• [OT] Is Cuba going capitalist?

    From Rhino@no_offline_contact@example.com to rec.arts.tv on Sat Jun 20 16:47:43 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.tv

    I just saw this article and am truly shocked: it looks like Cuba is
    making the biggest economic reforms since Fidel took over and they are
    all in the direction of free enterprise!

    https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/cuba-pm-economy-reforms-9.7241016

    Of course it remains to be seen which reforms actually get implemented
    and how quickly they take effect. There may well be massive pushback
    from the vested interests that run things now. But with Raul Castro's
    stamp of approval, it might be tough for anyone to resist these changes.
    Of course, these are politicians and Communists at that so it's entirely possible this is just a sham. But it will be interesting to see what
    happens next.

    Will these reforms be enough to keep the current regime in place? Or
    will Cuba's experience echo that of the Soviet Union where a program of reforms leads to the collapse of the entire regime? Personally, I'm
    hoping for the latter!

    Viva la Cuba libre!
    --
    Rhino

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From BTR1701@atropos@mac.com to rec.arts.tv on Sat Jun 20 21:17:41 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.tv

    On Jun 20, 2026 at 1:47:43 PM PDT, "Rhino" <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:

    I just saw this article and am truly shocked: it looks like Cuba is
    making the biggest economic reforms since Fidel took over and they are
    all in the direction of free enterprise!

    They're scared to death now that the Iran war is winding down that the Eye of Trump will turn toward them. They know if Trump invades, they'll likely spend their remaining years in a Colorado supermax prison, so they're going capitalist in the hopes that will appease him.


    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Capricorne@capricorne@gmail.com to rec.arts.tv on Sat Jun 20 17:36:38 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.tv

    On Jun 20, 2026 at 1:47:43 PM PDT, "Rhino" <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:

    I just saw this article and am truly shocked: it looks like Cuba is
    making the biggest economic reforms since Fidel took over and they are
    all in the direction of free enterprise!

    They're scared to death now that the Iran war is winding down that the Eye of Trump will turn toward them. They know if Trump invades, they'll likely spend their remaining years in a Colorado supermax prison, so they're going capitalist in the hopes that will appease him.


    In 1962, to settle the nuclear missile crisis, John F. Kennedy promised
    that USA will never invade Cuba. USA has to keep his word. Otherwise no countries will never trust USA again.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From BTR1701@atropos@mac.com to rec.arts.tv on Sat Jun 20 21:38:57 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.tv

    On Jun 20, 2026 at 2:36:38 PM PDT, "Capricorne" <capricorne@gmail.com> wrote:

    On Jun 20, 2026 at 1:47:43 PM PDT, "Rhino" <no_offline_contact@example.com> >> wrote:

    I just saw this article and am truly shocked: it looks like Cuba is
    making the biggest economic reforms since Fidel took over and they are >>> all in the direction of free enterprise!

    They're scared to death now that the Iran war is winding down that the Eye >> of
    Trump will turn toward them. They know if Trump invades, they'll likely
    spend
    their remaining years in a Colorado supermax prison, so they're going
    capitalist in the hopes that will appease him.


    In 1962, to settle the nuclear missile crisis, John F. Kennedy promised
    that USA will never invade Cuba. USA has to keep his word. Otherwise no countries will never trust USA again.

    LOL! Good one.


    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Rhino@no_offline_contact@example.com to rec.arts.tv on Sat Jun 20 18:42:05 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.tv

    On 2026-06-20 5:36 p.m., Capricorne wrote:
    On Jun 20, 2026 at 1:47:43 PM PDT, "Rhino"
    <no_offline_contact@example.com>
    wrote:

    I just saw this article and am truly shocked: it looks like Cuba is
    making the biggest economic reforms since Fidel took over and they
    are all in the direction of free enterprise!

    They're scared to death now that the Iran war is winding down that the
    Eye of
    Trump will turn toward them. They know if Trump invades, they'll
    likely spend
    their remaining years in a Colorado supermax prison, so they're going
    capitalist in the hopes that will appease him.


    In 1962, to settle the nuclear missile crisis, John F. Kennedy promised
    that USA will never invade Cuba. USA has to keep his word. Otherwise no countries will never trust USA again.

    It seems to me like a lot of people on the left would say the US is untrustworthy DESPITE keeping its promise to not invade Cuba.

    That aside, Trump would not have to invade Cuba to bring it to its
    knees: it's already there. If he keeps blocking gas and oil - and no
    other country decides to risk America's wrath - Cuba can't help but
    collapse in very short order. Their electrical grid is hanging on by a
    thread when it's working at all. Tourism has stopped almost entirely
    since there's no fuel for the return flights. There's no money coming
    into the Cuban government's treasury. How long can that go on? Not very
    long at all in my opinion unless perhaps they give up on electricity and fossil fuels altogether and try to plough fields and move goods with horses/donkeys/oxen instead of motor vehicles.
    --
    Rhino
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Dimensional Traveler@dtravel@sonic.net to rec.arts.tv on Sat Jun 20 20:54:18 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.tv

    On 6/20/2026 2:36 PM, Capricorne wrote:
    On Jun 20, 2026 at 1:47:43 PM PDT, "Rhino"
    <no_offline_contact@example.com>
    wrote:

    I just saw this article and am truly shocked: it looks like Cuba is
    making the biggest economic reforms since Fidel took over and they
    are all in the direction of free enterprise!

    They're scared to death now that the Iran war is winding down that the
    Eye of
    Trump will turn toward them. They know if Trump invades, they'll
    likely spend
    their remaining years in a Colorado supermax prison, so they're going
    capitalist in the hopes that will appease him.


    In 1962, to settle the nuclear missile crisis, John F. Kennedy promised
    that USA will never invade Cuba. USA has to keep his word. Otherwise no countries will never trust USA again.

    Too late....
    --
    I've done good in this world. Now I'm tired and just want to be a cranky
    dirty old man.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From anim8rfsk@anim8rfsk@cox.net to rec.arts.tv on Sat Jun 20 22:58:57 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.tv

    BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:
    On Jun 20, 2026 at 1:47:43 PM PDT, "Rhino" <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:

    I just saw this article and am truly shocked: it looks like Cuba is
    making the biggest economic reforms since Fidel took over and they are
    all in the direction of free enterprise!

    They're scared to death now that the Iran war is winding down that the Eye of Trump will turn toward them. They know if Trump invades, they'll likely spend their remaining years in a Colorado supermax prison, so they're going capitalist in the hopes that will appease him.


    IrCOd love to ask the cuter Natalie Morales what she thinks of this, but she still hates me.
    --
    The last thing I want to do is hurt you, but it is still on my list.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Ubiquitous@weberm@polaris.net to rec.arts.tv on Sun Jun 21 04:30:45 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.tv

    Rhino wrote:

    I just saw this article and am truly shocked: it looks like Cuba is
    making the biggest economic reforms since Fidel took over and they are
    all in the direction of free enterprise!

    https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/cuba-pm-economy-reforms-9.7241016

    Of course it remains to be seen which reforms actually get implemented
    and how quickly they take effect. There may well be massive pushback
    from the vested interests that run things now. But with Raul Castro's
    stamp of approval, it might be tough for anyone to resist these changes.
    Of course, these are politicians and Communists at that so it's entirely >possible this is just a sham. But it will be interesting to see what
    happens next.

    Will these reforms be enough to keep the current regime in place? Or
    will Cuba's experience echo that of the Soviet Union where a program of >reforms leads to the collapse of the entire regime? Personally, I'm
    hoping for the latter!

    I suspect they know that Trump is gunning fo rthem next, now that Iran
    is concluding.
    --
    Democrats and the liberal media hate President Trump more than they
    love this country.

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Ubiquitous@weberm@polaris.net to rec.arts.tv on Sun Jun 21 04:30:46 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.tv

    capricorne@gmail.com wrote:
    BTR1701 wrote:
    "Rhino" <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:

    I just saw this article and am truly shocked: it looks like Cuba is
    making the biggest economic reforms since Fidel took over and they are
    all in the direction of free enterprise!

    They're scared to death now that the Iran war is winding down that the Eye >> of Trump will turn toward them. They know if Trump invades, they'll likely >> spend their remaining years in a Colorado supermax prison, so they're
    going capitalist in the hopes that will appease him.

    In 1962, to settle the nuclear missile crisis, John F. Kennedy promised
    that USA will never invade Cuba. USA has to keep his word. Otherwise no >countries will never trust USA again.


    TROLL-O-METER

    5* 6* *7
    4* *8
    3* *9
    2* *10
    1* | *stuporous
    0* -*- *catatonic
    * |\ *comatose
    * \ *clinical death
    * \ *biological death
    * _\/ *demonic apparition
    * * *damned for all eternity






    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From The Horny Goat@lcraver@home.ca to rec.arts.tv on Sun Jun 21 21:40:16 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.tv

    On Sat, 20 Jun 2026 18:42:05 -0400, Rhino
    <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:

    In 1962, to settle the nuclear missile crisis, John F. Kennedy promised
    that USA will never invade Cuba. USA has to keep his word. Otherwise no
    countries will never trust USA again.

    It seems to me like a lot of people on the left would say the US is >untrustworthy DESPITE keeping its promise to not invade Cuba.

    That aside, Trump would not have to invade Cuba to bring it to its
    knees: it's already there. If he keeps blocking gas and oil - and no
    other country decides to risk America's wrath - Cuba can't help but
    collapse in very short order. Their electrical grid is hanging on by a >thread when it's working at all. Tourism has stopped almost entirely
    since there's no fuel for the return flights. There's no money coming
    into the Cuban government's treasury. How long can that go on? Not very
    long at all in my opinion unless perhaps they give up on electricity and >fossil fuels altogether and try to plough fields and move goods with >horses/donkeys/oxen instead of motor vehicles.

    Certainly if Trump does so his successors will blame it all on him and
    go on from there.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Rhino@no_offline_contact@example.com to rec.arts.tv on Tue Jun 23 21:10:50 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.tv

    On 2026-06-21 4:30 a.m., Ubiquitous wrote:
    Rhino wrote:

    I just saw this article and am truly shocked: it looks like Cuba is
    making the biggest economic reforms since Fidel took over and they are
    all in the direction of free enterprise!

    https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/cuba-pm-economy-reforms-9.7241016

    Of course it remains to be seen which reforms actually get implemented
    and how quickly they take effect. There may well be massive pushback
    from the vested interests that run things now. But with Raul Castro's
    stamp of approval, it might be tough for anyone to resist these changes.
    Of course, these are politicians and Communists at that so it's entirely
    possible this is just a sham. But it will be interesting to see what
    happens next.

    Will these reforms be enough to keep the current regime in place? Or
    will Cuba's experience echo that of the Soviet Union where a program of
    reforms leads to the collapse of the entire regime? Personally, I'm
    hoping for the latter!

    I suspect they know that Trump is gunning fo rthem next, now that Iran
    is concluding.

    Oh my, this open Marxist is absolutely furious that Cuba is (apparently) giving up the ghost on "socialism".

    https://marxist.com/faced-with-unbearable-imperialist-pressure-cuba-moves-towards-capitalist-restoration.htm

    I'm betting the bozo who wrote this is a college professor who's never
    even travelled to a Marxist country and is just spouting this nonsense
    based on "established Marxist theory". If he had been to a place like
    Cuba and seen how poorly they live - compared to how comfortably he can
    live in an "imperialist" country - he'd probably give up on Marxism on
    the spot. Or at least he would if he were a decent person, although
    that's not too likely if he can spout this sort of fantasy about how
    wonderful it can be in a Marxist country.

    I'm looking forward to watching Cuba blossom as their current broken
    system gets replaced by a new, vibrant one that lifts them out of the destitution they've endured for decades. Cuba was one of the richest
    places in the Western hemisphere when Cuba took over; now it is rivalled
    only by Haiti for poorest.
    --
    Rhino
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From BTR1701@atropos@mac.com to rec.arts.tv on Wed Jun 24 03:01:04 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.tv

    On Jun 23, 2026 at 6:10:50 PM PDT, "Rhino" <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:

    On 2026-06-21 4:30 a.m., Ubiquitous wrote:
    Rhino wrote:

    I just saw this article and am truly shocked: it looks like Cuba is
    making the biggest economic reforms since Fidel took over and they are
    all in the direction of free enterprise!

    https://www.cbc.ca/news/world/cuba-pm-economy-reforms-9.7241016

    Of course it remains to be seen which reforms actually get implemented
    and how quickly they take effect. There may well be massive pushback
    from the vested interests that run things now. But with Raul Castro's
    stamp of approval, it might be tough for anyone to resist these changes. >>> Of course, these are politicians and Communists at that so it's entirely >>> possible this is just a sham. But it will be interesting to see what
    happens next.

    Will these reforms be enough to keep the current regime in place? Or
    will Cuba's experience echo that of the Soviet Union where a program of >>> reforms leads to the collapse of the entire regime? Personally, I'm
    hoping for the latter!

    I suspect they know that Trump is gunning fo rthem next, now that Iran
    is concluding.

    Oh my, this open Marxist is absolutely furious that Cuba is (apparently) giving up the ghost on "socialism".


    https://marxist.com/faced-with-unbearable-imperialist-pressure-cuba-moves-towards-capitalist-restoration.htm
    I'm betting the bozo who wrote this is a college professor who's never
    even travelled to a Marxist country and is just spouting this nonsense
    based on "established Marxist theory". If he had been to a place like
    Cuba and seen how poorly they live - compared to how comfortably he can
    live in an "imperialist" country - he'd probably give up on Marxism on
    the spot. Or at least he would if he were a decent person, although
    that's not too likely if he can spout this sort of fantasy about how wonderful it can be in a Marxist country.

    I'm looking forward to watching Cuba blossom as their current broken
    system gets replaced by a new, vibrant one that lifts them out of the destitution they've endured for decades. Cuba was one of the richest
    places in the Western hemisphere when Cuba took over; now it is rivalled only by Haiti for poorest.

    Let us begin by describing the measures approved:

    --The end of state planning of the economy, and the allocation of resources by the state to be replaced by "policy signals for all economic actors" (public and private) and the primacy of "market signals".

    --The end of the foreign trade monopoly.

    --"Transforming socialist state-owned enterprises into commercial companies with shares or equity interests" and allowing private capital, both domestic and foreign, to purchase their shares.

    --State-owned enterprises will have complete autonomy to decide their investment policy, their sectors of activity, their workers' wages and the
    sale of their assets to the private sector; they will set their prices in accordance with costs, and those that do not turn a profit will be wound up.

    --The creation of a private banking and financial sector.

    --The unlimited expansion of sectors open to private investment, both domestic and foreign.

    --Indefinite usufruct of land by private actors.

    --The abolition of universal subsidies, which will be replaced by targeted support for vulnerable people.

    --The relaxation of dismissal rules and the introduction of an unemployment benefit lasting between three and six months.

    --Carry out successive devaluations of the national currency to reduce
    exchange rate differentials. Companies unable to withstand the devaluation
    will be wound up.

    --Allow private companies to employ more than 100 workers.

    --Allow real estate firms to carry out sales and purchases of residential properties.

    --Allow foreign investors to have full access to their foreign currency earnings, operate flexibly within an environment of partial dollarisation of the economy, and grant them access to the foreign exchange market.

    --Allow all forms of business to operate in the Cayos, the heritage areas of Old Havana and Trinidad.

    --Allow property development in all the country's tourist areas.

    --Invite fast-food franchises to invest in the country.


    Wow. They must be really scared they'll end up next-door neighbors with
    Maduro.

    Hasan Piker is in mourning. Right after he made a highly-publicized trip to Havana to shill for the communist party, a trip that triggered a DOJ investigation and which might land him in the pokey, they go capitalist, so he put himself on the line for nothing.


    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Adam H. Kerman@ahk@chinet.com to rec.arts.tv on Wed Jun 24 06:08:46 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.tv

    BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:

    Let us begin by describing the measures approved:

    --The end of state planning of the economy, and the allocation of resources by >the state to be replaced by "policy signals for all economic actors" (public >and private) and the primacy of "market signals".

    Doesn't sound like Adam Smith to me. btw, it's also the 250th
    anniversary of The Wealth of Nations.

    --The end of the foreign trade monopoly.

    What about onerous customs inspections?

    --"Transforming socialist state-owned enterprises into commercial companies >with shares or equity interests" and allowing private capital, both domestic >and foreign, to purchase their shares.

    Hahahahaha

    Cuba's version of corrupt Ukrainian and Russian oligarchs all paying
    bribes to the state security service

    Can I point something out? An oligarch is not a capitalist. A capitalist
    is someone who started a business enterprise with his own savings from
    prior work. An oligarch is merely receiving a transfer of state-owned
    assets. You are actually better off with a state-owned enterprise
    getting out from under central planning and learning the business of
    business, then distributing shares to the citizens like the Alaska
    Permanent Fund.

    --State-owned enterprises will have complete autonomy to decide their >investment policy, their sectors of activity, their workers' wages and the >sale of their assets to the private sector; they will set their prices in >accordance with costs, and those that do not turn a profit will be wound up.

    Will competitors be allowed to enter the market?

    --The creation of a private banking and financial sector.

    Sigh

    Too bad it won't be a Bank of Dave thing.

    --The unlimited expansion of sectors open to private investment, both domestic >and foreign.

    Note that no one is discussing access to land.

    --Indefinite usufruct of land by private actors.

    How will economic rent be assessed? This is exactly what happened in
    Russia, and to a lesser extent in Ukraine, when they went into
    corruption instead of a purely capitalist society.

    --The abolition of universal subsidies, which will be replaced by targeted >support for vulnerable people.

    Finally! Can we get that in the United States?

    --The relaxation of dismissal rules and the introduction of an unemployment >benefit lasting between three and six months.

    Sometimes heads must roll.

    --Carry out successive devaluations of the national currency to reduce >exchange rate differentials. Companies unable to withstand the devaluation >will be wound up.

    Oh for fuck's sake. Cuba is in no position to have a freely-traded
    currency. They need a reasonable transition period, or use the US
    dollar.

    --Allow private companies to employ more than 100 workers.

    I'd forgotten that restriction.

    --Allow real estate firms to carry out sales and purchases of residential >properties.

    --Allow foreign investors to have full access to their foreign currency >earnings, operate flexibly within an environment of partial dollarisation of >the economy, and grant them access to the foreign exchange market.

    Hahahahahaha

    Everybody still remembers the confiscation in 1959. Is anybody getting
    any property back? Unless they finally do that, they won't be trusted.

    --Allow all forms of business to operate in the Cayos, the heritage areas of >Old Havana and Trinidad.

    Ok

    --Allow property development in all the country's tourist areas.

    --Invite fast-food franchises to invest in the country.

    Let's ruin everyone's health.

    I missed Havana getting a Major League baseball team. Only then will it
    be clear that they are fully integrated into the economy.

    Wow. They must be really scared they'll end up next-door neighbors with >Maduro.

    Hasan Piker is in mourning. Right after he made a highly-publicized trip to >Havana to shill for the communist party, a trip that triggered a DOJ >investigation and which might land him in the pokey, they go capitalist, so he >put himself on the line for nothing.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From BTR1701@atropos@mac.com to rec.arts.tv on Wed Jun 24 23:34:28 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.tv

    On Jun 20, 2026 at 3:42:05 PM PDT, "Rhino" <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:

    On 2026-06-20 5:36 p.m., Capricorne wrote:
    On Jun 20, 2026 at 1:47:43 PM PDT, "Rhino"
    <no_offline_contact@example.com>
    wrote:

    I just saw this article and am truly shocked: it looks like Cuba is
    making the biggest economic reforms since Fidel took over and they
    are all in the direction of free enterprise!

    They're scared to death now that the Iran war is winding down that the >>> Eye of
    Trump will turn toward them. They know if Trump invades, they'll
    likely spend
    their remaining years in a Colorado supermax prison, so they're going
    capitalist in the hopes that will appease him.


    In 1962, to settle the nuclear missile crisis, John F. Kennedy promised
    that USA will never invade Cuba. USA has to keep his word. Otherwise no
    countries will never trust USA again.

    It seems to me like a lot of people on the left would say the US is untrustworthy DESPITE keeping its promise to not invade Cuba.

    That aside, Trump would not have to invade Cuba to bring it to its
    knees: it's already there. If he keeps blocking gas and oil - and no
    other country decides to risk America's wrath - Cuba can't help but
    collapse in very short order. Their electrical grid is hanging on by a thread when it's working at all. Tourism has stopped almost entirely
    since there's no fuel for the return flights. There's no money coming
    into the Cuban government's treasury. How long can that go on? Not very
    long at all in my opinion unless perhaps they give up on electricity and fossil fuels altogether and try to plough fields and move goods with horses/donkeys/oxen instead of motor vehicles.

    If you'd told me in 2005 that in 2026, New York City would have a Islamo-communist Ugandan mayor and be electing open communists to Congress, while at the same time, Cuba was embracing capitalism, I'd have laughed you
    out of the room.


    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Rhino@no_offline_contact@example.com to rec.arts.tv on Wed Jun 24 22:25:45 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.tv

    On 2026-06-24 7:34 p.m., BTR1701 wrote:
    On Jun 20, 2026 at 3:42:05 PM PDT, "Rhino" <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:

    On 2026-06-20 5:36 p.m., Capricorne wrote:
    On Jun 20, 2026 at 1:47:43 PM PDT, "Rhino"
    <no_offline_contact@example.com>
    wrote:

    I just saw this article and am truly shocked: it looks like Cuba is >>>>> making the biggest economic reforms since Fidel took over and they >>>>> are all in the direction of free enterprise!

    They're scared to death now that the Iran war is winding down that the >>>> Eye of
    Trump will turn toward them. They know if Trump invades, they'll
    likely spend
    their remaining years in a Colorado supermax prison, so they're going >>>> capitalist in the hopes that will appease him.


    In 1962, to settle the nuclear missile crisis, John F. Kennedy promised >>> that USA will never invade Cuba. USA has to keep his word. Otherwise no >>> countries will never trust USA again.

    It seems to me like a lot of people on the left would say the US is
    untrustworthy DESPITE keeping its promise to not invade Cuba.

    That aside, Trump would not have to invade Cuba to bring it to its
    knees: it's already there. If he keeps blocking gas and oil - and no
    other country decides to risk America's wrath - Cuba can't help but
    collapse in very short order. Their electrical grid is hanging on by a
    thread when it's working at all. Tourism has stopped almost entirely
    since there's no fuel for the return flights. There's no money coming
    into the Cuban government's treasury. How long can that go on? Not very
    long at all in my opinion unless perhaps they give up on electricity and
    fossil fuels altogether and try to plough fields and move goods with
    horses/donkeys/oxen instead of motor vehicles.

    If you'd told me in 2005 that in 2026, New York City would have a Islamo-communist Ugandan mayor and be electing open communists to Congress, while at the same time, Cuba was embracing capitalism, I'd have laughed you out of the room.


    It seems like a lot of the world is finally waking from its slumber and starting to turn against the status quo, whether it is the EU Parliament finally taking steps to stop uncontrolled immigration or the Cuban
    people finally shaking off the chains of "socialism", yet the young
    people in the West are embracing nonsense like trans-genderism and that
    idea that communism is a really good idea despite millions of deaths
    proving the exact opposite.
    --
    Rhino
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From BTR1701@atropos@mac.com to rec.arts.tv on Sat Jun 27 06:29:10 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.tv

    On Jun 24, 2026 at 7:25:45 PM PDT, "Rhino" <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:

    On 2026-06-24 7:34 p.m., BTR1701 wrote:
    On Jun 20, 2026 at 3:42:05 PM PDT, "Rhino" <no_offline_contact@example.com> >> wrote:

    On 2026-06-20 5:36 p.m., Capricorne wrote:
    On Jun 20, 2026 at 1:47:43 PM PDT, "Rhino"
    <no_offline_contact@example.com>
    wrote:

    I just saw this article and am truly shocked: it looks like Cuba is >>>>>> making the biggest economic reforms since Fidel took over and they >>>>>> are all in the direction of free enterprise!

    They're scared to death now that the Iran war is winding down that the >>>>> Eye of
    Trump will turn toward them. They know if Trump invades, they'll
    likely spend
    their remaining years in a Colorado supermax prison, so they're going >>>>> capitalist in the hopes that will appease him.


    In 1962, to settle the nuclear missile crisis, John F. Kennedy promised >>>> that USA will never invade Cuba. USA has to keep his word. Otherwise no >>>> countries will never trust USA again.

    It seems to me like a lot of people on the left would say the US is
    untrustworthy DESPITE keeping its promise to not invade Cuba.

    That aside, Trump would not have to invade Cuba to bring it to its
    knees: it's already there. If he keeps blocking gas and oil - and no
    other country decides to risk America's wrath - Cuba can't help but
    collapse in very short order. Their electrical grid is hanging on by a
    thread when it's working at all. Tourism has stopped almost entirely
    since there's no fuel for the return flights. There's no money coming
    into the Cuban government's treasury. How long can that go on? Not very >>> long at all in my opinion unless perhaps they give up on electricity and >>> fossil fuels altogether and try to plough fields and move goods with
    horses/donkeys/oxen instead of motor vehicles.

    If you'd told me in 2005 that in 2026, New York City would have a
    Islamo-communist Ugandan mayor and be electing open communists to Congress, >> while at the same time, Cuba was embracing capitalism, I'd have laughed you >> out of the room.


    It seems like a lot of the world is finally waking from its slumber and starting to turn against the status quo, whether it is the EU Parliament finally taking steps to stop uncontrolled immigration or the Cuban
    people finally shaking off the chains of "socialism", yet the young
    people in the West are embracing nonsense like trans-genderism and that idea that communism is a really good idea despite millions of deaths
    proving the exact opposite.

    Meet Darializa Avila Chevalier, the newly-elected Mamdani-endorsed DSA member of Congress:

    https://ibb.co/QsW0DPD

    A self-proclaimed communist born in Florida to Dominican immigrants, she converted to Islam and says that Palestine is the most important issue in her life.

    She uses the American flag as a rag to clean dirt off her hands.

    She attended a rally one day after October 7, celebrating the slaughter of Israeli civilians.

    She's called white women 'ugly colonizers'. One assumes she has no higher opinion of white men, either.

    She wants the police and prisons abolished. Not defunded. She's made it clear that when she says abolished, that's exactly what she means. She wrote, "No,
    it means ending policing full stop. Period. No more police at all, ever," followed by "ALL PIGS ARE HARAM".

    She believes that no deportations, including of convicted criminals, are justified. (A position that she would, of course, immediately abandon if the majority of immigrants were white people.) In fact, she's gone on to claim
    that convicted criminals have *greater* constitutional protections against deportation than run-of-the-mill illegal aliens because deporting them after they serve time for their crimes violates double jeopardy.

    She hates the police and has repeatedly referred to them as pigs. She calls U.S. military service members war criminals and says the United States is a disgrace of a country.

    During the Wuhan Flu period, she called for a sweeping government takeover of large parts of the national economy. She advocated for the nationalization of utilities, hospitals, and pharmaceutical companies; the suspension of rent and mortgage payments; the dissolution of all private health insurance; and the seizure of all rental properties from landlords nationwide. "Seize the means
    of production," she wrote, quoting the foundational principle of Marxism.

    When she was at Colombia University, she posted the following on the law school's internal chat app:

    We are Westerners fighting for the total eradication of
    Western civilization. We stand in full solidarity with every
    movement for liberation in the Global South. Our Intifada
    is an internationalist one-- we are fighting for nothing less
    than the liberation of all people.

    As the fascism ingrained in the American consciousness
    becomes every more explicit and irrefutable, we seek
    community and instruction from militants in the Global South
    who have been on the frontlines in the fight against the
    tyranny and domination which undergird the imperialist
    world order.

    Did you notice the bit about seeking instruction from militants? She doesn't want a political revolution. She wants one of violence, soaked in blood. Gone are the days when New York politicians campaigned on safe parks and clean streets. Now New York's leaders are soliciting lessons from warlords in Africa and Latin America and other renowned experts in killing white people.

    She only ran in New York because she knows she wouldn't stand a chance in Florida.

    When she takes her seat in Congress, does anyone really think she will prioritize (or even care about) the interests of the American people? Or will she work to undermine the country from within?


    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Rhino@no_offline_contact@example.com to rec.arts.tv on Sat Jun 27 14:12:04 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.tv

    On 2026-06-27 2:29 a.m., BTR1701 wrote:
    On Jun 24, 2026 at 7:25:45 PM PDT, "Rhino" <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:

    On 2026-06-24 7:34 p.m., BTR1701 wrote:
    On Jun 20, 2026 at 3:42:05 PM PDT, "Rhino" <no_offline_contact@example.com>
    wrote:

    On 2026-06-20 5:36 p.m., Capricorne wrote:
    On Jun 20, 2026 at 1:47:43 PM PDT, "Rhino"
    <no_offline_contact@example.com>
    wrote:

    I just saw this article and am truly shocked: it looks like Cuba is >>>>>>> making the biggest economic reforms since Fidel took over and they >>>>>>> are all in the direction of free enterprise!

    They're scared to death now that the Iran war is winding down that the
    Eye of
    Trump will turn toward them. They know if Trump invades, they'll >>>>>> likely spend
    their remaining years in a Colorado supermax prison, so they're going
    capitalist in the hopes that will appease him.


    In 1962, to settle the nuclear missile crisis, John F. Kennedy promised
    that USA will never invade Cuba. USA has to keep his word. Otherwise no
    countries will never trust USA again.

    It seems to me like a lot of people on the left would say the US is
    untrustworthy DESPITE keeping its promise to not invade Cuba.

    That aside, Trump would not have to invade Cuba to bring it to its
    knees: it's already there. If he keeps blocking gas and oil - and no >>>> other country decides to risk America's wrath - Cuba can't help but
    collapse in very short order. Their electrical grid is hanging on by a >>>> thread when it's working at all. Tourism has stopped almost entirely >>>> since there's no fuel for the return flights. There's no money coming >>>> into the Cuban government's treasury. How long can that go on? Not very >>>> long at all in my opinion unless perhaps they give up on electricity and >>>> fossil fuels altogether and try to plough fields and move goods with >>>> horses/donkeys/oxen instead of motor vehicles.

    If you'd told me in 2005 that in 2026, New York City would have a
    Islamo-communist Ugandan mayor and be electing open communists to Congress,
    while at the same time, Cuba was embracing capitalism, I'd have laughed you
    out of the room.


    It seems like a lot of the world is finally waking from its slumber and
    starting to turn against the status quo, whether it is the EU Parliament
    finally taking steps to stop uncontrolled immigration or the Cuban
    people finally shaking off the chains of "socialism", yet the young
    people in the West are embracing nonsense like trans-genderism and that
    idea that communism is a really good idea despite millions of deaths
    proving the exact opposite.

    Meet Darializa Avila Chevalier, the newly-elected Mamdani-endorsed DSA member of Congress:

    https://ibb.co/QsW0DPD

    A self-proclaimed communist born in Florida to Dominican immigrants, she converted to Islam and says that Palestine is the most important issue in her life.

    She uses the American flag as a rag to clean dirt off her hands.

    She attended a rally one day after October 7, celebrating the slaughter of Israeli civilians.

    She's called white women 'ugly colonizers'. One assumes she has no higher opinion of white men, either.

    She wants the police and prisons abolished. Not defunded. She's made it clear that when she says abolished, that's exactly what she means. She wrote, "No, it means ending policing full stop. Period. No more police at all, ever," followed by "ALL PIGS ARE HARAM".

    She believes that no deportations, including of convicted criminals, are justified. (A position that she would, of course, immediately abandon if the majority of immigrants were white people.) In fact, she's gone on to claim that convicted criminals have *greater* constitutional protections against deportation than run-of-the-mill illegal aliens because deporting them after they serve time for their crimes violates double jeopardy.

    She hates the police and has repeatedly referred to them as pigs. She calls U.S. military service members war criminals and says the United States is a disgrace of a country.

    During the Wuhan Flu period, she called for a sweeping government takeover of large parts of the national economy. She advocated for the nationalization of utilities, hospitals, and pharmaceutical companies; the suspension of rent and
    mortgage payments; the dissolution of all private health insurance; and the seizure of all rental properties from landlords nationwide. "Seize the means of production," she wrote, quoting the foundational principle of Marxism.

    When she was at Colombia University, she posted the following on the law school's internal chat app:

    We are Westerners fighting for the total eradication of
    Western civilization. We stand in full solidarity with every
    movement for liberation in the Global South. Our Intifada
    is an internationalist one-- we are fighting for nothing less
    than the liberation of all people.

    As the fascism ingrained in the American consciousness
    becomes every more explicit and irrefutable, we seek
    community and instruction from militants in the Global South
    who have been on the frontlines in the fight against the
    tyranny and domination which undergird the imperialist
    world order.

    Did you notice the bit about seeking instruction from militants? She doesn't want a political revolution. She wants one of violence, soaked in blood. Gone are the days when New York politicians campaigned on safe parks and clean streets. Now New York's leaders are soliciting lessons from warlords in Africa
    and Latin America and other renowned experts in killing white people.

    She only ran in New York because she knows she wouldn't stand a chance in Florida.

    When she takes her seat in Congress, does anyone really think she will prioritize (or even care about) the interests of the American people? Or will she work to undermine the country from within?


    Where the hell were the sane people in her district when they had the
    primary? This woman is the complete antithesis of sanity.
    --
    Rhino
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Adam H. Kerman@ahk@chinet.com to rec.arts.tv on Sat Jun 27 19:34:32 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.tv

    Rhino <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:

    . . .

    Where the hell were the sane people in her district when they had the >primary? This woman is the complete antithesis of sanity.

    No. She appeals to voters who went to similar colleges.

    Modern socialists are not trying to appeal to the working class, but college-educated voters. When I was a yout', a liberal arts degree
    taught an appreciation of arts and letters. Students were taught
    critical thinking skills and 0hilosophy and how to express a
    well-reasoned idea. I don't understand how modern liberal arts turned
    into socialism studies without exploring any other ideas.

    A political analysis pointed out that to the extent New York still has
    working class neighborhoods, they aren't voting for Democrats who are anti-Semitic and socialist.

    The insanity is what younger college-educated types want.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From BTR1701@atropos@mac.com to rec.arts.tv on Sat Jun 27 20:03:46 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.tv

    On Jun 27, 2026 at 12:34:32 PM PDT, ""Adam H. Kerman"" <ahk@chinet.com>
    wrote:

    Rhino <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:

    . . .

    Where the hell were the sane people in her district when they had the
    primary? This woman is the complete antithesis of sanity.

    No. She appeals to voters who went to similar colleges.

    Modern socialists are not trying to appeal to the working class, but college-educated voters.

    When I was a yout', a liberal arts degree
    taught an appreciation of arts and letters. Students were taught
    critical thinking skills and 0hilosophy and how to express a
    well-reasoned idea. I don't understand how modern liberal arts turned
    into socialism studies without exploring any other ideas.

    A political analysis pointed out that to the extent New York still has working class neighborhoods, they aren't voting for Democrats who are anti-Semitic and socialist.

    The insanity is what younger college-educated types want.

    Indeed. If you look at the demographic breakdown of those who voted for this commie bitch, it's GenZs and millennials, but not the ones who are struggling to find jobs and buy homes. It's the upper-middle class and wealthy ones who are going full commie. Which doesn't make any sense whatsoever, but those are the numbers.


    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From danny burstein@dannyb@panix.com to rec.arts.tv on Sat Jun 27 20:06:28 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.tv

    In <111p3pk$34e7g$1@dont-email.me> Rhino <no_offline_contact@example.com> writes:

    [snip]

    repeating five fucking screensfull of text just to add two
    lines of stupidity.

    Yawnt
    --
    _____________________________________________________
    Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key
    dannyb@panix.com
    [to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded]
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Adam H. Kerman@ahk@chinet.com to rec.arts.tv on Sat Jun 27 21:40:32 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.tv

    danny burstein <dannyb@panix.com> wrote:
    Rhino <no_offline_contact@example.com> writes:

    [snip]

    repeating five fucking screensfull of text just to add two
    lines of stupidity.

    Yawnt

    I'm not happy with, If you aren't running as an anti-Semite, you can't
    get the Democratic nomination in a place where a great deal of the
    world's remaining Jews live.
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Rhino@no_offline_contact@example.com to rec.arts.tv on Sun Jun 28 10:45:29 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.tv

    On 2026-06-27 2:29 a.m., BTR1701 wrote:
    On Jun 24, 2026 at 7:25:45 PM PDT, "Rhino" <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:

    On 2026-06-24 7:34 p.m., BTR1701 wrote:
    On Jun 20, 2026 at 3:42:05 PM PDT, "Rhino" <no_offline_contact@example.com>
    wrote:

    On 2026-06-20 5:36 p.m., Capricorne wrote:
    On Jun 20, 2026 at 1:47:43 PM PDT, "Rhino"
    <no_offline_contact@example.com>
    wrote:

    I just saw this article and am truly shocked: it looks like Cuba is >>>>>>> making the biggest economic reforms since Fidel took over and they >>>>>>> are all in the direction of free enterprise!

    They're scared to death now that the Iran war is winding down that the
    Eye of
    Trump will turn toward them. They know if Trump invades, they'll >>>>>> likely spend
    their remaining years in a Colorado supermax prison, so they're going
    capitalist in the hopes that will appease him.


    In 1962, to settle the nuclear missile crisis, John F. Kennedy promised
    that USA will never invade Cuba. USA has to keep his word. Otherwise no
    countries will never trust USA again.

    It seems to me like a lot of people on the left would say the US is
    untrustworthy DESPITE keeping its promise to not invade Cuba.

    That aside, Trump would not have to invade Cuba to bring it to its
    knees: it's already there. If he keeps blocking gas and oil - and no >>>> other country decides to risk America's wrath - Cuba can't help but
    collapse in very short order. Their electrical grid is hanging on by a >>>> thread when it's working at all. Tourism has stopped almost entirely >>>> since there's no fuel for the return flights. There's no money coming >>>> into the Cuban government's treasury. How long can that go on? Not very >>>> long at all in my opinion unless perhaps they give up on electricity and >>>> fossil fuels altogether and try to plough fields and move goods with >>>> horses/donkeys/oxen instead of motor vehicles.

    If you'd told me in 2005 that in 2026, New York City would have a
    Islamo-communist Ugandan mayor and be electing open communists to Congress,
    while at the same time, Cuba was embracing capitalism, I'd have laughed you
    out of the room.


    It seems like a lot of the world is finally waking from its slumber and
    starting to turn against the status quo, whether it is the EU Parliament
    finally taking steps to stop uncontrolled immigration or the Cuban
    people finally shaking off the chains of "socialism", yet the young
    people in the West are embracing nonsense like trans-genderism and that
    idea that communism is a really good idea despite millions of deaths
    proving the exact opposite.

    Meet Darializa Avila Chevalier, the newly-elected Mamdani-endorsed DSA member of Congress:

    https://ibb.co/QsW0DPD

    A self-proclaimed communist born in Florida to Dominican immigrants, she converted to Islam and says that Palestine is the most important issue in her life.

    She uses the American flag as a rag to clean dirt off her hands.

    She attended a rally one day after October 7, celebrating the slaughter of Israeli civilians.

    She's called white women 'ugly colonizers'. One assumes she has no higher opinion of white men, either.

    She wants the police and prisons abolished. Not defunded. She's made it clear that when she says abolished, that's exactly what she means. She wrote, "No, it means ending policing full stop. Period. No more police at all, ever," followed by "ALL PIGS ARE HARAM".

    She believes that no deportations, including of convicted criminals, are justified. (A position that she would, of course, immediately abandon if the majority of immigrants were white people.) In fact, she's gone on to claim that convicted criminals have *greater* constitutional protections against deportation than run-of-the-mill illegal aliens because deporting them after they serve time for their crimes violates double jeopardy.

    She hates the police and has repeatedly referred to them as pigs. She calls U.S. military service members war criminals and says the United States is a disgrace of a country.

    During the Wuhan Flu period, she called for a sweeping government takeover of large parts of the national economy. She advocated for the nationalization of utilities, hospitals, and pharmaceutical companies; the suspension of rent and
    mortgage payments; the dissolution of all private health insurance; and the seizure of all rental properties from landlords nationwide. "Seize the means of production," she wrote, quoting the foundational principle of Marxism.

    When she was at Colombia University, she posted the following on the law school's internal chat app:

    We are Westerners fighting for the total eradication of
    Western civilization. We stand in full solidarity with every
    movement for liberation in the Global South. Our Intifada
    is an internationalist one-- we are fighting for nothing less
    than the liberation of all people.

    As the fascism ingrained in the American consciousness
    becomes every more explicit and irrefutable, we seek
    community and instruction from militants in the Global South
    who have been on the frontlines in the fight against the
    tyranny and domination which undergird the imperialist
    world order.

    Did you notice the bit about seeking instruction from militants? She doesn't want a political revolution. She wants one of violence, soaked in blood. Gone are the days when New York politicians campaigned on safe parks and clean streets. Now New York's leaders are soliciting lessons from warlords in Africa
    and Latin America and other renowned experts in killing white people.

    She only ran in New York because she knows she wouldn't stand a chance in Florida.

    When she takes her seat in Congress, does anyone really think she will prioritize (or even care about) the interests of the American people? Or will she work to undermine the country from within?


    This is the kind of "activist" that was highly prized - by Stalin -
    during the collectivization campaign that forced the peasants, who
    comprised 90% of the Soviet population, into so-called collective farms
    where the land belonged to the state, not the peasant, and they became employees and producers of food rather than owners of their land. The distinction is critical because a land owner can help himself to some of
    what he produces because he needs to eat and feed his family too; an
    employee has no say on what is grown or what is done with it. Then
    Stalin ordered everything grown on the collective farms seized by
    brigades of armed "militants" and taken to the cities to feed the
    proletariat (properly-speaking the Proletariat was ONLY the industrial workers) after siphoning off the best of the food for members of the
    Party. And when I say everything, I do mean everything.

    I'm just re-reading one of the very best short books on the Soviet collectivization campaign at just 347 pages, excluding end notes. Here
    is an excerpt illustrating the attitude of the activists as they
    expropriated everything edible by force from peasants.

    =========================================================================
    An activist recalls,

    I heard the children... choking, coughing with screams. And I saw the
    looks of the men: frightened, pleading, hateful, dully impassive,
    extinguished with despair or flaring up with half-mad, daring ferocity.

    'Take it. Take everything away. There's still a pot of borscht on the
    stove. It's plain, got no meat. But still it's got beets, taters 'n'
    cabbage. And it's salted! Better take it, comrade citizens! Here, hang
    on. I'll take off my shoes. They're patched and re-patched but maybe
    they'll have some use for the proletariat for our dear Soviet power'.

    It was excruciating to see and hear all this. And even worse to take
    part in it... And I persuaded myself, explained it to myself. I mustn't
    give in to debilitating pity. We were realizing historical necessity. We
    were performing our revolutionary duty. We were obtaining grain for the socialist fatherland. For the Five Year Plan.

    With the rest of my generation, I firmly believed that the ends
    justified the means. Our great goal was the universal triumph of
    Communism and for the sake of that goal, everything was permissible - to
    lie, to steal, to destroy hundreds of thousands and even millions of
    people, all those who were hindering our work or could hinder it,
    everyone who stood in the way. And to hesitate or doubt about all this
    was to give in to 'intellectual squeamishness' and 'stupid liberalism',
    the attribute of people who 'could not see the forest for the trees'.

    That was how I had reasoned, and everyone like me, even when...I saw
    what 'total collectivization' meant - how they 'kulakized' and
    'dekulakized',

    [People who had even a tiny bit more than others or who didn't want to
    go along with the Communist program were deemed "kulaks", class enemies
    of the Communists who were essentially proto-capitalists. The people
    deemed kulaks could then be 'dekulakized', which involved stripping them
    of ALL of their belongings and either shooting them outright or sending
    them to some remote spot of exile on a "sink or swim" basis where most
    sank because they were put on barren land and deprived of any resources
    to build housing or feed themselves.]

    how they mercilessly stripped the peasants in the winter of 1932-1933. I
    took part in this myself, scouring the countryside, searching for hidden grain, testing the earth with an iron rod for loose spots that might
    lead to buried grain. With the others, I emptied out the old folks'
    storage chests, stopping my ears to the childrens' crying and the
    women's wails. For I was convinced that I was accomplishing the great
    and necessary transformation of the countryside; that in the days to
    come the people who lived there would be better off for it; that their distress and suffering were a result of their own ignorance or the machinations of the class enemy; that those who sent me - and I myself -
    knew better that the peasants how they should live, what they should
    sow, and when they should plough.

    In the terrible spring of 1933 I saw people dying from hunger. I saw
    women and children with distended bellies, turning blue, still breathing
    but with vacant, lifeless eyes. And corpses - corpses in ragged
    sheepskin coats and cheap felt boots; corpses in peasant huts, in the
    melting snow of the old Vologda, under the bridges of Kharkov...I saw
    all this and did not go out of my mind or commit suicide. Nor did I
    curse those who had sent me out to take away the peasants grain in the
    winter, and in the spring to persuade the barely walking, skeleton-thin
    or sickly-swollen people to go into the fields in order to 'fulfil the bolshevik sowing plan in shock-worker style'.

    Nor did I lose my faith. As before, I believed because I wanted to believe. =========================================================================

    THAT is the sort of person this Chevalier woman is. THAT is who her constituents have decided should represent them. THAT sort of program is
    what they want for America.
    --
    Rhino
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From BTR1701@atropos@mac.com to rec.arts.tv on Sun Jun 28 17:44:45 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.tv

    On Jun 28, 2026 at 7:45:29 AM PDT, "Rhino" <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:

    On 2026-06-27 2:29 a.m., BTR1701 wrote:
    On Jun 24, 2026 at 7:25:45 PM PDT, "Rhino" <no_offline_contact@example.com> >> wrote:

    On 2026-06-24 7:34 p.m., BTR1701 wrote:
    On Jun 20, 2026 at 3:42:05 PM PDT, "Rhino"
    <no_offline_contact@example.com>
    wrote:

    On 2026-06-20 5:36 p.m., Capricorne wrote:
    On Jun 20, 2026 at 1:47:43 PM PDT, "Rhino"
    <no_offline_contact@example.com>
    wrote:

    I just saw this article and am truly shocked: it looks like Cuba is
    making the biggest economic reforms since Fidel took over and they
    are all in the direction of free enterprise!

    They're scared to death now that the Iran war is winding down that the
    Eye of
    Trump will turn toward them. They know if Trump invades, they'll >>>>>>> likely spend
    their remaining years in a Colorado supermax prison, so they're going
    capitalist in the hopes that will appease him.


    In 1962, to settle the nuclear missile crisis, John F. Kennedy promised
    that USA will never invade Cuba. USA has to keep his word. Otherwise no
    countries will never trust USA again.

    It seems to me like a lot of people on the left would say the US is >>>>> untrustworthy DESPITE keeping its promise to not invade Cuba.

    That aside, Trump would not have to invade Cuba to bring it to its >>>>> knees: it's already there. If he keeps blocking gas and oil - and no >>>>> other country decides to risk America's wrath - Cuba can't help but >>>>> collapse in very short order. Their electrical grid is hanging on by a >>>>> thread when it's working at all. Tourism has stopped almost entirely >>>>> since there's no fuel for the return flights. There's no money coming >>>>> into the Cuban government's treasury. How long can that go on? Not very
    long at all in my opinion unless perhaps they give up on electricity and
    fossil fuels altogether and try to plough fields and move goods with >>>>> horses/donkeys/oxen instead of motor vehicles.

    If you'd told me in 2005 that in 2026, New York City would have a
    Islamo-communist Ugandan mayor and be electing open communists to
    Congress,
    while at the same time, Cuba was embracing capitalism, I'd have laughed >>>> you
    out of the room.


    It seems like a lot of the world is finally waking from its slumber and >>> starting to turn against the status quo, whether it is the EU Parliament >>> finally taking steps to stop uncontrolled immigration or the Cuban
    people finally shaking off the chains of "socialism", yet the young
    people in the West are embracing nonsense like trans-genderism and that >>> idea that communism is a really good idea despite millions of deaths
    proving the exact opposite.

    Meet Darializa Avila Chevalier, the newly-elected Mamdani-endorsed DSA
    member
    of Congress:

    https://ibb.co/QsW0DPD

    A self-proclaimed communist born in Florida to Dominican immigrants, she
    converted to Islam and says that Palestine is the most important issue in >> her
    life.

    She uses the American flag as a rag to clean dirt off her hands.

    She attended a rally one day after October 7, celebrating the slaughter of >> Israeli civilians.

    She's called white women 'ugly colonizers'. One assumes she has no higher >> opinion of white men, either.

    She wants the police and prisons abolished. Not defunded. She's made it
    clear
    that when she says abolished, that's exactly what she means. She wrote, "No,
    it means ending policing full stop. Period. No more police at all, ever," >> followed by "ALL PIGS ARE HARAM".

    She believes that no deportations, including of convicted criminals, are
    justified. (A position that she would, of course, immediately abandon if the
    majority of immigrants were white people.) In fact, she's gone on to claim >> that convicted criminals have *greater* constitutional protections against >> deportation than run-of-the-mill illegal aliens because deporting them after
    they serve time for their crimes violates double jeopardy.

    She hates the police and has repeatedly referred to them as pigs. She calls >> U.S. military service members war criminals and says the United States is a >> disgrace of a country.

    During the Wuhan Flu period, she called for a sweeping government takeover >> of
    large parts of the national economy. She advocated for the nationalization >> of
    utilities, hospitals, and pharmaceutical companies; the suspension of rent >> and
    mortgage payments; the dissolution of all private health insurance; and the >> seizure of all rental properties from landlords nationwide. "Seize the means
    of production," she wrote, quoting the foundational principle of Marxism. >>
    When she was at Colombia University, she posted the following on the law
    school's internal chat app:

    We are Westerners fighting for the total eradication of
    Western civilization. We stand in full solidarity with every
    movement for liberation in the Global South. Our Intifada
    is an internationalist one-- we are fighting for nothing less
    than the liberation of all people.

    As the fascism ingrained in the American consciousness
    becomes every more explicit and irrefutable, we seek
    community and instruction from militants in the Global South
    who have been on the frontlines in the fight against the
    tyranny and domination which undergird the imperialist
    world order.

    Did you notice the bit about seeking instruction from militants? She doesn't
    want a political revolution. She wants one of violence, soaked in blood.
    Gone
    are the days when New York politicians campaigned on safe parks and clean >> streets. Now New York's leaders are soliciting lessons from warlords in
    Africa
    and Latin America and other renowned experts in killing white people.

    She only ran in New York because she knows she wouldn't stand a chance in >> Florida.

    When she takes her seat in Congress, does anyone really think she will
    prioritize (or even care about) the interests of the American people? Or
    will
    she work to undermine the country from within?


    This is the kind of "activist" that was highly prized - by Stalin -
    during the collectivization campaign that forced the peasants, who
    comprised 90% of the Soviet population, into so-called collective farms where the land belonged to the state, not the peasant, and they became employees and producers of food rather than owners of their land. The distinction is critical because a land owner can help himself to some of what he produces because he needs to eat and feed his family too; an employee has no say on what is grown or what is done with it. Then
    Stalin ordered everything grown on the collective farms seized by
    brigades of armed "militants" and taken to the cities to feed the proletariat (properly-speaking the Proletariat was ONLY the industrial workers) after siphoning off the best of the food for members of the
    Party. And when I say everything, I do mean everything.

    I'm just re-reading one of the very best short books on the Soviet collectivization campaign at just 347 pages, excluding end notes. Here
    is an excerpt illustrating the attitude of the activists as they expropriated everything edible by force from peasants.

    =========================================================================
    An activist recalls,

    I heard the children... choking, coughing with screams. And I saw the
    looks of the men: frightened, pleading, hateful, dully impassive, extinguished with despair or flaring up with half-mad, daring ferocity.

    'Take it. Take everything away. There's still a pot of borscht on the
    stove. It's plain, got no meat. But still it's got beets, taters 'n' cabbage. And it's salted! Better take it, comrade citizens! Here, hang
    on. I'll take off my shoes. They're patched and re-patched but maybe
    they'll have some use for the proletariat for our dear Soviet power'.

    It was excruciating to see and hear all this. And even worse to take
    part in it... And I persuaded myself, explained it to myself. I mustn't
    give in to debilitating pity. We were realizing historical necessity. We were performing our revolutionary duty. We were obtaining grain for the socialist fatherland. For the Five Year Plan.

    With the rest of my generation, I firmly believed that the ends
    justified the means. Our great goal was the universal triumph of
    Communism and for the sake of that goal, everything was permissible - to lie, to steal, to destroy hundreds of thousands and even millions of
    people, all those who were hindering our work or could hinder it,
    everyone who stood in the way. And to hesitate or doubt about all this
    was to give in to 'intellectual squeamishness' and 'stupid liberalism',
    the attribute of people who 'could not see the forest for the trees'.

    That was how I had reasoned, and everyone like me, even when...I saw
    what 'total collectivization' meant - how they 'kulakized' and 'dekulakized',

    [People who had even a tiny bit more than others or who didn't want to
    go along with the Communist program were deemed "kulaks", class enemies
    of the Communists who were essentially proto-capitalists. The people
    deemed kulaks could then be 'dekulakized', which involved stripping them
    of ALL of their belongings and either shooting them outright or sending
    them to some remote spot of exile on a "sink or swim" basis where most
    sank because they were put on barren land and deprived of any resources
    to build housing or feed themselves.]

    how they mercilessly stripped the peasants in the winter of 1932-1933. I took part in this myself, scouring the countryside, searching for hidden grain, testing the earth with an iron rod for loose spots that might
    lead to buried grain. With the others, I emptied out the old folks'
    storage chests, stopping my ears to the childrens' crying and the
    women's wails. For I was convinced that I was accomplishing the great
    and necessary transformation of the countryside; that in the days to
    come the people who lived there would be better off for it; that their distress and suffering were a result of their own ignorance or the machinations of the class enemy; that those who sent me - and I myself - knew better that the peasants how they should live, what they should
    sow, and when they should plough.

    In the terrible spring of 1933 I saw people dying from hunger. I saw
    women and children with distended bellies, turning blue, still breathing
    but with vacant, lifeless eyes. And corpses - corpses in ragged
    sheepskin coats and cheap felt boots; corpses in peasant huts, in the melting snow of the old Vologda, under the bridges of Kharkov...I saw
    all this and did not go out of my mind or commit suicide. Nor did I
    curse those who had sent me out to take away the peasants grain in the winter, and in the spring to persuade the barely walking, skeleton-thin
    or sickly-swollen people to go into the fields in order to 'fulfil the bolshevik sowing plan in shock-worker style'.

    Nor did I lose my faith. As before, I believed because I wanted to believe. =========================================================================

    THAT is the sort of person this Chevalier woman is. THAT is who her constituents have decided should represent them. THAT sort of program is what they want for America.

    Communism: an idea so good it has to be implemented at gunpoint.


    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Rhino@no_offline_contact@example.com to rec.arts.tv on Sun Jun 28 14:44:43 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.tv

    On 2026-06-28 1:44 p.m., BTR1701 wrote:
    On Jun 28, 2026 at 7:45:29 AM PDT, "Rhino" <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:

    On 2026-06-27 2:29 a.m., BTR1701 wrote:
    On Jun 24, 2026 at 7:25:45 PM PDT, "Rhino" <no_offline_contact@example.com>
    wrote:

    On 2026-06-24 7:34 p.m., BTR1701 wrote:
    On Jun 20, 2026 at 3:42:05 PM PDT, "Rhino"
    <no_offline_contact@example.com>
    wrote:

    On 2026-06-20 5:36 p.m., Capricorne wrote:
    On Jun 20, 2026 at 1:47:43 PM PDT, "Rhino"
    <no_offline_contact@example.com>
    wrote:

    I just saw this article and am truly shocked: it looks like Cuba is
    making the biggest economic reforms since Fidel took over and they
    are all in the direction of free enterprise!

    They're scared to death now that the Iran war is winding down that the
    Eye of
    Trump will turn toward them. They know if Trump invades, they'll >>>>>>>> likely spend
    their remaining years in a Colorado supermax prison, so they're going
    capitalist in the hopes that will appease him.


    In 1962, to settle the nuclear missile crisis, John F. Kennedy promised
    that USA will never invade Cuba. USA has to keep his word. Otherwise no
    countries will never trust USA again.

    It seems to me like a lot of people on the left would say the US is >>>>>> untrustworthy DESPITE keeping its promise to not invade Cuba.

    That aside, Trump would not have to invade Cuba to bring it to its >>>>>> knees: it's already there. If he keeps blocking gas and oil - and no >>>>>> other country decides to risk America's wrath - Cuba can't help but >>>>>> collapse in very short order. Their electrical grid is hanging on by a
    thread when it's working at all. Tourism has stopped almost entirely >>>>>> since there's no fuel for the return flights. There's no money coming
    into the Cuban government's treasury. How long can that go on? Not very
    long at all in my opinion unless perhaps they give up on electricity and
    fossil fuels altogether and try to plough fields and move goods with >>>>>> horses/donkeys/oxen instead of motor vehicles.

    If you'd told me in 2005 that in 2026, New York City would have a >>>>> Islamo-communist Ugandan mayor and be electing open communists to >>>>> Congress,
    while at the same time, Cuba was embracing capitalism, I'd have laughed
    you
    out of the room.


    It seems like a lot of the world is finally waking from its slumber and >>>> starting to turn against the status quo, whether it is the EU Parliament >>>> finally taking steps to stop uncontrolled immigration or the Cuban
    people finally shaking off the chains of "socialism", yet the young
    people in the West are embracing nonsense like trans-genderism and that >>>> idea that communism is a really good idea despite millions of deaths >>>> proving the exact opposite.

    Meet Darializa Avila Chevalier, the newly-elected Mamdani-endorsed DSA >>> member
    of Congress:

    https://ibb.co/QsW0DPD

    A self-proclaimed communist born in Florida to Dominican immigrants, she >>> converted to Islam and says that Palestine is the most important issue in >>> her
    life.

    She uses the American flag as a rag to clean dirt off her hands.

    She attended a rally one day after October 7, celebrating the slaughter of
    Israeli civilians.

    She's called white women 'ugly colonizers'. One assumes she has no higher >>> opinion of white men, either.

    She wants the police and prisons abolished. Not defunded. She's made it >>> clear
    that when she says abolished, that's exactly what she means. She wrote, "No,
    it means ending policing full stop. Period. No more police at all, ever," >>> followed by "ALL PIGS ARE HARAM".

    She believes that no deportations, including of convicted criminals, are >>> justified. (A position that she would, of course, immediately abandon if the
    majority of immigrants were white people.) In fact, she's gone on to claim
    that convicted criminals have *greater* constitutional protections against
    deportation than run-of-the-mill illegal aliens because deporting them after
    they serve time for their crimes violates double jeopardy.

    She hates the police and has repeatedly referred to them as pigs. She calls
    U.S. military service members war criminals and says the United States is a
    disgrace of a country.

    During the Wuhan Flu period, she called for a sweeping government takeover
    of
    large parts of the national economy. She advocated for the nationalization
    of
    utilities, hospitals, and pharmaceutical companies; the suspension of rent
    and
    mortgage payments; the dissolution of all private health insurance; and the
    seizure of all rental properties from landlords nationwide. "Seize the means
    of production," she wrote, quoting the foundational principle of Marxism. >>>
    When she was at Colombia University, she posted the following on the law >>> school's internal chat app:

    We are Westerners fighting for the total eradication of
    Western civilization. We stand in full solidarity with every
    movement for liberation in the Global South. Our Intifada
    is an internationalist one-- we are fighting for nothing less
    than the liberation of all people.

    As the fascism ingrained in the American consciousness
    becomes every more explicit and irrefutable, we seek
    community and instruction from militants in the Global South
    who have been on the frontlines in the fight against the
    tyranny and domination which undergird the imperialist
    world order.

    Did you notice the bit about seeking instruction from militants? She doesn't
    want a political revolution. She wants one of violence, soaked in blood. >>> Gone
    are the days when New York politicians campaigned on safe parks and clean >>> streets. Now New York's leaders are soliciting lessons from warlords in >>> Africa
    and Latin America and other renowned experts in killing white people.

    She only ran in New York because she knows she wouldn't stand a chance in >>> Florida.

    When she takes her seat in Congress, does anyone really think she will >>> prioritize (or even care about) the interests of the American people? Or >>> will
    she work to undermine the country from within?


    This is the kind of "activist" that was highly prized - by Stalin -
    during the collectivization campaign that forced the peasants, who
    comprised 90% of the Soviet population, into so-called collective farms
    where the land belonged to the state, not the peasant, and they became
    employees and producers of food rather than owners of their land. The
    distinction is critical because a land owner can help himself to some of
    what he produces because he needs to eat and feed his family too; an
    employee has no say on what is grown or what is done with it. Then
    Stalin ordered everything grown on the collective farms seized by
    brigades of armed "militants" and taken to the cities to feed the
    proletariat (properly-speaking the Proletariat was ONLY the industrial
    workers) after siphoning off the best of the food for members of the
    Party. And when I say everything, I do mean everything.

    I'm just re-reading one of the very best short books on the Soviet
    collectivization campaign at just 347 pages, excluding end notes. Here
    is an excerpt illustrating the attitude of the activists as they
    expropriated everything edible by force from peasants.

    =========================================================================
    An activist recalls,

    I heard the children... choking, coughing with screams. And I saw the
    looks of the men: frightened, pleading, hateful, dully impassive,
    extinguished with despair or flaring up with half-mad, daring ferocity.

    'Take it. Take everything away. There's still a pot of borscht on the
    stove. It's plain, got no meat. But still it's got beets, taters 'n'
    cabbage. And it's salted! Better take it, comrade citizens! Here, hang
    on. I'll take off my shoes. They're patched and re-patched but maybe
    they'll have some use for the proletariat for our dear Soviet power'.

    It was excruciating to see and hear all this. And even worse to take
    part in it... And I persuaded myself, explained it to myself. I mustn't
    give in to debilitating pity. We were realizing historical necessity. We
    were performing our revolutionary duty. We were obtaining grain for the
    socialist fatherland. For the Five Year Plan.

    With the rest of my generation, I firmly believed that the ends
    justified the means. Our great goal was the universal triumph of
    Communism and for the sake of that goal, everything was permissible - to
    lie, to steal, to destroy hundreds of thousands and even millions of
    people, all those who were hindering our work or could hinder it,
    everyone who stood in the way. And to hesitate or doubt about all this
    was to give in to 'intellectual squeamishness' and 'stupid liberalism',
    the attribute of people who 'could not see the forest for the trees'.

    That was how I had reasoned, and everyone like me, even when...I saw
    what 'total collectivization' meant - how they 'kulakized' and
    'dekulakized',

    [People who had even a tiny bit more than others or who didn't want to
    go along with the Communist program were deemed "kulaks", class enemies
    of the Communists who were essentially proto-capitalists. The people
    deemed kulaks could then be 'dekulakized', which involved stripping them
    of ALL of their belongings and either shooting them outright or sending
    them to some remote spot of exile on a "sink or swim" basis where most
    sank because they were put on barren land and deprived of any resources
    to build housing or feed themselves.]

    how they mercilessly stripped the peasants in the winter of 1932-1933. I
    took part in this myself, scouring the countryside, searching for hidden
    grain, testing the earth with an iron rod for loose spots that might
    lead to buried grain. With the others, I emptied out the old folks'
    storage chests, stopping my ears to the childrens' crying and the
    women's wails. For I was convinced that I was accomplishing the great
    and necessary transformation of the countryside; that in the days to
    come the people who lived there would be better off for it; that their
    distress and suffering were a result of their own ignorance or the
    machinations of the class enemy; that those who sent me - and I myself -
    knew better that the peasants how they should live, what they should
    sow, and when they should plough.

    In the terrible spring of 1933 I saw people dying from hunger. I saw
    women and children with distended bellies, turning blue, still breathing
    but with vacant, lifeless eyes. And corpses - corpses in ragged
    sheepskin coats and cheap felt boots; corpses in peasant huts, in the
    melting snow of the old Vologda, under the bridges of Kharkov...I saw
    all this and did not go out of my mind or commit suicide. Nor did I
    curse those who had sent me out to take away the peasants grain in the
    winter, and in the spring to persuade the barely walking, skeleton-thin
    or sickly-swollen people to go into the fields in order to 'fulfil the
    bolshevik sowing plan in shock-worker style'.

    Nor did I lose my faith. As before, I believed because I wanted to believe. >> =========================================================================

    THAT is the sort of person this Chevalier woman is. THAT is who her
    constituents have decided should represent them. THAT sort of program is
    what they want for America.

    Communism: an idea so good it has to be implemented at gunpoint.


    Precisely. A good idea would be one that had been tried on a small scale
    and proven to work. People would WANT to try it on a larger scale and
    would participate voluntarily. They'd try to make it even better. No one
    would need to force them. And if the idea worked at increasing scales, enthusiasm would multiply automatically and everyone would want to do it.

    The very act of having to send armed "activists" to expropriate
    foodstuffs is proof positive that the "good idea" of collective farming
    is actually a really bad idea. EVERYONE right up to the top should have realized it and put on the brakes. But what actually happened is that
    the fanatics at the top, especially Stalin, declared that it was a
    brilliant idea because the Marxist theorists said it was on purely
    ideological grounds so he decreed that the peasants were hiding their
    output and were enemies that needed to be destroyed.

    And that's what today's Marxists will do if they ever get into power.
    That's when you'll be extremely glad that your founders gave you the
    Bill of Rights, especially the Second Amendment.
    --
    Rhino
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From BTR1701@atropos@mac.com to rec.arts.tv on Mon Jun 29 07:11:35 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.tv

    On Jun 28, 2026 at 11:44:43 AM PDT, "Rhino" <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:

    On 2026-06-28 1:44 p.m., BTR1701 wrote:

    Communism: an idea so good it has to be implemented at gunpoint.

    Precisely. A good idea would be one that had been tried on a small scale
    and proven to work. People would WANT to try it on a larger scale and
    would participate voluntarily. They'd try to make it even better. No one would need to force them. And if the idea worked at increasing scales, enthusiasm would multiply automatically and everyone would want to do it.

    The very act of having to send armed "activists" to expropriate
    foodstuffs is proof positive that the "good idea" of collective farming
    is actually a really bad idea. EVERYONE right up to the top should have realized it and put on the brakes. But what actually happened is that
    the fanatics at the top, especially Stalin, declared that it was a
    brilliant idea because the Marxist theorists said it was on purely ideological grounds so he decreed that the peasants were hiding their
    output and were enemies that needed to be destroyed.

    And that's what today's Marxists will do if they ever get into power.
    That's when you'll be extremely glad that your founders gave you the
    Bill of Rights, especially the Second Amendment.

    They complain about the hierarchies in capitalism, but look at this comparison and tell me which one is objectively worse:

    https://ibb.co/Fb4NVg61


    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Rhino@no_offline_contact@example.com to rec.arts.tv on Mon Jun 29 08:53:49 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.tv


    On 2026-06-29 3:11 a.m., BTR1701 wrote:
    On Jun 28, 2026 at 11:44:43 AM PDT, "Rhino" <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:

    On 2026-06-28 1:44 p.m., BTR1701 wrote:

    Communism: an idea so good it has to be implemented at gunpoint.

    Precisely. A good idea would be one that had been tried on a small scale
    and proven to work. People would WANT to try it on a larger scale and
    would participate voluntarily. They'd try to make it even better. No one
    would need to force them. And if the idea worked at increasing scales,
    enthusiasm would multiply automatically and everyone would want to do it.

    The very act of having to send armed "activists" to expropriate
    foodstuffs is proof positive that the "good idea" of collective farming
    is actually a really bad idea. EVERYONE right up to the top should have
    realized it and put on the brakes. But what actually happened is that
    the fanatics at the top, especially Stalin, declared that it was a
    brilliant idea because the Marxist theorists said it was on purely
    ideological grounds so he decreed that the peasants were hiding their
    output and were enemies that needed to be destroyed.

    And that's what today's Marxists will do if they ever get into power.
    That's when you'll be extremely glad that your founders gave you the
    Bill of Rights, especially the Second Amendment.

    They complain about the hierarchies in capitalism, but look at this comparison
    and tell me which one is objectively worse:

    https://ibb.co/Fb4NVg61


    There's really just one guy who does well on an on-going basis in a
    communist system and that's the guy at the very top. Lenin, while he was
    still alive, warned that Stalin was a great danger and wrote what has
    been called "Lenin's Testament" urging that Stalin be moved from his
    role of General Secretary to a lesser role. But one of Lenin's
    secretaries was Stalin's wife and she suppressed the document so that
    the rest of the Politburo never saw it in time. With Lenin on medical
    leave due to a series of strokes, Stalin allied with first one faction
    then the other to remove everyone that stood in the way of him having
    supreme power. As General Secretary, a job viewed as boring and
    bureaucratic, he had the power to make appointments throughout the
    hierarchy and used it to put people loyal to him in posts throughout the country. He gradually replaced the Old Bolsheviks with his own loyalists
    until no one could challenge him.

    He was both powerful and extremely paranoid, having once told Beria that
    he (Stalin) was afraid that he (Stalin) was plotting against HIMSELF. He reacted to those suspicions by having his secret police arrest those he thought were plotting and then torturing them until they admitted to
    these non-existent plots and implicated dozens more. Those people in
    turn were arrested and tortured into admitting further conspiracies that eventually implicated literally hundreds of thousands and eventually
    millions of people who all found themselves shot or sent to the Gulag
    where the odds of surviving were not great. No one was safe and even
    Stalin wasn't really comfortable because he constantly imagined plots
    against himself. Being near the top but not AT the top just meant you
    were visible to Stalin and were more likely to attract his scrutiny and
    arouse his suspicion that you were plotting against him. That's why so
    many of those people found themselves shot or in the Gulag; whatever
    power and influence they had could be gone in a heartbeat.

    All of those people clapping in delight about successful Communist
    political candidates should bear that in mind if they think this is
    their ticket to a powerful position. They could very easily fall afoul
    of the top dog for the slightest thing, like not clapping quite long
    enough when the boss says something, and find themselves cast to the
    bottom in an instant.
    --
    Rhino
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From BTR1701@atropos@mac.com to rec.arts.tv on Mon Jun 29 16:10:45 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.tv

    On Jun 29, 2026 at 5:53:49 AM PDT, "Rhino" <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:


    On 2026-06-29 3:11 a.m., BTR1701 wrote:
    On Jun 28, 2026 at 11:44:43 AM PDT, "Rhino" <no_offline_contact@example.com>
    wrote:

    On 2026-06-28 1:44 p.m., BTR1701 wrote:

    Communism: an idea so good it has to be implemented at gunpoint.

    Precisely. A good idea would be one that had been tried on a small scale >>> and proven to work. People would WANT to try it on a larger scale and
    would participate voluntarily. They'd try to make it even better. No one >>> would need to force them. And if the idea worked at increasing scales,
    enthusiasm would multiply automatically and everyone would want to do it. >>>
    The very act of having to send armed "activists" to expropriate
    foodstuffs is proof positive that the "good idea" of collective farming >>> is actually a really bad idea. EVERYONE right up to the top should have >>> realized it and put on the brakes. But what actually happened is that
    the fanatics at the top, especially Stalin, declared that it was a
    brilliant idea because the Marxist theorists said it was on purely
    ideological grounds so he decreed that the peasants were hiding their
    output and were enemies that needed to be destroyed.

    And that's what today's Marxists will do if they ever get into power.
    That's when you'll be extremely glad that your founders gave you the
    Bill of Rights, especially the Second Amendment.

    They complain about the hierarchies in capitalism, but look at this
    comparison
    and tell me which one is objectively worse:

    https://ibb.co/Fb4NVg61

    There's really just one guy who does well on an on-going basis in a communist system and that's the guy at the very top. Lenin, while he was still alive, warned that Stalin was a great danger and wrote what has
    been called "Lenin's Testament" urging that Stalin be moved from his
    role of General Secretary to a lesser role. But one of Lenin's
    secretaries was Stalin's wife and she suppressed the document so that
    the rest of the Politburo never saw it in time. With Lenin on medical
    leave due to a series of strokes, Stalin allied with first one faction
    then the other to remove everyone that stood in the way of him having supreme power. As General Secretary, a job viewed as boring and bureaucratic, he had the power to make appointments throughout the
    hierarchy and used it to put people loyal to him in posts throughout the country. He gradually replaced the Old Bolsheviks with his own loyalists until no one could challenge him.

    He was both powerful and extremely paranoid, having once told Beria that
    he (Stalin) was afraid that he (Stalin) was plotting against HIMSELF. He reacted to those suspicions by having his secret police arrest those he thought were plotting and then torturing them until they admitted to
    these non-existent plots and implicated dozens more. Those people in
    turn were arrested and tortured into admitting further conspiracies that eventually implicated literally hundreds of thousands and eventually millions of people who all found themselves shot or sent to the Gulag
    where the odds of surviving were not great. No one was safe and even
    Stalin wasn't really comfortable because he constantly imagined plots against himself.

    And even though the plots he suspected were imaginary, there likely *were* people plotting against him. There always are in systems where brutality and force are baked into the cake.

    This is why I never understood why anyone would want to be a mafia don or the head of Hamas or any other job like that. All you are is a target for every *other* person who either wants your job or wants to destroy your
    organization. You never even get a good night's sleep.


    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From moviePig@nobody@nowhere.com to rec.arts.tv on Mon Jun 29 12:39:37 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.tv

    On 6/29/2026 12:10 PM, BTR1701 wrote:
    On Jun 29, 2026 at 5:53:49 AM PDT, "Rhino" <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:


    On 2026-06-29 3:11 a.m., BTR1701 wrote:
    On Jun 28, 2026 at 11:44:43 AM PDT, "Rhino" <no_offline_contact@example.com>
    wrote:

    On 2026-06-28 1:44 p.m., BTR1701 wrote:

    Communism: an idea so good it has to be implemented at gunpoint. >>>>>
    Precisely. A good idea would be one that had been tried on a small scale >>>> and proven to work. People would WANT to try it on a larger scale and >>>> would participate voluntarily. They'd try to make it even better. No one >>>> would need to force them. And if the idea worked at increasing scales, >>>> enthusiasm would multiply automatically and everyone would want to do it.

    The very act of having to send armed "activists" to expropriate
    foodstuffs is proof positive that the "good idea" of collective farming >>>> is actually a really bad idea. EVERYONE right up to the top should have >>>> realized it and put on the brakes. But what actually happened is that >>>> the fanatics at the top, especially Stalin, declared that it was a
    brilliant idea because the Marxist theorists said it was on purely
    ideological grounds so he decreed that the peasants were hiding their >>>> output and were enemies that needed to be destroyed.

    And that's what today's Marxists will do if they ever get into power. >>>> That's when you'll be extremely glad that your founders gave you the >>>> Bill of Rights, especially the Second Amendment.

    They complain about the hierarchies in capitalism, but look at this
    comparison
    and tell me which one is objectively worse:

    https://ibb.co/Fb4NVg61

    There's really just one guy who does well on an on-going basis in a
    communist system and that's the guy at the very top. Lenin, while he was
    still alive, warned that Stalin was a great danger and wrote what has
    been called "Lenin's Testament" urging that Stalin be moved from his
    role of General Secretary to a lesser role. But one of Lenin's
    secretaries was Stalin's wife and she suppressed the document so that
    the rest of the Politburo never saw it in time. With Lenin on medical
    leave due to a series of strokes, Stalin allied with first one faction
    then the other to remove everyone that stood in the way of him having
    supreme power. As General Secretary, a job viewed as boring and
    bureaucratic, he had the power to make appointments throughout the
    hierarchy and used it to put people loyal to him in posts throughout the
    country. He gradually replaced the Old Bolsheviks with his own loyalists
    until no one could challenge him.

    He was both powerful and extremely paranoid, having once told Beria that
    he (Stalin) was afraid that he (Stalin) was plotting against HIMSELF. He
    reacted to those suspicions by having his secret police arrest those he
    thought were plotting and then torturing them until they admitted to
    these non-existent plots and implicated dozens more. Those people in
    turn were arrested and tortured into admitting further conspiracies that
    eventually implicated literally hundreds of thousands and eventually
    millions of people who all found themselves shot or sent to the Gulag
    where the odds of surviving were not great. No one was safe and even
    Stalin wasn't really comfortable because he constantly imagined plots
    against himself.

    And even though the plots he suspected were imaginary, there likely *were* people plotting against him. There always are in systems where brutality and force are baked into the cake.

    This is why I never understood why anyone would want to be a mafia don or the head of Hamas or any other job like that. All you are is a target for every *other* person who either wants your job or wants to destroy your organization. You never even get a good night's sleep.

    Ego.


    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From danny burstein@dannyb@panix.com to rec.arts.tv on Mon Jun 29 16:44:13 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.tv

    In <111u5e4$fbnn$1@dont-email.me> BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> writes:
    [snip[

    And even though the plots he suspected were imaginary, there likely *were* >people plotting against him. There always are in systems where brutality and >force are baked into the cake.

    This is why I never understood why anyone would want to be a mafia don or the >head of Hamas or any other job like that. All you are is a target for every >*other* person who either wants your job or wants to destroy your >organization. You never even get a good night's sleep.

    ob RAT/Star Trek: the mirror image episode with an EVIL Federation,
    where their Spock, when Chekoff pointed out that with Kirk gone Spock
    would be captain, Spock said he actually preferred to be science officer.
    --
    _____________________________________________________
    Knowledge may be power, but communications is the key
    dannyb@panix.com
    [to foil spammers, my address has been double rot-13 encoded]
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From Rhino@no_offline_contact@example.com to rec.arts.tv on Tue Jun 30 12:07:48 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.tv

    On 2026-06-29 12:10 p.m., BTR1701 wrote:
    On Jun 29, 2026 at 5:53:49 AM PDT, "Rhino" <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:


    On 2026-06-29 3:11 a.m., BTR1701 wrote:
    On Jun 28, 2026 at 11:44:43 AM PDT, "Rhino" <no_offline_contact@example.com>
    wrote:

    On 2026-06-28 1:44 p.m., BTR1701 wrote:

    Communism: an idea so good it has to be implemented at gunpoint. >>>>>
    Precisely. A good idea would be one that had been tried on a small scale >>>> and proven to work. People would WANT to try it on a larger scale and >>>> would participate voluntarily. They'd try to make it even better. No one >>>> would need to force them. And if the idea worked at increasing scales, >>>> enthusiasm would multiply automatically and everyone would want to do it.

    The very act of having to send armed "activists" to expropriate
    foodstuffs is proof positive that the "good idea" of collective farming >>>> is actually a really bad idea. EVERYONE right up to the top should have >>>> realized it and put on the brakes. But what actually happened is that >>>> the fanatics at the top, especially Stalin, declared that it was a
    brilliant idea because the Marxist theorists said it was on purely
    ideological grounds so he decreed that the peasants were hiding their >>>> output and were enemies that needed to be destroyed.

    And that's what today's Marxists will do if they ever get into power. >>>> That's when you'll be extremely glad that your founders gave you the >>>> Bill of Rights, especially the Second Amendment.

    They complain about the hierarchies in capitalism, but look at this
    comparison
    and tell me which one is objectively worse:

    https://ibb.co/Fb4NVg61

    There's really just one guy who does well on an on-going basis in a
    communist system and that's the guy at the very top. Lenin, while he was
    still alive, warned that Stalin was a great danger and wrote what has
    been called "Lenin's Testament" urging that Stalin be moved from his
    role of General Secretary to a lesser role. But one of Lenin's
    secretaries was Stalin's wife and she suppressed the document so that
    the rest of the Politburo never saw it in time. With Lenin on medical
    leave due to a series of strokes, Stalin allied with first one faction
    then the other to remove everyone that stood in the way of him having
    supreme power. As General Secretary, a job viewed as boring and
    bureaucratic, he had the power to make appointments throughout the
    hierarchy and used it to put people loyal to him in posts throughout the
    country. He gradually replaced the Old Bolsheviks with his own loyalists
    until no one could challenge him.

    He was both powerful and extremely paranoid, having once told Beria that
    he (Stalin) was afraid that he (Stalin) was plotting against HIMSELF. He
    reacted to those suspicions by having his secret police arrest those he
    thought were plotting and then torturing them until they admitted to
    these non-existent plots and implicated dozens more. Those people in
    turn were arrested and tortured into admitting further conspiracies that
    eventually implicated literally hundreds of thousands and eventually
    millions of people who all found themselves shot or sent to the Gulag
    where the odds of surviving were not great. No one was safe and even
    Stalin wasn't really comfortable because he constantly imagined plots
    against himself.

    And even though the plots he suspected were imaginary, there likely *were* people plotting against him. There always are in systems where brutality and force are baked into the cake.

    I've read quite a few books on the subject of the Soviet Union and have
    yet to find mention of even one genuine plot against Stalin. There
    *were* people who were concerned about his policies and who objected to
    them but they never actually acted against him, unless perhaps the
    theory that Beria ultimately poisoned him was true, although this is
    widely disputed. Some senior people disagreed with Stalin in meetings
    but he always had his way, always noted who these people were and had
    his revenge on them, usually in a way that was fatal to them, in due
    course.

    I read about one gathering where a number of top military people
    gathered in one of their apartments and someone ever-so-delicately said something like "I think it is safe to say that many of us have certain concerns about the way things are going", hoping that this would start a discussion that might lead to the formation of an actual plan but the conversation never went further than that. Apparently, no one was sure
    enough that all of the others in the meeting could be trusted not to rat
    them all out. They all just squirmed in their chairs and looked
    uncomfortable but none of them had the courage to say anything else. And
    they may have been right about someone ratting them out because Stalin
    had a major purge of the military which resulted in the execution of
    three of the five Marshals, 11 of the 12 four-star generals, and similar proportions of the other senior ranks because they were seen to be
    plotting against him. This was in 1937. Only two years later, the
    Soviets attempted an invasion against tiny Finland, led by the
    sycophantic Marshal Voroshilov, who did so badly that he had to be
    replaced. The Red Army eventually won but at a significant cost.


    This is why I never understood why anyone would want to be a mafia don or the head of Hamas or any other job like that. All you are is a target for every *other* person who either wants your job or wants to destroy your organization. You never even get a good night's sleep.


    --
    Rhino
    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From marika@marika5000@gmail.com to rec.arts.tv on Thu Jul 2 02:22:10 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.tv

    BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:
    On Jun 24, 2026 at 7:25:45 PM PDT, "Rhino" <no_offline_contact@example.com> wrote:

    On 2026-06-24 7:34 p.m., BTR1701 wrote:
    On Jun 20, 2026 at 3:42:05 PM PDT, "Rhino" <no_offline_contact@example.com> >>> wrote:

    On 2026-06-20 5:36 p.m., Capricorne wrote:
    On Jun 20, 2026 at 1:47:43 PM PDT, "Rhino"
    <no_offline_contact@example.com>
    wrote:

    I just saw this article and am truly shocked: it looks like Cuba is >>>>>>> making the biggest economic reforms since Fidel took over and they >>>>>>> are all in the direction of free enterprise!

    They're scared to death now that the Iran war is winding down that the >>>>>> Eye of
    Trump will turn toward them. They know if Trump invades, they'll
    likely spend
    their remaining years in a Colorado supermax prison, so they're going >>>>>> capitalist in the hopes that will appease him.


    In 1962, to settle the nuclear missile crisis, John F. Kennedy promised >>>>> that USA will never invade Cuba. USA has to keep his word. Otherwise no >>>>> countries will never trust USA again.

    It seems to me like a lot of people on the left would say the US is
    untrustworthy DESPITE keeping its promise to not invade Cuba.

    That aside, Trump would not have to invade Cuba to bring it to its
    knees: it's already there. If he keeps blocking gas and oil - and no
    other country decides to risk America's wrath - Cuba can't help but
    collapse in very short order. Their electrical grid is hanging on by a >>>> thread when it's working at all. Tourism has stopped almost entirely
    since there's no fuel for the return flights. There's no money coming
    into the Cuban government's treasury. How long can that go on? Not very >>>> long at all in my opinion unless perhaps they give up on electricity and >>>> fossil fuels altogether and try to plough fields and move goods with
    horses/donkeys/oxen instead of motor vehicles.

    If you'd told me in 2005 that in 2026, New York City would have a
    Islamo-communist Ugandan mayor and be electing open communists to Congress, >>> while at the same time, Cuba was embracing capitalism, I'd have laughed you >>> out of the room.


    It seems like a lot of the world is finally waking from its slumber and
    starting to turn against the status quo, whether it is the EU Parliament
    finally taking steps to stop uncontrolled immigration or the Cuban
    people finally shaking off the chains of "socialism", yet the young
    people in the West are embracing nonsense like trans-genderism and that
    idea that communism is a really good idea despite millions of deaths
    proving the exact opposite.

    Meet Darializa Avila Chevalier, the newly-elected Mamdani-endorsed DSA member of Congress:

    https://ibb.co/QsW0DPD

    A self-proclaimed communist born in Florida to Dominican immigrants, she converted to Islam and says that Palestine is the most important issue in her life.

    She uses the American flag as a rag to clean dirt off her hands.

    She attended a rally one day after October 7, celebrating the slaughter of Israeli civilians.

    She's called white women 'ugly colonizers'. One assumes she has no higher opinion of white men, either.

    She wants the police and prisons abolished. Not defunded. She's made it clear that when she says abolished, that's exactly what she means. She wrote, "No, it means ending policing full stop. Period. No more police at all, ever," followed by "ALL PIGS ARE HARAM".

    She believes that no deportations, including of convicted criminals, are justified. (A position that she would, of course, immediately abandon if the majority of immigrants were white people.) In fact, she's gone on to claim that convicted criminals have *greater* constitutional protections against deportation than run-of-the-mill illegal aliens because deporting them after they serve time for their crimes violates double jeopardy.

    She hates the police and has repeatedly referred to them as pigs. She calls U.S. military service members war criminals and says the United States is a disgrace of a country.

    During the Wuhan Flu period, she called for a sweeping government takeover of large parts of the national economy. She advocated for the nationalization of utilities, hospitals, and pharmaceutical companies; the suspension of rent and
    mortgage payments; the dissolution of all private health insurance; and the seizure of all rental properties from landlords nationwide. "Seize the means of production," she wrote, quoting the foundational principle of Marxism.

    When she was at Colombia University, she posted the following on the law school's internal chat app:

    We are Westerners fighting for the total eradication of
    Western civilization. We stand in full solidarity with every
    movement for liberation in the Global South. Our Intifada
    is an internationalist one-- we are fighting for nothing less
    than the liberation of all people.

    As the fascism ingrained in the American consciousness
    becomes every more explicit and irrefutable, we seek
    community and instruction from militants in the Global South
    who have been on the frontlines in the fight against the
    tyranny and domination which undergird the imperialist
    world order.

    Did you notice the bit about seeking instruction from militants? She doesn't want a political revolution. She wants one of violence, soaked in blood. Gone are the days when New York politicians campaigned on safe parks and clean streets. Now New York's leaders are soliciting lessons from warlords in Africa
    and Latin America and other renowned experts in killing white people.

    She only ran in New York because she knows she wouldn't stand a chance in Florida.

    When she takes her seat in Congress, does anyone really think she will prioritize (or even care about) the interests of the American people? Or will she work to undermine the country from within?




    Did she say the word Trump

    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2
  • From BTR1701@atropos@mac.com to rec.arts.tv on Thu Jul 2 03:12:10 2026
    From Newsgroup: rec.arts.tv

    On Jul 1, 2026 at 7:22:10 PM PDT, "marika" <marika5000@gmail.com> wrote:

    BTR1701 <atropos@mac.com> wrote:
    On Jun 24, 2026 at 7:25:45 PM PDT, "Rhino" <no_offline_contact@example.com> >> wrote:

    On 2026-06-24 7:34 p.m., BTR1701 wrote:
    On Jun 20, 2026 at 3:42:05 PM PDT, "Rhino" <no_offline_contact@example.com>
    wrote:

    On 2026-06-20 5:36 p.m., Capricorne wrote:
    On Jun 20, 2026 at 1:47:43 PM PDT, "Rhino"
    <no_offline_contact@example.com>
    wrote:

    I just saw this article and am truly shocked: it looks like Cuba is >>>>>>>> making the biggest economic reforms since Fidel took over and they >>>>>>>> are all in the direction of free enterprise!

    They're scared to death now that the Iran war is winding down that the >>>>>>> Eye of
    Trump will turn toward them. They know if Trump invades, they'll >>>>>>> likely spend
    their remaining years in a Colorado supermax prison, so they're going >>>>>>> capitalist in the hopes that will appease him.


    In 1962, to settle the nuclear missile crisis, John F. Kennedy promised >>>>>> that USA will never invade Cuba. USA has to keep his word. Otherwise no >>>>>> countries will never trust USA again.

    It seems to me like a lot of people on the left would say the US is >>>>> untrustworthy DESPITE keeping its promise to not invade Cuba.

    That aside, Trump would not have to invade Cuba to bring it to its
    knees: it's already there. If he keeps blocking gas and oil - and no >>>>> other country decides to risk America's wrath - Cuba can't help but >>>>> collapse in very short order. Their electrical grid is hanging on by a >>>>> thread when it's working at all. Tourism has stopped almost entirely >>>>> since there's no fuel for the return flights. There's no money coming >>>>> into the Cuban government's treasury. How long can that go on? Not very >>>>> long at all in my opinion unless perhaps they give up on electricity and >>>>> fossil fuels altogether and try to plough fields and move goods with >>>>> horses/donkeys/oxen instead of motor vehicles.

    If you'd told me in 2005 that in 2026, New York City would have a
    Islamo-communist Ugandan mayor and be electing open communists to Congress,
    while at the same time, Cuba was embracing capitalism, I'd have laughed you
    out of the room.


    It seems like a lot of the world is finally waking from its slumber and >>> starting to turn against the status quo, whether it is the EU Parliament >>> finally taking steps to stop uncontrolled immigration or the Cuban
    people finally shaking off the chains of "socialism", yet the young
    people in the West are embracing nonsense like trans-genderism and that >>> idea that communism is a really good idea despite millions of deaths
    proving the exact opposite.

    Meet Darializa Avila Chevalier, the newly-elected Mamdani-endorsed DSA
    member
    of Congress:

    https://ibb.co/QsW0DPD

    A self-proclaimed communist born in Florida to Dominican immigrants, she
    converted to Islam and says that Palestine is the most important issue in >> her
    life.

    She uses the American flag as a rag to clean dirt off her hands.

    She attended a rally one day after October 7, celebrating the slaughter of >> Israeli civilians.

    She's called white women 'ugly colonizers'. One assumes she has no higher >> opinion of white men, either.

    She wants the police and prisons abolished. Not defunded. She's made it
    clear
    that when she says abolished, that's exactly what she means. She wrote, "No,
    it means ending policing full stop. Period. No more police at all, ever," >> followed by "ALL PIGS ARE HARAM".

    She believes that no deportations, including of convicted criminals, are
    justified. (A position that she would, of course, immediately abandon if the
    majority of immigrants were white people.) In fact, she's gone on to claim >> that convicted criminals have *greater* constitutional protections against >> deportation than run-of-the-mill illegal aliens because deporting them after
    they serve time for their crimes violates double jeopardy.

    She hates the police and has repeatedly referred to them as pigs. She calls >> U.S. military service members war criminals and says the United States is a >> disgrace of a country.

    During the Wuhan Flu period, she called for a sweeping government takeover >> of
    large parts of the national economy. She advocated for the nationalization >> of
    utilities, hospitals, and pharmaceutical companies; the suspension of rent >> and
    mortgage payments; the dissolution of all private health insurance; and the >> seizure of all rental properties from landlords nationwide. "Seize the means
    of production," she wrote, quoting the foundational principle of Marxism. >>
    When she was at Colombia University, she posted the following on the law
    school's internal chat app:

    We are Westerners fighting for the total eradication of
    Western civilization. We stand in full solidarity with every
    movement for liberation in the Global South. Our Intifada
    is an internationalist one-- we are fighting for nothing less
    than the liberation of all people.

    As the fascism ingrained in the American consciousness
    becomes every more explicit and irrefutable, we seek
    community and instruction from militants in the Global South
    who have been on the frontlines in the fight against the
    tyranny and domination which undergird the imperialist
    world order.

    Did you notice the bit about seeking instruction from militants? She doesn't
    want a political revolution. She wants one of violence, soaked in blood.
    Gone
    are the days when New York politicians campaigned on safe parks and clean >> streets. Now New York's leaders are soliciting lessons from warlords in
    Africa
    and Latin America and other renowned experts in killing white people.

    She only ran in New York because she knows she wouldn't stand a chance in >> Florida.

    When she takes her seat in Congress, does anyone really think she will
    prioritize (or even care about) the interests of the American people? Or
    will
    she work to undermine the country from within?

    Did she say the word Trump

    Who cares?


    --- Synchronet 3.22a-Linux NewsLink 1.2