Daily News Digest April 24, 2020

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Due to Years of Austerity, Cuts to Public Health Care, And An Anti-Science and Profiteering President, The United States Now Leads the World In  Coronavirus Cases and Deaths in the World! And Now the Total Caronavirs Deaths in the United  States are Over 20%  of the Total Death in the Entire World!

Another Example Capitalism as a Failed System: World Capilalism Was Aware of the Danger of Cornovavirus Threat 4 Years Ago and Did Nothing!

Capitalism Does Not, and Never Has, Worked for the Masses! In Its Death Agony, Capitalism Is Traveling About The World Like The Four Horsemen of the The Apocalypse, Spreading War, Famine, Pestilence, and Death. The very future of Humanity Is Now At stake!occupy1

Laura Gray’s cartoon from the front page of The Militant August 18, 1945, under banner headline: “There Is No Peace”

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 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, that the 99% Will Rule, Not the Few!

Images of the Day:

Sand and Blood: America’s Stealth War on the Mexico Border Reviewed By Richard Feinberg   In this searing eyewitness report on the situation at the U.S.-Mexican border, Frey argues that long-standing U.S. policies to deter illegal immigration by building fences, detaining and mistreating and then deporting immigrants, and now splitting up families cannot stem the flow of desperate people. Harsh U.S. policies have, however, killed an unknown number of immigrants, as people resort to more dangerous routes and some die in overcrowded detention facilities. The only winners are the federal bureaucracies whose budgets and personnel swell, opportunistic politicians who traffic in fear-mongering, and the defense contractors that supply the facilities and weaponry. Although the Trump administration may have a­dopted “zero tolerance” policies, since the 1980s, the U.S. Congress and various administrations, including those of Presidents Bill Clinton and Barack Obama, have laid the groundwork for the mistreatment of immigrants through legislation, executive orders, and anti-immigrant rhetoric. Housed within the military-minded Department of Homeland Security, the 20,000-strong Immigration and Customs Enforcement agency, in Frey’s view, has morphed into an unaccountable, ill-trained “clandestine police force” running the world’s largest immigrant detention system. Frey argues that instead of locking immigrants up, the United States should promote economic development in the countries from which they come, create legal work programs in the United States, and properly staff U.S. immigration courts.

Quotes of the Day:

The world political situation as a whole is chiefly characterized by a historical crisis of the leadership of the proletariat. The economic prerequisite for the proletarian revolution has already in general achieved the highest point of fruition that can be reached under capitalism. All talk to the effect that historical conditions have not yet “ripened” for socialism is the product of ignorance or conscious deception. The objective prerequisites for the proletarian revolution have not only “ripened”; they have begun to get somewhat rotten. Without a socialist revolution, in the next historical period at that, a catastrophe threatens the whole culture of mankind. The turn is now to the proletariat, i.e., chiefly to its revolutionary vanguard. The historical crisis of mankind is reduced to the crisis of the revolutionary leadership. — Trotsky, The Objective Prerequisites for a Socialist Revolution

 Across the abyss of race and class, the people are staring at the rulers and their shills, and growing a deep hatred of the system – deeper than hatred of Trump, who is too incompetent to cause, or defend against, a double catastrophe of the systemic kind. Bernie Sanders has proven, dramatically and beyond doubt, that there is no balm for such a disaster in the Democratic Party, which is a partner with the Republicans in the austerity regime that set the stage for the double-whammy. When the coronavirus was making an inarguable case for a national health care system, Sanders chose to surrender to the “nothing’s gonna change” man. The Democrats — all of them — are simply rich men’s toys, and of no use whatsoever in a fight. In this time of incomparable economic and health crisis the real Left, small as it is, must make the case for socialism and the overthrow of rich man’s rule. At the beginning of this article I wrote:” History shows us that economic crises do not become political crises that seriously threaten the ruling order until a critical mass of people come to the realization that the system itself is rotten, unbearable and incapable of meaningful reform.” I believe that such a critical mass exists, right now. Not enough to make a revolution, but more than enough to start the process.— Diseased System in Shut-Lockdown: Never a Better Time to Fight for Socialism

Videos of the Day:

Should Americans Demand A Socialist Shock Doctrine? The for-profit healthcare system has failed to protect most people during the coronavirus pandemic, and it’s increasing demand for policies like Medicare for All.Apple And Google Are Going To Track You (Even More) To Monitor COVID-19 Spread

Israel Is Involving Itself In Libya’s Civil War. Why?

United States:

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 Reublicrats 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.

 Dems Give Unanimous Consent To Trump  Traumatized a generation ago, party leaders’ default setting during a crisis is fear-driven acquiescence. Why do Democrats want to win Congress if they don’t want to use power? What is the entire point of Democrats raising money and ginning up activist energy to win control of the U.S. House, if when a crisis hits they just pass whatever Mitch McConnell sends them? Is there anything they’ll actually negotiate for? And why won’t they flip the script and force McConnell to vote yes or no on their own agenda? These are the questions bouncing around my mind as Chuck Schumer and Nancy Pelosi accede to another GOP-written stimulus bill — and I think ultimately the answer has to do with deep-seated, self-destructive fear that was internalized by party leaders a generation ago during another national crisis. By David Sirota

 US ‘Obsession With Incarceration’ Could Lead to 100,000 More Deaths Than Projected  A new report Wednesday shows President Donald Trump’s estimate that the U.S. could see “substantially under” 100,000 coronavirus deaths may be a massive underestimate because of the nation’s huge incarcerated population. Adding in the conditions of the U.S. jail system means the death toll—even with highly effective social distancing measures—could be 200,000. That’s the startling finding from a new epidemiological model released by the ACLU and researchers at Washington State University, the University of Pennsylvania, and the University of Tennessee. By Andrea GermanosFlattening The Curve: Why Reducing Jail Populations Is Key To Beating Covid-19  COVID-19 could claim the lives of approximately 100,000 more people than current projections stipulate if jail populations are not dramatically and immediately reduced, according to a new epidemiological model released by the ACLU and academic research partners. The findings indicate that — even if communities across the United States continue practicing social distancing and following public health guidance — we will still experience much higher death rates if no substantial action is taken to reduce jail populations. The United States’ unique obsession with incarceration has become our Achilles heel when it comes to combatting the spread of COVID-19.The Trump Anti-Science  Brigades: COVID-19 ‘Liberate’ Groups Are the Same Ones Pushing Climate Denial The response among many American public officials and the public at large to the COVID-19 pandemic has, in many ways, paralleled the response to the climate crisis. First came a denial that it was a problem at all, then a denial of its depth and gravity. Later came an acceptance of the problem but the stance that responding is too economically costly. And as with the climate crisis, this is no accident. The well-funded machinery that sowed doubt about climate is now sowing seeds of doubt over the economic and public health response to COVID-19. DeSmog previously reported that many conservative groups and individuals who for years downplayed the gravity of the climate crisis did the same as the coronavirus outbreak worsened around the world and eventually made its way into the United States. By Steve Horn

Environment:

Covid-19 Disrupts Food Systems; Global Hunger Crisis Looms Global food price increases could be worse than in the 2008 crisis, causing major shortages and increased malnutrition in the global south. According to the U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization, the COVID19 pandemic is impacting the world’s food systems and disrupting regional agricultural trade and value chains. The FAO has warned that food shortages are a real risk in the coming months. The rapid global spread of the virus poses a worrisome add-on threat to millions of people living in countries already vulnerable to food insecurity, malnutrition and natural disasters, including climate-related disasters. This global health crisis will test our food and trade systems in ways never experienced before. By Francesco FiondellaCivil Rights/ Black Liberation:

Diseased System in Shut-Lockdown: Never a Better Time to Fight for Socialism  The current health and economic crisis will dramatically accelerate the processes of corporate monopolization, finance capital dictatorship, and working class precarity and immiseration. The only cure is socialism. “The duopoly parties’ refusal to establish a national health care system, beginning with Medicare for All, can only be understood in the context of the Race to the Bottom.” If growing misery among the masses is what made revolutions, the Lords of Capital would have been deposed from their ruling perches long ago. But human beings do not spend their lives tallying cumulative assaults on their well being and dignity, and ruling classes are expert at blaming despised Others, foreign and domestic, for the ills of society. History shows us that economic crises do not become political crises that seriously threaten the ruling order until a critical mass of people come to the realization that the system itself is rotten, unbearable and incapable of meaningful reform. They must not only hate the rulers, but also hate the rulers’ system of governance more than they despise domestic Others and “threatening” foreigners. Otherwise, the Lords of Capital will simply find another face to represent their interests, defusing popular disconnect. By Glen Ford, BAR Executive Editor

Freedom Rider: Racism In and Against China The COVID-19 pandemic has resuscitated the old “yellow peril” canard to its fullest extent, revealing deep xenophobia and racist intent against China. “U.S. accusations directed at others are always a projection of its own failures and wrong doing.” Black people must walk a fine line concerning any discussion of the People’s Republic of China at this juncture. The obviously racist acts carried out against African migrants in that country can’t be ignored and are rightly condemned. But there can be no common cause with the hatred and lies being spewed by the corporate media, Donald Trump and now the hapless Democratic Party and their very problematic presidential candidate, Joe Biden. By Margaret Kimberley, BAR senior columnist
U.S. Response to COVID-19 Equals Genocide for Blacks, but “Progressive” Leaders Offer Nothing But Words AOC and Bernie Sanders made public condemnations of the corporate bailout but did little in the way of resistance. “The epidemic represented a second virus for Black America which has only accelerated the genocide.” The settler colonial history of the United States is rife with examples of outright genocide committed against Black Americans. During the period of chattel bondage, Black people were routinely tortured and murdered with impunity. So-called emancipation brought a wave of Jim Crow violence that kept Black Americans in a state of ceaseless terror. The fifty years since the end of the so-called Civil Rights period have been characterized by a deep, nation-wide denial of the ongoing genocide that the U.S. imperial state continues to impose on Black life. COVID-19 has only exacerbated the genocide of Black Americans and so-called “progressive” leaders in the Democratic Party have offered nothing but words in response. By Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing EditorPentagon Brass Can Kiss My… The Coronavirus-struck crew of the USS Roosevelt would be more useful making N-95 masks, building housing for people living on the streets, and tilling community gardens to prepare for supply chain collapse. “Go fuck yourself with your atom bomb.” Pentagon brass say they’re anxious that US adversaries Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran may take advantage of our pandemic-crippled armed forces in their hemisphere, but they can bite me. I still don’t have an N-95 mask, a coronavirus test, or a stimulus check, so how’m I supposed to worry that a Chinese aircraft carrier steamed through a strait in the East China Sea? That a Russian fighter jet flew within 25 feet of a US Navy surveillance plane over the Mediterranean? Or that Iranian Navy vessels are “harassing” the US Navy and Coast Guard in the Persian Gulf? The Coronavirus-struck crew of the USS Roosevelt would be more useful making N-95 masks, building housing for people living on the streets, and tilling community gardens to prepare for supply chain collapse.“Go fuck yourself with your atom bomb.” Pentagon brass say they’re anxious that US adversaries Russia, China, North Korea, and Iran may take advantage of our pandemic-crippled armed forces in their hemisphere, but they can bite me. I still don’t have an N-95 mask, a coronavirus test, or a stimulus check, so how’m I supposed to worry that a Chinese aircraft carrier steamed through a strait in the East China Sea? That a Russian fighter jet flew within 25 feet of a US Navy surveillance plane over the Mediterranean? Or that Iranian Navy vessels are “harassing” the US Navy and Coast Guard in the Persian Gulf? By Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing EditorThe Black Plague The rapidity with which the pandemic has consumed black communities provides an unvarnished look into the dynamics of race and class that existed long before it emerged “Racism in the shadow of American slavery has diminished almost all of the life chances of African-Americans.” The old African-American aphorism “When white America catches a cold, black America gets pneumonia” has a new, morbid twist: when white America catches the novel coronavirus, black Americans die. By Keeanga-Yamahtta TaylorAntiblackness of the Pandemic in the US and Brazil At the heart of health disparities is antiblackness, a social code that renders Black people disposable. “In Brazil the virus is far more lethal to Blacks than it is for whites.” In spite of Covid-19’s destructive capacity, in the U.S. and in Brazil antiblackness is the ultimate facilitator of preventable death. The pandemic only exacerbates social and institutional patterns that consistently devalue the lives of Black people. Such patterns are not incidental or temporary, but rather are the very foundation of modern empire-states. Because antiblackness establishes the value of life – who lives and who dies – it sets up the conditions within which the pandemic advances and breaks havoc.  By João Costa Vargas and Ana Flauzina

BAR Abolition & Mutual Aid Spotlight: La Resistencia Public pressure works. Some local entities are not willing to work with ICE anymore. “Our goal is not just to put money on their commissary, but for them to be free.” In this feature, we ask organizers involved in mutual aid projects to share a little bit about their work. We understand mutual aid work as the part of social movement organizing that meets people’s direct needs. Unlike charity work, however, mutual aid is part of a broader strategy to address the root causes of injustice by mobilizing people to dismantle structures of domination and build the world we want.  By Dean Spade and Roberto Sirvent, BAR Contributors
Wrong On Weed – Blacks And Marijuana Myths Black state lawmakers helped scuttle efforts to legalize marijuana in the Garden State and Black preachers have been huge impediments to legalization. “Studies expose stupidity on ‘smoke.’” When New Jersey State Senator Ronald Rice roadblocked legislation to legalize adult use of marijuana in the ‘Garden State’ last year he cited a litany of long debunked theories and specious assertions like legalization will inundate minority communities with “marijuana bodegas.” By Linn WashingtonTruth and Propaganda About Coronavirus It is unclear if China could have done anything different as it faced an unknown virus. “There is no clarity that it emerged directly from the Wuhan market.” Part 1: Growing Xenophobia Against China in the Midst of CoronaShock Violent attacks against Asians in the United States has spiked as a consequence of the stigma driven by the Trump administration. By Vijay Prashad, Weiyan Zhu, and Du XiaojunWall Street Fat Cats Back Challenger to AOC in Primary Finance capitalists collected nearly $1 million in the first three months of the year to oust Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez “Michelle Caruso-Cabrera was a registered Republican until a few years ago.” Wall Street Titans are financing a direct challenge to firebrand progressive lawmaker Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez in the New York primary on June 23. Disclosures show that over four dozen finance industry professionals, including several prominent private equity executives and investment bankers, made early donations to Michelle Caruso-Cabrera, a former CNBC contributor who is challenging Ocasio-Cortez. Caruso-Cabrera was a registered Republican until a few years ago and authored a 2010 book advocating for several conservative positions, including an end to Medicare and Social Security, which she called “pyramid schemes.” By Lee FangResisting Covid-19 in Haiti There are only around 124 intensive care unit beds and less than 100 ventilators for a population of about 11 million. “The authorities care only about lining their pockets.” On March 19, 2020, shortly after international institutions made known that millions of dollars would be available to impoverished countries with COVID-19 cases, Haitian authorities finally addressed the coronavirus pandemic by declaring that there were two cases in the country. People in Haiti were outraged by the silence and inaction of the authorities as news spread of preventative measures being implemented in the neighboring Dominican Republic and other countries. Since the initial declaration, the number of cases in Haiti has remained in doubt, with grassroots health workers and activists distrusting any government figures and demanding action to prevent a catastrophic spike in infections and deaths. By Pierre LabossiereCuba: From AIDS, Dengue, and Ebola to COVID-19 Before Cuba experienced its first COVID-!9 case it had already updated a plan to prevent and control the disease. “Cuba has 8.2 doctors per 1,00 people while the United States has 2.6 doctors per 1,000.” Preparing for a pandemic requires understanding that a change in the relationship between people is primary and the production of things is secondary and flows from social factors. Investors in profit-based medicine cannot comprehend this concept. Nothing could exemplify it more clearly than Cuba’s response to the corona virus (COVID-19). By Don Fitz

Mike Davis On Pandemics, Super-capitalism and the Struggles of Tomorrow Capitalist globalization means accepting a permanent triage of humanity and dooming part of the human race to eventual extinction. “There’s some possibility that mass infection in slums and poor cities could flip the switch on coronavirus’s mode of infection and reshape the nature of the disease.” The coronavirus pandemic is overwhelming to comprehend. There are now hundreds of thousands of confirmed cases. Tens of thousands have died. Nations are on lockdown as the disease continues to spread. The planet is in crisis.  By Sharif Abdel KouddousLabor:

Economy:

Shadow Government Statistics s Flash Commentary, Issue No. 1432 March 2020 Unemployment Claims, Industrial Production, Retail Sales, Housing Starts April 17, 2020

  • First Major Coronavirus Impact on Headline Economic Reporting Devastated March Activity – Only the Final Third of First-Quarter 2020 GDP
  • Despite Muted Pandemic Impact, Pending First-Quarter 2020 GDP Contraction Should Rival the Depths of the Great Recession
  • Fully Hit Second-Quarter GDP Contraction Should Rival the Depths of the Great Depression, or Worse
  • Since the March 2020 Unemployment Survey, 22 Million New Claims for Unemployment Insurance Have Been Filed, Suggestive of Headline April 2020 Unemployment Topping 22%; It Will Get Worse
  • April 2020 Unemployment Rate Will More Than Double Anything Seen Post-World War II, Worst Since the Great Depression
  • March 2020 Real Retail Sales Plunged by a Record Monthly 10.3% (-10.3%)
  • March 2020 Industrial Production and Manufacturing Showed Their Deepest Monthly Plunges Since the Post-World War II Production Shutdown
  • What Had Been a Recent Boom in Housing Starts and Building Permits Was Flattened in First-Quarter 2020 by Weakened March Activity, Second-Quarter 2020 Plunge Already Is in Play
  • First- and Second-Quarter 2020 Quarterly Contractions in Real Retail Sales and Manufacturing Follow Pre-Pandemic Fourth-Quarter 2019 Contractions

Ten Things You Can Do Now to Curb Wall Street’s Wealth Transfer System … The epic Wall Street crash of 2008, the worst since 1929, was not accompanied by moms and pops losing one cent in their bank deposits because the banks had become federally-insured in 1933. But it did require a secret $29 trillion bailout of those banks by the Federal Reserve which has, to this day, grotesquely distorted the U.S. banking system along with the structure of Wall Street. The U.S. Senate Banking Committee of the earlier era had guts. They held three years of intense hearings that made a deep, forensic examination of the structure of banking and Wall Street and found that it could never be allowed to combine again. In 1933, Congress passed the Glass-Steagall Act (also known as the Banking Act of 1933) which created federal deposit insurance for the first time while simultaneously outlawing Wall Street trading houses from combining with banks holding federally-insured deposits. That legislation prevented another Wall Street crash from taking down the U.S. economy for the next 66 year  By Pam Martens and Russ Martens

President Bill Clinton Laughs It Up as He Signs the Repeal of the Glass-Steagall Act, November 12, 1999

World:

Greenwashing In Germeny:German Imperialism: Painted in Green The following article was written at the end of February and the first days of March, just before the world was hit by the crash of the stock markets on the 9 March and the full impact of the coronavirus pandemic. This sharp change in the situation obviously also changes the plans of the ruling class. But the underlying economic and political tendencies at play are still the same, although the issue of climate change obviously was pushed to the background. In the case of the Green parties, their character as parties of the ruling class is even-further confirmed in these times of crisis. By Florian Keller

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 to be,  a democracy and part of the democratic way. — Roland Sheppard, Let the People  Vote on Healthcare!

 Before COVID-19, Big Pharma Was Neglecting Vaccine and Antiviral Research  American Taxpayers Are Heavily Subsidizing Drug Corporations’ Search For A COVID-19 Vaccine. Ater reaching a new low in consumer confidence last year, thanks to public anger over rising drug prices, the pharmaceutical industry’s reputation is on the rise as researchers worldwide rush to develop a vaccine for the novel coronavirus. A new national poll finds that the COVID-19 pandemic has benefited the industry’s public image, with 40 percent of respondents saying they have a more positive view of private drug companies than before the outbreak. However, public health experts have warned for years that the world is at risk of a major pandemic, and advocates say Big Pharma showed little interest in developing vaccines – or even antibiotic and antiviral medications — until the latest outbreak offered an opportunity to rake in public funding and turn out massive profits with minimal risk