Daily News Digest August 6, 2021
Images of the Day:
Another Example of Capitalism as a Failed System: World CaAnpilalism Was Aware of the Danger of Cornovavirus Threat Over 5 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 future of Humanity Is Now At stake!
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!
Quotes of the Day:
Yes, as through this world I’ve wandered I’ve seen lots of funny men;
Some will rob you with a six-gun, And some with a fountain pen. — Woody Guthrie, Pretty Boy Floyd
Carle Sandburg: To A Contemporary Bunkshooter You come along. . . tearing your shirt. . . yelling about Jesus. Where do you get that stuff? What do you know about Jesus?
Jesus had a way of talking soft and outside of a few bankers and higher-ups among the con men of Jerusalem everybody liked to have this Jesus around because he never made any fake passes and everything he said went and he helped the sick and gave the people hope. . . ..
The world faces a dire climate emergency, with more than 14,000 scientists warning in a letter that the planet’s “vital signs” are in bad shape. The urgency to enact serious policies to counteract climate change can’t be emphasized enough. The choice before Biden is stark: will he do what it takes to tackle the climate emergency, or squander the opportunity for the sake of “bipartisanship,” with disastrous consequences for humanity? — Biden Made Big Compromises on Climate — and Movements That Backed Him Are Livid
Videos of the Day:
Edward Snowden & Julian Assange’s warning about the Security and Surveillance Industrial Complex
Richard Wolff: Capitalism is Holding “All Of Us Hostage” The COVID-19 pandemic has changed the nature of work and the lives of working people in drastic ways. Millions of workers lost their jobs over the past year and a half, millions more saw their in-person jobs reoriented to remote work, possibly for good. While there is a lot of discussion right now about what the future of work will look like after COVID-19, it’s important to understand how the pandemic accelerated existing trends in the economy that have been remapping the terrain of work and the makeup of the working class over the past half century. In this special video edition of Working People, TRNN Editor-in-Chief Maximillian Alvarez talks with world-renowned economist Richard D. Wolff about what these trends tell us about the global evolution of capitalism and how we can forge a diverse working-class political coalition in the 21st century that is capable of building a political and economic system that works for all of us. Richard D. Wolff is Professor of Economics Emeritus at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst, and a visiting professor in the Julien J. Studley Graduate Programs in International Affairs at the New School in New York City; he is also the founder of Democracy at Work and host of their nationally syndicated show Economic Update. His latest book is The Sickness is the System: When Capitalism Fails to Save Us from Pandemics or Itself.
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, who profit from war and the war budget, voted 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. Tax the Rich! — They Can Afford To Pay!
America First = America Über Alles!
The The U.S. Department of Defense is the largest institutional consumer of fossil fuels in the world, new research shows, creating more planet-warming greenhouse gas emissions than industrialized countries such as Portugal or SwedenThe Pentagon’s emissions were “in any one year… greater than many smaller countries total greenhouse gas emissions,” researchers of the study said. The findings showed that if the Pentagon was listed as a country, its emissions would make it the world’s 55th largest contributor of greenhouse gases. . — The Pentagon Emits More Greenhouse Gases Than Portugal or Sweden, Study Says
Predatory Banks at Walmarts Made Over 100 Percent of Profits From Overdraft Fees Banks that earn most of their income from overdraft fees resemble payday lenders more than traditional banks. Three national banks that partner with Walmart are wholly dependent on overdraft fees extracted from low-income shoppers. First Convenience Bank, Academy Bank and Woodforest National Bank all made more than 100 percent of their profit in 2020 and 2019 from overdraft fees, according to a study published earlier this year by the Brookings Institution. As the report notes, the firms “had overdraft revenues greater than total net income (meaning they lost money on every other aspect of their business.)”
Real Estate Groups Have So Far Poured Millions Into Stopping Eviction Moratorium While the eviction moratorium set in place for the pandemic likely saved millions of renters from being evicted and potentially experiencing homelessness, the real estate industry was focused on its profits — and was willing to spend millions of dollars to protect their profit margins. A new report from OpenSecrets finds that, over the past year and a half, the real estate industry has spent over $100 million on lobbying. Though financial disclosures don’t specify the purpose of the lobbying funds, the efforts were likely in large part to get the eviction moratorium overturned or not renewed.
The Pentagon Is Killing Us — and the Planet The dog days of summer are upon us —and the record high temperatures killing hundreds in the Pacific Northwest and bringing 118 degree heat to Siberia serve as a harbinger of even hotter, more dangerous days unless we address the elephant in the room. — The Pentagon. — As the largest institutional consumer of oil and, therefore, the largest single U.S. emitter of greenhouse gas emissions (GHG’s), the Pentagon must reduce its carbon footprint of wars and weapons production as well as its bootprint—including tens of thousands of troops deployed worldwide at 800 overseas military bases and one under construction on Okinawa.
We Can’t Log Our Way Out of Global Baking Late last week President Biden met with Western governors to discuss the wildfires that continue to scorch their states. Montana’s Republican governor, Greg Gianforte, said he plans to tell Biden we need to log more of our forests — only of course he’ll use the latest timber industry gobbledygook of “active forest management” instead of speaking plainly and saying, “I want more logging and road building.” But the reality is that these fires are resulting from the record-setting heat and drought brought on by an atmospheric overload of human-caused global warming gases. As proved by Oregon’s wildfires, which are burning through heavily logged and thinned areas, no matter how much resource-extraction politicians blather about “forest management,” we cannot and will not log our way out of climate change. In truth, it’s far past time to address the causes, not the symptoms, of our planet-destroying atmospheric pollution.
Environment:
Global Warming is Self-Accelerating: As the Rate of Global Warming Increases, Global Warming Increases, Which Increases the Rate of Glbal Warming, Etc. Etc.!
Higher flooding frequency: And things will certainly get much worse for Europe as global average temperatures continue to rise in response to ever higher greenhouse gas emissions from ever greater use of fossil fuels. That is because what had once been relatively rare events will grow in force and frequency. More heat means more evaporation, and a warmer atmosphere has a greater capacity to absorb water vapour. So it will rain harder. And the arrival, say researchers in the journal Geophysical Research Letters, of intense, slow-moving storms that precipitate devastating flash floods of the kind that swept Belgium and Germany this summer will by the close of the century become 14 times more frequent. “Governments across the world have been too slow in reducing greenhouse gas emissions and global warming continues apace,” said Hayley Fowler, a climate scientist at Newcastle University in the UK, and one of the researchers. “This study suggests that changes to extreme storms will be significant and cause an increase in the frequency of devastating flooding across Europe. This, alongside the current floods in Europe, is the wake-up call we need.” — Flood Risk Will Rise As Climate Heat Intensifies
Jeff Bezos Says Everything Will Be Ok Billionaire greenwashing in hyperdrive The climate crisis may be dire, with ever more frequent and increasingly devastating floods and wildfires, with killer droughts and heatwaves across the globe, with oceans warming 40% faster and arctic ice sheets melting 70% faster than had been predicted a mere five years ago, with arctic permafrost melting and belching super-greenhouse methane into the atmosphere, and with carbon emissions from fossil fuel combustion continuing to rise year on year regardless.
Covid, Climate, and ‘Dual Metabolic Rupture’ The second titan of destruction now stands alongside the mega-threat of climate change The urgency around pandemics began to ramp up around the same time calls for climate action became mainstream. Many of us have been focused on the climate emergency — and nothing here should be taken to imply we were wrong — but the last year has taught a sharp lesson: deadly pathogens pose an equally menacing threat to human civilization.
As EPA Forced to Finalize New Rules, Report Details Widespread Use of Neurotoxic Pesticide Across US “For years, the EPA has avoided protecting children from learning disabilities and has kept chlorpyrifos on the market, in our food, and in our water.” The public interest law firm Earthjustice released the report—entitled Poisoned Food, Poison Brains: Mapping dangerous pesticides in the foods we eat (pdf)—just weeks before the EPA is set to announce new restrictions on chlorpyrifos. Earthjustice, along with farmworker and public health groups, has pressured the EPA to ban chlorpyrifos through legal action. In what the group hailed as a huge victory, the U.S. Court of Appeals for the 9th Circuit in April ordered the agency to ban all food uses of the pesticide or retain only those that are safe for workers and children. The EPA’s deadline to unveil its rule is August 20.
Nuclear Alert: Japanese Victims of Radioactive Black Rain Finally Vindicated Finally, a Japanese High Court has vindicated dozens of Japanese citizens suffering from radiation-related illnesses, who the Japanese government alleged lived too far from Nagasaki and Hiroshima to have previously been considered Hibakusha [victims of the two atomic bombs dropped by the U.S. during World War II]. The Court determined that radiation from the bomb traveled beyond the government-sanctioned boundary used to determine eligibility for medical compensation and that this radiation injured citizens not previously considered to be eligible for compensation, according to Kyodo News in Japan.n For decades, the fallout from the atomic bomb blasts was well known as ‘black rain’ throughout Japan. However, the Japanese government constructed arbitrary geographical borders designed to limit which Japanese citizens might be eligible for compensation.
Black Liberation/Civil Rights:
“Caught in Hell”: Complaint Shows Horrors Inflicted on African Asylum Seekers Anti-Blackness, racism and a culture of white supremacy are the beating heart of the immigrant detention machine.
Labor:
Economy:
Serially-Charged Robinhood Doubles in Price in Three Days – But Appears to Have Forgotten about Its Second Quarter Earnings Report after Losing $1.4 Billion in First Quarter Robinhood is the poster boy for the craziest, most unregulated stock market era since 1929. That one ended in tears. This one will also. Robinhood is the trading app used by millions of young, inexperienced retail investors to trade stocks and options on their mobile phones. The company went public last Thursday on the Nasdaq stock market (the wonderful folks who brought us the dot.com crash in 2000). Robinhood closed the trading week last Friday with a share price of $35.15 – an embarrassing 7.5 percent below its IPO price of $38. Curiously, so far this week, through Wednesday’s closing price of $70.39, the stock has soared 100.256 percent from Friday’s closing price. In an efficient, regulated stock market that is capable of engaging in its core function of price discovery, Robinhood would not have doubled in price in three trading sessions. The company lost $1.4 billion in the first quarter of this year and has yet to report its second quarter earnings or even announce the date that it will report those earnings – or lack thereof.
World:
Biden’s ‘America First’ Policy!: Biden White House Dismisses WHO Call for Moratorium on Vaccine Boosters “The president has said that the U.S. will serve as a vaccine arsenal for the world. Ten thousand people die each day waiting for ambitious action to match this vision.” —Peter Maybarduk, Public Citizen. White House Press Secretary Jen Psaki touted U.S. vaccine donations to poor countries, but public health advocates have warned the Biden administration isn’t doing nearly enough.
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 COVID Variants Threaten to Make Pandemic Permanent Early research indicates these new variants might be far more effective at breaching our vaccine defenses than Delta. There were more than 96,000 new cases of COVID-19 recorded yesterday alone, a two-week increase of 131 percent
Thousands of People Were Given Heart Pumps Despite FDA Warnings of Defects John Winkler II was dying of heart failure when doctors came to his hospital bedside, offering a chance to prolong his life. The HeartWare Ventricular Assist Device, or HVAD, could be implanted in Winkler’s chest until a transplant was possible. The heart pump came with disclaimers of risk, but Winkler wanted to fight for time. He was only 46 and had a loving wife and four children, and his second grandchild was on the way. . . . What John Winkler didn’t know: Months before his implant, the Food and Drug Administration put HeartWare on notice for not properly monitoring or repairing HVAD defects, such as faulty batteries and short circuits caused by static electricity, that had killed patients. The agency issued a warning letter, one of its most serious citations. It demanded fixes within 15 days, but took no decisive action as