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A Facebook comrade sent me the above screenshot with a suggestion to comment on it:

So this nonsense hit my wife's FB wall today, and since I just finished your book, it angered even more than it would have normally angered me. That somehow any assistance by the Fed is now deemed "socialism" is completely ignorant prima facie, but honestly, once the Fed gets involved, cleanup will likely take even longer as the bureaucratic process kicks in. The people in New Jersey have all but been forgotten after the press died down, mired in red-tape, many have failed to get the promised assistance by the government elites. Maybe you can speak more to that.

I responded in a "prog-off" mode, and then decided to also post it here as a public service:

The People's Cube answers:

This is a typical "optical illusion" mind game the progs always play. The trick here is the unwitting (or deliberate) confusion of a CRISIS with NORMALCY.

A crisis situation, like natural disasters or wars, require a certain code of conduct and ethics, and government exists specifically for this purpose (apart from law enforcement and legislation). Survival of a group in a crisis calls for a collectivist moral code.

In contrast, NORMALCY (the absence of crisis) is best handled with self-government on the local and individual level. It calls for an individualist moral code.

Confusing the two situations leads to extolling collectivism as superior to individualism, and central government as a savior. As a result, progs rejoice every time there is a crisis because it justifies their moral code. And that's why we often have a crisis where there shouldn't be one.

With progs everything is a crisis; the entire Obama presidency was one permanent crisis. Without a crisis, the collectivist morality means nothing because in a normal situation, individualism and the free markets are a lot more successful in achieving a peaceful, prosperous, and civil society.

As an example, the military operates by collectivist ethics that require individual sacrifice for the benefit of all. That's because the military's purpose is to handle various crises, from wars to natural disasters. As such it is an essential part of government. But we don't want the rest of the society to be governed like the military and take orders from the government in all aspects of life, asking permission from superiors to do minor personal things.

As an ultimate army-like state, North Korea is a great success story of collectivist morality, and a failure in everything else. A normal society is best served by individual self-government and delegating the collectivist crisis-handling functions to the government and the military where they belong.

Our comrade General Secretary offered another good answer over the phone:

For the government to do anything in this and similar rescue and cleanup efforts, it needs the best and the most advanced tools available - helicopters, communication systems, satellites, boats, vehicles, fuel, canned food, and all sorts of equipment produced by private businesses that operate in the free markets.

Without the free markets, and subsequently without the advanced tools and communications, the efforts would be much less effective and often impossible.

Compare the death toll of Hurricane Harvey in 2017 - eight people so far (unfortunate, but still relatively small) - to the 1900 hurricane in Galveston, TX (about the same area), where death toll estimates range from 6,000 to 12,000 people. The difference between life and death here is in the level of technology we have achieved in the last 100 years. We can now watch hurricanes from space, predict their movement, evacuate people quickly on a massive scale, and rescue survivors and deliver supplies from the air.

In contrast, government-controlled economy and central planning of socialism is known to conserve technological achievements and hinder innovation. This is what happened in the USSR that had to import almost all new technologies from the West, where they developed due to the free markets and competition.

In other words, had the entire world gone socialist a hundred years ago, the technology would have remained at the 100-year-old level and the US government wouldn't have had the modern equipment to handle this hurricane. As a result, the death toll in Houston could be similar to that of Galveston. And no one would be complaining because no one would know about any other options except to drown, and also because under socialism complaining about government is not an option either.

And I also can't help but repost these FB comments under this thread on the Cube page:

• Sounds like a job for the Clinton Foundation. Shame to let Chelsey's experience go to waste.
  
• Will Hillary do to Houston what she did to Haiti if they let her in? If so then Houston will have a problem.

Comrades, for shame that the megachurch isn't being taken in by the city to repurpose it into a more progressive living quarters. We should complain to the authorities that the capitalistic selfish group does not share the seats for the common folk.

A rodent's eye view:

There are two essential functions of progressive political leadership;

1) create “communities of the disenfranchised”
2) motivate those communities to action when needed

The ability to create and cultivate “communities of the disenfranchised” is a goal of all budding leftists, but an essential skill for progressive politicians. Ask yourself this question; "If Chuck Schumer visited Utopia tomorrow morning is there any doubt he could provoke rioting in the streets by afternoon?"

Schumer and his fellow progs feed on discontent the way ticks feed on blood. Without misery, progs are powerless loudmouths. But there's little likelihood of real solutions disturbing the status quo. Why? Because progressive government solutions can be formulated to partially or totally fail over time. Thus, they provide progressives the means to modulate or control discontent within their “communities of disenfranchisement.”

On the other hand, progressives lose control if alternative solutions employing private sector funding and management are adopted. This may be the prog's oldest and darkest nightmare - what if the private sector is successful? What if they correct the problem, eliminate the misery and fix the disenfranchised community? Where would this leave Chucky?

One of the wonderful things about Identity Socialism is flexibility. Thinking of committing a crime . . . if you consider the victim a "Nazi" you are in the clear. Instead of feeling guilty - you can identify as morally superior. Of course, "Nazi" must be replaced with whichever identity group is currently out of favor and demonized as our oppressors . . . the reason we have not already achieved our promised potential.

A new development illustrates my original point:

Prof suggests Texans deserve hurricane for supporting Trump

• A University of Tampa professor recently suggested that Texans deserve the fallout from Hurricane Harvey because of their support for Donald Trump in the 2016 election.
  
• After tweeting that "hopefully this will help them realize the GOP doesnt care about them," Ken Storey clarified that he's "only blaming those who support the GOP," insisting that they need to "do more to stop the evil their state pushes."

This Florida professor of sociology and a part-time radio host in Orlando reveals another trick of an optical illusion that the progs often use:

1. The central government takes care of the people during a disaster, it's a moral thing to do and no one can deny that. It reveals how important the central government is in saving lives and ensuring welfare. Therefore, it would only make sense if the central government were to take care of the people and ensure their welfare at all other times.
   
2. Republicans believe the government should not be taking care of the people and instead, allow them the freedom to take care of themselves. Therefore, Republicans don't care about people. It's only logical to prognosticate that the GOP will be against helping people during a disaster as well. That makes them utterly immoral, evil, heartless, and worthless human beings.
   
3. The fact that a switch has occurred that changes the background and the perspective is not mentioned. Here is an illustration of how the same figure (equal in size) appears bigger or smaller when cleverly superimposed on a different context.
   
   

   

In the end, the progs believe that the role of the government is to take care of the people, while the free-market conservatives/libertarians believe that the government should give people the freedom to take care of themselves.

The latter, of course, applies to a normal situation and not to a natural disaster or another crisis where the government is obligated to step in and help, which is why it exists in the first place.

The progs will do and say anything to advance their idea, often using real or manufactured crises to permanently impose the central government on all spheres of life. Some do it deliberately, others are confused and simply follow the others' lead.

Professor Storey teaches sociology. All of the above is directly related to his subject. So he is either not qualified to teach socio-political sciences, or he is knowingly committing fraud.

On another note, Houston is a deep-blue city that predominantly voted for Hillary in the last election. This should turn the professor's nonsensical "karma" point on its head, not that I believe in such a scientifically progressive notion as karma. Prof. Storey cannot be so dumb as not to realize it. It's safe to assume he was so blinded by his passionate hatred of Trump and the GOP that he didn't know what he was doing.

Aren't all progs similarly blinded by hatred these days, from CNN to Congress to universities? the blind leading the blind. For them, this optical illusion of the Republican elephant should make total sense.

Red Square wrote:


[highlight=#ffff00]Prof. Storey cannot be so dumb as not to realize it.[/highlight]

If you've been watching C-SPAN3 on The People's™ TV picture machine and catching the weekend series of college lectures you know what prog professors teach. The lectures feature Progressive PhD Professors of Politically Korrekt American History. Awesome, aren't they? A few more years of "progressive preparation" and The Children™ will be "properly" conditioned to take their place in the World of Next Tuesday.™

Captain Craptek, PhD
Guest Lecturer
Rodent Academy

Hammer and Loupe wrote:Comrades, for shame that the megachurch isn't being taken in by the city to repurpose it into a more progressive living quarters. We should complain to the authorities that the capitalistic selfish group does not share the seats for the common folk.

The Leadership of this Megachurch were sure that the scum refugees that wanted in would vandalize, Trash and Burglarize take good care of the Church and its valuables which they would steal and that they would break into respect all their offices. Good luck with that. Beets all around

Some more illustrations from the previous years:

https://thepeoplescube.com/peoples-blog ... 11922.html

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Today's Liberal Arts - We teach you what to think and it doesn't need to make sense.

I saw a story about some evil capitalist who owns a mattress warehouse in the Houston area, and he opened it up to refugees so they can sleep all over his brand new mattresses and recliners, etc.

I think he should've waited for the government to appropriate his mattresses in the name of the people and redistribute them accordingly. In a crisis, I wouldn't accept anything that isn't provided by the government. If I end up with nothing--well, that's Trump's fault.

Consider this prescient from Frédéric Bastiat:

“Socialism, like the ancient ideas from which it springs, confuses the distinction between government and society. As a result of this, every time we object to a thing being done by government, the socialists conclude that we object to its being done at all. We disapprove of state education. Then the socialists say that we are opposed to any education. We object to a state religion. Then the socialists say that we want no religion at all. We object to a state-enforced equality. Then they say that we are against equality. And so on, and so on. It is as if the socialists were to accuse us of not wanting persons to eat because we do not want the state to raise grain.”― Frédéric Bastiat, The Law

Meanwhile, there is this screed that essentially categorizes ANYTHING the government touches to be 'Socialism' Including Civilization itself. This courtesy of the BS [Bernie Sanders] definition of the word as "Socialism is taxpayer funds being used collectively to benefit society as a whole, despite income, contribution, or ability."

75 Ways Socialism Has Improved America
[...]
Socialism is taxpayer funds being used collectively to benefit society as a whole, despite income, contribution, or ability.
[...]
1. The Military/Defense
2. Highways/Roads
3. Public Libraries
4. Police
5. Fire Dept.
6. Postal Service
7. Student Loans and Grants
8. Bridges
9. Garbage Collection
10. Public Landfills
11. War
12. Farm Subsidies
13. CIA
14. FBI
15. Congressional Health Care
16. Polio Vaccine
17. EPA
18. Social Security
19. Museums
20. Public Schools
21. Jail/Prison System
22. Corporate/Business Subsidies
23. Veteran's (VA) Health Care
24. Public Parks
25. All Elected Government Officials
26. Food Stamps
27. Sewer System
28. Medicare
29. Court System
30. Bird Flu Vaccine
31. G.I. Bill
32. Hoover Dam
33. State/City Zoos
34. IRS
35. Free Lunch Program
36. The Pentagon
37. Medicaid
38. FDA
39. Health Care for 9/11 Rescue Workers
40. Swine Flu Vaccine
41. Disability Insurance (SSDI)
42. Town/State Run Beaches
43. Corporate Bailouts/Welfare
44. State Construction
45. Unemployment Insurance
47. WIC
48. State Snow Removal
49. PBS (Public Broadcasting Service)
50. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC)
51. Welfare
52. Public Street Lighting
53. FEMA
54. Public Defenders
55. S-CHIP (State Children's Health Insurance Program)
56. Amtrak
57. NPR
58. The Department of Homeland Security
59. OSHA
60. State and National Monuments
61. The United States Department of Agriculture (USDA)
62. Government Scholarships
64. Census Bureau
65. Department of Energy
66. Customs and Border Protection
67. Department of Education
68. Secret Service
69. Peace Corps
70. Department of Justice
71. National Weather Service
72. The White House
73. Government
74. Law
75. Civilization