Don’t forget futuristic space bartender.

I grew up Catholic and my family was mostly Irish and Italians but I never saw that particular cross. Even Polish people (lots of them here in Chicago) I knew tended to have things like the black madonna or our lady of sorrows.

Also this guy isn’t Polish.

I think the appeal to the far right would be its similarity to the iron cross. When I saw it on the guy, having never seen the Jerusalem cross before despite my catholic background, I honestly thought it was an iron cross.

It’s a bit like people in Europe who wear the confederate flag and when asked claim that they just really like that corny US sitcom from the 70s with an orange car in it. Of course that’s just a plausible cover since overt European fascist or nazi symbols are illegal, so instead they fly the battle flag of a racist slave-state from a different continent.

Privatized public transit:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Arriva

core of US power projection and intelligence gathering

This is what Biden and probably other Washington ghouls think but if Israel is “projecting” American power then to what end? Meaning, what US interests are served? Cheaper oil? That’s our relationship with SA which is potentially hurt by Israel’s behavior (Israel, importantly, has no oil, we’d be better off normalizing with Iran). US bases? We don’t have any bases in Israel, that would be Turkey, Bahrain, etc. Do you think Israel ever considers US interests before acting? If they did historically they definitely do not under Netanyahu.

With regards to intelligence, I am sure that when intelligence is shared it’s done so to craft a narrative that Tel Aviv wants Washington to believe. Also mossad is the most pervasive, aggressive, and successful spy agency in Washington. The flow of information is heavily one-sided.

Liberal never really meant left. Traditionally “liberal” was more an old-timey word for libertarian.

Even more recently “liberal” was just kinda an upper-class socially conscious do gooder who would always be reactionary if they felt personally threatened in any way.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3cdqQ2BdgOA

It was extremely obvious that he was going to be. He was Pelosi’s pick.

Several theories:

1. Epstein was mossad. There are a lot of tapes with a lot of people.

2. Lots of Zionist billionaires: America is a plutocracy that acts on their behalf

3. Some sort of “great game” calculus of keeping a client state for regional instability (Biden apparently believes this based on old speeches)

4. Biden in particular has a melted brain. Many people have pointed out that Reagan was tougher on Israel than Biden has been. Reagan would set red lines and then say “you will comply.”

Ezra Klein’s picture is in the dictionary next to the “neoliberal” entry.

Right before the election he was on a Bloomberg podcast doing a premature endzone dance promoting Kamala’s suburbs-and-cheney strategy. The Bloomberg person asked about unions and Ezra pretty much said there should be consequences for the Teamsters not endorsing her after Biden ‘bailed out their pension.’

History has misjudged Jeffery Sachs according to… Jeffery Sachs!

Let’s be real, he’s the main guy pushing the “NATO expansion” theory of Russian aggression everywhere, and it exists mainly to cover for his own crimes.

What’s more likely: that Russian revanchism came from anger over some arcane treaty negotiations, or that it came from the absolute collapse in material condition, civil society, population, daily lived experience and life expectancy that Russians experienced as Sachs and his evil clients dismantled the once-great civilization for their own enrichment? What do you think Marx’s assessment of those two theories would be?

Sachs is a bag man. He helped the oligarchs destroy Russia and then he made himself useful to the new ruler when they were gone. He also spends a lot of time in Beijing and has a lot of good things to say about Xi as well. The guy’s a serpent.

Democrats responded:

Jeffrey Sachs

Lol. Neoliberal wrecking crew turned autocrat’s errand boy.

https://www.reuters.com/world/us/biden-signs-bill-block-us-railroad-strike-2022-12-02/

The U.S. Senate voted 80 to 15 on Thursday to impose a tentative contract deal reached in September on a dozen unions representing 115,000 workers, who could have gone on strike on Dec. 9. But the Senate failed to approve a measure that would have provided paid sick days to railroad workers.

“It was tough for me but it was the right thing to do at the moment – save jobs, to protect millions of working families from harm and disruption and to keep supply chains stable around the holidays,” Biden said, adding the deal avoided “an economic catastrophe.”

Yeah the best way to discourage a revanchist is to give him what he wants. Succeeding in Ukraine will definitely convince Putin not to attack the baltics, poland, or finland.

Kamala and Biden both tried to appeal to Unions, defending them

Remember when Biden stood up for the railroad workers? Me neither.

I wasn’t going to vote for Biden but I decided I’d hold my nose and vote for her, even after the whole Gaza thing at the convention.

But then she started palling around with Dick fucking Cheney.

I saw this as the supposed plan:

per WSJ: It may propose delaying Ukraine’s NATO membership for 20 years, establishing a 1,200 km demilitarized zone along the current front line, and leaving 20% of occupied Ukrainian territory under Russian control—while the U.S. would continue arms support under these conditions.

The problem is, this isn’t an acceptable plan according to Russia. Russia has insisted that:

1. Ukraine retreats from all of the oblasts that are currently partially occupied by Russia (Donetsk, Luhansk, Zaporizhia, and Kherson) as well as giving up claims to Crimea, and Russia takes ownership of everything without a fight
2. Ukraine’s army is demobilized and Ukraine is demilitarized
3. Ukraine is banned from joining any international organization, not just NATO (so no EU for instance)
4. Ukraine receives no more military aid fro the west.

Trump is going to find out that you can’t unilaterally declare peace.

There was a great book on Biden called “Yesterdays Man”. Biden’s political career began as a racist (anti-bussing) and tough on crime. Other than that he was a typical democrat for his era.

Bibi has way more on Trump than Putin does. Epstein was mossad.

If only Americans had voted for the party that was going to fix climate change…