From a DHS memo, as reported by FOX:

No direct connection, but strong suspicion is being directed at American Renaissance, an organization that Loughner mentioned in some of his internet postings and federal law enforcement officials are investigating Loughner's possible links to the organization. The organization is a monthly publication that promotes a variety of white racial positions.

"The group's ideology is anti government, anti immigration, anti ZOG (Zionist Occupational Government), anti Semitic," according to the memo which goes on to point out that Congressman Giffords is the first Jewish female elected to high office in Arizona. A recent posting on American Renaissance's website on January 7 begins with an article entitled: "Exit poll: Whites are Different." The site goes on to list anti-immigration articles. Investigators are also pursuing Loughner's alleged anti-Semitism. ...

According to the memo, Federal Judge John Roll's wife told law enforcement that he was not supposed to be at the rally but was called an hour beforehand and decided to attend at the last minute. Roll reportedly ruled on a controversial 32 million dollar civil rights lawsuit in February 2010 that elicited death threats for him and his family resulting in added security detail being assigned to him as a result. ...

>> ^dystopianfuturetoday:

After reading some of Loughner's writings, it's clear that the guy is extremely nuts and probably schizophrenic, but it does contain right wing sentiment and he is connected with a far right white supremacist group called the American Renaissance. He hates cops and the government, is concerned with 'federalists', thinks law enforcement is unconstitutional and worries about a currency system which is not tied to gold or silver.
IMO, the shootings had much more to do with crazy than politics, but I can't help but think the influence influence of violent rhetoric on the mind of this crazy person did not help.
Analyze it for yourselves if you like. Youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/Classitup10
He's posted some truly off the wall stuff on 'abovetopsecret.com' under the name erad3
http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread591108/pg1
http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread592730/pg1


Yes I think that's the point. Those who are not held responsible for what they are saying and instead the media may analyze their comments continuously making them reach greater and greater audiences. Glenn Beck and Sarah Palin aren't people out for the destruction of the United States...they're just fake people who shouldn't have ever been put on TV in the first place.

After reading some of Loughner's writings, it's clear that the guy is extremely nuts and probably schizophrenic, but it does contain right wing sentiment and he is connected with a far right white supremacist group called the American Renaissance. He hates cops and the government, is concerned with 'federalists', thinks law enforcement is unconstitutional and worries about a currency system which is not tied to gold or silver. There is nothing wrong with these beliefs, but it's all tea party talk.

I don't think this guy is a Joe Stack, Tim McVeigh or unibomber. IMO, these shootings had much more to do with crazy than politics, but I can't help but think that the influence of violent rhetoric on his mind did not help.

Analyze it for yourselves if you like. Youtube channel: http://www.youtube.com/user/Classitup10

He's posted some truly off the wall stuff on 'abovetopsecret.com' under the name erad3

http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread591108/pg1
http://www.abovetopsecret.com/forum/thread592730/pg1

Did you know that John Carpenter himself composed this music? He also wrote the wonderful Escape From New York theme, in fact, Carpenter composes music for basically all his movies. He's truly a Renaissance man!

>> ^Retroboy:

What I found interesting was how stable the big mess of pre-German states was after the Holy Roman Empire disintegrated. I would have expected that whole region to be a colossal mussy bloodbath.


But it wasn't stable, and it was a colossal mussy bloodbath! They fought each other basically every other week in small skirmishes. But since they were small scale they usually didn't led to anything consequential.

Much like Japan's Sengoku Jidai period or the Warring Italian states during renaissance, from the surface the borders looked relatively calm but there were always constant action.

You have been awarded 1 Power Point for fixing the embed code for Dead Pool video Islam and the European Renaissance. Thank you for helping maintain VideoSift's reliability.

Johnny Knoxville goes on a tour of detroit, and views the new renaissance of the city thats starting to grow.

Part2: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rvKevvGnGt4
Part3: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wCxC5ozQ7hQ

Links courtesy of @saber2x

Hi @rembar,

I'm always happy to discuss things with fellow advocates of science. First of all, thanks for administrating the Science channel.

The video doesn't appear to claim Muslims produce only 1% of scientific papers, but instead claims the "Islamic World" produces only 1% of scientific papers. Indeed, the author of the original article is a Muslim living in Britain who is arguing for greater scientific funding in the Islamic World and that "A cultural renaissance leading to a knowledge-based society is urgently required if the Muslim world is to accept and embrace [the scientific spirit.]" He's referring to Islamic societies, not Muslims like himself living outside of Islamic societies.

I think you're right that there's a terminology error in the video description submitted by @BicycleRepairMan , in which "Muslims" should be replaced with "[the Islamic World]." In a nutshell, the video gets it right, but the video description gets it wrong.

Thanks for bringing attention to that important distinction.

>> ^quantumushroom:

The only good thing about a "Progressive" crying RACISM! is s/he's too busy to demand higher taxes, and vice versa.


This has gotten very tiring. Once again...progressive thinking will drag you through history kicking and screaming and yet again you will thank them. Or do you not like your clean water, food, medicine, TV, literature, art, the renaissance, just about everything you enjoy in life didn't come from people saying "Oh I think things would be better if it was like it was a long time ago."

This person in the video and you have never felt real pain, or suffering. Never starved, never lost anything you couldn't live without. You're both pampered little babies with the advantages of a progressive liberal society constantly at your fingertips. There are real complaints and real problems...if you think that Obama has added to them you're simply not educated enough. He is a continuation of the ruling class in this country who aren't elected so much as they're selected, Bush, Clinton, Reagan, and Carter. They do not represent the people of this country, and neither do you and neither does this person in this video. Thank you.

Dag walks into a bar, and says "Ouch!"

I've always been a fan of comedy that requires the audience to work out the joke. Steven Wright is a perfect example:

"No matter what temperature it is in a room, it's always room temperature."
"I once walked into a restaurant. They said they served breakfast any time. So I had pancakes during the Renaissance."

Also, comedians that can engage with a good story. Cosby, Larry Miller, etc.

But corporations ARE merchants and merchants ARE the ruling class. Who protects us from the merchant monarchy? That's my question. How many times will you avoid my question? I believe this is the 5th time I've asked, for the record.

Example: Zorloc is sick of the powerful Mars Mining Co abusing the Shnnarr'Ghol people and forcing them to choose between abusive labor in the Adamantium mines or starvation. So, after stumbling across an ancient alien artifact which is worth krillions of space credits, he buys the Mars Mining Co and pays the workers a fair wage, until the old Mars Mining Co opens up a new business, the Jupiter Mining Co. Zorloc cannot compete with Jupiter's wage slave labor and is forced to return his mine to old, abusive conditions. At first he feels bad, but eventually, after several protests from his former workmates, he grows to loathe them and feels entitled to what he refers to as 'the sweat of his brow'.

I think the Renaissance Faire is in town. Live the dream.

Wasn't expecting that vagina monologue. You could probably cut out at least half of that and it would still be saying the same thing. I didn't think you would protest the fallacies so much. Hmmm.

How much do you know about the Renaissance? Preceding it in the Medieval times, monarchs had large royal treasuries, so they maintained the power and influence. If you were born into a lower class, then that's where you stayed. Then the merchant class arose, and they created competing currencies, a way to trade amongst themselves, a way to create wealth for themselves, and eventually they developed influence over the ruling class.

It was the traders vs. the nobility. A major power shift was transpiring as royal treasuries were no longer sustainable because they weren't producing 'new wealth', however 'new wealth' was being created by commerce among the commoners. Effectively, the common families pulled themselves up by their bootstraps and created a new class (the middle class). This threatened the monarchs, so they decided to lay claim to the wealth created by the merchant class, they forced them to use a centralized currency, and they created these charters where the merchant class were granted permission to do various jobs. Eventually the monarch took the power back and the people were offered a chance to create wealth in trade for a centralized currency.

This shows how the free market was working and working well. It also shows how government, or in this case the monarch, created a centralized currency (Keynesian anyone?), laid claim to the wealth created by the merchant class (income tax, property tax, etc), and ultimately forced people to acquire permission to work by forming corporate charters (corporation/government collusion).

Today, if you want to start a business, you must file with the government and get permission to do so. Sure you can file as DBA which is less expensive than becoming incorporated or filing an LLC, but it's still asking permission. And you must use the centralized currency of the Federal government to trade and pay debts. And the government is entitled to your wealth, through property tax, income tax, sales tax, etc. And it becomes too prohibitively expensive to keep a business afloat unless you're part of the elite rich nobility that can afford to keep their corporate charter. See any parallels?

TL;DR

Kidding. That comment was for NetRunner who is always lurking in the shadows of VS, waiting to say I never read anything these days. He gets a thought in his bean and there's no tearing him away from it.

By the way, I'm not avoiding your question, DFT. I'm just not a monkey here to work for the grinder whenever he beckons. Your question "what does 'people have direct control of the market' mean, and how does it specifically translate into either 'stopping a corporate dictatorship' or achieving meaningful change?"

In a free market there would be no corporations. There's a great string of videos from an author that does a great job of explaining the corporations and how they came to power during the Renaissance when monarchs centralized money and created cooperatives for employment. This was contrary to what came before, which was free trade and local competing currencies, which was making the rich poorer and the poor richer. I'll post it in a bit and send you the link.

It's this individual competition within markets that helps people compete, and ultimately makes the rich less rich. This is what I mean by direct control of the market. But it's a complicated issue. First you have to allow pure freedom of currency, trade should be anything desired by both parties trading, and then the market must be unregulated. Government's role is to protect the rights of people, and the courts should serve as an unbiased third party for grievances in a free market.

When I say "it's a complicated issue", you'll undoubtedly come back with "it's always 'if', 'ands' and 'butts' in the Libertarian free market." If I point out the simplicity of it once it's allowed to work, you'll undoubtedly come back with "such a simplistic, naive and nearly supernatural occurrence this free market." It's as if I cannot win for losing with you. Your fallacies are abundant, and very unfair.

Love, your butt buddy, blankfist the impaler.

I tried this one waaaay back when....good luck getting these folks interested in anyone maverick or renaissance who had balls, skills, and tenacity-Thors' a piece a work...i keep a copy of Kon Tiki inna stack above the crapper....(Seee ladies??!...Yer magazines and what not stay OUT of the spray one!!)

Thanks for this very long response! I think this was my favorite line: Take away everything someone has to live for, and he'll find a cause to die for.

I will remember that line, because I think you are absolutely right.



Thanks.

In reply to this comment by kagenin:
>> ^Avokineok:
I live in The Netherlands. Everytime I'm on Videosift, I get a sense of how bad it must be to be an American.
I see some great entertaiment with all the late night shows, but I feel bad for all of you who have to live in a country that has so many people taking everything said at Fox "News" ("Gossip" might be more appropriate) so seriously..
It seriously makes me said and makes me believe Amerika is not the land of opportunities; it's a land where people with a lot of money tell other people what think.


Who do you think were those first pilgrims from Europe were? Puritans - People who wanted nothing more than to lecture others on the poor choices they made. (If you've ever been to a good Renaissance Faire, they're the street actors wearing almost all black, and almost always carrying their bibles with them. Hang around one long enough and you'll want to tell them to go take a long walk off a short pier too, if they're in good character. That's basically how they made everyone else living at the time feel. Look at modern day puritanicals such as Pat Robertson.) The ones who colonized America had enough money to sail half-way around the world, which isn't terribly cheap.

Paying for the sins of our forefathers is something every culture does. Just look at television and video games. Here in the States, you can put some pretty violent imagery on TV and maybe even some drug use in your video games, but holy hell if you show a nipple, or touch on ANYTHING of a sexual nature. Releasing a game in the three major English speaking markets (US, UK, and AU) means subjecting your content to three different review boards, with differing notions about what is good and decent for the consumers of their country. Sex, violence, drug use - the disparity between opinions on what is acceptable for only adults to see, even among countries with common language, can mean what get's a Teen rating by the US's ESRB can get an "Adult Only" in the UK, and even be banned outright unless edited for an Australian market.

Despite all this, I remain hopeful because of the fact that those like ol' Noun-Verb-9/11 Rudy are in the minority. The fact that he's so focused on using terms like "Islamic terrorist," or "islamist" displays a blunt ignorance, and could be interpreted as flat out racism. Let's remember that he put the NYC Emergency Command Center, setup after a failed World Trade Center fertilizer bombing in the 90's, was picked by Rudy to be put in the World Trade Center, a place that had recently been the target of a terrorist attack (by attackers who were brought to justice within the same judicial system that handles our parking tickets - we didn't need the post-9/11 military tribunals then, and we don't really need them now, despite certain anti-American Right-Wingers who lack requisite faith in the system they serve). It's like he refuses to learn from history or something, and unfortunately it's not an uncommon condition among modern conservative talking heads here in the states.

The fact that our president didn't use words like "islamist" or "islamic terrorist" or any permutation thereof is because he understands that the greater threat to our nation is a foreign policy that takes away everything from poor young brown-skinned people living in the cradle of civilization and gives them nowhere to turn to but bombed out countries, crumbling infrastructure, and eager suicide bomber recruiters. Take away everything someone has to live for, and he'll find a cause to die for. Dealing with the symptoms is one thing. End the root cause, and then you have the potential for peace.

Take the issue with rampant piracy around the waters of Somalia. Sure, everyone's talking about the latest tanker to be overtaken, but how many stories have delved into the root cause? The polluted waters that have killed off all the fish in the region? The fish who fed the people on the land? The fish that drove the local economy? All dead. The Indonesian Tsunami caused a tidal wave of wretched filth to wash up ashore, tainting the land and water supplies, causing pestilential illnesses. If you're a poor Somali 20-something with your family boat, and you can't make an honest living with it, what are you going to do? Grab some weapons, recruit a crew of close friends in the same situation you're in, and take your chances on the shipping lanes within striking distance... yeah, that would seem like something someone EXTREMELY desperate would do. It's happening right now. The Somali Government can't do jack, they can barely govern an area the size of my rural hometown. Sure we can bust out the snipers when someone important gets kidnapped, and we can applaud the heroes who put their lives on the life to ensure the safety of others. But that won't stop the next motley crew of fishermen with nowhere else to turn but terrorizing the high seas.

I've only spent about 4 days total in the Netherlands. What I saw was beautiful. Amsterdam was breathtaking, both figuratively and literally - man, those canals can really wreak in the summer . I hope to visit again soon. Didn't get to check out much of the television, but what brief moments I was allowed rest in front of a TV on that trip was pretty cool. A lot of stuff just wouldn't get past the FCC here without some serious fines being levied for sexual content, and that's a damn shame...

But, like I said, I'm still hopeful. Wow, that was long If you made it this far, thanks for reading.