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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!
Images of the Day:
Laura Gray’s cartoon from the front page of The Militant August 18, 1945, under the banner headline: “There Is No Peace”
Why?
Quotes of the Day:
The ‘Resistance’ does not Oppose Trumps War Escalation in Syria — The Best that Bernie Sanders Can Do is to ‘Warn’, but not Oppose This Syrian War Escalation: Sen. Bernie Sanders on Friday said he’s “deeply concerned” that President Donald Trump’s unilateral military action against the Syrian government will once again drag the U.S. into the quagmire of long-term military engagement in the Middle East. . . . Sanders’ statement, issued one day after Trump launched the strikes, stands in contrast to many of his Democratic colleagues who voiced support for the air assault that killed civilians, including children.” — Sanders Warns Trump Against Dragging US Into Another Endless ‘Quagmire’
Trump’s decision to hit a Syrian government facility was an act of stunning rashness, made before any independent investigation into the chemical weapons attack or official determination of who was responsible–and, of course, without international or congressional authorization. It is perhaps most comparable to Bill Clinton’s bombing of the Al-Shifa pharmaceutical plant in Khartoum at the height of the Monica Lewinsky scandal in 1998, an act which helped to spawn two decades of endless wars. With no evidence to support him, Clinton claimed that the facility was a chemical weapons factory for Al Qaeda. Like Clinton, Trump’s poll numbers were in the toilet when he gave the orders to strike. Thus do war crimes feed on war crimes. — Roaming Charges: Metaphysical Graffiti
However, the decisive blow to the Black movement for self-determination and against U.S. imperialism was delivered by forces internal to the Black community. It came from a class that had not been concerned about justice in any civilizational sense, but only about getting rid of Jim Crow — American apartheid — so that they could also walk the halls of the empire and live the corporate life. Their vehicle — the only one that was open to this Black aspiring class — was the Democratic Party, because the other party was busy transforming itself into the White Man’s Party. With very few exceptions, this was a class for itself, consumed by a mission of “representationalism.” They wanted no part in social transformation; they wanted only to be represented in the upper echelons of corporate, governmental and symbolic media power. Their agenda was solely concerned with their own upward mobility. They were not about justice or peace. Here are two examples — founding members of this new, Black Misleadership Class: Carl Stokes, the first Black big city mayor, elected in Cleveland, 1967. The first thing he did was to appoint a Black retired general as police chief, and the first thing the general did was to arm the cops with hollow point bullets. Maynard Jackson, the first Black mayor of Atlanta, elected in 1973. Four years later, he fired 1,000 striking sanitation workers — the same folks that Dr. King had gone to Memphis to support nine years earlier — and died trying. The rise of a selfish, servile, corporate ass-kissing Black class, combined with murderous application of state power, snuffed out the Black Liberation Movement, which was anti-imperialist at the core. There was a brief resurgence of Black “movement” politics with the campaign against South African apartheid. But, only briefly. “The rise of a selfish, servile, corporate ass-kissing Black class, combined with murderous application of state power, snuffed out the Black Liberation Movement.” For two generations, Black movement politics was smothered by the hegemonic power of the Democratic Party, whose tentacles strangled the militancy out of virtually every Black civic organization. The churches, the fraternities, the sororities — all behave like annexes of the Democratic Party. They invoke Dr. King’s name, and use the word “justice” a lot — and the word “peace” every so often — but justice and peace cannot possibly find a home in one of the two parties of war. — Glen Ford, MLK and Obama: Two Diametrically Opposed Legacies
Videos of the Day:
U.S.:
Pax Americana: … In conclusion, it should be clear that these four essential missions for maintaining American military preeminence are quite separate and distinct from one another – none should be considered a “lesser included case” of another, even though they are closely related and may, in some cases, require similar sorts of forces. Conversely, the failure to provide sufficient forces to execute these four missions must result inproblems for American strategy. The failure to build missile defenses will put America and her allies at grave risk and compromise the exercise of American power abroad. Conventional forces that are insufficient to fight multiple theater wars simultaneously cannot protect American global interests and allies. Neglect or withdrawal from constabulary missions will increase the likelihood of larger wars breaking out and encourage petty tyrants to defy American interests and ideals. And the failure to prepare for tomorrow’s challenges will ensure that the current Pax Americana comes to an early end. — Rebuilding America’s Defenses, Forces and Resources For a New Century. (September 2000)
The US air strikes say more about the Vladimir Putin-Donald Trump relationship than the Middle East The pictures out of the town of Khan Sheikhun are terrifying, but Trump and his Secretary of State Rex Tillerson have the thorny problem of working out how to deal with Russia So did Bashar al-Assad use gas? The Russians must know. They are in the air bases, in the ministries, in the military headquarters. And if they say the Syrians did not use gas, then they had better be sure. The Russians had advance warning of Trump’s 59 Cruise missiles. Many hours of warning – not the one hour that Washington claims – and would have ensured that Syrian jets were way out of the air base. Russians are not to be killed in the Syrian war; their presence would have meant casualties. by Robert Fisk
The Spoils of War: Trump Lavished With Media and Bipartisan Praise For Bombing Syria In every type of government, nothing unites people behind the leader more quickly, reflexively or reliably than war. Donald Trump now sees how true that is, as the same establishment leaders in U.S. politics and media who have spent months denouncing him as a mentally unstable and inept authoritarian and unprecedented threat to democracy are standing and applauding him as he launches bombs at Syrian government targets. By Glenn Greenwald 
Yet Another President Commits the Ultimate War Crime of Launching a War of Aggression President Donald Trump campaigned last year making the sensible argument that the US should no longer engage in a policy of regime change, and should attempt to have friendly relations with other countries like Russia and China. Yesterday he blew those ideas out of the water by launching 59 Tomahawk missiles at a Syrian airbase and by calling for the removal of Syria’s leader, Bashar al Assad. by Dave Lindorff
Airstrikes Without Justice To describe the US attack on Syria as a serious development is to be guilty of understatement. Without any recourse to international law or the United Nations, the Trump administration has embarked on an act of international aggression against yet another sovereign state in the Middle East, confirming that neocons have reasserted their dominance over US foreign policy in Washington. It is an act of aggression that ends any prospect of détente between Washington and Moscow in the foreseeable future, considerably increasing tensions between Russia and the US not only in the Middle East but also in Eastern Europe, where NATO troops have been conducting military exercises for some time in striking distance of Russian territory. by John Wight
Environment:
Labor:
Economy:
Shadow Government Statists Alternate Unemployment Chart
Why Hasn’t Citigroup’s Banking Charter Been Yanked? Citigroup was back in the news again last Tuesday when the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau (CFPB) reported that its banking unit, Citibank, was among the three banks with the highest average monthly complaints filed against it alleging credit card abuses. (The other two banks were Capital One and JPMorgan Chase.) By Pam Martens and Russ Martens
World:
Health, Science, Education, and Welfare:
The War Department existed from August 7, 1789[1] until September 18, 1947, when it split into Department of the Army and Department of the Air Force and joined the Department of the Navy as part of the new joint National Military Establishment (NME), renamed the United States Department of Defense in 1949. — Wikipedia
The stinking hypocrisy of Trump’s attack on Syria Yesterday the US navy launched a series of missile attacks on the Al Shayrat airbase in the central governorate of Homs in Syria. Seven people are claimed to have been killed and several fighter jets are said to have been damaged. By Hamid Alizadeh 
The Guardian: Trump’s senseless Syria strikes accomplish nothing The US bombing of a Syrian airfield is flip-floppery at its worst. And it signals to America’s foes that Trump can be easily dragged into military quagmires By Moustafa BayoumiTrump has ‘Wagged the Dog’: Without Proof or Cause or Consent, ‘Impetuous’ Trump Bombs Syria ‘The impetuousness of this bombing campaign – its impulsiveness – is stunning even by US war-loving standards’ by Jon Queally
Black Liberation/Civil Rights
Ongoing Big Energy Crisis:
