Stephan: I got an email from a doctor in Missouri who is a reader telling me that he and the other hospital staff have a very different view of the pandemic. "Every day now I and the others put our lives at risk, and work impossible hours to treat people who chose not to get vaccinated and are now sick with Covid, particularly this new variant. It is hard not to have some resentment at their stupidity." Then another reader sent me this article basically making the same point.
Doctor preparing for work Credit: MIshia Friedman/Getty
We are going to hand over to Dr. Ken Starnes. Ken works in emergency medicine down in Winters Bone country on the border between Missouri and Arkansas, and we have checked in with him from time to time for reports on how the pandemic is hitting the people in that particularly tough part of the country. The answer, often, was “very hard.” But now, with the Delta Variant on the loose, the answer for both Arkansas and Missouri now would be “like a freight-train pulling a bulldozer chained to a steamroller.” — Charles P. Pierce
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According to the CDC, Arkansas’s rate of new cases is up by 35 percent from last week, and 34.8 percent of the state’s population is fully vaccinated. Missouri’s new cases also are up 35 percent from last week and nearly 40 percent are fully vaccinated. If there is an epicenter of this latest outbreak, and if it’s not in this part of the country, it’s close. I’ve been texting back and forth with Dr. Starnes over the last couple […]
Stephan: America's wealth inequality is so great that the uber-rich can build their own spacecraft, and a minimum wage worker can't afford to rent even a tiny apartment. Here is the data. Except for a small minority of Democrats, wellbeing is not a consideration in the American Congress. Only profit and power matter. I think we should be ashamed as a country at our unwillingness to address this issue.
There is now not a single state or county in the US where a minimum wage worker on a 40-hour week can afford a two-bedroom home at the fair market rent, according to a report published by the National Low Income Housing Coalition this week. In 93 percent of US counties, such full-time minimum wage workers can’t afford a one-bedroom apartment, either.
“The enduring problem of housing unaffordability requires bold investments in housing solutions that will ensure stability in the future,” said NLIHC President and CEO Diane Yentel in an emailed statement. “Without a significant federal intervention, housing will continue to be out of reach for millions of renters.”
To crunch these numbers, the NLIHC relied on a common metric for housing affordability: a home is affordable if it requires workers to pay up to 30 percent of their monthly income in rent. Using this metric, NLIHC’s report found that workers would need to earn a little less than $52,000 per year—or $24.90 per hour—to afford a modest two-bedroom home, or at least $20.40 per hour to afford a one bedroom. The federal minimum […]
Aaron Blake, Senior Reporter - The Washington Post
Stephan: Do you realize that it was Trump's intention to overthrow democracy? Had he been more competent, and had different people been in certain positions it might have happened. Trump is and always has been a wannabe Fuhrer. Is everyone clear about this? Enough evidence has been presented to indict and hold a trial, and there will be more to come. It will become overwhelming. It is my opinion that Donald Trump should be tried, found guilty on the evidence, and sent to prison. The lack of accountability concerning Trump is a historic mistake, which will have long-term consequences. Congress should convene a treason trial, like Nuremberg, and all involved should be held to account.
President Donald Trump leaves the White House to visit St. John’s Church in Washington on June 1, 2020. Walking behind Trump, from left, are Attorney General William P. Barr, Defense Secretary Mark T. Esper and Gen. Mark A. Milley, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff. Credit: Patrick Semansky/AP
In the run-up to the 2020 election, the media covered one of the most difficult stories to write about in one of the most difficult presidential administrations it will ever cover: whether President Donald Trump might do something drastic if he lost reelection. Stories on and speculation about Trump potentially calling in the military or even engaging in an attempted coup d’etat were roundly ridiculed by Trump’s allies as the latest bit of alarmism from an anti-Trump press.
Former Trump acting defense secretary Christopher C. Miller even testified in May of this year that the media’s “irresponsible commentary” on this topic inflamed the situation ahead of the Jan. 6 Capitol riot.
What we’ve found out since then, though, can be understood as little else but an […]
Stephan: Here is some good news. I have a personal interest in this because I have hiked the trails of Tongass National Forest in Alaska. It is extraordinary and true wilderness. This move by Biden reversing Trump's scumminess, is going to have long-term climate importance. Bravo President Biden.
Hikers walk through the Tongass National Forest in southeastern Alaska. (Photo: U.S. Forest Service/Flickr/cc)
Conservation and climate action groups on Thursday applauded the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s announcement of far-reaching new protections for Alaska’s Tongass National Forest as well as a restoration of a key rule that former President Donald Trump rescinded three months before leaving office in a bid to open millions of acres to industrial logging.
Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said the administration would put back in place the Roadless Area Conservation Rule, also known as the Roadless Rule, which Trump exempted Alaska from in a move that outraged Indigenous communities in the region as well as environmental advocates.
“The towering giant trees in the Tongass are ancient and sacred, and they are also one of the best solutions we have to climate change.” —Abbie Dillen, Earthjustice
With the rule back in effect, companies will again be barred from road construction and large-scale logging in more than half of the 16 million acre forest, which includes five million acres of old-growth trees such as Sitka spruce trees that date back at least 800 years.
Stephan: Here is some more good news. It won't solve the challenge of climate change but is a good step in the right direction. It shows governments are beginning to make reality more important than corporate corruption.
The European Union unveils a landmark climate plan in Brussels. Credit: Thierry Monasse/Bloomberg
The European Union’s climate plan might be the most ambitious attempt yet to force a major economy to abandon fossil fuels, and by some measures it still won’t be enough to keep global temperatures from rising. But that’s no reason to despair.
The Fit for 55 package — named for its goal of cutting emissions at least 55% from 1990s levels by 2030 — is a staggeringly detailed piece of work. In more than 3,500 pages it lays out a roadmap that includes expanding what is already the world’s biggest carbon market, putting a price on shipping and aviation emissions, and banning the sale of new combustion engine cars. It boosts the EU’s target for solar and wind energy and seeks to make sure buildings are better insulated. A 72 billion-euro ($85 billion) fund will be set up to help vulnerable households and businesses cope with energy price increases.
The European Commission is already facing pushback from member states and industry groups, even as the
