tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-52075507472273592672024-03-13T09:26:33.325-04:00PunkPatriot.comTo life, liberty, and pursuit of a less fucked up government.The Punk Patriothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02671149620207872986noreply@blogger.comBlogger1617125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5207550747227359267.post-61241621280972425412022-01-09T18:17:00.007-05:002022-01-09T18:29:05.231-05:00It's A New Year, With The Same Problems (But Worse)<p>
</p><p><style type="text/css">p { margin-bottom: 0.1in; line-height: 115% }a:link { so-language: zxx }</style><iframe frameborder="0" height="102px" scrolling="no" src="https://anchor.fm/punkpatriot/embed/episodes/Its-a-New-Year--With-The-Same-Problems-But-Worse-e1cnsk0" width="400px"></iframe></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p></p><p>
</p><p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">When I started
getting back into producing content, I switched from making YouTube
videos, to making podcasts.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">One of the first
podcast episodes I did was a quick episode titled, “How Things Got
So Bad in America”</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">And I’m sorry to
say that the state of things have only gotten worse since
then.<br />
<br />
Granted, we got rid of the hateful bad orange man,
but only just barely. The hateful orange man showed us all how
little there is standing between our civilization and total chaos,
when thousands of useful idiots, mixed with a few hundred hardened
neonazis, stormed the US Capitol building in an attempt to overturn
the results of a democratic election.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">And they almost
succeeded.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">But I don’t want
to spend this episode belaboring what tragedy we only barely avoided.
I want to focus instead on what it was that we won, by electing
Biden.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">It isn’t much.
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">We still have a
moribund Democratic party that doesn’t understand the material
conditions that are driving the rise of fascism, and the deepening of
the political divide in America.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">A stunning example
of this, is that Nancy Pelosi, in an effort to stop the rise of
fascism, invited Corporate Demon Dick Cheney to the house floor with
open arms, in a show of cross-party unity. Dick Cheney is a man
almost single-handedly responsible for the deaths of thousands of
dead troops, some of whom were my friends, and over 1.5 million Iraqi
citizens, people I will never know, but who were still friends,
brothers, sisters, sons, and daughters of parents to other people who
cared very much about them. 1.5 million families destroyed by US
Imperialism, all for the profit of Haliburton, Lockheed Martin, and a
handful of US Oil corporations who went on to privatize the world’s
2<sup>nd</sup> largest oil reserve.
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">Nancy Pelosi didn’t
end her efforts there though. No, this woman who scoffs at the Green
New Deal, who gleefully and openly engages in insider trading because
for her it is legal, she also invited the cast of Hamilton to sing a
song, on the 1 year anniversary of the coup attempt-- a meaningless
empty guesture on par with her display at the hieight of the Black
Lives Matter Protests, when she took a knee while wearing Kente
cloth. She didn’t do anything to make the police more accountable
for murdering people with impunity. She didn’t do anything to
reform the brutal system of capitalism we are all grinding away under
every day. She took a knee.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">Adding to the
inanity of this display, is the fact that Alexander Hamilton, much
like the hateful orange man, believed that he should be president for
life. Nancy Pelosi’s guesture was so empty, and so meaningless, it
failed to even carry a poetic message.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">(pause)</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">This complete
disconnect between the ruling class and the reality that the rest of
us face rears it’s head in other places, most notably, the COVID-19
pandemic, which we are now starting our third year of.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">Today, I saw
multiple stories about how ambulance services are no longer
functional in both urban and rural settings, due to the number of
first responders who are out with breakthrough COVID infections.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">Health officials are
encouraging people to get a ride to the hospital, because if you call
for an ambulance, it may never come.
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">Of course, with
ambulance rides are a vital service. With a severe injury, stroke, or
heart attack, every second spent in transit has a negative impact on
health outcome. And being that they are almost entirely provided by
for-profit entities, they have long costed tens of thousands of
dollars for a quick trip to a hospital. So ambulance rides have long
been out of the financial reach of most Americans-- or they are just
one of the devestating bills that cause health related costs to be
the #1 cause of homelessness in the USA.
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><a href="https://www.publichealthpost.org/research/medical-debt-homelessness/">https://www.publichealthpost.org/research/medical-debt-homelessness/</a></p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">But even if you do
get a ride to the hospital, you might just have to wait outside in
the parking lot to die. Hospitals are now overwhelmed with COVID
cases, surpassing 100% capacity, with healthcare workers burning out
and leaving the field due to unrelenting stress and unbearable
working conditions, like 12 hour long shifts, back to back 12s... and
with healthcare workers dying of COVID, or suffering from Long-Covid,
or just being sick and tired of hearing “thank you” from elected
officials with no public policy to back up their words… many are
just leaving the field altogether.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">Just like Pelosi,
kneeling with her kente cloth, the 8pm applause for healthcare
workers has been an empty guesture backed by no material support, no
actual change to the root causes.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">And that is
ultimately what liberalism is. Liberalism wants to maintain the
status quo, even if that status quo is further and further distorted
by the right wing, as it becomes more and more openly fascist.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">And it is this same
property of liberalism that has allowed material conditions to
deteriorate so badly, to create so much fertile soil for fascism to
take root.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">Health and safety
are indisputably public matters. COVID has demonstrated this to the
point of absurdity. People who refuse to wear masks are a danger to
others around them. People who are able to vaccinate and choose not
to, are a danger to everyone around them. And the drive for profit,
and worship of the profit motive by both conservatives and liberals,
that allowed the COVID vaccine, which was developed using public
money, to be held in private under intellectual property laws, and
prevented it from being produced on a scale that was capable of
vaccinating the entire globe thus ending the spread of the virus.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">If we valued human
lives more than we value profit, we could have ended this as soon as
the vaccine was available. If we as a society valued human lives
more than we value profit, we would have had a public healthcare
infrastructure that would have allowed the anti-vax skeptics to see a
doctor and get better information without incurring massive bills.
It’s fairly widely known at this point that most all people who are
anti-vax conspiracy theorists, do not have health insurance and
cannot access medical care, or a doctor’s opinion.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">Capitalism keeps
undercutting itself, and destroying our social fabric. A year ago,
Texas was thrown into an icy hellscape when the power gride went
down, and pipes that were supposed to be insulated, but weren’t due
to budget cuts, burst open, leading to massive water shortages.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">And this past week,
I-95 around Washington DC was clogged with traffic when a minor
snowtorm was met with a completely unprepared and underfunded DOT,
that didn’t have enough equipment on hand to clear the roads, which
led to cargo trucks crashing and blocking the roads. Compounding the
crisis, was the atomized individualiism of the DC beltway motorists,
who all believed that rules apply to other people, that they were
very special people who get to break the rules, (much like the deeply
narcissistic bad orange man) and in a bid to get ahead of their
neighbor and win the game of traffic, pulled their vehicles into the
snowdrifts in the breakdown lanes, and managed to get their vehicles
so badly stuck that they completely blocked access for emergency
vehicles for over 24 hours.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">One the flip side,
we have seen the power of collectivism-- as working class people
around the USA are forming unions at a pace unseen since the 1950s.
Starbucks workers are unionizing. Union workers are going on strike
and fighting back against cuts and clawbacks from their corporate
bosses. And 4.5 million people quit their jobs last November alone,
creating a low-key general strike, and increasing the demand for
labor.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">In response the CDC
released new quarantine standards, at the request of the CEO of Delta
Airlines, that shortened the quarantine period from 10 days to 5
days. There was little to no science backing this up. But there was
a labor shortage that backed it up.
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">In Portland Maine, a
City Council made up of all Democrats, in a meeting that they held
remotely due to the danger posed by COVID, voted to repeal hazard pay
for front line workers. Only one councilor voted against it, and
called out the hypocricy of the others.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">The only thing that
is important to both liberals and conservatives, is to make sure that
the profit machine keeps humming along uninterrupted.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">And with both
Democrats and Republicans fighting against working class people to
make sure that the profit machine continues to hum along
uninterrupted, no matter how many of us die.</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;"><br />
</p>
<p style="line-height: 100%; margin-bottom: 0in;">And unless we band
together and fight back, things are just going to keep getting worse
and worse.</p>The Punk Patriothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02671149620207872986noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5207550747227359267.post-44320478692799733052021-12-22T14:18:00.008-05:002022-04-15T12:55:48.665-04:00Gretsch Electromatic G2220 Jet Junior Bass II Review<p>UPDATE: 4/15/2022 12:53PM<br /></p><p>Youtube user <a href="https://www.youtube.com/channel/UClpTFnWcfIg4pcgFZ8dRTyg">LowEndLobster</a> purchased one of these for a review, and after experiencing similar issues, took the pickup apart, and lo and behold: </p><p><br /><iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/Q0xOrEwSk9s" title="YouTube video player" width="560"></iframe><br /></p><span><a name='more'></a></span><br /><span></span>12/22/21 2:18PM<p>So, I gotta write this review for the Gretsch G2220, regarding both the warranty and the pickups. </p><div dir="auto">I
purchased this model from Musician's Friend last year, and the pickups
buzzed like crazy, they were clearly not humbuckers. <br /><div dir="auto"><br /></div><div dir="auto">I
figured that this was just a QC oversight and that Gretsch (owned by Fender, which becomes important when getting into the warranty side of things) would be
happy to find out about this so that they could get this massive oversight under control. <br /></div></div><div dir="auto"> </div><div dir="auto">I took it to an authorized Fender tech, and the
pickups were not dual coil humbuckers, they weren't really single coils either. They were what can only be described as garbage. </div><div dir="auto"><p>For reference, this is what a firebird-style, dual-coil humbucker is supposed to look like (from StewMac): <br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiuI85dY20A1baoG1QFS-GkiYeG9MlIZZj5g-lXIKmN81td9xvzp5mr8SK0VcRsyYjh0cEW8L2cJnmkbkFPuW8p7Wytes_6gBzBHwavKp3fkjCwjnC0CawPVttpWS5Cyy-JLFg3--NhBPr22vKTZDxa_q9vAEanXI9ASMFCwOJMN-OmO_TtTjEX3uzMdg=s400" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="400" data-original-width="225" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEiuI85dY20A1baoG1QFS-GkiYeG9MlIZZj5g-lXIKmN81td9xvzp5mr8SK0VcRsyYjh0cEW8L2cJnmkbkFPuW8p7Wytes_6gBzBHwavKp3fkjCwjnC0CawPVttpWS5Cyy-JLFg3--NhBPr22vKTZDxa_q9vAEanXI9ASMFCwOJMN-OmO_TtTjEX3uzMdg=s320" width="180" /></a></div> You can see there are two rails, and two bobbins for the coilwire to be wrapped around, and then the two magnets behind the rails. Two coils, opposite polarity and windings, creating a humbucking circuit. Okay? Ok.<br /><p>THIS is what came installed in the G2220. This is the neck pickup. It
was labeled "Bridge" along with the bridge pickup, which explained why
it was so much louder in the middle position... but the 60hz hum was
ALSO louder.<br /></p><p><br /></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgopQZuezjQzyOymfBAwC1DOHwGtYVsadwXl8DjSBKJ0Vve-uXcZ0B_WYG5fVAYJQTudU56tvONoMGQ4F9YZ7J5RF3RsvhBTUK-vLlLYwHkQFnFH1ia1AWBl5krzTvifQUVHT_p5fwy2LYzCUc1i8Vo4RVQPcCPehOmj092rbuT3FgxJ9CKUsRG702GYA=s2048" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="2048" data-original-width="2048" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/a/AVvXsEgopQZuezjQzyOymfBAwC1DOHwGtYVsadwXl8DjSBKJ0Vve-uXcZ0B_WYG5fVAYJQTudU56tvONoMGQ4F9YZ7J5RF3RsvhBTUK-vLlLYwHkQFnFH1ia1AWBl5krzTvifQUVHT_p5fwy2LYzCUc1i8Vo4RVQPcCPehOmj092rbuT3FgxJ9CKUsRG702GYA=s320" width="320" /></a></div></div><div dir="auto"> </div><div dir="auto">You can see it has two
rails, like a firebird, but there are no bobbins to wind the coilwire around, the pickup is just a
single massive coil of copper around two rails. This is supposed to be a "dual coil" humbucking pickup?<br /><br />Where is the second coil, exactly? What is this trash?<br /><br />The first Fender tech I took it to, (about a year ago) tried to convince me that this was a stacked humbucker, like the Fender Noiseless pickups they produce for Strats and Teles.<br /></div><p><br />I asked him if that was the case, why they buzz like single coils. He said "maybe they are humbuckers that are just not humbucking."</p><p>So... that's not a thing though. If they are humbuckers, they buck the hum, because of the way that the magnets and coils interact to enhance the signal and cancel out the radio inducted noise frequencies using constructive and destructive interference patterns. It's a physical property of the device due to the arrangement of physical parts, not a switch that you can just flip, and not something that turns off and on. <br /></p><p></p><p></p><p><br />So, anyways, after much stalling and hemming and hawing, The Fender tech said he would put in a replacement order with Fender. Months passed, I kept checking in, and he kept saying that they weren't getting back to him. Now, I think this was bullshit and Fender was just trying to run down the clock on their 1 year warranty they offer on their electronics.</p><p> I repeatedly contacted the Fender Customer Service to ask why they weren't getting back to the Fender tech, and they basically called him a liar. Was he lying? I think now that they were playing bad cop worse cop, again, to try to run down the clock on the 1 year warranty. <br /></p><p>Eventually after about 4 months, I had to move, and so I asked for my bass back. The first thing I did after arriving in the new city was get my bass into a different certified fender tech, in accordance with their warranty.</p><p>This time, things would be different right? I shared my story up to this point with the new Fender tech, and he informed me that Fender was very sorry about all the problems I had had with the last tech, and that they would get right on my case, sending out a replacement bass, as well as installing new dual coil humbucking pickups.</p><p>And then nothing happened.<br /></p><div dir="auto"><br /></div><div dir="auto">Instead
they went back on their word and began trying to gaslight me. There was no replacement bass coming in the mail, there were no replacement pickups coming, they kept telling me that this product was supposed to
come to with these garbage single coil pickups, and that if it was
placed in the middle position, it would be in "humbucking mode"--As
though I was a child who knew nothing of how electronics work.</div><div dir="auto"> </div><div dir="auto">It's especially rich for the fact that BOTH PICKUPS ARE THE SAME POLARITY. </div><div dir="auto"> </div><div dir="auto">There was no "humbucking mode"!!! </div><div dir="auto"> </div><div dir="auto">Turning on both pickups just created two same-polarity pickups acting essentially as one giant single coil. </div><div dir="auto"> </div><div dir="auto">This is a compound lie-- first the lie that two single coils are supposed to come in this model (<i>when it is clearly listed everywhere as having to dual coil humbucker pickups</i>) and second, that when they are both on that they would cancel out the hum. That's a feature of single coil instruments like strats and teles. But those don't have two same-polarity pickups. This G2220 had two bridge pickups, which only compounded the single-coil noise. So they are just lying upon lying.<br /></div><div dir="auto"><br /></div><div dir="auto">I
told them that was bullshit, that they were liars and must think I was stupid, and they needed make good on their
warranty because they are engaging in false advertising which is a federal crime... So then they kept saying they would replace the pickups, but
months went by and nothing ever happened, and then every time I asked about it,
they made me start my warranty claim over again.</div><div dir="auto"><br /></div><div dir="auto">Eventually as we were coming up on the one year mark, I
told them they were engaging in false advertising and were liable to
have a lawsuit brought against them. They agreed to reimburse me for the full amount of the purchase.<br /></div><div dir="auto"> </div><div dir="auto">But then they didn't send the check. They had me surrender the bass, had the Fender tech saw the headstock off the bass, and then didn't send the check. And I would ask about it, and they would tell me that it was being processed. Weeks went by. Then months.<br /></div><div dir="auto"> </div><div dir="auto"> Eventually I told them that I had no choice left and would be pursuing legal routes. It was only after I contacted the Maine Attorney General that they finally cut the check, gave me a date for when it would arrive, and sent it out.<br /></div><br /><div dir="auto">The Gretsch/Fender
warranty is <i>worthless.</i> I would not buy any of their products, they engage in
shoddy workmanship and then lie through their teeth to cover it up.</div><div dir="auto"> </div><div dir="auto">Shame on them. <br /></div><p> </p><p> </p><br />The Punk Patriothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02671149620207872986noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5207550747227359267.post-18771931453291203412020-10-03T22:21:00.004-04:002020-10-03T22:21:58.393-04:00Trump Has Covid. Now What?<p><iframe frameborder="0" height="102px" scrolling="no" src="https://anchor.fm/punkpatriot/embed/episodes/Trump-Has-Covid--Now-What-ekigqr" width="400px"></iframe> </p><p> </p><p>The main function of conspiracy theories is that absent a belief in an all powerful God that controls all events in the world, we at a base level desire to know that somebody is in control, that this global society isn’t constantly flying off the rails.<br /><br />The problem is though, that nobody smart is in charge, and our global society really is constantly flying off the rails.<br /><br />I’m seeing a lot of liberals and progressives and just non-marxists on the left in general, talking about how Trump getting COVID is probably just another media stunt, that this is somehow going to be good for him, that he is going to use his illness to try to delay the election, or that he is using the media cycle to distract from everything from his tax returns showing evidence of fraud and evasion, to the fact that his administration hired under-qualified doctors with little medical experience to over see the detention camps if they were “philosophically aligned with the mission” which turned out to be genocideally forcing immigrant women under the knife for hysterectomies.<br /><br />And I’m seeing the Right-wing true believers now saying that the reason that Trump and his inner circle caught COVID isn’t because he refused to follow a single health and safty guideline from the WHO or CDC, but it’s because the Democratic Party are using Biological Warfare against Trump and his inner circle.<br /><br />Applying Occam’s Razor, the simplest answer is often the correct one. And the correct answer is this. Trump is incompetent, and fucked up. He fucked up big time. If you want evidence, look at his entire real estate career and his entire presidency. It has been a single continuous failure. Fucking up is all Trump has ever done. And he never apologizes, because he is a narcissistic monster.<br /><br />So first, to the idea that TRUMP GOT COVID ON PURPOSE OR IS FAKING IT.<br />His getting COVID is not something he did on purpose to distract us from the issues. Ever since day one every news cycle has been filled with 5 new horrible things that Trump has done that were either unprecedented, unethical, illegal, or just violated basic social norms and human decency. Everything the man does is horrible, he is a walking trash fire, writing in his own personal hell of narcissistic reaction, , barely understanding the world around him. The only reason that this monster hasn’t had his face smashed in by the people he fucked over, is because he was born rich, rich people don’t roll like that, and poor people don’t have access.<br /><br />It isn’t an October Surprise. It isn’t a calculation. It isn’t a miracle. It isn’t RBG in heaven arguing her first case with God. It isn’t because of all the witches hexing him on twitter (although, thank you very much for doing that, that made my day).<br /><br />Trump got COVID19 because he didn’t listen to science. He has botched the public response since DAY ONE. <br /><br />Back when it wasn’t clear how bad this would get, Trump and the GOP tried to sell the whole “staying open” thing at first saying that our grandparents should be willing to die so that we can work in unsafe conditions and also get sick and die. That we should all go out and die for wall street. This was the cardinal sin that was never corrected for, and landed Trump in the Hospital.<br /><br />Because he refused to respond adequately, the virus moved from being contained to being community spread. That led to the mask thing. To wear a mask was to admit that he failed. So he was against masks. That was the second sin Trump committed that landed him in the hospital.<br /><br />Trump decided that people shouldn’t wear masks at his rallies, which he would continue to hold, like the one in Tulsa (which by the way, Herman Cain also refused to wear a mask, got COVID and DIED because he listened to Trump and didn’t wear a mask at this rally).<br /><br />Everything he has done so far, it is not part of any master plan, it’s reactive, it’s ego soothing, it’s totally surface level, there is nothing else to it. He isn’t smart. He isn’t complex. He has no clue what he is doing. That is why he is such a massive failure, and everything about his presidency is a massive failure. We should get used to saying that the people who run this country are idiots who don’t know what they are doing. They are all just making shit up as they go along, there is no plan, there is no steady hand on the wheel, it’s all a bunch of made up bullshit, and all of us working class people have to suffer the consequences of their failures, because that’s how capitalism is structured.<br /><br />He doesn’t care about other people, he is more concerned with looking right than being right. Which means he can never admit to being wrong, ever. His fragile ego is so frail and brittle that he totally self-destructs, like we saw at the first presidential debate with Biden, where he did nothing but scream and yell and interrupt Biden the whole time. People are saying that that was his strategy. No. That wasn’t a strategy. That was incompetence. That was a toxic person, who hadn’t done their homework for the whole semester, writing a bunch of bullshit on the exam, and then arguing with the teacher that the test wasn’t fair. It was pathetic, childish, incompetent, a total hissy fit. <br /><br />Trump stated publicly, that he didn’t want people to wear masks to his rally because it would only remind him of his public policy failure. That’s it. There’s no plan beyond that. He just doesn’t want to admit that he is wrong, because he is an unthinking monster incapable of critical thinking or empathy. He is so awash in his own bald faced lies, he believes them. He is the kind of person who would asphyxiate huffing their own farts to prove that his shit doesn’t stink. Think of the stupidest meanest kid on the playground in middle school. That’s who we are dealing with. A morally stunted manchild incapable of admitting to failure, and is thus cursed to never be able to improve, grow, or learn.<br /><br /><br />TRUMP GOT IT BECAUSE IT WAS BIOLOGICAL WARFARE BY THE DEMOCRATS<br />Now, I’m a socialist, I do not carry water for the Democrats, and frankly I resent having to defend them. And as somebody who has studied microbiology, I have to ask, “How could Trump *not* have gotten COVID at this point?” It’s a miracle it took this long. <br /><br />He did literally everything wrong that he possibly could have. He did exactly the opposite of what everybody at the WHO and CDC told him he needed to do. The real miracle is that it took this long for him to get it.<br /><br /><br />This isn’t part of any plan by the Democrats, this isn’t part of any plan by Trump. Sometimes people just get sick, because that’s how Viruses work. And to the right-wing conspiracy theorists pointing out that soon after Trump was infected, a bunch of other people around him who ALSO REFUSED TO FOLLOW BASIC SAFETY GUIDELINES also got infected? To those people, this looks like evidence of a conspiracy theory afoot. To me, I have to wonder if these people understand how infectious diseases work. You get the virus from people who have the virus. We told you to wear masks, we told you to social distance, and you refused. The only person to blame is Trump himself.<br /><br /><br />I think it’s really important to combat conspiracy theories though, that’s why I’m recording this podcast today. We need to confront conspiracy theories and magical thinking because if we actually care about the state of the world, we need to have a scientific approach to understanding it, or we are just going to delude ourselves into believing whatever nonsense we want to believe, instead of actually knowing things.<br /><br />That’s the whole thing with this whole “make America great” slogan, America was never actually great. <br /><br />America has been an undemocratic, capitalist shithole banana republic for most of the people living here, for most of its existence. And guess what? It still is. It’s actually always been this bad, but the centrists were better at keeping the cosmetic up on the facade. Liberalism has at long last given us Trump because America is also a narcissistic nation that is incapable of admitting to it’s mistakes. We can’t admit that we were founded on slavery, that the founding fathers were a bunch of aristocratic slave owners who never wanted the vast majority of us to even have voting rights in bourgeois elections, and the US Government under the control of both capitalist parties has consistently attacked and destroyed left wing movements for worker power. Anything good about America today is because working class people organized and fought and struggled and formed unions, and organized general strikes, and shut down the economy, and were able to pry temporary wins from the dictatorship of capital that still runs this country. And we aren’t willing to admit any of that as a nation. Not even Biden is willing to admit to all of that, because to do so, to really say that Black Lives Matter is to admit that they haven’t for the last 300 years in America. To say that Medicare For All is a good solution is to admit that the capitalist system is wasteful, inefficient, and kills people. And Biden is not willing to admit that. To say that we need a Green New Deal is to admit that Capitalism is incapable of solving any of the problems it has created, least of which the existential threat which may cause the extinction of the entire human species at some point in the next few hundred years. And Biden won’t admit that.<br /><br />And because he can’t admit that America was never great, because we as Americans can’t admit that America, for the most part, has been wrong, has hurt people, because like Trump, we have not been able to admit our mistakes, to admit our failures, we have not been able to grow, to learn, to become better people, and we have not been able to grow, learn from our mistakes, or become a better country.<br /><br />And voting for Biden isn’t going to change any of that. Really, voting for anybody to be a part of this government, even Bernie Sanders, will have a limited chance of changing it to be anything other than a cudgel in the hands of the capitalist elite. Though of course I would rather have a Bernie presidency, or a Howie Hawkins presidency, than a Trump Presidency or a Biden presidency. I don’t want to discourage people from voting, it’s important, but it isn’t going to be enough to defeat Trumpism. <br /><br />The Liberals, driven by their support of capitalism at all costs, actually followed the same playbook this election cycle as the Centrist liberals did in the 1920 and 30s in Germany, siding with the capitalist class in fighting against the Socialists and Communists in favor of centrists, while cautiously keeping the fascists at arm’s length, treating them as a parliamentary force that could be defeated through elections. The American Left lost access to the public sphere of debate in the corporate media with the Liberals kicking the Green Party off the ballot in many states, and working together to defeat Bernie Sanders to prevent him from getting the nomination. <br /><br />The main reason that I think that Trump really has COVID, is that before it hit, and more specifically, before it hit him, Trump was all lined up to potentially win the presidency by a slim margin, or failing that, institute fascism through street violence by his fascist supporters like the ProudBoys, the KKK, Identity Europa, and the other fascist groups that saw a surge of activity following Trump’s 2016 election.<br /><br />Without the pandemic, it might have worked. Qanon would have pushed their NeoNazi antisemetic conspiracy theories. When he first got into office, he talked about the “coming storm.” People familiar with the history of WW2 should have immediately recognized that what he was talking about was the same storm that the Nazis talked about in the Wiemar Republic, for which the “Storm Troopers” of the SS derive their name. Qanon talks about “the coming storm” where all sorts of celebrities and rich and powerful people will be rounded up and killed. <br /><br />It’s really important to recognize that the argument that Qanon is making is the same argument that was made by Hitler made about Jews. He used an old anti-semetic trope that Jewish people steal christian children and use their blood for Satanic rituals to give themselves magical powers. <br /><br />Qanon says the same thing, but says that the elites are primarily stealing children for sex trafficking, but that the sex trafficking ring is actually a front for a secret Satanic cult that steals christian children and uses their blood in rituals to give themselves magical powers. And the people that Qanon keeps pointing to as ring leaders are mostly Jewish. Hmm. Must be a coincidence. Or Qanon is a Nazi recruiting front, just as the German Newspaper “The Storm” was in the 1930s.<br /><br />The Fascist right-wing thrive on conspiracy theories. Let’s not muddy the waters with our own made up bullshit. Let’s be truthful. <br /><br />Let’s remember the words of Carl Sagan, “if it can be destroyed by the Truth, it deserves to be destroyed.”<br /><br />If there is anybody that deserves to be destroyed by the Truth, it’s the Liar in Chief. <br /></p>The Punk Patriothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02671149620207872986noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5207550747227359267.post-32218084853357445012020-09-19T12:18:00.006-04:002020-09-19T12:19:08.295-04:00The Right-Wing have Declared War<iframe src="https://anchor.fm/punkpatriot/embed/episodes/The-GOP-Have-Declared-War-ejsghh" height="102px" width="400px" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe></p>
The Right Wing don't care about the rules, they will cheat, steal, and murder, to get whatever they want.</p>
</p>
"Good sportsmanship" doesn't apply, because THIS IS NOT A GAME.The Punk Patriothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02671149620207872986noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5207550747227359267.post-33458734434547799592020-09-16T12:01:00.004-04:002020-09-16T12:01:28.489-04:00They Vacation While We Die<p><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>The following statement was delivered by Arlo Hennessy on Labor Day 2020 as part of an action by the <a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/1/#">Southern Maine Worker's Center</a></i></span></p> <div style="text-align: center;"><h2>They Vacation While We Die </h2></div><p style="text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;">by Arlo Hennessy</span><br /><br />“They vacation while we die.” We are the workers- “When we talk about the Workers’ Center organizing for racial, economic justice and human rights, we use the term "worker" in its broadest sense. We understand that most people are workers, including those who are employed by the formal economy, hustling in the informal economy, taking care of their families, or unemployed due to the pandemic. Workers may or may not be protected by employment law. They may or may not be receiving wages. All of those who are struggling with the impacts of the global economy, neoliberal policies, and economic injustice-- key parts of a system that attempts to deny us our human rights-- are in essence workers.”<br /><br /><br />They are politicians, who are supposed to be working for us, but instead are on vacation. Time off from; squabbling, self aggrandizing, and lining pockets with business handouts. While the family cares & heroes act, collect dust, and Trump’s worker relief bill goes unchecked. Today, Maine workers at restaurants, resorts, ice cream shops and coastal businesses are exposed to COVID-19 so these same politicians can enjoy vacationland. If a vacation is the fruit of our labor, then right now it is a poison apple.<br /><br /><br />I want to highlight what was said today, the pandemic & subsequent labor crisis has hit black, latinx, native/indigenous, asain, and workers of color the hardest. Black workers are in the midst of another crisis, the state sanctioned murder of black americans at the hands of police. BLM has a platform that amongst many demands, is calling for the abolition of police as an antidote to violence, because as Gil Scot Heron once put it “America is now blood and tears instead of milk and honey.” <br /><br /><br />Black liberation, decolonization, no borders- ending white supremacy needs to be a tenant of the labor movement, because without us there is no labor movement. The labor movement is the abolition of slavery, chinese rail workers, the latinx and philipino farmers of the chicano rights movement, Ai Jen Poo and the domestic workers bill of rights, the Somali warehouse workers organizing against trillion dollar multinational corporation Amazon. We cannot let the bastards win, by dividing the class and race struggle as if they were not one. That's why I call on my brothers and sisters of the labor movement to stand with the Black Lives Matter movement and endorse their platform. To do otherwise, portends more violence, death and the further erosion of union brotherhood.<br /><br /><br />I end with a quote by <a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/1/#">Martin Niemöller</a>, which illustrates how cowardice in the face of facism lead to the atrocity of the holocaust.<br /><br /> </p><p style="margin-left: 40px; text-align: left;"><span style="font-size: x-small;"><i>"First they came for the socialists, and I did not speak out—<br />Because I was not a socialist.<br /><br />Then they came for the trade unionists, and I did not speak out—<br />Because I was not a trade unionist.<br /><br />Then they came for the Jews, and I did not speak out—<br />Because I was not a Jew.<br /><br />Then they came for me—and there was no one left to speak for me. "</i></span><br /></p><p><br />We are blocking traffic for a moment of silence, for the people lost to the pandemic and violence of this historic crisis, both directly and indirectly beginning with; the workers lost to COVID-19 and the disproportionate rates of fatalities that have claimed the lives of black, navajo, latinx, and poc workers across the country & Maine. Specifically the 125 + tyson chicken poultry workers and 499 navajo (<a href="https://www.blogger.com/u/1/#">data</a>).<br /><br />This moment is to honor the black lives matter movement, and mourn for our black lives lost to police brutality and white supremacy in America. We call for justice for James Blake & his family, and Breonna Taylor, for David Okat and Chance Baker Portland, Maine. Kawom Smith- Walker, Lincoln county Jail Auburn Maine. Too many more to count, Black Lives Matter.<br /><br />This moment is for those who have died due to the housing crisis, lives lost from illness, overdose, or exposure in Portland Maine.<br /><br />Lastly, this moment is for our & your loved ones in the labor movement who passed this year; Wayne Poland, Tina Malcomson, Juliet Holmes Smith, Steve Gordon, Mark James, Sandy Bishop.<br /><br />Hold these people & uprisings in your hearts while we pause, beginning now.<br /><br /> </p>The Punk Patriothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02671149620207872986noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5207550747227359267.post-7343992236053405842020-08-17T17:27:00.002-04:002020-08-17T17:27:24.916-04:00As the DNC tacks hard to the Right, Should the Left Follow?<iframe src="https://anchor.fm/punkpatriot/embed/episodes/The-DNC-tacks-right--will-the-Left-follow--or-cut-them-free-ei6g2n" height="102px" width="400px" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>The Punk Patriothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02671149620207872986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5207550747227359267.post-32943851449851987232020-08-17T17:26:00.002-04:002020-08-17T17:26:36.454-04:00What is Trump's "Delay" Play about?<iframe src="https://anchor.fm/punkpatriot/embed/episodes/What-is-Trumps-Delay-Play-Really-All-About-ehfpv9" height="102px" width="400px" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>The Punk Patriothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02671149620207872986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5207550747227359267.post-82134105244550233152020-08-17T17:25:00.005-04:002020-08-17T17:25:59.087-04:00Who is in Joe Biden's "Middle Class" anyways?<iframe src="https://anchor.fm/punkpatriot/embed/episodes/Who-is-in-Joe-Bidens-Middle-Class-exactly-ehfj1f" height="102px" width="400px" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>The Punk Patriothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02671149620207872986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5207550747227359267.post-22749854124075815222020-08-17T17:25:00.001-04:002020-08-17T17:25:21.682-04:00Green Party 2020 Convention Report<iframe src="https://anchor.fm/punkpatriot/embed/episodes/Green-Party-2020-Convention-report-egoh6g" height="102px" width="400px" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>The Punk Patriothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02671149620207872986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5207550747227359267.post-56252409711187153362020-08-17T17:20:00.006-04:002020-08-17T17:41:28.236-04:00Gloobians and Xxors, a sci-fi political parable.
<p></p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.startpage.com/av/proxy-image?piurl=https%3A%2F%2Fencrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com%2Fimages%3Fq%3Dtbn%3AANd9GcS7t3r6kImelnbwy3DWUzDZA0MuEufThV9EPKpPVV4QvvELdJGm%26s&sp=1597700415Tf9b50084605703eb92fd4d7dbefc15d0a4eb2a31e7ee1d804d9ea7af57ca3815" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="172" data-original-width="293" src="https://www.startpage.com/av/proxy-image?piurl=https%3A%2F%2Fencrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com%2Fimages%3Fq%3Dtbn%3AANd9GcS7t3r6kImelnbwy3DWUzDZA0MuEufThV9EPKpPVV4QvvELdJGm%26s&sp=1597700415Tf9b50084605703eb92fd4d7dbefc15d0a4eb2a31e7ee1d804d9ea7af57ca3815" /></a></div> <br /><p></p><p> There was this planet where the vast majority of intelligent life was a species called the Gloobians. On some of their backs lived a parasitic race of tiny worms called the "Xxors" who divided themselves up into two groups, the Klixxors, and the Klaxxors, and the two groups managed to hold power in the planetary congress, making laws while sitting on the backs of their enslaved Gloobians, slurping up their blood and laying eggs under their skin.<br /><br />I traveled down to the surface to meet with the Gloobians, obviously the vast majority of intelligent life on this planet. The first group I met with were members of some sort of underground rebel alliance who wanted to form a Gloobian political party.<br /><br />Now this made very little sense to me. Why wouldn't they have one already? The Gloobians very obviously made up the vast majority of intelligent life on the planet, it should be EASY for them to form a political party of their own, and they should be able to institute a policy by which they eliminate all the Xxors from their backs, and nobody would get their blood sucked, or have eggs laid under their skin ever again.<br /><br />I asked them why they didn’t have such a political party already. The Gloobian Party rebels said, “well it’s just very difficult.”<br /><br />I didn't understand at all why this would be the case, so I pressed further, “but why would the vast majority allow themselves to be ruled by blood sucking parasites? Why would any of them align themselves with either party of blood sucking Xxors? Is it illegal for you to form such a party?<br /><br />“No.” the Gloobian Rebel Alliance answered matter of factly.<br /><br />“Well, do the Xxors secrete some sort of chemical that make Gloobians love the Xxors?”</p><p><br />“Hah, oh no, that's certainly not the case. They are quite irritating.” and the Gloobian pointed at his own back, “I have Xxors living on my back right now, and I would love to get rid of them, but it would be illegal to kill them, and they can only feed on Gloobian blood, and so since they are also intelligent life. Some Gloobians think we need the Xxors, but most Gloobians agree that they are idiots. Almost every Gloobian hates the Xxors universally."<br /><br />“Wait so all Gloobins hate having the Xxors on their backs? Well, what the heck is stopping you from just changing the laws to make it legal to remove them, and just get rid of all the parasites entirely?” I asked.<br /><br />The Gloobian rebels shifted their stances queitly and looked at their many feet, and finally one spoke up, “look, we don’t really understand why either, you should just go ask around.”<br /><br />So I did. I walked into town and bumped into a Gloobian campaigning for one of the Xxor parties. I approached her and asked why she supported the Xxors.<br /><br />“I don’t support the Xxors at all!” she said. <br /><br />“Then why are you out here campaigning for them?” I asked.<br /><br />“Are you kidding? I’m trying to make sure that the Klixxors don’t win!”<br /><br />“Are you aware that there is a Gloobian party, that is by and for the Gloobians? They want to get rid of the Xxors entirely”<br /><br />“Ha!” She snorted, condescendingly, “You really don’t know anything do you? We have to vote for the Klaxxors to make sure that the Klixxors don’t win.”<br /><br />“So are the Klaxxors better?”<br /><br />“Well they would be, except they have to appeal to the Gloobians who would normally vote for the Klixxors and weaken the Klixxor base to make sure that the Klixxors don’t win. So for this election, they are adopting a lot of the Klixxor policies.”<br /><br />“And the Klixxors are especially bad?”<br /><br />“Oh yes, they want to suck our blood and lay their eggs in our skin!”<br /><br />“And the Klaxxors don’t do that?”<br /><br />“No, they do that too, but if we have to live with Xxors on our backs, laying eggs under our skin and sucking our blood, we may as well suffer with dignity.”<br /><br />I paused for a second to make sure I understood, but I was certain that I did not. “But you don’t have to live with the Xxors laying eggs under your skin or sucking your blood at all though. You could vote for the Gloobian Rebel Alliance, and just get rid of both Klixxors and Klaxxors, all the Xxors. Why don’t you do that?”<br /><br />She shook her head and took pity on me, “you stupid earthling, you don’t know anything at all. I already said, if we don’t vote for the Klaxxors, the Klixxors will win, and it will be four more years of them sucking our blood and laying eggs under our skin. You poor stupid idiot. You don’t understand politics at all, do you”<br /><br />And I had to agree, that no, I certainly did not. Not one bit.<br /></p>The Punk Patriothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02671149620207872986noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5207550747227359267.post-30277721004797337152020-07-11T14:31:00.001-04:002020-07-11T14:31:50.232-04:00Ideas Have Consequences<div><iframe frameborder="0" height="102px" scrolling="no" src="https://anchor.fm/punkpatriot/embed/episodes/Ideas-Have-Consequences-egj86q" width="400px"></iframe> <br /></div><div>Check out <a href="anchor.fm/communistpotatosalad">Communist Potato Salad!</a></div>The Punk Patriothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02671149620207872986noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5207550747227359267.post-60472340875854626552020-07-09T01:23:00.001-04:002020-07-09T01:23:59.068-04:00Will The DNC Ever Be The Path To Victory For The Left?<iframe src="https://anchor.fm/punkpatriot/embed/episodes/Will-The-DNC-ever-be-on-the-path-to-socialism-eggdka" height="102px" width="400px" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>The Punk Patriothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02671149620207872986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5207550747227359267.post-69983529543340179052020-07-09T01:22:00.002-04:002020-07-09T01:22:37.875-04:00How Things Got To Be So Bad in America<br /><iframe src="https://anchor.fm/punkpatriot/embed/episodes/How-things-got-so-bad-in-America-eg5fa6" height="102px" width="400px" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>The Punk Patriothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02671149620207872986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5207550747227359267.post-89051866085143263282020-07-06T12:11:00.000-04:002020-07-06T12:11:35.205-04:00Reading the Communist Manifesto: Chapter 1<iframe frameborder="0" height="102px" scrolling="no" src="https://anchor.fm/communistpotatosalad/embed/episodes/Reading-Group-The-Communist-Manifesto--Chapter-1-eg52ul/a-a2jj5ov" width="400px"></iframe><br /><br /><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEhoXi3ycTWmzKf5osgpI75dZQbevlNypV2ZJT7667Z7dtHOx_ODriAmA3Ag7qxJgKZWS9DA4feqF1LfkxMM-sh8qPtrpvmC0pKHSd3CtewUQOLx7C3psajO6nViL4volsFQw7OANiCXLcCY3NRCkeeY2uQ0gei3t_jhEfnEzbkxEJOfkEjLBJBG9YZZtnh8RTvLBBAnfCOzovZowfjIJMZHhJXyQ794WaQ9gxd2-yn2ZJFofwfgf4A7jhZczP0OTWMq3pmT=s250" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; float: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="237" data-original-width="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/proxy/AVvXsEhoXi3ycTWmzKf5osgpI75dZQbevlNypV2ZJT7667Z7dtHOx_ODriAmA3Ag7qxJgKZWS9DA4feqF1LfkxMM-sh8qPtrpvmC0pKHSd3CtewUQOLx7C3psajO6nViL4volsFQw7OANiCXLcCY3NRCkeeY2uQ0gei3t_jhEfnEzbkxEJOfkEjLBJBG9YZZtnh8RTvLBBAnfCOzovZowfjIJMZHhJXyQ794WaQ9gxd2-yn2ZJFofwfgf4A7jhZczP0OTWMq3pmT=s2048" /></a></div>The Communist Manifesto: Phil Gasper Annotated Edition<br /><a href="https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/824-the-communist-manifesto">https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/824-the-communist-manifesto</a><br /><br />Free online version at Marxists.org<br /><a href="https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/">https://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1848/communist-manifesto/</a><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br /><br />Other literature cited this episode you might want to check out: <br /><br /><b>"Reform or Revolution" by Rosa Luxemburg<br /></b>Hardcopy available at Haymarket Books:<br /><a href="https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/835-the-essential-rosa-luxemburg">https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/835-the-essential-rosa-luxe</a><a href="https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/835-the-essential-rosa-luxemburg">mburg</a><br /><br />Free Online Version<br /><div><a href="https://www.marxists.org/archive/luxemburg/1900/reform-revolution/index.htm">https://www.marxists.org/archive/luxemburg/1900/reform-revolution/index.htm</a></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>"State and Revolution" by VI Lenin<br /></b>Hardcopy available at Haymarket Books:<br /></div><div><a href="https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/741-state-and-revolution">https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/741-state-and-revolution</a></div><div><br /></div><div>Free Online Version: <br /><a href="https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1917/staterev/index.htm">https://www.marxists.org/archive/lenin/works/1917/staterev/index.htm</a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>"Fascism: What it is, and How To Fight It" by Leon Trotsky</b></div><div>Hardcopy:</div><div><a href="https://www.amazon.com/Fascism-What-Fight-Leon-Trotsky/dp/0873481062">https://www.amazon.com/Fascism-What-Fight-Leon-Trotsky/dp/0873481062</a><br /></div><div><br /></div>Free Online Edition: <br /><div><a href="https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/works/1944/1944-fas.htm">https://www.marxists.org/archive/trotsky/works/1944/1944-fas.htm</a></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><br /></div><div><b>"Fighting Fascism: How To Struggle and Win" by Clara Zetkin<br /></b></div>Hardcopy available at Haymarket Books:<br /><a href="https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/1088-fighting-fascism">https://www.haymarketbooks.org/books/1088-fighting-fascism</a><br /><br />Free Online Edition:<br /><a href="https://www.marxists.org/archive/zetkin/1923/06/struggle-against-fascism.html">https://www.marxists.org/archive/zetkin/1923/06/struggle-against-fascism.html</a><br /><br />
The Punk Patriothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02671149620207872986noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5207550747227359267.post-11942337189946374172020-06-28T13:06:00.002-04:002020-06-28T13:27:32.905-04:00Be PreparedWhat does being an Eagle Scout, firing a gun, or canoeing the Allegash have to do with COVID-19?<br /><pre style="text-align: left;"><br /></pre>
</br>
<iframe src="https://anchor.fm/punkpatriot/embed" height="102px" width="400px" frameborder="0" scrolling="no"></iframe>The Punk Patriothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02671149620207872986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5207550747227359267.post-60118411280004822392020-03-23T13:54:00.000-04:002020-03-23T13:54:17.479-04:00The Left Must Be Prepared to Fight Back<div class="_5pbx userContent _3ds9 _3576" data-ft="{"tn":"K"}" data-testid="post_message" id="js_1lj">
by Jen Roesch<br />
<br />
I
believe that there is an ideological war going on right now and that
the left needs to be prepared to do battle. In the very first days of
this crisis, we saw moratoriums on evictions, expedited unemployment
benefits, CA housing the homeless in hotels and prisoners being released
in OH. All of these measures showed that the market, profits and our
repressive apparatus are not untouchable. This crisis has opened up
questions of profit vs human need in fundamental ways.<br />
<br />
But now
that many of us are all in isolation and the economic consequences are
being felt - with unemployment predicted to reach 30% - there is an
ideological backlash underway. Trump has said that the price may not be
worth it. But he is not the only one. Increasingly, the mainstream media
outlets are questioning the measures taken, arguing for more "surgical"
approaches, saying that the economy cannot withstand this. This has
been combined with confusing information on what it will take to fight
the pandemic, if what we are doing will "work" and how long it will
continue. And we cannot fool ourselves that these appeals will not
resonate with people who are suffering and economically terrified right
now. This is why a left-wing alternative, with a strong and unified
message, is so crucial right now. We need to press it on all fronts.
Here are my thoughts on what I think that needs to include:<br />
<br />
<b>1)</b>
<b>The "economy" and fighting the pandemic are only counterposed if we
accept the maintenance of profits, individual wealth and privatized
production as inevitable.</b> We have the resources right now to continue to
feed and shelter people and meet their basic necessities. This could be
met through a "shelter-in wage" for the duration of the crisis while
freezing rent, mortgage and all debt payments so that wages are solely
devoted to necessities. All healthcare for the duration of the crisis
should be underwritten by the government. Meanwhile, manufacturing and
distribution firms should be directed by the government to shift all
resources to essentials and to ramping up our medical capacity:
protective equipment, hospital beds, testing capacity, ventilators and
housing for the mildly ill. Those who are deemed essential should be
given hazard pay, enhanced safety protections and enhanced labor rights
& regulations to protect themselves. Ultimately, this is an argument
for a sharp curtailing of the powers of the banks and private industry
and at least partial nationalization of sectors of the economy. It is
the only way to meet the scale of the need. But this can be communicated
through concrete demands that can make sense to millions of people in a
moment like this.<br />
<br />
<b>2)</b> <b>The idea that the pandemic can be addressed
"surgically" through measures targeted at "vulnerable" populations is a
fantasy.</b> It is out of touch with the reality of working class life. The
elderly (which in the context of pandemic really only means over 60) is
not a rich, isolated subgroup of the population. They are raising
grandchildren after children have died (remember we have a middle-aged
death crisis in this country); well over 10 million senior citizens are
still working, many at exhausting, low wage jobs at a places like
Wal-Mart; millions of senior citizens live in poverty, including 17% of
Latinos and 19% of African-Americans; and massive numbers of the elderly
live in multi-generational households where they are cared for by their
working children. There is no way to quarantine this population
separately; they are embedded in the fabric of our social and economic
lives. Beyond the elderly, this disease also targets a wide range of
vulnerabilities - with obesity, existing respiratory illness, high blood
pressure and diabetes topping the list. It is a minority of American
households that do not have a member with one of these underlying
conditions. We haven't yet seen what this virus does to a population as
generally unhealthy as ours.<br />
<br />
<b>3)</b> <b>Our response to this crisis has
been characterized by half measures taken too late, then second guessed
and then driven by the immediate crises presented by our lack of
preparation.</b> This has led to situations where we are told it is "too
late" for testing to matter or where healthcare workers are told to
ration protective equipment because we will run out. Too frequently, the
administrators and politicians have responded by changing the public
health message to match the shortages and deficiencies. This is very
dangerous precedent from a public health perspective. Instead, we
urgently need to get ahead of this. This requires a non-partisan federal
commission of the most knowledgable experts to learn from the
international experience and coordinate a federal response. This should
include the power to make binding recommendations for production needs.<br />
<br />
<b>4)</b> <b>Our social institutions and collective sense of social connection
have been eroded by decades of neoliberalism.</b> People's tendency to look
out for themselves is often a "rational" response to a situation in
which no one guarantees your safety, collective power has declined and
you have only yourself to rely on. We urgently need to rebuild a sense
of social responsibility to one another - our literal lives depend on us
taking actions that are difficult but necessary to protect the whole.
As much as we might like, we cannot do this through moralism and
exhortations. But we also cannot simply abandon the idea that we are
responsible to one another. We do have agency. So we need to rebuild a
social fabric from the ground up by looking out for one another, sharing
information, providing resources and support. At the same time, we need
to articulate demands that make people see themselves as part of a
broader collective. And perhaps most difficult, we have to rebuild some
sense of collective power. Examples like the Amazon workers in NYC who
fought going to work, or the threatened sickout of teachers, or nurses
organizing for protective equipment - we need to amplify and expand
these. I saw Starbucks workers arguing that they should be considered
non-essential - how do we support this? The more we can score some wins,
the more we can build that collective fabric. But this will be hard and
not always win. Part of our ideological battle is winning the argument
for solidarity.<br />
<br />
We need to be clear that arguments for "getting
people back to work quickly" or "not letting the economy fail" are
really arguments for letting millions of people die. We also need to be
clear that there is no "going back" to the way things were. The question
before us is whether our society is rebuilt on our terms or theirs. It
is both an opportunity and a danger that we haven't seen in decades.</div>
The Punk Patriothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02671149620207872986noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5207550747227359267.post-55468898845372394902020-03-12T21:17:00.003-04:002020-03-12T21:20:19.937-04:00Now is the Time for Solidarity: DSA National Statement on COVID-2019From the 2008 global financial collapse to the natural disasters
caused by climate change that rocked Northern California, New Orleans,
New York, and Puerto Rico, capitalism is causing devastating human
crises. During each of these crises, it has been poor, working-class,
and already marginalized people who have suffered the most — while
banks, energy companies, and the real estate industry have been bailed
out. <br />
<br />
Now with the COVID-19 outbreak and a looming economic recession, it
is hospital workers, poor and unhoused people, the elderly, incarcerated
people, the immunocompromised, immigrants, and other marginalized
groups who will likely bear the most impact. Millions of people have
inadequate health insurance or none at all, millions are living paycheck
to paycheck, and millions more are not given paid time off from work.
That means that workers and poor people will be vulnerable to illness
while being unable to afford treatment or even testing, endangering
whole communities. Many who miss work because of the outbreak will lose
pay, lose their health insurance, be unable to pay utility bills, or
face eviction.<br />
<br />
All of this is worsened by the fact that our government has been
slashing budgets for services such as SNAP (food stamps) while handing
bailouts to oil and natural gas companies. It is clear our irrational
and expensive privatized healthcare system, organized not to protect
human health but to extract profit, is unable to handle a crisis such as
a sudden global pandemic.<br />
Meanwhile, Trump and the Republicans are exploiting the crisis to
blame scapegoats: immigrants, Chinese people, and the European Union are
demonized, encouraging racism and xenophobia. Further, Trump’s stimulus
plan will decimate Social Security if passed, one of our last truly
universal social programs and a line of defense for seniors who are some
of the most vulnerable to COVID-19.<br />
<br />
<b>As socialists, we reject austerity, privatization, racism,
and xenophobia. Instead, we — the Democratic Socialists of America
— stand with the working class, poor, and marginalized of our society
and demand a working-class solution to this crisis.</b><br />
<br />
A pandemic like COVID-19 confirms the truth in the radical labor
movement slogan, “An injury to one is an injury to all.” We need to
rapidly reorient our society away from the principles of individualism
and private profit and toward the principles of justice and solidarity.<br />
<br />
We support the measures proposed in the <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://act.dsausa.org/go/94462?t%3D2%26akid%3D43306%252E137929%252EVINhPF&source=gmail&ust=1584147110339000&usg=AFQjCNEcHeEHkv1kYO5ZgAQqyc72VpWkZg" href="https://act.dsausa.org/go/94462?t=2&akid=43306%2E137929%2EVINhPF" rel="noopener" target="_blank">Families First Coronavirus Response Act,</a> including federal funding for free coronavirus testing for all and paid emergency leave.<br />
<br />
However, Congress must go further.<br />
<br />
First, Congress must pass Bernie Sanders’s proposed Medicare for All
legislation. Without providing comprehensive healthcare, free at the
point of use, to all US residents, we cannot mitigate this crisis or its
vastly disproportionate impacts on poor and working-class people. It is
unacceptable that almost a hundred million people in the US are
uninsured or underinsured during a massive public health crisis, while
health insurance CEOs take home annual salaries in the tens of millions
of dollars.<br />
<br />
Second, Congress must pass an emergency moratorium on evictions and
on utility shut-offs until the crisis abates. If workers are unable to
work because of quarantines, they should not be punished for being
unable to pay their rent and utility bills. Ultimately goods like
housing, water, electricity, internet, and more should be provided as
social rights to everyone, not hoarded for the profit of a few
billionaires.<br />
<br />
Third, instead of bailing out oil and natural gas companies during
this crisis as Trump has suggested, Congress should take advantage of
low oil prices to begin to phase out domestic oil production while
introducing aggressive Green New Deal legislation that mandates carbon
neutrality by 2030 while creating millions of good, green jobs. If we
are to avoid catastrophic climate change — which will make natural
disasters like hurricanes and global pandemics like coronavirus much
more frequent and much more intense — we need to transition our economy
off of fossil fuels starting immediately. With a looming economic crash
that could put millions out of work, low interest rates and a oil price
crash make this the perfect time for the Federal Government to begin
this transformation.<br />
<br />
In the face of a pandemic, we recognize we are only as safe as the
people most impacted by our current systems. As a fourth demand, we call
for a nationwide end to cash bail and a moratorium on deportations. The
US is home to the largest detention system in the world. Given the
torturous conditions, overcrowding, and unaccountable nature of our
current carceral system, we call for individuals in prisons, jails,
detention centers, and camps to be let go and that facilities are
properly staffed with medical teams to ensure the well-being of those
who cannot be temporarily released. We demand a moratorium on
deportations to ensure that immigrant communities are kept safe and are
not discouraged from seeking treatment.<br />
<br />
We echo the demands laid out by Bernie Sanders earlier today, as he
calls for state and national hotlines for residents to use for
resources, information, and updates. We agree that this level of
transparency must be relayed by scientists and health experts and not
politicians. A vaccine, when developed, must be free, and that any
medicine developed to help with the crisis must be sold at cost. The ICU
and ventilator shortage must be addressed, and medical residents,
retired medical staff, and other medical personnel should be mobilized,
staffed with proper instruction and personal protective equipment, to
ensure adequate staffing. We also agree with his call for emergency
unemployment assistance at 100% of a worker’s income for ALL people,
including those who work off tips, gig workers, domestic workers, and
independent contractors. There must be emergency shelters erected,
complete with healthcare and food, for the unhoused, domestic violence
survivors, and college students.<br />
<br />
Finally, all of this social spending should be paid for by taxing the
rich. The American working class has repeatedly bailed out the same
massive corporations and billionaires that cause and exacerbate crises.
The Trump administration’s proposed solution, a payroll tax cut, would
not provide any relief for the working class and, in fact, would
exacerbate the issue by providing an incentive to continue working, even
if sick, particularly for those without remote work settings or paid
sick leave. The proposal would also endanger some of our most vulnerable
populations by gutting funding to Social Security and Medicare. Time
and again, the ruling class uses crisis to pit us against each other.
This time, the rich — whose wealth is produced by workers — should foot
the bill.<br />
<br />
As a practical measure and show of solidarity for all working class
people, especially the elderly, unhoused, chronically ill, and
immunosuppressed who are most vulnerable to COVID-19, <b>we recommend that all chapters immediately begin implementing social distancing measures,</b> including:<br />
<ul>
<li>Cancel, postpone, or move online any meetings scheduled for more than a small group of people;</li>
<li>Practice the <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://act.dsausa.org/go/94463?t%3D3%26akid%3D43306%252E137929%252EVINhPF&source=gmail&ust=1584147110339000&usg=AFQjCNGHrbgxazy7t_MQvA3c_qiyZNFHBQ" href="https://act.dsausa.org/go/94463?t=3&akid=43306%2E137929%2EVINhPF" rel="noopener" target="_blank">CDC’s recommended preventative actions</a> as precautionary measures, especially maintaining a distance of 6 feet or more from others;</li>
<li>Establish a chapter-wide COVID-19 policy <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://act.dsausa.org/go/94464?t%3D4%26akid%3D43306%252E137929%252EVINhPF&source=gmail&ust=1584147110339000&usg=AFQjCNFZwnyiZztEwkLb0dVoP_alrptrdA" href="https://act.dsausa.org/go/94464?t=4&akid=43306%2E137929%2EVINhPF" rel="noopener" target="_blank">describing symptoms members should watch for</a> and to encourage members who are sick to stay home or attend meetings through <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=http://act.dsausa.org/go/94465?t%3D5%26akid%3D43306%252E137929%252EVINhPF&source=gmail&ust=1584147110339000&usg=AFQjCNF9lc0ctuDULH3_D-VJMyiL9B_TBw" href="http://act.dsausa.org/go/94465?t=5&akid=43306%2E137929%2EVINhPF" rel="noopener" target="_blank">phone or video conferencing software like Zoom;</a></li>
<li>Setup infrastructure for members to text-bank and phone-bank from home instead of canvassing whenever possible;</li>
<li>Create a plan to check-in on local membership and make sure everyone
has the resources needed to navigate this crisis, especially elderly
members and members who are immunocompromised;</li>
<li>Develop scenario plans to adapt meetings and actions based on the rate of infection in your area, <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://act.dsausa.org/go/94466?t%3D6%26akid%3D43306%252E137929%252EVINhPF&source=gmail&ust=1584147110339000&usg=AFQjCNHggRLL6WdhBCYtJGxHKJl1ihchWQ" href="https://act.dsausa.org/go/94466?t=6&akid=43306%2E137929%2EVINhPF" rel="noopener" target="_blank">see this template</a> for sample scenarios and alternatives to traditional mass mobilizations;</li>
<li>Perform routine cleaning of surfaces such as, tables, electronics,
door handles, etc. before and after all in person meetings using
products such as sanitizing wipes or antibacterial spray;</li>
<li>Supply hand sanitizer at all meetings and encourage its use <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://act.dsausa.org/go/94467?t%3D7%26akid%3D43306%252E137929%252EVINhPF&source=gmail&ust=1584147110339000&usg=AFQjCNGVwpI-OF4TeAhuts8KqUMBrxqzQQ" href="https://act.dsausa.org/go/94467?t=7&akid=43306%2E137929%2EVINhPF" rel="noopener" target="_blank">(see the CDC’s guide for producing hand sanitizer);</a></li>
<li>Place posters that encourage good coughing and sneezing etiquette and hand washing in meeting areas.</li>
</ul>
Our current system is unequal, unjust, and careening towards
disaster. It is as clear now as ever that our society faces a choice: we
will have socialism, or we will have barbarism. We call on chapters to
use the aforementioned recommendations to practice solidarity with your
local membership and keep each other safe. We also implore chapters to
review this <a data-saferedirecturl="https://www.google.com/url?q=https://act.dsausa.org/go/94468?t%3D8%26akid%3D43306%252E137929%252EVINhPF&source=gmail&ust=1584147110339000&usg=AFQjCNFhnvXOaxM_iYmYR3E6UazLg2Ngvw" href="https://act.dsausa.org/go/94468?t=8&akid=43306%2E137929%2EVINhPF" rel="noopener" target="_blank">COVID-19 Resources Guide for Organizers</a> to form demands and identify resources that can inform our organizing in this crucial moment.The Punk Patriothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02671149620207872986noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5207550747227359267.post-28685896899115709632020-02-24T22:07:00.001-05:002020-02-24T22:07:08.216-05:00The "Electability" Argument<iframe width="560" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/DfEjsHViInw" frameborder="0" allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen></iframe><br />
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PATREON: <a href="https://www.patreon.com/punkpatriot">https://www.patreon.com/punkpatriot</a>The Punk Patriothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02671149620207872986noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5207550747227359267.post-32830431519617576072020-02-24T22:05:00.000-05:002020-02-24T22:05:16.832-05:00Trump Must Stand Trial For War Crimes<iframe allow="accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture" allowfullscreen="" frameborder="0" height="315" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/5MNgsTU3tL8" width="560"></iframe><br />
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PATREON: <a href="https://www.youtube.com/redirect?redir_token=_dx9nJpRo40KL8tAKUJrIGwC_-l8MTU4MjY4NjExN0AxNTgyNTk5NzE3&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.patreon.com%2Fpunkpatriot&v=5MNgsTU3tL8&event=video_description">https://www.patreon.com/punkpatriot</a><br />
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<br />
Supplemental reading: <br />
<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/redirect?redir_token=_dx9nJpRo40KL8tAKUJrIGwC_-l8MTU4MjY4NjExN0AxNTgyNTk5NzE3&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.marxists.org%2Farchive%2Ftrotsky%2Fgermany%2F1931%2F311208.htm&v=5MNgsTU3tL8&event=video_description">Trotsky's "For a Worker's Front United Against Fascism" (1931)</a><br />
<br />
<br />
Lenin's "Imperialism: A Very Special Stage of Capitalism" (1916)<br />
<a href="https://www.youtube.com/redirect?redir_token=_dx9nJpRo40KL8tAKUJrIGwC_-l8MTU4MjY4NjExN0AxNTgyNTk5NzE3&q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.marxists.org%2Farchive%2Flenin%2Fworks%2F1916%2Fimp-hsc%2Fch07.htm&v=5MNgsTU3tL8&event=video_description">https://www.marxists.org/archive/leni...</a><br />
<br />
The Punk Patriothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02671149620207872986noreply@blogger.com3tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5207550747227359267.post-27108112513522659622019-12-30T08:27:00.004-05:002019-12-30T08:27:44.997-05:00We Are The Majority; We Must Turn That Into Power<i>By Kevin Zeese and Margaret Flowers</i>, <a href="https://popularresistance.org/we-are-the-majority-we-must-turn-that-into-power/">PopularResistance.org </a><br />
<br />
Over the last decade, a national consensus has developed for a
progressive left agenda on the economy, social services, the climate
crisis and ending wars but the movement has not yet built the power to
make that a reality. The next decade will be ripe with opportunities for
transformational change due to a combination of expanding popular
movements as well as escalating crisis situations.<br />
Positive change will only occur if these movements evolve into an
organized popular movement that truly represents the people’s interests
against the elites. The movement must protect the planet at this
critical time of climate crisis against the profiteering of the
planet-plundering capitalist class. We must stand against continued
militarism, bloated and wasteful weapons spending, military conflict and
regime change imperialism.<br />
<br />
The movement must be clear about which side we are on, the people’s
side, put forward a vision of a future that draws the masses — including
members of the power structure — and be organized to fight for our
vision.<br />
<br />
<div class="wp-caption aligncenter" id="attachment_53884" style="max-width: 576px;">
<a href="https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2014/11/People-have-the-power-Ferguson-City-Hall-protest-101-13-14.jpg"><img alt="" class="wp-image-53884 size-full" height="351" src="https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2014/11/People-have-the-power-Ferguson-City-Hall-protest-101-13-14.jpg" width="566" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text">
People have the power; protest in Ferguson City Hall in 2014.</div>
</div>
<br />
<strong>We Have Built National Consensus</strong><br />
<br />
Since the Occupy-era of 2011, the movement has grown, not disappeared
as many in the media would lead you to believe. People have been
working more deeply on multiple fronts of struggle building national
consensus. Below we review some key issues where consensus has been
achieved but where we still need to build the power to enact change.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2013/10/Class-war-ahead.jpg"><img alt="" class="aligncenter size-full wp-image-19536" height="416" src="https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2013/10/Class-war-ahead.jpg" width="620" /></a><br />
<h4>
<strong>Reducing Inequality</strong></h4>
The Occupy Movement highlighted the 99 percent vs. the 1 percent. It
was a class war, out in the open, with the people fighting back for the
first time in decades. The US has become<span> </span><a href="https://nonprofitquarterly.org/highest-inequality-human-history-societies-ripe-social-change/">one of the most unequal societies in history</a> resulting in movements against inequality growing. There is now support for taxing the wealthy with<span> </span><a href="https://news.gallup.com/poll/248681/tax-day-update-americans-not-seeing-tax-cut-benefit.aspx">Gallup data</a><span> </span><span>showing that 62 percent of people in the US say “upper-income people” pay too little in taxes. Further, 69 percent say that</span><span> </span>corporations <span>are paying too little in taxes. Other polling shows that over <a href="https://thehill.com/policy/finance/410645-poll-78-percent-of-workers-say-ceos-make-too-much?utm_source=link_newsv9&utm_campaign=item_267488&utm_medium=copy">three-quarters of US workers believe that CEOs make too much</a> and that <a href="https://www.gsb.stanford.edu/faculty-research/publications/americans-ceo-pay-2016-public-perception-survey-ceo-compensation?utm_source=link_newsv9&utm_campaign=item_267488&utm_medium=copy">about the same percentage of all people</a> (74 percent) say that CEOs are overpaid.</span><br />
<br />
The support for progressive policies confronting inequality is expressed not only in the campaigns of <a href="https://berniesanders.com/issues/tax-extreme-wealth/">Bernie Sanders</a> and <a href="https://elizabethwarren.com/wealth-gap">Elizabeth Warren</a> but <a href="https://joebiden.com/joes-vision/">even Joe Biden</a>, a corporate centrist Democrat, has had to at least rhetorically agree, saying: <span>“Economic
inequality is pulling this country apart. We need stronger labor laws
and a tax code that rewards a middle class that’s been cut out of
decades of economic growth — not just the wealthy, who have gotten too
many tax breaks for too long.” And, Donald Trump won the election in
part by playing to the economic insecurity of working people, unfair
corporate trade and against the elites in DC.</span><br />
<br />
Despite this, over the last decade, the wealthy have benefitted under
Democrats and Republicans, while the workers have struggled. Donald <a href="https://popularresistance.org/6-worst-things-about-trump-tax-plan/">Trump and the Republicans</a> have put in place the most regressive tax policy in US history. Last year, <a href="https://popularresistance.org/ninety-one-profitable-fortune-500-companies-paid-0-00-in-federal-income-taxes/">ninety-one Fortune 500 Companies paid $0.00 in federal income taxes</a>. Over the last decade, <a href="https://popularresistance.org/ten-year-challenge-for-400-wealthiest-americans-shows-fortunes-doubled-since-2009-while-tax-rates-dropped/">the 400 wealthiest people’s fortunes doubled while tax rates dropped</a>. This has led to the unjust reality that the <a href="https://popularresistance.org/400-richest-u-s-families-paid-lower-tax-rate-than-working-class-study-finds/">400 richest US families paid a lower tax rate than working people</a>. When looked at through a <a href="https://popularresistance.org/black-white-wage-gap-worse-than-in-1979/">racial prism, inequality is worse than it was in 1979</a>, when it was already a crisis. This is not just Trump, <a href="https://popularresistance.org/the-wealthiest-americans-havent-paid-their-fair-share-in-decades/">the wealthiest have not paid their fair share in decades</a>. For workers, a so-called <a href="https://popularresistance.org/booming-economy-means-more-bad-jobs-and-faster-race-to-the-bottom/">booming economy has meant more bad jobs and a faster race to the bottom</a>.<br />
<br />
In the last year, the <a href="https://popularresistance.org/worlds-500-richest-people-gained-1-2-trillion-in-wealth-in-2019-analysis/">world’s 500 richest people gained $1.2 trillion in wealth.</a> <a href="https://popularresistance.org/how-much-in-inequality-tax-are-you-paying/">Sam Pizzigati </a>writes if we confronted inequality and put in place policies like Japan, the third wealthiest country in the world, <span>the median net worth of people in the US</span><span> “</span><em>would triple</em><span>, from $66,000 to $199,000.” W</span>e need to build political power to create a more fair economy. The Next Systems project <a href="https://popularresistance.org/major-advances-in-2019-toward-a-more-democratic-economy/">highlights</a> some of the places where that is happening.<br />
<br />
<div class="wp-caption aligncenter" id="attachment_149220" style="max-width: 630px;">
<a href="https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2019/06/nurses-and-doctors-protest-ama-over-improved-medicare-for-all-june-8-2019-e1577647031383.jpg"><img alt="" class="size-full wp-image-149220" height="299" src="https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2019/06/nurses-and-doctors-protest-ama-over-improved-medicare-for-all-june-8-2019-e1577647031383.jpg" width="620" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text">
<br /></div>
<div class="wp-caption-text">
Nurses,
doctors, and medical students demonstrated outside the annual meeting
of the American Medical Association in Chicago on Saturday, demanding
the group “get out of the way” in the fight for a Medicare for All
program. (Photo: National Nurses United/Twitter)</div>
</div>
<br />
<strong>Putting in Place Improved Medicare for All</strong><br />
<br />
Another issue that has popular political support and is a top concern of people is <a href="https://popularresistance.org/we-desperately-need-medicare-for-all-these-10-statistics-prove-it/">the crisis in US healthcare</a>. National Improved Medicare for all has <a href="https://popularresistance.org/the-transformative-potential-of-single-payer/">transformative potential</a> that will shrink inequality and <a href="https://popularresistance.org/medicare-for-all-would-cut-poverty-by-over-20-percent/">cut poverty by 20 percent</a> while providing high-quality healthcare to everyone.<br />
<br />
The <a href="http://healthoverprofit.org/2017/02/05/obamacare-the-biggest-insurance-scam-in-history/">scam of the Affordable Care Act</a> formalized
an unequal health system, giving names to inequality — platinum, gold,
silver, and bronze plans — while giving hundreds of billions of dollars
in subsidies to the corrupt insurance industry and allowing<a href="https://popularresistance.org/100000-per-year-pill-how-us-health-agencies-choose-pharma-over-patients/"> pharmaceuticals</a> and <a href="https://popularresistance.org/the-sickness-of-american-healthcare/">hospitals</a> to charge exorbitant prices. Although the power structure <a href="http://healthoverprofit.org/2019/06/26/new-report-how-media-and-polling-company-adoption-of-insurance-industry-spin-warps-democracy/">has tried to confuse the issue</a>, polls show <a href="http://healthoverprofit.org/2019/07/03/majority-backs-medicare-for-all-replacing-private-plans-if-preferred-providers-stay/" rel="bookmark" title="Majority Backs ‘Medicare for All’ Replacing Private Plans, if Preferred Providers Stay"><span class="firstpart">majority support for ‘Medicare for All’</span></a> even when they say it will replace private plans. No poll accurately describes improved Medicare for all as <a href="http://healthoverprofit.org/2019/06/26/wapo-doesnt-want-voters-to-know-medicare-for-all-will-cut-their-health-costs/">cutting healthcare costs for people</a> or says that <a href="http://healthoverprofit.org/2019/11/05/under-medicare-for-all-you-will-never-lose-your-health-insurance-ever-again/">people will never lose their healthcare</a> again, instead, the media and bi-partisan insurance-funded politicians <a href="http://healthoverprofit.org/2019/12/10/insurance-companies-are-spending-millions-on-attack-ads-against-medicare-for-all/">spew false information</a>. Improved Medicare for all has <a href="http://healthoverprofit.org/2019/03/29/how-medicare-for-all-went-from-pipe-dream-to-mainstream/">gone from a pipe dream to mainstream</a> as the movement has made the issue a litmus test for their presidential nomination with <a href="http://healthoverprofit.org/2019/01/09/democrats-dont-just-support-medicare-for-all-84-in-new-poll-want-party-leaders-to-make-it-extremely-important-priority/">84 percent of Democratic voters saying it is a priority</a> issue.<br />
<br />
No matter who is elected, the improved Medicare for all movement will
need to continue to build its power. The insurance industry and others
who profit from the status quo are resisting change in a classic battle
of <a href="https://popularresistance.org/medicare-for-all-in-the-democratic-party-corporate-money-vs-the-people/">corporate money vs. the people</a>. The single-payer movement <a href="http://healthoverprofit.org/2018/12/18/hope-strategy-retreat-report/">has a strategy to win</a> and has <a href="https://popularresistance.org/why-the-latest-attack-on-single-payer-backfired/">successfully turned attacks against those who oppose us.</a> If we continue to organize, Medicare for all has the potential to become <a href="https://popularresistance.org/improved-medicare-for-all-unstoppable/">an unstoppable political issue</a>.<br />
<br />
<div class="wp-caption aligncenter" id="attachment_157306" style="max-width: 634px;">
<a href="https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2019/11/white-house-climate-protest-0900_salwan-georges-washington-post-via-getty-e1577647094731.jpg"><img alt="" class="size-full wp-image-157306" height="416" src="https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2019/11/white-house-climate-protest-0900_salwan-georges-washington-post-via-getty-e1577647094731.jpg" width="624" /></a><div class="wp-caption-text">
<br /></div>
<div class="wp-caption-text">
WASHINGTON,
DC – JUNE 1: A replica of a clock is seen at Lafayette Square as people
gathered to protest President Trump announcement that U.S. will pull
out of the Paris climate agreement on Thursday, June 1, 2017 in
Washington, D.C. (Photo by Salwan Georges/The Washington Post via Getty
Images)</div>
</div>
<br />
<strong>Confronting the Climate Crisis</strong><br />
<br />
The last decade was the <a href="https://popularresistance.org/earths-hottest-decade-on-record-marked-by-extreme-storms-deadly-wildfires/">Earth’s hottest ever, marked by extreme storms, and deadly wildfires</a>. <a href="https://popularresistance.org/11000-scientists-say-that-the-climate-emergency-is-here/">Thousands of scientists</a><a href="https://popularresistance.org/11000-scientists-say-that-the-climate-emergency-is-here/"> have been issuing emergency</a> warnings about <a href="https://popularresistance.org/earth-nears-irreversible-tipping-points/">irreversible changes</a> as they see <a href="https://popularresistance.org/with-climate-discontent-rising-scientists-warn-of-social-tipping-point/">tipping points are approaching</a>
with frightening prospects, especially for those who are young and will
live through escalating storms, floods, droughts, fires and more. <a href="https://www.blogger.com/null">Youth rank responding to the climate crisis</a> as the most vital issue of our times.<br />
<br />
Despite this, the <a href="https://popularresistance.org/cop25-climate-summit-ends-in-staggering-failure-of-leadership/">staggering failure of political leadership</a> continues as we saw at the most recent UN climate meeting. The crisis emanates from the US where <a href="https://popularresistance.org/u-s-seen-as-climate-risk-with-two-thirds-of-new-oil-and-gas/">two-thirds of new oil and gas</a> is produced. <a href="https://popularresistance.org/failed-action-on-the-climate-crisis-makes-resistance-the-imperative/">Failed bi-partisan US leadership on the climate crisis makes resistance imperative</a>. People have been responding in the US and globally with escalating protests including days of action involving the <a href="https://popularresistance.org/with-over-6-million-people-worldwide-climate-strikes-largest-coordinated-global-uprising-since-iraq-war-protests/">largest protests ever involving more than six million people.</a> Now we need to <a href="https://popularresistance.org/global-climate-strike-from-protest-to-power/">move from protest to power</a>.<br />
<br />
Responding to the climate crisis requires major transformations in
the US economy as multiple sectors — energy, transportation, housing,
manufacturing, agriculture, banking, among others — will have to
transition. There is a growing understanding of what needs to be done
with the most detailed plan coming from Green candidate, <a href="https://howiehawkins.us/ecosocialist-green-new-deal/">Howie Hawkins’ ecosocialist Green New Deal</a>. Last week, Stanford researchers put forward <a href="https://popularresistance.org/every-country-have-a-green-new-deal/">Green New Deal plans for 143 countries</a>. Here are <a href="https://popularresistance.org/the-climatepresident-action-plan-10-steps-for-the-next-administrations-first-10-days/">ten immediate steps for the next president</a>.<br />
<br />
We need to <a href="https://popularresistance.org/the-grand-illusion-corporate-government-and-corporations-will-save-us-from-the-climate-crisis/">defeat the illusion that corporations and corporate governance</a> can solve the climate crisis. Once again, it is a battle of <a href="https://popularresistance.org/how-to-save-the-planet-and-ourselves/">the people vs. corporate power</a>. To <a href="https://popularresistance.org/saving-the-planet-means-overthrowing-the-ruling-elites/">save the planet we must overcome</a> the ruling elites.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/08/War-protest-2006-against-School-of-the-Americas-in-Fort-Benning-Ga.-Ashleigh-Nushawg-CC-BY-SA-2.0-e1503762338826.jpg"><img alt="" class="size-full wp-image-111666" height="314" src="https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/08/War-protest-2006-against-School-of-the-Americas-in-Fort-Benning-Ga.-Ashleigh-Nushawg-CC-BY-SA-2.0-e1503762338826.jpg" width="533" /></a><br />
<br />
<strong>Ending Militarism</strong><br />
<br />
US <a href="https://popularresistance.org/militarism-is-exacerbating-the-climate-crisis/">militarism is exacerbating the climate crisis</a>. While <a href="https://popularresistance.org/we-cant-confront-climate-change-while-lavishly-funding-the-pentagon/">we can’t confront climate change while lavishly funding the Pentagon</a> that is not the only reason to end US militarism. The recent release of <a href="https://www.blogger.com/null">the Afghan Papers</a>
showed us that the longest war in US history, Afghanistan, has been a
lie. Pentagon spending, now over 60 percent of discretionary spending, <a href="https://popularresistance.org/lessons-from-battling-the-pentagon-for-four-decades/">has been escalating for decades</a> and most recently <a href="https://popularresistance.org/impeachment-indicts-both-parties-clarifies-tasks-2020/">a record bi-partisan Pentagon budget was passed while the people were distracted</a> with impeachment.<br />
<br />
The US military is <a href="https://popularresistance.org/a-new-us-manhattan-project-planning-war-with-china/">planning a war with China</a>. <a href="https://popularresistance.org/zombie-nato-is-obsolete-time-to-end-it/">NATO is looking for new enemies</a> to justify its existence and the <a href="https://popularresistance.org/the-next-frontier-trump-and-space-weapons/">US is expanding its weapons race to outer space</a>. While human needs go unmet and underfunded, the military is given a blank check despite <a href="https://popularresistance.org/pentagon-fails-its-first-ever-audit/">failing its only financial audit</a>.<br />
<br />
It is not only wars and militarism that must be dismantled, but the
US foreign policy of domination and empire must come to an end. This
includes regime change campaigns as currently being attempted in <a href="http://www.popularresistance.org/tag/Venezuela/">Venezuela</a>, <a href="http://www.popularresistance.org/tag/iran/">Iran</a>, and <a href="http://www.popularresistance.org/tag/Bolivia/">Bolivia</a>, and recent years in <a href="https://popularresistance.org/violent-coup-fails-in-nica/">Nicaragua</a>, <a href="https://popularresistance.org/ukraingate-teaches-us-more-about-ourselves-than-trump-or-biden/">Ukraine</a>, and <a href="https://popularresistance.org/stop-the-turkish-invasion-of-syria-us-out-of-syria-and-the-middle-east/">Syria</a>. The illegal use of <a href="https://popularresistance.org/sanctions-harm-one-third-of-the-worlds-people/">unilateral coercive measures, which the US calls sanctions</a> but which are another form of war, kill tens of thousands annually.<br />
<br />
US <a href="https://popularresistance.org/us-empire-is-failing-time-to-change-course/">empire is failing</a>. It has resulted in <a href="https://popularresistance.org/ferguson-exposes-the-reality-of-militarized-racist-policing/">militarized police and led to racist police</a> killings. The movement to end war is growing and having victories like <a href="https://popularresistance.org/military-parade-cancelled/">stopping the Trump military parade</a> but we need to put forward a vision for a peace economy that <a href="https://popularresistance.org/no-foreign-bases-challenging-the-footprint-of-us-empire/">ends the era of global military bases</a>. A better jobs program than the military is putting in place a <a href="https://popularresistance.org/the-green-new-deal-and-the-shift-to-a-new-economy/">Green New Deal</a>, building urgently needed housing, remaking infrastructure and providing for human needs. The era of <a href="https://popularresistance.org/us-military-budget-its-components-challenges-and-growth/">wasteful spending</a> on a bloated and unnecessary military <a href="https://popularresistance.org/publicoverwhelminglysupportslargemilitaryspendingcuts/">must come to an end</a>.<br />
<br />
<a href="https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/you-have-the-power-to-be-the-change-e1577647608266.jpg"><img alt="" class="aligncenter wp-image-118302 size-full" height="424" src="https://popularresistance-uploads.s3.amazonaws.com/uploads/2017/12/you-have-the-power-to-be-the-change-e1577647608266.jpg" width="620" /></a><br />
<br />
<strong>An Era of Transformation is Upon Us</strong><br />
<br />
These are just some of the issues where consensus is being achieved
and where change is urgently needed. Crises are resulting in movement
building over the <a href="https://popularresistance.org/african-americans-fighting-fascism-and-racism/">resurgence of racism,</a> racist <a href="https://popularresistance.org/a-state-by-state-plan-to-end-our-mass-incarceration-crisis/">mass incarceration</a> and <a href="https://popularresistance.org/calculating-the-damage-from-a-century-of-drug-prohibition/">drug wars</a> as well as <a href="https://popularresistance.org/community-control-of-police/">police violence in black and brown communities</a>, the mistreatment of workers leading to <a href="https://popularresistance.org/over-the-last-week-at-least-85000-workers-were-out-on-13-different-strikes/">record days on strike</a>, the crises in <a href="https://popularresistance.org/homelessness-crisis-is-deepening-in-the-united-states/">homelessness</a>, <a href="https://popularresistance.org/the-media-does-not-cover-poverty-despite-record-poverty/">poverty</a> and <a href="https://popularresistance.org/green-new-deal-housing-10-million-homes-in-ten-years/">housing,</a> deep <a href="https://popularresistance.org/the-student-debt-crisis-is-exploding/">student debt</a>, <a href="https://popularresistance.org/junk-planet-is-earth-the-largest-garbage-dump-in-the-universe/">environmental degradation</a> beyond the climate crisis, and the <a href="https://popularresistance.org/newsletter-us-democracy-crisis-creates-illegitimate-political-system/">crisis in US democracy</a>, are some others.<br />
<br />
One could look at today and be depressed at seeing no opportunity for
change. In reality, these crises are opportunities for transformational
changes to build a better world for ourselves and future generations.
This contradiction is highlighted in a recent <a href="https://popularresistance.org/can-now-really-be-the-best-time-to-be-alive/">dialogue between long-time activist George Lakey and a young organizer Yotam Marom</a>.
Marom had a hard time accepting Lakey’s claim that “There’s no other
time I’d rather be alive.” Lakey explains why we are in a better
position than movements were in the 60s and 70s to make deeper
transformational change. He sees current polarization as an opportunity,
as well as the issues discussed in this article, the state of the
movement, training available to activists and how crises will force
change. Of course, there is no guarantee regarding our success but there
is potential — potential we can realize.<br />
<br />
We are building toward being a movement that can make transformational changes over the next decade. There are <a href="https://popularresistance.org/declare-climate-emergency/">opportunities to</a><span> organize
in our communities, connect with others throughout the country and
around the world. The potential of a movement of movements linking
issues that seem unrelated is being realized. We are building solidarity
from person-to-person across movements and across borders. Together we
can build the power to create a new world.</span>The Punk Patriothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02671149620207872986noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5207550747227359267.post-75313581224840682022017-06-12T09:50:00.000-04:002017-06-12T09:50:07.468-04:00Jazz Activism<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">As somebody who both studies revolution, and as somebody who went to school for jazz performance, the interplay between spontaneity and organization is particularly of interest to me.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">Leaders exist whether or not we call them leaders. Events at occupy wall street were organized by teams of people, and did not happen spontaneously, but required days, sometimes weeks, of nonstop planning and organization.</span></div>
<div class="p2">
<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">The model of “consensus” is not a particularly anarchist or socialist model of running meetings, it originated in the quaker church and was adopted by utopian idealists in the 1960s. It’s hung around as a way to run meetings because that’s what people know. It didn’t spontaneously come about, it was an extant operating system and was deliberately put in place by leadership who felt it was a good system for running meetings. Whether or not it actually is, is another matter that can be debated.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">Seemingly spontaneous moments will occur, but the consciousness of those moments will be varied, depending on the level of self-education of those engaging the moment.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">There is a difference between stopping a single pipeline and stopping the economic system that keeps building these pipelines.</span></div>
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<span class="s1">Jazz uses improvisation, but it also requires structure. Some tunes, like standards provide a structural foundation with given chords and rhythms that one improvises over. But there is also free jazz, which starts with very little material and is collaboratively created through the interaction between all the musicians participating. The less structure and the less material one starts with, the more intensely studied one needs to be in music theory, the greater the depth of knowledge one needs to have of harmony, rhythm, and melody in order to make it work. Otherwise you’ll just end up playing the same things that you already know over and over. <br />
</span></div>
<div class="p1">
<span class="s1">There is a difference between camping out on wall street and actually dismantling capitalism and the capitalist state. If we get too close to actually threatening the functioning of the system, the system will use violence to crush our resistance, as we saw during the eviction of OWS and destruction of our camps on the day that we planned to actually occupy the floor of the NYSE.</span></div>
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<span class="s1"></span><br /></div>
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<span class="s1">In the years ahead the conflicts will be greater and greater, and our ability to resist the violence of the state will need to grow exponentially. If we’re going to do this, it won’t happen by accident, and it will require extremely thoughtful and organized planning, and the discussion of tactics that we will use, and tactics that we will not use, in any given moment, depending on the strength of our forces. If we are serious about overthrowing capitalism and the state, we can’t just protest for the sake of protesting, nor can we just throw bricks through a starbucks window for the sake of destroying property. If we are serious about winning, we need to be cautious about inviting excuses for the capitalist state to crush us using violence, and be serious about building our forces, and building the level of education of the general population.<br />
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Spontaneous moments will happen. Our role as Socialists is to prepare for them.</span></div>
The Punk Patriothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02671149620207872986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5207550747227359267.post-88075064997393439892017-03-25T16:37:00.003-04:002017-03-25T16:40:15.880-04:00The Limits of Identity as a Lens to Understand the WorldSo referring to members of organizations who are part of an oppressed identity group as "token members" as a way to insult the organization is messed up. It assumes that those individuals have no self-agency, no control over their own thoughts, and that they didn't come to their politics on their own terms, informed by their own experiences and self-education.<br />
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Lately, I've seen the accusation of people being "tokens" done by people who disagree with Marxism and the politics of intersectionality and solidarity, who use identity as their primary lens for understanding the world, and believe that identity is sufficient to inform political and organizational strategy.<br />
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It instead highlights the failure of identity to explain the world, and the political conclusions reached by individuals of oppressed identities that are not in lock step with members of identitarian cliques. People in various identity groups often believe and act contrary to the way that they are expected to. This incongruence between believe and action, and identity is often explained away by identitarians saying that these individuals are not actually members of that oppressed identity, and is invalidating of that persons experience and identity as a member of that oppressed identity.<br />
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This sort of illogical and insulting conclusion leads to white activists shouting down black people as being anti-black racists, or shouting down trans people as being transphobic. And the reason for this isn't because there is any substance to these accusations-- it's because there is a strategic or political difference, which is being elided. <br /><br />Now it's entirely possible that black people have internalized anti-black prejudices, or that trans people have internalized anti-trans prejudices-- and the identitarians shouting people down have to agree in order to engage in this sort of behavior. But to agree that identity doesn't coincide with politics invalidates the foundational premise of identity politics-- that identity is sufficient to inform your political worldview and strategies for change.<br />
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Now identity politics is problematic itself for a host of other reasons. Using identity to explain why people should have a certain set of politics is reductive (the opposite of intersectional), and members of oppressed identity groups who do not fall lock-step in with a clique are cast as being "self-hating", or as being guilty of upholding and defending other oppressions.<br />
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This is all done as a way to hide political disagreements and cast the person in question as being "bad" rather than actually having out debate around areas where disagreements lay, with the goal of winning people to a point of view. It attacks the person and not the argument (ad homeniem), which is toxic and destructive behavior.<br />
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Intersectionality, as it was originally conceived by Kimberle Crenshaw is not about how many oppressions you as an individual can tick a box next to on a list. It's about how identities and oppressions interact and cannot be (and should not be) used to reduce any individual to any one monolithic set of experiences. It was an argument against both identity-based reductionism and class based reductionism, but has been taken by those who perhaps have not read the source materials to mean something entirely the opposite, and they instead argue that identity CAN be used to reduce an individual to a monolithic identity.<br />
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Intersectionality, as originally conceived, is an argument in favor of Solidarity politics, because nobody can be reduced to monolithic identities, and all our struggles intersect and overlap with one another. Just as black women have a different lived experience from black men because of gender, and also have a different lived experience than white women because of race, there is no monolithic "black female experience" either. The black lesbian experience is different from the black female experience. Ultimately, everybody's experience is different, and identity shapes people's oppressions, and these oppressions are different from person to person, but the conclusion that must be drawn is either that each of us are too unique in our own oppressions to come together and fight in solidarity, or our oppressions are linked and intersect in ways that require us to come together and fight in solidarity.<br />
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One of these strategies will destroy the left, and the other will build the left into a force that can take on all systems of oppression and defeat them. I'm going to throw my lot in with the politics of solidarity, and fight to end all oppressions, even ones that I don't experience directly.<br />
<br />The Punk Patriothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02671149620207872986noreply@blogger.com1tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5207550747227359267.post-46241235864730600132017-03-22T11:49:00.000-04:002017-03-22T12:48:08.515-04:00If the Illuminati are real, I want to join<br />
There's two options: The illuminati are either real or they are not. <br />
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If they are real, I want to join; and if they aren't-- I want to start them up. Having god-powers to control all the major events in world history for our own nefarious ends sounds like a sweet deal. But wait, what are our nefarious ends?<br />
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Gaining control of everything? That can't be true-- The illuminati have *always* been in control of everything, including the weather. There's literally no way to stop us, so like, why even bother thinking about it? <br />
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We, the Illuminati, offer you something that you desire: a sense of purpose in a cruel, random, and unforgiving universe. We give you a story about why bad things happen to good people. We provide the illusion of order in a random chaotic universe. <br />
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So long as you have us in charge, you don't have to think about how totally terrifying it is that nobody is actually in charge of this chaotic nonsensical shitshow we call life.<br />
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Not convinced? Just imagine a world without the Illuminati, and you'll see why you need us.<br />
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Shootings would happen not because it's a false flag operation, but because some random asshole has a gun!!! Yikes! If that were the case, mass shootings would happen like, every year! What if the nearly <a href="https://everytownresearch.org/gun-violence-by-the-numbers/">100 people who die of gun violence every day in America</a>, die for no reason, other than some other asshole has a gun? Wouldn't you rather it instead be part of our plan to slowly eradicate the human race in accordance to the Georgia Guide Stones? Because, if it wasn't our doing, that would mean that nearly 100 people die every day <i>for no reason!</i> That's really scary and upsetting! <br />
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Or what about extreme weather events!? If it wasn't for HAARP controlling the weather, extreme weather would be caused by naturally occurring meteorological forces that we've got no control over! Do you really want to feel powerless like that? I mean, it sounds really stupid to ascribe human motives like anger or malice to uncaring, unconscious weather systems that are literally not alive, and are just the product of a confluence of natural physical forces. If it wasn't for the Illuminati, weather systems would destroy people's homes for no reason! How terrifying! It's almost like it could happen to anybody! And for no reason! And it's not just the result of a kind of primitive thinking, like how the Vikings ascribed bad weather to the anger of Freya or Thor-- the Illuminati aren't actually gods. They are people who use their science powers, and their reverse engineered alien tech, and their special Jewish powers that only Jewish people get, to amass incredible amounts of wealth and power so that they can control the fabric of reality like gods. Which is why science is bad, and anything beyond your capacity to understand should be destroyed. That's so much more rational, don't you think?<br />
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If we got the illuminati out of controlling medicine, we'd have single payer healthcare by now (but no pharmaceuticals, because drugs are chemicals and are therefore bad-- unless that drug is marijuana, which has lots of chemicals that cure literally EVERYTHING). Or the opposite of Single Payer, because big government is bad, and we could all just retreat into our fallout bunkers and we'll just eat hydroponically grown kale and never die of anything because when you live underground, you can't get poisoned by chemtrails.<br />
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It goes without saying that the government is controlled by the illuminati, but what if it wasn't? That would mean that the ruling class instituted a sham democracy so that they could exploit the working class! That sounds like something Karl Marx would say! And we all know, Karl Marx was Illuminati, because he was ethnically Jewish, and used his special Jewish Powers to create communism-- which is not a form of democratic control of the workplace and society-- it's a ploy by the Illuminati! Why? We're not sure. We did that one just for fun, I guess.<br />
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If the illuminati didn't control financial sector? It'd be chaos! Stock prices would rise and fall with the anarchic forces of the market! And what then?! Why, we'd just have a bunch of greedy rich people fighting with one another to be the ones who are best able to enrich themselves at the expense of the working class and the environment! That sounds like boring old capitalism. There's no magic there. No thanks. Give me that zazzle, zing, pow-- give me that Illuminati! Capitalism could totally work if it wasn't for the Illuminati!<br />
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((psych! The whole "capitalism would work if it wasn't for the illuminati is actually a double-fake, by us, the illuminati! We use Capitalism to maintain our control over everything! That's how good we are! I put this part in double parenthesis so that way only people who are in the illuminati initiation program with me can read this part, otherwise the secret will get out that the illuminati aren't real and that it's just capitalism, the ruling class, and a complex tapestry of social forces and competing ideologies. Shh! Don't tell anyone!))<br />
<table cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0" class="tr-caption-container" style="float: right; margin-left: 1em; text-align: right;"><tbody>
<tr><td style="text-align: center;"><a href="https://www.spreadshirt.com/image-server/v1/designs/12550493,width=178,height=178/illuminati-eye-of-providence.png" imageanchor="1" style="clear: left; margin-bottom: 1em; margin-left: auto; margin-right: auto; text-align: center;"><img border="0" height="200" src="https://www.spreadshirt.com/image-server/v1/designs/12550493,width=178,height=178/illuminati-eye-of-providence.png" width="200" /></a></td></tr>
<tr><td class="tr-caption" style="text-align: center;">Our logo is super creepy looking, right?</td></tr>
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Clearly The illuminati are real though, and thank goodness. How do you explain David Rockefeller dying on the first day of the Pagan year? It was a ritual sacrifice! DUH! There's no way a really old guy with a ton of money (that you ascribe a bunch of weird values from your internalized anti-pagan sentiment that is quite literally a holdover from the Roman Empire's conquest of Europe) could have randomly died on a day that coincides with an arbitrary position of the Earth around the Sun! And if that is the case, it's quite frankly boring. Let's give his death magical powers instead!<br />
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The trilateral commission! New World Order? That's not internal competition between various sectors of the ruling class! It's us! All us! <br />
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Bra-burning feminists and the destruction of the family? That's not a result of thousands of years of patriarchy, unequal pay, and downward pressure on wages by the ruling class, that's the illuminati. You see, women don't actually want equal rights or equal pay. Naturally, they are very comfortable with their inferior station in life, and are docile like deer eating alfalfa pellets in a petting zoo. This is because genetically they are just <i>less good than men.</i> They actually have no agency over their own thoughts and are incapable of thinking for themselves or forming their own opinions. So what's up with all this feminism?! We'll that's just an illuminati thought-program that we poisoned their mind with using mind-control implant chips (you may know them as <a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Intrauterine_device">IUDs</a>) that beam thoughts into their brains using RFID tech. </div>
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((We call them RFIUDs... Shh!)).<br />
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Clearly, it's much better to have the Illuminati around. We make bad things happen so you have someone to blame, so you can sleep at night knowing that somebody is in control, so you don't have to be constantly be in a state of existential crisis about the cruel uncaring universe. We provide order to the chaos.<br />
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The Punk Patriothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02671149620207872986noreply@blogger.com447tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5207550747227359267.post-55494866124557288202017-02-14T01:52:00.000-05:002017-02-14T01:52:01.599-05:00If some alt-right dumbfuck tells you "the civil war wasn't about slavery" show them this<span style="background-color: #f6f7f9; color: #1d2129; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16.08px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">"Our new government is founded upon exactly the opposite idea; its foundations are laid, its corner- stone rests, upon the great truth that the negro is not equal to t</span></span><span style="background-color: #f6f7f9; color: #1d2129; font-family: 'Helvetica Neue', Helvetica, Arial, sans-serif; font-size: 12px; line-height: 16.08px;"><span style="font-family: inherit;"><span style="font-family: inherit;">he white man; that slavery, subordination to the superior race is his natural and normal condition. This, our new government, is the first, in the history of the world, based upon this great physical, philosophical, and moral truth." - Alexander Stephens, vice president of the CSA, March 1861</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">"The recent declaration of the candidate and leaders of the Black Republican Party must suffice to convince many who have formerly doubted the purpose to attack the institution of slavery in the states. The undying opposition to slavery in the United States means war upon it, where it is, not where it is not." - Jefferson Davis 1860</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">"But an increasing hostility on the part of the non-slaveholding States to the institution of slavery, has led to a disregard of their obligations, and the laws of the General Government have ceased to effect the objects of the Constitution. The States of Maine, New Hampshire, Vermont, Massachusetts, Connecticut, Rhode Island, New York, Pennsylvania, Illinois, Indiana, Michigan, Wisconsin and Iowa, have enacted laws which either nullify the Acts of Congress or render useless any attempt to execute them. In many of these States the fugitive is discharged from service or labor claimed, and in none of them has the State Government complied with the stipulation made in the Constitution. The State of New Jersey, at an early day, passed a law in conformity with her constitutional obligation; but the current of anti-slavery feeling has led her more recently to enact laws which render inoperative the remedies provided by her own law and by the laws of Congress. In the State of New York even the right of transit for a slave has been denied by her tribunals; and the States of Ohio and Iowa have refused to surrender to justice fugitives charged with murder, and with inciting servile insurrection in the State of Virginia. Thus the constituted compact has been deliberately broken and disregarded by the non-slaveholding States, and the consequence follows that South Carolina is released from her obligation." - South Carolina's "Declaration of the Immediate Causes" for secession</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">"Our position is thoroughly identified with the institution of slavery-- the greatest material interest of the world. Its labor supplies the product which constitutes by far the largest and most important portions of commerce of the earth. These products are peculiar to the climate verging on the tropical regions, and by an imperious law of nature, none but the black race can bear exposure to the tropical sun. These products have become necessities of the world, and a blow at slavery is a blow at commerce and civilization. That blow has been long aimed at the institution, and was at the point of reaching its consummation. There was no choice left us but submission to the mandates of abolition, or a dissolution of the Union, whose principles had been subverted to work out our ruin." - second paragraph, A Declaration of the Immediate Causes which Induce and Justify the Secession of the State of Mississippi from the Federal Union, Jan. 1861</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">"Whereas, the election of Abraham Lincoln and Hannibal Hamlin to the offices of president and vice-president of the United States of America, by a sectional party, avowedly hostile to the domestic institutions and to the peace and security of the people of the State of Alabama, preceded by many and dangerous infractions of the constitution of the United States by many of the States and people of the Northern section, is a political wrong of so insulting and manacing a character as to justify the people of the State of Alabama in the adoption of prompt and decided measures for their future peace and security, therefore:" - Alabama's Ordinance of Secession, Jan 1861</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">"The people of Georgia having dissolved their political connection with the Government of the United States of America, present to their confederates and the world the causes which have led to the separation. For the last ten years we have had numerous and serious causes of complaint against our non-slave-holding confederate States with reference to the subject of African slavery. They have endeavored to weaken our security, to disturb our domestic peace and tranquility, and persistently refused to comply with their express constitutional obligations to us in reference to that property, and by the use of their power in the Federal Government have striven to deprive us of an equal enjoyment of the common Territories of the Republic." - opening lines of Georgia's secession, Jan 1861</span><br /><br /><span style="font-family: inherit;">"We hold as undeniable truths that the governments of the various States, and of the confederacy itself, were established exclusively by the white race, for themselves and their posterity; that the African race had no agency in their establishment; that they were rightfully held and regarded as an inferior and dependent race, and in that condition only could their existence in this country be rendered beneficial and tolerable." - A Declaration of the Causes which Impel the State of Texas to Secede from the Federal Union, Feb 1861</span></span></span>The Punk Patriothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02671149620207872986noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5207550747227359267.post-28029109222130914332016-11-27T13:19:00.003-05:002016-11-27T13:52:06.506-05:00Obama's Silence on Standing Rock<br />
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by Caitrin Smith<br />
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Democrats and socialists have fundamentally different ideas of how American democracy works, how change comes about, and who makes that change happen. Democrats seem to understand it as an interplay of policies, laws, treaties, and courts that come together to form what many agree is an American democracy.<br />
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Socialists argue, that "American democracy" is really unfettered capitalism, oligarchy, and a system which bends all those polices, laws, treaties, and courts to benefit the ruling class (those with capital/and those protecting it). It will be challenging for us to come to an agreement on Obama's response (or lack thereof) to Standing Rock if we have fundamentally different understandings on how the system operates. They argue that the bureaucratic process is "how our system is designed to work" and that change comes from "courts and congress."<br />
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What we argue, through a careful look at history, political theory, and practical experience in struggle, is that sweeping social movements are what pressure and make those laws pass, not the slow process of Democrat sanctioned reform.<br />
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To compliment the suggestion that working class solidarity/struggle pushes change, we argue that capital is the opposing force that makes these same laws bend. What we see at Standing Rock is a dance between oppressor and oppressed; the protectors of water push the laws in our favor and the protectors of capital push them back against us. In other words, there are two things that pressure our government: the working class's ability to organize and capital; our task is to make the former more powerful than the latter.<br />
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Standing Rock will continue to mount this pressure. Obama's complacency is an admission of allegiance to the protectors of capital rather than the protectors of water. If you are interested in exploring the effectiveness of reforming capitalism/the democratic party, to read Lance Selfa's "The Democrats: A Critical History" and Howard Zinn's "A People's History."<br />
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Selfa lays out, quite convincingly, the faults of the Democratic Party as being a pro capitalist, neoliberal, reformist party that has actually been detrimental for working people who have dedicated their lives to the black freedom struggle, LGBTQ rights, immigration reform, native american sovereignty, the list goes on.<br />
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Zinn argues that social change in these areas has not come from Democrats and the "bureaucratic process" but pressure of mass movements in the street and pressure from the people. Those who continue to have faith in the system (and the elected leaders who protect that system at our expense) that created and spawned the conditions for something like standing rock to occur, are digging their own graves: history teaches us to look elsewhere for real, social change.<br />
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That being said, it is not mutually exclusive to understand the working class as the agent for social change AND argue for the president of our country to at least offer a statement of support or admit that native american's are treated like absolute garbage historically and currently in the US. He hasn't done that, and they deserve that. They deserve something beyond, "We will get to addressing your oppression later, when the courts and congress and the bureaucratic process allows it."<br />
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Native American women are more likely to be sexually assaulted than any other race (and not by Native American men- mind you), Native American men are more likely to be murdered by police than any other race. Native Americans have some of the worst healthcare, highest poverty rates, and hardest living conditions than any other subgroup in the US. They demand to be heard and they should be.<br />
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Its deplorable that Obama hasn't even bothered to acknowledge this reality and they are only asking for clean drinking water. "I'll get around to it when the system allows" is an inexcusable response to oppression that will only worsen in his complacency.<br />
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I am not a Democrat, I have no faith in the two parties of capitalism. I am a socialist, which means I doubt the Democrats will agree with us; they wont until they see our system through a similar lens.<br />
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As Lenin once stated, "...'<i>Full freedom'</i> means election of officials and other office-holders who administer public and state affairs. <i>'Full freedom'</i> means the complete abolition of a state administration that is not wholly and exclusively responsible to the people, that is not elected by, accountable to, and subject to recall by, the people. <i>'Full freedom'</i> means that it is not the people who should be subordinated to officials, but the officials who should be subordinated to the people."The Punk Patriothttp://www.blogger.com/profile/02671149620207872986noreply@blogger.com0