Headlines “Politics” [read the OP before posting]

[MrHands]

1. China's new middle class lives entirely in the cities, because that is where all of the foreign direct investment and opportunities have gone
2. You ever visited NYC and LA and compared cost of living to e.g. Wyoming? That is comparable to the purchasing power disparity between large cities in China and everywhere else, except the gap is greater in China

This is why the benchmark is what it is. The NBS "one size fits all" number is unrepresentative in the same way as suggesting e.g. $30k to be middle class in NYC.

You utterly missed the point, again. What does any of this have to do with China's emissions. They're still emitting drastically less per capita than any Western nation and as shown before have been putting a substantial focus on renewables (or at least not coal) to make up for their increased energy demands that come with greater quality of life. When you're talking about someone who lives in an apartment with heat, electricity, and running water them being "middle class" or not is much less important when 10 years ago they were shitting in an outhouse. The quality of life of the average Chinese person has skyrocketed over the past decade. This is objective fact, and you trying to dismiss this because they aren't "middle class" by your arbitrary definition changes nothing.

Fleece left jail couple of years ago, he even started giving interviews: https://rollingout.com/2023/06/25/the-booty-warrior/

I knew the man couldn't keep a good booty warrior down.

https://www.theguardian.com/comment...n-inflation-lower-bank-england-interest-rates

Really makes you think... when i see such admirable governance it sometimes brings a tear to my eye, if only ppl in the us were as interested in taxing and price controlling and profit taking away-ing. instead americans just buy w.e bs cop-landlord hybrid line the media feeds them about the causes of inflation, seeminly unaware of the record corporate profits occuring.

Your link is talking about UK vs Spain inflation. The UK has high inflation (~7%), Spain has 4th lowest in the world (2.3%). The US was never actually mentioned in that article at all but they have the 7th lowest inflation in the world (3%). The US also just passed a massive inflation reduction bill that increased taxes on corporations (15% minimum, preventing situations like Amazon paying $0 in taxes), reduced the cost of Medicare and prescription drugs, and closed tax loopholes used by the rich (overall eliminating hundreds of billions from the deficit). Not only does your article have nothing to do with the US, the US even did a lot of the things Spain did. In addition much of that article talks about energy price spikes which the US didn't even have to deal with (being more or less energy self-sufficient).

Rent is still outrageous in the US though that has to be fuckin fixed. 1.5k+ a month is absurd.

 

[Magcargo]

Rent is still outrageous in the US though that has to be fuckin fixed. 1.5k+ a month is absurd.

1.5K is a massive luxury. Its gotta be at least 2.5k+ where I live lmao.

I personally don't have to worry about rent yet, which is pretty awesome, but it does put into perspective that the housing situation is messed up. I don't get how the average Joe is expected to not live in poverty their entire life when they are losing everything to rent. Obviously a reductionist take, since I haven't lived on my own yet, so I am curious what strategies others are using to alleviate the burden of high rent, since it seems like a very difficult hurdle to overcome.

RN, I am praying for a housing crash lol

 

[Divine Retribution]

Vacancy tax, zoning law reforms, expansions to subsidized housing, UBI, guillotin- um, stronger rent regulation... There are plenty of ways we can bring rents down, we just need to dig up some politicians with enough spine to actually do something.

 

[Divine Retribution]

So everyone's favorite far-right Russian PMC prodigy Prigozhin, leader of an attempted coup against Putin barely two months ago, just died in a 'plane crash' yesterday. The Russian government has officially called it an accident, although declined to provide any additional information. Eyewitnesses to the crash report a sudden, loud noise followed by the plane going up in flames (and even losing a wing) mid-flight, which, in addition to the sudden loss of communication, is more consistent with sabotage or a missile attack than equipment failure or a bird strike.

 

[MrHands]

Yeah, as it turns out convincing a bunch of your goons to storm the nation's capital in an attempted coup has consequences.

Oh wait we're talking about Russia

 

[Local Dog]

I heard someone say today that they're against gay marriage, and when I asked them why, they actually brought in an interesting argument

Why is marriage a legal, burocreautic thing? Like what's the point of having an official document that says that two people are married or in a relationship?

And like, yeah, why is that a thing? For tax breaks? But these tax breaks exist for couple's being able to take care of children, and marriage doesn't automatically mean that a couple will have children. Similiarily, there are many couples that have children that aren't married, my parents weren't married when me and my siblings were born for example

The person that made these claims isn't directly against gay marriage, they just packaged their statement in a provocative way. But they do have an interesting point

So like, genuinenly, why does state-sanctioned marriage exist? Is it an outdated system or is there something I don't understand?

 

[Divine Retribution]

Why do you think it's reasonable to target an argument ostensibly against marriage as a legally enshrined structure in general against gay marriage specifically?

 

[Local Dog]

Why do you think it's reasonable to target an argument ostensibly against marriage as a legally enshrined structure in general against gay marriage specifically?

It's not. It's a provocative and offensive way to get attention, and I suppose it worked

 

[Bakugames]

So like, genuinenly, why does state-sanctioned marriage exist? Is it an outdated system or is there something I don't understand?

Not exactly answering but something interesting is that the politics of marriage were one of the reasons gay marriage as the ""main"" goal for lgbt equality groups was pushed more by the white centrist part of the lgbt movement. Before, a lot of lgbt activism involved things like free housing and healthcare, and were associated with more socialist talking points. It was also associated with the black lgbt groups, so a lot of intersection. Gay marriage became the main talking point for moderates because it didnt tip the scales and was a safer and sanitized as a movement of sorts, along with being viewed as a more "polite" movement that didnt have the influence of the black community or socialism.

You can also see the difference: think what you want about china, but combating discrimination and balancing the scales to equality has had much more success over there in the last few years once you start from the social conditions that affect a group over state sanctioned marriage, comparing it to the us' movement.

oh my god i thought this was the lgbt thread and was scared i was being too political im a fucking idiot. anyway politics over ye

 

[Divine Retribution]

It's not. It's a provocative and offensive way to get attention, and I suppose it worked

I suppose, and I do agree that marriage as a legally enshrined concept is problematic, but I definitely think this is entirely the wrong way to go about having that conversation. At best, you're tricking bigots into siding with you, at worst, you're tricking less politically savvy moderates into siding with bigots.

There's also, for better or worse, undeniable cultural significance to marriage that other alternatives don't necessarily carry. Personally to me something along the lines of a civil union sounds a lot more appealing than marriage (but that could just be either the syndicalist or the aro/ace in me talking), but that isn't necessarily true for a lot of LGBTQ+ couples, and as long as it is the case that marriage is a legally enshrined institution that carries tax and medical benefits, then LGBTQ+ people should have the same access to it as any other couple. The discussion about whether or not marriage should carry those benefits exclusively should take place separately from that discussion.

 

[GW8]

I suppose, and I do agree that marriage as a legally enshrined concept is problematic, but I definitely think this is entirely the wrong way to go about having that conversation. At best, you're tricking bigots into siding with you, at worst, you're tricking less politically savvy moderates into siding with bigots.

There's also, for better or worse, undeniable cultural significance to marriage that other alternatives don't necessarily carry. Personally to me something along the lines of a civil union sounds a lot more appealing than marriage (but that could just be either the syndicalist or the aro/ace in me talking), but that isn't necessarily true for a lot of LGBTQ+ couples, and as long as it is the case that marriage is a legally enshrined institution that carries tax and medical benefits, then LGBTQ+ people should have the same access to it as any other couple. The discussion about whether or not marriage should carry those benefits exclusively should take place separately from that discussion.

I like to frame it more as an argument for marriage equality as a whole. It wouldn't just hyperfocus on gay marriage, but also expand out to marriage between differing races, ethnicities, genders, romantic affiliations, and even between differing religions. Every one of these types of arrangements should be viewed as equals instead of as secondary options. If someone has a problem with it, then it's their fault for viewing marriage as an institution of power instead of viewing it as the joyous union between two people.

 

[Divine Retribution]

I like to frame it more as an argument for marriage equality as a whole. It wouldn't just hyperfocus on gay marriage, but also expand out to marriage between differing races, ethnicities, genders, romantic affiliations, and even between differing religions. Every one of these types of arrangements should be viewed as equals instead of as secondary options. If someone has a problem with it, then it's their fault for viewing marriage as an institution of power instead of viewing it as the joyous union between two people.

I don't think this is at all the same thing as saying "I don't support gay marriage because I don't support the state recognition of any marriage".

 

[Medeia]

"Conservative" thinktanks lead by the Heritage Foundation released a 920 pages manifesto that reads like the manifesto of a cartoonish evil. Some of the plans from 2025 on once any republican candidate becomes the next US-President are:

- removal of all climate change & environmental/
ecological regulations and a ban that prevents any attempt to implement new such regulations
- criminalization of all LGBTIQA+ content, ban of homosexuals & especially transgender people from public life and insertion of parents (especially transgender parents) into sexoffender registers
- gender affirming healthcare ban nationwide, doctors and so on providing gender affirming healthcare are to be sent to prison
- nationwide pornography Ban
- massive restrictions into internet freedom, ban of "pornographic material" which includes anything even deemed to be LGBTIQA+ related
- The executive power of the president shall be increased to ease the removal of dissenting political opposition
- to secure the implementation of these nationwide policies there shall be punishment by law for states such as California who refuse to extradite people whom made themselves punishable in their jurisdiction. The Department of Justice will be used to threaten prosecution and people in the Department of Justice who don't go along with this can simply be replaced
- nationwide abortion Ban
- nationwide ban of CRT in public schools & universities
- rescind a bunch of anti-discrimination laws at work on race, sex, gender, sexuality, (dis) ability, any non Christianity or Judaism (cause they still wanna please Israel and their Zionist supporters in USA) religion and so on
- religious people shall have the "freedom" to spout any hate speech & bigotry against "undesirables" based on their religious belief and the "freedom" to run their businesses based on their religious beliefs even if it offends the rights of "undesirables" these piece of shits want to erase. So if a business selling food and so on hangs shields which say "gay/trans/black/muslim people not allowed" that's totally fine
- redefinition of sex in anti-discrimination laws as "biological sex"

This is just a checklist of some of the ghoulish plans from the biggest "conservative" thinktanks, in case anyone has the mental fortitude to read this nightmarish 920 pages document, here's the link: https://t.me/c/1982093283/263

 

[Sugarbear]

Snip

Wow, that is...horrifying. Just in case you support this, read the poem "First They Came" by Martin Niemoller or Not My Business by Niyi Osundare.

 

[ant4456]

"Conservative" thinktanks lead by the Heritage Foundation released a 920 pages manifesto that reads like the manifesto of a cartoonish evil. Some of the plans from 2025 on once any republican candidate becomes the next US-President are:

- removal of all climate change & environmental/
ecological regulations and a ban that prevents any attempt to implement new such regulations
- criminalization of all LGBTIQA+ content, ban of homosexuals & especially transgender people from public life and insertion of parents (especially transgender parents) into sexoffender registers
- gender affirming healthcare ban nationwide, doctors and so on providing gender affirming healthcare are to be sent to prison
- nationwide pornography Ban
- massive restrictions into internet freedom, ban of "pornographic material" which includes anything even deemed to be LGBTIQA+ related
- The executive power of the president shall be increased to ease the removal of dissenting political opposition
- to secure the implementation of these nationwide policies there shall be punishment by law for states such as California who refuse to extradite people whom made themselves punishable in their jurisdiction. The Department of Justice will be used to threaten prosecution and people in the Department of Justice who don't go along with this can simply be replaced
- nationwide abortion Ban
- nationwide ban of CRT in public schools & universities
- rescind a bunch of anti-discrimination laws at work on race, sex, gender, sexuality, (dis) ability, any non Christianity or Judaism (cause they still wanna please Israel and their Zionist supporters in USA) religion and so on
- religious people shall have the "freedom" to spout any hate speech & bigotry against "undesirables" based on their religious belief and the "freedom" to run their businesses based on their religious beliefs even if it offends the rights of "undesirables" these piece of shits want to erase. So if a business selling food and so on hangs shields which say "gay/trans/black/muslim people not allowed" that's totally fine
- redefinition of sex in anti-discrimination laws as "biological sex"

This is just a checklist of some of the ghoulish plans from the biggest "conservative" thinktanks, in case anyone has the mental fortitude to read this nightmarish 920 pages document, here's the link: https://t.me/c/1982093283/263

not sure why "conservative" is in quotations because all of this is just the natural progression of any deeply conservative person's policies

i mean shit i think most conservative people i know would go a step forward and just say "climate change is made by communist china" and that the crime of being trans and a teacher should be death / sex offender

 

[Medeia]

not sure why "conservative" is in quotations because all of this is just the natural progression of any deeply conservative person's policies

i mean shit i think most conservative people i know would go a step forward and just say "climate change is made by communist china" and that the crime of being trans and a teacher should be death / sex offender

Its in quotations on purpose because its really just downplaying what those people really are at this point and i have made a bunch of posts in this thread in the past explaining why.

 

[faint]

It's pretty silly to hyper focus on such obvious sensationalism and conservative copium/hopium. Like yeah, we've gone backwards as a result of the SC but the majority of the things on that list cannot be done by the president and would never pass Congress even if the Republicans had control of both houses. I just can't take anyone who reads that seriously when it says "the banning of homosexuals." Like c'mon lol

 

[Sabelette]

It's pretty silly to hyper focus on such obvious sensationalism and conservative copium/hopium. Like yeah, we've gone backwards as a result of the SC but the majority of the things on that list cannot be done by the president and would never pass Congress even if the Republicans had control of both houses. I just can't take anyone who reads that seriously when it says "the banning of homosexuals." Like c'mon lol

K but you do understand that they can ban a number of things related to homosexuality and that even with zero laws being signed that these things embolden terrorists to kill us right

I mean, surely you saw what happened post 9/11 to brown people and what's happening to trans people right now even when the conservatives don't have total control, no?

 

[faint]

K but you do understand that they can ban a number of things related to homosexuality and that even with zero laws being signed that these things embolden terrorists to kill us right

I mean, surely you saw what happened post 9/11 to brown people and what's happening to trans people right now even when the conservatives don't have total control, no?

You're seeing increases in hate crimes because the current reactionary talking point is about how trans people are pedophiles or grooming children. The guy talking about being ready to "march into office with what is effectively a new army of conservatives ready to fight the deep state" is batshit insane and not going to influence actual legislation. You have a fair point that these sorts of people saying this stuff can give credence to terrorists but at the end of the day the referenced doomsday policies or whatever the hell it's being dubbed as is 4chan fanfiction.

 

[Medeia]

It's pretty silly to hyper focus on such obvious sensationalism and conservative copium/hopium. Like yeah, we've gone backwards as a result of the SC but the majority of the things on that list cannot be done by the president and would never pass Congress even if the Republicans had control of both houses. I just can't take anyone who reads that seriously when it says "the banning of homosexuals." Like c'mon lol

See this is why i don't like to talk with US "centrists", all it needs is a right wing shift in senate and similar balance in seats at Congress (republicans already dominate the supreme court) and some of these things on the wishlist of 15 big "conservative" thinktanks do actually can happen already even after next election, including possibly a ban of transgender from public life via so called "anti-drag law" on a national level (which is already the case in like half of your damn countries states). You also clearly did not watch the video cause "Humanist Report" acknowledges what you posted, but this is not just a short-term plan at all and even if they only get 10% of these things done after next presidential election (assuming Donald Trump or some other republican becomes next US-President) that still should be a big concern for democracy and human rights, but nope instead people such as you still insist on downplaying the terrible situation for your country's whole democracy and the fact one of only 2 parties in Congress & Senate even considers to do these often draconian law changes.

This is my first and last reply to you.

 

[faint]

See this is why i don't like to talk with US "centrists", all it needs is a right wing shift in senate and similar balance in seats at Congress (republicans already dominate the supreme court) and some of these things on the wishlist of 15 big "conservative" thinktanks do actually can happen already even after next election, including possibly a ban of transgender from public life via so called "anti-drag law" on a national level (which is already the case in like half of your damn countries states). You also clearly did not watch the video cause "Humanist Report" acknowledges what you posted, but this is not just a short-term plan at all and even if they only get 10% of these things done after next presidential election (assuming Donald Trump or some other republican becomes next US-President) that still should be a big concern for democracy and human rights, but nope instead people such as you still insist on downplaying the terrible situation for your country's whole democracy and the fact one of only 2 parties in Congress & Senate even considers to do these often draconian law changes.

This is my first and last reply to you.

I'm not a centrist and nothing I said would even indicate such. You could maybe imply I'm a liberal but in actuality I am a leftist that prefers to focus on real, tangible change and not the next Russia-gate. I apologize if telling you that gay people are not going to be banned from the United States does not fit within your bubble.

 

[Medeia]

I'm not a centrist and nothing I said would even indicate such. You could maybe imply I'm a liberal but in actuality I am a leftist that prefers to focus on real, tangible change and not the next Russia-gate. I apologize if telling you that gay people are not going to be banned from the United States does not fit within your bubble.

I'm not Sablette, I'm & Humanist Report in his video are mostly talking about a nationwide ban of trans in public life in the near future which like i already said has been done in multiple republican states the last few years and the "support" of trans existence and rights has been shrinking even among democrats voters. Also pretty much everyone i've seen spouting the phrase "I'm a leftist that prefers to focus on real tangible change" has thrown LGBTIQ+ people or other marginalized groups under the bus. I don't have any reason to be inclined to think that you're any different.

 

[faint]

I'm not Sablette, I'm & Humanist Report in his video are mostly talking about a nationwide ban of trans in public life in the near future which like i already said has been done in multiple republican states the last few years and the "support" of trans existence and rights has been shrinking even among democrats voters. Also pretty much everyone i've seen spouting the phrase "I'm a leftist that prefers to focus on real tangible change" has thrown LGBTIQ+ people or other marginalized groups under the bus. I don't have any reason to be inclined to think that you're any different.

thank you, Medeia, very cool!

 

[Divine Retribution]

The fact that a considerable number of people even want to drag us back to the 1950's should be a cause for alarm for any ostensible 'leftist', regardless of how unlikely it is to actually come to complete fruition. Screeds like this lend legitimacy to the delusions held by the kinds of people who carry out real, tangible violence towards LGBTQ+ people. Does that concern you as a leftist?

Or perhaps you're the sort of 'leftist' who wants to solve climate change by throwing money at Elon Musk? There seem to be a lot of those around here for some reason.

 

[Sabelette]

The reality is that marginalized people have always been fighting for their lives as things get worse and worse and we will continue to fight for our lives while people whose self definition ranges from "leftist" to "liberal" to "moderate" minimize our concerns, advocate for us to just vote for useless Democrats (because liberals do not do shit and their goals do not align with leftism nor liberation of the oppressed), or tell us that incremental progress is happening and eventually society will be "better." My friends are dying. My siblings are dying. People who look like me, navigate the world like me, are dying. I don't know how to make this clear to people who don't live it, but I'm constantly on the verge of forced death because oppression is not just the fact that some people hate me for being trans and a few might try to kill me. It's a system that denies me healthcare, ignores my disabilities, forces me to work myself to death to have just enough money to scrape by, requires me to endure trauma to access public services, makes sure to single me out as the reason people "have to" share their pronouns, update their records systems, etc., makes me repeatedly prove that I'm really what I say I am and overperform my gender for the benefit of medical providers, demands that I educate my oppressors without hurting their fragile feelings, makes me put myself in danger to do simple things like use a public bathroom or buy clothing, and constantly puts stress on me from all this shit which is slowly worsening my health and killing me.

And it's not just that I'm trans, either. I'm not white. I'm disabled. I'm neurodivergent. I'm a first generation child of immigrants. I have a biological mental illness that can be treated but cannot ever go away. People already don't understand singular marginalized identities; what chance do I have of people understanding the complex intersections of my identity? I cannot remember the last time I didn't feel a pain in my chest from anxiety. I cannot remember the last time I didn't physically feel all of the stress in my shoulders, neck, and head from all of this. It is a known thing that marginalized people experience pervasive, constant stress from having to be hypervigilant and experiencing constant microaggressions in addition to the obvious macroaggression of direct, overt bigotry. It is a known thing that this shortens the lifespan and increases the risk of developing a variety of physical and mental illnesses. It started before the crusade to call us all pedophiles and groomers, and it will continue even if Democrats decide to actually do something and Republicans abandon their attempted genocide.

And for all that, there will be a large contingent of people who supposedly care, but think we are not a priority and will not fight for us. We certainly won't be freed by class reductionism, white leftism, or any ideology lacking intersectionality and a radical imagination of an entirely different world, not just "what we have but better." We won't be freed by voting for liberals, petitions, or appealing to the humanity of our oppressors. We won't be freed by getting a few "socialists" into congress, nor by a bunch of white people recreating colonization with their "communes" on stolen land, nor by corporations doing slightly less evil capitalism. We will keep fending for ourselves and building up mutual aid structures and dual power, and we will have to fight off everyone from fascists to "leftists" to do it. I'm tired of having to do all this work with so little help, but I'm even more tired of people who think they're on my side sabotaging me and my siblings subtly and overtly whenever we get too uppity and step out of line.

I don't know what the point of me writing all this was. I'm just tired and frustrated.