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.
U.S. Hoped Putin Would be a ‘Sober Yeltsin’ – RAI with Stephen CohenAfter the fall of the Soviet Union, a dysfunctional and pro-American Russian President Yeltsin presided over the chaos of the 1990’s; when Putin came to power, the West was very disappointed at the independent and nationalist character of the Putin led state and the demonization began
If you understand the extreme extent to which the US government has gone, riding roughshod over many laws and traditions, to destroy Assange, perhaps you can understand the threats that the very few of us who have the education, experience, and integrity to tell you the truth live under. — Paul Craig Roberts
War Profiteers Vs. U.S. Veterans Quotes:
It has been such a scandalous epidemic of systemic corruption that a new Whistleblower Protection office had to be created in 2017 in an attempt to help the record number of veterans who were being retaliated against by corrupt “leaders.” And now, in yet another example of Peak Corruption, even this new office has already been overrun in scandal and is also systematically retaliating against Veteran whistleblowers. “Some of them are so crooked they swallow nails and spit up corkscrews.” — Dan Martin, Chief Engineer, VA Health Care System
$980 million tax dollars per year, which are supposed to be spent on educating veterans via the GI Bill, is NOT spent on educating veterans. In addition, according to the Veterans Affairs Inspector General, another $585 million tax dollars are wasted in GI Bill “improper payments.” Americans, who love to say “Support the Troops,” are shockingly unaware of how utterly corrupt military spending has become, and corruption at the VA is obscene. Veterans are preyed upon by for-profit schools & medical rackets because they know that there is very little oversight on the Billions of Tax Dollars that are supposed to go to Veteran benefits. — David DeGraw
$980 million tax dollars per year, which are supposed to be spent on educating veterans via the GI Bill, is NOT spent on educating veterans. In addition, according to the Veterans Affairs Inspector General, another $585 million tax dollars are wasted in GI Bill “improper payments.” Americans, who love to say “Support the Troops,” are shockingly unaware of how utterly corrupt military spending has become, and corruption at the VA is obscene. Veterans are preyed upon by for-profit schools & medical rackets because they know that there is very little oversight on the Billions of Tax Dollars that are supposed to go to Veteran benefits. — David DeGraw
Veterans and military families overwhelmingly support plans to fully withdraw troops from Afghanistan and similarly favor a complete U.S. military pullout from Syria, according to a new poll from a conservative activist group released Wednesday. Concerned Veterans for America, which has close ties to the conservative Koch brothers’ network and the Trump administration, said the results indicate that President Donald Trump should follow through with his public comments to bring those troops home. “Veterans and military families have borne the brunt of America’s endless wars, and after nearly two decades of fighting there is clear support among both groups for a new approach to American foreign policy,” said Dan Caldwell, executive director at Concerned Veterans for America. — Veterans, military families want out of Afghanistan: poll
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!
‘Landmark’ Victory for First Amendment as Court Strikes Down Texas Anti-BDS Law Bahia Amawi, a speech pathologist who lost her job due to the law, celebrated the ruling as “a huge win not just for me, but for everybody here in Texas.” In a decision hailed as a “landmark” victory for the First Amendment, a federal judge on Thursday struck down a Texas law requiring government contractors to sign a pledge vowing not to participate in the pro-Palestinian boycott, divestment, and sanctions (BDS) movement. By Jake Johnson
Death Can be a Slow Traveler: Peltier, Mumia and Rap Brown When the history of our times is recorded, any volume on domestic political prisoners must, per force, begin with the legendary ones of conscience. To these icons of principle, determination and courage we owe much. It is, after all, not by mere default that they risked, and often paid, all to demand the gale of change sweep away generations of ignorance, hatred and greed that have long fed on communities of color and poverty, from coast to coast, in the United States. For them, it was never about personal risk for they knew all too well the price that can be exacted for such integrity. For them, the alternative of silence was simply an option without a choice.By Stanley L. Cohen
Environment:
Pentagon Pushed for Weakened Regulations on Toxic Chemicals, Endangering Drinking Water of Millions of AmericansThe Trump administration “seems hell-bent on giving industrial and military polluters a pass despite the clear and present danger these chemicals represent for our health,” one critic said Lobbying from the Pentagon is to blame for the Trump administration’s latest environmental regulatory rollback, according to reports By Julia Conley
Global Climate Coalition: Documents Reveal How Secretive Fossil Fuel Lobby Group Manipulated UN Climate Programs A fossil fuel–backed industry group was able to influence the process behind the United Nations climate assessments for decades, using lobbyists and industry-funded scientists to manipulate international negotiations, a cache of recently discovered documents reveals. The documents include hundreds of briefings, meeting minutes, notes, and correspondence from the Global Climate Coalition (GCC). They were released Thursday by the Climate Investigations Center in collaboration with DeSmog and Climate Liability News. The documents date from 1989 and continue through 2002, when the lobbying group disbanded as its fossil fuel industry backers succumbed to public pressure to disavow its tactics. By Mat Hope and Karen Savage
David Cooper: Raising the federal minimum wage to $15 by 2024 would lift pay for nearly 40 million workers This decline in purchasing power means low-wage workers have to work longer hours now just to achieve the standard of living that was considered the bare minimum half a century ago. Since the 1960s, the United States has achieved tremendous improvements in labor productivity that could have allowed workers at all pay levels to enjoy a significantly improved quality of life (Bivens et al. 2014). Instead, because of policymakers’ failure to preserve this basic labor standard, a parent who is the sole breadwinner for her family and who is earning the minimum wage today does not earn enough through full-time work to bring her family above the federal poverty line. Who would benefit if the federal minimum wage is raised to $15 by 2024? A total of 39.7 million workers would benefit, including:
38.6 million adults ages 18 and older
23.8 million full-time workers
23.0 million women
11.2 million parents
5.4 million single parents
The parents of 14.4 million children
World:
Trump state visit: Corbyn boycotts Buckingham Palace banquetJeremy Corbyn has said he will not attend the state banquet at Buckingham Palace in honour of Donald Trump. The Labour leader argued it would be wrong to “roll out the red carpet” for the US president, whom he accused of using “racist and misogynist rhetoric”.The US-UK relationship did not need “the pomp and ceremony” of June’s state visit, he added.
Argentina: a ship adrift In the last week of March, the global capitalist crisis was expressed in the fall in value, over two consecutive days, of the most important stock exchanges in the world. Added to this is the collapse in the currencies of the so-called emerging economies and the deepening trade war between China and the United States. Although still in its early stages it is set to be a shock to the global economic system. In short, we are in the throes of a recession and are yet to witness its full extent. By Corriente Socialista Militante
Economy:
Deutsche Bank Merger Talk Ends – Now Comes the PainAnyone who thought that Commerzbank was going to agree to a merger with Deutsche Bank while the latter was under multiple investigations in the U.S. for money laundering and questionable loans to the President of the United States, a man who was himself under a criminal probe until last month, was likely off their meds. Why Commerzbank allowed the speculation of a merger to proceed this long is the real question. By Pam Martens and Russ Martens
Gallup Polls Show America Is Dangerously Moving in the Wrong Direction The Gallup polling organization was out with another new study yesterday that shows America is dangerously heading in the wrong direction. Gallup’s latest poll found that Americans were more likely to be stressed and worried than much of the world. The 55 percent of Americans who said they had experienced stress the prior day was one of the highest rates out of the 143 countries studied. The global average was 35 percent. With a 55 percent stress rate, the U.S. now ranks even with Albania, Iran and Sri Lanka. Only Greece, the Philippines and Tanzania rank higher at 59, 58 and 57 percent respectively. By Pam Martems 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!
Religious fundamentalism – why is it growing and what is the alternative? All religions have their fundamentalists; there are Christian fundamentalists, Hindu fundamentalists, Jewish fundamentalists, Buddhist fundamentalists and so on. They all play a reactionary role, and they are all growing in number. All of them believe they are the holders of the absolute truth, while all others are heretics or even the work of the devil himself. They are all used to sow division among toiling people around the world. The phenomenon affects all countries to one degree or another. By Fred Weston
Amid Fears of Federal Attack on Roe, Kansas Supreme Court Guarantees Right to Abortion in the Conservative State The court explicitly wrote that “like men,” pregnant women have the “right to personal autonomy” in Kansas In what advocates called an “historic” victory for women’s reproductive rights, the Kansas Supreme Court on Friday ruled that women in the state have a constitutional right to abortion care regardless of federal laws. By Julia Conley
