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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!
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 0f the Day:
Videos of the Day:
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
Watch: Hundreds of Trump Supporters Storm Capitol Hill, Break Fences and Fight With Police Vice President Pence was rushed out of the Senate chamber as protests rocked the nation’s capital As Congress met to count the Electoral College votes and confirm President-elect Joe Biden as the nation’s next leader on Wednesday, Trump supporters protesting the election results stormed the Capitol building, forcing Vice President Mike Pence to be ushered out of the Senate chamber.Hundreds of Trump supporters pushed through metal barricades at the back of the Capitol building about 1 p.m. Wednesday, the Washington Post reported, running past security guards and breaking fences while chanting “USA! USA!” By Nicole Lyn Pesce
A Secretary of Defense Lloyd Austin Will Widen the Civil-Military Gap Civilian control of the military has been a central tenet of democratic governance. The trenchant warning from retiring President Dwight D. Eisenhower on the dangers to democracy from a permanent “military-industrial complex” is the most memorable presidential farewell warning in our history. The civil-military gap has widened over the years, starting with the controversy over the Vietnam War in the 1970s; the Goldwater-Nichols Act in the 1980s; and the Global War on Terror in the wake of the attacks in New York City and Washington in 2001. By Melvin Goodman
Why Partisanship Will Increase in the Post-Trump Era Many are hoping tht when Trump — one of the most divisive US presidents in the past century or more — leaves office, the historically elevated levels of partisanship in US politics will at least begin to subside. But the opposite is vastly more likely. There are short- and intermediate-run, as well as long-run, reasons for this result that have little to do with the Trump phenomenon. Most importantly and immediately, there is a gigantic and increasingly unbridgeable divide on economic policy. And the outcome of this ongoing fight will have an enormous impact on the lives and livelihoods of most Americans. By Mark Weisbrot
Environment:
Why the World’s Biggest Mammal Migration is crucial for Africa – Photo Essay Straw-coloured fruit bats take part in the biggest mammal migration in the world.Up to 10 million straw-coloured fruit bats descend on Zambia’s Kasanka national park every year, dispersing millions of seeds as they go. Like other wildlife protectors, he puts his life on the line every day. But not every animal needing protection is a big beast. Following the incident in 2002 in a park bordering Angola, Mubiana was transferred to Kasanka national park in central Zambia, where he now protects one of nature’s mysteries – and the biggest mammal migration in the world – from poachers and land encroachment. These poachers may be after antelope and elephants, but their actions also pose a threat to the straw-coloured fruit bat, Eidolon helvum. Every year, between October and December, 8–10 million straw-coloured fruit bats descend on the park to feast on an abundance of fruit. From west Africa, over the forests of the Congo basin and on to Zambia, the bats migrate thousands of kilometres over savanna and open land, dispersing seeds into deforested areas, and reforesting and regenerating landscapes on their journey. Scientists are still trying to fathom why these fruit bats, or “flying foxes”, gather at Kasanka in numbers not seen anywhere else. Each night they leave their evergreen swamp fig roosts to fly up to 55 miles (90km) in search of wild berries and fruit. Words and photographs by Georgina Smith
Why You May Want To Reconsider Buying Precut Vegetables And Fruits Sure, packaged produce is convenient. But aside from it being expensive, there are other red flags to watch for. Most Americans have been cooking at home more during the COVID-19 pandemic, but cooking fatigue may be setting in nearly a year into the crisis. Purchasing precut fruits and vegetables is one way to bring more convenience to the kitchen ― even if it costs up to three times what the whole produce would cost you. But there are a few things you should know before you buy them.“Precut fruit has some major downsides,” Max Lugavere, health and science journalist and author of “Genius Foods,” noted in an Instagram post a few months ago. Buying whole produce usually brings bigger benefits, he said. By Erica Sweeney
Timber Tax Cuts Cost Oregon Towns Billions. Then Polluted Water Drove Up the Price Rural communities in Oregon paid millions of dollars for clean, safe drinking water because the state didn’t protect their watersheds from logging-related contamination. On a damp night in November 2019, dozens of residents packed into the local firehouse in Corbett, Oregon, a town about 30 miles outside of Portland. Water manager Jeff Busto told the crowd that logging had devastated a creek that provided part of the town’s drinking water supply. A timber company had clear-cut thousands of trees along the creek, leaving only a thin strip standing between the town’s drinking water and recently flattened land strewed with debris. A single row of trees was left on either side to protect it from mud, herbicides and summer sun. After many of those trees were bowled over by wind, the creek flow dropped so low that the town could no longer get water. By Tony Schick
Climate Campaigners to Biden: Your Solicitor General ‘Should Not Be a Lawyer Who Fought for Big Oil’ “There’s no lack for public interest and public service-experienced litigators. We don’t need to rotate between Republican Big Law and Democratic Big Law.” By Brett Wilkins
Three Major Threats to Life on Earth That We Must Address in 2021 Large parts of the world—outside of China and a few other countries—face a runaway virus, which has not been stopped because of criminal incompetence by governments. That these governments in wealthy countries cynically set aside the basic scientific protocols released by the World Health Organization and by scientific organizations reveals their malicious practice. Anything less than focused attention to managing the virus by testing, contact tracing, and isolation—and if this does not suffice, then imposing a temporary lockdown—is foolhardy. It is equally distressing that these richer countries have pursued a policy of “vaccine nationalism” by stockpiling vaccine candidates rather than a policy for the creation of a “people’s vaccine.” For the sake of humanity, it would be prudent to suspend intellectual property rules and develop a procedure to create universal vaccines for all people. Although the pandemic is the principal issue on all of our minds, other major issues threaten the longevity of our species and of our planet. These include: 1.Nuclear Annihilation 2. Climate Catastrophe 3. Neoliberal Destruction of the Social Contract By Noam Chomsky – Vijay Prashad
Civil Rights/Black Liberation:
I had the opportunity to hear Malcolm X speak at meetings in Harlem at the Audubon Ballroom and elsewhere. His power as an orator was his ability to make complex ideas simple and clear. He was not a demagogue. His speeches were always an appeal to reason. One example of the power of his oratory was when he spoke at anorganizing rally for Hospital Workers Local 1199 in New York City 1962.
The following is a famous quote from that speech:“The hospital strikers have demonstrated that you don’t get a job done unless you show the Man you’re not afraid to go to jail. If you’re not willing to pay that price, then you don’t deserve the rewards or benefits that go along with it.”He gave the best speech at the rally, and when he finished speaking, all of the workers – Black, white, and Puerto Rican – cheered wildly. The response was the same whether he spoke in Harlem or in a debate at Oxford University in England.One can hear the response that Malcolm got by watching the video of Malcolm X’s Oxford Union Debate (December 3, 1964), when he ended his speech quoting Shakespeare:
I read once, passingly, about a man named Shakespeare. I only read about him passingly, but I remember one thing he wrote that kind of moved me. He put it in the mouth of Hamlet, I think, it was, who said, ‘To be or not to be.’ He was in doubt about something—whether it was nobler in the mind of man to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortune—moderation—or to take up arms against a sea of troubles and by opposing end them. And I go for that. If you take up arms, you’ll end it, but if you sit around and wait for the one who’s in power to make up his mind that he should end it, you’ll be waiting a long time. And in my opinion, the young generation of whites, blacks, browns, whatever else there is, you’re living at a time of extremism, a time of revolution, a time when there’s got to be a change. People in power have misused it, and now there has to be a change and a better world has to be built, and the only way it’s going to be built—is with extreme methods. And I, for one, will join in with anyone—I don’t care what color you are—as long as you want to change this miserable condition that exists on this earth. —The Assassinations of M.L.K. Jr. and Malcolm X
Economy:
The Contagion of Capital Financialized Capitalism, COVID-19, and the Great Divide The U.S. economy and society at the start of 2021 is more polarized than it has been at any point since the Civil War. The wealthy are awash in a flood of riches, marked by a booming stock market, while the underlying population exists in a state of relative, and in some cases even absolute, misery and decline. The result is two national economies as perceived, respectively, by the top and the bottom of society: one of prosperity, the other of precariousness. At the level of production, economic stagnation is diminishing the life expectations of the vast majority. At the same time, financialization is accelerating the consolidation of wealth by a very few. Although the current crisis of production associated with the COVID-19 pandemic has sharpened these disparities, the overall problem is much longer and more deep-seated, a manifestation of the inner contradictions of monopoly-finance capital. Comprehending the basic parameters of today’s financialized capitalist system is the key to understanding the contemporary contagion of capital, a corrupting and corrosive cash nexus that is spreading to all corners of the U.S. economy, the globe, and every aspect of human existence. By John Bellamy Foster, R. Jamil Jonna and Brett Clark
Janet Yellen’s Cash Haul of $7 Million Is Just the Tip of the Iceberg; She Failed to Report Her Wall Street Speaking Fees from JPMorgan and Others in 2018 On December 29 we needed a clarification from former Treasury Secretary Larry Summers about his opinion column against Congress issuing $2,000 stimulus checks. We sent him an email at 10:13 a.m. and received a very clear response from him directly at 12:51 p.m. that day — a span of a few hours.Compare that timely response to Janet Yellen’s respect for the media’s obligation to report a full set of facts to the American people. Three days ago, we contacted Yellen at four different entities with which she is affiliated. Only the Brookings Institution responded, saying she was on leave. President-elect Joe Biden’s media team did not respond at all, nor did the Washington Speakers Bureau and University of California, Berkeley. By PamMartens and Russmartens
World:
‘Absolutely Outrageous’: UK Judge Denies Julian Assange Bail, Keeping WikiLeaks Founder in Prison “Shows how authoritarian the British judiciary is. The only thing the U.S. cares about is keeping Assange in a cage, silenced, and disappeared. This gives them the best of all worlds: he stays in prison, with no need to prove he’s guilty of anything.” By Jake Johnson
Assange Denied Bail Despite Ruling Against Extradition On Monday, it was announced at the Old Bailey that Julian Assange would not be extradited to the US to face charges of endangering the lives of informants in Afghanistan, and for collusion with Chelsea Manning to hack US government computers. This news has rightly been greeted with enormous relief from Assange’s supporters. Yet there is a caveat. The British court’s ruling was based on concerns that the US prison system would be incapable of preventing Assange from taking his own life. In fact, the court ruled in favour of the prosecution, stating that Assange should be extradited to the US. The message is clear: the British judicial system is subservient to the whims of US imperialism.
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 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
New Study Reveals Flawed Predictions of Runaway Costs and Usage Under Medicare for All “Nearly all predictions of utilization surges stemming from universal coverage expansions are overestimates.” —Gaffney et al., Health Affair “Analysts who’ve confidently projected a tsunami of healthcare use and costs after Medicare for All are ignoring history.” By Kenny Stancil
Chaotic Capitalism Hampers COVID-19 Vaccination Campaigns With the Oxford/AstraZeneca COVID-19 vaccine recently approved for use in the UK; and products by Pfizer/BioNTech, Moderna and others already being administered around the world, one would think we are approaching the end of this pandemic. However, pharmaceutical profiteers and political representatives of the ruling class are bungling the rollout in some of the worst-affected countries. In their haste to return to ‘normal’ and get the economy moving again, they are ignoring the science, cutting corners and putting lives at risk. Joe Attard
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 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!
Labor: