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During This Economic Crisis, Capitalism’s Three Point Political Program: Austerity, Scapegoat Blacks, Minorities, and ‘Illegal’ Immigrants for Unemployment, and 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.
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Quotes of the Day:
So let’s not play games here,” Assange said. “The Ecuadorian State, for various political reasons, seeks to violate the law and conduct a public campaign in order to make it acceptable to hand over a persecuted journalist to the United States as a result of pressure, well-documented pressure, from the United States government.” — In leaked court testimony, Assange denounces his illegal detention
Ten thousand times has the labor movement stumbled and bruised itself. We’ve been enjoined by the courts, assaulted by thugs, charged by the militia, traduced by the press, frowned upon in public opinion, and deceived by politicians. But notwithstanding all this and all these, labor is today the most vital and potential power this planet has ever known, and its historic mission is as certain of ultimate realization as is the setting of the sun. — Eugene V. Debs
Last Year 26 People Owned the Same as the 3.8 Billion People Who Make Up the Poorest Half of Humanity— Oxfam
Videos of the Day:
U.S.:
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!
Runaway Inequality Is a National Emergency, Billionaire Banker Warns In 2019, billionaires have more wealth than ever before while “almost half of humanity have barely escaped extreme poverty, living on less than $5.50 a day,” international charity Oxfam found in its latest survey of global inequality.Such wealth disparity is a crisis for the future of capitalism and the United States’ economic and political standing worldwide, Ray Dalio, billionaire and co-chairman of Bridgewater Associates, the world’s largest hedge fund, said in a “60 Minutes” interview on Sunday. “If I was the president of the United States,” Dalio told “60 Minutes” correspondent Bill Whitaker, “what I would do is recognize that this is a national emergency.” By Ilana Novick
Environment:
Trump to Add ‘Tasteless Insult to Injury’ by Promoting Fossil Fuel Deregulation in Shadow of Fatal Chemical Fire “With oil industry cronies and swamp monsters filling the ranks of his administration, it’s no surprise that Trump is once again taking an action championed by climate deniers and fossil fuel companies.” —Rachel Rye Butler, Greenpeace USA”It’s no surprise that Trump is once again taking an action championed by climate deniers and fossil fuel companies.” By Jake Johnson
Climate Catastrophe and Extinction Rebellion In the last years of his life, Dr. Martin Luther King spoke against what he called “the triple evils that are interrelated” – economic inequality, racism, and militarism. If King were alive today, he’d be talking about the five evils that are interrelated, adding patriarchy and Ecocide, the destruction of livable ecology. He’d also be noting the dangerous rise of a new national and global fascism linked to the presidency of a malignant racist who glories in accelerating humanity’s environmental self-destruction while the media obsesses over matters of far slighter relevance. By Paul Street
Jon Queally: Researchers Warn Arctic Has Entered ‘Unprecedented State’ That Threatens Global Climate Stability A new research paper by American and European climate scientists focused on Arctic warming published Monday reveals that the “smoking gun” when it comes to changes in the world’s northern polar region is rapidly warming air temperatures that are having — and will continue to have — massive and negative impacts across the globe. The new paper — titled “Key Indicators of Arctic Climate Change: 1971–2017” — is the work of scientists at the International Arctic Research Center at the University of Alaska Fairbanks and the Geological Survey of Denmark and Greenland in Copenhagen (GUES). “The Arctic system is trending away from its 20th century state and into an unprecedented state, with implications not only within but beyond the Arctic,” said Jason Box of the GUES, lead author of the study. “Because the Arctic atmosphere is warming faster than the rest of the world, weather patterns across Europe, North America, and Asia are becoming more persistent, leading to extreme weather conditions. Another example is the disruption of the ocean circulation that can further destabilize climate: for example, cooling across northwestern Europe and strengthening of storms.” 
Black Liberation/Civil Rights:
The Mueller Report’s conclusion cannot reverse the damage that has been done to left journalism and activism by the fake news witch hunt. “Social media and Silicon Valley monopolies changed their algorithms to suppress any content that challenged the many myths of American exceptionalism.” The following remarks were given at the National Writer’s Union April 9thevent “What’s Going on in Venezuela.” Fake news is the creature of a desperate ruling class that no longer has any tolerance for truth. Ever since Trump was used as a “Pied Piper” to aid Hillary Clinton’s failed presidential campaign effort, the Democratic Party and its allies in the corporate media and U.S. intelligence apparatus have lamented the dangers of “fake news” in an effort rid the internet of any deviations from their official narrative. The story goes that Russia helped Trump win the White House by giving WikiLeaks incriminating DNC emails which irreparably harmed the Clinton campaign. And just as WikiLeaks and Russia have been criminalized by lies that implicate them in colluding to tell the truth, we writers and journalists on the left have been criminalized as “dupes” of Russia. The Mueller Report’s conclusion that the Trump-Russia story was a farce from the beginning cannot reverse the damage that has been done to left journalism and activism by the fake news witch hunt. — Danny Haiphong, The International Struggle Against the Fake News of the U.S. Empire: Remarks at the National Writers Union
Freedom Rider: Scoundrels and Reparations Reparations should not be a topic for national discussion until there is something akin to a consensus among black people about what to demand and how to do it. “ADOS activists wrap themselves in the flag that symbolizes oppression, repeat nativist talking points, and eschew connections with African people in the rest of the world.” There is no question that black Americans deserve redress for 300 years of chattel slavery, Jim Crow segregation, racist terrorism, mass incarceration and a plethora of discriminatory practices which were and are sanctioned by law. The idea of reparations is not new nor is the concept unique to the history of this country. The United Nations has established a “right to remedies and reparations for victims of gross violations of human rights law.” Morality and international law are clearly on our side. By Margaret Kimberly
The International Struggle Against the Fake News of the U.S. Empire: Remarks at the National Writers Union The Mueller Report’s conclusion cannot reverse the damage that has been done to left journalism and activism by the fake news witch hunt. “Social media and Silicon Valley monopolies changed their algorithms to suppress any content that challenged the many myths of American exceptionalism.” The following remarks were given at the National Writer’s Union April 9thevent “What’s Going on in Venezuela.” Fake news is the creature of a desperate ruling class that no longer has any tolerance for truth. Ever since Trump was used as a “Pied Piper” to aid Hillary Clinton’s failed presidential campaign effort, the Democratic Party and its allies in the corporate media and U.S. intelligence apparatus have lamented the dangers of “fake news” in an effort rid the internet of any deviations from their official narrative. The story goes that Russia helped Trump win the White House by giving WikiLeaks incriminating DNC emails which irreparably harmed the Clinton campaign. And just as WikiLeaks and Russia have been criminalized by lies that implicate them in colluding to tell the truth, we writers and journalists on the left have been criminalized as “dupes” of Russia. The Mueller Report’s conclusion that the Trump-Russia story was a farce from the beginning cannot reverse the damage that has been done to left journalism and activism by the fake news witch hunt. By Danny Haiphong
Socialist Revolutionary Workers Party launched in South AfricaOver a thousand gathered in Johannesburg to attend the Launch Congress of the party which seeks to build socialism in South Africa “We are serious about the Revolution.” “Equality, work and land” is the slogan of the new radical political party in South Africa that seeks to revolutionize South African politics and contest elections this coming May. The Socialist Revolutionary Workers Party (SRWP) held its launch congress from April 4-6 in Johannesburg, South Africa with attendance from over a thousand of the party’s militants and cadre from distinct provinces from across the country, as well as international guests from countries such as Zambia, Argentina, Brazil, Sweden, Morocco, and Nepal. By Rafael Stedile
Black Rights/White Wrongs: The Critique of Racial LiberalismDoes recognition of the centrality of race in US and world history mean discarding all aspects of the old “liberal” philosophy? “The best corrective for the historical shortcomings of political liberalism is a healthy infusion of critical race theory.” Charles W Mills Black Rights/White Wrongs: The Critique of Racial Liberalism Oxford University Press ISBN 9780190245429 By Guy Lancaster
An open letter to the Congressional Black Caucus on the US’s attacks on Venezuela and CubaWashington’s generations-long blockade and aggressions against Cuba have now been extended to Venezuela, all in violation of international law. “US actions are tantamount to a declaration of war against Venezuela and Cuba and their peoples.” Greetings. We write to urge you to support the international and domestic efforts to thwart the Unites States’ unlawful attempts to change the existing governments in the Bolivarian Republic of Venezuela and the Republic of Cuba. Since its first days in office, the Trump administration has openly talked about going to war with Venezuela for its oil and ousting Venezuela President, Nicolas Maduro. To this end, the Trump administration has employed a variety of destabilizing tactics and actions against Venezuela, including imposing severe economic sanctions, endorsing and providing support to Venezuela National Assembly President, Juan Guiado, who has asserted that he, not Maduro, who was democratically elected, is the President of Venezuela, and attempting to launch a so-called “humanitarian intervention” from the borders of Colombia into Venezuela. By Joan P. Gibbs And Rosemari Mealy
How the Government Built a Trap for Black Youth“Between the late 1960s and early 1980s, the federal government slowly built a trap, creating the conditions for the mass incarceration of black youth.” From the War on Poverty to the War on Crime: The Making of Mass Incarceration in America Elizabeth Hinton Harvard University Press, $29.95 (cloth)Elizabeth Hinton’s richly researched new book barrels toward one chilling conclusion: beginning as early as the Johnson administration, federal authorities—regardless of political affiliation—systematically constructed a criminal justice regime that targets, criminalizes, polices, and imprisons staggering numbers of young black men, especially in urban areas. By Kelly Lytle Hernandez
Labor:
The Farmworkers Who Pick Your Halo Mandarins Just Organized a Massive Labor Strike Nearly 1,800 fruit pickers—many undocumented—spontaneously walked out of The Wonderful Company’s citrus orchards earlier this year to oppose a pay cut and third-party labor contracts.The sun is setting on the east side of Bakersfield, California, as Salvador Calsadillas sits down with his cousins and their kids for a dinner of caldo de mantarraya, a hearty stingray and tomato stew, a specialty of the coastal regions of the Mexican state of Sonora. Calsadillas and his family are from Oaxaca, further south in Mexico, but like many others, they moved to Bakersfield looking for work. Bakersfield is the entryway to California’s 450-mile-long Central Valley, the site of a sprawling $50 billion a year agriculture network that produces more than one-third of the country’s vegetables and two-thirds of our nuts and fruits. Calsadillas and his family are farmworkers—essential parts of that huge commercial network, although their pay and working conditions don’t reflect how central they are to the industry. By Sam Ribakoff
World:
In leaked court testimony, Assange denounces his illegal detention On Sunday, Cassandra Fairbanks, an online journalist, published an article containing previously unreleased testimony from Julian Assange at a court hearing last October. The WikiLeaks founder and his lawyers had issued a legal challenge, seeking an urgent injunction to block an Ecuadorian government protocol, imposed earlier that month, which banned him from making any political statements, and placed a series of other restrictions on his asylum. In a highly political decision, the case was dismissed late last year. By Oscar Grenfell
Arreaza: Venezuela Will Send Oil to Cuba Despite U.S. SanctionsThe U.S. is using new tools to strengthen their financial blockade on Cuba and Venezuela in attempt to sink their economies and replace their legitimate governments.Venezuela’s Foreign Minister Jorge Arreaza said Monday that his country will continue to send oil to Cuba despite the U.S. sanctions on vessels transporting oil to the Latin American island.
Britain: the Immigration Bill and the need for a socialist migration policyXenophobia is perhaps the most consistent thread through British PM, Theresa May’s political career. Long before she became known as the Brexit prime minister – indeed, when she was still an ardent supporter of EU membership – she was the primary orchestrator of the Tory anti-migrant agenda. The Immigration Bill currently working its way through parliament will prove to be the crowning achievement of this divisive and cruel agenda. By Owen Walsh
Economy:
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New Recession Should Be Timed from November/Fourth-Quarter 2018 Peak; Fourth-Quarter 2018 GDP Faces Still Further Downside Revision; First- and Second-Quarter 2019 Real GDP Quarterly Contractions Loom
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Current, Positive Economic Expectations Should Drop Sharply, Following Heavily Negative Economic Releases, April 16th to 25th, Leading Into the Initial First-Quarter 2019 GDP Estimate on April 26th
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Series Facing Near-Term Negative Catch-Up Reporting and/or Intensifying, Negative First-Quarter Trends Include: Retail Sales, Production, New Orders, Freight Activity, Home Sales, Construction and the Trade Deficit
The “New” Recession Continues to Develop, Triggered by Excessive Federal Reserve Rate Hikes and Liquidity Tightening of the Last Year or So. ShadowStats contends that headline reporting of inflation-adjusted, real quarterly growth in U.S. Gross Domestic Product likely peaked in second-quarter 2018 and slowed into third- and fourth-quarter 2018, with the level of activity falling into outright quarter-to-quarter contraction in first-quarter 2019, with second-quarter 2019 likely continuing in decline. Eventually, the present circumstance should be recognized, measured and timed as a “new” recession, off an economic peak level of activity of Fourth-Quarter 2018 (likely timed to November 2018). In broad perspective, the current economic disruption effectively is the long-range, second down-leg of still- unresolved circumstances of the 2007/2008 financial collapse. Indeed, as will be detailed in pending Special Commentary No. 983-B, the roots of this current “new” recession are found directly in that effective systemic failure of 2007/2008, and the ensuing, extraordinary Federal Reserve and the U.S. Federal Government systemic bailout. The recent FOMC rate hikes aimed at constraining the consumer and at depressing the economy were part of the Fed’s the efforts to reverse the Quantitative Easing used earlier to bailout the banking system. Where the Federal Reserve’s Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) now has put its planned interest- rate hikes on hold for the balance of the year, and despite some recent, renewed hawkish comments by some policymakers, the Shadow Stats betting is that the pending, rapidly weakening headline economic activity will have the FOMC easing anew by September 2019.
Health, Education, 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 ‘govern’, pass universal healthcare for themselves, but they cannot spend even one trillion dollars for universal health for those who are ‘governed’! This is what is considered, by the powers the to be, a democracy and part of the democratic way. — Roland Sheppard, Let The People Vote on Healthcare!
Billionair Betsy: ‘Blatant Violation of the First Amendment’: Public Citizen Sues Betsy DeVos for Censoring Its Website“We’ve been highly critical of Betsy DeVos for putting students at the mercy of predatory for-profit colleges. We won’t let her silence us.” Public Citizen sued Education Secretary Betsy DeVos on Tuesday for allegedly blocking access to the consumer group’s website on her department’s guest Wi-Fi and internal networks. “This is a blatant violation of the First Amendment,” Public Citizen president Robert Weissman wrote in an email to supporters. “Users attempting to access Public Citizen’s website though the department’s guest wireless networks receive a message that access is ‘in violation of your internet usage policy.’ We requested the department’s policy for blocking access to internet sites, but it hasn’t responded to our request.” By Jake johnson
