I stand corrected, BLM does exist as one large organisation as a simple wikipedia lookup could've told me.
Both articles equal being a Marxist or Communist to being evil incarnate. Not in so many words, but implicitly.
I thought we were over that for ~35 years. Not so in some US of NA citizens' minds apparently.
All the more kudos to Patrisse Cullors for having the cojones to say so openly.
And what is a "trained Marxist" supposed to be as opposed to just being a "Marxist"? Again, there's unspoken implications there that probably have nothing to do with reality.
Anyhow, there's some things to be said about the second website. Probably also the first.

About where BLM donations go, I found this article. Seems a little more objective to me.

All in all, BLM does not seem to be my "favourite" organisation. I would prefer something like "Stop Systemic Injustice" or "All Colors Matter" etc.

This article seems as biased as the others, just on the other side of the proverbial coin.

It also doesn't contain much relevant information on how the money is being spent, this excerpt seeming the most on point.

The biggest problem with this is the information is out of date. I see no reason to assume that the spending practices in 2019 mirror those in 2020 where there is far more international attention and money involved.

While there obviously IS an organization under the all encompassing title of BLM the Wiki also states as I've already quoted that it is not homogenous, not singular, but a sort of confederation. This is always a matter of degree since everything involving lots of components is to some degree, but to a very large degree this is what BLM is and means. This is recognized even by BLM itself, since it had as many as 30 Chapters in 2013. There is no "President" or Supreme Leader. It is simply not that cohesive being a single-issue platform of inequality in Law Enforcement to the extent of "street justice" deadly violence toward one area of society as opposed to others. One doesn't sign a charter or pass some test to become a member. One simply agrees or disagrees with that single issue.

The old cliche is "Back a rat into a corner and it will bite you". This assumes that in most situations a rat will prefer to just skulk away. So when forced into a corner and there is little choice but to turn and fight, who is the Prime Mover? who is at fault? THAT is what BLM is fundamentally about. How chapters deal with that is for the most part completely disorganized.

Note what is missing from that article. None of the money is going directly to help those who have been hurt by the rioting or to repair the damage. I liked the notation that: "46% went to “consultant fees,”. Sound like a BIG government program. Then "showing 81% of spending goes towards programs". Does that mean rioting????. If Black Lives Matters is truly an altruistic movement as they claim to be to help the oppressed, they would be organizing worker lead "repair brigades" singing The Internationale.

^ Yes, I understand this is the newest thing being pushed by pro-republican media to deflect from the issues at hand.
No, it isn't.
The other articles are just trying to paint as negative a picture as possible of BLM and its leaders.
This one is NOT trying to paint as positive a picture as possible.

That said, I'm done with your US american boxing duel politics, for now. You may get back to it between yourselves.
My world is multicoloured, not two-tone.

Seeing as Communism is responsible for anywhere between 65 to a 100 million dead in the 20th century, I would in fact say it IS evil incarnate.

That's not communism itself you're talking about, that's communist regimes.
But let's assume that that's what you meant - for how many dead in the 20th century were capitalist regimes responsible?

So sad, still living that old fairy tale of the Good West vs. the Bad East. Like when Clint Eastwood was president.

Hello again ondoho,
While I wholeheartedly agree with the above last line you wrote, I wonder why you thought views on Marxism had changed? At the very least it historically doesn't have a good track record and I haven't seen ant recent improvements beyond Democratic Socialism and that seems to be entirely a matter of degree. Technically, despite the knee-jerk dismissal (and sometimes abject fear) common to Northern Americans we do have beloved Socialistic Institutions like Health Care (I think Covid 19 has demonstrated that government decisions can adversely affect large swaths of the citizenry and how inter-related we all are so it stands to reason in my mind Health Care should be a government responsibility due to the Social Contract - In effect we all paid for it just by sacrificing some freedom upholding the Law) and of course, Social Security.

The Bottom Line however is that ANY system can, and eventually WILL, be abused and require something of a Reset. I am utterly convinced that is easier in a Capitalist system where there is a large Middle Class with "the power of the purse". I really can't even imagine Socialism in any larger degree doing a better job and historically it does seem to suffer from The Runaway Effect where very quickly it can go from beneficent to horrific.

Don't you feel that was just a wee bit over-reacting and generalizing? Do you really imagine any modern civilization is entirely uniform? yes, the US is quite polarized these days but that doesn't translate into ALL Americans are either Black or White, Red or Blue. Many of us are "multi-colored", too.

These days? This is not a new thing exactly.
And not only with skin colour.
It's everywhere, esp. in your politics: this guy vs. that guy. And always this guy says he's good and that guy is bad, and vice versa, and their supporters pick up on that.
This extends to all topics and is completely entrenched in your society and way of thinking, y'all don't even realize it.

Oh yes, we know all about that. And we know what caused it....but that would depend on which side that you ask.

When you have 2 major groups of people in a country that are traveling in opposite directions, over time you get farther and farther apart. A battle for the soul of the Nation, with religious fervor. Each side is positive that they are right. A civil war without bullets so far.

You folks in Europe don't need to pretend that you have it all solved. You simply suppress speech, and make it illegal to dissent. In fact, you can't even say I don't like something, I think that it is yucky. That could land you in jail. You can even have your kids taken away if the government doesn't approve of how you are raising your kids. That's not freedom and liberty, that's big government oppression. And it blows up on you every now and then too.

We have had one political side control the media/hollywood/public schools for 40 plus years now. Half of the country never watches that silly crap, Why would you? And desperately tries to send their kids to private schools if they can.

When 2 groups of people watch different news and tv shows for 40 years, send their kids to different schools, who do not teach the same curriculum, they are 2 different nations inside of a nation. We are not the same people.

Edit: Geany spell checker changed to wrong words.

In regards to the indoctrinated young people rebellion that we see happening in the US streets right now. And the ideological demands that they are making.

You are familiar with the Catholic/Protestant wars in Europe in the 15-1600's. Same concept. You will either confess what we tell you to or we will burn you tied to a post. You have to confess that the bread turns in to Jesus's flesh in your belly, it's not just symbolic, or you get destroyed.

Nickel and dime. Potato potatoe.


Directly? Through firing squads, hard labor, generational prison camps, and all the other state-mandated assurances that no one will ever have anything that someone else doesn't? None. The necessary ingredient for a free market has historically been freedom itself, the exact opposite of this. You don't see very many governments that exert tight and oppressive control via capitalism as a result, which makes the distinction of "capitalist regimes" moot.

Indirectly, through being unable to pay for food and medications? I really don't know. "Indirect death" is an impossible thing to measure because, among other things, it can't be objectively catalogued. That makes it useless for this discussion.


I do love the whataboutism though.

I'm sorry if that's how I come across. I do not pretend that, I do not think that. But everytime I look at the US of NA I just feel glad that I don't live there.
No, politics in Europe isn't perfect either, or in any of its countries, or in the EU. But what you describe there, as a whole, is simply untrue. Sounds a bit like the horror stories they were telling about the USA, back in the Eastern Bloc.

Anyhow, 16th century? LOL.

Some of US wish that we could go live somewhere else. There isn't any other place to go. Or any place that seems better, that will allow immigration. You can't emigrate to Scotland or England unless you come from one of the preferred countries. You can visit, but not emigrate to there.

I don't like Australia's model, paying 55% of your wages in taxes. Yes you get something for it, like healthcare. You should get free food having to pay that much in taxes. I'm not sure that you can become a citizen of OZ unless you have a spouse from there. I've lived in Germany. It's ok I guess. You can't become a German citizen unless you are from a preferred country, unless something has changed.

There is no other place to go. Not until an earth like habitable planet, orbiting in the goldilocks zone, with 19-24% oxygen atmosphere is found, and a way to get there.