Daily News Digest March 19, 2019

Daily News Digest March 19, 2019

Daily News Digest Archives

Laura Gray’s cartoon from the front page of The Militant August 18, 1945, under banner headline: “There Is No Peace”

During This Economic Crisis, Capitalism’s Three Point Political Program: Austerity, Scapegoat Blacks, Minorities, and ‘Illegal’ Immigrants for Unemployment, and  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.

Image of the Day:

Step Aside?

Quotes of the Day:

As the world urbanizes and industrializes, and as effects of climate change intensify, environmental crises will increasingly devastate the lives, health, and livelihoods of people around the globe. A lack of legal regulation and enforcement of industrial and artisanal mining, large-scale dams, deforestation, domestic water and sanitation systems, and heavily polluting industries can lead to host of human rights violations. Activists and ordinary citizens defending their rights to land and the environment may face intimidation, legal harassment and deadly violence. The primary victims of environmental harm are often impoverished and marginalized communities with limited opportunity to meaningfully participate in decision-making and public debate on environmental issues, and have little access to independent courts to achieve accountability and redress Arantxa Cedillo for Human Rights Watch

 Videos of the Day:

  “No War for Oil” as Thousands March Against US Intervention in VenezuelaAs part of an international day against US intervention in Venezuela, a mobilization in Washington, DC with speakers Daniel Ellsberg and Jill Stein emphasized that Trump is only interested in Venezuela’s resources, not in its human rights

Union Leaders Embrace Return of ‘The Market’ in Cuba

Iranian Human Rights Lawyer Sentenced to 38 Years and 148 Lashes

U.S.:

The United States is not a Democracy (A government in which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly)! Only the 1%, through their ownership of the Republicrats and who profit from war and the war budget, vote for War and the war budget — A policy, which Gore Vidal called a  Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace.— The 99% Should Decide On War — Not Just The 1% Who Profit From War!  Under a Democracy, The 99% would have the right to vote on the policy of Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace!

Terrorism Has No Religion The only way to begin is by joining in sorrow with those bereaved in Christchurch on 15 March and remembering and respecting the fellow humanity of those who, so painfully recently, were also living. Of course, we must find a way to comfort those made fearful by this terror: especially since such fear-making was its major purpose. By Scott Poynting

Trump Defends Fox Hosts’ Racist Remarks As White House Dismisses Reports That President Inspired Christchurch Attacker“This is a president who peddled the birther conspiracy about President Obama, called for a complete and total shutdown of Muslims…if that’s not white nationalism then I don’t know what is.” By Julia Conley

Cries of ‘Shame!’ Heard at Arlington County, Va. Hearing as Officials Approve $23M in Incentives for Amazon” You claim Arlington is a place for all, for immigrants, for equality, [and] clamor for the attention of a company that does the opposite.” Anti-Amazon protesters in Arlington County, Virginia were outraged Saturday after the county board dismissed outright their concerns over the corporate giant’s decision to build a headquarters in Crystal City—voting unanimouslyto approve $23 million in tax incentives for the company. By Julia Conley

Instead of a wall, what if we built an energy corridor? A bold new plan proposes that the United States and Mexico jointly build a 1,954-mile energy park along the border instead of a wall. The proposal, by 28 prominent U.S. scientists and engineers, says that the effort would bring abundant energy and water to the region while also providing border security and economic stability. (Purdue University photo/Jorge Castillo Quiñones)

A bold new plan proposes that the United States and Mexico jointly build a 1,954-mile energy park along the border instead of a wall. The proposal, by 28 prominent U.S. scientists and engineers, says that the effort would bring abundant energy and water to the region while also providing border security and economic stability. (Purdue University photo/Jorge Castillo Quiñones)

 Environment:

The Insect Apocalypse Is Here What does it mean for the rest of life on Earth?Then came the German study. Scientists are still cautious about what the findings might imply about other regions of the world. But the study brought forth exactly the kind of longitudinal data they had been seeking, and it wasn’t specific to just one type of insect. The numbers were stark, indicating a vast impoverishment of an entire insect universe, even in protected areas where insects ought to be under less stress. The speed and scale of the drop were shocking even to entomologists who were already anxious about bees or fireflies or the cleanliness of car windshields. The results were surprising in another way too. The long-term details about insect abundance, the kind that no one really thought existed, hadn’t appeared in a particularly prestigious journal and didn’t come from university-affiliated scientists, but from a small society of insect enthusiasts based in the modest German city Krefeld.  By Brooke Jarvis

The FDA Should Protect Consumers, Not a Dying Dairy Industry Do you think almond milk comes from a cow named Almond? Or that almonds lactate? The dairy industry thinks you do, and that’s what it’s telling the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). For years, the dairy industry has been flexing its lobbying muscle, pressuring states and the federal government to restrict plant-based companies from using terms like “milk” on their labels, citing consumer confusion. The National Milk Producers Federation even helped get the “Dairy Pride Act” introduced, as part of its war on plant-based products. My organization, Compassion Over Killing (COK) and more than 10,000 petition signers suggest a better option: If the dairy industry has “pride” in its own product, why not clearly label it “cow’s milk”? By Cheryl Leahy

Organic Farms Are Under Attack From Agribusiness, Weakened StandardsThe certified organic label has helped save many generational farms and enabled people like me, who do not come from agricultural backgrounds, to become successful farmers. Organic farming has brought environmental benefits — healthier soils, freedom from toxic pesticides and herbicides — U.S. Boasts 6.5 Million Acres of Organic Certified Land with 460 New Operations in 2018in the U.S. Organic shoppers are willing to pay a little extra for food that is free from chemical residues. But the organic label is in trouble after The labels said ‘organic.’ But these massive imports of corn and soybeans weren’t.On top of that, agribusiness pressures and National Organic Program (NOP) actions have weakened standards. Yet at a time when farms are in distress, family-scale farmers need a label with integrity. They need a label that provides public support from people who understand that small-scale farmers are an endangered species. By Elizabeth Henderson

Big Energy:

Louisiana Group Defends Coast Guard Actions To Stop 14-Year Taylor Energy Oil Spill Healthy Gulf goes to court to oppose Taylor’s lawsuit to prevent spill cleanup effort Earthjustice, on behalf of Healthy Gulf (formerly Gulf Restoration Network), moved today to intervene in a lawsuit to defend the U.S. Coast Guard’s actions to contain the ongoing Taylor Energy oil spill against Taylor’s lawsuit trying to block U.S. Coast Guard-led spill control efforts. The spill from the Taylor Energy platform has been dumping thousands of gallons of oil a day into the Gulf of Mexico for more than 14 years. This is the longest oil spill in U.S. history. “The law requires the federal government to do what is necessary to prevent oil spills from marring our coasts, killing wildlife, and damaging Gulf fisheries,” said Chris Eaton, Earthjustice attorney. “We won’t allow Taylor to obstruct those efforts and allow its wells to continue to pollute the Gulf of Mexico.”

Civil Rights/Black Liberation:

Black Lives on Trial Stephon Clark, Trayvon Martin, Michael Brown, Tamir Rice, Eric Garner, Sandra Bland… Trial after trial, the killers are acquitted. The deaths, somehow justified. Mumia Abu-Jamal would say of the dead: Executed twice, the second time in the court system. ByIpek S. Burnett

Labor:

Economy:

Shadow Government Statistics Bullet Edition Number Three

  • Consumption/Manufacturing Downturn Driven by Consumer Liquidity Woes
  • Weakening Industrial Production, Manufacturing and Capacity Utilization Were Consistent With a Pending Downside Revision to Fourth-Quarter 2018 GDP and Signaled High Odds of a First-Quarter 2019 GDP Contraction
  • These Data Reinforced Similar Negative Revisions Seen With Earlier Indicators, Including: Retail Sales, Housing, Construction and Payrolls
  • February Housing Starts (March 26th), January Trade Deficit (March 27th) and An Eviscerated Annual Industrial Production Benchmarking (March 27th) Are the Last Major Reports, Prior to the March 28th Final GDP Estimate; There Is Limited Chance of a Reprieve
  • The Economy Is Weakening Sharply and Quickly, Due to the Overly Aggressive Federal Reserve Tightening and Rate Hikes
  • Where Current U.S. Economic Activity Has Signaled a New Recession, Major Business Sectors, Such as Manufacturing and Construction, Never Recovered Fully from the Last One
  • Accordingly, the March 20th FOMC Meeting Is Not Too Early to Address the Intensifying Business Collapse; Yet, the FOMC Is Expected to Sit on Its Hands

America’s Economy Is Rigged From Top to Bottom The children of working stiffs learned a brutal lesson this week as federal prosecutors criminally charged rich people with buying admission to elite universities for their less-than-stellar children.  The lesson is that no matter how hard you work, no matter how smart or talented you are, a dumb, lazy rich kid is going to beat you. It’s crucial that everyone who is not a wealthy movie star, hedge fund executive, or corporate CEO—that is, 99 percent of all Americans—sees this college admissions scandal for what it really is: a microcosm of the larger, corrupt system that works against working people, squashing their chances for advancement. By Leo Gerard

How Is JPMorgan Chase Expanding While It’s Still on Probation for a Felony? On April 19, 2018, JPMorgan Chase announced it would be opening “up to 70 new branches and hiring up to 700 new employees” in northern Virginia, Washington D.C. and Maryland.” In the same announcement, the bank said it currently had “5,130 branches in 23 U.S. states and plans to open up to 400 new branches…” At the time of that announcement, the bank was under a deferred criminal prosecution agreement with the U.S. Justice Department and on probation – a probation which continues to this day. By Pam Martens

World:

Venezuelans March To Celebrate Victory Over Electric Sabotage By order of the president, we will safeguard all the strategic installations of the country, we must be very vigilant,” said Cabello. Venezuelans have taken the streets of their capital city, Caracas, by the masses in the March of Victory against the sabotage on the country’s electic plants. The revolutionary people mobilized in order to show their support to the Bolivarian government and to reject the U.S.-backed attacks against their democratically elected leaders.

The Algerian Revolution: “leave means leave!” Yesterday, millions of Algerians took to the streets for the fourth consecutive Friday to protest against the regime of Abdelaziz Bouteflika. According to initial accounts, the protests were even bigger than the record protests that shook the regime last Friday (8 March). Long accustomed to carrying out all of its crimes with impunity, the regime is now being forced to realise that the revolutionary masses are not going to give up easily. By Hamid Alizadeh

The World’s Most Dangerous Divide In the beautiful and terrifying novel The City of Devi, communal hatreds escalate in India and Pakistan until the two countries feel compelled to threaten each other with nuclear weapons. At least, it starts out as a threat. Pakistan vows to take out Mumbai, and India will level Karachi. But everyone involved knows that nuclear war doesn’t really work that way. By John Feffer

Health, Education, and Welfare:

The government of the United States can pass laws in a few days to spend tens of trillions of dollars for war and the bailout of wall street and the bankers. Yet those who ‘govern’ pass universal healthcare for themselves, but they cannot spend even one trillion dollars for universal health for those who are ‘governed’! This is what is considered, by the powers that be a democracy and part of the democratic way. — Roland Sheppard, Let The People Vote on Healthcare!

The Medical-Industrial Complex