Daily News Digest December 18, 2019

Since World War I, ‘the war to end all wars’, there have been perpetual wars for perpetual peace, this Laura Gray’s cartoon from the front page of The Militant August 18, 1945, under banner headline: “There Is No Peace” Could Still Be Published Today!During This Economic Crisis, Capitalism’s Three-Point Political Program: (1) Austerity, (2) Scapegoat Blacks, Minorities, and ‘Illegal’ Immigrants for Unemployment, and (3)  The Iron Heel

Always Remember That Obama Supported the Wall Street Bailout and Remember That President Obama, With a Majority Democrat Legislature, Established, in writing,  the United States Capitalist Austerity Program  — The Race to the Bottom/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:

Blood Brothers

Quotes of the Day:

“Georgians should not lose their right to vote simply because they have not expressed that right in recent elections, and Georgia’s practice of removing voters who have declined to participate in recent elections violates the United States Constitution,” said Lauren Groh-Wargo, CEO of Fair Fight Action, a voting rights group founded by former Georgia gubernatorial candidate Stacey Abrams. — Stop This Illegal Purge’: Outrage as Georgia GOP Removes More Than 300,000 Voters From Rolls

Now one of the answers, it seems to me, is a guaranteed annual income, a guaranteed minimum income for all people and for all families of our country. It seems to me that the Civil Rights Movement must now begin to organize for the guaranteed annual income. Begin to organize people all over our country and mobilize forces so that we can bring to the attention of our nation this need, and this something which I believe will go a long, long way toward dealing with the Negro’s economic problem and the economic problem which many other poor people confront in our nation.— MartinLuther King Jr. Speech: The Other America

Videos Of the Day:

Watch: Glenn Greenwald’s Exclusive Interview With Evo Morales in Mexico City

Melting Greenland Could Displace 400M People; UN Climate Deal Does Little to Help

Trump’s Executive Order on Anti-Semitism Attacks Free Speech, Palestinians, and Jews

Laura Flanders Show: The History of Abolition and Rebellion

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.

‘Astonishing’ Trump Rule Could Let Banks Classify NFL Stadium Investments as Aid to Poor Communities The financial institutions would get significant tax breaks for their investments, thanks to the 2017 Republican tax law. Rule changes proposed by the Trump administration last week could let banks classify investments in professional sports stadiums as aid to the poor, and then give the financial institutions a significant tax break for their efforts. The changes are part of an Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) plan to overhaul the Community Reinvestment Act of 1977, which requires banks to invest in low-income communities. By Jake Johnson

Environment:

This So-Called Bridge Fuel ‘Leads to Hell’: Blowout at ExxonMobil Fracking Site Among Nation’s Worst-Ever Methane Leaks New data about the 2018 incident sparks fresh warnings about the dangers of natural gas and renewed calls for a rapid transition to renewable energy. The revelation Monday that a blowout last year at an Ohio natural gas well owned by an ExxonMobil subsidiary was one of the country’s largest-ever leaks of the potent greenhouse gas methane provoked impassioned calls for a rapid, just transition to 100% renewable energy nationwide. By Jessica Corbett

Civil Rights/Black Liberation:

Black Agenda Radio for Week of December 16, 2019 Black Agenda Radio with Nellie Bailey and Glen Ford
School Desegregation Set Back Black College Football / “Capitalist
Roaders” Shut Down China’s Rural Communes / Malcolm X Center and Radio Station Face Oblivion / US and Europe Censor News That Exposes Their Alliance with Jihadists in Syria

  • School Desegregation Set Back Black College Football  Black colleges once out-performed white schools in producing better football players – until desegregation happened, said Derrick White, professor of history at the University of Kentucky and author of “Blood, Sweat and Tears: Jake Gaither, Florida A&M, and the History of Black College Football.” School desegregation “disrupted the recruiting network that had fueled Black college football,” said White, whose book explores the “community impact as well as cultural and political impact” of desegregation.
  • School Desegregation Set Back Black College Football Black colleges once out-performed white schools in producing better football players – until desegregation happened, said Derrick White, professor of history at the University of Kentucky and author of “Blood, Sweat and Tears: Jake Gaither, Florida A&M, and the History of Black College Football.” School desegregation “disrupted the recruiting network that had fueled Black college football,” said White, whose book explores the “community impact as well as cultural and political impact” of desegregation.
  • “Capitalist Roaders” Shut Down China’s Rural Communes 
    Mao Tse Tung was right when he warned that “capitalist roaders” had infested the Communist Party, said Zhun Xu, professor of economics at Howard University and author of “From Communes to Capitalism: How China’s Peasants Lost Collective Farming and Gained Urban Poverty.” Despite Mao’s efforts, “it was impossible to wipe them out” because “the political economy of China continually produced these capitalist roaders,” who eventually shut down the rural communes and compelled millions of peasants to become urban workers with few rights.
  • Malcolm X Center and Radio Station Face Oblivion  Efia Nwangaza, longtime director of the Malcolm X Center for Self-Determination and radio station WMXP, in Greenville, South Carolina, says both services face imminent shutdown and eviction. The Center and broadcast outlet have been vectors of Black resistance and radical advocacy for decades. Nwangaza’s world-class activism dates back to the 1960s. “It’s not clear what this will mean in terms of my own human rights advocacy,” she said.

Labor:

France Records 391-Mile Traffic Jam As Public Transport Brought To Halt By Third Week Of Strikes Over Pension Changes A traffic jam of 391 miles was recorded on the outskirts of Paris on Monday morning as fresh strikes over pension changes brought public transport to a standstill in France for a third week.  President Emmanuel Macron’s government appeared determined to push ahead with its plans despite the French transport strikes causing widespread disruption as they enter their twelfth day.The Case for a Universal Basic Income In a British election campaign overshadowed by Brexit, one important Labour initiative attracted little or no attention.  Buried on page 60 of the party’s manifesto was a pledge to introduce a pilot scheme to explore Universal Basic Income (UBI), commonly defined as an unconditional cash transfer to all members of a political community, as a matter of right, without means-tests or work requirements.   Giving few details, the manifesto described the program as an innovative way of responding to low pay and job insecurity. It marks the first time a major UK party expressed interest in UBI—though the commitment is echoed by the Green Party, which has promised to implement the policy to all residents of the country by 2025. By Charlie Cockburn

Economy:

Hope Lies In The StreetsEconomic tyranny lies at the root of the unrest in Hong Kong, India, Chile, France, Iran, Iraq and Lebanon as well as the rise of right-wing demagogues and false prophets such as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. Global finance capital has seized control of the economies of most nation-states. The citizens watch, helplessly, as money and goods are transferred with little regulation across borders. They watch as jobs in manufacturing and the professions are shipped to regions of the global south where most workers are paid a dollar or less an hour and receive no benefits. They watch as the taxes of the rich and corporations are slashed, often to zero. They watch as austerity programs dismantle or privatize utilities and basic social services, jacking up fees to consumers. They watch as chronic unemployment and underemployment devastate workers, especially the young. They watch as wages stagnate or decline, leaving working men and women with unsustainable debts. This economic tyranny lies at the root of the unrest in Hong Kong, India, Chile, France, Iran, Iraq and Lebanon as well as the rise of right-wing demagogues and false prophets such as British Prime Minister Boris Johnson, President Donald Trump and Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi. By Chris Hedges

The decay and rupture of the social bonds that once held our societies together have unleashed the dark pathologies of opioid, alcohol and gambling addictions and led to an explosion of hate crimes and mass shootings, along with suicide. (Photo: Mr. Fish / Truthdig)

The Fed Fueled Today’s Liquidity Crisis with One Key Moral Hazard Action The Federal Reserve Bank of New York (New York Fed) made the  astonishing announcement last Thursday that it will be pumping a cumulative $2.93 trillion into Wall Street trading houses (primary dealers) between December 16 and January 14. That’s on top of the $360 billion of liquidity it is pumping into the markets by buying back $60 billion a month in Treasury bills from its primary dealers. The Fed’s excuse for opening its self-created money spigots to the tune of trillions of dollars to Wall Street’s trading houses – a replay of what it did secretly during the financial crisis of 2007 to 2010 – is that this is simply a technical fix for allowing bank reserves at the Fed to shrink too far. But that is merely a symptom – not the actual disease afflicting the U.S. financial system. By Pam Martens and Russ Martens

World:

Britain: Where Next For The Labour Party? The dust has barely settled on last week’s shock election result, but already the Blairites are carrying out a ferocious attack on the Labour left. New Labour ‘grandees’ such as Peter Mandelson and Alan Johnson have wasted no time in denouncing Corbyn and his supporters for ‘destroying’ the party. “I want them out of the party,” shrieked Johnson, launching into a tirade live on-air during the ITV election night coverage only moments after the exit polls came in. “I want Momentum gone.” By Adam Booth

Education, Health, Science, 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