Imagine a hellish landscape. Think of Detroit. Picture the hollow, flaking buildings with graffiti scrawled over them and weeds growing through the pavement. Picture the needles, the crack pipes, the spent shell casings. Picture the thousands of smashed out windows. No, this isn’t a television ad to make you feel sorry for inner-city black children. The point I’m trying to make is that when a sensible man thinks of good government, he does not think of Detroit. [ 1,473 more word ]
https://www.socialmatter.net/2018/05/01/clean-streets/

And still these men they wonder at the stars As evening falls long and soft across the land And stars are set by myriad living hands While tides rise with waves that break but do not mar And still these men they wonder at the stars At the gleam and shine in Luna's opal face Over blue and silver slivered lakes… [ 105 more words ]
https://www.socialmatter.net/2018/04/28/isti-mirant-stella/

Welcome to the Myth of the 20th Century. The podcast airs on Fridays. --- Brought to you by --- Adam Smith, Hank Oslo, Nick Mason, Hans Lander and Alex Nicholson Notes: In the summer of 1941, Nazi Germany launched the largest military operation in history, invading the Soviet Union across a 2,900 kilometer front, committing nearly 4 million men, thousands of tanks and aircraft, and advanced to the outskirts of Moscow by December, leaving nearly 5 million Soviet casualties in their wake. [ 269 more words ]
https://www.socialmatter.net/…/myth-20th-century-episode-6…/

Magnetized a descent begins over the waters black like a snake a flare high up white-hot a point reflected in the water descends exhaling intensity dying out two points weakening nearing disappearing at the conjunction at the line the light-hot orb a darkened heat a sharp blip boils up the orb now warm mixes with the waters the heat weakened… [ 143 more words ]

https://www.socialmatter.net/2018/04/21/orbes/

Welcome to the Myth of the 20th Century. The podcast airs on Fridays. --- Brought to you by --- Adam Smith, Nick Mason, Alex Nicholson, Hank Oslo and Hans Lander with special guest James LaFond Notes: Without pain, without sacrifice we would have nothing. References: – Lonely are the Brave, Miller (1962) – The Monkey Wrench Gang, Abbey (1975) – Iron John, Bly (1990) [ 27 more words ]

https://www.socialmatter.net/…/myth-20th-century-episode-6…/

To the extent any awareness still exists around Salazar and his reign in Portugal, said recognition centers on three inter-related matters: anti-communism, opposition to decolonization, and political Catholicism. Salazar was the prototype of the “Catholic dictator” – he served as the model and inspiration for Franco in Spain, Petain in Vichy France, and Dolfuss in Austria.[1] Under the tagline… [ 7,367 more words ]

https://www.socialmatter.net/…/vatican-ii-romes-betrayal-s…/

Herbert Marcuse’s differentiation of objective and subjective needs illustrates a major hole in the study of free markets and political economy, as well as the need for a new reactionary approach to economics that transcends the old socialist-capitalist dichotomy. One of the great arguments for the market and against central planning is that the market best fulfills the needs of individuals, as evidenced by the great wealth of Western nations in contrast to the old Communist East. [ 2,267 more words ]

https://www.socialmatter.net/20…/…/16/the-economics-of-need/

Tremble, Ahura-Mazda! Be thou dumb Upon thine altars ash’d of ancient fires. For thou art sick! Nor wast thou ever-young. Trembling near thy magi-choirs Keep not death’s chamber holy-still, Profane they cry, “The deathless and th’ever-strong Expireth!” Blaspheme through their tears of shame. Lament Persia! Thy right enough not long! Thy shahs now rot, thy god hath gray hairs on. [ 143 more words ]

https://www.socialmatter.net/20…/…/14/manichaeus-heresiarch/

Welcome to the Myth of the 20th Century. The podcast airs on Fridays. --- Brought to you by --- Adam Smith, Nick Mason, and Hans Lander with special guests from Identity Dixie Musonious Rufus, Mencken's Ghost, and Marcus Hale Notes: Fraud, corruption, cronyism – symbols of injustice no matter where you are in the world. While perhaps not home to the worst examples of abuse of power, America has certainly had its share. [ 133 more words ]

https://www.socialmatter.net/…/myth-20th-century-episode-6…/

I recently left for a week in the Rocky Mountains to get away from the Washington, D.C. swamp. There's only so long one can pretend to idolize Robert Mueller, or to listen as a co-worker gushes about some new Ted Talk about women’s health in Africa. And yet, when I got to my destination and sat down in a bar most known for its country music, I found this message on my menu: [ 1,955 more word ]

https://www.socialmatter.net/…/trotsky-peoria-end-front-po…/

Machines We brought them to our castles “Echo by Amazon” “Home by Google” Slumbering away Secreted corner eyes For hot water Lights off Automated responsibility Life made simpler Our senses Dimmed further A majority enrapture Quiet few tinker on And on Building away Machines In the likeness of a human’s mind.

https://www.socialmatter.net/2018/04/07/butlerian-prelude/

Welcome to the Myth of the 20th Century. The podcast airs on Fridays. --- Brought to you by --- Adam Smith, Nick Mason, Hans Lander, and Alex Nicholson Notes: Organized crime in Italy is a complex subject, with origins stretching back for centuries. For at least a millennia, southern Italy, in particular Sicily, was forcibly occupied and ruled by foreign warlords, kingdoms, and empires. [ 462 more words ]

https://www.socialmatter.net/…/myth-20th-century-episode-6…/

Over the last day, you may have noticed some sort of error on the front of the site stating: "Your connection is not private," and a prompt to either leave the site or proceed at your own peril. This alert is not because we've been hacked, or anything of the sort. Rather, we're currently in the middle of transitioning Social Matter over to SSL for security and SEO reasons, and so some (only some) of our readers are seeing this error message. [ 52 more words ]

https://www.socialmatter.net/2018/04/05/https-upgrade/

In the East, there is a sense of the wilderness as a place of peace and refuge. From those ancient days of the hermit-prophets who descended their mountains to condemn the wayward people of Israel and the pagan merchants of Mecca to the Sufi mystics of the twelfth and thirteenth centuries who sought God in the desert, the spirit of the Wilderness was ever one of foggy mysticism we have long come to associate with the Asiatic as a type. [ 3,997 more words ]

http://www.socialmatter.net/…/disenchanted-forest-lost-fea…/

The sun for you is always setting On New and Ancient Rome, And eyes, in evening light, forgetting The path that leads to home. The wheels invest, The hours dressed From May to mourning weeds, And speak of death, So look ye West And bear your souls to me! A darkness sits upon the city, A hush becalms the sea. [ 130 more words ]

http://www.socialmatter.net/20…/…/31/the-lure-of-the-indies/