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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: You have probably already heard this, but I want to bring it back into focus because while everyone hears it, we have all become so accustomed to Trump's lies that we don't really hear how radical what he is saying is. Nothing he says can be taken as truthful, but he is consistent in his intentions, and I take this seriously. If this man is re-elected America, as we know it, will end.
Credit: Michael Tercha/Getty
President Donald Trump on Saturday afternoon openly vowed to permanently “terminate” the funding mechanism for both Social Security and Medicare if reelected in November—an admission that was seized upon by defenders of the popular safety net programs who have been warning for months that the administration’s threat to suspend the payroll tax in the name of economic relief during the Covid-19 pandemic was really a backdoor sabotage effort.
Announcing and then signing a series of legally dubious executive orders, including an effort to slash the emergency federal unemployment boost by $200 from the $600 previously implemented by Democrats, Trump touted his order for a payroll tax “holiday”—which experts noted would later have to be paid back—but said if he won in November that such a cut would become permanent.Defend democracy. Click to invest in courageous progressive journalism today.
The Trump campaign was apparently so satisfied with the public acknowledgement of the president’s promise to make the payroll tax permanent—a move that would inherently bankrupt the Social Security system—that it […]
Stephan: My daughter is a middle-aged single mother herself, with an eight-year-old son, as well as the president of a large social services agency, so she has her own experiences, as well as listening to her therapists, and the agency's clients. In talking with my daughter, and reading and watching the news each day, what comes across to me is how a competent government, faced with something like Covid-19, would in anticipation of the coming months of pandemic have immediately begun to create and fund an educational system geared to the new social circumstances. Of course, we don't have a competent government, and as I read the news about how Trump and the Republican governors are pressing to reopen schools, the image that comes to me is that they think of America's schoolchildren as lab rats. They are perfectly willing to put them and their teachers, and their families at risk, just as they put the doctors, nurses, technicians, and orderlies at risk without making sure they had proper funding and equipment as they have labored to save the lives of the rest of us.
It is so callous, so unconscious, so ugly, and so obviously wrong-headed. And it is not as if clear signs of this were not obvious. In the last two weeks 97,000 American children and tested positive for coronavirus, and Israel, which opened its schools too early is facing a sudden spike of child cases and closing them back down.
A boy has his temperature checked as he receives a free COVID-19 test in South Los Angeles in July. Credit: Mario Tama/Getty
At least 97,000 children tested positive for COVID-19 in the final two weeks of July and there’s been an estimated 338,000 cases involving kids in the U.S. since the pandemic began, a new report finds.
Why it matters: The report from the American Academy of Pediatrics and the Children’s Hospital Association comes as schools and day cares look to reopen in the U.S.
New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo (D) announced Friday that school districts in the state could resume in-person classes in the fall amid lower coronavirus transmission rates.
Some schools have already reopened for in-person learning in the South — including in Georgia, where authorities confirmed nine people had tested positive for the novel coronavirus at one school.
There have been many reports about the virus spreading through schools and summer camps, and evidence has begun to support the notion that children can play a key role in community transmission, Axios’ Caitlin Owens notes.
Stephan: This is one of those stories I wish were not true but, if you live in a fact-based world you have to acknowledge facts whether you like them or not. And the sad truth is that there is a large part of the American population who are White supremacist christofascists. The truth, as this report lays out, is that they are the reason a blatant, intellectually shoddy disinformation operation is the most-watched network in America, and a man like Donald Trump is the president of the United States. I think there is about a 40% chance Trump will be re-elected. The voter registration data is not encouraging, and it's not like the Republicans don't have a lot of money to advance their cause. And that doesn't even address voter suppression and the rest. November is going to tell us what America is made of.
In June and July, Fox News was the highest-rated television channel in the prime-time hours of 8 to 11 p.m. Not just on cable. Not just among news networks. All of television. The average live Fox News viewership in those hours outstripped cable rivals like CNN, MSNBC and ESPN, as well as the broadcast networks ABC, CBS and NBC, according to Nielsen.
That three-hour slotis a narrow but significant slice of TV real estate, and it is exceedingly rare for a basic-cable channel to outrank the Big Three broadcasters, which are available in more households and offer a wider variety of programming.
Stephan: And here we have Tuesday's Republic Scum Report. You couldn't make it up. If I wrote it as satire people would say I were being nasty and partisan.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — White House aides reached out to South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem last year about the process of adding additional presidents to Mount Rushmore, the New York Times reported.According to a person familiar who spoke with the Times, Noem then greeted Trump when he arrived in the state for his July Fourth celebrations at the monument with a four-foot replica of Mount Rushmore that included his face.Noem has noted before Trump’s “dream” to have his face on Mount Rushmore, the Coolidge-era sculpture that features the 60-foot-tall faces of Presidents George Washington, Thomas Jefferson, Abraham Lincoln and Theodore Roosevelt.According to a 2018 interview with Noem, the two struck up a conversation about the sculpture in the Oval Office during their first meeting, where she initially thought he was joking. “I started laughing,” she said. “He wasn’t laughing, so he was totally serious.””He said, ‘Kristi, come on over here. Shake my hand, and so I shook his hand, and I said, ‘Mr. President, you should come to […]
Haley Brink and Allison Chinchar,, Meteorologists - CNN Weather
Stephan: And the climate change band plays on while we stand around doing... well, doing little or nothing.
Milne Ice Shelf in Ellesmere Island, Canada. On the left taken on 30 July 2020, and on the right the same area on 4 August 2020 Credit: Canadian Ice service
The size of Canada’s last fully intact ice shelf was reduced by 43% over July 30 and 31 when the Milne Ice Shelf on Ellesmere Island in the northern territory of Nunavut collapsed into the ocean.This large sheet of ice then drifted into the Arctic Sea, further breaking into two large chunks. This entire calving event — the scientific term for the breaking of ice chunks off glaciers — was captured by the Copernicus Sentinel satellite.
The piece that broke off was around 80 square kilometers — larger than the 60-square-kilometer Manhattan.”Above-normal air temperatures, offshore winds and open water in front of the ice shelf are all part of the recipe for ice shelf break up,” according to the Canadian Ice Service.
“Due to the presence of pre-existing fractures in the remaining Milne Ice Shelf, there is a potential for further destabilization,” the Water and Ice Research Laboratory (WIRL) said […]
Stephan: Here is some good news about climate change. The Trump administration and many Repubicans may not even believe climate change is real, but other administrations, in other countries, as well as ordinary people and business entrepreneurs know it to be real and are trying to develop a response that fosters wellbeing.
Climate Launchpad 2019 green business start-up winners Credit: Climate Launchpad
Despite the current crisis, green entrepreneurs across the globe continue to create positive climate impact and economic opportunities. A record number of 3,000 startups from 56 countries entered this year’s edition of ClimateLaunchpad*, the global green business ideas competition. The 7th edition of its Global Grand Final will be an entirely digital 3-day event (September 30 – October 2).
Global Grand Final Will be Hosted Online
ClimateLaunchpad is part of the entrepreneurship offerings by EIT Climate-KIC, the EU’s main climate innovation initiative. Its mission is to unlock global cleantech potential and to accelerate innovations that address climate change.
Due to COVID-19, the 2020 competition is now digitally available. Boot Camps, coaching sessions, and national and regional finals have all been brought to virtual environments. ClimateLaunchpad is now preparing to do the same for its annual Global Grand Final, which is no small feat as it is the largest green business event around. There will be 65 cleantech startups pitching, live keynotes, interactive masterclasses, networking, fun sessions, inspirational talks, and live discussions.
Stephan: While millions of Americans face the loss of their homes or apartments and are having to decide whether to pay a bill to preserve their credit or buy food for their children, there is another world out there. Here is a description of it.
Credit: Johannes Eiself/Getty
A “family life coach” position in Aspen pays between $80,000-$100,000—the ideal applicant “wins,” is willing to make time for “overnight stays,” and possesses the “3G’s: Grit, growth, gratitude.” A private teaching position in the Bay Area for a backyard school will net you $120,000 (and a $2,000 UberEats bonus for referrals). Are you a nanny with experience as a camp counselor willing to oversee scavenger hunts and an obstacle course for a family’s private summer camp? Then this Beverly Hills position is perfect for you.
The rich have always sought to create private worlds of their own, cordoned off from the rest of the country and insulated from the violence their resource hoarding inflicts on others. What the coronavirus has provided is a common denominator, a single ongoing event that has exacerbated every existing form of inequality and inspired among the elites a certain kind of brashness about getting what they believe is theirs to take: jumping to the front of the line to get tested, […]
Stephan: You may be struggling with the pandemic and the collapse of the day-to-day economy, but the rich live in another world, and they are thinking ahead. Here's what they have in mind. You... well, you'll just have to take your chances.
Inside, vertical LED screens with outdoor scenes act as “windows’” to the outside, and a gas fireplace and comfortable seating make the condos places of respite during periods of lockdown. Credit: Bradley Garrett
Survivalists and doomsday preppers—once seen as fringe outliers—are increasingly going mainstream. In addition to a popular reality TV show about preppers, more and more “regular people” are preparing go-bags for events ranging from hurricanes to blackouts to civil unrest. Now, with the COVID-19 pandemic, people who have a well-stocked bug-out location already prepared are starting to seem prescient. In his new book, Bunker: Preparing for the End Times (Scribner, August), Bradley Garrett—worldwide adventurer and author—explores communities around the world preparing for the apocalypse and shares an inside perspective on why and how they are preparing for the unexpected—and a close-up look at their varied accommodations. In this excerpt, he shares what life is like inside one such bunker.
The Survival Condo in Kansas—the most lavish and sophisticated private bunker in the world—was once a Cold War U.S. government missile silo. Built in the […]
