Rising fascism in the US

Maybe he's on a secret mission to arrange for the release of Evan Gershkovich. Or, even better, offer himself in return for Gershkovich's freedom.

Sputnik International (Russian state-owned news agency) tells us about Garland Nixon:
Here

And then there's this:

For anyone who wanders by here before I complete my due diligence reading, this is more of Garland and Joti—and their explanations of what constitutes their political construction based on how they interact with the world and other people.

As we watch the huge changes in our world and our countries, many of us find ourselves at a crossroads—and are trying to respond in meaningful ways that resonate with our souls and maybe bring on the world we want to live in.

You might find something for yourself in this conversation:

https://youtu.be/adbYzdOmg2Q?si=4Fi7QuyUHcavxFca

I sincerely do wonder if you ever have noticed the change of meaning of "socialism" in the various communist, socialist and social-democratic parties over the last centuries.

In a free adaptation of one of Marx's ideas, it could be said that people create new theories on the basis of historical achievements of previous theories, whereby they themselves produce the social conditions in which new theories emerge.

Evan Osnos at The New Yorker has an excellent piece on Tucker Carlson and others of his upper class advantages now waging rhetorical/propagandist campaigns against their own sort. It also is a study of how the term "elites" has been used/understood over time. I'll post just the opening graphs...

Interesting tidbit from the Osnos piece noted above:

I expect they hit it off like gangbusters. And I suppose we ought to note that georgeob is a regular attendee at this shindig.

Edit: And we can also note here how commonly george would launch rhetorical attacks on the unquenchable hunger for control of others by America's authoritarian-minded "elites" such as sociology professors.

Edit: And here's a quote from Steve Bannon I had not heard before:
Remind you of anyone posting here?

It also depends on whether one views Socialism as a product of Maxism or a much longer politica, movement which would include Levellers Chartists and thinkers like Thomas Paine and many others.

The most virulent anti-smokers are those who smoked themselves and finally were able to quit.

Holding on to the same thoughts and opinions throughout a life just proves lack of critical introspection, misguided narcissism, or desperate bandwagonning.

Socialism developed as a broad basic current in the early 19th century as a counter-movement to the theories of liberalism and the social conditions of industrial capitalism. (I'll leave out the Christian origins.)

The theoretical conceptions of socialism are very diverse; the most important socialist currents are:
• Early socialism ("utopian socialism"),
• Marxism ("scientific socialism"),
• orthodox Marxism/communism and
• Democratic Socialism/Social Democracy.


All that has nothing to do with "holding on to the same thoughts and opinions" but with knowing the facts. And to know what you are talking and what you are writing about.

As I have made it clear that I am seeking information now that I’ve found a description of the type of society that resonates with my own ideas, I’m happy to acknowledge that I was ‘writing about my own ideas’; not pretending to know at any depth about any iteration of socialism.

The bolded quote was not for you.

I asked for tutorials and one of my children has backed me up to more careful details and connections to my own system’s Federal Reserve and associated dirty business before branching out, so who knows how far I’ll ever get, but my eyes and mind are open, and I’m happy to find Brar and people who agree with her perspective.

This conversation has been very good for me.

This (coupled with its negative version 'don't be so close minded') is one of the most abused claims in the western world...most commonly used by people who can't admit when they are wrong, won't actually consider or discuss views other than what agrees with them, and who exagerate/minimise/ignore/demonise etc in order to maintain their views.

People with open minds never feel the need to say it, because it is just part of who they are.... and it shows in their discussions.

https://www.theguardian.com/media/2024/feb/04/cnn-staff-pro-israel-bias?CMP=twt_b-gdnnews

CNN staff say network’s pro-Israel slant amounts to ‘journalistic malpractice’
Insiders say pressure from the top results in credulous reporting of Israeli claims and silencing of Palestinian perspectives
Chris McGreal
Sun 4 Feb 2024 07.00 EST
CNN is facing a backlash from its own staff over editorial policies they say have led to a regurgitation of Israeli propaganda and the censoring of Palestinians perspectives in the network’s coverage of the war in Gaza.

Journalists in CNN newsrooms in the US and overseas say broadcasts have been skewed by management edicts and a story-approval process that has resulted in highly partial coverage of the Hamas massacre on 7 October and Israel’s retaliatory attack on Gaza.


“The majority of news since the war began, regardless of how accurate the initial reporting, has been skewed by a systemic and institutional bias within the network toward Israel,” said one CNN staffer. “Ultimately, CNN’s coverage of the Israel-Gaza war amounts to journalistic malpractice.”

According to accounts from six CNN staffers in multiple newsrooms, and more than a dozen internal memos and emails obtained by the Guardian, daily news decisions are shaped by a flow of directives from the CNN headquarters in Atlanta that have set strict guidelines on coverage.

They include tight restrictions on quoting Hamas and reporting other Palestinian perspectives while Israel government statements are taken at face value. In addition, every story on the conflict must be cleared by the Jerusalem bureau before broadcast or publication.
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More at the link.

Caitlin Johnstone’s Newsletter

https://www.caitlinjohnst.one/p/however-bad-you-think-israel-is-its

So it turns out the IDF has been running a Telegram channel featuring homemade snuff films in which Gazans are brutally murdered by Israeli forces, captioned with celebrations of the gore and pain therein like “Burning their mother… You won’t believe the video we got! You can hear their bones crunch.” The IDF had previously denied any association with the channel, but Haaretz now reports that it was directly run by an IDF psychological warfare unit.

This is one of those many, many times where Israel is so awful that at first you’re not sure what you’re looking at. You think you must be misreading the report. Then you read it again and go “Oh wow, that’s SO much worse than I would have guessed.”

However bad you think Israel is, you can always be sure that information will come out later that proves it’s even worse.

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Tucker Carlson has been spotted in Moscow, generating speculation that he’s there to interview President Vladimir Putin, and the liberal commentariat are losing their minds about it.

There’s no valid basis for westerners to object to Putin being interviewed by a western pundit. There’s no moral basis because Israeli officials have had unfettered access to a wildly sympathetic western press throughout four months of administering an active genocide. There’s no basis on the grounds that it hurts US information interests, because that would be admitting that US information interests depend on hiding information from the public about matters as basic as what a foreign leader thinks about his own actions, and essentially acknowledging that the western media are supposed to function as propaganda services for US military and intelligence agencies.

Every possible objection is also a confession about what the US empire and its media actually are.

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Americans: healthcare please

US government: Sorry did you say bomb Syria, Iraq and Yemen in facilitation of an active genocide?

Americans: no, healthcare

US government: Alright you drive a hard bargain but let’s go bomb Syria, Iraq and Yemen in facilitation of an active genocide.

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Biden isn’t technically lying when he says the US does not seek conflict in the middle east. The US seeks DOMINATION in the middle east, and would prefer to receive that domination willingly from submissive subjects. Only when middle easterners refuse to submit is there conflict.

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The US has never done anything good for the middle east. All it’s brought to the region is a bunch of murderous military operations and the nonstop murderous military operation that is the state of Israel.

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Setting up a bunch of military bases in countries on the other side of the planet and then going to war with anyone who tries to kick them out is pretty much the exact opposite of how a sane and ethical military would be used.

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US foreign policy is essentially one big long war against disobedience. Bombing, regime changing, starving and destabilizing any population anywhere on earth who dares to insist on its own self-sovereignty instead of letting itself be absorbed into the folds of the global empire.

They call different parts of it the Israel-Hamas War, the Iraq War, the War on Terror, but really it’s all the same war: the war on disobedience. One long operation to brutalize the global population into obedience and submission, year after year, decade after decade.

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When it comes to Israel the main difference between liberals and conservatives is that conservatives support Israel because they like it when Muslims get murdered while liberals support Israel because mumble mumble something something antisemitism Israel has a right to defend itself but we have serious concerns about the humanitarian HEY LOOK OVER THERE IT’S TRUMP!

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If the Gaza genocide had happened pre-internet it would’ve been a fringe issue hardly anyone knew about. The western press would have been able to get away with exponentially more cover-ups of Israeli crimes, western politicians would’ve been able to get away with way more lies about what’s really happening, Israeli officials would have been far less careful about their statements of genocidal intent in their own media, and the IDF would’ve been vastly more blatant and obvious about its extermination campaign.

It’s only because normal people are getting eyes into what’s really happening that this issue is subject to worldwide outcry and condemnation that has placed the empire on the back foot. The political/media class never does the right thing because it wants to, it does the right thing when it is forced to by normal human beings with healthy consciences. The fate of humanity rests on the ability of ordinary people to freely circulate truth.

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We’ve got a podcast coming out soon. Stay tuned.

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Their parents, grandparents and great-grandparents once stood up to Nazi injustice. Now more than 280 descendants of resistance fighters are making an urgent appeal to the German public.

A largely right-wing extremist party continues to receive good poll ratings, the trivialising word "remigration" is on everyone's lips: for several weeks now, thousands of people in Germany have been taking to the streets to protest against the rise of right-wing extremism. Now dozens of descendants of German resistance fighters have called for even more commitment to an open society.

In a joint appeal, they warn of the collapse of democracy:
"It was our parents, grandparents and great-grandparents who opposed Nazi injustice as resistance fighters back then," reads the appeal, the text of which was published by the Berliner Morgenpost newspaper today.
"That is why we, as relatives and descendants, are speaking out today and calling on all fellow citizens to stand up to the New Right in our country and across Europe."
Most people had learnt from the Nazi dictatorship. However, they have forgotten how quickly disappointment and a lack of prospects can lead to temptation.
"We have already experienced in Germany where this can lead".
"Everyone should feel responsible for preserving and defending liberal democracy and the rule of law."

Morgenpost (Paywall)

Since 2009, a presidential interview has been a part of nearly every Super Bowl telecast. But this year joe's gonna skip it like he did last year.

Of course, we all know why. The last time he decided to make his presence known to a stadium full of people at the Super Bowl, they had three words for him. They chanted "**** joe biden."

I guess the white house was wise enough to not give Americans the chance to loudly express their feelings toward joe's heavy involvement in the genocide of the Gazans. This year the chant would be "Stop killing children." And that would be bad press!

Where would Bismarckian socialism be placed? It seems more paternalistic than Fabian socialism, and more of a "lets have our society roll up its sleeves, clean up its act, and work for mutual prosperity" than the 19th Century experiments with communalism which occurred in the USA.

As far as "orthodox Marxism/communism" – there's academic Marxism which is pretty orthodox, in theory, anyway. But, in practice, Soviet communism – "Leninism" – unfortunately became the model for revolutionary communist parties around the world. The idea of a "vanguard" party which assumes power and institutes a new regime in countries without a developed industrial proletariat might be a workable model for a political revolution but it's not really "Marxist". And the state never "withers away". I don't know how anyone can claim that China is a "communist" state. It's run by the "Communist Party" and that's where any resemblance ends.

Okay, so let's use the ballot box. The Allende experience demonstrates the difficulty of using elections to transform a repressive society into a democratic/socialist state. Too much change all at once and too many threats to wealthy interests sparks counter-revolution, often financed from abroad. That's why most of the democratic socialist policies found in the Western welfare economies are the result of incremental reforms.

Chancellor Otto von Bismarck took rigorous action against all socialist and social democratic parties and associations with the Socialist Law he initiated in 1878.
He saw their political demands as jeopardising the existing social order. Bismarck did not want to restrict the freedom of entrepreneurs by legally shortening working hours, setting minimum wages and similar measures.

However, in view of the mass misery and the social revolutionary danger arising from it (especially after the Socialist Law), Bismarck also considered socio-political action to be urgently required.

As a counterweight to the intensified policy of repression, socio-political measures were intended to remove the basis of the labour movement, integrate the working class into the monarchical state without political concessions and thus guarantee the internal cohesion of the state.

I don't call it "Bismarckian socialism" since the social legislation was one of Bismarck's measures to combat socialists and social democracy.

But the result was fine: there was no revolution.
Economic growth during the founding years and Bismarck's social legislation alleviated social hardship.
From the 1890s onwards, the colonial question and the resulting nationalism provided an outlet into which the population could channel their aggression.

Ah ha...thanks.

Because it's crap.

Yeah he is. But there's no reason to refer to biden as an "it."