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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.
In 2020, 47% of U.S. adults belonged to a church, synagogue or mosque
Down more than 20 points from turn of the century
Change primarily due to rise in Americans with no religious preference
WASHINGTON, D.C. — Americans’ membership in houses of worship continued to decline last year, dropping below 50% for the first time in Gallup’s eight-decade trend. In 2020, 47% of Americans said they belonged to a church, synagogue or mosque, down from 50% in 2018 and 70% in 1999.
Line graph. U.S. church membership was 73% in 1937 when Gallup first measured it. It stayed near 70% through 2000 before beginning to decline, to 61% in 2010 and 47% in 2020.
U.S. church membership was 73% when Gallup first measured it in 1937 and remained near 70% for the next six decades, before beginning a steady decline around the turn of the 21st century.
Stephan: And here we have today's Republican Scum Award. The thing about Ted Cruz is: How could any group of voters choose this man as their representative? He is so despicable, that even his fellow senators by all reports think he is scum. What is it about Texans that they elect people like Cruz, Greg Abbott, and Louie Gohmert. Is it they don't care about democracy, or that they aren't smart enough to see these men for who they are, or do they actually like them and think of them as competent leaders.
Sen. Ted Cruz (R-TX) answered questions about the border and voting rights on Sunday by repeatedly accusing Democrats of enabling child rape.
Cruz made the remarks on Fox News after host Maria Bartiromo asked him about his recent trip to the U.S-Mexico border to highlight the seasonal surge in migrants.
“The problem for Democrats, they start from a premise the more illegal immigration the better,” Cruz insisted. “Because they believe if you let all the illegal immigrants in and then you make them all citizens that they will eventually vote Democrat and keep Democrats in power.”Tired of ads? Want to support our progressive journalism? Click to learn more.
“But they also don’t understand incentives,” he continued. “It’s projected that over 100,000 unaccompanied minors will come in. And I’ve got to say, anyone who puts a little boy or little girl in the custody of a human trafficker. You know, Maria, 11-, 12-, 13-year-old girls are put on birth control pills before they come because the odds are so high they’ll get raped. That is not compassionate when the Biden administration has all these kids in the custody of traffickers.”
Stephan: As we move into a post-carbon-energy era there will be many false starts. T get through climate change we are going to need to rethink all of our technologies and stop seeing the earth as an exploitable bank account. Technologies must foster wellbeing above all other considerations.
Credit: Mehmet Demirci
NORTHAMPTON, NORTH CAROLINA — Here’s a multibillion-dollar question that could help determine the fate of the global climate: If a tree falls in a forest—and then it’s driven to a mill, where it’s chopped and chipped and compressed into wood pellets, which are then driven to a port and shipped across the ocean to be burned for electricity in European power plants—does it warm the planet?
Most scientists and environmentalists say yes: By definition, clear-cutting trees and combusting their carbon emits greenhouse gases that heat up the earth. But policymakers in the U.S. Congress and governments around the world have declared that no, burning wood for power isn’t a climate threat—it’s actually a green climate solution. In Europe, “biomass power,” as it’s technically called, is now counted and subsidized as zero-emissions renewable energy. As a result, European utilities now import tons of wood from U.S. forests every year—and Europe’s supposedly eco-friendly economy now generates more energy from burning wood than from wind and solar combined.
Biomass power is a fast-growing $50 billion global industry, and it’s not clear […]
Damian Carrington, Environment Editor - The Guardian (U.K.)
Stephan: Most urban people think of indigenous tribal people in the rain forest as primitives, and they are if knowing how to do a Google is your criterion. But there are many ways to be a human, and I assure you 99.9% of urban Americans are so primitive in the skills of those tribal people that if you took them out of their normal environment and put them down in a tropical forest their understanding of how to survive for more than a few days would be so primitive almost all of them would be dead in a few weeks, and I say that as someone who used to teach survival skills in wilderness
In the same way, these indigenous tribal people also know far better than you and I (I only taught survival skills in North America) about how to manage their environment. This report describes what I mean. The smart move would be to support them not condescend to them.
Indigenous tropical forest tribal people
The embattled indigenous peoples of Latin America are by far the best guardians of the regions’ forests, according to a UN report, with deforestation rates up to 50% lower in their territories than elsewhere.
Protecting the vast forests is vital to tackling the climate crisis and plummeting populations of wildlife, and the report found that recognising the rights of indigenous and tribal peoples to their land is one of the most cost-effective actions. The report also calls for the peoples to be paid for the environmental benefits their stewardship provides, and for funding for the revitalisation of their ancestral knowledge of living in harmony with nature.
However, the demand for beef, soy, timber, oil and minerals means the threats to indigenous peoples and their forest homes are rising. Hundreds of community leaders have been killed because of disputes over land in recent years and the Covid-19 pandemic has added to the dangers forest peoples face.
Demands by indigenous peoples for their rights have become increasingly visible in recent years, the report said, but this has come with […]
Stephan: What plagues Republicans like a curse is that even when their talk is Biblical their mental state is materialistic. People with this perspective seem to be incapable of understanding that we live in a matrix of consciousness and that every action has a reaction, and it is often unanticipated because they cannot see that all consciousness is interdependent and interconnected. They show their limitation through actions like those described by this article. It's not big news, and it doesn't get much attention, but it is a destructive trend that can do great damage.
Wildlife scientists say the bills, which would affect gray wolves and grizzly bears, “are harmful to wildlife, harmful to the image of hunters, contrary to science and wrong for Montana.” Credit: Dennis Fast/VWPics/Universal Images Group/Getty
HELENA, Mont. — In addition to its spectacular landscape of mountains, rivers and prairie, Montana, the third least populous state in the country, has long been known for something else — wildlife policies that have protected animals of all sorts, including ones like grizzly bears and gray wolves that are often seen as threats to humans and to farming and ranching.
The state’s abundance and variety of wildlife has been a selling point for tourism, a source of pride to many Montanans and something that has set it apart from its less ecologically minded neighbors in the Mountain West. Even as its neighboring states of Idaho and Wyoming have aggressively reduced their wolf population, for example, Montana has managed its numbers largely through hunting seasons and targeted lethal control actions by wildlife biologists.
Now, with its first Republican governor in 16 years, Greg Gianforte, and a […]
Stephan: What kind of politician would sign such a bill as described in this report? Republican Governor of Arkansas Asa Hutchinson. How thoughtless, and inhumane, but then Asa Hutchinson has always shown himself to be a despicable man. What kind of doctor would violate his Hyppocratic Oath and not treat another human in need? Apparently, Arkansas has lots of them to its great shame.
Republican Governor Asa Hutchinson, a truly despicable human being
Arkansas Republican Governor Asa Hutchinson Friday afternoon signed into law a bill designed to give medical professionals, hospitals, insurance companies, and other medical providers – including students – legal protections to discriminate against LGBTQ patients while claiming they have a religious or moral right of “conscience” to do so. SB 289, the “Medical Ethics and Diversity Act,” is a sweeping law that could have devastating implications on the health and well-being of every LGBTQ person in the state.
SB 289 is sponsored by Republican state Senator Kim Hammer, a Missionary Baptist preacher and hospice pastor who earlier this year declared war on Democrats after then-President Donald Trump had been impeached.
As NCRM reported earlier, when Hutchinson’s “Medical Ethics and Diversity Act” goes into effect this summer a physician could refuse to treat a transgender person, a mental health professional could end treatment with a young teenager who just revealed to them he is gay, a pharmacist could refuse to dispense contraceptive […]
Stephan: More good news from the Biden administration. Finally, we have a president and an administration that takes the transition out of the carbon-energy era seriously, which means our civilization has a better chance of surviving climate change.
President Biden in front of an array of solar panels
The Biden administration on Thursday set a goal to cut the cost of solar energy by 60% over the next decade as part of an ambitious plan to decarbonize the United States’ power sector by 2035.
The U.S. Department of Energy said the goal accelerates its previous utility-scale solar cost target by five years. For the U.S. power grid to run entirely on clean energy within 15 years, a key pillar of President Joe Biden’s climate change agenda, solar energy will need to be installed as much as five times faster than it is today, DOE said.
To get there, the agency committed to spending $128 million on technologies including perovskite solar cells, which are regarded as a promising cheap alternative to the silicon cells that dominate the market. Funds will also support research on cadmium telluride and concentrating solar technologies.
Part of the funding will also seek to extend the lifetime of existing photovoltaic solar plants by improving components like inverters, cables and racks.
Mark Z. Barabak, Columnist - The Los Angeles Times
Stephan: One of the positive trends I see playing out is the increasing involvement in the government of the United States at all levels of women who understand the importance of social wellbeing. Of course, there are the Marjorie Taylor Greenes, the Lauren Boeberts, and the Kristi Noems, but they seem more interested in their egos than formulating policy, and I don't think they will be enduring political presences.
Most importantly where these wellbeing fostering women are in power things get better. Nevada is one example.
Legislative leaders Nicole Cannizzaro, left, and Robin Titus reflect the rise of women in Nevada politics. Credit: Mark Z. Barabak / Los Angeles Times
CARSON CITY, NEVADA — On the walls outside Nevada’s Senate chamber are rows of sepia portraits celebrating members of the legislative “Hall of Fame.” Dozens of men, several flamboyantly hirsute in the Old West style, vastly outnumber the women.
But just steps away, seated in her leadership office, Democrat Nicole Cannizzaro embodies a dramatic shift in this seat of government.
Nevada is the first and only state in the country where women make up a majority of lawmakers, a historic breakthrough that arrived two years ago. Since then, women have expanded their ranks to 60% of the 63-member Legislature, considerably more than any other state.
The result can be measured in dollars and sensibilities. Among the changes are new laws expanding access to healthcare and family planning, fortifying abortion rights, strengthening the penalties for domestic violence and giving prosecutors more and better tools to fight sex crimes.
“Of course we’re going to focus on the business of the state,” said Cannizzaro, the […]
