The White Working Class

Steven Guccione

I often wondered why poor white farmers in the Old South were so in favor of slavery, even willing to die for the right of wealthy plantation owners to have slaves.  After all, they were supporting the competition, bigger farmers working with the advantage of free (slave) labor.  To compete with slave farm labor, non-slave farmers would have to live, more or less, like slaves.

There is always talk of people who “vote against their own interests”, but I never believed this.  People always support their own interests.  They are just clearly getting something valuable in return, at least something valuable to them personally.

I remember when I was young asking my father why poor whites in the south (where I was raised) supported the oppression of blacks. Certainly it just lowered everyone’s wages.  It made no sense to me even back then.  Of course it makes no economic sense.  My father explained it quite simply:  (poor blacks) are the only thing between them and the bottom.

Clearly being guaranteed a buffer against being the absolute bottom of society was valuable to poor whites.  They may be poor but somebody else would always be poorer.  Amazingly this is enough for those willing to exploit it to gain political power.

This longish Guardian (UK) article touches on these historical ideas through US history.  But nearly every place in the world has similar structures.  Those in power exploiting the poorest with racist arguments of their own value over The Other.

The white working class knows the American project isn’t working. Here’s why that will never matter to them

UV Index

Steven Guccione

I thought the UV index only went up to 10.  It seems it mostly did when the index was created. Looks like we will be hitting 12 today.

An index of 0 corresponds to zero UV radiation, as is essentially the case at night. An index of 10 corresponds roughly to midday summer sunlight in the tropics with a clear sky when the UV index was originally designed; now summertime index values in the tens are common for tropical latitudes, mountainous altitudes, areas with ice/water reflectivity and areas with above-average ozone layer depletion.

DOJ claims xAI’s unpermitted gas turbines are a matter of ‘national, economic, and energy security’

Steven Guccione

This AI data center says it is in Memphis but it appears to be in Mississippi south of Memphis.  It currently uses dozens of unpermitted gas turbines for power.  The US Department of Justice has blocked lawsuits because it is now a matter of national security.  NAACP is involved in the lawsuit so it would seem this is in a predominantly black neighborhood.

DOJ claims xAI’s unpermitted gas turbines are a matter of ‘national, economic, and energy security’

FIFA’s Haiti jersey ban echoes the long campaign to discredit and downplay the Haitian Revolution

Steven Guccione

Haiti had perhaps the only successful slave revolution in history, and the first country ever to ban slavery.  Not mentioned in the article is that in 1820 Haiti was forced to pay the French the equivalent of about a half a billion dollars adjusted for inflation.  This was for lost property, including slaves themselves.  The debt was finally repaid fully in 1947.  This Haitian independence debt was a major factor in the lack of development in Haiti over the last century.

FIFA’s Haiti jersey ban echoes the long campaign to discredit and downplay the Haitian Revolution