Daily News Digest November 9, 2023
Images 0f the Day:
Earth Just Recorded Its Hottest October On Record
Military Contractor Stocks 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!
Qu0tes of the Day:
A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth. With righteous indignation, it will look across the seas and see individual capitalists of the West investing huge sums of money in Asia, Africa, and South America, only to take the profits out with no concern for the social betterment of the countries, and say, “This is not just.” It will look at our alliance with the landed gentry of South America and say, “This is not just.” The Western arrogance of feeling that it has everything to teach others and nothing to learn from them is not just. A true revolution of values will lay hand on the world order and say of war, “This way of settling differences is not just.” This business of burning human beings with napalm, of filling our nation’s homes with orphans and widows, of injecting poisonous drugs of hate into the veins of peoples normally humane, of sending men home from dark and bloody battlefields physically handicapped and psychologically deranged, cannot be reconciled with wisdom, justice, and love. A nation that continues year after year to spend more money on military defense than on programs of social uplift is approaching spiritual death. — Martinl uther King, A time to Break the Silence
Video of the Day:
European Invasion/Geocide of America
US Senator Chris Van Hollen Details War Crimes Commited By Israel
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 ford 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 United States is Losing ‘Its Fig Leaf’ of Democracy!
“A true revolution of values will soon look uneasily on the glaring contrast of poverty and wealth!”:
How Much Wealth Inequality is There in the U.S.?
- The top 10% of households by wealth had $7.0 million on average. As a group, they held 69% of total household wealth.
- The bottom 50% of households by wealth had $51,000 on average. As a group, they held only 2.5% of total household wealth.
What is the current racial wealth gap?
- Black families owned about 24 cents for every $1 of white family wealth, on average.
- Hispanic families owned about 24 cents for every $1 of white family wealth, on average.
The Suprem Court has Declared Iself to be the Supreme Decider on Legisative and Executive Issues!:
Freedom of Assembly is Under Attack!:
Originalism and Our Democracy Is Originalism being applied impartially and consistently or is it just a fancy-sounding ruse for justices to inject their political biases? There are two radically different philosophies for rendering Supreme Court decisions. One is Originalism; the other sees The Constitution as A Living Document. In deciding whether a right merits protection, Originalism attaches great importance not only to whether that right is explicitly mentioned in the constitution, but also to trying to stay true to the Framers’ intent. The Living Document approach views the Constitution as more flexible in the need to adapt to changing conditions, including issues not anticipated at the time the Constitution was written.
Since our current Supreme Court is dominated by Originalist ideology, let’s take a closer look at whether Originalism is being applied consistently and provides a sound basis for deciding cases..
The Present Supreme Court was Supported/Elected By a Bipartisan Majority. Dispite the Fact the Majority of the Current Supreme Court Stated the They were Originalists — Who Opposed the Bill of Rights!:
When the Convention reported the Constitution to the states for ratification, the nation split between Federalist supporters of the new document and Anti-Federalist opponents, who were especially concerned that it did not, like most state counterparts, have a bill of rights (of the 11 state constitutions in place in the years after independence, 7 had bills of rights). To ensure ratification of the document, the Federalists offered concessions, and the First Congress proposed a Bill of Rights as protection for those fearful of a strong national government. The Bill of Rights came into effect in December 1791, after ratification by three-fourths of the state legislatures. — Bill of Rights
First Admendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances: The Right of Freedom of Assembly in Under Attack!: Protecting Big Oil Profits D New Report Reveals Big Oil’s Playbook to Silence Climate Protests The report estimates that 60 percent of U.S. oil and gas production is now safeguarded by anti-protest laws. Anew report by Greenpeace USA details the widespread coordination between the public and private sectors to monitor activism, punish protesters both physically and legally, and grease the wheels for proposed anti-protest bills that criminalize civil disobedience. “Corporate polluters, and their allies in government, have shown they will go to extreme lengths to silence us,” said Greenpeace Senior Research Specialist Andres Chang, one of the authors and editors of the report. “Why? Because a supermajority of Americans support climate action, and our ability to voice our dissent is essential to making climate progress.”
Palestinian Genocide
10,000 Dead in Palestine: Bring Down the Criminals Responsible! The slaughter in Gaza has now reached the grim milestone of 10,000 killed, while more than a million have been displaced with nowhere to go. To give a sense of scale, the Israel Defence Force (IDF) has killed more people in Gaza in one month than the total number of Ukrainian civilians killed in the 21 months since the Ukraine war broke out in February 2022. The latter figure stood at 9,600, according to last month’s estimate. But such a comparison is impermissible, explained one of Biden’s advisors, John Kirby: “Slaughtering innocent Ukrainians, that’s part of their strategy inside Ukraine,” whereas “that is not what we’re seeing from Israel.”
The Nuremberg Charter and the War in Gaza In preparation for the Nazi war crimes trials in 1945, representatives of Britain, France, and the United States met to discuss the legal basis of the proceedings. They produced on August 8, 1945, the London Charter of the International Military Tribunal, a document that subsequently became known as the Nuremberg Charter in reference to the German city where the major trials would take place from November 20, 1945, to October 1, 1946. Subsequent proceedings would be held there from December 1946 to April 1949. Under the section titled “Jurisdiction and General Principles,” Article 6 defines the types of crimes that would be considered by the international tribunal: wars of aggression, resulting destruction of public or private property, as well as devastation of cities, towns, or villages. The language Article 6 is peremptory throughout. Under “Crimes against Humanity,” for example, the Nuremberg Charter specifically proscribes “murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation, and other inhumane acts committed against any civilian population, before or during the war.” The Charter does not allow any exceptions to the rule forbidding the programmatic slaughter and maiming of civilian populations and the destruction of their communities. Such a policy is always wrong, no matter who invokes it and regardless of any proffered justifications.
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’!
First Admendment: Congress shall make no law respecting an establishment of religion, or prohibiting the free exercise thereof; or abridging the freedom of speech, or of the press; or the right of the people peaceably to assemble, and to petition the Government for a redress of grievances: The Right of Freedom of Assembly in Under Attack!:
U.S. Protecting Big Oil Profits, At he Expense of Freedom of Assembly!: New Report Reveals Big Oil’s Playbook to Silence Climate Protests The report estimates that 60 percent of U.S. oil and gas production is now safeguarded by anti-protest laws. Anew report by Greenpeace USA details the widespread coordination between the public and private sectors to monitor activism, punish protesters both physically and legally, and grease the wheels for proposed anti-protest bills that criminalize civil disobedience. “Corporate polluters, and their allies in government, have shown they will go to extreme lengths to silence us,” said Greenpeace Senior Research Specialist Andres Chang, one of the authors and editors of the report. “Why? Because a supermajority of Americans support climate action, and our ability to voice our dissent is essential to making climate progress.”
‘Insanity’: Petrostates Planning Huge Expansion Of Fossil Fuels, Says UN Report Plans by nations including Saudi Arabia, the US and UAE would blow climate targets and ‘throw humanity’s future into question’ The world’s fossil fuel producers are planning expansions that would blow the planet’s carbon budget twice over, a UN report has found. Experts called the plans “insanity” which “throw humanity’s future into question”. The energy plans of the petrostates contradicted their climate policies and pledges, the report said. The plans would lead to 460% more coal production, 83% more gas, and 29% more oil in 2030 than it was possible to burn if global temperature rise was to be kept to the internationally agreed 1.5C. The plans would also produce 69% more fossil fuels than is compatible with the riskier 2C target.
Hijacking Food Policies to Feed Agribusiness In Africa, ‘green revolution’ policies are enriching food giants, while increasing hunger and squeezing out small farmers In Africa, ‘green revolution’ policies are enriching food giants, while increasing hunger and squeezing out small farmers Donors, governments and business leaders had another lackluster African Green Revolution Forum (AGRF) this year from 5 to 8 September in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. There was little fanfare, few major announcements and no hint of meaningful input from small-scale farmers, the supposed beneficiaries of the erstwhile Green Revolution for Africa. Tanzanian farmers’ request for a seat at the table, in the form of a more critical side event, was denied. Some say that if you don’t have a seat at the table, you are probably on the menu. That’s the way Zambian farmers are feeling. Zambia is one of several countries targeted for the so-called “agro-poles,” 250,000-acre blocks of land often taken from local communities to attract agribusiness investment. On the menu indeed.
Black Liberation/Civil Rights:
Black Labor Powered Reconstruction’s Fight for Democracy. It Can Do It Again. Collective actions led by Black labor historically pushed moderates to meet radical demands and continue to do so.News spread fast across plantations in the antebellum United States. Enslaved Black workers tracking current events in 1860 quickly developed the widespread notion of an “emancipating army,” marching south to enact biblical vengeance. Panic among white elites confirmed Armageddon rumors, unlocking new space for open struggle.
Labor:
Economy:
The 1%’s Political Economist:Paul Krugman Dismisses the Existence of a Military-Industrial Complex Paul Krugman is a Distinguished Professor of Economics in the Graduate Center of the City University of New York, a columnist for the New York Times, and a leading economist and public intellectual. He received a Nobel Prize for his efforts in 2008. In a column last week, however, Krugman left his economics lane, and argued that President Dwight D. Eisenhower’s “military-industrial complex” no longer existed. Krugman argued that ‘“military spending is much smaller as a share of the economy than it was” 60 years ago. He dismissed the “military-industrial complex” as a 60-year-old cliche, and gratuitously endorsed additional military spending because “recent events have made the case for spending…perhaps more.” Au contraire, Mr. Krugman. In actual fact, the military-industrial complex, which includes the arms lobby, the weapons manufacturers, and the Congress, is far more influential than it was 60 years ago. Global defense spending is around $2.2 billion, with the United States spending half of that amount. One of Krugman’s mistakes is to take into account only Pentagon spending, which is over $860 billion, and ignore the military spending of the Intelligence Community; the nuclear weapons spending of the Department of Energy; the huge spending of the Office of Veterans Affairs primarily due to our misbegotten wars; and the military spending of the Department of Homeland Security, particularly for our Coast Guard, which is currently the fifth largest navy in the world.
Report: During Spring Banking Crisis, Banks Borrowed Over $1 Trillion from Federal Home Loan Banks — $100 Billion More than During the Crash of 2008 Yesterday, the regulator of the Federal Home Loan Bank system, the Federal Housing Finance Agency (FHFA), released a report on its recommended changes going forward. The report was in response to the questionable conduct of the Federal Home Loan Banks in the leadup to the banking crisis this past spring. The core mission of the 11 regional Federal Home Loan Banks is to “provide liquidity to their members to support housing finance and community development through all economic cycles.” In short, the Federal Home Loan Banks are supposed to make it possible for banks to provide home mortgages to low-income folks. The banks that failed this spring were engaged in crypto (Silvergate and Signature Bank), providing loans to the super wealthy (First Republic Bank), and in the case of Silicon Valley Bank, it was more of a Wall Street IPO pipeline. (See our report: Silicon Valley Bank Was a Wall Street IPO Pipeline in Drag as a Federally-Insured Bank; FHLB of San Francisco Was Quietly Bailing It Out.)
World:
South Africa Joins Growing List of Countries Cutting Ties With Israel Over ‘Genocide’ in Gaza “A genocide under the watch of the international community cannot be tolerated,” said one government official in South Africa. In its latest show of solidarity with the Palestinian people, the government of South Africa on Monday announced it will withdraw all diplomatic staff from Israel over its objection to what one official called the Israeli military’s “genocidal acts” against Gaza and the West Bank during its ongoing assault on the blockaded enclave.
Palestinians in Europe Fear For Safety As Crackdown on Speech Fosters Hate in Europe and the U.S., Palestinians say Western governments’ lockstep support for Israel opens up their communities to attacks. . . . People of Palestinian origin around the world who spoke to The Intercept said they feel as if they are being silenced both online and offline, rendering them frightened to speak about the plight of their Palestinians compatriots in Gaza, to display Palestinian national symbols like flags, or even to demonstrate peacefully. Meanwhile, the Gaza war specifically and the Israeli–Palestinian conflict in general is once again testing what Western countries have long said is a basic tenet of their societies: the right to peaceful assembly and freedom of speech.
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