Daily News Digest April 25, 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:
Megadrought in the American South-West: a Climate Disaster Unseen 1,200 Years
The Tiny Victims of Desert Storm
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:
But back to Lagarde: “the single most important factor influencing international currency usage is the “strength of fundamentals.” In other words, on the one hand, the trend of weakening economies in the imperialist bloc facing very slow growth and slumps during the rest of his decade; and on the other, continued expansion of China and even India. This means that the heavy military and financial dominance of the US and its allies stands on the chicken legs of relatively poor productivity, investment and profitability. That’s a recipe for global fragmentation and conflict. — A multipolar World and the Dollar
From, The Queen’s Death Star Depleted Uranium Measured in British Atmosphere from Battlefields in the Middle East, shows how depleted uranium spread worldwide after the “Shock & Awe” bombing during Gulf War II in Iraq: The Sunday Times Online, February 19, 2006, reported on a shocking scientific study authored by British scientists Dr. Chris Busby and Saoirse Morgan: “Did the use of Uranium weapons in Gulf War 2 result in contamination of Europe? Evidence from the measurements of the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE), Aldermaston, Berkshire, UK”. The highest levels of depleted uranium ever measured in the atmosphere in Britain, were transported on air currents from the Middle East and Central Asia; of special significance were those from the Tora Bora bombing in Afghanistan in 2001, and the “Shock & Awe” bombing during Gulf War II in Iraq in 2003. Out of concern for the public, the official British government air monitoring facility, known as the Atomic Weapons Establishment (AWE), at Aldermaston was established years ago, to measure radioactive emissions from British nuclear power plants and atomic weapons facilities.
Videos/Podcasts of the Day:
Is TikTok a US Deep State Front?
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
“Myth America”: New Book Dismantles 20 Legends About Our Past Historians Kevin Kruse and Julian Zelizer discuss their new book, “Myth America: Historians Take On the Biggest Legends and Lies About Our Past.” Recently, peculiar skirmishes have broken out in the U.S. over our history. In Louisiana, Florida, North Carolina, and many other places, conservatives have made efforts to sanitize the teaching of what exactly happened in America’s past. But it’s important to keep in mind this is just part of a much longer war — and, in fact, those who want to misrepresent history have won many victories. This is evidenced by the fact that the conventional wisdom about the past in the U.S., what everyone “knows,” is often wrong or far too simplistic. This week on Deconstructed, senior writer Jon Schwarz speaks to historians Kevin Kruse and Julian Zelizer about their new book, “Myth America: Historians Take On the Biggest Legends and Lies About Our Past.” With 20 chapters by 20 different historians, the new book takes a look at key fairy tales and replaces the standard bland hokum with the far more interesting reality.
Matt Taibbi: House Democrats Have Lost Their Minds Representative Stacey Plaskett, who called Michael Shellenberger and me “direct threats to people who oppose them,” is now threatening me with prison – over Mehdi Hasan’s uncorrected error. Wow. When I think this iteration of the Democratic Party can’t sink any lower, it does. I learned yesterday Virgin Islands Delegate and Ranking Member of the House Subcommittee on the Weaponization of Government Stacey Plaskett is threatening me with prison, over her own error. Just after I ran a piece called “The Press is Now Also the Police” about the New York Times and Washington Post boasting of roles in delivering a leak suspect to the FBI, MSNBC’s new attack-caster, Mehdi Hasan, got his wish, inspiring first Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and then Plaskett to trumpet his incredibly vicious and mistaken claim that I lied to Congress. Wow. When I think this iteration of the Democratic Party can’t sink any lower, it does.
Environment — Ecosocialism of Ecocide!:
The Environmental Killing Fields of the United States!: Nearly 120 Million People in US Exposed to Unhealthy Levels of Soot and Smog – Report American Lung Association’s study also found great disparity between coasts, with 10 of 11 most polluted counties in California The climate crisis has upended progress on improving air quality, with one in three Americans currently living in areas with harmful levels of pollutants known to increase the risk of medical emergencies, pregnancy complications and premature death, new research reveals.
12 Ways to Make Earth Day Count Here, in the spirit of Earth Day, are twelve essential actions (in addition to many more!) Center for Food Safety is taking to make food and farming truly sustainable, healthful, and democratic for all.
- Suing the EPA to make regulators do their jobsand rein in toxic dicamba drift, which is destroying farmers’ crops, their livelihoods, and vital species’ habitats.
- Stopping pesticide corporations from covering our Earth with deadly pesticide-coated seeds by challengingan EPA loophole that allows these seeds on the market without reviewing their impacts on endangered species.
- Removing the cancer-causing pesticide glyphosatefrom the market for all
- Stopping GMO foods and saving GMO food labeling by overturning regulationsthat could flood the market with GMO crops; and by strengthening U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) rules for GMO food labeling.
- Defending animal species and habitats, and biodiversity, by pushing for strong Food and Drug Administration (FDA) regulations on genetically engineered animals.
- Protecting endangered species by ensuring that endangered birds and other species are safeguarded from the dangers of pesticidesand industrial agriculture.
- Challenging EPA approval of other pesticides like the endocrine disruptor atrazine.
- Restoringstrong animal welfare protections in organic livestock production, and stopping polluting factory farms.
- Protecting oceans from polluting aquaculture facilities(factory farms of the sea) by challenging government permits for these facilities in state and federal waters.
- Challenging EPA’s lack of review of the whole formulaof pesticides (not just the main ingredient).
- Halting an $8 billion international GMO agenda through a new international coalitionand campaign to end funding for biotech and pesticide companies pushing “false solutions” to the climate crisis.
- Educating and mobilizing people nationwide to ensure that the 2023 Farm Billprioritizes people’s health, farmers’ survival, and our climate future.
Monster Heat Hits 1/3rd of World Population It has started, and it’s fierce… Monster Heat! “It’s a ‘monster heat spell like none before,” according to climatologist and weather historian Maximiliano Herrera, describing Asia’s heatwave as the worst in history. (Source: Extreme Heat Scorches Asia, Affecting at Least a Third of the World’s Population, The Verge, April 19, 2023)
Goldman Prize Goes to Activists Who Scored Huge Victories Over Corporate Polluters One Goldman Environmental Prize recipient was Diane Wilson, who won a historic $50 million settlement in a case against Formosa Plastics.
Tapping Into Warehouse Roof Solar Potential Could Power Entire US Cities “If we want to create a clean energy future, we should look first to the already-built environment that could host the tools we need,” said one expert. “Warehouse rooftops provide a perfect opportunity.” Installing solar panels on the roofs of warehouses and distribution centers around the United States could generate enough clean electricity to power every household in every state’s most populous city, according to a report published Thursday by Environment America Research & Policy Center and Frontier Group. “What the world needs now is rooftop solar, which produces inexpensive clean energy, averts harmful pollution, and preserves open space,” Susan Rakov, chair of Environment America Research & Policy Center’s clean energy program and managing director of Frontier Group, said in a statement.
French Campaigners Build Literal Block Wall to Oppose New Motorway “Seriously we need to take some pointers from French protesting,” said one U.S. observer. “Protestors built a brick wall on a national roadway opposing the building of a new highway. Activists say it will destroy 2,500 trees and surrounding habitats.”
Megadrought in the American South-West: a Climate Disaster Unseen in 1,200 Years As heat, fires and water wars become the norm, the Guardian explores the fallout of prolonged drought in a multi-part series Read the first story in the series
Colorado River Snaking Through Grand Canyon Most Endangered US Waterway – Report Unique ecosystem on the brink of collapse due to climate crisis and mismanagement, says conservation group American Rivers A 277-mile stretch of the Colorado River that snakes through the iconic Grand Canyon is America’s most endangered waterway, a new report has found. The unique ecosystem and cultural heritage of the Grand Canyon is on the brink of collapse due to prolonged drought, rising temperatures and outdated river management, according to American Rivers, the conservation group that compiles the annual endangered list.
From There Are No ‘Safe Radiation’ Levels!: As we continue to learn at such a huge cost, there can never be a “perfectly safe” nuclear reactor, any more than there can be a “perfectly harmless” dose of radiation. “Impossible” accidents continue to happen, one after the other, each of them successively worse. What we fear most about TMI, then Chernobyl and now Fukushima, is not what has happened—but what is yet to come, there, and at the next inevitable reactor disaster. We are a pro-life movement. — There’s No “Safe” Dose of RadiationBefore 1945, cancer mortality was very rare. Large increases in cancer mortality in the past 100 years begin with the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombs dropped on Japan in 1945. A Japanese government map of the major causes of death in Japan from 1899 to 2004 shows that cancer mortality increased rapidly after 1945. With the introduction of each new nuclear technology since 1945 — atmospheric testing, nuclear power plants, depleted uranium — it is obvious that ionizing radiation is a major cause of cancer globally, and uranium is a major radioactive component of nuclear weapons, including depleted uranium weapons systems introduced to the battlefield in 1991 in Gulf War I. This breast cancer map from Centers for Disease Control data (see below illustration) identifies that within a 100-mile radius of nuclear reactors is where two-thirds of all U.S. breast cancer deaths occurred between 1985 and 1989. The map (see below illustration) of nuclear power plants in the U.S. identifies them as the major cause of breast cancer in the U.S., as well as nuclear weapons labs in New Mexico, Idaho, Washington and California. This is further confirmed by the breast cancer clusters identified in Japan and California, which occurred where it rained the day the Chernobyl radiation cloud passed over and the rain deposited the fission products in the environment. — Leuren Moret
Civil Rights/Black Liberation:
Capital Punishment Should Be Abolished, Not Expanded The death penalty remains a dark blight on the United States’ criminal justice record, and unfortunately, it’s not going away any time soon. Ron Desantis just signed a troubling law to end the requirement that juries must vote unanimously to recommend the death penalty. Now Florida juries can recommend capital punishment as long as eight out of twelve jurors concur. Executions have been in steady decline in the U.S. as many states move away from the death penalty, but some Republican-lead states have continued their ardent support of putting inmates to death.
Kaepernick to Fund Independent Autopsy for Atlanta Inmate Found Dead in Insect-Infested Cell “We want to thank Colin Kaepernick for helping this family get to the truth and soon,” said civil rights lawyer Benjamin Crump, who is representing relatives of Lashawn Thompson.
They Cleaned Up BP’s Massive Oil Spill. Now They’re Sick Thirteen Years After the Deepwater Horizon Explosion, Documents Shed Light on the Company’s Response and ‘Scorched Earth’ Legal Tactics Since the cleanup, thousands have experienced chronic respiratory issues, rashes and diarrhea – a problem known among local residents as “BP syndrome” or “Gulf coast syndrome”. Others, like Castleberry and Ruffin, have developed cancer.
BP Hires Prison Labor to Clean Up Spill While Coastal Residents Struggle (They had No Safety Equipment or Training!)
Labor:
Economy:
Ahead of First Republic Bank’s Earnings Report Today, Moody’s Paints a Bleak Outlook All of those pundits who have written over the past two weeks that the banking crisis is over, have failed to persuade the big credit ratings agency, Moody’s. Last Friday, Moody’s downgraded the credit ratings of 11 banks and put another five banks on negative watch – all in one day. And, for good measure, it downgraded the entire U.S. banking system from “Very Strong –” to “Strong +.” While not mentioning the Federal Reserve directly, the Moody’s downgrade of the U.S. banking system seemed to point directly at the Fed’s unrelenting interest rate hikes. Moody’s wrote:
World:
2.3 billion Going Hungry Despite Global Overproduction of Food A new study by the London-based charity War On Want finds that, even though the global food system produces more than 2.6 times the average person’s caloric needs, 2.3 billion people lack secure access to healthy and nutritious food. How is this criminal contradiction to be explained?
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
End of COVID-19 Emergency Declarations is Shortsighted and Premature In January 2023, the Biden administration announced its plans to end two COVID-19-related emergency declarations — a “public health emergency” declaration and a “national emergency” declaration — on May 11, 2023. That same month, the Administration also opposed two GOP-led resolutions to end both declarations before May 11, calling the resolutions “a grave disservice to the American people”. Last week, on April 10, 2023, the Administration changed course, as President Biden signed a GOP-led resolution to end the COVID-19 national emergency. The related, but distinct, public health emergency remains in effect until May 11, 2023. Ending either emergency is premature and shortsighted given the lingering threat of COVID-19 to public health. Doing so also lends legitimacy to pandemic minimization efforts, instead of reckoning with the danger COVID-19 continues to pose.