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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:
The Democratic People’s Republic of Korea (DPRK), commonly known as North Korea, has the right to test and develop as many weapons as it likes. It doesn’t need another country’s permission to enhance its arsenal and, given America’s history of aggression, it is wise to do so. Any country deemed an enemy of the United States that doesn’t have a strong defense is in danger of ending up like Iraq or Libya, invaded or destroyed by other means. There is no reason for Americans to pay attention to drivel about DPRK missiles reaching Alaska or any other part of this country. The United States has more weapons, nuclear and conventional, than any other nation in the world and is therefore the greatest threat to peace. The only danger from the DPRK’s missile program comes from American reactions to it. The corporate media are constantly whipping the public into a frenzy regarding matters that should not be of concern. Despite headlines asking, “What to do about North Korea,” the answer is simple. There is nothing to do at all. Or rather it should be to engage with that nation rather than to demonize it on a regular basis. The Trump administration has asked for a unilateral stand down as a prerequisite for any talks, something which the DPRK would not and should not agree to do. — Margaret Kimberley, Freedom Rider: Leave North Korea Alone
Videos of the Day:
UK Court Allows Saudi Arms Sales as May Suppresses Damning Report After viewing evidence kept secret from the public, London’s High Court has rejected a bid to end weapons sales to Saudi Arabia. Andrew Smith of the Campaign Against Arms Trade, which brought the case, says the arms deal makes Britain complicit in Saudi Arabia’s devastating bombing of Yemen
Seattle Answers Trump’s War on Workers by Taxing the Rich The measure faces an imminent legal challenge, but co-sponsor Kshama Sawant says the Tax the Rich movement will persevere
Jerry Brown: Climate Champion or Big Oil Ally? California Gov. Jerry Brown poses as an anti-Trump climate-change savior, but his policies support Big Oil’s agenda, says Adam Scow, California director at Food & Water Watch
U.S.:
Comply or Die: the Police State’s Answer to Free Speech Is Brute Force Militarized police. Riot squads. Camouflage gear. Black uniforms. Armored vehicles. Mass arrests. Pepper spray. Tear gas. Batons. Strip searches. Surveillance cameras. Kevlar vests. Drones. Lethal weapons. Less-than-lethal weapons unleashed with deadly force. Rubber bullets. Water cannons. Stun grenades. Arrests of journalists. Crowd control tactics. Intimidation tactics. Brutalityby John W. Whitehead
Black Liberation/Civil Rights:
Freedom Rider: Leave North Korea Alone U.S. presidents treat other nations like Dred Scott — as having no rights that the United States is bound to respect. North Korea is called “rogue” – the U.S. term for a country that “dares to exist on its own terms.” The dignity of peoples is foreign to Washington’s rulers, who cannot conceive that it is better to engage with an adversary “than to demonize it on a regular basis.” by BAR editor and senior columnist Margaret Kimberley
In Healthcare Battle, Corporations Continue to Win While Public Loses Both Trumpcare and Obamacare are privatized insurance systems tailored to the needs and greed of healthcare corporations. Corporations wrote the Affordable Care Act, and only the rich benefit from Trumpcare. “The only rational objective for the majority of the people in the U.S. is to move toward the complete elimination of the for-profit healthcare system.” by BAR editor and columnist Ajamu Baraka
July 4th and the Crisis of US Exceptionalism U.S. imperialism has finally found the enemies it has been searching for all these years. Most of the world’s people are already in some form of resistance to Washington’s bullying. Love of war is what makes the U.S. truly exceptional. Domestically, “only an opposition that fights for a potential world war with Russia is acceptable to Washington.” by BAR contributor Danny Haiphong
Israel and Rwanda, Partners in PersecutionThe world’s greatest human rights abusers have seats on the UN Human Rights Council, including Rwanda and Israel, two nations that claim “genocide” privileges to trash other people’s rights. Rwandan dictator Paul Kagame is soliciting help from Israel to fight Islamic jihadists – in a nation that is 95 percent Christian. by BAR contributor Ann Garrison 
Reparations is Dead: How to Resurrect It The moral case for Black reparations has effectively been made, but the legal argument has met much frustration in the courts. The authors believe that the period after 1808, when U.S. participation in the international slave trade was outlawed, is key to clearing the legal hurdles to reparations. By Dr. Jahi Issa and Reggie Mabry
“Think Through the Implications of Our Actions”: an Open Letter to Rep. Barbara Lee Et tu, Barbara Lee? The only member of Congress to vote against the invasion of Afghanistan appears to have gone over to the dark side with a tweet expressing outrage at President Trump’s willingness to meet with Russia’s Vladimir Putin. The author urges Lee not “to participate in a profoundly irresponsible meme that castigates instead of encourages diplomatic discourse between the highest levels of the American and Russian governments.” by Norman Solomon 
It is Necessary to Unify the Brazilian Black Movement More than half of Brazil’s population is of African descent, yet concerted action among Afro-Brazilians has often been elusive. Black organizations from across the nation gathered in the city of Salvador to resist the “regressive measures” imposed by the “putschist government” of Michel Temer. “To tackle this serious crisis, of national and international scope, it is important and necessary to unify the Brazilian black movement organizations.” by Puneet Chadha and Jamile Araújo
Why Africans Have No Land in South Africa If South Africa is an independent, decolonized, democratic country under the control of its Black majority, then why is 93% of the land still owned by whites? The author maintains that the real anti-colonial struggle was betrayed, and “became a civil rights movement.” The descendants of white settlers were allowed to keep their stolen spoils. “Apartheid” was declared the problem – “a colonial a ploy to hide colonial theft of the African country.” by Motsoko Pheko
How Paul Robeson Found His Political Voice in the Welsh Valleys Paul Robeson, the great artist and activist, began his journey to becoming a global “people’s singer” through his contact with Welsh mining communities. “Throughout the 1930s, the analogy between African Americans and workers in Britain (and especially Wales) helped reorient Robeson, both aesthetically and politically.” The bond with Wales remained, “even after Robeson became, in Pete Seeger’s words, ‘the most blacklisted performer in America.’” by Jeff Sparrow 
Environment:
By buying “pollution rights” (The right to pollute) from another country, a nation can lower its emissions without lowering the pollution produced in that nation. These “rights” are limited in that they can not exceed the levels of pollution that the rules are trying to impose. Trading “pollution rights” is already fashionable in this country. This has been advanced by the the Environmental Defense (Offense?) Fund. Under these rules, polluting factories, oil refineries, and other polluting enterprises, may find it more “cost effective “by buying pollution rights or credits from non-polluting industries rather than cleaning up their mess. In reality, it grants corporations and nations (under the Kyoto accords) the right to pollute. The Kyoto accords actually open up the concept of private ownership of the air. (Good air being bought and sold for bad air.) — Roland Sheppard, The Myth of Kyoto
Ongoing Big Energy Crisis:
Labor:
Economy:
World:
What is behind the Qatar crisis? For the last month the Gulf state of Qatar has been blockaded by its neighbours Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates and Bahrain, who along with Egypt have severed all diplomatic ties with the country. These events have opened up a crisis situation in the Gulf region, which is being viewed with trepidation by the major powers on the world stage. By Dejan Kukic and Hamid Alizadeh
Health, Science, Education, and Welfare:
Quotes of the Day: 
‘Maps Will Be Redrawn’: Massive #ExxonKnew Iceberg Breaks From Antarctica “The remaining shelf will be at its smallest ever known size. This is a big change.” By Jake Johnson