Daily News Digest February 18, 2022
Humanity Will Not be Covid Free, Until the Vaccines are Free For the Whole World
Image of the Day:
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:
Yet with few exceptions, the U.S. military’s significant contribution to climate change has received little attention. Although the Defense Department has significantly reduced its fossil fuel consumption since the early 2000s, it remains the world’s single largest consumer of oil – and as a result, one of the world’s top greenhouse gas emitters. — A Broad Carbon Footprint — I have studied war and peace for four decades. But I only focused on the scale of U.S. military greenhouse gas emissions when I began co-teaching a course on climate change and focused on the Pentagon’s response to global warming. Yet, the Department of Defense is the U.S. government’s largest fossil fuel consumer, accounting for between 77% and 80% of all federal government energy consumption since 2001. — US military is World’s Single Largest Consumer of oil, and as a result, one of the world’s top greenhouse gas emitters
Videos of the Day:
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 th poor and gives to the Rich. Tax the Rich! — They Can Afford to Pay!
This is not the time to ‘unmask’! As of Februry 16, 2022: United States Coronavirud Totals: Coronavirus Cases: 79,785,241, Total Coronavirus Deaths: 952,603
For me, because of President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s farewell address to the nation in January 1961, that year is the obvious starting point for what retired Army colonel and historian Andrew Bacevich recently termed America’s Very Long War (VLW). In that televised speech, Ike warned of the emergence of a military-industrial complex of immense strength that could someday threaten American democracy itself. I’ve chosen 2021 as the VLW’s terminus point because of the disastrous end of this country’s Afghan War, which even in its last years cost $45 billion annually to prosecute, and because of one curious reality that goes with it. In the wake of the crashing and burning of that 20-year war effort, the Pentagon budget leaped even higher with the support of almost every congressional representative of both parties as Washington’s armed attention turned to China and Russia. — 60 Years of War-Making May Yet Result in the Destruction of US Democracy All those trillions of dollars consumed in wasteful wars have helped foster a creeping pessimism in Americans—a pessimism spawned by corporate elites increasingly consumed by greed.
Sanders Slams Congress for Serving Billionaires and Failing Americans “I am not sure that members of Congress have the willingness or the courage to stand up to the powerful special interests who control the economic and political life of this country,” he said on the Senate floor. Speaking on the Senate floor for nearly half an hour, the Vermont Independent highlighted that the ongoing Covid-19 pandemic “has had a devastating and horrific impact,” from “severely” disrupting the education of younger generations to killing over 900,000 people in the United States alone, including essential employees forced to work in dangerous conditions. “While the vast majority of people in our country are hurting emotionally, they’re hurting economically, these are not difficult times for everybody,” he explained. “If you are a billionaire in this country or a CEO of a large corporation… these times have not been bad; they have, in fact, have been very, very good.” “When so many people have died, and become ill, and lost their jobs, and missed school, and suffered,” Sanders said, “745 billionaires in America became more than $2 trillion richer. And that is, to my mind, the clearest example of the level of corporate greed that we are experiencing.” As people nationwide word about “soaring” gas prices, fossil fuel giants “are making huge profits,” Sanders said, noting a similar trend in the food industry.
Biden’s Robber Baron Government: Biden’s Afghanistan Counsel Left the White House in January. Now he’s Poised to Reap Financial Windfall From Billions In Seized Afghan Assets. The U.S. seizure of Afghan government funds after the Taliban took power has put millions at risk of starvation. A LEAD ATTORNEY for some families of 9/11 victims who sued the Taliban — plaintiffs who could receive billions of dollars as a result of the Biden administration’s decision to seize the reserves of the Afghanistan central bank — also worked until January at the Biden White House on Afghanistan issues. Lee Wolosky, co-chair of the litigation department at the law firm Jenner & Block LLP, was appointed to aid with Afghan evacuees in September 2021 and returned to his firm last month.
The ‘More Effective Evil’ Strikes Again!: Biden’s $770B Pentagon Budget Proposal Denounced as ‘Absurd’ “Devoting this enormous sum to the Pentagon at a time when the greatest challenges to our security—from pandemics to climate change—are not military in nature is both misguided and counterproductive,” said one critic. With legislation to reduce childhood poverty and advance renewable energy stalled in Congress, the Biden administration is expected to request more than $770 billion in Pentagon and related spending for the fiscal year beginning in October. “This is absurd,” Rep. Pramila Jayapal (D-Wash.) said in response to the news. The expected budget request, first reported by Reuters Wednesday, is tens of billions of dollars more than former Republican President Donald Trump ever requested and contrasts with widespread public demand for increased investment in middle- and lower-class Americans and an end to bloated military budgets.
Environment —Ecosocialism or Ecocide!:
“On Tuesday, the Biden administration issued new guidelines for federal agencies on how to assess proposals to capture and sequester carbon dioxide pollution. The new guidance lays out steps that could encourage “widespread deployment” of a controversial form of climate tech, as well as the network of pipelines and other infrastructure that come along with it.” Our Take: It’s disappointing to see CEQ not mention the White House Environmental Justice Advisory Council’s outright rejection of CCUS nor an acknowledgement of CCUS being CO2 net additive as currently practiced. — Sandra Steingraber, re: New Federal Guidelines Could Boost Carbon Capture in the US
Humanity Subsidizing ‘Our Own Extinction,’ Warns Study World governments are spending $1.8 trillion annually to support fossil fuel emissions, deforestation, water pollution, and other harms to biodiversity and the planet.
‘Monstrous’ Methane Plume Seen From Space Highlights Invisible Fracking Dangers “While this event is particularly severe, Louisiana is already forced to live through an exorbitant amount of pollution daily from fossil fuel and petrochemical plants.” Environmental justice advocates on Wednesday pointed to a methane plume so large it was seen last month from space via satellite as the latest evidence that emissions of the potent fossil fuel must be reined in. Bloomberg reported Monday, the geoanalytics firm Kayrros SAS detected the plume of the invisible greenhouse gas, which spanned 56 miles and covered several parishes across Louisiana, on January 21.
Civil Rights/BlackLiberation
Labor:
Economy:
FRED: Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Purchasing Power of the Consumer Dollar in U.S. City Average 
FBI Raids and Subpoenas Have Been Occurring on Wall Street. What’s Up? Yesterday, the Wall Street Journal dropped the bombshell that the Justice Department has been conducting raids on prominent short-sellers, including Muddy Waters’ Carson Block and Andrew Left of Citron Research. The Journal reported that the Justice Department “has seized hardware, trading records and private communications….” Reuters reported yesterday that the Justice Department’s probe is “part of a wide-ranging investigation into short-sellers and hedge funds focused on suspected coordinated manipulative trading, according to two people familiar with the matter.” Reuters also reported that “dozens” of subpoenas have been issued to various firms since early last year.
World:
Ukraine: Trapped In a War ZoneAs the drums of war sound for Ukraine, what will be the impact on Ukraine’s economy and the living standards of its 44m population, whether war is avoided or not? I’ve posted on Ukraine several times before during the intense economic crisis that the country experienced in 2013-14 culminating in the collapse of incumbent government, the Maidan uprising and eventually the Russian annexation of Crimea and the predominantly Russian-speaking eastern provinces. The situation was dire for the people then. It improved a little for a while afterwards, but economic growth remains relatively low and living standards have stagnated at best. Average real wages have not risen in 12 years and collapsed severely after the 2014 crisis. Ukraine was the hardest hit by the collapse of the Soviet Union and the ‘shock therapy’ of capitalist restoration in Eastern Europe and Russia itself. All the former Soviet satellites took a long time to recover GDP per head and income levels, but in the case of Ukraine it has never got back to the 1990 level. Ukraine’s performance between 1990 and 2017 was not just worse than its European neighbours. It was the fifth-worst in the entire world. Between 1990 and 2017 there were only 18 countries with negative cumulative growth and even in that select group, Ukraine’s performance puts it in the bottom third along with the Democratic Republic of Congo, Burundi and Yemen.
The Real role and History of NATO: A Reply to Keir Starmer The recent letter in praise of NATO by British Labour Party leader, ‘Sir’ Keir Starmer, is designed to impress the establishment whilst chastising the left. Instead of offering apologies for western imperialism, the labour movement must fight for socialist internationalism. Last week, Keir Starmer published a cringeworthy love letter to western imperialism in the Guardian newspaper. His frothy excitement about NATO and his cartoonish patriotic chest-beating are an attempt to paint himself as a champion of the British establishment and an enemy of the left. But his article is a mess of lies and imperialist propaganda from start to finish.
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!
Global Youth Demand EU, UK ‘Unconditionally’ Back Vaccine Patent Waiver “Unelected, undemocratic pharmaceutical companies cannot continue to dictate the global distribution of vaccines,” write dozens of youth and student groups in an open letter.
WHO Says Covid Still Killing ‘Far, Far Too Many’ as Pharma Hoards Vaccine Tech “Increasing deaths for six weeks in a row is not the situation we should be in right now,” said WHO epidemiologist Dr. Maria Van Kerkhove. Experts from the World Health Organization said Wednesday that global coronavirus deaths remain stunningly high two years into the pandemic as highly contagious variants—including Omicron and its relative—continue to circulate
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!