Daily News Digest January 6, 2016

Daily News Digest Archives

As the Capitalist Robber Barons Steal from the 99% — Only the 1% Voted For Austerity — The 99% Should Decide On Austerity — Not The 1% Who Profit From Austerity!

Daily News Digest January 6, 2016

Images of the Day:

JournalistGeorge Orwell on Journalism  EPA and Environmental Racism Quotes of the Day: 

. . . Just because Donald Trump hates the EPA doesn’t mean the agency has ever acted in the interest of Black people. “Whether the EPA is controlled by the Democratic or Republican Parties, the agency has had a consistent and negative impact on Black and Brown communities.” We’ve all seen the results: “Residents are forced to live in unsafe environments around landfills and oil refineries, and children are exposed to chronic diseases.” The EPA Office of Civil Rights (OCR) is once again under the spotlight for betraying and harming communities that it was supposed to protect. The OCR is required to enforce Title VI of the Civil Rights Act.  This Act prohibits recipients of federal funds from discriminating on the basis of race. Black, Brown and low-income communities turn to EPA’s OCR when local and state regulatory agencies permit landfills, refineries and other businesses to locate in their communities.  Many of the pollutants and chemicals emitted from these facilities can trigger serious chronic health conditions, such as asthma, upper respiratory diseases and cancers.  EPA enjoys a generous budget of approximately $8 Billion dollars. African-Americans contribute a significant amount of funds to the work and mission of EPA through their tax dollars. However, despite the significant African-American financial contribution to EPA, the agency has never considered the health of African-Americans a priority nor worked to develop strategies to ensure that Black communities receive basic life-saving necessities, such as clean water or clean air.  One only has to remember the deliberate government poisoning of Flint, Michigan, and EPA’s decision, according to EPA Administrator Gina McCarthy, not to respond to neuro-toxic levels of lead for over one year. EPA should not receive credit for its slothful attention and total disregard for the health of the Black population in Flint.  History should record that it was the Flint community that forced the Agency through demonstrations, a media campaign and international headlines to provide what meager assistance it renders to Flint’s children. . . . — BAR editor and columnist Dr. Marsha Adebayo, Communities Betrayed and Sick, the EPA Office of Civil Rights Under the Spotlight

. . .Blue-collar workers and agricultural workers all have higher rates of cancer and other diseases because they receive higher doses of the toxic chemicals at the workplace than the rest of the population. Eventually, these toxins spread to the entire working class as they become part of the environment. An example of this fact is the population living “downwind” from the many oil refineries in Contra Costa County in the San Francisco Bay Area. People living near these refineries have very high rates of cancer. In EPA terms, this is called a “cancer cluster.” The EPA, in its corporate manner, determined that the high rates of cancer was caused by high rates of smoking in the area and not from the refineries’ carcinogenic pollutions!  However, under the rules of Proposition 65 in California and after several years of litigation, the Gasoline Refining Industry had to post this warning in the February 24, 1999, issue of the San Francisco Chronicle: . . . — Roland Sheppard, “Trade Secrets” Cancer and the Environment  (What the Bill Moyers Program “Trade Secrets” Revealed)

Videos of the Day:

The private prison business goes on ‑— The nightmare system continues — Obama’s headline promise a fraud

Congress Sets Stage for Transfer of Public Lands to the Benefit of Extractive Industries Alan Rowsome of The Wilderness Society says the recent change in a budgetary rule could see federal land handed off for logging and drilling

Illusion of Accountability in Israeli Soldier’s Manslaughter Conviction The case is an attempt by Israel to head off intervention from the International Criminal Court to order to maintain the occupation, says economist Shir Hever

Dr. Jill Stein: Jim Crow is Built into Our Voting Machines The former Green Party presidential candidate discusses her efforts to examine voter integrity problems in Wisconsin, what the Greens do between elections, and what we can do to build a trustworthy voting system in the US

Donald Trump: The Raw and Naked Face of a System That Showers Speculators with Obscene Riches Paul Jay says the enablers of Trumpism are the leaders of both major parties and the corporate media

U.S.:

The Dark Side of Obama’s Legacy There is a dark side to President Barack Obama’s legacy on national and international security matters that will enable President-elect Donald Trump to damage America’s political institutions as well as its standing in the global community. President Obama, a Harvard-trained lawyer and an expert in constitutional law, was insufficiently scrupulous in protecting our moral obligations, creating an ironic and unfortunate page in U.S. history. Instead of making the “world safe for democracy,” the clarion call of President Woodrow Wilson one hundred years ago, President Obama contributed to the furtherance of a national security state and a culture of secrecy. by Melvin Goodman For Head of SEC, Trump Taps Another Fox to Guard Wall Street Henhouse Jay Clayton’s nomination decried as “yet another example of Trump betraying his own voters by turning over our economy to giant corporations and Wall Street” Wall Street lawyer Jay Clayton, who defended big banks against regulators during the financial crisis, is President-elect Donald Trump’s pick to head the federal agency charged with policing Wall Street. by Deirdre Fulton Corporations Prepare to Gorge on Tax Cuts Trump Claims Will Create Jobs The official line from U.S.-based multinational corporations is that if they get a huge tax break, they’ll bring home the trillions of dollars in profits they’ve stashed overseas and use it to hire tons of Americans. (Nearly 3 million, says the U.S. Chamber of Commerce!) By Jon Schwarz Free Speech in 2017: Is the Town Square Model of Democracy Dead? by William A. Cohn Environment:

The scary, unimpeachable evidence that climate change is already here From coral bleaching in the Great Barrier Reef to deforestation in the Amazon, the world broke some unfortunate records this year.  By Neha Thirani Bagri  Ongoing Big Energy Crisis:

Black Liberation/ Civil Rights:

Democracy Now: Imprisoned Journalist Mumia Abu-Jamal Wins Hepatitis C Treatment In a major victory in Pennsylvania, imprisoned journalist and former Black Panther Mumia Abu-Jamal has won an injunction forcing the Pennsylvania prison system to provide him life-saving Hepatitis C medicine. Lawyers with the Abolitionist Law Center say, “This is the first case in the country in which a federal court has ordered prison officials to provide an incarcerated patient with the new medications that came on the market in 2013.” Labor:

Macy’s, Kohl’s Crash After Reporting Abysmal Holiday Sales; Cut Guidance; Announce Mass Layoffs, Store Closures Remember when market cheerleaders said that holiday sales were expected to be far stronger than usual, if only as a result of the newly-discovered optimism from the Trump election? Well, at least when it comes to conventional retailers like Kohl’s and Macy’s… not so much. First, it was Kohl’s, which announced it was slashing its full year forecast, and now sees FY2017 adjusted EPS of $3.60-$3.65, down from $3.80-$4.00 less than two months ago, in the day after the election (ronically). It wasn’t just the future: the company revealed that comp sales were also down 2.1% y/y in fiscal months November and December combined. As Kohl’s CEO Kevin Mansell said, “sales were volatile throughout the holiday season. Strong sales on Black Friday and during the week before Christmas were offset by softness in early November and December.”  But an even greater surprise was revealed moments later by retail belwether Macy’s, which not only reported a drop in same store sales, not only slashed guidance, but also announced it would close 68 stores and lay off over 10,000 workers. Specifically, in its press release, the company announced that not only is it cutting its full year EPS to $2.95-$31.0 from $3.15-$3.40, but also another massive layoff and store closure as part of its latest set of operational restructurings which include “actions to streamline its store portfolio, intensify cost efficiency efforts and execute its real estate strategy. These actions bolster the company’s strategy to further invest in omnichannel capabilities, improve customer experience and create shareholder value.:” By Tyler Durden

Economy:

Law Partners of Trump’s SEC Nominee Gave Huge Sums to Elect Hillary – Not Trump The rationale for Donald Trump’s selection of Jay Clayton, a law partner at Sullivan & Cromwell which has represented Goldman Sachs since the late 1800s, to be the next SEC Chairman grew exponentially fuzzier after Wall Street On Parade reviewed political donation records at the Federal Election Commission. FEC records show that 59 of Clayton’s fellow lawyers at the firm made over $900,000 in donations to the Hillary Victory Fund By Pam Martens and Russ Martens Mnuchin Nomination for Treasury Shines Harsh Light on U.S. Politics Over the span of the last two weeks, President-elect Donald Trump’s U.S. Treasury Secretary nominee, Steven Mnuchin, has been the subject of multiple, scathing investigative reports by the media; earned a web site established by Senate Democrats dubbing him the “Foreclosure King” and soliciting complaints from the public; garnered a television ad campaign directed against him; and has been skewered by a devastating document leaked by someone currently or formerly connected to the California State Attorney General’s Office, indicating that the bank Mnuchin ran from 2009 to 2015, OneWest, repeatedly violated California foreclosure law, including backdating documents and making illegal bids, in order to throw thousands of vulnerable people out of their homes. By Pam Martens and Russ Martens

World:

Cuba: The World’s Most Humanitarian Nation: It’s Time to Give Cuba the Credit It Deserves for Its Global Medical Accomplishments Doctors trained and sponsored by the Cuban government are providing free health care to vulnerable populations throughout Haiti. Many people will never hear about how at the end of 2016 on December 19, 38 medical professionals from Cuba’s Henry Reeve Brigade returned home after more than two tireless months of treating Haitians. They were sent to lend support to Cuba’s permanent medical teams in Haiti in the wake of Hurricane Matthew. By Stephen Bartlett Health, Science, Education, and Welfare:

2016: The Death of Liberalism  The year 2016 ended with two more dramatic and bloody occurrences: the assassination of the Russian ambassador in Istanbul and the brutal murder of people in Berlin who were peacefully enjoying preparations for Christmas. These events were linked to the bloody morass in the Middle East and more specifically to Syria. The fall of Aleppo represented a decisive turn in the situation. Russia, which was supposed to have been isolated and humbled by the “international community” (read Washington) now controls Syria and decides what happens there. It called a peace conference in Kazakhstan to which neither the Americans nor the Europeans were invited, followed by an agreement for a ceasefire dictated on Russia’s terms. By Alan Woods

“Saviors” Believe That They Are Better Than the People They Are “Saving” In the real world, people don’t need heroes or rescue: They need systemic solutions to racism, patriarchy, colonialism and capitalism. But the seductive myth of the savior complex all too often leads us astray, as Jordan Flaherty shows in No More Heroes: Grassroots Challenges to the Savior Mentality. Robin D.G. Kelley calls this book “A perfect gift for the age of Trump.” Get your copy by making a tax-deductible donation to Truthout today! By Jordan Flaherty, AK Press | Book Excerpt