During This Economic Crisis, Capitalism’s Three Point Political Program: 1. Austerity, 2. Scapegoating Blacks, Minorities, and ‘Illegal Immigrants’ for Unemployment, and 3. The Iron Heel.
Democracy?: As the Capitalist Robber Barons Steal from the 99% — Only the 1%Voted For Austerity — The 99% Should Decide On Austerity — Not Just The 1%Who Profit From Austerity! Under Austerity, All of the World Will Eventually Be Pauperized, Humbled, and Desecrated Like Greece and Puerto Rico.
Colinialism hardly ever exploits the whole of a country. It contents itself with bringing to light the natrual resources, which it extracts, and exports to meet the needs of the mother country’s industries, thereby allowing certain sectors of the colony to become relatively rich. But the rest of the colony follows its path of under-development and poverty, or at all events sinks into it more deeply.”― Frantz Fanon, The Wretched of the Earth
A new Washington Post/ABC News poll found a majority of Americans blame President Donald Trump and Republican lawmakers for the partial government shutdown.
The poll also found that a minority of people polled support Trump’s claims that there is a “crisis” at the southern border and its use to support a record-breaking shutdown.
Multiple other polls taken during the government shutdown have found that most people place the blame on Trump.
Walls or Roads By James PetrasHistory is told by Walls and Roads which have marked significant turning points in the relation between peoples and states. History is told by Walls and Roads which have marked significant turning points in the relation between peoples and states. We will discuss the story behind two walls (Berlin Wall and Trump’s) wall) and one road and the circumstances which surround them and their consequences.
Will the Yellow Vests Protests Come to the US?by Kevin Zeese – Margaret Flowers A truth about movements is, they move. They morph, evolve and move around a country or even around the globe. This occurs over months and often over years. The US Occupy encampment era occurred ten months after the Arab Spring and six months after the Spanish Indignado movement – early versions of occupy. It started in New York and then spread across the United States and to other countries. It was a global revolt against the 1% that changed politics in the United States and continues to have impacts today.
Trump vs. the Anti-Trumps: It’s the System That Needs Changing Not Just the Personnel by Richard E. Rubenstein The name of Trump’s game is Personalistic Moralism. The President’s politics are not policy-free, but policies in his political universe are inextricably wedded to personal moral characteristics. If you want the Wall (“border security”), for example, that means you are strong, tough, and protective. You are knowledgeable about the physical and cultural dangers posed by immigrants, and you care for your fellow Americans. But what if you don’t want the Wall? In this case, you are weak, effeminate, ignorant, uncaring, and secretly in favor of “open borders.”
Neoliberalism: Free Market Fundamentalism or Corporate Power? by Richard Moser I’ve been hearing about neoliberalism for a long time now and never could make much sense of it. It turns out the story we tell about neoliberalism is as contradictory as neoliberalism itself. Two currents within the critique of neoliberalism offer different analyses of the current economy and suggest different strategies for dealing with the gross exploitation, wealth inequality, climate destruction and dictatorial governance of the modern corporate order.
The Border Patrol Has Been A Cult Of Brutality Since 1924 By Greg Grandin Since its founding in the early 20th century, the U.S. Border Patrol has operated with near-complete impunity, arguably serving as the most politicized and abusive branch of federal law enforcement — even more so than the FBI during J. Edgar Hoover’s directorship.United States Doesn’t Even Make Top 20 on Global Democracy Index By Andrea Germanos According to the 2018 edition of The Economist Intelligence Unit’s Democracy Index, the U.S. doesn’t even make the list of top 20—its demonstrably “flawed democracy” notching it the 25th spot. Environment:
The EPA Rule Change That Could Kill Thousands By Olivia Alperstein While Americans were quietly preparing to ring inBthe New Year, the EPA gave families a deadly present to start the year off wrong. On December 28, the Environmental Protection Agency announced a proposal that would effectively weaken the Mercury and Air Toxics Standards (MATS), which protect American families from mercury and other harmful air pollutants emitted by power plants.
Warning: A ‘Shrinking Window’ of Usable Groundwater — and the Oil and Gas Industry Isn’t HelpingBy Tara LohanNew analysis reveals that we have much less water in our aquifers than we previously thought — and the oil and gas industry could put that at even greater risk.We’re living beyond our means when it comes to groundwater. That’s probably not news to everyone, but new research suggests that, deep underground in a number of key aquifers in some parts of the United States, we may have much less water than previously thought.
Civil Rights/Black Liberation:
Six Boxes of Mumia Abu-Jamal’s Files Found Hidden in DA Storage Room By Bobby Allyn On January 3, 2019 the office of District Attorney Larry Krasner filed a letter memorandum to Judge Leon Tucker. “DA [Larry Krasner], and members of his staff went to a remote and largely inaccessible of the DA’s office marked “Storage” looking for office furniture.” And found six boxes of files on Mumia Abu-Jamal’s case that were not produced duringthe recent court proceedings.
Shadow Government Statistics Alternate Inflation Charts The CPI chart on the home page reflects our estimate of inflation for today as if it were calculated the same way it was in 1990. The CPI on the Alternate Data Series tab here reflects the CPI as if it were calculated using the methodologies in place in 1980. In general terms, methodological shifts in government reporting have depressed reported inflation, moving the concept of the CPI away from being a measure of the cost of living needed to maintain a constant standard of living. Further definition is provided in our CPI Glossary. Further background on the SGS-Alternate CPI series is available in our Public Comment on Inflation Measurement.
World:
Washington moves towards “regime change” in VenezuelaBy Jorge Martin An imperialist coup d’état attempt is underway in Venezuela. On 10 January, President Maduro was sworn in for a new term of office. He had won the election on May 20. At that time, one section of the opposition decided to participate and another to boycott the elections. On 11 January, Juan Guaidó, the president of the opposition National Assembly (in contempt since 2015), refused to recognise President Maduro and declared himself willing to assume the presidency “with the support of the armed forces, the people and the international community.
Palestine: The History of a People By Ron Jacobs The world recently concluded a religious season when millions of people celebrate the birth of Palestine’s most famous son. It is also the season when the fact of Palestine is further denied; denied both by some of those who worship him and by some of those who deny his divinity. While it is not the intention of this review to discuss matters of religious belief, the truth is that the history of Palestine and its people is wrapped up in religious beliefs. Those beliefs are used by many factions to both prove and deny Palestine as a historical reality. Over time, the discussion regarding that history has been dominated by those who pretend that Palestine was a land without a people. It is these same forces that use this denial to justify the continuing expansion of their occupation of Palestinian lands.
Health, Science, Education, and Welfare:
Engels Was Right: Early Human Kinship Was Matrilineal By Chris Knight In 2008, the Royal Anthropological Institute published a scholarly volume entitled Early Human Kinship.[1] It stemmed from a 2005 workshop held in Gregynog, Wales, as part of the prestigious British Academy Centenary Project ‘From Lucy to Language: The Archaeology of the Human Brain’. It’s common knowledge among anthropologists – part of our origins myth – that Frederick Engels published an influential essay on world prehistory, The Origin of the Family Private Property and the State, shortly after the death of his friend Karl Marx[2]. Engels argued that kinship was originally matrilineal. In association with matrilineal descent, Engels continued, every child was raised not just by its parents alone but by the whole clan.
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