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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:
We have done it before. We have organized some of the most massive collective of Black Americans this world has ever seen on behalf of the human rights of the oppressed. As John Henrik Clarke explains, “it was no accident that Marcus Garvey had his greatest success in the United States among Black Americans.” In the “belly of the beast,” as Jose Marti coined the U.S., Black Americans, began building a movement, Clarke continues, “at a time of great disenchantment,” particularly among those who pursued the “American Dream,” only to concede that the “dream was not dreamed for them.” Clarke states that no other dream or promise was being held out to Black Americans. Now, the Republicrats will send us 600 dollars and the promise of more wars – forever! After 40 years of unemployment lines, inadequate educational institutions, sub-standard housing, and prisons for our youth, we have to concede that we are still mere fodder for the daily adventures of capitalists who are fixated on profiteering by any means necessary. There’s no public accountability, particularly if there’s a hint of the underlining racial imperative that will maintain white dominance. And yes – we have given capitalists the power to churn the revolution of the oppressed into mush while the oppressors speak of a Reagan revolution! In Democracy Matters: Winning the Fight Against Imperialism, Cornel West cites James Baldwin’s concern that the language of resistance itself would come under attack, forcing the silence of the oppressed while enforcing ignorance on the part of the oppressor to his/her own complicity with “innocence.” Baldwin, West writes, warned that the “criminal acts of white violence and disrespect against black people” was one thing, but the crime of “innocence” constituted the worse crime against Black Americans. What are we waiting for? — Dr. Lenore J. Daniels, Phd
In 1980, under pressure to begin construction on what would become his signature project, Donald J. Trump employed a crew of 200 undocumented Polish workers who worked in 12-hour shifts, without gloves, hard hats or masks, to demolish the Bonwit Teller building on Fifth Avenue, where the 58-story, golden-hued Trump Tower now stands. The workers were paid as little as $4 an hour for their dangerous labor, less than half the union wage, if they got paid at all. Their treatment led to years of litigation over Mr. Trump’s labor practices, and in 1998, despite frequent claims that he never settles lawsuits, Mr. Trump quietly reached an agreement to end a class-action suit over the Bonwit Teller demolition in which he was a defendant. For almost 20 years, the terms of that settlement have remained a secret. But last week, the settlement documents were unsealed by Loretta A. Preska, a United States District Court judge for the Southern District, in response to a 2016 motion filed by Time Inc. and the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press. Judge Preska found that the public’s right to know of court proceedings in a class-action case was strengthened by the involvement of the “now-president of the United States.” In a 21-page finding, Judge Preska wrote that “the Trump Parties have failed to identify any interests that can overcome the common law and First Amendment presumptions of access to the four documents at issue.”—Trump Paid Over $1 Million in Labor Settlement
Videos of the Day:
Trump Plans to Move US Embassy to Jerusalem Max Blumenthal and Paul Jay on Mike Pence’s announcement that Donald Trump is actively planning to move the US embassy in Israel from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, going against decades of US policy
U.S.:
Trump Paid Over $1 Million in Labor Settlement, Documents Reveal By Charles V. Bagli
Political Corruption and the U.S. Government It is almost astounding what the United States populace is willing to tolerate in those that call the shots and make the rules by which they – the plebeian populace – must live. The rule-makers, of course, are exempt from such concerns, but recoil in horror if anyone not a member of the 1% violates them. They are even willing to condemn others of their own class, for violations they, themselves, are guilty of. by Robert Fantina
The Rhetorical Trap: North Korea as “State Sponsor of Terrorism” Are such designations ever useful? At the stroke of a pen, an entire state is designated “terrorist” or a seemingly milder sponsor of terrorism, its name finding a way onto a list of supposed unmentionables and moral inverts. Obscure groups and more notable countries huddle together, supposedly sharing some disreputable common ground and we are none the wiser on the content behind the categorization. Terrorist designations are also highly problematic when they issue from powers with the capacity to strike, globally, within minutes, under orders from a creakily wacky leadership that threatens other states with fire and brimstone immolation should the circumstances arise. by Binoy Kampmark
Environment:
Ongoing Big Energy Crisis:
Civil Rights/ Black Liberation:
“…all this is achieved by wide-scale organization of the masses supplemented with patient and careful education, an education that begins and is confirmed in knowledge acquired from their own experience; it should concentrate on reasoned and true explanations of the facts of the Revolution” – Che Guevara, Guerrilla Warfare
Given the past few weeks, indeed, the past 40 years of living with the backlash of imperialism, we must confront this question: What do we need to do to save ourselves from ourselves? We have done it before. We have organized some of the most massive collective of Black Americans this world has ever seen on behalf of the human rights of the oppressed. As John Henrik Clarke explains, “it was no accident that Marcus Garvey had his greatest success in the United States among Black Americans.” In the “belly of the beast,” as Jose Marti coined the U.S., Black Americans, began building a movement, Clarke continues, “at a time of great disenchantment,” particularly among those who pursued the “American Dream,” only to concede that the “dream was not dreamed for them.” By Lenore J Daniels, Black Commentator Editorial Board
Freedom Rider: Contradictions of White Supremacy “Very few white Americans stray far from this country’s racist origins.”American media have a collective crush on avowed racists. The New York Times is only the most recent perpetrator with their now maligned profile of an Ohio Nazi . The kid glove approach was too obvious and readers rose up in uproar. The back pedaling and apologizing shouldn’t let them off the hook, nor allow their colleagues at other outlets to escape scrutiny. The alt-right got a significant boost from a puff piece profile of their leader Richard Spencer in the supposedly progressive Mother Jones . Mother Jones referred to the “prom-king good looks” of the “dapper white nationalist.” By Margaret Kimberley, BAR editor and senior columnist
Thank CNN for the Slave Auctions in Libya “Zero context is given as to why the slave auctions exist in the first place.” On November 14th, CNN produced an “exclusive” report about the slave trafficking of migrants in Libya. The report detailed the devastating conditions of migrants fleeing from crisis in nations across North and East Africa. Smugglers, as CNN calls them, capture and terrorize migrants before selling them into day labor. Libyan authorities then detain the migrant laborers and repatriate them back to their nation of origin. CNN emphasizes the horror of the slave auctions with the caption “I was sold” underneath a picture of one of the migrants, Victory, whose story is told in the report. By Danny Haiphong, BAR contributor
Clearing the Smoke and Mirrors Around Zimbabwe “The West, led by Britain and the U.S., have been engaged in a regime policy against the Southern African nation for the last 18 years.” Reasons for examining what is happening in Zimbabwe are many but few to none can be found in accounts by major news media or from liberal progressive pundits. Such accounts are busy reinforcing the over simplified and misinforming narrative that forcing out former 93 year-old president Robert Mugabe marks the end of 37 years of brutal dictatorship that has driven the country into economic disaster. By Netfa Freeman
Crossing the Electronic Prison Firewall “Does the larger public consider how extremely, cruelly isolated US prisoners are in the age of digital communication?” Six California prisoners wrote to me in 2015 to ask about the Hepatitis C cure, shortly after the San Francisco Bay View newspaper published my interview with activist attorney Peter Erlinder titled “US prisoners sue for constitutional right to lifesaving Hep C cure .” I tried and failed to answer those letters and I’ve felt bad about it ever since. By Ann Garrison, BAR contributon
Labor:
Economy:
Monetary Imperialism In theory, the global financial system is supposed to help every country gain. Mainstream teaching of international finance, trade and “foreign aid” (defined simply as any government credit) depicts an almost utopian system uplifting all countries, not stripping their assets and imposing austerity. The reality since World War I is that the United States has taken the lead in shaping the international financial system to promote gains for its own bankers, farm exporters, its oil and gas sector, and buyers of foreign resources — and most of all, to collect on debts owed to it by Michael Hudson
Trump Now Says Wall Street Is the Victim, Not the Villain “Populist” candidate for President, Donald Trump, railed against the “political establishment” and Wall Street elites who were “getting away with murder.” On October 26, 2016, just days before the Presidential election, Trump spoke at a rally in Charlotte, North Carolina and promised to uphold the plank in the Republican Party platform to break up the big banks by restoring the Glass-Steagall Act. He stated:“The policies of the Clintons brought us the financial recession — through lifting Glass-Steagall, pushing subprime lending, and blocking reforms to Fannie and Freddie. Two friendly names but they’re not so friendly. It’s time for a 21st century Glass-Steagall and, as part of that, a priority on helping African-American businesses get the credit they need.”Now, as the sitting President, the former populist candidate has become the embodiment of the political establishment he railed against. He has stacked his administration with former bankers from Goldman Sachs; he has placed deeply conflicted Wall Street cronies in key regulatory posts; and he is promising to roll back critical financial reforms. His Treasury Secretary, Steve Mnuchin, has disavowed any intention to reinstate the Glass-Steagall Act. By Pam Martens and Russ Martens
World:
An economic calamity facing Britain British capitalism is clearly in a parlous state. The miserable spurt of growth of a few years ago has completely run out of steam, leaving the UK in a disastrous position. All the economic forecasts from the top institutions for the coming period have been downgraded from those of a year ago. By Rob Sewell
Egypt’s deadliest terror attack lays bare failures of the regime On 24 November, around 30 Islamic State militants from the Sinai Province arrived in large, all-terrain vehicles outside the el-Rawda mosque in Bir el-Abed, Northern Sinai, during Friday prayers. They detonated two bombs inside and then sprayed the fleeing crowds with machine-gun fire. The attack left over 300 people dead and 130 wounded: the largest death toll recorded for such an event in Egypt’s modern history. By Dejan Kukic and Hamid Alizadeh
Health, Science, Education, and Welfare:
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.
Quotes of The Day: