Daily News Digest September 25, 2023
Editorial: United States Antiwar Movement Must Embrace the Environmental Movement! No to Wars! No to Global Warming!
The single isue concept antiwar movement, of the past, is not campatable with current world conditions In today’s world, war and war and global warming are inseporatable! One cannot oppose wars and not oppose global warming! A vote for war is a vote for global warming!!
The most effective way to oppose the milirary industrial comeplex’s, war budget is to also point out it funds clobal warming!
The Slogan for Today’s Antiwar Movement Should Be:
No to Wars! Not to Global Warming!
Budget for Climate Action, Not War Until the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act last year, the average taxpayer gave $2,375 each year to the military—and just $6 to renewable energy projects. As the hottest summer in human history approached its end, tens of thousands of climate marchers rallied in New York to call for bold climate solutions. Meanwhile, lawmakers in Washington lurched toward another fight over the federal budget. More than ever, the U.S. needs to get serious about climate. And to do that, we need to re-prioritize what’s in that budget. As it stands, more than half of the discretionary budget that Congress allocates each year goes to the Pentagon. Until the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act last year, the average taxpayer gave $2,375 each year to the military—and just $6 to renewable energy projects.
Climate Collatteral: How Military Spending Accelerates Climate Breakdown
Conclusion
This report has shown that all possible resources and capacity need to be thrown into defence – the defence of the planet and of every living being as we stand on the precipice of catastrophic climate change. It has also shown that the world’s major polluting nations are not prioritising climate action, nor dedicating the resources needed to help the poorest countries adapt to adverse climate impacts. Rather, they are investing in an accelerated arms race that is spewing even more GHGs into the atmosphere and diverting resources and capacity from tackling the climate crisis. The current year – 2022 – has seen a peak in military spending, with a crescendo of calls for more. This could not come at a worse time, when climate scientists are warning that there is a small and shrinking window of time to act decisively. Worse still, the largest military powers are also adding fuel to the fire by selling weapons to the governments of many impoverished countries that are most affected by climate change. Instead of providing finance to the poorest communities to adapt and cope with the negative consequences of climate change, the richest countries are striking arms deals that stoke divisions, provoke violence and enable repression by military and security forces. Militarisation of climate-affected communities is the worst form of climate maladaptation. This path of militarisation and international division is not inevitable. It is the result of political choices. The end of the Cold War in the early 1990s showed that it is possible for major warring powers to negotiate and agree to reduce military spending, increase collaboration, and invest in peace. That moment was lost, and now seems further away than ever. It is imperative for everyone’s sake to recapture that opportunity and for all civil society to join together to demand it. The fact that climate change knows no national borders underlines the need to unite across countries and states to find effective solutions to a global crisis. It is also an opportunity to establish common ground. Joining forces across borders to confront the biggest threat to our shared planet is the best and only way to build a secure and peaceful future.
Another Global Warming Elephant in the Room: The Pentagon Military Industrial Complex! By Roland Sheppard
The United States is ranked #1 in global warming emitions (Ranking Global Warming Contributions by Country) but, actually, the United States has contributed far more global warming admission, if you consider the 800 U.S. military bases and wars, throughout the world. From The Military Pumps Out Staggering Quantities of Toxic Waste, Water and Air Pollution and Radiation Environmentalists are ignoring the elephant in the room … the world’s largest polluter: . . . The Pentagon is also one of the largest greenhouse gas emitters in the world … and yet has a blanket exemption from all greenhouse gas treaties.The defense department also uses open-air burn pits which send a parade of horribles into the air. Sea life is not exempt. And the military has long been is a flagrant user of chemical weapons and depleted uranium . . . which can trash ecosystems and human health. And Despite our unorthodox presidential election, America’s overseas military bases are largely taken for granted in today’s foreign policy debates. The U.S. maintains a veritable empire of military bases throughout the world— about 800 of them in more than 70 countries. Many view our bases as a symbol of our status as the dominant world power. But America’s forward-deployed military posture incurs substantial costs and disadvantages, exposing the U.S. to vulnerabilities and unintended consequences. (See:Why We Should Close America’s Overseas Military Bases)
From the above one would think that the U.S. military would be the environonmental groups would make the Pentagon and the U.S. military their #1 target. And yet, the environmental/ global warming groups do not target the U.S. military and very rarely bring point this out, for they are controlled by the 1% through their allegiance to the Democratic Party. If the environmental/ global warming groups broke with the Democratic Party they could united with the anti-war groups throughout the world to form a powerful ant-war/environmental movement and change the world!
Images of the Day:
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:
This is the real situation. The people who made the shoes I wear, the table I sit at, and the food I eat do, in fact, exist. However, the role of capitalist propaganda – spread through the mass media, through schools and colleges, through books and articles – is to make the mass of the working people believe they are weak and isolated, and therefore that they do not have the power to change society. They are aided in this task by the leaders of the trade unions, of the Labour Party in Britain, and all the other so-called ‘leaders’ of the working class internationally, who constantly sell out workers’ struggles and work to undermine the confidence of the working class. The people at the top, the capitalist class and their serious strategists, are, however, fully conscious of how big the working class really is, and they fear for their own future should this class become conscious of its own strength. The world economic crisis we have entered is unprecedented in both scope and depth. Its effects are beginning to be felt in mass movements, such as the more recent events in France and Britain with big strike waves; or the insurrectionary movements in Peru or Sri Lanka. In country after country, we have seen the potential for the revolutionary overthrow of the present system. Life teaches, and the working class is slowly waking up to how serious this crisis is. This will set in motion the powerful force that the global working class has become. With a revolutionary leadership it could snuff out capitalism like a man swatting a fly. The task of the Marxists is to build that leadership. — Has the working Class Disappeared? Fact and Fiction
Videos of the Day:
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!
Big Oil Deception vs. Climate Accountability Fossil fuel industry-driven opposition to climate action is growing fiercer as the climate accountability movement backs ExxonMobil and other major oil and gas corporations into a corner. There have been several dramatic advances in climate corporate accountability this month. Tens of thousands of people marched in New York City and around the world, California filed a groundbreaking lawsuit and passed new corporate climate disclosure rules, and the Wall Street Journal published new revelations about ExxonMobil’s climate disinformation efforts.
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
The Squad Nowhere to Be Seen as Ukraine Package Sails Through AOC, Ilhan Omar and others have been curiously silent on the issue It passed in the House by 358 votes to 57 and would have sailed through the Senate unopposed were it not for a single Republican dissenter. The $40 billion foreign aid package to Ukraine — the second and largest aid package proposed by the Biden administration — nearly shuttled through Congress at a speed not seen since the New Deal era. In a pre-Ukraine, post-9/11 era, this level of bipartisan support for a foreign aid bill of this size might have roused some apprehension, not only from the Trumpist nat-cons or Libertarian Right, but from the anti-war Left too. And yet, members of The Squad, the Democrats’ most prominent progressive group in Congress, have been curiously silent on the issue.
There Can Be No Global Security Without Climate Solutions More than half of the U.S. federal budget goes to the military. Only a tiny fraction addresses the climate crisis. As the hottest summer in human history approached its end, tens of thousands of climate marchers rallied in New York to call for bold climate solutions. Meanwhile, lawmakers in Washington lurched toward another fight over the federal budget. More than ever, the U.S. needs to get serious about climate. And to do that, we need to re-prioritize what’s in that budget. As it stands, more than half of the discretionary budget that Congress allocates each year goes to the Pentagon (#1World Grenhouse Emitter! (RS)) Until the passage of the Inflation Reduction Act last year, the average taxpayer gave $2,375 each year to the military — and just $6 to renewable energy projects.
War is the Precondition of Peace The recent New York Times editorial (September 15) opposing negotiations between Ukraine and Russia was so hallucinatory it might have been written by an AI chatbot. “It is in America’s national interest,” the editorial writers state, “to lead its NATO allies in demonstrating that they will not tolerate Mr. Putin’s revanchist ambitions. It is a demonstration of America’s commitment to democracy and leadership that other would-be aggressors are watching.” America’s commitment to democracy has always been tenuous at best. Our wealth was founded upon the enslavement of Africans and the expropriation of Indigenous land and resources. International power was derived from war and intervention, both military and economic. Even the U.S. system of voting, the crowning glory of our democracy, is badly compromised by an electoral college and gerrymandering. “Leadership” has generally meant bullying friends and enemies alike, or as Kissinger once said about South Vietnam: “Being America’s enemy may be dangerous, but being America’s friend is fatal.” Our enemies are often democratic and our allies repressive. Ukraine, for example, is no democracy. Transparency International ranks it 33/100 (near Russia) on its Corruption Perceptions Index. Since the start of the war, Ukraine has taken a further anti-democratic and neo-liberal turn. Rather than establish a conventional war economy like the U.S. and other nations did during World War II — nationalizing key industries to direct resources toward the common defense — Ukraine privatized public assets, enriching a cadre of oligarchs. The Defense Ministry’s procurement and conscription system is so riddled with corruption that its entire leadership was recently replaced. That’s progress, but it comes late, and its results remain to be seen. The tax regime, already regressive, has become more so. Individuals (rich and poor) and businesses all pay a flat tax of 18% — Steve Forbes would be a happy Ukrainian – and the incidence of corporate tax avoidance is high. Recent changes to the country’s labor laws have erased protections from nearly 3/4 of the workforce. Most workers now lack the right to bargain collectively and are subject to “zero hour” contracts that allow employers to change employment schedules at will. (Even the World Bank, where neo-liberal “structural adjustment” was born, is doubtful about the wisdom of these so-called reforms.) Ukraine has since 2015 regularly imposed sanctions on independent media, and last year President Zelensky banned 11 opposition parties for supposed “links with Russia.” There is no longer any progressive opposition. 
Corrupt Government/Supreme Court: Clarence Thomas Secretly Served as ‘Fundraising Draw’ for Koch Network “It’s not Groundhog Day: Even more Clarence Thomas corruption has been uncovered.” The investigative outlet ProPublicarevealed Friday that U.S. Supreme Court Clarence Thomas has secretly attended at least two donor events for the powerful Koch network during his tenure on the high court, serving as a “fundraising draw” for the right-wing organization that has used dark money to shape the nation’s political system, boost fossil fuels, and fight climate regulations. Citing former Koch network employees and a major donor, ProPublica reported that Thomas was invited to speak at the events “in the hopes that such access would encourage donors to continue giving.”
Black Liberation/Civile Rights:
Black people were disproportionately represented in pregnancy criminalization, making up 18.2 percent of arrests due to pregnancy criminalization from January 2006 to June 2022. Low-income people made up nearly 85 percent of pregnancy criminalization cases and were deemed legally indigent by the courts, meaning they were unable to afford an attorney. — Nearly 80 Percent of All Pregnancy-Related Arrests Occur in 5 Southern States
Police Brutality: Roaming Charges: Then They (Cops) Walked 12 Examples: 1. Ismael Lopez and his wife Claudia Linares were asleep in their beds on the night of July 23, 2017, when they were awakened by a loud knocking on the door of their trailer. Ismael got up and opened the door. Two men were standing on the porch with guns. They didn’t identify themselves. Lopez’s dog ran out. One of the men, Samuel Maze, shot and killed it. Frightened by the late-night banging, Lopez had answered the door with a shotgun. As Maze shot the dog, the other man, Zachary Durden, pointed his gun at Lopez and told him to drop the shotgun. When Lopez turned to put the gun down, Durden shot Lopez in the back of the head, killing him instantly. With Lopez’s body lying still on the floor, Durden cuffed him. Maze and Durden were cops with the Southaven, Mississippi police. They had come to the trailer to serve a warrant. But they were at the wrong address. They weren’t even on the right side of the street. No charges were brought against either cop. When Claudia Linares filed suit for wrongful death, the city of Southaven defended itself by arguing that Lopez had no civil rights to violate because he was a Mexican living in the US without documentation. A federal court rejected that argument. But after the case finally went to trial last week, an Oxford, Mississippi jury rejected Linares’ suit, ruling that the two cops didn’t use “excessive force.” . . .
Labor:
Economy:
World:
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
Medicaid “Unwinding” Is Largest Loss of Health Coverage in US History After the U.S. uninsured rate hit a record low in 2022, millions are now losing health coverage simultaneously. After the uninsured rate fell to an all-time low of 8 percent in 2022, nearly 6.8 million people have lost their Medicaid health coverage since the so-called unwinding of federal pandemic protections began earlier this year. Observers say it’s the largest simultaneous loss of health coverage in United States history, with impacts threatening to reverberate through the already struggling health care system for years. Millions of people are losing Medicaid coverage after failing to reapply or file paperwork with state agencies, not the federal government, but some say the massive loss of health insurance still threatens to tarnish the legacy of President Joe Biden. Financed by the federal government but run by the states, Medicaid provides health coverage for millions of children, elderly and disabled people as well as lower-income workers in highly profitable industries. “It’s the largest simultaneous disenrollment in American history.… This is going to become the health care legacy of the Biden presidency,” said Beatrice Alder Boston, co-host of the “Death Panel” podcast and author of Health Communism: A Surplus Manifesto, in a recent statement to reporters. “This doesn’t reflect what Biden is projecting as his vision of healthcare in America.”