Daily News Digest April 26, 2019

Daily News Digest April 26, 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:

Carlos Latuff: Equador Assange Payoff

Videos of the Day: 

Leaked Report: Western Arms Are Essential to Saudi Arabia’s War in Yemen

Is the Turkish-Russian S-400 Missile Deal Sabre Rattling Among Superpowers?

Rising Expenses and Stagnant Incomes Squeezes Middle Class Everywhere

Quotes of the Day:

Student Loans = Perpetual Usury:

Student loan debt in 2019 is the highest ever. The latest student loan debt statistics for 2019 show how serious the student loan debt crisis has become for borrowers across all demographics and age groups. There are more than 44 million borrowers who collectively owe $1.5 trillion in student loan debt in the U.S. alone. Student loan debt is now the second highest consumer debt category — behind only mortgage debt — and higher than both credit cards and auto loans. Borrowers in the Class of 2017, on average, owe $28,650, according to the Institute for College Access and Success. —Zack Friedman

“The United States has viewed all multilateral organisations including the World Bank, as instruments of foreign policy to be used in support of specific US aims and objectives…. US views regarding how the world economy should be organized, how resources should be allocated and how investment decisions should be reached were enshrined in the Charter and the operational policies of the bank.” —IMF and World Bank: colonial tools to exploit the world

You have to start with the truth. The truth is the only way that we can get anywhere. Because any decision-making that is based upon lies or ignorance can’t lead to a good conclusion. — “Julian Assange, monk of the online age who thrives on intellectual battle”

Every time we witness an injustice and do not act, we train our character to be passive in its presence and thereby eventually lose all ability to defend ourselves and those we love. In a modern economy it is impossible to seal oneself off from injustice.  If we have brains or courage, then we are blessed and called on not to frit these qualities away, standing agape at the ideas of others, winning pissing contests, improving the efficiencies of the neocorporate state, or immersing ourselves in obscuranta, but rather to prove the vigor of our talents against the strongest opponents of love we can find.  If we can only live once, then let it be a daring adventure that draws on all our powers. Let it be with similar types whos hearts and heads we may be proud of. Let our grandchildren delight to find the start of our stories in their ears but the endings all around in their wandering eyes.  The whole universe or the structure that perceives it is a worthy opponent, but try as I may I can not escape the sound of suffering. Perhaps as an old man I will take great comfort in pottering around in a lab and gently talking to students in the summer evening and will accept suffering with insouciance. But not now; men in their prime, if they have convictions are tasked to act on them. — Julian Assange, Witnessing

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!

‘Unprecedented’: UN Finds US-Backed Forces Killed More Afghan Civilians Than Taliban and ISIS Did So Far in 2019“A shocking number of civilians continue to be killed and maimed each day.” In an “unprecedented” revelation that highlights the consequences of the seemingly endless war in Afghanistan, the United Nations announced Wednesday that U.S.-backed forces killed more Afghan civilians than the Taliban and other armed anti-government groups did in the first three months of this year. A new quarterly report (pdf) from the U.N. Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) shows that “pro-government forces,” including both Afghan and international troops, killed 305 civilians from January to the end of March.  By Jessica Corbett

Avoiding Assange The United States government is seeking to extradite and prosecute Julian Assange for one reason: to punish him for publishing true and embarrassing information about US crimes and intimidate every journalist in the world from doing so again.If the US government succeeds in doing this, it will strike a devastating blow to the fundamental elements of democracy throughout the world—the freedom of the press and the related ability of citizens to know what their governments is doing. By Jim Kavanagh

Wikileaks claims MI5 and CIA developed spyware to turn televisions and smart phones into bugs  British spy agencies worked with the CIA to turn televisions and smart phones into bugging devices that can record conversations and even take photographs, according to leaked intelligence documents. The CIA is accused of running a secret computer hacking programme giving its agents access to everyday items including mobile phones, TVs and iPads. By Roc Crilly

WikiLeaks: Iraqi children in U.S. raid shot in head, U.N. says A U.S. diplomatic cable made public by WikiLeaks provides evidence that U.S. troops executed at least 10 Iraqi civilians, including a woman in her 70s and a 5-month-old infant, then called in an airstrike to destroy the evidence, during a controversial 2006 incident in the central Iraqi town of Ishaqi. By Matthew Schofield

Environment:

Millions More Americans Breathing Dirty Air As Planet Warms, Study FindsForty-three percent of Americans live in places where they’re breathing unsafe air, according to American Lung Association An increasing number of Americans live in places with unhealthy  levels of smog or particulate air pollution – both of which are being made worse by climate change, according to a new report. Air quality in the US has been improving since the 1970s, but that progress may be backsliding and 43% of Americans are now living in places where they are breathing unsafe air, according to the American Lung Association report. By Emily Holden

Harrison Ford’s emotional climate plea: ‘Stop giving power to people who don’t believe in science!’The unclassified cable, which was posted on WikiLeaks’ website last week, contained questions from a United Nations investigator about the incident, which had angered local Iraqi officials, who demanded some kind of action from their government. U.S. officials denied at the time that anything inappropriate had occurred.By Matthew Schofield The three-day Global Climate Action Summit is taking place in San Francisco right now. There have been protests in the streets, letting the over 4,000 elected officials attending the summit know how people feel about our country’s market-based response to the changing climate and the poisoning of our lands. By Walter Einenkel

North American Drilling Boom Threatens Major Blow To Climate Efforts – Report Pipelines‘locking in huge emissions for 40 to 50 years at a time’ More than half of the world’s new oil and gas pipelines are located in North America, with a boom in US oil and gas drilling set to deliver a major blow to efforts to slow climate change, a new report has found. Of a total 302 pipelines in some stage of development around the world, 51% are in North America, according to Global Energy Monitor, which tracks fossil fuel activity. A total of $232.5bn in capital spending has been funneled into these North American pipeline projects, with more than $1tn committed towards all oil and gas infrastructure. If built, these projects would increase the global number of pipelines by nearly a third and mark out a path of several decades of substantial oil and gas use. By Oliver Milman

A depot in Gascoyne, North Dakota. The extension to the Keystone pipeline has aroused opposition that Donald Trump has vowed to sweep aside. Photograph: Andrew Cullen/Reuters

Death by a Thousand Cuts’: Vast Expanse Of Rainforest Lost In 2018Pristine forests are vital for climate and wildlife but trend of losses is rising, data shows Millions of hectares of pristine tropical rainforest were destroyed in 2018, according to satellite analysis, with beef, chocolate and palm oil among the main causes. The forests store huge amounts of carbon and are teeming with wildlife, making their protection critical to stopping runaway climate change and halting a sixth mass extinction. But deforestation is still on an upward trend, the researchers said. Although 2018 losses were lower than in 2016 and 2017, when dry conditions led to large fires, last year was the next worst since 2002, when such records began. By Damian Carrington

The Bom Futuro tin mine in a deforested section of the Amazon in Brazil. Photograph: Mario Tama/Getty Images

 Black Liberation/Civil Rights:

EMS Workers, Paramedics Are Less Likely to Give Black Patients Pain Medication EMS workers may be undermining the care of Black patients. In a most recent example of racism and unconscious bias in the health profession, a study found that a patient’s race may determine whether he receives pain medication in the ambulance and on the way to the hospital. The study — which was led by Jamie Kennel, the head of emergency medical services programs at Oregon Health and Science University and the Oregon Institute of Technology — found that paramedics and emergency medical technicians are 40 percent less likely to provide pain medication to black patients than to white ones. By David Love

Labor:

National Education Union votes in solidarity with climate strike students The NEU teaching union has voted to stand in “full solidarity” with those who have been taking part in global protests, and called for a Just Transition. Full text of motion with amendments included below. Conference recognizes that the latest UN climate report shows that:

  1. Without more rapid action, there will be at least a 3 degrees temperature rise by 2100;
  2. 1 degree rise above pre-industrial levels has already led to increasing fires, hurricanes, floods and droughts;
  3. The transition to a zero-carbon society to keep below a 1.5 degree increase is the most urgent problem facing humanity and is technically feasible; and
  4. The obstacles are entirely political.

 World:

Coalition Airstrikes In Raqqa Killed At Least 1,600 Civilians, More Than 10 Times U.S. Tally, Report FindsThe findings, published along with an interactive database based on two years of on-the-ground investigations, provide the most methodical estimate to date of the death toll from coalition bombing, even as Pentagon officials continue to downplay the damage of the U.S.-led air campaign. By Alex Emmons

Britain: Tory implosion paves the way for a Corbyn government“We all f***ing hate her. But there is nothing we can do. She has totally f***ed us.” These are the pearls of wisdom from a Tory MP recently describing the collective hatred with the Conservative Party towards British Prime Minister Theresa May. By Rob Sewel

Violent Anti-African Race Riot Rocks Israel, Black Men and Women BeatenViolence surged in the streets of Tel Aviv as a 1000-strong protest against African immigrants seeking asylum in Israel turned violent. Residents of a low-income Tel Aviv neighbourhood descended to the streets, waving Israeli flags and chanting “Deport the Sudanese” and “Infiltrators get out of our homes” to protest against the increase of African migrants moving into the area and the country.The protest rapidly turned violent and police arrested 17 people with charges ranging from assault to vandalism. Some of them were still beating up migrants when they were arrested.

Britain: Anti-Semitism and Anti-Zionism – setting the record straightAnti-Semitic hate crimes are on the rise in Britain and across the world. We are seeing increasingly violent and even deadly attacks perpetrated by the far right against Jews. And yet we are led to believe that the biggest danger to Jews is from the left. According to three Jewish newspapers in Britain, a Corbyn-led Labour government poses an “existential threat to Jewish life in this country”. Dore Gold, former director-general of Israel’s Foreign Ministry, even went so far as to say that the greatest threat to Jews worldwide “involves the name of one individual – Jeremy Corbyn” By James Kilby

Economy:

The World Bank Has Been Land Grabbing for years: New Report Shows How World Bank Enables Corporate Land Grabs By Alnoor Ladh  At the World Bank’s annual meeting this month, the Bank’s new president and former Trump adviser, David Malpass, ignored research that concludes the Bank’s policies are driving large-scale corporate land grabs across the Global South, with devastating consequences for the poor. A new report by the land rights think tank the Oakland Institute demonstrates how the World Bank’s Enabling the Business of Agriculture project — funded by the U.S. and U.K. governments, as well as the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation — pushes countries to remove “barriers” to big agribusiness, including laws that protect commons like land and seeds.

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!

Pharma & Insurance Gave $36M to the 33 Senate Democrats Not Backing Medicare for All  Senator Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) recently rolled out his official Medicare for All bill that would establish a single-payer healthcare system in the U.S., and with the support of more than a dozen of his Senate colleagues. However, 33 of his fellow Senate Democrats (including one independent who caucuses with Democrats) are not yet on board as co-sponsors of the legislation. In order to even have a chance of even getting a filibuster-proof floor vote (invoking cloture) under the Senate’s strict rules, the bill needs 60 votes, meaning the legislation is essentially dead-on-arrival even if all Senate Democrats (and even a few Republicans) supported it. By Carl Gibson

Is America Finally Waking Up to the Student Debt Crisis?The revolution to end the burden of student debt continues, with a recent proposal from presidential contender Elizabeth Warren to cancel $50,000 in loans for households making less than $100,000 a year, with lower amounts for those making up to $250,000. Following the Democratic wave, which was driven in part by a surge of youth turnout, it’s more important than ever for Democrats to embrace an ambitious progressive agenda aimed at benefiting the rising American electorate. An ideal policy would be total student debt cancellation.By Sean McElwee