Rosa Luxemburg's question gets answered

Submitted by gjohnsit on Tue, 03/31/2020 - 9:10pm

"Bourgeois society stands at the crossroads, either transition to Socialism or regression into Barbarism."
- Rosa Luxemburg

Nevada has a homeless population of 10,556. Las Vegas alone has 150,000 hotel rooms, all empty because of the lockdown. Yet they keep people on the streets, my heart hurts. https://t.co/5yEvOjrzAf

— Hasan Patel (@CorbynistaTeen) March 30, 2020

One day he'll be tweeting from prison. #DavidGeffen https://t.co/25xZR0LHuZ

— (@scgilly1982) March 28, 2020

Tags:

Capitalism

barbarism

Vote

Comments

Submitted by lizzyh7 on Tue, 03/31/2020 - 9:54pm

All I wanna do

Is swear. Dirty bastards. Savages.

—

Only a fool lets someone else tell him who his enemy is. Assata Shakur

Submitted by Cassiodorus on Tue, 03/31/2020 - 10:53pm

Barbarism it is then!

Captain of aircraft carrier asks U.S. Navy to evacuate crew amid 'accelerating' COVID-19 outbreak

In a four-page letter dated Monday and first obtained by the San Francisco Chronicle, Navy Captain Brett Crozier of the USS Theodore Roosevelt said that "decisive action" was required to prevent deaths from the coronavirus, and that the sailors on board were currently unable to comply with Centers for Disease Control and Prevention guidelines to keep them safe because of the ship's close quarters.

But isn't that the point of war? Unnecessary death?

—

“The loyal Left cannot act decisively. Their devotion to the system is a built-in kill switch limiting dissent.” - Richard Moser

Submitted by CB on Wed, 04/01/2020 - 12:51am

Request denied

@Cassiodorus

Stick to the ‘chain of command’! Pentagon rejects aircraft carrier captain’s plea to save crew as 100+ sailors contract Covid-19

US Defense Secretary Mark Esper said it was too soon to evacuate an aircraft carrier where over 100 sailors were infected with Covid-19, despite the unusual plea by the ship’s captain to quarantine the entire crew.

Asked about removing over 4,000 sailors aboard the USS Theodore Roosevelt – the first US warship on deployment to report an outbreak of the lethal virus – Esper said it was premature, stating “I don’t think we’re at that point.”
...
Esper said he had yet to read Crozier’s letter in detail, preferring to deal with the issue through the regular chain of command, and did not comment directly on the captain’s request during his interview with CBS beyond questioning the need for an evacuation.

“Well, I have not had a chance to read that letter, read in detail,” he said. “I'm going to rely on the Navy chain of command to go out there to assess the situation and to make sure they provide the captain and the crew all the support they need to get the sailors healthy and get the ship back at sea.”
...

I suggest the US Navy contact the PLA. They have experience in rapid construction of quarantine hospitals. They could construct a 4000 bed hospital on the deck in 4 days (no need to level the ground).

Submitted by Cassiodorus on Wed, 04/01/2020 - 6:16am

Nah.

@CB Let 'em incubate awhile. What could go wrong?

—

“The loyal Left cannot act decisively. Their devotion to the system is a built-in kill switch limiting dissent.” - Richard Moser

Submitted by Situational Lefty on Wed, 04/01/2020 - 12:19am

Capitalism has been exposed as a hoax,

for those of us who hadn't already figured it out.

How many times does the system have to fail and be bailed out by the government before people stop believing these political hucksters like Donald Trump, Joe Biden and his allies?

—

"The enemy is anybody who is going to get you killed, no matter which side he's on." Yossarian

Submitted by thanatokephaloides on Wed, 04/01/2020 - 12:59am

how many

@Situational Lefty

How many times does the system have to fail and be bailed out by the government before people stop believing these political hucksters like Donald Trump, Joe Biden and his allies?

6.022E+23.

/s (please God!)

—

"US govt/military = bad. Russian govt/military = bad. Any politician wanting power = bad. Anyone wielding power = bad." --Shahryar

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

Submitted by Cassiodorus on Wed, 04/01/2020 - 6:20am

Joe is totally electable if we say so.

@thanatokephaloides

—

“The loyal Left cannot act decisively. Their devotion to the system is a built-in kill switch limiting dissent.” - Richard Moser

Submitted by boriscleto on Wed, 04/01/2020 - 8:12am

Joe is erectable

@Cassiodorus With enough Viagra.

—

" In the beginning, the universe was created. This has made a lot of people very angry, and is generally considered to have been a bad move. -- Douglas Adams, The Hitch Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy "

Submitted by The Voice In th... on Wed, 04/01/2020 - 12:14pm

Or sniffing little girls' hair

@boriscleto

—

I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

Submitted by lotlizard on Thu, 04/02/2020 - 1:01am

“Old Mole” ?

@thanatokephaloides
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Mole

Submitted by Snode on Wed, 04/01/2020 - 4:15am

Maybe, today, our government only exists

@Situational Lefty to bail out capitalism. Maybe our armies only exist to enforce our trade agreements.

Submitted by The Voice In th... on Wed, 04/01/2020 - 12:15pm

No maybe about it, unfortunately.

@Snode

—

I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

Submitted by TheOtherMaven on Wed, 04/01/2020 - 6:07pm

Been that way for at least 100 years

@The Voice In the Wilderness

See Smedley Butler, "War is a Racket".

—

There is no justice. There can be no peace.

Submitted by Situational Lefty on Thu, 04/02/2020 - 12:29am

You're right Snode.

@Snode

our armies only exist to enforce our trade agreements.
up

but Donald Trump is already trying to play up all the help private enterprise has offered during this crisis and you know Joe Biden's response will be to try to outdo him on how much private enterprise is helping us during this crisis.

Two rats chasing after the same rotting ball of cheese.

Bernie Sanders is still on the ballot. Let's all do whatever we can to get Bernie in the White House this November.

—

"The enemy is anybody who is going to get you killed, no matter which side he's on." Yossarian

Submitted by The Wizard on Wed, 04/01/2020 - 5:11am

The consequences of being backwards have been clearly exposed

The US is a war zone between the elites who will maintain their state of priviledge at all cost and the people. It is truly astonishing that the oligarchs have been so successful to date.

From RT:

In October of last year, the Global Health Security Index was published. Its website bills it as "the first comprehensive assessment of global health security capabilities in 195 countries." Developed by the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security and the Nuclear Threat Initiative, in collaboration with The Economist Intelligence Unit, its major funders were the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Open Philanthropy Project and the Robertson Foundation.

Countries were assessed based on six criteria: “Prevention, Detection and Reporting, Rapid Response, Health System, Compliance with International Norms, and Risk Environment.” Of those six, the US topped the field in four, even scoring an almost perfect 98.2 in “Early Detection & Reporting.” (So much for that.)

The USA is clearly the leader in losing to the pandemic with 186,406 infections as of this morning, growing by 22,258 cases yesterday, compared to 81,518 in China and no new infections. Which leads to the other obvious question, in what other areas is the US exceptionalism pure marketing propaganda?

Which reminds me, listening to Governor Cuomo talk about "apex" in the infection curve, I think that there is a gross misrepresentation of the situation by our esteemed leadership. The image being portrayed is that we are going to reach a peak and then in a few weeks the infection rate will subside and we can go back to life as usual. Wow! Not good. Yeah, if we are diligent with isolation and testing then the new infection numbers will start to decrease. We will be flattening the curve, which is critical to minimise deaths due to overcrowded hospitals. But that will lengthen the curve and make the pandemic last longer, not shorter. We need about 70% of the population to be infected to kick in herd immunity. That's about 14 million people in New York and 28 million in California. So how did China do it? It's not clear that it will work for them, but basically draconian methods to get to zero new in-country infections and then a protocol that prevents the infection from restarting. That last part seems very difficult. Let's see what rules they come up with and how it goes. Most of the population has no immunity. It seems like one large social gathering and they are up on the curve. Again. I really want to see their rules. I don't think that the US can do this as we do not have as an advanced civilization.

—

Capitalism has always been the rule of the people by the oligarchs. You only have two choices, eliminate them or restrict their power.

Submitted by Cassiodorus on Wed, 04/01/2020 - 7:14am

They're predicting "waves."

@The Wizard But it's bad, yeah. Write your Congressmember, expect to receive a form email.

The US is a war zone between the elites who will maintain their state of priviledge at all cost and the people. It is truly astonishing that the oligarchs have been so successful to date. From RT: In October of last year, the Global Health Security Index was published. Its website bills it as "the first comprehensive assessment of global health security capabilities in 195 countries." Developed by the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security and the Nuclear Threat Initiative, in collaboration with The Economist Intelligence Unit, its major funders were the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Open Philanthropy Project and the Robertson Foundation. Countries were assessed based on six criteria: “Prevention, Detection and Reporting, Rapid Response, Health System, Compliance with International Norms, and Risk Environment.” Of those six, the US topped the field in four, even scoring an almost perfect 98.2 in “Early Detection & Reporting.” (So much for that.) The USA is clearly the leader in losing to the pandemic with 186,406 infections as of this morning, growing by 22,258 cases yesterday, compared to 81,518 in China and no new infections. Which leads to the other obvious question, in what other areas is the US exceptionalism pure marketing propaganda? Which reminds me, listening to Governor Cuomo talk about "apex" in the infection curve, I think that there is a gross misrepresentation of the situation by our esteemed leadership. The image being portrayed is that we are going to reach a peak and then in a few weeks the infection rate will subside and we can go back to life as usual. Wow! Not good. Yeah, if we are diligent with isolation and testing then the new infection numbers will start to decrease. We will be flattening the curve, which is critical to minimise deaths due to overcrowded hospitals. But that will lengthen the curve and make the pandemic last longer, not shorter. We need about 70% of the population to be infected to kick in herd immunity. That's about 14 million people in New York and 28 million in California. So how did China do it? It's not clear that it will work for them, but basically draconian methods to get to zero new in-country infections and then a protocol that prevents the infection from restarting. That last part seems very difficult. Let's see what rules they come up with and how it goes. Most of the population has no immunity. It seems like one large social gathering and they are up on the curve. Again. I really want to see their rules. I don't think that the US can do this as we do not have as an advanced civilization.

—

“The loyal Left cannot act decisively. Their devotion to the system is a built-in kill switch limiting dissent.” - Richard Moser

Submitted by Marie on Wed, 04/01/2020 - 10:31am

US health care -- all about the "curves"

@The Wizard 2009 "bending the cost curve." 2020 "flattening the infection curve."

How unsurprising that the Gate's funded assessment of US health care results in #1 rankings for the US. Despite having fewer hospital beds, ICU beds, and physicians to population than other comparable countries Doesn't take much of an increased demand for the beds, UCUs, and physicians for the hospitals to collapse because there's no readily available surplus to draw on.

The US is a war zone between the elites who will maintain their state of priviledge at all cost and the people. It is truly astonishing that the oligarchs have been so successful to date. From RT: In October of last year, the Global Health Security Index was published. Its website bills it as "the first comprehensive assessment of global health security capabilities in 195 countries." Developed by the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security and the Nuclear Threat Initiative, in collaboration with The Economist Intelligence Unit, its major funders were the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, the Open Philanthropy Project and the Robertson Foundation. Countries were assessed based on six criteria: “Prevention, Detection and Reporting, Rapid Response, Health System, Compliance with International Norms, and Risk Environment.” Of those six, the US topped the field in four, even scoring an almost perfect 98.2 in “Early Detection & Reporting.” (So much for that.) The USA is clearly the leader in losing to the pandemic with 186,406 infections as of this morning, growing by 22,258 cases yesterday, compared to 81,518 in China and no new infections. Which leads to the other obvious question, in what other areas is the US exceptionalism pure marketing propaganda? Which reminds me, listening to Governor Cuomo talk about "apex" in the infection curve, I think that there is a gross misrepresentation of the situation by our esteemed leadership. The image being portrayed is that we are going to reach a peak and then in a few weeks the infection rate will subside and we can go back to life as usual. Wow! Not good. Yeah, if we are diligent with isolation and testing then the new infection numbers will start to decrease. We will be flattening the curve, which is critical to minimise deaths due to overcrowded hospitals. But that will lengthen the curve and make the pandemic last longer, not shorter. We need about 70% of the population to be infected to kick in herd immunity. That's about 14 million people in New York and 28 million in California. So how did China do it? It's not clear that it will work for them, but basically draconian methods to get to zero new in-country infections and then a protocol that prevents the infection from restarting. That last part seems very difficult. Let's see what rules they come up with and how it goes. Most of the population has no immunity. It seems like one large social gathering and they are up on the curve. Again. I really want to see their rules. I don't think that the US can do this as we do not have as an advanced civilization.

Submitted by The Voice In th... on Wed, 04/01/2020 - 12:17pm

Surplus facilities are unprofitable

@Marie

—

I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

Submitted by Marie on Wed, 04/01/2020 - 1:28pm

Sure, no need for resiliatancy in the short-term.

@The Voice In the Wilderness Lucky for us that mother nature isn't the short-sighted and stingy.

Submitted by The Voice In th... on Wed, 04/01/2020 - 5:56pm

I should have amplified that

@Marie
It's not my position. it's the medical industry's position.

—

I've seen lots of changes. What doesn't change is people. Same old hairless apes.

Submitted by Marie on Wed, 04/01/2020 - 10:57pm

Understood -- I was merely cynically expanding

@The Voice In the Wilderness on how neoliberal biz and government operates today everywhere. Far more ends up in the pockets of the owners by cutting out surplus or slack resources. Wealth is all the owners need for their resiliency; societies and the people need more.

Submitted by ggersh on Wed, 04/01/2020 - 11:00am

ameriKan MSM, gotta love their ingenuity

—

I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

Submitted by Marie on Wed, 04/01/2020 - 11:04am

Fake news?

@ggersh At least one of those is fake, but can't discount that both are fake.

Submitted by ggersh on Wed, 04/01/2020 - 11:32am

Real news never makes the headlines though

@Marie [video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fm1TYJimW3I]

—

I never knew that the term "Never Again" only pertained to
those born Jewish

"Antisemite used to be someone who didn't like Jews
now it's someone who Jews don't like"

Heard from Margaret Kimberley

Submitted by MrWebster on Wed, 04/01/2020 - 11:29am

Capitalism has convinced us we are super duper efficient

Markets always reward the efficient and better product. We are more efficient health admins than the Canadians and Brits well, because.

If this story were reported in the way biased Western journalists talk about China:

Hospitals In Authoritarian US Police State Tell Doctors They’ll Be Fired If They Speak Out About Lack of Protective Gear, As Regime Abandons Millions To Deadly Pandemichttps://t.co/3FMnQAnfdC

— Ben Norton (@BenjaminNorton) March 31, 2020

Get this....

I’m a physician at a hospital in NYC and THIS IS THE “PPE” I WAS JUST HANDED for my shift. Our federal government has completely failed its health care workers. #GetUsPPE pic.twitter.com/bEh11ra7Ee

— Rachel, MD (@racheljulie) March 31, 2020

and the response of russian aid which probably by now has landed at JFK.

The US is now a client state of Russia. https://t.co/cGNZh0uWz7

— Markos Moulitsas (@markos) April 1, 2020

Submitted by snoopydawg on Wed, 04/01/2020 - 12:38pm

What a flaming asshole

@MrWebster

I guess it'd be okey dokey if Ukraine had sent us supplies or any other country other than Russia huh? I saw a diary on this yesterday and the responses made my head hurt. Today there is one saying Putin might be infected with coronavirus and every response was glad that he should get it and if he dies the world would be a better place. And just maybe we can get our country back. Dumbasses. IF Obama had been president for the 99% and not just the 1% Hillary would be president today instead of Trump. We know that.

—

The ideal subject of totalitarian rule is not the convinced Nazi or the dedicated communist, but people for whom the distinction between fact and fiction, true and false, no longer exists.
~Hannah Arendt

Submitted by TheOtherMaven on Wed, 04/01/2020 - 6:10pm

We might even have gotten someone better than Shillary

@snoopydawg

because frankly she was no great prize.

—

There is no justice. There can be no peace.

Submitted by snoopydawg on Wed, 04/01/2020 - 12:50pm

Great responses to his dum tweet

@MrWebster

Resistance is gonna refuse a ventilator to own Putin.

— Clark wants Joe Biden to draw a clock (@Clarknt67) April 1, 2020

- You can afford therapy

- Wait. The Russkies are sending us PPE? Does no one else remember smallpox blankets?

- Dying of the rona to own Putin

- You might consider delivering thousands of roses to Putin. Get in his good books early.

- But it would have been okay to send a plane full of roses. Yes? I mean, it worked so well for you.

- Dailykosplay: Cold War McCarthyism Edition

- I can't believe I used to read you regularly.

- This is deranged on your part. I am quite literally old enough to remember when dailykos was the revolutionary left in politics. I've said it a million times and I'll say it as many times as necessary. Russiagate has warped the minds of a sizable majority of today's Dems.

gjohnsit do you have the recent rankings for DK?

—

Submitted by gjohnsit on Wed, 04/01/2020 - 1:06pm

I like this one

@snoopydawg

I've read chilling accounts of Russian medical masks taking over the brains of the wearer, forcing them to post Buff Bernie memes on Facebook, sowing discord among unsuspecting friends and family

— Necromancing the Stone (@BakuninsStick) April 1, 2020

Submitted by snoopydawg on Wed, 04/01/2020 - 1:34pm

And he can start posting diaries on how Bernie

@gjohnsit

is a better pick that Biden and that yes indeed this country does need MFA and right damn now and he will apologize for all those anti Bernie and drop out Bernie diaries he has been posting.

After that he will post an article somewhere it can be seen by many that says how wrong he was for kicking Bernie supporters off his site and how he should have been in the same position on Hillary as he was in 2006 when he said she was Too much of a Clinton Democrat which actually told the truth about how bad she would be as president.

Well........

ETA link. If you haven't read this yet you're in for a treat. My how minds have changed.

—

Submitted by MrWebster on Wed, 04/01/2020 - 3:01pm

That is a good response.

@gjohnsit It is amazing how the virus has exposed the stupidity of all that crap.

Submitted by MrWebster on Wed, 04/01/2020 - 1:18pm

I think about 67% of dems think Putin stole/rigged votes

@snoopydawg I went over to TOP and so far nobody has written a diary about the founder praising him and denouncing Russian surgical masks. I think the political elites have moved over to bashing China. But yah, the base has really drunk the kool aid and even created their own flavors. I think many online dem party youtube channels also pushed it hard to get those clicks as that is what the base wanted re-enforced. At this point as Hedges said, the democratic party is just full of zombies.

Submitted by snoopydawg on Wed, 04/01/2020 - 2:03pm

I tried to find the one I read on Russia sending help

@MrWebster

but I can't find it. I was copy and pasting some of the more obnoxious comments but then deleted them. But yes they are upset that Vlad is doing this cuz it puts Trump more in his pocket and it's just his trying to look good. It's silly and asinine that they have so much xenophobia for people they don't even know.

This is what makes Rachel calling for Trump to be censored after she and her friends spent 3 years lying to people about Russia Gate and saying things have been proven when they had to be walked back a week later. The media always hid those though didn't they?

Cui Bone? Why are they just putting him down and calling for censorship without offering anything helpful? And now Adam Schiff is going to do a 9/11 type investigation into Trump's response. I'll write more about that later. But they didn't think it was important to find out why Bush's response to Katrina was so bad nor Obama's to the Flint water crisis. Hell Obama never even got FEMA off its butt to look into helping them. But Trump. And Russia. SMFH!

—

Submitted by lotlizard on Thu, 04/02/2020 - 1:16am

Or Obama’s response to Deepwater Horizon oil blowout in the Gulf

@snoopydawg
More grandstanding and gaslighting from the likes of Schiff and other Dems in Congress.

Submitted by snoopydawg on Wed, 04/01/2020 - 2:16pm

Kos today...

@MrWebster

Donald Trump is an absolute disaster of a president. Anyone who makes George W. Bush look good in comparison is beyond redemption.

Bush who got close to 5,000 Americans killed in Iraq. Millions of Iraqis and onward when he started the great war of terror. 1,000 plus in New Orleans after Katrina.

No word on the millions Obama got killed when he continued the military's murderous rampages in Libya, Syria and the genocidal war in Yemen!!

But Hillary's emails. Damn right her emails. IF the FBI report hadn't been changed from gross negligence to oh she didn't intend to break the effing law she'd have been charged under the heinous espionage act that St. Obama charged 8 people under. Sanctions are Venezuela were started during O's tenure when he said they were a national security threat.

But her email son.

—

Submitted by wendy davis on Wed, 04/01/2020 - 11:58am

so...i take it

you'll all vote Green in 2020? my guess is that the Green Party will choose howie hawkins when they meet this july. (or will they teleconference?)

he's an actual socialist, not a capitalist reformer, although on the Party's meet the candidates page, he's in a crap video with his jeans wet in the crotch. now whether he spilled his drink or whatever: Very Bad Form by the videographer.

Submitted by snoopydawg on Wed, 04/01/2020 - 12:40pm

Is Howie still a Russian Gater?

@wendy davis

IF so I will never support someone who embraces McCarthyism.

—

Submitted by wendy davis on Wed, 04/01/2020 - 2:32pm

well..no,

@snoopydawg
'
he's evolved, and miz gabbard had 'evolved on torture. but you can check him out, although i regret he's running on his own 'Green New Deal', the flavor of the day.

on twitter, far past being a 'russia-gater', but jill stein was. pfffft.

tweet towad the top: i'd prefer 'occupying empty housing', but that's just me. many empty houses can't find the deeds, as owners were evicted via sliced and diced subprime mortgage derivatives crisis during the meltdown 2008.

Submitted by Daenerys on Wed, 04/01/2020 - 12:42pm

If Bernie isn't the Dem nominee

@wendy davis Yes.

—

This shit is bananas.

Submitted by Lily O Lady on Wed, 04/01/2020 - 12:49pm

Andrew Bacevich will be voting third party until the

@wendy davis

two party system dies.

—

"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"

Submitted by wendy davis on Wed, 04/01/2020 - 4:36pm

good on him.

@Lily O Lady

i've voted green for the last 4 or 5? presidental cycles, but last time for socialist Ajamu Baracka, NOT jill stein, who indeed became a russiagater, raising boatloads of moolah in three states based on 'russians interfered in OUR election' against the wishes of baracka and the Green steering committee, should add. #WhatAComprador she'd devolved into.

but if anti-capitalism and anti-imperialism are one's key issues, where else does one turn? klein knows he won't win, but imo, his socialist platform had devolved a bit, as well; last i'd peeked in.

Submitted by Lily O Lady on Wed, 04/01/2020 - 5:28pm

I feel that TPTB have us trussed up like

@wendy davis

a Christmas turkey, with no clear way forward. Gotta keep trying though.

—

"The object of persecution is persecution. The object of torture is torture. The object of power is power. Now do you begin to understand me?" ~Orwell, "1984"

Submitted by wendy davis on Wed, 04/01/2020 - 8:41pm

yes, indeed, but

@Lily O Lady

by my reckoning, it's up to us whether or not to vote for a duopoly candidate or not.

how convenient that we're no longer permitted to say...Occupy the federal reserve or stage any other protests, isn't it? yeah, i'm pissed off. even using public transportation in NYC can lead to arrests. WTF, over?