Stephan: You didn't think the carbon industry was going into oblivion without resistance did you, giving up endless billions of profit, and unequalled corporate power? Here's something to make clear what they are really doing.
A bright orange sunset behind an oil refinery. Credit: Assaad Al-Niyazi/AFP/Getty
A casual social media user might get the impression the fossil fuel industry views itself as a social justice warrior, fighting on behalf of the poor, the marginalized, and women—at least based on its marketing material in recent years.
Stephan: I absolutely agree with this article by the Boston Globe editorial board. I do not understand why nearly nine months into the Biden presidency the Democratic Congress has not taken serious action to see that Trump is indicted, and tried. The failure to hold Trump and his orcs responsible for the insurrection they precipitated has given the MAGAts the illusion that he is still president. Our democracy is so fragile at this point I think it is a grave mistake not to recognize that and act to defend what hundrreds ot thousands have given their lives to keep healthy.
Donald Trump incited an insurrection and yet the Senate was still unwilling to remove him from office. There is only one way left to restore deterrence and convey to future presidents that the rule of law applies to them. Credit: JOHN MINCHILLO / AP
Norms in a democracy are only as good as our willingness to enforce them.
After the precedent-busting, lawbreaking presidency of Donald Trump, Congress needs to pass new laws to constrain future officeholders. That’s the case the Globe has made in this series: curbs on the pardon power, safeguards against nepotism, broadening the power of Congress to investigate the president, protections for whistle-blowers, requirements that presidents make financial disclosures to root out conflicts of interest.
All of that is crucial to protect Americans against a repeat of the last four years.
“Presidents also need a clear message, one that will echo through history, that breaking the law in the Oval Office will actually be punished.”
But imposing stricter rules on future presidents, by itself, is clearly insufficient. Those presidents also need a clear message, one that will echo through history, that breaking the […]
Stephan: This is important good news. This is a continuation of a program that has been going on in San Francisco for about 10 years. And the social outcome data is wonderful. When children are introduced to the practice of meditation without any denominational religious attachment it can change the whole course of their lives.
I will tell you without reservation, as both an experimentalist scientist, and as a half-century daily meditator, that developing the daily practice of meditation is the best gift you can give yourself. Go to PubMed and search on "meditation" and see what comes up.
If we could get 10% of the American population to meditate daily holding an intention to be an agent of wellbeing the American culture would change and we would be the better for it.
Susi Brennnan instructs first graders at Daniel Webster Elementary School in mindfulness meditation on Wednesday, Sept. 8, 2021. Credit: Alice Wertz/KCBS Radio
Susi Brennan instructed first graders on Wednesday at Daniel Webster Elementary School in Potrero Hill. Mindfulness focuses on slow and deliberate breathing, and Brennan’s students sat on the floor as they listened to her calming voice.
When we’re focusing on our breath, we can use it as an anchor,” Brennan told the students. “So if our mind starts to wander away, we just gently bring it right back and notice our breathing.”ADVERTISING
Over 57,000 students attend school in the district, and each of them will learn about mindfulness this year. The district said it introduced the technique into every grades’ curriculum for the 2021-22 school year.
Dr. Vincent Matthews, the district’s superintendent, joined in on Wednesday’s lesson. He took deep breaths alongside a class of 6-year-olds, participating in a social and emotional learning technique Matthews said is focused on the whole student.
Stephan: Our tax system, like our justice system, and our illness profit system, is completely rigged to favor the rich at the expense of everyone else. I don't think most Americans really comprehend how biased our society is in favor of the rich, and so there is very little social pressure on the political prostitutes of Congress to do anything to correct this disparity.
The wealthiest 1% of Americans are responsible for more than $160bn of lost tax revenue each year, according to a new report from the US treasury.
Natasha Sarin, deputy assistant secretary for economic policy, said: “A well-functioning tax system requires that everyone pays the taxes they owe.”
According to the treasury report, the wealthiest 1% of US taxpayers are responsible for an estimated $163bn in unpaid tax each year, amounting to 28% of the “tax gap”.
Sarin said that tax gap – “the difference between taxes that are owed and collected” – amounted to “around $600bn annually and will mean approximately $7tn of lost tax revenue over the next decade.”
The Biden administration proposes closing the tax gap by empowering the Internal Revenue Service (IRS) to more aggressively pursue unpaid taxes, at a cost of $80bn and in the process helping fund the president’s ambitious domestic economic agenda.
Republicans in Congress and lobbyists for business are united in opposition to the proposal to shore up tax enforcement.
“The sheer magnitude of lost revenue is striking,” Sarin wrote. “It is equal to 3% of GDP, or all […]
Stephan: Animals, birds, and insects are already evolving to accommodate the world that is coming.
The gang-gang cockatoo is one of the species whose bills have been increasing in size as the climate grows hotter. Credit: William Robinson/Alamy
Animals are increasingly “shapeshifting” because of the climate crisis, researchers have said.
Warm-blooded animals are changing their physiology to adapt to a hotter climate, the scientists found. This includes getting larger beaks, legs and ears to better regulate their body temperature.
When animals overheat, birds use their beaks and mammals use their ears to disperse the warmth. Some creatures in warmer climates have historically evolved to have larger beaks or ears to get rid of heat more easily. These differences are becoming more pronounced as the climate warms.
If animals fail to control their body temperature, they can overheat and die. Beaks, which are not covered by feathers and therefore not insulated, are a site of significant heat exchange, as are ears, tails and legs in mammals if not covered by fur.
The review, published in the journal Trends in Ecology & Evolution, found that the differences are particularly pronounced in birds.
The author of the study, Sara Ryding of Deakin university, […]
