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!
Inger Andersen, executive director of the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), said: “The findings of WMO’s Greenhouse Gas Bulletin and UNEP’s Emissions Gap Report point us in a clear direction – in this critical period, the world must deliver concrete, stepped-up action on emissions. We face a stark choice: set in motion the radical transformations we need now, or face the consequences of a planet radically altered by climate change.” —Global CO2 Level Continues To Rise, Says WMO Report
The answer, according to Duke University researchers, is in the seawater itself. The potentially harmful version of mercury — known as methylmercury — latches onto dissolved organic matter in freshwater, while it tends to latch onto chloride — the salt — in seawater, according to new a study by Heileen Hsu-Kim, assistant professor of civil and environmental engineering at Duke’s Pratt School of Engineering. “The most common ways nature turns methylmercury into a less toxic form is through sunlight,” Hsu-Kim said. “When it is attached to dissolved organic matter, like decayed plants or animal matter, sunlight more readily breaks down the methylmercury. However, in seawater, the methlymercury remains tightly bonded to the chloride, where sunlight does not degrade it as easily. In this form, methylmercury can then be ingested by marine animals.” Methylmercury is a potent neurotoxin that can lead to kidney dysfunctions, neurological disorders and even death. In particular, fetuses exposed to methylmercury can suffer from these same disorders as well as impaired learning abilities. Because fish and shellfish have a natural tendency to store methylmercury in their organs, they are the leading source of mercury ingestion for humans. “The exposure rate of mercury in the U.S. is quite high,” Hsu-Kim said. “A recent epidemiological survey found that up 8 percent of women had mercury levels higher than national guidelines. Since humans are on the top of the food chain, any mercury in our food accumulates in our body.” — Why Mercury Is More Dangerous In Oceans
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.
The End of the Rule of Law . . .Bush and Obama bequeathed to us nine illegal wars, if we include Yemen. None were declared by Congress, as is demanded by the Constitution. Bush placed the entire U.S. public under government surveillance in direct violation of the Fourth Amendment and the Foreign Intelligence Surveillance Act (FISA), which makes it a crime for the government to surveil any American citizen without authorization by statute. Under the Executive Order 10333 the president spies on Americans as if they were foreigners, although this surveillance has not been authorized by statute. Bush embarked on a global program of kidnapping and torture, including of foreign nationals, which Obama continued. Bush and Obama carried out targeted assassinations, usually by militarized drones, across the globe. And Obama, reinterpreting the 2002 Authorization for Use of Military Force Act, gave the executive branch the authority to assassinate U.S. citizens. The killings began with drone strikes on the radical cleric Anwar al-Awlaki and, two weeks later, his 16-year-old son. Such a violation denies U.S. citizens due process. By signing into law Section 1021 of the National Defense Authorization Act, Obama—whose record on civil liberties is even more appalling than Bush’s gutted the 1878 Posse Comitatus Act, which prohibits the use of the military as a domestic police force. These two presidents, like Trump, violated treaty clauses that required Senate ratification. Obama did this when he signed the Iran nuclear deal and Trump did this when he walked away from the deal. Bush and Obama, like Trump, violated the appointments clause of the Constitution by appointing people who were never confirmed by the Senate as required. The three presidents, to override Congress, all routinely abused their right to use executive orders. By Chris Hedges
The Left Simply Can’t Trust House Democrats Last week, the Democratic leadership put an extension of the Patriot Act into a “continuing resolution” that averted a government shutdown. More than 95 percent of the Democrats in the House went along with it by voting for the resolution. Both co-chairs of the Congressional Progressive Caucus, Pramila Jayapal and Mark Pocan, voted yes. So did all 11 of the CPC’s vice chairs. It didn’t have to be that way. House progressives could have thrown a monkey wrench into the Orwellian machinery. Instead, the cave-in was another bow to normalizing the U.S. government’s mass surveillance powers. By Norman SolomonThe United States’ Criminal Alliance With Israel Thumbing his nose at the Geneva Convention, the Rome Statute, the UN Security Council, the UN General Assembly and the International Court of Justice, Donald Trump decided that Israel’s unlawful construction of Jewish settlements in occupied Palestinian territory is lawful. This policy change is part of Trump’s pattern of seeking to legalize illegal Israeli practices. It panders to Israel at the expense of the Palestinians while aiming to burnish Trump’s bona fides with his Christian Zionist base. Christian Broadcasting Network quoted Jack Graham, pastor of the megachurch Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas, as saying that the Trump administration “once again has demonstrated why evangelical Christians have been unwavering in their support.”“The timing of this was not tied to anything that had to do with domestic politics anywhere in Israel or otherwise,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claimed, denying that the change in policy was designed to benefit Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who’s locked in a tight battle for political survival. By Thumbing his nose at the Geneva Convention, the Rome Statute, the UN Security Council, the UN General Assembly and the International Court of Justice, Donald Trump decided that Israel’s unlawful construction of Jewish settlements in occupied Palestinian territory is lawful. This policy change is part of Trump’s pattern of seeking to legalize illegal Israeli practices. It panders to Israel at the expense of the Palestinians while aiming to burnish Trump’s bona fides with his Christian Zionist base. Christian Broadcasting Network quoted Jack Graham, pastor of the megachurch Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas, as saying that the Trump administration “once again has demonstrated why evangelical Christians have been unwavering in their support.” “The timing of this was not tied to anything that had to do with domestic politics anywhere in Israel or otherwise,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claimed, denying that the change in policy was designed to benefit Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who’s locked in a tight battle for political survival. By Marjorie Cohn
Environment:
A Warning to Humans: Mountain Lions Are Like Canaries In The Mine: Fog Brings Poison Mercury To Santa Cruz Mountains — Mountains Lions Are Suffering Three times as much mercury has been found in mountain lions in the Santa Cruz Mountains than in their inland brethren, and the likely culprit is coastal fog, a first-of-its-kind study by UC Santa Cruz has found.The fog is apparently pulling mercury out of the ocean and dripping it over the coastal mountains, a potentially lethal problem for cougars because it bioaccumulates in their fat and could eventually contribute to their demise, the study, published Tuesday in the journal Scientific Reports, concluded. By Peter FimriteA System That Steals From Our Future“We have been mortgaging the health of future generations to realize economic and development gains in the present” A major report on human health in the Anthropocene, published in the British medical journal The Lancet, begins by noting an apparent paradox, that global human health has been improving even while environmental destruction is undermining it. The explanation, the authors say, is “straightforward and sobering.” “We have been mortgaging the health of future generations to realize economic and development gains in the present. By unsustainably exploiting nature’s resources, human civilization has flourished but now risks substantial health effects from the degradation of nature’s life support systems in the future.”[1]160 years of Darwin’s ‘Origin of the Species’ Yesterday (November 24, 1869) was the 160th anniversary of Darwin’s ‘Origin of Species’. Albeit unconsciously, Darwin’s theory of evolution revealed how nature operates dialectically. This radically challenged the ideology of the ruling class. 160 years ago, Charles Darwin’s epoch-making work, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life first saw the light of day. His discovery of the mechanism by which species take form and evolve caused a sensation. Polite society and the church were scandalised. By his discovery, Darwin had simultaneously dealt shattering blows to the Creation myth, and to the notion that the world is essentially timeless, static and unchanging. The latter was and remains a key prop of the ideology of the ruling class; the idea being that the status quo is the most natural form of society and therefore is essentially permanent. By Ben Curry‘The Science Is Screaming’: UN Report Warns Only Rapid and Transformational Action Can Stave Off Climate Disaster By J”Failure to heed these warnings and take drastic action to reverse emissions means we will continue to witness deadly and catastrophic heatwaves, storms, and pollution.”An alarming United Nations report released Tuesday said global temperatures are on track to rise as much as 3.9°C ( 39.02°F) by the end of the century, meaning only drastic and unprecedented emissions reductions can stave off the most devastating consequences of the climate crisis. By Jake Johnson
‘Another Year. Another Record.’: Levels of Key Climate-Heating Gases Hit New Highs in 2018, UN Reveals“There is no sign of a slowdown, let alone a decline,” warns the World Meteorological Organization chief. n yet another signal to global governments that greater ambition is needed to combat the climate crisis, an annual United Nations report released Monday revealed that levels of long-lived greenhouse gases in the atmosphere reached record highs last year. By Jessica Corbett
How to Stop the Trump Administration’s Latest Attempt to Undermine Science The Trump administration is proposing a rule that would bar the Environmental Protection Agency from relying on research when crafting regulations unless the underlying data is publicly available. This is a problem because the data in studies showing how pollution harms people’s health often includes individuals’ confidential personal information — including medical records that are protected by privacy law. Without access to such data, the EPA would not be able to use the best available science when writing rules to ensure clean air and water. By Martha KinsellaCivil Rights/Black Liberation:
NYC Students Strike to Demand Racial Equity in Nation’s Largest—and Most Segregated—School District “We, the students, have had enough. It is past time to integrate our school system, and we will not relent until the adults stop acting like children.” For the second consecutive week, students in New York City went on strike Monday morning to protest persistent segregation in their schools more than six decades after the U.S. Supreme Court ruled that schools must serve children of all races equally. Led by the grassroots campaign Teens Take Charge, hundreds of students from several city high schools demanded an end to New York’s “screening” system which has made the United States’ largest school district also its most segregated. By Julia Conley
Black Agenda Radio for Week of November 25, 2019 Black Agenda Radio with Nellie Bailey and Glen FordDon’t Let Democrats Water Down Our Demands Black Agenda Radio with Nellie Bailey and Glen Ford Activists must resist Democratic Party efforts to weaken demands for social change, said William C. Anderson, author of the book, “As Black As Resistance,” and a recent article titled, ”No Matter Who’s Elected, We Must Keep Demanding More.” Williams saysDemocratic Party mimicry of popular demands is proof of the movement’s effectiveness. “That’s why they’re trying to take what we’re doing” and dilute it, he said.
US Government and Media Collude in Propaganda Black Agenda Radio with Nellie Bailey and Glen Ford The US and corporate media lie about Washington’s regime change projects around the world and about the endemic theft of Black votes at home, said BAR senior columnist Margaret Kimberley, speaking before a crowd at the Community Church of New York. Democrats blame their 2016 loss on third parties and Russians, “but there were thousands of uncounted votes in places like Detroit,” said Kimberley, “and the Democrats don’t say anything about that, either.” Acclaimed journalists Max Blumenthal and Aaron Mate also spoke at the event.
Coup Plotters in Venezuela Have no Significant Social Base Black Agenda Radio with Nellie Bailey and Glen Ford
“It’s pretty obvious that there is no significant force that wants to overthrow” the government in Venezuela, said Dario Azzelini, a visiting fellow in Latin American Studies at Cornell University who has lived in barrios in Caracas and wrote a book titled, “Communes and Workers Control in Venezuela.” Instead, workers attempt to “build socialism frombelow,” said Azzelini. The people know that any alternative to the Maduro government “would be much, much worse” – like the death squads inneighboring Colombia.
New York Activists Battle Police Brutality Underground Black Agenda Radio with Nellie Bailey and Glen Ford Over 1,000 protesters recently confronted police repression and high subway fares at demonstrations in Brooklyn, under the banner “F.T.P.” Shannon Jones, of Bronxites for NYPD Accountability, said F.T.P “could mean ‘Feed the People,’ it could mean ‘Fight the Power,’ but for us at this juncture it means ‘Fuck the Police.’” Jones’ organization is part of a coalition representing activists in all the city’s boroughs.
Democrats Play at Impeachment, But are Serious About War BAR executive editor Glen Ford The impeachment hearings won’t result in ousting Trump, but they scream everlasting conflict with Russia and anybody that does not bow down to American exceptionalism.
Labor:
Economy:
It’s Official: JPMorgan Chase Is the Riskiest Big Bank in the U.S. The National Information Center is a little-known repository of bank data collected by the Federal Reserve. It is part of the Federal Financial Institutions Examination Council (FFIEC), which was created by federal legislation to create uniformity in the examination of U.S. financial institutions by the numerous federal regulators of banks.Quietly, the National Information Center has done something that has likely made Jamie Dimon hopping mad. Dimon is the Chairman and CEO of JPMorgan Chase who has bragged perpetually in his annual letter to shareholders about how the bank he leads has a “fortress balance sheet.” But now the National Information Center has created a graphic profile of JPMorgan Chase versus its peer banks. The graphics crunch a series of important financial metrics at JPMorgan Chase, showing it to be the riskiest bank in the United States. By Pam Martens and Russ Martens
“Intra-day Bankruptcy”: A 2008 Email from the Fed Provides Insight into Today’s Overnight Repo ScareThere is one phrase on Wall Street that instills fright like no other – “intra-day bankruptcy” – especially if it’s describing a bankruptcy filing by a highly interconnected Wall Street firm. On July 20, 2008 a Federal Reserve economist, Patrick Parkinson, used that phrase in an email to describe fears that Lehman Brothers might have to make an intra-day bankruptcy filing and to speculate on what was going on in the minds of the folks at JPMorgan Chase, Lehman’s clearing bank, regarding how it might get “stuck” with Lehman’s overnight loans. By Pam Martens and Russ Martens
Deutsche Bank Stock Price Since 2002
World:
France: immolation of a student in Lyon – capitalism kills “Today, I’m going to commit the irreversible, so if I target the building of the CROUS [student services authority] in Lyon, it is not by chance”. Thus begins the Facebook post written by A.K., a 22-year-old student and activist of Solidaires, before sprinkling his clothes with gasoline and immolating himself in front of CROUS headquarters in Lyon on Friday, 8 November. Burned on over 90 percent of his body, he is today lingering between life and death.Education, Health, 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 United States’ Criminal Alliance With Israel Thumbing his nose at the Geneva Convention, the Rome Statute, the UN Security Council, the UN General Assembly and the International Court of Justice, Donald Trump decided that Israel’s unlawful construction of Jewish settlements in occupied Palestinian territory is lawful. This policy change is part of Trump’s pattern of seeking to legalize illegal Israeli practices. It panders to Israel at the expense of the Palestinians while aiming to burnish Trump’s bona fides with his Christian Zionist base. Christian Broadcasting Network quoted Jack Graham, pastor of the megachurch Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas, as saying that the Trump administration “once again has demonstrated why evangelical Christians have been unwavering in their support.”“The timing of this was not tied to anything that had to do with domestic politics anywhere in Israel or otherwise,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claimed, denying that the change in policy was designed to benefit Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who’s locked in a tight battle for political survival. By Thumbing his nose at the Geneva Convention, the Rome Statute, the UN Security Council, the UN General Assembly and the International Court of Justice, Donald Trump decided that Israel’s unlawful construction of Jewish settlements in occupied Palestinian territory is lawful. This policy change is part of Trump’s pattern of seeking to legalize illegal Israeli practices. It panders to Israel at the expense of the Palestinians while aiming to burnish Trump’s bona fides with his Christian Zionist base. Christian Broadcasting Network quoted Jack Graham, pastor of the megachurch Prestonwood Baptist Church in Plano, Texas, as saying that the Trump administration “once again has demonstrated why evangelical Christians have been unwavering in their support.” “The timing of this was not tied to anything that had to do with domestic politics anywhere in Israel or otherwise,” Secretary of State Mike Pompeo claimed, denying that the change in policy was designed to benefit Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu, who’s locked in a tight battle for political survival. By Marjorie Cohn 
A System That Steals From Our Future “We have been mortgaging the health of future generations to realize economic and development gains in the present” A major report on human health in the Anthropocene, published in the British medical journal The Lancet, begins by noting an apparent paradox, that global human health has been improving even while environmental destruction is undermining it. The explanation, the authors say, is “straightforward and sobering.” “We have been mortgaging the health of future generations to realize economic and development gains in the present. By unsustainably exploiting nature’s resources, human civilization has flourished but now risks substantial health effects from the degradation of nature’s life support systems in the future.”[1]
160 years of Darwin’s ‘Origin of the Species’ Yesterday (November 24, 1869) was the 160th anniversary of Darwin’s ‘Origin of Species’. Albeit unconsciously, Darwin’s theory of evolution revealed how nature operates dialectically. This radically challenged the ideology of the ruling class. 160 years ago, Charles Darwin’s epoch-making work, On the Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection, or the Preservation of Favoured Races in the Struggle for Life first saw the light of day. His discovery of the mechanism by which species take form and evolve caused a sensation. Polite society and the church were scandalised. By his discovery, Darwin had simultaneously dealt shattering blows to the Creation myth, and to the notion that the world is essentially timeless, static and unchanging. The latter was and remains a key prop of the ideology of the ruling class; the idea being that the status quo is the most natural form of society and therefore is essentially permanent. By Ben Curry
‘The Science Is Screaming’: UN Report Warns Only Rapid and Transformational Action Can Stave Off Climate Disaster By J”Failure to heed these warnings and take drastic action to reverse emissions means we will continue to witness deadly and catastrophic heatwaves, storms, and pollution.”An alarming United Nations report released Tuesday said global temperatures are on track to rise as much as 3.9°C ( 39.02°F) by the end of the century, meaning only drastic and unprecedented emissions reductions can stave off the most devastating consequences of the climate crisis. By Jake Johnson
Civil Rights/Black Liberation:
Don’t Let Democrats Water Down Our Demands Black Agenda Radio with Nellie Bailey and Glen Ford Activists must resist Democratic Party efforts to weaken demands for social change, said William C. Anderson, author of the book, “As Black As Resistance,” and a recent article titled, ”No Matter Who’s Elected, We Must Keep Demanding More.” Williams saysDemocratic Party mimicry of popular demands is proof of the movement’s effectiveness. “That’s why they’re trying to take what we’re doing” and dilute it, he said.
Education, Health, and Welfare