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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.
Aaron Davis, Carol D. Leonnig , Reporters - Microsoft Start | The Washington Post
Stephan:
Here is the story, just emerging, of what history will record as the largest bribe of an American President by a foreign government — who else but criminal Trump — in the history of the United States. And, because of the Supreme Court decision on immunity, he will get away with it with no accountability. History will also record that criminal Trump has gotten away with more crimes than any mafia boss. He is a crook at a scale never before seen in this country. His henchman, Bill Barr is also going to get away with no accountability. This story tells us one thing clearly. The MAGAt (formerly Republican Party) is collectively a criminal enterprise, and the man they are putting forward as their candidate is a lecherous man without honor or ethics.
$10M cash withdrawal drove secret probe into whether Trump took money from Egypt. Credit: The Washington Post
Five days before Donald Trump became president in January 2017, a manager at a bank branch in Cairo received an unusual letter from an organization linked to the Egyptian intelligence service. It asked the bank to “kindly withdraw” nearly $10 million from the organization’s account — all in cash.
Inside the state-run National Bank of Egypt, employees were soon busy placing bundles of $100 bills into two large bags, according to records from the bank. Four men arrived and carried away the bags, which U.S. officials later described in sealed court filings as weighing a combined 200 pounds and containing what was then a sizable share of Egypt’s reserve of U.S. currency.
Federal investigators learned of the withdrawal, which has not been previously reported, early in 2019. The discovery intensified a secret criminal investigation that had begun two years earlier with classified U.S. intelligence indicating that Egyptian President Abdel Fatah El-Sisi sought to give Trump $10 million to boost his 2016 […]
Yesterday it was a report that Antarctica is 50°F over normal temperature. Today is it is this alarming report about the Andes, the world’s largest longest mountain range. When you realize that a tiny group of rich people who control the oil and gas industries are enriching themselves in a manner that is putting the entire Earth at risk you understand why there is a desperate need to regulate these industries and stop their destruction of our world. Criminal Trump has already and openly whored himself out to these people promising he will protect their greed.
The Andes mountain range, the longest mountain range in the world. Credit: EDUBABA
Recent glacier retreat across the Andes is unprecedented in the history of human civilization, according to a new study published in the Science journal.
The discovery shocked scientists, who initially planned to study the current state of glaciers and how they had varied throughout human civilization.
The research was led by Boston College and included input from scientists at the University of Galway.
“We thought this result was decades away,” said Andrew Gorin, lead author of the study, who first believed the initial results were a fluke, but were confirmed by later samples.
“It goes to show you that this is happening faster than even those of us that think about this the most believed.”
Mr Gorin and the team of scientists carbon-dated bedrock that had been recently exposed by retreated glaciers by measuring beryllium-10 and carbon-14 nuclide levels and found that concentrations were nearly zero.
The Europeans are doing what the United States has not done, beginning to establish AI regulations. Far from perfect but at least a start. I see this as very good news for the EU. Let us hope that Harris is elected President, and that the Democrats have significant majorities in both the Senate and House so that before AI becomes an existential threat to our democracy it is put under proper regulations that limit its use to spread false information and fake audio and video.
The EU’s sweeping risk-based rules will cover all types of artificial intelligence Credit: Fabrice / COFFRINI
The European Union’s landmark law on artificial intelligence came into force on Thursday, which Brussels vows will drive innovation while protecting citizens’ rights.
The EU earlier this year adopted the world’s first sweeping rules to govern AI, especially powerful systems like OpenAI’s ChatGPT after difficult and tense negotiations.
Although the rules were first proposed in 2021, they took on greater urgency when ChatGPT burst onto the scene in 2022, showing generative AI’s human-like ability to churn out eloquent text within seconds.
Other examples of generative AI include Dall-E and Midjourney, which can generate images in nearly any style with a simple input in everyday language.
“With our artificial intelligence act, we create new guardrails not only to protect people and their interests, but also to give business and innovators clear rules and certainty,” European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen said.
Companies will have to comply by 2026 but rules covering AI models like ChatGPT will apply 12 months after the law enters […]
Here is some more good EU news, and actually it is good news for Earth. As a country exits the carbon power era, so the matrix of life is less threatened. I wish I could so the same kind of stories about similar changes being made in the U.S..
Solar panels on a solar farm in a village near Sandomierz, Poland on April 29, 2024. Credit: Dominika Zarzycka / NurPhoto
As renewable energy soars worldwide, solar and wind have overtaken fossil fuels, generating 30 percent of electricity in the European Union during the first half of 2024, according to a new report from energy think tank Ember.
During the first half of this year, the electricity generation from oil, gas and coal was down 17 percent, in comparison with the same period in 2023, Ember said, as The Guardian reported.
Ember analyst Chris Rosslowe pointed out that the increase in wind and solar production was narrowing fossil fuels’ role in electricity generation.
“We are witnessing a historic shift in the power sector, and it is happening rapidly,” Rosslowe said.
Kasha Patel, Reporter - Microsoft Start / The Washington Post
Stephan:
Out of stupidity and mostly greed, the small group of people who control the gas and oil industries are destroying the Earth’s Matrix of Life. You would think that they would understand that they and their families will suffer from this as well as all the other humans, and all the other beings that make up the matrix. I guess they think their wealth will protect them. It won’t, as any one who does the research can easily ascertain. But their greed must be so great it blinds them.
Ground temperatures in East Antarctica have soared more than 50 degrees (28 Celsius) above normal in the second major heat wave to afflict the region in the past two years. This historic warm spell could persist for another 10 days and is an ominous example of the major temperature spikes this polar climate could experience more frequently in a warming world.
“This heat wave is a near-record (or record) event for the region of Antarctica it’s having the biggest impact on,” Edward Blanchard, an atmospheric scientist at the University of Washington, said in an email. “The heat wave’s large footprint is also remarkable,” as it covers a large section of East Antarctica, which makes up most of the continent.
The heat wave comes in the middle of the Antarctic winter, so temperatures are still hovering around minus-4 (minus-20 Celsius). Still, the Antarctic temperature anomaly is the largest on the globe, according to weather models.
Temperatures are expected to remain up to 36 to 50 degrees (20 to 30 Celsius) above average in parts of East Antarctica for the next 10 days. […]
From the time I met him in New York when we were both in our twenties I have never thought of criminal Trump as much above average intelligence. But in the last two weeks, since Kamala Harris became the Democratic candidate, listening to him he seems to have become obviously mentally impaired. He says things that are so blatantly stupid, and so easily established as lies, that it surprises me the MAGAt Party continues to follow him so slavishly. He is genuinely dangerous for the future of the United States. Consider the stories you have seen or read about the Black journalist conference, or comments like the one reported in this article.
Criminal Trump. Credit: Vanity Fair
Former President Donald Trump used his turn before the nation’s largest professional association of Black journalists to question the racial identity of his rival for the White House this fall, telling a shocked National Association of Black Journalists conference in Chicago that Vice President Kamala Harris “happened to turn Black and now she wants to be known as Black.”
It took Trump all of 10 days running in a head-to-head against the first woman and first incumbent of Black and Indian-American heritage to openly question her background.
“I don’t know. Is she Indian or is she Black?” Trump said, raising questions that echoed the ex-President’s persistent and discredited questions about former President Barack Obama’s place of birth. “I respect either one, but she obviously doesn’t because she was Indian all the way and then all of the sudden she made a turn and she went, she became a Black person.”
Harris has always identified as a product of a […]
A physician who is also an SR reader sent me this telling me these trends are accurately described and that he had experienced them and saw them as a serious threat to our declining healthcare system. I have covered a number of these trends (see SR archive) but not together as a package. The American illness profit system is clearly failing, and I hope that if Harris is elected that she pays attention to what Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren have been telling us for years.
Credit: MedPage Today
In October 2023, Health eCareers conducted a survey of healthcare professionals to better understand their workplace experience. Respondents answered questions about job satisfaction, job search plans, compensation, benefits, and much more. When asked what they feel are the biggest challenges facing healthcare providers today, several themes emerged from their responses ranging from a focus on profits over patients and administrative burdens to lack of staffing, insurance complications, workplace violence, and burnout.
As a doctor working within a hospital, health system, medical group, or practice, you’re undoubtedly familiar with these problems. They’re real-life obstacles you face every day—obstacles that impede your ability to meet patient needs, deliver quality care, maintain your own quality of life, and stay safe on the job.
Let’s take a closer look at the challenges today’s physicians must overcome and a few suggestions for improving your own professional experience.
1. Patient Quotas vs. Patient Care
If your employer requires you to meet certain productivity metrics, you’re not alone. Quotas for the number of patients a […]
I hope you realize how very revealing these stories that are coming out almost daily are about what was once the Republican now the MAGAt Party. Can you imagine Dwight Eisenhower, or even George Bush (41), choosing such a loathsome man to be their running partner? Vance sounds like a drunk you might hear ranting in a bar. How can anyone take such a person seriously as a candidate for the Vice Presidency of the United States?
JD Vance said in 2021 that “we have to go to war” against the idea that women can decide not to have children. Credit: Stephen Maturen / Getty
Donald Trump’s vice presidential pick, JD Vance, said in 2021 that “we have to go to war” against the idea that women can decide not to have children, suggesting that someone who focuses on building their career instead of making babies will be “a sad, lonely, pathetic person.”
In an interview with The Federalist in May 2021, Vance was asked what he thinks conservatives can do to encourage Americans to have more kids. He suggested cultural messaging is key.
“To be a little stark about this, I think we have to go to war against the anti-child ideology that exists in our country,” said Vance, who is currently the Republican senator from Ohio.
Though he generally didn’t specify the gender of the childless people he was criticizing, the context of his remarks made it seem he was primarily speaking to women.
Citing a conversation that had recently unfolded on Twitter, Vance […]
