Krystal and Saagar give an update on coronavirus case numbers, watch CNBC Squawk Box anchors spar on-air over coronavirus death toll.
Author: Keith Preston
Central Park Karen FIRED, outrage missing for police killing in Minnesota Reply
Krystal and Saagar discuss the firing of Central Park ‘Karen’ and released video that shows a Minneapolis cop with his knee on the neck of a motionless, moaning, black man who later died.
Trump campaign tries to get to Biden’s left on criminal justice after ‘You ain’t black’ moment Reply
As the saying goes, “You can’t make this shit up.” As one who is interested in political strategy, I have to hand it to the Trumpists on this one. Shore up with right-wing vote with pro-religion, pro-gun, pro-life, pro-Red Tribe/hate liberals rhetoric, and then cut into the black, Hispanic, and union vote with labor protectionism and criminal justice reform. Pretty shrewd.
Director of Strategic Communications for the Trump campaign, Marc Lotter, discusses how the campaign plans to earn black votes through criminal justice reform.
Hannity: Biden can’t hide from his disturbing pattern of racial rhetoric Reply
Biden has really given FAUX News a lot of ammunition with which to work Dinesh D’souza’s “Democrats are the real racists!” angle.
The Democrats would be in a much better position if they would simply euthanize this guy, stuff him like Lenin, and make a ventriloquist dummy out of him while hiring a voice impersonator to record his speeches for him.
And, Democrats, don’t this guy anywhere near a debate stage.
Why I Reject US Politics in a Nutshell Reply
A couple of lines in a message from a reader illustrate perfectly well why I reject domestic US politics.
Americans, to the degree they are even aware that the US has an empire, seem largely apathetic about it or reflexively supportive of it (“if not us, who else?”), and often even if they are against it, it usually falls well behind other priorities.
This is why I tend to think that the entire spectrum of “culture warriors,” most of whom are middle to upper-class people (and therefore part of the global 1%), suffer from “First World privilege” and I just can’t take them seriously.
I imagine most of the already-politically-engaged folks would be unwilling to put down their pitchforks against the opposing tribe (since the main objective on either side seems to be somehow winning the culture war, at all levels of government and social life, forever).
In order words, our Red Tribe/Blue Tribe partisans are coalitions of crybabies and ignoramuses who insist they are being oppressed if they can’t have their way 100% of the time. They think the world can never be at peace as long as there is one remaining whiff of homophobia or one last Confederate flag in Mississippi, or one remaining abortion clinic or gun control law in Connecticut.
America is the 1% Reply
I consider Maoism to be the Eastern world’s version of Nazism (with ordinary Marxism-Leninism being more like Eastern fascism). But the Maoist critique of international relations, both geopolitically and socioeconomically, is correct. I could almost be an “anarcho-Maoist,” lol. In fact, I generally agree with the geopolitical analysis that was developed by the Shining Path in the 1970s and 1980s, which amount to support for global anti-imperialist struggle, rejecting all existing states, and with an emphasis on indigenous people (they developed their own “Inca-Maoist” stance for Peru). Of all the current anarchist tendencies, I’d say N-AM is the one that comes the closest to such an outlook.
Where the Shining Path went wrong was with their Maoist fundamentalism, standard M-L statism and vanguard partyism, and Manson-like extreme terrorism.
The only caveat that I would add to what Jason Unruhe says in this video is that class relations in the US have been deteriorating for decades, with parts of the US now resembling the class structures of Latin America (primarily California and the Rust Belt), a process that has been exacerbated by the 2008 recession and, now, by the COVID-19 shutdowns.
What is Your Preferred “Bolo”? Reply
The “Bolobolo” novel, written by the Swiss utopian writer Hans Widmer in 1983, outlines an interesting vision of a utopian anarchist future that is more or less based on an-com principles and which is something of a more modern version of William Morris’ “News from Nowhere.” It’s not a particularly well-written work and the thinking isn’t exactly groundbreaking. Its references to the Cold War date it somewhat. But it’s an interesting blueprint for an actual “left-anarchist” civilization. The full novel is available in PDF form here. One thing that is interesting about the novel is that it outlines the prospect of an infinite variety of intentional communities reflecting different lifestyle and identity interests.
“In a larger city, we could find the following bolos: Alco-bolo, Sym-bolo, Sado-bolo, Maso-bolo, Vegi-bolo, Les-bolo, Franko-bolo, Italo-bolo, Play-bolo, No-bolo, Retro-bolo, Thai-bolo, Sun-bolo, Blue-bolo, Paleo-bolo, Dia-bolo, Punk-bolo, Proto-bolo, Krishna-bolo, Taro-bolo, Jesu-bolo, Tao-bolo, Para-bolo, Pussy-bolo, Marl-bolo, Necro-bolo, Basket-bolo, Coca-bolo, Incapa-bolo, HighTech-bolo, Indio-bolo, Alp-bolo, Mono-bolo, Metro-bolo, Acro-bolo, Soho-bolo, Herb-bolo, Macho-bolo, Hebro-bolo, Ara-bolo, Freak-bolo, Straight-bolo, Pyramido-bolo, Marx-bolo, Sol-bolo, Tara-bolo, Uto-bolo, Sparta-bolo, Bala-bolo, Gam-bolo, Tri-bolo, Logo-bolo, Mago-bolo, Anarcho-bolo, Eco-bolo, Dada-bolo, Digito-bolo, Subur-bolo, Bom-bolo, Hyper-bolo, Rasle-bolo, etc. Moreover, there are also just good old regular bolos, where people live normal, reasonable and healthy lives (whatever those are).”
Translated into contemporary terms you could add categories like asexual-bolo, incel-bolo, fat-bolo, Goth-bolo, Juggalo-bolo, Islamo-bolo, etc. And if you really wanted to piss people off you could throw in Aryan-bolo, He-Man Woman Hater’s Club-bolo, or God Hates Fags-bolo.
Principles of Panarchism Reply
I’ve generally found this 40-page page pamphlet by Adam Knott to be a helpful tool when introducing anarchist ideas to “civilians.” It’s available in PDF form here. One libertarian once told me it was the purest form of anarchism yet devised, and I tend to agree. The following quote where the author compares voluntary anarchist communities with the separation of church and state invokes a helpful analogy.
Even freedom should not be obligatory for all but only optional, and each should have only as much liberty as he wants and is willing to handle, with more being optional, if and when he is ready for it. Tolerance is required towards statists and authoritarians provided they are tolerant enough toward free people, other statists, and other authoritarians (a notion that may seem contradictory, but isn’t). The example of religious liberty makes this clear: tolerance for the liberal religions, the traditional religions, and the strict fundamentalist religions, as long as they respect the religious liberty of non-members with different religious or non-religious preferences. Radical liberties, rights, or restrictions, to be entirely optional within exterritorial and autonomous communities of volunteers. We have to stop inventing nightmares for others and forcing these upon them. We would no longer need to do so in self-defense, once we were free to follow our own path undisturbed by others.
Also, it’s helpful to be familiar with historical prototypes that were found in real-world civilizations and were similar to what is being described above (even if they were often emerged in state-systems and certainly had a wide range of limitations) such as the autonomous Greek cities, medieval kingdoms, traditional Chinese villages with their individual folk-ancestral traditions, or the Ottoman millet system, as well as systems of thought outside the formal anarchist traditions but were based on similar ideas (for example, Gandhi’s vision of an India based on decentralized village-based systems of production). Too many anarchists limit their thinking to Spain or Iceland or the writings of Murray Bookchin or Murray Rothbard.
It could be argued that modern technology and economics make such arrangements less feasible. Of course, there is no guarantee there will not be a technological or economic collapse. But it could also be argued that such arrangements are actually more feasible given modern transportation systems with competing political systems being no different than competing churches, universities, restaurants, or shopping centers.
Thick Libertarians: Stop “improving” this philosophy Reply
This blog post from a few years ago describes a process I have noticed as well. As “libertarian” movements continue to grow, they also continue to split off into different tendencies based on their various hyphenated affiliations.
Plutocratic Rule is Not Democracy Reply
Anarchy from the Bottom-Up Reply
Mask Up, Folks! Reply
National-Anarchism and Zen Buddhism Reply
By Troy Southgate
I don’t find it too far-fetched to claim that National-Anarchism is having the kind of impact – beneath the radar, in most cases – that Zen has had on Buddhism. When the purity of the latter was brought into question after its dissection into two different schools, Mahāyāna and Hīnayāna, Zen arrived on the scene to set things back on the right track.
She Really Doesn’t Need to Be So Diligent Reply
“ID T-Shirts” Will Probably Be Mandatory at Some Point Reply
Giving a New Meaning to “Taking a Knee”? Reply
At least in this case the cops involved were immediately fired rather than having the higher-ups cover for them. It remains to be seen if they will be criminally prosecuted. The first question I always ask about a case like this is “Would a civilian get away with it?” If not, then it shows that there is one law for the king’s knights and another for the peasants.
Japan Ends Coronavirus Emergency With 850 Deaths and No Lockdown Reply
By Jason Lemon
Newsweek
Japan’s Prime Minister Shinzo Abe has announced the end of his state of emergency declaration for the novel coronavirus pandemic, with just 851 deaths reported and without ever implementing a lockdown.
Ruling Classes, Old and New Reply
Karl Hess, 1923-1993 Reply
𝑯𝒂𝒑𝒑𝒚 𝑩𝒊𝒓𝒕𝒉𝒅𝒂𝒚, 𝑲𝒂𝒓𝒍 𝑯𝒆𝒔𝒔, 𝒃𝒐𝒓𝒏 𝑴𝒂𝒚 25, 1923
The World’s 25 Richest Billionaires Have Gained Nearly $255 Billion In Just Two Months Reply
By
Forbes
The super rich are a whole lot richer than they were two months ago. Twenty five of the wealthiest people on Forbes’ list of the world’s billionaires are worth a whopping $255 billion more than when the U.S. stock market hit a mid-pandemic low on March 23.
Minneapolis police, protesters clash almost 24 hours after George Floyd’s death in custody Reply
By Libor Jany
Minneapolis Star Tribune
Four Minneapolis police officers were fired Tuesday after the detention and death of 47-year-old George Floyd — a scene that unfolded in a Facebook video showing a white officer kneeling on Floyd’s neck as he pleaded with police, “I can’t breathe.”
Floyd died at Hennepin County Medical Center soon after the incident, which started when police detained him Monday evening on suspicion of trying to pass a fake $20 bill at a convenience store.
Jo Jorgensen Wins Libertarian Party Presidential Nomination Reply
By Bryan Doherty
Reason
In a day-long virtual meeting, after four ballots, the 1,035 delegates assembled for the Libertarian Party’s online convention selected Jo Jorgensen as their presidential candidate.
She won with slightly over 51 percent of the vote (not every delegate voted in every round) on that fourth ballot, with 524 votes. Jacob Hornberger came in second, with nearly 28 percent of the vote. Vermin Supreme came in third, with 20 percent of the final vote.
