When it comes to the arguments over censorship, “cancel culture,” doxxing, de-platforming, public shaming, or even outright violence, it seems that virtually everyone engages in special pleading on behalf of their own perceived interests and those of their reference groups, with philosophical, moral, ethical, or ideological arguments merely […]
By Meghan Daum, Medium The end of 2019 saw several conflicting reports about the severity — and even legitimacy — of cancel culture. It’s bad. It’s not that bad. It’s real. It isn’t that real. Imposed largely by social-media-based arbiters of up-to-the-minute standards of justice, cancellation in this […]
By William Rivers Pitt, Truthout More than 10,000 people in the U.S. died from COVID-19 in the time between when Donald Trump blew up the stimulus bill and when he finally signed it. No, he doesn’t care about that. The millions of people desperate for unemployment assistance, along […]
Social justice or mob justice inspired by moral panic? By Robby Soave, Reason Jimmy Galligan is an 18-year-old college freshman from Leesburg, Virginia. He may also be cancel culture’s Count of Monte Cristo. Some months ago, Galligan—who is biracial—posted a years’ old, three-second video of a white, female […]
Well, that didn’t take long. Statuephobia is not only a two-way street but a multi-laned highway. A sculpture dedicated to Breonna Taylor and installed in Oakland’s Latham Square was smashed in an act of vandalism over the weekend, just two weeks after being unveiled, Sunday. Oakland resident, Judith, […]
Fragment, fragment, fragment… Journalist, Zaid Jilani, explains his take on Fox News’ support of Speaker Pelosi, Chuck Schumer, Josh Hawley, and Bernie Sanders pushing for $2,000 stimulus checks.
It’s hilarious watching “progressives” begging social democrats to beg neoliberals for a few crumbs. Krystal Ball weighs in on the debate over whether progressives should make demands in exchange for support of Nancy Pelosi as House Speaker.
The heirs of the Mellon banking dynasty, which goes back to the colonial period if not earlier, embrace the latest ruling class self-legitimating ideology. Right on schedule. By George Liebmann and Andrew Balio Not to be outdone by The New York Times‘ 1619 Project, the Mellon Foundation recently […]
I suspect I am part of the reason why Pete has been given grief by the folks he is describing. Many years ago, I started taking a gloves-off, no-holds-barred approach to these what are now called “cancel culture” morons. For me, it’s never been a left/right issue. Back […]
By Nicky Reid aka Comrade Hermit Exile in Happy Valley America has had some shit years lately, in fact, rapping about the general Spenglerian shitty-ness of America on the brink of decline has become a traditional feature of this annual list. But I doubt even Spengler would argue […]
By J.D. Tuccille, Reason With German-style Internet controls catching on around the world and social media platforms increasingly targeting “fake news” and allegedly (or explicitly) hateful views, researchers have wondered just how those on the receiving end are responding to newly trendy censorship. What they’ve found should surprise […]
By Pella Libertas A specter is haunting civilization. The specter of Covid 19. For a year the world as we knew it has been plunged into a state of economic shock. By the recommendations of unelected Health Experts, Epidemiologists, the CDC, and the World Health Organization, social gatherings […]
By Peter R. Quinones “And it’s OK to call anyone talking about taking them away your enemy.” I believe this is one of the most important messages going forward to draw gun owners to the ideas of liberty. I used the plural “ideas” there purposefully. Many people read […]
There is certainly all kinds of absurd nonsense that people on the margins believe, some of which would be dangerous if it had real power. But even more problematic are perfectly normal, mainstream people who actually believe in the “system.” How many normies have you heard say, “If […]
The mainstream argument about “healthcare reform” is not a race in which I have a horse. Essentially, two statist sects are arguing over whether the healthcare system should be run by the king’s royal ministers (the progressive position) or the aristocratic feudal manors (the conservative position). But this […]
It’s fairly obvious that the function of the lockdowns has been to protect the health of the affluent classes on the backs of the poor and working classes, and while facilitating a looting spree by the most influential sectors of the capitalist class, with the powers of the […]
You mean conspiracy theories like the existence of some mythical “social contract” or that pulling a lever for some sociopath every few years constitutes “freedom” or “democracy”? Yeah, those are conspiracy theories many people definitely need to get past. By Marianna Spring, BBC You’re dreading the moment. As […]
About ten years ago, someone asked me why I was so strident in my opposition to “political correctness,” or what I have often described as “totalitarian humanism,” and which is now more commonly called “wokeness.” My response is that there are three basic reasons: 1) Anarchism is the […]
A pretty good overview of what the Democrats are about. Founder of The Daily Poster, David Sirota, discusses his interview with Cornel West about why Democrats did so poorly in down ballot races.
This is a must-watch. On today’s episode, Joel Kotkin, Executive Director of Urban Reform Institute and author of The Coming of Neo-Feudalism: A Warning to the Global Middle Class, discusses how do we confront neo-feudalism today, in conversation with Andrew Keen on the Keen On podcast..
By Peter R. Quinones Anyone immersed in politics knows what the title of this piece is referring to. In every party or movement there is an obnoxiously loud faction that can, and often does, exert influence beyond their numbers. The most obvious example I can think of is […]
Being an anarchist, I have a natural morbid curiosity about the functioning of statecraft. I follow politics in the same way someone might drive very slowly past the scene of some horrific accident so as not to miss the sight of even one mangled limb. But perhaps even […]
This Jimmy Dore/AOC dustup really is hilarious. I enjoy watching the progressoids cracking. I suppose if I were going to advocate for a particular position on “healthcare reform” it would be the following: Workers and taxpayers should demand their full incomes without deductions taken by either employers or […]
Apparently, a dispute between a YouTube personality and a fringe Congresswoman is some kind of big deal.
A piece by the founder of critical race theory in the neocon-friendly New Republic, although NR seems to have moved leftward under its present ownership. At one point, it went through a fairly hardcore neocon phase. By Kimberle Williams Crenshaw, New Republic Even after Donald Trump is evicted […]
I generally find accusations of cheating in the election (I generally assume everyone cheats) less interesting than the way the accusations shape the perceptions of the different sides.
Fox Host Says “Intel Source” Claims Trump Won the Election, Rand Paul Says The Election Was Stolen. In a hearing on fraud Rand Paul said the election was in many ways stolen.
By Zeynep Tufekci, The Atlantic In the evening of September 11, 1980, my mom was approached by a neighbor who held rank in the Turkish military. He told her to stock up on bread and rice. “Oh, another coup,” she immediately groaned. The neighbor was aghast—he wasn’t supposed […]
Neocon douchebag David Frum vs the Trumpists. By David Frum, The Atlantic On Friday, December 18, the secretary of the Army and the Army chief of staff formally disavowed any intention of participating in a military coup: “There is no role for the U.S. military in determining the […]
The principal culture war divide in terms of demographics appears to be the college-educated vs non-college educated, i.e. those who have been brainwashed with SJW bullshit vs those who have been brainwashed with all the other kinds of bullshit (patriotism, military, religion, co-worship, Horatio Alger economic mythology, etc.)
The problem I have with this video is that it seems to be a variation of the standard Tucker Carlson/Sean Hannity “liberals are ruining our cities” line. As class relations and general economic conditions in the US increasingly resemble the “Third World” model, conditions in US cities are […]
In “we have always been at war with East Asia” news…this appeared in the WaPo in April. By Eliza McGraw People called them “flu fences” and “chin sails.” Gala attendees fastened theirs with gaudy earrings. Smokers cut flaps in them, and movie houses gave them away with tickets. […]
The dominant culture in most any society typically tries to impose its own moral paradigm as a matter of law. Now that liberals have the cultural upper hand, they’re just doing what people do. All political factions seem to be terminally susceptible to this, including anarchists and libertarians, […]
The Zuck of the Right. Fair enough, I guess. Liberals have Soros and conservatives have the Kochs. Liberals have Zuck and Dorsey. Conservatives have this dragon lady. By Alexis Benveniste, CNN Business (CNN) — Rebekah Mercer, a prominent conservative donor, revealed Saturday that she is helping to bankroll Parler, […]
By David Marcus, The Federalist A Rubicon has been crossed in American political discourse. Long purveyors of Marxism, the nation’s leftists have now come to fully embrace something else; racism. Just in the last week in the areas of medicine, education, and journalism, well-intentioned institutional racists have insisted […]
By Nicky Reid aka Comrade Hermit Exile in Happy Valley Maybe you missed it, but there is a second terrifying virus spreading like spilt milk across the media zeitgeist. A hip new mental illness plaguing that precious resource known as teenage girls. All across the country our precious […]
The problem I have with Pakman’s commentary in this is that both Left and Right have their favorite “billionaire bogeymen.” For the Right, it’s “big finance” and “big tech” moguls like Soros, Gates, Zuckerberg, etc. For the Left, it’s “big oil” or “big pharma” moguls like the Kochs, […]
This “culture war” stuff has nothing to do with “socialism vs. capitalism” let alone “communism vs. fascism.” The Red Tribe/Blue Tribe “civil war” is quintessentially American in origins. The election amounted to a contest between two moderate Republicans. Both of our parties are center-right plutocratic-capitalist parties by world-historical […]
“Mask up, you little asshole!” Krystal Ball and Saagar Enjeti detail the latest Covid number in the United States. They also share their thoughts on President Emmanuel Macron’s Coronavirus diagnosis.
But the flaw in their plan is that it will be their blood. By Michael Stone, Patheos Domestic terrorists: According to their leader Stewart Rhodes, the Oath Keepers, an American far-right anti-government militia organization, will lead a “bloody civil war and revolution” if Trump leaves office and Joe […]
By Jason D. Hill,Quillette In recent years, free speech and inquiry have come under attack on college campuses, ethical relativism has spread, and demands to decolonize syllabi and rid them of canonical white male texts and thinkers have become increasingly common. Hostility to reason, objectivity, and Enlightenment universalism […]
Yahoo News! A former Houston police captain has been arrested after running a man off the road and holding him at gunpoint in an attempt to prove his 2020 election conspiracy theories. The incident occurred in Harris County, Texas on Tuesday when Mark Anthony Aguirre, 63, ran his […]
By Hannah Allam, National Public Radio The widespread embrace of conspiracy and disinformation amounts to a “mass radicalization” of Americans, and increases the risk of right-wing violence, veteran security officials and terrorism researchers warn. At conferences, in op-eds and at agency meetings, domestic terrorism analysts are raising concern […]
By TINA NGUYEN, Politico An 1807 law invoked only in the most violent circumstances is now a rallying cry for the MAGA-ites most committed to the fantasy that Donald Trump will never leave office. The law, the Insurrection Act, allows the president to deploy troops to suppress domestic […]
By Marc Ramirez, USA Today Nearly a year ago in Des Moines, Pete Buttigieg hugged his husband onstage after his win in the Iowa caucuses made him the first openly LGBTQ candidate to earn delegates toward a major political party’s presidential nomination.
I remember people laughing 20 years ago when I said that eventually, the USA would more closely resemble Brazil. I guess I had the last laugh, kinda sorta. The Latin Americanization of the USA with the related class stratification, institutional corruption, social conflict, and high rates of violence […]
Nemesis: The Last Days of the American Republic by Chalmers Johnson
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