Daily News Digest September 7, 2022
Images of the Day:
Obama’s Coup D’état — A Police State In Imerging
Capitalism as a Failed System: World Capilalism Has Been Aware of the Comming Catastrophe of Global Warming Over 5 Decades 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 very future of Humanity Is Now At stake!
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:
Pest invasions have serious implications for food security. “As the climate changes, the overwintering zones are likely to shift northward,” said the co-author Anders Huseth, an entomologist at North Carolina State University. “This is the canary in the coalmine for agricultural pests. “Making sense of what’s taking place with [the corn earworm] is really important for agricultural producers.” Other pests that could spread northwards in the US in a similar way include fall armyworm, green cloverworm, soybean looper and velvetbean caterpillar. —The Age of Extinction Climate Crisis:: US Farmers Face Plague of Pests as Global Heating Raises Soil Temperatures
Videos of the Day:
George Monbiot: New U.K. PM Liz Truss Has “Extreme Neoliberal” Anti-Labor, Anti-Environment Record
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. Rax the Rich! — They Can Afford To Pay!
We can have democracy in this country, or we can have great wealth concentrated in the hands of a few, but we can’t have both.” ― Louis Brandeis
How This Rural Wisconsin County Put Publicly Funded, Non-Profit, National Health Care on the Ballot Citizens of Dunn County, Wisconsin, have a plan to place national, publicly-funded health care for everyone on their November 8th county ballot. In June and July at meetings of the County Board of Supervisors, many spoke of a broken health care system and their proposal to fix it. After the third meeting, the Board voted unanimously to put the following question on the ballot: “Shall Congress and the President of the United States enact into law the creation of a publicly financed, non-profit, national health insurance program that would fully cover medical care costs for all Americans?”
Biden’s “Safer America Plan” Should Follow the Science of Public Safety Instead of investing nearly $13 billion in hiring 100,000 new police officers, the science suggests these same funds should be invested in social welfare. . . . However, one key feature of the plan is drawing near-universal ire from advocates, including the ACLU and NAACP Legal Defense Fund: the proposed hiring of 100,000 new police officers. Part of the backlash comes from the eye-popping price tag of the measure: a total cost of $12.8 billion, per White House estimates.
The 1%’s Court: Doubting Thomas and the Fallen Court Clarence and Ginni (Virginia). He, a controversial Associate Justice of the U.S. Supreme Court. She, an extreme right wing activist organizing the Stop the Steal Rally/Coup attempt and actively trying to overturn the 2020 Presidential election results in multiple states. They are extremely close and devoted to each other. They claim not to mix their professional lives but skepticism abounds, and for good reason. He was the lone dissenter in the Court’s February 2021 ruling dismissing baseless MAGA claims of voter fraud and in its January 2021 ruling allowing the National Archives to release to the January 6 committee Trump White House documents, rejecting monarchical claims of executive privilege.
Environment: Ecosocialism or Ecocide!
Rapidly Retreating Doomsday Glacier Clinging ‘By Its Fingernails’: Study “Just a small kick to Thwaites could lead to a big response,” warned the lead author of an alarming new analysis. “We should expect to see big changes over small timescales in the future—even from one year to the next.“ New research unveiled Monday suggests that the West Antarctic Thwaites Glacier—an enormous ice mass with the potential to trigger catastrophic sea level rise—could retreat far more quickly in the coming years than scientists previously anticipated as fossil fuel-driven planetary warming continues to accelerate. Dubbed the “Doomsday Glacier,” Thwaites has been the subject of scientific concern for decades given its immensity—it is roughly the size of the U.S. state of Florida and, if melting continues at the current pace, it could raise global sea levels by 11 feet or more.
The Amazon Rainforest has Already Reached a Crucial Tipping Point About 26 per cent of the Amazon rainforest has already been lost or badly degraded and without intervention the rest could transform into savannah, says a report on its status Indigenous leaders from the nine countries and territories that encompass the Amazon region have presented a report today that says so much of the rainforest has been lost that it has reached a crucial tipping point, that would turn forest to savannah, earlier than expected. Vast swathes of the southern Amazon rainforest have gone and the rest will follow if deforestation isn’t halted, the leaders told the fifth Summit of Indigenous Peoples in Lima, Peru. Researchers have predicted that once a certain amount of the Amazon rainforest is lost, it will no longer be able to hold the necessary moisture and generate the rainfall it needs to support itself. This would set off a chain reaction as the world’s largest rainforest transforms into a savannah incapable of regenerating itself. The report finds that 33 per cent of the Amazon remains pristine and 41 per cent of areas have low degradation and could restore themselves. But 26 per cent of areas have been found to have gone too far to restore themselves: 20 per cent is lost entirely and 6 per cent is highly degraded and would need human support to be restored.
Flash Flood Watch Under Way for 80milliom in Eastern US As Heatwaves Broil West Western Georgia sees ‘one-in-1,000-year rainfall event’ as homes and businesses flood More than 80 million people in the eastern US were under flash flood watches late on Monday, marking still more extreme weather in a country reeling from record heatwaves in some regions, as the US increasingly feels the effects of the climate crisis.
US Flood Maps Outdated Thanks to Clmate Change, Fema Director Says Deanne Criswell makes admission as ‘extremely dangerous and life-threatening situation’ hits GeorgiaFlood maps used by the federal government are outdated, the director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, or Fema, said on Sunday, considering a series of devastating floods caused by excessive rainfall induced by climate change. Deanne Criswell told CNN’s State of the Union: “The part that’s really difficult right now is the fact that our flood maps don’t take into account excessive rain that comes in. And we are seeing these record rainfalls that are happening.”
The Age of Extinction Climate Crisis:: US Farmers Face Plague of Pests as Global Heating Raises Soil Temperatures Milder winters could threaten crop yields as plant-eating insects spread northwards and become more voracious, researchers say Agricultural pests that devour key food crops are advancing northwards in the US and becoming more widespread as the climate hots up, new research warns. The corn earworm (Helicoverpa zea) is considered to be among the most common farm pests in the US, ravaging crops such as maize, cotton, soya and other vegetables. It spends winter underground and is not known to survive in states beyond a latitude of 40 degrees north (which runs from northern California through the midwest to New Jersey), but that is changing as soils warm and it spreads to new areas, according to research led by North Carolina State University. Agricultural pests that devour key food crops are advancing northwards in the US and becoming more widespread as the climate hots up, new research warns.
Civil Rights/ Black Liberarion:
Gentrification and Environmental Racism in Jackson,Miss.: . . . But it is the capstone to years of problems. Financial and staff constraints and equipment malfunctions have long affected the city’s water treatment facilities’ operations. The larger of the two treatment plants has been plagued with incessant disruptions leading to repeated “boil water notices” indicating that the water is not fit to drink without boiling first. Since 29 July, the entire city has been under a boil water notice. Even when the city can provide water, it is often not enough. The system contends with persistent low pressure, which leads to an inability to flush toilets and have showers. The city also has a prevalence of lead water pipes, which pollute drinking water with a neurotoxin dangerous for children’s developing brains. “At the root of this crisis is systemic racism, and the local and state governments’ intentional negligence to redirect infrastructure funds that could have helped solve this issue years ago,” said the group Black Voters Matter on Thursday. Between 1980 and 2000, Jackson changed from a majority-white population to a majority-black population. Thousands of white people left the city in the decades after the US supreme court forced public schools and facilities to desegregate, gutting Jackson’s tax base and reducing investment in infrastructure. Now the city has a population that is 83% Black and a poverty level of 25%, in a state with an 18.7% poverty level. — “At the root of this crisis is systemic racism, and the local and state governments’ intentional negligence to redirect infrastructure funds that could have helped solve this issue years ago,” said the group Black Voters Matter on Thursday. Between 1980 and 2000, Jackson changed from a majority-white population to a majority-black population. — ‘All of a Sudden It’s Undrinkable’: Why An Entire US City Has No Clean Water!
Labor:
The War at the Point of Production: The ‘Killing Fields’ of the United States (June 200) If we dedicate war memorials to the memory of men and women, who are cut down before their time, these (Workplaces) are war memorials. . . . — Homer Seguin, Video: Before Their Time” Cancer & Health And Safety On Our Jobs. Cancer & Health And Safety On Our Jobs (Video) According to Lisa Cullen, the author of A Job To Die For, “Every day, 165 Americans die from occupational diseases and 18 more die from a work related injury. On the same day, more than 36,400 non-fatal injuries and 3,200 illnesses will occur in America’s workplaces.” Every year 60,225 Americans die from occupational diseases while 6,570 more die from work-related injuries. In that same year, more than 13,286,000 non-fatal injuries and 1,168,000 illnesses occur in America’s workplaces. Again: “Each year, this unknown workplace epidemic extends into nearby communities to claim the lives of 218 innocent bystanders and injure another 68,000.”(1)
Our Labor Is Used to Create Wealth for Others. Let’s Reclaim It to Make Life. In the last years of his life, my father spent many days in intensive care. He had emphysema, the product of too many cigarettes and exposure to asbestos and silica dust at the glass factory where he labored for 44 years. Once during a visit, he said from his oxygen tent that a man was following the nurses around, marking down whatever they did. The nurses were trying to form a labor union, and the observer was noting their times and motions, no doubt in an effort to spot wasted efforts that had to be corrected and to intimidate them. My father said, “Dad did that to me once.” My grandfather was an industrial engineer, the company man with the stopwatch timing workers’ motions so that these could be reengineered and the workers ordered to perform their jobs with greater “efficiency”; that is, faster, resulting in increased glass production per hour and more profits for the employer. Grandpa “time-studied” his son, illustrating perfectly that workers, no matter their capacities, interests — in a word, their humanity — are, to those who hire them, simply commodities to be manipulated and controlled. Treated no differently than the raw materials, tools, machinery and buildings with which the employees interact to produce the goods and services of modern society.
Economy:
The Silence of the Lambs: Former Dallas Fed President Robert Kaplan’s Trading Scandal and the Merrick Garland Justice Department’s One Year of Silence On August 11, the Attorney General of the U.S. Department of Justice, Merrick Garland, told the American people at a press conference that: “Faithful adherence to the rule of law is the bedrock principle of the Justice Department and of our democracy. Upholding the rule of law means applying the rule of law evenly, without fear or favor.” That was certainly not true of Eric Holder’s Justice Department under President Obama, nor was it true of William Barr’s Justice Department under President Trump. In fact, just the opposite was true. Under Holder, the Justice Department functioned as a coverup and white-washing mechanism for a crime syndicate of powerful players on Wall Street. (See here and here.) Under Barr, the Justice Department took a machete to the rule of law and sculpted an art form out of doling out favorable treatment to criminal actors.
World:
Czech Republic: Ground Shakes With Mass Demonstration in Prague On Saturday (3 September), between 70,000 and 100,000 people gathered in Wenceslas Square in Prague, calling for the resignation of Prime Minister Petr Fiala’s right-wing coalition government; among other demands opposing the cost of living crisis and Czech involvement in NATO’s proxy war with Russia. The massive scale of this demonstration, involving people from all backgrounds (including reactionary elements), surprised everyone: the government, all the opposition parties, the trade union bureaucs – even the organisers themselves!
Pakistan: Masses Devastated by Floods And Rains While Rulers Continue to Loot and Plunder Pakistan has been by floods and torrential rains, while the ruling class continues to loot and plunder the impoverished masses at this time of distress and disaster. According to reports, around one third of the country has been devastated by the floods and rains of the last three months, while 33 million people have been affected. Around 1,400 have died, and around 4,000 injuries have been reported according to official figures. According to the recent reports 482,030 people have been displaced while 372,823 buildings have been destroyed, ravaged!
Education, Health, Science, 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
Brewing Pandemic Pestilence Brewing Pandemic Pestilence Brewing Pandemic Pestilence Where does the pandemic come from? he 2020 coronavirus plague has three possible origins. It could be an accidental release from the Virology Laboratory in Wuhan, China, though similar “biosafety” labs exist in the United States. The second source of pestilence is the centuries-long devastation of the natural world by mining, fossil fuels extraction, the logging of forests, industrialized fishing and one-crop mechanized agriculture relying on synthetic fertilizers and pesticides. Nature also suffers from wastes dumping in the oceans, the intentional burning of the Amazon and other forests in several countries for the growing of soybeans, corn, and other cash crops. Wars and vast armies inflict destruction and death to nature. (Sars-Covid is a mutation of the Sars virus, the source of which was animal factory farms. —R.S.)
Focusing on “Learning Loss” Obscures How Much We’ve Truly Lost in the Pandemic In the last years of his life, my father spent many days in intensive care. He had emphysema, the product of too many cigarettes and exposure to asbestos and silica dust at the glass factory where he labored for 44 years. Once during a visit, he said from his oxygen tent that a man was following the nurses around, marking down whatever they did. The nurses were trying to form a labor union, and the observer was noting their times and motions, no doubt in an effort to spot wasted efforts that had to be corrected and to intimidate them. My father said, “Dad did that to me once.” My grandfather was an industrial engineer, the company man with the stopwatch timing workers’ motions so that these could be reengineered and the workers ordered to perform their jobs with greater “efficiency”; that is, faster, resulting in increased glass production per hour and more profits for the employer. Grandpa “time-studied” his son, illustrating perfectly that workers, no matter their capacities, interests — in a word, their humanity — are, to those who hire them, simply commodities to be manipulated and controlled. Treated no differently than the raw materials, tools, machinery and buildings with which the employees interact to produce the goods and services of modern society.
Schools Should Prioritize Mental Health Resources — for Both Students and Staff Alicia Biros, a 42-year-old math teacher at Rhode Island’s North Kingstown High School, died by suicide in May after struggling with depression. The small community of North Kingstown, which had a population slightly below 28,000 in the last census, was rocked by her death. Months later, educators and students are still trying to understand and accept the loss. “Alicia lived alone and when COVID hit, it brought isolation into her life and had a negative impact on her mental health,” her friend and colleague Lisa Garcia told Truthout. Garcia, the 2022 Rhode Island Teacher of the Year, describes Biros as a dedicated teacher, the kind of instructor who made lasting connections with many of her students. “When schools reopened in 2021, it was such a volatile time,” Garcia said. “We were told by administrators to keep things ‘normal’ for the kids so it would seem like everything was okay. This was not right. It was also not possible.” Biros, Garcia says, was visibly distraught when students and faculty returned to school and worried about getting sick and infecting others. “COVID put us all in a dark place,” she said. “You could tell that being back was overwhelming for Alicia. We were being asked to do so much, and while our intention was always to care for students and help them become wonderful, productive adults, the administration ignored faculty voices. We were — and are — hurting and feel undervalued and unheard. It takes a toll.”