I thought that too and asked as much in DMs but got no response, so either that admin doesn’t check their DMs (are DMs even the right place to appeal a ban?) or it’s intentional.

I mean sure but “how to build the best possible society” and “how to build the best possible capitalist society” are different questions with different answers. The state is/can be superfluous under socialism, but under capitalism it’s an unavoidable arena for fighting over political power, and the less political leadership is paid the more that arena is rigged in favor of the rich. Also you could multiply those hundred million dollars by ten and it’d still be a rounding error in the wider US government budget, so it’s not like that money is actually competing with anything.

Absolutely, 100%. There’s a reason those 17 (???) sanctions packages didn’t hit all at once in February 2022.

I mean things can get damaged in transit or go bad or anything else, so not really. Maybe if everyone in the MCD did so (since 10 to 11 is a ~9% reduction in sales), but if it’s only this guy it’d easily go unnoticed.

It’s not about worth; it’s about opportunity cost. Worse paid people are easier to bribe. It just shouldn’t be possible to buy off people with that much authority with a luxury cruise or a cushy K-street job. You can’t do that with, say, the CCP and it shows.

Even with everything going on in America right now, it definitely doesn’t suppress free speech more than Germany or Britain. I mean the Palestine Action thing is still happening (while Reform gets to yap all day long, mind you).

I mean, the free speech folks have been seriously vindicated by Zionist crackdowns on Palestinian solidarity in post-Oct 2023 Europe, Germany and Britain being the most famous culprits. And it’s not like the far right in either of those countries has been meaningfully impeded by hate speech laws, so why even bother?

I mean between the House and the Senate you’re looking at upwards of 500 people, or ~$200k per person per year. That’s senior software developer money, which if anything is too low for the highest authority of the current global hegemon.

Biden actively pilfered Bernie’s platform after winning the primary, so he was a forward thinking progressive compared to Harris and Hillary. Harris in particular explicitly ran to the right of Biden; she wasn’t exactly subtle about this. Perhaps more importantly, however, he had COVID on his side. Plenty of voters (33% of all voters and 57% of Biden voters) considered competent handling of COVID one of their two most important issues when voting; if COVID hadn’t happened or had happened under Biden’s watch Trump would’ve wiped the floor with him.

True, but you also do run into a “when you have a hammer, everything looks like a nail” problem, especially as investing in the military inevitably empowers people who absolutely would like a war to break out. Doubly so for countries with long histories of imperialism (cough cough France cough). It’s also not like Russia is a conventional military threat; if their performance in Ukraine is any indication present European militaries should be more than enough to wipe the floor with them. He’s also 100% true about military spending taking away funding from worthier causes, and while this isn’t caused by a lack of funds per se (if European countries wanted to they could always tax their ultra-rich) with rising austerity you do get a situation where money is being taken away from social welfare and put into the pockets of the defense industry. It’s not nearly that simple on either side, but there are plenty of valid reasons to oppose militarization. If European countries want to defend themselves they should give more money and weapons to Ukraine, or invest in renewables to cut down on Russian gas, or do any of the hundreds of things they could be doing before selling their souls to the military-industrial complex devil.

There is such a thing as forcing elites to make concessions. Not that I think Americans can or will do it, but it’s a thing.

That’s like saying “diarrhea and shit, the classic combo.” You can’t be nationalist without being at least a little xenophobic.

I mean you also see conservatives vote for people like Boebert and MTG. Misogynists, surprisingly, will reliably prioritize their other ideals over whether to put a woman in power.

I mean it’s fucking obviously the latter? What’s even your point here?

Atheist Zionists aren’t any less insufferable, though.

Because a non-terrible candidate would do popular things they don’t want to do? What even is this question?

Yeah but apparently she later changed her stance. I don’t remember the details but it’s quite recent.

The two women who made credible attempts at becoming president also happened to be utterly terrible politicians, but I’m sure that had nothing to do with the outcome.

If the polls are right we will see a change in governance. If the new boss is willing to prosecute the old boss in January then we start down the road to change.

Yeah like all those other old bosses that got punished… You really buying this after Bush? Hell, you really buying this after Trump’s first term? We’ve seen this movie before.

If they steal an election or try to nullify our voice

Except that’s exactly what they’re doing? If you really had any intention to take those “drastic measures” you (singular and plural) would prepare for them.

You sit there like nothing is happening, passing judgment on a population that has been trying very hard to peacefully change things in order not to start an armed conflict or at the very worst a civil war.

Yelling slogans and going on parades does not change make.

most of us are trying very hard every day to make the change we need.

Most of what you said is a cope of one form or another, but this is probably the biggest cope of them all. In what world is a majority of Americans doing anything about Trump? Hell, in what world does a majority of Americans care enough about any of this to actually do anything about Trump?

So, get fucked, you self righteous twat and let us cook.

I’d like to see some of that cooking first, but y’all can’t even protest on weekdays.

Oh, and last but not least: You are not voting your way out of this.

WTF happened?

The mask came off, more or less. The people getting brutally murdered by American-backed death squads absolutely didn’t and don’t look up to America. Libs see Trump as an anomaly in an otherwise functional system, but really Trump and America is a match made in hell. And to be clear none of this is unique to America; the exact same chickens are coming to roost in most of the West.