Daily News Digest August 12, 2024
Images of the Day:
Carlos Latuff: US corporations like Mcdonald’s have suffered significant backlash in the Middle East due to an anti-#Israel boycott, especially after the restaurant was found providing free meals to the Israeli military in #Gaza. 
Bendib: Bibi and Co.
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”There is No Democracy! When Less Than 1% Control the Wealth, Production, and Price of Everything Produced and Consumed in the World! In the present period of unfettered Capitalism, the pretense of democratic rule does not exist, except in the minds of ‘socialists’ like Bernie Sanders and the Labor Bureaucracy! Capitalists view all struggles as struggles against capitalist rule! Transition demands immediately become revolutionary demands! Therefore, any resistence to the attack of capitalists has to be organized by those that understand this! 
Today, the United States Capitalists are Consolidating Themselves as the Supreme Capitalists! Capitalism’s Gluttony is Demonstrated by It’s Quest for More and More Profits at the Expense of Humanity! 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:
For starters, according to Michael Dukes, director of forecasting at MetDesk: “In Antarctica generally that kind of warming in the winter and continuing into summer months can lead to collapsing of the ice sheets.” (Source: Antarctica Temperatures Rise 10C Above Average in Near Record Heatwave, The Guardian, August 1, 2024)
Already, the summers of 2022 and 2023 saw unprecedented loss of Antarctic sea ice, which fell below 2 million square kilometers for the first time in the satellite record going back to 1979. Moreover, the year 2023 marked the 8th year of steep decline in sea ice. (Source: The Sleeping Giant Awakens, Climate Adaptation Center, May 21, 2024). Antarctica is massive with total area as large as the US and Mexico combined and average ice thickness of 7,200 feet covering 98% of the continent which is 90% of the world’s ice and 70% of the fresh water of the world. There’s plenty for global warming to work with! A primary ongoing concern is sea level rise. According to NASA, the rate of sea level rise has tripled in the 21st century. — Midwinter Antarctica 50°F Above Average
Podcasts/Vide0s of the Day:
NYC Journalist Faces Hate Crime Charge for Allegedly Filming Gaza Protest Action; Police Raid Home
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.
To this day, we have a government and state apparatus that is designed to “protect the minority of the opulent against the majority.” Democracy for white and wealthy men only! — Roland Sheppard, My Forefathers and The 1%’s Forefathers.
Harris Adviser Says She Opposes Israel Arms Embargo as She Shuts Down Protesters Harris’s national security adviser pushed back on claims the vice president was open to cutting the flow of weapons. As activists are turning up the heat on the Kamala Harris campaign to come out strongly against Israel’s genocide in Gaza, a top Harris adviser said on Thursday that the vice president doesn’t support the idea of an arms embargo on Israel — one of the most crucial and consequential demands of pro-Palestine advocates calling for an end to Israel’s slaughter.
US Policy: Let Israel Escalate Against Iran, Then Tell Iran Not To Escalate Back You’ll never see western officials so enthusiastic about the idea of de-escalation as they are in those time periods when their side has just severely escalated tensions with an extreme act of aggression, but the other side has yet to retaliate. In an article titled “U.S. Warns Iran of ‘Serious Risk’ if It Conducts Major Attack on Israel,” The Wall Street Journal reports that officials within the Biden administration have been warning Iran not to “escalate” against Israel in its planned retaliatory strikes for the assassination of a Hamas leader in Tehran.
United States Funded Genocide in Israel:
‘Heinous’: Children Among 100 Killed by Israel Bombing of Gaza School Just Hours After US Weapons Approval “It is hard to comprehend how the Biden administration can justify rewarding Israel with new weapons, despite Israel’s persistent defiance of every single plea the Biden administration has made urging a modicum of restraint.” Just hours after the Biden administration Friday announced approval of $3.5 billion in military funds for Israel and shipments for new weaponry, an Israeli bombing of a school-turned-shelter in Gaza has killed 100 people or more, including scores of civilian men, women, and children in what was described as a “bloody massacre” that struck during morning prayers, leaving body parts scattered “in pieces” and healthcare workers verwhelmed with the dead and wounded.
Pundits Push for Regional Escalation in the Wake of Israeli Assassinations Following Israel’s assassinations of Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut—along with a woman and two children (Al Jazeera, 7/30/24)—and of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, corporate media pundits have called for the US and Israel to escalate the region-wide war. Following Israel’s assassinations of Hezbollah commander Fuad Shukr in Beirut—along with a woman and two children (Al Jazeera, 7/30/24)—and of Hamas leader Ismail Haniyeh in Tehran, corporate media pundits have called for the US and Israel to escalate the region-wide war.
Gaza: more Palestinians are Dying due to Israeli Blockade, says new Report Even after ten months of its systematic and widespread destruction of the healthcare sector in the Gaza Strip, and its arbitrary blockade of the territory, Israel continues to prevent the entry of medical supplies, including medical devices and essential medicines. The direct result is that more Palestinians are dying unnecessarily due to an absence of adequate treatment, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor has reported.Even after ten months of its systematic and widespread destruction of the healthcare sector in the Gaza Strip, and its arbitrary blockade of the territory, Israel continues to prevent the entry of medical supplies, including medical devices and essential medicines. The direct result is that more Palestinians are dying unnecessarily due to an absence of adequate treatment, Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor has reported.
International Campaign Targets Tanker Supplying Israeli War Planes With Texas Oil A growing international coalition is fighting to prevent vessels carrying military fuel to Israel from docking in the Mediterranean Sea. An oil tanker scheduled to carry 300,000 barrels of military-grade jet fuel to Israel has been prevented from docking in Spain and Gibraltar following pressure from activists. The oil is expected to be used in Israeli Air Force’s F16 and F35 jets as part of the country’s genocidal assault on Gaza. The Overseas Santorini was supposed to dock in Gibraltar on July 30, but it did not stop and is currently traveling northeast in the Mediterranean. It’s unclear if the failure to dock was connected to the protests. Gibraltar confirmed that the vessel requested to stop and an official told the Gibraltar Chronicle that no services were supplied to the tanker. The government says the decision not to bunker was made by the company. The effort to block the ship from docking is part of the No Harbour for Genocide campaign, which was launched by a coalition of groups including Progressive International, Disrupt Power, the Palestinian Institute for Public Diplomacy, Valero out of Corpus, the Arab Group for the Protection of Nature, and the BDS National Committee. .
Environmanet:
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!
Over Half of New Car Sales in China in July Were EVs, As America Faces Threat of Falling Behind In July, China reached an unprecedented inflection point for an industrialized society, with more electric cars purchased than internal combustion engine (ICE) vehicles. William Gavin at Quartz points out that 3 years ago, only 7% of cars sold in China were EVs. Just this year, EV sales are up 37%. These statistics count both pure EVs and plug-in hybrids.
Fossil-Fuelized Colonialism On August 9, 2001, in Colombia, riot police and private security forces from the Cerrejón coal mine — one of the largest open-pit coal mines in the world — surrounded the remote community of Tabaco. They then dragged residents out of their homes and bulldozed what remained of that town’s structures. There was, after all, coal under the town and the mine’s owner, Exxon Mobil Corporation, wanted to access it. Since that date, the displaced residents of Tabaco have been fighting for compensation and (as guaranteed by both Colombian and international law) the reconstruction of their community. So far, no such luck.
Beyond Stereotypes of World’s Indigenous Peoples From Colombia to Gaza and beyond, we must recognize the ideas, movements, and rights of all peoples formerly and still subject to the violence of fossil colonialism.
US Landfills are Major Source of Toxic PFAS Pollution, Study Finds New research shows toxic ‘forever chemicals’ gas may escape landfills and threaten the environment Toxic PFAS “forever chemicals” that leach from landfills into groundwater are among the major pollution sources in the US, and remain a problem for which officials have yet to find an effective solution. Now new research has identified another route in which PFAS may escape landfills and threaten the environment at even higher levels: the air.
Carbon Credits Are Supposed to Funnel Money to Poor Countries. Do They? Researchers say there is “no evidence” that they bring economic benefits to communities where projects are based. … In Africa, the voluntary carbon market is “a powerful means to address climate change and uplift communities,” according to one nonprofit that writes nonbinding standards for the sector. It’s increasingly unclear, however, whether that narrative holds up to scrutiny. A series of reports published since last November by the nonprofit Carbon Market Watch, or CMW, has highlighted a near-total lack of published research on how much money flowing into the carbon market actually winds up supporting climate mitigation projects or reaching local communities. One report called attention to a lack of fair and transparent benefit-sharing agreements, clauses in projects’ design documents that detail how they will distribute revenue and nonmonetary benefits to people they affect. Most recently, an analysis published by the group last week found that, while most carbon credit projects are located in poor countries, they are largely controlled by companies based in wealthier North American and European countries. The authors said there is “no evidence” that the voluntary carbon market, or VCM, brings economic benefits to communities where projects are based, a point that human rights and environmental groups have long been making. “When it comes to knowing if the VCM is actually working as a tool to channel finance from the Global North to the Global South, there’s no information there,” said Inigo Wyburd, a policy expert for Carbon Market Watch and the author of the newest report. “It raises serious questions as to, well, are these communities really benefiting?”
Farmworker Unions and Advocacy Organizations Cheer EPA Ban on a Toxic Pesticide It’s the first time in nearly 40 years that the EPA has exercised this emergency authority for a pesticide. Agency announced an emergency order this week suspending all use of an herbicide known to cause irreversible developmental damage to human fetuses. The now-banned pesticide — dimethyl tetrachloroterephthalate, or DCPA, marketed under the trade name Dacthal — stops the growth of certain annual grasses and weeds, and was registered for use with broccoli, Brussels sprouts, cabbage, and onions, among other crops, as well as turf. But mounting evidence has shown the chemical is dangerous to people — “so dangerous that it needs to be removed from the market immediately,” as Michael Freedhoff, assistant administrator for the EPA’s Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention, said in a statement.
Black Liberation/Civil Rights:
Washington Further Escalates Its War On Dissent The last few days have seen the US ramping up its war on domestic political dissent in multiple ways, with US lawmakers petitioning the Biden administration to crack down on anti-genocide protesters it suspects of foreign influence, and a journalist critical of US foreign policy coming under the crosshairs of Washington’s increasingly weaponized Foreign Agents Registration Act (FARA). The FBI has raided the home of former UN weapons inspector Scott Ritter, a vocal critic of US foreign policy toward Russia.
The Outrageous Case of a Journalist Charged With a Hate Crime for Recording a Gaza Protest Action “This appears to be a clear attempt to stifle both journalistic activities and pro-Palestine speech. In an egregious violation of press freedoms and First Amendment-protected activity, a New York City video journalist was arrested on felony hate crime charges Tuesday for allegedly being present during and documenting a pro-Palestine protest action. According to the charges, Sam Seligson, a credentialed independent videographer, filmed a small group of people last June graffitiing the homes of the Brooklyn Museum’s director, president, and two other museum officials with pro-Palestine, anti-Zionist slogans.
Labor:
Economy:
Capitalism’s Unequal Distribution Deprives You of True Freedom As the French economist Thomas Piketty most recently exposed, capitalism, across time and space, has always tended to produce ever-greater economic inequality. Oxfam, a global charity, reported that 2022’s 10 richest men together had six times more wealth than the poorest 3.1 billion people on earth. The lack of democracy inside workplaces or enterprises is both a cause and an effect of capitalism’s unequal distribution of income and wealth.
World:
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
US Medalist’s Experience of Free Healthcare in Olympic Village Bolsters Case for Medicare for All U.S. Olympic rugby player Ariana Ramsey became a sensation on social media this week after documenting a series of free healthcare visits in the Olympic Village in Paris and becoming an advocate for universal care in her home country. Ramsey’s initial TikTok video, published Saturday, went viral in France after she expressed disbelief about the free healthcare on offer, playing into the European idea that Americans—who live in the only high-income country in the world without universal care—don’t know what they are missing. “I literally just got a pap smear—for free,” Ramsey, who won a bronze medal last week, said. “And I have a dentist appointment, and an eye exam next week. Like, what!?” The Olympic Village polyclinic offers cardiology, orthopedics, physiotherapy, psychology, podiatry and sports medicine—all free of charge to athletes, according toSports Illustrated. The tradition of free healthcare for athletes dates back nearly a century. Ramsey, a 24-year-old from Pennsylvania who played rugby at Dartmouth College, said in a video that “there’s no reason why me, an American girl, shou