Capitalism Does Not, and Never Has, Worked for the Masses! In Its Death Agony, Capitalism Is Traveling About The World Like The Four Horsemen of the The Apocalypse, Spreading War, Famine, Pestilence, and Death. The very future of Humanity Is Now At stake!
During This Economic Crisis, Capitalism’s Three-Point Political Program: 1.Austerity, 2.Scapegoat Blacks, Minorities, and ‘Illegal’ Immigrants for Unemployment, and 3. The Iron Heel! Always Remember: That President Obama, With a Majority Democrat Legislature Supported the Wall Street Bailout and Remember, That he Established, in writing, the United States Capitalist Austerity Program. — The Race to the Bottom/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, that the 99% Will Rule, Not the Few!
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.
COVID-19/Nuclear Dangers: Arnie & Maggie Gundersen Call Out Industry Refueling, Safety Lies While we have your attention, this morning, we received an email with an eye-catching title: A nuclear meltdown during the corona crisis is the last thing we need from our friends over at Beyond Nuclear. We implore our viewers to read the article Out of Control? written by Linda Pentz Gunter. It is a timely article that delves into the issues we raise in our Nuclear Hotseat interview (featured above) and amplifies our own concerns about the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic and its effects on the safety and maintenance of nuclear facilities here and abroad. “Regulations to ensure safety should be strengthened at a time like this — not weakened. It means operating nuclear plants without basic safety inspections.”— Kevin Kamps, radioactive waste specialist at Beyond Nuclear Again, we hope you take the time to read Out of Control? and reflect on what we are currently facing as the atomic power and nuclear weapons industries seek to weaken regulations and safety protocols. You can read the whole article posted at Beyond Nuclear.
While Industry Looks For Handouts, NRC Gives Nod to Reduced Safety Oversight It was no surprise really, when the first to line up with outstretched palms as Congress debated and formulated its now passed $2 trillion coronavirus-prompted emergency relief bill, were nuclear corporations. The sinking nuclear power industry spotted an economic lifeline and couldn’t wait to make a grab for it. The Nuclear Energy Institute, the lobbying arm of the nuclear power industry, rushed off a letter to congressional leaders asking for a 30% tax credit and waivers for existing regulatory fees. By Linda Pentz GunterUnder Cover of Pandemic, Fossil Fuel Interests Unleash Lobbying Frenzy Thousands of Americans are dying, millions have filed for unemployment, and frontline health care workers are risking their lives as the coronavirus pandemic sweeps across the U.S. In the midst of this crisis, the fossil fuel industry, particularly the oil and gas sector, has been actively seeking both financial relief and deregulation or dismantling of environmental protection measures. A new briefing by U.K.-based think tank InfluenceMap summarizes this fossil fuel lobbying during the time of the pandemic, pointing to specific examples of how fossil fuel interests around the world are using the cover of the coronavirus crisis to advance heir agenda. By Dana Drugmand
Civil Rights/ Black Liberation:
I just Learned the 2nd Malcolm X assassin, who was caught by police,at the Audubon Ballroom, but never brought to trial, was Raymond Woods, a BOSSI agent:
COINTELPRO often worked in conjunction with and received information from local law enforcement “red squads” such as the Bureau of Special Services (BOSS), a special division of the New York City Police department (NYPD). Also known as the Bureau of Special Services and Investigations, its job was to monitor and surveil political radicals. These divisions often relied on informants and undercover agents. Ray Wood, a.k.a. Ray Woodall, was one such informant who, as a police officer for BOSS, infiltrated the Bronx chapter of the Congress of Racial Equality (CORE) in the early 1960s. Some historians like Ward Churchill and Susan Brownmiller have written about Woodbut new information providesa clearer picture of how undercover agents contributed to COINTELPRO. . .. By the 1970’s, Wood’s name had faded into obscurity. Historian Garrett Felber’s 2015 Guardian article about Wood reignited interest in him. Felber argued Wood mighthave been the mysterious second man arrested at the Audubon Ballroom when Malcolm X was assassinated. As part of the research team for Manning Marable’sbiography of Malcolm X, A Life Reinvented, Felber found notes from Yuri Kochiyama, a member of CORE and the Organization of Afro-American Unity (OAAU) who witnessed the assassination. In OAAU meeting notes, Kochiyama, wrote that “Ray Woods” was “seen running out of (the) Audubon, was one of two picked up by police”. — Incognegro: How Law Enforcement Spies on Black Radical Groups
Labor:
Capitalism has Plundered Workers’ Pension and Unemployment Insurance Finds Based On the Premise That Catastrophe Would Not Happen!
Nearly Half of States Don’t Have Enough Funds to Pay All Those Unemployment Claims “We’re talking about 10 million people filing for unemployment insurance in two weeks. Nobody is prepared for that,” said one finance expert. Even as states are struggling to process a record number of jobless claims, experts warn that even greater challenges loom: A Labor Department report found that, as recently as February, unemployment insurance trust funds in nearly half the states were underfunded. The staggering 6.6 million jobless claims filed last week call into question even the best-funded states’ ability to pay unemployment benefits over a sustained period, said Howard Gleckman, a senior fellow at the nonpartisan Tax Policy Center, making it likelier than not that more federal intervention will be needed. By By Martha C. White‘This Is Unacceptable’: Trump Administration Says Millions May Have to Wait 5 Months to Receive $1,200 Relief Check “That’s not even remotely fast enough for the millions of working people who have seen their hours slashed, their expenses rise, and their government refuse to take sufficient action.”More than 10 million Americans lost their jobs last month and are in desperate need of immediate financial assistance amid the coronavirus crisis, but the Trump administration said in a draft plan circulated internally Thursday that people who do not have direct deposit information on file with the IRS—a group that is disproportionately low-income—may have to wait until September to receive the one-time $1,200 payment authorized under the latest stimulus. By Jake Johnson
Economy:
Unmasking the Truth on Masks to Protect Against Coronavirus: Fire the Surgeon General On March 23 we wrote this: “For want of a mask the largest economy in the world has been gutted, with Goldman Sachs now projecting that U.S. GDP could contract by as much as 24 percent in the second quarter.” Now, in the past two weeks, 10 million Americans have filed claims for unemployment. Let that sink in, 10 million of our fellow citizens have lost their jobs in just a two-week period. In the same article linked above, we showed a photo dated March 4 from the Associated Press of people packed together on a subway in New York City with almost no one wearing a mask. And then we explained why: “On February 29, the Surgeon General Tweeted that the public should stop buying masks – despite scientific agreement that the virus is spread by sneezing, coughing and talking. The Surgeon General’s advice may have made sense for people living on a 10 acre farm in New Hampshire but it was dangerous advice for people who can’t afford taxis and are forced to ride a packed subway to work each day in Manhattan.” By Pam Martens and Russ Martens
World:
Britain: Starmer victory – prepare for battle Keir Starmer has won the Labour leadership contest. His Blairite backers are already baying for blood, calling for the Corbyn movement to be purged from the party. The left must rally around socialist policies and prepare to fight back. By Rob SewellHealth, Science, 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 ‘governn’, 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 to be, a democracy and part of the democratic way. — Roland Sheppard, Let the People Vote on Healthcare!
Right-Wing Austerity Set New Orleans Up to Be a Coronavirus Disaster Zone New Orleans — Back in 1997, when Steve Scalise was a Louisiana state representative, he joined other right-wing lawmakers in co-authoring and passing a “state preemption” law that prevents city governments from raising the minimum wage for their residents. Today, Rep. Scalise is one of the most powerful Republicans in Congress, and Louisiana is one of only five states where the wage floor is frozen at the federal minimum of $7.25 an hour. More than one in four children live in poverty in Louisiana, which remains one of the poorest states in the nation despite modest gains in recent years. While the minimum wage preemption law does not mention any city by name, activists say the Democratic stronghold of New Orleans — with its history of activism, bustling urban tourist economy and large numbers of Black voters — was clearly a target. Despite its cultural richness, New Orleans had the highest poverty rate among the nation’s 50 largest metro areas in 2017. After coming under pressure from activists, the New Orleans City Council passed a resolution last year urging the state legislature to end the state minimum wage preemption so the city could raise its wage floor. So far, lawmakers have failed to act. With the outbreak of COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, poverty is once again exacerbating an economic and public health crisis in Louisiana and New Orleans. By Mike Ludwig
Feds Bailout
Working 12 Hours a Day and Staying in Place in a a Nuclear Power Plant: Dangers: Arnie & Maggie Gundersen Call Out Industry Refueling, Safety Lies
Under Cover of Pandemic, Fossil Fuel Interests Unleash Lobbying Frenzy Thousands of Americans are dying, millions have filed for unemployment, and frontline health care workers are risking their lives as the coronavirus pandemic sweeps across the U.S. In the midst of this crisis, the fossil fuel industry, particularly the oil and gas sector, has been actively seeking both financial relief and deregulation or dismantling of environmental protection measures. A new briefing by U.K.-based think tank InfluenceMap summarizes this fossil fuel lobbying during the time of the pandemic, pointing to specific examples of how fossil fuel interests around the world are using the cover of the coronavirus crisis to advance heir agenda. By Dana Drugmand
‘This Is Unacceptable’: Trump Administration Says Millions May Have to Wait 5 Months to Receive $1,200 Relief Check “That’s not even remotely fast enough for the millions of working people who have seen their hours slashed, their expenses rise, and their government refuse to take sufficient action.”More than 10 million Americans lost their jobs last month and are in desperate need of immediate financial assistance amid the coronavirus crisis, but the Trump administration said in a draft plan circulated internally Thursday that people who do not have direct deposit information on file with the IRS—a group that is disproportionately low-income—may have to wait until September to receive the one-time $1,200 payment authorized under the latest stimulus. By Jake Johnson
Health, Science, Education, and Welfare:
