Daily News Digest March 24, 2017

Daily News Digest Archives

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.

Daily News Digest March 24, 2017

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!

Images of the Day:

You know what they say about putting lipstick on a pig. By Khalil Bendib Quotes of the Day:

Deportees

(“Deportee (Plane Wreck at Los Gatos)” is a protest song with lyrics by Woody Guthrie detailing the January 28, 1948 crash of a plane.)

The crops are all in  And the peaches are rotting

The oranges piled up  In their creosote dumps

You’re flying ’em back  To the Mexican border

To spend all their money  To wade back again

Good bye to my Juan  Goodbye Rosalita

Adios mis amigos  Jesus why Maria

You won’t have a name When you ride the big airplane 

All they will call you Will be “deportees”

Some of us are illegal   And others not wanted

Our work contract’s up  And we have to move on

Six hundred miles to that Mexican border  

They chase us like outlaws  Like rustlers, like thieves

Good bye to my Juan  Goodbye Rosalita

Adios mis amigos Jesus why Maria

You won’t have a name

When you ride the big airplane 

All they will call you  Will be “deportees”

The skyplane caught fire  Over Los Gatos Canyon

A fireball of lightning  Shook all our hills

Who are all these friends  Who are scattered like dried leaves

The radio said   They were just “deportees”

Good bye to my Juan  Goodbye Rosalita

Adios mis amigos Jesus why Maria

You won’t have a name  When you ride the big airplane

All they will call you  Will be “deportees”

Russia is an inalienable and organic part of Greater Europe and European civilization. Our citizens think of themselves as Europeans… That’s why Russia proposes moving towards the creation of a common economic space from the Atlantic to the Pacific Ocean, a community referred to by Russian experts as ‘the Union of Europe’ which will strengthen Russia’s potential in its economic pivot toward the ‘new Asia.’” — Russian President Vladimir Putin, “Russia and the changing world”, February 2012, Will Washington Risk WW3 to Block an Emerging EU-Russia Superstate

Videos of the Day:

Democrats pathetic response to Trump Bad language alert

U.S.:

Trump’s Draconian Budget Deals a Blow to Appalachia By Kerry Cardoza War Correspondents Describe Recent U.S. Airstrikes in Iraq, Syria, and Yemen Sentiment in Washingtonmay not reflect that the U.S. is at war, but two war correspondents described the astonishing extent and toll of recent U.S. military strikes in Iraq, Syria and Yemen on Intercepted, the weekly podcast by The Intercept’s Jeremy Scahill. By Malak Habbak Will Washington Risk WW3 to Block an Emerging EU-Russia Superstate In short, Washington is doing everything in its power to prevent Russia and Europe from merging into the world’s biggest free trade zone that will be the center of global growth and prosperity for the next century. by Mike Whitney

What We Learned From Just Two Pages of Trump’s Tax ReturnsEileen Appelbaum   Cybersecurity Firm That Attributed DNC Hacks to Russia May Have Fabricated Russia Hacking in Ukraine The mysterious release of just the first two pages of now President Trump’s 2005 tax return may have raised more questions than it answered, but it provided deep insights into his proposals to reform the personal income tax. It revealed in stark terms just how much the President himself – and other wealthy business people like him – stands to gain from the main tax changes he proposes. It throws cold water on his campaign promise that his tax reforms are designed to benefit working families. by by Michael J. Sainato Black Liberation Civil Rights:

Don’t Give the Black Misleaders Your Vote (They’ll Just Cash It In) The Democratic Party acts like it owns Black America. It certainly owns most of the Black political (Misleaderhip) class, who “have used their local, state and national offices to facilitate the mass Black incarceration regime at every stage of its deployment.” These servants of the police state and war need to be challenged by candidates that reflect the left-leaning politics of Black America. The Black Is Back Coalition is seeking candidates. by BAR executive editor Glen Ford 

Why Won’t the Black Political Class Won’t Denounce Trump’s Militarism? Because They Can’t. 50 years ago Dr. King inveighed against endless wars of US global empire, prophesying the next generations would be marching and rallying against US wars in Latin America, Asia and Africa unless there was a profound change in US priorities. That change has still not come. Then as now machinery of war pollutes and defiles the planet and war budgets are always at the expense of human needs. But our black political class couldn’t care less. A Black Agenda Radio Commentary by BAR managing editor Bruce A. Dixon 

Environment:

Top 4 Worst Pieces of Climate News From the United Nations in the Age of Trump The World Meteorological Organization of the United Nations issued its annual report on the climate on Tuesday, making a full and final assessment of 2016. It was not good news. It was big news, but it wasn’t good news. Also, surprise, it wasn’t reported on most television “news,” otherwise known as babysitting for adults. By Juan Cole 

Release of Arctic Methane “May Be Apocalyptic,” Study Warns A scientific study published in the prestigious journal Palaeoworld in December issued a dire — and possibly prophetic — warning, though it garnered little attention in the media. “Global warming triggered by the massive release of carbon dioxide may be catastrophic,” reads the study’s abstract. “But the release of methane from hydrate may be apocalyptic.” By Dahr Jamail How a Libertarian Think Tank Is Trying to Correct the ‘Degenerate’ Climate Science Debate in Washington, DC But perhaps the largest, most active, and influential group pushing climate science denial is America’s collective of so-called free-market conservative “think tanks” that want to cut the size of government and claim to be defending your freedom and liberty — examples include the Cato Institute, the Heritage Foundation, the Heartland Institute, and the Competitive Enterprise Institute. President Donald Trump has been drawing heavily from this collective as he fills his administration. By Graham Readfearn

Exxon Ordered to Recover ‘Wayne Tracker’ Emails It Claims Are Lost ‘It’s time for the oil company to come clean in the courts about what it knew about climate change and what it withheld from the public and shareholders’ by Andrea Germanos Pepsi, McDonalds, Nestlé, Other Major Brands Implicated in Illegal Destruction of Critical Elephant Habitat (Video) A new investigation links major food corporations to a rogue palm oil company that is ravaging the rainforest. By Laurel Sutherlin Ongoing Big Energy Crisis:

Energy News:

 TV: Explosion hits US nuclear plant — Officials declare emergency alert — “Fire shuts down reactor” — Gov’t conducting special investigation, possible “serious safety consequences” — “Atmospheric steam dumps” required (VIDEO)

Labor:

Economy:

Underwater Nation: As the Rich Thrive, the Rest of Us Sink While the media reports low unemployment and a rising stock market, the reality is that almost 20 percent of the country lives in “Underwater Nation,” with zero or even negative net worth. And more still have almost no cash reverses to get them through hard times. by Chuck Collins

Real Wages have Fallen Since the Wage Price Freeze of 1972  (Shadow Government Statistics) Graph 3 plots the seasonally-adjusted earnings as officially deflated by the BLS (red-line), and as adjusted for the ShadowStats-Alternate CPI Measure, 1990-Base (blue-line). When inflation-depressing methodologies of the 1990s began to kick-in, the artificially-weakened CPI-W (also used in calculating Social Security cost-of-living adjustments) helped to prop up the reported real earnings. Official real earnings today still have not recovered their inflation-adjusted levels of the early-1970s, and, at best, have been in a minimal uptrend for the last two decades (albeit spiked recently by negative headline inflation). Deflated by the ShadowStats (1990-Based) measure, real earnings have been in fairly-regular decline for the last four decades, which is much closer to common experience than the pattern suggested by the CPI-W. See the Public Commentary on Inflation Measurement for further detail.World: 

Boycott, Divestment, and Sanctions Movement (BDS), Women’s Rights, Human Rights and the Failings of Security States by Howard Lisnoff     Ecuador’s Elections: Why National Sovereignty Matters National sovereignty is an undervalued asset in today’s world, especially in the international media, where the views of Washington and its allies largely prevail. This is true with regard to economic as well as political issues, and its consequences can be quite heavy in a region like Latin America, long regarded by US officials as their “back yard.” by Mark Weisbrot

Health, Science, Education, and Welfare: