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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!
Image of the Day:
According to Forbes, Tanoe “built his fortune—estimated $1.1 billion—in real estate and media on a mountain of debt. He tweets nonstop to more than 1 million followers. He stages beauty pageants. He loves reality TV. He has a glamorous wife.” And Tanoe’s considering a run for the presidency. Trump and Tanoe are close enough that the Indonesian attended Trump’s inauguration, even as he remains embroiled in a series of scandals and fights with the government. But Trump is more directly tied to Grasberg through billionaire wheeler-dealer Carl Icahn. The former corporate raider is Trump’s good friend and, according to Trump, one of “the great businessmen of the world.” In January, Trump named Icahn “special adviser to the president on regulatory reform.” Although the role has no official standing, it worked magic for Icahn: his oil company, CVR, “saved about $60 million in the first quarter because of expectations that the federal government will ease a regulation involving renewable fuels.” More to the point, Icahn is also the largest shareholder in Freeport-McMoRan with 91.6 million shares worth over $1 billion, or 6.33 percent of total shares. When Jakarta moves to weaken Freeport, Icahn’s stake sinks. So, it’s not entirely surprising that Pence was on assignment for Trump, Inc. And within hours after Pence departed, Jakarta relented… somewhat. Freeport McMoRan was granted a six-month reprieve from takeover. Freeport wasn’t entirely happy, but it had benefited from a presidential intervention. — During Genocide, Trump Intervenes for Himself and Friends
Videos of the Day:
Scientists Leak Climate Science as Trump Polices Its Language A leaked US government report directly undermines President Trump’s climate change denial just as the Department of Agriculture has started to censor the language of climate science
UN Human Rights Report on Venezuela Ignores Opposition Violence Prof. George Ciccariello-Maher of Drexel University analyzes the latest developments in Venezuela, including a new UN human rights report, US sanctions, and the begrudging admission by President Maduro’s foes that he still has popular support
Scientists Leak Climate Science as Trump Polices Its Language A leaked US government report directly undermines President Trump’s climate change denial just as the Department of Agriculture has started to censor the language of climate science
The Internet monopolies: Surveillance, pirated content, addiction — Break them up U.S.:Google Censors Block Access to CounterPunch and Other Progressive Sites The U.S. government, and the information technology companies which collaborate with it, is moving fully into the camp of governments which relentlessly utilize the internet to collect users online data, monitor their activities, and control what they can see and do. by Eric Sommer
The Unsung Summit of Putin and Trump This week marks the 72nd anniversary of the criminal US bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki. And as is the case each year, there is much discussion and lamenting over this atrocity, as there well should be. For the bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki was not necessary for victory; Japan had already sued for peace. It was the opening salvo, a brutal one, in the first Cold War in which the world was nearly incinerated during the Cuban missile crisis. by John V. Walsh
America’s Military Cannot Bring Peace to Syria America must decide what it wants to do about Syria. Does it want to get rid of Bashar al-Assad? Or is defeating ISIS its most important priority? Morally, it should do neither. America’s first priority should be to stop the war so that Syrian people do not have to die anymore. The facts are grim. Over 400,000 Syrians are dead; 6.3 million people are homeless; another 5.1 million have become refugees; and 13.5 million Syrians need humanitarian assistance. by Walter Weis
During Genocide, Trump Intervenes for Himself and Friends The Grasberg Mine is a massive scar 14,000 feet atop West Papua’s part of New Guinea’s Central Cordillera. It’s is the world’s biggest, most profitable gold mine and the world’s third biggest copper mine, with estimated reserves of $100 billion. by Alec Dubro
Black Liberation/Civil Rights:
Anything Goes When You’re a Cop in America “There is one criminal justice system for citizens—especially black and brown ones—and another for police in the United States.” — Redditt Hudson, former St. Louis police officer by John W. Whitehead
Dr. Jahi Issa , Reggie A. Mabry , Patrick Delices: “Reparations is Dead” Authors Seek to Spark Public Discussion of New Legal Strategy The authors elaborate on their contention that activists have bungled the legal battle for reparations. They are willing to debate N’Cobra, December 12th Movement, Dr. Ron Daniels, Assemblyman Charles Barron, Dr. Claude Anderson, Randall Robinson, Ta Nehisi Coates and others.
Nellie Bailey and Glen Ford: U.S. Aims to Claim Venezuelan Oil U.S. efforts to topple the socialist government in Venezuela are largely driven by Washington’s quest to control the global energy market. “The energy question hovers above all others,” said Dr. Gerald Horne, the prolific author and professor of history and African American Studies at the University of Houston. “It is felt among rightwing Texas oil men that if the United States can get a stranglehold over Venezuelan oil, then Texas and the U.S. will be in position to dominate what remains of the oil industry” in the future, said Horne. “Washington feels it is on a roll” with the rise of rightwing governments in Brazil and Argentina, said Horne.
Nellie Bailey and Glen Ford: Anti-War Coalition: Shut Down U.S. Global Empire of Bases “Any campaign which is really talking about U.S. wars and U.S. intervention has to address the role of the foreign military bases and aircraft carriers, which are huge floating military bases,” said Sara Flounders, of the United National Anti-War Coalition. UNAC has been joined by other peace organizations in demanding closure of the approximately 1,000 overseas U.S. bases. This “infrastructure of U.S. imperialism,” said Flounders, “exercises total control over the economies and social and political life of countries all over the world,” and “completely distorts life here in the United States.”
Nellie Bailey and Glen Ford: Sessions Blames Obama for Crime Attorney General Jeff Sessions claims crime has gone up in some U.S. cities because the Obama administration was too lenient in sentencing offenders. But the facts don’t back him up, according to Marc Mauer, executive director of The Sentencing Project, in Washington. “It’s discouraging that, in the 21st century, we’re making policy decisions based on sound bites and gut instincts rather than evidence,” said Mauer. “There is no lack of evidence to show that mass incarceration has been counter-productive to public safety and devastating for low-income communities of color.
Norman Otis Richmond aka Jalal’: Richard B. Moore: “Dogs and Slaves are Named by Their Masters; Free Men Name Themselves!” Not so very long ago, most Black Americans answered to the term “Negro.” But, not Richard B. Moore, a “race man” who was also a socialist and a member of the African Blood Brotherhood, the Black Panthers of the 1920s. Moore later “joined the Communist Party and stayed until he was expelled in 1942 for being an African-American Nationalist.”
Mike Elk: “Nissan, You Made Us Mad”: Union Promises to Fight Mississippi Defeat A coalition of community groups, students, clergy and environmentalists joined with labor to attempt to unionize the Nissan auto plant in Canton, Mississippi. “Despite having only a narrow majority of Nissan workers signing cards, the union decided it was time to call an election.” But Nissan won this time with more than 60 percent of the vote.
Olivia Paschal: The Latest Challenges to the South’s Felony Disenfranchisement Laws Florida accounts for almost half of the 6.1 million Americans that cannot vote because of a felony conviction. Every state in the South disenfranchised felons after the Civil War, “for the specific purpose of disenfranchising as many emancipated slaves as possible.” Today’s laws have the same effect on their descendants.
Environment:
Ongoing Big Energy Crisis:
New Fraud Allegations Emerge at Troubled ‘Clean Coal’ Project As Southern Co. Records Multi-Billion Loss Southern Co. is accused of fraudulently misrepresenting the prospects for its troubled “clean coal” project in Kemper County, Mississippi in several legal filings this summer. Southern announced in late July that it was shuttering the troubled “clean coal” part of Kemper after construction ran years behind schedule and the company spent $7.5 billion on the 582 megawatt power plant — over $5 billion more than it first projected. By Sharon Kelly
New York’s Fracking Ban Was Supposed to Set a Precedent — but Gov. Cuomo Is Going Back on His Word New York banned high-volume hydraulic fracturing (fracking) two years ago, in a victory for persistent anti-fracking activists and a potential precedent for other states. Now, however, the state is poised to begin operating a power plant that will make fracking infrastructure fully operational throughout the state, completely undermining the ban. The $900 million power plant planned by Competitive Power Ventures (CPV) in Orange County, New York, requires permits for only two short pipelines before it may begin operating. CPV will be among the largest of New York’s nearly 500 gas- and oil-fired power plants. Like more than half of currently proposed electricity generation in the state, this power plant will burn fracked gas from Pennsylvania’s Marcellus Shale. By Ellen Cantarow and Dennis Higgins
Labor:
How a Free Syrian Army Unit Uncovered the Rebels’ Israeli Connection and Switched Sides Before the Golan Brigade was targeted for destruction by Israel and Al Qaeda, it was allied with them. Since as far back as 2012, the UN Disengagement Observer Force (UNDOF), the peacekeeping mission responsible for monitoring the 1974 ceasefire line between Israeli and Syrian forces in the Golan Heights, has documented dozens of interactions between Israeli and Syrian insurgents. It is also an open secret that the Israelis have been providing medical treatment to insurgents, including al Qaeda and possibly ISIS fighters, in Israeli hospitals and then sending them back into battle against government-controlled areas. By Rania Khalek
Venezuela Rejects Violence and Wins For US imperialism and the continental right, July 30th in Venezuela should be a conclusive political lesson. It should also be a lesson for the organizers of the media campaigns against popular processes. Their reliability has been demonstrated by the mass exercise of their rights by a mature and determined population who rejects the by Manuel E. Yepe
Health, Science, Education, and Welfare:
Quotes of the Day:
Economy:
Despite Historically Low Interest Rates, Consumers Are Paying an Average of 14 Percent on Credit Card Debt On August 7 the Federal Reserve released an updated report on consumer debt. It raises more questions about how the big Wall Street banks are making all those billions of dollars in profits. By Pam Martens and Russ Martens 
World: 
