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Showing posts with the label progressive

Reconstructing American Democracy

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( Getty / The Atlantic) The country continues to struggle through the Trump regime's destruction American democracy , even during the semiquincentennial . At the same time, two of the architects behind the rise of modern American fascism, Lindsey Graham and Mitch McConnell are finally dead. Trump is likely to die soon too . After all, 80 year-old demented bigots fueled by diet coke, fast food, and obsessive social media habits aren't exactly known for their longevity. And given the current polling around the upcoming midterm elections showing widespread anger over utterly predictable corruption and incompetence by the regime, it's clear that rightwing control is facing a period of fragility. All of this has got me thinking more about the need for a new reconstruction era and what it should look like when this national nightmare finally ends. If it ever ends. American fascism didn't start with Trump and there are plenty of acolytes willing to sell their souls for pow...

Who's to Blame for Graham Platner

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(Sophie Park for The New York Times) My thoughts on Graham Platner are basically the same as Professor David Schraub . Yes, Platner was obviously terrible and the first red flag was his Nazi tattoo. Which is partly why many were attracted to him. Yes, he's being a selfish fool by trying to demand concessions for dropping out after being revealed as a rapist. Which is what someone picked by anti-establishment leftists would do. But I want to emphasize that a lot of you, especially allies from Our Revolution, Indivisible, Pod Save America, and other progressives are pretending that y'all weren't zealously pushing this man on the Dems from day one! Platner wasn't the fault of the Democratic establishment. He wasn't the pick of Chuck Schumer or Hakeem Jeffries or the DNC. Their support was tepid and reticent, even after he became the presumptive nominee. No, this was the fault of the anti-establishment crowd who (like with Fetterman) completely failed to listen to those...

December 4, 2023: the Day the Left Died in San Leandro

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(Costanoan by Pastel @  Highway 880 Marina West Exit ) I remember the exact day that the Left in San Leandro died. It was actually a Monday evening downtown at City Hall. There was a city council meeting that night and it was packed. A group of fellow local activists, and even more from outside the community, had organized a protest against the then-recent war in Gaza between Israel and Hamas. The protest erupted into civil disobedience that shut down the city council meeting, before ultimately descending into bigotry and violence. I know because I was there. This post has been a long time coming. Some have repeatedly asked me to share what happened. Just as many would like to pretend nothing happened that night. A few have even threatened me against ever writing about it. But I'd bet that there are also a lot of people who have absolutely no idea what happened. This isn't about spreading salacious stories for social media clout. It's about holding ourselves accountable as...

Political Labels Are For Lovers/Suckers/Bastards/Bigots

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The reason people don't understand me is because my politics are dark and not visible from the outside. I'm not the person you've projected, but someone far, far different.  *** Liberal, Leftist, Progressive. Socialist, Communist, Tankie. Capitalist, Fascist, Nazi. Moderate, Centrist, Shitlib. Democrat, Independent, Republican. Alt-Left, Alt-Right, Fill-in-the-blank. As a Jew, I've always been called whatever was convenient for other people to label me. Hate capitalism? I'm the uber-capitalist. Hate communism? I'm the super communist. Hate liberals? I'm a Democrat party shitlib. Hate conservatives? I'm a moderate Republican. Hate colonizers? Jews are the ultra-colonizers. Hate rootless cosmopolitans? Jews are the biggest globalists of all time. I used to consider myself a leftist. But after October 7, 2023, leftists told me I couldn't be. Because Zionists aren't allowed, which is just another way of saying no Jews allowed. It was on December 4, 2...