Like
many Americans, I was deeply opposed to Lyndon Johnson's pursuit of the
Vietnam War. My views on the war have not changed, but my opinion of
Johnson has. I believe now that with the exceptions of Woodrow Wilson
and Franklin Roosevelt -- and perhaps Theodore Roosevelt -- Lyndon
Johnson was the greatest president since Abraham Lincoln.
Wednesday, October 24, 2018
Is it "Lying Ted Cruz" or "Crying Ted Cruz"?
Apparently it is some of both since he has run up against a little competition.
Water, water everywhere... but is it fit for human consumption?
It is ridiculous to think each individual
person should have to seek out drinking water quality reports during
this period of flooding in Texas Hill Country where Republicans hold
power.
Reports concerning the safety and quality of
drinking water should be provided by the government agencies responsible
through the media just as the water levels are reported every single
day.
I can appreciate that these Republican
admirers of Ayn Rand think this is a personal responsibility to seek out
this information; but, even Ayn Rand readily applied for, and accepted
without protest, Social Security and Medicare.
This is how the Republican disdain for democracy comes forward in real life affecting our health and safety.
Common sense should tell us if it isn’t safe
to be in the water it might not be safe to be drinking the water derived
from these reservoirs.
Common sense should also alert us that something may be wrong when the waters upstream and downstream from us are contaminated and polluted.
Of course, there are scientific tests that can be performed and we should be informed on a daily basis of these test results just like we are informed of lake levels.
Common sense should also alert us that something may be wrong when the waters upstream and downstream from us are contaminated and polluted.
Of course, there are scientific tests that can be performed and we should be informed on a daily basis of these test results just like we are informed of lake levels.
Friday, June 15, 2018
"The G-7: A Demise to Celebrate"
Please do not reply to the listserv. To
by Immanuel Wallerstein
correspond with the author, write immanuel.wallerstein@yale.edu. To correspond with us about your email address on the listserv, write fbcofc@binghamton.edu. Thank you.
Commentary
No. 475, June 15, 2018
"The
G-7: A Demise to Celebrate"
An institution called the G-7 held its annual meeting on June 12-13, 2018
in Charlevoix, Quebec, Canada. President Trump attended in the beginning but
left early. Because the views on both sides were so incompatible, the group of
Six members negotiated with Trump the issuance of a quite anodyne statement as
the usual joint declaration.
Trump changed his mind and refused to sign any statement. The Six then
drafted a statement that reflected their views. Trump was angry and insulted
the protagonists of signing the statement.
This was interpreted by the world press as a reciprocal political snub by
Trump and the six other heads of state and government that attended. Most
commentators also argued that this political battle signaled the end of the G-7
as a significant player in world politics.
But what is the G-7? Who invented the idea? And for what purpose? Nothing
is less clear. The name of the institution itself has constantly changed, as
have the number of members. And many argue that there have emerged more
important meetings, such as that of the G-20 or the G-2. There is also the
Shanghai Cooperation Organization that was founded in opposition to the G-7,
and which excludes both the United States and west European countries.
The first clue to the origins of the G-7 as concept is the dating of the
birth of the G-7 idea. It was early in the 1970s. Before that time, there was
no institution in which the United States played a role as an equal participant
with other nations.
Remember that after the end of the Second World War and up to the 1960s
the United States had been the hegemonic power of the modern world-system. It
invited to international meetings whom it wished for reasons of its own. The
purpose of such meetings was primarily in order to implement policies the
United States thought wise or useful - for itself.
By the 1960s the United States could no longer act in such an arbitrary
way. There had begun to be resistance to unilateral arrangements. This
resistance was the evidence that the decline of the U.S. as a hegemonic power
had begun.
To retain its central role, the United States therefore changed its
strategy. It sought ways in which it could at least slow down this decline. One
of the ways was to offer certain major industrialized powers the status of
"partner" in world decision-making. This was to be a trade-off. In
return for promotion to the status of partners, the partners would agree to
limit the degree to which they would stray from policies the United States
preferred.
One could argue therefore that the G-7 idea was something invented by the
United States as part of this new partnership arrangement. On the other hand, a
key moment in the historical development of the G-7 idea was the moment of the
first annual summit of the top leaders, as opposed to meetings of lower ranking
figures like ministers of finance. The initiative for this came not from the
United States but from France.
It was Valéry Giscard d'Estaing, then France's President, who convened
the first annual meeting of the top leaders at Rambouillet in France in 1975.
Why did he think it so important that there be a meeting of the top leaders?
One possible explanation was that he saw it as a way of further limiting U.S.
power. Faced with negotiating with the set of other leaders, each of which had
different priorities, the United States would be constrained to bargain. And
since it was the top leaders who signed off on the bargain, it would be harder
for any of them to repudiate it later.
Rambouillet began a struggle between the United States and various
European powers (but especially France) over all the major world issues. It was
a struggle in which the United States did less and less well. It was seriously
rebuffed in 2003 when it found itself unable, for the first time in history, to
gain even a majority of votes in the U.N. Security Council when they were to
vote on the invasion of Iraq by the United States. And this year, in
Charlevoix, it found itself unable even to agree to a banal joint statement
with the other six members of the G-7.
The G-7 is for all intents and purposes finished. But should we mourn
this? The struggle for power between the United States and the others was
basically a struggle for primacy in oppressing the rest of the world's nations.
Would these smaller powers be better off if the European mode of doing this won
out? Does a small animal care which elephant tramples on it? I think not.
All hail Charlevoix! Trump may have done us all the favor of destroying
this last major remnant of the era of Western domination of the world-system.
Of course, the demise of the G-7 will not mean that the struggle for a better
world is over. Not at all. Those who back a system of exploitation and
hierarchy will simply look for other ways of doing it.
This brings me back to what is now my central theme. We are in a structural
crisis of the modern world-system. A battle is going on
as to which version of a successor system we shall see. Everything is very
volatile at the moment. Each side is up one day, down the next. We're in a
sense lucky that Donald Trump is so foolish as to hurt his own side with a
massive blow. But let us not cheer therefore Pierre Trudeau or Emmanuel Macron,
whose more intelligent version of oppression is fighting Trump.
Teen Vogue tackles Marxism... and does a good job
Who Is Karl Marx: Meet the Anti-Capitalist Scholar
The communist scholar's ideas are more prevalent than you might realize.
Check it out, share with friends, create a Marxist discussion group and political action committee or book club...
https://www.teenvogue.com/story/who-is-karl-marx
Check it out, share with friends, create a Marxist discussion group and political action committee or book club...
https://www.teenvogue.com/story/who-is-karl-marx
Danielle CorcioneYou may have come across communist memes on social media. The man, the meme, the legend behind this trend is Karl Marx, who developed the theory of communism,
which advocates for workers’ control over their labor (instead of their
bosses). The political philosopher turned 200-years-old on May 5, but
his ideas can still teach us about the past and present.
The famed German co-authored The Communist Manifesto with fellow scholar Friedrich Engels in 1848, a piece of writing that makes the case for the political theory of socialism — where the community (rather than rich people) have ownership and control over their labor — which later inspired millions of people to resist oppressive political leaders and spark political revolutions all over the world. Although Marx was raised in a middle-class family, he later became a scholar who struggled to make ends meet — a working-class man, he thought, who could take part in a political revolution.
The Communist Manifesto is most usually the work of Marx taught in schools, and he is one of the most assigned economists in United States college classes. Many may not know that he also studied law in university. He authored three volumes of Das Kapital, which outlined the fundamentals of Marxist theory of capitalism and also organized workers through the International Working Men's Association, otherwise known as the First International. He was an editor of a newspaper that was eventually censored by the Prussian government for speaking out against censorship and challenging the government. His writings have inspired social movements in Soviet Russia, China, Cuba, Argentina, Ghana, Burkina Faso, and more. Many political writers and artists like Angela Davis, Frida Kahlo, Malcolm X, Claudia Jones, Helen Keller, and Walter Rodney integrated Marxist theory into their work decades after his death.
So how can teens learn the legacy of Marx’s ideas and how they’re relevant to the current political climate? Teen Vogue chatted with two educators about how they apply these concepts to current events in the classroom.Public high school teacher Mark Brunt teaches excerpts from The Communist Manifesto alongside curriculum about the industrial revolution in his English class. He uses The Jungle by Upton Sinclair — a text published in 1906 that revealved the exploitative workplace conditions of the meat industry in Chicago and other industrialized cities many immigrants were subject to in the late 19th century — to understand what it was like to work in a factory a little more than a hundred years ago.
Brunt talks about how these factory workers did all of the leg work — including slaughtering animals and packaging meat on top of working long days with little, if any, time off — to keep the factories intact, yet had very little control over their work, including their working conditions, compared to the profiteering factory owners.
“I do a little role-playing with [my class],” Brunt tells Teen Vogue. “[I tell them,] I’m the boss, you’re my workers, and you want to try to take me down. I have the money. I own the factory. I control the police. I control the military. I control the government. What do you guys have?”
His students usually blink at him, he says, totally clueless. He insists they actually have something huge, that he, as the boss, will never have: “It’s always just one student, whose hand shoots up and goes, ‘We outnumber you!’” Brunt says.
He then introduces Marx’s distinction between the proletariat — the working class as a whole — and bourgeoisie — the ruling class who controls the workers and profits from their labor. The tension between the proletariat and bourgeoisie make up the class conflict, or class struggle, he explains.
Although ongoing teacher strikes aren’t necessarily Marxist movements, today we can see still see these tensions between classes at play in the Untied States, between state governments and striking teachers in West Virginia, Oklahoma, Kentucky, and Arizona, demanding higher pay and more public school funding.
However, in a Marxist revolution, the proletariat will come together to overthrow the bourgeoisie and ultimately, win the class conflict by taking control over their work, or striking. And if such a revolution occured in Brunt’s classroom, his students would overthrow him as a teacher — and the principal, the superintendent, and so on.
In his advanced class, Brunt also introduces the idea of false consciousness, which is defined as the many ways the working class is mislead to believe certain ideologies — like the belief that the boss should always be in charge, no matter what.
“False consciousness is when you think that the social conditions are different than they actually are,” he says. “You’re tricked into thinking your allies are different and your enemies are different than they actually are.”
Former Drexel University professor George Ciccariello-Maher uses Marx to teach history through an emotional, fluid, and ever-changing lens. He challenges his students to envision a society without capitalism, reminding them that different — though still imperfect and flawed — economic systems existed before, such as feudalism.
“When I teach Marx, it’s got a lot to do with questions of how to think critically about history. Marx says we live under capitalism [but] capitalism has not always existed,” Ciccariello-Maher tells Teen Vogue. “It’s something that came into being and something that, as a result, just on a logical level, could disappear, could be overthrown, could be abolished, could be irrelevant. There’s this myth of the free market, but Marx shows very clearly that capitalism emerged through a state of violence.”
Some examples of violence that aided in the establishment of capitalism in the United States include stealing the land of Indigenous people and trafficking Africans through slavery.
We’re oftentimes taught that history moves slowly, but many Marxists disagree with that notion, and believe that that the current socioeconomic system is precarious and can be overthrown at any time.
“Dialectics means that the history moves forward not slowly or gradually or bit by bit, but it moves forward through the sort of crushing blows of struggles between generally two opposing ideas or groups or concepts or people,” Ciccariello-Maher says.
While you may not necessarily identify as a Marxist, socialist, or communist, you can still use Karl Marx’s ideas to use history and class struggles to better understand how the current sociopolitical climate in America came to be. Instead of looking at President Donald Trump’s victory in November 2016 as a snapshot, we can turn to the bigger picture of what previous events lead us up to the current moment.
The famed German co-authored The Communist Manifesto with fellow scholar Friedrich Engels in 1848, a piece of writing that makes the case for the political theory of socialism — where the community (rather than rich people) have ownership and control over their labor — which later inspired millions of people to resist oppressive political leaders and spark political revolutions all over the world. Although Marx was raised in a middle-class family, he later became a scholar who struggled to make ends meet — a working-class man, he thought, who could take part in a political revolution.
The Communist Manifesto is most usually the work of Marx taught in schools, and he is one of the most assigned economists in United States college classes. Many may not know that he also studied law in university. He authored three volumes of Das Kapital, which outlined the fundamentals of Marxist theory of capitalism and also organized workers through the International Working Men's Association, otherwise known as the First International. He was an editor of a newspaper that was eventually censored by the Prussian government for speaking out against censorship and challenging the government. His writings have inspired social movements in Soviet Russia, China, Cuba, Argentina, Ghana, Burkina Faso, and more. Many political writers and artists like Angela Davis, Frida Kahlo, Malcolm X, Claudia Jones, Helen Keller, and Walter Rodney integrated Marxist theory into their work decades after his death.
So how can teens learn the legacy of Marx’s ideas and how they’re relevant to the current political climate? Teen Vogue chatted with two educators about how they apply these concepts to current events in the classroom.Public high school teacher Mark Brunt teaches excerpts from The Communist Manifesto alongside curriculum about the industrial revolution in his English class. He uses The Jungle by Upton Sinclair — a text published in 1906 that revealved the exploitative workplace conditions of the meat industry in Chicago and other industrialized cities many immigrants were subject to in the late 19th century — to understand what it was like to work in a factory a little more than a hundred years ago.
Brunt talks about how these factory workers did all of the leg work — including slaughtering animals and packaging meat on top of working long days with little, if any, time off — to keep the factories intact, yet had very little control over their work, including their working conditions, compared to the profiteering factory owners.
“I do a little role-playing with [my class],” Brunt tells Teen Vogue. “[I tell them,] I’m the boss, you’re my workers, and you want to try to take me down. I have the money. I own the factory. I control the police. I control the military. I control the government. What do you guys have?”
His students usually blink at him, he says, totally clueless. He insists they actually have something huge, that he, as the boss, will never have: “It’s always just one student, whose hand shoots up and goes, ‘We outnumber you!’” Brunt says.
He then introduces Marx’s distinction between the proletariat — the working class as a whole — and bourgeoisie — the ruling class who controls the workers and profits from their labor. The tension between the proletariat and bourgeoisie make up the class conflict, or class struggle, he explains.
Although ongoing teacher strikes aren’t necessarily Marxist movements, today we can see still see these tensions between classes at play in the Untied States, between state governments and striking teachers in West Virginia, Oklahoma, Kentucky, and Arizona, demanding higher pay and more public school funding.
However, in a Marxist revolution, the proletariat will come together to overthrow the bourgeoisie and ultimately, win the class conflict by taking control over their work, or striking. And if such a revolution occured in Brunt’s classroom, his students would overthrow him as a teacher — and the principal, the superintendent, and so on.
In his advanced class, Brunt also introduces the idea of false consciousness, which is defined as the many ways the working class is mislead to believe certain ideologies — like the belief that the boss should always be in charge, no matter what.
“False consciousness is when you think that the social conditions are different than they actually are,” he says. “You’re tricked into thinking your allies are different and your enemies are different than they actually are.”
Former Drexel University professor George Ciccariello-Maher uses Marx to teach history through an emotional, fluid, and ever-changing lens. He challenges his students to envision a society without capitalism, reminding them that different — though still imperfect and flawed — economic systems existed before, such as feudalism.
“When I teach Marx, it’s got a lot to do with questions of how to think critically about history. Marx says we live under capitalism [but] capitalism has not always existed,” Ciccariello-Maher tells Teen Vogue. “It’s something that came into being and something that, as a result, just on a logical level, could disappear, could be overthrown, could be abolished, could be irrelevant. There’s this myth of the free market, but Marx shows very clearly that capitalism emerged through a state of violence.”
Some examples of violence that aided in the establishment of capitalism in the United States include stealing the land of Indigenous people and trafficking Africans through slavery.
We’re oftentimes taught that history moves slowly, but many Marxists disagree with that notion, and believe that that the current socioeconomic system is precarious and can be overthrown at any time.
“Dialectics means that the history moves forward not slowly or gradually or bit by bit, but it moves forward through the sort of crushing blows of struggles between generally two opposing ideas or groups or concepts or people,” Ciccariello-Maher says.
While you may not necessarily identify as a Marxist, socialist, or communist, you can still use Karl Marx’s ideas to use history and class struggles to better understand how the current sociopolitical climate in America came to be. Instead of looking at President Donald Trump’s victory in November 2016 as a snapshot, we can turn to the bigger picture of what previous events lead us up to the current moment.
Friday, March 30, 2018
John Bolton, warmonger and devil incarnate... tell Trump to fire him
Jimmy Carter gave Trump good advice:
Fire John Bolton.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2018/03/23/john-bolton-policy-views-you-should-know-about/UDDDKdR57kNEHnR3qsJP3J/story.html
Fire John Bolton.
https://www.bostonglobe.com/metro/2018/03/23/john-bolton-policy-views-you-should-know-about/UDDDKdR57kNEHnR3qsJP3J/story.html
Housing for people, not for profit.
Should private developers like Legend Communities be allowed to
intentionally create and shape entire communities into racially and
economically segregated communities in quest of huge super profits?
Check out this article:
“New Lakeway City Center proposal could expand size” by Bob Maxwell...
Check out this article:
“New Lakeway City Center proposal could expand size” by Bob Maxwell...
https://c4c5h4b3jv11qq3kf399hf3c-wpengine.netdna-ssl.com/wp-content/uploads/2018/03/LTW-2018-03-1.pdf
Outfits like Legend Communities are finding huge profits in helping the wealthy continue to escape from the poor who they create.
These rich few whose wealth has been attained by exploiting working people seek out the heavily police and private security protected suburbs and gated communities.
The wealthy expect to continue to be served by poverty waged workers who must commute long distances to these jobs because they can’t afford the housing in these elite neighborhoods.
This begs the question:
What role does government have in community planning?
And what happens when the wealthy few are the majority in these small communities of the well-heeled crowd as a result freezing out those who work in these communities but can’t vote in these communities because they can’t afford to live in these communities?
This article is about “planning” in Lakeway, Texas which contains within it several guarded gated communities... armed guards to keep the hated people of color and poor out.
These wealthy people approved a forty-million dollar plus bond to build a new police station to house a police force of over fifty for a community with a population of around twelve-thousand requiring the labor of thousands of poverty wage workers to tend to their every need and whims with the main category of crime, according to the public police, being low-waged worker’s stealing from the wealthy living in nursing homes.
So, here we have, again, a proposal for more upscale housing- along with more businesses employing more poverty waged workers- with no thought to providing decent affordable housing for the workers who have to spend many hours a day, lacking even public transportation, commuting from home to jobs and back while having to pay out for child care.
This begs the question:
What is the role of the state and federal governments in promoting racial and economic diversity when planning is in progress when the planners, local government and most citizens lack basic sensibilities for equality and justice?
By the way, I have been viciously attacked by both well-heeled Democrats and Republicans for bringing this issue forward while candidates running for office would rather say nothing or call me names.
The current crooked and corrupt Mayor, Joe Bain, derides me in public as being an “activist;” what he says about me in private is anyone’s guess.
It’s a good thing I haven’t suggested free health care and child care centers... and living wages... for the workers employed who are expected to make do with poverty wages supplemented with miserly tips.
Outfits like Legend Communities are finding huge profits in helping the wealthy continue to escape from the poor who they create.
These rich few whose wealth has been attained by exploiting working people seek out the heavily police and private security protected suburbs and gated communities.
The wealthy expect to continue to be served by poverty waged workers who must commute long distances to these jobs because they can’t afford the housing in these elite neighborhoods.
This begs the question:
What role does government have in community planning?
And what happens when the wealthy few are the majority in these small communities of the well-heeled crowd as a result freezing out those who work in these communities but can’t vote in these communities because they can’t afford to live in these communities?
This article is about “planning” in Lakeway, Texas which contains within it several guarded gated communities... armed guards to keep the hated people of color and poor out.
These wealthy people approved a forty-million dollar plus bond to build a new police station to house a police force of over fifty for a community with a population of around twelve-thousand requiring the labor of thousands of poverty wage workers to tend to their every need and whims with the main category of crime, according to the public police, being low-waged worker’s stealing from the wealthy living in nursing homes.
So, here we have, again, a proposal for more upscale housing- along with more businesses employing more poverty waged workers- with no thought to providing decent affordable housing for the workers who have to spend many hours a day, lacking even public transportation, commuting from home to jobs and back while having to pay out for child care.
This begs the question:
What is the role of the state and federal governments in promoting racial and economic diversity when planning is in progress when the planners, local government and most citizens lack basic sensibilities for equality and justice?
By the way, I have been viciously attacked by both well-heeled Democrats and Republicans for bringing this issue forward while candidates running for office would rather say nothing or call me names.
The current crooked and corrupt Mayor, Joe Bain, derides me in public as being an “activist;” what he says about me in private is anyone’s guess.
It’s a good thing I haven’t suggested free health care and child care centers... and living wages... for the workers employed who are expected to make do with poverty wages supplemented with miserly tips.
Wednesday, March 28, 2018
Stop violence in the schools... there is a lot more to this than just guns.
I made this post (in blue) on FaceBook and have been getting quite a response and thought I would provide some further thought, below:
The violence in the schools doesn't just involve guns.
It isn't just gun violence; it is knives, baseball bats, fists and "curb stomping," too.
It is violence.
For sure these guns intended for military purposes need to be curbed; but, what is causing this violence needs to be addressed. We have a very sick society as a result of wars and racism spawned by a very sick capitalist system which needs to be replaced with socialism.
Where are the social workers?
We need large numbers social workers in our schools. This is the primary demand that needs to be made right now... along with some kind of stopping the sales and distribution of these AR-15 type military weapons.
School administrators, teachers and police always say, "We are not social workers." Isn't this an admission we need the intervention of social workers with our youth in school?
Also, young people need more sports programs and all kinds of other recreational, art and cultural programs.
Republicans and Democrats are not advocating solutions to violence because the real solutions need vast outlays of money and resources... money they would rather spend on militarism and wars which, they don't want to admit, because the finger points back at themselves because of their screwed up priorities.
The American people have no say in the decision-making process other than what they can force on these uncaring politicians through huge demonstrations, sit-ins, etc.
If we want a genuine voice for peace and disarmament and a socially and economically just society which will help us eradicate all of this violence in our schools and communities we are going to have to break free from Wall Street's two-party trap by organizing a working class based people's party of some kind.
Let's be very clear about this...
The very people who are saying things like, "Leave these kids to figure things out for themselves," are the very same people trying to manipulate them back into complacency.
This problem of violence in our public schools is going to take everyone getting involved.
How can we expect the youth who have been denied the tools for changing things by being taught lies in school about everything from history to how government works all of a sudden be expected to come up with solutions to these problems let alone implement the solutions?
Who can these young people rely on to implement the solutions to these problems even after they correctly identify the problems?
Come on, really; are these young people supposed to rely on a bunch of politicians who have made the choice to spend our tax dollars on militarism and wars for decades instead of spending money for improving public education people the youth can now rely on to implement solutions?
There is a reason these worthless politicians don't want us joining together with youth to discuss this problem of violence in the schools.
The reason being, they are afraid we will all join these young people out in the streets and the demonstrations and marches will grow bigger and bigger until people get so sick of listening to the excuses being made by these politicians that students and workers will join together and shut this country down until real solutions are forthcoming... this is the only thing these Wall Street bribed politicians will ever listen to--- if they will even listen to people organized in such a peaceful manner demanding a say in what is supposed to be a government of the people, by the people and for the people.
But, chances are good that instead of implementing real solutions the people will be met by violence ordered by these politicians--- billy club wielding police, pepper spray, water cannons and even the rifles of the National Guard just like when students at Kent State University peacefully demanded peace in Vietnam... or like the residents of Ferguson, Missouri who were met by a militarized police force in response to their demands for an end to racist violence and police murders.
This thoroughly rotten and corrupt government at every level maintains its disdain for democracy and the voices of the people with what? Violence.
Why should any citizen of this country have to look down the barrel of an AR-15, M-16 or M-4 because they are insisting on justice when it comes to racist cops killing people?
Why should any worker on strike have to look down the barrels of these guns held by police and union busting thugs?
Why did the people gathered to protect their water in North Dakota at Standing Rock have to look down the barrels of these guns held by oil company thugs, the police and the military?
Why do people all over the world have to look down the barrels of these guns when they demand an end to U.S. occupation of their countries?
What made the CIA think it could get away with putting these weapons in the hand of a fascist butcher like Pinochet in Chile to gun down students in their high schools and colleges and workers in mines and factories?
Here we have a guy like Bolton who says forget the guns and use more bombs including nuclear weapons to enforce U.S. dictate all over the world because our might makes everything right.
These young people who we are now told should be left alone to solve the problems of violence in their schools have not been taught the real source of this violence--- their own government and an economic system that is so sick and corrupt the only thing that keeps either propped up and going... is what? Violence.
The guns are not the source of the problem; the guns are making the violence of a violently sick society worse.
Talk to your children and the students about all of this. See if they don't agree. Then join these young people in the streets.
This country was stolen from Native peoples using violence.
Slavery was maintained with violence.
Employers use violence to keep union out.
Chances are, if you have ever engaged in any kind of peaceful activity to make this world a better place to live you have had to confront the violence orchestrated by a government which boasts to the world of being the greatest bastion of democracy--- a lie peddled around the world and to young people in our schools now being consumed in this violence of our government's own making.
Get the military recruiters promoting "God, Guns and Guts" out of our public schools, stop the distribution of racist hate literature and bring in an army of well-trained compassionate social workers as the very first step in bringing an end to the violence in our public schools... and stop the well-heeled elites including bankers, real estate investors, greedy doctors and employers on the school boards to stop intimidating and harassing teachers who teach the truth.
The
“March for Our Lives” seems to have all the earmarks and attributes of
the previous “Women’s March” and the “Science March;” as well as the
same sources of funding.
The big push was not for any specific reforms but to register people to vote for Democrats. This is not just my perception but the results declared by the organizers... and the funders... a really strange group of bedfellows... Democratic Party and Republican Party front groups financed by the millionaire and billionaire crowd claiming to be “supporters of the students.”
Somewhere between seven to twelve million dollars was contributed from the likes of George Clooney to Bloomberg and Warren Buffett and even the reactionary Josh Kushner.
So, not to raise the hackles of anyone, but I am wondering whether the funding is the strings which will assure this “movement” doesn’t go beyond the “Woman’s Marches” and the “Science Marches” and become a real movement focused on what has caused this society to become so violent- these never ending wars and racism.
It is noteworthy the materials distributed and speakers never mentioned either of these nor the need for a massive investment to place social worker’s in our public schools where they can take action to prevent violence from occurring to begin with.
Nor has there been any mention of the need to get these military recruiters out of our public schools who are glamorizing “guts, guns, glory and patriotism”- violence.
Also not mentioned is the common thread binding all of these young mass shooters together- racist, fascist right-wing churches and hate groups nor not even being mentioned is Trump’s promotion of violent racist and fascist hate.
Could no materials be written explaining all of this... or would funding not be forthcoming if the message was put together in this way?
We have had huge women’s marches, gigantic science marches and now even bigger marches against gun violence.
Will funding now be forthcoming for anti-racist and anti-fascist demonstrations?
What about a huge demonstration supporting the creation of a National Public Health Care System based on the model of public education?
Will these funders finance a massive demonstration of working class parents for a national public child care system?
What about funding for a huge gigantic peace demonstration opposing these dirty imperialist wars?
What about a massive demonstration calling for an end to poverty?
Will there be a call to create a massive all-people’s united front to bring all of these marchers together in a way to shut this country down until real reforms are implemented?
These millionaires and billionaires will finance “marches” as long as they don’t turn into persistent movements becoming a thorn in the sides of the Democratic and Republican Parties.
These big funders will tolerate a speaker here or there saying they won’t vote but they will not tolerate any speaker calling for busting free from this two-party trap by creating a new working class based people’s party.
The big push was not for any specific reforms but to register people to vote for Democrats. This is not just my perception but the results declared by the organizers... and the funders... a really strange group of bedfellows... Democratic Party and Republican Party front groups financed by the millionaire and billionaire crowd claiming to be “supporters of the students.”
Somewhere between seven to twelve million dollars was contributed from the likes of George Clooney to Bloomberg and Warren Buffett and even the reactionary Josh Kushner.
So, not to raise the hackles of anyone, but I am wondering whether the funding is the strings which will assure this “movement” doesn’t go beyond the “Woman’s Marches” and the “Science Marches” and become a real movement focused on what has caused this society to become so violent- these never ending wars and racism.
It is noteworthy the materials distributed and speakers never mentioned either of these nor the need for a massive investment to place social worker’s in our public schools where they can take action to prevent violence from occurring to begin with.
Nor has there been any mention of the need to get these military recruiters out of our public schools who are glamorizing “guts, guns, glory and patriotism”- violence.
Also not mentioned is the common thread binding all of these young mass shooters together- racist, fascist right-wing churches and hate groups nor not even being mentioned is Trump’s promotion of violent racist and fascist hate.
Could no materials be written explaining all of this... or would funding not be forthcoming if the message was put together in this way?
We have had huge women’s marches, gigantic science marches and now even bigger marches against gun violence.
Will funding now be forthcoming for anti-racist and anti-fascist demonstrations?
What about a huge demonstration supporting the creation of a National Public Health Care System based on the model of public education?
Will these funders finance a massive demonstration of working class parents for a national public child care system?
What about funding for a huge gigantic peace demonstration opposing these dirty imperialist wars?
What about a massive demonstration calling for an end to poverty?
Will there be a call to create a massive all-people’s united front to bring all of these marchers together in a way to shut this country down until real reforms are implemented?
These millionaires and billionaires will finance “marches” as long as they don’t turn into persistent movements becoming a thorn in the sides of the Democratic and Republican Parties.
These big funders will tolerate a speaker here or there saying they won’t vote but they will not tolerate any speaker calling for busting free from this two-party trap by creating a new working class based people’s party.
The violence in the schools doesn't just involve guns.
It isn't just gun violence; it is knives, baseball bats, fists and "curb stomping," too.
It is violence.
For sure these guns intended for military purposes need to be curbed; but, what is causing this violence needs to be addressed. We have a very sick society as a result of wars and racism spawned by a very sick capitalist system which needs to be replaced with socialism.
Where are the social workers?
We need large numbers social workers in our schools. This is the primary demand that needs to be made right now... along with some kind of stopping the sales and distribution of these AR-15 type military weapons.
School administrators, teachers and police always say, "We are not social workers." Isn't this an admission we need the intervention of social workers with our youth in school?
Also, young people need more sports programs and all kinds of other recreational, art and cultural programs.
Republicans and Democrats are not advocating solutions to violence because the real solutions need vast outlays of money and resources... money they would rather spend on militarism and wars which, they don't want to admit, because the finger points back at themselves because of their screwed up priorities.
The American people have no say in the decision-making process other than what they can force on these uncaring politicians through huge demonstrations, sit-ins, etc.
If we want a genuine voice for peace and disarmament and a socially and economically just society which will help us eradicate all of this violence in our schools and communities we are going to have to break free from Wall Street's two-party trap by organizing a working class based people's party of some kind.
Let's be very clear about this...
The very people who are saying things like, "Leave these kids to figure things out for themselves," are the very same people trying to manipulate them back into complacency.
This problem of violence in our public schools is going to take everyone getting involved.
How can we expect the youth who have been denied the tools for changing things by being taught lies in school about everything from history to how government works all of a sudden be expected to come up with solutions to these problems let alone implement the solutions?
Who can these young people rely on to implement the solutions to these problems even after they correctly identify the problems?
Come on, really; are these young people supposed to rely on a bunch of politicians who have made the choice to spend our tax dollars on militarism and wars for decades instead of spending money for improving public education people the youth can now rely on to implement solutions?
There is a reason these worthless politicians don't want us joining together with youth to discuss this problem of violence in the schools.
The reason being, they are afraid we will all join these young people out in the streets and the demonstrations and marches will grow bigger and bigger until people get so sick of listening to the excuses being made by these politicians that students and workers will join together and shut this country down until real solutions are forthcoming... this is the only thing these Wall Street bribed politicians will ever listen to--- if they will even listen to people organized in such a peaceful manner demanding a say in what is supposed to be a government of the people, by the people and for the people.
But, chances are good that instead of implementing real solutions the people will be met by violence ordered by these politicians--- billy club wielding police, pepper spray, water cannons and even the rifles of the National Guard just like when students at Kent State University peacefully demanded peace in Vietnam... or like the residents of Ferguson, Missouri who were met by a militarized police force in response to their demands for an end to racist violence and police murders.
This thoroughly rotten and corrupt government at every level maintains its disdain for democracy and the voices of the people with what? Violence.
Why should any citizen of this country have to look down the barrel of an AR-15, M-16 or M-4 because they are insisting on justice when it comes to racist cops killing people?
Why should any worker on strike have to look down the barrels of these guns held by police and union busting thugs?
Why did the people gathered to protect their water in North Dakota at Standing Rock have to look down the barrels of these guns held by oil company thugs, the police and the military?
Why do people all over the world have to look down the barrels of these guns when they demand an end to U.S. occupation of their countries?
What made the CIA think it could get away with putting these weapons in the hand of a fascist butcher like Pinochet in Chile to gun down students in their high schools and colleges and workers in mines and factories?
Here we have a guy like Bolton who says forget the guns and use more bombs including nuclear weapons to enforce U.S. dictate all over the world because our might makes everything right.
These young people who we are now told should be left alone to solve the problems of violence in their schools have not been taught the real source of this violence--- their own government and an economic system that is so sick and corrupt the only thing that keeps either propped up and going... is what? Violence.
The guns are not the source of the problem; the guns are making the violence of a violently sick society worse.
Talk to your children and the students about all of this. See if they don't agree. Then join these young people in the streets.
This country was stolen from Native peoples using violence.
Slavery was maintained with violence.
Employers use violence to keep union out.
Chances are, if you have ever engaged in any kind of peaceful activity to make this world a better place to live you have had to confront the violence orchestrated by a government which boasts to the world of being the greatest bastion of democracy--- a lie peddled around the world and to young people in our schools now being consumed in this violence of our government's own making.
Get the military recruiters promoting "God, Guns and Guts" out of our public schools, stop the distribution of racist hate literature and bring in an army of well-trained compassionate social workers as the very first step in bringing an end to the violence in our public schools... and stop the well-heeled elites including bankers, real estate investors, greedy doctors and employers on the school boards to stop intimidating and harassing teachers who teach the truth.
Thursday, January 18, 2018
Student debt and collections... another "enemies list."
Many U.S. student debts have been turned over to a Nazi run German bank.
Deutsche Bank AG is a German global banking and financial services company, with its headquarters in the Deutsche Bank Twin Towers in Frankfurt, Germany. The ties between the Nazis and
Deutsche Bank AG has been well documented.
Deutsche Bank AG was one of the major backers of Hitler and invested in constructing Hitler's concentration camps.
Now Deutsche Bank AG is involved in the most vicious and heinous campaigns to collect and reap huge profits from U.S. student loans singling out political activists for "special collection methods" which have been deemed illegal by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, an agency of the United States government, responsible for consumer protection in the financial sector.
The Education Department has hired Performant Recovery, Inc. to collect student debts for Deutsche Bank AG.
Just like with Hitler and Nixon, Deutsche Bank AG, Performant AG and the Trump Administration have compiled an "enemies list."
.
Betsy De Vos has a major financial investment in Performant Recovery, Inc. The De Vos family has been a long-time financial supporter of the John Birch Society and worked in cahoots with the wife-beating billionaire banker Richard Mellon-Scaife in establishing various racist, anti-Semitic, right-wing groups like KeyWiki, Altegrity/U.S.I.S. and has been privileged to receiving information from the FBI and its various State Police Red Squads which involve outfits like the elite Texas police force, the Texas Rangers, the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, the Michigan State Police, and New York City Red Squad.
It has now been exposed that Performant Recovery, Inc. is using student debt collections to target and go after victims of the FBI's, CIA's and NSA's dirty COINTELPRO operations.
Mandy Michaels, Division Manager for Productions for Performant Recovery, Inc. told me, "You Communist trouble-makers are going to pay for what you are doing."
Performant Recovery, Inc. is garnishing 25% of my poverty wages from my part-time job.
I have filed a complaint for wage theft with the United States Department of Labor.
If you are being harassed by these collection companies using student debt as a pretext I would like to get together with you to plan a class action law-suit against the banks involved, Performant Recovery, Inc., other collection agencies the employers going along with these illegal collection practices and these other collection agencies using these vicious and malicious tactics intended to cause people impoverishment, great misery, pain and suffering.
In the end, when all is said and done, education should be free from pre-school through university.
And these banks and private collection agencies should not be allowed to profit from student debt which begs the question:
Why don't we have a national public banking system instead of allowing these banks like the Nazi run Deutsche Bank AG to reap huge profits of billions of dollars off of student debt just like they reaped tremendous profits from building Hitler's gas chambers.
Deutsche Bank AG has repeatedly used excuse after excuse to hide its Nazi past and to cover up the ties of its board members to Hitler and the ties of its present board members to a variety of right-wing fascist organizations serving finance and industrial capital.
Check out these articles:
http://thehill.com/homenews/administration/368930-company-with-devos-ties-awarded-education-dept-debt-collection
Deutsche Bank AG is a German global banking and financial services company, with its headquarters in the Deutsche Bank Twin Towers in Frankfurt, Germany. The ties between the Nazis and
Deutsche Bank AG has been well documented.
Deutsche Bank AG was one of the major backers of Hitler and invested in constructing Hitler's concentration camps.
Now Deutsche Bank AG is involved in the most vicious and heinous campaigns to collect and reap huge profits from U.S. student loans singling out political activists for "special collection methods" which have been deemed illegal by the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, an agency of the United States government, responsible for consumer protection in the financial sector.
The Education Department has hired Performant Recovery, Inc. to collect student debts for Deutsche Bank AG.
Just like with Hitler and Nixon, Deutsche Bank AG, Performant AG and the Trump Administration have compiled an "enemies list."
.
Betsy De Vos has a major financial investment in Performant Recovery, Inc. The De Vos family has been a long-time financial supporter of the John Birch Society and worked in cahoots with the wife-beating billionaire banker Richard Mellon-Scaife in establishing various racist, anti-Semitic, right-wing groups like KeyWiki, Altegrity/U.S.I.S. and has been privileged to receiving information from the FBI and its various State Police Red Squads which involve outfits like the elite Texas police force, the Texas Rangers, the Minnesota Department of Public Safety, the Michigan State Police, and New York City Red Squad.
It has now been exposed that Performant Recovery, Inc. is using student debt collections to target and go after victims of the FBI's, CIA's and NSA's dirty COINTELPRO operations.
Mandy Michaels, Division Manager for Productions for Performant Recovery, Inc. told me, "You Communist trouble-makers are going to pay for what you are doing."
Performant Recovery, Inc. is garnishing 25% of my poverty wages from my part-time job.
I have filed a complaint for wage theft with the United States Department of Labor.
If you are being harassed by these collection companies using student debt as a pretext I would like to get together with you to plan a class action law-suit against the banks involved, Performant Recovery, Inc., other collection agencies the employers going along with these illegal collection practices and these other collection agencies using these vicious and malicious tactics intended to cause people impoverishment, great misery, pain and suffering.
In the end, when all is said and done, education should be free from pre-school through university.
And these banks and private collection agencies should not be allowed to profit from student debt which begs the question:
Why don't we have a national public banking system instead of allowing these banks like the Nazi run Deutsche Bank AG to reap huge profits of billions of dollars off of student debt just like they reaped tremendous profits from building Hitler's gas chambers.
Deutsche Bank AG has repeatedly used excuse after excuse to hide its Nazi past and to cover up the ties of its board members to Hitler and the ties of its present board members to a variety of right-wing fascist organizations serving finance and industrial capital.
Check out these articles:
Education Dept. awards debt-collection contract to company with ties to DeVos
https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/grade-point/wp/2018/01/11/education-dept-awards-debt-collection-contract-to-company-with-ties-to-devos/?utm_term=.232f727ec0e6Company with DeVos ties awarded Education Dept debt-collection contract: report
By Jacqueline Thomsen - 01/13/18 07:09 PM ESThttp://thehill.com/homenews/administration/368930-company-with-devos-ties-awarded-education-dept-debt-collection
Tuesday, January 16, 2018
Another false nuclear alert... this time in Japan; coincidental or planned with sinister intent to get us prepared for a nuclear war?
Japanese media outlet NHK has apologized for issuing a false
report of a North Korean missile launch Tuesday evening local time.
An apology was issued on the Japanese language version of NHK’s website and later shared on its social media platforms.The incident comes just four days after a public warning was issued to residents in Hawaii to “seek immediate shelter” from an alleged incoming ballistic missile which had been launched.
That alert was issued in error by the Hawaii Civil Defense, which apologized profusely and sparked debate online about US President Donald Trump’s rhetoric regarding his country’s nuclear capabilities and the threat posed by the North Korean regime.
Racism has been running rampant in this country long before Trump's racist comments but Trump is making racism acceptable in formulating public policy.
Trump has made racist public officials all across this country think they can get away with racist discrimination in formulating public policy in education, housing, health care and employment.
Proof of racism in housing policies can be seen in the establishment of very segregated suburbs and gated communities which leads to segregated public schools and racist discrimination in health care and employment.
We can look at any number of hundreds of suburbs and gated communities in this country and then look at what is happening in urban inner city areas to prove that racism is part and parcel of a planned public policy.
In fact, one would be extremely hard-pressed to find any community in this country which is intentionally being planned with diversity and integration in mind.
While most politicians are trying to cover up the racism involved in public policy and planning, Trump is unique in giving approval from the highest office in this country to racism in public policy and planning.
What do you know about the billionaires running this country and what they intend to do?
Too many people fail to research what is going on in this country.
The influence of even the most influential political strategists is inextricably linked to the donors behind them and the politicians in front of them.
Just look at this Mercer family and their links to Trump and Bannon and how their front groups work the media.
The influence of even the most influential political strategists is inextricably linked to the donors behind them and the politicians in front of them.
Just look at this Mercer family and their links to Trump and Bannon and how their front groups work the media.
The billionaire Mercers have stated their intent:
“... attempting to build a "radical free-market, small-government, home-schooling, antiliberal, gold-standard, pro-death penalty, anti-Muslim, pro-Christian, monetarist, anti-civil-rights political movement in the United States."
How could anyone be more specific?
Yet, would you know from the reports in the mainstream media this was their intent even though we often hear these people are Trump’s big financial backers and bankrolled Steve Bannon.
The Mercer’s run a huge stable of internet trolls and sock-puppets who are constantly trying to disrupt anti-Trump activity.
Make no mistake, the Democrats have their own billionaires engaged in equally as dirty shenanigans.
So, we have these billionaires working out of sight through the political strategists they employ to carry out their agendas making sure the politicians they are backing stay true to their right wing agendas.
Do your own research. Find out more about parasitical hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer and his evil daughter Rebekah who operates an array of Front groups and think tanks which the media calls upon to authenticate their stories and analysis with lies passed off as facts.
If you think it can’t happen here you had better check out this Mercer family and what they are doing to this country along with the other billionaires like George Soros, the Koch brothers, Warren Buffett, Bill Gates and the rest of these Wall Street parasites because they have something planned for you that you probably know very little about.
These evil-doers are not limited to just Republicans and in many instances these reactionary Republicans are working hand-in-hand with the Democrats where we can't see what is going on.
How much do you really know about the billionaire ruling class and their millionaire management class and the over-paid pundits they hire to frame their message with the intent to deceive?
Check out these articles...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-5267049/Republican-powerbrokers-intensely-private-Mercer-family.html
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/01/no-one-knows-what-the-powerful-mercers-really-want/514529/
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/01/no-one-knows-what-the-powerful-mercers-really-want/514529/
Have you read the book, "It Can't Happen Here" by Sinclair Lewis?
We had better start to think about the very dangerous fascist direction our country is headed in and what we can do to reverse this direction.
“... attempting to build a "radical free-market, small-government, home-schooling, antiliberal, gold-standard, pro-death penalty, anti-Muslim, pro-Christian, monetarist, anti-civil-rights political movement in the United States."
How could anyone be more specific?
Yet, would you know from the reports in the mainstream media this was their intent even though we often hear these people are Trump’s big financial backers and bankrolled Steve Bannon.
The Mercer’s run a huge stable of internet trolls and sock-puppets who are constantly trying to disrupt anti-Trump activity.
Make no mistake, the Democrats have their own billionaires engaged in equally as dirty shenanigans.
So, we have these billionaires working out of sight through the political strategists they employ to carry out their agendas making sure the politicians they are backing stay true to their right wing agendas.
Do your own research. Find out more about parasitical hedge fund billionaire Robert Mercer and his evil daughter Rebekah who operates an array of Front groups and think tanks which the media calls upon to authenticate their stories and analysis with lies passed off as facts.
If you think it can’t happen here you had better check out this Mercer family and what they are doing to this country along with the other billionaires like George Soros, the Koch brothers, Warren Buffett, Bill Gates and the rest of these Wall Street parasites because they have something planned for you that you probably know very little about.
These evil-doers are not limited to just Republicans and in many instances these reactionary Republicans are working hand-in-hand with the Democrats where we can't see what is going on.
How much do you really know about the billionaire ruling class and their millionaire management class and the over-paid pundits they hire to frame their message with the intent to deceive?
Check out these articles...
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/wires/afp/article-5267049/Republican-powerbrokers-intensely-private-Mercer-family.html
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/01/no-one-knows-what-the-powerful-mercers-really-want/514529/
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2017/01/no-one-knows-what-the-powerful-mercers-really-want/514529/
Have you read the book, "It Can't Happen Here" by Sinclair Lewis?
We had better start to think about the very dangerous fascist direction our country is headed in and what we can do to reverse this direction.
Monday, January 8, 2018
For solidarity with the Iranian people and the Tudeh Party
Four important statements from the Tudeh Party of Iran:
Cecil B. DeMille
A lot is being made of Oprah Winfrey receiving the Cecil B. DeMille Award.
But...
Did you know that Cecil B. DeMille was a thoroughly reactionary Republican who worked in cahoots with the fascist Wall Street imperialist Allen Dulles and the CIA in helping to foster discord and mayhem all over the world... especially in undermining socialist working class movements and destabilizing socialist countries?
But...
Did you know that Cecil B. DeMille was a thoroughly reactionary Republican who worked in cahoots with the fascist Wall Street imperialist Allen Dulles and the CIA in helping to foster discord and mayhem all over the world... especially in undermining socialist working class movements and destabilizing socialist countries?
Cecil B. DeMille played a despicable role in the Hollywood witch-hunts of the 1940's and 1950's.
I don't know why anyone would even accept an award presented in this guys name.
I don't know why anyone would even accept an award presented in this guys name.
Oprah Winfrey won't be getting my vote
Oprah Winfrey Receives Cecil B. de Mille Award at the 2018 Golden Globes
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fN5HV79_8B8Oprah Winfrey talked a good line about "not covering up the truth" and yet she has helped cover up the truth of capitalist exploitation as the breeder of war, poverty and racism for years... just the kind of candidate the Democrats would like having run in their presidential primary to suck people in.
Although we all know Oprah would never be allowed to run heading up the Democratic ticket... maybe as the vice-presidential candidate on a ticket headed up by Joe Biden.
Oprah Winfrey should try looking at the way women are treated in the factories around Chicago... I would suggest she starts with the racist Tootsie Roll Company which tries to get out of its agreements in the collective bargained contract with its union employees at every opportunity to see how women of color are exploited and mistreated by the billionaire owners of this company which has been exploiting workers for over 100 years in this country and around the world in countries like Mexico.
In the meantime, speaking for the Wall Street Democrats under the guise of being for working people, the crooked and corrupt Hillary Clinton continues to spew lie after lie about everything from foreign relations, U.S. interventions, meddling and wars to the plight of working people and how a market-driven, for-profit health care system is in our best interest and how she and the Democrats are opposed to racism and discrimination against women but refuse to support the enforcement of Affirmative Action and won't even insist on something as basic and fundamental as monitoring every single employer to make sure they are paying into Social Security and when the funds are deducted from wages this money gets paid into Social Security rather than going back into the employers' pockets.
Vague words about "truth" and "justice" sound nice in the era of Trump's lie machine working twenty-four/seven but it will take much more than mere words to solve our problems.
I'll be waiting for Oprah Winfrey to do a series of programs on the long sordid racist anti-worker history of the Tootsie Roll Company before I believe her words are any more than mere nice-sounding words intended to keep people trapped under the Democrat's "big tent for all."
Quite frankly, Hollywood doesn't seem to be very interested in the plight of working people especially when it comes to being very specific about our problems.
Why I will never again give my one precious vote to a Democrat
The Democrats are obviously going to be running a full field of candidates for the presidential primaries for the 2020 Election.
These will be candidates with a variety of views the Democrats consider are necessary to keep people trapped in their "One Big Tent for all."
I wouldn't waste my time walking across the street to vote for any of these candidates because none of these politicians have ever lifted a finger to solve the problems of working people.
Let me give you an example of how little these Democrats will do:
I worked for years for an employer who deducted Social Security payments from my paycheck but kept the money for himself instead of paying into Social Security.
When it came time for me to get Social Security I find this out that the funds had never been paid in.
Social Security then told me I had to "prove" I worked for this employer for so many years.
Well, I had the best proof one could have... The files the FBI maintained on me for every forty-five days proved I worked for this employer as the files show the FBI documented:
Where I lived.
Who i associated with.
Where I worked.
So, I prove to Social Security I worked for this employer for all those years and then Social Security throws at me:
"Prove to us the employer deducted Social Security payments."
So, I asked for a hearing and provided the names of the other people I worked with as witnesses this employer was deducting Social Security payments from our paychecks.
Social Security then said, "We are not calling all these people to be witnesses."
So, I go to my Democratic Congressman, Collin Peterson. He said, "I'm not going to help you; you are a Communist." So I told him, "Who do you think fought for Social Security you rotten Dumb Donkey?"
So, this Democrat did nothing for me... which would not even have been for me but to assure the integrity of the Social Security system.
So, another Democratic Congressman, Rick Nolan, advertises that he will be at the public library to help people with their Social Security problems. I get up and explain to him in front of dozens of people what is going on with my Social Security. He stands there and say, "This is just terrible. It is just terrible. This can't be happening. I am going to get right on this. You just put all the information in my hands and we are going to take care of you." That was in front of dozens of people. But, when it came to taking care of this problem Congressman Nolan made sure he never talked to me again. When I attempted to approach him at another public meeting he literally ran away from me.
Now, I do not care who anyone votes for but I do not want to hear from anyone telling me that I have some kind of responsibility to vote for any of these worthless Dumb Donkeys because I have no responsibility to surrender my one precious vote to any of these worthless bastards... not when they don't even have the moral, ethical or political courage to defend the integrity of the Social Security system.
And, oh, yes; Congressman Nolan assures me that I am not alone. That thousands of people in this country come up against this problem of unethical employers--- as if this is supposed to make me feel better.
So, I worked.
I paid into Social Security.
I get next to nothing out of it.
And I can't even get a fair hearing.
And what do these Dumb Donkeys do? Absolutely nothing.
So, no Democrat running for president or Congress will ever again get my one precious vote no matter how hard they or their hacks or anyone else begs for it.
Let me just ask one final question:
Where is the responsibility on the part of this rotten government to make sure every single employer is paying into Social Security as required by law?
Let me just ask one final question:
Where is the responsibility on the part of this rotten government to make sure every single employer is paying into Social Security as required by law?
Wednesday, January 3, 2018
Is Nuclear Winter the antidote to global warming?
Could
it be Trump, who lets us know how smart he is at every opportunity and
constantly tells us how much he loves all of us, is thinking about
offsetting global warming with a Nuclear Winter?
This must be what the advocates of geo engineering have in mind.
This must be what the advocates of geo engineering have in mind.
What Happened
I find it interesting so many people would like us not to discuss Hillary Rodham Clinton's new book, "What Happened," even though it is being so widely hyped, pushed and sold.
In fact, Hillary Clinton's book is a message to our Wall Street ruling class that she and the Democrats are on the same page as Trump and the Republicans when it comes to just about everything from foreign relations to health care "reform," tax "reform" and student loans.
The language used by Clinton and Trump differs because they each pervert the English language to appeal to their very different voting bases, but, more often than not, even their voting bases are one and the same with the working class, the poor and the racially oppressed having been written off as both the Democrats and Republicans compete for the same votes from the racist suburbs and gated communities inhabited by the most loyal managers of the millionaires and extreme billionaires whose wealth now approaches them becoming trillionaires; but, their Wall Street base who they are accountable to is one and the same.
Democrats fear working people becoming engaged in a discussion of Hillary Clinton's book because such a discussion will open up the most important and fundamental question for the working class: Do we need a new working class based people's party that is both anti-monopoly and anti-imperialist stressing the need for very expensive immediate reforms that can be paid for by ending these dirty imperialist wars and severely curtailing arms spending--- beating swords into plowshares--- while challenging Wall Street for political and economic power as we bring forward the need for public ownership of the mines, mills, factories, banks, communication and power generating industries?
We need to increase Social Security payments to a living income while reducing the work-week and hours to something in keeping with what is appropriate for decent human conditions.
We need a Minimum Wage that is legislatively tied to the actual and real cost-of-living.
We need a National Public Health Care System based on the model of public education not this "affordable health care insurance" or this phony single-payer and Medicare for All because Medicare is nothing but a fiasco being used for a bunch of greedy doctors, pharmaceutical companies, hospitals and nursing homes to feed at the public trough with deductibles and co-pays only the well-heeled few can afford to pay.
While there are a few decent Democrats running for public office who share this progressive outlook to some extent or another, most Democrats are loyal to the Clinton Wall Street crowd which is the same crowd Trump is accountable too.
We can break free from the two-party trap in spite of all the obstacles in our way; workers in other countries have freed themselves from the parties of their employers and so should we.
I will be voting for a couple Democrats but not because I have any loyalty to a party which appreciates my vote--- because the Democrats don't... in fact, anyone reading my blog or FaceBook page can see that these Wall Street loyal Democrats don't even want my vote because they know they get my two-cents along with my vote.
Peace and climate change are the overriding issues but along with these two issues the immediate problems of working people must be resolved.
The capitalist system is on the skids to oblivion taking us down a very dangerous dark road with many deadly dead-man curves leading straight to hell... only a cooperative socialist commonwealth is going to be able to save us now--- but, even if you don't agree with this, the rest provides an action program we can unite around.
Hillary Clinton is still important to the Wall Street ruling class because she is establishing their line ahead that will be used by the next Democrat Wall Street selects for us... so we had better understand very clearly what she is saying, today. Unless you are content to let your employers do your thinking for you.
Tax reform: https://thepodunkblog.blogspot.com/2017/12/tax-rich-end-wars-and-cut-military.html
Health care reform: https://thepodunkblog.blogspot.com/2017/11/one-of-my-blog-posts-hits-all-time-high.html
Tax reform: https://thepodunkblog.blogspot.com/2017/12/tax-rich-end-wars-and-cut-military.html
Health care reform: https://thepodunkblog.blogspot.com/2017/11/one-of-my-blog-posts-hits-all-time-high.html
Friday, December 22, 2017
Tax the rich, end the wars and cut the military budget--- tax problem solved
The Democrats and all of these phony liberals, progressives and
leftists will now start talking about "taxing the rich" as the 2018
Election draws near. They have no intent of doing this even if they had a
veto-proof majority.
They don't want to talk about how militarism and these dirty imperialist wars along with corruption deprive society of needed revenues to finance real health care reform.
They don't want to talk about how a National Public Health Care System would save billions of dollars while providing everyone with free health care.
They don't want to talk about how militarism and these dirty imperialist wars along with corruption deprive society of needed revenues to finance real health care reform.
They don't want to talk about how a National Public Health Care System would save billions of dollars while providing everyone with free health care.
In Minnesota Democrat Mark Dayton campaigned on the pledge to "tax the
rich." He had a veto-proof House and Senate Democrat majority. He
reneged on his promise and raised property taxes and other regressive
taxes hurting the working class the most.
We need a new working class based party advocating real tax reforms which must include reordering priorities and legislating full employment with real living wages along with lowering the retirement age while increasing Social Security.
Real tax reform will require an anti-monopoly/anti-imperialist struggle which challenges Wall Street for political and economic power while focusing on the needs of workers and working class families.
In Minnesota, the Democrats dumped their own governor Rudy Perpich with a vicious red-baiting campaign calling him "Red Rudy" because he advanced legislation that would have taxed the hell out of the mining and forestry industries to pay for education which would have provided the people of Minnesota property and sales tax relief. Corporate Democrats pushed Perpich out and saddled Minnesotans with years of Republican tyranny where Democrats often supported, when they didn't acquiesce, to Republicans increasing every single regressive tax.
We need a new working class based party advocating real tax reforms which must include reordering priorities and legislating full employment with real living wages along with lowering the retirement age while increasing Social Security.
Real tax reform will require an anti-monopoly/anti-imperialist struggle which challenges Wall Street for political and economic power while focusing on the needs of workers and working class families.
In Minnesota, the Democrats dumped their own governor Rudy Perpich with a vicious red-baiting campaign calling him "Red Rudy" because he advanced legislation that would have taxed the hell out of the mining and forestry industries to pay for education which would have provided the people of Minnesota property and sales tax relief. Corporate Democrats pushed Perpich out and saddled Minnesotans with years of Republican tyranny where Democrats often supported, when they didn't acquiesce, to Republicans increasing every single regressive tax.
Wednesday, December 20, 2017
Why can't we keep trains on their tracks?
This is supposed to be the most industrialized and technologically
advanced nation in the world and we can’t keep trains on the track.
And we can’t keep trains on the track but drones can be controlled to kill people with pin point accuracy.
We can't keep trains on their tracks because of the screwed up priorities in this country.
And we can’t keep trains on the track but drones can be controlled to kill people with pin point accuracy.
We can't keep trains on their tracks because of the screwed up priorities in this country.
Unemployment down and poverty soars.
Trump’s big boast is unemployment is down.
Unemployment is down only because so many people have been under-employed and unemployed for so long they are now forced to work for poverty wages.
What business wouldn’t want to expand with such cheap labor costs?
But this capitalist “boom” cycle will be very short lived simply because these jobs do not pay people anywhere near enough to buy back what they are producing.
We will experience severe “over-production.”
And when this “boom” cycle crashes it is going to be one hell of a collapse hurting tens of millions of people.
And when this capitalist economy crashes this time all the pension funds are going to disappear and people are going to have to work until they die... many people already have to do this.
Unfortunately, many people learn the hard way and don’t start to think until they are suffering the consequences of this rotten capitalist system.
Don’t count on the Dumb Donkeys to save you because they will not even take the most basic steps to defend the integrity of Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid, Unemployment Insurance or public education. Their idea of reforms is to make sure Wall Street is free to rip us off while making it sound good for us while it is killing us.
How can unemployment be lower while poverty increases?
The answer is very simple: When you pay people poverty wages they are going to be poor.
Unemployment is down only because so many people have been under-employed and unemployed for so long they are now forced to work for poverty wages.
What business wouldn’t want to expand with such cheap labor costs?
But this capitalist “boom” cycle will be very short lived simply because these jobs do not pay people anywhere near enough to buy back what they are producing.
We will experience severe “over-production.”
And when this “boom” cycle crashes it is going to be one hell of a collapse hurting tens of millions of people.
And when this capitalist economy crashes this time all the pension funds are going to disappear and people are going to have to work until they die... many people already have to do this.
Unfortunately, many people learn the hard way and don’t start to think until they are suffering the consequences of this rotten capitalist system.
Don’t count on the Dumb Donkeys to save you because they will not even take the most basic steps to defend the integrity of Social Security, Medicare/Medicaid, Unemployment Insurance or public education. Their idea of reforms is to make sure Wall Street is free to rip us off while making it sound good for us while it is killing us.
How can unemployment be lower while poverty increases?
The answer is very simple: When you pay people poverty wages they are going to be poor.
Monday, December 18, 2017
George McGovern and Lyndon Johnson
Opinion
Discovering Greatness in Lyndon Johnson
John
Kenneth Galbraith called recently for a reassessment of Johnson,
arguing that history was unfair in identifying his presidency primarily
with the war. Professor Galbraith is on the mark.
The
Kennedy, Johnson and Nixon administrations were all wrong in Vietnam.
This issue was central to my 1972 presidential run against Richard
Nixon. But despite his involvement with the war, Johnson used his
remarkable political skills to build the most far-reaching progressive
domestic program since the New Deal. Johnson's opponents like to
ridicule the Great Society, but what is wrong with an American president
who envisions his nation as a great society? Johnson did more than any
other president to advance civil rights, education and housing, to name
just three of his concerns, through enactment of laws.
I
now regret not devoting more time to praising the Johnson record at
home. And I wish I had known earlier what the Johnson White House tapes,
published two years ago, show: Johnson was agonizing over Vietnam
policy from his first day as president until his last.
Johnson
shared his doubts and fears about Vietnam primarily with Senator
Richard Russell of Georgia, chairman of the Armed Services Committee. I
knew that both Johnson and Russell opposed American involvement in
Vietnam when it was proposed to them as senators by the Eisenhower
administration. The tapes show that they continued to have terrible
doubts and regrets, even while publicly supporting the war.
On
May 27, 1964, six months into his presidency, Johnson asks Russell on
one tape, ''What do you think of this Vietnam thing?'' Russell answers:
''It's the damn worst mess I ever saw, and I don't like to brag. I never
have been right many times in my life. But I knew that we were going to
get into this sort of mess when we went in there.'' To which Johnson
replies: ''That's the way that I've been feeling for six months.''
Russell
answers: ''If I was going to get out, I'd get the same crowd that got
rid of old Diem to get rid of these people and get some fellow in there
that said he wished to hell we would get out. That would give us a good
excuse for getting out . . . .''
''How important is it to us?'' Johnson asks.
''It isn't important a damn bit, with all these new missile systems,'' Russell replies.
Later,
Johnson tells Russell: ''I've got a little old sergeant that works for
me over at the house, and he's got six children, and I just put him up
there as the United States Army, Air Force and Navy every time I think
about making this decision, and think about sending that father of those
six kids in there. And what the hell are we going to get out of his
doing it? And it just makes the chills run up my back.'' To which
Russell replies: ''It does me. I just can't see it.''
Later
that day Johnson tells his national security adviser, McGeorge Bundy:
''I don't think it's worth fighting for, and I don't think that we can
get out. It just the biggest damn mess I ever saw.'' To which Bundy
replies: ''It is. It's an awful mess.'' Johnson makes a final
observation to Bundy: ''It's damned easy to get in a war, but it's gonna
be awfully hard to extricate yourself if you get in.''
I
assumed in those years that Johnson was fully convinced of the
soundness of his policy and not eager to consider other alternatives. I
assumed the same was true of Senator Russell and his powerful allies in
the Senate. If I had been privy to the mind of either Johnson or
Russell, I would have assembled a group of a dozen senators and asked
for a no-holds-barred meeting on Vietnam policy.
Such a group could have included J. William Fulbright, Mike Mansfield, Frank Church, Eugene McCarthy, Joseph Clark, George Aiken, John Sherman Cooper, Mark Hatfield, Robert and Edward Kennedy, Gaylord Nelson and Albert Gore Sr. Whether we could have made a difference, knowing that we were talking to a president tortured by his policy and looking for a way out, I do not know. I do know that I wish we had tried.
Such a group could have included J. William Fulbright, Mike Mansfield, Frank Church, Eugene McCarthy, Joseph Clark, George Aiken, John Sherman Cooper, Mark Hatfield, Robert and Edward Kennedy, Gaylord Nelson and Albert Gore Sr. Whether we could have made a difference, knowing that we were talking to a president tortured by his policy and looking for a way out, I do not know. I do know that I wish we had tried.
If
it had been up to Lyndon Johnson, we would not have gone into Vietnam
in the first place. It would be a historic tragedy if his outstanding
domestic record remained forever obscured by his involvement in a war he
did not begin and did not know how to stop.
George McGovern
A note:
It is interesting to note that the details of the meeting which took place at Johnson's ranch in Texas Hill Country between LBJ and George McGovern are still being with-held from the American people.
It is time to make all notes, audio and video recordings of this meeting available to the public.
LBJ endorsed McGovern for president at this meeting.
Apparently LBJ understood in endorsing McGovern we can't have both guns and butter as advised by liberal economist John Kenneth Galbraith.
It is time for the LBJ Library in Austin, Texas to stop concealing these materials and release all of the materials relating to the Johnson-McGovern meeting.
A note:
It is interesting to note that the details of the meeting which took place at Johnson's ranch in Texas Hill Country between LBJ and George McGovern are still being with-held from the American people.
It is time to make all notes, audio and video recordings of this meeting available to the public.
LBJ endorsed McGovern for president at this meeting.
Apparently LBJ understood in endorsing McGovern we can't have both guns and butter as advised by liberal economist John Kenneth Galbraith.
It is time for the LBJ Library in Austin, Texas to stop concealing these materials and release all of the materials relating to the Johnson-McGovern meeting.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
