Stephan: We are witnessing a kind of slow-motion coup being attempted by the Republican Party. They are a shrinking minority and democracy no longer favors them. They want to keep the form but strip away the substance through maneuvers like the one described in this article.
On May 14, Montana Gov. Greg Gianforte (R) signed three new bills into law. Two of the bills established new restrictions on voting, including a provision that could make it a crime to collect and submit ballots on behalf of another voter. The third bill made it illegal to protest near oil and gas pipelines, with a potential punishment of up to 18 months in prison and thousands of dollars in fines.
The new laws appear to have a clear target: the members of Montana’s various Native American tribes, who rely heavily on mass ballot collection drives in order to vote, and who in recent years have led protests against major oil and gas pipeline projects that posed a threat to their lands.
The GOP has sought for years to limit the right to protest and curb access to the vote. But both efforts have intensified across the country in 2021. So far this year, eight states, including Montana, have passed laws that create new criminal penalties related to protesting, according to the International Center for Not-for-Profit Law, Read the Full Article
Stephan: When this story first broke I told you the bishops had made a mistake, and would quickly realize that from the pushback they received. They have, and this is where things now stand. But its not over, as a group they have wounded themselves. Look at the picture of them. Overwhelmingly White, late middle-aged celibate men. Swaddled by the affectation of their robes and rituals, they are about as disconnected from the average American life. And that is becoming an issue in a way it never has before.
U.S. Bishops
Why it matters: A wave of controversy and debate occurred after the conference overwhelmingly voted to draft a “teaching document,” which many hoped would rebuke Biden and other Catholic politicians for receiving Communion despite their support for abortion rights, per AP.
Four days after the vote, the USCCB released a Q&A without its previous references to Biden, a national policy or abortion.
What they’re saying: “The document’s central goal is to educate Catholics on the Eucharist,” USCCB spokeswoman Chieko Noguchi told Axios. Bishops have grown increasingly concerned about the declining belief and understanding of the Eucharist among the Catholic faithful, she said.
“The document being drafted is not meant to be disciplinary in nature, nor is it targeted at any one individual or class of persons,” the Q&A states, adding that the Vatican is not involved. “The question of whether or not to deny any individual or groups Holy Communion was not on the ballot.”
The document will instead focus on calling all Catholics to “support human life and dignity and other fundamental principles of Catholic moral and […]
Stephan: Report after report has come out, each a demonstration of Schwartz' Law of Climate Change: Whatever is predicted, the reality will be worse. Whatever the time predicted, reality will be quicker. We are running out of time, and we aren't taking this existential crisis seriously enough.
Greece• MSW minus recycled and composted per capita per day: 2.5 pounds • Total annual MSW: 12.08 billion pounds • Total annual recycled and/or composted MSW: 2.29 billion pounds recycled • Population: 10,892,413 (78 out of 217) • GDP per capita in 2018: $25,141 (56 out of 217) pidjoe / Getty
The report, which is scheduled for official release next year, is the most comprehensive rundown to date of the impacts of climate change on our planet and our species.
“The worst is yet to come, affecting our children’s and grandchildren’s lives much more than our own,” the report warns.
Millions of people worldwide are in for a disastrous future of hunger, drought and disease, according to a draft report from the United Nations’ Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, which was leaked to the media this week.
“Climate change will fundamentally reshape life on Earth in the coming decades, even if humans can tame planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions,” according to Agence France-Presse , which obtained the report draft.
The report warns of a series of thresholds beyond which recovery from climate breakdown may become impossible, The […]
Stephan: I have been predicting this for years based on the research papers I read. And now it is happening. Much of Florida is going underwater and it is too late to stop the trend. We are going to see a dramatic collapse of Florida coastal real estate and it is going to have an enormous impact on what will be left of the state
The neighborhood of Stillwright Point in Key Largo, Florida. Credit: Saul Martinez/The Guardian
Long famed for its spectacular fishing, sprawling coral reefs and literary residents such as Ernest Hemingway, the Florida Keys is now acknowledging a previously unthinkable reality: it faces being overwhelmed by the rising seas and not every home can be saved.
Following a grueling seven-hour public meeting on Monday, held in the appropriately named city of Marathon, officials agreed to push ahead with a plan to elevate streets throughout the Keys to keep them from perpetual flooding, while admitting they do not have the money to do so.
The string of coral cay islands that unspool from the southern tip of Florida finds itself on the frontline of the climate crisis, forcing unenviable choices upon a place that styles itself as sunshine-drenched idyll. The lives of Keys residents – a mixture of wealthy, older white people, the one in four who are Hispanic or Latino, and those struggling in poverty – face being upended.
If the funding isn’t found, the Keys will become one of the first places in the US […]
Stephan: As a result of the greed, corruption, and incompetence of Brazil's president, Jair Bolsonaro the Amazon rain forest, a critical aspect of the earth's ecosystem, has been destroyed, and the trend continues. Climate change cares nothing for national borders, yet the rest of the world seems blocked from doing anything to stop the Bolsonaro mafia. No wonder he and Trump got on, two birds of a feather.
Researchers at the University of Leeds in Britain published new research Tuesday — World Rainforest Day — showing that massive swaths of the eastern Amazon are at risk of severe drying by the end of this century if greenhouse gas emissions are not reduced.
Analyzing the results of 38 known Amazon climate models, researchers found that large quantities of carbon dioxide would be released from the forest into the atmosphere as a result of drying, exacerbating the greenhouse gas effect and further fueling climate change.
Severe droughts in the Amazon would also adversely affect the rainforest’s water cycle, biodiversity, and Indigenous peoples who live there.
“People in Brazil and across the globe are rightly concerned about what the future holds for the Amazon, and its valuable store of carbon and biodiversity,” said study lead author Jessica Baker of the School of Earth and the Environment at Leeds University. “The Amazon is at risk from the twin threats of deforestation and climate change.”
“This new study sheds light on how the Amazon climate is likely to change under […]
