Roe v Wade overturned by right-wing packed US Supreme Court

The US Supreme Court’s reactionary overturning of Roe v Wade has nothing to do with democracy. Wealthy women will still get abortions. This is an elitist attack on the rights of working people. On the ground, these elitist policies are carried out by anti-abortion fanatics who throw the Bible in everyone’s face, but don’t (refuse to) understand the fundamental democratic concept known as separation of church and state. These right-wing bigots never read Thomas Jefferson seriously, so they only quote him badly.

These right-wing terrorists call themselves “pro-life” by condoning harassment & murder of doctors (& staff) who perform public-service abortions at community health clinics. They proclaim to care so much about a fetus, but clearly DON’T care about anyone (except themselves) after they are born. Their hateful message gets amplified endlessly in the fake media from all sides. When it all falls apart, and no one believes them anymore, the far-right proclaims they are being “terrorized” by working people who are getting in-their-faces about all their malfeasance & criminality. This is only lies/flak, and a precursor to more violence the right-wing is secretly planning.

A woman has the right to control her body. That’s a Constitutional right. Anything else is bigotry & fascism disguised as “morality.” This watershed far-right ruling has been anticipated for months, after it was leaked to the public and met with mass disdain. It inevitably happened today because their is no backbone for this fight within the Democratic Party leadership. The US Supreme Court has been packed with Bush (HW & W) and Trump appointees. They get to stay for life, and in this political climate are virtually unimpeachable.

Photo by Drew Angerer/Getty Images

Witness everything we have learned (so far) from the 1/6 House Select Committee hearings concerning Ginny Thomas, and then her husband Clarence for not recusing himself in cases where his wife is implicated. These are reactionaries & phonies who only care about their ends, and will use any means to get themselves there. I say We the People need to overturn the US Supreme Court.

This marks a qualitative shift in the US two-party system. Grassroots liberals have been abandoned by Democratic Party leadership. Neither Bernie Sanders, nor AOC, did anything to stop the US Supreme Court from enacting its reactionary agenda. What will happen to this critical constituency in the eyes of the ruling class? This splits the Democratic party, just like Trump split the Republicans on 1/6/21. New political entities are being established. It’s now ‘Trump supporters vs. all his political opponents’ in official politics. Basically, Joe Biden has merged the Democratic Party into what’s left of the traditionally conservative Republican constituency. “Team normal vs team crazy” is how they spin it in the fake media. Joe Biden’s mantra is, “We must have unity with the fascists.”

………..<><><><><><>…………

Electrified! promo/update

I went to a Catholic high school and then a Jesuit University. I’ve recently been thinking about what I’ve done that most offends these people, and it’s probably “Atheist Psalm” from this record.

As true-believing Christians, I seek your forgiveness on this. I’m not apologizing for it. “Atheist Psalm” is rated ‘Explicit’ by YouTube, Spotify, etc, when there are no swears in it. That’s a measure of its shock value & how much the censors hate it. The rest of Electrified! (2015) does the same. That’s why it’s so hard to find.

Electrified (2015)

There is a fascist paramilitary element that wants to overthrow the US Constitution and establish a personalist dictatorship in America. The US Constitution says ALL people are allowed to express their political feelings without fear of retribution violence, blacklisting, etc. It also explicitly expresses that there needs to be a separation of church & state.

If you disagree, then consider this thoughtfully instead of resorting directly to Biblical hysterics, guns & violence. That’s the difference between acceptable political debate and what fascists did on 1/6/21. The idea that politics is ideological discussion & ethical debate of history, class inequality, etc; and NOT hand-to-hand combat, is not yet for everybody– I understand. But someday it will be. It has to be for our species survival.

………………..<><><><><><><><><>………………..

Uvalde Memorial Day Services

Most people don’t really understand what war is, much less what side they are on. Memorial Day is where we remember those soldiers who made the ultimate sacrifice so we can live the American dream. These dead soldiers are the latest casualties. Most of these brave heroes had reached the rank of elementary student before they were cut down in the line of duty.

We also honor those teachers killed, while the cops did nothing. To them on Memorial Day, we say, “Thank you for your service & sacrifice.” They died so fascists can be free to carry guns anywhere and shoot whomever they please. The police won’t stop that. It’s the American way under capitalism. Up until a few days ago these valiant soldiers had survived COVID-19 in the classroom, immigration discrimination, rising living costs, etc. Now they are dead, so don’t forget to wrap yourself in the American flag this weekend and drink a toast to all these brave soldiers. They died too young.

Everyone throws the word “freedom” around, especially these weekends, but do they really know what it is? Some people define freedom as the “right” to dominate, intimidate, provoke, and/or silence whomever they please by whatever means they choose. Fascists distort the true meaning of the 2nd Amendment to the US Constitution (which Trump tried to overthrow on 1/6/21), through the NRA, police, and far-right paramilitary groups such as the Proud Boys. That’s called fascism, expressed politically through the various right-wing power constituencies of the Republican party. It is important to understand that the Republicans have been fractured & split since 1/6/21.

On a grassroots level, Trump supporters meme, “Let teachers carry” to demonstrate their support for neo-Nazis through ignorance, while showing no respect for the dead. The sociopathic demagogue Donald Trump is at it again, after his January 6, 2021 coup attempt to become American dictator failed. Predictably, he’s been allowed to remain free & unquestioned (shielded) by the Democrats, Department of Justice, etc, so everything from Joe Biden to AOC is no better politically.

Obama/Biden and the rest of the CIA Democrats provoked Putin’s reactionary invasion of the Ukraine by orchestrating their Maidan coup in 2013-14, and generally refusing to end the Cold War. It is a historical fact that the Ukrainian Azov Battalion is Waffen SS, virulently anti-Semitic & anti-socialist. The Nuremberg War Crimes Trials of 1946 established Heinrich Himmler’s SS as a criminal organization in its entirety. These are the “freedom fighters” Washington is arming to the teeth in the Ukraine to kill Russians and start World War III.

Donald Trump aims his fascist wrath at China & Hispanics due to his inherent racism. Trump insists on building walls when Israeli-occupied Palestine proves that massive security walls don’t work. Trump lost money in the casino business in Atlantic City, if you need an early measure of his business acumen. He’s never built anything of value that lasts, only his brand & führer cult.

No respect for history or science, while being completely counterproductive, makes the entire political establishment reactionary. The aim in Washington & Langley is regime change and colonial subjugation of Russia. Then it’s China, so as we can see, this is madness. The fake media on all sides NEVER allows serious discussion of the October 1917 Russian Revolution led by Lenin & Trotsky. The fact that Russia is the 2nd-largest nuclear power (China 3rd) is also minimized in the fake media. There is only freedom of speech if it’s the “correct” speech. That’s what Americans are Memorializing.

……….<><><><><><><><>……….

SCOTUS to overturn Roe v Wade

For over two decades a right-wing packed US Supreme Court has undemocratically decided the politics of our nation, and thus the world. In December 2000, the Bush v Gore decision to intervene and halt the counting of tens-of-thousands of uncounted ballots in heavily Democratic-voting Miami-area districts, and therefore hand the election to Bush/Cheney, when Al Gore would have won (as every TV news network had projected) if all the votes had been counted.

I lived in Central Florida before, during, and long after this, so I know the story. Americans mostly “know” the official narrative of Election 2000, because nothing like it had happened before (at least since 1876), and the truth was too shocking to admit. Historically speaking, the stolen Election of 2000 was a harbinger for 9/11.

The lesson from Election 2000 is that the ruling class always defers to the right. It meant that, according to the Supreme Court, since the Electoral College decides the Election, your vote doesn’t count. It means reactionary Republicans always win in the end, even when they’re dead wrong & everyone knows it. That’s why Donald Trump isn’t in prison for his January 6, 2021 coup attempt, but instead waits in exile at his luxurious Mar-a Lago compound in South Florida.

      1. Primary Colors - Ric Size

 

Ron DeSantis is running for re-election as Florida Governor, which is seen by Donald Trump as a springboard for DeSantis making a play for the 2024 Republican party nomination. There is a significant constituency of die-hard Republicans who: 1) hate Donald Trump; and 2) don’t believe Trump can beat Joe Biden. That’s a serious split, and it can’t be papered over because Trump has overwhelming grassroots support among the fascists.

There is a faction of the Republican party that wants Ron DeSantis to lose this podunk 2022 governor’s race, and it’s called Donald Trump. It will never happen as long as the Republicans control the state machinery, which they have since 1998. It’s going to take something significantly more than a Democratic party manufactured “rising star” or Trump’s meddling, to take the political machinery out of the hands of good ‘ol boy Republicans in Florida.

Trump & Ron DeSantis used to be political allies & fake friends, but when the Republican party was finally forced to concede that Trump had lost the 2020 election (sometime that weekend) by over 7 million votes nationally and decisively in the Electoral College, Trump responded by splitting the Republicans.

Trump has still never conceded that he lost the 2020 election. In fact, it’s the central tenet of his current campaign. Hence we get conspiracy theories from everyone right-wing hack getting amplified in the fake media, ad nauseam.

Like Adolph Hitler, whom he admires & studies, Trump demands unwavering obedience from his supporters. Only his inner circle of family & trusted advisors have direct access to his insanity. These people lie, by reflex.

Führers are weak-minded & unstable demagogues. They crave idolatry & praise from the masses, whom they simultaneously despise. They fear truth, art & beauty, because it exposes their evil ugliness, which is why they seek to exterminate artists & leftists. Both these historical madman, Hitler & Trump, thrived at unstable periods of global capitalist development. Fascism is a world-wide ruling class ideology held as a final resort in its perpetual war against the working masses.

This Roe v Wade media leak has caught EVERYONE off-guard. For instance, what the HELL is the MeToo campaign supposed to do with this? What about the Democrats in the White House? Nancy Pelosi, etc…?

The person who leaked this memo is to be exiled from the legal community for telling the people of America the truth. It’s the Julian Assange principle for elitists.

Since the stolen election of 2000, the SCOTUS has been packed with reactionaries by Republican Presidents and its complaint Congresses. These right-wing “Justices” have a strong majority (6-3, at least) and have insulated themselves from the VAST majority of society to the point where this overturning of Roe v Wade was supposed to be a fait accompli.

Well over 60% of Americans support a woman’s right to a safe abortion if she chooses. These numbers have held steady for a long time, and will only increase as people become more enlightened. Overturning a women’s right to a safe abortion, if she chooses, is the latest ruling class attack on democratic rights.

Both Democrats & Republicans are responsible for cuts in education which have debased the best efforts of teachers & concerned parents interested in having kids learn in a safe & constructive environment. Since the Columbine High School mass shooting & attempted bombing on April 20, 1999, things have only gotten worse for our schools. Today it’s COVID-19 in the classroom, which kids, teachers & parents are supposed to “live with.” Politicians on both sides of the aisle, along with the union leaders acting as workforce police, have failed to protect our kids and therefore must be removed from power and replaced with workers committees.

Science says these teachers & kids will only continue to get sick & die until we taken a Zero-COVID strategy globally. We can end this pandemic forever in 2-3 months. That’s the science. The problem is capitalism, as Wall Street & the banks universally agree there can be no more lockdowns, or any other public health measures or mandates that save lives & prevent the spread of disease, because that impedes their profits. Basically, the billionaires can no longer be allowed to call the shots. Politically it’s either revolution, or WW3 ending with nukes, as the US-NATO provoked crisis in the Ukraine is revealing to the world.

We the People have an arch-reactionary US President who is brain-dead & hell-bent on War, which coincides with the interests of all those who hold close to the levels of power. It is We the People who must directly confront these puppets of power AND the puppet-masters who pull their strings. It is this parasitic social layer that must be smashed to bits in war. Nothing can remain for billionaires except prison chains and the public expropriation of their ill-gotten wealth.

Historical courts are already cataloging their crimes, and this research will only accelerate as more facts see the light of public scrutiny. That is when there will be a reckoning and true justice will prevail.

All solutions must be global in perspective. That means we do what is best for the planet and everything on it. We value life in all forms. We understand the necessity to use science as the guiding force in all medical, health & technological areas. Politically, socialists must be guided by an atheist position on religion. Philosophically, Marxism means dialectical materialism, which particularly studies changes in matter and its revolutionary implications.

Trotskyists tell the world’s workers & youth these truths, which is why we are so virulently attacked in the mainstream media of every country. Corporate broadcasts have now universally earned their moniker as fake news. Television, even sports, is now unwatchable. As is Hollywood, Netflix, Hulu, HBO, Disney…

Every once in awhile something like House of Cards, or the Beatles’ documentary Get Back comes along so you find a way to see it. But most working people have tuned-out when it comes to TV anymore. Ratings are down across the board, which confirms this diagnosis: there isn’t nearly enough interesting content in the mainstream.

There are material reasons for this. The MeToo campaign has taken out quite a bit of talent, especially straight men in film, TV & music. Anyone who attempts to defend an artist against the MeToo campaign will find themselves accused, tried by the media, and blacklisted. That’s the CIA Democrats in action. Do you see why I don’t like the entertainment industry?

Television Awards shows (it’s been the season) are political theater in gender politics, contrived & unreal, where no deviation is allowed. Most people skip past this anymore, and if there’s some STUPID shit like Will Smith slapping Chris Rock at the Oscars, we watch the YouTube clip a few times, maybe get some background, and then make up our own mind.

As a side note, the women’s fashion at these awards shows can largely be described as outrageously bad. There are a few who know how to look good, and that’s what people talk about the next day at work, not who won a trophy that everyone knows is fake.

All this “pop culture” is accessible with a mobile device which everyone over age-12 owns anymore. The problem for the ruling class is that young adults & kids don’t believe the fake media anymore. These kids & workers are starting to realize they are actually smarter than their authority figures. That portends a mass shift in social consciousness to the left in the near future.

………..<><><><><><><><><><><><>………….

Saudi Oil & Syriana (2005)

As they say in The Bible, “There are many, many ways to light Europe.” — Christopher Plummer as Dean Whiting in Syriana (2005)

After a devastating drone strike, for which Yemeni Houthi militias claimed responsibility, the Trump administration & entire US political establishment are lining-up behind the narrative that Iran is responsible for these attacks.

Saudi Arabia now spends ~$68 billion annually on its military, the 3rd largest budget after the US & China. Most of this comes in the form of sophisticated weaponry from American corporations.

But these expensive instruments-of-death were unable to stop a coordinated drone attack from Yemeni militias. This calls into question the usefulness of the Saudi Arabia-US alliance, and the sustainability of the global petrodollar market. A bunch of Yemeni militia techies, possibly (?) using equipment they purchased from Iran, just knocked out a vital choke-point in the global oil supply chain.

Productivity from Saudi Arabia is now halved or worse, and when repairs can be accomplished appears to be a matter of weeks or months. There is much censorship by the Saudi monarchy & its partners in the US. This includes corporate, intelligence & military alliances.

A scapegoat is needed, and quickly. Look for an all-out war drive in the media, against Iran, as a cover-up for this disaster. Expect gasoline prices to rise by at least a dollar a gallon within a month, which is another embarrassment for political leaders during an election cycle, and an added expense for everyone else.

The Trump administration is only the latest version of US imperialism which has laid the groundwork for this crisis, with its unilateral sanctions, embargoes & recklessness. This is about regime-change, and controlling the world’s oil market by force.

The problem for them is that US-Saudi vulnerabilities have just been exposed to the entire world. A US war against Iran looks increasingly unwinnable, based on what we have just seen in the Yemeni conflict.

Pile this disaster on top of the ongoing US wars in Afghanistan, Iraq & Syria, which have all been lost, and global consumers and businesses are about to feel repercussions which are all-too-real. The Houthi militia attack on September 14, 2019 is in many ways blowback from 9/11, which was an inside job.

Movie Time: If you really want to understand what’s going on in the Persian Gulf, with all the conflict & geo-politics, then watch Syriana. It runs 128 minutes, and has at least 15-20 characters of depth who add crucial elements to the film, which means it demands your attention.

That means you have to watch Syriana a few times to start getting the full idea. This film is a masterpiece because it reveals dark truths in its many hidden forms. That’s why it wasn’t a box-office hit. Syriana is the exact opposite of a blockbuster movie, a political film as a work of art.

………………<><><><><><><><><><>……………..

Christmas Card

The holiday season came with a bear, as stock markets around the world are simultaneously crashing. Trade wars, led by the US, have constipated global trade. Nothing is moving, and the US Federal Reserve has begun raising interest rates, which had been kept near zero for years.

These 0.25% interest rates were for the banks, not for small businesses or working people. No college graduate with massive student loan debt was allowed to refinance at near-zero either. For working people it’s 6.9%. Or 13.9%. Or 29.9%. That’s how banks made their money during this “longest bull market in history.”

It was actually the longest bullshit market in history, fueled by free money electronically “printed” by the Fed, and given to banks to prop up their worthless “assets.” We’re talking everything: from stocks & bonds, to currency & cryptocurrency, as being a massive speculative bubble.

There has been no real-world basis for new money creation, since the Fed began “quantitative easing.”  QE is where the Fed prints new money (even though there is no economic basis for it), so it can give it to itself & it’s cronies. That’s crony capitalism in a plutocracy. Works great for the 1%.

These elites have no concept of reality, and believe all their bullshit to the end. It’s the working people, who have been getting shafted for the longest time, who need to rise up with political awareness & revolutionary intentions. Otherwise the cost of this financial crisis, which the ruling class created & is entirely responsible for, will be shifted onto their backs– again.

This is THE BIG ONE. In 2007-08, the US Federal Reserve still had the capacity to absorb Wall Street’s losses, by shifting them onto the books of the federal government, meaning US taxpayers are now responsible for the ~$21,000,000,000,000 federal deficit.

The level of debt for the 3 major US stock indexes (S&P 500, DJIA & NASDAQ) is in the hundreds of trillions of dollars, meaning it is unpayable. That’s the magic of compound interest, as once the level of principle owed gets so high, the interest payments become unservicable.

The gross world product in 2018 is projected at $87.5 trillion, and the Fed can’t print enough “new” money to sustain this financial house of cards, without making the dollar worthless. Under-performers that used to allowed to go bankrupt in an earlier stage of capitalism, are now deemed “too big to fail” in a bullshit market.

The industry term for this phenomenon is zombie company. Over 15% of US corporations are zombies by definition, and globally it’s 12%. Tesla is an example of a zombie corporation, in that it manufactures very little that is useful, at an extremely high cost. The debt level for Tesla is unpayable, yet CEO Elon Musk is allowed to parade around as a patriarch boy genius, when he’s really a neo-fascist Ponzi-scheme swindler– like all the rest. The world’s biggest banks & hedge fund managers are all tied into this shell game, and they have no answers, except more austerity, inequality & war.

The #MeToo campaign severely wrecked itself with it’s cringe-worthy performance at the infamous Kavanaugh Hearings this past October. They appear to have gathered all their strength for one last volley. For the #MeToo campaign, this could be the proverbial “dead cat bounce,” which happens when something crashes from a great height, and then for an instant appears to rise, only to collapse dead in a heap.

It was sensationally announced on Christmas Eve (yesterday) that actor/artist Kevin Spacey is to be charged with sexual assault on January 7, 2019. This comes from former Boston news anchor Heather Unruh, who accuses that Spacey had assaulted her adult son in July 2016.

Since her son was age-18 at the time, he should speak for himself, don’t you think? Readers aren’t even given the boy’s name in the mainstream press, it’s just his mother who speaks, and here’s the video– which published Nov 7, 2018 has <2,000 views. It’s beyond weak, but hey– that’s #MeToo.

Kudos to Kevin Spacey for his video retort, which published on December 24, 2018, already has over 4 million views, before noon (EST) on December 25, 2018. If Kevin Spacey & his legal team can handle this nonsense, then it’s lights out for #MeToo. Artists everywhere wish Spacey & his team well, and offer all our support– in the name of artistic freedom & democratic rights. Consider it a FU to #MeToo.

Q: You know what we’re going to get these #MeToo witch-hunters for Christmas next year?

A: A big wooden cross, so whenever they feel unappreciated for all their sacrifices, they can climb up on it and nail themselves to it.

………………..<><><><><><>……………..

What is meant by “fake economy?”

Over seven billion humans currently live on this planet. Human civilization has mostly operated (for several hundred years) under an economic system called capitalism, which is predicated on individual profit & loss. By 2017, in order to maintain extreme levels of social inequality, illusions have had to be constructed & sustained. This is where our fake economy comes in.

Under feudalism (and before that, slavery in antiquity) illusions also had to be maintained, as all human societies have been ruled by class forces. The Romans gave their plebeian class “bread & circuses,” until they were overrun by barbaric hordes. Medieval royalty ruled their domain with their knighted class, and the mysticism of organized religion in the Catholic Church. The Crusades were about conquest & power, but peddled as a “Holy War” against Islam. We can therefore see that ‘fake news’ and manipulation of public opinion are not new phenomena. Only the tools & techniques change, as their purpose & interest always remain the same, which is to railroad public opinion towards war.

Fake jobs & industries under capitalism include: sales, business, investing, consulting, management & politics. Education is a crucial area for ideology, as corrupt ivory tower academia provide ‘proofs’ for every absurd irrationally of the profit system and all its malignancies.  It’s easier to manipulate fake people, as zombies don’t know how to think for themselves. Here in the United States, children are taught how to think & act at a very young age, with a consistent propaganda message. That message is to consume things that give instant pleasure. Sugar is the most addicting substance to man, and children are bombarded with targeted advertising in all media programming for unhealthy food from infancy onward.

Now people have fake bodies which aren’t healthy, so they need fake cures. “Selling sickness” is a nefarious industry secret in medicine, dentistry & pharmaceuticals. People are susceptible to this pressure because they have become so insecure about themselves. Any salesperson recognizing this can target weaknesses and close in. When a body is ugly with fat, one has a hard time socializing. One smells bad, so one needs more deodorant, and so on…

      1. Money Bug - Ric Size

 

After a while, many obese people give up on themselves and don’t go out anymore. Luckily there is the Internet and social media, when one can project whatever one pleases. While the Internet & social media are real technology, there is a large element of distortion and inherent falseness in most social media posting over time. We tend to project what we want other people to see, and filter out the rest. It’s much harder to do that in real life, with real people.

The news on the Internet is virtually all fake, outside of the WSWS.org. Capitalism runs every publication, which employs Madison Avenue advertisers to tell everyday people what’s important. This includes the entertainment industry (music, film & TV), sports & fashion. All of these are fake economies, endlessly generating useless content 24/7 for mindless consumers who must be kept entertained in order to distract them from world-significant events happening all around them.

The lure of PED’s in athletics is a form of ‘fake health.’ It plays on competitors’ deepest doubts & insecurities, leading into a chemical morass. Eventually male users need Cialis to get an erection, which begs the question: if you’re so hard, why do you need help there? Steroid use makes no sense when thought out rationally, but our society has taught people to ignore consequences for perceived short-term gains. The problem is the gains aren’t real, and they are more than offset by the detrimental side effects.

The healthiest way to interact is to listen & learn from others, while being influential (in a positive way) where appropriate. Don’t go for popularity because:

1) It’s shallow and accomplishes nothing for anyone else
2) Everyone else is doing it, which means it’s old already

The only way humans can be truly happy is when they are allowed to express themselves freely, without repercussions & without hurting others. That is impossible under our current fake economy. We need to starting getting real with everything, in order to replace these illusions with something real, as nothing else works.

      2. Problem Solved - Ric Size

…….<><><><><><><><>……….

Orlando, FL Gay Nightclub Massacre

A gunman (later identified as 29-year-old Omar Mateen) walked into Pulse, a gay bar in south Orlando at 2:00 AM Sunday night, and opened fire. When police & SWAT arrived, he had taken hostages. Hours later, he was finally overwhelmed & killed in a hail police bullets. Fifty people were left dead, and another 53 injured. It is now the worst mass shooting is U.S. history.

Omar Mateen mass murderer

Mateen was a U.S. citizen reportedly born in New York, with his family from Afghanistan. Mir Seddique, the suspected shooter’s father, claims Mateen got angry when he saw two men kissing in downtown Miami a couple of months ago and that he says that may have been a trigger in the shooting.  “We are apologizing for the whole incident. We weren’t aware of any action he [was] taking. We are in shock like the whole country.”

Mir Seddique

Apologies are nice, but explanations are better. This whole family needs to be investigated, with all political & business links exposed. Don’t expect any real answers to come from corporate mass media or official police/FBI investigations.

Orlando police chief John Mina and FBI agent Ron Hopper_ Photo: Kevin Kolczynski_Reuters

Orlando Police Chief John Mina at the news conference, “The suspect is dead. He appeared to be carrying a rifle, an assault-type rifle, and a handgun, and had some type of device on him. That’s what we’re doing right now. Checking the area for devices.”  This will obviously be used as an opportunity for an urban lock-down run-through, with OPD ‘assisted’ by the FBI & military.

Omar Mateen Massacre_Orlando_AP Photo_Phelan M. Ebenhack

CNN’s Evan Pérez reported that Mateen had rented a car in Fort Pierce (about 120 miles south of Orlando) as transportation for the attack. Reportedly Mateen worked as a security officer, but for whom & in what capacity is still unknown?  Curiously, Mateen was a registered Democrat, which is suspicious considering the claimed homophobic motivation for the massacre.  [1] 

Was Omar Mateen a military/CIA asset?  What about his family?  Where did he receive the military training to kill so many people?  And the hardware?

Omar-Mir-Seddique-Mateen

Law enforcement officials told ABC News that Mateen had been “on the radar” of U.S. authorities for a while, but that he was not the target of an investigation.  In intelligence terms, this has ‘rogue asset’ and ‘blowback’ written all over it.

Rick Scott_Grandstanding

Proper lessons need to be learned by everyone, before this escalates much further.  Political grandstanding & business-as-usual can no longer be tolerated.  Real questions need to be asked and their true lessons learned, or else this becomes our combined fate.

………………….><><><><><><><><><………………….

Muhammad Ali: Courage & Character

Muhammad Ali died yesterday at age 74 of respiratory illness. He had been afflicted with severe Parkinson’s disease for the final three decades of his life.

Muhammed Ali_Parkinson's

Ali one proclaimed himself to be “the Greatest.”  To many he still is.  Facing Ali (2009) is a 5-star documentary of his career, in the words of those who most notably squared off in the ring with “The Greatest.”

Facing Ali (2009)

It must also be noted that in many ways Muhammad Ali will be the greatest example of why boxing must be banned, if we are to be a civilized society.

Ali-charity-event-fight-Parkinsons

If this is how it ends for ‘the Greatest,’ then how horrible must it be for all the others?

Ali-Liston

His autobiography My Own Story published in 1975 tells his it as no one else can, up through the George Foreman ‘Rumble in the Jungle’ in 1974.

Autobiography 1975

As loved as Ali is at the time of his death, it is hard for some to believe that he was once vilified; exiled from boxing for 3 years during his prime, for refusing draft entry into the U.S. military during the Vietnam War.

Muhammad Ali in exile_Chicago

White mainstream media had refused to recognize his name change from Cassius Clay to Muhammad Ali, reflecting his conversion from Christianity to Islam.

Muhammad Ali is still called Cassius Clay

Muhammad Ali’s religion & politics became the line between brash & charismatic versus uppity & dangerous in the late 1960’s.

When Ali spoke his mind on the unfairness of being drafted into a war he didn’t believe in, he became a global icon for the oppressed fighting against U.S. imperialism.

Ali in Exile

Ali embraced his role (and sacrificed more than any superstar athlete ever sacrificed), for a cause nobler than himself.

Ali

This is why he was so loved, and today is so mourned.

Muhammad Ali

……………….><><><><><><><……………….

 

Are You a Socialist?

The theoretical founder of socialism was Karl Marx (1818-1883).

Marx 1

The most brilliant expression of 20th-century Marxism was Leon Trotsky (1879-1940).

Trotsky 1

True socialists have read & absorbed these books. Pseudo-socialists don’t read anything serious.

Lenin 1

Socialists understand the USSR was Stalinism, which is collectivist property relations controlled by a fascist bureaucracy. Trotsky fought ceaselessly against Stalinism, and was historically vindicated in December 1991, when the Soviet Union collapsed back into capitalist Russia.

Trotsky 4

If Russia hadn’t had a workers’ revolution led by Lenin & Trotsky in 1917, it would be completely dismembered (balkanized) today.

Trotsky 5

Instead, modern Russia retains much of it’s size, and possesses the second-largest nuclear arsenal in the world.

Lenin 2

A third world war would end human civilization. Today’s thermonuclear devices are orders-of-magnitude greater than the atomic bombs dropped on Hiroshima & Nagasaki at the end of World War 2.

Marx 2

Human society can only be preserved (meaning a world war can only be prevented), by a permanent socialist revolution led by the workers & youth of the U.S. The epicentre of global capitalism (culturally, economically & militarily) is the United States; a socialist revolution here leads the way for the rest of the world.

Trotsky 2

Marxist analysis in the 21st century is found at the World Socialist Web Sitewsws.org.  The WSWS is published (6 days a week, since 1998) by the International Committee for the Fourth International (ICFI), the party founded by Trotsky in 1938.

Trotsky 3

The U.S. branch of the ICFI is the Socialist Equality Party (SEP). The SEP announced its candidates for U.S. president & vice-president on April 22– Earth day.  Ric Size officially endorses the Socialist Equality Party’s presidential campaign. [1]

Niles Niemuth & Jerry White

Niles Niemuth & Jerry White SEP: US president & VP candidates

To those interested in actual socialism, this is the only choice.  If you would like to be a socialist, you must put in the work.  Every other leftist political party, from the Democrats & Greens to the anarchists, are opportunist– meaning they are capitalist to the core.  Marxists always spot them quickly, and easily dispatch them when engaged in polemics. That’s why Trotskyists are always blacklisted from ‘official’ discourse.

WSWS-SEP

Those who are politically naive, but well-meaning, need to work through this as quickly as possible.  Read the books shown, along with the WSWS on a daily basis to arm yourself politically.

screenshot-WSWS

…….><><><><><><><……..