Daily News Digest May 24, 2017

Daily News Digest Archives

During This Economic Crisis, Capitalism’s Three Point Political Program:  1. Austerity, 2. Scapegoating Blacks, Minorities, and ‘Illegal Immigrants’ for Unemployment, and 3. The Iron Heel.

Daily News Digest May 24, 2017

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  Who Profit From Austerity! Under Austerity, All of the World Will Eventually Be Pauperized, Humbled, and Desecrated Like Greece and Puerto Rico!

Images of the Day:

Freedom of the PressRate of Climate Change to Soar by 2020s, With Arctic Warming 1°F Per Decade

Quotes of the Day:

Only a single payer system can bring U.S. health care into the 21st century, said Dr. Susan Rogers, of Physicians for a National Health Program. Private insurance corporations drain society of health care resources. “If you look at a large hospital, I bet they’ve got more billing clerks than they do nurses, per patient,” said Rogers. “That tells you where the money is going; it’s not going to health care, it’s going to billing.” — U.S. Healthcare is Profiteered to Death

 The escalation of ‘executive orders’ during the last 100 years has lead to the establishment of law by decree or fiat by the Imperial Presidency. His eminence now has the power over our rights, as the Declaration of Independence states, to “. . . certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness. — That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, — That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government. . . . But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.. . .” — Roland Sheppard

Videos of the Day:

John Pilger: Julian Assange is Cleared of Rape Charges, but Far from Free Filmmaker and journalist John Pilger says Swedish authorities should be ’embarrassed’ for pursuing what he called trumped up accusations against Assange and also how journalists are increasingly targeted as enemies of the state.

Supreme Court Strikes Down Racial Gerrymandering in North Carolina Kamau Franklin of the Atlanta Black Star says a Supreme Court ruling that North Carolina unlawfully used race in redrawing Congressional maps is a blow to racial gerrymandering across the United States

Trump’s Mideast ‘Peace Opportunity’ Ignores Palestinian Rights & Threatens Iran On a visit to Israel, President Donald Trump claims to see “a rare opportunity for peace” in the Middle East, but Ali Abunimah of The Electronic Intifada says Trump is only offering more U.S. support for the Israeli occupation of Palestinians and hostility towards Iran

U.S.:

Devos Takes Out Her Hatchet Last week, Devos announced $10.6 billion in cuts to educational programs all over the country. The Washington Post reported the victims of these drastic cuts include taking $12 million in funding away from the special olympics, $65 million from two programs that benefit natives in Hawaii and Alaska, and cuts $15 million from a program that provides low-income parents attending college care for their children. The budget proposes eliminating all funding for a fund created by congress to help schools pay for student support services, like mental health, and academic support. by Michael J. Sainato

I’m a Human and I’m a Cartoon Available evidence is beyond reasonable doubt as prosecutors might say that I’m a human and I’m a cartoon. If being both at the same time, in the same frame, were a crime, I’ll be convicted in seconds by a white jury or black jury, a jury of men or women. And if being both is a rare artistic adventure, I’m a Don Quixote. Actually, being both is normal, as normal as being a Trump, a Sean Hannity, a Butt-Head. I’m an animated human. I’m an animated cartoon. By Liaquat Ali Khan http://img.huffingtonpost.com/asset/scalefit_820_noupscale/5920548b2300003800a6ab7a.png

Black Liberation/Civil Rights:

Black Agenda Radio for Week of May 22, 2017

Black Agenda Radio on the Progressive Radio Network is hosted by Glen Ford and Nellie Bailey. A new edition of the program airs every Monday at 11:00am ET on PRN. Length: one hour.

U.S. Healthcare is Profiteered to Death: Only a single payer system can bring U.S. health care into the 21st century, said Dr. Susan Rogers, of Physicians for a National Health Program. Private insurance corporations drain society of health care resources. “If you look at a large hospital, I bet they’ve got more billing clerks than they do nurses, per patient,” said Rogers. “That tells you where the money is going; it’s not going to health care, it’s going to billing.”

The Democrats’ Formula for Losing Elections: The Democrats “know what they need to do to get out the vote,” said Margaret Kimberley, editor and senior columnist for Black Agenda Report. “They need to raise wages, stop the student loan debt, and protect people’s homes. But none of these things are acceptable to their patrons” among the 1 percent,” said Kimberley, who recently authored an article titled “The Democratic Party Death Spiral.” The Democrats “cannot depend on corporate money and do what the people want them to do.”

U.S. Can’t Rule World by Force: Despite its massive military, the U.S. cannot rule the world by force of arms, said Dr. Anthony Monteiro, the Duboisian scholar from Philadelphia. China’s regional neighborhood includes “three of the five largest economies in the world,” said Monteiro. Therefore, a war with China “would be like the U.S. shooting itself in the head.” A war with Iran, on the Persian Gulf, “would throw the world into a recession or depression.” These are “wars that the United States can’t win; wars that the American public don’t want; and wars that most of humanity would condemn as wars of aggression,” he said.Mumia: Back to the Bad Old Days: Mumia Abu Jamal, the nation’s best known political prisoner, recalled being beaten up by cops, as a 14 year-old, in 1968 Philadelphia. It was “a little taste of [former mayor and police chief] Rizzo, and “an introduction to Trump,” Abu Jamal told journalist Chris Hedges, host of the RT program “On Contact.” “I lived in the ‘bad old days,’” said Mumia. “They were ugly days, and they’re ugly days, today.”

Environment:

The World’s Vanishing Glaciers Put Millions at Risk From the Himalayas to Switzerland, the world’s glaciers are melting – threatening vital water supplies and increasing the risk of sea level rise.  By Tim Radford / Climate News NetworkWith New Leadership on the Way, Public Health Experts Demand WHO Take on Factory Farms ‘The harms caused by large-scale, industrial animal farming are global in nature and felt beyond those who consume meat, dairy, and eggs,’ states a new open letter by Andrea Germanos  Ongoing Big Energy Crisis: 

Rover Pipeline Owner Disputing Millions Owed After Razing Historic Ohio Home After taking heat last fall for destroying sacred sites of the Standing Rock Sioux Tribe, the owner of the Dakota Access pipeline finds itself embattled anew over the preservation of historic sites, this time in Ohio. By Steve Horn  Labor:

Economy:

Trump’s Justice Department Goes Easy on Citigroup Unit for Criminal Money Laundering Citigroup, the Wall Street mega bank that taxpayers were forced to prop up in the largest bailout of a financial institution in U.S. history from 2008 to 2010, is also a recidivist lawbreaker that the U.S. Justice Department fails to tame regardless of who occupies the Oval Office. By Pam Martens and Russ World: 

British Elections: Wag the Dog?:

‘Manchester Attacks: What Price Hypocrisy? The lack of a coherent anti-terrorism strategy in Washington and by extension the West, as emergency services deal with the devastating aftermath of yet another terrorist atrocity in Europe – this time a suicide bomb attack at a concert in Manchester, England – has been thrown into sharp relief during President Trump’s tour of the Middle East. by John Wight

Solidarity with Manchester: Workers must stand united Twenty-two people have been killed and 59 injured in the most deadly terrorist attack on British soil since the London 7/7 bombings. The attack on a pop concert at the Manchester Arena, carried out by a lone suicide bomber, was deliberately timed to strike as thousands of people, including many children, began to leave the venue at 22:35. A number of children and teenagers are already known to be among the dead and missing. By Josh Holroyd (Socialist Appeal)Towards the Corbyn Doctrine Jeremy Corbyn recently laid out his vision for British foreign policy at Chatham House. The speech drew on the idea of an ‘ethical foreign policy’ to allow Corbyn room to oppose wars without ruling out the use of force in all cases. This was important to dispel the misconception that Corbyn is a ‘pacifist’. The phrase itself is a somewhat woolly concept borrowed from the late Robin Cook. by Josh White The European Left and the Greek Tragedy The day Greek workers and employees went on general strike, protesting against a new barrage of so-called “reforms” imposed by the “creditors” in the context of a program that is destroying Greeks and their country, a statement on Greece was issued by the Presidents of the Social Democratic, Green and the “Radical Leftist” Groups in the European Parliament Gianni Pitella, Ska Keller and Gabi Zimmer. by Dimitris Konstantakopoulos

Health, Science, Education, and Welfare: