IF YOU ENJOY SR AND FIND IT USEFUL WOULD YOU PLEASE DONATE
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.
As I was researching stories for today’s SR, I did a podcast with a host named Helen Cowan. She asked me what I thought was going on in the United States, and what I thought ordinary people could do to preserve the nation’s democracy and avoid the country being owned by oligarchs. As I answered her I thought that rather than do the usual four trend stories I publish in SR each day, I would put my answers into writing. (I will provide the link to the interview when she posts it.) Please pass this essay on to anyone you think will act on it.
We Americans, whether we want to acknowledge it or not, are undergoing a fascist coup led by a medically determined psychopath funded by oligarchs who want to create a kind of neo-medievalism in which a financial aristocracy owns and controls the government, and imposes its racial, gender, and financial views upon a docile peasantry. So what can an ordinary democracy-loving American without wealth or official office do that can stop this?
For nearly 50 years I have been studying the factual historical evidence that answers that question, and the answers are very clear, and they teach us that you, whoever you are, wherever you are, how rich or poor you are whichever race or gender you are, you can become an agent of change. To begin, realize this: A society and its culture are the creation of collective intentioned consciousness. That is why the Japanese cook eggplant differently than the Italians. Also, realize something else history teaches: When the collective intentioned nonviolent consensus of a society makes fostering wellbeing at every level of Earth’s matrix of life its priority, the social outcome is kinder, happier, more successful, and fairer than any other social option.
So, with that as a factually irrefutable foundation, what can you do to stop what is happening to the United States? There are four things you can do. First, you must be nonviolent. Second, you must associate with some collective organization that seeks to nonviolently demonstrate in public assembly its opposition to what is happening. Third, you must not spend any money at all, ever, buying something produced or sold by anyone or any company, that supports Project 2025 and the oligarchial fascist, racist, genderist coup. (Link to list) Fourth, you must tell at least 10 of your family and friends that you are doing these things as a discipline, and invite them to join you, and for them to ask at least 10 of their family and friends to join them in this commitment.
If just the people who read this will make this commitment we will be able to preserve the America the Founders created and the democracy we have known all our lives. Will you join me?
Henry Redman, Reporter - Wisconsin Examiner / Raw Story
Stephan:
It is apparently now legal in the United States for oligarchs to openly bribe American voters to vote for the candidate of their choice. Can this possibly be true? I am ashamed to tell you it is, and here is the factual proof. Psychopath Trump’s Frankenstein co-president Musk, as this report describes, is openly offering bribes to Wisconsin voters in the upcoming state Supreme Court election to vote for fascist Brad Schimel. Attorney General Pam Bondi seems to have no problem with that. Are Wisconsin voters really that dishonorable? We are about to find out.
Musk PAC offers voters $100 for signing petition against ‘activist judges’
A political action committee associated with Elon Musk is offering Wisconsin voters $100 if they sign a petition “in opposition to activist judges” and another $100 if they refer another person who signs the petition. The petition requires people to provide a name, address, email and phone number — information that will help the group make further contact with voters.
The group, America PAC, has reported spending more than $7 million in support of Waukesha County Judge Brad Schimel’s campaign for state Supreme Court. Musk himself has contributed more than $13 million to pro-Schimel efforts.
During the campaign, Schimel’s opponent, Dane County Judge Susan Crawford, has accused Musk of trying to buy a seat on the Wisconsin Supreme Court. Musk’s company, Tesla, recently filed a lawsuit against the state seeking to change Wisconsin’s law about who can operate car dealerships within the state.
Schimel himself has portrayed himself as a “support network” for President Donald Trump if elected to the Court.
Derrick Honeyman, a spokesperson for the Crawford campaign, accused Musk of “buying votes.”
Americans, at least some of them, seem to be waking up to what is being done to the democracy, economics, and gender and racial equality of the United States by psychopath Trump and his oligarchs and MAGAt (formerly Republican) Party. I completely support this, and my wife and I are amongst the boycotters.
One in five Americans plan to turn their backs for good on companies that have shifted their policies to align with Donald Trump’s agenda, according to a new poll for the Guardian.
As high-profile brands including Amazon, Target and Tesla grapple with economic boycotts, research by the Harris Poll indicated the backlash could have a lasting impact.
“Companies and consumers are playing a high-stakes game of chicken – corporations betting on convenience winning out over conviction, while consumers wield their spending power like a weapon,” said Libby Rodney, chief strategy officer at the Harris Poll.
“The data suggests this is a miscalculation,” she said. “When 20% of Americans are permanently changing their consumption habits and nearly a third of boycotters say they’ll hold out indefinitely, convenience may no longer be the decisive factor companies think it is.”
When asked about the boycotts that have been making headlines over the last few weeks, 36% of Americans said they are or will be participating.
The strength of feeling varied significantly among people of different generations, races and political views:
53% of gen Zers and 46% of millennials said they are participating in boycotts, […]
Katherine Fung and Jenna delong, Staff Reporters - Newsweek
Stephan:
Here is a list of companies and individuals who are supporting psychopath “king” Trump and what he is doing to the United States. If you want to stop the destruction of American democracy, our economy, gender and racial equality, and the place of the United States in the world, don’t spend a dime with any of these companies. (click through to get the full list.)
List of Companies and Executives Who Have Donated to Donald Trump
Below are a list of companies that have either donated to Trump’s presidential campaign or the Presidential Inaugrual Committee.
Elon Musk: $290 million
Timothy Mellon: $150 million
Adelson Clinic for Drug Abuse Treatment & Research: $106 million
In the course of my life, as I have studied how wellbeing fostering social transformations can be made to happen, I have spent a considerable amount of time in fascist, authoritarian, and communist countries. One of the things I learned over those years is that the people in those countries become very sensitive to tripwires that can bring them to the negative attention of their governments. Things Americans know nothing about because it has never before been important to know them. This article describes something you have probably never even thought about but under the coup being conducted by psychopath “king” Trump and the MAGAt (formerly Republican) Party, you now need to bear in mind.
Illustration: Lex Villena; Linda Johnsonbaugh Credit:Dreamstime.com
One of President Donald Trump’s Day 1 executive orders designated “certain international cartels” as “foreign terrorist organizations,” a classification that according to the State Department “play[s] a critical role in our fight against terrorism and [is] an effective means of curtailing support for terrorist activities and pressuring groups to get out of the terrorism business.”
To that end, the U.S. Department of the Treasury’s Financial Crimes Enforcement Network (FinCEN) announced a new rule cracking down on cash transactions this week, but only in certain geographical regions. No matter the administration’s intent to target cartels, the rule will expand government surveillance of its citizens.
FinCEN “issued a Geographic Targeting Order (GTO) to further combat the illicit activities and money laundering of Mexico-based cartels and other criminal actors along the southwest border of the United States,” according to the announcement. “The GTO requires all money services businesses (MSBs) located in 30 ZIP codes across California and Texas near the southwest border to file Currency Transaction Reports (CTRs) with FinCEN at a $200 threshold, in connection with cash transactions.”
The Trumpian authoritarian coup continues, and democracy dissipates; all of this following Hitler’s action list point by point. What stands out for me is how weak the institutional resistance is. Universities are docilely falling to their knees. Law firms are proving equally craven. There is only one way this is going to stop. You — and I mean you — must participate in some kind of pro-democracy movement in your local area, and get out into the streets with them. It will take hundreds of thousands of people in the streets every day demonstrating against Trump, Musk, and the MAGAt Party. That is the only thing that will preserve American democracy and create a spine in your Congress representative and your senators.
Illustration: Sarah Grillo/Axios
The Trump administration’s attacks on universities have come swiftly and forcefully: grants slashed, thousands of jobs cut and anxiety through the roof.
Why it matters: Universities produce a great deal of the scientific and technological research that drives America forward.
Professors and administrators fear that the Trump administration’s blunt approach — hitting the brakes on funding to target what it sees as longstanding culture problems on campuses — will set innovation back decades.
The money quote: “The United States is home to the best collection of research universities in the world. Those universities have contributed tremendously to America’s prosperity, health, and security. They are magnets for outstanding talent from throughout the country and around the world,” Princeton president Christopher Eisgruber wrote in the Atlantic this week.
“The Trump administration’s recent attack on Columbia University puts all of that at risk.”
Driving the news: The Trump administration is pulling multiple levers to squeeze universities. Institutions across the country are watching the administration’s moves closely — and wondering if they’ll be the next one in the spotlight.
Jon Clifton and Julie Ray, - The Gallup Organization
Stephan:
The other day SR had an article about the happiest nations in the world. Not surprisingly the United States is not even in the top 20 — we are 24th — and dropping. This report from Gallup shows factually, how countries become happy: They make fostering wellbeing, kindness, and integrity their top priorities. I have been telling you this for 30 years based on my decades of research on successful social transformations. Right now the United States is going in exactly the opposite direction.
WASHINGTON, D.C. — This year’s World Happiness Report not only reveals which country is the happiest in the world but also underscores the power of kindness: New evidence shows acts of generosity and the belief in others’ goodwill are significant predictors of happiness, even more so than earning a higher salary.
These findings couldn’t come at a more important time. Gallup trends show that acts of benevolence — helping a stranger, volunteering time and donating money — have dropped significantly from their pandemic-era peak. Though still higher than pre-pandemic levels, the sudden drop-off in these behaviors raises questions about where these trends might be headed.
And the Happiest Country in the World Is …
In the latest happiness rankings, Nordic countries continue to dominate the top spots, with Finland, Denmark, Iceland and Sweden maintaining their positions as the happiest countries in the world. Finland remains in a league of its own, followed by Denmark and Iceland, which are closely grouped together, and Sweden rounding out the top four.
https://datawrapper.dwcdn.net/ocLse/2
This year’s top 10 countries also include Costa Rica and Mexico from Latin America and Israel […]
I confess this report surprised me. I thought Bill Gates, and his cohorts, recognized that no matter what Trump did they would stay the course funding things that would help prepare for the ongoing climate disaster. But apparently not. I see this as yet another trend confirming the coming 20040 catastrophe I described in my research papers I made available to readers.
Bill Gates seated at a conference hosted by TIME Credit: Jemal Countess / Stringer / Getty
As if there was any doubt, we can go ahead and officially add climate change to the list of things that we can’t count on billionaires to figure out for us. According to the New York Times, Breakthrough Energy, a joint venture between Bill Gates and a handful of other billionaires who at least nominally care about the environment, is laying off a significant portion of its staff, which will likely neuter its capability to lobby and influence policy.
Now, on one hand, there’s some logic behind the shift in strategy for Breakthrough Energy, which was founded in 2015 and had its coffers filled with $1 billion worth of ammunition to pour into high-risk, high-reward climate solutions and innovations. The organization is slashing its policy staff—particularly in the United States—per the Times, reasoning that it’s unlikely they’ll be able to make much headway in shaping laws during the Trump administration.
That’s probably not a bad call, as Trump famously does not believe climate change is a real […]
