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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.
Please read and study this article, I want my readers to stay alive. The evidence about nano plastics polluting our lives just keeps growing. Here is the latest report. As this article makes clear, NEVER, EVER drink water again out of a plastic bottle. You are literally killing yourself by doing so. Buy some kind of drinking vessel with a lid, and fill it before you go out. As the report says, “Avoid microwaving food or beverages in plastic, including infant formula and pumped human milk, and don’t put plastic in the dishwasher, because the heat can cause chemicals to leach out,” Nanoplastics is one of the reasons Americans have a life span five years shorter than most European/Nordic countries or Japan.
A recent study found the equivalent of two standard-size bottled waters contained an average of 240,000 plastic particles — 90% were nanoplastics. Credit: mediaphotos / iStockphoto / Getty
People with microplastics or nanoplastics in their carotid artery tissues were twice as likely to have a heart attack, stroke or die from any cause over the next three years than people who had none, a new study found.
Carotid arteries, which lie on each side of the neck and carry blood to the brain, can become clogged with fatty cholesterol plaques in a similar fashion as the arteries leading into the heart, a process known as atherosclerosis.
“To date, our study is the first that associated the plastic contamination with human diseases,” said Raffaele Marfella, lead author of the study published Wednesday in the New England Journal of Medicine.
“Our data must be confirmed by other studies and on larger populations,” said Marfella, professor of internal medicine and director of the department of medical and surgical sciences at the University of Campania Luigi Vanvitelli in Naples, Italy, in an email. […]
I am increasingly concerned as this report describes that a large percentage of Americans simply don’t understand the threat America is under from criminal Trump and his fascist Republican cohorts. They want to end democracy and make the United States a christofascist authoritarian state ruled by Trump. The House is in league with this and so is the ruling cabal in the Supreme Court. The only thing that is going to stop this is voters, and I am just not sure there will be enough of us to win.
Criminal Trump hugs an American flag as he arrives at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Credit: Anna Moneymaker / Getty
As nationwide polling relating to the 2024 presidential election has caused concern for many who do not want to see another Trump presidency, a new survey suggests that one of the main problems for the Biden campaign is that not enough voters are aware of Donald Trump’s more recent authoritarian outbursts.
The poll suggests that informing those voters of Trump’s rhetoric could help Biden to court more voters.
The New Republic’s Greg Sargent, examining the survey by a Democratic-aligned group called “Save My Country,” reported its findings in a column he published earlier this week.
The poll was conducted in three key swing states (Arizona, Pennsylvania and Michigan) that Biden had won in 2024 but that Trump had won in 2016. It discounted respondents who said that they voted for Trump in the last presidential election or that they believed Biden wasn’t the legitimate winner of that contest, focusing solely on the kinds of voters whom the Democratic incumbent […]
Heather Cox Richardson, History Professor and Columnist - Letters from an American
Stephan:
I have not seen a single person on electronic media, or in a publication report what I think is a major story. The only commentator I seen comment on this is Heather Cox Richardson, and bravo to her I say. If you have credit card debt this may be a big deal for you personally.
Heather Cox Richardson Credit: Boston College
Possibly the biggest story today in terms of its impact on most Americans’ lives is that as part of its war on junk fees, the Biden administration announced an $8 cap on late fees charged by credit card issuers that have more than a million accounts. These companies hold more than 95% of outstanding credit card debt. Currently, fees average $32, and they fall on more than 45 million people. The White House estimates that late fees currently cost Americans about $25 billion a year. The rule change will save Americans about $10 billion a year.
The administration also announced a “strike force” to crack down on “unfair and illegal pricing.” Certain corporations raised prices as strained supply chains made it more expensive to make their products. But after supply chains were fixed and their costs dropped, corporations kept consumer prices high and passed on record profits to their shareholders. The strike force will encourage federal agencies to share information to enable them to identify businesses that are breaking the law.
Banking organizations and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce came out swinging. Executive vice […]
Here are the facts about Christian nationalism. (I dislike having to capitalize Christian in this context inasmuch as this movement has nothing to do with Jesus’ teachings.) This is what we are up against. The only we democracy survives is if you, me, and everyone we know votes and we all vote only for Democrats. Anything less and this may be the last fair election in America’s future. I am neither exaggerating nor being partisan in the traditional sense. We have one party that has been taken over by fascists, and one that still supports democracy. In that sense, it is very simple.
To view a PDF of slides presented during PRRI’s February 28, 2024, webinar on the report, please click here. For a replay of the PRRI webinar via YouTube, please click here.
Executive Summary
Throughout 2023, PRRI interviewed more than 22,000 adults as part of its American Values Atlas, which provides for the first time the ability to estimate support for Christian nationalism in all 50 states. Additionally, this new analysis examines how religion, party, education, race, and other factors intersect with Christian nationalist views.
Roughly three in ten Americans qualify as Christian nationalism Adherents or Sympathizers.
Three in ten Americans qualify as Christian nationalism Adherents (10%) or Sympathizers (20%), compared with two-thirds who qualify as Skeptics (37%) or Rejecters (30%).
These percentages have remained stable since PRRI first asked these questions in late 2022.
Residents of red states are significantly more likely than those in blue states to hold Christian nationalist beliefs.
On the map, states with the highest levels of support for Christian nationalism form a horseshoe shape, starting in the upper Midwest, dipping down into the deep South, and then moving up again through the Appalachian Mountains. There are five states in which more than 45% of residents are Christian nationalism Adherents or Sympathizers: […]
How is it possible that millions of Americans are prepared to vote for a convicted rapist, and convicted fraudster, with dozens of indictments still to be adjudicated? I was thinking of that as I heard MSNBC say how well North Carolina Lieutenant Governor Mark Robinson was doing in today’s elections. This is a man who is notable for claiming the Holocaust never happened and for his regular anti-semitism, and LGBTQ slurs. (Please go to www.realmarkrobinson.com to see how truly vile this man is.) The biggest problem the United States faces, I am sorry to say, is that about a third of Americans are White supremacists, male-dominant, christofacists. As this latest poll notes, “The poll also found that Trump has a five-point lead over President Biden in a rematch.”
Criminal Trump speaks during the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC) Credit: Greg Nash
More than 20 percent of those planning on voting for former President Trump believe he has committed a serious crime, according to a recent poll.
A New York Times/Siena College poll found that 21 percent of those voters planning on backing Trump in November’s election think he has committed a serious federal crime.
Sixty-eight percent said he has not, and another 12 percent said they were not sure or refused to answer, the poll noted.
Trump is entangled in a number of court battles across the country, including two federal cases brought by special counsel Jack Smith. The former president pleaded not guilty to four felony counts in the federal 2020 election interference case that accuses him of engaging in numerous conspiracies to stay in office after losing the election.
He also pleaded not guilty to 40 charges in the federal classified documents case that alleges he mishandled classified information and tried to obstruct the government from retrieving them after leaving office.
The Republican cult is trying to gut public education. This cult does now want children to be educated, they just want them to be indoctrinated. To give some context to what the MAGAts want realize this: 51% of Americans can’t read above 6th-grade level, and 43% can’t read above 5th-grade level. Examples: We played football. They walked to the park. Or put another way, readers at this level could not read and comprehend this article. If you care about public education get involved at your local level. Go to the meetings of the boards that control your local public schools and demand ideology-free fact-based instruction.
U.S. Education Secretary Miguel Cardona Credit: Steven Senne / AP
On February 13, President Joe Biden’s Secretary of Education, Miguel Cardona, did something Democratic officials seldom do in public: He spoke the truth about what’s behind the relentless attacks on public schools by rightwing advocacy groups and their financial backers.
As HuffPostreported, one of the topics that came up during a meeting between Cardona and Black journalists that took place at the Department of Education, was the recent wave of new laws passed in mostly red states that target programs in K-12 schools and institutions of higher education that address diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI).
Advocates for DEI programs say they are needed to ensure positive academic, health, and social outcomes for students who often face discrimination and fewer educational opportunities due to their race, class, religion, gender, or ability level. Opponents say they shame white students and cause “reverse discrimination.”
Cardona called new laws passed by Republican state lawmakers to eliminate DEI […]
Kevin Morris and Coryn Grange, - Brennan Center for Justice
Stephan:
As I work and listen to a range of television channels report the elections, what increasingly worries me is what the Brennan Center for Justice reports, “If the United States wants to make good on its foundational claims of a democratic system of governance open to all citizens, it must find ways to close the racial turnout gap. Wider now than at any point in at least the past 16 years, the gap costs millions of votes from Americans of color all around the country. Perhaps most worrisome of all, the gap is growing most quickly in parts of the country that were previously covered under the preclearance regime of the 1965 Voting Rights Act until the disastrous Shelby County ruling.” You cannot sustain a democracy if citizens don’t vote.
Introduction
The gap in voter participation between Black and white Americans decreased following the civil rights revolution of the 1960s. Unfortunately, our research shows that for more than a decade, this trend has been reversing. This report uses data to which few previous researchers have had access to document the racial turnout gap in the 21st century.
The racial turnout gap — or the difference in the turnout rate between white and nonwhite voters — is a key way of measuring participation equality. We find that the gap has consistently grown since 2012 and is growing most quickly in parts of the country that were previously covered under Section 5 of the 1965 Voting Rights Act, which was suspended by the Supreme Court in its 2013 decision in Shelby County v. Holder. footnote1_biczm6x1
Section 5 of the Voting Rights Act required jurisdictions with a history of racial discrimination in voting to “preclear” any changes to their voting policies and practices with the U.S. Department of Justice (or federal courts). In the Supreme Court’s Shelby County decision, Chief Justice John Roberts, writing […]
Dharna Noor and Oliver Milman, Reporters - The Guardian (U.K.)
Stephan:
In this article, you see what the petroleum industry really thinks about climate change, as quoted from Darren Woods the CEO of Exxon Mobil. I will let him speak for himself, and you see what you think about it.
Darren Woods, the chief executive of Exxon Mobil, last year. Credit: Gavin John / Bloomberg/ Getty
The world is off track to meet its climate goals and the public is to blame, Darren Woods, chief executive of oil giant ExxonMobil, has claimed – prompting a backlash from climate experts.
As the world’s largest investor-owned oil company, Exxon is among the top contributors to global planet-heating greenhouse gas emissions. But in an interview, published on Tuesday, Woods argued that big oil is not primarily responsible for the climate crisis.
The real issue, Woods said, is that the clean-energy transition may prove too expensive for consumers’ liking.
“The dirty secret nobody talks about is how much all this is going to cost and who’s willing to pay for it,” he told Fortune last week. “The people who are generating those emissions need to be aware of and pay the price for generating those emissions. That is ultimately how you solve the problem.”
Woods said the world was “not on the path” to cut its planet-heating emissions to net zero by 2050, which scientists […]
