Daily News Digest March 30, 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 30, 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!

Image of the Day:

Former Democratic Senators Advised Group Funding Anti-Muslim Extremist Frank GaffneyQuotes of the Day:

Always remember when you read or hear the term White House or Media ‘Spin’ that ‘spin’ is a synonym for a lie or lies (Newspeak or Deceptive Bureaucratic Jargon)! — Roland Sheppard

Some insiders have spoken more openly about reasons for wars. For example, in 1933 Major General Smedley Butler USMC, who served for 33 years and was one of the most highly decorated marines, stated: “War is just a racket. A racket is best described, I believe, as something that is not what it seems to the majority of people. Only a small inside group knows what it is about. It is conducted for the benefit of the very few at the expense of the masses…. And during that period, I spent most of my time being a high class muscle-man for Big Business, for Wall Street and for the Bankers. In short, I was a racketeer, a gangster for capitalism.”  Another leading U.S. military figure, General Douglas MacArthur, spoke in 1957 at a Sperry Rand Corporation annual meeting:  “Our swollen budgets constantly have been misrepresented to the public. Our government has kept us in a perpetual state of fear — kept us in a continuous stampede of patriotic fervor — with the cry of grave national emergency. Always there has been some terrible evil at home or some monstrous foreign power that was going to gobble us up if we did not blindly rally behind it by furnishing the exorbitant funds demanded. Yet, in retrospect, these disasters seem never to have happened, seem never to have been quite real.” Shamefully, the U.S. mainstream media plays a key role in advancing the establishment’s stories in creating enemies and in pushing the use of the military instead of diplomacy. For example, most of the influential media unquestionably spread the false claims about weapons of mass destruction before the illegal and unwarranted U.S.-led attack on Iraq in 2003. This monstrous U.S. war crime killed hundreds of thousands of Iraqis and caused incredible suffering and devastation that continue even today. In addition, that attack played a major role in creating the chaos in the Middle East and in spawning ISIS and other terrorists groups. — War and Propaganda

Videos of the Day:

US Has Interfered in More Elections Than Any Other Nation BAR executive editor Glen Ford on The Real News Network

Latin America: from Revolution to Counter-Revolution?

Citizens United — Seven years later

U.S.:

Donald Trump and Steve Bannon: Real Threats More Serious Than Fake News Trafficked by Media by Jeffrey Sommers Contrary to Spin, Trump Slashing Energy Jobs With New Executive Order “These facts make it clear that Donald Trump is attacking clean energy jobs purely in order to boost the profits of fossil fuel billionaires” by Nika KnightSanctuary Cities ‘Stand Resolute’ in Face of Threatened Funding Cut-Off Officials from country’s largest urban centers strategized on sheltering undocumented immigrants after White House announced plan to withhold federal aid by Nadia Prupis

Black Liberation/Civil Rights: Freedom Rider: Is Trump the DNC Hacker? If the Democrats are intent on living at the Vast Conspiracy Hotel, they ought to widen their list of suspects in the leaking of embarrassing Democratic documents. Roger Stone and Nigel Farage — men much closer to Donald Trump’s brand of politics than Vladimir Putin — have had curious contacts with Wikileaks founder Julian Assange. Stone is “the champion Republican Party dirty trickster,” while Farange, the British rightwinger, is a friend of Trump. by BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley  The Joseph Kony “Threat” was Always Fake News Fake news stories roar in like a storm, but often evaporate with time. Seven years ago, President Obama and other fake news vendors depicted Joseph Kony as the devil incarnate, a dire threat to western interests and the people of central Africa. But it was all a ruse to smooth U.S. military intervention on African soil. Obama “The Faker” played Kony for a demon and the public for a fool. A Black Agenda Radio commentary by executive editor Glen FordIsrael’s African Darling: Paul Kagame: An Interview with Robin Philpot Rwandan dictator Paul Kagame, who recently addressed AIPAC, in Washington DC, is Israel’s favorite African, a man the Zionists permit to use the term “genocide.” Both nations claim their wounds give them a special status in the world. “Rwanda and Uganda could be called mad dog states — they’re highly militarized, and they serve as sheriffs for the U.S. at the same time as they pursue their own interests.” by Ann Garrison  

No Tokens with Trump, No time for Fear: These are Revolutionary Times  The corporate media would have you believe that stark differences divide the duopoly parties. The opposite is true. Democrats and establishment Republicans “have united on questions of war, austerity, and state-sponsored surveillance.” If anything, the major parties have solidified their “bipartisan consensus on privatization of education, healthcare, and the public sector” – as demanded by their corporate masters in this time of systemic crisis. by Danny HaiphongBrother Harvey Matthews: “I’m Fighting for My Ancestors.” The Bethesda African Cemetery: Part I More than half a century ago, developers paved over a Black cemetery in Bethesda, Maryland. Now the county claims the ancestral bones may no longer be there. Some accounts from the Fifties “describe construction crews carving a ditch in the hillside and pushing countless remains into it.” Said a Black protest leader: “When the people in the Planning Office tell us that the cemetery doesn’t exist I know they are lying. I played in that cemetery.” by BAR editor and columnist Dr. Marsha Adebayo I’m just a patsy; Don’t let me be patsy… Some are called for the job, while others are chosen. Some folks practice and study and audition, while others stumble into it blindly. Some are coerced and some more are prepped and primed and meticulously prepared for their few minutes if infamy… by BAR poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner Top Israelis Have Warned of Apartheid, So Why the Outrage at a UN Report? In the United States, it is all but forbidden – a “slander,” a “smear,” a “despicable” and “blatant lie,” and a “new form of anti-Semitism” — to call Israel an apartheid state. Yet, numerous Israeli leaders have used the A-word to describe what the Zionist project has become. “Are they Israel bashers, too?” In the Occupied Territories and Israel “proper,” there is only one state – and it fits the definition of apartheid. by Medhi Hasan The AFRICOM Snake Slithers into the Lake Chad Basin Ever since NATO’s 2011 regime change in Libya, the U.S. military command, AFRICOM, has had free rein in most of the continent. Boko Haram “terrorism” provides an excuse to intervene, but AFRICOM’s real aim is to secure U.S. control of African economic resources. “It took only the suggestion of potential oil reserves to inspire a U.S. military plan for the success of the oil exploration efforts of the Nigerian government” in the Lake Chad region. by Mark P. Fancher Environment:

Ongoing Big Energy Crisis:

Energy News:

 Labor:

Coalmining employed 98,505 people in 2015, according to the Mine Safety and Health Administration, down from 127,745 in 2008, the year Obama was elected president, and about 250,000 in the 1970s. Trump has consistently pledged to restore mining jobs, but many of those jobs were lost to technology rather than regulation and to competition from natural gas and renewables, which makes it unlikely that he can do much to significantly grow the number of jobs in the industry, said Murray. “I suggested that he temper his expectations. Those are my exact words,” said Murray. “He can’t bring them back.” — Top US coal boss Robert Murray: Trump ‘can’t bring mining jobs back’

Economy:

World:

Gabriel Nadeau-Dubois joins Quebec solidaire : Opportunities and challenges The moment that everyone was waiting for has finally arrived: On Thursday, March 9th, Gabriel-Nadeau Dubois, the celebrated student leader from 2012, announced that he will be joining Quebec solidaire. He will be the candidate for the party in the riding of Gouin and also desires to become the male spokesperson for the party. He said he wants to get rid of the “political class” that has governed for 30 years and has “betrayed Quebec”. By Julien Arseneau Rwanda Indicts French Generals for 1994 Genocide Late in 2016 the Rwandan Government indicted several senior French Army Generals for crimes against humanity including genocide for their role in the 1994 Rwandan holocaust. The Rwandan case against the French Generals is based on the French having instigated and trained the Interhamwe para military Hutu militia that was responsible for most of the killings of the minority Tutsi tribe and its supporters. This most inconvenient of facts is admitted to by the French media who are still trying to shrug off blame for the French crimes in Rwanda and deny any “smoking gun” exists. by Thomas C. Mountain Bloodbath in West Mosul: Civilians Being Shot by Both ISIS and Iraqi Troops by Patrick Cockburn  Health, Science, Education, and Welfare: