Daily News Digest June 24, 2024
Images of the Day:NOAA: May 2024 Global Rep
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”
The Rise of Capitalism was Under the Banner of Liberty, Equality, and Fraternity! Now There is Less Liberty, More Inequality, and Less Fraternity of Humanity! Every Day, From Global Warming to Global War There is a New Example of Capitalism in Imperialist Decay!
Capitalism as a Failed System: World Capitalism Has Been Aware of the Comming Catastrophe of Global Warming Over 6 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 Five Horsemen of the the Apocalypse, Spreading Racism, War, Famine, Pestilence, Death, and Misinformation! 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:
“When someone shows you who they are,” Maya Angelou said, “believe them the first time.” That should apply to foreign-policy elites who show you who they are, time after time. Officials running the Pentagon and State Department have been in overdrive for more than 250 days in support of Israel’s ongoing slaughter of Palestinian civilians in Gaza. Supposedly dedicated to defense and diplomacy, those officials have worked to implement and disguise Washington’s war policies, which have taken more lives than any other government in this century. — When U.S. Officials Show You Who They Are, Believe Them
Capitalism is Not Democratic — It’s True Nature is no Longer Hiding Behind a Facade of Democracy!: ‘A dangerous moment’ No major fossil fuel executive is known to have been detained for their role in the climate emergency, but UN experts, lawyers and activists have documented hundreds of environmental activists being arrested and charged for peacefully protesting to save the planet. And their time is running out. That was the stark conclusion in this year’s landmark IPCC report: “There is a rapidly closing window of opportunity to secure a liveable and sustainable future for all. It is clear that communities on the frontline of the climate crisis know this, because they are the ones dying and losing their homes and livelihoods as a result of sea-level rise, erratic rainfall patterns and scorching temperatures. It is why campaign groups and activists across the world say they are taking direct action against extractive projects by targeting fossil fuel, mining and petrochemical companies and their enablers such as banks, private equity funds and politicians through direct and sometimes disruptive action, despite the risk to their freedom and their lives. As the UN secretary general, António Guterres, said in April: “Climate activists are sometimes depicted as dangerous radicals. But the truly dangerous radicals are the countries that are increasing the production of fossil fuels. Investing in new fossil fuels infrastructure is moral and economic madness.” — How Criminalization is Being Used to Silence Climate Activists Across the World
Podcasts/Videos of the Day:
The Night Won’t End: Biden’s War on Gaza
Deconstructed: At the end of July, Venezuelans head to the polls to elect a new president, with Nicolás Maduro seeking another six-year term. This week on Deconstructed, Ryan Grim speaks with Venezuelan Foreign Minister Yván Gil Pinto, who was in New York for a U.N. debate on unilateral sanctions. Fresh from visits to China and Russia, where he engaged with BRICS alliance leaders, Pinto discusses Venezuela’s bid to join this coalition aimed at countering Western economic dominance. They delve into the impacts of sanctions from the Trump and Biden administrations on Venezuela’s economy and migration crisis, and the battle over Citgo, a U.S.-based oil company acquired by the country in 1990. Grim also questions Venezuela’s human rights record.
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 : My own Government, I cannot be Silent. ― Martin Luther King Jr.
Ted Rall: In a World of Lunatics, the Sane Voter Is Terrifying
Dissident Vice-Presidential Contender Challenges “Genocide Joe” and Trump “The Devil” Activist academic/BLM organizer Melina Abdullah discusses Palestinians, abolishing police and military budgets, the two-party system and her White House run. In April, Dr. Melina Abdullah tossed her hat into the ring, becoming the running mate of independent presidential candidate Dr. Cornel West, the renowned scholar/author/public intellectual. Los Angeles-based Abdullah is a Pan-African Studies professor at California State University and Black Lives Matter co-founder. If elected, the longtime organizer, who calls herself a “socialist,” would be America’s first Muslim vice president. Those who dismiss Abdullah’s third-party race for the second highest office in the land as a longshot, quixotic quest at best or spoiler at worst should consider that stranger things have happened. Who could have foreseen that political prisoners Nelson Mandela or playwright Václav Havel would have risen from prison to the presidency of South Africa or then-Czechoslovakia? In this interview conducted by phone in LA, Dr. Melina Abdullah elaborated on the Justice for All party’s peace program, defunding police, the Republican-Democratic duopoly and the West/Abdullah campaign for “truth, justice and love.”
Palestinians Ask Federal Court to Rule Biden Is Complicit in Israeli Genocide “Genocide can never be a legitimate foreign policy choice,” plaintiffs argue in case against Biden, Blinken and Austin. A lawsuit accusing U.S. President Joe Biden and some of his top officials of complicity in genocide had its latest hearing this week after being dismissed earlier in the year. On June 10, the Ninth Circuit U.S. Court of Appeals in San Francisco heard arguments in the plaintiffs’ appeal in Defense for Children International – Palestine v. Biden. The lawsuit was filed on November 13, 2023, by the Center for Constitutional Rights (CCR) on behalf of Palestinian human rights organizations Defense for Children International – Palestine (DCI-P) and Al-Haq, as well as three Palestinian individuals who live in Gaza and five Palestinian Americans who have family in Gaza.
U.S. Funded Palestinian Genocide:
Top US Law Schools Present Undeniable Evidence of Israel’s Gaza Genocide New analysis by top U.S. law schools presents undeniable evidence of Israel’s genocidal campaign against Palestinians, urging immediate global action.On May 15, the University Network for Human Rights (UNHR), a U.S.-based advocacy group training undergraduates in human rights law at colleges and universities worldwide to counter abusive state, corporate, or private conduct, published a 105-page analysis of international law and its application to Israel’s military actions since October 7, 2023. Drawing on extensive evidence and historical legal precedents, the findings leave no doubt that Israel has committed horrific breaches of the 1948 Genocide Convention in Gaza. A collaborative effort by some of the West’s most prestigious law schools, the report has now been submitted to the United Nations. The institution has yet to comment on the UNHR investigation’s irrefutable, bombshell contents. The mainstream media has also remained silent. Given the complicity of Western journalists in whitewashing and justifying unconscionable crimes in Gaza, this is not surprising. However, the silence has been so pervasive that the report may have even gone unnoticed by committed Palestine solidarity activists.
Zionism Is The Exact Opposite Of Spirituality Zionism is like the exact opposite of people who identify as “spiritual but not religious”; it’s religion stripped bare of all spirituality until it’s nothing but a shitty political ideology that’s ultimately really about land, western imperialism, and geostrategic control. It takes a profound cruelty to support raining tens of thousands of tons of military explosives onto a giant concentration camp full of children. It takes outright malignant narcissism to expect everyone to accept this, and to act wounded and indignant when they don’t.
The Looming Famine in Gaza is an Extension of Israel’s Colonial Power Since October last year, it is estimated that approximately 70,000 tons of bombs have been dropped by Israel on the Palestinian civilian population in Gaza. The devastating death toll currently stands at around 36,550 Palestinians, including more than 15,000 children, and a further 10,000 missing, presumed dead, under the rubble of what remains of their homes. With famine looming in Gaza, these figures are set to be eclipsed, with the most recent warning from the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the UN projecting that over a million people — more than half of Gaza’s population — will face death by starvation by mid-July.
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’!
We Must Hold These Monsters to Account!
Climate change: World’s First Year-Long Breach of Key 1.5C Warming Limit | BBC News
Trends in Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Weekly average CO2 at Mauna Loa Week beginning on June 16, 2024: 426.63 ppm. Weekly value from 1 year ago: 423.51 ppm. Weekly value from 10 years ago: 401.20 ppm. Last updated: June 22, 2024
Elected Officials in Sweltering US States Prioritizing Fossil Fuel Cash Over People Governors of Florida, Texas, Louisiana and Nevada have all received money from oil and gas firms as residents suffer Elected officials in states baking under sweltering temperatures – including Florida, Texas and Louisiana – are prioritizing their donors from planet-warming industries instead of protecting their constituents, advocates say.
Pumping More Carcinogens into Cancer Alley?!: Feds to Vote on CP2 Project as Climate Campaigners Protest LNG Buildout “FERC’s approval of this massive new LNG export facility would cut through the heart of President Biden’s LNG pause, realizing one of the largest fossil fuel export projects ever proposed in the United States,” an expert said.
‘Historic’ Settlement With Youth Will Force Hawaiian Transit System to Speed Decarbonization “I hope our case inspires youth to always use their voices to hold leaders accountable for the future they will inherit,” said one plaintiff. Days before a case brought by 13 young climate advocates in Hawaii was set to go to trial, the state’s governor and Department of Transportation on Thursday announced an “unprecedented” settlement that will expedite the decarbonization of Hawaii’s transit system—and formally “recognizes children’s constitutional rights to a life-sustaining climate.”
Most People on Earth, Even in Petrostates, Want Quick Fossil Fuel Phaseout: Poll “There can be no doubt that citizens across the world are saying to their leaders, you have to act and, above all, have to act faster,” a U.N. official said. “This is an issue that almost everyone, everywhere, can agree on.”
We are on the ‘Eve on Destruction!’:
Michael Roberts Facebook Blog: Preparing for war… Global spending on nuclear weapons is up 13% in a record rise Global spending on nuclear weapons is estimated to have increased by 13% to a record $91.4bn during 2023, according to calculations from the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons (Ican) pressure group. The new total, which is up $10.7bn from the previous year, is driven largely by sharply increased defence budgets in the US. Re: Surge: 2023 Global Nuclear Weapons Spending In its report “Surge: 2023 Global Nuclear Weapons Spending” the International Campaign to Abolish Nuclear Weapons shows in 2023, the nuclear-armed states spent $91,393,404,739 on their arsenals – equivalent to $2,898 a second. The report shows a $10.7 billion increase in spending on nuclear weapons in 2023 compared to 2022 with the United States accounting for 80% of that increase.
Black Liberation/Civil Rights:
Labor:
… And I finally said to him that it’s a nicething to say to people that you ought to lift yourself by your own bootstraps, but it is a cruel jest to say to a bootless man that he ought to lift himself by his own bootstraps. And the fact is that millions of Negroes, as a result of centuries of denial and neglect, have been left bootless. And they find themselves impoverished aliens in this affluent society. And there is a great deal that the society can and must do if the Negro is to gain the economic security that he needs. Now one of the answers, it seems to me, is a guaranteed annual income, a guaranteed minimum income for all people and for all families of our country. It seems to me that the Civil Rights Movement must now begin to organize for the guaranteed annual income. Begin to organize people all over our country and mobilize forces so that we can bring to the attention of our nation this need, and this something which I believe will go a long, long way toward dealing with the Negro’s economic problem and the economic problem which many other poor people confront in our nation. — MartinLuther King Jr. Speech: The Other America
The Most Common Essential Jobs in the US Don’t Pay a Living Wage The economy is improving, but inequality is tearing the US apart. Democrats ignore working-class pain at their peril. The most common jobs in the United States are home health care aide, retail salesperson and fast-food and counter worker, which are all tied for first place on a long list of professions tracked by the government, according to analysis of federal data by The Washington Post. From caring for the elderly to serving the lunch rush, people who work these jobs are bedrocks of the everyday economy. However, the 2023 median salaries listed for the top three most common jobs — and many others — do not offer a living wage in any state across the country. Ranging from about $29,500 for home care aides to $33,600 for fast-food servers, the median salaries offered by the top three most common jobs are at least $11,000 short of what is needed to make ends meet in states with the cheapest cost of living. California is out of the question.
Economy:
The Declining Dollar: Purchasing Power of the Consumer Dollar in U.S. City Average Is 31.8 Cents! Last Month was 31.9 cents! (1982-1984 = $1.00)
World:
Labour Candidate Maintains Ties to Climate Denial Group Despite ‘Conspiracy’ Claims Graham Stringer is facing pressure over his senior role at the Global Warming Policy Foundation. Labour candidate Graham Stringer has refused to say if he will quit the board of a climate denial group after its director used an event hosted by an oil-funded foundation to claim that net zero will lead to authoritarianism.
Education, Health, 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