Democracy Gone Astray

Democracy, being a human construct, needs to be thought of as directionality rather than an object. As such, to understand it requires not so much a description of existing structures and/or other related phenomena but a declaration of intentionality.
This blog aims at creating labeled lists of published infringements of such intentionality, of points in time where democracy strays from its intended directionality. In addition to outright infringements, this blog also collects important contemporary information and/or discussions that impact our socio-political landscape.

All the posts here were published in the electronic media – main-stream as well as fringe, and maintain links to the original texts.

[NOTE: Due to changes I haven't caught on time in the blogging software, all of the 'Original Article' links were nullified between September 11, 2012 and December 11, 2012. My apologies.]

Friday, May 25, 2018

Calls for FBI to investigate Dana Rohrabacher’s meeting with Julian Assange grow

Just to be clear, I am an advocate of political and corporate transparency. So too, I would imagine, are many of Julian Assange's supporters.

Do you know who doesn't support transparency, though? Julian Assange.

Sure, he supports transparency for specific groups when doing so fits with his personal ideological agenda — the Democratic National Committee, the American military-industrial complex, etc. But a true advocate of transparency believes that all powerful institutions should be held accountable.

They are consistent.

Welcome to the Breitbart era: Steve Bannon’s former site is the new monarch of right-wing media

So in the midst of a national firestorm over neo-Nazis and neo-Confederates coming together under the banner of white nationalism to "Unite the Right" last weekend in Charlottesville, presidential adviser Steve Bannon, former publisher of Breitbart News,  the self-proclaimed "platform of the alt-right," decided out of the blue to call up Robert Kuttner of the liberal American Prospect to chew the fat. Kuttner told Rolling Stone's Matt Taibbi that he believes Bannon when he says he forgot to say it was off the record and that he really saw it as "a candid strategy talk with a comrade." Kuttner said:

    [Bannon] simultaneously tries to make alliances with lefties on economic nationalism, while doubling down on the racist, anti-immigrant stuff, and assumes that people will naively work with him on selected issues and excuse his larger role. It's classic hubris.

Weeping Nazi started off as a “men’s rights activist,” which is no huge surprise

The white supremacist rally that turned violent — and then deadly — on Saturday was immediately documented by Vice News Tonight and its correspondent Elle Reeve, in a video documentary released on Monday. It wasn't just the turnaround speed that was impressive, but the level of access the Vice team got, largely due to the choice to embed with Christopher Cantwell, a self-appointed white supremacist leader whose big mouth and massive gun collection left an impression on the documentary's viewers.

Thursday, May 24, 2018

Eight People Have Been Arrested for Pulling Down Durham’s Confederate Statue—There May Be More Soon

In the wake of the deadly violence in Charlottesville, Virginia, images of Confederate monuments being pulled from their platforms have taken off on social media. But no image stands out as strongly as that of the statue of a Confederate solider in Durham, North Carolina, collapsed in a crumpled heap after being torn down by a group of protesters on Monday. Now, days after the monument was ripped from its base, several protesters are facing charges, and local law enforcement says that more arrests could be on the way.

Rebel Media Has Lost 300 Advertisers In Past 3 Months: Group

Hundreds of businesses advertising on Canada's notorious Rebel Media website have pulled their ads within the past three months, according to an online campaign targeting ultra-right-wing websites.

The campaign, Sleeping Giants, told HuffPost Canada by Twitter that some 300 businesses have responded to public pressure to remove ads from the website that many argue incites hatred.