Daily News Digest March 15, 2024

Daily News Digest Archives

Images of the Day:

Bendib: Collateral DamageSince 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:

Methane is the second most important greenhouse gas contributor to climate change following carbon dioxide. In fact, methane’s ability to trap heat in the atmosphere is even stronger than that of carbon dioxide.     On a 100-year timescale, methane has 28 times greater global warming potential than carbon dioxide and is 84 times more potent on a 20-year timescale. — Methane emissions – Energy – European Commission.

Pocasts/Videos of the Day: Dear Child  Dear Child I written by Pulitzer Prize winning journalist and author Chris Hedges takes the viewer on an uncompromising journey into the life of a child from Gaza living under Israeli bombardment. The film intentionally challenges the viewer to look at their own actions or lack thereof, while also hinting at a possible hopeful future.

Pro-Palestine Protesters Shut Down Terminal at San Francisco Airport

Black Agenda Radio March 8, 2024

Steven Salaita’s An Honest Living: A Memoir of Peculiar Itineraries

The Poor People’s Army Mobilizes in 2024

What We Stood For: The Story of a Revolutionary Black Woman

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 

Withering US Imperialism From Ukraine to Gaza Just as in Ukraine, decades of diffident American leadership, compounded by increasingly chaotic domestic politics, let the Gaza crisis spin out of control. How much longer can the U.S. hold on? Empires don’t just fall like toppled trees. Instead, they weaken slowly as a succession of crises drain their strength and confidence until they suddenly begin to disintegrate. So it was with the British, French, and Soviet empires; so it now is with imperial America.

Wars for Oil: US Middle East Wars Make Halliburton Rich:

Iraq War Boosts Halliburton Profits Controversial US oil and services group Halliburton has said that its contracts in Iraq had helped boost its turnover by about 80% in the first three months of the year. Support work to US military operations and US-funded reconstruction projects made up $2.1 billion out of the company’s $5.5 billion of revenue in the first quarter, the Houston-based group said in a statement on Wednesday.  The contracts also contributed $32 million of operating profit to Halliburton, which was run from 1995 to 2000 by Vice President Dick Cheney.

 USArmed/Israel Proxy Wars in Middle East:

Report Exposes the Oil Giants ‘Fueling Israel’s War Machine’ Chevron, Exxon, BP, and other major oil and gas companies own stakes in pipelines that are helping Israel fuel its catastrophic assault on Gaza, new research shows.    A report published Thursday shows that major fossil fuel companies such as Chevron, ExxonMobil, Shell, and BP are playing a key role in propelling Israel’s devastating military assault on Gaza, facilitating the country’s supply of energy that powers Israeli jets and tanks as they bomb and shell civilians.

Cheney-Linked Company to Drill in Occupied Golan Heights

Berri Condemns Israel’s Plans to Begin Offshore Drilling in Disputed Territory US corporation Halliburton has been awarded drilling rights for the disputed Karish offshore gas field Lebanese Parliament Speaker Nabih Berri issued a statement on 18 September calling on the Ministry of Foreign Affairs to take immediate action over reports that US multinational corporation Halliburton will begin to explore for oil and gas in the disputed area between Lebanon and occupied Palestine.    “That the Israeli entity is making concessions and concluding offshore exploration contracts for Halliburton or other companies in the disputed area at sea represents a violation, even a blow to the framework agreement sponsored by the United States of America and the United Nations,” Berri said in his statement.Earlier this week, Halliburton was awarded an integrated services contract by the London-based hydrocarbon exploration and production company Energean, under which the US corporation will begin drilling in up to five wells in the Karish North gas fields off the shores of Israel.

Energean Selects Halliburton for Offshore Israel Drilling Campaign Integrated Services Contract To Deliver Five Wells in Eastern Mediterranean Through Halliburton Consulting And Project Management 

Natural Gas Reserves in the Eastern Mediterranean

Gen. Mark Milley’s Second Act: Multimillionaire In the classroom, the boardroom, and at the speaker’s dais, the former chair of the joint chiefs cashes in.    Since retiring from the military last year, former Chair of the Joint Chiefs of Staff Army Gen. Mark Milley has become a senior adviser to JPMorgan Chase bank, joined the faculties of Princeton and Georgetown, and embraced the lucrative paid speaking circuit. From military pay of $204,000 a year, Milley is sure to skyrocket to compensation in the millions, especially because he is represented by the same high-powered speakers’ agency as Hillary Clinton, who faced criticism in 2016 for her paid speeches to investment bank Goldman Sachs.    Called “cashing in” by military officers, transitioning from capped government salaries to defense industry, private consulting for global risk management, or work with venture capital brings in lavish paydays. For retired generals, the invasion is swift. The recently retired chief of space operations for the Space Force, Gen. John W. “Jay” Raymond, for example, has joined the board of directors for aerospace companies Impulse Space and Axiom Space, as well as becoming senior managing director for investment firm Cerberus Capital Management. Gen. James C. McConville, who served as chief of staff of the Army before retiring last year, has joined the board of directors of drone manufacturer Edge Autonomy and aerospace investment firm AE Industrial Partners, as an operating partner.

U.S. Armed and Funded Palestinian Genocide:

Israeli Parliament’s 2024 Budget Approval “Guarantees Continuation of War” Meanwhile, Israeli forces killed seven Palestinians and wounded 86 others after opening fire on a group waiting for aid.

Cori Bush’s Gazan SOTU Guest: Congress Is “Complicit in the Murder of My Family” Intimaa Salama attended the State of the Union while mourning for 35 family members killed by Israel in Gaza.

More Children Killed in 4 Months of War on Gaza Than in 4 Years of Global War Meanwhile, Israel’s invasion of Rafah looms with no truce in sight West Bank: Five Killed in 24 Hours

  • 31,272,+ killed* and at least 73,024 wounded in the Gaza Strip.
  • 423+ Palestinians killed in the occupied West Bank and East Jerusalem.**
  • Israel revises its estimated October 7 death toll down from 1,400 to 1,147.
  • 590 Israeli soldiers killed since October 7, and at least 3,221 injured.***

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?

Corporations’s Spend $Trillions to Prevent Their Crimes Being Made Public!: ‘We Won’t Be Silenced,’ Says Greenpeace as Big Oil Threatens Libel Suit “It has become clear: Eni is trying to silence anyone who dares to speak up and denounce the company’s contribution to the fueling of the climate crisis,” says Chiara Campione of Greenpeace Italy. 

Despite Industry Vows, Methane Emissions Remained Near Record Highs in 2023 “Close to 70% of methane emissions from fossil fuels come from the top 10 emitting countries,” states a new report from the International Energy Agency. Methane emissions from the energy sector remain near record highs, despite the industry claiming it would act to rein in the powerful greenhouse gas, according to an International Energy Agency report released on Wednesday.

US Energy Industry Gas Leaks are Triple ehe Official Figures, Study Finds Leaks of heat-trapping methane – about 3% of gas produced in US – cost $9.3bn yearly in climate damage, but the problem is fixable US oil and natural gas wells, pipelines and compressors are spewing three times the amount of the potent heat-trapping gas methane as the government has determined, causing $9.3bn in yearly climate damage, a new comprehensive study calculates.     But because more than half of these methane emissions are coming from a tiny number of oil and gas sites, 1% or less, this means the problem is both worse than the government has determined but also fairly fixable, said the lead author of a study in the journal Nature.    The same issue is happening globally. Large methane emissions events around the world detected by satellites grew 50% in 2023 compared with 2022 with more than 5m metric tons spotted in major fossil fuel leaks, the International Energy Agency reported on Wednesday in its Global Methane Tracker 2024 report. World methane emissions rose slightly in 2023 to 120m metric tons, the report said.

The Brockovich Report “Why Can’t We Work Together?” A Realistic Perspective From A Water Advocate: It’s A Shit Show Out There Why We Need To Replace Lead Pipes, Update Antiquated Infrastructure & Tell The Truth About Water Testing When you think of a water crisis, you might think of what happened in Flint, Michigan, but all communities are vulnerable and hundreds of communities are experiencing water crises right now.     Like many of you, I’ve been following the news from Flint about the new criminal charges filed against former Gov. Rick Snyder and eight other top officials and the class-action settlement.    Not only were thousands of residents, children, and business owners exposed to lead, legionella, and other contaminants when Flint switched its municipal water source and failed to treat the water properly, but the people in charge concealed and downplayed the risks associated with this contaminated water.     I first called out the problems in Flint in January 2015, a year before it became a media frenzy, because people from the community contacted me asking for help. It’s no secret that the Flint water crisis continues and that these officials now face criminal charges for it. Their water contamination crimes had permanent impacts and led to lives lost. But here’s the thing: ongoing infrastructure issues, lack of resources, misappropriated funds, and mismanaged water treatment all contribute to toxic contamination throughout the country. Flint officials are not the only ones who have tried to cover it up. —The Dirty Truth — I’m calling it a shit show because so many people are involved and these issues boil down to how we control the dirt in our water systems.

Black Liberation/Civil Rights:

From “Uncle Tom” to Willie Pye: Abolishing the Racist Legacy of the Death Penalty Georgia is poised to execute Mr. Willie Pye, a Black man, on March 20th, the very same day that Harriet Beecher Stowe’s seminal work Uncle Tom’s Cabin was published in book form, to global acclaim, in 1852. Many are likely unaware of this date’s historical significance, but as someone who grew up not far from the Harriet Beecher Stowe Center in Hartford, CT, it is an alignment that strikes me as significant.    This certainly unintended synchronicity highlights yet again the unmistakable link between slavery and the death penalty, and the fitting use of the same word – abolition – to apply to the movements to end both of these menacing institutions.  It is well-known that the death penalty in its historical context is demonstrably a “descendant of slavery, lynching and segregation.”      Likewise, it is well-established that racial bias against defendants of color has a strong effect on who is ultimately capitally prosecuted, sentenced to death, and executed. Whereas Willie Pye was indeed convicted of a capital crime, the only “crime” committed by the appropriately controversial character of Uncle Tom–based in part on the Rev. Josiah Henson–was that he was born African-American and, therefore, a slave in antebellum America. Still, racism, a legacy of lynching, and the system of mass incarceration–which Michelle Alexander poignantly coined as “The New Jim Crow” – form a historical arc that connects America’s “peculiar institution” of slavery to its persistent death chambers, thereby linking the lethal plights of the literary figure of Uncle Tom with the very real Mr. Pye.

NAACP Letter to Student Athletes: Reconsider Choosing Florida The University of Florida closed its DEI programs in response to a law Gov. Ron DeSantis signed last year.  Just over one week after diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) programs and positions were eliminated at the University of Florida (UF), the NAACP is calling for student athletes of color who are considering their college and university options to avoid the state entirely, if they’re able to do so. …  Despite positive outcomes of DEI programs in both public and private spheres, the Florida law resulted in UF earlier this month deciding to close its Office of the Chief Diversity Officer and eliminate 13 full-time DEI-related positions. Another 15 administrative positions were also ended, and contracts with DEI-focused goals from outside vendors were also negated. The University of North Florida and Florida International University have also eliminated DEI positions and programs. 

Black Agenda Report

Labor:

Monthly Number Of Part-Time Employees in the United States from February 2022 to January 2024 In January 2024, around 28.5 million people were employed on a part-time basis in the United States. This value is not seasonally adjusted. In line with the definition of the BLS, part-time workers are persons who usually work less than 35 hours per week.

Economy:

Hedge Fund Titan John Paulson Made $1 Billion in an Illegal Goldman Sachs Deal; Trump Is Now Floating Him for Treasury Secretary According to headlines at Bloomberg News and Reuters this morning, Donald Trump is floating the notorious hedge fund billionaire, John Paulson, to be his next Treasury Secretary. Paulson has, apparently, earned consideration for the post the same way Steve Mnuchin, Trump’s former Treasury Secretary, got the job: by raising a lot of money for the Trump political campaign. Paulson has hosted multiple fundraising events for Trump in the current election cycle and in Trump’s failed run for reelection in 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