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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!
Images of the Day:
Quotes of the Day:
Capital, Volume One, Part VIII, Chapter 31, (the) “Genesis of the Industrial Capitalist”. This often-overlooked chapter is very important in today’s world. Industrial Capitalism did not come into being due to the gradual primitive accumulation of capital, but rather the industrial revolution was fueled by the wealth plundered from the colonialized world in the name of Christianity. This is the historic material basis for modern racism as an ideology, which is used to justify the holocaust perpetuated upon the majority of the world during the period of the subjugation of the colonial world to European/United States capitalist imperialism. Karl Marx was one of the first to oppose the colonial oppression of the world’s masses. He did not mince his words in, this chapter of Capital, he wrote: The discovery of gold and silver in America, the extirpation, enslavement, and entombment in mines of the aboriginal population, the beginning of the conquest and looting of the East Indies, the turning of Africa into a warren for the commercial hunting of black-skins, signalized the rosy dawn of the era of capitalist production. . . . If money . . . comes into the world with a congenital blood-stain on one cheek, capital comes dripping from head to foot, from every pore, with blood and dirt. — Roland Sheppard, Reparations and Capitalism
Colin Kaepernick, in Ghana, tweets about finding his independence on July 4 Colin Kaepernick took to social media on the Fourth of July to explain why he took a recent trip to Ghana to find his own independence. His Twitter post features a video of his journey, while an Instagram post featuring the same video included a message from Kaepernick, starting with a quote from Frederick Douglass. “What have I, or those I represent, to do with your national independence?” – Frederick Douglass. In a quest to find my personal independence, I had to find out where my ancestors came from. I set out tracing my African ancestral roots, and it lead me to Ghana. Upon finding out this information, I wanted to visit the sites responsible for myself (and many other Black folks in the African Diaspora) for being forced into the hells of the middle passage. I wanted to see a fraction of what they saw before reaching the point of no return. I spent time with the/my Ghanaian people, from visiting the local hospital in Keta and the village of Atito, to eating banku in the homes of local friends, and paying my respects to Kwame Nkrumah’s Memorial Park. I felt their love, and truly I hope that they felt mine in return.
Video of the Day:
What’s a Pingo? Pingos are impressive ice-cored hills found in the Arctic and Subarctic.
Trump: ‘West Will Never Be Broken’ President Donald Trump declares that “the West will never be broken” and vowed to win the battle against extremism.
U.S.:
Trump says west is at risk, during nationalistic speech in Poland Trump says west is at risk, during nationalistic speech in Poland US president’s speech in Warsaw calls for defence of ‘our civilisation’ from terrorism, bureaucracy and erosion of traditions By Christian Davies in Warsaw, Patrick Wintour in Hamburg and Jamie Grierson
APB: The US-China-North Korea Tangle It’s not too early to sound alarm bells about the downward turn in US-China relations. Trump’s evident frustration with China over its presumed failure to rein in North Korea has already led to a number of steps that have rankled Beijing. These include a State Department report on human trafficking that includes sharp criticism of China’s denial of human rights; statements from the administration about China’s unfair trade practices; a major US arms sale to Taiwan; and a US frigate’s sail-by in South China Sea waters close to Chinese-claimed territory. by Mel Gurtov
Walls For the Dead Walls (here we mean monolithic structures that are not part of buildings) seem to hold a special fascination for many people. Some walls feed a tribal passion, a strong us-versus-them mentality. The apartheid wall produced by the Israeli government, as well as the wall envisioned by the Trump administration for the southern U.S. border, are of that type. by Lawrence Davidson
Paid FBI Informant Leading Counterterror Case Ran Wire Fraud Scams on the Side A confidential informant who helped ensnare three Florida men as ISIS supporters in an FBI sting was simultaneously running wire fraud scams on the side. By Trevor Aaronson
Black Liberation/Civil Rights:
Black America is “Pro-Peace,” but Its Politicians Work for the War Party The Black Alliance for Peace will have to work around or against the Black Misleadership Class. “For these infinitely self-centered creatures, even the Mother Continent is unworthy of basic human empathy, much less solidarity.” The Congressional Black Caucus won’t even complain of genocide in the Congo, much less war against Syria. Even the Movement for Blacks Lives’ position on peace is weak. Malcolm, MLK and Du Bois would disapprove. by BAR executive editor Glen Ford
Poem For Zigi “…the greatest thing you’ll ever learn Is just to love and be loved in return…” ‘Nature Boy’ by Eden Ahbez Jet black gondola 2017-07-05 11:54:34 -0400glides across the resting lake to Bata drumming dock,African ritual; Double rainbow of Family and friends, Connect like braided bread, Waiting to share coconut, white chocolate, lemon zest treat —Our seven hour chat “covering everything
from Ellington to Engels…” earned Us… by BAR poet in residence Raymond Nat Turner
Environment:
Seafloor methane release due to the thermal dissociation of gas hydrates is pervasive across the continental margins of the Arctic Ocean. Furthermore, there is increasing awareness that shallow hydrate-related methane seeps have appeared due to enhanced warming of Arctic Ocean bottom water during the last century. Although it has been argued that a gas hydrate gun could trigger abrupt climate change, the processes and rates of subsurface/ atmospheric natural gas exchange remain uncertain. Here we investigate the dynamics between gas hydrate stability and environmental changes from the height of the last glaciation through to the present day. Using geophysical observations from offshore Svalbard to constrain a coupled ice sheet/gas hydrate model, we identify distinct phases of subglacial methane sequestration and subsequent release on ice sheet retreat that led to the formation of a suite of seafloor domes. Reconstructing the evolution of this dome field, we find that incursions of warm Atlantic bottom water forced rapid gas hydrate dissociation and enhanced methane emissions during the penultimate Heinrich event, the Bølling and Allerød interstadials, and the Holocene optimum. Our results highlight the complex interplay between the cryosphere, geosphere, and atmosphere over the last 30,000 y that led to extensive changes in subseafloor carbon storage that forced distinct episodes of methane release due to natural climate variability well before recent anthropogenic warming. — National Academy of Science, Postglacial response of Arctic Ocean gas hydrates to climatic amelioration
The Pingo Evidence: Global Warming is a Threat to Humanity Pingos are one more solid piece of evidence that global warming is a real threat to humanity. Global warming is quintessentially part of the Great Acceleration. Is the world ready? Already, Russian scientists have identified 7,000 “alternative pingos” in Siberia. According to The Washington Post, “Russian Scientists Find 7,000 Siberian Hills Possibly Filled with Explosive Gas,” March 27, 2017, Vladimir E. Romanovsky, geophysicist at the University of Alaska in Fairbanks claims: “This is really a new thing to permafrost science. It has not been reported in the literature before,” Ibid. Romanovsky estimates there could be as many as 100,000 “alternative pingos” (smaller than regular pingos) across the entire Arctic permafrost. by Robert Hunziker
Toxic Taps: Living in California’s San Joaquin Valley May Harm Your Health More than 1 million people in the region have been exposed to unsafe drinking water in recent years from pesticides, arsenic, nitrate and uranium. And many communities also face multiple environmental health threats.
Dirty water use puts nearly a billion at risk – study Untreated wastewater from cities is used to irrigate 50 percent more farmland worldwide than previously thought, leaving some 885 million people exposed to the risk of diseases, including diarrhoea and cholera, a study said on Wednesday. By Umberto Bacchi Ongoing Big Energy Crisis:
Labor:
Socialists Spearhead Victory on $15 in Minneapolis Minneapolis is getting a raise, and becoming the first Midwestern city to enact a $15 an hour minimum wage. The proposal will benefit 71,000 workers, overwhelmingly women and workers of color. Winning $15 in Minneapolis shows another way cities can push back against Trump’s corporate-backed agenda. by Ginger Jentzen
Cuba: Critical Thought in the Socialist Transition The experience of socialism in the 20th century shows that unity is essential to defend the Revolution, but unity alone is not enough to further its development and prevent its defeat. Revolution must come with popular control over the bureaucracy, that is, as an effective exercise of popular power and a purposeful act of critical left thought. What kind of socialism? As François Houtart says, neither the one that’s a joke—social democracy—, nor the one that’s fearsome—stalinism. Of course, most of the regimes that called themselves socialist in the 20th century had nothing to do with real socialism. Mistaking the Stalinist model, which spread throughout the world to different degrees, for true socialism is like mistaking the Inquisition with primitive christianity—which was revolutionary, collectivist, and tied to the popular masses. The socialism that we strive for here and around the world is in favor of freedom and equality; the kind of socialism which points to a society of free associated workers, where the free development of the individual is the condition for the development of all, and where power and property belong to all. A new world, with no Cesars and no bourgeois. A revolutionary cannot settle for less. By Frank Josué Solar Cabrales
45 years since the 1972 Quebec general strike Forty-five years ago, the largest and most important strike movement in the history of Quebec took place. During this historic episode, the workers of the province stormed onto the political arena to fight against the bourgeoisie. At its peak, workers occupied the factories and mines, and the general strike movement brought the economy of the province to a halt. By Hélène Bissonnette 
Health, Science, Education, and Welfare:
Financial System of U.S. Rests on Health of Just Five Mega Banks By Pam Martens and Russ Martens
World: