Monthly Archives: July 2013

Weekly News Update July 23, 2013 Reply

by • Attack the System radio

News of the Week
Weekly News Update July 23, 2013

July 28, 2013

Keith Preston reviews recent articles that indicate ARV-ATS ideas are now moving into the mainstream.

Topics include:

  • Chris Hedges’ admission that the liberal class is a failure and has abandoned the poor in favor of middle class cultural politics.
  • John MacArthur’s piece in Harper’s attacking the Wilsonian legacy of the Democratic Party and calling for a left/right alliance against the surveillance state.
  • Justin Raimondo’s observation of the increasing appeal of libertarians and paleo-rightists like Rand Paul to liberals dismayed by the Left’s failures on civil liberties issues and how the establishment’s neocon-progressive alliance views this as a threat.
  • How Lew Rockwell and Murray Rothbard’s “paleo strategy” (a predecessor to the outreach efforts to the populist-right by ARV-ATS) in the early 90s became the basis of the Ron Paul movement, and how Paul was a “gateway drug” to more extreme forms of anti-state radicalism for many young people.
  • An article in “The American Conservative” endorsing the strategy of “libertarian-populism” (anti-government, pro-worker) long advocated by ARV-ATS.

File type: MP3
Length: 28:07
Bitrate: 32kb/s

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kppgarv@mindspring.com

The Growth of Black Anarchism Reply

by • Attack the System radio

Attack the System
The Growth of Black Anarchism

July 28, 2013

ATS senior editors Miles Joyner and Keith Preston discuss anarchist influences on radical tendencies in black communities.

Topics include:

  • The reaction of the black community to the Zimmerman verdict.
  • The obscuring of the Bradley Manning trial by the Zimmerman trial.
  • The legacy of the Black Panthers and the Black Liberation Army.
  • The influence of black anarchist thinkers like Ashanti Alston and Lorenzo Komboa Ervin.
  • Contemporary black anarchist tendencies like Black Autonomy Federation and Anarchist People of Color.
  • Black nationalism, anarcho-capitalism, and black libertarians.
  • Problems with black conservatism.

File type: MP3
Length: 37:56
Bitrate: 32kb/s

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Email Keith:
kppgarv@mindspring.com

Why They Hate Rand Paul Reply

by • Culture Wars/Current Controversies, Electoralism/Democratism, Left and Right, Police State/Civil Liberties

By Justin Raimondo

The rise of Sen. Rand Paul (R-Kentucky) as an alternative to Bush era GOP dead-enders has the two principal anti-libertarian factions in American politics snarling and spitting in fury – and real fear.

The progressives – in the drivers’ seat at the moment – are especially miffed that this upstart ophthalmologist, and son of Ron Paul, has become a pole of attraction not only for libertarians and their conservative fellow-travelers, but for a growing number of their own liberal-leftie base. More…

The Party of Wilson, Wiretaps, and War Reply

by • Anti-Imperialism/Foreign Policy, Left and Right, Police State/Civil Liberties, Strategy

By John R. MacArthur

merican democracy now seems to be dead. Yet while party bosses backed by billionaires and corporate lobbyists snuff out any effort at serious reform, and President Obama prevaricates on all the great issues of the day, two vital national arguments have erupted that might force our political elites and somnolent Congress into a genuine debate.

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“First They Came for the Fascists…”: Reflections on White Nationalism 19

by • Attack the System radio

Attack the System
“First They Came for the Fascists…”: Reflections on White Nationalism

July 21, 2013

Keith Preston strives for an objective analysis of the most taboo political philosophy.

Topics include:

  • The need to defend freedom of opinion and association for everyone.
  • The lack of objective scholarly analysis of white nationalism.
  • The backstory to the odd relationship between ATS and white nationalism.
  • The many variations in white nationalist ideology.
  • Issues raised by white nationalists.
  • Failures and excesses in the white nationalist milieu.
  • The reasons for left-wing hysteria over white nationalists.
  • How the Left and white nationalists often mirror each other.
  • The probable future of white nationalist movements.

File type: MP3
Length: 1:38:51
Bitrate: 32kb/s

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kppgarv@mindspring.com

The Farm Bill & ‘Libertarian Populism’: Can the GOP be pro-worker and anti-government? Reply

by • Culture Wars/Current Controversies, Economics/Class Relations, Electoralism/Democratism, Left and Right, Strategy

No, they can’t. But we can. It looks like some folks at The American Conservative have been reading AttacktheSystem.Com.

By W. James Antle III

One step forward, two steps back. The Republican Party is like an alcoholic in recovery, with periods of sobriety punctuated by long, destructive benders as it once again falls off the wagon.

In June, a critical mass of House conservatives helped vote down a nearly $1 trillion farm bill that merged all the protectionism and cronyism that dominates modern agriculture policy with the worst excesses of the food stamp program.

Republican leaders were reportedly very unhappy, but the sweetheart deals for the sugar industry and federal crop insurance program are two corporate welfare programs that are totally counterproductive for the taxpayer. Moreover, while it may make political sense to link food stamps and farm subsidies, the economic justification is less obvious.

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Homosexuality, Hoppe, and Time Preferences 4

by • Culture Wars/Current Controversies, Economics/Class Relations, Sexuality and the State

An interesting article by a gay libertarian on the alleged “homophobia” of Han Hermann-Hoppe

By Ludwig Von

As a gay person who considers himself a right-wing libertarian, the “problem” of time preferences among gays (as mentioned by Hans Hermann-Hoppe) has come up a few times, enough for it to bother me enough to present some counter-arguments.

I’ll let Hoppe put it in his own words, and for the record, I fully support his right to say such things in a university setting:

“In March of 2004, during a 75-minute lecture in my Money and Banking class on time preference, interest, and capital, I presented numerous examples designed to illustrate the concept of time preference (or in the terminology of the sociologist Edward Banfield of “present- and future-orientation”).  As one brief example, I referred to homosexuals as a group which, because they typically do not have children, tend to have a higher degree of time preference and are more present-oriented. I also noted–as have many other scholars–that J.M Keynes, whose economic theories were the subject of some upcoming lectures, had been a homosexual and that this might be useful to know when considering his short-run economic policy recommendation and his famous dictum “in the long run we are all dead.”

– “My Battle With The Thought Police”, Mises Daily: Tuesday, April 12, 2005 

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Where Keith Preston Falls Short: A Critique from the Right 31

by • Anarchism/Anti-State, Culture Wars/Current Controversies, Left and Right, Religion and Philosophy

What follows is a letter I received from a reader, Mr. Todd Lewis. I believe this to be the most accurate yet thorough critique of my own work issued to date. It is certainly the most thorough critique I have received from the Right, and makes an excellent counterpart to Matthew Lyons’ critique from the Left which was issued a couple years ago. While the Lyons critique was quite good,  I believe Mr. Lewis has surpassed Lyons is his level of comprehension of my own ideas and level of penetrating analysis. I take my hat off to him.

Mr. Preston,

I have kept track of your work for a couple of years, and while I respect certain aspects of your work, which I will list, I have found a certain level of hypocrisy and irrationality in your work. You spend a fair amount of your time criticizing the contradictions and hypocrisy of the so-called Neo-Conservatives and Socialist Democrats and their so-called political disputes, when both are really just state socialists; one wanting socialism for corporations and the other socialism for special interest groups. Such criticism is justified and valid. However I see a similar hypocrisy and inconsistency in some of your work.

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ATS News of the Week: Zimmerman Acquittal, Kokesh, and the Coerced Sterilization of Female Inmates Reply

by • Attack the System radio

News of the Week
Zimmerman Acquittal, Kokesh, and the Coerced Sterilization of Female Inmates

July 14, 2013

ATS Weekly News Update July 14, 2013

Topics include:

  • The acquittal of George Zimmerman and the reasons for the media’s showering of attention on what was essentially a routine murder trial. .
  • The political persecution of Adam Kokesh and the lessons his experience provides for anti-state radicals.
  • The California prison system’s alarming practice of coerced sterilization of female inmates.

File type: MP3
Length: 33:51
Bitrate: 32kb/s

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Email Keith:
kppgarv@mindspring.com

The Beginning of the End: The F-35 Lightning and the Empire 3

by • American Decline, Anti-Imperialism/Foreign Policy, Fourth Generation Warfare, Military, Uncategorized


f 35

People who are into radical politics are rarely interested in military technology.  All the radical generally needs to know is that the bad guys have got all the cool planes, bombs, tanks, submarines and aircraft carriers while our team maintains an edge only in raw hats and distressed fatigue jackets. Hence in the interest here at ATS in 4th gen warfare which explicitly assumes that the opposition will have a numeric, economic and technological advantages everywhere all the time.
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Some Thoughts on George Zimmerman and John T. Williams 8

by • Culture Wars/Current Controversies, Economics/Class Relations, Law/Justice, Police State/Civil Liberties, Race and Ethnicity

From Lingit Latseen

John T Williams March - September 16, 2010
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by Frank Hopper

As the not guilty verdict of George Zimmerman was announced on July 13 I couldn’t help thinking about a similar shooting here in Seattle that was also caused by racial profiling, the shooting of First Nations carver John T. Williams by Seattle Police officer Ian Birk on August 30, 2010. Both shootings were heartless attacks on unarmed minorities. Both were needless and unjustified, and both triggered understandable outrage from the communities where they occurred. But the response by the Native community in Seattle to John’s shooting was far different than the rage felt after Zimmerman’s verdict.
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Malcolm X Grassroots Movement: Proposed Next Steps for the National Justice for Trayvon Martin Reply

by • Culture Wars/Current Controversies, Economics/Class Relations, Law/Justice, Police State/Civil Liberties, Race and Ethnicity

From Malcolm X Grassroots Movement

Proposed Next Steps for the National Justice for Trayvon Martin Movement
Tuesday, July 16, 2013

Major Action
We call for a massive mobilization to shut down either Tallahassee or Sanford, Florida in August or September to: a) present a comprehensive set of structural demands and b) help congeal the broad social justice movements fighting for justice for Trayvon Martin to be able to develop and advance a comprehensive BDS (Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions) campaign.
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ATS Roundtable: Gangs and the Lumpenproletarian Class Base of Anti-System Struggle Reply

by • Attack the System radio

ATS Roundtable
Gangs and the Lumpenproletarian Class Base of Anti-System Struggle

July 14, 2013

ATS senior editors Miles Joyner, Vince Rinehart, and Keith Preston discuss the political potential of organized outlaws.

Topics include:

  • The misperception of gangs as a distinctively lower class social phenomenon.
  • The enormous size of the gang population in the United States.
  • Gangs as a form of stateless tribal networks and models of fourth generation warfare organizations.
  • Past efforts at the political organization of gangs.
  • The role of gangs in past rebellions such as the 1992 West Coast uprisings.
  • Why the lumpenproletariat has surpassed the traditional proletariat as the basis of class struggle.
  • The relationship between gangs and ethno-identitarian movements.
  • Gangs as source of streetfighters during revolutionary struggle.
  • The criteria needed for effective protest movements.
  • How a militant minority of passionate opinion-holders can affect society way beyond their numbers.

File type: MP3
Length: 1:18:05
Bitrate: 32kb/s

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kppgarv@mindspring.com

Vermont Poised to Become 1st State to Enact Single-Payer Healthcare Reply

by • Culture Wars/Current Controversies, Economics/Class Relations, Health and Medicine

Democracy Now

Today Vermont is set to make history by becoming the first state in the nation to offer universal, single-payer healthcare when Gov. Peter Shumlin signs its healthcare reform bill into law. The Vermont plan, called the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, will attempt to stem rising medical care prices and provide universal coverage. We speak with Dr. Deb Richter, president of Vermont Health Care for All. She moved from Buffalo, New York, to Vermont in 1999 to advocate for a universal, single-payer healthcare system in the state. Gov. Shumlin calls her the “backbone” of the grassroots effort that helped persuade the Democratic-led state legislature to pass the bill this spring.

Transcript

This is a rush transcript. Copy may not be in its final form.

JUAN GONZALEZ: Today, Vermont is set to become the first state in the nation to offer single-payer healthcare when Governor Peter Shumlin signs its healthcare reform bill into law. The cost of healthcare has risen sharply in Vermont in recent years, as it has everywhere in the country. The Vermont plan, called the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, will attempt to stem that rise and also provide universal coverage. Every Vermont resident will be eligible for coverage under the state-run health plan.

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Young self-described ‘conservatives’ underestimate their liberalism Reply

by • Left and Right

By Eric W. Dolan

Public polls and voter registrations may be underestimating the number of liberals and independents in the United States. Young conservatives believe they are more conservative than they actually are, according to a study published June 13 in Social Psychological and Personality Science.

Ethan Zell of the University of North Carolina and Michael J. Bernstein of Pennsylvania State University, the authors of the study, said conservatives could be more prone to biased self-perceptions because they tend to exhibit higher levels of in-group loyalty.

“Conservatives value group loyalty more than liberals,” Zell told PsyPost. “We assumed that this desire for loyalty might lead conservatives to see themselves as more representative members of the Republican Party than would be reflected by their attitudes on specific issues. Thus, conservative young adults might want to see themselves as typical or true Republicans, when their attitudes suggest that they are really only slightly conservative or even independent.”

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How We Got Warrior Cops Reply

by • Police State/Civil Liberties

Radley Balko is interviewed by Lucy Steigerwald

High-profile police response to terrorism threats – as in the case of the Boston bombing – grab headlines, but it wasn’t the paranoias of our post-9/11 world that made cops often indistinguishable from an army. It started earlier. It started with the war on drugs.

The rule about war is there are always casualties – even if the conflict was initially a rhetorical one. The phenomenon of the the rapid increase in the use of SWAT raids – and the very real casualties that have resulted – was relatively unexplored until Radley Balko. In 2006 Balko, then a policy analyst at Cato, wrote the white paper “Overkill: The Rise of Paramilitary Police Raids in America”. The overuse of SWAT raids – mainly fueled by the war on drugs, now used for even more absurd reasons – has been Balko’s reporting and policy focus, spanning his tenures at Cato, Reason, and now the Huffington Post.

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Neocons and Democracy: Egypt as a Case Study Reply

by • Anti-Imperialism/Foreign Policy

By Jim Lobe

If one thing has become clear in the wake of last week’s military coup d’etat against Egyptian President Mohamed Morsi, it’s that democracy promotion is not a core principle of neoconservatism. Unlike protecting Israeli security and preserving its military superiority over any and all possible regional challenges (which is a core neoconservative tenet), democracy promotion is something that neoconservatives disagree among themselves about — a conclusion that is quite inescapable after reviewing the reactions of prominent neoconservatives to last week’s coup in Cairo. Some, most notably Robert Kagan, are clearly committed to democratic governance and see it pretty much as a universal aspiration, just as many liberal internationalists do. An apparent preponderance of neocons, such as Daniel Pipes, the contributors to the Wall Street Journal’s editorial board and Commentary’s ’Contentions’ blog, on the other hand, are much clearer in their view that democracy may be a universal aspiration, but it can be a disaster in practice, especially when the wrong people get elected, in which case authoritarian rulers and military coups are much to be preferred.

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Will Adam Kokesh Face Charges of Armed Sedition? Reply

by • Activism, Anarchism/Anti-State, Culture Wars/Current Controversies, Law/Justice

FreeAdam.Net

Here are some news updates for Adam Kokesh for July 11, 2013. I will keep this post updated with any further news that comes out today.

  • Adam was forcibly arraigned very early this morning. He is being held without bail pending a probable cause hearing. Early this morning, he was dragged barefoot in shorts out of the cage they put him in and carted to the arraignment in a wheelchair. He did not participate in the arraignment because he has been denied access to a lawyer.
  • Adam was able to make a call to his father. His father thinks that Adam may not be allowed to make another call anytime soon.
  • More…

George Zimmerman found not guilty 1

by • Law/Justice, Uncategorized

USA Today

George Zimmerman, the man accused of murdering Trayvon Martin, was found not guilty of second-degree murder and manslaughter Saturday night.

The verdict is the culmination of a case that captured the nation’s attention and will undoubtedly be imprinted in America’s history. For Zimmerman, it means trying to recapture his life after he was at the center of a national maelstrom over racial profiling, state gun laws and what constitutes self-defense.

The not guilty verdict means the jury of six women found that Zimmerman justifiably used deadly force and reasonably believed that such force was “necessary to prevent imminent death or great bodily harm” to himself — Florida’s definition of self-defense.

Zimmerman showed no emotion as the verdict was read. After the verdict was read, he smiled slightly and shook hands with one of his lawyers.

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Edward Snowden Statement: ‘It Was The Right Thing to do and I Have No Regrets’ Reply

by • Culture Wars/Current Controversies, Police State/Civil Liberties

The Guardian

Hello. My name is Ed Snowden. A little over one month ago, I had family, a home in paradise, and I lived in great comfort. I also had the capability without any warrant to search for, seize, and read your communications. Anyone’s communications at any time. That is the power to change people’s fates.

It is also a serious violation of the law. The 4th and 5th Amendments to the Constitution of my country, Article 12 of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, and numerous statutes and treaties forbid such systems of massive, pervasive surveillance. While the US Constitution marks these programs as illegal, my government argues that secret court rulings, which the world is not permitted to see, somehow legitimize an illegal affair. These rulings simply corrupt the most basic notion of justice – that it must be seen to be done. The immoral cannot be made moral through the use of secret law.

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