to understand the genocides in palestine or sudan is to understand homeless encampments in LA. it's to understand why there's poison in your food and microplastics in your blood. it's all part of the same process of endless, brutal, blind capital accumulation

why is it so difficult for people to wear masks in public spaces like hospitals. like I've dramatically lowered my expectations from other public spaces, but not even hospitals?

does my landlord like me? is that politician my friend? is a billionaire a better role model for me or a famous actor? which tv show best represents my values? and which brand of bodywash best represents my gender identity?

NEXT WEEK sudan pt. 1: the irrational revolution w/ mohamed khougali

the victims of capitalism tally must include every single person slaughtered in sudan

there's nothing or no one more responsible for the genocide in sudan than western capital and those who uphold it

the patriotism being referred to here is the ruling class's patriotism, which is only one side of america. true, you cannot be a communist and celebrate rich people's right to freely exploit the rest of us

NEXT WEEK'S PATREON: 250 years of bourgeois democracy w/ august nimtz

actually the fact that almost half the supreme court voted to undo one of the most basic liberal rights enshrined in the constitution is a huge loss and should only remind us that under a bourgeois democracy any rights can and will be taken away. these institutions were designed to oppress you

They've done more to fight Democratic Socialists than they have project 2025

the Democrats campaigned on a platform of attacking Project 2025. it was all we heard about in the lead up to the election. genuine question: have they done a single meaningful thing to counter it?

NEW EP the inimitable cecilia guerrero did a bunch of research on the Democratic Party and joined us to reveal its sordid history and how understanding its past is key to understanding its present role in co-opting and defanging left movements

the world somehow survived 250 years of the united states of america. the amount of death and destruction wrought by this country should have ended life as we know it—the fact that it didn't is a small miracle and a testament to the enduring spirit of resistance

REPUBLICANS: we're gonna bomb a school full of children in Iran DEMOCRATS: ok but get 👏 congressional 👏 approval 👏 first 👏

NEXT WEEK: the democratic party w/ cecilia guerrero

NEW EP international law and globalization expert elina xenophontos joins us to discuss the most recent us-iran deal and how it could end as a neocolonial trap for the islamic republic

the US-Iran deal contains a $300 billion dollar investment fund for Iran, and although this looks good at first glance, unless this fund is controlled by Iran it could (and very likely will) be used as a form of economic imperialism by injecting US-backed capital into Iran

stop getting your news analysis from social media influencers. most social media takes are complete nonsense posted by people who get their news and analysis from other social media nonsense. the larger the account the worse, as it's all just engagement bait

sometimes I feel a spark of hope which is always dashed of course but the spark keeps coming back to trick me. guess I was built to be a sucker

I think it's incredibly important for socialists in the west to remember that as long as the state is oriented towards socialism—that is, it's a dictatorship of the proletariat—the introduction of market mechanisms does not inherently suggest capitalist restoration

NEXT WEEK'S PATREON iran pt. 5: is the US-Iran deal a trap for iran? w/ elina xenophontos

in a country where the median net worth of a senator is nearly $4.4 million and every president is a $100+ millionaire, only the most propagandized society on earth could believe they live in a democracy

Upstream w/ Della Z.( @dellazduncan.bsky.social )Duncan & Robert R.( @robpertray.bsky.social )Raymond "Cuba Pt. 5: Under Siege w/ Manolo De Los Santos & Liz Oliva Fernández" podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/c...

NEW EP indigenous activist and educator gregg castro joins us for a wide-ranging and heartfelt discussion of robin wall kimmerer's "the serviceberry," weaving in personal anecdotes about growing up in the bay area and his own ramaytush ohlone heritage

the reason everything is so expensive and dysfunctional in the united states is because all of the most basic elements of our society are owned, controlled, and run by gangs of criminals in business suits

probably one of the most devastating developments in human history was the emphasis and romanticization of individuality brought by european liberalism of the 17th and 18th centuries. something deep and ancient was lost with that shift which underpins so much of our tragic present

NEXT WEEK honorable harvest: indigenous economics w/ gregg castro

if I was a member of the ruling class in the US I wouldn't be able to ask for a more desirable opposition than the western left. fragmented, at each other's throats, untethered from any coherent material analysis, fixated on utopian fantasy, divorced from internationalism

NEXT WEEK'S PATREON china pt. 9: taiwan w/ feiyang sun and charles xu

NEW EP we're joined by @fadhelkaboub.bsky.social for a conversation about US dollar hegemony, the path that brought us here, the path that could lead us out, BRICS, china, iran, and much more

the dollar is not simply a currency, it's a weapon

it's wild that the western parasite class tries to frame china as imposing "debt traps" onto global south countries when in reality the entire dollar system—the entire GLOBAL ECONOMY structured by the west—is a debt trap and has been for decades. every accusation is a confession, as they say

it's so wild to keep seeing the cycle: a new, contrarian politician gains momentum, the left attached itself to them, countless resources and energy is dispensed on the candidate, and boom. they turn out to be terrible. milkshake duck is the rock and the US left is sisyphus

NEXT WEEK: the rise (and fall) of the US dollar w/ @fadhelkaboub.bsky.social

we're living in the era of seething losers. a golden period for them. everyone who succeeds is a seething loser, and everything is catered to seething losers. definitely an exhausting time for people who are not seething losers

well my fellow hockey fans, that was a pretty weird but fun season. see you in september!

insane how fucked up hockey culture and so many individual players are. don't look into anything outside of actual games and stats if you want to be able to enjoy the sport

NEW EP @helenyaffe.bsky.social joins us to discuss the crisis caused by the fall of the USSR, how cuba navigated this "special period," and what it learned from losing its primary trading partner

today in america we celebrate the freedom that many fought and died for. the freedom to starve, to sit in traffic and idle in parking lots. to choose from 25 brands of toilet paper. the freedom to poison ourselves with carcinogens and to vote for capitalist #1 or capitalist #2

after everything we're suffering through we deserve a colorado montreal nail biter but we're gonna get a vegas carolina snooze fest

the capitalist order could have collapsed in the 1970s—it was revived, against all odds, by the implementation of a neoliberal order. we're at a similar point now where its collapse seems inevitable—but it's not. the US is doing everything in its power to ensure another 50+ years of this nightmare

how long till they have the statue of liberty demolished

america is everything they want you to think north korea or iran is

fidel freed the cuban people in 1959, what the US wants is to reenslave them

NEXT WEEK'S PATREON cuba pt. 8: after the fall of the ussr w/ @helenyaffe.bsky.social

NEW EP amidst the escalating assault on cuba, helen yaffe joins us again for a fascinating conversation on how socialism in cuba works and why the cuban revolution remains such a world historical achievement

cuba is not a military threat to the US. the threat cuba poses is much more significant: it's the threat of a better world. a threat against the epstein class, against endless murder for profit, against fascism. it's the threat of a world based on solidarity, care, and real freedom

I was talking to someone who grew up in poland under communism and she was shocked that there's no fiber optic infrastructure in most american cities—something she told me exists even in rural parts of poland. americans really don't understand how bad they have it

LEER, smartwool, whole foods, and so many other companies are not real businesses anymore. they were bought out by private equity or other giant vultures who use the reputable brand to trick people into buying what is now much a worse product. this is why everything sucks now

feels like a good time to remind people that taiwan is where the fascist kuomintang fled after they lost to mao. when they arrived they massacred tens of thousands of people. taiwan has served as an imperialist outpost since then, much like Israel