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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.
The price of stamps is going to go up for a second time in a year even as mailings are going down. This is all part of the Dejoy plan to make the USPS a profit-making organization instead of a public service.
Forever stamp Credit: USPS
When it comes to stamps, the word “forever” on first-class mail doesn’t apply to prices.
The U.S. Postal Service is signaling that the price of a First-Class Mail Forever stamp will increase to 73 cents on July 14, 2024, up by a nickel from the 68 cents one currently costs.
When first introduced in 2007, a Forever stamp was 41 cents. The stamps were named as such so one knew they could use the stamp “forever,” regardless of when it was purchased.
The latest proposed changes — to be reviewed and approved by the governors of the Postal Service — also include a nickel hike to the price to mail a 1-ounce metered letter, to 69 cents, the postal service said Tuesday in a news release.
Mailing a postcard domestically will run you 56 cents, a 3-cent increase, while the price of mailing postcards and letters internationally are both rising by a dime to $1.65.
All told, the proposed changes represent a roughly 7.8% increase in the price of sending mail through the agency.
Notably, the price of renting a Post Office Box is not going up, and […]
One of the major mistakes the Biden administration has made during Biden’s tenure, one that has surprised me since it is so obviously a problem, is what Louis Dejoy, a Trumper, has done to the U.S. Post Office. What has happened to America’s oldest national institution is a scandal you rarely hear or read about. But, as this report describes, the damage Dejoy has done may have a negative effect on our being able to hold a fair election.
U.S. Postal Service trucks outside a post office in Wheeling, Ill. Credit: Nam Y. Huh / AP
In Virginia, hundreds of veterans had their colon cancer screening tests invalidated after the results took months to arrive by mail. An Atlanta college student missed an academic trip to Ghana when their passport with two-day shipping took a month to show up. A bride in Texas had to rent a dress for her wedding after hers spent weeks stuck in a Houston postal facility.
Across the country, residents and businesses have been reporting widespread slowdowns in mail and package delivery by the U.S. Postal Service. The delays have become so persistent that members of Congress have gotten involved, urging the Postal Service to drastically correct course and raising concern about what impact the disruptions could have on mail-in ballots in the upcoming election.
The delays appear to largely stem from a new system the Postal Service began rolling out last fall that will eventually funnel all the nation’s letters and packages […]
The rich are laying plans to abandon the country their wealth and their funding of christofascist politicians and policies has driven into a crisis that may end what the United States has been for over two centuries. I think that should be taken as a very significant alarm bell.
The wealthy are building “passport portfolios” — collections of second, and even third or fourth, citizenships — in case they need to flee their home country.
Recent high-profile examples of second citizenships include billionaire tech investor Peter Thiel, who added a citizenship in New Zealand, and former Google CEO Eric Schmidt, who applied for citizenship in Cyprus.
The top destinations for supplemental passports among Americans are Portugal, Malta, Greece and Italy, according to Henley & Partners.
Wealthy U.S. families are increasingly applying for second citizenships and national residences as a way to hedge their financial risk, according to a leading law firm.
The wealthy are building these “passport portfolios” — collections of second, and even third or fourth, citizenships — in case they need to flee their home country. Henley & Partners, a law firm that specializes in high-net-worth citizenships, said Americans now outnumber every other nationality when it comes to securing alternative residences or added citizenships.
“The U.S. is still a great country, it’s still an amazing passport,” said Dominic Volek, group head of private clients at Henley & […]
I am very concerned about AI, and I think you should be as well. I don’t think we are headed down the road of The Matrix movies, but I do think AI is a major threat working to end our democracy. AI has become the key to the weaponization of misinformation in a nation where a majority of the population is only marginally literate and gets what news they do get from social media which has become a cesspool of lies, resentment, racism, and hate.
The “Posthuman” movement in tech has been normalized, but not everyone really understands what it would mean for humanity. Credit: Adobe
A long with inflation and the state of democracy, Americans are increasingly worried about human extinction. A survey from 2017 found that roughly 40% of the U.S. public thinks “the odds that global warming will cause humans to become extinct are 50% or higher.” Another survey published last year reports that 55% of us are either “very worried” or “somewhat worried” that advanced artificial intelligence “could eventually pose a threat to the existence of the human race.”
These concerns are not irrational. After all, the overwhelming consensus among climate scientists is that climate change will have catastrophic consequences in the coming decades. The people running artificial intelligence companies like OpenAI, meanwhile, are explicit that the technologies they’re building could lead to the annihilation of our species. In a 2023 interview, the CEO of OpenAI, Sam Altman, said that “the bad case — and I think […]
The people who actually study climate change, who know the facts, are getting more and more alarmed. Here is an example of what I mean. We are about to have a national election that will define our state and federal governments. Do you see climate change as a major discussion amongst the candidates? You do not. We are going to pay a fearful price for this.
UNFCCC Executive Secretary Simon Stiell speaks during the Closing Plenary at the UN Climate Change Conference at Expo City Dubai in Dubai, United Arab Emirates on Dec. 13, 2023. Credit: COP28 / Christophe Viseux
We are running out of time to take action on climate change, says Simon Stiell, executive secretary of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
In a speech titled “Two Years to Save the World,” Stiell emphasized that governments, development banks and business leaders must take steps to avert much more serious impacts of the climate crisis within that time frame, reported Reuters.
“For those who say that climate change is only one of many priorities, like ending poverty, ending hunger, ending pandemics, or improving education, I simply say this: none of these crucial tasks — indeed none of the Sustainable Development Goals — will be possible unless we get the climate crisis under control,” Stiell said in the speech, delivered at London thinktank Chatham House.
You probably noticed there was no Tuesday edition of SR. Actually, I did produce one but those who are attacking SR deleted it. For two weeks now Beth Alexander my wonderfully skillful webmaster and I have been struggling to keep SR operational. It has been incredibly time-consuming and it has become expensive. I don’t really understand how the attacks are carried out, but they have been constant. I do understand why people are trying to stop SR, but it is not going to work. We are about to make a major transition which, hopefully, will change the equation.
Thom Hartmann, Commentator - Raw Story / Commentary
Stephan:
Thom Hartmann has it spot on, describing the White christofascist rural supporters of criminal Trump. Low education, low IQ, filled with fear and resentment. As Hartmann notes, and I agree, even though Trump and the Republicans have been screwing these people for decades they aren’t smart enough apparently to comprehend what is being done to them. It is very sad, but it is America’s reality today. The only thing that will counterbalance this cohort is you, me, and everyone we know voting for the Democrats. This is not about partisanship. This is about whether democracy is going to survive in the United States or not.
Christofascist Trumpers Credit: Berkeley News
Rural white voters have, in many cases, far more political power than suburban or urban voters, and they’re using that outsized power to push our nation toward disaster. While they’re only 20 percent of the country, for example, because of gerrymandering they control fully 42 percent of seats in the House of Representatives.
The authors of new book, White Rural Rage: The Threat to American Democracy point out that rural whites are measurably more bigoted and xenophobic than suburban or urban voters, 13 points more likely to hate on queer people, 15 points more likely to support Trump’s Muslim ban.
They’re also far more likely to agree that setting democracy aside for a strongman like Trump or another Putin wannabee will “fix the mess and drain the swamp.” And fully 74% of the members of Congress who voted to overturn the 2020 election represented rural districts.
The majority of rural white voters disagree with the statement (or have no opinion) that “diversity makes America stronger.” And while only 22 percent of city […]
You would think that the MAGAts who support criminal Trump would get how badly they have been treated under the Republican Party’s rigging of the IRS tax system to favor the very rich, as is described in this article. You might think that, but they don’t. They whine about their own taxes but don’t seem to have any concept of what is really going on. And it is going to keep going on as long as the Republicans hold power.
Criminal Trump, then President, speaks about the passage of tax reform legislation on the South Lawn of the White House in Washington, D.C., on December 20, 2017. Credit: Brendan Smialowski / AFP / Getty
As of this month, the U.S.’s 806 billionaires are worth a collective $5.8 trillion, meaning that they control 1 in every 25 dollars of American wealth, according to an Americans for Tax Fairness report released Monday.
Due in part to the 2017 tax overhaul by Republicans, led by Donald Trump, this small group has seen an explosion of wealth in an extremely short amount of time.
Since the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act, U.S. billionaire wealth has doubled, from an already staggering $2.9 trillion. In 2017, none […]
