Daily News Digest April 25, 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 April 25, 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:

Charter Schools: Where the Money Goes Happy Earth Day! Quote of the Day: 

The world is in big trouble, as you all know. That trouble cannot be fixed without abolishing the corporation. It’s an artificial institution expressing anti-social and anti-planet values. It cannot be fixed. It cannot be reformed, ever. We have arrived at an historical point similar to the chattel slavery crisis. Slavery was an abomination. Reforming it was not an acceptable proposal. It had to go. Corporate-capitalism has created a global crisis– no longer limited to Western Europe and the USA, now unlimited in its capacity to damage humans and the planetary ecosystem.  You all know this, but too many of us are settling for delusional meaningless public spectacles.  I am sorry. Bernie Sanders cannot save the planet. That’s a comfortable liberal delusion that allows the believers to change nothing. WWIII or an ecosystem collapse is coming. — Mark Mason

Videos of the Day:

The US news media and war Warning: Strong adult language

The System is Based on Profit In part one of a two-part interview, artist and activist Paul Rucker discusses his work and how it relates to mass incarceration in the United States. Rucker also touches on the upcoming Millions for Prisoners Human Rights March and what it should address.

U.S.:

Is Mad Dog Planning to Invade East Syria? The Pentagon’s plan for seizing and occupying territory in east Syria is beginning to take shape. by Mike Whitney

America’s Tale of Two Cities, Redux by Robert Hunziker

Japan Made Secret Deals with the NSA that Expanded Global Surveillance By Ryan Gallagher For First Time, a U.S. President Backs a Fascist France We are now presented with the spectacle of the American president, Donald J. Trump, praising the Neo-Fascist National Front candidate, Marine LePen.  By Juan Cole

Black Liberation/Civil Rights:

Gentrification Represents a Geography of Inequality What does gentrification mean for the future of American cities? It means more than the arrival of trendy shops and expensive coffee. Peter Moskowitz intertwines human narratives with incisive analysis of the systemic forces contributing to America’s crises of race and inequality, in How to Kill a City.  The Renaissance of Intellectual Racism How institutions gift a veneer of respectability to white nationalists who promote racist pseudoscience. By Nicole Hemmer Devil’s Punchbowl — U.S. Concentration Camp For African Americans So Horrific It Was Erased From History Say the words concentration camps, and most will surmise the topic surrounds World War II and the Nazis; but the hard labor, constant threat of death, and barbarism these microcosmic hells presented weren’t unique to Adolf Hitler — in just one year, around 20,000 freed slaves perished in the Devil’s Punchbowl — in Natchez, Mississippi, U.S.A. Environment:

Rivers vanishing into thin air: this is what the climate crisis looks like  A Canadian river was the first observed case of ‘river piracy’. When nature’s thresholds are passed, landscapes can transform in the blink of an eye The Slims river in northern Canada gained infamy, not for its fishing or pristine waters, but for vanishing in a matter of four days in May 2016. This week we learned that it fell victim to “river piracy” – and climate change was almost certainly to blame. By David Suzuki

Marking Earth Day, Indigenous People Worldwide to Fight Corporate Forces ‘I know we are only of the size of a grain of sand but we make a huge difference’ says Antonio Dace, of the Munduruku community in the Brazilian Amazon by Deirdre Fulton From Earth Day to The Monsanto Tribunal, Capitalism on Trial World Environment Day (WED) occurs on 5 June every year. Promoted by the United Nations, its aim is to encourage global awareness and action for the protection of the environment. Since its inauguration in 1974, WED has helped bring attention to various issues, including global warming, sustainable consumption and wildlife crime. By Colin Todhunter International Tribunal Says Monsanto Has Violated the Basic Human Right to a Healthy Environment and Food The judges called on international lawmakers to place human rights above the rights of corporations and hold corporations like Monsanto accountable. By Katherine Paul  Great Barrier Reef Reaches “Terminal Stage” as CO2 Levels Rise at Record Rate The Great Barrier Reef is dying, both Arctic and Antarctic sea ice have reached record lows, and the Middle East and North Africa are at risk of becoming uninhabitable within decades with atmospheric CO2 rising at an unprecedented rate — but this has not stopped Trump and his cabinet from pushing their self-serving climate-denying agenda. By Dahr Jamail  Ongoing Big Energy Crisis:

BP oil well in Alaska spills out of control By Dan Molinski Energy News:

TV: Fukushima Radiation Alert — Concern ‘nuclear chain reaction’ could occur at plant — Reactors are still melting down and spewing radioactivity — Fuel has burned through containment — Expert: It’s unprecedented… could’ve been 12 Chernobyls (VIDEO)

Labor:

Economy:

Breaking Up the Big Wall Street Banks Is Back in the Headlines In the past two weeks, newspaper headlines have revived the debate on whether the mega Wall Street banks continue to pose a systemic threat to the U.S. banking system and the economy. This is a desperately needed public debate that demands facts — not a revisionist history of what actually caused the 2008-2010 Wall Street collapse and the worst economic downturn since the Great Depression. By Pam Martens and Russ Martens

World:

The brute and the banker go to the second round – Mobilise in the streets and for the legislative elections! This is a statement by Révolution, the French section of the International Marxist Tendency issued as soon as the results of the first round of the presidential election were known.Health, Science, Education, and Welfare:

Mental health patients are being treated as criminals and sent to prisons rather than hospitals The old asylum system was dismantled but nothing was put in its place to care for people unable to look after themselves who are a potential danger to themselves and others By Patrick Cockburn Education Reformers Lowered Teachers’ Salaries, While Promising to Raise Them Elite education reformers have sold their movement as presenting a tradeoff to teachers: teachers would earn higher salaries to compensate for the weakened job security and degraded pensions that “no excuses” work environments would engender.  But while plying the media with anecdotal evidence of raised salaries and strident claims about their status as true liberals, reformers have succeeded in degrading teachers’ pay along with their pensions and job security. by Erik Mears