Lowest quality of life states in America are Republican governed

 From Jess Piper on 07/23/26

I just found out that I live in one of the worst ranked states in the country.

Well, I already knew that instinctively, but my thoughts were confirmed when I came across a CNBC study of the worst ranked states in the country. Here is the ranking:

Tennessee
Texas
Indiana
Louisiana
Georgia
Utah
Missouri
Alabama
Oklahoma
Arkansas

States ranked at the bottom of the list were penalized for high crime rates, low health care access, a lack of livable wage policies, a lack of worker protections, and laws that restrict civil and reproductive rights.

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I bet you noticed something else immediately, though. Each of the states listed is dominated by the Republican Party. They all have a GOP-dominated government and many of the states listed, like mine, have had a GOP supermajority for decades and also have a Republican trifecta holding the Governor’s office and the Statehouse and State Senate.

This is where I state the obvious: Republicans can’t govern. And they don’t want to. It was never about governance. It was always about consolidating power.

For more click here.

Standard time is much better than Daylight Savings Time if the US is to stabilize its clock.

From the Local Epidemiologist on 07/22/26

Congress has gotten as far as it ever has in ending twice-a-year clock changes. The House passed the Sunshine Protection Act, which would make daylight saving time (DST) permanent. It now heads to the Senate. If that passes, your mornings will stay darker for longer. But if it doesn’t go through, another bill is coming right behind it that would stabilize clock time in the opposite direction, enacting permanent standard time.

Ending the clock switch is extremely popular, and science agrees stopping this madness is what’s best for our health. But nearly every major sleep-medicine and circadian-biology organization recommends permanent standard time, not permanent daylight saving time (DST), which the House just approved.

The science about why the direction of the clock switch matters starts with your body.

For more click here.

The proposal coming from the US House of Representatives to make Daylight Savings Time permanent and people in the US would no longer be changing their clocks twice per year is bad for the nation's health and is not based on science.

To do away with the time changes is a good idea and seems to be popular with the American people, but it would be better if the permanent time change was to Standard Time not Daylight Savings Time based on the circadian rythms of homo sapiens.

If you can't win fair and square: cheat

From The Conversation on July 17, 2026

 US President Donald Trump has used a rare nationwide prime-time address to again claim the 2020 presidential election was stolen, US voting machines cannot be trusted, and a “deep state” conspiracy has covered it all up.

However, the declassified documents the White House released alongside the speech do not support those claims.

As such, Trump’s speech may matter less for what it says about the 2020 election than what it portends for November’s Congressional midterm elections, which could result in huge losses for his Republican Party.

Critics say Trump is clearly setting the stage to delegitimise the vote, so he can contest the result if it doesn’t go his way.

For more click here

Will you affirm and promote the right of conscience and the use of democratic processes in the US? Will you pledge to tell the truth and to be fair in your interactions with others?

How it works: The Replacement Theory

How does authoritarianism work? One dynamic is the replacement theory.

The Catholic birth rate in Northern Ireland was approximately double the Protestant birth rate—yet during the three decades prior to the march on Derry, the Catholic population had remained virtually static, because so many people had no choice but to leave.

Keefe, Patrick Radden. Say Nothing: A True Story of Murder and Memory in Northern Ireland (p. 14). Knopf Doubleday Publishing Group. Kindle Edition. 

With Catholic birth rates higher than Protestant, the “replacement theory” raised its ugly head fueling subjugation and discrimination in Northern Ireland as it had in Nazi Germany, in the United States, and today, once again in the United States with White Supremacism having been reawakened with the MAGA movement. The threatened dominant class practices rejection, exclusion, and exile.

This dynamic occurs repeatedly in human history as one group attempts to maintain control over perceived threatening others. Failing societies favor exclusion while thriving successful societies favor inclusion. The replacement theory is fanned by would be authoritarians to gain political power. It only temporarily works as the society they would govern becomes increasingly rigid, brittle, and then breaks down.

How it works: We are the product

 

I have gone off grid. I don't want to be a commodity that's sold to the higest bidder. 

The Netflix documentary, The Social Dilemma is a must watch for everyon about how people are manipulated by algorythms. This documentary as made in 2020 and AI has become even more powerful in the last 6 years.

The US poor performing healthcare system.

 

Today, everybody in Taiwan is fully covered for doctor and hospital services. Everybody has a driver’s-license-like healthcare card, which accesses their entire medical history. They can book a doctor’s appointment on any computer terminal in the country, and the entire cost of the system is a bit more than 6 percent of Taiwan’s GDP (in the United States, healthcare consumes 24 percent of our GDP) because there are no insurance company intermediaries sucking profits off the system.

Hartmann, Thom. The Hidden History of American Healthcare: Why Sickness Bankrupts You and Makes Others Insanely Rich (pp. 2-3). Berrett-Koehler Publishers. Kindle Edition. 

In his book The Hidden History Of American Healthcare by Thom Hartman, he opens  with a description of how different countries, specifically Taiwan and the US dealt with the Covid 19 pandemic. Taiwan and the US are very different countries so it could be argued that you can’t compare their health care systems because of different circumstances, but it is worthy of note that Taiwan covers healthcare for all its citizens at the cost of 6% of their GDP while the US cost is 24% of its GDP and it not only doesn’t cover all its citizens and even the ones who have healthcare coverage are covered poorly with co-pays and deductibles and needs for cost containing authorizations before care can be delivered.

When you reflect on how the US healthcare system operates compared to other first world countries the American system performs at substandard levels in spite of its high cost. This observation leads to the question of why Americans not only tolerate this low performing system but support political representatives who design, and support it?

People or profit in the US health care system?

The U.S. healthcare system stands apart from those of other high-income nations. While nearly all other developed countries utilize some form of universal healthcare to ensure every citizen has coverage, the U.S. relies on a complex, fragmented hybrid system dominated by private, employer-sponsored insurance alongside targeted public programs.

Despite spending nearly twice as much per capita on healthcare as the average wealthy nation, the U.S. frequently sees lower life expectancy and higher rates of chronic illness compared to its peers.

Why is the US health care system the worst in the first world nations? Because it is profit making and the primary incentives for the system is to make a profit not serve the health needs of Americans. 

Why is the system set up this way to maximize profit rather than to provide service? Because the health care corporations spend inordinate sums of money on lobbying and campaign donations to legislators and government executives who support their corporate interests rather than the interests of the people they represent and supposedly are working for.

The primary social policy undermining the US healthcare system is the Citizens United ruling of the US Supreme Court which claims that corporations are persons who have free speech and therefore can spend any amount of money they choose to sponsor and support elected officials at all levels of government.

If you want to change the health care system in the US to better serve people, elect legislators and executive officials who want what’s best for their constituents and not the corporations. We need politicians who support people not profit.

Which is the best: audio or print books?

There is an interesting article on the Cornell University Evidence Based Living web site entitled, “Is Listening To Audiobooks As Good As Reading?”

Here are a couple of quotes from the article:

The analysis did find that literal comprehension — recognizing explicitly stated facts — was approximately the same for reading and listening. The paper’s authors hypothesized that readers have an advantage because they can slow down, reread a tricky paragraph, or pause to reflect, while listeners must move at the narrator’s pace.”
__________________

Divided attention consistently reduces how much we retain, which likely accounts for differences in comprehension when comparing reading and listening.
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The evidence doesn’t suggest we should avoid audiobooks altogether, but rather that we should make careful choices about when to listen and when to read. “Audiobooks come at a cognitive price and one should not substitute them for reading,” Sternberg says.The take-home message: Although the human brain interprets reading and listening in similar ways, the evidence shows that listening likely does not promote cognitive development as much as reading.

I have noticed that my experience of listening to audiobooks and reading print is quite different and serve different purposes. The more challenging the material the more I get from print. I like listening to audiobooks for pleasure and reading print for information. I notice that a lot is lost when I listen to audiobooks as compared to when I read print.

For example, most nonfiction I would rather read print while fiction is usually OK in audio unless there are unusual names and words in which case I prefer print.

When it comes to rereading, it is much easier and more satisfying to reread in print. I found this especially true when I listened to the audiobook first. I don’t find it enjoyable or satisfying to listen to an audio of a book I already read in print.

88 corporations pay no federal income tax in 2025

From Common Dreams on 06/11/26 

Eighty-eight corporations that paid no federal income tax last year spent roughly $852 million on US campaign contributions and lobbying during recent election cycles, a report published Thursday revealed.

The report, “The Current Price of Zero,” was authored by Eileen O’Grady, a researcher at Public Citizen’s Congress Watch division. The publication draws upon an analysis published in April by the Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (ITEP) showing that at least 88 of the nation’s largest companies paid no federal corporate income tax in fiscal year 2025, despite reporting combined US pretax income of around $105 billion.

Here Comes The Sun by Bill McKibben

Bill McKibben's Here Comes The Sun offers a hopeful yet urgent perspective on the climate crisis, arguing that the rapid advancements in solar and wind power present a genuine opportunity—a "last chance for the climate and a fresh chance for civilization"—to transition away from fossil fuels.

The core argument is that renewable energy, particularly solar, has become the cheapest power source on the planet and is growing at an unprecedented, exponential rate. McKibben details this "solar revolution" with compelling examples, highlighting how this shift is not just an environmental necessity but an economic and geopolitical imperative. He frames solar power as the "Costco of energy"—inexpensive and available in bulk—no longer the "Whole Foods of energy" (nice but pricey alternative).

Here Comes The Sun gave me a whole new way of thinking about climate change and how we, as humans, will adjust to the changes we are experiencing now and in the future.

I highly recommend Here Comes The Sun and will give my copy free to anyone who wants it. Email me the address you want it sent to to davidgmarkham@gmail. com