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 17, 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 Those Who Profit From Austerity! Under Austerity, All of the World Will Eventually Be Pauperized, Humbled, and Desecrated Like Greece and Puerto Rico!
Images of the Day:
Healthcare
Quotes of the Day:
Opening Special Comments borrow some material from, encompass by reference and supplement the August 24, 2004 Introduction to ShadowStats: Government Economic Reports: Things You’ve Suspected but Were Afraid to Ask, along with the related Primers. Ranked by political sensitivity, employment and employment reporting probably outrank the inflation numbers and the GDP, but not by much. The current discussion concentrates on the labor front, given an unusual shift in reporting patterns seen at the onset of a new Administration. In 1996, the Kaiser Foundation conducted a survey of the American public that purported to show how out of touch the electorate was with economic reality. Most Americans thought inflation and unemployment were much higher, and economic growth was much weaker, than reported by the government. The Washington Post bemoaned the economic ignorance of the public. The same results likely would be found today, suggested by the continuing common experience ofMain Street U.S.A., which was a major factor in Donald Trump’s upset victory in the 2016 presidential race. Neither the Kaiser Foundation nor the Post understood then that there was good reason for the gap between common perceptions and government reporting: government data had been biased in politically- corrected directions and increasingly had diverged from common experience and reality since the mid- 1980s. Inflation and unemployment reporting are understated, while employment and other economic data are overstated, deliberately. The gap between common experience and headline economic reporting never has been greater than it is today. Many politicians and consumer pollsters do not appreciate fully that it is underlying economic reality — actual pocketbook conditions on Main Street U.S.A. — that drive the voter, not the heavily gimmicked and overly-positive headline economic data. As Clinton Labor Secretary Bob Reich explained in his memoirs, the Clinton Administration found in its public polling that if the government inflated economic reporting, enough people would believe it to swing a close election. That said, severe-enough negative real income circumstances consistently have cost incumbent parties the White House in U.S. presidential elections (see Commentary No. 846). — Shadow Government Statistics Commentary Number 885: Numbers Games that Statistical Bureaus, Central Banks and Politicians Play
For the past 20 years Washington has aggressively pursued the age-old imperial strategy of ‘divide and conquer’ throughout the Middle East, Southwest Asia and East Africa. Frustrated at its inability to control national policy of various independent nation-states, Washington used direct and indirect military force to destroy the central governments in the targeted nations and create patchworks of tribal-ethno-mini-states amenable to imperial rule. Tens of millions of people have been uprooted and millions have died because of this imperial policy. Washington’s strategy of fragmentation and secession follows closely the “Greater Israel Plan” set forth by Israeli politico-military writer Oded Yinon in February 1982 and published by the World Zionist Organization. Yinon maintained that the key to Israel’s domination of the Middle East rested on fostering ethno-religious and regional divisions. Following the Yinon Plan, in the first instance, Tel Aviv signed accords with Jordan and Egypt to break-up Arab regional support for the Palestinians. It then proceeded to fragment what remained of Arab-Palestine into small warring enclaves between the West Bank and Gaza. Israel then sub-divided and settled wide swatches of the West Bank with the collaboration of the corrupt ‘Palestinian Authority’ under Mahmoud Abbas. — US and Turkey: The Balkanization of the Middle East
Videos of the Day:
ZEMBLA – The dubious friends of Donald Trump: the Russians “In the second part of our program about Donald Trump’s controversial friends, we will set our sights on the Israeli billionaire Lev Leviev, who is controversial because he is suspected of trading in blood diamonds, says the documentary’s YouTube summary. “He is one of the world’s biggest diamond traders and owns prestigious stores in New York and Moscow, but he is also the owner of Siebel, the Netherlands’ biggest jewelry chain. Leviev has ties with Russian president Putin, U.S. president Trump and his son-in-law and senior adviser Jared Kushner. Trump, however, claims he hardly knows this ‘King of Diamonds.’ Zembla investigates Lev Leviev’s business empire.”
Rattling the Bars: Death of A Fifteen Year Old in an Adult Prison In this episode of Rattling the Bars, Eddie Conway interviews Jeanine McNeal about her fifteen year old nephew Jaquin Thomas and his fatal experience being incarcerated in an adult prison
U.S.:
Dutch Documentary Part II: Blood on Trump and Kushner’s Hands from Deals with Africa War Zone Diamond Mines Lev Leviev’s diamond empire stretches from Angola to New York, Moscow and Amsterdam. By Steven Rosenfeld
Leaked Trump Memo Would Free U.S. Companies to Buy Conflict Minerals from Central African Warlords By Lee Fang 
Twelve Reasons to Oppose Rules on Digital Commerce in the WTO High-tech US-based transnational companies (TNCs) now represent five of the top seven largest corporations in the world, dominating information (Google, number 2), media (Facebook, number 7), retail (Amazon, number 6), and technology (Apple, number 1 and Microsoft, number 3), according to the World Economic Forum. By Deborah James
Obama’s Deportation Policy Was Even Worse Than We Thought Immigration and customs enforcement imprisons more than 10,000 parents of American citizens in California each year, according to a report released today by Human Rights Watch.
From Richard Nixon to Donald Trump: America’s Great Leap Backwards For almost 50 years, the US economy and society has taken a great leap backward — accelerating during the past three Presidencies. Not only have we experienced the reversal of past socio-economic legislation, but also our presidents and Congress have dragged us into multiple aggressive wars. Now, the threat of a nuclear attack against our ‘declared enemies’ is ‘on the table’. By James Petras
Democracy Now! An Impeachable Offense? Questions Swirl as Trump Accused of Sharing Top Secret Intel with Russians
Black Liberation/Civil Rights:
Black Agenda Radio for Week of May 15, 2017
UNAC and Black Alliance for Peace Blast U.S. Subversion of Venezuela: The newly founded Black Alliance for Peace (BAP) and the United National Anti-War Coalition (UNAC) issued a joint statement denouncing U.S. “destabilization” and “attempts to cause regime change” in Venezuela. “We share the objective to revive the anti-war movement — the anti-imperialist movement in the U.S.,” said BAP organizer Ajamu Baraka, the veteran human rights activist and 2016 Green Party vice presidential candidate. “We are, of course, committed to peace, but we understand that there can be no peace without justice, and that means people have to be prepared for struggle,” said Baraka.
Bizarro World: Faux “Leftists” Shill for the FBI: Purported “progressives,” apparently driven mad by Donald Trump, demonstrated this month in support of former FBI director James Comey. “It was disheartening to see left forces so anxious to combat Trump, they were actually supporting Comey,” said UNAC activist Sara Flounders. This strange strain of “leftists” seem to have forgotten the oppressive history and practice of U.S. spy outfits. “We have to be clear,” said Flounders. “All of these agencies are about absolute repression, subversion and assassination.”
U.S. Prisons: Geriatric Injustice: One out of every 7 of the nation’s prison inmates is serving a life sentence, according to a report by The Sentencing Project. For Blacks, the proportion of lifers is in 1 in 5. Despite a growing consensus for prison reform, “We see life sentences continue to accumulate,” said senior research analyst, Ashley Nellis. Most people “age out of bad behavior” in their 20s and 30s, “so incarcerating them for decades past that point serves no public safety benefit,” she said.
Mumia on Neoliberal Barbarism: Noting that Pennsylvania has locked up more juveniles for life than any other state, political prisoner Mumia Abu Jamal excoriated Bill Clinton for pushing through his draconian anti-crime bill of 1994. “Children were cast into the hells of adult prison while the newly rich neoliberal class drank champagne and enjoyed the good life,” said Abu Jamal.
Environment:
Labor:
World: