Daily News Digest June 12, 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:
Climate Change Always on the Back Burner
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:
Moreover, Russia has held the dam for months, giving them ample opportunity to lay explosives within it, in preparation for sabotage and withdrawal. On top of that, the chaotic nature of the Ukrainian forces’ retreat from flooded areas suggests they were caught by surprise. On the other hand, the Russian defensive lines were also disrupted by the bursting of the dam, and their own troops seemed to be beating a hasty retreat from the rising waters. Given that the Russians currently hold the Zaporizhzhia power plant, the prospect of a meltdown (however remote) is clearly not in their interests. Nor is losing control over the lever of the main power supply in the region, making claims of an imminent plan to bomb the plant farfetched. Much more significantly, the dammed river provides the bulk of freshwater to the Crimean peninsula, which is held by Russia, and whose defence is a major priority for the Kremlin. — Ukraine Dam Breach Unleashes Warmongering Hysteria
We are currently heading directly towards civilizational collapse. We need to switch into climate emergency mode as a society. “We are currently heading directly towards civilizational collapse. We need to switch into climate emergency mode as a society.” — Dr. Peter Kalmus
Biden Is Already Out-Trumping Trump at the Border Since the Department of Homeland Security was established 20 years ago, Customs and Border Protection and Immigration and Customs Enforcement have given private companies 113,276 contracts (yes, you read that right!), or on average 5,664 contracts annually, 16 per day. In the 15 years since 2008, the money spent on such contracts has amounted to $72.6 billion dollars and such figures have only been on the rise since Joe Biden entered the White House. The 4,465 contracts CBP and ICE have agreed to so far this year (at a price of $4.1 billion) put them on pace to surpass 2022’s record-setting $7.5 billion. In 2022, CBP and ICE offered 9,909 contracts, an average of 27 per day, all of which means the Biden administration is likely to be the largest border-enforcement contractor ever. Only recently, New York Times columnist Thomas Friedman suggested that President Biden should “out-Trump Trump” and “do everything possible to secure the border like never before — more walls, more fences, more barriers, more troops, the 82nd Airborne — whatever it takes. Make Democrats own border security.” What Friedman apparently didn’t realize was that Biden had already taken just that border path.— Biden Out-Trumps Trump at the Border
Videos/Podcasts of the Day:
Envionment: Socialism or Ecocide!
One of Many Ways to Beginto End Global Warming: Expose ‘Greenwashing’ — Tax the Polluters 100%!:
As Canada Burns, Docs Reveal Oil Giant Weighed In on Government Carbon Plan “Carbon capture and storage is a scam, and as these documents show, the call is coming from inside the house,” said one campaigner As wildfires continued to cause air pollution problems across eastern North America on Thursday, The Narwhalrevealed it obtained documents showing that fossil fuel giant Suncor “provided input on the first draft” of the Canadian government’s forthcoming Carbon Management Strategy and a company executive sat on an “obscure” advisory panel. Highlighting the “important reporting” from The Narwhal‘s Carl Meyer, Torrance Coste—national campaign director at the Wilderness Committee, a Canadian nonprofit—tweeted that “carbon capture and storage is a scam, and as these documents show, the call is coming from inside the house.”
Smoke From Canadian Wildfires Hits Norway and Flows to Southern Europe Researchers used a model to predict how the smoke would move through the region and said it wouldn’t pose a health risk Smoke from Canadian wildfires that has descended upon parts of the eastern US and Canada in a thick haze has drifted over Norway and is expected to hit southern Europe, Norwegian officials said on Friday
The Climate Crisis Canceled Our Climate Rally With NYC suffering the world’s worst air quality due to smoke billowing from Canada’s unabated wildfires, there was no way we could gather people to chant and sing. Thursday afternoon I was scheduled to keynote a climate rally in NYC to hold the fossil fuel industry accountable for our burning planet and soaring energy bills. Despite New York State’s ambitious climate law, the fossil fuel industry is fighting climate action every step of the way. They are refusing to adhere to our climate law’s targets, working to weaken them, and sowing misinformation, all while asking for dramatic rate increases.
Choking on Smoke? There Are Very Specific People to Blame These people have names like Jane Fraser, John Dugan, and Mark Mason of Citi Group I’m writing this from my smoky apartment in Brooklyn, New York. Looking out my window, the sky is orange. It smells like an ashtray. Even though I’ve been staying indoors, my eyes are red, I have a headache, and my lungs are sore. The air quality index hit a staggering 484 on Wednesday afternoon—nearly 200 points higher than what is considered hazardous for all living beings. News outlets have reported this week that New York had the worst air pollution of any city in the world. The immediate cause of this crisis is wildfires in Canada, the real cause is the climate crisis. Colonial land management and global climate change is making the conditions that lead to these wildfires becoming more and more common. New York is not the first place to experience dangerous air due to pollution and wildfire smoke in recent years, nor will it be the last―unless we stop extracting and burning fossil fuels, immediately.
Water Vs. Wastewater: Do You Know The Difference?. . . The PFAS Problem In Wastewater PFAS, which stands for per-and polyfluoroalkyl substances, are a group on manmade chemicals that have become a hot topic in wastewater management. They’re often called “forever chemicals,” because they are hard to break down both in our bodies and in the environment. You could also call them, “everywhere chemicals,” because they’ve become so common in the products we use every day from stain-resistant sprays to nonstick cookware and food packaging to water-resistant fabrics and clothing. PS: Scientists have detected these chemicals in the blood of almost all Americans. The EPA keeps a list on some of the health issues related to PFAS. Now, a new report published by the Minnesota Pollution Control Agency found it would cost up to $28 billion in the next two decades to clean up forever chemicals from wastewater streams across the state. That’s a staggering number!
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
The U.S. has Made Great Progress at Increasing Economic Inequality One of the more impressive accomplishments of the United States in recent decades is how it has achieved greater economic inequality in line with what Marx expected from a capitalist economy. There are periods of setbacks—in which economic inequality is reduced–followed by improvements resulting in even higher levels of inequality. Advancing economic inequality has been a bipartisan undertaking. The actions of both the Democrats and Republicans in power have increased economic inequality as their leaders, together, champion the interests of the rich and powerful at the expense of the middle and working classes. Additionally, despite the growth in the diversity of the ruling class, economic inequality has continued to widen. Examples of progress towards greater economic inequality that results in unmet needs and misery for many is made apparent in media stories such as a recent one in the Guardian with the title “I can’t afford groceries’: why one-third of US college students don’t have enough to eat.”
Austerity and Illusions: The Debt Ceiling Deal Reaction to the debt ceiling deal made between the Democratic and Republican parties has generated a misunderstanding as to the role of the deal itself, those of the parties themselves and their leadership. As there is no serious organized Left in the United States, let alone a class-conscious movement of the working class, the interpretation of the debt deal will inevitably be colored by the image of the deal proffered by the media and the parties themselves. Politics in the twenty-first century has been completely subsumed into, as Debord argued, the spectacle, but its victory is so complete that it is a lazy one at that. Our task, then, is to examine the reality of the deal and the social relations between the actors and party organizations. The broad contours of the deal reflect the use of the debt ceiling as a tool for austerity: non-defense discretionary spending is held flat for FY 2024 and held to 1% growth in FY 2025, with topline federal spending held to 1% annual growth for the next six years. Flat and then low growth, especially in times of inflation, is in reality a massive cut to the already threadbare social safety net. SNAP benefit work requirements are cruelly extended to age 55, the student loan payment freeze will end, IRS funding is slashed, billions in COVID funds clawed back, and it speeds up construction of the ecocidal Mountain Valley Pipeline. Interestingly, CNN described the real winners: corporate America. Defense contractors, fossil fuel companies, and the tax sector, along with Wall Street more generally, were bullish on the deal.
Civil Rights/Black Liberation:
Snowden Warns Today’s Surveillance Technology Makes 2013 Look Like ‘Child’s Play’ “We trusted the government not to screw us,” said Edward Snowden. “But they did. We trusted the tech companies not to take advantage of us. But they did. That is going to happen again, because that is the nature of power.” With this week marking 10 years since whistleblower Edward Snowden disclosed information to journalists about widespread government spying by United States and British agencies, the former National Security Agency contractor on Thursday joined other advocates in warning that the fight for privacy rights, while making several inroads in the past decade, has grown harder due to major changes in technology. “If we think about what we saw in 2013 and the capabilities of governments today,” Snowden told The Guardian, “2013 seems like child’s play.”
Labor:
Economy:
Modern Supply-Side Economics and the New Washington Consensus Last month, the US National Security Advisor, Jake Sullivan, outlined the international economic policy of the US administration. This was a pivotal speech, because Sullivan explained what is called the New Washington Consensus on US foreign policy. The original Washington Consensus was a set of ten economic policy prescriptions considered to constitute the “standard” reform package promoted for crisis-wracked developing countries by Washington, D.C.-based institutions such as the IMF, World Bank and the US Treasury. The term was first used in 1989 by English economist John Williamson. The prescriptions encompassed free-market promoting policies such as trade and finance ‘liberalisation’ and privatisation of state assets. They also entailed fiscal and monetary policies intended to minimise fiscal deficits and public spending. It was the neoclassical policy model applied to the world and imposed on poor countries by US imperialism and its allied institutions. The key was ‘free trade’ without tariffs and other barriers, free flow of capital and minimal regulation – a model that specifically benefited the hegemonic position of the US. But things have changed since the 1990s – in particular, the rise of China as a rival economic power globally; and the failure of the neoliberal, neoclassical international economic model to deliver economic growth and reduce inequality among nations and within nations. Particularly since the end of the Great Recession in 2009 and the Long Depression of the 2010s, the US and other leading advanced capitalist economies have been stuttering. ‘Globalisation’, based on fast rising trade and capital flows, has stagnated and even reversed. Global warming has increased the risk of environmental and economic catastrophe. The threat to the hegemony of the US dollar has grown. A new ‘consensus’ was needed.
World:
A War Long Wanted: Diplomatic Malpractice in Ukraine Nothing written excuses or condones Russia’s actions. The Russian invasion is a war of aggression and a violation of international law. An attempt at understanding the Russian perspective on their war does not endorse the invasion, occupation and war crimes committed, and it certainly does not imply the Russians had no other option but this war. Rather, this essay seeks to communicate that this war was not unprovoked and that the actions of the US and NATO over decades led to a war of choice between the US, NATO, Ukraine and Russia. A war long wanted by megalomaniacs and war profiteers in DC, London, Brussels, Kyv and Moscow became realized in February 2022. — The US Provoked Russia’s Invasion of Ukraine— The direct cause of the current inter-state war in Ukraine is Russia’s invasion, but America’s relentless expansion of NATO up to Russia’s borders provoked the attack. Since at least 2007, Russia repeatedly warned NATO’s armed forces on Russian borders, especially Ukraine, were intolerable – just as Russian forces in Mexico or Canada would be intolerable to the US now or as Russian missiles in Cuba were in 1962. Coupled with these provocations has been an American militarized foreign policy characterized by unilateralism, regime change and preemptive war. This has ensured a reality since the end of the Cold War of confront-ation and slaughter throughout the world. Thus, the famed predict-ions of the 1990s of a clash of civilizations became a reality of our own making.
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