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USSR saved the world

Without the USSR, the US would have kept building bigger bombs and killing more people forever and never bothered with anything useful. The whole space race story where America is the big hero is bullshit propaganda meant to cover up the fact that the Soviet Union forced the US to actually care about something besides war.

Back in the 50s the US was basically obsessed with nukes and military power. They did not give a damn about exploring space or science for the good of humanity. Then the Soviets dropped Sputnik like a bomb on their whole system. Suddenly the US was exposed as behind in technology and power. That shook the ruling class hard. They freaked out and started throwing tons of money at science and space programs. Before that, America was just a giant war machine focused on destroying enemies and expanding empire.

Then came Yuri Gagarin, the first human in space. Not an American but a Soviet dude. That hit the US like a gut punch. It showed that the USSR was not just some second rate power but a real rival. The US had to scramble to catch up or lose global influence. That is what kicked off the Apollo program and the moon landing, pure reaction. The US only got into space because the USSR made them.

And it was not just about space. The Cold War was a deadly game but it kept the US from just going all out and blowing up the world. The USSR’s military strength kept the US in check. Neither side wanted full nuclear war because it would have meant total annihilation. That dangerous peace saved humanity from itself.

The US loves to talk about freedom and progress but they spend more on war and police than on people. The Soviets pushed the US to put energy into science and tech that actually helped people. GPS, satellites, space exploration, none of that happens without the USSR’s pressure.

The reality is the USSR saved the world from the madness of American imperialism. They forced the US to shift focus from killing to exploring and discovering. They forced a pause on total destruction long enough to dream bigger.

So the next time someone tells you the US won the space race or saved the world, remember the Soviets forced that to happen. Without the USSR, the US would still be lost in endless wars and arms races. The USSR was not just a rival, they were the reason humanity even got a shot at reaching the stars.

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Free Jeanette Vizguerra Colorado Mother and Community Leader

You may know already about Jeanette Vizguerra, a Colorado community leader and mother, who has led the fight against her own deportation since 2009. She is the mother of four children – a permanent resident, and three U.S. citizen children. 

On Monday March 17, 2025 ICE acted without a valid deportation order and without notifying Ms. Vizguerra or her lawyers. She was suddenly taken into ICE custody and placed at the GEO Group for-profit detention facility.

ICE appears to be readying to possibly deport her even though the agency knows they don’t have a valid deportation order. Her attorneys have raised serious legal errors and are concerned her due process rights are being violated.

Ms. Vizguerra was able to briefly call her daughter on March 17 before the facility cut off phone access for unknown reasons. Concerned for her safety, her family led an all-night vigil outside GEO from Monday to Tuesday with dozens of community members. Participants are engaged in songs and drumming as well as chanting, candle lighting and contacting congressional offices.

Please take three action steps today!

1. Please join the family in their vigil at GEO if you see this before 11am (3130 Oakland St Aurora) on March 18th. 

2. Please sign and share the petition to free Jeanette https://secure.afsc.org/a/freejeanette 

3. The family have started a gofundme Fundraiser by Tania Tabullo Baez : Help reunite my family to cover the legal and other costs. Please contribute as able and share!

The family hopes the whole incident is an error on Immigration and Customs Enforcement’s part.

If not an error, ICE’s detention of Jeanette would appear to match those of Mr. Mahmoud Khalil and Ms. Lequaa Kordia – both immigrants targeted in an irregular manner and being held unlawfully in detention over the last week. They organized and spoke out for a ceasefire. The family requests you attend the rally in Denver in support of them on March 19 at 3:30pm on the Tivoli quad. 

BACKGROUND

Jeanette Vizguerra is a Colorado community leader who is facing deportation and removal back to Mexico. Jeanette has led the fight against her own deportation since 2009. In 2017, Jeanette was recognized as one of Time Magazine's most influential people for standing up against the oppressive immigration system that sought to separate her from her children.

Jeanette has been a voice not only for herself, but for others. She is the pillar of the family; her children and grandchildren are the motivation in her life. She provides security and confidence in their young lives and wants to continue to protect them.

Jeanette has lived in Colorado for almost 30 years. She has given a large part of her time to advocate for her community. She has worked for SEIU as a labor organizer and volunteered with her children's schools, the Aurora Neighborhood Watch Program, Rights for All People, the American Friends Service Committee, Colorado Immigrant Rights Coalition, National Domestic Worker's Association and We Belong together, as well as founded several organizations like Dreamer's Mothers in Action-Colorado, Abolish ICE Denver,  Sanctuary4All and more. Jeanette has worked tirelessly to build her community in Colorado and has inspired many with her courage and passion. 

In solidarity,

Jordan Garcia

Judith Marquez

Lupe Lopez

Jennifer Piper

[Message copy pasted from an AFSC email]

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“I knew that the moment the great governing spirit strikes the blow to divide all humanity into just two opposing factions, I would be on the side of the common people”

Che Guevara (14 June 1928 – 9 October 1967)

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WORDS OF PROTEST & REVOLT

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The newly opened U.S.-backed distribution centers, guarded on the perimeter by Israeli forces, are being used to detain civilians. Palestinians, who walked an average of 15 km, crowd inside metal cages of the U.S.-backed aid site, surrounded by armed private security forces

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April 1, 1971 - From red. media:

On this day in 1971, German communist Monika Ertl assassinated Roberto Quintanilla, the Bolivian officer responsible for Che Guevara’s execution. Surprisingly, Ertl was the daughter of a Nazi propagandist who had fled to Bolivia. She was raised surrounded by her family's Nazi friends, such as Gestapo chief Klaus Barbie, aka the "Butcher of Lyon", who British director Kevin Macdonald alleges orchestrated Guevara's murder. Monika cut ties with her fascist family and grew closer to the Communist cause. She was deeply moved by Che Guevara's assassination in 1967 which led to her joining the National Liberation Army of Bolivia (ELN), which Che headed prior to his death. Under her new nom de guerre, “Imilla”, she worked with Che's former comrades to hunt down his killer. In 1971, Monika arrived in the German city of Hamburg, where she looked for Pereira, who was working at the Bolivian Consulate. Monika gunned down Che's killer with three shots to the chest. As she escaped, she left behind her purse, a wig, a revolver, and a piece of paper with the words "Victory or Death - ELN". The killing was soon linked to her and the US-backed Bolivian dictatorship put a $20,000 bounty on her head. However, Monika successfully returned to Bolivia with more targets on her mind, including her family's Nazi friends. In 1973, after several days of surveillance, CIA trained special units ambushed and murdered Monika in the capital city of La Paz. Her body was never found. Monika was dubbed “the avenger of Che”, a name that made headlines around the world.

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April 1, 1971 - From red. media:

On this day in 1971, German communist Monika Ertl assassinated Roberto Quintanilla, the Bolivian officer responsible for Che Guevara’s execution. Surprisingly, Ertl was the daughter of a Nazi propagandist who had fled to Bolivia. She was raised surrounded by her family's Nazi friends, such as Gestapo chief Klaus Barbie, aka the "Butcher of Lyon", who British director Kevin Macdonald alleges orchestrated Guevara's murder. Monika cut ties with her fascist family and grew closer to the Communist cause. She was deeply moved by Che Guevara's assassination in 1967 which led to her joining the National Liberation Army of Bolivia (ELN), which Che headed prior to his death. Under her new nom de guerre, “Imilla”, she worked with Che's former comrades to hunt down his killer. In 1971, Monika arrived in the German city of Hamburg, where she looked for Pereira, who was working at the Bolivian Consulate. Monika gunned down Che's killer with three shots to the chest. As she escaped, she left behind her purse, a wig, a revolver, and a piece of paper with the words "Victory or Death - ELN". The killing was soon linked to her and the US-backed Bolivian dictatorship put a $20,000 bounty on her head. However, Monika successfully returned to Bolivia with more targets on her mind, including her family's Nazi friends. In 1973, after several days of surveillance, CIA trained special units ambushed and murdered Monika in the capital city of La Paz. Her body was never found. Monika was dubbed “the avenger of Che”, a name that made headlines around the world.

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Capitalism exploits children in the most brutal, unforgivable ways—by turning their innocence and desperation into cheap labor for corporate profit. Across the world, children as young as five are forced to work in cocoa farms in West Africa, digging in toxic mines in the Congo for cobalt that powers our smartphones, or stitching clothes in sweatshops across Bangladesh and India for brands that sell luxury at the cost of human childhood. These children are not working for dreams, they are working to survive, often in conditions that rob them of education, safety, and even their lives. And the CEOs of these companies know it. They know their supply chains are soaked in suffering, yet they continue, because child labor cuts costs, boosts margins, and keeps shareholders happy. In capitalism, even a child’s blood has a price tag, and the system doesn't blink, as long as the profits grow.

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Liberals love to be like “why are there Nazis around we used to fight nazis” meanwhile America was actually pretty chill with the holocaust until those evil Japanese attacked us

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I’m not saying it’s right, but I understand (x)

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When he approved a campaign to reopen shipping in the Red Sea by bombing the Houthi militant group into submission, President Trump wanted to see results within 30 days of the initial strikes two months ago.

By Day 31, Mr. Trump, ever leery of drawn-out military entanglements in the Middle East, demanded a progress report, according to administration officials.

But the results were not there. The United States had not even established air superiority over the Houthis. Instead, what was emerging after 30 days of a stepped-up campaign against the Yemeni group was another expensive but inconclusive American military engagement in the region.

The Houthis shot down several American MQ-9 Reaper drones and continued to fire at naval ships in the Red Sea, including an American aircraft carrier. And the U.S. strikes burned through weapons and munitions at a rate of about $1 billion in the first month alone.

It did not help that two $67 million F/A-18 Super Hornets from America’s flagship aircraft carrier tasked with conducting strikes against the Houthis accidentally tumbled off the carrier into the sea.

By then, Mr. Trump had had enough.

Steve Witkoff, his Middle East envoy, who was already in Omani-mediated nuclear talks with Iran, reported that Omani officials had suggested what could be a perfect offramp for Mr. Trump on the separate issue of the Houthis, according to American and Arab officials. The United States would halt the bombing campaign and the militia would no longer target American ships in the Red Sea, but without any agreement to stop disrupting shipping that the group deemed helpful to Israel.

Announcing the cessation of hostilities, the president sounded almost admiring about the militant Islamist group, despite vowing earlier that it would be “completely annihilated.”

“We hit them very hard and they had a great ability to withstand punishment,” Mr. Trump said. “You could say there was a lot of bravery there.” He added that “they gave us their word that they wouldn’t be shooting at ships anymore, and we honor that.”

Whether that proves to be true remains to be seen. The Houthis fired a ballistic missile at Israel on Friday, triggering air raid sirens that drove people off beaches in Tel Aviv. The missile was intercepted by Israeli air defenses.[...]

Mr. Trump’s new chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, Gen. Dan Caine, was concerned that an extended campaign against the Houthis would drain military resources away from the Asia-Pacific region. His predecessor, Gen. Charles Q. Brown Jr., shared that view before he was fired in February.

By May 5, Mr. Trump was ready to move on, according to interviews with more than a dozen current and former officials with knowledge of the discussions in the president’s national security circle. They spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe the internal discussions.[...]

General Kurilla had been gunning for the Houthis since November 2023, when the group began attacking ships passing through the Red Sea as a way to target Israel for its invasion of Gaza.

But President Joseph R. Biden Jr. thought that engaging the Houthis in a forceful campaign would elevate their status on the global stage. Instead, he authorized more limited strikes against the group. But that failed to stop the Houthis.

Now General Kurilla had a new commander in chief.

He proposed an eight- to 10-month campaign in which Air Force and Navy warplanes would take out Houthi air defense systems. Then, he said, U.S. forces would mount targeted assassinations modeled on Israel’s recent operation against Hezbollah, three U.S. officials said.

Saudi officials backed General Kurilla’s plan and provided a target list of 12 Houthi senior leaders whose deaths, they said, would cripple the movement. But the United Arab Emirates, another powerful U.S. ally in the region, was not so sure. The Houthis had weathered years of bombings by the Saudis and the Emiratis.

By early March, Mr. Trump had signed off on part of General Kurilla’s plan — airstrikes against Houthi air defense systems and strikes against the group’s leaders. Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth named the campaign Operation Rough Rider.

At some point, General Kurilla’s eight- to 10-month campaign was given just 30 days to show results.

In those first 30 days, the Houthis shot down seven American MQ-9 drones (around $30 million each), hampering Central Command’s ability to track and strike the militant group. Several American F-16s and an F-35 fighter jet were nearly struck by Houthi air defenses, making real the possibility of American casualties, multiple U.S. officials said.

That possibility became reality when two pilots and a flight deck crew member were injured in the two episodes involving the F/A-18 Super Hornets, which fell into the Red Sea from the aircraft carrier Harry S. Truman within 10 days of each other.[...]

the cost of the operation was staggering. The Pentagon had deployed two aircraft carriers, additional B-2 bombers and fighter jets, as well as Patriot and THAAD air defenses, to the Middle East, officials acknowledged privately. By the end of the first 30 days of the campaign, the cost had exceeded $1 billion, the officials said.

So many precision munitions were being used, especially advanced long-range ones, that some Pentagon contingency planners were growing increasingly concerned about overall stocks and the implications for any situation in which the United States might have to ward off an attempted invasion of Taiwan by China.

And through it all, the Houthis were still shooting at vessels and drones, fortifying their bunkers and moving weapons stockpiles underground.

The White House began pressing Central Command for metrics of success in the campaign. The command responded by providing data showing the number of munitions dropped. The intelligence community said that there was “some degradation” of Houthi capability, but argued that the group could easily reconstitute, officials said.

Senior national security officials considered two pathways. They could ramp up operations for up to another month and then conduct “freedom of navigation” exercises in the Red Sea using two carrier groups, the Carl Vinson and the Truman. If the Houthis did not fire on the ships, the Trump administration would declare victory.

Or, officials said, the campaign could be extended to give Yemeni government forces time to restart a drive to push the Houthis out of the capital and key ports.

In late April, Mr. Hegseth organized a video call with Saudi and Emirati officials and senior officials from the State Department and the White House in an effort to come up with a sustainable way forward and an achievable state for the campaign that they could present to the president.

The group was not able to reach a consensus, U.S. officials said.[...]

Also skeptical of a longer campaign were Vice President JD Vance; the director of national intelligence, Tulsi Gabbard; Secretary of State Marco Rubio; and Mr. Trump’s chief of staff, Susie Wiles. Mr. Hegseth, people with knowledge of the discussions said, went back and forth, arguing both sides.

But Mr. Trump had become the most important skeptic.

On April 28, the Truman was forced to make a hard turn at sea to avoid incoming Houthi fire, several U.S. officials said. The move contributed to the loss of one of the Super Hornets, which was being towed at the time and fell overboard. That same day, dozens of people were killed in a U.S. attack that hit a migrant facility controlled by the Houthis, according to the group and aid officials.

Then on May 4, a Houthi ballistic missile evaded Israel’s aerial defenses and struck near Ben-Gurion International Airport outside Tel Aviv.

On Tuesday, two pilots aboard another Super Hornet, again on the Truman, were forced to eject after their fighter jet failed to catch the steel cable on the carrier deck, sending the plane into the Red Sea.

By then, Mr. Trump had decided to declare the operation a success.

Houthi officials and their supporters swiftly declared victory, too, spreading a social media hashtag that read “Yemen defeats America.”

12 May 25

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Call it a utopian deviation but I do think Che was right when he said a revolutionary is guided by a great feeling of love, like I'm a Marxist because it's the only clear-sighted accurate framework for understanding the economic & political exercise of power but nobody dedicates their life to a 200-year struggle in the name of scientific insight, no one thoughtfully reasons their way to either end of a rifle, the reason I care enough to read and understand the conclusions of Marxism is because I have spent my entire life filled with an unquenchable outrage at the brutal injustice of life under capitalism and an unwavering conviction that the only decent thing to do is challenge it at every turn by any means necessary

I am a Marxist because it's the only effective path to socialism, but I have always been a socialist because the only alternative is to lie down and accept passive complicity in the suffering of billions