Daily News Digest January 9, 2024
Images of the Day:
Satellite Mapping Reveals Extensive Industrial Activity at Sea 
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!
Quote of the Day:
Each step in the development of the bourgeoisie was accompanied by a corresponding political advance of that class. An oppressed class under the sway of the feudal nobility, an armed and self-governing association in the medieval commune(4): here independent urban republic (as in Italy and Germany); there taxable “third estate” of the monarchy (as in France); afterwards, in the period of manufacturing proper, serving either the semi-feudal or the absolute monarchy as a counterpoise against the nobility, and, in fact, cornerstone of the great monarchies in general, the bourgeoisie has at last, since the establishment of Modern Industry and of the world market, conquered for itself, in the modern representative State, exclusive political sway. The executive of the modern state is but a committee for managing the common affairs of the whole bourgeoisie. — Manifesto of the Communist Party
As for the “religious” arguments for the annexation of the territories—these are only an expression, subconsciously or perhaps even overtly hypocritical, of the transformation of the Jewish religion into a camouflage for Israeli nationalism. Counterfeit religion identifies national interests with the service of God and imputes to the state—which is only an instrument serving human needs—supreme value from a religious standpoint. — Yeshayahu Leibowitz
“Forever chemicals” are in our drinking water sources, sea foam and spray, rain and groundwater, sea ice, and even human blood – so now efforts are increasing to detect, remove and destroy them. With increasing evidence linking per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances (PFAS) with cancers, birth defects and negative effects on the immune systems of humans and animals, pressure is growing to restrict these handy waterproofing chemicals that are in everything from Teflon pans and medical devices to cosmetics and pizza boxes. — The Race to Destroy 3he Toxic ‘Forever Chemicals’ Polluting Our World
Videos of the Day:
Biden Staffers Quitting “In Droves” Over Gaza Destruction!
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
World Capitalism’s Newspeak Doesn’t Tolerate Truth: Assange’s Rights and Press Freedom Hang in the Balance The deadline for Julian Assange’s fight against extradition to the United States looms, as British judges will decide his case on February 21. Meanwhile, the American demand that Wikileaks publisher Assange stand trial in Virginia on trumped-up charges is what has kept this journalist locked up in Britain’s maximum security Belmarsh jail for four years, and sequestered for refuge in the Ecuadoran embassy in London for seven years before that. Back then, Assange predicted Washington would try to extradite him, but his fair-weather friends in the press pooh-poohed this worry. Guess who assessed U.S. judicial aggression correctly? Hiding from the Empire was the right move. But it took a huge toll. Basically, Assange has been imprisoned in miserable conditions for over a decade – all for the crime of reporting so honestly that it embarrassed American political elites.
Biden Launches Reelection Campaign With Fraudulent Claim to Defend Democracy Against Trump President Joe Biden officially launched his reelection campaign on Friday, one day before the third anniversary of the January 6, 2021 fascistic coup spearheaded by then-President Donald Trump. His speech made clear that the 2024 elections are unfolding under conditions of unprecedented political crisis in the US, the center of world imperialism. Biden chose both the date and location for his initial campaign speech—Blue Bell, Pennsylvania, in the Philadelphia suburbs, near the historic American Revolutionary War winter encampment at Valley Forge—in order to frame his reelection campaign as a choice between democracy and dictatorship.
Endless War and the American ‘Ghost Budget’ That Pays for It Prior to 2001, U.S. wars were financed through a mixture of higher taxes and budget cuts, and funded mostly through the regular defense budget. The post-9/11 war funding pattern was completely different. The post-9/11 wars in Iraq and Afghanistan were enabled by a historically unprecedented combination of budgetary procedures and financing methods. Unlike all previous U.S. wars, the post-9/11 wars were funded without higher taxes or non-war budget cuts, and through a separate budget. This set of circumstances – one that I have termed the “Ghost Budget” – enabled successive administrations to prosecute the wars with limited congressional oversight and minimal transparency and public debate. I adopted the name “Ghost Budget” because the term “ghost” appeared frequently in post-9/11 government reports in reference to funds allocated to people, places, or projects that turned out to be phantoms.
U.S. Funded Palestinian Genocide:
The Chris Hedges Report with Israeli Historian Ilan Pappé on Israel’s End Game in gaza and the Future f the Israeli Apartheid State “Religious nationalism is to religion what National Socialism was to socialism,” warned Leibowitz, who died in 1994. He understood that the blind veneration of the military, especially after the 1967 war that captured the West Bank and East Jerusalem, was dangerous and would lead to the ultimate destruction of democracy. “Our situation will deteriorate to that of a second Vietnam, to a war in constant escalation without prospect of ultimate resolution.” He foresaw that “the Arabs would be the working people and the Jews the administrators, inspectors, officials, and police — mainly secret police. A state ruling a hostile population of 1.5 million to 2 million foreigners would necessarily become a secret-police state, with all that this implies for education, free speech and democratic institutions. The corruption characteristic of every colonial regime would also prevail in the State of Israel. The administration would have to suppress Arab insurgency on the one hand and acquire Arab Quislings on the other. There is also good reason to fear that the Israel Defense Force, which has been until now a people’s army, would, as a result of being transformed into an army of occupation, degenerate, and its commanders, who will have become military governors, resemble their colleagues in other nations.” He warned that the rise of a virulent racism would consume Israeli society. He knew that prolonged occupation of the Palestinians would spawn “concentration camps” for the occupied and that, in his words, “Israel would not deserve to exist, and it will not be worthwhile to preserve it.”
FM: Jordan Supports South Africa’s Genocide Case Against Israel in IJC Jordan supports the case filed by South Africa against Israel in the International Court of Justice (IJC) on charges of committing genocide against the Palestinians and violating the 1948 Genocide Convention, adding that the foreign ministry is preparing the necessary legal file to follow up on the case and coordinate with Arab and Islamic countries, Minister of Foreign and Expatriate Affairs, Ayman Safadi, said yesterday. Speaking in parliament, Al-Safadi said Israel’s prevention of the entry of sufficient humanitarian aid into Gaza is in implementation of the starvation policy pursued by the occupation against Palestinians, which is in clear violation of international law, and represents another war crime.
Marjorie Cohn: Israel Is Terrified the World Court Will Decide It’s Committing Genocide South Africa, a party to the Genocide Convention, charged Israel with genocide in the International Court of Justice. For nearly three months, Israel has enjoyed virtual impunity for its atrocious crimes against the Palestinian people. That changed on December 29 when South Africa, a state party to the Genocide Convention, filed an 84-page application in the International Court of Justice (ICJ, or World Court) alleging that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza. South Africa’s well-documented application alleges that “acts and omissions by Israel … are genocidal in character, as they are committed with the requisite specific intent … to destroy Palestinians in Gaza as a part of the broader Palestinian national, racial and ethnical group” and that “the conduct of Israel — through its State organs, State agents, and other persons and entities acting on its instructions or under its direction, control or influence — in relation to Palestinians in Gaza, is in violation of its obligations under the Genocide Convention.”
Genocide Denialism and the South African Complaint: USG Spokesmen like Kirby are the Goebbels of the 21st Century The Biden Administration continues to run a scam on the US public and the world by running interference for the Israeli genocide against Palestinians in Gaza. The smarmy and duplicitous spokesman for the US National Security Council, John Kirby, responded to the South African complaint against Israel to the International Court of Justice for the crime of genocide, “We find this submission meritless, counterproductive, and completely without any basis in fact whatsoever.”
Israel Accused of ‘Effort to Intimidate the Judges’ Ahead of Genocide Hearings (I’s Safe Bet that the Spectre of the Unidted States is in the Background! —R.S.) “Israel is pressing others to denounce the case in the hope of persuading the International Court of Justice to decide based on politics rather than the facts,” said one critic. The Israeli government has mounted a pressure campaign urging governments around the world to publicly denounce South Africa’s genocide case at the International Court of Justice, which is set to convene hearings on the detailed charges on Thursday.
Environment:
How We Found Out What’s Done to the Oceans When Nobody Is Watching We found that a remarkable amount of activity occurs outside of public monitoring systems. Our new map and data provide the most comprehensive public picture available of industrial uses of the ocean. Humans are racing to harness the ocean’s vast potential to power global economic growth. Worldwide, ocean-based industries such as fishing, shipping and energy production generate at least US$1.5 trillion in economic activity each year and support 31 million jobs. This value has been increasing exponentially over the past 50 years and is expected to double by 2030.
Civil Rights/Black Liberation:
Claudine Gay Faced Racism and Zionist Ire — She Also Failed Palestinian Students Racism is built into Harvard’s foundation. As president, Gay was both a victim and an agent of white supremacy. On January 2, 2024, Claudine Gay became the shortest-serving president of Harvard University. What could have been a presidential tenure of transformative actions befitting of the hopeful promises of Harvard’s first Black woman president has instead ended in frustration and controversy. I watched and experienced her tumultuous six-month tenure as a Black woman alumna. As we begin to decide how we want to remember her presidency, one glaringly obvious truth persists: Harvard will always protect white supremacy. In suppressing pro-Palestine students, President Gay was doing the job of a Harvard president and carrying out the University’s commitment to white supremacy. But ultimately, when she failed to do this well enough, she became a victim of the same racism she had tried to uphold. The interdependency of anti-Black racism and Zionism cannot be more clear than through President Gay’s tenure and resignation.
Labor:
Economy:
Michael Roberts Facebook Blog: The myth of the shareholder capitalist democracy. 92.5% of equities are held by the top 10% wealthiest Americans a a record high concentration. Two decades ago, the wealthiest 10 percent of Americans held 77 per cent of corporate equities and mutual funds,according to calculations by Lyn Alden, a strategist. The poorest 50 per cent held just 1 per cent, leaving the middle-to-upper cohort with 12 per cent. Today, however, the wealthiest 10 per cent own 92.5 per cent of the market — a “record high concentration”, Alden notes. And while the richest 1 per cent owned just 40 per cent two decades ago, their share stood at 54 per cent in the most recent data from 2022.
JPMorgan and Jeffrey Epstein Explained: Twisted Banking Taps into Sex Fiend’s Network According to the complaint filed by lawyers for Jeffrey Epstein’s victims against the biggest bank in America, JPMorgan Chase, Epstein was running a “sex-themed cult.” According to a deposition of a JPMorgan banker, the only money-generating business that Epstein had was tending to his “network.” According to witness testimony, fulfilling the sexual fantasies of some men in Epstein’s “network,” was how he obtained six opulent homes and hundreds of millions of dollars in wealth. Epstein’s cult and network needed one essential ingredient to thrive: a financial institution willing to look the other way at vast sums of hard cash being withdrawn monthly and suspicious transfers of money between Epstein and his accomplices. Epstein found that for at least fifteen years at JPMorgan Chase according to documents and internal emails obtained in discovery in separate lawsuits against the bank in November and December of 2022 by Epstein’s victims and the Attorney General for the U.S. Virgin Islands, where Epstein owned a private, secluded island compound.
World:
- Researchers say new technology can use signals from radars, warships or even early warning planes of other countries to track cargo ships
- Set-up uses simple gear such as a laptop and an antenna to disentangle the radar signals of foreign militaries, team says in recent paper
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
And They Blamed Covid Pandemic on China: To be Foretold is to Be Forewarned! Factory Farms Cause Pandemics! “Today’s industrial farming practices have given viruses billions more spins at pandemic roulette. How can we stop the emergence of pandemic viruses in the first place? Whenever possible, treat the cause. The largest and oldest association of public health professionals in the world, the American Public Health Association, has called for a moratorium on factory farming for nearly two decades. Indeed, factory farms are a public health menace. In addition to discontinuing the intensive confinement practices of animal agriculture, we should continue to research, develop, and invest in innovative plant-based and cultivated meat technologies to move away from raising billions of feathered and curly-tailed test tubes for viruses with pandemic potential to mutate within.” — The United States National Center for Biotechnology Information of the Institue Document: Primary Pandemic Prevention (2013)