Nobody is confused about the fact that Netanyahu is giving the orders, but Biden kept sending cash and weapons (in violation of US law), kept participating in the coverup, and joined the chorus trying to frame anti-genocide protesters as antisemitic. I’m sure he has some stern words for Netanyahu, but that’s not pressure. Biden ought to be in prison. He’s lucky to just have a nickname.

In 2016 Bernie we was running as an issue candidate. Nobody, including Bernie expected him to become a serious contender against the anointed one. He came far closer than expected, close enough for Hillary to never quit whining about it. There is also no such thing as “close” in a primary because once the media declared a winner, the remaining states all avalanche to the expected nominee.

It’s hilarious that you think Carter and Bernie are all that similar. Carter was the first of the neoliberal Democrats. He had integrity, unlike the Democrats to follow, and he was solidly non-interventionist, but that’s pretty much where the similarities end. Carter never had the popularity that Bernie has maintained for over a decade. No Democrat since FDR can match that.

‘This must be Thursday,’ said Arthur to himself, sinking low over his beer. ‘I never could get the hang of Thursdays.’

With many thousands of state and local elections across the country, I do agree that there have to be niche circumstances where a third party strategy works, or might even be best. Even so, I just don’t see that as something that can be built on to ever start winning at a national level.

Even in the case of Bernie, he runs on an “independent” brand, but it’s understood that he is a Democrat.

There is no doing it the hard way. That’s an adolescent fantasy. The wealthy will just coop any such movement to gain even more control.

Winning has to start with massive reform of American culture, and the wealthy have just consolidated control over social media, making it even harder to reach people. The one thing we have going for us is that the US seems to finally understand that the system is broken.

The US is hardly unique in this. Every nation has a closet full of skeletons, and there is a lot of evil happening in the world today that isn’t the fault of the US.

The inevitable outcome I was referring to was the rise of fascism, and it became inevitable the moment we didn’t take the historic opportunity to overthrow neoliberal control of the Democratic party. That was the window to a better world, and we missed it. A Bernie presidency would never have bowed to Israel and genocide.

It has to be a takeover of the Democratic party. Third party strategies are non-starters in a first past the post election system.

I think your assessment is 100% correct.

Yeah! So we should vote in fascism!

Is that what I said? Anyone who voted for Trump did something they “shouldn’t”. Anyone who stayed home did something they shouldn’t. Israel shouldn’t have done a genocide. Biden shouldn’t have supported Israel in committing a genocide. Yeah!?

I’m just adding that Democratic voters shouldn’t have nominated Biden in 2020. Fascist victory became inevitable because of that mistake. The particulars of losing this election are almost irrelevant. If it wasn’t Trump, it would be someone else. If it wasn’t 2024, then it would be 2028.

The Democratic strategy of being marginally less shitty than Republicans is predicated on the assumption that voters will consistently make the most rational decisions in all circumstances. That was a dumb assumption and one that should die with this election. It’s not good enough to be marginally less enthusiastic about supporting a genocide.

That’s just human nature. If Democrats can’t take that into account in their campaign plans, then they deserve to lose. If Democratic voters keep nominating uninspiring milquetoast neoliberals, then we deserve to lose too.

This outcome belongs to anyone who voted to nominate Biden in 2020, just as much as it belongs to anyone who didn’t show up in 2024. The first outcome was always going to lead to the second. It was totally predictable (and predicted).

Too lazy to assemble a complete thought so someone might know what the fuck you’re talking about?

I’d sure be happy if we were just starting Bernie’s second term. With third way neoliberalism still firmly in control of the Democrats, an eventual fall to fascists was inevitable. It just happened to be this election.

This might come off as funny if it weren’t for the fact that “genocide Joe” is entirely fair.

After literal decades of trying to convince the Democratic establishment that being marginally better than the fascists isn’t “good enough”, I don’t personally have much tolerance for scolding voters. Maybe this election could have been won, but the eventual outcome was inevitable. Neoliberalism is woefully incapable of restraining fascism.

If you can’t organize a political movement, you definitely can’t organize a revolution. Also, if history is a guide, the people with wealth tend to end up in power after a revolution.

Run for office, or find someone worthy and get behind their run. Don’t worry about Republicans for now,vee have to defeat the Democratic establishment before we will have the ability to fight Republicans.

The word fascism is rarely overused, people just don’t understand that fascism is the most common political ideology in the western world. People think that fascism only applies to jack booted thugs and concentration camps when it is really just banal bigotry and arrogant incompetence.

That’s not a new war. It’s the war behind all the other wars.

What’s not clear cut about the wet market theory? Do you know why native Americans were devastated by European diseases, while Europeans had no such problem with any native American diseases? It’s because Europeans lived in crowded cities in close proximity to livestock. Almost every historical epidemic can be traced back to “wet market” theories. Viruses can swap genes and do so frequently when infections from different species come into contact - especially in crowded conditions where bodily fluids are present, like in a meat market.

If a conspiracy theory is true, it’s just a conspiracy. What makes a conspiracy theory isn’t the potential conspiracy, it’s the insane lengths people will go to believe them. The simple explanation is the virus evolved in exactly the same ways other viruses have evolved throughout all of history.

There are far more detailed arguments that could be made but, frankly, I don’t see the point. If you are interested in reality than the information is freely available. If not, then nothing I say will matter.

The theory was downplayed from the start because it was unlikely, then later because evidence pointed another way. Maybe some did call or a conspiracy theory then too. In today’s world it was a damn good bet that it would become one, so maybe they jumped the gun. It sure is one now.

Gosh, it’s so sus that a virology lab in a location where a virus of concern is most commonly found was studying said virus. I mean what possible explanation could there be? It has to be a vast global conspiracy!

When you’re down to the “wake up sheeple” arguments, it’s pretty clear the discussion has run it’s course.

Fauci made the mistake of being nuanced with conspiracy theorists who are not interested in actually understanding anything. While it’s not inherently a conspiracy theory to consider a lab link possible, it is absolutely a conspiracy theory to dismiss a scientific consensus that spans scientists from dozens of countries and across the political spectrum.

And yeah, you can find “scientists” who disagree, just like you can find scientists who think it was engineered by aliens. A handful of crackpots don’t invalidate broad scientific consensus.