Stephan: I find it both amazing and very revealing of the state of American justice that an active christofascist activist openly working to destroy American democracy can be married to one of the nine justices on the Supreme Court who have the power to decide how our laws are interpreted and no one is taking any action to rectify this. Clarence Thomas should leave the court but, of course, he won't because his vote is an important part of turning America into an anocracy.
Christofascist activist Virginia Thomas Credit: Susan Walsh/AP
Virginia “Ginni” Thomas, the wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, pressed 29 Republican state lawmakers in Arizona — 27 more than previously known — to set aside Joe Biden’s popular vote victory and “choose” presidential electors, according to emails obtained by The Washington Post.
The Post reported last month that Thomas sent emails to two Arizona House members, in November and December 2020, urging them to help overturn Biden’s win by selecting presidential electors — a responsibility that belongs to Arizona voters under state law. Thomas sent the messages using FreeRoots, an online platform intended to make it easy to send pre-written emails to multiple elected officials.
New documents show that Thomas indeed used the platform to reach many lawmakers simultaneously. On Nov. 9, she sent identical emails to 20 members of the Arizona House and seven Arizona state senators. That represents more than half of the Republican members of the state legislature at the time.
The message, just days after media organizations called the race for Biden in Arizona and […]
Stephan: Another alarm goes off while humanity wallows in its greed and willful ignorance. I think it is very clear that we are not going to do what needs to be done and that tens, perhaps hundreds, of millions of people around the world, including millions in the U.S., are going to have their lives trashed because of climate change. We have been warned over and over but we just don't want to pay attention.
The Mauna Loa Atmospheric Baseline Observatory in Hawaii began measuring the amount of carbon in the atmosphere in 1958.Credit: Susan Cobb / NOAA
The amount of planet-warming carbon dioxide in the atmosphere broke a record in May, continuing its relentless climb, scientists said Friday. It is now 50 percent higher than the preindustrial average, before humans began the widespread burning of oil, gas and coal in the late 19th century.
There is more carbon dioxide in the atmosphere now than at any time in at least 4 million years, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration officials said.
The concentration of the gas reached nearly 421 parts per million in May, the peak for the year, as power plants, vehicles, farms and other sources around the world continued to pump huge amounts of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere. Emissions totaled 36.3 billion tons in 2021, the highest level in history.
As the amount of carbon dioxide increases, the planet keeps warming, with effects like increased flooding, more extreme heat, drought and worsening wildfires that are already being experienced by […]
Stephan: Already the Uvalde massacre is fading into the past without a single police coward, or the particularly cowardly and utterly incompetent police commander on site, Pete Arredondo, being held accountable in any way for the murder of those 19 little children and their two teachers. The one teacher who was shot twice yet survived while the kids in his room were murdered hasn't forgotten and has something to say. Do you think anyone will listen? Will any of these supposed "protect and serve men" pay any price? It makes me sad to say it, but I would bet not. America's gun psychosis is too powerful.
Arnulfo Reyes, Robb Elementary School teacher in Uvalde, Tx who was shot twice
A teacher wounded in last month’s school shooting in Texas slammed first responders as “cowards” for standing by outside his classroom while the gunman killed all 11 of his young students as they tried to play dead.
“You have a bulletproof vest, I had nothing. You’re supposed to protect and serve. There is no excuse for their actions and I will never forgive them. I will never forgive them,” Arnulfo Reyes said in an interview with “Good Morning America” Tuesday from a hospital, where he’s recovering from multiple gunshot wounds.
The Robb Elementary School teacher said his class was watching a movie following a student awards ceremony around 11:30 a.m. on May 24 when they heard gunshots. He directed the kids to get under a table, just as they were trained, and told them to “act like you’re asleep.”
When he turned around, he said the gunman was standing in his classroom and shot him several times.
Stephan: The European Union, which is made up of nations each of which, albeit to varying degrees, is committed to fostering wellbeing -- what is called socialism in the United States -- has made a big achievement in the remediation of the forces that are driving climate change. Meanwhile, the United States, whose Congress is controlled by corporations and which serves the interests of only a minority has achieved no such improvement.
Frans Timmermans and John Kerry Credit: Jadranko Marjanovic / Copyright European Union
Total greenhouse gas emissions in the European Union reached their lowest level since 1990, according to official EU data reported this week by the European Environment Agency to the UN.
The overall reduction in 2020 greenhouse gas emissions was 34% compared to the 1990 base year, or 1.94 billion tons of CO2.
Prior to the pandemic, the EU had already reduced its emissions by 26% in 2019 and had achieved its 20% target before the lockdowns started to impact emission levels.
Key drivers that led to emission reductions over the past three decades include the growing use of renewables, the use of less carbon intensive fossil fuels, and improvements in energy efficiency. Also, winters in Europe have become warmer.
All sectors reduced emissions except for transport and refrigeration and air conditioning (although the latter have been decreasing in the last few years).
The EU continued to record substantial greenhouse gas emissions reductions in 2020, posting an 11% drop compared to 2019.
