private property is sacred to capitalism because without the enclosure and monopolization of land there is nothing compelling people to become wage workers and thus capitalist relations of production cannot be consolidated

you actually can't

war criminals, pedophiles, and neonazis spent new year eve eating caviar, drinking champagne, and dancing at maralago. a few days later they bombed venezuela and kidnapped its elected leader so that they could continue living in opulence while the rest of us fight over scraps

if you still thought this was just about oil—they also bombed hugo chávez's mausoleum. this is not just a fight over resources, it's a fight over what force will define 21st century: capitalism or communism. the stakes couldn't be higher

as the bombs fall on caracas its now starkly clear that the monroe doctrine 2.0 is in full swing. the empire wants to replicate the countless atrocities it perpetrated in Latin America last century from allende to árbenz. we cannot let them

fascists have to appropriate and steal other people's art because there is no compelling fascist art because fascists have no soul

NEXT WEEK'S PATREON venezuela pt. 5: monroe doctrine 2.0 w/ josé luis granados ceja

for a society centered around individual car use it's remarkable that we don't teach people how to drive in school

capitalism: the only war where the side with vastly fewer combatants is winning because the other side doesn't actually know it's at war

we live in a country filled with people who have completely abandoned any investment or effort or hope in our society and every thing is going to get less and less functional and every day more and more difficult in the most annoying and painful ways possible

NEW PATREON EP robbie reads an essay by the poet and environmental activist gary snyder and reflects on a wide variety of issues from commodified housing to centralization to long covid and more

wow crazy how all the Epstein photos are of bill clinton and noam chomsky—looks like no right wingers or Republicans are implicated! how fortunate for them

it's wild how bad it must be if releasing these heavily redacted documents is actually a better move than revealing what's contained inside them

the interesting thing about watching the live streamed genocide in Palestine right now is that this is the exact settler-colonial process that occurred countless times over the last 250 years including in the US. the only difference this time is that cameras exist

republicans thoroughly dismantling obamacare is a perfect example of why reformism doesn't work—the ACA didn't go far enough and republicans are capitalizing on this. if dems had passed medicare for all it would have been untouchable—as is the case with other countries who have this system

NEXT WEEK'S PATREON: reconnecting to the land and to place (reading series)

congratulations, if you voted for trump you voted to contribute tens of billions of dollars for more forever wars and to simultaneously increase your healthcare premium by at least 50 percent

NEW EP @jeffschuhrke.bsky.social joins us to discuss the sad and sordid history of US organized labor's anticommunist crusade and its ties to the CIA, the state department, and the worst of the Cold War

"I'm following this account so that I can see their posts" Instagram: the hell you will

in its mission to eradicate the world of communism and any hope for a better world, the empire used wars, coups, sanctions, all manner of propaganda, and yes, its own trade unions—in fact, the AFL-CIO played such a major role in fighting communism it often led the effort

NEXT WEEK US labor & imperialism pt. 1: the war against communism w/ @jeffschuhrke.bsky.social

everything in your life is getting immeasurably worse so that two or three thousand of the worst people on the planet can throw a few more gold coins onto their pile

it's funny that some people think a neanderthal or medieval peasant would be amazed at a dorito or impressed with our technology when in reality if teleported into late capitalism they would probably kill themselves immediately

america has been declining for a while now but AI will mark its end. no coming back from what AI is doing to society

NEW PATREON EP stephanie weatherbee brito tells us all about mexico's new third party headed by claudia sheinbaum, the context they arose out of, the fight against neoliberalism, and mexico's fourth transformation

this is what we mean when we say dictatorship of the proletariat

morena is mexico's new 3rd party with the goals of overturning neoliberalism and reducing poverty. they have an 80 percent approval rating. meanwhile in the US we're told we have to vote for the democrats because third parties are spoilers

NEXT WEEK'S PATREON mexico pt. 2: morena and the fourth transformation w/ stephanie weatherbee brito

I fear that as a society we have lost the ability to write good endings to tv shows

NEW EP ecological economist andrew fanning shares the latest progress report on our global economic system through Doughnut 3.0—a model to balance human needs with planetary boundaries. how're we doing? spoiler alert: very, very badly

they should have rewritten the stranger things plot to be 10 years later to account for the actors' ages. transform the show into a friends/seinfeld for the 21st century. living together in an apt in nyc in their 20s, coming to age and dating. no more sci-fi. vecna is neuman

"Given the historic role its top leaders have played in one-sidedly bolstering Israel, the US labor movement has a special responsibility to stand with Palestinians in their struggle for liberation.” – Jeff Schuhrke

NEXT WEEK a world out of balance: introducing doughnut 3.0 w/ @andrewlfanning.bsky.social

new miniseries underway

NEW PATREON EP the terrific cecilia guerrero joins us for a fascinating journey through Mexican history through a materialist lens before giving us a sense of the forces behind the most recent aggression towards the country by the US

NEXT WEEK'S PATREON mexico pt. 1: a socialist introduction w/ cecilia guerrero

NEW EP josh poe and tara raghuveer join us to discuss why the rent is so damn high and why organizing tenants is a necessary piece of the solution

NEXT WEEK: from the frontlines: tenant organizing w/ josh poe and tara raghuveer

NEW PATREON EP we are joined by the one and only john smith to discuss his groundbreaking book and a lifetime of anti-imperialist struggle through thought and action

NEXT WEEK'S PATREON: imperialism in the twenty-first century w/ john smith

NEW EP yueren zhang joins us to take a deep dive into mao and the political philosophy of maoism, exploring key events in chinese history along the way and presenting a critique of china from a maoist perspective

NEXT WEEK china pt. 8: mao zedong and maoism w/ yueren zhang

NEW EP jesus rodriguez-espinoza and saheli chowdhury of @orinocotribune.bsky.social join us to discuss how we got here, why the US has its sights trained on venezuela, the latin american far right, the "war on drugs," and much more

NEXT WEEK'S PATREON venezuela pt. 4: the empire vs. venezuela w/ jesus rodriguez-espinoza and saheli chowdhury

NEW EP we're joined by @timparrique.bsky.social to discuss his new book on degrowth—an economic and political movement calling for an end to the delusional and deadly belief that there can be infinite growth on a finite planet

NEXT WEEK: slow down or die w/ @timparrique.bsky.social

NEW PATREON EP cira pascual marquina of el panal commune joins us for a wideranging conversation on sanctions as a tool of US hegemony and what the sanctions regime imposed on venezuela is all about

NEXT WEEK'S PATREON venezuela pt. 3: sanctions as economic warfare w/ cira pascual marquina

NEW EP Immanuel Ness joins us to discuss migration's imperialist roots. Far from being a net positive for the Global South, our system of migration under global capitalism contributes to underdevelopment, uneven and unequal exchange, and dependency of Global South countries.