Daily News Digest September 12, 2024
Images of the Day:Ted Rall: Kamala Is Even Pro-Abortion Overseas
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:
Colourless, odourless and invisible to the naked eye, methane is a potent greenhouse gas. It is responsible for more than 25 per cent of the global warming we are experiencing today. Due to its structure, methane traps more heat in the atmosphere per molecule than carbon dioxide (CO2), making it 80 times more harmful than CO2 for 20 years after it is released. — What’s the Deal With Methane? – UNEP
Watching the Presidntial Debate, this Quote Came to Mind: “My life has recently intersected, in a most personal way, two of Mark Twain’s famous quips. One I shall defer to the end of this essay. The other (sometimes attributed to Disraeli) identifies three species of mendacity, each worse than the one before—lies, damned lies, and statistics!” — The Median Isn’t the Message
Podcasts/Vide0s of the Day:
Democrats Have Decided To Just Ignore American Muslims This Election Cycle The fact that Democrats of all levels are so completely incurious and indifferent toward what Muslims in their country have been saying since October shows they are not good people, and shows they are not what they pretend to be.
Democracy Itself Is Being Questioned Amid Genocide and Global Political Upheaval Historian, activist and filmmaker Tariq Ali discusses Palestine, South Asian politics and developments in Europe. We speak to acclaimed historian, activist and filmmaker Tariq Ali about Western governments’ support for Israel’s war on Gaza and popular protest in support of Palestine, which Ali calls the “biggest divide we’ve seen in politics almost since the Vietnam War.” He argues that this division is “challenging the very nature of democracy” and the international rule of law. Ali also shares his analysis of South Asian politics — in Pakistan, where former Prime Minister Imran Khan has accused the United States of engineering his ouster, and in Bangladesh, where a student-led uprising recently toppled the authoritarian regime of its former Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina. Finally, we cover developments in Europe. In France, President Emmanuel Macron has appointed conservative leader Michel Barnier as prime minister, despite the electoral gains of the country’s left-wing coalition. This comes as far-right and anti-migrant sentiment spreads throughout the Global North.
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.
These 21st-Century Demagogues Aren’t Mavericks – They’ve Repeated on Us Throughout History These 21st-century demagogues aren’t mavericks – they’ve repeated on us throughout history We are nonplussed every time one emerges, as if it’s something new. But there are patterns that are totally predictable I’ve been thinking about a famously orange-skinned former presenter of trashy TV programmes, who lives on a luxurious coastal estate. He has a history of racist and Islamophobic remarks, of blaming asylum seekers for bringing disease into the country and ranting about the “supercilious metropolitan elite”. He swept into a rightwing political party and refashioned it in his image, presenting himself as the antidote to politics-as-usual, whipping up culture wars and using the platform to boost his planet-sized ego. I am, of course, describing the British former politician Robert Kilroy-Silk. After he was sacked from his presenting job by the BBC for a crudely racist rant in the Sunday Express in 2004, he joined Ukip (the forerunner of Nigel Farage’s Reform UK), energising it and captivating the media with his culture war polemics against the EU, immigrants and “the political establishment”. His unnatural hue inspired the viral video Mr Tangerine Man. But when Ukip could no longer contain his ego, he broke away and started his own political party in 2005, Veritas (widely dubbed Vanitas), which quickly crashed and burned. Thank goodness there are no such characters on the world stage today!
Most Americans Want To Stop Arming Israel. Politicians Don’t Care. The number of Americans opposed to sending arms to Israel has grown, month after month, as the brutal war on Gaza grinds on Most When Kamala Harris sat down with CNN’s Dana Bash last month, Bash asked a question: “Would you withhold some U.S. weapons shipments to Israel? That’s what a lot of people on the progressive left want you to do.” Harris sidestepped the question, talked about a ceasefire, and ultimately said that she would not change course from the Biden administration’s policy of arming Israel as its war on Gaza enters its 11th month. But polls of the American voting population show that she’s ignoring more than just the “progressive left”: A majority of voters support ending arms transfers to Israel, and support for an arms embargo is growing.
United States Funded Genocide in Israel:
The Morass of U.S. Middle East Policy was Visible in the Harris-Trump Debate … On Gaza, Harris said, “Well, let’s understand how we got here. On Oct. 7, Hamas, a terrorist organization, slaughtered 1,200 Israelis. Many of them young people who were simply attending a concert. Women were horribly raped. And so absolutely, I said then, I say now, Israel has a right to defend itself. We would. And how it does so matters. Because it is also true far too many innocent Palestinians have been killed. Children, mothers. What we know is that this war must end. It must when, end immediately, and the way it will end is we need a cease-fire deal and we need the hostages out. And so we will continue to work around the clock on that. Work around the clock also understanding that we must chart a course for a two-state solution. And in that solution, there must be security for the Israeli people and Israel and in equal measure for the Palestinians. But the one thing I will assure you always, I will always give Israel the ability to defend itself, in particular as it relates to Iran and any threat that Iran and its proxies pose to Israel. But we must have a two-state solution where we can rebuild Gaza, where the Palestinians have security, self-determination and the dignity they so rightly deserve.” But that isn’t how we got there. The Israelis expelled 250,000 Palestinians to Gaza in 1948 from their homes in what became southern Israel, making Gaza a big refugee camp.
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!
Trends in Atmospheric Carbon Dioxide (CO2) Weekly Average CO2 at Mauna Loa Week beginning on September 01, 2024: 422.33 ppm, Weekly value from 1 year ago: 418.64 ppm,Weekly value from 10 years ago: 396.29 ppm. Last updated: September 10, 2024
2021: Putting a Lid on Methane Emissions — Before It’s Too Late
Methane Emissions Rising Faster Atmospheric concentrations of methane are now the highest they’ve been for at least 800,000 years The Global Methane Budget 2024 shows a 20 per cent increase in methane emissions from human activities in the past two decades. Methane is one of three core greenhouse gases that contribute to climate change. It lasts in the atmosphere for just a few decades, less than carbon dioxide and nitrous oxide, but has the highest short-term global warming potential because it holds more heat in the atmosphere. The budget, produced by the Global Carbon Project, covers 17 natural and anthropogenic (human-induced) sources. It shows that methane has increased by 61 million metric
US Militarism Is a Leading Cause of the Climate Catastrophe US military interventions are not just wars on people — they’re also wars on the climate. This week marks 23 years since George W. Bush declared a U.S.-led “war on terror” and the people of Afghanistan and Iraq are still suffering its consequences. After the U.S. invaded Iraq, an estimated half a million Iraqis were killed and at least 9.2 million were displaced. From 2003-2011, more than 4.7 million Iraqis suffered from moderate to severe food insecurity. Over 243,000 people have been killed in the Afghanistan/Pakistan war zone since 2001, more than 70,000 of them civilians. Between 4.5 and 4.6 million people have died in the post-9/11 wars. The U.S.’s “war on terror” also escalated the climate catastrophe, resulting in local water shortages and extreme weather crises that are only getting worse. In 2022, Afghanistan had its worst drought in 30 years and it is facing a third consecutive year of drought. “The war has exacerbated climate change impacts,” Noor Ahmad Akhundzadah, a professor of hydrology at Kabul. Meanwhile in the current moment, U.S. military assistance to Israel’s genocidal campaign is also intensifying the climate crisis.
As Global Warming Increases, Global Warming Migrants Increases! Capitalism Compounds the Crisis by Closing Borders! Iraq 20 Years After the Invasion: Humanitarian, Displacement, and Climate Change Challenges The U.S.-led coalition invaded Iraq on March 20, 2003, and withdrew in 2011, costing an estimated half a million Iraqis their lives, causing at least 9.2 million to be displaced, and resulting in more than 4.7 million to experience moderate or severe food insecurity. Today, 20 years after the initial invasion, the large-scale conflict has ended, yet Iraq remains at perennial risk of crisis. In this interview, Giorgi Gigauri reflects on the 20th anniversary; the current humanitarian, displacement, and climate landscape; and how the United Nations’ migration agency, International Organization for Migration (IOM), is responding to current needs.
The Government’s Approach to Evaluating Health Problems in Communities … Last month an investigative report by the news service Reuters took an extensive look at ATSDR’s work. The report, “How a US health agency became a shield for polluters,” analyzed 428 reports issued by the agency from 2012 to 2023. Those reports contained 1,582 conclusions about potential harms at contaminated sites. Reuters found that in 68% of its findings, the ATSDR declared communities safe from hazards or did not make any determination at all. That record of finding little harm “strains credulity,” said one former EPA official quoted in the report. Other key findings included:
- The agency’s frequent declarations of no harm often are rooted in faulty research. At least 38% of the time, agency reports show, its researchers relied on old or flawed data.
- At least 20 times from 1996 to 2017 the agency declared that a potential hazard posed no health risk – only to be refuted later by other government agencies or the ATSDR itself. The errors impact communities in Alabama, California, Missouri, New Yorkand North Carolina.
- Despite decades of criticism, the agency continues to publish research that relies upon practices its own review board called “virtually useless.”
- The agency’s common practice of publishing inconclusive reports feeds a long-standing corporate strategy of using scientific uncertainty to deflect regulation and liability for polluted sites.
Black Liberation/Civil Rights:
Cal State Professors Targeted for Exposing School’s Ties to Israel’s Genocide in Gaza Last month, in a tangible victory for the BDS (Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions) movement, San Francisco State University (SFSU) agreed to pull its investment from four companies tied to weapons manufacturing and Israel’s genocide in Gaza. The four include Lockheed Martin, aerospace company Leonardo, military contractor Palantir, and construction equipment maker Caterpillar, whose bulldozers have been tearing up Gaza and the West Bank for decades. The success was four years in the making, as SFSU students successfully passed a divestment resolution in 2020. “I want to thank all the work group participants who dedicated time this summer to the creation of this plan, including the representatives from Students for Gaza and members of our Investment Committee,” said SFSU Vice President Jeff Jackanicz.
The ‘Real Right to Life’: Where Can We Live? In 2019, a group of homeless folks were living on a deserted piece of land along the Chehalis River, a drainage basin that empties into Grays Harbor, an estuary of the Pacific Ocean, on the coast of the state of Washington. When the city of Aberdeen ordered the homeless encampment cleared out, some of those unhoused residents took the city to court, because they had nowhere else to go. Aberdeen finally settled the case by agreeing to provide alternative shelter for the residents since, the year before, a U.S. court of appeals had ruled in the case of Martin v. Boise that a city without sufficient shelter beds to accommodate homeless people encamped in their area couldn’t close the encampment. Indeed, for years, homeless people on the West Coast have had one defense set by the 9th Circuit Court of Appeals. In Martin v. Boise, it ruled that criminalizing people who had nowhere else to sleep was indeed “cruel and unusual punishment.” However, a group of homeless folks in Grants Pass, Oregon, who had been fined and moved from place to place because they lacked shelter, took their case all the way to the Supreme Court. And in June, it ruled against them, overturning Martin v. Boise and finding that punishing homeless people with fines and short stints in jail was neither cruel, nor unusual, because cities across the country had done it so often that it had become commonplace.
Labor:
Economy:
Intel, Boeing and U.S. Steel May Hold the Secrets to What’s Behind All the Talk of a U.S. Sovereign Wealth Fund Both Bloomberg News and the Wall Street Journal have now reported that it’s not just presidential candidate Donald Trump that is proposing a U.S. Sovereign Wealth Fund, but that President Joe Biden’s administration is also exploring the idea. The Wall Street Journal reported as follows on the Biden plan late Sunday night: “It isn’t clear how far the White House plan, overseen by national security adviser Jake Sullivan and his deputy Daleep Singh, is from completion, or whether Vice President Kamala Harris, the Democratic presidential candidate, supports it. A Harris spokesman didn’t respond to a request for comment.” The advisor on Trump’s plan for a U.S. Sovereign Wealth Fund is John Paulson – a hedge fund billionaire not particularly known for putting the national security interests of America ahead of his own greed. (See our reporting yesterday for background on Paulson’s shorting of the U.S. housing market, becoming a billionaire as millions of families lost their homes to foreclosure in the worst financial crisis since the Great Depression.)
World:
Rich Countries Crack Down on Climate Protests While Lecturing on Rights Elsewhere: Report “You don’t have to agree with the tactics of climate activists to understand the importance of defending their rights to protest and to free speech.” “You don’t have to agree with the tactics of climate activists to understand the importance of defending their rights to protest and to free speech.” Rich Western countries have cracked down on non-violent climate protests with harsh laws and lengthy prison sentences, in violation of international law and the civil rights they champion globally, according to a report released Monday by Climate Rights International.
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 Food Insecurity Rate Rose to 13.5% in 2023 as Government Benefits Declined and Food Prices Soared The official U.S. food insecurity rate rose to 13.5% in 2023 from 12.8% in 2022, according to data the U.S. Department of Agriculture released on Sept. 4, 2024. That means more than 1 in 8 Americans – about 47 million people – couldn’t get enough food for themselves or their families at least some of the time. This is a significant increase from a recent low of 10.2% in 2021. Food insecurity grew in the two years that followed due to a sharp decline in government benefits, including money for groceries from the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program and the program that pays for students to get lunch and breakfast for free at school. Higher food prices, largely driven by rapid inflation, also played a big role, as did elevated housing costs.