Daily News Digest April 7, 2023
Capitalism is Now a Worldwide Threat to Humanity! It is on the Fast Track to Global Warming and/or Nuclear War Catastrophes!
Images of the Day:
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:
Yes, as through this world I’ve wandered
I’ve seen lots of funny men; Some will rob you with a six-gun,
And some with a fountain pen. And as through your life you travel,
Yes, as through your life you roam, You won’t never see an outlaw
Drive a family from their home. — Woody Guthrie, Pretty Boy Floyd
Videos/Podcasts of the Day:
“The Undertow”: Author Jeff Sharlet on Trump, the Far Right & the Growing Threat of Fascism in U.S.
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. Tax 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
Ralph Nader: Trump Arrest Was “Massively Overdue” After Turning White House into a “Daily Crime Scene” As we cover the historic arraignment of former President Donald Trump, we look at the crimes for which he has not been charged. We speak with Ralph Nader, longtime consumer advocate, corporate critic and former presidential candidate. Nader says that though “all presidents violate laws,” Trump has “taken it to a new and diverse height.” . . . Ralph Nader: Well, it was historic in the sense it was massively overdue. Let’s start with Donald Trump’s notorious statement in 2019, which lays the basis for his lawlessness day after day as president. He said, quote, “With Article II, I can do whatever I want as president,” end-quote. Really? But he went on to prove it, before 2019, when he made the statement, and after. And so, the broader frame of reference here is that he turned the White House into a daily crime scene. John Bolton, who was his special assistant, in his memoir, said, “Obstruction of justice in the White House was a way of life.” That’s a serious crime. In the Mueller report, they outlined 10 major obstruction of justice against law enforcement in a very crude manner. There wasn’t any
“Corporations Are Not People”: Jayapal Files Bill to Reverse “Citizens United” The proposal specifies that corporations do not have the same constitutional rights as individuals.
Trump Has Broken Many More Laws Than He’s Currently Being Charged With Though “all presidents violate laws,” Trump has “taken it to a new and diverse height,” says Ralph Nader.
Calls for Clarence Thomas Impeachment Vote After Report Exposes Billionaire-Funded Trips One observer urged congressional Democrats to “put Republicans on the record supporting this level of corruption, and make the corrupt judiciary a campaign issue.” Progressives on Thursday urged congressional Democrats to immediately push for investigations and impeachment proceedings after bombshell reporting by ProPublica revealed that right-wing Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas has been taking luxury trips funded by a billionaire Republican megadonor for more than 20 years without formally disclosing them—a likely violation of federal law. The investigative outlet reported Thursday that “for more than two decades, Thomas has accepted luxury trips virtually every year” from Dallas-based real estate magnate Harlan Crow.
At least five different chemicals were carried in the train cars that derailed, according to a letter from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency to Norfolk Southern, including vinyl chloride, butyl acrylate, ethylhexyl acrylate, ethylene glycol monobutyl ether and isobutylene. “It adds confirmation that the symptoms reported by East Palestine residents are real and are associated with environmental exposures from the derailment and chemical fire,” — David Michaels, an epidemiologist and professor at the George Washington University School of Public Health who ran the Occupational Safety and Health Administration between 2009 and 2017, told CNN. — Two Truths & A Lie In East Palestine, Ohio
Environment — Ecosocialism of Ecocide!:
Global Warming is Systemic to Capitalism!:Weekly Average CO2 at Mauna Loa
The Dialectics of Global Warming: Change is Constant. As global warming Increases, the rate of global warming inreases. As the rate of global warming increases, global warming increases, as global warming increases global warming increases ect., ect.!
Glaciologist Says New Melting Study ‘Frankly Scary. Even to Me.’ “Ice sheets are retreating fast today,” said one expert. “But we see traces in the seafloor that the retreat could go faster, way faster, and this is a reminder that we have not seen everything yet.” Peer-reviewed research out Wednesday shows that parts of a huge ice sheet covering Eurasia retreated up to 2,000 feet per day at the end of the last ice age—by far the fastest rate measured to date. The new finding, published in the journal Nature, upends “what scientists previously thought were the upper speed limits for ice sheet retreat,” The Washington Postreported, and it has sparked fears about “how quickly ice in Greenland and Antarctica could melt and raise global sea levels in today’s warming world.” As the Post explained:
Scientists monitor ice sheet retreat rates to better estimate contributions to global sea-level rise. Antarctica and Greenland have lost more than 6.4 trillion tons of ice since the 1990s, boosting global sea levels by at least 0.7 inches (17.8 millimeters). Together, the two ice sheets are responsible for more than one-third of total sea-level rise. The rapid retreat found on the Eurasian ice sheet far outpaces the fastest-moving glaciers studied in Antarctica, which have been measured to retreat as quickly as 160 feet per day. Once the ice retreats toward the land, it lifts from its grounding on the seafloor and begins to float, allowing it to flow faster and increase the contribution to sea-level rise. If air and ocean temperatures around Antarctica were to increase as projected and match those at the end of the last ice age, researchers say ice marching backward hundreds of feet in a day could trigger a collapse of modern-day glaciers sooner than previously thought. That could be devastating for global sea levels.
Ecological Class Struggle: 200,000 Hit the Streets in Germany After years of rapprochement, Germany’s climate and labor movements are jointly going on strike to demand socio-ecological public infrastructure. On 3 March 2023, on the occasion of the global climate strike, a special political alliance took to the streets in Germany: side-by-side, climate activists and public transport workers went on strike. In at least 30 cities, climate activists visited workers’ pickets and brought them along for joint demonstrations. According to Fridays for Future, a total of 200,000 people participated in the nation-wide protests. The way employers reacted showed that this alliance of workers and climate activists is a potential threat to the ruling class. Steffen Kampeter, CEO of the Confederation of German Employers (BDA), publicly denounced them on the morning of the joint strike day as “a dangerous crossing of the line”. He said that the German service union ver.di was blurring the lines between strikes for collective bargaining and general political concerns, thereby entering the terrain of political strikes. To the delight of campaigners, this accusation contributed to the fact that the joint strike dominated the news that day.
Scientist Rebellion: Fosil Fuel Empire: The global economy is a fossil fuel empire. If you think that is an overstatement, think again. Let’s start with a look at the market capitalization of the top 500 companies. This is the value of all the companies’ shares on the stock market. 30 of those 500 companies either extract, transport or refine fossil fuels. The total market capitalization of these 30 companies alone is US$ 4.6 TRILLION. A country with this GDP would have the 3rd largest economy in the world. 55 of the companies have a business model that is strongly dependent on fossil fuels, operating in the energy, automotive, aviation or agriculture sectors. Their market capitalization overall is US$ 3.2 trillion.
Greenhouse Gas Emissions Rose at ‘Alarming’ Rate Last Year, US Data Shows Noaa report shows rapid increase in atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide, methane and nitrous oxide Record temperatures, devastating floods and superstorms are causing death and destruction across the planet but humans are failing to cut greenhouse gas emissions fueling the climate emergency, new US data shows. Atmospheric levels of carbon dioxide (CO2), methane and nitrous oxide – the greenhouse gases emitted by human activity that are the most significant contributors to global heating – continued to increase rapidly during 2022, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (Noaa).
Growing List of Fracking Concerns Now Includes Radioactivity Industry Documents And New Research Suggests the Natural Gas Pipeline System Emits Significant Amounts of Radioactivity. One morning in the fall of 2019, just as the sun was beginning to poke through a layer of overnight fog, a former Army chemist and explosives expert living in Philadelphia named Christina Digiulio set out on her motorcycle, a Harley Davidson Nightster, wearing pajamas under her motorcycle gear and carrying a portable radiation detector called the GQ GMC 500 Plus. It was humid with a slight breeze as she rode down a slope on Little Conestoga Road in Upper Uwchlan Township, an affluent and generally sleepy Chester County suburb, just west of Philadelphia. She was not riding aimlessly, but headed toward a pump station that had been flaring off emissions from a natural gas liquids (NGL) pipeline. “My Geiger counter started going crazy,” recalls Digiulio. “It was almost like a cloud was hanging. And I was inhaling it.” The manual that accompanied Digiulio’s device directed users, who received readings this high that persisted over time, to contact the responsible government agency. But there was nothing to indicate the kind of event the manual likely had in mind, such as the signature of a dirty bomb attack or a nuclear power plant leak. It was a peaceful morning among suburban homes with swimming pools and occasional farm fields. It seemed like the only possible source for such high levels of radiation was the pump station, a small industrial plot of pipes, valves and featureless buildings near the top of a long rolling hill. At the time of Digiulio’s unusual radiation experience, America’s fracking boom was roaring into its third decade. Although fracking requires the use of explosives and a long list of toxic, often secret chemicals to crack oil and gas out of hard-to-reach formations, its promoters assured communities that it was safe. “I’m requiring all companies that drill for gas on public lands to disclose the chemicals they use,” President Barack Obama declared in his 2012 State of the Union Address. “America will develop this resource without putting the health and safety of our citizens at risk.”
Civil Rights/Black Liberation:
- Margaret Kimberley, BAR Executive Editor and Senior Columnist Trump Derangement Syndrome Returns
- Editors, The Black Agenda Review ESSAY: New Creation or Familiar Death? An Open Letter to Black Students in the North: Vincent Harding, 1969
- Ann Garrison, BAR Contributing Editor US Uses Rusesabagina’s Release to Whitewash Its Decades of Support for the Kagame Regime
- Danny Haiphong, BAR Contributing Editor S. Push to Strip China’s Developing Country Status an Attack on Development Itself
- Raymond Nat Turner, BAR poet-in-residence Whoppers of Boss Tweet…
Roberto Sirvent, BAR Book Forum Editor BAR Book Forum: Brittnay L. Proctor’s Book, “Minnie Riperton’s Come to My Garden” - Black Alliance For Peace Zone of Peace Campaign
- Jon Jeter Finding Your Whiteness in a Time of Crisis: The Reeducation of Norman Finkelstein
- Shaka Shakur I AM FOR THE RIGHT TO BE FREE!!!!
- Sudip Bhattacharya The Need for Independent Left Leadership
- Noelle Hanrahan Judge Clemons Denies a New Trial for Mumia Abu Jamal
- Musa Springer Communism, Islam, & Serving Our Neighbors
- Amanda Yee TikTok on Trial: The Latest Front in the U.S. Tech War on China
- “Jane Nasimbwa, Sylvia Nassuna, Janet Ndagire, Patricia Naava, Jackie Nabbosa Mpungu, Florence Matovu Kansanze, Josephine Amonyatta, Shamim Nakamate Open Letter to President Museveni From Mothers of LGBTQ+ individuals
- John Perry The United Nations is Being Used by the U.S. in its Propaganda War Against Nicaragua
Labor:
No Recovery for the Working Class Sine 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 March 2023, the labor force participation rate consistently fell from 65.7 to 62.5 percent.” —Paul Craig Roberts, The Diminishing American Economy (Updated)
Labor Force Participation Rate is 62.5%
The Party of “Family Values” Sees No Irony in Axing Child Labor Protections The Republican Party is embracing policies that roll back a century of child labor protections.
Economy:
Brazil, Russia, India, China, and South Africa Plan To Introduce Plans for a New Innovative Currency . . . While it’s tentatively set to be announced this year, this plan has been in motion for quite a while. Back in 2019, members of the bloc were discussing the creation of a new digital currency for a unified payments system. China is already ahead of the game with its central bank digital currency project, and Brazil is right behind them with crypto adoption and legalizing it as a payment method. Meanwhile, the United States continues its war on cryptocurrency, with finance regulators closing in on the embryonic industry. BRICS will likely become stronger as other nations, such as Argentina, Iran, Indonesia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, and Egypt, intend to become part of this economic bloc.
World:
Bendib:Israeli Foxes
Eskom Crisis: How South African Capitalists Plunged the Country Into Darkness South Africa is currently experiencing one of its worst energy crises in its history. Rolling blackouts have become part of daily life because Eskom, the country’s energy supplier, is battling to keep the lights on. The frequency and intensity of blackouts have drastically increased since September, as homes, factories and businesses were hit by up to eight hours of power cuts a day. In 2022, the country experienced twice as many power cuts than any other year since this crisis started 15 years ago. This is having devastating consequences for the economy, with power cuts shaving two percentage points off economic output over a year and plunging even more people into unemployment. Daily lives are being disrupted, unrefrigerated food is rotting and businesses have to shut down and close regularly.
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