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 June 14, 2018
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 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:
Continuity of Ladership
Quotes of the Day:
He affirmed that Labour did not lose. “We gained seats in every region of the country, we won three million more votes on a much higher turnout. I think that is a pretty good result.” The election results position Labour as a formidable opposition party and point toward the popularity of their anti-austerity and socialist platform, spearheaded by Corbyn. “What’s happened is people have said they’ve had quite enough of austerity politics,” Corbyn said in a speech after the vote, “they’ve had quite enough of cuts to public expenditure, under-funding our health service, under-funding our schools and our education service, and not giving our young people the chance they deserve in our society.” — “For the Many, Not the Few:” Labour Party Gains in Britain Highlight Political Viability of Socialism
Veterans who were exposed to Agent Orange or other herbicides during military service may be eligible for a variety of VA benefits, including disability compensation for diseases associated with exposure. Your dependents and survivors also may be eligible for benefits. Agent Orange refers to a blend of tactical herbicides the U.S. military sprayed in the jungles of Vietnam and around the Korean demilitarized zone to remove trees and dense tropical foliage that provided enemy cover. Herbicides were also used by the U.S. military to defoliate military facilities in the U.S. and in other countries as far back as the 1950s. — U.S, Department of Veterans Afairs
Videos of the Day:
America’s Broken Healthcare System is Creating More Single-Payer Advocates The Real News speaks to advocates of universal healthcare and affordable prescription drugs at the 2017 People’s Summit
How Government Policy Created White Wealth and Concentrated African American Poverty: Part 2 In part two, author Richard Rothstein says explicit unconstitutional housing policy of the 20th century created America’s enormous racial wealth gap
U.S.:
Liars, Damn Liars, and Scoundrels In his 1906 autobiography, Mark Twain immortalized the line “lies, damn lies, and statistics” elegantly citing a burgeoning problem with troublesome numbers. Twain said little about any liars or damn liars responsible for such mathematical worries, although he did add to his famous trilemma by fingering the worst type of lie: “there are 869 different forms of lying, but only one of them has been squarely forbidden. Thou shalt not bear false witness against thy neighbor.” Enter the scoundrel and his inchoate finger-pointing in the name of patriotism, where one wonders if a permanent state of lying is now a new norm. by John K. White
U.S. Has Only Acknowledged a Fifth of Lethal Drone Strikes, New Study Finds A new report by the Columbia Law School Human Rights Clinic and the Sana’a Center for Strategic Studies says that the U.S. is still lagging in providing a full accounting of its drone program. Among other failures, the report, titled “Out of the Shadows: Recommendations to Advance Transparency in the Use of Lethal Force,” says that the U.S. has only acknowledged approximately 20 precent of its reported drone strikes — failing to claim responsibility or provide details in the vast majority of cases. Meanwhile, the drone program is intensifying. By Murtaza Hussain
Veterans Affairs Official Downplays Agent Orange Risks, Questions Critics At a meeting in March, a lead analyst in the VA’s compensation service was critical of the media, scientists and the VA’s own administrative tribunal for taking positions that differ from his. The VA said his comments “did not fully or accurately reflect VA’s position” but also said his quotes were being taken out of context. by Charles Ornstein
Now Five Men Own Almost as Much Wealth as Half the World’s Population While Americans fixate on Trump, the super-rich are absconding with our wealth. Last year it was eight men, then down to six, and now almost five. By Paul Buchheit
The Truth About Jeremy Corbyn’s Triumph Staring Us Smack in the Face Labour’s gains offer definitive proof of socialism’s popularity, and the viability of a better future. By Sam Kriss
Black Liberation/Civil Rights:
100th Anniversary of Hubert Harrison’s Founding of the First Organization of the Militant “New Negro Movement” One hundred years ago, on June 12, 1917, Hubert Harrison founded the Liberty League of Negro-Americans at a rally attended by thousands at Bethel African Methodist Episcopal Church, 52-60 W. 132nd Street in Harlem. It was the first organization of the militant “New Negro Movement.” Several weeks later, on July 4, at a large rally at Metropolitan Baptist Church, 120 W. 138th Street, Harrison founded the movement’s first paper — The Voice: A Newspaper for the New Negro. By Jeffrey Perry
Black Agenda Radio for Week of June 12, 2017
Democrats Don’t Even Pretend to Want Change: “Dumping the Democrats for good is the only way to resist Trump,” said Black Agenda Report editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley, addressing BAR’s panel at the Left Forum, in New York City. “What have they done since Election Day?” Kimberley asked. “They have refused to give even the appearance that they are willing to push for even meager reforms. We have to talk about replacing them and having a true workers party, a true peace party.”
Political Elite Use Russia-Baiting to “Medicate” U.S. “Crisis of Governance”: The U.S. is engulfed in a “crisis of governance” that has been “intentionally misunderstood” by the corporate media and the political elite, said Danny Haiphong, a contributing political analyst at BAR. Anti-Russian hysteria has been whipped up “to medicate political consciousness.” “They don’t want to discuss how Russia has absolutely nothing to do with the millions of incarcerated people in the U.S., or the fact that it is the U.S. monopoly capitalist economy, not the emerging capitalist economy of Russia, which has automated many of the jobs and siphoned much of the wealth that once belonged to a privileged sector of U.S. workers,” said Haiphong. “This system has run its course. War is all the system has left.”
The Ugly Americans: According to Dahoud Andre, the radio host and Haitian community activist who spoke at the BAR panel, Haitians wonder, “What’s the difference between Trump and the Democrats?” “From the perspective of our country, from the time we became independent we have been equally attacked by Democrats and Republicans. And, sometimes it is very difficult for us to understand the notion of ‘progressive Americans,’” said Andre. Solidarity is sorely needed. “It’s one struggle, whether its in Haiti, in Africa, in the Middle East, Asia, and also over here.”
A Real Left Would Demand Peace: “If you are resisting Russian collusion with Trump, then what you are resisting is a fantasy,” BAR executive editor Glen Ford told the opening plenary of the Left Forum. “And, if you are simply resisting Trump, the idiot in the White House, then you are simply a tool of a Democratic Party strategy.” Ford said the nation needs a rejuvenated anti-war movement, “or else we are defenseless against this kind of strategy on the part of the Democrats, who pretend that they are an alternative to the fascist-sounding and definitely virulently white nationalist forces in the Republican Party, but are themselves intent upon a war policy that can mean the extinction of the human race.”
Ongoing Big Energy Crisis:
Health, Science, Education, and Welfare: