Daily News Digest September 26, 2024
Images of the Day:
Never Forget the Media Monopoly Control the News
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”There is No Democracy! When Less Than 1% Control the Wealth, Production, and Price of Everything Produced and Consumed in the World! In the present period of unfettered Capitalism, the pretense of democratic rule does not exist, except in the minds of ‘socialists’ like Bernie Sanders and the Labor Bureaucracy! Capitalists view all struggles as struggles against capitalist rule! Transition demands immediately become revolutionary demands! Therefore, any resistence to the attack of capitalists has to be organized by those that understand this! 
Today, the United States Capitalists are Consolidating Themselves as the Supreme Capitalists! Capitalism’s Gluttony is Demonstrated by It’s Quest for More and More Profits at the Expense of Humanity! 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 6 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 Five Horsemen of the the Apocalypse, Spreading Racism, War, Famine, Pestilence, Death, and Misinformation! 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:
Podcasts/Vide0s of the Day:
Blinken Lied To Congress About Israeli War Crimes Because He Knows He’ll Get Away With It As Israel butchers hundreds of civilians in its latest attacks on Lebanon, leaked documents have surfaced revealing that US Secretary of State Antony Blinken knowingly lied to congress about Israel’s siege warfare against civilians 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 : My own Government, I cannot be Silent. ― Martin Luther King Jr.
To this day, we have a government and state apparatus that is designed to “protect the minority of the opulent against the majority.” Democracy for white and wealthy men only! — Roland Sheppard, My Forefathers and The 1%’s Forefathers.
War Forever, Everywhere Unexploded Ordnance and the Weaponry We Leave Behind. Count on one thing: armed conflict lasts for decades after battles end and its effects ripple thousands of miles beyond actual battlefields. This has been true of America’s post-9/11 forever wars that, in some minimalist fashion, continue in all too many countries around the world. Yet those wars, which we ignited in Afghanistan, Iraq, and Pakistan in the wake of the 9/11 attacks, are hardly the first to offer such lessons. Prior wars left us plenty to learn from that could have led this country to respond differently after that September day when terrorists crashed planes into the World Trade Center in New York City and the Pentagon in Washington, D.C. Instead, we ignored history and, as a result, among so many other horrific things, left our weaponry — explosives, small arms, you name it — in war zones to kill and maim yet more people there for generations to come. Case in point: We Americans tend to disregard the possibility (however modest) that weapons of war could even destroy our own lives here at home, despite how many of us own destructive weaponry. A few years ago, my military spouse and I were looking for a house for our family to settle in after over a decade of moving from military post to military post. We very nearly bought an old farmhouse owned by a combat veteran who mentioned his deployments to Afghanistan and Iraq. We felt uncertain about the structure of his house, so we arranged to return with our children to take another look after he had moved out. The moment we entered the garage with our two toddlers in tow, we noticed a semi-automatic rifle leaning against the wall, its barrel pointing up. Had we not grabbed our son by the hand, he might have run over to touch it and, had it been loaded, the unthinkable might have occurred. Anyone who has raised young children knows that a single item in an empty room, especially one as storied as a gun (in today’s age of constant school shootings and lockdowns) could be a temptation too great to resist.
And Hast Joe Slain the Jabberwock?: Biden Tells UN ‘We Cannot Grow Weary’ in Ukraine’s Defense in Valedictory Speech US president assumes mantle of elder statesman, defending his foreign policy record and urging Gaza deal Joe Biden has sought to defend his foreign policy achievements on the world stage with an address to the United Nations general assembly against a backdrop of three brutal, intractable wars that have stymied world diplomats seeking an end to the bloodshed. Addressing the assembly hall in New York on Tuesday, Biden took on the mantle of elder statesman as he alternated between a message of hope and a full-throated defense of his record on foreign policy.
Joe Lauria: The Madness of Antony Blinken On March 7, 2022, two weeks after Moscow entered the civil war in Ukraine, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken told CBS News from Moldova that the U.S. would give NATO-member Poland a “green light” to send Mig-29 fighter jets to Ukraine to enforce a no-fly zone against Russian aircraft. U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer then also backed the no-fly zone. But within days the Pentagon shot down the idea as it engaged in a consequential battle with the State Department and members of Congress to prevent a direct NATO military confrontation with Russia that could unleash history’s most unimaginable horrors. A no-fly zone “could result in significant Russian reaction that might increase the prospects of a military escalation with NATO,” according to then Pentagon spokesman John Kirby. President Joe Biden was caught in the middle of the fray. Pressure on the White House from some members of Congress and the press corps was unrelenting to recklessly bring NATO directly into the war. Biden ultimately sided with the Defense Department, and he couldn’t be more explicit why. He opposed a NATO no-fly zone over Ukraine fighting Russian aircraft, he said, because “that’s called World War III, okay? Let’s get it straight here, guys. We will not fight the third world war in Ukraine.”
Militarism Abuse Disorder: A Very American Malaise My name is Frida and my community is military dependent. (I feel, by the way, like I’m introducing myself at a very strange AA-like meeting with lousy coffee.) As with people who have substance abuse disorders, I’m part of a very large club. After all, there are weapons manufacturers and subcontractors in just about every congressional district in the country, so that members of Congress will never forget whom they are really working for: the military-industrial complex. Using the vernacular of the day, perhaps it’s particularly on target to say that our whole country suffers from Militarism Abuse Disorder or (all too appropriately) MAD.
United States Armed and Funded Palestinan Genocide:
Israeli Campaign against Lebanon could Push Poverty Rate to 50% UNICEF Deputy Representative to Lebanon Ettie Higgins reported from Lebanon on the effects of Monday’s massive attack by Israeli war planes on southern and eastern Lebanon.
Double Speak: US Sending Troops to Middle East as Biden Insists He’s Working on De-Escalation The US has already been maintaining an increased military presence in the region amid Israel’s genocide in Gaza. The Pentagon has announced that it is sending additional U.S. troops to the Middle East “out of an abundance of caution” after Israel launched a series of attacks on Lebanon that have killed hundreds of people in a major escalation of its war.
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’!
We Must Hold These Monsters to Account!
Residents Evacuated After ‘Dangerous’ Chemical Leak From Railcar in Ohio! “I tasted and smelled it,” a resident said. “It was burning my throat and eyes.” Residents near a toxic chemical leak from a railcar in a small town in southwestern Ohio remained under evacuation orders on Wednesday even after the leak had been contained. A leak of styrene, a chemical used in plastic and rubber production, was discovered Tuesday afternoon in Whitewater Township, Ohio, about 16 miles west of Cincinnati. Video showed the chemical spewing from the top of a railcar reportedly owned by Genesee & Wyoming, a U.S.-based
Subsidies Provide Risk Free Profits! The Absurd Truth About Fossil Fuel Subsidies By now, it’s abundantly clear that we need to transition to a clean energy system at “wartime mobilization” speed. By now, it’s abundantly clear that we need to transition to a clean energy future as fast as possible. Continued massive subsidies for fossil fuels is a primary offender for this delay. U.S. taxpayers spend tens of billions of dollars a year subsidizing new fossil fuel exploration, production, and consumption, which directly affects how much oil, gas, and coal gets produced—and how much clean energy doesn’t. Despite what the coal, oil, and gas industries (and their entourage of politicians) would have us think, most of us would be shocked at how much we prop up fossil fuels versus renewables. The playing field isn’t even close to level. Here’s a breakdown of some numbers of which every American citizen should be aware. The High Price of Subsidies. First, let’s consider just the direct subsidies for fossil fuel production—money that flows directly from the government to fossil fuel companies to support activities like exploration, extraction, and development. A conservative estimate from Oil Change International puts the U.S. total at around $20.5 billion annually, including $14.7 billion in federal subsidies and $5.8 billion in state-level incentives. A whopping 80 percent of this goes to oil and gas (with the rest supporting coal), and most of the subsidies are in the form of tax deductions and exemptions and other “obscure tax loopholes and accounting tricks” that result in massive avoided costs for fossil fuel producers.
Fossil Fuel Subsidies Surged to Record $7 Trillion Scaling back subsidies would reduce air pollution, generate revenue, and make a major contribution to slowing climate change As the world struggles to restrict global warming to 1.5 degrees Celsius and parts of Asia, Europe and the United States swelter in extreme heat, subsidies for oil, coal and natural gas are costing the equivalent of 7.1 percent of global gross domestic product. That’s more than governments spend annually on education (4.3 percent of global income) and about two thirds of what they spend on healthcare (10.9 percent). Our findings come as the World Meteorological Organization says July was the hottest month on record, underscoring the urgent need to curb human-induced climate change.
Study Finds Wealth Tax, Oil Subsidy Phaseout Could Generate $5T for Climate The new report was released as world leaders gathered in New York City for UN General Assembly talks. Research published Tuesday estimates that rich countries could mobilize over $5 trillion a year for climate action worldwide by cutting off subsidies to the oil and gas industry, imposing a levy on big polluters, and cracking down on tax evasion by large corporations and the rich.
California Sues ExxonMobil for Deceiving Public About Recycling Plastics The fossil fuel giant spent decades spreading propaganda that recycling could solve the plastic waste crisis. The global fossil fuel giant ExxonMobil took out a 12-page editorial advertisement in Time magazine back in 1989 titled “The Urgent Need to Recycle.” The ad called on readers to imagine recycled plastic material used in idyllic ways – the material for a dock, for example, or the carpet in a young couple’s first home — painting recycling technology as a smart solution to plastic waste. A trade group funded by the company had already been promoting the now ubiquitous “chasing arrows” recycling symbol, which remains totally unregulated and promotes myths about recycling to this day.
Black Liberation/Civil Rights:
Environmental Racism: Racial Disparities in PFAS Exposure Through Drinking Water Per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) are a class of chemicals used in many consumer products and industrial processes since the 1950s. Because there isn’t federal regulation of their use or disposal, PFAS are commonly released into the environment. When PFAS are released, people can be exposed to them through air, dust, food, and water, so PFAS exposure is common in the United States. Biomonitoring studies have found that certain species of PFAS are present in the blood of almost all US residents.
News From the Prison Industrial Complex: Solidarity from Solitary From cell blocks to Congress, the fight to give incarcerated workers basic labor rights gains steam. Julio “Alex” Zuniga ends the messages he sends from his prison cell with the signoff “Solidarity forever.” He sometimes includes a postscript with music recommendations, leaning toward vibey alt-pop and indie — a somewhat surprising mix for the self-described anarchist activist. He prefers to be called Alex, but many of his contacts inside and outside of prison know him as “Comrade Z.” He’s the man people who have been at the Memorial Unit (formerly called Darrington), a 1,610-bed state prison in southeast Texas, point to when asked about organizing on the inside. Like everyone else locked up in Texas who is physically and mentally able, Zuniga, a 44-year-old from San Antonio, was required to work without pay while housed at Memorial, near the unincorporated town of Rosharon, from 2018 to 2023. He tended livestock and labored in the agricultural fields, where he would cut weeds and harvest carrots, cabbages and onions. Before these fields were owned by the Texas Department of Criminal Justice (TDCJ), they were plantation land worked by enslaved people.
Labor:
Economy:
Another Global Recession is Coming This article, which was published in June 2023, has been confirmed in all essentials by events. Since it was written, world debt has broken new records, the American and Chinese economies have continued to slow down, and European industry has been devastated. The capitalists have, to a certain extent, managed to rein in inflation rates. But, as this article predicts, the blunt instrument of interest rates has bludgeoned the economy even closer to a recession, in spite of predictions of a ‘soft landing’. In the US, the recent decision to cut interest rates has only opened a new speculative bonanza along with the possibility of inflation shooting back up. All signs point to the fact that capitalism is stumbling towards a recession. We can’t say precisely what the tipping point will be, but that there will be a tipping point is inevitable. In order to prepare, we recommend all communists read the following article. The latest news shows that the economy is once again taking a turn for the worse. The Eurozone is in recession. China is slowing down sharply. The US is teetering on the brink. Another economic crisis is on the way.
World:
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