Daily News Digest May 12, 2021

Daily News Digest Archives

Images Of the Day:

Capitalist Genocide of Patestine”Capitalists Pandemic Protiteers: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!

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:

The ruling clerics, which are not my favorite people, or yours, have no particular instinct for immediate suicide and losing everything that they have. American intelligence says the same thing. In the past they said if [Iran had] a nuclear program, then it would be part of their deterrence strategy. Why does a country have a deterrence strategy? Well, because somebody is ready to attack them. Who’s ready to attack them? The countries that are at war with them already, which is the United States and Israel. When the United States boasts of carrying out cyber war that destroys Iranian facilities, that’s an act of war.  When Israel assassinates nuclear scientists and blows up facilities, that’s an act of war. We are openly and proudly at war with Iran. So, should they develop a deterrent capacity? Is that a threat to us if they do? In a way, yes. If a country wants to rampage freely in the region, and they don’t want to have deterrence around, yes, that’s kind of a threat.     Pursue this further, you see more. There are a lot of things China shouldn’t be doing. The internal repression in China is serious. Not as bad as a lot of things we do but serious. Yes, they should not be doing that, though it isn’t a threat to us.      And, unfortunately, we can’t do much about it. We can do a lot about the repression we’re carrying out, but we don’t want to talk about that. And in the South China Sea, which has enormous commercial and security significance to China, they are violating international law and carrying out acts that they shouldn’t be carrying out. The answer to that is not to send a Naval armada into the South China Sea, which could lead to possible provocations, which could explode. And if anything does explode, we’re all finished.      There can’t be a nuclear war with China or with Russia. We’re all dead if that happens. That’s not the way to do it. The way to do it is with diplomacy and negotiations. There are opportunities, which may not come out perfectly, but to take one of Trump’s rare true statements:      “You think our country’s so innocent?” The one true statement that he was able to make in a flood of lies. You know, the same is true with provocations on the Russian border. Notice, the Russian border, not the Mexican border. That’s not the place to have provocative military exercises, it’s not the place to put up anti-ballistic missile installations which is what Barack Obama did, which have dual use and can be used not only for surveillance but even guidance. You just don’t do that if you want to live in a world that survives.     The basic and significant point, going back to dissent, and it should be repeated, is that if there’s too much agreement on some complicated question, you should be suspicious. Complicated questions should be debated. — Chomsky: Big Pharma Cares More About Profiting From COVID Than Human Survival

The Russian Direct Investment Fund, which is marketing the vaccine, has signed deals to produce more than 750 million doses of Sputnik V in India with six domestic vaccine makers, according to reports. Public sector companies can also be roped in to increase the production capacity for Sputnik V vaccine. Why Biden’s Vaccine IP Waiver is Political Theatre

Videos of the Day:

Israeli Stormtroopers: 500 Palestinians Gunned Down With Rubber Bullets & Stun Grenades As Israeli Cops Storm Al-Aqsa Mosque Violence erupted for a third night in a row with many were struck by rubber bullets, stun grenades and tear gas ahead of a planned Jewish nationalist march.

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!

Woke-Washing The Us Military Meat Grinder The U.S. military markets itself to working-class and marginalized recruits who are alienated by capitalist society, then it chews them up and spits them out. That’s how the system is designed to work.    In this special episode of “Working People,” we talk with three veterans about how the military and the class system (in the U.S. and around the world) go hand in hand. How does the military market itself to the poor and marginalized (and why is that marketing so effective)? How does our broken economy ensure a constant stream of recruits who will be sent to fight endless imperialist wars just so they can pay for college or finally be accepted as a worthy citizen? What happens to these recruits when they’re serving and when (or if) they leave? Why is it that so many features of military life and America’s self-perpetuating war machine translate to an accepted status quo in which women, LGBTQ folks, and non-white recruits are subjected to vicious harassment, violent assault, or worse? In this important conversation, we’re joined by Triste Ordex, Marine Corps vet and national organizer for Vets for the People; Amber Mathwig, a former 10-year Navy Master-at-Arms and organizer with About Face: Veterans Against the War; and Clarke, a Navy veteran, organizer with the Democratic Socialists of America, and commercial diver. Anti-Democratic Tradition Is So Ubiquitous That Many Don’t Even Recognize It David Swanson discusses how the U.S. is a corrupt oligarchy, reforming impeachment and the power of public assemblies. On April 9, President Joe Biden released a $715 billion military budget, which is more than even former President Donald Trump’s proposed budget of $704 billion. Meanwhile, the Biden administration still hasn’t delivered concretely on plans to stop the war in Yemen. Despite praise for his first 100 days in office, are Biden’s primary loyalties to an oligarchic system that benefits the wealthy few by disproportionately extracting resources from its own citizens based on promises they wanted to hear? By Tom Bauer

“Even though a growing number of companies have spoken out in defense of democracy and voting rights, many of these same companies contributed to legislators sponsoring anti-voter or anti-protest bills during their most recent election campaigns.”—Greenpeace report: Report Reveals Major Corporations Are Funding Lawmakers Behind Anti-Democracy Bills  “It is now more urgent than ever to build a just transition away from fossil fuels and fight off attacks against protest and our freedom to vote, so that we can have a planet our communities can thrive on.” Numerous corporations have funded the political action committees of state lawmakers backing the recent spate of anti-voter and anti-protest bills, even as many of the companies have spoken out in defense of voting rights and democracy, a report published Monday by Greenpeace USA revealed. The report (pdf)—entitled Dollars vs. Democracy: Companies and the Attack on Voting Rights and Peaceful Protest—says that 44 state lawmakers sponsored at least one anti-protest bill and one anti-voter bill in the past year. It also reveals that 53 of the 100 top corporate donors to lawmakers sponsoring anti-voter bills also rank among the top 100 contributors to anti-protest measures.  By Brett WilkinsEnvironment:

Tide of Climate Refugees Swells As Earth Heats Up  Prepare for the arrival of more displaced persons, climate refugees driven from their homes by global heating. Natural hazards − most of them driven by climate change − have forced an estimated 288 million people from their homes since 2008. That is three times the numbers displaced by war and conflict. These people have become, however briefly, climate refugees. And the number will grow. A new study has found that for every 1°C rise in global average temperatures, the chance of displacement from river flooding alone will rise by 50%. And that calculation is based on population numbers right now. As human numbers rise, so will the risk − by 110%. By Tim Radford

Civil Rights/Black Liberation:

Lee Camp: 13 Facts About American Prisons That Will Blow Your Mind The U.S. prison system is a crime against humanity. Here are just some of the reasons why. In a few minutes time you’ll want to abolish prisons. If you’re not ready for that intellectual and emotional transformation, then please stop reading now. Or put on your thunder shirt.If you grew up in the United States, like I did, then you probably think prisons are a fact of life. We just go through our day-to-day assuming that a huge chunk our population must be hardened criminals (which is very different from hard criminals: scalawags involved in burgling while aroused) and that without prisons these delinquents would be running everywhere, breaking things, kicking squirrels in the face, and urinating in your car window while you’re at a stoplight. We just assume prisons have been around forever — as if back in caveman times they had one of the caves walled off with sticks and vines where they kept Blartho because he was a real a-hole.   Yet, the truth is that large prisons were not a thing in America or really anywhere in the world until the 1800s. That’s the first in this list of 13 facts about American prisons that will blow your mind. (Pared down and adjusted from my previous list of 1,234 facts about American prisons that will give you liver damage.) 

Shadow Government Statics Daily Update (May 11th to 12th)  Headlines:

• Pandemic-Driven U.S. Economic Collapse Continues to Harden in a Protracted “L”-Shaped Non-Recovery

• Severe Systemic Structural Damage from the Shutdown Is Forestalling Meaningful Economic Rebound into 2022 or Beyond, Irrespective of the Advances in Coronavirus Vaccines and Treatments

• Panicked, Unlimited Federal Reserve Money Creation and Federal Government Deficit Spending Continue and Will Expand, Triggering Major Domestic Inflation

• With Fundamental Dollar Debasement Intensifying, Holding Physical Gold and Silver Protects the Purchasing Power of One’s Assets, Irrespective of Any Near-Term Central Bank or Other Machinations to the Contrary.

Wall Street’s ‘Forever Blowing Bubbles!’: At $49.1 Trillion, the U.S. Stock Market Is Larger than the Combined GDP of the U.S., China, Japan and Germany When the motherlode of stock market bubbles finally pops, exposing the corrupt edifices on which it was built, you can count on one thing for sure – there will be lots of testimony before Congress that no one could have seen it coming.  The simple chart above, that took us 30 minutes to prepare in an Excel spreadsheet, is proof that anyone among the legions of Wall Street bank regulators at the Federal Reserve, the OCC, the FDIC, and the SEC can see what’s coming. The chart compares U.S. GDP to the total stock market value at December 31, 1999, prior to the bursting of the dot.com bubble; at December 31, 2007, prior to the bursting of the subprime and derivatives bubble; and on December 31, 2020, prior to the bursting of whatever the bailout boys decide to call this bubble. By Pam Martens and Russ Martens

World:

 

Western Media Continues to Report Israel’s Blatant Brutality as ‘Clashes’ and ‘Scuffles’ Were the media concerned with speaking truth to power, the case of Sheikh Jarrah perfectly exposes the magnitude of Israeli hypocrisy and deceit. By Belén Fernández

US Funds Israel’s Genocide of Palestine:  “These Are Not ‘Clashes'”: Media Slammed for Coverage Amid Deadly IDF Attacks on Gaza A U.S. State Department spokesperson also faced criticism for refusing to condemn the reported killing of Palestinian children. Amid reporting that Israeli airstrikes on the Gaza Strip killed at least 20 Palestinians, including nine children, rights activists and journalists on Monday called out some members of the media for covering the latest developments with language that misrepresents the power dynamics of the region.  After Israeli forces injured hundreds of Palestinians with rubber bullets, stun grenades, and tear gas at the Al-Aqsa Mosque—and refused to stand down—Hamas fired rockets at Jerusalem. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) responded with the deadly airstrikes, claiming to strike “Hamas terror targets.”  As Jack Mirkinson of Discourse Blog and many other critics pointed out, outlets including the Associated Press, BBC, New York Times, Reuters, and the Washington Post used “clash” or “clashes” to describe the attack on the mosque, which is a holy site for Muslims and Jews. As Mirkinson wrote Monday: This is not a “clash” between two equal sides. This is a straightforward attack by Israel on Palestinians. For days, the Israeli government has been systematically assaulting Palestinians worshipping at one of the holiest sites in Islam, during Ramadan, all while enforcing a move to ethnically cleanse a Jerusalem neighborhood of its Palestinian residents. Israeli forces have fired rubber bullets and stun grenades, injuring hundreds of people. The deputy mayor of Jerusalem has been filmed lamenting that Palestinian activists weren’t shot in the head. By Jessica Corbett

The Pursuit of National Liberty Should not be Handed Over to Toxic Populists and Demagogues Sending the royal navy to Jersey to confront the French was a suitable overture to elections in Britain dominated by populist nationalism of differing variants. Boris Johnson promised “unwavering support” for the island’s government, a pledge it may find less than reassuring. In Paris, President Macron was likewise beating the patriotic drum, using the bicentenary of the death of Napoleon to praise “the child from Ajaccio who became master of Europe” By Patrick Cockburn

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 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Why Biden’s Vaccine IP Waiver is Political Theatre India’s Ministry of External Affairs has welcomed the statement of the US government of 5th May announcing their support for a relaxation in the norms of the agreement on TRIPS, to ensure quick and affordable access to vaccines and medicines for developing countries. Delhi is “hopeful that with a consensus based approach, the waiver can be approved quickly at the WTO.” But is the optimism warranted? The US statement itself is cautiously worded and is non-committal. It only says, “We will actively participate in text-based negotiations at the World Trade Organization (WTO) needed to make that happen. Those negotiations will take time given the consensus-based nature of the institution and the complexity of the issues involved.” The Biden administration’s emphasis continues to be on “our vaccine supply for the American people.” It is an America First strategy. President Biden has plans to at least partially vaccinate 70% of adults by July 4 so that herd immunity develops that will help the level of new infections to drop. By M. K. Bhadrakumar