Daily News Digest October 27, 20222
Images of the Day
Crunbling United States Infrastructure:Editorial: U.S. Capitalism Can’t Get The Lead Out of the Environment! Lead Poisoning in Children
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!
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:
Michael Roberts Blog: With credit to various sources…on Queen Elizabeth 2 of the UK. “I think the Queen would want us all to live the way she did, with free public housing, basic universal income, and full government health care.” Manuel Aragorn “out of respect for her majesty the Queen of England, I will be ceasing all payments of my energy bills for an indefinite period of mourning.” Stan account. “Who is wealthiest capitalist in total assets in Britain? The UK has 177 billionaires. Richest is Jim Dyson $27B. Windsor family (Queen) assets held by its business, Monarchy PLC, has assets >$33B (Crown estate $19.5B + 7 Castles $14B, excluding 7000 paintings & other art).” Jack Rasmus “the Queen and Windsor family pay no taxes in Britain. And she is formally above the law and cannot be tried for anything in any British court.” Jack Rasmus. ” Pictured here, in Elizabeth’s crown and sceptre, are shards of the Star of Africa diamond. The stone was stolen from South Africa in 1905, and is worth $400M. These fragments alone could cover the cost of higher education for nearly 75,000 South African students.”
Videos of the Day:
Scott Ritter – Ukraine/Russia/NATO Update
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
In the Shadows of the American Century: The Rise and Decline of U.S. Global Power In a completely original analysis, prize-winning historian Alfred W. McCoy explores America’s rise as a world power—from the 1890s through the Cold War—and its bid to extend its hegemony deep into the twenty-first century through a fusion of cyberwar, space warfare, trade pacts, and military alliances. McCoy then analyzes the marquee instruments of US hegemony—covert intervention, client elites, psychological torture, and worldwide surveillance. Peeling back layers of secrecy, McCoy exposes a military and economic battle for global domination fought in the shadows, largely unknown to those outside the highest rungs of power. Can the United States extend the “American Century” or will China guide the globe for the next hundred years? McCoy devotes his final chapter to these questions, boldly laying out a series of scenarios that could lead to the end of Washington’s world domination by 2030.
24 hours After Calling for Negotiations to End Ukraine War, DSA and “Progressive” Democrats Demand Escalation On Monday, 30 members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus sent a letter to President Joe Biden suggesting the US negotiate with Russia to bring an end to the war in Ukraine. On Tuesday, they withdrew their letter, repudiated calls for negotiation and pledged their full support for the war. On Tuesday, with the “catastrophic possibilities” just as great as the day before, the Democratic signatories—including all four congressional members of the Democratic Socialists of America (DSA)—withdrew their letter, repudiated calls for negotiation and pledged their full support for the war. The reversal was immediate and total. In a statement published Tuesday, Caucus Chair Pramila Jayapal (Democrat-Washington state) called Monday’s letter “unfortunate” and apologized on behalf of the letter’s signatories for causing a “distraction” to the war effort. “The Congressional Progressive Caucus hereby withdraws its recent letter to the White House regarding Ukraine,” she stated. Not a single member of the caucus voiced any opposition to the reversal.
Chris Hedges: Writing on War As this century began, I was writing War Is a Force That Gives Us Meaning, my reflections on two decades as a war correspondent, 15 of them with the New York Times, in Central America, the Middle East, Africa, Bosnia, and Kosovo. I worked in a small, sparsely furnished studio apartment on First Avenue in New York City. The room had a desk, chair, futon, and a couple of bookshelves — not enough to accommodate my extensive library, leaving piles of books stacked against the wall. The single window overlooked a back alley.
Old Soldiers Never Die, They Just Go to Work for Saudi Arabia You remember General James “Mad Dog” Mattis. Mattis, who retired from the US Marine Corps in March 2013, served as President Donald Trump’s secretary of defense in 2017 and 2018. That, we knew. What we didn’t know was that in 2015 Mattis served as a military advisor to the UAE. We know this now thanks to an exposé in the October 18 Washington Post. The Post revealed that since 2015 at least 500 retired US generals and admirals have had their golden years enriched serving as paid advisors to the UAE, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and other Middle Eastern states not known for democracy or human rights. (Mattis refused payment, according to the Post.) Most of these high-ranking retired officers are involved in “upgrading” Persian Gulf militaries, the Post says. You remember General James “Mad Dog” Mattis. Mattis, who retired from the US Marine Corps in March 2013, served as President Donald Trump’s secretary of defense in 2017 and 2018. That, we knew. What we didn’t know was that in 2015 Mattis served as a military advisor to the UAE. We know this now thanks to an exposé in the October 18 Washington Post. The Post revealed that since 2015 at least 500 retired US generals and admirals have had their golden years enriched serving as paid advisors to the UAE, the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, and other Middle Eastern states not known for democracy or human rights. (Mattis refused payment, according to the Post.) Most of these high-ranking retired officers are involved in “upgrading” Persian Gulf militaries, the Post says.
How Secretaries of State Can Undermine Elections The state officials who administer fair, accessible and secure elections have historically operated quietly without garnering much public attention. Elections happen, votes are counted, the winners are declared and democracy moves on. But since 2020, secretaries of state and other state officials who oversee elections have come under increasing scrutiny and been exposed to increasing abuse.
Chelsea Manning on Being a Whistleblower, Prison, and Her New Memoir Whistleblower and Former in her new memoir, ‘README.txt.’US Army Soldier Chelsea Manning Looks Back on the Past 12 Years Chelsea Manning was imprisoned in 2010 after leaking 750,000 military documents to the website WikiLeaks. Chelsea’s revelations exposed heinous war crimes by the US military. While the perpetrators of the atrocities she exposed have never faced justice, Chelsea herself spent seven years behind bars, including several months in solitary confinement before her trial. README.txt is Chelsea’s first full-length memoir detailing what led her to speak out, and her experiences in prison. In an event organized by Baltimore worker cooperative bookstore Red Emma’s, Chelsea Manning joins Baltimore-based activist and independent journalist Ryan Harvey for a special discussion on her memoir.
President Biden: Climate is the Enemy Promises and deception So, President Biden, the choice was easy for me. Trump was dangerous and you said things I wanted to hear, that you trusted science, that climate change was real, and that we had to change our ways to fight it. But once in office, President Biden, you almost forgot your promises. You expanded the opportunities of fossil fuel companies to extract more petroleum and natural gas from public lands and waters. That was evidence of two things. One, you deceived us and, two, you did not understand the grave condition we and the rest of the world face from rising global temperatures from the ceaseless burning of fossil fuels.
Cancer Alley Activists Hold DC Funeral March Asking Biden to Declare Climate Emergency “People are dying,” pleaded RISE St. James leader Sharon Lavigne outside the White House. “This an emergency. If he will not declare this an emergency, we are going to die.”nvironmental justice activists from Louisiana’s “Cancer Alley” on Monday held a funeral procession in Washington, D.C. to remember victims—overwhelmingly Black people—killed by petrochemical industry pollution and to demand that U.S. President Joe Biden declare a climate emergency and do more to stop deadly fossil fuel projects.
Environment: Ecosocialism or Ecocide!:
The following was printed in yesterday’s news digest: Reuters Exclusive: Lead poisoning afflicts neighborhoods across California: Dozens of California communities have experienced recent rates of childhood lead poisoning that surpass those of Flint, Michigan, with one Fresno locale showing rates nearly three times higher, blood testing data obtained by Reuters shows. The data shows how lead poisoning affects even a state known for its environmental advocacy, with high rates of childhood exposure found in a swath of the Bay Area and downtown Los Angeles. And the figures show that, despite national strides in eliminating lead-based products, hazards remain in areas far from the Rust Belt or East Coast regions filled with old housing and legacy industry. In one central Fresno zip code, 13.6 percent of blood tests on children under six years old came back high for lead. That compares to 5 percent across the city of Flint during its recent water contamination crisis. In all, Reuters found at least 29 Golden State neighborhoods where children had elevated lead tests at rates at least as high as in Flint. In fact, here are Thousands of U.S. locales where lead poisoning is worse than in Flint. Instead of spending $trillions on the military and police (depositing lead all over the world), the U.S. should spend the money to get the lead out! — Editorial: U.S. Capitalism Can’t Get The Lead Out of the Environment! (2016)
New Protections for Emperor Penguin Reflect ‘Growing Extinction Crisis “The penguin’s very existence depends on whether our government takes strong action now to cut climate-heating fossil fuels and prevent irreversible damage to life on Earth,” said one advocate.
‘Not a Single Global Indicator Is on Track’ to Reverse Deforestation by 2030: Analysis There is no way to limit global warming to 1.5°C unless the world stops felling trees to make space for cattle ranching, monocropping, and other harmful practices, experts warn. Although halting and reversing deforestation by 2030 is key to averting the worst consequences of the climate and biodiversity crises, the world is off course to achieve these critical targets and urgent international action is needed, an analysis warned Monday.
Book Review : Slouching Towards Utopia, Or Hurtling Towards Disaster? Top economist’s paean to capitalism glosses over gross inequality, wars, and ecological destruction Bradford DeLong is one of the world’s most prominent Keynesian economists and economic historian who is a professor of economics at the University of California, Berkeley. DeLong served as Deputy Assistant Secretary of the U.S. Department of the Treasury in the Clinton Administra-tion under Lawrence Summers. He is a architype liberal Democrat in US politics and a classical Keynesian in economics. He has published a new book, entitled Slouching towards Utopia: an economic history of the 20th century. It’s an ambitious work aiming to analyze and explain the development of the capitalist economy in what he considers its most successful period: the 20th century.
Climate Science Deniers Go Unchallenged at London ‘Green’ Summit Marc Morano and Christopher Monckton were given free rein to spread misinformation at the CC Forum conference, which Liz Truss’s climate minister pulled out of last week. A “sustainable development” conference taking place in London gave a platform to two prominent climate science deniers, who used the event to claim that coal-fired power is “clean” and call global warming a “religion”.
Marc Morano and Christopher Monckton were hosted at the Dorchester Hotel in Mayfair this week for the “Global Investment in Sustainable Development” event organised by Climate Change (CC) Forum, which touts itself as the “green Davos”. Last week DeSmog revealed that UK Climate Minister Graham Stuart had agreed to give a keynote speech at the event, before pulling out on Friday after DeSmog asked questions about Morano and Monckton’s involvement. When contacted, CC Forum’s CEO Max Studennikoff, who claims to support climate action, defended holding a debate with climate science deniers as a way of “publicly debunking their arguments”. But DeSmog can report that the pair were given free rein to spread climate science misinformation at the event on Tuesday, with their arguments warmly applauded by the audience. Monckton was also allowed to give a keynote speech unchallenged in which he called net zero “not possible” and likened global warming to a religious belief. Morano and Monckton appeared on GB News after the event claiming victory, and referenced coverage by DeSmog, which Monckton called “the smug blog”.
Civil Rights/ Black Liberarion: Labor:
‘Work-Life Balance is at the Center of this Dispute’: Alabama Westrock Paper Mill Workers Fight On Workers at Westrock’s Mahrt Mall paper mill in Cottonton, Alabama, have been locked out since the beginning of October due to an ongoing contract fight. “On the morning of Oct. 1… almost 500 union members from three United Steel Workers (USW) locals at WestRock’s Mahrt Mill paper mill in Cottonton, Alabama, voted to reject a second contract offer from the company,” Jacob Morrison recently reported for The Real News Network. “The refusal to ratify WestRock’s ‘last, best, and final’ offer came as a result of the company insisting on removing contract language pertaining to what the workers there call ‘penalties’ for long hours. Members resoundingly rejected this contract, even though it included an unheard-of $28,000 ratification bonus—increased from an already staggering offer of $20,000, which workers already rejected on Sept. 21.” Workers at WestRock’s Mahrt Mill paper mill have been locked out by the company since early October and say they can’t be bought off with bonuses for signing a contract that will ensure they have even less time for life outside of work. In this special guest-hosted episode, Morrison speaks with Mahrt Mill workers from the picket line about the lockout and their fight to get their lives back.
Economy:
JPMorgan Chase Quietly Settles Whistleblower Case Involving Charges of Keeping Two Sets of Books and Improper Payments to Tony Blair It was a lawsuit that should have made front page headlines in every major newspaper in America and on the evening television news. Instead, as we predicted, it was quietly settled on Monday, just 10 business days before a trial was scheduled to begin. The dollar amount of the settlement was not disclosed. Yesterday, Wall Street’s paper of record, the Wall Street Journal, devoted a mere 299 words to the settlement and the details of the case.
World:
Britain: Sunak Coronated as PM – The Establishment Gets Their Man To the relief of the ruling class, Rishi Sunak has been anointed Britain’s latest prime minister. The new Tory leader has promised ‘stability’, on the basis of a programme of harsh austerity. Instead, revolutionary explosions lie ahead.
Health,Education, 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