Daily News Digest September 4, 2020

United States Coronavirus ‘War’ UpDate

  1. Total Cases: 6,335,244

  2. Total Deaths: 191,058

  3. Total Recovered: 3,574,876

  4. Active Cases: 2,569,310

  5. Serious Critical: 60,877

Daily News Digest Archives

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 Deaths 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!

Under Capitalism — Human Lives Don’t Matter  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  Racism,  War, Famine, Pestilence, and Death. The very future of Humanity Is Now At stake! By Roland SheppardLaura Gray’s cartoon from the front page of The Militant August 18, 1945, Under the 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:

Quotes of the Day:

Trump’ Motto: Claim Everything, Deny Nothing, When Caught? Hollard Foul!

Looteng?: Capitalism Rose From the Looting of the World!:   The World Conference on Racism held in Durban, South Africa, several years ago, not only raised the issue of Israel as an apartheid state, but also raised the issue of reparations for the colonialized world due to centuries of rape and plunder of the world’s masses by capitalism. Most of the arguments on this subject were first written by Karl Marx, over 130 years ago in “Capital”, Volume One, Part VIII, Chapter 31, (the) “Genesis of the Industrial Capitalist”. He wrote “The discovery of gold and silver in America, the extirpation, enslavement, and entombment in mines of the aboriginal population, the beginning of the conquest and looting of the East Indies, the turning of Africa into a warren for the commercial hunting of black-skins, signalized the rosy dawn of the era of capitalist production.  … If money … comes into the world with a congenital blood-stain on one cheek, capital comes dripping from head to foot, from every pore, with blood and dirt.”                        Industrial Capitalism did not come into being due to the gradual primitive accumulation of capital, but rather the industrial revolution was fueled by the wealth plundered from the colonialized world in the name of Christianity. This is the historic material basis for modern racism as an ideology, which is used to justify the holocaust perpetuated upon the majority of the world during the period of the subjugation of the colonial world to European/United States capitalist imperialism. — Roland Sheppard, Reparations and Capitalism

Videos of the Day:

Trump visits Kenosha, scene of vigilante murder Trump has refused to condemn growing right-wing violence, and there are calls for him to stay away from Kenosha.

Terror in trailer jail: every single prisoner infected with COVID-19

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. Rax the Rich!  — They Can Afford To Pay

‘A Fiasco Is Clearly Foreseeable’: USPS Watchdog Probe Found 1 Million Primary Ballots Likely Delivered Too Late to Count Sen. Richard Blumenthal (D-Conn.) called the findings “more powerful proof that resources and reform are vital right away to prevent serious election mail delays and voting suppression.” By Andrea Germanos

Trump Used Stand-In for Kenosha Business Owner Who Refused Photo Op With Him  business in Kenosha, Wisconsin, which had fire damage after uprisings in the city following the police-perpetrated shooting of Jacob Blake in August, was featured by President Trump to the media as he toured damage in the city on Tuesday. Trump stood alongside John Rode III, whom he introduced as the “owner” of Rode’s Camera Shop, one of the businesses in the building that was affected by fire. Yet, Rode is not the current owner of that business — Tom Gram is.  By Chris Walker Kenosha Tells Us More About Where the Right Is Headed Than the R.N.C. Did The conservative media’s embrace of Kyle Rittenhouse speaks volumes about its priorities. The most revealing thing to happen in conservative politics this week did not involve the Republican National Convention, at least not directly. Instead, it took place in Kenosha, Wis., in the aftermath of a shooting on Tuesday night that killed two people and wounded a third. The suspected shooter, Kyle Rittenhouse, a 17-year-old from nearby Antioch, Ill., was in Kenosha with a group of armed counterprotesters. After several days of rioting — sparked by the shooting of Jacob Blake, a Black man who appears to have been paralyzed after police shot him seven times in the back — so-called militia groups arrived on the scene to defend businesses and other properties from protesters. Rittenhouse was with one of those groups when, according to a visual analysis by The New York Times, he was seen running away from several people. By Jamelle Bouie

Environment:

There is also the ongoing disagreement between the climate scientists at CU and NOAA, which has a major climate office in Boulder, and the state’s Air Pollution Control Division, APCD.  The state claims that the air quality along the northern Front Range, which includes the major population centers in the state, is getting better.  Mostly the state relies on data provided by the oil industry, which they feed into decades old formulas developed by EPA to derive that conclusion.  This happy news does not comport with the fact that the Front Range has been out of ozone compliance for over a decade and recently dropped from EPA’s “moderate” to “serious” classification, with a further drop to “severe” very possible.  Garrison Kaufman, the lawyer in charge of the APCD, was formerly a corporate lawyer.  The Newmont Mining Company, a Canadian company with a large, polluting gold mining operation west of Colorado Springs, was his client.  Reportedly, as director of the APCD, he has allowed his former client to continue operations for several years without the air pollution permits required by state law.  Helmig’s state of the art measurements give the lie to the state’s claims of improving air quality.  In fact, he recently wrote in a literature review paper that our pollution problems could be twice as high as the state is claiming.  Discrediting Helmig and his work favors several interests. — The Savaging of Detlev Helmig, Citizen  The Savaging of Detlev Helmig, Citizen 

This 2009 Article Gives Some Background For Hemnig’s Firing:   Oil, Water Are Volatile Mix in West: Energy Firms Buying River Rights Add to Competition for Scarce Resource DENVER — Oil companies have gained control over billions of gallons of water from Western rivers in preparation for future efforts to extract oil from shale deposits under the Rocky Mountains, according to a new report by an environmental group that opposes such projects.The group, Western Resource Advocates, used public records to conclude that energy companies are collectively entitled to divert more than 6.5 billion gallons of water a day during peak river flows. The companies also hold rights to store, in dozens of reservoirs, 1.7 million acre feet of wate enough to supply metro Denver for six years.  By Stephanie Simon 43 Green Groups Demand Moderators Make Climate Crisis ‘Central Focus’ of 2020 Presidential ‘Debates’ “In 2016, there was not a single question on climate change in any of the four presidential and vice-presidential debates,” 70 House Democrats noted in a similar appeal. “This cannot happen again.” By Jessica CorbettCivil Rights/ Black Liberarion:

Margaret Kimberley, BAR senior columnist: Freedom Rider: The U.S. Is a Racist Militia U.S. cops are already racist and brutal, and any militia “infiltrators” would feel right at home.​​​​​​​ Ajamu Baraka, BAR editor and columnist: The US Has Long Led the Assault on Human Rights The historical record on U.S. human rights policies, both domestic and international, is one of hypocrisy, deceit, and denigration.Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor:  The NBA’s Black Power Black NBA players, writes Ann Garrison, are just beginning to understand the power of the attention and admiration they command.Khalil Saucier: “The Balls in (Y)our Court:” Naomi Osaka and (Continued) Black Genocide  Osaka’s statement must be seen as part of a radical tradition too often redacted from sports history.“Genocide creates the imperative for radical transformation, not social reform, and leaves people with no other choice but to dismantle the conditions that spawn it.”Anthony Monteiro: The Invention of Ibram X Kendi and the Ideological Crises of Our Time Rich white capitalists may be donating millions to Black Lives Matter, but they’re also funding and praising nonsense like Kendi’s babblings on race and capitalism.Jake Johnson: US Facilitates Arms for Killer Cops and Criminals in Haiti Weapons are flowing to pro-regime gangsters suspected of assassinating opponents of the US-backed regime.Mark P. Fancher: Police Kill. We March. Why? We must instead think creatively about how to either take total community control of law enforcement as an institution or to bring about an independent, nation-building, self-governing reality.Hana Kiros:A Tale of Two Teens: When White Killers Are Treated Better Than Black Victims It’s Cowboys and Indians updated: a wicked game where Black people are seen as predators but almost always end up prey.Don Fitz: Cuba’s Experience Teaches Us That Medicare-for-All Is a Beginning, Not the End PointCuba built a universal health system from scratch, and we should follow that example to replace the US non-system of medical care.Philippe Gendrault: Some Reflections on Systemic Racism and Capitalism  The system of exploitation that bore slavery remains, albeit without slavery, the very same system of exploitation.Patrick D. Anderson: WikiLeaks. Still Revealing Truths About Power, Officially Launches Bibliography The interpretations of and commentaries in the bibliography vary widely, from unquestionable support for WikiLeaks to outright hatred of Assange.Labor:

In the Worst of Times, the Billionaire Elite Plunder Working Class America Since March, more than 58 million people in the U.S. have filed for unemployment. The Internal Revenue Service now predicts that the U.S. economy will have almost 40 million fewer jobs in 2021 than they predicted before the pandemic, as a result of the prolonged economic depression. As it becomes widely recognized that the economy is not going to “bounce right back” into full activity – even when coronavirus cases do eventually decline – and that the current depression will continue for a long time, companies are doing anything they can to drive their stock prices higher.  By Nick Baker

They called for demonstrations in the nation’s capital and in other cities against union busting. But   they covered up the partnership of Democrats and Republicans with the nation’s employers to break unions, to make picketing illegal, etc..  They developed new theories to cover up their bankruptcy.   The code words were:   “We can’t win strikes anymore; we need new strategies—the old ways don’t work,” etc..Out   of these echoes of doom, a new strategy, the “Corporate Campaign” and the concept of building a partnership between management and labor was born.They developed the “two-tier” wage system whereby lower wages and worse working conditions were negotiated for new workers entering the industry. In this manner, the AFL-CIO sold out the next generations of workers before they ever went to work. They also began developing other strategies to avoid strikes and risk the loss of their treasuries.The so-called International Unions pledged to the government and their employers to police any local areas that did not follow their program of wage cuts and “productivity increases” (speedup). In the process, the International Unions consolidated their policies. —The Fall of the Trade Unions

The ‘Partnership’ in Action!:  Stop the UAW-Management Cover-Up Of COVID-19 In The Auto Plants! The Autoworker Rank-and-File Safety Committee Network is a national organization of workers throughout the auto industry who have organized to oppose the unsafe return to work by the auto companies and the United Auto Workers. Email the WSWS Autoworker  newsletter atautoworkers@wsws.org to learn more and get involved today. The Autoworker Rank-and-File Safety Committee Network demands an end to the outrageous cover-up by management and their UAW accomplices of the spread of COVID-19 cases in the auto plants.Last week, the US Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC), under pressure from the viciously anti-worker Trump administration, issued new guidelines stating that people exposed to the coronavirus who do not yet show symptoms “do not necessarily” need to be tested, even as COVID-19 continues to spread throughout our workplaces and communities. By the Autoworker Rank-and -File Safety Committee NetworkIn The Mid Ninties the Labor/Management Partnership was Firmly Established! Look at the Results— Wage Depression/Plunder!: Shadow Government Statistics Special Economic Commentary, Issue No. 1446 Graph 20: Real Average Weekly Earnings, 1965 to July 2020, Alternative Year-to-Year ChangesEconomy:

Shadow Government Statistics Special Economic Commentary, Issue No. 1446 Review of Current and Unfolding Economic and Inflation Conditions September 2, 2020

  • Amidst Mounting Inflation Dangers, the Weakening L-Shaped Recovery from the Pandemic-Shutdown Began to Look Even Softer in July and Early-August Reporting
  • Revised Second-Quarter GDP and Initial GDI and GNP Reporting Confirmed the Record Collapse, Wiping Out Five Years of Economic Growth, Resetting the Inflation-Adjusted Real U.S. GDP to Its Lowest Levels since 2014
  • With the Below-Consensus, Limited Recovery Unfolding in Second-Half 2020, Real Value of the Full-Year 2020 U.S. GDP Will Be Lucky to Top That Seen in 2016
  • Statistical Chicanery Surfaces Along With the L-Shaped Recovery; Department of Labor Rejiggers New Unemployment Claims for Happier, Pending Headlines, Without Providing Consistent, Restated Historical Data
  • Non-Recovering, L-Shaped U.S. Labor Force (Employment Plus Unemployment) Suggests Protracted Economic Collapse; 4.8 Million Unemployed Are Missing
  • Industrial Production and Employment Numbers Show Deepening Trouble, While Booming Retail and Home Sales Are Running Counter to Sinking Consumer Optimism and Finances
  • In March, the FOMC Exploded Money Supply and Inflationary Pressures to Fight the Pandemic-Driven Economic Collapse and Related Systemic Instabilities
  • Record Year-to-Year M1 Money Supply Growth in Early-August Topped 40%
  • With August Inflation Pressures Mounting, the FOMC Conveniently Has Retargeted Its Long-Standing Goal of 2% Core Inflation to the Upside
  • Mounting Hyperinflation Risks, Heavy Dollar Selling and Systemic Instabilities Promise New Highs

Department of Labor Is Rejiggering New Unemployment Claims for Happier, Pending Headlines, Without Providing Coincident, Consistent and Comparative Restated Historical Data. With the U.S. stock market recently susceptible to large daily swings tied to “surprising” headline strength or weakness in the weekly releases of New Claims for Unemployment Insurance, the issuing Department of Labor has announced an imminent methodological change to the seasonal-adjustment process (pending with tomorrow’s September 3rd release for the Week Ended August 29th). The effect of the revised methodology should be to reduce meaningfully the headline level of August 20th week adjusted New Claims, from what it would have been otherwise, using last week’s methodology.

Taken out of context, such a “decline” would be viewed as an economic positive, which appears to be the likely pending circumstance. Indeed, the pending reporting will be out of context, published in an historical void, lacking any consistently defined, recent history for comparison. Standardly, revised methodologies are announced months in advance, not one week in advance, accompanied by comparative historical data, which purportedly will not be available here until 2021.

Per the DOL New Claims Release of August 27th:

“REVISION TO SEASONAL ADJUSTMENT FACTORS Beginning with the Unemployment Insurance (UI) Weekly Claims News Release issued Thursday, September 3, 2020, the methodology used to seasonally adjust the national initial claims and continued claims will reflect additive factors as opposed to multiplicative factors. Seasonal adjustment factors can be either multiplicative or additive. A multiplicative seasonal effect is assumed to be proportional to the level of the series. A sudden large increase in the level of the series will be accompanied by a proportionally large seasonal effect. In contrast, an additive seasonal effect is assumed to be unaffected by the level of the series. In times of relative economic stability, the multiplicative option is generally preferred over the additive option. However, in the presence of a large level shift in a time series, multiplicative seasonal adjustment factors can result in systematic over- or under-adjustment of the series; in such cases, additive seasonal adjustment factors are preferred since they tend to more accurately track seasonal fluctuations in the series and have smaller revisions. Prior to September 2020, the seasonally adjusted unemployment insurance claims series used multiplicative seasonal adjustment factors. Starting in September Bureau of Labor Statistics staff, who provide the seasonal adjustment factors, specified these series as additive. In accordance with the usual practice, the seasonal adjustment models and factors will be reviewed at the beginning of each calendar year, when prior years of seasonally adjusted estimates will be subject to revision.”Shadow Government Statistics  Corrected-Inflation Real Gross Domestic Product Nominal GDP Deflated by Implicit Price Deflator Corrected for Roughly Two-Percentage Point Understatement of Annual Inflation 2000 to 2q2020, Seasonally-Adjusted The Fed Provides an Unlimited Money Lifeline to Wall Street; 30 Million Americans Facing Eviction Get a No-Money 4-Month Plan Happy New Year – here’s your eviction notice. That’s how tens of millions of struggling Americans have been set up to fail as the one percent on Wall Street, propped up by unlimited money from the Fed, ring in the New Year with Tiffany flutes of Dom Perignon in their Greenwich mansions. According to a recent study published by The Aspen Institute, 30 to 40 million Americans will be at risk of eviction over the next several months. By Pam Martens and Russ Martens

World:

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 ‘:’, 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 

City of Hoboken Files Climate Suit Against Exxon—’The Most Ruthless, Deceitful, and Unapologetic Climate Polluters on the Planet’ “With climate costs surging everywhere and local budgets depleted, more and more communities are turning to the courts as their only recourse to make polluters pay.” By  Kenny Stancil