the warm smell of the herd

jazz blues books film music news commentary politics photos philosophy atheism marxism anarchism life and everything else [email protected]

[thewarmsmelloftheherd-blog]

Jellybean has a very heavy reading schedule lately.

[unbossed-deactivated20251218]

Too many people assume opposition to something is support for its other opponents. Would it help if I explain it in sports terms? You don’t have to love the Penguins to hate the Islanders.

[etsyifyourenasty]

Home is Where Them Fuckers AIN’T

[fullpraxisnow]

Cliven Bundy’s outrageous racist remarks undermine decades of progress in our effort to come up with cleverer ways of saying the same thing.

White Supremacy  (via america-wakiewakie)

[fullpraxisnow]

[thewarmsmelloftheherd-blog]

"The so called terrorism we are fighting, in reality, is the counterviolence created by the terrorism we commit. If we really wanted to end terrorism, we would stop participating in it."

— Collateral Murder in Iraq | AmericaWakieWakie

[wtfbibleverse]

"David and his men went out and killed 200 Philistines. He brought their foreskins and presented them as full payment to the king to become his son-in-law. Then Saul gave his daughter Michal to David as his wife." - 1 Samuel 18:27 (HCSB)

Photo by Petr Kratochvil

[thewarmsmelloftheherd-blog]

I want to be able to pay for things in foreskins. What is the foreskin to dollars conversion rate?

[wtfbibleverse]

"You shall not bow down to them or worship them; for I, the LORD your God, am a jealous God, punishing the children for the sin of the parents to the third and fourth generation of those who hate me" - Deuteronomy 5:9 (NIV)

Photo Credit

[thewarmsmelloftheherd-blog]

Oh wow...god has a system just like North Korea!

[wtfbibleverse]

"As the king of Israel was passing by on the wall, a woman cried to him, ‘Help me, my lord the king!’ The king replied, ‘If the Lord does not help you, where can I get help for you? From the threshing floor? From the winepress?’ Then he asked her, ‘What’s the matter?’ She answered, ‘This woman said to me, "Give up your son so we may eat him today, and tomorrow we’ll eat my son." So we cooked my son and ate him. The next day I said to her, "Give up your son so we may eat him," but she had hidden him.’" - 2 Kings 6:26-29 (NIV)

Photo by Dennis Jarvis

[yellowcrayolacrayon]

Photo by  - Marco Pucci

[nprglobalhealth]

Why Mumps And Measles Can Spread Even When We’re Vaccinated

More than two months ago, a nasty mumps outbreak erupted at Ohio State University. Now the outbreak has ballooned to to more than 230 cases and spilled over into two counties.

Here’s what’s surprising: Many of those who got sick had previously been immunized against mumps. 

Then a few weeks ago scientists reported a similar situation with the measles. A young woman in New York caught the virus in 2011 even though she, too, had been vaccinated, scientists reported last week. “Measles Mary,” as Science magazine called her, also spread the virus to four others.

What’s going on here? Is one of our best shields against infectious illness faltering?

To answer those questions, we talked with a vaccine specialist, Dr. William Schaffner at Vanderbilt University in Nashville. The conversation has been edited for length and clarity.

Why can you still get the mumps and measles even if you’re vaccinated?

Measles is a terrific vaccine. If you get two doses, it’s predicted to protect 99.99 percent of people for life.

That case in New York was so unusual that it’s come to everyone’s attention. On rare occasions, the virus trumps an individual’s protection.

The mumps vaccine, on the other hand, is not so good. The protection rate varies from study to study. But it’s usually in the mid-80s.

Both vaccines, for mumps and measles, are tamed versions of the viruses. The viruses aren’t killed but what we call attenuated, live viruses.

If you don’t attenuate the mumps virus enough, you get better protection but more complications with the vaccine.

So we’re walking a fine line. To avoid complications, the mumps vaccine doesn’t protect as well as the measles.

We wish we had a better mumps vaccine.

So the outbreak at Ohio State University is due to “vaccine failure,” not declining immunization rates in the U.S.?

Continue reading. 

Photo: Potent but not perfect: Medical assistant Elissa Ortivez prepares a measles, mumps and rubella vaccine at a clinic in Walsenburg, Colo. (John Moore/Getty Images)

[thewarmsmelloftheherd-blog]

White Homicide Worldwide

A typical murderer drawn to the racist forum Stormfront.org is a frustrated, unemployed, white adult male living with his mother or an estranged spouse or girlfriend. She is the sole provider in the household. Forensic psychologists call him a “wound collector.” Instead of building his resume, seeking employment or further education, he projects his grievances on society and searches the Internet for an excuse or an explanation unrelated to his behavior or the choices he has made in life.

His escalation follows a predictable trajectory. From right-wing antigovernment websites and conspiracy hatcheries, he migrates to militant hate sites that blame society’s ills on ethnicity and shifting demographics. He soon learns his race is endangered — a target of “white genocide.” After reading and lurking for a while, he needs to talk to someone about it, signing up as a registered user on a racist forum where he commiserates in an echo chamber of angry fellow failures where Jews, gays, minorities and multiculturalism are blamed for everything.

Assured of the supremacy of his race and frustrated by the inferiority of his achievements, he binges online for hours every day, self-medicating, slowly sipping a cocktail of rage. He gradually gains acceptance in this online birthing den of self-described “lone wolves,” but he gets no relief, no practical remedies, no suggestions to improve his circumstances. He just gets angrier. 

And then he gets a gun.

From the Southern Poverty Law Center article White Homicide Worldwide

[classicrockneverdies]

Visit Original Link

[flightcub]

totalitarian dystopian future lit is like “what if the government got so powerful that all the bad stuff that’s already happening ALSO HAPPENED TO WHITE PEOPLE?”

[gods-got-nice-tile]

I wish men weren’t so fucking weak. You make me look bad. I have to answer for all the bullshit you get up to. I have to endure women saying shit like, “Ok, there’s so much testosterone in the air,” when she sees some men fixing a car. I hate it when men go to strip bars. It lowers the rest of us that know if a man has to pay to see a woman naked, he is a loser and probably should get weeded out. I hate having to be put in the same category as with these pieces of shit that wouldn’t make it in the jungle. Little boys in men’s bodies. No wonder women hate them. I do too. Fuck it. I hate all of you. People are disgusting.

Henry Rollins - Solipsist (via just-legalize-everything)

Me too, Henry?

(via alltheshitthatwillstick)

Henry was way off base on the strip bar comment. I've lived it. WAY OFF BASE.

[divasdishblog]

"People are perfectly happy to see women as sex objects, but the actual biologic of our bodies is apparently gross and unmentionable."

- Our Bodies, Ourselves.

[derekjarman]

Det sjunde inseglet (Ingmar Bergman, 1957)

[thewarmsmelloftheherd-blog]

FUCK YEAH INGMAR BERGMAN!!!

[commune-or-nothing]

During our work among people in our communities, activists with Socialist Organizer frequently get questions about capitalism, socialism, Marx and how to change the world amid globalization and economic collapse.

What challenges do revolutionaries face today? How do we answer the key questions of our time about class, race, gender and oppression?

Socialist Organizer advocates its members, supporters and everyone interested in true social change carefully study the past, present and future. The following are our most popular questions and answers, as well as some writings we often recommend.

The Basics

Is There Enough to Go Around?

What About Human Nature?

What Does A Revolution Look Like?

Can Capitalism Be Humanized?

Anarchism Versus Marxism?

Why A Labor Party?

Can the Oppression of Women Be Ended?

Can Racism Be Abolished?

Does Socialism Have to be International?

Are the Democrats A Lesser Evil?

Capitalism

What is Capitalism?

Why is Capitalism in Crisis Today?

What is Globalization?

What is the Working Class?

Are U.S Workers Bought Off?

Who Rules the United States?

Socialism

What is Socialism?

What Went Wrong in Russia?

What Are the Four Workers’ Internationals?

Do Socialists Fight for Reforms?

Is A Workers’ State Needed?

What Would A Workers’ State Look Like?

Is Socialism About Conformism?

Is A Stateless Society Possible?

What Incentive Will People Have Under Socialism?

Is Socialism Inevitable?

How Will People Get Paid Under Socialism?

How Will Work Be Organized Under Socialism?

How to Change the World

Are Lifestyle Changes A Solution?

What is the Marxist Position on Elections?

What Do Marxists Say About Direct Action?

Is Leadership Necessary?

How Can We Save the Environment?

40 Years after Roe vs. Wade: The War On Women Today

Marxism and Feminism

Introduction to Socialism

Why Socialism?

Socialism and Democracy

What Socialism Would Look Like

“Lifestyle” Politics or Mass Action?

Anarchism vs. Marxism

What Revolutionaries Stand For

Socialism in Practice

In Defense of Socialism

Engels on the U.S. Labor Party Question

What Socialist America Will Look Like

America Under Workers’ Rule

Can U.S. Workers Make a Socialist Revolution?

The United Front and the Revolutionary Party

Introduction to the Transitional Program

Marxist History

An Introduction to the Russian Revolution

The Relevance of the October Revolution

Marxists and the Labor Party Movement: 1919 to 1924

The Labor Party Question in the U.S., 1828-1930: An Historical Perspective Introduction | Chapter 1 | Chapter 2 | Chapter 3 | Chapter 4 | Chapter 5 | Chapter 6 | Chapter 7 | Chapter 8 | Appendix 1 | Appendix 2

Socialism and Race

Racism, Self-Determination and Marxism

Why Racism Began and How to End It

Malcolm X on Capitalism and Socialism

MLK vs. Capitalism

Marxist Theory

The State and Revolution

The Communist Manifesto

The ABC of Materialist Dialectics

The Three Sources and Three Component Parts of Marxism

The Case for a Revolutionary Socialist Party

Why Marxists Oppose Individual Terrorism

“Left-Wing” Communism: An Infantile Disorder

The Rise and Consequences of Stalinism

Recommended Books

Fourth International

The Origins of the Fourth International

Strengths and Weaknesses of Cannonism

The 60th Anniversary of the Fourth International

The Fourth International and the United Front

Toward a Balance Sheet of the Fourth International in the United States

Some Reflections on the Founding of the Fourth International and the Relevance of its Programme