Blogs

About this pamphlet Matthew Guy.

I know you’re saying it isn’t specifically targeting “African gangs”, in fact it isn’t even a photo of Melbourne. It’s from a story published in 2012 about gangs in London. The problem with your pamphlet isn’t just that it contradicts data from the state’s Crime Statistics Agency which show crime in Victoria has decreased by nearly 9% in the last year, it’s about context.

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.

A first-generation Australia who doesn’t like immigrants

Labels Australia’s welfare system as "poison“ while claiming $546,210 in expenses in 2016
Oversaw the robodebt fiasco

Exaggerates or lies about his department's results

Wants everyone to fit in with his values.

It is curious how many of the US libertarians hold up Ron Paul as some sort of positive example. If you need any further evidence of the danger and damage that this crackpot could cause, one only needs to review his policies and voting record.

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....