Basics of Federal Contracting & Opinions on US Foreign Policy and America’s “Recruitment Problem” by Quinton Mitchell

I. (a). Introduction into the Military Complex

I. (b). America’s faltering foreign policy

I. (c). Corruption Examples

I. (d). America’s Military Recruitment Problem

II. How does fraud happen, without it really “happening”?

III. Boring, Boring, Boring

IV. Basics I.

V. Basics II.

VI. Basics III.

VII. Basics IV.

VIII. Basics V.

IX. Some applicable laws

I. (a). Introduction into the Military Complex

Today, as of 14 March 2023, President Biden suggested his upcoming military budget of $886 Billion dollars. As a veteran (no Rambo) who served myself, an Army brat (ex-military dependent), and having worked for a contractor I can assure you that nothing makes sense, while simultaneously making total sense at the same time regarding the budget. At this point, the US spends so much on the military not because the military is “pound per pound” more efficient as compared to other combatant nations (I only shot a gun once in basic training and not while on active duty), but rather it is mostly a vestige of the World War II Military Complex that was established under FDR, with roots dating back as early as the Lincoln and Grant during and after the Civil War.

It’s basically a Keynesian “demand side economics” jobs program paid for with a mix of taxes, but mostly debt, where the United States can’t escape the addiction because to escape the addiction means to end the Empire, because a contraction is more of a sign to other nations, and signs in a world of image is everything.

For example, have you ever been to Lima, Ohio? No? I haven’t. Exactly. But, guess what, the Lima Army Tank Plant is there. The military complex is everywhere. It’s not simply Lockheed Martin, Raytheon, General Dynamics, Boeing, Saab, Leonardo Spa, Textron, etc., but a web of medium size or small vendors ranging from janitorial services, food vendors, laundry services, mail services (Pitney Bowes), cafeteria vendors (US Foods, Sodexho, etc.), universities who perform testing services, even entertainment via MWR (Morale, Welfare, and Readiness) which is were Hollywood comes into play. Coca-Cola is a military contractor. That seemingly boring office park you see might be full of contractors doing everything for sensitive document disposal, to architectural designs, to urinalysis testing, etc.

It’s everywhere.

In other words, we can’t stop upping the annual military budget because so much of our domestic economy is dependent upon it, as well as our international foreign policy which entails selling our technical expertise to our allies, who in return give us access to their airspace, land, and ports, but also purchases (props up) our debts by buying Treasuries, not debating the petrodollar scheme, etc. We are stuck as the “world’s mercenaries” who provide the best “science fair” productions, i.e., weapon systems.

I. (b). America’s faltering foreign policy

The interesting thing is that the United States is giving up these weapon systems to nations who are playing their own “Games of Thrones” such as Saudi Arabia, i.e., the home of the 9/11 hijackers or Israel, where Israel I would argue has capture US foreign policy, such as preventing the United States from engaging in direct diplomacy, which would theoretically cut China off from Europe since Iran is a land land-bridge connecting China via Pakistan, especially now that the United States is not in Afghanistan, which is Catch 22, because if we staying in Afghanistan we would be spending just as much money/endangering American lives in a nation incapable of being “reformed”. Yet, by leaving Afghanistan, which I hate to admit, per the theory of Zbigniew Brzezinski in The Grand Chessboard the United States is essentially a sideline player, because per the theory of Brzezinski, whomever controls the Central Asian Steppes effectively cuts the world in half, thus “ruling the world”, i.e., the pivot point or bulkhead between West and East.

The irony is that Israel has its own ties with China, so even if the USA is bumped out of “important conversations” (as seen by a growing number of UN votes in China’s favor), the Israelis still can jump to their new “boyfriend” with the Chinese and Russia, etc. China will therefore simply replace the USA as the arbiter of peace negotiations with them financing the Muslim world but the Israelis wanting the lucrative Chinese market to sell their expertise (ironically, partially funded by US joint ventures in the Silicon Wadi for example).

Disclaimer: My opinions on Israel are not meant to be misconstrued as antisemitic because I want Israel to exist, but Netanyahu has been a bane to America’s existence. The Jews deserve to be back in the Holy Land, even though we can of course disagree on the current state of Israeli and Palestinian relations.

The United States toppled Saddam in Iraq, Gaddafi in Libya, nearly took out Assad in Syria, and even disable Iran’s alleged nuclear program with the Stuxtnet Program (where General James Cartwright mysteriously being given the “David Petraeus” Treatment, i.e., accused of sexual misconduct as a means of getting rid of him), but it is still not enough for Israel. At this point, why doesn’t the US have a military base in Israel if we are so needed to kill off Israel’s enemies, which is basically elements within each Muslim and even Christian nation on Earth – let’s be real.

I. (c). Corruption Examples

Yet, it is easy to say the federal government is corrupt regarding contracting such as with the Military Industrial Complex (trust me, I get the frustration). First, let’s define contracting as the process of dealing with contractors/vendors/merchants, i.e., the process of conducting acquisitions, buying, purchasing, etc.. But getting “no bid contracts” without following any rules is possible but harder than expected, luckily thanks to whistleblower protection laws. Basically, if you are stupid enough to defraud at the federal level you deserve what comes to you because it is scary to do contracting for the Federal government.  

See the cases of (1) The case of Darleen “The Dragon Lady” Darleen Druyun – Wikipedia, DRAGON LADY’S “MASSACRE” | Military.com (2) famous whistleblower Bunnatine “Bunny” Greenhouse” Bunny Greenhouse – Wikipedia; Watch Whistleblower Season 2 Episode 6: Bunny’s War/Opioid Lollipops – Full show on Paramount Plus, (3) See Navy Contracting Fraud Case https://www.nytimes.com/2013/11/09/us/bribery-case-implicates-2-admirals.html, etc.  

The stereotype of corrupt politicians meeting at fancy DC steakhouses where you can get cigars and high paid escorts. But, does this happen? I don’t know; however, I would argue that corrupt contracting/procurement/acquisition/buying practices happens at lower levels of government, e.g., cousin Jedediah with the city purchasing card giving an award for parks and recreation clean up to his niece’s fiancé, or the Brett Farve situation in Mississippi where he was tapping into welfare funds. It is much easier to get away with corrupt contracting practices at local municipal and city government levels because of lack of centralized oversight, which is the same reason America’s policing policies have so many issues, i.e., there’s a separation of federal and state, so local governments are largely shielded from oversight unless they break federal law, i.e., mail or wire fraud, tax evasion, violations of intersection commerce, etc.

However, the federal government has arrested my Contracting Officers for abusing their powers such as the process of getting Kickbacks. I would say that corruption at the federal level happens outside the actual procurement process most of the time but rather during the vendor selection process, particularly no major weapon system programs, i.e., your major international tradeshow and airshow levels.

I. (d). America’s Military Recruitment Problem

America is allegedly undergoing a military requirement problem and I call it baloney. I don’t believe it. The Pentagon which essentially is a hive mind that calculates manpower and strategy, created this supposed problem by doing aggressive “force reductions” even before our withdrawal from Afghanistan. When I served, they let people leave the military before their Military Service Obligations (MSO). The US military thinks an updated version of “Be All you Can be” from our Cold War childhoods will somehow solve this “problem”. Let prior service members join, as well as expand the Reserves and National Guard.

The military has bad recruitment practices. Why are we still asking recruits or pre-service re-entries about marijuana usage when most US states now have it legal, as well our Canadian allies to the north (including for active duty)?

The military literally still asks about something we all know most people do, but if you lie, you’re breaking the law, but if you tell the truth, you need waivers which go on your record. It’s foolish. The military is still asking about marijuana use, yet there is no way of screening for sexual predators based on a questionnaire, which is way worst, e.g., remember the Venessa Guillen case, which is just one case of violence against women that got major media coverage [See: Murder of Vanessa Guillén – Wikipedia].

Further, most jobs in the military I would argue don’t feel like “warriors”, but rather paper pushers or administrators dealing with NCOs and officers who have a culture of “let the sh-t roll downhill”.

I shot a gun once in 4 years, but ironically the military budget is going up. It makes no sense. How are we going to call Airmen, “Airmen”, for example, when most never even ride on a military aircraft (think a C-130 Hercules) such as for trainings to simulate deployments or even being a part of an airborne mission, e.g., doing translation work or Air Battle Manager work on an actual plane for training?

The Taliban and Vietcong did warfare without nearly as much spending as the Americans, and still gave us hell. Instead of saying we’re at a lack of manpower, we need to empower those already in, those in the reserves/National Guard, and even Inactive Ready Reservists to feel like…warriors. I would argue that small NATO nations have more lethal troops as a percentage than the US military does. US Special Forces is a very small community and aviator jobs flying expensive aircraft are reserved for the officer class, with some exceptions for Warrant Officers and enlisted positions. The United States Air Force doesn’t even have a Warrant Officer tier meaning that skilled NCOs are eventually relegated to administrative jobs as opposed to staying has seasoned experts.

The sad truth in my opinion is that people don’t do twenty years because of “patriotism” but because the military provides benefits. There are people getting pensions for 20 years who never saw combat, versus people who saw combat but got out, and their VA compensation may not be as lucrative.

It’s just simply easier to do “raises” rather than to do structural reform in the US military.

II. How does fraud happen, without it really “happening”?

But they get away with the actual procurement via the “evaluation process”, where you can’t buy quality always at the “Lowest Price, Technically Acceptable”, i.e., the lowest price as determined by a competitive acquisition where multiple vendors compete in a “sealed bid” type of process, and where the winning bid feels the criteria of a Statement of Work (SOW) or Statement of Objectives (SOO).

In other words, they know that the big players will always win. So, they are playing by the rules, but the rules of the game are rigged for the big guys, since they are often evaluation on criteria outside of price via “Best Value” Source Selection evaluation criteria such as Past Performance (they’ve done it before), Technical Expertise, the best and most advantageous Warranty, Financial health, etc. Yet, the government does require that contracts comply with Small Business Administration requirements thus ensuring that the “little guy” is looked out for, yet, on certain important requirements, these firms simply can’t compete.  

I would not say that federal government is corrupt per se, but rather it’s the equivalent of a Cohen Brother’s movie, i.e., a sort of Burn After Reading, Lost in Translation, Kafka-esque process, where the sheer size of the federal government with its various branches, departments, agencies, federal corporations, etc., are all speaking the same language but via different dialects. Sometimes you get corruption, sure, but mostly higher costs come from sloppy contracting or exhaustion from burdensome processes or cultures of fear within organizations where people are “afraid to raise their hands” for fear of being perceived an “inept” or making a small fire into a large fire.

III. Boring, Boring, Boring

Buying in the federal government is boring and burdensome, but this is a good thing because the slower you go the more likely you are to find errors or to have better bargaining power against suppliers who may want quick awards. Yet, buyers aren’t truly “empowered”. For example, let’s say you have a competition for a fleet of Jeeps for the Secret Service. You compete against five (5) dealerships, where some are registered small businesses, meaning you are sharing the love. You provide a Statement of Work with all the specifications you require, and you have also received questions from various dealerships. You then share these clarifications with all parties so no one has an advantage over the other. You eventually get the quotes back, you share them with the end users who sign off whether they meet the specifications or not, you disqualify some, but you land at the LPTA.

The thing is after you come to the LPTA, sure, you can still negotiate and ask for discounts, but you can’t make the suppliers fight against each other. For example, you go back to the second lowest LPTA and say, “Can you beat $x price”. The second may come back and say sure I can do that or, I can’t meet the price point, but I can give you a two-year warranty as opposed to a 6-month warranty as defined by your specification, and this is better than anything we give to civilian customers (you verify this is true). Or, let’s say the second LPTA comes back with a lower price. You can’t then say to both remaining competent vendors, “This is the last round. Can you beat $x price”, i.e., assuming $x price is the second LPTA. In theory both might go lower, or one might say, “Hey I can’t meet that price”, but at least the buyer would know that he left it all on the field for the benefit of the taxpayer.

You essentially can’t “haggle” like you can in the real world.

IV. Basics I.

The basis of federal contracting is the Federal Acquisition Regulation, but the certain agencies have their own specific supplements to the FAR, for example, you have the FAR, the DFARs (Defense Acquisition Regulation), the AFFARs (the Air Force Acquisition Regulations), etc. Further, if the government is awarding a federally funded taxpayer contract to contractor, who can thereon have its own various subcontractors, the government will require these businesses include “flow-downs”, i.e., certain selected FAR based clauses to be applied into their contracts, which are uniquely selected by the Contracting Officer.

The Contracting Officer (CO) may be one of the most powerful positions you have never heard of, but there’s offices full of them throughout the various agencies and departments. From NASA to the Department of Education, FEMA, the Treasury Department, etc., you have COs.

A CO will likely run their own contract, but in more complex acquisitions you may have a PCO, ACO, or TCO, i.e., a Procurement Contracting Officer, Administrating Contracting Officer, and Termination Contracting Officer.

A CO is granted their authority through delegation of the Executive, i.e., the President, like how a military office is granted their commission by the President. Of course, you never meet the president, but the theory is that all government workers are effectively extensions of the Executive who delegates explicit and implied authority to his workers in the various administrative agencies.

V. Basics II.

Prospective COs on behalf whichever Department they will be working for will takes courses as assigned by an Acquisition Career Manager (like a counselor) from accredited federal bodies such as the Federal Acquisitions Institute (FAI) which is for all federal agencies (except the DOD), which therefore technically falls under the General Services Administration (GSA), or the DAU (Defense Acquisition University) for DOD members, where the DAU trains COs to be in alignment  with agencies such as the DCMA (Defense Contract Management Agency) and DCAA (Defense Contracting Auditing Agency). [See: FAI Home | FAI.GOV; DAU Home]

After training, career development courses (CDCs), etc., a person will get their certification such as the FAC-C (Federal Acquisition Certification in Contracting) Level I-III series from the FAI or an APDP (Acquisition Professional Development Program) Level I-III from the DAU.

Once a person becomes a CO, they will be awarded a Warrant, i.e., a Delegation of Authority, which states up to what level of money they are authorized to spend by themselves. Newer buyers of course start low while more seasoned buyers may have multi-million dollar or unlimited warrants. For example, in active-duty military a Contracting Squadron commander might have a very high dollar warrant even though they don’t deal with contracting directly, but rather high-level government-civilian workers or enlisted personnel (the technical experts) do the actual contracting process. Essentially, the commander might serve as the final stamp and oversight, but not really involved in all the details, even though they are being briefed on “hot requirements” which have higher level visibility.

A warrant, i.e., delegation of authority is often issued via General Services Administration (GSA) Standard Form (SF) 1402, i.e., an SF 1402. (See example which is public information: https://www.gsa.gov/cdnstatic/sf%201402_2.pdf) Also see: 48 CFR § 853.201-1 – Contracting authority and responsibilities (SF 1402). | CFR | US Law | LII / Legal Information Institute (cornell.edu)

VI. Basics III.

All contracts entered by the federal government are input into the Federal Procurement Data System (FPDS) which also falls under General Services Administration (GSA) – think of GSA as the “Amazon of the Federal Government. [See: Federal Procurement Data System – Wikipedia]

VII. Basics IV.

So, when a buyer is buying something they to think about the Bona Fid Needs Rule which means that a federal procurement must be for an actual and immediate/foreseeable need, i.e., you can’t spend money necessarily on things because you feel a need, but rather there has to be an actual need; Misappropriation Act which requires that buyers use the correct “Color of Money” when buying something. Finance Departments help with this by coding “Lines of Accounting” with the proper pool of funds, fiscal year, location, etc.; the Anti-deficiency Act of 1982 which is asking “Do you actually have money”, and you can’t spend more than you are given.

Funding is also dependent upon the Federal government’s fiscal calendar which ends every 30th of September and begins every 1st of October. In theory, how it works, (I am assuming here) that by 15th April is when taxes are due, but between then and Oct 1st, I would assume that the Treasury sees how much “liquid cash” it can collect and how much debt it needs to underwrites, and for the debt it underwrites (Treasuries) then get sold at “auctions” with most purchased by the central bank to “insure” the “printing” of new money if necessary, then from there we have a fresh sources of cash comprised of a bundle of tax money and money printed (new debt), to be spent, i.e., recycled within the system – thus giving that currency “life” – to keep the next year going. When Treasuries mature, the Treasury then pays the Federal Reserve which helps the Fed Reserve clear the bonds off its balance sheet, if necessary, if the Fed Reserve hasn’t already sold them for profit elsewhere, i.e., such as to other central banks, mutual funds, etc.

The government is very strict about not crossing fiscal years because after each year expires, the appropriate funds are returned to Congress. Three questions of do you have funds?, and are you using the right bucket of money?, and is the need immediate? For multi-year contracts that span multiple fiscal years, contracts are designed to have “options” (think of it like a sports contract), e.g., Base Plus Three means you have a base year with three potential option years (where proposals are evaluated en masse prior to award), where Procurement Offices will either exercise or not exercise an upcoming year by notifying a supplier within an agreed upon time-frame. Once October 1st comes, the Contracting Officer will issue a modification to add the new years money, etc.

VIII. Basics V.

Once the buyer establishes these criteria, then it’s about how do you buy?  Technically an RFQ is different than a RFP, i.e., Request for Quote versus Request for Proposal, where an RFP will fall under FAR 15 for Source Selection (higher dollar PO’s – purchase orders, typically services, where there’s complex evaluation criteria, including the possibility of needing a Source Selection Board), whereas an RFQ will fall under FAR Part 13 for Simplified Acquisition Procedures, i.e., falling under the Simplified Acquisition Threshold (varies from year to year sometimes).

A construction-based Invitation for Bid (IFB) will fall under FAR Part 14 relating to the Sealed Bidding process. Further, FAR 8 relates to Mandatory Sources of Supply which establishes the order of precedence for which to by from, with the first source of supply technically being Agency Inventories, i.e., if the Army has extra desks, then technically the USAF should be getting those; however, no one really follows this and instead agencies go with other sources, such as General Services Administration, Federal Prison Industries (now called Unicor), Ability One (a successor to the National Institute for the Blind and Severely Handicapped, i.e., NIB NISH), and then General Service Administration schedules found on sites such as GSA e-Buy, GSA Advantage, etc.

Then if you can’t find your items or services via these services then you can go into the “marketplace” by position a notice, solicitation, or combination of both (FAR Part 13) via the Government Point of Entry (GPE), i.e., Federal Business Opportunities.

Oral quotes are often looked down upon, but simple acquisitions can include all solicitation details in an email, where as more complex acquisitions require forms such as SF 1442 (construction) or SF 1449s (commodities and services).

For suppliers to get access to federal bids they need to register for codes such as NAICS Codes (North American Industrial Classification Standards) which determines what type of industry they truly fall into, CAGE (Contractor and/or Commercial and Government Entity codes), Federal Supply Codes (FSC), PSC (Product Supply Codes), etc.

IX. Some applicable laws

  1. United States Code which is where most the “guts” of the FAR derives from [See: FAR | Acquisition.GOV and U.S. Code: Table Of Contents | U.S. Code | US Law | LII / Legal Information Institute (cornell.edu)]
  2. Office of Federal Procurement Policy Act
  3. Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act (called DAWIA) [See: Defense Acquisition Workforce Improvement Act – Wikipedia],
  4. Competition in Contracting Act [See: Competition in Contracting Act – Wikipedia],
  5. Truth in Negotiations Act which requires that a contractor certify the cost and pricing data in their proposal are accurate, complete, applicable, current, etc. [See: 10 USC Ch. 271: TRUTHFUL COST OR PRICING DATA (TRUTH IN NEGOTIATIONS) (house.gov)]
  6. Davis Bacon Act of 1931 which relates to federal construction contracts to ensure workers are being paid fair “prevailing” “at a minimum” wages [See: Davis–Bacon Act of 1931 – Wikipedia]
  7. The Miller Act of 1935 which requires contractors doing construction to government real property post surety bonds, i.e., bonds which allows a party to seek damages in the event of nonperformance, to insure they can finish projects (performance bonds) and pay workers and subcontractors (payment bonds), etc. [See: Miller Act – Wikipedia]
  8. The Barry Amendment of 1941 which requires certain sources be sourced (shopped for) from domestic sources only [See: Berry Amendment – Wikipedia]
  9. The Brooks Act of 1972 which requires that Architecture and Engineering services be based on quality, expertise, design, etc., and not price. A&E contracts come before construction which will then fall thereafter to Davis Bacon, Miller Act, etc. [See: Brooks Act – Wikipedia]
  10. Defense Priority Act of 1950 which essentially allows the President to direct domestic manufacturing to defense and national security. Under this Act, you have the DPAS, i.e., Defense Priority Allocation System which rates contracts (purchase orders, or equal) on priority, i.e., a certain rating might require the manufacturer to make and deliver items or complete services within a mandatory fixed amount of time. This DPA may be used in tandem with the Stafford Act relating to Emergency Preparedness [See: Defense Production Act of 1950 – Wikipedia, Defense Priorities & Allocations System Program (DPAS) (doc.gov), DPAS Training Slides Final_November 2021.pptx (live.com). Stafford Act, Stafford Disaster Relief and Emergency Assistance Act – Wikipedia]
  11. Anti-Kickback statute which prevents “pay for play” in contracting. [See: Anti-Kickback Statute – Wikipedia]
  12. False Claims Act, which prevents contractors from submitting false claims for damages against the Federal government, i.e., think Medicare Fraud by shady Florida doctors, etc. [See: False Claims Act – Wikipedia]

#military #budget #unitedstates #contracting #procurement

The Seven Factions in the Collective Consciousness relating to the Ukraine War by Quinton Mitchell.

Some organizations to support the Ukrainians are (1) The Ukrainian Congressional Committee of America, https://ucca.org/, but also (2) see the following link: How to help Ukraine: 15 verified charities working to help Ukrainians amid invasion (today.com) (Disclaimer: Do your own research and I am not funded by these organizations myself. I have no financial or fiduciary responsibility to these firms or any reader of this article).

I. Intro:

Support for or against the Ukraine War is diverse. It’s not a simple case of “Ukrainian Nazis” versus “Russian National Bolshevik…Nazis”. There are anti-war sides within both nations, with some Russians fleeing the United States to get away from the drafts, but there is also anti-war sentiment within nations that fall under each of the combatant nation’s hegemonic sphere of influence, i.e., you may have anti-war sentiment in the land-locked Steppe (-stan) nations more aligned – either willingly or out of fear – to Russia because they may be more vulnerable to inflationary pressure and high commodity prices such as on oil or grain, just as you have anti-war voices within the developed West such England or Canada. But, there’s also pro-war sides on both, yet these pro-war sides might be coming from hard ethno-nationalism, whereas others are coming from a general sense of national pride (patriotism for the idea of the state, not necessary fully dependent upon one’s blood or ancestry). Yet, there is also a mix of both, i.e., those who support fighting for whichever side yet wanting some sort of truce to come sooner than later. Then you have those who are indifferent to the conflict since it seems so far away.

In our world of social media from YouTube video essayists, to known actors or unknown actors on platforms like Twitter or Meta (Facebook), it is hard to get a clear picture. Technology and the general state of evolution in which we live is best defined en masse as the “postmodern epoch”, and this epoch is not political, but rather a landscape where it is hard distinguish real from fake, i.e., the Jean Baudrillard concept of the Simulacra and Simulation, i.e., when hyperreality produced from the state-subsidized capitalist, technological, and pop culture machine becomes indistinguishable from the physical world, where culture may or may not mutate into spliced anachronisms of style, symbols (semiotics), and iconography.

Yet, so as not to get too lost in discussions of postmodernity, many thinkers argued that postmodernity was dead and should stay dead, but as we’re seeing now, it is not dead, but rather we live in a world that physically allows us to experience it. This is not the 1960s through 1980s where most postmodernity was understood through literature, fiction, science fiction, and film, as a fun “thought experiment” or transgressive look into human nature, but we now have the actual tools they could only dream of, e.g., deep fakes, social media, avatars, the metaverse, Virtual Reality companions, cybercrime, “techno-terrorism” and espionage, etc. The worlds of William Gibson, Thomas Pynchon, Orson Scott Card, Don DeLillo, Bret Easton Ellis, Robert Heinlein, and Philip K. Dick, seem real, palpable., and the effects of this lingering postmodernity – which is not innately bad since it is essentially a tool or lens to analyze society if done with caution and for the right purposes, i.e., analyzing systems of oppression to establish humanist reform – is that it is affecting…warfare. The modern battlefield where tactics are executed, to the think tanks and closed door “FOUO” “Top Secret” meetings where strategy is formulated, the modern world must factor in topics like memetic warfare, co-opted YouTubers whose main “patrons” are foreign governments, etc.

Hence, everything is fuzzy. And, a little depressing. It is easy to just want to watch streaming apps, watch porn, get drunk, and go through the motions of work as we penny pinch our wallets to pay our bills. It is easy to see Ukraine as a waste of time, but Ukraine represents in part the sustainment of the American Way of Life, while also the freedom of Ukraine. Think of it like concept of the universe expanding. There needs to be some sort of expansion to maintain relevancy, because the worse option, i.e., contraction, is terrifying, i.e., it’s better to have never-ending expansion, than a violent Big Crunch (i.e., just think about the fall of the British Empire). Complaining about returning to the old days and how younger generations are “soft” aren’t productive, because they did not set this train of events in motion.

II. The Factions:

Regarding the Ukraine War based my personal observations the below camps exist:  

(1) The Dove “Down with the Man” Anti-NATO Left which encompasses figures such as Max Blumenthal, Andrew Mate, Jackson Hinkle, Katie Halper, Matt Taibbi [who is of Russian descent], Jimmy Dore – who often seems more comfortable with Tucker Carlson – similarly as Tulsi Gabbard, etc. This camp is often influenced by Noam Chomsky with Manufacturing Consent, Michael Parenti with To Kill a Nation, John Perkins with Confessions of an Economic Hitman, etc. Yet, as far as individuals there are a range of ideologies spanning from Marxist-Leninist Communists (i.e., called Tankies), other variants of Communists that may not entirely agree with Marxist ideology (think Rosa Luxemburg), Anarcho-Socialists – some may even say “Libertarian Socialists”, Democratic Socialists, Social Democrats, Centre-Left Liberals (i.e., traditional American Democrats or British Liberal Democrats), etc., with all claiming to some degree – at least in the USA to be “Progressive”.

Yet, conservatives on the right wing, indifferent to providing any nuance to the Left, often lumps everyone as “progressives” while insinuating all progressives are communists., and to be fair, the Left does this often to the right-wing labeling all people as “Fascists”, yet, I would argue that Right Wing politics typically is more “lockstep” cohesive, often because as far as the West it represents the “colonial and/or imperial class”, i.e., the right-leaning predominately white majority (e.g., the Republican Party as far as policy and aesthetics derives it mythology from American settlers, i.e., Manifest Destiny, White Zionism, “Home on the Range”, etc., while British conservatives are nostalgic for the British “Queen Jubilee” Imperium of Georgian, Victorian, Edwardian England). For example, the American “Redneck”, South African Boer, Australian “Bogan”, Canadian “prairie homesteader”, etc., are all essentially the same thing, i.e., the white racial buffer class to the white colonial elite.  

This Dovish Left side of the house has merit traditionally speaking, such as calling out the Bush Administration with the Global War on Terrorism, the Patriot Act, FISA Court warrants, and has supported freedom for Julian Assange (some say he’s a Russian asset), Chelsea Manning, and Edward Snowden – with Snowden having fled to Russia.

But there is also a “counterculture” aspect with intersections that can easily bleed into conspiracy theory, e.g., the “con-spiritualist” scene, i.e., green and healthy living mixed with Ancient Alien or Antediluvian theories, Gaia Theory, Wiccan or Heathen thought, and the anti-vaccine theories such as those Robert F. Kennedy Jr. (who instantly invokes conspiracies about the assassinations of his father and his uncle, JFK, which typically leads to theories about the mafia, CIA, Allen Dulles, etc.).

The utopian ideals of the “hippie Left” though honorable and good intentioned does not have a coherent foreign policy and often in its utopianism, often lacking constant effort and work by its adherents (protesting, yes, but with the boring, consistent, and dirty work such as volunteering, the results are iffy).

This dilemma often sets the Left up to be blamed for society’s ills, e.g., how Fox News is blaming homelessness caused by narcoterrorism from Mexican Cartels and Chinese Chemicals on anti-fascists who protested police during the BLM protests, or how conservatives blame crime rates on the Left despite police officers still collecting paychecks and pensions (and, with no actual federal level police reform bill passed).

“Peace, man…” or being a know-it-all on America’s follies is not a coherent foreign policy, considering many of the countries this Leftist side stands up for as they decry American Imperialism are often funding hostile activities towards Americans, and might have cultures that are not open to progressivism. This side of the house has a tendency to blanketly blame the CIA and USA for all the ills of the world (they are no saints), yet, the Left needs to understand that many friends and foes respect realpolitik, strength through force, etc.

This “far out” conspiracy culture, which is fun to engage in from time to time, seems to have been co-opted by America’s enemies, and merged with the right-wing to undermine America (a flanking strategy of left and right).

To finish up on the “Dove Left”, notably about the “Tankies” I spoke about above, they have this idea that Russia is still this romanticized worker’s republic of the Soviets. I would rather deal with the Soviets than Putin’s Right-Wing Russia where his neoliberal reforms have resulted in rampant corruption and wealth disparity.

Instagram for example has very interesting pages about life in the Soviet Union, brutalist architectural pages, pages dedicated to Soviet cosmonauts, etc. Yet, the Tankies are the byproduct of being disenchanted with the avarice of boom-and-bust cycle capitalism and billionaires like Elon Musk or Jeff Bezos, etc., with this mood having spilled over from the 2008 Financial Crash and the decade long recession thereafter.

Socialism is popular now, and I don’t mind that in theory at all, because it offers a good analysis about how our system works and how to improve it. Socialism is popular largely because the US educational system bent on creating capitalists didn’t fully explain the true and complex history of it, but rather demonized it fully. Conservatives for example use to call centrists Democrats, as being Communists, which is ridiculous, so, well, you get what you ask for.

Yet, regarding Ukraine, some Tankies side with Russia out of some foregone nostalgia, where most were not even alive when the USSR was around. I’m almost 40 years old (born an Army brat) and I barely remember the Cold War as it came to an end in the late 1980s. The problem with American Tankies is they are relying on a foreign source to define their ideology instead of looking internally to previous American Left Wing movements, i.e., it is OK to be a Communist if that is your persuasion but it is OK to also be patriotic because one would think that adhering to such a drastic ideology would hopefully be for…love on one’s county, and not merely the destruction it because its “imperialist”, and the CIA is “boogeyman, bad”.

I, as a black man have every reason to be angry at the US but America is in my blood and I’d rather define it and improve it rather than tear it down.

Even if one thinks that nation-states are bad, as if they are some sort of internationalist Trotskyite, then at least focus on your backyard before thinking about saving the world in full.

The next group with opinions about Ukraine is…

(2) The predominately white demographic, fear based Pro-Russia camp that is also anti-NATO, anti-CIA. This is a surprising shift because they use to be about both but now with their “racial replacement fear” they are against it because they see NATO as a reason for refugees, etc. These types of Right Wingers are a mix of conspiracy culture ranging from the Great Replacement, allegedly via plans such as Kalegri Plan to replace white Europeans by “flooding” the Northern hemisphere with people from the Southern Hemisphere – which is a theory embroiled in white privilege thinking considering the West and USA needed immigration to keep growing and immigrants do the jobs that the elevated the white “native populations” from poverty and since these “nativists” won’t downsize to lower wage job, for fear of losing the fancier things in life. But, now suddenly, they wish to reject those fancier things (allegedly), returning to some sort of “Indo-European, cough – Aryan” culture (German paganism, etc.) or medieval monarchism after spending decades gloating about their fancier things/superior civilization at the expense of other cultures. This is to say the least, hypocritical.

Sure, rampant or emergency based refugee crises or immigration isn’t ideal or comfortable, and certain cultures may have issues such as Sharia Islam in relation to Western secularism. However, instead of hate, there needs to be bridges. If one’s idea is better, supposedly, then sell that idea. I am a firm believer in the Melting Pot theory as opposed to multiculturalism.

Further, there is the Great Reset Theory which is from people interpreting thinkers like Alvin Toffler with his book The Third Wave, the book The Fourth Industrial Revolution by the World Economic Forum founder, etc., where people believe a the New World Order is using “shock doctrine” (the topic of a book by the same name by Naomi Klein)­, “manufactured austerity”, “merging genders”, “transhumanism”, and biological warfare – such as the Coronavirus 19 – to “terraform” the world into a one-world, integrated, genetically modified, and borderless system ruled by a powerful elite using digital currency, but by which all of it threatens white supremacy, i.e., very similar to old theories such as ZOG, i.e., Zionist Occupied Government, which is an outgrowth of the antisemitic Protocols of the Elders of Zion.

The one currency concept is ironic since most Pro-crypto thought comes from these Jeffersonian, libertarian, Ron Paul, I hate government types, but the truth is most crypto has already been mined by the rich or anti-American nation states.

The World Economic Forum, as well as Davos, have become the poster children of what people see as a sort of Eyes Wide Shut amoral class of technocrats who are undemocratically designing the world in their own liking. Is there truth here? Yes! But, to what degree is debatable and such a large cabal requires way too much coordination. The only such coordination can only be possible with Elon Musk types.

The criticisms of this camp, same as that of the No.1 with the Dove Left are not entirely unfounded because there are problems with the existing technocratic world order where the common man or woman better understands topics such as World Bank, Bank of International Settlements, or World Trade Organization corruption, International Monetary Fund predatory lending, regime change, and the fact the rich seem to get richer after each catastrophe, etc.

The sad truth is that there ARE actual conspiracies that people see but little seems to get done about it, and if so, the punishments are often lite. For example, think of the relationship of NXIVM via Sara Bronfman whose husband, Swiss based wheeler, and dealer, Basit Igtet lead peace talks in the wake of the Libyan Revolution that toppled Gaddafi. There’s no denying a link between the two people, even though the events themselves were separate.

If anything, both No. 1 and No. 2., are responding to a sense of helplessness in the face of a very real machine, and America’s shameful history, ranging from giving amnesty to Nazis in World War II to the truths behind real experiments such as MK Ultra has led many to go off the deep end, trapped in nihilistic malaise. Movements such as Qanon exploited this fact, manipulating No. 2’s animus that centers around white exceptionalism while also being conservative on the surface as means of preserving their pleasure seeking and hedonism that goes on behind closed doors. I am no Freudian, but his emphasis on sex as the root of all things seems to explain these Alt-Right minions, because their affinity for movements like the Men’s Right movement is the result of feeling sexually repressed or unlucky, especially with boys raised on Instagram and with free pornography, where studies have shown social media beauty standards has also had negative effects on young girls.

Yet, this Qanon movement seems to have been highly manufactured by an international cabal of American conservatives, Russians, and possibly even Israeli Zionists, who blended everything from Millennialism and eschatology, Manifest Destiny, Zionism, Cold War Anti-Communism, the 1980s Satanic Panic, Nietzsche & nihilism (the need for struggle, the concept of eternal recurrence, etc.), Soldier of Fortune “Timothy McVeigh” type militia culture, racism (every Right Wing group involved at Charlottesville), homophobia, transphobia, sexism, Western exceptionalism, antisemitism, paganism, esoteric and occult thought (i.e., memes as form of tarot or alchemical spell to influence people), Alex Jones (serving as one of many “circuit board operators” of this movement), American and British Puritanism, Catholic “Deus Vult” fascism (ranging from the talking points of figures such as Michael J. Matt, all the way to the Pepe The Frog cynicism of Alt-Right/Neo Nazi figures like Nick Fuentes and the Goyim Defense League), Eastern Orthodox Christianity (such as the musings of Jay Dyer who is an avowed monarchist that rejects democracy, but also Jonathan Pageau), conspiracy theory, “Reject Modernity, Embrace Tradition” callings, etc.

Qanon was essentially a “thought bomb” or informational warfare where some element might rub off on a person’s subconscious making them pay attention to the messaging. It appealed to older generations who didn’t have the best grasp of emergent technology, while also catering to younger naïve people who weren’t around for previous events to fully understand their contexts.

Most regular everyday people don’t see what the Right Wing is doing because they’ve fled off the traditional platforms and onto websites like Rockfin, Telegram, Gab, Rumble, etc.

For example, KKK leader David Duke had an apartment in Moscow and met with Russian Eurasianist theorist Aleksandr Dugin. Dugin later was a guest on InfoWars, same as Jay Dyer who with his wife Jamie Hanshaw were featured on 2.19.2023 (with Dyer contributing to InfoWars multiple times and he too interviewed Aleksandr Dugin. Jay Dyer was on Warski Live (a podcast) with Lauren Southern, who also interviewed Dugin in Russia, but later became a contributor to SkyNews Australia, under the Murdoch Media empire, which of course owns Fox News in the USA. Southern was also an associated of Proud Boy’s Founder and ex-Vice founder, Gavin McInnes, with both being Canadian (like other “Intellectual Dark Web” Figures such as Jordan B. Peterson and Stefan Molyneux). Neo Nazis have been known to go to Russia, as well as other Eastern European nations.

[1] (Jay Dyer on InfoWars, Video 1) Jay Dyer Exposes the Deep State’s Predictive Programming Propaganda Secrets (infowars.com), [2] (Jay Dyer on Infowars, Video 2) Emergency Broadcast: Alex Jones & Special Guests Lay Out Past, Present, & Future of the New World Order (infowars.com), [3] (IMDB on Dyer, Warski Live, and Lauren Southern); [4] “Warski Live” Lauren Southern & Weev Video (TV Episode 2018) – IMDb, [5] (Jay Dyer interviewing Aleksandr Dugin) https://youtu.be/HyHWa_6-t1M; [6] Lauren Southern interviews Aleksandr Dugin. Aleksandr Dugin on Millennials, Modernity and Religion – YouTube; [7] Vice Article on MMA culture of Russian Neo Nazis, Neo-Nazi Fight Clubs: How the Far-Right Uses MMA to Spread Hate (vice.com); [8] Rinaldo Nazzaro, founder of Russian headquartered hate group, The Base, The Prep-School Past of The Base Founder Rinaldo Nazzaro (nymag.com); [9] Australian Broadcasting Corporation on The Base hate group, The Base Tapes: Inside a neo-Nazi recruitment drive in Australia – ABC News; [10]

To move on…

(3) There is a new demographic that I would call the Pro-War or Realpolitik Left or Liberal, where the common person who falls on this side of the political spectrum supports military action against Russia because they see Russian as representing an anti-progressive and/or anti-democratic threat to the West and the freedoms it enjoys. This is why you often notice Pro-Ukraine Flags in liberal cities or college towns, etc. They see Russia has an anti-democratic dictatorship that oppresses marginalized groups and who meddled in US politics, going as far as empowering the United States own Right-Wing movements which has resulted in influencing domestic terrorism, notably white nationalist domestic terrorism.

For example, Fox News has always been criticized for its hyper-partisan and hyperbolic approach to reporting on the news cycle, but Fox News has also backed pro-Russian sentiments.

This seems hypocritical because pundits including Tucker Carlson himself supported the Middle East Wars but now suddenly becomes a pacifist regarding a “white” country that seems to enjoy oppressing women [wife beating is legal], etc.

The things about this Realpolitik Left or Liberal is that even before the Ukraine War, many were sympathetic to the refugees caused by NATO intervention in Syria and Libya, with some going as far as sponsoring refugees to live in their homes. So, this sides isn’t as “ideological” than that of current conservatives, but rather pragmatic., i.e., they saw the hundreds of thousands of Middle Eastern and African refugees as a consequence of not only despotic governments but also the West’s inability to engage in diplomacy with said governments, yet, there’s more sympathy for engaging in war with Russia because Russia is seen as an existential threat with a proven track record of hostility towards the West (e.g., poisoning journalists, our traditional Cold War nemesis where Putin can’t let the loss go, creating a parallel foreign policy to that of the USA so they can butt into American diplomatic missions as a means of recapturing their lost glory after the fall of the Berlin Wall).

Next, we have…

(4) The traditional Hawkish, Neoconservative Republican Camp, which due to be taken over by the populism of Donald Trump’s MAGA movement, which was in part a reaction to the Neoconservatism of the Bush-Cheney and Clinton Eras, have largely fallen in line with the Pro-Russia Camp. This is where Meaghan McCain, Liz Cheney, Lindsey Graham, Adam Kinzinger, etc., reside at., yet, Kinzinger resisted the January 6th Insurrectionists, same as Cheney, but by doing so, both Kingzinger and Cheney lost their Congressional seats, showing how deeply entrenched MAGA was and still is. Figures like Tucker Carlson threads the line between No. 4 and No. 2., but is slipping more No. 2 because of more vitriolic competition from agencies like OAN and Newsmax.

Then of course we have…

(5) Non-Far Right Ukrainians, and international expatriates living abroad in the US, Canada, etc., simply wanting national autonomy from Russia, who see their relatives being killed as a result of Russian aggression. Most Americans were unaware of the Ukrainian community but the Western “bread basket” provinces have a rich history.

I know a woman who is of Ukrainian descent and is a very nice person, a Democrat, a feminist who is raising two strong daughters who often perform traditional Ukrainian dances to raise funds for charity, etc., but I had to watch her social media as she showed her hometown being raised by Russian troops.

Also, we have…

(6) Far Right Nationalist Ukrainians wanting freedom from Russia, but these types feed into the Anti-NATO Far Right who point to the Azov Battalion, etc., as proof of rampant Nazism in Ukraine. Are there Nazis in Ukraine? Absolutely, but there are Nazis in the United States as we speak (some in our military), such as Atomwaffen which has attempted to blow up power plants, etc.

The irony of the Anti-NATO Right Wing is they are soft or dismissive of Nazis riding the coattails of the Republican Party, but then anti-Nazi because NATO is going after their beloved Vladmir Putin, i.e., daddy.

Yet, having nationalist sentiments isn’t always bad, but it’s bad when nationalism explicitly becomes an exclusionary and supremacist ideology. Being patriotic in a socially acceptable way is not bad. Yet, there is truth to the Ukrainian Nazi accusation but to what is extent is debatable. It is true that going back as far as World War II that the OSS, i.e., the later CIA, did recruit former Nazi collaborating Ukrainians as cadres, i.e., cells, to combat Communist forces in post war Europe. The CIA even admits this on its own website. However, Ukraine, like Finland with Carl Gustaf Mannerheim was in a precarious position in WWII. The Ukrainians nor the Fins didn’t want to be conquered by the Reds (Communists), so they sided with the Nazis (with the Allied Powers not giving much if any military assistance against the Nazis), but there were cases of Ukrainians murdering their Nazi officers, considering the Germans wanted to eventually make the Slavs into literal slaves. A complicated case of the “enemy of my enemy is my friend”. However, real war crimes were committed.

Cold War Allies: CIA’s Relations w Ukrainian Nationalists : Kevin C Ruffrer, Central Intelligence Agency : Free Download, Borrow, and Streaming : Internet Archive

Then, we cannot forget…

(7) Ukrainian based separatist Russians, with their international Russian ex-patriate comrades – many living in the United States, Canada, etc. – who seem themselves similar to “Germans”, where Germans during nationalistic eras of old acted like a “race” (ethnicity in reality) of people fighting for their civilization and felt they needed expansion (lebensraum) to preserve themselves, but this tendency in some modern day Russians – largely fostered by Putin himself – destabilizes now independent nations freed form the ex-Soviet Union, such as Eastern Ukraine, possibly the Baltic States, and as of March 2023 we are seeing “Pan Slavic””Z” protests in the Czech Republic and Moldova asking for the West to the stop the war. [1] An anti-government protest in Czech capital draws thousands | Stars and Stripes, [2] Moldova police arrest members of Russian-backed network over unrest plot | Moldova | The Guardian

Other reading:

https://mitchellrg.com/2020/03/01/dont-underestimate-russian-infiltration-because-of-the-muh-russia-russiagate-failure-the-dove-left-the-state-and-the-alt-right-are-complicit-in-undermining-russian-influence-in-the-west-and-u/

https://mitchellrg.com/2019/10/16/did-orson-scott-card-predict-trump-and-russia-similarities-between-aleksandr-dugins-eurasianism-ideology-orscon-scott-cards-second-warsaw-pact-in-enders-shadow-1997-and-shadow-of-the-hegemon/

Crypto has been cynical dynamite bent on destruction. Will crypto cause a recession? By Quinton Mitchell

It was tulips in Holland or Louisiana swamp land sold by the French Central Bank with the Mississippi Company in 17th and 18th centuries. Florida land speculators in the early 20th century. Housing mortgages in 2008. Technology firms in the 2000s. There’s always an asset class that gets too hot, crashes, and bleeds into other economic sectors even if only by hurting public/investor sentiment. Now it’s crypto. Sam Bankman Fried is no different than John Law who created the Mississippi Burst than collapsed the world’s first true central bank in France.

According to Vice’s Motherboard, a few banks in Silicon Valley are going under due to investing in Crypto.

Crypto ….. seems like it was designed to A) steal money and trickle it upwards via the black market serving as the” bearer bond” for shadowy figures ranging from terrorists, warlords, PMCs, cartels, James Bond like billionaires, human traffickers, and B) cause a manufactured recession so other inflationary prone sectors will be forced to blow up and deflate asset prices and wages thus making a bargain buy session for the rich and private equity firms plus removing any bargaining power workers got via CV19, the Great Resignation, etc.

But the Feds won’t bail out or insure crypto – rightfully so – because crypto is literally wanting to replace the greenback which would destabilize the US and our influence on the world stage. Why should the government bail out the anti-government, libertatian, Anarcho Capitalists? The types spewing every anti government conspiracy they can?

Crypto bros never advocated for their own private insurance pools (even if they had The General’s insurance with Shaq would’ve been better than nothing), no rating systems like a Moodys or Finch, so its always been risky.

Which makes sense as to why Russia and China had so many crypto farms but then suddenly cracked down on mining aka they flooded the market and immature US investors with the help of “Crypto Bros” (wannabe Jordan Belforts from Wolf of Wall Street) bought the assets but then the bubble exploded rippling thru Banks. Russia and China didnt want a bubble so they helped make a large one in the US. Or, they never bought crypto but told customers they did and ponzi schemed the money. No insurance, sinister intentions, lack of regulation. __________ Just a theory.

Anyways Silicon Valley Billionaires should provide capital and bail them out to extinguish the fire before it spreads and then privately restructure the debt to hopefully recoup losses, even if they still believe in crypto or not.

But how do you recoup something backed by worthless or volatile assets? The amount of liquid cash and sellable assets vs outstanding debts, accounts payable and/or worthless assets may be out if control. Hopefully they lent to something productive. Real estate is already pretty hot. Investing in Global or developing markets are cooling as the cost to borrow USD has risen due to interests rates — e.g., the petro dollar scheme requires transactions be done in USD and everyone needs oil for…about everything — plus general instability mounting (oil, war, but some positive signs like Saudi Arabia and Iran reopening talks — major oil players. Russia waring down in Ukraine).

Instead of buying Twitter, Elon (I’m no Elon bro) maybe should’ve invested in banks. Similar to how the Japanese Keiretsu and zaibatsu often had their own banking wings within their web of intricate firms. But this is risky and “owning” Twitter as it has value allows Musk to borrow against his holdings so he can be an annoying living off credit billionaire.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Keiretsu

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Zaibatsu

Is Gus Van Sant, Ok? Ken “Death” Mieskie’s, Gus Van Sant, the death of Mulugeta Seraw, punk rock, Portland, and LGBTQ intersections with Fascism by Quinton Mitchell

In memory of Mulugeta Seraw

I. Opening Thoughts

II. Gus, Ken Death, A Hate Crime, Portland, and Punk Rock

III. Gay Fascism. Horny for Nazis? And, Remembering Darby Crash of The Germs

IV. Early Punk and Fascism as Irony but later as Reality

V. Was Van Sant a little irresponsible about his relation to Ken Death? Did he know his view?

VI. What was happening in the Ken Death’s Portland of his youth and early adult years?

I. Opening Thoughts

Racism in the U.S. state of Oregon has been discussed ad nauseam. People can’t control the past, however, it doesn’t mean we can’t continue to learn from it and improve for its failings.

Overall, Oregon is a great state with great people, many who are accepting, which I know from my time in college having known many people form the state, yet, I would argue it is still a “Pass-over state” with not much economic opportunity outside the Portland area, meaning there is a lot of poverty and lack of diversity, and these can lead to racism.  

The state of Oregon I would argue has done a lot to face up to its “sea to shining sea”, Oregon Trail, Manifest Destiny past of being established as an all-white Anglo-Saxon Protestant utopian state. However, some say the gestures of self-reflection and combating racism may simply be performative gestures of “wokeness”. However, Oregon Public Broadcasting (OPB) has done excellent documentaries discussing racism in the state’s past while also showcasing the contributions of people of color such as Portland’s historic black neighborhood of Albina. During the George Floyd Protests in the Summer of 2020, Portland was one of the main cities with Antifascist activists protesting police and exposing that some of the police force had connections with right-wing groups such as the Proud Boys, Patriot Prayer, etc. (See article: ‘Disturbing’ texts between Oregon police and far-right group prompt investigation by Erik Ortiz, published February 15, 2019, by NBC News).

However, in the wake of MAGA America, and staring at the potential of a DeSantis Fascist state come 2024 or beyond, where DeSantis and his Florida Republicans have espoused anti-LGBTQ rhetoric with his “Don’t Say Gay Bill” and other fascist moves such as bills limiting the press, removing books discussing BIPOC history, banning political parties, and taking over college boards for being too “woke” (with woke simply meaning not conforming to conservative, white, and male heteronormative standards at this point), this “Aryan” ideal of having the Northwest be an “all-white” area is still a lingering cause to many white supremacists. With the news flaming fears, many people not from the Northwest are buying up land in pristine areas in the Northwest jeopardizing the environment, encroaching on wildlife, etc.  

Gavin McInnes, the annoying misogynist hipster founder of The Proud Boys – our modern day brownshirt thugs – talked about conservatives moving to Montana, which interestingly has a history of liberalism, progressivism, Democratic politics (e.g., John Tester), and a “to each their own” mentality in areas like Missoula and Bozeman. Yet, this might be changing as conservatives flood states like Montana, Oregon, Idaho, North and South Dakota, etc., because they see themselves as “refugees” from Democratic-ran cities that full of crime, minorities, communists, etc. Essentially, what every White Supremacist group wants, i.e., the Northwest Territorial Imperative (not to be confused with the progressive based Cascadia Movement).

Yet…the Pacific Northwest was home to many notable Right-Wing events, which I’ll get out the way. (1) William Luther Pierce, author of The Turner Diaries and The Hunter, which inspired terrorist Timothy McVeigh who killed 168 people with the Oklahoma City Bombing, and who inspired serial killer Joseph Paul Franklin who killed anywhere between 8 to 20 people, was a professor at Oregon State University and was inspired to support White Power as a response to the Civil Rights Movement – similar to how white racism is rising in response to the recent Black Lives Matter movement; (2) the White Power group, The Order, led by Robert Jay Mathews, died in a house fire caused by cops as he hid out on Whidbey Island in 1984; (3) In 2019, according to Chris Ingallis (2019) of King5 News, in Arlington, WA, north of Seattle, police seized weapons belonging to the Washington State Chapter of Attomwaffen, a group linked to multiple terrorist attack attempts in the United States including thwarted attacks on nuclear facilities; (4) The Aryan Brotherhood had a fortress in North Idaho near Lake Hayden; (5) Portland, Oregon was the birthplace of now defunct – allegedly -Volksfront; (6) In 2017, racist and convicted felon Jeremy Joseph Christian stabbed two men to death as they tried to defend a Muslim woman, etc.

A little-known fact about Oregon on top of its initial goal of being a WASP only state, according to Douglas Perry (2019) of Oregon Live, was that in 1936, before the US entered war with Germany, a Nazi warship cruised down the Willamette River, and Portlander’s cheered them on. Portland had a small German Bund or “social club” which passed out anti-Semitic flyers. Further, according to Silvie Adams (2019) of the Oregon Historical Society, stated that the German cruiser “Emden” chugged down the Willamette River with the Nazi naval flag, or ensign, at the stern. The ship moored in Portland at the foot of West Couch Street, just north of the Burnside Bridge (Adams, 2019). The photograph shows the flag at half-mast, likely honoring King George V of England, who died on January 20, 1936, the day the ship arrived in Portland (Adams, 2019).

We, or rather we should all know, that Oregon banned black people in its constitution, despite being an anti-slavery state loyal to the Union. The state also forcibly removed Native Americans from their ancestral lands and was also involved in “Yellow Peril” anti-Chinese sentiments of the mid to late 1800s. Further, we can add on anti-Japanese sentiments of the World War II era and anti-Mexican farmworker sentiments which is one of America’s more recent racist concepts (mid-twentieth century to present).

From personal experience, having lived all over the country, Oregon is sort of the boonies once you get outside Metro Portland, with little pockets of hippy areas like Eugene or Bend.

The many small towns dotting I-5 or elsewhere including the coastal areas remind you of towns stuck in the 1950s. They remind me of Castle Rock or Derry, Maine in Stephen King’s fictional universes. Rainy, dingy towns with Back to the Future-like Sunny Valley downtown areas, but with citizens straight from Raymond Carver’s alcoholic “kitchen soap opera” tragedies.   

Yet, the state is still very white, which is not a bad thing at all, it is what it is, but just a reality, and with that reality comes lingering issues such racism and racial violence, even if now pushed to the fringes of acceptable societal norms.

As a black man who has lived all over the country, including having Southern American roots, I can attest I’ve had more isolated racial incidents in the progressive Northwest than the “racist South”, mostly from mentally ill hobos or freely released junkies lurking near bus or train stations. Don’t get me started about the West Coast Hobo situation. It’s notorious.  

II. Gus, Ken Death, A Hate Crime, Portland, and Punk Rock

This paper however will go into details about famed director Gus Van Sant and his relationship with a Portland based Neo Nazi, Ken Murray Mieske, where with his accomplices, Kyle Brewster, and Steve Strasser – members of groups known as East Side White Pride and White Aryan Resistance (WAR) – murdered Ethiopian immigrant, Mulugeta Seraw on November 12, 1988, on Southeast 31st Avenue. Ken Mieske went under the alias, Ken Death, a punk rock persona in Portland’s punk and metal scene, which was known for hostility towards non-whites back in the 1980s. Mieske received life in prison, while Brewster served 13 years, and Strasser served about a decade behind bars.

It’s interesting to note that Kyle Brewster was later found at a Trump rally in Salem, Oregon and at Proud Boy events in Portland, Oregon, after his release from prison proving he wasn’t reformed, and should have received a longer sentence (or, at least a parole violation landing him back in jail). According to Oregon Live (2021) in its article, Kyle Brewster, convicted in notorious 1988 hate crime killing, seen at pro-Trump rallies in Salem, Portland, was stated has now living in Portland, Oregon. Per the same article, a 2012 essay by an unidentified man who claimed he had done time with Brewster in Oregon said Brewster helped radicalize him behind bars. The man stated that Brewster was a popular white prisoner and helped transform East Side White Pride from a racist street gang into a prison gang.

Further, David Holthouse (2017) of the Southern Poverty Law Center (SPLC), in his article titled: Rude & Crude, mentioned that Brewster was lurking around Portland gang, The Brood, at one of their flophouses in Southeast Portland.

Mieske died in 2011 of viral Hepatitis C.

Tom Metzger, the racist leader of WAR, previously based out of the rural areas north of San Diego (with SoCal having its own history of Neo Nazism), flooded 1980s Portland with racist material. Portland and the Willamette Valley during this era had one of the world’s largest Neo Nazi populations. Jim Redden of the Willamette Weekly in 1988 wrote articles analyzing the Neo Nazi scene of Oregon. Redden wrote, “The Faces of Death: Street kid, actor, musician, skinhead—who is the real Kenneth Murray Mieske?” on Dec. 1, 1988, which was published 18 days after Seraw’s murder. In the article, Van Sant mentioned that Mieske was a “great actor”, but also music promotor/venue owner associated with Monqui Presents production company, Chris Monlux, stated Mieske was a street kid later turned musician who introduced him to death metal. Jack Yost, a former peace studies coordinator at Portland State University, knew Miseke was a street kid who was a byproduct of Reaganomics, i.e., poverty, wealth disparity, etc.

Gus Vant Sant in 1988 directed a short film called Ken Death Gets out of Jail where Ken talks about his jail experiences. It is interesting to note that according to IMDB, the film is listed under “gay” and “gay interests”.

Portland based LGBTQ author, Mannie Murphy, wrote the graphic novel  I Never Promised You a Rose Garden where according to Google Books, “…brilliantly weaves 1990s alternative culture – from Kurt Cobain to William Burroughs to Keanu Reeves to the Red Hot Chili Peppers – with two centuries of the Pacific Northwest’s shameful history as a hotbed for white nationalism: from the Whitman massacre in 1847, to the Ku Klux Klan’s role in Portland’s city planning in the early 1900s; to the shameful treatment of black people displaced in the 1948 Vanport flood; and through the 2014 armed standoff with Cliven Bundy’s cattle ranch”.

Mieske allegedly was a “houseboy” for a “Mr. X”, where a houseboy is a sort of house servant serving and “servicing” a wealthier older gay male patron, which would make sense considering the gay hustler/houseboy culture was analyzed by Van Sant in his film My Own Private Idaho starring Keanu Reeves and the late, River Phoenix.

Did Gus Van Sant know about Mieske more than thought?

Its sems Gus was quick to distance himself…

If so, does Van Sant have a responsibility to use his art as a means of exploring Oregon’s racism to create a better world? Did he use a lost street kid being brainwashed by Neo Nazism, instead of intervening and turning him on a better path?  

III. Gay Fascism. Horny for Nazis? And, Remembering Darby Crash of The Germs

Sometimes in contemporary politics because of concepts like intersectionality we seem to assume that various groups, such as people of color or the LGBTQ+ community are always allies. The truth is you have lots of homophobia in minority groups just as you have racism and white supremacy in gay or queer culture.

Simply because both are different from white male patriarchal heteronormativity (well, per as the theory of intersectionality goes or is understood in popular culture, I guess…), doesn’t mean they are allies necessarily. For example, Morrisey of The Smiths has been known to spout nativist rhetoric (which sucks because The Smiths are pretty dope, so, eh, separate the music from the artist?), Dave Rubin in the USA has shilled for the Republican Party as they actively try to de-legitimize his very existence, Michael Caignet (a French Neo Nazi convicted of pedophilia – I hate even typing that word…), Milo Yunniopolis (who argued for pedophilia – supposedly, he’s not “not gay”), Nicky Crane, Ernst Röhm (Chief of Staff of Hitler’s S.A.), Michael Kuhnen, Herbert Hoover (allegedly), Cecil Rhodes (allegedly), Richard Nixon (allegedly with Bebe Reboso), were all gay men who fought for white supremacy, almost as if they…lusted and pined for a preservation of what they consider a romanticized version of the Western “Greco Roman” male ranging from the “nymph nubile” form to that of the hyper-masculine (i.e., leather daddy).

I learned about a few of men above from an odd site called Conservapedia where in some of the articles the authors are trying to defend the compatibility of homosexuality with Nazism. Interesting… Weird…

Homosexual intersection with explicit fascism aside, legendary punk artists, Darby Crash, previously named Bobby Pyn, real name John Paul Beahm (born, September 26, 1958 – died, December 7, 1980), played and explored fascism, likely not as a real-world political ideology he wanted to come into a political reality, but rather as a social study though music, i.e., a punk rock headman as a type of cult leader. Darby Crash was interested in Hitler same as he was into Charles Manson, likely not because of he liked them necessarily, but he was curious about the dark side of human nature and what humans can do.

The Germs ran with this concept often wearing their iconic black sleeve armband with a blue circle, where the blue circle represented being loyal to the band, and to be loyal to the band one had to get a “germ burn”, i.e., have a cigarette put out on their wrist.   

IV. Early Punk and Fascism as Irony but later as Reality

Punk, especially early punk, often played with Nazi imagery to show hypocrisy of the societies they lived in, mostly in the 1970s which were racked by austerity, de-industrialization, messed up war veterans, poverty, the fall out of the hippie movement, etc. Many kids of the early punk movement had parents who fought in World War II, so a way to scare parents was to wear poorly scribed Swastikas. Many punk youths saw themselves as rebelling against their hippie and/or way more conservative older WWII parents, so instead of peace and love, they adopted a postmodern cynicism with watered-down Nietzschean philosophy.

Some got the irony or joke of fascism (for example, Siouxsie Sioux wore a Swastika before but she learned her lesson being assaulted for doing so, yet, later went to perform songs like Israel in the actual state of Israel), while others used fascism to stare into the face of evil or ponder an amoral or at worst an indifferent universe (e.g., Joy Division’s first release features a Hitler Youth and a Joy Division was Holocaust brothel notable in post WWII “stalag” fiction, e.g., think Ilsa the She Wolf of the SS released in 1975). Others such as the later Oi punk of the late 1970s, referred to as boneheads by original non-racist Skinheads, took the fascist imagery seriously and became full Nazis associated with the UK National Front, and this type of punk was re-imported back into the USA by the 1980s, notably in areas like Orange County, which had a notable Skinhead population (i.e., Huntington Beach in John Birch Society Orange County). White street kids who found themselves in serious hot water, i.e., LA County Jail, or worst, the California State Prison System, teamed up in the racially segregated system of the prison system. The already racist culture of prison mixed with the once faux racism of certain punk scenes, and punk in many ways became a recruitment tool for white supremacist gangs. Angry kids from the suburbs found themselves in actual Nazi gangs, having to “put in work” to gain protection. Released inmates indoctrinated by racism and/or scarred by the violence of prison life, would return to the blue-collar white areas, and spread their messages, especially as crack cocaine in the early 80s, sold by lost and impoverished black or Hispanic youth exacerbated racial tension, white flight, etc.

For Darby Crash, a sensitive kid, playing with fascism was a persona rather than his real self, even though his persona got the best of him, as he later died of a heroin overdose, with this death largely overshadowed by the death of John Lennon. Darby Crash and his band The Germs, which featured Pat Smear (real name Georg Ruthenberg, who is a Jewish and black American), are noted as inventing or rather being pioneers of “hardcore punk” or at least West Coast Hardcore Punk (the title of East Coast could be given to the Bad Brains) which was different than the high-brow yet fashionable London scene of Vivian Westwood and Malcolm McLaren, but also different that the “too cool for school style” of The Ramones from the Tri-state area.

Hardcore Punk of the West Coast, in part pioneered by producers like Geza X, was sloppy, playful, ironic, kooky, but with an underlying mania and aggression, while East Coast Hardcore Punk was more political and one could even say more multicultural (for example, the D.C. punk scene), even though the Dead Kennedys from San Francisco – a bastion of left-wing ideology – inserted political awareness into West Coast punk.

West Coast was violent and jittery, kooky but serious, playing with anachronistic fashion often coopting greaser or Mystery Science Theater aesthetics, but it was also faster which is a notable West Coast influence on music in general going back as far as Surf Rock of the 1950s with its emphasis on “whipping out” such as in the sounds of Dick Dale with his song Misirlou, Jungle Fever, OohWhee Marie, etc.

This is all notable because this hardcore punk scene likely traveled up the interstate of Portland and Seattle, which had an already pre-existing garage rock culture dating back to the 1950s such with bands The Sonics from Tacoma and The Kingsmen from Portland.

Mieske’s stage name of Ken Death is like the naming convention style of Darby Crash.

What’s the difference between the two? Darby pulled off being an actual musician with a professionally produced record, whereas Ken Death…was a street kid who didn’t amount to much. His violent actions in Portland were likely stemmed from a sense of failure, on top of a closeted homosexuality, and his racism filled the void between who he really was (gay) while also what he couldn’t be (successful).

It is now largely accepted that Darby Crash was gay or bisexual (in the biopic film, What We Do Is Secret, Crash called his sexuality “relative”). Darby being featured in The Downfall of Western Civilization, with a girlfriend was largely believed to have been staged to his keep his sexuality hidden. It is also possible, just a theory, that Darby’s suicidal tendencies in his later life could been in part depression related to being closeted gay or bisexual young man in a hyper-masculine scene. Crash was inspired before his punk days by Davie Bowie, where Bowie is iconic for his gender bending persona’s notably Ziggy Stardust.

Ominously songs like Five Years and Rock ‘n’ Roll Suicide by Bowie seems to emulate the timeline of Darby’s pre-planned “romanticized” suicide, where he died in the hands of a female friend, Casey, or Kasey Cola. 

In one of Crash’s last performances at the Starwood in 1980, which he allegedly did just to buy enough heroin to kill himself, it can be heard in the crowd via footage of him being bullied about possibly being gay and Pat Smear seems to get into a physical altercation with hecklers.

This last section of Crash simply sheds light that many gay youths were likely attracted to the punk rock scene of its early years. A sort of “leather daddy” scene for young angry youths, but the scene overall emulated a hetero-normative patriarchal sensibility of aggression, violence, etc. Some were gay, but they were still men and the scene may have offered them outlet to mediate between both positions.

Ken Death may have been in a similar situation to Darby Crash, with Death maybe even ripping off Crash, but instead of suicide, he chose white supremacy and murder.

V. Was Van Sant a little irresponsible about his relation to Ken Death? Did he know his view?

Van Sant in his youth attended the Caitlin Gabel School in Portland but later returned and this city became the basis for many of his films from Drugstore Cowboy, My Own Private Idaho, and Elephant. Van Sant was also close to controversial director Larry Clark who is famous for his film Kids which was criticized for its visceral depictions of adolescents having sex, even though it brought needed attention to underage sex and health risks.

Van Sant like Clark, and a later Harmony Korine, are gonzo, auteur, experimental directors with an emphasis on exploring the idiosyncratic fringes of society, which is very similar to author Hunter S. Thompson, a Louisville native, which is where Van Sant was born.

It’s important to note that Washington native, Chuck Palahniuk, LGBTQ author, who wrote Fight Club, lived in Portland was inspired to write Fight Club based on a prank club he was associated with. In Palahniuk’s book of memoirs, Stanger Than Fiction (2004), he talks about how he worked in hospice care taking care of men dying of sexual related illnesses in Portland, but also, he discussed loosely the concept of white privilege, describing whiteness as being “wallpaper”, i.e., the ability to be innocuous.

Portland was and is just a “weird place”. It’s not uncommon to see “Keep Portland” weird stickers in the area.

Yet, is it possible that Van Sant was more “intimate” with Mieske than known.

It would have been embarrassing for his burgeoning film director career to have been associated with a Neo Nazi, especially in a sexual sense, and it would have been embarrassing for Mieske (Ken Death) who posing as a tough male archetype in the punk, metal, and white power scene. If anything, maybe Mieske’s previous life as a gay hustler street kid on the dangerous streets of Portland, confronted with a faltering music career, on top of pre-existing racism, led him to overcompensate for his tough guy role and he did the unthinkable…murder an innocent man.

There’s nothing much known publicly about Ken Mieske’s life in his childhood, but maybe he suffered abuse, possibly even sexual abuse, however, I am not saying that to insinuate that being gay is a result of abuse, i.e., I believe people are born that way.

VI. What was happening in the Ken Death’s Portland of his youth and early adult years?

The goal is to paint a scene.

The Portland Blazers won the NBA Championship in 1977 which must have united the city which has a history of racism yet having a small albeit iconic black community in Northeast Portland in the historic Albina neighborhood which is now gentrified. Yet, in 1985 you had the police choking death of Lloyd “Tony” Stevenson, a security guard who was trying to stop a crime but was killed by police anyways.

Ken Mieskie, if he went to high school and simply wasn’t a street kid his whole life, may have gone to Madison or Grant H.S. in the Eastern part of the city, and I speculate this only because Mieskie was a member of Eastside White Pride. He was born in 1966 meaning if he finished high school and on time, he would have graduated around 1984 at 18.

The Eastside of Portland seems to have a more diverse population hence racial tension. Also, by the mid to late 1980s, Portland was hit by crack, and the crack trade brought gangs from California. As you saw more Crypts, white people likely started siding with white power gangs. Also, we can’t forget about the Pacific Northwest’ history of…serial killers, such as the I-5 Killer, Randall Woodfield, who attended Portland State University and was caught in 1981. Portland’s infamy by the 1990s caught the eye of TV producers and the show, COPS, had many of its earliest episodes there.

Some links:

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0345513/

https://www.findagrave.com/memorial/225950000/kenneth-murray-miezke

https://books.google.com/books/about/I_Never_Promised_You_a_Rose_Garden.html?id=Sw3rDwAAQBAJ&source=kp_book_description

https://www.wweek.com/news/2018/10/31/wws-reporting-on-how-hate-spread-across-portland-in-1988/

https://www.reuters.com/article/us-usa-muslims-portland/two-men-stabbed-to-death-on-oregon-train-trying-to-stop-anti-muslim-rant-idUSKBN18N080

Isla She Wolf of the SS, an example of Naziploitation, released in 1975, https://vimeo.com/288879341

https://www.oregonlive.com/news/g66l-2019/01/b6719f05397922/nazis-marched-through-portland-and-the-city-threw-them-a-party-ohs-on-1936-nazi-port-of-call.html

https://www.ohs.org/blog/the-first-time-nazis-marched-in-portland.cfm

I don’t think we can trust Richard Spencer for a while. On No Jumper, Richard Spencer, Destiny, Rock n Roll isn’t Dead, Race, etc. by Quinton Mitchell

I. Introduction

II. Race this, race that, whatever.

III. Rock is not dead. Please stop saying that

I. Introduction

To help make a better world, some organizations to donate to are Southern Poverty Law Center (https://www.splcenter.org/), Western States Center (https://www.westernstatescenter.org/), etc.

Richard Spencer was a guest on the No Jumper Podcast, hosted by Adam22, i.e., Adam Grandmaison, but this episode co-starred Destiny, born Steve Kenneth Bonnell II. The episode, segment, what have you, featured a cordial discussion between Spencer and Destiny (Bonnell) with Adam22 essentially “officiating” but he was fairly hands off. I am not here to hate on Adam22 or Destiny. Adam22 can run his show however he wants, but I think a little harder “psychoanalysis” of Richard Spencer would have been good, because Adam22 often does that with other non-political musician guests.

While Destiny to me comes off as a cultural relativist, left leaning liberal, i.e., he’s essentially a hipster capitalist, the thing about Richard Spencer is he is a Nazi, or supposedly a now “reformed” Nazi.

I am surprised that Adam22 who often has pornstars on his show (not hating) didn’t ask if Spencer had sex with Tia Tequila (who descended into Nazism herself as the I hate to say it, token Asian female sex object who always seem to get a pass from Nazis, Incels, etc.).  

Sure, I believe in forgiveness and if he can be reformed considering he led many into the Alt-Right “Third Position” political pipeline, then this could be a net positive to society since many might start breaking out of regressive, racist, misogynist, and down-right hateful rhetoric. Yet, I do not think that we should let Spencer out of the “jail of public opinion” until he does way more than write blog posts or go on podcasting tours. It will take decades to undo the damage he has done.

I just don’t know how to trust the guy. Is he an informant now? Should be helping to dox his wealthy patrons or those in positions of power who supported his racist beliefs? Is he just putting on a mask, tying to get back into the mainstream?

For example, Christian Piccioloni was a hardcore Nazi but later rejected his ways and without much thanks has hosted seminars to help de-radicalize Neo Nazis. He is the founder of the Free Radicals Project, a global network working to prevent extremism, which sadly as I look up in 2023 may be closed. His books include White American Youth: My Descent into America’s Most Violent Hate Movement–and How I Got Out and Breaking Hate: Confronting the New Culture of Extremism.

Regardless, I am still very suspect about Richard Spencer. Sure, he said somethings I feel are promising and rational such as his criticism of libertarian types who think we can sustain our American Way of life while also being isolationist. I also thought it was great he gave President Biden kudos considering Biden is trying to repair America’s broken image from the Trump Era. Leadership isn’t always about “strongmen” but it’s about networking, calling in favors, doing favors, diplomacy, giving hook ups to your friends, grooming each other’s egos, etc.

Yet…this is the same guy who was singing Dixie Will Rise Again and “Russia is our Friend” before the Tiki Torch March at Charlottesville, VA.

He was married to a woman, Nina Kouprianova, of Georgian descent but who lived in the former Soviet Union, and she had ties to infamous theorists, Aleksandr Dugin, who in his Fourth Political Theory, criticized the West and had outright called for the destruction of the West. It could be argued that Russia’s psychological warfare campaign was inspired by Dugin’s mix of fascism with postmodernism. His goal, or rather the Kremlin’s goal was to promote every toxic idea within the USA with inexpensive online strategies such as bot accounts so we would destroy ourselves from within. Now in 2023 as Russia fumbles its war with Ukraine its easy to see why Russia stooped to such cheap, toxic, albeit effective online warfare methods, i.e., the Russian military has been overhyped. The military of Venezuela but with nuclear weapons, which it won’t use, because every other power will use its weapons on them. Ukraine is now in a war over Putin’s ego. A scary dude.

Dugin was an associate of a Russian Nazi, oh, sorry, a National Bolshevik (Nazbol), Eduard Limonov, who interestingly has ties to Matt Taibbi, currently famous in 2023 for his links to Elon Musk and the faltering “Twitter File” expose which was getting assistance from the anti-Leftist Pro-Zionist journalist Bari Weiss – even though the relationship between Taibbi and Limonov could be simply seen as a reporter having interviewed a subject. Note that Taibbi did do good journalism about the death of Eric Garner at the hands of New York police, so he has done good work, but it seems Taibbi has fallen into this larger loose MAGA network that still lingers in the background. Taibbi’s descent into this “MAGA” adjacent network, i.e., the “anti-woke, Pro Trump” camp is because him being from Russia was fearful of war, yet, instead of pointing fingers at Putin, Taibbi along with people like Jimmy Dore and people at the Grey Zone such as Andrew Maté constantly pointed the finger at the USA and NATO.

Anyways, Spencer was accused of domestic abuse, but I don’t feel comfortable commenting on this, yet, his wife did launch a Go Fund Me account to get away from him [See Article Link: Richard Spencer’s Wife Launches GoFundMe Page to Leave ‘Abusive Marriage’ by David Richardson (2019) of The Observer. https://observer.com/2019/01/richard-spencer-wife-nina-kouprianova-divorce-gofundme/]

If he is truly trying to reform, then sure the possibility of losing his family would be hard for anyone, yet, if he isn’t reformed, then I could care less (or, it could be a case where Nina still has problematic views and Richard is trying to change, but I have no clue). Sure, people can change, yet, it’s hard for me to believe that a grown man with beliefs like Spencer’s somehow changed in less than 5 years from the when Trump first won the Presidency.

I suspect he just is tired of being blacklisted and wants back into the mainstream. Either he was iffy about his beliefs all along or he’s not being entirely honest now, or maybe an act of God happened and set him straight. It’s hard to tell without him being grilled properly.

I wouldn’t be surprised if Bill Maher has him on soon.

You can watch the podcast yourself to help No Jumper (subscribe), but if I had to summarize Spencer’s remedy for the perceived ills of society, his newly found political views seem to now be a Jordan B. Peterson, Joseph C. Campbell, and Carl Jung type with a need for mythology and universal – some might even say subconscious – archetypes as a mode of giving people purpose such as utilizing the “heroic archetype”, i.e., the naïve hero who has to find his or her power, face strife, but then meet and beat his or her nemesis.

However, Adam22 when asking Spencer what the “enemy” should be, Spencer breaks character and laughs and says “Islam”.

But Spencer isn’t wrong in saying we need a higher calling. But, why can’t it be transcending this version of capitalism? Or, transitioning to green energy? Or, spending more money on healthcare, free time, etc.? Why does it have to be a football game of cultures? This clash of civilization notion? I get that in certain ways Islam, at least extreme versions, is not very compatible with Western liberalism, not because Islam is evil but rather the West might not be its “thing”, and I would argue that religion, as opposed to any other identity factor (race, sex, etc.) is more dangerous because it’s an idea that often seeks to eradicate other ideas, but this goes for Christianity as well. It seems we need a truce and boundary drawn.  

In other words, Spencer is advocating for dialectics, which simply put, based on my understanding, is when opposites, i.e., a thesis and antithesis are in eternal struggle, and sometimes they merge to create a synthesis, but then later that synthesis splits off an starts the cycles all over and in perpetuity (eternal recurrence). In order words to “evolve” there needs to be tension, yet, the issue with this is that tension is or may be manufactured, meaning what we think is a threat is only so because we taught to believe that. And, since someone or some force may be constructing an “enemy” this sheds light that history for example is essentially the construction of those with power, hence the main goal is power, yet power like popularity does not necessarily mean “truth” in the objective sense of the word.

Spencer admitted to being a Nietzschean or a former one in the talk. What that term of Nietzschean has become to be known as in popular culture, even though Nietzsche was much more complex than the guy who said, “God is Dead”, means without objective “grand narrative” truths, where subjective truths war with each other trying to assert their will, i.e., their will to power over others.

In a Nietzschean world, the world is often depicted in media – particularly in science fiction such as cyberpunk, e.g., Neuromancer by William Gibson – as a society dictated by corporations where culture is recycled, post-truths are prominent, and there is hard to distinguish real from fake, i.e., the notion of simulation and simulacrum (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Simulacra_and_Simulation). Regardless, I am suspicious still of Richard Spencer.

He’s shifted the outwardly blatant racism of the Alt Right which was highly inspired by postmodernism, chaos, memetic warfare, and disorder, but now wants a…nicer, more inclusive manufactured narrative that still has a lust for tension and conflict.

He sounds like Ozymandias from Watchmen by Alan Moore trying to mastermind some alien invasion to unite us all. Commendable in theory, but Ozymandias also killed…a lot of people to achieve that…

Destiny in the discussion also seems to have pointed out Spencer’s “need for enemy”.

II. Race this, race that, whatever.

On another note, there was a lot of discussion about race, and of course it was in part channeling, I hate to say it, but, this white boy fear of not having a voice or thinking they are unfairly held to a double standard such as how black people can say Black Power, but white people can’t say White Power. Destiny said what I would have said as a black person. Even though I don’t go around saying Black Power or that I’m proud to be black, I get why black people say it because…we don’t know where we come from. I was raised more on Robin Hood and stories of Knights more than anything stories of ancestral Africa.

White supremacy ironically made us “black”. We were not calling ourselves black until we were told by a white supremacist system with no regard for tribal or ethnic differences that we are “black”. White people have an easier way of finding their national and/or ethnic identity. It was essentially impossible for African Americans to do so for nearly 400 years. That is a long time with no connection to your roots.

For example, I find it funny that, we can celebrate the Irish driven Saint Patrick’s Day or the Mexican driven Cinco De Mayo or the German driven Oktoberfest with fun, beer, food, and joy, but the moment February hits in the United States people use Black History Month as a way of trying to accuse black people of “reverse racism”. That is really telling, however, as a slight rebuttal, there are elements of black rhetoric that are toxic, polarizing, self-segregationist, and downright stupid.  

III. Rock is not dead. Please stop saying that

Anyways, some other topics they talked about was music.

Hate to say it but they all sounded like Boomers. Hell, I probably sound like one.

It is easy to think that music now is bad, but maybe we are all just old. My almost 40 years old brain is like carved wood compared to a teenager which is like a wet sponge. They feel things differently whereas old cats like me now might just be…numb. It is easy for older people to judge same way how my parent’s generation could never wrap their head around most of the MTV generation.

And, I am getting tired of this notion that “Rock is Dead”.

You know who cries about “rock being dead”. Lames like conservative, trans-obsessed yet transphobe Matt Walsh. I am sorry this isn’t 1997 with the band Semisonic releasing Closing Time.

I grew up listening to rock music more than rap music (I shock white people all the time) because I had conservative black parents, so sneaking rock albums, something they had no clue about was a way I listened to popular music. My parents did not like the sexism and violence especially on young black men. I don’t think rock died but rather it blew itself up, atomizing itself into a hyper-masculine, vagina drying, angry metal music with no groove, no style, no organic sense of cool. Sorry, Machine Gun Kelly supposedly representing rock’s “come back” is corny…. Though, Meaghan Fox is bad rock video vixen but not with MGK.

Rock went off the deep end, but now it is back in a calmer and more personal place. Why does rock need to “take over the world again”? The world is better without Motley Crue or Kiss to be honest (they could be a little…corny), or rather they are better appreciated as past forms of music in nostalgic eras.  

When people complain about “rock being dead”, what they are really saying without saying it is…they want music where…white men are key and central, particularly since white people in rap are often made to feel like “culture vultures” by gatekeepers on the hip hop side of the house. We live in a world where Gucci Mane when he was fat and gross was considered a…sex symbol. We have kids with face tattoos with guns. Corporate America exploits people.

I get it. I think it is unfair that certain black personalities shame white rappers, when white people help drive music sales and in many ways were always a part of the culture, going back to the break dancing, rap battle days. Were white people predominating in this scene? No, because it was largely black or Hispanic, but you can’t say that early rap didn’t have white fans or those trying to move the genre forward, especially behind the production board. Without those white allies, many rappers never would have made it into a studio.

Yet, back to my point, I think there’s yearning for a “great white hope” to lift up the “sad boy” white guy because he has been beat up by “mean angry blue haired feminists” “black people”, etc. But I find this interesting because even in this “emo” state, people still feel sorry for white people. I would argue that nothing really has changed, besides the fact that the white male isn’t the default center of attention anymore, yet, he is still there and relevant.

By the way I am not hating on white people or white dude at all, yet, it is almost fashionable to feel sorry now for white men and even as BLM was popping off years ago, I knew we would land here, i.e., a woe as men for the white guy mentality so that aesthetic, whatever it is truly is, could reassert cultural dominance from the ashes of our sympathy and the inevitable “fuck ups” of the Far Left (the shaming whitey talking points of “woke” angry Communists, indifferent if they’re helping to grow the Far Right with their unforgiving rhetoric).

Regardless, I don’t think rock is dead at all, and if anything, it went back to its roots and away from the commercialization that has taken over rap, yet, rap even though it is essentially an extension of promoting neoliberal capitalism, is also…not that bad. It’s still a fun genre that makes you feel cool, however, I can only handle it in doses because I realize that art should be treated as fantasy, yet, rap is bent on maintaining “realism” even if it means its brightest stars getting murdered.

#rocknroll #race #culturalstudies #nojumperpodcast #podcast

Node 1 – When Roman Polanski, Three to Four Serial Killers, Hippies, Neo Nazis and a Hollywood Detective Walk Into a Bar by Quinton Mitchell

Node 1: >>>>>0>>>>>Rodney Alcala, known as the Dating Game Killer, allegedly responsible for up to 130 murders, while on the run from California regarding an assault of a minor, Tali Shapiro, that occurred on September 25, 1968, was studying at NYU Film School under Roman Polanski while using an alias.  Alcala was in NY and NH between 1968 to 1971 but came back in 1977.  >>>>>1a>>>>> While in NYC under aliases John Burgur and John Berger, Alcala worked at Blue Cross Blue Shield alongside another serial killer Richard “Richie” Cottingham, the Time Square Killer (and, Torso Killer), who was a computer programmer but both claim they had no idea of the others true identity. Cottingham was subject to the 2021 documentary Crime Scene: The Times Square Killer.  >>>>>1b>>>>>> Alcala also worked at a New Hampshire summer camp. However, in June 1971, Cornelia Michel Crilley, a 23-year-old TWA flight attendant, was murdered by Alcala but he wasn’t blamed for it until 2011. In 1971 after being on the run he was arrested with detectives not knowing of his Crilley murder, but he was released in 1974, assaulted another girl, re-arrested, paroled again the 1976, but in 1977 his parole officer let him go back to New York despite being a flight risk. It was in 1977, a very rough time for NYC, that cold case detectives believe Alcala killed Ellen Jane Hover, 23-year-old daughter of Herman Hover, the owner of the popular Hollywood nightclub Ciro’s (later became the Comedy Store), and goddaughter of Dean Martin and Sammy Davis Jr. New York police detectives found the name “John Burgh” scrawled on Hover’s desk calendar in the box for July 15, 1977. The Summer of 1977 was also when serial killer David Berkowitz, Summer of Sam Killer, or Berkowitz as a member of the cult, The Children, were active attacking dark haired women. In essence, you had 3 serial killers (maybe more) stalking the streets of New York City in the 1970s 

>>>>> 2 >>>>> Earlier after the Shapiro attack in Hollywood, Detective Steve Hodel of the LAPD Hollywood Division convinced the FBI to put Alcala on the Most Wanted List. These wanted posters were put in US Postal Offices and two girls from the camp Alcala worked in New Hampshire at spotted his photo while getting mail 

>>>>> 3a >>>>> Earlier in the late 1960s, Roman Polanski’s wife Sharon Tate was murdered on August 9, 1969 by the Manson Family and this event is said to have killed the 1960s Free Love Era. Manson earlier in San Francisco while on probation was given LSD and other drugs under the MK Ultra Program in Haight Ashbury. He was transferred to the supervision of criminology doctoral researcher and federal probation officer Roger Smith. Until the spring of 1968, Smith worked at the Haight Ashbury Free Medical Clinic (HAFMC), which Manson and his family frequented throughout their stay in the Haight. Roger Smith, as well as the HAFMC’s founder David E. Smith, received funding from the National Institutes of Health, and reportedly the CIA to study the effects of drugs like LSD and methamphetamine on the counterculture movement in Haight–Ashbury. Manson created an ideology the blended Robert Heinlein’s Stranger in a Strange Land, Scientology of L. Ron Hubbard, the Bible, Dale Carnegie, The Beatles. Manson, a racist, wanted to start a race war. Interesting note that in 1961 while awaiting transfer to McNeil Island, Manson was in LA County Jail and actor Danny Trejo stated he and others were hypnotized by Manson in a drug rehab session >>>>>3b >>>>> Two of Manson’s “family members” Sandra “Sandy” Good and Lynette Fromme, while in jail communicated with James Nolan Mason, originally of Chillicothe, Ohio (where Charles Manson coincidentally spent time in a youth jail around 1954), currently of Denver, Colorado, is the advisor to Atomwaffen, a violent Turner Diaries inspired Neo Nazi group that has attacked power stations, planned attacks on nuclear facilities, has ties to other groups like Patriot Front and The Base via the former website Iron March, planned assassinations on BLM organizers, produced abuse pornography with sites such as Facial Abuse and Ghetto Gaggers where white men degrade women of all races (choking, gagging, vomiting in dog bowls, slapping, verbal abuse, etc.), and arms trafficking. James Nolan Mason was inspired by the Manson Family’s ability to use TV as a terrorist tool to spread fear and chaos, similar to the ethos of the Process Church >>>>>4a>>>>>> Rewind, allegedly, Manson met Polanski at party via the co-founder of the Process Church of Final Judgement, Robert DeGrimston. Allegedly according to a Netflix documentary about Summer of Sam Killer, The Process Church of the Final Judgement, a dark apocalyptic variant of Scientology, influenced the New York based cult called The Children. The Children may have been responsible the Summer of Sam murders and not just Berkowitz. However, even if Manson knew Polanski, it is accepted by many that The Family killed Sharon Tate and her house guests on accident because they were searching for a record producer, Terry Melcher, son of Doris Day, who had rented out the house to Tate and whom had previously stood up Manson.

>>>>>5>>>>> Years after the Tate murder and after coming into contact with Rodney Alcala, by the late 1970s Roman Polanski fled the USA for France for having s-x with a minor. Anjelica Huston was questioned about the night the assault happened >>>>>6>>>>> Roman Polanski had directed the film Chinatown featuring Anjelica Huston’s dad, John Huston. John Huston played Noah Cross, a corrupt politician and gangster who runs LAs water system who has an incestuous relationship with his daughter whom he is trying to track down >>>>>7>>>>> In real life, John Huston was friends with George Hodel, the leading candidate in the Black Dahlia Murder. Hodel was head of the county’s Social Hygiene Bureau and had powerful ties in affluent LA. He was enamored with the darker side of Surrealism and the decadence surrounding that art scene, befriending photographer Man Ray, film director John Huston and their associates. With Man Ray and some other Surrealists, he shared an interest in sadomasochism. The way Elizabeth Shorts body was mutilated was similar to Man Ray’s piece, the Minotaur. Hodel was also a person of interests in the Chicago Lipstick Murders because he was in Chicago visiting a Man Ray art exhibit. >>>>>8>>>> Similar to Noah Cross in Chinatown, Hodel was put on public trial for having incestuous relations with his daughter Tamar Hodel. Later Hodel went moved to Territorial Hawaii and the Philippines but spent time in San Francisco too. >>>>>9>>>>> George Hodel’s son is Steve Hodel who helped track Rodney Alcala. 

Conclusions? I am an not investigator. I don’t want to spread conspiracy, but…. what does all this mean? I think it means (1) The 60s and 70s was obsessed with “self help” ideologies which morphed into cults and when you mix this with unregulated drug usage it is like having a mass social experiment. It could be argued our modern understanding of mental health drugs comes from the MK Ultra Era. No “true” Manchurian candidate was created, however, many messed up people with pre-existing underlying conditions – ranging from standard depression to sociopathy/psychopathy, were released on the public which was more trusting back in those days, (2) criminals were attracted to the counter culture scene in order to control others or to commit crimes anonymously, i.e., it was a feeding ground for killers before DNA, inexpensive recording cameras, etc., (3) serial killers love hearing about their crimes so committing them in popular media markets like LA or NYC would give them an easy way of boosting their egos knowing they were playing a “cat and mouse” game with law enforcement, (4) Roman Polanski was a popular man in a hip scene with the Jet Set crowd of bi-coastal elites and artists, so he attracted bad elements into his periphery ranging from parties, drugs, sex, etc., but that comes with pimps (cult leaders), drug dealers (links to emerging biker culture for example, which has overlap with Neo Nazism that was emerging in the late 60s as a response to Civil Rights in the US Prison system), posers, clout chasers, etc. Alcala for example, was likely attracted to Polanski so he could fluff his resume for potential clients (victims). Being seen around Polanski in a hipster scene would likely attract young urban women interested in interesting things. Alcala working at the Blue Cross Blue Shield with Richard Cottingham is a crazy coincidence, but Cottingham was in the computer department, while Alcala was in the mail department I believe. The chance of a serial killer outing himself to another would be too risky especially if caught and either could potentially strike a deal with authorities for a lesser sentence, less than the death penalty.

All this proves is there was too much going on the 60s and 70s, all converging at intersections.

https://www.ocregister.com/2010/07/18/did-serial-murderer-alcala-kill-her-too/

City of Angels, City of Death (TV Documentary) 2021. Features Steve Hodel talking about how he put Rodney Alcala on the FBI Most Wanted List. https://www.imdb.com/title/tt16113748/

Danny Trejo recalls Charles Manson hypnotizing them jail by Nicki Gostin of Page Six, 2021. Source: https://pagesix.com/2021/07/07/danny-trejo-recalls-charles-manson-hypnotizing-him-in-jail/

The White Abolitionists who helped found Historically Black Colleges and Universities by Quinton Mitchell

It is important to remember, for the sake of unity, that a fair share of white people helped Black Americans get our freedom.

Wilberforce University, Bennett College, Clark Atlanta University, Fisk University, Xavier University of Louisiana, LeMoyne Owen College, Rust College, Shaw University, Alcorn State etc are all named after white benefactors and abolitionists

And it wasn’t about being a “white savior” who infantilizes black people but white allies in the cause of human liberation and progress

We today don’t admit that it was dangerous for white people to help black people especially with white supremacy terrorists in the Reconstruction South.

John Brown was hanged for example for trying to start a slave revolt at Harper’s Ferry. Many Kansas Jayhawkers (abolitionists) died fighting Missouri Pro slavery factions. White women might have faced physical violence for disobeying white male oriented patriarchy.

Let’s not forget the thousands of lives lost in the Civil War where many units were from abolitionists hotbed in Maine, Ohio, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania etc.

Even though the United States has kept perpetuating racism in various ways after the Civil War, we in modern times when analyzing the past should also look for stories of unity and positivity.

I have noticed in modern political discourse on both sides of the political spectrum a growing sense of segregation, with the left-wing pushing a de-colonial, Critical Theory (perpetual criticism), and a self-determinist framework, whereas the right-wing also plays the “identity politics” game but with a majority white, reactionary, and coded language mindset.

With each new generation we forget our past of unity or fleeting moments of unity.

It seems right wing racists, foreign intel agencies, the “woke” liberals, the media, political parties farming votes, capitalists monetizing race, etc., can’t help but divide things.

Regardless, here is the list

Ideas to help the USA by Quinton Mitchell. From a Loving Day, Participatory Budgeting, a Space Force Academy, Popping the Tuition Bubble, and Operation Gerbil?

About me: Everyday guy. US Air Force veteran (honorable discharge). AmeriCorps alumus. BA in Business, Associates in Applied Science in Contracts Management, and Master of Science in Management with Operations Management focus. I’m black American, but supposedly with some Muskogee Creek heritage (allegedly) but my last name is Scottish (crazy story). I was raised a US Army military brat having lived in Florida, Kansas, Germany, Washington State, and Georgia. My grandads fought in World War II and Korea. I’m a pro-military, patriotic, Progessive who enjoys Left Wing thought but I’m more of a 3rd way thinker, i.e., I see capitalism as a tool rather than something to worship. My socialist sympathies actually comes from being raised in the military. I used to be in the Young Democrats but grew up in Ronald Reagan suburbia (interesting upbringing). I was raised all over from truck driving, gun owning Georgians to Seattle or Olympia Hippies to Washington DC civil servants. I was born “poor” or “lower middle class” but my parents worked hard to make it upper middle class.

Cheers.

Read the full list since there’s no order to it.

Be a little weird and think outside the box.

Participatory Budgeting where citizens vote on what percentage they want their taxes going, everyone’s submissions are averaged out, but then legislators do the same thing. Both are averaged and used as a baseline for Budgeting.

Merge the census with tax returns to cut costs if not by law then by executive order

Review federal acquisition procedures to ensure procurement practices are optimal

Better publicize what the federal government does in fun commercials such as what’s going on in science, agriculture, historic preservation, national parks, environmental efforts like the restoring animals on the Endagered Species List, Army Corps of Engineers, NOAA (National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration)

Instill a spirit of customer service amongst public (civil) servants so the general public improves their perception of government

The possibility of using Enterprise Resource Planning system tools like SAP in government agencies to better coordinate finance (as to comply with rules such as the bona fide need rule, Misappropriation Act, colors-of-money), procurement offices, auditors, senior leadership, etc. One government, one language as far as ERP, SaaS (Software as a Service), Asset Management Tools, freight carrier guides with 3PLs (third party logistics).

Establish a Loving Day based on the Loving Supreme Court case to celebrate multiracial families where celebrities of biracial or multiracial heritage talk about their lives such as Derek Jeter, Pete Wentz, Patrick Mahomes, Mariah Carey, Halle Barry, Blake Griffin, Zach LaVine, The Rock, Meghan Markle, Cameron Champ, etc. See article: https://andscape.com/features/black-pga-golfer-cameron-champ-is-going-places-his-grandfather-wasnt-allowed

More inclusion of white men into progressive politics such as showing abolitionists history, discrimination against Italians and Irish etc. See my past article: https://mitchellrg.com/2021/07/14/helping-save-white-men-from-radicalization-progressive-notes/

Law limiting the amount of homes that foreigners can buy to ensure domestic buyers, especially first time homeowners can buy homes

Repeal the Faircloth Amendment so the federal government has the option to build public housing especially in emergencies. Inspired by Alexandria Ocasio Cortez’s idea: https://nurseledcare.phmc.org/advocacy/policy-blog/item/838-faircloth-amendment.html

Encourage telework and refurbish commercial space into residential space

Deflate the College Cost Bubble by using the Department of Labor to challenge hiring criteria of businesses where many require expensive advanced degrees when jobs might require less costly education, i.e., increasing the value of a high school diploma again, etc; requiring schools getting federal assistance or whom have had past substantial federal assistance on financial brink to consolidate to cut costs

Allow negotiation of Medicare drug costs

Establish a federal corporation that invests in prescription drug stocks because by doing so this agency can better negotiate by buying or selling shares

Medicare Now! Let people use thru Medicare earlier before retirement

Lay the ground work for single-payer Healthcare by flipping the FICA formula so out of the 7.65% where 6.20% goes to Social Security and the rest, 1.45%, towards Medicare/Medicaid (where your employes matches your contribution), you flip it but you do it slowly so those who paid into Social Security and are near retirement can get their full benefits (unless they opt for more Medicare). Raise the overall 7.65% to 8-10%.

E.U. style data protection for US consumers

Regulate crypto currency such as requiring exhanges to obtain private insurance and to get rated by rating agencies, apply Glass Steagall Act like regulations such as Banning a merging of crypto exchanges with hedge funds or banks, but ban federal insurance or bailouts altogether.

Also require digital currencies be backed by some sort of convertible asset like gold or silver

Issue a Defense Production Act edict to gold miners to mine more gold and silver to continue increasing our vault reserves

Presidential Council of Elders where ex Presidents convene yearly to show unity across political lines and for them to consult and come to consensus where they feel laws should go or issues to address. More of an opinion panel.

Not to Exceed Age Limits for Justices such as 70 or 80 as opposed to term limits so we don’t get activist judges who constantly flip on laws as one judge takes over from the other, etc. Yet, we don’t get judges who are always in the hospital once very old

Support police but reform police. See my past article: https://mitchellrg.com/2021/12/27/how-the-system-helped-curtail-police-reform-by-quinton-mitchell/

A Total Energy Policy that includes both green and fossil fuels including converting nuclear weapons into energy fuel for reactors, while handing over fuselages to the aerospace industry such as to send satellites into in orbit

Full Legalization of Cannabis and help with military recruitment by disallowing the asking about prior or post service (in the case of re-entry) Marijuana usage.

See my past article about Cannabis and the military: https://mitchellrg.com/2021/05/23/i-wrote-a-letter-to-congress-that-was-ignored-revising-forms-relating-to-questions-involving-cannabis-and-how-cannabis-is-a-force-multiplier-for-national-security-by-quinton-mitchell/

End the Cuban Trade Embargo, allow remittance payments thru Western Union, allow travel, etc., but with conditions such as distancing themselves from China and Russia

See my past article on Cuba: https://mitchellrg.com/2021/07/16/supporting-the-cuban-revolution-through-software-as-a-service-saas-erp-and-decision-support-systems-power-to-the-people-by-cybernetics-systems-theory-and-the-dika-model-by-quinton-mitchell

The possible establishment of a US Space Force Academy in a place like Cape Canaveral or Daytona Beach (near Embry Riddle Aeronautical University), Houston, Hunstville AL, or Santa Barbara (even if it has to still fall under the guidance of the USAFA and Air Education Training Command). Even if the school has to start off as a two year school for junior and seniors who do their first two years at the USAFA. An academy size comparable to smaller academies such as US Coast Guard Academy or US Merchant Marine Academy. Name facilities after famous astronauts.

Operation Gerbil or Gerbil Maze with NASA and companies like Blue Origin, SpaceX, Astra, etc. Replace nodes on the International Space Station with new sections but send the old ones to the Moon so we have materials to establish a small research facility. Scrap junk missions to land materials on the moon such as wiring, aluminum, etc.

More research into oxidation of moon rocks for air on moon facilities. See: https://youtu.be/-HGm2SSRaDs

Re-establish mental asylums with funds and grants to states via DHHS to help with the mentally ill homeless population.

Separate mental asylums, drug rehab, and jail where in many cases these are merge to cut costs especially as jails become more privatized

Fund clean needle exchanges and promote one-time use needles.

Urge cities that have lax policies on homeless peoples to encourage these people to clean their areas, aka, you can stay here if you clean the streets. This can be done by coordinating with non profit organizations, local police, etc.

Urge ISP service providers to require adult sites have Two Factor Authentication to prevent minors from accessing pornography

Reform federal sugar subsidies

Transition After Training (TAT) for Transgender service people where recruits after basic training, completing trade school and upon reaching a rank that permits off base living or single quarters will have the ability to transition.

Department of Justice mandate to protect Trans people if jailed be it local, state, or federal such as solitary confinement or protective custody to prevent them being abused or harassed

Artic Defense Pact as an extension of NATO, NORAD, and AFNORTH with Canada, US, Denmark, UK, Japan and Nordic countries to exercise and coordinate defense of the arctic especially as climate change opens waterways

Audit State Defense Forces for extremist elements. See: https://news.google.com/newspapers?id=xdsrAAAAIBAJ&pg=6030%2C1692394

Expand the early commissioning program at Junior Military Colleges but also schools like Embry Riddle Aeronautical University

Expand the pay out for Enlisted College Loan Repayment Plans

Expand the Segal Education Award for the Peace Corps, AmeriCorps, Teach America

House arrests for petty crimes as opposed to jailing

Policies to end racial segregation in jails such as isolating violent criminals from inmates capable of rehab.

Segregate based on crimes committed and character (not race) instead of bunching all types of criminals together.

STD testing for all inmates before entry, while incarcerated, and before exit (added 12/19/22)

Encourage the expansion of open stock market exchanges on Eastern Time to close on West Coast or Central (Chicago) Time so trading hours are extended a little bit

Include Mexico’s top universities into the Association of American Universities with the US and Canada to promote goodwill

Use Border Wall funding as leverage for increased gun control (not confiscation)

Return parts of federal land to Native Tribes and Native Hawaiians

Fly the flags of Native Tribes on federal property

Investigate Highway of Tears Native femicides with Canada

Free or very cheap HBCUs and 0% federally insured fixed rate mortgages as a reparations package for black Americans similar to the GI Bill and VA Home Loan

Require truck drivers submit DNA swabs since many unsolved crimes were submitted by truckers. Also, pilots such as those who use smaller off the radar air strips (added 12/19/22)

A Progressive Critiquing and Agreeing with Andrew Tate. Trying to be fair by Quinton Mitchell

NOTE as of 1/11/13 Update! I wrote this too soon. I wanted to be merciful towards Andrew Tate, because despite his flaws and now his criminal accusations coming to light, I was trying to see if there was a redeemable person within Mr. Tate. After I wrote the below post, Mr. Tate was arrested in Romania for possible sex trafficking. If true, and I say that only because the courts have to work themselves out, then Tate should face punishment. My initial reason in trying to reconcile Mr. Tate’s beliefs was because I felt frustrated that the Left appears at times to think a space for men is childish, and I felt the Right Wing gaining steam by appropriating masculinity which of course…angered me as a man. But, I spoke too soon. The type of masculinity Mr. Tate promotes isn’t progress at all. [End Note Update 1.11.23]

I’m proud that I’m a regular guy. Especially as I write my thoughts out. I have no real skin in the game, and I’m doing this for free for now. I am just sharing my thoughts.

I.

I don’t hate Andrew Tate, but I just don’t agree with him on most things, but he does make good points, or rather I can appreciate his ability to question things to attempt to find any latent hypocrisies in arguments.

But, it is easy to blame the Left because they represent A) change & inclusion, B) represent a threat into how we view economics by challenging “winner take all” games. It easy to put the Left into a bubble even though it’s very diverse ideologically speaking which ironically why it often stalls, e.g., anarchists vs social democrats vs democratic socialists vs reformists or revolutionaries vs communists who may or may not adhere to frameworks like Marxism.

I will be writing about an episode of the YouTube podcast called PBD Podcast I watched, under the larger Valuetainment Media Group, hosted by Patrick Bet-David and Adam Sosnick, titled: Exclusive: Andrew Tate UNCENSORED Interview with Andrew Tate, published on September 13, 2022.

I don’t think Andrew is evil. Maybe a little too intense for me, but that’s fine. Let him live his life.

Some good points or insights he has is (1) Men value respect/honor and some of the most dangerous or damaged men who do irrational things are often those who feel the most disrespected – granted, men have responsibility for their actions even if their egos are hurt, i.e., no excuses for violence, but Andrew is not making an excuse but giving an insight; (2) Men are emotional creatures capable of intense and deeper levels of love; (3) Modern men in many ways are “drone” like figures, and many lack a sense of purpose or meaning, considering institutions like marriage aren’t socially required anymore, so more and more people are more lonely that ever. Having kids can be a motivator for many because they have something to live for outside of themselves. The future has literally been labeled as not being of “men”, i.e., The Future is Female, however, I understand this catch phrase isn’t literal but serves as an inspirational battle cry; (4) Men in certain ways are held to what I call the “standard of disposability”, i.e., men are often seen as worthy of being sacrificed when times are rough because nature is rough, and women carry life. However, this isn’t entirely true because in many ways women who don’t comply to traditional norms are often seen as disposable too; (5) our society is being dumbed down with social media, however, I would argue that his is a collective effort by foreign enemies and not simply the Chinese, but also the Russians, Sauds, Iranians, etc. It’s also just a natural extension of capitalism where you need consumers who produce goods under division-of-labor, i.e., people specialize in one part of the production process without understanding the whole [I don’t know how to make a cellphone from scratch for example. And, no one was going to teach me how to, especially for free], etc.

I would also agree with Andrew calling out some annoying elements of certain segments of feminism such as saying men aren’t needed, but when something bad happens, calling out men for not being there.

For example, there was the sad case of the murder of Sarah Everard, who was killed by an active-duty cop, who stalked, sexually assaulted, and then killed the young women. A horrible case for sure. However, while surfing around Instagram, even in the United States where the story broke into the news cycle, I noticed many feminist pages calling out men collectively for her murder because they didn’t save her.

What were men supposed to do when they didn’t know she was in danger? She didn’t even know she was in danger. Many good men have been encouraged to not talk to women for fear of being a catcaller, a creep, “not reading signals” well enough, being accused of another guy just trying to get laid, or to be secretly recorded and used as a pawn in someone’s Tik Tok video about “trash men”. The reactions seemed borderline fanatical to me, i.e., people who have adopted a specific framework of seeing the world, so much so, they never question it, and when they apply this blanket framework to everything it creates distortions in people’s heads (i.e., they see flaws or contradictions). But they don’t question it because the ideology isn’t simply about equality but power, and it seems this power is being achieved pragmatically, i.e., by any means necessary, even if unfair criticism or outright hypocrisy is utilized.

Some of the women (emphasis on some) are saying they don’t need men, but men are supposed to magically appear when they’re in trouble and protect them, and if we don’t then it proves how crappy we are as men?  

Which is it?  Some want this free or expected protection, while never saying anything good about modern men, let alone ever sympathizing with men. But what’s funny is, is that that most men if they knew Sarah was in trouble would have intervened but they weren’t around to help her. They would have helped her without even knowing if she was a “radical feminist” or not.

Certain feminists have based their entire empowerment by challenging men. But, I’m too old to care, yet, I can admit this mentality has in part created a reactionary modern male movement, full of very impressionable people, which can get dangerous, considering the realities of our late-stage capitalist existences. [Note:  Feminism is not bad. It is a broad spectrum of various ideologies where women are central, so hating on feminism objectively, is nonsense because you can’t lump all feminists together]

II.

However, many of his concerning statements about women aside (or, at least crude analogies he might use to prove his points), one main issue with his rhetoric is it would be better suited if he criticized both sides, yet, as a chess player, I suspect Andrew is encouraging the more right-wing adjacent sentiment because it’s simply more conducive to his lifestyle at the current moment.

However in his interview on Valuetainment’s PBD Podcast, he stated he was apolitical, and he said some very progressive things (such as how the world rallied around Ukraine but traditionally the West exploited Africa and the Middle East and no one cared), etc.

He’s smart enough to know that any system has inherent flaws, but he’s also smart enough to know his audience and the reactionary elements within the political-right.

However, I am a proponent to the belief that even though Leftist thought is not perfect by any means, it will always be better than the political right, because the political left at least believes in humanism and inclusion. Yet, I’m critical of certain frameworks and mentalities in the contemporary left such as what I perceive as a “progressive form of segregation”, rather than focusing on uniting the proletariat around economic issues. Granted, I understand that intersectionality where identity is central is vital in analyzing injustice.

III

But, his persona aside, I think Andrew is funny, more so because after hearing his life story I can relate to him because he and myself were…military brats who are Americans of varying black ancestry living overseas. In other words, I know he’s funny. He reminds me of a relative. Sure, I don’t agree with him, but I don’t hate him. He is not dangerous to the world or rather he doesn’t want to harm the world. His dad is from the South, my dad is from the South. His dad was Air Force, my dad was Army even though we lived on an Air Base for many years (I, myself served in the USAF). I know he was raised in England and as a Cold War Era and later 1990s military brat living in Germany, I knew of the British bases like Lakenheath, Mindenhall, Alconbury, etc. His current persona aside, he reminds me of a kid I would have grown up with, notably since the military is so diverse, full of interracial families, etc.

But…

IV.

Andrew Tate talks about The Matrix a lot and to some extent he has valid points, i.e., we live in an ever-growing and more interconnected world where a few people at the top of power structures and institutions can craft narratives, especially though mass media. Basic stuff really. From a Leftist perspective, it’s basic Noam “Manufacturing Consent” Chomsky 101.  Talking about The Matrix is a smart business and marketing move, even if he truly believes it, because we do live in a “paranoid”, “they are out to get us” world especially as people subjectivity interpret data, often with their own preconceived biases, fears, etc. But those fears are not unfounded entirely, yet, how we act on what we learn is important though (e.g., violence isn’t the answer, or, it does more harm than good, it accelerates to chaos, etc.).

Ludwig Wittgenstein said it best that the “limits of my language is the limits of my world”. This is true about everyone, me included.

And, Andrew using the film reference is simply because the movie The Matrix was popular, and a recent version was released (fresh on peoples’ minds), so saying The Matrix creates a subconscious pathway (I suppose, neural-linguistic programming) that people can understand since the movie is embedded into pop culture (people know it even without seeing it).

Yet, Andrew, like many in the digital “Manosphere” space, keep making this basic mistake of thinking in dialectical terms, yet, they claim to be free from the matrix. These men in these spaces as they “revolt against the modern world” (a Julius Evola reference), always blame the political-left and are incapable it seems of checking their own ideology, including their love for capitalism, i.e., the capitalist bro culture that now encompasses the crypto-coin bro culture (which Andrew spoke out against in his interview with PBD and Adam of Valuetainment).

I would argue that they’re stuck in the matrix. In theory, that’s even the point of the films or a theory of them I would argue. There was no real escape. The blue pill, red pill dichotomy was largely manufactured by the engineers of the matrix, so just people you think you’re free, you’re sort of stuck in a Nietzschean “eternal recurrence” nightmare, i.e., you keep coming back to where you started, such as in the Greek myth of Sisyphus.

Andrew acknowledges that “we’re under control” and I agree with him. Our data is being tracked with coding such as “Meta Pixel” by Facebook (now Meta). Cameras are everywhere and software firms with government contracts are specializing in facial recognition. Every app on your phone even if dormant is sending your data to 3rd party “data brokers”. Most of our food is made a few producers (which has benefits and negatives). Every aspect of modern life has been commodified. Mental health apps or Teladoc firms for example, though serving a real need, emulate the business model of social media companies and sell your data too. Our diets and lifestyles. Our retirements are pegged to the success of a stock market where the rich own most of the stocks to begin with, etc. It’s a rigged, pre-planned, Walt Disney – inspired, meets Patrick Bateman from American Psycho nightmare. Cities like Atlanta are building “cop cities”, while elsewhere there’s no affordable housing or cities don’t have drinkable water.

Capitalism in the West, not socialism, is turning more and more Orwellian by the day, but oddly, people support capitalism, since its so good at shrouding actual fear and intentions. In other words, acting like the” Alpha capitalist” might be covering up a person’s racism, fear, sexism, what have you. Capitalism being more individualist in nature is of course preferred by many on the political-right because it affords a passive aggressive way of segregating and maintaining historical hierarchies away from government regulations that might attempt at creating more equity for all. However, it could be argued that capitalism since it is individual creates an egalitarian state where capable individuals regardless of identity.

But, don’t you think the powerful are smart enough to already be one-hundred steps ahead?

It is chilling to think that your whole worldview and ideology, be it on the right or the political left, was designed and intended to serve a role as warring binaries? I truly believe, especially from an American perspective, that our countries were designed by the capitalist oligarch class using theories such as system’s theory where groups are treated like “commodities” to be pitted up against each other, so they never look up at power.

The people in power don’t care about capitalism or communism because they are smart enough to know that these ideas are things, i.e., tools, i.e., pragmatic concepts created to achieve certain objectives but within specific ways. For example, Communism tends to centralize resources which can be exploited, whereas capitalism has the tendency of exploiting labor to forge materials into finished products able to be jacked up in price with insane margins to make profit for a few owners.

Many of these men in the Manosphere, blame people of color, women, the LGBTQ community, etc., yet never seem to point to the fact that the misery they are trying to “Alpha Male” themselves out of is the result of a capitalist system that atomized society with concepts like division-of-labor, the monetization of time, wage theft, the notion of “sex sells” in advertising, pollution, poverty, gentrification, etc.

For example, I support women working because no woman is happy if she feels she didn’t at least try to own her life and own her own agency (considering men will guilt trip them if they aren’t able to earn their own income, i.e., “you’re living in my house”, “I buy the food”, etc.).

Yet, capitalism made women work because A) they were able to be exploited more easily and underpaid, and B) inflation over time caused by a confluence of diverse events over time and space created the need for two income households. The very fact that capitalism needs consumers inspired the two-income household, because more workers earning wages means more goods they will likely buy, thus more rich people. Yet, since growth must be a constant in capitalist systems, otherwise “people freak out” (market panics), to sustain this hard growth, capitalist either automate with machines, merge job specialties with management principles such as Lean Management or zero-defect Six Sigma, offshore to cheaper and more destitute waters,  The truth is that many men got away with being able to marry women by simply providing them things they couldn’t get on their own in a more regressive and anti-woman environment, such as women being disbarred from owning property or obtaining insurance.

Many of the men in these “Manosphere” spaces often refer to the video-game boss-like figure of Dr. Jordan B. Peterson. Peterson sold this myth to impressionable and angry young men raised by meme culture, Taco Bell, and video games, that their blight is the fault of the “Postmodern Neo-Marxists”, a type of hybrid scapegoat terms that mashes Pat Buchanan with covert nods to the Nazis themselves (who called anything they didn’t like such as modern art or Bauhaus architecture degenerate).

Peterson flat out lied about postmodernism, knowing that most people have no clue what it is. Postmodernism, as I’ve said many times before, is simply “after modernism”, i.e., it is a broad framework that challenges the structuralism, objective truth-claims, etc. The intention wasn’t to be “relativist” but to analyze or deconstruction objective truths because objectives can’t be oppressive but also very biased, e.g., just because history is written by winners doesn’t mean their version of history is accurate. Postmodernism is a result of capitalism, because capitalism built modernity (the Industrial Revolution which opened the door for the psychological revolution over religion), yet, postmodernism is simply when this capitalist system reaches its apex on some level and starts to create simulation of itself, and it becomes hard to discern what is real or what is fake, be it an object (for example, is a GMO apple a real apple?) or reality itself. Because, truth becomes more relative, even in the face of empirical data, society starts naturally becoming nihilistic, apathetic, etc., because people by way of capitalism have been reduced to what Nietzsche would call the “Last Man”, i.e., the coach potato, near sexless conspiracy theorists, whose food is produce by one mega corporation, works in a cubical farm, and lives amongst extreme wealth disparity and urban decay, with the last statement being the result of capitalist systems being rigged by the “winners” (buying out competition, paying off politicians, writing laws that gives them universal right to copyright claims, etc.).

Postmodernism is both a condition of living in late-stage capitalism where it’s hard to discern what is real or fake, but also a study of the condition and the study of the condition occurs in traditional philosophy discourse (e.g., the work of Fredric Jameson), experimental literature, art, etc.

V.

As already stated, I don’t think Andrew Tate is the worst person on the planet and even though he is a figure that has worked with many figures in the “Men’s Rights” or “Manosphere” space, I think that Andrew out of most of these people is authentic, or more authentic than most. Andrew didn’t need the Men’s Rights movement, Manosphere or YouTube to become successful, unlike others in these spaces, so he is able to be more honest. He doesn’t need to chase the algorithm or escalate toxicity to get likes (for example, the Fresh and Fit podcast), because the truth is most men in the Manosphere are faking it to they make it and are using their followers to fund their lifestyles. Tate had a particular lifestyle before the popularity of the Manosphere. However,

3 hours:48 minute:15 second, Andrew states that nations that are not privileged, such as the Global South or Eastern Europe, etc., are more prone to traditionalism because they need to rely on survival more so than spoiled Westerners. So, if Andrew is complementing these societies for being tougher because they are poor, then what made them poor to begin with? Capitalist exploitation, colonialism, divide-and-conquer politics meant to destabilize nations such as in African or Middle Eastern nations where borders were arbitrarily drawn by foreign powers and smashed warring groups with ancient feuds together (for example, the Tutsis vs Hutus in Rwanda, Sunnis vs Shias, Pakistanis vs Indians, etc.). Andrew often talks about how the Left, progressives, feminist, people who take the “blue pill”, socialists, etc., are the problem and weakening society, yet, he praises the strength of societies that are exploited by a globalist capitalist system for the benefit of the West, China, United States, etc. From predatory loans, all out invasions, intelligence agency orchestrated overthrows, narco-terrorism, eco-terrorism, political terrorism, and a general objective of exploiting people with nothing else to live for.

In other words, capitalism not only makes stronger societies more apathetic and spoiled (self-destructive), but it also creates great inequities in the developing world. The same people who control the “matrix” as Andrew puts it are responsible for both, but these people aren’t Communists, they’re corporatists, capitalists, etc. There’s a reason why every aspiring socialist nation received military hostility from Western powers because they jeopardized the cheap resources needed by capitalist to insanely mark up their items built with the sweat (surplus labor value) of workers.

It’s also interesting to note that people like Andrew lean towards people like Donald Trump because of the way he carries himself, yet, Trump called developing nations, “shit holes”. So, is Andrew saying that people from “shithole” developing nations that are exploited by a global capitalist system, stronger? If he has administration from them, then why not stand up for them against the powers of capitalism, and not just this manufactured hysteria regarding “wokeness”?

It is also interesting how Right Winger thinkers who espouse these strong-men beliefs are often xenophobic to some degree, yet, if immigrants have traditionalist cultures, then why not accept immigrants?

The irony of the Left and Right relating to immigrants is that progressive movements often accept immigrants, e.g., the notion of Borders Don’t Exists or Borders are Illegal, yet, once these immigrants come to their nation, some over time become conservative, either because they’re still adapting to the free libertine nature of Western societies, and/or they comply with the assimilation and supremacy mindset of conservatives, i.e., the immigrants want to fit in so they emulate those who oppress them. Yet, conservatives often don’t want immigrants coming despite exploiting their cheap labor at home and abroad, largely because of a sense of racial, ethnic, and/or group preservation sentiments.

Conclusion

Let’s say Andrew knows all I am saying. Cool. But, do the world a favor and call out capitalism. It’s popular to call out socialism or communism, but what is affecting the US for example? America was already in decline even before it was OK for Americans to identify as socialists.

Are Black Men, OK? Conspiracy Theory, Postmodernism, Trauma, and “Dr.” Umar Johnson. The Great Re-Segregation? By Quinton Mitchell

I. What is going on? Umar Johnson, Duh F-ck?

Terrence Howard, Kanye, B.o.B, Tyga, DeSean Jackson, Will Smith…something is going on.

I appreciate Umar standing up for black people but I disagree with him on things.

He’s another talker in a sea of people doing the same, chasing that easy money from the “algorithm”

I wonder how many women Dr. Umar Johnson sleeps with after his seminars while touring the country considering a lot of the applause in his crowds seems to come from black (maybe single, maybe not) women. Seriously. He’s selling a product that many want, and I figure many women might want the honor of saying they’re the muse to the “honorable” Dr. or “Chief” or “Emir” Umar Johnson.

For such a judgemental person he’s out of shape and should cut back on the deep fried lemon pepper wings.

Considering his misogyny and bigotry, like the “reject modernity, embrace traditionalism” “black people were better under segregation” of thinkers like Kevin Samuels, with the late Mr. Samuels having been associated with podcasts like the Fresh and Fit Podcasts (which leads to Rollo Tomassi, Andrew Tate, Stefan Molyneux, Lauren Southern, The Young Americans, etc.), I wouldn’t be surprised if Johnson, with his version of Pan-Africanism, is a proponent of polygamy, considering many men are doing whatever they can these days to “get their balls” back, even though I’d argue they were never taken/they’re embarrassing themselves/saying things they might not be able to take back one day. But, who knows? That’s just speculation my part…

I guess according to Umar… people who love each other and have children across “racial lines” have to get…divorced? Split time with their kids? Feel shame?

Fuck you.

Umar chirps about staying in your race and that black men should only date black women but this puts all the blame on men as if black women don’t set the criteria. Marrying someone simply for their race and no other characteristic is stupid to me but it works for some.

There’s plenty of black men for black women and if a woman can’t find a partner that’s more of a sign of her than men. There’s always a willing man more than a willing woman in my opinion. Black women are also allowed to date outside their race and this doesn’t offend me. I remember growing up and there was no love thrown my way and I can admit that. I also grew up traveling as a military brat where environments are very diverse and non-segregated.

Honestly all the anti-whitey talk is a turn off. It’s a turn off to air this supposed dirty laundry. Hate is a turn off. Ignorance is a turn off.

I admit, I’m dating a white woman but black women are beautful but my lady isn’t black. Cool. She makes me feel supported, free, and she doesn’t think she knows better when I speak about race. I can be a nerd. I don’t have to worry about appearances. I can listen to whatever music I want. She simply listens. She shows me affection and there’s no real power struggles. I support her.

No one supported me so why turn my hand away from someone I care for just because of a fat and fat mouthed bigot rapping off black stats and woke talking points I already know about?

I use to live in “Hotlanta” and went to high school there but it wasn’t my style 100%. Bougie. Fast. Heartless. Fake it to you make it. Avarice. Leased cars. Shootings. Strip clubs. Hook up culture. Some of the most spoiled black children I’ve ever seen living in mansions but making fun of poor kids or bullying white kids. Granted there was plenty of old Dixie hate around. I know the S.W.A.T, Ben Hill, Greenbrier, Fort Mac, Old National, Riverdale, the West End near Morehouse and Spelman, just as much as I know the burbs where I grew up where my school was 50% black. Church on Sunday, wings for lunch with extra bleu cheese or Publix chicken with “fixins” on the side. To be honest I miss old days of black culture before rap, before “woke”, but I’m not hating. I grew up with two parents, one from the hood of Miami near Liberty City by way of kinfolk from Alabama near Selma (my grandmother grew up near Coretta Scott King), and my other parent is from the backwoods country of Georgia.

Yet, Umar Johnson has no right to tell a black person who lives the black experience, which is an experience of many experiences, from poor to bourgeoisie, rural to urban, Northern to southern, East to West, native born American or new African immigrant, part black, extrovert, or introvert, straight or gay, tall, or short, “proper sounding” or ebonics, that they aren’t black because they don’t meet his criteria.

When will black people ever stop this? Time and time again…This purity testing? Blackness could be this all-encompassing and loving movement, happy to spread sacred wisdom of the Motherland to influence all mankind, but instead it comes off as hate against hate.

And, who care’s if he’s “eloquent” or “funny”. Hitler was eloquent. Idi Amin was eloquent. Mao was eloquent. Grand Wizard’s can be eloquent or funny.

Dr. Umar who is essentially in the Intellectual Dark Web, like quacks such as Jordan Peterson, Stefan Molyneux, Eric Weinstein, etc. He’s not building anything. He’s not engineering anything. He’s not coding for anything. He’s just another…talker. A paid, viral, algorithm chasing talker with some papermill doctorate, in our postmodern hellscape of self-help gurus with fascist underpinnings hidden under Joseph Campbell Jungian analysis or whatever.

I find it offensive that Umar as one American guy thinks he can single handedly define what Pan-Africanism is. His Pan-Africanism seems like a black man’s wet dream of Hitler grandeur with his Pan-Aryan ideas or some George Orwell 1984 dystopia. Pan-Africanism, Umar aside, despite the noble intentions and the many contributions of self-ascribed Pan-Africanist is inserting a black framework into larger discussion, seems like a form of reverse colonialism where predominately American voices are dictating the narrative, despite America, compared to black countries abroad, is privileged. Yes, systems do oppress black people, but one black American has more opportunity than many black Africans abroad.

I understand the need for we as black people to regain a sense of our roots, but often Pan-Africanism seems like erasure, oddly. It attempts to merge all black aesthetics into one on the grounds of unity, but incidentally might erase the unique nuances that makes the black experience so unique. Further it might not even include things which some might not consider “black enough”. It also might insert toxic elements from the America’s into the family oriented, rural, and pastoral cultures of many African groups. It’s not that Pan Africanism is bad, but how it has come to be, seems slightly problematic but questioning it in certain circles is grounds for something akin to “excommunication”.

And, by the way if you’re some white liberal reading this. Respectfully, all love to you, thank you for being allies to black people in time of need, but on this matter… white liberals have a tendency of listening to the loudest black voice in the room because they’re constantly searching for the blackest “diamond” in the rough.

Pan-Africanism in one way could be considered a bridgehead for the United State’s growing interests in Africa to hedge countries like China, and the US State Department (and intel community) could use “Pan-Africanists” to insert US ideas into Africa.

Adding insult to injury as Umar goes around threatening the existences of interracial couples who are already receive hatred from certain parties, he also DID NOT go to a Historically (emphasis on historically) Black College and University (as if it matters or makes you less black if you don’t go to one). Sorry, is Obama not black enough for going to an Ivy League college, a place where black people were denied for most of American history? Why are we shaming black dance teams at “white colleges” when this could be a showcase of black culture, etc.? Black people act like white folk don’t have (or, didn’t invent) remote controls. It’s not hard for others to watch Grambling vs Southern or the Celebration Bowl.

Umar went to Millersville University and got an advanced degree from the Philadelphia College of Osteopathic Medicine, where osteopathic medicine is heavily criticized by traditional medicine, but it’s not that Umar cares, or many of his follower’s care, considering we live in a world of Zodiac followers and hand-readers, because he simply needed a Dr. in front of his name to give himself more credence. Good on him for achieving it, but simply because you’re a “doctor” doesn’t mean your prescription to the world’s problems are entirely accurate.  

He’s even been caught lying talking about his ancestry to Frederick Douglass according to The Root (2017) article by Michael Harriot, titled: We Fact-Checked Umar Johnson’s Hotep Tantrum with Roland Martin Because Someone Had To. That should have cancelled him, but his hotep followers don’t care, his black female followers obsessed with black men with white women don’t care, no different than Trump supporters not caring for his multiple lies.

The further irony of Umar is that he’s some type of Muslim, but for whatever odd reason, black Americans never question the fact that Islam played a huge role and still does play on in the enslavement of black people. Muslims, whom I have no problem with, but relating to the history of slavery in Africa, weren’t permitted to enslave fellow Muslims, so being in Northern Africa and the Sahel, Muslims made raids into Sub-Saharan Africa or traded for slaves for goods with black African tribes or kingdoms. Tribes who didn’t want to be enslaved and wanted to make money from the gold trade routes converted to Islam as a business decision. These gold trade routes helped Timbuktu flourish, but the wealth of gold trading Muslim African Kingdoms likely tipped off the Europeans who had contact with Islam (for better or worsts).

After the Reconquista of Spain and Portugal over the Moors, the Portuguese simply sailed to areas that Muslims were familiar with, and the Trans-Atlantic Slave Trade began in the Age of Discovery, especially after Queen Isabella and King Ferdinand sent Christopher Columbus to what would be the new world.

If certain black people are so committed to “de-colonization”, then why not go further, and return to nature-worship which is more indigenous than any Abrahamic religion? However, our ancestors in the USA fought with Christianity inspiring us, so why throw away what our ancestors fought with simply because we want “consciousness”? Why can’t you be a Christian or a cultural one at least (identifies as one, but not a hardcore follower) like most Americans and be equally as intrigued with African culture? Are we better than our ancestors because they were more oppressed than us, but they didn’t “fight hard enough” according to or modern standards? I dunno…

I would argue the existence of black people is miserable because not only are you oppressed by systems out of your control that inherently criminalized or stereotype you, but you’re also policed, haggled, and harassed by your own black people where everyone walks around purity testing the authenticity of the other instead of owning their own lives. You’re a target of white supremacists and get the ire of black nationalists.

Yet, maybe I can’t be mad at Umar because black people are human and most humans care about what other’s think and try to fit in as to not bring negative attention to themselves.

II. Want to Hear a Conspiracy?

Anyways,

Want to hear a “conspiracy theory”?

Ok. Here we go…

White supremacists love black separatism.

Oh, wait, that’s not a conspiracy.

It’s as if the Founding Fathers who supported slavery but knew that the freedom of black people was inevitable, knew that one day, particularly with black people being treated so poorly, would segregate themselves, because they would hate white people, which was their plan all along.

There’s something odd going on to me, but it seems we as a people have accepted the contemporary discourse of self-determination and tribalism as a needed tenant for a more just world, yet, to me, I suspect that this tribalism, particularly in the United States, where white and black are more similar than we given credit for, is and has been pre-planned or is the expression of past segregated/nationalistic ideas still echoing into the present (for example, even the hippies of days past were still racially regressive compared today’s standards but their views or analyses on race, gender, etc., largely remains unchanged to this day).

The Great Replacement Theory” or “Kalegri Plan” is something spouted by conspiracy theorists, white nationalists, and Nazis (and, Fox News) alike, but I would argue that the future is the “Great Re-Segregation”.

The Great Re-Segregation is the innocuous herding of groups into defined spaces (maybe, even “smart cities” with “themes” and within meta-verse spaces, i.e., no different than racially segregated neighborhoods) in a globalized world where groups are essentially herded like animals (without thinking of it as such), where our data is collected (genetic information included), surveillance is everywhere, and the mass media is used to stir up unrest in the public, yet, since levers of power will be largely influenced by Westernized European inspired ideas, policy, etc., but also the growing influence of the homogeneous Chinese.

A society ruled by a technocratic elite (i.e., like things already are), indifferent to progressivism or conservatism, who operate with a pragmatic and “syncretic” viewpoint and manages the species, like a Darwinist exhibition. Sure, we will still have overlap between the groups, because we as a species have always had overlap, because sharing genetics helps “keep gene pools” humble (not inner-bred), which helps the overall longevity of the species (i.e., genetic vigor), but most people will be herded (socially groomed) to segregate and the political right and political left are both responsible.

Countries are essentially “centers” overseeing commodified groups where all nations answer upward to institutions and systems effectively ran by a small group of people, i.e., a pyramid scheme. When consumer bases start to slow down in how fast they replicate while also demanding more rights as they climb the economic ladder, economic down-turns are manufactured, new bodies from around the globe are shifted into industrial ones, and process of segregation in one hand and assimilation in another takes course.

However, I don’t want you to lose faith in all institutions, and institutions in many ways are highly effective at mitigating risks and subsidizing costs to help the public; however, there’s players within these systems that seem to have an agenda, or maybe these leaders are simply operating subconsciously the way the system was designed to, i.e., an empiricist, scientific, sterile mindset of mitigating groups, creating grand narratives, managing the scarcity of resources, etc.

III. Trauma, Conspiracy Theory, etc., etc.

But on black people.

Terrance Howard is flying around the world telling people that he has disproved gravity. Kanye “Ye” West is having a psychotic episode for our sick entertainment as he is handled by white nationalists and antisemites using him as a “pet to prove that they aren’t has “unstable” as Ye. Rapper, B.o.B., attempted crowdfunding to raise money to help prove the Earth is flat. NFL Wide receiver, DeSean Jackson was called out for saying antisemitic things. Rappers such as Tyga often talks about “Jewish money”, etc., the irony is that there’s likely Jewish management working on his albums (with rappers also somehow allowed to say terms like “white bitches”). Will Smith, likely feeling emasculated by social media and his wife (or, life partner, what have you, whom had a relationship with Tupac – who holds a messianic status amongst certain black people), calling his manhood and even blackness into question, assaulted another black man on stage, in front of the whole world, at the world’s most prestigious acting award (even if the event has fallen off in popularity in recent years as far as ratings). Kyrie Irving did share a post of a “Black Hebrew Israelite” adjacent documentary (not to be confused with black people who practice Orthodox or Reformed Judaism) that has antisemitic tropes.

The comedian, Godfrey, and even the radio personality, Charlemagne the God, whom I would say have their heads on right for the most part, sometimes praise the Farrakhan’s of the Nation of Islam, which as a group espouses…Black Nazi rhetoric, even if they make certain good points analyzing power, how things work, etc. I found it interesting that everyone called out Ye for his obvious hatred, yet, there this veneration for figures like the Farrakhan’s which is often a way of proving “how down you are” in a culture were purity testing, i.e., sizing each other up seems prominent.

Black people have been taught that we cannot be racist, but only prejudiced, since we lack institutional power, yet, the irony of this idea is that A) it allows black people to not challenge our potentially bigoted ideas and to feel empowered within those beliefs because traditionally we lack power, and B) this notion seems like a form of infantilizing black people by saying our actions aren’t as comparable to that of our supposed “superiors”, and this can be problematic on multiple fronts such as empowering sociopaths who already lack the ability to take self-accountability, and yes, black people can be sociopaths as well.

Bullet point (B) in my opinion tends to be promoted more by non-black liberals or non-black Leftists, who struggle with how to help or listen for fear of offending. Building empowerment solely on the idea that we as black people don’t have power or haven’t had an impact on power systems, seems defeatists to me, i.e., a victim-based mentality, which sure has plenty of merit – considering black people were and are victims in many ways – but, this tendency also has elements of “erasure”, i.e., it erases the impacts black people have been able to insert on power systems.

We as black people always focus on depression as black people. Our movies are either hilarious comedies or the most depressing family or slavery stories. It’s one extreme to the next. It reminds me of the Greek mask where one half is smiling and the other is sad.

Many self-ascribed black nationalists don’t know every single black person who contributed something of prominence, and we often talk about social leaders and celebrities, as opposed to our engineers, scientists, doctors, etc., which interestingly is something that all groups do, further showing we’re no better or worse than anyone else.   

Before I go on, I want to state that I want all humans to be inspired by blackness. I do not want black exclusivity, black segregation, black hierarchies, black gatekeeping, purity testing, etc. We are all humans and should find inspiration and commonality amongst each other because we all have different ways of seeing things, so it’s intelligent to learn and adapt to each other. The same way how when I was kid found a moral is tales like Robin Hood who fought the rich and the state for the benefit of the common man, I want a white kid feeling lonely in the boonies to be inspired by Shaka Zulu.

I’ll get to the point of my beliefs. I don’t like segregation. I was raised with a Christian inspired Abolitionism that seeks a future where are people judged by their actions solely and not for their race.

Even though I am by no way a good Christian, and many Christians would reject me as being a Christian because I’m not an extremist, I still place merit on the teachings on mercy, love, humility, etc., that Christianity teaches.

Interestingly, my political left leanings are in part inspired by Christian mercy.

I believe that racial segregation is social engineering derived from our colonial roots and is a way of dividing the public by manufacturing dialectical (diametrically opposed) tension, cultures., etc.

I find it “funny” that white nationalists support the rhetoric of black separatists, so…if logic is to persist, and black people or the political left say that the US is white supremacists (i.e., Amerikkka), then maybe black separatism was intended to be another force that keeps the races separate, so they can be “farmed” “herded” etc. I find it interesting that certain elements of Left-Wing thought, with its anti-colonial, post-colonial, and de-colonial framework calls for self-determinism, yet, white nationalists or other Right-Wing forces call for self-determination too.

I believe that those in power use both left-wing and right-wing because they have a pragmatic view of power, to maintain racial segregation, hierarchies, etc., but these people, seeing themselves as entitled to “evolve the species”, use tension to merge elements of bipolar opposites, so from the explosion of these opposite agents, you create a new paradigm, but the later repeat the cycle as new diametrically opposed binaries reveal themselves.

There’s a Darwinists and Enlightenment Period based mindset (which includes liberalism, Communism, fascism, and capitalism) that sees chaos and flux as essential in the process of evolution and these concepts are embedded into Western thought, didactic, etc. The common man, burdened by the grind of existence, where the system knows and manipulates our Maslow Hierarchy of Needs by creating scarcity (competition, unemployment, etc.), is more likely to find solace in their identity (the cheapest form of currency in my opinion), and not question how those identities are constructed to be binaries in a system of control for the benefit of a few.

For example, the Nation of Islam, which is listed as a hate group by the US State Department, Southern Poverty Law Center (who helped take down the KKK in the 1960s), and Anti-Defamation League, believes that black scientist named Yakub (insinuating Jacob from the Jewish tradition) created white people and other races with an unspecified birth-control method to be “diametrically opposed” to blackness, and to conquer black people.

Nation of Islam by the way was allegedly created by a man impersonating a black man, and he mysteriously disappeared, potentially stealing money from membership fees of poor blacks. Many poor black people fled up north, and the creator of the Nation of Islam, using the then popular trend of secret groups, like B’nai B’rith, the Klu Klux Klan, etc., focused on these new black migrants who became jaded by racism up north. Before the twentieth century, after the Civil War, the United States saw an increase in spiritualism, mesmerism (hypnosis), seances, etc., because there was a lot of death from the war and a changing of America as new immigrants came in. The N.O.I., is simply a byproduct of these events. Today, the Nation of Islam has ties to Scientology, which is further proof of the mind-control elements the N.O.I. seeks out.

https://newrepublic.com/article/108205/scientology-joins-forces-with-nation-of-islam

Simply reading this I can pull so much. A) black people descended from slaves often make similarities to that of the ancient Jews in captivity since that was the only book that slaves were allowed to read (or, be read too), granted it was redacted by slave owners to justify slavery, B) because of Christianity being forced upon us – my people, as it was for most groups, including tribal Europeans in the Dark Ages, newly freed black people after slavery, notably those exposed to other ideas in Northern Cities, were searching for identity and some chose a religion that was perceived as polar opposite to Christian, rural, and Southern, yet still beholden to the credibility of Abrahamic faiths, and chose unorthodox Islam, and C) the figure of Yakub – a rip off of Jacob – is essentially the concept that not only chirps to anti-Jewish thought, but also the notion of the “Uncle Tom”, “sell-out”, “race traitor”, etc., meaning that the Nation of Islam inserted this character, as a “purity testing” trip-wire figure, as a means of taking the high ground to call any detractors or critics “enemies of the race”, which is a pretty low and lazy way of winning arguments.

There was also an aversion to the COVID-19 vaccines, despite black Americans in certain categories being at increased risk for contracting it due to high blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, etc., but also black and Latin workers often work in businesses that were prone to outbreaks such as warehouses, meat packing facilities, restaurants, etc.

Sure, my last point about COVID-19 is more understandable, because to be frank, the virus was new, people had limited information, the virus did fundamentally change how we operate (such as tele-work, social distancing, etc.), and there is a general mistrust of institutions; however, for all the other previous points stated, there is a trend of black men, notably popular black celebrities, descending into what I consider to be postmodern solipsism, relativity, and conspiracy theory.

Further, as this phenomenon of black celebrities going mad is happening, which is not necessarily new, there are public figures willingly to use this distortion or confusion of what is real or what is not real to mix it with Pan-Africanism so these public leaders to ascend to prominent positions.

Umar Johnson, for example, is a Men’s Rights Activist, likely inspired by the late yet controversial Kevin Samuels (whom like Jesse Lee Peterson, tells the story that black people were better off segregated).

IV. Fascism hiding under Postmodernism

Misinformation affects all people regardless of demographic because as a society we are now living in a hyper-reality of late-stage, globalized capitalism – full of parody, pastiche, bad actors, i.e., trolls or agents of misinformation, and recycled pop culture – where the distinction between real and fake, or simulation and simulacra is hard to discern.

We live in a world where corporate power for example is so strong, innocuous, and entrenched and it pervades all aspects of life, including the commodification of race, culture, sexuality, orientation, ideology, religion, education, healthcare, and just about…everything. Even misinformation is commodified.

I say that postmodernism is the chameleon skin that shrouds the predatory animus of capitalism.

The disorienting “skin”, i.e., postmodern culture, is simply a way of capitalism to sustain itself by a) creating relativity so we don’t know what is real or fake, and b) recycling culture, often in anachronistic fashion, because most growth or markets have already been exhausted, and most production isn’t from labor value but is from financialization, i.e., using fiat money to speculate on assets to create artificial demand where those at the top benefit the most, and manipulate business cycles to their own benefit (knowing government’s, already being privatized, will insure their loses at taxpayer expense).

As a result, we live in a world where “Continental Philosophy” encompassing fields such as metaphysics and existentialism merges with “Analytical Philosophy” encompassing fields like linguistics, game theory, logic, etc. In other words, we have a lot of intensive research and data alongside endless subjective interpretations of said data thus leading to a “collective flux”, i.e., mass solipsism, resulting in statements such as “my truth”.

Even though this democratization of information can be inspiring and helpful (e.g., checking institutional power), it does lead to a “triumph of the will” of ideas, i.e., the strongest survives, hence we may be subject to constant and ever-growing ideological conflict as ideas battle each other with no sense of moderation or consensus in sight.

But as a fellow black man, I can understand why there’s this need for truth among black people, yet, it seems to be leading black men (not saying more so than anyone else) down conspiracy rabbit holes.

The truth is, of course, black people had our diverse and often differing indigenous identities stripped and were forcibly yet partially assimilated into Western Civilization, to be labor power, but also to serve as an aesthetic binary to whiteness, where blackness became the magnet for the vileness of white supremacy.

Black Americans were designed to arouse a sense of supremacy in white settlers, many who had nothing but the value of being white.

Black people historically were denied education, reading, the ability to speak up, and our own destinies. Yet, this doesn’t mean that black people lacked aptitude, but rather we were disbarred from understanding the civilization which fell upon us, and which also devalued us. There’s a tendency to think that we’re not getting the entire story, or, there’s a paranoia of some higher deeper and nefarious truth – which is true but can be untrue depending upon on how we seek those truths.

But, how far black people have come is a true miracle.

We must be willing to check our own theses.  

Simply because we feel something doesn’t mean that it is true, and the also the simplest path towards a solution is often not the truth but its tempting to take the less arduous path. For example, antisemitism is often a gross simplification of the truth, because Jews don’t run the world, even though, of course, there are powerful players that are Jewish pulling the levers of power, but to time and time again blaming Jews is intellectually lazy and ironic. If Jews really ran the world, why would they not just bulldoze anyone in their way?

White nationalist for example, preach that they are superior one second, while claiming to be victims at the same time, and most of the bad ideas that are affecting everyone – white people included – were created by white people. Karl Marx, a Jew, or a BIPOC person didn’t steal your job, but Mitt Romney working in Leveraged Buyouts did.

The temptation to jump to antisemitism, is disingenuous, and an easy scapegoat, but black people do this too, i.e., we try to find a simple explanation without understanding all the nuances, conflicts, inner diversity of various groups, etc.

When you add all of this with the fact that black men are often the most criminalized, black people in general – traditionally speaking – are often seen as having “less quality” or “less refined tastes”, etc., there is an insatiable thirst for truth to rebuild or regain our “consciousness” “regalia” “honor”, but the trauma on black people, both present and past, both anecdotal and institutional, seems to corrupt the path towards truth. This corruption, which objectively is from a good place I would argue, seems to have some black people questioning everything, even basic principles such as Terrance Howard arguing against basic arithmetic (something all humans developed and understood on their own).

History is already a confusing and rigorous endeavor, but most people fall for conspiracy theories, where I defined conspiracy theories as theories where the conclusion is already predetermined, but the researcher with a specific or ideological bias uses facts that simply serve their point, instead of actively challenging their own thesis or idea. Conspiracy theories as opposed to let’s say investigative journalism often lacks rigorous peer review, panel presentations, debates, etc.