Daily News Digest July 25, 2023
Next Month Will Be the 60th Anniversay of the Civil Rights March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom
Images 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:
Racism is Systemic to Capitalism:
It is worth noting here how during that period of time, European societies were preaching about liberalism and its values, like freedom and liberty, all while establishing their rule and domination over other societies. The reason a contradiction was not perceived between liberal values and colonialists’ actions was because they used racial ideologies to justify their colonial rule. The societies they colonized were the exception to their liberal values, as they were perceived as societies that needed to be ordered and civilized. Therefore, liberalism with all its claims surrounding freedom and liberation was able to develop alongside colonialism. — Racial Ideologies in a Colonized World
Industrial Capitalism did not come into being due to the gradual primitive accumulation of capital, but rather the industrial revolution was fueled by the wealth plundered from the colonialized world in the name of Christianity. This is the historic material basis for modern racism as an ideology, which is used to justify the holocaust perpetuated upon the majority of the world during the period of the subjugation of the colonial world to European/United States capitalist imperialism. Karl Marx was one of the first to oppose the colonial oppression of the world’s masses. He did not mince his words in, Capital”, Volume One, Part VIII, Chapter 31, (the) “Genesis of the Industrial Capitalist, he wrote: “The discovery of gold and silver in America, the extirpation, enslavement, and entombment in mines of the aboriginal population, the beginning of the conquest and looting of the East Indies, the turning of Africa into a warren for the commercial hunting of black-skins, signalized the rosy dawn of the era of capitalist production. … If money … comes into the world with a congenital blood-stain on one cheek, capital comes dripping from head to foot, from every pore, with blood and dirt.” — Reparations and Capitalism
Podcasts/Vidoes of the Day:
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 Climate Change Bomb Has Gone Off!,’ Says Jay Inslee Amid Extreme Heat “What the scientific community is telling us now, is that the Earth is screaming at us,” said the Washington governor. “We need to stop using fossil fuels. That is the only solution to this massive assault on humanity.” As record-shattering heat persists from Phoenix, Arizona to southern Europe, Democratic Washington Gov. Jay Inslee highlighted on Sunday that humanity already knows how to combat climate chaos: ditch planet-warming fossil fuels.With tens of millions of Americans under heat alerts, Inslee—who ran a climate-focused 2020 presidential campaign—appeared on ABC‘s “This Week” to discuss current conditions and solutions with co-anchor Martha Raddatz.
Ecological Class Struggle: 200,000 Hit the Streets on Germany (The way employers reacted showed that this alliance of workers and climate activists is a potential threat to the ruling class.’ And Naurally the Laor Bueaucracy sides with the Boss!) After years of rapprochement, Germany’s climate and labor movements are jointly going on strike to demand socio-ecological public infrastructure. On 3 March 2023, on the occasion of the global climate strike, a special political alliance took to the streets in Germany: side-by-side, climate activists and public transport workers went on strike. In at least 30 cities, climate activists visited workers’ pickets and brought them along for joint demonstrations. According to Fridays for Future, a total of 200,000 people participated in the nation-wide protests. The way employers reacted showed that this alliance of workers and climate activists is a potential threat to the ruling class. Steffen Kampeter, CEO of the Confederation of German Employers (BDA), publicly denounced them on the morning of the joint strike day as “a dangerous crossing of the line”. He said that the German service union ver.di was blurring the lines between strikes for collective bargaining and general political concerns, thereby entering the terrain of political strikes. To the delight of campaigners, this accusation contributed to the fact that the joint strike dominated the news that day. 
Congolese Students Are Taking on Big Oil A new campaign is mobilizing communities across the Democratic Republic of Congo to stop the fossil fuel industry’s expansion with creative nonviolent action. Congolese Students Are Taking on Big OilA new campaign is mobilizing communities across the Democratic Republic of Congo to stop the fossil fuel industry’s expansion with creative nonviolent action.
LA Unified School District Is Spending Millions on Urgent Climate Adaptation Los Angeles parents demanded solutions as their children struggled in hot classrooms and on asphalt playgrounds. Two decades ago, an anthropology professor at the University of Utah asked the National Science Foundation to fund research on Native American ancestors to determine when the cultivations of crops like corn first became prevalent in their cultures.The studies, according to the research proposals, would involve analyzing Ancestral Pueblo remains that museums had excavated around 1900 from some of the Southwest’s most sacred sites: a deep rift that winds through Bears Ears National Monument in Utah, an ancient village near cliff dwellings in Colorado and the remnants of a settlement at Chaco Canyon in New Mexico that dates back more than a thousand years. Nearly all of the remains were held at Harvard University’s Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology and the American Museum of Natural History in New York.
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
A Vote for Trump or Biden is a Vote for Ecocide!
Biden Took Action to Ignore Rail Safety for Railworkers and Defend the Railroad Corporations, But has Yet to Take Action for the Victims of the East Palsestine Train Derailment: Ohio Gov. DeWine asks Biden for Major Disaster Declaration for East Palestine After Train Derailment Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine on Monday asked President Biden to issue a Major Presidential Disaster Declaration over the Norfolk Southern train derailment in East Palestine, a tool to guarantee federal aid in the future. The Ohio community is still dealing with the environmental and health-related fallout from the chemical disaster propelled by the Feb. 3 derailment. Monday was the deadline the Federal Emergency Management Agency set for DeWine to make the request, after the agency gave DeWine an extension on March 7 to decide whether to make the request. “The possibility remains that the voluntary support provided by Norfolk Southern could at some point in the future cease, and this declaration is needed to ensure that the state and federal government use all resources available to step in and provide the community with needed assistance,” DeWine said
East Palestine Resident Asks Biden for Disaster Declaration It’s been 168 days since a Norfolk Southern train derailed, spilling toxic chemicals in East Palestine, Ohio, and community members are urging President Joe Biden to issue a Major Presidential Disaster Declaration. “Declaring an emergency in this area would open up those vital resources so that we can get back into our homes and feel like a community again,” Jessica Conard, an East Palestine resident, told NewsNation’s Leland Vittert on Friday.
War is Hell!: Chris Hedges: There Are Very Few Good Films About War. ’20 Days in Mariupol’ Is An Exception Films about war, shorn of the bone crushing fear, the putrid stench of the corpses, the deafening noise of explosions, the constant exhaustion and the nervous anxiety that comes with trying to understand what is happening in the terrifying chaos, are pale and inadequate reflections of the vast enterprise of industrial slaughter. And these are the good films, of which there are only a few. Most feature war films and documentaries, from The Sands of Iwo Jima to Saving Private Ryan, are war pornography. They romanticize those wielding the terrible instruments of death. They justify the unjustifiable. They pay homage to the war machine. They entice naïve young men and women into becoming cannon fodder. They distort the public’s perception of war, leaving those who return from war and attempt to speak the awful truth alienated and ignored.
Poverty Is a Systemic, Not Individual, Failure I’ve worked with many economically struggling people, and I can tell you that not one person I’ve ever met wants to be poor, sick, disabled, struggling, or on the receiving end of public assistance programs. . . . I’m disgusted when I hear conservative politicians falling over themselves to cut food, health, housing, and disability services for people who are trying to survive in low-wage jobs.
Civil Rights/Blackliberation:
More Proof of FBI Abuse Sparks Calls for Congress to Stop Warrantless Spying “Government self-policing will never be an adequate substitute for the Fourth Amendment’s warrant requirement,” said one expert as U.S. lawmakers consider whether to reauthorize or reform Section 702. Privacy advocates renewed calls for swift congressional action to rein in warrantless spying on Americans following the Friday release of documents showing U.S. law enforcement’s further misuse of a powerful surveillance tool. “These disturbing new revelations show how Section 702 surveillance, a spy program the government claims is focused on foreign adversaries, is routinely used against Americans, immigrants, and people who are not accused of any wrongdoing,” said Patrick Toomey, deputy director of the ACLU’s National Security Project, in a statement.
Alabama Voters Prep for Another Map Fight After Republicans Flout SCOTUS Ruling A group of plaintiffs pledged not to rest until the state “complies with the Voting Rights Act and enacts a map with two districts where Black voters have a real opportunity to elect their candidates of choice.” Voters in Alabama are preparing for another legal battle after the state’s GOP-dominated Legislature and Republican Gov. Kay Ivey on Friday approved new congressional districts that critics say defy a surprising recent decision from the U.S. Supreme Court.
Indigenous Remains Destroyed as Federal Studies Undermine Repatriation Efforts Federal funds have created incentives for institutions to hold on to ancestral remains, subverting the goals of NAGPRA. Two decades ago, an anthropology professor at the University of Utah asked the National Science Foundation to fund research on Native American ancestors to determine when the cultivations of crops like corn first became prevalent in their cultures. The studies, according to the research proposals, would involve analyzing Ancestral Pueblo remains that museums had excavated around 1900 from some of the Southwest’s most sacred sites: a deep rift that winds through Bears Ears National Monument in Utah, an ancient village near cliff dwellings in Colorado and the remnants of a settlement at Chaco Canyon in New Mexico that dates back more than a thousand years. Nearly all of the remains were held at Harvard University’s Peabody Museum of Archaeology and Ethnology and the American Museum of Natural History in New York.
Labor:
Economy:
Michael Roberts Facebook Blog: The US Conference Board Leading Economic Indicator (LEI) forecasts a recession in the US before the year is out. The LEI fell again in June, “fueled by gloomier consumer expectations, weaker new orders, an increased number of initial claims for unemployment, and a reduction in housing construction,” said Justyna Zabinska-La Monica, Senior Manager, Business Cycle Indicators, at The Conference Board. “The Leading Index has been in decline for fifteen months—the longest streak of consecutive decreases since 2007-08, during the runup to the Great Recession. Taken together, June’s data suggests economic activity will continue to decelerate in the months ahead.
This Chart Shows How Wall Street Banks and the Fed Have Become a Match Made in Hell Prior to Ben Bernanke being sworn in as Fed Chair on February 6, 2006, the United States had been through World War I, the Great Depression, World War II, the Vietnam War and the stagflation of the 1970s, without an explosion in the Fed’s balance sheet. But since Ben Bernanke, Janet Yellen and Jerome Powell have, in turn, sat at the helm of the Federal Reserve, there has been unprecedented growth in the Fed’s Balance Sheet. For example, from June 1960 to August 1990, the Fed’s balance sheet increased from $53 billion to $309 billion – an increase of 483 percent in 30 years. But during the tenures of Bernanke, Yellen and Powell, the Fed’s balance sheet has exploded from $805 billion in February 2006, when Bernanke took his seat as Fed Chair, to the current reading last Wednesday, July 19, 2023, of $8.3 trillion. That’s an increase of 931 percent in just a little over 17 years. The trajectory on the chart above says it all.
World:
Mexico’s Migrant Shelters Are Operating at 900% Capacity Due to US Border PolicyThe end of Title 42 obscures a harsh reality: New policies have created a dangerous limbo for migrants in Mexico.
Corporate Takeover of the Global Food System Should Not Get UN Approval The U.N. should address issues such as land concentration, so that peasant agroecology can have a real chance to flourish and make a significant contribution to tackling hunger, climate change, and biodiversity loss. A U.N. summit on global food systems should be an opportunity to address structural inequalities and tackle hunger. It should be a chance to learn from small-scale producers whose sustainable food practices feed 70% of the world. Instead, next week’s conference in Rome will be a festival of greenwashing, allowing Big Agriculture corporations to tighten their grip on food systems. This will be the second Food Systems Summit (UNFSS). The first, in 2021 was supposed to address the lack of progress towards the U.N.’s sustainable development goals. It was dubbed a “people’s summit” by the organizers, but caused an outcry among local producers when their calls to roll back the power of transnational corporations were cynically ignored. Corporations that dominate global food systems, such as Bayer and Nestlé, used the summit to promote greenwashing initiatives rather than address pressing problems such as food speculation and the impact of Covid-19 on world hunger.
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