Daily News Digest March 5, 2024
Images of the Day:
Bendib: Pentagon Pork Barrel
Bendib: War Profiteering
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! Globaly, With the Current Gaza War, The Right of Assembly is Under Attack! 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:
It should therefore come as no surprise that defense contractors routinely overcharge the Pentagon—and the American taxpayer—by nearly 40 to 50 percent. One company, TransDigm, overcharged by 4,451 percent. Taxpayers are getting wise to this graft: Data for Progress found that 80 percent of likely voters believe that the Defense Department should be required to pass an independent audit before Congress increases its budget by another nickel. But despite billions in fines for fraud or misconduct, the contracts never seem to dry up. That may be down to America’s system of legalized bribery: A share of the profits from these lucrative contracts will flow back to politicians who gladly accept millions in campaign contributions to make sure the defense budget is always flush. According to the watchdog group OpenSecrets, defense contractors spent nearly $140 million lobbying the federal government last year. Millions of dollars more go directly to members of Congress in campaign contributions from companies, individuals, and political-action committees linked to the defense industry. —Defense Contractors Are Bilking the American People
The National Security Act 2024 puts the U.S. on track to spend more on its military this year than it did annually on average during World War II. Seventy percent of the $95 billion bill is designated for the Pentagon, as is another $886 billion Congress authorized in December. Altogether, the pending fiscal year 2024 Pentagon budget stands at $953 billion. But as Biden pushes for the largest military budget in the postwar era, 63 percent of U.S. adults say rising prices are a source of hardship; 41 percent report difficulty paying for basic needs like food, housing, child care, and utilities; and 23 percent said they were unable to pay an energy bill in full in the last year. These measures of financial distress are all higher than what they were on average in fiscal years 2021, 2022, or 2023. In the midst of a cost-of-living crisis, the president’s focus is on weapons. — Biden is Bankrolling Israel’s War Amid Growing Financial Hardship at Home
Pocasts/Videos of the Day:
Report from Rafah: U.S. Airdrops Food to Gaza While Arming Israel to Drop Bombs
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
Defense Contractors Are Bilking the American People Congress should curb war profiteering with a new Truman Committee. America’s national priorities are badly misplaced. Our country spends, with almost no debate, nearly $1 trillion a year on the military while at the same time ignoring massive problems at home. We apparently have unlimited amounts of money for nuclear weapons, fighter planes, bombs, and tanks. But somehow we can’t summon the resources to provide health care for all, child care, affordable housing, and other basic needs. The United States remains the world’s dominant military power. Alone, we account for roughly 40 percent of global military spending; the U.S. spends more on its military than the next 10 countries combined, most of whom are allies. Last year, we spent more than three times what China spent on its military.
War Funds Going Down the Corporate Money Hole: Sanders Slams Pentagon After Report Finds Agency Lacks Basic Fraud Avoidance The agency’s lack of simple fraud prevention exists despite the defense industry being rife with fraud. Despite being given half of the entire federal government’s discretionary spending each year, the Department of Defense doesn’t take even the most basic steps to avoid and investigate fraud, a new bombshell report finds. The Government Accountability Office (GAO) found in a report commissioned by Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vermont) that the Pentagon — the only federal agency that’s never passed an audit — has repeatedly failed to properly respond to fraud, despite having thousands of fraud cases in recent years, and despite previous fraud prevention recommendations by GAO investigators.
War, Trauma, and Forgetting Our memories are often suppressed by trauma, a word derived from “Traumatiko”, a wound or mental shock. Examples of traumatic events are people being compelled to leave their homes due to war, disease, drought, famine or similar events. Recent sociological studies on the after-effects of war reveal feelings of apathy, resignation and hopelessness brought on by being forced to leave one’s ancestral territory. Kelly Borhaug, author of “Moral Injury and War Culture” quotes Hannah Arendt’s famous phrase on “the banality of evil” in reference to the Holocaust. The “evil” referred to was a “failure to think” [through the consequences of their actions], Evil has many guises, as Borhaug notes, and is “most pernicious and dangerous when it is routinized and normalized”.
Nation of Laws and the Language of Deception Along with the “nation of laws” mythology, it is important to perpetuate the belief among the general population that the country does good things around the world when all too often the opposite is true.
U.S. Funded Palestinian Genocide:
Millions Across the World March for Gaza ss Rafah Ground Invasion Looms Millions around the world marched in support of Gaza on Saturday as Israel’s deadline for an invasion of the enclave’s southern city of Rafah approaches. Millions of people around the world, in many cases under pouring rain, marched in support of Gaza on Saturday as Israel’s deadline for an invasion of the enclave’s southern city of Rafah approaches. In what organisers called a Global Day of Action, specifically “Hands Off Rafah” for this weekend’s demonstrations, protesters from diverse backgrounds took to the streets of hundreds of cities – from Seattle to Seoul. As the crowd swelled in downtown San Francisco, with drums beating and flags waving, an elderly Palestinian man with his family approached the demonstration holding a sign reading: I’m 96. It’s been 148 days + 75 years: ENOUGH!
Freedom of Assembly is under attack: Protesters Clash with police at S.F. Pro-Palestinian March A weekend pro-Palestinian march in San Francisco apparently turned into a clash between protesters and San Francisco police when the protesters pushed past barricades and allegedly shimmied up a flagpole to replace an American flag with the flag of Palestine. Organizers of Saturday’s Global Day of Action for Palestine allege that marchers were “pepper-sprayed at point-blank range, including the rally’s official police liaison, who was wearing a vest and using a wheelchair,” according to a news release. “Other peaceful protestors experienced serious injuries from police batons, including broken hands, and the police fired a ‘less-than-lethal’ ordnance.”
‘Israeli Violence is Legitimized and Palestinian Counter-Violence is Delegitimized’ Janine Jackson: Seven national US unions, along with more than 200 locals, just formed a coalition calling for a ceasefire in Israel’s genocidal war on Gaza. Postal workers, flight attendants, teachers, nurses, auto workers, painters: more than 9 million union workers have signed on to the National Labor Network for Ceasefire, calling for an immediate end to violence and the restoration of basic human rights, the release of hostages and full access for humanitarian aid. “We can’t stand by in the face of this suffering,” said the head of United Electrical Radio and Machine Workers. “We cannot bomb our way to peace.” So this is on the heels of a ceasefire call by the AFL-CIO, who have a decidedly spotty history in taking the side of humanity in international conflicts in which the US is involved. It’s reflective of a growing understanding of the non-marginality of protesting Israel’s violent actions in Palestine, and dissenting from US financial and political support for them.
Netanyahu Was Right: Israel Acts Like a US Aircraft Carrier That is how Israel, as a military colony, serves its imperial master. Although it may seem puzzling why the United States supports and provides cover for Israel’s most outrageously authoritarian, lawless, and even brutal actions, the reason is hiding in plain sight. It is not, as many speculate, primarily because of AIPAC. It is because Israel is a military colony of the United States.
As the Bombs are Dropping: Biden Admin Airdrops 38,000 Meals Into Gaza as US-Armed Israeli Military Starves Millions “Biden is airdropping food (expensive, inefficient, potentially dangerous) because he won’t condition massive U.S. military aid and arms sales on Israel ending its obstruction of most ground aid deliveries.”
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?
Under the new approach, EPA is still expected to complete a rule in April that would cut greenhouse gas pollution limits for existing coal-fired and future natural gas plants,” E&E News reported. “But the rule coming out in April will no longer include limits for existing gas-fired plants — the country’s top generator of electricity. — Biden EPA Exempts Gas-Fired Power Plants From New Regulations
First, natural gas power plants do not move – they just sit there and emit NOx when they are operating. Those NOx emissions may linger in nearby communities, leading to serious health problems for the people living near plants. And since half of California’s natural gas power plants are concentrated in some of the most socioeconomically and environmentally disadvantaged communities in the state, these emissions harm communities that are already overburdened with pollution. Second, just because the electric sector is cleaner than the transportation sector does not mean the electric sector is not dirty. Some of the highest-polluting natural gas power plants emit over 100 tons of NOx per year, which is roughly equivalent to the NOx emissions from traveling 11 million miles (assuming an emissions rate of 8.18 grams of NOx per mile) in a diesel school bus, one of the most-polluting types of vehicles. Furthermore, when studying a proposed natural gas power plant, a California Energy Commission analysis found that local one-hour concentrations of NO2 (one form of NOx) would nearly double from their background levels. These emissions really can affect local air quality, and that is why this is a problem. — Union of Concerned Scientists, No, Natural Gas Power Plants are Not Clean
Weekly average CO2 at Mauna Loa Week beginning on February 25, 2024: 425.28 ppm. Weekly value from 1 year ago: 421.24 ppm. Weekly value from 10 years ago: 398.32 ppm. Last updated: March 03, 2024
George Monbiot: Outrage Farming What led the Prime Minister to join a protest against his own government’s policies? Step back a pace to see how weird this is. Last week, the prime minister of the United Kingdom joined a protest against one of the UK’s four governments. Farmers had obstructed a road in Llandudno with their tractors to demonstrate against the Welsh government’s attempts to meet its environmental obligations under UK law. The policies the protesters were attacking are similar to the policies Rishi Sunak’s government has introduced for England. The main difference is that in Wales, the offer for farmers is better – with more consistent payments and a smoother transition from the old system. Sunak leads a government that has introduced the most draconian anti-protest laws in our democratic history. These laws are deployed exclusively against official enemies: environmental campaigners, republicans, feminists, Muslims. If you belong to one of these groups and you block a road, you might go to prison. If you are a farmer and you block a road, the prime minister might join you.
Black Liberation/Civil Rights:
Labor:
Pauperization of the Working Class: At Rallies Nationwide, Low-Wage Workers Tell Political Leaders: ‘Our Votes Are Demands’ “Our government’s refusal to fully address poverty and low wages even after the worst days of Covid is not only killing our brothers and sisters,” said Rev. Dr. William Barber. “It’s killing our public conscience.”
Economy:
Michael Roberts Facebook Blog 3/2/24:The latest manufacturing activity surveys (PMIs) for the major economies show that the top G7 capitalist economies still have a manufacturing recession ie activity is still contracting (below 50 score). 
In a new assessment of corporate tax avoidance, the non-profit Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (Itep), found that 342 US corporations studied by Itep paid an average effective tax rate of just 14.1%. Eighty-seven companies paid an average of less than 10%; 55 of those firms paid less than 5%; and 23 corporations, including T-Mobile US and Xcel Energy, paid zero (or less) federal income tax over the five-year period – even though they made a profit each year. The latest manufacturing activity surveys (PMIs) for the major economies show that the top G7 capitalist economies still have a manufacturing recession ie activity is still contracting (below 50 score). Between 2018 and 2022, Bank of America brought home more than $138bn in profits, yet the company paid only $5.3bn in federal income tax – an effective rate of 3.8%, Itep found. In that period, US gas and electric utilities paid no tax at all on profits of $176bn! In a new assessment of corporate tax avoidance, the non-profit Institute on Taxation and Economic Policy (Itep), found that 342 US corporations studied by Itep paid an average effective tax rate of just 14.1%. Eighty-seven companies paid an average of less than 10%; 55 of those firms paid less than 5%; and 23 corporations, including T-Mobile US and Xcel Energy, paid zero (or less) federal income tax over the five-year period – even though they made a profit each year. Re: Corporate Tax Avoidance in he First Five Years of the Trump Tax Law
Watchdog, Better Markets, Investigates the Bank that Has Lost 65 Percent of Its Market Value in Two Months and Was Downgraded to Junk by Moody’s The widely respected banking and Wall Street watchdog, Better Markets, has a new report out on the latest teetering bank holding company, New York Community Bancorp (ticker NYCB). The title of the well-researched report pretty much says it all: “A Frankenstein Monster Federal Regulators Created.” NYCB has lost 65 percent of its stock market value year-to-date and was downgraded to a junk credit rating by Moody’s after the stock market closed on February 6. Moody’s wrote in its downgrade that a third of the bank’s deposits lack FDIC insurance
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