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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.
It hardly gets discussed in social or corporate media, but the breakdown of the matrix of life on Earth is become more pronounced with every passing year. I think, as I describe in the two papers of mine you can download and read, that because we aren’t just not doing enough, under criminal Trump all preparations to counteract climate change have been terminated, that the 2040 humanity altering crisis is becoming ever more inevitable.
Burned trees from the Palisades Fire and dust blown by winds seen from Will Rogers State Park in the Pacific Palisades neighborhood in Los Angeles, California on Jan. 15, 2025. Credit: Apu Gomes / Getty
Our planet’s plants and soils reached the peak of their ability to absorb carbon dioxide in 2008, and their sequestration rate has been falling ever since, according to a new analysis by a father-and-son team in the United Kingdom.
At first, the added carbon led to warmer temperatures, vegetation growth and a longer growing season. Once a tipping point was reached, however, the combination of heat stress, wildfires, drought, flooding, storms and the spread of new diseases and pests led to a reduction in the amount of carbon plants can soak up.
“The rate of natural sequestration of CO2 from the atmosphere by the terrestrial biosphere peaked in 2008. Atmospheric concentrations will rise more rapidly than previously, in proportion to annual CO2 emissions, as natural sequestration is now declining by 0.25% per year,” the authors of the study wrote. “This effect will accelerate climate change and emphasises the close connection between the climate and […]
Kelly Macnamara, Reporter - Yahoo! News | Agence France-Presse (France)
Stephan:
The criminal corruption coup that Trump and his flying monkeys in DOGE and Congress are carrying out with the unacknowledged but real goal of destroying the status and structure of the United States dominates the news — as it should. Yet, as this is happening, the planet-wide climate and water catastrophe that is occurring is hardly getting mentioned. But take notice of what this report says, “Scientists say the current period is likely the warmest the Earth has been for the last 125,000 years.” I predict that within a year, internal migrations, as Americans are forced to move, are going to become a growing issue.
The Arctic has seen record monthly lows since December (Kerem Yücel) Kerem Yücel/AFP/AFP
Global sea ice cover reached a historic low in February, Europe’s climate monitor said Thursday, with temperatures spiking up to 11C above average near the North Pole as the world continued its persistent heat streak.
Copernicus Climate Change Service said last month was the third hottest February, with planet-heating greenhouse gas emissions stoking global temperatures.
That helped push combined Antarctic and Arctic sea ice cover — ocean water that freezes and floats on the surface — to a record minimum extent of 16.04 million square kilometres on February 7, Copernicus said.
“February 2025 continues the streak of record or near-record temperatures observed throughout the last two years,” said Samantha Burgess of the European Centre for Medium-Range Weather Forecasts, which runs the Copernicus climate monitor.
“One of the consequences of a warmer world is melting sea ice, and the record or near-record low sea ice cover at both poles has pushed global sea ice cover to an all-time minimum.”
Decreased ice cover has serious impacts over time on weather, people and ecosystems — not just […]
Criminal Trump, his Frankenstein Musk (or is it the other way round) and the Congressional flying monkeys are encouraging their MAGAt followers to subvert the integrity of the U.S. judicial system — they already have a corrupt majority in the Supreme Court — by encouraging the MAGAts to threaten local judges. This has reached a point where local judges have to be protected and trailed by armed guards. Judges don’t live in special secured houses like the White House, they live in ordinary neighborhoods. Imagine what this is doing to their lives, and the lives of their families. And it is blatantly easy to see why the MAGAts are being encouraged to do this. They are corrupting all three branches of our democracy.
Is Musk the Frankenstein, or is it Trump?
Billionaire Elon Musk in recent weeks has raged in a blizzard of social media posts at federal judges who have ruled against his efforts to disembowel the government and executive orders issued by President Donald Trump.
“This evil judge must be fired!” he said last month on his social media platform while sharing a photograph of a judge. “The only way to restore rule of the people in America is to impeach judges,” he said in another post last week.
Trump allies in Congress have followed his lead. Some have called for “corrupt” judges to be removed, while others issued resolutions to impeach at least three federal judges for committing “high crimes and misdemeanors” in impeding Trump: New York District Court Judge PaulEngelmayer and D.C. District Court Judges Amir Ali and John Bates.
The resolutions, made against judges appointed by both Democratic and Republican presidents, are almost certainly dead on arrival, as the judicial impeachment process is deliberately rigorous. The House can impeach […]
Alex Evans, Deputy Audience Editor - Express (U.K.)
Stephan:
Trump is destroying a network of strategically important connections that have kept us safe for 80 years. Here is how it is playing out. This trend may seem irrelevant to your life, but it isn’t.
A petrol giant in Norway has announced a ban on fuel sales to all US forces following Donald Trump‘s treatment of Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky at the White House, it has been reported.
Norwegian firm Haltbakk Bunkers announced it will stop providing fuel to all American forces in Norway as it declared “No fuel to Americans!”. The firm posted on social media to declare its support for Zelensky as it dealt a hammer blow to US President Trump following the heated spat televised from the Oval Office.
It said: “We have today been witnesses to the biggest s***how ever presented “live on tv” by the current American president and his vice president. Huge credit to the president of Ukraine restraining himself and for keeping calm even though USA put on a backstabbing tv show. It made us sick. Short and sweet. As a result, we have decided to immediate STOP as fuel provider to American forces in Norway and their ships calling Norwegian ports.
“No Fuel to Americans! We encourage all Norwegians and Europeans to follow our example. SLAVA UKRAINA”
Owner of the firm Gunnar Gran has told Norwegian maritime news site Kystens Næringsliv that ‘not a litre of fuel’ will be delivered ‘until Trump is […]
Jacob Silverman, Contributing Writer - The New Republic
Stephan:
Three things stood out for me about “king” Trump’s culture war speech Tuesday night. First, the astonishing number of lies he told. I have never before seen anything like that happen. Second, the incredible corruption criminal Trump and his Frankenstein Musk represent. Third, the feeble response of the Democrats. I think they all should have gotten up a few minutes into the speech and marched out of the room. I don’t know who came up with holding those little paddle signs, but I thought it was pathetic.
Illustration by Gustavo Magalhães
In the months leading up to the 2024 presidential election, political ethics watchers, an endangered breed, worried about the increasing number of ways in which Donald Trump seemed to be for sale. “Trump keeps creating avenues for people to quietly give him money,” ran a Washington Post opinion headline, referring to the glitzy, $100,000 watches that Trump had recently presented for sale—purchasable with bitcoin.
Steve Benen, an MSNBC columnist, suggested a dark scenario: “A hypothetical wealthy donor wants to give the former president a $100,000 donation—far in excess of the legal limit—so he or she buys an expensive watch. At that point, the nominee could take his cut and write a comparable check in support of his candidacy, since there is no legal limit on what candidates can spend on their own campaigns.”
In the era of unlimited super PAC giving—when Elon Musk could throw hundreds of millions of dollars; the influence of X, the social media platform he owns; and his personal celebrity behind Team Trump with barely a regulatory hiccup—these concerns seemed […]
I agree with this article. Had I been a journalist reporting on what passed for criminal Trump State of the Union speech the first thing I would have done is put up a chart listing his lies (essentially almost every sentence that came out from his overly cosmetized face), and then brought in independent experts to explain these lies. The sad reality is, while CNN and even the BBC mentioned a few of the lies and fact-checked them, I have not seen a single journalist or media platform do it in the detail in which it should have been done. The fact is journalists either cannot or choose, or are told, not to properly cover the Trump dismantlement of the U.S. government or the massive corruption that is occurring.
People attend a protest march against U.S. President Donald Trump and New York City Mayor Eric Adams in Manhattan’s Washington Square Park in New York City, U.S., February 22, 2025. Credit: Eduardo Munoz / Reuters
The American press is “not equipped” to cover a true authoritarian strongman presidency like President Donald Trump is creating, warned Huffington Post senior White House correspondent S.V. Dáte in a dire analysis Wednesday.
“The Washington, D.C., press corps, used to playing small ball for small exclusives, has been suddenly thrust into a presidential administration that appears hell-bent on transforming our constitutional republic into something entirely different,” wrote Dáte. “For decades, the coin of the realm in political journalism was access. Who you knew determined what you knew, and especially what ‘inside’ information the people you knew were willing to give you.”
That kind of reporting can often lead to big scoops in a political environment where politicians play by the rules and care about norms and democracy. But it’s wholly inadequate for the beast the free press, and the American people at large, now face, […]
The fundamental source of the problems with America is Republican frightened, resentful, ignorant Americans. They are the ones who elected this monster, and they are also the ones who are going to be most severely impacted by his greed, corruption, and madness.
A large majority of speech watchers approved of what they heard from President Trump’s joint address to Congress Tuesday night.
The viewership was heavily Republican — historically a president’s party draws more of their own partisans. This was no exception, and they liked what they heard.
This CBS News/YouGov survey interviewed a nationally representative sample of speech watchers immediately following the president’s address to Congress.
Most speech viewers described the president as “presidential, “inspiring” and more “unifying” than “divisive.” A big majority also called it “entertaining.”
Most said Mr. Trump talked a lot about issues they care about.
Most viewers who tuned in say the speech made them feel “hopeful” and “proud.”
The Democrats who did watch mostly described it making them feel “worried,” and for 4 in 10, “angry.”
Coming in, viewers said they wanted to hear about plans for lowering prices, and about two-thirds of those who watched […]
Damian Carrington, Environment Editor - The Guardian (U.K.)
Stephan:
What this article is telling us is that a tiny percentage of humans are endangering the matrix of life on Earth. As this report says, “Global emissions must fall by 45% by 2030 if the world is to have a good chance of limiting temperature rise to 1.5C, the internationally agreed target. However, emissions are still rising, supercharging the extreme weather that is taking lives and livelihoods across the planet.” Frankly, I don’t think we are going to make this commitment or reach this goal. In 15 years I think the entire Earth will be in crisis because of this greed.
Half of the world’s climate-heating carbon emissions come from the fossil fuels produced by just 36 companies, analysis has revealed.
The researchers said the 2023 data strengthened the case for holding fossil fuel companies to account for their contribution to global heating. Previous versions of the annual report have been used in legal cases against companies and investors.
The report found that the 36 major fossil fuel companies, including Saudi Aramco, Coal India, ExxonMobil, Shell and numerous Chinese companies, produced coal, oil and gas responsible for more than 20bn tonnes of CO2 emissions in 2023.
If Saudi Aramco was a country, it would be the fourth biggest polluter in the world after China, the US and India, while ExxonMobil is responsible for about the same emissions as Germany, the world’s ninth biggest polluter, according to the data.
Global emissions must fall by 45% by 2030 if the world is to have a good chance of limiting temperature rise to 1.5C, the internationally agreed target. However, emissions are still rising, supercharging the extreme weather that is taking lives and livelihoods across the planet.
