Politics in the Zeros

Socialists and War: Two Opposing Trends published by Party for Socialism and Liberation (PSL) is as thin politically as it page-wise. Clocking in at 46 pages, most of the book consists of freely available published material: a reprint from PSL’s newspaper, a Dissident Voice interview with Brian Becker who is the national director of PSL’s [...]

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No Local says the well-meaning localism movement can’t work because it will still be dependent on the market and thus to large-scale capitalism and its exploits. A friend in rural Utah believes firmly in localism as a way to free oneself from the grasp of the system. I don’t quite see how it would work. [...]

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Author Ioan Grillo wrote El Narco: Inside Mexico’s Criminal Insurgency after spending years researching the drug cartels in Mexico, often at great risk to himself. He traveled to opium-growing areas in the Sierra Madres, talked with assassins and smugglers, and explains how the various cartels grew. His central point is that the drug cartels are [...]

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El Sicario killed and tortured hundreds of people for a Mexican drug cartel. After years of debauchery, violence, and unquestioned obedience to the cartel bosses he finally couldn’t do it any more, became a Christian, and left the life knowing one false move means he will be their prey and that he and his family will [...]

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Even when the mariages are between adults, if the community if polygamist, then the girls tend to be traded like cattle and low-status young men create problems for all. This is true across time and culture. History suggests that it is. A new study out of the University of British Columbia documents how societies have [...]

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I’m not who casinos want walking in the door since I don’t drink, smoke, use, or gamble. (Those first three I learned the hard way and decided long ago to never give gambling a chance.) But I will go into Vegas casinos to eat their great, cheap food, marvel at the gaudiness of it all, [...]

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This review of Joseph Turow’s book The Daily You from Doug Weaver at The Drift caused me to download the first chapter (free) to my Kindle. For Turow, the real issue is the digital caste system that’s being imposed on consumers without their knowledge or consent.  Over time, one consumer will enjoy better discounts and [...]

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Adventurer Richard Grant decided to travel the length of the notoriously dangerous Sierra Madre mountains in Mexico even thought he’d been warned off. He wrote about it in God’s Middle Finger: Into the Lawless Heart of the Sierra Madre. In the beginning it was rollicking fun, even as it had an edge to it. Many strange [...]

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Andrea Moore-Emmett, who was raised Mormon, documents clearly in God’s Brothel how polygamy across time and multiple cultures has never and can never be anything but rank subjugation of women and girls. The women are never equals. They are treated like property, subject to spousal rape, degradation, forced poverty, and more. Girls as young as [...]

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Global organized crime has grown exponentially the past few decades primarily due to globalization and the collapse of Communism. When states fail or weaken, it provides a huge opening for organized crime to flourish. Among other things, they like wars. Chaos provides cover, the troops want prostitutes, and smuggling abounds. Over and over again McMafia [...]

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