Andre Gorz: Farewell to the Proletariat

Andre Gorz (1923-2007) was the pen name of Gérard Horst (he also used other names) went from being a prominent Marxist to a critic of Marxism. Born in Vienna Austria, in 1939 he moved to Switzerland and thus managed to survive the war. After the war he moved to France and became involved with Marxism during its glory days of the middle twentieth century.

His book Farewell to the Proletariat (published 1980) starts by criticizing the Marxist theory of the proletariat. The theory of the revolutionary proletariat was not based on fact but on theory. Marx took Hegel's dialectical theory of history and replaced Geist spirit with the working class. Gorz then points out that automation and computerization have eliminated the skilled working class, and replaced them with a mass of unskilled workers, who lack the initiative to become a revolutionary class.

Trump Has Failed at Foreign Policy

North Korea has launched a new missile which it claims can hit all of the US. Can it really hit the US? Truth is we really don't want to know. This shows the failure of Trump's approach to foreign policy. Trump thought he could bluff and bluster North Korea into compliance. But the North Koreans called his bluff and now he has no response. Basically, Trump failed and the US is much less safe than a year ago.

Will Demos Enter the Post-Clinton Era?

Last week Democrats won the governorships in Virginia and New Jersey, and the also did better than expected in several state-wide races. It's good to see that Trumpism finally causing a backlash, in some of the more civilized parts of the country at any rate. However, anti-Goper sentiment will only go so far.

GOP Plan to Screw the Middle Class

Congressional GOP rolled out their tax plan, after much stumbling. The plan contains (big surprise) big tax for rich individuals and corporations. But it would also limit mortgage deductions and property tax deductions. It would also eliminate state and local tax deductions. It comes down to the GOP cutting taxes for the rich, at the expense of the middle class. Which shows what their real priorities are.

Toward the Brink

The special counsel has indicted Paul Manafort and his associate Rick Gates on 12 counts including money laundering and tax evasion. At the same time George Papadapoulos, a former Trump campaign advisor, pleaded guilty to lying about his contacts with Russian officials. It is uncertain where things will go from here. Will Congressional Gopers continue to back Trump? Will Trump "pre-emptively" pardon Manafort? Will Trump still try to fire Robert Mueller?

This is no ordinary political scandal. This has the potential of a major constitutional crisis.

Trump's Bullshit Populism

Trump has been President for 9 months and he has no legislative accomplishment to show for it. His "infrastructure program" is out the window. His attempt to repeal the affordable care act failed. He might however have some legislation to point to. The GOPer congress has just passed a measure that would bar consumers from suing banks. Odd considering how Trump spent the campaign railing against the banks. It shows what his real agenda was. It also shows that he is a pathological liar. So much for his "populism."

Catalonia Update

It seems that Puigdemont, the wannabe "liberator" of Catalonia is getting cold feet or something. Instead of declaring independence he says he wants to "negotiate." At the same time he is asking the European Union for help. The EU however doesn't seem to be interested. Even if they did, however, Catalonia would not become an independent nation but a satellite statelet like Slovenia or Montenegro. Puigdemont isn't George Washington or Thomas Jefferson but is more like Donald Trump: a demagogue who riled up his followers and led them off a cliff.

Trump Doctrine Sheds American Blood

In the insanity that is the Trump presidency one very important story got lost. Last week four American Special Forces were killed in Niger (not to be confused with Nigeria.) Why they were is not very clear. Supposedly, they were on a "training" mission. In war zones the difference between "training" and fighting often becomes blurred. Trump claims that his policy will not be based upon nation building but "killing terrorists." However, it seems that he is repeating the same over-aggressive policies as Bush II, and doing it in an even stupider way.

The Perils of Secession Mania

There have recently been secessionist votes in two different areas--Kurdistan and Catalonia--which while different threaten to upset international politics. In Iraq, the possible break up of the country would bring the collapse of the American efforts since 2003. In Spain the possibility of real war in western Europe should concern everybody.

The question of nationality and statehood is complicated. It depends on the issues. If the questions are policy matters that could be resolved peacefully, then secessionism is not justified. Going to war just on emotion-- like the CSA or Biafra-- is never justified.

Ken Burns Get Vietnam Wrong

Ken Burns documentary on the Vietnam War has turned out to be a disappointment. It is a strangely schizophrenic piece of work, torn between the squalid reality of the American involvement in Vietnam and Burns' compulsion to affirm America's "goodness." The American involvement in Vietnam was based on a series of deceptions. The first was the Truman administration being bamboozled into supporting the French attempt to re-colonized Vietnam (1946-54). Then followed by Eisenhower's "domino theory" which among other things, lead them to create the puppet Republic of Vietnam. It now turns out that JFK, LBJ, and even Nixon believed that the war was unwinnable, yet the escalated the war killing an estimated 2 million people (on all sides).

Burns cannot conceal the ugly reality of what should be called the American War against Vietnam. It's obvious that American troops came to see the Vietnamese people as the enemy, and treated them with a brutality that doomed the effort to "win hearts and minds." A large part of the reason why America lost the war is from the American inability to empathize with and understand people of other cultures. It's a mistake we keep making, in Iraq, Afghanistan, and the next country we attack.

Burns only becomes objectionable occasionally. Like on last night's episode when the narrator claims that the puppet Saigon regime was a "free" society. What kind of freedom is this; millions of people having their culture and way of life destroyed so they can eke out a living as peddlers and prostitutes? This is what America has brought to the world: wealth for the few, poverty and squalor for everybody else.

Haven't We Been Here Before?

The after effects of Hurricane Harvey are just being sorted out. While the death toll from Harvey is not as severe as Hurricane Katrina in 2005, the economic and environmental consequences will be serious.

* The Arkema Chemical Plant in Crosby Tx. exploded.

* Several oil refineries shut production

* Flood waters have been contaminated by toxic waste.

This is preliminary but it's going to get worse. We are now having 500 year floods every 12 years.

Fences Don't Stop Tunnels

The title is simplistic but sometimes the truth is very simple. A tunnel was recently discovered near the Otay Mesa point of entry in California that was being used to smuggle people. That part of the US-Mexico border already has a "wall," actually a double fence. If Trump's wall ever gets built, it will do nothing to stop other kinds of smuggling. It's so obvious but Trump's supporters really are that stupid.

The Scatterbrained Administration

Keeping up with the Trump administration yields only bits and pieces of information that do not yield any kind of pattern.

* Steve Bannon is out apparently after running afoul of Ivanka and Jared Kushner.

* The Secret Service is running out of money. Protecting the Trump Clan and their properties is an unbearable drain on the Secret Services budget.

* Trump announced a new "strategy" on Afghanistan, except that it isn't really a strategy. Trump's plan is to send in more American troops and escalate the conflict.
Basically a repeat of the GWB era. Anyone with any knowledge of history, knows that when a country starts a war without a strategy it usually loses.

The Trump administration has collapsed into chaos. Will it bring down the rest of us with it?

The Social Contract Revisited

This is an addendum to yesterday's entry. It is shocking that the ACLU took the side of the White Supremacists in allowing the march to take place. I think that the ACLU was in error. To the question "Aren't we supposed to tolerate other people's opinions?" The brings out the problem of people and groups who not only don't recognize the democratic process but who use violence to attain their ends.

I think that the test for acceptable conduct should be

1. Obeying the law

2. Respecting the rights of others.

What the Fascists in Charlottesville were doing wasn't demonstrating but committing acts of violence. There is no such thing as a "right" to deprive other people of their rights and there is no way that acts of violence can be defended as "free expression."

Terror in Charlottesville

Last weekend the Alt Right--Ku Kluxers, Neo Nazis, and other right wing vermin--gathered in Charlottesville, Virginia. When people tried to counterprotest the Fascists, call them for what they are, attacked. One of those morons drove a car into the crowd, killing 32 year old Heather Heyer, and injuring 19 people. Reports are that they Fascists were heavily armed, more so than the police. The Fascists also carried lit torches in imitation of Nazi rallies from Hitler's time.

Donald Trump is ultimately responsible for this. Maybe he thought he could stir up racism and then turn it back off. Instead, it has produced the worst racist violence since the 1960's.

The Curse of Interesting Times

The following week has not lacked for events. The Trump/Session administration has announced a new attack on affirmative action. Then Trump got into a long distance shouting match with Kim Jong-un which has heightened fears of another Korean War. Now comes news that the FBI has raided one of the houses belonging to Paul Manafort, Trump's former campaign chairman. If any doubted that the Trump scandals had substance, nobody can doubt it now. The problem is that things are happening so fast it's hard to focus on anyone thing. These may "interesting times" but I'm less than enthusiastic.

The Court of the Idiot KIng

The one week rise and fall of Anthony Scaramucci is only the latest bizarre event from the Trump White House. The "Mooch" forced out Sean Spicer and Reince Priebus but has been himself forced out by John Kelly, the new Chief of Staff. Kelly himself is not exactly good news; he's been one of the loudest cheerleaders for Trump's "border wall." It remains to be seen if Kelly is able to control the chronic backstabbing that characterizes the Trump administration.

Call Them For What They Are

Trump's decision to not speak at the NAACP convention should remove any doubt that he is a racist. Not that there was any doubt, considering how he spent years pandering to the "birthers." That was in addition to the hatred he aroused against all other minority groups.

Last Sunday 10 migrants suffocated to death in San Antonio, while locked in a trailer. That should give the lie to Trump's "border wall" notion. In fact, migrants are more likely to be victims. Building walls will do nothing to stop the organized crime of human trafficking.

Trump and his supporters are not only deplorable, they are despicable.

Kakistocracy

New revelation from the 2016 campaign: Steve Bannon the thug like presence in the Trump White House, at one point called Paul Ryan a "limp dick motherfucker."

Senate GOPers are still trying to repeal "Obamacare." The new plan is to repeal now and give themselves two years to come up with a replacement. Of course they're not going to fix anything. If this goes through millions of people will lose access to healthcare. This in spite of the fact that the Senate plan is widely unpopular with most Americans.

The American political system can no longer be called democracy but has become kakistocracy; government by the worst people.

Trump's Legacy

With all the turmoil coming out of Washington, it's tempting to forget how messed up things are in the rest of the country. In West Goshen PA, a few weeks ago, 18 year old Bianca Roberson, an African American woman, was shot and killed and by a white named David Desper. Desper killed Roberson simply because she cut him off in traffic. Desper could be seen as an example of white privilege. White thugs who think they have the right to go about armed and killing anybody who pissed them off. These kinds of incidents have become increasingly common since Trump became President. However long Trump stays in the White House, his legacy will primarily be a wave of racist violence.

GOPers Can't Shoot Straight

The GOPer Senate has apparently failed to repeal the Affordable Care Act. After 7 years of railing against "Obamacare" the Gopers can't even get a workable alternative. That might sound like good news, for the moment. The Gopers can only think about cutting taxes on the rich and kicking people off Medicaid. In the middle of an opioid epidemic, they want to cut funding for substance abuse treatment. The best thing would be for the Gopers to just drop the whole thing. The problem with Gopers is that they don't even know when to let things drop.

Hey Hey! Ho Ho! Clintonites Have Got To Go!

The Democrats lost two special elections in Georgia and South Carolina. These were two GOP "safe seats" and while the Dems were right to contest these races they then fell into wide-eyed Hillary wishful thinking. They went from "might" win to "will" win and when they lost it made it seem worse. Much ire has been directed at Nancy Pelosi but the fault isn't hers alone. The Clintonites who still run the Democratic party remain convinced that the way to beat the GOP--is to sound just like the GOPers. The Democrats still aren't putting forth any policy alternatives and thus they can't win.

Red Alert!

Amidst all the drama taking place in Washington, we are forgetting that the Trump administration is re-escalating the War in Afghanistan. According to military.com

"Mattis is expected to back the long-standing request of Army Gen. John Nicholson, the U.S. commander in Afghanistan, for at least 3,000 more troops to battle the Islamic State and a resurgent Taliban."

John MCCain, the old warhead himself is incensed that that the administration doesn't actually have a strategy:

""We are now six months into this administration; we still haven't got a strategy for Afghanistan," he said. "It makes it hard for us to support you when we don't have a strategy. We know what the strategy was for the last eight years -- don't lose. That hasn't worked."

This as the US is drifting into a confrontation with Russia over Syrian. And there are still rumors about a possible war with Iran. Trump and the GOP have no strategy or plan, other than to keep waging war for its own sake.

How Trump Will Destroy America

Yesterday we were treated to the grotesque spectacle of a Trump cabinet meeting where cabinet officials were blowing smoke up Trump's ass. The scene resembled the worst moments of Trump's defunct tv show. But the real damage is taking place behind the scene.

* Trump and the GOP are trying to repeal the Dodd-Frank Act, which will lead to a new financial crash

* Trump also want to emasculate the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, which make the lead to the financial ruin of the middle class

* Trump's plan to cut taxes and wage war will lead to runaway deficits and undermine the value of the dollar,

People just don't realize how shaky America's position is. Trump will destroy everything good about America.

Another Nail in the Coffin?

Trump was supposed to revive his grand infrastructure program this week, but all he could come up with was scheme to privatize the nation's air traffic control system. There are many problems with privatizing government services. Many states have privatized their voting systems and that has allowed the Russians to interfere in last year's elections. A document leaked to The Intercept describes an NSA document that

Russian military intelligence executed a cyberattack on at least one U.S. voting software supplier and sent spear-phishing emails to more than 100 local election officials just days before last November’s presidential election, according to a highly classified intelligence report obtained by The Intercept.

The top-secret National Security Agency document, which was provided anonymously to The Intercept and independently authenticated, analyzes intelligence very recently acquired by the agency about a months-long Russian intelligence cyber effort against elements of the U.S. election and voting infrastructure. The report, dated May 5, 2017, is the most detailed U.S. government account of Russian interference in the election that has yet come to light.

The report indicates that Russian hacking may have penetrated further into U.S. voting systems than was previously understood. It states unequivocally in its summary statement that it was Russian military intelligence, specifically the Russian General Staff Main Intelligence Directorate, or GRU, that conducted the cyber attacks described in the document:


Russian General Staff Main Intelligence Directorate actors … executed cyber espionage operations against a named U.S. company in August 2016, evidently to obtain information on elections-related software and hardware solutions. … The actors likely used data obtained from that operation to … launch a voter registration-themed spear-phishing campaign targeting U.S. local government organizations.

The point here is that the Russians have clearly violated the integrity of the American political system. So much for Trump being the defender of American sovereignty.

The alleged leaker, Reality Winner, has been arrested. According to the Huffington Post she is 25 years old and a federal contractor.

Trump the Merchant of Death

Trump's plan to sell $110 billion worth of weapons to Saudi Arabia is going to cause more war and instability in a region that is already in chaos. Foreign policy experts of all persuasions think it is a bad idea. Trump, however, has a weak mind and a shaky temperament, and he can be easily manipulated by those who know how to push his buttons. That is why Vladimir Putin is leading him by the nose and he doesn't even know it.

The Perverts at Fox News

Bill O'Reilly has "gone on vacation" because he apparently needs some rest. It turns out that Fox News has paid five women a total of $13,000,000 dollars to settle sexual harassment claims against old Blotchy Bill. As of this writing some 11 companies have pulled their ads from the O'Reilly Factor. Roger Ailes, the former CEO of Fox News, continues to face more charges. This time it's from Julie Roginsky, a contributor to Fox News, is suing Ailes for sexual harassment.

It seems that the top management at Fox are bunch of aging creeps who think they are the "Mad Men."