Daily News Digest May 29, 2023

The First Memorial Day:

This April 1865 photo shows the graves of Union soldiers: who died at the Race Course prison camp in Charleston, which would later become Hampton Park. On May 1 of that year, former slaves gave the fallen a daylong funeral. The Library of Congress 

An obelisk, erected by L. T. ‘Eliza’ Potter, stands in Beaufort National Cemetery. It reads, ‘Immortality Hundreds Of The Defenders of American Liberty Against The Great Rebellion.’Memorial Day By Roland Sheppard

I Morn Those That Died — The 1% Sing Praises To The Spoils Of War! Every Year I Honor the Casualties Of The Wars For Profit — Not Just the Americans Who Have/Will Died, but The People World Wide Who Have/Will Die, From War and the Exploits of US Capitalism:

Daily News Digest Archives

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:

Pax Americana

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:

Ali Moossavi: Racism is as American as apple pie, H. Rap Brown/Jamil Abdullah Al-Amin once said, and any cursory observation of American history and culture would conclude that racial hatred and categorization is an integral and predictable fact of American life. From slavery and the dispossession of Native Americans to Jim Crow, from the internment of Japanese Americans during World War II and the “illegal” immigration debate today, racism continues to play a major role in American political discourse. 

Negro leaders suffer from this interplay of solidarity and divisiveness, being either exalted excessively or grossly abused. Some of these leaders suffer from an aloofness and absence of faith in their people. The white establishment is skilled in flattering and cultivating emerging leaders. It presses its own image on them and finally, from imitation of manners, dress and style of living, a deeper strain of corruption develops. This kind of Negro leader acquires the white man’s contempt for the ordinary Negro. He is often more at home with the middle-class white than he is among his own people. His language changes, his location changes, his income changes, and ultimately he changes from the representative of the Negro to the white man into the white man’s representative of the Negro. The tragedy is that too often he does not recognize what has happened to him. — Martin Luther King Jr. 1967, The Black Power Defined

Videos/Podcasts of the Day:

The China Dragon Roars Back Whether the US Likes It or Not

 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. 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 

After the World War II, the United States Capitalism emerged as the victor. It was then that the War Department became the Department of Defense/Pax Americana!:

United States Department of War The United States Department of War, also called the War Department (and occasionally War Office in the early years), was the United States Cabinet department originally responsible for the operation and maintenance of the United States Army, also bearing responsibility for naval affairs until the establishment of the Navy Department in 1798, and for most land-based air forces until the creation of the Department of the Air Force on September 18, 1947.     The Secretary of War, a civilian with such responsibilities as finance and purchases and a minor role in directing military affairs, headed the War Department throughout its existence.     The War Department existed from August 7, 1789[1] until September 18, 1947, when it split into the Department of the Army and the Department of the Air Force. The Department of the Army and Department of the Air Force later joined the Department of the Navy under the United States Department of Defense in 1949.

Corporate Media Continues to Blow It on Coverage of Debt Ceiling Hostage Situation“The notion that the president was trapped under the gun of McCarthy is ridiculous.

1.  “It’s simple: “Republicans drove up the national debt by giving huge tax breaks to the rich and major corporations—now they’re trying to make the rest of us pay for it.”As negotiators for the White House and congressional Republicans continue their will-they-or-won’t-they game with the global economy at risk, critics are calling out corporate media coverage of efforts to prevent a devastating U.S. default by raising the debt ceiling.     “There are three aspects to the substance and coverage of this debate that have been infuriating,” saidRevolving Door Project executive director Jeff Hauser in a statement Friday. “First, the notion that ‘modest cuts’ to spending are inconsequential.”

  1. “Second is the role of inflation,” Hauser continued, charging that the brewing potential deal between President Joe Biden and House Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R-Calif.) “would be a catastrophe for government capacity, and coverage that ignores the role of inflation (hardly a low profile issue in 2023!) is wildly and indefensibly misguided.”
  2. “Third, the notion that the president was trapped under the gun of McCarthy is ridiculous,” he added. “Because the debt ceilingis an unconstitutional, incoherent excuse for a law and because there is an active lawsuit from the National Association of Government Employees [NAGE], Biden’s status as a hostage merely reflects an advanced case of Stockholm Syndrome.”

Wall Street Journal Should Not Cry for Military Contractors in Debt Ceiling Fight  It’s beyond absurd to hand-wring about the area of the discretionary budget that appears least likely to face cuts—and, by any reasonable account, the most able to survive them.     The Wall Street Journal is very concerned about the effects of the debt limit fight… on military contractors. In an article (5/12/23) headlined “Debt-Ceiling Fight Weighs on Defense Industry,” the paper reported, “If the U.S. defaults on its debt and is unable to pay all its bills this summer, the pain will fall squarely on the defense industry.”    A default could disrupt payments to military contractors, the Journal pointed out, and even a temporary suspension of the debt ceiling for several months “would raise the likelihood the Defense Department will have to make do with a temporary budget known as a continuing resolution.” This would likely “inflate the costs of military programs, delay the launch of new ones, and prevent production increases.” In short, weapons producers might feel a momentary pinch after years of war profits.

The Endless Denial and Coverup of US Torture Continues Think of us, the American public, as a blindfolded child when it comes to our government’s torture program that followed the 9/11 disaster and the launching of the ill-fated war on terror.     In the Blindman’s Buff variation of tag, a child designated as “It” is tasked with tapping another child while wearing a blindfold. The sightless child knows the other children, all able to see, are there but is left to stumble around, using sounds and knowledge of the space they’re in as guides. Finally, that child does succeed, either by bumping into someone, peeking, or thanks to sheer dumb luck.     Think of us, the American public, as that blindfolded child when it comes to our government’s torture program that followed the 9/11 disaster and the launching of the ill-fated war on terror. We’ve been left to search in the dark for what so many of us sensed was there.

US Unquestioning Support for Israeli Abuses Is Dwindling, Albeit Slowly While it is more in rhetoric than in action for now, this progress is undoubtedly a good thing when it comes to hopes for a just peace for Palestinians. Though the United States remains a strong supporter of Israel, there are some indications that the supposed “unbreakable bond” with Tel Aviv is faltering, though more in language than in deeds.     Following the provocative “Flag March” on May 18, which is carried out annually by Israeli Jewish extremists in the Occupied Palestinian city of East Jerusalem, the U.S. joined other countries around the world in condemning the racism displayed at the event.     The language used by the U.S. State Department was firm, but also guarded. Spokesman Matthew Miller did not condemn the racist, provocative march—which involved leading Israeli officials—but the language used by the large crowds, most of whom are strong supporters of the far-right government of Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.

Environment — Ecosocialism of Ecocide!:

Carbon Tax

Washington’s $849 Million Capital Gains Windfall Shows ‘Taxing the Rich Is a Really Good Idea’ “Hey, hey! What we knew would happen: Make the wealthiest pay their fair share and it finances investments in education, transportation, and more,” said Rep. Pramila Jayapal.     Proponents of progressive taxation on Friday pointed to data showing Washington state stands poised to reap $849 million in revenue during the first year of its capital gains tax as proof that taxing the rich works—and could serve as a template for federal legislation.     The Seattle Timesreports that when Washington state lawmakers passed this fiscal year’s budget, they anticipated collecting $248 million in revenue from the 7% tax on the sale or exchange of stocks, bonds, and certain other assets above $250,000.

Ecocide: Property Rights Trumps Environmental Rights!: US Supreme Court Shrinks Clean Water Protections in Ruling Siding With Idaho Couple Ruling by conservative-dominated court shrinks scope of landmark law to protect America’s waterways The scope of a landmark law to protect America’s waterways has been shrunk by the US supreme court, which has sided with an Idaho couple who have waged a long-running legal battle to build a house on wetlands near one of the state’s largest lakes.    In a ruling passed down on Thursday, the conservative-dominated court decided that the federal government was wrong to use the Clean Water Act, a key 50-year-old piece of legislation to prevent pollution seeping into rivers, streams and lakes, to prevent the couple building over the wetland beside Priest Lake in Idaho.

Accountability Needed at the Country’s Most Toxic Site On the edge of Washington state, just a few miles from the great Columbia River, boiling radioactive sludge is seeping out of a huge underground tank known as B-109. Another tank, B-111, was found to be leaking a similarly noxious soup back in 2011 and has been polluting the soil and groundwater ever since. The Department of Energy (DOE), the agency ultimately in charge of this problem, isn’t doing a thing about it. Not that they don’t want to, they just don’t have an answer, so the leaks just keep on leaking.     Such is the business of Hanford, home to the largest cesspool of high-level radioactive waste in the country, 56 million gallons worth that sit in 177 hulking underground tanks that are nearly six decades passed their lifespans. Conceived during the Manhattan Project and ramped up during the Cold War, Hanford produced nearly all of the plutonium that filled up the US’s massive nuclear arsenal, including the fuel for the bomb dropped on Nagasaki. It wasn’t all fun and war crimes; however, the radioactive aftermath of this military behemoth will be with us for hundreds of thousands of years to come. 

Civil Rights/Black Liberation:

“White Protectionism” is White Supremacy: A Bait and Switch as Old as History In recognition of the institutional political biases operating against people of color, the NAACP has issued a travel advisory against Florida, lamenting Governor Ron DeSantis’s “aggressive attempts to erase Black history and to restrict diversity, equity, and inclusion programs in Florida schools.”  The organization bluntly declares that “Under the leadership of Governor DeSantis, the state of Florida has become hostile to Black Americans…before traveling to Florida, please understand that the state devalues and marginalizes the contributions of, and the challenges faced by African Americans and other communities of color.” 

Labor:

Economy:

Shadow Government Statistics Daily Update May 26 to 3oth Latest Headlines:

  • University of Michigan’s full-month May 2023 Consumer Sentiment held shy by 41.4% (-41.4%) of ever recovering its February 2020 Pre-Pandemic Peak level. — Combined First-Quarter 2023 GDP and GDI just signaled a Recession in place [The GDP ALTERNATE DATA Tab and accompanying graph are updated].
  • Inflation pressures continued, with April 2023 Money Supply reflecting still-extreme flight to liquidity. The most-liquid “Basic M1” (currency plus Demand Deposits) held 118.1% above its Pre-Pandemic Level and is increasing year-to-year, versus the Aggregate M2 Money Supply holding up by 30.0%, but declining year-to-year, amidst no signs of an overheating economy.
  • [See the later FEDERAL RESERVE Section (MONEY SUPPLY and MONETARY BASE) for details. The Money Supply ALTERNATE DATA Tab and accompanying graphs are updated]. 

Michael Roberts Facebook Blog: Just out. Corporate profits (after tax) in the United States tumbled 6.8 percent to USD 2.307 trillion in the first quarter of 2023, the lowest since Q2 of 2021, much more than market expectations of a 0.9 percent decrease and following a 2.7 percent fall in the previous period, a preliminary estimate showed. It was the largest decrease in corporate profits since Q1 2020 when they slipped 7.4 percent. The profits boom of 2022 is over.  See my recent post G7: where is that recession?

World:

Carlos Latuff

The U.S. is Unhappy That Mexico Is Spending Money on Its Own Citizens Mexico’s populist president should instead be spending more on furthering U.S. interests, according to a leaked intelligence document.     THE U.S. GOVERNMENT is frustrated that Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador is prioritizing social spending for the benefit of his people over addressing matters that are important to the U.S., according to an excerpt of a leaked top-secret intelligence document.      Part of a cache of classified intelligence records that were leaked on the platform Discord earlier this year, the document highlights the growing discontent by U.S. officials toward Mexico’s president, who has significantly limited U.S. law enforcement agencies’ role in the war on drugs, as fentanyl trafficked by Mexican criminal groups has worsened the overdose crisis in the U.S. and violence in Mexico.     “President Lopez Obrador’s federal budget for 2023 gives priority to social spending and signature infrastructure projects, rather than the investments needed to address bilateral issues with the US such as migration, security, and trade,” reads the document from the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. “Lopez Obrador’s meager investment in migration, security, and trade-related organizations will probably undermine Mexico’s ability to follow through on commitments to stem the flow of irregular migrants and fentanyl to the US and

Education. Heal, 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