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[East Lake]

In the olympics of evil we seem to be doing pretty well (from 2013).

 

[B-Dubs]

I mean, he acknowledges Russia is way worse, but the US does still have a lot of blood on its hands

I'm just trying to figure out how they aren't acting like a global supervillain. A genocide against lgbtq people, propping up and funding Nazis across the West, annexing countries in the middle of the night, killing journalists literally just outside the Kremlin. Like as bad as we might be, how are they not a million times worse?

 

[Box of Kittens]

In the olympics of evil we seem to be doing pretty well (from 2013).

This is a lazy and pointless post even by your standards.

 

[The Technomancer]

The left has become increasingly insular in an attempt to find relevance after the collapse of international socialism. No world revolution coming? The USSR turned out bad? Guess we gotta focus on social democracy because the rest was invalidated. That kind of mindset.

Part of the problem is that the material shifts required for "stop exploiting foreign labor abroad" probably have major popularity and energy issues among "Western" nations, at least that's the feeling I've gotten in recent years.
Unfortunately "socialism results in material losses for those who profit from exploitation" is just as true at any scale, and it seems easier to mobilize people around redistributing the wealth from their own elites than around recognizing that they are the exploiters on a global scale and need to give some up to balance the scales out.

 

[sphagnum]

Part of the problem is that the material shifts required for "stop exploiting foreign labor abroad" probably have major popularity and energy issues among "Western" nations, at least that's the feeling I've gotten in recent years.
Unfortunately "socialism results in material losses for those who profit from exploitation" is just as true at any scale, and it seems easier to mobilize people around redistributing the wealth from their own elites than around recognizing that they are the exploiters on a global scale and need to give some up to balance the scales out

Damn labor aristocracy. This is why Settlers should be required reading for all high schoolers.

Full steam ahead for Maoism-Third Worldism!

 

[pigeon]

Part of the problem is that the material shifts required for "stop exploiting foreign labor abroad" probably have major popularity and energy issues among "Western" nations, at least that's the feeling I've gotten in recent years.
Unfortunately "socialism results in material losses for those who profit from exploitation" is just as true at any scale, and it seems easier to mobilize people around redistributing the wealth from their own elites than around recognizing that they are the exploiters on a global scale and need to give some up to balance the scales out.

The solution is obvious, though. Just let those workers come here until the labor scales even out. That's why I keep saying that open borders is the only acceptable leftist position and all immigration-restriction socialists are really just ethnonationalists!

 

[The Technomancer]

Damn labor aristocracy. This is why Settlers should be required reading for all high schoolers.

Full steam ahead for Maoism-Third Worldism!

oh holy crap how have I never heard of this book. Looking it up now it looks right up my alley

 

[sphagnum]

oh holy crap how have I never heard of this book. Looking it up now it looks right up my alley

Just to warn you, it does not exactly follow a...scholarly (perhaps we might say bourgeois?) style. I mean Sakai started researching for it when he was an auto mechanic or something so it's literally proletarian literature.

Fascinating stuff though.

 

[The Technomancer]

Just to warn you, it does not exactly follow a...scholarly style. I mean Sakai started researching for it when he was an auto mechanic or something so it's literally proletarian literature.

Fascinating stuff though.

Oh I can already tell that I'm going to probably disagree with as much as I agree with in it, but regardless its incredibly relevant material to me

 

[RustyNails]

The solution is obvious, though. Just let those workers come here until the labor scales even out. That's why I keep saying that open borders is the only acceptable leftist position and all immigration-restriction socialists are really just ethnonationalists!

Sounds like the plot of a next Ayn Rand inspired movie.

 

[Holmes]

Yikes

 

[shinra-bansho]

The US sucks, hail mother Russia.

 

[Diablos]

Premiums in PA to go up by 30% next year. Just in time for Midterms! This is literally the worst case scenario for the GOP (and it actively fucks so many people)

Fuck that is HIGH.

 

[shinra-bansho]

Blame the black President.

 

[SatelliteOfLove]

Oh, how I love Popovich.

So the NBA is next on "this week's major industry Fat Boy is going to destroy as a distraction".

Fuck that is HIGH.

Cuz here was last weeks with a heapin' helpin' of fuckin' over the taxpayer. YIKES.

 

[whyamihere]

Blame the black President.

"Obamacare doesn't exist anymore." - Donald J. Trump

 

[Brinbe]

Pop 4 Prez

 

[Teggy]

Jim Acosta
@Acosta
WH says POTUS was "stating a fact" about former presidents including Obama not calling families of fallen soldiers. Fact check: False.
5:56 PM · Oct 16, 2017

They certainly don’t owe it to anyone, but any gold star family who communicated with any recent past president speaking up right now would do a world of good.

 

[Randolph Freelander]

Full Pop quote:

I’ve been amazed and disappointed by so much of what this President had said, and his approach to running this country, which seems to be one of just a never ending divisiveness. But his comments today about those who have lost loved ones in times of war and his lies that previous presidents Obama and Bush never contacted their families, is so beyond the pale, I almost don’t have the words.

This man in the Oval Office is a soulless coward who thinks that he can only become large by belittling others. This has of course been a common practice of his, but to do it in this manner–and to lie about how previous Presidents responded to the deaths of soldiers–is as low as it gets. We have a pathological liar in the White House: unfit intellectually, emotionally, and psychologically to hold this office and the whole world knows it, especially those around him every day. The people who work with this President should be ashamed because they know it better than anyone just how unfit he is, and yet they choose to do nothing about it. This is their shame most of all.

https://www.thenation.com/article/a-soulless-coward-coach-gregg-popovich-responds-to-trump/

 

[Teggy]

Ouch

 

[nature boy]

Manu Raju‏Verified account
@mkraju
Corker: "No," he said when I asked if he would vote for a tax reform bill if it raises the deficit

Manu Raju‏Verified account @mkraju 4m4 minutes ago
CORKER also says he stands by all of his criticism of Trump from last week and thought through what he was going to say first.

Manu Raju‏Verified account @mkraju 2m2 minutes ago
After last week's criticism of Trump, VP Pence called up Corker ... another sign of Pence as peacemaker

So like when are they going to vote on tax "reform"

 

[AntraxSuicide]

So like when are they going to vote on tax "reform"

Master of strategy

 

[Mark Andrew]

Taxes have the same dynamic as health care in the senate. You have the moderate darlings who will vote no if the final bill actively fucks their constituents, and the conservatives who will vote no because the final bill won’t actually be conservative at all.

There’s a reason why the White House is hosting Joe Manchin for dinner. He’s been their last resort when something is about to crash and burn.

 

[Aaron Strife]

Taxes have the same dynamic as health care in the senate. You have the moderate darlings who will vote no if the final bill actively fucks their constituents, and the conservatives who will vote no because the final bill won’t actually be conservative at all.

There’s a reason why the White House is hosting Joe Manchin for dinner. He’s been their last resort when something is about to crash and burn.

Gotta say, Manchin has mastered the whole “look like I’m about to fuck over the Democrats, then I don’t” angle.

He’s no Lieberman - iirc his vote has never been decisive. Maybe there’s something to be said for making stronger, party-wide statements against guys like Sessions, but he’s never been #51 and I thank him for that. A timeline where Manchin failed to hold his Senate seat is one where ACA is dead as a door nail right now, and Ryan and McConnell have carte blanche for all their shitty tax cuts.

 

[neurosisxeno]

The one Manchin vote that irks me a bit was him voting to confirm Sessions. He could have easily symbolically voted against him but still voted for him and I can't really figure out why. Must have been internals showing Sessions as decently popular in WV or something.

 

[kirblar]

The one Manchin vote that irks me a bit was him voting to confirm Sessions. He could have easily symbolically voted against him but still voted for him and I can't really figure out why. Must have been internals showing Sessions as decently popular in WV or something.

You completely misunderstand the current state of WV.

 

[GrapeApes]

So the NBA is next on "this week's major industry Fat Boy is going to destroy as a distraction"..

Next tweet.
Why doesn't the liberal NBA believe in affirmative action? Equal time for us? Unfair practices.


Edit: If this was back in the Iverson days, I'm sure Trump would be telling them to pull their pants up.

 

[Hindl]

So the NBA is next on "this week's major industry Fat Boy is going to destroy as a distraction".



Cuz here was last weeks with a heapin' helpin' of fuckin' over the taxpayer. YIKES.

Nah fans of the NBA won't give a shit about Trump at all. The NBA is pretty united against Trump

 

[mlclmtckr]

I'm just trying to figure out how they aren't acting like a global supervillain. A genocide against lgbtq people, propping up and funding Nazis across the West, annexing countries in the middle of the night, killing journalists literally just outside the Kremlin. Like as bad as we might be, how are they not a million times worse?

Because you are killing tens of thousands of people all over the world, and you have a Nazi as your head of state?

Russia is a relatively poor and weak country, with an evil government and imperialist ambitions. The United States is the richest and most powerful country in the world, and also has an evil imperialist government.

I get that the same aesthetic reasons people say Trump is already the worst President ever lead them to think that Russia is somehow more harmful than America on the world stage but honestly it's just straight up not a possibility.

 

[Valhelm]

Just to warn you, it does not exactly follow a...scholarly (perhaps we might say bourgeois?) style. I mean Sakai started researching for it when he was an auto mechanic or something so it's literally proletarian literature.

Fascinating stuff though.

Settlers has some issues I guess but it's a great read that provides a genuinely eye-opening and very heterodox perspective on US history

 

[pigeon]

Because you are killing tens of thousands of people all over the world, and you have a Nazi as your head of state?

Isn't that weird? I wonder how he got elected OH RIGHT IT WAS AN EVIL SCHEME PERPETRATED BY RUSSIA

Russia is a relatively poor and weak country, with an evil government and imperialist ambitions. The United States is the richest and most powerful country in the world, and also has an evil imperialist government.

This conversation is really causing a lot of theoretically reasonable socialist posters to jump the shark

 

[sphagnum]

No blood for Hillary's email profits

 

[mlclmtckr]

Isn't that weird? I wonder how he got elected OH RIGHT IT WAS AN EVIL SCHEME PERPETRATED BY RUSSIA

yeah it was a combination of

-the American voter being so uneducated and unengaged that the Republican party was able to run an obese babyman with brain slugs

-the American political system being so broken and obsolete that a small coterie of billionaire sociopaths can hijack the entire country

-John Podesta being dumb enough to click on a dick pill link in an email from a Russian hacker

-the virulent and resilient racism that has defined American politics since American politics began

It's not like Vladimir Putin woke up one morning and said "I know, I'll put a white nationalist into the White House, which is totally uncharacteristic of American politics and which I alone will accomplish with no preexisting conditions or helpful tailwinds."

The fact that Russian hackers were anywhere near able to make this happen is a damning indictment of American democracy. I know you don't think that things were perfect under Obama or that America was completely immune to fascism until big bad "global supervillain" Russia came around.

This conversation is really causing a lot of theoretically reasonable socialist posters to jump the shark

On the one hand Putin exploited the badly broken political system of a country that was already killing brown people all over the planet and had special forced deployed in 70% of the countries of the Earth. On the other hand, ISIS exists right now for fuck's sake.

Vladimir Putin is an authoritarian dictator who should be in prison, and interfering in the American election was a crime, but any sane evaluation of people's material conditions around the world will result in an understanding that the United States is a bigger net negative force than broke-as-fuck mafia run petrostate Russia.

 

[East Lake]

This is a lazy and pointless post even by your standards.

To be fair this poll was from before Russia was understood to be a global supervillian, they might be polling at 5% now.

 

[Randolph Freelander]

Did y'all know that Hillary is our shadow President?

https://mobile.twitter.com/johnrobertsFox/status/920060656065433600

That whole reply trail from Fox News Idiot is just ridiculous.

 

[neurosisxeno]

You completely misunderstand the current state of WV.

That's because WV is one of the more difficult states to predict. They are deep red in a majority of ways, but somehow Manchin squeaks by. As I said, I suspect it's that Sessions or his policies poll well in WV, so Manchin voted to confirm him just to score some political points with his constituents. Doesn't bother me that much since Sessions already had 52 guaranteed votes on the Republican side.

Did y'all know that Hillary is our shadow President?

https://mobile.twitter.com/johnrobertsFox/status/920060656065433600

That whole reply trail from Fox News Idiot is just ridiculous.

That is the stupidest thing I've read in a while. The Trump Administration consistently shit talks Hillary to this day--almost a year after the election. To think she is somehow pulling the strings behind the scenes is ludicrous.

 

[kirblar]

That's because WV is one of the more difficult states to predict. They are deep red in a majority of ways, but somehow Manchin squeaks by. As I said, I suspect it's that Sessions or his policies poll well in WV, so Manchin voted to confirm him just to score some political points with his constituents. Doesn't bother me that much since Sessions already had 52 guaranteed votes on the Republican side.

WV is a union state with confederate flags everywhere.

 

[Ogodei]

You completely misunderstand the current state of WV.

It's funny that West Virginia revolted from Richmond to stay in the Union and now Virginia's rapidly liberalizing while a larger proportion of West Virginians would salute the stars and bars.

 

[excelsiorlef]

No seriously the fact that some of you have to default to but the US (The West) when anyone mentions Russia is a stain on your credibility.

Stop being Greenwalds

 

[mlclmtckr]

Did y'all know that Hillary is our shadow President?

https://mobile.twitter.com/johnrobertsFox/status/920060656065433600

That whole reply trail from Fox News Idiot is just ridiculous.

In a way she is since she is the closest thing the Democrats have to a leader / Trump counterpart right now.

Assuming they're using "shadow president" in the same way that parliamentary democracies talk about a "shadow cabinet."

 

[Mark Andrew]

In a way she is since she is the closest thing the Democrats have to a leader / Trump counterpart right now.

Assuming they're using "shadow president" in the same way that parliamentary democracies talk about a "shadow cabinet."

Bernie is our leader. Why else would he keep debating random republicans on CNN?

 

[The Technomancer]

In a way she is since she is the closest thing the Democrats have to a leader / Trump counterpart right now.

Assuming they're using "shadow president" in the same way that parliamentary democracies talk about a "shadow cabinet."

As much as it irks me, that's probably Bernie right now

 

[neurosisxeno]

WV is a union state with confederate flags everywhere.

Which lends itself to what I said--Sessions and his racist ass policies play well with Manchin's constituents.

No seriously the fact that some of you have to default to but the US (The West) when anyone mentions Russia is a stain on your credibility.

Stop being Greenwalds

Yea being apologists for Russia's bullshit is not cool, regardless of what ways you disagree with the United States. It also plays into a Trump talking point that he was ridiculed on this very board for.

In a way she is since she is the closest thing the Democrats have to a leader / Trump counterpart right now.

Assuming they're using "shadow president" in the same way that parliamentary democracies talk about a "shadow cabinet."

What about Progressive Icon Tulsi Gabbard?

 

[BlastProcessing]

In a way she is since she is the closest thing the Democrats have to a leader / Trump counterpart right now.

Assuming they're using "shadow president" in the same way that parliamentary democracies talk about a "shadow cabinet."

You're right. We really should give Fox News the benefit of the doubt, especially when is pertains to Hillary Clinton.

 

[Randolph Freelander]

You're right. We really should give Fox News the benefit of the doubt, especially when is pertains to Hillary Clinton.

Yeah, they're known for always being on the level with her.

 

[kirblar]

Which lends itself to what I said--Sessions and his racist ass policies play well with Manchin's constituents.

What I'm saying is that this should have been your immediate conclusion. It's exactly why he voted that way.

 

[The Technomancer]

Like I get it, there are legit criticisms of NATO and of US military action abroad. As a starting point "NATO enables US imperialism" isn't bad. But its impossible for me to take seriously anyone who's conclusion then becomes "so we should dissolve NATO" instead of something like "so we should expand the scope of the strategic alliance to protect more vulnerable countries globally". That's what's missing from that Young Labour statement; the UK pulls out of NATO and then....?

 

[shinra-bansho]

Vladimir Putin woke up many mornings ago and decided he wanted to destabilise liberal democracy through sophisticated attacks via new media channels.

 

[Lucky Forward]

That is the stupidest thing I've read in a while. The Trump Administration consistently shit talks Hillary to this day--almost a year after the election. To think she is somehow pulling the strings behind the scenes is ludicrous.

They just need someone to be against.

https://www.mediaite.com/uncategori...position-party-being-against-things-was-easy/

“We were a 10-year opposition party, where being against things was easy to do,” Ryan said. “You just had to be against it."

 

[Box of Kittens]

To the extent that you have party leaders in a presidential system, I'd agree that Bernie fits that description more than Hillary does right now. Maybe not if you survey Veritt visitors.