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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: American law enforcement, in my opinion, needs to be completely restructured including eliminating altogether the office of sheriff, the only elected law enforcement post, a hangover from Medieval England. No other developed nation in the OECD consortium permits or experiences anything like the violence of the American police
In Vallejo, California, a former police captain is alleging a secretive ritual that has triggered an independent investigation into the city’s embattled police force: he says some officers involved in fatal shootings since 2000 bent the tips of their star-shaped badges to mark each time they killed someone in the line of duty.
Former Vallejo police Capt. John Whitney, a 19-year department veteran and former SWAT commander who was fired from his job last August, first described the alleged tradition in an interview published this week by Open Vallejo.
According to the unaffiliated news outlet, officers involved in fatal shootings marked those incidents with backyard barbecues and were initiated into a “secretive clique” that included curving one of the tips of their seven-point sterling silver badge. The outlet said it spoke with more than 20 current and former government officials and reviewed records and hundreds of photographs taken before and after fatal shootings. Two officers named in the report denied having bent badges, with one telling Open Vallejo it was a “lie.”
Stephan: And here we have today's leading Republican scum report (there are others, but I only have so much room). You have to wonder under what rocks the Republican Party finds these orcs, and why they put them forward for office? And you also have to wonder why the voters of Arizona's 6th District thought sending this man to Washington was in their interests?
Republican Rep. David Schweikert agreed to pay a $50,000 fine, accept a formal reprimand, and admit to 11 different violations of congressional rules and campaign finance laws in a deal with the bipartisan House Ethics Committee to conclude its two-year-long investigation of the congressman.
Republican Rep. David Schweikert agreed to pay a $50,000 fine, accept a formal reprimand, and admit to 11 different violations of congressional rules and campaign finance laws in a deal with the bipartisan House Ethics Committee to conclude its two-year-long investigation of the congressman. But while the matter may now officially be closed, Schweikert’s already uncertain political future is now only more endangered.
The Ethics Committee’s wide-ranging findings fell into four categories: (1) “campaign finance violations and reporting errors”; (2) spending government money to support Schweikert’s political campaigns; (3) pressuring government staff to perform campaign work; and (4) Schweikert’s “lack of candor and due diligence in the course of the investigation.”
A special subcommittee convened to carry out the inquiry determined in its own lengthy […]
John Lewis, Democratic Representative - The New York Times
Stephan: John Lewis states the principles of the 8 Laws of Change, and explains why the nonviolent fostering wellbeing is the most desirable course for a nation to take as well as anyone I have read. More that that, he lived what he said.
Mr. Lewis, the civil rights leader who died on July 17, wrote this essay shortly before his death, to be published upon the day of his funeral.Credit: Forbes
While my time here has now come to an end, I want you to know that in the last days and hours of my life you inspired me. You filled me with hope about the next chapter of the great American story when you used your power to make a difference in our society. Millions of people motivated simply by human compassion laid down the burdens of division. Around the country and the world you set aside race, class, age, language and nationality to demand respect for human dignity.
That is why I had to visit Black Lives Matter Plaza in Washington, though I was admitted to the hospital the following day. I just had to see and feel it for myself that, after many years of silent witness, the truth is still marching on.
Emmett Till was my George Floyd. He was my Rayshard […]
Lieutenant Colonel Alexander S. Vindman, USA (Ret.), - The Washington Post
Stephan: And here we have another essay by a man of real integrity. Given the endless stories about the corruption, callousness, and moronic incompetence of the Trumpian orcs, I find this article, and the one by John Lewis refreshingly encouraging.
Army Lt. Col. Alexander S. Vindman is sworn in before the House Intelligence Committee during an impeachment hearing in November 2019. Credit: Matt McClain/The Washington Post
Lt. Col. Alexander Vindman (Ret.), a career U.S. Army officer, served on the National Security Council as the director for Eastern European, Caucasus and Russian affairs, as the Russia political-military affairs officer for the chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, and as a military attaché in the U.S. Embassy in Moscow.
After 21 years, six months and 10 days of active military service, I am now a civilian. I made the difficult decision to retire because a campaign of bullying, intimidation and retaliation by President Trump and his allies forever limited the progression of my military career.
This experience has been painful, but I am not alone in this ignominious fate. The circumstances of my departure might have been more public, yet they are little different from those of dozens of other lifelong public servants who have left this administration with their integrity intact but their careers irreparably harmed.
Stephan: In contrast to the first two articles in today's SR about men of integrity, let me contrast them with two articles about prominent Republicans. The contrast was astonishing to me, as I hope it will be for you.
Republican Senator Tom Cotton speaks during a Senate Intelligence Committee nomination on May 5, 2020. Credit: Andrew Harnik-Pool/Getty
In an interview published on Sunday, Arkansas Republican Sen. Tom Cotton declared that “We have to study the history of slavery and its role and impact on the development of our country because otherwise we can’t understand our country. As the Founding Fathers said, it was the necessary evil upon which the union was built.”
• From 1986 to 1989, Saddam Hussein’s government conducted what it called the “Anfal” campaign against Kurdish Iraqi citizens in northern Iraq. In addition to firing squads and mass conventional bombings, the Iraqi military used mustard and nerve gas against civilians. Perhaps 150,000 people were murdered.
The Anfal campaign has been recognized by the British, Norwegian, and Swedish governments as genocide, and it was one of the crimes for which Saddam Hussein stood trial […]
Stephan: And here is the second one about California Republican Representative Devin Nunes, an outstanding example of the modern Republican. Voters of the 22nd Congressional District of California, what were you thinking?
Republican Rep. Devin Nunes (CA) on Sunday argued that Democrats who oppose racism are “against white people.”
During an interview with Fox News host Maria Bartiromo, Nunes railed at Democrats for supporting former special counsel Robert Mueller’s Russia investigation.
“I think the question is, does Mueller know where Mueller is?” Nunes said, suggesting that the former special counsel was not well informed about the Russia investigation.
Nunes added: “Look, the Democratic Party, it’s very odd for a party that seems to be against white people and always talking about racism, they sure like to prop up these avatar old white dudes. They have one running for president right now who’s hiding in his basement.”
Bartiromo declined to press Nunes about his assertion that Democrats are “against white people” and instead moved on to a question about the alleged “censorship” of conservatives on social media.
Stephan: My friend, Rex Weyler, co-founder of GreenPeace, and columnist for its magazine, has made it his business for years to bring into the spotlight heroes of the environmental movement who go largely ignored by corporate media. I completely support this effort and am happy to publish Weyler's story of environmentalist attorney Steven Donziger, an unsung hero you ought to know about.
Steven Donziger, attorney for Ecuador’s Frente de Defensa de la Amazonía, at one of Chevron’s abandoned oil wells in 2017. Donziger won the historic lawsuit against Chevron in 2011. He is now under home detention in New York. Credit: Lisa Gibbons.
Last September, I travelled from Western Canada to New York City to see human rights lawyer Steven Donziger. Donziger cannot travel. He cannot even stroll the hallway of his Upper West Side apartment building on 104th Street without special court permission. He remains under house arrest, wearing an ankle bracelet.
Eight years ago, Donziger and a team of Ecuadorian lawyers, on behalf of Indigenous and farmer plaintiffs, won the largest human rights and environmental court judgment in history, a $9.5-billion US verdict against the Chevron Corporation for massive oil pollution in Ecuador’s Amazon basin.
Following the trial, Chevron removed its assets from Ecuador, left the country, and has refused to pay. The company now claims the Ecuador verdict was achieved fraudulently, and produced a witness, who told a US court that he possessed knowledge of a bribe. Judge […]
Stephan: Here is the latest data on the bee crisis and, I am sorry to say, it continues to be disturbingly bad news. This trend just doesn't seem to have the power to engage politicians, and that is a crisis of another sort.
Credit: Shutterstock
Without bees, future generations may not be able to identify with adages like, ‘An apple a day keeps the doctor away.’
Crop yields for key crops like apples, cherries and blueberries are down across the U.S. because of a lack of bees in agricultural areas, a Rutgers University-led study published Wednesday in The Royal Society found. This could have “serious ramifications” for global food security, reported The Guardian.
The scientists wanted to understand the degree to which insect pollination, or lack thereof, actually limits current crop production. Surveying 131 locations across major crop-producing areas of the U.S., they found that five out of seven crops showed evidence of “pollinator limitation” and that yields could be boosted with full pollination, the study said.
“The crops that got more bees got significantly more crop production,” said Rachael Winfree, an ecologist and pollination expert and the senior author of the paper, reported The Guardian. “I was surprised, I didn’t expect they would be limited to this extent.”
The research further noted that pollinator declines could “translate […]
