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Laura Gray’s cartoon from the page of The Militant August 18, 1945, under banner headline: “There Is No Peace”
During This Economic Crisis, Capitalism’s Three-Point Political Program:
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1 Austerity,
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Scapegoat Blacks, Minorities, and ‘Illegal’ Immigrants for Unemployment, and
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Always Remember: That President Obama, With a Majority Democrat Legislature Supported the Wall Street Bailout and Remember, That he 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 , thet the 99% Will Rule, Not the Few!
Image Of the Day:
Building Power Together: Rise Against Militarism, Racism and the Climate Crisis A National Conference, hosted by The United National Antiwar Coalition (UNAC) February 21-23, 2020 The People’s Forum 320 West 37th Street New York, NY 10018 (between 8th & 9th Avenues)
Quote of the Day:
There are many things that Michael Bloomberg has in common with Donald Trump — the antithesis of what most Democrats want to elect. Both are multi-billionaires; both have secret non-disclosure agreements with women who have accused them of sexual harassment; both have multi-billion-dollar private businesses which make no public filings, thus posing insurmountable conflicts of interest. In Bloomberg’s case, the bulk of his $61.5 billion net worth comes from leasing out his data terminals to Wall Street’s trading floors around the globe. At a time when Wall Street is looking more dangerous than ever and is in desperate need of reform, is Michael Bloomberg really going to bite the hand that feeds him? — Pam Martens and Russ Martens
Videos of the Day:
Quotes 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! The United States takes from the poor and gives to the Rich.
Presidential Candidate Bernie Sanders: Sheepdogging for Hillary and the Democrats Vermont senator and ostensible socialist Bernie Sanders is playing the sheepdog candidate for Hillary Clinton this year. Bernie’s job is to warm up the crowd for Hillary, herding activist energies and the disaffected left back into the Democratic fold one more time. Bernie aims to tie up activist energies and resources till the summer of 2016 when the only remaining choice will be the usual lesser of two evils. “The sheepdog is a card the Democratic party plays every presidential primary season when there’s no White House Democrat running for re-election.” Spoiler alert: we have seen the Bernie Sanders show before, and we know exactly how it ends. Bernie has zero likelihood of winning the Democratic nomination for president over Hillary Clinton. Bernie will lose, Hillary will win. When Bernie folds his tent in the summer of 2016, the money, the hopes and prayers, the year of activist zeal that folks put behind Bernie Sanders’ either vanishes into thin air, or directly benefits the Hillary Clinton campaign. Bruce A. Dixon, BAR managing editor 07 May 2015
Is Martial Law Coming to the United States?
‘These are the Bad Times’: Trump to Deploy Heavily Armed Border Patrol Tactical Units to Help With Immigration Arrests in Sanctuary Cities “It is unbelievable how much this action will undermine public safety. Unbelievable.” In a move that appears destined to escalate tension between the White House and opponents, President Donald Trump is reportedly deploying Customs and Border Protection tactical units across sanctuary cities in the U.S. to assist with arrests of undocumented people—despite warnings from critics and rights advocates. The New York Times reported on the plan Friday afternoon, citing an official who received an email describing the weekend deployment who read the text to reporters over the phone. CBP spokesman Lawrence Payne confirmed the details.”These are the bad times,” data researcher Michael Caley tweeted of the report. By Eoin Higgins
Detroit Bad Water and Overtaxed: Detroit Overtaxed Residents by $600M, Causing Foreclosure Crisis. Residents Are Now Fighting Back In Detroit, a showdown between progressive lawmakers and the city is taking on racist housing policies that robbed African Americans in Detroit of their homes and widened the racial wealth gap. On Thursday, the Coalition for Property Tax Justice announced a class-action lawsuit against the city of Detroit, Wayne County and the state of Michigan in response to unfair property tax foreclosures. One in four Detroit properties have been subject to property tax foreclosure, a level comparable only to tax foreclosure rates during the Great Depression.
UN Condemns ‘Shocking’ and ‘Terrible’ US-Backed Saudi Coalition Bombing That Killed 31 Yemeni Civilians “Those who continue to sell arms to the warring parties must realize that by supplying weapons for this war, they contribute to making atrocities like today’s all too common.” By Jake Johnson
The New Rules of the Game The quadrennial political game of least worst, or how to scare the public to vote for presidential candidates who serve corporate power, comes this season with a new twist. Donald Trump, if he faces Pete Buttigieg, Joe Biden, Amy Klobuchar or Michael Bloomberg, will continue to be an amalgamation of Adolf Hitler, Al Capone and the Antichrist. But should Bernie Sanders manage to evade the snares, traps and minefields laid for him by the Democratic Party elites, should he miraculously become the party’s nominee, the game of least worst will radically change. All the terrifying demons that inhabit Trump will be instantly exorcised. But unlike in the biblical story of Jesus driving the demons into a herd of swine, they will be driven into the senator from Vermont. Trump will become the establishment’s reluctant least worse option. Sanders will become a leper. The Democratic and Republican party elites, joining forces as they did in the 1972 presidential election, will do to Sanders what they did to George McGovern, who lost in 49 of the 50 states. By Chris Hedges
How the UN’s Middle East Peace Plan Was Trounced by Its Own Members Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas has delivered a dramatic condemnation of the U.S.-drafted Middle East peace plan. No country, except Israel, has approved of the proposals at any public forum. Still, several nations around the world want the Palestinians to use the plan as a means of reopening negotiations with Israel by presenting its own vision. Still, several nations around the world want the Palestinians to use the plan as a means of reopening negotiations with Israel by presenting its own vision. By Evelyn Leopold
Environment:
The Detroit Water Crisis In what has been a pivotal case for human water rights, the Detroit Water and Sewerage Department are continuing to shut off water for those who have not paid their bills for two months. This is despite reports from the UN that the shut off is in violation of basic human rights. The shut off leaves many households without means to clean water to cook, clean, bathe and drink. While some argue that water bills unpaid for are justified to be cut off, simply like gas or electric, critics claim that access to water is an essential right and some even regard the situation in Detroit as a humanitarian crisis. Detroit faces high levels of unemployment and 38 percent of residents are living at or below the poverty line. Residents face high water costs as there is a shrinking population for which the water infrastructure has not changed to match the population change. UN Special Rapporteurs, Catarina de Albuquerque and Leilani Farha argue that the shutoff harms “the most vulnerable and poorest” in society. During a three day visit to the city in October, the UN Special Rapporteurs heard accounts of local residents who lived without running water in their homes. In a press release, Albuquerque recounted “testimonies from poor, African-American residents of Detroit who were forced to make impossible choices – to pay the water bill or to pay their rent.” The shutoffs were taken as the government aims to work its way out of its bankruptcy which was the largest case in US history. These actions have left 27, 000 houses living without running water and more are sure to follow. In a city which faces widespread socio-economic problems and growing gaps between the rich and the poor- the water shutoffs have been another blow to the people of Detroit.
EU Plans to Measure True Climate Impacts of LNG Imports From US Fracked Gas With growing evidence that the climate impacts of natural gas are comparable to coal, the European Commission is planning to study ways to reduce methane emissions across the life cycle of natural gas production and consumption, with potential implications for fracked gas producers in the U.S. “Work has started on the methane emissions linked to the energy sector, including oil and gas production and transport, but also coal mines and we are planning on presenting the strategic plan still this year,” said an unnamed official working with European Union (EU) energy commissioner Kadri Simson, as reported by Euractiv. By Justin Mikulka
NEPA is Our National Defense System The current attack on our land didn’t originate in Russia or China; it began in Washington D.C., in January, when President Trump proposed dismantling NEPA
Our nation is under attack. If the attack were coming from the sky, NORAD (the North American Aerospace Defense Command) would detect the threat. That is NORAD’s mission, to anticipate threats to our homeland. The current attack on our land didn’t originate in Russia or China; it began in Washington D.C., in January, when President Trump proposed dismantling NEPA – the law that protects our communities, land and water every bit as much as NORAD protects our skies. by John Horning
Civil Rights/ Black Liberation:
Labor:
Economy:
World:
Russia: the “Network Case” – torture, forced confessions and repression In a scandalous miscarriage of justice, a group of young left-wing activists in Russia have been given hefty jail sentences for spurious terror charges, following confessions under torture. The Russian state is trying to intimidate dissenters, but they will not succeed. Solidarity with political prisoners! On 10 February, in the city of Penza, a group of anti-fascist activists were found guilty and sentenced to between 6 and 18 years in prison. These scandalous proceedings are the culmination of “Network Case” or “Penza Case”, which started two years ago in October 2017. The Federal Security Service (FSB) of Russia accused the group of forming a terrorist organisation, which was planning to carry out an attack and destabilise the situation in Russia.
Sinn Fein’s Victory is Ireland’s ‘Brexit Moment’ When Left-Out Voters Turn on the Elite “People wanted to kick the government and Sinn Fein provided the shoe to do the kicking,” says Christy Parker, a journalist from the beautiful but de-industrialised town of Youghal in county Cork. He speaks of the “chasm” between the elite benefiting from Ireland’s impressive economic progress and the large part of the population that has been left behind. Youghal never recovered from the loss of its carpet and textile factories that flourished when I grew up there in the 1950s and 1960s. Today, surveys show that many of its people still yearn for the return of the factories that once provided good jobs. One can see why: the main street is today lined with closed shops, though the cost of renting a flat is high and has doubled over the last eight or nine years. By Patrick Cockburn
Health, Science, 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 ‘governn’, 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!
Nearly 2 in 5 Women of Reproductive Age May Be Stuck With Catholic Health Care Nearly two in five women of reproductive age may face restricted access to services like abortion, contraception and sterilization, because they happen to live in a county where Catholic hospitals make up a high share of the market, according to a sweeping new report in JAMA Network Open. In the first-ever study of its kind, researchers analyzed patient discharge data in almost every U.S. county to determine the market share of Catholic hospitals. They discovered that in 35 percent of U.S. counties, Catholic hospitals have a high or dominant market share, meaning they make up more than 20 percent of patient discharges. Combined, these counties serve an estimated 39 percent of U.S. women of reproductive age. By Amy Littlefield,
