July 2018 - Page 13 of 25 - Schwartzreport

Monday, July 16th, 2018

In about 20 years, half the population will live in eight states

Philip Bump, Correspondent - The Washington Post

Stephan: A massive change is underway in American society that is going to fundamentally alter our politics, yet is occurring with almost no notice except to researchers. In as little as two decades 49.5% of the population will live in eight states, as this careful fact-based report lays out. There will also be a very dramatic age differential. It is going to have a huge effect on the congress. The House will be radically restructured, with 42 states having fewer Representatives. But it is in the Senate that I think the greatest effect will be felt and the entire structure established by the Constitution called into question. Each state regardless of population has two senators, and yet we we are going to have senators representing perhaps 100,000 people while other senators represent tens of millions. This is not what the Founders had in mind. In my view we are headed to a Constitutional crisis, and it will occur just as climate change really begins to bite, a variable this report does not really factor in, and which will create the three big internal migrations that are coming making this story even more complex.

In response to Post opinion writer Paul Waldman’s essay about the current power of the minority in American politics, the American Enterprise Institute’s Norman Ornstein offered a stunning bit of data on Twitter.

Monday, July 16th, 2018

Trump has said 1,340,330 words as president. They’re getting more dishonest, a Star study shows

DANIEL DALE, Washington Bureau Chief - The Toronto Star (Canada)

Stephan: Remember George Washington's famous line, "I cannot tell a lie." Well, we're a long way from the first president. The 45th is a psychopath and a compulsive liar and everyone in any government around the world, as this Canadian story reports, knows that nothing he says can be taken at face value. And it is getting worse. Let's deal with some facts. Isn't it nice to have another country tell you your president lies as he breathes.

WASHINGTON—U.S. President Donald Trump’s words are getting more dishonest over time, the Star has found in the first detailed statistical analysis of his inaccurate statements in office.

The analysis relies on some subjective judgments, which we’ll explain in detail below. But it provides the most comprehensive picture yet available of what historians say is an unprecedented avalanche of serial lying.

Trump’s dishonesty has been a central story of his presidency, a daily problem that has confounded members of Congress and foreign leaders, confused policy debates and made it difficult for many members of the American public to trust the commander-in-chief.

We’ve tried to quantify the issue. Since Trump’s inauguration speech on Jan. 20, 2017, we’ve fact-checked every word Trump has spoken or tweeted since his inauguration speech on Jan. 20, 2017. Up until July 1, 2018, the end date for the analysis, we had counted 1,929 false claims.

Readers wanted more than just this raw number. They asked us, for example, to explain why the number of false claims per week has increased since early 2017. The key question: […]

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Monday, July 16th, 2018

BMW to shift some SUV production overseas in response to tariffs

JACQUELINE THOMSEN , - The Hill

Stephan: South Carolinians voted 54.9% for Trump and, as this story describes, this is his thank you. The same thing is playing out in the states that depend on agricultural economies. They're getting what they voted for, and it's just beginning.

BMW assembly plant in South Carolina
Credit: Automotive News

BMW said Monday that it would move production for some of its SUVs out of the U.S. as a result of new tariffs placed on the vehicles, according to The Post and Courier in South Carolina.

The German-based automobile manufacturer signed an agreement with its Chinese partner, Brilliance Automotive Group Holdings, to increase the number of vehicles produced in the country, according to the Charleston newspaper, with the total reaching 520,000 by 2019.

“Our agreement sets a long-term framework for our future in China — a future involving continued investment, further growth and a clear commitment to the development and production of electric vehicles,” said BMW CEO Harald Krueger said.

The company also said that it will raise prices for U.S.-produced SUVs sold in China because it is “not in a position to completely absorb the tariff increases” after China slapped a 40 percent tariff on U.S. car imports, according to the newspaper. The action was in response to tariffs on […]

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Monday, July 16th, 2018

Trump was like a “predator” toward teens at parties in ’80s and ’90s, says BBC report

David Gilbert, - VIce News

Stephan: One of the things that fascinates me about the current political landscape in America is how people who say they are evangelical, Mormon, or Jehovah's Witnesses, men and women who wear their religion on their sleeve and vocally claim to be guided by Jesus' teachings, have completely abdicated those teachings in support of Donald Trump. I understand that when you get to the lick log this is mostly about their fears and racism. And I understand that if you challenge them on this they will deny it. I have had a number of conversations, most recently with a Mormon when we were both at the hardware store, and have listened to the most amazing rationalizations. But what I don't get is the emotional place you have to get to in order to sustain these rationalizations. I think it is one of the most important social trends in the U.S. today. Here's the latest example of what I mean. How does one reconcile Trump's lechery and molestation of women with one's faith? In the toxic miasma of scandals, corruption, and incompetence, Trump's lechery has more or less gotten lost in the noise in the U.S. But not in Europe. The BBC -- the BBC! -- has just issued a report on a whole new dimension of Trump's sexual predation. Aren't you proud to have an American president most people wouldn't leave alone in a room with their young daughter.

Donald Trump, left, and Miss Universe, Gabriela Isler, of Venezuela
Credit: AP/Wilfredo Lee

A few days before President Trump heads to the U.K. to meet the queen and the prime minister, a BBC investigative program has revealed fresh allegations of sexually inappropriate actions by Trump during the 1980s and 1990s, comparing him to a “predator” at parties with girls as young as 14.

The report featured Monday on the BBC Panorama investigative documentary series, entitled “Trump: Is the president a sex pest?” included testimony from two women who said they encountered Trump at parties during his time as a real estate magnate and operator of beauty pageants.

Trump’s behavior toward younger women was described by a man who attended the same parties as like that of a “predator.”

One of the women, Barbara Pilling, said she met Trump at a party in New York in the late 1980s while she was a young model. She alleged that then-businessman Trump asked her how old she was and approved when she […]

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Sunday, July 15th, 2018

Europe keeps setting clean-energy records

Akshat Rathi , - Quartz

Stephan: If I step back from any allegiance to the U.S. and simply look at what is happening as a social research scientist and historian, it is obvious America under the Trumplican Party is literally destroying itself as a world leader. Nowhere is this more evident than in energy policies. The christofascists who people the Trump administration in service to their lord -- and I don't mean God -- care nothing for America's wellbeing only the profits of their corporate masters to whom their lord owes fealty. In contrast here is what is going on in Europe. I feel so sorry for the generation that will follow us. I suspect they will despise and resent us for what we have done to their lives.

Soaking the sun. Credit: Reuters/Thomas Bohlen

This week, two of the biggest economies in Europe set new records for clean energy.

The UK’s electrical grid has not burned any coal for about 1,000 hours so far this year. Though it’s just a symbolic achievement, the pace at which the UK is reaching such figures shows the pace of the energy transition. In 2016 and 2017, the comparable figures for the full year stood at 210 hours and 624 hours, respectively.

There are two reasons for the shift: a carbon tax on coal has made cleaner natural gas more attractive, and subsidies for solar and wind power have ensured wider deployment of new clean-energy technologies.

Germany’s case has been slightly different. Though it began pushing for renewable energy much earlier than the UK, its gains have been slower. The coal lobby in Germany is a lot stronger than in the UK.

But as the costs of renewable energy have come down, change is finally showing. In 2018 […]

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