Neanderthals and Art

The view that Neanderthals were backwards and slow compared to us is the result of the same racist attitudes that put forth the notion that even within our species there are some groups that are backward and slow compared to others. "Artefacts whose functional value lies not so much in their practical but rather in their symbolic use are proxies for fundamental aspects of human cognition as we know it." That's fine -- but cave art may have been part of a tradition of sympathetic magic in which success of the hunt depended on ceremonies performed involving these art works making them practical as well as symbolic. Taking the knee at football games may be symbolic but it is also practical if it raises consciousness of hypocrisy .

Neanderthals were artistic like modern humans

Scientists have found the first major evidence that Neanderthals, rather than modern humans, created the world's oldest known cave paintings -- suggesting they may have had an artistic sense similar to our own.

SCIENCEDAILY.COM

Sunday Meditation

Sunday Meditation

 (In remembrance of Billy Graham)

"They prate of God; believe it, fellow creatures,

There's no such bugbear; all was made by Nature.

We know all came from nothing, and shall pass

Into the the same condition once it was,

By Nature's power; and that they grossly lie

Who say there's hope of immortality. 

Let them but tell us what a soul is, then

We will adhere to these mad brain-sick men"--

"Christmas Carol" of the Ranters(1650)

[The Ranters were one of a number of nonconformist dissenting groups that emerged around the time of the English Commonwealth (1649–1660). They were largely common people, and there is plenty of evidence that the movement was widespread throughout England, though they were not organised and had no leader.-- Wikipedia]

Iran Threatens Israel?

Thomas Riggins

"But as the rebels have lost ground and no clear threats to Mr. Assad's rule remain, Iran and its allies have stayed, shifting their focus to creating an infrastructure to threaten Israel, analysts say." But Turkey remains anti-Assad and has invaded areas of Syria. The US has bases in Syria and is reported to be planning a permanent (!) presence using Kurdish surrogates, Israel continues to occupy Syrian territory (the Golan Heights), and bombs the country whenever it feels like it, and the US continues to fund the remnants of Syrian rebels to keep alive the fiction of widespread anti-Assad resistance. Israel has been advocating a preventive war against Iran for years so rather than "creating an infrastructure to threaten Israel" the NYT should have said "to deter Israel" -- but we know which side of the conflict the NYT is on. If Israel wants peace all it has to do is give back land it has stolen contrary to international law, quit bombing its neighbors, give up its occupation of the West Bank and let the Palestinians have their independence with East Jerusalem as their capital (and stop calling them 'cockroaches' -- they are human beings). What are the chances that U.S. imperialism, which thrives on war and military conflicts, and it's Israeli hand puppet will take the road to peace rather than exacerbate the situation ? [ Is 'puppet' too strong? Israel takes U.S. handouts and he who pays the piper calls the tune.] Both Israel and its neighbors can live together in peace if that's what the U.S. decides it wants (really wants).

Iran, Deeply Embedded in Syria, Expands ‘Axis of Resistance’

Iran is training thousands of militiamen in Syria and deploying drones and precision weapons. Its goal, say analysts: a united front in any war with Israel.

NYTIMES.COM

Mueller Indicts Some Russians

Thomas Riggins

OK, before we go nuts over US government allegations ("Russia" has been accused of trying to subvert the U.S. ever since 1918) lets just ponder some implications from the NYT story.
1. "The indictment does not explicitly say the Russian government sponsored the effort, but American intelligence officials have publicly said that President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia directed and oversaw it. " Russia is a capitalist country its capitalists want to get rid of sanctions on their businesses and have normal capitalist relations and competition in Europe and the US. The INTERNET RESEARCH AGENCY despite its name is a private business not an Agency of the Russian government. Wikipedia describes it thusly: "The Internet Research Agency (IRA) (Агентство Интернет Исследований), also known as Glavset and known in Russian Internet slang as the Trolls from Olgino or kremlebots, is a Russian company, based in Saint Petersburg, that engages in online influence operations on behalf of Russian business interests." This has been known for years -- it didn't take the FBI and the CIA to figure this out.
"Russia" this and "Russians" that in news reports lumps together groups and organizations that are private with those of the Russian government. The Russians do that with us as well. "American spies" include reporters from CBS and NPR or the the New York Times as well as CIA agents -- all lumped together -- the "Americans" are trying to subvert us. Marxists shouldn't fall for these capitalist Spy vs Spy games.
2. IRA instructions: "Their tasks included undermining Mrs. Clinton by supporting her Democratic primary campaign rival, Bernie Sanders, prosecutors said. Those instructions were detailed in internal documents: “Use any opportunity to criticize Hillary and the rest (except Sanders and Trump — we support them).” The goal was to undermine HRC -- either Bernie or Trump would do. Why? Because she was the most openly hostile and anti-Russian candidate advocating a no-fly zone over Syria which threatened a Cuban Missile Crisis type confrontation with the Russian military aiding Syria's legally UN recognized government. She also supported more sanctions against Russian business interests. Since capitalist governments are simply fronts for their 1%er ruling classes this whole "Russiagate" brouhaha has nothing to do with "American democracy and our way of life" with regard to ordinary Americans but is a typical battle between two capitalist ruling classes over the availability of future markets and economic opportunities in the so-called Third World. It's also a justification to increase military spending and profits that brings in. Russian business interests thought either Bernie OR Trump would be better for them than HRC. Therefore:
3. “The indictment alleges that the Russian conspirators want to promote discord in the United States and undermine public confidence in democracy,” Rod J. Rosenstein, the deputy attorney general overseeing the inquiry, said in a brief news conference." The Russian capitalists could care even less about "discord in the United States" and "public confidence in democracy" than our home grown American capitalists care about democracy in the U.S., Russia or anywhere else. Both sets of capitalists are interested in profits and future economic opportunities. The difference is that the American ruling class is the most powerful and dominant ruling class in history and the Russian ruling class is a neophyte from an economically weaker country. It goes without saying that Marxists, supporting the international working class movement, support anything which weakens the grip of US Imperialism and its ruling class. This is a precondition of strengthening the working class movement in our own country as well as the rest of the world.
The defeat of HRC has thrown the US ruling class off balance and it is now divided by infighting and its international position is weakening despite its saber rattling and war mongering talk at home. It is attempting to turn our attention to Russia, we must not let it set our agenda -- we must focus on getting rid of Trump and this struggle is only weakened by our being pulled into exaggerated anti-Russian discourse fabricated by the ruling class.

13 Russians Indicted as Mueller Reveals Effort to Aid Trump Campaign

The indictment does not allege collusion but reveals in painstaking detail how Russians posed as American activists to boost Mr. Trump’s campaign.

NYTIMES.C

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The Russian Threat to America

Thomas Riggins
The real take away from this story:
1. As usual, no evidence is given other than we should take the words of the spooks who lied and misled the American people in the past (Vietnam, Iraq, Libya, etc).
2. "Right now, Mr. Pompeo [CIA] said, Russia is trying to focus on what are known as influence operations — using social media and other platforms to spread favorable messages — not hacking." So-- not hacking but the Russians are trying to influence people to have a favorable opinion of Russia. What f-ing nerve: the US says Russia is an enemy and they dare to deny it!
3. “Other threats to our institutions come from right here at home,” he said. “There have been some, aided and abetted by Russian internet bots and trolls, who have attacked the basic integrity of the F.B.I. and the Justice Department. This is a dangerous trend.”-- Senator Mark Warner of Virginia, the top Democrat on the intelligence committee.
The ENEMY WITHIN (the real target) -- The" basic integrity" of the FBI and the Justice Department questioned by American citizens -- a real threat to DEMOCRACY (didn't they do CONINTELPRO, murder some Black Panthers, collude to spy on and frame Black, Native American and Hispanic cilvil rights leaders --didn't the FBI do all it could do to discredit and destroy that great threat to America: Martin Luther King, Jr.? Nice going Senator McCarthy, oops sorry, I mean Warner.
4. “We expect Russia to continue using propaganda, social media, false-flag personas, sympathetic spokespeople and other means of influence to try to exacerbate social and political fissures in the United States,” Dan Coats, the director of national intelligence. "You know, Rhett," Scarlett said, "it's those Northern carpet baggers and outside agitators that are stirring up all these race problems down here in the Southland trying to exacerbate the race problem -- we used to have such harmony." "Frankly my dear," Rhett replied,"I don't give a damn."
5. "Russia does not, however, appear to be trying to penetrate voting machines or Americans’ ballots, United States officials said." That's right folks, the only ones messing with American ballots are the Republicans purging the voter roles, hampering voter registration, gerrymandering voting districts, and intimidating minority voters with poll "watchers" demanding to see IDs. Is Congress holding hearings about that? Who is really the enemy of the American people: the Kremlin or the rats in Congress? Ask Pogo.

Russia Sees Midterm Elections as Chance to Sow Fresh Discord, Intelligence Chiefs Warn

As the midterm elections approach, Russia is likely to throw more propaganda at Americans in an effort to deepen political divisions, American intelligence chiefs said.

NYTIMES.COM

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Welcome to the United States of Hate

Thomas Riggins

Welcome to the United States of Hate. Researchers "found that in all U.S. regions, less education, population change, and ethnic diversity correlated with more hate groups, as did areas with higher poverty rates and more conservative political affiliation."
Interestingly, the more CONSERVATIVE an area of the country is the more hate groups it has. The correlation between conservative politics and fascism (the grounds of fascist ideology are found on the right-wing) implies the fight against hatred and the inhumanity and violence it breeds is also a fight against conservativism and the unenlightenment and ignorance it represents.
Liberals are another problem. When they are stressed out by the struggle of the oppressed they tend to mutate into conservatives. How this is reflected in the class strugge poses a problem for the struggle for socialism in the US since the major liberal party in the US, the Democratic, now has at least three factions -- moderate liberals (left-wing conservatives: Obama/HRC wing), liberals (straddling the fence between HRC and Sanders people but more likely to jump down on the HRC side), and progressive/social democratic Bernie Sanders types (although Sanders claims that he is not a Democrat).
The legitimate Left has to devise tactics that will minimize the defection of the members of first two groups to the conservatives while at the same time not betraying true Left values (the Democratic cave in re Dreamers and the Budget is an example) while at the same increasing the intensity of the class struggle while being aware that many millions of "liberals" don't self-identify as working class. This is the job of the CP (I hope it's up to it even without its theoretical journal which handicaps wide spread discussion of these issues within the membership). How to deal with the Greens and other third parties is also a problem that seemingly hasn't been handled very well.

Drivers of hate in the United States have distinct regional differences

In a new study, geographers sought to understand the factors fueling hate across space. Their findings paint a rather grim reality of America; hate is a national phenomenon, and more complicated than they…

SCIENCEDAILY.COM

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The US, Turkey and the Kurds in a Nutshell

Thomas Riggins
Well here is the story: "The local civil government is modeled on principles of the Kurdish separatist leader, Abdullah Ocalan, who is imprisoned in Turkey: enforced equality for women in civil and military life, moderate socialism, and radical environmentalism." Abdullah Ocalan is the Kurdish Bernie Sanders. He is also the leader of the PKK and his picture hangs on the local Kurdish commander's office wall where the American generals can see it even when they say they don't see any PKK influence in Manbij. Years ago Turkey got the US to go along with them in declaring the PKK as "terrorists." Then came the Syrian civil war and the US is fighting ISIS and the PKK, under different initials, is our ally (doing most of the work). The PKK turns out to be progressive and democratic (for the area), while Turkey, our NATO ally, is on the road to fascism and dictatorship and is allied with jihadist Al Queda clones and is de facto helping ISIS which it prefers to the PKK. The PKK only exists due to the intolerable persecution and denial of human rights to the Kurdish minority in Turkey. The US, which in normal times would prefer dictatorial Turkey, is backing the democratic Kurds fighting ISIS while it figures out what to do about Putin since he is upsetting the US's real aims -- getting rid of Assad and supporting Isreal's anti Iranian foreign policy. Stay tuned,

On Northern Syria Front Line, U.S. and Turkey Head Into Tense Face-off

The New York Times traveled with two U.S. generals to a northern Syria city where armed conflict between the Americans and Turks is now a possibility.

NYTIMES.COM

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Evolution: Education versus Ignorance

Thomas Riggins
A very interesting report that has lessons for the Left. The more people actually understand the principles of how evolution works the more likely they will accept it. This is an ignorance vs knowledge issue and involves, with adults at least, opening a closed mind to an understanding of reason, logic and scientific method. Now, capitalist ideology forsters Trumpism, racism, sexism, etc., and thrives on ignorance and closed minds and therefore favors a public educational system that fosters these ideals. It is a moral crime against children to fill their brains with anti-evolution (hence anti-science) concepts thus closing them off to reason and preconditioning them to accept the prevailing racist/sexist ideology of U.S. Imperialism. Our educational system is full of science "teachers" who are undereducated creationists that the state allows to be certified to teach children. One of the major tasks of the Left is to prevent the certification of these anti-teachers in the first place and to have those already in place reeducated or removed from their positions. Private schools teaching antievolution must be outlawed as the state guarantees free public education not anti-education to children.Teacher's unions should lead in this struggle and purge themselves of the anti-educators in their ranks. Getting control of local school boards should be a priority of the Left. These measures will be fought against with maximum ferocity by the right wing as, in the words of Spinoza: ''Such persons know that, with the removal of ignorance, the wonder which forms their only available means for proving and preserving their authority would vanish also."*

Ethics, Bk 1, Appendix

Better knowledge of evolution leads to greater acceptance of the concept

Prevailing theories about evolution state that belief in the concept is tied only to a person's politics or religion. But according to new research, whether Americans accept or reject the subject also…

SCIENCEDAILY.COM

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FBI Should be Disbanded

Thomas Riggins

A bull in a china shop breaks Ming vases as well as cheap reproductions, so let's look a little closer at this "Pillar of Society." The FBI and law enforcement have been used for two purposes by the state -- to fight common criminals and organised crime on the one hand, and for the political repression of the left and the union movement on the other. It still invariably comes out to arrest, disperse, and sometimes kill demonstrators and strikers when they represent people's movements against corporations or repressive governmental actions especially when civil righs or peace are issues. The FBI has even tried to frame peace activists and civil rights leaders. Trigger happy local law enforcement shoots down minority people with impunity. Trump's motives are certainly not progressive but he is getting a taste of how this Pillar of Society can be turned against anyone the ruling class considers a threat to its dominance and his fluke election and the unpredictability of his actions along with his personal penchant to get along with the Russians and Chinese rather the wholeheartedly support the reactivation of the Cold War outweighs his value to them. Whatever the NYT and its ruling class backers say, it's time this Pillar of Society was completely destroyed and built anew from the ground up.

Trump’s Unparalleled War on a Pillar of Society: Law Enforcement

President Trump has raised fears that he is tearing at the credibility of some of the most important institutions in American life to save himself.

NYTIMES.COM

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