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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:
Capitalism Prefers Fascism to Communism — People on social media red with ire rage about the double-standard applied to both the left anti-fascist protestors, the antifa anarchists, and the white supremacist marchers. Numberless voices rant about how the police protected the free speech of the white supremacists, but actively cracked down on anti-fascists. Now the government is moving to label antifa groups as domestic terrorists while doing nothing to apply the same tag to violent fascist racists. Some fairly argue that antifa are not the same as the majority of anti-fascist protesters. The former are violent, the latter peaceful. But the violence of antifa will be used to brand the entire progressive left with the stigma of domestic terrorism. The right will largely be left alone. But this is nothing new. Capitalists and fascists have always had a symbiotic relationship. Before World War Two, historians blame insufficiently strident capitalist politicians like UK Prime Minister Neville Chamberlain for “appeasing” the Nazis, as though they miscalculated the threat of fascism. What is forgotten is that they appeased the Nazis on purpose. Western capitalists rebuilt the German military and funded the rise of National Socialism after World War One. After all, the real threat to capitalism is communism, not fascism. As prolific and fearless author Michael Parenti writes, “fascism is nothing more than a final solution to the class struggle, the totalistic submergence and exploitation of democratic forces for the benefit and profit of higher financial circles.” The capitalist West hoped that the Nazis would attack Russia and destroy the burgeoning communist revolution there. Fourteen nations from the west had attacked Russia in 1918-1920 in an attempt to foreclose communism, but they failed. The effort was revived with the Nazis as the military vanguard. Only when the Nazis attacked western capitalist interests, did the west intervene against Germany. After the war, many fascists that had served in military, intelligence, and civilian capacities were left in place. Operation Gladio was designed to leave NATO forces behind in liberated countries to ensure these countries, like Italy, Spain, and Greece, did not ‘go communist’ but subjected themselves to semi-fascist proto-democratic forms of social organization. Gladio generated a “strategy of tension” with campaigns of false flag terrorism designed to discredit the communists and drive the population into the arms of proto-fascist democratic forces. — Condemned to Repeat It History as Rerun
Video of the Day:
Baltimore’s Water Affordability Crisis Water rates in Baltimore have been skyrocketing, more than tripling since 2000–and a $500 unpaid water bill could cost residents their homes
U.S.:
Five Years On, the WikiLeaks ‘Collateral Murder’ Video Matters More than Ever This weekend marks the fifth anniversary of the release of the WikiLeaks “Collateral Murder” video which showed a July 12, 2007 US Apache attack helicopter attack upon individuals in a Baghdad suburb. Amongst the over twelve people killed by the 30mm cannon-fire were two Reuters staff. The video was part of the huge cache of material leaked to WikiLeaks by Chelsea Manning. By Christian Christensen
Civil Rights/Black Liberation:
The Iron Heel Appears In St. Louis: Police officers in St Louis chant after breaking up protests Officers in riot gear made arrests and cleared streets of demonstrators Sunday, then gathered alongside a city boulevard chanting ‘whose street, our street’
Third St. Louis protest of police acquittal begins peacefully By A third day of protests started peacefully in St. Louis on Sunday after violent clashes between police and demonstrators the previous two nights over the acquittal of a white former police officer in the 2011 fatal shooting of a black man. By ValerieVolcovici
Environment:
U.S. Air Force Is Spraying 6 Million Acres With Chemicals in Response to Harvey Amid statewide efforts to clean up the aftermath left by the historic flooding caused by Hurricane Harvey, the Pentagon announced last week that it had dispatched C-130H Sprayers from the Air Force Reserve’s 910th Airlift Wing in order to “assist with recovery efforts in eastern Texas.” However, these “recovery efforts” have little to do with rebuilding damaged structures or with the resettlement of evacuees. Instead, they are set to spray chemicals in order to help “control pest insect populations,” which they allege pose a “health risk to rescue workers and residents of Houston.” By Whitney Webb
Whole Foods “Free-Range” Chicken Supplier Said To Actually Run Factory Farm When Amazon purchased Whole Foods last month, it didn’t just get the retail locations. It picked up Whole Foods’s baggage as well. Among the bigger issues inherited by Amazon appears to be a four-month investigation from the animal rights group Direct Action Everywhere that challenges Whole Foods’s core selling point of healthy and humane food. By David Dayen 
Fickle Nature: From too much hurricane to not enough ice in a few days Arctic ice cover reaches low (someone tell NASA) By Peter Dykstra
Sea Ice This visualization shows the annual Arctic sea ice minimum since 1979 At the end of each summer, the sea ice cover reaches its minimum extent, leaving what is called the perennial ice cover. The area of the perennial ice has been steadily decreasing since the satellite record began in 1979.
Sea Level Recent satellite observations have detected a thinning of parts of the Greenland ice sheet at lower elevations. A partial melting of this ice sheet would cause a 1-meter (3-foot) rise. If melted completely, the Greenland ice sheet contains enough water to raise sea level by 5-7 meters (16-23 feet).
Ongoing Big Energy Crisis:
Fukushima Status Report Six years have passed since the Fukushima accident was triggered in March 2011 and in many areas serious problems remain. For example, since February 2017, an internal survey of a containment vessel has been carried out for the removal of fuel debris, but the project has not been proceeding as planned. As for actions taken outside the site, although the order was lifted for the largest evacuation area at the end of March 2017 so far, few people have actually gone back to their homes due to concerns about radioactivity. Furthermore, in December 2016, the government officially announced that estimation of the total cost of the Fukushima accident is ¥22 trillion (US$200 billion)653. However, independent experts estimate that the actual costs might reach ¥50–70 trillion (US$453–635 billion). These costs are to be paid for by citizens through electricity charges and taxes.
Contractor Reviewing Enbridge Pipeline Misled Michigan About its Other Work for the Company Documents Suggest A contractor hired by the state of Michigan to independently review an aging oil pipeline running under the Great Lakes was simultaneously working for the pipeline company, documents obtained by DeSmog suggest. The documents contradict the contractor’s earlier claim that it had effectively stopped working for Enbridge once hired by Michigan. By Itai Vardi
Labor:
Economy:
Government by Goldman Gary Cohn Is Giving Goldman Sachs Everything It Ever Wanted From the Trump Administration Steve Bannon was in the room the day Donald Trump first fell for Gary Cohn. So were Reince Priebus, Jared Kushner, and Trump’s pick for secretary of Treasury, Steve Mnuchin. It was the end of November, three weeks after Trump’s improbable victory, and Cohn, then still the president of Goldman Sachs, was at Trump Tower presumably at the invitation of Kushner, with whom he was friendly. Cohn was there to offer his views about jobs and the economy. But, like the man he was there to meet, he was at heart a salesman. By Gary Rivlin and Michael Hudson
World:
Britain: Once again – Why Marxists should be in the Labour Party Rob Sewell, the editor of the British Marxist Appeal, provides a contribution on the debate about the way forward for the unions and the Left in the fight against the Blairites, the Tories and the cuts.
Venezuela to End Dollar-Denominated Oil Deals, Currency Exchanges The Venezuelan government moved this week to phase out the use of US dollars in oil deals and official currency exchange By Ryan Mallett-Outtrim
Health, Science, Education, and Welfare
The 1% Supreme Court
Quote of the Day:
Carbon Dioxide This time series shows global changes in the concentration and distribution of carbon dioxide since 2002 at an altitude range of 1.9 to 8 miles. The yellow-to-red regions indicate higher concentrations of CO2, while blue-to-green areas indicate lower concentrations, measured in parts per million.
