Eetan
1d ago
centi-millionaire
Sorry, but this is the officially used term.
100M+ net worth put you safely above the rules of classical grammar.
Eetan
1d ago
From The (In)Effective Altruism Diaries: The Case Of Centi-Millionaire Marxist
You possibly already heard about James Cox Chambers Jr.
He is character that would be laughed at and rejected outright in any creative writing class as crude, primitive and unfunny caricature of leftist written by hate filled right wing bigot.
Descendant of long line of distinguished WASP's. As close to hereditary aristocracy as you can get in today's world. Wikipedia article of your own is now what noble title used to be.
(Yes, pure Anglo Saxon ancestry, no documented Jewish ancestors, if you are looking for this thing, you can be disappointed)
Who is, since early age, dedicated Marxist devoted to fighting for revolutionary cause.
Around age 12, Chambers was introduced to Marxist literature by a teacher, including Howard Zinn’s A People's History of the United States, something which made a lasting impression, although by his account, his focus on political activism has ebbed and flowed throughout his life.
Now, his means are not negligible. 250M hard bourgeois bucks is nothing to sneer at.
Chambers owned a portion of Cox Enterprises until divesting from the company in 2023, resulting in a payout estimated by Rolling Stone of at least $250 million.
Distinguished revolutionaries in the past used cash with great efficiency as weapon to hasten the demise of capitalist world.
Comrade Cox-Chambers is not one of them. In 30 years of struggle, he really achieved nothing much worth showing. The Berkshire Communists, The Berkshire People's Gym, The Butterfly Collective etc. are not up there with The Sealed Train.
Neither are Dakota pipeline protests or Cop City protests.
At least the Georgia commune members had some fun, while it lasted.
Many former commune members recall in a 2024 interview with Rolling Stone that little happened on the commune aside from rampant psychedelic usage and that Chambers pressured commune members to take part in polyamory/free love relationships.
This shows once again weakness of premise of effective altruism and 80,000 hours movement that money alone is sufficient to change the world. It is not specific to communism/leftism, many cases of right wing money wasted in even more pointless way.
Now, if you are inclined to laugh at the outgroup, show how would you do better. Your homework, your hypothetical scenario for today is:
You are given 250M in USD.
Your mission is to promote COMMUNISM. Not some petty bourgeois hippy nonsense, but real, scientific and authentic Marx-Lenin-Stalin thought.
How would you get the greatest bang for the buck, how would you most efficiently use capitalist cash to bring forward glorious communist future?
Show your work. Best entries will be rewarded with eternal revolutionary glory and virtual Stalin Golden Prize.
Eetan
1d ago
Is there any good credible reporting on the degree of aid from Russia to Iran?
Watch Caspian sea ports.
Any substantial support would have to go through there.
Eetan
1d ago
Dateline 1348: The vast majority of the Holy Roman Empire towns established flagellant parades, because something had to be done.
Eetan
1d ago
Situation status: MONITORED
Situation update:
The object was protected, but no one could predict that someone would use Star Trek tier technology to get in.
Fire in Pardubice: They forcibly entered the building using a hammer and an axe
You can say it like that, but of course we don't underestimate the issue of security. And in the media everything revolves around the fence.
Securing these objects is not just about fencing. Of course, fencing is an obstacle, but it is not a roadblock. This means that if I want to overcome the fence, I will always overcome it.
For me, it is important that the buildings located there are secured by electrical security systems, camera systems, and various detectors.
They got over the fence, but at the moment when there was entry, unauthorized entry into those buildings - I would like to emphasize here that the entry was forcibly made using a large hammer and an axe
Not ordinary hammer, but large assault hammer (probably painted black). Obviously, all resistance was futile.
The damage seems to be substantial.
The Pardubice hall that caught fire must be demolished
Hundreds of millions. Zbrojovka estimated the damage after the arson attack
Hundreds of millions in local money. 100M CZK ~ 4,7M USD right now. Do the maffs.
Cost of operation: train tickets, few hammers, axes and cans of gasoline, about half dozen activists.
Good ROI? Certainly better than throwing soup at paintings, chaining yourself to road or releasing rats in fast food restaurant.
Now, the question is: how many activists are there, and can the recruiting pipeline deliver new ones faster than the existing are hunted down? If the answer to the later question is yes, get ready for spicy times.
Eetan
1d ago
With so many sci-fi fantasies filling up the horizon, why not kill yourself and wait awhile?
In the best case scenario, if you are revived in legit Star Trek utopian future, you end up as rare specimen of primitive ape man living in comfortable zoo. You are living in your cage, all your needs are provided for, all you have to do is to beat your chest, grumble and grunt while the people of the future whizz around in their flying cars and gawk at you.
Paradisical life compared to what you have now, but you will not be participating in any sci-fi fantasy wonders.
Eetan
3d ago
Update: Cancellation of Cesar Chavez proceeds with lightning speed.
It is so urgent that there is no time to call stone workers to grind away his name from marble.
When Gray Lady is speaking, everyone is listening. News about death of traditional press turned out to be way, way premature.
Another news, another habbening, concerning this time both Eastern European and Middle Eastern situations.
A radical anti-Israeli group set fire to a drone manufacturing plant in Pardubice, Czechia.
Looks like continuation and escalation of previous actions, looks as Edinburgh January 2026 action except this time with more competency.
(competency as: use gasoline instead of spray paint and hammers, and do not wait to be arrested, GTFO to fight another day)
Group calling itself "The Earthquake Faction" was never heard about before, and the plant was manufacturing drones for Ukraine, not Israel.
It is rather clear what is going on - even FSB/GRU are learning, and instead of trying to derail European war effort with exploding dildos, found out how to redirect pro-Palestine useful idiots on more fruitful targets.
The perpetrators are very unlikely to be locals - in Czechia, as in whole post-Soviet Central/Eastern Europe, opinions on Middle Eastern situation range from "GO ISRAEL GO! SMASH BURN DESTROY!" to "Pox on the whole sand box". Sympathy for Palestine is extremely rare even among local woke folx, pro-Palestine protests are pathetic affairs with few dozens attending at best.
Situation still developing, keep monitoring.
edit: links links links
(Hopefully this post, containing only links concerning one current event, is according to The Rules(TM) )
Not the first time it happened.
Oordinary oops? Final Iranian desperate move to incite Spirit of Jihad(TM)? Israeli false flag, in preparation to finally remove these obstreperous buildings to make space for Third Temple?
Reminder that really spicy times hadn't began yet.
Or, another possibility is when Al-Aqsa gets destroyed for real, nothing really happens. The Ummah, tired of lifetime of fruitless rage, just shrugs their collective shoulders. "We have enough mosques at home".
Mother of all anti-climatic endings ensues.
Just stay calm and keep monitoring the situation.
edit: links linked
Eetan
4d ago
If Iranian authorities want to kill someone, they do not need to fabricate evidence (including CCTV footage) against him. They can just do it.
If Saleh Mohammadi is really heroic freedom fighter who sacrificed his life for democracy, are you sure you want to insult him by calling him innocent victim who just happened to be at the wrong place at the wrong time?
Eetan
4d ago
To understand the RCC scandals and their handling fully, you need to understand that the "environment of the late twentieth century RCC" was environment of severe priest shortage.
In developed world, class of dirt poor pious peasantry, where becoming badly paid celibate priest was major win for the whole family, died out. All people how had much better options, and the church was unable/unwilling to make priest career more attractive.
The alternative to bad priest was often no priest at all, and since in Catholicism priests are indispensable for sacraments, tough choices had to be made.
Neighbor A: Good day, neighbor!
Neighbor B: You too, neighbor!
A: I see this old bike you have on your yard, could I have it? It is lying there for a long time, you are not riding it, but I can use it.
B: You can borrow it and ride it at any time, if you want, we are neighbors, after all.
A: I would pay you for the bike good money, I really want it for myself.
B: It's my grandpa's bike, it is our family heirloom. Sorry, but it is not for sale, but as I said, you can borrow it.
A: See this, nerd? This is a gun. I could shoot you at any time and take this shitty bike, if I wanted so, but I offered you money because I am good and generous neighbor.
Think about this offer, nerd, until it lasts.
B: ... thinking for myself ...
This neighbor gives me some bad vibes. Maybe I should ask my other neighbor, who has gun too, to help me.
And, maybe, i should get together with another neighbor and get guns for ourselves too.
Eetan
4d ago
What is long term plan for Gaza, Syria and Lebanon? The bombing goes on and can go on ... not forever, nothing lasts forever... but for a long time until there is anything to bomb.
Eetan
4d ago
Context: Saleh Mohammadi was executed for demanding democracy by way of killing police officers.
It is understandable that US media downplay this aspect, they do not want to remind #AbolishThePolice folx that they are just LARPers. This would make them very sad.
Eetan
4d ago
OK, my apology. If such content is unwelcome there, I will not post such links here any more.
Eetan
5d ago
Many things are habbening at once, here are for some more random culture war (and culture war by other means) news for the second part of the week.
Middle Eastern habbenings are already sufficiently covered elsewhere, things are going interesting even outside this part of the world.
1/Cancel culture files
Canceling machine is still running in overdrive mode, and it is coming for Cesar Chavez.
It turned out that "Moses of his people" routinely raped underage girls including another famous activist Dolores Huerta.
This is bad. Imagine if it came out that MLK raped Rosa Parks. That bad.
Many streets, schools, libraries, parks etc. are to be renamed soon.
2/Dukes, princes and kings of hazard files
Gambling is getting normalized and spreads all over the world.
Not only betting on sports for plebes, but betting on world habbenings for sophisticated situation monitorers.
This sort of gambling, in addition to ruining people's finances and lives, adds another element of chaos to already spicy world's situations. With few clicks, anyone in even middling military/govt positions can personally greatly profit from insider info.
And if you are in high, decision making position ... another source of income opens, faster and more lucrative than old timey corruption and theft.
No suprise that tensions are running high.
A war correspondent just received death threats from online gamblers who wanted him to change his reporting on an Iranian missile strike so they could collect a payout. One bettor had $900,000 riding on the outcome.
3/US gun politics files
Illinois wants track all ammo and mandate microstamping of serial numbers to all ammunition.
Even if they could make it work, there is so much ammo already manufactured, you could say. This is no way to protect Black lives from gun violence!
This is the point. You cannot get the evil white gun hoarders for their guns (yet), but you can send them to prison for unserialized ammo.
4/Democracy files
In suprising news, Kim Jong-un wins North Korea’s parliamentary elections with 99.93% of the vote.
This was not something anyone could predict.
In 2023, Kim oversaw his party's WORST election results in 60 years, winning just 99.63% of votes.
But "to give up" is not in Kim Jong-un's dictionary.
He persisted.
He fought and regained trust of the people. May this tale of true grit and determination inspire all of us.
5/Woke culture files
You’re not hallucinating the great weirding of America
You’re in a small town in Wisconsin.
The transgender assistant manager at CVS has a septum piercing, a wolf cut, and a nametag that reads “Finn.”
TL;DR: Wokeness is not dead yet. It might be wobbling at the top, but it is marching triumphantly across America.
Dinergoth is the aesthetic of ruined suburbia and dying small towns.
They are the mainstream now, they are not weird anymore. You are the weirdo.
6/Space invader files
Third recorded interstellar object at 16th March crossed the orbit of Jupiter and is now on the way out of Solar system.
So far, three interstellar objects were detected.
Number Two looked and behaved like ordinary snowy mudball, numbers One and Three were, in comparison to Solar system objects, very strange.
Either we live on rather busy interstellar highway, or interstellar objects are not at all like Solar system ones.
Alien starship monitoring community breathed in relief (and disappointment).
Close encounter with Jupiter was the opportunity for space battleship to rev up her engines and use Jupiter's gravity for course correction straight to Earth.
Previously, we had doubt about object origin. Now, we are certain that crew of 3I/Atlas is made of highly intelligent beings who saw nothing worth conquering on this monkey planet.
7/Cryptid files
The famous Patterson–Gimlin film was, for 59 years, known as the best evidence for existence of Bigfoot/Sasquatch.
Now, new documentary shows it all as "incredible hoax". Not only straight confession of Patterson's son Clint, but another 16mm film reel showing Bigfoot costume.
But, at the end, it doesn't matter.
Real or not, Bigfoot lives in our hearts. For forever.
Eetan
6d ago
are you saying the rule is "if any member of X group hurts you, you have a reason to hate X group"? Does that apply to all groups, or just men?
Blind hatred leads to nowhere. Before you start hating, do your research whether your enemy is representative of X, or just one bad apple.
Eetan
6d ago
People who argued: "The end is near! No time for sentimentality, we must pile up pyramids of skulls to save the world!" were in recorded history always proven wrong.
But this time it is different!
Eetan
6d ago
For all history (until rise of Prussia from swamp backwater to great power in 18th century) Germans were stereotyped as lazy bums interested only in eating and drinking. The French had well deserved reputation of heroism, honor and war mongering.
(the infamous surrender monkey memes came from GWOT times)
I remember 18th century graphic depicting stereotypical ways to die for each European nation - Englishman dies at sea, Frenchman dies by sword, Italian dies of love, German dies of drink (can't find it anymore).
Eetan
6d ago
Correction and apology, belief in reincarnation seems to be a thing in some streams of Orthodox Judaism. Doubt that many Reform Jews would adhere to this idea.
Anyway, I also doubt that there is any Buddhist school that believes in collective karma.
"The bad things happening to you? You deserve it. Not due to your bad deeds in you current or previous lives, but because king of your country did bad thing 100 years ago."
Eetan
6d ago
Congress has the power to declare war (a point I agree on), but do the people? Should we hold a referendum before we attack our enemies?
This is exactly what "democracy" meant, when it was meant seriously.
Current breaking news arrive that Athens and Sparta are at war again. The men of the city gather at the agora, debate the recent habbening, and vote whether the city joins with Athens against Sparta or the other way around.
Democracy requires informed citizenry with skin in the game, which was the case in these times. Everyone knew basic geography and political situation, everyone roughly knew where is Athens, where is Sparta and where is their city, and how strong they are. Everyone knew from direct experience how war looks like, and what will happen to you and your loved ones if you pick the wrong side.
Now, pollsters asking populace "Should we bomb Iraq, Iran, both or neither?" is akin asking five years old "When you grow up, do you want to be astronaut, accountant or garbage truck driver?"
Gracchus.
Gracchi brothers, whatever their faults were, were not known for their ostentatious wealth (by ancient standards) and neither for war mongering and promise breaking(again by ancient standards).
Strange you picked them as comparison, and not the other famous ancient character, whose story Donaldus Maximus seems to be intent to repeat step by step.
Maybe because the tale ends in real downer?
edit: links linked
Eetan
6d ago
make-women-property-again
And now we are going extinct.
As I pointed out in my top post, inspired by recent demise of Paul Ehrlich
The overpopulation panic was used to justify respectable tally of atrocities all over the world. It turned to be, even if you disregard any humanist soy crap about "value" of human life and well being, at best unnecessary, at worst counterproductive.
Now, the depopulation doomers salivate at the chance of running killing fields of their own. Nothing changes, no one ever learns anything.
Eetan
7d ago
Yea. One can go full John Hagee style Christian Zionist and find in the Bible proof texts showing that Jews are forever chosen people and God will bless forever everyone who blesses Israel.
bad karma
To use religious arguments based on Buddhism or Hinduism to support Israel is rather ... unorthodox.
Situation status: MONITORED
Things status: HABBENING
The court sent the accused in the terrorist attack in Pardubice to custody. They did not confess to the crime.
Yes, we live in cyberpunk age of universal surveillance. When TPTB want to find you, you are not getting away.
You can still do things, but only once. No second chances. Ever.
They face 20 years to life in prison for a terrorist offense.
druhasmena
A New Year's resolution for the ummah. To imagine a decolonial future.
More works of queer postcolonial feminist theory here.
Sadly, Youssef Moursi neglected to study more practical skills, but despite their failing, their result was rather respectable.
Another will come after them who will learn from their mistakes, get ready for interesting times.
edit: links uplinked
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