During This Economic Crisis, Capitalism’s Three Point Political Program: Austerity, Scapegoat Blacks, Minorities, and ‘Illegal’ Immigrants for Unemployment, and The Iron Heel.
The Capitalist Austerity Program = It’s Become the Race to the Botom! The Pauperization of the 99%!
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. Socialism Means True Democracy — The 99% Will Rule! — Not the Few!
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 United States takes from the poor and gives to the Rich.
Environment:
Time to Rebel Monday, Oct. 7. marks the start of what the British-based group Extinction Rebellion is calling the International Rebellion. Thousands of people will occupy the centers of some 60 cities around the globe, including Madrid, Amsterdam, Paris and New York, to stage nonviolent occupations of bridges and roads for at least a week. The goal is to paralyze commerce to force the ruling elites to respond to the climate emergency. I will be at Battery Park in New York to join them Monday morning. By Chris HedgesPolluters Are Now Greenwashing: The Fossil Fuel Industry Is Polluting Our STEM Schools Teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg has a message for policy makers: “Listen to the scientists.” As an engineer, I was glad to hear that. But I also believe it’s also vital for scientists to be vigilant about whom they listen to. For years, corporations funded junk science trying to undermine the climate consensus. Now, virtually all scientists agree that fossil fuels are heating the planet, so corporations are taking a new tack: peddling false solutions. The fossil fuel industry has polluted not just our water, air, and soil, but our education system as well — especially the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) fields. By 2015, for the first time in history, the private sector was investing more money in scientific research than the federal government. By Josue De Luna Navarro“Environmentally Friendly” Charcoal Is Subsidizing Destruction of Gran Chaco The fires raging across the Brazilian Amazon have captured the world’s attention. Meanwhile, South America’s second-largest forest, the Gran Chaco, is disappearing in plain sight. The Gran Chaco, which spans from Bolivia and Brazil to Paraguay and Argentina, is extremely bio-diverse, with more than 3,400 plant and 900 animal species — including quebracho blanco trees, tapirs and jaguars. It is also home to at least 30 indigenous peoples, including the Ayoreo, some of whom live in voluntary isolation in their historic homelands, as well Mennonite colonies. Now, due to the some of the fastest deforestation in the world, this once enormous ecosystem may soon be gone outside of protected areas. Since 2001, more than 31,000 square miles of forest were felled to make way for agriculture and cattle ranching in the Gran Chaco. By Joel E. Correia
7.5 Million Humans Say No to Climate Crisis and Yes to Life As one of the 7.5 million who recently put their bodies where their mouth are to visibly say “NO” to an out-of-control global climate crisis, this writer continues to reflect upon what lies behind the futility of so many climate crises, anti-war, pro-human protests of the past, and the even more aggressive protests that will be needed in the future to tackle the forces that continue to crush the planet. By Jerome Irwin
Owyhee Ecocide: Anatomy of BLM’s Ancient Juniper Forest Destruction For many years, Bureau of Land Management (BLM) had plotted a massive deforestation project aimed at destroying ancient juniper trees living on Juniper Mountain in the Owyhee Canyonlands. The mountain is a long high ridge cut by headwater drainages of the Middle and North Fork Owyhee Rivers and Red Canyon Creek. Its right by the Oregon border, and has splendid views of the sagebrush country below, with vistas extending to Steens Mountain in the west and the Owyhee Plateau to the east. By Katie FiteIn European First, Proposed Constitutional Amendment in Sweden Would Enshrine Rights of Nature “When we’re in the beginning of an ecological and climate collapse,” said the lawmaker who introduced the measure, “I hope we can re-think our relationship with Nature.” By Jon QueallyYesterday England, Today The Netherlands, Capitalism Respondes to Extinction Rebellion With Armed Force: ‘Get On the Streets. And Bring Everybody’: Extinction Rebellion Kicks Off Two Weeks of Global Action “We only get one planet and so we’re here to try and defend it.” Nearly a year after Extinction Rebellion launched in London, the global movement that uses nonviolent civil disobedience to demand ambitious climate action kicked off two weeks of protests on Monday with demonstrations around the world that blocked major roadways and led to arrests. By Jessica Corbett
Black Is Back Coalition: Fight US Imperialism at Home and Abroad Black Agenda Radio with Nellie Bailey and Glen Ford The Black Is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations will mark its tenth anniversary with a march on the White House and national conference under the banner, “Turn Imperialist Wars Into Wars Against Imperialism.” Although Donald Trump and Barack Obama are very different presidents, the enemy remains the same: US imperialism, says Coalition chairman Omali Yeshitela. “It’s necessary, not just to simply protest and condemn what the US government is doing, but to open up new fronts of struggle here in the United States,” said Yeshitela.
Black Is Back Coalition: Fight US Imperialism at Home and Abroad Black Agenda Radio with Nellie Bailey and Glen Ford: The Black Is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations will mark its tenth anniversary with a march on the White House and national conference under the banner, “Turn Imperialist Wars Into Wars Against Imperialism.” Although Donald Trump and Barack Obama are very different presidents, the enemy remains the same: US imperialism, says Coalition chairman Omali Yeshitela. “It’s necessary, not just to simply protest and condemn what the US government is doing, but to open up new fronts of struggle here in the United States,” said Yeshitela.
Pelosi Slow to Impeach Trump, But Quick to Collaborate With Him Black Agenda Radio with Nellie Bailey and Glen Ford: Shahid Buttar, a lifelong activist who is trying to unseat Democratic House leader Nancy Pelosi in her home district of San Francisco, says Pelosi “has actively enabled” the Trump administration by submitting to congressional restrictions on social spending while “supporting Trump’s foreign policy and international violations of human rights.” Buttar is the former director of the Bill of Rights Defense Committee.
The Case for Demolishing Facebook Glen Ford, BAR executive editor: Facebook has become a tool of social control and the Deep State — the world’s biggest monopolizer of human thought.
Behind The GM Strike: Wall Street Wants Temps For Hi-Tech Vehicles And The UAW Agrees: The strike by 48,000 General Motors workers, now in its 19th day, has been driven largely by Wall Street’s demands that GM and other automakers fundamentally transform their model of employment relations, particularly for workers producing new hi-tech vehicles. The hedge funds and financial investors who hold GM’s fate in their hands are demanding the company increase the profits it extracts from workers building traditional vehicles in order to shift capital towards electric, self-driving and ride-sharing technologies. At the same time, they are demanding GM continue to dole out billions for stock buybacks and dividend payments to attract wealthy investors.
Economy:
World:
Ecuador Protests Continue in Quito Amid Indigenous March The president of the National Indigenous of Ecuador (CONAIE), Jaime Vargas, said that as a community they reject the brutalities by the security forces in the past few days. Indigenous groups of Ecuador continued their march towards Quito, the capital city, demanding respect for the collective rights of the people from President Lenin Moreno.
Trucks block main roads during protests after Ecuador’s President Lenin Moreno’s government ended four-decade-old fuel subsidies, in Carapungo, near Quito, Ecuador, October 7, 2019. REUTERS/Ivan Alvarado
The Inescapable Brutality of the Israeli Occupation Welcome to The Real News Network. I’m Greg Wilpert in Arlington. The Palestinian Samer al-Arbid is hospitalized and in critical condition fighting for his life after having been tortured by the Israeli police. al-Arbid was suspected of being involved in the murder of an Israeli colonist, the 17 year old Rina Schnerb, but he was released from custody after no evidence or charges were brought against him. Two weeks later, he was arrested again. Israel’s secret police reported that they suspected he was in possession of a bomb and secured permission from an Israeli court to use torture. During the torture, al-Arbid lost consciousness and was rushed to the hospital where his rib cage was found to have been broken. Palestinians in the occupied West Bank protested fiercely against the treatment of Samer al-Arbid. By Spenser RaponeHealth, 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!
The Political Realities of Science Work In his recent piece “Geo-engineering is a Scam“, Josue De Luna Navarro points out a fact that has always been true of the engineering profession (and also most other highly refined professions) that its students, first seeking education, and then as graduates seeking employment and lengthy careers, are destined to serve monied patrons, the Golden Rule: “those that have the gold make the rules.” Four to five millennia ago those patrons would have been called “Pharaoh,” and later “king,” “caesar,” “emperor” and “queen,” and in more recent centuries “the company” and “the corporation.” Professional expertise, like high art, has a dependency on patronage by the wealthy, without whose largesse professional ambitions would be nearly fruitless (for there are always some successful independent scientists, like Charles Darwin). By Manuel García, Jr.
The Results of the Biapartisan Tax ‘Reforms’ for the Past 40 Years
Quotes of the Day:
Polluters Are Now Greenwashing: The Fossil Fuel Industry Is Polluting Our STEM Schools Teenage climate activist Greta Thunberg has a message for policy makers: “Listen to the scientists.” As an engineer, I was glad to hear that. But I also believe it’s also vital for scientists to be vigilant about whom they listen to. For years, corporations funded junk science trying to undermine the climate consensus. Now, virtually all scientists agree that fossil fuels are heating the planet, so corporations are taking a new tack: peddling false solutions. The fossil fuel industry has polluted not just our water, air, and soil, but our education system as well — especially the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math (STEM) fields. By 2015, for the first time in history, the private sector was investing more money in scientific research than the federal government. By Josue De Luna Navarro
“Environmentally Friendly” Charcoal Is Subsidizing Destruction of Gran Chaco The fires raging across the Brazilian Amazon have captured the world’s attention. Meanwhile, South America’s second-largest forest, the Gran Chaco, is disappearing in plain sight. The Gran Chaco, which spans from Bolivia and Brazil to Paraguay and Argentina, is extremely bio-diverse, with more than 3,400 plant and 900 animal species — including quebracho blanco trees, tapirs and jaguars. It is also home to at least 30 indigenous peoples, including the Ayoreo, some of whom live in voluntary isolation in their historic homelands, as well Mennonite colonies. Now, due to the some of the fastest deforestation in the world, this once enormous ecosystem may soon be gone outside of protected areas. Since 2001, more than 31,000 square miles of forest were felled to make way for agriculture and cattle ranching in the Gran Chaco. By Joel E. Correia
In European First, Proposed Constitutional Amendment in Sweden Would Enshrine Rights of Nature “When we’re in the beginning of an ecological and climate collapse,” said the lawmaker who introduced the measure, “I hope we can re-think our relationship with Nature.” By Jon Queally
Yesterday England, Today The Netherlands, Capitalism Respondes to Extinction Rebellion With Armed Force: ‘Get On the Streets. And Bring Everybody’: Extinction Rebellion Kicks Off Two Weeks of Global Action “We only get one planet and so we’re here to try and defend it.” Nearly a year after Extinction Rebellion launched in London, the global movement that uses nonviolent civil disobedience to demand ambitious climate action kicked off two weeks of protests on Monday with demonstrations around the world that blocked major roadways and led to arrests. By Jessica Corbett 
Health, Education, and Welfare: