Looking at reality

What amazes me is that both Democrats and Republicans are united in ignoring the climate cliff that we're headed for. Oh, the Democrats pretend to "listen to the science", but Joe Biden has repeatedly said that he will not ban fracking - and has already shown that the fossil fuel industry will be heavily represented in his administration, while progressives and environmentalists will be completely frozen out.

 

Here's the thing. Climate change will pass the point of no return by the end of 2027 - and that's if we're lucky. So far every time new data has come in, the amount of time we have left has gotten shorter. And once we pass that point of no return, human civilization is doomed. The oligarchs retire to their luxury underground bunkers in New Zealand, and end up eating each other within 5 years - because let's face it, they won't survive on a dying planet without millions of slaves to support them. The rest of us will end up living briefly and dying in a post-apocalyptic world.

 

Maybe you think that's bullshit. That's your privilege, although if you have kids or grandkids they might disagree. But you owe it to them - and to all the children of the world - to take a hard look at the data. It's freely available on the Climate Clock.

 

There's no time left for political games. We have seven years at most. The only option if we want to survive is revolution. Now, that's not up to any one of us. But the elite have been creating the conditions which make revolution almost inevitable. Cops killing people with impunity. Congress serving the interests of the oligarchy exclusively. Covid-19 being completely botched while BOTH parties refuse to consider universal health care. Millions of Americans unemployed (and even more underemployed) while unemployment benefits expire. Topping things off, tens of millions of Americans will be evicted in the next several months - and again, neither the Democrats nor the Republicans will do a damned thing to stop that from happening.

 

Tens of millions of desperate, starving American families in the streets. In winter. What the hell can we expect but revolution?

 

So get ready. Network with neighbors. Be ready for the mass protests and the general strikes. Stock up on essentials. Learn basic first aid, and get enough supplies to help others. Look up protest techniques and equipment. Because either the revolution is coming...or hell on earth.

Facebook Recidivism

 I'm back in Facebook jail. This is my fourth time; I'd gone for years without any trouble, but in the last few months I've been suspended four times.

What was my offense?

Criticizing Bernie Sanders for selling out the progressive movement.

Now, the funny thing is that I've used almost the exact same words to criticize him on Facebook before with no pushback whatsoever from FB. I can only speculate as to the change in FB's response. My guess is that either I have a stalker (not impossible, it has happened before) who is reporting every controversial comment I post, or else Facebook has escalated their censorship standards. It's also possible that I'm on Facebook's watchlist, of course.

In any case, it reminds me of the old Soviet censorship that we used to hear about. It seems that we need to develop a samizdat network of our own; a way to be able to communicate without having Mark Zuckerberg's clammy hands clamped over our digital mouths.

The problem, of course, is that the three major social networks (Facebook, Reddit, and Twitter) are all subject to rigorous censorship by the oligarchy. Smaller ones aren't, but that's because their user base is so small that you might as well write your post on a piece of paper and flush it down the toilet. The oligarchy is perfectly happy to have us waste our time talking to nobody; it's only when we might rile up the sheep (as they see them) that they have their sheepdogs take us down.

It's a problem.

In the meantime, I've been posting on a very small new site called Leftbook.us. It desperately needs more users, but given that Facebook has been flat-out purging leftist groups there (and some libertarian/right groups, too), Leftbook seems like a good option. It's not a place to reach the unaffiliated, but it could be a good place to meet other leftists and organize - which is something that the oligarchs have spent a LOT of money to discourage.

What I hope for from this election

What do I want from this election?

Uncertainty. I know I won't get a Green victory. The only way we’re going to have a chance to avoid extinction is with a full-blown revolution. But I don't want to see either candidate get a clean win. The closer it is, the more contentious and confused the results are, the better for us in the long run.

Because that sort of turmoil will help discredit the whole rotten system. Let the two corrupt corporatist parties squabble and fight. Let the two demented old rapist-pedophiles scream at each other on TV. Better that than a quiet return to business as usual!

Business as usual means extinction for us all.

Changes

Living with the knowledge that humanity will soon be extinct, and that everything - EVERYTHING - that anyone ever cared about, feared, dreamed, built, imagined, loved, hated or felt will be forgotten forever as if it never existed...that's the big one.

 

I imagine there will be a real need for antidepressants in seven years.

The Terror of Amy Coney Barrett

It's funny. I know that Amy Coney Barrett is supposed to panic me. But I just don't care. It's like having terminal cancer, and being told about yet another tumor. It's ALREADY terminal, so who cares?

The only way we get to survive is if we overthrow the whole system. Another tumor more or less isn't going to change that.

A new conversation with a DNC volunteer

Ellie: Hi Peter, this is Ellie with the Democrats. We're about to embark on the largest national relational Get Out The Vote effort ever! We're celebrating all of your hard work and the journey ahead tomorrow at 8pm ET with special guest Zooey Deschanel! Can you join us?

Peter: Not until the Democrats support Medicare for All, the Green New Deal, and a ban on fracking - and convince me that they really mean it.

Ellie: Thanks for sharing. I believe it will take all of us working together to defeat Donald Trump and make progress towards affordable health care and college, clean energy, a strong middle class, and campaign finance reform.

Peter: That's probably true, but the Democrats have made it quite clear that they are not interested in any of those goals. Joe Biden won't even ban fracking, even though we have seven years at most before climate change passes the point of no return. Does that make any sense to you? I have a child, and I can't accept the Democratic party's  refusal to take climate change seriously. It's the greatest threat humanity has ever faced.

Ellie: I understand that and agree. However, Trump is a much bigger threat to humanity. And we all have to do our part to defeat him to reset things, even if they're not ideal.

Peter: It's not a matter of Biden not being ideal. I followed his career for a long time, and I've studied what the Democratic party has been doing - particularly since 1980. They serve the same oligarchs that Trump serves. The only significant difference in their policies is that the Democrats are more eager to go to war. And that's just because Trump is a coward. Have you seen the climate clock? You can Google that. In 7 years and less than 70 days, human extinction becomes a virtual inevitability. But Joe Biden and the Democrats won't even ban fracking! There is no way that I can accept that.

And while I know that the DNC has put a huge amount of time, effort, and money to terrorize Americans about the evil of Trump, it was the Democrats' policies that BROUGHT us Trump. I've read Hillary's Pied Piper email. If Trump was such a threat, why did the Democrats elevate him in the media in 2016? And why have they given him everything he has asked for and more in congress?

They won't even fight his latest Supreme Court nomination. They don't represent me, and they don't care about a future for the children of the world. Their actions prove that. Doesn't that bother you?

Ellie: Sorry for the slow reply, Peter. I hear you. Donald Trump has one word for climate change: "hoax." But Joe Biden and Democrats know a different word applies: "jobs." Biden's clean energy and infrastructure plan will create millions of good-paying, union jobs in the auto, construction, energy and other industries.

I agree with you that climate change is a huge issue, and I believe that it is one that we won't solve over night. I would rather see us take a step in the right direction by recommitting to the Paris Agreement, as Joe Biden has pledged to do, than to have us continue on our current trajectory. I hope you'll agree and join me in voting for Joe Biden this election.

Peter: But that's the horror of it. "Jobs"?!? Really? It's LIVES that are at stake - all of our lives. Joe Biden claims to listen to the science, but the science is very clear and he is ignoring it as much as Trump is. We have less than seven years and three months before we pass the point of no return on climate change. After that, there is nothing we can do to keep the Earth from becoming mostly uninhabitable for human beings for the next 5,000 years. And yet Joe Biden won't even ban FRACKING.  The Paris Accord is a Band-Aid on a corpse. The scientists are unanimous that it is nowhere near enough.

Joe Biden accepts huge contributions from the fossil fuel industry. How do you reconcile that with the climate catastrophe that is bearing down on us so quickly?

Ellie: Joe and Kamala want to tackle the challenges we face as a country. They've put forward big, bold plans to take urgent action on climate change, achieve universal health care, and support working families. Read more here: https://[no I'm not including the URL]/joes-vision/

Peter: I've read their policies. They're absolutely inadequate. What more, I'm quite positive that they will never be implemented. Since 1980 the Democrats have consistently signaled left on their platform and political promises, only to go hard right when they actually had the chance. Fool me once, shame on me. Fool me dozens of times? I don't think so. The Democrats work for Wall Street, the fossil fuel industry, and the oligarchy, just as Trump does. Sorry, but I have been following this for a long time.

And I'm a parent. I WON'T go along with ignoring the reality of climate change. Or with denying health care to millions. Or with driving millions more into bankruptcy for the profit of Biden's credit-industry campaign donors. Or with starting new wars against Venezuela and Syria. Or with supporting the genocides in Palastine and Yemen. Doesn't any of that BOTHER you?

Ellie: I hear your concerns. May I ask who you will be supporting in this election?

Peter: The DNC has successfully convinced me that my vote doesn't matter. By rigging two primaries in a row, they've made it clear that our only choices will be between servants of the oligarchs. I'll vote for Howie Hawkins, but it's very clear that we will not be allowed to VOTE ourselves free. The only Democratic candidate that I will consider voting for is Ed Markey, and that's because the DNC has done everything they can to punish him for co-sponsoring the Green New Deal.

If you Google "climate clock", you'll find a clock counting down the time to which climate change becomes irreversible and our entire species extinction will be inevitable. There are links that document the science behind that clock. Look up what scientists say about the Biden plan. It will not save us. As I said, I'm a parent. I don't know if you are. But I won't go along with a plan that means death for my child and any potential grandchildren. Not to mention the children of the world. I can't imagine any choice that would be more evil.

Ellie: Got it. I appreciate you letting me know. Thanks for your time - stay safe!

Peter: Good luck. And if things go bad, as I believe they will...I hope you'll join us in the streets.

Astroturf

Justice Democrats, Our Revolution, Brand New Congress, the Sunrise Movement...any time a shiny new progressive organization appears, it's a safe bet that it's another astroturf project to sucker leftists into wasting our energy and time by working within the system. The oligarchy is happen to spend money to keep us from the only thing that might save humanity: Revolution.

Break Up Facebook

 Here's the hashtag I was trying to figure out!

#BreakUpFacebook

And since I can say it here without being banned, break up Mark Zuckerberg, too. With a guillotine.

The Whims of King Zuckerberg

The 24-hour suspension that I got from Facebook last evening had magically turned into a three-day suspension today - for no reason that I can see, since I wasn't on Facebook since last night and am not able to post, comment, or react to anything there anyway.

I plan to work up an anti-Zuckerberg meme, post it on Facebook, and spend as much time off Facebook as possible.

We are not free.

Facebook ban #3

The bastards in question are the ones who own and run the big corporations that are killing us all off. Including Facebook!

And while I'm at it, this is a good example of  a problem I was writing about twenty or thirty years ago: when the only meaningful platforms for speech are privately owned, freedom of speech no longer exists. In this case, I can speak only as Facebook allows, or I can...well, there IS no meaningful alternative way to speak. So I am effectively silenced.

 

2020 Presidential Election Outcomes

Let's consider possibilities.

Right now the likeliest outcome appears to be a clear win for Biden, if the polls and media are right. In that case, Trump can either claim fraud and take legal action, or accept defeat.

My money would be on legal action, dragged out as long as possible. This would be accompanied by protest marches and some rioting by Trump supporters, with little or no police action taken against the rioters (unless some of the rioters happen to be black, or there are some black bystanders in the general area of a protest).

The DNC would attempt to work up some counterprotests. I'm not sure how effective those would be. Those of us who oppose both candidates would be rendered effectively invisible in the media, of course. No doubt we'd see a huge amount of identity-politics-shaming from DNC spokespeople and media personalities.

At this point I only see two possible outcomes. There's no way this doesn't get taken to the Supreme Court. Odds are that the court would dodge this decision if they could, but they may not be able to.

I suspect this is one of those cases where we would see naked politics on the court, like Bush v Gore. Which would mean that Trump would get it, particularly if Justice Handmaiden gets on the court in time. If that happens, we will see some liberals in the street in pussy hats, chanting cringy slogans that were focus tested by the DNC. But the whole thing will probably end up fizzling out with a second term for Trump.

Alternatively the court might give it to Biden, in which case we may see some shootings from Trump supporters. I don't see that turning into a full-blown civil war, though. People tend to overestimate the number of truly passionate supporters on either side. Most people are just trying to survive.

I guess a third possibility would be some attempt at splitting the baby by the court. They might order a nationwide recount, or even a new election. This would be entirely new territory, legally. The Constitution has nothing to say about this. So it's pretty much a crapshoot.

Obviously the above applies to a narrow win by either candidate. Both the Democrats and the Republicans are ready to claim fraud and fight this in court, with adjuncts in the street. Once again those of us who oppose both candidates and actually want to do something about the impending climate apocalypse will be rendered invisible in the media.

If anything, the least likely scenarios would seem to be a clear win by one candidate and a concession by the other. 

My best guess is that we won't see anything near a full-blown civil war, but the credibility of the US system of government and elections will be even more seriously damaged, probably permanently. This is likely to lead to an existential crisis within the next four to eight years. What comes out of that crisis is beyond the scope of this post. But since the climate point of no return will be taking place in 7 years, it is likely to play a major role in that crisis.

What do you think?

Another conversation with a Biden volunteer

Martha: Hi Peter, I'm Martha, volunteering for Joe Biden and Democrats. Voting is already underway - we need your help making calls to turn out voters across the country! Can you sign up for a calls training this week?

Peter: Not until the Democrats fully support Medicare for all, the green new deal, and a ban on fracking.

Martha: Joe Biden understands that the Green New Deal is a crucial framework for tackling the climate crisis. His plan invests in workers, in infrastructure, and in communities hit hardest by pollution, creating millions of good-paying jobs and building an equitable, clean energy future.

Martha: Joe Biden and Democrats believe affordable health care is a right. Biden will protect and build on the Affordable Care Act to give Americans more choice and reduce health care costs.

Peter: Joe Biden won't even ban fracking. Have you heard of the climate clock? In 7 years climate change passes the point of no return, and human extinction will become inevitable. Biden has made it clear that he will do nothing to avert this. A climate plan that takes effect in 2050 is like a Band-Aid put on a corpse. I have a child. I will never support a candidate who offers the children of the world nothing but death.

Peter: And the Affordable Care act is a sick joke that leaves millions of children without coverage. The ACA is nothing but a gift to the health insurance corporations who act as gatekeepers and hostage takers between Americans and their medical providers. How could you support something like that?

Peter: Joe Biden gets the best healthcare, paid for with my tax money. And he has the nerve to say he'll veto Medicare for All if it ever got to his desk. That's not leadership, Martha. That's a sociopath. And the health insurance industry is giving him all sorts of campaign donations as a reward. Doesn't that bother you? Has it ever occurred to you that you are working for a candidate that is part of a two-party charade?

Peter: Not to mention Joe Biden's clear intention to attack Venezuela and Syria? What did the people of those countries ever do to you? The children of those countries?

Martha: Thanks for your time. Have a good day!

Peter: I hope you think about this. Particularly if you have children. Because our time is up in 2027. https://climateclock.world/

Take care.

Joe Biden's Policy

For those who say that Joe Biden has no policies: you're wrong. He does have a policy. It's DEATH TO AMERICA.

Think I'm kidding? We have seven years at most to make massive, fundamental changes to our economy and society before we pass the point of no return on climate change. But Biden won't even ban fracking, and wants a "middle ground" on climate policy. That translates to human extinction.

America is part of the human race. Human extinction = death to America.

Pretty simple if you think about it.

 My latest meme, if is IS a meme - I'm not always clear on that.

A few people have asked me "Why 2027?".

 

That's when climate scientists say that climate change will pass the point of no return. After that. there will be no way for us to keep the global temperature from rising to levels beyond human survival over most of the Earth's surface, at least some of the time. The food chain will collapse, which will lead to the collapse of human civilization. Human extinction will be extremely likely at that point.

In other words, we have less than seven years to make the greatest effort ever made in human history, if we want the human race to survive.

 

Social Media Alternatives

Censorship on Facebook and Reddit is getting worse and worse - particularly when it comes to progressive and socialist content. That trend is only going to accelerate. It would be smart to find backups and alternatives for Facebook and Reddit now, before leftist communities are smashed, shut down, or censored out of existence.

When Google announced that Google Plus was going to be shut down, a group of us there got together to research social media for a new home. We gathered a lot of data and stored it in a Google Docs spreadsheet that I created. I published that spreadsheet to the web here:

Social Media Alternatives

To summarize, the primary candidates were MeWe, Mastodon, and DreamWidth.

MeWe picked up a lot of enthusiastic converts. The owner had put a lot of effort into getting G+'s soon-to-be expatriates on MeWe. I, however, was a skeptic. Here's why.

MeWe is owned by a libertarian businessman. The site is effectively a "walled garden"; anything you write there is invisible to outside search engines. So new people will never stumble on your work, and no one can share anything that you write with people outside of MeWe. 

That is, unless changes have been made in the last year. The owner said he was going to have some of those issues fixed, but I had the strong impression that the "fixes" he was talking about weren't really going to address the issues. Basically, MeWe is sort of a web ghetto. I also worry because I don't entirely trust the owner. I've been screwed by sites that were owned by venture capitalists too many times.

Of course, the real problem with ANY competitor to Facebook is the user base. No matter how great an alternative is, if your friends aren't there too there's no point in posting there. And if not much is posted there, your friends don't have a reason to join. Catch-22.

I have a MeWe account myself, but I make very little use of it. I started a couple of groups there: "Facebook Refugees" and "Change the World" (a socialist/revolution group). Facebook Refugees has a lot of members, but there's nothing much of interest being posted there. People still join, though.
But as I said, I only go there to approve new members for the Facebook Refugees group.

If you try to post a link to a MeWe article, what others see is an invite to join MeWe - not the article itself. I don't think you can read anything there unless you join. That's part of the whole "walled garden" thing. You can only read stuff there if you're already there. It's basically a dead end. And as your posts get older, they disappear to all intents and purposes. So even if you write something absolutely brilliant, it will never, EVER go viral - or make an impact outside of MeWe.

MeWe is free, but there are paid subscriptions available with extra features. They're a bit pushy about marketing those paid subs.

Mastodon

Mastodon is an open-source self-hosted federated social media site. I like that it's not owned by any one person or entity, and it does seem to have some activity on it so far. But again, it's nowhere near the membership level to make it worthwhile to spend much time there. Maybe that will change. 

Perhaps I should explain the whole "federated" thing. There are individual server-hosts for Mastodon. They have a limited number of members. But all of the hosts are effectively connected by the software, so you can follow anyone on any Mastodon host. One drawback to Mastodon is that at this point it's not possible to create groups there. You can follow other users and be followed, but as far as I've been able to discover there are no groups on Mastodon. Also, Mastodon works via hashtags - you must include hashtags in your posts or they're unlikely to be discovered.

Another drawback to Mastodon is that you're limited to 500 characters per post. Still, it's an interesting and appealing option. Not having a single owner is a big advantage.

DreamWidth

I'll admit up front that I am biased in favor of DreamWidth.  It's a separately-owned code fork of LiveJournal, and is considerably older than MeWe or Mastodon. It's owned by a couple of former LJ staffers; they seem very idealistic and supportive of free speech. That said, although I have some friends on Dreamwidth, I haven't been getting much interaction there. It's pretty dead. I wish that it wasn't.

It allows you to create and join groups. Posts aren't limited in length. Free accounts don't get image hosting, but you can link to images hosted elsewhere. There's a fine degree of control of who can see each post that you make in your own account; you can create all sorts of filters, or post publicly.

Posts can be linked to outside of DreamWidth, and anyone can read public posts there without having to join. Search engines such as Google are able to crawl public posts, so they come up in search results.

All of those social media alternatives are free, although MeWe tends to nag you a little about getting a free trial of the paid version. Dreamwidth has a paid version too, but the free version is totally functional and they don't nag. As far as I know, Mastodon is just plain free.

Apps

Just a note, but if you're interested in secure communication, I'd suggest following Edward Snowden; he sometimes recommends apps to use or stay away from, and he knows what he's talking about. Right now I have ProtonMail for secure email. Signal and Telegram are both options for encrypted IM and telephony. All are currently available for free.

Two steps towards extinction

Today two friends on Facebook, long-time staunch leftists (or so I thought) announced that they were now supporting Biden because Trump was so terrible.

I'm sickened. It's hard not to despair right now. How can they co-operate with the oligarchy like this? I've snoozed them both for 30 days. I hope they come to their senses!

A Response to the Signatories of the "Open Letter: Dump Trump, Then Battle Biden"

It comes down to this: in ten years or less, climate change will pass the point of no return. Billions of deaths will become inevitable, and human civilization will not survive. But Joe Biden won't even ban fracking.

And we don't even have ten years. The fossil fuel industry must be shut down as quickly as possible. Worldwide action on a scale never before seen in human history is an absolute necessity if we're to have even a SMALL chance for humanity to survive. The signatories of this letter know this.

We don't have time to support Biden and then protest Biden. It won't work. The media will ignore the protests. Biden will use his enhanced powers to crush protesters, just as he and Obama did to the Occupy Movement and the water protectors of the DAPL. This letter is a recipe for human extinction.

I don't know how old many of the signatories are. Maybe they're all of an age where extinction doesn't matter to them, because they'll die before it happens. But I have a child, and I care about what happens to the children of the world. As a parent, I will not accept the murder-suicide of our species.

Our only hope for human survival is revolution, beginning with a #GeneralStrike. As for the signatories of this letter, they've shown themselves to be either hopelessly unrealistic, or simply cynical and manipulative. I'm sorry to have to say that, because I've admired some of them in the past. But if they've decided to give up on humanity, it's incumbent on them to get out of the way - not to try to take down the whole species with them.

https://www.commondreams.org/views/2020/09/23/open-letter-dump-trump-then-battle-biden

https://commons.commondreams.org/t/open-letter-dump-trump-then-battle-biden/82463/105?u=pmaranci

Competing with America's slaves

 America's for-profit prison system has effectively enslaved millions of Americans - primarily black, brown, and poor Americans - to the enrichment of massive corporations. Those corporations have the legal right to torture any of their prisoners who refuse to work; they can be put in solitary confinement, which the UN classifies as torture.

Those corporations also lobby politicians to increase their supply of slaves by imprisoning more and more Americans. They provide generous campaign donations to highly-placed politicians in both parties.

But one thing that's also interesting is that those work camps (which is what for-profit prisons really are) exert downward pressure on the wages of ordinary American workers. If you can rent the services of slaves for a fraction of the cost of hiring a non-slave worker, what good businessman would hesitate? And what does that do to the bargaining power of free workers?

Extended text conversation with two Biden volunteers

L: Hi Peter, I'm Lisa, a volunteer with the Democrats. Election day is less than 50 days away! We're counting on folks like you to step up and take action with us. Can you make calls to help us win big in November?

P: Not until the Democrats get behind Medicare for All, the Green New Deal, and return the fossil fuel subsidy ban to the platform and stand behind it. Oh, and ban fracking.

L: Got it. Respectfully, I believe it will take all of us working together to defeat Donald Trump and make progress towards affordable health care and college, clean energy, a strong middle class, and reforms to strengthen our democracy. Does that resonate with you?

P: No. I'm too familiar with Biden's record, and the DNC has demonstrated too many times that they work for the oligarchs - not the people. In 10 years climate change passes the point of no return. You are working for someone who refuses to even ban fracking. Maybe that's something you should think about.

L: May I ask who you are supporting?

P: I expect to vote for Howie Hawkins. Down-ballot I will only vote Green or other progressive third-party.

L: Got it. Thanks for sharing.

P: I have a son. The DNC, RNC, and the fossil fuel industry that they serve is stealing his future, and that of all the children of the world. How could any parent support that? Anyone with a conscience?

L: I have kids too. That is why I am focused on defeating Trump.

P: I understand. But I can't overlook what the Democrats are also doing - or rather, NOT doing - about the environment. By 2030 it will be too late to give our children a habitable planet. The increase in the Earth's temperature will kill billions of people. Civilization won't survive that. And in the face of all that, Joe Biden insists that he won't ban fracking and wants a middle way on climate. I know that Trump is much worse on climate, but extinct is extinct either way.

My son is a good boy. But NO child should have to face having no future. I can't accept the Democrats' refusal to take the necessary action on climate change. It's unforgivable.

They were supposed to be on our side - the side of the people. But they've been working for Wall Street and their big donors almost exclusively for decades, while we, the people, get nothing but lip service and kente cloths.

I come from a family of passionate lifelong Democrats. I took a degree in political science. I can't pretend that I don't see what has been happening. Unions betrayed. The 1994 crime bill, authored by Joe Biden, turned millions of black, brown, and poor Americans into slaves in all but name - working in privately-run for-profit prisons. The corporations that run those work camps - which is what they are, let's be honest - have donated generously to the Biden campaign. That's not the Democratic Party I supported. It is unimaginably cruel and inhumane.

I'm sorry to go on like this, but I care about this very intensely. The DNC has forced us to choose between two scenarios of extinction for our children. NO. I absolutely cannot accept that.

...how can you?

B: Hello Peter, This is Betsy another volunteer from the Democrats.  Thank you so much for being so passionate on these issues.  I am too.  I'm voting for Biden because it is critical for our country to get Trump out of office with a clear victory.  After that we can stay involved to make sure the Democrats do this important work.  If Trump wins we have no chance.

P: The DNC and the Clinton campaign promoted Trump as part of their "pied piper" campaign. Fear of Trump has been used as a weapon to terrorize Americans into voting for two terrible candidates. Bad as Trump is, I won't accept the argument that I should give up my principles to support a candidate who is as bad as Trump in many ways - if not worse, in some areas.

B: I understand.  I appreciate your passion.  Have a great day and stay safe.

P: The DNC presented America with an intolerable choice, twice. No offense, but doesn't that trouble you?

Take care.

Rage Junkies

 

Have you noticed the rage junkies?

They're self-described leftists who prefer a feeling of moral superiority and hatred towards the ignorant and poor who've been taken in by the right, rather than reaching out to try to convert those among them who can be reached. Even though our power is numbers, and increasing those numbers (without diluting our principles) is the most effective thing that we can do.

They prefer to fight fellow leftists rather than take effective action. A favorite tactic is to come up with some label that they feel renders some person or group an irredeemable enemy, and then attack anyone who questions their logic.

It's a very absolutist attitude. Sometimes I wonder if these rage junkies realize that they're helping the oligarchs. And sometimes I wonder if they're all (or almost all) working for David Brock.

To Those Who Agonize Over Trump vs Biden:

 What more does the DNC have to do to prove that voting is meaningless - shoot anyone who tries to vote? They've rigged the primaries twice now (at least), and between voter roll purges by both parties, black box machine voting, gerrymandering, selective polling station closures, and mysterious ballot disappearances and reappearances, only an idiot would believe that our voting system is even remotely accurate or honest. The only thing that makes the general election results even slightly questionable is that the two crooked parties oppose each other - at least, theoretically.

But the fact remains that the 2020 Presidential election is ALREADY fixed. Either way, the oligarchy will get a loyal servant. Climate change will continue on unopposed, and the election system will not be reformed. Voting is literally meaningless, except as an empty ritual to allow the unaware to believe that they have some sort of control over their destinies. Oh, and to allow the parties and various other advocacy organizations to raise money from suckers.

It's far too late for politics to make a difference. Humanity is going to die, unless revolution comes damned soon. Don't forget, by 2030 climate change passes the point of no return. The Earth's temperature will rise to a point where most of Earth's surface will be uninhabitable, and there won't be anything that we can do about it.

We need a revolution. It has to happen soon. Your vote doesn't mean a damned thing, in that context. Get ready to take to the streets, if you care about your future, your children's future, and the future of the human race.

Oh, and stop arguing about voting for the lesser evil. That's just stupid. You're wasting valuable time - your own, and everyone else's.

Ruth Bader Ginsberg

Don't panic. The oligarchy has owned the Supreme Court for quite a long time now. And we were going to have to revolt, anyway. This really doesn't make any difference.

Ginsburg was a reliable corporate vote anyway. She was only "progressive" on issues that the oligarch Masters didn't care about, i.e. identity politics.

A lot of people are already freaking out over this, but please, don't. You don't need to. This is not changing anything. And you have enough stress to deal with as it is! 🤗

Joe Biden, Man of "The People"

Joe Biden's crime bill literally made slaves out of millions of Americans. How many of them died in prison? Nobody knows.

Biden's support for the Iraq war caused hundreds of thousands of deaths, including many thousand American troops.

Biden's credit bill financially ruined millions of American families. How many people died early of diseases of despair? How many committed suicide? Again, nobody knows.

What we do know is that Biden apparently doesn't give a shit. He still insists that he will veto Medicare for all. He still supports fracking, which will kill off most if not all of the human race along with uncounted numbers of other species.

Does that mean that Trump is good? No. He's vile and evil and stupid. But it does mean that many people have successfully been tricked into supporting blue Trump out of fear of red Trump. They  have been played. Too many Americans have been played. And until enough people wake up and take to the streets, none of us will have any hope for the future.

I hope to God they wake up soon.

The Tragedy of the Sheep

A lot of us have been attacked lately by friends and acquaintances online: victims of the DNC's long-term propaganda campaign to convince the uninformed that the entire corrupt system is all Trump's fault. To them, Trump is Satan, Beelzebub, Hitler, and Mephistopheles all wrapped up in one stupid package. That fear is driving them to mindless support for the Democrats' equivalent of Trump, Joe Biden. Friendship and courtesy mean nothing in the face of that overwhelming terror.

They don't realize that they have allied themselves with the same forces that gave us Trump; the same oligarchs that are killing off the planet. No, they are just dancing along like obedient puppets, screeching their blind rage at anyone who opposes Biden or points out that the two candidates are virtually identical.

They have become unwitting servants of the agents of their own destruction, and the destruction of any children for grandchildren that they might have. They are tragic, although they don't realize it. But we will continue to fight to save the world - including them! - from Trump and Biden and the oligarchy behind them, because we have no other choice.

It comes down to this: Revolution or human extinction. If they don't see that yet, they will eventually. I just hope that it doesn't come too late.

Necessity

 

Realistic UBI?

The only way that Universal Basic Income would work would be if it was pegged to a realistic standard of living - and NOT dependent on Congressional approval for adjustments. Otherwise it would quickly end up like the minimum wage: completely out of date and gutted by inflation.

It's like any other proposed fix. As long as the current corrupt system of capitalism continues to exist, it will swiftly corrupt and destroy any proposed reforms. Assuming that any reforms even make it through the legislative process.

In other words, as long as the oligarchy and capitalism exist, humanity has no hope.

The Decline of Facebook

Facebook is getting bad fast. I've created groups for Facebook expats on a couple of alternative social media sites.

DreamWidth - Leftist Refugee Camp - https://leftistrefugees.dreamwidth.org/

MeWe - Facebook Refugees - www.mewe.com/join/facebook_refugees2

MeWe - Change the World (progressive politics) - www.mewe.com/join/change_the_world1

None of them have a lot of members yet, but they're there if needed!

The Fascists

Jo

Joe Biden's Crime Bill literally made slaves out of millions of black, brown, and poor Americans.

SLAVES.

And the slave masters - the for-profit prison corporations - rewarded Joe generously with plenty of campaign donations.

Biden IS a Fascist. How many of those slaves were raped and killed? Do you think he actually cares?

What are those for-profit prisons but work camps and death camps?

I'd no more vote for Biden than I would for Hitler. Or Trump. And I damn well DO judge those who vote for Biden and urge others to do the same. Something's seriously wrong with those people.

The People's Convention?

I watched the MPP People's Convention tonight - or a lot of it, anyway. Much as I like Marianne Williamson, I had to turn it off when she started shilling for Biden. But by that point I was starting to feel suspicious. It was all too moderate; they pretty much seemed to be talking about reform rather than the fundamental Revolution that we have to have if humanity is to survive.

Over the decades I've developed a very good sense for opportunists. Something felt off to me here.

And they pushed UBI pretty hard. That alone is simply nowhere near enough. But when they started talking about a wealth tax, that really set off some alarms. A wealth tax implies the continued existence of great wealth. Didn't say a damn thing about abolishing billionaires. And as long as great wealth exists, a universal basic income is just more for the billionaires to take.

So I'm not buying the MPP. I still believe that it's going to come down to a real Revolution, not some political solution.

Revolution Is Not About Violence

Revolution does not take place on the battlefield, and it's not a matter of arms against arms. It's primarily economic in nature. When a sufficient percentage of a population (approximately 3.5%, in most cases) takes to the streets, and when general strikes occur (sufficient to seriously impair the normal functioning of the economy), the regime is generally doomed.

And as for the military, in EVERY revolution a substantial portion of the military refuses to attack their own population. And some actively side with the Revolution. After all, they're generally from the working class themselves.

Violence and weapons aren't completely irrelevant to revolution. But those who suggest that revolution is unrealistic because the US military is far better-armed than the US population are presenting a false argument.

Why the Revolution Is Inevitable

Ready or not, the Revolution is coming. The oligarchy itself is creating the conditions which make that inevitable, although they don't seem to realize it.

It's not a matter of a trained cadre of professional leftist revolutionaries. It's a matter of people who are desperate and on the streets. And of those, we have an abundance.

Unemployment is at record highs. Many of those same newly-unemployed Americans have also now lost their health insurance, in the middle of a pandemic. Unemployment benefits have been slashed, and they weren't adequate to begin with.

Tens of millions of Americans will shortly be evicted from their homes. Any of those who are still employed are likely to be unable to keep their jobs as well. We are talking about whole families on the streets by the millions.

Meanwhile the GDP has crashed to a low heretofore unheard-of in America. Covid-19 is going to be increasing again in the fall, doctors predict. The jobs that have been lost will not be coming back anytime soon. All this can only drive the economy further into the ditch, increasing the number of unemployed and desperate even more.

These are the conditions which came within a hair's breadth of creating a socialist revolution in America during the Great Depression. FDR was only able to forestall that revolution with the New Deal, but in this case the elite have blocked the only politician who was aiming to take FDR's role. Which means this time, the revolution is GOING to happen.

Unless you think that millions of desperate, starving Americans are going to quietly and politely crawl off and die somewhere? The recent protests show that that's not likely to happen.

The Revolution is coming whether you like it or not, and whether you think you're ready or not. Because it's not up to us. The conditions for revolution have been forced upon us by the oligarchy itself. With any luck, they will die for it.

Leftist Refugee Camp

I've been posting this on leftist groups on Facebook. Please feel free to share it anywhere that's appropriate.

---

We've been seeing an increase in hostile activity by DNC trolls recently. This is normal for this point in a Presidential election year. Based on what happened in 2016, we can expect to see escalating attacks and attempts to compromise, buy out, or destroy leftist discussion groups online - particularly large ones.

On top of that, Mark Zuckerberg has been getting more proactive about banning political groups that he objects to - the most recent being anarchists.

I've set up an online refugee camp for leftists who get banned from compromised "progressive" groups, or whose groups are shut down or rendered toxic. It's on an older, very stable social media site that's both free and ad-free. While I hope that it won't be necessary, it is a place where leftists can congregate, share contact information, and discuss ideas in a troll-free environment.

We've all made good leftist connections online here. This is a backup option, just in case.

https://leftistrefugees.dreamwidth.org/

Time

 

Why Biden Is Worse Than Trump

Lately I find myself needing to refer back to text I've already written about people - correction, alleged people - like Joe Biden. I've stored some of these in emails to myself, and here.

But it would make sense to organize those writings, and to polish them for that purpose. Add citations and links. Make them more powerful. And maybe make them a public resource, not that many people come here. What could I call them, though?

Anyway, here's something I posted in a response to an advertisement on Facebook for Joe Biden. It's based on previous stuff I've written about Biden, but each time I've used it I've polished it a bit more. It still needs a lot of work, and you may recognize a lot of it as something I posted here earlier (my probably-mythical reader), but here it is.

---

Joe Biden is actually WORSE than Trump, which takes some doing. He's more of a warmonger; he voted for every war he could in the Senate, and he has made it clear that he will attack Venezuela and Syria as soon as possible. He has also blatantly given Israel a green light for the genocide of the Palestinians.

His vote for the Iraq war helped kill over 182,000 Iraqi men, women, and children. It also killed 4,425 American servicemen and women, while another 31,952 US servicepeople were wounded. The number of suicides among returned military personnel isn't available, but surely isn't negligible. That's a hell of a lot of blood on Senator Biden's hands. And yet he doesn't seem to have any trouble sleeping at night.

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-election/joe-biden-iraq-war-veterans-george-bush-a9380076.html

Biden's 2005 "Bankruptcy Abuse Prevention and Consumer Protection Act" (BAPCPA) made student loan debt inescapable even by bankruptcy. It put millions of American families into financial ruin. But then, that's what Joe's corporate donors wanted.

https://www.gq.com/story/joe-biden-bankruptcy-bill

Joe Biden co-wrote the 1994 Crime Bill (Violent Crime Control and Law Enforcement Act). That bill literally made SLAVES out of millions of poor, black, and brown Americans in for-profit private prisons. How many uncounted American children were deprived of their mother or father so that Joe could say he was tough on crime? But the corporations that run those prisons have rewarded Joe with millions in campaign donations. Apparently enslaving millions of Americans was a price Joe was willing to pay for that sweet campaign cash.

https://www.vox.com/policy-and-politics/2019/6/20/18677998/joe-biden-1994-crime-bill-law-mass-incarceration

Joe Biden has gotten the best free health care for over 50 years now, paid for with our tax dollars. But he proudly asserts, in the middle of a pandemic no less, that he will veto Medicare for All. Nothing but the best for Joe, but the rest of us don't count. He is condemning millions of American men, women, and children to sickness and death. "Sacrifices have to be made" according to Joe! But he and his campaign donors are never the ones who have to make the sacrifice. Funny how it's always working Americans who get stuck in the neck, isn't it?

https://www.cnbc.com/2020/03/10/biden-says-he-wouldd-veto-medicare-for-all-as-coronavirus-focuses-attention-on-health.html

Joe has been trying to slash Social Security, Medicaid, and Medicare for his entire career. We paid for those benefits, but Joe wants to privatize or cut them. Is that what a "man of the people" would do? Steal from working Americans?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ylgqKg41hxg

Ah, but what about the Supreme Court? some might ask. Really? That's a reason to vote for the man who voted to confirm Antonin Scalia? The man who silenced Anita Hill and the witnesses who would have backed her up to ensure that "Silent" Clarence Thomas would have a lifetime seat on the SCOTUS? Joe Biden's record on the Supreme Court is the worst imaginable. And with his constant fetishisation of "reaching across the aisle", there's absolutely NO reason to expect that to change.

https://theintercept.com/2019/04/27/anita-hill-joe-biden-non-apology/

Lastly, Joe Biden's fossil-fuel friendly climate policy will render this planet uninhabitable. In seven years or less, the planet passes the point of no return and human civilization will be doomed. It will literally kill off the human race. 

https://climateclock.world/

But Joe wants to seek a "middle way". He won't even ban fracking. It's kind of like cutting someone's head half off, but not in a funny way like in Harry Potter. It'll kill us just as surely as Trump's policies. But if you think that one version of extinction is better than another, good luck with that.

https://theintercept.com/2020/08/07/joe-biden-climate-policy-advisers/

They are both rapists, they both have dementia, and they both work for the same oligarchs who are killing off humanity. A vote for either of them is a vote for extinction.

If you have children or grandchildren, think about the kind of world they are going to grow up in - and die in. Think about what it will be like for them, knowing that they have no future. Think about the billions of children, born and unborn, who will grow up in a world on fire and drowning.

More and more people are seeing every day that if we want to survive, we only have one option. And it isn't playing the oligarchy's political game.

We have to take to the streets. The only way we get to survive is if we do what the founding fathers did. We HAVE to revolt.

And it starts with a #GeneralStrike.

Free to share

 

Joe Kennedy III, Tool of the Elite

Every time I've seen an ad for Kennedy (and I've seen a LOT of them), I post this comment:

Joe Kennedy III opposes Medicare for All, even though HE gets free healthcare at our expense. He opposes the legalization of pot, even though the people of his state repeatedly voted to make it legal. And he receives more money from Big Pharma than anyone else in Congress.

His run against Ed Market violates the DNC's own rules against challenging a Democratic incumbent. Nonetheless the DNC is pushing him HARD in order to punish Markey for co-sponsoring the Green New Deal. This spoiled son of privilege serves himself and the oligarchy only.

"Joe Kennedy III opposes Medicare for All, even though HE gets free healthcare at our expense. He opposes the legalization of pot, even though the people of his state repeatedly voted to make it legal. And he receives more money from Big Pharma than anyone else in Congress.

His run against Ed Market violates the DNC's own rules against challenging a Democratic incumbent. Nonetheless the DNC is pushing him HARD in order to punish Markey for co-sponsoring the Green New Deal. This spoiled son of privilege serves himself and the oligarchy only.

"Rep. Kennedy (D-Massachusetts) might be pharma’s favorite Democrat in the U.S. House of Representatives, given that he’s received more than $57,000 from the pharmaceutical/health products industry in this current election cycle alone. According to the Center for Responsive Politics, that’s approximately four times more than pharma’s average contribution to House Democrats. Over the course of his short Congressional career, Kennedy has received more than $348,000 since 2011."

- Center for Responsive Politics

https://www.opensecrets.org/members-of-congress/summary?cid=N00034044

The State of Things To Come

Don't despair. By adopting a corporate platform and dutifully serving the oligarchs (along with their colleagues, the Republicans), the DNC is unintentionally helping to produce the conditions for a revolution that will end up destroying them - and, with luck, saving the human race.

You've probably heard me say this before, but unemployment is at the highest level since the Great Depression - and with the continuing surge of Covid-19, it's only going to go up. At the same time, Congress (with the compliance of the Democrats) is going to cut unemployment benefits by at least $800 to $1,000 per month. And 28 million Americans at least are in the process of being evicted from their homes, or will be in the next two or three months. That will increase the unemployment rate still further.

If children are forced back into school next month (and it seems likely that they will be, in most states), Covid-19 rates take another major surge - not only among children, but in their families, their working parents, and those parents' co-workers.

So: in the next few months tens of millions of Americans will be desperate, homeless, and on the streets - men, women, and children. We already have huge numbers of protesters on the streets, all over the country. Trump is taking EXACTLY the wrong approach to the protests - with secret police and open police brutality, he's throwing gasoline on the fire. And the Democrats in Congress are helping him by constantly voting to give him all the funds he wants, and more.

Can you imagine any way that this DOESN'T turn into a massive, nationwide protest, shutdown, general strike, or revolution? There's no way that the establishment can survive this, I believe.

So hang on. Change is coming. It won't be easy, but at least it will offer the human race a chance for survival. And maybe, even, a better world.

Our Revolution Sells Out

I've been suspicious of Our Revolution from the first. Any organization that springs into existence and seems well-funded strikes me as likely to be a sheepherdering group - in other words, fauxgressives, designed to sucker leftists into dead ends for the DNC.

Today, I got an email that confirmed my suspicions.

According to the email, the majority of their member support Elizabeth Warren to be Biden's vice President. Elizabeth Warren. The candidate who stabbed all progressives in the back not once, but twice.

Any so-called "progressive" or "revolutionary" organization that supports candidates like Biden or Warren (no matter how much they claim that they can supposedly move those candidates to the left) is just another mouthpiece for the DNC and the oligarchs behind them.

Response to a neoliberal:

You don't understand democracy, it seems. No candidate has a right to our votes. They have to earn them. If they fail to earn them, that's on them - not us.

And Biden is actually worse than Trump, which takes some doing. He's more of a warmonger; he voted for every war he could in the Senate, and he has made it clear that he will attack Venezuela and Syria as soon as possible. He has also blatantly given Israel a green light for the genocide of the Palestinians.

Biden's Credit bill made student loan debt inescapable, and put millions of American families into financial ruin. But then, that's what his corporate donors wanted.

Biden's crime bill made slaves out of millions of poor, black, and brown Americans in for-profit private prisons. And the corporations that run those prisons have rewarded him with millions in campaign donations. But I guess that doesn't bother you.

Biden has gotten the best free health care for over 50 years now, paid for with our tax dollars. But he proudly asserts, in the middle of a pandemic no less, that he will veto Medicare for all. He is condemning millions of American men, women, and children to sickness and death. But apparently that's okay with you, too.

Lastly, Joe Biden's fossil-fuel friendly climate policy will render this planet uninhabitable. It will literally kill off the human race. So will Trump's, but if you want to tell me that one version of extinction is better than another, good luck with that.

They are both rapists, they both have dementia, and they both work for the same oligarchs who are killing off humanity. You work for them too, since you are pushing their little lesser-of-two-evils game. But more and more people are seeing every day that if we want to survive, we only have one option - and it isn't playing the oligarchy's political game.

We need to take to the streets. If we want to survive, there must be a revolution.

American Slavery

America has millions of slaves. What else are prisoners in for-profit prisons with mandatory work contracts?

And what are the owners, managers, and stockholders of those for-profit prisons, but slave owners?

Come to think of it, what are the police but slave-catchers?

The Mad Dogs

At this point, I suspect that the oligarchs and the duopoly would like the whole issue of police brutality and BLM to go away. From their perspective, things are getting out of hand - oh, not so much that they're panicking, but enough that they're getting nervous. There hasn't been this much public unrest since the Occupy movement, if not the Great Depression.

So if they had their way, they'd make some symbolic concessions. Some lip service. Maybe some mild pull-back on police power in some areas. We're actually seeing a little of that. But it's not going to work as long as the police themselves keep killing and brutalizing, particularly on camera.

It's ironic, because what the police are doing is exactly the wrong thing from the perspective of the elite. They're stirring us up, rather than calming us down. But that's because of what the police are: hired bullies whose purpose is to beat down the people. That's their nature. These are the mad dogs of the oligarchy, the shock troops on the front lines.

And that's why they're hanging black men from trees and claiming that it was suicide. That's why they're beating old men and women and teargassing whole city blocks. That's why they're targeting legal observers and the press. That's their job. They serve the fascist state that America has become.

The elite are in a trap. They need their mad dogs to hold back now, but they can't get them to do it. Oh, they can get some to do a few tricks, for show; kneel! march! speak! But every time, the cops go back to their same rabid behavior. And as long as they keep beating, killing, and brutalizing, more and more people are waking up and getting mad.

If there's going to be a revolution - and there has to be, if humanity is to have any chance of survival - this is how it has to start. The oligarchs and their servants have to be stupid, and brutal, and obvious. And that's exactly what they're being now.

Bernie Sanders: Betrayer

When the DNC rigged the nominations again in 2020, they voided any contract they had with Bernie Sanders - AND any loyalty that he owed them. Yet Sanders CHOSE to drop out early, let the rigging go unchallenged, and endorsed Joe Biden. He has threatened his delegates with loss of their status if they in any way protest the crimes of Biden and the DNC.

And now we discover that the Sanders' are close friends with the Bidens' and have dinner with them frequently.

There's no other interpretation for the facts: Bernie Sanders betrayed the millions of people who supported him, TWICE. Those who maintain blind loyalty to him nonetheless have no one to blame but themselves when they find themselves getting stabbed in the back by progressive "leaders" again and again.

Our only hope is revolution. Politics is the shell game of sociopaths.

June 2020 comments

The latest party line from DNC trolls is that we have to vote Blue to "retake the Senate". Apparently we're supposed to believe that if the Democrats get a majority in the Senate, they'll pass all sorts of progressive policies - like Medicare for All, UBI, a Federal jobs guarantee, and the Green New Deal.

You know. All the stuff that they absolutely refused to ever support before.

So we're supposed to support the Democratic Party? Seriously? The same Democratic Party that has done everything possible to BLOCK every progressive piece of legislation?

WHY?!?

There isn't time to "chip away". In ten years the planet passes the point of no return. Hundreds of millions will die, maybe billions, maybe EVERYBODY. Which means that we need to bring down the system within five years, AT MOST, if we're to have a prayer of saving humanity from extinction.

I don't understand why so many progressives are acting as if we have enough time to work through a political solution. We don't.

* * *

Vote Blue, and then reform the Democrats? Won't work. The Dems work for the same masters as Trump. Their policies are the same, right down to the genocide of the human race.

And TIME IS RUNNING OUT. In ten years or less, the planet passes the point of no return - and human civilization is doomed. Do you really believe that we have time to elect Democrats and then try to persuade them to shut down the fossil fuel industry - much less take the massive long-term action needed to save us from the worst effects of climate change? In less than ten years?

* * *

Biden is worse than Trump, actually. Their policies are virtually the same. Biden's more of a warmonger, though. If he's elected, we'll be at war with Venezuela and Syria (at least) within a year. He won't do a damned thing about climate change, because his fossil fuel donors wouldn't like that. So the planet and our species will be just as doomed under Biden as we are under Trump.

And don't forget, Biden was the major mover behind the Bankruptcy Bill that ruined millions of American families, the Crime Bill that jailed and enslaved millions of American citizens (mostly black ones), and voted for every single war he could.

The only difference is that the media will fall silent if Biden is President. He'll get a pass.

Lastly, Biden and the DNC destroyed democracy in America by blatantly rigging the Democratic primaries. That makes it personal. There's no way in HELL that I will give my vote or my approval to the people who stole our votes and our voices.

But if it's any consolation, it doesn't matter. Our votes don't matter. If voting could change the path that the world is on, it would be illegal. Trump and Biden are two sides of the same coin, and that coin is owned by the oligarchy.

THAT'S why we need a revolution. Because if we don't, humanity is going to go extinct.