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.
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.
Deregulation Murders! : Another dam administered by Vale and Australian mining company BHP Billiton collapsed in 2015 in the city of Mariana in Minas Gerais state, resulting in 19 deaths and forcing hundreds from their homes. Considered the worst environmental disaster in Brazilian history, it left 250,000 people without drinking water and killed thousands of fish. An estimated 60 million cubic meters of waste flooded rivers and eventually flowed into the Atlantic Ocean. Environmental groups and activists said the latest spill underscored a lack of regulation. The latest spill “is a sad consequence of the lessons not learned by the Brazilian government and the mining companies responsible for the tragedy with Samarco dam, in Mariana, also controlled by Vale,” Greenpeace said in a statement. “History repeats itself,” tweeted Marina Silva, a former environmental minister and three-time presidential candidate. “It’s unacceptable that government and mining companies haven’t learned anything.” — Dam holding back mine waste collapses in Brazil; 200 missing
While hurricanes are known to cause immediate destruction through flooding and strong winds, pathogenic diseases as a result of hurricanes are less recognized. Evidence shows that airborne opportunists and waterborne diseases are more common in the environment after hurricanes, as are visits to the emergency room for respiratory and skin ailments. In addition, infections that result from overcrowding tend to increase in shelters while mosquito-borne viruses can increase in number over the long-term. Understanding the effect of hurricanes on these pathogens in the environment can help public health professionals and the public be better prepared when major hurricanes occur, as well as decrease the incidence of illness and death after a hurricane. — The Effect of Hurricanes on Pathogenic Diseases
The History – and Hypocrisy – of US Meddling in Venezuela There isn’t a nation in the Western Hemisphere that hasn’t at one time or another found itself caught in the far-reaching tentacles of US imperialism. Venezuela is certainly no exception. Washington has been meddling in its internal affairs since the 19th century and it continues to do so to this very day, when the specter of yet another US-backed coup, or even a direct American military intervention, looms larger by the day. By Brett Wilkins
In Praise of Direct Action (and More) As the shutdown ground on, I started wondering when federal air-traffic controllers and other key and strategically placed air-travel workers would flex their capacity to disrupt the continuous flow of airline flight operations? The answer came last Friday when a sick-in of New York City controllers led to the stoppage of flights at LaGuardia Airport. Delays began piling up across the nation’s integrated air-travel system, a quarter of which moves through New York. The disruption was just a taste of what might have come if the slowdown and stoppages had spread to include the flight attendants and the pilots. By Paul Street
The Nine Worst Lawfare Injustices in the US and What They Tell Us About Ourselves The law should apply equally to everyone. The 14thAmendment guarantees to all Americans the “equal protection of the laws”. But when we go to war this guarantee is often violated. War means designating an “enemy” to be defeated using every available means including the law. We call this “lawfare” when the law, instead of providing equal protection, is bent to become a weapon of war against a certain targeted “enemy”. The Japanese internment during World War II is perhaps the clearest example of “lawfare”. 110,000 Japanese Americans, 60% of whom were US citizens, were forced to abandon their homes and businesses on the west coast of America and became internees in concentration camps for years. By Steve Downs
ICE COURTHOUSE ARRESTS IN NEW YORK INCREASED 1,700 PERCENT UNDER TRUMP More than two years after Donald Trump’s inauguration ushered in sweeping changes to the nation’s immigration enforcement system, accounts of Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents arresting undocumented immigrants in and around New York courts have increased by 1,700 percent, according to a new report.Ryan Devereaux
Environment:
People Power: 160,000 European Protesters Demand Action on Climate CrisisTens of thousands march in France, Belgium over climate crisis At least 80,000 people marched in a cold rain in Brussels Sunday in another massive protest demanding that the European Union take urgent and far-reaching action to address the world’s climate crisis.
Mexican auto parts workers explain how they formed strike committees After two weeks of wildcat strikes, tens of thousands of “maquiladora” workers in the Mexican city of Matamoros, next to the border with the United States, continue to expand their struggle. . . . Workers are sharing new details on how they began building independent committees to conduct their strike. An auto parts worker at Autoliv, which was the first plant to go on the wildcat strike in Matamoros, told the WSWS that on January 12, as soon as workers realized that the union and management were conspiring to rob them of mandated bonuses and a raise, they elected five workers as a committee independent of the trade union to organize a strike and “fight for our rights and what belongs to us.” By Andrea Lobo
In the United States, the have been many laws on the books for years, and not fully instituted. One of the laws was The Taft Hartly Act and its amendment the Kennedy-Landrum-Griffin Act the laws have the potential to eliminate trade unions. These laws have been gradually applied to get the Neoliberal Labor Bureaucracy to give away worker’s rights in exchange for the Dues Checkoff (Hourly Wage Tax). The labor bureaucrats adapted a new program, which was brokered by President Clinton’s Secretary of Labor, to organize a ‘partnership’ with their boss (Class Cooperation). Through the 1980s and 199os they even included this ‘partnership’ into their work agreements and the partnership was fully established! (FYI: Read my essay: The Fall of the Trade Union Movement ) As a result — Real weekly wages have fallen Over 100% , since the 1965! See Shadow Government Statisticsgraph below:
“Real Average Weekly Earnings—November 2018—Continued to Falter for Both the ―Production and Nonsupervisory Employees and ―All EmployeesCategories. Consumer liquidity stresses continued in November 2018, with continued faltering of Real Average Weekly Earnings, as reported December 12th by the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) along with the headline CPI-W and CPI-U. These series also were reviewed in Consumer Liquidity Watch No. 5 of November 21st (updated here). Where sharply declining gasoline prices actually helped real consumer earnings in November, a softening economy and a declining average work week actually turned real average weekly earnings (all employees) negative for the month.”
Aggression Against Venezuela Reaches a New Level of Intensity The Bolivar and Zamora Revolutionary Current examined the coup threat unleashedby Juan Guaido’s self-proclamation and how to face it. We are in a new phase in the development of external aggression plans to overthrow President Nicolás Maduro and destroy the Bolivarian Revolution and Chavismo. Once again, we have proof that the strategic development of the political conflict in Venezuela is determined by the international front. The initiatives, plans, guidelines and orders to the Venezuelan pawns that execute the internal actions are given openly and publicly by senior representatives of the US government. To a large extent, the openness of the United States government is due to the fact that it is immersed in a great internal political crisis, which makes it look for oxygen in a quick foreign policy victory. The unconstitutional self-proclamation of Juan Guaidó as supposed interim president, the immediate recognition by Donald Trump, followed by the governments of Argentina, Brazil, Canada, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Paraguay and Peru, as well as by Luis Almagro, secretary general of the OAS, are actions planned and coordinated by the Department of State of the United States.
Mobilization in defense of President Nicolás Maduro. Caracas, January 23, 2019 (Credit: Prensa CRBZ)
Brazilian mining company to pay $66mn fine following deadly dam burstBrazilian mining company to pay $66mn fine following deadly dam burst A state judge also ordered Vale to freeze 5 billion reals ($1.3 billion) on its accounts to pay for the damage caused by the dam rupture. The disaster sent torrents of mud and sludge into the forest and villages below the dam. Scores of people were trapped by the river of sludge that washed away roads and destroyed buildings in its path.
“Affordable” Health Insurance vs Health CareThis is really the crux of the issue and is the divide we need to emphasize in our next round of fixing the Democratic Party.There is no such thing as affordable health insurance, because on a purely moral basis, no one should have to pay for administration costs to deny coverage, and to generate a profit for such a universal basic human need. By Tom Crofton
Workers Power
Quotes of the Day:
