None of what I’m going to say is excuse-making; I think the left in the US isn’t where it should be. But that said, there are some significant conditions that should be accounted for.

I am in my early 40s, so my political consciousness began in the mid/late 90s. I can say from that point until the GFC and Occupy Wall Street, class consciousness was at absolute zero and the left was totally dead. The orgs that existed were tiny. The ingrained anti-communism of Americans runs very deep.

I actually think Occupy was more impactful than Bernie, but only because it actually started a tiny spark of class consciousness with discussion of the “1%” and the “99%”. Just the idea that there was a small group of rich people and then the large majority who aren’t rich, and don’t have the same interests, was a totally new concept to Americans.

We are also hampered by this dead left from the 90s and 00s is that we have no orgs and people with deep history and knowledge. Even a place like the UK has a lot of boomer Trots with some questionable social policy ideas. We here are all people who just started to put it all together either post-Bernie or post-pandemic.

That said, I am very bullish on where PSL is going. I think they do org building the right way and are having success. Again, not where we should be but I do think things are starting to connect.

I can’t get the video to play but I am assuming this is where Mamdani say “Israel has a right to exist… as a state with equal rights”.

That is unambiguously if perhaps using softer language, an endorsement of the one state solution. Some here might disagree but I have no problem with using very specific language when talking with normies who have little to no knowledge of the situation in Palestine. I do it all the time IRL with my boomer parents. I’ve brought them around to the one state solution over time, but to do that I had to walk them through it slowly and avoid terms or language where it would scare them away because they are profoundly ignorant. Yes, you educate and raise up the masses but that doesn’t mean you just toss them in the deep end. To a general audience watching a mayoral debate, saying “death to Israel”, though correct, only closes doors. Framing it first as an issue of equal rights will actually cause people to let their guard down and listen to you. I believe Mamdani’s approach is correct here.

I don’t recall him ever saying Israel has a right to exist. I do recall him articulating the one-state position, though.

For most people, working hard academically to get into top universities becomes your only shot at transforming your material conditions.

I know I’m pointing out something very obvious here and that the solution isn’t so easy, but it strikes me that the solution here is to make class mobility or other improvement in material conditions possible outside of this system. Trying to just stamp it out seems like it would be very ineffective.

Notice that all these offers of recognizing a Palestinian state (which I should point out, should not even be up for debate since the State of Palestine was created with Israel by the UN in 1948) all include “if Hamas disarms”. This is a non-starter, it’s basically them dangling a little carrot to accept Israel’s “offer”. If Hamas disarms then it’s likely the entire population of Gaza will be removed at best, and murdered down to the last child at worst. Also, recognition is nice but isn’t worth much. Israel and the US don’t give a single care if the entire world recognizes a Palestinian state, they still won’t. It’s exactly what they do with the blockade of Cuba. The whole world tells them to stop, and the US just gives the world the finger.

I think images of starving kids make these politicians feel a little heat. So they are making an offer they know Hamas cannot and will not accept to save face.

And regarding annexation… the situation of who holds what is quite murky right now. Maps say one thing, but I don’t think the IOF is much able to hold on to anywhere close to that much ground. And meaningful annexation i.e. bringing in settlers… that is not possible. Not without a lot of dead settlers. Israel abandoned Gaza for a reason. I don’t see how Israel could do anything more than an annexation on paper than denies use of some land to Gazans but functionally doesn’t allow Israel any more than that (though admittedly, that is still quite bad as it would pack more Gazans into a smaller area). I also get the impression the Israeli military is really looking for a way out of this, I cannot see how they would think maintain a partial annexation would be viable long term.

To be clear, I am not disagreeing with anything you are saying, just offering a different perspective.

You know what the US also gave Fallujah in addition to that aid, EliSSa? The highest rates of birth defects in the world, on account of all the depleted uranium rounds used on the people there.

This woman is definitely going to run for president and do so on nothing but Kamala’s “most lethal military in the world” comment and football metaphors.

Exactly. The only thing Macron was offering (presumably Starmer too) was to dangle the possibility of recognizing a Palestinian state (not that France or the UK can actually make that a reality nor will apply any pressure to do so) IF the Resistance accepts all of Israel’s terms, which amount to total capitulation and disarmament, leaving Gaza totally defenseless.

I’ve never read any of the books in Game of Thrones. But I have read Stephen King’s Dark Tower series. It’s 7 books written between roughly 1978 and 2004. First four books are great, written between 1978 and 1997. Importantly though, he only wrote those 4 books when he had the inspiration. But the 4th book was more of a flashback that didn’t really advance the story (book 3 was written in 1991, I think). So, much like Martin, fans were constantly asking King to finish the story.

And he did. He wrote books 5-7 right after each other around 2004. And you know what, it’s my opinion and not everyone agrees… but those books suck (5 is ok I guess). Not only that, but the very end of the series was written as an explicit “fuck you” to all his fans who wanted him to finish it (he said in the epilogue about how some people think sex is all about an organism and not everything before).

So he wrote when he didn’t have any inspiration for the story just to please his fans. Maybe Martin’s just lazy, sure. But I suspect he has no idea how to end it and if he tries now thr end product will be garbage.

All things serve the beam.

I am watching Chris Kuntzler’s live stream so I don’t have the specific source, but in the Knesset today there was non-binding resolution that was passed, with 71 of the 120 votes in favor, calling for Israel to fully annex the West Bank.

I like he says factual things but leaves the implication of “well of the kids are wrong because they are young and not wise and smart like us”; as if everyone didn’t know that boomer brains are fried and the entire public support for Israel has been built on lies over the decades.

Go ahead fuckface, what exactly did Mamdani get wrong that you would have “debunked”.

Edit: actually, his comment about “being pro-Palestine isn’t incompatible with being anti-Israel” is wrong. The under-40 pro-Palestine Jewish people I know all uniformly anti-Israel.

Did those who advocate for abolition of slavery have intensely detailed plans for how an economy would function post-slavery, complete with successful examples of societies that built some other economic system after slavery?

Marx and Engels spoke just enough about future socialism to provide the framework. They didn’t fill in the details because that is not possible, there is no one-size-fits all blue print for socialism. Each time and place has its own specific context that must be accounted for. Ignore that and you will likely fail.

Also, Marx and Engels whole point was to describe the history of all hitherto society, and how class struggle defines that history. To try and authoritatively say “this is the precise next step” would be undialectical and anathema to their entire approach.

I’m speculating but… Israelis don’t actually like American Christian Zionists. They put on a face and act the part but they at best grit their teeth and tolerate them, if not outright despise them.

It’s my opinion that American Christian Zionism is actually not important at all to the existence of Israel. Meaning, evangelicals could stop supporting Israel today and you’d still get 98% of congress to overfund their genocide. Israel serves a critical purpose for American hegemony and international capital; the evangelical support just provides a cover, it’s not strictly necessary.

What the Israelis have learned over the last 21 months is that nothing matters. It doesn’t which party is in power, it doesn’t matter how evil they act, they will get their support from the West. So fuck it, why do they need these evangelical losers. They can tell the evangelicals to pound sand and it will change nothing, so why not keep those nutjobs out of the country.

Pre-Oct 7 it was around $3 billion per year, but probably higher in this bill.

I don’t even think this stripped all funding, or even a majority of it. Just reducing it by $500 million.

Yes. Honestly there’s still quite a few good leftist subs with a lot of activity (like TrueAnon, TheDeprogram, ShitLiberalsSay, Hasan’s sub) and others that are also really good for more “highbrow” discussion but a lot less activity (Marxism, InformedTankie).

I don’t really get the idea of staying off Reddit, but then again I’ve never really engaged in arguments with liberals on there, so I guess I’ve had a much better experience.

It’s incredible how much software has migrated to browsers. I work in an industry and job that, 10-15 years ago, I would have needed a whole bunch of programs installed. Now I could essentially do my entire job from any computer since everything I work in is either browser-based or could be browser-based if needed (the Office suite)

If this helps… I just set up Linux Mint on my parents computer. They were unsure about it at first. Then I told them, with all sincerity, they will probably find this easier to use than Windows 11 just from the simplicity aspect.

Yeah I recommend against dual booting. I did it, and I still have my Windows partition because I’ve found it’s not all that easy to remove a partition safely.

I’m an American, so probably the #1 reason I’m here is to get news from other places around the world. It doesn’t even have to be major news like this.