Daily News Digest May 16, 2024
Images of the Day:
Thousands Rally in Pakistan Against Israel’s Bombing in Gaza, Chanting Anti-American Slogans
Who’s Afraid of Pax Americana? 
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, and The 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 Still Leads the World In Coronavirus Cases and Deaths in the World!
The Majority of the World, Despite the Media Monopoly’s Lies, are Opposed to the Palestinian Genocide and Global Warming — The 1% Minority Funds Them! At, this Time in History, Capitalism is Exposing the Fact That it is Opposed to Majority Rule/Democracy!
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:
Blanket Indifference to Genocide: When you talk to people day in and day out about the Israeli–U.S. genocide in Gaza, you start to realize that this obscene crisis has pushed in the faces of those who oppose it a very raw reality from which most of us have tended to flinch. All of the institutions through which citizens of the West are supposed to express their preferences and demands are broken. Among those purporting to lead the Western democracies we find a blanket indifference to those objecting to a genocide they witness daily in real time. This is our shared circumstance. If we do not live in functioning democracies, as the West’s support of apartheid Israel makes rudely plain, it is only when we cultivate a common consciousness of this reality — no flinching — that people will know what mountains they have to climb and what they must carry with them. —Patrick Lawrence: Ðiên Biên Phú at 70
A large sunspot cluster about 17 times the size of Earth has been the primary source for this rare event by producing several strong solar flares since Wednesday last week. The region of the sun continued to be active over the weekend, with NOAA saying another period of G4-G5 geomagnetic storms were possible later on Sunday. — Weather Tracker: Geomagnetic Storms Trigger Northern Lights
Podcast/Videos of the Day:
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
Authoritarianism Trump’s Dangerous ‘State of Exception’: SCOTUS Must Not Allow Presidential Immunity Carl Schmitt wrote in Political Theology (1922) “sovereign is he who decides on the state of the exception.” What Schmitt meant in using the word “exception” is that in a specific historical timeframe a sovereign can suspend law in the context of a declared state of emergency. In so doing, he possesses absolute power over the judicial order and can decide what needs to be done, by ruling by decree. On April 25, 2024, the United States Supreme Court considered the case of Trump v. Anderson. All aspects of this case center on whether or not a former president has absolute immunity from prosecution for conduct considered official acts while in office.
The US Empire Deliberately Stokes Hatred And Violence In The Middle East
Have you not seen how the US empire uses the radicalism caused by its military violence in the middle east to justify more military expansionism in the region, leading to more military violence? I sometimes see people expressing bafflement that the US would back a genocide in the middle east knowing that it will radicalize the region against them, mistakenly thinking this goes against US strategic goals. And I always want to say to them, uh, have you been asleep the last quarter century? Have you not seen how the US empire uses the radicalism caused by its military violence in the middle east to justify more military expansionism in the region, leading to more military violence? That’s what the so-called “war on terror” has been about since 9/11. The data unmistakably shows that US-led military interventionism in the middle east in the name of fighting “terrorism” actually leads more people to join US-designated terrorist organizations and commit more terrorist attacks, because nothing will radicalize you against the US and its allies like watching them murder and displace your loved ones right in front of you. But the interventionism continues anyway. Why? Because the resource-rich middle east is a crucial geostrategic region for planetary domination, and the US empire wants to have an expanded military presence there.
The Military Industrial Complex in Higher Education Conclusion The military is everywhere. Trying to understand the complexities of the MIC and how it intertwines with new technologies and higher education has been interesting. It seems that most studen ts are not aware of the work they produce and the effects it has, or if they are, the money associated with the outcome of the project is more important to them. Given the socioeconomic climate we are in right now, it has been disheartening to see this phenomenon. Students and professors are trying their best to do what they love, but at times it felt like partnering with the military or defense contractors was the only way to make ends meet. 16 One professor hinted that engagement with the military from a university standpoint only occurs because the military holds the most money. It then becomes a struggle of money versus morality. How much money does it take to put morals aside? However, to hold a student or professor to that question would be unfair. Everyone has different circumstances that hinder their ability to choose. For instance, one student had to join the military to go to college. That professor had to get funding from the military to sponsor graduate students and get equipment for their lab. Although everyone felt uncomfortable about the lack of transparency with the military, they found themselves relying on defense to study or develop new technologies that could be used for good… or bad. This goes to show how the military uses new technologies to not only recruit new college graduates but also professors and students alike. I did not expect for new technologies to be used in this way, where it is almost hanging over individuals. However, it is not just new technologies. They seem to combine technology with money to create even more incentives. With a pull like this, it becomes easy to see how the MIC continues to grow and influence higher education. It seems that the growth of the MIC is not contributed to military involvement in higher education, but instead, contributes to their presence in academia
US Holds “Direct Complicity” in Gaza Famine, Former and Current US Officials Say “I believe the U.S. to be complicit in creating the conditions for famine,” one USAID staffer said. Current and former Biden administration staff are saying that the U.S. bears direct responsibility for the famine that Israel has caused in Gaza and threatens to grip the entire population. A sprawling report by The Independent published this week lays out an extensive account of ways that U.S. officials have been publicly and internally notified of Israel’s starvation campaign but have declined to intervene, despite having numerous pathways to do so over the past seven months.
Genocide Joe: Biden Advances $1.2B Transfer of Ground-Based Weapons to Israel Amid Rafah Raid The deal would reportedly provide tank ammunition and tactical vehicles — equipment Israel could use in an invasion. As Israel initiates what many fear could be the worst phase of the genocide in Gaza yet, the Biden administration has reportedly begun the process of sending over $1.2 billion of weapons despite public proclamations from the Biden administration opposing an invasion of Rafah.
U.S. Funded Plestinian Genocide:
Israel’s War on Gaza Live: New Nakba as Hundreds of Thousands Flee Attacks
- Fierce gun battles rage in northern Gaza’s Jabalia and southern Rafah as Israeli military incursions intensify against Palestinian armed groups. Hamas and Israel’s army both claim significant enemy casualties.
- At least 82 Palestinians have been killed in the past 24 hours, the highest death toll in a single day in many weeks, during relentless Israeli air attacks.
- More than 450,000 Palestinians have fled Rafah city with another 100,000 evacuating the north as Israel’s military launches new attacks.
- Far-right Israeli ministers call for the reoccupation of Gaza and “voluntary migration” as Israel marks the 76th anniversary of its founding.
- At least 35,233 people killed and 79,141 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. The revised death toll in Israel from Hamas’s October 7 attacks stands at 1,139, with dozens of people still held captive.
Israel Orders Evacuations in North and South Gaza as Deaths Top 35,000 Israeli forces are intensifying their campaigns across the strip, unleashing what some say are the worst bombings yet. Israel is unleashing what some Palestinians have described as the worst bombings in Gaza yet as it has issued mass evacuation orders in the northernmost and southernmost parts of the region, displacing hundreds of thousands of starving, ill and exhausted Palestinians who have no safe place to go. On Saturday, Israel issued a second set of evacuation orders in Rafah in the eastern part of the city, while also forcing Palestinians in Beit Lahia and Jabalia in the north to flee as Israeli forces drove tanks deep into the Jabalia refugee camp and raided shelters there. Though Israel has attacked Jabalia many times throughout its genocide, the military is once again carpet bombing the neighborhood.
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?
Above the 1.5C Tipping Point!: World’s Record-Breaking Temperature Streak Extends Through April
- World just had hottest April on record
- Exceptional run of global heat continues
- Last 11 months all broke temperature records
The world just experienced its hottest April on record, extending an 11-month streak in which every month set a temperature record, the European Union’s climate change monitoring service said on Wednesday. Each month since June 2023 has ranked as the planet’s hottest on record, compared with the corresponding month in previous years, the Copernicus Climate Change Service (C3S) said in a monthly bulletin. Including April, the world’s average temperature was the highest on record for a 12-month period – 1.61 degrees Celsius above the average in the 1850-1900 pre-industrial period.
Global Wildlife Crime Causing ‘Untold Harm’, UN Report Finds More than 4,000 species are targeted by traffickers, with illegal trade active in 80% of countries, says Office on Drugs and Crime More than 4,000 species around the world are being targeted by wildlife traffickers, causing “untold harm upon nature”, a UN report has warned. Wildlife crime is driven by demand for medicine, pets, bushmeat, ornamental plants and trophies. Out of all the mammals, birds, reptiles and amphibians seized, 40% were on the red list of threatened or near-threatened species, the report found.
Black Liberation/Civil Rights:
Labor:
Economy:
Consumer Price Index for All Urban Consumers
Purchasing Power of the Consumer Dollar in U.S. City Average is $0.319 (1984 = $1.00)
One of Jeffrey Epstein’s Protectors at JPMorgan Chase, Mary Erdoes, Has Sold $29 Million of Her Stock in the Bank Since Just Before Epstein’s Arrest in 2019 In 2020, Netflix released a documentary series titled “Filthy Rich,” based on the book by the same name. The series examined how sex trafficker Jeffrey Epstein was able to continue to enjoy his wealth and power even after Palm Beach, Florida police had built a case that he had sexually-assaulted more than a dozen young girls – many from public schools in middle-class areas surrounding the mansions of Palm Beach.
World:
Historic Victory of Mass Movement in Pakistan-Held Kashmir On 13 May, more than 500,000 people gathered in Muzaffarabad, the capital of Pakistan-controlled, so-called ‘Azad’ (‘Free’) Kashmir, to demand cheaper electricity and wheat flour. The ruling class of ‘Azad’ Kashmir and Pakistan, despite having brutally attacked the protestors previously, have now partially accepted the masses’ demands. This is a huge victory for the masses in this part of Kashmir, where people have been protesting for more than a year for these demands. This victory has sent shockwaves through the halls of power.
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