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Images Of the Day:
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!
Quotes 0f the Day:
Writing near the end of his life on the historical eve of this reactionary disaster, Dr. King reflected on how “the Black revolution” was forcing the United States “to face all its interrelated flaws – racism, poverty, militarism, and materialism. It is exposing evils that are rooted deeply in the whole structure of our society. It reveals systemic rather than superficial flaws and suggests that the radical reconstruction of society itself is the real issue to be faced.” That was an elegant way of calling for revolution over and against what King called “the triple evils that are interrelated:” racism, capitalism, and military imperialism. The alternative, King felt, in the wake of two straight summers of racial bloodshed, was continuing violence and “a rightwing takeover and a fascist state that will destroy the soul of the nation.” — Racial Oppression Will Not be Overcome Under Capitalism
There’s a bias, too, against those who are chronically ill, the very people who need the health care system most. Insulin prices in the U.S. are eight times higher than in equivalent nations. Going without insulin, for those who need it, can be fatal. Somehow, that’s a risk the U.S. health care system and corresponding government entities are OK with. And while the U.S. won’t legislate to provide care—including vital medications—to those who need them, it will eagerly legislate to deny care. More than 45,000 transgender children in 21 states are currently losing or at risk of losing access to health care due to legislation that won’t accept the supposed risk of allowing parents and doctors to determine the health needs of children in their care. In every single state passing such legislation, corporal punishment is legal in schools, allowing teachers and administrators to discipline children in a fundamentally sexual way, despite clear evidence that such punishments overwhelmingly affect Black students and also result in the same adverse neurological effects as more severe, definitively illegal violent and sexual abuse. There’s a bias, too, against those who are chronically ill, the very people who need the health care system most. Insulin prices in the U.S. are eight times higher than in equivalent nations. Going without insulin, for those who need it, can be fatal. Somehow, that’s a risk the U.S. health care system and corresponding government entities are OK with. And while the U.S. won’t legislate to provide care—including vital medications—to those who need them, it will eagerly legislate to deny care. More than 45,000 transgender children in 21 states are currently losing or at risk of losing access to health care due to legislation that won’t accept the supposed risk of allowing parents and doctors to determine the health needs of children in their care. In every single state passing such legislation, corporal punishment is legal in schools, allowing teachers and administrators to discipline children in a fundamentally sexual way, despite clear evidence that such punishments overwhelmingly affect Black students and also result in the same adverse neurological effects as more severe, definitively illegal violent and sexual abuse. — Medical Risk Is Never Shared Equally. Our Health Care System Is Built to Guarantee That.
Videos of the Day:
United States:
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!
For Want of a Microchip, the Empire is Lost At a White House dinner on 24 February, Joe Biden held up a microchip and recalled a popular saying: “Remember that old proverb: for want of a nail, the shoe was lost; for want of a shoe the horse was lost.” And – as the proverb goes – without the horse, the messenger was lost; without his message, the battle was lost; and so on until, eventually, the empire itself was lost. For the empire which is the United States, that nail – according to Biden – is the microchip. By Ben Curry
The Collapse of the American Empire U.S. leadership has stumbled from one military debacle to another, a trajectory mirroring the sad finales of other historical imperial powers. America’s defeat in Afghanistan is one in a string of catastrophic military blunders that herald the death of the American empire. With the exception of the first Gulf War, fought largely by mechanized units in the open desert that did not—wisely—attempt to occupy Iraq, the United States political and military leadership has stumbled from one military debacle to another. Korea. Vietnam. Lebanon. Afghanistan. Iraq. Syria. Libya. The trajectory of military fiascos mirrors the sad finales of the Chinese, Ottoman, Hapsburg, Russian, French, British, Dutch, Portuguese and Soviet empires. While each of these empires decayed with their own peculiarities, they all exhibited patterns of dissolution that characterize the American experiment. Imperial ineptitude is matched by domestic ineptitude. The collapse of good government at home, with legislative, executive and judicial systems all seized by corporate power, ensures that the incompetent and the corrupt, those dedicated not to the national interest but to swelling the profits of the oligarchic elite, lead the country into a cul-de-sac. Rulers and military leaders, driven by venal self-interest, are often buffoonish characters in a grand comic operetta. How else to think of Allen Dulles, Dick Cheney, George W. Bush, Donald Trump or the hapless Joe Biden? While their intellectual and moral vacuity is often darkly amusing, it is murderous and savage when directed towards their victims. By Chris Hedges
The US Did Not Bring Peace, Democracy, or Freedom to AfghanistanTwenty years of war and U.S. interference have brought no long-term, positive gains in Afghanistan. War is not the answer—not in Afghanistan, Iraq, or Syria. Peace must be our demand. By Mary Hladky
We Could Have Greened Half the US Electrical Grid With $2.26 Trillion Wasted on Afghan War Much of the money spent in Afghanistan was wasted and disappeared into a fog of corruption. It appears that in response the United States spent $2.261 trillion and created a situation in which between 238,050 and 241,050 persons died, including over 71,000 civilian noncombatants. In recent years, massive US bombing raids have been killing more civilians than have attacks by the Taliban. The US did not kill all those people, but created the conditions in which they were killed. By Juan Cole
Environment:
Cancer Alleys/Covid Alleys: Fossil Fuel Phase Out Must Begin Where the Industry Has Hurt People the Most One thousand power plants known as “peaker plants” are still operational across the U.S. Their name derives from the function they serve, shifting from idle to burning gas or oil in infrequent moments when energy demand peaks beyond average — typically when heating and cooling needs are the greatest. In addition to serving as eyesores and taking up large swaths of space that might better serve the needs of crowded communities, the plants are often located alongside waste treatment facilities and other undesirable infrastructure in low-income and communities of color. Many of the plants were built in these locations during the era of redlining, or later, in or near areas that had been redlined. Decades down the line, many of the Black and Brown neighborhoods that host them also have the highest COVID-19 mortality rates, due to the long legacy of health inequities. An estimated 397 of every 100,000 people living in the Bronx neighborhood where a plant called Hell Gate is located have died of the virus, in comparison with the U.S. average of 171 per 100,000. In other words, the neighborhood has lost one out of every 252 residents. By Leanna First-Arai
Civil Rights/Black Liberation:
US Prisoners are Exploited Slave Labor The recent surge in labor performed in prison has led to more people laboring in captivity than were enslaved 200 years ago. Prisoners are often excluded from discussions about labor rights in America. There can be no doubt that prisoners participate in the capitalist economy in a way similar to other workers, but are victims of some of its starkest inequalities. Prisons are also steadily becoming workhouses for goods made by some of the largest corporations in the world. This privatization as well as the racialized aspect of mass incarceration make it crucial that any discussion of labor under capitalism should also include a discussion of prison labor. By Molly Shah
Labor:
Economy:
Wall Street’s Mega Bank CEOs To Be Hauled Before Congress in May; Nobody Will Say Why We’ve been closely monitoring the Senate Banking and House Financial Services Committees for the past 15 years. We can think of no other time when the Committees issued a joint statement to announce they were hauling the most powerful men on Wall Street to testify, without offering a scintilla of information on the topic of the hearing. By Pam Martens and Russ Martens
World:
Tens of Millions in Florida Properties Linked to Ecuadorian Presidential Candidate Guillermo Lasso (This article can be read in Spanish here ) In March 2017, ahead of Ecuador’s second-round presidential election, CEPR reorted that Florida-based shell companies linked to then-candidate Guillermo Lasso owned 144 properties in Broward and Miami-Dade counties valued at over $30 million. In that election, voters approved a referendum barring politicians and civil servants from holding assets in tax havens and giving them one year to divest or transfer their holdings. Though Florida is not included among the list of tax havens, it is considered a “low tax jurisdiction,” which authorities will handle on a case-by-case basis. Four years later, Ecuador is again headed to a second-round presidential vote, with Lasso on the ballot. While additional layers of anonymity have been introduced in order to further hide ownership, a review of corporate and real estate records in Florida shows the Lasso-linked shell companies’ holdings have increased since 2017, raising questions over the legality of Lasso’s candidacy. Ironically, Lasso is competing in the April 11 run-off vote against Andrés Arauz, one of the original architects of Ecuador’s tax haven reforms. By Jake Johnston
German Constitutional Court Scraps Berlin Rent Cap: Fight Back!The German federal constitutional court has ruled the rent cap in Berlin as unconstitutional, bringing to an end the Berlin rent cap experiment. This means that Berlin tenants will have to dig deeper into their pockets to be able to afford a roof over their heads. The German left-wing party DIE LINKE and the German Trade Union Confederation (DGB) with its eight member unions now have to go on the offensive! By Alexander Kalabekow
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
The ‘Right; to Infect!?: Fauci On Viral Exchange With Jim Jordan: ‘This Has Nothing To Do With Liberties’ “We’re talking about the fact that 560,000 people in our country have died,” the country’s top infectious disease expert told CNN. During the back-and-forth on Thursday, a clip of which was viewed hundreds of thousands of times on Twitter, Jordan threw a tantrum about the government’s virus mitigation efforts, ranting about guidelines that encourage the use of masks and warn against large gatherings. Fauci, President Joe Biden’s chief medical adviser and the country’s top infectious disease expert, said during an interview with CNN’s Dana Bash on Sunday that he doesn’t “enjoy those kinds of confrontations.” “But it was very, very clear that he was talking about liberties that were being restricted,” Fauci said. “This has nothing to do with liberties, Dana.” “We’re talking about the fact that 560,000 people in our country have died,” he continued. “We’re talking about … 70,000 new infections per day. That’s the issue. This is a public health issue. It’s not a civil liberties issue.” By Hayley Miller
Effective quarantine is essential for tackling the coronavirus and this cannot happen without extensive testing for covid-19, says World Health Organization assistant director general Bruce Aylward. “To actually stop the virus, China] had to do rapid testing of any suspect case, immediate isolation of anyone who was a confirmed or suspected case, and then quarantine the close contacts for 14 days so that they could figure out if any of them were infected,” Aylward told New Scientistin an exclusive interview. “Those were the measures that stopped transmission in China, not the big travel restrictions and lockdowns.” — WHO Expert: We Need More Testing to Beat Coronavirus (Effective quarantine is essential for tackling the coronavirus and this cannot happen without extensive testing for covid-19, says World Health Organization assistant director general Bruce Aylward. “To actually stop the virus, China] had to do rapid testing of any suspect case, immediate isolation of anyone who was a confirmed or suspected case, and then quarantine the close contacts for 14 days so that they could figure out if any of them were infected,” Aylward told New Scientistin an exclusive interview. “Those were the measures that stopped transmission in China, not the big travel restrictions and lockdowns.” — WHO Expert: We Need More Testing to Beat Coronavirus (March 16, 2020)
We Could Eradicate COVID in Just Five Weeks COVID-19 came from nature. The pandemic came from capitalism. For centuries, people have known how to eradicate infectious disease: stop person-to-person transmission. In just five weeks, we could completely eradicate COVID-19 using the green zone exit strategy. This strategy involves suppressing the outbreak in defined areas or zones. Each zone must test everyone, provide safe spaces for the sick to isolate, provision healthy people to isolate at home, make essential work safe, and restrict travel in and out of the zone. Once cases have dropped to zero, the zone can be declared “green.” Normal activity can resume inside this zone, with vigilance to test and track possible recurrences. Green zones must prevent infected persons from entering the zone and making it no longer green. As more areas revert to green status, travel between these zones can resume. Once all zones turn green, the virus can be declared eradicated and all restrictions removed. Nations that applied the green zone strategy got the best outcomes, with COVID cases dropping dramatically. However, we live in a global society. A virus that gains a foothold anywhere will eventually spread. Regions that had eradicated the virus are now battling new outbreaks introduced by travelers. That is why we must aim for zero cases everywhere. By Susan Rosenthal
Global Covid Cases Soar to ‘Absolutely Staggering’ Weekly Record Amid Vaccine Apartheid “Unless we vaccinate all nations, there is a huge risk that the protection offered by vaccines will be shattered by fresh mutations.” Fueled by surging cases in India, Brazil, and other developing nations, new global coronavirus infections hit a seven-day high of 5.2 million last week as world leaders face growing pressure to take bold action against vaccine inequities that have left much of the world unprotected from the deadly pathogen. By Jake Johnson
Another Example Capitalism as a Failed System: World Capilalism Was Aware of the Danger of Cornovavirus Threat Over 5 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!