You know, if I were not a minority of some kind, and had $10 million dollar net worth or above, and also had no principles, I would not feel a sense of urgency either.
And yet how many are there that are comfortably numb writing for Bezos Post.
John Bolton ® is a self-admitted expert on coups.
Consider, for instance, the publicly available itemized list of weapons provided to Ukraine, which the administration periodically updates. The transparency is because of fear of Congress taking the money away, and it is a signal to NATO that it had better follow suit. But still, the accounting is made public and the public benefits.
And yet no such list is available for U.S. military aid to Israel. (I’ve written about this here.)
“We’re being careful not to quantify or get into too much detail about what they’re getting — for their own operational security purposes, of course,” White House national security spokesperson retired rear admiral John Kirby said of U.S. arms assistance to Israel.
That’s because the admin considers Israel as a real ally, while Ukraine is a mere tool in the war against Russia.
The operational security of Ukraine is not that important to the admin.
Ukraine will be abandoned at some point or at least transfered over from the care of the USA to the care of the EU, and let EU do with Ukraine what EU wants.
In any case Israel =/= Ukraine, nor should they be equal.
That said I agree that the number 1 priority of our admin should be the American people! Instead the admin uses the American people as pawns in a geopolitical game of chess where the primary and often the only beneficiaries are the superrich.
The SCOTUS of today is illegitimate. Pack the court now, Biden. Alternatively use the newly granted by the SCOTUS presidential powers to do an official act at the selfsame SCOTUS.
I’d be ok with just the most misogynistic religion losing half its adherents.
I can tolerate most religions even if I disagree with them.
But yea, I am not a fan of religions.
It’s the same thing.
In my own mind I am a center of the road moderate too.
Ask me the right questions and my answers will sound decidedly moderate.
The current late stage capitalist government is the extremist that must be stopped.
Get lost.
No chance.
Hahaha, I love a title that’s guaranteed to piss off everyone.
The “sharp and focused” language triggers me. And I am sure there will be folks triggered by the “confused and forgetful” language.
You had me up to this sentence:
The popularity of progressive policies is irrelevant.
The popularity of progressive policies is the only relevant concern. It’s self-id that is irrelevant.
No, when I want democracy, that’s what I want. That is my personal interest even if it involves you. You could hate democracy, then you’d be my foe. I would not talk it over with you, I would just steamroll you.
I would only negotiate if what you want is really close to what I want, and I made a calculation that an additional ally is worth more to me than the exactitude of my aim/interest. But again, I, and I alone, make that calculation for my benefit alone.
I am at peace with the notion that some people are better off dead.
I make all the major life changing strategic decisions in solitude.
It wasn’t always like that. Parties can change for the worse or for the better.
I don’t know if permanently branding an entire party as bigoted is wise, especially if the bigotry hasn’t yet been made into a party platform or long term formal doctrine.
Also, MAGA has become more diverse. We need to be careful not to overdo identity politics. A dignified and universal living standard floor should be our main focus, in my opinion. Healthcare as a right. Housing as a right. Those are the bread and butter issues that impact every identity and are amenable to broad coalitions. Housing as a right is good for LGBTQ+ and it’s good for white male cisgenders too. I don’t want to deal with the “gays for MAGA” type stuff, which is what will happen if we overemphasize id politics. Well, the log cabin Republicans are already a thing. Are you OK with fascism as long as all the identities are well represented in a reich? I am not.
If we push the Republicans on being bigots, they will give up their bigotry eventually because the main agenda of the Republicans is unfettered business freedom for the biggest businesses and the biggest business owners. It’s why the corporations have readily embraced diversity but not higher taxes and more regulations.
I think we should call out bigotry without making bigotry the only or the main GOP sin while attempting to permanently marry the GOP brand to bigotry.
Oh fuck yes. I pick Jon over Al any day, just as I’d pick the either over Biden.
Not a huge fan of the “SOPA debacle” Al Franken, but I’d take Franken over Biden a million times over.
It’s not bullshit. When I rep my interests, those include democracy, a dignified minimum standard of living for all as a human right, etc. Because that is what I want in MY world, and I own that.
Being self-centered doesn’t mean being a dick in all circumstances. It does mean embracing all the human qualities instead of just some. There are no bad qualities, only bad users of those qualities. Impatience, aggressiveness, and so on are not inherently bad. Some circumstances call for a fighter. Some for a lover. Some circumstances require immediate action. Some require patience. All the qualities have their rightful use.
The commenter above imo didn’t mean to talk about self-id when they said or implied something like “most (dem) voters are progressive.” They imo meant progressive policies are broadly popular.
That’s basically what happened in WW2. We’ve done what needed to be done then and we’ll do it now too.
I was hoping this time around we didn’t need to go all the way to a world war, but if the servatives insist, fine, I will humor them.
who knows great enthusiasms, the great devotions; who spends himself in a worthy cause; who at the best knows in the end the triumph of high achievement, and who at the worst, if he fails, at least fails while daring greatly, so that his place shall never be with those cold and timid souls who neither know victory nor defeat.
It’s hard to “dare greatly” when you need the votes from the downtrodden and also need campaign cash from the billionaires. In other words the Dems need something from the exploiters and from the exploited.
If the Dems please their voters, they will upset the superrich and the wannabe superrich (the temporarily embarrassed millionaires), who are their biggest and most reliable donors. The superrich give and they expect something in return. Those corporate revolving doors will not revolve themselves. Upset your money base and you can’t buy commercials or get “free” TV coverage on the billionaire-owned media.
So, upsetting the voting base is better for the Dems than upsetting the billionaires. If you disappoint your voters by falling short you can always say “the GOP stopped us, it’s not our fault, vote harder next time. Oh, and the GOP is even worse than us Dems, so where are you going to go, little ones?”
That’s the Dem strategy ever since the third way takeover.
That’s why the Dems are trash. The Dems will absolutely get a reckoning sooner or later.
The Dems cannot fail us, it is only us who can fail the Dems.
The Dems are the cold and timid souls. That’s why the Dems always voter shame and never say “I failed.”
When Bernie was campaigning against Biden he defended Biden’s candidacy multiple times over his own. That’s a huge problem. And people who support billionaires are not our friends. But Bernie is such a people pleaser.
Bernie wants the right policies and outcomes, but he’s not a fighter and has no backbone.
You don’t have to self-id as a progressive to support progressive policies.
The trick is to find someone whom the Dem elites like.
Or we can hold a real primary right now. I know it would be a second primary this season, but the DNC is a private corporation which makes up rules on the fly. The DNC uses their power for their big money donors, but technically they can use the same power to benefit their voter base too.
Tim Walz exists. Marianne Williamson exists. The Dem side has the presidential material. The question is do the Dem billionaire donors and their henchmen give a shit or not?
Somehow I don’t think the Dem elites will be impressed if we just politely beg harder.