Daily News Digest June 23, 2023

 Daily News Digest Archives

Capitalism is Now a Worldwide Threat to Humanity! It is on the Fast Track to Global Warming and/or Nuclear War Catastrophes!

Images of the Day:

The 1% Offer a ‘Choice’ in 24 (Right Now I’m Voting Cornel)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”, is Still True for Today’s World!

Capitalism as a Failed  System: World Capitalism Has Been Aware of the Comming Catastrophe of Global Warming  Over 5 Decades 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 very future of Humanity Is Now At stake!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:

85 Most Famous Quotes By Voltaire   These famous quotes from Voltaire will no doubt make you think deeper or even question some aspects of today’s life!:

  1. If you want to know who controls you, look at who you are not allowed to criticize.
  2. Judge a man by his questions rather than by his answers.”
  3. Those who can make you believe absurdities, can make you commit atrocities.
  4. Dare to think for yourself.
  5. When it is a question of money, everybody is of the same religion.”
  6. For can anything be sillier than to insist on carrying a burden one would continually much rather throw to the ground?
  7. Men must have somewhat altered the course of nature; for they were not born wolves, yet they have become wolves. God did not give them twenty-four-pounders or bayonets, yet they have made themselves bayonets and guns to destroy each other. In the same category I place not only bankruptcies, but the law which carries off the bankrupts’ effects, so as to defraud their creditors.

Videos/Podcasts of the Day:

[Podcast] Marx and the Revolutions of 1848 175 years ago, a wave of revolutions swept across the European continent, in which the working class played a key role in challenging the might of the feudal order. From France to Germany to Italy, the masses led a struggle for democratic and economic demands, winning significant concessions from the decrepit ruling classes of Europe. Marx and Engels were not just passive witnesses to these events, but active participants.

Black Agenda Radio June 16, 2023

The Politics Behind Trump’s Indictment

Cornel West Discusses His Presidential Campaign

Environment:

After World War II Rosa Luxenburg Coined the Slogan: ‘S0cialism or Barbaism’! Now the Slogan Should Be: ‘Ecosocialism or Ecocide’!

One of Many Ways to Begin to End Global Warming: Expose ‘Greenwashing’ — Tax the Polluters 100%!

Scientists Condemn ‘Misinformation’ Used to Attack EU Reforms to Protect Nature As Europe prepares to vote on flagship green laws, over 3,000 academics condemn “lack of scientific evidence” in arguments used by opponents. More than 3,000 scientists have rejected claims that EU plans to curb pesticide use and restore nature will harm food security and farmers.     In recent months, the industrial farming lobby and the European People’s Party (EPP), the largest right-wing party in the EU, have been at the forefront of pushback against green legislation.     The EPP has called for a halt to proposed green farming reforms. They argue that the laws will cause a drop in EU food production and lead to widespread economic losses.      But in an open letter published on Tuesday, 3,339 scientists allege that these arguments both “lack” and “contradict” scientific evidence.      “The biggest risks to food security stem from climate change and the loss of biodiversity and ecosystem services,” said the letter, which was sent to all Members of the European Parliament. “We urge policy makers to continue the legislative procedure.”

Iowa Meteorologist Resigns After Receiving Death Threats for Climate Coverage  “I take immense pride in having educated the public about the impacts of climate change during my career,” said Chris Gloninger of KCCI in Des Moines. The chief meteorologist for a Des Moines news station announced Wednesday he is stepping down after receiving violent threats for his frank coverage of the climate emergency and how it could affect his viewers’ lives—something he considered a mission as he regularly delivered news about the weather to Iowa residents.

Potential Opportunities and Risks of Orphaned Wells — Background — Research has shown that abandoned oil and gas wells contribute to air and water pollution, with nearby communities often bearing the greatest impacts. Fluids leaked below the earth’s surface can contaminate water supplies and soil, while air pollutants such as methane and benzene (a known carcinogen) may impact air quality, public safety, and climate change.     In this analysis, researchers collected data on the location, type, depth, and last production date on 81,857 documented orphaned wells across the United States. Orphaned wells are defined as wells that lack a financially responsible party to plug them. As a result, this financial responsibility is often placed on the general public. They then analyzed the risks of abandoned wells based on demographics, groundwater production wells, methane emissions, water quality data, and health studies. Researchers also identified opportunities for geothermal and other alternative uses based on geology and the costs of individual wells.

 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 Republicrats and who profit from war and the war budget, vote 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! Both Parties Support U.S. Capitalism’s Wars! (The Only War the Democrats Opposed was the Civil War!)

We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both. — Louis D. Brandeis Quotes
The greatest purveyor of violence in the world today — my own government. MLK, Beyond Vietnam 

A Vote for Trump or Biden is a Vote for Ecocide!

Housing USA

Federal Charges Against Trump and Hunter Biden Underscore Instability in US Politics Hunter Biden, son of Democratic President Joe Biden, will likely avoid prison under the terms of a plea deal unveiled on Tuesday, June 20. The younger Biden has agreed to plead guilty to two misdemeanor counts of failing to pay federal taxes in excess of $200,000 in a timely manner. In exchange, the US Department of Justice (DOJ) will recommend probation for the tax charges and has agreed not to prosecute a separate felony firearm offense.    This is just the latest salvo in the tit-for-tat war of investigation and counterinvestigation being waged by the two capitalist parties as they jockey for an electoral edge in 2024. News of the deal came just one week after the arraignment of former President Donald Trump on federal espionage and obstruction of justice charges. These court battles are a further indication that fights between competing factions of the ruling class can no longer be contained within traditional political channels.

Khanna Says He Is ‘Proud’ of Lone No Vote Against $886 Billion Military Budget The California Democrat said he opposes a military budget “nearing $1 trillion while we are cutting relief for the poor, for students with loans, and for the working class.”

Civil Rights/Blackliberation:

Abortion Bans Exacerbate the US’s Existing Black Maternal Health Crisis Attacks on abortion access are also attacks on maternal health, especially for the most vulnerable. Olympic sprinting gold medalist Frentorish “Tori” Bowie had a bright future ahead of her, but at 32 years old, her life was cut short. Tori likely died of preeclampsia, according to medical reports. Her death comes amid a spike in maternal mortality across the country since 2021, in particular for Black women.

Black Agenda Report

Labor:

Economy:

How do we make sense of this situation, where world debt stands at over 360% of global GDP? This is no mere con-trick by the capitalist class.     In truth, it is not “the modern theory of debt” that has drenched the world in blood, as Jefferson suggests, but modern capitalism, which is “dripping with blood from every pore”, to use Marx’s expression.     Under capitalism we are all, it appears, free to work wherever we choose: to buy and sell; beg and borrow. It appears purely accidental that as a product of these ‘free’ interactions, the worker is always immiserated while the capitalist is enriched.     But this is the inevitable outcome of capitalism, a system based on exploitation and profit, where the worker is never paid the full value of what they produce.     In other words, the exploitation of the majority by a tiny elite is disguised as freedom. The same is true for debt, with debtors said to be ‘voluntarily’ taking out loans. It is only ‘moral’, then, that they should repay these. —  Capitalism’s Debt Crisis: Expropriate the Billionaires!

Michael Robert Facebook Blog: Chris Giles in the FT. “It does not really matter, therefore, what caused the rapid rise in prices. But central banks need to be certain they have extinguished their wage-price ratchets before taking their foot off the brake. Interest rates will need to stay higher for longer,even if that proves to be too heavy-handed in retrospect.” Re: The Bank of England Must Do Whatever it Takes to Tame Inflation

Shadow Government Statistics Daily Update June 21st to June 22

  • May 2023 Building Permits and Housing Starts both continued on track for their fourth consecutive quarters of year-to-year decline.
  • University of Michigan’s Early-June 2023 Consumer Sentiment gained 7.9% in the month, still holding shy by 36.7% (-36.7%) of ever recovering its February 2020 Pre-Pandemic level.
  • May 2023 Industrial Production declined 0.2% (-0.2%) in the month, gaining 0.2% year-to-year.
  • May 2023 Real Retail Sales activity was on track for both quarterly and year-to-year contractions, consistent with patterns of contraction in the prior three quarters.
  • The June 2023 FOMC paused in hiking Interest Rates, as promised, but Fed Chairman Powell indicated at least two more rate hikes are likely in coming months.
  • Recent annual CPI and PPI inflation swings were tied to year-ago oil-price gyrations around the Russian Invasion of Ukraine
  • May 2023 Producer Price Index (PPI) inflation dropped year-to-year to 1.09% from 11.09% in May 2022 thanks to collapsing gasoline prices.
  • May 2023 Consumer Price Index (CPI-U) inflation slowed year-to-year to 4.05% from 8.58% in May 2022, with the ShadowStats Alternate CPI easing to 11.9% from 16.8% in the same period.
  • Still hit by high Inflation and dropping Economic Activity, Non-Supervisory real average weekly earnings declined year—to-year by 0.9% (-0.9%) in May 2023, its 18th annual decline in the last 19 months.
  • Not seasonally adjusted May 2023 Cass® Freight Index shipments declined year-to-year by a deepening 5.6% 

JPMorgan Had a Secret Project that Is Now Spreading Its Scandalous Internal Emails with Sex Trafficker Jeffrey Epstein to News Outlets Worldwide According to unsealed documents released this week by the U.S. Virgin Islands in its federal lawsuit against JPMorgan Chase over claims it facilitated Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking of underage girls for more than a decade, the largest bank in the United States has a lot of explaining to do to the American people – and potentially to the criminal division of the U.S. Justice Department.     After Jeffrey Epstein was arrested by the U.S. Department of Justice on July 6, 2019 on federal sex trafficking charges, JPMorgan Chase – which had been Epstein’s banker from 1998 to 2013 – apparently decided to get a quick look at how much legal liability and reputational damage it might have if its labyrinthine client relationship and intimate and undisclosed business relationship with Epstein came to light.

World:

Mediterranean Migrant Shipwreck Reveals Cost of Cruel European Asylum Policies Eighty-one people have been confirmed dead, but roughly 500 more likely drowned when the ship sank, locked below decks. If you have been reading European news outlets the past several days, you’ll have seen a number of lead stories on the horrific tragedy of a people-smuggling ship, crammed to the gills with migrants hoping to reach European shores from Tobruk, in eastern Libya, sinking off the coast of Greece.     By contrast, most U.S. news organizations have only paid sparing attention to the calamitous event, offering up just a tiny fraction of the coverage that they accord air disasters, or floods and earthquakes in wealthy countries. The low priority given to this by most U.S. news outlets is a visceral demonstration of just how little regard many have for the lives and deaths of migrants. They are, by and large, made invisible.

Argentina: Jujuy Rising a Prelude to an Outbreak of Class Struggle The last few weeks in Argentina have seen an increase in the struggle of workers, particularly teachers and healthcare workers. This movement has reached the most acute proportions in the provinces of Salta and Jujuy, in the extreme northwest of the country. In both cases, the struggle for wages has been combined with the fight against anti-protest and anti-strike legislation that the regional governments want to impose.     In the case of Jujuy, the mechanism to introduce these undemocratic laws was a new constitution that also violated the rights of indigenous peoples in favour of lithium mining interests. In Jujuy, the struggle reached insurrectionary proportions, a pueblada, due to worker and popular resistance to the brutal state repression. In this article, comrades of the Corriente Socialista Militante (IMT) explain these events and discuss the strategy needed to win.

Health. Welfare, and Education:

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