Daily News Digest January 24, 2024
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:
Newspeak: Welcome to the Empire. Welcome to the empire Whose bombs are humanitarian and whose provocations are invisible Where genocide is self-defense and peace rallies are genocide. Where war criminals are the victims and the hospitals are Hamas Where calls for freedom are hateful and ceasefires are anti-semitic. Where civilians get called terrorists and real terrorists get Nobel Peace Prizes. Where the propaganda is journalism and the journalism is propaganda. Where the democracy is real and the apartheid is imaginary. Where the corporations are people and the people are corporate resources . . .
Videos of the Day:
Michael Hudson on Russia, Iran and The Red Sea: Nato’s War Economy Collapses
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
It’s Not the Law, but Who Interprets the Law That Counts!: Legal Bullying Aims to Silence Campus Critics of Israel Title XI was designed to end discrimination and harassment on campus, but the law can also be misused, as partisans of Israel have done, to protect Israel from criticism and stifle pro-Palestinian voices. A sad fact of jurisprudence in an unequal world is that good laws created to promote justice are often used perversely by the powerful to thwart justice. Title VI of the 1964 Civil Rights Act is a prime example. Originally intended to combat discrimination based on race, color, or national origin, the law is misused today to quash pro-Palestinian speech and speech critical of Israel on university campuses.
Biden’s ‘Day After’ Plan for Gaza Reflects Ignorance and Incompetence The Biden administration plan for the “day after” in Gaza is rooted in American hubris and ignorance, and therefore doomed to failure. In its haste to divert attention away from its complicity in what is now a legal charge against Israel of genocide in Gaza, the United States administration under Joe Biden is working hard to promote its plan for the so-called “day after.” That is the day when Israel’s work in Gaza is finally done, either because there is finally some global pressure to make it stop, or it achieves its genocidal goals. As with virtually all of Biden’s foreign policy from the start of his administration, especially in the Middle East, the ideas generated by this “day after” thinking are rooted in American hubris and ignorance of the people they are dealing with, and are, therefore, doomed to failure.
Biden Has Started Another US War So they’re raining military explosives on impoverished middle easterners to maintain their status quo domination, under the pretense of goals which they themselves admit are not being achieved. Just another day in the empire, I guess. The Washington Post has an article out titled “As Houthis vow to fight on, U.S. prepares for sustained campaign,” with “sustained campaign” being empire-speak for a new American war. “The Biden administration is crafting plans for a sustained military campaign targeting the Houthis in Yemen after 10 days of strikes failed to halt the group’s attacks on maritime commerce, stoking concern among some officials that an open-ended operation could derail the war-ravaged country’s fragile peace and pull Washington into another unpredictable Middle Eastern conflict,” the Post reports.
US, UK Bomb Yemeni Capital as Part of ‘Sustained’ Attack on Houthis “The U.S. just bombed Yemen again,” the peace group CodePink noted. “The U.S. is illegally attacking Yemen so Israel can continue illegally attacking Gaza.” Anti-war voices on Monday condemned the start of what appeared to be the “sustained” assault on Yemen by U.S. and U.K. forces that top Biden administration officials have reportedly been planning—without congressional approval—in a bid to stop Houthi attacks on Red Sea shipping. “The U.S. just bombed Yemen again,” the peace group CodePink lamented on social media. “The U.S. is illegally attacking Yemen so Israel can continue illegally attacking Gaza.”
U.S. Funded Palestinian Genocide:
Hamas and Palestinian Jihad and other Islamist forces do not have any democratic and justice-oriented program for all the Palestinian people after the victory, and they do not believe in the equality of religions, the equality of men and women, civil liberties or secularism. These extremist religious forces in Palestine will, in the best case, establish a type of government similar to the Islamic Republic of the fascist mullahs in Iran or the Taliban Islamic Emirate based on Sharia law in Afghanistan. According to the way of thinking of the two main factions in the war in Palestine, both adhere to religious and ethnic fascism and are determined not to destroy each other, but to implement a project of hatred and genocide. Netanyahu’s government is actually committing massacres in Gaza under the pretext of destroying Hamas, and Hamas and other Islamic movements are still talking about the destruction of the Jewish generation. The fact that some people in Palestine support Hamas is not because of the excellent program and good approach of Hamas, but because of the reaction of the Palestinian people to the barbarism and naked aggression of the Zionist regime of Israel. — No to genocide–support a democratic and secular Palestine
Will World Court’s Ruling in Genocide Case Signal the End of International Law? A credibility crisis with sharp consequences could result if the court rules in favor of Israel, despite the evidence. . . . Nearly 30 years ago, the ICJ, also known as the World Court, played an important role in the struggle to end apartheid in South Africa. Today, it is South Africa who has taken the lead in the genocide charge against Israel — a landmark case that would have made Nelson Mandela and Archbishop Desmond Tutu proud. Over the next several weeks, we shall see if the ICJ will endorse any of the “provisional measures” requested by South Africa, including its call for Israel to immediately suspend its military operations in Gaza. There is also a strong likelihood that the ICJ will succumb to pressure from the U.S., U.K., Germany and other Western nations and let Israel off the hook.
How Israel Got Stuck in Orwell’s ‘1984’ As state paranoia rises in Israel, civil liberties including freedom of the press have taken a huge hit. Indeed freedom of thought is under siege for Israeli Jews, not to mention the nightmare faced by Israeli Arabs, and those in the West Bank.* Israel has recently abused and imprisoned more journalists in the past two months than all but six, notorious right-wing dictatorships. As state paranoia rises in Israel, civil liberties including freedom of the press have taken a huge hit. Indeed freedom of thought is under siege for Israeli Jews, not to mention the nightmare faced by Israeli Arabs, and those in the West Bank.* Israel has recently abused and imprisoned more journalists in the past two months than all but six, notorious right-wing dictatorships.
New Film Examines US Jews’ Growing Rejection of Israel’s Occupation “Israelism” is on a 40-city screening tour after previous efforts to ban the screenings on several campuses. The new documentary Israelism examines the growing generational divide among Jewish Americans on the question of Palestine, with many younger Jews increasingly critical of Israel and less supportive of Zionism. Simone Zimmerman, one of the protagonists of the film and a co-founder of the group IfNotNow, says she grew up being told that supporting Israel was central to her Jewish identity, but that collapsed once she visited the Occupied Palestinian Territories and saw the system of apartheid under which millions live. “It’s so deeply contrary to our values as Jewish people to support this disgusting oppression and denial of freedom,” she says. We are also joined by Erin Axelman, co-director and one of the producers of Israelism, who says Zimmerman’s journey mirrors their own and those of many other young Jews who realize they “must fight for the freedom and equality of Palestinians while also fighting antisemitism.” The film is on a 40-city screening tour in Canada and the United States after previous efforts to ban the screenings on several campuses.
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’!
Global Warming is Systemic to Capitalism: Weekly Average CO2 at Mauna Loa
- Week beginning on January 14, 2024: 422.84 ppm
- Weekly value from 1 year ago: 419.30 ppm
- Weekly value from 10 years ago: 398.05 ppm
- Last updated: January 23, 202
After the Harm is Done: The Brockovich Report: EPA Admits: Oops, Coal Ash Is More Toxic & Carcinogenic Than We Thought. That’s A Big Problem For Communities Across The Country Where Ash Leaches Hazardous Chemicals Into The Local Environment. “ I wish I wasn’t the only one left living to make this testimony,” said Vickie Simmons, a member of the Moapa Band of Paiutes in southern Nevada back in June 2023 at a U.S. EPA public hearing on coal ash. “I’m getting old, but still I’m coming because we need that plant cleaned up. Where was the EPA then, and where is the EPA now?” For decades, the Tribe has endured severe coal ash pollution from the second most-contaminated coal ash site in the U.S., at the former Reid Gardner power plant. Their homes were located less than one fourth of a mile from the once-operating smoke stacks and within 500 feet from the plant’s evaporation ponds. Vickie’s brother died when he was just 31. Coal ash, also called coal combustion residuals (CCR), is the toxic, carcinogenic waste product left behind when power plants burn coal for energy. It contains everything from arsenic and radium to lead, mercury and other heavy metals. A November 2023 EPA report found that coal ash could increase someone’s cancer risk significantly more than previously estimated. I would say that’s a pretty big “oops.” Read the full EPA draft risk assessment report now, stating that the health risks of radioactivity of coal ash are much greater than previously estimated.
Black Liberation/Civil Rights:
Black Agenda Radio January 19, 2024
South African Lawyer Provides Evidence of Israel’s Genocidal Intent
International Court of Justice Hears Case Against Israel, U.S. Continues Support of Zionism – Part 2
Sekou Odinga Presente! Sekou Odinga was a member of Malcolm X’s Organization of Afro-American Unity, a founding member of the New York chapter of the Black Panther Party as well as the Black Panther International Section, and who was tried as a member of the NY Panther 21. A citizen of the Republic of New Afrika and combatant of the Black Liberation Army, he was captured in October 1981, and spent the following thirty-three years behind bars—a prisoner of war and political prisoner of the U.S. empire. He was released in November 2014, and he continued to advocate for the release of all political prisoners. Sekou Odinga joined the ancestors on January 12, 2024 at the age of 79. He gave this interview in 2021 on the necessity of the “Spirit of Mandela International Tribunal 2021: We Charge Genocide!”
Labor:
Here’s Why the Chicago Teachers Union Supports a Cease-Fire in Gaza Violence and murder anywhere is the same everywhere. If we are not OK with kids dying in Chicago, in our country and other countries like Ukraine, then we should not be OK with kids dying in Palestine. If you teach, your absolute worst nightmare is that something tragic happens to your students. Teachers don’t just think about students when they are in front of us; we think about them throughout each day and night. They are a central part of our lives.
Economy:
Greedflation Accounts for 53 Cents of Every Dollar of Inflation in Past 6 Months With the 2024 presidential election looming, 96 percent of Americans say inflation is an important issue to them. The report, from the progressive organization Groundwork Collaborative, found that, in the past two economic quarters alone, 53 cents out of every dollar of inflationary price increases were due to corporate profits. Since the start of the pandemic, corporate greed and profits accounted for close to one-third of all inflation, the group discovered — resulting in a phenomenon that is oftentimes called “greedflation.
‘They Get Their Money for Nothing’ Why Invest in Safety?!: Did Stock Buybacks Knock the Bolts Out of Boeing? Rather than reinvesting more deeply in the company’s products, Boeing chose to pay off stockholders and Boeing executives. You’d think that Boeing would not compromise on safety, given that one small production error or software glitch could down a plane worth hundreds of millions of dollars while killing hundreds of people in one blow. But you’d be wrong.
Naming Names: Professor Exposes the Banking Cartel That has Hijacked U.S. Democracy Gerald Epstein is Professor of Economics and a Founding Co-Director of the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) at the University of Massachusetts, Amherst. A book he has spent the past decade researching and writing comes out today from the University of California Press: Busting the Bankers’ Club: Finance for the Rest of Us. Anticipation of this book’s release has caused some sweaty brows in the halls of Congress, on Wall Street, at Big Law, and in the economics community. That’s because Epstein is naming names – the names of the people who have sold out American democracy and the public interest by becoming sycophants for, or actual members of, the Bankers’ Club.
World:
Haiti: Residents Trapped as Armed Gangs Target Key Pocket Of Port-Au-Prince Thick smoke rises above strategic neighbourhood of Solino as frantic residents call into radio stations for help Gang members have targeted a strategic neighbourhood in Haiti’s capital, in a four-day attack which has left residents trapped in their homes by flaming barricades and automatic gunfire.
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