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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.
The Israelis are committing genocide using American bombs while Joe Biden stands by and watches. I think history will treat this as his greatest failure as a President, and as a human being. I think it is essential that Kamala Harris separate herself from Biden’s position, and she only has three weeks to do it.
United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on Friday joined human rights organizations and the foreign ministers of major countries in condemning the Israeli military’s targeting of U.N. peacekeeping forces stationed in Lebanon, where Israel has killed more than 2,000 people in bombings and ground attacks in recent weeks.
“This incident is intolerable and cannot be repeated,” said Guterres after the U.N. Interim Peacekeeping Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL)—an international body of more than 10,000 military and civilian personnel from dozens of countries—issued a statement accusing Israel of “deliberately” targeting the operation’s positions. UNIFIL has been present in southern Lebanon since 1978.
On Thursday, UNIFIL said, “two peacekeepers were injured after an IDF Merkava tank fired its weapon toward an observation tower at UNIFIL’s headquarters in Naqoura, directly hitting it and causing them to fall.” The two injured soldiers were from Indonesia.
“Indonesia strongly condemns the attack,” Retno Marsudi, the country’s foreign affairs minister, said in response. “Attacking U.N. personnel and property is a major violation of International Humanitarian Law.”
Global outrage soon followed, with the top diplomats of Spain, France, Italy, China, Turkey, and other nations issuing statements forcefully condemning the attack.
One of Trump’s wives is on record as saying that he kept Hitler’s Mein Kampf on his bedside table and read it regularly. As I watch and read the day’s news I think she was telling the truth, because Trump is doing and saying exactly what Hitler said and did in order to come to power. I am surprised so few journalists seem to recognize this, and comment on it. But here is one that did.
Republican presidential candidate traitor Trump. Credit: Scott Eisen / Getty
At a recent rally, former President Donald Trump used language in a speech that echoed Adolf Hitler, comparing his political opponents to “vermin.”
“We pledge to you that we will root out the communists, Marxists, fascists, and the radical left thugs that live like vermin within the confines of our country,” he told a New Hampshire crowd.
There were other nods to authoritarianism in the speech. Trump praised Hungary’s strongman leader: “The head of Hungary – very tough, strong guy – Viktor Orban,” Trump told the audience, adding approvingly, “He didn’t allow millions of people to invade his country.”
Later on, Trump referred to himself as “a very proud election denier.”
Authoritarian rhetoric has been central to Trump’s political trajectory – and his time as president. Ruth Ben-Ghiat, professor of history at NYU and author of the book “Strongman,” defines authoritarianism this way:
“It’s when the executive branch and the leader find ways to take away checks and balances,” she said. “So they […]
Jordan Pandy, Dan Latu, and Madeline Berg), Staff Writers - Microsoft Start | Business Insider
Stephan:
I have been telling you this was coming for several years, and now it is here. I think we are going to begin seeing internal migration out of Florida, driven by climate change itself, as well as what it is doing to the insurance industry.
A street in Shore Acres, Florida, where residents are attempting to rebuild after Hurricane Helene. Credit: Katie Mallah
Some Florida homeowners are reevaluating their costs and comfort with risk post-Hurricane Helene.
One seller near St. Petersburg slashed the asking price on their home, which was flooded, by 40%.
Some weigh whether homeownership in Florida is worth it given the high cost of both insurance and homes.
Days after Hurricane Helene devastated Florida and four other states, Compass real-estate agent Alexis Smith-Frady is picking up the pieces in her own home.
More than three feet of water flooded her 1,400-square-foot bungalow in Bradenton, she said, adding that a FEMA inspector who visited deemed it unhabitable.
Now, she’s bouncing between hotels until she figures out a more permanent solution.
“We have kind of a two-level house — it’s not a two-story, but there are two levels,” Smith-Frady told Business Insider. “The top level was spared last year with Idalia, and then this year it got our entire house.”
She said she did not have flood insurance for the first 11 years […]
There is so much weaponized misinformation about the economy being spewed out by traitor Trump and his MAGAts that it was important to give you some actual facts. It’s good news.
The Consumer Price Index rose 2.4% in the 12-month period that ended in September, while a gauge that strips out food and energy prices was 3.3%, the government said Thursday.
Why it matters: The September CPI report is the latest data indicating that the inflation crisis is in the rear view mirror, with few signs of price pressures reigniting.
By the numbers: The September CPI figure, the smallest increase since February 2021, compared to the 2.5% increase in the year ending in August.
Core CPI, meanwhile, ticked up from August.
On a monthly basis, the CPI rose 0.2%, the same as the two prior months. Core CPI—excluding food and energy—also held at 0.3%.
What to watch: The Federal Reserve, once squarely focused on cooling inflation, has pivoted its focus to the labor market.
The central bank cut interest rates by a half-percentage point last month—the first time officials lowered rates since 2020—with the intention to protect the job market that looked to be wobbling.
Some Fed officials are still wary about inflation getting stuck below the Fed’s 2% target and keeping a close watch […]
Netanyahu is an open fascist, and he wants his war to continue so he can stay in power. As this article describes it is leading secular Jews to begin to leave the country which is going to have a profound effect on the future of Israel. But that is only part of it, in my view. Netanyahu is linked with traitor Trump and the MAGAt Republicans, but they have a different intention. I think what the MAGAts want is a war with Iran. That is why they are supporting Netanyahu’s spreading the war into Lebanon. What I see is the same Republican stupidity as occurred in Bush 43’s administration. And, again, it is being funded by the military-industrial complex that linked with the Republican Party and resulted in the U.S. provoking the war with Iraq over the lie that Saddam Hussein had weapons of mass destruction he was going to make available to terrorist groups.
Photos and mementoes of Israeli hostages in Tel Aviv. Credit: Gonzalo Fuentes / Reuters
This summer, the Nobel laureate Prof Aaron Ciechanover joined a group of prominent Israelis gathered in the ruins of the Nir Oz kibbutz to demand a hostage release and ceasefire deal.
Nir Oz was the worst hit of all the communities targeted by Hamas on 7 October, with a quarter of its residents kidnapped or killed. Twenty-nine are still in Gaza.
If the hostages were not brought back, the basic social contract that underpinned Israeli society would unravel, the 77-year-old professor of medicine warned – with catastrophic consequences for the entire country.
He cited an accelerating “brain drain” of doctors and other professionals as a worrying sign that some of Israel’s elite already feel they no longer have a future in the country. And without them, Israel itself might struggle to have a future.
Ciechanover is a long-term critic of Benjamin Netanyahu and joined protests against his government before the war. But concern about this trend is not limited to political opponents of the Israeli leader. Earlier this year, Netanyahu’s […]
Have you heard a single politician talk about this even once in the course of this election? I certainly haven’t. Humanity in general and American politicians, and the vast majority of Americans particularly, simply don’t seem to understand or make a priority of what humans are doing to destroy Earth’s Matrix of Life. I find this simply amazing given that every human on the planet will be negatively affected by what is happening.
Wild populations of monitored animal species have plummeted over 70 percent in the last half-century, according to the latest edition of a landmark assessment by WWF published on Thursday.
Featuring data from 35,000 populations of more than 5,000 species of mammals, birds, amphibians, reptiles and fish, the WWF Living Planet Index shows accelerating declines across the globe.
In biodiversity-rich regions such as Latin America and the Caribbean, the figure for animal population loss is as high as 95 percent.
The report tracks trends in the abundance of a large number of species, not individual animal numbers.
It found that populations under review had fallen 73 percent since 1970, mostly due to human pressures.
The index has become an international reference and arrives just ahead of the next UN summit on biodiversity, which will spotlight the issue when it opens in Colombia later this month.
“The picture we are painting is incredibly concerning,” said Kirsten Schuijt, Director […]
The MAGAt politicians who are in complete submission to the petroleum corporations either are not smart enough to comprehend what climate change means or they just don’t care what happens to the Americans they represent. I don’t know, but their actions speak for themselves. Not just in Florida but in every Red state in the union, and in the U.S. Congress. What always amazes me is that they seem to believe that they and their families will somehow remain untouched by what is happening to Earth.
Credit: NOAA / AP
Roughly three months before Florida was clobbered by this week’s climate-intensified hurricane, eight of the state’s Republican lawmakers pressured federal regulators to halt a proposal requiring businesses to more thoroughly disclose the risks they face from climate change. Those lawmakers have raked in more than $1 million of campaign cash from oil and gas industry donors, according to data reviewed by The Lever.
The proposed rules from the Securities and Exchange Commission are designed to give investors, government officials, and the general public much more information and details about the dangers of climate change. But even in Florida — one of America’s most climate-threatened states — top Republicans are trying to help fossil fuel industry lobbyists block such disclosure mandates that could better inform communities about climate risks. Those mandates could also help identify which carbon-emitting companies are most responsible for the climate crisis.
On June 15th, seven of Florida’s House lawmakers signed a letter to SEC Chair Gary Gensler demanding he rescind a […]
This is how our Supreme Court became so corrupt, and this is what traitor Trump did and will do again if he is elected in November. This election is going to determine whether we become a corrupt christofascist oligarchy or remain a democracy. It is that serious.
The bureau shamefully allowed itself to be used as a prop in political theater, orchestrated by the Trump administration. Maybe it was always obvious that the whole thing was a sham. Back in 2018, when Christine Blasey Ford, Deborah Ramirez, and others accused then supreme court nominee Brett Kavanaugh of sexual assault, the powerful testimony of Blasey Ford before the Senate judiciary committee briefly seemed like it might derail the nomination. This was the height of #MeToo, remember: at the time, many women were coming forward with their own stories of sexual violence, and the accounts were numerous enough and had sufficient moral authority that powerful people felt it necessary to pretend that they cared.
Republican senators wanted to confirm Kavanaugh quickly: the judge, who was then seated on the DC circuit, would provide the crucial fifth vote to overturn Roe v Wade, as well as supporting efforts to enshrine various other Republican policy agendas into law. Women, however, were causing a scene: two cornered then Arizona senator Jeff […]
