Daily News Digest August 23, 2023
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:
The current American Empire, damaged and humiliated by troves of internal documents published by WikiLeaks, will, for this reason, persecute Julian for the rest of his life. It does not matter who is president or which political party is in power. Imperialists speak with one despotic voice. Julian, for this reason, is undergoing a slow-motion execution. Seven years trapped in the Ecuadorian Embassy in London. Four years in Belmarsh Prison. He ripped back the veil on the dark machinations of the U.S. Empire, the wholesale slaughter of civilians in Iraq and Afghanistan, the lies, the corruption, the brutal suppression of those who attempt to speak the truth. The Empire intends to make him pay. He is to be an example to anyone who might think of doing what he did. — Chris Hedges: The Crucifixion of Julian Assange
Podcasts/Videos of the Day:
Uncensored: Scott Ritter Speaks
Saudi Arabian Border Guards Accused of Killing Hundreds ff Ethiopians At Yemen Border
“Notorious”: Inside the Fulton County Jail, Where Trump Will Surrender & 15 Prisoners Died Last Year
Meet George Chidi, the Journalist Subpoenaed for Uncovering Secret Meeting of Fake Trump Electors
A Turning Point in Guatemalan History: Bernardo Arévalo Wins in Landslide Rejection of Ruling Elite
British Columbia in State of Emergency as Climate Change Fuels Canada’s Worst Wildfire Season Ever
Environment:
One of Many Ways to Begin to End Global Warming: Expose ‘Greenwashing’ — Tax the Polluters 100%!
After World War II Rosa Luxenburg Coined the Slogan: ‘S0cialism or Barbaism’! Now the Slogan Should Be: ‘Ecosocialism or Ecocide’!
After World War II Rosa Luxenburg Coined the Slogan: ‘S0cialism or Barbaism’! Now the Slogan is Ecoscialism or Ecocide!
Zero-Degree Line at Record Height Above Switzerland As Heat and Fire Hit Europe Weather balloon climbs to 5,300 metres before temperature falls to 0C amid late summer heatwave A Swiss weather balloon had to climb to an unprecedented 5,300 metres (17,400ft) before the temperature fell to 0C (32F), meteorologists have said, as a late summer heatwave and wildfires continue to pummel swaths of continental Europe.
The Hawaii Fires are a Dire Omen of the Climate Crisis’s Cost to Pacific Peoples As temperatures rise across Oceania, droughts are becoming more extreme and strong winds drive catastrophic fires . . . Hawaii will never recover from this loss. Nor will other Pacific peoples. Across our Oceanic continent, rainfall is decreasing drastically. Island droughts are becoming extreme as global temperatures continue to rise. Strong winds will create more catastrophic fires, as we have already witnessed in Papua New Guinea, parts of Australia and New Zealand, and in smaller landmasses in French Polynesia and Samoa. I want to talk about greed – about global nuclear weapons testing, chemical corporations, oil drilling, big pharma. But I fear it’s too late. I have little hope that our planet can recover. Parts of Europe are in flames. Towns in Norway are flooding from torrential rains. Canada is ablaze, an entire city evacuating. Amid the mass genocide in Darfur, the ground is barren, once-fertile fields have gone to dust. There is no food for fleeing refugees. . . .
Oxford Study Shows ‘Heat Can Lead to Food Insecurity in a Matter of Days’ Oxford Study Shows ‘Heat Can Lead to Food Insecurity in a Matter of Days’ “Policymakers across sectors should consider how the socioeconomic links between heat, health, income, and food insecurity can be integrated into research, heat action plans, food programs, and labor regulations.” People impacted by extreme heat can struggle to put food on their tables after just a few days—and not months as previously thought—research published Monday revealed. The study, published in Nature Human Behaviour by Carolin Kroeger of University of Oxford’s Department of Social Policy and Intervention (DSPI), shows for the first time how quickly food insecurity can hit households impacted by very hot weather.
No Quick Fix to Reverse Antarctic Sea Ice Loss as Warming Intensifies — Scientists Sea ice in the Antarctic region has fallen to a record low this year as a result of rising global temperatures and there is no quick fix to reverse the damage done, scientists said on Tuesday in a new study of the impact of climate change on the continent. The continent’s minimum summer ice cover, which last year dipped below 2 million square kilometres (772,000 square miles) for the first time since satellite monitoring began in 1978, fell further to a new low in February, according to a study published in the journal Frontiers in Environmental Science. Table 1. Estimated potential maximum sea-level rise from the total melting of present-day glaciers.
How to Fix Our Food System The facts are clear and they are shocking: Factory farming is unhealthy for consumers, dangerous for workers, and devastating for the environment, and it is the largest cause of animal cruelty in the history of mankind. In the United States alone, nearly 10 billion land animals are raised on factory farms and killed in slaughterhouses every single year, accounting for 99 percent of farmed animals in the nation. These animals are subjected to physical, psychological, and emotional cruelty on a constant basis, living in extreme confinement where they experience fear and pain daily until they are killed for their meat. The normal lifespan of a chicken is five to eight years. But on a factory farm, they live just 47 daysbefore they are sent to slaughter. —Factory Farming Is Destroying the Environment — In addition to being the main cause of animal cruelty in the world, factory farming is a primary source of environmental degradation. The industrialized meat industry accounts for 37 percent of worldwide emissions of methane, a global warming gas 84 times more potent than carbon dioxide in the first two decades after its release. It is also responsible for 65 percent of human-made emissions of nitrous oxide—a gas 300 times more potent than carbon dioxide—that depletes the ozone layer, which protects the Earth’s surface from the Sun’s harmful ultraviolet radiation.
Alliance for the Wild Rockies Stops Cabinet-Yaak Grizzly Bear Habitat Destruction Without question, the Cabinet-Yaak grizzly bears are the most isolated and threatened population in Montana. The bad news is that this already small population is going downhill so fast it’s threatened with irreversible inbreeding. The good news is the Alliance for the Wild Rockies and several other conservation co-Plaintiffs just won an incredible court victory to stop the Black Ram massive old growth logging project in its tracks. The project area encompasses 95,412 acres, including unique features such as the Pacific Northwest Trail, waterways eligible for Wild and Scenic Rivers designation, and the Pete Creek Botanical Area.
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!
Civil Rights/Black Liberation:
Education is an important element in the struggle for human rights. It is the means to help our children and our people rediscover their identity and thereby increase their self respect. Education is our passport to the future, for tomorrow belongs only to the people who prepare for it today. And I must point out right there, when I was in Africa I met no African who wasn’t standing with open arms to embrace any Afro-American who returned to the African continent. But one of the things that all of them have said is that every one of our people in this country should take advantage of every type of educational opportunity available before you even think about talking about the future. If you’re surrounded by schools, go to that school. — (1964) Malcolm X’s Speech AT THE Founding Rally of the Organization Of Afro-American Unity
Members of Little Rock 9 Blast Decision to Restrict AP Black History Course Arkansas officials claim the new course may violate state law restricting the teaching of critical race theory. Surviving members of the Little Rock Nine, a group of students who faced extreme harassment and threats of violence for integrating Little Rock Central High School in 1957, have spoken out against Arkansas education officials who decided last week not to recognize an Advanced Placement (AP) course on Black history. Earlier this month, Arkansas Department of Education officials informed school districts in the state that offered the course — including in Little Rock — that students may not be permitted to use the college-level course in their counting of credits that are necessary to graduate from high school. Officials claimed their decision was based on the fact that the course, which is produced by the company the College Board, has a “pilot” status, and said that the course could violate both state law and an executive order from Gov. Sarah Huckabee Sanders (R) that forbids the teaching of subjects that supposedly push implicit bias.
Labor:
Leave the coal in the ground! — Not in miners lungs!: Mine Workers Speak Out for Tougher Black Lung Regulations The most common sentiment in each of the 23 comments at a recent public hearing was that a new proposed rule is a necessary first step, but MSHA must continue to strengthen its provisions to truly help the miners who need it most. At 9:00 am sharp on August 10, a small phalanx of smiling, well-coiffed elderly women began herding a crowd of several dozen people into the auditorium of the National Mine Health and Safety Academy in Beckley, West Virginia. Among the crowd were former coal miners and their spouses, lawyers, pulmonologists, black lung clinic staff, environmental activists, local media, union representatives, and concerned citizens—all there to attend a public hearing for a new proposed rule from the Mine Safety and Health Administration, or MSHA, that seeks to limit silica exposure in the nation’s coal mines to 50 micrograms per cubic meter, down from 100.
Economy:
1.2% of Adults Have 47.8% of The World’s Wealth While 53.2% Have Just 1.1% Every year, I bring to the attention of readers of my blog, the results of the latest Credit Suisse Wealth Report. It is produced by economists Anthony Shorrocks (with whom I graduated at university), James Davies and Rodrigo Lluberas. It is the most comprehensive study of global personal wealth and inequality between adults around the world. Personal wealth is defined as ownership of real estate and financial assets (stocks, bonds and cash) less debt for all the adults in the world. According to the 2022 report, by the end of 2021, global wealth reached $463.6 trillion, which is an increase of 9.8% versus 2020 and far above the average annual +6.6% recorded since the beginning of the century. Setting aside exchange rate movements, aggregate global wealth grew by 12.7%, making it the fastest annual rate ever recorded. Average wealth per adult rose to $87,489 at the end of 2021. On a country-by-country basis, the United States added the most household wealth in 2021, followed by China, Canada, India and Australia.
S&P Downgrades Credit Ratings on Five Banks, Puts Three Others on Negative Outlook The stock prices of KeyCorp and Comerica had already lost more than 40 percent of their market value over the past year through the closing bell on Monday. KeyCorp was sporting a depressed share price of $10.89 at the close yesterday after trading in the single digits during the banking crisis in March. Then S&P Global delivered more bad news yesterday. It downgraded the credit rating on both KeyCorp and Comerica by one notch. Outlooks were indicated as “stable” for both banks by S&P. Three other banks were also downgraded by one notch yesterday by S&P: Valley National Bancorp, UMB Financial Corp. and Associated Banc-Corp. S&P lowered outlooks on two other banks to negative: River City Bank and S&T Bank.
World:
Like Killing Fields’: Report Says Saudi Border Guards Killed Hundreds of Ethiopian Migrants“If committed as part of a Saudi government policy to murder migrants, these killings, which appear to continue, would be a crime against humanity,” said Human Rights Watch Saudi border guards allegedly killed at least hundreds of Ethiopian migrants and asylum-seekers—including women and children—who tried to enter the kingdom from Yemen between March 2022 and June 2023, sometimes by blowing them to bits with mortars and rockets, Human Rights Watch revealed Monday. In a report entitled ‘They Fired on Us Like Rain’: Saudi Arabian Mass Killings of Ethiopian Migrants at the Yemen-Saudi Border, HRW described how “Saudi border guards have used explosive weapons to kill many migrants and shot other migrants at close range, including many women and children, in a widespread and systematic pattern of attacks.”
Western Imperialism Turns a Blind Eye As Saudi Regime Massacres Migrants A damning new investigation accuses Saudi Arabia of deliberately slaughtering hundreds of migrants attempting to cross the Saudi-Yemeni border over the past 12 months. The 73-page report, based on extensive eyewitness testimony and expert analysis of satellite imagery, as well as footage of injuries, lists a litany of allegations against Saudi border guards. It describes them as having “used explosive weapons and shot people at close range, including women and children, in a pattern that is widespread and systematic”.
Anti-Corruption Candidate Wins Guatemala Presidency in Landslide Voters back former diplomat Bernardo Arévalo as Latin American nation prepares for tense transition Please use the sharing tools found via the share button at the top or side of articles. A centre-left anti-corruption outsider has won Guatemala’s presidential race, with voters in Central America’s largest economy becoming the latest in the region to reject the political establishment over a failure to tackle graft.
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
In Memory of Leon Trotsky 21 August marks the anniversary of Leon Trotsky’s death, following an attack by a GPU agent, on the orders of Stalin. This article by Alan Woods, commemorating Trotsky, was originally published in the year 2000. We share it today in memory of a revolutionary titan whose work and sacrifices preserved the authentic traditions of Marxism and Bolshevism for future generations.