Daily News Digest Archives
Daily News Digest May 26, 2016
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!
Images of the Day:
Health Care for Profit — Not Care
The Great American Bailout of 2008
Quote of the Day:
I know that might sound really basic, but I want everyone to be on the same page as we proceed in this article. Just because stock prices are artificially high right now does not mean that the U.S. economy is in good shape. In fact, there was a stock rally at this exact time of the year in 2008 even though the underlying economic fundamentals were rapidly deteriorating. We all remember what happened later that year, so we should not exactly be rejoicing that precisely the same pattern that we witnessed in 2008 is happening again right in front of our eyes. — It’s undeniable: Evidence shows that the REAL economy is in recession mode
U.S.:
Obama in Hiroshima: A Case Study in Hypocrisy by Eric Draitser 
Hiroshima and Nagasaki Never Again! By Roland Sheppard
August 6 and 9 are the 63rd anniversaries of the destruction of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by atomic bombs and the murder of hundreds of thousands of their citizens. Annual demonstrations take place at the nuclear weapons laboratories in Livermore, California and Los Alamos, New Mexico, at the nuclear weapons test site in Nevada and at the bomb factory in Oak Ridge, Tennessee to demand nuclear disarmament now.
One of the long-standing myths of U.S. history is that atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 to “save lives.” The story is that the bombings, which killed hundreds of thousands of people, were necessary to bring World War II to an end. In reality, the decision was purely political. Leading generals and admirals opposed the bombing. It was ordered to demonstrate the ruthlessness of the U.S. government. Ronald Takaki wrote, in his article on the subject in the July 31, 2005 issue of the San Francisco Chronicle, “During the days before that fateful Aug. 6, 1945, Gen. Douglas MacArthur learned that Japan had asked Russia to negotiate a surrender. ‘We expected acceptance of the Japanese surrender daily,’ one of his staff members recalled. When he was notified that an atomic bomb had been dropped on Hiroshima, the general was livid. MacArthur declared that the atomic attack on Hiroshima was ‘completely unnecessary from a military point of view.’” General Dwight D. Eisenhower, commander of allied forces in Europe and later president of the U.S., also called it “completely unnecessary” and later told an interviewer,” It wasn’t necessary to hit them with that awful thing.” Fleet Admiral William Leahy, the president’s chief of staff, believed that Japan would fall without the necessity of a land invasion. Leahy later wrote that, in dropping the bomb, “we had adopted an ethical standard common to barbarians of the dark ages.” (Eisenhower and Leahy quotes found at: HIROSHIMAWHO DISAGREED WITH THE ATOMIC BOMBING?Why they did it.) Why then did the president make the decision to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima? In fact Truman gave an order not to bomb Nagasaki. A memo published in The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, (May/June 1998), states that Truman “had given orders to stop atomic bombing. He said the thought of wiping out another 100,000 people was too horrible. He didn’t like the idea of killing, as he said, ‘all those kids.’” Dirty Harry in San Francisco
So why was the bomb dropped? Why were Truman’s orders on the second bomb not obeyed? “Secretary of War Henry Stimson, for his part, regarded the atomic bomb as what he called the ‘master card’ of diplomacy towards Russia. However, he believed that sparring with the Soviet Union in the early spring, before the weapon was demonstrated, would be counterproductive. Before a mid-May meeting of a cabinet-level committee considering Far Eastern issues, Stimson observed that “the questions cut very deep and [were] powerfully connected with our success with S-1 [the atomic bomb Gar Alperovitz, in “Hiroshima: Historians Reassess” Foreign Policy (Summer 1995) No. 99: 15-34, where it is only available to subscribers; the section quoted is available online at page 4. A web version of the article on can be found at the National Center for Economic and Security Alternatives website.
These new facts from history and Eisenhower’s memoirs show that the carnage of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were not to make Japan surrender and save American lives, but to warn the Soviet Union that the United States had the atomic bomb and its leaders were cold-blooded enough to use such a weapon of mass destruction. It was the opening salvo of the, “Cold War” and beginning of the process of “Pax Americana.”
August 2008
Under AG Loretta Lynch, the federal government allows police to unconstitutionally confiscate your possessions… Even if you HAVEN’T been arrested or charged by D. Samuelson
Environment:
VIDEO: Why Is America’s Water Infrastructure Failing?: From lead contamination to water main breaks, America’s water infrastructure is crumbling. So just how bad is the country’s water crisis? 
Is this America’s next Flint? By Stuart Smith
America’s drinking water is under assault — from careless dumping of hazardous wastes to the lead pollution caused by our ancient infrastructure. Yet rarely do these tales of governmental neglect or industrial abuses make it onto the national radar screen. The Flint, Michigan, lead pollution story was different — a “perfect storm” that combined race, the poisoning of countless children, and gross negligence on the part of the state government. Yet even that story didn’t become a national cause celebre right away. The truth is that, as terrible as the Flint situation has been, there are other threats to water across the U.S. that are just as bad…or arguably worse. Read More
Ongoing/Big Energy Disasters!:
Black Liberation/Civil Rights:
Charter Schools Propping Up the School-to-Prison Pipeline: Charter schools are four times more likely to suspend black students than their white peers. By Lauren Camera 
Freedom Rider: Georgetown Should Pay for Slavery by BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley
If ever there was a clear path to reparations for the descendants of slaves, it is in compensation to the progeny of the 272 men and women sold South to save the Jesuit school that became Georgetown University. The institution’s $1.5 billion endowment is at least partially owed to an identifiable group of Black people. “If Georgetown pays up like it ought to they can go to any college or make whatever financial decisions they choose.” Read more
Freddie Gray Case Judge Rules it is Unreasonable to Expect Cops to Obey the Law A Black Agenda Radio commentary by executive editor Glen Ford
The prosecution in Baltimore wanted the cop that arrested Freddie Gray to be convicted of assault, because Gray had done nothing illegal. But “the judge seemed to think it would be ridiculous to treat every arrest as criminal just because there were no grounds for arrest.” The officer was acquitted, affirming the American criminal justice principle that nothing is illegal – including murder – when the cops do it. Read more about Freddie Gray Case Judge Rules it is Unreasonable to Expect Cops to Obey the Law
On the Challenges of Building a Principled Left Movement in Our Timeby Danny Haiphong
These are exciting – and frustrating – times. “The crisis of US empire has created ripe conditions for a revolutionary movement, yet no such movement exists.” Social forces opposed to capitalism’s predations multiply, yet too often fail to unify. “The task from here is to engage those who have been propelled into action by the crisis of US Empire, whether it is the Sandernistas or Black Lives Matter activists.” Read more about On the Challenges of Building a Principled Left Movement in Our Time
Layers of Islamophobia: Rep. Keith Eillison Says He’s “Unaware” of Clinton Having Returned “Muslim Money” by Sam Husseini
The only two Muslim members of Congress, Keith Ellison and André Carson, both Black, seem oblivious to Hillary Clinton’s history of distancing herself from Muslim Americans, and share her militaristic vision for the Middle East. U.S. discussions of Islamophobia “largely excludes discussion of U.S. foreign policy, the dehumanization of Muslim lives lost, especially in U.S. attacks.” The only good Muslim is one who supports U.S. imperial policy. Read more about Layers of Islamophobia: Rep. Keith Eillison Says He’s “Unaware” of Clinton Having Returned “Muslim Money”
Prisoners’ Voices Blocked and Censorship in U.S. Prisons by Jaan Laaman
Like many political prisoners, the author’s freedom of speech rights are routinely curtailed. “While prisoners do have a legal right to express their thoughts and report on issues and abuses, actually getting your words out is often very hard or impossible.” U.S. prisons operate their own “kangaroo courts” that often shut down inmate communications “even if the prisoner ultimately wins appeal and has his or her communications restored.” Read more about Prisoners’ Voices Blocked and Censorship in U.S. Prisons
Africa Liberation Day: Pentagon and CIA Continue to Destabilize the Continent by Abayomi Azikiwe
African Liberation Day is always a cause for celebration – but also for sober assessment of how far off the goal of continental liberation remains. The great pan-Africanist Kwame Nkrumah warned that, if Africa did not unite, “imperialists would reverse the minimal gains made by the national liberation movements and political parties.” More than a half-century later, U.S. troops operate in the vast majority of African nations. Read more about Africa Liberation Day: Pentagon and CIA Continue to Destabilize the Continent
Fidel Castro & Cuba: Thorns In Side of US Imperialism by Solomon Comissiong
Cuba is a hero nation, and “Commandant Fidel Castro’s legacy can never be undone; his internationalist and revolutionary history will serve as an inspiration forever.” The island nation and its leader confronted – and triumphed against – a giant neighbor whose wealth “comes directly from the plunder and theft.” However, “in the case of Cuba and Fidel Castro, their attempts to break the island nation failed miserably, time and time again.” Read more
Labor:
Striking Workers Shut Down France’s Oil Depots, Move to Blockade Nuclear Plant: Another May ’68? Workers, riot police clash as France protests labor law by Nika Knight
Economy:
It’s undeniable: Evidence shows that the REAL economy is in recession mode By Jon E. Dougherty 
World:
Amílcar Cabral and the African Revolution – Part One: The winds of revolution are once again blowing over the African continent. From Burkina Faso to South Africa, from Burundi to Nigeria, we have seen a radicalisation of the workers and the youth and the rise of mass movements that have challenged corrupt capitalist regimes in one country after another. As part of this revolutionary reawakening, many radical anti-imperialist figures are being rediscovered, like Patrice Lumumba, Thomas Sankara, Chris Hani, and, indeed, Amílcar Cabral. by Arturo Rodríguez
Greece: The Troika commands and Tsipras obeys… again by Roberto Sarti
Health, Education, and Welfare:
Federal government announces new plan to tackle American opioid epidemic that kills 44 people a day… yet won’t stop the FDA from approving such opioids by Daniel Barker