/full
Anyone with even a passing interest in the global environment knows all is not well. But just how bad is the situation? Our new paper shows the outlook for life on Earth is more dire than is generally understood.
The research published today reviews more than 150 studies to produce a stark summary of the state of the natural world. We outline the likely future trends in biodiversity decline, mass extinction, climate disruption and planetary toxification. We clarify the gravity of the human predicament and provide a timely snapshot of the crises that must be addressed now.
The problems, all tied to human consumption and population growth, will almost certainly worsen over coming decades. The damage will be felt for centuries and threatens the survival of all species, including our own.
Our paper was authored by 17 leading scientists, including those from Flinders University, Stanford University and the University of California, Los Angeles. Our message might not be popular, and indeed is frightening. But scientists must be candid and accurate if humanity is to understand the enormity of the challenges we face.
