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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: Here is what I see as a major data point on a good news emerging trend: electronic aircraft. I cann see first short hop commercial flights, then long haul. The positive impact on earth's biosphere is going to be enormous.
Beta Technologies ALIA-250 electric aircraft, image courtesy Beta Technologies
The Vermont-based electric aviation startup Beta Technologies has just closed a Series A round of funding that brought in $368 million. The funding round was led by Fidelity Management & Research Company, and includes an investment from the high profile Amazon Climate Fund. What portion of the investment came from the Amazon fund is as yet unknown. The Amazon fund is a $2 billion pledge fund set to invest in sustainable technologies, and it has already made investments into companies such as battery and e-waste recycling company Redwood and electric vehicle company Rivian.
Beta Technologies Series A fund is the second round of funding the company has brought in during 2021. Earlier this year, it raised $143 million in private capital. The new round of funding sees the company reach a valuation of $1.4 billion, which gives it unicorn status. Beta now joins companies like Joby Aviation in the exclusive electric aviation billionaires club.
What is interesting about Beta Technologies in comparison to other eVTOL companies is that it is not totally focused on air taxis, […]
Stephan: Here is further confirmation of the point I made in yesterday's edition of SR concerning what I see as a change in international social consciousness concerning Israel. What the government has done, the choices Netanyahu has made, are an enormous miscalculation that is dispelling people's sense of tolerance and support for Israel.
People march through Central London during a pro-Palestinian rally and a protest against Israeli military action in the Gaza Strip in United Kingdom on May 22, 2021. A cease-fire deal between Israel and Hamas reached with Egypt mediation took effect at 2 a.m. Friday. (Photo: David Cliff/Anadolu Agency /Getty
Nearly 200,000 people gathered in London Saturday for what organizers said was one of the largest demonstrations of solidarity with Palestinians in the United Kingdom’s history.
Organizers with the Stop The War Coalition, Palestine Solidarity Campaign, Friends of Al-Aqsa, Palestinian Forum in Britain, Campaign for Nuclear Disarmament, and the Muslim Association of Britain had planned the protest before Hamas and Israel reached a ceasefire that began early Friday after an 11-day bombing campaign targeting the Gaza Strip.
The attacks killed more than 230 Palestinians including dozens of children. Rockets launched by Hamas killed 12 Israelis, according to authorities.
The groups went ahead with the demonstration despite the ceasefire—which was brokered by diplomats from Egypt, Qatar, and the United Nations—noting that “Palestinians in Gaza still face a 15-year long siege that entraps them and […]
Stephan: Shortages of small and anonymous parts in a supply chain can have enormous consequences, and nowhere is that clearer than in the micro-chip shortage turmoil that is disrupting the entire encomony. Few even seem to know about it. But, as this story lays out, it is a very big deal.
Washington’s pledge to pour tens of billions of taxpayer dollars into making more microchips in the U.S. is setting off behind-the-scenes squabbles among industries angling for a slice of the spoils.
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo has been meeting with executives from the tech, auto and semiconductors sectors this week. Credit: Oliver Contreras-Pool/Getty
Commerce Secretary Gina Raimondo on Thursday convened nearly three dozen executives from many of those sectors, including tech, autos and semiconductors, for a second high-level confab with the Biden administration in just over a month. So many companies wanted to participate they were split into two sessions.
“There’s a lack of transparency right now in the supply chain,” Raimondo told reporters afterward. “We are trying to figure out what role, if any, the government can and should play in increasing that information sharing and forecasting, so we can alleviate the short-term crunch.”
The Biden administration and Congress are under mounting pressure to relieve a global chip shortage that has idled manufacturing workers and raised prices for some consumer products, complicating the economic recovery. Key political […]
Stephan: I have been waiting for this kind of story because I knew that the U.S. illness profit system with its outrageous charges was going to leave thousands of Americans in a financial crisis as a result of Covid-19. And now, as this report describes it is happening.
The U.S. is the only developed democracy that has this miserable kind of healthcare. To quote the Public Citizen Foundation that tracks healthcare, "The U.S. spends more on health care per person than other major industrialized nations — a lot more. In 2011, expenditures for health care totaled $8,500 per person in the U.S. The country next closest in spending, among 10 other major industrialized nations, was Norway, which spent $5,700 per person. New Zealand spent the least on health care, at $3,200 per person."
And how does that work out? The report, “Mirror, Mirror on the Wall: How the Performance of the U.S. Health Care System Compares Internationally, ” ranked the U.S. last overall among 11 major industrialized countries."
The truth is so many special interest corporations, insurance companies particularly, are making so much money out of this lousy system that they spend millions to buy the whores in Congress to make sure nothing changes. Anyone who votes for a Republican, or certain Democrats, is voting to continue this system. We get what we vote for.
Irena Schulz, who became ill with the coronavirus last summer, has eschewed trips to the emergency room when feeling ill because she worries about the costs. Credit: Jacob Biba/The New York Times
One coronavirus survivor manages her medical bills in color-coded folders: green, red and tan for different types of documents. A man whose father died of the virus last fall uses an Excel spreadsheet to organize the outstanding debts. It has 457 rows, one for each of his father’s bills, totaling over $1 million.
These are people who are facing the financial version of long-haul Covid: They’ve found their lives and finances upended by medical bills resulting from a bout with the virus.
Their desks and coffee tables have stacks of billing documents. They are fluent in the jargon of coronavirus medical coding, after hundreds of hours of phone calls discussing the charges with hospitals, doctors and insurers.
“People think there is some relief program for medical bills for coronavirus patients,” said Jennifer Miller, a psychologist near Milwaukee who is working with a lawyer to challengethousands in outstanding debt from two […]
Stephan: I think we are about to see something that has never before happened in American history. A former president is going to be indicted and tried in criminal court, and may face prison time. It is going to take the Great Schism Trend to levels it has never seen before.
Credit: Adam Maida / The Atlantic / Getty
Yesterday evening, New York State’s attorney general, Letitia James, announced, “We have informed the Trump Organization that … We are now actively investigating the Trump Organization in a criminal capacity.” According to The New York Times, James will be sending two of her office’s prosecutors to join the team of Cyrus Vance Jr., the Manhattan DA. With this news, Donald Trump, those around him, and the country as a whole inch closer to the prospect that a former president could face criminal charges, and possibly even prison time. The country has not been through anything like this before.
The ongoing investigation is sweeping. James began it as a civil investigation following the 2019 congressional testimony of Trump’s former attorney, Michael Cohen, that the Trump Organization had lied about the value of its assets in order to secure loans and insurance and to reduce its tax liability. Her focus includes the Trump Organization’s valuation of Seven Springs, a 213-acre estate in Westchester […]
Stephan: If you are of Asian heritage the Republican Party just tried to throw you under the bus, and make you less safe. I think it is time that we told the truth about America. We are, and always have been a deeply racist country. About a third of the White people in the U.S. are out and out White supremacists, and the Republican party is out and out racist because racists are the people who vote for Republicans. I think it is disgusting and hope that enough honorable people committed to racial equality will vote in the 2022 election to throw these cretins out of office.
Wednesday afternoon the U.S. House of Representatives voted 244-180 to pass a resolution condemning anti-Asian hate, after eight people, including seven Asian Americans, six of whom were women, were shot and killed at spas in Atlanta, Georgia in a series of hate crime mass shootings last month.
All 180 “no” votes were from Republicans. No Democrats voted against the resolution.
Among the “no” votes were Georgia Republican Representatives Rick Allen, Andrew Clyde, Marjorie Taylor Greene, Jody Hice, and Barry Loudermilk. Congressman Loudermilk represents part of the area where the killings took place.https://platform.twitter.com/embed/Tweet.html?creatorScreenName=newcivilrights&dnt=false&embedId=twitter-widget-0&features=eyJ0ZndfZXhwZXJpbWVudHNfY29va2llX2V4cGlyYXRpb24iOnsiYnVja2V0IjoxMjA5NjAwLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X2hvcml6b25fdHdlZXRfZW1iZWRfOTU1NSI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJodGUiLCJ2ZXJzaW9uIjpudWxsfSwidGZ3X3R3ZWV0X2VtYmVkX2NsaWNrYWJpbGl0eV8xMjEwMiI6eyJidWNrZXQiOiJjb250cm9sIiwidmVyc2lvbiI6bnVsbH19&frame=false&hideCard=false&hideThread=false&id=1395082962572615685&lang=en&origin=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.thenewcivilrightsmovement.com%2F2021%2F05%2F180-house-republicans-just-voted-against-condemning-anti-asian-hate-after-atlanta-spa-shootings%2F&sessionId=72e4c6df05e572ff1042160fcd948bab795b49de&siteScreenName=newcivilrights&theme=light&widgetsVersion=82e1070%3A1619632193066&width=550px
The text is quite simple.
“Condemning the horrific shootings in Atlanta, Georgia, on March 16, 2021, and reaffirming the House of Representative’s commitment to combating hate, bigotry, and violence against the Asian-American and Pacific Islander community.”
The resolution says, “the people of the United States mourn the 8 innocent lives lost, 7 of whom were women, 6 of whom were women of Asian descent, and several of whom were immigrants.” It lists the victims’ names: Xiaojie “Emily” Tan, Daoyou Feng, Delaina Ashley Yaun, Paul Andre Michels, […]
Stephan: My wife and I have reduced the amount of plastic in our lives, but she commented that we use a lot of paper towels, and that led me to do some research on the actual facts about paper towels. It turns out that paper towels are a major issue in pollution and climate change, and I wondered if there was another option? It turns out there is, and this article lays it out. We bought several dozen flour-sack towels, they are quite cheap and have been using them for several weeks now, and our use of paper towels has gone down dramatically. If we are going to get through climate change, we are each going to have to make changes at this day-to-day level.
Flour-sack towel Credit: Scott Suchman/The Washington Post
“You’re a real jerk. You wasted eight . . . aprons on this guy,” says his gangster boss, Tuddy Cicero, played by Frank DiLeo. “I don’t know what the hell’s wrong with you. I gotta toughen this kid up.”
You could blame Henry’s waste on basic compassion, a trait with no real value in the underworld in which he traveled. I had no such excuse for my unhealthy relationship with paper towels: I was spinning through one spool after another, as if a parade of gunshot victims were awaiting my ministrations on the front porch.
I was turning to paper towels for every conceivable job: shooing crumbs off counters, drying my hands, cleaning the espresso maker, polishing stainless-steel surfaces, wiping my mouth during meals, absorbing the crocodile tears that I shed for the environment.
I had become the thing I abhor: the wasteful American, the person with enough disposable income to keep his life tidy at the expense of life on this earth, whether plant or […]
Stephan: It is my view that Israel, led by a Trump clone has made a major geopolitical blunder through bullying and incompetence, and it is going to transform the way the people and governments of other nations view them, including in the United States, as this article describes.
The truth that dare not be spoken is that the Western allies of the 1940s did very little to help the Jews, the U.S. even turned away ships filled with Jewish refugees from the Nazis. After the war seeing the concentration camps of the holocaust, seared into the collective consciousness of the West, a horror and embarrassment. Something had to be done, but none of the Christian countries, including the U.S. wanted a great influx of Jewish refugees. And a militant group of Jews did not want that either. They wanted their own country. So the homeland option it was to everyone from the most orthodox Jews, to the Christian evangelicals. The only people disturbed were the Palestinians and their Arab neighbors.
For nearly three-quarters of a century, Israel has relied on that embarrassment and guilt, as their get-out-of-jail card. But the new generation of Jews and Christians are not burdened with that and are seeing Israel just on the terms of what it is doing. It is not to Israel's benefit. This is occurring at the same time that the Middle East is disturbed and the power of oil and, thus, Arab influence is waning. This and the rise of China, I think, are the two major geopolitical trends to watch.
Protesters rallying outside the Israeli consulate in New York on Tuesday. Credit: Dave Sanders/The New York Times
Dan Kleinman does not know quite how to feel.
As a child in Brooklyn he was taught to revere Israel as the protector of Jews everywhere, the “Jewish superman who would come out of the sky to save us” when things got bad, he said.
It was a refuge in his mind when white supremacists in Charlottesville, Va., chanted “Jews will not replace us,” or kids in college grabbed his shirt, mimicking a “South Park” episode to steal his “Jew gold.”
But his feelings have grown muddier as he has gotten older, especially now as he watches violence unfold in Israel and Gaza. His moral compass tells him to help the Palestinians, but he cannot shake an ingrained paranoia every time he hears someone make anti-Israel statements.
“It is an identity crisis,” Mr. Kleinman, 33, said. “Very small in comparison to what is happening in Gaza and the West Bank, but it is still something very strange and weird.”
