Daily News Digest November 3, 20222
Images of the Day:
Patrick Lawrence: Disinformation, Absolutely
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:
The government of Democratic Republic of the Comgo (DRC) is selling permits for oil and gas exploration in dozens of blocks, which cover 240,000 sq km (150,000 sq miles), of which at least 10,000 sq km are in peatland rainforest. The government insists it has a sovereign right to use its natural resources to increase economic growth in the DRC. Infrastructure development in the peatlands, however, changes the delicate hydrology of the forest, say experts. Building roads and installing equipment requires the land to be drained, drying out the peat, exposing it to oxygen and triggering the release of carbon. — Sale of Oil and Gas Permits Casts Shadow Over World’s Second-Largest Rainforest
There is nothing more frightful than ignorance in action. ― Johann Wolfgang von GoetheNone are more hopelessly enslaved than those who falsely believe they are free. ― Johann Wolfgang von Goethe
Who Killed Malcolm X? New York to Pay $36 Million for Two Men Wrongfully Jailed For 1965 Murder
End the Occupation: Norwegian Refugee Council Warns Israeli Elections May Empower Extremist Parti
Videos of the Day:
Who Killed Malcolm X? New York to Pay $36 Million for Two Men Wrongfully Jailed For 1965 Murder
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
Patrick Lawrence: Disinformation, Absolutely
1. Everything you will read in this commentary is disinformation.
- To say that this commentary contains disinformation is disinformation.
- To say statements calling this commentary disinformation are disinformation is disinformation.
This is what our public discourse has come to. This is what we have done to it. We Americans have made a nonsense of ourselves. You want to talk about America’s late-imperial decline? This is the warp and weft of it as we shred our social fabric. This is what our troubled republic sounds like, an indecipherable cacophony amid which anything we say can be turned to mean other than what we mean.
Marjorie Cohn: House Progressives Pushed Negotiations With Russia, Then Buckled Under Pressure On October 24, 30 members of the Congressional Progressive Caucus signed a letter to President Joe Biden calling for “direct talks with Russia” to end the war in Ukraine. But in an alarming about-face, they withdrew the letter the next day. The letter urged Biden “to make vigorous diplomatic efforts in support of a negotiated settlement and ceasefire.” It raised the possibility of “incentives to end hostilities, including some form of sanctions relief.” Since Russia illegally invaded
Now in Dower’s latest book, “The Violent American Century,” published this spring by Haymarket Books, he questions the foundation of the entire postwar order. As Dower sees it, there may be less warfare today, but our apparent U.S.-led calm is heavily based on a hyperactive militarism. And the vast superiority of American armed forces creates an inherent volatility, Dower thinks, because the U.S. expects to bend international affairs to its will, by virtue of sheer strength. As such, Dower contends, the U.S. has mistakenly pursued an open-ended “war on terror,” supported too many proxy wars, and risked nuclear annihilation. Our postwar era of relative peace thus hinges in part on good fortune — in avoiding some accidental triggers of nuclear war, for instance — and may be more short-lived than some of us assume. “We’re in a perpetual cycle of violence in the name of preventing violence,” Dower says. — Is the Pax Americana truly peaceful? Now in Dower’s latest book, “The Violent American Century,” published this spring by Haymarket Books, he questions the foundation of the entire postwar order. As Dower sees it, there may be less warfare today, but our apparent U.S.-led calm is heavily based on a hyperactive militarism. And the vast superiority of American armed forces creates an inherent volatility, Dower thinks, because the U.S. expects to bend international affairs to its will, by virtue of sheer strength. As such, Dower contends, the U.S. has mistakenly pursued an open-ended “war on terror,” supported too many proxy wars, and risked nuclear annihilation. Our postwar era of relative peace thus hinges in part on good fortune — in avoiding some accidental triggers of nuclear war, for instance — and may be more short-lived than some of us assume. — Is the Pax Americana Truly Peaceful?
Pax Americana and The Failure of ‘Lesser Evilism’ Just before the 2000 Presidential Election, in September 2000, George Bush’s think tank, The Project for the New American Century, put into writing a document titled Rebuilding America’s Defenses, Forces and Resources For a New Century. In that document they called for war upon Iraq, a US military presence in the middle east, and the construction of military bases throughout Asia and the world to enforce, what they termed, as a ‘strategic goal’, the preservation Pax Americana — the ‘new world order’ that was proclaimed after the first Gulf War. There has been no objection or opposition, from the Democratic Party, to this ‘strategic goal’ for this century, even though the document stated, two years prior to 9/11: A transformation strategy that solely pursued capabilities for projecting force from the United States, for example, and sacrificed forward basing and presence, would be at odds with larger American policy goals and would trouble American allies. Further, the process of transformation, even if it brings revolutionary change, is likely to be a long one, absent some catastrophic and catalyzing event – like a new Pearl Harbor.
The United States has been the Most Violent Country in the World,the Political Violence and Forever Wars of Pax Americana has Cone Home to Roost!: Political Violence is the Currency of Fascism Whatever one thinks of the politics of Nancy Pelosi, American Democratic Speaker of the House, the violence perpetrated against her husband was nothing short of terrifying, and for many reasons. No spin can erase the fact that this was political violence. And it is becoming normalized in a country that has been rapidly unraveling for several years. The latest attack did not occur in a vacuum. It was fueled by the far right which is becoming more unhinged by the day. Before Republican senator Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia took office, she embraced insane QAnon conspiracy theories and proclaimed that Pelosi was guilty of treason. She added: “it’s a crime punishable by death.”
Ukraine, 6,374 civilians are estimated to have been killed, including 402 children, and 9,776 people have been reported injured. The war has impacted the global economy and caused inflation, recession, and food and gas shortages. In the letter, the congress members cited “the catastrophic possibilities of nuclear escalation and miscalculation, which only increase the longer this war continues.” Calling themselves “legislators responsible for the expenditure of tens of billions of U.S. taxpayer dollars in military assistance in the conflict,” they wrote that they believed “such involvement in this war also creates a responsibility for the United States to seriously explore all possible avenues, including direct engagement with Russia, to reduce harm and support Ukraine in achieving a peaceful settlement.”
Environment: Ecosocialism or Ecocide!:
‘Powerful Victory’ as Judge Dismisses Charges Against Line 3 Water Protectors “Protecting water, land, and treaty rights is not a crime,” said one defendant. “Perhaps now we can hold the Enbridge corporation accountable for their crimes against nature and humanity.”
Bolsonaro Drove Brazil’s 2021 Emissions to Highest Level in Nearly Two Decades Leftist President-elect Luiz Inácio Lula da Silva has vowed to reverse Bolsonaro’s harmful deforestation policies, declaring, “A standing tree is worth more than tons of wood illegally harvested by those who think only of easy profit.”
Where have all the Forests Gone? 
Yosemite and Logging in the Park I visited Yosemite National Park recently. I was dismayed to see the logging of large trees in the valley. According to the Park Superintendent, the justification for logging is “to use every tool at our disposal to save the forests and to save the park and to restore a healthy ecosystem and to keep people safe.” The proposed logging has been temporarily halted by a lawsuit from the John Muir Project. The National Park Service (NPS) also says they are “restoring a historical view” as if the fact that trees have grown up obscuring the vista is somehow part of the NPS mandate. (Maybe we should restore the “historic” view of grizzly bears feeding at the dumps in Yellowstone too.)
World Nuclear Industry Status Report Delivers All the Empirical Data We Need to Know About Nuclear Power’s Decline The annual goldmine of empirical data on nuclear power that is the World Nuclear Industry Status Report (WNISR) was duly rolled out on October 5th, this year in Berlin. The 2022 edition is available for download here and is an indispensable reference source, updated each year.
Europe’s Climate Warming at Twice Rate of Global Average, Says Report Trend of faster warming over last 30 years likely to cause exceptional heat, wildfires and floods, warn scientists Temperatures in Europe have increased at more than twice the global average in the last 30 years, according to a report from the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). The effects of this warming are already being seen, with droughts, wildfires and ice melts taking place across the continent. The European State of the Climate report, produced with the EU’s Copernicus service, warns that as the warming trend continues, exceptional heat, wildfires, floods and other climate breakdown outcomes will affect society, economies and ecosystems.
Civil Rights/ Black Liberarion:
Why the Government Assassinated Malcolm X And Martin Luther King Jr. By Roland Sheppard
Malcolm X was assassinated fifty years ago, on February 21, 1965. Three years later, Martin Luther King, Jr. was also assassinated (April 4, 1968). These murders marked an escalation in the U.S. Government’s war against the Civil Rights Movement. In the 1960s, Roland Sheppard regularly attended Malcolm XIS meetings in Harlem. Between 1964 and 1965, he was in charge of security when Malcolm X spoke at the Militant Labor Forum in New York City. He is one of the few remaining people who personally witnessed the assassination of Malcolm X in the Audubon Ballroom. A life-long socialist, Sheppard was active in the Civil Rights Movement, the movement against the U.S. war in Vietnam, the Black Liberation Movement, the struggle for women’s liberation, for union rights, for workers democracy, and for socialism. He worked for 31 years as a union painter until his 1994 election as an official for Painters Local 4 in San Francisco.
Leaked Documents Outline DHS’s Plans to Police Disinformation The department of homeland security is quietly broadening its efforts to curb speech it considers dangerous, an investigation by The Intercept has found. Years of internal DHS memos, emails, and documents — obtained via leaks and an ongoing lawsuit, as well as public documents — illustrate an expansive effort by the agency to influence tech platforms. The work, much of which remains unknown to the American public, came into clearer view earlier this year when DHS announced a new “Disinformation Governance Board”: a panel designed to police misinformation (false information spread unintentionally), disinformation (false information spread intentionally), and malinformation (factual information shared, typically out of context, with harmful intent) that allegedly threatens U.S. interests. While the board was widely ridiculed, immediately scaled back, and then shut down within a few months, other initiatives are underway as DHS pivots to monitoring social media now that its original mandate — the war on terror — has been wound down.
Labor:
Lawmakers to Powell: ‘How Many Millions Will Be Thrown Out of Their Jobs’ Due to Fed Policy? “Experts are calling out Chair Powell and the Federal Reserve’s interest rate bender for what it is: misguided policy with catastrophic outcomes.” In a new letter, members of Congress led by Sen. Elizabeth Warren take Fed Chair Jerome Powell to task over his “apparent disregard for the livelihoods of millions of working Americans.”
Canada: Victory to Ontario Education Workers! Defy Back-to-Work Legislation! Strike Until Victory! Negotiations have broken down between the Ontario government and 55,000 education workers. Even before a strike has been launched, Minister of Education Stephen Lecce has tabled draconian legislation to take away the democratic right to strike of education workers. Going one step further, the government is also using the notwithstanding clause to eliminate collective bargaining rights altogether and impose a rotten contract on education workers who are among the poorest unionised workers in the province.
Economy:
A Deficit Spending Scam Destroyed UK’s Prime Minister…Who’s Next? With its disguises as “high finance” for the mystified and “Keynesian fiscal policy” for those “in the know,” deficit spending by the government was quite a successful scam for a long while. When the UK’s ex-prime minister opened her new government in September, Liz Truss followed tradition by trying to run the oft-used scam again. But this time it did not work. Eventually, even successful scams stop working. Its failure became hers but also her party’s, the Conservatives.’ Neither of them understood the scam’s limits. Perhaps its disguises had worked best on those who repeated them most in thought and word.
A Saudi Prince Recommended Buying Citigroup at $33; It Went to 99 Cents. Now the Saudis Say Credit Suisse Is a Steal in the $4 Range The Saudis don’t especially have a solid record of stock-picking when it comes to global banks. Back on Saturday, November 10, 2007, Reuters ran a story about Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal stating that Citigroup’s share price was “ridiculously low” and he didn’t plan to sell any of his large stake in the bank. The Friday before this story ran, Citigroup’s share price had closed at $33.10. Six months later, on May 9, 2008, Citigroup’s shares closed at $23.63. One year later, on November 10, 2008, Citigroup’s shares closed at $11.21. By early 2009 Citigroup’s stock was trading at 99 cents. For the sordid details of how the U.S. government and the Fed helped Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal and another large shareholder, Citigroup’s former Chairman and CEO, Sandy Weill, from losing all their money in Citigroup, see our report: The Untold Story of the Bailout of Citigroup.
World:
Brazil: Lula Narrowly Wins Presidency – The Fight Against Bolsonarismo Continues! On Sunday, Lula of the Workers’ Party (PT) narrowly defeated the far-right candidate Jair Bolsonaro (50.9 percent to 49.10 percent) in the second round of the presidential elections. While workers and youth are rightly celebrating this result, we should also note that Bolsonaro exceeded expectations, and managed to increase his vote by over 6 million between the two rounds, compared to an increase of 2.6 million for Lula.
Brazil: United Front of Labour, Student and Popular Movement to End Pro-Bolsonaro Blockades The following is a statement by our Brazilian section, Esquerda Marxista (Marxist Left) offering solidarity with worker, youth and neighbourhood activists who have resolved to break up road blockades by hardline Bolsonaro supporters, refusing to accept the result of Sunday’s elections. Our comrades will participate in these efforts, and call for the main left and trade union organisations to back them. Bolsonaro has not commented on the election results so far because he does not want to accept defeat, but he has not found any political support to question the outcome. One by one, his allies recognised Lula-Alckmin’s victory, leaving Bolsonaro increasingly isolated. He may still have some hope that the roadblocks set up by radicalised Bolsonaristas can grow and give him the support he needs on the streets for some adventure. But it is a vain hope. The bourgeois institutions are closing in until the only viable option left for Bolsonaro will be to recognise defeat.
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