Daily News Digest January 14, 2022
Humanity Will Not be Covid Free, Until the Vaccines are Free For the Whole World!
Images of the Day:
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:
The gigantic 2022 defense bill—passed with overwhelming support from both parties—provides a detailed blueprint for surrounding China with a potentially suffocating network of U.S. bases, military forces, and increasingly militarized partner states. — The Very Dangerous New Cold War in Asia That Nobody Should Want
“The greatest purveyor of violence in the world : My own Government, I can not be Silent.”
― Martin Luther King Jr., Martin Luther King Speaks! Beyond Vietnam (Full)
Videos of the Day:
Martin Luther King Speaks! Beyond Vietnam (Full)
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 to Pay!
Caught trying to ‘steel the election’: Republicans in 5 States Forged Electoral College Documents, MSNBC Host Says The signers of the forged documents falsely claimed to be “duly elected and qualified Electors.” Loyalists of former President Donald Trump attempted to certify the Electoral College in favor of the defeated candidate with forged documents, according to new reporting by MSNBC host Rachel Maddow. Trump loyalists forged documents in at least five states where Joe Biden had defeated Trump and submitted them for certification, according to Maddow. The forgeries do not look like the uniquely printed paperwork that states submit, Maddow noted, but they used very specific language purporting that those who signed it were the “duly elected and qualified Electors for President and Vice President of the United States of America” — even though they were not.
Bin Laden, Trump, and the American Empire The U.S. wasted trillions on fruitless military adventures, but the main economic consequence of the Middle East wars was to boost China’s economic ascent at its expense. What we can learn from the 20 years between the 9/11 attacks and the January 6 coup attempt. The end of 2021 and the beginning of a new year is a convenient time to take stock of the causes of America’s decline. This past year saw both Washington’s inglorious exit from Afghanistan after 20 years in the country that had served as the launching pad for its direct military intervention in the Middle East and an historic insurrection at the very heart of the empire. Add to this the absolute lack of traction for President Biden’s recent “Democracy Summit” in contrast to Beijing’s surefooted diplomacy, the erosion of an already weak U.S. economy by COVID-19 followed by uncontrolled inflation, and the deepening of the country’s informal but very real civil war—and it is hard to avoid the sense that we are indeed at the end of an era.
The Very Dangerous New Cold War in Asia That Nobody Should Want Washington tightens the noose around China. The word “encirclement” does not appear in the 2022 National Defense Authorization Act (NDAA), signed into law by President Joe Biden on December 27th, or in other recent administration statements about its foreign and military policies. Nor does that classic Cold War era term “containment” ever come up. Still, America’s top leaders have reached a consensus on a strategy to encircle and contain the latest great power, China, with hostile military alliances, thereby thwarting its rise to full superpower status. The gigantic 2022 defense bill—passed with overwhelming support from both parties—provides a detailed blueprint for surrounding China with a potentially suffocating network of U.S. bases, military forces, and increasingly militarized partner states. The goal is to enable Washington to barricade that country’s military inside its own territory and potentially cripple its economy in any future crisis. For China’s leaders, who surely can’t tolerate being encircled in such a fashion, it’s an open invitation to… well, there’s no point in not being blunt… fight their way out of confinement.
Profits Over People: Why Weren’t the Vaccine Manufacturers Nationalized? As of December 18, 2021, more than 800,00 Americans had died due to Covid-19 epidemic. The historic legacies of both the presidencies of Donald Trump and Joe Biden will be shadowed by the those who died, let alone suffered, from the pandemic. On January 20, 2021, the day Trump left office, 392,641 people had died of Covid; as of December 18, 2021, 411,359 people died during the first 11 months of Biden presidency – and Biden has another three years in office.
Environment —Ecosocialism or Ecocide!:
Cancer Alley: Pipeline Spilled 300,000 Gallons of Fuel Near New Orleans Last Month, Records Show Ruptured line operated by Collins Pipeline Co was highly corroded but repairs were delayed A severely corroded pipeline ruptured and spilled more than 300,000 gallons of diesel fuel just outside New Orleans late last month, according to federal records. The spill from the 16in-diameter line operated by Collins Pipeline Co was discovered on 27 December near a levee in St Bernard parish, just east of New Orleans, according to documents from the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration.
Living Closer to Oil and Gas Drilling Linked to Higher Risk of Pregnancy Complications, New Study Finds An Oregon State University study of almost 3 million births in Texas found mothers living less than a mile from drilling sites were more likely to experience higher blood pressure and other potentially dangerous health conditions. Living near oil and gas drilling may increase pregnant women’s risk of developing gestational hypertension and eclampsia, according to a new study. “We observed for those pregnant women within one kilometer of drilling that there’s about a 5 percent increase in odds of gestational hypertension, and 26 percent increase odds of eclampsia,” Mary Willis, a postdoctoral scholar at Oregon State University and one of the authors of the study, told DeSmog. “So, it’s this really close range where we are seeing a potential impact right on women’s health.”
Civil Rights/Black Liberation:
Labor:
Economy:
FRED Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers
FRED: Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Purchasing Power of the Consumer 
Capitalism in the Epoch of Imperialist Decay: Fed Chair Jerome Powell Says Corporations “Are Raising Prices Because They Can” In a hearing before the Senate Banking Committee on Tuesday, Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell said that corporations may be raising prices arbitrarily to pad their profits while the public suffers under high inflation rates. Powell said that higher prices for commodities like groceries could be chalked up to corporate greed, at least partially. This statement echoes recent research that shows that businesses are seeing some of their highest profit increases since 1950, using inflation as an excuse to reach further into consumers’ pockets.
$2.7 Billion in Credit Default Swaps Blew Up One Day Before the Fed Launched Its Repo Loan Bailouts in 2019 On September 16, 2019, exactly one day before the Federal Reserve would embark on its first emergency repo loan operations since the financial crisis of 2008, $2.7 billion in credit default swaps (CDS) on a single name blew up. The dealers in those credit default swaps were the very same trading houses on Wall Street that sought, and received, tens of billions of dollars in repo loans from the Fed in an operation that grew to a cumulative $11.23 trillion before its conclusion on July 2, 2020. (In just the last quarter of 2019, the Fed pumped a cumulative $4.5 trillion in repo loans into Wall Street’s trading houses, according to the transaction data it released on December 30 of last year. That was before even one case of COVID-19 had been reported in the U.S.)On September 16, 2019 the U.K. tour operator, Thomas Cook, filed for Chapter 15 bankruptcy protection in the U.S. District Court for the Southern District of New York – Wall Street’s stomping ground. We know that because the Credit Default Swaps Determinations Committee, that would render the ultimate decision on who got paid on the Credit Default Swaps and who didn’t, places that fact in the first paragraph of its final determination decision.
World:
It Is About Oil!: Ukraine: Gas Pipelines and War – The Zelensky Regime In 2022 On this occasion, a key element to the conflict is the question of the transit of Russian gas to Western Europe. The recently completed Nord Stream 2 pipeline can deliver gas from the Russian Baltic coast directly to Germany. While Kiev has maintained the line that it is at war with Russia over the question of Donbas separatism, Russian gas has never ceased transiting through Ukraine to the West – even as Ukraine has begun buying the same Russian gas through EU third parties (at EU prices!). Over the past decade, Russia has been seeking to bypass the so-called ‘transit countries’ of Ukraine and Belarus using the Nord Stream pipelines, with transit via Ukraine having fallen a further 25 percent in 2021. Russian gas – which the USSR-built Ukrainian infrastructure was built based upon (mostly through domestic heating and industrial applications) – has been used as a tool by Russian imperialism to exert its control on Kiev. The Kiev government still depends on fees from the pipelines that run through the Ukraine for a significant portion of its revenue ($2 billion USD in 2020), which it is worried about losing. With its committed “NATO over Russia” position, the government’s recourse has been to demand stronger sanctions by the US and EU against Russia. The planned economy of the USSR established infrastructure that allowed resources from Russia and Donbas to connect to both Ukrainian industry and the general population. Under capitalism today, however, the division of the world into competing nation states means that the profits of Russian, Ukrainian and international capitalists are placed above the needs of long-term economic development and the welfare of working people. The Ukrainian oligarchy has placed the Ukrainian economy further at the mercy of the imperialist predators, which has resulted in the population paying much more for basic necessities such as heating.
Lyra Mckee and the Truth That Breathes Beyond Borders Lyra was a “Ceasefire Baby,” one of thousands of children meant to thrive, free from violence and factional terror. But with “peace,” and the assurance that Northern Ireland remained in the United Kingdom, the UK Government settled into a policy of imperial neglect, further impoverishing the six northern Irish counties still under its control.
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 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
Prevention Centers Save Lives, But Only Radical Change Will End Overdose Crisis Confronting the overdose crisis will require a society-wide transformation in how we approach the issue of drug use. Apair of legally sanctioned overdose prevention centers — in which people can use illicit drugs under medical supervision — began taking clients in New York City in late November, potentially opening the door for similar facilities in other cities. The announcement has been a rare bright spot in the increasingly terrifying media coverage of the overdose crisis. The prevention centers are a hopeful step toward addressing the overdose crisis, but they are not a panacea. Even if more centers are established beyond New York, experts warn that overdose prevention centers alone cannot stem the staggering tide of death.
Capitalism then and Now: Thanks to the polio vaccine, dedicated health care professionals, and parents who vaccinate their children on schedule, polio has been eliminated in this country for more than 30 years. This means that there is no year-round transmission of poliovirus in the United States. Since 1979, no cases of polio have originated in the U.S.
Now 3 with different Covid vaccines and the number of Covid caseses keeps getting larger.
Covid Pandemic Update World Wide: Coronavirus Cases: 319,859,295 Deaths: 5,536,660, Recovered:263,735,070. United States: Coronavirus Cases: 64,789,362 Deaths:868,128 Recovered: 42,855,002 United States: Coronavirus Cases: 64,789,362 Deaths: 868,128 Recovered: 42,855,002