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 April 19, 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:
Military Keynesianism and the Military-Industrial Complex
Quote of the Day:
What follows is some information about the health effects of emissions from burning piles of used (scrap) tires. I am also including some information about the problem of groundwater contamination that results from burning piles of scrap tires, and potential solutions to the problem of scrap tires. Recently, the U.S. EPA published the following study: U.S. EPA (October 1997) “Air Emissions from Scrap Tire Combustion.” (The study is also available in Spanish: “Emisiones al Aire de la Combustion de Llantas Usadas”). The study shows that emissions from the burning of tires are a serious threat to human health. Specifically, emissions from burning tires are highly mutagenic (more mutagenic than emissions from the burning of all other bulk materials that researchers have tested). Emissions from burning tires contains significant amounts of the following known human carcinogens: benzene, 1,3-butadiene, and benz[a]pyrene. What follows are quotes from the study: Health impacts of open burning of used (scrap) tires and potential solutions
Videos of the Day:
Referendums Could Bypass Black Misleadership Class (Audio)
U.S. Political Prisoners Face De Facto Life Sentences Without Parole (Audio)
El Salvador Passes Historic Ban on Metal Mining The Central American country is the first country in the world to establish a blanket ban on metal mining, protecting the environment following a 12-year political struggle
U.S.:
The Price of Resistance — To stand with the oppressed means being treated like the oppressed. By Chris Hedges
Opposition to US Strikes in Syria Grows As the US Tomahawk missiles were raining on Syria, the entire Middle East was shaken to its core. Here, even the name itself – Syria – triggers extremely complex and often contradictory sets of emotions. To some, Syria is synonymous with pride and a determined struggle against Western imperialism, while others see it as an uncomfortable reminder of how low their own rulers and societies have managed to sink, serving foreign interests and various neo-colonialist designs. by
Naked Capitalist State: Trump White House Taking ‘Marching Orders’ from Hundreds of CEOs: Report ‘One of every five of the corporate executives who met with the Trump administration within the first 100 days represented the banking or financial sector’ by Nadia Prupis, staff writer 
Mother of All Hypocrisies: Trump Cares for Some Syrian Babies Not Others by Robert Fisk
Let’s Stop Calling North Korea ‘Crazy’ and Understand Their Motives The world knows little about the palace politics in North Korea, the world’s most opaque country. Yet it seems like Kim is acting intelligently. By Isaac Stone Fish
Black Liberation/Civil Rights
Black Agenda Radio for Week of April 17, 2017 (Listen)
Black leftists, including former Black Panthers, can serve the people either as Democrats or independent of the corporate parties. “I did both,” said New York State Assemblyman Charles Barron, speaking at an electoral politics school organized by the Black Is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations, in St. Petersburg, Florida. Barron won local and statewide office as a Democrat, but ran for governor on the Freedom Party ticket. He is most proud of thwarting gentrification in his district, citing a Daily News article that showed “East New York, Brooklyn, is the only Black community in the city that has experienced a 13.2 percent increase in the Black population” because of affordable housing generated by Barron’s office.
Referendums Could Bypass Black Misleadership Class: Strategic use of voter initiatives and referendums can help bypass the “illegitimate” Black political class that serves rich white masters, said Kamm Howard, of the National Coalition of Blacks for Reparations in America (NCOBRA). Howard spoke at the electoral school held by the Black is Back Coalition, of which he is a board member. “You’re taking a vote directly to the people, allowing us to craft our own laws,” he said. Howard argued that skillful use of voter initiatives and referendums is a good way to push for reparations, Black community control of police, and other issues on the Black is Back Coalition’s 19-point National Black Political Agenda for Self-Determination.
U.S. Political Prisoners Face De Facto Life Sentences Without Parole: Anne Lamb, a Jericho Movement co-chair in New York City, is gearing up for the Millions for Prisoner Human Rights March, August 19, in Washington; demonstrations in support of Mumia Abu Jamal, in Philadelphia, on April 24; and the decades-long effort to free former Black Liberation Army member Jalil Muntaqim, formerly known as Anthony Bottoms, who has spent the last 46 years behind bars in New York. “They want to impose life without parole on all our political prisoners,” said Lamb. “Jalil is a prime example of how afraid they are of the ideas of our political prisoners. He’s been behind the walls for a long time, but he has not changed his mind about what he thinks could be a better world.”
Black Agenda Radio on the Progressive Radio Network is hosted by Glen Ford and Nellie Bailey. A new edition of the program airs every Monday at 11:00am ET on PRN. Length: one hour.
Environment:
Spewing out human carcinogens: benzene, 1,3-butadiene, and benz[a]pyrene in texas: This Insane Texas Tire Fire Shows Why The EPA Is Essential To America When a pile of 100,000 tires catch fire in an arid climate such, the blaze will prove difficult to extinguish under the best of circumstances. By Penn Collins 
Ongoing Big Energy Crisis:
Accidents Spew Oil and Gas Pollution in Alaska as Trump Looks to Expand Arctic Drilling Two oil and gas companies, BP and Hilcorp, have struggled to contain oil and gas spilling from leaky infrastructure after recent accidents in Alaska. The accidents come as President Trump looks to expand drilling in the pristine Arctic, where conditions are harsh and spill-response resources are known to be scarce By Mike Ludwig 
Labor:
One must accentuate especially the role which Jack London attributes to the labor bureaucracy and to the labor aristocracy in the further fate of mankind. Thanks to their support, the American plutocracy not only succeeds in defeating the workers’ insurrection but also in keeping its iron dictatorship during the following three centuries. We will not dispute with the poet the delay which can but seem to us too long. However, it is not a question of Jack London’s pessimism, but of his passionate effort to shake those who are lulled by routine, to force them to open their eyes and to see what is and what approaches. The artist is audaciously utilizing the methods of hyperbole. He is bringing the tendencies rooted in capitalism: of oppression, cruelty, bestiality, betrayal, to their extreme expression. He is operating with centuries in order to measure the tyrannical will of the exploiters and the treacherous role of the labor bureaucracy. But his most “romantic” hyperboles are finally much more realistic than the bookkeeper-like calculations of the so-called “sober politicians.” Trotsky and the Iron Heel
Economy:
Shadow Government Statistics Real Retail Sales 
Has Former Goldman Sachs President, Gary Cohn, Gone Rogue on Glass-Steagall? The only reason that Wall Street survived at all from 2008 to 2010 was that the Federal Reserve was secretly funneling a cumulative $16 trillion in almost zero rate loans to any Wall Street bank, foreign or domestic, that could fog a mirror and claim to be viable. On top of that, the Fed engaged in a toxic securities cleanup program benignly known as Quantitative Easing, where it bought up Wall Street’s dodgy mortgage-backed securities, putting the mess on its own balance sheet — where much of it remains to this day. By Pam Martens and Russ Martens
World:
Britain: Snap election announced – May throws down the gauntlet At this moment of enormous national significance there should be unity here in Westminster, but instead there is division. The country is coming together, but Westminster is not.” With these words, Tory Prime Minister, Theresa May, announced a shock general election for 8th June and demanded a direct mandate to take the UK through the Brexit divorce with the EU. By Socialist Appeal
(Important difference between Jean-Luc Mélenchon and Bernie Sanders, Jean-Luc Mélenchon, is not in the 1%’s Political Party and Bernie Sanders is a member of the Pro-War Democratic Party) France’s Bernie Sanders Started His Own Party and Is Surging in the Polls Jean-Luc Mélenchon, an insurgent left-wing candidate for France’s presidency, is surging. His candidacy, organized under the newly-established party La France Insoumise (“Unsubmissive France”) has gone from a quixotic bid to a viable challenge in just a few months. Railing against growing economic inequality, participation in foreign wars, and political corruption, Mélenchon has skyrocketed in the polls from distant fourth to within a hair’s breadth of the frontrunners. (This rise has been accompanied by the release of a web-based video game called “Fiscal Kombat” where Mélenchon fights corrupt politicians and bankers.) By Zaid Jilani
Health, Science, Education, and Welfare: