Daily News Digest December 7, 2022
Images of the Day:
Rober Baron Piggies Feasting on Paper Money
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 executive of the modern state is but a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie. — Communist Manifesto, Chapter I. Bourgeois and Proletarians
Videos of the Day:
Scott Ritter Extra Ep. 26: Ask the Inspector
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 Republicrats 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
The 4th Estate Since Assanage Persecution:To Hold Powerful to Account, Journalists Must Be Free of Government Intrusion We cannot allow the government to surveil journalists and expose sources—even the threat of which produces a chilling effect on the press—if we expect journalists to expose corruption, speak truth to power, and print what the powerful don’t want printed.
Democratic Socialists of America Scrambles to Defend Its Role in Imposing Rail Contract The Democratic Socialists of America, a pseudo-left faction of the Democratic Party, has been thrown into crisis after three of its four members in the House of Representatives voted in favor of the dictatorial law banning a national rail strike. The Railroad Workers Rank-and-File Committee has announced an online rally this Tuesday at 7:00 p.m. Eastern/ 4:00 p.m. Pacific time to oppose Washington’s imposition of a contract that workers rejected to block a national strike. Register for the event here. All supporters of the railroaders are urged to attend. The Democratic Socialists of America has been thrown into crisis after three of its four members in the House of Representatives voted to impose a contract on the railroad workers, blocking a national rail strike. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, Jamaal Bowman and Cori Bush all voted in favor of the bill, with only Rashida Tlaib voting against.
Chris Hedges: Know Thine Enemy The expedited legislation passed by Congress to avert a strike by railroad unions dealt one more blow in the decades long war waged by the two ruling parties against the working class. The Congressional decision to prohibit railroad workers from going on strike and force them to accept a contract that meets few of their demands is part of the class war that has defined American politics for decades. The two ruling political parties differ only in rhetoric. They are bonded in their determination to reduce wages; dismantle social programs, which the Bill Clinton administration did with welfare; and thwart unions and prohibit strikes, the only tool workers have to pressure employers. This latest move against the railroad unions, where working conditions have descended into a special kind of hell with massive layoffs, the denial of even a single day of paid sick leave, and punishing work schedules that include being forced to “always be on call,” is one more blow to the working class and our anemic democracy.
Supply Chains Woes Didn’t Slow Down Global Arms Sales, Analysis Shows Responding to the report, the U.S.-based group Win Without War said that “our economy prioritizes profits over people, leading to unnecessary violence and death. It makes us less safe.” Sales by the world’s 100 leading weapons and military services firms continued to increase last year despite significant supply chain challenges—with the United States accounting for more than half of all sales—an annual analysis published Monday revealed. Global arms sales rose for the seventh straight year, increasing by 1.9% to $592 billion in 2021, according to new data published by the Stockholm International Peace Research Institute (SIPRI). The rate of growth was higher than the previous year, but still well below the 3.7% average of the four years preceding the Covid-19 pandemic.
Profiting From Poison: How the US Lead Industry Knowingly Created a Water Crisis The lead water crisis facing Chicago and many other US cities today has roots in a nearly century-old campaign to boost the lead industry’s sales. The year was 1933 and, to a group of industrialists gathered in a New York City lunch club, it seemed like the lead industry was doomed.The women’s pages of newspapers were filled with stories about children being poisoned by the metal, which had been identified as dangerous as early as the mid-1800s. And cities around America had started banning the use of lead pipes for drinking water. Lead companies were looking for a way to keep their revenues flowing, but, as the secretary of the Lead Industries Association would warn them in a later report, lead poisoning was “taking money out of your pockets every day”. So the Lead Industries Association, made up of all the major lead companies of the time, launched a two-pronged plan to revive the industry’s sales of lead pipe – a plan that is still threatening the health of millions of residents around the United States today, including in Chicago, where the industry’s tactics paid off spectacularly.
Science and Science-Based Tools to Address Persistent Hazardous Exposures to Lead Actions by the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (U.S. EPA) and other federal agencies have signifi – cantly reduced the use of lead in automotive gasoline, paint, lead-soldered food containers, and new water system components over the past 40 years. Through the collective effort of federal agencies in partnership with local, state, and tribal governments, blood lead levels (BLLs) measured in children have fallen steadily from the 1970s to the 2020s (Egan et al., 2021; President’s Task Force, 2016). One indicator of the success of lead mitigation e orts is the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention’s (CDC) reduction of the blood lead reference value (BLRV) from 5.0 to 3.5 μg/dL in October 2021 (Ruckart et al., 2021). The BLRV is a population-based measurement of the 97.5th percentile of BLLs of U.S. children ages 1–5 years. Reduction in the BLRV refl ects the decline in BLLs among the children most exposed to lead in the U.S. Despite this progress, lead exposure in children remains a signifi cant public health concern. More than one half million children ages 1–5 years in the U.S. have detectable BLLs and an estimated 6–10 million lead service lines still connect homes to public drinking water systems (Cornwell et al., 2016). Racial disparities in childhood BLLs persist, with higher BLLs observed in non-Hispanic Black children as compared to non-Hispanic White children from 1999 to 2016 (Breysse et al., in press).
Environment: Ecosocialism or Ecocide!:
Report Reveals Corporate Capture of Global Biodiversity Efforts Ahead of Summit “Their ‘solutions’ are carefully crafted in order to not undermine their business models; ultimately they do nothing for the environment,” said one Friends of the Earth campaigner. With the next United Nations Biodiversity Conference set to kick off in Canada this week, a report out Monday details how corporate interests have attempted to influence efforts to protect the variety of life on Earth amid rampant species loss “Addressing corporate capture of the CBD is a precondition for saving biodiversity.”
Environmental Hazzard!!!: The Government and the Rail Tycons are Forcing Workers to Work When Sick! Thus Making Rail Passenger and Freight Unsafe. Especially Dangerous for the Transportation of Fracked Crude!: Rail Workers Shafted Again Imagine having no set schedule at your workplace, and instead having to report to work within 2 hours of receiving a call from your employer. You could be working 12-hour days for weeks before your next day off. If you happen to be sick, you still better report in or lose wages. If you are injured on the job, you may be inclined to cover it up because your employer will do everything in their power to put the blame on you. If there are unsafe working conditions, you better keep your mouth shut, because if you speak up your employer is going to look for a pretext to fire you. Those are the conditions under which railroad workers live, and the backdrop of the current labor dispute in which workers once again were shafted. This time it was by the Biden Administration and Congress, which just voted to forbid railroad unions to strike, and imposed a settlement that unions had voted against. An overwhelming majority on both sides of the aisle voted days before a cooling-off period ended, which could have resulted in a strike during the holiday shipping period. The politicians said they feared damage to the economy. They had another option to extend negotiations another 60 days, but voted it down.
Stop Burning Trees to Make Energy, Say 650 Scientists Before Cop15 Biodiversity Summit Letter says bioenergy is wrongly deemed ‘carbon neutral’ and contributes to wildlife loss More than 650 scientists are urging world leaders to stop burning trees to make energy because it destroys valuable habitats for wildlife. In the buildup to Cop15, the UN biodiversity summit, they say countries urgently need to stop using forest bioenergy to create heat and electricity as it undermines international climate and nature targets. Instead, renewable energy sources such as wind and solar should be used, they say.
Civil Rights Black Liberation:
New York Mayor’s Plan to Round Up Homeless People Is a Trauma-Inducing Horror It is a horrific rights violation to give police the power to forcibly hospitalize people for being homeless. The new mayor of New York City wants to use the police to clear the streets and subways of homeless people and send them straight to hospitals. No mental health teams, no offer of shelter, no medical evaluation to determine whether they pose a threat to anyone — just a bunch of police officers determining if they think someone has the capacity to think clearly. The decision to use police to round up vulnerable individuals and lock them away because they have no home is, quite frankly, a terrifying development.
Prison COVID Policies Fell Short. Incarcerated Activists Fight for Their Lives. Incarcerated organizers are still in fight mode against lethal COVID policies. On October 11, prison organizer Dawn Brooks’s phone began ringing off the hook. Within three days, she received 50 calls. Colitha Bush, a Texas mother who had been released from federal prison under COVID measures in mid-September, was one of the callers. She had spent 14 days at a halfway house before being released to home confinement at her sister’s house. On October 12, the halfway house administrator called and said her release date had been pushed back another year. They ordered her to report to the halfway house the following day and warned that she would most likely be sent back to prison.
Labor:
Economy:
Powell’s Pivot and the Impending Slump Stock markets rallied in November as inflation rates subsided a little and the US Federal Reserve began to talk of lower interest-rate hikes from hereon. Financial investors are hoping that the Fed is set to ‘pivot’ from tightening monetary policy (i.e. reversing its policy interest rate hikes and stopping selling back its stock of government bonds to reduce liquidity). But financial markets are probably getting ahead of themselves. That was made clear by speeches from both the head of the Fed, Jay Powell and the head of the ECB, Christine Lagarde. Both said that they were determined to crush inflation until it returned to their target rates of 2% a year. In a speech last week Powell summed up his policy in the ‘battle against inflation’. He noted that the 12-month personal consumption expenditures (PCE) inflation rate – the inflation measure that the Fed mostly follows – was still at 6%. And stripping out energy and food prices, the core rate was still around 5%, with no indication of any significant fall ahead. Powell again spelt out the Fed strategy. Ignoring the fact that it was weak supply (blockages in transport, insufficient skilled staff and low productivity) that has been the main cause of the spike in post-pandemic inflation, Powell continued to argue that hiking interest rates would slow aggregate demand and that would bring inflation down as households and businesses reduced spending growth in the face of rising interest costs on borrowing. But this approach could only mean intensifying the hit to the supply side too – in other words, driving the US economy into a slump. As Powell admitted in his speech, “Slowing demand growth should allow supply to catch up with demand and restore the balance that will yield stable prices over time. Restoring that balance is likely to require a sustained period of below-trend growth.” The words “below trend” mean recession and rising unemployment.
Secretary Yellen, We’ve Got a “Staggering” Problem: New Report Shows Foreign Banks Have Secret Derivative Debt that Is “10 Times their Capital” U.S. Treasury Secretary Janet Yellen has the dual role of Chairing the Financial Stability Oversight Council (F-SOC), whose role is to provide “comprehensive monitoring of the stability of our nation’s financial system.” Heads of each of the federal agencies that supervise Wall Street and the mega banks sit in on meetings of F-SOC. One would think that such an august body would have a handle on “staggering” threats to the U.S. financial system – especially since F-SOC was created under the 2010 Dodd-Frank financial reform legislation to prevent a replay of the off-balance sheet derivatives that crashed the U.S. economy in 2008 and forced an unprecedented and secret bailout of U.S. and foreign global banks by the Federal Reserve to the tune of $29 trillion. If Yellen is aware of the latest threat to financial stability, she’s not sharing the details with the public. That information came yesterday by way of a stunning report authored by Claudio Borio, Robert McCauley and Patrick McGuire for the Bank for International Settlements (BIS).
World:
Revealing New Evidence in Abu Akleh’s Killing, Al Jazeera Sues Israeli Forces at ICC The news network said the journalist’s killing was part of a “wider attack on Al Jazeera, and journalists in Palestine.” Following an investigation that Al Jazeera said uncovered new evidence regarding the fatal shooting of Palestinian-America journalist Shireen Abu Akleh in May, the international news network said Tuesday that it has filed a lawsuit against Israeli military forces at the International Criminal Court.
Free Preschool Childcare For All Would Boost UK Growth, Report Finds Labour-endorsed study finds initiative would save families thousands of pounds, cut benefits spending and raise tax revenues Free universal preschool childcare and more funding for after-school clubs could increase government revenues and save a family with young children between £620 and £6,175 a year, a joint report endorsed by the Labour party has revealed. Free universal preschool childcare and more funding for after-school clubs could increase government revenues and save a family with young children between £620 and £6,175 a year, a joint report endorsed by the Labour party has revealed. The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) and the charity Save the Children have called for a universal childcare guarantee for all families until the end of primary school to allow more women to get back into work and reduce the attainment gap between rich and poor children in their early years. The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) and the charity Save the Children have called for a universal childcare guarantee for all families until the end of primary school to allow more women to get back into work and reduce the attainment gap between rich and poor children in their early years.
Health Workers Mobilise: Unite and Fight to Protect Our NHS! The run-up to Christmas will see mass action across Britain’s health service, with nurses, ambulance staff, and others set to strike. The NHS and its workforce are at breaking point. We need a united fightback for clear socialist policies. Anyone in Britain who has recently attempted to access healthcare through the NHS is no doubt aware of the huge pressures that the institution is currently under. This crisis has been brewing for years as a result of cuts and privatisation, and has only been exacerbated by the pandemic, which has pushed the NHS to the brink.
UN, EU Officials Demand Probe Over Extrajudicial Killings of Palestinians “In the last 72 hours alone 10 Palestinians were killed by ISF in what appears to be an excessive use of lethal force,” the European Union Delegation to the Palestinians noted after the killing of 22-year-old Ammar Mufleh by Israeli security forces. United Nations and European Union officials in recent days condemned and called for an investigation into the extrajudicial killing of Palestinians by Israeli forces in the illegally occupied West Bank, including the shooting death of a 22-year-old last week.
After US Prevents Railway Strike, South Korea Moves to Crush Truckers “Part of why internationalism is so essential is because of how many international labor struggles can be used to demonstrate to U.S. workers what type of power we have to shut things down,” said one labor advocate on the heels of a similar U.S. rail dispute.
UK Energy Crisis: Bailouts for Bosses, As Workers Absorb the Losses Britain’s energy industry is the source of endless scandal. While suppliers plunge customers into debt and darkness, Tory incompetence is adding to rising bills for ordinary households. We need socialist planning, not parasitic profiteering. As temperatures turn and the nights grow longer, UK households are preparing for a cold winter. With the country heading into a perfect storm of inflation, recession, and austerity, workers are struggling to heat their homes and put food on the table. All the while, the bosses are happily lining their pockets at the public’s expense. Energy giant SSE, for example, recently reported that its profits have more than tripled over the last six months.
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