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When I began Schwartzreport my purpose was to produce an entirely fact-based daily publication in favor of the earth, the inter-connectedness and interdependence of all life, democracy, equality for all, liberty, and things that are life-affirming. Also, to warn my readers about actions, events, and trends that threaten those values. Our country now stands at a crossroads, indeed, the world stands at a crossroads where those values are very much at risk and it is up to each of us who care about wellbeing to do what we can to defend those principles. I want to thank all of you who have contributed to SR, particularly those of you who have scheduled an ongoing monthly contribution. It makes a big difference and is much appreciated. It is one thing to put in the hours each day and to do the work for free, but another to have to cover the rising out-of-pocket costs. For those of you who haven’t done so, but read SR regularly, I ask that you consider supporting it.
LES LEOPOLD, Director of the Labor Institute in New York - Common Dreams
Stephan: This is an amazing report. How any working-class person could vote MAGA is almost unbelievable, inasmuch as the MAGA policies of Trump and the Republican Party are specifically designed to screw the working class in terms of everything from education to taxes, to safe working conditions. Why is this happening? In my view, this is another alarm bell warning us about the growing White supremacy racism that infects the United States; a social cancer that threatens our democracy as it has not been threatened since the 1860s.
Supporters of former President Donald Trump holding signs at the Reading Regional Airport in Bern Township, Pennsylvania on October 31, 2020. Credit: Ben Hasty/MediaNews Group/Reading Eagle/Getty
How do we know anything at all about the 74 million people who voted for Trump in 2020? Are they mostly racist? Sexist, homophobic, xenophobic? Are they white working-class males who suffer from status anxiety as the U.S. population grows more diverse? Are Trump supporters wealthier voters or poorer? Are they anti-elites, or elites themselves? Are working people becoming the core of the Republican Party, as Senator Josh Hawley proclaimed on election night? Or did Joe Biden bring them back into the Democratic fold?
Answers to these questions traditionally come from exit polls supplemented by what we hear from political commentators, labor union officials, and community leaders. An NBC poll (February 21, 2021) reported that the news is not good for labor progressives:
The GOP is rapidly becoming the blue-collar party.
In the last decade, the percentage of blue-collar voters who call themselves Republicans has grown by 12 points. At the same time, the number in that group identifying […]
Eliza Griswold , Contributing Writer - The New Yorker
Stephan: In the interest of full disclosure, I have never cared for the Southern Baptist Convention, even though it is the largest Protestant denomination with 14 million members. It has always been and indeed was founded on racism and White Supremacy. It split off from the larger body of American Baptist Protestants in 1845 specifically over its support for continuing slavery. Now, as this report very ably explains, racism once again is tearing this group apart, this time from the inside.
Dwight McKissic is one of a growing number of Southern Baptist pastors of color who may leave the denomination, owing to allegations that the group won’t acknowledge the realities of systemic racism.Photographs by Zerb Mellish for The New Yorker
On a recent Friday afternoon, Dwight McKissic sat at a folding table in his three-car garage, on a cul-de-sac in Arlington, Texas, discussing the role that race plays in a growing divide among American evangelicals. McKissic is sixty-four, with a trim white goatee and an imposing stature. For the past thirty-eight years, he has served as the lead pastor of Cornerstone Baptist Church, which he grew from a few dozen people to roughly four thousand congregants. In the process, he has become a prominent member of the Southern Baptist Convention, which, with more than fourteen million members, is the largest Protestant denomination in the United States. But McKissic is also one of a growing number of pastors of color who may leave the S.B.C. next week, amid allegations that the organization won’t collectively acknowledge the realities of systemic racism. […]
Stephan: Here is some more good news from and about the Biden Administration. The peace of the world in large measure depends on the relationship of the U.S. and its traditional allies. And that in turn is affected by how the allies perceive the U.S. and the state of its democracy. We were more badly damaged by Trump and his utterly corrupt administration than, I think, most Americans realize.
President Biden has promised the world that “America is back.”
As he takes his first trip abroad as president, a Pew Research Center global survey released Thursday shows that many in advanced economies believe it.
Trust in the U.S. president fell to historic lows in most countries surveyed during Donald Trump’s presidency, according to Pew.
Under Biden, it has soared. In the 12 countries surveyed both this year and last, a median of 75 percent of respondents expressed confidence in Biden to “do the right thing regarding world affairs,” Pew found, compared with 17 percent for Trump last year. Sixty-two percent of respondents now have a favorable view of the United States vs. 34 percent at the end of Trump’s presidency.
“The election of Joe Biden as president has led to a dramatic shift in America’s international image,” the Pew report reads.
The findings come a day after Biden touched down in England on the first leg of a whirlwind trip through Europe. On his agenda: a meeting of the Group of Seven nations in Cornwall, a NATO summit […]
Stephan: The Fox disinformation propaganda operation announces it is explicitly White supremacist and racist.
The hosts of Fox & Friends on Wednesday claimed that white people are being “marginalized” by an effort to provide racial justice education in schools.
Hosts Steve Doocy, Ainsley Earhardt and Brian Kilmeade expressed angst while discussing the possibility that schools are teaching “critical race theory,” a term that they did not define.
“They’re not acknowledging any improvement in our culture, the gains made, how we are more equal, even despite our faults, than any other country,” Kilmeade said. “The other thing is they are not only trying to raise up minorities and make sure the playing field is even, they’re trying to take down the white culture.”
“This generation of Americans wonders why aren’t we all Americans?” he continued. “Why are we being marginalized on a daily basis based on our gender, our sexuality, and the color of our skin. And it’s not even subtle! It is actually out there! It is written in black and white!”
Kilmeade went on to compare critical race theory with “other civil rights movements in our past.”
“We’ve seen the enemy and it’s white people and they wonder why people have a problem with it!” he exclaimed.
Joseph E. Stiglitz, Nobel Laureate Economist - Project Syndicate
Stephan: I got two emails today from MAGA readers -- yes, it appears I do have some -- asking me why I wasn't covering the inflation trend Biden was creating. That prompted me to turn to some sources that have proven over the years to be the most accurate and reliable. One is Nobel Laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz, and apparently, he has been thinking in-depth about inflation, and this is what he has to say. I support what President Biden is doing, and think Stiglitz is right about inflation because the administration's policies are designed to foster wellbeing, and that is always the best option producing the best social outcomes. Biden has the chance to become a historically significant president, like Franklin Roosevelt. He is the best-prepared president in generations.
As I take in the news each day I am struck by the fact that the fate of 333 million Americans is being harmed by one Democrat, Joe Manchin, and one party, the Republican, a total of 262 people blocking what Biden is proposing. Think about this, 0.000001% is controlling the 333,000,000. That makes it very clear, I think, how important is the selection of individuals making up the Congress. Yet look who actually gets elected. Once again I say the problem with America is Americans. In spite of all this, I still see the trend as moving towards wellbeing.
Nobel Laureate economist Joseph Stiglitz
Credit: Reuters/Edgard Garrido
NEW YORK – Slight increases in the rate of inflation in the United States and Europe have triggered financial-market anxieties. Has US President Joe Biden’s administration risked overheating the economy with its $1.9 trillion rescue package and plans for additional spending to invest in infrastructure, job creation, and bolstering American families?
Such concerns are premature, considering the deep uncertainty we still face. We have never before experienced a pandemic-induced downturn featuring a disproportionately steep service-sector recession, unprecedented increases in inequality, and soaring savings rates. No one even knows if or when COVID-19 will be contained in the advanced economies, let alone globally. While weighing the risks, we also must plan for all contingencies. In my view, the Biden administration has correctly determined that the risks of doing too little far outweigh the risks of doing too much.
Moreover, much of the current inflationary pressure stems from short-term supply-side bottlenecks, which are inevitable when restarting an economy that has been temporarily shut down. We don’t lack the global capacity to build […]
David Badash, Staff Writer - The New Civil Rights Movement
Stephan: Louie Gohmert is an example of what I said in my previous comment. Although it is being largely played in the media as Gohmert the cartoon moron. But I think one should look deeper. Louie Gohmert has been re-elected by Texas 1st District every two years since 2005, seven times with no less than 68 percent of the vote. The Democrats didn't even put up a candidate in 2008 and 2012. All of this tells us a great deal. Most importantly a large percentage of the population vote on the basis of our fears, resentment, and prejudices rather than facts. What else could explain electing such a man to Congress?
ORBITS: Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) asks whether the Forest Service or the BLM can alter the orbit of the moon or the Earth in order to fight climate change during a House Natural Resources hearing pic.twitter.com/yYiOyi2cMZ
The good news is a Republican U.S. Congressman appears to believe climate change is real and can be fixed. The bad news is he thinks the federal government can somehow alter the orbit of the moon – or the earth – to do so.
“Is there anything that the National Forest Service or BLM [Bureau of Land Management] can do to change the course of the moon’s orbit or the Earth’s orbit?” Rep. Louie Gohmert (R-TX) asked Jennifer Eberlien, the Associate Deputy Chief at the U.S. Forest Service, as the Daily Dot reports. “Obviously that would have profound effects on our climate.”
His “profound effects” remark seemed to be an afterthought.
For those who will say the Congressman from Texas was just kidding, he began his query by saying, “I was informed by the immediate past director of NASA that they’ve found the moon’s orbit is changing slightly and so […]
Stephan: This research report tells me three things. First, the consciousness of the American culture has changed and, for most Americans, same-sex relationships are no longer an issue; and, second, this is another reflection of the diminishing power of the obsessive christofascist gender hysteria. Third, it illustrates what I have been saying on SR, and in my book The 8 Laws of Change: Social change occurs when 10% of any group, from church group, to school group, to nation, changes their personal consciousness.
Here is the Gallup Organization's take on this: "Once opponents of legalization, Republicans have mostly come to back it. Court and legislative challenges to the legal status of same-sex marriage have simmered down since the Supreme Court issued its decision. Meanwhile, older U.S. adults, who were once holdouts in support for gay marriage, now come down on the same side of the issue as young adults.
"Gallup's trend illustrates that Americans' views can shift in a relatively short time span, creating a new consensus -- even as polarization on other measures intensifies."
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
Support for gay marriage at 70% for first time
A majority of Republicans now support same-sex marriage
Support among older adults has reached the 60% mark
WASHINGTON, D.C. — U.S. support for legal same-sex marriage continues to trend upward, now at 70% — a new high in Gallup’s trend since 1996. This latest figure marks an increase of 10 percentage points since 2015, when the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that all states must recognize same-sex marriages.
Line graph. The percentage of Americans who say same-sex marriage should be recognized by law as valid. 70% of Americans in the latest poll, from 2021, say this.
These data are from Gallup’s annual Values and Beliefs poll, conducted May 3-18.
Today’s 70% support for same-sex marriage marks a new milestone in a trend that has pointed upward for a quarter of a century. A small minority of Americans (27%) supported legal recognition of gay and lesbian marriages in 1996, when Gallup first asked the question. But support rose steadily over time, eventually reaching the majority level for the first time […]
Stephan: John Alexander in this essay provides, what I think is an accurate assessment of where the country stands.
The Congress in the House Credit: www..house.gov
Whenever writing, I try to stay in front of the power curve on whatever topic I’m discussing. However, keeping ahead of crazy is become exceedingly difficult as the speed of our devolution of American democracy accelerates. Nearly two years ago, I wrote an article questioning whether or not America was a failing experiment. Since that time, even with the election of President Biden, and the Democrats acquiring a razor thin majority of the U.S. Senate, it appears the country has slipped closer to the abyss.
Steven Levitsky and Daniel Ziblatt, in their prescient book, How Democracies Die, note that in developed countries,death comes at the ballot box, not from military intervention. They now acknowledge there is coup taking place via voter suppression acts across the country. While they were relatively pessimistic about the survival of democracy at the time of publication of their book, in recent interviews they have noted that disintegration is taking place even faster than they would’ve imagined.
They are hardly alone in their concern about the status of American […]
