Frequently a contributor to Black Agenda Report, Paul’s new book is The Hollow Resistance: Obama, Trump, and Politics of Appeasement. These are excerpts from his recent column at counterpunch.org. It’s wide-ranging and longish, but I’ll focus on Part I:
“AOC’s Revolutionary and Subversive Socialist Gown”
(Gentrification raises all boats, no? ♫ The Wells Fargo Wagon’s Comin’ Down the Track ♫…)
‘World Economic Forum targets Detroit’, September 3, 2021, struggle la-lucha.org, David Sole (Creative Commons)
“The World Economic Forum (WEF) has announced plans to open a “Global Center for Urban Transformation” in Detroit in October 2021. The WEF is an international non-governmental organization (NGO) that describes itself as aiming to improve “the state of the world by engaging business, political, academic, and other leaders of society to shape global, regional, and industry agendas.” It has been in existence since 1971 and is based in Switzerland.
♫A quiet voice is singing something to me
An age old song ’bout the home of the brave in this land here of the free
One time one night in America
A lady dressed in white with the man she loves
Standing along the side of their pick up truck
A shot rang out in the night
Just when everything seemed right
Another headline written down in America…♫
From sputnikews.com, July 19, 2021 (h/t Mr. wd)
‘Peru’s Election Jury Names Castillo Winner of Presidential Vote, Fujimori Calls Loss ‘Illegitimate’’
“On Monday evening, Peru’s National Jury of Elections (JNE) formally named Pedro Castillo, a socialist from the Peru Libre party, the winner of the June 6 election.
‘Half of Texas without clean water as state and federal governments look the other way’, Chase Lawrence, Feb. 19, 2021 (w/permission, large excerpts)
waiting in line for propane in houston
“More than 14.6 million Texans, about half of the population of the state, remained under a boil-water advisory Friday, according to Texas Commission on Environmental Quality spokeswoman Tiffany Young. This encompasses more than 1,225 water supply systems and 63 percent of Texas counties following the record winter storm which hit the state last weekend.
In a press conference Austin Water Director Greg Meszaros stated that “we know that there are tens of thousands of leaks,” and that the Austin Fire Department responded to “thousands upon thousands of burst pipes.” In Houston, the fire department received almost 5,000 reports of burst pipes.
Posted in capitalism and anti-capitalism, climate change
Tagged polar vortex in texas
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‘BREAKING: Black Lives Matter Inland Empire Announces Departure from BLM Global Network’, Feb. 4, 2021 by leftoutmag.com (my bolds)
“Recently, a group of BLM chapters known as the BLM 10 has come forward to voice their concerns and opposition to the Global Network. Those concerns, along with the egregious conduct the Global network demonstrated on Dr. Martin Luther King’s birthday, have brought us to the conclusion that continuing to remain silent would be an act of betrayal. While the issues and problems that have been raised have been well known within our circle for years, it prompted many questions & concerns for us locally. We’d like to let the community know everything outlined in the statement put out by the BLM 10 is valid. We’ve also reached out to the BLM 10 and offered to sign on in support. Hopefully, we can provide insight and clarification into our chapter’s history, our relationship with the global network, and our commitments going forward.
First: ‘Biden stimulus bill: What will it take to really ‘Rescue America?’, Jordan Woll, January 21, 2021, liberationnews.org (CC w/ attribution)
“Joe Biden’s recently-announced pandemic relief package, the so-called American Rescue Plan, is the new administration’s top legislative priority. With the bar set tragically low by the Trump government, any action at all by the Biden administration may feel like a welcome improvement. But the severity of the pandemic in the country and the threat of emerging, highly-transmissible new strains of the virus requires radical solutions to address the urgent daily needs of working and poor people.
Why aren’t we revolting (yes, we’re deplorable useless eaters, a different matter altogether)? Our ruling Kleptocrats don’t care if we live or die, but most make noises as if they do. ‘Elect me! I’m not him!’ Or engage in Congressional Virtue-signaling Tweets, but don’t vote as they Tweet.
The Peasants are useful only to serve their needs, pay taxes from the Fruits of Our Labor to fund our own further immiseration and precarity!
Are we dead or just asleep? Do we keep on believing that Voting really matters?
‘If voting made a difference, it would be illegal!’
~ Emma Goldman
The good, the bad, and the very, very dismal fucked up.
‘Hill leaders close in on Covid stimulus deal’ Negotiators have left out the two most contentious items of the possible agreement’, politico.com, Dec. 16. 2020
“Congressional negotiators are on the brink of a coronavirus rescue package that would include a second round of direct payments and boost unemployment benefits, but would leave out state and local funding and a liability shield, according to lawmakers and sources briefed on the talks.
The price tag of the emerging deal is roughly $900 billion, and a deal could be finalized on Wednesday, those sources said. Senate Majority Whip John Thune (R-S.D.) said the proposal would likely include direct checks to individuals of $600 to $700 and a weekly unemployment boost of $300 through March.
….and I say that in the most polite way possible.
‘Own Nothing and Be Happy The Great Reset’s Vision of the Future World; Economic Forum’s video tells us about the plans for humanity in the year 2030, Colin Todhunter, (UK and India) Nov. 12, 2020 (Creative Commons)
“The World Economic Forum’s (WEF) annual meeting at the end of January in Davos, Switzerland, brings together international business and political leaders, economists and other high-profile individuals to discuss global issues.
Driven by the vision of its influential CEO Klaus Schwab, the WEF is the main driving force for the dystopian ‘great reset’, a tectonic shift that intends to change how we live, work and interact with each other.
‘Socialist Presidential Candidate Arce Wins Bolivia’s Elections’, Oct. 19, 2020, telesurenglish
“After midnight on Sunday, Bolivian authorities allowed the results of the exit polls to be known. The Movement Towards Socialism (MAS) presidential candidate Luis Arce obtained 52.4 percent of the votes, the Citizen Community (CC) candidate Carlos Mesa got 31.5 percent, and the “We Believe Alliance” candidate Luis Fernando Camacho reached 14.1 percent of the votes.
Bolivia’s president-elect Arce thanked the people for their support and for their peaceful participation in the electoral process.” […]
Jeanine Áñez speaks at the anniversary of the Bolivian Air Force, October 12, 2020
First: ‘Civil war elections in Bolivia’, Tomas Castanheira, 13 October 2020, wsws.org (w/ permission)
“Next Sunday, the first general elections will be held in Bolivia since elected president Evo Morales was overthrown in a US-backed military coup, placing in power Jeanine Áñez’s self-proclaimed government.
The coup regime, which took power promising to call new elections within 90 days, has postponed the date of the vote three times. Today, less than half of Bolivians, just 43 percent, believe that their vote on Sunday will be respected, according to a survey by Tu Voto Cuenta .
(a companion piece is this July 25, 2020 ‘Grim News’ that contains a lot of the history of privatization attempts, mass numbers of PO closures, suggestions by Save the Post Office, etc.)
First up: ‘Who decides the fate of the US Postal Service?’ Kayla Costa and Shuvu Batta, 4 August 2020, wsws.org (with permission)
“Workers have responded with outrage to the recent leaked memos detailing efforts to privatize the United States Postal Service (USPS) by implementing major cost-cutting measures, slowing down the mail delivery speed, and making the federal agency seem unreliable in the middle of an election year that will see an increase of mail-in voting due to the COVID-19 pandemic. The internal memo, released July 10, stated that mail deliveries would be delayed due to cost-cutting and prohibitions on overtime, with “more to come.”
‘Inhumane at Any Time,’ But During a Pandemic? House Approval of $740 Billion Pentagon Budget Condemned; “Once again, the House has voted to put the interests of weapons manufacturers and war hawks over the wellbeing of people here and abroad;; commondreamsorg, Eowin Higgins, July 31,2020 (Creative Commons)
“Win Without War was among the anti-war voices on Friday issuing blistering condemnations of the passage in the U.S. House of a $740 billion defense bill as part of the 2021 Appropriations Minibus.
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(both by way of Black Agenda Report)
‘The End of Sanders, and Maybe the Beginning of a Mass Independent Left’, Glen Ford, April 16, 2020, blackagndareport.com
“Sander’s early Return of the Prodigal Son to the bosom of the Party allows him to escape the deep critique of capitalist medicine and political-economy that would be required of a “leftish” presidential candidate as this never-in-our-lifetimes crisis unfolds.” [jump]
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This is Trump’s daily briefing on the coronavirus on Wednesday by way of: ‘A bold muscular/kinetic deflection’.
RT.com provides a partial transcript:
‘Not letting Covid-19 crisis go to waste? US ramps up war on drugs… focusing on Venezuela’s Maduro’, 1 Apr, 2020, RT.com, April 1, 2020
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According to economists Pam Martens and Russ Martens at wallstreetonparade.com, via counterpunch.com, March 27, 2020: ‘Stimulus Bill Allows Federal Reserve to Conduct Meetings in Secret; Gives Fed $454 Billion Slush Fund for Wall Street Bailouts’
“The text of the final bill was breathtaking in the breadth of new powers it bestowed on the Federal Reserve, including the Fed’s ability to conduct secret meetings with no minutes provided to the American people.”
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Patrick Martin also notes the many caveats and unknowns afoot in potential waivers to the General Rules as to which corporate loans end as gifts, and more. His explanation of each state having its own static metrics of unemployment compensation was new to me. And yes, RT.com is reporting that there were 3.2 million new applications for compensation filed this week, obviously not just for employees ‘furloughed due to coronavirus’ as earlier reported as covered in the Stim package.
‘US Senate passes massive economic “rescue” bill’, Patrick Martin, 26 March 2020 (I’ll paste almost all of it in)
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