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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:
George Jahn (AP).— I have a question related to the ban on U.S. citizens from engaging in relations with the Army. Is Cuba willing to impose new taxes on those wishing to do business in Cuba, and will it agree to return Assata Shakur to the U.S. as requested? Bruno Rodríguez.— The measures announced, as I have said, will fundamentally harm U.S. citizens and U.S. companies. The Cuban government will consider the measures to be taken in a timely manner. It will be necessary to wait for the United States government to issue the relevant regulations to analyze the scope of these measures. Contrary to the objectives invoked, the measures are not only a setback in bilateral relations, but will damage the sectors with which U.S. businesspeople prefer to deal with in our country. Regarding the issue of the so-called “U.S. fugitives in Cuba,” I can reaffirm that, under our national law and international law and the Latin American tradition, Cuba has granted political asylum or refuge to U.S. civil rights fighters. Of course these people will not be returned to the United States, which lacks the legal, political, and moral foundation to demand this. — (Press conference by Bruno Rodríguez Parrilla, minister of Foreign Relations of Cuba, in Vienna, Austria, June 19, 2017, Year 59 of the Revolution) Cuba will not make concessions essential to its sovereignty and independence, nor will it negotiate its principles or accept conditions
Videos of the Day:
The Necessity for Urgency Watch Paul Jay on the need for an independent news source that’s not beholden to the partisan political warfare that’s covering up the danger of war and the existential threat of climate crisis
US Supreme Court Declines to Hear Chevron Pollution Case Steven Donziger, the lawyer representing affected indigenous communities in Ecuador, calls this “the probably the most outrageous act of industrial pollution in history related to oil.”
U.S.:
The Iron Heel Prepartations: Multi-state Legal/Extralegal Police Force: TigerSwan Tactics Leaked documents and public records reveal a troubling fusion of private security, public law enforcement, and corporate money in the fight over the Dakota Access Pipeline.
Louisiana Joins Compact Which Brought Out-of-State Cops to Dakota Access Protests On June 19, Louisiana’s Democratic Governor John Bel Edwards signed a bill into law which will enter his state into the Emergency Management Assistance Compact (EMAC). EMAC is the compact which last year gave out-of-state cops the legal authority to flood into North Dakota during the protests against the Dakota Access pipeline, owned by Energy Transfer Partners. By Steve Horn and Curtis Waltman 
Democrats Spread Confusion in Black America “We need revolutionary change in this country,” said Ajamu Baraka, the veteran human rights activist who ran for vice president on the Green Party ticket and is currently organizing the Black Alliance for Peace. The Democratic Party has been “the main impediment for us developing the kind of radical, oppositional politics and consciousness that we have to build,” said Baraka, an editor and columnist for Black Agenda Report. “Most of our community understand where the Republicans are coming from, but it has been the Democratic Party that has been the source of ideological confusion” in Black America. by Nellie Bailey, Black Agenda Report Radio (Audio)
Black Liberation/Civil Rights:
Hands Off Assata: Cuba Says “Nah” To Returning Assata Shakur Assata Shakur is a heroine to many as a fighter for black rights, but a villain to others who think she hides her crimes behind revolutionary rhetoric. Cuba, having granted political asylum to one of America’s Most Wanted, falls in line with the former and does not plan on relinquishing her. By Marjua Estevez 
If You Embrace Assata, You Must Fight the Black Misleadership Class Donald Trump’s lynch party seeking the extradition of Assata Shakur from Cuba includes every U.S. president — most especially Barack Obama, who doubled the bounty on her head and demanded “that a home-grown Black revolutionary and escaped political prisoner be returned to captivity.” As for the Congressional Black Caucus, there is “no chance that the CBC as a body will protest either Trump’s persecution of Shakur or his general policy on Cuba.” A Black Agenda Radio commentary by executive editor Glen Ford
Police killings: the price of being disabled and black in America Normal police procedures often force people with disabilities to stay closeted, even to themselves. How can there be justice without addressing the stigma of disability and race? By David Perry
Environment:
Fight Against DAPL Continues Inside and Outside Federal Courthouse (Multimedia) Indigenous activists rally on behalf of the Standing Rock Sioux and Cheyenne River Sioux tribes during a hearing in the tribes’ case against the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers.
Fukushima: Six Years On Fukushima is regularly misreported as less drastic than the singe-reactor catastrophe at Chernobyl, in Ukraine, in 1986. But France’s Institute for Radiological Protection and Nuclear Safety, reported five years ago that Fukushima was already the biggest single spill of man-made radioactive materials into to the marine environment ever seen or recorded.1 At least 300 tons of highly contaminated runoff have poured daily into the Pacific ever since. By John LaForge
Fukushima’s Radiation Will Poison Food “for Decades,” Study Finds Fukushima amounts to Whole-Earth poisoning. Now, researchers say, radioactive isotopes that were spread across Japan (and beyond) by the meltdowns will continue to contaminate the food supply for a very long time. by John Laforge
Dakota Access-Style Policing Moves to Pennsylvania’s Mariner East 2 Pipeline After months of employing military-style counterinsurgency tactics to subvert opposition to the Dakota Access Pipeline in North Dakota, Iowa, Illinois, and South Dakota, the private security firm TigerSwan is monitoring resistance to another project — the controversial Mariner East 2 pipeline. By Alleen Brown, Will Parrish, and Alice Speri
Labor:
Economy:
Donald Trump’s New Lawyer Tied to a Shadowy Web of Nonprofits Four years ago Wall Street On Parade published an investigative report with the headline: “Jay Sekulow: The Man Pumping the IRS Scandal on Network TV Sits at the Center of a Web of Nonprofits That Have Paid Him, His Family and Related Businesses $40 Million Since 1998.” Add millions of dollars more to the above figure and you have an updated account of the man the President of the United States just added to his white collar criminal defense legal team. Oh yes, there’s one more update, Jay Sekulow has no white collar criminal defense legal experience. By Pam Martens and Russ Martens
World:
Day of Rage: London Marchers Denounce ‘Corporate Manslaughter’ of Grenfell Tower Victims ‘We have a responsibility to raise our voice for justice and equality in society,’ said one marcher by Jon Queally
London Fire Fuels Movement to Challenge Inequality in UK The neighborhood surrounding the tower has the biggest gap between rich and poor of any in the country. It’s a very wealthy area, but the people living in this particular tower were mostly working class ethnic minorities. Also, in terms of voice, you see the disparities. People living in this building had clearly spoken out about the problems with safety — you can find their blogs online. But they also said they knew nothing would be done until there’s a catastrophe. Well, now that’s happened and we need to make sure the authorities can’t just brush this away anymore. by Faiza Shaheen
A Grain of Truth: RCEP and the Corporate Hijack of Indian Agriculture The plight of farmers in India has been well documented. A combination of debt, economic liberalisation, subsidised imports, rising input costs and a shift to cash crops (including GM cotton) has caused massive financial distress. Over 300,000 (perhaps closer to 400,000) have taken their lives over the last 20 years. From the effects of the Green Revolution (degraded soils, falling water tables, drought, etc.) to the lack of minimum support prices and income guarantees, it is becoming increasingly non-viable for many smallholder farmers to continue. The effects of last year’s demonetisation policy merely compounded the situation. by Colin Todhunter
Health, Science, Education, and Welfare:
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Ongoing Big Energy Crisis: