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Founders of the American Garrison State (1945-1960) - Part 2

Submitted by arendt on Mon, 07/23/2018 - 6:51pm

PART THREE: The Founding of the National Security State

In the 1930s, the US was still "building out" to its continental dimensions. The Interior Department was on a dam construction spree that tamed wild rivers and brought electricity to the West. The Hoover Dam, built at the bottom of the Great Depression, was the capstone of these civilian projects. It enabled the prolific growth of Southern California, home to much military industry and to a rabidly rightwing electorate that would spawn Richard Nixon.

WW2 kept alive the spirit of gigantic national projects; it just shifted this build out to the military.

Founders of the American Garrison State (1945-1960) - Part 1

Submitted by arendt on Mon, 07/23/2018 - 6:35pm

The complete disconnect between the Russiagate nonsense and the well-documented history of American spying and militarism all over the world since WW2 is simply too much for me to bear. I am tired of the true history being ignored, tired of having to rebut a Gish Gallop of lies reaching back 75 years. This essay is an account of actual US behavior, as opposed to the deep sociological propaganda that we have been marinating in our entire lives. The narrative that has been erased is that, until WW2, the US government was rather isolated, parochial, and inward looking. Then it inherited the world, only to have had it immediately confiscated by the likes of J. Edgar Hoover, Allen Dulles, and Curtis LeMay.

A winning election message, and how the Democrats will blow it

Submitted by gjohnsit on Mon, 07/23/2018 - 4:28pm

I normally hate anything bipartisan, because if both corrupt political parties agree on something then chances are their corporate masters spent a lot of money in order to screw the people with it.
However, like any rule, exceptions always exist.
In this case the exception is corruption. Or more specifically, anti-corruption.

The Logos of Hestia

Submitted by detroitmechworks on Mon, 07/23/2018 - 9:07am

No, no. Don't bother with me. I'm just old.
I'm tired, and I have a bit more work undone.
So I'll set the fire, just in the chance
That some latecomer may still wish warmth.

A meal still uneaten, it will keep fresh
if put aside for when the pangs of life
grow too harsh and there is no bread baked
for the child to skip about in eager hand.

Students Keep Aim True against Gun Violence

Submitted by hungeski on Sun, 07/22/2018 - 3:59pm

March for our Lives on Pennsylvania Avenue, Washington, D.C., March 24, 2018. (Phil Roeder from Des Moines, IA, USA (March for Our Lives)) (CC-BY)

Not long after the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School shooting massacre on February 14th in Parkland, Florida, many students of the school organized to cut gun violence in the USA. And their aim was true and clear. One of the students that expressed that aim was Emma Gonzalez. Just three days after the massacre, she gave a famous speech, which wound up with:

Politicians who sit in their gilded House and Senate seats funded by the NRA telling us nothing could have been done to prevent this, we call BS. They say tougher guns laws do not decrease gun violence. We call BS. They say a good guy with a gun stops a bad guy with a gun. We call BS. They say guns are just tools like knives and are as dangerous as cars. We call BS. They say no laws could have prevented the hundreds of senseless tragedies that have occurred. We call BS. That us kids don't know what we're talking about, that we're too young to understand how the government works. We call BS.

If you agree, register to vote. Contact your local congresspeople. Give them a piece of your mind.

Let's look at some of the facts that back up Gonzales's statements, and call to action.

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