Daily News Digest December 12, 2023
Images of the Day:
COP28 Dithers While the World Burns!
ed Rall: What About the Other 434?
World War I, ‘the war to end all wars’, since then, 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: Austerity, Scapegoat Blacks, Minorities, and ‘Illegal’ Immigrants for Unemployment, andThe 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:
Since the Paris Accords, Instead of Tackling Global Warming, Capitlism has Compound It!: Since the climate negotiations began in 1992, more carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels has been released worldwide than in all preceding human history!— George Monibot
The decision by the U.S. (Genocide Joe – R.S.) to defend, fund and participate in Israel’s carpet bombing, slaughter and ethnic cleansing in Gaza is unconscionable. Its backing for the genocide has destroyed what remained of its credibility in the Middle East, already in tatters from two decades of wars, as well as most of the rest of the world. It has forfeited its right to act as a mediator; that role will be taken by China or Russia. Its refusal to condemn Israeli aggression and war crimes exposes its hypocrisy about the Russian invasion of Ukraine. It flirts with the possibility of a regional conflagration. The peace process, a sham for decades, is irrecoverable. The only language left is the language of death. It is how Israel speaks to the Palestinians. It is how the Palestinians are forced to speak back. — Chris Hedges
Videos of the Day:
Lecture: The Chris Hedges Report: The Genocide in Gaza
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 ford 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
If People are Aware of Cornel West’s Presidential Candidacy He Would Get 70% of the Vote! 73% of US Voters Want Emissions Cut in Half by 2030: Poll One expert expressed hope that Democrats “realize that strong positions on abortion and climate change are no longer ‘partisan’ or ‘divisive’—religious freedom, bodily privacy, and saving the world are BIG TENT, winning issues.”
U.S. Funded Palestinian Genocide:
West Bank General Strike Kicks Off Global Protest Against Israel’s War on Gaza Work stoppages were also held in Jordan, Lebanon, and elsewhere to demand an end to the Israeli onslaught. Streets were empty and shops were closed across the West Bank on Monday as people in the occupied territory held a general strike to protest Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip, part of a broader day of action that included work stoppages in Lebanon, Jordan, and elsewhere around the world.
Israel-Gaza War Live: Israeli Forces Continue Push Into Southern Gaza Amid ‘Apocalyptic’ Humanitarian Situation Hamas claims Israel launched series of ‘very violent raids’ targeting city of Khan Younis on Sunday, a day after ordering fresh evacuations. On Saturday, Israel ordered residents out of the centre of Khan Younis, including parts of the city centre that had not been subject to such orders before, as it pounded the length of the territory. More on that story shortly. In other news as it nears 7.45am in Gaza City and Tel Aviv:
- The Biden administration has used an emergency authority to sell about 14,000 tank shells to Israel without congressional review. The state department on Friday used an Arms Export Control Act emergency declaration for the tank rounds, worth $106.5m, for immediate delivery to Israel, the Pentagon said in a statement.
- The UN agency for Palestinian refugees (UNRWA) said it had only been able to distribute aid in a very small part of southern Gaza“because of the intensity of the fighting and the bombardment since the humanitarian pause stopped”. Its deputy executive director, Carl Skau, said earlier: “About half the population in Gaza are starving … The humanitarian operation is collapsing. With the chaos with this active fighting it’s not possible to do the work that is needed.
- The Israeli military says five of its soldiers have diedin the war. The Israel Defense Forces (IDF) named the five in a post on X and said four of them died in battle in southern Gaza and one succumbed to his wounds after fighting on 7 October. . . .
The Chris Hedges Report: The Evil Israel Does is the Evil Israel Gets Israel’s settler colonial project perpetuates the cycle of violence against the indigenous inhabitants of historic Palestine. Palestinians have been forced to speak back in the language Israel speaks. . . . Chaim Engel, who took part in the uprising at the Nazis’ Sobibor death camp in Poland, described how, armed with a knife, he attacked a guard in the camp. “It’s not a decision,” Engel said. “You just react, instinctively you react to that, and I figured, ‘Let us to do, and go and do it.’ And I went. I went with the man in the office, and we killed this German. With every jab, I said, ‘That is for my father, for my mother, for all these people, all the Jews you killed.’” What Engel did to the Nazi guard was no less savage than what Hamas fighters did to Israelis on Oct. 7, after escaping their own prison. Taken out of context, it is inexplicable. But set against the backdrop of the extermination camp, or the 17 years trapped in Gaza’s concentration camp, it makes sense. This is not to excuse it. To understand is not to condone. But we must understand if this cycle of violence is to be stopped. No one is immune to the thirst for vengeance. Israel and the U.S. are foolishly orchestrating yet another chapter in this nightmare.
Half of Palestinians in Gaza are now Starving; Depriving Civilians of Food is a War Crime The United Nations warned on Saturday that half the population of Gaza is now starving. The World Food Programme (WFP) had reported at the end of November that in the north of Gaza, about half of the people were suffering “severe levels of hunger.” Meanwhile, nearly everyone had inadequate levels of food consumption, i.e. they were getting less than the recommended calories per day. While a couple of weeks ago 37% of the people in the south of Gaza were were experiencing severe levels of hunger, the relatively better condition of people in the south has since deteriorated as Israeli bombardments and ground operations ramped up in Khan Younis and elsewhere.
Environment:
One of Many Ways to Begin to End Global Warming: Expose ‘Greenwashing’ — Tax the Polluters 100%!
After World War II Rosa Luxenburg Coined the Slogan: ‘S0cialism or Barbaism’! Now the Slogan Should Be: ‘Ecosocialism or Ecocide’!
Cop28 is a Farce Rigged o Fail, But There are Other Ways We Can Try to Save the Planet Inaction and self-interest are built into climate summits. Instead, we need a voting system that can’t be subverted by fossil fuel producers Let’s face it: climate summits are broken. The delegates talk and talk, while Earth systems slide towards deadly tipping points. Since the climate negotiations began in 1992 more carbon dioxide from burning fossil fuels has been released worldwide than in all preceding human history. This year is likely to set a new emissions record. They are talking us to oblivion.
Major Antarctic Glacier Passed a Tipping Point In The Last 80 Years, Research Reveals Pine Island Glacier in West Antarctica has gone through an irreversible retreat, passing a tipping point within the last 80 years, researchers have found. The findings, which are published in the influential journal Nature Climate Change, have emerged when world leaders gather in Dubai to debate the impacts of climate change at the COP28 conference.
Climate Trace Detects Underreported Soaring Emissions COP28, the UN Conference of the Parties in oil-rich Dubai, currently underway, will not resolve the issue of oil and gas companies agreeing to slow down oil production. To the contrary, all signals point to an increase according to formal plans already laid out by the industry, as stated by the International Energy Agency. Reuters November 2023 headline says it all: Global Fossil Fuel Production Plans Far Exceed Climate Targets. Greenhouse gas emissions will continue to rip roar, snort, huff and puff higher ever higher post COP28. It’s guaranteed. The oil companies insist upon it. And a new kid on the block named Climate Trace, launched July 2020, will be monitoring them with remarkable accuracy.
Black Liberation/Civil Rights:
Right toLife? From Gaza to Texas, Life Doesn’t Matter!: Texas Supreme Court Blocks Ruling Allowing Woman to Get Abortion “Courts are arguing with each other about whether a woman can have a medically necessary abortion,” said one advocate. “This is not a hypothetical nightmare—it is a living one.” Reproductive justice groups on Friday night said the Texas Supreme Court and Republican Attorney General Ken Paxton were “directly endangering” a pregnant women who recently received news that her fetus has a life-threatening condition, after the high court halted a judge’s order permitting the woman to obtain abortion care.
The New Jim Crow Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness 
An Eye-Opening Look Into America’s Criminal Justice System The New Jim Crow will help you understand the history and the numbers behind mass incarceration. As moving as the book was, the story was fiction. But the idea of a family torn apart by mass incarceration is not. If you’re interested in learning more about the real lives caught up in our country’s justice system, I highly recommend The New Jim Crow by Michelle Alexander. It offers an eye-opening look into how the criminal justice system unfairly targets communities of color—and especially Black communities. The book was released more than 10 years ago, but this is a topic that has taken on extra relevance this year. The horrifying killings of George Floyd and Breonna Taylor set off a summer of protests that put Black Lives Matter front and center. Like many white people, I’ve committed to reading more about and deepening my understanding of systemic racism. Alexander’s book is about much more than the police—whom she describes as the “point of entry” into the justice system—but it provides useful context to understand how we got to where we are. Alexander explains how mass incarceration is a cycle. Once you’ve been in prison, you can’t often get a job after you get out because having a felony on your record makes it hard to get hired. In some cases, the only way to make money and support your family is through illicit means—which can land you back in prison. The result of this cycle is a permanent underclass that is disproportionately Black and low-income. (Alexander also talks about this in Ava DuVernay’s excellent documentary 13th.)
School-to-Prison Pipeline Statistics
Statistics on SROs and Law Enforcement n Schools
- “Between 2005–06 and 2017–18, the percentage of public schools that reported having one or more security staff present at school at least once a week increased from 42% to 61%.
- “Black students are 2.2 times as likely to receive a referral to law enforcement or be subject to a school-related arrest as white students.“
- “Schools recorded an increase of 21% more incidents of exclusionary discipline after the introduction of SROs.”
- “3 million students are in schools with police but no nurses.”
- “6 million students are in schools with police but no school psychologists.”
Private Prison Firms Set To Cash In On Immigrant Surveillance Boom Companies are salivating over a proposal to electronically track millions of people caught up in the U.S. immigration system. As the country’s immigration agency ponders a significant expansion of its vast, troubled immigrant surveillance regime, private prison companies are telling investors that the proposal could bring significant profits — and are deploying lobbyists to fight to fund it. In separate calls with investors last month, executives with two of the world’s largest private prison companies, the GEO Group and CoreCivic, said they were focused on a new proposal to radically expand an Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) surveillance program. According to the plan, the program, which currently keeps tabs on nearly 200,000 immigrants using technologies like ankle bracelets and facial-recognition apps, could eventually track millions of people who are caught in the immigration system.
Labor:
Pakistan: Red Workers’ Front Organises First Ever Nationwide Revolutionary School for Workers On 2-3 December 2023, a nationwide Workers’ Socialist School was organised by the Red Workers’ Front (RWF) in Landhi Industrial Area, Karachi. A large number of workers from both the public and private sector industries, in Karachi and across the country, took part in this historic occasion. Not only was this the first ever RWF school – the culmination of years of patient, consistent work to build workers’ study circles in industrial areas across the country – in fact, this was the first political school in the history of Pakistan’s labour movement organised explicitly for and by workers, with the aim of introducing the working class to the ideas of Marxism and of Leninism.
Economy:
Eight Wall Street Mega Banks Have Teamed Up to Run Television Ads in a Bogus Scare Campaign During the Sunday, December 10 news program on CNN, “State of the Union with Jake Tapper and Dana Bash,” a deceptive, scare-mongering TV commercial popped up, warning that federal banking regulators’ proposed plan to require the mega banks on Wall Street to hold more capital against their riskiest trading activities “will increase the cost of mortgages and car payments” and “hurt small businesses, making it harder for them to access credit, meet payroll and run their operations.” The ad featured images of a farmer on his tractor, an auto mechanic, a worried small business owner, and other emotion-packed images. Wall Street On Parade has been warning our readers for weeks about this deceptive campaign by the Wall Street mega banks, so we jumped to our feet to get closer to the TV screen and read the fine print to see who paid for this tricked-up television advertisement.
World:
For the Good of life, We Need to Have a War to Stop Fossil Fuels!: War for Oil Fears Grow as US Holds Military Drills in Guyana Amid Venezuela Dispute Brazilian President Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva offered to help forge a diplomatic solution, saying, “If there’s one thing we don’t want here in South America, it’s war.”
Health, Education, 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