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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:
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. — Karl Marx, Capital, Volume One, Part VIII, Chapter 31, (the) Genesis of the Industrial Capitalist.
Videos of the Day:
How a Program Intended to Help the Poor Became an ATM for Billionaires The Real Baltimore explores how public housing has enriched wealthy developers across the country through the prism of a deal to redevelop a critical subsidized housing complex in the city
U.S.
Black Agenda Radio Week of September 4, 2017 
Blacks in Houston Must Guard Against Displacement: Working class leadership must ensure that the massive Black displacement that followed Hurricane Katrina does not recur in Houston, said Dr. Gerald Horne, the prolific author and professor of history and African American Studies at the University of Houston. He noted that both Houston and New Orleans are anti-union towns that are hostile to Black and poor people.
Imperial Policies Could Doom Sanders Presidency: “I’m afraid that even if Sen. Bernie Sanders were to become president, he’d probably just continue to manage the U.S. empire abroad,” said Dr. Francis Boyle, professor of international law at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. As with President Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society, the domestic social project would be defeated by the imperial foreign policy.
Voices for Prison Abolition: Activists seeking to abolish the U.S. mass incarceration system, root and branch, rallied in 16 cities under the banner “Millions for Prisoners Human Rights.” Speakers included Laura Whitehorn, of the Northeast Political Prisoners Coalition, Tomika Shine, Baltimore representative of Releasing Aging People from Prison (RAPP), and spoken word artist Max Parthas, co-host of New Abolitionist Radio.
Bad News Trump: Wilbert “Jazz the Poet” Sanders, currently incarcerated in Pennsylvania’s McKean federal prison, showcased a new work, titled “Politically Incorrect,” via Prison Radio: “Trump is vindictive, with a cold heart / In time he’ll tear this country apart.”
Black Agenda Radio on the Progressive Radio Network is hosted by Glen Ford and Nellie Bailey. A new edition of the program airs every Monday at 11:am ET on PRN. Length: one hour.
Environment:
The Floods of August: Climate Change Hits Home for Millions Worldwide We knew this was coming. This August the rains have come with a vengeance. But we knew something like this was coming. In 2014, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change published its summary of the expected impacts of climate change. In dry, academic language, the report sets out the evidence: climate change will bring extremes of precipitation: more droughts and more deadly floods by Claire James
Intensified Forest Fires: The New Western Travesty As my wife Chelsea and I drove through Arizona on our annual pilgrimage from California to Montana, orange smoke billowed along the darkened horizon, signals of hearts shattered and landscapes scorched. Days earlier nineteen hot shot firefighters died together as they battled the intense blazes near the mountain town of Yarnell. It was the most lethal wildfire America had witnessed in 80 years. by Joshua Frank
Hurricane Harvey Hits Home for Texas Environmental Hero Hilton Kelley Hurricane Harvey’s floodwaters were still receding from Port Arthur, Texas, on September 4, when Hilton Kelley and his wife Marie returned to their home and business for the first time since evacuating. Port Arthur is located about 100 miles east of Houston on the Gulf Coast. The heavily industrialized area rivals Louisiana’s Cancer Alley, with an even greater concentration of hazardous waste and petrochemical facilities. Kelley is intimately familiar with the town’s refineries. He spent the last 17 years fighting for clean air and water in the Port Arthur community adjacent to those refineries. His work earned him the prestigious Goldman Environmental Prize, which is awarded to “grassroots environmental heroes” ― something of a Nobel Prize for environmentalists. Despite winning some battles against the oil and gas industry, getting it to curtail its toxic emissions, the community is facing new challenges with the roll-back of regulations under President Trump, and Harvey’s devastation. By Julie Dermansky
This ‘miracle weed killer’ was supposed to save farms. Instead, it’s devastating them. The dicamba system, approved for use for the first time this spring, was supposed to break the cycle and guarantee weed control in soybeans and cotton. The herbicide — used in combination with a genetically modified dicamba-resistant soybean — promises better control of unwanted plants such as pigweed, which has become resistant to common weed killers. By Caitlin Dewey
Ongoing Big Energy Crisis:
Hurricane Harvey, Climate Denial, Fake News and ExxonMobil For well over twenty years, climate deniers have tried to stymie discussion of extreme weather events and climate change. Why? Because extreme weather kills people, destroys property, trashes things and costs billions of dollars. And that’s when people start searching for accountability and looking for who to blame. By Kert Davies
Labor:
Organizational Restructuring in US Healthcare Systems: Implications for Jobs, Wages, and Inequality The healthcare sector is one of the most important sources of jobs in the economy. Healthcare spending reached $3.2 trillion in 2015 or 17.8 percent of GDP and accounted for 12.8 percent of private sector jobs. It was the only industry that consistently added jobs during the Great Recession. In 2016, the private sector healthcare industry, which is the focus of this report, added 381,000 private sector jobs, the most of any industry. It is a particularly important source of employment for workers without a college degree, most of whom, as we document in this report, earn low wages. By Eileen Appelbaum and Rosemary Batt
Economy:
World:
France: Macron loses his shine as he prepares to attack workers Since being elected Macron – the poster-boy of European liberalism and the self-described Jupiterian president – has seen his popularity steadily decline as his electoral facade crumbles away. By Stephen Agne
Health, Science, Education, and Welfare:
The Simmering Revolution in Evolution In archaeology, new evidence and the resulting explanations have come to resemble the conclusions that Marxists reached long ago in explaining how dialectical materialism corresponds to the natural world. By Danielle Anderson
Reparations and Capitalism
Quotes of the Day:
End Games: the Apocalyptic Trope That Swallowed the World By Chris Floyd 
Black Liberation/Civil Rights: 
Hurricane Irma: blackouts and flooding on St Martin as winds destroy sturdiest buildings — live Most powerful hurricane ever recorded over Atlantic Ocean batters Caribbean islands as it moves west with category 5 winds and rains