Daily News Digest December 14, 2022
Images of the Day:
Ted Rall:Best System Ever, Except for the Way It Actually Works!
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 Keystone pipeline spill in a creek running through rural pastureland in Washington County, Kansas, about 150 miles (240 kilometers) northwest of Kansas City, also was the biggest in the system’s history, according to U.S. Department of Transportation data. The operator, Canada-based TC Energy, said the pipeline that runs from Canada to Oklahoma lost about 14,000 barrels, or 588,000 gallons. The spill raised questions for environmentalists and safety advocates about whether TC Energy should keep a federal government permit that has allowed the pressure inside parts of its Keystone system — including the stretch through Kansas — to exceed the typical maximum permitted levels. With Congress facing a potential debate on reauthorizing regulatory programs, the chair of a House subcommittee on pipeline safety took note of the spill Friday. — Federal Data: Kansas Oil Spill Biggest In Keystone History
Videos/Podcasts of the Day:
Black Agenda Radio with Margaret Kimberley
Rwanda’s M23 Proxy Terrorizes the Eastern Congo
Community Control of Police in Chicago
Charges Dismissed Against Tracy McCarter
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
UN Report Shows 11,000 Children Killed or Maimed in This US-Backed War “Ultimately,” said the UNICEF chief, “only a sustained peace will allow families to rebuild their shattered lives and begin to plan for the future.” After launching an urgent appeal for humanitarian aid for children in war-torn Yemen, the United Nations International Children’s Emergency Fund on Monday released a report showing that more than 11,000 young people have been killed or injured in the U.S.-backed conflict, where a Saudi-led coalition has been carrying out attacks since 2015.
Environment — Ecosocialism or Ecocide:
Red List Calls Out ‘Perfect Storm of Unsustainable Human Activity Decimating Marine Life’ “As the world looks to the ongoing U.N. Biodiversity Conference to set the course for nature recovery, we simply cannot afford to fail,” said the head of the International Union for Conservation of Nature. During the United Nations biodiversity summit in Montreal, an international conversation group on Friday highlighted how humanity is dangerously failing marine life with illegal and unsustainable fishing, pollution from agricultural and industrial runoff, and activities that drive up global temperatures.
Systemic Environmental Racism: Gov. Jim Justice’s Coke Plant Fined $925,000 for Polluting Black Neighborhoods Community advocates in West Virginia say that the fine is too small to offset the harm done by Bluestone Coke The owner of one of Birmingham, Alabama’s oldest industrial plants has agreed to pay a nearly $1 million fine after releasing excessive amounts of toxic air pollution into nearby historic Black neighborhoods, according to a proposed consent decree filed Friday in a Jefferson County court. If the consent decree is approved by a judge, the Jefferson County Board of Health’s $925,000 penalty against Bluestone Coke would be the largest fine in the agency’s history. But it represents a small fraction of the more than $60 million in fines the company could have faced for its alleged violations. The consent decree would not require Bluestone to admit to wrongdoing.
Civil Rights Black Liberation:
A Widening Gender Rage Gap? No Wonder: Women Have a Lot to Feel Angry About Anger can be a catalyst for change, so let’s harness female rage at inequality, violence and the loss of reproductive rights Women are getting angrier, according to a BBC analysis of 10 years of data from the Gallup World Poll. Over 120,000 people in more than 150 countries are surveyed by Gallup every year about their emotions and the results are not particularly cheery. Women consistently report feeling negative emotions more than men, and, since 2012, more women than men report feeling sad and worried. While men aren’t exactly doing great – both genders report feeling more worried than they did a decade ago – there’s a widening gender rage gap. The rage gap is particularly extreme in some countries. In India, for example, 40.6% of women said they felt anger during a lot of the previous day in 2021 compared with 27.8% of men. Those numbers are up from around 30% (women) and 26% (men) in 2012. The gender rage gap was also more striking during the first year of the pandemic across many countries. I’m sure none of this comes as a surprise: there is a lot for women to be angry about. For the last few years it has felt like progress has been going backwards. In the US, Roe v Wade was overturned, of course, and women lost hard-won abortion rights. The election of Donald Trump in 2016 was also a major moment for female anger: a misogynist who boasted about grabbing women by the pussy became the most powerful person in the world.
Cop Charged with Murder After Jumping on Car, Executing Innocent Man Who Called 911 for Help “These officers took a gentle, peaceful soul and extinguished it simply because it was ‘time to move the night on.’” Clear Creek, CO — On the night he called 911 for help, 22-year-old Christian Glass had never been arrested, committed a crime, harmed anyone, and was a threat to no one. Despite these facts, and despite the fact that he was entirely innocent, police would show up to his call for help that night, and execute him. Now, months after his death, former deputy Andrew Buen and his supervisor Sgt. Kyle Gould have been charged with felonies for their roles in executing Glass. The officers are in court today after being indicted by a grand jury. Buen, who jumped on the hood of Glass’s car and killed him is charged with second-degree murder, official misconduct, and reckless endangerment.
Labor:
The Great Myth: Under their leadership. ‘Things are better off now.’ Since the Trade Union Bureaucracies Misleaders became Democrats and in partnership with the ruling class since 1965, real average weekly earnings have dropped $320 a week to $160 dollars a week in real weekly earnings. By Roland Sheppard, We need to remove our misleaders now!
Labor Leaders Provide Cover for Privatization of Medicare . . . Labor Supports ACA – Vehicle For Privatization With the passage of the ACA in 2010, the private insurance industry’s role as a taxpayer-subsidized vehicle for the healthcare delivery system was cemented and momentum for an alternative approach was stymied. Despite 600 union endorsements for Medicare for All Bill HR 676, union leaders joined Democrats to cheer the ACA as a resounding success. Inserted into the passage of the ACA was language that created a new agency, the Center for Medicare and Medicaid Innovation under the Center for Medicare Services (CMS). Labeled as an office of “innovation,” it has been given the authority to establish “pilot projects” that hand traditional Medicare to corporations.
What Workers Should Know About Price Gouging Prices for many commodities that workers need for survival continue to climb or remain stubbornly high. The wage growth seen over the last 18 months that dampened inflation for some is now on the decline. Supply chain shocks and shortages are starting to abate, but corporations are keeping prices high because, due to limited competition, they can. How can workers find relief? Inflation and its causes. In the United States, the Consumer Price Index (CPI) issued by the Bureau of Labor Statistics is a measurement of average market prices over time for select commodities. It increased 0.4% in September 2022 and is up 8.2% over the last year. But the actual change in certain prices versus one year ago is more telling. To name just a few national averages, butter and eggs are up over 30%, public transportation 27%, and gasoline 18.2%. In several states, rental housing has increased by double digits. Wages, on the other hand, declined by 0.1% in September and have fallen 3% year over year when adjusted for inflation. Federal pandemic era assistance programs that temporarily protected workers have all expired.
Real Wages have Fallen Since the Wage Price Freeze of 1972 (Shadow Government Statistics)
Economy:
FRED: Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: 
Fred: Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers
Shadow Government 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.
Sam Bankman-Fried Quietly Bought an SEC-Registered Stock Trading Operation; There Are Big Questions as to What’s Happening with Customer Accounts Yesterday, just hours before Sam Bankman-Fried was arrested in the Bahamas at the request of Damian Williams, the U.S. Attorney for the Southern District of New York, Wall Street On Parade learned that Bankman-Fried had been allowed to purchase an SEC-registered retail brokerage firm in August of last year. The brokerage firm at that time was called RJL Capital Group and was based in Staten Island, New York. Bankman-Fried changed the firm’s name to FTX Capital Markets LLC and moved its headquarters to Broad Street in the financial district in lower Manhattan.
World:
Peru: Mobilisation is Spreading, Kick Out the Oligarchy and All the Usurpers Since the impeachment of Peruvian President, Pedro Castillo, by Congress on 7 December, the workers and peasants have begun mobilising in ever-growing numbers. In some regions, these mobilisations have taken on insurrectionary proportions. The masses clearly see that this is a coup, behind which stands the capitalist oligarchy and US imperialism. Below we publish the text of a leaflet currently being distributed in this mass movement by the comrades of the International Marxist Tendency (IMT) in Peru.
Britain: Tories Bare Their Teeth As Strikewave Develops Into Tsunami Britain’s winter of discontent has begun. With nurses, ambulance staff, and border guards all taking action, the country is set for its biggest month of strikes in decades. And the struggle is set to intensify, as the Tories threaten repression. After many years – and even decades – of quiet on the industrial front, the working class in Britain is once again moving into action en masse. Every day seems to bring with it news about further groups and layers of workers joining the struggle. It is clear that a winter of discontent is well underway.
UK: The Guardian View On Rivers: Delaying Pollution Controls Will Only Lead to Harm Editorial Allowing farmers to continue dumping slurry is short-sighted. If ministers want nature to recover, they must regulate England’s rivers are in a shocking, filthy state, with every single one failing the last set of quality tests carried out in 2019 under EU rules. This is bad for biodiversity, above all the fish, mammals such as otters, and other species that live in rivers. And it is bad for people, to whom the depletion of nature poses an increasingly grave global threat. There could be no good time for the UK government to announce that it is abandoning the principle of a legal target for river health, and postponing a deadline for agricultural run-off reduction by three years (from 2037 to 2040). It is difficult to imagine a worse moment for such an announcement than the final week of a crucial UN biodiversity conference (Cop15) in Montreal.
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