Daily News Digest October 9, 2024
Images of the Day:
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:
Rather than simply saving capitalism, which is the concern of the Green New Deal argument, the point of our notebook is to think about changing the way we organise society, in other words, to advance our thinking about building a new system. Building these ideas, Fernandes says, must involve the trade unions (many of which are concerned about job loss in the transition from carbon to renewables) and peasant unions (many of which are gripped by the fact that land concentration destroys nature and creates social inequality). We must change the system, as Fernandes argues, ‘but the political conditions today are not conducive to this. The right wing is strong in many countries, as is the denial of climate science’. Therefore, rapidly, the people’s movements must put a decarbonisation agenda on the table. Four goals lie before us:
- Degrowth for Western countries. With less than 5% of the world’s population, the United States consumes a third of the world’s paper, a quarter of the world’s oil, nearly a quarter of the world’s coal, and a quarter of its aluminium. The Sierra Club saysthat US per capita consumption ‘of energy, metals, minerals, forest products, fish, grains, meat and even fresh water dwarfs that of people living in the developing world’. Western countries need to cut back on their overall consumption, scaling back, as Jason Hickel notes, the ‘unnecessary and destructive ones’ (such as the fossil fuel and arms industries, the production of McMansions and private jets, the manner of industrial beef production, and the entire business philosophy of planned obsolescence).
- Socialise the key sector of energy generation. End subsidies to the fossil fuel industry and build a public energy sector that is rooted in a decarbonised energy system.
- Fund the Global Climate Action Agenda. Ensure that Western countries fulfil their historic responsibilities in supporting the Green Climate Fund, which will be used to finance the just transition in the Global South in particular.
- Enhance the public sector. Build more infrastructure for social rather than private consumption, such as more high-speed rail and electric buses, to decrease the use of private cars. Countries of the Global South will have to build their own economies, including by exploiting their resources. The issue here is not entirely whether to exploit these resources but whether they can be extractedfor social and national development and not merely for the accumulation of capital. Buen vivir – living well – means to transcend hunger and poverty, illiteracy and ill-health, which will be developed by the public sector.
No climate policy can be universal. Those who devour the world’s resources must reduce their consumption. Two billion people have no access to clean water, while half the world’s population does not have access to adequate health care. Their social development must be guaranteed, but this development must be built on a sustainable, socialist foundation. —Tricontinental. — Capitalism Created the Climate Catastrophe; Socialism Can Avert Disaster. The Thirty-Fifth Newsletter (2022)
I Have Seen The Insides Of Too Many Dead Kids Listen to a reading of this article (reading by Tim Foley): I have seen the insides of too many dead kids to have any patience for status quo politics or centrist incrementalism. I have seen the insides of too many dead kids to care who the Americans elect in November. I have seen the insides…
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.
Why the War in Ukraine is Meant to Drag On: Strategic Goals, European Discontent, and NATO’s Role This episode of the Global Economy Hour discusses that the U.S., under the guise of promoting “freedom,” is enforcing policies that undermine European sovereignty, especially in relation to energy dependence and trade with Russia and China. The irony of Western sanctions and coercion, which have not only failed to weaken targeted countries but have also fostered stronger alliances between nations like Russia, China, and members of BRICS, has countered Western attempts at domination.
A World Pushed to Resist: U.S. Policies and the Rise of Global Alliances The decline of U.S. global dominance is reshaping international alliances. As U.S. neoliberal policies and military actions continue to alienate nations, countries like China, Russia, and Iran are forming strategic coalitions. Driven by economic self-interest, these nations are pushing back against the U.S. hegemony, creating a new global order. The U.S. has underestimated this retaliation, failing to recognize the shifting power dynamics. This Dialogue Works interview explores how America’s economic and military aggression is leading to a surprising global backlash, with other nations working together to protect their interests and resist U.S. influence.
United States Armed and Funded Middle East War/Palestinan Genocide:
When Biden Says ‘He’s a Zionist’ — Believe Him!
Biden Allowing Israel to March US Into War With Iran By cooperating with Israel in a new attack, the United States is assisting a state that has been responsible for most of the escalation and the vast majority of death and destruction in the Middle East for at least the past year. The Biden administration is not only endorsing but also on the verge of actively assisting a new Israeli armed attack on Iran. National security adviser Jake Sullivan says that the United States is working directly with Israel regarding such an attack. “The United States is fully, fully, fully supportive of Israel,” declares President Joe Biden.
End of Human Rights: The Failure of International Law As the Israeli attacks against Gaza have continued to rage, now spilling into Lebanon, a year of unspeakable violence has raised persistent questions about the efficacy of international law and global governance. Israel’s ongoing military actions in Palestine and the devastating toll on civilian lives. In the face of these flagrant violations of international law, from the Geneva Conventions to humanitarian rules meant to safeguard civilians, the world watches in a state of paralysis. The impotence of the United Nations (UN) and other international bodies calls into question whether global institutions are equipped to prevent such tragedies or hold aggressors accountable. The answer is clear: international law and organizations have failed.
Movement Media Are Fighting for Palestinian Liberation and Against Censorship One year into Israel’s genocide in Gaza and colonial expansion, media that tell the truth face censorship or worse. A bill currently making its way through Congress could kill independent media outlets like ours. HR 9495 is a bipartisan piece of legislation, ostensibly about allowing U.S. nationals wrongfully detained abroad to postpone their tax deadlines — it sounds relatively innocuous. But this bill also includes the text of another bill, one which made it through the House earlier this spring. It gives the treasury secretary the discretion to deem a nonprofit a “terrorist supporting organization,” which would strip them of their tax-exempt status.
A Single Day of Genocide Would Be Too Much. What Then When It Lasts a Year? Israel and the US have spent 365 days trying normalize civilian slaughter. We must fight for another future. Today is a difficult day. Israel’s U.S.-sponsored war on Gaza has been relentlessly raging on for a whole year — with no end in sight. On October 7, 2023, Hamas and other resistance fighters broke through their open-air prison wall and launched a massive assault that killed 1,140 Israelis. They also took 250 hostages, of whom 101 remain in custody awaiting an elusive ceasefire and hostage deal that Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has continuously thwarted and refuses to conclude. Since then, Israel’s genocidal assault over the past 12 months on Gaza has killed more than 41,638 Palestinians, according to the Gaza Health Ministry, with 16,859 of these being children. The Lancet, a respected British medical journal, calculated that the real death toll, including those missing under the rubble and “indirect” deaths from malnutrition, disease, and other conditions brought on by the conflict, could be around 186,000 people. Health care workers who have visited Gaza have repeatedly said the real number of deaths is likely far higher than the official count.
Gaza: One Year of Hell on Earth One year since the 7 October attack by Hamas on southern Israel, the ensuing war has produced an unprecedented humanitarian disaster for the Palestinians living in the Gaza Strip. Now Lebanon is facing a similar scenario. Netanyahu warned Hezbollah that Israel could “turn Beirut and southern Lebanon… into Gaza”. What does it mean to turn southern Lebanon into a Gaza? After one year of relentless bombing, Netanyahu’s genocidal war on Gaza has led to unprecedented levels of death and destruction for the Palestinian people. Nearly 42,000 have been killed in direct hits since October last year, while a further 100,000 have been injured, a quarter of whom, it is estimated, will remain permanently disabled. These figures, however, do not tell the whole story of what has happened. The bombings have not only killed people in the direct hits, but the massive destruction of Gaza’s infrastructure has led to many more deaths that are not counted in the official figures. Water and power supplies have been destroyed, as well as much of the healthcare services, clinics and hospitals, together with housing and schools. According to UNRWA only one third of the hospitals in Gaza are functioning in any way.
Israel’s War on Gaza and Beyond Has Cost US Taxpayers At Least $22.76 Billion: Report “It has been difficult for the U.S. public, journalists, and members of Congress to get an accurate understanding of the amount of military equipment and financial assistance that the U.S. government has provided.”
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!
Earth’s ‘Vital Signs’ Show Humanity’s Future In Balance, Say Climate Experts Record emissions, temperatures and population mean more scientists are looking into possibility of societal collapse, report says
Global Water Woes the ‘Canary in the Coal Mine’ for Climate Calamity: WMO “As a result of rising temperatures, the hydrological cycle has accelerated. It has also become more erratic and unpredictable, and we are facing growing problems of either too much or too little water,” the WMO lead said. The climate crisis is destabilizing the world’s water cycle, depriving millions of people of the freshwater resources they need while inundating others with deadly and catastrophic floods.
Climate Warning as World’s Rivers Dry Up at Fastest Rate for 30 Years World Meteorological Organization says water is ‘canary in the coalmine of climate change’ and calls for urgent action
Appalachian Apocalypse: Reflections on a Climate Catastrophe In the aftermath of Helene, we are now all grappling with the realities of a climate that have made such extreme weather events increasingly common
Blowout Erupts in West Texas’s Permian Basin, Creating 100-Foot Tower of Oily Water A 1961 oil and gas well is the suspected source of a geyser eruption in the region where Permian wastewater disposal is causing a flurry of earthquakes An apparent well blowout just west of Toyah created a massive geyser in the West Texas desert that was still flowing unchecked as of Friday morning, photographs reveal. DeSmog’s Justin Hammel photographed the geyser Friday morning, capturing images of an oily-appearing rainbow sheen around a tower of water over 100 feet tall. A rotten-egg smell, a telltale hallmark of dangerous hydrogen sulfide gas, was detectable in the air from at least two miles downwind of the geyser.
Black Liberation/Civil Rights:
Labor:
The Real Unemployment Rate of 26.7% Exposes the Treacherous Silence/Role of the Labor Bureaucracy!: Les Leopold: 135,900,000 Reasons Why the Working Class is so Angry Since 1993, 60.2 million workers who had been on the job for at least three years have been laid off, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Another 75.7 million with less than three years tenure have also been let go. Working people understand that the periodic ups and downs of the economy can legitimately lead to job loss. But they also know that in many cases the reason they lost their job was not mismatches in supply and demand. Rather, their jobs were sacrificed to satisfy out and out corporate greed.
Economy:
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
Fact Check: Medicare for All Would Save the U.S. Trillions; Public Option Would Leave Millions Uninsured, Not Garner Savings Medicare for All opponents repeatedly claim that Medicare for All is “too expensive” by presenting misleading numbers without the proper context of our unsustainable health care spending. Here are the facts:
We can’t afford NOT to implement Medicare for All.
- Our health care spending is estimated to continue rising and will reach nearly $6 trillion a year by 2027. That means according to the federal government, we will spend around $42.9 trillion on health care over the next decade if we maintain the status quo.
Medicare for All will cost LESS than our current system.
- A recent study by Yale epidemiologists found that Medicare for All would save around 68,000 lives a year while reducing U.S. health care spending by around 13%, or $450 billion a year.
- Medicare for All spending would be approximately $37.8 trillion between 2017 and 2026, according to a study by the Political Economy Research Institute (PERI) at the University of Massachusetts Amherst. That amounts to about $5 trillion in savings over that time. These savings would come from reducing administrative costs and allowing the government to negotiate prescription drug prices.
- Other studies by think tanks and government agencies have analyzed single-payer proposals at the state and federal levels. Most found Medicare for All would reduce our total health care spending.
- Even a study by the Koch-funded Mercatus Center found that Medicare for All would save around $2 trillion over a 10-year period.