Daily News Digest October 26, 2017

Daily News Digest Archives

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!

Daily News Digest October 26, 2017

Image of the Day:

Life First! From Bush to Clinton to Bush to Obama to Trump the Beat Goes On!Quote of the Day:

Except here’s the thing: Disaster capitalists may be circling Puerto Rico, but this time they may not get their prey. Why? Because Puerto Ricans — both on the island and the mainland — are fighting back in real time. Under the banner of a “just recovery” for Puerto Rico, thousands have come together to design a bold and holistic plan for the island to be rebuilt as a beacon for a safe, resilient, and thriving society in the era of accelerating climate chaos, spiraling economic inequality, and rising white nationalism. From the earliest days of this emergency and despite enormous communication and logistical challenges, Puerto Ricans in the diaspora have worked with partners on the island to sketch out the core principles and policies of the plan. The work is rooted in the belief that the underlying reason behind all of Puerto Rico’s intersecting crises is the fact that the island’s people and land have been treated like a bottomless raw resource for the mainland to mine for over a century, never mind the devastating economic consequences. Interestingly, the global climate crisis — which is now hitting Puerto Rico with disproportionate fury — comes from a strikingly similar logic: For centuries, industrial societies have been extracting and burning fossil fuels as if there would never be any ecological consequence for our actions. We were badly mistaken. A justice-based recovery would seek to replace these extractive strategies with relationships based on principles of reciprocity and regeneration. In the short term, that means meaningful debt relief, as well as a waiver and full review of the Jones Act, the shipping law that requires that all goods entering Puerto Rico from the mainland arrive via U.S. ships, dramatically driving up costs and limiting options. It also means that, whenever possible, aid money should go directly to Puerto Rican organizations and communities because it’s not only bankers and shipping companies that extract wealth from poor communities. So, too, can well-meaning aid organizations, which have transformed far too many disaster zones into playgrounds for the non-profit industrial complex. It’s a process that siphons vast sums of money into overhead, hotels, and translators; drives up local prices; and casts affected populations as passive supplicants rather than participants in their own recovery. For a just recovery to be possible, this story cannot be allowed to repeat. Elizabeth Yeampierre and Naomi Klein,  Imagine a Puerto Rico Recovery Designed by Puerto Ricans

Videos of the Day:

Gulf of Mexico Now Largest Dead Zone in the World, and Factory Farming Is to Blame

Maryland Governor Signs Executive Order Opposing BDS Movement The growing number of anti-BDS laws across the U.S. should be seen “in the larger context of this very well-resourced effort to shut down the entire grassroots movement for Palestinian rights,” says Palestine Legal Director Dima Khalidi

Finance Has Become the Dominant Force in Shaping the Global Economy Global inequality, household indebtedness, insufficient investment and stagnant economic recovery are the consequences of the dominance of large financial and corporate bodies in shaping globalization, explains Richard Kozul-Wright, UNCTAD’s chief economist

U.S.:

US Withdrawal From UNESCO: The Problematic History of US Legislation on Israel and Palestine The US decision to withdraw from UNESCO appears more an inevitability than a shock when viewed in the context of the problematic history of the US’s role in the Middle East and UNESCO’s internal politics. The October 12 announcement reflects a history of US bias against Palestinians and an unwavering commitment to Israel that predates Trump. By Carly A. Krakow

Puerto Rico Still in the Dark: the Case of Whitefish Energy and Million Dollar a Year Lineman Lights, cell service, sewer and water treatment plants came back on quickly in Florida and Houston after hurricane Maria. But Puerto Rico still remains largely in the dark one month later, with power restored to only 20% of the island. by Roy Morrison

 Puerto Rico After Maria: Owning the Problem by Tom Crofton

Worst of Both Worlds: Puerto Rico’s Dual Crises by Dan Beeton

NPR, the CIA and Corporatism by Geoff Dutton

 Environment:

Toxic ashes and charred forests threaten water after North Bay Fires

Weed killer Roundup is increasingly showing up in people

Above the Fold: Fracked brains; Roundup in bodies, bans

Ongoing Big Energy Crisis:

Fracking chemicals and kids’ brains don’t mix: Study Multiple pollutants found in the air and water near fracked oil and gas sites are linked to brain problems in children, according to a science review published today.

Black Liberation/Civil Rights: Freedom Rider: AFRICOM is the Question “They use ludicrous terms like ‘gold star family’ and make the case for continued American aggression around the world.”The desire to be affirmed by American society has dangerous consequences for black people. This pernicious dynamic creates the inclination to worship any black face in a high place or to defend questionable activity. The death of special forces Sergeant La David Johnson in Niger is a case in point. Donald Trump’s racism and stupidity prevented him from performing the simple task of conveying appropriate condolences to Johnson’s widow. The ensuing brouhaha focuses on what Trump said in the phone call overheard by Congressional Black Caucus member Frederica Wilson. By Margaret Kimberley, BAR editor and senior columnist Eminem’s Freestyle and the Degeneration of US Society  Eminem loves the military. He also loves the Democrats. Neither of these positions amount to anti-establishment resistance.” Corporate hip-hop artists are hired agents of US imperialism. The vast majority of artists given time on the media airwaves receive bloated incomes to disseminate a pre-packaged product. This product is meant to reproduce the social relations of the system as a whole. The most important function of corporate hip-hop is to reproduce the abject condition of Black Americans by stripping them of their humanity. Eminem has been part and parcel of this project ever since he was signed by Universal Music Group’s Aftermath Entertainment in the latter half of the 1990s. In his recent freestyle dedicated to President Donald J. Trump, Eminem reinforced a different kind of demise: that of US society itself. By Danny Haiphong, BAR contributorISIS of Central Africa: A New Cover for Plundering Congo “A jihad in the Congo makes no sense whatsoever.”A video calling for an Islamic State jihad in the Democratic Republic of the Congo appeared online and in a few news reports last week. It was purportedly made in Beni Territory, within Congo’s North Kivu Province, where a phantom so-called Islamist militia, the Allied Democratic Forces, has been blamed for massacres of the indigenous population that began in October 2014. By Ann Garrison, BAR contributor, Boniface Musavuli On the Futures of Black Radicalism in These Times  “The book calls for a liberation rooted in Black radicalism, but applicable to everyone made unfree by racial capitalism.”The current political moment is dire. White supremacy has been given national sanction by the President of the United States, as white supremacists march with lit torches in Charlottesville, Virginia; as Klansmen feel newly justified; as alt-right fascists rear their heads at U.S. institutions of higher education. It appears that the President’s “Make America Great Again” slogan is a call for white supremacy. By Gaye Theresa Johnson , Alex Lubin Trump May Have Made Colin Kaepernick’s Case  “If it can be proved that any opposing team officials openly or implicitly discussed retaliating against Kaepernick in this way, that certainly sounds like good evidence of collusion.” Colin Kaepernick’s accusation that NFL owners have colluded to keep him out of the league feels true. As more starting NFL quarterbacks get hurt and more obviously inferior quarterbacks [1] get jobs that might have gone to the former San Francisco 49ers QB, the evidence seems clearer and clearer that he is being blackballed [2]. By Jeremy Stahl The Relevance of the Soviet Revolution to Today’s Struggle The lessons from the Soviet era are a vivid reminder that socialism is not a utopian ideal, but a historical reality that workers must fight for.”On November 7, 1917, Russian workers and peasants achieved the seemingly impossible: creating a socialist workers state through peacefully occupying factories and seizing private property from the capitalist class. One hundred years later, this remarkable achievement is celebrated the world over as vivid evidence that the same gains are possible at a time when ruling classes dominate and exploit the entire world, that it is possible and likely that working classes can and will establish socialism again. By Immanuel Ness Remembering Muammar Qaddafi and the Great Libyan Jamahiriya  “The execution of Muammar Qaddafi and those that fought alongside him is one of the greatest crimes of this century.” October 20th, 2017, marked the sixth anniversary of the martyrdom of Muammar Qaddafi, revolutionary Pan-Africanist and champion of the Global South. This day also marks the sixth anniversary of the historic battle of Sirte, where Qaddafi, along with an heroic army, including his son Mutassim Billal Qaddafi, and veteran freedom fighter Abu-Bakr Yunis Jabr, fought until their convoy was bombed by French fighter planes. Wounded and demobilized, they were captured by Qatari scavengers and executed by Al-Qaeda operatives By Gerald A. PerreiraExpert Exposes US Biological Warfare During Korean War  “American aircraft were dropping strange objects including live spiders, flies, bees, snakes, fleas, ticks, dead rats, and mosquitos encased in U.S. military tubes.” TeleSUR spoke with retired Prof. Stephen Endicott about his definitive book on the U.S. use and cover up of biological warfare during the Korean War. “You may rest assured that I stand by every word of The United States and Biological Warfare: Secrets of the Early Cold War and Korea, Stephen Endicott told teleSUR about his 1999 book co-authored by the late Edward Hagerman. The book looks in-depth at the U.S. military’s use and coverup of banned biological weapons against the Korean and Chinese people during the Korean War of 1950-53. By Erin Fiorini Why is the US at war in West Africa?  “The expanding levels of US military forces arrayed across the continent have increasingly taken on the character of an occupying army.” The October 4 killings of four US Green Berets in Niger has provided a rare glimpse into the far-reaching American military operations throughout the African continent which have been conducted almost entirely in secret. Pentagon officials told reporters that the ambush was carried out by a self-radicalized group supposedly affiliated with ISIS. The Pentagon additionally admitted that at least 29 patrols similar to the one that was fatally ambushed have been carried out by American soldiers in Niger. By Eddie HaywoodLabor:

 Economy:Mike Pence Secures the No Law Zone Around Wall Street By Pam Martens and Russ Martens

World:

Health, Science, Education, and Welfare:

Top 10 lies about the Bolshevik Revolution: part one