Stephan: Here is a very important and, in my opinion, accurate assessment of White supremacy christofascism, and what they want. This is the anti-wellbeing side of the Great Schism Trend. It is driven by the irrefutable reality that the United States is becoming a majority-minority nation, Whites are going to become one of a spectrum of racial groups. What these people do not comprehend is that we should see America, not as a geographical location belonging to one race, but as an idea. That is what made America great. You came here and if you signed up for the concepts outlined in the Declaration of Independence and the Constitution you became an American, whatever you were before. There are countless books, films, articles, and papers attesting to this
Protesters gather outside the U.S. Capitol Building on January 06, 2021 in Washington, DC. Congress held a joint session today to ratify President-elect Joe Biden’s 306-232 Electoral College win over President Donald Trump. Pro-Trump protesters entered the U.S. Capitol building after mass demonstrations in the nation’s capital. Credit: Tasos Katopodis/Getty
Earlier this week, a new Pew survey found that the share of Americans who believe Donald Trump was largely responsible for the violence of Jan. 6, 2021, has declined by nearly 10 percent over the past year, while the percentage of people who think he bears no responsibility has increased by almost as much. On Wednesday, the Freedom from Religion Foundation and the Baptist Joint Committee for Religious Liberty released a new report that helps explain that shift: The same Christian nationalism that served as the unifying principle behind the Jan. 6 insurrection is also driving efforts among the faithful to rewrite the history of that day.
As two of the report’s contributors, scholars Andrew Whitehead and Samuel Perry, co-authors of […]
Stephan: Corruption is bipartisan in the United States, and Democratic Senator Joe Manchin, steeped in greed and corruption as he is, has personally assured the degradation of the lives of 333 million people all to his personal benefit, but so great is the corruption of American democracy that like Trump and his orcs he has not been held accountable.
Sen. Joe Manchin, one of the more corrupt members of the U.S. Senate Credit: Francis Chung/E&E News
As governor, Joe Manchin supported an unusual detail in a clean energy bill that was moving through the West Virginia Legislature in 2009.
The provision classified waste coal as an alternative energy.
The muddy mix of discarded coal and rocks is one of the most carbon-intensive fuels in America. And Manchin’s family business stood to benefit financially when it was reclassified as something akin to solar, wind and hydropower.
Selling the scrap coal has earned Manchin millions of dollars over three decades, and he has used his political positions to protect the fuel — and a single power plant in West Virginia that burns it — from laws and regulations that also threatened his family business.
It continues today.
Only now Manchin has enormous influence over federal climate policy. He is using his chair role of the energy committee — and role as maverick Democrat – to shape environmental policy across the states.
His opposition in December to a sweeping $1.7 trillion social spending bill known […]
Marisa Lati , Steven Rich and Jennifer Jenkins , Reporters - The Washington Post
Stephan: The police in the United States are notable for several things. They get the least training in any developed nation, they have the lowest education requirements, and they kill more people than any other, as research organizations style it, "rich" country. More than 1,000 a year are shot and killed, And, as this report describes, it has been over 1,000 a year for the past seven years. In contrast, in England and Wales 3 people were shot and killed last year by police. In countries as widespread as Denmark and Japan it is very rare for the police to shoot and kill someone. Many nations go years between a single police killing.
It is also true that in America more police are killed than in other countries
In both instances these occurrences are the manifestation of American obsessive gun psychosis, and the behavior it stimulates.
Officers investigate the scene of a police shooting on Dec. 29 in Silver Spring, Md. Credit: Katherine Frey/The Washington Post
Police shot and killed at least 1,055 people nationwide last year, the highest total since The Washington Post began tracking fatal shootings by officers in 2015 — underscoring the difficulty of reducing such incidents despite sustained public attention to the issue.
The new count is up from 1,021 shootings the previous year and 999 in 2019. The total comes amid a nationwide spike in violent crime — although nowhere near historic highs — and as people increasingly are venturing into public spaces now that coronavirus vaccines are widely available.
Despite setting a record, experts said the 2021 total was within expected bounds. Police have fatally shot roughly 1,000 people in each of the past seven years, ranging from 958 in 2016 to last year’s high. Mathematicians say this stability may be explained by Poisson’s random variable, a principle of probability theory that holds that the number of independent, uncommon events […]
Stephan: Here is some excellent econews. In my opinion, the Biden administration is doing a pretty good job in out of the spotlight matters like this. This is going to make a long term difference by fostering wellbeing.
Farmers harvest organic squash in Washington state. Thomas Barwick / Getty
The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) will invest $1 billion in projects that encourage farmers, ranchers and owners of forested land to employ practices that help mitigate the effects of climate change by lowering greenhouse gas emissions or catching and storing carbon, USDA Secretary Tom Vilsack told Reuters on Monday. The new program is called the Partnerships for Climate-Smart Commodities.
President Biden has committed to cutting agricultural emissions in half by 2030 and has asked farmers to lead the way, as U.S. agriculture is responsible for more than 10 percent of the country’s greenhouse gas emissions, according to U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) estimates, CNBC reported.
A variety of entities, both public and private, can apply for grants of $5 million to $100 million, as well as smaller grants of $250,000 to $4,999,999, through the program, according to the USDA. Eligible applicants include […]
Stephan: This is very interesting and good econews. This California law went into effect 1 January, and I have been waiting to see news about how it was working. But haven't seen anything.
Credit: Jenny Dettrick / Getty
The state of California has introduced a new law that requires households and businesses to compost all food scraps, instead of throwing them into the trash.1 This law, known as S.B. 1383, took effect on January 1, 2022, although it was signed in 2016 by then-governor Jerry Brown and will still take another two years to phase in fully.
The bill’s goal is to reduce greatly the amount of food scraps going to landfill, where they decompose and emit methane, a greenhouse gas 84 times more potent than carbon dioxide over a 20-year period. S.B. 1383 will reduce organic waste in California’s landfills by 75%, once fully implemented.1
A Big Change Joe La Mariana, executive director of Rethink Waste, South Bayside Waste Management Authority, said on a KQED radio interview that the law has been […]
