wes.whitman's blog

Language is a system of symbols used for communication. A flag is a symbol, a word; it represents an idea and sends a message. This is why flying a Confederate flag is protected as freedom of speech. The Confederate flag is basically the n-word. It is a racist symbol. That flag represents the Confederate States. The Confederate States declared their cause when they seceded from the United States. That cause was white supremacy. That's what the Confederate flag stands for.

Ben Shapiro makes two points in criticizing Nordic Model social democracy.

First, he says that it won't work here because we are not ethnically homogeneous. This is total bullshit, taken directly from the Alt-Right playbook. It's also racist. He's suggesting that the existence of black people makes it impossible for programs like Social Security and Medicare to work. Since we have such programs in our multi-cultural society, his claim can be dismissed. How will having an ethnically diverse society cause Medicare-for-All to fail? I need an explanation.

Awe... Trumpty Dumpty is all butt hurt and upset that Michael Cohen secretly recorded him and handed over the recordings to the FBI. Crybaby snowflake! He's so precious with his temper tantrums on Twitter. But while he's ranting about this scandal, we now know that Trump told a Russian spy that he was willing to cooperate with Russia and that the NRA and John Bolton openly worked with a Russian spy (one who did not even try to conceal the fact that she works for Russia). Could there BE any more Trump scandals!?

Maria Butina being a Russian spy was not at all a secret. Her handler was Alexander Torshin, a Russian senator and member of Putin's party. David Keene, former president of the NRA and current board member, bragged about hosting the Russian senator at multiple NRA annual meetings. Keene received money from a Russian gun group associated with Butina. The NRA apparently took money from Russian oligarchs.

This is a good read. It's a pretty fair critique of American (right-wing) libertarianism from a libertarian perspective. Libertarians tend to glorify the late 1800s as the golden age of laissez-faire, but the author rightly points out that the government actually did substantially intervene in the economic affairs of most people, to an extent that this era cannot even be regarded as an era of laissez-faire.

Contracts under capitalism don't represent real voluntary agreement. They are generally asymmetrically enforced wherein one party, usually a corporation, has a dominating role with power over the other party. For instance, rental agreements are hard to enforce on the landlord because tenants are generally poor and can't afford litigation, gym membership agreements favor the gym over the member, and internet/phone service on a fixed monthly basis don't automatically come with partial refunds for downtime when the provider fails to hold up their end of the deal.

So, here's some radical history for you....

Trump supporters are such sensative little snowflakes. They're boycotting Walmart because of the "impeach 45" shirts. "Oh, we're offended." Fuck you, you racist little pissants. Y'all are a bunch of homophobic and misogynistic assholes that pride yourselves on saying offensive things and then complain about people getting upset at you. And y'all are upset about restaurants denying service to Trump administration officials?! Fuck you, y'all assholes support the right of businesses to discriminate based on race and sexual orientation. Hypocrites!

Donald Trump is literally holding kids hostage. He has basically admitted that they are keeping kids in cages in inhumane conditions in order to force Democrats and principled conservatives to support funding for the border wall. This asshole is literally keeping kids locked up without adult supervision (other kids who aren't even related have been having to change kids' diapers because adults aren't taking care of them)...and this fascist fuck has the audacity to say "well, we'll stop doing this to these kids when the opposition caves on the border wall."

Conservative: "America is a Republic, not a Democracy."

Dude, shut the fuck up! You are a fucking idiot.

Republicanism is a philosophy of democratic government that specifically defines liberty in such a way that their very definition of freedom entails universal healthcare, elimination of poverty, abolition of wage-slavery, free college, et al. Bernie Sanders is basically the only real republican in American politics.