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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.
I don’t know how anyone can see this as anything but a threat by criminal Trump to Judge Juan Merchan. A threat that he better not to put him in prison or, if Trump is elected, he will face severe retribution. We are watching one man get away, again and again, with actions, and words, that would result in the incarceration of anyone else. And it goes on day after day with nothing happening to him.
Criminal Trump will hold the judge responsible for how the sentence affects his campaign, his inner circle said. Credit: Composite: AP / Getty
Donald Trump is determined to avoid jail, but if he does get handed a prison sentence after his conviction on 34 felony counts in New York last week, the former president’s inner circle is certain he will lay the blame squarely at the judge’s feet, sources familiar with the matter said.
The precise way Trump might blame the judge, Juan Merchan, remains unclear because Trump has been avoidant of the issue and the matter was not resolved when he huddled with his top advisers at a Trump Tower meeting immediately after the verdict on Thursday, the sources said.
But Trump is likely to double down on his attacks against Merchan, directing his supporters at rallies and in Truth Social posts to take up their grievances with the judge, one of the sources added.
The consequences of Trump’s likely rhetoric are difficult to predict. Trump has been railing against Merchan for months as being unfair and in conspiracy cahoots with the Biden administration […]
There was a time when the United States was considered to have the best public education system in the world. However, those days are long gone. The U.S. now has one of the worst public education systems in the developed world, and the American population as a result is the least literate, and the least numerate compared with populations in other developed nations. Like our healthcare system, our roads, bridges, and our railroads, our public education system is in steep decline. As a result, because we have one party that has little or no interest in fostering wellbeing through effective good governance the United States is a country in decline.
Florida public school classroom Credit: Getty
Florida’s public school enrollment rate is dropping, but experts are divided on how much its universal school choice program is to blame.
Multiple districts in the state are closing schools, as attendance falls while thousands of students flock to private school or homeschooling options.
Some experts believe the shift is the natural result of giving parents more options in schooling, while others say Florida’s “lack of transparency” in private school data is hiding a bigger story.
“I don’t think it would be a surprise, or that it should be surprise, that as school choice grows significantly, that it means people are often leaving public schools, and, as that occurs, public schools and public-school districts may have to change how they operate,” said Neal McCluskey, director for the Center for Educational Freedom at the CATO Institute. “That may mean some schools should shut down.”
“That is not a problem with choice because choice in this case — people are selecting something that they think works better for themselves. And that’s ultimately […]
Maria Ramirez Uribe and Amy Sherman, Staff Writers - Politifact
Stephan:
I got an email today from a woman who wrote asking me did I not understand “that the immigrants Biden is letting in are drug dealers, people from mental institutions, and criminals? You say you do trends, why aren’t you writing about this trend? It is destroying our country.” I know this is based on a Trump quote that President Biden “is letting millions of people from jails, from prisons, from insane asylums, from mental institutions, drug dealers pour in.” I see this all over MAGAt media. Is it true? Well, let’s deal with some actual facts, as this report describes. Trump’s claim, like almost everything he says is, in fact, absolute crap.
Republican presidential candidate former President Donald Trump talks with Maj. Gen. Thomas Suelzer, Adjutant General for the State of Texas, at Shelby Park during a visit to the U.S.-Mexico border, Feb. 29, 2024, in Eagle Pass, Texas. Credit: AP
Former President Donald Trump, who has promised to carry out the “largest domestic deportation operation” in U.S. history if reelected, says an enormous number of immigrants entering the country illegally are people with mental illnesses or criminal records.
President Joe Biden “is letting millions of people from jails, from prisons, from insane asylums, from mental institutions, drug dealers pour in,” Trump told reporters May 29 in Manhattan during his falsified business records trial. “Venezuela, if you look at their crime statistics, they’ve gone down 72% in crime because they’re releasing all their criminals into our country because of this horrible president that we have.”
We fact-checked a similar statement by Trump about Venezuela and rated it False. Here, we will examine Trump’s statement that “millions” of immigrants are […]
MORGAN PHILLIPS, Congressional Reporter - Daily Mail
Stephan:
You’ve probably never heard of Victoria Spartz, MAGAt Republican representing Indiana’s mostly rural 5th District. Like Jim Jordan, Matt Gaetz, Tommy Tubberville, Marjorie Taylor Greene, and the list goes on and on these are the kind men and women Americans are choosing as their leaders. And that, I think, is the main problem this country faces. The people of the Red states are so aggrieved, racist, and angry, and feel so victimized, that they are electing people who personify their emotional state and don’t seem to care about preserving democracy. If the people don’t care about democracy, how does a democracy survive. Maybe it doesn’t. We are going to see in November.
The hot-tempered, Ukrainian-born Indiana Republican has been named ‘worst boss’ on Capitol Hill, and her office has been a revolving door of staffers who think they are ‘tough’ enough to handle her berating, only to head for the exits shortly afterCredit: Getty
Republican Rep. Victoria Spartz’s former staffers have made explosive claims she was ‘manic’ and ‘abusive’ and would throw furniture at aides.
The hot-tempered Ukrainian-born Indiana lawmaker has been named the ‘worst boss’ on Capitol Hill and her conduct is now at the center of an ethics complaint.
Her office has been a revolving door of staffers who think they are ‘tough’ enough to handle it, only to head for the exits shortly after.
One source said that Spartz had ‘thrown shoes’ at her district staff, and ‘blew up’ at them in front of constituents on multiple occasions.
Ethics staffers have been in contact with former Spartz aides about the complaint, DailyMail.com has confirmed, but it’s not clear at what stage their probe is. Politico first reported the committee had made ‘preliminary inquiries’ into complaints […]
This article makes it very clear why so many Americans are worried and angry over the cost of renting a place to live. What do you know? As this article describes it is largely the result of the actions of real estate owning oligarchs, particularly Harlan Crow.
Two weeks ago, on Wednesday, May 22, the Federal Bureau of Investigation raided the Atlanta headquarters of Cortland Management. According an MLex article on May 29, the FBI raid was
… part of a criminal antitrust investigation by the US Department of Justice into a conspiracy to artificially inflate rents for apartment units.
The inspection comes as the DOJ’s antitrust division deepens its investigation into the rental housing market and the use of a price-setting software provided by RealPage, whose clients include some of the largest US residential real estate owners and management companies…. Cortland is named among dozens of defendants in a putative class action in Tennessee alleging the use of RealPage’s software platform to coordinate and agree upon rental housing pricing and supply.
As David Cay Johnston points out, such price fixing is […]
Robert Reich, Carmel P. Friesen Professor of Public Policy at the Goldman School of Public Policy at the University of California, Berkeley, and a Senior Fellow at the Blum Center for Developing Economies - Reader Supported News
Stephan:
I have recently had an exchange with someone I don’t know about voting for RFK Jr. He seems to think it is a kind of protest vote. I have tried to explain to him that we have a two-party system, with one winner. A vote for any third-party candidate in this election is basically a vote for criminal Trump. He just doesn’t get it. Maybe this article by Robert Reich will make it clearer. Let me also say to all SR readers, this is an election on whether we continue as a democracy or not. Forget about political partisanship. You must vote for only Democrats. They are far from perfect, but they do support continued democracy, and the Republicans explicitly do not.
Friends,
Today, the 80th anniversary of D-Day, seems an appropriate occasion to reaffirm our commitment to democracy and against fascism — which means doing whatever we can to ensure that Joe Biden wins the 2024 presidential election.
One big threat to a Biden victory comes from third-party candidates Cornel West, Jill Stein, and Robert F. Kennedy Junior.
Over the last few days, I’ve had conversations with a number of friends and former students who tell me they’re considering voting for one of these third-party candidates.
Why? Some say they’re angry with Biden for giving support and weapons to Netanyahu and not doing enough to stop the slaughter in Gaza. Others say they’re upset with Biden for his new border policy, which will make it harder for immigrants to seek asylum in the U.S.
They acknowledge that a second Trump term would be a disaster, but they tell me they’re tired of voting for the “lesser of two evils.”
I tell them that in the upcoming election, the larger of two evils is truly evil.
I also tell them that if this were an ordinary election — pitting a conservative Republican against a liberal Democrat — I wouldn’t be nearly as concerned about their voting for a third-party candidate.
I have not seen this story covered in any newspaper, or mentioned on any network. I had to go to a British paper to get a general article for SR. I see this as a major wakeup call about what climate change is doing. We are simply not taking climate change seriously enough. Only the insurance companies seem to get it, and they show this by no longer insuring properties near the California forests.
A firefighter works to extinguish the Highland Fire near Aguanga, California, on 31 October 2023. Credit: Mike Blake. / Reuters
More than 50,000 people have died prematurely in California over a decade due to exposure to toxic particles in wildfire smoke, according to a new study.
Wildfires create smoke containing PM2.5, tiny particles roughly one-thirtieth of a human hair that can embed themselves deep in the lungs and enter the bloodstream. The particles have been linked to numerous health conditions and premature death. Previous research has found that the wildfire smoke is exposing millions of people in the US to the harmful pollutant.
In a study published in Science Advances this week, researchers used a new epidemiological model to examine the impacts of wildfire PM2.5 exposure between 2008-2018: a period that includes some of the state’s most destructive and deadly fire seasons. There were at least 52,480 premature deaths attributed to exposure to the inhalable particulate matter from wildfires, and at least $432bn in health expenses associated with the exposure, according to the study.
The research is the first to quantify the long-term impacts of chronic […]
I am genuinely concerned that a part of MAGAt world already armed and not very emotionally stable may create serious civil violence, and the criminal Republican Party knows this and is betting on its happening. He is my take on consciousness, authoritarianism, and political violence, which I see as a major threat to our democracy.
White christofascist terrorism Credit: Go Nakamura / Reuters
Day after day as one watches their television or computer screen or reads most fact-based media, one sees an endless series of stories of Trump followers being called to commit acts of political violence, while social media apps fill the minds of Americans with weaponized disinformation specifically designed to enrage them, make them feel victimized and resentful, and encourage them to violence.1 This confluence of modern technology and long-established psychological manipulation techniques has produced something never before seen in the United States, and it has been going on for several years now. Judges are under threat. Their children are under threat; prosecutors have to have security protection. Since Trump began these calls for violence election workers by the score have been quitting their posts making conducting a safe and fair election in some districts increasingly problematic.2
Civil political violence particularly since the January 6th insurrection, has become one of the most notable features of the American political landscape, and two things stand out about […]
