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:
WTO is meeting on May 5 to discuss the TRIPS waiver, and U.S. support is crucial. But the Trump administration and a handful of other countries had opposed the waiver, and President Joe Biden has not yet stepped up to change that. It’s not because this is an unpopular idea: the director general of the World Health Organization supports the TRIPS waiver; as do health and human rights groups including Doctors Without Borders, Partners In Health, Amnesty International, Oxfam, Doctors for America and the American Medical Student Association. Sixty former heads of state and 100 Nobel Prize winners have urged Biden to back the waiver, as have 2 million Americans. I and many other Mainers have relatives and friends in countries around the world, and we can’t disconnect from those people. But when it comes to this pandemic, we’re all connected—and not just by our common humanity. None of us are safe until we’ve reached a worldwide critical mass of vaccination. President Biden and his advisors are deciding right now whether to do the right thing and the best way for us to urge him to do so (as Mainers, Americans, and human beings) is to ask the members of our congressional delegation to tell him they support the TRIPS waiver. Unless we come together and fix this broken system, people all over the world will die as huge pharmaceutical companies profit. Let’s not let that happen. — None of Us Are Safe From Covid-19 Until the Global Population Has Access to the Vaccine
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!
Over 10 Million People Could Become Homeless When Eviction Moratorium Ends After more than a year of economic, social and spiritual upheaval, Americans are beginning to see the light at the end of the COVID tunnel. While infection rates are not yet stable in the U.S., hospitalizations remain on the decline, and the vaccine is now available to everyone. A return to something close to normal life feels tantalizingly close. For the one in every seven tenants in the U.S. currently behind on rent, however, the end of COVID could mean eviction. Marginalized tenants are especially at risk — one in five Black tenants, Latino tenants and tenants with children currently owe back rent. By Laura Jedeed
New Documentary “Exterminate All The Brutes” Was 500 Years of Genocide in the Making The fact that Raoul Peck’s new HBO film on white supremacy exists shows that something profound about the world is changing. in the final episode of Raoul Peck’s HBO Idocumentary, “Exterminate All the Brutes,” Peck says in a voice-over, “The very existence of this film is a miracle.” That is 100 percent true. Before this moment in history, it would have been impossible to imagine that one of the world’s largest corporations — AT&T, owner of HBO, with a current market cap of $220 billion — would have funded and broadcast a film like this. The fact that it somehow squeezed through the cracks and onto our TVs and laptop screens demonstrates that something profound about the world is changing. Decades, centuries of people fighting and dying were required both to widen the cracks and mold someone like Peck, the right human at the right time, to step through. “Exterminate All the Brutes” is a sprawling disquisition — four episodes, each an hour long — into the invention and consequences of 500 years of “white” supremacy, presented via a high-gloss pastiche of old footage, newly filmed dramatizations, and clips from Hollywood movies. “White” needs scare quotes because the film makes clear that whiteness is not something that exists in reality — like, say, the moon — that is right there whether we believe in it or not. Instead, it’s something imaginary that we’ve somehow all agreed on, like pieces of paper having value. By Jon SchwarzExecs at Top Pentagon Contractors Raked in $276.5 Million Last Year, Analysis Finds “Congress and the administration should take a closer look at these costs,” says report lead author William D. Hartung, “with an eye towards reducing them and freeing up funds for other needed purposes.” By Jessica CorbettEnvironment:
The United States is ranked #1 in global warming emitions (Ranking Global Warming Contributions by Country) but, actually, the United States has contributed far more global warming admission, if you consider the 800 U.S. military bases and wars, throughout the world. From The Military Pumps Out Staggering Quantities of Toxic Waste, Water and Air Pollution and Radiation Environmentalists are ignoring the elephant in the room … the world’s largest polluter: . . . The Pentagon is also one of the largest greenhouse gas emitters in the world … and yet has a blanket exemption from all greenhouse gas treaties.The defense department also uses open-air burn pits which send a parade of horribles into the air. Sea life is not exempt. And the military has long been is a flagrant user of chemical weapons and depleted uranium . . . which can trash ecosystems and human health. And Despite our unorthodox presidential election, America’s overseas military bases are largely taken for granted in today’s foreign policy debates. The U.S. maintains a veritable empire of military bases throughout the world— about 800 of them in more than 70 countries. Many view our bases as a symbol of our status as the dominant world power. But America’s forward-deployed military posture incurs substantial costs and disadvantages, exposing the U.S. to vulnerabilities and unintended consequences. (See:Why We Should Close America’s Overseas Military Bases) By Roland Sheppard
United States: Biden’s ‘Bullshit’ Climate Promises United States President Joe Biden held a meeting of world leaders in late April to discuss climate change and call for new commitments on carbon emissions. Climate activist and leader Greta Thunberg released a video the day before the summit began, denouncing it as “bullshit”.When you compare the overall current best available science to their insufficient, hypothetical “climate targets” you clearly see that there’s a gap, there are decades missing. Until we adress this gap, no real solutions will be found. Let’s call out the bullsh*t. — Greta Thunberg (@GretaThunberg) April 22, 2021 By Barry SheppardThe Flows Tell the Story: Klamath River Coho Salmon are in Dire Condition So far this spring only 36 Coho Salmon age 1+ have been trapped by the California Department of Fish and Wildlife (DFW) while exiting the Shasta River Basin and only 21 Coho Salmon age 0+, 3 Coho Salmon age 1+ have been trapped on their way out from the Scott River. These are dismal numbers and indicate that Klamath River Coho continue on the slide to extinction. The Shasta and Scott should be the top producers of Klamath River Coho but they are not because of poorly regulated irrigation using surface flows. Irrigation in the Shasta and Scott prevents Coho from reaching the best spawning grounds and kills the juveniles before they can get out to Klamath River. Then disease gets most of them descending the Klamath. Meanwhile DFW and the State Water Board allow this to go unchallenged and NMFS is giving Shasta ranchers a Safe Harbor Agreement that allows them to kill Coho salmon. By Felice PaceCRISPR Madness: Welcome to the Age of Genetic Chaos The Nobel prize in chemistry awarded last year to the biochemists Jennifer Doudna and Emmanuelle Charpentier for the genetic modification technique called CRISPR cemented the popular idea that a new era of precision manipulation of hereditary material had arrived. The award came on the heels of the unauthorized use of the technique by the scientist He Jiankui in 2018 in China in an effort to produce individuals (twin girls in this case) resistant to HIV, and a flurry of studies in early 2020 showing that accuracy in altering DNA in a test tube or bacteria in a culture dish, did not hold up when applied to animal embryos. Attempts to modify single genes in human embryos (not intended to be brought to full-term) in fact led to “large-scale, unintended DNA deletions and rearrangements in the areas surrounding the targeted sequence,” aka “genetic chaos.” By Stuart A. Newman
Precautionary Principle, approach in policy making that legitimizes the adoption of preventative measures to address potential risks to the public or environment associated with certain activities or policies.
Precaution before Profits:: An Overview of Issues in Genetically Engineered Food and Crops Conculsion: So, why all the fuss about genetically engineered foods? For-profit companies, making decisions based on profit margins and available markets, are tampering with the food supply in unknowable and unpredictable ways. These tampered products are not differentiated on supermarket shelves so consumers have no say in whether they participate in this experiment or not. Evidence exists to suggest that these products may have serious implications-for the environment and for human health. To top it all off, the usual mechanisms for protecting consumers-namely governmental regulations and advocacy organizations-have not had the chance to develop appropriate measures for evaluating this new technology. Until such time as the legal, regulatory, and ethical structures are put in place to more adequately deal with the implications of genetically engineered food, these risks should be borne not by consumers but by industry.
New Soil Study Shows Pesticides ‘Destroying the Very Foundations of Web of Life’ “It’s extremely concerning that over 70% of cases show that pesticides significantly harm soil invertebrates.” —Tara Cornelisse, Center for Biological Diversity “These troubling findings add to the urgency of reining in pesticide use to save biodiversity.” Researchers at the University of Maryland as well as the advocacy groups Friends of the Earth U.S. and the Center for Biological Diversity were behind what they say is “the largest, most comprehensive review of the impacts of agricultural pesticides on soil organisms ever conducted.” By Jessica Corbett
Civil Rights/Black Liberation:
Labor:
Economy:
Shhh! Don’t Tell Congress that the Cabal It’s Investigating Over GameStop and Archegos Quietly Got SEC Approval to Jointly Run their Own Stock Exchange The House Financial Services Committee has released its official Memorandum outlining the general topics it wants to cover in tomorrow’s hearing on the wild trading action in GameStop and other meme stocks in January that has raised serious questions about U.S. market integrity. The implosion of the Archegos Capital Management family office hedge fund in March, which has generated losses of more than $10 billion thus far at global systemically important banks, will likely be a key topic when the Senate Banking and House Financial Services Committees haul Wall Street bank CEOs to hearings on May 26 and 27, respectively. 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!
70% of People in G7 Nations Want Governments to Force Big Pharma to Share Vaccine Recipes “The public doesn’t want Big Pharma to hold monopolies on vaccines that were developed largely with public money.” — Heidi Chow, Global Justice Now” Released just ahead of Wednesday’s meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO)—where member nations will consider a proposal to waive coronavirus vaccine patents—the poll by the People’s Vaccine Alliance finds that support for government action to compel the sharing of vaccine recipes is strongest in Italy at 82%, followed by Canada at 76%, the United Kingdom at 74%, Germany at 70%, and the U.S. at 69%. Released just ahead of Wednesday’s meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO)—where member nations will consider a proposal to waive coronavirus vaccine patents—the poll by the People’s Vaccine Alliance finds that support for government action to compel the sharing of vaccine recipes is strongest in Italy at 82%, followed by Canada at 76%, the United Kingdom at 74%, Germany at 70%, and the U.S. at 69%. By Jake Johnson
Turning a Profit from Death On Modi’s Pandemic Response In Neoliberal India Let us be clear from the outset: what is happening in India right now is mass murder. And it is organized by a man who has practice in such matters. Two images bookend the current crisis and contain in them a trajectory of the crisis. The first is the image of the Indian police hosing down migrant workers with bleach last spring, during the first wave of the pandemic, and the grimmer, more recent one of cremation fires burning all over the country. The road between the 2 markers was expected, but the violence lies in the fact that it could have been avoided. When the infection rate fell after the first lockdown, the Modi regime declared victory over the virus. Lacing his propaganda with Hindu mythology, in March the prime minister told the nation that while the Mahabharat [mythic battle of Hindu epics] war had been won in 18 days, he would win the corona battle in 21. By Tithi Bhattahttps Brazil Seeks To Hold Bolsonaro Accountable For More Than 400,000 Covid-19 Deaths “It is a true health, economic, and political tragedy, and the main responsibility lies with the president.” Avoid accountability, attract attention through outrage, win reelection. This has been the holy trinity of Brazilian President Jair Bolsonaro’s decadeslong career in politics. Over the past year, the 66-year-old far-right extremist reached new heights of producing outrage, but the other pillars of his strategy appear to be faltering. Brazil’s Covid-19 crisis remains one of the worst in the world, and a brutal economic depression has forced millions into poverty. Opinion polls are for the first time consistently showing that a majority of Brazilians now disapprove of Bolsonaro. So far, Bolsonaro has proven adept at coopting public institutions, and avoiding accountability, through threats, promises, backroom negotiations, or placing loyalists into official positions. But when Brazil’s Senate launched a new inquiry into Bolsonaro’s handling of the coronavirus pandemic, the president’s allies were unable to block it. The panel convened for the first time on Tuesday, and members expect the investigation to produce impeachable evidence of his malfeasance. By Andrew Fishman
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
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!
Execs at Top Pentagon Contractors Raked in $276.5 Million Last Year, Analysis Finds “Congress and the administration should take a closer look at these costs,” says report lead author William D. Hartung, “with an eye towards reducing them and freeing up funds for other needed purposes.” By Jessica Corbett
Environment:
