Straight From the (Middle-Class) Horse's Mouth.

I seem to remember having this discussion a couple of years ago. In my opinion the motivation Chris [Bertram] is describing—bluntly: punitive sadism directed at the poor caused by righteous resentment of their [mis]perceived politics—is barely significant within the other powerful motivations middle-class people have always had for opposing ‘radical redistribution’, not least crude self-interest. engels 12.29.18 at 9:59 pm

These days lots of people use the S-word to describe themselves. “Socialism” is fashionable again, baby. But, how real is that phenomenon?

Old-fashioned socialists the world over should read the post that comment replies to. They may not enjoy the reading, for reminders of what they always knew aren’t necessarily pleasant. If the socialists, however, just happen to be British and young and working-class then to read that post is vitally important: it’s their asses that are at stake here.

Without further ado, I’ll leave you with Chris Bertram’s “If Brexit Goes Ahead, Say Goodbye to Radical Redistribution”. Once you’re done with that, my own comments over the fold.

“From a Fire Perspective, Queensland Has Changed. Australia Has Changed.”

I won’t add too many comments.

Last November bushfires devastated Queensland. The photo below (November 29, 7:30am), taken from a distance of approximately 36 thousand kilometers, seems to show the coast between Townsville/Mackay (towards the upper-left corner) and Brisbane (just out of the picture, beyond the lower-right corner).

(source)

Merry Christmas.

Father and son with their
dog collecting a tree in the forest [A]

If there is a God pulling our strings, He must have a good sense of humour. You see, I’m not much of a religious bloke. Christmas, for me, has no particular religious meaning.

Moreover, I know that Christmas is largely a time to spend money we don’t have on stuff we don’t need.

And yet, and yet … In the last few days I’ve been haunted by the Ghost of Christmas Yet to Come. How will future Christmases look like? Will there be Christmases?

Bits and Pieces: Tragical Hysteria Tour.

Let’s begin our tour in the Land of the Free and Home of the Brave (where else?).

By protesting the murder of black men by cops, it seems, the #BlackLivesMatter movement (to say nothing of russophobic liberal white middleclass intellectuals) were actually playing into the hands of Putin’s evil cyber-troll army of Machiavellian election-meddlers intent on having the Pussy-Grabber-in-Chief elected even before he was a candidate. (You have to give Volodya credit for his superhuman prescience).

At least, that’s what the Yank MSM claim. Example: this, from WaPo. I mean, if it comes from Jeff Bezos -- that paradigm of progressive plutocrat -- you know you can take that note to the bank.

The Great Insect Die-Out?

Insects are dying out, writes Robert Hunziker, and nobody knows precisely why (a list of suspects: monoculture, pesticides, diseases, parasites, climate change):

Beyond doubt, it is not normal for 50%-to-90% of a species to drop dead, but that is happening right now from Germany to Australia to Puerto Rico’s tropical rainforest.

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Too bad, but why should anyone care?

Bits and Pieces: “I Was, I Am, I Shall Be!”

Commune, a new American socialist magazine, sees the light of the day (h/t Ross Wolfe, from The Charnel House). Welcome, mates (I don’t like the term “comrades” much; I’m Aussie, what can I do?).

Its first issue includes “Three Months Inside Alt-Right New York”, by Jay Firestone. A must-read.