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News from within the empire - From a leftist perspective

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A democracy isn't a representative republic in my opinion.

And if you ever think that these (wo)men attempted to overthrow the government and had any chance of succeeding then you're the one who's brainwashed.

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A sweeping new Texas law aimed at undermining the ability of the state’s bluer urban areas to enact progressive policies is unconstitutional, a Travis County judge ruled Wednesday.

State District Judge Maya Guerra Gamble halted the law — House Bill 2127, which opponents nicknamed the “Death Star” bill — just days before it was slated to take effect on Friday.

The state is expected to appeal the ruling.

The Republican-backed law aims to stop local governments from enacting a wide range of progressive-leaning policies by barring cities and counties from passing local ordinances that go further than what’s allowed under broad areas of state law.

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The state of mental health in the US is hitting a tipping point.

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The protest was organized by the Weelaunee Defense Society NYC, the Black Alliance for Peace, the Palestinian Youth Movement and Dare to Struggle, bringing together a diverse coalition of groups united in their opposition to the project.

The protesters made their stance clear with chants of “Cop City will never be built!” and “APD out of NYC!,” rejecting not only the construction of the police training facility but also condemning the fascist violence by Georgia State Patrol officers and Atlanta police.

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Whether the recent agreement holds together or not, the Camp David meeting is a further step in Washington’s strategy of inserting tensions, instability and continuing provocations in the region in an attempt to block China’s development and its growing regional trade with its neighbors. Washington is attempting to distract from the economic decline of the U.S. by asserting its military dominance in the Pacific.

U.S. corporations are the main beneficiaries of a policy that obstructs Japan’s and South Korea’s trade with China. China’s huge economy is a major market for their products, thus aiding the economies of its two neighbors. According to the Wilson Center, China is the top trading partner of more than 120 countries, including Japan, South Korea, Taiwan, the Philippines and Australia. U.S. corporate interests are consumed with the task of how to reverse this economic reality and contain China, especially in the Asia-Pacific region.

This new Camp David military pact follows Washington’s revival and upgrading of the QUAD — the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue among four countries: the U.S., India, Australia and Japan. The Quad holds joint military exercises that openly target China.

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With an emphasis on the dire consequences of this criminal domination, the speakers shed light on the harsh living conditions faced by the masses of people in Niger, Burkina Faso, Mali and other West African nations, where extreme poverty and the lack of basic necessities persist. The protesters united against U.S. and French [neo]imperialism, advocating for self-determination for the continent.

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According to a 2022 USA Today investigation, at least 44 states lack universal air conditioning in their prison facilities. Across the South, including in Texas, there is no air conditioning in all prisons. This makes clean water a necessity for life.

Some Texas prisons are so old — and that includes their plumbing systems — they were built to accommodate the convict-leasing system implemented after the 1861-65 U.S. Civil War. All these older prisons should just be shut down.

The Aug. 19 protest was organized by the Texas Death Penalty Abolition Movement. The group will also be speaking before the prison system’s board meeting on Aug. 25 regarding the heat crisis and lack of air conditioning, as well as demanding that bottled water be given out for free during this crisis. The Texas legislature has a surplus budget and can well afford to give out free water and install air conditioning for all of the over 120,000 prisoners.

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The flight attendants marched on the airport on the hottest day of the year in Seattle, but first stopped and chanted at the Alaska Airlines headquarters. They stood and continued chanting at the airport entrance for over an hour. The airport is dominated by Alaska Airlines planes.

Honks from workers driving trucks, buses and other transport vehicles never stopped.

The rally, march and mass picket showed the AFA members’ determination to struggle for what is rightfully theirs.

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Why were these banks downgraded or reviewed?

S&P said it reviewed these 10 banks because it believes they have “potential risks in multiple areas.”

The ratings firm added: “For instance, some that have seen greater deterioration in funding — as indicated by sharply higher costs or substantial dependence on wholesale funding and brokered deposits — may also have below-peer profitability, high unrealized losses on their assets, or meaningful exposure to CRE,” or commercial real estate.

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“People aren’t waiting on FEMA, or even the state and county,” said Professor Kapuaʻala Sproat, Associate Director of the Ka Huli Ao Center for Excellence in Native Hawaiian Law, in an Aug. 18 Democracy Now! interview. “Relief organizations are springing up in people’s homes, in their garages, and supplies are coming in by boat, by plane, by vehicle when the roads are opened.”

In the same interview, Professor Sproat called attention to the disaster capitalists already exploiting the suffering and devastation inflicted by the fires. Mere hours after residents evacuated, some reported getting calls from real estate developers pressuring them to sell their damaged property. “There are realtors and there are others who are making offers to people in their most desperate time of need … People are getting offers on their ancestral homes.”

Although Hawaiʻi’s settler governor, Josh Green, has promised to prevent such land grabs, his state administration has taken no concrete action. Without such action, tens of thousands of Kānaka Maoli residents remain at disproportionate risk of extortion by property developers.

Capitalist real estate markets imposed on Kānaka Maoli lands have already made Hawaiʻi the most expensive place to live out of all the territories ruled from Washington, forcing many Kānaka Maoli to go unhoused on their own lands.

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