Perhaps it's sematics, but I don't think she was ever really on the left (even in the US-centric online space) and she's spent the last couple of years entwined with the Democrats and punching left agains even mild US-soc dems. Even within an American politics online person capacity I'd argue she's already in her post-left pivot and will only go further.
"Red Scare or Amy Terese" should not be the benchmark.
I'm not trying to be a dick, but who could have possibly predicted that?
And then naturally the move is to double down on a load of scratched lib shit and democrat punching left.
Personally, if I was fucked over by the machinery of a political party that I (somehow as a supposed leftist) didn't see coming, that might inspire oppositon in me rather than establishment media oppurtunity.
True, but if only there was some way for her to realise that the Hollywood machinery of the Democratic party might use her... If only her naivety didn't force her to embrace that oppurtunity to be an apologist for the worst of the status quo and box her into being a post-left grifter. If only...
My local was flooded with ecstatic out of town removed earlier than scheduled. So this went on repeat as I left until the prebooked band was ready. Election day is a fucking nightmare.
Also, it's an all time depressive banger. A great late cynical era Bruce Springsteen song perfected into a dark pop dance ballad by the Pet Shop Boys.
And don't even get me fucking started on proximity locking. Absolute nightmare.
"Islamo-Leftism" is the new Judeo-Bolshevism, originally propagated by open Neo-Nazis and fascists and now the mainstream belief in French and German politics.
That's legit kind of good. Should follow it up with a Gitmo post.
Meanwhile I'm over here on the other side of the pond where today will mark the official start of the Starmereich and we somehow become even more of a US puppet.
Gaining some online following as a left adjacent figure because they were attacked be right wing trolls. Turning out to be a spoiled lib, getting criticism for dogshit takes and soft-bigotry, and so pivoting to a post-left grifter (and in the case of Brianna Wu, linking up with Nazis).
What am I supposed to pass as? A rock?
You rock. 🤘
Libs always fucking do this when comparing their 'achievements' to anyone who isn't in a position of power.
We made this symptom of the problem 10% better while continuing and exacerbating the root cause! You activists and complainers haven't done anything!
Perhaps not making the root cause worse is preferable.
It's like it was written specifically to be.
Hmm, I wonder why American and European aircraft manufacturers might have gotten so desperate as to use 'fake titanium' in the last few years? 
his advisers prepping him too hard for the debate
This is the one bit I think is true, and picked up on during thr debate itself as he garbled what we're probably weirdly specific talking points together in the worst ways.
But that's not an out.
That means that even with six days worth of practice he can't learn and recall maybe two dozens facts and responses, with no ability whatsoever to think on his feet, or even the self awareness to realise to just avoid bit and give a generic answer.
Forgetting isn't the worst part. It happens to people with memory loss and dementia (although it should definitely rule younout of being president). Snippets of memories and ideas firing and being blurted out uncontrollably with no self-awareness or recognition that it's gibberish the biggest fucking issue.
A 95 year old neighbour with dementia that requires three times a day at home care, plus family every day, and me nost other days, is more together than that because they still know when they've lost what they were saying or forgotten who they're talking to etc.
The fact that advisors etc believed or were hoping they could prep around such a deteriorated mental state means they're almost as delusional as he is, but the difference is they should know better.
After years of stonewalled investigations and evidence hiding/destruction, a public enquiry in the UK into SAS murders and executions of unarmed civilians in Afghanistan has been given a cache of records and evidence.
After years of trying to stop the investigation, the armed forces had a private contract delete the data during 'data migration' just days before being forced to hand it over. Now it seems there was a backup system after all.
Better late than never, you could argue, but that ignores the fact that in the last couple of years both Labour and the Tories alike have passed bills specifically designed to provide increased defense and even immunity from prosecution for soldiers committing war crimes abroad. So it may well be tactically timed.
Exactly. It's not about 'democracy'. It's about the right building a fortress within power structure of the country that excludes the bipartisan/democrat lanyard class.
This has been my nagging suspicion about the sudden calling of the UK election too.
Rishi's always been off for ridiculously paid board job, likely in finance around silicon valley, but the way it was called - the seemingly deliberately terrible optics, barely campaigning, completely fucking over much of the Tory party feels like more than just a fuck you to colleagues who didn't respect him and the racists in the party.
For the actual deep establishment of the UK (military, intelligence, billionaire class) this has always been a planned handover of power, but I think the urgency came not just from Rishi's spite but this class' concern that the Tories were going to complicate it with a vote of no confidence and end up having an election right when overlapping crisis hit - economic spiralling, food and produce shortages, and likely the UK stepping up involvement in at least Ukraine and maybe Israel etc.
It's been well known that Rishi never wanted to be a wartime PM despite his tough on Russia posturing. He's been criticised for it by Tory insiders since becoming PM basically. Then you've had the recent increase in official visits, defence conference panels, and meetings with Azov, the Ukrainian military, and associated defense industry people not just in the commons, often to a Labour-heavy audience, but even directly with Starmer's Labour party even instead of the current government. So I do wonder if the establishment basically called time on Rishi because they needed the safe, controlled pair of hands of Starmer high on a Labour victory in place before the escalation happens.
Interestingly, a Tory MP said something very similar on a podcast recently; about the UK planning a much more 'visible' role directly in the Ukraine war for the end of the summer/autumn that wouldn't be able to be half-hidden from the public. But he's also kind of a crank when it comes to a lot of right-wing conspiracy stuff like 'Covid totalitarianism' so who knows what that's worth.
This is partly why I suspect that this might be a generational factionalism in the Democratic machinery.
The old(est) guard and the functionally apolitical consultant/finance lanyards who honestly do just as well or better when the dems aren't in power. With the young(er) generation and B-tier of operatives now realising that the damage being done, to the party and the recent supreme court decision etc, might be too much to simply wait for their turn
In a way, it feels like it mirrors some of the divisions within the capital class itself. There's the bullish types who basically seem to accept that growth and the climate are fucked, and are now trying to rip the copper wiring out of the walls of the global economy while they can since they likely won't be around when it tips into collapse. And then there's the equally self-interested 'activist' capital class looking to keep the game going with green tech and new models for economic extraction etc because they want their gilded age too but know the old models won't last long enought for them to get theirs.
Time for some private jets to go missing and never be recovered MH370 style.
I'm going to the pub to watch the England match again (for some reason) so here's a warm-up tune.
It's laser focused satire of a particular kind of English footy bloke.
And for non-Brits here I imagine it'll be like trying to understand something between a magic eye and iceburg of British lad culture.
I was expecting some sort of 'emergency' Chapo episode but it seems that Felix was taking a break from gaming and shopping for fighter jets to spend the night hanging in a Waffle House. Clearly he wasn't too impressed with Joe's performance, so I guess that's a sneak preview of the next episode.
Biden campaign HQ hype campaign after the debate:
Biden comes out seemingly completely unaware of where he is, while his wife talks to him like a dog.
Jill Biden: "Joe, you did such a good job! You answered every question! You knew all the facts!"
(He absolutely did not, of course)
Doesn't let him respond, just let's him grin mindlessly, while she tries to whip up thr base about the fact that Trump lied.
Biden's face goes back to confusion when the crowd stop cheering and shout "lie" about Trump as though he has no idea who or what they're talking about.
Video Here Apologies for the chud twitter link, it was the only easy clip I could find
Taken by @JW_Hendricks on Instagram.
Posted here because we don't have a pictures comm.
Taken by Aline Manoukian in the Palestinian camp of Burj el-Barajneh, located near Beirut in 1988.
PodBean has gotten shitter and shitter, randomly stopping play when not on screen.
Google has just announced its taking Podcasts out behind the woodshed so you can pay them for YouTube Premium to watch video podcasts in the background in your pocket.
I just want something simple, free or a one off purchase, that is friendly to copying Patreon feed links etc.
Suggestions appreciated, although I still don't relish the idea of refollowing 50+ feeds again.
I'm the king of shouty things and wishing I was in the Budos Band now. It's still dead good though.
So much better than it probably should be. Some great dialogue sample choices too. Even the EQ/tracklisting video is slick.
A certified oddball banger.
More than 20 years ago British rap was giving way to an increasingly northern move that included J Cristie who, despite a shit line about China and a few dodgy refs, put out relentlessly anti-imperialist UK hip hop for his short, but very solid dominance of what remained of the backpack/conscious UK rap scene.
The next record (2006) brought a sequel to The Grip, written - in part, with some broader context - from the sympathetic perspective of a young auicede bomber. Naturally the UK paying attention shit itself and the rest happily ignored it.
So why is this back again (for fhe feed)? In the UK and online people have spent the whole week being bemused or insensed about Galloway winning an election and becoming a British MP. They reference some shameless performances or reality TV. People on the left rightly reference his chameleon status, socially conservative leanings, and recent TERF shit.
But you know why he won a protest by election? You know why he's not just sampled but distinctive contextual sample for one of the most important non-grime records in 2000s music? Because he was and is one of the only public personas in the UK who has been constant on this issue.
The fact that fucking Galloway was who got endlessly sampled then and is getting elected now is fucking shit, but an example of how much worse the UK was and is in general.
But no-ones reading this anyway on a post about 20+ year old BritHop. So why not ramble?
'Jews are predisposed to calling for genocide and it's part of our rich but often misunderstood quirky cultural heritage, but we can't actually do it, even when we are, because.... reasons' is one one hell of a take from a 'left' history professor and author:
> As the author of ‘Jews and Words’, a book that celebrates the Jewish culture of debate and textuality, I must spell out something that the book didn’t mention, a negative aspect of our talkative legacy.
> You may not like it, but here it is.
> This morning’s proceedings in The Hague focus on genocidical talk in the Israeli public sphere. There are dozens of examples: ministers, Knesset members, influencers. Even the manipulative Netanyahu mentioned Amalek, the ancient people that the Bible singled out for eradication. Never mind that great rabbis have determined long ago that Amalek is obsolete, and the biblical verdict does not apply to any existing nation.
> What stands on trial today is the ancient Jewish habit of speaking to each other as if no one else is listening. The Jewish habit of making extreme statements irresponsibly, unthoughtfully, without expecting any payback.
> For so many centuries we have exercised a wild freedom of speech among ourselves, in our own languages, relying on our own argumentative balance mechanism: extremism and moderation may clash, and moderation usually triumphs. The House of Shammai is legitimate, but the House of Hillel, the moderates, usually wins. Israeli verbal culture inherited this freedom. But Israel is also a liberal democracy and member of the global community. Most of the loudmouths crying Genocide and Amalek are not aware of the profound dissonance, the huge damage, the justified outrage. Some don’t care.
> Only a small minority wants actual genocide in Gaza and are morally crippled enough to carry it through: the extreme national-religious right. The fact that Netanyahu allowed these thugs into his government and echoes their discourse is an eternal blot on Jewish history.
> Our disputative, wordy culture deserves to be celebrated, but it must denounce its dangerous outcrop of inciters to blind violence. Their Amalekite speech has become too viable to bear. Too doable.
> No, Israel is not conducting genocide. But its ongoing rant about “flattening Gaza” is no longer a quaint side effect of our argumentative heritage.
> It is a crime, a travesty and a harrowing blow to the best of Jewish traditions.
Later, from her responses:
> This horrific, dirty, ugly war is not genocide. If that was our intention, Gaza would cease to exist on 8/10 and 500 of our soldiers would still be alive.
Ah yes, genocide has to be the instantaneous Thanos-like removal of a population just like it was in Germany during the... errrr.... !monke-beepboop
The BBC ran a story about a Muslim family who upped sticks from the city and bought a farm in rural Wales, and how they're encouraging more diverse people from cities to enjoy the outdoors. You can read it here.
The headline now reads Muslim farmer wants more diverse rural visitors. But it didn't when they posted it as evidenced by the Tweet linked in this post, as they can't change that.
For anyone who can't follow the Twitter link (Nitter couldn't find it even with a link, sorry) the original headline was this:
Muslim farmer wants more ethnicity in rural Wales
A headline that very deliberately baited a massive number of racists who predictably used it to tout great replacement theory.
David Mencer, who was the director of Labour Friends of Isreal before recently moving there, had an extremely normal one when invited on to discuss the growing calls for Labour (and others) to back a genuine ceasefire.
Seriously, it has to be seen to be believed; from his total lack of self-control, absurd rhetoric, and the worst case of long-Corbyn derrangement sysndrome I've ever seen.
Keep in mind that TalkTV is an explicitly right-wing Rupert Murdoch funded news channel here and the host feels compelled to warn, repudiate, lower and eventually cut Mercer's mic in favour of a left-wing Labour activist with a pro-Palestine view.
(Posted here as it seemed most fitting, if it shouldn't be then just let me know - edited with Nitter link)
George Grosz was a fascinating and viceral painter, deeply scarred and influenced by his experience serving in the first world war, before he was discharged and left with psychiatric problems and a serious drinking problem. Many of his paintings from that period deal explictly with the horrors of war and the human cost juxtaposed against societal conflict.
His later work saw him fined by the German government and some of his collections ordered destroyed as they became more satrical and focused upon what he saw as the hypocracy of those that advocate for such violence - things like preachers vomiting grenades and Jesus being forced into conscription.
He also went to Russia in the 1920s, where he was initially detained as a spy, but released when proven not to be and even met Lenin. He lived in the US for most of his life after the '30s but eventually returned to Berlin, where he died falling down the stairs one night drunk.
This is Thanet Parkway.
No ticket office, no information point, no staff, about as wide as a balance beam and less vibrant than a self-storage complex. It was supposed to cost £11m but somehow ended up spiralling to over £35m.
Southeastern Railways is on Twitter trying to answer or deflect angry questions, predominantly from disabled people, explaining the ever more complicated and absurd ways disabled people can 'request' assistance in using the station.
It's important to note that most of their answers rely on just saying that the trains on that line have conductors on the trains themselves who can help, at a time when both the government and the rail companies are pushing for DOO trains (Driver Operater Only i.e. no train staff apart from the driver who is not allowed to leave their cabin).
They've also been asked numerous times for the dimensions of the platform so that disabled users can check if there is enough space for their wheelchairs / mobility scooters. This is the only question they have repeatedly ignored.
It also appears that the station, which many local politicians have argued was not required, may have been promised as part of a deal with a housing developer to increase the value of the development they were building. Which is a whole other can of worms.
