Posts that I especially recommend today: Wednesday, December 30, 2020

• 10 Facts From the UK Government Pfizer Vaccine Guidance that Promote “Vaccine Hesitancy” by Johnny Vedmore from Unlimited Hangout.
  

• The ‘New Strain’ of COVID Propaganda by Jordan Schachtel from Anti-Empire.

• Despairing America: The Astonishing Psychological Cost of Lockdown by Sandy Szwarc from American Institute for Economic Research. 

• New Exposé Shows UK’s COVID Response was Rife with Corruption and Cronyism by Brad Polumbo from Foundation for Economic Education. 
  

• Polarization, Then a Crash: Michael Hudson on the Rentier Economy featuring an interview with Michael Hudson, a left-wing economist, with Lynn Fries who writes for her blog GPEnewsdocs.com. My reaction: I often wonder what moral conflicts Hudson, a child of Trotskyist parents, have had when he worked as an advisor to Wall Street, major banks, figures like Rockefeller, and as a professor at American institutions of higher learning. He still writes for left-wing publications in the USA and occasionally speaks in the language of Marxism. It appears that material advantages as an economics advisor to capitalist organizations seduced him. He now only distinguishes the productive aspects of industrial capitalism (capitalism v. 1) in contrast to the anti-social aspects of what is referred to as neoliberalism (capitalism v. 2--Hudson refers to this as a "rentier economy") which places making money as an end to itself, and which exploits entire societies as well as workers. But it is hard to deny his affection for version 1, a more pure exploitation of workers which might cause his parents to roll over in their graves.

• Russia vs the Biden Administration by "The Saker" (Andrei Raevsky) from his weblog. My reaction: I always like to read Raevsky's article because, as a descendent of White Russians and an American entrepreneur himself, he knows a lot about Russia. However, in contrast to his ancestors, he is very critical of US policies toward today's Russia. 

• America Sucks by Danny Antonelli from CounterPunch.

• The Year the Ruling Class Got Woke by Tom Slater from Anti-Empire. This is a best post because it points to the significance of the use of  identity politics as instrumental for imposing censorship.

• Hollywood’s “Illiberal Left” by Fiona Harrigan from American Institute for Economic Research.
  

• Why Senators Must bReject Avril Haines for Intelligence by Medea Benjamin and
  Marcy Winograd from Mint Press News. 

• The Woke Freikorps by John Steppling from his weblog. (Note: He is primarily a culture critic, but makes clear that his politics are informed by Marxism.) My reaction: This is a somewhat lengthy article, but very worthwhile reading if you have the time and need to be mentally challenged to think about the broader aspects of culture today. I found a correspondence (def. #3) with his observations about American culture and my own.

• The Year in which Comforting American Myths Were Ravaged by James Bovard from American Institute for Economic Research.
  

• The International Criminal Court: Now Simply Indefensible by Craig Murray, a Brit, from his weblog.