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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 A. Schwartz, Editor & Columnist - Schwartzreport & Explore
Stephan: We have had so many mass murders this year -- 14 murdered since the 15th -- that our flag appears permanently at half staff. This is going to publish in Explore but I am compelled to post in it now in SR, because American culture is being restructured by gun deaths before our eyes, and I want to do anything I can to help heal from our obsessive gun psychosis. No other country in the world, not in active war, has anything like the gun murders and suicides that happen daily in the United States.
So today, SR is dedicated to this one issue.
There are more guns than people in the United States. In a nation of 330,196,902 people, as of Saturday 10 April 2021,1 on that same day guns in civilian hands totaled an estimated 393 million weapons.2 Forty percent of adult Americans own a gun or live with someone who owns one,3 although both the total number of guns and gun owners may actually be considerably higher. Because of the various restrictions at both the federal and state level, the laws have been deliberately structured to make getting firm numbers impossible. To quote a research paper by Alex Yablon on this issue, “The Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives, which regulates gun sales, even faces severe restrictions on how much it can digitize its records of firearms transactions, lest they form a de facto national gun inventory.”4
You may find this hard to believe but in the United States there are more gun shops than supermarkets, McDonald’s, Subways, or Starbucks.
What is particularly interesting is that the number of gun owners is going up exponentially. According to the the Firearm Industry […]
Stephan: I did an interview with Ian Masters whose program Background Briefing, in my opinion, is one of the best sources for rational fact-based commentary about current issues. This interview with masters is a complement to the previous article.
Stephan: Here is some excellent good news. Some Blue state cities are beginning to understand why fostering wellbeing is the way to grow into the future. As time goes on the disparity between Red and Blue value districts, I think, is going to grow every greater, and that is going to become a factor in the internal migrations that will plague the nation.
This same process is also going to play out around the world, as some cities do what is needed for them to deal with climate change and others do not until it is too late. Thirty years from now these migrations are going to define many cities and countries.
The city of Portland, Oregon, prides itself on being ahead of the curve. In 1993, it became the first U.S. city to adopt a climate action plan, which now calls for cutting carbon emissions by 50% by 2030, and to achieve net zero carbon emissions by 2050. Portland also has long been a leader in progressive urban planning strategies, and since 2006 has been a member of C40, an international network of cities seeking innovative ways to reduce emissions.
That’s why in 2013, as the city’s planners began to develop the 2015 update to the climate plan, they started working with a new model to calculate the city’s carbon emissions profile. Using the Stockholm Environment Institute’s model, the city could enumerate the emissions of the life cycle of 536 different products and commodities used in the Portland metropolitan area—everything from raw materials like timber and food crops, to manufactured items like office furniture and chocolate.
It made for an unpleasant surprise.
“We actually all of a sudden had all this data about the impact of consumption,” says Kyle Diesner, Climate […]
Danielle Ivory, Lauren Leatherby and Robert Gebeloff, - The New York Times
Stephan: I have several Trumpers and conspiracy junkies, particularly one woman, who write me regularly with disinformation they find on alt-right websites, telling me the vaccination program is both ineffective, and a scheme, to do... they're never quite clear on what it is supposed to be about. At first I felt sympathy for them in their confusion; now, with more than half a million dead Americans,and over three million deaths worldwide, I just find them stupid and irritating. And of course there is a direct correlation with being a Trumper and not getting vaccinated. Again, at first I blamed Trump, who I think should be indicted and tried for mass murder. But now, I think that many of these deaths are partly due to the fact these people don't do the simple things appropriate for any medical epidemic and, thereby, put others at risk. Here is the hard data on this.
About 31 percent of adults in the United States have now been fully vaccinated. Scientists have estimated that 70 to 90 percent of the total population must acquire resistance to the virus to reach herd immunity. But in hundreds of counties around the country, vaccination rates are low, with some even languishing in the teens.
The disparity in vaccination rates has so far mainly broken down along political lines. The New York Times examined survey and vaccine administration data for nearly every U.S. county and found that both willingness to receive a vaccine and actual vaccination rates to date were lower, on average, in counties where a majority of residents voted to re-elect former President Donald J. Trump in 2020. The phenomenon has left some places with a shortage of supply and others with a glut.
For months, health officials across the United States have been racing to inoculate people as variants of the coronavirus have continued to gain a foothold, carrying mutations that can make infections more contagious and, in some cases, deadlier. Vaccinations have sped up and, […]
Stephan: There was a time when American infrastructure from bridges to water supplies was the envy of the world. But that time is long past. American infrastructure has been deteriorating for decades, and the evidence is clear that water companies and government at every level all spend as little as possible on its maintenance. As a result, this is where the United now stands -- at the level of some developing countries.
Researchers say there’s a growing epidemic of tap water distrust and disuse in the U.S. Credit: Teresa Short / Moment Open / Getty
Imagine seeing a news report about lead contamination in drinking water in a community that looks like yours. It might make you think twice about whether to drink your tap water or serve it to your kids – especially if you also have experienced tap water problems in the past.
In a new study, my colleagues Anisha Patel, Francesca Weaks and I estimate that approximately 61.4 million people in the U.S. did not drink their tap water as of 2017-2018. Our research, which was released in preprint format on April 8, 2021, and has not yet been peer reviewed, found that this number has grown sharply in the past several years.
Other research has shown that about 2 million Americans don’t have access to clean water. Taking that into account, our findings suggest that about 59 million people have tap water access from either their municipality or private wells […]
Stephan: Here is today's Republican Scum Award. Where do they find these people? Do they have to be an ethical monster to be selected for support by the party? And what about the people of Arizona? What is it about Paul Gosar that Republican voters find so attractive? He shares their hate? Their racism? Their fear? When you look at the men and women Republican voters send to Congress, both the Senate and the House, you have to wonder what kind of country has America become.
Rep. Paul Gosar (R-AZ) argued that there should not be an ethics investigation into his role in the fatal January 6th insurrection because it wasn’t actually an insurrection.
Gosar’ statement about the 6 Januaryinsurrection
“In the weeks and days leading up to the riot, Representative Gosar urged supporters to take action against election certification, repeatedly insisting that the election had been stolen and participating in rallies alleging voter fraud,” Jayapal charged.
On March 10th, Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-WA) sent a letter to the House Ethics Committee calling for an investigation into Gosar.
Among the five bullet points Jayapal used to make the case, one noted conspiracy theorist Ali Alexander said Gosar had helped plan the events and called him “the spirit animal of this movement.” Another noted out Gosar’s speech at the rally preceding the riots, when he said, “You get to go back home once we conquer the Hill [and] Donald Trump is returned […]
JOHN BRESNAHAN, ANNA PALMER AND JAKE SHERMAN, - Punchbowl
Stephan: Because the most extreme members of the Republican Party are proving to be the biggest money raisers the whole party is shifting to openly becoming a christofascist White supremacy grievance cult. What I find so humorously ironic is that the Marjorie Taylor Greenes, Josh Hawleys, Louie Gohmerts, Matt Gaetzs and those who share their views passionately argue that we must protect Anglo Saxon values and architecture even as they stand in a Capitol whose chambers and halls were painted and decorated by a non-Anglo Saxon Greek-Italian immigrant Constantino Brumidi (1805-1880). Do you think they even know that? Probably not.
A nascent “America First Caucus” in Congress linked to Reps. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) and Paul Gosar (R-Ariz.) has been distributing materialscalling for a “common respect for uniquely Anglo-Saxon political traditions” and a return to architectural style that “befits the progeny of European architecture.”
Reps. Barry Moore (R-Ala.) and Louie Gohmert (R-Texas) have also agreed to join the group, according to an email invitation obtained by Punchbowl News.
We’ve been covering Congress for a long time, and this is some of the most nakedly nativist rhetoric we’ve ever seen.
Here are some eye-popping sections of the literature, which we obtained from a source on Capitol Hill.
→ Under the “Immigration” section: “America is a nation with a border, and a culture, strengthened by a common respect for uniquely Anglo-Saxon political traditions.”
More: “History has shown that societal trust and political unity are threatened when foreign citizens are imported en-masse into a country, particularly without institutional support for assimilation and an expansive welfare state to bail them out should they fail to contribute positively to the country. While certain economic and financial interest groups benefit immensely from mass immigration, legal as well as illegal, and the aggregate output of the country increases, the reality of large segments of our society [,] as well as […]
Stephan: The open upwelling of fascism and White supremacist racism in the United States, I find both disgusting and alarming because, as we become majority-minority nation, fearful hateful Whites are going to be driven to authoritarianism thinking that it will protect their status. It won't but it may destroy our democracy, and you can see this process already underway with the infiltration of the fearful haters into the military and law enforcement organizations.
A U.S. special forces soldier watches Syrian Kurdish soldiers dismantle a fortification in the so-called “safe zone” on the border with Turkey near Tal Abyad, Syria on Sept. 6, 2019.Maya Alleruzzo / AP
WASHINGTON, D.C. — They’re the most elite, lethally trained members of the U.S. military, widely considered the best of the best. And yet in secret Facebook groups exclusively for special operations forces that were accessed by NBC News, they share misinformation about a “stolen” 2020 election, disparaging and racist comments about America’s political leadership and even QAnon conspiracy theories.
Among the hundreds of Facebook posts NBC News reviewed from forums for current and former Rangers, Green Berets and other elite warriors: a member of a special forces group lamenting that several aides to former Vice President Mike Pence were part of a “Concerted effort by the thieves and pedophiles walking the hallowed halls of the peoples government” to undermine former President Donald Trump.
“In a just world, they would have already been taken out behind the court house and shot,” another member commented.
