Chasing a Northern Confederate Out of the South

Posted on February 11, 2017 by DavidSwanson

The Washington Post proclaims: “Protesters mob provocative Va. governor candidate as he defends Confederate statue.” Six seconds of video of the incident involved is likely to show up eventually here or here.

I was there on Saturday shouting down the “provocative” celebrator of racism and war, together with my kids and some friends. The only hostility I saw came from supporters of keeping the giant statue of Robert E. Lee in the park here in Charlottesville.

This was an email I had sent around the night before:

“Republican Candidate for Governor Corey Stewart is coming to Charlottesville Saturday to do a Facebook Live event at 10:00 AM in Lee Park to denounce the Charlottesville City Council for voting to remove a symbol of racism and war. Here’s a report on his efforts to deport immigrants. Here’s an announcement of Saturday’s event. Please show up at 9:45 and bring posters. Here are some ideas:
Black Lives Matter
Celebrate Racism and War Somewhere Else
Love Beyond Flags
Love Trumps Hate
Welcome Refugees, Not Bigots
make up your own!”

These were the chants that were chanted and which I joined in on:

“Hey Hey Ho Ho White Supremacy Has Got to Go!”
“You take Lee. We’ll take freedom!”

“Well what are you?” demanded a bewildered elderly white man of me when I opposed white supremacy and failed to be impressed by his showing me an American flag and shouting “This is an American flag!”
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Posted in General | 6 Comments

Loving Our Servitude in America’s Plantation Economy

Posted on February 10, 2017 by Charles Hugh Smith

One of the themes I’ve been addressing since 2008 is the neocolonial-plantation structure of the U.S. economy. The old models of colonial exploitation that optimized plantations worked by cheap imported labor (or situated in peripheral nations with plenty of cheap labor) have, beneath the surface, been adapted to advanced capitalist democracies.

The adaptations have been so successful that not only do we not even recognize the Plantation structure–we love our servitude within it.

As noted yesterday, the current mode of production optimizes the commoditization of everything: computer chips, fish and chips, labor, expertise, everything.

This commoditization optimizes the Plantation Model of integrated production, global supply chains and distribution to global marketplaces, a hierarchical management focused on maximizing profits to send back to the owners, a ruthless focus on lowering costs via labor arbitrage (commoditize the work so it can be performed anywhere labor is cheaper/more desperate) and a fanatical desire to eliminate competition or fix prices via cartels to ensure high profits.

Global capital has optimized the Plantation Model in the form of global corporations. Wal-Mart is the quintessential example. Like a classic agricultural plantation, Wal-Mart enters a region with a diverse, employment-rich ecology of small businesses and supply chains of local and regional manufacturers and distributors, and it bulldozes the entire “forest” of businesses, suppliers and distributors with the irresistible blade of integrated global supply chains and “lower prices, always.”
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Until .01% arrests for OBVIOUS crimes of illegal Wars of Aggression, looting, lying, assume Trump is another tool for US rogue state empire. Prima facie facts show .01% agenda under ‘WrestleMania Trump’ for war within and without: civil war and war on Iran

Posted on February 10, 2017 by Carl Herman

prima facie: Latin for “at first look,” or “on its face,” referring to a lawsuit or criminal prosecution in which the evidence before trial is sufficient to prove the case unless there is substantial contradictory evidence presented.

This article presents:

  • Three videos presenting current evidence of the Trump Administration’s escalation of lying war rhetoric on Iran, and evidence of orchestrated corporate media propaganda of domestic “chaos” that might have an endgame of martial law to crush opposition to ongoing US rogue state empire.
  • Summaries and links to articles with overwhelming factual documentation to prove ongoing US rogue state empire, lying rhetoric for illegal war on Iran, ongoing lie-started and illegal War of Aggression of Israel on Gaza, and complicit “coverage” of these crimes by corporate media.
  • Consideration that President Trump’s character that includes “hobby time” of violent WrestleMania cosplay displays his true character as opposed to having a hobby of service, such as ending poverty.
  • Reasonable conclusion for We the People that until US leadership arrests .01% OBVIOUS criminals centered in lie-started and ongoing illegal Wars of Aggression with constant looting and lying, there is no rational place to stand to “hope for change” by “kinder and gentler” psychopathic oligarchs. Until .01% criminals are removed from ongoing annual killing of millions, harming billions, and looting trillions, it is only rational to expect more of the same.

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Posted in General | 10 Comments

Amnesty International “Human Slaughterhouse” Report Lacks Evidence, Credibility, Reeks Of State Department Propaganda

Posted on February 9, 2017 by Brandon Turbeville

Brandon Turbeville
Activist Post
BrandonTurbeville.com

In yet another act of “convenient” timing, Amnesty International has released a bombshell report alleging the execution by hanging of 13,000 Syrian prisoners by the Syrian government from 2011-2015. The report, “Human Slaughterhouse: Mass Hangings And Extermination At Saydnaya Prison, Syria,” which contains rather detailed descriptions of torture, rape, and execution as well as other horrific activity has no doubt caught the attention of many people, even those who have followed the events transpiring in Syria for the last six years. However, there is one important aspect of the report that Amnesty International lacks . . . evidence.

While the report, at first glance, might sound convincing, an adequate reading of the text reveals it to be yet another Western propaganda piece designed to demonize the Assad government shortly before important talks take place in Switzerland. The report contains the right buzzwords such as “extermination campaign” and reads like a story recounting Nazi concentration camps so as to jog the ever-present memory of the Holocaust, thus causing the reader to subconsciously and consciously associate the Nazi slaughter of the Jews with the alleged Assad execution of 13,000 prisoners. Still, while we must give credit to good writing, we must point out that good writing with no evidence is just a piece of fiction.
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Trump Administration Apparently Heading For War As Iran Dumps U.S. Dollar,

Posted on February 9, 2017 by Brandon Turbeville

Brandon Turbeville
Activist Post
BrandonTurbeville.com

While many were hoping against all odds that a Trump administration would live up to some of its campaign rhetoric and begin to back away from imperialistic foreign adventures, it seems those hopes are being dashed by the day as Trump and his team are giving every indication that they are moving toward war with Iran.

Even on the campaign trail, Trump expressed irrational anti-Iran sentiment suggesting that the Iran nuclear deal signed with the Obama administration was “terrible” and that the United States was essentially forced to pay Iran not to build a bomb. Of course, this rhetoric was nothing but fantasy since the only loser in the deal was the Iranians, who were never in violation of any international provisions against nuclear proliferation, did not have a nuclear weapon, a nuclear weapons program, or even the ability to create one. In reality, Iran never should have had to sign any deal with the world’s self-appointed guard dog. Still, Trump represented the release of Iran’s frozen assets as extortion (against the United States no less). For those who are unaware, the money that was allegedly “paid” to Iran was actually Iranian money the United States had frozen in the past as a result of prior fits of war hysteria.
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Posted in Politics / World News | Tagged , , , , | 6 Comments

Good Riddance to Robert E. Lee

Posted on February 9, 2017 by DavidSwanson

Inspired by the Black Lives Matter movement, the city of Charlottesville, Va., city council has voted to remove an imposing statue of Robert E. Lee (and the horse he never rode in on) from Lee Park, and to rename and redesign the park.

The statue of this non-Charlottesvillian had been put up in a whites-only park during the 1920s at the whim of an extremely wealthy and racist individual. So, for a representative government to vote, following a very public deliberative process with voluminous and diverse input from city residents is — if nothing else — a step toward democracy.

I think it’s much more as well. There are two issues at stake here, neither of them dead issues from the past. One is race. The other is war.

Following the vote of City Council, two Republican candidates for governor Corey Stewart and Denver Riggleman declared their outrage. “You cannot revise history. Only tyrants attempt to erase history. This is tantamount to denouncing your own heritage. I will do whatever I need to, both now and as governor, to stop this historical vandalism. We must fight to protect Virginia’s heritage,” said Stewart. “This continued assault from Democrats on Virginia’s history and heritage is unacceptable. As governor, I will protect the monuments of our heritage, but not just of the Civil War, mind you. . . . Not only are they standing in conflict with a number of Virginia’s laws, but they are spitting in the face of veterans of every conflict — no reminder of any sacrifice by any veteran of any conflict should be torn down by the liberal thought police,” said Riggleman.
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Posted in General | 9 Comments

The Colonization of Local-Business Main Street by Corporate America

Posted on February 9, 2017 by Charles Hugh Smith

An insightful correspondent recently remarked on the striking transition of American neighborhoods from commercial districts dominated by locally owned businesses to streets lined with look-alike outlets of Corporate America. This transition is so obvious that few even comment on it, much less ask if this wholesale replacement is in the best interests of residents and consumers.

I have long suggested starting any inquiry with a simple question: cui bono— to whose benefit? Let’s add a second essential question: what does the system optimize?

By this I mean: what is optimized by the infrastructure, regulations, political structure, etc.–what we call the mode of production.

I think it’s abundantly clear that our mode of production optimizes large-scale global corporations, which have access to the capital and expertise needed to optimize production, management, employee training and discipline, supply chains and the purchase of political influence.

The net result of nearly-free credit for corporations is a Corporatocracy that constantly expands its financial and political power. Governments come and go, candidates come and go, and political movements come and go, but the Corporatocracy remains at the top of the power pyramid because it can always afford to “buy” as much democracy as it needs for the state to protect its power and profits.
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Posted in General | Tagged , , | 8 Comments