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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: As I write this Trump has 32 more hours being president. He is obviously trying to do everything in his power to harm the country, because he lost the election, and to pay back his cronies, and those who picked up the tab for these last four years of madness. There is nothing like it previously in American history.
Oil rig operating in polluted air.
The Trump administration was accused Thursday of giving a “parting gift” to fossil fuel companies with a finalized rule that seeks to prevent large financial institutions from refusing to lend to specific sectors in a purported effort to ensure “fair access.”
The Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) announced the finalized “Fair Access to Financial Services” rule less than two weeks after the public comment period ended. Roughly 35,700 comments were received, 31,290 of which were opposed to the proposal, the OCC said.
The regulation, proposed in late November, covers banks with over $100 billion in assets and directs them to not refuse financial services unless “documented by measurable, empirical, quantifiable data evaluated under the bank’s established, impartial risk-management standards established in advance by the bankand.” The rule, Bloombergreported,
is partly a response to 2018 announcements from firms, including Citigroup and Bank of America Corp., that they would stop doing business with some firearms makers—decisions that angered conservatives. Other lenders decided not to finance oil and gas companies that drill in the Arctic, prompting outrage from […]
Stephan: Have you noticed that Republicans are absolutely obsessed with sex, and want to control what people can and cannot do with their genitals, and with whom they can do it? I have always thought this exceedingly weird, and the Republican constant attempt to pass legislation to compel their prejudices almost psychotic. This report, for instance, describes how nasty their obsession can get. The Red states and the Blue states are diverging in very serious ways, with the result that the red states have increasingly dismal social outcome data.
It’s only the second week of 2021, and legislators across 13 states have already introduced 19 bills aimed at stripping away the rights of transgender people.
This onslaught suggests that the U.S. is on track to see a huge amount of anti-trans legislation, according to a tally by the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) provided to VICE News. There were 52 bills that explicitly attacked trans rights in 2020, a record, the ACLU found.
The bills introduced so far in 2021, like those from 2020, are mainly focused on prohibiting health care for trans kids or keeping them from participating in sporting events that match their gender. Their texts are, at times, identical, suggesting that they could be based on model legislation provided to state legislators by a special interest group. This kind of “copy-and-paste” legislation occurs across the political spectrum but is a prominent tactic among conservative groups.
“It’s certainly the most aggressive attack I’ve seen,” said Chase Strangio, deputy director for Trans Justice at the ACLU. “At a time when perhaps bill-drafting and government might be slowed down by the […]
Stephan: If you have ever wondered, this is what political whoring looks like.
Two of Congress’ most prominent political whores
A new analysis entitled “Bankrolling the Disenfranchisers” calls out the corporate and trade association political action committees that—despite any condemnation of last week’s attack on the U.S. Capitol—poured millions in campaign contributions to the 147 Republicans who voted to object to President-elect Joe Biden’s win over President Donald Trump.
Released Wednesday by Public Citizen, the analysis finds that these groups have given roughly $170 million to the slate of anti-democratic lawmakers since the 2016 election cycle.
Nineteen of the 100 PACs gave more than a million dollars over the past four years. Topping the list is the National Association of Realtors, which gave $2,061,307. The $1 million+ givers also include weapons behemoths like Lockheed Martin at $1,410,500 and communications giants like AT&T at $1,617,000.Tired of ads? Want to support our progressive journalism? Click to learn more.
The analysis further notes that 46 of the PACs funded at least 50% of the election certification objectors. The National Association of Home Builders, for example, contributed to […]
Stephan: This report lays out the last, the biggest, and the nastiest "middle finger" to America from Donald Trump as he slinks away from the White House. Not only was there no national plan for getting vaccines into the arms of Americans, but there were also no stores of vaccines to deliver. I confess there is a part of me that wishes that Trump and the Red States and the MAGAts they have sent to Congress could go off by themselves and sink into the well-deserved cesspit of failure they have so consistently sought. I am ashamed of feeling this way but I am also tired of their incompetence, corruption, debasement of a once-proud religion based on loving one's neighbors and helping those less fortunate, their racism, and their fascistic vision of government.
Democratic Governor of Oregon Kat Brown Credit: State of Oregon
The Governor of the state of Oregon launched an attack on President Donald Trump, after learning, she says, the federal stockpile of coronavirus vaccines does not exist.
Governor Kate Brown, a Democrat, says “there is no federal reserve of doses.”
The federal government allegedly had been holding back some COVID-19 vaccine.
“I am demanding answers from the Trump Administration. I am shocked and appalled that they have set an expectation on which they could not deliver, with such grave consequences,” Gov. Brown said on Twitter.
“This is a deception on a national scale. Oregon’s seniors, teachers, all of us, were depending on the promise of Oregon’s share of the federal reserve of vaccines being released to us,” she added.
Brown says the news was confirmed to her “directly by General Perna of Operation Warp Speed: States will not be receiving increased shipments of vaccines from the national stockpile next week, because there is no federal reserve of doses.”
Corey J. A. Bradshaw, Daniel T. Blumstein, Paul Ehrlich, Matthew Flinders Professor of Global Ecology, Flinders University | Professor of Ecology and Evolutionary Biology, University of California, Los Angeles | President, Center for Conservation Biology and Bing Professor of Population Studies, Stanford University - The Conversation
Stephan: For the last four years, the United States under Trump and the Republican-controlled Senate has done nothing of consequence to prepare the United States for what is coming with climate change. Worse, they have done everything they could to sabotage or dismantle what had been done previously. Now the piper will have his coin. Here is an article which should make your stomach clench. It proves Schwartz' First and Second Laws of Climate Change more strongly than all previous. reports: First, whatever science predicts will when it happens, be worse than predicted. Second, whatever time frame science predicts will end up occurring more quickly than predicted.
To get the full academic paper: https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcosc.2020.615419/full
Anyone with even a passing interest in the global environment knows all is not well. But just how bad is the situation? Our new paper shows the outlook for life on Earth is more dire than is generally understood.
The research published today reviews more than 150 studies to produce a stark summary of the state of the natural world. We outline the likely future trends in biodiversity decline, mass extinction, climate disruption and planetary toxification. We clarify the gravity of the human predicament and provide a timely snapshot of the crises that must be addressed now.
The problems, all tied to human consumption and population growth, will almost certainly worsen over coming decades. The damage will be felt for centuries and threatens the survival of all species, including our own.
Our paper was authored by 17 leading scientists, including those from Flinders University, Stanford University and the University of California, Los Angeles. Our message might not be popular, and indeed is frightening. But scientists must be candid and accurate if humanity is to understand the enormity of the challenges we face.
Stephan: Trump is leaving office having done everything he could to trash environmental protections for animals, birds, fish, and insects, as well as destroying public lands, parks, and monuments. But people more intelligent, with a greater understanding as to how the great Matrix of Consciousness works interdependently, are pushing back. Here is some of that, which will hopefully have a good outcome.
Western Environmental Law Center attorney Kelly Nokes warned that the Trump administation’s elimination of federal protections for gray wolves in the lower 48 threatens “potentially catastrophic ripple effects on ecosystems where wolves have yet to fully recovery.” Credit: Dennis Fast/VWPics/Universal Images Group/Getty
Over a dozen conservation groups on Thursday challenged the Trump administration’s stripping of key protections for gray wolves in the lower 48 states.
“This delisting decision is what happens when bad science drives bad policy,” said Earthjustice attorney Kristen Boyles in a statement.
Earthjustice, on behalf of organizations including the Center for Biologicial Diversity and Defenders of Wildlife, is one of the legal groups that filed suit against the Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS) rule—which took effect last week—removing endangered species protections. The Western Environmental Law Center, on behelf of groups including Cascadia Wildlands and WildEarth Guardians, filed a separate legal challenge (pdf) Thursday.https://platform.twitter.com/embed/index.html?creatorScreenName=commondreams&creatorUserId=14296273&dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-0&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1349757943722303489&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.commondreams.org%2Fnews%2F2021%2F01%2F14%2Fconservationists-file-lawsuits-stop-death-sentence-wolves-ordered-trump&siteScreenName=commondreams&siteUserId=14296273&theme=light&widgetsVersion=ed20a2b%3A1601588405575&width=550px
Western Environmental Law Center attorney Kelly Nokes said that areas where gray wolves had previously been delisted provide a cautionary tale.
“Allowing people to kill wolves in Idaho, Wyoming, and Montana has already stunted recovery in […]
Stephan: From the ages of 11 to 23 although I had no interest in hunting, which I thought an absurd activity since I had no interest in dressing out the corpses of animals or in eating them, I nonetheless was fascinated with the precision of marksmanship. And I got very good at it. So good the Army wanted me to be a sniper. Happily, I was able to become a medic, and when I came out of the Army, having seen what guns do to peoples' bodies, I put my 37 guns into my family's boat went out into the Chesapeake Bay and threw them into the sea, During what I think of as my "gun years" I was a member of the NRA, then an apolitical organization that sponsored safety training programs. A very different NRA than the corrupt political lobbying operation it has become, and I am glad to report that is now going bankrupt. Hopefully, this may help America recover from its psychotic gun obsession.
Wayne LaPierre head of he NRA
The National Rifle Association filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy in Texas on Friday as its current home, New York, pursues a fraud case against the organization.
The NRA was founded in New York in 1871 and has since presented itself as a defender of Second Amendment rights. The NRA attributes the move to Texas to a “corrupt political and regulatory environment” in New York.
New York Attorney General Letitia James filed suit to have the NRA dissolved in August. She accused CEO Wayne LaPierre and other senior staff with diverting millions of the nonprofit group’s dollars to luxury vacations, private jets and more. James called for the funds to be returned and the executives to be prohibited from serving on any not-for-profit in New York ever again.
“This is a transformational moment in the history of the NRA,” LaPierre said in a statement. He said the NRA is “dumping New York … at a time when the NRA is in its strongest financial condition in years. “
NPR’s Tim Mak previously reported that legal troubles have cost the organization […]
Catherine Buni and Soraya Chemaly, - Scientific American
Stephan: Like me, you probably noticed that the Trumper insurrectionists who assaulted the Capitol, while a tiny percentage were women, or people of color, in the mass they were overwhelmingly White and male. Why is that? Here is an approach to an answer based science. I don't think this is the entire answer, but it does provide a partial answer.
Trumper Insurrectionists assault the Capitol. Credit: Lev/Radin/Getty
The scenes that played out at the U.S. Capitol on Wednesday will forever live in infamy. As Congress prepared to certify electoral college votes and declare Joe Biden president-elect, thousands of Trump supporters stormed the Capitol Building, vandalizing the halls and occupying the office of the Speaker of the House, Nancy Pelosi.
Photographs and video show a band of insurrectionists that is overwhelmingly White and male. They carried guns, Confederate flags, flags emblazoned with swastikas, QAnon placards, and, according to police, chemical irritants. They scaled exterior walls, climbed scaffolding, smashed windows, hung from balconies, and crashed through the doors of the Senate chamber, one White man charging to the dais and yelling, “Trump won that election!”
Hours later, more than 120 legislators, overwhelmingly White and male, still pledged to fight Biden’s win.
Although it is certainly true that Trump maintains a significant following among White women, his most fervent supporters tend to be White and male. Distributed across a wide swath of socioeconomic status, these men have unwaveringly—and even violently—supported […]
