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The demorilized petty bourgeoisie ‘left’ are stuck with no lessor evil. I did not have a digest yesterday because most “Left’ Websites just had sniveling articles about ‘The ‘Bernie Betrayal’, ‘Voter Fraud’, and the myth about the Jill Stine hope etc.. None of these writers can not comprehend understand the that new deal politics just a myth the ‘progressive RepubliCrats, and they can’t understand the the need to build a political movement independent of the capitalist class. Their lessor evilism runs so deep that they do not even see such a political party when it happens. They seem to ignore the revitalization of the Labour Party in England, Under to Call to End Austerity! The Corbyn Campaign is attracting hundeds of thousands of workers to this fight! A mass movement of workers is a rising and being built in England. It bodes well for the future and hope for the overthrow of capitalism. For the future of the world!
Images of the Day:
Our concern cannot simply be to modify private property, but to abolish it, not to hush up class antagonisms but to abolish classes, not to improve the existing society but to found a new one. — Karl Marx: Address of the Central Committee to the Communist League
There were finally re-assurances that new trade deals would be negotiated, through the World Trade Organisation (WTO), and that Britain could position itself globally (not merely in relation to the EU) as a multi-lateral trading partner. With the elimination of EU regulations, the UK would have the competitive advantage of a ‘flexible’ economy. There are many problems with this story, not the least being the very meaning of the word sovereignty. Indeed, in many senses, Brexit substantially reduces the sovereignty of the UK. Not only will the new everyday situation be a more costly version of business-as-usual, but Britain itself will also exist in a more dangerous environment of risk. Contrary to the tale of an independent, prosperous Britain is that of an isolated and exposed Britain – a vulnerable Britain, awash amid the harsh reality of the international market. This avoidable self-exposure gives the UK very little moreover as much of the regulatory regime, for instance, will continue as is or slightly rebranded since it is underwritten by WTO trade rules and EU market entry requirements (55% of UK exports). — Little Britain, After Brexit: UK Plunges into the Deep End of the International Market
Videos of the Day:
U.S.
Billionaire Bonanza as Wealth Surges Among One Percent New study by market research firm Wealth-X found that not only has the number of billionaires grown, so have their fortunes According to the 2015-2016 Billionaire Census by international market research firm Wealth-X, which bills itself as “the global authority on wealth intelligence,” the billionaire population grew by 6.4 percent last year and now totals 2,473 people worldwide. The combined wealth of those individuals also increased by 5.4 percent, amounting to $7.7 trillion—which is more than every country’s gross domestic product (GDP), except the United States ($17.9 tr) and China ($11 tr). by Lauren McCauley 
Environment:
Ongoing/Big Energy Disasters:
Fracking, Benzene, and Public Health: A California Nightmare Benzene is back — and scarily so. Drawing on analyses that the Center for Biological Diversity conducted, Julie Cart, an investigative journalist for the Los Angeles Times, has reported that “significant concentrations” of benzene, a cancer-causing petroleum derivative, are in fracking waste liquid in California. How significant? Cart notes that “benzene levels thousands of times greater than state and federal agencies consider safe” have been identified. This should give us serious pause, for since the late 19th-Century benzene has been directly linked to aplastic anemia and leukemia; it is a killer. By Char Miller
Black Liberation/Civil Rights:
NAACP and Movement for Black Lives Call for Moratorium on Charter Schools NAACP and Movement for Black Lives Call for Moratorium on Charter Schools A Black Agenda Radio commentary by executive editor Glen Ford “The NAACP and the Movement for Black Lives are both on the same page when it comes to charter schools.” Both organizations called for a halt to the spread of charter schools, with the NAACP charging that charters are “as destructive to poor communities as predatory lending practices by banks.” The Movement for Black Lives demands an end to President Obama’s Race to the Top program, which coerces states to allow more charters.
Freedom Rider: Police State Fascism by BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley Black people live under a fascist system, whether the occupant of the White House is a “fascist” or not. For Blacks, the “rule of law” does not exist. “It matters not whether a victim complies, or has hands up, or is armed, or is unarmed, or opens a door, or speaks, or doesn’t, or flees, or stays put, or does or doesn’t resist arrest.” None of the supposedly “non-fascist” politicians will “dare lay a finger on the modern day slave system.”
The Obama Legacy Part VI: The Destruction of Libya and the US military Invasion of Africa by Danny Haiphong In his two terms in office, President Obama has put nearly the whole of Africa under U.S. military sway. He was the first U.S. president to bomb an African country — Libya, whose “nationalized oil reserves and plans to use gold as the chief reserve currency in Africa threatened US capitalist penetration in Africa.” Obama rewrote international law, invoking “Responsibility to Protect” as “justification for the destruction of sovereign nations.”
Hillary Clinton and the Big (Neoliberal) Lie by Eric Draitser Although she tries to deny it, “Hillary Clinton has for more than two decades been one of the loudest and most resolute voices championing neoliberalism and free trade.” Beginning with NAFTA, Clinton has been the High Priestess of the Church of Free Trade and Neoliberalism, a proponent of the free flow of money and jobs. The Lords of Capital know where her loyalties lie, which is why “Clinton has the near unanimous endorsement of the One Percent.”
Anatomy of a Neoliberal Racist Killing Machine by Ramor Ryan The U.S. exports to the rest of the world an industrial-strength strategy of policing that is rooted “in counterinsurgency campaigns.” The “Broken Windows” philosophy of policing dramatically expands the number of people “churned through the criminal justice system,” more deeply embeds structural racism, and “leads to more violence against marginalized communities.” Communities of color become urban prison spaces.
Black Agenda Report for Week of August 8, 2016
Voters Have Choices Outside the Duopoly: Donald Trump and Hillary Clinton are both “evil” people, but U.S. voters do have choices this election season, said South Carolina activist and author Kevin Alexander Gray. “It’s good that people are running on various third parties, to give Americans a little bit of education,” as opposed to watching them make one or the other bad choice,” said Gray, author of Waiting on Lighting to Strike. “One of the good things about Barack Obama leaving office, particularly for Black people, is that perhaps they’ll pick up their signs, pick up their feet, and follow behind the youth that are out here in the streets challenging the system.”
Low Wage Workers to Converge on Richmond: The U.S. labor movement made an historic error in the post-World War Two era in failing to commit sufficient resources to organizing in the heavily Black South. But activists in the current movement to unionize low-paid workers and raise the national minimum wage to $15 an hour vow not to repeat that mistake. “We will highlight that low wages and racial inequality is not only hurting Black and brown people, it’s hurting the working poor white people, as well,” said Terrance Wise, a leader of Fight for 15, which will hold a national conference of low-wage workers in Richmond, Virginia, the former capital of the Confederacy, August 12 and 13. “Until we can build our movement and bring all workers together to demand economic justice and racial equality, we won’t gain any ground,” said Wise, a Burger King employee from Kansas City.
Russell “Maroon” Shoatz Wins Solitary Confinement Settlement: Pennsylvania prison officials have agreed to pay a monetary settlement to political prisoner Russell “Maroon” Shoatz, and to never again place the former Black Panther in solitary confinement, where he spent 22 of the past 44 years. His daughter, Theresa Shoatz, is “elated because it opens the door to other prisoners who are still in solitary confinement in Pennsylvania.” The legal action was spearheaded by the Pittsburg-based Abolitionist Law Center, with virtually no assistance from Black elected officials. “Our state representatives are useless,” said Ms. Shoatz.
Afro-Colombian Rights Recognized in Peace Talks: FARC guerillas and the government of Colombia have agreed in principle to “make sure the rights and interests of Afro-descended and indigenous peoples will be respected” in the resolution of the South American country’s two generations-long civil war, said Charo Mina-Rojas, of the National Afro-Colombian Peace Council. Representatives of the Colombian government and demobilizing guerillas agreed to include such assurances in the peace document being hammered out at negotiations in Havana, Cuba. However, Mina-Rojas said some elements of FARC have not agreed to lay down their arms and “do not fully recognize” Afro-Colombians’ collective land rights.
Labor:
Economy:
How U.S. Achieves a 5.3% Unemployment Rate: If You Earn No Money, You Can Still Be Counted as Employed Last Friday’s nonfarm payrolls report of 215,000 new jobs in July with its attendant announcement of an unemployment rate of 5.3 percent drew mostly yawns from the media. That wasn’t the case on February 3 of this year when Jim Clifton, CEO of the polling company, Gallup, wrote a stunning opinion piece on the company’s web site calling the U.S. unemployment rate “The Big Lie.” Clifton raised more media frenzy the next day when he appeared on CNBC and suggested he might “disappear” for questioning the government’s unemployment rate. By Pam and Russ Martens
World:
The Real Rio
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Health, Science, Education, and Welfare: