Due to Years of Austerity, Cuts to Public Health Care, And An Anti-Science and Profiteering President, The United States Now Leads the World In Coronavirus Cases and Deaths in the World!
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!
Whenever I envision the corporate Robber Barons of today’s capitalism, I am always reminded of the Piggies, a Beatles song from The White Album. It was written by George Harrison as a social commentary on class and corporate greed. In my minds eye, I can just see these capitalist piggies wiggling their cute curly tails, with their snouts in the public trough, “clutching forks and knives to eat our bacon!” — Roland Sheppard, “A Ponzi Scheme” The Economy is Only A Paper Moon
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 Reublicrats 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. Rax the Rich! — They Can Afford To Pay
‘It Definitely Stinks’: Lawmaker Demands SEC Pobe of Huge Stock Buy Just Before DeJoy Announced USPS Vehicle Contract ‘It Definitely Stinks’: Lawmaker Demands SEC Probe of Huge Stock Buy Just Before DeJoy Announced USPS Vehicle Contract “If that is not suspicious, I don’t know what is. Somebody clearly knew something.” ‘It Definitely Stinks’: A Democratic congressman is demanding that the Securities and Exchange Commission investigate a shady $54 million purchase of Oshkosh Corporation stock just hours before scandal-ridden Postmaster General Louis DeJoy announced the decision to award that company with a lucrative 10-year contract to produce a new, largely gasoline-powered fleet of U.S. Postal Service delivery trucks. “This contract was awarded to Oshkosh Corporation and is worth up to $6 billion,” Rep. Tim Ryan (D-Ohio) wrote in a letter to Acting SEC Chair Allison Herren Lee on Monday. “I write to pass along reports of what might be unusual trading of Oshkosh stock that took place less than 24 hours before Postmaster General Louis DeJoy publicly announced the contract decision in front of a House panel on February 23rd.” By Jake Johnson
‘Jim Crow in a Suit and Tie’: Georgia Senate Approves Massive Assault on Voting Rights “One of the worst voter suppression bills in the country” just advanced in Georgia’s Republican-controlled legislature. The Republican Party of Georgia advanced its sweeping assault on voting rights Monday by pushing through the state Senate legislation that would roll back no-excuse absentee voting and ramp up voter ID requirements, a move that drew outrage from activists who dubbed the measure “one of the worst voter suppression bills in the country.” As The Atlanta Journal-Constitution explained, SB 241 would “reduce the availability of absentee voting, restricting it to those who are at least 65 years old, have a physical disability, or are out of town.” The bill, which now heads to the GOP-led state House of Representatives, would also require Georgians who wish to vote absentee to “provide a driver’s license number, state ID number, or other identification.” By Jake Johnson
A Cold War With China Is the Last Thing We Can Afford Right Now This country is in a crisis of the first order. More than half a million of us have died thanks to Covid-19. Food insecurity is on the rise, with nearly 24 million Americans going hungry, including 12 million children. Unemployment claims filed since the pandemic began have now reached 93 million. Given the level of damage to the less wealthy parts of this society, it’s little wonder that ¨Ωchose pandemic recovery (including the quick distribution of vaccines) as their top priority issue. . . . The Pentagon’s boosters and their allies in the defense industry respond to such fears by insisting that no such trim could possibly be in order, that competition with China must be the prime focus of this moment and of the budget to come. Assuming that China’s rise is, in fact, a genuine problem, it’s not one that’s likely to be solved either in the near future or in a military fashion (not, at least, without disaster for the world), and it’s certainly not one that should be prioritized during a catastrophic pandemic By By Mandy Smithberger
The Frantic Push to Reopen Schools Ignores Educational Inequality Before COVID Public K-12 schooling has long been intertwined with economic concerns in the United States, and the dysfunction of this relationship has never been clearer than in the educational fallout from the COVID-19 crisis. The complex relationship between federal, state and local control over schools — coupled with over two decades of neoliberal, corporate-driven education policies — has left the majority of schools and families in a complete tailspin in the wake of an unprecedented public health crisis. Communities are being fractured as people argue over the safety of opening schools. Local school board members are making potentially life-and-death decisions based on newly acquired knowledge of everything from HVAC metrics, to architectural blueprints, to public health codes. Misinformed tropes about powerful teachers’ unions and self-interested teachers are popping up in mainstream media, and seeping onto social media platforms and public comment forums. Parents pushed to the brink by full-time parenting and at-home work are breaking down in front of hundreds of community members on late-night Zoom meetings. By Kate Way
Environment:
Wildfires Will Keep Getting Worse — Even in “Best Case” Climate Scenarios Massive wildfires have shattered records a across the world in recent years, including in the western United States, where deadly blazes forced mass evacuations in 2020 and filled the sky across entire regions with smoke. Globally, wildfires are becoming more frequent, destructive and burning more land — and this trend is set to continue. Even under a “best case” scenario where greenhouse gas emissions are rapidly reduced in the coming decades and global warming is limited to 2 degrees Celsius, climate change will still drastically increase the size and likelihood of destructive wildfires globally, according to a new international study published in Environmental Research Letters. By Mike LudwigPoorest People Will Suffer Worst From Cities’ Heat As ever, the poorest people will most feel the heat in a hotter world. But a green growth initiative could help them. As the summer thermometer soars, and the cities of the US Southwest are caught up in extremes of heat, the poorest people who live in the least prosperous districts may find their streets as much as 3°C hotter than those of the wealthiest 10%. And in Los Angeles, one of the richest cities in one of the richest states of the world’s richest nation, citizens in the most heavily Latin-American districts could be as much as 3.7°C hotter than their white, well-heeled neighbours. Excess heat is linked to heat stroke, exhaustion, respiratory and cardiovascular problems and of course death: one US group has identified 27 ways in which heat can kill, and several sets of researchers have independently established that potentially lethal heat waves are becoming more likely, more extreme and more widespread. By Tim RadfordCivil Rights/Black Liberation:
Black Agenda Radio for Week of March 8, 2021 With Margaret Kimberley and Glen FordUS is Enemy of Haitian Democracy “The US is responsible for the complete destabilization of Haitian democracy and the complete loss of Haitian sovereignty,” said Dr Jemima Pierre, an anthropologist in the African American Studies Department at UCLA. Speaking on Dr Jared Ball’s influential podcast “I Mix What I Like,” Dr Pierre said the US imposed president Jovenel Moise on the Haitian people, and materially supports his police, who have slaughtered dozens of protesters in the streets in recent weeks. Pierre is an activist with the Black Alliance for Peace.
When Movements Embrace Police Abolition, the Rich Resurrect “Reform” “The US is responsible for the complete destabilization of Haitian democracy and the complete loss of Haitian sovereignty,” said Dr Jemima Pierre, an anthropologist in the African American Studies Department at UCLA. Speaking on Dr Jared Ball’s influential podcast “I Mix What I Like,” Dr Pierre said the US imposed president Jovenel Moise on the Haitian people, and materially supports his police, who have slaughtered dozens of protesters in the streets in recent weeks. Pierre is an activist with the Black Alliance for Peace.
Free All Political, Elderly and Covid-Infected Prisoners, Say Mumia Supporters “The US is responsible for the complete destabilization of Haitian democracy and the complete loss of Haitian sovereignty,” said Dr Jemima Pierre, an anthropologist in the African American Studies Department at UCLA. Speaking on Dr Jared Ball’s influential podcast “I Mix What I Like,” Dr Pierre said the US imposed president Jovenel Moise on the Haitian people, and materially supports his police, who have slaughtered dozens of protesters in the streets in recent weeks. Pierre is an activist with the Black Alliance for Peace.
Labor:
Economy:
World:
Perhaps Lula has learned that if he compromises with the ruling class, he will lose!: Ruling Restores Right of Former Brazilian President Lula da Silva to Challenge Bolsonaro in 2022 “The election starts today,” said one prominent political reporter. “The decision today affirms the incompetence of the Curitiba federal court and recognizes that we have always been right.” —Attorneys’ statement “It’s virtually impossible Lula won’t be a candidate. By Brett Wilkins
Thousands of Women Join Indian Farmers’ Protests Against New Laws Thousands of women joined protests by farmers on the outskirts of Delhi on Monday to mark International Women’s Day, demanding the scrapping of new laws that open up agriculture produce markets to private buyers. Since December, many farmers accompanied by their families have camped at three sites on the outskirts of the Indian capital to oppose the biggest farm reforms in decades, which they say hurt them.Wearing bright yellow scarves representing the colour of mustard fields, the women took centrestage at one key site, chanting slogans, holding small marches, and making speeches through loudspeakers to target the laws.Education, Health, Science, 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 pass universal healthcare for themselves, but 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
UN Finds Soaring Poverty In Virus-Hit Latin America Region The U.N. economic agency for Latin America and the Caribbean says more than 20 million people across the region were pushed into poverty during pandemic-plagued 2020 More than 20 million people were pushed into poverty during pandemic-plagued 2020 across Latin America and the Caribbean, the U.N. economic agency for the region reported Thursday. Poverty as a whole rose to afflict a total of 208 million people — 33.7% from 30.5% of the population — in a year when the overall gross domestic product collapsed by 7.7%. By Eva Vergara
For Profit Healthcare Piggies: Hospital-Owning Frist Family ‘Made a Killing’ During Pandemic, With Wealth Soaring by $8.1 Billion “I make only $13 an hour despite working for the largest for-profit hospital corporation in the nation.” —Jemelle Brown, HCA employee As the Covid-19 crisis continues to widen the yawning chasm between the super-rich and everyone else in the United States, a new analysis published Monday by the Institute for Policy Studies reveals Tennessee’s billionaire Frist family—the leading shareholders in the nation’s largest private healthcare conglomorate—has seen its combined wealth more than double since last March. As the Covid-19 crisis continues to widen the yawning chasm between the super-rich and everyone else in the United States, a new analysis published Monday by the Institute for Policy Studies reveals Tennessee’s billionaire Frist family—the leading shareholders in the nation’s largest private healthcare conglomorate—has seen its combined wealth more than double since last March. By Brett Wilkins
Another Example Capitalism as a Failed System: World Capilalism Was Aware of the Danger of Cornovavirus Threat Over 4 Years Ago and Did Nothing!: Under Capitalism — Human Lives Don’t Matter 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 Racism, War, Famine, Pestilence, and Death. The future of Humanity Is Now At stake!
Since World War I, ‘the war to end all wars’, there have been perpetual wars for perpetual peace, this Laura Gray’s cartoon from the front page of The Militant August 18, 1945, Under the Banner Headline: “There Is No Peace”
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! For Decades, Blacks Have Been Subjected to The Iron Heel! Currently, the US Capitalist Class is Divided Over When — Not If, to Apply It to Everyone!
Poorest People Will Suffer Worst From Cities’ Heat As ever, the poorest people will most feel the heat in a hotter world. But a green growth initiative could help them. As the summer thermometer soars, and the cities of the US Southwest are caught up in extremes of heat, the poorest people who live in the least prosperous districts may find their streets as much as 3°C hotter than those of the wealthiest 10%. And in Los Angeles, one of the richest cities in one of the richest states of the world’s richest nation, citizens in the most heavily Latin-American districts could be as much as 3.7°C hotter than their white, well-heeled neighbours. Excess heat is linked to heat stroke, exhaustion, respiratory and cardiovascular problems and of course death: one US group has identified 27 ways in which heat can kill, and several sets of researchers have independently established that potentially lethal heat waves are becoming more likely, more extreme and more widespread. By Tim Radford
Civil Rights/Black Liberation:
US is Enemy of Haitian Democracy “The US is responsible for the complete destabilization of Haitian democracy and the complete loss of Haitian sovereignty,” said Dr Jemima Pierre, an anthropologist in the African American Studies Department at UCLA. Speaking on Dr Jared Ball’s influential podcast “I Mix What I Like,” Dr Pierre said the US imposed president Jovenel Moise on the Haitian people, and materially supports his police, who have slaughtered dozens of protesters in the streets in recent weeks. Pierre is an activist with the Black Alliance for Peace.
Education, Health, Science, and Welfare:
