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During This Economic Crisis, Capitalism’s Three Point Political Program: 1. Austerity, 2. Scapegoating Blacks, Minorities, and ‘Illegal Immigrants’ for Unemployment, and 3. The Iron Heel.
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!
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Prior to Trumps’ ban on new EPA regulations, the U.S. citizens breath and consume over 80,000 Uuntested and non-regulated chemicals: . . . “The hundreds of thousands of chemicals that are packed into our homes and lives are what make modern consumerism possible, keeping our food fresh and our walls from molding. They are also, in many cases, completely untested and backed by giant corporations with a financial stake in their successful adoption.” . . . — We Live With 80,000 Untested Chemicals in Consumer Products
As prophesized by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. just shy of 50 years ago, the United States has become a spiritually dead imperialist atrocity. Look at the recent media discussion of pre-fascist U.S. president Donald Trump’s use of the distressed widow of a US Navy Seal as a nationalist war prop in his de facto first State of the Union Address to Congress last Tuesday night. The widow’s husband, Ryan Owens, was a highly trained and skilled killer working in the service of an American Empire that accounts for nearly 40 percent of the world’s military spending and maintains more than 800 bases across more than 80 sovereign nations. The Pentagon System that pays for that empire eats up well more than half the nation’s federal discretionary spending. That’s no small part of why “the world’s richest” nation lags most other rich nations on basic measures of social and physical health — life expectancy, infant mortality, health care affordability and access, poverty, education, equality, social mobility, drug addiction, violence, suicide and the like. The Pentagon regime is a great subsidy for the rich owners of a vast high-tech “defense” contractor network and thereby furthers economic disparity in a nation already so savagely unequal that the top tenth of the upper U.S. 1 Percent owns more wealth than the nation’s bottom 90 Percent. — Notes on Empire and Spiritual Death: a Recent Episode
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U.S.:
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— Donald Trump is not an aberration. He’s the raw and naked face of an economic system that showers speculators with obscene riches and political power. “I use emotion for the many and reserve reason for the few.” That’s a quote attributed to Adolf Hitler. Donald Trump is not the only actor on the political stage who ascribes to such methods. The enablers of this surging far right “populism” are the leaders of both major political parties and the corporate media.Whether it’s the charming smile of leading Democrats or the religious fervor and patriotic zeal of establishment Republicans, they both ensure super-profits for the super-rich.
After Sharing Her Immigration Story, 22-Year-Old Dreamer Detained by ICE Daniela Vargas’ story reflects a shift in priorities under the Trump administration, under which all undocumented immigrants appear vulnerable Twenty-two-year-old “Dreamer” Daniela Vargas, whose family came to the United States from Argentina when she was seven years old, was detained by Immigrations and Customs Enforcement (ICE) on Wednesday morning, shortly after speaking out publicly about the rights of undocumented immigrants. By Deirdre Fulton
How U.S. Support for Syrian Rebels Drove the Refugee Crisis That Trump Has Capitalized On American wars of regime change in Iraq, Libya and Syria contributed to the growth of Al Qaeda and ISIS. By Rania Khalek 
Notes on Empire and Spiritual Death: a Recent Episode by Paul Street
How Much Does It Cost to Tell a Lie That Big? It was quite expected but I am having a hard time wrapping my head around the fact that the US backed propaganda organization, the White Helmets (1), has effectively received an Oscar for the short documentary film about them. Which, of course, indicates that it is not just acceptable to twist facts and call a group of people with documented criminal activities “heroes”, but it is acceptable to award them with cultural, artistic and humanistic recognition. And it is all for the sake of waging a colonial war against a country that does not quite follow the imperial ways (2)(3). by Hiroyuki Hamada
Progressive and Neoliberal Evasions in the Era of Trump: What the Inequality Data Show by David Green 
Black Liberation/ Civil Rights:
Labor:
Trump Signs Executive Order Urging Dismantling Of Clean Water Rule The president ordered his regulators to “review and reconsider” a rule that protects drinking water for 117 million people. By Joseph Erbentraut
FYI: Monsanto’s Roundup Contains Glyphosate which is Listed on Californis Proposition 65 as a ‘Chemical That May Cause Cancer.’ : Labels warning that a product contains compounds that may cause cancer, birth defects, or reproductive harm are now required on many household items sold in California. But people all over the country see them because many companies put the labels on all items that contain these compounds, even if they’re to be sold in other states. The warning labels can be found on many kinds of products, such as electrical wires, jewelry, padlocks, dishes, flashlights, and pesticides, to name just a few. — Cancer Warning Labels Based on California’s Proposition 65
Oil and Gas Lobby Fights California Regulators to Keep Injecting Drilling Wastewater into Protected Aquifers Last month the California Division of Oil, Gas, and Geothermal Resources (DOGGR), missed its own deadline for shutting down 475 oil industry injection wells determined to be dumping toxic fluids into protected California groundwater aquifers. The division said it would continue to allow more than 1,600 other wells to continue injections into federally protected aquifers because it believes they stand a chance of being exempted from the Safe Drinking Water Act protections. Yet the Western States Petroleum Association (WSPA), a regional oil and gas lobbying group, is still suing the agency to prevent any wells from closing. By Larry Buhl
Economy:
South Africa: The ANC’s flop on “radical economic transformation” At his annual State of the Nation Address (SONA), South Africa’s president Zuma made a song and dance about embarking on a programme of “radical economic transformation”. At the time we explained that this was actually a ruse. What he was actually embarking upon was an attempt to promote the interests of the emerging parasitic black bourgeoisie around the Gupta family at the expense of the black working masses. By Ben Morken
Pakistan: The ever growing power of China The China Pakistan Economic Corridor, or CPEC, has become the cornerstone of the state policy of Pakistan in recent years and all the politics and economics of the ruling class revolve around this project. The rulers are claiming that this corridor will bring prosperity and advancement in the country and that soon rivers of milk and honey will start flowing. By Adam Pal
Health, Science, Education, and Welfare:
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Environment:
White House Aims to Slash Major EPA Programs, Fire 20 Percent of Staff That’s not all: Trump also to issue executive orders repealing Obama-era coal mining moratorium and carbon emissions limits by Nika Knight 
Ongoing Big Energy Crisis:
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