jack

joined 5 years ago
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[–] jack@hexbear.net 8 points 1 hour ago

Well this presidency ain't gonna last long

[–] jack@hexbear.net 30 points 3 hours ago* (last edited 3 hours ago) (1 children)

I have to imagine that there are LOTS of normal people in the Arab family dictatorships who want to help Iran force the US out.

[–] jack@hexbear.net 3 points 4 hours ago (2 children)

This is so good that I have to be skeptical. Are we sure this isn't AI?

[–] jack@hexbear.net 14 points 5 hours ago (1 children)

Maureen, you were born in Yorkshire.

[–] jack@hexbear.net 15 points 5 hours ago

True heroes of journalism, which in its proper form is a noble act for the good of humanity.

[–] jack@hexbear.net 13 points 21 hours ago

Boy I sure am tempted to bet a hundo on this

[–] jack@hexbear.net 14 points 1 day ago (1 children)

The Israelis clearly don't give a shit if the GCC economies are destroyed.

But toppling them is the best immediate outcome for Iran. Best case scenario you get Islamic Republics on the peninsula and West Asia turns over in extremely permanent and dramatic fashion. That, or just enough perceived weakness, probably prompts Israel to attempt land grabs there to get to Greater Israel, since fascists are addicted to opening more fronts, which I think would effectively be suicidal.

[–] jack@hexbear.net 32 points 1 day ago

short term pain for long term gain

[–] jack@hexbear.net 57 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Probably the former with the latter as a bonus. Australia always deserves punishment for something.

[–] jack@hexbear.net 35 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Brent is also only a few dollars off from its Monday peak. It will certainly reach new heights next week, especially when Trump does something really stupid after markets close today.

[–] jack@hexbear.net 3 points 1 day ago

And even if you take a maximalist fight to avoid any concessions approach (which you shouldn't), what would they actually do? You can't wage a guerrilla war when the enemy troops aren't in your country. They'll just bomb the fuck out of you for as long as it takes. Venezuela is almost impenetrable to a land invasion and would slap the US if they tried to occupy, but they're extremely vulnerable to an air campaign. 93% of the population lives in dense cities in the north, the vast majority less than 20 miles from the mountainous coast. That makes it a nightmare to move troops in, but makes it extremely easy for the US to fly planes out of Puerto Rico or compliant Caribbean countries, go low through the coastal mountains, and unload on soft targets. You'd have a gargantuan internal refugee crisis with nowhere for those people to go but flood the two decent sized cities in the interior or the low-density rural plains. The economic damage would be far worse than the situation with the oil being seized.

What Rodriguez is doing is attempting to take advantage of the US's willingness to open economic activity and bring in foreign capital. The country's been under devastating sanctions for over a decade. This is an opportunity to reverse that, entangle foreign capital into the economy to offset the loss of oil revenue, diversify further away from oil dependence, and use the increased capital flowing through the economy to strengthen and expand the communal movement, which is the heart of the Bolivarian Revolution and an extremely advanced form of socialist construction. Of course this opening up introduces risks and contradictions. There will be more corruption. The US will wield its influence in sinister fashion to disrupt the political life of the revolution. In some cases, labor and environmental rights will surely suffer. It could lead to long-term weakening and liberalization of revolutionary forces.

There's a fundamental mistake here in thinking that socialist countries should not want foreign capital. It has never been the choice of socialist revolutions to expel all foreign capital - instead capital has fled and economic measures imposed by imperialists to starve socialism of necessary capital. Revolutionary governments operating on their own terms are more than capable of managing foreign capital, compressing and controlling the contradictions it produces, and socializing the benefits for their process of socialist construction. That's exactly why the US and Europe attempt to starve them of access to it!

 

Wanna run this with comrades. By default I run everything in Genesys and I think it would handle this well, but I'm curious if there's something that would be more lightweight and setting specific for it.

 

tags:

presidente, sheinbaum, mexico, MORENA

 

this is the promise of socialism

 

 

I guess I need to revise my previous fears that my son would never get icy, snowy winters like I did due to global warming to he will get them perhaps even more than I saw due to global warming. Lake Erie hasn't gotten to 100% ice coverage since 1996.

According to GLERL's records, two lakes have frozen over completely: Lake Superior in 1973 and 1996; and Lake Erie in 1978, 1979 and 1996.

We are on track for one of the iciest years ever recorded on the Great Lakes. Pretty wild stuff!

Good article on the history of ice coverage.

Lake Superior has frozen over once since 1973, according to NOAA. The lake had 100% ice cover in 1996.
Lake Michigan's ice cover high was 93.2% in 2014.
Lake Huron had 98.2% ice cover in 1996.
Lake Erie froze over completely in 1978, 1979 and 1996.
Lake Ontario had 86.2% ice coverage in 1979.
 

Up until this point, much has been written in an attempt to analyze the condition of transgender oppression and exploitation. These analyses are valuable for providing a foundation for real liberation efforts, but unfortunately, very little has been written to build off of that body of work and to put it to practical use in eliminating the problems they identify. Theory without practice cannot even be called dead if it never had a life to begin with. If we as transgender people wish to ever be free, we must move beyond mere lifeless theory and into really existing revolutionary praxis.

In writing this, I attempt to produce a starting point for a revolutionary transfeminist movement which can really bring about the liberation of all transgender people. This work was made in conversation and collaboration with many others, but I remain merely one woman and I therefore cannot be the sole architect of such a revolution, but I hope to spur on more conversation and catalyze the formation of new organizations and the transfeminization of existing organizations. My analysis is necessarily limited to the particular conditions found within the USA, but I hope it can still serve others abroad who may freely adapt and transform this program or who may be inspired to design new programs in accordance with the particular national contexts they find themselves in.

Finally, I hope that the contents expressed here are in some way inspiring, motivating, or illuminating to all those I may call “comrade” or “sister.”

  • Evalyn Penrose

(Not written by me but a personal comrade of mine)

 

powercry-1 powercry-2

This movie is amazing and beautiful and extremely dialectical and Marxist

Constant revolutionising of production, uninterrupted disturbance of all social conditions, everlasting uncertainty and agitation distinguish the bourgeois epoch from all earlier ones. All fixed, fast-frozen relations, with their train of ancient and venerable prejudices and opinions, are swept away, all new-formed ones become antiquated before they can ossify. All that is solid melts into air, all that is holy is profaned, and man is at last compelled to face with sober senses his real conditions of life, and his relations with his kind.

Life is a wonderful and beautiful thing.

 

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/7000354

The recently inaugurated Rodrigo Paz has wasted no time in embarking on his project to neoliberalize the Andean country. According to the president, Paz proposes cutting public spending by almost 30% in 2026, equivalent to 4 points of GDP.

In addition, he has proposed eliminating a series of taxes, especially for the wealthiest. One of these is a special tax on large fortunes, which Paz has promised to eliminate. The special tax is levied on those with fortunes of more than USD 4 million (less than 1% of the population) in a country where the basic salary is less than USD 400.

hate hate hate hate hate hate

Paz has announced the creation of at least ten “Truth Commissions”, which, he says, will be responsible for uncovering acts of corruption in public institutions during previous administrations.

Few public companies have been left out of this sort of “new neoliberal inquisition.” State-owned oil, road, telecommunications, lithium, and other companies will be investigated for alleged irregularities. Even before the investigations begin, Paz has already claimed that the alleged damage to the state amounts to nearly USD 15 billion.

They're going to try to open up all these SOEs for US looting.

However, Paz will have to face an opposition that, despite losing the presidency, has not lost its significant capacity for mobilization and historical resistance to neoliberal measures. Furthermore, within his government, Paz has already experienced a recent rift with his vice president, Edman Lara, who called the president a “liar” and claimed that he is poorly advised in creating the “Truth Commissions”.

This, though, is a nice piece of info. VP and President at each other's throat before taking office while the movement behind MAS remains active reinforces my take I've been saying all year: Bolivia's right wing turn is not going to last even a single term.

 

The recently inaugurated Rodrigo Paz has wasted no time in embarking on his project to neoliberalize the Andean country. According to the president, Paz proposes cutting public spending by almost 30% in 2026, equivalent to 4 points of GDP.

In addition, he has proposed eliminating a series of taxes, especially for the wealthiest. One of these is a special tax on large fortunes, which Paz has promised to eliminate. The special tax is levied on those with fortunes of more than USD 4 million (less than 1% of the population) in a country where the basic salary is less than USD 400.

hate hate hate hate hate hate

Paz has announced the creation of at least ten “Truth Commissions”, which, he says, will be responsible for uncovering acts of corruption in public institutions during previous administrations.

Few public companies have been left out of this sort of “new neoliberal inquisition.” State-owned oil, road, telecommunications, lithium, and other companies will be investigated for alleged irregularities. Even before the investigations begin, Paz has already claimed that the alleged damage to the state amounts to nearly USD 15 billion.

They're going to try to open up all these SOEs for US looting.

However, Paz will have to face an opposition that, despite losing the presidency, has not lost its significant capacity for mobilization and historical resistance to neoliberal measures. Furthermore, within his government, Paz has already experienced a recent rift with his vice president, Edman Lara, who called the president a “liar” and claimed that he is poorly advised in creating the “Truth Commissions”.

This, though, is a nice piece of info. VP and President at each other's throat before taking office while the movement behind MAS remains active reinforces my take I've been saying all year: Bolivia's right wing turn is not going to last even a single term.

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