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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: Trump is making sure that we will all live in a less healthy environment. I guess he sees that as one of the ways he can punish everyone for his losing the election. The question for me is how is it possible that anyone can still support this blatant criminal; I simply cannot understand.
The smog that will get worse thanks for Trump’s EPA gutting air quality standards.
The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) on Wednesday declined to tighten air quality standards for smog, despite calls from environmental and health advocates for a stricter standard.
The EPA finalized its decision to retain the Obama-era air quality standard for ozone, the main component of smog, of 70 parts per billion (ppb).
In the stratosphere, the ozone layer protects the Earth from ultraviolet light from the sun, but at ground level it can worsen health conditions like bronchitis, emphysema and asthma.
“This decision fulfills the Trump administration’s promise to streamline the [National Ambient Air Quality Standards] review process,” EPA Administrator Andrew Wheeler told reporters.
Environmental advocates have called for tightening the standard to 60 ppb or lower, and have pointed to studies linking adverse health impacts of exposure to ozone at concentrations lower than the current standards.
“Air pollution kills thousands of people each year and failing to set a more protective standard means that the health of millions of Americans is threatened,” said Paul Billings, the American Lung Association’s national senior vice president for […]
Stephan: By the time I saw this report I had already seen three earlier racist police thuggery stories in the last week alone. The police and sheriffs in the United States are seriously out of control.
People hold up signs in Columbus, Ohio, during a Dec. 11 march for Casey Goodson Jr., a 23-year-old Black man, who was shot and killed by law enforcement. Credit: Stephen Zenner/AFP/Getty
A Columbus, Ohio, police officer was relieved of duty following the fatal shooting of a 47-year-old Black man Tuesday during which he did not activate his body camera, Mayor Andrew Ginther (D) announced.
Why it matters: The shooting of the unnamed man comes after the Dec. 4 death of Casey Goodson, Jr., a 23-year-old Black man who was shot and killed by a sheriff’s deputy, which triggered protests against police brutality.
“Our community is still raw and exhausted from the killings of George Floyd, Breonna Taylor and, most recently, Casey Goodson, Jr., right here in Columbus.”
— Ginther statement
Details: Ginther said during a briefing the police body cameras contain a 60-second “look-back” feature, which means the shooting was captured before the officer turned on his camera following the incident. But this does not record audio.
“The officer involved has been relieved of duty, requiring him to turn in […]
Kim Barker, Michael H. Keller and Steve Eder, Reporters - The New York Times
Stephan: Here is a good exegetic report on the police situation in cities all over the country. It is unacceptable in a democratic republic.
The Portland police have been accused of using excessive force during protests this year. Credit: Diana Zeyneb Alhindawi/The New York Times
It took Portland, Ore., almost $1 million in legal fees, efforts by two mayors and a police chief, and years of battle with the police union to defend the firing of Officer Ron Frashour — only to have to bring him back. Today, the veteran white officer, who shot an unarmed Black man in the back a decade ago, is still on the force.
Sam Adams, the former mayor of Portland, said the frustrated disciplinary effort showed “how little control we had” over the police. “This was as bad a part of government as I’d ever seen. The government gets to kill someone and get away with it.”
After the death of George Floyd at the hands of Minneapolis officers in May spurred huge protests and calls for a nationwide reset on law enforcement, police departments are facing new state laws, ballot proposals and procedures to rein in abusive officers. Portland and other cities have hired new chiefs […]
Maggie Haberman and Michael S. Schmidt, Reporters - The New York Times
Stephan: The worst president in American history is using his final days to try to rewrite the history of the Mueller probe. He is also pardoning crooked corrupt Republican congressmen who supported him, and doing a favor for his friend and supporter and Education Secretary Betsy De Vos' brother, Erik Prince, by pardoning the four killers who worked for him, and randomly murdered 17 Iraqi civilians, including a mother walking down the street with her infant in her arms just because they were pissed off. I am sure this is only the beginning of Trump giving his middle finger to American justice.
In an audacious pre-Christmas round of pardons, President Trump granted clemency on Tuesday to two people convicted in the special counsel’s Russia inquiry, four Blackwater guards convicted in connection with the killing of Iraqi civilians and three corrupt former Republican members of Congress.
It was a remarkable assertion of pardon power by a president who has disputed his loss in the election and might be only the start of more to come in the final weeks before he leaves office on Jan. 20.
Mr. Trump nullified more of the legal consequences of an investigation into his 2016 campaign that he long labeled a hoax. He granted clemency to contractors whose actions in Iraq set off an international uproar and helped turn public opinion further against the war there. And he pardoned three members of his party who had become high-profile examples of public corruption.
Among those pardoned was George Papadopoulos, who was a foreign policy adviser to Mr. Trump’s 2016 campaign and who pleaded guilty in 2017 to making false statements to federal officials as part of the investigation by the […]
Stephan: As I write this it looks like even this shabby bill to help Americans may not come to anything because Trump claims he will veto it. But what is clear is that Mitch McConnell rigged this bill so that a few crumbs go to ordinary Americans, and wonderful deals go to Republican rich individuals, and corporate sponsors of the party. The United States has become a banana republic without the bananas, corrupt and rigged to favor the rich.
Senate Majority Leader Republican Senator Mitch McConnell
In late-night votes just hours after nearly 5,600 pages of legislative text were released, the U.S. Congress on Monday night approved trillions of dollars worth of government funding and coronavirus relief that will temporarily avert a catastrophic expiration of key benefits, send $600 direct payments to many Americans, and provide billions of dollars in handouts to the rich.
The entire Senate Democratic caucus and every Republican but six voted for the roughly $900 billion coronavirus relief legislation, which was paired with a $1.4 trillion spending package that will fund the federal government through next September. Just two House Democrats—Reps. Rashida Tlaib (D-Mich.) and Tulsi Gabbard (D-Hawaii)—voted against the coronavirus relief portion of the sprawling package (pdf), which President Donald Trump is expected to sign.
“I voted against the latest Covid-19 relief legislation because it is woefully inadequate in addressing the needs of people,” Tlaib said in a statement late Monday. “I have watched as many of my […]
Stephan: You don't count, the Congress has next to nothing for you and your family in terms of healthcare. Ah, but for themselves, it is a very different story, as this article spells out.
Mike Pence gets his vaccination. Of course, Congress made sure that they were first recipients of the Covid vaccine
In a flurry of last-minute legislating over coronavirus relief, congressional leaders abandoned hazard pay for essential workers and emergency funding for local governments that may be on the brink of municipal bankruptcy.
But lawmakers did find funding to dramatically increase the budget for the exclusive government-run health clinic that serves Congress.
The Office of Attending Physician, which provides medical services to lawmakers, received a special boost of $5 million, more than doubling its annual budget, which is currently around $4.27 million.
The increase in funding to the OAP, if passed, is the third budget hike Congress has provided to its own health clinic over the last year. The 2019 omnibus provided an increase in funding to the OAP, along with the CARES Act, which passed this past March.
The OAP, described as “some of the country’s best and most efficient government-run health care,” employs several physicians and nurses to provide on-call treatment to legislators on Capitol Hill. The new funding is justified by new services required for confronting […]
Stephan: Having trouble getting Christmas gifts to family and friends on time; not getting the Christmas cards friends sent you? Well, you can thank Louis DeJoy, Trump, and the Republicans in Congress for that.
A USPS worker delivers mail in Weehawken, New Jersey on Dec. 17 Credit: Tayfun Coskun/Anadolu Agency/Getty
In early November, after news organizations called the Presidential race for Joe Biden, throngs of revelers poured into the streets, where they cheered not only for the new President-elect, but for the United States Postal Service (USPS), which had overcome enormous obstacles to deliver mail-in ballots largely on time amidst a raging global pandemic. Shouts of “USPS” erupted in New York City and a child dressed as a USPS mailbox danced in the streets of Oakland, California.
In the weeks leading up to the election, U.S. Postal workers had worked around the clock, often risking their personal safety, to sift through mail-in ballots, trying to reassure voters that, despite President Trump’s attacks on their agency, voting by mail was safe, secure, and wouldn’t lead to accidental disenfranchisement. When those fears never materialized, the Postal Service’s performance was saluted, with relief.
But as the Presidential election has faded in the rearview mirror, the underlying issues that stoked anxiety about the efficacy of the USPS remain—even as […]
Stephan: Republican governance on the basis of social outcome facts is always inferior. Here are the facts.
Red State/Blue State map
For the past 15 years I have published in Explore I have tried to make the point that social values determine social outcomes, based on objective quantifiable social outcome data. And that on the basis of that data, it is clear that when forming social policy the best option is always the one that is the most compassionate, life-affirming and fostering of wellbeing. That option proves always easier to implement than the alternatives: more productive, more efficient, nicer to live under, longer enduring, and much much cheaper.1
I know this is going to be controversial, but I want to talk about a second point this data teaches, a trend that is shaping the United States in many ways. It’s components are frequently discussed, but the over-arching trend is rarely mentioned. I am speaking here of the objectively verified failure of conservative social policies to foster wellbeing. Where conservative social policies prevail, Americans, men, women, children, regardless of race or gender, are less healthy and have shorter more miserable lives […]
