[Marxism] Texas Judge Strikes Down Obama’s Affordable Care Act as Unconstitutional

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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NY Times, Dec. 14, 2018
Texas Judge Strikes Down Obama’s Affordable Care Act as Unconstitutional
By Abby Goodnough and Robert Pear

WASHINGTON — A federal judge in Texas struck down on Friday the entire 
Affordable Care Act on the grounds that its mandate requiring people to 
buy health insurance is unconstitutional and the rest of the law cannot 
stand without it.


The ruling was over a lawsuit filed this year by a group of Republican 
governors and state attorneys general. A group of intervening states led 
by Democrats promised to appeal the decision, which will most likely not 
have any immediate effect. But it will almost certainly make its way to 
the Supreme Court, threatening the survival of the landmark health law 
and, with it, health coverage for millions of Americans, protections for 
people with pre-existing conditions and much more.


In his ruling on Friday, Judge Reed O’Connor of the Federal District 
Court in Fort Worth said that the individual mandate requiring people to 
have health insurance “can no longer be sustained as an exercise of 
Congress’s tax power.”


Accordingly, Judge O’Connor, a George W. Bush appointee, said that “the 
individual mandate is unconstitutional” and the remaining provisions of 
the Affordable Care Act are invalid.


At issue was whether the health law’s insurance mandate still compelled 
people to buy coverage after Congress reduced the penalty to zero 
dollars as part of the tax overhaul that President Trump signed last 
December.


When the Supreme Court upheld the mandate as constitutional in 2012, it 
was based on Congress’s taxing power. Congress, the court said, could 
legally impose a tax penalty on people who do not have health insurance.


But in the new case, the plaintiffs, led by Texas, argued that with the 
penalty zeroed out, the individual mandate had become unconstitutional — 
and that the rest of the law could not be severed from it.


The Justice Department’s response to the case was highly unusual: though 
it disagreed with the plaintiffs that the entire law should be struck 
down, it declined this year to defend not just the individual mandate, 
but the law’s provisions that protect people with pre-existing 
conditions. That prompted a coalition of 16 states and the District of 
Columbia, led by California, to intervene and defend the law.


On Friday night, a spokeswoman for Xavier Becerra, the California 
attorney general, said California and the other defendant states would 
challenge the ruling with an appeal in the United States Court of 
Appeals for the Fifth Circuit in New Orleans.


“Today’s ruling is an assault on 133 million Americans with pre-existing 
conditions, on the 20 million Americans who rely on the A.C.A.’s 
consumer protections for health care, on America’s faithful progress 
toward affordable health care for all Americans,” Mr. Becerra said in a 
statement. “The A.C.A. has already survived more than 70 unsuccessful 
repeal attempts and withstood scrutiny in the Supreme Court.”


Mr. Trump, who has consistently sought the law’s repeal and has weakened 
it through regulatory changes, posted a response to the ruling on 
Twitter late Friday night: “As I predicted all along, Obamacare has been 
struck down as an UNCONSTITUTIONAL disaster! Now Congress must pass a 
STRONG law that provides GREAT healthcare and protects pre-existing 
conditions.”


If Judge O’Connor’s decision ultimately stands, about 17 million 
Americans will lose their health insurance, according to the Urban 
Institute, a left-leaning think tank. That includes millions who gained 
coverage through the law’s expansion of Medicaid, and millions more who 
receive subsidized private insurance through the law’s online marketplaces.


Insurers will also no longer have to cover young adults up to age 26 
under their parents’ plans; annual and lifetime limits on coverage will 
again be permitted; and there will be no cap on out-of-pocket costs.


Also gone will be the law’s popular protections for people with 
pre-existing conditions, which became a major talking point in the 
November midterm elections, as Democratic candidates constantly reminded 
voters that congressional Republicans had tried to repeal the law last 
year. For many, it became the central, often winning message of their 
campaign, and the new ruling bolsters their argument heading into the 
2020 election cycle.


Without those protections, insurers could return to denying coverage to 
such people or to charging them more. They could also return to charging 
people more based on their age, gender or profession.


The Kaiser Family Foundation, a nonpartisan research 

[Marxism] A Movement With a Future

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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The gilets jaunes movement has presented a vision of France beyond 
Emmanuel Macron's neoliberalism. Anticapitalists have to push it even 
further.


https://jacobinmag.com/2018/12/gilets-jaunes-yellow-vest-macron-capitalism
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[Marxism] "We Need to Expand the Yellow Vest Movement to a General Strike": Interview with a French Railway Worker

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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http://leftvoice.org/We-Need-to-Expand-the-Yellow-Vest-Movement-to-a-General-Strike-Interview-with-a-French-Railway
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[Marxism] Gilets jaunes: a pioneering study of the ‘low earners’ revolt

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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Who are the gilets jaunes and what do they want? To answer these 
questions, a group of sociologists, political scientists and geographers 
have recently conducted a study of the motivations and socio-demographic 
profile of the movement. In this article, they present their initial 
findings.


https://www.versobooks.com/blogs/4180-gilets-jaunes-a-pioneering-study-of-the-low-earners-revolt
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[Marxism] 2019 Workers Hella Revolutionary Calendar

[John Reimann via Marxism]

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Oaklandsocialist has put together the "2019 Workers Hella Revolutionary
Calendar". It's marked the birth dates (or day of death, in cases where
birth date is unknown) of famous fighters for the working class and the
oppressed, as well as dates of important events. I've also included a
description of some of those dates - those that people might not be fully
familiar with. The more familiar people and events are not listed in this
summary, part of which is reproduced below. To view some of the months, and
the full summary of dates, go to:

https://oaklandsocialist.com/2018/12/14/2019-workers-hella-revolutionary-calendar/

Welcome to Oaklandsocialist’s *Hella Revolutionary Calendar for 2019*.
We’re hoping that it boosts your spirits (and knowledge) maybe a little
bit. Some of the events and people mentioned in the calendar are well known
and/or self explanatory. Some might need a little further explanation.
Readers can always find further explanation on the internet. We also
welcome any questions or comments. Write to: oaklandsocial...@gmail.com


January

January 1, 1905: The radical Industrial Workers of the World was formed.
This was the first major attempt at industrial unionism. “The working class
and the employing class have nothing in common,” was its motto.


January 1, 1912: Textile workers, mainly immigrants of 40 different
nationalities, speaking nearly as many different languages, united and went
on a months’ long strike for a shorter work week with no loss in pay.


January 4, 1901: C.L.R. James was a Jamaican Marxist and fighter for the
working class. His history of the Haitian revolution - “The Black Jacobins”
- is one of the great, great history books of all times.


January 4, 2011: Mohammed Bouazizi was an impoverished fruit seller in
Tunisia. Beaten by the police there, he burned himself to death in protest.
His action was the spark that set off the Arab Spring. His name deserves to
be remembered. For more information, see our pamphlet “What is Revolution?”
on Oaklandsocialist’s blog site.


January 12, 2010: It might seem strange to include a natural disaster on
this revolutionary calendar. In the earthquake in Haiti on that date,
though, the government literally collapsed. The US sent in troops to shore
up capitalism.


January 15, 1919: Karl Liebknecht and Rosa Luxemburg were German
revolutionary Marxists and supporters of the Russian Revolution. They were
murdered by the forces of social democracy.


January 17, 1962: Patrice Lumumba was a revolutionary nationalist in Congo.
His murder was coordinated by the forces of the United States and the UN.


January 21, 1920: The Treaty of Versailles was the treaty that ended WW I,
“the war to end all wars”, also called the “war for democracy”. In reality,
it was a war waged by the imperialist powers to redivide up the colonial
world. It’s success in “ending all wars” can be seen in what’s happened
since.


*February*

February 1, 1901: Langston Hughes was the US’s greatest poet and writer (in
our opinion). He was also a communist. “I wish the rent/was heaven sent,”
was one of his poems.


February 4, 1869: Big Bill Haywood was one of the founding members and a
central leader of the Industrial Workers of the World.


February 4, 1913: It was Rosa Parks’ refusal to give up her seat on a bus
in Montgomery, Alabama, that led to to the bus boycott and was one of the
opening acts in the civil rights movement.


February 18, 1906: P.J. McGuire was the founder of the Carpenters Union. An
associate of Karl Marx and a member of the First International, McGuire was
hounded out of power in the union by the business unionists who then took
power. The date of McGuire’s birth is not known.


February 22, 1943: Sophie Scholl was an underground organizer against the
Nazis in Germany. She was caught and executed on this date. Hardly more
than a teen ager at the time of her death, her name deserves to be
remembered.


February 26, 1925: Robert F. Williams was a Korean War Veteran and a civil
rights organizer in North Carolina. As opposed to most of the rest of the
movement, Williams advocated and practiced armed self-defense. His book
“Negroes with Guns” is a classic.


March 2, 1896: In that year, the Italian colonialists invaded the Ethiopian
Empire. The Ethiopian King Menelik, having seen what was coming, had played
off the different European countries against each other and had gained some
modern arms from some of them. More important, in this battle the entire
Ethiopian population, male and female, old, young and in between,
mobilized. This resulted in what was probably the most resounding military
defeat of European colonialism in Africa.

Re: [Marxism] Communist NY Councilman Ben Davis and the Meaning of Nonviolence

[David Berger via Marxism]

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Why is it that Ben Davis played no role whatsoever in the Civil Rights Movement 
in the early 1960s? I was extremely active in NYC during that time, and he had 
no presence at all. 
I know he died in '64, but still, I never even heard him discussed by members 
of the various CP youth groups, Advance, PYOC and the DuBois Clubs, unlike 
Robeson.
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[Marxism] Yellow Vests Shift to the Left--YouTube Video

[bonnieweinstein via Marxism]

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Yellow Vests Shift to the Left
The yellow vests movement in France is now shifting decisively to the left, as 
shown by the huge anti-capitalist bloc in Paris on the December 8. Led by 
prominent campaigners against police violence, The Adama Committee for Justice 
and Truth, it included railworkers, striking postal workers, other rank and 
file workers, students, migrant workers groups, important collectives such as 
The Rosa Parks Collective, sex workers, LGBTQ groups and many more. The mood 
has changed completely since the horrific mass arrest at a school in a Paris 
banlieue; now workers are calling for a general strike, and the student 
movement is exploding with schools and universities blockaded throughout the 
country.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54yAOKvWRxk 

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[Marxism] Yellow Vests Shift to the Left

[bonnieweinstein via Marxism]

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This YouTube video is a must see! The most inspirational thing I've seen in 
decades!
In this video, the protestors call for a general strike—not just a one-day 
strike—but an ongoing general strike until they can end racism, sexism, police 
brutality, and capitalism! At one point, they force the police to step aside 
and let them through to join the climate march and they are totally non-violent 
in their protest. —Bonnie Weinstein

Yellow Vests Shift to the Left
The yellow vests movement in France is now shifting decisively to the left, as 
shown by the huge anti-capitalist bloc in Paris on the December 8. Led by 
prominent campaigners against police violence, The Adama Committee for Justice 
and Truth, it included railworkers, striking postal workers, other rank and 
file workers, students, migrant workers groups, important collectives such as 
The Rosa Parks Collective, sex workers, LGBTQ groups and many more. The mood 
has changed completely since the horrific mass arrest at a school in a Paris 
banlieue; now workers are calling for a general strike, and the student 
movement is exploding with schools and universities blockaded throughout the 
country.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=54yAOKvWRxk 

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[Marxism] That Way Madness Lies | Louis Proyect: The Unrepentant Marxist

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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The first word that came to mind after watching “That Way Madness Lies”, 
Sandra Luckow’s documentary about her older brother’s Duanne’s wildly 
destructive tendencies brought on by paranoid schizophrenia, was 
courageous. As a film professor at Yale, Columbia and Barnard with a 
long career in filmmaking, Luckow could have made any number of films 
that would have been less painful and confessional. However, she surely 
must have understood that this was not just a bit of family history that 
would draw an audience in the same way a roadside accident draws the 
stares from bypassing cars. Its broader interest is in showing the 
terrible lack of institutional support for families that have to cope 
with a walking time-bomb like Duanne Luckow. While it is beyond the 
scope of this article, I can say that I have seen such problems up-close 
and can empathize deeply with what Sandra Luckow had to endure.


As American as apple pie, the Luckows hailed from Portland, Oregon where 
her father operated an antique car repair shop. Mechanically gifted, he 
built a tiny helicopter that he flew for pleasure. Showing the same 
aptitude as his father, Duanne soon became his partner. In addition to 
his talent for repairing cars, Duanne also became an avid home movie 
buff, varying between the typical vacation fare and ambitious works 
depicting himself as a James Bond type super-spy. He also was an 
accomplished still photographer who managed to entice young women into 
cheesecake type shoots that oddly enough substituted for any real 
intimacy. Looking back at this and other eccentricities, Sandra wonders 
whether the family might have sought professional help early on. 
Obviously, those eccentricities were normal enough in a country that is 
a breeding ground for maladjustment.


full: https://louisproyect.org/2018/12/14/that-way-madness-lies/
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[Marxism] Dr. T. J. Coles: “Unlike war, peace is not a profitable pursuit” « Algérie Résistance

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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https://mohsenabdelmoumen.wordpress.com/2018/12/14/dr-t-j-coles-unlike-war-peace-is-not-a-profitable-pursuit/
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[Marxism] Who benefits from tax cuts? | Richard Seymour on Patreon

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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If you look at the totality Macron's tax changes, while they hugely and 
disproportionately give money to the very rich, the net effect is also 
to make middle income earners better off, while leaving the poor 
marginally worse off. On the face of it, this seems to be an argument 
for not ascribing the Yellow Vest protests, and their broad popularity, 
to Macron's fiscal policy. But, of course, it's never that simple.


https://www.patreon.com/posts/who-benefits-tax-23330257
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Re: [Marxism] American women of the far right

[David McDonald via Marxism]

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In this article it's stated that 50% of white families in Mississippi owned
slaves around the time of the civil war. I find that hard to believe but
I'm sure there are people on this list who actually know, and I hope
they'll inform me. I did an internet query and quickly found that same
statistic repeated, but also challenged.

My recollection is that every person I've read who has written about
slavery in America has said that slaves were extremely expensive, on the
order of $800+ in 1860 dollars. So if 50% of Mississippi families owned
slaves, Mississippi must have been very rich, which I doubt.
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[Marxism] Why We Can't Have Nice Things -- Like A Fighting Green Party | Black Agenda Report

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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https://blackagendareport.com/why-we-cant-have-nice-things-fighting-green-party
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[Marxism] A Propagandist of Privatization

[Ron Jacobs via Marxism]

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http://stillhomeron.blogspot.com/2018/12/a-propagandist-of-privatization.html?m=1
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[Marxism] ZCommunications » Latin American Leftists Must Think Why Poorest Support Is Lower

[Louis Proyect via Marxism]

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https://zcomm.org/znetarticle/latin-american-leftists-must-think-why-poorest-support-is-lower/
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