May 17th, 2022 IRC Meeting

Decisions/Endorsements

Platform

Planks: https://github.com/masspirates/planks

What we are working on now:

• competition
• Art is for Everyone!

Projects

Outreach

Leader: Malt

Video Newsletter/Podcast

Leader: Joseph

• Pirate news recording scheduled for Sundays, 7pm with go-live at 7:30pm. Unless changed

Other To Do

• Application to PPI

Upcoming Events

• Pirate Moot, Sat., May 28th, noon-2pm, Joe's place
• Pirate Moot, Sat., June 18th, noon-2pm, Jamie's place
• Democracy Meeting, Sat., June 18, 11am-1pm

Participants

• jokeefe: James O’Keefe, Somerville
• Joe: Joseph Onoroski, Lowell

Observers

• davidd
• hvxgr
• slerman

Summary

May 28th Pirate Moot moved to June 12th.

Adopted the Promoting Competition plank:

 

Capitalism's function is to accrue economic power in the hands of a limited number of actors. The minute owners conspire, free markets collapse. However, the problem with using competition as the primary regulator against monopoly is that every industry requires an entry cost, which tends to increase as an industry and its regulatory environment mature. This will often snuff out smaller companies that can not pay that entry cost. Furthermore, it provides an incentive for the powerful to collude in order to limit competition. 

Our government willingly forgot this knowledge in the 1970s when corporate shills convinced judges and regulators that the only metric for economic concentration was increased prices. Oligopoly or even monopoly, they said, was acceptable no matter the cost to workers, industries, communities and even our democracy.

We know that concentrated industries leads to concentrated politics. Corporate cartels and monopolies can never be democratically accountable. They give us a democracy of one boss, one vote. Democracy cannot survive when the vote of a few billionaires counts for more than billions of people.

When elected, the Massachusetts Pirate Party will:
* enforce and expand antitrust laws, in order to distribute and pluralize power. The people need a veto over corporations, both via their purchasing power and our laws;
* aggressively pursue policies that promote competition, including a blanket statewide permission for municipally- and commonwealth-owned services such as broadband, banking, and utility corporations;
* end any tax breaks or public subsidy for corporations to buy their competitors, offshore economic activity or hide US revenue to avoid taxation;
* ban stock buybacks so that corporations have money to invest in their employees and business;
* force tech companies to tear down their digital walls and use standard protocols that allow new companies and services to interoperate so that users can move their data to the companies of their choice;
* implement strong data privacy laws, break up the ad-tech duopoly and ban surveillance advertisements and replace them with contextual ads that don't spy on us or rob businesses of needed revenue;
* make it easier for  unions to self-organize and expand workers rights. Worker power is the only way we can improve the work place. The people doing the work know what they need to do the work most efficiently;
* implement a right to repair for all products so you truely own what you purchase.

Minutes

 


[9:09pm] jokeefe: Agenda: https://masspirates.org/wiki/May_17th,_2022_IRC_Meeting
[9:09pm] jokeefe: ids
[9:09pm] jokeefe: James O’Keefe, Somerville
[9:09pm] Joe: Joseph Onoroski, Lowell
[9:09pm] jokeefe: anything to add?
[9:09pm] Joe: Moot
[9:10pm] jokeefe: let’s start with that
[9:10pm] Joe: The house will not be complete and thus I will not have my certificate of occupancy.
[9:11pm] jokeefe: what would you like to do?
[9:11pm] Joe: Meaning we would have to stay outside in the yard and use portable bathrooms.
[9:12pm] Joe: Delay the live moot one month or hold it in another location.
[9:12pm] jokeefe: we could move it to the 18th since that is our next scheduled one
[9:13pm] Joe: I have the gear to do an outdoor event, just not a suitable place.
[9:13pm] Joe: The 18th, as in tomorrow?
[9:13pm] • Joe is visibly confused.
[9:14pm] jokeefe: June 18th
[9:14pm] jokeefe: that is when the next moot is scheduled for
[9:14pm] Joe: The 25th would be better for me to host.
[9:15pm] jokeefe: that overlaps with the voter choice event
[9:15pm] Joe: I have the 25th for the pirate moot and the 18 for the pirate security council
[9:15pm] jokeefe: unfortunately
[9:15pm] Joe: O, That's right, we changed it.
[9:16pm] jokeefe: so it is https://events.pirate-secon.net/en/the-pirate-security-conference-2022/
[9:17pm] Joe: How about the 12th?
[9:17pm] Joe: It's a Sunday but I am not a big drinker anyways.
[9:18pm] Joe: We could do a live stream for the meeting.
[9:19pm] jokeefe: will the pirate security conference be live streamed?
[9:21pm] Joe: I am not sure. But the 12th is a weekend ahead of it.
[9:22pm] jokeefe: what time?
[9:24pm] Joe: I would say 11, so that I have time to make sure that we are fully set up.
[9:24pm] Joe: Is there a head count so I can prepare food?
[9:24pm] jokeefe: noon?
[9:25pm] Joe: That works too, but I wanted to have plenty of time for people to get home. It's a  longer ride from Boston folks.
[9:26pm] Joe: *for
[9:26pm] jokeefe: 11am then.
[9:27pm] jokeefe: Since we are pushing it back, that will give us more time to turn people out to it.
[9:27pm] jokeefe: Sunday June 12th then
[9:29pm] Joe: Locked in on my calendar.
[9:30pm] jokeefe: good
[9:32pm] jokeefe: I will update the event.
[9:33pm] Joe: On the pirate news front, the ATF may have just shot themselves in the foot.
[9:34pm] jokeefe: oh?
[9:35pm] Joe: https://youtu.be/6CveXGWNHu0
[9:35pm] Joe: I will let you have an actual lawyer explain it.
[9:35pm] Joe: When you have time
[9:39pm] jokeefe: thanks
[9:39pm] Joe: We should touch upon the 2nd amendment this week, if only briefly.
[9:40pm] jokeefe: platform
[9:40pm] jokeefe: I edited https://etherpad.pp-international.net/p/MAPPCompetitionPlank
[9:41pm] jokeefe: what do you think?
[9:43pm] Joe: It's smooth. Motion to adopt plank.
[9:44pm] jokeefe: 2nd
[9:44pm] jokeefe: all in favor?
[9:44pm] Joe: Aye
[9:44pm] jokeefe: aye
[9:44pm] jokeefe: any opposed?
[9:46pm] jokeefe: motion passes
[9:46pm] jokeefe: will add it
[9:46pm] jokeefe: Are we good for Sunday?
[9:47pm] Joe: I have my eldest but I will try to attend. 7pm is his wind-down time so it just depends on the day.
[9:47pm] Joe: Short answer is a tentative yes.
[9:48pm] jokeefe: hope to talk with you then
[9:49pm] jokeefe: any update to the PPI application?
[9:49pm] Joe: I don't have much to add today. Bit disappointed in not being able to host atm but thank you for understanding.
[9:49pm] jokeefe: it is understandable. as long as it happens.
[9:50pm] Joe: We still have not done the PNC one so I was waiting but I do plan on attending the meetings as a lurker.
[9:51pm] jokeefe: ok
[9:51pm] jokeefe: good to know.
[9:51pm] jokeefe: shall we adjourn?
[9:51pm] Joe: If you want me to just get it done and over with, I can
[9:51pm] Joe: Or perhaps when we meet in person on the 12th we can just do it then.
[9:52pm] jokeefe: Sounds like a plan.
[9:52pm] Joe: Wait, which one?
[9:52pm] jokeefe: Work on it June 12th
[9:52pm] Joe: K
[9:52pm] Joe: 2nd to adjourn.
[9:53pm] jokeefe: all in favor?
[9:53pm] Joe: Aye
[9:53pm] jokeefe: aye
[9:53pm] Joe: Gn Jamie
[9:53pm] jokeefe: have a great week. talk on Sunday
[9:53pm] Joe: Ttythen