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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.
Stephan: This statement by the Vatican's doctrine office, which by definition must have Pope Francis' approval is not getting much coverage in the media, but I think it is a big deal, and good news. The American bishops are a singularly unimpressive lot, and many are Trumpian cultists. This statement of the Vatican's position relative to President Biden, and the cautioning of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops is going to have a significant impact on U.S. Catholic community.
President Biden and the Pope
The head of the Vatican’s doctrine office is warning U.S. bishops to deliberate carefully and minimize divisions before proceeding with a possible plan to rebuke Roman Catholic politicians such as President Joe Biden for receiving Communion even though they support abortion rights.
The strong words of caution came in a letter from Cardinal Luis Ladaria, prefect of the Vatican’s Congregation for the Doctrine of the Faith, addressed to Archbishop José Gomez of Los Angeles, president of the U.S. Conference of Catholic Bishops. The USCCB will convene for a national meeting June 16, with plans to vote on drafting a document on the Communion issue
There is division among the bishops, with some pressing for Biden and other Catholic public figures to be excluded from Communion over their abortion stance, and other bishops warning that such a move would be politically polarizing.
Ladaria, in his letter, said any new policy “requires that dialogue occurs in two stages: first among the bishops themselves, and then between bishops and Catholic pro-choice politicians within their jurisdictions.”
Stephan: How cognitively aware are dogs? This report shows we may have to reconsider our answer to that question.
Bunny the talking Dog Credit: Instagram/@what_about_bunny
When Bunny, TikTok’s beloved talking Sheepadoodle, stared at herself ina mirror and asked “who this?” using her augmentative and alternative communication (AAC) device’s buttons, many believed she was having an existential crisis. Since then, the Internet-famous dog has seemingly only become more interested in her own — dare we say — sense of self.
More recently on April 24, Alexis Devine, Bunny’s human parent, posted a video of Bunny pressing a button for “dog,” then a second button for “what,” a third button for “dog” and a fourth one for “is.” “Dog what dog is?” Devine narrated.
“This is happening so frequently that I’m going to add the buttons ‘animal’ ‘same’ and ‘different,’” Devine wrote in the caption which accompanied the Instagram post.
The canine Bunny, who has 6.5 million followers on TikTok, is one of nearly 2,600 dogs and 300 cats enrolled in a project called “They Can Talk.” The study’s aim is to understand if animals can communicate with humans through AAC systems. AAC systems, such as Bunny’s giant labeled buttons that speak a single word when pressed, were Read the Full Article
Stephan: From 12 to 23, when I came out of the Army, where I had been a medic, and threw all of my guns into the sea, I was actively involved in target, skeet, and trap shooting, and was so good at it that the Army initially wanted to make me a sniper to which I would not agree. In that period of a little over a decade I never had the slightest interest in hunting, although spending time in the wilderness has been one of the great themes and passions of my life.
A shooter armed with a 30 ought 6 rifle and a scope, who knows what they are doing -- an amazing number do not -- is not engaged in sport. Hunters like the camaraderie, and the primordial time in the wilderness engaged in killing animals. Shooting a deer in the woods is not really more challenging than shooting a dog in your driveway, or a cow in a field. Shooting an animal like a tiger or a rhinoceros as the Trump sons like to do is, or ought to be, criminal and prosecuted with lengthy prison time.
The hysteria about wolves is just that hysteria and delusion. The National Agricultural Statistics Service (NASS) reported 2,835 cattle and 453 sheep killed by wolves in the Northern Rocky Mountains (Idaho, Montana, Oregon, Washington and Wyoming) from an inventory of 13.6 million animals. More importantly, as the National Park Service has discovered, when wolves are reintroduced and protected, the entire ecosystem of the parks becomes healthier. They also learned that the wolves attack and kill the weak, and damaged animals in a kind of culling process.
We so desperately need to understand the matrix of life before the damage we have done is irreparable. This Trumpian cultist move in Idaho is the exact opposite of what is needed.
Gray wolfCredit: Shutterstock
Wildlife advocacy groups are sounding the alarm about a new “extermination” law in Idaho, signed this week by GOP Gov. Brad Little, that will allow hunters and private contractors to kill up to 90% of the state’s gray wolf population—about 1,350 animals.
“Backed by an array of misinformation and fearmongering, the state Legislature stepped over experts at the Idaho Fish and Game Department and rushed to pass this horrific wolf-killing bill,” said Andrea Zaccardi, a senior attorney at the Center for Biological Diversity, in a statement.
“And Republican lawmakers have promised that this is just the beginning, even though the new measure would doom 90% of Idaho’s wolves,” Zaccardi noted. “We’re disappointed that Gov. Little signed such a cruel and ill-conceived bill into law.”
Before Little approved the measure, Fast Companyreported that “it’s one of a handful of Western states’ aggressive pushes to cull predator populations. But, this one goes a step further: hiring hitmen for wolves.”BREAKING: Idaho Governor Brad Little has signed a gray #wolf extermination bill […]
Stephan: Even in the midst of a pandemic that has killed in the U.S. alone, 600,000 or is it 900,000 humans, the only thing that interests the American pharmaceutical industry sector of the U.S. illness profit system is greed, because greed is the dark soulless governing principle of American healthcare. It is so disgusting and immoral that words fail me, at least words I can use on SR.
The main entrance to Pfizer Worldwide Headquarters in Manhattan, New York, New York, as seen on March 11, 2021. Pfizer spent $3.7 million lobbying in the first quarter of this year. Erik McGregor/Lightrocket/Getty
The pharmaceutical industry spent a record $92 million lobbying the federal government during the first three months of 2021, putting Big Pharma on track to break its annual spending record for a second year in a row. The intense lobbying comes as countries across the world are demanding access to COVID vaccine technology and many Democrats are pushing to expand Medicare and lower prescription drug prices.
Big Pharma’s lobbying expenditures represent a 6.3 percent increase in spending over the first quarter of 2020, according to the Center for Responsive Politics. Drug companies would go on to collectively spend more money on lobbying in 2020 than ever before. Meanwhile, the COVID pandemic spread across the globe, and the United States and other wealthy nations poured billions of dollars into vaccine development and distribution through deals and partnerships with private pharmaceutical and biotechnology firms.
Stephan: We are not going to make the conversion out of the carbon era until a whole new infrastructure is built. This report makes this point very clearly. This is why it is so important that Biden's infrastructure legislation passes Congress so he can sign it into law.
Credit: electrek
A study has looked into why about 18% of electric car owners go back to gas-powered vehicles.
The reasons are mostly exactly what we expected.
University of California Davis researchers surveyed just over 4,000 households who own or owned electric vehicles in California and found that about 20% of plug-in hybrid owners and 18% of all-electric vehicle owners end up going back to gasoline-powered vehicles.
This number will be surprising to some, but the focus of the study was the reasons that led them to switch back to gas, and when you look into those, they are not really surprising.
Researchers Scott Hardman and Gil Tal wrote in the study posted in the Nature Energy journal:
“Here, on the basis of results from five questionnaire surveys, we find that PEV discontinuance in California occurs at a rate of 20% for plug-in hybrid electric vehicle owners and 18% for battery electric vehicle owners. We show that discontinuance is related to dissatisfaction with the convenience of charging, having other vehicles in the household that are less efficient, not having level 2 (240-volt) charging […]
Stephan: Regular SR readers will recognize this as the latest development in a good news trend I have been covering for about five years. The Netherlands and Sweden already have test roads where cars are recharged as they drive over them, and this is an obvious next step infrastructure project that needs to be done to help us exit the carbon era. We won't make the transition until people feel they can move around with confidence they will not get stuck.
A sketch of the wireless charging process Credit: Khurram Afridi
Researchers at Cornell University are developing technology that can charge an electric car while its in motion.
US highways could embed the roads with metal plates that charge the cars as they drive over them.
The project is about five years away from a roll out, but can already power most electric vehicles.
Khurram Afridi, an associate professor of electrical and computer engineering at Cornell, is honing technology that would allow drivers to charge their electric vehicle while they are in motion. He has been working on a project for the past seven years that would implant wireless charging infrastructure into US roads.
“Highways would have a charging lane, sort of like a high occupancy lane,” Afridi told Insider. “If you were running out of battery […]
Stephan: Suddenly the former slave states of the Confederacy -- South Carolina, Alabama, Florida, Georgie, Kentucky Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas and Tennessee are making their fundamental White supremacy and support for Confederate treason more prominent than it has been in decades. I think all of this is welling up because the U.S. is becoming a majority-minority nation, and about a third of White people can't stand that reality.
South Carolina Confederate Memorial Day
South Carolina state government offices are closed on Monday to celebrate “Confederate Memorial Day,” honoring the 258,000 (or more) Confederate soldiers who died fighting the United States of America during the Civil War.
Many across the nation are stunned the Palmetto State still celebrates treason and white supremacy.
But South Carolina is not alone.
Ten states across the country from January to June observe, honor, and celebrate the holiday or similar ones, like Confederate Heroes Day and Confederate Decoration Day. They are: Alabama, Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, North Carolina, South Carolina, Texas, and Tennessee.
Stephan: America's psychotic obsession with guns, and gun violence, is changing our culture and has definitely changed the way we are viewed by the rest of the world.
In certain states or cities, I would have to think before going to a concert or attending some other kind of social event where groups of people gathered. Here is the death and injury rate in the last 36 hours. If I were Black or Asian I would have to have a compelling reason to come to the United States.
The article below lists mass shootings for one month, from the 16th of March to the 15th of April.
How is this not seen as insane? It isn't just the fact that there are more guns than people in America; it is also, and mostly, a national obsessive psychotic fascination focused on guns and the social violence they produce.
Grocery store shooting in Colorado Credit: CNN
When eight people died in a mass shooting at an Indianapolis FedEx facility Thursday night, the news was compounded by a string of similar incidents that preceded it.Starting on March 16, when eight people were killed at three Atlanta-area spas, the US has had at least 45 mass shootings, according to CNN reporting and an analysis of data from the Gun Violence Archive (GVA), local media, and police reports.Analysis: A return to normal in America means a return to violenceThe US has seen at least 147 mass shootings in 2021, according to data from the GVA, a non-profit based in Washington.CNN considers an incident to be a mass shooting if four or more people are shot, wounded, or killed, excluding the gunman; so does the GVA.Here are the 45 incidents reported since March 16.
April 15: Indianapolis
Eight people were killed and several others wounded in a mass shooting at an Indianapolis FedEx facility on Thursday night, Indianapolis Metropolitan Police Department spokeswoman Genae […]
The article below lists mass shootings for one month, from the 16th of March to the 15th of April.
How is this not seen as insane? It isn't just the fact that there are more guns than people in America; it is also, and mostly, a national obsessive psychotic fascination focused on guns and the social violence they produce. 
