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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 of the Day:
The Covid-9 Pandemic Exposes Capitalism as is a Failed System: Some wealthy nations like the U.S., meanwhile, have a surplus of vaccine doses. “The ongoing vaccine crisis is a scandalous inequity that is perpetuating the pandemic,” Tedros said. “More than 75% of all vaccines have been administered in just 10 countries.” “There is no diplomatic way to say it: A small group of countries that make and buy the majority of the world’s vaccines control[s] the fate of the rest of the world,” he said. There is simply “not enough supply” globally, which means that “countries that vaccinate children and other low-risk groups now do so at the expense of health workers and high-risk groups in other countries,” said Tedros. “That’s the reality.” — WHO Chief Decries ‘Scandalous’ Vaccine Inequality
Peace came to Vietnam because of two social movements. Foremost, of course, was the Vietnamese national independence movement, which — for thirty years — refused to yield to the United States and the most stupefying array of weaponry ever assembled. The other movement appeared inside the United States and its demands for peace came to be supported by sizeable majorities of public opinion. As the 1970s began, the U.S. peace movement began to wield the kind of power necessary to change history. Here are two examples: First, after President Nixon invaded Cambodia, students launched strikes at four hundred colleges and universities, paralyzing the nation’s higher education system for the remainder of the school year. Second, U.S. soldiers themselves began to play a leading role in the peace movement, both in Vietnam and at home. As British historian Tariq Ali recently noted, “I cannot think of an example of any other imperial war in history, and not just in the history of the American empire but in the history of the British and French empires, where you had tens of thousands of former GIs and sometimes serving GIs marching outside the Pentagon and saying they wanted the Vietnamese to win. That is a unique event in the annals of empire. That is what frightened and scared the living daylights out of them. ‘If the heart of our apparatus is becoming infected, what the hell are we going to do?’” — The Pentagon Papers at 50: What’s Left Out is Crucial
Videos 0f the Day:
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!
United States/Israel Genocide Continues!:
The Media Monopoly in Support of Aparthide Israel: 100+ AP Staffers Condemn News Agency for ‘Sacrifice’ of Emily Wilder After Right-Wing Smear Campaign Wilder’s firing has left AP employees “wondering how we treat our own, what culture we embrace and what values we truly espouse as a company.” More than 100 Associated Press staffers have signed an open letter condemning the firing of former news associate Emily Wilder, who was dismissed last week after a right-wing college group targeted her with a smear campaign over her support for Palestinian rights. The letter signed by her former colleagues questioned how Wilder violated the AP‘s social media policy over the course of her 16-day employment, during which she observed on Twitter that most mainstream news outlets rarely demonstrate “objectivity” when reporting on Israel and Palestine, instead making “political choices” about the language they use to describe Israel’s occupation and treatment of Palestinians. By Julia Conley
Chris Hedges and Author Mitchell Plitnick on “Except for Palestine” On this week’s “On Contact,” Chris Hedges discusses why American liberals refuse to speak out about the crimes the Israeli apartheid state carries out against the Palestinians, with political analyst and author Mitchell Plitnick. Mitchell Plitnick’s new book, with co-author Marc Lamont Hill, is: “Except for Palestine: The Limits of Progressive Politics.” “Israel is in breach of more than 30 U.N. Security Council resolutions. It is in breach of Article 33 of the Fourth Geneva Convention that defines collective punishment of a civilian population as a war crime. It is in violation of Article 49 of the Fourth Geneva Convention for settling over half a million Jewish Israelis on occupied Palestinian land and for the ethnic cleansing of at least 750,000 Palestinians when the Israeli state was founded and another 300,000 after Gaza, East Jerusalem and the West Bank were occupied following the 1967 war,” wrote Hedges in his recent commentary, Israel, the Big Lie for ScheerPost. “Its annexation of East Jerusalem and the Syrian Golan Heights violates international law, as does its building of a security barrier in the West Bank that annexes Palestinian land into Israel. It is in violation of U.N. General Assembly Resolution 194 that states that Palestinian “refugees wishing to return to their homes and live at peace with their neighbors should be permitted to do so at the earliest practicable date.”
Outrage Over Israel’s Human Rights Abuses Is Fueling the Global BDS Movement As Israeli police threaten Palestinians with mass arrests, the push for boycotts, divestment and sanctions gains power. Israeli police are now threatening to carry out mass arrests against Palestinian citizens of Israel — arrests intended to punish those who took part in sit-ins and other protests in solidarity with Palestinians living in East Jerusalem and Gaza.This latest attack on Palestinian rights comes just days after Israeli police once again attacked Palestinians at Al Aqsa Mosque, and after the Israeli military viciously bombed Gaza for 11 days, killing 248 Palestinians and wounding more than 1,900, destroying 16,800 Palestinian homes and displacing tens of thousands of Palestinians. Outrage against Israel’s ongoing apartheid system and routine attacks on Palestinian rights and lives is mounting worldwide, setting the stage for a new burst of energy in the global movement for boycotts, divestment and sanctions (BDS) against the Israeli regime — a nonviolent movement in support of the Palestinian struggle for freedom and equality. By Marjorie Cohn
Environment:
Agri-Business Strikes Back!: Who is Suffering From Lack of Klamath Water? Examining Federal Irrigator Claims This year the Klamath River Basin’s federal irrigators have declared that the US Bureau of Reclamation is taking away their ability to farm by keeping too much water in Upper Klamath Lake and allowing too much water to flow down the Klamath River. Low snowpack and inadequate inflow to Upper Klamath Lake have, in fact, limited the ability of the US Bureau of Reclamation to meet all its obligation to deliver irrigation water, while simultaneously also meeting the needs of threatened and endangered species in the Klamath River and Upper Klamath Lake. By Felice Pace
Environmental Racism: There are Too Many ‘Cancer Alleys’ in the United States!: Advocates Applaud State AGs’ Call for Review of Proposed ‘Cancer Alley’ Petrochemical Plant “I believe that if there’s an honest assessment of the environmental racism behind this project’s approval then it will never be permitted,” said one leading local activist. “We must stop Formosa Plastics.” Citing the imperative to “protect the residents and natural resources of St. James Parish and to prevent public health and environmental harms across our jurisdictions,” attorneys general from four states and the District of Columbia on Monday sent a letter to the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers asking it to thoroughly evaluate the adverse impacts of Formosa Plastics’ massive proposed petrochemical complex in Louisiana’s “Cancer Alley.”By Brett Wilkins
Civil Rights/Black Liberation:
Balck America Cannot Afford Another Lost Decade for Black Workers As the country seeks to reinvent itself once again, it’s time to place Black workers at the center of an economic recovery that works for everyone. Black workers have been hit hardest by the pandemic. We are more likely to lose income because of Covid-related layoffs and shutdowns, and by last August—five months into the pandemic—Black unemployment was nearly double that of white unemployment. But the impact is not just economic. We are three times more likely to be exposed to Covid-19 on the job and twice as likely to die from the virus. To recover from the devastating effects that Covid-19 has had on all communities, we must center the concerns and needs of Black workers in the economic recovery to come. It’s a moral imperative, but it also makes good fiscal and political sense, too. We already know what policies work: when we need to get help to American families, we rely on cash assistance, focus on eliminating barriers to employment and advancement, and build in legal protections against discrimination. It’s time to put them to work in this economic recovery. The National Black Worker Center has published a new report, outlining how federal, state, and local governments can finally place Black workers at the center of an economic recovery that works for everyone. Our recommendations include: By Tanya Wallace-Gobern
Black Agenda Radio for Week of May 24, 2021 With Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford
Black Rebellions Less Frequent, But Police Response More Violent Than in Earlier Decades Oppressed communities and political movements need money, but “I don’t believe that corporations can become partners” in people’s liberation, said Imani Wadud, a doctoral student and activist at the University of Kansas. The millions of corporate dollars that flowed into Black Lives Matter founders’ accounts after huge protests last summer has “dissipated” the “revolutionary potential of the movement” into “small measures for reform,” said Wadud.
Corporate Philanthropy Erodes Black Lives Matter Movement Oppressed communities and political movements need money, but “I don’t believe that corporations can become partners” in people’s liberation, said Imani Wadud, a doctoral student and activist at the University of Kansas. The millions of corporate dollars that flowed into Black Lives Matter founders’ accounts after huge protests last summer has “dissipated” the “revolutionary potential of the movement” into “small measures for reform,” said Wadud.
Racial Capitalism is the Kind We’ve Got, and Must DefeatThe issues of race and class are intertwined, and “we must fight against them simultaneously rather than trying to decide if racial or class exploitation came first,” said Justin Leroy, a professor of History at the University of California at Davis and co-author of the book, “Histories of Racial Capitalism.”
Community Control of Police Advocates Poised to Win in Chicago A solid majority of the Chicago Board of Aldermen, including all the major caucuses, now supports a version of community control of police, said Frank Chapman, executive director of the National Alliance Against Racist and Political Repression. “Our mass base of support has gone from tens of thousands to hundreds of thousands,” said Chapman. Mayor Lori Lightfoot remains opposed, but Chapman believes “we are in shape to defeat her on all levels.”
Labor:
Economy:
Three Wall Street Mega Banks Have Admitted to a Combined Eight Felony Counts; But Don’t Expect the Word “Felony” to Come Up in Wednesday’s Senate Banking Hearing with their CEOs On Wednesday, the Senate Banking Committee will haul each of the CEOs of the largest U.S. banks on Wall Street to a hearing. Three of those banks have been charged with, and admitted to, egregious felonies. But we will be shocked if any Senator dares to inquire about these unprecedented felony counts. Until 2014, no major Wall Street bank that held federally insured deposits had ever been charged with a felony in a century. That all changed on January 7, 2014 when the U.S. Department of Justice charged JPMorgan Chase with two criminal felony counts for its role in the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme. The bank had managed the business account for Madoff for decades and had even written to U.K. regulators that it suspected Madoff of running a fraudulent operation. It failed to share any such concerns with U.S. regulators. On Wednesday, the Senate Banking Committee will haul each of the CEOs of the largest U.S. banks on Wall Street to a hearing. Three of those banks have been charged with, and admitted to, egregious felonies. But we will be shocked if any Senator dares to inquire about these unprecedented felony counts. Until 2014, no major Wall Street bank that held federally insured deposits had ever been charged with a felony in a century. That all changed on January 7, 2014 when the U.S. Department of Justice charged JPMorgan Chase with two criminal felony counts for its role in the Bernie Madoff Ponzi scheme. The bank had managed the business account for Madoff for decades and had even written to U.K. regulators that it suspected Madoff of running a fraudulent operation. It failed to share any such concerns with U.S. regulators.
World:
US Trying to Extradite Venezuelan Diplomat for the ‘Crime’ of Securing Food for the Hungry: The Case of Alex Saab v. The Empire The case of Alex Saab raises dangerous precedents in terms of extraterritorial judicial abuse, violation of diplomatic status, and even the use of torture to extract false confessions. This is according to Montréal-based international human rights lawyer John Philpot. He spoke on May 19 at a webinar sponsored by the Alliance for Global Justice and other groups about this example of the long reach of the US empire enforcing its deadly sanctions on some one third of humanity. By Roger Harris
Israel’s Illusion of Normality Collapses: May 2021 For decades Israelis have basked in the light of success. After fifty years of brutal, illegal occupation and control of the whole of Palestine, they have managed to habituate the world to the realities of Israeli Apartheid. They even started believing that they have managed to get the Palestinians to accept such success. Israel was gearing up to welcome many tourists in the wake of the COVID-19 crisis in Europe and elsewhere, being one of the only countries which have managed to control the virus successfully. Israel may not have a properly elected government for the last 28 months, its Prime Minister is facing criminal charges in court, and the ICC is preparing its case against Israeli war crimes, but none of this stopped Israel from committing more war crimes daily. Israelis lived under – or upon – a volcano, believing themselves to be immune from standard legal and societal norms. Their control of over six million Palestinians seems to be safe from intervention, criticism or challenge. They believed the Palestinians have been completely neutralized by their new reproachment with the Gulf dictatorships.
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
Gulf Between the Classes Prepares the Way For Revolutionary Upheavals Big business politicians like Joe Biden and Boris Johnson are promising to ‘build back better’, with investment and jobs. But in reality, the working class will be presented with the bill for capitalism’s crises. Storms and struggle lie ahead. It wasn’t supposed to be like this. Capitalism in its old age was supposed to be sedate. Instead there are crises and profound instability everywhere. The shock of the coronavirus crisis over the last year has certainly upended the situation. The pandemic is still raging in most countries, and new more virulent variants are emerging. By some estimates, up to 12 million have already died from COVID-19 worldwide. The poorest sections of society have been hit the hardest. At the same time, the rich have never been richer. No wonder there is growing anger, especially towards the elites.
Rich Countries are Hoarding Covid-19 Vaccines
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!
United States:
