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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 Those 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:
If we dictate war memorials to the memory of men and women as war cut down before their time, these (workplaces) are war memorials as surely as any crosses last on long age battlefield in any long ago war! — Before Their Time” Cancer & Health And Safety On Our Jobs
Blue-collar workers die at a disproportionate rate on the job, and afterward, from job-related illnesses. But the harsh reality slips from our grasp, gets pushed aside as the cost of doing business, their difficult and dangerous labors taken for granted. This essay looks at some of the most compelling stories that got book-length treatment, and together, capture the full dimension of death on the job and the aftermath. They provide a blueprint of the issues involved in lost lives, fractured families, regulation, compensation, and culpability. Two things emerge from this broad canvas: first, the strong working-class voices captured in the pages of these stories that finally emerge to speak about the conditions they face in their workplaces—after the deaths and injuries have occurred; and second, a pattern of culpability and gross negligence in the workplace. Whether it is old industries like coal mining, or new technologies like cell phones—with the towers that must be built and maintained for them to function—good training, good tools, safe practices, taking precautions and the time to do those things that will preserve life, are, in all too many workplaces, not part of the culture. Rather, another culture of shortcuts and deadly decision-making rules. — Danger! Men Working
Videos of the Day:
Tyrone West’s Sister Refuses 1 Million Dollar Settlement for Her Brother’s Death Tawanda Jones told the BCPD: “I Will Not Settle” for the wrongful death of her brother. The settlement had a gag order that would have meant shutting down “West Wednesdays” protests demanding justice for her brother’s death
Empire Files: The Hidden Purging of Millions of Voters With all the discussion of the contentious 2016 election, the most shocking fact is often ignored: that millions of people had their votes stolen through malicious, means. The Republican Party is currently working to purge millions more voters leading up to the 2018 election. Abby Martin interviews investigative reporter Greg Palast, who has done the most extensive work uncovering this massive disenfranchisement campaign.
U.S.:
The Dresden Firebombing Redue: Burning Raqqa: The U.S. War Against Civilians in Syria The rise in so-called “collateral damage”—the slaughter of civilians — by United States’ bombings in Raqqa and elsewhere has exploded in the last six months. By Laura Gottesdiener 
Black Liberation/Civil Rights:
After $15 Million Verdict, Lawyers Representing Police Murder Victim Leonard Thomas Speak Out This month, after a three-week trial, a jury awarded the family of Leonard Thomas — an unarmed Fife resident fatally shot by police in 2013 — $15 million. It was one of the largest police deadly force verdicts in state history. The ruling was against the cities of Lakewood and Fife, and several SWAT officers. By Lilly Fowler
Environment:
Louisiana’s Cancer Alley Residents Sue Chemical Plant for Nearly 50 Years of Air Pollution By Julie Dermansky 
Plastic Chokes the Seas Plastic is not recycled. One of the great myths of modern-day society is that people recycle in earnest… saving the environment. Au contraire! Check out the ocean. It’s filled with plastic. Fish and seabirds eat it by gobs and gobs. Furthermore, according to a World Economic Forum presentation, The New Plastics Economy: Rethinking the Future of Plastics, February 2016, by 2050 there will likely be more plastic than fish in the seas, unless socio-economic policies change drastically. But, where’s the leadership? by Robert Hunziker
Official list of ‘endocrine disruptors’ published The French government has published an official list of pesticide products currently in circulation suspected of containing ‘endocrine chemical disruptors’. The list features more than 1 000 insect killer and sanitation products, including publicly available brands such as Baygon, Raid, and Stop Insectes.
California Votes to Extend Landmark Cap-and-Trade Program —While Allowing Big Polluters to Get Away With Murder The new legislation makes huge concessions to the fossil fuel industry. By Reynard Loki
Ongoing Big Energy Crisis:
The Fire Beneath: Los Angeles is Sitting on a Ticking Time Bomb Porter Ranch residents in Southern California, like the rest of Los Angeles, are sitting on a ticking time bomb. The Aliso Canyon storage facility, site of the massive natural gas leak in October 2015 that displaced over 8,300 homes and spewed 97,100 tonnes of methane into the atmosphere, could have another catastrophic leak – a leak up to 1,000 times greater than 2015 – when the area is hit with a major earthquake. by Joshua Frank
Labor:
Surviving asbestos: UN treaty ‘discredited’ as asbestos lobby claims victory A United Nations (UN) treaty on the control of toxic exports has been ‘utterly discredited’, unions have said. The charge came after a bid to add chrysotile asbestos – the only form of the cancer-causing fibre still traded – to the Rotterdam Convention’s list of the most hazardous substances was blocked for a sixth time. 
More Workers U.S. Die Every Year, on the Job — Than Workers Who Die Every year on the U.S. Battle Fields Abroad.: The War at the Point of Production: The ‘Killing Fields’ of the United States Like the Four Horsemen of the Apocalypse, world imperialism spreads War, Famine, Pestilence, and Death, throughout the world. Author Gore Vidal describes this era as ‘Perpetual War for Perpetual Peace’. One perpetual war, which is not openly publicized, is the war for profits. It takes place every single day at the point of production, and is killing increasing numbers of workers every year. Today, workers are used as ‘cannon fodder’ both in the war in Iraq and in the war for profits at home. Workplaces have become perpetual ‘killing fields’. According to Lisa Cullen, the author of A Job To Die For, “Every day, 165 Americans die from occupational diseases and 18 more die from a work related injury. On the same day, more than 36,400 non-fatal injuries and 3,200 illnesses will occur in America’s workplaces.” Every year 60,225 Americans die from occupational diseases while 6,570 more die from work-related injuries. In that same year, more than 13,286,000 non-fatal injuries and 1,168,000 illnesses occur in America’s workplaces. Again: “Each year, this unknown workplace epidemic extends into nearby communities to claim the lives of 218 innocent bystanders and injure another 68,000.” By Roland Sheppard
Economy:
The independence referendum and the Catalan national question Spain never saw a genuine bourgeois revolution, and today important democratic tasks are still pending: the abolition of the monarchy, the separation between church and state, the cleansing of the state apparatus of Francoist residues… But undoubtedly the most pressing issue is the national question. By Arturo Rodríguez
Health, Science, Education, and Welfare:
The FBI vs. Comrade Charlie Chaplin In September 1952, Charlie Chaplin (1889-1977) looked back at New York on board the Queen Elizabeth. He was bound for Europe, to introduce the continent to his latest film Mousieur Verdoux. On the ship, Chaplin learned that the United States government would only let him return to the USA – where he had lived for the past three decades – if he subjected himself to an Immigration and Naturalization inquiry into his moral and political character. ‘Goodbye’, Chaplin said from the deck of the ship. He refused to submit to the inquiry. He would not return to the USA until 1972, when the Academy of Motion Pictures gave him an Oscar for Lifetime Achievement. by Vijay Prashad
A Job to Die For: Why So Many Americans are Killed, Injured or Made Ill at Work and What to Do About It
Quotes of the Day:
Shadow Government Statistics: No. 902-A: First-Estimate Second-Quarter GDP, 2017 Annual Benchmark Revisions Graph CL-7: Real Average Weekly Earnings, Production and Nonsupervisory Employees, 1965-to-Date 
World: