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:
As the Permafrost Mets: This dismal vision of life circa 2050 comes not from some flight of literary fantasy, but from published environmental science. Indeed, we can all see the troubling signs of global warming around us right now — worsening wildfires, ever more severe ocean storms, and increased coastal flooding. While the world is focused on the fiery spectacle of wildfires destroying swaths of Australia, Brazil,California, and Canada, a far more serious threat is developing, only half-attended to, in the planet’s remote polar regions. Not only are the icecaps melting with frightening speed, already raising sea levels worldwide, but the vast Arctic permafrost is fast receding, releasing enormous stores of lethal greenhouse gases into the atmosphere. At that frozen frontier far beyond our ken or consciousness, ecological changes, brewing largely invisibly deep beneath the Arctic tundra, will accelerate global warming in ways sure to inflict untold future misery on all of us. More than any other place or problem, the thawing of the Arctic’s frozen earth, which covers vast parts of the roof of the world, will shape humanity’s fate for the rest of this century — destroying cities, devastating nations, and rupturing the current global order. — Melting of Ice Sheets Is Dramatic, But Melting of Permafrost Means Mass Death
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 ownershipof 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!
Military BudgetThe Game is Rigged for 1% Minority Rulle!: Study Confirms How Citizens United Made ‘Mockery’ of Campaign Finance Rules The findings in this study add to the overwhelming evidence that campaign committees and outside groups frequently are not truly independent of one another. “We need to pass the Freedom to Vote Act to stop consultants from acting as coordinators between candidates and super PACs.” As a report published Wednesday revealed that political consulting firms raked in $1.4 billion while simultaneously working for campaign committees and purportedly independent groups during the 2018 and 2020 election cycles, progressives renewed calls for Congress to pass the Freedom to Vote Act to protect and strengthen democracy.Environment:
“A proposed oil-carrying rail line through roadless areas of a national forest in Utah doesn’t conflict with the Biden administration’s sustainability goals, the Forest Service told opponents of the project. “In a letter to the Center for Biological Diversity, Forest Service Chief Randy Moore said the Uinta Basin Railway would help the local economy and support President Biden’s policies to ‘rebuild our infrastructure for a sustainable economy.’ “At issue is an 88-mile-long rail line that would transport mainly crude oil and sand for fracking, providing a route for expanded oil production in the Uinta Basin. A 12-mile portion would pass through the Ashley National Forest, including roadless areas prohibited from certain types of development.” — Sandra Steingraber, Biden Admin Backs Oil Rail Through Roadless Forest Area
‘Our Atmosphere Is Broken’: US Tops Record for Hurricane-Force Winds in a Day “The last Dust Bowl stemmed from degradation of the soil,” said writer and activist Bill McKibben. “This time it’s the climate we’ve upended.” The United States on Wednesday had the most hurricane-force gusts ever recorded in a single day after an after an “off the charts” storm system tore through the central part of the country, bringing tornadoes and triggering widespread power outages, dust storms, and warnings of the climate emergency.The UnitedStates of ‘Cancer Alleys’ — Systemic Environmental Racism!: How Much Air Pollution Do You Live With? It May Depend On Your Skin Color No matter which of the main types of air pollutants you look at, people of color are breathing more of it, US study finds‘
For all pollutants, where there were noticeable differences in pollution levels, the most exposed group was a minority group,’ the study’s lead author said. Photograph: georgeclerk/Getty Images
Cadmium is a heavy metal found naturally in the earth’s crust. It is usually found as a mineral combined with other elements such as oxygen, chlorine, or sulfur. Cadmium is used in many industries and is essential in the production of batteries, certain alloys, coatings, solar cells, plastic stabilizers, and pigments. It is also found in significant quantities in cigarette smoke. Mining and other similar industrial activities are the main source of cadmium in the environment. Once released, cadmium and cadmium compounds are relatively water soluble and, as a result, are more mobile in most mediums such as soil and water. Furthermore, they are generally more bioavailable and tend to accumulate in plant and animal life. Because of this, the main source of cadmium exposure in non-smokers is their diet. Among smokers, cigarette smoke is the main source of exposure, with numerous studies identifying cadmium blood levels 4-5 times higher than the normal population. Cadmium is toxic to humans, affecting multiple organs/systems including the kidneys, bones and lungs. Additionally, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classifies cadmium as a Class 1 carcinogen. Cadmium bioaccumulates in the human body, especially in the kidneys. The accumulation of cadmium in the kidneys leads to loss of kidney function due to decreased reabsorption of proteins, glucose, and amino acids. Skeletal damage in both human and animals exposed to high levels of cadmium has been observed, while chronic obstructive airway disease has been documented among workers. Farm workers and other residents of China’s Hunan province have experienced an epidemic of cadmium poisoning as recently as 2014. Since the early 2000s, smelting plants proliferated in the area, operating with very little government oversight. The result was heavily contaminated rice and other vegetables grown in the area. Locals developed multiple complications, including “itai-itai” disease – a sickness first recognized in Japan in the 1960s. Although some regulations from the Chinese government have limited farming activities in land with high cadmium levels, the health effects in the population remain- yet another example of industry putting profit over a community’s health.
Should Poison Be Dropped On a Mouse-Infested Island? California Weighs Plan Wildlife officials say the mice threaten local birds, insects and reptiles – but critics warn against ‘poison that kills everything’ On Thursday, the California Coastal Commission will vote on a proposal to eradicate the invasive rodents from the islands, located just off the San Francisco coast, by dropping 3,000lb of poisoned bait from helicopters. If the contentious plan moves forward and earns approval from the regional director of the US Fish and Wildlife Service (FWS), it could be implemented starting in the autumn of 2023. The vote marks the culmination of years-long debate over how to address the Farallones mouse infestation.
Make No Mistake: Hydrogen = Fracking “Dirtier Than Coal” In her proposed “Hydrogen Hub Act,” which was unveiled last month, the governor claims that producing hydrogen would represent a climate and clean energy “solution.” Unfortunately, the only thing hydrogen stands to fuel is the climate crisis. For one, hydrogen is currently produced using methane gas. In other words, the “gas” in oil and gas. Converting methane to hydrogen not only promotes more oil and gas extraction (i.e., fracking), but in doing so creates carbon dioxide as methane molecules are split into carbon and hydrogen. To boot, converting methane to hydrogen requires enormous amounts of energy, energy that today mainly comes from the burning of fossil fuels.
Civil Rights/Black Liberation:Labor:
The Supreme Court, Abortion,and the New Dred Scott Should the US Supreme Court next year overturn Roe v. Wade and limit abortion rights the decision will be the new Dred Scott, damaging both the remaining thread of legitimacy and respect the Court has, as well as propelling American politics into a divide it has not seen since the Civil War. Dred Scott v. Sanford is the infamous 1857 Supreme Court decision which ruled that an African-American slave taken from slave to free territory in the US was not entitled to his freedom. At issue was the Missouri Compromise, a national law which divided America into free territory in the North, slave for the South when it came to admission for new states. In reaching this conclusion the Supreme Court ruled that the intent of the framers of the Constitution was that persons of African descent could never be citizens, they were simply property of their owners. Therefore any law, such as the Missouri Compromise that rendered individuals such as Dred Scott as free unconstitutionally violated their ownersCensoring Texas History Real History: The Cotton Gin In late 18th-century America, the working assumption about slave labor in the cotton fields was that it was becoming too expensive. Here is the scenario: In the American South most slaves were used in cotton production. Yet, the use of slave labor was negatively impacting cotton’s profitability. The most labor-intensive aspect of the cotton process at this time, after planting and harvesting, was the extraction of cotton seeds from the raw cotton ball. If you ever get hold of a raw cotton ball, you can easily see why this would be so. The seeds are tightly entwined in a thick mass of cotton fibers. To increase production meant acquiring more slaves to perform this task of extraction. By the 1790s, the cost of additional slaves exceeded the expected profit from added production. Under these conditions U.S. cotton production was stagnant and losing markets to foreign production (such as in India). There was little incentive to expand American cotton production into new regions.
Economy:
In 2008 they bailed out the banks, but not the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation: FDIC Woefully Underfunded; Problem Institutions Soar The latest Quarterly Banking Profile shows something most of us inherently knew: The FDIC is ill prepared for more bank failures. . . . Deposit Insurance Fund (DIF) Ratio Collapses The DIF Balance Declines by $16 Billion, and Insured Deposits Grow by 4.6 Percent in the Fourth Quarter DIF Reserve Ratio Declines to 0.40 Percent’There’s a Nasty Public Battle Raging Over Control of the Federal Agency that Insures Bank Deposits The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC) is the agency that prevents financial panics from turning into catastrophic runs on banks by providing taxpayer-backstopped and government guaranteed insurance on deposits, up to $250,000 per depositor. Its leadership and honest governance is thus critically important to every American. So when a nasty public brawl breaks out between the Board of Directors of the FDIC and its Chairwoman, Jelena McWilliams, every American needs to sit up and pay attention.
World:
Police Don’t Protect the Law—They Protect the 1%’s Law and Order!: The Royal Canadian Mounted Police Serves and Protects Fossil Fuel CEOs It is well documented that systemic racism permeates the Royal Canadian Mounted Police to its core. The RCMP’s actions in Wet’suwet’en territory are deeply rooted in that racism. The Royal Canadian Mounted Police Serves Canada has a climate double standard. While land and water defenders face serious criminalization, repression, and police brutality, we’re continuing to witness in Wet’suwet’en territory, corporations—backed by the the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP)—get away with breaking the law with impunity.
Cuba Defeats Covid-19 with Learning, Science, and Unity Education is central to Cuba’s brand of socialism. The revolutionary government’s dedication to scientific knowledge and healthcare for all shows up now as Cubans cope with the Covid-19 pandemic. The United States is not so lucky. Cubans have wholeheartedly carried out masking, social-distancing, testing and quarantining. Cuba’ s bio-medical research and production facilities created five anti-Covid vaccines. As of December 3, 90.1 percent of Cubans had received their first dose; 82.3 percent of them were fully vaccinated. Only seven other countries have higher rates. (1) Trials showed that Cuba’s workhorse Abdala and Soberana 02 vaccines were protective for over 90 percent of vaccine recipients. Cuba’s Covid vaccines don’t need extremely low-temperature refrigeration as is the case for major U.S. vaccines. In that regard they are particularly useful in poorly resourced countries. Cuba has sent, or is preparing to send, vaccines to Vietnam, Venezuela, Iran, and Nicaragua. Cuban scientists are elaborating a version of their Soberana Plus vaccine that will protect against the Omicron variant. Cuba’s achievement in producing anti-Covid-19 vaccines is remarkable in the face of shortages of equipment, reagents, and supplies due to the U.S. economic blockade.
Debate in England:Capitalist governments had hoped they were over the worst of the pandemic – at least in the richest countries in the world. In Austria, Chancellor Kurz even announced that the “societal pandemic is over”. Now that is proving clearly not to be the case: a fifth wave is ravaging Europe, whilst a wave of the Omicron variant – itself the product of vaccine hoarding, vaccine nationalism, etc. – looms ever closer.And yet, these same governments are refusing to implement measures that would disrupt the ‘recovery’ (read: ‘profits’). Instead, they have chosen to place all emphasis on the unvaccinated, with policies such as vaccine passes and mandates. The same governments also smell the potential in these measures to provoke division within the working class: between the vaccinated and unvaccinated, diverting blame from the bosses. — Europe: Capitalism Blames Its Mess on the Unvaccinated
Glen Greenwald: Led by Jeremy Corbyn, the British Left Opposes Vaccine Mandates as Anti-Worker and Repressive “Tonight I will oppose both compulsory vaccines for NHS staff, and the introduction of vaccine passports. Both measures are counterproductive and will create division when we need cooperation and unity.” — JeremyCorbyn. Unfortunately for the liberal-left which has constructed this manipulative and coercive framework, this now requires that the term “anti-vax” be applied to one of the international left’s most beloved political figures: former Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn. They must also now apply this term of shame to the most admired left-wing members of the British Parliament along with leading trade unions in the UK. That is because the British Left — not just Corbyn and leftist MPs but also leading labor unions — have united to emphatically oppose vaccine mandates and vaccines passports on the ground that (1) it is immoral and profoundly anti-worker to fire health care front-line workers and other workers for refusing a vaccine they have not been convinced is safe and effective, and (2) Persuasion is a far more effective and ethical means of administering public health policy than coercion, dictate and punishment.
Education, Health, 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
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”, is Still True for Today’s World!
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!
The Game is Rigged for 1% Minority Rulle!: Study Confirms How Citizens United Made ‘Mockery’ of Campaign Finance Rules The findings in this study add to the overwhelming evidence that campaign committees and outside groups frequently are not truly independent of one another. “We need to pass the Freedom to Vote Act to stop consultants from acting as coordinators between candidates and super PACs.” As a report published Wednesday revealed that political consulting firms raked in $1.4 billion while simultaneously working for campaign committees and purportedly independent groups during the 2018 and 2020 election cycles, progressives renewed calls for Congress to pass the Freedom to Vote Act to protect and strengthen democracy.
Environment: 
The UnitedStates of ‘Cancer Alleys’ — Systemic Environmental Racism!: How Much Air Pollution Do You Live With? It May Depend On Your Skin Color No matter which of the main types of air pollutants you look at, people of color are breathing more of it, US study finds‘
