Time Enough at Last

Letter: Laura Marie Marciano: Symbolic and literal gatekeeping at Brown University

The vast majority of working class Americans understand the evil nature of capitalism. They know the truth about their own wretched lives. Do you think a victorious socialist revolution in this country depends on congenial socialists convincing reactionary dimwits ?

Do you think the American plutocracy would approve a democratic referendum on their exploiting and oppressive capitalist system ? QUESTION : IS IT NOT WONDERFUL THAT WE OWN EVERYTHING AND RULE THE WHOLE WORLD- and presently we are planning nuclear World War III ?

The freedom of Capital is incompatible with human social progress. We challenge the moral legitimacy of " legitimate " wealth .

[ What does capitalist society do for the homeless, mentally ill ? ]

Explosions Reported At Flooded Arkema Chemical Plant In Crosby, Texas

If a week of Hurricane flooding can cause all this misery , what can we expect from nuclear war ? It is willful ignorance to dismiss the planned economy of socialism as a cure for the murderous chaos of capitalism.

What we have today that " socialism " did not have in 1917 in Russia is advanced computer technology -what Fabian socialist H.G. Wells would have called " The World Brain ".

Hurricane Harvey will be a greater nightmare than Hurricane Katrina. Why not postpone World War III to deal with the immediate problems of American " civilization " ?

US autoworkers denounce Google censorship of WSWS

This is encouraging news for the World Socialist Web Site. You can always count on CLASS INSTINCTS to save the day.

I am presently reading about that amazing working class fighter " Mother Jones " . She was able to reach pristine class consciousness in those striking mine workers .

At the turn of the century SOCIALISM was much more in the air in the United States than it is today. But back then they didn't have the State Lottery and Megabucks - a sort of pie in the sky worker's paradise in 2017.

Fatal to socialist working class instincts is ANY form of toxic nationalism

Letter: Laura Marie Marciano: Symbolic and literal gatekeeping at Brown University

Laura's heart is in the right place here. In her mind the vignette at the Rockefeller Library could have sparked a Proustian memory of the segregation era in the Deep South 50 years ago: " What , not at MY Brown University ! " There is no white supremacy in the America of 2017. There is no " white privilege ".

There IS obscene CLASS inequality. Capitalist PRIVATE PROPERTY locks out the working class majority of ALL races and ethnic groups from decent homes, hospitals, " nice " neighborhoods, locks them out of the HAPPY FUTURE.

The ruling class offers them the consolation of the Megabucks State Lottery !

What keeps the homeless people in the street ? Their race ? No, it is PRIVATE PROPERTY - KEEP OUT.

Walking around downtown in the Kennedy Plaza area I am greeted by NO PUBLIC RESTROOM signs-no matter what my bladder is saying.

Democratic Socialism will check capitalist private property rights. It will in the near future " socialize " Brown's Rockefeller Library.

Letter: Laura Marie Marciano: Symbolic and literal gatekeeping at Brown University

How is this a " racial " incident " at this bastion of political correctness Brown University ? You need an ID to enter many buildings. The problem with " identity politics " at Brown University is its narrow focus on race, gender, sexual orientation. But the elephant in the lecture room is CLASS inequality. Don't hold your breath waiting for Brown University to denounce capitalism.

I understand you can apply for a visitor pass for the Rockefeller Library. A long time ago I researched old printed editions of the Providence Journal - when it was indeed an excellent newspaper. I recall this " time machine " taking me back to 1933 Providence

PUBLIC NOT WELCOME ?

Bristol County Sheriff Proposes Sending Inmates To Help With Harvey Damage

Smearing the Russian revolution and Lenin's original Bolshevik party is nothing less than a profitable academic profession. The latest biographies of Lenin and Trotsky - worthy of J. Edgar Hoover's " Masters of Deceit " - have been reviewed from a socialist worker point of view on the World Socialist Web Site.

Working class socialists do not look for a New York Times imprimatur in their educational classics .

Do you think the intellectual representatives of the American ruling class would ever agree on Marx's historical materialism : that their economic system contains the seeds of its own destruction , that it is as doomed as ancient slavery , oriental despotism, and feudalism ?

They can not justify their economic system before the common people without themselves being " Masters of Deceit ".

[ BOOK REVIEW: "In Defense of Leon Trotsky" by David North | Red Dirt ...

www.reddirtreport.com/rustys-reads/book-review-defense-leon-trotsky-david-north

Mar 12, 2014 - BOOK REVIEW: In Defense of Leon Trotsky by David North (Mehring ... were “mendacious and malicious exercises in character assassination, ... that he had wanted to assassinate Trotsky a second time with his hateful book ]

Bristol County Sheriff Proposes Sending Inmates To Help With Harvey Damage

The American Gulag - run mostly by the likes of Bristol County Sheriff Thomas Hodgson- is just a preview of coming American fascism. Such individuals show any honest journalist the true nature of the capitalist state . As Lenin put it in " State and Revolution " : the state is fundamentally an organization of armed men in the service of the ruling class property owners.

As capitalist oppression and exploitation become more and more self-evident to working class Americans we might recall that this year marks the 100th anniversary of the Russian Revolution. " Ten Days That Shook the World " ( author John Reed ) .

Looking at all those wretched, cold , wet , hungry, terrified victims of Hurricane Harvey in Houston Texas - another Katrina disaster - I think it is all too clear that this capitalist system could not survive another day without lies and brutality .

The mainstream news media supplies the lies . Police state heroes like Sheriff Hodgson supply the brutality. The " man on horseback " , the Great Leader, the arch plutocrat President Donald Trump.
But don't expect the neo-con War Party Democrats to stop fascism in America

Holocaust survivors warn people to 'forever be vigilant' in fighting hatred

Isn't it rather superficial to talk about " hate " as if it were comparable to some plague germ made in hell - rather than a human sin with deep social roots ?

The rise of fascism has been quite rationally explained - and by not a few Jewish socialist intellectuals- as the outcome of a profound crisis of capitalism . Democratic socialists see the freedom of Capital- and toxic nationalism- as incompatible with human dignity and social progress.

The cause of anti-Semitism is not helped by uncritical support of Apartheid Israel. Read Irving Howe's political autobiography " A Margin of Hope ". Howe also wrote " World of Our Fathers " . Bernie Sanders could relate to this book.

Read Erich Fromm 's " The Anatomy of Human Destructiveness

North Korea Launches Another Missile, This One Over Japan

The North Korean missile over Japan was, of course, a dud. Why does " The Arrogance of Power " and US Imperialism ,arrogate to itself -the only nation that ever used nuclear weapons on a foe , killing thousands of innocent people- ARROGATE TO ITSELF- a monopoly on nuclear weapons ?

Is our Trump Junta , our military industrial complex, our Pentagon, CIA , FBI , Homeland Security, on a higher moral level , more " democratic " than other regimes ?

Based on well documented war crimes ( and scandals like the Abu Ghraib prison in Iraq ) the US military has no moral authority to bully Russia or China or Iran or North Korea - or to LEAD any principled " war on terrorism " anywhere on the planet.

Have the American people -the vast working class majority - been consulted on the Pentagon, Wall St war plans ? They might just say NO !

Letter: Ralph Mace: Political correctness carried to absurd lengths

You are way too intelligent and articulate not to see the whole truth. The so called Left in this country - the neo-liberal Democrats- have betrayed the working class again and again.

Democratic socialists and pristine Marxism have no record of falsifying history. The ugly reality of American capitalism - well represented by both Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump- speaks for itself.

Witness the new Katrina horror show in Houston , Texas today. The HELPING HAND of government is effectively crippled by a SAVE THE RICH FIRST rescue principle-just as in the 2008 financial collapse. FREE ENTERPRISE can deal with major catastrophes- floods, earthquakes, famine, masses of refugees, another Great Plague , the " Day After " a nuclear war ?

The structure of human society cannot depend on the wisdom of " The Founders " . Today capitalism crushes much " promise " and human potential. How can atheists and agnostics believe in a SACRED secular Constitution ?

FROM FOX NEWS , 8/28/2017

[ A woman in a shelter for those rescued from Hurricane Harvey said the children there need help as soon as possible.

"I see these people come in and this little girl was just frozen," the lady said of the small girl she was cradling. "These kids need help."

Around 30,000 Texans were displaced by Hurricane Harvey as floods took over the city days after the storm passed. Harvey hit southeast Texas on Friday, leaving widespread devastation and stranding many who tried to wait out the storm.

"I don't even know what to say," the upset woman said. "They're not my kids, but I'll tell you what, I love them like they're my own."

A man at the shelter said he was afraid he and his family would get shocked from their submerged electrical outlets. ]

Letter: Ralph Mace: Political correctness carried to absurd lengths

This foolish political correctness and vicious " identity politics " has been criticized and rejected by the working class Left. We see it as distraction from " class struggle " politics. A hard core of black bourgeoisie , jaded pro-Hillary feminists, and arrogant zealots of Apartheid Israel have made this " identity politics " the ideological equivalent of Stalinism in the Democratic Party. Loyal to the Democratic Party are an army of academic " fellow travelers " . They enforce a Reign of Terror on college and university campuses.

At Brown University for example. They are enemies of free speech and free thought . And they are NOT democratic socialists.

Letter: Peter B. Denison: Trump should have followed his instincts on Afghanistan

The 16 year war in Afghanistan - a colossal failure comparable to Vietnam - is hardly a " good war " against a hateful foe. It is truly an imperialist war of occupation . In no way will it protect us in the USA from maniacal terrorist attacks. Occupying a country ,killing thousands of innocent people, bombing it with the MOABs- subordinating its government to US imperialist agendas - is no way to win hearts and minds. There is NO SUPPORT for this war or for the New Colonialism among the American working class

Texans Lend A Helping Hand As Floods Continue Across The State

Natural disasters like the present Hurricane flooding catastrophe in Houston, Texas - another Katrina for working class people there ? - should sober the foolish rhetoric against BIG GOVERNMENT and shame right wing voices clamoring for more-and-more tax relief.

The main purpose for amassing a " social surplus " - since way back in ancient times - is to protect the " community " from natural disasters : floods, earthquakes, famines, plagues. The WE triumphs over individual selfishness - so characteristic of the capitalist economic system.

How will the American plutocracy ever deal with a nuclear war disaster on " The Day After " ?
Hurricane Harvey looks WORSE than Katrina right now !

Image result for harvey worse than katrina

Hurricane Harvey more calamitous than Katrina ?

Capitalism and the Houston flood catastrophe

Since the days of ancient civilization one of the main purposes of amassing a " social surplus " was preparing the " community " for natural disasters - floods, earthquakes, famines, plagues . What can be more breathtakingly mean spirited today in Houston than Texas politicians ,representing only the privileged capitalist class, crying out for more tax relief ?

           Late degenerate capitalism wants only an alienated , atomized population - with blunted sympathy for unfortunate victims of indifferent nature and a cruel economic system.

       How would they ever deal with nuclear attack on " The Day After " ?

        From a safe distance Nature seems divinely beautiful . But up close and personal it is the scene of an ugly struggle for existence. The individual is always doomed but the SPECIES usually survives - and for millions of years.

     We humans are a young species . The collective WE can survive - but not under brainless- anti-social capitalism. The WE must
triumph over the " Circumscribed I ".

Image result for Darwin on the cruelty of nature

Letter: Louis Sperling: Transgender people do know who they want to be

Speaking from personal experience - I do not want to embarrass a family member the VICTIM of transgender right charlatans- I do think that it is nothing less than quackery and medical malpractice- and mutilation of the God given body - to go all the way with this transgender insanity.

The " politically correct " news media is not telling you the whole sad and tragic truth.

There must be a discreet way to discuss a case history . The young woman transgendered has a TWIN sister - who is not interested in this metamorphosis .

Bernie Sanders promotes illusions in the Democrats at Detroit town hall meeting

At age 70 I guess I qualify as one of those aging - if less than luminous " 60s radicals ". But any of us with a radical socialist bone left in our less than prime time bodies know that we can only expect more deceit from the professional pimps for the Democratic Party.
Listening to both those " progressive " Left stars of the Democratic Party , Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren , I can not see either one putting some distance between themselves and the rotten agendas of US imperialism and Wall Street.
I guess being personally embraced and anointed by the American ruling class is pretty heady stuff. They forget the ABCs of the logic of history. History does not culminate in Donald Trump and successive " American Centuries ". It will not culminate in the " Better Deal " of phony liberal Democrats.
The conservative journalist H. L Mencken had some interesting and humorous insights on American politicians and the ruling class -whom he judged a crude and often stupid bunch. They would not get published today.
I laughed when Mencken said that he could still " respect " socialists because they were mostly doomed to pauper economic status in capitalist America. No swindlers here !
I can imagine what Mencken would have written about the 2016 presidential election in the United States. It would never appear in the New York Times.
What would the anti-imperialist author of " The War Prayer " , Mark Twain , think about it ? I would expect some very dark humor from him.
TRUTH -from anybody - is always subversive !

Image result for h.l. mencken on american politicians

Single Winning Powerball Ticket For $758M Sold In Watertown

A democratic socialist government in the United States would , of course, inform ALL lottery winners - the New Millionaires - to report immediately to the SOCIALIST Internal Revenue Office . A general policy of 100 percent tax on ALL unearned income will be enforced . The recalcitrant " winners " can choose prison or state welfare checks.

State Power can do much good !

Discussion on World Socialist Web Site

An open letter to Google

I signed your petition against the GOOGLE blacklist. The FREE SPEECH tradition -real in the hearts and minds of most Americans -must be respected . How can we begin to get to the truth on any topic if we cannot access ALL points of view -even those branded " hateful " ( to whom ? ) .

I myself do see how religious freedom -and religious " free speech "- is indeed being undermined by Democratic Party based " identity politics ". According to Wiki Leaks Hillary Clinton and her " liberal " pals want to bring the Catholic Church out of the Dark Age? I suspect they really fear its decidedly anti-capitalist social philosophy. The Holy Ghost can speak for itself !

I frequently reference WORLD SOCIALIST WEB SITE in my comments. Best wishes .

Letter: Richard Tropper: No moral equivalency with white supremacists' march

The American ruling class - more and more ideologically desperate - would rather have us all more RACE conscious than CLASS conscious. What does all this focus on RACE do for black working class Americans ? Does it help at the doctor's office, in reaching for the HELPING HAND of the state ? Whatever your race or ethnic group asking for HELP in any state office -even RIPTA - is like walking into a den of vipers.

The " liberal " Democrats are not fundamentally opposed to this now grotesque capitalist system economic inequality. And they have quickly evolved into a neo-con War Party.
LIBERAL Democrats for mean spirited capitalism and war mongering, bloody imperialism ?

Letter: Richard Tropper: No moral equivalency with white supremacists' march

I find the hatred and the intolerance of the " identity politics " liberals very much the equivalent -in vociferous nonsense - of right wing racist drivel.

The glaring truth is that " White Supremacy " is not a reality in the United States - not even the beginning of a mass movement. Nor is there any reality to the idea of generic " white privilege ". I don't need truly privileged white Brown University students making me upset over my Italian and English working class ancestors - exploited as wage slaves by the Industrial Revolution of capitalism.

Wage slavery is still an ugly reality in the United States in 2017. Very little scholarly indignation over the daily exploitation and oppression of our capitalist economic system. Lately it all boils down to ugly personal hatred of the LEGITIMATE president , Donald Trump. For me -a democratic socialist - he is bad enough as the arch -plutocrat in the White House.

The Black Muslim Malcolm X got it right way back in 1965 : " Show me a capitalist and I'll show you a blood sucker ".
Malcolm X had made a connection between racism and capitalism, between racism and US imperialism. Do " liberal " Democrats ?

[ I took the bus and never in my life saw such a visual disparity between the have's and the have not's. There are 2 routes, the 42 and the 99 that only really differentiate themselves by the side of a hill they drive on. The 42 goes through the east side of Providence, the 99 goes down North Main Street. I was able to take both home, depending on which one showed up first.

One is full of the broken, the down trodden, the used up and overwhelmed. It stops by a church that provides meals and AA meetings for junkies. A sickly looking woman of about 25 or so, once got on. Her fur coat was matted, and smoked. It probably came to the thrift store as mink, but was worn down until it looked like raccoon. I gave her my seat, as she didn't seem like she could stand. This was taken as a romantic gesture by her muscled boyfriend who I did not notice. She made several statements aimed to anger him, in hopes of some proof of his passion.
I got off and walked home.

On this bus clothes are visibly dirty and can be smelled from across the aisle. Peoples eyes are faded and downcast. They have the same look as abandoned animals.

The other, the 42, goes through farmers markets full of grocery bags made of canvas. It drives by olive oil stores, and artisan bread markets. Students form Brown are seen getting on, loading up their Iphones and enjoying a good read.

The problems of the 99 bus seem so distant like an island off the beach we are all enjoying. On this bus, i'm not asked if I'm a lawyer because I'm in a suit. The bus driver says goodbye when you get off.

I'm back in my car, but I still see people on both routes waiting at the stops. How different everyone is, and all the problems everyone has is easier to study and wonder about in an air condition car.

]

Letter: John Dudley, Racism is bred into people from their childhood days

I suspect the good doctor is passionately opposed to racism as he is to socialized medicine - which would immensely benefit the well being of ALL races and ethnic groups. Take it from a democratic socialist. No hatred for SOCIALISM in upper middle class America

Boston Rally Ends Without Violence, But Was Free Speech Served?

The " identity politics " Democrats have been hostile to the free speech tradition in the United States for decades now. I don't want FAKE NEWS mainstream news media to brand numerous groups on the right and on the left as " hate " groups and then make it most difficult for them to communicate their message - which may be about a lot more than politically incorrect " hate ".

The " identity politics " zealots are very competitive in this odious HATE business. The attacks on old Confederate monuments are nothing less than mindless. Working class Americans are concerned with Bread & Butter issues not with SYMBOLS -annoying or awe inspiring.

Having been warned by their wiser leaders that " identity politics " was no winner in the 2016 election the Democrats are nevertheless doubling down on fatuous " identity politics

They want us to know that THEY love everybody - even all the blameless souls of the military industrial complex, the innocents in the Pentagon, the CIA , the FBI , Homeland Security - ALL socialist pacifists at heart. They are all forgiven in advance for nuclear World War III .
.
The good Democrats extend their LOVE to all the victims of American capitalism and US imperialism- which the party , of course, supports. These victims are of ALL races and ethnic groups. A multi-cultural future holocaust.

Trump Heads To Arizona To Push Border Wall Funding, Rally Supporters

Speaking as a democratic socialist - not in the least interested in irrational violence ( and for frivolous causes ) - I think that the mainstream news media's HATE TRUMP campaign is just as groundless as its HATE RUSSIA New McCarthyism campaign. ILLIBERAL LIBERALISM has wandered far from the working class LEFT, from old New Deal coalitions. From Bread & Butter America.

Having been warned that " identity politics " failed the Democratic Party in the 2016 presidential election , what do they do ? They double down on " identity politics ".

Are they determined to bring down every old Confederate monument in the country and thereby immensely improve the lives of working class black people in this country ?

This silliness is no longer obvious to " professional " American journalists .

Letter: David J. Szerlag: Where is the outrage over violence from the left?

The so called " identity politics " Left - in contrast to the working class Left- has quickly changed the character of the Democratic Party. There is very little " love " in their neo-con war mongering agenda. And no respect for the free speech tradition in the United States.

Along with the ILLIBERAL LIBERAL mainstream news media they are winking at extra-constitutional ways for removing a still LEGITIMATE President Donald Trump from office , for nullifying the 2016 presidential election.

Their foaming at the mouth- RIGHTEOUS WRATH- assemblies at old Confederate monuments will do nothing to promote race harmony in this country. The Democratic leaders and the brainless crowds following them are very competitive in this business of HATE for people who don't agree with them - especially white working class " deplorables ": the very people betrayed again and again by the " Hawk Hillary ", " Wall Street Hillary " Democrats.

And I voted for democratic socialists. I did not vote for nuclear World War III. I did not vote for endless war in Afghanistan and the Middle East. Our Rhode Island Democrats in the Senate and in the House are a disgrace : no more anti-war than the Trump Junta.

Discussion on World Socialist Web Site

Trump’s speech on Afghanistan: The military in command

Good point about decadent bourgeois journalism. I suspect that today - if you have a spark of decency and intellectual integrity- there is no place for you in the mainstream news media. No Walter Cronkites around today - at least to prick the conscience of the ruling class. They don't want to hear it: a world in which THEY are on top is the best of all possible worlds. So " history is bunk " . A whole privileged class trembles before truths self-evident to any soul not polluted by make-a-buck capitalism. I think Trotsky wrote somewhere that even great ART is revolutionary. I am almost finished reading Zola's " Nana " . Zola's French working class of the late 19th century is not much different from the American working class in 2017. Some progress in sexual morality , I guess. A " respectable " French journalist was a big influence on Nana's " career ".

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Thursday, August 31, 2017

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[ BOOK REVIEW: "In Defense of Leon Trotsky" by David North | Red Dirt ...

Tuesday, August 29, 2017

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