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Day Two | Biden’s First 100 Days

21 Thu Jan 2021

Posted by in Anti-Fascism, Anti-Narcissism, Anti-Racism, Anti-Totalitarianism

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This is what democracy looks like?  Technically, we don’t have a “democracy”, we have a republic.  U.S. institutions, such as the electoral college, evidence that fact.

LUMPENPROLETARIAT—Some of us sensed that President Biden needed to take the threat of U.S. fascism more seriously.  As divided as the nation has been, the president will have to tour the reddest states and make the 74 million, who rejected him feel heard.  He needs to say:  I am your president, too.  I am here to listen.  Then, he needs to mindfully listen.  And, most importantly, he needs to respond to their concerns with sincerity.  And Biden needs to work to provide his political opponents what they need, such as jobs, economic assistance, anything, as long as it’s just.  That’s how he can win them over as constituents.  And, if what they need or want is unjust, Biden must show them why, making sure to convey humility, not superiority. 

Unfortunately, Biden’s language and tone have been judgmental.  Biden doesn’t seem interested in truth and reconciliation with the 74 million.  He seems only interested in satisfying the agenda of his political party, rather than the agenda of the American Family.  Some of us tend to side with the defenders in any contest of wills.  Right now, we need to side with all peaceful protestors, even if we disagree with their politics, even if we find them harmful to us because the value of free speech far outweighs the fears of gullible Americans being fooled by the unscrupulous pushers of misinformation and disinformation. We don’t need the state filtering news and information for us.  We don’t need a paternalistic state.  Moreover, promoting independent media is a powerful solution for the very serious problem of media consolidation, monopolization, and cartelization.  The capitalist modes of production tend toward the concentration of wealth and power in few hands.  So, we need the free flow of information to collectively establish truth for socioeconomic justice.  We need truth and reconciliation.  We can’t have one without the other and expect for meaningful change or stability.

Given Biden’s Inaugural Address, he seems bent on alienating the 74 million Americans, who feel cheated by his presidency, who feel Biden doesn’t care about their perspectives.  Obviously, our national culture during the last four years of the Trump administration, #45, became much more divisive and polarized.  White supremacy is baked into the cake, it’s a key ingredient, which was included at the beginning.  It has become a deeply ingrained mythology for at least 74 million Americans, who have drank from the cup of American exceptionalism and found themselves intoxicated with the  power of American supremacy.  “America first!” is the refrain of this selfish mentality. This evil disease of racism, this mental illness, which so much resembles narcissistic abuse, which so much resembles an abusive relationship, has transformed itself into a form of nationalism, which has adapted to America’s post-Reconstruction, new-Jim Crow reality.  The forces of white supremacy have figured out that they must begin to recruit people of color into their ranks in order to make their racist and fascist movements appear less racist, or even appear non-racist. Comedian Dave Chappelle’s comedy skit about a blind black guy, who joined the KKK, as he didn’t realize he himself was black, seems passé now.  It’s no longer far-fetched to imagine a right-wing person of color, even though it is contrary to the interests of people of color.  We would like to hear from you, if you’re a right-wing person of color.  Please leave a comment below.

Biden inaugural guest is Venezuelan coup leader charged with inciting violent assault on gov’t building, reported Anya Parampil (Grayzone)

Even without white supremacy being baked into the cake, as it were, our nation would still be growing increasingly polarized simply as a result of having a two-party system.

As people of color, we have meditated upon the meaning of the events of January 6th these last couple of weeks.  Some of us were very angry.  Some of us were very fearful.  Some of us were excessively giddy over the transfer of power from #45 to #46.  Some of us have faith in the Democrat Party, as a sincere opposition party.  Some of us don’t.  Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. did not.  Malcolm X did not.  They saw through the good cop/bad cop routine of the Democrat and Republican parties.  Do you? 

Notably, we didn’t notice a single person of color siding with the Republican Party or Trump loyalists during call-ins or otherwise on Pacifica Radio these last couple of weeks.  Pacifica’s mission is mutual understanding and peace between nations, races, and creeds.  We know right-wing, pro-Republican Party people of color are out there.  But they do not subscribe to Pacifica’s mission of peace and understanding.  So, they are unlikely to be paying attention to Pacifica Radio to call in.  And, regrettably, virtually no Pacifica Radio programming has sought to interview Trump loyalists to hear from them directly.  Instead, we have heard pundits and experts speculate as to what their motivations and aspirations may be without ever bothering to simply ask them, without ever bothering to invite them on the air to discuss or debate the issues. I remember ’80s shows, like Donahue, even Geraldo, didn’t shy about having so-called fringe groups to discuss or debate the issues. Liberal Puerto Rican talk show host Geraldo Rivera even got his nose busted on air by some white supremacists during one broadcast, in which emotions escalated and chairs and fists were thrown. Instead, corporate media and much of Pacifica Radio are othering the Trump loyalists, as if they were blame Pacifica programmers for not working to demystify the Trump loalists by letting them on air to speal for themselves.  If you are an exception, or if you are a right-wing person of color, please leave a comment, we would care to know how you came to position yourself on the right of the political spectrum, which is, to us on the left of the political spectrum, diametrically opposed to the interests of working Americans, their economic wellbeing, labor rights, and democracy, generally.

@LumpenProles, 07:43 PST

***

07:55 PST, Good morning, friends and enemies.  Let’s see what’s going on out there today.  We acknowledge our enemies as well as our friends because we aim to always be mindful of our reality.  We know very well there is a surveillance state, which Chelsea Manning, Julian Assange, Edward Snowden, and others have paid great sacrifices for the benefit of us all; so, that we may know the crimes of state, which are daily committed in our name.  So, we emancipate ourselves from mental slavery, as Dr. Noam Chomsky said to a fearful student at one of his many talks, a student who was afraid to speak out for fear of risking his career or future.  Dr. Chomsky said to the student, if you do that, you will be censoring yourself. You will be doing the work of the oppressor for them, without them even having to lift a finger.  Now, that is intimidation.  We understand that on the streets, lamentably.  That’s how former heavyweight champ “Iron” Mike Tyson used to win boxing matches before the sound of the first bell.  Intimidation. Fear.  So, we reject fear-based decision-making and fear mongering.  We choose courage.  We choose humanity.

Today is Day Two of President Biden’s first 100 days in office.  Let us resist alienation.  Let us build bridges of understanding across ideologies and creeds.

00:00 PST, KPFK > Something’s A > Byrds 1941, Dave Emory [TP] 2. Prof. […]  (c. 10:00) on the history of biological warfare programs [TP]

Bai wpfw Simulcast C. 0545 AG: ‘new W house has mlk Chavez Eleanor Roosevelt 0549 youngest poet laureate, the “skinny black girl”, “d3mocracy cannot be defeated” sh3 said. I dunno. 74M voted for against democracy in 2020.

0500 – 0600 KPFK > tom h […] 0555, “Turn, Turn, Turn” by The Byrds

KPFA 0556, news, cal covid infection rate #s go down .  Biden sworn in on Jewish tora(?).  Is Biden a Zionist? […] “masked mandate for interstate travel’ […] dems get “narrow” lead in senate […] “firsts”, identity politics […] cabinet evil […] 1st pres to enter before key advisors […]  Trump’s narc abuse farewell, ‘have a nice life; we’ll be back in some form’ […] “oxygen shortages” […] US imperialism vs Venezuela continues […] immigration: Mediterranean Sea’s dangerous migration routes […] Biden exec order bans golden parachutes and lobbying, if Cabinet members bail before end of term […] whistle-blower Reality Winner has been imprisoned, abused, sexually assaulted by her jailers […]

06:00 KPFK Stephanie Miller Show [TP] Tom H pitches kpfk cross-promotion […] 06:30 PST, on the legal logic of Trump pardons.  Trump loyalists asking for a pardon. But 45 was advised that doing so would imply knowledge of crimes, knowledge of which would render him complicit and, thus, legally exposed.  […]  As we seek to avoid divisiveness, we strive to afford everyone, including our ideological opponents, the benefit of the doubt.  With our radar on high alert, Stephanie and side-kick’s name-calling against the “Red Hats” and “Trumpies” and whatnot smacks of divisiveness.  Even as I write this, I think of my own past where I have engaged in name-calling.  If mutual respect is the end, mutual respect must be the starting point.  Stable mutual respect across ideologies is much more difficult, if we begin with disrespect, or lack of respect for one another.  Violence does not require concern for the other; in that regard, violence is an easier path than peace.  But we are all Americans.  And we all do have concern for one another.  And that concern must inform how we interact with one another, as we seek to coexist.  Only then, will Americans be able to understand each other.  Now, when it comes to Neo-Nazis, white supremacists, and white nationalists, what more is there to understand?  Any ideology, which regards one “race”, or ethnicity, above any other, will only lead to dispossession and the abuse of power.  America must denounce racist and narcissistic ideologies because they are an impediment to a free and open society.  If Americans aren’t clear on this, we are headed for recurring and increasingly virulent crises. History teaches us how societies rise and fall.  […]  06:52 PST, speakers expressed their great pleasure with Biden’s political performance. “He really feels it,” said the co-host guy.  He doesn’t see what we see, that Biden is alienating the 74 million, who rejected him.  Biden is pushing his agenda before he is making any attempts to win over the 74 million, who correctly recognize he is nothing more than another establishment politician.  […]  One male black-sounding speaker just name-dropped being on the Bill Maher show.  Is he more interested in social name-climbing than social justice?  […]  06:58, local announcements

06:00 PST, WPFW > […] 06:58 PST, public service announcement [TP]

07:00 PST, WBAI > fund drive mode: please support free speech radio. Take Back the People’s Airwaves!  07:03 PST, Gary Null helped fundraise for WBAI.  Pacifica Radio is not, nor should it ever be, corporate-sponsored.

07:00 PST, KPFK > Sojourner Truth with Margaret Prescod > intro > KPFA News Headlines with Aileen Alfandary > [TP] […]  “pandemic assistance program” Biden fired extremely “anti-union” cabinet member?  This sounds like a patsy is being thrown under the bus, Trump loyalists will feel wronged without a concerted effort to dialogue so as to justify decisions and to take the opportunity to address the public beyond a soundbite with the necessary information to explain to all American people why unions and organized labor are important things. […]  07:12 PST, archive audio of Biden’s Inaugural Address.  Biden’s tone sounds, like he’s scolding his children.  It seems he’s trying to convey strength in his tone, maybe to avoid sounding like a “snowflake“.  But, instead, he only sounds entitled, or self-righteous.  And we’re not even invoking his many sins, which could surely fill many pages of writing, if we really started to put his political track record under the microscope. But we want to stay present in the moment.  So, we are giving the new president the benefit of the doubt, for now.  But Biden’s first 100 days are already raising red flags for many of us, who tuned in to Democracy Now! this morning and heard about Biden’s cabinet appointments and slew of executive orders. […]  07:19, Jill Cartwright (Southerners On New Ground), “We still have to address the insurrection” […]  Is there a “rural-urban divide”?  Are rural people more aligned with right-wing politics than urban people? [TP] […]  MP seemed to ask: ‘Can activists walk and chew gum at the same time?  Can they tell the difference between the political class and the activist class?  This is a long-standing MP talking point, which seems to serve to absolve the Democrat Party from their unholy alliance with corporations and the American ruling class.  […]  07:28 PST, guest Bill on Biden and the environment. […]  Biden:  “I’ll fire you on the spot.”  Like Obama, Biden is pushing the power of the state and the culture of government up, further away from libertariam principles and closer towards authoritarianism.  […]  “It’s a way to go.  And it’s a start,” said guest. “It’s hopeful.”  Evidently, our Stockholm Syndrome has severely lowered our standards.  Without a mass movement on the streets, how can the people “pressure” the Biden administration?  What choice do Democrat voters have? Many, who voted for Obama saw through the neoliberalism, then fell for the fake populism of Mr. Trump, thinking he was an outsider, who would oppose the neoliberal deep state agenda. Many uninformed followers still think so.  Well, as best we can tell, we’re not giving them many opportunities for free speech.

07:00 – 09:00 PST, KPFA > UpFront > […] [TP] A prisoner speaks out on the inhumane conditions in ICE detainment. They even sleep masked for fear of covid infection. [TP]  […]  advocating for reparations for Oakland’s black students.  Where’s the advocacy for brown students? Where’s the advocacy for poor white students?  Where’s the advocacy for poor students?  Do we really need reparations for wealthy black students?  Is the core issue race, or poverty, or capitalist exploitation, which creates hierarchies, and divides us, and pits us against each other?  […]  “school closures” “pushout” > 08:40 PST, On Biden’s first 100 days, ‘they will smash on white supremacists’ […]

09:00 – 10:00 PST, WBAI > Gary Null TP … 0938 tp.  Excellent, Gary.  Thank you for saying what many of us have been thinking.  It’s interesting that a health show has provided the most honest assessment of the state of the nation, putting liberals to shame.

10:00 PST, WBAI > Leonard Lopate At Large

09:00 PST, KPFK > The Tom Hartman Show [TP]

1030 bai labor

11:00 PST, KPFA > The Talkies > (see voice notes) [TP].  This broadcast was very disappointing. I will transcribe my voice notes, if time constraints allow.  Our family duties always come first.  After our families are cared for and safe, and we have spare time, then, we can turn our attentions to the ills of society as well as the sources of hope and possibility.  Until then, we implore those people of conscience, people of means, to not squander your free time.  Be sincere, and sincerely work for socioeconomic justice.  Please do not lie by omission.

1200 kpfa tp debunking the myths of the south

1300 Bookwaves/Cover to Cover with Richard Wokinsky, kpfa TP chris hedges (5 May 2015, circa Wages of Rebellion) and ralph steadman, artist for hunter thompson.  Nice, topics, Richard! Yes, I remember this talk!  This is apros pros.  We remember critiquing C Hedges back during Obama’s first presidential campaign.  So glad Hedges eventually saw the light and had the courage to speak honestly. […] “proto-fascist”, more accurate than RCP’s language. Hedges proved himself quite prophetic with this talk.  13:30 PST, Interesting.  Ralph Steadman sounds like a Brit.  It makes sense that he says he wasn’t cut out for factory work.  Who is? […]

13:00 PST, WPFW > jazz: female vocal version of Stevie Wonder’s “I Just Called (To Say I Love You)” with piano, drums, and double bass accompaniment.

13:00 PST, WBAI > Democracy Now! > […] 13:43 PST, music break

14:00 PST, WBAI > Driving Forces > talk (liberal, bourgeois; see voice notes), topic, liberal/bourgeois summary of yesterday’s inauguration.

14:00 PST, WPFW > […] Reclaiming the real MLK.  One black-sounding man on the panel, maybe Jasiri X, said, he never knew before today’s broadcast that Dr. King, like Malcolm X, saw through the falseness of the Democrat Party. TP] 1432, ‘cops are attacked by other cops and the status quo for trying to do good’ all we need is to discuss the book, An Act of State[…] 1435, kat Brooks [TP]  14:55, kB, ‘a journalist recently got snatched up by cops and detained until they looked at all of the pictures he took.  This reminds me of the recent DN! news reports about a whistle-blower, who faced a police state night-raid for contradicting covid statistics. No, inflation rates weren’t being inflated, but deflated!  That’s the opposite of what I had suspected.  I had suspected, if this whole COVID-1984 scenario we’re all living through was a deep state inside job, then those forces would want to inflate the covid numbers to justify a ratcheting up of the American police state.  I was wrong. […]  15:00, “Oscar Grant”, KB:  ‘we gotta unite across this country, if we’re gonna succeed’  again, that’s what one caller said the other morning, Tuesday, I think, to Brian Edward-Tiekert.  He refused to engage with the question.  Oftentimes, his behavior on-air, and that of his liberal political faction within KPFA is very concerning because it often functions counter to the interests of grassroots social justice activists. One speaker talked of unity….I said the same to BET circa 2007

15:00 PST, WPFW > [TP] “pedagogy of the oppressed”.   What an excellent discussion.  Please listen to this, audio archives are available online. (I’ll add links, as time constraints allow.)

15:18 bai [TP] ‘nuclear issues study group, action coming up on Friday

15:00 – 16:00 [TP] RISING Up disappointing, Sonali advocated Biden working with “corporations”, like Republicans, as if Clinton didn’t alteady start that […] like kris welch, no mention of “stand down” on 6th. Even this chat on psychology of Trump obfuscates more accurate analysis previously aired on wpfw citing a study of 70K physicians who warned Trump was a “reactive narcissist”.  See Inner Integration, Dr. George Simon, Ross Rosenberg, et al.  This RU chat lies by omission […]  15:50, disappointing, psych lady just condoned cancel culture (ie, banning Trump from social media) on free speech radio.  Shame on Sonali for not calling out that bullshit (cf. Philosopher harry Frankfurt)

19:00 PST, WPFW [DC] > real jazz, what Nina Simone called “black classical”, as “jazz” was originally a derogatory term with racist connotations.  This music takes me back to my time studying harmony and musicianship at the College of San Mateo with the late, great Charles “Chas” Gustavson.  His wife worked with the Tilson Orchestra in San Francisco. And “Gus”, as we called him could play just about anything. He played the thickest chords on the piano in our classroom, stacking 7ths, 9ths, 11ths!  And chord inversions, relative keys.  He was truly a master of his craft.  Musicianship seems to have gone out of fashion. But it’s amazing to experience. I’ll never forget when Gus played Monk for us, after he learned my brother and I were fans.

19:22 WBAI > music, Americana

19:24 kpfk > talk, politics “eviction moratorium”, ‘American Indians/Native Americans’, “equity”, “the crisis”

1927 KPFA > Apex Express > Woman discussed her family’s history of Japanese internment camps, US history

***

[These are my raw notes. I will expand and edit, as time constraints allow. TP = transcript pending volunteer labor. Please help transcribe breaking news and information. It’s urgent that we document the people’s narrative of the events of January 6th and President Biden’s response in his administration’s first 100 days, which have been situated historically in the aftermath of American social relations left in the wake of the 6th.  We seek diversity of perspectives; so, we seek perspectives not often found on corporate media. But we must not get corralled into narrow silos of thought, theory, or action. Please, also monitor corporate media and right-wing media, too, lest we get caught off guard again. Solidarity.]

***

[21 JAN 2021]

[Last modified on 21 JAN 2021 at 18:58 PST]

Day Ten | The Proto-Fascist Assaults of January 6th

15 Fri Jan 2021

Posted by in Anti-Capitalism, Anti-Fascism, Anti-Narcissism, Anti-Racism, Anti-Totalitarianism

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LUMPENPROLETARIAT—In the summer of 2016, America just wasn’t looking in such hot shape. “From poisoned water and police violence in our cities, to gun massacres and hate-mongering on the presidential campaign trail, evidence that America [was] at war with itself [was] everywhere around us. The question [was] not whether or not [it was] happening, but how to understand the forces at work in order to prevent conditions from getting worse. Henry A. Giroux [offered us] a powerful, far-reaching critique of the economic interests, cultural dimensions, and political dynamics involved in the nation’s shift toward increasingly abusive forms of power. His analysis [helped some] of us […] frame critical questions about what can and should be done to turn things around while we can.”  That is, before the fascists finally succeed in a violent coup and permanently close our open society, as Naomi Wolff warned us back in 2007 with The End of America: A Letter of Warning to a Young Patriot.  Unfortunately, not enough Americans are reading these days.  Our political, historical, and intellectual tools must always be sharpened. And the best way is to read, or listen to, books.  Watch informative videos.  Be true to reality.   Find like-minded people.  Self-educate for correct political action.

“Reflecting on a wide range of social issues, Giroux contrasts Donald Trump’s America with Sandra Bland’s to understand who really benefits from politically fueled intolerance for immigrants, communities of color, Muslims, low-income families, and those who challenge state and corporate power. A passionate advocate for civil rights and the importance of the imagination, Giroux argues that only through widespread social investment in democracy and education can the common good hope to prevail over the increasingly concentrated influence of extreme right-wing politicians and self-serving economic interests.”

That was 2016.  Everyone underestimated just how dangerous Trump can be.  Now, it’s 2021.  America has reached over 24 million COVID-19 infections and almost 400,000 covid-related deaths.  National Geographic reported last April that the American death toll has surpassed the so-called Vietnam War. Many Americans understand Trump failed his nation with his narcissistic abuse and gaslighting, acting like there was no problem until many of us were infected.  It bears repeating, but liberals, who were surprised by the fascist events of January 6th, need to read up on their American History X. Dr. Peter Dale Scott is a good place to start for adults.  Dr. James Loewen or Dr. Howard Zinn are good places to start for kids.  The problem is, we, Americans see what we want to see and hear what we want to hear when it suits us.  Too many of us have veered off into our own little narcissistic bubbles, where we attempt to deny the pain and suffering of everyone around us, so that we can feed on narcissistic supply. 

I suspect the latest literature on narcissistic personality disorder spectra, particularly around “reactive narcissism”, as explained by Dr. James McIntosh on Pacifica Radio this week, will give us many tools to help us explain the psychological dimensions of this mental illness known as “racism”.  We may find these social pathologies may constitute a cluster of disorders, similar to how we have “Cluster-B” personality disordered type people.  We may find common features to mindsets, like “racism”, fascism, and narcissism.

“Reflecting on a wide range of social issues, Giroux [contrasted] Donald Trump’s America with Sandra Bland’s to understand who really benefits from politically-fueled intolerance for immigrants, communities of color, Muslims, low-income families, and those who challenge state and corporate power. A passionate advocate for civil rights and the importance of the imagination, Giroux argues that only through widespread social investment in democracy and education can the common good hope to prevail over the increasingly concentrated influence of extreme right-wing politicians and self-serving economic interests.”

Alas, I’m afraid not enough of us were up to that task, which Dr. Giroux and others laid out for us back in 2016, and even earlier.  It’s clear the solution involves action.  We begin to self-educate for correct political action.  Then, we take action.  Let’s get involved in any way, which feels right to us.  As we grow, mature, and evolve, so can our politics and our civic engagement.

As I’m taking my spare time to study and understand the fascist events of January 6th, I’m returning to the warning signs many of us missed.  It’s never too late to learn to identify red flags, whether in interpersonal relationships or in politics.  Dr. Henry Giroux has been clueing us in to many of those red flags.  Bourgeois politics has simply failed to provide a meaningful response to the neoliberal assaults on human beings around the world.   In retrospect, Dr. Giroux’s book, America At War With Itself, seems prophetic at this particular historical moment.

@LumpenProles

***

City Lights Publishers, Aug 22, 2016 – Political Science – 320 pages

Here’s what people have been saying today about the Events of January 6th and more about the current state of our nation. Consider downloading the Pacifica Radio app for easy access to some cool free speech radio stations across the nation.  We can also listen live online, or access audio archives at KPFA, WBAI, WPFW, and KPFK. For now, these are our notes, which will serve future scholarship.  If they help you help America be better, good.  If not, we always appreciate constructive criticism.  May we always think of others…

Friday, January 15, 2021

04:35 PST, WPFW > music (blues)

04:38 PST, WBAI > talk. linguistics, “out-of-Africa theory”, etc.

04:00 – 05:00 PST, KPFA > 04:42 PST, talk/babble (satirical jibberish)

KPFK > Something’s Happening A > […] > The Thom Hartmann Show (rerun) > […] 04:40 PST, [TP] On the fascist events of January 6th.  04:45 PST, “I’m more convinced that this is more sinister than we imagine.”  TH:  ‘I believe within the party that there is some bifurcation. Some were in on it.  Some weren’t.  At least ten weren’t willing to LIHOP.’  I dunno, Tom.  Those ten could be shills for the GOP, just to give liberals like you that flimsy talking point your upholding about a bifurcation. A 50/50 split, even 60/40 might seem like a “bifurcation”.  But just ten Republicans.  No.  04:48 PST, Greg Palast [TP] corroborated report about women’s group plan for rally, keystone cops ‘were told there would be no rally’.  But black folks, in the east coast, especially on WPFW, have been saying the DC mayor was asking for police staffing and back up before Wednesday.  But her requests were put on hold, on review for approval, and were ultimately ignored. Palast seems unaware of this notion that the cops were caught off guard.  The first person I heard push this narrative was an FBI man interviewed on Pacifica Radio this week. Let that sink in.

05:00 PST – 06:00 PST, KPFK > Something’s Happening B > Democracy Now! News Headlines. […] 05:17 PST, First Look/The Intercept fired Laura Poitras.  WTF?!  Okay, Jeremy Scahill, what now?  The Intercept is looking quite vile now. 05:18 PST, The Tom Hartmann Show (rerun)

05:00 PST, KPFA > […] Prof on the deplatforming of Donald Trump. > 05:33 PST, On MLK history […, 05:43]

05:00 PST, WPFW [DC] & WBAI [NYC] (simulcast) > Democracy Now![…] 05:44 PST, polio vaccine documentary, Around the World, excerpt.

05:00 PST, KPFK > […] Economic Update > 05:44 PST, On the fascist events of January 6th. Tp who is working class?

06:00 PST, The Stephanie Miller Show > […] 06:31 PST, “Corey Bush is my new spirit animal.”  Clip. “I could feel their sphincter snap shut!”  […]  “Ha-ha-ha-ha-ha!!!”  “You know what made my blood boil?  [They side-stepped metal detectors to walk in armed.]  It was Blue Lives Only Matter.”  […] Capitol Police officer killed himself after this. […] [TP]

06:24 PST, Meanwhile, I’m getting a report from my ‘cousin’ commuting on 580 West out of Tracy (CA) toward the SF Bay Area of one of those giant trucks with a giant flag waving in the fast lane on a giant flag pole.  When I see those trucks going by, usually aggressively speeding past everyone in some vulgar display of white privilege and male patriarchy, I feel that sinking feeling, which Meredith Miller describes at Inner Integration when one feels the approach of a narcissistic abuser.

06:00 PST, WPFW > […] 06:35 PST, music (hip hop; ’90s jazzy style) 06:37 PST, interview about climate activism, “scarcity to abundance”, “mobilize to organize”, “What is Afro-Futurism?” Destiny Hodges(sp?).

06:00 PST, WBAI > Brent Michael Phillips, again, “you will clear hundreds of subconscious blocks” “I’m also including my trauma clearing process”, which uses a special encoding based on aural beats, which puts your brain into a theta state.  “It’s amazingly powerful.”  Yo, that’s some far out shit.  I’m gonna call it snake oil, though, if this dude is price-gouging Pacifica Radio listeners.  I never really heard of this guy before I turned on Pacifica Radio to tune in for coverage of the fascist events of January 6th.  We ain’t got time for this bloke right now. If he’s legit, or not, leave your comments below.

06:47 PST, Amy Goodman implicitly cheerleads for vaccine corporations by holding up the polio vaccine.  But the primary mode of polio transmission is a fecal-oral route.  We can see how sanitation and a vaccine could virtually eliminate the polio virus.  But the coronovirus doesn’t need a fecal-oral route.  As far as we know, the existing science and literature is clear that people with symptoms are contagious via saliva, droplets and breathing in confined spaces.  News reports after the 6th reported that Democrat congress members have become infected with the coronovirus after being confined in close quarters with Republican congress members, who refused to wear a mask.  The coronovirus is like the flu virus, in the sense that it is expected to be seasonal and to mutate.  We’ve already seen at least one variant, which may render the first vaccine useless.  If it takes a year or more to develop a vaccine, but the variants are coming faster than the new vaccines can be developed, produced, distributed, and administered, then we can see how this may be an uphill battle to contain the pandemic.  It’s disappointing Amy Goodman didn’t point this out, apparently, in her zeal to counter ant8-vaxxers.  The public discourse gets dumbed down in the process, however.  06:54 PST, Noam Chomsky clip; then back to interview with the son of polio vaccine inventor.  “Who profits from these vaccines, Dr. Salk(sp?)?”, asked Amy Goodman.  “There needs to be a creative cooperation […]”

07:00 PST, KPFA > Biden:  “We can’t not not afford to […] [?] 2020 is the hottest year on record, each year has been hotter than the previous year for the last six years.  Our planet is clearly heating up.  Greta Thunberg appeals to the apathetic bourgeoisie around the world, who reply with a collective yawn.  >  UpFront > host Janine Edder(sp?) > topic: Uganda > guest: Prof. Horace Campbell.  “Idi Amin” “brutal” leader.  Ugandan history is about British colonialism.  South = coffee.  North = ?  British used a divide and conquer strategy, which is like the narcissistic abuser behavior of instigating conflict and then sitting back and feeding on the narcissistic supply.  (Cf. Meredith Miller, Inner Integration)  […]

07:00 PST, WPFW > […] Dr. Gerald Horne […]  07:14 PST, “the money was apparently transferred from western Europe” […] to fund the so-called ‘Insurrection’.  This corroborates what anti-racist watch observers have been saying.  There are social networks being established by northern Europeans.  YouTuber Lasse Burholt is one example, which started popping up on my YouTube feed, after I started monitoring right-wing media.  07:19 PST, “Headlines & Happenings”

07:00 PST, WBAI > […] 07:20 PST, talk, interview about guest’s craft of preparing “comfort food” […] 

07:00 PST, KPFK > SojournerTruth with Margaret Prescod > 07:23 PST, “deep patriarchal” structure.  Jackie Goldberg. [TP]  Are we, Americans, so afraid of the word conspiracy, such that we don’t see the Q-Anon conspirators sitting in Congress?  “I do think that this is a very dangerous time.”  “These death threats […]”

08:00 PST, WPFW > […] 08:40 PST, talk, last 15 min were bullshit bourgeois analysis, name-calling and ad hominem attacks against the demonstrators and rioters.  (See audio note.)  All apologies, but these liberal talking heads sound sedated and politically comatose.  Earlier in the hour, a male caller tried to expand the analysis and explanations for the fascist events of January 6th beyond a simple race narrative.  The caller pointed out the crimes of state, which Obama presided over, evidencing the police state and imperialist nature of the Obama administration.  These bourgeois talking heads dismissed him, then proceeded to spout platitudes. Presumably, they’re partisan Democrats, who can’t take criticism, like lame narcissists.  I’d like to debate these blokes on this pont because it’s a serious one.  We need to be clear on our analysis, as Carl Dix reminds us.

09:00 PST, KPFA > Democracy Now! > […] [TP] 0930, guy just gave good analysis, but his blind spot is white nationalism.  He underestimates how deep racism goes at the core of the American deep state (cf. Dr. Peter Dale Scott) […] [TP] Nina Simone – ” I Wish I Knew How It Feels To Be Free”  Indeed.  Cf. The Idles.

10:00 PST, KPFK > The Michael Slate Show > real talk about the fascist assaults of January 6th. […]  This was a scrappy broadcast, but a very important one.  I have never felt such authenticity from her before.  She represented the non-intellectual working class types in a way.  She brought diversity to the discussion. Growing pains.

11:00 PST, KPFK > Global Village > music (tropical, Brazilian)

11:00 PST, WBAI > Neurodiversity > White-sounding lady talks about her politics around autism spectrum self-advocacy and advocacy.  People of color can benefit from taking her certitude, white privilege (perhaps), language of identity politics, but use it to be more demanding about our requirements for human dignity.  Natalie Tanduway(sp?).  Julia from Autistic Advocacy Network.  Maybe people of color don’t; maybe I’m projecting. Hm.

1100 KPFA VOMENA(?) “Palestinian””ethnic studies” California. CDE rollback of ethnic studies.

11:30 PST, WBAI > EcoLogic.

11:00 PST, WPFW > 11:44 PST, talk. [TW] On the fascist assaults of January 6th.

12:00 PST, KPFA > KPFA News Headlines [TP] Reports say pro-Trump loyalists in DC last week planned to assassinate politicians. > Special Broadcast on the fascist assaults of January 6th. [TW] White-sounding guy began with introduction.  ‘Ali Alexander has gone into hiding.’ Earlier it was reported the guy with horns author Talia was talking about with KPFA’s Mitch Jeserich. Is that guy really a terrorist?  He struck me as an anti-statist hedonist, an individualist. […]  12:20 PST, “The first block is the soft coup block.” [TP]  ‘The second block is the hard coup block.”  […]  “The thin blue line is this idealized space.”  […]  ‘Rudy Giuliani called the wrong people, leaving voicemails to conspire for the 6th.  […]  “the new militias” are not like the Michigan militias, which were pro-Constitution motivated.  These guys are white nationalists.  Let’s not forget about CIA disinformation in right-wing media.  This white-sounding guy is providing excellent analysis, which is quite consistent with our perspective here at Lumpenproletariat.  We need more experts like this guy, also the guy from Southern Poverty Law Center we heard on Pacifica Radio last week.  […]  On Q-Anon:  ‘Following Q-Anon hurts my brain.’  But the anti-semitic Q-Anon narrative has some grains of truth to it with the whole Epstein scandal and Bill Clinton’s exposure and others implicated in Jeffrey Epstein’s sex trafficking and blackmailing scandal. […]  12:36 PST, ‘messianic narratives and the end times, like ISIS.  The speaker isn’t saying it, but I’m reminded of K Street and an interview Mitch Jeserich about the house on K Street, where The Family lives.  Netflix made a documentary series based on the same book, I think.  But “The Family” is a cult-like group, who are influential in Washington, D.C. and Congress.  These elites believe that an apocalyptic conflagration between good and evil will take place, which will usher in the return of Christ or something. So, in that narrative ), funding and backing Israel is essential.  So, this may help explain America’s exorbitant expenditures in backing up the illegal occupation of Palestine.  […]  it’s “a death cult”. 12:44 PST, From listening to this analysis, it seems that CIA, et al have mastered manipulating ‘useful idiots’, peaking with 9/11-related terrorism.  And, now, turning their cross hairs towards  their ultimate enemy—Americans. […] 12:49 PST, On the contrast between the benign depictions or “optics” on TV versus the violent reality on the ground. That smacks of a corporate media ‘stand-down’, as it were. […] 12:55 PST, ‘They didn’t just kill the cop. They knocked his ass out, dragged him, then beat him to death.’ Let that sink in, America. These thugs have overdosed on hate speech and have become outright fascists. We need to listen to these experts, who have been monitoring these groups. They are being used and manipulated by the American ruling class to advance an anti-working class, anti-labor, antidemocratic, pro-fascist, pro-capitalist, racist, and narcissistic agenda.

12:00 PST. WPFW > […] 12:11 PST, “The Fantastic Friday Show” with Bobby Rocks(sp?).  12:12 PST, black-sounding American with a rant of righteous indignation. Well said.  12:13 PST, jazzy hip hop instrumental track. […]  12:47 PST, music; later-era Marvin Gaye sounds.

12:00 PST, WBAI > […] 12:15 PST, On the fascist assaults of January 6th. [TW]  “There will be violence.”  No wonder Trump’s wife had announced she was planning to divorce him recently.  Maybe she knew something we didn’t.  Maybe she wanted to avoid culpability in what she saw as a losing strategy. But I’m only speculating.  It’d be interesting to investigate and see where that question leads.

12:00 PST, KPFK > […] 12:50 PST, music (Brazilian).

13:00 PST, KPFA > Project Censored Show > Kevin Gastola(sp?) with an update on the 6th, Assange update, and more. [TW]

14:00 PST, KPFA > On the fascist assaults on January 6th, and parsing the loyalist mob groupings. Bundy Family and other standoffs

[These are my raw notes. I will expand and edit, as time constraints allow.  TP = transcript pending volunteer labor. Please help transcribe breaking news and information. It’s urgent that we document the people’s narrative of the events of January 6th.  Please, also monitor corporate media and right-wing media, too.  Solidarity. ]

***

[14 JAN 2021]

[Last modified on 23 JAN 2021 at 20:04 PST]

Jacobin | The CIA’s Secret Global War Against the Left

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LUMPENPROLETARIAT—Even as a kid, growing up in California, much of this was pretty obvious to me (and, I imagine, to others) even back then. But it’s refreshing to find corroborating evidence to end the gaslighting.  One social studies teacher at San Mateo High School did her best to answer my questions about what was going on in Russia at the time, circa 1990.  But it came in a hushed whisper after class, only me and my homie, who stayed after class, heard this bit.  What they need is glasnost without perestroika. Or was it, perestroika without glasnost?  Sepa la chingada.  Hay que leer mas.  She sure seemed right on.  But the streets… 

Something keeps calling… me… I feel the burdens on me… Something keeps calling… me… This is so heavy for me…

Raphael Saadiq, “Something Keeps Calling“

Another high school teacher searched for answers to my restless questioning and simply ripped a piece of paper and wrote the name: “Noam Chomsky“. She said, “Read him.”  The sincerity and earnestness in her idealistic Latin American face seemed to hope I would read Chomsky.  I had no idea, who Chomsky was.  But, deep inside, I believed her; and I hoped I would follow through.  To read something, which was corroborating my teenage suspicions would have been like salvation because it would have ended the gaslighting so much sooner.  And it would have been me practicing what I preached.  But teenagers are moody and fickle.  They need guidance.

But, wait, why did I have to learn about the great Dr. Noam Chomsky via a snippet of paper with two words on it, passed hand to hand, as we happened to pass by each other on campus after school?  Why wasn’t the work of Noam Chomsky taught widely in the classroom?  What does this say about our nation, that an educator could only informally present valid information and analysis to a student?  Were we living under fascist censorship?  Has anything changed?  This was like secret information I was getting here, a secret tip pointing to the reality behind the veil.  But it also seemed to confirm all of the best educators, the most liberating educators, were all marginalized.

Forty-five years ago, under a cloak of secrecy, Operation Condor was officially launched: a global campaign of violent repression against the Latin American left by the region’s quasi-fascist military dictatorships. The US government not only knew about the program — it helped to engineer it.

Jacobin, December 2020

Basically, my whole entire life, forces within my government have been engaging in the erasure of the left and of grassroots democracy movements around the world.  Everything good and just and fair and kind, which my American teachers taught me and our great American leaders, Martin and Malcolm, taught me was thrown under the bus by the fake consumerist world of corporate America.  Teenagers can see through the bullshit of society.  Unfortunately, they usually lack the emotional intelligence to process it all.  My moral guidance came from my peers, or at least the only guidance I valued at the time.  So, I was a fool, disregarding the best intentions of my overworked parents.  It all seemed like bullshit.  But instead of reading Chomsky, like the kind educator lady was advising me, and becoming a serious scholar as a teenager.  I dropped out, or rather tested out of high school at 15, thinking it was all bullshit.  

Fuck the white education; so, I skipped a lot of classes…

MC Eiht, quoted in “Hood Took Me Under“, from Music to Driveby, Compton’s Most Wanted

But it wasn’t all bullshit.  I had work to do.  I just couldn’t see it.  There was a real, meaningful intellectual battle going on in the nation. And not everyone in institutions of power was insincere. It wasn’t totally bleak. I carried on as if there were no honest intellectuals out there; or I just wasn’t up to the task of reading as a lumpenproletarian teenager, despite the support of a few angelic teachers.  I can’t explain it.  If I do, perhaps it may explain why so few people today read scholars and experts, such as Noam Chomsky, who are so accurate and articulate about the world around us and can teach us so much.  Who knows?

Even as a high school drop out, dropped into the lumpenproletariat, so many sociological truths seemed so blatantly evident, that it’s disturbing to find institutional silence to injustice. It can be traumatic and disturbing to learn about so many horrible atrocities, killings, coup de tats, political destabilization, and other crimes of state committed by U.S. intelligence agencies to the point that we must question their very legitimacy.  One must overcome such trauma, rejoin the academic life, and adhere to the responsibility of intellectuals, as argued by Dr. Noam Chomsky, to search for the truth and to expose lies. To become responsible intellectuals, teenagers need mentors and role models to act as sounding boards to their teenage angst. Teens see the bullshit of society all around them, but then are gaslighted by the fake norms of institutions of power seeking to gloss over their abuses and failings, by schools and school districts, by police agencies and city councils, by environmental polluters and slumlords, by radio networks and TV networks, by all types of powerful institutions, who abuse their power. All of those institutions tell kids, everything is fine.  They manufacture consent.  They inhibit questioning through their abuse of power.

So, the youth might self-censor and become fake to get along in a sham corporate world, where the ills of society are airbrushed out. Or the youth might become withdrawn, unwittingly disillusioned with the emptiness of capitalist modes of production, mired in what Prof. John Vervaeke calls the meaning crisis.  This might overlap with the generation of apathetic millenials, which Simon Sinek makes viral videos about.  I’m reminded of the corporate media descriptions of apathetic shoe-gazing Generation X of the 1990s.    

21st century youth might learn to never complain, to always keep their mouths shut, to always follow instructions, to never question a single thing, and to earn their little piece of the racist empire, which preys on weaker nations around the world.

But isolated, atomized, individually or in little pods, we lose our collective power. To fulfill the responsibility of intellectuals requires a community. Rappers and singer-songwriters, folk singers, and poets, filmmakers, authors, and other artists have long exposed lies and uncomfortable truths. It’s only a lack of grit or our own inability to stomach our own reality, which has prevented us from calling out bullshit, when perpetrated by our own people or allies. But we must always speak out when we find the truth in order to expose lies and, hopefully, save lives.

Messina

***

Forty-five years ago, under a cloak of secrecy, Operation Condor was officially launched: a global campaign of violent repression against the Latin American left by the region’s quasi-fascist military dictatorships. The US government not only knew about the program — it helped to engineer it.

In Buenos Aires, a former Chilean general returns home, opens his garage door, and is blasted thirteen feet in the air when his car explodes, incinerating his wife. A conservative opponent of the country’s military dictatorship and his wife take an afternoon walk on the streets of Rome and are swiftly gunned down. On a rainy autumn morning, a car blows up in the middle of Washington, DC’s Embassy Row, killing two of the three inside: a leader of Chile’s opposition in exile and his newlywed American friend.

These were just some of the most prized scalps claimed by Operation Condor, officially inaugurated forty-five years and two days ago. With South America in the grip of military dictatorships and rocked by the same kinds of social and political movements that were demanding change all over the world in the 1960s and ’70s, a handful of the continent’s governments made a pact to work together to roll back the rising tide of “subversives” and “terrorists.”

What followed was a secret, global campaign of violent repression that spanned not just countries, but continents, and featured everything from abduction and torture to murder. To say it was known about by the US government, which backed these regimes, is an understatement: though even this simple fact was denied at the time, years of investigations and document releases since then mean that we now know the CIA and top-ranking US officials supported, laid the groundwork for, and were even directly involved in Condor’s crimes.

— snip —

Learn more at JACOBIN MAGAZINE.

***

[29 DEC 2020]

[Last modified on 11 JAN 2021 at 04:21 PST]