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Last posted Nov 21, 2024 at 03:21AM EST. Added Jan 01, 2017 at 06:26PM EST
18058 posts from 293 users

Hunter Nightblood wrote:

Sadly I can't say I didn't see this one coming.

Kamala is tied to what is seen as a failed administration. There was no way she was going to shake that off.

Here's the irony: To quote a Reuters article:
"Trump has proposed a 10% tariff on all U.S. imports and 60% on Chinese-made products, which if enacted would affect the whole economy by pushing consumer prices higher. The Tax Foundation, a non-partisan think tank, calculated Trump tariffs would hike taxes by $524 billion annually, shrink GDP by at least 0.8%, and cut employment by 684,000 full-time equivalent jobs potentially impacting retail workers, the largest private sector employer. He also suggested he might impose a 25% tariff on all imports from Mexico."

So unless his party can convince him that that's a stupid idea, look forward to that.

Oh, and Elon and RFK potentially having cabinet positions. Because why the fuck not.

Elon and RFK are red flags to me because one is a Redditor and other has a brainworm.

https://x.com/matjajanit/status/1854168418208960665
https://x.com/matjajanit/status/1854167959574356053
https://x.com/matjajanit/status/1854172993288630744

Does Ukraine send 14 yos or this guy, while not supportive of Russia, is waffling too much he needs some buck breaking?

Mistress Fortune wrote:

Guys I'm fucking terrified. Project 2025 has a chance of happening now. I'm praying so hard to God that He will keep all His trans children safe. I lost my childhood home in 2020, I lost my father in 2022, and I might be about to lose my rights in 2025. I fucking hate this decade.

I'm rooting for you, alright? I know a lot of internet support means fuck all, but god bless, stay safe.

Might be reasonable to consider moving to a democrat state if you can, though.

aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa wrote:

I'm rooting for you, alright? I know a lot of internet support means fuck all, but god bless, stay safe.

Might be reasonable to consider moving to a democrat state if you can, though.

Some European countries could help

Mistress Fortune wrote:

Guys I'm fucking terrified. Project 2025 has a chance of happening now. I'm praying so hard to God that He will keep all His trans children safe. I lost my childhood home in 2020, I lost my father in 2022, and I might be about to lose my rights in 2025. I fucking hate this decade.

I'm too tired and I feel like I can't really offer any advice but I do hope you stay safe.

You folks are taking Trump's presidency way too far. Sure, I do as well, but maybe instead of writing like it's a Nuclear war, maybe show proof Project 2025 will possibly happen, Trump commited sexual assaults and stuff.

I wish I could meet this president and tell him to fire RFK and Elon Musk or complain, but I have to accept it because Donald Trump's presidency might be a nothingburger because he never keeps promises.

Man, I getting taking a week long break and if you see some guy think you have become more left or anything or says stupid shit, write them like those people have special needs because some of you write in such a cold way people assume you are spewing shit.

No offense. Just recommending because I know these people.

No!! wrote:

OK I CHANGED MY MIND, I AINT TAKING THE "THIS ACTUALLY GOOD" BULLSHIT, I AM JUST FUCKING PISSED AND THATS IT!!

I wonder if you can actually stick to that. You sound like you just need to find a way to calm yourself more than anything – your previous nihilism wasn't doing you any favors.

Honestly….most people in general have all been treating me like complete garbage for years now and I been accumulating a lot of anger over the years, if anything this is the happiest I been in years now that I fully lost it…..

But…. I have to calm the fuck down and go back to square one or else I will annoy everyone and get banned and I dont want that

Republicans win Presidency.
Republicans now hold a majority in the Senate.
Republicans now hold a majority in the House.
Supreme Court judges that are conservative and getting old can safely retire and be replaced with younger conservative judges.

But hey!
Gaza is speaking now!

Mistress Fortune wrote:

Guys I'm fucking terrified. Project 2025 has a chance of happening now. I'm praying so hard to God that He will keep all His trans children safe. I lost my childhood home in 2020, I lost my father in 2022, and I might be about to lose my rights in 2025. I fucking hate this decade.

Me too, I hope you, and all the other trans people I know and don't know can stay safe
if you aren't in a blue state then get to one asap

Last edited Nov 06, 2024 at 04:43PM EST

Chewybunny wrote:

Republicans win Presidency.
Republicans now hold a majority in the Senate.
Republicans now hold a majority in the House.
Supreme Court judges that are conservative and getting old can safely retire and be replaced with younger conservative judges.

But hey!
Gaza is speaking now!

House isn't decided yet.

Kenetic Kups wrote:

Now that the despair is being processed, lets try to go towards solutions
assuming we have more elections, the DNC is primarily to blame for this shit and we need to reform that, idk how though

the neoliberal order is dead. the DNC has to go SocDem or harder or it's just going to fail at the Macron gambit over and over again

pinkiespy - goat spy wrote:

the neoliberal order is dead. the DNC has to go SocDem or harder or it's just going to fail at the Macron gambit over and over again

Yep, the scary thing is though, we don't have a popular front as another option

pinkiespy - goat spy wrote:

the neoliberal order is dead. the DNC has to go SocDem or harder or it's just going to fail at the Macron gambit over and over again

that is if there is an election in the first place

No!! wrote:

The only silver lining for me is that everyone is so pessimistic right now I aint standing out for once.

Thats good.

Until people realize that the very people that have been spreading the fear mongering never believed it themselves. For 2 years now the broader left has been pushing that Trump is an existential threat to our way of life, our democracy, that he is ushering in a theological tyrannical fascism in the US. That he and his followers are the worst of the worst. And yet, the people who most promulgated this rhetoric, including VP Harris, never behaved like that was the case. If they did they would have long ago recognized that Biden is in cognitive decline and he shouldn't run for a second term, giving them an opportunity to vet a strong Democrat contender, that ushering in VP Harris, who is generally uncharismatic, 3 months before the election is going to be a tough sell, why should you believe that they sincerely believe in the doom-talk they've engaged with? For God's sake man, at least Trump fought tooth and nail for 3 months just to hold unto power despite losing court case after court case, you're saying to me that the Democrats, and Harris are more than happy to conceded the election to a quasi fascist theological tyrant on the 2nd day?

Here's the grimmest thing of all. There are a lot of people right now, yourself included, that have been sold this existential nightmare of a Trump second term. They've beat the drumbeat over and over and over again, and yet if you reflect on their behavior you'd recognize quickly that they never believed it. Rather than appeal to your economic, social, psychological anxieties they appealed to your greatest fears.

15 million less votes for Democrats since 2020. Was building a campaign on scaring people like you worth it?

@No!!

I'm going to be contrarian and push-back on your doomerism, if you don't mind. I'm not optimistic, work yesterday was depressing (and maybe I can say this because I'm across the Atlantic), but I do think there are other options than bucket of crabs style wallowing in despair:

1) Respect for democracy: End of the line, Trump won the popular vote and that is a strong mandate. The American Left can't try a January 6th and in the end, people get the government they deserve, even if it's two wolves voting to eat the sheep. Although I really do hope that Trump's USA's internal targets organize themselves to defend themselves.

If there's complaints about the democracy (whether it's media, electoral system, foreign interference and etc…) than that'll be enough drive to push for reform, even if it's desperation or by picking up the pieces. I had someone who disagreed with me about my view of regulating "big tech", and yesterday they started agreeing with me. Action begets reaction.

2) The Republicans are in power: I said my fears were about persecution, religious encroachment and all that. The banning of books, the loosening of child labour laws, the action on abortion, separation of church and state (especially in education), sabotage of action against climate change and sabotage of aid to Ukraine, all of that was already happening !The question now is if this was just a ploy to get their extremists on board, or if they'll accelerate this trend. Either way, the time of discussion on whether Project 2025 is an issue is coming to an end.

The threats of persecution, of "no more need for elections" and "political revolution"?At this point, I don't need to "prove" things anymore, it's their country.

In addition, the skills needed to get in power and be an opposition party are not the same as ruling. The contradictions in the American Right are going to have to be confronted, unless they decide to burn down their own prize and rule as an opposition party in power (which would neutralize themselves, in a way as last time their incompetence reduced their effectiveness). So, either the MAGA will need to professionalize, or Trump's administration will to marginalize them, or the situation degenerates and hope that no American Government is better. Issues like Climate Change are still not going away, and like the Coronavirus there is still a physical world which exists.

As for some of their backers, you know why Big Tech tends to pursue certain policies that are different than, say, Agriculture & Oil (and other primary producers)? It's not just because of political alignement, they need an educated base as a workforce and also need a consumer base to buy and engage in their products because even if a tech sector is nice, it's a luxury (and as Chewybunny said ready access to capital). If the Techno-authoritarians keep on sawing at the foundations of their own wealth, they'll eventually succeed and go down (although that's wishful thinking, since they might very well diversify their holdings)

3) The Democrats are out of power: The Democrats are in-fighting about who's at fault with arguments pointing at their progressive wing and others at the DNC, and everyone's blaming the apathetic. Arguments like that can be productive, however. Like the American Right, they're going to have to deal with it, learn what went wrong and synthesize, or be rightfully in exile for a long-time.

There's also something that I wasn't sure to put in Republicans or Democrats, that is some of the single issue voters. Trump has a core who are fanatical and all for him, but an outer core who will say "I don't like Trump, but…". Well, those voters are going to have to face with political realities and will have to decide how much of Trump they're willing to tolerate for their goals. Honestly, the same effect could have been done if the American Right had completely lost, the two-party dichotomy is unsustainable.

In addition, the Democrats won't be as easy to scapegoat, although if it's anything like last time and from what I heard about their talking-points the Republicans will target their own administration (which goes to the above point of burning down their own house, although we'll see if they make it more "efficient" or if they'll have to change their ideology).

4) The world is a different place: It's not 2016 anymore, the world is more fraught as the economy and political situation more fragile. The US's position is no exception, their sphere of influence in danger of dissolution and quite a few are trying to setup their own models (successfully or not). There's no safety net to encourage needless foreign conflict to please the national populace, if the US doesn't want it's position as hegemony it will readily start to lose it (and maybe that's what they prefer).

Although, I wonder if even their current leaders understand what that means (finances, security etc…)? Being in the position they are, it's not something which will handle itself, the current US administration said it'll use "might" to enforce their position, but what do they mean, war is the continuation of politics? Promises of protection which rely on trustworthiness which is tattered? Threatening their own "allies", and see how Russia's influence has waned as an example (and will continue to wane no matter what)? End of the day, viciousness can be self-defeating.

I was also worried about political meddling, but if their prior track record is anything to go by, they can sabotage, but they can't actually build up a candidate (their endorsements are mostly political poison in Europe, at least). The EU and Japan have signed a security deal, so we'll have to see how everyone else learns to deal with themselves in the event that the US is MIA or even hostile (considering past history, and isn't that damning that I don't consider a working relationship likely).


All in all, the previous situation was not sustainable, one hopes that the worst case scenarios won't occur, so there's something to learn from this.

@Chewybunny

Just the man I wanted to see and talk to !

Okay, I had a question on what's the plan for Ukraine? It's not just a case of personal preferences, Moscow met Hamas and I suspect Hamas caused chaos at their urging. The alliance of Russia and Iran are going to remain a problem, I personally don't see how one can deal with one without the other.

No accusations, or fearmongering as you said, we're past that now. For better or worse, we're not talking in the theoretical anymore, but current rhetoric is "immediate end of war" which was not only hyperbole when it was about ISIS, but also worrying. What else is one supposed to expect, but now it's not Biden's problem for long, it'll be Trump's.

Now that the American Right is in the driver's seat, what's the exact plan in your opinion?

EDIT: The EU could also learn to handle Russia in Ukraine by themselves, they should be able to and going by my previous post of "learning" that should be an acceptable answer. There's no excuse for why a country like Russia should be free to invade with as little push-back as they are now by the rest of the continent.

Hell, if they even continue aid or even force an actual settlement that isn't just giving Russia a way to continue future conquests, I'll reconsider.

Last edited Nov 07, 2024 at 06:00AM EST
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Chewybunny wrote:

Until people realize that the very people that have been spreading the fear mongering never believed it themselves. For 2 years now the broader left has been pushing that Trump is an existential threat to our way of life, our democracy, that he is ushering in a theological tyrannical fascism in the US. That he and his followers are the worst of the worst. And yet, the people who most promulgated this rhetoric, including VP Harris, never behaved like that was the case. If they did they would have long ago recognized that Biden is in cognitive decline and he shouldn't run for a second term, giving them an opportunity to vet a strong Democrat contender, that ushering in VP Harris, who is generally uncharismatic, 3 months before the election is going to be a tough sell, why should you believe that they sincerely believe in the doom-talk they've engaged with? For God's sake man, at least Trump fought tooth and nail for 3 months just to hold unto power despite losing court case after court case, you're saying to me that the Democrats, and Harris are more than happy to conceded the election to a quasi fascist theological tyrant on the 2nd day?

Here's the grimmest thing of all. There are a lot of people right now, yourself included, that have been sold this existential nightmare of a Trump second term. They've beat the drumbeat over and over and over again, and yet if you reflect on their behavior you'd recognize quickly that they never believed it. Rather than appeal to your economic, social, psychological anxieties they appealed to your greatest fears.

15 million less votes for Democrats since 2020. Was building a campaign on scaring people like you worth it?

We the people are under threat from project 2025, not harris, not biden, us
the 1% will sit in their mansions either way

Was Harris too moderate or too progressive? I keep seeing people say one of these two reasons explaining why she lost. The answer could be a mix of both for all I know, but it genuinely has me confused.

Eris wrote:

Was Harris too moderate or too progressive? I keep seeing people say one of these two reasons explaining why she lost. The answer could be a mix of both for all I know, but it genuinely has me confused.

Harris lost unfortunately, and victory has many parents while loss is an orphan. That' the vicious side of politics.

I think it's a mix, maybe more on the moderate side, but that depends on personal bias. Personally, I liked Tim Waltz (feeding children, former teacher & soldier and I liked his policies especially on environment), but he and everyone and everything else is being debated on what went wrong.

Well regardless, here are my 2 biggest takeaway from this election:

1) This was a uniquely bad loss for the Democratic Party, so bad that it will be studied and talked about in schools for decades to come. And I hope the loss is so bad that it acts as a wake-up call form to look at themselves in the mirror to figure out what has to be changed within the party to ever have hope of winning the office ever again (namely to pass the touch to the new generation and to stop shoehorning unpopular establishment politicians).

2) Talks of ideologies, democracy, fascism, and tyranny (among others) mean absolutely nothing to people who are struggling to make ends meet and/or just survive.

Yes for 1. Maybe for 2, I remember in 2016 how many said it was for "economic reasons", than suddenly didn't give a damn during the trade wars, with Trump supporters "happy to take a loss" in a way to "win". Many wasted small fortunes in cards, sneakers, bibles and more after all.

Than again, maybe the "silent majority " cared enough because of the trade wars started ebbing when they got hit by retaliation.

If history repeats, one can't forget how things went last time.

I am surprised to see North Koreans finding out about pornography. My apologies for breaking the promise not to visit this til the day I finish writing the test.
I was curious what was trending.

Chewybunny wrote:

Until people realize that the very people that have been spreading the fear mongering never believed it themselves. For 2 years now the broader left has been pushing that Trump is an existential threat to our way of life, our democracy, that he is ushering in a theological tyrannical fascism in the US. That he and his followers are the worst of the worst. And yet, the people who most promulgated this rhetoric, including VP Harris, never behaved like that was the case. If they did they would have long ago recognized that Biden is in cognitive decline and he shouldn't run for a second term, giving them an opportunity to vet a strong Democrat contender, that ushering in VP Harris, who is generally uncharismatic, 3 months before the election is going to be a tough sell, why should you believe that they sincerely believe in the doom-talk they've engaged with? For God's sake man, at least Trump fought tooth and nail for 3 months just to hold unto power despite losing court case after court case, you're saying to me that the Democrats, and Harris are more than happy to conceded the election to a quasi fascist theological tyrant on the 2nd day?

Here's the grimmest thing of all. There are a lot of people right now, yourself included, that have been sold this existential nightmare of a Trump second term. They've beat the drumbeat over and over and over again, and yet if you reflect on their behavior you'd recognize quickly that they never believed it. Rather than appeal to your economic, social, psychological anxieties they appealed to your greatest fears.

15 million less votes for Democrats since 2020. Was building a campaign on scaring people like you worth it?

I'm wondering, where do you see the Democratic party going forward? Do you think this loss will be a wake up call for them or will they keep putting in more of the same establishment candidates? People like Biden and Harris had no appeal besides not being Trump, someone like Obama had wider appeal.
It's fair to say that Trump definitely presented a huge shift for the GOP and without him they would be barely different from the Canadian conservatives or the British Tories now. Even when Trump is gone, his impact will live on.

Project 2025 is the most cucked shit I have ever seen. One of rules is that you will be arrested for mildly criticising Israel like that time they blew up a hospital full of captured Israelites.
Those Republicans shilling that project should go back to sitting at their cuck chair.

Gilan wrote:

@Chewybunny

Just the man I wanted to see and talk to !

Okay, I had a question on what's the plan for Ukraine? It's not just a case of personal preferences, Moscow met Hamas and I suspect Hamas caused chaos at their urging. The alliance of Russia and Iran are going to remain a problem, I personally don't see how one can deal with one without the other.

No accusations, or fearmongering as you said, we're past that now. For better or worse, we're not talking in the theoretical anymore, but current rhetoric is "immediate end of war" which was not only hyperbole when it was about ISIS, but also worrying. What else is one supposed to expect, but now it's not Biden's problem for long, it'll be Trump's.

Now that the American Right is in the driver's seat, what's the exact plan in your opinion?

EDIT: The EU could also learn to handle Russia in Ukraine by themselves, they should be able to and going by my previous post of "learning" that should be an acceptable answer. There's no excuse for why a country like Russia should be free to invade with as little push-back as they are now by the rest of the continent.

Hell, if they even continue aid or even force an actual settlement that isn't just giving Russia a way to continue future conquests, I'll reconsider.

First, for the most part its my impression that Presidential candidates only know as much as they are allowed to know and when you take over the Oval Office that's when you are told things you never knew. This is why it's very rare for there to be major radical 180 on foreign policy – it takes time to exit out of something the previous administration did. Hence why Biden kept most of Trump's foreign policy changes intact with minor attempts at changing them. In this case we have a former President who knew as much as he did until January of 2021, and a VP who knows as much as a VP is allowed to know regarding foreign policy.

In this case, we already have a report that Zelensky already called and talked with Trump and that it went excellently. There is rumor now in that article that what Trump proposes is a 20 year delay in joining NATO, a freeze to the war, and US continuing to pour weapons into Ukraine. Whether Putin agrees to this I do not know, as this would be a bigger win for Ukraine than it is for Putin.

I was thinking back on the last 2 nearly 3 years since the war in Ukraine began. I would often state that the gradual drop of support for Ukraine began to drop when it was viewed as a potential major geopolitical win for the Biden administration. As such they began to become hostile to the Ukrainians because the Democrats and the Left was largely so supportive. They never really cared too deeply about the conflict or it's ramifications – it served a near term political end. But then Israel/Palestine happened which began to draw away attention to Ukraine. And then Biden drops out, and it's Kamala Harris, and the conflict isn't nearly as tied down to her as it was for Biden. So I was doing some thinking and now I have to ask, during the last 3 months how often did either candidate, Trump or Harris, even talk about Ukraine? I just think the issue is no longer as strongly felt for the Republicans as it once did. In the end, it is always about economic anxiety (immigration and war tends to intersect nicely with this). This is just to say that the right will go along with whatever Trump proposes – or supports, even if it is Ukraine. Yes. It's hypocrisy.

At the end of the day Trump has more in common with Zelensky than he does with Putin.
If what is written down is true: continued arms supplies to Ukraine (probably sold), a 20 year delay in joining NATO, and a conflict freeze on the front lines, it would be an incredible win for Zelensky, barely something Putin can bring home.

Here's the truth. The war now looks like WW1 trench warfare. Battle lines are slowly changing (which is boring af for news media and American attention spans). Yes, the Ukranians are taking massive pummeling, and are dying by the truck loads. Yes, Russia clearly has the demographic advantage on paper. But the reality is that Ukranians are dying to defend something, Russians are throwing non-ethnic Russian into a meat grinder to such disastrous levels they had to rely on prisoners to fill the ranks…and when they ran out of that, they are now actively employing North Korean soldiers to fight for them. Ukraine cannot keep this war going on it's own, and if the US pulls out it would mean the Europeans need to push in harder…yet I am keenly aware that the support for Ukraine isn't as universal as we'd think in Europe especially as the economic toll hits them too (cheap Ukranian grain undermines local farmers, refugees, wasted resources on foreign conflicts during times of economic anxiety). Russia cannot keep the war going as well and it's become attricious. A total loss would be existential not just for Putin but for Russia as a whole. More and more of the war's impact is going to hit Moscow which is going to start a terrible cycle in Russian history. Nobody wants that, especially the US. Each person wants to get out of this war while maintaining power and a sense of victory.

For Ukraine, recognizing that the borders officially have not changed, but frozen, is a win. Because that can be negotiated later, by blade or by pen. A 20 year delay in joining NATO, that's fine, it was in no position in doing so anyway, and it would take at least 5 years to meet the requirements. Besides, Finland and Sweden joined NATO and that was already massive loss for Putin's rhetoric regarding NATO expansion. They can use these 20 years to integrate more with the EU, arm themselves, rebuild their nuclear program (already started, by the way), while giving the Europeans a chance to also start taking charge of their backyard more. For Putin it means that he can guarantee the survival of Crimea as part of Russia, and claim to have liberated the Russian parts of Ukraine, the war would end, many sanctions lifted, and he can come back with some semblance of a victory. Yes, millions of casualties, cementing Ukranian nationalism and identity, setting Russia back 50 years demographically, and embarrassing itself in front of the rest of the Asian powers like China, yes NATO expanded and now the Baltic is a NATO lake. But hey we kept Crimea, and even liberated Russians bring oppressed in Ukraine.
Zelensky and Putin need an honorable exit ramp that they can sell to their people. Trump needs legitimacy. A lot of motivations for making something happen. We'll see. I remain cautiously optimistic, as always.

Hey I know it's very easy to fall into the cycle of doom and gloom, but don't give up.

Yeah, the news ain't good and it's gonna really fucking suck that we're stuck with this knucklehead for four years.

But giving up isn't it. Keep moving forward.

And No!!, I swear to God, if you go in another doomer spiral, I will kimchi slap you.

Take care everyone, be safe. 🫂

Last edited Nov 07, 2024 at 05:54PM EST

VeteranAdventureHobo wrote:

There's a trend that's started of men posting your body, my choice memes apparently, I haven't seen much of it since thankfully my algorithm doesn't show me rape jokes, but if that gains traction, oof

The one case I've seen of that is from that asshole Nick Fuentes. And also some similar shit posted by Andrew Tate. Between that and the whole 4B bullshit, constant drama involving gender relations is gonna be tiresome.

GeneHunt wrote:

I'm wondering, where do you see the Democratic party going forward? Do you think this loss will be a wake up call for them or will they keep putting in more of the same establishment candidates? People like Biden and Harris had no appeal besides not being Trump, someone like Obama had wider appeal.
It's fair to say that Trump definitely presented a huge shift for the GOP and without him they would be barely different from the Canadian conservatives or the British Tories now. Even when Trump is gone, his impact will live on.

If 2016 wasn't a wakeup call for Democrats, and neither was the dire warnings out of some of the Democrats in 2020, I doubt this would be as big as one either. The fundamental problem with the Democrats is the culture within, and the re-aligning of various broad factions in the US. Every single time they lost or come close to losing they will have all their pundits talk about the blatantly obvious: the Democrats aren't paying attention to the working class. Here is an example from the Atlantic just from 2 years ago. Poignantly said in the above article: "[2022], Democrats have chosen to run a campaign focused on three things: abortion rights, gun control, and safeguarding democracy--issues with strong appeal to socially liberal, college-educated voters. But these issues have much less appeal to working-class voters. They are instead focused on the economy, inflation, and crime, and they are skeptical of the Democratic Party’s performance in all three realms."

You can also find this didn't change much because the democrats made minor gains in 2022 midterms. Here is a chart from the Pew Poll about the radically divergent priorities Harris supporters and Trum supporters have taken in September of this year:

81% of all people polled said the economy is very important issue for them. 93% for those that are Trump supporters, but 68% of Harris supporters thought it was very important. You can see the clear divergence in priorities. You can also see what became very important across the board:

Effectively across Republicans, Independents, and Democrats concern about immigration and economy went up from 2020 to 2024, and abortion jumped in 2022 but since has across the board lowering, although higher than it was in 2020. Economy and immigration have been the Democrat's biggest weaknesses this election.

But you can see based on what priorities Harris supporters have it demonstrates the kind of Democrat Party culture is today one that it is dominated by higher-education urbanites, across a wide variety of factions that are all based around higher education and credentialism: academia, journalism, professional-managerial class, social justice activists, global-capitalists, bureaucrats, etc.

You see it manifested. A modern Democrat activist or influential would rather read to you a recent study done by such-and-such think-tank about the state of the economy, than actually talk to the local dock worker, or the guy working at the gravel pit, or the guy who lost his steel mill job because neo-liberal policies have made it just cheaper to import steel from abroad. You can see this reflected in the tons of articles that came out late 2023 to early 2024, lamenting how economists can't understand why consumer confidence is low.

They would rather mystify themselves with imaginative ideas of an ideological and authoritarian take over straight out of some sci fi or fantasy fiction (Star Wars, Handmaiden's Tale, etc) than ever try to understand why a someone who's struggling in a smaller town that they can't afford to leave and doesn't particularly give a damn about your mystifying fears over the state of democracy and how the rest of the world sees you.

And because this culture relies so heavily on higher-education and credentialism, i.e. statistics after statics, paper after paper, expert after expert, they will always form the establishment that is technocratic, and out of touch with the majority of the country. And when questioned about it they will simply point to the credentials: after all who is a consumer compared to an economist?

Until this culture is tackled, and they get over their collective hubris nothing will change. Either they own what they are and stop pretending, they try to recapture a lot of the factions they lost, or they become increasingly irrelevant. Either way, it is also clear that the Republican party of 2024 is certainly not the one of 2004, or even of 2014. And a vast swathe of American left has yet to accept that.

Last edited Nov 07, 2024 at 09:10PM EST

FatmanAss wrote:

https://x.com/PopBase/status/1854276071530631559

i promise i won't bother this site tomorrow because this shit hit so bad.
Bernie here is right. DNC rejected workers for nothing.

Bernie has always been right

Here's the truth. The war now looks like WW1 trench warfare. Battle lines are slowly changing (which is boring af for news media and American attention spans)

It actually isn't. Things have deteriorated massively for the Ukrainian side, to the point they're losing multiple towns per day. For instance, the ratio of artillery fire varies depending on your source, but even the incredibly optimistic Ukrainian media estimates put it somewhere between 1:2 or 1:3 in Russia's favor. Russia still has its fleet of Su-34 raining FAB UMPK bombs on Ukraine position every day and Geran drones fly with near impunity over Ukraine cities. Vuhledar, the town that withstood multiple assaults for years, fell recently in weeks. The war is still very much attritional, but the Russians are accelerating the pace in multiple fronts. Even the New York Times admits it's no longer a stalemate.

The biggest problem Ukraine faces aren't weapons shortages, but manpower. Case in point, quoting the article, "The Pentagon assesses that Ukraine has enough soldiers to fight for six to 12 more months, one official said. After that, he said, it will face a steep shortage.". There's even rumors that they're sending drone operators, aircraft technicians and other personnel to man the trenches, but take that with a grain of salt. But in any case, Trump promising to keep "pouring weapons" doesn't solve the main issue.

But the reality is that Ukranians are dying to defend something, Russians are throwing non-ethnic Russian into a meat grinder to such disastrous levels they had to rely on prisoners to fill the ranks…and when they ran out of that, they are now actively employing North Korean soldiers to fight for them.

Just a reminder, Ukraine is also mobilizing prisoners to fill the ranks

And for all the stories about North Koreans, with bizarre stories about how they became addicted to porn and importing dog meat, I still haven't seen a single piece of irrefutable proof that there's North Korean soldiers in Ukraine. It's always fake photoshopped images, grainy satellite images, photos of soldiers in training "somewhere in Russia", but still nothing in the battlefield. And the source is always the Ukrainian intelligence services, a.k.a. "trust me bro". I'm not saying it isn't true, but well, no real evidence to back it up.

A 20 year delay in joining NATO, that's fine, it was in no position in doing so anyway, and it would take at least 5 years to meet the requirements. Besides, Finland and Sweden joined NATO and that was already massive loss for Putin's rhetoric regarding NATO expansion. They can use these 20 years to integrate more with the EU, arm themselves, rebuild their nuclear program (already started, by the way),

Which means Russia has all the incentives it needs to reject the peace deal and keep the war going, especially if they consider it an existential threat (like having a nuclear power with a grudge on their back yard). Pouring more fuel to the fire means it will burn out quicker, but at a much bloodier cost. While undoubtedly costly for Russia, Ukraine has much more to lose.

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