Daily News Digest October 14, 2020

Daily News Digest Archives

Another Example Capitalism as a Failed System: World Capilalism Was Aware of the Danger of Cornovavirus Threat Over 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!Laura 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!    For Decades, Blacks Have Been Subjected to The Iron Heel!   Currently, the US Capitalist Class is Divided Over When — Not If, to Apply It to Everyone!

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!

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:

Signe Wilkinson: Amy Coney Barrett’s Confirmation HaloTotal Coronavirus Deaths in the United States Have Kept Going Up As Trump “Fiddles”Quotes 0f the Day:

Journalists have relationships with their sources. These relationships are not criminal conspiracies. Even if a source ends up breaking a law by providing the journalist with classified information, the journalist did not commit a felony by receiving it and publishing it. — Crumbling Case Against Assange Shows Weakness of “Hacking” Charges Related to Whistleblowing

Videos of the Day:

Mark Fiore: President Superspreader’s ‘Blessing From God’

Mark Fiore: Austerity Man

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!

 ‘Making America Great Again!’:  As of  10/13/20, During the Psychopathic ‘Dr. Trump’s’ ‘Coronavirus War’, Due to His Incompetence, Mis-Leadership, and  Depraved Indifference, We Are, By Far,  The World Coronavirus Leader! — The Casualty Count  is Now Over  8,035,319: Total Cases, 220,005 Total Deaths, 5,169,365 Total Recovered, Active Cases, and 14,771 People in Serious/Critical Condition!

Crumbling Case Against Assange Shows Weakness of “Hacking” Charges Related to Whistleblowing The entire computer crime case against Assange is based on a brief discussion, between a publisher and source, about cracking a password — but the cracking never actually happened. By 2013, the Obama administration had concluded that it could not charge WikiLeaks or Julian Assange with crimes related to publishing classified documents — documents that showed, among other things, evidence of U.S. war crimes in Iraq and Afghanistan — without criminalizing investigative journalism itself. President Barack Obama’s Justice Department called this the “New York Times problem,” because if WikiLeaks and Assange were criminals for publishing classified information, the New York Times would be just as guilty. By Micah Lee

Massive Lines in Georgia on First Day of In-Person Voting Exemplify Ongoing ‘Voter Suppression,’ Say Critics “We’re becoming desensitized to unacceptable burdens on the franchise,” one political scientist said. “People died for this right. [It] shouldn’t take hours to participate in our democracy.” Georgia’s first day of in-person early voting Monday was marred by excessive wait times, as the combination of high turnout and technical difficulties resulted in long lines and possible health risks—a situation that voting rights advocates described as an example of intense voter engagement and excitement being undermined by a troubling system of voter suppression.  By Kenny StancilNative Americans Protesting Trump Border Wall Tear Gassed, Arrested by US Agents on Indigenous Peoples’ Day “It’s obscene and offensive to us that local and state governments move to celebrate Indigenous Peoples’ Day while the federal government blows up our sacred sites, steals our kids, militarily occupies our communities, and shoots at Native Americans.” Twelve people, including at least eight Native Americans, were arrested near an immigration checkpoint in Southern Arizona on Indigenous Peoples’ Day after United States Border Patrol agents and Arizona law enforcement officials violently repressed a peaceful action held Monday morning by roughly 30 land and water protectors.  By Kenny Stancil

Wars and Pandemics Produce the Same Sort of Lethal Government BunglingWatching the antics of Trump and the blunders of Boris Johnson in failing to cope with the virus, I have the same feeling I had repeatedly over the last 20 years when reporting on wars in Iraq, Afghanistan, Syria and Libya. In all cases, arrogant assumptions of competence and strength were brutally exposed by complicated and dangerous realities on the ground. By Patrick Cockburn

Hey Obama, is it the Apocalypse Yet? In October of 2016, then United States president Barack Obama told Democratic vice presidential candidate Tim Kaine that the Hillary Clinton campaign had to “keep a fascist out of the White House.” The 44th President of the United States had an accurate understanding of Trump – a president in the making Obama had done much to create (please see the third chapter of my new book Hollow Resistance: Trump, Obama and the Politics of Appeasement) – as a malignant, arch-authoritarian, and far-right menace to the republic and the world. By Paul Street

Environment:

Shilling for the Livestock Industry in Greater Yellowstone The commentary in the October 10^th Bozeman Chronicle “Together we can tackle the fire issue” by the Greater Yellowstone Coalition was another example of how the organization sees its role as a shill of the livestock industry. The misinformation presented on sagebrush, juniper, and Doug fir “invasion” in southwest Montana lacks critical scientific expertise and merely mouths the livestock industry’s propaganda. While I am glad that GYC acknowledges that wildfire is “natural” and has always occurred in the West, the lack of historical perspective on the relationship between wildfire, sagebrush, and juniper ecology is evident.  By George Wuerthner

‘Heads in the Sand’: Conservationists Condemn US Failure to Protect Wolverines Denial of endangered species protections threatens species at risk amid climate crisis, conservationists say he US Fish and Wildlife Service has denied protection to wolverines under the Endangered Species Act, frustrating conservation groups who argue the species faces an existential threat from the climate crisis. According to the ruling announced on Thursday, the FWS considers wolverine populations in the lower 48 states to be stable and threats against wolverines to be less significant than they previously thought. The agency is consequently withdrawing a proposal to federally protect the species. By Rachel Fritts

Civil Rights/Black Liberation:Black Agenda Radio for Week of October 12, 2020 With Margaret Kimberley and Glen Ford

Roots of “Strong Black Women” Ideology Systemic oppression, from slavery to mass Black incarceration, has led Black women to value self-reliance, said Dr Ashlee Davis, supervising psychologist at Fordham University’s counseling center and author of an article titled, “Traditional Femininity Versus Strong Black Women Ideologies and Stress Among Black Women.” During slavery and its aftermath, “African American women had to take on roles reflective of both traditionally feminine and traditionally masculine norms – having to be both the father and the mother,” said Davis.

Community Control of Police is a Right and Necessity In response to protests, the eastern North Carolina city of Greenville has discontinued its ties to the Pentagon’s infamous 1033 program that funnels military weapons and equipment to local police. However, the city continues to resist demands for community control of police. “We want to live in a society where these forces are nonexistent in our communities,” said Dedan Waciuri, of the Mapinduzi organization. “We have the ability to protect ourselves.

Beware the Movement’s “Controlled Opposition” Shannon Jones, of Bronxites for NYPD Accountability, who was among 250 people arrested at a massive police assault on protesters, June 4, warns that some corporate foundation-funded groups now constitute a “controlled opposition” to the ruling order. “Follow the money,” said Jones. “There are so many organizations that are profiting and poverty-pimping off of Black pain and struggle.” Jones’ organization and others have for several years been confronting the NYPD under the slogan “F the Police.”

Labor:

Solidarity With the Struggling Oil Workers in Albania! The following statement was written by the editorial board of our German website, Der Funke, calling for solidarity with Albanian oil refinery workers struggling for unpaid wages and their rights. Since August 2020, oil workers at the Ballsh refinery have been protesting vigorously to receive 22 missing monthly salaries. Furthermore, they are demanding fixed employment contracts. After the arrival of some refinery managers on site, the workers forcefully crossed the police blockade and the company gate. In early September 2020, they tried to occupy the factory premises. Under these conditions the management stepped out, after the police had been pushed back by the workers. To appease the oil workers, the managers promised that, within two days the signing of the labour contracts would begin, and the unpaid wages would be paid from the following Monday. But nothing happened. The protests continued and became more radical day by day. A statement by the strike committee said: “The refinery is our property. Give us back our work accounts!”Economy

New Book Proves U.S. Is Living Under a Disastrous Banking Model from a Century Ago It has been the contention of Wall Street On Parade for more than a decade that today’s so-called “universal banks,” also variously known as megabanks or Global Systemically Important Banks (G-SIBs), are a banking model from hell that was thoroughly discredited in the tens of thousands of transcripts and documents released by the U.S. Senate following its multi-year investigation of that structure in the early 1930s. By Pam Martens and Russ MartensWorld:

Cameroonian Asylum Seekers Said to be One Day Away From Deportation Back to the Oppression They Fled There is a peaceful room in a safe, joyful home in the Washington metro area waiting for Micah, an English-speaking Cameroonian refugee who spent his 20th birthday on hunger strike in Pine Prairie Detention Center. His 19th birthday was also spent in ICE detention. His uncle, who raised him, has been counseling patience while waiting to bring him home to introduce him to his new aunt and little cousins, and to start his new life in America. By Frances Madeson

Indonesia: a balance sheet of mass demonstrations against the Omnibus Law Mass protests and strikes exploded across Indonesia on 6-8 October following the passing of the controversial Omnibus Law: a major series of counter-reforms also known as the “Big Bang” Law. Tens of thousands of workers went on strike, and in dozens of cities, school students took to the streets and engaged in running battles with the police. By Perhimpunan Sosialist RevolusionerEducation, 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

Waiting for a Vaccine: Killing for Inequality I have been harping on the fact that it is very likely China will be mass producing and distributing a vaccine at least a month, and quite possibly several months, before the United States. This should make people very angry. Even a month’s delay is likely to mean tens of thousands of avoidable deaths and hundreds of thousands of avoidable infections. And, it adds a month to the time period before we can get back to living normal lives. Of course, the delay could end up being many months, since we still have no idea how the clinical trials will turn out for the leading U.S. contenders. By Dean Baker

What’s Special About Bat Viruses? What We Don’t Know Could Hurt Us The immune systems of bats are weird, but we don’t know how weird, how they got that way or enough about other animals. Bats were once of interest mainly to specialists and devoted conservationists. But the global pandemic pushed the animals squarely into the spotlight as the apparent original source of the novel coronavirus. Now, once arcane research into the large number of viruses that live in bats has acquired a new urgency, along with discussions of what to do about the likelihood of diseases in animals spilling over to humans. In the journal Science on Thursday, two bat researchers urged fellow scientists to examine more closely what we know for certain about bats and viruses, and suggested how we can find out more and how that knowledge might help us. By James Gorman