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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.
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!
Image of the Day:
What are the defenders of free speech to do? The sad fact is that this fundamental freedom is on its heels across America. Politicians of both parties want to use the power of government to silence their foes. Some in the university community seek to drive it from their campuses. And an entire generation of Americans is being taught that free speech should be curtailed as soon as it makes someone else feel uncomfortable. On the current trajectory, our nation’s dynamic marketplace of ideas will soon be replaced by either disengaged intellectual silos or even a stagnant ideological conformity. Few things would be so disastrous for our nation and the well-being of our citizenry. — William Ruger, “Free Speech Is Central to Our Dignity as Humans”
Northern Ireland’s Protestants have always proved useful political tools for British ministers and ambitious, desperate politicians. Churchill played the “Orange card” before the First World War. Callaghan was weak enough to need the province’s Protestant Unionist MPs in 1976 and offered Northern Ireland five extra seats at Westminster. They obligingly won the lot. Almost two decades later, John Major needed their support in a minority government in a vote on Spanish fishing rights – an abstruse, ridiculous performance that somehow parallels Lady May’s cynical “deal” with the DUP. By chance this week, I’ve been re-reading Lloyd George’s memoirs of the Great War, in which the “Welsh wizard” – as deceitful as he was eloquent – alludes to the results of the Curragh mutiny of 1914, in which a cadre of British officers at the army’s Irish headquarters made it clear they would not march on the armed Protestants who opposed Home Rule The British government had agreed to Home Rule for Ireland, but as Lloyd George puts it with devastating accuracy, “the Protestant North had reached a state of incipient rebellion and drilling for resistance to the decision of the Imperial Parliament. The Catholic South had begun to copy these tactics, and raise National Volunteers to match the Ulster Volunteers of the North … the paradox of the situation was that Ulster’s rebellion was acclaimed by a powerful section of British opinion as loyalty, while Southern Ireland’s preparations to defend the decision of the Imperial Parliament were denounced as sedition.” — Robert Fisk
Videos of the Day:
U.S.:
Black Liberation/Civil Rights: 
Why Bernie Sanders is an Imperialist Pig Leftish Democrats insist they can reform the corporate-run, Russia-obsessed Democratic Party from the inside, but most pay little attention to war. However, “War is not a side issue in the United States; it is the central political issue, on which all the others turn.” Some think Bernie Sanders should run with the Peoples Party. But, “Sanders is a warmonger, not merely by association, but by virtue of his own positions.” by BAR executive editor Glen Ford
Peoples Summit: Berniecrats Purposefully Ignore War and US Empire The good news about last weekend’s Peoples Summit, the annual gathering of Berniecrats in Chicago, was that 4,000 Democratic party activists were in pone place howling for Medicare For All. The bad news was that not a word was said of the 16 year war in Afghanistan, the thousand US military and drone bases around the planet, and the crushing burden global empire lays upon ordinary citizens. A Black Agenda Radio Commentary by BAR managing editor Bruce A. Dixon 
Circus on Capitalist Hill (Comey don’t play that…) Big doings this week up there between the War House and the Rogues Garden. Our poet reports on the show, clowns, cloven hooves and all. by BAR poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner
Environment:
Ongoing Big Energy Crisis:
Labor:
Blairism ”dead and buried” – time to transform Labour! “The Blair era truly ended on June 8th.” “Corbyn’s triumph was the final nail in New Labour’s coffin.”These are the words, not of any socialist or Momentum member, but of some of Jeremy Corbyn’s harshest critics – in these cases, the Economist magazine (10th June 2017) and the Daily Mail (9th June 2017) respectively – following the massive swing towards Labour in the 8th June election. By Adam Booth
Economy:
Global oil glut set to continue despite efforts to prop up price Increasing production from US and non-Opec countries means growth in oil supply will outstrip demand in 2018 By Adam Vaughan
Shadow Government Statistics: The charts below show two SGS-Alternate CPI estimates: One based on the pre-1990 official methodology for computing the CPI-U, and the other based on the methodology which was employed prior to 1980.
U.S. Economy at Risk from Trump’s Poll Numbers A new poll is out from the Associated Press/NORC Center for Public Affairs Research at the University of Chicago. It doesn’t bode well for Donald Trump’s presidency nor for the U.S. economy. Despite Wall Street’s century-old propaganda campaign to convince Washington that it controls the levers to economic growth in the U.S., and thus must be placated on its every desire, informed citizens understand that economic power rests in the hands of the consumer in a nation where two-thirds of GDP is consumer spending. By Pam Martens and Russ Martens
World:
It’s not the first time the Tories have been forced into bed with Unionists — and this long alliance is troubling British readers will find that their passport declares them to be citizens of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland. The people of Northern Ireland are half in and half out of the mother country By Robert Fisk
Puerto Rico Fiscal Board Takes Extraordinary Steps to Preserve Legacy of Corruption and Theft It is no secret to anyone that the Puerto Rico Fiscal Board was intentionally comprised of individuals that contributed much to Puerto Rico’s financial collapse. With an alleged unspoken agreement that the Department of Justice will neither investigate or prosecute those responsible, the Board can act with impunity to preserve the status quo. by Richard Lawless
Health, Science, Education, and Welfare:
The Virginia gunman is a reminder: domestic abusers are a danger to society Too often, gunmen terrorize their partner or family before terrorizing the public. We need to point this out after every mass shooting that involves an abuser Here’s an unsurprising fact about the Virginia shooter: James Hodgkinson has a history of domestic violence. The man who shot at least five Republicans during a baseball practice early this morning was arrested in 2006 for punching a woman, assaulting his foster daughter and discharging a firearm. By Angelina Chapin
Are you unable to afford decent housing? Welcome to the club Some of us have been dealing with the housing crisis for decades. Now, the problem is working its way up the income ladder to the middle class The affordable housing crisis is becoming inescapable. We have now reached the point where a minimum wage worker can only afford to live in about a dozen counties in the entire nation. Even those with college degrees and wages above minimum wage struggle. This problem doesn’t just impact countless poor Americans, anymore. Now, it hits middle class families, too. By Ijeoma Oluo
Trump Officials Overseeing Health Care Overhaul Previously Lobbied for Health Insurance Firms By Lee Fang
Quotes of the Day:
UN Investigator: US Coalition Airstrikes Causing ‘Staggering Loss of Life’ in Syria The ‘imperative to fight terrorism must not […] be undertaken at the expense of civilians who unwillingly find themselves living in areas where ISIL is present.’ By Andrea Germanos 
Journalism, History and War: Sit, Type and Bleed by Ramzy Baroud
Naomi Klein: Behind the Curtain of Trump’s Chaotic Horror Show Is an Effective, Destructive ‘Shock-Creation Machine’ Ignore the narrative that Trump is a bumbling idiot: Very bad things are happening, with more to come. By Celisa Calacal