Daily News Digest November 27, 2023
The Doomsday Clock has to be Readjusted!: Joe Biden Moves to Lift Nearly Every Restriction on Israel’s Access to U.S. Weapons Stockpile By easing virtually all limits on Israel’s use of the stockpile, Biden could undercut U.S. military preparedness and congressional oversight. The White House has requested the removal of restrictions on all categories of weapons and ammunition Israel is allowed to access from U.S. weapons stockpiles stored in Israel itself. The move to lift restrictions was included in the White House’s supplemental budget request, sent to the Senate on October 20. “This request would,” the proposed budget says, “allow for the transfer of all categories of defense articles.”
Images of the Day:
Carlos Latuff: What Can You See?
World War I, ‘the war to end all wars’, since then, 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:
What drives the war Machine? The short answer is profit. The weapons industry is the most profitable on the planet. However, the military-industrial complex does not drive the war machine, it provides the fuel. Competition for capital drives the war machine. In fact, capitalism can be defined as an economic and military machine for accumulating capital. And it is tremendously successful at this. Stronger nations use their economic power to dominate and exploit weaker nations. Backed by billions in farm subsidies, U.S. corporations dump cheap food on the world market, driving farmers in poorer nations out of business so their countries become dependent on U.S. food imports. Stronger nations strip weaker ones of valuable resources and force people to work for rock-bottom wages, or don’t pay them at all. Nations that resist such exploitation face punitive economic sanctions, like those imposed on Iran, Venezuela, Cuba, and China. When economic pressure is not enough, resistant nations are forced to submit. Since its founding, the U.S. has launched 400 overseas military interventions to defend U.S. corporate profits. — There’s Just One Way to Stop War
Video of the Day:
Settler Colonialism, Thanksgiving and Gaza
What Really Happened At The First Thanksgiving?
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
From Biden’s Challengers on Foreign Policy: Cornel West (I). Increased Militarism: The United States Is The Single Biggest Military Spender In The World With An Annual Budget Roughly The Size Of The Next Seven Largest Military Budgets Combined. According To Records Kept By The National Priorities Project At The Institute For Policy Studies (IPS), In Any Given Year, Military Spending Accounts For Over Half Of The Federal Government’s Annual Discretionary Budget. The U.S. Military’s Bloated Budget Is Utilized To Build Weapons And Warcraft, Which Are In Turn Utilized To Threaten Other Nations And Demand Their Cooperation With The Perceived U.S. Military Hegemony Or Offered To Cooperative Nations As Part Of Military Alliances. In FY 2023 Alone, Out Of A $1.8 Trillion Federal Discretionary Budget, $1.1 Trillion – Or 62 Percent – Was For Militarized Programs. On Top Of War And Weapons For The Pentagon, These Expenditures Include Domestic Militarism For Police Departments Across The Country And Mass Incarceration, As Well As Increased Detentions And Deportation, Which Represent Direct Threats To The Security Of Black, Brown, Indigenous And Poor People In The United States. As We Are Witnessing Right Now, The Current Administration Is Complicit In Thousands Of Civilian Deaths By Giving Israel Military Aid At $3.8 Billion This Year, Half Of Which Goes To Israel’s Missile System. They Are Now Requesting A Combined Supplemental Aid Package At $106 Billion For Israel Along With Ukraine, Taiwan And The Indo-Pacific Region, And US Immigration Enforcement At The US-Mexico Southern Border. To Put This In Perspective, Combined With The Estimated $113 Billion In Military Aid The US Has Already Sent To Ukraine, Should The Congress Grant President Biden’s Additional $105 Billion Package To Ukraine And Israel. This Would Represent Almost 60% Of The Initially Estimated $379 Billion In Climate Change Expenditures Over 10 Years Included. As Part Of The So-Called Inflation Reduction Act. Further, The $105 Billion Military Aid Package To Israel And Ukraine Is One Hundred Times The Paltry $1 Billion That The US Pledged To The Green Climate Fund Earlier This Year, To Fund Climate Mitigation And Adaptation In The Formerly Colonized Countries Of Africa, Asia, Latin America, And The Pacific. Our Friends At IPS Also Indicate That The U.S. Could Safely Redirect At Least $350 Billion From The Pentagon’s Current Spending Per Year And Achieve True Security By Ending Wars, Reducing Our Aggressive Posture Overseas, And Reining In Military Contracts. That Drain Public Coffers For Private Gain – All Measures That Would Actually Increase National Security, While Making Resources Available For Critical Domestic Needs Including, But Not Limited To, Increased Access To Healthcare, Improving The Nation’s Broken Education System – Including An Iniquitous Student Loan Debt Crisis, And Real Action To Address The Climate Crisis. With The Largest Military In The World, The US Is The Single Largest Greenhouse Gas Emitting Institution And Consumer Of Fossil Fuels On The Entire Planet, With A Carbon Footprint Bigger Than 140 Other Countries. The Environmental And Climate Impacts Of Global Militarism And War Are Staggering. Militarization Continues To Increase Greenhouse Gas Emissions And Pollute And Poison Land, Water And Air Through Weapons Production, Storage, And Use, Which Is Ironic Defense Secretary, Lloyd Austin, Himself Recently Declared, ‘There Is Little About What The Defense Department Does To Defend The American People That Is Not Affected By Climate Change. It Is A National Security Issue, And We Must Treat It As Such.’ “Climate Change: Climate change is not an endpoint that awaits us in the distant future, it is among us right now and impacting lives across the country and the entire world, especially the most vulnerable and most disadvantaged populations here in the U.S. — Black, Brown, Indigenous, and the poor. According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), climate change-related damages cost the United States an estimated $165 Billion in 2022, Hurricane Ida, a Category 4 storm that massacred communities in Florida, including the loss of 150 lives, cost taxpayers approximately $112.9 Billion alone. Moreover, NOAA estimates that in the last 40 years, 341 storms exacerbated by climate change have cost the nation more than $2.5 Trillion. To put that into perspective, that’s $80 Billion more than the national deficit of approximately $1.7 Trillion, thus far, for Fiscal Year 2023, and 1.5 percent of the national debt that stands at $161.7 trillion and counting. A nation already in massive debt, coupled with the astronomical costs of a growing climate crisis is the direct antithesis of national security. It’s undeniable that more calamities associated with the climate crisis, including more powerful weather incidents that induce extreme flooding, extreme heat, and other environmental stressors, are inevitable. These events will have profound impacts on myriad systems and institutions that are necessary to maintain a livable society including, but not limited to, the production of food, access to clean water sources, the quality and availability of housing, transportation, education, and healthcare. The collapse of these systems could reasonably engender massive social unrest that would result in the massive displacement and forced migration of people as we are already witnessing with the United Houma Nation, Pointe-au Chien Indian Tribe, and Biloxi-Chitimacha-Choctaw of present-day Louisiana, who are the first federally recognized climate migrants, whose land is literally sinking due to oil and gas extraction in the Gulf of Mexico, which has rendered their land susceptible to the impacts of climate change. In fact, the United Nations Office of the High Commissions for Refugees has predicted that more than 200 million people, globally, will be forced to relocate due to climate change, including 40% of United Statesians who currently reside in coastal areas. From the atrocities of Hurricane Katrina to the current situation at the United States border with Mexico, we have already witnessed the consequences of climate-related breakdowns of social, economic, and other systems necessary to maintain quality of life and life itself breakdown all coupled with mass migration of innocent people seeking refuge.
U.S. Funded Palestinian Genocide:
There’s Just One Way to Stop War A magnificent anti-war movement is exploding all over the world! On its own, revulsion over the Israeli war on Gaza cannot explain the rapid rise of the largest anti-war movement ever. There are deeper systemic factors. Opposition to the war has opened space for people to express their grievances against the ruling class: their failure to meet our basic needs for medical care, housing, and social support; their decision to let millions die from COVID rather than curb corporate profits; their refusal to stop climate change and environmental destruction; and their barbaric wars that risk nuclear annihilation. Fueled by mass discontent, the anti-war movement could grow into a general rejection of the social system that drives us to war. Truth is the first casualty of war. Outrageous lies, endlessly repeated in the patriotic press, justify the most barbaric actions. The victors rewrite history to absolve themselves of wrong-doing. The U.S. still promotes the self-serving lie that nuking Japanese cities was necessary to end WWII.
That Time when Napoleon Bonaparte’s Army in Palestine Burned Crops, Pounded Houses with Artillery, and Cut off Water to Cities On 24 June 1799 General Louis-Alexandre Berthier wrote a dispatch from Ottoman Palestine back to the French Ministry of War (people were more honest back then) about the French retreat from their failed attempt to take Ottoman Palestine. Since the army ravaged the Palestinian countryside with retaliatory attacks, given their failure to take Akka (Acre), and since they retreated through Gaza to El Arish in Egypt, the account is eerily reminiscent in places of contemporary neo-colonial Israeli tactics. I have commented on it in italics below.
Gaza: What Aid Agencies can Hope to Achieve Under the Strict Limits of the 4-Day Pause The four-day humanitarian pause in Israel’s assault on the Gaza Strip will be vital to allow humanitarian agencies into the stricken Palestinian enclave with much-needed supplies of food, water, fuel and medicine. But four days is a very short window to meet the vast humanitarian needs, given the damage wrought by more than a month of bombardment by the Israeli Defense Forces. For the first two weeks of Israel’s assault on Gaza, the strip was placed into a state of siege by Israel and access completely blocked. Since October 21, after calls from around the world for humanitarian pauses or a ceasefire, some aid has been allowed into the strip. But the 1,479 aid trucks that have been allowed in during this period represent only 14% of the monthly volume of commercial goods and humanitarian aid that was being delivered to Gaza prior to the conflict.
Ralph Nader: Israel’s Genocidal Antisemitism Against the Arab Civilians of Gaza “It should never have happened,” an elderly Holocaust survivor of a Nazi death camp told the New York Times. He was referring to the colossal failure on October 7th, of Israel’s touted high-tech military and intelligence operations that opened the door to Hamas’ attack on Israeli soldiers and civilians. In many parliamentary countries, the government ministers who are responsible for this kind of failure would have immediately been forced to resign. Not so with Prime Minister Netanyahu’s ministers.
Instead, Netanyahu’s coalition of extremists, who know that the Israeli people are enraged about their government’s failure to defend the border, has unleashed a “unifying” genocidal war against every child, woman and man that comprise the 2.3 million population of Gaza. “No electricity, no food, no fuel, no water. … We are fighting human animals and will act accordingly” was the opening genocidal war cry from defense minister Yoav Gallant to defend the onslaught that massive military forces are implementing against the long-illegally blockaded Gazan population.
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’!
The Climate Emergency Really is a New Type Of Crisis – Consider the ‘Triple Inequality’ at the Heart of It Global conferences such as the upcoming Cop28 may seem like staid and ritualistic affairs. But they matter Stare at a climate map of the world that we expect to inhabit 50 years from now and you see a band of extreme heat encircling the planet’s midriff. Climate modelling from 2020 suggests that within half a century about 30% of the world’s projected population – unless they are forced to move – will live in places with an average temperature above 29C. This is unbearably hot. Currently, no more than 1% of Earth’s land surface is this hot, and those are mainly uninhabited parts of the Sahara
CO2 Readings From Mauna Loa Show Failure To Combat Climate Change Daily atmospheric carbon dioxide data from Hawaiian volcano more than double last decade’s annual average Just above this column on the weather page of the Guardian’s print edition is the daily atmospheric carbon dioxide readings from Mauna Loa in Hawaii, the acid test of how the world is succeeding in combatting climate change. A week before the 28th annual meeting of the United Nations Framework Climate Change Convention opens in oil-rich Dubai, it makes depressing reading. At the time of writing it is 422.36 parts per million. That is 5.06ppm more than the same day last year. That rise in 12 months is probably the largest ever recorded – more than double the last decade’s annual average.
Another Ecological Failure of the Biden Administration!: Indigenous Groups in New Mexico Demand Action as Toxic Waste Spills Quadruple Frontline groups say an Interior Department plan to clean up extraction sites in the Greater Chaco Region has stalled. It’s been two years since United States Interior Secretary Deb Haaland announced the Honoring Chaco Initiative, a multiphase plan with the potential to transform how land stewardship decisions about mineral extraction, remediation and cleanup of extraction sites on federally controlled lands are made in the Greater Chaco Region of northern New Mexico. But members of the Greater Chaco Coalition are worried there have been no signs of life since Phase 1 was completed and a report detailing its activities was issued by consultants a year ago.
US Coal Power Plants Killed at Least 460,000 People in Past 20 Years – Report Pollution caused twice as many premature deaths as previously thought, with updated understanding of dangers of PM2.5 Researchers analyzed Medicare and emissions data from 1999 and 2020, and for the first time found that coal PM2.5 is twice as deadly as fine particle pollutants from other sources. Previous studies quantifying the death toll from air pollution assumed all PM2.5 sources posed the same risk, and therefore likely underestimated the dangers of coal-plants.
Black Liberation/Civil Rights:
Prisons for Profit — The Prison Industrial Complex: Private Equity Is Using Prison Phone, Food and Health Systems to Rack Up Profits Private equity firms are capturing systems people in prison use and making them even more brutal and unaccountable. Private equity firms, one of the most powerful arms of Wall Street, have become key adversaries of movements from labor rights to climate action to housing justice. With their wealthy CEOs and aggressive cost-cutting tactics aimed at delivering big returns, these firms are one of the most rapacious expressions of financial profiteering today. This makes it all the more alarming that private equity has a major foothold in the United States prison system. Private equity firms have nearly monopolized the market in areas like prison telecommunications. They control huge swaths of vital services like prison health care and food service. The lack of oversight around private equity, combined with the sector’s predatory tactics, has created a nightmare for captive prison populations, whose most basic needs are subjected to the whims of investors. Not surprisingly, this has produced numerous scandals and mounting lawsuits.
Labor:
Economy:
World:
UK’s Flagship Post-Brexit Trade Deal Worth Even Less Than Previously Thought, OBR says Office for Budget Responsibility says UK entry into the Indo-Pacific agreement will add just 0.04% to GDP in the long run The UK’s flagship trans-Pacific trade deal, which was presented as a cornerstone of post-Brexit “global Britain”, will deliver even less benefit to the economy than the tiny uplift that was previously predicted, according to the Office for Budget Responsibility.
Health, Education, 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