Daily News Digest September 27, 2022

Daily News Digest Archives

Images of the Day:

Paradise and Hell

Laura Gray’s cartoon from the front page of The Militant August 18, 1945, Under the Banner Headline: “There Is No Peace”

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:

The world’s financial markets have gone off the rails in an equally disorienting fashion. The central bankers that had created bubbles in almost every asset class by keeping interest rates at zero for years, are now in competition for how fast they can raise interest rates in order to keep their currencies from collapsing and causing further crippling inflation. The dramatic spike in interest rates around the globe is causing prices to collapse in everything from stocks, bonds, commodities, and risk assets. There is nowhere for investors to hide. Even the typical safe havens are quick sand. Gold has fallen from more than $2,000 in March to a closing price of $1,651.70 last Friday, a decline of 17.4 percent from March. — Nowhere to Hide: The Fed-Induced Bubble in Stocks and Bonds Is Blowing Up; Even the Typical Safe Havens of Gold and T-Notes Are Losing Money

Videos of the Day:

 Charlie Chaplin Great Dictator Speech

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 

Why Do We Even Have Voter Registration? On National Voter Registration Day, Palast and Flashpoints host Dennis Bernstein ponder the big question: Why do we even have voter registration?      We didn’t always have registration of voters in America.      It started pretty much in Pennsylvania when they were trying to stop Black people who had been moving up from the South from voting. Registration was initially only in the cities for city dwellers.      You had the Italian immigrants, the Black diaspora coming up from the South, and then in New York you had Jews.      Registration was something that was meant for minorities, for working people, for immigrants to give them a hurdle. In fact, when New York City first started registrations, they only allowed you to register on Saturday, which was a way to stop Jews from registering to vote. It’s a crime to vote if you’re not American, a go to jail crime.     There is no reason for these laws, except the value of registration is to stop people from voting. And the real value of registration is to remove people’s registration, the so-called purge, like the enema of the voter rules.    So, registration itself is the number one vote suppression horror show in America, and it hasn’t been here forever. And by the way, North Dakota has no voter registration and you don’t see a bunch of Canadians rushing in and picking their governor.      You don’t see moose or buffalo crowding the polling stations. Without voter registration, somehow they have fair and clean elections. So, why do we have registration? So we can remove registrations and stop people from voting!

The Sepctre of Fascism is Due to the Currrent Economic Crisis of Capitalism and its Constant Attack Upon the Working Class Since 1948, and The Default/Treachnrous Roll of the Trade Union Bureaucracy The majority of the American people were opposed to both Biden and Trump. The Majority of the People are worse off since Obama’s austerity progam, during his stay in office.     Trump won because he filled a vacuum of leadership in opposition to the austerity program of the 1%’s United States. Hillary Clinton lost becuse she was a part of the austerity program.     Both the Republican and the Dencratic parties support austerity and cuts to sociery’s ‘safetynet’, social security, public education. unemploymnet insurace, etc., that was won by the rise of the CIO during the 1930s and 40s. 

ChrisHedges: We Have Seen This Movie Before: The Fascists Have Arrived The failure of the neoliberal order—which continues to ignore the needs and aspirations of the people—gives fuel to an ascendant far right that feeds on the despair and humiliation of the working class.     We Have Seen This Movie Before: The Fascists Have Arrived.    The failure of the neoliberal order—which continues to ignore the needs and aspirations of the people—gives fuel to an ascendant far right that feeds on the despair and humiliation of the working class.

US Hypocrisy Knows No Limits President Biden’s condemnation of Russia at the UN on Wednesday, where he claimed Russia had violated the UN Charter by invading Ukraine, a country he ludicrously posed “no threat” to its larger neighbor, is epic hypocrisy coming from the leader of a country that not long ago invaded and destroyed Iraq based on a total fraudulent claim asserting that country was developing or even already had weapons of mass destruction.

Patrick Lawrence: In the Terrain of Word War III The Armed Forces of Ukraine (AFU) advanced decisively into Russian-held territory in northeastern Ukraine two weeks ago, exposing the weakness, incompetence, and cowardice of Russian soldiers and officers. The tide of this war has turned. The Russian army is on the way to defeat, and President Vladimir Putin could go down with it.  Was it that way? Or was it this way: The Armed Forces of Ukraine, with the aid of U.S. intelligence, identified a region from which the Russians had more or less withdrawn, leaving its defense to cursorily trained militias from Luhansk, the northernmost of Ukraine’s two breakaway republics. The AFU thus advanced against next to no resistance. The course of the war has not fundamentally changed.     We do not know precisely or certainly what happened, and how, in the Kharkiv region of Ukraine during the first two weeks of September. I incline to the latter version of events, but never mind that. None of this matters as much as it did even a few days ago.

Number of Ultrarich Hits All-Time High as Someone Dies From Hunger Every 4 Seconds \”Those with the power and money to change this must come together to better respond to current crises and prevent and prepare for future ones,” a coalition of charities asserted.     As a new analysis revealed that the global ranks of the superrich soared to a record number, a coalition of charity groups said Tuesday that hundreds of millions of people around the world are hungry—and that someone starves to death every four seconds.

Some Historical Background for an Economic Interpretation of the War in Ukraine Charles Austin Beard’s “Giddy Minds and Foreign Quarrels,” excerpted in the July 2022 “From the Archive” column of Harper’s, originally appeared in the magazine’s September 1939 issue. The article had caused a sensation at the time of publication just as the Second World War began. Its republication now draws renewed attention to the Beardian legacy as a way of understanding the economics of war then and now.     George R. Leighton, a Harper’s editor from 1932 to 1944, supervised the publication of the September 1939 issue. In a 1954 essay, “Beard and Foreign Policy,” he recounted the history of Beard’s momentous article. The association between Leighton and Beard at Harper’s had begun in 1932. Leighton had sought him out to write for the magazine. At that time, Beard was the most famous and influential historian in the country. Beginning in 1913 with the publication of An Economic Interpretation of the Constitution of the United States, Beard had written about the power of money over politics and foreign policy. The depression of the 1930s intensified his radicalism.      He condemned with increasing fierceness the failure of American corporate capitalism to provide a secure and decent life for the people who lived here. A vast audience of admiring readers found in Beard’s writing a cogent explanation for the country’s ills in that terrible decade.

The Spoils of War: Why Boston is No Longer the “Athens of America” The military industrial complex in Massachusetts has continued to grow and prosper over recent years. The state’s longstanding liberal credentials have been tarnished by its significant and sustained contributions to the forever war posture of the US, even as poll after poll shows that the American public is tired of these wars, conducted at the expense of pressing domestic needs.

As humanity is threatened by global warming ecocide: Youth Despair: End of the American Dream?  Americans are suffering and none so much as the young people of this country.  In December 2021, U.S. Surgeon General Dr. Vivek Murthy issued a disturbing report, “Advisory on Protecting Youth Mental Health” that paints a troubling picture of young people 3 to 17 years-of-age. The report notes that over the decade between 2009 to 2019 the “mental health challenges were the leading cause of disability and poor life outcomes in young people” for one in five children. Digging deeper, it reports 40 percent – or one in three — of “high school students … reported persistent feelings of sadness or hopelessness,” 19 percent reported “seriously considering attempting suicide” (up 36% over the decade) and 16 percent “made a suicide plan in the prior year” (up 44 percent).  Most disturbing, an estimated 6,600 youth ages 10-24 committed suicide in 2020 alone – and this was before the Covid pandemic.

Environment: Ecosocialism or Ecocide!:

A Rapid Green Energy Transition to Save $12 Trillion and Avoid Catastrophic Tipping Points Sounds like a bargain but we have to act fast and with deep purpose. Set aside for a moment the fact that our profligate use of coal, oil and gas and rampant destruction of green spaces are heating the planet to a point where human life will become increasingly uncomfortable, if not impossible. Climate change costs are also mounting, and pollution, habitat destruction and consumerism are profoundly affecting global human health and survival.     Other than fear of change or of upsetting the status quo, there’s no rational reason for the slow pace at which the world is tackling the climate emergency. We’d all be healthier, happier and better off economically by quickly employing the many available and emerging solutions, and working on new ones.

Historic Tropical Storm Fiona Sweeps Homes Into Ocean in Eastern Canada Climate change leads to warmer ocean water at higher latitudes,” said one Canadian civil engineering professor. “A warmer future increases the probability that more intense storms will reach Canadian coasts.”

E.P.A. (Energy Protection Agency) Approved Toxic Chemicals for Fracking a Decade Ago, New Files Show The compounds can form PFAS, also known as “forever chemicals,” which have been linked to cancer and birth defects. The E.P.A. approvals came despite the agency’s own concerns about toxicity.For much of the past decade, oil companies engaged in drilling and fracking have been allowed to pump into the ground chemicals that, over time, can break down into toxic substances known as PFAS — a class of long-lasting compounds known to pose a threat to people and wildlife — according to internal documents from the Environmental Protection Agency.     The E.P.A. in 2011 approved the use of these chemicals, used to ease the flow of oil from the ground, despite the agency’s own grave concerns about their toxicity, according to the documents, which were reviewed by The New York Times. The E.P.A.’s approval of the three chemicals wasn’t previously publicly known.

PFAS Exposure and Risk of Cancer  In 2017, the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) classified perfluorooctanoic acid (PFOA), the most well-studied per- and polyfluoroalkyl substance (PFAS), as a possible human carcinogen based in part on limited epidemiologic evidence of associations with cancers of the kidney and testis in heavily exposed subjects. To address the gaps in our understanding of the carcinogenicity of PFAS, DCEG has launched a series of studies aimed at identifying specific cancers associated with PFAS at exposure levels typically found in the general population. These studies are innovative for their direct assessment of exposure to PFOA and other PFAS in banked serum specimens as well as their evaluation of risks at exposure levels comparable to that found in the general population or among military personnel. As such, these investigations have the potential to inform future evaluations of the carcinogenicity of PFOA and to extend our understanding to other PFAS that have not yet been evaluated.     For more information, contact Dr. Debra Silverman, Chief of the Occupational and Environmental Epidemiology Branch and chair of the NCI Working Group on PFAS. The Working group initiates, coordinates, and provides guidance to DCEG research with emphasis on overcoming challenges to the research and initiating studies to address gaps in the science.

‘Forever Chemicals’ detected in All Umbilical Cord Blood in 40 Studies Studies collectively examined nearly 30,000 samples over the past five years in ‘disturbing’ findings      Toxic PFAS chemicals were detected in every umbilical cord blood sample across 40 studies conducted over the last five years, a new review of scientific literature from around the world has found.     The studies collectively examined nearly 30,000 samples, and many linked fetal PFAS exposure to health complications in unborn babies, young children and later in life. The studies’ findings are “disturbing”, said Uloma Uche, an environmental health science fellow with the Environmental Working Group, which analyzed the peer-reviewed studies’ data.

Civil Rights/ Black Liberarion:

Environmental Racism 

U.S. Petrochemical Facilities MapPollution Is Killing Black Americans. African-Americans are 75 percent more likely than others to live near facilities that produce hazardous waste. Cancer Alley (French: Allée du Cancer) is the regional nickname given to an 85-mile (137 km) stretch of land[1] along the Mississippi River between Baton Rouge and New Orleans, in the River Parishes of Louisiana, which contains over 150 petrochemical plants and refineries.[2] This area accounts for 25% of the petrochemical production in the United States.[3] The region is considered a sacrifice zone.[4] In Cancer Alley, forty-six individuals per one million are at risk of developing cancer, compared with the national average of roughly thirty individuals per one million.[3] The abnormally high cancer risk and concentration of petrochemical operations inspired the “Cancer Alley” moniker.     Additionally, researchers have found that racial disparity in cancer risk from air pollution worsen as minority concentration increases across the region.[3] Individuals in black-dominant areas are 16% more at risk than those in white-dominant areas, and people in low-income tracts also bear a cumulative risk 12% more than those in high-income tracts.[3] Community leaders such as Sharon Lavigne have led the charge in protesting the expansion of the petrochemical industry in Cancer Alley, as well as addressing the associated racial and economic disparities.[5] 

There are many Cancer Alleys In the United States: There are 130 refineries – that manufacture refined petroleum products like gasoline, diesel, and jet fuel – and 311 petrochemical facilities in the United States. U.S. refineries and petrochemical facilities are among the most technologically advanced and efficient in the world. — American Fuel & Petrochemical Manufacturers

School to Prison Industrial Complex: Federal Judge Allows ‘Untenable’ Plan to Send Juvenile Inmates to Angola Prison “The move defies all common sense and best practices, and it will cause irrevocable damage to our youth and families,” said one children’s advocate.

Labor:

Economy:

Nowhere to Hide: The Fed-Induced Bubble in Stocks and Bonds Is Blowing Up; Even the Typical Safe Havens of Gold and T-Notes Are Losing Money The corrupt political backdrop for today’s unprecedented market quagmire feels like a hyperbolic trailer for a low-budget sci-fi thriller: The former president of the only remaining superpower in the world has been charged with “staggering” frauds against banks – the ones he just deregulated as president. (This same former president was also caught red-handed with Top Secret documents after he left public office — but the super power’s 18 intelligence agencies have no idea what he did, or was planning to do, with these documents.)

World:

Them and Us: Energy Markets – A ‘Cash Machine’ for the Capitalists, While Workers Freeze A cold winter is coming. The cost of NATO’s inter-imperialist conflict with Russia is falling squarely on workers and the poor in the form of skyrocketing bills and frigid homes, while a handful of gas and oil barons are reaping handsome rewards.     Last month, ousted British Prime Minister Boris Johnson made a ‘farewell’ trip to Kyiv, where he was decorated with the ‘Order of Liberty’ in recognition of his (cynical, self-serving) support for Ukraine. In his acceptance speech, he said: “If we’re paying in our energy bills for the evils of Vladimir Putin, the people of Ukraine are paying in their blood.”     Johnson’s successor, Liz Truss, concurred that higher energy is a “price worth paying” to defend Ukraine. Similarly, European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen stated in an interview for Reuters that opposing Putin “comes at a high cost, but our freedom, the international peace order, and democracy, is priceless.” Having incurred these high energy costs through imposing sanctions on barbaric, tyrannical Russia, the European bourgeois hopes to make up the shortfall by reaching out to those noted democrats in Saudi Arabia!

Australia’s Asian Pivot Towards War Back in 2010, Barack Obama was striding about his new administration’s decision to turn his attention to doings in the Far East, described by pundits and media talking heads as ‘the Asian Pivot.’ Coincidentally, this is the same year that Obama, hamming it up at the annual WH Correspondents dinner, threatened the pop rock band, Jonas Brothers, with droning if they laid eye-hands on his daughters. Much laughter. It was the same year, Hillary Clinton was said to have remarked that Julian Assange should be “droned,” which seemed discreditable, until it was recently revealed that the ACLU was going to go to court to pursue the CIA and Mike Pompeo for threatening to have Assange killed. Less laughter. America has gone from boots-on-the-ground to heavy air strikes to drone warfare

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 Healthcar