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Images of the Day:
In the George Orwell classic 1984, there is a state of perpetual war between the nations of Oceania, Eurasia and Eastasia. The enemy in the conflict is ambiguous, and the battlefield exists in an elusive and distant land. The enemy could be Eurasia one day, and Eastasia the next, but that location is really insignificant. The mission of perpetual war for these superpowers is to justify psychological and physical control over their populations, to keep their people busy, fearful and hateful towards the enemy. The perpetual war also serves as an excuse for a nation’s failings and shortcomings. The economy, the labor force and industry are all centered around war rather than consumer goods. People live a miserable existence with poverty and no hope of improving their standard of living. — A State of Perpetual War
The introduction to this book sets its theme, that the bombings of the Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995 and the World Trade Center (WTC) in New York City on September 11, were used, respectively, to justify the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1996 and the current “war on terrorism”. Vidal explains that these bombings were in response to the more than 200 acts of war and (ongoing) worldwide military incursions by the US government since 1945, and the concurrent erosion of the Bill of Rights. Vidal refers to Newton’s theory “that for every action there is an equal and opposite reaction”. — 2002, Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace
In The Part Played by Labor in the Transition from Ape to Man, Friedrich Engels wrote: Let us not, however, flatter ourselves overmuch on account of our human victories over nature. For each such victory nature takes its revenge on us. Each victory, it is true, in the first place brings about the results we expected, but in the second and third places it has quite different, unforeseen effects which only too often cancel the first. — Engles, The Part played by Labour in the Transition from Ape to Man
Contemporary global capitalism is characterised by extreme wealth concentration and a rapidly expanding and largely impoverished global labour force. Mainstream institutions such as the World Bank and International Labour Organisation encourage integration into global value chains as a development strategy that, they claim, will reduce poverty. In reality, employment within these chains generates new forms of worker poverty and contributes to global wealth concentration. That is why they should be labelled global poverty chains. Global inequality has never been greater. For example, the wealth of the world’s richest 62 people, who between them have more wealth than half of the world’s population, rose by 44% between 2010 and 2015. Over the same period the wealth of the bottom 50% of humanity fell by approximately 38%. — Rethinking Recovery: Poverty chains and global capitalism Reorienting value generated within ‘global poverty chains’ is essential to improve the lives of an impoverished world labour force
Videos of the Day:
U.S.
Environment:
NASA: Melting Ice Sheets Is Changing How the Earth Rotates: Driven by dwindling polar ice, climate change is actually changing the way the Earth spins, new research shows. Melting ice sheets are contributing to the change in polar motion, a term scientists use to describe the “periodic wobble and drift of the poles.” By Climate Nexus
Ongoing/Big Energy Disasters:
Economy:
World:
The elites hate Momentum and the Corbynites – and I’ll tell you why: By As the rolling catastrophe of what’s already being called the “chicken coup” against the Labour leadership winds down, pretty much all the commentary has focused on the personal qualities, real or imagined, of the principal players. Yet such an approach misses out on almost everything that’s really at stake here. The real battle is not over the personality of one man, or even a couple of hundred politicians. If the opposition to Jeremy Corbyn for the past nine months has been so fierce, and so bitter, it is because his existence as head of a major political party is an assault on the very notion that politics should be primarily about the personal qualities of politicians. It’s an attempt to change the rules of the game, and those who object most violently to the Labour leadership are precisely those who would lose the most personal power were it to be successful: sitting politicians and political commentators. By David Graeber
Health, Education, and Welfare:Doctors Blame Monsanto For Brazil’s Microcephaly Outbreak A group of doctors are challenging the theory that the Zika virus is responsible for birth defects in babies in Brazil, saying that Monsanto are responsible for microcephaly among newborns. by Sean Adl-Tabatabai
The 1%’s Liars
Empowerment
Quotes of the Day:
Looking Back on My Life, and a World That is A Disheartening Mess Looking at my mortality, in a world of constant American war. By Tom Engelhardt
‘The Rockets’ Red Glare Gave Proof through The Night’: US to Keep Bombing Syria Despite Civilian Deaths and Humanitarian Pleas Asked if airstrikes would pause, chief spokesman for U.S. military in Iraq and Syria said, “No. Operations continue against ISIS.]” by Nadia Prupis 
Perpetual Lies and Deceit by the 1%: New Documents Reveal Oil And Tobacco Industries’ Dirty History Of Working Together And how they collaborated to con us all. After documents dating back as far as the 1940s revealed companies coordinated to cover up the industry’s role in climate change, several corporations, including Exxon Mobil, now face a fraud probe and mounting public outrage. Many have said the climate change cover-up rivals that of big tobacco’s decades-long scheme to mislead the public about the health risks of smoking ― assertions the oil industry continues to shrug off. By Chris D’Angelo
RNC War Party, DNC War Makers By David Swanson 
Julian Assange just did it: WikiLeaks Dispenses 23,000 Hillary Emails Marked “C” for Confidential (Classified): WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange told us a month ago that the next batch of leaked Hillary Clinton emails could lead to an indictment. Now, over 23,000 cables were just put out for the world to see.
2015 Article: How Oil Trains Drive Environmental Racism In California, minority, low-income communities bear a disproportionate share of risk from dangerous “bomb trains” carrying explosive oil. By Mike Gaworecki
Black Liberation/Civil Rights: 
Killing With Robots Increases Militarization of Police by Marjorie Cohn 
Labor: