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2 years Ago

Special Master

Published by marco on

I’ve read that a so-called special master has been appointed to oversee the dissemination of information from the files seized in the raid of Trump’s Mar-el-Lago resort. I’ve also read that this will significantly delay the release of information. I think it’s ok in the sense that I’m interested in justice being served for Trump as well as anyone else. That is, if the information were to be disseminated by an extremely unfriendly press and Twitterati, then it would be very likely that we would... [More]

What do I think about America?

Published by marco on

I’m going to be there soon for the first time in almost four years.

I was thinking today what I’m going to say when someone in my family asks me what I think of America.

Maybe something like:

I think that you’re lost control of your country. And I think you need to stop worshiping the people who’ve taken it from you.

I think you’re all fighting over what amount to minor differences relative to the actually major issues on which you mostly agree. You get lost in the weeds on issues like... [More]

Zelenskyy’s T-Shirt makes Europe his bitches

Published by marco on

Zelenkskyy’s wardrobe of 100% T-Shirts is pretty clearly a power move.

 Casual Meeting with Zelenskyy

Everybody else shows up in the classic garb of the European upper-class. Zelenskyy shows that he’s got them by the balls by showing up in a grotty, old, army-olive T-Shirt. He’s at war, you see.

In this next picture, we see him thinking about what he’ll ask for next.

 Zelenskyy Thinking Hard

Apparently, it was for them to not only let Ukraine into NATO, to have Sweden and Finland give up their neutrality for Ukraine, but also to fast-track... [More]

Has Slavoj Žižek been taken hostage?

Published by marco on

I skimmed through a recent article called Pacifism is the wrong response to the war in Ukraine by Slavoj Žižek (The Guardian). I’ve read a lot of Žižek. I’ve heard a lot of interviews with him. This article doesn’t “sound” like him at all.

There are no contrarian positions, there are no mentions of Hegel or Lacan, no mentions of psychiatry. He made absolutely no pop-culture references. He told no jokes. He usually talks of being a realist communist—nothing of the sort here. No mention of Ukraine’s absolute war on... [More]

Where does the anger come from?

Published by marco on

Earlier this year, seemingly inside of a day, the normally deadlocked U.S. government approved an $800B+ budget for the U.S. military. That’s the base price, not including money for actual wars and not including “black budgets” for spy agencies.

The Congress even threw in more than the Pentagon had asked for, just for shits and giggles.[1]

A few weeks ago, the ruling classes of the United States decided to spend an additional $40B on the Ukraine conflict, over ¾ of it for weapons and military... [More]

A Deeply Violent Culture

Published by marco on

The cartoon We Come in Peace by Ted Rall writes,

“After mass shootings, liberal opponents of gun rights love to say that violence is never the answer. But their messaging on war, violence, militarism, even assassinations, sends a completely different message about their hypocrisy.”

This one got me thinking that America’s refusal to pass gun-control/background-check measures to stem the violence is one place where we’re not hypocritical! We are the world’s largest arms merchant, flooding one... [More]

The Philosophy of W

Published by marco on

The following is a collection of essays, notes, and ideas I’ve written over the last several weeks, all loosely associated with the war in Ukraine. I’ve tried to edit the notes into some coherence, especially since some have been chronologically superseded, but I’m neither a journalist nor a scholar, so YMMV. I don’t even necessarily stand behind everything here—some of it is or was just food for thought. The lower you go, the older the notes. The title refers to one of the essays, which... [More]

Eliminating untruths is the best we can do

Published by marco on

If we can agree that calling Stephen Pinker right-wing is factually if not wildly incorrect, then are we not also intellectually obliged—in some part, at least—to look more carefully into other accusations of right-wing association or white-supremacy made by the same crowd?

That their accusations are wrong in the case with which we are familiar should make us suspicious that their other accusations might also be incorrect or exaggerated—and that they are perhaps motivated to do so for... [More]

Soft Censorship on YouTube

Published by marco on

YouTube doesn’t actually remove videos from your lists. I suppose that makes them better than truly totalitarian systems, which would make a greater effort to erase knowledge. Instead, when a video is unavailable, YouTube automatically hides it from you, removing its pesky presence from your lists, replacing these videos with a subtle notification at the top of the list.

 Unavailable Videos In Watchlist
If you’ve got more than a couple of dozen videos in a list, then you’ve probably scrolled down far enough in the list that... [More]

Censorship is the weapon of the stupid

Published by marco on

I just heard that Switzerland is thinking of banning RT.

Europe has done it. Great Britain has done it. The U.S. has de-facto done it (it’s not by government decree, but by the corporations that de-facto run that country’s media).

Viola Amherd of Switzerland said something about following their lead.

So, let me get this straight: Viola’s principles allow her to buy JSF35 jet fighters from the U.S. and have no problems running U.S. state propaganda (CNN everybody; pay attention), but she has... [More]

Mick Wallace of Ireland coming in hot

Published by marco on

From the Intervention Plenary 7.2.2022 by Mick Wallace (Twitter),
some backbone and real talk from Mick Wallace of Ireland, in the European Parliament. The video is 62s; transcript is below.

 Mick Wallace

“The current crisis in Ukraine has been used by the Irish media class and a handful of politicians to make the case that Ireland should relinquish the neutrality enshrined in our Constitution and even commit to joining NATO.

“Naturally, these jingoistic sentiments are from those too old to enlist, their children and... [More]”

Clare Daley of Ireland coming in hot

Published by marco on

Some backbone and real talk from Clare Daley of Ireland, in the European Parliament. The video is 87s; transcript is below.

Afghanistan crisis by Clare Daley (YouTube)

“There’s no doubt about it. We’re living in times of catastrophic crisis, where the lives of innocent civilians are sacrificed in the wars of their masters. Yes, in Ukraine, but not only.

“Since the last plenary, tens of thousands of Afghani citizens have been forced to flee in search of food and safety. Five million children face famine—an agonizing and painful... [More]”

Living in a mob town

Published by marco on

“That’s a nice little town you have here. It’d be shame if something were to happen to it.”

Imagine we live in a small town. We’ve got a neighbor who’s a bit of an asshole. It’s complicated. This neighbor tells everyone how great he is, and he’s done some good things for the town in the past—quite a while ago—but he’s really been a pain in the ass lately. Like the last 50 years or so. He’s pretty rich and he owns a lot of the local stores—or buys from them—so it’s kind of hard to... [More]

Biden’s 2022 State-of-the-Union

Published by marco on

I took a look at the Full Transcript of Biden’s State of the Union Address by Joe Biden (New York Times) and took some notes. As these things go, it wasn’t the stupidest State of the Union I’ve heard, but it was pretty stupid.

“Throughout our history we’ve learned this lesson: When dictators do not pay a price for their aggression, they cause more chaos.”

This is 100% true. It was also delivered without irony or shame.

“Putin’s latest attack on Ukraine was premeditated and totally unprovoked.

“He rejected repeated,... [More]”

Superpowers are hypocrites (follow-up)

Published by marco on

The following comes from a self-indulgently expansive footnote in the preceding article Superpowers are hypocrites.

After publication, I read Socialists Fight for a Future Without War by Ronan Burtenshaw (Jacobin), which seems to hit many of the same points I made above, while being simultaneously more eloquent and informative.

“We hear very little today about Britain’s role in the NATO-led war in Libya in 2011, which demolished that state, left its people in the hands of warlords, and pushed thousands to flee and drown... [More]”

Superpowers are hypocrites

Published by marco on

Let’s think a bit about the stories that we’re told about the world.

These stories show up individually, without context.

Mostly we don’t get context for the story itself, but we almost certainly don’t get context about the story relative to other, similar stories.

When the U.S. and NATO[1] cried “that’s enough” and bombed the former Yugoslavia[2] nearly flat, for humanitarian reasons—because of a “genocide”[3]—and then created and quickly internationally recognized the country of Kosovo, that... [More]

NATO might just get what it has wanted all along

Published by marco on

I got a message from a friend yesterday morning (one with whom I occasionally discuss politics). It read,

“I guess the Guardian et al were right…..”

They were referring, of course, to the Russian escalation this morning in the Donbass.

I wrote back:

Sure they were. I’m not going to be so quick to believe everything I’m hearing right now the way they’d like me to hear it. Fool me once, shame on you, etc. Deep breath and wait to see how it shakes out.

If they do get their war, then they did... [More]

The NYT Is Pure Poison

Published by marco on

I can well imagine that the article following Fed Up With Google, Conspiracy Theorists Turn to DuckDuckGo by Stuart A. Thompson (NY Times) will be “DuckDuckGo is a right-wing web site”.

C’mon New York Times. Do better.

NY Times leads the charge against Russia

Published by marco on

I was at the NY Times this morning to look up a referenced editorial and landed on the home page instead. This is what greeted me, above the fold and prominently placed at the top and center of the site.

 NY Times Front Page on 26.01.2022

I don’t usually see the NY Times home page. It’s possible that it always looks like this. I honestly hope not, but can’t rule it out. This is war propaganda, pure and simple. Their formulation has nothing to do with reporting and everything to do with pushing an agenda.

The first headline... [More]

Homo Ignoramicus

Published by marco on

I watched a video called “Do Lockdowns Work?” in late December and wrote down a bunch of notes and thoughts as I did so. The title is ostensibly interesting, but they didn’t really talk about that topic all that much in the 80 minutes of the video.

First off, I don’t want my picking on Jimmy Dore and Max Blumenthal to be read as support of the policies or ideas of whomever they happen to oppose. I listened to their rather long, 80-minute video because I’ve learned from them in the past and... [More]

Getting our priorities straight

Published by marco on

It’s January 6th, so half of the U.S. media has its panties in a bunch again about the B&E that happened a year ago at the Capitol Building in Washington D.C. It’s not just the usual suspects either—everyone is getting in on the hyperbole. For example, the article What Do You Call a Failed Insurrection? PRACTICE by Greg Palast is by a great investigative journalist. He’s done great work. He’s still rehashing and republishing details that were disavowed nearly a year ago.

“Forget the whack-jobs who invaded... [More]”

NY Times whistles as it strolls away from the accident it helped cause

Published by marco on

The article Authorities Arrest Analyst Who Contributed to Steele Dossier by Adam Goldman and Charlie Savage (New York Times) contains the following condemnation of the Steele Dossier.

“An analyst who was a key contributor to Democratic-funded opposition research into possible links between Donald J. Trump and Russia was arrested on Thursday and charged with lying to the F.B.I. about his sources.

“The analyst, Igor Danchenko, was a primary researcher for claims that went into the so-called Steele dossier, a compendium of rumors and unproven... [More]

The so-called left in America demands absolute fealty

Published by marco on

The article Shifts Since Fahrenheit 11/9 by Nick Pemberton (CounterPunch) writes about other writers, lauding one, and slandering a few others, dubbing them the “Trumpenleft”.

“This leads to our third trend, in some ways our hardest pill to swallow, which Paul Street dubs the Trumpenleft. Street sees so clearly the danger of fake populist people like Glenn Greenwald, Saagar Engeti,, Matt Taibi, Dave Chapelle and Joe Rogan who peddle hate as a version of “rebellious” politics that are actually philistine. These people will... [More]”

To no-one’s surprise at all, Democrats renege on all promises

Published by marco on

The clown-car, fake-empathy horror-show continues in Washington, as every promise made by the Democrats to the people that elected them to all of their offices are broken. This time, apparently, the Republicans don’t even have to do anything special to torpedo everything—two Democratic senators are torpedoing everything for them. And so it goes.

The article After Paid Leave Plan Gets Chopped, Biden Promises Revamped Spending Proposal by Eric Boehm (Reason) details how the Democrats are axing an expensive part of... [More]

3 years Ago

An interview with corporate-political prisoner Steven Donziger

Published by marco on

This is an excellent interview with Steven Donziger, who’s a corporate/political prisoner in America. He is an American lawyer who was instrumental in helping an international team get a multi-billion-dollar judgment against Chevron in Ecuador for their poisoning of the environment and reckless endangerment of indigenous peoples.

The interview starts at 28:00.

Lawyer Steven Donziger Under House Arrest for Suing Chevron by Useful Idiots (YouTube)

Ecuador’s indigenous peoples won the judgment, and courts everywhere in the world but in the U.S. have recognized it. Chevron will... [More]

More bullshit from an American president

Published by marco on

I honestly don’t remember what Donald Trump’s message was, but I happened to read the latest letter from an American president—this time it’s Joe Biden.

“My fellow American,

“[…]

“A key part of the American Rescue Plan is direct payments of $1,400 per person for most American households. With the $600 direct payment from December, this brings the total relief payment up to $2,000. This fulfills a promise I made to you, and will help get millions of Americans through this crisis.”

The U.S.... [More]

Abby Martin and Eugene Puryear on AFRICOM

Published by marco on

Abby Martin of the Empire Files interviews the incredibly well-informed Eugene Puryear on AFRICOM and U.S. interests on the continent of Africa.

A Guide to US Empire in Africa: Neocolonial Order & AFRICOM by Empire Files (YouTube)

At 15:00:

Eugene: They did not want Lumumba […] the country starts to break apart. […the Belgians] tracked down Lumumba, they captured him, and then they executed him. And they then instituted a regime that was maybe one of the most brutal, kleptocratic, resource-extraction regimes in the history of the 20th century. […]

“The role of the U.S.... [More]”

Thoughts about Chomsky’s thoughts

Published by marco on

The article “Marx’s Old Mole is Right Beneath the Surface” by Noam Chomsky, David Barsamian (Boston Review) is one in a long series of interviews of Noam Chomsky by David Barsamian over the years. I found it kind of interesting as a jumping-off point for some thoughts of my own.

January 6th

Chomsky comes down very strong on characterizing the attack on the Capitol on January 6th as a coup.

“First of all, it was explicitly an attempt at a coup. They were trying to overthrow the elected government: that’s a coup. As for those who... [More]”

Jane McAlevey: Union Wizard

Published by marco on

The podcast Behind the News, 4/15/21 by Doug Henwood (Apple Podcasts) includes two interviews. The first half is an interview with Meagan Day and Micah Uetricht about Sanders’s legacy (which was OK), but the interview with Jane McAlevey about “why the union lost to Amazon in Bessemer” was absolutely top-notch.

McAlevey discusses in no uncertain terms how obvious it was that the union was going to lose the vote against Amazon in Bessemer:

  • They didn’t have the votes; they either knew it or they were even more incompetent than... [More]

How much is too much Fentanyl?

Published by marco on

The article The Movie Follows the Script by James Howard Kunstler (ClusterFuck Nation) included the following about George Floyd’s intoxication level.

“The trouble is what’s not in the indelible picture: Mr. Floyd’s prodigious ingestion of the world’s hardest narcotic, fentanyl, at a level likely to cause death, plus methedrine, plus THC, on top of a 90-percent blockage of a coronary artery, and other cardiopathies, and Covid-19, all according to the official medical examiner.”

I’d already read this claim a few times and had heard... [More]