Key Takeaway: The author concludes that a genuine fight against imperialism and capitalism requires “internationalism from below”—prioritizing mutual support among people rather than blind loyalty to geopolitical blocs or states.

That’s a good place to start. At the same time, I see blind antagonism towards geopolitical blocs and states as an equally large stumbling block. As a case in point, the liberal politicians, pundits, and their hangers-on who insist “Beating Hamas” justifies any amount of violence within Israel’s zone of interest. Or the BlueMAGA types who insist “Russian Disinformation” is behind every critique of their insider candidates. Or the endless appeal to “We have to beat CHINA!” by AI Hawks.

The “I don’t trust you because you don’t hate the people I hate” quickly becomes thought-terminating and internally destructive. The very use of the term “Tankie” as the article describes goes back to fracturing the British Left over an issue they had very little actual control over. And we see this pattern repeated with left-leaning Christians v Atheists, left-leaning environmental groups, and left-leaning civil rights groups.

At some point, you have to recognize that you are living in the here and now, with people in your immediate vicinity who have absolutely no influence over international conflict zones on the other side of the planet. And if your knee-jerk reaction to hearing someone say “Well, Ukraine is full of Nazis, so I don’t see what Russia did wrong” or “Actually, I hope Iran kicks America’s shit in” is “I can’t work with this person, because they’re friendly with state fascists (on the opposite side of the earth)”, you’re never going to manage local organizing much less international organizing.

Political opinions and views only get wilder once you step outside your own city, state, and country.

Benedict Arnold

I mean, the smell alone would be pretty horrible

I mean, set aside the slavery politics for just a minute, because that’s low hanging fruit.

Imagine showing Thomas Jefferson the Hoover Dam. Imagine introducing Thomas Paine to the internet. Imagine George Washington’s face illuminated by a mushroom cloud. How fucking dumb do you think Benedict Arnold would feel if you dropped him onto the deck of a US Aircraft Carrier. How flabbergasted would James Madison feel if you explained that we literally call it the “White House”, because we never changed the color after the British burned it down. What do you think Patrick Henry would have to say about Social Security?

FFS,

Short answer, “No”.

Long answer, “No, you still owe me for the last order. I’m not giving you any more freebies.”

Short Kings Rise Up

That sealion is receiving the best oral sex of her life.

It’s $5 for a dozen cubes to put into a glass that cost $20 full of booze that cost $200.

In America, it is illegal to leave the car.

You travel in the car. You sleep in the car. You shit in the car. You are born in the car. You die in the car. If you leave the car, they run you over

Filtered, whatever.

Hard water isn’t great for fancy ice cubes

The real question is why does anyone think this is what they need in life.

Sometimes you want to entertain and square ice cubes are a nice touch

Square ice cubes made with clarified water are a real pain to make at home unless you have all the tools

If you like to entertain, it’s much easier to just buy the cubes and store them in the fridge.

the US has a miniscule amount of green energy, and its not increasing in proportion to fossil fuels

In 2023, petroleum remained the most-consumed fuel in the United States, as it has been for the past 73 years, and renewables exceeded coal for the first time in about 140 years.

…

Electricity generation from zero-carbon sources such as wind and solar has increased rapidly in recent years. In 2022, U.S. energy consumption from renewable sources surpassed that from nuclear for the first time since 1984. U.S. nuclear energy consumption began in the late 1950s and has remained fairly constant since the early 2000s.

:-/

I wouldn’t write off all of public education based on one Reddit post

Has anyone been really thirsty while you’re wandering through the desert and your HeadBot tells you that there’s water on the horizon but it’s just more sand?

Really need someone to patch this issue.

The US is going all in on the doomed oil and coal economy

It’s not. The U.S. adds approximately 40 GW of new renewable energy capacity per year, with 27 GW of that in solar and 6 GW in Wind. Over 90% of newly added grid capacity is green, largely thanks to the speed and scale of clean energy expansion relative to alternatives.

Where the US sucks is in retiring older facilities in order to cut emissions over time. We’re just producing an enormous energy glut. The carbon we emit is plateauing, but it’s never going to decline on these terms.

Imagine if america built solar panels instead of bomb negotiation.