Daily News Digest August 18, 2021
Over a Hundred Years Ago. Rosa Luxemburg Raised the Slogan: Socialism or Barbarism! The Slogan for 2021 is Ecosocialism or Ecocide!!!!
Daily News Digest Archives
Images of the Day:
Another Example of 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!
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:
Around the world, governments continue to act on behalf of these fossil networks, even as they claim to be taking climate action. Boris Johnson has even copied the Green Industrial Revolution language we in the Labour Party developed. But he has copied only the words, not the actions. In June, the UK’s Climate Change Committee demonstrated that on its current course the government will fail to reach even its own woefully insufficient targets. . . . . But it doesn’t have to be like this, and our reaction must be one of hope rather than fear. Climate scientists can and do tell us with forensic accuracy what a temperature rise of 1.5 or 3 or 5 degrees will do to sea levels, water scarcity, or biodiversity. But the reason they cannot predict what that rise will be is because it is impossible to predict the choices we will make next. Those, as the IPCC report reminds us, are still up to us. And if we take on the powerful, removing the systemic incentives to burn the planet for a quick windfall, we can do things differently. That means workers everywhere mobilizing for a global Green New Deal at COP26 this year which takes carbon out of the atmosphere and puts money back in workers’ pockets, while tackling injustice and inequality in the Global South. There is no town anywhere that would not benefit from green public transport, or rewilding with new forests, or local renewable energy, or jobs in the green industries of the future. From climate change, to poverty and inequality, to our dangerous collective failure to get poorer countries vaccinated against COVID-19, we are living through the consequences of a system that puts billionaires first and the rest of us last. The climate and environmental crisis is a class issue. It is the poorest people in working-class communities, in polluted cities, and in low-lying island communities who suffer first and worst in this crisis. But we do still have the power to change it. In 2019, schoolchildren striking for climate action captured the imagination and attention of people around the globe overnight. If they can do it, so can we. Our response to the climate “code red” must be to work in our communities, in politics, in schools and universities, in our workplaces and with our trade unions to demand and win a livable planet — and a system which puts human life and well-being first. — Jeremy Corbyn: Climate Crisis Is a Class Issue
Videos of 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 ownership of 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:
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 ownership of 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!
Chomsky and Pollin: We Can’t Rely on Private Sector for Necessary Climate Action Chomsky and Pollin: We Can’t Rely on Private Sector for Necessary Climate Action Private businesses will not move beyond greenwashing unless they are forced to by stringent government regulations.
Afghanistan: The Cynical Betrayal of US Imperialism America’s longest war has ended in abject shame and humiliation for US imperialism. Twenty years after the invasion of Afghanistan, the most powerful military force the world has ever known has been dealt total defeat at the hands of a band of primitive religious zealots. The fall of Kabul marked the end of a seven-day blitz in which Taliban forces took over an area comprising more than half of the country, including its most populous cities. They are now in control over every district of the country.
When Will We Stop Letting Our Presidents Lie America Into Wars? America has been lied into too many wars. It’s cost us too much in terms of money, credibility and blood. We must remember the lies. We can’t afford to let this one go down the memory hole, too.
Environment:
Jeremy Corbyn: Climate Crisis Is a Class Issue The UN secretary-general declaring climate scientists’ report a “code red for humanity” is a critical warning. The evidence in this week’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) report speaks for itself: the hottest five years in recent history, tripling rises in sea levels, and the global retreat of glaciers and sea ice. But it is also nothing significantly new. Scientists are taking an urgent tone because they have been making the same warnings for decades — while serious action on our warming world has failed to materialize. Indeed, oil giant Exxon predicted climate change in the 1970s — before going on to spend decades publicly denying its existence. The political and economic system we live in does not produce climate change by accident but by design, rewarding big polluters and resource extractors with superprofits.
Scientific Rebellion: Why We Rebel Why We Rebel Scientists have spent decades writing papers, advising government, briefing the press: all have failed. What is the point in documenting in ever greater detail the catastrophe we face, if we are not willing to do anything about it? Academics are perfectly placed to wage a rebellion: we exist in rich hubs of knowledge and expertise; we are well connected across the world, and to decision-makers; we have large platforms from which to inform, educate and rally others all over the world; and we have implicit authority and legitimacy, which is the basis of political power. We can make a difference. We must do what we can to halt the greatest destruction in human history.
‘Hard to Imagine Worse Idea’: Biden to Resume Fossil Fuel Leases on Public Lands and Waters “The president made a promise to ban all new oil and gas leasing on public lands and waters,” said Greenpeace, “and the American people expect him to keep it.” 
Top US Scientist on Melting Glaciers: ‘I’ve Gone From Being An Ecologist to a Coroner’ Diana Six, an entomologist studying beetles near Glacier national park in Montana, says the crisis has fundamentally changed her profession
Black Liberation/Civil Rights:
Stalled US Debt Relief Is the Latest Setback to Black Farmers The USDA’s relationship with Black farmers has been flawed from the start. Out of 3.4 million farmers working in the United States, fewer than 50,000 are Black, according to the most recent Census of Agriculture taken in 2017. That disproportionately small number is due in large part to historic racial discrimination in federal farm programs—and now efforts to address that history are themselves being attacked as discriminatory.
Labor:
Economy:
Biden Is Bringing Financial Crisis Guys from the New York Fed’s Markets Group to His Administration: Should We Worry? President Joe Biden is tapping insiders from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York for key financial posts in his administration. These insiders played key roles during the financial crash of 2008 or the repo loan crisis in the fall of 2019 or the pandemic-related financial crisis of 2020. One of them was around for all three. We’ll get to the specific names in a moment, but first some necessary background. The Federal Reserve Board of Governors is an independent federal agency whose Board members are appointed by the President of the United States. But the 12 regional Federal Reserve banks that are part of the Federal Reserve System are owned, outright, by commercial banks, thus making these Fed banks private entities. The New York Fed stands out because it is owned by some of the largest and most dangerous mega banks on Wall Street, which also happen to be some of the largest federally-insured banks in America. This makes the New York Fed the epicenter in America of the concept, “too big to fail.”World:
‘US Statements Are False And Biased,’ Cuban Scientists Say On July 15, President Joe Biden publicly referred to Cuba as a “Failed State,” claiming this country’s health system could not respond to the pandemic. Last week, over 600 Cuban scientists, doctors, and concerned citizens signed an open letter to U.S. President Joe Biden for his misleading statements on the management of the COVID-19 pandemic in this Caribbean nation. Last week, over 600 Cuban scientists, doctors, and concerned citizens signed an open letter to U.S. President Joe Biden for his misleading statements on the management of the COVID-19 pandemic in this Caribbean nation. They highlighted that National Immunization Program (NIP) guarantees free and universal vaccination for all Cubans since 1962. Thanks to NIP, citizens are protected against 13 life-threatening diseases, including diphtheria, tetanus, and pertussis. Besides, Cuban health authorities have not reported a single measles case in recent decades. In Cuba, biotechnological research and production is fully integrated to the needs of the public health system. This is why, for example, 8 out of 13 basic vaccines are produced in the national territory.
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!
They Owe Their Soul to the USA/Banker Store!: Is Higher Education a Pyramid Scheme? How college is like the airplane game. For the last decade and a half, I’ve been teaching ethics to undergraduates. Now—admittedly, a little late to the party—I’ve started seriously questioning my own ethics. I’ve begun to wonder just what it means to be a participant, however minor, in the pyramid scheme that higher education has become in the years since I went to college.
The Delta Variant of Global Stupidity You’d think that the whole world could unite against a deadly virus. COVID-19 has already sickened over 200 million people around the world and killed over 4 million. It has now mutated into more contagious forms that threaten to plunge the globe into another spin cycle of lockdown. Avoiding global catastrophe from the more infectious delta variant of COVID-19 doesn’t require a huge commitment from people and governments. Richer countries just have to ensure more widespread availability of vaccines. And individuals have to get vaccinated.