Daily News Digest February 4, 2019
Daily News Digest Archives
Laura Gray’s cartoon from the front page of The Militant August 18, 1945, under banner headline: “There Is No Peace”
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.
Images of the Day:
This Saturday the revolutionary forces took to the streets of Caracas with a massive mobilization to commemorate the twenty years of the Bolivarian Revolution and support President Nicolás Maduro
Naturally, The Common People Don’t Want War
Quotes of the Day:
Behind Every Great Fortune There Is a Crime —Balzac
Yesterday, the European Parliament voted for a motion (jointly moved by the Conservatives, “Socialists” and Liberals) to recognise Juan Guaidó as the legitimate president of Venezuela. It took barely a week for the EU foreign policy to align fully with the Trump-Bolsonaro coup. No surprises here. The EU has always backed every single US foreign imperialist adventure, from Iraq to Libya.This was preceded by a scandalous ultimatum, issued by Spanish PM Pedro Sanchez, that unless Maduro calls presidential elections within eight days, Spain would recognise Guaidó as president, knowing full well this would not be the case. Sanchez’s position is particularly scandalous. He came to power promising to cut off arms sales to Saudi Arabia, only to renege on the promise once in office. No such demand of elections has been made of the murderous Saudi regime, of course. — Jorge Martin, US tightens the noose on Venezuela: will the coup succeed?
The American political establishment has no intention of moving a real program of environmental resolution forward. Doing so would end its hold on power. My suggestion is to organize citizen-experts to craft a program outside of official channels in anticipation of another capitalist crisis. A combination of political insistence and official incapacitation could yield the political moment needed to insert the program into the frame of the state ahead of the capitalist response. — Democrats Killed the Green New Deal
Videos of the Day:
Venezuelan People Remain Loyal to Revolutionary Government
Nicolás Maduro encabeza movilización por la defensa de Venezuela(Nicolás Maduro leads mobilization for the defense of Venezuela)
Jimmy Dore Show: Sec.Of State Admits Venezuela About Oil & Imperialism
Jimmy Dore Show: Bernie’s Disappointing Venezuela Tweet
Global Warming and Extreme Cold: How One Leads to the Other
Over 1000 Whistleblowers Silenced, Time to Unleash Inspector Generals — Podcast #2 When it comes to fixing systemic government corruption, when it comes to fighting back against corruption, there is a very powerful accountability mechanism built into the United States government that is being completely ignored, and this will show you how corrupt both parties are and how corrupted the mainstream media has become.
How The Us Rescued The Mafia And Made Them Partners
Russia, China on Defense and No Iranian Nuclear Bomb – US Intelligence Report
U.S.:
It now look like the U.S. is organizing a Libyan-Style Civil War in Venezuela: Venezuelan army defectors appeal to Trump for weapons Caracas, Venezuela (CNN)Venezuelan army defectors are calling on the Trump administration to arm them, in what they call their quest for “freedom.” Former soldiers Carlos Guillen Martinez and Josue Hidalgo Azuaje, who live outside the country, told CNN they want US military assistance to equip others inside the beleaguered nation. They claim to be in contact with hundreds of willing defectors and have called on enlisted Venezuelan soldiers to revolt against the Maduro regime, through television broadcasts. “As Venezuelan soldiers, we are making a request to the US to support us, in logistical terms, with communication, with weapons, so we can realize Venezuelan freedom,” Guillen Martinez told CNN. By Nick Paton Walsh, Barbara Arvanitidis and Alex Platt
(2003)Book Review: Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace In his new book, Gore Vidal makes a scathing attack upon the bipartisan domestic and foreign policies of the US government. The introduction to this book sets its theme, that the bombings of the Federal Building in Oklahoma City in 1995 and the World Trade Center (WTC) in New York City on September 11, were used, respectively, to justify the Anti-Terrorism Act of 1996 and the current “war on terrorism”. Read More
European Colonizers’ Genocide of 56 Million Native Americans So Devastating “It Literally Cooled the Planet”The mass genocide of the Native American people by European colonizers during the 15th and 16th centuries—in which an estimated 56 million indigenous people, or 90 percent of the population, were wiped out by violence and disease—was so complete and devastating, new research shows, that it triggered a planetary cooling. According to scientists at the University College London,the Europeans’ mass killing of natives in the Caribbean and the Americas led to the populations’ agricultural systems to go untended, leading to an overgrowth of vegetation all over the region. So many new trees and plants grew over a total area of about 55 million hectares, that the vegetation absorbed significant amounts of carbon from the atmosphere and caused the planet to cool down. By Julia Conley
The Capitalist Adults Are in the Room The ultra-capitalist United States is all about the commercialization and commodification – the extraction, manipulation, distortion, packaging, and sale – of anything and everything capital can get its hands on and turn to its advantage. Pick a critical social, natural. and cultural resource and phenomenon. Take one, any one – education, water, forests, transportation, art, music, communications, health care, old age, insurance, pensions, the land, the food supply, food preparation, home materials, clothing, body care, civil authority, the maintenance of facilities, energy, housing, the public roads, spirituality, zoning, romantic relationships, sex, friendship, traffic control, recreation, entertainment, public debate, language, and science. By Paul Street
Sanctions of Mass Destruction: America’s War on Venezuela American economic sanctions have been the worst crime against humanity since World War Two. America’s economic sanctions have killed more innocent people than all of the nuclear, biological and chemical weapons ever used in the history of mankind. By Garikai Chengu
Sorting Through the Lies about Venezuela Challenging United States hegemony is never an easy course. A county need not be socialist — it is enough to either voice aspirations toward socialism, or merely demonstrate a pattern of not doing as Washington dictates. So here we go again, this time with Venezuela. Ironically for a country that the corporate media insistently claims has been ruled by two “dictators” (remember that Hugo Chávez was routinely denounced in the same ways that Nicolás Maduro is today) it would be difficult to find a country with more opportunities for grassroots democracy and for everyday people to participate in the decisions that affect their lives and neighborhoods. By Pete Dolack
Elliott Abrams: A Human Rights Horror Show in Three Acts Last Friday, Secretary of State Mike Pompeo announced that Elliott Abrams would once again be returning to government, this time as President Donald Trump’s special envoy to help “fully restore democracy and prosperity” to Venezuela. Abrams, 71, is best known for abetting dictators and genocide in Latin America and for his role in the Iran-Contra scandal during the Ronald Reagan administration, as well as for his ardent support for the 2003 invasion of Iraq and for green-lighting a failed coup in Venezuela while serving in the George W. Bush administration. He is as reviled by countless Latin Americans as he is revered among neocons who pine for a more muscular US role in the hemisphere and beyond. What follows is an overview of the human rights horror show that has been Abrams’ government career, which now spans three presidential administrations over four decades.
Act I: Dictators, Death Squads and Drug Dealers By Brett Wilkins
Environment:
Democrats Killed the Green New Deal Environmental activists received a reality check when newly empowered Democrats in the U.S. House of Representatives pushed aside demands for an environmental economic transition program— a Green New Deal, in favor of reviving a toothless committee to ‘study’ the problem. A transition program is needed to mitigate the economic dislocations that will result from resolving the multiple environmental crises currently underway. By Rob Urie
Big Energy:
Civil Rights/Black Liberation:
Economy:
Trump’s Brilliant Strategy to Dismember U.S. Dollar HegemonyThe end of America’s unchallenged global economic dominance has arrived sooner than expected, thanks to the very same Neocons who gave the world the Iraq, Syria and the dirty wars in Latin America. Just as the Vietnam War drove the United States off gold by 1971, its sponsorship and funding of violent regime change wars against Venezuela and Syria ‑ and threatening other countries with sanctions if they do not join this crusade – is now driving European and other nations to create their alternative financial institutions. This break has been building for quite some time, and was bound to occur. But who would have thought that Donald Trump would become the catalytic agent? No left-wing party, no socialist, anarchist or foreign nationalist leader anywhere in the world could have achieved what he is doing to break up the American Empire. By Michael Hudson
World:
US tightens the noose on Venezuela: will the coup succeed?US imperialist intervention in Venezuela is escalating by the day. The Trump administration is ramping up the pressure in an attempt to bring about regime change. This coup must be fought through revolutionary means. By Jorge Martin
Health, Science, Education, and Welfare:
West Virginia teachers rally against education omnibus at Capitol Nearly 200 teachers and students rallied Thursday evening against the West Virginia Senate’s education reform package they say will take more money out of county school systems. Rallying under the banner of “Our Students First for Public Education,” the crowd heard from teachers, school administrators, students and lawmakers in front of the Senate Chamber. By Steven Allen Adams
.