wise words from black socialist Ajamu Baraka*

…on this MLK Day civil rights 2.0 as the nation is being torn asunder with fear and loathing post-Capitol insurrection.

*International human rights activist, organizer, political analyst. National Organizer for @blacks4peace

@ajamubaraka Jan 14

Do you think it might be a little dangerous & even irresponsible implying that 75 million people who voted for Trump are Nazis? That seems to be the new line from right-wing neoliberal media even as they say the people shouldn't worry because Biden will bring people together!

@ajamubaraka Jan 14

Are the democrats intentionally attempting to further inflame the 75 million with this impeachment that voted for Trump with many believing that the election was "stolen"? Is this a way to continue to use Trump to divert from the ongoing & deepening capitalist crisis?

@ajamubaraka Jan 11

New members of Congress drop the Trump BS and advance a set of demands like a government financed jobs program, $2000 a month for next six months, immediate medicare for all uninsured and underinsured workers, funds for schools and local governments. Stop with the stunts!

@ajamubaraka Jan 11

The democrats are going to be controlling Congress & the presidency, why are they wasting time with this Trump stuff? Answer, they have to real program to effectively deal with the ongoing capitalist crisis so this diverts attention while they strengthened repressive apparatus.

@ajamubaraka Jan 11

Black people are dying in droves every week unnecessarily but BLM is neutralized, completely corrupted & disarmed by its subordination to the democrat party and neoliberal tokenism of the Biden administration.

@ajamubaraka Jan 11

Question for "leftists" celebrating political crackdown on Trump supporters: since it's clear the state is using Jan 6th to criminalize a whole movement as insurrectionists who opposed neoliberal elite, what does that make us who opposed the criminality of neoliberal capitalism?

@ajamubaraka Jan 10

I can understand liberals cheering on more censorship because they have always been hypocritical regarding their values but don't understand how radicals who should know the history of this country would not know that the left will probably suffer the most from this.

@ajamubaraka Jan 9

What many in the U.S. are afraid to admit or understand is that since Jan 6th the victorious neoliberal faction of capital has decided that it will resort to political repression to solve the legitimation crisis that produced Trump. The result? More repression for all of us.

(cross-posted from Café Babylon)

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wendy davis's picture

work for a domestic terrorism law that respects free speech and civil liberties, while making the same commitment to root out domestic terrorism as we have to stopping international terrorism," Biden's campaign website says.

~By Hina Shamsi, director of the ACLU's National Security Project, and Manar Waheed, ACLU senior legislative and advocacy counsel

Longish, but worth (OMG!) reading, as in: Knowing is better than..Not Knowing

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thanatokephaloides's picture

@wendy davis

"A Biden administration will... work for a domestic terrorism law that respects free speech and civil liberties, while making the same commitment to root out domestic terrorism as we have to stopping international terrorism," Biden's campaign website says.


ROTFLMAOASTC!!

The only way there can even be a "domestic terrorism law" is to severely abridge free speech and civil liberties! (Evidence: the USA PATRIOT Act.)

Bad

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

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

wendy davis's picture

@thanatokephaloides

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thanatokephaloides's picture

The only problem I have with that is that we live in a world where the only available choices are: possess full spectrum dominance, or be subject to the full spectrum domination of those who do possess it.

Any male who has attended middle or high school under bricks and mortar has experienced this personally. And it is no different for nations than it is for individuals; international foreign policy is simply the very worst of high school, writ large and played for keeps.

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

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

wendy davis's picture

@thanatokephaloides

to those who don't have it now? or do i misunderstand you?

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thanatokephaloides's picture

@wendy davis

may i ask who you fear as to those who don't have it now?

Everything from the entire Islamic World, Europe, Russia, China, Japan......

That's the problem with all arms races. Everybody is in unless and until everybody gets and stays out, all at once. Otherwise, the unilateral disarmer finds himself conquered.

"Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in!"
-- Michael Corleone in The Godfather Part III

Please do not err: I would love to see the USA out of the Unpaid World Police business, which us how we got into the MAD insanity of the "full spectrum dominance" garbage to begin with. But none of us has any more idea of how to get the USA out of that nasty business intact than Michael Corleone had on how to get himself out of the Mob intact.

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3 users have voted.

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

"All power corrupts absolutely!" -- thanatokephaloides

wendy davis's picture

@thanatokephaloides

none of the Great Competitors/Axes of Evil desire anything but a multipolar world.

tragically, dying empires often do go loose cannon full spectrum dominance as the US is doing. it can't last of course, because this #shithole nation using grievous life-killing sanctions as 'soft power' (war by other means) will eventually lead to some nations Stopping the US. of course no sanctions and plenty of weapons for Sunni muslim nations (KSA, bahrain, etc.)

so far the alliances are doing so economically, but there's almost no hope that a biden administration will be any better than the current one; maybe worse, as it will all be done with a smile, as with obomba.

fancy cooperation instead of competition among nations became The New Normal! but the US Empire and puppet clients...won't allow it.

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wendy davis's picture

have to get up to mik the chickens.

this is john gorka's homage to MLK, jr. good night.

[video: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ksqvgjry-WE]

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wendy davis's picture

and clinton unhinged, unlike the NYT it was only Putin, not Russia, Iran, and China fanning the Capitol insurrection flames.

more is here, for one place.

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lotlizard's picture

war, Wall Street wealth, and the system instead of confining his criticism to Republicans and Trump, what would they be saying?

“Oh, King’s strings too are being pulled by Putin.” His road, too, would be dismissed as leading back to Putin.

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wendy davis's picture

@lotlizard

and the FBI would be monitoring his emails and social networking 'incendiary' comments...and would make sure that he was deplatformed for his sins.

from this a.m.:

@ajamubaraka 3h

Obama administration & corporate media cheered on oppositions in Venezuela that burnt alive Black supporters of the government, attacked government solders with weapons in Nicaragua & deadly neo-Nazi attacks on police in Ukraine. Sorry, I can't get excited by Jan 6th.

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wendy davis's picture

good gawd all-friday:

unwinding her opening:

"A new viral video calling on liberals to form "an army of citizen detectives" to gather information on Trump supporters and report their activities to the authorities has racked up thousands of shares and millions of views in just a few hours.

The hashtag #TrumpsNewArmy is trending on Twitter as of this writing due to the release of a horrifying video with that title from successful author and virulent Russiagater Don Winslow. As of this writing it has some 20 thousand shares and 2.6 million views, and the comments and quote-retweets are predominantly supportive.

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TheOtherMaven's picture

@wendy davis

It's getting more virulent. Several members of Congress and other high-level persons are exhibiting full-blown psychosis.

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There is no justice. There can be no peace.

wendy davis's picture

@TheOtherMaven

pelosi's sent the house article of impeachment to the senate? i'd thunk when that happens the senate has 24 hours to respond.

@SenSchumer
We have three important things to do at once:

The second impeachment trial of President Trump.

Confirm key national security, health, and cabinet officials for President-elect Biden.

Pass more relief for Americans in the COVID health and economic crisis.

We must do all three.
12:36 PM · Jan 19, 2021

have you seen their cabinet picks? scary biscuits. but i'd begun to think i might need to unwind some of this:

A Biden administration will … work for a domestic terrorism law that respects free speech and civil liberties, while making the same commitment to root out domestic terrorism as we have to stopping international terrorism," Biden's campaign website says.”

"Joe Biden and the Jewish Community: A Record and a Plan of Friendship, Support and Action

Vice President Joe Biden has consistently made solidarity with Israel, combatting anti-Semitism, and fighting for social justice pillars of his decades-long career in public service. As President, Joe Biden will continue to ensure that the Jewish State, the Jewish people, and Jewish values have the unbreakable support of the United States.

The Rising Tide of Hate, Bigotry and Anti-Semitism under Donald Trump

After the resurgence of anti-Semitism in Charlottesville, and Trump’s failure to clearly condemn it, Joe Biden decided he had to run for president. The fight is for the soul of our nation.
Since Trump took office, the United States has experienced a historic increase in hate crimes and bias incidents targeting Jewish Americans and other minority communities.
................................
A Biden Administration Will:

Lead a comprehensive approach to battling anti-Semitism that takes seriously both the violence that accompanies it and the hateful and dangerous lies that underlie it. Joe Biden will call hate by its proper name, whatever its source, and condemn it — every time.

Restore funding for a critical effort to address domestic extremism, which the Trump administration has cut.

Work for a domestic terrorism law that respects free speech and civil liberties, while making the same commitment to root out domestic terrorism as we have to stopping international terrorism. Biden will appoint leadership at the Department of Justice who will prioritize the prosecution of hate crimes.
..........................
Joe Biden’s record of unstinting support for Israel

Joe Biden’s stalwart support for Israel and his commitment to protect Israel’s security and strengthen our two nations’ partnership is deeply personal and spans his entire career.

Since his first trip to Israel in 1973 shortly before the Yom Kippur War, Biden’s commitment to Israel’s security has been unshakeable, fighting in the Senate for critical aid to Israel, calling it “the best $3 billion investment we make,” and opposing dangerous arms sales to its enemies.

As Vice President, Biden helped ensure unwavering support for Israel’s security. During the Obama-Biden Administration, he was a key advocate in securing support for lifesaving technologies like the Iron Dome, David’s Sling, and Arrow 3 anti-rocket and missile defense systems.

Biden helped shape the unprecedented $38 billion, ten-year memorandum of understanding for defense assistance to Israel signed in 2016, the largest such military aid package in U.S. history.

Biden has led efforts to oppose the delegitimization of Israel, whether in international organizations or by the boycott, divestment and sanctions (BDS) movement here at home.

Biden took historic steps to prevent Iran from obtaining a nuclear weapon. The Obama-Biden Administration imposed crippling multilateral sanctions, which brought Iran to negotiations, paving the way for the Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action (JCPOA) that prevented a nuclear-armed Iran.
............................
Firmly reject the BDS movement — which singles out Israel and too often veers into anti-Semitism — and fight other efforts to delegitimize Israel on the global stage.

Hold Iran’s government accountable and rejoin a diplomatic agreement to prevent a nuclear-armed Iran, if Iran returns to compliance with the JCPOA, using renewed commitment to diplomacy to work with our allies to strengthen and extend the Iran deal, and push back against Iran’s other destabilizing actions.

Ensure that support for the U.S.-Israel alliance remains bipartisan, reversing Trump’s exploitation of U.S. support for Israel as a political football, which harms both countries’ interests.

well, that's the gist of it.

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TheOtherMaven's picture

@wendy davis

It's all bullshit.

I might also add that they have one colossal fucking load of gall to BS about being opposed to "antisemitism", when that was one of the smears they used to demolish Bernie Sanders' campaign....

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There is no justice. There can be no peace.

wendy davis's picture

@TheOtherMaven

par for the course.

from 'not quite commie' woodie guthrie, the forgotten lyrics to "This Land is Your Land"

There was a big high wall there that tried to stop me.
The sign was painted, said: 'Private Property.'
But on the backside, it didn't say nothing.
This land was made for you and me.

One bright sunny morning in the shadow of the steeple,
By the relief office I saw my people;
As they stood there hungry, I stood there wondering if
God blessed America for me?

who are the post-jan. 6 fascists? following obomba's cavalier neglect, would trump have been elected?

[video:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VwcKwGS7OSQ]

good night, all. fuck me, can't wait for tomorrow's 'inauguration day' to be behind us.

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