During This Economic Crisis, Capitalism’s Three Point Political Program: Austerity, Scapegoat Blacks, Minorities, and ‘Illegal’ Immigrants for Unemployment, and The Iron Heel.
Always Remember That Obamba Supported the Wall Street Bailout and Remember That President Obama, With a Majority Democrat Legislature, Started the United States Capitalist Austerity Program — The Race to the Botom or the Pauperization of the 99%!
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. Socialism Means True Democracy — The 99% Will Rule! — Not the Few!
Trump’s Lies Mimic the Mendacity of the Capitalist Class
In August, Chris Cherry, a professor in the Department of Civil and Environmental Engineering at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, salvaged a large volume from a stack of vintage journals that a fellow faculty member was about to toss out. He was drawn to a 1966 copy of the industry publication Mining Congress Journal; his father-in-law had been in the industry and he thought it might be an interesting memento. Cherry flipped it open to a passage from James R. Garvey, who was the president of Bituminous Coal Research Inc., a now-defunct coal mining and processing research organization. “There is evidence that the amount of carbon dioxide in the earth’s atmosphere is increasing rapidly as a result of the combustion of fossil fuels,” wrote Garvey. “If the future rate of increase continues as it is at the present, it has been predicted that, because the CO2 envelope reduces radiation, the temperature of the earth’s atmosphere will increase and that vast changes in the climates of the earth will result.” “Such changes in temperature will cause melting of the polar icecaps, which, in turn, would result in the inundation of many coastal cities, including New York and London,” he continued. —Coal Knew, Too
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! The United States takes from the poor and gives to the Rich.
Ranked-Choice Voting “Allows You to Vote for the Person You Really Like” Janine Jackson: As media critics in election season, our preeminent concern is less how fair the press are to this or that candidate, than how fair they are to the public. That means substantive reporting, not just on candidates, their records and proposals, but on the voting process itself, and specifically the distance between the system we have and the democracy we rhetorically invoke, and that some of us actually seek. If corporate media typically underserve such process questions, the public increasingly sees their urgency, resulting in things like this month’s overwhelming passage, here in New York City, of a ballot initiative that will change the way we vote. Here to tell us about it and how it can matter is Rob Richie, co-founder and president of the group FairVote. He joins us by phone from Takoma Park, Maryland. Welcome back to “CounterSpin,” Rob Richie.
‘Targeted by My Own Government’: Journalists Sue Trump DHS Over ‘Coordinated Attack’ on Press Freedom “When I saw my photo crossed out in a secret government database, I realized the secondary screening and interrogation wasn’t random. I was being targeted by my own government for reporting on conditions at the border.” —Bing Guan, photojournalist By Jessica CorbettMike Pompeo Scorns The Law Because Powerful Men Like Him Never Have To Follow It As we know from history, deciding who is right and who is wrong is the only way of bringing peace, for Israel just as much as the Palestinian people Michael Pompeo – let’s use his real name – was very revealing when he ripped up the latest bit of international law which didn’t favour Donald Trump or Benjamin Netanyahu in the Middle East. Jewish colonies in the West Bank were not against international law. “Calling the establishment of civilian settlements inconsistent with international law hasn’t worked,” he boasted. This was not only egregious. It was a lie. What Pompeo meant was that this vital adherence to world law – whereby, under the Fourth Geneva Convention, occupying powers cannot plant their own citizens on occupied and stolen land – no longer suited the United States and Israel. Of course it hadn’t “worked”, because the Palestinians rigidly trusted the laws which the world accepted after the Second World War. By Robert Fisk
Dropped Investigations: Julian Assange, Sex and Sweden Sex, the late Gore Vidal astutely observed, is politics, and not merely from the vantage point of those who wish to police it. In the case of whistleblowers, claims of aberrant, unlawful sex serves the purpose of diminishing credibility, tarring and feathering the individual and furnishing a distraction. Forget what was disclosed; focus, instead, on the moral character of the person in question. The rotter could not have been good anyway. In the case of Julian Assange, the stench of accusation (never charge) of sexual assault clung stubbornly. “The road to Belmarsh and 175-years in prison was paved in Stockholm – and so it will be remembered,” tweeted the Defend Assange Campaign. By Binoy Kampmark
The Prosecution of Julian Assange Calls for the Public’s Defense of Free Speech On Saturday, The New York Times published a front-page article on the leaked files that exposed the Chinese government’s coordinated crackdown on ethnic minorities. In covering the story, the newspaper noted that although the source and the methods through which documents were gathered are unclear, the disclosure of 403 pages of internal documents is one of the most significant leaks in decades shedding light on the internal working of China’s ruling Communist Party. This front-page report, that captured the attention of the American public on the weekend shows the hypocrisy of Western media. While the Times applauds leaks that were reportedly made by an anonymous member of the Chinese political establishment, when it comes to the wrongdoing of their own government, rarely do they show the same exuberance and courage in publishing the information.This hypocrisy is most pronounced in their attitude toward the US government’s aggressive prosecution of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange concerning the publication of classified information. Assange has been kept in complete isolation inside London’s Belmarsh Prison for exposing the crimes of the US government. He has been charged with 17 counts of espionage for publishing the government’s documents revealing US war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan and torture in Guantanamo Bay. By Nozomi Hayase
Environment:
Coal Knew, Too A newly unearthed journal from 1966 shows the coal industry, like the oil industry, was long aware of the threat of climate change. “Exxon knew.” Thanks to the work of activists and journalists, those two words have rocked the politics of climate change in recent years, as investigations revealed the extent to which giants like Exxon Mobil and Shell were aware of the danger of rising greenhouse gas emissions even as they undermined the work of scientists.But the coal industry knew, too — as early as 1966, a newly unearthed journal shows. By Élan YoungStanford Study Says Renewable Power Eliminates Argument For Using Carbon Capture With Fossil FuelsNew research from Stanford University professor Mark Z. Jacobson questions the climate and health benefits of carbon capture technology against simply switching to renewable energy sources like wind and solar. Carbon capture technology is premised on two possible approaches to reducing climate pollution: removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere anywhere in the world, an approach generally known as direct air capture, or removing it directly from the emissions source, such as the smoke stack of a fossil fuel power plant. Jacobson’s study, published last month in the peer-reviewed journal Energy and Environmental Science,concludes that carbon capture technologies are inefficient at pulling out carbon, from a climate perspective, and often increase local air pollution from the power required to run them, which exacerbates public health issues. Replacing a coal plant with wind turbines, on the other hand, always decreases local air pollution and doesn’t come with the associated cost of running a carbon capture system, says Jacobson. By Justin MikulkaTens Of Thousands Of Deaths Linked To Weak US Air Pollution Rules – Study Researchers linked nine causes of death with a certain type pollution when reviewing medical records of deceased veterans US air pollution rules could be hugely insufficient in preventing deaths, experts are concluding from a new study of the likely causes of death of 4.5 million veterans.Published in the peer-reviewed journal Jama, the research finds that 99% of deaths from illnesses linked to a certain type of air pollution occur in people who are exposed to lower levels than the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) currently deems acceptable. By Emily Holden
Civil Rights/Black Liberation:
Labor:
Economy:
The Disturbing Advance Men For The Fed’s $3 Trillion (And Counting) Wall Street Bailout As you may have noticed by now, Wall Street On Parade is not buying the narrative that the $3 trillion that the New York Fed has pumped out to the trading houses on Wall Street since September 17 is part of routine open market operations that the Fed is legally allowed to do. We are also not buying the idea that if the same banks that backed away from lending during the financial crisis are doing so again today, this is not a matter that deserves an airing before the Senate Banking and House Financial Services Committees.Thus far, not one hearing has been held to examine why the New York Fed, for the first time since the financial crisis, has once again become the lender of last resort to Wall Street. Keep in mind that the $3 trillion in super cheap loans has not gone to commercial banks to assist the overall economy; the hundreds of billions of dollars each week are going to the Fed’s “primary dealers” which are the trading houses on Wall Street. By Pam Martens and Russ Martens
Marketplace, an American Public Media Program, Interviews (left to right) Timothy Geithner, Hank Paulson and Ben Bernanke in March 2018
In Cuba, Castro armed the people to defend the revolution to defend land reform. In Venezuela, Chavez did Not, — Leaving the campesinos defenseless in the “low-intensity war against campesinos in Venezuela.: Democratize the Land, Empower the People: A Conversation with Zuleima Vergel A campesino organization calls for a new way of doing politics, inspired by Chavez. The rural oligarchy has carried out a low-intensity war against campesinos in Venezuela since Chavez promoted the Land Lawin 2001. However, it seems that the war has become more intense in the last year or so. On July 27, six militants of the Hugo Chavez Popular Defense Brigades and the CRBZ were killed in Ticoporo, Barinas state. On October 28, another CRBZ member, Reedys Morillo, was assassinated. What are the structural causes of the landowning class’ violence against campesinos, and why has that violence picked up more recently? One of the first important things that happened after Chavez’s arrival to power is that he legitimated the struggle for the land, a struggle that goes way back in time. He did this through his discourse but also by promoting a very advanced Land Law. However, that produced an immediate reaction from the oligarchical class.Silencing the Beast of Bolivian Populism The risible tension between the tailored elitism of the Bolivian bourgeoisie and the restive pueblo of indigenous peasants was memorably captured in the 2005 film Our Brand Is Crisis. The documentary colorfully exposes the sleazy underbelly of American political influence. Yes, the very thing our wizened mandarins in Washington have been raising such a clamor over since the wrong candidate was elected by the dull, unseeing demos. Congressional luminaries like the walleyed Adam Schiff, presiding like a demented pontiff over his carnival of moral outrage, continually effect, with little effect, the most astonished reactions to claims of Russian meddling. By Jason Hirthler
Don’t Believe The Polls Or Pessimists – We Can Win! The establishment is doing their best to dampen spirits surrounding Labour’s election campaign. But with with a radical manifesto in hand and a mass movement on the streets, we can still narrow the gap and put Corbyn in Number 10. We are just over halfway into the general election. The next few weeks will be crucial. Everything is being done by the establishment to pour cold water on Labour’s campaign. They have the full support of the Tory media in this aim. And, as Johnson had hoped, Brexit is still being used to blur the class issues. We are just over halfway into the general election. The next few weeks will be crucial. Everything is being done by the establishment to pour cold water on Labour’s campaign. They have the full support of the Tory media in this aim. And, as Johnson had hoped, Brexit is still being used to blur the class issues. ByRob Sewell, Editor Of Socialist AppealHealth, 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 the to be, a democracy and part of the democratic way. — Roland Sheppard, Let the People Vote on Healthcare
Mike Pompeo Scorns The Law Because Powerful Men Like Him Never Have To Follow It As we know from history, deciding who is right and who is wrong is the only way of bringing peace, for Israel just as much as the Palestinian people Michael Pompeo – let’s use his real name – was very revealing when he ripped up the latest bit of international law which didn’t favour Donald Trump or Benjamin Netanyahu in the Middle East. Jewish colonies in the West Bank were not against international law. “Calling the establishment of civilian settlements inconsistent with international law hasn’t worked,” he boasted. This was not only egregious. It was a lie. What Pompeo meant was that this vital adherence to world law – whereby, under the Fourth Geneva Convention, occupying powers cannot plant their own citizens on occupied and stolen land – no longer suited the United States and Israel. Of course it hadn’t “worked”, because the Palestinians rigidly trusted the laws which the world accepted after the Second World War. By Robert Fisk
Stanford Study Says Renewable Power Eliminates Argument For Using Carbon Capture With Fossil Fuels New research from Stanford University professor Mark Z. Jacobson questions the climate and health benefits of carbon capture technology against simply switching to renewable energy sources like wind and solar. Carbon capture technology is premised on two possible approaches to reducing climate pollution: removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere anywhere in the world, an approach generally known as direct air capture, or removing it directly from the emissions source, such as the smoke stack of a fossil fuel power plant. Jacobson’s study, published last month in the peer-reviewed journal Energy and Environmental Science, concludes that carbon capture technologies are inefficient at pulling out carbon, from a climate perspective, and often increase local air pollution from the power required to run them, which exacerbates public health issues. Replacing a coal plant with wind turbines, on the other hand, always decreases local air pollution and doesn’t come with the associated cost of running a carbon capture system, says Jacobson. By Justin Mikulka 
Tens Of Thousands Of Deaths Linked To Weak US Air Pollution Rules – Study Researchers linked nine causes of death with a certain type pollution when reviewing medical records of deceased veterans US air pollution rules could be hugely insufficient in preventing deaths, experts are concluding from a new study of the likely causes of death of 4.5 million veterans.Published in the peer-reviewed journal Jama, the research finds that 99% of deaths from illnesses linked to a certain type of air pollution occur in people who are exposed to lower levels than the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) currently deems acceptable. By Emily Holden
The Disturbing Advance Men For The Fed’s $3 Trillion (And Counting) Wall Street Bailout As you may have noticed by now, Wall Street On Parade is not buying the narrative that the $3 trillion that the New York Fed has pumped out to the trading houses on Wall Street since September 17 is part of routine open market operations that the Fed is legally allowed to do. We are also not buying the idea that if the same banks that backed away from lending during the financial crisis are doing so again today, this is not a matter that deserves an airing before the Senate Banking and House Financial Services Committees.Thus far, not one hearing has been held to examine why the New York Fed, for the first time since the financial crisis, has once again become the lender of last resort to Wall Street. Keep in mind that the $3 trillion in super cheap loans has not gone to commercial banks to assist the overall economy; the hundreds of billions of dollars each week are going to the Fed’s “primary dealers” which are the trading houses on Wall Street. By Pam Martens and Russ Martens
Health, Education, and Welfare: