A Vermin Responds

I have bemoaned obfuscating, moderate, "consensus"-type rhetoric and the drift to boring, centrist accomodation. So now that the gloves are coming off and a resurgent fascism speaks loud and clear, am I happier? Sure. The old labor song asks "which side are you on?". There is no more fence to sit on. Time to choose. And the sooner the better,IMO. In his latest tirade,Trump called for an effort to "root out the communists, Marxists,(and without irony, fascists) and the radical left thugs..." subverting the "American Dream". Prior to the mid-term elections I was critical of Kali Akuno for believing a fascist uprising was imminent, and I still think Trump's rhetoric is hyperbolic and that only a small minority would be inspired to act on it (as opposed to chuckle and wave flags), but it definitely is a sign of the times. In the past this language was code for kill the Jews but now it includes Black Lives Matter, DSA, "cultural Marxists", antifa etc, etc... Liberals are up in arms for this attack on pluralism, or decency or normal standards or whatever values they hold dear, no matter how illusionary. But you don't see them rushing to defend socialists. Count me as one of the "radical-left thugs", the "vermin" being targeted for my suggestions that obscene inequality, failing states, insane debt at every level and collapsing ecosystems point to capitalism's dismal record. Liberals tend to mount the same attack on socialists, just couched in more "acceptable" terms. I could go on- hollow Kubuki theatre of "democracy", mass global migration, lowered life expectancy, growing enui, endless war, yada yada. The evidence is damning and inescapable. This attack in effect is a defense of a capitalist political economy of which Trump himself is a perfect exemplar. It is characterized by financialization, luxury rentals, corruption and state capture. We'll just have to see if witch trials are next.

More Oblivious Disconnect

Conservative columnist Ross Douthout was mocking liberal malaise over the state of the planet, claiming we lived in the best of times. His point of reference was WWII, a rather low bar. But even given that horror, can conservatives like Ross be oblivious to what an article in today's Times describes as " a global migration movement driven by tens of millions of people displaced because of war, persecution, climate change, violence and human rights abuses, according to the United Nations?" You might think that plus obscene inequality and mass extinction and government dysfunction and global pandemics and yada yada might be reason for young people to be disillushioned. But for Ross they are whiners who don't appreciate how good they have it. The other striking disconnect was listening to tech guru Sam Altmand of Chat GP fame also saying "we are headed for the best world" one of vast "material abundance",via advanced technology. He saw our species having few issues adapting to the rapid change, given a little sober regulation and an "itterative" process of introducing artificial intelligence, that is, one baby step at a time. But of course "steps" look different to different people. I could not disagree more strongly. An add on the back of Scientific American magazine says: "Our world is trying to tell us something." Some people listen but do not hear, they look but they do not see. They are so inculcated with and embedded in the logics of capital, modernity and progress they can't begin to imagine there might be other logics. They are so convinced they are the smartest people in the room, they ignore the ancient lessons and wisdom. It's called oblivious.

Plant -Based Diets

A deer eats a plant that humans can't. It's called grass.They convert that plant into protein. It's called meat. The deer have a specialized stomach which has evolved along with the ecosystem in which they live. So do humans. We have co-evolved along with deer. We could just let the grass grow and die un-utilized. Millions and mllions of acres of it. Or else humans could learn to graze and incorporate grass into our diets. Or we could just let people not get enough protein. Or we could utilize the grass by eating ungulates as we have done as a species for millenia. If you eat an ungulate you have a "plant-based diet", it just went through a conversion process. I personally think it's great that people are turning away from industrial meat production and wish to eat more plants. But beware of industrial plant production, with all its toxic, unsustainable inputs. The point being, it is the way production is organized, the form it takes, that is the problem. In Iowa they grow corn for ethanol and cow food and that plant production is ruining the planet. And creating Trump loving Evangelicals.

The Playbook

I just finished an article on Znet about a non-violent direct action in Washington DC to halt the construction of new gas line infrastructure. First off Znet epitomizes the Playbook, promoting the same writers writing the same articles they have written for thirty or more years. Michaqel Albert writes the same pleas for funding, Kathey Kelly , Stephen Shalom, all the same old same old. The article about the DC action described the Playbook to a T. Gather activists and make a plan for "disruption". Do the NVCD traing and the art build, the pvc pipes, the lock-down techniques etc. Have the action, have five people get arrested, do the jail solidaity event followed by "de-brief". Have a celebration, go home and write an article and prepare to do the exact same thing. Again and again. Oh, I forgot the chants and signs. Drums. At the de-brief they discuss what worked, what didn't and what to do better next time. Do they ever ask about the definition of insanity? If your metric for success is the reduction of greenhouse gasses, how is that working out? Stale is not appealing. Sclerotic is boring. At least the right-wing is being creative, blowing up government, destroying propriety, getting some laughs. It's idiotic and doesn't lead anywhere because it is all reactive, but at least it is entertaining. Imagine if the Left could be that creative and also have a plan that is fresh!

Gas, oil and Coal

As we keep being reminded, The Lord Market shall determine our fate. From the NYTImes Nov.9 Climate Forward article: "This year’s talks are taking place in the United Arab Emirates, overseen by the chief executive of the state oil company, who expects production to expand “as long as the market demands it.”" All bow to God Market. As the Norwegian government, a major oil exporter makes clear, phasing out fossil fuel “will have to come from the demand side,” not “political decisions to cut the supply side.” It is here that the illusion of "the political" is revealed. While most people still use the word, it has been hollowed out. A conservative Montana politician has the slogan "More Action, Less Politics". Like so many things, they get the problem ( lack of power to make change) but they fail to understand the reason why it exists or how to fix it. Another piece in the Times makes this claim: "President Biden has made it a major goal to move away from fossil fuels, the leading source of the emissions dangerously warming the planet." You can say he has "declared" it a major goal, but a journalist shouldn't repeat the propaganda. They should report on the problem he and any politician runs up against, this from another Times article: "Last month, a coalition of major industries, including mining, oil and gas, manufacturing, and timber, sent a letter to the White House chief of staff, Jeffrey D. Zients, warning that “no room would be left for new economic development” in many areas if the E.P.A. went ahead with a standard as tough as it was contemplating, endangering the manufacturing recovery that President Biden had pushed with laws funding climate action and infrastructure investment."

Language Games

As the media struggles to not offend readers in its descriptions violence, it walks a language tightrope. So far the bias clearly remains in favor of Israel/ Jewish/ Zionist victimhood. For instance, there is an obligation with every article to always reference the Oct. 7 "slaughter" or "massacre" of Israeli citizens. But the Israeli missles sent into Gaza merely "kill" Palestinian citizens. Obviously, to "slaughter" is something uncivilized, barbarians do, while "killing" is how all brave soldiers win righteous wars. The other aspect of this narrative ploy is to suggest Hamas uses innocents as "human shields" so that the blame for their deaths falls on them. That Israel put settlers on the edge of or in Palestinian territory, putting them in grave danger, is never mentioned. Of course both governments are guilty of atrocities and both populations can share that guilt. There is plenty of religious fanaticism to go around, Islamism and Zionism being two sides of the same ethno-state coin. That fact is a hard pill for the media to swallow. It is also hard for the Left and Right, whose supporters often want a good vs evil narrative. You won't see Zionism mentioned, because people might want to learn the history. You won't hear political Islam mentioned much either. We can talk about just and unjust, one state or two, but there are no white hats. Like pretty much everything now, it is "hold your nose and choose". Meanwhile, The Ukrainian Offensive has stalled and despite Nikki Haley's best efforts, the American public is bored and doesn't want to support yet another loser. Sorry. Other conflicts around the world are just the price of doing business.

Jeff Is Perplexed

Here is NYTimes economic strategy columnist Jeff Somers: "It’s a perplexing state of affairs. The evidence that carbon emissions are warming the planet is persuasive. Yet the stock market, which is supposed to be forward-looking, is treating alternative energy companies with disdain and big oil companies with respect." Jeff doesn't get why the oil majors would risk stranding all those assets but concludes by saying markets always get things right eventually. As he waits patiently perplexed for rationality to kick in, he must avert his gaze from the suffering and extinction and misery and chaos. Like Jeff, all the people in my community use market signals to dictate their behavior which is why they have all been buying brand new pick up trucks, the biggest fossil fuel consuming ones they can find. As for investing advice, Jeff only understands the logic of profit: "Pouring money into unprofitable ventures isn’t a good strategy unless those ventures ultimately generate a great deal of cash." Even having admitted that we are experiencing total market failure, his faith in his God is unshaken. What if there is a disconnect between survival and profit, Jeff? What if price has nothing to do with cost? This speech by Galileo in the play by Bertold Brecht says it all: "The movements of the heavenly bodies have become more comprehensible, but the peoples are as far as ever from calculating the moves of their rulers."

Rules of Engagement

Why the hilarious pretense that war has rules? We keep hearing about "war crimes" as if the Geneva Convention is some sacred text. The kubuki theater has this or that side talking about civilian casualties, about massacres, about the rules around bombing cities and such. Please. Can't we just admit we are a species of savage warriors, always have been, and that little has changed but the technology of death. The former head of Israel's National Security Council comes close to candid when he says "there is no such thing as innocent Palestinian civilians." When the US bombed German and Japanese cities in WWII they acknowledged the same thing and after the Korean War the gloves really came off. Ask any citizen of Hanoi or Mosul. That's why we can say there is no such thing as an innocent Israeli citizen. By the so-called logic of the good general, if the citizens are complicit - and here he refers to German citizen support for Nazis (of course), then they are valid targets. Each and every one because bombs don't discriminate and soldiers only rarely. And there can be no denying Israeli citizens voted for the current government. On U.S. media like Fox News, the bloodlust for "terrorists" rages 24/ 7. The NY Times is trying to be objective,reporting the horror and the various reactions to the horror. Biden wants the Evangelical vote so talks out of both sides of his ancient, mumbling mouth. Why anyone believes in the rules of engagement anymore is a total mystery to me.

Shipping News

Shipping contributes approximately 3% of global greenhouse gas emissions but it is hard to power those gigantic ships with clean fuel. Danish firm Maersk is trying out green methanol made from biostock but it isn't really scalable or competitive. But of course only God, the Market, can decide what gets selected. “There has to be an economic mechanism by which you level the playing field so that people are incentivized and not punished for using low-carbon fuels,” said John Butler, the chief executive of the World Shipping Council, which represents container carriers including Maersk. No one is suggesting the possibility of less shipping. Not moving stuff thousands of miles around the globe.Because Capital flows would be restricted. God would be angry. Another crucial commodity that is hard to "green" is steel. In Great Britian they want to shutter blast furnaces and build electric arc furnaces which are far less polluting if the electricity comes from wind and solar. "Electrification would also appeal to customers that increasingly want to purchase greener steel to lower the carbon footprint of their products. “Demand is there right now for low-emission steel,” said James Campbell, an analyst at CRU Group, a consulting firm." Again, we must obey the Law of Supply and Demand. Anything else would be to go against God.

We Demand You Care

Israel's suporters just want us to feel their pain. It's not enough to call for a ceasefire, you must acknowledge Hamas as being the cause of ALL the pain and misery. No if and's or buts. Those supporters need that to be the only valid starting point for any and all discussions. Following that acknowledgment you are then allowed to talk about the OTHER victims, though ceasefire still seems to be out of bounds. You will still be viewed as an ally or friend even if you talk about suffering on both sides. Those same liberal left supporters will tell you they also "support a peaceful solution to the conflict". They will condemn the encroaching settlements. They remain the loyal opposition to Netanyahus policies. So they're cool. They just want to establish the priorities.Go ahead and exercise your "free speech right", but if you wish to avoid the anti-semite label, just remember who to condemn first and who to mourn first. It shouldn't be that hard. Follow the rules and you'll do fine.

More Wicked Problems

We read of Israel's dilemma as it ponders an invasion of Gaza. After the ecstacy of revenge and bloodletting, what then? No one knows. Like so many problems humanity currently faces, there are no good outcomes, only bad and worse. The same thing applies to Palestinians. With all the support for the "Palestinian cause", no one can tell you what happens, invasion or no, in terms of outcome. The problem is that we long ago left the realm of rational, viable political solutions worked out between rational states or populations. Everyone on both sides is damaged by trauma, buried deep beneath tons of ideological rubble and suffering from pathological nuerosis. They have nurtured nihilistic cultures of violence. They seethe with hate and rage. And many are religious. Many fanatical zealots. In this situation, the outcome can only be bad or very bad. We don't want to call it tragic because it wasn't fate which brought us to this catastrophic moment. It was consious policy based on relations of power. It was calculated and deliberate, if poorly thought through. israeli's often argue that Palestinians don't acknowledge Israel's "right to exist". But no one, and certainly no nation-state has any such right. Your army gives you the ability to exist. The Palestinians are simply arguing that Israel, as it is currenlly configured on a map, is illegal and unjust. Which it certainly is. They don't wish to recognize those borders as "Israel". Zionists exagerrate the threat of being pushed into the sea but they have nukes.

Antarctic Ice Shelf Tipping

A couple of side by side articles in the Wa Po tell us all we need to know about Climate and Capital. One piece explains the results of a new study published by the journal NatureClimateChange showing “widespread increases in ice-shelf melting, including in regions crucial for ice-sheet stability.” This will continue regardless of human's attempts to limit emissions. All this warming will occur at a pace three times faster than originally forecast. This follows a pattern where newer studies find older ones conservative in their estimates of warming and its effects. You almost never hear them say "Hey, it's not as bad as we thought!" The article next to this one is about Chevron Oil buying Hess Oil, a sign that fossil fuel profits are expected to remain strong. This follows the recent purchase of shale driller Pioneer by Exxon a few days ago. The Big Boys are placing their bets and a few extra feet of sea level rise by 2100 is not their concern. Of course, the melting of the ice shelf and the Thwaites "doomsday" glacier will happen faster and the sea level rise greater if we burn those fossil fuels like mad. Which looks like the plan. “It appears we may have lost control of the West Antarctic ice shelf melting over the 21st century,” Kaitlin Naughten, the study’s lead author and an ocean modeler with the British Antarctic Survey, told reporters in a media briefing. This is a classic case of having pushed polar ice systems past a "tipping point". But if you own Chevron or Exxon stocks you're looking pretty. Use the dividends to buy property inland, on some higher ground.

Abandoned and Forsaken

In a piece in the Times, "progressive" Jews bemoan the fact that what they believed to be their allies on "The Left" have left them hanging by not showing enough sympathy for those killed and captured by Hamas. They wish to enforce a certain hierarchy of grief and outrage: first come those killed by Hamas, followed by the plight of the Palestinians in Gaza. Followed by all Palestinians (those in the West Bank). But the first order is to "condemn the killings". After that you can start in with the nuance, you know, children in Gaza, women and old people, yada yada. Defy the grief order and risk outrage. These Jews say "the Left" is sending the message that Israelis "deserved this terrible fate." But is that what "The Left" is saying? Or is this the perfect opportunity to Jeremy Corbyn "the Left", to crush them for not being on board the Zionist Train? Is pointing out the conditions and history of an apartheid state the same as saying people "deserved" to die? These "progressive" Jews need you to know how much they care, how much they suffer. Their deep concern for the injustice. It's all about them feeling better. According to the authors of the piece, "progressive groups" (left unidentified), skipped mourning and went straight to "justifying" the attacks. But is it justifying or providing context? All of us who lived through 9/11 remember how this works. Any attempt to explain or understand is labled justification. Excusing. Sympathising. Then the "progressive Jews" play the ace. They start referencing the Holocaust. That ends any debate altogether. They say: "We have been warned about how quickly people would turn on us." Much hand wringing. Pogroms are real and Jews have faced unimaginable terror. But there are no signs of pogroms at the moment. The usual level of anti-semitism, sure. Americans hate a lot of people. It's in our DNA. What needs to be examined in this media discourse is the use of the terms Jewish, Israeli and Zionist. It tells you a lot about the workings of propaganda.

Who Want's To Be Speaker?

Apparently some of the "moderate" Republicans who were holding out against Jim Jordan recieved death threats. The media is calling that tactic "extreme", as if the poor snowflakes can't just buy some weapons (there are plenty available at any store) and defend themselves. What good is the right to bear arms if people won't exercise it? Sure, threatening someone who won't vote for your guy with death used to be a little out of bounds, but we live in new times. If they really want results, they should follow the ISIS playbook and start be-heading a few Congressmen. That's how you get people's attention. Do it on U Tube. I guess it's possible these politicians didn't realize what they were getting into, that it was a bloodsport with real consequences. Well welcome to the real world folks. A bit late to be crying foul. Real patriots understand sacrifice. Duty. That freedom isn't free. I'd recommemd the Glock.

End Game ?

In trying to get into the mind of Hamas strategists, I don't seem to get very far. As they were doing the calculations on the attack on Israel, did they have some sort of end game in mind? Did they have a vision of the aftermath? Did they in fact achieve their goals? It would be unwise to assume the actors are rational. They are, after all, religious. Could they have assumed Allahs help would allow them to achieve victory in a war against Israel? Soldiers are commonly assured that God is on their side. Might they have assumed Israel would just fold and cede control, ok, you win. You can have your state. That wasn't likely to happen so what other calculation might Hamas have made. Were they counting on the backlash to broaden sympathy for their plight? Did they, like the Jan 1 insurrectionists, believe they would inspire a mass uprising, a spontaneous revolution sweeping away the old order? Arab unity perhaps? Or were they simply interested in being martyred, going to Paradise with all its delights? I suspect they had simply reached a point where it didn't matter. They were sick of life in prison and decided to go out with a bang. As for all the marches and demonstrations calling for restraint and humanitarian aid, how can people still believe in marches? Believing a march will change anything is like believing Hamas can win a war against Israel.Totally delusional. Who knows what kind of deals Anthony Blinken is making right now. Oil. Weapons. But whatever they are, people marching are not part of the calculation.

More Groundhogs

It's all so exhausing. This sudden concern for "innocent civilians". This retaliation for the retaliation for the retaliation into infinity. This condemnation of a heartless left. At what point do you stop hearing yourself repeat these endless mantras? When does the performance just cause the eyes to glaze over? Nicholas Kristof sighs: "We are fated to inhabit a world wiht more problems than solutions." Sorry folks, the brilliant commentariat has no answers, it's all fate and destiny, there's no alternative. Nothing can be changed. Just bury your dead and wait for the next attack. Those who tried to understand the attack of 9/11 were called sympathizers. Those who tried to look for cause were accused of justifying. Because nuance is dead. All must be dumbed down to the binary good/evil. With us or against us. Love it or leave it. With Israel, Zionism and Jewishness involved, rational analysis becomes even more fraught. References to the Holocaust and pogroms are inevitable and accusations of anti-semitism a perfect silencing device. Which is not to say it doesn't exist. But what if you were to put events in an historical context? What if you tried to expand the analysis to include geopolitical factors, regional power dynamics, etc? To understand, not condone. The hardest thing to stomach is liberals who are outraged and go on to claim they just want peace. Those self-righteous true believers in "democratic" capitalism that cringe when you use the term apartheid state or show outrage at boycott and divestment. After all the sad laments there is really only one question that matters: what would you like to see done differently so we don't repeat?

Trouble Comin Everyday

As old Frank Zappa put it, there's no way to delay that trouble comin everyday. Poor Ukraine has been knocked down to page 4, under the fold. Solidarity with Zionism is being demanded from all loyal Americans. Earthquakes, floods and fires are creating millions of new refugees, heading our way. And now The City on the Hill is suffering what liberals call a "crisis of governance". Here's how David Firestone puts it in today's Times, calling for politicians to: "demonstrate that the United States still has a functional government, one that can play a significant role in supporting democratic allies around the globe." This because of: "the world’s desperate need for a morally persuasive American leadership". The world needs us and what do we do? Scratch our balls and order something from Amazon! Stare at our phones and rip open another bag of chips! C'mon America! Where's that old Can Do spirit? With both the stock and bond markets teetering, Chinese real estate in the tank and gas prices about to skyrocket, things could get tough for old Joe Brandon. He could order a tactical nuclear strike on Gaza, which might shore up some support in the Midwest. He's already tried sending people checks. How do people call for American moral leadership with a straight face? It's baffling.

Investment Strategy

This from Jeff Somers, the NYTimes money guru: " Solar Edge, which calls itself “a visionary leader in smart energy technology, committed to harnessing the power of the sun to create a sustainable future,” lost 51.9 percent, the worst quarterly performance in the S&P 500. Profiting from higher fossil fuel prices is less than ideal if you are worried about climate change. Yet the economy still depends on fossil fuels. And even if alternative energy comes to dominate the future, oil and gas are generating riches now." Damn right it is! I know where I'm puttin my money! Americans watching their retirement funds implode will vote against the "Biden economy" and instead elect a "successfull business man". Jeff Somers advises "just hang in there!"; you can add sawdust to the casserole, cut back on heating your house, or better yet, lose the house and get a tent! Also from Letters To the Editor one brave soul dared to mention the conditions Gazans have been living under for the last thirty years. I hope they used a fake name. In an editorial, the Board writes : "to the world's horror they (Hamas militants/ terrorists) attacked civilians..." Then they mention the bombs Israel is dropping on Gaza cities. But don't civilians live in cities? Women and children and old people? Isn't the world horrified by that? Not one bit. Modern war is all about killing civilians, has been since we nuked Nagasaki and Hiroshima. What do you think the Ukranians and Russians are doing every day? Israelis, however, will get a different treatment in the press and if saying that is anti-semitic, so be it.

Unravelling

Africa pleads for debt relief in todays Times: "With its young population, vast renewable energy and mineral resources and large tracts of uncultivated arable land, the continent is more important to future global prosperity than ever before." Of course Africa has never heard these rosy promises before. Just let us tear out your minerals and cultivate your land and you'll all get rich, no, really. A rising tide lifts all boats! All it requires is outside investment (at low interest!) and a willingness to see your landscapes denuded. One can expect development banks, governments and private equity to be a bit leery about lending Africa more money since it always ends up in the pockets of dictators, warlords, elected officials, etc.. Not that corruption is unique to post-colonial Africa. The post-Soviet countries are all kleptocracies run by Mafia elites. On closer inspection you see that every so-called capitalist "democracy" is riddled with corruption, some more sophisticated than others. And so the disintegration of liberal order accelerates daily, with increasing failed states, ethnic conflict, land grabs, etc. Latin America has been out of the news thanks to Ukraine and now Israel, but many countries there are facing default and we don't even bother thinking about the Carribean; Haiti being the best example. US liberals continue to prattle on about electric vehicles and green hydrogen as societies implode. They worry about "our polarizing politics". The age of oblivious.

Capitalist Realism

I belive I'm beginning to understand what Mark Fisher meant by the term capitalist realism; where I had assumed it referred to the liberal tendency to accept capitalism as hegemonic, I now think it describes the wholesale acceptance of capitalism by the Left, such as it is. The only projects being put forth by socialists are ones that aim to make capitalism a bit kinder and gentler. The new utopian vision includes everyone having a mortgage, a car payment, a credit card and a job to pay all the bills. They can then vote for a "socialist party" which supports a robust welfare state. In other words, capitalist realism sees Finland as the ultimate expression of socialism. Capitalist realism. Each issue being tackled; homelessness, climate change, unionization, health care, etc..proposes solutions within the capitalist structure. Rent control and tenants unions. Green capitalism. Better wages and benefits. Medicare for all. This is capitalist realism. The debate over "de-growth" within ecosocialism is a perfect example. Those opposed say that, given capitalism, the working class will never support recession and austerity. Therefore it is a losing proposition. Given capitalism. Capitalist realism is the reason prison abolition and de-fund the police falls flat. Given capitalism, with its inherent violence and lack of safety, why would anyone want to abolish the carceral state? Given capitalism. The bottom line here is that there is no such thing as "non-reformist reforms". There can be no "socialist party within capitalist "democracy", which is anything but. You're either on the bus or off, sorry. It makes no sense to make capitalism nicer. It must be replaced.

Some Kind of Metric

From the NY Times "In the Obama administration, White House economists calculated the social cost of carbon at $42 a ton. The Trump administration lowered it to less than $5 a ton. Under Mr. Biden, the cost was adjusted for inflation and set at $51. Officials are now working on an update that is expected to jump to around $190 a ton." 190 is a nice number but as is made obvious by the wide variation, it is random, a political calculation, and has little to do with any scientifically determined "social cost". And of course it will be derided as another "woke" tax on the working class, another attempt to "pick winners and losers" which is heresy according to capitalist doctrine. In an interview on conceptelemental.com environmental economist Jay Hatfield says the tax could be raised to 1000 dollars a ton and the market would adjust as the planet is saved. I suspect such a tax would be a bit more disruptive, which is why it doesn't exist.

Revolutionary Reactionaries

Liberals are freaking out that the Freedom Caucus refuses to observe accepted norms. It turns out tax cuts for the rich and an abortion ban are not enough to satisfy these true believers- they want to tear down the government and start from scratch. As do I. They believe the whole system is rigged and corrupt. As do I. They are willing to say fuck the established norms, as am I. The difference is, these radicals don't see any problem with capitalism, don't understand that it is the contradiction of capitalist so-called "democracy" that is at the root of the governance crisis. These legislators are being called all the same names I get called: norm shattering rebels, extremist wrecking crew, guerilla outliers, "jettisoning decades of tradition" oh my! It's too bad the Squad couldn't join forces with the rebels, really give liberals something to think about. But they won't. It will be up to the "hard-right" to do the disrupting. Of course, like Trump, these rebels are clueless about what comes after the revolution- probably something like freer markets, fewer regulations, a war of each against all. But like Trump, they are at least making an attempt to keep things entertaining as we rush towards the precipice. And if all they accomplish is to jettison a little bullshit tradition, more power to em. The King is not wearing any clothes and these dumbass Republicans might just be the ones to prove it.

Here It Comes

In 2012, an entrepreneur added 100 tons of iron to the ocean and created a dramatic short-term plankton bloom. Many scientists and policymakers worried about what else could happen if commercial entities scaled up without government oversight. The White House Office of Science and Technology Policy (OSTP) is releasing a report in response to a Congressional mandate in the Consolidated Appropriations Act 2022 related to solar radiation modification, also known as solar geoengineering. Guy Mc Pherson predicted this along time ago. Capitalists would let the warming get to a crisis stage, start wringing their hands about "no viable solution" and go for the obvious fix- geoengineering. In my novel a group of capitalists decide to take matter into their own hands, with disatrous results. Kim Stanley Robinson has a less dire result in his novel. In any case, geoengineering is what you get when the obvious solution - stop burning fossil fuels- is beyond the pale.

When America Was Great

There was a time when America didn't fuck around. If some shitty little country like Cuba or Guatemala or El Salvador or Nicaragua started getting uppity, we would put them in their place. Back when we we were great. If they started giving land to peasants or talking shit about us or calling us "imperialists" we'd just send in the troops and gunboats and put them in their place.If we took a shine to some nice island like Hawaii we just claimed it, because we were great. This is what history books should be teaching our children...no, wait, maybe not so much in those words. Frame it as liberation. Exactly as Russia's claims in Ukrain, these places were within our sphere of influence. So was Vietnam, Afghanistan and Iraq. It's one big sphere, baby. The greater you are, the bigger your sphere. Because it was our Manifest Destiny as a great nation of great people we could march across a continent already occupied and claim it as our own. What's the point of being Great if you can't take what you want?

Burning Up Man

The Fun Burning People are bummed that it rained on their parade. They were just out their being inclusive and self-reliant and Free until the muck and filled-up porta potties ruined the party. Climate is really changing, they all shrug, last year it was scorching temps and wind, now this deluge. Now those 70,000 groovy people will have to go back to their real lives, scrape the mud off all their stuff, and bemoan the fact that extreme weather is wrecking their vacation. Not that there is anything they could do about it. Not like 70,000 groovy people have any REAL power to change anything. So they will just have to find different venues to perform symbolic self-affirmation, venues a little less "sere". A little less harsh or prone to extremes. Some are calling it a preview of an increasingly chaotic future and how we will need to adapt. We know how people will adapt; they'll just go party somewhere else. Let's form an awesome utopia for a week so we can experience personal liberation. Then we can go back to the real world, the capitalist world, and save up some money for next year's party.

Gas Power

The American working class traded political power for gas power. Unable to control any of the big things that determine their existence, they have been given gas pedals, a viceral, immediate sense of power as they push down and feel that giant truck accelerate. Yes, it takes money to feel that surge but hey, that's what credit is for. Yes, you will be making someone else rich while you slave for wages but you have a giant truck that goes really fast when you stomp on that pedal. It's enough. Much has been said about the "crisis of masculinity" and there is no doubt big trucks help guys feel less impotent. I wouldn't be too surprised to learn there are females who are attracted to big trucks and their drivers, the same gals who are aroused by Trump. In place of actual politics you get to feel like you can make a difference by voting. You get to spend hours reading about campaigns and politicians and elections, an entire entertainment spectacle you can turn on or off at will. You can post on the internet. Or you can ignore the whole thing and drive around. Same difference. Political theorists tell us governments fear a "crisis of legitimacy", something usually equated to cost of living. When you can no longer afford to live, you question governance. But governance has been de-coupled from economics, so that people clamor for a new leader under the same regime of Capital.

Re-Insurance

In my novel, economic and social collapse starts with the re-insurance industry. At some point it can't manage the actuarials, can't financialize the risk of climate chaos. So it is interesting to read this small article in the Times: "Since the beginning of the year, insurance companies have paid out $40 billion to U.S. customers, putting them on track for another record in yearly losses. At every level, the costs of guarding against risk are rising and everyone, from the leaders of large companies to the owners of homes and small businesses, is feeling the squeeze." With this latest hurricane costing billions in Florida, insurers are freaking out: "Florida’s woes reflect a nationwide problem, one that is expected to intensify as climate change unleashes more extreme weather events. The Insurance Information Institute, an industry trade group, estimates that property and casualty insurers in the state have had cumulative underwriting losses of more than $1 billion for the last three years." The beginning of the end. If it can't be insured, no one is going to want it.

America's Mayor

The reporter in the NYTimes is repeating this trope that Rudy Guliani "reassured" America after 9/11. What can that possibly mean? Reassured us about what? They want to remember this scumbag grifter as America's spiritual leader in a time of crisis, as Time magazine's "Man of the Year", but why? The popular narrative is one of tragic transformation, from greatness to dirtbag.How sad, blah blah. Expect to see him checking in for re-hab in his minimum security facility, then writing a book about his fall from grace. In other words, America. The totally obvious thing Rudy somehow failed to recognize, is that he and Trump operate in totally fifferent spheres. Just because Trump can say anything, can make any claim no matter how insane, as a comedian he can lie to his heart's content and get nothing but adoration from his fans. Rudy has no shield. When he lies, he is accountable. And he's not funny, I mean the hair dye running down his face, the Four Seasons Landscaping, sure, it's funny, but it's pathetic funny, absurd funny. What's really sad is the total lack of originality. He is the stereotype of corrupt man. If I can make it in NY I can make it anywhere. Good riddance.

Cruisin Through the Catastrophe

A NYTimes opinion piece by Ezra Dyer says Americans, skewing more to the rightwing, are enjoing a post-covid surge in cruise ship vacations. The newest ship being built holds eight thousand people. Depressed yet? The article also mentions the fact Americans are poised to drive a record 3.2 trillion (with a T) cumulative miles this year. These stats tell us a lot. If you were looking to do some diving in the coral reefs on your trip you might demand a refund. From the NYTimes: “It just felt like, ‘Oh my God, we’re in the apocalypse,’” she said. “What’s happening?” With climate change ravaging Florida’s beloved reef, people who’ve devoted their careers to restoring coral in the sea are now racing to get it out of the water, to tanks on land. They’re pushing through feelings of grief and fear over the future to save what genetic material and young corals they can. But in the background, an existential question looms: How can they restore reefs if the ocean is getting too hot for coral to live there?" The smart capitalist doesn't worry about "restoring reefs", they come up with some waterproof paint and re-color the dead coral. Who'll know? You could always cruise up north to view the glaciers calving, before they have totally melted. Special rates apply.

Thirsty

A couple ahorisms have sprung to mind lately. First: "You can lead a horse to water but you can't make him drink" and then "You don't miss your water till you're well runs dry." These spurred by the hot dry weather I suppose. Leading horses describes my political project to date; I always believed that once liberals saw how dire the situation was, how "politics" is now a tragic farce, how liberal democratic capitalism is leading inexorably to catastrophe, that some might rethink their devotion to the status quo. Boy was I wrong. Turns out you can argue and debate till you are are blue in the face, because while they know perfectly well, they act as if they don't. Only collapse will change that, and even then I suspect fantasy will prove resilient. Wells running dry is pretty obvious, but it makes much the same point. It is one of the main themes in my novel, the ease of remaining oblivious in the face of the obvious. And then there is the tendency to double down; no one likes to be conned, but the real trauma is having to admit they were wrong, that they were conned. That opens doors we prefer remained closed. New polling shows Trump's base doubling down with their support and love and pure devotion. Much of this base is less educated, blue collar, and convinced America needs to be saved. To that end they are, in this time of inflation, financing Trump and Company's massive legal fees. Taken to the cleaners to pay for high-priced lawyers. This same working class is still hoping they find the "weapons of mass destruction" in Iraq. They also don't include climate change in their list of things threatening America. As I watch the smoke billowing up from the forest behind my house. Better drink while you still can, Mr. Horse.

More Heating

The Times reports that Farmers Insurance is pulling out of Florida. Joining lots of others exiting the scene or going bankrupt. This article only got a couple of inches on the front page but it is huge. They mention the anxiety of the big re-insurance companies, which is where you want to pay attention.Lot of people in California can't find insurance as well. Another article points to the growing presence of earthworms in the far north, now that the tundra is melting. Keep going down the page and you see where climate envoy John Kerry was attacked by Republican House reps for having a "radical, far-left agenda". Another one called him a grifter. This because he wants to try to negotiate with China. In a democracy, really stupid people deserve representation. The more of them there are, the more morons we send to Congress, just like the Founders designed it. Speaking of Florida, ocean temps have reached 98 degrees. So long, coral reefs.Here in Montana, they are putting fishing restrictions in place due to warm river temperatures, the earliest I've seen it done. The only resistance local climate groups can muster is to give out air purifiers, so poor people can "adapt" to the coming apocalypse. That and submit comments to the EPA. Risky actions sure to threaten the authorities.

Heating Up

Nothing like a little sweat to get Americans all in a tizzy. Headlines blaring the frightening news. Wonks wonking about the Inflation Reduction Act. Bernie saying we must act now. A little heat wave and they suddenly stop trusting The Market to solve problems? Fickle bastards. Invest in deoderant, air conditioners, ammunition and stop your belly aching. Ultra-progressive Ezra Klein went deep in the weeds on the IRA, interviewing some liberal from heatmap.org. They talked green investment and hydrogen and carbon capture, and permitting blockages and yada yada and came to the conclusion we are fucked twice over. But they still believe in capitalist democracy and "policy" with all their hearts. In the end, it comes down to nuclear and geoengineering. Just face it. and oh yeah, Joe Manchin. Bernie pours his progressive heart out pleading that "members of Congress must develop an unprecedented sense of urgency about this global crisis." You don't know whether to laugh or cry. "The world must come together" he says, echoing John Lennon. We must take on the powerful special interests like fossil fuels. More yada yada, or "blah blah blah" as Greta would have it. Bill Mc Kibben on Democracy Now. Ezra, Bernie, whatever. Someone not heard from lately is the other Klein, Naomi. She would at least use the "C" word. It's pretty easy to see that Kim Stanley Robinson had it right. It will take an event where millions die to initiate any kind of real change. Pretty much the thesis of my own novel. Immigration stresses will take down more governments, resource wars will get hotter than Sudan, but Americans will buy bigger trucks in order to pull their giant campers into the great outdoors. We know but we act as if we don't.

More Liberal Shock and Outrage

How about that Supreme Court? In their uncowed supremacy whacking down all the liberal progress that had tried to make capitalism a little kinder, a little gentler. But conservatives ain't buyin it. You want to go to college so you can be a success and make a bundle? Fine. Compete with Asian students on a level playing field. Get yourself some of that hard driving ambition, some of that fanatic work ethic. Or be born to rich white parents who can get you in on a legacy deal. Figure it out, that's how this system works kiddies. You want your student loan forgiven? Right. Apparently no one has heard of moral hazard. You want a right to an abortion? Again, you need to pay more attention to what the Constitution is really about. Yes, Property.If you don't like the outcome, vote harder next time. Or do what the French do, set cars on fire. Works every time. If you lived in the Philippines you could vote for Bong Bong Marcos Jr. Here in America you can vote for Robert Kennedy Jr. I don't know who you get to vote for in Sudan or Haiti or Bangladesh.

Brooks Needs Debord

David Brooks is writing about the capital S Spectacle but is only concerned with the most vulgar sense of the term, spectacle as diversion or entertainment. In Debord's analysis (developed with the Situationists), “By means of the Spectacle the ruling order discourses endlessly upon itself in an uninterrupted monologue of self-praise.” This is what Brooks gets paid handsomely to do, discourse endlessly. He is incapable of seeing himself performing a role in the totality which is the Spectacle, Capital's all-consuming cultural expression. Carried out by every institution, but especially media. To see the Society of the Spectacle you would have to find a critical space of remove, something htose like Brooks find impossible.

Creeping Doubts

From Monday's NYTimes economic reporter Patricia Cohen: "The economic conventions that policymakers had relied on since the Berlin Wall fell more than 30 years ago — the unfailing superiority of open markets, liberalized trade and maximum efficiency — look to be running off the rails... increasing bouts of extreme weather that destroyed crops, forced migrations and halted power plants has illustrated that the market’s invisible hand was not protecting the planet." This from Today's Times on Repubican shifting attitudes on laissez faire: “We really like capitalism, but we recognize it’s not working right now,” said Oren Cass, a former aide to Mitt Romney and the executive director of American Compass, a think tank that published the manifesto. What's not to like? Minor glitch here oe there, you don't want to throw out the baby. But then the question must be asked: what is to be done? Unfailingly, the answer is reform. A bit of charitable redistribution perhaps. Maybe a carbon tax. What if business started treating their employess with more respect? A tweak here and there and we should be able to produce a somewhat kinder, gentler capitalism, right? And who might we call for new ideas? Why,Economists.Grad schools crank them out by the train load. Surely they can figure out how to get all those markets; labor, finance, commodities, currency, housing, etc...all "working" smoothly again. Surely they can apply all that training. Surely. I mean, c'mon. A week later, this in the Times about the brilliance of some hot-shot financier: “The capitalist system does not work if you don’t price the externalities,” Litterman said. Hence a government-set price for carbon emissions. Hence...

Limited Trout

I spent thirty years working as a trout fishing guide on the Big Hole river of S.Western Montana, a famous "blue ribbon" fishery, at least when I started. But throughout my whole career I observed a down-hill slide in the habitat. Basically, the basin is over-appropriated and irrigators suck the river dry every summer so they can grow hay. And because of the changing climate, snow pack, if there is any, doesn't last as long as it used to so the water heats up. Then you've got all the anglers, yanking out fish and taking their pictures to show on Facebook. All of us guides saw the trend, but fisheries managers didn't want to upset the "Ag Community", meaning the powerful ranchers who always ran things. Plus the fact western water law is all about livestock and crop production, with ecosystems left unprotected. Big Enviro non-profits like Trout Unlimited could step in, for instance, demanding the Endangered Species Act apply to the grayling but they are just as afraid of the cow people. Plus their donor base includes Big Money boys uninterested in government intervention. So now the trout population is crashing so all those big crowds that used to fish there will start heading to the last, best rivers and trash those as well. The law of diminishing returns. But at least the cows will have plenty of hay.

Dangerous World

The one budget item that is sacrosanct, the so-called "defense" budget, is also the one that is the most obscenely bloated.Some Senators demanded that it be increased because China. The inscrutable Communists will always arouse that xenophobic passion, garner campaign donations, recruit young Marines. You know you live in a dangerous world when a whole race of people doesn't even want to be as free as us Americans. Biden was happy with the compromise, channeling the Stones: "You can't always get what you want, but you get what you need." He is barely alive, reading the teleprompter like a junkie who has been up for days.The old bipartisanship campaigner, working together to get things done. But what brinkmanship! Texas Chip demanding no true Republicans should sign on. Radical leftist independents like Bernie voting no. Who could have possibly predicted the outcome? On to the Next Big Thing, Trump's indictment. Proud Boys, get ready!

Price, Cost , Harm

From the NYT: The change would affect the metric that the federal government uses to calculate the harm caused by one ton of planet-warming carbon dioxide pollution. In the Obama administration, White House economists calculated that number at roughly $50 a ton. In the Trump administration, they lowered it to less than $5 a ton. Applying Mr. Revesz’s formula shoots up the cost to nearly $200 a ton. This so-called "metric" of the social cost of carbon is so volatile as to be meaningless. We are told The Market can solve our problems if we just let it find "equalibrium", do the cost- benefit analysis and come up with a perfect price. But in reality the calculation is political. Capitalist economic theory fails miserably, which is why we face climate catastrophe. Here is another snippet from the Times, trying to explain "discounted" pricing of regulations: In 2003, government economists estimated the impact of regulation on future generations by considering the average interest rate on government bonds over the prior 30 years. Totally insane. They would do better to look at the recent article that said insurers were going bankrupt and refusing to issue new policies. Or the article that said Phoenix will no longer issue building permits because they have run out of groundwater. It has nothing to do with what The Market Will Bare. It is what the earth system will bare. We know but act as if we don't.

Not Deplorables, Fascists

When, due to the words and actions of a certain segment of the population, Hillary Clinton called them "deplorables", she was roundly criticised. For the Right, it was typical elite disdain for common folk. For the left, it was a terrible political miscalculation, alienating potential voters.Maybe costing her the election, oh my. All these years later, it is fine to call these same citizens bigoted, transphobic fascists. No one bats an eye. We owe Hillary an apology. They are absolutely deplorable and extremely proud of it. Of course Hillary is deplorable in her own right and I'm glad she lost her race. Deplorables have rallied around Trump because he is the King Daddy of Deplorable, he elevates it to an art form, and in a Democracy you get to be represented. it says so in the Constitution. Because I live in a place swarming with deplorables, I always found it humorous that pundits believed they might possibly have voted for Hillary had she not insulted them. These people would sooner run her over in their monster trucks than vote for her. When they chanted "lock her up!" they were gleefully imagining her being brutalized in prison. I love that the thing Republicans were risking default over was the ability of the IRS to tax the very wealthy. This was something they just couldn't abide. Deplorables have a confusing love/hate relationship with the very wealthy. Because they are a confused bunch. So confused they think someday they might be very wealthy and they don't want to be taxed.

The Latest Failed State

The periphery is in deep trouble. As the largst economies accumulate wealth and power they like to keep small nations weak without having them fail. This strategy itself is failing badly. from Pakistan to Tunesia, Ukrain to Guatemala, governments can't provide basic services. In the giant cities like Johanesberg or Jakarta, systems can no longer handle the massive influx. Even the core countries are being exposed as hollowed out shells, zombies stumbling from crisis to crisis, enacting a mhad burlesque for the entertainment of no one. There is no plan. As for politics and politicians, they no longer try to pretend to be legitimate 'leaders": “Sometimes, when he speaks, you just get the feeling he is speaking down to you,” said Mr. Foulds, an accountant. “At least with Boris you felt that he was talking to you — even though he might have been talking drivel, and maybe lying through his back teeth as well.” Look hard at any photo of Mc Carthy with Republicans behind him as he explains the negotiations over the debt ceiling. They all have that baffled, struggling to appear seriously listening look. Look at Diane Feinstein or Biden. All shitty actors who have forgotten their lines. Janet Yellen has been frantically calling "business leaders", asking them to talk some sense into those same Republican legislators. We see how well that plan worked out. When every politician is talking drivel and lying through their back teeth, even "business leaders" find their urgent pleas meet blank, empty gazes. How does anyone take this poorly written and directed B movie seriously anymore?

Deaths of Despair

More ranting about pain; physical and psychic. A comrade mentioned something he had read about Chinese youth committing suicide by jumping off a cliff. He thouhgt it said something about Chinese society and rising ennui, malaise, Weltschmertz. But it occurs to me this is a global phenomenon here in late-stage capitalism and while I'm not qualified or prepared to do a global study, I think a look at American youth is suggestive. Dissolution, despair, exhaustion; whatever we want to call it is manifesting in epidemic proportions. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, "three out of five teenage girls felt 'persistent sadness or hopelessness' in 2021. One in three considered attempting suicide and one in ten did attempt it. The rate for boys is worse. 2,800 teenagers committed suicide in 2021. Like gun deaths and homeless deaths this is carnage society accepts as the cost of doing business. Avert your gaze. Grotesques like Joe Manchin or Matt Gaetz don't kill themselves, just innocent kids. Not that you can blame them. They may not fully understand the collapse but they can feel it, sense it, understand the broad outlines of the insane mess they will inherit. Their despair is earned. Even if they don't live in dysfunctional situations or experience trauma, it haunts the collective imaginary, the zeitgeist. My future is more of this, only worse?

Headed For A Fall

I know this is not the first existential crisis and that the end of capitalism is forever being predicted, but c'mon, how long can this corpse stay on its feet? The Spectacle of grifters and con men posing as Leaders is reaching such a level of absurdity that only the most deluded can maintain the pretense of "politics". Every pundit trying to square the circle runs into the Chomsky contradiction: either there is a "democracy deficit" ( leaders and policy don't represent the will of the people) or there is Manufactured Consent (The will of the people is manipulated by outside forces) You can't have it both ways. The pundits can't admit the fact that consent is neither required of nor missed by anybody. Daily impotent outrage is enough. Capitalist "democracy" is a system of anti-politics. People prefer the placebo and it is enough to be entertained, knowing full well "government of the people" is a charade, an intricate Kubuki theatre enacted for our perverse enjoyment. Technologists tell us if we just keep making smaller microchips, eveything will be solved in time. Trust us. How about millions of citizens in every major city living in tents, dying on the street, begging for change? Oh, that must be the "housing" problem. How about daily mass shootings by raging, dissaffected loners? Oh that's the "gun" problem. How about climate change, mass extinction, extreme weather events? That, of course, is the "environment" problem. Using unemployment to combat the rising price of everything? Oh yeah, that's the "economy" problem. The list is endless: pandemics, international conflict, pollution, rise of fascism, suicides, drug overdoses, failing schools, yada yada. All stuck in the appropriate, isolated "problem" box. Rich people get to worry about these problems, poor people live them But to convince yourself you are living in any kind of rational system you really have to be adept at avoiding reality, at clinging to old narratives, at believing the straw you are grasping at is a sturdy lifeboat. It aint. I just read about the epidemic of pain: "each successive generation among less-educated Americans has reported more pain at any given age." Pain makes you do bad things

The Party of Family Values Wants to Kill Their Children

The Conservatives espouse something called "family values", which must be some traditional Christian nuclear arrangement which involves protecting children from the scourges of secular modernity. I guess those would be "woke" values or some equally idiotic bullshit. Yet they see no problem with not only pillaging the earth of the few remaining resources, but insisting on burning unlimited fossil fuels so as to condemn their children to climate hell. They also have no problem breaking up Black and Brown families. The Jehovas Wtinesses showed up im driveway with their latest pamohlet titled "Exercise Patience". It might seem like a riff on Buddhism but they really want us to be patient with God, who is supposed to deliver us from this hellscape but is dawdling (for his own inscrutable reasons). Just hang in there, the end is near! The main article inside is titled "Is a Fair Economic System Possible?" Possible DSA recruits? Not really. Like Trumpists, another example of the working class having the right question and coming to an insane answer. A symptom of the Age of Oblivion. Speaking of our new Bronze God, following his town hall, liberals are apoplectic that Trump is doubling down on destroying "core American values" and the "post WWII national security order." Yeah, that actually works for me. I also share his "disrespect for our institutions of government that are critical to our democracy". Capitalist "democracy" is a sham and Trumpists understand that at a subliminal level, though they could never articulate it or propose solutions. All they hope for is a good laugh at liberals expense, a shallow victory but something. At least they understand that something is terribly wrong.

Go Ahead and Default

Headlines are awash with the dire threat of "debt cieling default" oh my! The US could run out of money to pay off the interest on its 31 trillion dollar debt and The Market is not at all pleased. The Market will just crash everything if it is not satisfied with the outcome of negotiations. The Market will send us all into bread lines. It will kick us out of our homes and make us fight one another for scraps. But still we worship The Market. Sure, it is a harsh mistress, but we love our subservience, the joissance of grovelling before a punishing dominatrix. This is the capitalist subject in a nutshell. All this handwringing over global economic collapse, oh my! This is heretical ultra-left talk I know, but I say bring it on. Heighten the contradictions. What is there really left to lose? Capital is on an ecocidal mission to bring about system collapse as soon as possible. Why not help it expedite the process while there is still something left to salvage? Oil companies would stop drilling, the thing everybody wants. Capitalist institutions would lose legitimacy, the thing everybody wants. Everybody wants A revolution but everyone fears THE revolution. One option being floated is for the US treasury to mint a 1 trillion dollar coin and deposit it with the Fed. That's how insane capitalism is. That's the system everyone swears undying fealty to. Could we end up with something worse? Perhaps. But it could never be less rational. Global debt, post COVID, has reached 300 trillion. We're talking serious cash! Let's see Republican debt hawks wrap their heads around that number. We're taling 349% leverage on GDP, about $37,500 per human. Just servicing the debt rose 3 trill in 2022. Who gets all that interest? Where is all that dough? Anybody?

There's Something Goin On But You Don't Know What It Is

Do I Mr. Jones? (From an old Bob Dylan tune). This describes the American Right perfectly. Certainly there is pathology and plenty of racist, sexist and xenophobic resentment. But basiclly they are totally disoriented. Because they can't understand the forces at work, macro forces directing their lives, they use their political muscle to attack something called "cultural Marxism", also known as wokeness. They hope that by banning books and stopping drag shows and letting parents set curriculim for schools and stopping transgender care, they can slow the onslaught of all the things they don't, can't, begin to understand. And just as it is for most of us, that list is long. Richard King describes it as the "black box" tension; we know things work (our cell phones, computers, AI, biogenetics, etc...) but we don't know how. We sort of trust somebody knows, but it is a loss of agency. "Somebody" might not have our best interests at heart. They might even be Marxist! People "know" the national debt is 31 trillion dollars, but they can't comprehend such a number. To help balance the budget they will cut thew Green New Deal though they can't comprehend the threats to the earth system. They want the old un-woke culture with more police, with boys and girls bathrooms, with big cars and mom in the kitchen because that was a culture they understood. Before everything got so complex and wacky and weird. It is unfortunate that these people can't get past their Christian nationalist chauvinism and use an anti-capitalist framework to understand not just political -economy but culture as well. But Marx and the Evil Empire and the road to serfdom have left a lasting impression.

Yet Another Woke Rally

Liberals are yet again up in arms as Missoula's trangender representative gets banished from the legislature. Zephyr voiced her outrage over anti- "gender affirming care" bills moving through the State House, what she naively calls "the People's House". Like they did when Roe v Wade was overturned or when George Floyd was murdered or any number of culture battles erupted, crowds will gather at the courthouse, signs will be waved, fiery speeches given. Like the Tennessee Three gun control advocates, or the Defund Police campaign, nothing substantive will come of these passionate efforts but there will be lots of rhetoric about our "endangered democracy" and representing the voice of The People. Like Jimmy Stewart in the movie Mr. Smith Goes to Washington. Zephyr is a true believer that if you speak truth to power and express the "will of the people" with passionate conviction, the arc will point towards justice. So precious and so absurd. She claims to represent 11,000 constituents ( a dubious assertion) but the fact is it is still a teensy tiny minority. The majority spoke and Zephyr (and Missoula liberals) lost. In a capitalist democracy the rules on decorum say you accept the majority opinion, even when you don't like it. That's what Democrats would expect Republicans to do if the roles were reversed. It's one of the reasons liberals hate Trump, his total disregard for decorum. If you want to play the game, and it is just a spectacular game, then you must play by the rules. But if you want to become a media sensation and get your fifteen minutes of fame, you can invade the sacred chambers and hold a loud protest and get on MSNBC. Get an article in the NY Times. Fire up a crowd at a rally. Whatever. What is to be done? Vote for Biden. Vote for Tester. Vote for Zephyr. Sign a petition. Write a letter to the editor. Save our "democracy".I wait patiently for the fundraising letters to arrive. Money needed to get Zephyr re-elected. And John Tester. Biden. Help us speak mre truth to power so power can tell us to fuck off.

The Perfect Capitalist Organization

The Wagner Group is starting to make a real name for itself. Combining all the elements of capitalist success; violence, public relations and crisis exploitation, it is finding fertile ground in what is called "the periphery", those countries used as resource colonies by The West. Wagner is the Mafia 2.0., a super-cartel, making money the old-fashioned way, with intimidation and corruption. This is the logical endpoint of capitalism, stripped of its veneer of "democracy". A mask we in the "advanced economies" cling to as though our souls depended on it. We settle our issues by voting while the backward, savage "Third World" is filled with killing fields. Of course it is thanks to all that blood that cheap minerals and calories keep coming to our shores, filling our market shelves and maintaining our Christian "way of life". And "groups" like Wagner make it all happen. With unlimited funding for paramilitaries and social media networks, they are a post-post-modern supplement to the old imperialism. Those supply chains stay open without getting all that blood on your hands. Just contract it out to "specialists". The "free market" has always required enforcement to keep wealth flowing upwards and for a certain price, Wagner is happy to oblige.

Non-reformist Reforms

Author David Camfield, whose latest book is Future on Fire: Capitalism and the Politics of Climate Change, is one of the few who openly shares my view of "non-reformist reforms". Many of those in activist circles perform ridiculous contortions trying to decide what these are in actuallity. Camfield says: "The way that I think about it is that more important than the demands themselves are the methods of action that people engage in order to achieve them. I guess this brings up the idea that people often talk about, of non-reformist reforms. And I’m skeptical that such a thing exists. We can assess the different reform demands brought forward, but I don’t think there’s any reform that is inherently non-reformist. I don’t think that’s a problem. It was Rosa Luxemburg who said that the social revolution is the goal and the struggle for reforms is the means to that end. That’s the way I think about it. The question really is: What can we do that will try to get large numbers of people into motion around demands?" As he points out, every reform runs into the problem of legitimizing the system and diffusing the rage that prompts direct action. If your demand is radical ( nationalize fossil fuel industry) but you wish to achieve it by petitioning the government or voting harder, you are sending the message that capitalist "democracy" works just fine. No need for revolution. Just lobby those in power. This disconnect only serves to nuetralize movements seeking total system overhaul. I'm going to read Camfield's book and see what other insights he may have but this is a good start.

Sleepyville

Who is awake and who is dreaming? And how would you know? This ancient philosophical conundrum is playing out in real time on our public stage in what are called the “culture wars”. In the conservative lexicon, those who “wake” from the sleep of traditional white, Christian, “American” values/culture are maligned as elite “social justice warriors”, expressing their condescending contempt for the common man by forcing their version of equality on them. In this telling, to be progressive is to abandon all standards and conventions and to believe those still committed to tradition to be the ones asleep. Paradoxically, the Q Anon movement believes itself awakened from the nightmare of deep-state propaganda. “It’s time to wake up”, says the mysterious Q. They believe those entrenched in Establishment media are the sleeping, manipulated subjects. Each group believes others are caught in a dream, psychologically captured by those in power. In other words, you need to be awake, just not woke. In the conservative mind, dissolving traditional gender identification and roles is the Trojan Horse, the opening through which the traditional family can be undermined and destroyed. If boys and girls are not male and female, are not he and she, then we have entered the relativistic post-modern hell where there can be no truth, no certainties. To be “woke” is to abandon right and wrong, reason and rationality. It is to condemn and reject the history of Christian morality in favor of libertine tolerance for any and all behavior. It is to condone and promote the breakdown of society. Of course, if you are already “awake” to the vast government conspiracy as imagined by Q, the breakdown has already been achieved, our freedoms curtailed, and stability an illusion. It is disruption that is required to break the sheeple from their “mind forged manacles”. If you get beyond culture war wokeness, you see the machinations of fossil capital as it deems climate awareness a form of wokeness. If they can bundle the Paris Accords in with trigger warnings and trans people playing sports, their job becomes much easier. A prime directive of capitalism is to destroy all foundations. As Marx wrote: “All that is solid melts into air, all that is holy is profaned…” This is not a comfortable place. Marx envisioned this tension resolving itself as: “ man is at last compelled to face with sober senses his real condition of life and his relations with his kind.” Unfortunately, the Old Man may have overestimated man’s “sober senses”. He too believed in rational man. But if you wake into the dream or wake and find you are an insect dreaming you were a human….

Power to the People or Scream into the Void?

It is more than a little embarrasing to watch liberals rally around the two Justins in Tennessee, especially Black liberals. If in their minds these two Representatives believe they are the second coming of MLK and Stokely Carmichael, here to restore Democracy to a broken land, they are in for a rude awakening. The high-flying rhetoric and raised fists may ignite romantic devotion in those nostalgic for the heady days of Black Power, but their appeals to government of,by and for the People will fall on deaf ears. Or more likely, incite yet more white backlash. Yes, they gave the NYTimes something to write about other than Donald Trump, and yes they have a future on the lecture circuit. Liberals will gather to hear them explain why Black Lives Matter and why assault weapons kill people and why prisons should be abolished but those liberals will just go back to their mortgaged houses and bullshit jobs and try to vote harder next time. Every liberal is wailing about our "broken democracy". Gerrymandering. Apathy. Whatever. Maybe they should spend more on campaign ads next cycle! Yeah. And find better candidates! Yeah. This is what a typical believer told a reporter: “There has been this whirlwind of stress,” she said. “A lot of people are feeling like they have their hands tied. There is a sense of helplessness and frustration.” She said it was important to force the legislature to listen. “It makes you feel a little less alone and a little less like you are screaming into the void to have someone actively take notice and stand with you." The first thing is to recognize that you ARE sceaming into the void. Then you have to figure out why. If what you have been doing for the last sixty years hasn't been working you may want to re-examine your theory of change. Or just go on the Bill Maher show and host Saturday Night Live.

Both

Actually, both guns and people kill people. I know Americans demand either or but generally we are talking about people with guns. This is not a problem that can be solved in the current system. Which makes the casket industry a great investment. Conservatives have a logic problem when it comes to the self-defense argument. They like the idea of shooting burglers or migrants cutting across their property, but what they really like, why the AR is so popular, is the idea of defending themselves from a tyrannical government. But they love the police and the military, the armed wing of the government. Will they shoot the cop coming to foreclose on their property? why are there so many mentally ill people? Obama. or Hillary.or Bengazi. or some Senator said that because we let boys decide to be girls (and visa versa) the confusion makes for shooters.Something like that.Let's pray. Anyway, an Israeli politician wants to pass a bill making it ok to slaughter a lamb on the Temple Mount during Passover. Seems reasonable, from a biblical perspective. Probably will require some AR 15's however. What else? Kind of fascinated by this idea of California's record snowpack flooding the Central Vallley. Refilling a massive lake they tried to engineer away. At the same time the salmon run has been totally decimated by the dry years (and industrial capitalism, of course). Also, I saw where an Italian central banker is saying a way to slow inflation is to limit profit. Huh.

Anti-Trump Industry

Sitting on a friend's coffee table were three, large, hardback books, all of whose subject matter was Donald Trump. It seeems there is a whole industry springing up to feed the appetite of the rabid anti-Trumpistas of both the left and the right. And I suppose if all I cared about was book sales I could get in on the craze, because the genre requires no special talent or intellectual accuity whatsoever. The three books were "I Alone can Fix It" by a couple of political reporters, "Betrayal" by some other guy and "Everything Trump Touches Dies" by political operative Rick Wilson. What I am about to write is not a review because there is no way I could read these things. The most I could accomplish was a scan of the jackets and a few pages of the intro. The point I wish to make is that the fanatical fixation on the person of Trump, by both progressives and conservatives, is misdirected. Make no mistake, I think the man is an abomination. But he is also a reflection of a society, and none of these authors want to talk about the deep structural issues that brought Trump into being. They can avoid Trumpism by their sensational focus on a person. It is pathetically simplistic to frame Trump as an abberation from a just, rational norm. My friends on whose table the books sat think of themselves as good, tolerant liberals who wish to preserve the capitalist "democracy" which helped them become fabulously rich. Trump and Trumpism threaten that imaginary country where politicians represent their constituency, where we have government of, by, and for the people and voting is your most precious right. Respect for institutions, for norms of decency, for all the things Trump turned into the butt of his jokes, this is what outrages the defenders of the status quo. The worst of these is Rick Wilson. His umbrage stems from the fact that Trump subverted his beloved conservatism. Rick is a political operative hack, writes attack pieces and specializes in negative campaigning for the worst of the beltway slime. But he is all moral outrage when it comes to The Donald and those conservatives who sold their soul to support him. As if these cynical ghouls had a soul to start with. I'm sure there are a dozen more Never Trump books on the shelves or being written along with the usual MSNBC schlock. All of it is a diversion from the real issues facing not just the USA, but so-called liberal capitalist democracies everywhere.