Daily News Digest February 22, 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:
Jefferson’s words, from the Declaration of Independence, that human rights are unalienable, mean that these rights can never be superseded. At all points of conflict the rights of humanity to survive must supersede the right of the few to make a profit. The right to a safe environment is an unalienable human right! Since environmental illness and destruction are a global concern, it requires all of humanity to act collectively, in our overall interests for our survival as a species, to correct the problem and to remove the obstacle of capitalism. It requires a society where humanity has social, economic, and political control over the entire environment. Such a society, a socialist society, is needed to ensure that all decisions affecting the environment are under the democratic control of humankind so that the production of goods will be done for the needs and survival of humanity instead of the production and the destruction of humanity and other species for profit. With common ownership of the means of production, and common control and protection of all property and wealth, science and society will be in harmony with the ecosystem and humanity’s future. With these goals we can begin to build a more effective environmental movement. As we continue to organize against capitalism and its destructive course, we can and will transform the world! — Whither Humanity? The Environmental Crisis of Capitalism We Don’t Need a Green New Deal! — We Need a Green Industrial Revolution!
Podcasts/Videos of the Day:
[Podcast] What is Capitalism? We are often told that capitalism is the most efficient economic system; that markets are rational tools for distribution; and that only under capitalism can people live free and fair lives. However, while capitalism might enrich a parasitic handful, it is fundamentally a system of oppression and exploitation for the vast majority of humanity. But what actually is this system? How does it work, and not work? How do we bring it down; and what can we replace it with?
Trump Has 30 Days to Pay $450M in Fines and Penalties From Civil Fraud Case Trump’s planned appeal is unlikely to succeed, says Pulitzer Prize-winning investigative journalist Russ Buettner.
Over 50 Countries Testify Before ICJ Against Israel’s Occupation 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
Record 50 Million Children Now Displaced as Wars, Climate Crisis Rage “When children lose their homes, they lose almost everything: their access to healthcare, education, food, and safety,” one advocate said. The 10 biggest global crises—including Israel’s war on Gaza—forced more than 10 million children to flee their homes in 2023. That figure likely puts the total number of displaced children at more than 50 million, a new record, Save the Children said in an analysis published Tuesday. The number of children displaced worldwide has also more than doubled from around 20.6 million in 2010. While the number of displaced people overall reached a record 114 million in October 2023, children are being pushed from their homes at an even faster rate than adults and face unique vulnerabilities.
Chris Hedges: Julian Assange’s Final Appeal Julian Assange will make his final appeal this week to the British courts to avoid extradition. If he is extradited it is the death of investigations into the inner workings of power by the press. LONDON — If Julian Assange is denied permission to appeal his extradition to the United States before a panel of two judges at the High Court in London this week, he will have no recourse left within the British legal system. His lawyers can ask the European Court of Human Rights (ECtHR) for a stay of execution under Rule 39, which is given in “exceptional circumstances” and “only where there is an imminent risk of irreparable harm.” But it is far from certain that the British court will agree. It may order Julian’s immediate extradition prior to a Rule 39 instruction or may decide to ignore a request from the ECtHR to allow Julian to have his case heard by the court
‘Praise the Lord and Pass the Ammunition’! 2 Baptist Pastors and US Senators Vote for More Killing of Palestinians in Gaza The vote showed the hypocrisy of the two senators who are pastors of the Christian denomination. The February 12, 2024 U.S. Senate vote on $14 billion to Israel shows the depravity of most of the members of the legislative body. In particular, it showed the hypocrisy of the two enators who are pastors of a Christian denominations as well as the shallowness of the few senators who called for a cease-fire and then voted for money to kill more Palestinians. Only three Senators who caucus with the Democrats voted against the funding—Sens. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), Peter Welch (D-Vt.), and Jeff Merkley (D-Ore.)
U.S. Funded Palestinian Genocide:
As Israeli Forces Fire on Starving Palestinians, US Again Vetoes UN Cease-Fire Resolution “We should ask ourselves: How many innocent lives must be sacrificed before the council deems it necessary to call for a cease-fire?” said the Algerian envoy to the United Nations. As a United Nations agency halted aid deliveries in northern Gaza, where acute malnourishment is rampant among children, citing a “breakdown of social order” fueled by Israel’s bombardment of and blockade on the enclave, the United States for a third time on Tuesday vetoed a cease-fire resolution at the U.N. Security Council—saying it was an inopportune time to demand that Israel end its massacre of Palestinians.e
Biden, tired of being “Genocide Joe,” Finally Blinks, will push UN Resolution for Temporary Gaza Ceasefire Julian Borger at The Guardian says he has seen a draft US proposal for a United Nations Security Council calling for a “temporary ceasefire” in Gaza and cautioning against any offensive on the southern Gaza region of Rafah, where 1.4 million refugees from the rest of Gaza have joined the existing hundreds of thousands of residents.
‘Where Is the Humanity?’ Doctors, WHO Stunned by IDF’s Destruction of Gaza Hospital “The dismantling and degradation of the Nasser Medical Complex is a massive blow to Gaza’s health system,” said the World Health Organization. After Israeli forces refused to grant them access to the besieged facility for weeks, World Health Organization officials were finally allowed to enter Nasser Hospital in southern Gaza over the weekend—and they were “shocked” by the destruction they witnessed.
Environment:
Fund Climate! — Not Genocide! 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’!
Capitalism’s Wars for Oil: When Bodies Start Stacking Up From Climate Change-Related Disasters, Will These Monsters be Held to Account?
Why Is the US Producing More Oil and Natural Gas Than Ever Under Biden? US crude oil production reached an all-time production high in 2023 — the hottest year on record. The current year has a one-in-three chance of being even hotter than 2023, which was already the world’s warmest year on record, according to analyses conducted by scientific organizations such as NASA and Copernicus Climate Change Service. And there is a 99 percent chance that 2024 will rank among the five warmest on record, according to scientists from the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. In the meantime, U.S. crude oil production reached an all-time production high in 2023, solidifying the position of the U.S. as the No. 1 global oil powerhouse. So much for President Joe Biden’s vows of “strong” climate action; he has in fact approved nearly twice the number of oil and gas permits for wells on federal land that former President Donald Trump did in his first three years in office.
At least 60% of US Population May Face ‘Forever Chemicals’ in Tap Water, Tests Suggest Federal tests of one-third of water systems find 70 million Americans exposed to PFAS – suggesting 200 million affected overall. At least 60% of US population may face ‘forever chemicals’ in tap water, tests suggest. Federal tests of one-third of water systems find 70 million Americans exposed to PFAS – suggesting 200 million affected overall. About 70 million people are exposed to toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” in US drinking water, new testing from the Environmental Protection Agency has found. But the testing completed to date has only checked about one-third of the nation’s public water systems, meaning the agency is on pace to find over 200 million people are exposed, or at least 60% of the US population.
Black Liberation/Civil Rights:
12 Years After Degrading Mass Strip Search, Women in Prison Won $1.4M Settlement The settlement is far larger than others of its kind and represents a win for fourth amendment rights behind bars. “It was horrific,” Michelle Wells recalls of the morning when the “Orange Crush,” a notorious band of prison guards, stormed through her cellblock at Lincoln Correctional Center, in central Illinois, to conduct a mass shakedown. “They’re not friendly,” she told Truthout in an interview. “When they come in, they come in trashing everything.”
Labor:
Economy:
Shadow Government Statistics New Weekly Commentary February 19, 2024 Opening Headlines, Latest Numbers And Outlook No Parallel Real Economic Booms Have Been Seen in Underlying Monthly Economic Data, Versus the Headline 3% Real Annual Booms in 3rd- and 4th-Quarter 2023 GDP. No Recovery Here, Yet, from the Pandemic-Driven Collapse – Preliminary February 2024 Consumer Sentiment Held 21.2% (-21.2%) Shy of Ever Recovering Its February 2020 Pre-Pandemic Peak In Contrast, Headline Quarterly GDP Recovered Its Pre-Pandemic Peak in First-Quarter 2021, Rising Thereafter, Currently Up by 9.7%. Consider that Heavily Politicized and Headlined, Booming Real Third- and Fourth-Quarter 2023 Three-Percent Year-to-Year GDP Growth Rates Are Reported in Place by the Bureau of Economic Analysis, While:
- Last Week’s Heavy Reporting of Various, Better-Quality Headline Monthly Economic Releases Reconfirmed Flat-to-Contracting Broad Year-to-Year Economic Activity for Second-Half 2023
- Moving into January/February 2024, Those Releases Showed a Continuing Pattern of Faltering Monthly Activity, Suggestive of Pending First-Quarter 2024 GDP Problems
- Those Monthly Releases Included January Industrial Production, Real Retail Sales, Cass Freight Index®, New Residential Construction and the University of Michigan’s Initial-Estimate of February 2024 Consumer Sentiment
JPMorgan Says Its “Trading Venues” Are Under Investigation While It’s Still on Probation for Prior Trading CrimesLast Friday, ahead of a three-day weekend when bad news could be expected to evaporate into the ether by the next news cycle, JPMorgan Chase dropped a bombshell in its 10-K (annual report) filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The bank, which has admitted to an unprecedented five criminal felony counts since 2014, said its “trading venues” were under investigation by three unnamed regulatory bodies. This is a very serious matter for this particular bank because three of its prior felony counts involved rigging markets. The bank admitted to rigging foreign exchange markets in 2015 and to rigging, for more than eight years, the precious metals and U.S. Treasury markets in an agreement with the U.S. Department of Justice in September 2020.
World:
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