HITLER WAS NOT A SOCIALIST.

An oft repeated right wing lie that must be debunked whenever possible.

Firstly, I'm not a Marxist. I'm not especially a socialist, either, although I do believe that healthcare should be socialized. That's another post entirely, though. One, now that I think of it, I may write later. But I digress...

The Nazis outlawed socialism. They were imprisoning, and killing, socialists and communists before they were killing Jews. 

There were socialists in the Nazi party initially. They were represented mainly by the Strasser brothers and Strasserism. Guess what happened to them? Otto Strasser was expelled from the party in 1930 after a disagreement with Hitler over Hitler's disregard for socialist ideals during which Hitler repeatedly called Strasser a "liberal". He later went into exile in Czechoslovakia. The other brother, Gregor Strasser? Murdered during the Night of the Long Knives. 

Hitler didn't even believe in socialist economic principles nor did he institute them.

“Hitler was never a socialist. But although he upheld private property, individual entrepreneurship, and economic competition, and disapproved of trade unions and workers' interference in the freedom of owners and managers to run their concerns, the state, not the market, would determine the shape of economic development. Capitalism was, therefore, left in place. But in operation it was turned into an adjunct of the state."

            - Hitler 1936 – 45: Nemisis, by Ian Kershaw.

“We have to strip the terms ‘Nationalism’ and ‘Socialism’ of their previous meaning. Only that man is a nationalist who stands by his people, and only that man is a socialist who stands up for the rights of his people both internally and externally.”

            - Adolf Hitler, November 16, 1928.

There are so many articles that have been written on why Hitler was not a socialist that I honestly don't understand how anyone could fall for a lie so blatant.

Here is Reddit featuring many, many people debunking this nonsense. 

Here is a youtube video debunking the claim as made by Steven Crowder, a well known lying piece of shit -

Here is Professor David Klein of California State University, Northridge debunking the same myth.

Here's a Guardian opinion piece about this continually repeated lie. 

Here's a piece written by Albert Einstein on socialism.

Here's the definition of socialism itself for the people that are confused. 

When you search google for Hitler's links to left wing socialism you'll find yourself all but drowned in a murky green soup of right wing propaganda sites that try to distance themselves from this obviously right wing fascist dictator. Infowars, CNS, TheRebel, TheNationalReview, etc. The target of this fallacy is obvious, right wingers that don't check sources.  It's intended goal is equally obvious – Fear mongering.

“Look how the left is the enemy!” They scream. 

Ironically, this is exactly why Hitler sometimes claimed to be a socialist. It was a way to win over the workers with words while he acted in whichever way suited him best.

If he was such a left winger and a socialist then why was he supported by the right and by big business? Big business which, by the way, flourished before, during, and even after the war.

This shit is basic as hell and I feel like I shouldn't even have to write it... but I clearly do... So here it is.

Have a great day.

Blogging amidst this madness.

I'll be honest; I can't keep up.

If the goal of the Trump regime is to confuse and fatigue spectators into silence then it may well be working. At least on me.

I'm learning so much about our political system each day, which is nice, but the lesson I keep learning is that the president can pretty much do whatever the fuck he wants. I bet Obama is kicking himself for being so conservative with his use of power. Trump gives zero fucks about ethics, optics, conflicts, politics... It's like we made the Joker the president. He's a dog chasing cars. He just does things.

But is there light at the end of this dank, dark tunnel? Lots of people say yes. The rumors rumbling through the twittersphere, and elsewhere, whisper "Grand jury" or "Sealed indictment" urgently. I want to believe... But I've been hurt before.

All the while, the tweets! The tweets!

It's a fitting future, really. That we would have a Nixonian scandal live tweeted from a dark corner somewhere in the White House.

"Where's the president?"

"I don't know. He gave me the slip again. Is he in Ivanka's room?"

"Negative. He's tweeting. HE'S TWEETING!"

"All agents, be advised. We have a Code Brown on Tweety Bird! I say again, Code Brown! Check all the bathrooms and closets! This is not a drill!"

It'd be a whole lot funnier if it wasn't a thing that probably has happened and does happen. This fucking guy is an embarrassment. An absolute disgrace.

The honeymoon is over.

“BUT WHY?!” The Donald screamed as he slammed his small, soft hands down on the Resolute desk. His anger forced his voice two full octaves higher and made him sound like a petulant child.

“Don-” Paul Ryan began. The Donald cut him off.

“MR. PRESIDENT!” The Donald whined.

“Mr. President...” Ryan choked out the words. “We don't have the support.”

“Well, maybe if you'd made it better! Why is it so bad? You're the worst! SAD!” The last word he almost spit out involuntarily, as though he suffered from Tourette's.

“You said you liked it yes-” Ryan was cut off again.

“FAKE NEWS!” The Donald began sputtering. “You are just as bad as CNN and NBC! Fox and friends knows! You're just like the fake dishonest media! SAD!”

“Do-Mr. President, this isn't the end of the fight. We can rewrite it and reintroduce it. We can-” Ryan pleaded.

“No! The stupid loser Democrats want Obamacare? Fine! They can have it! Steve told me that it's going to explode anyway and, when it does, it'll be their fault! They're going to have to come to me for help and I'll make them all come down to Mar-A-Lago and eat the meatloaf! Get out of my office!” The Donald turned his back and stared angrily out of the window.

“Yes, Mr. President.” Ryan said. As he left the Oval Office, closing the door behind him, a tear rolled down his cheek.

“Sad.” He said to himself quietly as he wiped it away.

A war is coming, and soon - Version 2.0.

I've written about this before with the hope of being wrong. And I was. Unfortunately, I don't think I was wrong about the war, only the target, and I fear it's still coming. It's just looking like Trump will attack North Korea, instead.

Makes a lot of sense, really. 

Iran, my previously suspected target, is a Russian ally. My reasoning was that Putin doesn't give a fuck. I firmly believe that he'd feed us Iran if it made us happy so that he could concentrate on his own European aspirations as long as we made some deals regarding the distribution of oil. Since he has a puppet in the White House that wouldn't really be much of an issue. 

North Korea, however, is looking like a better target. I'm already seeing Trumpkins on twitter urging military action against North Korea for “bullying the US” and “building weapons of mass destruction”. Gee whiz, it all sounds so familiar.

Nevermind that Kim Jong Un isn't really a threat. Trump needs a boost to those approval ratings. The kind of boost that only military action can bring. A war turns nationalism into patriotism, paranoia into prudence, dissent into disloyalty. “You're either with us or against us!”, they'll cry.

People need to wake up to the danger that is Trump's administration. They are a desperate and flailing bunch that will do anything to succeed up to, and including, throwing the country under the bus. Our fate lies in the hands of folks like Mattis and McMaster - potential voices of reason within the administration that could steer Trump away from war. 

It's something to hope for in a time seemingly without hope.

All Due Respect

So. Yesterday someone punched Richard Spencer in the face.

Good.

People say that all violence is bad. That he has a right to speak his mind. That we should be more tolerant. To those people I say, simply; Bullshit.

There should be no tolerance for fascists. There is no protection under the constitution for a man that preaches ethnic cleansing and, make no mistake, that is what he preaches. He advocates for a white ethno-state. He wants America to be a safe space for people of white European decent. How do you make America white without removing the minorities? You can't. How do you remove American minorities without violence? You can't.

His platform is ethnic cleansing. Just because it comes from a dough faced young white man with an easy smile and a stupid haircut people are normalizing him. Not surprisingly, really. The American public has become woefully un/misinformed. They'll believe just about anything they hear as long as it comes from a friendly source. Even if that friendly source is a white nationalist that wants to make America whiter.

First come the immigration bans. Then the purging of immigrants. Then what? Who's next? Latinos? Blacks? Asians?

Pay attention.

I'm glad he got punched. He needed it. He likely hasn't been punched in his life. I hope that from this he learns that his words incite violence and that said violence may not always be beneficial to him.

He gets no respect from me.

Countering the anti-refugee hysteria

The refugee crisis is perhaps one of the most pressing issues that we are facing today. A situation caused by a lack of humanity that can only be solved by demonstrating the opposite. People feeling war should not be treated as though they are criminals. Indeed, even as we argue about "illegals" and The Great Orange teases mass deportations we, as humans, must acknowledge that undocumented immigrants are not criminals. Sure, they have criminals among their numbers. Some "bad hombres" to be sure. The majority, however, are just trying to not live in squalor. Is it criminal to want a better life for your children? 

But I digress. I want to talk about refugees. That tired, poor, huddled mass yearning to breathe free. These people are the weakest of us. The most vulnerable. Homes, families, and lives destroyed by war; They're searching for a place to live in peace. Any place. Anywhere but there. That's what they really are. They aren't roving bands of evil Muslims storming across Europe to genocide the white people. They aren't ISIS invaders attempting to blow up the Eiffel Tower or poison the Rhine. They don't want to climb the fences of Buckingham Palace and rape the queen. They just want to exist.

So, let's dispel some untruth about them, shall we? Let's destroy some lies. 

LIE.

"We have to be vigilant. We have to be strong. We have to see what's going on. There's a big problem in the world. You look what's happening with the migration in Europe. You look at Germany, it's crime-riddled right now."

- Donald J. Trump, President-Elect of the United States of America.


Between 2014 and 2015 the refugee population in Germany increased by 440% while the number of crimes committed by refugees increased by 79%. Germany's Federal Criminal Police Agency's (BKA) report on refugee related crime states that the "vast majority of asylum-seekers commit no offenses.".

"Over-represented [in committing crimes in refugee reception centres] are people with Kosovar, Serbian or Macedonian nationality. Under-represented are those with Syrian and Iraq nationality," the report notes.


"The current trend shows that refugees are just as unlikely to commit crimes as comparable groups among the current population. The majority of them don't commit crimes, they are seeking protection and peace in Germany." - Thomas de Maizière, Germany's Minister of the Interior.

LIE.

"The majority of them are young males. And they could easily be people who are being infiltrated by terrorists and recognize that once you bring them in, then you have got to bring other members of the family in." - Ben Carson.

This is absolute bullshit and can be disproved with basic google search skills. Unfortunately, it seems as though the people that listen to Ben Coonson don't know how to google. Not really much of a surprise.

Here's the actual data, though:

Of the 23,826 total applicants seeking to resettle in the U.S. — 15,937, or around 67 percent, are women (of all ages) and male children (age 0 to 11). Men (age 18 and older) accounted for 25.5 percent.

Maybe they're over represented in the total count of registered refugees?

NOPE.

As ALL DATA has frequently shown the majority of refugees are WOMEN AND CHILDREN. Even if you were to count all males 12 - 59 as young males they are still only 32.9% of the refugee population. So, this is an obvious and demonstrable LIE that is being repeated by Republican xenophobes to besmirch refugees and stoke fear. It's despicable that it's being done with such gusto.

LIE.

Again, the majority of asylum seekers are women and children. So that's a lie to start with. The Great Orange lies a great deal so no surprise there.

The vetting process is arduous. Refugees are vetted by gathering biographical information, interviewed, medically screened, checked by Homeland Security and the FBI, run through databases, and then approved. The approval rate is somewhere around 50%.

It kind of seems as though these are things the president should know. Alas, he in a buffoon.  

His buffoonery is on display in another tweet about refugees;

Another lie?! Surely not! Trump wouldn't know the truth of it hit him repeatedly about the head and shoulders with a Chilean Sea Bass while quoting facts about the things he loves. You know, money, Russia, teen pussy, hooker urine...

The fact is that this tweet is a knee jerk reaction to this story. 

"Members of two Syrian families had turned themselves in to U.S. authorities in Laredo, Texas, at the Mexican border, and were being processed by immigration officials, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security (DHS) said on Thursday.

Two men, two women and four children who "presented themselves" Tuesday at the port of entry were taken into custody by Border Patrol agents and then turned over for immigration processing, DHS said in a statement."

Not sneaking in. Not connected to ISIS. Not terrorists. They presented themselves in the correct way and were processed by immigration officials. 

Again, a fucking buffoon.

LIE.

In 2016 the US let in 12,486 Syrian refugees. Canada has accepted 32,400. Turkey is currently housing 2.7 million. Lebanon?  1.07 million. Jordan? 649,700.

Hardly "pouring into our great country.".

LIE.

"Muslim refugees are running around Europe raping all the white women." - Every xenophobic white supremacist moron on Twitter.

"According to the report, 32 percent of the 208,344 crimes linked to refugees involved asset or fraud offenses, while theft accounted for another 33 percent. The proportion of sexual offenses made up less than 1 percent of refugee-related crimes, with 1,688 cases of sexual assault, including 458 cases of rape or sexual coercion.

According to the latest available figures, there were nearly 47,000 sexual offenses in Germany in 2014."

The fear of brown people raping white women is nothing new in Europe. When French African soldiers occupied Germany after WWI there was the same baseless mass hysteria about rape. Racism doesn't change much.

A German woman has even tried to fight this hysteria by debunking false reports of refugee misconduct with a website called "Hoaxmap". The name is pretty self explanatory. It's a map that shows reports of crimes allegedly committed by refugees that have been refuted, complete with source. She does good work.

"So that extremists can't manipulate people with rumours and half-truths, we need to counter them with facts,“ - Thomas de Maizière, Germany's Minister of the Interior. 

Refugee is defined by Webster thusly:


one that flees; especially :  a person who flees to a foreign country or power to escape danger or persecution

They're just people that had to leave their homes to stay alive. They have already risked everything to get to where they are. We owe it to them as fellow humans to help them. Because we can.

The New Colossus

Not like the brazen giant of Greek fame,
With conquering limbs astride from land to land;
Here at our sea-washed, sunset gates shall stand
A mighty woman with a torch, whose flame
Is the imprisoned lightning, and her name
Mother of Exiles. From her beacon-hand
Glows world-wide welcome; her mild eyes command
The air-bridged harbor that twin cities frame.
"Keep, ancient lands, your storied pomp!" cries she
With silent lips. "Give me your tired, your poor,
Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free,
The wretched refuse of your teeming shore.
Send these, the homeless, tempest-tost to me,
I lift my lamp beside the golden door!" 

- Emma Lazarus                                                      

Edit - Here is a NYT article that details the entire vetting process.

The weird turn pro.

The Liar Reich

I'm tired of hearing white people complaining about losing. I'm sick of being told that the white man is the new oppressed minority. I definitely do not have the stomach for it when it comes out of the mouths of frauds like Richard Spencer. Please tell us more about the plight of the young white man growing up in the Preston Hollow area of Dallas, Texas. I'm sure it must have been tough living in a neighborhood that currently houses the likes of George W. Bush and Mark Cuban. I think Cuban is Jewish though so maybe that means Preston Hollow has more diversity now then when I last saw it.

I wish that the angry and poor white people supporting phonies like this would realize that they are being conned. He's using their hatred, their fear, their xenophobia, and, honestly, their gullibility to control them. They see him up there spouting off half-baked philosophies and flawed ideologies that they want, need, to believe and they fall in line. Even throwing him the Nazi salute.

Speaking of which, how the fuck can you claim to celebrate European heritage while throwing Nazi salutes and waving Nazi flags? I'm not sure that these guys could find Europe on a map let alone speak in any length about it's history or their connection to it. Trust me when I say that the majority of Europe neither claims nor wants to claim you. They've done that dance. They didn't like it. I'd also be very interested to see where these men trace their European roots to. Do they trace them at all or do they just say to themselves in earnest "I'm white. I must be European."? It should be a hard sell for people that think the ancient Egyptians were also white and that Jesus was an Aryan. Could you not be a relative of Tutankhamen? Maybe you're the last Scion. Hail Caesar and all that.

That these people are lying to themselves with the same gusto that their leaders spew untruths goes completely without saying but I'll say it anyway. Just because I have the time and the hotness in my belly. You know, the one you get when you need to shit urgently or possibly throw up? Then surprise! You're doing both. I'm doing both all over the Alt-Right as often as I can until they go away.

Their ideas are stupid. Their logic is flawed. Their leaders are frauds. Their knowledge of history is shoddy. Their haircuts are dumb, they have weak chins, and, I hear, their wives enjoy big giant throbbing black cocks. A group of flailing cucks, one and all. Pigs. Swine. Cowards.

Fuck everything they stand for and, if you stand with them, fuck you, too.

A message for the fascists.

I have a message for those that would threaten us.

For those that mean us harm.

For those that think us weak.

The President-Elect is a Pathological LIAR.

The first thing I saw Donald J. Trump say today was a lie. This has been par for the course these last 18 or so months. The only explanation I have for this is that he thinks we're all morons. He might be right.

This tweet, taking aim again at the "Lugenpresse", is a flat out LIE. Disprovable with a simple google search, like so.

How dishonest are they, Mr. Not My President-Elect? Not nearly as dishonest as you, to be sure.

It seems, though, that he nor his supports care for the truth any longer. It seems that the only truth is what more people hear. In Trumpland, a lie becomes the truth when it's heard by more people than the real fact. Just say it loud, proud, and often. People will believe it.

This is NOT MY PRESIDENT.

Pepe Earth - with David Attenborough.

The Twittersphere.

Host to all manner of creatures, the Twittersphere is a strange and wondrous place. Here can be had all sorts of experiences. From hearty laughs with friends to cordial chats with celebrities. It has toppled governments, shaped elections, and decided the winners of gameshows. For some, it is an information super highway linking them to the entire world at light speed so that they may gather knowledge for the good of all mankind. For other, lesser creatures, it is simply an outlet for their angst. A way to work through their personal issues without being personal. Anonymity, to these base lifeforms, is the only way that they can truly be themselves as, in the real world, larger and more powerful beings would surely crush them.

One such denizen of this world is "The Pepe".

Seeking out those it deems to be weaker, the Pepe will attack indiscriminately. Largely a pack animal, due to it's fragile nature, the Pepe charges headlong into a fray with reckless abandon. This generally works for the Pepe. 

Sometimes, however, the Pepe makes a grave mistake. 

This is one such time.

Welcome to Pepe Earth.

First, the Pepes are engaged.

Enraged by the challenge, the Pepes attempt to show physical dominance. It's perceived prey wastes no time in asserting it's own prowess. This causes the Pepe to signal other Pepes to help as he realizes, too late, that he is outmatched.

Then a rule of the internet is stated.

The Pepes then respond in typical fashion and the rule is restated.

His companion is sensing that he is fading and attempts, quite unsuccessfully, to strike.

I hope you have enjoyed this glimpse into the Twittersphere and this revealing look into that strange creature, the Pepe.

Please join us again, here, on Pepe Earth.

Social Insecurity.

I'm writing this post from a hospital room. No, not mine. Sorry to disappoint you Alt-Right fucks that keep sending me death threats. Here lies a relative. She's in ICU and thus oblivious to the changes that have befallen her world. As she struggles to overcome her injuries, sustained because no one checked the drug interactions before she was given her medicine, she's not worried about her social security. We are, to be sure. She, however, was dead for about ten minutes before they revived her and because of this she isn't quite aware of Trump's plans. Hopefully, her brain damage isn't too severe... or she might leave this hospital a Trump supporter herself.

I envy her slightly. Odd, I know. Why would I be envious of someone that is possibly suffering from anterograde amnesia? Well, if I told her right now that when she left this hospital she would probably not have her social security much longer she might be horrified. She might even cry, wail, and otherwise lament this new calamity that had assailed her. She would then fall asleep, wake up, and have no memory of that grave event. Though she falls asleep in Trumpland she does not wake up in it. That has to be some comfort. I'm sure some reading this can relate to the bliss of such an ignorance. Would you know it, though?

Of course, I'm being dramatic. I don't want tubes sticking out of my throat. I don't want nurses wiping my ass. I would be immensely upset with having to speak to my children in whispers from a hospital bed. The last thing I would want to hear is that when, indeed if, I managed to pull myself up out of my bed, rip the tubes from my trachea and the IV needles from my hands, and walk out of this hospital with my head high, I would then find myself without my sole source of income. Old, lost, sick, and forgotten. This is her reality now. What a slap in the face that this poor woman is fighting for her life and her health while the rug is being pulled from under her by some white men in suits who's only interest is lining their pockets.

But, hey, at least you get your wall, right?

Except you don't.

Even now, Trump is hedging on his promise of wall building. Newt, a man who fits his name more perfectly than if Mitch McConnell were actually called "Turtle", described it as a "campaign device" that Trump would not be putting much time into building or making the Mexicans pay for. The Mexicans who quite clearly stated they aren't paying for our fucking wall. And why would they? Did anyone actually stop to think about how we were going to get another country to pay for a wall that we wanted to build to keep them out? Or did everyone just jump on the "Trump train"?

Toot toot. All aboard the bullshit express. Next stop change.

What a bunch of suckers you all are

Look at your working class heros, LAUGHING AT YOU.

                                       

Change you can deceive with.

In the aftermath of this election I find myself in an unusual place. As a patriot, and a veteran of George Bush's war to "get the bad man who tried to hurt Daddy", I respect our democracy. I understand our social contract and the rule of law. I know that I am supposed to try and work with my fellow American in good faith so that we might come together under our new president. Still, I reject him. He's baffled and clueless. An outsider only in that he doesn't know how things work on the inside.

To say he's the "Anti-Establishment" candidate is to misunderstand what the establishment is. That is to say, a billionaire real estate developer who's father was a billionaire real estate developer who's father was a millionaire real estate developing pimp is not anti-establishment. In fact, these are the men that built the establishment and, believe it or not, the men that would see it continue.

The change you sought will not come from a Donald J. Trump. Not in the way you think it will. Sure, he hates Mexicans like you do. He might even dislike them niggers, too, but he's not going to run the country on this platform. That position is untenable in American politics.

Rest assured that if he did raise a large deportation force and run house to house rounding up all your brown skinned neighbors the streets would run red with blood. Blood from all types of people because, guess what folks, we all bleed the same color. You may think that the Negro's blood is black and that yours is red, white, and blue, but that is about as true as creationism. That is to say, not. Even if there were a God I fear that his brown skinned Jew son might have some choice words for the likes of the Alt-Right. I do not, however, attempt to speak for that man.

What will you do when your wall is not built? When the Hispanics are still here and the blacks have not fled your neighborhoods in fear of the hateful note you left on their windshield? What will you do when those that you torment on twitter have blocked you? When the evidence of Trump's fling with Paris Hilton, when she was a minor, hits the internet? Leaked, I'm sure, by the Russian friends who's favor he curried to win the election but who's favor he will lose when he fulfills none of his promises? Trump is, after all, a man that has built an empire on unfulfilled promises and unpaid loans. He is the ultimate salesman. He has no product but his name. Nothing upstairs but his obscene hair. Nothing in the bank but a box full of IOUs. Now that he owes you, what will you do?

I choose to not wait. I don't need to look into the box. I don't need to watch the sex tape. I don't need to ruffle the hair. I've bought my fair share of used cars. I can smell his brand of bullshit a mile away, even if it has a big, gold T on it. So I'll be sharpening my pitchfork and lighting my torch, dear friend. I will take to the streets and I will fight this madness to the bitter end. I will breathe the tear gas and I will face down the rubber bullets. Not for me, I no longer care about myself, but for the little girls and boys that he does not consider citizens. For the men that he considers criminals, drug dealers, and rapists. For the women that he demeans, the America that he believes he has fooled, and, most of all, for the constitution that he aims to wipe his fat orange ass with the moment he plants it at the Resolute desk. I aim to be as resolute as that desk. As steadfast as the English Oak from which it was carved.

I shall not yield to tyranny.