Some updates.

2020-04-15 13:38:39 -04:00 · 2020-04-15 13:38:39 -04:00 · 9e072ffc97
commit 9e072ffc97
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--- a/capitalism_doesnt_work.md
+++ b/capitalism_doesnt_work.md
@ -11,7 +11,7 @@ Lets unpack the idea that "Capitalism works". In the US, the most developed Capi
 - [The bottom half of US citizens have a combined negative net worth.](https://www.timesunion.com/technology/businessinsider/article/One-brutal-sentence-captures-what-a-disaster-13882763.php) [Average US household carries ~$140k in debt. Median household income only $60k](https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/personalfinance/2017/11/18/a-foolish-take-heres-how-much-debt-the-average-us-household-owes/107651700/).
 - [40% of millenials live with their parents.](http://theeconomiccollapseblog.com/archives/goodbye-american-dream-the-average-u-s-household-is-137063-in-debt-and-38-4-of-millennials-live-with-their-parents) Younger generations, with dwindling opportunities, feeling disposable and unwanted under late capitalism, suffer from a [burnout epidemic](https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/annehelenpetersen/millennials-burnout-generation-debt-work). Many have [stopped pursuing romantic relationships](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2013/oct/20/young-people-japan-stopped-having-sex), and [having children.](https://www.curbed.com/2019/7/19/20700379/raising-kids-cities-family-friendly) [Deaths of despair have skyrocketed, especially among those who never went to college.](https://archive.is/XSvWD)  [2](https://www.gq-magazine.co.uk/article/hikikomori-japan), 
 - [~ 1/4th of US workers are trapped in the gig economy as of 2019.](https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jun/02/gig-economy-us-trump-uber-california-robert-reich)
- [70% of US citizens say they are struggling financially.](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/70-americans-are-struggling-financially/)
+- [70% of US citizens say they are struggling financially.](https://www.cbsnews.com/news/70-americans-are-struggling-financially/) In the 2020 Covid-19 Pandemic, [Unemployment claims went to 6.6M in one week, compared to ~700k at the peak of the great depression. Food banks are running out of food in places like New York and Pittsburgh, and hospitals are short on ventilators needed to keep people alive.](https://twitter.com/BenjaminNorton/status/1246607221846310917?s=20)
 - [8 men control as much wealth as half the worlds population.](https://www.inc.com/melanie-curtin/meet-the-8-men-who-control-half-the-worlds-wealth.html). Anyone wanna take a guess at how this game of monopoly ends?
 - [Capitalist monopolies in media, food, energy, and transportation, mostly controlled by ~200 powerful shareholders.](https://imgur.com/a/xgnEp)
 - [Billionaires made enough money in 2017 to end poverty 7 times over.](https://www.newsweek.com/billionaires-money-end-poverty-report-786675)
--- a/js_imperialism_favorites.md
+++ b/js_imperialism_favorites.md
@ -30,3 +30,24 @@ Coffee differs from the T-shirt and the iPhone in one important respect: unlike
 Just as, according to the economists and accountants, not one cent of Apple’s profits comes from Chinese workers and just as H&M’s bottom line owes nothing to super-exploited Bangladeshi workers, so do all of Starbucks’ and London-based Caffè Nero’s profits appear to arise from their own marketing, branding, and retailing genius, and not a penny can be traced to the impoverished coffee farmers who hand-pick the fresh cherries. In all of our three archetypical global commodities, gross profits, that is, the difference between their cost of production and their retail price, are far in excess of 50 percent, flattering not only Northern firms’ profits but also their nations’ GDP.79

 Squeezing wages allows markups to increase. Thus UNCTAD reports that “clothing, footwear, textiles, furniture, miscellaneous manufacturers (which includes toys) and chemicals all experienced import price declines (relative to U.S. consumer prices) over two decades of more than 1 percent per year on average, or 40 percent over the period 1986–2006.”80
+
+## The Mysteries of Outsourcing
+
+Milberg's recognition of outsourcing's growing preponderance leads him to rhetorically ask, "Why should arm's-length outsourcing be of increasing importance in a world where transnational corporations play such a large role? ... Why should cost reductions be increasingly prevalent externally rather than within firms?" He answers, "The growing tendency toward externalization implies that the return on external outsourcing---implied by the cost reduction it brings to the buyer firm---must exceed that on internal vertical operations.... These cost savings constitute rents accruing abroad in the same sense that internal profit generation does for a multinational enterprise." This is a crucial insight, yet it poses a perplexing puzzle. As the three global commodities discussed in [chapter 1](#08_Chapter01.xhtml) illustrate, "rents accruing abroad" appear, in company and national accounts, to accrue instead from the domestic design, branding, and marketing activities of the lead firm. We will return to this puzzle a few pages hence, but first we'll consider some reasons why the arm's-length relationship might be increasingly favored over FDI.
+
+One reason why arm's-length outsourcing may be more profitable than FDI is that, as Martin Wolf notes, "transnational companies []{#10_Chapter03.xhtml#page_81}pay more---and treat their workers better---than local companies do." Citing "detailed econometric evaluation" that takes into account "the educational levels of employees, plant size, location, and capital- and energy-intensity ... the premium is 12 percent for 'blue-collar' workers and about 22 percent for the 'white-collar' workers." Jagdish Bhagwati also reports that TNCs "pay an average wage that exceeds the going rate, mostly up to 10 percent and exceeding it in some cases." Writing in *The Economist*, Clive Crook gives much higher estimates: he claims that wages in the affiliates of TNCs in "middle-income countries" are 80 percent higher than those paid by local employers, and in "low-income countries" their wages are 100 percent higher. Thus one reason why TNCs increasingly prefer to externalize their operations is that forcing outsourced producers into intense competition with one another is a more effective way of driving down wages and intensifying labor than doing so in-house through appointed managers.
+
+A further incentive to "deverticalize"---that is, to move from a vertical parent-subsidiary relationship to a horizontal contractual relation between formally equal partners---is that arm's length also means "hands clean"---the outsourcing firm externalizes not only commercial risk and low value-added production processes, it also externalizes direct responsibility for pollution, poverty wages, and suppression of trade unions. One notorious example is Coca-Cola's operations in Colombia, the hub of its Latin American soft drinks empire, where the food workers' union, SINALTRAINAL, accuses company management of colluding with death squads who have assassinated nine union members and leaders since 1990 and forced many others into exile. "Eighty percent of the Coca-Cola workforce is now composed of non-union, temporary workers, and wages for these individuals are only a quarter of those earned by their unionized counterparts.... Coca-Cola is in fact a stridently anti-union company, and the destruction of SINALTRAINAL, as well as the capacity to drive wages into the ground, is one of the primary goals of the extra-judicial violence directed against workers." Coca-Cola's Atlanta-based international directors wash their hands of any responsibility either for the poverty wages paid to their workers or for the violent repression of their efforts to remedy this, on the grounds that its Colombian bottling plants are independent companies operating under a franchise, enabling it to make the legally precise claim that "Coca-Cola does not own or operate any bottling plants in Colombia." Mark Thomas, an investigative journalist, commented that this is
+
+[]{#10_Chapter03.xhtml#page_82}the "Coca-Cola system," operating as an entity but claiming no legal lines of accountability to the Coca-Cola Company.... The case here is similar to that of Gap and Nike in the 90s ... \[who\] outsourced their production to factories in the developing world that operated sweatshop conditions. It was not Nike or Gap that forced the workers to do long hours for poor pay, it was the contractors.
+
+The "Coca-Cola system" not only distances TNCs from direct responsibility for super-exploitation, pollution, etc., during normal times, they don't have to take responsibility for imposing mass layoffs during times of crisis. Though the arm's-length relationship may have political or public relations benefits, the bottom line is its effect on TNC profits and asset values. A third reason is that arms's-length relationships also allow TNCs to offload many of the costs and risks associated with cyclical fluctuations in demand and with much larger disruptions in world markets, as exemplified by the whiplash effect felt in the lowest rungs of global value chains following the collapse of Lehman Brothers in 2008. As UNCTAD reports, "Jobs in labor-intensive NEMs \[Non-Equity Modes\] are highly sensitive to the business cycle in GVCs \[Global Value Chains\], and can be shed quickly at times of economic downturn."
+
+Finally, not only does the arm's-length relationship not generate any S-N flows of repatriated profits, it does not involve any N-S capital flows, enabling Northern firms to divert investment funds into what Silver et al. call "financial intermediation and speculation." In other words, the increased profits delivered by outsourcing are not invested in production either at home or as FDI, and can be entirely devoted to leveraging asset values, through share buyback schemes and generous dividend payments, or invested in financial markets in order to reap speculative profits, thereby feeding the financialization of the imperialist economies.
+
+In sum, it is possible to identify four major reasons why outsourcing firms might favor an arm's-length relationship with their low-wage suppliers: 1) foreign investors find it necessary to pay higher wages than domestic employers, limiting the desired reduction in costs; 2) arm's-length means hands clean; 3) transference of risk; 4) avoidance of FDI in favor of what UNCTAD calls a "non-equity mode" releases funds for investment in financial markets or to finance acquisitions and share buy-backs (two ways in which the fragmentation of production can accelerate the concentration of capital).
+
+The puzzle posed by Milberg's insight that a large portion of the profits of firms in imperialist countries (he does not call them this) is accrued []{#10_Chapter03.xhtml#page_83}in distant production processes can be restated as follows. The foreign direct investments of northern TNCs generate a gigantic S-N flow of repatriated profits, but in complete contrast, between Southern firms and Northern lead firms there is, in the data on financial flows, neither sign nor shadow of any S-N profit flows or value transfers. Furthermore, the various subterfuges indulged in by transnational corporations to conceal part of this flow from tax authorities (transfer pricing, under-invoicing, etc.) are not available in arm's-length relationships. These are large benefits to forgo---yet TNCs increasingly find the arm's-length relationship to be more profitable than in-house FDI. Does the fact that the S-N flow of value and profit is invisible mean that this flow doesn't exist? If not, what becomes of the profit-flows that are visible in the case of an in-house relationship but completely disappear when this is replaced by an outsourcing relationship?
+
+This is the question left unanswered by Milberg, Gereffi, etc., a conundrum that cannot be resolved without breaking free of the neoclassical framework, which presumes markets to be the "ultimate arbiter of value" and price to be its ideal measure, precluding the possibility of hidden flows or transfers of values between capitals prior to their condensation as prices. This calls to mind the physical phenomenon known as sublimation---when the application of heat to a visible solid turns it into a flow of invisible vapor, only for it to rematerialize as a visible solid at a different relocation. Similarly, the flow of value from Southern producers to Northern capitalists is invisible---that is, there's no sign of it in standard data on global capital and commodity flows. According to the bourgeois economists, if it's not visible it doesn't exist; and since value can only appear in the form of price, this, to positivist economics, is its measure. This, the central premise of neoclassical economics, crassly precludes the possibility that value is transferred or redistributed between capitals in order to achieve equilibrium prices that equalize profits. Conversely, to recognize the existence of such flows is to dislodge the keystone of the ruling economic theory, causing the entire edifice to collapse. Renaming "profit' as "rent," as do Milberg, Kaplinsky, Gereffi, and others studying this phenomenon, does not clarify this question. In fact, it blurs the important distinction between profit and rent. Milberg's notion of "rents accruing abroad" implies that the South-North flow continues; and simply calling it rent says nothing about a really interesting implication of this. These "rents accruing abroad" appear in the GDP---the gross domestic product---of the importing nation---even though they were "accrued abroad." The solution of this paradox, which we have been hinting at so far, will be presented in [chapter 9](#16_Chapter09.xhtml), "The GDP Illusion."
+
--- a/socialism_faq.md
+++ b/socialism_faq.md
@ -41,6 +41,7 @@
    + [What's going on with the Uyghurs?](#whats-going-on-with-the-uyghurs)
    + [What about the Falun Gong?](#what-about-the-falun-gong)
    + [What about the Tiananmen square massacre?](#what-about-the-tiananmen-square-massacre)
+    + [What is Radio Free Asia?](#what-is-radio-free-asia)
    + [Did Mao kill millions of people?](#did-mao-kill-millions-of-people)
    + [Was the PRC a totalitarian dictatorship?](#was-the-prc-a-totalitarian-dictatorship)
    + [Further reading](#further-reading-2)
@ -60,12 +61,15 @@
    + [John McCain](#john-mccain)
    + [What about the new atheists? (Sam Harris, Richard Dawkins, Christopher Hitchens)](#what-about-the-new-atheists-sam-harris-richard-dawkins-christopher-hitchens)
    + [Gandhi](#gandhi)
+    + [Noam Chomsky](#noam-chomsky)
    + [What's wrong with Bernie Sanders?](#whats-wrong-with-bernie-sanders)
    + [What's wrong with Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez?](#whats-wrong-with-alexandria-ocasio-cortez)
    + [What's wrong with Elizabeth Warren?](#whats-wrong-with-elizabeth-warren)
    + [Kamala Harris](#kamala-harris)
+    + [Pete Buttigieg](#pete-buttigieg)
    + [Biden](#biden)
    + [Greta Thunberg](#greta-thunberg)
+    + [Slavoj Zizek](#slavoj-zizek)
    + [Others](#others)
  * [Other Topics](#other-topics)
    + [Why are socialists against bitcoin mining?](#why-are-socialists-against-bitcoin-mining)
@ -73,6 +77,7 @@
    + [What about overpopulation / unsustainability?](#what-about-overpopulation--unsustainability)
    + [Why don't socialists support a UBI / Universal Basic income?](#why-dont-socialists-support-a-ubi--universal-basic-income)
    + [DSA](#dsa)
+    + [Buddhism](#buddhism)
    + [Others](#others-1)

 <!-- tocstop -->
@ -156,6 +161,7 @@
 ## What about democracy? Can't voting fix our problems?

 - [Red Phoenix - Pacifism - How to do the enemy's job for them](https://theredphoenixapl.org/2011/08/11/pacifism-how-to-do-the-enemys-job-for-them/). [Youtube Audiobook](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GxrO7p-6w_k&list=PL0-IkmzWbjoZ5IIhnzFBOImzySh827FyK)
+- [Halim Alrah - Why liberal democracies are a sham. ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oYodY6o172A)
 - [What about social democracy / democratic socialism / the Nordic model? Isn't Sweden socialist?](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Jd03a8Pm1hs )
 - [Why can't you acheive socialism through voting in our current democracies?](https://www.reddit.com/r/LateStageCapitalism/comments/a9tgff/lsc_insulted_some_democrats/ecmjyjs/)
 - [Comrade Hakim - Why electoralism always fails.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXbaZXQAbuU)
@ -290,7 +296,7 @@
 - [Why does left communism reject national liberation movements?](http://www.reddit.com/r/communism101/comments/27lbru/why_does_left_communism_reject_national/)
 - [Is it true that Socialism has killed X million people, and how many has capitalism killed?](https://www.reddit.com/r/LateStageCapitalism/comments/5q2oak/someone_dies_under_socialism_no_matter_how_its/dcvu8lg/)
 - [What's the role of the state in the revolution, and what is a state?](https://theimmortalscience.wordpress.com/2017/02/27/the-state-and-revolution-an-overview/)
- Why do many socialist attempts end up in an one-party state? Watch this [brilliant talk by Micheal Parenti](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7WmYEoNtPY&feature=youtu.be), or read his article, [Left anticommunism, the unkindest cut](http://www.greanvillepost.com/2015/05/23/left-anticommunism-the-unkindest-cut/), [audiobook](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51KSe96VCuI)
+- What about the USSR, wasn't it authoritarian? Watch this [brilliant talk by Micheal Parenti](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=z7WmYEoNtPY&feature=youtu.be), or read his article, [Left anticommunism, the unkindest cut](http://www.greanvillepost.com/2015/05/23/left-anticommunism-the-unkindest-cut/), [audiobook](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51KSe96VCuI)
 - [What did Lenin say about socialism in one country?](https://espressostalinist.com/2012/03/11/lenin-on-socialism-in-one-country-2/)
 - [What is Dialectical Materialism?](https://www.reddit.com/r/Socialism_101/comments/e6iyt3/can_someone_explain_the_concept_of_dialectical/f9r4iep/)
 - [Is Chomsky right about Marxist-Leninists being evil?](https://www.reddit.com/r/socialism/comments/4394rt/how_do_you_guys_feel_about_chomskys_views_on/czgj95w/)
@ -424,7 +430,10 @@
 * [Did China really try to save the GDR?](https://www.reddit.com/r/Sino/comments/dsvsf9/newly_declassified_documents_released_by_german/)
 * [Didn't China cause the Coronavirus? A Megathread.](https://www.reddit.com/r/communism/comments/fi390n/china_and_the_coronavirus/)
 * [What about China's corono-virus response? Is there really any sinophobia?](https://www.reddit.com/r/communism/comments/evwls8/megathread_addressing_sinophobia_and_chinas/) [2](https://amp.theguardian.com/world/2020/jan/28/canada-chinese-community-battles-racist-backlash-amid-coronavirus-outbreak?__twitter_impression=true) [3](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GasWB8s-tqs&feature=youtu.be)
+* [Debunking NYTimes anti-china covid-19 talking points, especially about Dr Li.](https://mronline.org/2020/03/05/yellow-caking-an-epidemic/)
 * [The US went against the CDC recommendations and evacuated 14 corona-virus infected US citizens, sparking the spread of the virus in the US](https://nypost.com/2020/02/20/coronavirus-infected-americans-flown-back-to-us-on-plane-full-of-healthy-people/).
+* [An April 2020 poll of Republicans and Democrats finds that 77% blame China for coronavirus, with 54% saying China owes reparations. ](http://archive.is/FB7KP)
+* [Did China hide covid?](https://www.peoplesworld.org/article/trumps-blame-china-campaign-is-an-effort-to-dodge-responsibility/)
 * [Taimur Rahman - How China beat the Coronavirus.](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HN8bKQOyw_Q)

 ### Is China State Capitalist?
@ -434,7 +443,7 @@
 * [A China misinformation Megathread.](https://old.reddit.com/r/communism/comments/c2b7ma/china_megathread_everything_a_leftist_must_know/)
 * [Is modern day china communist? Is it staying true to communist values?](https://www.reddit.com/r/communism101/comments/91liw2/how_is_china_staying_true_to_communist_values/e2z3kzu/)
  * [Didn't China go Capitalist with Deng Xiaoping? Didn't it liberalize its economy? Is China's drastic decrease in poverty a result of the increase in free market capitalist policies?](https://www.reddit.com/r/DebateCommunism/comments/b3gjfe/chinas_drastic_decrease_in_poverty_is_a_result_of/ey8depl/?context=3)
-  * [Is the CCP committed to communism?](https://www.reddit.com/r/communism101/comments/c9ee36/why_do_i_see_so_many_people_on_the_communism/esxapi2/)
+  * [Is the CPC committed to communism?](https://www.reddit.com/r/communism101/comments/c9ee36/why_do_i_see_so_many_people_on_the_communism/esxapi2/)
  * [The Long Game and Its Contradictions](https://medium.com/@leohezhao/the-long-game-and-its-contradictions-8ff92823cf68?postPublishedType=repub&fbclid=IwAR1jAfUSH39nEKCkTAD7GK8ayR9YVekX6Ht6hWU7x7iKPVUK_fLdA5OlPV4).
  * [The backbone of the economy is state ownership and socialist planning. 24 / 25 of the top revenue companies are state-owned and planned.](https://www.reddit.com/r/communism101/comments/8hdbib/how_is_china_communist_if_it_has_a_ton_of_private/dyj082s/) [70% of the top 500 companies are State-owned](https://chinapower.csis.org/chinese-companies-global-500/). [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/State-owned_Assets_Supervision_and_Administration_Commission#Central_SOEs), [2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_largest_Chinese_companies)
  * [Are capitalists allowed in the communist party? No](https://medium.com/@leohezhao/the-long-game-and-its-contradictions-8ff92823cf68?postPublishedType=repub), [pic](https://cdn-images-1.medium.com/max/2087/1*A-SuzTx-HlyvrIPKaOTOHA.jpeg)
@ -461,6 +470,7 @@
    * How [healthcare works in China (refuting a fearmongering NYT video about health care in China)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mvpo2jv5eqI).
    * [Uninsured Chinese citizens pay an average of $5-7 to see a specialist (the majority of hospital visits ), and with insurance, its free. 95% of Chinese citizens have insurance](https://hotpot.team/new-york-times-lies/)
  * [Wages themselves are forced to rise in the private sector by the CPC (+16% every years, +400% since 1980) who force the capitalists to accept the presence of CPC chapters who represent the interest of the workers, increasing workers control even in the capitalist parts of the economy. ](https://www.workers.org/2015/07/21/china-rising-wages-and-worker-militancy/#.WXOlQtPytsM)
+  * [Eliminated Urban Poverty. On track to eliminate all poverty within a decade.](https://www.theguardian.com/business/economics-blog/2015/aug/19/china-poverty-inequality-development-goals)
  * [Trade union laws of the PRC.](https://www.ilo.org/dyn/natlex/docs/ELECTRONIC/30352/118793/F1165849917/CHN30352%202.pdf)
  * [The west views China as one big sweatshop, but the actual working hours aren't much more than anywhere else. The average for a migrant worker (most vulnerable to exploitation as they are traveling from the countryside) is 8.8 hours, little under an hour more than a typical working day. Labor strikes are rarely suppressed, and usually get the support of the PRC.](https://www.forbes.com/sites/mitchfree/2013/07/11/held-hostage-entrepreneurs-uneasy-over-chinese-govt-inaction/#2431f5463de4)
  * [The workplace safety standards of China are better than in the capitalist countries of the West like in Australia who have an higher rate of work related death despite having a GDP per capita 3-5 times higher.](http://www.trotskyistplatform.com/workplace-safety-now-better-in-china-than-in-australia/)
@ -530,7 +540,10 @@
 - The claims mainly come from a self-appointed, private organization called the [China Tribunal](https://chinatribunal.com/who-we-are/), run by [British barrister Sir Geoffrey Nice QC](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geoffrey_Nice), who unsurprisingly served as a prosecutor in a UN trial regarding the former Socialist Republic of Yugoslavia, whose role was attempting to pin war crimes on Slobodan Milošević.
 - The "sources" for the claims are a [few international members of Falun Gong.](https://www.quora.com/I-read-that-China-is-killing-millions-of-spiritual-dissidents-including-Christians-and-harvesting-their-organs-why-doesnt-the-world-governments-scream-foul?share=1) 
 - [Its a cult, outlawed in China, akin to Scientology.](https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2011/5/13/975892/-#comment_41556493) The founder of Falun Gong, Li Hongzhiu, is [racist](http://en.falundafa.org/eng/lectures/1996L.html), and [homophobic](https://www.dailykos.com/stories/2011/5/13/975892/-#comment_41556493). Li teaches that homosexuality is not the standard of being human, the priority of Gods will be to eliminate homosexuals and that gays are demonic in nature.
- [What is Falun Gong, and why do they believe "Trump was sent by heaven to destroy the communist party."?](https://thegrayzone.com/2019/09/30/reports-china-organ-harvesting-cult-falun-gong/)
+- [What is Falun Gong, and why do they believe "Trump was sent by heaven to destroy the communist party."?](https://thegrayzone.com/2019/09/30/reports-china-organ-harvesting-cult-falun-gong/) One famous Falun Gong practitioner, Jennifer Zeng, [writes that Chinese people view Trump as their "powerful Grandpa", and hopes that he ends the Communist Party, in the same way that Reagan "got rid of the Communist party of the Soviet Union."](https://www.jenniferzengblog.com/home/2018/8/2/chinese-people-hope-powerful-grandpa-trump-ends-the-chinese-communist-party)
+- [Claims that race-mixing severs our connection to the Gods.](https://falundafa.org/eng/eng/lectures/19961012L.html)
+- [Believes that modern science was invented by Aliens as part of a scheme to take over human bodies.](https://falundafa.org/eng/eng/lectures/19980530L.html)
+- [Believes that feminism, environmentalism, and homosexuality are part of Satan’s plan to make us into communists](https://www.theepochtimes.com/how-the-specter-of-communism-is-ruling-our-world-introduction_2547882.html)
 - [CNN claims of organ harvesting are not credible.](http://boston.indymedia.org/newswire/display/224096/index.phpCNN)
 - [The hospital that supposedly holds 6000 falun gong prisoners, was visited by various US officials after the claims, and found to be just a regular hospital.](https://file.wikileaks.org/file/crs/RL33437.pdf)

@ -544,6 +557,11 @@
 - [The protest movement followed the line of "color revolutions", in which the US tried to destabilize and create counter-revolutions in eastern Europe and Latin America after the fall of the USSR. The strategy was to stir division within and without, by inundating the media with news of massacres of "peaceful", pro-capitalist / market reformers.](http://www.fightbacknews.org/2019/6/4/reflections-tiananmen-square-and-attempt-end-chinese-socialism) 
 - [The defeat of a counter revolution in China](https://frso.org/main-documents/looking-back-at-tiananmen-square-the-defeat-of-counter-revolution-in-china/).

+### What is Radio Free Asia?    
+
+- [It, along with Radio free Europe, and Free Cuba Radio, were created by the CIA in the 1950s-60s, as a propaganda arm of the US.](https://archive.is/vW88U)
+- [In its current form, its controlled by another US government agency called, Broadcasting Board of Governors (BBG), whose aim is to "reinforce one another in a shared mission vital to U.S. national interests".](http://web.archive.org/web/20191225205544/https://www.bbg.gov/who-we-are/) It's [standards include "Be consistent with the broad foreign policy objectives of the US".](http://web.archive.org/web/20191215131808/https://www.bbg.gov/who-we-are/oversight/legislation/standards-principles/)
+
 ### [Did Mao kill millions of people?](https://www.reddit.com/r/communism/wiki/debunk#wiki_anti-communist_myth_number_1.3A_mao_killed_millions_of_people)
 - [*Did Mao Really Kill Millions in the Great Leap Forward?*](http://monthlyreview.org/commentary/did-mao-really-kill-millions-in-the-great-leap-forward/) by Joseph Ball
 - [*Monster or Liberator?*](http://www.invent-the-future.org/2013/12/monster-liberator-legacy-mao-zedong/) by Carlos Martinez
@ -661,11 +679,12 @@
 - [Musk fires Tesla worker for testing positive for THC, then goes on the Joe Rogan show and smokes weed himself. In reality the worker was fired for her union organizing and supporting the United Autoworkers Union.](https://thehill.com/policy/technology/405711-ex-tesla-employee-fired-for-failing-drug-test-musk-smoking-like-a-slap-in)
 - [Wants to privatize space travel, leaving colonization and exploration to to the richest few.](https://www.salon.com/2017/10/08/against-mars-a-lago-why-spacexs-mars-colonization-plan-should-terrify-you/)
 - [Actively feeds his own cult of personality, as it raises his company's stock price.](https://www.theverge.com/2018/6/26/17505744/elon-musk-fans-tesla-spacex-fandom) [Criticism of Musk or Tesla is often met with toxic harrassment, especially against women.](https://www.thedailybeast.com/what-its-like-when-elon-musks-twitter-mob-comes-after-you) [Reddit: Why is there such a big cult of personality around Musk?](https://www.reddit.com/r/socialism/comments/8tfmm6/why_is_there_a_cult_of_personality_around_elon/) One such "Tony-Stark" from [Rolling-Stone](https://www.rollingstone.com/culture/culture-features/elon-musk-the-architect-of-tomorrow-120850/).
- Despite rumours of Musk being a self-made mad scientist genius, he was born into a wealthy white South African family, and his [father owns Emerald mines.](https://www.businessinsider.co.za/how-elon-musks-family-came-to-own-an-emerald-mine-2018-2) His wealth comes not from scientific discovery or innovation, but from his father funding his first business ventures, and from buying and selling companies such as PayPal, SolarCity, SpaceX, and Tesla. 
+- Despite rumours of Musk being a self-made mad scientist genius, he was born into a wealthy white South African family, and his [father owns Emerald mines.](https://www.businessinsider.co.za/how-elon-musks-family-came-to-own-an-emerald-mine-2018-2) His wealth comes not from scientific discovery or innovation, but from his father funding his first business ventures, and from buying and selling companies such as PayPal, Zip2, SolarCity, SpaceX, and Tesla. 
 - [Despite being hailed as a leader in the fight against climate change, he donates 7x more money to Republicans.](https://www.huffingtonpost.com/entry/elon-musk-donations-republicans_us_5b4e4bd8e4b0b15aba897481) Is it any surprise that a union-busting capitalist donated heavily to the Republican Party?
 - Musk takes advantage of international crises to raise Tesla's stock price. In one case, [Musk promised to "fix" Puerto Rico's power grid after it was decimated by Hurricane Maria.](http://inthesetimes.com/article/20601/elon-musk-puerto-rico-privatization-utility-climate-solar-rossello) He deploys solar panels to a hospital, dozens of [news articles](https://thehill.com/policy/technology/354154-musk-tesla-can-rebuild-puerto-rico-power-grid) were written about the [business-saviness of this decision](https://www.inc.com/sally-hogshead/elon-musks-response-to-puerto-rico-is-pure-marketing-genius-should-be-required-reading.html), and the stock price soared. PR reps told Musk they don't want their power grid privatized by billionaries.
 - As a PR stunt, Musk promised to build a mini-submarine to rescue a boys soccer team that got trapped in a Thai cave in 2018. After receiving vitriol from the Thai and rescue community, [Musk called one of the cave rescuers, a pedophile](https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanmac/unsworth-reply-elon-musk-fucking-idiot),[2](https://www.vox.com/2018/7/18/17576302/elon-musk-thai-cave-rescue-submarine). After the rescuer sues Musk for defamation, Musk pays 50k to a private investigator (and former felon), [to dig up dirt on the rescuer.](https://www.buzzfeednews.com/article/ryanmac/elon-musk-hired-felon-james-howard-higgins-dirt-pedo-guy), and was told to use "aggressive tactics". Musk's team then told the investigator: “We would like you to immediately move forward with ‘leaking’ this information to the UK press. Obviously must be done very carefully.” [Musk and his team even lobbied the Thai gov and prime minister to get a local official to reverse a statement saying the mini-submarine wasn't practical, before the children had been rescued.](https://twitter.com/RMac18/status/1181396377605029888)
 - Goes after whistleblowers, including sending the police after [Martin Tripp](https://www.theverge.com/2019/3/13/18263757/tesla-elon-musk-employee-hack-spying-whistleblower-gigafactory-martin-tripp-drugs) ( who reported on Tesla's fraudulent activities to the SEC ), who Musk claimed was an [active shooter.](https://www.bloomberg.com/news/features/2019-03-13/when-elon-musk-tried-to-destroy-tesla-whistleblower-martin-tripp) Goes after several journalists who criticized him. [A twitter thread of the Nov 2019 swatting police report, and those targeted by Musk.](https://twitter.com/PlainSite/status/1197592445812232192?s=19)
+- In another PR stunt in April 2020, after dismissing covid fears as "dumb", [he states that he will send 1k ventilators to the New York City hospital system. He ends up sending 40 out-of-spec ones, that doctors warn could spread the virus further.](https://twitter.com/kenklippenstein/status/1246265058839191554?s=20) He also claims that [SpaceX is working on ventilators.](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/EUurKMRWsAANrsE?format=jpg&name=medium)
 - [Fired his assistant of 12 years for asking for a raise. Divorced his wife after telling her that his life "operated quite smoothly" in her absence.](https://jalopnik.com/elon-musk-is-a-jerk-that-once-fired-his-assistant-of-12-1797699824)
 - [Rocket jesus broken promises #1](https://www.reddit.com/r/EnoughMuskSpam/comments/73eh4m/tracking_elon_musks_visions_promises_and/), [#2](https://www.reddit.com/r/EnoughMuskSpam/comments/7spkqa/happy_2018_everybody_lets_take_a_moment_to_recall/)

@ -730,6 +749,7 @@
 - https://www.opendemocracy.net/en/why-chomsky-felt-guilty-most-of-time-war-research-and-linguistics-at-mit/
 - https://libcom.org/history/chomsky-pol-pots-genocidal-regime-cambodia
 - https://www.kurdistan24.net/en/news/13cf816e-8e40-41c8-bb76-d453a3261d8b
+- [Endorsed Biden in the 2020 election, even after Tara Reide's rape allegations.](https://www.democracynow.org/2020/4/10/noam_chomsky_trump_us_coronavirus_response)

 ### What's wrong with Bernie Sanders?

@ -747,7 +767,7 @@
    - When asked about the 2018 Migrant caravan, where Border agents tear gassed migrants, Bernie replied, ["not all migrants seeking asylum at the US-Mexico border have a credible claim. "You have to look at it case-by-case."](https://thehill.com/homenews/senate/418398-bernie-sanders-some-migrants-lack-credible-claim-for-asylum)
  - [Believes that Russians are to blame for the failure of US democracy. "Protecting american democracy from foreign invasion."](https://i.imgur.com/GkSXsZY.jpg). [2020 Campaign trail: "Americans are sick and tired of Russian intereferenc in our elections"](https://twitter.com/thehill/status/1230994357236322304)
 - [Why Sanders is not a socialist - Anticonquista ](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VbcrJT485r8)
- [Shills for democrats, campaigned for Hillary Clinton.](https://www.newyorker.com/news/amy-davidson/bernie-sanderss-hard-fight-for-hillary-clinton)
+- [Shills for democrats, campaigned for Hillary Clinton.](https://www.newyorker.com/news/amy-davidson/bernie-sanderss-hard-fight-for-hillary-clinton) After conceding the 2020 democratic primary to Joe Biden (even after Tara Reide's rape allegations against Biden surfaced), [Sanders tells his supporters that it would be "irresponsible" for progressives to not support Joe Biden.](https://communism.lemmy.ml/pictshare/2dfdmn.png) His support for Biden comes 2 months earlier than the last election when he supported Hillary. When asked about why one of his former secretaries publicly refused to support Biden, Sanders stated, “She is my former press secretary — not on the payroll”. [2](https://apnews.com/a1bfb62e37fe34e09ff123a58a1329fa). “I will do everything I can to help elect Joe,” Sanders continued.
 - [Equates socialism with US corporate bailouts.](https://www.leftvoice.org/sanders-speech-explains-his-vision-of-socialism-it-sounds-a-lot-like-new-deal-liberalism)
 - [Thanked Jeff Bezos for deigning to raise amazon wages](https://assets.bwbx.io/images/users/iqjWHBFdfxIU/iqM9uBoBvLLw/v1/600x-1.jpg), Bezos [responds with "you're welcome"](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DohNI5GUUAAin6q.jpg). 
 - [His election, as well as Medicare-for-all, would, like the new deal, be a bribe between capital and workers in the imperial core: Give us a bigger cut of the profits from exploitation of the global south, and we'll become more invested in preserving the empire](https://www.reddit.com/r/MoreTankieChapo/comments/ew22gi/its_ogre_reformist_capitalism_has_won_guys/ffznca8/).
@ -802,6 +822,7 @@
 ### Biden

 - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=seRaSRZKo2U
+- https://soundcloud.com/katie-halper/joe-bidens-accuser-finally-tells-her-full-story

 ### Greta Thunberg

@ -823,7 +844,7 @@
 - [What's so bad about Ronald Reagan?](https://www.reddit.com/r/ShitLiberalsSay/comments/ce2v7l/rpolitics_straight_up_creaming_their_pants_over/etydg3l/)
 - What's so bad about [Barack Obama?](https://www.reddit.com/r/communism101/comments/cdamsp/what_are_your_opinions_on_obama/etswenc/) Also this [List of US Atrocities](https://github.com/dessalines/essays/blob/master/us_atrocities.md)
 - [What about Tulsi Gabbard?](https://www.jacobinmag.com/2017/05/tulsi-gabbard-president-sanders-democratic-party),[2](https://bridge.georgetown.edu/research/factsheet-tulsi-gabbard/)
- [What's going on with the finnish bolshevik being accused of a rape fantasy?](https://www.reddit.com/r/ShitLiberalsSay/comments/8aobas/this_is_the_finnish_bolshevik_with_a_minor/dx09v07/)
+- [What's going on with the finnish bolshevik being accused of a rape fantasy with a minor?](https://www.reddit.com/r/ShitLiberalsSay/comments/8aobas/this_is_the_finnish_bolshevik_with_a_minor/dx09v07/) [Chat log, Major NSFW](https://external-preview.redd.it/X8qdMN5yw_5Y_geBfDDsdJtUZrpDRhUBKPMiEhdBc4g.jpg?auto=webp&s=c68e810f21a1b643b0ccc0c243bbed11ac80a1fa).

 ## Other Topics

@ -879,4 +900,5 @@
 - [Anti-imperialism of Evo Morales - A fight for Bolivia's resources.](https://www.commondreams.org/views/2019/11/12/after-morales-ousted-coup-lithium-question-looms-large-bolivia)
 - [How does the US and British strategy of Balkanization work?](https://youtu.be/niZsLfxNwvI?t=807)
 - Caleb Maupin - [1](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i29kWYXlwhw), [2](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fmQtvk5elYc), [3](https://www.reddit.com/r/BeardTube/comments/fkwaso/the_successes_of_socialism_in_vietnam/fkwb68a/)
+- [Bordiga](https://libcom.org/forums/history/bordiga-leninist-who-put-his-hopes-axis-27122017)
 - MTC: https://www.reddit.com/r/communism/comments/fgdjpc/does_going_against_western_propaganda_ever_make/fk47f81/ , https://i.imgur.com/gBzROhU.png
--- a/us_atrocities.md
+++ b/us_atrocities.md
@ -91,6 +91,7 @@ Notes :

 ### Western hemisphere

+- In March 2020, [the US placed a $15M dollar bounty on the head of the Venezuelan president, Maduro.](https://thegrayzone.com/2020/03/27/trump-bounty-maduro-guaido-plot/) This is the first time the US has publicly put a bounty on a ruling head of state, accusing Maduro and his government of drug trafficking, and harboring terrorists. The US Drug Enforcement agency itself states that less than 7% of drug movement through south america transits from Venezuela: [93% of cocaine comes from Columbia, a staunch US ally, 4% from Peru, and 3% from Unknown.](https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/XgStB403WWFWtTXDj5pLdVCwb9hdcqwbTF5vsOJ8Elnh_GNRcd3ZpoK5RgCw0fTPuOr7SrmMOkv8worNLSPLe08vshLXGrFdJOwPUD56bnb9aOzK7Y-RfKbv4pZ_ir8rRYFLAXTf) [2](https://twitter.com/camilateleSUR/status/1245881372360740867?s=20) The US has historically been closely allied with South American drug traffickers, [like Honduras's US-Backed president Juan Orlando Hernandez](https://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/mar/03/honduran-president-juan-orlando-hernandez-drug-money), Panamanian President [Manuel Noriega](http://elsiglo.com.pa/panama/muertos-invasion-misterio-aclarar/23829789), [The Contras](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/CIA_involvement_in_Contra_cocaine_trafficking), and [many more](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Allegations_of_CIA_drug_trafficking). The US-appointed "president of Venezuela", Juan Guaido, [is closely connected to the Columbian cartel Los Rastrojos](https://www.codepink.org/the_venezuelan_opposition_s_paramilitary_gambit), a vicious cartel responsible for dozens of kidnappings and murders in Tachira VZ.
 - On Nov 10, 2019, newly re-elected [Bolivian President Evo Morales](https://twitter.com/camilateleSUR/status/1193718218705264641) was forced to resign by the Bolivian military as [part of a US-backed right-wing coup.](https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Bolivia-President-Evo-Morales-Resigns-Amid-Right-Wing-Coup-20191110-0006.html) [Right-wing violence](https://www.telesurenglish.net/opinion/Its-Now-or-Never-Bolivian-Elite-Destroying-the-Country-20191107-0023.html) in the wake of Evo's re-election ( [a landslide victory](https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/Evo-Morales-Fraud-Allegations-Are-Pretext-for-Coup-20191105-0011.html) of > 10% the next runner ) included the kidnapping of Evo's brother and sister, [cutting the hair of a leftist mayor, painting her red and parading her down the street, forcing her resignation, burning the town hall](https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/bolivia-protests-cut-hair-mayor-patricia-arce-mas-party-red-paint-a9193816.html), the firebombing of several leftist government members' houses, and street clashes in Cochabamba, Potosi, and La paz resulting in deaths and injuries. The Radio Education Network of Bolivia (Erbol) has released [16 recordings](https://www.en24.news/news/2019/11/10/bolivia-audios-leaked-from-opposition-leaders-calling-for-a-coup-against-evo-morales.html), [2](https://erbol.com.bo/nacional/surgen-16-audios-que-vinculan-c%C3%ADvicos-exmilitares-y-eeuu-en-planes-de-agitaci%C3%B3n), which uncover talks between U.S. officials, Bolivian opponents, and former military, [outlining the coup strategy](https://bbackdoors.wordpress.com/2019/10/08/us-hands-against-bolivia-part-i/). In a three-part plan outlined by U.S. officials, former President Gonzalo Sanchez de Lozada (2002-2003) is mentioned. Lozada had Carlos Mesa (the principal opponent of Morales in the last election) as his vice-president and currently lives in the U.S. U.S. senators Bob Menendez, Ted Cruz, and Marco Rubio are some of the American officials mentioned in the audios, linked to the Bolivian opposition planning a coup against President Evo Morales. A [Wikileaks cable confirmed](https://twitter.com/BenjaminNorton/status/1193650483208052744?s=20) that the [US was using Mesa to undermine Evo for years.](https://wikileaks.org/plusd/cables/08LAPAZ2311_a.html) The US government (through USAID) spent [over $97M dollars to try to topple Morales and fund separatists in his first 7 years in office.](https://nacla.org/news/usaids-silent-invasion-bolivia) [World leaders have condemned the coup.](https://www.telesurenglish.net/news/World-Leaders-Organizations-Condemn-Coup-Against-Evo-Morales-in-Bolivia-20191110-0008.html) Over the next few days, [over 68k fake twitter accounts were created](https://orinocotribune.com/non-existent-support-68000-fake-twitter-accounts-supporting-the-coup-in-bolivia) supporting the coup, many coming from [airforce bases in Virginia](https://i.imgur.com/gDOgavC.jpg). [Debunking US propaganda on Bolivia.](https://www.reddit.com/r/communism/comments/dvdsds/effort_post_counter_cia_propaganda_a_guide_to_the/)
 - In 2017, [Hurricane Maria hit Puerto Rico](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Maria#Puerto_Rico), leaving 3.4 million without electricity and fuel, and causing an estimated $50 Billion in damage. 55% of Puerto Ricans have no potable water,  in one of the worst humanitarian crises in decades. In marked contrast to the initial relief efforts for [Hurricane Katrina](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Katrina) and the [2010 Haiti earthquake](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Haiti_earthquake), on September 22 the only signs of relief efforts were beleaguered Puerto Rican government employees. The US response has been dismal, leading many to believe that the US prefers a decapitalized Puerto Rico. On September 29, San Juan Mayor Cruz held a press conference to plead for aid and to highlight failures by FEMA, saying, "This is what we got last night. Four pallets of water, three pallets of meals, and 12 pallets of infant food — which, I gave them to the people of [Comerío](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Comer%C3%ADo,_Puerto_Rico), where people are drinking off a creek. So I am done being polite. I am done being politically correct. I am mad as hell." Cruz continued. "So I am asking the members of the press, to send a mayday call all over the world. We are dying here... And if it doesn't stop, and if we don't get the food and the water into people's hands, what we are going to see is something close to a [genocide](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Genocide)." In response [President Donald Trump](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/President_Donald_Trump) wrote on [Twitter](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter): "Such poor leadership ability by the Mayor of San Juan and others in Puerto Rico, who are not able to get their workers to help." [1](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hurricane_Maria#Puerto_Rico)
 - Following a series of terrorist attacks against Cuba (such as the bombing of [Cuban commercial flight 455](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cubana_Flight_455), that originated from anti-Castro Cuban exile groups in the US, such as  [Alpha 66](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alpha_66), the [F4 Commandos](https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=F4_Commandos&action=edit&redlink=1), the [Cuban American National Foundation](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_American_National_Foundation), and [Brothers to the Rescue](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Brothers_to_the_Rescue)), the Cuban government sent spies to infiltrate these insurgent groups operating in Miami. Afterwards, the Cuban government then provided 175 pages of documents to FBI agents investigating [Posada Carriles's](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luis_Posada_Carriles) (a former CIA operative) role in the [1997 terrorist bombings in Havana](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1997_Cuba_hotel_bombings), but the FBI failed to use the evidence to follow up on Posada. Instead, they used it to uncover and imprison the Cuban spies, known as the [Cuban Five](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Five). [[18\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Five#cite_note-18)[[19\]](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cuban_Five#cite_note-19). The Cuban Five said they were spying on Miami's Cuban exile community, not the US government. They were imprisoned from 1998, until their eventual release via a prisoner swap in 2014. The terrorist bomber Posada Carriles (who admitted to planning 6 bombings of Havana Hotels and Restaurants) lived in Miami and was safeguarded by the US government until his death in 2018. [2](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Luis_Posada_Carriles)
@ -508,3 +509,4 @@ Notes :
 - [ ] https://www.globalresearch.ca/us-has-killed-more-than-20-million-people-in-37-victim-nations-since-world-war-ii/5492051
 - [ ] Skim through settlers
 - [ ] https://www.reddit.com/r/AskReddit/comments/fn1uvi/whats_the_most_fucked_up_thing_the_us_government/
+- [ ] https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16754432