Daily News Digest September 27, 2023
Images of the Day:
Bendib: Government Shutdown
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:
“If this buildout continues, and if you counted the emissions from this gas against America’s totals, it would mean that American greenhouse gas emissions would not have budged since 2005.” To put it simply, with the invention of fracking, America—and Canada, and Australia—ended up with huge supplies of fossil gas. It’s not really needed—we could, more cheaply and much more cleanly, power the world with sun, wind, and batteries. But if that happened, the people who own these reserves would have to forego the hundreds of billions of dollars they could get for selling that gas. That is unacceptable to them; they would far rather break the planet. So they’re in an all-out sprint to get it to market as fast as they can, mostly by exporting it around the world. In the U.S., there are already seven giant LNG export terminals, and there are plans for at least twenty more, mostly along the Gulf of Mexico in Louisiana and Texas, which are close by the giant gas fields of the Permian Basin. — The Fight to End LNG Expansion Could Be the Biggest Climate Battle of Our Lives
The American intelligence official I spoke with spent the early years of his career working against Soviet aggression and spying has respect for Putin’s intellect but contempt for his decision to go to war with Ukraine and to initiate the death and destruction that war brings. But, as he told me, “The war is over. Russia has won. There is no Ukrainian offensive anymore, but the White House and the American media have to keep the lie going. The truth is if the Ukrainian army is ordered to continue the offensive, the army would mutiny. The soldiers aren’t willing to die any more, but this doesn’t fit the B.S. that is being authored by the Biden White House,” Seymour Hersh concludes. — Seymour Hersh: “Zelensky’s Army No Longer Has Any Chance of a Victory
Videos of the Day:
Black Agenda Radio September 22, 2023
Partisan Gerrymandering and Voting Rights
U.S. Hostility to China Strengthens Multipolarity
Ending Violence with the Beloved Community in Chicago
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!
The ‘Eco’ in Ecosocialism Must Mean Climate, Or We Are Lost Jonathan Neale argues for serious changes in ecosocialist activity and policies We need to make some serious changes in the ecosocialist project. It’s good that we have the idea of ecosocialism. Because the words stand for a basic idea that ecology and socialism go together. Linked, they are the hope of the world. But we have to make some changes in the way that most of the left have been using the idea of ecosocialism. We need to redefine the ecosocialist project, because now climate changes everything. We – humanity, not the left – have to stop climate change before we hit horrific consequences. That means a lot of things, but mostly it means we have to replace all use of oil, coal and natural gas with renewable energy instead. So everything runs on electricity, and all of that electricity is produced with renewable energy. There are some other things we need to do too. But stopping burning fossil fuels will make at least 70% of the difference.
Inequality Is Burning Up the World as Much as Climate Change It’s an uphill battle, but every moment, and every decision, counts. Delay is no longer an option With its global representation, one would expect the UN General Assembly to touch on many diverse issues. And it does. But talks have repeatedly come back to one unifying call: if we want to save ourselves, our planet, and our future, we must act now. In his remarks at the UN General Debate last Tuesday, President Biden reaffirmed the United States’ commitment to combat the intersecting challenges of the climate crisis, hunger, and worldwide inequality. Yet the following day at the Climate Ambition Summit, the U.S. was not recognized as a climate leader or granted speaking time since the U.S. had no new climate commitments.
Antarctic Sea Ice Shrinks To Lowest Annual Maximum Level On Record, Data Shows Scientists fear global heating may have shifted region into new era of disappearing ice with far-reaching consequences Antarctica has likely broken a new record for the lowest annual maximum amount of sea ice around the continent, beating the previous low by a million square kilometres.
EVs May Produce Higher Levels of Ocean and Air Pollution Through Tire Emissions Pollution problems caused by electric vehicles’ increased tire wear can be mitigated by curbing car use and dependency
Libya Floods: A Disaster Caused by Capitalist Barbarism “In Derna, death is everywhere. The people here told us Derna was the most beautiful city in Libya. Today, you walk through it and see nothing but mud, silt, and demolished houses. The smell of corpses is everywhere, the smell of death from the sea, where thousands of decomposed corpses have been swept away.” These were the words of Raed Qazmouz, head of a Palestinian rescue team, to Al Jazeera. Derna is a city in Cyrenaica, an eastern region of Libya. It has a population of around 100,000. On the night of 10-11 September, it was completely submerged by the floods caused by Cyclone Daniel. According to the United Nations, 11,300 people are dead and more than 10,000 are missing. Almost a quarter of the city’s population has disappeared. The city received 420 millimetres of rain in 24 hours, compared to an annual average of 350 millimetres. On the coast, winds of up to 180 kilometres per hour were recorded. Cyclone Daniel developed into a subtropical cyclone, a so-called “Medicane” (a term created by merging the words Mediterranean and hurricane), whose effects were also felt in Greece and Turkey. Over the past 15 years, the probability of a Medicane forming in the late summer-autumn season has tripled. We used to see one every four-to-five years, but now the frequency is one every year and a half. It is another effect of global warming, caused by the rapacious capitalist exploitation of the planet’s resources. But this alone does not explain the extent of the tragedy.
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
Is World War III About to Start? Part I: Drift Toward War Nuke rattling from both sides over Ukraine. It is likely that billions of people around the world view the conflict in Ukraine as a proxy war being waged by the U.S. against Russia. US President Joe Biden has pledged to aid Ukraine’s pursuit of victory “for as long as it takes,” without defining what the end state might be. Russian President Vladimir Putin has interpreted U.S. intentions to mean a fight “to the last Ukrainian.”
Is World War III About to Start? Part II: Are the Military-Industrial Complex and Deep State Driving Us to War? Why is the U.S. refusing to call a halt to the Ukraine madness? Why can’t an era of “Peaceful Coexistence” in Europe and the world be declared or at least sought? How about détente with Russia? With Russia and China? What is wrong with that?
Seymour Hersh: “Zelensky’s Army No Longer Has Any Chance of a Victory Next Tuesday will be the anniversary of the Biden administration’s destruction of three of the four pipelines of Nord Stream 1 and 2. There is more I have to say about it, but it will have to wait. Why? Because the war between Russia and Ukraine, with the White House continuing to reject any talk of a ceasefire, is at a turning point, writes Seymour Hersh, a famous American investigative journalist. There are significant elements in the American intelligence community, relying on field reports and technical intelligence, who believe that the demoralized Ukraine army has given up on the possibility of overcoming the heavily mined three-tier Russian defense lines and taking the war to Crimea and the four oblasts seized and annexed by Russia.
Black Liberation/Civile Rights:
Cop Promoted for Brutality!: NYPD “Transparency” Site Leaves Out Misconduct Lawsuits Settled For Millions The New York Police Department touts the “transparency” of its officer database, but you’d never know about cops who rack up dozens of lawsuits and millions in payouts. Last year, a series of headlines in New York City buzzed with excitement about a cop with the street nickname of “Bullethead.” New York Police Department Sgt. David Grieco — his actual name — had reached a milestone: Police misconduct lawsuits naming him as a defendant had exceeded $1 million in settlement payouts. Since the raft of news stories, Grieco has been named in at least two additional suits, according to publicly available information as of July, and payouts in complaints naming him have now reached $1,099,825. In the 13 years it took for Grieco to be named in 48 suits alleging police misconduct, he’s been promoted twice. In 2016, he was elevated from officer to detective and, a year later, to sergeant.
Labor:
“Go Full Force”: Autoworkers Press For All-Out Strike, As Biden Intervenes to Facilitate UAW Sellout It is increasingly clear that the UAW is finalizing its preparations to announce an agreement with Ford Motor Company, one which will be completely in line with the company’s demands for massive attacks on jobs and wages. Frustration is growing among autoworkers at Ford, General Motors and Stellantis over the ineffectual character of the “stand up strikes” called by United Auto Workers President Shawn Fain. The UAW has ordered nearly 90 percent of its members at the Big Three to keep working without a contract, only calling out two and a half assembly plants on September 15. In a cynical move last Friday, Fain “expanded” the strike to GM and Stellantis parts distribution centers, which supply dealerships and have no impact on production. In a clearly pre-orchestrated decision, Fain invited US President Biden to “join the picket line” in his livestream Friday, which Biden has stated he will do in Michigan this Tuesday. Biden’s visit, far from being a “show of support” for striking workers, is in reality aimed at ensuring the UAW bureaucracy has the situation under control and is putting the finishing touches on the announcement of a sellout deal at Ford.
Economy:
Bank of America’s Unrealized Losses on HTM Debt Securities Total $106 Billion; 34 Percent of All Such Unrealized Losses Reported by 4,645 Banks According to Bank of America’s federal regulatory filing known as the Call Report, for the quarter ending June 30, 2023, it had $105.79 billion in unrealized losses on its held-to-maturity (HTM) securities. That figure is not only far beyond the realm of what its peer banks reported, but it represents a stunning 34 percent of all unrealized losses on held-to-maturity securities reported by 4,645 FDIC-insured commercial banks and savings institutions as of June 30, according to the FDIC’s Quarterly Banking Profile.
World:
Greece: New Labour Law a Full-Frontal Attack on the Working Class Last August, the Minister of Labour Adonis Georgiadis outlined the New Democracy government’s new bill on labour and insurance issues, which will shred the most fundamental remaining protections for workers. In the words of the minister himself: “our goal is to make working relations more honest between us [i.e., workers and the bosses]”, explaining that much of what the bill codifies is already happening, informally. He put his intentions explicitly: to give intensifying exploitation of the working class full weight of the law.
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
Educators as Public Intellectuals in an Age of Tyranny: Confront, Fight Back, and Organize In his landmark book, The Sociological Imagination, C. Wright Mills argues that social scientists (and educators) have an obligation to address the question of truth and its political meaning during a time of widely communicated nonsense. He further argues that in addition to a politics of truth, social scientists had to support the values of reason and human freedom. He also believed that the role of social scientists was to disturb, bear witness, and resist systems of oppression. In this view, intellectuals have to have a deep sense of commitment and civic courage while “writing with vigor and clarity for the general reader [in order] to sustain the idea and the hope of a public culture.”[1] These principles, in the age of emerging fascism, are under attack in the age of gangster capitalism by a horde of anti-public intellectuals and far-right members of the GOP. For Mills, politics, truth, reason, and freedom are central and mutually informing principles guiding the work of public intellectuals. Mills, like Raymond Williams, Noam Chomsky, Vaclav Havel and others believed that the public role of intellectuals should be to confront important social problems, make visible how power works, address culture as a force for both domination and empowerment, recognize that everyday life has a politics, and help people to understand the world in critical and imaginative ways. The intellectual’s role in translating private or personal troubles into broader structural, systemic and social issues was central to the task.