I.M.F. Board Backs $650 Billion Aid Plan to Help Poor Countries
The expansion of emergency reserves to help fund vaccines and pay down debt has emerged as a political flash point in the United States.
VENICE, Italy — The International Monetary Fund took a step on Friday toward easing widening global inequality and helping poor nations access vaccines, saying that its executive board approved a plan to issue $650 billion worth of reserve funds, which countries can use to purchase vaccines, finance health care and pay down debt.
The decision comes at a pivotal moment as Covid-19 infections continue to spread among populations that have not been inoculated and as more contagious variants of the virus are posing new health threats. The pandemic has drained the fiscal resources of poor countries over the past year and the I.M.F. projected this week that faster access to vaccinations for high-risk populations could save 500,000 lives in the next six months.
The new allocation of so-called Special Drawing Rights would be the largest such expansion of currency reserves in the I.M.F.’s history. If given final approval by the I.M.F.’s board of governors, as is expected, the reserves could become available by the end of next month.
“This is a shot in the arm for the world,” Kristalina Georgieva, managing director of the I.M.F., said in a statement. “The S.D.R. allocation will help every I.M.F. member country — particularly vulnerable countries — and strengthen their response to the Covid-19 crisis.” …
The Christian Right Is in Decline, and It’s Taking America With It
… On Thursday, P.R.R.I. (Public Religion Research Institute) released startling new polling data showing just how much ground the religious right has lost. P.R.R.I.’s 2020 Census of American Religion, based on a survey of nearly half a million people, shows a precipitous decline in the share of the population identifying as white evangelical, from 23 percent in 2006 to 14.5 percent last year. (As a category, “white evangelicals” isn’t a perfect proxy for the religious right, but the overlap is substantial.) In 2020, as in every year since 2013, the largest religious group in the United States was the religiously unaffiliated.
One of P.R.R.I.’s most surprising findings was that in 2020, there were more white mainline Protestants than white evangelicals. This doesn’t necessarily mean Christians are joining mainline congregations — the survey measures self-identification, not church affiliation. It is, nevertheless, a striking turnabout after years when mainline Protestantism was considered moribund and evangelical Christianity full of dynamism. …
PRRI’s finding that religiously unaffiliated Americans, or “nones” in religion demography parlance, have lost ground, making up just 23% of the country. The complex group — which includes atheists, agnostics and some people who say they pray daily but don’t claim a specific faith tradition — peaked at 25.5% of the population in 2018.
White Christians, meanwhile, have expanded their share of the population, particularly white mainline Protestants. That group sits at 16.4%, an increase from 13% in 2016, whereas white evangelicals — who PRRI delineated from white mainliners using a methodology researchers said is commonly utilized by major pollsters — now represent about 14.5% of the population, down from a peak of 23% in 2006. White Catholics now hover around 11.7%, up from a 2018 low of 10.9%.
Chart courtesy of PRRI Census of American Religion
The percentage of white Christians ticked up overall, rising from 42% in 2018 to 44% in 2020.
Ron (RC) Weakley (A.K.A., Darryl For A While At EV) says:
Bertrand Russell was a devout atheist, but his best friend William James, with whom Russell persistently argued the perniciousness of Christianity, was no mere agnostic, but rather a deeply pragmatic soul that had found religion to have redeeming social value, particularly when incorporated into families raising children. Seems like William James may be making a comeback.
PRRI’s finding that religiously unaffiliated Americans, or “nones” in religion demography parlance, have lost ground, making up just 23% of the country. The complex group … includes atheists, agnostics and some (other) people …
If the ‘mainline’ and ‘evangelical’ White protestants
combined (16%+14%) would represent 30%, as if that could happen.
All catholics combined would represent 22%.
So, the predominant group (‘just 23%’) are the ‘nones’.
This one has been a long time coming and with the special session happening in Texas with our legislature a few things have become very apparent. Texas gets criticized heavily in the media all over the United States, and arguably, worldwide. We are a cast as a brazen form of maverick insurrectionists some of it reality, some not. But the truth is a little more egregious. Let’s focus on the politics and also look at some basics.
“We are going to make sure not another Democrat ever wins in this state ever again” Proclaimed the Republican top brass after the election success of Gov. Ann Richards. She was a spitfire reformer that the state needed during a time of economic downturn that ended up influencing an entire generation of people like me to think differently than our parents. She was smart, witty, clever, and resilient.
The policies put in place shaped current Texas politics, even to this day. The Republicans gerrymandered a political ladder starting with George W. Bush that has continued with the likes of Ricky Perry and Abbot, et. al. that still continues to this day that will never be broken without a SCOTUS decision via de-gerrymandering, or a change in public discourse (both highly unlikely).
The Bush family was a well known and established family that had ties to big oil, the Saudi’s, and wealth. George Herman Walker Bush I have high regard for, even if I disagree with his politics. Jon Mecham chronicles some interesting facts into that. The name alone was a shoo-in. But the Republicans took it much, much farther. If you look at the past and even not so distant congressional maps you will see Black and Brown neighborhoods sectioned off and the rest of the state is as red as the ripe San Marzano tomatoes I have growing in the field. This was Gerry on steroids.
Fast forward a few decades and you will understand the current political calculus that I am about to impart.
Republican districts are either highly rural, or highly specific. The designation matters. A lot.
“So, uh, what does this have to do with the freeze in February?”
Good question!
The Republican districts, like mine were fine during the freeze. I know all of you city dwellers are asking what the hell do I mean by that, so let me explain.
ERCOT is a sham. Let’s forget them. They were setup as a target to shoot when something goes wrong, a really fancy scapegoat with headquarters in the country not far from my watermelons, which is weird for them to be out in the middle of nowhere.
Let’s get to the facts:
People in cities were without power for easily up to 5 days or more as the state was below freezing in daily high temperatures for multiple days and beyond. People in the cities. Let’s remember this because those were the Gerrymandered districts that have been set aside due to the post Ann Richards Republican fencing. People in the country? Well, we did just fine. A lot of Black and Brown communities have not recovered, even to this day. I have seen many, many communities that still need plumbing repairs, roof repairs, and new places to live. We have not recovered as a society and probably will never.
The Majority of us “out here” were without power maybe a couple of days as the electrical lines froze during ice storms and then were quickly repaired. Why? Natural gas. We have on-line compression stations. They are hooked to the grid, and if we go down, so do they. Some are solar powered, but solar is expensive and compression stations and also oil fields themselves close to cities are on our lines.
Why does this matter?
Well, we spent a few days stoking our fire places and even got together with the neighbors to cut wood and make sure everyone was fed, warm, and had water. We melted snow and ice to drink and cook with (no power = no working water well). A collective amnesia has now been adopted by the “out here” folks who forgot that our power grid essentially died. We were only down for a couple of days and our pipes never froze in the walls, “so pull up your boot straps”.
If you now look at why there is no political appetite to reform the power grid of Texas, or eliminate ERCOT, or even join the national grid, this is it. We out here fared way better than the cities, mostly out of necessity of oil and gas to continue flowing. But the next time will be our last. As gas becomes a back seat passenger to the gigantic solar outfit outside of Amarillo, and the multitude of other outfits going in around the state, and the one I am installing on my property, and my being a vocal advocate in my community, good fucking riddance.
LONDON, July 11 (Reuters) – British Prime Minister Boris Johnson will urge caution on Monday as he is expected to confirm plans to remove nearly all remaining COVID-19 restrictions in England from July 19, despite a surge of cases to levels unseen for months.
Earlier this week Johnson set out proposals to eliminate rules on mask-wearing and social contact, and the instruction to work from home, on what he has called a “one-way road to freedom”. He will announce his final decision at a news conference on Monday.
“The global pandemic is not over yet,” he said in a statement released late on Sunday.
“Cases will rise as we unlock, so as we confirm our plans today, our message will be clear. Caution is absolutely vital, and we must all take responsibility so we don’t undo our progress.”
Britain has implemented one of the world’s fastest vaccination programmes, with more than 87% of adults having received at least one dose of a COVID-19 vaccine and 66% having received two.
Nevertheless, recent weeks have seen a striking surge of infections, to rates unseen since the winter. …
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/09/us/politics/g20-imf-vaccines.html?smid=tw-share
https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/09/opinion/religious-right-america.html?smid=tw-share
Bertrand Russell was a devout atheist, but his best friend William James, with whom Russell persistently argued the perniciousness of Christianity, was no mere agnostic, but rather a deeply pragmatic soul that had found religion to have redeeming social value, particularly when incorporated into families raising children. Seems like William James may be making a comeback.
The American Religious Landscape in 2020
https://religionnews.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/07/webRNS-PRRI-chart-2-07072021.jpg
PRRI’s finding that religiously unaffiliated Americans, or “nones” in religion demography parlance, have lost ground, making up just 23% of the country. The complex group … includes atheists, agnostics and some (other) people …
If the ‘mainline’ and ‘evangelical’ White protestants
combined (16%+14%) would represent 30%, as if that could happen.
All catholics combined would represent 22%.
So, the predominant group (‘just 23%’) are the ‘nones’.
The Tale of Two Freezes
This one has been a long time coming and with the special session happening in Texas with our legislature a few things have become very apparent. Texas gets criticized heavily in the media all over the United States, and arguably, worldwide. We are a cast as a brazen form of maverick insurrectionists some of it reality, some not. But the truth is a little more egregious. Let’s focus on the politics and also look at some basics.
“We are going to make sure not another Democrat ever wins in this state ever again”
Proclaimed the Republican top brass after the election success of Gov. Ann Richards. She was a spitfire reformer that the state needed during a time of economic downturn that ended up influencing an entire generation of people like me to think differently than our parents. She was smart, witty, clever, and resilient.
The policies put in place shaped current Texas politics, even to this day. The Republicans gerrymandered a political ladder starting with George W. Bush that has continued with the likes of Ricky Perry and Abbot, et. al. that still continues to this day that will never be broken without a SCOTUS decision via de-gerrymandering, or a change in public discourse (both highly unlikely).
The Bush family was a well known and established family that had ties to big oil, the Saudi’s, and wealth. George Herman Walker Bush I have high regard for, even if I disagree with his politics. Jon Mecham chronicles some interesting facts into that. The name alone was a shoo-in. But the Republicans took it much, much farther. If you look at the past and even not so distant congressional maps you will see Black and Brown neighborhoods sectioned off and the rest of the state is as red as the ripe San Marzano tomatoes I have growing in the field. This was Gerry on steroids.
Fast forward a few decades and you will understand the current political calculus that I am about to impart.
Republican districts are either highly rural, or highly specific. The designation matters. A lot.
“So, uh, what does this have to do with the freeze in February?”
Good question!
The Republican districts, like mine were fine during the freeze. I know all of you city dwellers are asking what the hell do I mean by that, so let me explain.
ERCOT is a sham. Let’s forget them. They were setup as a target to shoot when something goes wrong, a really fancy scapegoat with headquarters in the country not far from my watermelons, which is weird for them to be out in the middle of nowhere.
Let’s get to the facts:
People in cities were without power for easily up to 5 days or more as the state was below freezing in daily high temperatures for multiple days and beyond. People in the cities. Let’s remember this because those were the Gerrymandered districts that have been set aside due to the post Ann Richards Republican fencing. People in the country? Well, we did just fine. A lot of Black and Brown communities have not recovered, even to this day. I have seen many, many communities that still need plumbing repairs, roof repairs, and new places to live. We have not recovered as a society and probably will never.
The Majority of us “out here” were without power maybe a couple of days as the electrical lines froze during ice storms and then were quickly repaired. Why? Natural gas. We have on-line compression stations. They are hooked to the grid, and if we go down, so do they. Some are solar powered, but solar is expensive and compression stations and also oil fields themselves close to cities are on our lines.
Why does this matter?
Well, we spent a few days stoking our fire places and even got together with the neighbors to cut wood and make sure everyone was fed, warm, and had water. We melted snow and ice to drink and cook with (no power = no working water well). A collective amnesia has now been adopted by the “out here” folks who forgot that our power grid essentially died. We were only down for a couple of days and our pipes never froze in the walls, “so pull up your boot straps”.
If you now look at why there is no political appetite to reform the power grid of Texas, or eliminate ERCOT, or even join the national grid, this is it. We out here fared way better than the cities, mostly out of necessity of oil and gas to continue flowing. But the next time will be our last. As gas becomes a back seat passenger to the gigantic solar outfit outside of Amarillo, and the multitude of other outfits going in around the state, and the one I am installing on my property, and my being a vocal advocate in my community, good fucking riddance.
the UK was averaging 2,009 Covid cases a day during the week ending May 8th; now it’s at 30,144 cases a day, a 1500% increase…
Pandemic not over, Johnson warns as England set for rule easing | Reuters