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That isnt quite how the New York Times puts it, of course. In fact, the words socialist and socialism never appear in its otherwise unsparing account. But Venezuela under Chavez and Maduro illustrates the inevitable arc of socialism, from parasitism to gangster rule.

The uniformed men who shot Mr. Moreno were not government security forces, witnesses say. Rather, they were members of armed bands who have become key enforcers for President Nicols Maduro as he attempts to crush a growing protest movement against his rule.

The groups, called collectives or colectivos in Spanish, originated as pro-government community organizations.

Led by community organizers, presumably.

that have long been a part of the landscape of leftist Venezuelan politics. Civilians with police training, colectivo members are armed by the government, say experts who have studied them.

With Venezuelans starving and dying for lack of basic medicines, only armed gangs can keep the socialist government in power. Of course, the colectivos dont subscribe to the supposedly high ideals of socialism:

Colectivos control vast territory across Venezuela, financed in some cases by extortion, black-market food and parts of the drug trade as the government turns a blind eye in exchange for loyalty.

Of course, Chavez and Maduro were nothing but thieves, either.

Now they appear to be playing a key role in repressing dissent. *** As rising foreign debt and falling world oil prices have depleted the Venezuelan governments coffers, it has increasingly turned to colectivos as enforcers. From labor disputes with unions to student demonstrations on university campuses, colectivos are appearing almost anywhere the government sees citizens getting out of line, Venezuelans say.

Eladio Mata, a hospital union leader, says he was shot last year by colectivo members when negotiations deadlocked with the University Hospital of Caracas. *** In this country, its prohibited to dissent, Mr. Mata said.

Of course it is! That is what happens when you elect socialists. Just ask the students at Middlebury, Berkeley, Claremont, etc. They cant wait until they take power and steal enough money to hire colectivos of their own. That is what socialismall power to government, none to the individualcomes down to.

Mr. Rojas, who works with opposition politicians, said he had become used to the attacks, which have long been a fixture of his activism.

They attack your neighbors when they are in food lines and are identified as opposition members, they attack store owners by making them pay extortions, they attack bakers by taking away part of their production which they later sell on the black market, he said. They are not true collectives, or political actors they are criminals.

Just like Hugo Chavez and Nicols Maduro, and socialists the world over.

More:
Socialist Death Squads Rule Venezuela | Power Line - Power Line (blog)

BOOK REVIEW

by Arti Khosla

An Alternative Philosophy of Development: From Economism to Human Well-Being by B.P. Mathur; published by Routledge Taylor & Francis; 2017.

This is the latest book from B.P. Mathurs pen. A former civil servant, B.P. Mathur worked in several capacities with the government and had a ringside view of the administration, its strength and its failures. This extensive experience coupled with his idealism and knowledge of our spiritual heritage has inspired him to voice his concerns about several things not right about our economy, public policy and governance as such.

This book essentially outlines the authors disappointment with the current model of economic development in India that has not delivered. It is because, the author feels, the model of development we adopted is a blind imitation of Western ideas where emphasis is on persuit of wealth and individual profit. It encourages consumerism and wastefulness as also creates a vast chasm between the rich and poor. India went in for this model in 1991 when faced with a serious foreign exchange crisis. Liberalisation of the economy at the behest of the International Monetary Fund became necessary. Prior to that the country was following the Nehruvian model of socialism where state enterprises were considered as the commanding heights of the economy and though privatisation existed it played a secondary role. The reference-point for economic growth was the Soviet-style five-year plans.

In 1991 the country entered an era of free-market economy and GDP growth became a serious persuit. The economy grew at the rate of seven to eight per cent but this additional creation of wealth has not helped the poor. The benefit of growth has been cornered by 20 per cent of the people while 80 per cent are wallowing in poverty. India has today more millionaires and billionaries but at the same time a vast multitude cannot afford their two square meals a day. Thus the current model of development has resulted in more poverty, inequality, unemployment, environment degradation due to the culture of consumerism we copied from the West.

The author finds this model utterly unsuitable since it is based on the Western culture which is materialistic while Indian culture is essentially spiritual which values austerity, control over ones senses and promoting qualities of sympathy, empathy, comradeship and brotherhood. The author devotes a full chapter in Part 1V of his book on Indian culture with its salient features of tolerance, solidarity, family values etc. with which he is linking his alternative philosophy of development. In addition to the current model not being attuned to the indian ethos its failure is also due to poor governance.

In Part 1 of the book the author describes how we have failed to improve the quality of life of citizens of this country. Our education system at all levelsbe it primary, secondary or universityis totally in disarray. The health facilities for common people are in dismal conditions. We have failed to address rural distress. Agriculture has been neglected and has become an unrumenerative occupation. Low prices for their produce and rising debts have made thousands of farmers to end their lives due to desperation. Poor governance is of course responsible for this failure.

There is no denying the authors belief that good governance is a pre-requisite for development. The author details the requirements for good governance in chapter 14 under Part Three of the book. These are usual ones as recommended by successive committees and commissions on Administrative Reforms, namely, accountability, performance linked career development, decentralisation, eradicating corruption, depoliticisation of services etc.

While the present model of development with focus on GDP has been found irrelevant, the alternative model the author suggests should be one where progress is measured in terms of human capability, dignified employment for everyone, equitable distribution of income and wealth and ecological sustainability and social well being of the community. What that model should be. Gandhian economics? Or socialism? The author veers around to both these philosophies. Gandhian philosophy is relevant insofar as it stresses on individual dignity by providing gainful employment to each person and welfare of the poorest of the poor. Revisiting socialism (not of the Soviet variety) is considered desireable in creating an egalitarian society where life chances are not allocated by structural inequalities in social, economic and political constructions of societies. This mix of Gandhian economic model plus some ideas drawn from socialism as propounded by Karl Marx and others does not clearly indicate what in practice this model is going to be. The author himself does not seem to be very clear about how exactly we go about this alternative model.

The emphasis appears to be for the model of development which should resonate with Indian culture rather than blindly following as at present the one attuned to Western culture. The essential features of Indian culture are tolerance, accommodating others, oneness and solidarity of universe, family values, purusharth etc. Essentially it is steeped in spirituality. The authors grasp on all things spiritual is visible in this effort.

The author has quoted extensively from several economists, philosphers, scholars and nobel laureates to buttress his arguments. Similiarly he has supported his views on the dismal state of education, health, agriculture etc. by giving statistics and numbers. Some repetitions and contradictionsnot withstanding the book is worth the read by students of economics, policy makers and those generally interested in the affairs of the nation. The repetitions are inevi-table when one writes in a general flow rather than have a structured draft before him. One only wished that the print was not kept that small which is not easy on the eyes.

Aarti Khosla is a former Additional Secretary, Government of India. She is now a free-lance writer.

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A Mix of Gandhian Economics and Socialism - Mainstream

She knew to hold her tongue during a business trip to Chicago the night Donald Trump was elected, and endured a long evening of schmoozing with the other sales reps and executives.

Back in her hotel room the next morning, Lisa drew a hot bath and sobbed.

Then her sadness turned to an anger that startled even her. The 55-year-old mom, never particularly active in politics, went outside, looked up at the nearby Trump Tower office building and flipped the icon of the new president the double bird.

From that point, there was no turning back. Within days she had organized a Trump resistance group, donned a pink pussyhat and drove 14 hours with a carload of like-minded crusaders to the Womens March in Washington.

Were all terrified at whats going on that our country is going to be somehow ruined, said Lisa, who kick-started early retirement to focus almost full time on civic activism. Even so, shes reluctant to allow her full name to be used, worried about how her efforts could affect her life and her family.

President Trumps election has mobilized thousands of first-time activists in a do-it-yourself movement like nothing seen on the political left in years. With bountiful energy and some impressive early successes, the grass-roots movement has stunned even Democratic Party officials, drawing comparisons to the tea party movement that transformed the GOP with its unyielding opposition after President Obamas election.

Women nationwide and much of the movement is being fueled by women are organizing via Facebook, email and often tearful support meetings around kitchen tables.

The Indivisible Project, launched after Trumps election, has already sprouted nearly 6,000 chapters nationwide, at least two in each of the 435 congressional districts.

More established activist groups like MoveOn.org which holds weekly Resist Trump Tuesdays protests are enjoying a surge in membership, particularly in blue states, but most surprisingly in some deep-red pockets, where liberals had largely kept quieter. One Colorado activist said that in past years, event turnout rarely matched the number of advance sign-ups; now it routinely surpasses it.

These newly minted activists along with other long-standing protest groups on the left flooded the U.S. Capitol switchboard during Senate confirmation hearings for Trumps Cabinet, pushed Democrats to filibuster Neil M. Gorsuchs Supreme Court nomination and helped tank the presidents plan to repeal and replace the Affordable Care Act often by noisily protesting at lawmakers town hall meetings.

With old-school organizing and modern-day social media they have formed instant communities that can mobilize hundreds even thousands as a group of stay-at-home moms in Kenosha, Wis., did recently to protest Trumps visit there.

We always told our kids theres a lot of really smart people in our country, and we all want to make it better, said Julia Kozel, one of the women who organized the Kenosha rally. But I dont feel like I could say that anymore.

Like the tea party activists before them, many of the resisters as they call themselves are newcomers to the political process. And much in the same way tea party activists grieved for the country they no longer recognized under Obama, these women recount being devastated that fellow Americans elected Trump and say they are fighting to restore their own vision of the country.

Publicly, Democratic officials embrace the newfound energy on the left. Party strategists even marvel at the large turnouts that they had been unable to achieve in recent years.

But privately, many Democrats also worry the movement is whipping up a deep-rooted emotional and ideological fervor, much like the tea party did in blocking Obamas agenda. Unpredictable and with no clear leadership, the liberal uprising could prove difficult to contain and may turn its anger currently focused on Trump toward the Democratic Party itself, just as the tea party fractured the GOP.

Wounds from the 2016 primary battle between former Secretary of State Hillary Clinton and Sen. Bernie Sanders of Vermont still run deep among Democrats, and the protest movement could split the party further between moderates and progressives.

Even Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.), a favorite among progressives, found herself under fire after voting to confirm Housing Secretary Ben Carson. Some progressives threatened to challenge the Massachusetts liberal in the next primary.

California Democratic Sen. Dianne Feinstein felt pressured enough to hold her first town hall in years early this month. There she was heckled as a sellout from an occasionally rowdy crowd of liberals.

When airport protests erupted over Trumps first travel ban, Sen. Cory Booker (D-N.J.) raced to Dulles International Airport to demonstrate his solidarity.

No party is safe, said Jeanne Peters, a jewelry designer in West Virginia, whose Indivisible chapter has started calling its House member and both its Republican and Democratic senator every weekday with a coordinated message, such as demanding a congressional vote on Syrian airstrikes or opposing the GOP healthcare plan.

If the threat from the left wasnt evident enough, a new political action committee, #WeWillRreplaceYou, is raising money to back primary campaigns against Democrats they view as insufficiently progressive much the way outside conservative groups targeted RINOs, politicians they considered Republicans in Name Only.

Voters who are fed up with the Democratic Party at every level want to see their Democratic representatives stand up and fight Trump, said Claire Sandberg, a former Sanders organizer who is a cofounder of the PAC.

Another group run by former Sanders allies, Brand New Congress, is recruiting challengers for every single House district Democrats and Republicans alike in 2018.

Rep. Ted Lieu, a progressive from Torrance known even in Oshkosh for his pointed tweets about the president, acknowledged the risk for Democrats as passions run like nothing he has ever seen.

People call my office all the time, and they want President Trump impeached two months ago, he said. We just have to tamp down expectations.

The groups make it no secret that they are using the tea party playbook to fight Trump.

The tea party had a method of organizing that works, said Hillary Shields, 32, a paralegal whose Indivisible group drew nearly 150 to a Saturday spring training for activists in Kansas City, Mo. Why reinvent the wheel?

Ezra Levin, a former Capitol Hill staffer who is president of the Indivisible Project, helped fuel the movement by posting online a how-to organizing guide that borrows heavily from the tea party. The goal of this tactic isnt just to target Republicans. Its to stiffen the spines of Democrats, he said.

But while the resistance groups share many similarities with the tea party, it remains to be seen how far they are willing to go to block Trumps agenda. Would they be willing to shut down the government, as the tea party did over Obamacare, for their own priorities say, to save Planned Parenthood or stop Trumps travel ban?

The moms sitting around the dining room table at Kozels house the day after the Kenosha protest shake their heads no, saying they wouldnt want to disrupt government operations or break laws with civil disobedience.

Our endgame is getting people elected, said Kozel, as three of her school-age kids munched doughnuts and played nearby.

But others know playing nicely may only go so far. Many women said that the Democratic Party needs to be more progressive and they are trying to push the party in that direction.

Among the new activists is Lisa E. Hansen, 51, a former graphic artist who had never been politically active much beyond casting her vote.

And then the election happened, said Hansen, after she and others wrote postcards to lawmakers at her Oshkosh home.

She said she sunk into a depression, spending her days scouring the news to make sense of it all. Only when protesters turned out for the Womens March did she think to herself: I can do that.

Now every Tuesday, Hansen, who is partly disabled by Lyme disease, puts her walker in the trunk of her familys car and heads to downtown Oshkosh to Republican Sen. Ron Johnsons office, where a few dozen resisters have been protesting every week since the inauguration.

She dials up the senators office on Mondays to say that her group is coming and would like a meeting.

The senator has not agreed to meet with them. But his staff comes out to hear their concerns, and sometimes Hansen brings them snacks.

On a recent Tuesday, more than two dozen protesters quietly formed a neat line outside the office with homemade signs reading, Not paying for Trumps wall! and Dont let Wisconsin values be Trumpd.

The Tuesday protests were supposed to last only for the first 100 days of the new administration. But as that date approaches, no one wants to quit, so they agreed to extend it for another 100 days.

Its given me a sense of purpose, Hansen said. Maybe we should send Donald Trump a thank-you note. He brought all of us together.

lisa.mascaro@latimes.com

Twitter: @LisaMascaro

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Trump's election has mobilized a resistance like no other, but will ... - Los Angeles Times

Conservative activists are pushing back against Republican leaders who are fast-tracking the so-called Buffett Bill, which would let billionaire Warren Buffett hang onto his car dealerships in Texas but keep the state market closed to Tesla and other manufacturers.

A whos-who of Tea Party leaders under the banner of the Texas Free Market Coalition including JoAnn Fleming of East Texas, Eagle Forum board member and past President Cathie Adams and NE Tarrant Tea Party leader Julie McCarty blasted the legislation allowing a politically favored entity to get special treatment in the Legislature.

Senate Bill 2279 by Republican Sen. Kelly Hancock of North Richland Hills would create a loophole for Buffett, whose ownership of an RV manufacturer in Indiana could otherwise preclude him from keeping Texas dealerships owned by his Berkshire Hathaway Automotive.

Texas has deeply protectionist laws that force consumers to buy new cars in the state through franchised auto dealers.

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The coalition penned an open letter Monday to Buffett, and Fleming said its members have been calling senators offices asking them to either change the bill to allow direct-to-consumer vehicle sales or oppose Hancocks fast-tracked bill.

Most of our Texas politicians who claim to be free market champions are happy to engage in protectionism and to use our tax dollars to pick winners and losers, the coalition wrote. Mr. Buffett, we are just ordinary Texans fighting to keep some of our hard-earned money through true free market choice, unhampered by government meddling. Since you obviously have much more influence over our state officials than we do, we ask for your help in passing the direct sales bills that would benefit all Texans."

Hancock and the offices of the governor and lieutenant governor did not immediately respond to requests for comment from The Texas Tribune.

Last week the Texas Senateused emergency powers to introduce after a filing deadline had passed what Capitol insiders quickly dubbed the Buffett Bill. It shot out of Hancock's Committee on Business and Commerce like a lightning bolt toward the Senate floor a couple days later.

A bill to help diesel engine maker Cummins Inc. keep its auto dealerships fell prey to opposition from the powerful Texas Association of Auto Dealers. A bill that would allow people to buy vehicles directly from manufacturers like Tesla hasn't gotten a hearing yet.

The Tea Party activists said Buffett would benefit along with other manufacturers if the direct sales bills SB 2093 and HB 4236 were adopted and signed into law.

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"If those bills were to pass, you would be able to own dealerships in Texas,while Texas consumers would benefit from more options at lower prices," the coalition wrote. "It's a win/win or what economists call a 'positive sum outcome.' "

Disclosure: Tesla Motors Inc. and the Texas Automotive Dealers Association have been financial supporters of The Texas Tribune. A complete list of Tribune donors and sponsors is availablehere.

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Tea Party leaders push back on GOP over fast-tracked "Buffett Bill" - Texas Tribune

HomeCommunityTea Party: Impact of subversive ideologies on American Culture

April 23, 2017 Community

Historic City News readers are patriotically invited to attend the General meeting of the Saint Augustine Tea Party Tuesday evening, when the distinguished guest speaker will be Armando Escalante, the Northeast Florida Director for Bear Witness Central.

Bear Witness Central is a communication and action group composed of concerned Americans, many of whom have experienced the effects of socialism or communism during their lifetime.

Escalante is an active speaker on Cultural Marxism. He brings awareness of subversive ideologies and the impact they have on American Culture and the Church.

If you can attend, the meeting will be held at the Village Inn located at 900 North Ponce de Leon Boulevard in St. Augustine, on Tuesday evening, April 25, 2017 at 6:30 p.m. Plan to arrive early for best seating.

There is no admission charge and the meeting is open to both members and guests.

May 5 deadline for comments on Anastasia Entry Corridor

Tax collector provides wait time and check in from mobile devices

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Tea Party: Impact of subversive ideologies on American Culture - Historic City News