Just ten things that come to mind:
1. There just is a lot of similarity to the 1968 riots in West Germany. The slogans, the chatter, the student-involvement, the anti-capitalism talk, and the stance against the government.
Antifa and the Red Army Faction? Same basic story.
2. I think all of the top 100 Chancellors of universities in the US....have to be having meetings with their security team and talking over the approaching fall semester, and the return of the students.
If active riots occur on campus territory? They'd probably go and shut down the college entirely until the next semester. Refunds? Go explain to the campus staff, and professors....that the semester is shot, and that salaries are going to be diminished in some fashion.
Some kids, I suspect....who were on some 4-year schedule....will be kicking themselves and the system....they just bought into a 5th year....to achieve a 4-year degree.
3. The more that students talk at these riots and explain their logic or reason....the more that viewers get the idea the kid never got much past the 8th grade.
If you are a 3rd college kid and people start to question your education attained...that's a sure hint that the degree business you are pursuing....isn't worth $80,000.
4. What is an autonomous zone?
I had to sit there for a while and look over the Seattle riot....to understand what they said, and what it really meant.
Basically, you've chased out some cops (maybe less than a dozen) and declared an area without law. So if another group of 200-odd people showed up with shotguns and such....they could annihilate you and it'd be perfectly legit. Then some other group could arrive to annihilate them. And after that another group, some others could come and counter-annihilate the anti-annihilaters.
5. It's probably the best time in thirty years to re-read '1984'.
6. In the end, it seems....fascism is just modern-day anti-Communist socialism.
I've been waiting for some CNN 'expert' to suggest this, but it's been a long wait.
7. For any Army guy who was around Somalia during the brief US period there, and observing the War-Lords with their 'gangs' at work....this whole thing has become the same script and same scene.
8. The defunding the police chatter? In the past two days....that really softened up and seems to be going modification of the police in some ways....less military equipment, no choke-holds, etc.
9. Interest in NFL football in the fall? Forget about it. Figure a one-third to 50-percent loss in TV income and seat sales. The league at this point? Doomed.
10. If you live in Seattle or Minneapolis....why would you bother staying?
So a final note and question....to climax all of this and bring peace....all we have to do is vote Biden in November? That doesn't seem to make much sense, in a logical world.
Thursday, 11 June 2020
Pretending to Be 'Good' Versus Being 'Good'
I noticed off of Twitter yesterday....some discussion had started up over the idea of people now focused on 'pretending' to be good....instead of actually being good. It's an interesting discussion.
There are various things over the past decade which would indicate that a fair number of people are obsessed with 'looking' good or pretending to be good. It's like the youth crowd trying to get into ivy league schools, and having to pretend on a number of accomplishments while 15 and 16 years old....to entice the board at the ivy league school to accept them finally at age 18.
You see a lot of internal discussion going on with Christian groups/churches now....with some wanting to admit that they aren't doing 'good', or wanting to admit some guilt or shame. Oddly, the same group can't find it in themselves to physically do some good....they just want to walk around and admit being a bad sort of 'good'.
You see politicians obsessing over doing good....but the more you examine their deeds...it seems to be pretending mostly, and the deeds list never goes past three lines.
Kids are sitting there and observing all of this, then thinking....why bother being good....I'll just go the easy route and pretend as necessary. It's a bad point for society to accept this type of behavior.
There are various things over the past decade which would indicate that a fair number of people are obsessed with 'looking' good or pretending to be good. It's like the youth crowd trying to get into ivy league schools, and having to pretend on a number of accomplishments while 15 and 16 years old....to entice the board at the ivy league school to accept them finally at age 18.
You see a lot of internal discussion going on with Christian groups/churches now....with some wanting to admit that they aren't doing 'good', or wanting to admit some guilt or shame. Oddly, the same group can't find it in themselves to physically do some good....they just want to walk around and admit being a bad sort of 'good'.
You see politicians obsessing over doing good....but the more you examine their deeds...it seems to be pretending mostly, and the deeds list never goes past three lines.
Kids are sitting there and observing all of this, then thinking....why bother being good....I'll just go the easy route and pretend as necessary. It's a bad point for society to accept this type of behavior.
The WaPo and 'Slaves'
I sat there and tried to grasp this.....the Washington Post went and did a big research article over slavery existing in the world today (2020).
Their facts.....near 30 million from around the world who are 'slaves' today. The really guilty countries? India, Pakistan, twenty counties of Africa, and to a lesser degree....Russia, Poland and several eastern European countries.
Curiously, it then gives you the information that 60,000 slaves exist within the US.
The suggestion here is that various people were 'smuggled' into the US, with the idea of serving some master....for a debt of getting into the US.
Looking over this definition....I'm almost agreeable to the 60k number but generally find this whole article lacking. It should have told the whole US smuggling story in-depth, and how various characters are making this occur. Adding to this....why is there no real police effort to undo this 'slave' problem if it does exist?
One would think that Pelosi and McConnell would both be all hyped up and make some massive deal to undo slavery existing in the US.
Their facts.....near 30 million from around the world who are 'slaves' today. The really guilty countries? India, Pakistan, twenty counties of Africa, and to a lesser degree....Russia, Poland and several eastern European countries.
Curiously, it then gives you the information that 60,000 slaves exist within the US.
The suggestion here is that various people were 'smuggled' into the US, with the idea of serving some master....for a debt of getting into the US.
Looking over this definition....I'm almost agreeable to the 60k number but generally find this whole article lacking. It should have told the whole US smuggling story in-depth, and how various characters are making this occur. Adding to this....why is there no real police effort to undo this 'slave' problem if it does exist?
One would think that Pelosi and McConnell would both be all hyped up and make some massive deal to undo slavery existing in the US.
Comparison of Antifa and RAF
I started this chat yesterday.....talking over the possibility that Antifa is simply the 'step-child' of the German Red Army Faction. So today, a comparison.
1. How the RAF got started.
One has to go back to 1968, before the RAF was ever organized and discuss the 'student riots' in West Germany.
The protests? They circle around four key components: anti-traditionalism (basically suggesting everything done since 1949 and the reorganization of German politics was a failure), standing up against the West German political machine, suggesting an anti-Fascism trend by pointing at Nazis being part of the political apparatus, and finally....this execution-style hit on Benno Ohnesorg in West Berlin (1967) by a city policeman.
I probably should lay out the fact that around two decades after the Ohnesorg shooting....the cop involved was determined to be a East German agent, and it was likely part of some conspiracy. This rarely gets discussed today, but it's a curious part of the story.
Oddly enough, I should also point out in this time period (in the five years before the 1968 riots)....an odd separation occurred with the SPD Party, and the student group under them. This far-left student group (kinda like the Bernie folks) felt that extreme change was necessary, and the SPD Party was leaning more toward step-by-step change.
I also have to mention that anti-capitalism was another element of the student movement and the 1968 riots as well.....which is an identifer of the Antifa movements today.
A theme of anti-middle-class values? Yes, the student movement in 1968 in West Germany also injected this into the discussion as well. People were 'guilty' of living enriched lives (where have you heard this discussion).
The Germans, ever famous for inventing words....eventually came to this 1968 period of protests and movements....making a new word for the occasion:
Vergangenheitsbewältigung. The translation? You basically have to go and work through your past problems....admitting screw-ups....rectifying the 'wrongs', and making people happy.
The more you think about Vergangenheitsbewaltigung....this is precisely what the Antifa movement wants out of the crisis today. It's not just the Trump administration, it's whites who must admit some type of privilege (whether real or not), carriers of capitalism to admit guilt, the police to admit guilt, city governments to admit guilt, and so on. It's supposed to be a collective group of wrongs, and everyone then gets over their guilt by admitting it.
At this point, I would suggest we are in the riot portion of the script, with 1968 being similar to 2020, and the true RAF replacement being a year or two down the road.
2. Manpower.
The RAF in the beginning stage (roughly 1971, three years after the riots) basically amounted to the Baader-Meinhof 'gang'. Total numbers? A dozen....that's it.
Out of a population of 60-million? Yes....just a dozen members of the original RAF gang....what was the original RAF of the period.
3. Philosophy of the original gang.
The students-turned-revolutionaries had a fair amount of connection to the 'Frankfurt school' (thinkers such as Oskar negt, Herbert Marcuse, and Jurgen Habermas)
They were connected to various counter-cultural and anti-capitalism movements.
They were attached to various beliefs that far-left socialism (in other parts of the world) would improve German society.
They were connected to various Marxist writers of the past.
4. The need for 'repressive tolerance'.
A Frankfurt school 'thinker' offered up the basis for what you'd see in both the RAF and Antifa movements....with repressive tolerance.
The term basically means whatever you are doing today....in terms of governing, leading, or exercising in a society....is basically wrong. It basically says that as you send signals against the 'right'....you are on the side of corrective activity, and doing a good deed for society itself.
This is what the Antifa crowd (unknowingly) is aimed upon.
More tomorrow.
1. How the RAF got started.
One has to go back to 1968, before the RAF was ever organized and discuss the 'student riots' in West Germany.
The protests? They circle around four key components: anti-traditionalism (basically suggesting everything done since 1949 and the reorganization of German politics was a failure), standing up against the West German political machine, suggesting an anti-Fascism trend by pointing at Nazis being part of the political apparatus, and finally....this execution-style hit on Benno Ohnesorg in West Berlin (1967) by a city policeman.
I probably should lay out the fact that around two decades after the Ohnesorg shooting....the cop involved was determined to be a East German agent, and it was likely part of some conspiracy. This rarely gets discussed today, but it's a curious part of the story.
Oddly enough, I should also point out in this time period (in the five years before the 1968 riots)....an odd separation occurred with the SPD Party, and the student group under them. This far-left student group (kinda like the Bernie folks) felt that extreme change was necessary, and the SPD Party was leaning more toward step-by-step change.
I also have to mention that anti-capitalism was another element of the student movement and the 1968 riots as well.....which is an identifer of the Antifa movements today.
A theme of anti-middle-class values? Yes, the student movement in 1968 in West Germany also injected this into the discussion as well. People were 'guilty' of living enriched lives (where have you heard this discussion).
The Germans, ever famous for inventing words....eventually came to this 1968 period of protests and movements....making a new word for the occasion:
Vergangenheitsbewältigung. The translation? You basically have to go and work through your past problems....admitting screw-ups....rectifying the 'wrongs', and making people happy.
The more you think about Vergangenheitsbewaltigung....this is precisely what the Antifa movement wants out of the crisis today. It's not just the Trump administration, it's whites who must admit some type of privilege (whether real or not), carriers of capitalism to admit guilt, the police to admit guilt, city governments to admit guilt, and so on. It's supposed to be a collective group of wrongs, and everyone then gets over their guilt by admitting it.
At this point, I would suggest we are in the riot portion of the script, with 1968 being similar to 2020, and the true RAF replacement being a year or two down the road.
2. Manpower.
The RAF in the beginning stage (roughly 1971, three years after the riots) basically amounted to the Baader-Meinhof 'gang'. Total numbers? A dozen....that's it.
Out of a population of 60-million? Yes....just a dozen members of the original RAF gang....what was the original RAF of the period.
3. Philosophy of the original gang.
The students-turned-revolutionaries had a fair amount of connection to the 'Frankfurt school' (thinkers such as Oskar negt, Herbert Marcuse, and Jurgen Habermas)
They were connected to various counter-cultural and anti-capitalism movements.
They were attached to various beliefs that far-left socialism (in other parts of the world) would improve German society.
They were connected to various Marxist writers of the past.
4. The need for 'repressive tolerance'.
A Frankfurt school 'thinker' offered up the basis for what you'd see in both the RAF and Antifa movements....with repressive tolerance.
The term basically means whatever you are doing today....in terms of governing, leading, or exercising in a society....is basically wrong. It basically says that as you send signals against the 'right'....you are on the side of corrective activity, and doing a good deed for society itself.
This is what the Antifa crowd (unknowingly) is aimed upon.
More tomorrow.
Wednesday, 10 June 2020
Is Antifa Simply the 'Step-child' of the German Red Army Faction?
There is an interesting short article which discusses the old German Red Army Faction (RAF) and how Antifa relates to them....over at the Center for Security Policy.
I discussed the beginning of the German Antifa a few days ago on my other blog site. For brief side of that discussion....at the very end of the war....the Communists became a reality.
The Communist Party of Germany attempted to become a public magnet between 1919 and 1933, and with public standing rarely going past 15 percent (mostly in urban areas). Toward 1930, in heavy competition with the Nazis and the SPD Party (the left-of-center folks)....the Communist Party reached a point where they declared both the SPD and Nazis a problem, and eventually opened up a bigger mess, with the Nazis convincing a lot of the public that the safer of all choices, for stability....were the Nazis. Ultimately, that worked.
By 1934, Hitler had dumped the Communists and went to one of two policies....either kill the leadership, or chase them out of Germany. Those of the German Communists who went to the Soviet Union? By 1937, they'd been executed by Stalin or taken to Siberia.
The remaining minor players in Germany? They claimed that they converted into something called 'Antifa'.
There is some speculation going on that after 1945.....as things began to develop...the Antifa of Germany eventually by the late 1960s had become creature heading toward the Red Army Faction.
One key point pointed out.....the RAF had known leaders. You can't say that for Antifa in the US.
The attempt to convince the public of some political end-result (dump Trump)? This is an odd thing....basically, you'd be saying that Biden (or whoever takes over for Biden) will be this guy to bring people together. It's hard to imagine how you'd plan this 'sell' to the general public.
So a terror organization like RAF....developing out of this? It's a curious thing to suggest.
I discussed the beginning of the German Antifa a few days ago on my other blog site. For brief side of that discussion....at the very end of the war....the Communists became a reality.
The Communist Party of Germany attempted to become a public magnet between 1919 and 1933, and with public standing rarely going past 15 percent (mostly in urban areas). Toward 1930, in heavy competition with the Nazis and the SPD Party (the left-of-center folks)....the Communist Party reached a point where they declared both the SPD and Nazis a problem, and eventually opened up a bigger mess, with the Nazis convincing a lot of the public that the safer of all choices, for stability....were the Nazis. Ultimately, that worked.
By 1934, Hitler had dumped the Communists and went to one of two policies....either kill the leadership, or chase them out of Germany. Those of the German Communists who went to the Soviet Union? By 1937, they'd been executed by Stalin or taken to Siberia.
The remaining minor players in Germany? They claimed that they converted into something called 'Antifa'.
There is some speculation going on that after 1945.....as things began to develop...the Antifa of Germany eventually by the late 1960s had become creature heading toward the Red Army Faction.
One key point pointed out.....the RAF had known leaders. You can't say that for Antifa in the US.
The attempt to convince the public of some political end-result (dump Trump)? This is an odd thing....basically, you'd be saying that Biden (or whoever takes over for Biden) will be this guy to bring people together. It's hard to imagine how you'd plan this 'sell' to the general public.
So a terror organization like RAF....developing out of this? It's a curious thing to suggest.
Things I Wouldn't Worry About in Six Months
1. The NFL season. I seriously doubt that things can be worked out with COVID-19 or the riot business, but even if they get to the first month of the season....don't go and expect more than 50-percent of stadiums filled up.
2. Second stimulus package occurring. Maybe two weeks ago before the riots were going on....the stimulus had an opportunity. Now? For Trump, it's probably a number 88 priority issue. Getting the House back into order and the Senate to agree....by summer vacation? Nope....it's very unlikely.
3. Churches bunching up on hyping 'BLM' and racism. Once they cross this imaginary line....about a quarter of each congregation will start to go home, ponder upon things for a week, and then make the decision to skip next Sunday's services. Some idiot team will arrive in two weeks from the Church to note they haven't seen you and were there to pray with you at your house....hoping that you would seek their wise counsel. You halt them at the door, and suggest that you already prayed to God, and he gave you wise counsel already. You suggest to them that they return to their homes, pray some more, and get some counseling from God.
4. Kids arriving back at college....assuming their riot business is done, and they are 'safe'. At some point, in a hallway or in the dorm....fed agents will arrive and detain dimwits like these, and then they call dad to ask for lawyer help. Dad is asking now....what the hell did you do?
5. Tourism in Minnesota for the summer and fall? Well....it's not going to occur. What idiot would load the RV and take off for this type of Somalia-land adventure? Tax revenue from tourists? Forget that.
6. Job growth in Minnesota? I wouldn't worry about it.....companies will review their options, and probably opt to safer states.
7. Learning gains for high school students in 2020....relatively marginal. Yep, it's a funny thing....some experts are now talking about a comical slide on math and grammar. Where you should be in the fall? Maybe 50-percent behind on math skills. And missing maybe one-third of the grammar situation that you should have gained over the last year.
8. AOC. NY judge stood up and said that AOC can't be on the ballot in November. Bulk of the problem is that her party in the district kinda dumped her.
9. NY City streets being safe. Some words this morning indicate that the Commissioner of the Police, and the Chief of Police in NYC have handed their resignation paperwork over. There's also chatter that around 500 officers are fixing their retirement paperwork or just plain leaving the force.
10. CNN Covid-19 coverage. It's amazing to watch CNN four weeks ago, and getting massive coverage, and now in the past week....Covid-19 just about goes away completely. You can watch almost an hour, and no mention occurs. The Impeachment chatter? Yeah, that's disappeared too.
2. Second stimulus package occurring. Maybe two weeks ago before the riots were going on....the stimulus had an opportunity. Now? For Trump, it's probably a number 88 priority issue. Getting the House back into order and the Senate to agree....by summer vacation? Nope....it's very unlikely.
3. Churches bunching up on hyping 'BLM' and racism. Once they cross this imaginary line....about a quarter of each congregation will start to go home, ponder upon things for a week, and then make the decision to skip next Sunday's services. Some idiot team will arrive in two weeks from the Church to note they haven't seen you and were there to pray with you at your house....hoping that you would seek their wise counsel. You halt them at the door, and suggest that you already prayed to God, and he gave you wise counsel already. You suggest to them that they return to their homes, pray some more, and get some counseling from God.
4. Kids arriving back at college....assuming their riot business is done, and they are 'safe'. At some point, in a hallway or in the dorm....fed agents will arrive and detain dimwits like these, and then they call dad to ask for lawyer help. Dad is asking now....what the hell did you do?
5. Tourism in Minnesota for the summer and fall? Well....it's not going to occur. What idiot would load the RV and take off for this type of Somalia-land adventure? Tax revenue from tourists? Forget that.
6. Job growth in Minnesota? I wouldn't worry about it.....companies will review their options, and probably opt to safer states.
7. Learning gains for high school students in 2020....relatively marginal. Yep, it's a funny thing....some experts are now talking about a comical slide on math and grammar. Where you should be in the fall? Maybe 50-percent behind on math skills. And missing maybe one-third of the grammar situation that you should have gained over the last year.
8. AOC. NY judge stood up and said that AOC can't be on the ballot in November. Bulk of the problem is that her party in the district kinda dumped her.
9. NY City streets being safe. Some words this morning indicate that the Commissioner of the Police, and the Chief of Police in NYC have handed their resignation paperwork over. There's also chatter that around 500 officers are fixing their retirement paperwork or just plain leaving the force.
10. CNN Covid-19 coverage. It's amazing to watch CNN four weeks ago, and getting massive coverage, and now in the past week....Covid-19 just about goes away completely. You can watch almost an hour, and no mention occurs. The Impeachment chatter? Yeah, that's disappeared too.
What the 'Red-County' Guy Sees
Out of 3,141 counties in America in 2016....3,084 basically voted in the majority for Donald Trump. The remaining counties? Highly urbanized areas (Detroit, Chicago, Atlanta, Miami, LA, SF, or Seattle)....went to Hillary Clinton.
So when this group of average working-class people identified with Trump....it sent a message, and should have been a big deal for the Democrats to re-brand their strategy.
What do you have now? Mostly riots and branding that the folks in the 3,084 counties won't agree with it. In fact, the same people are going into gun-shops and buying pistols or rifles....to ensure they don't have a problem with the riot-folks.
The red-county guy sees thugs and juvenile delinquents in adult clothing.
The red-county guy sees commerce being destroyed or looted.
The red-county guy sees statues being toppled.
The red-county guy sees cars set on fire.
The red-county guy sees police disrespected.
The red-county guy sees behavior that he just would not agree with.
The red-county guy sees political folks bending on some knee and effort to ask for forgiveness from the thugs and riot-folks.
Here's the problem....this re-branding doesn't sell. Asking the red-county guy to find something in gut to bring Joe Biden in....to resolve this? It won't work.
Adding to the fury.....that red-county guy can often be identified as black or Latino, and agrees with friends and neighbors that rioting and juvenile behavior is unacceptable.
As a strategy for the 2020 campaign? I think they really screwed up badly.
So when this group of average working-class people identified with Trump....it sent a message, and should have been a big deal for the Democrats to re-brand their strategy.
What do you have now? Mostly riots and branding that the folks in the 3,084 counties won't agree with it. In fact, the same people are going into gun-shops and buying pistols or rifles....to ensure they don't have a problem with the riot-folks.
The red-county guy sees thugs and juvenile delinquents in adult clothing.
The red-county guy sees commerce being destroyed or looted.
The red-county guy sees statues being toppled.
The red-county guy sees cars set on fire.
The red-county guy sees police disrespected.
The red-county guy sees behavior that he just would not agree with.
The red-county guy sees political folks bending on some knee and effort to ask for forgiveness from the thugs and riot-folks.
Here's the problem....this re-branding doesn't sell. Asking the red-county guy to find something in gut to bring Joe Biden in....to resolve this? It won't work.
Adding to the fury.....that red-county guy can often be identified as black or Latino, and agrees with friends and neighbors that rioting and juvenile behavior is unacceptable.
As a strategy for the 2020 campaign? I think they really screwed up badly.
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