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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:
There’s no shortage of other and terrible things to cover, God knows. The list of horrors that deserve lead-story status from one night to the next is daunting. I could fill pages listing them, including things like these:
* Global capitalism has so savagely concentrated wealth upwards that five absurdly opulent people now have as much net worth between them as the bottom half of humanity,
* The top tenth of the U.S. upper One Percent owns as much wealth as the bottom U.S. 90 percent, along with a giant, outsized share of the nation’s plutocratically (s)elected officials in a nation that has become an open corporate-financial oligarchy.
* 15 million children (21% of all U.S. children, including 4 in 10 Black and Native American children) live at less than the federal government’s notoriously inadequate poverty level (more than 1 in 10 U.S. children ages 0-9 is living at less than half that level).
* Half the U.S. population is poor or near-poor and lacks any assets.
* Median Black U.S. net worth is less than seven cents on the median U.S. white wealth dollar.
* The U.S. has the highest incarceration rate in world history, achieved in ways so deeply racist that 1 in 3 adult U.S. adult Black males is saddled with the crippling lifelong mark of a felony record.
* The U.S. dedicates more than half of its discretionary federal spending to a giant military empire that transfers wealth upwards while killing millions the world over and accounting for more than 40 percent of global military spending.
* The U.S. interferes in the political process of countless nations across the world
The U.S. is leading the planet over the environmental cliff through the championing of endless growth and attendant “anthropogenic” – really capitalogenic – climate destruction. —Russia Trumps Ecocide at the Petroleum Broadcasting System
The United States has always been a capitalist oligarchy, with the fascade of democracy, since its founding — the constitution guarantees it! As Noam Chomsky stated in his interview on American History and Democracy: . . . “If you go back to the record of the Constitutional Convention, which took place in 1787, almost immediately after the end of the war, you see that they are already moving in another direction. James Madison — who was the main framer, and one of the Founding Fathers who was most libertarian — makes it very clear that the new constitutional system must be designed so as to ensure that the government will, in his words, ‘protect the minority of the opulent against the majority’ and bar the way to anything like agrarian reform. The determination was made that America could not allow functioning democracy, since people would use their political power to attack the wealth of the minority of the opulent. Therefore, Madison argues, the country should be placed in the hands of the wealthier set of men, as he put it. . . .” To this day, we have a government and state apparatus that is designed to “protect the minority of the opulent against the majority” — there is no Democracy! It has been endemic to this society to expand westward which included the genocide of the Native Americans.
Videos of the Day:
How the Mexican Government Hacked Investigators Probing a ‘Horrendous Crime’ Citizen Lab director Ronald Deibert and human rights attorney Stephanie Erin Brewer join Democracy Now! to reveal how Mexico spied on journalists and lawyers investigating the disappearance of 43 students.
U.S.:
Giving new credence to a provocative 2014 study showing the United States is controlled by powerful elite interests, as opposed to the desire of its citizens, a new poll released Thursday shows that three-quarters of Americans feel voiceless and largely powerless in the nation that heralds itself as the world’s preeminent democracy. The results of the new survey by the Associated Press-NORC Center for Public Affairs Research reveals that 75 percent of Americans—including “rare unanimity across political, economic, racial and geographical lines and including both those who approve and disapprove of President Donald Trump”—agree they have too little influence or say over the decisions made by the nation’s elected officials.— Can You Say Oligarchy? 75% of Americans Think Wealthiest Have “Too Much” Power
Black Liberation/Civil Rights:
. . . It’s impossible for a chicken to produce a duck egg… The system of this country cannot produce freedom for an Afro-American. It is impossible for this system, this economic system, this political system, this social system, this system period. It is impossible for it, as it now stands, to produce freedom right now for the Black man in this country — it is impossible. And if ever a chicken did produce a duck egg, I’m certain you would say it was certainly a revolutionary chicken. . . . — Malcolm X, Harlem ‘Hate Gang’ Scare Militant Labor Forum, May 29, 1964
Racism has been used by capitalism, since its very beginning, to justify the plunder of the ‘under developed world’! — The ill-gotten monetary gains from wars of invasion, the slave trade, the rape of the third world’s wealth, and the genocide of native peoples. The wealth gained, from these atrocities, provided the funds to fuel the industrial revolution and the subsequent rise of capitalism. — Roland Sheppard
Mass Grave Of Dozens Of Tortured Black Men Found In Deceased KKK Leaders Estate
The Afro-American militant is a ‘militant’ because he defends himself, his family, his home, and his dignity. He does not introduce violence into a racist social system — the violence is already there, and has always been there. It is precisely this unchallenged violence that allows a racist social system to perpetuate itself. When people say that they are opposed to Negroes ‘resorting to violence’ what they really mean is that they are opposed to Negroes defending themselves and challenging the exclusive monopoly of violence practiced by white racists.” ― Robert F. Williams, Negroes with Guns
Black, American, and Armed With concerns about police violence and white supremacist groups mounting, some black gun owners have decided to take charge of their own safety. By Ira Berkley
Environment:
Environmental defenders being killed in record numbers globally, new research reveals Exclusive: Activists, wildlife rangers and indigenous leaders are dying violently at the rate of about four a week, with a growing sense around the world that ‘anyone can kill environmental defenders without repercussions’ By Jonathan Watts and John Vidal
The Louisiana Environmental Apocalypse Road Trip Louisiana serves as a terrifying example of what can become of a state that shortchanges science and environmental regulations to boost industry and infrastructure.
Microplastic pollution of seafloor widespread along Australia’s south-east coast, study finds Marine biologists are shocked at the high levels of microplastic pollution in the ocean sediments of Australia’s south-east coast, with Bicheno in Tasmania being the worst. By Stephen Pigram
Ongoing Big Energy Crisis:
Labor:
Economy:
World:
Macron and the Tories: Why is the Establishment so racist? Macron, the new President of France, last week gave a hair-raising press conference. Speaking at the G20 summit in Hamburg, Macron framed an argument against giving foreign aid to African countries by painting a picture of a feckless “African civilisation” populated by women who – presumably through their own stupidity or lack of self-control – “have seven or eight children”. By Ben Gliniecki
Cuba: The responsibility of control and participation in representing the people During each session of the National Assembly of People’s Power, in their role as representatives of their electorate, deputies debate the realities of the country, the most pressing problems, strategic or urgent measures, and immediate or long-term solutions By Yudy Castro Morales
Brazil: The sentencing of Lula and the Car Wash scandal We are witnessing yet another chapter in the Car Wash (Lava Jato) operation: the sentencing of Lula by the judge Sergio Moro. As the Esquedra Marxista [Marxist Left] has already explained in previous articles, the Lava Jato is a manoeuvre driven by the interests of the ruling class.
Health, Science, Education, and Welfare:
Adelaide researchers find link between plastics chemical phthalates and chronic diseases in men Plastics found in common consumer products such as food packaging and wrappings, toys, medications and even medical devices have been linked to diseases in men including cardiovascular disease, type-2 diabetes and high blood pressure. By Brad Crouch
Quotes of the Day:
Russia Trumps Ecocide at the Petroleum Broadcasting System by Paul Street
Behind Washington’s imperial tussle with Berlin But one angle to the Russian controversy that is underreported is this: scratch the Russian connection and US-German relations pop up. The US Senate recently adopted new sanctions against Russia, ostensibly as punishment for its electoral “meddling”. The vote was 97 to two, indicating strong bipartisan support. A key aspect of the Senate bill, however, reveals its real intents. It has nothing to do with US elections, rather it stipulates sanctions against a proposed new pipeline that would deliver natural gas to Germany under the Baltic Sea. The actual target of the bill is Germany. By Barry Sheppard
Piety and Proscription in the MSM: Noble Imperialists and Dirty Dissidents by Jason Hirthler
Thanks to State Department Cables, a Torture Victim Won a Rare $10 Million Settlement By Ryan Grim and Alex Emmons