Daily News Digest January 12, 2022
Humanity Will Not be Covid Free, Until the Vaccines are Free For the Whole World!
Images of the Day:
Looong Silence (His Silence was Deafening!)
Another Example Capitalism as a Failed System: World Capilalism Ws 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!
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!
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:
Back in August, after the last US troops were airlifted from Kabul, Biden said: “We will maintain the fight against terrorism in Afghanistan and other countries. We just don’t need to fight a ground war to do it. We have what’s called over-the-horizon capabilities, which means we can strike terrorists and targets without American boots on the ground — or very few, if needed.” According to a January 1 NYT report, the US military may be about to launch “over the horizon” strikes against an ISIS cell that they believe was involved in the suicide bombing attack outside Kabul airport in August, which killed 13 US soldiers. According to the report, “The cell members could be among the first insurgents struck by armed MQ-9 Reaper drones flying missions over Afghanistan from a base in the Persian Gulf,” Is the US air war against Afghanistan about to be restarted? — Barry Sheppard, Cover up of Civilian Deaths From US Airstrikes Exposed
Scum rises to the top: The conviction of Maxwell, while welcome, will provide no real consolation to those who have suffered abuse at the hands of the rich and powerful. Maxwell was the sacrifice the ruling class were willing to make to present a semblance of justice.Meanwhile, countless other Epsteins and Maxwells will continue to operate away from the public eye. For the ruling class, Maxwell’s only real crime was getting caught. The prevalence of abuse and perversion at the top of society is no coincidence. Capitalism – a system based upon the ruthless exploitation of the majority in society – rewards those who act in a callous and cut-throat manner. In other words, the scum rises to the top. And as Epstein’s ridiculously short 2008 sentence and the small sums required to settle with his victims shows – with that sort of wealth comes an atmosphere of impunity in which such predators thrive. Only when the stench became overwhelming were Epstein and Maxwell thrown to the wolves. But their accomplices continued to walk free. We cannot rely on the capitalist courts to hold the depraved elites to account for their crimes. It is only by overthrowing the system that breeds monsters like Maxwell, and which allows them to act with virtual impunity, that we can deliver true justice. — Maxwell Trial Shines a Light on the Depravity of the Ruling Class
Videos of the Day:
Guantánamo Turns 20: Ex-Prisoner Moazzam Begg Calls on Biden to Close Site & End Legacy of Torture
Meet Mansoor Adayfi: I Was Kidnapped as a Teen, Sold to the CIA & Jailed at Guantánamo for 14 Years
Guantánamo 2.0: Former Prisoner Mansoor Adayfi Says Injustice Continues Even After Release
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. Tax the Rich! — They Can Afford!
Ralph Nader: Think Big to Overcome Losing Big to Corporatism Citizen groups and their supporters must now step back and develop a ten-year Plan to overpower the corporate state with a democratic state.
When Revolutionary Moments Arise Again — and They Will — What Will We Do? The world is in a prolonged period of global unrest. Since the financial crisis of 2008, every region of the planet has experienced levels of mass protest unprecedented in recent history, from the Arab Spring in the Middle East and Black Lives Matter in the U.S., to the farmers’ protests in India and the recent upheaval in Kazakhstan. Yet decades of social movement struggle haven’t produced a break from capitalist domination, and in most places they have failed to even accomplish the more modest aims of reform. Meanwhile, the global climate crisis has added another layer of urgency to the task of social transformation.
Privatized Public Housing: Fire in the Bronx: Capitalist Mass Murder A fire in New York City on Sunday killed at least 17 people. Eric Adams called it a “tragedy.” We call it premeditated murder by real estate speculators. On Sunday morning, a fire broke out in an apartment building in the Bronx. It seems to have started with a malfunctioning space heater in an apartment on the second and third floors. Within minutes, flames and smoke quickly spread through the building. Soon, at least 17 people were killed — including eight children. More than 60 people were injured by the smoke, with 13 in critical condition. New York City’s recently elected mayor, the former cop and Democrat Eric Adams, referred to the fire as a “tragedy,” but this was no act of God. The 19-story tower on East 181st Street opened in 1972 as part of a public-housing project. It is now owned by private investors who claim “that the fire alarm system was working and that there were no known problems with the smoke alarms,” as they told the New York Times. But they would say that, wouldn’t they? The building had a long list of violations, including mice and cockroach infestations, and one of these owners, Mark Gropper, had been named as part of Mayor Adams’ transition team for housing before he took office, revealing where Adams’ priorities lie and who he really represents. It appears that a malfunctioning door allowed the smoke to spread. Had it closed automatically, as is required by law, smoke might not have been able to flood the building. Some residents at first ignored the alarm, as it went off at least several times a week.
Georgia Voting Rights Groups to Boycott Biden Speech “We don’t need even more photo ops,” says the co-founder of Black Voters Matter. “We need action.” Several prominent Georgia-based advocacy groups are planning to boycott President Joe Biden’s voting rights speech in Atlanta on Tuesday, criticizing the event as yet another symbolic gesture in the face of concrete threats to the franchise nationwide.
Review: ‘Don’t Look Up’ – Don’t Leave It TO THE Liberals to Save Us Adam McKay’s satirical film Don’t Look Up (available on Netflix) is one of the most divisive films of the year just gone – provoking anger amongst the reactionary right and so-called ‘progressive’ liberals alike. [ALERT! This review contains significant plot spoilers.] The premise of the film is very simple. We follow astronomer and PhD student Kate (Jennifer Lawrance) and her supervisor, Prof. Mindy (Leonardo DiCaprio), who have discovered an enormous comet heading straight towards Earth. They try to warn the world that there is a 99.7% chance that the planet will be destroyed. The comet is a clear metaphor for climate change, and the 99.7% probability is a reference to the percentage of scientists who agree that climate change is happening and that human activity is responsible for it.But as with the impending climate catastrophe, the ruling class in Don’t Look Up cannot see further than their own noses – ignoring the imminent threat in favour of their own narrow
Marjorie Cohn: Conservatives on Supreme Court Poised to Block Biden’s Vaccine and Mask Mandates The reactionary “justices” seem more inclined to shield corporate profits than to protect people’s health and safety. Despite the fact that we are in the midst of an unprecedented and deadly pandemic with no signs of abating, the right-wing majority on the Supreme Court appears unlikely to stop the carnage. The reactionary “justices” seem more inclined to shield corporate profits and red states’ rights than to protect the health and safety of the people. Scientists have achieved near unanimity that vaccines and masking are effective in preventing COVID infections. Nevertheless, the high court is being asked to block Biden administration rules that would mandate vaccines and/or masking and testing. On January 7, the court heard arguments in two sets of cases that will have widespread impact on the health of millions of people in the United States. The high court is not considering whether to strike down the mandates but rather whether to stop them from going into effect while the lower courts consider their constitutionality, which could take several months. Meanwhile, untold numbers of people are getting sick and dying.
Environment —Ecosocialism or Ecocide!:
NOAA Report Shows 310 Climate-Linked Disasters Cost US Over $2 Trillion Since 1980 “This report underscores the reality of how the climate crisis is already affecting people’s lives and the economy.”
We Need the Fossil Free Finance Act Now to Combat Wall Street’s Greenwashing Major U.S. banks committed to net zero emissions by 2050, but they continue to support the fossil fuel industry. n the lead-up to recent climate talks in Glasgow, Scotland, some were calling COP26 the “Finance COP.” This was, in part, because Mark Carney, the former governor of the Bank of England, had been working tirelessly to secure new climate commitments from financial institutions across the globe.Mark Carney, the former governor of the Bank of England finally had his big moment in Glasgow when he announced that over 450 of the world’s largest financial institutions — including banks, insurers, pension funds and asset managers — had joined the Glasgow Financial Alliance for Net Zero (GFANZ) and committed to achieving net zero emissions by 2050. “The architecture of the global financial system has been transformed to deliver net zero,” stated Carney as he unveiled the news. There were, however, two key words missing from the financial sector’s big moment. Not once in the 1,349-word press release proclaiming the financial industry’s new-found dedication to climate action did the words “fossil fuels” appear. To say that this is problematic is an understatement.
Civil Rights/Black Liberation:
Slave Labor for the New Jim Crow Prison System: Police-Led Youth Programs Don’t Actually Combat the School-to-Prison Pipeline Diversion programs are presented as exit ramps to incarceration, offering alternatives to life behind bars and providing resources to individuals who would have otherwise been arrested and sentenced to prison. When an individual commits a crime, they are arrested as an entry point into the criminal legal system and transitioned through a traditional court trial and sentencing. Through diversion, individuals avoid this process altogether or partially by instead receiving treatment or rehabilitation programming designed to address what led them to commit the crime. But what happens when those diversion programs intended to help end up doing more harm than good? The Prison Policy Initiative, a research and advocacy nonprofit organization that exposes the broader harms of mass criminalization, brings this question to the forefront, informing us that not all diversion programs are created equal. For Black and Brown youth who face the brunt of arrests, incarceration and criminalization, diversion programs can be good, but not when they center the institution of policing to carry them out.
Ongoing Backlash Against CRT Ignores Black Children’s Experience of Racism Black children experience racism long before most white children learn about race. In all the hand-wringing agitation against discussion of racism and systemic oppression in schools, what the right-wing has intentionally and inaccurately mislabeled Critical Race Theory (CRT), the emphasis is on white children: what they feel and how they feel, when the truth of American racism is taught to them. No one focuses on Black children: what they feel and how they feel, when the truth of American racism is experienced by them.
Labor:
The Murderous Corporate Psychopaths Who Never Go to Prison In America if you kill your spouse you’ll end up in prison—but if you kill millions of people, you can laugh at the law and buy a new yacht. Hundreds of Americans have been killed and thousands rendered homeless by climate change-driven weather that men in the fossil fuel industry knew fifty years ago would happen as the result of their selling their products. The asbestos industry knew as early as the 1890s, and got definite confirmation in the 1940s that their product caused mesothelioma, a particularly brutal lung cancer that killed my father. Even today, their executives are trying to avoid responsibility for it: Johnson & Johnson is playing bankruptcy games to avoid paying for cancers caused by their asbestos-laced talcum powder, and not a single executive is even slightly worried about going to jail for all these dead people.
Instead of More Support, Schools Have Upped Demands on Teachers During Pandemic Those in charge are driving educators to the breaking point by doubling down on more of what already wasn’t working. In June 2020, when schools across the U.S. remained closed due to the pandemic, Bettina Love, author of We Want to Do More Than Survive, noted how much became possible when the system was forced to prioritize the lives of students, teachers and families. Laptops were distributed and internet access was provided. High-stakes, standardized tests were canceled. In many cases, grades were removed. She quoted a letter from a superintendent in Georgia who told teachers, “We want compassion over compliance.” Now, Love concluded, “We have to say that we’re not going back. The managing of inequalities, we’re not going back.”
Economy:
Mainstream Media Has Morphed from Battling the Fed in Court in 2008 to Groveling at its Feet Today It’s now day 13 since the Fed released the names of the Wall Street trading houses that borrowed $4.5 trillion cumulatively, just in the fourth quarter of 2019, from the Fed’s repo loan facility. Not one mainstream media outlet has reported those names of the Wall Street firms or the amounts borrowed – despite the fact that we have prodded them to do so, and despite the fact that some of the largest borrowers were also bailed out by the Fed during and after the financial crash of 2008. The Fed, which is releasing the data on a rolling quarterly basis, had previously released the names of the banks and the amounts borrowed for the last 14 days of September 2019. That cumulative total came to $769.2 billion, or an average of $54.94 billion per day that the Fed was throwing at Wall Street’s trading houses. It’s clear there was a financial crisis going on in this pre-COVID era, because the Wall Street banks had requested loans for $850.575 billion in that 14-day span, or $81 billion more than the Fed was offering. And the demands for ever larger loans from the Fed continued to spike through the end of the year in that pre-COVID era.
World:
‘Blood on His Hands’: Anti-War Voices Denounce Knighting of Warmonger Tony Blair Protest plans got underway as a petition calling for the former prime minister’s new knighthood to be rescinded had gathered over 1 million signatures.
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 they 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
Bombshell Antitrust Lawsuit Alleges 16 Elite Universities Colluded to Limit Financial Aid The schools’ conduct is “particularly egregious because it has narrowed a critical pathway to upward mobility that admission to their institutions represents,” said the plaintiffs. Sixteen elite universities were sued in federal court late Sunday over an alleged price-fixing scheme in which plaintiffs say the schools formed a “cartel” to limit the amount of financial aid they would each offer to low- and middle-income prospective students—breaking antitrust laws.
Bendib: Vaccination Mandate 
Cumulative Confirmed Covid-19 Deaths Per Million People 
