Daily News Digest November 7, 2022
Images of the Day:
Capitalism is Taking Humanity on the Road to Ecocide! Don’t Vote for the Republicrats: Painting by Anthony Freda
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:
Today, we live in an economy in which the billionaires are getting much richer while working families fall further behind. Unbelievably, while 60 percent of Americans are living paycheck to paycheck, we now have more income and wealth inequality than we have ever had in the history of our country – with three multi-billionaires owning more wealth than the bottom half of Americans. While employers squeeze workers and their unions for cuts to health care and other benefits, the CEOs of major corporations now make nearly 400 times more than their average employees – the largest employer-worker gap in our history. — Bernie Sanders
Videos of the Day:
How ‘Broken Windows’ Policing Harms People of Color
Police Mistake Innocent Grandma For Weapons-Trafficking Car Thief, So A Dozen SWAT Cops Raided Her
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
Protecting Big Pharma Profiteering —The Cuban blockade, Prevents the world from using the inexpensive Cuban Covid Vaccine!: US, Israel Only ‘No’ Votes as UN Members Condemn Cuba Embargo for 30th Straight Year “Today’s U.N. vote clearly shows that the global community is calling on the U.S. to lift its brutal embargo on Cuba,” CodePink co-founder Medea Benjamin asserted.
House Analysis Confirms Corporations Use ‘Cover of Inflation to Raise Prices Excessively’“It is unacceptable that certain companies and industries are engaged in extreme price hikes under the cover of inflation,” said Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi. House Analysis Confirms Corporations Use ‘Cover of Inflation to Raise Prices Excessively’ “It is unacceptable that certain companies and industries are engaged in extreme price hikes under the cover of inflation,” said Rep. Raja Krishnamoorthi.
How Close are We to Nuclear War? For the first time in many years, the threat of nuclear war has burst into public awareness. Many proclaim we are at a pinnacle of danger not seen since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis, when the U.S. and USSR faced off over Soviet nuclear missiles situated in Cuba. Indeed, October 27 marked one of the most dangerous days in history. Off the coast of Cuba, a U.S. Navy destroyer was depth charging a Russian submarine to force it to surface. The officers in command of the sub, out of radio contact, believed war had already broken out and prepared to launch a nuclear torpedo. But Vasily Arkhipov, the commander of the sub flotilla of which the vessel was a part, overruled the officers and stopped the launch, almost certainly preventing World War III. For that, Arkhipov is known as “the man who saved the world.” That was a moment of maximum danger. But, contrary to what Joe Biden recently stated, “We have not faced the prospect of Armageddon since Kennedy and the Cuban Missile Crisis,” there was another moment of peril in 1983 that is far less known. Daniel Ellsberg, who as a defense analyst advised the White House during the Cuban crisis, says it may have been even more dangerous. That was Able Archer 83, a NATO exercise that took place in the early days of November mimicking escalation to nuclear war in response to a Soviet invasion of Western Europe.
Climate Activism on the Brink of Nuclear War One lesson the disastrous NATO-Russia war in Ukraine has taught us is that an attempt to decrease the climate catastrophe by kicking the oil, gas and coal habit must be carefully planned. A perfect recipe for turning popular opinion anti-green is to slam the brakes on fossil fuels with no substitute ready, as has happened to Europe due to its imbecilic sanctions on Russian energy. Those sanctions backfired, causing fuel prices to spike. Russia got rich, Europe is going broke and any popular support for ditching oil and gas evaporated. Good work Biden and birdbrain Eurocrats. The west shot itself in the head and set back, possibly a decade, the cause of transitioning off fossil fuels.
US Voters Hit Hardest by Climate Crisis: ‘I Need Politicians to Care About This’ The devastating effects of climate change are motivating how voters cast their ballots in the midterm elections Across the US, temperature records tumbled in a summer of heatwaves, enormous floods drowned entire towns and, in the west, an ongoing drought is now so severe that corpses are being uncovered in rapidly drying reservoirs. Despite these increasingly ominous signs, the climate crisis has struggled to gain much visibility in the lead-up to next week’s midterm elections. “Many voters are more focused on things like inflation, understandably, because people are struggling to get by in this economy,” said Geoffrey Henderson, an expert in climate policy at Duke University.
Environment: Ecosocialism or Ecocide!:
‘This is What a River Should Look Like’: Dutch Rewilding Project Turns Back the Clock 500 Years Europe’s largest river restoration is making changes across the entire landscape, bringing benefits to wildlife and people “On the way to being one of the most beautiful nature areas in Europe,” reads a sign overlooking a construction site near the village of Grevenbicht on the Meuse River in the southern Netherlands. Looking at the diggers, other bits of large machinery and bare soil, this is a stretch of the imaginatio “You have to sell your story,” says Frans Schepers, managing director of Rewilding Europe, who was leading the largest river-restoration project in Europe.
‘Ghosts of Capitalism’: The Push to Dismantle America’s Decrepit Dams Derelict dams crisscrossing the country’s rivers and tributaries disrupt the paths of migrating fish and pose a flood hazard.
Wyden Slams ‘Unfettered Access’ for Law Enforcement to Passport Data of 145 Million Americans “Sen. Wyden is right to raise the alarm,” said one privacy rights advocate, noting that current policy “allows untold federal agents to engage in problematic fishing expeditions.” U.S. Sen. Ron Wyden on Friday released a letter to Secretary of State Antony Blinken demanding reforms to the practice of allowing 25 federal intelligence and law enforcement agencies “unfettered access” to the passport application data of over 145 million Americans. Yahoo News, which first revealed the letter Thursday, noted that the Oregon Democrat uncovered the State Department’s practice during his ongoing probe into the outlet’s reporting about Operation Whistle Pig, a leak investigation launched by officials at the U.S. Customs and Border Protection (CBP) National Targeting Center.
Civil Rights/ Black Liberarion:
Military Bases Are Disproportionately Poisoning Communities of Color North Carolina’s Camp Lejeune exemplifies the concerning extent to which toxic contamination has gone unaddressed. Over the last hundred years, the U.S. military has recklessly used and disposed of toxic chemicals in and around its bases. Countless troops stationed at contaminated installations, often accompanied by their families, have been unintentionally exposed to hazardous substances known to cause debilitating and life-threatening diseases. North Carolina’s Camp Lejeune infamously exemplifies the concerning extent to which toxic contamination has gone unaddressed, affecting unsuspecting service members and kin for over three decades. Although the base’s issues were acknowledged by the Department of Veterans Affairs (VA), many of those affected by Camp Lejeune’s contamination have been repeatedly denied disability benefits.
Marjorie Cohn: The Racism of the Supreme Court’s Supermajority Was on Full Display This Week The six right-wingers appear poised to gut affirmative action in higher education. During more than five hours of oral arguments in two cases that will probably spell the death of affirmative action in colleges and universities, the racism of the six right-wingers on the Supreme Court was on full display. It appears the court will overrule existing precedent that permits limited affirmative action. The court ruled in the 2003 case of Grutter v. Bollinger that the 14th Amendment allows public universities to consider race as one factor in a “holistic” admissions process in order to assemble a diverse student body. “Numerous studies show that student body diversity promotes learning outcomes, and ‘better prepares students for an increasingly diverse workforce and society, and better prepares them as professionals,’” the court explained.
Police Mistake Innocent Grandma for Weapons-Trafficking Car Thief, So a Dozen SWAT Cops Raided Her For 40 years, Ruby Johnson lived peacefully in her Montbello home, largely left alone by police. Earlier this year, however, Johnson’s peace came to an end when she was watching television and a small army showed up to take her out. That “army” was made up of SWAT officers from the Denver Police Department and they were looking for a car thief with a truckload of weapons and cash. Johnson didn’t know any car thieves, nor did she have any illegal weapons but she was accosted nonetheless. The Denver PD received a call earlier that day from a man whose truck was stolen. Inside the truck were multiple guns — all of which became illegal after they were stolen along with the truck. The caller told police that his iPhone was also in the truck when it was stolen and he had tracked it to Johnson’s Montbello residence. . . . 9 News Denver conducted an investigation into the incident and found that there was never a phone, truck, cash or weapons at Johnson’s house. Turns out that police hinged their entire “investigation” on the caller’s claim that he tracked his iPhone to Johnson’s home — so they sent in a small army. When the heavily armed cops raided the elderly grandmother’s home, they found nothing. This didn’t stop them, however, from rifling through all of Johnson’s personal effects and breaking down her door.
Labor:
The Media Monoply Passes on the statement that the labor union is the Union! See Rail Unions Got Pressured Into a Bad Deal. Now Workers Are Threatening to Strike. The labor bureaucracy did not get ‘pressured’ to make a a bad deal. They are, my their own admission, in a partnership with the 1% and the 1%’s government! The truth is, that, as the working class standard of living is falling, as the 1% rich are getting richer, it is harder to sell concession agreements. It is time to oppose this partnership! The rail workers have formed stike committees to oppose this deal! All workers need such committees commitees to oppose the treacherous role of the labor bureaucracy!
For the Working Class There has Been No Recovery Since the 2008 Crash!
Since June 2009 Americans have lived in the false reality of a recovering economy. Various fake news and manipulated statistics have been used to create this false impression. However, indicators that really count have not supported the false picture and were ignored. For example, it is normal in a recovering or expanding economy for the labor force participation rate to rise as people enter the workforce to take advantage of the job opportunities. During the decade of the long recovery, from June 2009 through October 2020, the labor force participation rate consistently fell from 65.7 to 62.2 percent. —Paul Craig Roberts, The Diminishing American Economy (Updated)
FRED: Labor Force Participation Rate is 62.2% 
Shadow Government Statistics Alternet Unemployment Charts The seasonally-adjusted SGS Alternate Unemployment Rate reflects current unemployment reporting methodology adjusted for SGS-estimated long-term discouraged workers, who were defined out of official existence in 1994. That estimate is added to the BLS estimate of U-6 unemployment, which includes short-term discouraged workers. The U-3 unemployment rate is the monthly headline number. The U-6 unemployment rate is the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ (BLS) broadest unemployment measure, including short-term discouraged and other marginally-attached workers as well as those forced to work part-time because they cannot find full-time employment. Oct 2022
ShadowStats Alternate Unemployment rose to 24.5% from 24.4% on top of U.6 rising to 6.8% from 6.7%
Economy:
An Economist’s Chart Goes Viral: Shows Main Source of Inflation On April 21 Josh Bivens posted a titillating analysis on the Working Economics Blog. Bivens has a Ph.D. in Economics from the New School for Social Research and is the Director of Research at the Economic Policy Institute. The blog post was titled: “Corporate profits have contributed disproportionately to inflation. How should policymakers respond?” Included in the blog post was a graph showing that corporate profits account for 53.9 percent of the recent rise in inflation versus an average of 11.4 percent for the period 1979 through 2019. (See above chart.)
World:
Time to topple the Tories: “We Need an Uprising!” Tomorrow sees a national demo in London under the demand of ‘general election now!’ But how do we force the Tories out? And what comes next? To put an end to austerity, inflation, and crises, we need a mass fightback for socialist policies. The Tories have crowned a new prime minister. But the government continues to be thrown from pillar to post, and stumble from one crisis to the next. Support for the Conservative Party has plummeted. Top pollster Sir John Curtice has even suggested that the Tories are heading for a 1997 style wipeout at the next election. And recent weeks have seen the ruling party fall 30 points behind Labour. These Etonian enemies of the working class will not go down without a fight, however. Indeed, they are sharpening their knives for a new round of cuts and austerity.
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