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Donald Trump's campaign and presidency have ushered in a tide of blatantly racist, classist, sexist and politically repressive nostalgia, encapsulated by his ominous slogan, "Make America Great Again." As Trump and his Republican allies work to dismantle civil, voting, reproductive and immigration rights, another vestige of the past -- anti-communism -- has begun to reappear.

Fox News is but one purveyor of this ideology. As commentator after commentator sees it, communism stifles the spark that promotes competition and human advancement. In fact, any positive mention of communism is quickly and repeatedly condemned. For example, when MIT Press published a book calledCommunism for Kids, in April, newscasters immediately made it headline news, denouncing the text as "propaganda and revisionist theory" and lampooned the idea that capitalism causes misery among a swath of the population.

The network, of course, is far from alone.

Michael Savage's "The Savage Nation" ontalkstreamlive.orgroutinely lambastes CNN's Wolf Blitzer and Jake Tapper, calling them "mouthpieces of the far left, part [and] parcel of Pravda or Izvestia." Similarly, Glenn Beck's Mercury Radio Arts has aired a four-part series called "The Truth About Communism." "The difference between Communism and the Hitler faith was very slight," Beck rails. "The Communists of the Reichstag voted almost uniformly with the Nazis; they voted in lock step. The slogan for the Communists and the Reichstag, first brown, then red."

The communism Beck conjures is rife with deprivation, want and well-worn stereotypes and is likely motivated by the millions who voted for socialist Bernie Sanders -- no communist he, but that does not seem to matter. The series began in March and gave Beck a platform to warn that "communism" may be making a comeback. To support this thesis, he apparently dusted off a 1950s playbook full of warnings. "You can't own land or make money from owning land," he says of communism. "No matter how hard you worked to acquire your property or how many generations have owned it, your land is no longer yours."

He has also pontificated that communism zaps human motivation, since "everything belongs to the collective." In Beck-world, money is the sole motivator of creativity and innovation (a conclusion that is certainly worth debating) and since communism threatens money as we know it, he argues that it poses an enormous danger to everything red-blooded Americans should hold dear.

Then there's Breitbart News, where anti-Castro commentary is a regular feature. Trump, himself, has both feet firmly planted on this bandwagon, recently telling fans in Miami's little Havana that "we will not be silenced in the face of Communist oppression any longer." Indeed, he fulfilled a campaign promise by directing the Treasury Department to end the US-Cuba people-to-people tourism program. Under the administration's new rules, the only people who will be allowed to visit Cuba are those traveling with pre-approved sponsoring groups. What's more, Trump has repeatedly labeled Cuba a security threat to the US, charging that the tiny island has shipped weapons to North Korea. He has also criticized the country for granting asylum to Assata Shakur, who he calls a "cop killer." His call for Shakur's extradition has gotten significant play on right-wing radio and in conservative print publications and blogs.

And let's not forget May Day. Ilya Somin is a professor of law at George Mason University, home of the Koch-funded Mercatus Center. Mercatus exists to "bridge the gap between academic ideas and real-world problems," and not only promotes capitalism as the best possible economic system, but trains scholars to value rivalry in business and oppose all manner of regulations -- including licensure of businesses. Somin is a close ally of the Mercatus faculty and has the Center's support for his campaign to turn May Day into "International Victims of Communism Day." "We appropriately have a Holocaust Memorial Day," he wrote in aWashington Posteditorial. "It is equally appropriate to commemorate the victims of the 20th century's other great totalitarian tyranny."

California Legislators Declare "Communism Has No Place in California

Anti-communist grumblings have also grown sharper in state legislatures.

Several months ago, Rob Bonta, a Democratic California Assembly member, introduced AB22, a bill to remove a nearly 70-year-old statute that makes it illegal for members of the Communist Party (CP) to work in that state's government. He called the law a violation of the First Amendment right to free speech and association, and pointed out that a 1960 Supreme Court decision made employment bans based on CP membership -- or membership in other organizations that advocate revolutionary change -- unconstitutional.

Despite this, conservatives quickly mobilized to oppose the bill. Led by Republican Janet Nguyen, the first Vietnamese American state senator in the country,opponents declaredthat "communism has no place in California." They further dubbed the bill "an outrageous piece of legislation which inadvertently hurt the Vietnamese-American community and countless veterans who have fought to defeat communism."

Others, including Southern California Assembly member Randy Voepel, chimed in to declare communists in North Korea and China an ongoing threat to US safety.

Bonta eventually withdrew the bill, and apologized for his lack of sensitivity. He did not respond to Truthout's request for an interview.

Anti-Communism Rises in Brooklyn

Brooklyn's tony Park Slope neighborhood is the site of a different kind of Red Scare. It's where Jill Bloomberg, the principal of Park Slope Collegiate (PSC), along with her assistant principal, a paraprofessional and two teachers, are being investigated by the New York City Department of Education for allegedly belonging to a communist organization.

Park Slope Collegiate is a sixth-to-twelfth grade public school, one of four programs co-located in what was once the massive John Jay High School. Bloomberg became PSC's principal in 2004 and has tried to promote the school'smissionas a "truly integrated school -- racially, ethnically, economically, and academically."

Throughout her tenure, Bloomberg has been an outspoken advocate for racial justice. She has denounced the use of metal detectors and called out inequities in resource allocations and funding. For example, one of the schools in the John Jay building, Millennium High, is largely white, mirroring the upscale neighborhood in which it is located. (In contrast, PSC is 79 percent African American and Latinx.) When Millennium was given $115,255 for coaches and sports teams during the 2014-15 academic year, Bloomberg took notice -- first asking Millennium to allow students from the other schools in the building to join its teams; when the request was rebuffed, she demanded parity for all John Jay programs. As she pointed out, the inequity was blatant: the three other programs combined received just $41,045 for athletics.

The situation got even worse the following year, 2016, when Millennium received funds for 17 teams, including fencing, baseball, basketball and table tennis. Meanwhile, only four teams existed at the three other schools; after Bloomberg and others protested this imbalance, five track teams were added, but the total stillpaled in comparisonto Millennium.

"Jill is all about the students," Patrick Lloyd, the parent of a PSC student, told Truthout. "She is very professional. In fact, she does all the things people in academic circles talk about as being important. If students are fighting, she promotes conversations to resolve the issue. She knows every kid by name and knows where he or she is supposed to be at all times. She also does something a lot of other people don't do. She fights back [against injustice] and encourages the students to fight back."

No one knows for sure what put Bloomberg and PSC on the radar of the school district's Office of the Special Commissioner of Investigation (OSI).

Michael Aciman, deputy press secretary for New York City's Department of Education (DOE), told me by email that, "Ms. Bloomberg has been a strong advocate for her school community, and the recent concerns she's raised regarding the John Jay campus have nothing to do with the current investigation. OSI has an obligation to review and investigate all reports of misconduct that it receives, and the complaint against Ms. Bloomberg contains allegations that, if true, would be a violation of several Chancellor's regulations."

What are the allegations? I ask. What regulations has Bloomberg been accused of violating? Who made the complaints? "Due to the ongoing investigation, we cannot confirm additional details," Aciman wrote.

Furthermore, no one seems to know how long an investigation can take or whether the five-month-long brouhaha is near completion. "OSI sent someone to the school building on March 2," Bloomberg explained. "He said I was the subject of an OSI investigation, but that was all he'd tell me. The investigator then asked to speak to the assistant principal and in speaking to her, indicated that they were investigating whether two teachers and I are members of the Progressive Labor Party (PLP) and are recruiting students to attend meetings and events."

Bloomberg emphasizes that she is not in the PLP, but also makes clear that membership in such an organization would not be incompatible with teaching. She acknowledges that she has been vocal in protesting racism and encouraging the students to speak out against discrimination. For example, when PSC's girls' volleyball team was mistreated by security guards at another school, the team -- backed by Bloomberg -- held public protests. This resulted in both media coverage and a public apology from the offending security personnel.

This was not Bloomberg's first brush with DOE authority. After Eric Garner's 2014 murder by police, PSC staff organized an assembly to discuss what had happened. "The superintendent told me that I needed to take a position of neutrality on this, but we can't be neutral when it comes to racism. The DOE itself should not be neutral about racism," Bloomberg said.

Patrick Lloyd agrees, which is why he wanted his daughter to attend PSC in the first place. He's still glad she's enrolled there. At the same time, he is appalled that students were pulled out of class and questioned throughout the spring semester -- without parental permission -- about whether they've been encouraged to attend protests, meetings or study groups. "My daughter was absent the day the investigators came to talk to her. When I heard about this, I wrote [the Department of Education] a cease-and-desist letter stating that they cannot speak to my child without my permission," Lloyd said. A number of parents have since drafted similar missives.

Student Amanda Lee, a rising senior and captain of the girls' volleyball team, calls the investigation ridiculous. "The only time I ever heard the word communism in school was in 10th grade global studies," she told Truthout, shaking her head in disbelief. "The teacher was talking about capitalism and communism and was very pro-capitalist. He said communism was bad and told us that if we had a pair of sneakers, we'd have to share them with our friends. That was it. If I didn't research communism on my own, I wouldn't know anything else about it."

Indeed, the situation playing out in Park Slope represents a type of Red Scare that goes far beyond the verbal prattle of far-right talk shows. It also reminds us that we can't expect the Democratic Party to protect us from this type of ideological posturing. "In a Democratic city, with a Democratic mayor and a Democratic Department of Education head, this situation reeks of McCarthyism," Patrick Lloyd concludes. "It's a good lesson, reminding us that even when we elect Democratic officials to a run a city, there can still be witch hunts."

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Red Scare Redux 2017: From Right-Wing Radio to Brooklyn - Truth-Out

Many of those old enough to remember the Cold War are shocked by Donald Trumps embrace of the Russians and Vladimir Putin. Once World War II was over, Russia under Joseph Stalin continued to retain control of Europe from East Germany onward. The goal was to establish the USSR as an alternative to the capitalistic democracies to the West.

In Stalins Union of Soviet Socialist Republics religion was oppressed in favor of the primacy of the state, which was run by a despotic premier. The tenets of the Bible were replaced by the works of Marx and Lenin. The private right to own property was displaced by the communist doctrine that all means of production belonged to the state.

Smaller countries of Eastern Europe lacked the military capacity to resist annexation into the USSR, but the U.S. maintained its authority over West Germany after World War II. The Russians built a wall between West and East Germany to prevent western ideas from crossing the dividing line and corrupting the indoctrination of communism.

The Russians established an effective secret service, the KGB, to spy on citizens thought to be enemies of the state, as well as foreign countries. The KGB was known to have little reluctance to execute enemies of the state in sophisticated ways that would not reveal the identity of the assassin.

In the early days of the conflict between communism and western capitalism and democracy, the U.S. behaved as though it was at war with the USSR, even though there was no direct battle line and no shots were fired. Some analysts have asserted that the Korean War and the Vietnam War were fought to restrain the spread of communism in Asia.

The House Un-American Activities Committee was established primarily to protect the U.S. against internal terrorism, but it went much farther than that. HUAC was behind Red Scare campaigns that branded journalists, scholars and filmmakers as treasonous, thus ruining their professional reputations.

Even though HUAC was abolished in 1975, profound opposition to Russian communism persisted, especially among conservatives. On March 8, 1983, President Reagan gave a memorable speech in which he branded Russia an evil empire. He cautioned the western world not to turn away from the struggle between right and wrong and good and evil.

Then in 1987, Reagan visited Berlin and famously said Mr. Gorbachev tear down this wall. Two years later Germans began dismantling the wall. And in 1990, Poland broke from Russian domination. Other countries in the USSR then began to break away. While the Cold War theoretically ended in 1990, the philosophical conflict between the Russian brand of communism and western capitalism still persists.

Clearly, Trumps connection is not philosophical. He has already demonstrated a willingness to desecrate a major economic principle of the presidency, that the office will operate for the benefit of the republic and not to increase the presidents wealth. But given Reagans legacy, why have conservatives also abandoned that principle?

One wonders what else is for sale?

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Trump and the Russians: An unholy alliance - BayStateBanner

Socialism kills pets as well as people

By Mark Luedtke

I have little sympathy for people who advocate for socialism then get what they asked for, good and hard. Socialism invariably produces mass poverty, shortages, starvation, etc., while a handful of rulers live like kingsthere are no exceptions because there can be no exceptionsso the people who promote socialism are either stupid or evil. But I have great sympathy for the victims who resist, the children who have no say, and the pets.

Even the leftist media cant ignore the tragedy socialism inflicts on pets in Venezuela. USA Today reports, Every day on her way to work, Angela Exposito sees more abandoned dogs along the road, discarded by owners who can no longer afford to take care of them.

Exposito, who heads Fundanimalia, a nonprofit animal rescue organization, said abandoned pets have skyrocketed over the last three months as the countrys economy descends into ever-worsening chaos. Until recently, most stray dogs she saw were mutts or mixed breeds. Now she sees more purebreds, such as golden retrievers, left to forage for garbage along the Pan American Highway that passes by this industrial city of 150,000, about 50 miles west of the capital, Caracas.

This shows socialism affects not only the poor. It impoverishes the middle class, and then the rich the longer it lasts. If not stopped, even rulers will starve. Socialism collapses at a tipping point when the military realizes rulers wont be able to feed and supply them.

USA Today continues, The food shortage is so bad that the government on Sunday opened its border with neighboring Colombia for 12 hours, and thousands of Venezuelans quickly crossed into the city of Cucuta to buy rice, cornmeal, pasta, and other basic items. Venezuela has had the border closed since August as part of a crackdown on crime.

This illustrates how socialism manages to survive for a short time by relying on capitalists. Soviet rulers begged for food from capitalist countries to feed their starving masses. Socialist rulers imitate the structure of production in capitalist countries. Compassionate capitalists enable socialism to limp along, destroying lives and the environment. Environmentalists might want to note how filthy socialist countries are compared to capitalist ones.

But socialism creates more horrors for pets than being abandoned, struck by cars, starved, or killed by other feral pets. The mayor of one Caracas district told USA Today, People are hunting dogs and cats in the streets, and pigeons in the plazas to eat.

The article continues, The unrest mounts as the country faces continuing shortages of essential food, medicine, and toiletries. All the bakeries here in La Victoria, 55 miles southwest of Caracas, stopped producing bread last week because there is no flour.

People who cant feed themselves cant feed their pets.

You dont have to have a Ph.D. in international cultures to recognize rich, capitalist countries tend to treat pets, animals, and the environment better than poor, socialist countries. Venezuela provides an excellent, yet terrible, case study because it shows a before and after picture of the same culture. When Venezuela was more capitalist, pets thrived. Now that socialism reigns, theyre hunted for food.

Whats lost in todays economic conversation is a discussion of wealth creation. Our rulers and their propagandists have a socialist obsession with jobs, but economies arent about producing jobs. Theyre about producing wealth. That means meeting the demands of consumers. In a capitalist society, consumers are king. Capitalism empowered billions of people to rise above poverty by creating wealth. Jobs are a byproduct of wealth creation, not a cause of it.

Pet ownership is another byproduct of wealth creation. Even in China, where eating dogs has long been culturally acceptable, that tradition is going away as capitalists create wealth there.

Because socialism destroys wealth, it also destroys pet ownership.

And since were at the height of the bubble, Michigan just set a pet adoption record. Im sure the same is true across the country, but when the crash hits, people will abandon their pets here like in Venezuela.

Every time you see that gut-wrenching Sarah McLachlan commercial, you can blame government for interfering in our economy. If we had a free economy, because we would be wealthier, few would abandon their pets, and those would be quickly adopted.

If youre a pet lover, you have to be against socialism.

Tags: headline, opinion

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Socialism ills - Dayton City Paper

Puebla, Mexico, July 19, 2017 (venezuelanalysis.com) The majority of Venezuelans believe in a socialist economy, but want the government to be more efficient and promote private investment, a top pollster said Wednesday.

Most [Venezuelans] believe in a strong, vigorous state [to] establish clear laws for the market, said Oscar Schemel, the head of polling agency Hinterlaces.

He pointed to the latest Hinterlaces poll, which asked participants if the best thing for Venezuela is a socialist economic model of production, where various forms of private property exist.

While three out of four Venezuelans agreed with this statement, 24 percent disagreed, while 1 percent were unsure.

Schemel said the data shows Venezuelans want a socialist state with private investment and a mixed economy. He added that Venezuelans believe the state "should be a referee that directs investment.

"Sixty one percent of the population affirms that the economy must be led by the state, 86 percent think that the government should promote private investment, he said.

The comments were made during a speech to a meeting of local business leaders in Caracas. The topic of the meeting was how to promote a post-oil economy.

Venezuelas President Nicolas Maduro has long had a terse relationship with Venezuelan business leaders, though Schemel argued voters want dialogue.

Seventy eight percent consider that the government's dialogue with businesspeople is more important than with the opposition, and 63 percent distrust the opposition, he said.

Schemels figures were based on new polling data from Hinterlaces, which asked over 1,500 Venezuelans for their views on the state of the economy.

While the majority of Venezuelans said they support socialism, 63 percent of respondents said the government needs to become more productive and efficient. Thirty two percent of participants said the current model should change.

In another question looking at the fate of state oil firm PDVSA, 74 percent of respondents said they would oppose any proposal to privatise the company. Twenty three percent said they would support such a proposal. Similar results were found for questions dealing with other state enterprises. When asked whether the electricity grid should be privatised, 32 percent of respondents agreed, while 67 percent said they would oppose such a measure. Sixty nine said they would oppose privatising state telecommunications giant CANTV, while 30 percent would be in support.

Published on Jul 19th 2017 at 3.05pm

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75% of Venezuelans Support Socialism: Poll - Venezuelanalysis.com

Its taken nearly eight years, but the Internal Revenue Service finally granted tax-exempt status to a Tea Party group in what lawyers representing the group on Wednesday called a major victory for free speech.

Graham Bartlett, president of the local Tea Party, said he was informed about a month ago that the group's request was going through, The Albuquerque Journal reported.

The group filed its request in December 2009. Several months later, the IRS demanded more documentation concerning the organization's activities. The group complied, but then the IRS requested even more documentation. The Tea Party provided more than 1,000 pages of documentation about the group's activities. Eventually, it filed a lawsuit against the IRS.

"What I understand is the IRS was targeting any organization that had the name 'Tea Party' in it or the word 'conservative,'" Bartlett said. "We weren't the only ones."

In 2012, the American Center for Law and Justice, or ACLJ, filed a lawsuit against the IRS on behalf of the Albuquerque Tea Party as well as other conservative groups whose requests for tax-exempt status seemed to be put on hold during the Obama administration.

"The ACLJ is pleased toannouncethat after a long, arduous legal battle, our client, the Albuquerque Tea Party, has finally received theirtax-exempt status nearly eight years after originally filing their 501(c)(4) application,"the organization said in a statement on its website Wednesday. "This is a major victory for free speech."

"The widespread and coordinated attacks against conservative groups like the Albuquerque Tea Party began in early 2010," the ACLJ said. "The IRS literally took their money and then ignored their application requesting tax-exempt status for eight long years.

"This is outrageous," the group said. No organization should ever be forced to waitthatlong for a determination."

'This is outrageous.'

In 2015, a bipartisan review from the U.S. Senate's Finance Committee found management flaws at the IRS contributed to a "dysfunctional culture" that allowed agents to mistreat conservative groups when they applied for tax-exempt status.

Both Bartlett and Moore said that since President Trump and the Republicans assumed power in Washington in January, there seems to have been a change toward a more equitable policy at the IRS.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

See the article here:
Albuquerque Tea Party granted tax-exempt status after 8 years | Fox ... - Fox News