This Week's -WARS ABROAD, WARS AT HOME

WARS ABROAD, WARS AT HOME

For generations, trends in the US economy have been responsible for higher death rates and social disintegration in African-American communities.  Now the chattering classes seem to have discovered that it is literally killing “white” working-class men. This is what Capitalism has always done: marginalize and destroy populations which do not contribute to the accumulation of profits. Now those chickens are coming home to roost.  Unfortunately, as a famous social theorist once observed from prison: “the old is dying and the new cannot be born; in this interregnum a great variety of morbid symptoms appear.”  We have plenty of those “morbid symptoms” today, none more evident than in the spectacle of the Republican presidential campaign.

 

A Short History of Cops Terrorizing Students

The mainstream media are abuzz with possible justifications for the videotaped brutalization of a South Carolina high-school student by a sheriff’s deputy assigned to the school. CNN analyst and former NYPD detective Harry Houck opined that perhaps she had it coming because she didn’t respect the authority of the officer. Sheriff Leon Lott went so far as to claim that the young woman punched the officer as she struggled against a chokehold and while being flipped upside down at her desk. All of this, however, misses the point: A police officer had no business setting foot in that classroom in the first place… Abundant research shows that having police in schools does nothing to reduce crime, contributes to an atmosphere of fear and intimidation, and, most importantly, is at the center of the criminalization of young people of color.

 

COUNTER-INSURGENCY IN THE CLASSROOM

Schools with a majority of poor and non-white students are the most likely to have a police presence. Once inside schools, police enforce zero-tolerance policies, giving kids a jarring introduction to the criminal justice system… A host of studies confirm that black students are much more likely than their white counterparts to be suspended or expelled, and are much more likely to be arrested or referred to police for misconduct at school. And a report released earlier this year by the African American Policy Forum found that black girls are six times more likely than their white peers to be expelled from school… The only proper response is to demand the removal of all police from the public school system. If we want to keep students safe, it’s more investment in education, jobs, and housing that we need — not more cops.  More

 

 

Bipartisan Budget Deal Averts Devastating Cuts but Lets Pentagon Sidestep Caps

Hidden within the surprise budget deal that congressional lawmakers and the White House unveiled on Tuesday is a major windfall for the Pentagon: the inclusion of a $59 billion slush fund that will bring total Pentagon spending over the $600 billion mark in 2016.  If the budget deal is approved, and it's already on its way having passed the House on Wednesday in a 266-167 vote, this new slush fund would enable the military budget to rise even further above legislated caps. This gimmick is not new - Congress has used slush funds repeatedly to pad Pentagon spending and render budget caps moot.  Domestic discretionary programs have no comparable slush fund - and no way to sidestep budget caps like the Pentagon does.   More

 

Is this for “Defense”?

$60 Billion Long Range Strike Bomber contract

Northrop Grumman on Tuesday won the Pentagon contract to build a fleet of stealthy planes known as the Long Range Strike Bomber, a new generation of aircraft designed to reach deep into enemy territory. Northrop beat out a team of Boeing and Lockheed Martin in the high-stakes competition for a project likely to be one of the Pentagon’s most significant over the next decade. In announcing the award, valued at nearly $60 billion, Defense Secretary Ashton B. Carter said the program represents a “technological leap” that will allow the United States to “remain dominant.” The bomber, which will be capable of carrying nuclear weapons, is a “strategic investment for the next 50 years,” Carter said.   More

 

Israel to push for $50billion military aid package

Israel now wants a decade long security package, beginning in 2017 and worth $5 billion per year, according to sources; an increase from the last package that was worth $3 billion a year.
The US provides more defense aid to Israel than to any other nation.  White House officials have previously said they are prepared to increase foreign military financing and defense aid to Israel, but have not specified to what extent.  The proposed aid increase is far larger than previous rate hikes, and also more substantial those that had been discussed shortly after the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action was announced. At that time, discussions were over a marginal increase of $600 million-$ 700 million annually.

 

As US Becomes a Top Tax Haven, How Hiding Wealth Offshore Robs the People at Home

A 2012 study by the Tax Justice Network on the "offshore economy" estimated that wealthy individuals and their families have between $21 and $32 trillion of hidden financial assets around the world in offshore accounts or tax havens. The actual sums could be higher because the study only dealt with financial wealth deposited in bank and investment accounts, and not other assets such as property and yachts. The new documentary "The Price We Pay" tackles the issue of tax havens and their cost to the societies losing out on trillions of dollars in revenue.    More