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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.
Emily Wilder and Ian James, Reporters - Arizona Republic
Stephan: This is climate change made real. I have seen climate models suggesting that Arizona is soon to have up to 120 days a year with temperatures over 110°F. In the next two decades, I predict a large percentage of the people now living in Arizona will become climate refugees and internal migrants causing a collapse of the state's real estate market.
Credit: Arizona Republic
Friday marked the 50th day to reach 110 degrees or higher in the Valley this year, setting a record nobody wanted.
Before 2020, the previous record for most days in a calendar year to reach 110 degrees was 33 days set in 2011. Phoenix surpassed that on Aug. 9 and has beat it almost every day since then.
Phoenix passed the scorching milestone on Friday afternoon when the temperature at Phoenix Sky Harbor International Airport hit 111 degrees.
“It’s not like we barely broke this record,” said National Weather Service meteorologist Matthew Hirsch. “We sort of obliterated it.”
The heat, Hirsch explained, is largely a result of persistent high pressure this summer. High pressure normally produces warmer than average temperatures. Those conditions were exacerbated by an uncharacteristically dry summer. Phoenix experienced less than 4 inches of rainfall since the beginning of the year.https://www.usatodaynetworkservice.com/tangstatic/html/pphx/sf-q1a2z32fe45021.min.html
“When you don’t have moisture to cool it down, excessive heat can persist,” Hirsch said. “Essentially, we didn’t get any relief from monsoon storms.”
Stephan: If you live in Red value state governed by Republicans you literally do so at risk of your life. This is a report on the third study I have reported on concerning this trend (See SR archives), and they all reached the same conclusion: Republican policies will take years off your life. Could it be any clearer? And yet people continue to vote Republicans into office.
A major new study has documented how differences in life expectancy correlate closely with many state policies. Credit: Dana Neely/Stone/Getty
People in red states don’t live as long as people in blue states, often by a wide margin.
Now, a major new study demonstrates that differences in life expectancy correlate closely with many state policies: Most red states have adopted more policies that correlate strongly with lives cut short, while most blue states have adopted opposite policies.
The new study, conducted by well-known Syracuse University sociologist Jennifer Karas Montez and seven colleagues, notes: “State policies affect nearly every aspect of people’s lives, including economic well-being, social relationships, education, housing, lifestyles, and access to medical care.” Life expectancy is like a social mirror that reflects the overall health of a population. Longevity captures, in a single number, overall social, economic, physical and mental well-being.
In 2017, life expectancy (at birth) in West Virginia was 74.6 years, but in Hawaii, it was 81.6 years — a full 7-year difference. If West Virginia were a nation, it would rank #93 in the world for life expectancy, below Morocco, […]
Stephan: I have been covering and reporting on the trend of White supremacist militia members infiltrating the police in America for years (see SR archives), since I first saw a report from the FBI on this issue. Violence prone White supremacists in and out of law enforcement constitute the largest terrorist threat in the country. Even stranger the police command structure has failed to realize that these terrorists are a threat to the police themselves. For instance, two police officers this year have been killed by these thugs.
Riot police move protesters after confrontations between protesters and militia members in Stone Mountain, Georgia. Photograph: Nathan Posner/Rex/Shutterstock
White supremacist groups have infiltrated US law enforcement agencies in every region of the country over the last two decades, according to a new report about the ties between police and far-right vigilante groups.
In a timely new analysis, Michael German, a former FBI special agent who has written extensively on the ways that US law enforcement have failed to respond to far-right domestic terror threats, concludes that US law enforcement officials have been tied to racist militant activities in more than a dozen states since 2000, and hundreds of police officers have been caught posting racist and bigoted social media content.Far-right leader and Washington officers face civil rights lawsuit over violent incidentRead more
The report notes that over the years, police links to militias and white supremacist groups have been uncovered in states including Alabama, California, Connecticut, Florida, Illinois, Louisiana, Michigan, Nebraska, Oklahoma, Oregon, Texas, Virginia, Washington and West Virginia.
Police in Sacramento, California, in 2018 worked with neo-Nazis to pursue […]
Stephan: There is something deeply wrong with the police in Kenosha, Wisconsin. They shout out their support and offer a water bottle to a teenage White supremacist murderer, but immediately arrest... well, you read the story.
Police officers stand guard inside of a fenced area that surrounds several government buildings on August 27, 2020 in Kenosha, Wisconsin. Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers approved a request for an additional 500 National Guard troops to be deployed into Wisconsin on August 26. Many arrests have been made with the additional presence of law enforcement. Credit: Brandon Bell/Getty
Soon after their Wednesday arrival in Kenosha, Wisconsin, eight volunteers from Seattle-based Riot Kitchen who planned to distribute free food to protesters were arrested by law enforcement officials who emerged from unmarked cars, as the Seattle Timesreported.
Footage recorded by a bystander and widely shared on social media was featured in the Washington Post. The video shows law enforcement officers jump out of black SUVs and smash the window of a minivan before handcuffing both of the vehicle’s occupants:https://www.washingtonpost.com/video/c/embed/9f6692e7-f639-4031-b6d9-e39539bb5fcd
Riot Kitchen board member Jennifer Scheurle told the Post that off-camera, officers arrested six additional members of the nonprofit group.
“Our mission is to feed people for free—protesters and everyone in need,” Scheurle told the Times. “We were from out of town—but that’s not illegal.”
On Thursday afternoon, Scheurle said four of members of […]
Stephan: You couldn't make this up and not be taken for a dingbat. It isn't just that Melania (who sleeps in a separate bedroom from her husband) thought the Obamas' bedroom was "shabby" not fancy enough for her; it is the racism implicit in this report that is amazing. Consider this Saturday's Republican Scum Report.
Melania Trump
“Melania just flat out refused to move to Washington DC until it had been completely redesigned and revamped,” a book insider said.
“Stephanie talks about how she took one look at her bedroom and bathroom and demanded a new shower and toilet.
“She was not prepared to use the same bathroom as the Obamas or anyone else for that matter – it wouldn’t matter if it was the Queen of England.
“She wanted everything redecorated, repainted, new furniture and decor – everything was old and shabby and she wanted it to be brand new.
“Melania is the wife of the president and doesn’t expect she should have to make do with second hand or previously used facilities.
“In fact she seemed to be much more concerned about the decor than she did about allegations of her husband’s alleged infidelity, according to Stephanie.”
A new book released by her ex-friend claims she wanted the toilet used by former President Barack Obama and […]
Danielle Renwick and Shoshana Dubnow, - Kaiser Health News
Stephan: In the racist anti-immigrant Trump world the non-White and immigrant men and women who have worked day and night to save the lives of every American needing medical care regardless of their race, gender, or religion don't count. And yet thousands of Americans would be dead were it not for these people, 1,000 of whom gave up their lives doing this service for the rest of us. Here are the facts from Kaiser Health News
Medical personnel who are either immigrants or people of color or both
More than 1,000 front-line health care workers reportedly have died of COVID-19, according to Lost on the Frontline, an ongoing investigation by The Guardian and KHN to track and memorialize every U.S. health care worker who dies from the coronavirus. Earlier this month, the organizations published a major interactive database. It is the most comprehensive accounting of U.S. health care workers’ deaths in the country.
KHN and The Guardian are tracking health care workers who died from COVID-19 and writing about their lives and what happened in their final days.READ THEIR STORIES
The virus has taken a disproportionate toll on communities of color and immigrants — and health workers haven’t been spared.
Guardian and KHN reporters have published profiles of 177 of the 1,079 victims we have identified based on obituaries, news reports, social media posts and other sources. Of those 177, 62.1% were identified as Black, Latino, Asian/Pacific Islander or Native American, […]
Stephan: If you were part of any of the Portland demonstrations this summer where tear gas was used, or any other city where it was employed, you would do well to have your physician examine your lungs and do a blood panel workup. It turns out you may have been deliberately poisoned. Here's the story.
Federal officers use tear gas and other crowd dispersal munitions on protesters outside the Multnomah County Justice Center on July 17, 2020 in Portland, Oregon. Federal law enforcement agencies attempt to intervene as protests continue in Portland. Credit: Mason Trinca/Getty
The city of Portland recently sent the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ) information they requested about the chemicals contained in the crowd control agents that have been sprayed on Black Lives Matter protesters by law enforcement since May — and their documents reveal that the tear gas contains chemicals that are apt to pose a health risk to those exposed, particularly given the high quantities sprayed. The documents provide insight into the potential health and environmental hazards posed by the tear gas that has blanketed protesters in the streets of downtown Portland nearly every night for months.
The documents also confirm that the city of Portland sources its tear gas from Safariland, LLC, a “security products” manufacturer that has faced scrutiny for its role in supplying tear gas used by law enforcement to suppress protests over the
Stephan: Today I read that Jeff Bezos is the first man in the history of the world to have a net worth of $200 billion. To give you a sense of scale there are 189 countries in the world, and that is more than the Gross Domestic Product of 137 of them. Jeff Bezos is personally the 52nd richest nation in the world, just behind New Zealand at $204 billion, and Greece at $203 billion. It made me think again, I have done stories on this earlier (see SR archives), how billionaires, in general, are doing under Trump during this pandemic when 20% of American kids aren't really sure where their next meal is coming from, or if it is coming at all, and tens of millions of Americans couldn't write a $4o0 check in a crisis. Here's what I found.
As President Donald Trump and top members of his administration continue their push to deliver another round of tax cuts to rich investors, an analysis published Tuesday by the Institute for Policy Studies and Americans for Tax Fairness showed that U.S. billionaires have seen their collective wealth soar by nearly $800 billion since Covid-19 began spreading rapidly across the country in March.
The new research found that between March 18 and August 20—a five-month period in which the economy tanked and tens of millions of people across the U.S. lost their jobs—the combined wealth of America’s more than 600 billionaires jumped by $792 billion, bringing their collective net worth to a staggering $3.7 trillion.
“By demanding even more tax cuts for the rich at this crucial moment, President Trump shows he is as out of touch with our nation’s needs as America’s billionaires are disconnected from our nation’s misery.” —Frank Clemente, Americans for Tax Fairness
“For billionaires, this is a heads we win, tails you lose economy, boosted by Trump policies to funnel wealth to the top,” Chuck Collins, director of the IPS Program on […]
