Daily News Digest December 21, 2023
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”
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: Austerity, Scapegoat Blacks, Minorities, and ‘Illegal’ Immigrants for Unemployment, andThe 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:
That’s because the US Department of Energy (DoE) must decide whether to stop rubber-stamping the single biggest fossil-fuel expansion on earth, the buildout of natural gas exports from the Gulf of Mexico. So far they have granted every export license anyone has requested, and as a result the US has become the biggest gas exporter on planet earth. If they keep it up, the veteran energy analyst Jeremy Symons says that before long US liquefied natural gas exports will produce more greenhouse gases than everything that happens on the continent of Europe. — Is the US going to Approve yhe Single Biggest Fossil-Fuel Expansion Oon Earth?
Videos of the Day:
[Podcast] Palestine: A Communist Perspective Israel’s ongoing war on Gaza is undoubtedly the defining political event of 2023. The entire political establishment has lined up behind Israel, justifying a brutal military campaign of collective punishment against the Palestinians (which has killed around 20,000 civilians so far) as “self defence.” While liberals, reformists and even some self-proclaimed “communists” parrot the rhetoric of the bourgeoisie, or descend into utopian moralising, genuine communists must boldly proclaim a revolutionary solution for the liberation of Palestine.
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
Federal Judge Halts Removal of Confederate Statue at Arlington National Cemetery The statue features racist and revisionist history, falsely depicting enslaved people in the antebellum south as happy. Afederal judge has blocked the removal of a Confederate statue at Arlington National Cemetery which depicts enslaved people, prior to and during the Civil War, as being content and devoted to their enslavers.
Clarence Thomas Repeatedly Pushed for Removing Ban on Speaking Fees for Justices Documents reveal that Thomas hinted he might resign if salaries weren’t raised for Supreme Court justices. Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas’ decadeslong friendship with real estate tycoon Harlan Crow and Samuel Alito’s luxury travel with billionaire Paul Singer have raised questions about influence and ethics at the nation’s highest court.
NATO Staring Defeat in the Face in Ukraine As the year comes to a close, the complete failure of the much-hyped Ukrainian counteroffensive has opened a chorus of mutual recriminations within Ukraine and between Kiev and its imperialist puppet masters. Funding for the proxy war against Russia is drying up in Washington, Brussels and Berlin, and so western imperialism is now pushing Zelensky into a course of action which he is resisting as it spells his political (and perhaps physical) death: peace talks with Putin. This is the same course of action that they sabotaged previously when, puffed up by their own propaganda, they predicted that their war might even end in regime change in Moscow. Whatever ends up being signed at the negotiating table will merely reflect the real situation on the ground. That situation is now much more favorable to the man in the Kremlin than it was when Boris was sent to Kiev to scupper peace talks 20 months ago.
U.S. Funded Palestinian Genocide:
United States/ Israel Nuclear War on Gaza/Midle East: US Sends Deadly BLU-109 Bunker Buster Bombs To Israel For Gaza War
Depleted Uranium Situation Worsens The delivery of at least one hundred GBU-28 “bunker buster” bombs containing depleted-uranium warheads by the United States to Israel for use against targets in Lebanon will result in additional radioactive and chemical toxic contamination, with consequent adverse health and environmental effects throughout the Middle East. Israeli tank gunners are also using depleted-uranium tank rounds, as photographs verify. Today, US, British, and now Israeli military personnel are using illegal uranium munitions—America and the United Kingdom’s own “dirty bombs”— while US Army, US Department of Energy, US Department of Defense (DOD), and UK Ministry of Defence officials deny that there are any adverse health or environmental effects as a consequence of the manufacture, testing, or use of uranium munitions, so that they may avoid liability for the willful and illegal dispersal of a radioactive toxic material—depleted uranium (DU). The use of uranium weapons is absolutely unacceptable and a crime against humanity. Consequently, the citizens of the world and all governments must force the cessation of uranium weapons use. I must demand that Israel now provide medical care to all DU casualties in Lebanon and clean up all DU contamination.
Israel: Starvation Used as a Weapon of War in Gaza
- The Israeli government is using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare in the Gaza Strip, which is a war crime.
- Israeli officials have made public statements expressing their aim to deprive civilians in Gaza of food, water, and fuel – statements reflected in Israeli forces’ military operations.
- The Israeli government should not attack objects necessary for the survival of the civilian population, lift its blockade of the Gaza Strip, and restore electricity and water.
( Human Rights Watch ) – (Jerusalem) – The Israeli government is using starvation of civilians as a method of warfare in the occupied Gaza Strip, which is a war crime, Human Rights Watch said today. Israeli forces are deliberately blocking the delivery of water, food, and fuel, while willfully impeding humanitarian assistance, apparently razing agricultural areas, and depriving the civilian population of objects indispensable to their survival
War Crimes and Genocide: Legal Accountability When Swiss businessman Henri Dunant witnessed the bloody outcome of the Battle of Solferino in 1859, he was struck by the unaided suffering of the wounded. His observations, recounted in his 1862 A Memory of Solferino led to the founding of the International Red Cross. Thereafter, the 1864 Geneva Convention marked the beginning of an international legal process that governs not only duties toward the wounded but also the protection of civilians in the conduct of war.When Swiss businessman Henri Dunant witnessed the bloody outcome of the Battle of Solferino in 1859, he was struck by the unaided suffering of the wounded. His observations, recounted in his 1862 A Memory of Solferino led to the founding of the International Red Cross. Thereafter, the 1864 Geneva Convention marked the beginning of an international legal process that governs not only duties toward the wounded but also the protection of civilians in the conduct of war.
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’!
With the Super Fund Broke: After 9-11, Downtown Manhattan was/is Exposed to Asbestos!: Cate Jenkins, PhD, a 22-year specialist with the EPA’s Hazardous Waste Identification Division and the author of a 432-page memo to the EPA’s Inspector General as background documentation for the recently released IG report.On January 11, 2002, a memorandum was sent by Cate Jenkins, Ph.D., the head EPA hazardous waste investigator in lower Manhattan after 9/11. This memorandum compared the asbestos levels in the Montana, Libby Hazardous Waste Superfund Site* to the levels she found in Lower Manhattan. (In Libby, Montana almost 30% of the Libby residents were hurt by asbestos.) — 9-11 World Trade Center Dust Cloud: How Many Will Die?!
The 1%’s Government Protects the Polluters!— Public be Damned!:
Why Did Our Superfund Go Broke? After Love Canal, Congress passed the 1980 Superfund law to protect polluted communities. The law required that big polluting companies pay into a fund that would be used to clean up their messes. The Polluters Pay Tax worked. But in 1995, the tax expired and Congress decided not to renew it. By 2003, our Superfund was running on empty. In the two decades since, the number of sites cleaned up and speed of the Superfund cleanup process have plummeted. Slower cleanups leave us in danger, exposed to toxic chemicals and nuclear waste, raising children in polluted homes. Some sites have been on the Superfund National Priorities List since the beginning of the program in 1980, and still haven’t been cleaned up.
Weekly Average CO2 at Mauna Loa
- Week beginning on December 10, 2023: 20 ppm
- Weekly value from 1 year ago: 418.81 ppm
- Weekly value from 10 years ago: 396.39 ppm
- Last updated: December 19, 2023
False Transitions and Global Stocktakes: The Failure of COP28 The time has come to treat the sequence of UN Climate Change Conferences, the latest concluding in Dubai, as a series of the failed and the abysmally rotten. It shows how a worthless activity, caked (oiled?) with appropriately chosen words, can actually provide assurance that something worthwhile was done. Along the way, there are always the same beneficiaries: fossil fuel magnates and satirists.
Gas Pipeline Expansion Could Fuel Pacific North-West Climate Emergencies Washington, Oregon and California have stringent laws to combat fossil fuel, but the approval of GTN Xpress could upend that Construction could start before the new year on a gas pipeline expansion through the Pacific north-west that state officials say will undermine the region’s renewable transition and further fuel climate emergencies. The region is suffering from annual wildfires, deadly heat domes and drought. Lawmakers in Washington, Oregon and California have passed some of the country’s most stringent laws to move away from fossil fuels, but they say the federal commission that greenlit the project threatens to undermine that progress. GMB Union Says Urgent Action Needed to Tackle Safety Concerns at Sellafield Guardian investigation has revealed areas that need attention at nuclear site in Cumbria GMB union says urgent action needed to tackle safety concerns at Sellafield Guardian investigation has revealed areas that need attention at nuclear site in Cumbria. The GMB trade union has called on the government and nuclear authorities to take “urgent action” to address concerns over safety at Sellafield. The union has written to the energy minister, the Nuclear Decommissioning Authority (NDA) and Sellafield’s chief executive to demand greater investment into keeping the 11,000 employees at the vast nuclear rubbish dump in Cumbria safe.
Native Americam Genocide Continues: Farmers Receive No Response One Week After Oil Spill Was Discovered by Navajo Citizen, Impacting Navajo Grazing and Agricultural Land in Shiprock, New Mexico Beverly Maxwell was out of town on business for work when she was contacted by another community member on December 11th about an oil spill she discovered near a BIA road through her grazing land and near a wash that drains into one of the numerous agricultural canals farmers depend on. On Thursday, December 14th, an all-day soaking rain storm came through the community. Ms. Maxwell was not able to get a response from any officials that she contacted, but a family member said that they were told that the nearest safety valve was far away so there was no choice but to just let the crude oil flow.
Black Liberation/Civil Rights:
Oh Look, Police Reforms Didn’t Work The nation’s biggest investment in the past decade to fix police abuses has failed. The New York Times, in collaboration with ProPublica conducted an extensive 6-month-long investigation into the use of body cameras on police officers and found that it has done little to stop police killings. Reformists ought to be shocked—however, they may be too busy concocting yet another expensive scheme to pour money into policing rather than out—but abolitionists are hoarse from saying, “We told you it wouldn’t work.” When 18-year-old Mike Brown, newly graduated from high school, was gunned down in 2014 in cold blood by officer Darren Wilson in Ferguson, Missouri, his killing sparked one of the early waves of the Black Lives Matter movement. The New York Times rightly faced protest as well for referring to Brown as “no angel,” a familiar media post-mortem of Black police victims that paints them as deserving of death.
The Pope Offers (Mixed) Blessing to Gay Marriage The Pope Offers (Mixed) Blessing to Gay Marriage In a new document released by the Vatican on Monday, Pope Francis formally approved priests to bless same-sex unions. The blessings, according to Francis, could be extended in certain situations barring a blurring of the ritual and the sacrament of marriage. The new announcement still affirms marriage as a lifelong sacrament between a man and a woman, and blessings should not be equated with a civil union, “Nor can it be performed with any clothing, gestures, or words that are proper to a wedding.”
Labor:
Economy:
From 2010 through 2014, the Senate’s Permanent Subcommittee on Investigations Focused on Crime on Wall Street; Since Then – Head in the Sand From 2010 through 2014, the most intractably corrupt industry in America – Wall Street – was the perpetual focus of the Senate Permanent Subcomittee on Investigations. The late Senator Carl Levin (D-MI) Chaired that Subcommittee throughout that span of time. Then Levin retired from the Senate in January 2015 and Wall Street’s name disappeared from hearings of that critical Subcommittee from 2015 through 2023 – a span of nine years.
Three Wall Street Mega Banks Hold $157.3 Trillion in Derivatives – That’s $56.7 Trillion More than the Entire World’s GDP Last Year At recent Congressional hearings on federal bank regulators’ newly proposed rules to force the largest banks in the U.S. to hold more capital against their riskiest trading positions (so that taxpayers aren’t on the hook for more bailouts), the banks and their sycophants holding Senate and House seats made it sound like it’s the American farmers who will be hurt because the derivatives they use to hedge against crop failures or price swings in their crops will become more expensive..
World:
Mexico Must Stand up to Agribusiness Oligopolies on GM Corn Ban This coming January 1 marks the 30th anniversary of the trade pact originally known as the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA), now called the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement (USMCA). It also marks the 30th anniversary of the historic Zapatista uprising in southern Mexico that denounced the pact over concerns about threats to indigenous people and food security. Three decades later, it’s clear the Zapatistas were right. For Mexico, NAFTA meant abandoning food sovereignty in favor of imports of basic grains, causing an increase in inequality and migration. It meant abandoning the countryside and opening borders to trade, creating a vacuum that organized crime has filled. But, for a handful of transnational agribusiness corporations — such as Bimbo, Maseca, Monsanto, and Cargill — NAFTA has delivered huge profits.
Myanmar’s Junta Is in Trouble A Badly Weakened Dictatorship Myanmar’s (Burma) military dictatorship, which seized power in 2021, suddenly is vulnerable to attack from the hodgepodge resistance forces loosely aligned under a National Unity Government. These forces are of two kinds: ethnic minority armies, sometimes referred to as the Three Brotherhood Alliance, that have a long history of opposition to the military government, and pro-democracy groups backed by the NUG that have come together since the 2021 coup. (A publication of Myanmar journalists in exile in Thailand lists 30 armed groups in all, 10 of which are ethnic armies). What makes the resistance so threatening to the military now is that the various armies are coordinating and becoming increasingly successful in the north and northeast, areas that border China as well as Thailand and India. The opposition has captured towns, seized arsenals, and obtained the surrender of some government units, most recently including an entire battalion. Thousands of people have fled the fighting, mainly into India.
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