Congressional House Republicans at the federal level seek to serve the uber-rich, who rent them for political favors like whores for sex. They are trying to service their masters by gutting the IRS so their renters can get away with paying even less taxes. In the Blue states the exact opposite is going on, as this article describes. Like the previous article about the rise of abortion services in Blue states bordering Red states this move in Blue state legislatures to tax the rich fairly I see this as yet another waypoint on the transfer of real power from Congress to the state legislatures, and as a part of the Great Schism Trend.
A group of legislators in statehouses across the country has coordinated to introduce bills simultaneously in seven states later this week, with the same goal of raising taxes on the rich.
“The point here is to make sure we do at the state level what is not being done at the federal level,” said Gustavo Rivera (D), a New York state senator who is part of the seven-state group.
Some of the state bills resemble the “wealth tax” that Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) pitched during her 2020 presidential candidacy. It’s a form of taxation never before attempted in the United States, in which very wealthy people would have to pay taxes annually on assets that they own, rather than just their income that year. Other bills focus on raising money from more conventional forms of taxation, including capital gains taxes and estate taxes.
Eli Cahan, Pediatrician and Investigative Journalist - The New Republic
Stephan:
The United States spends more on healthcare than any other nation on earth, and for all that money gets the worst healthcare in the industrialized world. The reason: Because American healthcare is entirely structured for profit not wellbeing. And nowhere is this clearer than in the healthcare for American children. Here are the facts.
People gather at the “Rally to Save Tufts Children’s Hospital” in Boston Credit: Jonathan Wiggs / Boston Globe / Getty
Daphne Steel has, in some ways, had a normal childhood. She swam and cheer-led, she trampolined to Miley and danced to Taylor, she watched Finding Nemo over and over. But due to malformations that disrupted her development and ignited seizure after seizure, she also spent countless hours at Tufts Children’s Hospital.
Despite Daphne’s health challenges, her mother, Kelly, had the utmost confidence in her daughter’s medical team. Daphne’s neurologist was “the best in the world,” and the pediatric unit “was like our home base,” she said. Then, in January 2022, she got a letter saying Tufts Children’s Hospital was closing. “At first I thought I was reading it wrong,” Kelly said.
At the end of March, Daphne started projectile vomiting. Then came seizures longer and worse than she’d ever had. Kelly rushed her to the nearest emergency room. They didn’t know what was going on and needed to transfer her. But Tufts—which, technically, wasn’t supposed to close until July—“wasn’t taking […]
Let me be very clear on where I stand about meditation: developing the daily discipline of meditation -- just 20 minutes a day -- is the greatest gift you can or will ever give yourself. The benefits are manifold (see SR archive and search on "meditation"). Here is a new report on a benefit I had not previously known about. I feel so strongly about this that I produced a downloadable meditation app. You can go to www.stephanaschwartz.com and download it. Just search on Meditation for Modern Minds. It is a nonreligious, science-based technique for 21st century humans (most meditation techniques come from an earlier age, and very different worlds) to help you develop a regular meditation practice, that will allow you to reprogram yourself to eliminate life patterns you do not wish to continue.
Credit:KoolShooters
SHANGHAI, CHINA — Deep breathing techniques are known to have a positive impact on stress levels, but scientists are reporting another significant benefit for the body.Trendy mindfulness practices, including deep meditation, can boost good bacteria in the gut, a new study reveals.
A team from Shanghai Jiao Tong University School of Medicine say a study of Buddhist monks found that their microbes differed substantially from those of their non-meditating neighbors. A healthy balance of good gut bacteria has been linked to a lower risk of anxiety, depression, and cardiovascular disease.
Meditation helps people better manage their emotions and enhance their self-awareness. Scientists believe that taking in deep breaths helps dilate blood vessels, allowing more blood to flow through them and lowering blood pressure.
“These results suggest that long-term deep meditation may have a beneficial effect on gut microbiota, enabling the body to maintain an optimal state of health,” the researchers write in a media release.
Over several years, meditating may help to regulate the gut microbiome and potentially lower the risks of […]
This is the kind of good news trend that gets zero coverage in mainstream media, but has the potential to significantly change the American culture, and improve the country's approach to climate change.
A house with trees and a garden in the front yard in Los Angeles, California. Credit: Citizen of the Planet / Education Images / Universal Images Group / Getty
Americans are well known for their evenly clipped, bright green lawns. But rather than being beneficial, these manicured greenspaces are actually detrimental to the environment.
In the U.S., more than 40 million acres of land is covered in some form of lawn, reported Insider. These lawns have the ability to act as carbon sinks that absorb carbon dioxide from the atmosphere, but the substantial carbon cost of lawn maintenance often counteracts the benefits, making lawns climate change contributors, reported Princeton University.
In a new study, researchers encourage the planting of trees in place of “imperial” lawns to help fight the climate crisis.
Auckland University of Technology professor Len Gillman, who was the study’s lead author, said that while letting your pristine lawn go wild “might cut down on the emissions due to maintenance, it’s not going far enough. In terms of climate change we need to absorb as much carbon as we possibly can […]
JUDY SIEGEL-ITZKOVICH, - The Jerusalem Post (Israel)
Stephan:
Benjamin Franklin observed the influence for wellbeing green spaces represented and funded the creation of the first park. As we navigate our way through climate change, I predict we are going to see the greening of our cities.
Helsinki, Finland city park Credit: : Mariam Farzan
Frequent visits to green spaces in cities such as parks and community gardens – rather than the amount or views of them from home – may be linked to lower use of certain prescription meds, suggests research conducted in Finland.
The observed connections between such visits and lower use of drugs for depression, anxiety, insomnia, high blood pressure and asthma were not dependent on people’s educational and income level.
Exposure to natural environments is thought to be good for health, but until now, the evidence has been inconsistent, wrote 10 researchers from the department of health security at the Finnish Institute for Health and Welfare n Kuopio. They published their findings in the journal Occupational & Environmental Medicine under the title “Cross-sectional associations of different types of nature exposure with psychotropic, antihypertensive and asthma medication.”
The team wanted to find out if the amount of residential green and blue space, frequency of green-space visits and views of green and blue spaces from home might be associated separately with the use of certain prescription […]
