Stephan: American society is breaking down, and one of the saddest measures of this decay is the decline of friendships. All of this is the result of the transition of America from a "We" culture to an "I" culture, with its defining characteristic that it is every person for themself. It is the exact opposite of what the Founders intended or how we grew to once be the world's leader.
Coming out of a once-in-a-generation global pandemic, Americans appear more attuned than ever to the importance of friendship. However, despite renewed interest in the topic of friendship in popular culture and the news media, signs suggest that the role of friends in American social life is experiencing a pronounced decline. The May 2021 American Perspectives Survey finds that Americans report having fewer close friendships than they once did, talking to their friends less often, and relying less on their friends for personal support.
The COVID-19 pandemic is the most obvious culprit in the national friendship decline, but broader structural forces may be playing a more important role. First, Americans are marrying later than ever and are more geographically mobile than in the past—two trends that are strongly associated with increasing rates of self-reported social isolation and feelings of loneliness.[1] Second, American parents are spending twice as much time with their children compared to previous generations, crowding out other types of relationships, including friendships.[2] Finally, Americans are working longer hours and traveling more for work, which may come at the […]
Stephan: The Republican/MAGAt Party is overwhelmingly White and frightened. These are the people who find America becoming a multi-cultural gender equality society so threatening. They are angry, resentful, and increasingly violent.
MAGAT resentful frightened fear mongers
The case of Kyle Rittenhouse, acquitted in the 2020 murders of two men amid chaos on the streets of Kenosha, Wisconsin, is ominous for the peaceful resolution of political disagreements. The sense of menace arises less from the utterly misguided 17-year-old shooter, or his complete escape from justice, than from the celebration by Republicans and “conservatives” of Rittenhouse and even of the killings he perpetrated.
This telling moment heightens the feeling of apprehension provoked by recurring threats and incidents of actual violence emanating from the far right and then justified, usually with indignant enthusiasm, by Republican elected officials at the highest level. The anger and hatred that have long simmered within that party are rapidly devolving into homicidal rage.
Consider the matter of Rep. Paul Gosar R-AR), who posted a video that depicted him murdering his colleague Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-NY) and attempting to kill President Joe Biden with swords. Gosar’s fantasy bloodbath resulted in his censure. (This offensive cartoon wasn’t even original, ripping off an identical 2016 meme that showed “Donald Trump” attacking “Hillary Clinton.”)
Sarah Jones, - Reader Supported News/New York Magazine
Stephan: We have a problem in this country with frightened White men as Congressman Josh Hawley makes so very clear. I confess I simply don't understand why treating women as equals is so scary, but it obviously is. These men simply cannot cope with a multicultural gender equal society, and are prepared to be violent to stop it.
Frightened Republican/MAGAt Josh Hawley Credit: Doug Mills/The New York Times/Redux
The conservative movement believes men are in trouble, and they know who to blame. “The left want to define traditional masculinity as toxic. They want to define the traditional masculine virtues — things like courage and independence and assertiveness — as a danger to society,” the Republican senator Josh Hawley said during a recent speech. Thus besieged, men are retreating into pornography and video games, abandoning their traditional responsibilities, he added. And who can blame them? “In America, you ought to be able to raise a family on one single income,” asserted Senate candidate Blake Masters in an ad. That feat was once possible, he claimed, but globalization made it all too rare. This is a “huge problem,” he said, but “the left, they want to attack me, and say, ‘Blake, that’s sexist.’” The breadwinner, as always, is male.
Elsewhere, Republican men show masculinity at its worst. Sean Parnell was Donald Trump’s pick to represent Pennsylvania in the Senate until he lost a custody […]
Stephan: We have in the Congressional MAGAt Republicans, a level of cowardice never before seen in American history. Seriously, never. I went back to the obvious, the Civil War and, then, to the Revolution and there is no precedent for the silence of this cult no matter what its members do or say. You can make a video about murdering a fellow member, and evoke no rejection; you can sell a military weapon as a fund raiser, and who cares? You can talk about violence and killing people... ho hum. These are people who value only one thing, staying in power. They have no ethics, no integrity. I do not understand why this is not more generally recognized and condemned. It is a litmus test for membership in the cult.
Rep. Ilhan Omar on Saturday condemned her GOP colleagues’ inaction following the recent publication by Rep. Lauren Boebert of an anti-Muslim video in which the Colorado Republican lies about the Somali-American lawmaker being mistaken for a suspected suicide bomber inside the U.S. Capitol.
“These anti-Muslim attacks aren’t about my ideas but about my identity and it’s clear,” Omar (D-Minn.) tweeted.
Addressing House Minority Leader Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.), she added that “your silence speaks volumes.”
Stephan: After looking the news over the past three days I have decided to focus today's edition of SR on what I see as one of the most dangerous trends in the United States, the insanity of America's obsession with guns. So far this year, according to the Gun Violence Archive there have been 40,594 men women and children whose lives were ended by Homicide, Murder, or Unintentional but fatal gun firings. Also 21,846 gun suicide In addition 37,008 gun firing injuries.
No other developed nation in the world comes anywhere close to these numbers. They are so large that fear of gun violence is having an effect on tourism to the United States, and has resulted in the increasingly negative way the U.S. is seen by people in other nations.And the gun violence trend is getting worse each year, year after year.
So today I want to run just a few of the stories I have seen. The Republican Party is to blame for much of this growth in gun violence and death. As a party for years they have routinely supported laws permitting unlicensed, untrained, concealed or open carry of weapons.
Is this really the country we want to live in? One that now has more guns than people, and gun murders so common they are the new normal. Not me
After looking the news over the past three days I have decided to focus today's edition of SR on what I see as one of the most dangerous trends in the United States, the insanity of America's obsession with guns. So far this year, according to the 
