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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: Everything I read tells me we are far from out of the economic collapse we are in. The stock market may have gone up, but I think we are a long way off from returning to anything like what we used to call a "normal" economy.
China’s economy is reopening in the wake of the pandemic, and the country is almost alone in seeing growth this year, according to the World Bank Credit: AFP/Noel Celis
Washington (AFP) – The coronavirus pandemic inflicted a “swift and massive shock” that has caused the broadest collapse of the global economy since 1870 despite unprecedented government support, the World Bank said Monday.
The world economy is expected to contract by 5.2 percent this year — the worst recession in 80 years — but the sheer number of countries suffering economic losses means the scale of the downturn is worse than any recession in 150 years, the World Bank said in its latest Global Economic Prospects report.
“This is a deeply sobering outlook, with the crisis likely to leave long-lasting scars and pose major global challenges,” said World Bank Group Vice President for Equitable Growth, Finance and Institutions Ceyla Pazarbasioglu.
The depth of the crisis will drive 70 to 100 million people into extreme poverty — worse than the prior estimate of 60 million, she told reporters.
And while the Washington-based development lender projects a rebound for […]
Stephan: I have been warning my readers for a decade that about this time it was going to become clear how endangered coastal properties, were, and that this would have a very negative effect on real estate prices. I really hope that readers who own such property closely examine the situation in their area. This is not going to be uniform in any way, but it is going to be devastating when it hits.
U.S. taxpayers could be on the hook for billions of dollars in climate-related property losses as the government backs a growing number of mortgages on homes in the path of floods, fires and extreme weather.
Violent storms and sunny-day flooding are on the rise, and more houses are being built on at-risk land. But fewer people are buying federally backed flood insurance despite requirements that homeowners in flood plains be insured if their mortgage is backed by taxpayers.
In short, the government’s biggest housing subsidies — mortgage guarantees and flood insurance — are on course to hit taxpayers and the housing market as the effects of climate change worsen, a POLITICO analysis finds. A series of disasters in a single region could trigger a full-blown housing crash.
“Where catastrophe happens and physical climate really manifests itself, the public tab will end up carrying this,” said Ivan Frishberg, vice president for sustainability banking with Amalgamated Bank. “Everyone is exposed in this. I’ve had conversations with all of the big banks and we are kind of all aware of this.”
Stephan: Tonight my wife and I watched an hour of China Global Television Network America, a channel controlled by the Chinese Communist Party. I have been doing this regularly, and I wanted to see how Ronlyn would react. and she wanted to see how what America has become was playing on the dominant Asian media source. She saw what I saw. You can make very powerful propaganda by telling the truth. All the images and interviews on the CGT are authentic and factual. You see the same thing on your television. This is America's truth. But the effect on America's stature in the world is devastating.
TOPSHOT – Police officers clash with protestors near the White House on June 1, 2020. Credit: Jose Luis Magana / AFP) / ALTERNATE CROP
When massive protests broke out in Hong Kong last year over a contentious extradition bill, part of a pattern of Chinese encroachment on the semiautonomous city, senior U.S. officials including President Trump and Secretary of State Mike Pompeo issued calls for security forces and Beijing to respect the rights of protesters and listen to their demands.
Less than a year later, with the world’s attention captured by images of U.S. authorities using tear gas, pepper spray and rubber bullets to crack down on protesters against racism and police brutality, China and other U.S. rivals have seized the opportunity to highlight U.S. domestic turbulence and accuse Washington of hewing to double standards.
Over the past week — as Americans flooded the streets of major cities in response to the death of George Floyd, a black man who died in police custody in Minneapolis last week after a white officer knelt on his […]
Stephan: You can understand why fascist administrations like Trump's, do not like facts or a free press. Because when there are facts like these, you don't want anyone to know them.
About half of trash generated in the US is unaccounted for. Credit: Jeff Smith/Alamy
The US is far behind other industrialized nations on environmental performance and now ranks 24th in the world, according to a new analysis by Yale and Columbia universities.
Denmark came in first place, followed by Luxembourg and Switzerland. The United Kingdom ranked fourth.
The findings come as the Trump administration has continued to weaken environmental protections in a quest to relax rules on industry and expand fossil fuel development which threatens to put the country even further behind its peers.
Donald Trump has called himself a “big believer in the environment” and insisted he wants “the cleanest water, the cleanest air” but in the Environmental Performance Index’s two-decade history, including during his presidency, the US has never risen to the top of the rankings.
“Countries that make an effort do better than those that don’t and the US right now is not making an effort. That shows up in a stagnation in the rankings where others are really […]
Stephan: In the midst of the Covid-19 pandemic, and the largest civil rights outcry since the Civil Rights, and anti-Viet Nam War protests, Donald Trump decided to further destroy the world ecosystem, at a time when it is already collapsing.
This man is so despicable I just don't have the right words to express my contempt for him.
BANGOR, MAINE — Today, President Donald Trump traveled to Bangor, Maine to issue a proclamation that opens up the Northeast Canyons and Seamounts Marine National Monument to commercial fishing, threatening the destruction of this sensitive, biologically important marine reserve. It’s the latest in a long list of Trump’s environmental attacks launched under cover of national and international crises.
The Northeast Canyons and Seamounts off the New England coast was the first national marine monument to be designated in the Atlantic Ocean and is one of just five marine monuments nationwide. It protects 4,913 square miles of pristine ocean ecosystem – an area nearly the size of Connecticut, covering 1.5 percent of U.S. federal waters on the Atlantic Coast.
Trump tried to justify his action by claiming that designation of the monument by President Barack Obama in September 2016 under the Antiquities Act of 1906 was bad for fishing in the region.
But in fact, a 2018 study of data from the region showed that catch and revenue from some […]
Stephan: How sick is the Trumper world? Here's a pretty good answer.
I have never met George Soros, but from 1981 to 1993, when I was involved with Russia, through citizen diplomacy, and a series of joint ventures, I spent about four months a year some years, in Russia. In that time I got to know and worked with a number of Soros' folk. And I will tell you this. George Soros and Donald Kendall CEO of Pepsi Cola, were the only two major American financial players who became involved with trying to nurture democracy in Russia. And no one exceeded Soros, who poured several hundred million dollars into the effort. I developed incredible respect for the man, and what he had done with his life.
That he was eventually overcome by the rise of the oligarchs, and the power takeover by KGB guys, like Putin, is not his fault. It happened, in my view, because most of the U.S. State Department, supported by America's corporate oligarchs, would not put down their cold war prejudices until it was too late to matter.
The posts are similar in nature and tone to some of the racist posts by local GOP officials in recent days that suggested the killing of Floyd in Minneapolis police custody was done with the intent of starting a race war or to erode black support for President Donald Trump. The posts from those local officials have prompted calls for resignation from the state’s top GOP officials.
One post from Miller on Sunday included an image of Soros with accompanying text that read, “Climate change didn’t work. Impeachment didn’t work. The virus didn’t work. Start the race war.”
“The man is pure evil!” Miller commented.
“Folks this is not a protest,” read another post from early Sunday morning. “It is a well orchestrated attack on America’s major cities with plans to attack […]
Stephan: Trump is an incompetent psychopath and he has never understood the point of NATO or why we have maintained military outposts in Europe for 75 years. This action of his is getting zero coverage in the electronic media that just goes over and over the same thing. But in Europe and in Russia this is a game changer. Trump has done what Putin has sought since he came to power, and once again one has to ask: What is it that Putin has that holds Trump by his balls?
Donald Trump and European leaders
Perhaps only President Donald Trump could turn a withdrawal of troops into an act of aggression.
The president has directed the Pentagon to reduce sharply the number of U.S. military forces stationed in Germany, where a heavy presence of GIs has long served as a symbol of Washington’s commitment to protecting its European allies.
The White House would not confirm the plan, which was first reported Friday by the Wall Street Journal, but current and former officials familiar with it said Trump would cap the U.S. military presence at 25,000 — requiring a reduction of nearly 30 percent, or roughly 9,700 troops.
As of March 31, there were 34,674 U.S. military personnel stationed in Germany, including 20,774 from the Army and 12,980 from the Air Force, according to the most recent publicly-available Pentagon deployment report.
Some 19,000 additional civilian employees support the uniformed military forces, and that number would almost certainly be cut as a result of the planned withdrawals.
The reduction in forces stands to reverse an increase […]
Stephan: John Alexander has been studying and writing about geopolitical issues for decades, and he has a very discerning eye. In this essay he describes in some detail the damage Trump is doing to America's international standing. This is something it will be very hard to fix.
President Donald Trump speaks from the Oval Office of the White House
Credit: Carlos Barria/Pool Photo/AP
Isolationism is a path well-travelled, but the results never have been efficacious. Based on fear and ignorance, invariably such tendencies of appeasement and willful ignorance of political realities too often have led to war. Geographically, the United States long have benefited from the physical separation afforded by oceans. Such was the case prior to both World War I and World War II. Many Americans naively believed that whatever happened in Europe was none of our concern. Prior to the attack on Pearl Harbor, for the vast majority of our citizens, events in Asia barely were even an afterthought.
Following the experience of WW I, the country was deeply divided concerning re-engagement in foreign affairs. There were famous people who opposed America either getting involved in the war against Germany, or even materially supporting the UK while they were in dire straits. Among those leading that effort was legendary aviator, Charles Lindbergh, who first soloed across the Atlantic and who later became the spokesperson […]
