Daily News Digest March 22, 2022

 Daily News Digest Archives

Humanity Will Not be Covid Free, Until the Vaccines, Like the Salk Polio Vaccine, are Free For the Whole World

Images of the DayChanging Terminology Moral Bankruptcy

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:

   R0bber Barons, Circa 20222: Turning to the $6 trillion appropriated (without reversing the tax cuts by Trump on the super-rich) by both Trump and Biden since March 2020, government investigators and the media are seeing staggering thefts and frauds. Money was stolen outright by fake companies and fraudulent applications, or taken by profitable companies, law firms, and others that these programs were never intended to benefit.     One estimate has the trillion-dollar Paycheck Protection Program delivering only 25 percent to the people for whom it was intended. Even people like the notorious anti-taxer Grover Norquist, who is loaded with corporate donations, applied for and got a bundle of tax dollars.     From the beginning, I called members of Congress to caution them to draft very tight language in the giant rescue and infrastructure programs in order to foresee and forestall the predictable giant heist. There were some provisions—expanding enforcement budgets and inserting certain general review obligations on government agencies. But it was massively too little and too late — and utterly inadequate for the volume of coming robberies. — Ralph Nader, Commercial Defrauding of Uncle Sam—Biggest Booming Business “

Videos of the Day:

The Rise and Fall of Neoliberalism and Globalization

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!

U.S. Capitalism’s Preparation for The Iron Heel?!

GOP Is Setting the Stage for a Possible Coup in 2024 While Dems Ignore Threat Democrats are part of the problem because they are failing to hold accountable those attempting to derail elections. The United States is continuing its reactionary response to the 2020 uprisings for Black lives. Republican representatives have increased efforts at redistricting, escalated draconian targeting of reproductive rights, and continue to attack education and books on racism, slavery and white supremacy; LGBTQ issues; and content depicting miscarriages, hysterectomies and pain during labor. These right-wing efforts are fueled by social media and a rising embrace of conspiracy theories. Unfortunately, though perhaps predictably, the Democratic Party has been unable or unwilling to mount a progressive retort.     Truthout spoke with Anthony DiMaggio, associate professor of political science at Lehigh University, about the infiltration of fascism into contemporary political and media landscapes in the U.S. as outlined in his new book, Rising Fascism in America: It Can Happen Here (Routledge; 2022). 

Commercial Defrauding of Uncle Sam—Biggest Booming Business “Neither Congress nor the White House has met this challenge of titanic corruption which should become a major campaign subject in the coming elections.” The biggest business in America is stealing and defrauding the federal government, Uncle Sam, and you the taxpayers. In terms of sheer stolen dollars, the total amount is greater than the annual sales of Amazon and Walmart over the past two years. Before getting to the real big stuff, start with how much was stolen or not delivered by the contractors in Iraq and Afghanistan. Just in one program, John Spoko—Special Inspector General for Afghan Reconstruction (SIGAR), estimated that $30 billion of the $100 billion repairs project was purloined. Despite his many damning reports on what was also wasted—like the $40 million natural gas-powered fueling station (there were no natural gas-powered cars in Afghanistan)—no one was indicted, no one was fired, no one missed a promotion. This is according to author Andrew Cockburn, who interviewed Spoko extensively for his new book The Spoils of War: Power, Profit, and the American War Machine. In fact, Cockburn writes: “They were giving bonuses to people for stealing our money.”

As U.S. Focuses On Ukraine, Yemen Starves Biden vowed to stop supporting the Saudi-led war. A year later, Yemen’s humanitarian crisis is worse by many accounts than when Trump was president. Adawlat is 14 but has the face of an old woman. Her hip bones stick out like tree branches. For the past three years, Dawlat’s mother has tried every clinic in Yemen’s central Dhamar province to treat her daughter’s severe acute malnutrition. Even the local witch doctor gave up when he saw Dawlat’s mother, Fakiha Naji, carrying the wasting girl in her arms. He told Naji to bring her back once Dawlat’s swollen legs recovered so he could try his magic on her skeletal body.

Biden Biden is Trump Redux!: After Two Years and Over 1 Million Expulsions, Advocates Demand Biden End Title 42 Deportations “The Biden administration may have inherited Title 42, but its legacy on immigration is now being defined by the continuation of this disgraceful policy.” Title 42, a provision of the Public Health Safety Act first invoked by the Trump administration as the coronavirus pandemic began in March 2020, has been used to remove more than one million asylum-seekers—the majority of them during the tenure of President Joe Biden.

Environment —Ecosocialism or Ecocide!

We’re on the Eve of Destruction!: ‘Addiction to Fossil Fuels Is Mutually Assured Destruction,’ Warns UN Chief “Instead of hitting the brakes on the decarbonization of the global economy” amid Russia’s war on Ukraine, “now is the time to put the pedal to the metal towards a renewable energy future,” said United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres. So said United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on Monday, as he stressed that a swift and just transition to clean energy is necessary to meet the Paris agreement’s objective of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5°C above preindustrial levels—and warned against using Russia’s deadly assault on Ukraine as an excuse to ramp up fossil fuel production worldwide. So said United Nations Secretary-General António Guterres on Monday, as he stressed that a swift and just transition to clean energy is necessary to meet the Paris agreement’s objective of limiting global temperature rise to 1.5°C above preindustrial levels—and warned against using Russia’s deadly assault on Ukraine as an excuse to ramp up fossil fuel production worldwide.

Three Years After First Global School Strike, Youth Climate Movement Is Growing Three years ago this week — on March 15, 2019 — an estimated 1.4 million young people and supporters in 128 countries skipped school or work for what was then the largest youth-led day of climate protests in history. That record was soon eclipsed by even larger demonstrations later that year, with 1.8 million joining a May 24 day of action, and 7.6 million protesting for the climate over the course of Sept. 20 and the week that followed. The school strikes for climate movement, launched by 15-year-old Greta Thunberg of Sweden in late 2018, had reinvigorated the global climate movement and brought public participation to levels never seen before. 

‘Unthinkable’: Scientists Shocked as Polar Temperatures Soar 50 to 90 Degrees Above Normal “With everything going on in the world right now, the dual polar climate disasters of 2022 should be the top story “This event is completely unprecedented and upended our expectations about the Antarctic climate system”

Permafrost Peatlands ‘On a Precipice’, But Strong Policies Can Limit Climate Threat Global warming is pushing the carbon-storing peatlands in Northern Europe and Siberia closer to a climate tipping point than previously believed, researchers warn, but policies to reduce emissions can still save the lands in northernmost Western Siberia. Global warming is pushing the carbon-storing peatlands in Northern Europe and Siberia closer to a climate tipping point than previously believed, researchers warn, but policies to reduce emissions can still save the lands in northernmost Western Siberia.      The permafrost peatlands in Western Siberia and Europe’s Fennoscandia region store 37 to 39.5 billion tonnes of carbon, or twice as much carbon as all of Europe’s forests, according to a University of Leeds study published in the journal Nature Climate Change. Modelling shows these fragile ecosystems are “on a precipice,” lead author Richard Fewster told The Independent. As temperatures rise, the plant material in thawing peat soils will start to decompose, releasing greenhouse gases like carbon dioxide and methane into the atmosphere.

‘Disastrous News’: Widespread Bleaching of Great Barrier Reef Underway “This is a sure sign that climate change caused by burning coal, oil, and gas is threatening the very existence of our reef,” said one campaigner.

Civil Right/Black Liberation:

When Biden Says “Fund the Police,” It Should Spur Our Efforts to Defund Them Both parties are trying to exploit the movement to defund police to argue for raising law enforcement budgets. In his latest State of the Union address, President Joe Biden tried to kill movements to defund the police, saying: “We should all agree: The answer is not to defund the police. It’s to fund the police. Fund them. Fund them. Fund them with resources and training.”     In one of the few moments of genuine bipartisanship, Biden earned a standing ovation from Democrats and Republicans for his declaration. He also garnered praise and encouragement from many Democratic observers. While some progressive lawmakers like Cori Bush criticized Biden’s statement, Douglas E. Schoen, former adviser to President Bill Clinton, claimed Biden’s remarks about policing represented a “high point” in the president’s domestic policy discussion.

Labor:

Economy:

Economic and Social Impacts and Policy Implications of the War in Ukraine Summary:

• The most important consequence of the war in Ukraine is the lives lost and the humanitarian crisis associated with the huge numbers of besieged and displaced people. There are also, however, numerous significant economic implications.
• Prior to the outbreak of the war, most key global macroeconomic variables were seen as returning to normality over 2022-23 following the COVID-19 pandemic. 1. Global growth in 2023 was projected to return to rates similar to those prevailing in the immediate pre-pandemic period. 2.Most OECD economies were expected to get back to full employment by 2023, and inflation was seen as converging on levels close to policy objectives, though later and from higher levels than previously expected in most countries. 3. Policy settings were also expected to normalise, with exceptional monetary policy accommodation being progressively removed and emergency fiscal measures, taken in response to the pandemic, phased out.

Ukraine-Russia: Like An Earthquake  “The war in Ukraine is like a powerful earthquake that will have ripple effects throughout the global economy, especially in poor countries”.  That’s how IMF chief Kristalina Georgieva described the impact of the war on the world economy.  Nobody can be sure the magnitude of this quake but even on the most optimistic view, it is going to damage significantly the economies and livelihoods of not just the people of Ukraine and Russia, but also the rest of the 7bn people globally.  And it is happening just as the world economy was supposedly recovering from the plunge in output, incomes and living standards suffered from COVID pandemic slump in 2020 – which was the widest and deepest global contraction (if relatively short) in over 100 years.

World:

Theses About the War in Ukraine (Marxist Tendency, Ukraine) The following brief theses were produced by supporters of the IMT in Ukraine, translated into English, discussing the origins of the ongoing war, and the reactionary effect it has had on the country. For an internationalist solution to the Ukraine war, and all war! For socialist revolution! Read the original statement here.

1. The War in Ukraine is a Consequence of Conflict Between Imperialist Bandits.
2. On the one hand, we have the powerful imperialism of Washington, which has held a dominant position in the international arena since the end of the Cold War. On the other hand, there is the Kremlin’s imperialism, which inherited most of its natural, productive and military forces from the former USSR. It is a powerful imperialism in its own right, but is not a world leader. What are the ingredients of conflict here?     In recent years, US and NATO interests have increasingly shifted to Russia’s borders. As a consequence, the Kremlin’s regional interests are threatened by Western imperialism encircling Russia. The last straw was the fact that the post-Maidan authorities in Kyiv have repeatedly raised the issue of Ukraine’s membership in NATO and the EU. Therefore, Putin decided to strengthen the precarious position of Russian imperialism by waging an imperialist war in Ukraine.
3. Why does Washington not send troops to Ukraine?
4. Ukraine has fallen victim to this conflict.

The Horrific Scam that Water Billionaires are Running on Poor Countries Mega corporations like Coca-Cola, Pepsi, and Danone are making around 494 times what they spend by bottling water in Mexico and selling it back to locals who have no choice but to buy it. In Mexico and other poor countries and regions, companies are taking water from aquifers, springs, rivers, and lakes, and putting it in plastic bottles or turning it into flavored and sugary drinks, then dumping their used and dirty water back into water sources. That, along with other industrial pollution which is disproportionately disposed of into rural, Indigenous, and poorer communities, means locals are not able to drink tap water and end up paying extortionate prices to the European and US corporations. 

Russia’s War Will Remake The World A new world is being born. The hope for peaceful relations is fading. Instead, we have Russia’s war on Ukraine, threats of nuclear Armageddon, a mobilised west, an alliance of autocracies, unprecedented economic sanctions and a huge energy and food shock. No one knows what will happen. But we do know this looks to be a disaster. It is natural to seek someone to blame. For many, the culprit is Nato’s expansion into central and eastern Europe. A leading voice is John Mearsheimer, the distinguished “realist” scholar, who blames the US decision to open up the possibility of Nato membership to Ukraine in 2008. I agree and disagree,

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!