Volusia County Councilperson Fred Lowry has been hospitalized with COVID-19. Lowry was aggressively spreading disinformation about the virus before his hospitalization.
Spain’s youngest Catholic bishop, Xavier Novell, resigned last month after confessing that he fell in love with the author of Satanic-themed erotic fiction. Novell was a high-profile bishop in Solsona, Catalonia who made waves for his support of the Catalan independence movement, conducted exorcisms, and backing of bullshit “conversion therapy” to “change” a person’s sexual orientation. His girlfriend Silvia Caballol has written such literary masterpieces as El infierno en la lujuria de Gabriel (The Hell of Gabriel’s Lust). From the BBC News:
In the blurb for one of her works, the reader is promised a journey into sadism, madness and lust and a struggle between good and evil, God and Satan with a plot to shake one’s values and religious beliefs.
Neither the ex-bishop, who is now 52, nor the novelist have responded to the reports although Religión Digital quoted him as saying “I have fallen in love and want to do things properly”.
The Catholic Church didn’t have much to say about the matter although Dominican nun Lucía Caram described Novell as “out of his mind.”
Novell is currently seeking work as an agronomist.
Sam Marcy: The Lessons of Chile
(excerpts)
Sept. 21, 1973 - While carrying out the struggle here with the deepest-felt sympathy for all victims of the coup, it is also the responsibility of the working class leaders to explain to the advanced elements the disastrous consequences of the policies of Allende and the parties of the Popular Unity coalition, particularly the Communist Party. …
After Allende took office through a bourgeois election, it was claimed by sections of the UP coalition that the working class had already, or could in the future, come to power peacefully, without revolutionary violence or civil war.
We are for a peaceful transition to socialism – if it can be proven that it is possible. We are not dogmatic adherents of violence. But in over 100 years of experience of the class struggle by the proletariat, beginning with the Paris Commune, there has not been one instance where the bourgeoisie relinquished power peacefully. And it should be remembered that the bourgeoisie itself nowhere came to power without an armed struggle.
When Allende took office (not state power!), the reformist parties sowed illusions among the oppressed that it was possible to avoid the sacrifices necessary for revolution. But Marxism is not just a dream of socialism – it is the realistic appraisal of centuries of class struggle. …
It was assumed that because the bourgeoisie was a part of the government, it would not sabotage its own economic system.
Yet this was one of the prime tactics of the Chilean capitalists, with much backing, we can be sure, from U.S. imperialism. They went so far as to strangle the economy with the truck-owners’ strike, blow up power and communications lines, and spur on inflation, all in order to tire out the masses.
The only answer the workers have to such sabotage is the complete overthrow of the bourgeois state, the expropriation of the means of production (not only those directly in foreign hands), and the institution of the planned economy.
Again and again, it was argued by the reformists that the Chilean military would remain “neutral” in the class struggle because of its long history of adherence to the Constitution.
As long as class relations are stable within a country, there is no need for the military to intervene. That is the reason for the 40-odd years of constitutional government in Chile (which is really not so long). But the military is trained and nurtured in the spirit of class war. … It should be the ABCs for Marxists and Leninists to understand the class character of the bourgeois state. …
The revolutionary cadres in Chile must rebuild, reconstitute themselves, and create a transition to socialism built on reality, on the armed working class. We look forward and pledge ourselves to building a movement in solidarity with the resistance movement in Chile. In the heartland of the imperialist culprits, that is our duty.
Salesforce, the cloud software company based in California, has offered to pay its workers in Texas to leave the state following its 6-week abortion ban.
“These are incredibly personal issues that directly impact many of us — especially women,” Salesforce told employees in the message, which CNBC obtained. The company did not take a stance on the law. “We recognize and respect that we all have deeply held and different perspectives. As a company, we stand with all of our women at Salesforce and everywhere.”
The note continues, “With that being said, if you have concerns about access to reproductive healthcare in your state, Salesforce will help relocate you and members of your immediate family.”
On Twitter, company CEO Marc Benioff was less wishy-washy about it: “we’ll help you exit TX. Your choice. ♥" …
