Young Master Smeet
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C$ spinning this out, might explain the Tories silence, since clearly they're doing a drip attack:https://twitter.com/frasereC4/status/696953549209653250Rest of the press muted (giving a short column inch to say they covered it, but not going big), but this is a big story: did they do this in Tory marginals at the general election?
Actually, watching it through, I'm seething, not just for the blatant election stealing by bringing in lots of paid workers, but also because at the last election I bust a gut to make sure we declared everything (down to some very small receipts). I know some things slip throuh the cracks, but this is blatant, systematic and appears deliberate…
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8ZKn3qXKAc&feature=youtu.beAnd they've done it before, Crick is on the case…Seems they did themselves in by staying in posh hotels, could have hired a house for less…
A UN report suggests Syrian government forces are engaged in rape, torture and extermination:http://www.ohchr.org/Documents/HRBodies/HRCouncil/CoISyria/A-HRC-31-CRP1_en.pdf
Quote:In the accounts collected from over 500 survivors of Government detention centres between March 2011 and November 2015, almost all described having been the victims of and witnesses to torture and inhuman and degrading treatment. Over 200 former Government detainees witnessed one or more deaths in custodyAll sides appear to be engaged in such behaviour (although no mention of Kurds).
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flint_water_crisisDetailed, balanced and very informative write-up on Wikipedia.
Quote:It was determined that the river water, which, due to higher chloride concentration, is more corrosive than the lake water, was leaching lead from aging pipes.[33] Dr. Mozhgan Savabieasfahani, an environmental toxicologist based in Ann Arbor, Michigan said this level of lead exposure is comparable with what Iraqi people are experiencing after the U.S. occupation in 2003. Savabieasfahani noted that lead is directly tied to weapons manufacturing, and a crisis of this magnitude is almost the equivalent of if officials had been bombing the people of Flint since 2014.and
Quote:olunteer teams led by Edwards found that at least a quarter of Flint households have levels of lead above the federal level of 15 parts per billion (ppb) and that in some homes, lead levels were at 13,200 ppb.[49] Edwards said: "It was the injustice of it all and that the very agencies that are paid to protect these residents from lead in water, knew or should've known after June at the very very latest of this year, that federal law was not being followed in Flint, and that these children and residents were not being protected. And the extent to which they went to cover this up exposes a new level of arrogance and uncaring that I have never encountered.""Cover up".. OK, and last quote
Quote:the documents provide a glimpse of state leaders who were at times dismissive of the concerns of residents, seemed eager to place responsibility with local government and, even as the scientific testing was hinting at a larger problem, were reluctant to acknowledge it.Well, it certainly demonstrates the liberational capacity of science, when applied exhausitively: it also stands up our position, since we've been claiming the same thing. The trick to be getting the science out into mainstream thinking.
https://now.mmedia.me/lb/en/NewsReports/566581-syria-kurds-press-aleppo-advancesFreedom for Kurdistan? Looks like a referendum will occur in iraqi Kurdistan, and if they link up between Cantons on the Turkish border, it could be a fait accompli (a grateful Syrian regime probably wouldn't want to waste efforts on pushing them out. Currently Kobane pays lip-service to being an integral part of Syria)…
Via Stop Killer Robots:http://www.ft.com/cms/s/2/849666f6-cbf2-11e5-a8ef-ea66e967dd44.html?segid=0100320#axzz3zZzaRGdT
Quote:Last week Mr Carter talked about “swarming, autonomous vehicles” — an allusion to another idea that animates current defence thinking in Washington, the use of greater volumes of aircraft or ships in a conflict. The emphasis in American military technology in recent decades has been on developing weapons platforms that are deployed in fewer numbers but boast much greater capabilities, such as the F-35 fighter jet. However, backed by low-cost production techniques such as 3D printing, Pentagon planners are flirting with a different model that seeks to saturate an enemy with swarms of cheaper, more expendable drones.An interesting perspective:http://www.rte.ie/news/election-2016/2016/0208/766238-fiscal-space-this-madness-must-end/For all the fluff and nonsense of an electioin campaign, they are basically arguing over the space of €8.6 billion (3% of total budget) that's what all the differences come down to: a clear example of how capitalist polticians aren't in charge of the system (and even that money is in doubt, if the world goes a bit spammy again)
An interesting quote from one reporter:https://twitter.com/jenanmoussa/status/695968654257618944
TheSpanishInquisition wrote:But what classifies as a 'means of production'? What if Fred the Baker built a pizza oven in his kitchen. Since that could be used to produce pizzas theoretically by anyone, would anyone be able to just waltz into his kitchen and make a pizza?Well, lets start from the other end: you focus on things one person can use. We know, for eample, that no-one person can work a car assembly line (and no one person can claim to have made any given car), so if we start with items, installations and machines that require groups of people to operate, and are currently operated by associations of people employed in a contract of service. That rules out Freds oven, but would include all the cumulative ovens owned by Greggs, say.Lets not focuss on things, but on the social relationship, the ending of wage slavery. Once we are free to work together, it's a question of co-operating: no one plan can describe how the co-operation will be carried out, other than that it is the free association of workers. We work because we need to in order to have things we need to live, and because we will have made all forms of exploitation and slavery impossible.
http://weeklyworker.co.uk/worker/1092/letters/A wee plug for it there as well, never knew Lilburne was a Mackem. Gone right off him now.
They can also look at the German Ideologyhttps://www.marxists.org/archive/marx/works/1845/german-ideology/index.htmJointly written by Fred and Chuck.
LBird wrote:Get the SPGB to admit that it won't have the democratic control by workers of maths, physics and truth, and we can end the myth of the SPGB's 'socialism' (which is precisely that workers' control), and I'll bid you all a good-day.I've already said there will be common ownership and democratic control of the means and intruments of producing and distributing wealth, including all intellectual wealth, so we can't 'admit that' it wouldn't, er, be true.Anyway, as to your notion of voting on several competing truths, I take it you are aware of:https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Voting_paradoxThe result of the voting paradox is that nothign may end up beign true, and everything is true, if society ranks truths A,B,C the result can be that each of them wins, and thus each is true.Anyway, for socialists, intelelctual endevour will continue to belong to the communiy, and be created by the co-operative action of members of the community…
Quote:Bertie Ahern has forecast that the election on February 26th will be followed by another one later this year. The former taoiseach could well be proved right – at this stage an inconclusive result appears the most likely outcome.
