Bill Bigelow: The Real Irish American Story Not Taught in Schools The coronavirus pandemic reminds us of other times of mass human suffering — times when, like our own, crisis deepened inequality, and hit those hardest who could least afford it. The Great Famine in Ireland can be studied to reflect on how it differs from, but also prefigures, what’s going on today.This article by Bill Bigelow, first published in 2012, looks at how the famine was the result of British colonialism, not a potato blight; there was abundant food in Ireland during the worst years of the famine. To support the famine relief effort, British tax policy required landlords to pay the local taxes of their poorest tenant farmers, leading many landlords to forcibly evict struggling farmers and destroy their cottages in order to save money. From “Hunger on Trial” lesson.
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!
Many have heard stories of the “Patron Saint” of Ireland: Patrick. But of these stories that abound, and the beliefs that are held concerning him, much is quite erroneous. Many think that Patrick (born ca. 360 CE) was Irish — he was not, but rather he was of Scottish/British origin. “The place of his birth was Bonnaven, which lay between the Scottish towns Dumbarton and Glasgow, and was then reckoned to the province of Britain. This village, in memory of Patricius, received the name of Kil-Patrick or Kirk-Patrick. His father, a deacon in the village church, gave him a careful education.” (Dr. August Neander, General History of the Christian Religion and Church, Vol. II, p.122. Boston: 1855). “Patrick himself writes in his Confession: ‘I, Patrick, …had Calpornius for my father, a deacon, a son of the late Potitus, the presbyter, who dwelt in the village of Banavan…. I was captured. I was almost sixteen years of age…and taken to Ireland in captivity with many thousand men.’” (William Cathcart, D. D., The Ancient British and Irish Churches, p.127). “Patrick, a son of a Christian family in southern Scotland, was carried off to Ireland by pirates about 376 A. D. Here, in slavery, he gave his heart to God and, after six years of servitude, escaped, returning to his home in Scotland. But he could not forget the spiritual need of these poor heathen, and after ten years he returned to Ireland as a missionary of the Celtic church.” (ibid, p. 70). Many also believe Patrick to be of the Roman Catholic system, yet in Patrick’s own Confession which we read part of above, he claims that his father was a deacon and his grandfather a presbyter. While the Roman Catholic Church holds the doctrine of “sacerdotal celibacy,” wherein members of its ministry are to remain unmarried and thus virgins, the ministry of the Celtic Churches held no such doctrine. This is one of many doctrinal distinctions between the two faith sytems. The claims that Patrick was a Roman Catholic are mere fabrications as we shall see clearly. Read More
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
Perfidy Meets Putty – Congressional Democrats Betray Voters Do you remember the promises made by the Democratic Party’s presidential and Congressional candidates on universal health insurance? You can forget their pledges and somber convictions now that your votes put the Democrats in charge of the House and the Senate. The Democrats’ leaders are abandoning their promises and retreating into a cowardly corporatist future. By Ralph NaderWashington in Afghanistan: How Long Must This Go On? The United States military and mercenary forces need to leave Afghanistan now. Even Donald Trump understood this, at least in public. The US mission was a failure within a year of its 2001 invasion. It could not and cannot reshape the political landscape in that nation. It tried in the 1970s and the 1980s when it created and armed the mujaheddin to fight the Soviet-supported government. It couldn’t mold the nation of Afghanistan into a willing client after the Taliban marched into Kabul. It has failed to do so since it invaded the country in 2001 under the pretense of going after Osama bin Laden. To repeat, the US needs to leave the people of Afghanistan alone. By Ron JacobsEnvironmental Racism: Chevron Faces Unprecedented Complaint Over Misleading Consumers on Climate Action Chevron is under scrutiny over concerns that it consistently misrepresents its image across social media, television and other marketing avenues to appear climate-friendly and racial justice-oriented, while its business operations overwhelmingly rely on climate-polluting fossil fuels that disproportionately harm communities of color. Today, Global Witness, Earthworks, and Greenpeace USA, represented by Richman Law and Policy, have jointly filed a groundbreaking complaint to the US Federal Trade Commission (FTC) concerning the oil giant’s misleading ads.Evironment:
$1 Million Nurdle Spill Settlement Shines Light on Plastic Pollution During Shipping You won’t find an ethane cracker or industrial plastics manufacturing equipment on tiny Sullivan’s Island, South Carolina. The tiny 2.5 mile-long barrier island along the Atlantic coast near Charleston claimed a spot in history for its role in the Revolutionary War, though it’s perhaps better known among vacationers and tourists in recent years for its sandy beachfronts and blue waters. But, in July 2019, Charleston environmental lawyer Andrew Wunderley arrived on the beach after getting a tip from a dog walker who’d noticed something strange in the sands along Sullivan’s Island. Wunderley arrived to discover an extraordinary number of tiny white bits, so dense and widespread on the beach and in the surf that he later compared them to sleet. The bits were newly manufactured pieces of plastic resin, known as nurdles, which pose hazards to wildlife and contaminate the environment as they breakdown into microplastics. By Sharon Kelly
‘Climate Change Is Here’: Europe’s Recent Droughts ‘Unprecedented’ in Millennia, Study Finds “Our results show that what we have experienced over the past five summers is extraordinary for central Europe, in terms of how dry it has been consecutively.” A recent series of summer droughts in Europe, which brought devastatingecological, agricultural, and economic impacts, were more severe than any over the past 2,100 years, new research out Monday finds. “Our results show that what we have experienced over the past five summers is extraordinary for central Europe, in terms of how dry it has been consecutively,” dendrochronology specialist and lead author Professor Ulf Büntgen of Cambridge’s Department of Geography said in a statement. By Andrea GermanosCan ‘Ethical Investing’ Save the World? Superbanker Mark Carney quotes Oscar Wilde on value and price, but ignores his socialist conclusions Canadian born Mark Carney was formerly the governor of the Bank of England – the best paid governor ever at £680,000 a year plus £250,000 housing expenses. Carney recently commented that “You don’t get rich in public service”! Teviewed by Michael RobertsCivil Rights/Black Liberation:
Community Control is Best Route to Abolishing Policing As We Know It Community control of police advocates in the Washington, DC region say their approach is the best — and most democratic – way to achieve both defunding and total abolition of policing as it exists in the US. “What we’re pushing for,” said Netfa Freeman, of Pan African Community Action, “is a ballot initiative that would allow communities to kick out these police agencies” and establish their own security apparatus.
Black Is Back Coalition Partners Praise 19-Point Self-Determination Agenda At a webinar last week, Jericho Movement chairperson Jihad Abdulmumit said the Black Is Back Coalition’s National Black Political Agenda for Self-Determination “covers everything, from our sisters and mothers and families, to reparations, community control of police, to our health and banking systems – everything we need to be our own liberators.” The Jericho Movement is a member of the Coalition, as is the Black Alliance for Peace (BAP), which has “embraced” most of the 19 points and expanded on many of them, said BAP national organizer Ajamu Baraka.
Europe and US Now Policing Black Migrants in Africa To justify US and European military occupation of much of Africa, migrants seeking jobs in the north of the continent or in Europe “are labeled as criminals and terrorists” when they are “just looking for work,” said Ampson Hagan, a PhD candidate at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. “These migrants, traveling along paths that have been traveled for centuries, are now implicated in terrorist activity,” said Hagan. “Terrorism becomes a way of legitimizing a foreign presence” in the Sahel region, centered in Niger. Hagan asks: “What does it mean for Europe to be policing African migration within Africa?”
The Global Significance of Zionism and the Palestinian Struggle for Self-Determination For more than seventy years, the struggle against Zionism and for self-determination for the Palestinian people has become a global struggle and is hotly debated in all corners of the planet. Co-founder of The Electronic Intifada and author of The Battle for Justice in Palestine Ali Abunimah joins The Internationalist Transmission to discuss the global significance of Palestine’s freedom struggle and its connections to the larger struggle for justice and peace everywhere.To support the famine relief effort, British tax policy required landlords to pay the local taxes of their poorest tenant farmers, leading many landlords to forcibly evict struggling farmers and destroy their cottages in order to save money. From “Hunger on Trial” lesson.
Labor:
Many Agricultural Workers Still Can’t Get COVID Vaccine as Growing Season Begins Avkey group of essential workers in New York State are strangely still unable to get vaccinated: farmworkers. As of March 10, anyone 60 years and older can sign up for the vaccine in the Empire State. Grocery, restaurant, delivery workers and other “public-facing” employees in various nodes of the food industry have been eligible since late February. By Leanna First-Arai Economy:
Removing The Debt Barrier To Economic Growth We have explained that the indebtedness of the population means there is little discretionary income with which to drive the economy. The offshoring of middle class jobs lowered incomes, and after paying debt service—mortgage interest, car payments, credit card interest, student loan debt—Americans’ pockets are empty. This situation has been worsened by Covid lockdowns. In the US the federal government has sent out a few Covid payments to help keep people’s heads above water as they face expenses without income. The financial press refers to these Covid checks as “fiscal stimulus,” but there is no stimulus. The Covid checks do not come close to replacing the missing wages, salaries and business profits from lockdowns. Corporations have indebted themselves and impaired their capitalization by borrowing money with which to repurchase their stock. This has built up their debt in the face of stagnant or declining consumer discretionary income. We propose to deal with the debt crisis by forgiving debts as was done in ancient times. Our basic premise is that debts that cannot be paid won’t be. Widespread foreclosures and evictions would further worsen the distribution of income and wealth and further constrain the ability of the economy to grow. Writing debt down to levels that can be serviced would clear the decks tor a real recovery. Income that would be siphoned off in debt service would instead be available to purchase new goods and services.World:
Brazil: 260,000 Dead – The Workers Must Answer, Down With Bolsonaro! Brazil is beating records for the number of daily deaths due to COVID-19, and at the time of writing, the country has exceeded 260,000 casualties. Added to this is the collapse of the country’s health system, with the occupation of beds exceeding 80 percent of capacity in 16 states and the Federal District, with nine states exceeding 90 percent capacity. Read the original in Portuguese, originally published 4 March. When talking about the seriousness of the situation, pulmonologist Margareth Dalcolmo, from the Oswaldo Cruz Foundation (FioCruz), said that “we will have the saddest March of our lives”. Faced with this situation, Bolsonaro responded by saying: “enough of this complaining and me-me-me attitude. How long are you going to cry about it?”
Test and Trace Is The Dead Elephant in The Room – Its Stench Grows by the Day The gigantic fiasco of NHS Test and Trace makes it the most wasteful and inept public spending programme in British history – but it still might become the new norm “As Britain enters a post-pandemic era, its struggle with Covid-19 reveals a country that is a complicated mix of strengths and weaknesses. On the one hand, Britain has developed, manufactured and distributed effective vaccines quicker than any other nation. On the other, it has constructed the biggest gravy train in British history, one that pays consultants as much as £6,624 a day to run the failed NHS Test and Trace system at a cost of £37bn over two years. It is important to know why there are these two very different responses of Britain to the crisis, the one that’s a stunning success and the other a scandalous failure. The Covid-19 epidemic, as in a war, tells us much about the British state and society and what “makes them tick” – or, in some cases, not tick. By Patrick Cockburn
India’s Right-Wing Government is So Hungry for Profit It Will Risk a Famine for the Country India’s right-wing government has been deploying all the modern tools of repression against a historic farmers’ protest. Much is at stake. For the people of India, their agricultural system is about to get far more precarious. For its farmers, ruin, and bankruptcy for millions, is all but guaranteed. For the government of Narendra Modi and his elite backers, it’s a crossroads moment; they calculate that their political power is assured for decades if they can refashion the politics of rural India and force dependency upon the farmers. By Justin Podur
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
Medicare for All Would Have Prevented Hundreds of Thousands of Covid Deaths: New Report “We need to be prepared for the next pandemic, and we can’t be under the current for-profit system.” pril 21, 2020. (Photo: Tom Williams/CQ-Roll Call, Inc. via Getty Images)A new report released Tuesday morning by consumer advocacy group Public Citizen makes the case that the United States’ fragmented for-profit healthcare system hampered the nation’s coronavirus response “at every turn,” resulting in millions of Covid-19 infections and hundreds of thousands of deaths that likely would have been prevented under a Medicare for All system. By Jake Johnson
Bill Bigelow: The Real Irish American Story Not Taught in Schools The coronavirus pandemic reminds us of other times of mass human suffering — times when, like our own, crisis deepened inequality, and hit those hardest who could least afford it. The Great Famine in Ireland can be studied to reflect on how it differs from, but also prefigures, what’s going on today.This article by Bill Bigelow, first published in 2012, looks at how the famine was the result of British colonialism, not a potato blight; there was abundant food in Ireland during the worst years of the famine.
Since World War I, ‘the war to end all wars’, there have been perpetual wars for perpetual peace, this 
During This Economic Crisis, Capitalism’s Three-Point Political Program: 1.Austerity,2. Scapegoat Blacks, Minorities, and ‘Illegal’ Immigrants for Unemployment, and 3. 
Environmental Racism: 
Evironment:
Civil Rights/Black Liberation:
Economy:
World: