Daily News Digest April 18, 2019

Daily News Digest April 19, 2019

Daily News Digest Archives

Since World War I ‘the war to end all wars’ there have been perpetual wars for perpetual peace, Laura Gray’s cartoon from the front page of The Militant August 18, 1945, under banner headline: “There Is No Peace,” Could Still Be Published Today!

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.

Image of the Day:

If you don’t like refugees coming to your country, then stop voting for politicians who love to bomb the shit out of other countries!

Videos of the Day:

Pompeo is “Setting the Stage for a War with Iran”

Trump Using Refugees as Pawns and Public Policy for Vengeance

A Message From The Future With Alexandria Ocasio-CortezA Message From the Future With Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez,” a seven-minute film narrated by the congresswoman and illustrated by Molly Crabapple. Set a couple of decades from now, it’s a flat-out rejection of the idea that a dystopian future is a forgone conclusion. Instead, it offers a thought experiment: What if we decided not to drive off the climate cliff? What if we chose to radically change course and save both our habitat and ourselves?

Trump’s Tweets Fuel Media Slander and Death Threats Against Ilhan Omar

Quotes of the Day:

As the butcher, smiling sharpens his hatchet.  No, the poor sheep do not cry for their cursed fate.  They weep for the silence of their lambs,   Who just watch, eyes wide-open in stupidity.  Maybe they are too immature to act?   Or too shocked from this disastrous havoc?  Or are they too indifferent to take action    Against this merciless reality?    Oh, the silence of the lambs is so unbearable.  Oh, the silence of the lambs is so unbearable. — The Silence of the Lambs(The Silence of the ‘Resisitance’)

“In the end, we will remember not the words of our enemies, but the silence of our friends.” — Martin Luther King

To the end, Veblen had hoped that one day the Predators would be driven from the marketplace and the workers would find their way to socialism. Yet a century ago, it seemed to him more likely that the Predators and Saboteurs, collaborating as they did even then with politicians and government lackeys, would increasingly amass more profits, more power, more adulation from the men of the working class, until one day, when those very plutocrats actually captured the government and owned the state, a Gilded Business Man would arise to become a kind of primitive Warlord and Dictator. He would then preside over a new and more powerful regime and the triumph in America of a system we would eventually recognize and call by its modern name: Fascism. — Alan Jones, The Man Who Saw Trump Coming a Century Ago

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! 

The American War Machine Is Out of Control Here’s a statement it might be hard to disagree with: American war is off the charts. still, I’d like to explain — but I’m nervous about doing so. I know perfectly well that the next word I plan to write will send most of you tumbling elsewhere in a universe in which “news” is the latest grotesque mass shooting; the craziest tweet from you-know-who; celebrities marching into court over college-admissions scandals; or even a boy, missing for years, who suddenly turns up only to morph into a 23-year-old impostor with a criminal record. How can America’s wars in distant lands compete with that? Which is why I just can’t bring myself to write the next word. So promise me that, after you read it, you’ll hang in there for just a minute and give me a chance to explain. Tom Englehardt

Julian Assange Suffered Severe Psychological and Physical Harm in Ecuadorian Embassy, Doctors Say An american doctor who conducted several medical and mental health evaluations of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange inside Ecuador’s Embassy in London over the last two years says that she believes she was spied on and that the confidentiality of her doctor-patient relationship with Assange was violated. Dr. Sondra Crosby, an associate professor of medicine and public health at Boston University and an expert on the physical and psychological impact of torture, has evaluated detainees held by the United States, including at its prison in Guantánamo Bay, Cuba. She quietly began meeting with and evaluating Assange in 2017 inside the embassy where he had sought refuge. By James Risen

Secret Report Reveals Saudi Incompetence and Widespread Use of U.S. Weapons in YemenSince the brutal murder of Saudi dissident and Washington Post contributor Jamal Khashoggi last October, Congress has increasingly pressured the Trump administration to stop backing the Saudi Arabia-led coalition fighting in Yemen and halt U.S. arms sales to Riyadh. In response, President Donald Trump has repeatedly said that if the U.S. does not sell weapons to the Saudis, they will turn to U.S. adversaries to supply their arsenals. By Alex Emons

Washington’s Biggest Fairy Tale: “Truth Will Out” The arrest of Julian Assange has produced rapturous cheering from the American political elite. Hillary Clinton declared that Assange “must answer for what he has done.” Unfortunately, Assange’s arrest will do nothing to prevent the vast majority of conniving politicians and bureaucrats from paying no price for deceiving the American public. By James Bovard

Shameful’: With Millions on Brink of Famine in Yemen, Trump Vetoes Resolution to End US ComplicityCongress urged to “pull out the stops to confront this president who thinks starving millions of Yemenis is a price worth paying for high arms industry profits.” By Jake Jonsom

 Environment:

‘You Cannot Ignore Science’: In Emotional Plea, Greta Thunberg Begs EU to Take Urgent Climate Action“Our house is falling apart, and our leaders need to start acting accordingly.” By Andrea Germanos

 Black Liberation/Civil Rights:

Freedom Rider: The “Resistance” is Silent on Julian Assange“Attacking the person who revealed war crimes is compliance in the service of the state.” Ever since Donald Trump was elected president we have heard a lot about people who call themselves the “resistance.” That word has very significant meaning and should not be used frivolously. The enslaved Haitian people resisted the French 200 years ago. Harriet Tubman resisted and so did Tecumseh. Brave people all over the world have resisted colonial invasion, occupation, and racist violence. But resistance for the anti-Trump group doesn’t amount to very much. They are united in dislike of Donald Trump, but only some of the time. They call him a fascist, but they mute themselves when his fascism supports the bipartisan imperialist consensus. By Margaret Kimberly Veterans Ask Barbara Lee to Speak Out for Chelsea Manning and Julian Assange  Lee recently voted to approve a $17 billion increase in military spending.” Veterans for Peace has issued a press release in support of both Wikileaks founder Julian Assange and former US army intelligence analyst Chelsea Manning, and East Bay Veterans for Peace, Chapter 162, want to talk to Congresswoman Barbara Lee about it. Opponents of US wars have idealized Lee, California’s District 13 Congresswoman, for her antiwar record, and might therefore expect her to defend Manning and Assange for exposing US war crimes. By Ann Garrisn, Bar Contributor Celebrating the Release of American Exceptionalism and American Innocence: A People’s History of Fake News-From the Revolutionary War to the War on TerrorAmerican Exceptionalism is bound to white supremacy and creates a broad national unity around the interests of the ruling class. “Internationalism is the most effective antidote to the myths of American exceptionalism.”These are amended remarks given at the launch event for the book American Exceptionalism and American Innocence: A People’s History of Fake News-From the Revolutionary War to the War on Terror , coauthored by BAR contributors Danny Haiphong and Roberto Sirvent. Black Agenda Report Executive Editor Glen Ford contributed the afterword and Black Agenda Report contributing editor Ajamu Baraka contributed the foreword. The launch event was held at The People’s Forum in New York City. by Danny Haiphong, BAR contributor

Investigation Nation: Mueller, Russiagate, and Fake Politics  Having finally imploded, Russiagate now morphs into its second life as a campaign issue for Donald Trump.“Any real investigation would have sought to talk with Julian Assange and former British ambassador Craig Murray.” So the Mueller investigation is over. The official “Report on the Investigation into Russian Interference in the 2016 Presidential Election” has been written, and is in the hands of Attorney General William Barr, who has issued a summary of its findings. On the core mandate of the investigation, given to Special Counsel Mueller by Rod Rosenstein as Acting Attorney General in May of 2017—to investigate “any links and/or coordination between the Russian government and individuals associated with the campaign of President Donald Trump”—the takeaway conclusion stated in the Mueller report, as quoted in the Barr summary, is that “[T]he investigation did not establish that members of the Trump Campaign conspired or coordinated with the Russian government in its election interference activities.1” By Jim Kavanagh Military Spending and the Never-ending Trump DiversionNo sector has benefited more from the Trump presidency than the military/industrial complex — with lots of help from the Democrats. “Democrats and Republicans are both committed to the dictatorship of capitalist ruling class and global full spectrum dominance by the U.S.” Despite the intra-class anxiety among the capitalist class in response to the ascendancy of Donald Trump to the office of the presidency, his administration has proven to be beneficial to most sectors of the capitalist class, even with the short-term pain experienced by some U.S. exporters to China as a result of his trade maneuvers.  The fear that Trump would dismantle the post-World War II economic order was unfounded as the basic structure and logic of global capitalist accumulation continued uninterrupted with U.S. finance and corporate capital doing quite nicely even with loss of the Transnational Pacific Partnership (TPP) and Trump’s renegotiation of NAFTA.  But no sector has benefited more from the Trump presidency more than the military/industrial complex. By Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist

Jimmy Carter: US Most Warlike Nation in HistoryThe former commander-in-chief says the US has been waging war since its formation. “China has not wasted a single penny on war.”Former US President Jimmy Carter says President Donald Trump has spoken with him about China because the current US leader was worried that Beijing is overtaking the US economically, saying America’s endless wars may lead to China superseding the US. Press TV

Phoenix in Knightsbridge: the Daylight Seizure of AssangeUnlike Edward Snowden, and more like Philip Agee, Assange rejected the premise that the State has any right to secrecy at all. “Wikileaks breached the wall which had allowed “media courtiers” to hide their knowledge of State crimes.” If the circumstances surrounding the seizure of Mr Julian Assange from the Ecuadorian embassy in London are correctly viewed — that is, compared to appropriately comparable phenomena — then what we have is an audacious daylight act of state terrorism, comparable to the routines developed in Vietnam during the war the US waged against that country. Special forces of the State were deployed to “snatch” a person in violation of any due process or other conventions we are told restrict and regulate the exercise of police and judicial power. The fact that he was seized by people in uniform in broad daylight, does not alter the fact that the chain of events which led Mr. Assange to seek asylum from the government of Ecuador and its systematic violation by the British government, is consistent with the lawlessness which now prevails when the State attacks its civilian opponents—the organized lawlessness that was called Phoenix.[i]Many readers may well have forgotten how His Majesty’s Government reacted to an extradition request by the government of Spain, when Augusto Pinochet was whiling on that blessed isle.[ii]It has always been unstated policy that asylum is only respected when it serves the designs of the regime.Pinochetwas a friend of the regime. Mr. Assange is not. By T.J. Wilkinson

Global NATO: A 70-Year Alliance of Oppressors in CrisisNATO is the main prop for global capital’s predations, and must be opposed by all who seek peace and social justice. “While the energies of many are focused on the issues of electoral politics, progressives must remain alert to new false flag operations of NATO.” On the Limits of  Military Management of the International System By Horace G. CampbellAs Black Activists Protested Police Killings, Homeland Security Worried They Might Join ISISFederal officials spread right-wing tales that Black protesters were susceptible to Islamic jihadist appeals.  “DHS officials fretted that the Islamic State might attempt ‘to use the situation in Ferguson as a recruitment tool’ or call on ‘Baltimore rioters to join them.’” As nationwide protests against police killings of black men began rolling across the country in 2014, federal and local law enforcement who were closely monitoring protesters’ online activities repeatedly expressed a bizarre concern: that the mostly black activists demanding an end to police violence in the U.S. might join with Islamic fundamentalist groups promoting violence abroad. By Alice Speri

This is Hell, Glen Ford, BAR executive editor Glen Ford explores the possibilities of reparations, and the limits of the Democratic party’s racial politics – as 2020 presidential hopefuls advance insufficient reparations schemes to court Black voters, only a radical, Black-driven demand to redress the crimes of slavery can be acceptable, and it must come from Black people seeking justice, not politicians seeking votes. Glen wrote the article “Reparations Means Global Social Transformation” for Black Agenda Report  Nan Bailley and Glen Ford:Black Agenda Radio, Week of April 17, 2019

Labor:

First Latina Immigrant Leader of National Union Hits Ground Running The United Farm Workers (UFW), the first and most effective union representing field workers and fruit and vegetable pickers in the U.S., recently chose Teresa Romero as its first woman president. Romero is also the first Latina and first immigrant woman to become president of a national union in the United States. She succeeded Arturo Rodriguez as the third president of UFW in December 2018. Celebrated grassroots labor activists Cesar Chavez and Dolores Huerta along with Gilbert Padilla founded UFW in 1962. By Dennis J. Bernstein

A Strike, Deferred: Did NYC Nurses Win Safe Staffing Ratios?On April 9, over 10,000 nurses employed at Montefiore, NY Presbyterian and Mount Sinai hospitals received news of a “groundbreaking TA” after six months of negotiation. The union’s e-blast described a four-year tentative agreement with $100 million towards “enforceable staffing ratios.” In a New York Times article released the following day, NYSNA Vice President Anthony Ciampa called the deal “historic.” He states, “We now have a voice in the process and a real say and a real mechanism in which to challenge patterns of staffing shortages and to get those rectified.” An operating room nurse, Ciampa has been on union release for the last few years, working full-time for NYSNA. In addition to serving on the Board of Directors, Ciampa is on the executive and bargaining committee of New York-Presbyterian Columbia Hospital. The Memorandum of Agreement (MOA) was released to members on April 12 and is pending ratification by vote. Contrary to the union’s messaging, the MOA does not outline specific ratios or grids. Instead, it sets terms for the creation of ad-hoc “Allocation Committees” of NYSNA executive committees and hospital management. The committees would meet five days afterratification to negotiate the placement of new positions. In addition to an estimated 643 new RN positions, the TA includes terms for 807 vacancies spread across five hospitals

 World:

No trust in the army, the Sudanese Revolution must take powerThe removal of Sudan’s former dictator, Omar A-Bashir, on 11 April did not spell the end of the Sudanese Revolution. On the contrary, far from meeting the main demands of the revolution, the army power grab is an attempt to disorientate the masses and steal their accomplishment. However, the masses are not letting go of their hard-earned victory that easily. By Hamid Alizadeh and Hasnaa Shaddad

Economy:

After a $354 Billion U.S. Bailout, Germany’s Deutsche Bank Still Has $49 Trillion in Derivatives On July 21, 2011, when the GAO released its audit of the Federal Reserve’s secret $16.1 trillion in bank loans during the financial crisis, a foreign bank ranked number 9 on the list of the largest borrowers. The loans went not just to the largest banks on Wall Street but to foreign derivative counterparties to the Wall Street banks. The foreign bank that ranked 9 on the list of the largest borrowers was Germany’s largest bank, Deutsche Bank, which took $354 billion in revolving loans from the U.S. Federal Reserve. By Pam Martens and Russ Martens

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!

As Single-Payer Gains Traction, Industry Launches Attack Ads Hell hath no fury like a coalition of health care lobbyists scorned.The health care industry spends hundreds of millions lobbying each year. The post-Citizens United political ad frenzy has been extremely profitable for news broadcasters for nearly a decade. So, one can only imagine how much money the major power brokers of the health industry are prepared to spend to stop single-payer from becoming a consensus position among Democrats. The U.S. health system works, in that it is doing what it was built to do: create profit for wealthy shareholders. By Michael Corcoran