Category Archives: Culture Wars/Current Controversies

Joe Rogan World Vs. NPR World Reply

by • American Decline, Culture Wars/Current Controversies, Left and Right

Of all the political conflicts I have ever studied, anywhere in the world, or from any time in history, there are none which I have found to be nearly as ridiculous as the American “culture wars.” Culture warriors, whether red, blue, white, black, pink, green, or purple, generally strike me as overly privileged losers and crybabies who throw tantrums if they can’t have their way 100% of the time. The US culture wars primarily take place within the middle to upper-middle classes, and the “warrior” weenies are people who are collectively in the global 1%. Ezra Pound was absolutely correct when he proclaimed the United States to be one big insane asylum. Europeans, Russians, Third World nationalists, and Islamists are very wise to want to keep American influence out of their societies.

By Rod Dreher

The American Conservative

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How conservative Catholics became supreme on GOP’s court Reply

by • Culture Wars/Current Controversies, Religion and Philosophy

Did the Know-Nothings know something after all?

By Ronald Brownstein

CNN

President Donald Trump’s nomination of Amy Coney Barrett continues the GOP’s remarkable streak of selecting Catholic jurists for the Supreme Court and underscores the enduring impact of the alliance between conservative Catholics and evangelical Protestants, which has transformed the Republican coalition.

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The True Story Of Gloria Steinem, From The CIA To ‘The World’s Most Famous Feminist’ Reply

by • Culture Wars/Current Controversies, History and Historiography

The more I study US political history in the 20th century, the more I come to the view that Antony Sutton was correct that the rise of communism and fascism internationally was made possible only with the assistance of Western capitalism. And the more I come to the view that postwar domestic opposition movements, such as the New Right and the New Left, were merely controlled opposition and/or fronts for the intelligence services. Is it any coincidence that both William F. Buckley and Gloria Steinem were former employees of the CIA or that Herbert Marcuse was an employee of the CIA’s predecessor, the OSS? This raises the question of to what degree surface-level opposition movements of today are being instigated or manipulated by external forces?

By Natasha Ishak

All That’s Interesting

Before Gloria Steinem was the face of second-wave feminism, she was an anti-communist operative for the CIA and went undercover with Playboy to expose their misogynistic practices.

Gloria Steinem is a journalist and activist who rose to prominence as the stylish frontwoman of the women’s liberation movement in 1970s America.

As she turns 86 in 2020, the soft-spoken orator remains one of the most recognized feminist leaders today. Here’s how she became the face of second-wave feminism.

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Our Democracy in Peril Reply

by • Culture Wars/Current Controversies, Electoralism/Democratism

Notice that the Voice of the CIA/Deep State/Bezos is arguing that the problem with Trump is that he is a bad manager of the state and the empire, which somehow imperials “democracy” (the official euphemism for domestic oligarchic rule and global imperialism). In other words, what they actually dislike are the beneficial things about Trump, i.e. the fact that he undermines the perceived legitimacy of the state.

Editorial Board

Washington Post

After he is nominated at a pared-down Republican convention next week, President Trump will make this argument to the American people: Things were great until China loosed the novel coronavirus on the world. If you reelect me, I will make things great again.

Seeking reelection in the midst of the worst public health crisis and sharpest economic downturn of our lifetimes, this may, realistically, be the only argument left to him. But, fittingly for a president who has spoken more than 20,000 lies during his presidency, it rests on two huge falsehoods.

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Woman charged with attempted murder for driving through protesters Reply

by • Culture Wars/Current Controversies, Fourth Generation Warfare

Another fourth-generation warfare incident?

ABC News

A California woman has been charged with attempted murder after driving through a group of dueling protesters during a “Caravan for Justice” event Saturday afternoon.

The dueling protests held in Yorba Linda, about 35 miles east of Los Angeles, quickly boiled over into animosity as Black Lives Matter demonstrators clashed with Donald Trump supporters.

“Approximately 30 minutes after the protests began, we began to receive reports of physical altercations occurring between the two protest groups, including at least one individual who was pepper-sprayed by another protestor,” the Orange County Sheriff’s Department said in a statement.

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Which Is Better For The Progressive Movement? A Trump Or Biden Win? Reply

by • Culture Wars/Current Controversies, Electoralism/Democratism, Left and Right • Tags:

I don’t consider myself to be a “progressive.” My outlook transcends the progressive/reactionary and/or socialism/capitalism false dichotomies. But Kim is always such a refreshingly rational and lucid commentator. This analysis is spot on.

The main disagreement that I have with Kim is the same one that I have with all reformists, which is their view that the electoral system is a real political contest as opposed to a mere theatrical production that’s intended to convey an aura of legitimacy on an oligarchy.

How to cure people afflicted with conspiracy theories Reply

by • Culture Wars/Current Controversies

You mean “conspiracy theories” like believing in some mythical “social contract,” or in the benevolence of the state, or that the United States is a “democracy,” or that the endless wars waged by the USA are for “freedom” or “human rights,” or that the police are there to “serve and protect,” or that corporate oligarchs are merely hard-working go-getters, or that the media is merely about keeping the public informed, or that the scientific/medical establishment is politically and ideologically neutral? Yes, we definitely need to cure folks of these conspiracy theories. I generally prefer flat-earthers and lizard people-believers over system-believers.

By Thom Dunn

In the summer of 2016, I began working on a play about an addiction support group for conspiracy theorists called How To Build A Universe That Doesn’t Fall Apart. It had one public staged reading in May of 2017, then ultimately decided to turn it into a novel, which I finished and sent off to my agent on New Year’s Day 2020.

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Thousands of Proud Boys plan to rally in Portland, setting up another clash in a combustible city 2

by • Culture Wars/Current Controversies, Fourth Generation Warfare, Left and Right

The anti-jerk off club named after a Disney character goes to Portland, presumably to get into a fight with Antifa. What could possibly go wrong? My advice to anyone interested in dissident politics is to avoid either participating in these groups or getting into confrontations with them. Protest all you want, burn down pig stations, loot Wal-Mart, whatever. But these street fights between rival cosplaying gangs of Weimar reenactors are the biggest waste of time ever.

By Cleve Wootson

Washington Post

 

To Conservatives, Barrett Has ‘Perfect Combination’ of Attributes for Supreme Court Reply

by • Culture Wars/Current Controversies, Law/Justice, Left and Right

“Conservatards” probably jerk off to her pictures. Although at least she’s more attractive than RBG (but what isn’t?)

By Elizabeth Dias and Adam Liptak

New York Times

a close up of a man: The nomination of Judge Amy Coney Barrett would almost surely plunge the nation into a divisive debate over the future of abortion rights.

This article has been revised to reflect the following correction: An earlier version of this article, based on the recollection of a family friend, referred incorrectly to the Down syndrome diagnosis of the Barretts’ son. In fact, the Barretts did not learn of that diagnosis through prenatal testing, according to a family member.

Two years ago, after nominating Brett M. Kavanaugh to the Supreme Court, President Trump strongly hinted that his choice for the next opening would be a former law professor he had named to a federal appeals court the year before: Judge Amy Coney Barrett.

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Man gets 1 year in jail for holding large parties against COVID-19 rules Reply

by • Culture Wars/Current Controversies, Health and Medicine, Law/Justice

A martyr for liberty or just a dumbass who was endangering public health? Or both? This dude is 42 and looks like he’s 62. I’m generally of the opinion that a core principle of anarchism must necessarily be tolerance for stupid people. Otherwise, what objection would there be to fascism?

ABC News

a man looking at the camera: Shawn Myers, 42, was arrested in Charles County, Md., for holding large parties against COVID-19 rules.

A Maryland man has been sentenced to one year in jail after he hosted two parties against the governor’s COVID-19 large gathering orders, prosecutors said.

Following a bench trial, Shawn Marshall Myers, 42, was convicted of two counts of failure to comply with an emergency order, according to a Friday statement from the Charles County State’s Attorney’s Office.

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At Pentagon, Fears Grow That Trump Will Pull Military Into Election Unrest Reply

by • Culture Wars/Current Controversies, Electoralism/Democratism, Military

By Jennifer Steinhauer and Helene Cooper

New York Times

WASHINGTON — Senior Pentagon leaders have a lot to worry about — Afghanistan, Russia, Iraq, Syria, Iran, China, Somalia, the Korean Peninsula. But chief among those concerns is whether their commander in chief might order American troops into any chaos around the coming elections.

President Trump gave officials no solace on Wednesday when he again refused to commit to a peaceful transfer of power no matter who wins the election. On Thursday he doubled down by saying he was not sure the election could be “honest.”

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The Election That Could Break America Reply

by • Culture Wars/Current Controversies, Electoralism/Democratism

By Barton Gellman

The Atlantic

There is a cohort of close observers of our presidential elections, scholars and lawyers and political strategists, who find themselves in the uneasy position of intelligence analysts in the months before 9/11. As November 3 approaches, their screens are blinking red, alight with warnings that the political system does not know how to absorb. They see the obvious signs that we all see, but they also know subtle things that most of us do not. Something dangerous has hove into view, and the nation is lurching into its path.

The danger is not merely that the 2020 election will bring discord. Those who fear something worse take turbulence and controversy for granted. The coronavirus pandemic, a reckless incumbent, a deluge of mail-in ballots, a vandalized Postal Service, a resurgent effort to suppress votes, and a trainload of lawsuits are bearing down on the nation’s creaky electoral machinery.

Something has to give, and many things will, when the time comes for casting, canvassing, and certifying the ballots. Anything is possible, including a landslide that leaves no doubt on Election Night. But even if one side takes a commanding early lead, tabulation and litigation of the “overtime count”—millions of mail-in and provisional ballots—could keep the outcome unsettled for days or weeks.

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Officer shot, protests escalate after Breonna Taylor probe yields no direct charges for police Reply

by • Culture Wars/Current Controversies, Fourth Generation Warfare, Law/Justice

And another round begins…

Richmond.Com

Louisville police say an officer has been shot amid protests over a lack of direct criminal charges for officers in Breonna Taylor’s shooting death.

The statement did not elaborate on the condition of the officer or the circumstances of the shooting.

That development came amid a fast-changing scene in Louisville, where police had earlier fired flash bang devices to clear demonstrators from a downtown square Wednesday evening. The protesters had gathered there to protest a grand jury’s decision to not indict police officers on criminal charges directly related to Taylor’s death.

Taylor, a Black woman, was fatally shot during a police raid gone bad earlier this year.

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Calls On Left To Declare War On Court Like Abe Lincoln Reply

by • Culture Wars/Current Controversies, Left and Right

Now that liberals increasingly hold cultural power, they have become proponents of judicial restraint and rule by legislative majorities while conservatives appear to increasingly favor judicial activism, something they spent decades denouncing.  As Matt Karp points out, there are plenty of precedents for Presidents simply ignoring the Supreme Court. The “liberal” (for its time) Marshall court ruled that the “ethnic cleansing” associated with the Trail of Tears was unconstitutional, and Andrew Jackson ignored them. Then a more “conservative” Taney Court ruled that slavery was constitutional, and Lincoln ignored them.