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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: Yesterday I led the Wednesday edition with the extraordinary interview with retired Marine general James Mattis who was also the former Secretary of Defense. Today a chorus of retired senior officers supporting General Mattis' words and sentiments have spoken out. Why are they doing this? Because they see Donald Trump is a cowardly fascist who is abusing his power and misusing the military to which they have given their lives. I have never seen, and never expected to see, anything like this, and I know from emails I have received that career officers and enlisted men and women, who have given their lives to protecting America have never seen anything like it either. We are at a very dangerous place in our history, and the only thing that is going to change it is voting the Republican Party and Bunkerboy Trump out of office.
U.S. Navy Adm. Mike Mullen, chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff welcomes Lt. Gen. Hamad Mohammed Thani Al-Rumaithi, chief of staff, United Arab Emirates Armed Forces to the Pentagon, Washington, D.C., Oct. 8, 2009. Credit: (DoD/Mass Communication Specialist 1st Class Chad J. McNeeley
Retired four-star Marine General John Allen has seen enough. In a op-ed forForeign Policy, Allen tore into Donald Trump and his orders to attack American citizens in front of the White House. Allen said he fears we are “witnessing the beginning of the end of American democracy.”
In a three-part breakdown of how Trump has failed this moment and the nation, (Ret.) Gen. Allen specifically called out this administration singling out antifa—a leaderless movement that is, by definition, anti-fascist—as a terrorist group while ignoring the white supremacists who have been proven to be inciting violence at some of these protests. Allen said: “Far more damage to the United States has come from these terrorists—fascists, Klansmen, and neo-Nazis, all feeling newly empowered today—than those who have opposed them.”
Stephan: Rand Paul should never have been elected as a U.S. Senator in my view; he is an incompetent arrogant ideologue. But he represents the Magas and where he stands he makes clear. I think the question is what is wrong with Kentucky that they send such people to high public office?
Sen. Rand Paul, R-Ky., is blocking the passage of a Senate bill that would make lynching a federal hate crime, because he worries that it would be used for lesser violent crimes that result in only “minor bruising.”
Paul on Wednesday told reporters that he objected to the bipartisan measure, which appeared on the verge of passage by unanimous consent after more than a century of similar legislation being blocked, because it might “conflate lesser crimes with lynching.”
“We think that lynching is an awful thing that should be roundly condemned — that should be universally condemned,” Paul said.
However, he argued that the bill would be a “disservice to those who were lynched in our history” and result in “a new 10-year penalty for people who have minor bruising.”
“We don’t think that’s appropriate, and someone has to read these bills and make sure they do what they say they’re going to do rather than it be just a big PR effort, and then everybody gets up in arms and wants to beat up anybody who wants to read the bill and actually make the bill strong,” he added.
Paul said in a statement that he aims to add an amendment to the legislation that would create […]
Stephan: Here we have another fascist beauty from Kentucky. Mitch McConnell has been in the Senate for years, and the main things he has done are to promote christofascism, and enrich himself; starting as a man of modest means he is now a multi-millionaire. Meanwhile, Kentuckians and Kentucky are pathetically low rated on everything from healthcare, to education, to environmental protection. Are you happy people of Kentucky?
Donald Trump and Mitch McConnell
As many Senate Republicans either refused to answer questions about the police assault on peaceful protesters in the nation’s capital Monday or openly praised President Donald Trump for the brutal crackdown, Majority Leader Mitch McConnell on Tuesday blocked the passage of a Democratic resolution condemning Trump for violating the constitutional rights of demonstrators by “ordering federal officers to use gas and rubber bullets” against them.
Senate Democrats attempted to pass the non-binding resolution by unanimous consent, but the Kentucky Republican objected and put forth his own measure that stripped out any mention of the president.
“It’s very simple why the Republican leader objected to our resolution and offered this one instead,” Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) said in a floor speech, referring to McConnell’s alternative resolution. “It’s because they do not want to condemn what the president did, though every fair-minded American of any political party would.”
In an appearance on MSNBC Tuesday evening as mass protests over the police killing of George Floyd continued in the nation’s capital and across the country, Schumer called the Senate […]
Stephan: I have been saying it for years: It is not possible to be an ethical person and a Republican. Here is yet another example showing why I say this.
Earlier this month, Representative Adam Kinzinger told his constituents that he is worried by the excessive number of conspiracy theories he has seen circulating lately on social-media sites.
“As leaders, we have a choice,” he told his constituents in a video message posted to Facebook. “There’s far too many who will simply reflect back that paranoia, to feed fuel to that fire, if it’ll help their reelection … We need to push back against these attempts to divide and destroy us.”
Days later, President Donald Trump disseminated a conspiracy theory for the ages. In the midst of an ongoing pandemic that has killed 100,000 Americans, he attacked a cable-television host, former Representative Joe Scarborough, with a thinly veiled murder allegation. “A lot of interest in this story about Psycho Joe Scarborough,” Trump wrote. “So a young marathon runner just happened to faint in his office, hit her head on his desk, & die? I would think there is a lot more to this story than that? An affair? What about the so-called investigator?”
Stephan: To anyone who has spent time within the military culture this letter is as rare as a unicorn horn. Senior military officers never come out into the public to say such things about a President. Personally, I agree with every word.
General James Mattis, USMC (Ret.)and former Secretary of Defense
James Mattis, the esteemed Marine general who resigned as secretary of defense in December 2018 to protest Donald Trump’s Syria policy, has, ever since, kept studiously silent about Trump’s performance as president. But he has now broken his silence, writing an extraordinary broadside in which he denounces the president for dividing the nation, and accuses him of ordering the U.S. military to violate the constitutional rights of American citizens. — Atlantic Editors
“I have watched this week’s unfolding events, angry and appalled,” Mattis writes. “The words ‘Equal Justice Under Law’ are carved in the pediment of the United States Supreme Court. This is precisely what protesters are rightly demanding. It is a wholesome and unifying demand—one that all of us should be able to get behind. We must not be distracted by a small number of lawbreakers. The protests are defined by tens of thousands of people of conscience who are insisting that we live up to our values—our values as people and our values as a nation.” He goes on, “We […]
Stephan: Senator Tom Cotton a senator from Arkansas, and a Republican, speaks for the christofascist members of the Senate, it seems. None have come out to condemn him. Using the American military in American streets to control Americans exercising their Constitutional rights to assemble and exercise free speech. Is anything else required to make it clear where the Magas stand?
Republican Senator Tom Cotton of Arkansas
Sen. Tom Cotton (R-Ark.) said on Monday that President Trump should use the Insurrection Act to deploy active-duty U.S. troops to cities impacted by protests and riots in the wake of the death of George Floyd, an unarmed black man killed while in the custody of Minneapolis police.
Cotton, during an interview with Fox News, said that “if necessary the president should use the Insurrection Act to deploy active-duty military forces to these cities to support our local law enforcement and ensure that this violence ends tonight, not one more night.”
“What the president can do is say that justice will be done in accordance with law for George Floyd and we will always respect the right of peaceful protests … but the rioting, the anarchy and the looting ends tonight. If local law enforcement is overwhelmed … lets see how these anarchists respond when the 101st Airborne is on the other side of the street,” Cotton added.
Protests have swept the country in response to Floyd’s death. At least 40 cities have imposed curfews and the National Guard has been activated […]
Stephan: Here we can see on display the cowardice and lack of morality of the Republican senators. I think it is disgusting, and I hope everyone of these Senators up for election is defeated. We need a better caliber of person making our laws.
Republican Senator Marsha Blackburn from Tennessee
NBC News Capitol Hill Correspondent Kasie Hunt asked 17 top GOP Senators what they thought of President Donald Trump’s Monday evening photo op, where he had Lafayette Park and St. John’s Church cleared of protestors by teargassing them.
Usually reporters might use one or two of the responses in a news story, but Hunt, who is also the host of MSNBC’s “Kasie DC,” decided to tweet out their responses.
Among the Senators she asked – not all answered – are the only African-American Republican, Sen. Tim Scott of South Carolina, Sen. Marsha Blackburn of Tennessee, and Sen. Ted Cruz of Texas.
Two offered up “late for lunch” responses, four refused to offer any answer, and one blamed the protestors for an “abuse of power.”
Stephan: Trump cannot tell the truth. Every statement is calculated to make him seem like a hero or, at a minimum, blame free. He threatens with lies, gaslights what people can see with their own eyes. I find it fascinating that the Magas just uncritically lap it up.
FBI Headquarters Credit: Getty
The FBI found no intelligence “indicating Antifa involvement” in violence surrounding Sunday’s protest near the White House despite President Donald Trump’s attempts to cast blame on radical leftists, according to an FBI situation report obtained by The Nation.
An FBI source told the outlet that other situation reports, produced daily by the FBI since the weekend, have similarly shown no evidence of Antifa involvement.
“Based on CHS [Confidential Human Source] canvassing, open source/social media partner engagement and liaison, FBI WFO has no intelligence indicating Antifa involvement/presence,” the report reads.
That portion of the report followed a list of violent acts committed during the protest, including people who threw bricks at police and a backpack found to contain explosives.Ken Klippenstein✔@kenklippenstein
FBI found “no intelligence indicating Antifa involvement” in May 31 violence, per FBI report leaked to me.
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