/u/outwrangle before everything went to shit in 2020, /u/emma_lazarus for a while after that, now I’m all queermunist!
Seems to be working so far. 🙄
China's life expectancies have recently surpassed the US. Did you know that?
The US puts more people in prison than the USSR ever did, yet its homeless population is huge.
And there isn't a giant wall around China lol
Some people experience permanent loss of smell and taste from COVID.
Not a single capitalist country has eliminated homelessness. Why is that? Why are life expectancies falling in the US?
Also, Berlin is in the middle of East Germany.
The wall was to separate what was basically an island of Western control from the rest of East Germany. It was kind of a weird political situation.
Sounds like you think we should use the diamonds. I wouldn't be cool with using those diamonds because they belong to the people who were forced to mine them, not me.
Eliminating homelessness, eliminating illiteracy, eliminating hunger, increasing life expectancies, increasing graduation rates, increasing quality of life, actually existing socialist countries accomplish incredible things (some more than others, admittedly). They're not perfect utopias, but you can't ignore the context they exist within (i.e. they're still developing countries and they exist within US global hegemony)
I'm sure you have some specific criticisms of China or Cuba or whatever, but they're doing pretty fucking good considering what they're up against.
While you keep on dreaming of utopia, I'm more concerned with defeating than US empire in the real world. Anarchism can't.
The USSR lost the Cold War, but there's plenty of ML counties still around. I'm sure you'll whine they aren't paradises, but they're all generally progressing and developing in a positive direction (when they aren't being strangled to death like Cuba)
Not a lot of anarchist spaces by comparison. There's the Zapatistas and they're pretty cool, but like, the record is pretty clear.
But they aren't running it on clean power? And so it is a massive contributor?
That's like saying it's fine to waste food because it can theoretically be grown sustainably, even when the food you're wasting wasn't.
Do the concepts "reparations" or "compensation for loss and damage" mean anything to you?
The people who were exploited should be the ones to benefit from those diamonds.
Anarchism can't defend itself. That's the point. Either it gets coopted and recuperated under capital, or it gets hijacked by reactionary forces for their own purposes.
All good points.
Although another thing to consider is Netanyahu would probably have been removed from office for corruption charges if it weren't for the war, and he might decide to keep the war going indefinitely to stay in power. Very dictator-like
The unconditional material support has an ideological superstructure that keeps it going. It's why they need Zionist propaganda.
They learned from history.
It's just that the lesson they learned was "we need to be the Nazis next time."
Since he's elected under apartheid, he kinda is a dictator even if he has popular support among the people Israel allows to vote. The terminology isn't a good fit, but if everyone in so-called "Greater Israel" was allowed to vote their government would look very different.
There's a good retrospective on the mass protest movements of the 2010s called If We Burn. The main takeaway I got was that leaderlessness and horizonalism do not work.
If you don't pick your leaders, they will pick themselves.
That probably wouldn't work. They'd be outbid.
But you know what? Raising hell against Republicans is possible too - it's possible to organize against them no matter which party they're in. Go after them in their districts, go after their financial backers, go after the special interests that support them, go after the people that vote Republican, friends and family, I don't fucking care, whatever it takes. Make them suffer our political wrath and they'll fall in line.
The Affordable Care Act fell far short of being what we really needed, where millions still suffer with unaffordable premiums and worthless coverage. What we need is universal healthcare.
Joe Manchin wasn't a god. They could have dealt with him if the political will existed, just like they could have dealt with Joe Lieberman back in 2009. Mobilize the people against him, Go after his financial supporters, go after his friends and family, make his life a living hell for defying the will of the Party and the People.
But Democrats will never do something like that
Obama had a 60 seat supermajority in the Senate.
It's not a lack of ability. It's a lack of will.
Israel hurt itself in its confusion!
And how will Canada defend itself against its fascist neighbor?
Spicy Soy Sauce Ramen
Did you know soy sauce Top Ramen is vegan? Maruchan isn't so don't get em confused!
The greens are raw sweet peas and green onion.
Veggie BLTs
I've been slowly adding more and more veggies through experimentation, but now I'm at the point where I either need to use bigger tortillas or just be more picky about which veggies I want 😅 this is the configuration I'm using right now, though in the summer I like to use avacado instead of sauce.
I heat the tortillas in a pan with a light coat of walnut oil and black pepper and assemble my fixins in the pan itself. !
Sauce is also homemade! I save all the vinegar from pickled jalapenos and then mix that with equal parts coconut oil in a heated pan, then combine it with whatever seasoning I'm feeling like during that batch (rn I'm using nooche, though sometimes I go for an onion sauce or mustard). It's not super precise so there's no recipe, I've just got a feel from experimentation.
Also the fake-on bits are actually a cheap local veriety I've found. Basically just smoke and salt flavored crunchy soy chips.
Once I'm done, I pack up my chopped veggies to do this again in a couple days. I usually make four at a time every two days, and these are my pre-shift and mid-shift work meals. Served with a thicc pea protein chocolate drink.
Biden considering executive action to close southern border, sources say
The White House is considering executive action that would allow President Joe Biden to effectively shut down the border to migrants crossing unlawfully, according to three sources familiar with the matter—a maneuver reminiscent of controversial action from the Donald Trump ...
And you all told me the blue maga border bill that Republicans rejected was 4d chess.
Beans and rice on tortilla chips
Kidney beans and rice with taco seasoning, caramelized onion and garlic, and I found out I can get dried habaneros near me! Definitely growing those this year, I forgot how good they are (haven't had any since before the pandemic 🥲 )
Also that Perrona sauce is... okay. It's really sweat, throws off everything. Also not nearly as spicy as I was hoping! It's a cool color, you can't really tell but it's actually green, but it just didn't hurt me the way I like 😌
Bean & Rice Tacos
Pintos and white rice seasoned with cumin, cayenne, garlic, nooch, salt, msg, walnut oil, and then served with taco fixins on hard shells 💪
Butter beans, raw brocc, and white rice
I used to think I didn't really like beans, but when I got an airfryer I decided to see what they'd be like if I cooked them differently. Amazing~✨
Smaller beans become a delicious crunchy topping or filling, highly recommended, but what's really interesting is those huge butter beans. They're disturbingly similar to chicken breast when cooked this way, so I cooked up some white rice, cut up some ice cold broccoli, and fried up some butter beans 8 minutes with walnut oil at 400o F
And that's it! Super simple but so so sooo good.
Israel ordered people out of swathes of the main southern city in the Gaza Strip on Monday as it pressed its ground campaign deep into the south, sending desperate residents fleeing even as it dropped bombs on areas where it told them to go.
In Khan Younis, many of those taking flight on Monday were already displaced from other areas. Abu Mohammed told Reuters it was now the third time he had been forced to flee since abandoning his home in Gaza City in the north.
"Why did they eject us from our homes in Gaza (City) if they planned to kill us here?" he said.
At a home in Khan Younis that was struck overnight, flames licked the collapsed masonry and grey smoke billowed out from the rubble. A child's stuffed toy of a sheep lay in a pile of dust. Boys were picking through the wreckage. Next door, Nesrine Abdelmoty stood amid damaged furniture in the rented room where she lives with her divorced daughter and two-year-old baby.
"We were sleeping at 5 a.m. when we felt things collapse, everything went upside down," she told Reuters. "They told (people) to move from the north to Khan Younis, since the south is safer. And now, they've bombed Khan Younis. Even Khan Younis is not safe now, and even if we move to Rafah, Rafah is not safe as well. Where do they want us to go?"
Israeli troops entered Gaza’s al-Shifa hospital in a ‘targeted operation’ at 3am and remained there well into the afternoon
The end of the article jumped out at me:
>The Palestinian health ministry said 40 patients died on Tuesday, after five days without the fuel needed to power generators that fed dialysis machines and other vital medical equipment. The hospital had also run out of clean water, and doctors said they were subsisting on dates to survive as food supplies dwindled to nothing.
>Corpses were piled in front of the hospital, with staff too terrified to move between buildings. The UN’s office for humanitarian affairs said staff at al-Shifa, for decades the linchpin of Gaza’s medical system, had begun preparations for a mass grave to entomb 180 bodies in front of the facility, as there was no way for them to leave in order to bury the dead.
Americans say they are being required to work an exorbitant amount of overtime to compensate for staffing shortages that have plagued the economy.
Of particular note:
>The Association of American Railroads, which represents freight railway operators, said its members have been hiring in recent years to address staffing needs and recognize employees' desire for better scheduling. The group said the number of overtime hours worked by BMWE union members increased to 4.7 hours per week in 2022, compared to 4 hours in 2016.
>Cory Ludwig, who works as a machine operator repairing railway tracks in Iowa, said he’s been working Saturdays and some Sundays along with 10- to 12-hour shifts since September. Recently, he worked 13 days without a day off. With the mandatory Saturday work, he’s had to rely on friends and relatives to take care of his five-year-old and nine-year-old kids. He said the overtime demands have increased as he’s seen the number of workers assigned to his crew go down.
>“You fall asleep and then you wake up in the morning and you go right back to work. It can really break a person down, it gets really wearing on a person after a while,” Ludwig said. “With less people trying to do the same amount of work, working long hours, working multiple weeks in a row without one day off, you get irritated and you get burnt out.”
>Recently one of the union’s members had been working 22 hours straight when he fell asleep on the job, an error that could have put his colleagues’ lives at risk but also could have been avoided had the employee had a rest period, said Ballew. Another member was recently disciplined for refusing to work through his scheduled days off on short notice so he could care for a family member having health issues, Ballew said.
>“The stress it puts on marriages and parenting and the things you leave behind for your spouse to deal with or the things you miss, that kind of stress builds up,” said Ballew. “In the rail industry, we have noticed recently a spat of suicides and I can’t help but think there is a correlation there.”
Thank God Biden stopped the railroad strike!
I swear if I hear another fucker say that the railroad workers got everything they wanted because Biden helped them negotiate I'll lose it.
Good thing I voted for the lesser evil in 2020! Gosh if I had stuck to principles we'd have had a genocide or something 😒
Did Israel bomb a civilian evacuation route in Gaza? | Financial Times
Experts say evidence suggests most likely cause was a missile
The nug:
>While assertions have been made by both sides about the incident and death toll, the available evidence is less clear. However, analysis of the video footage rules out most explanations aside from an Israeli strike.
>The devastation underlines the heightened risk civilians are facing as tens of thousands flee the north, on Israeli orders, during hostilities. The bodies of at least three children can be seen in multiple clips verified by the FT.
>At least 1,400 Israelis have been killed, according to the government, including many women and children. At least 2,500 Palestinians have been killed by Israeli bombardment, about half of them women and below the age of 18, according to Palestinian officials.
>On Saturday, Israel told Gazans that it would refrain from bombing two evacuation routes for six hours, including Salah-ad-Din street, where these explosions took place, so that civilians could continue to move south
A 57-year-old UPS driver in Texas died after collapsing in the heat while making deliveries
>Following months of negotiations with Teamsters, UPS announced in June that it would install air conditioning in new trucks starting next year. The company said it would send new trucks to the hottest parts of the country first, if possible. The company also said it would retrofit its existing package cars with cab fans, exhaust heat shields, and cargo area ventilation.
>"While these improvements will make a difference in the months and years ahead, we had to fight like hell to secure them," the Teamsters union said in its social media post Thursday. "Chris Begley should still be alive to experience them. All companies, including UPS, need to remember that their past failings to protect workers can have deadly serious consequences in the future."
Chris Bagley should still be alive and it's a damn shame the Teamsters failed to protect him from social murder. Only new trucks? Only next year? They drove trucks without fans, heat shields, and ventilation? What the fuck.
The Teamsters could have, at the very least, demand a total halt on driving trucks without fucking fans. "Oh but that'll cause package delays!" Well I guess we just have to murder drivers for the sake of logistics.
If anyone tells me how great and historic the new contract is one more fucking time I'll fucking lose it.
Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez on How She’s Changed - The New York Times
>I want to read you two recent headlines from New York magazine. They were written within a week of each other. The first is “A.O.C. Is Just a Regular Old Democrat Now,” and that accuses you of compromising on your progressive ideals as you work within the party system. And then came the rebuttal, which was “The ‘A.O.C. Left’ Has Achieved Plenty,” which argued that your wing has pushed the party leftward. Why do you think your role is still being parsed this way by Democrats and by those on the left?
>>Part of it is because we haven’t really had a political presence like this in the United States before. I think very often you had this consummate insider that was bankrolled by corporate money and advancing this, frankly, very neoliberal agenda. And those were the people that we were used to seeing in power. And so I think over time there’s been an inherent association between power, ascent and quote-unquote selling out.
>>I often say to my grass-roots companions that the left, for a very long time, was not used to having power in the United States. And so when we encounter power, we’re so bewildered by it —
Yes, the reason we are suspicious of you is because we're too fucking stupid to understand. Thank you boss queen!!!
>Moving your ideas internationally, even if they might conflict with the foreign policy of the leader of your own party?
>>I wouldn’t necessarily characterize my foreign policy goals as oppositional to the president’s or to the United States. I am a member of Congress. I have sworn an oath to this country, and I take that oath very seriously.
That says it all, doesn't it?
>Do you feel more comfortable in the Democratic Party now? The way you described it initially was fraught. They rejected you, and you were definitely trying to change the party. You have said you’ve pushed the party leftward. Many would agree. So is it OK to be a regular Democrat now?
>>The activist in me always seeks to agitate for more. I think despite there being progress, many people are still woefully underserved in this country. But the Democratic Party has changed dramatically in the last five years. Even if you just look at the numbers, I believe it’s something around 50 percent of House Democrats have been elected since 2018. And so what is considered center and moderate now is dramatically different than what it was five years ago.
No no wait, that says it all.
Being center and moderate is good now folks!
Republicans thought they could win Warren County with a 2020 election denier. Kimberly Sheets proved them wrong.
>County GOP activists could have picked a less controversial nominee for the auditor's race, but they stuck with Whipple. The move backfired spectacularly.
Overreaching is the norm for the Party now because the base doesn't give a shit about electability anymore. That's good for Democrats... until Republicans stop caring about elections entirely.
Over half of likely Iowa Republican caucusgoers believe Trump won 2020 election
Imagine the thought process of "the election was stolen, so I'll vote harder next time"
Extremely American
What the hell is this horror show shit that keeps showing up in Pocket?
Look at it! What is that? It looks kind of like a cross section of a human, kind of, except the eyes are pools of blackened fire and the brain is sending electrical pulses out to... are those Jupiters? Why? Why??? This is absolute nightmare shit lol
Vivek Ramaswamy is campaigning on his potential appeal to young voters, but his rhetoric is a better fit for an older demographic.
>"Good things are going to happen in this country, and it just might take a different generation to help lead us there," Vivek Ramaswamy said a few minutes into his "fair-side chat" with Governor Kim Reynolds on August 12. The youngest candidate in the GOP presidential field (he turned 38 last week) regularly reminds audiences that he is the first millennial to run for president as a Republican.
>But here's the thing: a large majority of Iowa GOP caucus-goers are Gen X or older.
>The Republican Party of Iowa does not publish details about caucus-goer demographics, but entrance or exit polls from the last three competitive caucuses give us a rough idea. Those surveys indicate that GOP caucus-goers under age 45 comprised only about 28 percent of participants in 2016, about 31 percent in 2012, and about 26 percent in 2008.
It's a pretty long article but it tells you all you need to know about this guy: his 10 Commandments are especially dire, because he's essentially distilled everything Republicans believe into bite-sized talking points. They're all nonsense, but I could totally see these resonating with people who have adult children that don't talk to them anymore.
If Trump actually gets sent to prison before the caucuses, this guy might have the swag to replace him.
The man charged in connection to driving his truck into Cedar Rapids protestors was found not guilty on both charges.
The man accused of driving through a group of protestors in June of last year has been found not guilty on both charges.
Do you get it now?
The law doesn't apply to them.
Man who drove through Cedar Rapids protestors argues he had right of way as trial begins
>Most of the incident was captured on video from multiple angles. Rather than argue that he didn't do it, Huston's defense is arguing that he had the right to drive through the protestors because his traffic light was green.
>In the videos shown in court, many of which haven't been seen before, Huston's truck appears to approach a car at the light. When the light turned green, the truck is seen swerving around the car and comes up to the protestors who are crossing, before stopping when it collided with a pedestrian.
It's truly amazing what motorists think they can get away with.