Daily News Digest June 10, 2024
Images of the Day:
Ted Rall: First, They Forced Us to Get Pregnant
Pegasus: The Zero-Click Threat to Democracy and Human Rights from Israel Pegasus, the main cyber-surveillance weapon developed by the Israeli company NSO Group, had been at the center of formidable reporting before July 2021. Still, the revelations presented by the Pegasus Project partners in a cascade of articles that began on July 18, 2021, represented a watershed moment.
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”
The Rise of Capitalism was Under the Banner of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity! Now There is Less Liberty, More Inequality, and Less Fraternity of Humanity! Every Day, From Global Warming to Global War There is a New Example of Capitalism in Imperialist Decay!
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, and 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! 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 Still Leads the World In Coronavirus Cases and Deaths in the World!
The Majority of the World, Despite the Media Monopoly’s Lies, are Opposed to the Palestinian Genocide and Global Warming — The 1% Minority Funds Them! At, this Time in History, Capitalism is Exposing the Fact That it is Opposed to Majority Rule/Democracy!
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:
Slaughterhouse-Five, or, The Children’s Crusade: A Duty-Dance with Death is a 1969 semi-autobiographic science fiction-infused anti-war novel by Kurt Vonnegut. It follows the life experiences of Billy Pilgrim, from his early years, to his time as an American soldier and chaplain’s assistant during World War II, to the post-war years. Throughout the novel, Billy frequently travels back and forth through time. The protagonist deals with a temporal crisis as a result of his post-war psychological trauma. The text centers on Billy’s capture by the German Army and his survival of the Allied firebombing of Dresden as a prisoner of war, an experience that Vonnegut endured as an American serviceman. The work has been called an example of “unmatched moral clarity”[3] and “one of the most enduring anti-war novels of all time”.[3] — Slaughterhouse-Five
Negro leaders suffer from this interplay of solidarity and divisiveness, being either exalted excessively or grossly abused. Some of these leaders suffer from an aloofness and absence of faith in their people. The white establishment is skilled in flattering and cultivating emerging leaders. It presses its own image on them and finally, from imitation of manners, dress and style of living, a deeper strain of corruption develops. This kind of Negro leader acquires the white man’s contempt for the ordinary Negro. He is often more at home with the middle-class white than he is among his own people. His language changes, his location changes, his income changes, and ultimately he changes from the representative of the Negro to the white man into the white man’s representative of the Negro. The tragedy is that too often he does not recognize what has happened to him. — Martin Luther King Jr. 1967, The Black Power Defined
From Martin Luther King’s Last Speech, April 3, 1968, I’ve Been to The Mountaintop: Now about injunctions: We have an injunction and we’re going into court tomorrow morning to fight this illegal, unconstitutional injunction. All we say to America is, “Be true to what you said on paper.” If I lived in China or even Russia, or any totalitarian country, MAYBE I COULD UNDERSTAND SOME OF THESE ILLEGAL INJUNCTIONS. Maybe I could understand the denial of certain basic First Amendment privileges, because they HAVEN’T committed themselves to that over there. But somewhere I read of the freedom of assembly. Somewhere I read of the freedom of speech. Somewhere I read of the freedom of the press. Somewhere I read that the greatness of America is the right to protest for RIGHTS. And so just as I say, we aren’t going to let any dogs or water hoses turn us around, we aren’t going to let any injunction turn us around.
Podcasts/Videos of the Day:
“Where Olive Trees Weep”: Dr. Gabor Maté & Ashira Darwish on New Film Exploring Trauma in Palestine
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
Oppose Democracy to Save Democracy 
Cornel West for President [email protected] For Immediate Release:
Dr. Cornel West’s Justice for All Party Addresses Misleading Attacks by the Democratic Party The independent presidential campaign of Dr. Cornel West faces unfounded legal challenges and misinformation from the Democratic Party. The Justice for All Party (JFA) has complied fully with every state law requirement, leaving no legal or factual basis for these challenges. Assertions made by the Democratic Party misrepresent our party’s adherence to the law and our dedication to principled, progressive policies. Dr. West stated, “The Democratic Party’s challenges to both North Carolina Justice For All and We The People Party (founded by Robert F. Kennedy Jr.) disrespect the tens of thousands of North Carolinians who have engaged with and supported these initiatives. These attacks infringe upon the constitutional rights of voters seeking to forge new political paths that offer genuine alternatives in the upcoming elections. Our campaign shall uphold these rights and ensure that every voice is heard this November.” Moreover, recent communications from the Democratic Party to our North Carolina supporters contain misleading claims that distort our campaign’s goals and principles. Contrary to their portrayals, our movement is staunchly dedicated to universal healthcare, ending perpetual wars, and advocating for a free Palestine—issues the Democratic Party has often sidestepped or insufficiently addressed. Italo Medelius-Marsano, a co-chair of the state Justice for All Party of North Carolina, said “by attempting to discredit our party, the Democratic Party not only underestimates the intelligence of North Carolina’s voters but also engages in tactics aimed at stifling democratic choice and diversity in political representation. It is disheartening to witness such maneuvers intended to manipulate public opinion and influence the electoral process adversely.
What was the Allied’s Justification for the use of White Phosphorus Bombs During the Dresden Firestorm What was the Allied’s justification for the use of White Phosphorus bombs during the Dresden Firestorm, and how were those reasons refuted by the Germans??? Also, why is it one of the lesser-taught or known WW2 engagements??? Allied embarrassment or denial perhaps?? We need to first establish what the bombing was meant to accomplish. By February of 1945, Germany was going to lose. With it’s failed offensive in the West, and with the Russians launching the Vistula-Oder offensive, the Germans had no hope of winning. However that didn’t mean it wasn’t capable of fighting and inflicting casualties on the Allies. The Western Allies planning to support the Russians, decided to strike at Dresden which lied at the heart of a transportation hub. Alongside a industrial center and an assembly area to send troops to the front, this city needed to be neutralized. The attacks made by the West would neutralize the city as a strategic asset. While devastating the city and inflicting large casualties on the population, these number only amounted to a 18,000-35,000 death toll by modern estimates. While the firebombing and the effects of said bombing real, much of the casualty list and status as a “cultural city” is propaganda and lies.
U.S. Funded Palestinian Genocide:
When Opposing A Genocide Means You’re A Nazi When these things are happening in your society, it means your society has gone stark raving insane. It means you are surrounded by lunatics, and ruled by madmen. When opposing a genocide means you’re a Nazi. When opposing nuclear brinkmanship means you love Vladimir Putin. When opposing the looming global conflict with China means you’re a sinister propagandist for “the CCP”. When opposing the latest imperial escalations against the latest Official Bad Guy always means you’re an appeaser of the Bad Guy and would have opposed fighting Hitler. When your skepticism toward government and media institutions who have an extensive record of lying and propagandizing means you’re a crazy conspiracy theorist. When wanting to live in a society where everyone has enough means you’re an evil authoritarian with a despised ideology. When believing it’s possible to have systems where humans aren’t killing the biosphere and waging insane wars while brandishing armageddon weapons at each other means you’re a silly little child who doesn’t understand how the real world works. …
Columbia Law Review Is Back Online After Students Threatened Work Stoppage Over Palestine Censorship “To the extent that they’re trying to censor Rabea, that simply won’t happen — that simply hasn’t happened and can’t.” The board had proposed appending a statement that would have undermined a Palestinian scholar’s article. The students rejected it. After the Columbia Law Review’s board of directors responded to the publication of an article about Palestine by taking the prestigious journal completely offline, the students who run CLR voted on Wednesday to reject an offer in a letter from the directors to reinstate the website. The Columbia Law School students who run CLR were considering a proposal to append a note to the Palestine article disclaiming what the directors, in an unsigned letter to students, described as “secrecy and deviation from the Review’s usual processes.” In the letter proposing the text, the board of directors said it wanted to see the journal put back online. The student editors rejected the deal for a disclaimer by a 20-5 vote, according to a student and documentation reviewed by The Intercept.
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?
Black Liberation/Civil Rights:
Labor:
Migrating Workers Provide Wealth for the World Each year, the International Organization for Migration (IOM) releases its World Migration Report. Most of these reports are anodyne, pointing to a secular rise in migration during the period of neoliberalism. As states in the poorer parts of the world found themselves under assault from the Washington Consensus (cuts, privatization, and austerity), and as employment became more and more precarious, larger and larger numbers of people took to the road to find a way to sustain their families. That is why the IOM published its first World Migration Report in 2000, when it wrote that “it is estimated that there are more migrants in the world than ever before,” it was between 1985 and 1990, the IOM calculated, that the rate of growth of world migration (2.59 percent) outstripped the rate of growth of the world population (1.7 percent). The neoliberal attack on government expenditure in poorer countries was a key driver of international migration. Even by 1990, it had become clear that the migrants had become an essential force in providing foreign exchange to their countries through increasing remittance payments to their families. By 2015, remittances—mostly by the international working class—outstripped the volume of Official Development Assistance (ODA) by three times and Foreign Direct Investment (FDI). ODA is the aid money provided by states, whereas FDI is the investment money provided by private companies. For some countries, such as Mexico and the Philippines, remittance payments from working-class migrants prevented state bankruptcy.
Economy:
As Job Openings Fall to New 3-Year Low, as the US Economy Continues to Slow
Since June 2009 Americans have lived in the false reality of a recovering economy. Various fake news and manipulated statistics have been used to create this false impression. However, indicators that really count have not supported the false picture and were ignored. For example, it is normal in a recovering or expanding economy for the labor force participation rate to rise as people enter the workforce to take advantage of the job opportunities. During the decade of the long recovery, from June 2009 through June 2024, the labor force participation rate consistently fell from 65.7 to 62.5 percent. —Paul Craig Roberts, The Diminishing American Economy (Updated)
Labor Force Participation Rate is 62.5%
World:
Lebanon: Israel’s White Phosphorous Use Risks Civilian Harm Israel’s widespread use of white phosphorus in south Lebanon is putting civilians at grave risk and contributing to civilian displacement, Human Rights Watch said today. Human Rights Watch verified the use of white phosphorus munitions by Israeli forces in at least 17 municipalities across south Lebanon since October 2023, including 5 municipalities where airburst munitions were unlawfully used over populated residential areas.
Lebanon’s Hezbollah is Proving to be a Serious Problem for Israel Hezbollah intensified its attacks in northern Israel on June 2, firing barrages of rockets over the border that set off massive wildfires. This came two days after the Lebanese armed group revealed that it had downed one of Israel’s most advanced drones – the most recent of several successful air defence operations. The events of October 7 had already marked the collapse of Israel’s national security doctrine. Three of the four components – deterrence, early warning and defence – had failed completely. The conflict with Hezbollah, which Israel has been fighting alongside its war on Gaza, continues to damage these beyond repair.
Education, Health, 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