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Images Of the Day:
Founding Fathers Intent of the Filibuster— Minority Rule
In The United States, the Filibuster Helps to Maintain Minority Rule:. . . If you go back to the record of the Constitutional Convention, which took place in 1787, almost immediately after the end of the war, you see that they are already moving in another direction. James Madison — who was the main framer, and one of the Founding Fathers who was most libertarian — makes it very clear that the new constitutional system must be designed so as to ensure that the government will, in his words, “protect the minority of the opulent against the majority” and bar the way to anything like agrarian reform. The determination was made that America could not allow functioning democracy, since people would use their political power to attack the wealth of the minority of the opulent. Therefore, Madison argues, the country should be placed in the hands of the wealthier set of men, as he put it. . . . — American History and Democracy
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:
In The United States, the Filibuster Helps to Maintain Minority Rule: . . . If you go back to the record of the Constitutional Convention, which took place in 1787, almost immediately after the end of the war, you see that they are already moving in another direction. James Madison — who was the main framer, and one of the Founding Fathers who was most libertarian — makes it very clear that the new constitutional system must be designed so as to ensure that the government will, in his words, “protect the minority of the opulent against the majority” and bar the way to anything like agrarian reform. The determination was made that America could not allow functioning democracy, since people would use their political power to attack the wealth of the minority of the opulent. Therefore, Madison argues, the country should be placed in the hands of the wealthier set of men, as he put it. . . . — American History and Democracy
The drug industry has strenuously argued that any legal proposal to allow the sharing of intellectual property and creation of generic coronavirus vaccines is pointless because there are no facilities around the world that can be tapped. Thomas Cueni, the president of the International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations, said that sharing IP “wouldn’t give us the tools to produce more doses of vaccines.” Bill Gates, the billionaire philanthropist whose foundations help manage the United States and Europe’s primary Covid-19 outreach efforts to the developing world, known as Covax, was even more blunt. “It’s not like there’s some idle vaccine factory, with regulatory approval, that makes magically safe vaccines,” Gates said last weekend by way of explaining to Sky News why he thought the recipe for making coronavirus vaccine should not be shared. Except it is exactly like that. Factory owners around the globe, from Bangladesh to Canada, have said they stand ready to retrofit facilities and move forward with vaccine production if given the chance. — Factory Owners Around the World Stand Ready to Manufacture Covid-19 Vaccines
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 ownershipof the Reublicrats, who profit from war and the war budget, voted 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. Tax the Rich! — They Can Afford To Pay!
Empire Politican A Half-Century of Joe Biden’s Stances on War, Militarism, and the CIA
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1973-1980 An Era Of Restraint
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1981-1984placing Conditions On Empire
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1991-1995the Making Of A Hawk
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1996-1999the Bombing Senator
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2000-2008warrior On Terror
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2009-2016the Occasional Dissenter/
American-Style War ‘Til the End of Time? War is peace, peace is war. It would become the “infrastructure” in which Americans increasingly invested their tax dollars via aircraft carriers, trillion-dollar jet fighters, drones armed with Hellfire missiles, and the creation and maintenance of hundreds of military garrisons around the globe, rather than roads, bridges, or rail lines here at home. By Tom Engelhardt
Admitting Defeat in Afghanistan: American “State-Building” Fails Again So Rudyard Kipling’s arithmetic came to pass after all. ‘Strike hard who cares—shoot straight who can/ The odds are on the cheaper man.’ The U.S. has thrown in the towel. Another ‘superpower’ is set to depart Afghanistan. The symbolic date of September 11 is meant to have a ring of finality to it. It should: a trillion dollars later, the United States has failed in all its war aims. By John Clamp
Prescription Drugs in US Are Quadruple What They Cost Elsewhere, Report Finds Anew report done by the U.S. Government Accountability Office (GAO) has found that drug prices in the U.S. on average are about two to four times higher than they are in Australia, Canada and France. By Sharon Zhang
Environmental Racism: Black Americans of All Income Levels Exposed to More Air Pollution Sources People of color disproportionately affected by PM 2.5 in pretty much all states and all urban areas, study finds Whether they’re breathing factory fumes and truck exhaust in urban centers or choking on dust on rural farm roads, people of color face exposure to more sources of harmful fine particle air pollution than white people, a new, comprehensive national study shows. By Erin McCormick
Environment:
It Is Time to Transition to a World Beyond Fossil Fuels—Our Lives Depend On It Air pollution from coal, oil, and gas killed 8.7 million people globally in 2018 alone, and the climate crisis already has an annual death toll of more than 100,000—a fast–climbing figure—with some organisations saying 100 million people will die by 2030 and billions more will be displaced. The export of hydrocarbons must end. President Biden can lead the way by kicking off a fossil fuel phaseout in the U.S. By Jennifer Morgan
Human Activity Alters Earth’s Spin On Its Axis The planet may not catch fire, but climate change really has altered the Earth’s spin on its axis as it rounds the sun. Human action has altered Earth’s spin on its axis. Climate change since 1990 has altered both the rate and the direction of the drift of the north and south poles. Chinese researchers report in the journal Geophysical Research Letters that on the basis of their calculations, the dramatic melting of the Antarctic and Greenland ice caps and the Andean glaciers of South America has shifted the weight of the global water storage system and affected the planetary drift of the poles. This glacial loss has been compounded by massive increases in the use of groundwater − most of the planet’s fresh water is in fact stored in subterranean aquifers − which have helped to accelerate the rate of change. By Tim Radford
Civil Rights/Black Liberation:
Commission Finds Anti-Black Police Violence Constitutes Crimes Against Humanity On April 27, the International Commission of Inquiry on Systemic Racist Police Violence Against People of African Descent in the United States issued its long-awaited report on the U.S.’s police-perpetrated racist violence. The Commissioners concluded that the systematic police killings of Black people in the U.S. constitutes a prima facie case of crimes against humanity and they asked the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to initiate an investigation of responsible police officials. These crimes against humanity under the ICC’s Rome Statute include murder, severe deprivation of physical liberty, persecution of people of African descent, and inhumane acts causing great suffering or serious injury to body or mental or physical health. All of the crimes occurred in the context of a widespread or systematic attack directed against the civilian population of Black people in the United States, as documented by the findings of fact in the 188-page report. By On April 27, the International Commission of Inquiry on Systemic Racist Police Violence Against People of African Descent in the United States issued its long-awaited report on the U.S.’s police-perpetrated racist violence. The Commissioners concluded that the systematic police killings of Black people in the U.S. constitutes a prima facie case of crimes against humanity and they asked the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC) to initiate an investigation of responsible police officials. These crimes against humanity under the ICC’s Rome Statute include murder, severe deprivation of physical liberty, persecution of people of African descent, and inhumane acts causing great suffering or serious injury to body or mental or physical health. All of the crimes occurred in the context of a widespread or systematic attack directed against the civilian population of Black people in the United States, as documented by the findings of fact in the 188-page report. By Marjorie Cohn
Margaret Kimberley, BAR senior columnist: Freedom Rider: No Justice Without a Movement The changes needed are fundamental to a country which puts anti-black racism at the center of politics, law and economics.
Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor: The Russia-China Alliance: More than a Bulwark Against Imperialism China’s communist party-led government and enormous non-white population strikes fear in the heart of the hegemon in ways that Russia alone simply cannot.
Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence: Justice was served from Warfare States’ gaslit woks Justice was served sweet and sour in pepper spray soup—tear- gas gumbo—tears mixed with milk and milk of magnesia in crimson curry sauce;
Erica Caines: The Class Collaboration of “Justice” After the guilty verdict, the clarity that was collectively growing became squandered with the words “it’s not justice, it’s accountability.”
Semassa Boko and Jeanette Charles: Reflections on Cuba’s Black Radical History, Revolutionary Health, and Grassroots Media It is vitally necessary to bridge the gap in knowledge and dismantle US misinformation campaigns against Cuba’s realities for international English-speaking audiences.
Ibram X. Kendi: Compliance Will Not Save Me American policing is defended as good despite its unmatched amounts of lethal violence.
Scott McLernee: Notes From the Underground Richard Wright’s 1942 novel was testing the limits of what the white novel-reading public would have found imaginable.
Gwendolyn Wallace and Roberto Sirvent: “Anti-Blackness, Bioethics, and Public Health: 200 Introductory Resources for Community Study” Writers, artists, community organizers and scholars have all contributed their analysis of the resource documents listed, below, and how they might be useful in assessing anti-Black structures arou
Steven Hahn: Slave Rebellions and Mutinies Shaped the Age of Revolution The Age of Revolution (1770–1850), bookended by the American and French Revolutions on the one side and the Revolutions of 1848 on the other, is widely viewed as the progenitor of the modern Euro-A
Brian Shuffler: Ben Fletcher: The Life and Times of a Black Wobbly The struggle for workers’ rights in this country has been an ongoing battle for hundreds of years.
Cornel West and Jeremy Tate: Howard University’s Removal of Classics is a Spiritual Catastrophe Upon learning to read while enslaved, Frederick Douglass began his great journey of emancipation, as such journeys always begin, in the mind.
Alice Speri: Police killings of Black Americans amount to crimes against humanity, international inquiry finds The systematic killing and maiming of unarmed African Americans by police amount to crimes against humanity that should be investigated and prosecuted under international law, an inquiry into US po
Alice Speri: The Defund the Police Movement Takes Aim at Fusion Centers and Mass Surveillance LEGISLATORS IN MAINE could vote as early as next week on the first bill in the country seeking to shut down a fusion center: the intelligence-sharing partnerships between local, st
Labor:
Economy:
Shadow Government Statistics: Consumer Price Index (CPI) Consumer Price Index Has Been Reconfigured Since Early-1980s
So As to Understate Inflation versus Common Experience
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CPI no longer measures the cost of maintaining a constant standard of living.
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CPI no longer measures full inflation for out-of-pocket expenditure.
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With the misused cover of academic theory, politicians forced significant underreporting of official inflation, so as to cut annual cost-of-living adjustments to Social Security, etc.
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Use of the CPI to adjust retirement benefits, private income or to set investment goals impairs the ability of retirees, income earners and investors to stay ahead of inflation.
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Understated inflation used in estimating inflation-adjusted growth has created the illusion of recovery in reported GDP.
Alex Oh: The Strange Case of the SEC Enforcement Chief Who Beat a Hasty Exit After Six Days on the Job Less than seven hours after Wall Street On Parade ran our negative critique on SEC Chairman Gary Gensler’s pick to be the top crime fighter at his agency, Alex Young K. Oh abruptly resigned that position after just six days on the job. Corporate media is now attempting to blame the sudden exodus of the 20-year veteran of the law firm Paul, Weiss, Rifkind, Wharton & Garrison (one of the go-to law firms for the mega Wall Street banks) over her and/or her Paul Weiss colleagues saying something rude in a deposition where they were defense counsel for Exxon Mobil. (If you’ve ever sat for a deposition represented by Big Law on both sides, you know that rudeness is often de rigueur.) By Pam Martens and Russ Martens
World:
As Long as Capitalism and Big Pharma Keep Profiting From the Vaccines, The Global Capitalist Pandemic Crisis Will Not End!
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
Review – ‘The Corona Crash: How the Pandemic Will Change Capitalism’ Left-wing economist Grace Blakeley’s latest book discusses what capitalism will look like as we emerge from the COVID-19 pandemic. This senile system will increasingly rely on state support. The left must fight for a genuine socialist alternative. By Adam Booth
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!