Stephan: Here is further data and historically grounded insight into what is happening in Christianity in the U.S. This isn't getting much attention in the mainstream corporate press, but it is becoming a very big deal at the local level as church congregations tear themselves apart over culture war issues and change their affiliations.
Illustration by Politico
Last weekend, over 400 Methodist churches in Texas voted to leave their parent denomination, the United Methodist Church (UMC). Their decision followed the mass exodus of Methodist congregations in other Southern states, including North Carolina, Alabama, Louisiana, Georgia, Arkansas and Florida.
The departing congregations joined the more conservative Global Methodist Church over concerns that the UMC has grown too liberal on key cultural issues — most importantly, LGBTQ rights. They are part of a larger schism within other mainline Protestant denominations (namely, Episcopalians and Baptists), ostensibly over the propriety of same-sex marriage and the ordination of LGBTQ clergy, though in reality, over a broader array of cultural touchpoints involving sexuality, gender and religious pluralism.
At first blush, this might seem like an issue that’s peripheral to American politics — a purely religious matter. But it’s actually an indicator of just how fractured our politics have become. And if history is any indication, it’s about to get even worse.
Stephan: An increasing number of Americans, particularly Americans in Red states, routinely now go around carrying a gun, and many try to get on airplanes carrying a gun, or with one in their carry-on bag or purse. America is a very dangerous country compared with the other developed democracies in the world. As of today, according to the Gun Violence Archive so far in 2022, 42,633 Americans have been killed by gunfire, and we still have several weeks to go in this year, so the final number will be higher. That's for a single year. To give you a sense of context, over the course of the 10 years of the Viet Nam War 58,000 Americans were killed by gunfire, bombs, and other causes. And for contrast this year, 2022, in France, 2,098 died of gunfire, in Canada during the same period the number of gun deaths is 875.
Transportation Security Administration officers intercepted a record number of firearms brought by passengers to airport security checkpoints in 2022, the agency said Friday.
Driving the news: TSA has stopped 6,301 firearms so far this year — more than 88% of which were loaded.
By the numbers: That’s more than the previous record of 5,972 firearms detected in 2021.
The agency anticipates it will intercept about 300 more firearms by the end of the year, marking a nearly 10% increase over the previous year’s record.
Of note: The record comes as airplane travel is climbing toward pre-pandemic levels.
More people went through TSA security checkpoints this year than in the last two years, per TSA data.
Be smart: Firearms are never allowed in carry-on bags at any TSA security checkpoint, even if a passenger has a concealed weapon permit.
The TSA said Friday that it’s increasing the maximum fine for a firearms violation to $14,950 — that’s up from $13,910.
Depending on state or local law in the airport’s location, passengers who bring firearms to a checkpoint may be arrested.
Stephan: I have never met DeSantis but from everything I read, watch, and hear, including from people who do know him, he seems a coarse power-hungry self-involved man utterly lacking in ethics, and with no particular interest in fostering the the wellbeing of the citizens of Florida, who elected him as their governor. A perfect candidate for president for MAGAt world.
MAGAt RepublicanFlorida Gov. Ron DeSantis speaks at a rally Credit: Jeff Swensen / Getty
Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis is ascendant in U.S. politics, with new polling indicating that Donald Trump would now lose to DeSantis if Republican voters were given a choice today about who to vote for in a presidential primary for 2024. But what mainstream media are too often failing to recognize is how DeSantis’s political actions — from his shameful treatment of migrants to his use of election police to terrorize voters — are fueling the emergence of fascist politics in the United States.
Too often issues are dealt with in the mainstream press in an utterly isolated fashion, removed from both a historical context and a number of related issues. For instance, many of the policies enacted by GOP legislators, such as the banning of books, resonate with policies that were used in Nazi Germany and other totalitarian countries in the 1930s and 1970s.
Treating issues in a disconnected and isolated manner makes it difficult to understand how they fit into a broader pattern […]
Stephan: A large percentage of Americans just don't seem to be capable of comprehending that the Republicans in Congress simply do not care about the wellbeing of anyone but themselves and the corporate masters that rent them as needed. This report illustrates what I mean, and explains why the United States rates so very poorly compared with other developed nations on virtually any social outcome you can mention, be it healthcare, childcare, eldercare, education, support for families, or even child hunger. I simply do not understand how anyone who cares about the wellbeing of Americans and American society can vote for a Republican
Sens. Mike Crapo (R-Idaho), James Lankford (R-Okla.), and John Barrasso (R-Wyo.) hold a news conference on August 3, 2022. Credit: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call / Getty
Congressional Republicans happily teamed up with Democrats this month to authorize $858 billion in military spending for the next fiscal year, but the GOP is refusing to even consider proposals to revive the Child Tax Credit expansion that lifted millions of kids out of poverty last year—even though bringing the program back would cost a fraction of the Pentagon outlay.
A spokesperson for Senate Finance Committee Chair Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) toldHuffPost earlier this week that Republicans have thus far been unwilling to negotiate over the Child Tax Credit (CTC) boost, which they unanimously opposed when it was enacted as part of the American Rescue Plan last year.
“Republicans have refused to engage at all on the Child Tax Credit,” said Ashley Schapitl. “In fact they made clear they would not negotiate on any deal that includes the child tax credit.”
Leading Republicans readily confirmed their refusal to consider the CTC boost as part of an end-of-year […]
Stephan: If you ever see something that is not factually correct in SR please write me, and send me your source for thinking that. The terms I use, I believe are accurate based on objectively verifiable data. I have but one priority, fostering wellbeing at every level. I just try to tell the factual truth, the terms I use are factually accurate, and not cloaked. I am not interested in partisan politics except anthropologically. My question is: Does this foster wellbeing at every level?
I have been telling you for almost three years now (see SR archive) that we have been watching an American death cult arise within the Republican Party. As I have described people are actually willing to play Russian Roulette with their lives over political disinformation, to the point where it becomes a loyalty test for the party cohort. The proof of this can be seen in the illness and death rates from Covid-19. Here is the latest research supporting my statements.
Caretakers prepare to inter a Louisiana police lieutenant who died of covid-19 in August 2021. A new study found that people in more-conservative regions disproportionately bore the burden of covid illnesses and deaths. Credit: Mario Tama / Getty
As the coronavirus pandemic approaches its third full winter, two studies reveal an uncomfortable truth: The toxicity of partisan politics is fueling an overall increase in mortality rates for working-age Americans.
In one study, researchers concluded that people living in more-conservative parts of the United States disproportionately bore the burden of illness and death linked to covid-19. The other, which looked at health outcomes more broadly, found that the more conservative a state’s policies, the shorter the lives of working-age people.
The reasons are many, but, increasingly, it is state — and not just federal — policies that have begun to shape the economic, family, environmental and behavioral circumstances that affect people’s well-being. Some states have expanded their social safety nets, raising minimum wages and offering earned income tax credits while using excise taxes to discourage behaviors […]
