Quote :

"If you want to go without a state, and you also don't want private organizations to take over state functions, then you should be prepared for all that entails. My guess is that it doesn't go well for folks like you and me. The fact that you're even here, writing about and considering abstract ideas, practically guarantees that you'll be killed in the first round of purges. For the record though, I'm mostly bullshitting here - I have no idea what happens without a state or how we even get there or if we should get there. Maybe I would have given you a roadmap a few years ago, now I completely reject that anyone knows how to reform the system; it's unknowable."

I'm not a communist. I don't subscribe to the theory or really even the possibility of a stateless, classless society. I just don't see how that could ever be achieved, either realistically or theoretically. Nor am I an anarchist. I'd probably fall somewhere between Social Democrat and Democratic Socialist. I would likely never go full communist because of the amount of force that would require to uphold such a state. I think you need a strong democratic state and limited private interests. The devil's in the details. I simply want to de-commodify what I believe to be essential to a democratic state (i.e., healthcare, education, energy, mass transportation). Making these industries public would lift thousands of working poor out of poverty, and there's really no reason why any corporate entity should make billions of dollars by restricting access to these utilities. At the same time, I would prefer to abolish industries that privatize crime/punishment (i.e, prisons, mercenary militaries, etc). There should never be a profit motive in an industry that depends on the deprivation of a citizen's liberty.

Quote :

"The gist of your other statements seems to be that unionization is the thing that saves the middle class. If you're hitching your wagon to unions, then I see a lot of practical issues, the primary issue being that...well, people don't really like unions unless they're in one. Unions are low status. Maybe it didn't have to be that way, but that's how it is now. Today, in the U.S., if you're in a union, it's either because you work for the government (teachers, police, prison guard, etc), or because you work in a dying industry that may pay an above market wage today, but will soon pay you nothing because the jobs are going away or they were shit jobs to begin with. There are some exceptions, but generally, high status professions don't unionize. Sometimes people in high status industries talk about unionization, but it's not a popular opinion. Unionization is a taint that people - especially the petite bourgeois as you'd call them - do not want to be associated with."

Yes. Unions are low status. But they lifted working poor people in industry (coal mines, factories, etc) out of poverty and gave them a dignified existence. I'd wager that the best bet now for unions would be to focus on service industry jobs. Wal*Mart (currently the nation's largest employer), McDonald's, etc. will be the front lines in the battle for a living wage and the fight for $15. These industries absolutely should unionize. Currently, your average Wal*Mart employee supplements his/her salary with meager welfare benefits. This means that YOUR tax dollars, and MY tax dollars are used to subsidize the wealth of the Walton family. That is bogus and nobody should support that.

White collar jobs (for now) don't need unionization. I won't argue with you there. But there will come a time where our industries are outsourced and automated to the point that WE also will need to think of ways to secure a decent living, because capital will ALWAYS find a way to extract surplus labor from a diminishing group of laborers. This system cannot sustain itself.

8/21/2017 6:16:03 PM

Quote :

"https://www.jacobinmag.com/2015/11/nuremberg-trials-hitler-goebbels-himmler-german-communist-social-democrats/"

Anymore reading on this or good reads in general on this type of stuff ITT?

8/21/2017 8:22:31 PM

The comments on this article are disturbing

http://www.wral.com/posters-promoting-violence-appear-in-north-carolina-cities/16901498/

8/24/2017 11:23:53 AM

So apparently this happened in Charlottesville:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X-TD2uBHKoQ

8/26/2017 9:57:10 PM

Quote :

"Anymore reading on this or good reads in general on this type of stuff ITT?"

I'll be the first to admit that I don't have a robust understanding of Nordic style social democracy, but this seems like a good read on the matter. Documenting the rise of this form of "soft" socialism via labor movements (over 85% union membership), political coalitions between the left and agrarian voters, expansion of the domestic economy during good global economic times, and the vulnerabilities of this system during economic retraction.


https://socialistworker.org/2015/11/24/you-mean-socialism-like-in-sweden



[Edited on August 29, 2017 at 1:53 PM. Reason : ]

8/29/2017 1:32:09 PM

http://www.wweek.com/news/2017/09/10/police-in-vancouver-arrest-man-for-nearly-running-down-antifa-protesters-with-his-truck/

9/11/2017 11:45:47 AM

http://www.rightwingwatch.org/post/right-wing-trolls-lash-out-against-journalist-for-revealing-identity-of-anti-muslim-bigot/

the absolute worst of the worst

6/3/2018 9:42:50 PM

https://www.nbcnewyork.com/news/local/Gender-Segregated-Beach-Days-Brooklyn-NYC-Muslim-Orthodox-Jewish-484867311.html

A little something contributing to the title of this thread

(to be clear, this doesn't bother me at all)

[Edited on June 7, 2018 at 6:52 PM. Reason : a]

6/7/2018 6:50:06 PM

It has not been beach weather here.

6/7/2018 9:27:01 PM

^^^that idiot had it coming. you don't get to make a career out of doxxing people online and get to cry foul when they do it back to you.

[Edited on June 8, 2018 at 7:56 AM. Reason : autocorrect]

6/8/2018 7:54:07 AM

of course that’s your take

and he didn’t dox anyone

6/8/2018 11:56:29 AM

It seems the very fine people on both sides are going to relive the glory of Charlottesville.

6/21/2018 2:59:29 PM

no one will be allowed to carry guns

edit: thought this was about the DC march, didn't see they are allowing another one in charlottesville. hopefully antifascists shut it down.

[Edited on June 21, 2018 at 3:22 PM. Reason : .]

6/21/2018 3:16:52 PM

anyone going back to Charlottesville this year is looking for blood. unfortunately the locals might get stuck in the middle of it all.

6/21/2018 7:58:02 PM

https://psmag.com/social-justice/how-far-right-campaigns-are-pressuring-universities-to-censor-speech

7/5/2018 11:00:56 AM

^ wait so these alt-right white racists complain when the left tries to censor them on university campuses (for example, protest planned Milo appearances, resulting in cancellations), but these demons do the same, actually, they do far worse?

gg trump.

7/5/2018 12:21:24 PM

https://www.wral.com/racist-candidate-nc-republican-headline/17672629/

Quote :

"Walker's pitch during his one joint appearance with fellow candidate John Imbaratto had more to do with the lawsuits he's filed over the years and the health effects of canned soda, Imbaratto said. He didn't mention God being a racist or Jews being the "children of Satan," themes he hits heavily online. "That would have really put the hair up on my neck," Imbaratto said. There were signs, though. Literally. Walker protested The News-Journal, a newspaper in Raeford, in January with a sign that said "God is a Racist." He had sued the paper over its refusal to print his letters, the newspaper reported Tuesday. Russ Walker's homepage ... Walker's campaign website, walkerforhouse48.com, is long and text heavy. It runs about 1,200 words before mentioning "the Jews." It was his other website that got him statewide and national notice, particularly after The News & Observer pointed to it late last week, some two months after the election. Atop the home page, the site promises articles "about Christ's genealogy, Free Masonry, physical geography, science, economics, Social Security, race, Mormon Church, Endowment, Free Masons, MAH-HA-BONE, PAY-LAY-ALE, Free Masons, Negotiation, Fracking, Confederate Flag, politics, economics, ethanol, biodiesel, Depleted Uranium, Fluorine, Paul, fracking, equality, black white skin color, global warming, criminal trials, diversity, Pale Horse, Language, South Africa, Obama, hybrids, mongrels, immigration, Martin Luther King, Megiddo, Jerusalem, Jezreel Valley, Armageddon, Obama, Trump, First Amendment, Freedom of Speech and Expression, Social Security Numbers, Racial Gerrymandering, The South etc." In a post on equality, Walker calls it "the greatest of all lies" and attributes it to Martin Luther King Jr., though he refers to King as "Martin Lucifer" and changes King to a racial slur. "Not even in mathematics is there equality!" the post states. "4 = 4 is a lie regardless of what most think. Location or position is a characteristic of numbers. The right four is in a different position than the left four, hence inequality." Once this came out, Walker was disavowed by the state and local GOP. He has since threatened at least one party official with a lawsuit but makes no bones about being a racist. "Absolutely," he said in a phone interview Tuesday. "God's a racist." Walker said he was "stunned" that he won and that he has no plans to leave the race."

[Edited on July 5, 2018 at 12:49 PM. Reason : ]

7/5/2018 12:42:06 PM

https://www.thedailybeast.com/what-is-qanon-the-craziest-theory-of-the-trump-era-explained

I’d never heard of these loons before tonight. they were out in full force at tonight’s rally.

also:

http://twitter.com/Acosta/status/1024469445987643393

Quote :

"Just a sample of the sad scene we faced at the Trump rally in Tampa. I’m very worried that the hostility whipped up by Trump and some in conservative media will result in somebody getting hurt. We should not treat our fellow Americans this way. The press is not the enemy."

[Edited on July 31, 2018 at 9:49 PM. Reason : .]

7/31/2018 9:49:29 PM

They're on 4Chan and they have a subreddit, I've been watching them for a while now.

Its really pretty fascinating how they ignore reality but will follow conspiracies from 1 user despite most of their stuff being demonstrably wrong. Its grown now into a machine beyond q anon, q anon couldn't stop it if they wanted

7/31/2018 10:21:31 PM

The subreddit reads like a head wound support group.

8/1/2018 7:31:22 AM

So we are moving towards the president tweeting about QAnon now, aren’t we?

Florida is a god awful weird place and hopefully that nonsense stays down there.

8/1/2018 8:56:15 AM

This Q shit is beyond absurd. There is literally no reasoning with those people because everything can be morphed to fit their narrative even when it makes no logical sense. I have been following one of those morons on a different message board for a while and I think one of the most ridiculous parts is how they think thousands of left wing deep state people are going to be rounded up and thrown in special prisons before midterms. Somehow the proof of this is a Google docs spreadsheet that someone made showing all the sealed indictments but there is zero proof behind what is in the spreadsheet, anyone could type that sort of thing up. I would genuinely like to follow one of these people for a day or so just to see how they function in society.

8/1/2018 10:23:31 AM

what is so confusing about it? someone posted "calm before the storm" and then trump was elected so obviously that confirms that he is the storm so obviously the storm is when the deep state media and liberals are arrested.

i mean the "calm" part of the prophecy is already proven true, so obviously the "storm" part is true. you've just been brainwashed by the media.

8/1/2018 11:14:23 AM

These are weird.

https://www.reddit.com/r/greatawakening/comments/93jvjd/as_far_as_veterans_choice_ill_give_you_the_low/

8/1/2018 11:55:35 AM

This country desperately needs to destigmatize and give better access to mental health help. Badly.

Imagine living in an age where vast amounts of fact-based information is literally at your fingertips and access to experts is as easy as a google search and choosing to be a Q-LARPer instead.

8/1/2018 12:47:45 PM

we do not live in an age of vast amounts of facts based information; we live in an age of readily available sensationalized headlines with marginal amounts of truth being promoted by companies with murky financial ties and underlying agendas. For every QAnon retard, there is someone who believes Putin rigged the election and is actively controlling everything Trump does.

8/1/2018 4:35:43 PM

What to do when there's no way to defend the dumbasses you vote with? False equivalency!

8/1/2018 4:50:37 PM

https://twitter.com/BILLYbDAMN

https://twitter.com/BILLYbDAMN/status/1013712541824872450






https://qanonposts.com



P.S. There is going to be a civil war one day... read this tweet by Jim Acosta and watch the video, and read some of the responses to it. That's how I found this BILLYbDAMN character.

https://twitter.com/Acosta/status/1024467940257738752

This is what the QLarper said:

Quote :

"Its simple Jim tell the fucking truth. You are harming this country with your LIES!!!!!!!!!! "

So I checked out his profile, and saw that most of his posts have to do with QAnon.


[Edited on August 2, 2018 at 5:37 AM. Reason : ]

8/2/2018 5:24:44 AM

I’ve read a few interesting takes from some journalists whose job it is to follow these kooks and the biggest question posed to them is exactly why a group of people who are incomplete control of all the levers of power in this country are falling prey to these conspiracies.

The most frequent idea is shattered expectations. Almost immediately after Election Day it was apparent Trump was appointing a de facto Goldman Sachs-like board to his cabinet and all the nonsense he sold these people was a fraud. Instead of admitting they were wrong about him they needed him to serve a “higher purpose” which is what this Q nonsense is. Couple that with decades of Clinton and Soros conspiracy theories from right wing media and here we are.

8/2/2018 8:45:08 AM

I really think these are all the idiot kids we heard yelling racial epithets in online shooters for the last 10 years, finally reaching voting age. Gamergate ----> Pizzagate -----> QAnon.

8/2/2018 8:47:29 AM

I was speaking with one of my daughter's pre-k teachers, who is an avid gamer, about her online gaming experiences with COD. She said that the things people say to her once they find out she is a female are reprehensible.

I don't do online gaming, so I don't know a whole lot about the culture there. Why is it so sexist? And it wasn't that she was being heckled like "Hey there, a/s/l?" It was more like "you don't belong here you vagina having POS."

8/2/2018 10:30:10 AM

Quote :

"Why is it so sexist?"

umm...welcome to the internet?

8/2/2018 2:15:17 PM

Quote :

"Why is it so sexist?"

And why do they identify so closely with right wing politics?

8/2/2018 3:01:41 PM

This is the way it is for women pretty much anywhere on the internet.

I was just reading an article about Sarah Jeong and several tweets she received were included. One called her a “dog eating gook”.

Lol....seriously? People are awful.

[Edited on August 2, 2018 at 4:07 PM. Reason : Received. ]

8/2/2018 4:00:10 PM

yet it still didn’t stop all of the whataboutism from the assholes on the right

8/2/2018 4:06:20 PM

8/3/2018 1:27:56 AM

https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/frontline/film/documenting-hate-charlottesville/

8/7/2018 11:58:54 PM

More about "Q"

https://www.washingtonpost.com/blogs/plum-line/wp/2018/08/06/why-the-gop-is-so-easily-infiltrated-by-bonkers-conspiracy-theorists/

8/8/2018 9:41:10 AM

https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/08/laura-ingrahams-loss-of-love-for-america/567122/

8/9/2018 12:15:57 PM

Not sure if this the best thread for this Q stuff, but these guys are crazy:

https://www.facebook.com/VICENewsTonight/videos/280775329176297/

8/15/2018 12:30:20 PM

Very cool that the QAnon reddit board has started posting Greenwald tweets (in a positive light).

8/30/2018 10:34:41 AM

https://m.huffpost.com/us/entry/us_5ba3ba6ee4b069d5f9d0ce92

[Edited on September 20, 2018 at 3:49 PM. Reason : .]

9/20/2018 3:48:26 PM

Care to provide a hint of the contents of that link?

9/20/2018 5:18:17 PM

twitter reinstated a user who doxxed Christine Blasey Ford after a 12 hour suspension

9/20/2018 5:29:54 PM

so is it part of american culture to issue death threats to victims (confirmed or alleged) of sexual assault and rape?

what kind of fucked up country is that? and then america has the nerve to preach morals and women's/human rights to other countries?

9/21/2018 12:17:26 PM

don't they put rape victims in prison for infidelity where you are?

9/21/2018 12:18:31 PM

where am i?

and does where i am preach morality and human rights to other countries?

and your yardstick is shithole countries with terrible human rights records?

"lol, we might issue death threats to rape victims, but we aren't as bad as where you are" -- dtownral

9/21/2018 12:29:23 PM

or was it stoning there?

9/21/2018 12:35:06 PM

it was trolling like a child, not that much different from what you are doing.

9/21/2018 12:54:00 PM

so it was stoning

9/21/2018 1:02:06 PM