Daily News Digest July 20, 2023
Images of the Day:
‘Great Debate’
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:
The rulers of this country have always considered their property more important than our lives. ― Assata Shakur, Assata: An Autobiography
The schools we go to are reflections of the society that created them. Nobody is going to give you the education you need to overthrow them. Nobody is going to teach you your true history, teach you your true heroes, if they know that that knowledge will help set you free.” ― Assata Shakur, Assata: An Autobiography
The Law of Absolute Pauperization: The greater the social wealth, the functioning capital … and, therefore, also the absolute mass of the proletariat and the productiveness of its labour, the greater is the industrial reserve army. … But the greater this reserve army in proportion to the active labour-army, the greater is the mass of consolidated surplus-population, whose misery is in direct proportion to the labour put it. The more extensive … the industrial reserve army, the greater is official pauperism. This is the absolute general law of capitalist accumulation (Marx (1), vol. 1, p. 644).
Podcasts/Vidoes of the Day:
[Podcast] How the Spanish Revolution was Betrayed
Scott Ritter Joins On Ukraine’s & Russia’s Future | Geopolitics Live | Crimea
Wildfire Rips Through California Valley ss Seen in Timelapse Video
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%!
There Is No New Climate Normal Until We Stop Burning Fossil Fuels As long as the world keeps warming, the climate will keep changing, and extreme conditions will only become worse and more frequent. Extreme heat, extreme rain, and extreme smoke are on full display across the U.S. this summer, leading many, including the governor of New York, to declare extreme weather and catastrophic flooding the “new normal.” In a sense it is, but this also misses the essential challenge of climate change — there is no normal.
Media Coverage of Wildfire Smoke Largely Ignored Clear Culprit On U.S. TV news, viewers were more likely to hear climate denial than reporting that made the essential connection between fossil fuel consumption and worsening wildfires
What’s the Latest on Canada’s Record Wildfire Season? A second firefighter has died as 883 wildfires continue to burn, leading to air quality advisories across North America. An unprecedented wildfire season continues to rage in Canada, where a second firefighter has died fighting the flames. Cities across North America are bracing for more smoke on Monday, as 883 active fires burn in Canada, 15 of which only recently sparked. At least 580 of those blazes were considered out of control.
What’s the Latest on Canada’s Record Wildfire Season? A second firefighter has died as 883 wildfires continue to burn, leading to air quality advisories across North America. An unprecedented wildfire season continues to rage in Canada, where a second firefighter has died fighting the flames. Cities across North America are bracing for more smoke on Monday, as 883 active fires burn in Canada, 15 of which only recently sparked. At least 580 of those blazes were considered out of control.
It’s Like Being Baked in a Concrete Oven During record-breaking heat, prisons without air-conditioning can kill inmates and staff. As a record heat wave sweeps across the South, Marci Marie, who did 10 years behind bars, worries about her friends in Texas prisons. The excessive heat will affect most of the country — The New York Times reports that 70% of Americans will see temperatures hit 90 degrees and above next week, and 55% might experience 100 degree weather or more — but temperatures are hitting extreme highs across the South. While much of the population will seek refuge in air-conditioned or shaded spaces, or have access to at least cold water showers, no such luxuries are afforded inmates in hot states across the South. Texas, with a prison population of 135,906, foremost among them.
Frying in France As I fry in record temperatures in the south of France, the concept of a short sunny vacation away from the vagaries of British weather has evaporated. The world endured the hottest week ever recorded between 3-10 July this year. And meteorologists say there is more to come – a lot more; indeed, a new global temperature record is still likely to be set before the end of next year. As a result, there are forecasts that this year or next could see world temperatures pass the 1.5C threshold that was set by the IPCC as being the upper limit for a rise in global warming that would avoid the planet passing through meteorological ‘tipping points’ that could bring irreversible changes to world weather patterns. Already last year, more than 61,000 people are estimated to have died prematurely as a result of the soaring temperatures that gripped Europe last summer.
Activists Are Working to Give the People of Atlanta a Chance to Vote on Cop City Ignored in public comment and denied responsive public officials, residents are taking matters into their own hands. When it comes to Atlanta’s planned $90 million police training center, widely dubbed “Cop City,” the project’s nonprofit backer, the Atlanta Police Foundation, has long run a reality deficit, trading on political power to support factually improbable claims while keeping the public in the dark. In 2021, Atlanta City Council approved a lease of public Intrenchment Creek Park land, known to activists as the Weelaunee Forest, to the Police Foundation that was riddled with unanswered questions and 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!
American Poverty is a Calamity by Design Some 50 million people in the United States live in poverty today—and over 108 million people survive on less than $55,000 a year. Despite having the largest economy on earth, poverty in the US is often grinding and brutal. From millions who live without running water or reliable power, to countless children who experience food insecurity and homelessness. The data on poverty only becomes exacerbated when race is taken into account. In 2019, the median White household had a net worth of $188,200, compared with $24,100 for the median Black household. Matthew Desmond joins The Chris Hedges Report to discuss his new book, Poverty, by America, which delves into the reality of American poverty not as a condition earned by individuals’ poor choices, but a phenomenon produced by the knowing and unknowing choices of the wealthy.
Biden, Jayapal, and Liberal Zionists Rush to Prop Up the Israel Lobby for 2024 Liberal Zionists rushed to affirm their support for Israel and hatred of anti-Zionism in the wake of the Pramila Jayapal “racist state” comment because they are afraid the Israel lobby will abandon the Democratic party. In the last couple of days we have seen a historic moment in the life of the Israel lobby. And a sign of its eventual crackup. As you know by now, on a panel at the progressive Democratic event Netroots Nation in Chicago Saturday, pro-Palestinian demonstrators demanded that Illinois Rep. Jan Schakowsky support a bill in Congress that would leverage U.S. aid to Israel so as to protect Palestinian children, a bill she has not signed on to; Schakowsky threatened to walk out; and Washington Rep. Pramila Jayapal, who has signed on to the bill, tried to end the demonstration by saying that she was on their side.
Civil Rights/Blackliberation:
Labor:
Rail Workers’ Group Opposes Sale of Cincinnati Southern to Private Rail Giant NS Sale would mean the end of the nation’s only municipally owned railroad Railroad Workers United opposes the sale of the Cincinnati Southern, the only municipally owned – and one of the nation’s few publicly held pieces of rail infrastructure – to the Class One rail giant Norfolk Southern. The group is urging all citizens of Cincinnati who are eligible voters to vote NO in the referendum to be held in November. On July 13th, the railway’s Board of Directors voted to place the proposed sale on the ballot this Fall. Per the railroad’s bylaws, the citizens of the City will get the final say. Should they approve the plan, the nation’s only municipally owned interstate rail line – from Cincinnati to Chattanooga – would then be purchased for a paltry $1.62 billion by the private Class One rail carrier. According to RWU General Secretary Jason Doering, “Given the profiteering and irresponsibility of the Class One rail carriers in recent decades, the citizens of Cincinnati would do well to take this vote seriously. RWU urges the people of the Queen City to keep their rail infrastructure in public hands, and to vote NO on November 7th.” In June, RWU adopted a Resolution in Support of Continued Public Ownership of the Cincinnati Southern Railway.
Canada’s West Coast Dockers Resume Strike After Rejection of Sellout Tentative Contract With the resumption of the strike, the dockworkers face a head on clash with the federal Liberal government, which, with the connivance of the union apparatus, last week sought to break the dockers’ strike by invoking a seldom used provision of Canada’s pro-employer Labour Code Canada’s 7,400 west coast dockers resumed strike action at 4:30 p.m. Pacific time Tuesday afternoon, after union delegates—acting under immense rank-and-file pressure—rejected a proposed four-year agreement that had been dictated by the government and endorsed by the International Longshore and Warehouse Union’s (ILWU) top brass. With the resumption of the strike, the dockworkers face a head-on clash with the federal Liberal government, which, with the connivance of the union apparatus, last week sought to break the dockers’ strike by invoking a seldom used provision of Canada’s pro-employer Labour Code. It allowed the government to propose a settlement, drafted by a senior Labour Department official, and then give the union and the British Columbia Maritime Employers Association (BCMEA) just 24 hours to accept or reject it.
Economy:
Shadow Government Statistics Update
- June 2023 Payroll Employment and Unemployment Highlighted a Rapidly Weakening Economy
- The May 2023 Real Merchandise Trade Deficit Narrowed but Held on Track for a Deepening Quarterly Shortfall
- May 2023 Construction Spending Dropped 7.7% (-7.7%) Year-to-Year, Headed for a Seventh Consecutive Quarter of Annual Decline
Goldman Sachs’ Workers Have Screamed for Help in Lawsuits, Pitch Decks and the OpEd Page of the New York Times For more than two decades, we have been reading about former employees of Goldman Sachs who have fled jobs there over a toxic, soul-crushing work culture. The pace of these stories has been picking up steam, rather than declining. Shareholders of Goldman Sachs should be asking themselves, is this good for the future of the company over the long haul and the price of its stock. Here’s a small sampling of some of the complaints from 2004 to the present:
World:
In Bid to Join NATO, Sweden and Finland Back Turkish Repression of Kurds NATO’s July summit betrayed the Kurdish people. The left must stand with both Ukraine and the Kurds — and against NATO. As Ukrainians face a brutal and ongoing Russian siege, NATO’s July summit has endangered and betrayed Kurdish people, cruelly trading the fate of one occupied and repressed group for another. The most celebrated news out of the summit was the fact that the last hurdles had been removed to Sweden joining the alliance, with Finland having joined just months before. But these two states are admitted on the basis that they are breaking with their historical practice of providing safe haven for Kurds — particularly those fleeing Turkey’s repression.
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
Matt Taibbi: ‘In Their Labs’: Fifteen Illuminating Passages in the Proximal Origin Chats and Emails Communications between officials and scientists who wrote the key paper promoting a natural origin for Covid-19 show doubts, interference, politicized science, and more Public and Racket have just published a pair of stories about a scientific cover-up and the manufacture of a major media deception, respectively, in the Covid-19 crisis. Both stories rely upon newly released documents from the House Select Subcommittee on the Coronavirus Pandemic, which is investigating communications between the authors of the influential Nature article from March, 2020, The proximal origin of SARS-CoV-2, and health officials like Drs. Anthony Fauci, Francis Collins, and Jeremy Farrar.