Skip to content
During This Economic Crisis, Capitalism’s Three Point Political Program: Austerity, Scapegoat Blacks, Minorities, and ‘Illegal’ Immigrants for Unemployment, and The Iron Heel.
Always Remember That Obamba Supported the Wall Street Bailout and Remember That President Obama, With a Majority Democrat Legislature, Started the United States Capitalist Austerity Program — The Race to the Botom or 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!
Images of the Day:
New UAWGM Contract: UAW/GM/Governement Brokered Partnership Once again has used one time bonus payments to get older, better off workers to sell out younger workers and future workers — their sons and daughters! — Roland Sheppard
If the New York Fed is willfully foaming the runways for Wall Street to cushion the unwinding of illiquid assets at hedge funds to meet withdrawal requests, it would not be the first time that there has been a surreptitious foaming of the runways for Wall Street hubris. (It’s fairly safe to assume that Wall Street investment banks created the illiquid assets that are now clogging the financial plumbing at hedge funds and mutual funds just as their subprime securitizations blew up the Street in 2008.)— New York Fed’s Repo Loans Are Foaming the Hedge Fund Runways
Videos Of the Day:
Economic Update: Making Critical Arguments This week: Updates on the U.S. housing crisis as a systemic failure using the example of the homeless LA opera singe; Greta Thunberg’s critics; how the Europeans benefit from the U.S. – China trade war; the Sackler family’s “donations” to museums and universities; and how capitalists have taken over Sports Illustrated Magazine. Prof. Wolff interviews Professor Ben Burgis of Georgia State University’s Perimeter College and ‘The Debunked’ segment of “The Michael Brooks Show” about critical arguments for the left.
Chicago School Support Staff Win Deal to End Strike The Chicago teachers strike has entered its ninth day. Support staff won’t cross picket lines even after reaching a deal to end their strike.
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! The United States takes from the poor and gives to the Rich.
Trump Administration Drops Unconstitutional Anti-Protest Proposal Trump Administration Admits Defeat In an extraordinary victory for the people, the Trump Administration has announced that it is fully withdrawing its massive anti-democratic plan to block free speech and assembly through proposed regulations that would have crushed protest on federal land in the nation’s capital. As the Partnership for Civil Justice Fund was preparing to meet the Trump Administration head on in court to challenge the regulations as unconstitutional, the National Park Service announced that they could not surmount the public and legal opposition they faced and will not move forward with their plans, withdrawing them in their entirety.
Environment:
New Elevation Data Triple Estimates Of Global Vulnerability To Sea-Level Rise And Coastal Flooding
‘Horrifying’ New Research Shows Rising Sea Levels Could Wipe Out Major Cities, Displace 150 Million People by 2050 “Climate change is shrinking the planet, in the scariest possible way.” Ho Chi Minh City, along with the rest of southern Vietnam, “could all but disappear” by 2050. Bangkok, Thailand, currently home to over eight million people, is under severe threat. Basra, Iraq, the nation’s second-largest city, “could be mostly underwater” by mid-century. Those are just some of the alarming conclusions of a new research paper on the dire global consequences of rising sea levels driven by the climate crisis. According to the study, published Tuesday in the journal Nature Communications, “chronic coastal flooding or permanent inundation” due to rising seas could threaten three times more people than scientists previously believed if urgent action is not taken to establish protections and confront the underlying crisis. ByJake Johnson
When Justice Delayed Means Extinction: the Case of the Delta Smelt The signature event of the 2019 California Water Year is the arrival of extinction for the Delta smelt, a two-inch, nearly transparent fish at the bottom of the Sacramento-San Joaquin Delta food chain. The smelt’s demise signals critical dangers for two species of Coho salmon, one species of Steelhead and resident killer whales that feed on them. But the event is a cause for celebration among users of Delta water and their financial, political and media supporters, who will be happy when the smelt is extirpated off the Endangered Species, banished from sight forevermore. By Bill Hatch
Civil Rights/Black Liberation:
Re: Fusion TV’s: A First Look: Who Killed Malcolm X? — A More Subtle Assassination of Malcolm X and The Man He Had Become When He Was Assassinated. It Whitewashes the Role of the US government and Cointelpro in the Assassination of Malcolm X. I haven’t changed my review, however, the last episode shows the FBI file document that William Bradely was the assassin who shot the shotgun. I identified William Bradely, in my 2010 essay, The Day the Music Died: Malcolm X’s Assassination, Feb. 21, 1965 (First Published by the San Francisco Bayview ) in 2010.: In that article is the picture shown here of William Bradley, who is the man that I had seen in the Audubon Ballroom and in the photos that the Harlem police showed me while I was being interrogated, William Bradley was the man I saw coming out of the men’s room, walking by me, past the desks of the secretarial pool, and into his office inside the police station, as I was going to the men’s room! As I wrote in my original 2009 essay: “At that point I knew that he and the government either killed Malcolm X or were part of the assassination plot.” And now I know his name. William Bradley is the man that Talmadge Hayer identified as the one who shot the shotgun. Zak Kondo also identified William Bradley as the assassin with the shotgun.
Freedom Rider: The Baghdadi Scam The Democrats and corporate media don’t really oppose what Donald Trump is doing in Syria or anywhere else. “In the end it doesn’t matter if Baghdadi is dead or when or how he died.” Donald Trump says that Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi was killed by the United States military. Baghdadi was the founder of the Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL), which is also known as ISIS and Daesh. The name is less important than the fact that ISIL carried out a reign of terror against the people of Iraq and Syria. They did so with the blessing and connivance of the United States government, which used Baghdadi and his ilk to continue a 40-year long practice of using jihadists proxies against secular states in the region. By Margaret Kimberley , BAR editor and senior columnist
History Demands: Turn Imperialist Wars Into Wars Against Imperialism US imperialism is white supremacist capital on a global rampage, and must be countered by mass mobilizations of the oppressed — like this weekend’s Black Is Back Coalition march on the White House. “Now is the time to throw off all hesitation, open up new fronts of struggle and to launch every protest, demonstration, and anti-imperialist action – from the ballot box to the barricades – as an act to deepen the crisis of imperialism. “Every protest against police and white civilian murder of our people, every mass mobilization to demand the end to the cruel, bloody economic war against Venezuela, Zimbabwe, Cuba, Iran, Korea and Russia must be seen as our part in turning the imperialist wars into wars against imperialism!” — Omali Yeshitela, Chair of the Black is Back Coalition. By Ajamu Baraka , BAR editor and columnist
Rwanda: Victoire Ingabire Endures Relentless Interrogation The democratic opposition leader says “there is no space for people to speak freely and peacefully and engage in real democratic process in Rwanda.” “I will not live in fear of re-imprisonment or assassination.” Militia attacks killed 14 civilians in northern Rwanda during the first week of October. The attackers have not been identified, but the Rwandan Investigation Bureau has interrogated Rwandan opposition leader Victoire Ingabire several times a week since. Ingabire was released from prison in September 2018 but not allowed to leave Rwanda. Her party, the Democratic Forces of Rwanda, oppose Rwandan President Paul Kagame’s elite totalitarian rule and his ongoing invasion and occupation of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. By Ann Garrison , BAR contributor
Grayzone Editor Arrested on Trumped Up Venezuela Embassy Charges Almost half a year after the siege of the Venezuelan embassy by a right-wing mob, a journalist who helped defend the embassy has been thrown in jail. “This charge is a 100 percent false, fabricated, bogus, untrue, and malicious lie.” Max Blumenthal, the editor of the news site The Grayzone , was arrested on the morning of October 25 on a fabricated charge related to the siege of the Venezuelan embassy in Washington, DC that took place between April and May. A team of DC police officers appeared at Blumenthal’s door at just after 9 AM, demanding entry and threatening to break his door down. A number of officers had taken positions on the side of his home as though they were prepared for a SWAT-style raid. By Ben Norton
Celebrating 13 Years of BAR’s Contribution to the Struggle for Peace, Justice, and Liberation BAR will never stop linking the conditions of apartheid America with the imperialist wars waged against the people of Libya, Syria, or anywhere else.“Black Agenda Report exposes the crimes of the Black misleadership class.” These are edited remarks given at Black Agenda Report’s 13th anniversary event and tribute to Bruce Dixon held at The People’s Forum in New York City on October 26th. One of the biggest problems with the media landscape in the United States is that journalists are now bred to expect grand rewards and returns for their work. The corporate media rewards service to the rich by granting access to U.S. military, intelligence, and political officials. Without access, there is no career, and without a career, there is no journalism. That is the logic of the corporate media’s role as the ideological arm of the imperial state. Journalists who dare challenge that logic are ostracized from the corporate media, as Ed Schultz was for merely covering the Bernie Sanders campaign in 2016 . Black Agenda Report has never sought rewards from the powerful elites who call Black left voices “dupes” of Russia. Instead, Black Agenda Report dares to ask the questions that many avoid in order to curry favor with imperial rule. “Black Agenda Report has never sought rewards from the powerful elites.” By Danny Haiphong , BAR contributor
Surviving Until the Revolution Comes The non-profit industrial complex makes it possible for the capitalist class to not only contain the revolution, but to shut down revolution altogether. “Liberation requires a spiritual, emotional and mental divorce from the U.S. empire and its non-profit industrial complex.” Stressed-out directors of non-profits spend a lot of time hand-wringing and tossing and turning in bed because of a seemingly endless desperate scramble for funding. It seems almost mind-boggling that only a few short decades ago, the Black Panther Party operated: a youth center, a community learning center, free health clinics, sickle cell anemia screening centers, a free ambulance service, free breakfast for children projects, free food pantries, day care centers and much more. Even more amazing is that they did all of this with small to non-existent budgets. To a large extent, the Panther programs were the prototype for the very large network of non-profit social service agencies and organizations that many now refer to as “the safety net.” By Mark P. Fancher
Striking Chicago Teachers Refused to Give in, Condemn Mayor’s Austerity Budget Chicago’s teachers are demanding the city fund social supports for communities, as well as teachers, but the mayor is crying broke. “The mayor has rerouted most of the surplus funds to bridge the city’s budget deficit.” The indefinite strike by teachers and support staff of the Chicago Public Schools (CPS) system is entering its third week. On Wednesday, October 23, between 20,000 and 30,000 teachers marched to the city hall while mayor Lori Lightfoot was delivering her maiden budget address. Later, union representatives condemned the austerity-heavy budget speech by the mayor. By Peoples Dispatch Staff
GM Workers Ratify Contract Though “Mixed at Best” The strike failed to dismantle GM’s multi-“tiered” labor system, or to forestall plant closings. “It’s not equal for everybody all across the board.” The Auto Workers’ strike against General Motors came to a close this weekend after six weeks on the picket lines, with workers voting to ratify a contract that was clearly unloved but accepted with a yes vote of 57 percent. “I don’t think we’ll get any more out of it,” said Nelson Worley, who will have 42 years with GM in March. Although he called the proposed deal “mixed at best,” he planned to vote yes, worried about “public perception,” that others would see GM workers as “a bunch of whiners.” By Chris Brooks, Jane Slaughter
Unpacking The Super Exploitation of Black Women The liberal misinterpretation of identity politics, that favors progressive neoliberals, has dismissed the innate radicalism of a workers centered Black feminism. “’Advances’ of Black women can not be isolated from their class position any more than the advances of the Black man can.” “Although we are in essential agreement with Marx’s theory as it applied to the very specific economic relationships he analyzed, we know that his analysis must be extended further in order for us to understand our specific economic situation as Black women.”—the Combahee River Collective Statement, 1977 “The concept of the simultaneity of oppression is still the crux of a Black feminist understanding of political reality and, I believe, one of the most significant ideological contributions of Black feminist thought.”—Black feminist and scholar Barbara Smith, 1983 By Erica Caines
Western Progressives and the Imperialist Inquisition Most Western “progressives,” while unable to defend their own majority populations, are more than willing to attack Venezuela and Nicaragua. “The peoples of Latin America get no defense against illegal imperialist country demands and impositions.” Most people who think of themselves as progressive in the imperialist countries of North America and Western Europe, continue to believe the right wing opposition version of events in Nicaragua in 2018. A great many also accept some version of the right wing opposition account of the crisis in Venezuela. One obvious reason they do so is because they foolishly trust demonstrably false reports from undeservedly prestigious Western NGOs and incessant phony coverage in liberal and progressive news media. By Stephen Sefton
In Sudan, Demands for Justice and Accountability Remain Unmet Tens of thousands of Sudanese took to the streets, demanding a ban on the party of ousted president Omar al-Bashir and justice for the victims of the June 3 massacre. “The agreement on the transitional government accorded immunity to the members of the sovereignty council, which includes the accused members of the military junta.” It’s been over two months since a transitional political arrangement was implemented in Sudan after months of protest. The country has a civilian prime minister and the civilian forces do have a say in government. However, for many, the demands for justice and accountability still have not been met. On October 21, tens of thousands of Sudanese took to the streets, calling on the newly formed transitional government to ban the ousted president Omar al-Bashir’s National Congress Party (NCP). The people are also demanding the trial of the perpetrators of the June 3 massacre. By Pavan Kulkarni
Labor:
Economy:
New York Fed’s Repo Loans Are Foaming the Hedge Fund Runways There is growing evidence that the New York Fed, the Wall Street feeding tube team of the Federal Reserve Board of Governors, is using its massive new repo loan operations to securities firms (primary dealers) to foam the Wall Street runways to try to avoid a crash landing as money gushes out of hedge funds by the tens of billions of dollars. According to a report at eVestment, investors pulled $29.37 billion from hedge funds in the third quarter of this year, bringing the total year-to-date to an eyebrow-raising $76.86 billion. That’s more than twice the amount that was withdrawn in all of last year. Hedge funds are highly-leveraged, so $76.86 billion in withdrawals could translate into hundreds of billions of dollars of liquidations in stock and bond markets. The report further notes that this is the “sixth consecutive quarterly outflow.” By Pam Martens and Russ Martens
World:
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!
Big Pharma’s Profitable Cancer Industry: Merck To Add Glyphosate To Vaccines In Huge Deal With Monsanto Pharmaceutical giant Merck announced today that they would be altering the recipe for their vaccines and making them even more toxic by adding glyphosate (a broad-spectrum systemic herbicide used to kill weeds and cause cancer). The news comes with confirmation of a deal with Monsanto who will be proving the glyphosate which they have in surplus and are trying to use up.
Thanks to Trump, 4 Million US Children Are Uninsured as Coverage Declines for Second Year in a Row President Donald Trump’s administration has succeeded in gutting the the Affordable Care Act and attacking access to healthcare coverage for low-income families—causing the number of uninsured children in the U.S. to climb to more than four million, a study released Tuesday finds. The Georgetown University nter study found 400,000 children lost their health coverage between 2016 and 2018, making this year the second in a row to see the number of uninsured children rise. By Julia Conley
Global Warming’s Fire Season
Quotes of the Day: