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
Please join me, my wife, and hopefully millions of other Americans, and do not buy anything today, the 28th February. This is the sort of non-violent citizen action that can make a difference. (There is no click through.)
The Republican Congress members in subservience to the uber-rich who bought them their seats, and in submission to aspiring dictator Trump, is trashing the U.S. economy. I am sure you have seen some of the video clips of townhall meetings in which the Republicans are booed and challenged. We are going from an economy that was the envy of the world as Biden’s administration ended to an economy that, I think, is headed into a recession with high unemployment, high prices — as a result of Trump’s tariffs — degraded health care, elder care, child care, and debased education. And here is the thing that MUST be remembered. A small majority of Americans voted for this. They were told in Project 2025 and Trump campaign speeches what was going to happen, and they didn’t listen.
The budget framework House Republicans approved on Tuesday sets the stage for a massive number of cuts to federal programs, many of which directly help their voters. It’s a bold decision for a party whose members were already facing pushback from angry constituents at raucous town halls in safely red congressional districts. The decision to muscle through the bill — regardless of the resulting hardships — shows congressional Republicans are willing to roll the dice on their supporters’ pain not becoming a political problem for them.
It was no small feat that Speaker Mike Johnson, R-La., managed to get his fractious caucus to all back a single bill that smashes together most of the Trump administration’s legislative agenda.
The budget blueprint lays the groundwork for $4.5 trillion in tax cuts over the next decade, while also boosting spending on immigration enforcement and the military by $100 billion. In an entirely lopsided tradeoff, Republicans are also aiming for $2 trillion in spending cuts over the next decade, with a major chunk coming from the […]
I have been appalled and disheartened by the prevailing trend of professional media. Aspiring dictator Trump and his fellow christofascists are trying to manipulate media in a number of ways. But the press is not properly reporting this, or what the implications of destroying a free ethical press means to the U.S.
The American press is “not equipped” to cover a true authoritarian strongman presidency like President Donald Trump is creating, warned Huffington Post senior White House correspondent S.V. Dáte in a dire analysis Wednesday.
“The Washington, D.C., press corps, used to playing small ball for small exclusives, has been suddenly thrust into a presidential administration that appears hell-bent on transforming our constitutional republic into something entirely different,” wrote Dáte. “For decades, the coin of the realm in political journalism was access. Who you knew determined what you knew, and especially what ‘inside’ information the people you knew were willing to give you.”
That kind of reporting can often lead to big scoops in a political environment where politicians play by the rules and care about norms and democracy. But it’s wholly inadequate for the beast the free press, and the American people at large, now face, […]
It isn’t getting much national. media attention but I want my readers to know that the Republicans in service to “king” Trump are trying to dismantle American democracy, not only at the federal level but at the state level as well. The Great Schism Trend I have been telling you about for years is now reaching a pitch where we are now culturally and legally two countries in a single nation. The only thing that I can see that may stop this schism is that Trump is so incompetent, and his Goebbels, Musk, so crude and ignorant as to how a democratic government is supposed to operate, that Americans even in Republican controlled states may rise up in resistance. Let me remind you again: BUY NOTHING TODAY whether online or in person.
On February 20, a dark money group funded by Elon Musk began running ads attacking progressive judge Susan Crawford, who is running in a Wisconsin Supreme Court election in April that will decide the balance of power on the court. Another super-PAC created by Musk has spent $2 million on voter turnout efforts in support of conservative candidate Brad Schimel, a former state attorney general who was appointed to a judgeship in suburban Milwaukee by former Republican Governor Scott Walker. Collectively, groups tied to Musk have already spent more than $4.2 million on the Wisconsin Supreme Court race—a clear sign that his plans for oligarchy extend well beyond Washington.
“I’ve been tracking these races for many years,” says Douglas Keith, senior counsel in the Judiciary Program at the Brennan Center for Justice. “I’ve never seen this much interest in a state supreme court election coming directly from the White House.”
“In North Carolina, there has been a multi-year, hyper focused effort among political actors in the state to gain and keep control over the state […]
Republican members of Congress have recognized that the main block to the Trumpian coup is judges. So what are they doing? They are now trying to impeach those judges, as this report describes. If you are a Republican voter you voted to end the American democratic republic and replace it with a dictator ruled christofascist oligarchy, and you should be ashamed of yourself.
To the surprise of no one, Donald Trump’s maximalist tactics and scorched-earth agenda have generated a series of lawsuits, many of which have fared rather well in the lower courts. It’s also sparked a renewed discussion on the right about impeaching jurists who’ve dared to rule in ways that displease the White House.
For example, Elon Musk, the president’s biggest campaign donor, has already called for a “wave of judicial impeachments, not just one.” (This came after the billionaire demanded the immediate impeachment of a specific district court judge.) Asked recently about the statement, Attorney General Pam Bondi told reporters, “That’s not going to happen now.” She quickly added, however, “We’re going to look at everything.”
Some on Capitol Hill are apparently taking this quite seriously.
We recently discussed chatter among far-right members of Congress about possible articles of impeachment against judges, as the conservative Washington Times reported, some are following through on the scuttlebutt.
Rep. Eli Crane is making […]
And so it starts. The first child in a decade in the United States has just died of measles, and now Robert Kennedy, jr. is attacking psychiatric drugs used in the treatment of children. So if you have a child who is depressed, anxious, or hyperactive. Trump and the Republican Congress members are telling you, “tough… you need to understand your wellbeing and the wellbeing of your children does not matter to us. The only people that matter to us are the rich who buy our seats.”
Health and Human Services (HHS) Secretary Robert F. Kennedy Jr. has made psychiatric medications a focus of his review of the country’s childhood chronic disease crisis, claiming the drugs have been “insufficiently scrutinized” and are addictive.
Childhood psychiatrists insist the drugs, for attention-deficit/hyperactivity disorder (ADHD) and depression, are nonaddictive and proven safe and say they are more concerned about young Americans unable to access psychiatric medications that could help.
Kennedy emphasized his skepticism of these medications during his Senate confirmation hearings.
“Fifteen percent of American youth are now on Adderall or some other ADHD medication. Even higher percentages are on SSRIs and benzos. We are not just overmedicating our children, we are overmedicating our entire population,” Kennedy told the Senate Finance Committee.
The exact rate at which American youths are using ADHD medications is hard to ascertain. Kennedy may have been referring to the results of a Monitoring the Future (MTF) survey released in 2023 that found 15 percent of high school seniors […]
By June I think we will not only be in a recession, we will also have millions of people — notably in Republican-controlled states – in chaos over their healthcare. I predict elder mortality, maternal mortality, and infant mortality will all increase. As I do this research day after day it is like watching a society wrecking crisis occur.
The Republican cost-cutting mantra these days is to slash and burn – and worry about the collateral damage to the American people later.
The House budget resolution that passed last night demands that the congressional committee that oversees Medicare and Medicaid cut $880 billion in spending over the next decade, an order that would require substantial cuts to the entitlement programs that more than 130 million Americans rely on for health care.
Already, the new administration has set its sights on cutting funding to health care, medical research and disease prevention by reducing or freezing funding for the National Institutes of Health, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the Affordable Care Act.
I’m a front-line health care worker in New York City, and like everyone else in this nation, I’m also a consumer of health care. The efforts by President Donald Trump and his cost-cutting czar Elon Musk to decimate our health care system will endanger all Americans’ lives in the name of ill-considered cutbacks. This is terrifying to me – and it should be to you too.
How Medicaid and Medicare Cuts Harm Hospitals
Many Americans may not […]
The safety of the food you and your family eat has now been put in danger by “king” Trump. The Trump coup is putting every American in danger. Do I need to say more?
The Trump administration’s effort to slash the size of the federal workforceopens in a new tab or window reached the FDA this weekend, as recently hired employees who review the safety of food ingredients, medical devices, and other products were fired.
Probationary employeesopens in a new tab or window across the FDA received notices Saturday evening that their jobs were being eliminated, according to three FDA staffers who spoke to the Associated Press on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly.
The total number of positions eliminated was not clear Sunday, but the firings appeared to focus on employees in the agency’s centers for food, medical devices, and tobacco products — which includes oversight of electronic cigarettes. It was not clear whether FDA employees who review drugs were exempted.
On Friday, some officials expected the HHS to fire 5,200 probationary employees across its agencies, according to an audio recording of an NIH department meeting. HHS oversees NIH, FDA, and the CDC, among other things.
People who spoke with the AP on condition of […]
