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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.

— Stephan

AVAILABLE FOR THE FIRST TIME

Trump appoints speechwriter fired for attending conference with White nationalists to top State Department role

Stephan: 

Just to prove the point I made in my previous comment, here is another fascist racist “emperor” Trump appointment. And please notice not a single “Republican” member of Congress has spoken out about any of this. They are completely complicit in the coup that is being carried out. It is worth noting that the states that are going to be most severely impacted by all this chaos are the Red States, as will become evident over the weeks that come.

Darren Beattie Credit: John Rudoff / Sipa USA

Darren Beattie, a former Donald Trump speechwriter who was fired in 2018 after CNN revealed he spoke at a conference attended by White nationalists, has been elevated to a top job at the State Department, multiple sources familiar with the move told CNN.

Beattie was appointed to serve as the acting Under Secretary for Public Diplomacy and Public Affairs, a key role that is responsible for helping shape US messaging abroad related to counterterrorism and violent extremism, according to the State Department website.

CNN’s KFile first reported in 2018 that Beattie, a former Duke University visiting instructor, spoke in 2016 to the H.L. Mencken Club – a gathering that has included White nationalist figures such as Richard Spencer and Peter Brimelow. Beattie, who was then working as a speechwriter in the Trump White House, defended his speech, claiming it was academic in nature. The Washington Post later reported he was fired after CNN’s article.

After being ousted from the Trump White House, Beattie founded the right-wing media outlet Revolver News. The […]

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Editor’s Note

Stephan: 

The coup continues. We are just 17 days into the destruction of our democracy, our economy, and poised to become involved in wars. And the effect of the coup is not just affecting Americans. Hundreds of thousands, perhaps millions of women, children, and men in poor countries around the world have had their already meager lives ripped apart.. Tens of thousands of children in those countries are predicted to die as a result of this. Rather than commit another day’s SR to detail the further trends on our national destruction, I have decided to give you an interview I did a few days ago with a young man in Australia, Paul Philipson, that he has just posted. In it, I discuss my 47-year-long remote viewing project describing the future. Here is the YouTube link:

I will also be publishing a research paper on this work in the Explore Journal in the June issue which I will share with you when it is published.
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Trump says US will ‘take over’ and ‘own’ Gaza Strip and says US troops will be deployed ‘if it’s necessary’ – live

Stephan: 

As you have probably already heard, Benjamin Netanyahu, an international war criminal and Donald Trump, a convicted sex offender and multiple felon just stood at a press conference in the White House and committed to the ethnic cleansing of 2 million Palestinians and the takeover of their Gaza homeland by the United States, which will own it and turn it into a “Riviera.” It is essentially the same thing Putin did to Ukraine, but actually even worse because Putin was not going to force all Ukrainians out of Ukraine. Trump as of today, in my opinion,  should be designated, as that term is defined, as an international war criminal. The man to whom he has turned over the government, Elon Musk, and his half-dozen of recent post-high school and just graduated from college (19-24 year-old) servants are at the same time dismantling the government. It is basically a kind of oligarch hostile takeover coup. Oh, and by the way, did I mention, this little team of nouveau-nazis, now has access to all your most private financial and medical data on file with the government?  My prediction is that we will now see violence against Americans throughout the Muslim world, and very possibly not one but several 9/11s here in the United States. Perhaps an attack on the White House itself, Mar-a-Lago, and the Trump Tower in New York City.

President Donald Trump and Israeli prime minister Benjamin Netanyahu hold a joint press conference. 
Credit: Leah Millis / Reuters

Key takeaways from Trump-Netanyahu press conference

The US president, Donald Trump, and Israel’s prime minister, Benjamin Netanyahu, addressed reporters following talks at the White House. Here are the main takeaways from the joint press conference:

  • In a shock announcement, Trump said the US will “take over” and “own” the Gaza Strip. “We will own it and be responsible for dismantling all of the dangerous unexploded bombs and other weapons on the site,” he said, adding that the US will “level” destroyed buildings in the Palestinian territory and “create an economic development that will supply unlimited numbers of jobs and housing for the people of the area.”
  • Trump said he envisioned a “long-term” US ownership of Gaza after Palestinians are moved elsewhere. “This is not a decision made lightly,” he said, adding that “everybody I’ve spoken to loves the idea of the United States owning that piece of land.” He went on to say that Gaza could become “the Riviera of the Middle East” where “the world’s people” could live […]
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How Climate Change Could Upend the American Dream

Stephan: 

War criminal Trump and his servants care nothing for climate change, don’t believe it is a real threat, and are doing everything they can to promote the interests of the petroleum oligarchs who bought Trump’s election for him, as well as the seats of the MAGAt Republicans in Congress. But as Los Angeles, California and Asheville, North Carolina have demonstrated the United States — as well as other nations of course — in the coming years is going to experience additional devastating events and, as this article describes, the impact on American society is going to be vast and severe. So while we are in the midst of a coup to end our democracy, so we are facing the earth itself threatening our wellbeing because of the greed and stupidity of a tiny group of people who have successfully bought America’s government because the American people didn’t pay attention when they were told what was going to happen to them.

The recent Eaton Fire in Los Angeles County destroyed thousands of homes. Credit:David McNew / Getty

Houses in the Altadena and Pacific Palisades neighborhoods were still ablaze when talk turned to the cost of the Los Angeles firestorms and who would pay for it. Now it appears that the total damage and economic loss could be more than $250 billion. This, after a year in which hurricanes Milton and Helene and other extreme weather events had already exacted tens of billions of dollars in American disaster losses.

As the compounding impacts of climate-driven disasters take effect, we are seeing home insurance prices spike around the country, pushing up the costs of owning a home. In some cases, insurance companies are pulling out of towns altogether. And in others, people are beginning to move away.

One little-discussed result is that soaring home prices in the United States may have peaked in the places most at risk, leaving the nation on the precipice of […]

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Trump administration finalizing plans to shutter Education Department

Stephan: 

The MAGAt Republican — and yes as we watch it happen it is clear that this is not just Trump, it is the entire “Republican” Party — coup that is taking place, just as was described in Project 2025, involves ending federal involvement in public education. That trend is now underway. In my opinion, this part of the coup has several purposes. First, it will make it easier to convert education into a profit-making industry and, as you watch, a small group of uber-rich will come to own the industry. Second, it moves education decisions totally down to the states, and you will see the Blue States maintain education, while in the Red States schools will be turned from real education to indoctrination for religious and/or political purposes. Third, it will strongly exacerbate The Great Schism Trend as Red State citizens become even less literate and numerate than they already are, and turned even further into docile indoctrinated peasants.

The Trump administration is finalizing plans to dismantle the Education Department through an executive order that would build on the president’s campaign promise to hammer the longtime conservative target.

The order — which President Donald Trump is expected to sign sometime this month, according to a White House official — was expected to lay out a two-part strategy for shuttering the agency, according to two people familiar with the plans and granted anonymity to discuss them.

It would direct the department to craft a plan to wind down its functions using its existing administrative authority. But the order was also expected to call for the agency to inventory a complex set of laws needed to delegate the department’s powers to other agencies and then close the department, an acknowledgment that some of conservatives’ biggest desires for change hinge on congressional approval. Such an order would launch a complex initiative. Some conservatives concede they currently lack enough support for legislation to close the […]

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CIA Sends ‘Buyout’ Offfers to Entire Workforce

Stephan: 

As you have no doubt noticed part of the “Republican” coup that Trump and Musk are engineering is to dismantle federal law enforcement, the FBI, and national security, the CIA, agencies. As the dismantlement of American democracy proceeds why is this happening? Again for several reasons, in my opinion. First, because “emperor” Trump wants to take revenge on the FBI for what they did about January 6th. As he made clear in his GAZA press conference today he also wants to get richer, just as his son said earlier, by taking over GAZA, forcing out two millions people, and turning it into a coastal resort. Second, the billionaire oligarchs who bought the government want to be able to do things internationally and they don’t want any spy agency reporting on them. The oligarchs are no longer nationalists. They have bought the American government, the Congress, and the Supreme Court and they want to control as much of the rest of the world as possible so all of them can become far richer, and some of them can become trillionaires.  The “Republican” Congressional morons whose seats they have bought for them, don’t understand this. Or maybe they don’t care. Nor does the MAGAt media and commentator community. Listen to the Abby Philip program on CNN. She specializes in putting  MAGAts on her show to debate with Independents and Democrats. Nothing is going to stop this but millions of Americans pushing back in every way possible. What are you doing?

CIA Director John Ratcliffe Credit: Reuters

The Central Intelligence Agency on Tuesday became the first major national security agency to offer so-called buyouts to its entire workforce, a CIA spokesperson and two other sources familiar with the offer said, part of President Donald Trump’s broad effort to shrink the federal government and shape it to his agenda.

The offer — which tells federal employees that they can quit their jobs and receive roughly eight months of pay and benefits — had up until Tuesday not been made available to most national security roles in an apparent cognizance of their critical function to the security of the nation.

CIA Director John Ratcliffe personally decided he also wanted the CIA to be involved, one of the sources said.

The spokesperson said that the move is part of Ratcliffe’s efforts to “ensure the CIA workforce is responsive to the Administration’s national security priorities,” adding that is “part of a holistic strategy to infuse the Agency with renewed energy.”

Still, even as the offer was sent to the entire workforce at the agency, it was not immediately clear whether all would be allowed to take it. […]

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Why are the Democrats so spineless?

Stephan: 

What is standing out for me as “emperor” Trump’s MAGAt coup proceeds is why the Democrats have been so spineless as this article describes. Why, for instance, has not a single Democratic Representative introduced an article of impeachment against Trump for his grotesque and illegal attempts through his vassals, and his co-president Elon Musk, to dismantle the American government to make the United States a pseudo-democracy like Hungary or Russia. It is perfectly obvious what is happening. I understand the introduction of articles of impeachment might not win, but it would create massive public debate. The news isn’t all bad. I was heartened to see the demonstration this weekend over the closing of USAID, but it is going to take much more spine and pushback. I am also hoping that the election of the new DNC chair, Ken Martin, will result in much more action from Democrats. I also wonder if MAGAt voters are beginning to realize what they have done. They should because Red states are going to be particularly impacted by this coup, and their lives are going to be notably impacted.

Newly elected Democratic National Committee Chairman, Ken Martin. Credit: Wall Street Journal

What does the Democratic party believe in? It’s difficult to tell. In 2024, Joe Biden and then Kamala Harris ran a campaign of moderation, reconciliation and emphasis on restoring institutional norms. This failed to capture much public attention when compared with the Trump campaign’s carnival of grievance. In the months since their defeat, the Democrats have been confused, conflicted and internally contentious over how to best proceed.

The results have been contradictory and ineffectual. The Democrats have alternated between declaring Trump a fascist and a would-be dictator, and congratulating themselves on peacefully handing over the reins of power to him; they have railed against his corruption and his subordination to the unelected South African billionaire Elon Musk, but have also made themselves available to cooperate with Musk’s project to gut the federal bureaucracy and reshape it in his own interests, the initiative that has been moronically termed “Doge”.

They pledge resistance to the Trumpist takeover of the state, and then pledge to work with Trump on […]

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‘Cruel and deadly’: Aid organizations reeling from Trump’s freeze on foreign aid

Stephan: 

Not only is “emperor” Trump destroying America’s democracy, he is also devastatingly diminishing the stature of the United States in the world. Do you see foreign leaders from other democracies reposing trust and confidence in anything “emperor” Trump says? Do you think they will continue to share sensitive intelligence with his administration? This one man, who could not be hired as a school janitor because of his sex offenses, and multiple felonies, is literally destroying over eight decades of carefully constructed alliances and policies of support that made the United States the leading nation in the world.

Chaos and uncertainty are swirling around the Trump administration’s new order halting most foreign aid grants for three months – and introduced the possibility that organizations dependent on federal funds could soon face bankruptcy, according to a report in Politico.

By Monday, groups spanning from health providers to landmine removers were still digesting the Friday directive issued by Secretary of State Marco Rubio, with some bewildered by its scope and still struggling to make sense of it, the report added.

“This ‘stop work’ order is cruel and deadly,” Health GAP executive director Asia Russell told Politico. “It will kill people.”

The sudden freeze, which reportedly shocked State Department officials, is spurring organizations to weigh which programs to cut and whether to trim employees or even cease operations, according to the publication.

“We operate on a shoestring budget,” the head of one non-governmental organization on the receiving end of funding from the State Department and USAID told Politico, who was granted anonymity “as they feared they would lose future contracts if they spoke out publicly.”

“In 30 days, you’ll start to see a very significant cash crunch across the board and probably […]

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