Daily News Digest February 15, 2023
Capitalism is Now a Worldwide Threat to Humanity! It is on the Fast Track to Global Warming and Nuclear War!
Images of the Day:
50-Car Train Derailment Causes Big Fire, Evacuations In Ohio (Carcinogenic)
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 Capitalism 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:
Kathleen Ethier, director of the CDC’s Division of Adolescent and School Health, toldThe Washington Post that high rates of depression and suicidal ideation among teenage girls was “almost certainly” linked to another finding in the survey: 14% of girls reported that they had been forced to have sex—an increase of 27% since the last time the survey was taken in 2019. “If you think about every 10 teen girls that you know, at least one and possibly more has been raped, and that is the highest level we’ve ever seen,” Ethier told The Post. “We are really alarmed.” — Surging Number of US Teen Girls Face Sexual Violence and Extreme Sadness: CDC
Videos/Podcasts of the Day:
U.N. Rapporteur: Lift Sanctions on Syria to Help People Rebuild After War & Devastating Earthquakes
“Crisis on Top of a Crisis”: Syrians Displaced by War Now Dealing with Earthquake Devastation
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! Both Parties Support U.S. Capitalism’s Wars! (The Only War the Democrats Opposed was the Civil War!)
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 D. Brandeis Quotes
The greatest purveyor of violence in the world today — my own government. MLK, Beyond Vietnam
This is what happens when you have 1 to 3-mile (1-person crews) carcinogenic trains, forced upon’ us when Biden, the republicrats, the Rialiworker Union officials, and ‘the squad’, imposed the one-person crew rail contract!: From Safety Questions Remain After Ohio Train Derailment:
In all, about 50 cars—20 of which were carrying hazardous materials—left the tracks in the accident. Of most concern were the 5 carrying vinyl chloride. In a statement announcing the evacuation order, Ohio governor Mike DeWine warned that people closest to the derailment faced “grave danger of death.” While vinyl chloride itself is a carcinogen, the burning of the chemical, which releases hydrogen chloride and phosgene, can be immediately lethal. Phosgene, a highly toxic, colorless gas with a strong odor, was notoriously used as a weapon during World War I. The accident raises questions about the safe rail transportation of vinyl chloride, a chemical that is predominantly converted to polyvinyl chloride on the site where it is produced. It also shines a light on general rail safety—the accident was the third freight train derailment in Ohio since last October.
“There Will Be More Derailments” Pete Buttigieg’s Transportation Department has not moved to revive an Obama-era safety rule that could help prevent future train accidents. In the aftermath of a fiery Ohio train derailment, Secretary of Transportation Pete Buttigieg’s department has not moved to reinstate an Obama-era rail safety rule aimed at expanding the use of better braking technology, even though a former federal safety official recently warned Congress that without the better brakes, “there will be more derailments [and] more releases of hazardous materials.” Instead, transportation regulators have been considering a rail-industry-backed proposal that could weaken existing brake safety rules.
Railroad Corporations Are Blocking Safety Regulations to Protect Profits For years, rail companies have resisted federal safety regulations to cut costs. The major train derailment in Ohio last weekend, which resulted in the emergency evacuation of residents nearby, is the fruit of such profit maximization. Before this weekend’s fiery Norfolk Southern train derailment prompted emergency evacuations in Ohio, the company helped kill a federal safety rule aimed at upgrading the rail industry’s Civil War–era braking systems, according to documents reviewed by the Lever. Though the company’s 150-car train in Ohio reportedly burst into 100-foot flames upon derailing — and was transporting materials that triggered a fireball when they were released and incinerated — it was not being regulated as a “high-hazard flammable train,” federal officials told the Lever. Documents show that when current transportation safety rules were first created, a federal agency sided with industry lobbyists and limited regulations governing the transport of hazardous compounds. The decision effectively exempted many trains hauling dangerous materials — including the one in Ohio — from the “high-hazard” classification and its more stringent safety requirements.
We Can’t Let Antisemitism Be Weaponized to Criminalize Solidarity With Palestine A recent Department of Education decision marks a victory for Palestine solidarity organizing, but the fight isn’t over. While the Office for Civil Rights decision marked an important victory, the Biden administration is currently leaving the International Holocaust Remembrance Association (IHRA) definition of antisemitism on the table for potential adoption in December 2023. The struggle is not over yet. The Office for Civil Rights decision came after anti-Palestinian lobby groups pressed for the Department of Education to formalize Donald Trump’s 2019 executive order, which asks government agencies to consider the discredited and disputed definition of antisemitism promoted by the IHRA when assessing discrimination charges at public schools and universities.
US-China Tensions Escalate Amid Mutual Accusations of Surveillance Historian of modern China, Jake Werner, discusses the need for deescalation and how war is not inevitable. We look at the state of U.S.-China relations after the U.S. shot down a suspected high-altitude Chinese surveillance balloon off the coast of South Carolina last week. In recent days the U.S. has also shot down three additional objects flying at lower altitudes in northern Alaska, over Lake Huron and over the Yukon Territory in Canada. Meanwhile, China has accused the United States of flying surveillance balloons into Chinese airspace at least 10 times over the past year, which the Biden administration has denied. For more, we speak with Jake Werner, a historian of modern China and a research fellow at the Quincy Institute for Responsible Statecraft. His new piece for The Nation with William Hartung is titled “War With China Is Preventable, Not Inevitable.”
Cuba is Not a State-Sponsor of Terrorism Cuba, a country of 11 million people, has been under an illegal embargo by the United States government for over six decades. Despite this embargo, Cuba’s people have been able to transcend the indignities of hunger, ill health, and illiteracy, all three being social plagues that continue to trouble much of the world. Due to its innovations in health care delivery, for instance, Cuba has been able to send its medical workers to other countries, including during the pandemic, to provide vital assistance. Cuba exports its medical workers, not terrorism.
Re: Supreme Court Coup d’état: Ralph Nader: Rescue Our Democratic Society: Constitutionally Render Corporations Unequal to Humans No other institutions consistently Rule over as Much in the World as the Giant Global Corporations – not governments, not armies, not religions and certainly not trade unions. These fictional corporate entities have largely achieved transcendent imperial status, as they amass coordinated control over capital, labor, technology and governments because they have secured the rights bestowed upon human beings. In a confrontation or a conflict or even a contract, it is no contest: mere people don’t have a chance. As Supreme Court Justice Louis D. Brandeis warned in 1933, we have created a “Frankenstein monster” in our midst, whose unifying lust for power and control on behalf of their profits know few limits.
Environment — Ecosocialism of Ecocide!:
‘This Is Climate Change’: New Zealand Devastated by 100-Year Cyclone “We need to stop making excuses for inaction,” said the nation’s climate minister in a fiery speech. “We cannot put our heads in the sand when the beach is flooding. We must act now.” New Zealand is under a declared national emergency Tuesday as flood waters and heavy winds from Cyclone Gabrielle battered the island with all the hallmarks of a storm made more intense by the climate crisis by causing severe flooding, mudslides, and cut off power for at least a quarter of a million people.
George Monbiot: How to Build a Bioweapon There’s a legal means of creating a pandemic that could kill millions. If you wanted to kill as many people as possible, deniably and with no criminal consequences, what would you do? You’d do well to start with a bird flu. Bird flus are responsible for all the known flu pandemics: the great influenza that started more than a century ago, “Asian flu”, “Hong Kong flu” and “Russian flu”, which killed tens of millions between them. They also cause many of the annual outbreaks that slaughter hundreds of thousands of people. Once you have found a suitable variant, two further components are required to weaponise it. The first is an amplifier. The best amplifier is a giant shed or factory in which thousands of birds are packed. These birds should be genetically homogenous so that your viral strain can travel freely between them. Intensive poultry farms would serve very well. Before long,
Toxic Tuesdays CHEJ highlights several toxic chemicals and the communities fighting to keep their citizens safe from harm. Ethylene Oxide Ethylene Oxide (EtO) is a colorless gas with a slightly sweet odor. It is used in making a variety of products including antifreeze, plastics, detergents, and adhesives. It is also used as a sterilizer for medical equipment and others that cannot be sterilized by steam. Ethylene Oxide can be found in the air surrounding industrial factories including chemical manufacturers and sterilizers. Exposure to Ethylene Oxide is extremely dangerous. The EPA classifies it as a class 1 human carcinogen; there are no safe breathing levels. EtO is known to cause breast cancer and leukemia, and children are especially susceptible to its effects. The EPA states that EtO significantly contributes to elevated cancer risks in some areas of the US. CHEJ has been working with the Concerned Citizens of Lake County who are fighting cancerous EtO emissions in Lake County, IL (part of suburban Chicago). There are 2 facilities, 3 miles apart, that emit EtO: Vantage Specialty in Gurnee and Medline Industries in Waukegan. Vantage is a chemical production company and Medline is a medical sterilization company. Both are located within ‘light industrial’ business parks. We discovered the companies’ emissions in Fall 2018, via a breaking news Chicago Tribune article regarding 3 EtO emitters in the Chicago area. The third emitter, Sterigenics (Willowbrook, IL) was not in our area and closed in Fall 2019 due to community, media, and legislative pressure (and rumored back-door industrial competitive pressure from Medline).
Civil Rights Black Liberation:
As Terrorist Bomb Health Clinics: House GOP Is Passing Bills Based on Outright Lies About “Pro-Choice Violence” Meanwhile, clinics are getting firebombed and assaults against abortion providers increased by 720 percent since 2018. Aweek after Republicans secured a majority in the House, the party wasted no time in showing how it intends to rule — passing not one, but two anti-abortion provisions. The first was a resolution that condemns attacks on “pro-life facilities, groups, and churches,” according to the legislation. By “pro-life facilities,” Republicans mean crisis pregnancy centers (CPCs), which are anti-abortion centers that try to prevent people from having an abortion, often using deceptive tactics and outright lies. If you fear you’ve missed the wave of violence against CPCs and anti-abortion houses of worship, don’t worry — you haven’t missed anything. The myth of violent attacks against abortion opponents is as self-serving as it is a clear lie. But even if it was true, where is the condemnation against the escalating violence against abortion clinics?
Labor:
Economy:
This Graph Proves the Accuracy of the Shadow Government Satistic Graphs!: FRED Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers: Purchasing Power of the Consumer Dollar in U.S. City Average
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. 
Crypto on Tap Today at Senate Banking Hearing: Two of Three Witnesses Will Push Nutty Ideas To understand the deteriorating condition of American democracy, one needs to be able to spot corrupt patterns. Let’s take the Senate Banking Committee, for example. We previously explained how the Senate Banking Committee has subpoena power to get at the truth but never uses it, relying on Senator Elizabeth Warren to send out an endless stream of letters demanding information – which typically never comes because the target of those letters knows that a failure to respond will not result in a subpoena.
World:
Iranians Find Nothing To Celebrate Despite a government offer of partial amnesty, the “Woman-Life-Freedom” protests continue. It is tradition in the Islamic Republic of Iran for the Supreme Leader to mark the anniversary of the 1979 revolution with a symbolic prisoner release. The commutations occur during the extended celebration leading to the Feb. 11 anniversary. This period, known as the Ten Days of Fajr, features official events across the country, including a well-regarded film festival. This year’s official amnesty was larger than usual, arriving as it did in the midst of the nationwide uprising sparked by the murder of a Kurdish-Iranian woman, Mahsa Jina Amini, at the hands of the Morality Police in September. During five months of protests, at least 20,000 Iranians have been incarcerated and more than 500 have been killed in the state’s crackdown.
The Staggering Crimes of British imperialism Flag-waving Tory chauvinists are increasingly attempting to whitewash the brutal history of the British Empire. But recent studies have exposed this shameless falsification and revealed the true extent of colonialism’s horrific, murderous crimes. A recent investigation has estimated that over 100 million were killed in India by British imperialism between 1880 and 1920, revealing the sheer scale of capitalism’s crimes.
Israel Defies International Law to Legalize 9 Settler Colonies on Occupied Land The nine settler colonies “legalized” by the far right government were considered illegal even under Israeli law. Israel’s far-right Security Cabinet on Sunday approved the immediate “legalization” of nine Jewish-only settler outposts in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem over what critics called the empty objection of benefactor the United States and in violation of inter-national law — under which all Israeli settler colonies are illegal.
Pakistan on the Brink: What the Collapse of the Nuclear-Armed Regional Power Could Mean for the World A series of disasters — including catastrophic flooding, political paralysis, exploding inflation, and a resurgent terror threat — risk sending the global player into full-blown crisis. The last year has brought Pakistan to the brink. A series of rolling disasters — including catastrophic flooding, political paralysis, exploding inflation, and a resurgent terror threat — now risk sending a key, if troubled, global player into full-blown crisis. If the worst comes to pass, as some experts warn, the catastrophe unfolding in Pakistan will have consequences far beyond its borders. “This is a country of 220 million people, with nuclear weapons and serious internal conflicts and divisions,” said Uzair Younus, the director of the Pakistan Initiative at the Atlantic Council’s South Asia Center. “The world didn’t like the outflows of refugees and weapons that came from countries like Syria and Libya. In comparison, Pakistan is magnitudes larger and more consequential.”
Lift Sanctions Against Syria to Lessen Sufferings of the People Caused By The Earthquake The International Movement for a Just World (JUST) urges the American, British, Australian, Canadian, Swiss and some European Union and Arab League governments to lift the unjust, immoral sanctions against Syria in order to lessen the immense sufferings of the people caused by the massive earthquake of 6th February 2023.
Education. Health, 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 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!