Greenleaf [he/him] @ Greenleaf @hexbear.net

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Joined

2 yr. ago

Even before the electoral cycle started, they’ve been going after Bush hard on some trumped up accusations of misuse of campaign funds or something like that. Not unlike what AOC had to deal with briefly - I’m guessing she made some sort of deal with the DNC that Bush didn’t.

The reality is that the DNC is not omnipotent, and they had no ability to pull Biden out unless he agreed to it. Like, there isn’t a mechanism for them to do that. If they tried to run a separate candidate that would just split the party. That debate was the perfect gift, because it galvanized the party against Biden. And Biden only left the race when he saw he had no support at all in the party (outside of AOC, lol)

wow the dems actually manouvered

As someone who is saying this, I should point out I am not voting for Harris. But it is objectively true that the DNC recently has been making decisions that will boost their chances of winning, which is abnormal for them to say the least. Putting Biden out to pasture was smart - and you saw it immediately in poll results. Picking Walz was smart, because as well all know a lot of these populist policies like free school lunches are popular. It’s just surprising to see is all.

The DNC has to constantly balance the interests of their donors with the interests of their voting base, which are totally at odds. I do not believe that democrats “want to lose”. Dem politicians of course prioritize donors over their voters but only to the extent they can still win. Or at least that’s what they do when they want to win. I think they saw how bad the odds were against Trump, and also they know the party is on track to do pretty well in state and local races, but Biden was so unpopular that he was fucking that up. So get rid of Biden and make a nominal, not really all that impactful nod to your base with a guy like Walz and now look at where polling is, I think Harris is now the favorite over Trump.

2020 was different. They dems had a pretty good sense that they’d win no matter who they put up there, so of course they went with the most reactionary and donor-friendly choice out of a field of 20+ candidates.

I have more than one person in my life who are single issue voters, and their issue is “taxes”. They see the government spending money and they think that is money being stolen out of their pocket. They will feign a bit of anger of how much the government spends on the military but when you talk about infrastructure or anything else that helps people, that’s what gets their blood boiling. It’s ultimately rooted in hatred of the poor, who they see as “freeloading” off “their” money. It’s not rational but it’s how a lot of Americans see the world.

You will be hard pressed to find anyone here now or through November who is voting for Harris. Four years ago, there were very very few people here who were going to vote for Biden (this is a hill I will die on - people remember a couple random libs who might of waltzed in here but since day one at a minimum >95% of our users are anti-electoralism. We should always practice self-crit but supporting electoralism has never been a problem here).

But whatever, the presidential election is a big deal objectively and I have never been able to shake my interest in politics as a sport. Right now I’m genuinely a little surprised that the DNC has actually displayed a modicum of competence over the last 6 weeks or so. Interesting to see is all, doesn’t mean I’m voting for them. Equally surprised at how awful the Trump campaign has been in that same timeframe.

Not quite. They are going after him for putting tampons in men’s restrooms. I assume this would be for trans men if it’s even true, which is cool and good ofc but they’re not attacking it as a “government handout”, they’re attacking it as a transphobia thing.

Because there’s a misconception about what BDS laws usually are. You as a consumer can boycott Israel. You can call for others to boycott Israel and do so as a group. You can own a business and refuse to buy things from Israel. And even the most reactionary court will take your side if a law was passed that did otherwise.

What most BDS laws do is to say if you are a government entity or do any business with the government, you cannot formally boycott Israeli products. Functionally this prevents a lot of businesses from boycotting Israel and critically, state universities too.

Yeah I think I’m remembering the meme more than the actual show

What was that TV show Chavez had? Where he would like, appropriate capitalists’ property live on TV? Just like that, baby.

I have a longer comment about this in this thread, but personally I’m just glad to see the Zionist Shapiro eat shit. Of course I’m not saying the Democratic Party is now embracing Palestinian liberation, but it looks like winds are changing - not in principles, but in messaging. It’s starting to look to me that the DNC might actually be a bit afraid of the pro-Palestine movement, or at least recognize how deeply unpopular actions from recent months have been. Worth keeping an eye on is all.

Is it just me, or if Walz cut his hair a lot closer he would sorta resemble

When Biden was the candidate, I did not want him to win. Because if he did win, what that would signal is that you can openly commit a genocide and not pay a price for it. The movement for the liberation of Palestine in the US would not only lose the gains that have been made, but we would actually probably be rendered completely irrelevant for the next decade plus. The movement would be decimated.

But everything I have seen over the last ~6 weeks has shown me that the pro-Palestine movement has the Democrats and AIPAC scared. We are on the offensive. I don’t believe Biden’s dementia is what did him in. I think his pushing for genocide against the wishes of his base eroded his support with that base, and that’s why no one was there to stand up for him in the end.

You know AIPAC fully pushed for Shapiro. Because AIPAC, as an extension of the Zionist entity itself, is just as incapable of reading the room as the Zionist entity. Maximal support for Israel is demanded by them, no matter the cost. Support Israel even if costs you electorally. AIPAC needed to show who was in charge here, and they didn’t get their way. Now it could have been that Harris wanted Shapiro but the baggage got to be too much. But the reason itself doesn’t matter, what matters is that the public and democrat politicians saw that the Zionist guy got snubbed.

Which is why I want to see how Harris ends up campaigning on Gaza. If she ends up saying all the right things, while obviously I would want her to follow through… even if she doesn’t follow through but still wins, that’s a big win for us. That shows the democrats feel they need to at least bend a knee towards the cause of Palestinian liberation. It shows every other politician that even a god (the Israeli lobby) can bleed. I’m not in a swing state so my vote doesn’t matter and I have some other personal reasons for voting PSL, but if I was in a swing state I would at least keep the option open of voting for Harris/Walz with a fully sufficient platform regarding Gaza.

Full disclosure: I think there will be no revolutionary potential in the US without pressure from outside the country. In addition to the moral issues involved with Palestinian liberation, a free Palestine would be a major blow to US hegemony. So that’s one reason I prioritize it. I would vote for any politician who credibly pushed for the ending of the blockade against Cuba, for example.

Thank you for helping me understand this all much better.

I am seeing the point made in this thread that the many Ultra-Orthodox are opposed to Zionism or even the existence of a Jewish state.

Is that actually correct?

I was under the impression that outside of some commie-adjacent groups, there are virtually NO Israeli Jews who do not support Zionism.

There are Ultra-Orthodox sects outside of Israel that believe there should not be a Jewish state, but I was not aware of groups inside Israel that hold to that?

Like the Haredim, I was under the impression that they are every bit as Zionist as secular Israeli Jews if not more so, but that doesn’t mean they want to serve in the IOF. I thought their whole thing was that Israel is only held together by their devout commitment to studying the Torah and praying. And to force them to do anything other than studying the Torah means that Israel will incur God’a wrath. But in terms of killing Palestinians, they are a-ok with that.

Or am I completely wrong here?

I’m curious if countries with universal healthcare systems have as much demand for jobs in the medical field.

Now that everyone has a decently good quality camera with them at all times, it’s easy to forget that photography is an art and being a pro at it requires talent, experience, and the right equipment. It’s a great photo because a professional was situated in the right place and got all the elements right - the angle, focus, aperture, framing, etc. Not an op.

In part, if the Resistance shoots down ONE evac copter, western media will made it major headline news and the narrative will be how the Resistance isn’t fighting by Queensbury Rules and so that’s why Israel’s genocide is justified. Meanwhile Israel can blow up 100 ambulances in Gaza and hardly a peep in western news.

I don’t mean to be pedantic, but I wonder if “liquidated” means incapacitated or if it means dead.

I mean, I really want it to be the later, but I also don’t want to get my hopes up only to find out a bunch of these guys are actually alive but sitting at home with a broken wrist or something.

Like the old Enver Hoxha line, it was something like “Between us [Albania] and China, we make up a fifth of the world population”.