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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:
Hudson BBC – Babylonia’s Debt Wisdom Michael Hudson on the BBC discussing his new book ….And Forgive Them Their Debts. On the dangers of exponential debts outrunning the economy’s natural growth rate, and what was done about it from the Babylonian era onwards.
Quote 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!
No More Deaths — Trial Opens As More Bodies Discovered Along Arizona-Mexico Border Dozens of People turned out in support for Scott Warren at the federal courthouse in Tucson, Arizona, last week. But as friends and family filled the benches, there was a noteworthy absence: A team of Warren’s fellow humanitarian aid volunteers were out in the field. They were searching for a man reported missing on the Cabeza Prieta National Wildlife Refuge — the same remote desert area where Warren was accused of leaving jugs of water, food, and medical supplies for migrants in distress. Ryan Devereaux
Trump Is Being Set-up for War with Iran Trump destroyed his chance at being a successful president by the stupid appointments he has made. At the moment he is being set up by his national security advisor John Bolton and Israel for a war with Iran. Using the same format of lies that was used against Iraq, Libya, Syria, and Venezuela, Bolton has accused Iran of “troubling and escalatory indications” of a forthcoming Iranian attack on American forces in the Middle East. To help protect against the attack, Bolton has ordered Patriot missile batteries, an aircraft carrier strike group, and a bomber strike force to the region. Even the Israeli newspaper, Haaretz, pointed out that Bolton failed to identify the “troubling and escalatory” Iranian actions. (See this) No one else has seen any sign of them.The reason for the Patriot missiles is not to deter Iran from an attack, but to prevent successful Iranian response to an attack on Iran. By Paul Craig Roberts 
Integrity Forged in Cages Chris Hedges gave this talk to 27 graduating students who were formerly incarcerated—several of whom he taught in prison—and their families at Rutgers University on Friday. My fellow college graduates: Integrity is not an inherited trait. It is not conferred by privilege or status or wealth. It cannot be bequeathed by elite schools or institutions. It is not a product of birth or race or gender. Integrity is not a pedigree or a brand. Integrity is earned. Integrity is determined not by what we do in life, but what we do with what life gives us. It is what we overcome. Integrity is the ability to affirm our dignity even when the world tells us we are worthless. Integrity is forged in pain and suffering, loss and tragedy. It is forged in the courtrooms where you were sentenced. It is forged in the shackles you were forced to wear. It is forged in the cages where you lived, sometimes for decades. It is forged in the cries of your children, those who lost their mothers or their fathers to the monstrosity of mass incarceration. It is forged in the heartache of your parents, your brothers, your sisters, your spouses and your partners. Integrity is forged by surmounting the hell around you to study in a cramped and claustrophobic cell for the college degree no one, perhaps not even you, thought you would ever earn. Integrity is to refuse to become a statistic. Integrity is to rise up and shout out to an indifferent universe: I AM SOMEBODY. And today no one can deny who you are, what you have achieved and what you have become—college graduates, men and women of integrity who held on fiercely to your dignity and your capacity to exert your will, and triumphed. 
Mexican politician climbs border wall to prove a point about Trump’s immigration policy Nearly two-thirds of Americans oppose the wall’s construction, and even more think they will end up paying for it A Mexican politician has climbed the fence that separates Mexico from the United States to show President Donald Trump his plan for a border wall is “absurd”. By Jon Sharman
Praise the Lord!: Tennessee Pastor Who Repeatedly Raped Daughter, 14, Gets Light Sentence Because JesusIn a despicable miscarriage of justice, Judge Steven Sword sentenced Pastor Richardsto only 12 years in prison for repeatedly raping his 14-year-old daughter over the course of several years. In court, prosecutors argued the severity and heinous nature of the crimes deserved a minimum of 72 years in prison, but Judge Steven Sword felt otherwise. Judge Sword, showing sympathy and empathy for the rapist, while minimizing the human suffering caused by Pastor Richards, cited the “good work” the rapist and incestuous pedophile had done in the community in an attempt to justify the light sentence. By Michael Stone
Environment:
‘Historic’ Verdict as Jury Orders Monsanto to Pay Record $2 Billion to Couple in Roundup Cancer Trial“We’ve been fighting cancer for nine years. It was caused by Roundup. We can’t do the things we used to do and we really resent Monsanto for that.” A California jury ruled Monday that Monsanto must pay a record $2 billion in damages to a couple that was diagnosed with cancer after using the company’s weedkiller Roundup. “We were finally allowed to show a jury the mountain of evidence showing Monsanto’s manipulation of science, the media, and regulatory agencies to forward their own agenda despite Roundup’s severe harm to the animal kingdom and humankind,” said Michael Miller, an attorney for Alva and Alberta Pilliod. By Jake Johnson
We Finally Know When Humans Started Changing the Climate Our influence on the Earth’s environment has lasted for a century: the human impact on droughts and moisture patterns began at least 100 years ago, researchers now say. US scientists used new analytic techniques and almost a thousand years of tree-ring data to build up a picture of drought and rainfall worldwide for the last century. And they report in the journal Nature that they have identified the human fingerprint upon climate variation as far back as the first days of the motor car and the infant aircraft industry. By Tim Radford
Black Liberaation/Civil Rights:
Labor:
(The Shadow Government Statistics Graph Below is a Graphic Example of the Decline in Standard of Living of the Working Class, Since the Trade Union Bureaucracy Declared Itself to Be ‘In a (Domestic) Partnership With the Boss’! Starting in the mid-1980s, This ‘partnership’ gave birth to the one, two, three, three ect. .. wage tier system! Selling out the futures of future young workers entering the labor force. And, since the lowest union wage is the immediately the highest non-union wage, this wage tier system cut the wages of the entire working class! When I was a union official, I called this system labors’ rush to the bottom! — RS)
Shadow Government Statistics Real Average Weekly Earnings, Production and Nonsupervisory Employees, 1965-to-Date Caution: Artificially-low inflation numbers estimated by the U.S. Government and used in fields ranging from Social Security COLAs (see the 2017 CPI-W estimate discussion in Commentary No. 841) to determining income-tax brackets, have been redesigned in recent decades specifically to help reduce the federal deficit. They are harmfully misleading to anyone using a government CPI estimate as a meaningful cost-of-living measure for guidance on income or investment purposes.
World:
Cuba: Trump’s threats, constitutional reform and the economic situationAfter Trump came into office, Washington’s position on the Cuban Revolution has become ever-more belligerent, in a radical change of policy from that followed by President Obama. Although the ultimate objective of both administrations was the same – the destruction of the Cuban Revolution – Obama recognised that the politics of direct aggression had failed, and so pursued the same goal in the economic sphere instead. The objective was to restore capitalism through the penetration of the market into the Cuban economy. Trump, it seems, has decided to return to the policy of open aggression and has taken a series of concrete measures reflecting this. By Jorge Martin
The Mysterious “Sabotage” of Saudi Oil Tankers: a Dangerous Moment in Trump’s Escalating Conflict With IranSaudi Arabia’s claim that two of its oil tankers have been sabotaged off the coast of the UAE is vague in detail – but could create a crisis that spins out of control and into military action. Any attack on shipping in or close to the Strait of Hormuz, the 30-mile wide channel at the entrance to the Gulf, is always serious because it is the most important choke point for the international oil trade. By Patrick Cockburn
Illegal Bt Brinjal In India: A Call To Initiate Criminal Proceedings Against Regulators And CorporationsWhat is the point in central government orders and carefully thought out regulatory norms if government officials and regulators act with blatant disregard? This is precisely what we now see happening in India where genetically modified organisms (GMOs) are concerned. By Colin Todhunter
Economy:
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!
Neurotoxic Organophosphate Chemicals in Your Mobile, Tablet, Laptop, Sofa, and Even Bed!Some people may have never heard the word ‘organophosphates’ to know what they are and what they do. Others may have only heard of organophosphates in relation to nerve agent chemical attacks – such as the one in Tokyo in 1995 where sarinwas released on three lines of the Tokyosubway during rush hour, killing 12 people, severely injuring 50 (some of whom later died), and causing vision problems for nearly 1,000 others. By Georgina Downs
Trump Provokes Iran With Intensified Economic War
Black Agenda Radio, Week of May 15, 2019