Daily News Digest October 14, 2022

Daily News Digest Archives

Images of the Day:

Without Us!Mike Lukovich.

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:

Global Inflation and Global Recession = Stagflation!

With Germany blocking the operation of Nord Stream 2 and sanctions precluding the repair of the Nord Stream 1, the German population began bearing the brunt of the sanctions on Russian energy.    Despite their government’s insistence that it would remain resolute in confronting what it perceived as Russian aggression against Ukraine, the German people had other plans. By Sept. 26 they began taking to the streets in large numbers to demand that their government open the Nord Stream 2 pipeline and provide the German people and economy with the energy needed to survive. — Scott Ritter: Pipelines v. USA

Videos of the Day:

Blood and Gold: the Spanish Conquest of the America

Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberly:

Criminal Justice System Does Not Meet the Needs of Crime Survivors

Mumia Abu Jamal Appeal Hearing on October 19

U.S. Sanctions Against Russia Create Unrest and Risk Hot War

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

Back to the Streets! — Say NO to U.S. wars! Join one of 50 antiwar actions between October 15th and October 23rd  Stop Washington’s war moves toward Russia and China! Stop endless wars: Iraq, Syria, Somalia, Palestine, everywhere!  Join us in protest during the week of Oct 15 – 22.Biden State Department Embraces Flawed Logic for Bolivian Coup in Leaked Report Adopting debunked claims of election fraud, the report reflects the Trump administration’s stance supporting the far-right coup regime of Jeanine Áñez. A State DepartmenT report obtained by The Intercept shows the Biden administration continuing to embrace claims of electoral fraud that opened the door for a right-wing takeover of the Bolivian government in 2019. Mandated by the most recent omnibus spending bill, the report delivered to Congress mirrors the posture the Trump administration pushed three years ago, when it sought to cement the replacement of Bolivia’s Indigenous socialist president Evo Morales with the country’s right-wing Christian senator Jeanine Áñez.

Facing the Warmongers: An Assange Update On the latest slimed path Julian Assange has been made to trod, a few things have presented themselves.  The rusty sword of Damocles may be suspended above him (he, we are informed, has contracted COVID-19), but there are those, in the meantime, willing to defend him with decent conviction against his dispatch to the United States, where he is certain to perish. 

Scott Ritter: Pipelines v. USA Intent, motive and means: People serving life sentences in U.S. prisons have been convicted on weaker grounds than the circumstantial evidence against Washington for the attack on the Nord Stream pipelines.     Circumstantial evidence, just like direct proof, can be used to prove the elements of a crime, the existence or completion of certain acts and the intent or mental state of a defendant. Generally speaking, a prosecutor, to obtain a conviction, needs to show beyond a reasonable doubt that a defendant committed a certain act and that the defendant acted with specific intent.

Environment: Ecosocialism or Ecocide!:

Rush to Mine Electric Vehicle Battery Elements Threatens People and Ecosystems The race to electrify personal vehicles may fuel ecological degradation, geopolitical tensions and military conflict Much of the excitement over the Inflation Reduction Act, which became law this summer, focused on the boost it should give to the sales of electric vehicles. Sadly, though, manufacturing and driving tens of millions of individual electric passenger cars won’t get us far enough down the road to ending greenhouse-gas emissions and stanching the overheating of this planet. Worse yet, the coming global race to electrify the personal vehicle is likely to exacerbate ecological degradation, geopolitical tensions, and military conflict.  The batteries that power electric vehicles are likely to be the source of much international competition and the heart of the problem lies in two of the metallic elements used to make their electrodes: cobalt and lithium. Most deposits of those metals lie outside the borders of the United States and will leave manufacturers here (and elsewhere) relying heavily on foreign supplies to electrify road travel on the scale now being envisioned.

‘Lights Are Flashing Red’: Study Finds 69% Average Drop in Animal Populations Since 1970 “We should care deeply about the unraveling of natural systems because these same resources sustain human life,” said the World Wildlife Fund’s global chief scientist.

The Real Questions We Should be Asking After the Smithfield Piglet Case The Animal Agriculture Industry has hidden behind the government for far too long. It’s time that changes.

New Data Tool Details Thousands of Corporations Profiting From US Prison Industry “Despite earning tens of billions of dollars each year, the public knows little about the prison industry and those that profit from it.”

Civil Rights/ Black Liberarion:

Racism and Sexism in the Housing Industry As a sociologist who has spent the past 10 years studying housing conditions in the U.S., I led a research team that conducted interviews with homeowners who are struggling with basic maintenance such as rotting wood siding and floors, mold, crumbling brickwork, outdated plumbing and leaking ceilings. Our first paper from this project is currently under peer review.    Like Yolanda, our interviewees – whom we gave pseudonyms to protect their privacy – were almost all Black women over the age of 60 who lived in old buildings in neighborhoods that have borne the brunt of discrimination – such as redlining and inequitable land use decisions – and disinvestment.     Once a lively district of Black businesses and homes, the 7th Ward has become an area of high poverty since the I-10 expressway was built during the 1960s directly through its heart. 

Wall Street Lobbyists Admit Big Banks Don’t Plan to Honor Their Climate Pledges Big bank lobbyists have openly told regulators that Wall Street’s disingenuous climate pledges were made to be broken. Atrade association that lobbies on behalf of the largest banks in the United States told regulators that their members’ pledges to reduce investments in carbon-emitting industries are “aspirational,” implying that they shouldn’t be taken seriously by authorities.    The Bank Policy Institute made the remarks in public comments on guidelines proposed earlier this year by federal bank regulators, the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC) and the Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation (FDIC), on climate-related risk management. Specifically, the lobbying group rejected the notion floated by the agencies that regulations should ensure banks’ greenhouse gas commitments to the public “are consistent with their internal strategies and risk appetite statements.”

Black Agenda Radio

Labor:

Economy:

Pensions, Speculation, and the Casino of Capitalism The recent market turmoil in Britain has revealed the immense level of speculation that takes place in every corner of capitalism. The bankers and billionaires are gambling with our futures. It is time to overthrow their decrepit system. According to the Bank of England, the UK economy has officially tipped into recession. And the Tories are only making matters worse with their Thatcherite economic agenda.     Investor confidence plummeted following Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng’s disastrous mini-Budget announcement on 23 September. This was reflected in a sharp fall of the pound on currency markets, to a record low against the dollar of below $1.04. At the same time, the cost of UK government borrowing surged, as creditors fled to safer climes. British bond yields, which rise as their price falls, rose to a 20-year high of 5.92%.

Shadow Goverment Statistics Alternate Inflation Charts The CPI chart on the home page reflects our estimate of inflation for today as if it were calculated the same way it was in 1990. The CPI on the Alternate Data Series tab here reflects the CPI as if it were calculated using the methodologies in place in 1980. In general terms, methodological shifts in government reporting have depressed reported inflation, moving the concept of the CPI away from being a measure of the cost of living needed to maintain a constant standard of living. Further definition is provided in our  CPI Glossary. Further background on the SGS-Alternate CPI series is available in our Public Comment on Inflation Measurement.

Brookings: October 2022 Update to TIGER: World Economy Battered by High Inflation and Stalling Growth The post-COVID recovery has run out of steam and the global economy is stalling, with many countries already in or on the brink of outright recession amid heightened uncertainty and rising risks. The October 2022 update of the Brookings-Financial Times TIGER indexes shows that growth momentum, as well as financial market and confidence indicators, have deteriorated markedly around the world in recent months.

World Bank’s Malpass Sees Risk of Stagflation, Likely Recession in Europe World Bank President David Malpass on Wednesday warned that it could take years for global energy production to diversify away from Russia after its invasion of Ukraine, prolonging the risk of stagflation, or a period of low growth and high inflation.

Saudi-Led OPEC Production Cut Could Be ‘Tipping Point’ for Global Recession, IEA Warns The International Energy Agency said a jump in oil prices combined with “unrelenting inflationary pressures and interest rate hikes” could spark a worldwide economic downturn.

FRED:Producer Price Index 

Casino Banking: Wall Street Mega Banks Traded More in their Federally-Insured Bank than the Total for their Bank Holding Company When something happens for the first time in history at federally-insured banks, Congress and federal regulators need to pull their heads out of the sand and pay attention. We’re talking about the fact that in the second quarter of this year, trading revenues at federally-insured commercial banks eclipsed the trading revenues at bank holding companies – which typically include subsidiaries where traders actually have licenses to trade.     This latest data on what is happening inside the nation’s largest federally-insured banks comes from the Office of the Comptroller of the Currency (OCC), see pages 2 and 3 here. The federally-insured banks generated a total of $10.3 billion in trading revenue in the second quarter versus $10.2 billion for the bank holding companies, or 101 percent of the bank holding company revenues. That’s never happened before according to the data provided by the OCC.

World:

Marjorie Cohn:  Israel Authorizes Military to Kill Palestinians With Drones in the West Bank Family of assassinated journalist Shireen Abu Akleh filed a complaint against Israeli leaders in ICC. Commanders of the Israeli Occupying Forces (IOF) have been authorized to use armed drones to kill Palestinians in the occupied West Bank, with the approval of Chief of Staff Lt.-Gen. Aviv Kohavi.     Hamas called the order “a dangerous step” and urged Palestinians “to continue resisting the Israeli occupation with all means possible until they regain their legitimate rights.”

The Baby Killers!: Palestinian Hunger Strikers Are Facing Harsh Retaliation Inside Israeli Prisons Hunger strikers, including a prominent human rights attorney, demand an end to Israel’s system of arbitrary detention. Well over 100 Palestinians, many of them children, have been killed so far this year in connection to increasingly deadly Israeli military raids on neighborhoods in East Jerusalem and the occupied West Bank. The reported killings of two teenagers and a 12-year-old boy during a military raid on the the West Bank city of Jenin that injured multiple people over the past weekend — and a deadly attack on an Israeli military checkpoint in apparent retaliation — is just the latest spasm of violence erupting from the Israeli security state’s occupation of Palestine.

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