Comments WHich Conservatives Block From Their Blogs For June 17, 2020

June 13

To R. Scott Clark and his blogpost that plays a Project Veritas video that Refusefa is Antifa and that George Soros funds them. This appeared on Heidelblog.

Refusefa is not antifa. One only needs to read Refusefa's website, listen to their presentations,  or look at the age demographics of its members to tell. I have street knowledge of Antifa. Clark doesn't have that.

I watched the video referred to in the video above. There is no proof that they were training anyone from Refusefa. Rather the only reference to Refusefa made is the following: Refusefa(Antifa) label made by Project Veritas which tries to conflate the two. In fact, video presentations like the one above should never be used as proof for a claim against a group because there is no way of knowing how the video was edited to make a point. Such videos, like the one above, at best should only be used to get people to start investigating claims

From here, we should note the factual reporting rating that Project Veritas has. According to Mediabiasfactcheck, Project Veritas has a mixed factual reporting rating because of some of its previous reports have been shown to be false (see  https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/project-veritas/  ). Before one either accepts or rejects that report, one should look at the specifics as to why Project Veritas received such a rating, one should look at the specifics of the report.

An example of Project Veritas's work, one could look at their attempt to get the Washington Post to publish a false accusation against Roy Moore (see https://www.pastemagazine.com/politics/washington-post/heres-what-you-need-to-know-about-project-veritas/  ). But such is only one example. Other examples are needed to get a better picture of Project Veritas.

What does the above mean? For the Christian it means that if one is to avoid violating the  commandment prohibiting bearing false witness, then one should consult other news sources and stories that confirm the accusations made by groups like Project Veritas. Otherwise, one has negligently, at best, or opportunistically, at worst, made oneself vulnerable to bearing false witness against a person or group.

Unfortunately , Clark makes no such effort to verify a claim made by a questionable source. Going back to the videos, what proof was given that Refusefa and Antifa are the same or even linked together. Antifa is a street fighting group. I have street experience with them because I met them before they became (in)famous. They see themselves as today's version of the communists who battled the Brown Shirts in Germany prior to Hitler coming to power. BTW, we should note that regarding the recent protests and riots, the FBI found no evidence that Antifa was involved in the recent rioting and destruction of property following the George Floyd murder. However, it was discovered that some of the destruction of property was committed by people who were trying to sabotage peaceful protests.

Refusefa also opposes fascism, but they do so peacefully through protests.  In the principles page of their website, it explicitly states that Refusefa opposes fascism with NON-VIOLENT protests. Refusefa consists of a diverse group of people who are opposing what they see being done by the Trump/Pence Administration (see  https://refusefascism.org/category/on-critical-questions/   ). 

In relation to the Commandment prohibiting bearing false witness against one's neighbor, we should also note that George Soros is a favorite whipping boy of conservative conspiracy theorists According to some, he pays protesters but that has been shown to be false. In fact, in my 15 years of activism, I've never seen a protester who was paid just to protest in some event.

According to some, Soros and Hillary fund Black Lives Matter (BLM). But that was shown to be false for Soros and problematic for Hillary since BLM has publicly expressed serious disagreements with her.

Soros has founded Open Societies Foundation (see  https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/   ) which gives grants to different groups as described in their website. A list of their awarded grants from 2016 to 2018  can be found on the following website (see  https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/grants/past ) and current grants can be found on the following website (see  https://www.opensocietyfoundations.org/grants?sort_by=name   ).

We should note that some who want to incite fear create conspiracy stories while those who are truly afraid find it more difficult to tell the difference between fact and fantasy. They are not just the true victims and intentional targets of conspiracy theorists, they also tend to be vulnerable to whims of active authoritarian teachers and leaders. And that is something we should wonder about here since Clark has passed along unexamined accusations from a suspect news source about a activist group whose politics he obviously opposes. .
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June 14

To R. Scott Clark and his blogpost that consisted of a video of a Eastern European church planter as he talks about the effects of Communism in his nation. This appeared on Heidelblog.

Conservatism's biggest weakness is that it relies on oversimplifying problems and issues. The above is such an example.

One way Conservatism oversimplifies the subject of Communism is that it relies almost exclusively, if not exclusivity,  on the past to define the present. In fact it relies on a partial view of the past. Thus Communism is reduced to what was tried in the past regardless of whether what was tried in the past was truly Marxist.

The Soviet Union and the nations behind the Iron Curtain experienced Bolshevik rule. We should note that the reason for the Soviet takeover of the eastern European nations was because of past invasions from the West. What is left unmentioned is that many socialists died because of either Bolshevik purges or opposing Bolshevik rule. And the Western Christian response to that is to equate what the Bolsheviks did with Communism regardless of vast differences between Bolshevism and what other socialists believed in. In fact, we could also point out the vast differences between Bolshevism and what Marx wrote.

What is also ignored are the sins of the West, especially the US. For most part Communist revolutions sought to overthrow tyrants who were supported by the West. The Tsars, French colonialism in Vietnam followed by dictators in South Vietnam, Batista in Cuba, and Somoza in Nicaragua provide some examples. In addition, many times the US replaced left-leaning democracies with harsh dictators. Examples include Iran (1953) with help from the UK, Guatemala (1954), Greece (1967), and Chile (1973).

See, in an overly simplistic world, citing Leftist opposition to tyranny whether it proceeded a revolution or was the result of Western intervention complicates the subject because now we have what were the good guys doing bad and the bad guys doing good. This complicates things.

In addition, the Sandinista rule over Nicaragua during the 1980s which started with the overthrow of the dictator Somoza introduced Nicaragua to democracy. It didn't work out because the US supported terrorist attacks on Nicaragua until the nation was  so damaged and the Sandinistas were voted out.

And because Conservatism relies so much on the past to define the present, it has become blind to the changes in anti-Capitalism over the years. Those changes are described  in Ezequiel Adamovsky's book, Anti-Capitalism.

Now the presenter was certainly correct in his comments on utopianism. And Marx was a utopian. But that doesn't make everything he said wrong. In addition, we might note that there are two kinds of utopianism: absolute and relative.

Marx believed in an absolute utopianism. But there are those who support relative utopias in the West. A relative utopia is one that is viewed as being so good that it cannot be improved on. And that is the view that many in the US have of  Capitalism even though many of those people are unaware of the different kinds of Capitalism. Thus, there is a resistance to any changes to our capitalist economy because of the belief that it is the best and thus cannot be improved on.

And while the presenter talked about envy in both Communism and post-Communism, that envy is in the West too as it is especially evident in the decades-long growth in wealth disparity since the much of the world has embraced neoliberal capitalism.

Was there corruption in Communism? Of course, But is there any less corruption in the US, for example, when its economy relies on the maximization of profits philosophy? The causes for the economic  collapse of 2008 were largely due to corruption. And the almost recent study showing how the US is now more of an oligarchy than a democracy (see   )https://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-echochambers-27074746 ). Do we honestly think that such a transition occurred without envy, greed, and corruption?

There are many other problems with the video presentation that could be mentioned, but that would only take up too much time. In short, the video presentation is simply an example of opportunism, this time by conservatives, to take a shallow look at Communism/Socialism in order to discredit it. And while the presenter wants to speak to those in the US who are considering Marxism, he fails to listen to why they would do so. The why might be that Capitalism has failed too many people in the West.

Finally, we need to address the issue of religion here. Church history is replete with examples of the dominant branch of the Church for a given nation siding with wealth and power at the expense of others. When that occurred prior to a revolution, revolutionaries naturally believed that the Church contributed to the suffering of others and was the enemy of the people.  Marxists have responded in different ways to that. For example, Lenin observed how many Russians Christians from the Church there ignored and failed to help workers who were suffering because of the economic system. His response to the Church was to label it as an enemy of change.

Rosa Luxemburg, however, pleaded with Christians to join the cause and side with the workers who were suffering greatly in Russia. In Latin America, Liberation Theologians combined liberal Christianity with some of Marxism. So Marxism has been able to mix with religion. BTW, some of those Latin American Liberation Theologians were assassinated by Latin American fighters who were trained in the US.

It is sad that on a Christian blog, honesty on this subject is in very short supply. Why? It is because of opportunism, a similar kind of opportunism demonstrated by people like Lenin and Mao only there was no dictatorship that followed. Rather, there was just a hiding of the truth and an attempt to control thinking.

Comments Which Conservatives Block From Their Blogs For June 10, 2020

June 3

To the Cranch blog in response to the article calling on us to live Western Civilization. The comment below was a response to question I asked on that blogpost that no one was willing to answer because I called Western Civilization, white people civilization.  This appeared in the Cranach blog on Patheos

Since no one wanted to answer the questions and Steve B. pointed out that neither have I will answer the questions for myself. I will replace the phrase 'white people civilization' with 'Western Civilization.'

#1. How do we want to preserve Western Civilization?
I don't think we should. That doesn't mean that we should throw everything away. Western Civilization is a mixed bag consisting of both good and bad. And we should not allow what is bad in Western Civilization to cause a phobic reaction that would cause us to toss out all that comes from Western Civilization.

Thus, if we are conscious of preserving Western Civilization by living it, not only could we be too hesitant to tossing out the bad parts of Western Civilization in order to maintain enough of it, we will limit how much we allow other civilizations to contribute to our current civilization lest we drift too far away from what some identify as Western Civilization.

#2. Do we want to exclusively keep Western Civilization so that we receive no influences from the civilizations of other races?
No. The real issue isn't staying with the traditions and ideas of Western Civilization even if we filter those traditions and ideas so that we stay only with the positive ones from Western Civilization. The real issue is will we learn what is necessary to survive or even improve. So we should welcome any traditions and ideas regardless of the source if they help us to survive or improve. Also, as we borrow from other civilizations, we have a better inroad into sharing what is positive about Western Civilization.

#3 Do we want to teach that Western Civilization was all good, all bad or a mix?
Again, the answer to that question is found in the answer to question #1. To claim that Western Civilization is all good denies what the Scriptures say about our sinfulness. To say that it is all bad is to deny a lot of history. To say that is a mix satisfies both history and the Scriptures.

#4. And if we want to teach that Western Civilization is a mix, what degree of good and evil should we assign to it?
That question is best answered in a respect back and forth discussion by people who have varied viewpoints.

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June 4

To R. Scott Clark’s blogpost that contained a Project Veritas report on Antifa. This  appeared in Heidelblog.

The first description I would use on the video is 'over dramatic.' Why? It is because I knew most of what was in the video by simply conversing with Antifa at May Day events. I saw them and talked with them before they became known to the public. I knew what they were about and I purposely avoided walking with them in demonstrations.

Antifa is way too small to pose any threat to civil liberties. They believe that they are in a repeat of the pre Nazi Germany years when the Communists and the Nazis had street battles. Thus, they see violence as necessary to battle fascism. But they are not there to fight just anyone, they are there to fight those whom they consider to be fascists or fascist supporters. Other than that, they might practice some destruction of property during events. I am sure if they have on the events I went to because I had left those events early.

But there are other groups that believe that violence is necessary to install needed change in, or overthrow of, the system. I have run into some Stalinists who also believe that they can change things through violence. In 2017, the ADL release reports that stated that right-wing terrorist groups had conducted 150 acts of terrorism in the past 25 years (see https://www.adl.org/news/press-releases/adl-report-exposes-right-wing-terrorism-threat-in-the-us   ).  Odd that while reporting on the use of violence to stifle rights, that that wasn't mentioned.

Black Bloc was a group that we in Occupy were concerned about. Since we were anti-violence, we didn't want them to participate with us. And before Black Bloc, there were anarchists who wore facial coverings to hide their identities not because of the violence they would sometimes practice, but because they were sometimes harassed or attacked after returning from protests. One can learn these things just by asking questions while in public places.

BTW, there are 3 more things to mention here. The FBI has found no evidence linking to the unrest in the current protests over the murder of George Floyd to Antifa (see https://www.ajc.com/news/fbi-finds-evidence-antifa-involvement-national-unrest/qVI3U9wb8Q6u1QEvVsJ7AJ/  ). I would not expect any violence from them in this setting. Also, some of the violence and destruction of property is being practiced by right-wing groups or individuals who want to sabotage the protests. That is some of the violence and destruction, not all. Finally, people who are concerned about passing on reliable information should check the factual reporting ratings of their source. The following link provides such a rating for Project Veritas (see  https://mediabiasfactcheck.com/project-veritas/  ).

Finally, for a group to pose an emerging threat, it has to have a sufficient number of members. That has been the problem with Antifa, Black Bloc, and the anarchists. Their numbers are way to small, and have always been that way since I have been an activist. So I would not describe them as an emerging threat to our civil liberties at this time.
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June 5

To R. Scott Clark and his short blogpost that gives a list of references on social justice and racism. This appeared in Heidelblog.

Though there are enough significant criticisms to be made about the set resources on racism referenced above, perhaps one of the most the telling weaknesses of the set of references above is that none of the resources dealing with race come from anyone who suffers as a victim of racism. And that is despite the acknowledgment made in one of the articles that those of us who are white don't experience racism while those who are Black do.

In essence, one of the weaknesses of the set of above resources on racism is that it is like a priest who provides marriage counseling. How is it that a person who has never experienced racism as a victim can tell us enough about racism to know how to properly think about and respond to it? Here we see that theology enables him to do so. And thus, we see one of the purposes of theology to some Christian teachers. That purpose is to give them a seat of honor above and a position of influencing  others. Hopefully that isn't the case here.

What A Real Anti-Fascist Group Should Do

Antifa had a coming out party last year especially during the Charlottesville protests and counter-protests. The image they portrayed came pretty much from their ancestors from Germany of the past during its 1920s and early 1930s street conflicts with the Nazis. Thus, many of their activities involve a similar approach to  street violence seen back then. And while members of the group might feel that they are fighting fascism when they throw punches at fringe groups or destroy property, they accomplish nothing on a good day. I am saying this as someone who has seen them in person before they gained notoriety.

The forces of fascism do not exist on the street. Instead, they exist in the seemingly honorable corner offices and majestic buildings that house the private sector pillars of our financial system and corporate Goliaths. The forces of fascism reside where the fuel for power accumulates. The fuel for fascism's power is wealth. That is because, in Capitalist economic systems, power follows wealh.

Thus, none of Antifa's destruction of property or street fighting contributes anything to the efforts to stop fascism. In fact, to the extent that such tactics harm the public image of the other opponents of fascism, Antifa's tactics amount to self-sabotage.

What we see in fascism is the consolidation of power. And as, previously mentioned, power follows wealth in Capitalist economic systems. Thus, where we see the potential for fascism is where wealth is accumulated. And where accumulated wealth is used to exercise power of over politicians, we have the beginnings of fascism. And we should note here that under our current form of Capitalism, which is called neoliberalism, wealth disparity has continually increased. Thus, as wealth disparity increases, the potential for fascism increases because power follows wealth.

So what we need to look for now is whether that potential for fascism is becoming realized. And, apparently, that potential has been in the process of being realized  even before Trump became President (click here).

When we look at the 3 main examples of fascism in Europe's history, which are Germany, Italy, and Spain, we find the following shared traits. They oppose democracy and liberalism while promoting a 'militaristic nationalism' and the rule of elites (click here). But another interesting tidbit about those 3 examples of Fascism is that those nations' respective leaders were supported by economic elites who saw in fascism either economic opportunities or protection from losses that could be incurred from rebellions (click here and there). At the same time, the governments gained supervision over both the economy and those elites. And while we saw a mutual support between the Obama Administration and different business elites such as evidenced by his attempts to fast track the TPP or his DOJ's failure to criminally penalize main players in the financial sector who were significantly responsible for the economic collapse of 2008, the mutual support between the Trump Administration and economic elites has spiked as shown by the Trump Administration's cutting back on environmental regulations (for examples, click here and there) as well as the DOJ dismissing the 'deferred prosecution' of HSBC for laundering money for groups like Mexican drug cartels and a Saudi Bank that has dealt with Al-Qaeda (click here and there). We should note from Mussolini's reign that some protectionism measures were enacted with the support of industry leaders (click here). We should also note that Donald Trump has spoken fondly of America following China's example of allowing their leader to serve as President for life.

At this point, we should include some disclaimers. First,  that protectionism and some government supervision of the economy does not imply a coming fascism. We should also note that government control of the economy does not imply socialism, at least from the Marxist tradition. While many became suspicious of Marxism with the Communist Manifesto's call for the abolition of private property (click here), few realized what Marx meant by that (click here to find Marx's definition of the abolition of property). Neither do more than a few realize that there were socialists who opposed Lenin's regime because it was structured after a bourgeoisie dictatorship rather than a proletariat run democracy (click here). Thus, according to Luxemburg, any government that relied on a top-down organization or did the bidding of economic elites could not be called a socialist government in any way, shape, or form. And not all authoritarian regimes that receive support from business elites can be called fascist. Finally, we should also note that because many of my fellow religiously conservative Christians fall prey to authoritarian personality types, we should expect the conservative Church to support various regimes that employ elite-centered rule provided that the right elites are in charge.

If Antifa wants to fight against fascism and other authoritarian type rule, it needs to do the following:

1. Oppose all calls to a 'militaristic nationalism.'
2. Oppose all calls for the consolidation of power for the President.
3. Stop the further consolidation of wealth.
4. Work to give all legal groups an equal voice in our political system. Here Antifa should eliminate the power that certain  groups have over our politicians without silencing them.
5. Work to distribute power to workers in the workplace. One way to accomplish this is to help with the creation of democratically run worker co-ops. In addition, Antifa should support codetermination laws that are at least somewhat similar to the codetermination laws employed in Germany.

 Yes, there are other measures to take, but the ones listed above provide an adequate hedge against fascism or any other authoritarian regime. And we should note that if the above is what's needed to fight fascism, then we should judge Antifa's motives by the above criteria.





 

Comments Which Conservatives Block From Their Blogs For September 6, 2017

Sept 2

To Joe Carter and his blogpost about antifa. The comment below is mostly directed at what he wrote about both anarchism and fascism in his article. This appeared in the Gospel Coalition website.

Though what Carter wrote about how Christians should respond to antifa is very good, there are some background definitions that are insufficient. Anarchism and fascism are two such definitions.

Carter defined anarchism in the following way:

Anarchism is an extreme left-wing movement that believes the ideal of society is for all individuals to do whatever they choose, except interfere with the ability of other individuals to do what they choose. Anarchists oppose government and other authority structures because they interfere with the individual’s freedom of choice.

However, Carter, for whatever reason, leaves out an important part of the description of the ideal of Anarchism from his source. Notice what he leaves out:

The ideal of anarchism is a society in which all individuals can do whatever they choose, except interfere with the ability of other individuals to do what they choose.

Anarchism simply means 'no ruler' or 'no government.' But such does not rule out communities based on anarchism from being even well organized. No ruler simply means no single ruler. What substitutes for the single rule is rule by all the members of the community. To a certain degree, Occupy, depending on the location, operated more-less as an anarchistic community in how it made decisions. A single block by a member could table a whole proposal. This insured that there would be no 'tyranny of the majority.' If there was a block of a proposal, then there would be negotiations made in an effort to make that proposal acceptable to all.

As for fascism, the best definition is found by the acknowledged founder of fascism, Benito Mussolini. How he defined fascism is far different than a particular comment made by Carter. For Carter stated the following about fascism:

Fascism is a difficult ideology to define because it has historically contained elements from both extreme ends of the left-right political spectrum...the best definition of “fascism” is “a set of ideologies and practices that seeks to place the nation, defined in exclusive biological, cultural, and/or historical terms, above all other sources of loyalty, and to create a mobilized national community.”

However, Mussolini wrote the following about fascism (see http://sourcebooks.fordham.edu/mod/mussolini-fascism.asp ):

Fascism [is] the complete opposite of…Marxian Socialism, the materialist conception of history of human civilization can be explained simply through the conflict of interests among the various social groups and by the change and development in the means and instruments of production.... Fascism, now and always, believes in holiness and in heroism; that is to say, in actions influenced by no economic motive, direct or indirect. And if the economic conception of history be denied, according to which theory men are no more than puppets, carried to and fro by the waves of chance, while the real directing forces are quite out of their control, it follows that the existence of an unchangeable and unchanging class-war is also denied - the natural progeny of the economic conception of history. And above all Fascism denies that class-war can be the preponderant force in the transformation of society....

After Socialism, Fascism combats the whole complex system of democratic ideology, and repudiates it, whether in its theoretical premises or in its practical application. Fascism denies that the majority, by the simple fact that it is a majority, can direct human society; it denies that numbers alone can govern by means of a periodical consultation, and it affirms the immutable, beneficial, and fruitful inequality of mankind, which can never be permanently leveled through the mere operation of a mechanical process such as universal suffrage....

The foundation of Fascism is the conception of the State, its character, its duty, and its aim. Fascism conceives of the State as an absolute, in comparison with which all individuals or groups are relative, only to be conceived of in their relation to the State. The conception of the Liberal State is not that of a directing force, guiding the play and development, both material and spiritual, of a collective body, but merely a force limited to the function of recording results: on the other hand, the Fascist State is itself conscious and has itself a will and a personality -- thus it may be called the "ethic" State....

...The Fascist State organizes the nation, but leaves a sufficient margin of liberty to the individual; the latter is deprived of all useless and possibly harmful freedom, but retains what is essential; the deciding power in this question cannot be the individual, but the State alone....

We should also note in contrast to Carter's statements about fascism being associated with the Left, that the fascist nazi movement had as part of its campaign platform the promotion of nation first and traditional values.

Carter's associating the left with fascism is common among conservatives who cannot, and perhaps do not want to, distinguish between different forms of totalitarianism. And with their definition of big government being socialism, their inability to distinguish those different forms is really driven from opportunism to criticize the left. The above quotes from Mussolini directly contradict Carter's claims about fascism.

But defining fascism should not be content with what Mussolini wrote. Fascism can contain a mixture of Capitalism and revolutionary Marxism. In a Live Science article, the following is said about fascism (see https://www.livescience.com/57622-fascism.html ):

One element of fascism is collaboration with capitalists and the conservative elite. Fascists, even when they start out with radical ideas, always collaborate to move in the direction of protecting private property, Paxton told Live Science. This is, however, an awkward alliance, he said.

Of course the discussion about anarchism and fascism is a distraction from the subject of antifa. Besides the violence, what else should be rejected about antifa is that it assumes to have the right to limit the free speech rights of others because of what they advocate. That would seem to be a contradiction with their name, but it isn't since antifa is not acting as an all encompassing state and their targets are limited. Nevertheless, the assumption of power and the use of violence must be rejected. And, again, how antifa should be rejected in well described in what Carter says about how Christians should react to antifa.
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Sept 4

To R. Scott Clark and his blogpost criticizing those who work for social justice as believing in and attempting to establish an over-realized eschatology. This appeared in the Heidelblog.

What is condemned here is the secular desire to make the world a better place for only the Gospel can change hearts. At the same time, from a previous article, a theologically deduced Sabbath is insisted on despite the fact that such Sabbath does not exist in the NT Church (see https://heidelblog.net/2017/08/a-rest-to-be-resisted-resting-from-the-sabbath/ ). This is just one set of concerns that shows how insular some religiously conservative Christians are.

Whether secular attempts to improve the world are possible must be determined from an inductive study rather than a set of  theological deductions. BTW, the over reliance on theological deduction to define life and the aversion to conduct a inductive inquiry is another sign of the insularity that exists for some religiously conservative Christians.
An inductive study of the results of the Civil Rights Movement saw that despite the over-realized eschatology of leaders like Martin Luther King Jr. and the secular leadership and participation of others, some things did improve and that happened without much help from the religiously conservative Christians who insisted that people must first be converted in order to change. The same goes for our nation's approach to wars. Certainly some of those changes have been reversed, but the reversal of changes implies nothing about the legitimacy of the changes when they occurred.

I struggle with the apriori attempts to totally discredit the secular endeavors to better the world regardless of the faults of those efforts. This is especially true when those who are trying to discredit those endeavors don't address the social problems involved. Instead, they focus on the private religious decisions of their adherents and that distracts believers from taking more seriously the command to love one's neighbor.

In addition, I struggle with the conflation of the efforts of those who believe that we can eventually reach some kind of absolute utopia with those who merely want to improve how things are. This is done when religiously conservative theologians, like Clark, call all efforts to improve life as we know it 'over-realized eschatology.'  Actually these efforts, regardless of any eschatological errors, are being made in order to better love one's neighbor and sometimes enemies. Here we should note Jesus's warning to the Pharisees about substituting religious traditions for the Scriptures (Matthew 15:1-9). Such a warning is appropriate here because our theologies and confessions amount to the traditions that the Pharisees relied on during Jesus's time. That is not to say that our theologies and confessions are more or less biblical or correct than the traditions the Pharisees used. It is to say that we religiously conservative Christians are tempted to over-use our theology and confessions in order to deduce that a practice is totally wrong rather than to use the Scriptures in taking a more nuanced approach to studying whether a given practice is right or wrong.

Finally, those who believe that we cannot improve on life as we know it imply the existence of utopia. And this is of the position of those enjoy a privileged place in today's society. Some how whether one enjoys a privileged place in today's society tends to affect how they see the Scriptures speaking to everyday life.

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Sept 5

To Joe Carter and his blogpost containing a video presentation by Debbie D’Souza who blames Venezuela’s current collapse solely on Socialism. This appeared in the Acton blog.

This is a rather opportunistic appraisal of Venezuela's plight by someone who opposes Socialism. That the analysis is opportunistic is shown in the stereotyped, over-simplified definition of Socialism given, in the failure to include possible foreign attempts to overthrow the government before there was a fiscal crisis, in the failure to critically look at those who withdrew their wealth from Venezuela because part of it was being used to help those in need, in the fact that Venezuela's economy took a serious hit in the latter part of the 20th century for some of the same reasons why it is being hurt now, in that there is a possibility that foreign nations have played a role in the demise of Venezuela, and the fact that any country that is a member of the WTO is still relying on capitalism for their economic system. That is not to say that Chavez has not failed miserably. But to use his failure as the grounds for saying Socialism alone is the reason why Venezuela is suffering today or that Socialism always fails are not examples of the sound use of logic.


First, we need to look at the over-simplified definition of Socialism. It is, as implied by D'Souza, a big government that makes all people dependent on it. But we should note that Socialism does not equal big government and the government controlled redistribution of wealth is not the basic tenet of Socialism, at least from a Marxist perspective. What is a fundamental characteristic of a Socialistic government is the redistribution of power from the bourgeoisie to the proletariat. And that really never took place in Venezuela. That was an important point of discussion during some of the Left Forum sessions in 2015. Chavez was criticized by some for not increasing worker participation in government. This worker participation in government, called the proletariat dictatorship is such an important point that it caused Rosa Luxemburg to label Lenin's regime a bourgeoisie dictatorship because it was under an elite-centered rule (see https://www.marxists.org/archive/luxemburg/1918/russian-revolution/ch08.htm ).

D'Souza also neglects to mention that Venezuela suffered a similar economic and political plight starting in the early 1980s through the 1990s as it is suffering today. There were multiple economic reasons for Venezuela's collapse including falling oil prices, but the result were somewhat similar to what we see today: major disruptions, riots, and attempted coups (see https://revista.drclas.harvard.edu/book/venezuela-1980s-1990s-and-beyond and http://www.americasquarterly.org/content/venezuela-ch%C3%A1vez-anatomy-economic-collapse-ricardo-hausmann-and-francisco-r-rodr%C3%ADguez and https://www.britannica.com/place/Venezuela/The-economy ). Thus to portray Venezuela as this stunning economic success except until Chavez came into power is more than disingenuous.
D'Souza also neglects to mention the 2002 coup in Venezuela. Documents show that the US knew about the coup (see http://www.nytimes.com/2004/12/03/washington/world/documents-show-cia-knew-of-a-coup-plot-in-venezuela.html?mcubz=0 ) but there is controversy over whether the US supported or even aided the coup (see https://www.theguardian.com/world/2002/apr/21/usa.venezuela and https://venezuelanalysis.com/analysis/800 ). Such accusations have historical precedents in the coup in Iran in 1953 and Chilé in 1973. Though those past examples do not prove that the US was involved in the coup to overthrow Chavez, they do point to the realistic possibility that this took place. And those past examples should give us reason to consider whether the US and others were involved in the current destabilization of Venezuela.
We should note that Chavez's elite-centered rule and bad decisions are significant reasons for Venezuela's current collapse. Though Chavez is said to follow socialist ideology, he certainly didn't incorporate a socialist governmental and economic structure from the Marxist tradition. Chavez made poor decisions regarding how the revenues from the oil industries were to be used. And locking out the upper economic class from significant participation in government can only cause rebellion just as locking out any other class from significant participation in government.

In addition, Chomsky claims that like other left-wing governments in South America based their economies on commodity prices (see https://www.democracynow.org/2017/4/5/chomsky_leftist_latin_american_governments_have ).

Finally, we should note what D'Souza said about those who withdrew their wealth from Venezuela. For if we combine the threats posed by elite-centered rule while noting that the US is now considered to be an oligarchy (see http://www.bbc.com/news/blogs-echochambers-27074746 ) and that the wealthy-interests in the US stores much of their wealth offshore in order to maximize profits, perhaps we should look at Venezuela not as a nation to heap scorn on, but as a nation that gives at least a partial picture of what is on our horizon.

ONIM For September 4, 2017

10 Best Fact Checking Sites Found Here.

If you are not sure about the validity of a news story linked to below, you can use  mediabiasfactcheck.com to check out the credibility of the source of most of the stories linked to here.

Christian News

• The Misunderstood Dream: A Reflection On The Anniversary Of King's "I Have A Dream" Speech -- Reformed African American Network
• Inwardness In A Distracted Age -- Plough
• Five Lessons Hurricane Harvey Teaches Us -- Moody Church Media
• The Monumental Problem -- Desiring God
• Racism And Corporate Evil -- Desiring God
• In Washington, Clergy Demonstrate Against White Supremacy -- Religion News Service
• Twisting The Cross: The Deadly Theology Of White Supremacy -- Religion News Service 
• Joel  Osteen's Houston's Megachurch Blasted For Closing As Thousands Are Displaced -- Huffington Post
• Joel Osteen Sails Luxury Yacht Through Flooded Houston To Pass Out Copies Of 'Your Best Life Now' -- Babylon Bee
• Joel Osteen Responds To Criticisms Of Houston Outreach As Celebrities Donate Millions To Houston Relief -- Yahoo News
• Joel Osteen Says Megachurch Didn't Open Earlier Because Houston 'Didn't Ask' -- Huffington Post
• These Pro-Trump Pastors Held A Press Conference On Racism -- Vox
• After 500 Years, Reformation-Era Divisions Have Lost Much Of Their Potency -- Pew Research Center
• Are Evangelicals Inventing A New Kind Of Christianity That's All About Sex? -- Think Progress

World News

• 13 Arrested As Clashes Breakout During Berkeley Protests -- KCRA 3
• Hurricane Harvey And The Potential Hypocrisy Of Texas Republicans -- Huffington Post
• The Far-Right Is Losing Its Ability To Speak Freely Online. Should The Left Defend It? -- Guardian
• The Real Ark Of The Covenant May Have Housed Pagan Gods -- Haaretz
• Black-Clad Antifa Members Attack Peaceful Right-Wing Demonstrators In Berkeley -- Washington Post
• New Mexico Library Shooting Leaves Two Dead, Four Hospitalized -- CNBC
• How Did America's Police Get So Militarized? -- Mother Jones
• Arizona's Jeff Flake Fights For Conservatism's Future, And His Own -- Yahoo News
• Why Nazis Are So Afraid Of These Clowns -- Waging Nonviolence
• How To Distinguish The Difference Between Antifa, White Supremacists, And Black Lives Matter -- Atlantic
• Death Of 17-Year-Old Boy In Akron Police Custody Ruled A Suicide, Medical Examiner Says -- Cleveland.com
• Christopher Columbus Statue Beheaded In Yonkers -- NBC New York
• Republicans Divided In Views Of Trump's Conduct; Democrats Are Broadly Critical -- Pew Research Center
• Congressional Productivity Is Up--But Many New Laws Overturn Obama-Era Rules -- Pew Research Center
• There's No Valid Counterpart To Right-Wing Violence -- Truthdig
• Village Voice Lays Off 13 Of 17 Union Employees -- New York Times
• 'This Is Crazy' Sobs Utah Hospital Nurse As Cop Roughs Her Up, Arrests Her For Doing Her Job -- Washington Post
• Officer Who Arrested Utah Nurse In Viral Video Is Now Under Criminal Investigation -- Huffington Post
• Mass Civil Disobedience In Europe -- ZNet
• California Governor Declares Wildlife State Of Emergency -- Reuters
• Muslim-Americans Say Belief In God, Promoting Justice And Protecting Environment Central To Religious Identity -- Newsweek
• New 'Sonic' Attack Reported In Cuba, 19 Americans Now Affected -- ABC News
• John McCain: It's Time Congress Returns To Regular Order -- Washington Post

Israel-Palestine News

• Israel Is Systematically Revoking Arabs' Citizenship -- 972 Magazine
• Netanyahu Says Israel Won't Retreat On Jewish Settlements: 'We Are Here To Stay Forever' -- Los Angeles Times
• How Israel Won The War And Defeated The Palestinian Dream -- Newsweek
• Justice Minister Slams Israel's Top Court, Says It Disregards Zionism And Upholding Jewish Majority -- Haaretz
• Israel's Minister Of Truth -- Haaretz 
• The Justice Minister Versus Democracy -- Haaretz
• Israel Demolishes Schools For Palestinians, Citing Lack Of Permits -- CNN
• Israel Seeks 'Jewish' Non-Jews -- ZNet

Houston News

• Texas Officials Say At Least 9 Dead As Harvey Flooding Continues -- Washington Post
• Levee Breached In Texas Amid 'Epic And Catastrophic' Hurricane Harvey Flooding -- ABC News
• Houston Is Drowning--In Its Freedom From Regulations -- Newsweek
• Houston's Flood Is A Design Problem -- Atlantic
• Houston, We'll Have A Problem--Insurance Companies That Won't Pay -- Fox News
• Houston Businessman Turns His Furniture Stores Into Storm Shelters -- Huffington Post
• Texans Refuse To Leave Pets Behind As They Flee Harvey -- Reuters
• Mexico's Red Cross Delivers Aid To Storm-Ravaged Houston -- Reuters
• GOP Eyeing Nearly $1 Billion Cut To Harvey Disaster Funds To Help Finance Trump's Border Wall -- CNBC
• 2 Volunteer Rescuers Dead, Two Missing In Floodwaters In NE Houston -- Houston Chronicle
• Muslim Groups In Houston Are On The Front Lines Of Harvey Relief Efforts -- Vox
• Texans Face Soaring Levels Of Toxic Pollution After Harvey -- Truthdig

Donald Trump News

• Trump To Restore Program Sending Surplus Military Weapons, Equipment To Police -- Washington Post
• Trump's Business Sought Deal On A Trump Tower In Moscow While He Ran For President -- Washington Post
• Emails Uncover Plans To Build Trump Tower In Moscow During Republican Primary -- Time
• Robert Reich: On Labor, Tragically, Trump Was Right -- Newsweek
• Donald Trump Is Being Warned By Advisors About Impeachment -- Newsweek
• Trump Cybersecurity Advisors Resign, Citing His 'Insufficient Attention' To Threats -- Fortune
• Before Harvey Hit, Trump Voided A Federal Rule To Protect Infrastructure From Future Flooding -- Huffington Post
• Trump Punishes Longtime Aide After Angry Phoenix Speech, Sources Say -- Bloomberg
• Ivanka Backs Trump Administration's Plans To Scrap Obama Rules Preventing Pay Discrimination -- Newsweek 
• Manafort's Notes From Trump Tower Russia Meeting Reportedly Mention Political Contributions And The RNC -- Business Insider
• Trump Attorney Reached Out To Kremlin To Pursue Moscow Trump Tower Project -- CNN
• What More Proof Of A Secret Trump-Russia Connection Do We Need? -- Chicago Tribune
• Houston Tries To Safeguard Some Areas By Flooding Others -- AP News
• Mueller May Have New Evidence Of Trump Obstruction -- Yahoo News
• Trump Promised Millions To Charity. We Found Less Than $10,000 Over 7 Years -- Washington Post
• Forceful Chief Of Staff Grates On Trump, And The Feeling Is Mutual -- New York Times

Pick(s) Of The Litter

• Fascism, American Style -- New York Times
• Violence By Far-Left Protesters In Berkeley Sparks Alarm -- Los Angeles Times
• How 'Antifa' Mirrors The 'Alt-Right' -- Truthdig
• 'Antifa' Groups Only Help The Hateful Forces They Claim To Oppose -- Washington Post
• Female North Korean Soldiers Describe Horrific Sexual Abuse From Superior Officers -- Business Insider
• Harvey Did Not Come Out Of The Blue. Now Is The Time To Talk About Climate Change -- Intercept
• Crucial Questions About Harvey -- ZNet
• North Korea Fires Missile Over Japan; Attack Warnings Sounded; Launch An 'Unprecedented Threat' -- ABC News
• Floods In India, Bangladesh And Nepal Kill 1,200 And Leave Millions Homeless -- Independent
• Mass Civil Disobedience Campaign Obstructs One Of Europe's Largest Polluters -- Waging Nonviolence
• George Monbiot We Can't Be Silent On Climate Change Or The Unsustainability Of Capitalist System -- Democracy Now
• Putin Warns That North Korea Is On The Verge Of A 'Large-Scale Conflict' -- Business Insider
• Seattle Police Shot Charleena Lyles Seven Times, Autopsy Finds -- Guardian

The American Left's Fork In The Road

Way back in the days of Occupy, we on the Left were aware of a violent group of protesters known as Black Bloc. And we allowed them to protest with us on the condition that they did not engage in violence.  For with Occupy, peaceful protesting was vital to what we wanted to do. We weren't perfect, but nonviolent protesting what we emphasized. In contrast to that, Black Bloc wanted to make their political statements through the destruction of property. And because they attacked property and not people, they did not see themselves as practicing violence. But the rest of us saw things differently. 

Today, we have antifa. It's not that we no longer have Black Bloc, but we have a new kid on the block. And one of this new kid's approaches to protesting is to exercise violence against those who support fascism. We might have some others who are willing to resort to violence. There are some Stalinists and others who believe in revolution who will resort to violence. But the group that is grabbing the headlines and attention of the press is antifa.

One way that we on the Left could look at those groups willing to exercise violence in order to get what their methods suggest or imply in supporting elite-centered rule or dispersed rule through democracy. Elite-centered rule is when those who are in government make decisions based on the views and desires of a few who are said to be specially qualified. This kind of rule was attributed to Lenin by Rosa Luxemburg and was the key criteria for Luxemburg calling Lenin's rule a bourgeoisie dictatorship. Dispersed rule occurs when decisions and laws are determined by those representing all of the people.

When we look at antifa from that perspective, we see antifa assuming some rights and power when they attack fascists, such as neo-nazis, in order to prevent these fascists from even speaking freely and demonstrating peacefully. Certainly the contents of speeches made by fascists like neo-nazis and their political positions are utterly abominable. What they want cannot be tolerated in terms of being implemented. But they are still afforded the right to speak freely and to peacefully demonstrate. Thus, when antifa physically attacks these neo-nazis, those in antifa are assuming some of the powers of the government. And the decision to carry out of these attacks is a decision made by a few who assume the right to act as judge, jury, and execution of another group. And their attacks give a picture of how they might govern the whole nation if given the chance. So we might say that the violence exercised by antifa implies a reliance of an promotion of elite-centered rule.

And since antifa is not the only group on the Left which would employ violence, others need to be mentioned too. I ran into a person who advocated violent revolution at the last May Day rally I attended in NYC. I asked him what would happen to democracy if his revolution took place. His answer was difficult to understand since it sounded like he answered in Russian. I ran into another person who wanted to wage war on the police because he believed that the police were the guardians of the bourgeoisie. He expressed the belief in attacking all who did not agree with his politics. That person is a Stalinist. And though not all Stalinists believe in relying on violent revolution to gain control of the state, this man did.

Those who advocate violent revolution in a democratic nation are often enemies of democracy more than they are enemies of the state. This is because political power in a working democracy is more dispersed rather than being elite-centered. And since those who would resort to violence imply a reliance on and promotion of elite-centered rule, we can say that they oppose a dispersed rule through democracy while they have no problems assuming the powers of the state when they take away the rights of others. And in this last item alone, the one of the things that separates these violent groups from the Democrats and the Republicans is in the use of violence.

What is tragic for the American Left is that we have a significant nonviolent tradition. The key person for that tradition would be Martin Luther King Jr. But we could also include figures like Eugene Debs, Noam Chomsky, and Howard Zinn. But not only that, we have constantly opposed state violence whether it is exercised in other countries or domestically. The advantage that nonviolent activism has over the violence of groups like antifa is that it seeks to win over people rather than trying to conquer them. Those who would resort to violence do not have the patience to wait for people to be persuaded. But those relying on persuasion, assume no power to rule over the rest of the people. Rather, they want to rule with others as equals.

Thus, it is incumbent on those on the Left to unambiguously reject groups like antifa because of their methods. Their methods merit their rejection not just because they are violent; but also because of the kind of political rule the use of their methods implies. For it is clear that their methods imply an elite-centered rule. That right there is a denial of what the American Left has been about.

ONIM For August 28, 2017

10 Best Fact Checking Sites Found Here.

If you are not sure about the validity of a news story linked to below, you can use  mediabiasfactcheck.com to check out the credibility of the source of most of the stories linked to here.

Christians News

• Charlottesville And The Mission Of The Church -- Mortification of Spin
• MENA Christianity And Western Leftism -- Medium
• Reject Overt And Covert White Supremacy -- Reformed African American Network
• By The Grace Of God: Matthew 1:1-17 -- Reformed African American Network
• Race, The Gospel, And The Moment -- Gospel Coalition
• Trump's Evangelical Advisors Sticking With Him Admit Fallout -- Yahoo News
• White Christians Who Voted For Trump: Fix This. Now -- John Pavlovitz
• Charlottesville: A Brown Christian Response -- Jesus For Revolutionaries
• Would Jesus Punch A Nazi -- Resist Daily
• Why Some Christians Are Calling White Supremacy 'Satanic' -- Huffington Post
• Evangelical Trump Supporters Want Meeting With Pope Francis -- U.S. News
• A Secularist Vs. The Progressive Faith -- Commentary Magazine
• Prominent U.S. Religious Conservatives Defend Trump After Charlottesville -- Reuters
• On Trump And Repentance -- Mere Orthodoxy
• 'Raised Up By God': Televangelist Paula White Compares Trump To Queen Esther -- Washington Post
• Evangelical Silence And Trump: A Reformation Irony -- Anxious Bench
• Under Trump, Evangelicals Show Their True Racist Colors -- Los Angeles Times
• The Catholic Bishops' Honeymoon With Trump Is Over -- Religion News Service
• The Idolatry Of Whiteness: Christians Struggle To Respond To Charlottesville -- Yahoo News

World News

• Here's What Robert E. Lee Thought About Confederate Monuments -- Business Insider
• Confederate Monuments Testify To The Union's Unfinished Victory -- Yahoo News
• How To Roll Back Fanaticism -- New York Times
• The Myth Of The Kindly General Lee -- Atlantic
• What General Pershing Was Really Doing In The Philippines -- Atlantic
• Tensions Grow Inside ACLU Over Defending Over Defending Free-Speech Rights For The Far-Right -- Los Angeles Times
• Who Are The Antifa -- Washington Post 
• America Still Under Turmoil A Year After Kaepernick's Protest -- Yahoo
• Resistance Grows In Puerto Rico Over Dumping Of Toxic Coal Ash -- Democracy Now
• Thousands Of Counter-Protesters Oppose America First! Rally In Laguna Beach -- Los Angeles Times
• "Everyone Is Talking Politics, Not Principles": 9 People At Boston's Rally On Their Experiences -- Vox
• Elon Musk Leads 116 Experts Calling For Outright Ban Of Killer Robots -- Guardian
• Universities Are Broke. So Let's Cut The Pointless Admin And Get Back To Teaching -- Guardian
• Neil Gorsuch Doesn't Seem To Care Much About Impartiality After All -- Washington Post
• The Women Behind The 'Alt-Right' -- NPR
• Dakota Access Pipeline Owner Sues Greenpeace For 'Criminal Activity' -- NPR
• Chile Rolls Back Strict Anti-Abortion Laws Imposed Under Military Dictatorship -- Democracy Now
• Vying For The Heart Of Conservatism In The Trump Era -- Yahoo News
• Phoenix Police Use Pepper Spray On Trump Protesters -- Yahoo News
• On Confederate Statues And Other Graven Images -- Religion News Service
• Anti-Fascist Protesters Fall Into Neo-Nazis' Trap By Confronting Them -- Newsweek
• Group Of Browns Players Kneel, Huddle During National Anthem -- USA Today
• The Platform Press: How Silicon Valley Reengineered Journalism -- Columbia Journalism Review
• Hank Aaron Would Like To See Colin Kaepernick Back In The NFL -- Yahoo News
• Colin Kaepernick's NFL Status May Not Matter Anymore -- Yahoo News
• Roger Goodell Says NFL Fans Should Be More Understanding Of Protests During National Anthem -- New York Daily News
• Nation With Crumbling Bridges And Roads Excited To Build Giant Wall -- New Yorker
• Trump Advisor Roger Stone Warns Any Politician Who Votes To Impeach Him Would 'Endanger Their Own Life' -- Independent
• Fake News On Official Enemies -- ZNet

Israel-Palestine News

• Racial Supremacy And Zionist Exception -- Mondoweiss
• Netanyahu's Right. Israel's Moral Depravity Is Paying Off -- Haaretz
• A Letter To The Israeli Government From A Retired Colonel --  972 Magazine
• Spain 'Issues Arrest Warrant' For Israeli PM Benjamin Netanyahu Over 2010 Gaza Flotilla Attack -- Independent
• Charlottesville Is Moment Of Truth For Empowered U.S. Zionists (Who Name Their Children After Israeli Generals) -- Mondoweiss
• Israeli Minister: Relations With Trump Are More Important Than Calling Out Nazis -- Jerusalem Post 
• In Gaza, We Get Four Hours Of Electricity A Day--If We're Lucky -- Los Angeles Times
• Mossad Accused Of Assassinating Palestinian Man In Sweden -- Haaretz
• How Hate Groups Forced Online Platforms To Reveal Their True Nature -- New York Times
• Israel Revokes Citizenship Of Hundreds Of Negev Bedouin, Leaving Them Stateless -- Haaretz
• Israel destroys Palestinian Classrooms Ahead Of First Day Of School -- Independent

Charlottesville Protest News

•  Charlottesville: A "Target" Of Opportunity -- Reformed African American Network
• 10 Everyday Ways Why Charlottesville And White Supremacy Are Allowed To Still Happen -- Reformed African American Network
• Charlottesville Police Refused To Protect Synagogue From Nazis, So Jewish Community Hired Armed Security For First Time -- Newsweek
• Fear, Resolve And More Security At Charlottesville Synagogue -- Religion News Service
• Americans Were Polled About The Violence In Charlottesville, And The Answers Are Ugly -- Quartz
• Charlottesville Man Beaten By White Nationalist Suffers Stroke -- Democracy Now
• Ten Points On Charlottesville -- ZNet
• Charlottesville: United Nations Warns US Over 'Alarming' Racism -- Guardian

Donald Trump News

• Graham Responds To Trump's Attack: 'You Are Now Receiving Praise From Some Of The Most Racist And Hate-Filled' In The Country -- Business Insider
• Donald Trump Has No Grasp Of What It Means To Be President -- Economist
• Poll: Majority Of Americans Disapprove Of Trump's Response To Charlottesville -- Politico
• On A Day That Will Live On In Infamy, Trump Reveals His True Dark Heart -- Haaretz
• Interactive Timeline: Everything We Know About Russia And President Trump -- Moyers & Company
• Pence Backs Trump's Charlottesville Rhetoric: 'I Stand With The President -- Politico
• Trump Announces New Strategy For Afghanistan That Calls For A Troop Increase -- Washington Post
• Donald Trump Eyes Afghanistan's $1 Trillion Mineral Reserves To Pay For Reconstruction After 16 Years Of War -- Independent
• Trump Disbands Federal Climate Science Committee -- Salon
• In Arizona, Trump Shows He Can't And Won't Be President -- Newsweek
• Donald Trump Says He Will 'Close Down The US Government' To Build Mexico Wall -- Yahoo News

Pick(s) Of The Litter 

• The Rise Of The Violent Left -- Atlantic
• Why Colin Kaepernick Matters -- Moyers & Company
• Chris Long On Anthem Protest Support: 'Time For People That Look Like Me' To Step Up -- Yahoo Sports
• Don't Call All American White Supremacists "Nazis." Their Ideology Of Hate Is Homegrown -- Vox
• What White Nationalism Gets Right About American History -- New York Times
• Black Man Convinces 200 Ku Klux Klansmen To Leave White Supremacist Group By Befriending Them -- Democracy Now
• Noam Chomsky: Antifa A 'Major Gift To The Right' -- Il Faro Sul Mondo
• Fran Works 6 Days A Week In Fast Food, And Yet She's Homeless: 'It's Economic Slavery' -- Guardian
• Jared Kushner's Firm Seeks Arrest Of Maryland Tenants To Collect Debt -- Baltimore Sun
• First White NFL Player To Kneel During National Anthem Explains His Decision -- CBS Sports
• Who "Owns" Information When Environmental And Corporate Interests Clash? -- University Of California Press Blog
• Syria: US-Led Bombing Reportedly Kills Dozens Of Civilians In Raqqa -- Democracy Now
• Defending Internet Freedom Through Decentralization: Back To The Future? -- MIT
• NC House Passed Bill 330--Allowing Drivers To Legally Drive Through Protesters Who Block Roads -- Charlotte Stories
• A Lesson On Slavery For White America -- Truthdig
• Federal Judge Blocks Further Implementation Of Texas' Voter ID Law -- Dallas Morning News
• Racial Justice Must Be Central To Our Movements -- Truthdig
• How (Not) To Challenge Racist Violence -- ZNet
• Harvey Brings Catastrophic Floods To Houston; At Five Reported Dead -- New York Times