Daily News Digest October 24, 2023
Images of the Day:
Ted Rall: Terrorists
Tens Of Thousands March In Morocco For Palestinians | Barron’s
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!
Qu0te of te Day:
And he now says that, on average, the risks being carried by public pension funds are at least 20 percent greater than they are reporting, largely because they aren’t taking account of the true risks embedded in private equity. Oregon’s pension fund is over 40 percent more volatile than its own reported statistics show, he said. Private equity returns exhibit low volatility because they are based on infrequent appraisals of private companies. “When you adjust for the stale pricing in private equity funds, the risks are much greater,” he said in a telephone conversation. — The Risks Hidden in Public Pension Funds Attracted by promises of high returns, many public pension funds have been loading up on private equity but may not fully appreciate the dangers, our columnist says.
The agencies, which also include the U.N. population fund and UNICEF, called for a humanitarian cease-fire, along with immediate, unrestricted humanitarian access throughout Gaza. “Gaza was a desperate humanitarian situation before the most recent hostilities. It is now catastrophic. The world must do more,” they said. CAIRO — Doctors Without Borders says Gaza’s health care system is “facing collapse.” — Live Updates | Israel Plans to Step Up Attacks on the Gaza Strip
Videos of the Day:
Democracy Now: “Divide and Rule”: How Israel Helped Start Hamas to Weaken Palestinian Hopes for Statehood
Tens of Thousands of Moroccans March in Support of Palestinians
Palestinian Genocide:
Chris Hedges: Let Them Eat Cement Israel is not only decimating Gaza with airstrikes but employing the oldest and cruelest weapon of war — starvation. Israel’s message, on the eve of a ground invasion, is clear. Leave Gaza or Die. Israel, with the backing of its U.S. and European allies, is preparing to launch not only a scorched earth campaign in Gaza but the worst ethnic cleansing since the wars in the former Yugoslavia. The goal is to drive tens, most probably hundreds of thousands of Palestinians over the southern border at Rafah into refugee camps in Egypt. The reverberations will be catastrophic, not only for the Palestinians, but throughout the region, almost certainly triggering armed clashes to the north of Israel with Hezbollah in Lebanon and perhaps with Syria and Iran.
UN Agency Warns Humanitarian Operations in Gaza on Verge of Total Collapse “Without fuel, there will be no water, no functioning hospitals and bakeries,” said the UNRWA. “Without fuel, aid will not reach those in desperate need. Without fuel, there will be no humanitarian assistance.” Despite U.S. President Joe Biden’s continued backing of Israeli policy, including it’s bombardment of Gaza which legal scholars have said may amount to genocide—a poll last week showed two-thirds of U.S. voters back the call for a cease-fire. As the civilian death toll continues to mount—with the latest weekend figures from the Gaza Ministry of Health putting the number killed at more than 4,600, nearly half of them children, and more than three times that wounded—UNRWA confirmed earlier on Saturday that 29 of its own staffers and volunteers, half of them school teachers, have been killed since the Israel bombing campaign began on Oct.7. “We are in shock and mourning,” the agency said in a social media post. “As an Agency, we are devastated. We are grieving with each other and with the families.”
Palestine Forgotten Berkeley, Ca. (Special to Informed Comment; Feature) – During the last decade, Israel had come close to achieving what for many of its citizens had been a longstanding aspiration: the ability to forget the Palestinians. Thus, during the massive protests of recent months against the juridical reforms proposed by the Netanyahu administration, and against the general right-ward turn of the country and its dominant institutions, protesters rarely mentioned the plight of their Palestinian neighbors as a concern. Nor in recent Israeli elections has the Palestinian question and its future resolution been a central point of political contention and debate dividing the Israeli electorate. Once an inescapable fact of Israeli political life, the Palestinian inhabitants of Gaza and the West Bank had largely become people one could forget, with Israelis finally able to get along with their normal lives. How had this condition of normalcy and forgetting been achieved? In Gaza, it had been achieved through a blockade that kept the entrapped Palestinians in a permanent state of poverty, unemployment, hunger, and dependency, an architecture of enforced scarcity and suffering meant to crush the spirit and will of those seeking to resist the relentless bulldozer of Israeli expansion into Palestinian lands.
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!
Hurricane Ian Spiked Cases of Flesh-Eating Bacteria in Florida Warming ocean surface temperatures are leading to more Vibrio bacteria in the oceans, particularly in the Atlantic. Hurricane Ian slammed into southwest Florida as a Category 4 storm in September last year, killing 149 people — the most deaths attributable to a single hurricane in the state in nearly a century. But the official death count didn’t include one of the most gruesome ways people died as a result of the storm. A study published this week found that Hurricane Ian led to a spike in cases of vibriosis, a life-threatening illness caused by a water-borne bacteria called Vibrio, in Florida. In Lee County, where Ian made landfall, 38 people were sickened by the bacteria and 11 people ultimately died in the month following the storm — the highest number of Vibrio cases in a single month in Florida in more than 30 years. There had been no reported cases of Vibrio in the state in the week leading up to the hurricane.
Let Us Be the Parable of the Movement More than a novel, this international public awareness campaign tells the story of how people can rise up and demand change to power our planet in a way that puts human survival before profit. The apocalypse is not coming. The future is coming, and we don’t yet know what the future holds. Because the future isn’t set yet. It depends on the decisions human beings make right now. These days, we are seeing more extreme weather events around the world, as the climate crisis escalates. While every individual weather event is a surprise, the overall pattern has long been predicted. Both by our scientists and by our artists. One such artist, Octavia Butler, wrote of a world torn by racism, misogyny, and climate disaster in her 1993 novel, Parable of the Sower.
The Existential Dilemma of Offshore Riches The Cook Islands and other Pacific island nations are considering opening their oceans to mining. Is it worth the risk to their way of life? On an overcast morning in March, a few dozen residents of the Cook Islands gathered to welcome visitors to the Port of Avatiu on the northern coast of Rarotonga, the country’s most developed island, with a traditional Māori ceremony. Beside a two-ton mining ship, chiefs cracked coconuts with bush knives and lit a small fire on the dock’s concrete. As drummers beat rhythms into hollowed-out logs and a man dressed in tī leaves sang chants of welcome in Cook Islands Māori, the captain and crew of the specially refitted vessel, the Anuanua Moana, proceeded down the gangway and onto the dock. Women garlanded them with vines harvested on long hikes over jagged coral. In a few weeks, the Anuanua Moana would set off on a research expedition, pursuing minerals used in electric vehicle batteries and other technologies widely viewed as essential to the transition away from fossil fuels. Never before have these minerals been commercially mined at the depths targeted by the Anuanua Moana. Dignitaries observed the formalities from beneath a pop-up tent. Among them was Prime Minister Mark Brown. “It’s a really important day,” he said. He described the Anuanua Moana as a symbol of “the future prosperity of our country” and noted proudly it is “rare for an exploration vessel of this kind to be based in the South Pacific, let alone in the Cook Islands.” Indeed, the ship had traveled from Galveston, Texas, to a tiny country 2,000 miles east of New Zealand that is home to fewer than 15,000 residents, a journey of some 5,500 miles. In a country where the speed limit is 25 miles per hour and pretty much everyone has a relative in common, the Anuanua Moana quickly became the talk of the town.
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
Ted Rall: Ukraine and Israel Are Very Special Democracies Hi. Joe Biden here, asking for more money for Ukraine and Israel. Many Americans are asking: why, while millions of Americans are unemployed and getting evicted and starving and homeless, should we ignore our own people and send billions of dollars to foreign countries instead? The answer is: democracy. We have to defend democracy. Ukraine and Israel aren’t just democracies. They’re special democracies. — Verry Special Democracies. — Ukraine, for example, is the kind of democracy that doesn’t hold elections for local offices. There were supposed to be parliamentary elections, this month, but…yeah. There weren’t and there won’t be. Don’t worry, it’s perfectly legal because after the war with Russia started in February 2022, martial law was declared and the Ukrainian Constitution doesn’t allow elections under martial law. Ukraine is so democratic that it doesn’t even need to have presidential elections anymore. Martial law again. And who declared martial law? Why, it’s that sly rascal President Volodymyr Zelensky—make that President-for-Life Volodymyr Zelensky. We’re so dysfunctional here in the U.S. that House Republicans can’t agree with themselves who should be Speaker. But Ukraine is streamlined! The guy who would be running for reelection this spring won’t have to, because he personally said so! That’s a very special democracy. Under “martial law,” a term that no one has ever managed to define, Ukraine is a kind of democracy in which “conducting referendums, organizing strikes, and holding public demonstrations and other mass gatherings are prohibited.” Special!
Biden is Expected to Request $100 Billion for Israel, Ukraine And Other Crises. President Biden is expected to ask Congress in the coming days to approve about $100 billion in emergency funds to arm Israel, Ukraine and Taiwan and fortify the U.S.-Mexico border, according to multiple people familiar with the plan. . . . The package is expected to include about $10 billion in mostly military assistance to help Israel, as well as around $60 billion for Ukraine, according to aides familiar with the discussions, who described the emerging proposal on the condition of anonymity because it has yet to be announced. The balance of the $100 billion is expected to be dedicated to border security and helping beef up the defenses of Taiwan and the Indo-Pacific region, in order to better counter threats from China.
Black Liberation/Civil Rights:
Majority of Supreme Court Allows Government to Use Private Companies to Censor Speech Into 2024 Should A President Be Able To Censor His Political Opponents? Stay Tuned. The good news is that a reckoning with the Biden administration’s policy of telling companies to censor things they don’t like is coming. The Supreme Court will take up the Louisiana ban on the administration censoring political opponents via private companies. The bad news is that Roberts, Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett decided to sign on letting the Biden administration go on doing it for another year because the First Amendment is just a theory. Read the Alito dissent on the majority issuing a stay on an order blocking the Biden administration’s censorship. (Alito was joined by Thomas and Gorsuch.)
Labor:
‘You Should Be Able yo Have s Water Break’: US Workers Fight For Extreme-Heat Rules Across America, temperatures are soaring – but industry groups are opposing potentially life-saving heat regulations On a sweltering day in July 2015, Roendy Granillo was installing floors in Melissa, Texas. Temperatures had reached 97F when he began to feel sick. He asked for a break, but his employer told him to keep working. Shortly after, he collapsed. He died on the way to the hospital from heatstroke. He was 25. A few months later, Roendy’s family joined protesters on the steps of Dallas city hall for a thirst strike to demand water breaks for construction workers. His younger sister Jasmine, only 11 at the time, spoke to a crowd about her doting brother. She said that she was scared, but that she “didn’t really think about the fear”.
Economy:
Michael Roberts Facebook Blog: The US Federal Reserve survey of consumer finances for 2022 showed that the (median) average net wealth for American households rose a huge 37% since 2019. This was mainly because of the sharp rise in property and stock prices and government handouts during the pandemic. But the biggest increases went to the richest Americans and the white-black and white-hispanic wealth gaps widened to an average $220,000 per household. Re: Changes in U.S. Family Financesfrom 2019 to 2022
Regional Bank Stocks Plunge on Friday; More Pain Ahead as 10-Year Treasury Note Trades at a 5 Percent Yield This MorningAs the chart above indicates, Friday was not a good day to own regional bank stocks. The percentage declines are just for the one day of trading on Friday — not the year-to-date percentage losses. After the bank runs this past spring at regional banks brought on the second, third and fourth largest bank failures in U.S. history, things had quieted down in recent months. Then, along came earnings announcements last week, showing renewed struggles among the regional banks. One of the big losers for the week was Zions Bancorp. Its shares plunged 9.7 percent on Thursday and another 7.07 percent on Friday. The bank posted poor year-over-year comparisons on net interest income as it experienced rising expenses to compete for deposits.
World:
Education, Health, and Welfare:
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
The Decadent 1% in the Era of Imperialist Decay!: Whistleblower: The World Bank Helped Cover Up Child Sex Abuse at a Chain of For-Profit Schools It FundedFunded for Shannon May and her husband Jay Kimmelman, the conference call scheduled with the World Bank on September 12, 2020, was make or break. It had been just over 10 years since the Harvard graduates had launched Bridge International Academies, a chain of for-profit schools that had exploded in Africa and South Asia. With the backing of Silicon Valley’s elite and the support of international financial institutions like the World Bank, the founders were now in negotiations to raise fresh capital that would allow them to move into several new countries.