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- Biden attempted to forgive half a trillion dollars in student loans, and the Supreme Court told him no. He's still managed to do about $150 billion on his own. In what sense are you saying he's driving the knife in?
- Biden is holding up military aid for Israel right now. Too little too fucking late, in my opinion, but you are aware that that's happening, right? That the leader who is actively killing Palestinians is a whole different world leader on a whole different side of the planet?
- There's a whole conversation to be had about 40% reduction in CO2 emissions by 2030; that may be opening up a significant additional topic. But you brought up oil production.
That's not even the main point. You said elsewhere:
- You'd "have to" support Israel, even if they were genociding Palestinians just like they are today, if they weren't on the same side as the US, because you support all enemies of the US uncritically.
- "There is a discrepancy" between you wanting to drive the US as quickly as possible to its destruction, and being deeply concerned about Biden's strategy and offering critique to what he's doing (supposedly, ultimately, to help him win the election.)
I don't know man. I think you wanna think through that discrepancy at some length. I'm pretty doubtful that you're sincere about what you're saying. Sorry.
If you actually are an American and this is actually what you believe, then you should know that I carry the same absurd hope that you're talking about that the US can do better things. If you want better outcomes for the people inside the United States and less evil done in its name on the world stage, I think there are actually some good ways you can work towards that outcome.
Biden attempted to forgive half a trillion dollars in student loans,
He restarted loan repayments. Every dollar paid on every loan he didn't forgive is the knife going deeper.
You’d “have to” support Israel, even if they were genociding Palestinians just like they are today
No no no, I'd have to support the US against Israel. My fault, "I'd have to support it" was ambiguous, it could have been referring to the US's opposition to Israel or Israel.
He restarted loan repayments
No he didn't. The relevant quote is, "But this time is different. The debt ceiling bill’s statutory language will tie Biden’s hands. Barring a new national emergency, he will no longer have the statutory authority to extend the current student loan pause."
The thing that actually was in his power to do -- forgive balances -- he did. And, when other parts of the federal government cancelled his order to do a massive forgiveness, he did smaller forgiveness packages that added up to around $150 billion so far.
No no no, I'd have to support the US against Israel. My fault, "I'd have to support it" was ambiguous, it could have been referring to the US's opposition to Israel or Israel.
Got it. Makes sense. So what made you change your mind? What's different about Israel if they were an enemy of the US that would make you not support them (in a way that you would some other small middle-eastern country that was an enemy of the US)?
So what made you change your mind?
I didn't, the "oppose the US and you'll be on the right side" heuristic only describes the end result, the core is still anti-imperialism. That is a weird scenario where the US is incidentally opposing its own imperialism.
Same with the US opposition to ISIS after they supplied them with weapons and trucks and personnel they trained and radicalized to fight Assad.
Same with the US opposition to Nazi Germany after they supplied them with materials and weapons to crush the communist at home and in hope they'd go after the USSR.
I didn't, the "oppose the US and you'll be on the right side" heuristic only describes the end result, the core is still anti-imperialism
Interesting
Who do you support in the Ukraine war? Who would you support if the Chinese military invaded Taiwan?
Same with the US opposition to Nazi Germany after they supplied them with materials and weapons to crush the communist at home and in hope they'd go after the USSR.
The US government is made of many, many parts and conflicting goals and interests. The actions on student loan forgiveness are one small example, but the same applies even to big actions like what to do with Nazi Germany.
If there was a faction of the US government that was opposing Nazi Germany the whole time, and a faction of it that was supporting the Nazis even during part of the shooting war, is it fair to say you'd support the faction that was fighting the Nazis and oppose the faction that was supporting the Nazis? Or would you assert that the faction that was opposing the Nazis the whole time didn't exist or things didn't happen that way?
Who do you support in the Ukraine war? Who would you support if the Chinese military invaded Taiwan?
Re: Ukraine, I oppose the US's actions. More specifically, I support peace at any cost; every day the war goes on, and every bomb we send there, is a bad day for someone, statistically mostly women and children. The region will never be safe again in our lifetimes. Literally anything would be better than what we're seeing now. I have significant criticisms of Russia, but right now they would only serve to support more needless deaths.
Re: China. Assuming eventual, peaceful reunification was off the table due to US machinations and not invading meant a hostile state being used to launch hostile actions within PRC, I'd have to support it. The alternative is another Ukraine.
If there was a faction of the US government that was opposing Nazi Germany the whole time, and a faction of it that was supporting the Nazis even during part of the shooting war, is it fair to say you’d support the faction that was fighting the Nazis and oppose the faction that was supporting the Nazis?
This is correct. We're getting into weird hypotheticals and counter-factuals. I'm more comfortable with things that actually happened.
There were Americans who opposed the nazis before 1941. During the mccarthy era, they were smeared as "preeminent anti-fascists" meaning "these people weren't opposed to the nazis when we thought they were the answer to communism, that must mean they're secret communists".
Such a world where they were strongly influential, America might have taken different actions that had different results for the people living there and the heuristic wouldn't work so well. But we don't, and it does.
Have you read any Gerald Horne? The Counter Revolution of 1776 and The Counter Revolution of 1860 do a good job of showing how it's baked into the US's DNA.
every day the war goes on, and every bomb we send there, is a bad day for someone, statistically mostly women and children
not invading meant a hostile state being used to launch hostile actions within PRC, I'd have to support it
Fascinating
There were Americans who opposed the nazis before 1941. During the mccarthy era, they were smeared as "preeminent anti-fascists" meaning "these people weren't opposed to the nazis when we thought they were the answer to communism, that must mean they're secret communists".
Very fascinating. Can you give me some examples of some of these people? I know people in my family who were against the Nazis have all these stories about how they were shunned by their neighbors, harassed, all these bad things had happened to them, because they were against the Nazis too early. Anyone with a native understanding of US history is real familiar with it.
You can just ask questions if something doesn't make sense, I'm happy to fill in any gaps. The RoC was secured on Taiwan by the US toward the end of the civil war for the purpose of future regime change and very explicitly used for this purpose until Nixon. We're talking about a country that dropped a bunch of lamas into Tibet in the 50s to restore their theocratic slave regime and supported terrorists in Xinjiang.
That's pretty standard when you look at the way the US enacts regime change.
It's late and I'm tired, I can search some examples from the HUAC or w/e where pre-1941 opposition of nazi germany gets smeared as pro-communism another time.
It's late and I'm tired, I can search some examples from the HUAC or w/e of pre-1941 opposition of nazi germany gets smeared as pro-communism another time.
I'll be waiting eagerly for you to enlighten me