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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: And here is further data demonstrating the proof of the process I described in the previous article. This is not a political or partisan statement. it is objectively verifiable.
The study, which has not been peer-reviewed, found that a 1% increase in Fox News viewership in a zip code “reduces the propensity to stay at home by 8.9 percentage points compared to the pre-pandemic average.”
“We show that exposure to Fox News has led to substantially lower compliance with social distancing regulations,” said lead researcher Dr. Andrey Simonov, a professor at Columbia Business School.
The researchers used a “quasi-experimental” method, using social distancing data aggregated by the geospatial data firm SafeGraph. The company, which collected 45 million anonymized GPS pings from 45 anonymized mobile devices, uses […]
Stephan: As I have said several times, at the present time I think New Zealand is the most interesting nation on earth, and its prime minister Jacinda Ardern the most interesting politician. Why? Because under her leadership New Zealand has committed itself to fostering wellbeing at every level as its first priority. How New Zealand has dealt with the Covid-19 pandemic as compared to the nightmare failure of the United States under Trump illustrates this difference very clearly.
New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern
To learn how New Zealand has largely eliminated COVID-19, we continue our extended interview with Michael Baker, an epidemiologist who is a member of the New Zealand Ministry of Health’s Technical Advisory Group and advising the government on its response to the COVID-19 pandemic. He describes how the country’s response compares to the government actions in the United States and worldwide.
AMY GOODMAN: This is Democracy Now!, democracynow.org, The Quarantine Report. I’m Amy Goodman, with Juan González, as we bring you Part 2 of our discussion of New Zealand.
Yes, much of the world is looking at New Zealand as a beacon of hope. It just hasn’t just flattened the curve of the coronavirus, but apparently squashed it. New Zealand began its lockdown early, went hard with widespread testing. What did all of this entail, and what can we learn? Is it just that it’s a small nation of 5 million? Or does it have a lot to teach much larger nations in the world that are dealing with massive infection and death rates, like the United States?
Definition of insurrection: an act or instance of revolting against civil authority or an established government. Donald Trump, the President of the United States openly supports civil insurrection. That would be grounds for impeachment if we had a Congress, particularly a Senate, that was a functioning entity working on behalf of the wellbeing of Americans, and the American democracy.
As I read the news of the Pandemic, and the crisis going on because of racist police in Minneapolis, I find myself thinking: If Mitch McConnell and the other Republican senators had had the integrity to do their duty and convict Trump and Pence, and remove them from office would 100,000 Americans have died from the Covid-19 virus? Would Minneapolis be on fire? Would the rest of the world now hold us in such contempt? What do you think?
A screenshot of the video retweeted by President Donald Trump in which Otero County, New Mexico Commissioner and Cowboys for Trump founder Couy Griffin says, “The only good Democrat is a dead Democrat.”
President Donald Trump early Thursday boosted a comment from the founder of the group Cowboys for Trump that “the only good Democrat is a dead Democrat.”
In his midnight tweet, the president responded to a video clip of Otero County, New Mexico Commissioner and Cowboys for Trump founder Couy Griffin making the remark, tweeting from his phone: “Thank you Cowboys. See you in New Mexico!”
According to the Sante Fe New Mexican, Griffin’s comment came in a speech that took place at a rally at church in the city of Truth or Consequences.
After the “dead Democrat” remark was met with cheers, Griffin couched the comment, adding, “I don’t say that in the physical sense.”
“I say that in the political sense because because the Democrat agenda and policy is anti-American right now,” he claimed. “Our country is coming to a place if you love or hate America.”
Stephan: Thanks to the incompetence of Trump and Pompeo, America's position in the world is evaporating, with geopolitical implications no one can fully predict. If Trump and Pence had been removed from office would this be happening? I don't think so. But it is and the world is realigning, and we will have to live with that reality.
Duterte (R) visits Xi in Beijing. Credit: Ng Han Guan-Pool/Getty
When the Philippines needed resources to fight its coronavirus outbreak, it turned not to its American allies, but to China.
Why it matters: The Philippines was a U.S. colony for half a century and is America’s oldest military ally in Asia. But the Southeast Asian nation is drifting further from the U.S. and toward America’s superpower rival.
Driving the news: While the U.S. has blamed Beijing for the pandemic, Philippine President Rodrigo Duterte has defended China and thanked Beijing heartily for sending medical equipment and personnel.
“President Xi Jinping, for all of his goodness to us, wrote me a letter and said that he is willing to help. All we have to do is to ask,” Duterte gushed in March.
The U.S. also sent help, but Duterte hardly acknowledged it.
Duterte has long touted China as the primary investor in the Philippines, and he pushed for a more “independent” foreign policy — summed up as, “less America, more China.”
Stephan: Here is an interview with one of the most prominent Irish historians and authors; a man who has been studying and writing about America for years. I chose it because I am trying to impress upon my readers how devastating the stupidity and incompetence of Trump and his minions, like Barr and Pompeo has been in blasting away the world stature of America. Decades of carefully constructed, by both Democrats and Republicans, geopolitical structure have been torn up like a petulant child destroys his toys. Trump has withdrawn from everything from nuclear control to healthcare treaties. He either doesn't understand, or care, or both, the critical importance of these international relationships. He has smeared and denigrated foreign leaders to a point where they laugh at him behind his back, and no longer look to America or the American president for leadership.
Fintan O’Toole and Donald Trump Credit: Salon/Alex Brandon/AP Photo/Alan Betson/The Irish Times
When the virus came here, it found a country with serious underlying conditions, and it exploited them ruthlessly. Chronic ills — a corrupt political class, a sclerotic bureaucracy, a heartless economy, a divided and distracted public — had gone untreated for years. We had learned to live, uncomfortably, with the symptoms. It took the scale and intimacy of a pandemic to expose their severity — to shock Americans with the recognition that we are in the high-risk category.
Stephan: Donald Trump created his public persona as a reality television figure and gossip magazine star. This essay makes the very important point that the same moves that may work on reality television, or in a gossip column interview, don't work for a world leader and yet, it seems to be all Trump knows and in nearly four years he has not been able to grow into his office
A scene from a video depicting a fake President Trump massacring the news media and his critics that was shown at a conference for his supporters at Trump National Doral Miami last week.
For 20 years, 40 seasons, the television show,Survivor, has been extremely popular in the United States. The motto, Outwit, Outplay, Outlast, epitomizes the environment that contestants must navigate in order to win the grand prize of one million dollars (or in the most recent contest, two million dollars). Importantly, the skills used to win the game are the antithesis of those needed in a real survival situation. They are, however, strikingly similar to those of modern American politics.
In the television game, contestants form temporary relationships, ones that can be broken at a moment’s notice. Like Trump, egocentrism is the main focus at the expense of all others. Though artificial, often based on happenstance of assignment, tribal alliances are forged and often transcend mergers and may even be counterproductive to the participant in the long run. To their detriment, many players believe such bonds […]
Senator Debbie Stabenow, DPCC Chairwoman Senator Chuck Schumer, Senate Democratic Leader Senator Sheldon Whitehouse, Democratic Senators - Democratic Policy & Communications Committee
Stephan: Since Mitch McConnell became the leader of the Republican Party in the Senate, and particularly since Trump became president I have been telling you about the coordinated and explicit attempt by the christofascists to restructure the American judiciary system so that it favors corporations, Whites, male dominance, and the rich, rather than providing real justice. for all. A process paid for a small group of White fascist billionaires
It is my view that the Democrats in the Senate have been woefully feeble in resisting this Republican effort, but finally, a tiny group of them have gotten serious about his destruction of the structure of American democracy, and have put together a lengthy report laying the whole sordid business out. Here it is.
Mitchell, Kavanaugh, and Trump
Under the Trump Administration, the Mitch McConnell-led Senate has produced few significant legislative accomplishments. Instead, it has prioritized packing the judiciary with far-right extremists, who then enjoy life tenure as federal judges. Working hand-in-hand with the administration and anonymously-funded outside groups, the Senate has confirmed 200 new life-tenured federal judges to aggressively remake the federal courts and rewrite the Constitution. Most of these judges were chosen not for their qualifications or experience—which are often lacking—but for their demonstrated allegiance to Republican Party political goals. These judges have already begun rolling back the clock on civil rights, consumer protections, and the rights of ordinary Americans, reliably putting a thumb on the scale in favor of corporate and Republican political interests. From the Supreme Court on down, the special interests responsible for these judges’ selection and confirmation are effectively capturing the judicial branch, packing our courts with politicians in robes.
With a captured judiciary, the Republican Party can do its donors’ dirty work through the courts without fear of electoral consequences. This is anti-democratic and fundamentally un-American. Indeed, it is […]
Stephan: The Republicans have turned the entire multi-billion dollar bailout into an enormous corporate grift to support their friends and sponsors. I cannot believe the media are not climbing all over this since the facts are relatively easily available. It is a disgusting story of how to enrich the already rich while screwing the modest business world and the poor. It is also incredibly racist. But that is Trump world, and the sad little Magas who seem incapable of understanding what is going on will vote for more of it in November I am sure.
The ‘phase 3’ stimulus plan was signed into U.S. law on March 27, 2020 in response to the widespread health and economic fallout from the coronavirus outbreak. It included a $500 billion bailout fund for ‘distressed’ large businesses at the insistence of President Trump and his allies in Congress.
TrumpBailouts.org was created by government watchdog Accountable.US to keep the public informed of the administration’s efforts to bail out billion-dollar corporations as the needs of newly unemployed American workers and struggling families continue to compound.
For bailout applicants, there was no consideration for how many billions of dollars in quarterly profits they had recently posted. No limit on how many millions of dollars they pay their CEOs. No considerations for how many dividends they have paid out to shareholders or profits they wasted on stock buybacks to boost their share price, even in the middle of this crisis. No consideration for how much they benefited from the 2017 Trump tax cuts directed at the largest corporations.
The result: industries that should have been better positioned than most Americans to absorb an economic downturn are lining up for taxpayer assistance.
