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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: This should come as no surprise to a regular SR reader. I have been saying for several years, since Trump brought them out of the shadows, that White Supremacist militias were the real civil violence threat in America. Civil violence has almost nothing to do with socially progressive demonstrations, such as the Black Lives Matter movement, except when the militias get involved as counter-demonstrators.
White supremacists present the gravest terror threat to the United States, according to a draft report from the Department of Homeland Security.
Editor’s Note: None of the DHS drafts POLITICO reviewed referred to a threat from Antifa, the loose cohort of militant left-leaning agitators who senior Trump administration officials have described as domestic terrorists.
Two later draft versions of the same document — all of which were reviewed by POLITICO — describe the threat from white supremacists in slightly different language. But all three drafts describe the threat from white supremacists as the deadliest domestic terror threat facing the U.S., listed above the immediate danger from foreign terrorist groups.
“Foreign terrorist organizations will continue to call for Homeland attacks but probably will remain constrained in their ability to direct such plots over the next year,” all three documents say.
Russia “probably will be the primary covert foreign influence actor and purveyor of disinformation and misinformation in the Homeland,” the documents also say.
Former acting DHS Sec. Kevin McAleenan last year directed the department to start producing annual homeland threat assessments. POLITICO reviewed […]
Stephan: And here are the facts about the nonviolent demonstrations, and proof that Trump is lying, in this as in nearly everything else.
NEW YORK, NEW YORK – AUGUST 24: Protesters with the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement march through Manhattan following the shooting of a Black man by a White police officer in Kenosha, Wisconsin over the weekend, on August 24, 2020 in New York City. The Wisconsin National Guard has been deployed to Kenosha after the man was shot several times at close range in the back during an encounter with a police officer, which was caught on video. Credit: Spencer Platt/Getty
The vast majority of Black Lives Matter protests—more than 93%—have been peaceful, according to a new report published Thursday by a nonprofit that researches political violence and protests across the world.
The Armed Conflict Location & Event Data Project (ACLED) analyzed more than 7,750 Black Lives Matter demonstrations in all 50 states and Washington D.C. that took place in the wake of George Floyd’s death between May 26 and August 22.
Their report states that more than 2,400 locations reported peaceful protests, while fewer than 220 reported “violent demonstrations.” The authors define violent demonstrations as […]
Stephan: Over the past week I have received half a dozen emails from Republican readers telling me Trump is much better at handling the economy than Biden could ever be. This accords with several survey polls I have read that reflect this same thinking. Republicans overwhelming give Trump higher marks on handling the economy than Biden. So what is the truth? Well, here are the facts, if you care about facts as I do, and I hope you do. The facts are Trump has been an economic disaster, just as he was a repeated bankrupt in his corporate life. Click through to see the charts that accompany this report.
As the United States suffers the worst economic downturn in nearly a century, a key question remains: How quickly can the nation recover, and who has the better track record to get us there?
The dire job losses from the spring are close to half recovered, but 13.6 million workers remain unemployed. Stocks are back near record highs, but food bank lines are long and evictions in parts of the country are growing.
The 2020 presidential election will be, at least partly, about the economy. President Trump argues the economy was soaring pre-pandemic and he can bring it back again, while former vice president Joe Biden, the Democratic nominee, argues the nation wouldn’t be in such bad shape if Trump hadn’t fumbled the handling of the pandemic. Biden says he can get people working again and points to the Obama administration’s track record after the Great Recession. Trump portrays the Obama era as sluggish.
Stephan: White supremacist racists like Donald Trump don't like the actual facts about America's racial history so completely consistent with his early racism Trump has ruled by fiat that diversity education funded at the federal level will cease. It's anti-American, don't you know, he says, to talk about racial diversity. How a Black or Brown person can vote for Trump is beyond me. And note that this report is appearing in a conservative publication.
President Trump just made a major announcement that will surely have a huge impact on the diversity, equity and inclusion industry. Trump is now prohibiting federal agencies from conducting cultural sensitivity trainings because, according to the report, they are “divisive, anti-American propaganda.” Diversity trainings that focus on educating participants about white privilege, critical race theory and the racist origins of the United States apparently create “division and resentment” amongst federal employees. What is deeply problematic about this new ban is that the U.S. has a habit of avoiding the country’s dark and racist past. Evading the issue will not make it go away. It will grow more insidious and resilient as each year passes. In June of 2020, America was finally willing to look in the mirror, acknowledge the past and start the long process to make amends in order to move to a point of racial reconciliation and healing. The momentum was building and setting the stage for progress to be made. But with the Trump administration’s recent announcement, the racial […]
Stephan: The real history of racial diversity in the United States is horrifying and, in my opinion, ought to be taught in every school so that what is happening in this country is properly understood. The slave trade was very profitable, and I wonder had he lived in the 18th or early 19th-century whether Trump would have been a slave trader?
Much of what we know about the horrors of slavery in the Americas comes from historical records. But new research shows that evidence of the slave trade’s atrocities can also be found in the DNA of African Americans.A study conducted by the consumer genetics company 23andMe, published Thursday in theAmerican Journal of Human Genetics, offers some new insight into the consequences of the trans-Atlantic slave trade, from the scale at which enslaved Black women were raped by their White masters to the less-documented slave trade that occurred within the Americas.It’s one of the largest studies of its kind, thanks in part to the massive database of 23andMe customers that researchers were able to recruit consenting participants from.
Stephan: And here we have Sunday's Republican Scum Report. God, I hope Biden gets elected and the Congress radically changes, cleaning out Republicans, so I can stop having to do these racist, sexist, Republican reports, and can get back to focusing on positive trends shaping our future.
A GOP New Hampshire state lawmaker is being investigated by law enforcement officials after he publicly called for the burning of Black Lives Matters supporters’ houses.
Local news station WCVB reports that four-term GOP state Rep. James Spillane wrote in a Facebook post this week that anyone who has a Black Lives Matter sign on their lawn deserves to have their house burned and looted.
The post has since been deleted, but that hasn’t stopped the New Hampshire Department of Justice from launching an investigation into his advocacy of violence against political opponents.
Specifically, the New Hampshire DOJ is probing whether Spillane violated the New Hampshire Civil Rights Act, which states that “all persons have the right to engage in lawful activities and to exercise and enjoy the rights secured by the […]
Stephan: All you Trumpers, between Trump's comments about the military, and his subservient deferential behavior in regards to Putin, how much clearer does it need to get for you that Donald Trump is a traitor? How can you vote for a traitor, and yet claim you love your country?
WASHINGTON — An hour into his rally Thursday night in a Pittsburgh suburb, President Trump slammed states that have expanded mail-in voting, a familiar target for his reelection campaign.
“These mail-in ballots are a disgrace, and they know it,” he scoffed.
But Trump isn’t alone in trying to undermine faith in absentee ballots. U.S. officials say a Russian disinformation campaign is pushing the same disruptive message to Americans four years after the Kremlin sought to help Trump win the White House.
A Homeland Security intelligence bulletin issued hours before Trump spoke in Latrobe, Pa., warned that a Moscow-backed operation involving state media and proxy websites had “denigrated vote-by-mail processes, alleging they lack transparency and procedural oversight, creating vast opportunities for voter fraud.”
U.S. officials say Russia’s operation includes false allegations that Democratic presidential nominee Joe Biden’s health is failing and that he acted improperly in Ukraine when he served as vice president. Trump has made the same allegations.
The overlap in messaging between Trump’s rhetoric and Russian disinformation in some ways echoes the symbiotic relationship between the president’s first White House bid and Russian […]
Stephan: Even Trumpers should remember that Republicans used to bray on and on about the national debt, never seeming to remember that the national debt goes down when Democrats are in power, and up when Republicans are in power, largely because Republicans are always trying to rig the Tax structure to favor their rich patrons. The last time we didn't have national debt was under Bill Clinton's administration. Unfortunately, it went completely off the rails again under Bush but was brought under control during the Obama administration, only to go crazy again under Trump.
But I don't think most Americans realize how really bad the national debt issue has become; it is now the worse such World War II and, because of the Republicans' incompetence in dealing with the Covid-19 pandemic, it is projected to get even worse than that previous historic high in the coming months. Biden is going to have to spend much of his first term, assuming he wins and the Senate flips just sorting out the mess Trump and the Trumpers will leave.
So when they do polls showing that an overwhelming majority of Republicans think Trump is better at handling the economy than Biden would be, you know that what you are really seeing is not a poll on economics, but one on Trumper willful ignorance.
WASHINGTON—U.S. debt has reached its highest level compared to the size of the economy since World War II and is projected to exceed it next year, the result of a giant fiscal response to the coronavirus pandemic.
The Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday that federal debt held by the public is projected to reach or exceed 100% of U.S. gross domestic product, the broadest measure of U.S. economic output, in the fiscal year that begins on Oct. 1. That would put the U.S. in the company of a handful of nations with debt loads that exceed their economies, including Japan, Italy and Greece.Borrowing BounceU.S. government debt is expected to exceedthe size of the economy for fiscal year 2021.U.S. federal debt as a share of GDPSources: Office of Management and Budget, WendyEdelbergNote: 2021 is an estimate%RECESSIONFY2021: 104.4%’70FY1941’50’60’80’902000’10’20020406080100120
This year the ratio is expected to be 98%, also the highest since World War II.
The surge in borrowing so far isn’t creating angst among investors or hampering the U.S.’s ability to borrow more. Investors have gobbled up U.S. Treasury assets, drawn to their relative safety. […]
