Daily News Digest July 11, 2023
Image of the Day:
Capitalism is Now a Worldwide Threat to Humanity! It is on the Fast Track to Global Warming and/or Nuclear War Catastrophes!
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:
In The Part Played by Labor in the Transition from Ape to Man, Friedrich Engels wrote:
“Let us not, however, flatter ourselves overmuch on account of our human victories over nature. For each such victory nature takes its revenge on us. Each victory, it is true, in the first place brings about the results we expected, but in the second and third places it has quite different, unforeseen effects which only too often cancel the first. …”In December 1999, when I first wrote my essay Whither Humanity? (The Environmental Crisis of Capitalism), there were some doubters, on the left, about the science of the article. However, the essay has held up quite well in the past eight years. Since that time , we now know that “Carbon dioxide rates have been accelerating — that the rate of increase in carbon dioxide emissions has more than doubled since the 1990s”! — Whither Humanity? The Environmental Crisis of Capitalism We don’t Need a Green New Deal! — We Need a Green Industrial Revolution!
For clarification, greenhouse gases are emitted all along the oil and gas lifecycle. Burning gas produces carbon dioxide, the main greenhouse gas causing the climate crisis. Additionally, methane, the primary component of fossil gas, is emitted directly into the atmosphere in the process of producing, processing, transporting, and storing oil and gas. Methane has a warming impact over 80 times greater than carbon dioxide in the short term. Reducing these methane emissions is crucial. So is phasing out fossil gas altogether. It is abundantly clear that the production and consumption of fossil gas must decline immediately, even if methane reduction goals are met. No amount of wishful thinking about upstream emissions reduction, carbon capture and storage (CCS), gas-based “blue” hydrogen, or whatever the latest magical techno-fix the industry imagines will save it can change this fact. Indeed, when you look at how well methane emissions reduction and carbon capture are faring thus far, it is more than likely that gas will need to go into a steeper decline than most current models project. — Time to Get Real: Phasing Out Methane Means Phasing Out Fossil Fuel Extractiong Out Fossil Fuel Extraction
Podcasts/Vidoes of the Day:
Declaration of Independence One Paragraph was Removed: Greg Palast: Declaration of Independence — One Paragraph was Removed On July 4, 1776, the Continental Congress issued the Declaration of Independence with only one paragraph removed: Thomas Jefferson’s attack on slavery. [King George] has waged cruel war against human nature itself,” Jefferson wrote, “violating its most sacred rights of life & liberty in the persons of a distant people who never offended him, captivating & carrying them into slavery in another hemisphere or to incur miserable death in their transportation thither.”
Environment:
After World War II Rosa Luxenburg Coined the Slogan: ‘S0cialism or Barbaism’! Now the Slogan Should Be: ‘Ecosocialism or Ecocide’!
One of Many Ways to Begin to End Global Warming: Expose ‘Greenwashing’ — Tax the Polluters 100%!
The Planet Heats, The World Economy Cools – The Real Global Recession is Ecological Governments focus on the climate when they have few other economic worries. That can no longer be the case First it was the pandemic. Then it was the war in Ukraine. Next it could be the climate crisis. On Monday last week the world registered its hottest-ever day but the record lasted only 24 hours before it was beaten by an even more sizzling Tuesday. And while the temperature continues to warm up the global economy continues to cool down. Germany is already in recession and plenty of other developed countries – including the UK – seem to be heading in that direction. China’s post-lockdown recovery has petered out, the US jobs market seems to be cooling in response to higher interest rates.
How to Convince a Village to Destroy Their Future in 8 Steps if you are an unethical multinational mining corporation, read here’s a handy guide to dividing communities, sparking conflict, and creating the exact amount of chaos necessary for your project to proceed. Multinational mining companies all over the world use similar strategies to convince communities to agree to their destructive extractive projects. Want to know their secrets? We’re diving into the mining conflict currently occurring in the village of Falan, Colombia, where multinationals including AngloGold Ashanti are preparing the village for the mines they want to open there. The mining projects will have a devastating impact on the environment, access to potable water, agriculture in the region, and the current and future potential of tourism. So you can imagine, it’s a hard sell for the families living in the region. Like thousands of other communities in the world, the inhabitants of Falan are resisting the upcoming extractive projects in their region, protesting to preserve their right to clean water and a healthy living environment.
EPA (Employer Protection Agency): EPA’s Proposed Rule on “Forever Chemicals” Wouldn’t Cover Majority of PFAS The rule accounts for only a tenth of the toxic per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances used by manufacturers. Aproposed federal rule calls for forcing companies to disclose whether their products contain toxic “forever” chemicals, the government’s first attempt at cataloging the pervasiveness of PFAS across the United States. The Environmental Protection Agency rule would require manufacturers to report many products that contain perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances. They’re a family of chemicals that don’t degrade in nature and have been linked to cancer, birth defects, and hormone irregularities. Aproposed federal rule calls for forcing companies to disclose whether their products contain toxic “forever” chemicals, the government’s first attempt at cataloging the pervasiveness of PFAS across the United States. . . . The Environmental Protection Agency rule would require manufacturers to report many products that contain perfluoroalkyl and polyfluoroalkyl substances. They’re a family of chemicals that don’t degrade in nature and have been linked to cancer, birth defects, and hormone irregularities.
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
A Vote for Trump or Biden is a Vote for Ecocide!
US Will Provide Ukraine U.N. Condemned Cluster Bombs as Part of New Weapons Package The news comes after HRW issued a report that said Ukraine killed civilians with U.N. banned cluster bombs used in Izium The Associated Press reported Thursday that the Biden administration has decided to arm Ukraine with cluster bombs and will announce the munitions as part of a new $800 million arms package. The news comes after Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a report that said Ukraine has killed its own citizens using the munitions.
Biden Defends Decision to Send Cluster Bombs to Ukraine Last year, the White House said the use of cluster munitions was a ‘potential war crime’ President Biden on Friday defended his decision to arm Ukraine with cluster bombs, which are banned by over 100 nations because they are exceptionally harmful to civilians. The Pentagon announced Friday that the US was sending cluster munitions to Ukraine as part of an $800 million weapons package. Kyiv will receive dual-purpose improved conventional munitions (DPICM), small bomblets packed into 155mm artillery shells designed to spread the munitions.
Marjorie Cohn: Israel Killed Civilians, Targeted Hospitals in Jenin With US Weapons and Support Israel could not mount its military operations against Palestinians without $3.8 billion in annual U.S. military aid. From July 3-4, Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) — using weapons funded by the United States — mounted the most violent military assault in the occupied West Bank in two decades. In what Israel dubbed “Operation Home and Garden,” more than 1,000 ground troops invaded the Jenin refugee camp. Assisted by helicopter gunships and armed drones, the IOF killed 12 Palestinians — including six civilians (five of them children) — and wounded more than 120 others (including 14 children), according to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights. The IOF partially destroyed 109 houses, extensively damaged the infrastructure, leveled the streets and created a power outage. About 4,000 Palestinians were forcibly displaced from their homes.
‘Clarence Thomas Needs to Resign’: Report Shines More Light on Justice’s Gifts From the Rich Thomas has “received benefits—many of them previously unreported—from a broader cohort of wealthy and powerful friends” than was previously known,
Civil Rights/Blackliberation:
Chris Hedges: Journalists Abandoned Julian Assange and Slit Their Own Throats The failure by journalists to mount a campaign to free Julian Assange, or expose the vicious smear campaign against him, is one more catastrophic and self-defeating blunder by the news media. LONDON: The persecution of Julian Assange, along with the climate of fear, wholesale government surveillance and use of the Espionage Act to prosecute whistleblowers, has emasculated investigative journalism. The press has not only failed to mount a sustained campaign to support Julian, whose extradition appears imminent, but no longer attempts to shine a light into the inner workings of power. This failure is not only inexcusable, but ominous. The U.S. government, especially the military and agencies such as the CIA, the FBI, the NSA and Homeland Security, have no intention of stopping with Julian, who faces 170 years in prison if found guilty of violating 17 counts of the Espionage Act. They are cementing into place mechanisms of draconian state censorship, some features of which were exposed by Matt Taibbi in the Twitter Files, to construct a dystopian corporate totalitarianism.
Labor:
Economy:
US Will Provide Ukraine U.N. Condemned Cluster Bombs as Part of New Weapons Package The news comes after HRW issued a report that said Ukraine killed civilians with U.N. banned cluster bombs used in Izium The Associated Press reported Thursday that the Biden administration has decided to arm Ukraine with cluster bombs and will announce the munitions as part of a new $800 million arms package. The news comes after Human Rights Watch (HRW) issued a report that said Ukraine has killed its own citizens using the amunitions.
Biden Defends Decision to Send Cluster Bombs to Ukraine Last year, the White House said the use of cluster munitions was a ‘potential war crime’ President Biden on Friday defended his decision to arm Ukraine with cluster bombs, which are banned by over 100 nations because they are exceptionally harmful to civilians. The Pentagon announced Friday that the US was sending cluster munitions to Ukraine as part of an $800 million weapons package. Kyiv will receive dual-purpose improved conventional munitions (DPICM), small bomblets packed into 155mm artillery shells designed to spread the munitions.
Marjorie Cohn: Israel Killed Civilians, Targeted Hospitals in Jenin With US Weapons and Support Israel could not mount its military operations against Palestinians without $3.8 billion in annual U.S. military aid. From July 3-4, Israeli Occupation Forces (IOF) — using weapons funded by the United States — mounted the most violent military assault in the occupied West Bank in two decades. In what Israel dubbed “Operation Home and Garden,” more than 1,000 ground troops invaded the Jenin refugee camp. Assisted by helicopter gunships and armed drones, the IOF killed 12 Palestinians — including six civilians (five of them children) — and wounded more than 120 others (including 14 children), according to the Palestinian Centre for Human Rights. The IOF partially destroyed 109 houses, extensively damaged the infrastructure, leveled the streets and created a power outage. About 4,000 Palestinians were forcibly displaced from their homes.
‘Clarence Thomas Needs to Resign’: Report Shines More Light on Justice’s Gifts From the Rich Thomas has “received benefits—many of them previously unreported—from a broader cohort of wealthy and powerful friends” than was previously known,
World:
Chris Hedges: The Persecution Of Jeremy Corbyn The campaign to oust Jeremy Corbyn from the UK Labour Party was accompanied by a purge of his supporters—what does this say about the capacity to change the system from within? Jeremy Corbyn’s ascendance to the leadership of the UK Labour Party in 2015 offered hope for a revival of the British left. With decades of experience and principled opposition to war and privatization under his belt, Corbyn was uniquely positioned to bring the Labour Party back from its neoliberal turn. But this was not to be—just five years later, Corbyn was ousted from the Labour Party and his supporters were purged. The political opposition to Corbyn was accompanied by a media villification campaign that conflated support for Palestinian rights with anti-Semitism. Ultimately, the question of Labour’s support for Israeli Apartheid was successfully wielded to isolate and expel Corbyn and his supporters. Asa Winstanley joins The Chris Hedges Report for an autopsy of Corbyn’s leadership.
“This shows the true colors of the OECD.” : OECD Pushed Australia to Drop Plan Aimed at Showing Where Corporations Pay Taxes “What little credibility the OECD had is now in tatters,” said one campaigner. “The OECD makes promises about ending global tax abuse but was evidently doing everything it could behind closed doors to protect tax abusers.” The Financial Timesconfirmed Friday that the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development lobbied Australia to weaken a law that would have compelled about 2,500 highly profitable multinational corporations to reveal where they pay taxes, eliciting outrage from tax justice advocates. Citing two unnamed people familiar with the discussions, FT reported that the Paris-based club of wealthy nations “pressured Australia’s ruling Labor government to drop a crucial part of a new finance bill that would have required some multinationals to publicly disclose their country-by-country tax bills.”
Health. Welfare, and Education:
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
Sanders Raises Fresh Concerns Over ‘Outrageous’ Price of New Alzheimer’s Drug “Not only does the high price of Leqembi threaten Medicare’s finances, it will also negatively impact seniors on fixed incomes suffering from Alzheimer’s who simply cannot afford to pay.” Sen. Bernie Sanders on Monday reiterated his concerns over the staggering price tag of a newly approved Alzheimer’s medication after the Biden administration failed to respond to his letter last month urging swift executive action to force down the cost.