Daily News Digest August 9, 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:
Rosga Luxembur: Barbarism 
Rosa Luxemburg: Democracy
Videos of the Day:
A Cycle of War Crimes: Today’s Crisis in Afghanistan Grew Out of 20 Years of U.S. War
Steven Donziger, Lawyer Who Sued Chevron Over Amazon Oil Spills, Marks 2 Years Under House Arrest
Cops Want Him to Plead Guilty to See His Kids, But He’s Fighting Back Instead Just how far will the criminal justice system go to quash dissent? The case of popular police auditor Otto the Watchdog is a cautionary tale of how far prosecutors and cops will go to pursue charges against people who hold them accountable.
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!
When Money Talks Bullshiters Walk!: Pelosi Opposed Student Loan Cancellation After Billionaire Ally’s Memo Amemo uncovered by The Intercept shows that House Speaker Nancy Pelosi (D-California) opposed supporting a push for President Joe Biden to cancel student loan debt after billionaire donors, with whom she has close ties, urged her to do so. Last week, Pelosi announced her opposition to a popular progressive proposal to cancel student loan debt, which advocates say could provide major relief to millions of borrowers and provide a huge boost to the COVID-burdened economy.
‘Praise the Lord, and Pass the Ammunition’!: Kelly Denton-Borhaug: Christianity Is the Linchpin in America’s War Machine Dr. Kelly Denton-Borhaug, a professor of religious studies, examines how Christian rhetoric is used to justify endless wars and the “moral injury” they inflict.
Environment:
Is Humanity’s Return to Barbarism Unavoidable? Unless we can tame our irrational economic system and, above all else, do away with capitalism’s addiction to fossil fuels, the collapse of civilized social order is a near certainty. A cursory glance at the state of today’s world will give pause to anyone wishing to celebrate humanity’s progress. In fact, evidence abounds that the possibility of a reversion to barbarism should not be rejected as too far-fetched.
Drought, Flood, Fire How Climate Change Contributes to Catastrophes Every year, droughts, floods, and fires impact hundreds of millions of people and cause massive economic losses. Climate change is making these catastrophes more dangerous. Now. Not in the future: NOW. This book describes how and why climate change is already fomenting dire consequences, and will certainly make climate disasters worse in the near future. Chris C. Funk combines the latest science with compelling stories, providing a timely, accessible, and beautifully-written synopsis of this critical topic. The book describes our unique and fragile Earth system, and the negative impacts humans are having on our support systems. It then examines recent disasters, including heat waves, extreme precipitation, hurricanes, fires, El Niños and La Niñas, and their human consequences. By clearly describing the dangerous impacts that are already occurring, Funk provides a clarion call for social change, yet also conveys the beauty and wonder of our planet, and hope for our collective future.
Black Liberation/Civil Rights:
MLK’s Family and Civil Rights Leaders Call for Voting Rights March on Washington A mass march on August 28 will call on Senate Democrats to ditch the filibuster and pass voting rights legislation. The Voting Rights Act of 1965 is 56 years old today, but instead of simply celebrating the historic law that helped combat Jim Crow-era suppression of Black voters, civil rights leaders are busy organizing mass actions to bring a fresh slate of voting rights legislation to President Biden’s desk. The nation has reached a tipping point, they say, and the fight to save democracy from modern forms of voter suppression has never been more urgent. An increasingly conservative Supreme Court has gutted the Voting Rights Act, allowing states with legacies of discrimination to pass laws restricting access to the ballot. Voting rights advocates say ballot restrictions specifically target lower-income and Black and Brown voters, and voter suppression laws are designed to maintain minority rule for the predominantly white Republican Party.
Labor:
The Working-Class Has Been Sufering a Depression for the Past 21 Years!
Depression Level Unemplyment: Shadow Government Statistics Alternate Unemployment Charts The seasonally-adjusted SGS Alternate Unemployment Rate reflects current unemployment reporting methodology adjusted for SGS-estimated long-term discouraged workers, who were defined out of official existence in 1994. That estimate is added to the BLS estimate of U-6 unemployment, which includes short-term discouraged workers. The U-3 unemployment rate is the monthly headline number. The U-6 unemployment rate is the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) broadest unemployment measure, including short-term discouraged and other marginally-attached workers as well as those forced to work part-time because they cannot find full-time employment. June 2021 ShadowStats Alternate Unemployment is 25.4%
Since June 2009 Americans have lived in the false reality of a recovering economy. Various fake news and manipulated statistics have been used to create this false impression. However, indicators that really count have not supported the false picture and were ignored. For example, it is normal in a recovering or expanding economy for the labor force participation rate to rise as people enter the workforce to take advantage of the job opportunities. During the decade of the long recovery, from June 2009 through July 2021, the labor force participation rate consistently fell from 65.7 to 61.7 percent. —Paul Craig Roberts, The Diminishing American Economy (Updated)
FRED Labor Force Participation Rate is 61.7%
Economy:
Shadow Government Statistics Dailu Update (August 5th to 6th). Keep Scrolling Down for the Latest Numbers, Systemic Risk, Monetary Data and Other Sections, Including Shadowstats Background Material) •
- Second-Quarter 2021 Real Merchandise Trade Deficit Deepened to a Record Shortfall [see Latest Numbers]
- Preliminary July 2021 Monetary Base Numbers All Hit New Historic Levels or Cycle-High Growth
- June 2021 “Basic M1” Money Supply Surged to a Record 87.8% Gain Versus Its Pre-Pandemic Trough, Up from 81.1% in May; All Money Supply Dollar Levels Are at Historic Highs and at Record-High Growth
- July FOMC Policies Were Unchanged [See the Systemic Risk Section for FOMC and Money Supply Details]
- The Still-Unfolding “Recession-Depression” Recovery Remains Well Shy of Its Pre-Recession Peak, as Reflected in Payroll Employment, for Example [See the Economic Headlines and coverage in the Latest Numbers Section]
- Combined Impact: Reflecting the Surge in Money, June CPI and PPI Inflation Have Exploded, Well in Excess of Consensus Expectations, While Faltering Business Activity Has Begun to Intensify Anew
Fred: Producer Price Index by Commodity: All Commodities (PPIACO) (PPI)
Trading Unit of 5-Count Felon JPMorgan Chase Gave 550 Customer Passwords and User Names to an “Active Customer” for More than a Decade; SEC Fines It a Paltry $2.75 Million When it comes to the top watchdog of trading on Wall Street, the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), that dog can’t hunt. It’s not that the career professionals at the SEC haven’t tried to hunt, it’s that when they get too close to ensnarling some powerful person on Wall Street, they are told to stand down. Having a Wall Street defense lawyer at the helm of the SEC under both Presidents Obama and Trump certainly hasn’t helped the matter. (See here and here.) The jury is still out on President Biden’s SEC Chair, Gary Gensler, who just took office on April 17. (It should be noted, however, that the case described below was settled by the SEC after he took office.)
World:
Israel in the Its Role as the Foot Soldiers of Imperialism in the Middle East!: ‘We Need to Take Military Action’: Israeli Defense Minister Threatens War With Iran Denying responsibility for a deadly drone strike in the Arabian Sea, the Iranian Foreign Ministry warned that “any anti-Iran adventurism will receive an immediate and decisive response.” Israeli Defense Minister Benny Gantz said Wednesday that his country is prepared take military action against Iran in the wake of a reported drone strike on an oil tanker in the Arabian Sea last week—a deadly attack that Israel, the U.S., and the United Kingdom have blamed on Iran without offering a shred of supporting evidence or intelligence.
Israel—the ‘Only Middle East Democracy’—Criminalizes Journalism, Arrests Al Jazeera Reporter for Covering East Jerusalem The Israeli police took another step toward criminalizing journalism on Saturday when they arrested al-Jazeera Arabic correspondent Givara al-Budeiri while she was covering a demonstration in the Sheikh Jarrah neighborhood of East Jerusalem marking the anniversary of the Naksa, the Setback. That term is how is how Palestinians refer to the 1967 Israeli military occupation of the Palestinian territories. She was clearly wearing a vest marked “Press” when Israeli police assaulted her, shoved her against a wall, kicked her, packed her into a squad car and kicked her some more, then jailed her for seven hours. She complained of pain in her right side.
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!
Hiroshima and Nagasaki Never Again! 
Hiroshima August 7, 1945The detonation of the atomic bomb at Hiroshima was a deeply sobering event for all Mankind. The fact that man was capable of building a weapon with this kind of power meant that humans now had the ability to destroy every living thing on this planet. War-Related Disaster— Nuclear Weapons
August 6 and 9 are the 63rd anniversaries of the destruction of the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki by atomic bombs and the murder of hundreds of thousands of their citizens. Annual demonstrations take place at the nuclear weapons laboratories in Livermore, California and Los Alamos, New Mexico, at the nuclear weapons test site in Nevada and at the bomb factory in Oak Ridge, Tennessee to demand nuclear disarmament now.
One of the long-standing myths of U.S. history is that atomic bombs were dropped on Hiroshima and Nagasaki in 1945 to “save lives.” The story is that the bombings, which killed hundreds of thousands of people, were necessary to bring World War II to an end.
In reality, the decision was purely political. Leading generals and admirals opposed the bombing. It was ordered to demonstrate the ruthlessness of the U.S. government.
Ronald Takaki wrote, in his article on the subject in the July 31, 2005 issue of the San Francisco Chronicle, “During the days before that fateful Aug. 6, 1945, Gen. Douglas MacArthur learned that Japan had asked Russia to negotiate a surrender. ‘We expected acceptance of the Japanese surrender daily,’ one of his staff members recalled. When he was notified that an atomic bomb had been dropped on Hiroshima, the general was livid. MacArthur declared that the atomic attack on Hiroshima was ‘completely unnecessary from a military point of view.’”
General Dwight D. Eisenhower, commander of allied forces in Europe and later president of the U.S., also called it “completely unnecessary” and later told an interviewer,” It wasn’t necessary to hit them with that awful thing.” Fleet Admiral William Leahy, the president’s chief of staff, believed that Japan would fall without the necessity of a land invasion. Leahy later wrote that, in dropping the bomb, “we had adopted an ethical standard common to barbarians of the dark ages.” (Eisenhower and Leahy quotes found at: HIROSHIMA WHO DISAGREED WITH THE ATOMIC BOMBING? Why they did it.)
Why then did the president make the decision to drop the atomic bomb on Hiroshima? In fact Truman gave an order not to bomb Nagasaki. A memo published in The Bulletin of the Atomic Scientists, (May/June 1998), states that Truman “had given orders to stop atomic bombing. He said the thought of wiping out another 100,000 people was too horrible. He didn’t like the idea of killing, as he said, ‘all those kids.’” Dirty Harry in San Francisco
So why was the bomb dropped?
Why were Truman’s orders on the second bomb not obeyed?
“Secretary of War Henry Stimson, for his part, regarded the atomic bomb as what he called the ‘master card’ of diplomacy towards Russia. However, he believed that sparring with the Soviet Union in the early spring, before the weapon was demonstrated, would be counterproductive. Before a mid-May meeting of a cabinet-level committee considering Far Eastern issues, Stimson observed that “the questions cut very deep and [were] powerfully connected with our success with S-1 [the atomic bomb Gar Alperovitz, in “Hiroshima: Historians Reassess” Foreign Policy (Summer 1995) No. 99: 15-34, where it is only available to subscribers; the section quoted is available online at page 4. A web version of the article on can be found at the National Center for Economic and Security Alternatives website.
These new facts from history and Eisenhower’s memoirs show that the carnage of Hiroshima and Nagasaki were not to make Japan surrender and save American lives, but to warn the Soviet Union that the United States had the atomic bomb and its leaders were cold-blooded enough to use such a weapon of mass destruction. It was the opening salvo of the, “Cold War” and beginning of the process of “Pax Americana.”
August, 2008