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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 A. Schwartz, Editor / Columnist - Explore - the Journal of Science and Healing
Stephan:
I have been particularly concerned about what is happening in the United States concerning healthcare for women. American healthcare is the worst amongst the developed nations of the world, as well as the most expensive by orders of magnitude. It is a national humiliation. But the impact of this illness profit system on women, especially pregnant women, is particularly alarming and very much a function of The Great Schism Trend between the Red and Blue states.
Notice that the best states are entirely Blue states and the worst states are overwhelmingly Red states. Credit: Governing.
Thirteen years ago, after tracking what I saw as an emerging trend in American culture, I wrote in these pages, “Do you sense the schism occurring in the United States? Not just the red and blue of politics, although that comes into it. Something deeper, a shift that is producing two very different reactions. Can you feel the ground moving? The zeitgeist of one population is grounded in fear, resentment, anger and a sense of loss. It is theologically conservative, politically rigid, and exclusionist. The other population holds a sober realization that great change is coming, but also the sense that it offers at least the putative opportunity to create a more stable life-affirming culture. It is theologically and politically accommodating, and inclusionist.
“We all have a vested interest in this schism and the struggle it has produced, not only because through our choices we are its source, but because we will live with the consequences of the decisions made over the next few years. What is particularly concerning is […]
, - University of California - San Francisco, Bixby Center for Global Reproductive Health, Department of Obstetrics, Gynecology & Reproductive Sciences.
Stephan:
I am so tired of reading and listening to the Republican Red state anti-choice crap about the benefits to women who are denied control of their own bodies. None of it, of course, is backed up with actual data. So what is the objectively verifiable data? What has the Dobbs decision by the christofascist Supreme Court cabal done to the women of the Red states? Here is the data, and it is horrifying.
The Turnaway Study is ANSIRH’s prospective longitudinal study examining the effects of unwanted pregnancy on women’s lives. The major aim of the study is to describe the mental health, physical health, and socioeconomic consequences of receiving an abortion compared to carrying an unwanted pregnancy to term. The main finding of The Turnaway Study is that receiving an abortion does not harm the health and wellbeing of women, but in fact, being denied an abortion results in worse financial, health and family outcomes. Highlighted resources include:
Before the Turnaway Study, there was little quality research on the physical and social consequences of unwanted pregnancy for women. Most of the research that did exist focused on whether abortion causes mental health problems such as depression and post-traumatic stress disorder, or alcohol and drug use. That body of work often used inappropriate comparisons groups—comparing, for example, women who obtain abortions with those who continue their pregnancies to term by choice—and used retrospective designs that depended on women’s reporting of pregnancies and abortions in hindsight. Such comparisons are inherently biased and paint […]
This is some excellent news about contraception if it endures. However, if Clarence Thomas has his way it won’t He has made it explicit and clear that he would like to see your right to contraception made unlawful, and I expect that the rest of the christofascist cabal that controls the Supreme Court may concur. Alito, for one. certainly seems to be indicating that he would. Here is a fact-based assessment of where contraception stands today.
Illustration: Aïda Amer/Axios
The most commonly prescribed contraceptive in America is getting easier to access, if you can afford it or live in the right state.
The FDA’s approval of the first over-the-counter birth control pill, Opill, in the U.S. on Thursday is a “a game changer in terms of access,” Dr. Julia Cron, chief of Obstetrics and Gynecology at NewYork-Presbyterian Lower Manhattan Hospital, told Axios.
But similar progress has buckled in the U.S. thanks to lengthy regulatory processes and limited research in reproductive heath, Dr. Raegan McDonald-Mosley, the CEO of reproductive wellbeing nonprofit of Power to Decide, said.
Opill was the first birth control pill to be considered by the FDA as an over-the-counter option, and it […]
Stephan A. Schwartz, Columnist - Explore - The Journal of Science and Healing
Stephan:
If you are a woman, particularly a fertile woman, and you vote Republican, you are voting against your own wellbeing. If you are a pregnant Republican woman you are voting for an increased probability of your own death. What rational person would do such a thing? This proves MAGAt women are not rational.
Thirteen years ago, after tracking what I saw as an emerging trend in American culture, I wrote in these pages, “Do you sense the schism occurring in the United States? Not just the red and blue of politics, although that comes into it. Something deeper, a shift that is producing two very different reactions. Can you feel the ground moving? The zeitgeist of one population is grounded in fear, resentment, anger and a sense of loss. It is theologically conservative, politically rigid, and exclusionist. The other population holds a sober realization that great change is coming, but also the sense that it offers at least the putative opportunity to create a more stable life-affirming culture. It is theologically and politically accommodating, and inclusionist.
“We all have a vested interest in this schism and the struggle it has produced, not only because through our choices we are its source, but because we will live with the consequences of the decisions made over the next few years. What is particularly concerning is the obsession amongst the population driven by […]
OLIVER MILMAN and DHARNA NOOR, Staff Writers - Mother Jones
Stephan:
The carbon oligarchs don’t want to see an end to the fossil fuel age because it will damage their profits, and they are pouring millions of dollars into renting the MAGAt Republican Congressional whores who work for them. Personally, given the irrefutable evidence about the role of carbon energy in causing climate change, I think this should be seen as a crime against humanity, and prosecuted as such, both the oligarchs and the Congress members. But so great is the corruption of the American government that I doubt anyone will be held accountable.
Charles Koch’s foundation has donated nearly $5 million to the TPPF.Credit: David Zalubowski/AP
In the scramble before the recent end of Texas’s legislative session, a must-pass bill was amended to impose new costs upon renewable energy. This came amid a barrage of anti-solar and wind power measures pushed forward by Republicans to reshape a state that has become the US’s powerhouse of clean energy.
But the conservative lawmakers had help.
Sections of the bill that impose new burdens upon clean energy providers were directly crafted and edited by the Texas Public Policy Foundation (TPPF), a conservative group that has led the backlash to renewables and to make what it calls “the moral case for fossil fuels,” according to a copy of the draft language seen by the Guardian.
Several dozen edits were made to the bill’s amendments by Brent Bennett, a TPPF policy staffer, the document shows, and Texas lawmakers subsequently passed parts of this language along with the key TPPF desires—to impose new transmission costs on renewables and require them to source fossil fuel “backup” power when the sun […]
