Universal Basic Dipshit Income: Taxation Measures to put Cash in Every Citizen's pockets, but where the 'F' is the infrastructure, housing, mandatory real universal health, and effing transportation?
Brutality and Barbarism and Beastiality and Bombs and Bankers and Backwardness VERSUS SOCIALISM
Democracy ripe and ready for the kill! Photo: “The White House, the then-Russian Supreme Council building in Moscow, the capital of Russia, is seen just after it was set ablaze by tank shelling during the Moscow Riots.” — The “riots” were a civil conflict between those who opposed the dissolution of Soviet Communism and the new capitalist state run by Boris Yeltsin, backed by the United States and internal counter-revolutionary forces. The picture was taken on October 4, 1993
Measure 118 promises Oregonians more money, but it could come at a cost — The complex proposal to hike business taxes and divide the proceeds among residents is the most divisive measure on the Oregon ballot.
Now now, we have to have price fucking controls, socialized medicine, socialized real public and massive transportation — trolleys, light rail, rail, bus lines, hell, microbuses.
We need community-directed food stores, and we need to tax the mother fucking corporations, big and small, who build parts for and deliver financial and other services to the fucking WAR machine.
A universal “check” is not going to stop the hike-hike-hike in electricity rates, the water rates, garbage pickup rates, gasoline, all the hike-hike-hiking in retail. What about holding to the fire the feet of all those corporations making non-durable and non-sturdy goods, all those planned and perceived obsolescence built-in throw-away story of stuff shit they produce intentionally to get us to throw it away and replace immediately.
And the do no harm, and all those national and internationaly connected mother fucking companies that produce the cancer-causing, fetus-damaging, brain-chipping, chronic illness- inducing chemicals and poisons and products? Off with their fucking heads:
Wouldn’t that be the big tent/big idea adventure from sea to shining sea, in the classrooms and inside city and county council chambers? Wouldn’t that be the problem solving tasks for a true representative democracy that is not under the thumb of the overlords and cocksucking money changers and the like, from BlackRock to Oracle, from Chat GPT, to Thiel and Palantir, from all the dual and triple use products produced to kill, maim, monitor, surveil, imprison, putting us all in this fucking ankle monitoring-bank account screening-every-fucking-cent-earned-over-the-table accounted for goddamned empty society.
Measure 118 would slap a 3% tax on a business’s Oregon sales above $25 million, then divvy up the money raised among Oregon’s more than 4 million residents, no matter their age.
To qualify, a person needs only to live in Oregon more than 200 days a year. Residents who are born or die in a given year are still eligible for the rebate, even if a child is born on New Year’s Eve.
An analysis by state revenue officials suggests the policy would reap more than $6.5 billion a year, even though it raises taxes on fewer than 2% of businesses. The measure could then send around $1,600 a year to every Oregonian beginning in 2026 — either via tax credits or direct payments.
That $1,600 estimate is a number you’ll hear a lot from Measure 118′s backers in the runup to November. But the truth is, it’s unclear how much Oregonians would receive each year if the measure passes.
That’s because the measure could impact Oregonians receiving benefits that are based on economic need. It’s possible that yearly checks would reduce or eliminate access to things like the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program or Medicaid.
To remedy that, Measure 118 provides for “hold harmless” payments that would recoup Oregonians for the value of any lost benefit. But no one can say how large a piece of the pie those payments might ultimately account for — meaning no one can say how much would go out in the form of rebate checks.
An analysis from the state’s Legislative Revenue Office suggested that the rebate amount in 2026, the first year it is sent out, could range between $1,035 and $1,286. Credits in 2027 could range between $1,442 and $1,790, the analysis found. But even those numbers rely on variables that could shift depending on how the measure is implemented.
At its most basic level, the measure would institute a form of universal basic income, a policy that seeks to alleviate poverty by sending citizens regular, no-strings-attached payments.
And so the retrograde and pennies from heaven and trickle down from those billionaires’ urine canal schemes. Universal Basic Income, to PURCHASE, BUY-BUY-BUY, throwing shekels into the pockets of the OVERLORDS.
Measure 118′s backers might have a lot of money to spread their message of easing Oregonians’ financial worries.
Josh Jones, a Southern California billionaire who, in the words of his LinkedIn profile, “likes Universal Basic Income,” has contributed $480,000 to the measure to date. Two more donors listing California addresses, financier Alexander Tamas and Gisele Huff, president of the Gerald Huff Fund for Humanity, have donated a combined $123,000.
Others joined in after Measure 118 landed on the ballot. Dylan Hirsch-Shell, a former Tesla engineer currently running for mayor of San Francisco on a platform that includes basic income, donated $100,000 after hearing Gisbert speak at a conference in July.
“There’s nothing nefarious going on here,” Hirsch-Shell said in an interview with OPB. “I get no personal gain from this measure passing. This is really about the fact that the Oregon Rebate, Measure 118, represents the most exciting opportunity to fight against poverty anywhere in the United States.”
While the emergence of money from California is often a key talking point for opponents, it’s the other side raising big money so far. As of Oct. 1, the yes campaign had reported raising less than 5% of the total raised by the people hoping to defeat Measure 118.
Fucking billionaires, Eichmann’s and millionaires, backing this?
So, how do we pry open these cans of worms with this regressive AmeriKKKa, the one funding war and destruction and pollution and inducing climate change and the very real extended hell and future generational pain and suffering and disease bearing and under-development disasters that these fucking American military bases (900) and these fucking coups, and color “revolutions” and proxies and, well, mainfest mother fucking dead on arrival destiny unleash for a majority of the world?
Food items served to school kids in Virginia, Maryland, and Washington, D.C., contained heavy metals, including lead, and roughly 50 pesticides, according to new testing commissioned by ABC News.
The Health Research Institute (HRI), an accredited independent lab in Iowa, conducted the testing. HRI’s Chief Scientist and CEO John Fagan told The Defender, “We tested every part of the lunch … it was pretty shocking.”
Nearly 30 million U.S. kids eat school lunch every day, according to the School Nutrition Association.
Fagan’s lab identified 49 pesticides — listed at the end of this article — with 38 different pesticides detected in just one elementary school lunch. Among them was carbendazim, a fungicide banned in most European countries that can cause infertility and endocrine disruption.
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Many wheat-based items contained the weedkiller glyphosate, commonly marketed as Roundup, which causes cancer and disrupts immune function.
A single strawberry cup contained 23 pesticides, ABC News reported.
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Yeah, that $1600 check is really going to do wonders for that fucked up immune system, gut, brain, endocrine, nervous systems! We can’t even stop one Goliath: “Pesticides and public health: an analysis of the regulatory approach to assessing the carcinogenicity of glyphosate in the European Union”
Abstract. The present paper scrutinises the European authorities' assessment of the carcinogenic hazard posed by glyphosate based on Regulation (EC) 1272/2008. We use the authorities' own criteria as a benchmark to analyse their weight of evidence (WoE) approach. Therefore, our analysis goes beyond the comparison of the assessments made by the European Food Safety Authority and the International Agency for Research on Cancer published by others. We show that not classifying glyphosate as a carcinogen by the European authorities, including the European Chemicals Agency, appears to be not consistent with, and in some instances, a direct violation of the applicable guidance and guideline documents. In particular, we criticise an arbitrary attenuation by the authorities of the power of statistical analyses; their disregard of existing dose–response relationships; their unjustified claim that the doses used in the mouse carcinogenicity studies were too high and their contention that the carcinogenic effects were not reproducible by focusing on quantitative and neglecting qualitative reproducibility. Further aspects incorrectly used were historical control data, multisite responses and progression of lesions to malignancy. Contrary to the authorities' evaluations, proper application of statistical methods and WoE criteria inevitably leads to the conclusion that glyphosate is 'probably carcinogenic' (corresponding to category 1B in the European Union).
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But then, the Dirty Jews and Dirty Goy in this Final Solution Pogrom for Palestine and Lebanon, and . . . Syria . . . Yemen . . . et al
Listen to Mark, really. He corrects John Kiriakou with John’s mainstream bunk idea that Oct. 7 was a terror attack on a fucking concert, a rave. And so much more. Questions Mark handles:
Thanks for joining us, Mark. Let’s start with the Middle East, where there doesn’t appear to be any good news at all. Gaza is essentially destroyed, but the fighting continues there. Israel announced over the weekend that it would call up additional troops to send to Lebanon. Militarily, how long can the Israelis keep up this level of fighting? When will it begin to degrade their capabilities?
The United Nations said over the weekend that famine and disease are spreading in Gaza unlike anything that has been seen there previously. But nobody seems to be doing anything about it except a handful of NGOs. What’s the endgame here? Are we going to see deaths by starvation, disease, and neglect that rival death by violence? And what about southern Lebanon?
There is a real fear that this conflict will continue to spread, with a hotter war between Israel and Iran on the horizon. It’s also possible that the Syrians and Iraqis could jump in as well as, frankly, the United States. How bad do you see this getting, especially in light of the fact that the Israelis are not at all interested in peace talks and the Americans are perfectly happy to back them?
Mark, I had dinner with a group of Russia scholars over the weekend, and they are of the belief that the war will end in the next four-to-six months with, essentially, a Russian victory. That victory will be that Russia will maintain what it holds in the Donbas and in Crimea. They also hold that Ukraine simply cannot keep up its fight with Russia and that President Zelensky is unpopular and will likely not remain in Ukraine until the end of 2025. Do you agree with this assessment? And if so, what would negotiations look like?
Russian Ambassador Anatoly Antonov quietly left Washington on October 4. He sent an email to all of his American contacts to say goodbye and to opine that nobody should expect to see an improvement in Russian-US relations in the foreseeable future. He also said that he is not likely to be replaced in that same period. What does this mean for US-Russian relations? It seems that the only bright light was the fact that Russia had a capable and politically well-connected ambassador here who could get into the White House when he needed to. Now that’s over. What are your thoughts?
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How’s that universal basic bombing income coming, fucking techno-fascists? The techno-fascists MAKE their billions on US taxpayers’ mullah, us, paying for the 900 US bases and the dirtiest fucking small country (sic) ever — the Nazis in Israel, the Talmudists, the Judaic supremacists.
Every hour that passes sees more lives lost, men, women, and defenceless children falling victim to atrocities that, according to the ICC prosecutor, meet the threshold for war crimes.
The world is teetering on the brink of a multi-state conflict with catastrophic global consequences. Swift issuance of arrest warrants would impose obligations on states worldwide, potentially staving off an escalated war.
It is not the ICC prosecutor who lacks the courage – it is the court itself, embodied by the inaction of its judges
History will judge the ICC's inaction. Judges must act now or step aside Tayab Ali
Cunts of the Jewish Relam:
Triple Cunts of the Jewish Realm:
A year on from the outset of Israel’s war on Gaza, Israeli forces have killed more than 42,000 Palestinians – and this is just the confirmed death toll. A recent study by the Lancet medical journal projected that the death toll could exceed 186,000 when counting indirect deaths – from starvation and diseases due to the Israeli blockade on humanitarian aid, food, water and medicines.
To take stock of where we're at and whether this nightmare is likely to end any time soon, openDemocracy spoke to Tariq Kenney-Shawa, a foreign policy analyst based in New York and US Policy Fellow at Al-Shabaka: The Palestinian Policy Network.
openDemocracy: It's been a year since this latest iteration of Israel's war on Gaza commenced. Is the end in sight? What's Israel's end game?
Tariq: Unfortunately, I don’t see any light at the end of the tunnel here. There is no end in sight to Israel’s genocide in Gaza. And that’s mainly because Israel hasn’t faced an ounce of accountability or pressure to de-escalate from the international community (the US and other western benefactors) to end this.
I’ve tended to be doubtful when people insist that Israel doesn’t have a plan in Gaza and is just destroying and killing for the sake of it. Israel does have a plan and it has been acting on it. It truly sees this moment in history, as well as the blank check from the US, as a golden strategic opportunity to take leaps towards its ultimate goal of ‘maximum land with minimum Palestinians’ and wider regional domination through brute force.
Israel’s end game in Gaza is erasure, and for the last 12 months, they’ve been laying the foundation for a new reality in Gaza for us all to see. In addition to “thinning out the population,” as Netanyahu said, through genocide, collective punishment, and ethnic cleansing, Israel has been effectively chopping up the Strip into smaller, more controllable enclaves that will come to represent the new “facts on the ground.”
openDemocracy: Has anything about the conflict surprised you?
Tariq: I think one of the most surprising aspects about both the genocide in Gaza and now Israel’s escalation across the region is that it has gone on uninterrupted and without international intervention for so long, despite the fact that just about every massacre has been broadcast for the world to see on social media.
As someone who is part of a generation that grew up being taught that the phrase “never again” really meant something, this is what I have found most jarring. Of course, Gaza is not the first time the international “rules-based” order has been exposed as a crutch for Western hegemony. From Vietnam to Iraq, the West’s selective application of international law has long been exposed for what it is. But Gaza is the first postwar genocide both entirely perpetrated by a Western ally and funded, facilitated, and justified by the West itself, not to mention the first to be so thoroughly recorded for the world to see.
openDemocracy: Now with recent escalations including Iran, do you think realistically we're on the verge of all-out war in the region?
Tariq: I think we are already seeing an all-out regional war by every definition of the term. Israeli fighter jets are bombing Gaza, the West Bank, Lebanon, Syria, Yemen, and Iran. This is not to mention the strikes the US, UK, and other Israeli benefactors have carried out on Israel's behalf.
It boils down to this: Israel will continue to escalate across the region in hopes of achieving its extremist, expansionist goals as long as the US taxpayer continues to foot the bill and US assets and personnel are off the coast of Haifa to come to Israel's defence if need be.
openDemocracy: It seems that the Biden administration actually gave Israel the green light to mount large-scale attacks on Lebanon. Has the US ever really been interested in stabilising the region? Does the US want an all-out war?
Tariq: The Biden Administration has either explicitly or implicitly (through uninterrupted weapons transfers and diplomatic shielding) given Israel the green light for a year of genocide and regional escalation.
I believe it is clear that the US ultimately shares the same strategic objectives as Israel, which range from silencing Palestinians once and for all to destroying groups like Hezbollah to causing significant damage to Iran. These are all outcomes that the US would celebrate (just take the public statement the US made following Israel's assassination of Hassan Nasrallah as one example).
Does the Biden Administration wish Israel could go about some of their operations differently? Perhaps. But at the end of the day, the costs of Israel's unparalleled violence, the mass death of Arabs and the destruction of their lands, is a price the US is willing to accept. If the US didn't want an all-out war, they would stop giving Israel all the weapons and diplomatic space to keep escalating at will. Because while every US administration has been pro-Israel, other US presidents have stood up to Israel when they felt US interests were at risk.
openDemocracy: Do you think things will change after the US elections on November 5?
Tariq: Nothing will fundamentally change, regardless of who wins the elections on November 5. For Palestinians, the genocide will continue because neither candidate has exhibited any indication that they intend to hold Israel accountable for war crimes and genocide or use any of the ample leverage that the US has to influence Israel's conduct.
In fact, it's the opposite. Donald Trump insists he would let Israel “finish the job” in Gaza, while Kamala Harris promises that she will continue the Biden Administration's policy of giving Israel “everything it needs” and continues to make it clear that she intends to be a carbon copy of the Biden Administration. The truth is, both Harris and Trump spell continued disaster for both Palestinians and the wider region, and there is no “lesser evil” here.
The truth is, the Biden administration’s resume on Israel-Palestine, even long before October 7, has in many ways mirrored that of Trump's.
If Biden wanted to make good on his commitment to a “two-state solution,” he would have at least started by reversing the norm shattering pro-Israel policies of his predecessor. The Biden Administration has actually given Israel more military and diplomatic assistance than any previous administration.
The only substantial difference between Trump and Biden has been their rhetoric. But one could argue that Biden's lofty, yet empty words actually does more harm than good by distracting us from the fact that he has given Israel everything it needed to get away with genocide right in front of our eyes. If Harris wins in November, it will be more of the same, and you don't need to take my word for it, she has made it abundantly clear herself.
Friday, November 5, 2021
Deadly Democracy: Lancet Study Confirms Millions Died From Capitalist "Shock Therapy"
The world has become so inured to mass death, perhaps the following will merit little comment or outrage among our political punditry, even if the story did make the back pages of the New York Times.
A new Lancet study, "Mass privatisation and the post-communist mortality crisis," confirms what has been known but little discussed in the past eight to ten years: millions of people, mostly men of employment age, died as a result of the effects of the "shock therapy" transition from a collectivized to a privatized economy in Russia and other formerly "communist" states in East Europe.
According to the Times article, by 2007 "the life expectancy of Russian men was less than 60 years, compared with 67 years in 1985." Back in 2001, a UNICEF-IRC study had already claimed 3.2 million unnecessary deaths due to capitalist restoration. The Lancet study cites other figures, with up to "10 million missing men because of system change." As a result, adult mortality rates soared, up almost 13% in Russia, with much of the increase attributable to the mass unemployment that followed the collapse in state enterprises.
The study noted, "the Russian population lost nearly 5 years of life expectancy between 1991 and 1994."
Other factors affecting the disastrous increase in the death rate included poor health care, rising HIV rates, higher alcoholism and drug addiction rates, as well as the effects of acute psychosocial stress, massive corruption, impoverishment, rising social inequalities, and social disorganization.
The effects of neo-liberal "shock therapy" on Russia and other East European countries (Russia being the hardest hit) were also felt by the children of the region. According to the UNICEF-IRC study noted above, tuberculosis rates rose by 50%; 150,000 children were added to the public care rolls (while overall population was dropping by millions); there were high levels of child malnutrition, and the number of children under age 5 fell by one-third. This was not just a jolt of "shock therapy," it was a social tsunami that devastated the region. According to the Lancet, the more rapid the rate of privatization, the higher the death rate.
Radical free-market advisers argued that capitalist transition needed to occur as rapidly as possible. The prescribed policy was called shock therapy, with three major elements: liberalisation of prices and trade to allow markets to re-allocate resources, stabilisation programmes to suppress inflation, and mass privatisation of state-owned enterprises to create appropriate incentives. When implemented simultaneously, these elements would cause an irreversible shift to a market-based economy.... Although a direct cause and effect relation cannot be ascertained and a detailed discussion of their roles is beyond the scope of this Article, all these findings can be linked, in some way, to mass privatisation programmes.
Democracy, the Chlamydia and Syphilis That Keeps on Giving.
Dead on. Anything that doesn't aim at overthrowing the dictatorship of capital is a pathetic bandaid. Unfortunately, there are zero mass organizations in America aimed at that goal. All there are are ineffectual talking clubs. None speak to the people in the language of the people about the immediate needs of the people.