Current Events
From The Ramparts
Junious Ricardo Stanton
Current Events
2016 has gotten off to a rocky
start, the global economic system is experiencing tremors and rumblings of a
downturn that may lead to significant damage to an already precarious global
economic condition. The media and the Obama administration tell the American
public the economy is doing well and in a growth mode but nothing could be
further from the truth. For example early 2016 reports indicate this will be a
bad year for the retail giants which will impact domestic and global employment
numbers and people's ability to pay their bills.
Even the 1%
ownership class is alarmed as the stock markets have been down early in January
2016 with gloomy predictions as the Wall Street machinations, casino style manipulations
and Ponzi schemes finally catch up to the 1 % crowd. But the bad news is while
most of us are not into the stock and commodities markets, the downturn or
crash may take us all down with them because many of our pension funds are tied
to them.
"Stock
markets in the US and around
the world ended the week with massive selloffs, rocked by fears that the
slowdown in China
and plunging oil and commodity prices will trigger a new financial crisis on the
order of the 2007-2008 disaster. Another sharp fall on Chinese markets, with
the Shanghai Composite Index dropping 3.55 percent, followed by a 6 percent
fall in oil prices to $29 a barrel, set off a wave of panic selling. The mood
was summed up by the chief strategist at Federated Investors, who said,
'Investors are scared to death, and the fact that it’s happening at the
beginning of the year has some historical significance.'
A major
factor in the Chinese selloff was concern that Beijing will report its weakest full-year
growth figure in 25 years on Tuesday. On Friday, Walmart announced that it will
close 269 stores, 154 of them in the US, and eliminate 16,000 jobs. The
Walmart statement, coming on the heels of multi-store closure announcements by
Macy’s and Sears-Kmart, highlighted the worsening slowdown in the real economy
globally and in the US
that underlies the turbulence on stock and bond markets. It also reflected the
reality of falling wages and mounting income insecurity affecting broad layers
of the US
population." Global Stock Plunge Amid Fears of A New Financial Crisis by Barry Grey 16 January 2016 https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2016/01/16/econ-j16.html
A
recent report showed there are record numbers of retail chain and big box
stores shutting stores down and laying off employees: The following is a recent report on this
situation. "
Macy’s
will close 36 stores and cut hundreds of jobs after a disappointing sales and
earnings performance in 2015. Other big-name chains are also closing up shop at
under-performing locations in 2016, including Gap Inc., which will shutter 175 across North
America, and Walgreens, which plans to close 200. These
announcements have become fairly predictable. Just today,J.C. Penney told TheStreet.com that it would likely shut seven mall
stores before 2016 is out. Of these retailers downsizing brick-and-mortar
footprints, J.C. Penney is the most at-risk, according to data from Rapid
Ratings." http://www.forbes.com/sites/clareoconnor/2016/01/12/retailers-at-risk-these-five-store-chains-face-an-uphill-battle-in-2016/#2715e4857a0b701e225f6a2c,.
J.C. Penney is
not the only major retailer that plans to close stores in 2016. Other retail
giants have also announced plans to close stores and lay off workers. Here is a
list of the names of the retailers and the number of stores that have announced
will close in 2016. 400
Office Depot /
Office Max (by
2016), 223
Barnes &
Noble (through 2023), 200 Children’s Place (through
2017), 200
Walgreens (by
2017), 175 Aeropostale (over the next several years) 154 Walmart (US 102
Walmart Express, 12 Walmart Supercenter, 6 Walmart, 23 Walmart Neighborhood
Market, 4 Sam's Clubs), 150
American
Eagle Outfitters (through 2017) 150 Finish Line ,120
Chico’s (through 2017),1 Persnickety Toys, 100 Pier One (through 2017) 60
Pier One (fiscal 2016, ending February, 2016), 54 Golf Galaxy (by 2016
,36 Macy's, 35
Gap /
Gap Kids (2016), 30 Hartstrings (Out of Business) , 27 Sears and Kmart, 20
Pick ’n Save (by 2017
), 14 Kitson’s , 10 Barnes & Noble (2016
calendar year), 5 Hallmark, 3 Martin's Food and
Drugstore, 2 Elder-Beerman
(Bon-Ton), 1 American Greetings, 1 Ann Taylor, 1 Target, 1 Wavedancer (Out of
Business) http://retailindustry.about.com/od/USRetailStoreClosingInfoFAQs/fl/US-2016-Store-Closings-All-Retail-Chain-Store-Locations-To-Be-Closed_2.htm
None of the presidential
candidates are talking about this, to hear them tell it everything is
honky-dory because for most of them it is, they are rich and they don't have to
worry about the things most Americans fret and fume about like job security,
having to work two or more jobs, surviving on a pension, how they can pay their
bills, piling debt and lowered standards of living.
The Republican candidates are fixated on war,
expanding the police state, and none of them are talking about issues and
solutions the resonate with working class or poor people: income inequality,
economic apartheid, the outsourcing of US jobs and the bail out of Wall
Street. It's as if they have all gone
totally insane, they are totally insensitive to the plight of the average
citizen. Hillary Clinton is a tool of Wall Street and a warmonger so we cannot
expect her to offer any real solutions for us. Senator Sanders talks about economic
inequality but does not mention how US imperialism
is draining the economy.
Other critical issues facing
us in 2016 are the very real threats to humanity, world peace and ecocide by
the psychopathic and megalomaniacal ruling elites. The famed Doomsday Clock a
visual reminder of the potential for global annihilation was moved closer to
the midnight hour; to 11:57 PM this year. "The Bulletin of
the Atomic Scientists doesn't use the clock to make any real
doomsday predictions.
Rather, the clock is a visual metaphor to warn the public about how close the
world is to a potentially civilization-ending catastrophe. Each year, the
magazine's board analyzes threats to humanity's survival to decide where the
Doomsday Clock's hands should be set. Experts on the board said they felt a
sense of urgency this year because of the world's ongoing addiction to fossil
fuels, procrastination with enacting laws to cut greenhouse gas emissions and
slow efforts to get rid of
nuclear weapons."
http://www.livescience.com/49527-doomsday-clock-3-minutes-to-midnight.html.
Genetically
Modified Organisms, what I call Frankenfoods and Frankenseeds are on the rise and proliferate the globe
despite the efforts of activists and scientists to warn us about their dangers.
The
US
government is being bribed and bought off by the giant so called bio-tech
industries like Monsanto which are doing booming business both here and around
the world! "The
"Big
6" pesticide and GMO corporations are
BASF,
Bayer,
Dupont,
Dow Chemical Company,
Monsanto,
and
Syngenta.
They are so called because they dominate the agricultural input market -- that
is, they own the world’s seed, pesticide and
biotechnology
industries. According to the
United Nations Conference
on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), corporate concentration of the agricultural
input market 'has far-reaching implications for global food security, as the
privatization and patenting of agricultural innovation (gene traits,
transformation technologies and seed germplasm) has been supplanting
traditional agricultural understandings of seed, farmers' rights, and breeders'
rights.'" http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php/"Big_6"_Pesticide_and_GMO_Corporations
These are
just a few of the issues facing us in 2016 that for the most part the corporate
mind control apparatus is not discussing because they are too busy distracting us from what is really going on in
the world and brainwashing us to go along with the ruling class' okey-doke and
flim flam which could very well bring the world to the brink of economic collapse,
world war or both.
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The Suppressed Martin Luther King Jr.
From
The Ramparts
Junious Ricardo Stanton
The Suppressed Martin Luther King Jr.
As we celebrate the natal day
and life's work of Martin Luther King Jr, let us look at him for all he was not
as he is narrowly depicted and shown by the corporate mind control apparatus.
During this time we are usually bombarded with sound bytes from his 1963 March
on Washington
speech, but I have a dream part. Rarely if ever do they
share the beginning of the speech because it was more militant in tone than the
second half.
only part of the whole speech, the second half, the
Rarely if
ever does the corporate media chronicle his later work as a Peace activist when
he became one of the most prominent voices to end US imperialism, militarism and a
potent advocate for economic justice here at home. We are always shown him
pushing for racial reconciliation but rarely are we shown the Martin Luther King who demanded
economic justice for all people. Nor are we shown King planning for his Poor
People's Campaign and camp out in Washington
D.C.
King was
concerned about the whole person, the whole body politic and he spoke out
vociferously about ending the war in Southeast Asia and redirecting America's
financial and economic resources towards the betterment of all her citizens. It
was at this point in his life and mission he was shunned, rejected and vilified
by the corporate media and US government. Once he uttered the words of his Why I Oppose the Vietnam War Martin
Luther King Jr became persona non grata to the US ruling oligarchy.
The first part of the March on Washington speech is very powerful it holds up a mirror
to America
to expose its hypocrisy and its chronic failure to live up to its professed
creed. It offers in the second half a exhortation of hope, a vision for a
better America
that still to this day has not materialized. Since we are not shown or provided an
opportunity to see and hear all that Martin Luther King Jr. said that fateful
day, in the spirit of shedding light on what
King said that day I am sharing it with you in this commentary.
" I am happy to join with you
today in what will go down in history as the greatest demonstration for freedom
in the history of our nation. Five score years ago,
a great American, in
whose symbolic shadow we stand today, signed the
Emancipation
Proclamation. This momentous decree came as a great beacon light of hope to
millions of Negro slaves who had been seared in the flames of withering
injustice. It came as a joyous daybreak to end the long night of their
captivity. But one hundred years later, the Negro still is not free. One
hundred years later, the life of the Negro is still sadly crippled by the
manacles of segregation and the chains of discrimination. One hundred years
later, the Negro lives on a lonely island of poverty in the midst of a vast
ocean of material prosperity. One hundred years later, the Negro is still
languished in the corners of American society and finds himself an exile in his
own land. And so we've come here today to dramatize a shameful condition. In a
sense we've come to our nation's capital to cash a check. When the architects
of our republic wrote the magnificent words of the Constitution and the
Declaration
of Independence, they were signing a promissory note to which every
American was to fall heir. This note was a promise that all men, yes, black men
as well as white men, would be guaranteed the 'unalienable Rights' of 'Life,
Liberty and the pursuit
of Happiness.' It is obvious today that
America has defaulted on this
promissory note, insofar as her citizens of color are concerned. Instead of
honoring this sacred obligation,
America has given the Negro people
a bad check, a check which has come back marked 'insufficient funds.'
But we
refuse to believe that the bank of justice is bankrupt. We refuse to believe
that there are insufficient funds in the great vaults of opportunity of this
nation. And so, we've come to cash this check, a check that will give us upon
demand the riches of freedom and the security of justice. We have also come to
this hallowed spot to remind America
of the fierce urgency of Now. This is no time to engage in the luxury of
cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism. Now is the time to
make real the promises of democracy. Now is the time to rise from the dark and
desolate valley of segregation to the sunlit path of racial justice. Now is the
time to lift our nation from the quicksand's of racial injustice to the solid
rock of brotherhood. Now is the time to make justice a reality for all of God's
children.
It would be
fatal for the nation to overlook the urgency of the moment. This sweltering
summer of the Negro's legitimate discontent will not pass until there is an
invigorating autumn of freedom and equality. Nineteen sixty-three is not an
end, but a beginning. And those who hope that the Negro needed to blow off
steam and will now be content will have a rude awakening if the nation returns
to business as usual. And there will be neither rest nor tranquility in America until
the Negro is granted his citizenship rights. The whirlwinds of revolt will
continue to shake the foundations of our nation until the bright day of justice
emerges.
But there
is something that I must say to my people, who stand on the warm threshold
which leads into the palace of justice: In the process of gaining our rightful
place, we must not be guilty of wrongful deeds. Let us not seek to satisfy our
thirst for freedom by drinking from the cup of bitterness and hatred. We must
forever conduct our struggle on the high plane of dignity and discipline. We
must not allow our creative protest to degenerate into physical violence. Again
and again, we must rise to the majestic heights of meeting physical force with
soul force.
The
marvelous new militancy which has engulfed the Negro community must not lead us
to a distrust of all white people, for many of our white brothers, as evidenced
by their presence here today, have come to realize that their destiny is tied
up with our destiny. And they have come to realize that their freedom is
inextricably bound to our freedom.
We cannot
walk alone. And as we walk, we must make the pledge that we shall always march
ahead. We cannot turn back. There are those who are asking the devotees of
civil rights, "When will you be satisfied?" We can never be satisfied
as long as the Negro is the victim of the unspeakable horrors of police
brutality. We can never be satisfied as long as our bodies, heavy with the
fatigue of travel, cannot gain lodging in the motels of the highways and the
hotels of the cities. We
cannot be satisfied as long as the negro's basic mobility is from a smaller
ghetto to a larger one. We can never be satisfied as long as our children are
stripped of their self-hood and robbed of their dignity by signs stating: 'For
Whites Only.' We
cannot be satisfied as long as a Negro in Mississippi
cannot vote and a Negro in New York
believes he has nothing for which to vote. No, no, we are not satisfied, and we
will not be satisfied until 'justice rolls down like waters, and righteousness
like a mighty stream.'
I am not
unmindful that some of you have come here out of great trials and tribulations.
Some of you have come fresh from narrow jail cells. And some of you have come
from areas where your quest -- quest for freedom left you battered by the
storms of persecution and staggered by the winds of police brutality. You have
been the veterans of creative suffering. Continue to work with the faith that
unearned suffering is redemptive. Go back to Mississippi, go back to Alabama,
go back to South Carolina, go back to Georgia, go back to Louisiana, go back to
the slums and ghettos of our northern cities, knowing that somehow this
situation can and will be changed. Let us not wallow in the valley of despair,
I say to you today, my friends. And so even though we face the difficulties of
today and tomorrow, I still have a dream. It is a dream deeply rooted in the
American dream..."
May the
spirit of justice exemplified by Martin Luther King Jr live on forever!
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2016 Trends and Predictions
From The Ramparts
Junious Ricardo Stanton
2016 Trends and Predictions
As I have
observed and stated on numerous occasions, human beings are creatures of habit
and once you discern their proclivities, patterns, customs, folkways and
traditions etc. you can accurately
predict their current and future behavior. If we watch what people do, and how
they act rather than going by what they say, you can better detect their
patterns and habits and predict their behavior.
You can
also manipulate people if you play on their emotions, ambitions and take
advantage of their gullibility, naïveté or ignorance. The ruling class' play
book is slim because they too are creatures of habit motivated by greed,
megalomania and hubris. They do the same things over and over using the same or
variations of the same strategies simply because they work. Plus they have the
power and means to coerce our compliance, cowardice and acquiescence! Having
said that and in keeping with observed trends, patterns and behaviors I can confidently
make the following predictions about 2016:
US police will continue to kill more citizens. How can I make this
prediction? Because the trend of police using lethal force on unarmed citizens (mostly
Black and Brown people) is on the upswing. Neither the FBI nor the federal
government keeps data on the number of civilians shot and killed by US police
officers but by looking at the FBI's numbers which are not all inclusive you
can discern the trend of police homicides is on the rise. According to the
Killed By Police Website http://www.killedbypolice.net
from May 1 to December 31 2013, US police killed 769 civilians, from January 1 2014 to December 31, 2014,
1108 citizens were killed.
The
Washington Post in an article published on December 26, 2015 revealed, "In
a year-long study, The Washington Post found that the kind of incidents that
have ignited protests in many U.S. communities — most often, white police
officers killing unarmed black men — represent less than 4 percent of fatal
police shootings. Meanwhile, The Post found that the great majority of people
who died at the hands of the police fit at least one of three categories: they
were wielding weapons, they were suicidal or mentally troubled, or they ran
when officers told them to halt. The Post sought to compile a record of every
fatal police shooting in the nation in 2015, something no government agency had
done. The project began after a police officer shot and killed Michael Brown in
Ferguson, Mo.,
in August 2014, provoking several nights of fiery riots, weeks of protests and
a national reckoning with the nexus of race, crime and police use of force.
Race remains the most volatile flash point in any accounting of police
shootings. Although black men make up only 6 percent of the U.S.
population, they account for 40 percent of the unarmed men shot to death
by police this year, The Post’s database shows. In the majority of cases in
which police shot and killed a person who had attacked someone with a weapon or
brandished a gun, the person who was shot was white. But a hugely
disproportionate number — 3 in 5 — of those killed after exhibiting less
threatening behavior were black or Hispanic." A Year of Reckoning: Police
Fatally Shoot Nearly 1,000 http://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/investigative/2015/12/26/a-year-of-reckoning-police-fatally-shoot-nearly-1000/?hpid=hp_hp-top-table-main_shootings-1248pm%3Ahomepage%2Fstory.
Given the
mentality and training of US police and the racist nature of US culture we
can safely predict more police killings of Black and Brown people (mostly
unarmed males) will occur in 2016. Given
the murderous police rampage will likely continue, we can also predict The Black Lives Matter movement will
naively continue to plead and appeal to the morals and sense of justice of
whites to decrease the killings of unarmed Black and Brown folks. The Black Lives Matter movement and
Black folks should seek redress for the murders of unarmed Black people but they should also
note the historical and cultural implications of this centuries old pattern and
conclude we are at war.
While this
pattern of police violence is ongoing, our greatest threat is not from police
but from within our own communities! The fervor for justice overlooks and
ignores the Black on Black fratricide and maladaptive responses to European
oppression that continue to grip, weaken and plague our community. We kill
ourselves at a much more alarming rates than the KKK, Police or White Citizens
Council ever could!
This fratricide
is a manifestation of our frustration,
self-hatred and lack of self-knowledge. None
of this is in isolation. It is all interrelated and intertwined held together
by a deliberate system of European menticide (mental genocide), the deliberate
attempt by whites to destroy our minds, to drive us insane, via their
Eurocentric education system, their mass media that pumps out lies and vile
stereotypes and depictions of African
people, including the promotion and rewarding of Blacks who create, promote and
glamorize the same stereotypes that portray Blacks as: thugs, hyper-sexed
predators, low life skeezers, killers and sociopaths or the other extreme of
mindlessly loyal servants in service of European imperialism, domination and
exploitation.
We can
safely predict 2016 will see further deterioration of public education as cash
strapped states, counties and municipalities grapple with ways to pay for a public
education system that maintains a two tiered structure: one the educates the
haves and another that offers minimal services to the have not's.
"On average, schools serving
more minority populations have less-experienced, lower-paid teachers who
are less likely to be certified. A report from the
Center for
American Progress found that a 10 percentage point
increase in students of color at a school is associated with a decrease in
per-pupil spending of $75. Disparities in course offerings mean students of
color have fewer opportunities to challenge themselves with more difficult
courses — the type of courses needed to prepare for a four-year college degree
or for a high-paying career in
STEM.
In seventh
and eighth grades, blacks make up 16 percent of students, but account for 10
percent of students taking Algebra 1 and 9 percent of students passing the
course. While nearly one in five white students took Calculus in high
school, one in 15 black students did. Fewer black students have
access to a full range of high school math and science courses — algebra I,
geometry, algebra II, calculus, biology, chemistry and physics. They are
under-represented in
gifted and talented programs. Black students take fewer
Advanced
Placement classes
than white students and score lower on AP tests.
While
black students disproportionately attend schools with higher minority
populations, the teachers, principals and administrators who interact with the
students are a different story. When the U.S. Department of Education collected
data in the 2007-2008 school year, 80 percent of principals in public schools
were white. Meanwhile, only 6.2 percent of high school public school teachers
across all subject areas are black — the highest percentage is for health and
physical education, where 9.2 percent of teachers are black." US
Education: Still Separate and Unequal http://www.usnews.com/news/blogs/data-mine/2015/01/28/us-education-still-separate-and-unequal
Options to combat this debilitating trend include: home
schooling where parents come together to develop a rigorous educational
curricula for their children and Afrocentric community schools that supplement
what the children get in the local public schools; but these require an
uncompromising commitment on the part of the parents and the community. The
seminal questions is, do we have that type of commitment?
Another potential trend in 2016 will be increasing
hopelessness, lethargy, depression and stagnation within our communities. We
are being dumbed down, lobotomized and zombified. We take our own selves out of
the game by drinkin' and druggin' much to the delight of our tormentors and
adversaries. It makes them richer and weakens us so they can further exploit
and dominate us!
The good news is that none of these predictions or
scenarios have to come to pass or manifest; we can alter our future and our
reality! But we have to be willing to make a serious change in our mental
processes and lifestyles. We will have to take action! Heretofore we have been
unwilling to use our imagination, the greatest gift the CREATOR gave us other
than LIFE itself, to spark a personal, group and collective transformation. We
can do better!
Too many of our people live in communities that have been
red lined, where disinvestment and decay are rampant and where for the most
part a dynamic and progressive collectivist Black leadership is absent. Black
children and adults do not see images of strong Black leaders like Marcus
Mosiah Garvey, Noble Drew Ali or Septima Clark working to rebuild the community,
to empower our people or exhort them to be their greatest selves.
We fail to realize there is always an opportunity to
change. We do not have to continue to be depressed, lethargic and unfulfilled.
We can decide we can do and be healthier, more productive and transform
ourselves and our communities. Just as changing one letter can change a word's
meaning (for example change the i to an e and bitter becomes better), we can
change our attitude, change our goals and decide to become enthusiastic,
focused and productive as opposed to frustrated, depressed and uncreative.
The good news is 2016
doesn't have to be a continuation of years past. We can change these negative trends
because we have agency and the power to change ourselves! We can go from
feeling powerless to being powerful! We can transform ourselves and our reality
simply by changing how we think, what we think about and how we use our energy.
We can do this. The Civil Rights and Black Power movements changed the world! Yes our adversaries pushed back with
COINTELPRO and attempted to crush our spirits but our warrior spirit is still
alive deep inside of us.
We have the power to metaphysically defeat our tormentors!
Victory will not come through physical weapons (at least not in the beginning).
Transformation begins on the mental and spiritual levels! Change your mind,
change your outlook, change your energy level from apathy to gusto. Change your
self-image, attempt to discover and actualize the talents and latent potential
residing within you. Determine to bring them out to the fullest.
Just as a small
seed yields a large tree baring seasons of fruit, your imagination and energy
will bare positive results. As we get stronger, more confident and accomplished
in our mental alchemy we will notice a significant change in ourselves and our
world. Don't let anyone discourage you, stay strong and you will transform and
make 2016 a great year for you and yours. As we come together we can and will
transform the world.
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