Daily News Digest July 19, 2021

Daily News Digest July 19, 2021

Daily News Digest Archives

Images of the Day:

Vulture Capitalists: Latuff: Pacifying HaitiCapitalist Greed = Global WarmingSince 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 of the Day:

The solution here is almost absurdly simple. Cut the motherfucking aid. Send nothing but food and medicine to those gangster states and allow their own people to finish the job they started in the ’80s and overthrow the goddamn juntas and their phony neoliberal plutocracies. Even American progressives like to feed into the jingoistic lie that people flock to America from across the globe to eat McDonald’s and bask in our Disneyfied benevolence. Bullshit. They came here to hide in the shadows of the conquistadors because they know that it’s the only place their bombs won’t drop. I’m all for open borders and freedom of movement but lets not fool ourselves into believing that these people wouldn’t much rather be overthrowing our puppet regimes back home. — Malicious Aid: The Real Root Cause of the Border Crisis

Our investigation is based on the analysis of market share data from thousands of supermarkets across the US.    “It’s a system designed to funnel money into the hands of corporate shareholders and executives while exploiting farmers and workers and deceiving consumers about choice, abundance and efficiency,” said Amanda Starbuck, policy analyst at Food & Water Watch.     The consolidation runs deep: four firms or fewer controlled at least 50% of the market for 79% of the groceries. For almost a third of shopping items, the top firms controlled at least 75% of the market share.      For instance, PepsiCo controls 88% of the dip market, as it owns five of the most popular brands including Tostitos, Lay’s and Fritos. Ninety-three per cent of the sodas we drink are owned by just three companies. The same goes for 73% of the breakfast cereals we eat – despite the shelves stacked with different boxes. — Our Unequal Earth: Revealed: The True Extent of America’s Food Monopolies, And Who Pays the Price 

Videos of the Day:

Haiti: The Trail of Blood That Leads Back to The U.S.(Audio)Who Assassinated the Unpopular Jovenel Moise?

Why Are The Colonial Powers & Their Agents Complicit in Jovenel Moise’s Assassination?

 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!

Afghanistan and the ‘War’ on Drugs: Taliban in Power no drug trade. — War Lords/U.S. in Power Opium exported!:

­Afghanistan has been the world’s leading illicit drug producer since 2001.[1] Afghanistan’s opium poppy harvest produces more than 90% of illicit heroin globally, and more than 95% of the European supply.[2][3]        More land is used for opium in Afghanistan than is used for coca cultivation in Latin America. In 2007, 93% of the non-pharmaceutical-grade opiates on the world market originated in Afghanistan.[4] This amounts to an export value of about US$4 billion, with a quarter being earned by opium farmers and the rest going to district officials, insurgents, warlords, and drug traffickers.[5]     In the seven years (1994–2000) prior to a Taliban opium ban, the Afghan farmers’ share of gross income from opium was divided among 200,000 families.[6]       As of 2017, opium production provides about 400,000 jobs in Afghanistan, more than the Afghan National Security Forces.[7] The opium trade spiked in 2006 after the Taliban lost control of local warlords. In addition to opium, Afghanistan is also the world’s leading producer of hashish. —  Opium Production in Afghanistand

US Concern for Cuba, Latin America is Spin for Intervention The US government says it is going to help Central America fight corruption, will combat the “root causes” of migration in Mexico and Central America, and it wants to help the Cuban people with freedom too.   But the US’s domestic and foreign track record demonstrates that it isn’t qualified to teach anyone about democracy, combating poverty, ending corruption, or anything related to human rights. Instead, it’s recent discourse regarding Latin American countries is aimed at dressing itself, the bully, as the savior.Environment:

NASA’s James Hansen originally warned that 350 PPM CO2 was the tipping point, and that we would all burn up and drown unless CO2 was reduced to those levels. — Hansen’s 350 PPM Tipping Point 

Carbon Dioxide Peaks Near 420 Parts Per Million at Mauna Loa Observatory.Climate Change Tipping Points are Upon Us, Draft U.N. Report Warns: ‘The Worst is Yet to Come’  A draft report by the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warns that unless drastic and immediate action is taken to limit greenhouse gas emissions and keep global temperatures from rising further, life on earth is poised for a catastrophic reckoning.  The 4,000-page draft, a copy of which was obtained by Agence France-Presse, states that mankind may have already missed its opportunity to keep the climate from passing a series of thresholds that will further spur the warming of the planet.   “Life on Earth can recover from a drastic climate shift by evolving into new species and creating new ecosystems,” the report says, “Humans cannot.”

Tipping Point: The expression has become a foundational concept in climate change science discussions and a mainstay of media headlines. Just last month, a leaked version of the newest upcoming science report from the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change warned of looming “tipping points” for Arctic, Greenland and Antarctic ice; subarctic permafrost melt, savannification of the Amazon Rainforest, and other planetary environmental thresholds beyond which recovery may be impossible. “Life on Earth can recover from a drastic climate shift by evolving into new species and creating new ecosystems … humans cannot,” warns the draft. — As Arctic Warms, Scientists Wrestle With Its Climate ‘Tipping Point’

The research, published in the journal Nature, involved taking 600 vertical profiles of CO2 and carbon monoxide, which is produced by the fires, at four sites in the Brazilian Amazon from 2010 to 2018. It found fires produced about 1.5bn tonnes of CO2 a year, with forest growth removing 0.5bn tonnes. The 1bn tonnes left in the atmosphere is equivalent to the annual emissions of Japan, the world’s fifth-biggest polluter. — Amazon Rainforest Now Emitting More CO2 Than It Absorbs

With flames tearing across some 800,000 hectares of Russian forest, the hardest-hit region of Yakutia in the north has been in a state of emergency for weeks as climate scientists sound the alarm about the potential long-term impact. . . . In just the last six weeks, fires in the region have spewed out around 150 megatonnes of carbon dioxide equivalent – close to the 2017 annual fossil fuel emissions of Venezuela, said Mark Parrington, a senior scientist at CAMS. — Planes Dump Water on Siberian Wildfires as Residents Plead for Help

‘We Are in Deep, Deep Sh*t’: Climate Experts Shocked at Severity of Floods in Germany and Belgium “This is your climate on fossil fuel.” Climate scientists on Friday were stunned by the intensity of flooding in Germany and Belgium that killed at least 120 people and damaged tens of thousands of homes, with experts saying they did not expect such extreme weather to result from the human-caused climate crisis as rapidly as it has.

Rotten in the Science of Food The food expert joins Robert Scheer on “Scheer Intelligence” to discuss her book “Unsavory Truths” and its surprising revelations about how the science that influences what we eat is corrupted by corporate interests.

Those Who Sell Our Food: Our Unequal Earth: Revealed: The True Extent of America’s Food Monopolies, And Who Pays the Price Investigation shows scale of big food corporations’ market dominance and political power A handful of powerful companies control the majority market share of almost 80% of dozens of grocery items bought regularly by ordinary Americans, new analysis reveals. A joint investigation by the Guardian and Food and Water Watch found that consumer choice is largely an illusion – despite supermarket shelves and fridges brimming with different brands. In fact, a few powerful transnational companies dominate every link of the food supply chain: from seeds and fertilizers to slaughterhouses and supermarkets to cereals and beers.Black Liberation/Civil Rights:
 Labor:
Those Who Produce Our Food:Our Unequal Earth: ‘We’re not animals, we’re human beings’: US farm workers labor in deadly heat with few protections Advocates want Osha to issue federal heat standards, requiring water, shade and rest breaks The climate crisis is endangering farm workers around the US who work outside in excessive heat throughout the year without any federal protections from heat exposure in the workplace.Economy:

“Captains of industry”? I Think a More Appropriate Term Would Be Robber Barons. J.P. Morgan, Cornelius Vanderbilt, and the like are hailed as business geniuses, but let’s remind ourselves, how do they gain their wealth? Through the exploitation of the proletariat, the working class! Capitalism is a severely flawed system that rewards the manipulative and the exploitative. Robber barons not only use unfair business practices, but also consciously abuse the vulnerability of their workers.Shadow Government Statistics Daily Update 7/17 – 7/20

General Headlines

  • Pandemic-Driven U.S. Economic Collapse Continues to Harden in a Protracted “L”-Shaped Non-Recovery
  • Revisions and Pending Revisions to Key Economic Numbers Show Not Only That the Pandemic Collapse Was Worse Than Headlined, But Also That the Unfolding Recovery Has Been Much Weaker Than Indicated
  • Severe Systemic Structural Damage from the Shutdown Is Forestalling Meaningful Economic Rebound into 2023 or Beyond, Irrespective of the Advances in Coronavirus Vaccinations
  • Panicked, Unlimited Federal Reserve Money Creation and Federal Government Deficit Spending Continue and Likely Will Expand, Fueling Accelerating, 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.

Rober Baron JPMorgan Doing What Comes Naturally:  Someone Is Buying Up Power Plants and Critical Infrastructure in 22 Countries. The Trail Leads to JPMorgan – a Bank Repeatedly Charged with Rigging Markets According to the Merger and Acquisition database at PitchBook, entities tied to JPMorgan Asset Management have been buying up energy and infrastructure assets around the world including solar power plants, wind farms,  airports, water companies and the 120-year old El Paso Electric which provides electricity to approximately 437,000 retail and wholesale customers in west Texas and southern New Mexico. By Pam Martens and Russ Martens

World:

US Trained Assassins: U.S. Military Once Trained Colombians Implicated in Haiti Assassination Plot, Pentagon Says Some of the former Colombian servicemen arrested after last week’s assassination of Haiti’s president previously received U.S. military training, according to the Pentagon, raising fresh questions about the United States’ ties to Jovenel Moïse’s death. “A review of our training databases indicates that a small number of the Colombian individuals detained as part of this investigation had participated in past U.S. military training and education programs, while serving as active members of the Colombian Military Forces,” Lt. Col. Ken Hoffman, a Pentagon spokesman, said in a statement to The Washington Post.

Britain: Defend Socialist Appeal! Say No to Proscriptions! Fight the Labour Purge!We Are Neither Intolerant Nor Irresponsible But We Will Give Up Our Lives for the Ideals of Revolution Leader of National Union of Writers and Artists of Cuba Speaks Out I detect a certain tendency to misrepresent our president’s speech,[1] saying he incited a confrontation between Cubans.  First it is useful to clarify, that [President] Díaz-Canel clearly defined three groups involved in the demonstrations that occurred in various locations: Revolutionaries affected by the hardships, People who have fallen for the cock-and-bull tales broadcast by the mendacious media in Miami, and A hardcore of counter-revolutionary provocateurs.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!

From: Crushing Climate Impacts to Hit Sooner Than Feared: Draft UN Report …

But global warming impacts are also amplified by all the other ways that humanity has shattered Earth’s equilibrium.

These include “losses of habitat and resilience, over-exploitation, water extraction, pollution, invasive non-native species and dispersal of pests and diseases,” the report says.

There is no easy solution to such a tangle of problems, said Nicholas Stern, former chief economist at the World Bank and author of the landmark Stern Review on the Economics of Climate Change.

“The world is confronting a complex set of interwoven challenges,” said Stern, who did not contribute to the IPCC report.

“Unless you tackle them together, you are not going to do very well on any of them.”

‘Transformational Change’

There is very little good news in the report, but the IPCC stresses that much can be done to avoid worst-case scenarios and prepare for impacts that can no longer be averted, the final takeaway.

Conservation and restoration of so-called blue carbon ecosystems — kelp and mangrove forests, for example — enhance carbon stocks and protect against storm surges, as well as providing wildlife habitats, coastal livelihoods and food security.

Transitioning to more plant-based diets could also reduce food-related emissions as much as 70 percent by 2050.

But simply swapping a gas guzzler for a Tesla or planting billions of trees to offset business-as-usual isn’t going to cut it, the report warns.

“We need transformational change operating on processes and behaviours at all levels: individual, communities, business, institutions and governments,” it says.

“We must redefine our way of life and consumption.”