Daily News Digest March 22, 2024

Daily News Digest Archives

Images of the Day:

US’ Crackdown on Tiktok Tramples Upon First Amendment Rights

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”

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! Globaly, With the Current Gaza War, The Right of Assembly is Under Attack! 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:

In 2011, the EPA’s National Air Toxic Assessment (NATA) looked at toxic emissions nationwide and released its findings in 2015. When it was found that the air in LaPlace had a higher-than-expected level of chloroprene, the EPA began working with Denka and the Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality to lower its chloroprene emissions by 85%.    The NATA found that the top five census tracts (subdivisions of a county) with the highest estimated cancer risks in the country were in Louisiana.8 Some say that is, at least in part, due to the Denka plant and its chloroprene emissions. — History of Cancer Alley 

Ghost streams and wetlands are waterways that previously existed but, as urban areas built up, were either buried below the surface or filled in to support development. Detroit has removed more than 85% of the total length of streams that existed in 1905. Most major cities in the United States and Europe have removed similar numbers of streams.     Detroit is also a city deeply affected by redlining – a now-outlawed practice once used by the Home Owners’ Loan Corporation, a government-sponsored corporation that was created as part of the New Deal, that graded neighborhoods on perceived financial risk. — How Ghost Streams and Redlining’s Legacy Lead to Unfairness in Flood Risk, in Detroit and Elsewhere

Pocasts/Videos of the Day: 

British Surgeon Describes Children Suffering “Appalling Injuries” in Gaza, Demands Immediate Ceasefire

“Humanitarian Violence” in Gaza: Architect Eyal Weizman on Mapping Israel’s “Genocidal Campaign”

Black Agenda Radio March 15, 2024

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 

From Patrick Lawrence: Authorized Atrocities Israel’s lawlessness has a history that those in the West share with the apartheid state: But exactly, Nina. You trip us into just the historical context we need before we, setting ourselves on some Doric pedestal, cavalierly condemn the conduct of IDF troops as they storm through Gaza in the manner of a blitzkrieg.     Condemnable, yes. We had better take care to understand just who we are condemning.       In the decade before the American defeat in Indochina, the U.S. and its allies dropped more than 7.5 million tons of bombs on Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia.      If we want to go further back in postwar history we can think about Hiroshima and Nagasaki. Then we can think about Israel in Gaza: As of the start of this year — leaving us more than three months to count — it had dropped more than 70,000 tons of ordnance on a territory the size of Manhattan.     Torture of Palestinian prisoners — the beatings, the maiming, the water-boarding, the forced confessions: Is this so different from how the U.S. conducted the “war on terror?”    Long-term detentions in dungeons with no charges and no recourse to attorneys: There is no echo in this of what goes on at Guantánamo as we speak?    Those IDF soldiers in the photographs are nothing more than punks with guns, vulgarians with no shred of humanity in them. Can we rightfully describe the U.S. troops at Abu Ghraib any differently?— Israel’s lawlessness has a history that those in the West share with the apartheid state.

The Best Government That Money Can Buy!:The Corrupt Supreme Court Could Make Political Bribery Even Easier The plaintiff in Snyder v United States is claiming that when a public official accepts a “gift” from a person or corporation who has benefited from that public official’s actions, that should not be legally considered a bribe.

U.S. Armed and Funded Palestinian Genocide:

Let Them Eat Bread! On the Abhorrent Use of Starvation as a Weapon of War The madness of war has beset us from the very dawn of the human presence on this planet, but the use of hunger as a weapon in war compounds this insanity with the poison of cruelty.     Acute hunger is a far different creature than the growling we feel in our stomach when we miss a couple of meals or the craving that floods the mind when our taste buds yearn for novel flavors. Acute hunger transfixes our entire organism, pushing everything else aside in favor of our most basic urge for survival. When we’re gripped by extreme hunger, we can think of nothing but food, have no interest in anything but food, and dream of nothing other than a decent meal.

Find Someone Who Loves You Like Israel Loves Attacking Palestinian Hospitals Israel’s constant fixation on attacking healthcare facilities makes no sense from a military strategic point of view, but it makes plenty of sense from a genocidal point of view. The World Health Organization has issued a statement saying that it has recorded 410 Israeli attacks on Gazan healthcare services since October 7, resulting in 685 fatalities, 902 injuries, and damage to 99 healthcare facilities.     As of this writing there is a still-ongoing IDF assault on Al-Shifa Hospital, which according to Israel has resulted in scores of Palestinian deaths and the capture of hundreds of prisoners. This is the fourth time Israel has attacked this particular hospital, which happens to be the largest hospital in Gaza.

Environment:

Fund Climate! — Not Genocide! 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’!

Capitalism’s Wars for Oil: When Bodies Start Stacking Up From Climate Change-Related Disasters, Will These Monsters be Held to Account?

Fossil Fuel Firms Could Be Tried for Homicide Over Climate-Related Deaths, Experts Say Public Citizen, a non-profit group, proposed the idea last year to prosecute companies for millions of deaths due to climate crisis Each year, extreme temperatures take 5 million lives, while 400,000 people die from climate-related hunger and disease and scores perish in floods and wildfires.    Now, researchers are promoting a new legal theory that says fossil fuel companies – which, data show, are the leading contributors to planet-heating pollution – could be tried for homicide for climate-related deaths.

Voters Want Oil and Gas Industry to Pay for Clean Energy Transition Big Oil CEOs say consumers are unwilling to pay for the transition away from fossil fuels. Voters are not having it.

The Companies Who Brought You Forever Chemicals Now Want to Sell You on Hydrogen We should learn from the chemical industry’s track record on evading transparency and accountability to be suspicious of how responsibly this industry will develop ‘clean hydrogen’.  The very same chemical companies spending millions on lobbying against federal legislation and regulations that would force the chemical industry to clean up widespread “forever chemical” pollution are now going all-in on hydrogen as a “clean” form of energy.     We should learn from the chemical industry’s track record on evading transparency and accountability for the “forever chemicals” now found in the blood of up to 97% of Americans to be suspicious of how responsibly this industry will develop clean hydrogen. 

The IAEA Cannot Both Police Proliferation and Promote Nuclear Power The UN agency is sounding the alarm about Ukraine’s reactors and Iran’s nuclear intentions, while at the same time promoting the very technology that delivers these risks On March 21 in Brussels, Belgium, the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will host what it is billing as the “First ever Nuclear Energy Summit.” The event follows a pledge made by 22 countries last December during the COP28 climate summit in Dubai to triple global nuclear capacity by 2050.     The Brussels summit, co-hosted by the IAEA and the Belgian government, and featuring prominent officials from the US Department of Energy, will bring together world leaders and other officials to “highlight the role of nuclear energy in addressing the global challenges to reduce the use of fossil fuels, enhance energy security and boost economic development,” according to the event’s website. 

New From Cancer Alley: Why US Federal Regulators Must Embrace a Fossil Fuel-Free Future FERC has played a significant role in worsening the climate crisis, perpetuating environmental injustice, and expanding the fossil fuel buildout by approving countless LNG projects, but there is still hope. It is high time for a change at FERC, not just with the appointments of new commissioners but also with the integration of new policy that puts the health and safety of our communities over the unlimited profits of the fossil fuel industry.     It has been nearly one year since I and other community members from the Texas and Louisiana Gulf Coast were invited to join the Federal Energy Regulatory Commission (FERC) in discussing how they could better incorporate environmental justice into their decision-making. As someone who lives in Sulfur, Louisiana—a community overburdened by petrochemical and oil and gas pollution—I have seen firsthand the devastating effects of everything from liquefied natural gas (LNG) to plastics facilities. That’s why I looked forward to working with FERC on improving their processes to better suit the needs of the local communities, not just the oil and gas industry.    However, a year later, FERC has still failed to take meaningful action on this front and listen to our voices. Instead of heeding our calls and taking our input, FERC has continued with a status quo that threatens our health and safety. Their rubber stamp on more and more LNG projects in our communities has not stopped for a moment in spite of their stated commitments. As a result, our communities face a more dire future than ever. 

Black Liberation/Civil Rights:

Post-Dobbs Abortion Pill Surge Highlights Stakes of Looming Supreme Court Case “Next week as we hear oral arguments in the FDA v. Alliance for Hippocratic Medicine case, remember who will be impacted,” said one group. As abortion bans and restrictions have taken hold in at least 21 states since the right-wing majority on the U.S. Supreme Court voted to overturn Roe v. Wade nearly two years ago, Americans’ reliance on medication abortion became increasingly clear—with the use of abortion pills reported in 63% of all abortions that took place within the formal healthcare system in 2023.    Medication abortion represented 53% of all abortions in the U.S. in 2020, signifying a substantial increase since the court ruled in Dobbs v. Jackson Women’s Health Organization.

Black Agenda Report

Labor:

Economy:

More Failed Banks and Office Building Demolitions Likely Before Real Estate Problems End, Warn Two Federal Agencies Federal banking oversight agencies are in agreement: U.S. banks are facing a potential tsunami of problems with commercial real estate loans in the office space sector. Last June 1, the Office of Financial Research (OFR), (the agency created under the Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation of 2010 to warn about financial stability risks), explained why the vacancy rate in office buildings is in dramatic contrast to the actual occupancy rate, and thus bodes poorly for the future demand for renewing office leases. OFR writes as follows:

World:

U.S.-Trained Niger Junta Kicks Out U.S. Troops, Drone Base The junta denounced the “condescending attitude” of an American delegation that tried to save a quarter-billion-dollar U.S. base in Niger. COL. MAJ. AMADOU Abdramane, a spokesperson for Niger’s ruling junta, took to the national television network on Saturday to denounce the United States and end the long-standing counterterrorism partnership between the two countries.     “The government of Niger, taking into account the aspirations and interests of its people, revokes, with immediate effect, the agreement concerning the status of United States military personnel and civilian Defense Department employees,” he said, declaring that the security pact, in effect since 2012, violated Niger’s constitution.

Britain is Becoming A Toxic Chemical Dumping Ground – Yet Another Benefit of Brexit Perhaps our government imagines bulldog spirit will protect us from the dangerous substances that Europe rules unsafe Perhaps our government imagines bulldog spirit will protect us from the dangerous substances that Europe rules unsafe It’s a benefit of Brexit – but only if you’re a manufacturer or distributor of toxic chemicals. For the rest of us, it’s another load we have to carry on behalf of the shysters and corner-cutters who lobbied for the UK to leave the EU.     The government insisted on a separate regulatory system for chemicals. At first sight, it’s senseless: chemical regulation is extremely complicated and expensive. Why replicate an EU system that costs many millions of euros and employs a small army of scientists and administrators? Why not simply adopt as UK standards the decisions it makes? After all, common regulatory standards make trading with the rest of Europe easier. Well, now we know. A separate system allows the UK to become a dumping ground for the chemicals that Europe rules unsafe.

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