#sheltered marxists

[kharmii]

This argument would actually make sense if the government wasn't taxing most of our earnings so that so much is wasted in money laundering schemes related to abortions and transitioning. If you want to murder your infant or mutilate your genitals, then pay for it out of your own pocket. Don't force me to shoulder a larger tax burden to support your bad decisions.

I'm using my freedom to organize armed community self-defense to protect my neighborhood from police brutality.

AHAHAHAHAHAHA!!!! No, that's a great idea! Go and do that any place where they catch and release violent criminals. Chances are you'll end up hiding in your houses with bars on the windows. If you do manage to kill or apprehend a violent criminal, chances are you end up in prison because left wing culture has more compassion for the criminal than the victim.

[kinialohaguy]

Squatter Invasion

Aloha kākou. Squatters are violating American homeowner property rights. The government is increasingly allowing squatters to take over someone’s private property. Squatting, also known as adverse possession, refers to a legal concept that allows a person (or homeless) occupying someone else’s property without permission to potentially gain legal ownership of that property after a certain period…

[pandemic-info]

UPDATE: a judge blocked this for now: https://apnews.com/article/donald-trump-pause-federal-grants-aid-f9948b9996c0ca971f0065fac85737ce

—

This is a huge fucking problem.

These grants account for more than 10% of the GDP. 3 trillion – wiped out.

From the article:

The funding freeze by the Republican administration could affect trillions of dollars and cause widespread disruption in health care research, education programs and other initiatives. Even grants that have been awarded but not spent are supposed to be halted.

“The use of Federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies is a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve the day-to-day lives of those we serve,” said a memo from Matthew Vaeth, the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget.

(Use of that language, that entire segment, "Marxist equity ... policies" is disgusting. If you think you're wary of propaganda and you do not see the enormous red flags in that statement, I do not know how to help you. If you're not beyond it, maybe pick up a history book — the 1930s are particularly pertinent.)

The average person may not understand just how far-reaching this is, how many programs and services are covered by grants, that regular people rely on all across the US and globally.

Not to mention how many people just had their livelihood demolished.

Researchers, for example, spend months and years writing grant proposals, their work and income relies on these cycles. So even if this is "temporary", a lot of people are going to struggle.

This is not just a few people in lab coats somewhere, working on something you don't care about. Government-funded research is released to the public, since we paid for it, and is very typically about things the public will want to know:

Is this product safe or deadly?

Is this medication actually a "wonder drug" or does it harm you in the long term?

Is this pollution going to affect us long-term?

Etc.

Seriously, if you wanted any of those things to get better — you wanted lower rates of cancer and other deadly and disabling disease? You worry about trusting public health guidelines because you're concerned about bias and vested interests in research? You want "small government" that doesn't interfere with people's bodies based on a small group's religious dogma, with zero basis in factual, verifiable reality?

Then you should have voted to keep this administration out of government.

Because their idea — which is outlined in Project 2025, and they are following it closely — is that research will be required to rely 50% on private funding.

Guess what private funding introduces a ton more of: private interests, private bias. The interests of stakeholders who do not give a shit if you are being killed by their product, as long as line goes up in the short run.

But even beyond scientific researchers — and those who rely on that work, e.g. journalists, science communicators, public health advocates, scientific artists —

grants fund others like: teachers, police, farmers, women's and homeless shelters, native orgs, medical workers, and on the list goes.

All pending "review" by a thoroughly unqualified gang of convicted criminals and cronies.

[txttletale]

can you explain family abolition in a few words?

sure. there is no one unitary 'family abolitionist' perspective so be aware that i'm explaining this as a marxist and not as an anarchist or a radical feminist.

basically, "the family" is a social construct rather than a fixed self-evident truth. the family has been created and can be shaped, altered, or--indeed--abolished. this is evinced by the broad anthropological and historical record of radical transformations in what constitutes 'the family' (cf. clans, the extended family, the nuclear family). viewing the family as such opens it up to critique and also to the concept that it could be replaced with something better (in much the same way that, for communist and anarchist, refusing to accept the timelessness / naturalization of the bourgeois state opens up new horizons of political thought outside of engagement with electoral politics.)

among these critiques of the family are:

that it is a tool of patriarchal control over women and children by creating an economic dependence upon spouses / parents

ergo, that it enables and causes 'abuse' -- that child abuse, spousal abuse, and intimate partner violence are not abberations of 'the family' but in fact a natural consequence of its base premises re: power and control

that it serves as a site of invisiblised economic labour (e.g. housework)

that it is a tool of the capitalist (formerly the feudal) economy's reproduction of inequality via e.g. inheritance laws

that it serves as a site of normalization and reproduction of hegemonic ideology--i.e. that it is the site where heteronormativity, cisnormativity, gender roles, class positionality, & more are ingrained in children

among solutions family abolitionists propose to remedy it are:

the total dissolution of any legal privilege conferred by romantic or blood relationship in favour of total freedom for any group of people to form a household and cohabitate

the recognition of housework, the work of childrearing, & the general tasks of social reproduction as 'real' labour to be distributed fairly and not according to formal or informal (feminized) hierarchies

the economic and legal freedom of children--(i.e., allowing children unconditional access to food and shelter outside 'the family', allowing children the legal right to informed consent and self-determination)

similarly, the emancipation of women from economic dependence on their partners--both of these can only really be achieved via socialism (as marx put it, 'women in the workplace' only trade patriarchal dependence upon a husband for patriarchal dependence upon an employer)

communal caretaking of children, the sick, & the elderly

yeah. i know. this is a lot of words. its not few words. sorry. it's a complex topic innit. this is a few words For Me consideri ng that i've got a long-ass google doc open where i'm writing up a whole damn essay on this exact topic.

tldr: the family is not inevitable, it is constructed & can be replaced with something better. full economic freedom from dependence on interpersonal familial relationships for everybody now. check out cuba's 2022 family code for an idea of what this could look like as practical legislation.

[cripple-punk-dad]

Controversial but I don't think you should have to read centuries worth of political theory to recognize that our current economy is unsustainable and cruel. That reeks of privilege. It is a privilege to live within a safe bubble of denial when people around you are dying from obviously unjust systems. I don't need to understand Marxist dialectical materialism to go volunteer at an animal shelter or to treat homeless people like human beings. Get off your asses get out of your cushy home libraries and go throw a brick at a cop or some shit. Theory means jack shit without praxis and so many intellectual anarchists don't get that.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

John Knefel at MMFA:

A new memo issued by the Trump administration directing the federal government to temporarily cease disbursing billions of dollars in funds appears to draw on arguments made by Russ Vought, the president’s selectee to run the Office of Management and Budget. Vought was a primary architect of Project 2025, a sprawling effort organized by The Heritage Foundation to provide policy and staffing recommendations for President Donald Trump’s second term. In addition to that role, Vought is also the founder of the Center for Renewing America, a MAGA-aligned think tank that has spent over a year arguing that the president can unilaterally refuse to spend funds allocated by Congress, an authority known as the impoundment power that was severely curtailed by Congress in 1974.

The new Trump administration memo was issued by Matthew Vaeth, acting director of OMB pending Vought’s confirmation vote. The document calls for federal agencies to “temporarily pause all activities related to obligation or disbursement of all Federal financial assistance.”  “The use of Federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies is a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve the day-to-day lives of those we serve,” the memo states. Although the two-page memo doesn’t use the term impoundment, law professor Steve Vladeck argued that the Trump administration is claiming “the unilateral power to at least temporarily ‘impound’ tens of billions of dollars of appropriated funds—in direct conflict with Congress’s constitutional power of the purse, and in even more flagrant violation of the Impoundment Control Act of 1974.” The existence of the document was first reported by journalist Marisa Kabas and later confirmed by The Washington Post and The New York Times. (OMB issued a follow-up memo claiming the freeze does “not apply across-the-board” and withheld funds are “not an impoundment under the Impoundment Control Act.”)

The direct effects of the memo are unknown given its scope and vagueness, but they could be detrimental even if the pause is short-lived.

“Experts said the memo as written was poised to bring a rapid halt to scores of federal functions, from assistance to homeless shelters to financial aid for college students,” the Post reported. “Health grants distributed by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, and state aid for disaster reconstruction, might face delays.” The memo appears to exempt Social Security and Medicare recipients, and it says the halt “does not include assistance provided directly to individuals.” It isn’t clear whether Medicaid recipients will be affected, although some early reports indicated that payments had been disrupted.

Project 2025 architect Russ Vought had his handprints all over the federal funding freeze.

See Also:

HuffPost: The 50-Year-Old Law Trump Is Challenging To Create Chaos

The Guardian: Trump move to pause federal loans and grants rooted in Project 2025

Ahmed Baba: Trump’s Funding Freeze Power Grab Causes Chaos And Legal Firestorm

[fernlessbastard]

ok hot take. we all hate capitalists. I know. I do too. I really, REALLY hate capitalists.

that being said C!Quackity is the definition of a capitalist. like in a fully "I made the money, I deserve it because I took the risks." "its not my fault that some people dont work as hard as I do." "las nevadas is a company, the only government is the corporation which Quackity owns." way.

he is sat RIGHT at the bottom right corner on the political compass, and he is not budging. obviously, thats not to say hes a homophobe or a racist or generally a bigot, but hes very much a land hoarding, greedy, individualistic, profiteer type guy.

him and wilbur have gotten into several arguments about this, as with pretty much all of the ways Quackity runs his goverment, and shots have been FIRED.

I think the main argument from wilbur would be: "was it your fault that you were homeless after you ran from schlatt? do you really belive that youre the only person who has ever needed to run from financial abuse?" and "if it hadn't been for my policies about taking in all we can feed, then you would have starved to death in the woods. according to your philosophy I should have told you to piss off because you wernt profitable."

and then quackity responding with: "you change your ideology like youre a kid playing dressup, dont act like youre better than me because you woke up and decided that being a marxist suited your situation best, you just want something to argue about." and "you only took me in BECAUSE I was profitable. maybe not through labour but you would have used me as a bargaining chip any day of the week."

anyways, they've both been heads of state and both of them are well versed in political science and economics, which leads to both some very fun conversations and some less fun arguments. (wilbur might enjoy it a little)

ok so yes I agree with that take in the context of the smp, but it's also important to point out that minecraft "capitalism" is what those capitalists who want to convince you it's good claim capitalism to be. Food is abundant, shelter has little requirements to be functional, you can literally just dig a little into a hill and you're set, and then make a farm from things you can find anywhere. Anyone can mine, anyone has access to anywhere that isn't already someone's exact base, food is easily accessible and renewable, etc etc.

What Quackity's doing is he's actually providing a luxury service which isn't at all necessary. And Las Nevadas deserves to earn a profit from people using its facilities, cause they've been carefully and deliberately made to provide entertainment. Quackity doesn't have monopoly on food, shelter, land, resources, etc. Anyone could make their own small version of LN if they had the want and time to. So it isn't fair putting cQuackity in the same box as idfk bezos or musk, cause in cQ's case it's deserved, earned, and not a monopoly that causes everyone but him to suffer. Translating that into real life is just simply much more difficult than taking it at face value

As a sidenote I think that while Quackity is like that on the outside, he still wouldn't ignore someone needing help. Like, he's definitely got that built up resentment of "I had to work for all of this so hard, I've gotten through so many hardships. Why should someone else have it easier??" but then when the push comes to shove he's still end up helping, even if just a little bit.

[mesetacadre]

Kind of a long ask sorry.

I'm a USAmerican and interested in joining a communist party, but I'm new to organizing so I'm not really sure what to look for. The options don't seem great.

I've ruled out the DSA and CPUSA since they both appear to just be liberals with "leftist" branding, and the only other major parties I can find are the RCA/ICA, and the PSL.

I'm planning to do more research on my own, but I was hoping to get some thoughts/advice from someone with actual experience organizing, in case there's anything important I'm not aware of.

not that long dw

you're correct in your assessment of the DSA and CPUSA. The PSL does have marxist-leninist positions (or close enough) but they shelter abusers and apparently have a really bad culture, although there are some branches that don't have this problem. Can't say I've ever heard or anything about the RCA/ICA. As far as general pointers go, what I'd look for is an active org that does work you'd consider productive. There's thousands of orgs that are essentially book clubs, and you can get that anywhere. I'd also recommend to shop around, it'd be very strange if some org/party did not allow you to attend some meetings as an outsider or go to whichever action/speech/misc activity as someone who's interested. You can get a lot more info from just talking to members about what they do and solve some doubts you may have. Entering an org is not a blood pact, and any half-serious ones will allow non-committed outsiders to attend something and see for themselves

[scotianostra]

Happy 75th Birthday, singer/songwriter/guitarist Mark Knopfler, born 12th August 1949, in Glasgow.

The Knopflers originally lived in the Glasgow area and Mark Knopfler’s younger brother David was also born in the city, his father was a Hungarian refugee who fled his home country in 1939, they have a Jewish heritage but Mark described his dad as a “Marxist agnostic”

The family moved to Newcastle when Mark was 7, where he was educated, he started making music aged 16 but it wasn’t till he formed Dire straits, with his brother in 1977 that he began to have success.

The band were signed to Vertigo Records in 1978 and recorded the album Dire Straits, which featured their first major hit single, “Sultans of Swing. Their follow-up albums include Communique , Making Movies featuring Romeo and Juliet and Tunnel of Love. In 1985 the band released its mega-selling album Brothers In Arms, which has sold more than 30 million copies to date.

Mark has collaborated with many of the world’s top acts through the years, and although he spent most of his life in England, he still holds an affinity with the land of his birth, of course many of you will know he penned the music to Local Hero, but Scotland has featured in some of his songs too. On his second solo album, Sailing to Philadelphia, the in the lyric of the first single pays homage to Edinburgh. The video also features Scotland, with the Forth Bridge and Road Bridge featuring as well as the streets of our Capital City. He also penned the music for the movie The Princess Bride and the Scottish

What is it.

The drinking dens are spilling out

There’s staggering in the square

There’s lads and lasses falling about

And a crackling in the air

Down around the dungeon doors

The shelters and the queues

Everybody’s looking for

Somebody’s arms to fall into

And it’s what it is

It’s what it is now

There’s frost on the graves and the monuments

But the taverns are warm in town

People curse the government

And shovel hot food down

The lights are out in city hall

The castle and the keep

The moon shines down upon it all

The legless and asleep

And it’s cold on the tollgate

With the wagons creeping through

Cold on the tollgate

God knows what I could do with you

It’s what it is

It’s what it is now

The garrison sleeps in the citadel

With the ghosts and the ancient stones

High up on the parapet

A Scottish piper stands alone

And high on the wind

The highland drums begin to roll

And something from the past just comes

And stares into my soul

And it’s cold on the tollgate

With the Caledonian blues

Cold on the tollgate

God knows what I could do with you

And it’s what it is

It’s what it is now

What it is

It’s what it is now

There’s a chink of light, there’s a burning wick

There’s a lantern in the tower

Wee Willie Winkie with a candlestick

Still writing songs in the wee wee hours

On Charlotte Street I take

A walking stick from my hotel

The ghost of Dirty Dick

Is still in search of Little Nell

It’s what it is

It’s what it is now

Oh it’s what it is

What it is now, now, now

films Local Hero and A Shot at Glory.

[sidabro]

ngl, when people are comparing the "staple bad author" Rowling, who, for speaking extensivelly in the goverment againt trans people, and having caused real world harm to many of them, actually has opened not one and not two shelters for qomen who survived sexual assault, donates a lot of her money to charities for single mothers, women in poverty, hospitals that take care of neonatal premature babies to a fucking -rapist- i imediatelly think theyre retarded. Time to drop your obsession with JKR and read a third book, learn about more things, engage with more politics than the ones spoonfed to you by tumblr anglo "liberals" and queer marxists. I swear to god.

[pep-the-artemis]

Uzi the Anarcho-Communist

A literary deep dive into the themes of Murder Drones.

(note, this took way to long to write and is far from finished and I know this is self-serving but can you please if you read this reblog it)

Although the show very much is a critique of capitalism, I don't think that's its primary theme, instead I believe the primary theme of the show is Hubris which notably emerges throughout the show but this is about communism. First lets discuss the idea that the show critiques capitalism in its plot and theming.

The opening line to the show is "we are worker drones". 'Worker' is very much a common phrase used in Marxist ideas (most famously in the quote "Workers of the land, Unite!"). Worker in this context is used to refer to a member of the working class. The word 'drone' also creates this association with dull monotony mirroring the lives of the drones.

The second shot in the show is of a group of worker drones all identical in expression, height, eye colour, clothing—very much every detail. This is the first time we really see this idea that the WDs lack individuality which is another idea discussed by Karl Marx's Gattungswesen. This lack of individuality is very much an extreme example of what Marx calls Objective Alienation, the WDs have been deprived of there right to think in the name of windex maximizing profits for those who control the means of production (in this case humans).

The third shot (authors note, can't believe we're only 19 seconds into episode 1, this is going to take forever) we finally see the face of evil, a corporation in the form of its name superimposing over the scene; its happy, outdated style juxtaposes the cold, dreary reality the WDs are living through. I would go deeper into this but if you don't know how corporations tie into Marxism theory then you need to pick up a book.

The fourth shot is so full of small details I just have to give a screenshot to appreciate its subtlety.

Top left, you can see a WD working in a precarious position working environment, not much to mention because it's doing more to play as environmental story telling for the other parts of the scene. At the highest point of the shot, JCJenson logo almost like a title basically saying this is JCJenson and also the height can be viewed as a metaphor for their position in the hierarchy. To the signs right is the control room, the only area which is kept well lit, the control room is also were the highest authority present would mingle, good lighting is a luxury of the rich (the withholding of basic rights like food, shelter and [in this case] light is again a critique Marx makes against capitalism). Bottom right, a group of humans standing around doing very little standing around the destroyed body of a worker drone not stopping the ant like WDs walking ever closer or helping the WD clinging for there life in the top right of the screen. The lives and safety of the WDs is off little consequence to the humans which is the other side of Alienation, those in power stop viewing the workers as people and more as machines to be exploited; to stop production would be the greatest sin.

The fifth, sixth, seventh and eight shots, the culmination of the humans actions. In pursuit of production, the humans led to there own downfall, being blissfully unaware until it was too late and the greatest joke, the workers survived and didn't care. This very much mirrors a lot of modern criticisms of capitalism especially around the ideas of climate change. Knowing what we know after watching the show, that the core collapse was almost certainly no coincidence, instead likely a plot by WDs (specifically the Absolute Solver) then it fits into Marxist theory specifically around Proletariat Revolution which Marx states is the inevitability of capitalism.

The ninth shot, the most important which will be made incredibly evident once I show a picture.

Its a direct parallel to the fourth shot. Firstly, the orange colour has very much been lost for a cool blue which if you note has always been the colour associated with the workers throughout all of the previous scenes, its encapsulation shows the shift in power. The JCJenson logo replaced with a graffiti doodle (somewhat similar to the anarchists symbol). And the most obvious, the workers sitting in the control room, they are now in control while the humans lay dead below them. The results of this revolution though won't be made evident until the next shot so |: moving on.

(authors note. A MINUTE IN WOOO!)

The tenth shot, the WDs now are showing unique characteristics and identities! This is the emergence of Gattungswesen, remember that one word I mentioned before but didn't really talk about well here we are now. Gattungswesen refers to what Karl Marx thinks make humans human; Marx considers the idea that identity emerges from individuals is foolish instead ones identity emerges from there social relations which is exactly what we see in this opening scene.

"They themselves begin to distinguish themselves from animals as soon as they begin to produce their means of subsistence, a step which is conditioned by their physical organisation." - Karl Marx

Marx also considers the death of personal identity one of the evil components of capitalism.

At this point, I should start talking about the disassembly drones but there's too much to talk about and I'm tired because I didn't anticipate the opening minute being so jam packed with information so I'll instead continue by talking about the Worker Drone civilisation and then Uzi (author note, ughh bite me that's a lot of writing).

In the Worker Drones civilisation, two things are very notable—both neither a hierarchy nor a market seems to exist.

The only characters seen with some hierarchical power are Kahn and Teacher but even then the Teacher doesn't have governing power, instead his power comes from his title as Teacher. Kahn on the other hand is more complicated; he does hold real power as the leader of the Worker Drone Protection Corp (Author note. to tired and lazy to verify if that's correct); at the same time the nature of his power is vague, he is never shown to have any political power nor is a political system present.

The absence of a market or capitalist constructs (a market isn't strictly capitalist but for the discussion its close enough). The only example in the WD civilisation the only time we see anything similar is in episode 2 with the vending machine (which we don't see used), the sight of all the murders by Eldritch J. Without going deep into J, its hard to go deep into this but it can be very easily read as a metaphor for how capitalism weaponises consumption.

Overall, it seems most likely beyond any other alternative (not saying an alternative is possible), but with the backing of the anti-capitalist symbolism discussed earlier, the WDs very much live in a anarcho-communist Commune.

Finally, onto the subject matter of the title, Uzi. Lets go through all the different pieces of evidence that imply that Uzi is a communist.

To begin, she's anti-authoritarian. She is very rebellious in nature, not just against Teacher but also her father. The inciting incident of the entire story is when Uzi betrays her fathers authority to go and fight the Disassembly Drones (who very much represented the police and the will of the higher authority of JCJenson).

When talking to the deluded N, she tried to convince him to rebel through using the communist argument that they are living in Subjective Alienation (more commonly refered to as 'false consciousness'), they are unaware that the humans just see them as the means to an end. Later, N starts discussing other communist ideas with J, namely there is no difference between them and the WDs, instead they are very much the same.

(author note for future reference, WDs are Lumpenproletariats)

There is more to talk about, but I'm tired.

[ireton]

DISCLAIMER: Please do your own research and come to your own conclusions.

 WARNING - DISTURBING TOPIC

The Washington state Senate just passed Senate Bill 5599, allowing the state to hide children from their parents. No allegation of abuse is required. Just the child’s delusional desire to change the gender of their own body. The bill compels state licensed youth shelters to act as accomplices in castrating children without their parent's knowledge. And allocates over seven million dollars to pay for the surgical and pharmaceutical castrations.

According to this new law, if a child shows up at a youth shelter in Washington state and expresses the desire to change the gender of their body, claiming that their parents are against it, then the youth shelter is legally obligated to not notify the parents of the child’s location. But rather, to funnel that child into the destructive and horrific world of trans-genderism. Paid for by the state with tax-payer dollars.

And it’s not limited to Washington residences. Any young confused runaway child can make their way to Washington to get castrated by the government without their parents ever being notified.

The agenda to destroy Christian culture and the family was further demonstrated last month when scores of UN judges published The 8 March Principles for a Human Rights-Based Approach to Criminal Law Proscribing Conduct Associated with Sex, Reproduction, Drug Use, HIV, Homelessness and Poverty.

The document states that these principles should be of immediate relevance to legislators, judges, and prosecutors at all levels.

These principles include the right to abortion and transgender surgeries. They legalize prostitution and all drug use. But the real offense is buried at the end of Principle 16 – Consensual Sexual Conduct, where it states that; sexual conduct involving persons below the domestically prescribed minimum age of consent to sex may be consensual in fact, if not in law. In this context, the enforcement of criminal law should reflect the rights and capacity of persons under 18 years of age to make decisions about engaging in consensual sexual conduct and their right to be heard in matters concerning them.

The sociopaths in world government are now openly pressing for legal pedophilia. And the reason was best summarized by Communist/Marxist; Vladimir Lenin

Give me four years to teach the children and the seed I have sown will never be uprooted.

[nonenosome2]

https://www.tumblr.com/nonenosome2/772593174479880192/food-water-and-shelter-are-the-three-basichuman

Does this mean that I'm entitled for the government (read: taxpayers) to provide me with guns? Cause that's something that's actually in the Bill of Rights. Does that mean the government (read: taxpayers) have to find my church, something also actually in the Bill of Rights?

Ah, then surely that means that Anon is against abortion, since the right to life is a right.

A right is something that is protected from being taken away from you, not something you're entitled to receive from someone else. Taking from someone who has not freely (even if reluctantly) offered it is called theft, which is not a right.

I despise these entitled little marxists who don't understand that something being free for them just means someone else pays.

In response to another post.

[queen-mabs-revenge]

so yeah about yesterday

i had someone randomly attack me on the street shouting that i was a 'fucking communist socialist scum' whatever, other stuff too but i was a bit shocked and didn't process it all. they pushed me away to destroy a poster for a healthcare protest i was looking at, went and physically attacked me when i went to take a photo and then called over a friend to threaten and chase me until i sheltered in a store. i was recognized despite having no social media presence (outside of tumblr lmao) and targeted for harassment and intimidation for my political alignment and activism as a socialist while i was literally just walking down the street to drop off my glass recycling at a bottle bank

and like - fuck! but at the same time, fucking hell, get yourself organized. i immediately called comrades who keep track of the local right wing scene to let them know what happened and get advice, got in contact with safeguarding officers of the organization and got advice about if i should and how to report to the guards, what steps to take for my own safety and what steps we will be taking as a local branch and in other branches nationally, was rang by comrades throughout the day to check in and had company on the way home.

so yeah, especially as right wing fucks get emboldened, get organized in a revolutionary marxist organization that takes safeguarding seriously to protect people from abuse from both outside of the organization and from any internal abuse.

no compromises on that because it makes all the difference.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Judd Legum and Rebecca Crosby at Judd Legum at Popular Information:

On Monday, the Trump administration issued an extraordinary memo ordering federal agencies to indefinitely freeze the "disbursement of all Federal financial assistance." The freeze was scheduled to take effect at 5 PM on Tuesday, according to the memo, authored by the acting director of the Office of Management and Budget, Matthew J. Vaeth. Each agency has until February 10 to provide detailed information about every grant, loan, or financial assistance program covered by the memo. Even after submitting this information, the freeze continues "until OMB has reviewed and provided guidance to your agency with respect to the information submitted." Essentially, agencies are prohibited from spending money on Congressionally authorized financial assistance programs until the Trump administration reviews and approves each program. (Financial assistance provided directly to individuals, such as Social Security and Medicare, are excluded from the new directive.)

The stated purpose of the freeze is to prevent the "use of Federal resources to advance Marxist equity, transgenderism, and green new deal social engineering policies," which the memo describes as "a waste of taxpayer dollars that does not improve the day-to-day lives of those we serve." The memo suggests that federal agencies are prohibited from spending money for these purposes because of a series of executive orders, such as Ending Radical and Wasteful Government DEI Programs and Preferencing, issued by President Donald Trump in the first days of his presidency. The first issue with the memo is that the articulated policy is hopelessly vague. The Green New Deal is a set of policies that were proposed but never enacted into law. Marxism is a political philosophy, not a category of financial assistance programs administered by the federal government. There is no explanation of how an agency could determine which programs include these supposedly prohibited concepts.

The second issue is the process described by the memo is illegal. Once Congress passes a law that includes a financial assistance program and the president signs the law, the executive branch must execute the law. There is no exception to this rule for programs that allegedly support Marxism, transgenderism, or the Green New Deal. If Trump opposes any financial assistance program that Congress has previously funded, the legal course of action is to convince Congress to rescind the funding. The Impoundment Control Act of 1974 provides the only legal mechanism for an administration to temporarily withhold funding for a program. Under the law, Trump could delay funding a program for up to 45 days if he first sends a message to Congress explaining why he believes funding should be rescinded. But if Congress does not pass legislation rescinding the funds within 45 days, the administration must disperse the funds. Trump has not sent any such message to Congress. As a result, the freeze of funds is illegal.

[...]

Even a temporary freeze will have major consequences

The memo did not specify precisely what programs will be affected, but it could impact billions of dollars in federal spending. Programs that could be affected by the freeze include the National School Lunch Program, which “feeds about 28 million American schoolchildren each month” and Meals on Wheels, which “delivers about 250 million meals each year to more than 2 million seniors.” Other programs that could lose funding include disaster relief aid, assistance for homeless shelters, housing assistance, and education programs. Diane Yentel, the chief executive of The National Council of Nonprofits, released a statement expressing concern about programs researching “cures for childhood cancer,” offering “safety from domestic violence,” and running “suicide hotlines” losing funding. “The impact of even a short pause in funding could be devastating and cost lives,” Yentel said. According to a White House fact sheet posted to X by Washington Post reporter Jeff Stein, programs that provide “direct benefits to Americans [are] explicitly excluded from the pause and exempted from this review process.” The fact sheet claims that Medicaid, SNAP, funds for small businesses, Pell Grants, Head Start, and rental assistance will not be impacted. But despite the White House’s claims, the Head Start reimbursement system was shut down in Connecticut yesterday, according to Senator Chris Murphy (D-CT). Head Start, which provides low-income children with access to preschool, “served 778,000 children in 2023.” Murphy said that the White House fact sheet was inaccurate and preschools in his state "cannot pay staff and will need to start laying off staff very soon and sending little kids home.” Senator Ron Wyden (D-OR) posted on X that his staff had “confirmed reports that Medicaid portals are down in all 50 states following last night’s federal funding freeze.” Wyden called it a "blatant attempt to rip away health insurance from millions of Americans overnight and will get people killed.” The White House said that the Medicaid outage was simply a technical problem. White House Press Secretary Karoline Leavitt posted on X that they were “aware of the Medicaid website portal outage” and the portal was expected to “be back online shortly.” The Medicaid website, however, warned of delays due to “executive orders regarding potentially unallowable grant payments.”

Nearly “a fifth of all Americans” receive health insurance through Medicaid.

The infamous federal funding freeze memo (that has since been temporarily stayed) is part of Trump’s plan to do an end-run around Congress and consolidate power in the Executive Branch.

See Also:

The Status Kuo (Jay Kuo): The Incompetent Liars

[askgothamshitty]

Most of radical feminist say that the only way to dismantle and destroy patriarchy is using radical feminism theory, method and movement. What's your opinion about that?

If you disagree with that, do you mind sharing what's your critique towards radical feminism? And what's the best theory/method/movement to dismantle and destroy patriarchy other than radical feminist? Thanks <3

I agree that radical feminist theory is essential, and that past activist tactics by radical feminists (consciousness-raising, DV shelters, etc.) should be part of a revolutionary feminist movement.

However I think that a Marxist understanding of historical development, and a dedication to the building of socialism, is also needed.