CleverOleg [he/him]

The resistance operations carried out by Hamas, while brave, are not near what is needed to push back on Israel given the extent of what is planned under Gideon’s Chariots.

Perhaps I’m being overly optimistic, but it’s worth mentioning that Qassam et al are still carrying out operations against the IOF in these zones, even though this gets zero coverage in the media (I know you know this, just mentioning it for everyone). Is it enough to stop Gideon’s Chariots? I don’t know. But if I again want to find something optimistic to hold on to, it’s not like the IOF didn’t give their all back before the ceasefire. The IOF made a huge effort to destroy the Resistance and were not able to. Can Gideon’s Chariots be THAT much more intense compared to when “Israel” tried and failed to achieve their objectives?

I distinctly remember a John Stossel (American libertarian talking head) special about capitalism and socialism, must’ve been close to 20 years ago. But there was this brief segment of it where he interviewed a socialist politician (they didn’t say Kerala specifically but they said “this state has been run by communists for years” so I assume it was Kerala). Stossel said something about you are poor (referring to generalized Indian poverty) because of your “stupid system”. Nice to see another libertarian dummy getting proven wrong yet again. Many such cases.

Some positive US news… SCOTUS delivered a split 4-4 decision on whether or not state funds can be used to support religious charter schools. The split decision means the lower court’s decision to not allow this will stand.

Charter schools are private schools within the public schools system. They tend to be for-profit secular schools that sidestep unionized teachers and pay less in order to profit. And this drains resources from public schools. Religious nuts have long targeted public schools because they think it’s “unfair” to have to pay taxes for schools and then pay tuition at their little religious indoctrination schools.

I’m genuinely worried about this. PSL is so based and they’ve been growing and doing great work, but if the feds come after them with everything they’ve got it would be tough for any org in that position.

I’ve mentioned before on an older account, but from around 2013-2016 I spent an inordinate amount of time lurking on Stormfront - not Reddit, I mean the real Stormfront. It was fascinating, I just couldn’t believe people openly talked about such horrible things. I felt like a scientist in a lab.

I’m grateful for this experience as I feel it really gave me insight into what are now dogwhistles today.

And back in the day, there was so much crap there about “white genocide” and South Africa. They loved the all-white (but not technically, wink wink it’s about language not race…) town Orania. Such obvious bullshit but the racists just ate it up.

So to now see what was a fringe but open white supremacist talking point be parroted by the president of the US… I don’t know it’s just a bizarre scene for me. The fact that Musk repeats all this and is likely the source feeding Trump tells me he is waaaay more racist than he shows.

The US government could simply retire debt when it comes due, and not issue new debt. The only effect this would have would likely be asset price inflation, as former bondholders would need somewhere to park their cash. But I personally feel kind of indifferent about that, if that’s the cost of no longer having to make interest payments (and not having to hear liberals complain about the “debt”).

I don’t believe that the US is legally allowed to retire debt ahead of maturity but if they are then the debt could be 100% retired instantly, with the effect being the aforementioned asset price inflation.

MMT shows how governments do not NEED to issue debt, it is a choice made in order to manage interest rates and to give a subsidy to the rich - who at least in the case of US Treasuries, have a functionally risk-free asset that pays better than saving cash in a bank.

Does anyone have a single source that’s compiled all of Biden’s evil statements and actions w/r/t Gaza?

Israeli military announces beginning of widescale ground offensive in Gaza

The operation involves forces from the military’s Southern Command, operating on the ground in both northern and southern Gaza, according to a statement.

The ground forces are supported by Israel’s air force.

As we’ve been reporting, Israel’s attacks on Gaza have killed at least 135 people today.

https://aje.io/klape0?update=3718420

This is allegedly the beginning of “Gideon’s Chariot”.

Makes me think of that line Walter has in Breaking Bad: “You know what leverage is, right? You don’t have it…”

Of all the books you’ve mentioned, personally I only read Meiksins Wood’s book but I will say I enjoyed reading it and got a lot out of it. I do jive with her approach that “capitalism” begins when you have a certain set of social relations. It really helps differentiate when you have simple markets and when you have capitalist production.

I think on some level Americans know that AI will only be used to replace their jobs and increase profits for capital.

Lol Trump’s gonna turn that down flat. America is evil but Europe is just pathetic. Trump cares about the trade deficit and lowering all barriers basically does nothing compared to the old status quo, which had very little barriers to trade. This is like a kid who walks into a candy store, sees a lollipop, asks how much it is and in response pulls out a rubber ball, a leaf, and a frog and says “I have this much is that enough?”