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 May 3, 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:
Mental Health Treatment
Deceit, Betrayal and the Left: The ‘Traitor of the Year Award’ 
Quotes of the Day:
“The U.S. Department of Energy has testified that there is no level of radiation that is so low that it is without health risks,” Jacqueline Cabasso, the Executive Director of the Western States Legal Foundation, told Al Jazeera: “Her foundation monitors and analyses U.S. nuclear weapons programs and policies and related high technology energy, with a focus on the national nuclear weapons laboratories. “Cabasso explained that natural background radiation exists, ‘But more than 2,000 nuclear tests have enhanced this background radiation level, so we are already living in an artificially radiated environment due to all the nuclear tests.’ “‘Karl Morgan, who worked on the Manhattan project, later came out against the nuclear industry when he understood the danger of low levels of ionising radiation-and he said there is no safe dose of radiation exposure,” Cabasso continued, “That means all this talk about what a worker or the public can withstand on a yearly basis is bogus. There is no safe level of radiation exposure. These so-called safe levels are coming from within the nuclear establishment.” . . . — ‘No Safe Levels’ of Radiation in Japan
Atomic reactors and bombs are man-made radiation — not ‘naturally occurring radiation’. The rise in cancer since Hiroshima, is not due to ‘naturally occurring radiation’, but due to the increase in man-made radiation and the ‘chemical revolution’ since WWII. — Roland Sheppard
As a result of this 50-year conflict of interest, which is deeply embedded by now, Ms Katz claims WHO must, absolutely must, become independent, thus breaking the stranglehold of numero uno promoter of nuclear power over WHO, which is mandated to serve the public, not IAEA. Not only is there a serious conflict of interest, Katz claims WHO fails, time and again, to meet its mandate to the public, as for example: 1) WHO remained absent from Chernobyl for five years even though the WHO mandate requires it to be present the “day after a catastrophe” to evaluate and provide assistance. But, WHO was MIA for 5 years. 2) WHO does not issue independent reports on radiation issues. All nuclear-related reports are written by IAEA but published “in the name of the WHO.” 3) Following Chernobyl, there were two international conferences held to analyze the implications of the catastrophe; one held in Geneva in 1995 and the second in Kiev in 2001. The “Proceedings of the Conferences” were never published by WHO; thus, never made public even though WHO claims the proceedings are publicly available. Confusing? Yes! To this day, the relevant question remains: What did “the analyses” show? As a result of WHO’s egregious conflicts, the world community has no independent arms-length source on nuclear radiation. That is a situation fraught with conflict and extremely difficult to accept, sans grimacing with a lot of teeth grinding. — Hidden Radiation Secrets of the World Health Organization
Videos of the Day:
Reds Internationale: A scene from the movie ‘Reds’ starring Warren Beatty and Diane Keaton. It’s in Russian.
May Day: Hundreds of Thousand Celebrate International Workers Day Demonstrating under different circumstances but with the same goal of economic and social justice, these are just some of the demonstrations that happened on May 1st 2017, International Workers’ Day.
Climate March: Dismantling of National Monuments Threatens Native American Tribes Faith Spotted Eagle explains how the Missouri River is at risk with the Trump administration’s dismantling of the National Monuments policy
U.S.:
The U.S. Political Scene: Whiteness and the Legitimacy Crisis of Global Capitalism The U.S. political scene has been undergoing a facelift in an effort to restore the decreasing legitimacy of the transnationally-oriented capitalist class. This transformation has been characterized by a rightwing that has sought to portray itself as economically nationalistic in an attempt to expand support among the working class (primarily, among working class whites) whose economic stability has dwindled during the neoliberal era. by Salvador Rangel – Jeb Sprague-Silgado
Black Liberation/Civil Rights:
Democracy Now!: Immigrant Workers Lead Thousands in NYC May Day Protests: “Without Our Labor, the City Cannot Move” Around the world, millions of workers took to the streets Monday for May Day, also known as International Workers’ Day. In the United States, the marches were led by immigrant workers and their allies, drawing comparisons to the massive May Day 2006 marches when millions of immigrants protested nationwide. In California, tens of thousands of people marched in the Bay Area, as immigrant workers refused to go to work and students walked out of class.
Not ‘Inept’ Trump uses ‘alternative facts’ to support his opinion on the Civil War: ‘Completely Inept’: CNN Pundit Says ‘Too Late’ for Trump to Save Presidency After Bizarre Civil War Remarks Trump’s ignorance about American history staggers pundits. By David Edwards
Black Agenda Radio Week of May 1, 2017
Mumia Challenges His Conviction, Charging Judicial Bias: A judge that rejected Mumia Abu Jamal’s appeal of his 1982 conviction in the killing of a Philadelphia cop accepted funding from the Pennsylvania Fraternal Order of Police, which named the jurist their “Man of the Year.” Lawyers for the nation’s best known political prisoner went to court, last week, charging that former judge Ron Castille should have recused himself, in line with later court decisions. The case is of intense interest “to hundreds, if not thousands, of Pennsylvania prisoners,” said Dr. Johanna Fernandez, a professor of history and African American studies at Baruch College and founder of the Campaign to Bring Mumia Home. If Mumia wins, “this would be a game changer,” she said. “It would really expose the rotten, corrupt nature of the criminal justice system, and it would give confidence to the movement to end the gulag that is mass incarceration.”
The Vanishing U.S. Left: Much of what passes for the “left” in this country has rendered itself useless through support of U.S. wars, said Danny Haiphong, a Boston-based social worker and weekly contributor to Black Agenda Report. What remains is a “left” that is “basically falling into the whole racist and dehumanizing rhetoric that helps to justify war against the people” of places like Syria and North Korea, he said. Both U.S. corporate parties are “risking nuclear conflagration, but there is little resistance to any of it” from those that call themselves leftists. “The Democrats,” he said, “have been driven to the right of the Republicans on a lot of questions, including the Sanders folks.” Haiphong’s recent BAR article is titled “The Left’s State of Purgatory.”
Putting Black Self-Determination on the Ballot: The National Black Political Agenda for Self-Determination, a 19-point document produced last year by the Black Is Back Coalition for Social Justice, Peace and Reparations, is being put to use in the electoral political arena. One candidate for mayor of Detroit has incorporated the 19 points into his campaign, and “there are two candidates in St. Petersburg, Florida, running on that same platform,” said Coalition chairman Omali Yeshitela. The agenda “tackles the question of mass incarceration, this colonial terror that’s been waged against our people,” he said. “It deals with the question of gentrification — population removal — and all of the contradictions that contribute to the relentless war that we experience in this country.”
Single Payer Makes a Breakthrough on Capitol Hill: For the first time ever, a majority of U.S. House Democrats have signed on to Medicare for All bill, sponsored by Detroit Congressman John Conyers. The milestone for single payer health care “is a testament to the work of activists, because the Democrats told us, early on, that this year was all going to be about resisting Trump and not putting anything positive forward,” said Dr. Margaret Flowers, of Popular Resistance. “Neither the Republicans nor the Democrats have” a single payer bill “in their platforms, so this is going to be a battle that’s waged by the grassroots activists, to push whoever’s in power to take this approach.”
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.
Economy: 
