Tonight your host, Brienna Parsons, is beginning her first instruction in auto-pedagogical linguistics. Woohoo!
Join the Twitch.TV/BriezyBee stream for higher education and gaming. We’re doing another Pull That S*** Up University and everyone is invited. There may be cursing & local references made, so a particular audience is in mind, but this work is for everybody, so get in!
EMBED COMING SOON!
So come one, come all, tonight and every week, the Twitch.TV/BriezyBee livestream does public university on Twitch!
Here’s the weekly rundown:
Mondays (M)
Community Town Halls with Twitch in and around Aurora, Arapahoe County, Colorado, & the United States.
We cover Arapahoe County, Colorado local news!
Gaming.
Tuesdays (T)
Brienna’s Office Hour Marathons — how long can we go?
Gaming.
Wednesdays
Pull That S*** Up University — public university livestreams!
Gaming.
Thursdays (R)
Arapahoe County House Party Canvass Reports.
Gaming.
Fridays (F)
IDK think of something fun, it’s that, come join us. Hop in chat!
Gaming.
Saturdays (A)
Unsolved Mysteries, Wife Swap, & other trash with the crime & life partner.
Gaming.
Sundays (U)
No Streams.
Help us create a solid network for the community by sharing!
Thanks again
BriezyBee
For business inquiries email briennaparsons22@gmail.com.
“Nothingbindsyou except your thoughts;nothinglimits you except your fear; andnothingcontrols you except your beliefs.”
— Marianne Williamson
The big 1-2-5.
That’s right, 125 years ago, 1894, Labor Day was marked on mental calendars of the working class for the first time. Class consciousness has been beaten out of us since then however, so if you’re unfamiliar with the international struggle, this is a refresh.
Fascism doesn’t take kindly to freedom. A controllable society, one built on hierarchies, the one we live in, has been keeping its fascist face behind a mask. The capitalist class, and their war of division and hate, has been called out before by Marianne Williamson, an author, activist, public speaker, and Democratic candidate for President.
Bread & Roses
You’ll see it in many places. It comes from a rich socialist history. Bread for the fruits of our labor and roses for the peace to enjoy it. Today, we have neither.
“A New Jersey town was forced to cancel its Labor Day parade Monday after multiple small explosive devices were found near the route where Gov. Phil Murphy was set to march, officials said.”
New York Daily News, Sept. 2, 2019.
“The images of children crying after their parents were arrested in a massive immigration raid in Mississippi revived a longstanding complaint: Unauthorized workers are jailed or deported, while the managers and business owners who profit from their labor often go unprosecuted.”
AP, Aug. 14, 2019.
“There’s a very common lie… the lies they scare in you… the lies they use to control you…”
“This Labor Day weekend, thousands of Muslim Americans descended on Houston, Texas, for the annual three-day Islamic Society of North America (ISNA) convention. This year’s ISNACON featured many well-known figures, such as Trevor Noah, who shared his story of growing up in South Africa and joked about the ups and downs of “The Daily Show.”
Noah wasn’t the only draw. Well-known Muslim Americans, including Democratic Rep. Rashida Tlaib and Women’s March organizer Linda Sarsour, spoke to large crowds. The most popular person, however, was a 77-year-old Jewish man born and bred in Brooklyn. I’m speaking of 2020 presidential candidate Sen. Bernie Sanders, of course. While Noah, Tlaib and Sarsour attracted the attention of many, Sanders packed the venue that held nearly 7,000 — receiving several standing ovations.”
Dean Obeillah, CNN | Opinion
Earlier this year, Democratic candidate for President, Senator, and activist, Bernie Sanders announced his inspiration to see the progress of FDR’s New Deal continued today. After a rocky and violent three years of an unapologetic President — of a country — landlord, mob Don, con artist, white nationalist, misogynist, and fascist.
Labor is “the last line of defense,” Sanders said as he accepted his first major labor union endorsement. Following several other endorsements this one is mentionable for its size and name recognition. Especially today.
Mother Jones
“Bankruptcy exposes the economic vulnerability and insecurity of middle class women.”
— Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-MA)
Women’s labor has a noticeable history, not just in the forming of revolutions in France or Russia, but in the successful organizing of labor. From the International Ladies Garment Workers Union, to Lucy Parsons, let’s embrace women 100 years after winning the vote and 125 years to today: Labor Day.
“If they want to hang me, let them. And on the scaffold I will shout Freedom for the working class!”
— Mary Harris “Mother” Jones
#ACAB
“If there is going to be class warfare in this country, it’s about time the working class won that war.”
— Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-VT)
Following law as a tool to protect property, and estate, the mercantilism of earlier capitalism is revived in the class warfare of today. The police enforce the law; the law of property becomes protected by force. Prisons become the place where those unwilling to labor, or those who threaten property, if they must remain alive, are kept. Especially following slavery, sheriffs became the tool for enforcing property laws, while the slave-catching role falls onto the average officer.
This is a part of the struggle. A part of the class struggle. Increasingly militant and militarized, this spells class war. Why haven’t unions brought roses to this front in the war for bread?
Progress
There’s a lot of ground to cover for making up for labor rights and frankly other basic and human rights that have been shorted out by corporate corruption of government and policy. For trans folx in the United States we see this, for migrants this is most prevalent to mind right now, but there is still quite a lot blocking progress for everyone equally under the law which historically has affected Black communities across the country not only first, but worst.
Not to say there isn’t progress, there is. It’s just hard-fought. Slowly we’ll see a major change in labor in the United States, and I don’t mean automation.
“So much of what we take for granted each and every day – the 40-hour workweek, weekends off, a minimum wage – is the result of the blood, sweat, tears, and in some cases even lives of those who fought to give American workers a better life.
If labor unions weren’t so uniquely effective, the coordinated, heavily-financed campaign to decimate them wouldn’t exist. Unfortunately, the campaign is working – union membership is less than half of what it was 40 years ago. Recent decisions from the Supreme Court’s right-wing majority, such as Janus v. AFSCME last year, threaten to worsen this trend.
It’s no surprise that income inequality has increased dramatically over the same period.
With labor battles still taking place all over our nation – such as the #RedforEd movement to earn higher wages for teachers across the country – I hope you’ll take a moment this Labor Day to reflect on how far we’ve come and how far we still have to go.”
Even progressive political campaigns for Sanders, Warren, Booker, and Castro, are unionizing. It’s not only good for the working class that workers the country over unionize, but great for the capitalist class. If collectives negotiate wins for the working class, there’s no reason for capitalists, in and out of government, to be concerned of an imminent general strike.
Ironically, a nationwide Walmart strike would likely be just as fatal to the capitalist engine against the working poor and that’s a single corporation. For instance, earlier strikes over Walmart’s gun sales have recently proved fruitful, maybe even pressuring one of the country’s other largest retailers to act as well, Kroger. Dick’s Sporting Goods also followed suit.
Sanders is ahead of the curve on this issue. He’s been speaking out for unions before he ever reached Congress, so it comes as no surprise that he has a powerful Workplace Democracy Plan. Or as Vox put it, Unions for All, and a campaign that Labor 411 called “a rapid action tool to support striking workers.”
This is a follow-up to the two part series, Moneyed Interests, Malevolence, and Malfeasance: A Brief History of Money in Politics and the War on Freedom.
The reason for the season is that 100 years ago today, in the United States, the right to vote was solidified by the Bill of Rights in the 19th Amendment.
Before June 4, 1919, only white men could vote. This level of malevolence towards the opinions of others was perpetuated in more fields than one, and as it was a form of erasure, could be described as a form of soft violence.
Unlike physical, hard, violence, soft violence is defined by using psychological means no different than the use of fear and Psychological Operatives by militaries around the world. Or nonviolent terrorism. However, it’s still upon a continuum of force.
I’ve described that continuum elsewhere. Here we’re looking at the power dynamics of violence.
When physical, clearly the one standing has won a position, and their hierarchical place above another is made clear.
Today, we see another version of this often in the political atmosphere.
“Debate me, debate me.”
The pursuers of violence are always seeking to dominate the field. Show that their opinions are superior. Beatdown, destroy, crush, and get others to “smash the like button” in their favor; their goals are even when not spoken in such violent terms, an act of violence.
When you share your opinion because you would like it known, or if you’re lucky, considered, there may be those that want to demolish it.
Though the Right-wing, and especially the extreme right-wing, are fans of this, it can easily occur on the left of center political spectrum as well. It isn’t about politics; it’s about power. Intellectual dominance. Superiority.
When wrapped up in white supremacy, we see a spike in black trans murders, because this power dynamic is on a continuum. The thought may not necessarily be there at all times, but it’s been documented in studies of mass shooters in ths United States it does often come back to the monetary evaluation of one’s bigoted opinion.
If they won’t value your opinion and pay you, vote for you, kiss your boots, then, and we see this with police, they will be forced to be agreeable.
So as we celebrate 100 years of the right to vote for women, we have to ask ourselves, when so much of this operates in a misogynistic system: how far have we come?
What violence have we endured?
How do we stop this from being repeated? Or worse. How do we make sure that once women are in power, that we do not allow the same to be done to men?
Personally, to the latter, even in the face of the tiny minority of anti-trans “feminists”, I believe that we’re infinitely better than that.
Many of the organizers for suffrage were democratic socialists, abolitionists, and activists for a more inclusive society. They were the first wave.
Following them, the Civil Rights movement, Peace Movement, Gay Rights movement, and the Women’s Rights movement were all coinciding to make the now global Second Wave a force to be reckoned with. Patriarchies across the planet took notice. And ever since, the Third Wave has had an uphill battle.
We are now in the Third Wave, discussing theories of violence and free speech, trans rights and human rights, immigration, and the intersection of all of these and more as the basic needs and desires of women in politics has proceeded at a snail’s pace against an onslaught of toxic masculinity.
The matrix of masculinity is the culmination of years of misogyny and sexist institutions with the new addition of the mostly male trolls of the internet and the violent, threatening men attempting to push the continuum of violence from speech to action.
Going forward, there will be another article to delve into wealth inequality, incarceration, media bias, and the extreme right-wing as it continues to relate to the issue of money in politics, where much of the struggle for freedom for all still lies.
Money in Politics Series, 1 of 2. Find the Second Part here.
A Brief History of War for Oil & Soul
Since World War II, following conflicts around the world had less to do with atrocities such as those performed by the post-Wiemar Republic regime, and more to do with oil. For those unfamiliar, it was planned by fascist leaders in Europe to reach outwards to oil fields in the Middle East, the Caucasus range, and anywhere they could for a supply of it in order to force their beliefs upon others in perpetuity. Oil fueled almost every weapon of war and furnace for weapons manufacturing, a key reason why
As history showed however, the Axis had little in terms of an organized force enough for such a venture – an issue the United States and allies have not had in the decades following. What the modern extremist far-right has learned from the furor and his 20th century ilk, though, is the unity of a single national identity. Specifically, as we’ll read here: white Christianity and a single language.
Thanks to Precedent: Eisenhower
Somehow, the President that gave us the following quote, set the country up for failure following this massive global conflict, ignoring the facts of the rise of the fascist state in Germany.
In the councils of government, we must guard against the acquisition of unwarranted influence, whether sought or unsought, by the military-industrial complex. The potential for the disastrous rise of misplaced power exists and will persist.
Dwight D. Eisenhower. 34th President of the United States, U.S. Army 5-Star General, and Supreme Commander of the Allied Expeditionary Forces in Europe during World War II.
Eisenhower is remembered for the above quote as well as his signing into law the Civil Rights Act of 1957, which was the first civil rights legislation since Reconstruction and established the Civil Rights Section of the Justice Department, empowering federal prosecutors to obtain court injunctions against interference with the right to vote. He was the first President to serve during the Civil Rights Movement, and he’s also remembered for his order of federal troops to protect nine children integrating into a public school, in Little Rock, Arkansas, the first time troops were ordered to the South since, again, Reconstruction.
This is where memory of this President, even by Baby Boomers, may cease. Here’s a refresher of where this President opened the door for the abuse of political action committees (which first began in 1943) and imperial hate funding campaign finance.
Eisenhower started the first National Prayer Breakfast. There, Billy Graham left an indelible mark on conservative politics. It was his influence too that created this meeting of church and state, and later inspired the non-secular additions: “under God” to the Pledge of Allegiance, and “In God We Trust,” to the American currency.
“Soon after his election in 1952, Eisenhower told Graham that the country needed a spiritual renewal. For Eisenhower, faith, patriotism and free enterprise were the fundamentals of a strong nation. But of the three, faith came first.”
Successive to the Second World War, the Peace Movement began out of the Civil Rights Movement. The economic, corporal, and costs of life due to the preceding wars had set a fuse inside of many around the world and, most importantly here, in the United States. However, the Peace Movement stateside is embodied by the protests against the war in Vietnam, which many protesters argued was a front to expanding media contracts for Lady Bird Johnson, and the profiteers of war such as the Military-Industrial Complex and most significantly here, Halliburton.
Following that first period, there was enough happening at home with the draft into Vietnam, the Civil Rights Era protests, the assassination of John F. Kennedy, the British Invasion, the Space Race, and, the Summer of Love and subsequent “hippie” concert traditions, that the war continued until about the same period that the Organization of Arab Petroleum Exporting Countries (OAPEC – not to be confused with the more inclusive OPEC) proclaimed an oil embargo. This oil embargo was in response to the Arab-Israeli War over the Suez Canal, one the world’s eight oil traffic chokepoints, at a period when Palestinians and Israelis were first finding unrest between each other in the region. Many remember from their history classes that this resulted in President Carter negotiating the Camp David Peace Accords.
Yet, before a solid celebration of peace could be had, there was another major conflict during Carter’s tenure. An Iranian Revolution to change leadership was happening, and in its wake, in 1979, oil was halted from export. This caused the Second Oil Crisis and perhaps inspired what many considered to be a false flag operation created by mercenaries for oil companies: the Iran hostage crisis.
While Carter was somehow unable to use the same charm which found him success at Camp David, his successor President Reagan made it look like an easy job, as minutes after being sworn in Carter-era diplomats did the work in Algiers. However, while the Algiers Accords meant that oil companies were barred from Iran internal affairs, this marked the beginning of a new era of efforts in the Middle East. This was especially required since some of the first acts of Reagan were to remove price controls on domestic oil, allowing consumer gouging, as well as repealing the Crude Oil Windfall Profits Tax, that taxed corporations’ massive gains. Just the beginning of trickle-down, supply-side, Reaganomics pushed by corporate advice onto the actor.
While the windfall profit tax is claimed to have increased dependence on foreign oil, that is by in large by the choice of oil companies involved. Returning back to U.S. soil, there was an increase in the use of American reserves for only a short period before the wars for oil continued, and later down the line found profit in transporting oil from the Canadian oil sands. This small moment in history is considered by some conservatives to be why Reagan was iconic, however the following big moment, is the real reason.
The Moral Majority
Following the influence of Billy Graham, the Falwell’s have been following the road map of money in politics. Money that arguably is laundered through churches, similarly to banking and real-estate, to clean the money and erase its roots in what may be a checkered past. Such as televangelists.
Here, I’m just going to leave a quote from Richard Flory, Senior Director of Research and Evaluation at the University of Southern California, Dornsife College of Letters, Arts and Sciences.
Coinciding with the popularity of Ronald Reagan, [Jerry Falwell Sr.] founded the Moral Majority in 1979 as a conservative Christian political lobbying group. Although the founding of the Moral Majority is popularly seen as an anti-abortion and pro-family movement, its real roots were different. Falwell and other evangelical leaders felt the federal government was overreaching with its guidelines into how Christian groups maintained racial restrictions in their schools.
The Moral Majority ultimately expanded its platform from segregation in schools to include what is now a familiar agenda: supporting and sponsoring legislation for “traditional” family values and prayer in schools. It also opposed LGBT rights, the Equal Rights Amendment, abortion and other similar social-moral issues.
Since the Reagan administration, the environment for information has changed quite considerably. In 1987, under the Reagan Administration, the FCC abandoned the “Fairness Doctrine,” which required licensed radio and television broadcasters to present fair and balanced coverage of controversial issues of interest to their communities, including by devoting equal airtime to opposing points of view. This, some argue, paved the way for particular news outlets to provide misinformation under the guise of being, as is sometimes even advertised, “fair and balanced.”
Succeeding Reagan, George H. W. Bush (Bush I) made promises to be as similar to Reagan, who he served as Vice President. And while some may argue he didn’t hold true to that, he did, and here’s why: At the same time as the beginning of the hostage crisis in Iran, Saddam Hussein, a nationalist and fascist dictator, rose to power in Iraq, setting up the next oil stage for the US Presidency to step onto.
In 1990, during the Bush I administration, Iraq, led by Hussein, invaded the oil-rich nation of Kuwait. This was the perfect reason to intervene and accept the oil fields there as US protections. His son followed in very much the same vein of thought, guiding foreign policy and the economy very much the same way for years to come.
“If there is no struggle, there is no progress. Those who profess to favor freedom, and deprecate agitation, are men who want crops without plowing up the ground, they want rain without thunder and lightning.”
Frederick Douglass, American social reformer, abolitionist, orator, writer, and statesman.
If you live in the Northeast United States, this is a great time to stay inside by the fire and call your sweetie. Or your grandmother. Call anyone!
On this day in history in 1876, Alexander Graham Bell patented the telephone.
I’m going to call one of my friends in the tropics and ask them to leave their phone on speaker in the sand on the beach so I can hear the sunshine and ocean waves.
Brienna Parsons 