Daily News Digest October 14, 2024
Images of the Day:
Ted Rall: Back to the Basement
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:
Indeed, the DOD is the world’s largest institutional user of petroleum and correspondingly, the single largest institutional producer of greenhouse gases (GHG) in the world — Pentagon Fuel Use, Climate Change, and the Costs of War
Podcas: Gaza, Ukraine and World Relations
“Never Again!” Cried The Israeli While Doing It Again I’ll condemn Hamas as soon as you can tell me what the Palestinians should do instead besides lay down and die. Produce a coherent plan for Palestinian liberation that (A) doesn’t involve violence, (B) would be effective, (C) is just, and (D) isn’t naive or moronic. Then talk to me.
Israel Jails US Journalist, Fires On UN Peacekeepers, Bombs Beirut, Kills More Kids, Etc
For NYT’s ‘Free Speech’ Maven, Racism Needs Protection, Gaza Protests Don’t What are the limits of free speech on a college campus? The New York Times has deployed one of its highest-ranking soldiers in the culture war against liberalism to remind us that the speech of white supremacists must be defended, but criticism of Israel and support for Palestinian human rights are going too far.
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.
From It’s Origins Till Now!: Colonialism, the Slave Trade, Naked Rape and Exploitation of the World’s Wealth and Resources, and Centuries of Geocide!
Reparations and Capitalism The World Conference on Racism held in Durban, South Africa, several years ago, not only raised the issue of Israel as an apartheid state, but also raised the issue of reparations for the colonialized world due to centuries of rape and plunder of the world’s masses by capitalism. Most of the arguments on this subject were first written by Karl Marx, over 130 years ago in “Capital”, Volume One, Part VIII, Chapter 31, (the) “Genesis of the Industrial Capitalist”. This often-overlooked chapter is very important in today’s world. Industrial Capitalism did not come into being due to the gradual primitive accumulation of capital, but rather the industrial revolution was fueled by the wealth plundered from the colonialized world in the name of Christianity. This is the historic material basis for modern racism as an ideology, which is used to justify the holocaust perpetuated upon the majority of the world during the period of the subjugation of the colonial world to European/United States capitalist imperialism. Karl Marx was one of the first to oppose the colonial oppression of the world’s masses. He did not mince his words in, this chapter of Capital, he wrote: The discovery of gold and silver in America, the extirpation, enslavement, and entombment in mines of the aboriginal population, the beginning of the conquest and looting of the East Indies, the turning of Africa into a warren for the commercial hunting of black-skins, signalized the rosy dawn of the era of capitalist production. … The treatment of the aborigines was, naturally, most frightful in plantation-colonies destined for export trade only, such as the West Indies, and in rich and well-populated countries, such as Mexico and India, that were given over to plunder. But even in the colonies properly so called, the Christian character of primitive accumulation did not belie itself. Those sober virtuosi of Protestantism, the Puritans of New England, in 1703, by decrees of their assembly set a premium of £40 on every Indian scalp and every captured red-skin: in 1720 a premium of £100 on every scalp; in 1744, after Massachusetts-Bay had proclaimed a certain tribe as rebels, the following prices: for a male scalp of 12 years and upwards £100 (new currency), for a male prisoner £105, for women and children prisoners £50, for scalps of women and children £50. Some decades later, the colonial system took its revenge on the descendants of the pious pilgrim fathers, who had grown seditious in the meantime. At English instigation and for English pay they were tomahawked by red-skins. The British Parliament proclaimed bloodhounds and scalping as “means that God and Nature had given into its hand.” . . . If money … comes into the world with a congenital blood-stain on one cheek, capital comes dripping from head to foot, from every pore, with blood and dirt.
A Year of Genocide No one had expected that one year would be enough to recenter the Palestinian cause as the world’s most pressing issue, and that millions of people across the globe, would, once again rally for Palestinian freedom. The last year witnessed an Israeli genocide in Gaza, unprecedented violence in the West Bank, but also legendary expressions of Palestinian sumud, or steadfastness.
Colonialism Does Not Hide Its Hostility Toward a Better World It’s a world in which only some lives matter, which winds up meaning that no lives matter. It’s the definition of hell and it’s the militarized world, I fear, that we are continuing to create for ourselves. Colonialism is hardly a thing of the past. It’s alive and vibrant as ever—from the Middle East to Western Europe to the United States to India and God knows where else. And it can be profitable as hell, at least for the right industries.
United States Armed and Funded Middle East War/Palestinan Genocide:
When Biden Says ‘He’s a Zionist’ — Believe Him!
Biden, Netanyahu Closer to Consensus on Attacking Iran President Biden and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu moved closer to an understanding on Israel’s plans to attack Iran during their phone call on Wednesday, Axios reported on Thursday. The report, which cited US and Israeli officials, said that the US had accepted Israel is going to launch a major attack on Iran soon and is only concerned that striking certain types of targets could dramatically escalate things. However, Iran has vowed it will respond to any type of Israeli attack, and the situation could easily turn into a full-blown war that would involve the US.
Juan Cole: Where Is the Middle East Heading? “The extreme goals of Netanyahu to completely control the lives of people in Gaza and the West Bank and Lebanon are endangering the lives of ordinary Jews. “The extreme goals of Netanyahu to completely control the lives of people in Gaza and the West Bank and Lebanon are endangering the lives of ordinary Jews.
UNHCHR: Israel Guilt of Deliberately Destroying Gaza Healthcare and … Extermination In a report dated October 11 the United Nations Office of the High Commission on Human Rights concluded that Israel has implemented a deliberate policy of destroying Gaza’s healthcare system and is guilty of the crime against humanity of “extermination.”
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!
Helene and Milton, Harbingers of Climate Chaos The back-to-back devastating storms make clear that the climate crisis is real and serious action must be taken to address it. “Helens” and “Milton” Milton could be a favorite aunt and uncle; instead, they have become emblems of the deepening climate disaster as the names of hurricanes that have brought death and destruction. Amid these two epic storms, a historic election is underway, with one political party actively spewing lies and disinformation about the cause of the hurricanes and the deployment of disaster relief — lies that can take lives. Meanwhile, marginalized communities, like prisoners and farmworkers, suffer heightened risks from extreme weather events but, like the mention of climate change itself, rarely appear on the major networks’ nonstop coverage. One lesson from these back-to-back hurricanes: the climate emergency is real and it impacts us all.
The Military Industrial Complex is an Obstacle to the All Life on the Planet!
Emissions Within The Military Industrial Complex: Arms Manufacturers The issue of military greenhouse gas emissions (GHG) does not receive nearly as much attention as it deserves, but the carbon footprint of military production is even more overlooked. As is the case with the military at large, arms manufacturers are not legally required to disclose their GHG emissions, and there is a large disparity in how they are reported (though that may soon change). Not only that, but while these companies have pledged to lower some types of emissions, other types are continuing to rise. Arms manufacturers essentially regulate themselves when it comes to these emissions, and there is no outside institution that holds them accountable. This gap in reporting arms industry greenhouse gas emissions should be addressed in two ways: adding environmental considerations to existing arms trade agreements, and committing arms manufacturers to provisions within international climate agreements. Thus far, the number of emissions are stunning. According to the Conflict and Environment Observatory, the largest arms dealers provided heavy GHG emissions in 2020: Lockheed Martin Corporation had 33 megatons, Airbus Group had 444 megatons, Raytheon (RTX) had 12.7 megatons, and Northrop Grumman Corporation had 0.4 megatons. Over the past two years, some of the numbers have remained relatively similar, while some have continued to increase. Lockheed Martin reports approximately 30 megatons of GHG emissions for 2022. For that same year, Raytheon reports approximately 23.5 megatons, Airbus Group reports approximately 506 megatons, and Northrop Grumman Corporation reports 0.7 megatons. Airbus Group likely has such high emissions because of manufacturing commercial aircraft that produce more emissions than standard weapons; the other manufacturers mentioned have a higher percentage of their sales devoted to weapons, and as a result have far fewer tons of GHG emissions. However, this difference between civilian aircraft and weapons should not discount the larger point: arms companies are producing massive amounts of GHGs.
The Shriveling Mighty Amazon River Drying Out Fossil fuel CO2 emissions are taking the world’s time-honored ecosystems, like the world-famous Amazon River, down onto their knees. The problem is greenhouse gases like CO2 and CH4 trap heat and excessive levels, like we’ve been experiencing, create extreme heat; it’s a direct connection that’s destroying the world’s legendary ecosystems. Over time, the biosphere rejects human meddling by undercutting these wondrous natural systems that support human life. The conclusion is too dreadful to discuss. The World Meteorological Organization (WMO) is so alarmed that it’s calling for “Urgent Action.” According to Celeste Saulo, secretary general of the WMO: ““Water is the canary in the coalmine of climate change. We receive distress signals in the form of increasingly extreme rainfall, floods and droughts which wreak a heavy toll on lives, ecosystems, and economies. Melting ice and glaciers threaten long-term water security for many millions of people. And yet we are not taking the necessary urgent action.” (Source: Climate Warning as World’s Rivers Dry Up at Fastest Rate for 30 Years, The Guardian, October 7, 2024). If there’s any doubt about the reality of climate change as a threat, the mighty Amazon River is a real time testament flashing warning signals of deep trouble. Large regions of the 4,000-mile waterway are disappearing right before our eyes because of global warming’s most lethal weapon, drought!
485 Million Years of Heat, Carbon Dioxide, and Human Survival Humans and our hominid ancestors have only lived in the most recent cool period A new study offers the most detailed glimpse yet into how Earth’s surface temperature has changed over the past 485 million years. The data show that Earth has been and can be warmer than today — but humans and animals cannot adapt fast enough to keep up with human-caused climate change. Published in the journal Science, the study presents a curve of global mean surface temperature that reveals Earth’s temperature has varied more than previously thought over much of the Phanerozoic Eon a period of geologic time when life diversified, populated land and endured multiple mass extinctions. The curve also confirms Earth’s temperature is strongly correlated to the amount of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere.
Manufacturing Enurement to the End of the World Live-streamed genocide inflicted by Israel and its sugar daddy the United States in Gaza, replete with regular images of dead Palestinian children being pulled from the rubble produced by American-made bombs, and now a vicious Israel-US assault on Lebanon possibly spiraling into a mass murderous regional war across the Middle East? A seemingly endless meat-grinder of a US-provoked inter-imperialist proxy war in Ukraine, with regular images of mass destruction and death and the ever-present heightened risk of nuclear war? More people killed and towns leveled by recurrent outbreaks of unprecedented extreme weather clearly resulting from the heedless US-led carbon capitalist project of turning the planet into a giant Greenhouse Gas chamber — this as predicted by climate scientists who have been warning us for years about the dire consequences of the reckless mass extraction and burning of fossil fuels? Masses of people turned into desperate migrants trying to flee social, environmental, economic, and political disasters produced by the US-led imperialist order?
Black Liberation/Civil Rights:
Labor:
Boeing us a Part of the Military Industrial Complex!: After Gorging on Stock Buybacks for Years, Boeing Announces Mass Layoffs “The corporate cure is always the same—lay off workers,” said one critic. “Stock buybacks and layoffs are joined at the hip. It’s time they were outlawed entirely. The manufacturing giant Boeing, under the leadership of new CEO Kelly Ortberg, announced Friday that it will axe roughly 10% of its total workforce in the coming months, a move that drew attention to the company’s massive spending on stock buybacks in recent years. Boeing, which is currently facing a machinist strike, spent an estimated $68 billion on executive-enriching share repurchases and dividends between 2010 and 2019—spending that critics say refutes the company’s claim that layoffs and inadequate worker compensation are necessary.
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
Millions in US Toiling Under This Imposed Housing Crisis Need One Thing: Straight-Up Cash Turns out tht some of the usual suspects—volunteer work, random acts of kindness—may not be as impactful as we hoped in delivering happiness. But what does work? You guessed it: money, especially for low-income folks. The real-life stories of our clients moving through eviction court show us that what most struggling families really need is simple: money. Katrina is the mother of three children, one of whom lives with major disabilities that require Katrina to spend most of her time as a caregiver. Katrina was already struggling to make ends meet, but then an unexpected car repair and reduced work hours caused her to fall behind on her rent.