[Marxism] President Elect Trump

[Anthony Boynton via Marxism]

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All Hail!

Wow! What a weird week, what a weird time in history. Makes me think of my
old pal, Zippy. he reminds me of the new president of the United States

[image: Image result for zippy the pinhead]
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[Marxism] What's Wrong with Econ. 101

[Jim Farmelant via Marxism]

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Some years ago, Mark Lindley and myself wrote on a few of the great economists 
of the past, with a concentration on some insights that may be worth recovering.

I wouldn't want to overdo the Adam Smith bashing that I have been seeing in 
this thread. The portrayal of Smith that one sees in the writings of many 
neoclassical economists is something of a caricature which ignores the fact 
that he was a wide ranging philosopher and social thinker, who was a close 
personal and intellectual friend of David Hume. Hume, like many other 
Enlightenment thinkers was interested in creating a science of man and while he 
himself wrote extensively on this, he thought his good friend, Adam Smith, 
could carry this project to fruition. To that end, Smith proposed writing a 
series of treatises that would cover such subjects as political economy, moral 
philosophy, jurisprudence, psychology, and much, much more. But he was only 
able to complete the treatises on  political economy (The Wealth of Nations) 
and moral philosophy (The Theory of Moral Sentiments),

Karl Marx had a deep appreciation for Smith. The version of Smith that is given 
to us by the neoclassical economists, closely resembles the portrayal provided 
by those folk, whom Marx had called vulgar economists.


http://mrzine.monthlyreview.org/2011/lf170811.html


Jim Farmelant
http://independent.academia.edu/JimFarmelant
http://www.foxymath.com 
Learn or Review Basic Math


7 Times Lotto Winner Reveals What You're Missing when Buying
MNT
http://thirdpartyoffers.juno.com/TGL3141/5886bc2271fb73c221fa3st01vuc

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Re: [Marxism] Fwd: Many Arrested Inauguration Day Protesters Will Face Felony Rioting Charges, Prosecutors Say « CBS Dallas / Fort Worth

[Sophia Burns via Marxism]

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Black Blocs can be done in an extremely counterproductive and wrong-headed way, 
sure, and they can be targeted by immensely harsh state repression even when 
they get very little done. Same goes for boycotts, strikes, outreach campaigns, 
political discussions, union drives, mass demonstrations, and sit-ins.

I agree that when Black Blocs smash windows just so they can feel the high of 
"being revolutionary" for an evening, they're doing more harm to the cause than 
good - not just by alienating ppl, but also by reinforcing the toxic masculine 
notion of heroic violence as the most radical type of activity. At the same 
time, when there were neo-fascists confronting the mass demo I was at on 
Friday, I was damn grateful that there was a Black Bloc willing to use their 
bodies to physically shield the other protesters. Same goes for situations 
where riot cops are getting out of hand (and even when a Black Bloc is behaving 
poorly, it's virtually always the police that initiate violence). It's 
necessary to have people volunteering to take the punches so everyone else 
doesn't have to, and at their best that's precisely what Black Blocs are.

Best not to fetishize a tactic through either unconditional praise or one-sided 
dismissal.

- Sophia



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 Original Message 
Subject: Re: [Marxism] Fwd: Many Arrested Inauguration Day Protesters Will Face 
Felony Rioting Charges, Prosecutors Say « CBS Dallas / Fort Worth
Local Time: January 23, 2017 1:56 PM
UTC Time: January 23, 2017 9:56 PM
From: marxism@lists.csbs.utah.edu
To: Sophia Burns 

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The problem is, Jeff, that the crafty capitalist legal system has gotten ahead 
of you. It may be true that all 230 charged are not guilty of arson, but they 
can also be charged with the equally felonious conspiracy to commit arson, the 
kind of blanket charge which has imprisoned many a Leftist. Wythe



 Jeff via Marxism  wrote:
>  POSTING RULES & NOTES 
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> *
>
> On 2017-01-22 21:34, Louis Proyect via Marxism wrote:
> >
> > Black bloc tactics now have very high risks for the perpetually low
> > payoff.
>
> I think Louis' remark introducing an article about mass arrests was
> unfair (in that context) and wasn't very well thought-out. Although some
> property damage took place in Washington, I doubt that the police
> actually have evidence of such actions by most of the 230 they arrested,
> or that anywhere near that number were directly responsible whether the
> police had evidence on them or not. When the police arrest demonstrators
> under any pretences, the last thing we want to do is lend credence to
> the validity of police charges without a clear picture of what happened
> and why. I'm sure Louis recognizes that principle and wasn't thinking
> when he paired the above remark with an article about mass arrests.
>
> I do think Trump's inclination to use greater police repression is a
> great threat. But of course cases of police using repressive tactics and
> false arrests occur frequently enough regardless of the president. After
> all, this is usually the local police acting under orders of their local
> department, and prosecutors who do not answer to the national president.
> Trump will certainly shift things in the wrong direction, but there will
> still be greater differences between localities. For instance, I don't
> think there were arrests in San Francisco even though there was property
> destruction.
>
> There are lots of points that can be made about black block tactics and
> the organization of united actions. But don't casually equate police
> violence and mass arrests with the presence of the "black block" or
> other identifiable groups, especially in public statements. Arrestees
> deserve the presumption of innocence as is technically professed by the
> law. In most cases police violence and arrests are political rather than
> responses to any "criminal" behaviour, and we shouldn't suggest
> otherwise. Tactics and organization of a demonstration (thus includ

[Marxism] What's Wrong with Econ. 101

[Michael Yates via Marxism]

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I also taught economics to workers for more than 30 years as well. Here is an 
essay I wrote that people might find interesting.


http://www.truth-out.org/opinion/item/22439-education-in-the-name-of-social-transformation-teaching-workers

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Re: [Marxism] Fwd: Many Arrested Inauguration Day Protesters Will Face Felony Rioting Charges, Prosecutors Say « CBS Dallas / Fort Worth

[wytheholt--- via Marxism]

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The problem is, Jeff, that the crafty capitalist legal system has gotten ahead 
of you.  It may be true that all 230 charged are not guilty of arson, but they 
can also be charged with the equally felonious conspiracy to commit arson, the 
kind of blanket charge which has imprisoned many a Leftist.  Wythe



 Jeff via Marxism  wrote: 
>   POSTING RULES & NOTES  
> #1 YOU MUST clip all extraneous text when replying to a message.
> #2 This mail-list, like most, is publicly & permanently archived.
> #3 Subscribe and post under an alias if #2 is a concern.
> *
> 
> On 2017-01-22 21:34, Louis Proyect via Marxism wrote:
> > 
> > Black bloc tactics now have very high risks for the perpetually low 
> > payoff.
> 
> I think Louis' remark introducing an article about mass arrests was 
> unfair (in that context) and wasn't very well thought-out. Although some 
> property damage took place in Washington, I doubt that the police 
> actually have evidence of such actions by most of the 230 they arrested, 
> or that anywhere near that number were directly responsible whether the 
> police had evidence on them or not. When the police arrest demonstrators 
> under any pretences, the last thing we want to do is lend credence to 
> the validity of police charges without a clear picture of what happened 
> and why. I'm sure Louis recognizes that principle and wasn't thinking 
> when he paired the above remark with an article about mass arrests.
> 
> I do think Trump's inclination to use greater police repression is a 
> great threat. But of course cases of police using repressive tactics and 
> false arrests occur frequently enough regardless of the president. After 
> all, this is usually the local police acting under orders of their local 
> department, and prosecutors who do not answer to the national president. 
> Trump will certainly shift things in the wrong direction, but there will 
> still be greater differences between localities. For instance, I don't 
> think there were arrests in San Francisco even though there was property 
> destruction.
> 
> There are lots of points that can be made about black block tactics and 
> the organization of united actions. But don't casually equate police 
> violence and mass arrests with the presence of the "black block" or 
> other identifiable groups, especially in public statements. Arrestees 
> deserve the presumption of innocence as is technically professed by the 
> law. In most cases police violence and arrests are political rather than 
> responses to any "criminal" behaviour, and we shouldn't suggest 
> otherwise. Tactics and organization of a demonstration (thus including 
> questions regarding the black block) should be dealt with during the 
> planning of the action, not after the police have issued explanations 
> for their repression. When that explanation includes property damage, it 
> could well be that only a handful were involved, or even that those 
> actions were by a single agent-provocateur which we couldn't possibly 
> prevent.
> 
> I guess one reason I reacted in this case is because I was also once 
> charged with "riot" (though not as a felony) for simply sitting in a 
> sound truck at the front of a demo (one that no one could describe as a 
> "riot"). And anyway, I think it's great that the demonstrations against 
> Trump have started out militant and loud, and with the women's march 
> drawing more to Washington than Trump's victory rally (unless you 
> believe his figures ;-)
> 
> - Jeff
> 
> > 
> > http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2017/01/21/many-inauguration-day-protesters-will-face-felony-rioting-charges-prosecutors-say/
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[Marxism] What's Wrong With Econ. 101

[Michael Yates via Marxism]

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I have sent my essay, All the Economics You Need to Know in One Lesson, to 
those who asked. I should have noted that the file I sent was written before 
the final edit. So please excuse typos, a few missing words, etc.
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Re: [Marxism] Fwd: Many Arrested Inauguration Day Protesters Will Face Felony Rioting Charges, Prosecutors Say « CBS Dallas / Fort Worth

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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On 1/23/17 3:28 PM, Jeff via Marxism wrote:


On 2017-01-22 21:34, Louis Proyect via Marxism wrote:


Black bloc tactics now have very high risks for the perpetually low
payoff.


I think Louis' remark introducing an article about mass arrests was
unfair (in that context) and wasn't very well thought-out. Although some
property damage took place in Washington, I doubt that the police
actually have evidence of such actions by most of the 230 they arrested,
or that anywhere near that number were directly responsible whether the
police had evidence on them or not.


Actually, the idiot Natasha Lennard crowed about property damage in a 
Nation Magazine article titled " Neo-Nazi Richard Spencer Got 
Punched—You Can Thank the Black Bloc":


The “anti-capitalist, anti-fascist bloc,” Friday’s black-bloc march, was 
just one among a number of direct actions called by organizers of the 
Disrupt J20 Inauguration Day protests. Unlike Saturday’s vast Women’s 
March, Disrupt J20 aimed to directly impede, delay, and confront the 
inaugural proceedings. This message was delivered with human blockades, 
smashed corporate windows, trash-can fires, a burning limousine, “Make 
America Great Again” caps reduced to ashes, and a blow for Richard 
Spencer. The police responded with fountains of pepper spray, flash-bang 
grenades, and the mass arrest of over 200 people, most of whom now face 
felony riot charges. Along with the Women’s March’s joyful scenes of 
togetherness, the disruptions of J20 should be celebrated as an opening 
salvo of resistance in the era of Trump.


The black bloc I joined met at Logan Circle, some two miles north of the 
inauguration parade route. We peered through bandanas to find friends. 
We gathered in bloc formation behind wood-enforced banners, filled the 
street, and began to march. The bloc takes care to stay together, move 
together, and blend together. Within minutes, bottle rockets were 
shooting skyward and bricks were flying through bank windows. You don’t 
know who does what in a bloc, you don’t look to find out. If bodies run 
out of formation to take a rock to a Starbucks window, they melt back to 
the bloc in as many seconds. Bodies reconciled, kinetic beauty. If that 
sounds to you like a precondition for mob violence, you’re right. But 
this is only a problem if you think there are no righteous mobs, or that 
windows feel pain, or that counter-violence (like punching Richard 
Spencer) is never valid.





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Re: [Marxism] Fwd: Many Arrested Inauguration Day Protesters Will Face Felony Rioting Charges, Prosecutors Say « CBS Dallas / Fort Worth

[Jeff via Marxism]

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On 2017-01-22 21:34, Louis Proyect via Marxism wrote:


Black bloc tactics now have very high risks for the perpetually low 
payoff.


I think Louis' remark introducing an article about mass arrests was 
unfair (in that context) and wasn't very well thought-out. Although some 
property damage took place in Washington, I doubt that the police 
actually have evidence of such actions by most of the 230 they arrested, 
or that anywhere near that number were directly responsible whether the 
police had evidence on them or not. When the police arrest demonstrators 
under any pretences, the last thing we want to do is lend credence to 
the validity of police charges without a clear picture of what happened 
and why. I'm sure Louis recognizes that principle and wasn't thinking 
when he paired the above remark with an article about mass arrests.


I do think Trump's inclination to use greater police repression is a 
great threat. But of course cases of police using repressive tactics and 
false arrests occur frequently enough regardless of the president. After 
all, this is usually the local police acting under orders of their local 
department, and prosecutors who do not answer to the national president. 
Trump will certainly shift things in the wrong direction, but there will 
still be greater differences between localities. For instance, I don't 
think there were arrests in San Francisco even though there was property 
destruction.


There are lots of points that can be made about black block tactics and 
the organization of united actions. But don't casually equate police 
violence and mass arrests with the presence of the "black block" or 
other identifiable groups, especially in public statements. Arrestees 
deserve the presumption of innocence as is technically professed by the 
law. In most cases police violence and arrests are political rather than 
responses to any "criminal" behaviour, and we shouldn't suggest 
otherwise. Tactics and organization of a demonstration (thus including 
questions regarding the black block) should be dealt with during the 
planning of the action, not after the police have issued explanations 
for their repression. When that explanation includes property damage, it 
could well be that only a handful were involved, or even that those 
actions were by a single agent-provocateur which we couldn't possibly 
prevent.


I guess one reason I reacted in this case is because I was also once 
charged with "riot" (though not as a felony) for simply sitting in a 
sound truck at the front of a demo (one that no one could describe as a 
"riot"). And anyway, I think it's great that the demonstrations against 
Trump have started out militant and loud, and with the women's march 
drawing more to Washington than Trump's victory rally (unless you 
believe his figures ;-)


- Jeff



http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2017/01/21/many-inauguration-day-protesters-will-face-felony-rioting-charges-prosecutors-say/

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Re: [Marxism] Steelworkers respond to domestic violence

[Andrew Pollack via Marxism]

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This is great stuff (including the links). Thanks Ken.
As for other unions, I vaguely remember seeing something recently but
regardless, a google of "union contracts domestic violence" turns up a ton
of info from a variety of unions.
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[Marxism] Steelworkers respond to domestic violence

[Ken Hiebert via Marxism]

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This is the first that I have heard of a union getting this into a contract.  
Others who have followed this more closely may be aware of other instances.
ken h

Momentum Builds for Domestic Violence Leave in Workplace Contracts – 
Steelworkers


KIMBERLEY, BC, Jan. 23, 2017 /CNW/ - United Steelworkers (USW) Local 1-405 
reached a three-year agreement with Trickle Creek Resort and parent company 
Resorts of the Canadian Rockies that includes domestic violence leave 
provisions for the first time.
"For the first time, there is language that specifically deals with domestic 
and family violence," said Jeff Bromley, lead negotiator for Trickle Creek 
Lodge employees. "In a workplace that is predominantly female, that process and 
protection outlined in their collective agreement is a good resource to draw on 
should the employee and the employer ever encounter it."
The union was also able to negotiate wage increases of 5% over three years 
along with improvements in vacation, health-care coverage and bereavement 
leave. Members voted to ratify the new deal on Jan. 18.
"Steelworkers are having success and building momentum around domestic violence 
leave provisions," said Steve Hunt, USW Western Canada Director. "Provincial 
governments will have to follow suit, so all employees will have these 
protections."
Workplace domestic violence leave provisions provide those experiencing 
violence with time off for legal, medical, counselling or other appointments 
without jeopardizing their employment. Leave provisions maintain 
confidentiality while reducing the stigma often experienced by those in 
domestic violence situations.
The Province of Manitoba added domestic violence leave provisions to employment 
standards legislation in 2016. A private member's bill is under consideration 
in Ontario. Members of USW Local 1-207 at Rivercrest Care Centre in Fort 
Saskatchewan, Alta.,negotiated domestic violence leave provisions for the first 
time, ratifying their contract Jan. 18.
Since March 2016, Steelworkers have successfully negotiated domestic violence 
leave provisions in seven contracts in three provinces: B.C., Alberta and 
Ontario.
The focus on domestic violence leave provisions is the work of an anti-violence 
initiative by the USW National Women's Committee – Let's End Violence Against 
Women and Girls. The initiative includes a presentation, brochures, white 
ribbon pins and posters.
Members of the Steelworkers across the country are presenting the materials at 
membership meetings and in bargaining with employers to raise awareness, break 
the silence and take steps to end violence against women and girls.
Domestic violence against women and girls continues to be a problem in Canada, 
with one in three Canadian women over the age of 16 experiencing sexual assault 
in their lifetimes. Recent research found that domestic violence often follows 
people to work, putting safety and jobs at risk. Collective bargaining can play 
an important role in keeping people safe and supported at work. 
USW Local 1-405 based in Cranbrook, B.C., is a diverse union representing over 
1,200 workers in sawmills, pole plants, credit unions, insurance services, 
hotels, ski resorts and municipal workers in the East and West Kootenays.
www.usw.ca/anti-violence
SOURCE United Steelworkers (USW)
For further information:
Steve Hunt, USW District 3 Director (Western Canada), 604-683-1117; Jeff 
Bromley, USW Local 1-405, 250-426-4871, 250-489-8995 (mobile), 
jbrom...@steelworkers1-405.ca; Bob Gallagher, USW Communications, 416-544-5966, 
416-434-2221, bgallag...@usw.ca
This information is being distributed to you by / Cette information vous est 
transmise par : United Steelworkers (USW)
Suite 800, 234 Eglinton Ave. E., Toronto, ON, M4P 1K7, Canada
http://www.usw.ca



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[Marxism] What's Wrong with Econ. 101

[Michael Yates via Marxism]

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I taught Intro to Economics for more than 30 years and have written about it 
quite a bit. One essay, which is in my book, The Great Inequality, is titled 
"All the Economics You Need to Know in One Lesson." Be happy to send a file of 
the essay to anyone interested. Send to mikedjya...@msn.com.
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[Marxism] Protests in Bangladesh Shake a Global Workshop for Apparel

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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NY Times, Jan. 23 2017
Protests in Bangladesh Shake a Global Workshop for Apparel
By RACHEL ABRAMS and MAHER SATTAR

At first, the police knocked. Then they tried to kick the door down.

Protests over low wages had erupted at dozens of garment factories in 
Bangladesh, one of the top suppliers of clothing for global brands like 
H&M and Gap, and the officers had come to question Jahangir Alam, the 
president of a local trade union in Ashulia, a suburb of the capital, 
Dhaka. They told his wife that he would be back within a few hours.


That was a month ago.

Instead, his wife said, Mr. Alam has sat in a jail cell so dark he could 
not see his own hands. She said they had spoken briefly when she finally 
tracked him down to a Dhaka court.


Mr. Alam is one of at least 14 labor activists and workers who have been 
detained since the unrest began in December, according to arrest 
records. The demonstrations disrupted work at factories that supply 
clothing to global fashion companies like Inditex of Spain, owner of the 
Zara brand, and PVH, which owns the Tommy Hilfiger brand. The police say 
the unrest has led to the suspension or firing of roughly 1,500 workers, 
many of whom took part in the protests.


The police have accused the activists of inciting vandalism and other 
crimes, and several factories have pressed charges against many of their 
workers.


But labor rights groups say the government is trying to scare workers 
into silence by detaining innocent people. They say the detentions, and 
the looming risk of more arrests, are the biggest setback for workers 
since the collapse of Rana Plaza, a building that housed garment 
factories, where more than 1,100 people died in 2013.


That tragedy, one of the worst industrial disasters in history, exposed 
major safety hazards at factories in Bangladesh, which churns out a 
steady stream of low-cost goods. And it prompted some of the world’s 
biggest brands to push for better conditions for the workers who make 
their clothes.


By some measures, conditions have improved. But the brands now say the 
arrests and firings could undermine the progress they have made.


In letters to Bangladesh’s prime minister, Sheikh Hasina, and other 
officials, retailers urged the government to take action to protect 
workers, including addressing wage issues that had led to the protests. 
The minimum wage in Bangladesh is 32 cents an hour.


They stopped short, though, of threatening further action.

“Such situations damage the industry’s reputation and confidence levels, 
which we, together with the government and social partners, are all 
working so hard to bolster,” wrote Rob Wayss, the executive director of 
the Accord on Fire and Building Safety in Bangladesh. The accord, a 
coalition of retailers, is dedicated to improving safety for the 
country’s garment workers.


Gap, in a separate letter, said it was troubled by the recent events, 
and urged officials to ensure that no one was targeted “solely because 
of any association with a trade union or other group.”


The prime minister’s office did not respond to repeated requests for 
comment.


Bangladesh exports billions of dollars’ worth of clothes each year, 
making it the world’s second-largest exporter of ready-made garments 
after China. But its factories are efficient for some of the same 
reasons that they have been deadly: overcrowded buildings, limited 
oversight and a government that has historically repressed workers’ 
efforts to organize and fight for better conditions.


In the wake of the Rana Plaza collapse, retailers formed two coalitions 
dedicated to improving the lives of workers: the accord, led by H&M, and 
the Alliance for Bangladesh Worker Safety, which includes Gap and Walmart.


Both groups have created safety standards and mechanisms to enforce 
them, although the accord, with a legally binding arbitration provision, 
is largely seen as the stronger of the two. The alliance has no such 
clause, but it can impose financial penalties and expel members that 
violate its terms.


Both groups point to progress, like the installation of fire doors and 
regular safety inspections. But as international attention has waned in 
the years since Rana Plaza, worker rights groups have expressed concern 
that the gains could be lost.


“Now the spotlight is off Bangladesh,” said Richard Appelbaum, a labor 
and worker rights expert at the University of California, Santa Barbara. 
“The government is responding more typically as it would have responded 
several years ago, if it could have.”


The police came for Mr. Alam at night, said his wife, Jhorna Begum. When 
he did not return after se

[Marxism] Fwd: Remembering Henry Foner, 1919-2017

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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*

Dear members and friends of the Catskills Institute

I am sorry to inform you of the death at 97 of Henry Foner on January 
11, 2017, my friend and a friend to so many of us.


Henry was a longtime stalwart of the Catskills Institute, offering us a 
tremendous amount of his time, creativity, and materials.  Henry spoke 
many times at our History of the Catskills Conferences. In 1997 he spoke 
on "From the Bandstand:  Stories from a Catskill Musician, " in 1999 on 
 “The History of Leftist Politics in the Catskills,” in 2000 on 
“Chester’s Zunbarg:  A Focal Point of Progressive Culture in the 
Catskills” (with Larry Rifkin), in 2003  on "Ain't No Mountain High: 
Hoop Dreams in the Borscht Belt" (on Catskills summer basketball, with 
Joe Dorinson), and in 2004 on “The Luxurious Left: A History of White 
Lake Lodge” (commenting on Rachel Kranson presentation that derived from 
research she and I did on the Fur Workers' Resort, with Henry' enormous 
support).


Jeff Gold of Creative Seminars recorded these talks and they are 
available at http://cstapes.com/


Henry wrote out the 199 talk, “The History of Leftist Politics in the 
Catskills," which is attached.


Henry spoke beautifully, with great humor, full of wonderful narratives 
and details of the many topics he knew about.  Henry brought other 
friends to the History of the Catskills Conference and told everyone he 
know about our work.  My family and I always enjoyed the time we spent 
with him at the conferences and I had the great pleasure of lots of 
email in between.


Based on his Catskills talk on his musical career, Henry published in 
2015 in Jewish Currents "From the Bandstand:  The Odyssey of a Catskill 
Resort Musician," which can be found at:


http://jewishcurrents.org/from-the-bandstand-the-odyssey-of-a-catskills-resort-musician/

If you were on his email list, you got his clever poetry, which you can 
read in "For Better or Verse: Songs and Poems by Henry Foner," published 
by Jewish Currents. See:


http://jewishcurrents.bigcartel.com/product/for-better-or-verse-songs-and-poems-by-henry-foner

Henry published his autobiography in sections, sent to his email list, 
and hopefully that will be published in a more complete form.


Henry wrote a song "Shoot the Strudel to me, Yudel," in honor of Yudel 
Slutsky, owner of the Arrowhead Lodge in Ellenville, where his band 
played.  Attached are words and music to the song, as well as photos of 
Henry singing it with Joe Dorinson at the History of the Catskills 
Conference, Henry presenting with Rachel Kranson at the History of the 
Catskills Conference,and two photos of Henry's band "Suspended Swing" 
with Henry on sax - one at Arrowhead and the other at the Fur Workers' 
Resort.



see the NYT obituary here:

https://www.nytimes.com/2017/01/19/nyregion/obituary-henry-j-foner-liberal-party-union-leader.html?_r=0

I will really miss Henry

Olev Hasholem

--
Phil Brown -  President, The Catskills Institute

University Distinguished Professor of Sociology and Health Sciences
Director, Social Science Environmental Health Research Institute
Northeastern University
360 Huntington Avenue, 318INV
Boston, MA  02115
617 373-7407
p.br...@northeastern.edu 
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Re: [Marxism] What’s Wrong With Econ 101

[Carl G. Estabrook via Marxism]

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I should think the best ‘Econ 101’ today would be a summary presentation of 
Piketty, “Capital in the 21st Century.”


> On Jan 23, 2017, at 10:40 AM, Louis Proyect via Marxism 
>  wrote:
> 
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> 
> THE CHRONICLE REVIEW
> What’s Wrong With Econ 101
> By James Kwak JANUARY 22, 2017
> 
> If you are a Wall Street master of the universe or a billionaire hedge fund 
> manager, you face the same challenge as the aristocrats and industrialists of 
> the past: How do you justify the vast economic chasm that separates you from 
> the people you pass on the street every day? Appeals to Christian theology or 
> evolutionary necessity may have worked in previous centuries, but they are 
> unlikely to be convincing today. Instead, you can turn to another source of 
> economic truth: Economics 101.
> 
> From taxes to wages to government regulation, our political discourse is 
> dominated by a lesson that economics students learn in their first semester: 
> the model of a competitive market driven by supply and demand. Introduced to 
> the world by the French mathematician Antoine-Augustin Cournot in 1838, this 
> now-ubiquitous analytical tool shows how many units of a product are demanded 
> and supplied at any given price — and how prices automatically adjust so that 
> supply exactly equals demand. This core insight dates back at least to Adam 
> Smith, who explained in his 1776 book The Wealth of Nations that market 
> prices are determined by the individual, self-interested decisions of buyers 
> and sellers.
> 
> By the late 19th century, supply and demand curves became a dominant feature 
> of economics education, thanks in large part to a textbook, Principles of 
> Economics, by the British economist Alfred Marshall. Marshall showed how 
> buyers and sellers, acting in their own interests, converge on an equilibrium 
> price that maximizes social welfare, defined narrowly as the difference 
> between the value consumers place on goods and the total cost of producing 
> those goods.
> 
> Marshall, however, rejected the idea that we should simply let markets work 
> their magic and accept whatever outcomes they produce. Instead, because 
> people differ in wealth, he argued that "aggregate satisfaction can prima 
> facie be increased by the distribution … of some of the property of the rich 
> among the poor."
> 
> “If we were to redesign Economics 101, what would it look like? One 
> possibility is to begin not with abstract models, but with the real world.” 
> That view was echoed in the 1948 first edition of the textbook that would 
> dominate the market for the next three decades. In Economics, Paul Samuelson 
> wrote, "John D. Rockefeller’s dog may receive the milk that a poor child 
> needs to avoid rickets. Why? Because supply and demand are working badly? No. 
> Because they are doing what they are designed to do, putting goods in the 
> hands of those who can pay the most." For Samuelson, the competitive market 
> model of Economics 101 was simply a useful analytical tool.
> 
> For his contemporaries Friedrich A. Hayek and Milton Friedman, however, it 
> was something more: the heavy artillery in an ideological battle against the 
> New Deal. In the 1940s and ’50s, Hayek and especially Friedman built a 
> comprehensive theory of society on the foundation of competitive markets. In 
> his 1962 book Capitalism and Freedom, Friedman explained how virtually any 
> social or political issue could be analyzed in terms of supply and demand — 
> and concluded in each case that government should get out of the way and let 
> free markets produce the best of all possible worlds.
> 
> Both Hayek and Friedman saw themselves as participants in a battle of ideas 
> against encroaching socialism. In their hands, an analytical framework became 
> a universal worldview: Economics 101 became economism. Economism is the 
> belief that basic economics lessons can explain all social phenomena — that 
> people, companies, and markets behave according to the abstract, 
> two-dimensional illustrations of an Economics 101 textbook. Ideally, students 
> should learn that the competitive market model is just that — a model, which 
> by definition abstracts from the real world. According to the rhetoric of 
> economics, however, the lessons of Economics 101 can be transplanted directly 
> into the

[Marxism] What’s Wrong With Econ 101

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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THE CHRONICLE REVIEW
What’s Wrong With Econ 101
By James Kwak JANUARY 22, 2017

If you are a Wall Street master of the universe or a billionaire hedge 
fund manager, you face the same challenge as the aristocrats and 
industrialists of the past: How do you justify the vast economic chasm 
that separates you from the people you pass on the street every day? 
Appeals to Christian theology or evolutionary necessity may have worked 
in previous centuries, but they are unlikely to be convincing today. 
Instead, you can turn to another source of economic truth: Economics 101.


From taxes to wages to government regulation, our political discourse 
is dominated by a lesson that economics students learn in their first 
semester: the model of a competitive market driven by supply and demand. 
Introduced to the world by the French mathematician Antoine-Augustin 
Cournot in 1838, this now-ubiquitous analytical tool shows how many 
units of a product are demanded and supplied at any given price — and 
how prices automatically adjust so that supply exactly equals demand. 
This core insight dates back at least to Adam Smith, who explained in 
his 1776 book The Wealth of Nations that market prices are determined by 
the individual, self-interested decisions of buyers and sellers.


By the late 19th century, supply and demand curves became a dominant 
feature of economics education, thanks in large part to a textbook, 
Principles of Economics, by the British economist Alfred Marshall. 
Marshall showed how buyers and sellers, acting in their own interests, 
converge on an equilibrium price that maximizes social welfare, defined 
narrowly as the difference between the value consumers place on goods 
and the total cost of producing those goods.


Marshall, however, rejected the idea that we should simply let markets 
work their magic and accept whatever outcomes they produce. Instead, 
because people differ in wealth, he argued that "aggregate satisfaction 
can prima facie be increased by the distribution … of some of the 
property of the rich among the poor."


“If we were to redesign Economics 101, what would it look like? One 
possibility is to begin not with abstract models, but with the real 
world.” That view was echoed in the 1948 first edition of the textbook 
that would dominate the market for the next three decades. In Economics, 
Paul Samuelson wrote, "John D. Rockefeller’s dog may receive the milk 
that a poor child needs to avoid rickets. Why? Because supply and demand 
are working badly? No. Because they are doing what they are designed to 
do, putting goods in the hands of those who can pay the most." For 
Samuelson, the competitive market model of Economics 101 was simply a 
useful analytical tool.


For his contemporaries Friedrich A. Hayek and Milton Friedman, however, 
it was something more: the heavy artillery in an ideological battle 
against the New Deal. In the 1940s and ’50s, Hayek and especially 
Friedman built a comprehensive theory of society on the foundation of 
competitive markets. In his 1962 book Capitalism and Freedom, Friedman 
explained how virtually any social or political issue could be analyzed 
in terms of supply and demand — and concluded in each case that 
government should get out of the way and let free markets produce the 
best of all possible worlds.


Both Hayek and Friedman saw themselves as participants in a battle of 
ideas against encroaching socialism. In their hands, an analytical 
framework became a universal worldview: Economics 101 became economism. 
Economism is the belief that basic economics lessons can explain all 
social phenomena — that people, companies, and markets behave according 
to the abstract, two-dimensional illustrations of an Economics 101 
textbook. Ideally, students should learn that the competitive market 
model is just that — a model, which by definition abstracts from the 
real world. According to the rhetoric of economics, however, the lessons 
of Economics 101 can be transplanted directly into the real world. The 
central idea that free markets generate the greatest possible economic 
well-being for society becomes a universal framework for understanding 
and answering any policy question.


Economism may not accurately describe reality, but its reduction of 
complex phenomena to simple concepts was a major asset in the battle of 
ideas. The political landscape of the United States after World War II 
was dominated by the shadow of the New Deal and the idea that the 
government could and should play a major role in managing the economy. 
Businesses that opposed intrusive regulations and wealthy individuals 
who feared higher taxes 

[Marxism] Fwd: Doomsday Prep for the Super-Rich - The New Yorker

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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By January, 2015, Johnson was sounding the alarm: the tensions produced 
by acute income inequality were becoming so pronounced that some of the 
world’s wealthiest people were taking steps to protect themselves. At 
the World Economic Forum in Davos, Switzerland, Johnson told the 
audience, “I know hedge-fund managers all over the world who are buying 
airstrips and farms in places like New Zealand because they think they 
need a getaway.”


Johnson wishes that the wealthy would adopt a greater “spirit of 
stewardship,” an openness to policy change that could include, for 
instance, a more aggressive tax on inheritance. “Twenty-five hedge-fund 
managers make more money than all of the kindergarten teachers in 
America combined,” he said. “Being one of those twenty-five doesn’t feel 
good. I think they’ve developed a heightened sensitivity.” The gap is 
widening further. In December, the National Bureau of Economic Research 
published a new analysis, by the economists Thomas Piketty, Emmanuel 
Saez, and Gabriel Zucman, which found that half of American adults have 
been “completely shut off from economic growth since the 1970s.” 
Approximately a hundred and seventeen million people earn, on average, 
the same income that they did in 1980, while the typical income for the 
top one per cent has nearly tripled. That gap is comparable to the gap 
between average incomes in the U.S. and the Democratic Republic of 
Congo, the authors wrote.


Johnson said, “If we had a more equal distribution of income, and much 
more money and energy going into public school systems, parks and 
recreation, the arts, and health care, it could take an awful lot of 
sting out of society. We’ve largely dismantled those things.”


full: 
http://www.newyorker.com/magazine/2017/01/30/doomsday-prep-for-the-super-rich

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[Marxism] Nixon Part 3

[Anthony Boynton via Marxism]

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Who knows how this roller-coaster ride will go, but Donald Trump has
started his term in office in a weaker position than any president in the
last 100 years. His own party does not like him, his poll ratings are low
and falling, he has not suddenly become coherent after babbling
incoherently through his election campaign, and his inauguration has been
met with the largest wave of protests in the USA since the Viet Nam War.

Martin Luther King day this year had already turned into a national protest
against Trump, but the women's marches turned the anti-Trump anger out on a
scale far, far bigger than anyone, especially the protest's organizers, had
expected. It was not just the 500,000 plus people in Washington DC, the
750,000 plus people in LA, the 400,000 in New York, and the hundred
thousand plus crowds in cities from Boston to San Francisco, it was the
crowds of 20,000 in Houston, 15,000 in Nashville and several to tens of
thousands in dozens of other cities around the USA.

To start with, this movement is led by Democratic Party politicians with a
Democratic party agenda of saving what's left of the New Deal and Great
Society reforms, and saving Obama Care. For the Democratic Party, the true
aim of the agenda is to reverse their losses in the House of
Representatives and Senate (a product of their own electoral strategy).
Judging by the homemade signs in the marches, the agenda of the people in
the streets already goes further to include raising the minimum wage,
defending black lives, advancing immigrant rights, defending and advancing
LGBT rights, defending the environment...

Mobilizing people in the streets is exactly what the Democratic Party has
tried to steer clear of for years. And when people have taken to the
streets, all effort has been exerted to tamp the genie back down into the
bottle. Now, it seems that the genie is out and will be very hard to put
back.

Anthony
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[Marxism] Fwd: The Difference It Makes | Articles | Inference: International Review of Science

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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By George Scialabba

According to the delightful science fiction romance film, Her, 
artificial intelligences also socialize, or will before long.1 I imagine 
them asking one another at parties, “Are you an agent?” They will not, 
of course, be asking about literary representation, but about the 
psychological or emotional or moral capacity we commonly call agency. 
They’ll be looking to find out whether the AI they’re meeting answers 
ultimately to itself or to someone else, whether it can set and change 
its own goals, whether it can surprise itself and others. Beings 
possessed of agency are autonomous, spontaneous, capable of initiative, 
and moved by internal as well as external forces or drives.


full: http://inference-review.com/article/the-difference-it-makes
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[Marxism] Thoughts on Trump

[Gary MacLennan via Marxism]

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Thorughts on Trump Take 2.

  [image:
https://pbs.twimg.com/profile_images/768841520233517056/9WEJwdd-_bigger.jpg]*Richard
Seymour* ‏@*leninology* 

1] I am always wary of underestimating Trump: lest we miss the danger. But
his reaction to the protests/inauguration coverage is *insane

2] He spends his first full day in power taking on powerful media outlets
over an injury to his narcissism, bullshitting on checkable facts.

3] And *then* he gets his fucking *press secretary* to take it up for him,
with *further* bullshitting. He will not survive like this



The very brilliant Irish Marxist (spot the redundancy) has tweeted the
above.on Donald Trump. The thought that he will not last long is very
cheering indeed.  But Trump is a very strange fish indeed. That of course
is at least part of his appeal. I want to suggest in this brief post that
Trump can only be understood *within* the paradigm of identity
politics.  Received
wisdom has it that Trump won because of the identity politics that his
opponent played on. See Soave (2016); Lilla (2016); Goldberg (2016); (Michaels
et al. 2016); and  (Illing 2016) for a discussion of the issue. I argue
that Trump is not outside identity politics. He offers an identity along
side a critique of the impact of neoliberalism.


 Long ago I wrote a piece on Political Correctness for the Monthly Review
Press (MacLennan 1997). There I argued that in every age there were
restrictions around the use of language, that is, there was always a regime
of political correctness in place.  I also used Raymond Williams’ notion of
residual, dominant and emergent to discuss how one form of political
correctness makes way for another.  The dominant form is not named.  It
considers itself to be commons sense, like the water the fish swim in and
know nothing about. The residual and especially the emergent are named.

Transferring this observation to the field of identity, the dominant, but
under threat and heading for residual, form of identity that Trump peddles
is that of the white working class male who  owns lots of guns, used to
have a job but the Mexicans got it etc.  In other words Trump peddled the
myth of autochthony (look it up!).


Trump placed this identity at the heart of his propaganda and every other
identity was deviant and a threat. Some commentators have used the term
‘nativist’ to describe the identity that Trump has merchandised and they
contrast it with ‘cosmopolitan’.  Clinton pushed neo-liberal progressivism
and the neo-liberal part brought her undone.  For what is clear in both the
Brexit and the Trump victory we are seeing the crisis of the neo-liberal
paradigm being played out.

So what happens now?  So far Trump is offering the politics of recognition
and identity. He promises to break with neo-liberalism. Whether he can or
will, is very unclear at the moment. Some of his advisors want him to spend
trillions. If he did, that would probably create a lot of jobs. If he fails
to deliver on his promises to bring the jobs back, then Identity politics
will not save him, though he will continue to play them, probably with
increasing desperation.



Goldberg, M. 2016. "Democratic Politics Have to Be “Identity Politics”."
*Slate*.

Illing, S. 2016. This professor set off a war of words over “identity
politics.” We debated him. *Vox*.

Lilla, M. 2016. "The End of Identity Liberalism." *New York Times*, 18th
November, Sunday Review.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/11/20/opinion/sunday/the-end-of-identity-liberalism.html?_r=0
.

MacLennan, G. 1997. "Political Correctness (and Courtesy) in Australia

"  *The Monthly Review* 48 (11):33-43.

Michaels, W. B., C. W. Mills, L. Hirshman, and C. Murphy. 2016. "What is
the Left without Identity Politics?" *The Nation*, 16th December.

Soave, R. 2016. "Title." *Hit & Run*, 9th November.
http://reason.com/blog/2016/11/09/trump-won-because-leftist-political-corr.
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[Marxism] New on Redline

[Philip Ferguson via Marxism]

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Hegel's Logic and the ideological breakdown of the status quo:
https://rdln.wordpress.com/2017/01/23/hegels-logic-and-the-ideological-breakdown-of-the-status-quo/

Trump and the rottenness at the heart of capitalist political culture:
https://rdln.wordpress.com/2017/01/21/trump-and-the-rottenness-at-the-heart-of-capitalist-political-culture/
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[Marxism] Global Trumpism

[Andrew Stewart via Marxism]

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Very good lecture by Mark Blythe

https://youtu.be/txNVg64RkYs

-- 
Best regards,

Andrew Stewart
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[Marxism] Fwd: Wilbur Ross: the dubious savior of the steel industry | Louis Proyect: The Unrepentant Marxist

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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https://louisproyect.org/2017/01/22/wilbur-ross-the-dubious-savior-of-the-steel-industry/
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[Marxism] Fwd: Many Arrested Inauguration Day Protesters Will Face Felony Rioting Charges, Prosecutors Say « CBS Dallas / Fort Worth

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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Black bloc tactics now have very high risks for the perpetually low payoff.

http://dfw.cbslocal.com/2017/01/21/many-inauguration-day-protesters-will-face-felony-rioting-charges-prosecutors-say/
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[Marxism] crowd estimates

[Dennis Brasky via Marxism]

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https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1xa0iLqYKz8x9Yc_rfhtmSOJQ2EGgeUVjvV4A8LsIaxY/htmlview?sle=true#gid=0
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[Marxism] Henry J. Foner, Labor Leader Accused of Communist Ties, Dies at 97

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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NY Times, Jan. 22 2017
Henry J. Foner, Labor Leader Accused of Communist Ties, Dies at 97
By SAM ROBERTS

Henry J. Foner, the last of four brothers from New York City who were 
denied academic jobs in the 1940s for Communist ties and later were 
champions of organized labor, higher education and progressive political 
causes, died on Jan. 11 in Brooklyn. He was 97.


The cause was cardiovascular disease, said his nephew, Prof. Eric Foner, 
a historian at Columbia University.


Mr. Foner led the once-thriving fur and leather workers union in New 
York and was a leader of the Liberal Party, which is now largely 
moribund but played a pivotal role in local politics for three decades 
starting in the 1950s.


“Along with his brother Moe, Henry was among a group of labor leaders 
who survived McCarthyism to bring a New Deal kind of left-labor activism 
to New York City, which survives to this day,” Professor Foner said. 
“They also challenged the A.F.L.-C.I.O. to mobilize against the Vietnam 
War.”


The Foner brothers, sons of Jewish immigrants from Eastern Europe, grew 
up in the Williamsburg section of Brooklyn, opposing fascism in Spain 
and embracing other causes. The two oldest, Philip and Jack, who were 
twins, taught at City College of New York, as did Moe; Henry was a high 
school teacher.


In the 1940s, after being implicated by a former houseguest, they were 
accused by the New York State Joint Legislative Committee to Investigate 
the Educational System, known as the Rapp-Coudert Committee, of 
belonging to subversive organizations, including the Young Communist League.


As a result, all four lost, resigned from or were denied teaching jobs.

Eventually, the older Foner brothers resumed teaching — Philip at 
Lincoln University, a historically black institution near Philadelphia, 
and Jack at Colby College in Maine, where he established one of the 
first black studies programs in New England. (Eric Foner is Jack’s son.)


Moe, who was also fired by City College (his daughter, Nancy, is a 
sociology professor at Hunter College, another part of the City 
University of New York system), was instrumental in organizing members 
of Local 1199 of the hospital workers union as its executive secretary 
under Leon Davis and later Dennis Rivera. He founded the union’s Bread 
and Roses cultural program, which sponsored creative arts projects for 
and by union members.


Henry Joseph Foner, the youngest of the brothers, was born in Brooklyn 
on March 23, 1919, to Abraham Foner, who delivered seltzer, and the 
former Mary Smith.


After graduating from Eastern District High School and then from City 
College in 1939 with a degree in business administration, he organized 
traveling antiwar puppet shows and began teaching at Samuel J. Tilden 
High School, where he was a colleague of Sam Levenson, who became a 
comedian.


Discharged from the Army in 1946 after serving in Europe during World 
War II, Mr. Foner was teaching stenography and typewriting as a 
substitute at Prospect Heights High School when he was denied a 
permanent license in 1948 because of the political accusations against him.


After losing their teaching jobs, the Foner brothers got by in the 1940s 
and early ’50s by forming a jazz band in the Catskills, where, Henry, 
who played saxophone, once recalled, “Someone said we had the highest 
intellectual quotient and the lowest musical quotient.”


In 1948, Mr. Foner married Lorraine Lieberman, who died in 2002. In 
addition to Eric Foner and Nancy Foner, he is survived by three other 
nieces and a grandson. Philip died in 1994, Jack in 1999 and Moe in 2002.


In the late 1940s, Mr. Foner was hired as education and welfare director 
of the Joint Board Fur Dressers’ and Dryers’ Unions. (It later became 
the Joint Board, Fur, Leather and Machine Workers Union.) He was elected 
president in 1961 and served until his retirement in 1988, representing 
workers in Delaware, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania and West 
Virginia. He oversaw the union’s labor arts program, advocated civil 
rights and universal health care, and opposed the Vietnam War.


His political leanings never wavered. In 2008, the morning after he 
underwent hip replacement surgery, Mr. Foner was visited in his hospital 
room by his surgeon.


“I expected the routine inquiry about my condition,” Mr. Foner recalled, 
“and almost fell out of my bed when he asked me, as though he were 
talking to my body, ‘Which side are you on?’”


The question was not only surprising — coming from the surgeon who had 
only recently operated on him — but it also happened to be the title of 
an anthem of the labor movement.


Naturally, Mr

[Marxism] Fwd: May refuses to confirm whether she knew about Trident 'malfunction' | UK news | The Guardian

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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Theresa May has repeatedly refused to confirm whether she knew about a 
reported failed Trident test when she addressed parliament during a 
debate on the renewal of Britain’s nuclear deterrent.


An unarmed Trident II D5 missile veered in the wrong direction towards 
the US when it was launched from a British submarine off the coast of 
Florida in June last year, the Sunday Times reported.


It quoted an unnamed senior naval source as saying that the “disastrous 
failure” caused panic in Downing Street, which feared it would damage 
the credibility of Britain’s nuclear deterrent and so decided to cover 
it up.


In July, weeks after the test and days after May became prime minister, 
MPs voted overwhelmingly to spend up to £40bn on replacing Britain’s 
Trident programme. May drew gasps during the parliamentary debate when 
she made clear she would be willing to authorise a nuclear strike 
killing 100,000 people. However, she made no mention of the test and 
both Labour and the SNP have demanded to know why.


full: 
https://www.theguardian.com/uk-news/2017/jan/22/ltrident-malfunction-cover-up-claims-labour-urges-investigations

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[Marxism] Fwd: The Radical Left Has Some Advice For Democrats About Confronting Donald Trump | The Huffington Post

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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http://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/radical-left-advice-democrats_us_5883f22ce4b070d8cad31155?vfd7xbqgntqdrt3xr
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[Marxism] Fwd: Democrats reject her, but they helped pave the road to education nominee DeVos - The Washington Post

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/answer-sheet/wp/2017/01/21/democrats-reject-her-but-they-helped-pave-the-road-to-education-nominee-devos/
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[Marxism] Fwd: Anti-Trump US Color Revolution Includes Soros and Clinton ‘Purple’ Takeover? | Zero Hedge

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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The hard-core Assadists are starting to coalesce around this line.

http://www.zerohedge.com/news/2016-11-12/anti-trump-us-color-revolution-includes-soros-and-clinton-%E2%80%98purple%E2%80%99-takeover-0

Iran's version of RT.com is much more upfront about this:

Jewish business magnate George Soros has orchestrated a “color 
revolution” against US President-elect Donald Trump, says an American 
political analyst, pointing to nationwide anti-Trump protests as evidence.


E. Michael Jones, editor of the Culture Wars Magazine, told Press TV on 
Sunday that the unrest following Trump’s crushing victory over his 
Democratic rival Hillary Clinton on Tuesday was carefully planned by Soros.


He also argued that polls are being used as a means to undermine Trump’s 
presidency, just like they were used against him before the election.


http://www.presstv.ir/Detail/2016/11/13/493455/Trump-Soros-US-Clinton-protest-Jones

Here's what scumbag conspiracist and anti-Semite Jeff Rense says about 
E. Michael Jones:


Meditation On 'The Jewish Revolutionary Spirit' By E. Michael Jones

E. Michael Jones has written a 1200-page book "The Jewish Revolutionary 
Spirit and Its Impact on World History" that documents the subversive 
role played by organized Jewry throughout history.


The book is available at www.culturewars.com

According to Jones, this role is subversive in the profoundest sense, 
overturning the Will of God, "Logos," Christ's Gospel of Love, the 
inherent Design and Purpose of Creation, hijacking mankind and arresting 
its development according to Cabalistic and Talmudic dictates.


The true "Jewish revolutionary spirit" is "to overturn" God and replace 
Him with Lucifer who represents the self-interest of the Illuminati 
(i.e. central bankers, Organized Jewry and Freemasonry.) This also was 
confirmed by Christian Rakowsky in his KGB interrogation.


This also was confirmed by Christian Rakowsky in his KGB interrogation. 
"Christianity is our only real enemy since all the political and 
economic phenomena of the bourgeois states are only its consequences," 
Rakovsky, says. Peace is "counter-revolutionary" since it is war that 
paves the way for revolution.


Thus, Organized Jewry, through its Freemasonic arm, has always sabotaged 
personal identity and social cohesion: race, religion (God), nation and 
family. They have caused wars (like Iraq Afghanistan and soon Iran)


http://www.rense.com/general82/revo.htm
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[Marxism] a talk on School Attendance

[Gary MacLennan via Marxism]

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Comrades (including the Moderator!)  will hopefully forgive my indulgence
in posting a link to a talk I gave on Indigenous School attendance.

Go to
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lpJDyH_y5Rc&index=1&list=UUoeGTqHXFf-3zAO-n_rETrg


comradely

Gary
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[Marxism] With False Claims, Trump Attacks Media on Turnout and Intelligence Rift

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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(Trump, one day into his presidency, is beginning to sound like Nixon on 
the Vietnam Moratorium Day demo in 1969--addled and defensive.)



NY Times, Jan. 21 2017
With False Claims, Trump Attacks Media on Turnout and Intelligence Rift
By JULIE HIRSCHFELD DAVIS and MATTHEW ROSENBERG

WASHINGTON — President Trump used his first full day in office on 
Saturday to unleash a remarkably bitter attack on the news media, 
falsely accusing journalists of both inventing a rift between him and 
intelligence agencies and deliberately understating the size of his 
inauguration crowd.


In a visit to the Central Intelligence Agency designed to showcase his 
support for the intelligence community, Mr. Trump ignored his own 
repeated public statements criticizing the intelligence community, a 
group he compared to Nazis just over a week ago. He called journalists 
“among the most dishonest human beings on earth,” and he said that up to 
1.5 million people had attended his inauguration, a claim that 
photographs disproved.


Later, at the White House, he dispatched Sean Spicer, the new press 
secretary, to the briefing room in the West Wing, where he delivered an 
irate scolding to reporters and made a series of false statements. Mr. 
Spicer said news organizations had deliberately misstated the size of 
the crowd at Mr. Trump’s inauguration on Friday in an attempt to sow 
divisions at a time when Mr. Trump was trying to unify the country, 
warning that the new administration would hold them to account.


The statements from the new president and his spokesman were a striking 
display of invective and grievance at the dawn of a presidency, usually 
a time when the White House works to set a tone of national unity and 
build confidence in a new leader. Instead, Mr. Trump and his team 
appeared embattled and defensive, signaling that the pugnacious style 
the president employed as a candidate will persist now that he has 
ascended to the nation’s highest office.


Saturday was supposed to be a day for Mr. Trump to mend fences with an 
intelligence community he had publicly scorned, with an appearance at 
the C.I.A.’s headquarters in Langley, Va. While he was lavish in his 
praise, the president focused in his 15-minute speech on his complaints 
about news coverage of his criticism of the nation’s spy agencies, and 
meandered to other topics, including the crowd size at his inauguration, 
his level of political support, his mental age and his intellectual heft.


“I just want to let you know, I am so behind you,” Mr. Trump told more 
than 300 employees assembled in the lobby for his remarks.


Trump’s Inauguration vs. Obama’s: Comparing the Crowds
Early estimates put the crowd gathered for President Donald J. Trump’s 
inauguration at far less than President Obama’s in 2009.


In recent weeks, Mr. Trump has upbraided the intelligence community for 
leaks and questioned its conclusion that Russia meddled in the United 
States election on his behalf. On Saturday, he said journalists were 
responsible for any suggestion that he was not fully supportive of 
intelligence agencies’ work.


“I have a running war with the media,” Mr. Trump said. “They are among 
the most dishonest human beings on earth, and they sort of made it sound 
like I had a feud with the intelligence community.”


“The reason you’re the No. 1 stop is, it is exactly the opposite,” Mr. 
Trump added. “I love you, I respect you, there’s nobody I respect more.”


Mr. Trump also took issue with news reports about the number of people 
who attended his inauguration, complaining that the news media used 
photographs of “an empty field” to make it seem as if his inauguration 
did not draw many people.


“We caught them in a beauty,” Mr. Trump said of the news media, “and I 
think they’re going to pay a big price.”


Mr. Spicer said that Mr. Trump had drawn “the largest audience to ever 
witness an inauguration,” a statement that photographs clearly show to 
be false. Mr. Spicer said photographs of the inaugural ceremonies were 
deliberately framed “to minimize the enormous support that had gathered 
on the National Mall,” although he provided no proof of either assertion.


Photographs of Barack Obama’s first inauguration in 2009 and of Mr. 
Trump’s plainly showed that the crowd on Friday was significantly 
smaller, but Mr. Spicer attributed that disparity to new white ground 
coverings he said had caused empty areas to stand out and to security 
measures that had blocked people from entering the Mall.


“These attempts to lessen the enthusiasm of the inauguration are 
shameful and wrong,” Mr. Spicer said. He also admonished a journalist 
for erroneousl

[Marxism] Fwd: Pictures From Women’s Marches Around the World - The New York Times

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2017/01/21/world/womens-march-pictures.html
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[Marxism] Terry Townsend, former LINKS editor, needs our help

[Ian Angus via Marxism]

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A solidarity appeal.

Long-time Australian socialist activist and writer Terry Townsend, needs
our help. You may know him as a founder and frequent contributor to Green
Left Weekly, or as editor of the indispensable Links International Journal
of Socialist Renewal.

He is fighting his way back from a massive brain hemorrhage that left him
in a coma for four weeks, in intensive care for seven, and in hospital and
a nursing home for over a year. He has come a long way, and with our help,
he can can participate in political activity again.

For more information on Terry's condition, and the help he needs, see:

http://climateandcapitalism.com/2017/01/19/ecosocialist-terry-townsend-needs-our-help/

Ian Angus
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[Marxism] Congo - The Epic History of a People

[Dennis Brasky via Marxism]

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http://www.lrb.co.uk/v36/n20/adam-shatz/ca-va-un-peu
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[Marxism] Fwd: Women's March on Washington, London and global anti-Trump protests - live coverage | Life and style | The Guardian

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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(Why "Life and Style" section? Whatever...)

https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/live/2017/jan/21/womens-march-on-washington-and-other-anti-trump-protests-around-the-world-live-coverage
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[Marxism] Fwd: Women’s marches: Millions of protesters vow to resist President Trump - The Washington Post

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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https://www.washingtonpost.com/local/womens-march-on-washington-a-sea-of-pink-hatted-protesters-vow-to-resist-donald-trump/2017/01/21/ae4def62-dfdf-11e6-acdf-14da832ae861_story.html
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[Marxism] Today

[Ken Hiebert via Marxism]

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My partner and I went to the Women's March in Nanaimo (regional population 
147,000).  There were perhaps 1,000 people there.

Lots of wonderful creativity.  One mother had a sign ending with "My daughters 
are not up for grabs."
One man had a sign made with duct tape, "Duct tape won't fix this."  Duct tape 
is a subject of humour in Canada (Red Green).

Other note:
Has the list gone down?  Or is the problem at my end?
ken h
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Re: [Marxism] Is Our Future That of “Sense8” or “Mr. Robot”?

[DW via Marxism]

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Well, this review by our reviewer-moderator came as a pleasant surprise.
I've have for a few years made suggestions to Louis to "watch television".
I'm sure I had nothing to do with it, but I've emphasized the need to see
that TV has changed, even Network tv, and for the better in some notable
occasions. That the directors and writers in Hollywood (and in the
Indie-verse as well) have followed often the ageing-out of lead actors from
the film industry to find new homes in television made possible by
cable-only and now streaming media is really, IMHO, quite phenomenal. I'm
glad Louis has started using his Netflix account for more than just movies
he may of missed that he wanted to review, but is actually *enjoying* some
original product is a *good thing*. 'nuff said on Louis, just hope he
continues along these lines...he will be pleasantly surprised but what's
out there.

I found his review (and comparison) of Sense8 and...Mr. Robot quite
interesting and worth the read. I'm not sure *comparing* them is an
exercise of great value, but at least the review he wrote covered both. And
pretty accurately, IMO.

I may of raved about Sense8 here (certainly elsewhere), but I did love it,
having binged watched it over it's 8 episodes of Season 1 over the course
of 4 days. Netflix, and now Amazon, does this now...lets you watch a series
in one shot as if it's a long, extended movie, with just enough breaks to
be able to let you get up and take a piss now and again. It also makes
story arcs more concise and flow better.

My like of Sense8 was for several reasons some of which Louis covered. The
part I liked the best was the sex. Sex is always, almost, gratuitous on TV
and movies. In Sense8, because of the shared *emotional* experience
everyone can experience the sex as if they were participating in what I
consider the most sensual erotic scene I've ever seen on TV or on film;
where the characters are able to experience not just the original person
have sex with their partner, but seemingly with each other as well, where
gender is absolutely *fluid*. This occurs in an orgy scene in a bathhouse
that was, to say the least, one of the most riveting scenes in the entire
series.

Secondly, the concept of shared experiences in real time at an *emotional*
level I find wonderfully creative, even for science fiction, of which I'm a
big devotee (I read more sci-fi than politics or history of late). Sense8,
to say the least, is not routine or formulaic.

Thirdly, the film or video itself was extremely high quality. That is the
the resolution I watched it at combined with great cinematography of John
Toll who is one of Hollywood's top cinematographers is simply outstanding.
I've not seen anything like it on TV previously. Netflix required he use
top of the line 4K Sony  CineAlta PMW-F55 cameras that are basically custom
built by Sony. This made for amazing realism (so you can see why I
appreciated the sex scenes in no small part). I noticed they also filmed
*in the streets* in real time as well. The scenes of San Francisco's Pride
march and rally (at SF's Delores Park) cannot be staged but were simply
filmed right then and there in the march itself! The clarity of that
gorgeous day (I think it was the 2015 Pride march but I'm not sure) filmed
in 4K felt like I was there again, not a movie going voyeur but as a
participant.

The connection between them has the benefits of providing expertise to
member of the "8" who might need it...as Louis describes one of the 8 in
trouble can get "help" by assuming the skills and emotional strength of one
of the other 8. Martial arts, of course, but emotional support, advice,
etc. This is part of the sci-fi creativity I alluded to above. I think it
rings of originality that is worth taking in.

Mr. Robot. Like Louis I also liked this and I've become a regular viewer of
the series. If you miss even one episode, one scene, you are screwed.
You'll never figure out WTF is going on and you will be as depressed as the
characters in the series. But I think Louis captured what this was about
quite well, with all it's implied, and overt, subversiveness. This series,
even if it's a-political, IS anti-capitalist and thus subversive as such.
Few television shows are as subversive in this way as Mr. Robot, IMHO, but
the one that comes to mind is the 1980s sci-fi weird semi-serious series,
Max Headroom, which argued that all television is mind-control telling
people in this society what to do and how to live...in a society organized
around television it is against the law to turn off the TV. That this was
allowed to be a  one-season wonder is sort of interesting too since it's
whole plot is anti-c

Re: [Marxism] Is Our Future That of “Sense8” or “Mr. Robot”?

[DW via Marxism]

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Well, this review by our reviewer-moderator came as a pleasant surprise.
I've have for a few years made suggestions to Louis to "watch television".
I'm sure I had nothing to do with it, but I've emphasized the need to see
that TV has changed, even Network tv, and for the better in some notable
occasions. That the directors and writers in Hollywood (and in the
Indie-verse as well) have followed often the ageing-out of lead actors from
the film industry to find new homes in television made possible by
cable-only and now streaming media is really, IMHO, quite phenomenal. I'm
glad Louis has started using his Netflix account for more than just movies
he may of missed that he wanted to review, but is actually *enjoying* some
original product is a *good thing*. 'nuff said on Louis, just hope he
continues along these lines...he will be pleasantly surprised but what's
out there.

I found his review (and comparison) of Sense8 and...Mr. Robot quite
interesting and worth the read. I'm not sure *comparing* them is an
exercise of great value, but at least the review he wrote covered both. And
pretty accurately, IMO.

I may of raved about Sense8 here (certainly elsewhere), but I did love it,
having binged watched it over it's 8 episodes of Season 1 over the course
of 4 days. Netflix, and now Amazon, does this now...lets you watch a series
in one shot as if it's a long, extended movie, with just enough breaks to
be able to let you get up and take a piss now and again. It also makes
story arcs more concise and flow better.

My like of Sense8 was for several reasons some of which Louis covered. The
part I liked the best was the sex. Sex is always, almost, gratuitous on TV
and movies. In Sense8, because of the shared *emotional* experience
everyone can experience the sex as if they were participating in what I
consider the most sensual erotic scene I've ever seen on TV or on film;
where the characters are able to experience not just the original person
have sex with their partner, but seemingly with each other as well, where
gender is absolutely *fluid*. This occurs in an orgy scene in a bathhouse
that was, to say the least, one of the most riveting scenes in the entire
series.

Secondly, the concept of shared experiences in real time at an *emotional*
level I find wonderfully creative, even for science fiction, of which I'm a
big devotee (I read more sci-fi than politics or history of late). Sense8,
to say the least, is not routine or formulaic.

Thirdly, the film or video itself was extremely high quality. That is the
the resolution I watched it at combined with great cinematography of John
Toll who is one of Hollywood's top cinematographers is simply outstanding.
I've not seen anything like it on TV previously. Netflix required he use
top of the line 4K Sony  CineAlta PMW-F55 cameras that are basically custom
built by Sony. This made for amazing realism (so you can see why I
appreciated the sex scenes in no small part). I noticed they also filmed
*in the streets* in real time as well. The scenes of San Francisco's Pride
march and rally (at SF's Delores Park) cannot be staged but were simply
filmed right then and there in the march itself! The clarity of that
gorgeous day (I think it was the 2015 Pride march but I'm not sure) filmed
in 4K felt like I was there again, not a movie going voyeur but as a
participant.

The connection between them has the benefits of providing expertise to
member of the "8" who might need it...as Louis describes one of the 8 in
trouble can get "help" by assuming the skills and emotional strength of one
of the other 8. Martial arts, of course, but emotional support, advice,
etc. This is part of the sci-fi creativity I alluded to above. I think it
rings of originality that is worth taking in.

Mr. Robot. Like Louis I also liked this and I've become a regular viewer of
the series. If you miss even one episode, one scene, you are screwed.
You'll never figure out WTF is going on and you will be as depressed as the
characters in the series. But I think Louis captured what this was about
quite well, with all it's implied, and overt, subversiveness. This series,
even if it's a-political, IS anti-capitalist and thus subversive as such.
Few television shows are as subversive in this way as Mr. Robot, IMHO, but
the one that comes to mind is the 1980s sci-fi weird semi-serious series,
Max Headroom, which argued that all television is mind-control telling
people in this society what to do and how to live...in a society organized
around television it is against the law to turn off the TV. That this was
allowed to be a  one-season wonder is sort of interesting too since it's
whole plot is anti-c

[Marxism] Anti-Trump must be anti-Assad

[Joseph Green via Marxism]

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Below are excerpts from an important statement from Syria Solidarity 
International.

The full text is at
https://www.facebook.com/AssadOut/posts/709302565896741

"Answer" Trump's Racism & Islamophobia:
Build Solidarity with the Syrian Democratic Revolution!

Democracy is the Alternative to the Phony War on Terror, Sectarian Violence 
and Dictatorships!

The handover of power in Washington DC this week will inaugurate a deeply 
unpopular president-elect Trump into the White House, and a new era of 
unprecedented threats to hard-won civil liberties and basic democratic rights 
across the country.  ...

This new era also poses grave challenges for supporters of peace and justice 
internationally. ...



We cannot oppose the War on Terror while being silent about Putin´s methods 
of genocide in Ichkeria, Russian occupied Chechnya, and Putin´s intervention 
to defend the 46-year Assad dictatorship in Syria against the popular 
uprising for freedom and democracy, which began in 2011 as part of the 
immensely hopeful Arab Spring. ...

...

We can only stop fascism at home by standing against fascism everywhere!

We can only fight for democracy at home by fighting for democracy everywhere!

There is a great deal we can do if we stand together to stop Trump´s agenda. 
But we can only do this from a position of principled solidarity with the 
democratic struggles of the Arab people - and in particular, the Syrian 
Democratic Revolution! Sadly, the antiwar coalitions we build together in 
struggle against the Bush-era wars have been coopted by leaderships who seek 
to substitute isolationism --Trump´s program!--for international solidarity 
with democratic struggles and principled opposition to attacks on civilians. 
Leaderships such as UNAC and ANSWER do not understand that peace,justice, and 
democracy are international principles, that these principles should never be 
surrendered!

The leaderships of the ANSWER Coalition, UNAC and other remnants of the broad 
Anti-War Movement built in opposition to Bush and Clinton´s criminal war 
against the Iraqi people, propose to ANSWER US wars abroad and repression at 
home by supporting Russian imperialism and Assad´s repression! These 
organisations have stood resolutely in defence of the Assad dictatorship, and 
support the intervention in Syria by Russia, Iran and its proxy militias, 
including Hezbollah. To oppose US imperialism, ANSWER and the like support 
sectarian genocide and the disintegration of Syria! Ironically, by 
apologizing for the regime´s crimes against humanity, ANSWER and the like 
have resorted to the same arguments used by Israel to justify its terrorist 
attacks on civilians in Gaza or by previous administrations to dismiss 
civilian casualties as "collateral damage". Worse still, by repeating Assad´s 
lies that all who oppose him are terrorists, ANSWER and company have adopted 
Orientalist and Islamophobic rhetoric. Even as they exclude Syrians from 
speaking about their revolutionary experience and Assad´s repression, ANSWER 
and their followers propose themselves to lead the fight against racism, 
sexism, Islamophobia and xenophobia! Hypocrisy! It is high time to Listen to 
Syrians!

To stop Trump and his ilk leading us into the abyss of fascism, we must cut 
off the tree at its root! The root from which this right-wing shift in the 
world has grown includes the isolation of the Syrian democratic revolution - 
an unacceptable injustice vigorously promoted by the very forces who today 
pretend to lead our resistance! Leaving the Syrian revolution behind cannot 
be the way forward!

How can we fight racism in the US while asserting Arabs must choose between 
dictators or jihadists? Who is ANSWER to choose for them! Orientalist and 
Islamophobic garbage! Chauvinism! The same kind of vicious logic was once 
used in an attempt to discipline African Americans and postpone their 
struggle for civil liberties until after defeating fascism in WWII.

.

The real "ANSWER" is that we cannot!

Our failure as the broad progressive forces of the US to defend our Syrian 
sisters and brothers these past six years has contributed greatly to the 
crisis we face here today. ...

The Syrian revolutionaries have shown international solidarity in their own 
struggle. Even as they struggle against the Assad regime, Syrians have built 
solidarity with the Palestinian struggle. As their own struggle has grown 
into the current revolutionary struggle fo

[Marxism] Fwd: Assad is not Syria. Part 2: Hafez master of segregation, terror and illusion. – PARTNERship blog

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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https://partnershipblog.wordpress.com/2017/01/20/assad-is-not-syria-part-2-hafez-master-of-segregation-terror-and-illusion/
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[Marxism] Fwd: Donald Trump Preaches Angry Nationalism, While Practicing Goldman Sachs Capitalism

[Erik Toren via Marxism]

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-- Forwarded message --
Date: Fri, Jan 20, 2017 at 5:49 PM
Subject: Donald Trump Preaches Angry Nationalism, While Practicing Goldman
Sachs Capitalism
To: "ecto...@gmail.com" 


https://interc.pt/2jxKryX
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[Marxism] Intercepted Russian Communications Part of Inquiry Into Trump Associates

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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NY Times, Jan. 20 2017
Intercepted Russian Communications Part of Inquiry Into Trump Associates
By MICHAEL S. SCHMIDT, MATTHEW ROSENBERG, ADAM GOLDMAN and MATT APUZZO

WASHINGTON — American law enforcement and intelligence agencies are 
examining intercepted communications and financial transactions as part 
of a broad investigation into possible links between Russian officials 
and associates of President-elect Donald J. Trump, including his former 
campaign chairman Paul Manafort, current and former senior American 
officials said.


The continuing counterintelligence investigation means that Mr. Trump 
will take the oath of office on Friday with his associates under 
investigation and after the intelligence agencies concluded that the 
Russian government had worked to help elect him. As president, Mr. Trump 
will oversee those agencies and have the authority to redirect or stop 
at least some of these efforts.


It is not clear whether the intercepted communications had anything to 
do with Mr. Trump’s campaign, or Mr. Trump himself. It is also unclear 
whether the inquiry has anything to do with an investigation into the 
hacking of the Democratic National Committee’s computers and other 
attempts to disrupt the elections in November. The American government 
has concluded that the Russian government was responsible for a broad 
computer hacking campaign, including the operation against the D.N.C.


The counterintelligence investigation centers at least in part on the 
business dealings that some of the president-elect’s past and present 
advisers have had with Russia. Mr. Manafort has done business in Ukraine 
and Russia. Some of his contacts there were under surveillance by the 
National Security Agency for suspected links to Russia’s Federal 
Security Service, one of the officials said.


Mr. Manafort is among at least three Trump campaign advisers whose 
possible links to Russia are under scrutiny. Two others are Carter Page, 
a businessman and former foreign policy adviser to the campaign, and 
Roger Stone, a longtime Republican operative.


The F.B.I. is leading the investigations, aided by the National Security 
Agency, the C.I.A. and the Treasury Department’s financial crimes unit. 
The investigators have accelerated their efforts in recent weeks but 
have found no conclusive evidence of wrongdoing, the officials said. One 
official said intelligence reports based on some of the wiretapped 
communications had been provided to the White House.


Counterintelligence investigations examine the connections between 
American citizens and foreign governments. Those connections can involve 
efforts to steal state or corporate secrets, curry favor with American 
government leaders or influence policy. It is unclear which Russian 
officials are under investigation, or what particular conversations 
caught the attention of American eavesdroppers. The legal standard for 
opening these investigations is low, and prosecutions are rare.


“We have absolutely no knowledge of any investigation or even a basis 
for such an investigation,” said Hope Hicks, a spokeswoman for the Trump 
transition.


In an emailed statement Thursday evening, Mr. Manafort called 
allegations that he had interactions with the Russian government a 
“Democrat Party dirty trick and completely false.”


“I have never had any relationship with the Russian government or any 
Russian officials. I was never in contact with anyone, or directed 
anyone to be in contact with anyone,” he said.


“On the ‘Russian hacking of the D.N.C.,’” he said, “my only knowledge of 
it is what I have read in the papers.”


The decision to open the investigations was not based on a dossier of 
salacious, uncorroborated allegations that were compiled by a former 
British spy working for a Washington research firm. The F.B.I. is also 
examining the allegations in that dossier, and a summary of its contents 
was provided to Mr. Trump earlier this month.


Representatives of the agencies involved declined to comment. Of the 
half-dozen current and former officials who confirmed the existence of 
the investigations, some said they were providing information because 
they feared the new administration would obstruct their efforts. All 
spoke on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to 
discuss the cases.


Numerous news outlets, including The New York Times, have reported on 
the F.B.I. investigations into Mr. Trump’s advisers. BBC and then 
McClatchy revealed the existence of a multiagency working group to 
coordinate investigations across the government.


The continuing investigation again puts the F.B.I. director, James B. 
Come

[Marxism] A suitable poem for the Inauguration

[Gary MacLennan via Marxism]

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No worst, there is none. Pitched past pitch of grief,
More pangs will, schooled at forepangs, wilder wring.
Comforter, where, where is your comforting?
Mary, mother of us, where is your relief?
My cries heave, herds-long; huddle in a main, a chief
Woe, world-sorrow; on an age-old anvil wince and sing —
Then lull, then leave off. Fury had shrieked 'No ling-
ering! Let me be fell: force I must be brief."'

O the mind, mind has mountains; cliffs of fall
Frightful, sheer, no-man-fathomed. Hold them cheap
May who ne'er hung there. Nor does long our small
Durance deal with that steep or deep. Here! creep,
Wretch, under a comfort serves in a whirlwind: all
Life death does end and each day dies with sleep.

Gerard Manly Hopkins
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[Marxism] the inauguration

[Gary MacLennan via Marxism]

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It is 7.30 am here in Brisbane and I am have been sitting gazing blankly at
the bamboo shoots struggling to force their way in through the window of my
study. Already the temperature is inexorably moving into the 30s Centigrade
- over 100F for you backward types.

The list has gone silent on the inauguration.  Over at Lenin's Tomb,
Richard Seymour has gone fully into his mourning and melancholy and despair
phase - The Eco-system is dying, Theresa May has won, etc etc.

Meanwhile, I cling stubbornly to the hope that this collective shitting in
their own pants by the powerful - that is, the election of Trump, will be
the gesture that finally sparks the Great Refusal.

I was hoping from something from the List - ah well

comradely

Gary
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