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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!
Image of the Day:
I knew that I could never again raise my voice against the violence of the oppressed in the ghettos without having first spoken clearly to the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today — my own government. For the sake of those boys, for the sake of this government, for the sake of the hundreds of thousands trembling under our violence, I cannot be silent. For those who ask the question, “Aren’t you a civil rights leader?” and thereby mean to exclude me from the movement for peace, I have this further answer. In 1957 when a group of us formed the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, we chose as our motto: “To save the soul of America.” We were convinced that we could not limit our vision to certain rights for black people, but instead affirmed the conviction that America would never be free or saved from itself until the descendants of its slaves were loosed completely from the shackles they still wear. In a way we were agreeing with Langston Hughes, that black bard of Harlem, who had written earlier: O, yes, I say it plain, America never was America to me, And yet I swear this oath — America will be! Now, it should be incandescently clear that no one who has any concern for the integrity and life of America today can ignore the present war. If America’s soul becomes totally poisoned, part of the autopsy must read: Vietnam. It can never be saved so long as it destroys the deepest hopes of men the world over. So it is that those of us who are yet determined that America will be — are — are led down the path of protest and dissent, working for the health of our land. . . . — Martin Luther King, Beyond Vietnam — A Time to Break Silence
. . .After the assassination of Martin Luther King and the subsequent rebellions in the inner cities protesting his assassination, the Democratic Party’s “war on poverty” started laying dollars on any potential Black leaders and grooming Black Candidates. John Lewis, formally of SNCC, became enlightened, he forego the Black Panthers and saw the Democratic Party, symbolized by a jackass, as his party. Most of what W.E. B. Dubois described as the “talented tenth” were bought off by this process. The more radical concepts that Martin Luther King and Malcolm X had developed at the time of their deaths disappeared from the scene. No one took up where they left off. The governmental policy, directed towards the ‘leaders’ of the civil rights movement, of the carrot (dollarism) and the stick (assassinations) had proven to be successful. . . . — Roland Sheppard, The Rise and Fall of the Civil Rights Movement
Videos of the Day:
TRNN Replay: Beyond Vietnam: A Time To Break Silence Doctor Martin Luther King, Jr. made the comment that the U.S. government [was/is] “the greatest purveyor of violence in the world today”. This was in context to a speech delivered on April 4, 1967 at Riverside Church in New York City – exactly one year before his untimely death.
TRNN Replay: How MLK Went From ‘National Threat’ to ‘National Hero’ Corporation for Enterprise Development’s Dedrick Asante-Muhammad explains the whitewashing of Martin Luther King’s legacy, transforming him from a leader for racial and economic justice who died in struggle to a post-racial patriot who died in victory
US:
MLK Day 2017: Mobilizing Against Racism, Capitalism and Militarism in a Neo-Fascist Era With a neo-fascist president-elect taking office in just four days, it is past time to deconstruct sanitized narratives of Martin Luther King Jr.’s activism. History shows us that in times like these, a radical vision of what is possible is exactly what people need By Asha Rosa Ransby-Sporn
Building the Institutions for Revolt We must form our own, new structures and carry out continual mass protest and civil disobedience to wrest back power from the corporate state. By Chris Hedges
The Deep State Wants to Deep Six Us January 14, 2017 “Information Clearing House” – What do these pieces of evidence tell you? The United States and Russia each possess enough nuclear weapons to destroy all life on earth many times over. Pentagon officials say the cold war with Russia is for profit and bureaucracy. When there was danger of peace breaking out in Syria, the U.S. military acted to prevent it, apparently against the will of President Obama. By David Swanson
Environment:
Global Warming Clobbers Ocean Life The waters of the Pacific off the California coast are transparently clear. Problem is: Clear water is a sign that the ocean is turning into desert (Source: National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, NOAA). From Alaska to Central America, and beyond, sea life has been devastated over the past three years like never before. Is it Fukushima, or nature running its own course, or some kind of perverse wrath emanating from global warming? For a hint, scientists refer to the lethal ocean warming over the past few years as “the Warm Blob.” by Robert Hunziker
Ongoing Big Energy Crisis:
. . . Many things were gained as a result of these years of struggle. In 1964 the Civil Rights Bill came into being after the Birmingham movement, which did a great deal to subpoena the conscience of a large segment of the nation to appear before the judgment seat of morality on the whole question of Civil Rights. After the Selma movement in 1965, we were able to get a Voting Rights Bill. And all of these things represented strides. But we must see that the struggle today is much more difficult. It’s more difficult today because we are struggling now for genuine equality. And it’s much easier to integrate a lunch counter than it is to guarantee a livable income and a good solid job. It’s much easier to guarantee the right to vote than it is to guarantee the right to live in sanitary, decent housing conditions. It is much easier to integrate a public park than it is to make genuine, quality, integrated education a reality. And so today we are struggling for something which says we demand genuine equality. It’s not merely a struggle against extremist behavior toward Negroes. And I’m convinced that many of the very people who supported us in the struggle in the South are not willing to go all the way now. I came to see this in a very difficult and painful way in Chicago the last year where I’ve lived and worked. Some of the people who came quickly to march with us in Selma and Birmingham weren’t active around Chicago. And I came to see that so many people who supported morally and even financially what we were doing in Birmingham and Selma, were really outraged against the extremist behavior of Bull Connor and Jim Clark toward Negroes, rather than believing in genuine equality for Negroes. And I think this is what we’ve got to see now, and this is what makes the struggle much more difficult. And so as a result of all of this, we see many problems existing today that are growing more difficult. It’s something that is often overlooked, but Negroes generally live in worse slums today than 20 or 25 years ago. In the North, schools are more segregated today than they were in 1954 when the Supreme Court’s decision on desegregation was rendered. Economically, the Negro is worse off today than he was 15 and 20 years ago. And so the unemployment rate among whites at one time was about the same as the unemployment rate among Negroes. But today the unemployment rate among Negroes is twice that of whites. And the average income of the Negro is today 50 percent less than Whites. . . . — MartinLuther King Jr. Speech: The Other America
Labor:
Economy:
World:
Jeremy Corbyn Accused of Being Russian “Collaborator” for Questioning NATO Troop Build-Up on Border The leader of the UK’s Labour Party, Jeremy Corbyn, called for a “de-escalation” of tensions between NATO and Russia, adding in a BBC interview on Thursday: “I want to see a de-militarisation of the border between them.” Along with the U.S., the UK has been rapidly building up its military presence in the Baltic region, including states which border Russia, and is now about to send another 800 troops to Estonia, 500 of which will be permanently based. By Glenn Greenwald
Health, Science, Education, and Welfare:
My Latest Reason to Boycott the NFL: Guns Quitting the NFL is proving more difficult than quitting smoking. I stopped smoking about 30 years ago. I’d probably be dead now if I hadn’t put an end to a three-pack-a-day habit. The first few weeks were a minute-by-minute ordeal, but eventually I spent hours without thinking about smoking. And I no longer am even tempted: Just the thought of it revives memories of a sour stomach, racing heartbeats and breathing difficulties. The NFL and all big-time football, however, is another story. There are plenty of reasons to quit. There is the exploitation of primarily African-American men. Sure, a few hundred players hit the big payday, but most don’t — and are left with a variety of life-crushing injuries, most notably brain damage. For every one making it to the NFL, there are hundreds of thousands who feed the NFL pyramid by playing at the Pee Wee League, high school and college levels. Whether it’s a knee or ankle or spine or brain, most have been injured, and many permanently by Bruce Mastron
Quotes of the Day: 
More Waters for California Frackers: Obama Administration Orders Speedy Completion of Delta Tunnels Plan Rejecting the call by fishermen, Tribes, conservationists, family farmers and environmental justice advocates to terminate the Delta Tunnels plan, Interior Secretary Sally Jewell on January 4 issued a Secretarial Order that will mandate the completion of Governor Jerry Brown’s controversial California WaterFix process “in a timely manner.” by Dan Bacher
No Wall for the Pipeline: Critics Say “Trickery” Used to Seize Land, Build Trans-Pecos Pipeline to Mexico without Full Environmental Review By Larry Buhl
Black Liberation/ Civil Rights:
“Where Do We Go from Here?” That question was a touchstone for The Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. during the last year of his life. He preached on it. He delivered speeches on it. He wrote a book on it. The answers he put forward may be what got him killed. His persistent morality and unrelenting mobilization of constructive power summoned the nation to take serious the need for a nonviolent revolution against “our system of economic injustice and military destructiveness.” by Dale Bryan