“He also urged Ukrainians not to base their decisions to join the military on whether the United States continues to support them.”

That mf really just said “please die.”

Conflating criticism or dislike of the sex industry with “sexist SWERF garbage” is a little silly… Are we really meant to suppose that pornography and prostitution is helping women and feminism? Or anyone, for that matter?

I suspect that China is not truly so controversial outside of the western “left.” It may help to understand that there are more CPC members then there are people in Germany. Marxism-Leninism is the dominant ideological strain of leftist thought, globally speaking. “Maoists,” Hoxhaists, Anarchists, etc. are extremely marginal and don’t even have the power and influence proportional to their minuscule population of adherents. They have no states, irrelevant parties, zero organization, and consequently no capacity for struggle, armed or otherwise. I cannot emphasize enough that these so-called socialists and communists can be safely ignored. They can not help or even meaningfully hinder their own political “projects,” much less those of typical Marxist-Leninists.

As for why they exist, it boils down to an unscientific, anti-dialectical and idealist worldview. They don’t conceive of political and economic systems as containing contradictory elements, but as pure, static forces that only change due to external influence. Notice how the libertarian types will insist that the presence of any public industry, welfare state, or regulatory agency in a capitalist country indicates it has “fallen to socialism/communism” and “isn’t real capitalism” anymore. Likewise, ultras and leftcoms will take the existence of a stock market in China as evidence that the CPC has “abandoned Marxism/communism” and “isn’t real socialism” anymore. Both of these groups will go on to insist that their pure, unadulterated version of their ideal system has “never been tried.” One has to wonder why.

In capitalist/liberal economies, private profit is the guiding principle of all economic and political activity. The presence of “socialist” elements in these systems always serves that purpose, albeit sometimes indirectly. In socialist economies, the guiding principle is social necessity, and likewise, seemingly liberal elements of their systems serve the worker-led state. This is the difference between a Dictatorship of the Proletariat vs a Dictatorship of the Bourgeoisie. The composition of these systems will be similar, but will serve different functions. This understanding is essential not just to being a good ML, but for making sense of the world in general and avoiding the purist mindset.

“While Putin can lead Russia along a single strategic trajectory regardless of the length of the war, the U.S. is subject to the whims of democracy.”

My three biggest flaws:

1.) I work too hard.

2.) I care too much.

3.) I would’ve kicked your ass if my bros didn’t pull me away.

History doesn’t repeat itself, but it does rhyme.

“The ads have also used video footage of the 9/11 attack on the World Trade Center, overlaid with a headline about Mangi. They demanded that Mangi share his personal views on the 9/11 attack.”

This literally happens in The Campaign. Will Ferrell’s character puts out an ad that accuses Zach Galafianakis’s character of having ties to terrorism on account of his beard and demands to know where he was on 9/11.

I would be shocked if he got arrested for 2d porn, even of the underage variety. But regardless, fans in the Vaush subreddit are already doing damage control along these lines, assuming/asserting that this is a joke or a bit. And there’s no way it’s a joke. If it is, he has an extremely malformed sense of humor and doesn’t mind being the butt of the “joke.”

“Biden warns CCP robocars steal your data and send it overseas.”

CIA/NSA out here like “You can’t harvest Americans’ personal data! We already called dibs!”

Inspired article. “German tabloid Blid says Russia will invade Europe (where in Europe? All of it?) in the winter of 24-25.”

You’re not supposed to call it a tabloid when you reference it as an authoritative source, Andy. It has a few other gems but that is my favorite.

Avoidant anxiety, I have it too. Get a good therapist.

“We stand with the children who deserve to be children.”

Utterly incomprehensible. A lie repeated often enough becomes truth.

🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻🔻

Okay, that was an attempted joke. Having skimmed the article, I see they’re not catching fish in the traditional sense, but farming them. I envisioned fishing as “you catch what you catch,” so it just seemed strange to me that they would be specifically barred from catching haddock and cod, as if it was something in their direct control. Apparently it is.

Are they allowed to catch other fish there?

Does not take a Nobel Prize winner to know this

12/20. Some of these really shocked me, somehow.

Half a day later and I get the joke lmao

Wow this is familiar

Americans did that in Vietnam too. Historical precedent. Google “McNamara’s Morons.”

I wish I could be this cool.