#hasan daily wire

[dontmean2bepoliticalbut]

[renardtrickster]

Saw someone claim that most if not all anti-capitalist movements are actually funded by either one of the three corporations that own everything, or by the government directly (on behalf of said corporations), and that they're responsible for things such as people believing we should hand the government more power (read: I don't think people should starve to death on the streets in the world's richest and most powerful nation), or that libertarian is synonymous with pedophile. And I think this is very funny for a couple of reasons.

First of all, I think the implication here is that those filthy anti-capitalists are actually on the corporate payroll while us noble and inscrutable defenders of capital do it from the bottom of our hearts, which absolutely isn't the case. Generally speaking, there is no money to be found on the left. The money you do get there is like, donations to individual lefty streamers, tv shows or other media that are progressive and also popular, or political campaigns that people donate to and sometimes someone with deep pockets donates to them. Of the three I listed, one of them is political campaigns that go towards a specific cause or candidate (conservatives will lie to you and say that these all just go to lining some politician's pocket and are scams but that is because they are politically illiterate and hate you), one of them is >be in Hollywood, and one of them is Hasan Piker Bought A Car with money he got in perhaps the most ethical way it's possible to get money. With the exception of the second one, these are all pretty grassroots. Meanwhile conservatives will consistently make bank with no effort. Steven Crowder has no charismatic skills whatsoever and can't even pretend he doesn't hate black people and his recent spat with the Daily Wire has revealed that he's been propped up by millionaire sponsors like Cary Katz his entire life. Speaking of, Gina Carano did nothing exceptional except make an unfunny pronouns joke right after her co-actor's sister came out and then compared being a conservative to being a Jew in Nazi Germany and Ben Shapiro immediately offered her a position at the Daily Wire. Tim Pool owns a fucking underground bunker. Not to mention Prager University being funded by the Wilks brothers and a bunch of other oligarchs, which explains why they'll have occasional episodes talking about how fracking is actually the most environmentally friendly thing in the world in between praising Robert E Lee for stopping a slave rebellion or something. In general, people grift left (when they do so at all) for the social clout which they don't even get half the time, and grift right for the money of which they will be given a disgusting amount of almost immediately.

The thing about the secret propaganda about libertarians being bad and also pedophiles is really funny though because it acts as though the only reason libertarians don't have any respect in the current political atmosphere is because they're secretly being kept down, man. When in reality the reason libertarians lack such a voice despite their loudness is because they're incoherent and unlikable. And I know this because the OP is a libertarian and the main crux of their post was that insulin is expensive because some rich douchebags got to it first, sold it for unreasonable prices, and then used that money to lobby the government into making it such that only they could sell insulin. Which I agree with, until they said that this was somehow anathema to capitalism, because "no interference no regulation invisible hand only final destination, survival of the fittest if you can't handle the heat stay out of the kitchen, money equals power, the result that reveals itself is the optimal result" as an ideology is wholesome and consistent and American until it has demonstrably awful negative effects on the world at which point it stops being capitalism and becomes a scarier word, thus allowing me to condemn people getting randomly shot while still advocating for pointing guns at people for no reason and pulling the trigger as though my existence and dignity both depended upon it.

[lotusofhope]

hasan piker tw but i found this a very concise way to say that the daily wire knows they have been peddling bullshit for the last 3+ years

[blackleopardgirl]

let them fight 🍰

i can't stand them, but candy Owens is right when she says that steven only cares about the money in this situation. really?! now you care about WAGE SLAVERY, even tho i don't believe when you're making $55M in one year that's actual wage slavery. also, this isn't about the 'movement' or whatever that means- it's about you, and your contract, and you want more money- specifically, $140M a year because you're always doing minstrel and other racist or transphobic depictions of people, so you permanently get banned on youtube and maybe other platforms. so yes you're a risk, like Hasan said, it isn't even like the people at the daily wire were mad about your racist skits, i mean, it's the daily wire, they wouldn't be mad at that. it's just you're a risk to their brand and company, and YES it does make sense if you lose money as a brand and business, it isn't good for you all. what part of that does steven not understand? also candy is correct when she points out that people are struggling at the grocery store, they're struggling with their bills, prices have been increasing and you're mad you arent making $140M.

i also believe that he recorded those calls because he wanted to alienate the fans out there, so when they want to watch that kind of content, they go to him because they feel like he's the one that "isn't compromised". and finally, the whole, because the people at the daily wire abide by the YT terms of service automatically, they're on the left or whatever--?? are you braindead...

if another business model has what you need so that your business can thrive why WOULDN'T YOU work with their terms of service? why wouldn't you dance around their rules so you can continue making content and money from what you put out? either way all of this is funny to me.

[rhysdubin]

Rebuilding Nahr al-Bared from memory

7 February 2017, originally at Daily Star

TRIPOLI, Lebanon: Unlike the ramshackle buildings, winding alleyways and snaking wires that are ubiquitous across Lebanon’s Palestinian refugee camps, Nahr al-Bared is filled with smartly painted apartment blocks and wide boulevards. From the inside of the new apartments, sunlight streams through the large windows, giving the rooms a warm glow despite the early February chill in the air. The sound of building work echoes through the streets as the reconstruction presses on, nearly a decade after the fierce fighting between the Lebanese Army and members of the militant group Fatah al-Islam destroyed most of the site and displaced thousands of residents.

Over the course of three months in 2007, nearly 95 percent of the camp was razed to the ground and most of the near-20,000 residents were forced to flee.

“All that was left for the people there was what God gave them,” said Abu Ali, a member of Nahr al-Bared’s Popular Committee, which governs the camp. “The only thing they had left was their memories.”

But the stark contrast that Nahr al-Bared strikes with Lebanon’s 12 other registered Palestinian refugee camps today is no accident. Instead, it stands as the product of years of complex coordination between local representatives and UNRWA, the U.N. agency for Palestinians.

It remains one of the only examples of large-scale participatory planning for a refugee camp in Lebanon and, unlike several other camps destroyed in the country over the years, it is also the first to undergo widespread rebuilding.

Prompted by the prospect that the ferocious fighting might completely erase the camp’s history, a group of residents banded together – bullets still flying – to form a group they called the Nahr al-Bared Commission for Civil Action and Studies.

Ismael Sheikh Hasan, one of the founders of the group, explained that a primary goal was to maintain the social fabric of the community. “People in the camp were worried that all they had ... would be destroyed, and that it would be reconstructed in a jumbled and disorganized way,” he said. “We wanted an organization that could lobby for the community’s vision.”

The commission aimed to map the entirety of the old camp. “For each urban block, a member of the commission would sketch the number of houses and then share it with the people who lived there,” Hasan said.

As the 2007 battles raged on, “members would draw the number of rooms inside each building, the exact shape and area.”

This included a survey of how many people lived in each building, where they lived and where they had moved during the fighting.

The process was repeated until they had mapped the whole community. The plans were then handed over to UNRWA.

“There was mutual benefit in this,” Hasan said. “The commission could access the formal planning process and UNRWA could access the commission’s databases, plans and maps.”

These original documents were combined with efforts by UNRWA and its planners to improve the basic living conditions of the camp.

“We established a minimum apartment size and also made sure that they were naturally lit from both sides and naturally ventilated,” explained John Whyte, the UNRWA Nahr al-Bared reconstruction project manager.

The actual reconstruction process began after the fighting ended. As each apartment block was being built, a validation process was also put in place to ensure that families had ongoing input into the work.

Today, following numerous delays and funding shortages, almost half the camp has been rebuilt.

This slow pace of work, however, sheds some light on the difficulties inherent in the kind of participatory planning processes that the commission and UNRWA initiated.

Mahmoud Mouh used to be a construction worker. He and his family recently moved into their new apartment in the camp. “We lived in the same area as we do now,” he said.

For him and his wife, Fadia, their new home has benefits – but still leaves much to be desired. “Before the war, our apartment was 125 square meters. Now, it’s only 57 square meters,” he said.

Mouh explained that now, with two kids, they may be forced to move. “I’m obliged to look for another place to live; we want rooms for each of our children.”

Nevertheless, both he and his wife acknowledged that things had improved. “The house is definitely healthier, the sun can enter and the ventilation is better.”

Whyte acknowledged that Mouh’s complaint was not unique. “The camp boundary hasn’t changed but the roads got wider and the buildings aren’t as tall, so that compresses what’s there,” he said.

Nevertheless, the problems that Mouh highlighted are still fundamentally issues of reconstruction. There are complications, however, that simply can’t be designed out of existence – one of them being the camp’s economy.

According to a shopkeeper in the market area, “Before the war people from the surrounding areas would come and buy food, but now they just go to [nearby] Tripoli.”

He explained that security restrictions meant many are still afraid to enter. “Small shops just aren’t doing well,” he said. “I rented a shop that I ran myself, but a year and half later I had to close it.” UNRWA has been attempting to compensate for this by prioritizing reconstruction efforts around key economic hubs.

Additionally, the speed of construction has also left some residents frustrated. Rajeh Abu Eid and his family have been living in UNRWA-supplied temporary housing since their home was destroyed.

“We always talk about the rebuilding process,” Eid said. “Our life in the temporary housing is not good. It is miserable.”

Widad Abdelkarim, another resident in the temporary housing agreed. “Here, we live in a steel box. It’s very hot in the summer and very cold in the winter,” she said.

Both families, however, hope to move into their apartments in the next several months. Abdelkarim is waiting on the results of a complaint filed about her apartment size and Abu Eid on a stipend to buy furniture.

Nevertheless, most of the ongoing delays are the result of a complex matrix of funding shortages and the very participatory processes the helped the camp become what it is today.

The project is now in its 10th year. “I can’t really say if it’s become the standard model,” Whyte said. “But I can say that there is an interest to promote these kinds of approaches.”