Hey kids: Don't be a sucker for socialism

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That moment when "progressive" American socialists discover that National Socialists really are socialists, and decide, well, maybe National Socialism isn't so bad after all.

The Nation and the Nazis

... [Left-wing Nation witer] Donna Minkowitz describes a secret meeting organized by alt-right figure Richard Spencer that she crashed in mid-November at an organic winery in Maryland. Upon arrival, Minkowitz writes that she was surprised to find that the discussion centered not only on the usual brown-shirt Jew-hating you might expect from neo-Nazis, but also on what she says is a “new emphasis on economic issues” that she found “seductive.”

Why seductive? Because the white supremacists’ views on economic issues sound a lot like, well, like views espoused by the Nation and Democratic party progressives. In what could pass for Bernie Sanders campaign literature, she quotes Spencer saying “I support national health care” and railing against “the trillions spent in insane wars.” Minkowitz also quotes Spencer blasting the GOP tax plan as “stupid .  .  . Reaganite nostalgia” and supporting a universal basic income. Another speaker decried that everything is seemingly becoming “corporatized and capitalized.” Wait—is this a white supremacist conference or a New York Times editorial board meeting?

She quotes another speaker exclaiming that “2018 is going to be the year of leftists joining the white-nationalist movement!”

http://www.weeklystandard.com/the-natio ... le/2010847

/\The old girl drank WAY too much organic wine.

Social democracy is quite alright

Nordic Model
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nordic_model

Human Development Index
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Human_Development_Index

World Happiness Report
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Happiness_Report

We have pretty high standards of living here with the blending of capitalist and socialist visions. Has been working great for the most part trough many generations now.

Socialism, proceeding according to plan:

Venezuela’s Brutal Crime Crackdown: Executions, Machetes and 8,292 Dead
Beleaguered regime kills guilty and innocent alike in poor barrios, often with shots to the heart

The young men had already been tortured at an army base when soldiers piled them into two jeeps and transported them to a wooded area just outside the Venezuelan capital.

Stumbling in the dark, with T-shirts pulled over their faces and hands tied behind their backs, they were steered to an open pit. Soldiers then used machetes to deliver blow after blow to the base of their necks. Most suffered gaping wounds that killed them before they hit the ground.

Others, bleeding profusely but still alive, crumpled into the shallow grave as their killers piled dirt over their bodies to hide the crime.

“We think they were alive a good while as they died from asphyxia,” said Zair Mundaray, a veteran prosecutor who led the exhumation and investigation that pieced together how the killings unfolded. “It had to be a terrible thing.”

For Mr. Mundaray and his team of investigators, the massacre in this area east of Caracas in October 2016 was the most bloodthirsty of killings by security forces in a country riven by unspeakable violence.

Prosecutors, criminologists and human-rights groups say it was only one of many recurring and escalating lethal attacks carried out by police or soldiers.

The full scope of the alleged atrocities is beginning to surface publicly now.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/venezuelas ... 1513792219

Late-stage socialism in action:

Venezuelan criminals have begun using food to recruit children into gangs

Venezuelan gangs are no longer recruiting youths in some poor areas by offering them easy money to buy clothes or the latest cell phones. Instead, they are offering food baskets.

And on the streets, walking around with a bag of groceries can attract more thieves than a full wallet.

The critical food shortages pummeling Venezuela have started to change the nature of crime in the country, at times increasing what some experts have started to call “hunger crimes” and at other times turning food into a valuable item to be taken by force.

“This is a new phenomenon because it’s something that we never had in this country, crimes committed because of hunger,” said Roberto Briceño León, director of the Caracas-based Venezuelan Observatory for Violence (VOV).

“This type of crime has been increasing, and now we see how criminal groups are starting to steal food, how individuals who before did not steal have now started to steal food,” Briceño added in a telephone interview.

Criminal gangs are also using food to recruit children and teenagers in Venezuela, a country with one of the world’s highest crime rates....

Even though it has the world’s largest proven oil reserves, Venezuela is suffering one of the most severe economic crises of its modern history as a result of the policies imposed by the socialist regimes of Hugo Chávez and his successor, Nicolás Maduro.

The crisis has forced millions of Venezuelans to eat just once a day, and thousands of others to regularly search garbage cans in hopes of finding something to eat, according to recent surveys.

http://www.miamiherald.com/news/nation- ... 44269.html

Meanwhile in the socialist paradise of Venezuela, mobs are stoning cattle to death for food.

Starving mob beat cattle to death with rocks in desperate search for food and four people are killed during looting in Venezuela as country's economic collapse continues

-Dozens of men shout 'we are hungry' and 'people are suffering' as they beat cow
-Opposition congressman Carlos Paparoni said as many as 300 cattle were killed
-Four people died in recent protests against President Maduro's socialist regime

A shocking video showing a starving Venezuelan mob beating a cow to death with stones has gone viral amid violent protests that have left four people dead.

Dozens of men shout 'we are hungry' and 'people are suffering' as they surround the cow in the field, throwing stones at it and beating it with a stick.

The helpless animal was slaughtered at the Hacienda Miraflores, in the fishing village of Palmarito in Merida, during a day deadly of civil unrest and looting in the state.

When the animal finally falls to the ground in the footage, more villagers gather around - presumably to begin the distribution of its meat.

According to local media, dozens of cows were killed by the crowds at several different ranches.

'They're hunting. The people are hungry!' says the narrator of the video, who filmed the incident from his car.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article ... zuela.html

You seem more than a little obsessed with Venezuela

The murderous philosophy of socialism in action:

Half of Venezuelan economy has disappeared
IMF: Inflation is skyrocketing

This year will mark the third consecutive year of double-digit contractions in Venezuela's gross domestic product, the broadest measure of economic activity. The nation's GDP declined 16 percent in 2016, 14 percent last year and it's projected to fall 15 percent this year, according to the IMF.

Venezuela is deep into an economic, political and humanitarian crisis, largely inflicted by the government's own policies, economists say. Food and medical shortages are widespread. People are scavenging for food in dumpsters. Citizens are fleeing by the thousands. The currency, the bolivar, is nearly worthless. The government has defaulted on its debt. World leaders are calling President Nicolas Maduro a dictator.

The political turmoil is not expected to get better. Maduro's administration said this week it will hold presidential elections this spring. Maduro has already excluded opposition leaders from participating in the election. It's unclear if anyone is actually allowed to run against him. Meanwhile, the economy shows no signs of recovery.

https://www.wsls.com/news/international ... isappeared

You do understand that claiming Venezuela to be representative of socialism & social democracy the world over is no less nuts than claiming Yemen to be representative of capitalism the world over?

I could just as easily point out all the racists who support capitalism. The KKK are pro-capitalist. The YouTube user Fringe Elements is a capitalist racist. Same goes for Hans-Hermann Hoppe ... and Murray Rothbard ... and Stefan Molyneux ... and r/physicalremoval.

Nearly ever racist site is full of capitalists who rant about "Jewish communists" and black "welfare bums". In fact, the black welfare bum stereotype is one of the most common racist stereotypes about black people.

If you try to refute the Nordic model using the Hitler card, you're gonna have a bad time.

Late-stage socialism in action, in what formerly was one of the wealthiest countries in South America.

Weaponizing hunger is a new low for Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro

On May 20, Venezuela will hold presidential elections. These elections will not be fair and do not meet basic standards of transparency, according to the vast majority of the Venezuelan opposition and members of the international community. They are poised to re-elect President Nicolas Maduro for another six-year term.

The Maduro government is using the dire conditions of most Venezuelans to stay in power.

Ninety per cent of Venezuelans reported not having enough money to purchase food in a nationwide survey. The vast majority of Venezuelans eat less than three times a day and more than half have lost an average of 24 pounds.

Income-related poverty has increased to 87 per cent of households, with 60 per cent in extreme poverty. In a context of hyperinflation and scarcity, more than a third of households report not purchasing any source of protein while more than 40 per cent of households rely mostly on tubers as the basis for their dietary needs.

The government clings to a discourse that apparently favours the poor, building on the memory of the oil bonanza and the social policies erected by the Bolivarian Revolution. As the country’s economic crisis unfolded in the past five years, these policies have deteriorated or have been eliminated altogether. The few that are left are used as mechanisms of social control and political coercion.

https://www.theglobeandmail.com/opinion ... t-nicolas/

it has been my experience, that people who are not gifted with excess brainpower and energy [IOW regular working stiffs and not Horatio Algers], tend to do better under quasi-socialist regimes, than they would under untrammeled capitalism.

Americans seem to be obsessed with the word ''socialism'' seeing it entirely in a negative light. You do not realize that government funded programs can reduce poverty, bring down crime and improve the lives of the poorest citizens.

Unfettered capitalism leads to a permanent underclass that wants to kill you. It's no wonder gated communities have exploded in popularity in the U.S and a couple of other countries who are cutting down their social programs.

Hilariously enough given all of this there is still a backlash against abortion, access to abortion and birth control. Don't you know that, that is the one thing in the long run that keeps an angry poor population at bay.

See I'm all for state help and benefits because if it didn't exist people w/ disabilities would suffer considerably

Americans are strange and seem to eat up a lot of 'socialist' propaganda.

I mean I get the fear because of their (USA) constant need to be in some form of conflict will inevitably cause paranoia but socialism IS NOT communism

Socialism is basic universal healthcare, whereas conservatism is 'if you get sick you die. Tough tits, next time be born rich'

American style conservatism is IMHO chock full of dark-triad traits, it celebrates them in fact.