Daily News Digest June 22, 2022
Humanity Will Not be Covid Free, Until the Vaccines, Like the Salk Polio Vaccine, are Free For the Whole World!
Image of the Day:
Fossil Fuel Corporations: Burn Baby Burn! ‘When bodies start stacking up from climate change-related disasters, will these monsters be held to account?’
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 pandemic was devastating for the world’s poor majority, as hundreds of millions faced unemployment, poverty, hunger, and death. Contrary to popular perception the pandemic did not cause the crisis of global capitalism, for this was already upon us. It did, however, intensify this crisis many times over, further catalyzing trends and processes well underway prior to the outbreak. If the pandemic was a time of great suffering and deprivation for several billion people it was also a golden opportunity for ruling classes to increase their wealth and to heighten their control and surveillance. It set off political and civil strife around the world as governments, unable to cope with the fallout, were exposed as callous instruments of wealth and corruption. The pandemic is therefore but a staging point for a larger story. Global Civil War: Capitalism Post-Pandemic is about the world that is emerging in the wake of the plague. The extent of polarization of wealth and power, of deprivation and misery among the world’s poor majority, already defied belief prior to the outbreak. In 2018, just seventeen global financial conglomerates collectively managed $41.1 trillion dollars, more than half the GDP of the entire planet. That same year, the richest one percent of humanity led by 36 million millionaires and 2,400 billionaires controlled more than half of the world’s wealth while the bottom 80 percent – nearly six billion people – had to make do with just five percent of this wealth. The result is devastation for the majority. Worldwide, 50 percent of all people live on less than $2.50 a day and a full 80 percent live on less than $10 per day. One in three people on the planet suffer from some form of malnutrition, nearly a billion go to bed hungry each night and another two billion suffer from food insecurity. Refugees from war, climate change, political repression ançd economic collapse already number into the hundreds of millions. — Many Nations Have Used COVID to Impose the Tyranny of Transnational Capital
Videos:
Juneteenth Special: Historian Clint Smith on Reckoning with the History of Slavery Across America
Harvard’s Deep Ties to Slavery: Report Shows It Profited, Then Tried to Erase History of Complicity
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. Taxthe Rich! — They Can Afford to Pay!
War Prepararions: Pentagon Explores Using Spacex for Rocket-Deployed Quick Reaction Force U.S. Transportation Command hopes Elon Musk’s SpaceX rockets could prevent the next Benghazi. Command hopes Elon Musk’s SpaceX rockets could prevent the next Benghazi. The Pentagon envisions a future in which Elon Musk’s rockets might someday deploy a “quick reaction force” to thwart a future Benghazi-style attack, according to documents obtained by The Intercept via Freedom of Information Act request. In October 2020, U.S. Transportation Command, or USTRANSCOM, the Pentagon office tasked with shuttling cargo to keep the American global military presence humming, announced that it was partnering with Musk’s SpaceX rocketry company to determine the feasibility of quickly blasting supplies into space and back to Earth rather than flying them through the air. The goal, according to a presentation by Army Gen. Stephen Lyons, would be to fly a “C-17 [cargo plane] equivalent anywhere on the globe in less than 60 minutes,” an incredible leap forward in military logistics previously confined to science fiction. A USTRANSCOM press release exclaimed that one day SpaceX’s massive Starship rocket could “quickly move critical logistics during time-sensitive contingencies” and “deliver humanitarian assistance.” While the Pentagon alluded to potentially shuttling unspecified “personnel” through these brief space jaunts, the emphasis of the announcement was squarely on moving freight.
Largest Ever US-NATO Naval War Drills in Pacific a Threat to Both Peace and Marine Life Military posturing in the Asia-Pacific also risks nuclear war and the potential extinction of the human species. While the world’s attention is focused on the brutal Russia-Ukraine conflict, half-way around the world, in the Pacific Ocean, competition/confrontation of the U.S. and NATO toward China and North Korea is taking an increasingly military turn. The US military’s Indo-Pacific command headquartered in Honolulu, Hawai’i, Rim of the Pacific or RIMPAC 2022, military war games, will have 38 ships from 26 countries, 4 submarines, 170 aircraft and 25,000 military personnel practicing naval war maneuvers in the Hawaiian waters from June 29-August 4, 2022. Additionally, ground units from 9 countries will come ashore on the islands of Hawai’i in amphibious landings
Study Shows Excess Corporate Profits in the US Have Become ‘Widespread‘ A new research paper finds that corporate price markups and profits jumped to their highest levels in seven decades last year.
‘Totally Unacceptable’: US Rejecting 90% of Afghans Seeking Asylum Under Humanitarian Program “We don’t feel safe,” lamented one Afghan asylum-seeker whose brothers translated for U.S. invasion forces. “We don’t know what will happen in an hour. We don’t know what will happen tomorrow.”
Filmmaker Has ‘Fully Complied’ With Subpoena of Secret Trump Tapes Documentary filmmaker Alex Holder filmed interviews with former President Trump and his top aides before and after the attack on the U.S. Capitol.
Environment —Ecosocialism or Ecocide!:
Fossil Fuel Firms ‘Have Humanity by the Throat’, says UN head in Blistering Attack António Guterres compares climate inaction to tobacco firms dismissing links between smoking and cancer Fossil fuel companies and the banks that finance them “have humanity by the throat”, the UN secretary general has said, in a “blistering” attack on the industry and its backers, who are pulling in record profits amid energy prices sent soaring by the Ukraine war. António Guterres compared fossil fuel companies to the tobacco companies that continued to push their addictive products while concealing or attacking health advice that showed clear links between smoking and cancer, the first time he has drawn such a parallel.
Wild Green Washing Machines Practice what you preach. In their 6/18/22 oped in the Bozeman Chronicle Wild Montana (formerly Montana Wilderness Association), the Greater Yellowstone Coalition and the Montana Wildlife Federation preach that Montana’s Wilderness Study Areas (WSAs) should be protected. As support they tout the University of Montana’s 2022 Voter Survey finding 72% of Montanans want to keep protection for Wilderness Study Areas (WSAs) “rather than top-down legislation seeking to slash protections from some of Montana’s wildest places.” And just “a measly 6% want to eliminate protections.” These groups preach protection for WSAs but in practice they are actually part of the “measly 6%.” They justify this by saying it’s okay to drop protections for some of “Montana’s wildest places” as long as it’s done by “locally-driven collaborative process.” They are wrong. These National Public Lands belong to all Americans and not just a few self-appointed collaborators using a top-down approach embodied in legislation.
Spain Ravaged by Wildfires as Drought, Heatwave Broils Europe Nearly all of Spain faced an “extreme fire risk” in recent days as hundreds of people were evacuated in the northwestern Zamora region. Hundreds of people have been forced from their homes and tens of thousands of acres have been burned through by wildfires across Spain, with global climate experts warning that nearly the entire country is at risk of facing the flames.
Unhoused in Phoenix’s Perilous Heat: ‘If I Don’t Keep Cool, I’ll Die’ UnhousedPhoenix is the US’s deadliest city for heat fatalities while its urban sprawl makes it a concrete heat island It was mid afternoon when first responders found David Spell slumped and unresponsive under a bus shelter. The temperature outside was nearing 110F (43C) – the hottest day of the year so far in Phoenix, and 50-year-old Spell was disorientated, dizzy and dehydrated.
Civil Rights/Black Liberation:
“Mental Health Units” in Prison Are Solitary by Another Name, Activists Say New York now puts people with mental health needs in prison units that claim to be therapeutic but are harshly punitive. Christian Hill has been diagnosed with borderline personality disorder and major depressive disorder. In the New York State prison system, this classifies him as having a serious mental illness and confers a “1-S” designation upon him. Under the newly implemented HALT Solitary Confinement Act, people with this mental health designation cannot be punished by being placed in the Special Housing Unit, or SHU, where they would spend at least 17 days alone in their cells. Instead, Hill and others with this designation must be sent to a Residential Mental Health Unit, a prison unit for incarcerated people with serious mental health needs. Jointly operated by the state’s prison agency and its office of mental health, these units are supposed to be therapeutic rather than punitive.
Labor:
As workers are making less money: Federal Reserve Puts Burden of Curbing Inflation on Global Working Class On Wednesday, at the end of a two-day Federal Open Market Committee (FOMC) meeting, Federal Reserve chair Jerome Powell announced a tightening of monetary policy in response to the highest U.S. inflation in 40 years. The burden of this measure will fall disproportionately on the working class, both in the U.S. and abroad. In a press release the FOMC said the current inflation rate reflected “supply and demand imbalances related to the pandemic, higher energy prices, and broader price pressures.” The Fed raised its benchmark policy rate by 0.75 percentage points, the first increase of this magnitude since 1994. This raises the target range for the federal funds rate to 1.5 to 1.75 percent. The Fed will also “continue reducing its holdings of Treasury securities and agency debt and agency mortgage-backed securities
FRED: Employed Full Time: Median Usual Weekly Real Earnings: Wage and Salary Workers: 16 Years and Over: is $362. (Less than $10 per Hour)
Economy:
Has Crypto Endangered Federally-Insured Big Banks? Ask State Street There have been a number of articles lately attempting to reassure Americans that the crypto carnage will not cause financial instability or an economic collapse in the U.S. like that of 2008. The fact is, absolutely no one can say with any degree of certainty what will be the outcome of this unprecedented era of reckless investing. That’s because anything that causes the megabanks on Wall Street to pull back from lending to one another or to major counterparties – out of fear that the institution has dangerous crypto exposure – could cause the same contagion effect that occurred in 2008 from opaque derivatives and toxic subprime debt exposures.
World:
Britain: RMT Rail Strike – Mobilise to Defeat the Bosses and Tories! Thousands of railway workers in Britain are striking from today, as part of a wave of action across the country. To win, the unions must mobilise their full forces, and organise militant united action across the labour movement. We republish this article from 10 June, written by an RMT activist. This week, the Rail, Maritime, and Transport (RMT) union declared the dates for three days of upcoming strike action across Britain’s railways. These are scheduled to take place on 21, 23, and 25 June.
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!
‘Let the Eat Bullets’: Free School Meal Waivers Set to Expire as Senate Pushes $857 Billion Military Budget “There is always money backed by bipartisan support to fund militaristic endeavors, but when social safety net programs are up for debate, it’s suddenly time to worry about the deficit,” wrote progressive activist Jordan Uhl.
Free School Meal Waivers Set to Expire as Senate Pushes $857 Billion Military Budget “There is always money backed by bipartisan support to fund militaristic endeavors, but when social safety net programs are up for debate, it’s suddenly time to worry about the deficit,” wrote progressive activist Jordan Uhl.y time to worry about the deficit,” wrote progressive activist Jordan Uhl.