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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: It is my view that the two most interesting countries in the world are New Zealand and Norway, both of which govern on the principle that fostering wellbeing is the first priority of the state. Based on social outcome data both put the United States to shame.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern Credit: AFP
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern declared a “climate emergency” on Wednesday, telling parliament that urgent action was needed for the sake of future generations.
Ardern said the science on climate change was clear and New Zealand had to acknowledge the threat.
The centre-left leader said the challenges posed by global warming meant parliament’s declaration — an act undertaken by more than a dozen other countries — was warranted.
“In those cases where we do issue declarations, it is often where there is a threat to life, a threat to property, and civil defence emergencies,” she told parliament.
“If we do not respond to climate change, we will continue to have these emergencies on our shores.”
Lawmakers passed the largely symbolic emergency declaration by 76 votes to 43 after Ardern urged them to back the move.
“Vote in favour of this declaration, be on the right side of history, be part of the solution we must collectively deliver for the next generation,” she said.
Britain’s parliament became the first in the world to declare a climate emergency, passing the motion […]
Stephan: This article poses a question. The answer, on the evidence, I think, is yes.
John Cornyn, Ted Cruz and Nikki Haley Credit: Salon/Getty
Throughout this post-election period, the reaction from congressional Republicans has been entirely predictable. Mostly they’ve remained mum about the demented behavior of their president during the last month as he has continued his precipitous dive into a rabbit hole filled with conspiracy theories so delusional that it calls for medical intervention. A few have stepped up to say publicly that Trump has a “right” to pursue legal remedies in court, while privately assuring reporters that the president just needs to act out a little bit before he finally can emotionally accept what’s happened to him.
His stalwart manservant, Sen. Lindsey Graham, R-S.C., initially involved himself in Trump’s attempts to strong-arm state officials into throwing out legitimate votes in order to help him win. Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., has evidently been poring over some alleged statistical analysis he found on a dodgy website, and has convinced himself there’s something hinky about votes that were counted after midnight. And Sen. Ted Cruz, R-Texas, the man Trump once accused of stealing the […]
Stephan: Pardons for cash. It looks like Trump is going to exit the presidency as he came in, as a loser, a liar, and a cheat.
The Justice Department is investigating a possible secret scheme involving a bribe in exchange for a presidential pardon, according to court documents unsealed Tuesday.
The 18-page court opinion is heavily redacted, and the names of the individuals under investigation are blacked out as is the identity of the person to be pardoned under the alleged plan. Still, the filings provide a glimpse into what investigators are probing.
The federal court order, signed by Chief Judge Beryl Howell in Washington, D.C., is dated Aug. 28. It stems from her review of a government request to access certain communications believed to document a secret lobbying scheme and a related bribery-for-pardon scheme.
The filing says a government filter team was sorting through more than 50 digital devices such as iPhones and laptops as part of an investigation when they came across emails pointing to the two alleged schemes.
The secret lobbying scheme, the document says, allegedly involved two individuals whose names are redacted who lobbied senior White House officials to try to secure clemency for a third individual whose name is blacked out.
Stephan: Watching these final days of the Trump era what astounds me is the naked grifting that he is doing. Trump is a genius at one thing. He senses the weakness and intellectual dimness in his followers and knows how to exploit it. Can you imagine a story like this in the Obama administration, or even in Bush the Younger's administration? Even Nixon would not have attempted a grift like this one.
Trump the grifter Credit: MSNBC
After bombarding supporters daily with emails blaring lies about the election and soliciting donations to overcome virtually non-existent voter fraud, President Donald Trump’s political operation has reportedly raised more than $150 million since November 3, a staggering windfall that is being funneled into a Republican joint fundraising committee and a Trump PAC established to fuel his post-White House activities.
While the Trump team’s aggressive emails—sometimes as many as 15 per day—purport to be raising money for an “Official Election Defense Fund” set up to finance the president’s flailing legal effort to overturn the election, the fund does not exist.
“There is no such account,” the Washington Postreported late Monday. “The fundraising requests are being made by the Trump Make America Great Again Committee, a joint fundraising committee that raises money for the Trump campaign and the Republican National Committee. As of November 18, that committee also shares its funds with Save […]
Stephan: This is what Moscow Mitch and the other Trumpian orcs have been working for. They hope to castrate the Biden administration before it even fully comes into power. This is why they acted as they did about the Amy Coney Barrett Supreme Court nomination. We have one party in this country that finds power more important than democracy, and they are acting as a fascist fifth column, and constitute the greatest threat to the nation's wellbeing.
Department of Education
Joe Biden promised us an FDR-sized presidency—starting with bold action to halt the spread of COVID-19, end the worst economic downturn in decades, and stop the climate crisis. Biden could use regulation and executive action to move quickly to decarbonize the economy, cancel student loan debt, and raise wages. But a Biden administration has an even bigger problem than two long-shot special elections in Georgia: the new 6–3 conservative majority on the Supreme Court may soon burn down the federal government’s regulatory powers.
At least five conservative justices have signaled that they are eager to revive the “non-delegation doctrine,” the constitutional principle that Congress can’t give (“delegate”) too much lawmaking power to the executive branch. On paper, the rule requires Congress, when delegating power to an agency, to articulate an “intelligible principle” (like air pollution regulation needed “to protect public health”) to guide the agency’s exercise of that power. But in practice, the nondelegation doctrine is effectively dead. The court has only struck down two statutes on nondelegation grounds—and none since 1935.
Stephan: Until we realize that we do not have dominion over the earth, that we are but one part of a great matrix of consciousness, and that poisoning the earth is wrong, we will not prosper as we should. This story makes the point very clearly.
A plane sprays pesticide over the Wynwood neighborhood in the hope of controlling and reducing the number of mosquitos, some of which may be capable of spreading the Zika virus on August 6, 2016 in Miami, Florida. Credit: Joe Raedle/Getty
A national nonprofit revealed Tuesday that testing commissioned by the group as well as separate analysis conducted by Massachusetts officials show samples of an aerially sprayed pesticide used by the commonwealth and at least 25 other states to control mosquito-borne illnesses contain toxic substances that critics call “forever chemicals.”
“Communities are struggling to remove PFAS from their drinking water supplies, while at the same time, we may be showering them with PFAS from the skies and roads.” —Kyla Bennett, PEER
Officially known as per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS), this group of man-made chemicals—including PFOA, PFOS, and GenX—earned the nickname because they do not break down in the environment and build up in the body. PFAS has been linked to suppressed immune function, cancers, and other health issues.
Lawmakers and regulators at various levels of government have worked to clean up drinking […]
Stephan: Here is at least the potential for a major restructuring the environmental protection, and I support it strongly. The earth must be seen as a metasystem, not the property of some tinpot psycho like Trump in the U.S. or Bolsonaro in Brazil. Bolsonaro permitting the destruction of the Amazonian forest in his country is having effects throughout the world, just as Trump's attempt to open Alaska to mining and forest cutting will affect people across the planet.
Deforestation in Brazil
An expert panel of top international and environmental lawyers have begun working this month on a legal definition of “ecocide” with the goal of making mass ecological damage an enforceable international crime on par with war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide.
“The time is right to harness the power of international criminal law to protect our global environment.” —Philippe Sands QC, University College London
Assembled by the Stop Ecocide Foundation at the request of several Swedish parliamentarians, the initiative to criminalize the destruction of ecosystems at the global level has already garnered support from European countries as well as small island nations highly vulnerable to rising sea levels.
The drafting panel is co-chaired by Philippe Sands QC, a professor at University College London, and Justice Florence Mumba, a former judge at the International Criminal Court (ICC).
The November 20 launch date of the project coincided with the 75th anniversary of the beginning of the Nuremberg trials of Nazi leaders, where the terms “crimes against humanity” and “genocide” were coined.
“The time is right,” Sands said recently at an event commemorating the Nuremberg trials, “to […]
Stephan: I have been telling readers for years that water is destiny. As sea levels rise getting safe potable drinking water in coastal areas is going to become ever more complicated. Here is a report that explains one of the reasons I say this.
The Delaware River flows under the Delaware Memorial Bridge, near Wilmington. Credit: ALAMY
The Delaware River, a major source of drinking water for Philadelphia, is facing an emerging threat as rising seas push saltwater farther upstream. It’s a problem that other places, from Miami to Shanghai, will also confront, especially as increasing drought lowers river flows.
t the Delaware Memorial Bridge, about 35 miles southwest of Philadelphia, the tidal waters of the Delaware River estuary push upstream with every incoming tide but are opposed by the river’s downstream flow. For years, this balance has kept salty water well away from intakes that supply drinking water to millions of people in Philadelphia and southern New Jersey.
With the so-called salt front in its normal range, some 40 miles downstream from the intakes, any threat to the region’s water supply has seemed distant. But the combination of sea level rise and the expectation of reduced downstream flow as a result of climate change-related droughts have raised new fears that the region’s biggest source of drinking water could at some point become […]
