The Battle of Baltimore and the War Against the New Jim Crow

The Baltimore Uprising is more than just another battle against police lynching in a new city with new faces. It marks an important escalation of the slow burning fight to end the War on Drugs and the Prison-Industrial complex, aka the New Jim Crow. The New Jim Crow, a term coined by Michelle Alexander, is the racialized system of social control that is the inheritance of slavery and the original Jim Crow. In my opinion the New Jim Crow was not just racism finding a new way to live on in the wake of the Civil Rights movement. The features of the New Jim Crow are no accident; they are premised on the economic features of capitalism following the collapse of Fordism and the advent of the new economics of "Toyotism".

Deindustrialization and static wages necessitated a way to house, feed, and tightly control an expanding portion of the population that no longer had a productive place in the economy. Overproduction (when the economy produces more "stuff" to be sold then there is demand for) created a systemic need that was filled by two specific phenomenon: 1) the proliferation of public and private debt, and 2) the delivery of “wages” to people for producing nothing (and not just middle management). Together, these things allowed folks to remain consumers without adding more unsellable products to the market. The best way to create this situation is mass incarceration. Prisoners constitute an outrageous drain on resources (which is why it costs more to house a max security inmate for a year in NJ then it does to send her to Princeton for the year), their lives are completely controlled, and the costs of resistance are so high for inmates that they pose little risk to the system.

Chris Christie in a Post-House of Cards America

Chris Christie has made sudden move to block Tesla motors from the New Jersey market. The details of the move are technical (read: unimportant) but the curious will be satisfied by reading Tesla's blog on the matter. In any case, it amounts to Christie making promises one day and doing the opposite the next. Are we supposed to believe that this was a change of heart? That the New Jersey Coalition of Automotive Retailers (a lobbying group for franchise auto dealers) suddenly came up with a more compelling argument?

Wait to be Perfect

The logic of white supremacy is that a person of color can only legitimately claim racial injustice in the event that they are prefect. Completely beyond reproach. This logic says that a person with faults had better keep their mouths shut about whatever injustice they have suffered, because if not mainstream society will dig and dig until they discover those faults, reveal them to the world, and use them to justify any and all mistreatment. In the eyes of white supremacy this is the first responsibility of the media. It is asked of every person hoping to be thought of as reasonable and nonpartisan, because siding with imperfect people of color means refusing to acknowledge all of the these they could have done to deserve their lot. "Wait," white supremacy says, "wait to speak out until no one can say it's your fault. Wait until you aren't on welfare, wait until you don't pray facing Mecca, wait until you aren't an ex-convict, wait until you've never had an abortion, wait until you don't drink or smoke pot, wait until you don't like gangster rap, wait until you aren't a single mother, wait until you have the right documents, wait until you love the right person. Wait until you aren't wearing your hoodie the wrong way." But waiting to be perfect means waiting forever, and that is precisely the point. Because in the logic of white supremacy, the only truly unforgivable sin is being a person of color to begin with.

The Foreclosure Crisis and Bailouts: A Numbers-Free Explanation of How the Big Banks Set Out to Rob You and Succeeded

Illustration by: Matt Mahurin

Not understanding complicated mathematics or derivative schemes does not mean you cannot grasp the causes of the subprime mortgage crisis and the ensuing foreclosure crisis. In fact, when journalists pretend that this is all too difficult to explain to you they are concealing the truth from you, and as such are complicit in what can only be considered criminally unethical behavior by investment banks and others. I am a layman when it comes to finance, so what proceeds is a laymen’s explanation for these crises because I believe if this was made very clear for everyone, there would be riots.

It's A Trap! or, Why Obama Lost a Technocratic Debate

Throughout this campaign, Romney has willingly played the far right nut job. His infamous 47% comments simply confirmed what most people, particularly liberals, already suspected about him: that he hates working people, has a pro-corporate and pro-1% mindset, and has no room in his platform for any compromise with the liberal agenda. Call it Tea Party influence, an unruly base, a personal disgust for people who aren’t as privileged as he is, but the outcome is the same: myore taxcuts for the rich; the appointment of Paul Ryan; promises of deregulation; recommitting to dirty energy; etc.

“Why is Everyone* So Stupid?” (*Except Me)

Note: If you are an oppressed person who has said something like this about your oppressors, this post is not about you. This is not an attempt to get you to alter your reaction to ignorant oppressive actions or statements nor is it an attempt to criticize that reaction, whatever it might be.

Okay, you forgot your anti-elitism hat today. It happens to me, too. I get it. It’s a heavy hat. It’s really very frustrating out there; everyone has been constantly lied to and too many seem to have bought into countless false narratives without much reflection. True, you’re probably privileged by a somewhat respectable education, but still, it can be hard to believe so many people don’t think the same way you do. And what’s worse, folks seem to have a knee-jerk reaction to disregard what you say, and after all, you’re (mostly) only trying to help them. “What the fuck?!” is right.  I wouldn't accuse you of having a similar knee-jerk reaction to what they think because well, you’re right and they’re not. Right? Okay, so take a breath, spend some time in front of the stupid tube, and take the rest of the afternoon off. You deserve it after all that truth-telling.

Speech Vs. Graffiti

Credit: Reuters/Brendan Mcdermid

“Freedom of the press is guaranteed only to those who own one." -Abbott Joseph Liebling

Apparently, you have the right to say whatever you want on a subway ad in America—if you can afford it.

In theory we all collectively own public property, since we all pay for it, and can use it as we wish. In practice, you or I cannot plaster quotes on billboards all over subway platforms whenever we want to. You also cannot, through the legal system, enforce guidelines that prevent hate speech from greeting you every time you take public transit. The legal fiction that everyone can say whatever they want in public is used to justify forcing you to hear the opinions of those with money. Exhibit A:

The Most Important Thing I've Listened to All Year

Illustration by Joe Sacco, from Days of Destruction, Days of Revolt.

Chris Hedges gives a disturbing reality check about what is going on around the country, and what it means for our future, on his most recent drop in on Democracy Now. He details several of what he calls "sacrifice zones," which he believes are templates for the rest of the country as wages continue to be depressed and the wealth gap rises, and we transition to a "neo-feudal society."

Only You Have the Power to Move Us Forward

There was one bit of Obama’s acceptance speech at the DNC that I found particularly striking:

“…Because we understand that this democracy is ours.
We, the People, recognize that we have responsibilities as well as rights; that our destinies are bound together; that a freedom which only asks what’s in it for me, a freedom without a commitment to others, a freedom without love or charity or duty or patriotism, is unworthy of our founding ideals, and those who died in their defense.

The 53% ploy to divide the 99%

This 53% business is very clever, because it is basically a way to trick people into throwing their lot in with the 1% when their real interests lie with the 99%. Pointing out who pays income taxes and who doesn't is a way of praying on the frustration--the very understandable frustration--that people feel when they are worked 40+ hours at a job they hate for a boss they hate so they can barely afford nice things that they hardly every get to enjoy and then look around and realize that other people have some of those nice things without having to satisfy a boss they hate and work unreasonable hours at a job they hate. Of course that pisses people off, and we on the left are idiots when we pretend that it doesn't. Let's forget for a moment that there are a lot of taxes to pay besides income tax, and the "47%" pay those. Instead, consider the following:b

A) 1% gets rich off this arrangement at the expense of the "53%." Think about it. When someone buys a flat screen TV with your tax money, where do you think that money is ending up? Huh?

B) The people on the nations welfare role want to change this arrangement, and want to work, whereas the 1% is "conservative" AKA doesn't want anything to change. Because the welfare state that is oppressing you, 53%er, is also oppressing the people who do not happen to pay income tax.