The idea that the USA might just cause tremendous damage to the world economy and then force the rest of the world to pay for Iran's reconstruction, while receiving no sanction or negative consequences for doing it... It's just perfect.

I see the person who accused me of homophobia for saying he's a fucking dipshit is really covering himself in glory in the NatSec parts of Bluesky.

You have more in common with the people of Iran than you do with anyone in this administration, any member of the technocracy, anyone who is profiting from this war, or any billionaire. When you see Iranians forming human chains outside key infrastructure sites, you should feel a sense of kinship.

"Why don't Americans—" we do. That's why many of my friends are in prison or dead.

I've been having more people I wouldn't expect to do so dropping into my DMs, and it's honestly been kind of cool.

Two weeks is when the rest of the Marines arrive.

I can't imagine a ceasefire that isn't just an effective Iranian or American capitulation, but we'll see. This administration tends to see working towards a diplomatic solution as a sign of weakness though, so I'd expect them to add a whole bunch of conditions that Iran can't accept.

Bolshevik methods were flawed, yes. They turned it into a slave state by the 1930s. But how is it that Russian failures to implement socialism in a world hostile to the ideology is an indictment against the entire ideology, while Russian failures today are only an indictment of Russia?

Americans too often try to justify actions by finding legal loopholes for them. "No rule saying a dog can't play basketball" is a lot less funny when tens of millions of lives are on the line.

the vibe

It's just going to be all this, and anyone who doesn't swallow that tripe will be torn to bits by liberals and conservatives alike.

Maybe not, but based on your past words and actions, you still think it's a hell of a lot of fun.

Love how many people are missing the point of this, and are instead going for stupid, cheap attempts at dunks. Please feel free to do so. I don't block often, but that's a great way to get me to go on a spree.

"I voted for Harris. My conscience is clear." Man, that must be nice. I voted for Harris, and the knowledge of what my country is doing to people more like me than anyone in our ruling class is a constant weight upon my soul.

Building on this, the USSR's greatest crime, and the one which would set the tone for the entirety of its existence, is remaking itself steadily into another empire of Great Russians, which extracted resources from the imperial periphery and put them into the imperial core of Russian cities.

John McCain was shot down over North Vietnam doing the same thing to the Vietnamese that we are doing to the Iranians today, and people need to come to grips with both our past crimes, and current crimes, to understand what needs to be done and how deep the changes need to be.

Also, you're part of a co-op that pays for the EMT's salary, benefits, and equipment, and also, for some reason, you've paid for an army of trigger-happy bodyguards who will shoot anyone the EMT tells them to without hesitation.

Guy has a heart attack, and there's forty people around. Thirty are stunned, and motionless, one is a fully-equipped EMT on break who won't act until his lunch is over, and nine are screaming at the EMT to help now. Those nine should just do something themselves and stop whining. 😤

Iran had signed a deal with the US. The US tore it up. Then the US "completely obliterated" their program in 2025. Then bombed them here in 2026. Im not going to offer any support the the Iranian government but facts are facts.

No no no no no no no. Absolutely fucking not. The Islamic Republic of Iran is an evil government that doesn't care about the the lives of its people. But you do not get to blame Iran for this shit. We are doing it. The United States, Gulf States, and Israel. They did not bring this on themselves.

If any American aircraft are destroyed in an attack on Iran's critical civilian infrastructure, I wonder if anyone is going to demand that I feel joy for any American airmen getting rescued.

One need not love the Soviet Union or the British Empire to actively root against the Nazis.

As ever, the most important quality of a leader remains that they lead. If there is nobody within the opposition willing to truly lead, then there is no opposition. Merely disgruntled supporters in the guise of opponents.

"What can Democrats do?" When the South Korean president attempted to declare martial law, South Korean lawmakers literally fought through tanks and military forces and climbed fences to get into their Parliament building to stop him. So, you know, that.

Hey, thanks for throwing on a suit jacket while you're states away, wearing sweats, and hanging out in your backyard. Makes me know you're taking this seriously.

As a Biden, then Harris supporter (albeit begrudgingly) throughout all of 2024, I'm tired of the people talking about all the things Harris would have done differently. It's just as fucking useless as Sanders people talking about 2016 and 2020. What is the party doing *now*? What's the plan here?

People talking up Nuremberg as though it was some incredible moment of consequences for the Nazi Party, but when all was said and done, fewer than a thousand Nazis were put to death, and the governments of both Germanies were filled with them, especially in the west. Hardly a grand victory.

Every last one of them is guilty. Everyone who holds an elected seat is ultimately okay with all of it.

We're just as bad as the Russians.

People who still unironically use TACO after all the shit that has gone down need to get punched in the fucking throat.

The way to read this is "foreign researcher refuses to bend to American pressure, is murdered by being thrown from tall building." I very much doubt it was a suicide. It would be completely unacceptable even if it was, but I doubt it.

I'll say the same thing about Platner that I said about Trump in 2015 when I was still a Republican: I'm not willing to support a party that allows that fucking Nazi in it.

The actual issue facing the United States is deeper than the person of Donald Trump, and no matter what you fantasize about having the US do with him, it doesn't matter. The problem won't be fixed by simply removing him, or even arresting him. It's too late for that.

Bullshit. I'd rather be the same class now than back then, but I'd gladly take being middle-class in 1980 than poor now. You really, really don't understand how badly the sense of precariousness can wear people down over time.

*sigh* Alright, so here's the thing. Liberalism is irrevocably entagled with capitalism. You can't have one without the other, and you can't have capitalism without oligarchs. Democracy and capitalism can never coexist, because the power imbalance leads to a nobility of the wealthy.

Hot take: judging people based on their actions is a cornerstone of adulthood and anyone trying to convince you other wise should be relentlessly mocked.

Lima, Ohio. The platonic ideal of Rust Belt decay. Looked like Berlin in 1945.

He's being soaked in a pot of chicken stock and select spices to give him a rich flavor.

Don't worry, separation of powers will come back if the opposition ever tries to overturn anything he did, or hold anyone accountable.

An awful lot of Marxists signed up with the Bernsteinite DSA, and are mad that it lacks the revolutionary fervor they so desperately want. But you can't get mad at the burgfriedenspolitik SPD for acting that way when they've told you time and again what they are. It makes you look like a dink.

The US military officer corps are very much not fundamentally on the side of good. They're bombing schools, hospitals and other civilian infrastructure in an unprovoked war of imperial aggression. They've stood silently by as Trump breaks our laws and fires minority officers.

All of Sulla's murder and "reform" meant nothing when there were still powerful men with enough force at their disposal to ignore the rules. Changing those rules meant nothing.

He resigned as dictator in 80 BC. In 70 BC, Pompey the great became consul, despite: -Not being the minimum age -Not having held any of the required junior offices -Not even being a member of the Senate Why? Pompey had a private army, loyal to him personally.

Sulla declared himself dictator for life with the express purpose of reforming the constitution of the Roman republic. He made minimum age limits legal requirements, as well as codifying the tradition that officeholders had to serve in junior offices before serving in senior ones.

The United States and Israel vs Iran is so darkly amusing, because each of them is a rogue state that doesn't deserve to survive the decade.

I find myself becoming more radical, but also significantly more hopeful, when I spend time away from here.

Mongolia was occupied by China for longer than Taiwan was. Should we be discussing the fact that it's an "artificial" creation?

The 90s were the era when Leslie Nielsen stopped playing it straight and started mugging super hard for the camera, and that's a huge reason why he stopped being funny.