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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.
Images of the Day:
Videos of the Day:
Quotes of the Day:
Michelle Alexander estimates that each year, thousands of innocent people plead guilty because they fear that a police officer will perjure himself to convict them. Alexander, author of the acclaimed book The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness, argues in the New York Times that police officers face institutional pressure to lie and do so terrifyingly often. Ordinary people facing trial have good reason to be afraid of police perjury. They know that judges and juries will reflexively believe a police officer over an accused drug offender. Unless perjury can be proven, there are no consequences for a officer who lies in court. — Feeding Us a Thin Blue Line: Why Cops Lie Under Oath
The blue wall of silence,[1] also blue code[2] and blue shield,[3] are terms used in the United States to denote the informal rule that purportedly exists among police officers not to report on a colleague’s errors, misconducts, or crimes, including police brutality. If questioned about an incident of alleged misconduct involving another officer (e.g., during the course of an official inquiry), while following the code, the officer being questioned would claim ignorance of another officer’s wrongdoing or claim to have not seen anything.— Blue wall of silence
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!
Zero Percent of Elite Commentators Oppose Regime Change in Venezuela A FAIR survey of US opinion journalism on Venezuela found no voices in elite corporate media that opposed regime change in that country. Over a three-month period (1/15/19–4/15/19), zero opinion pieces in the New York Times and Washington Post took an anti–regime change or pro-Maduro/Chavista position. Not a single commentator on the big three Sunday morning talkshows or PBS NewsHour came out against President Nicolás Maduro stepping down from the Venezuelan government. By Teddy Ostrow
James Petras: US Global Power: The Trump PeriodAn Assessment US global power in the Trump period reflects the continuities and changes which are unfolding rapidly and deeply throughout the world and which are affecting the position of Washington. Assessing the dynamics of US global power is a complex problem which requires examining multiple dimensions. We will proceed by:
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Conceptualizing the principles which dictate empire building, specifically the power bases and the dynamic changes in relations and structures which shape the present and future position of the US.
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Identifying the spheres of influence and power and their growth and decline.
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Examining the regions of conflict and contestation.
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The major and secondary rivalries.
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The stable and shifting relations between existing and rising power centers.
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The internal dynamics shaping the relative strength of competing centers of global power.
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The instability of the regimes and states seeking to retain and expand global power
Environment:
UK Parliament declares climate change emergency MPs have approved a motion to declare an environment and climate emergency. This proposal, which demonstrates the will of the House on the issue but does not legally compel the government to act, was approved without a vote. Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, who tabled the motion, said it was “a huge step forward”. Environment Secretary Michael Gove acknowledged there was a climate “emergency” but did not back Labour’s demands to declare one.
New Report Shows Duke Energy’s Clean Energy Claims Don’t Match Its Fossil Fuel Investments, Fights Against Rooftop Solar
Duke Energy, the nation’s largest investor-owned electric utility, claims to be a climate and environmental leader, but a closer look reveals a dirty energy portfolio and consistent efforts to preserve a fossil fuel-based future. While the utility’s CEO, Lynn Good, writes in Duke’s 2018 Sustainability Report, “Duke Energy has been leading the charge to a cleaner energy future while helping our communities thrive,” a newly published report by the nonprofit Environmental Working Group (EWG) tells a much different story. By examining Duke’s current electric generating portfolio, the company’s actions, and key regulatory findings, EWG paints a picture of a utility that has been extremely slow to transition to renewable energy resources and that actively fights against customers’ ability to generate their own carbon-free electricity. By Ben Jervey
After Approving Enbridge Permit, Massachusetts’ Environment Secretary Lands Job with Project’s Contractor Massachusetts’Secretary for Energy and Environmental Affairs, Matthew Beaton, has accepted a position at a consulting firm working for oil and gas pipeline builder Enbridge on a controversial project for which Beaton’s Department of Environmental Protection (DEP) recently approved a crucial permit. Governor Charlie Baker’s administration announced on Monday that Beaton has been hired as vice president for renewable energy and emerging technology at TRC Companies, a large environmental and engineering firm working mainly for the oil and gas industry. By Itai Vardi
Black Liberation/Civil Rights:
Cops Lie: After Ten Years, Bay Area Rapid Transit (Bart) Police’s Cold Blooded Murder of Oscar Grant is Finally Exposed: Ex-BART cop said he was ‘fighting for my life’ with Oscar Grant before shooting; report says that was a lieA former BART police officer who pulled Oscar Grant from a train 10 years ago and ordered his arrest before a second officer fatally shot Grant in the back lied repeatedly to investigators, telling them he felt he was “fighting for my life”, when in fact he was the aggressor in the notorious incident, according to a newly released report. The report by the Meyers Nave law firm — which Bart hired to run its internal investigation due to loss of public faith the agency — long ago prompted the firing of the officer, Anthony Pirone. But the report was released only this week under California’s new police transparency law, Senate Bill 1421. By Matthias Gafni
In the real world, Joe Biden announced last week and the first three polls list him at the top of the field, leading Bernie Sanders by double digits, with everybody else in single digits. Ominously, in all three polls about half the voters favoring Biden are black voters. The obvious conclusion, supported by the fact that Biden’s first two campaign videos, are race themed, and the second one prominently includes Barack Obama, is that Biden’s popularity among black voters is a hangover from the blind and unconditional support those same voters gave to the Obama administration. In the case of Barack Obama the fumes were so strong that his actual record didn’t matter. Barack could bail out and immunize the banksters and the companies that manufactured fake paperwork to take hundreds of thousands of homes away from people, and support from his base did not waver. Barack could propose commissions to privatize social security, and rescue the insurance companies instead of delivering Medicare For All and his based still lined up behind him. Barack Obama’s “Race to the Top” program put more than 150,000 experienced black teachers out of work and closed thousands of public schools to make way for the privatization of education across the country, and black voters, including most of those former teachers, would have voted for him again. — Bruce a. Dixon, Bar Managing Editor, Black Voters Are Biden’s Polling Balloon. We Need to Bust It.
“Color” Revolution USA The US press has routinely abused, disrespected and lied about Black, brown and yellow peoples and their heads of state, and now subjects its own top political figures to the same treatment. “The ‘news’ is an element of the crime, since it is not really news at all, but a packet of false consciousness.” Common threads connect three of the week’s hot news items: the quickening tempo of U.S. regime change efforts in Venezuela; Bernie Sanders’ precipitous decline in the polls; and the furious corporate media assault on Medicare for All. In each of these developments we see the ruling class deploying a wide array of overt and covert forces to defeat popular movements for social justice, at home and abroad. The most direct relationship between the three stories is that most of what we know, or think we know, about these developments has been filtered and packaged by a prime accomplice in international ruling class crime: the corporate media. In that sense, the “news” is an element of the crime, since it is not really news at all, but a packet of false consciousness implanted in the consumer’s brain. By Glen Ford, Bar Executive Manger
Labor:
(Video) Brexit crisis and the civil war in Labour Alan Woods discusses the battle in the Labour Party over the question of a second referendum on Britain’s EU membership. The Tories are torn apart over Brexit, yet rather than uniting behind their party leader, right-wing Labour MPs are putting their energies into attacking Jeremy Corbyn. Sooner or later, judgement day will come for Theresa May, and the opportunity for Corbyn’s Labour to form a government will present itself. But how will Corbyn deal with the wreckers in his ranks, and the question of the EU? At some point, Corbyn will face a choice: submit to the sabotage of the markets and Blairite fifth column, or break with the bosses’ Europe and the capitalist system. The Corbyn movement must prepare now for this showdown. And that means arguing the case boldly for a radical transformation of society – for a Socialist United States of Europe.
World:
Protester at Assange jail sentencing: “That was a declaration of an outlaw state” Dozens of supporters of WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange protested outside Southwark Crown Court yesterday, where he was handed down a sentence of 50 weeks in prison on bail charges in a vindictive ruling by Judge Deborah Taylor. Among those protesting were supporters of the Julian Assange Defence Committee, residents of London and people who had travelled from several European countries.
Venezuela: Maduro Holds US, Bolton Responsible for Coup AttemptThe president asserted that the Venezuelan opposition, backed by the United States, has never understood that the majority of Venezuelan people. The United States government was responsible for leading the attempted coup on April 30 and demanded an investigation against that nation, President of Venezuela Nicolas Maduro said Wednesday.
Maduro Marches With Army: The Future of Venezuela Is Peace Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro marches with the military and thanks them for ‘demonstrating to the world … that the armed forces are as …united as ever.’ Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro marched along with the Bolivarian National Armed Forces (FANB) early Thursday morning thanking the military for remaining united in the front of Tuesday’s attempted coup and protecting the nation’s peace and democracy.
Venezuela: Thousands Rally in Streets for Labor Day After Failed Coup Attempt“The revolutionary forces will move in a great caravan of vehicles and motorcycles, accompanied by people on foot,” said member of the National Constituent Assembly Dario Vivas. Labor forces and the Venezuelan people mobilized on the streets of Caracas Wednesday to celebrate International Workers’ Day in honor of the workforce which has seen 20 years of the Bolivarian Revolution.
Ukraine: Zelenskiy elected president as power shifts within the oligarchyThe disastrous presidency of Petro Poroshenko has resulted him in losing the presidential election to comedian Volodymyr Zelenskiy, by 73 percent to 24 percent. The almost-50 percent margin of victory was the most-lopsided second round in Ukrainian history. The only Ukrainian province where Poroshenko won was the nationalist bastion of Lviv. Poroshenko had initially swept to power in 2014 in the aftermath of Euromaidan and in the midst of the civil war in the Donbas. Poroshenko’s main election promise was ending the civil war, which he did not fulfil. To add fuel to the fire, his most recent corruption scandal exposed just one of the ways in which he has personally enriched himself during the war, through giving shady military contracts to his own companies. By Peter Mikhailenko
Economy:
Sullivan & Cromwell’s Rodge Cohen: The Untold Story of the Fed’s $29 Trillion BailoutThere is a little noticed audio tape of an interview conducted on August 5, 2010 by investigators for the Financial Crisis Inquiry Commission (FCIC), a body convened under the Fraud Enforcement Recovery Act of 2009 to investigate the 2008 financial collapse on Wall Street. The interview is with Rodgin (Rodge) Cohen, Senior Chairman of Sullivan & Cromwell, the preeminent go-to lawyer on Wall Street. Cohen makes a number of eyebrow-raising admissions during his interview. First, in response to a question, Cohen concedes that he was personally involved in the amendment contained in the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation Improvement Act (FDICIA) that changed the Fed’s emergency lending powers under Section 13(3) of the Federal Reserve Act. 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!
30,000 march for public education in North and South Carolina “We would benefit greatly if budgets were spent on minds instead of mines”Tens of thousands of educators and their supporters marched in Raleigh, North Carolina and Columbia, South Carolina yesterday to protest low wages and abysmal public-school funding in the two states. North Carolina educators have seen a decline of 9.4 percent in real wages since 2009, and the state ranks 39th in the nation in per pupil funding. South Carolina ranks 38th in teacher pay and 31st in funding. By Ed Hightower
Ben Chavis, Controversial Charter Leader, Beats the Rap Ben Chavis was leader of the American Indian Model Schools, a group of three small charter schools in Oakland that captured headlines and the hearts of conservatives. He stepped down after being charged with multiple federal felony charges involving federal money used to lease space from buildings Chavis owned and a state audit claiming that $3.8 million of the schools’ funding had been transferred to his and his wife’s business accounts. After a six-year investigation, all charges have been dropped, and Chavis will pay a fine of $100. By Diane Ravitsch
