2026 Mid-Term Elections

[Derec]

Colorado makes it easy. Gotta love Jena.

Jena is a city is eastern Germany. What's the connection to Colorado?

 

[Derec]

Where is Communism now? There are only 5 surviving Communist countries - China, Vietnam, Laos, Cuba, North Korea - and most of them are now capitalist roaders, to use an old Maoist insult.

Except Cuba and DPRK at least. Don't know enough about the situation in Laos.

But I think that's exactly the problem. The "actually existing" socialist countries of the Eastern Block became capitalist more than 30 years ago. The Millennials (core and baby Millennials in particular) and Zoomers who are so enamored of socialism because it promises them things like rent freezes, cheap groceries and wealth taxes are utterly ignorant of the reality of that economic system. That is most evident when they confuse socialism with Denmark or Sweden.

 

[Derec]

They don't mean literal communism as an economist would define it,

How do you think an economist would define "communism"?
In Marxist theory, "communism" is the utopian end stage of socialism. No country colloquially called "communist" had actually achieved communism. Not the German Democratic Republic. Not the Union of Socialist Soviet Republics. Not the Czechoslovak Socialist Republic. Not even the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia. They were run by communist parties, yes, and communism was the end goal, indeed, but they were all socialist countries, with many of them emphasizing that fact in their official names.

they mean race, gender, and religious equality.

No, they mean primarily the economic system/policies.
But even what is known as "cultural Marxism" is not about equality. It's about extending Marx' conflict theory to other aspects of life than economic classes. Oppressor whites vs. oppressed BIPOC. Oppressor males vs. oppressed females. Oppressor Christians vs. oppressed Muslims. Lately, oppressor cis vs. oppressed trans.
Note how "equality" has all but disappeared from left-wing activist discourse, replaced with "equity".

They know perfectly well that no Democrat is pushing to abolish money or dismantle corporate personhood, even if they say otherwise to confuse fools.

Maybe not yet. But many running in the Democratic Party primaries are members of the DSA which embraces actual socialism, not social democracy. In their constitution, they write openly that they reject "private profit", preferring "economic planning" - reminiscent of planned economies of the actually existing socialist countries - and "equitable distribution". DSA also supports "popular control of resources and production".
The perhaps most powerful DSA politician right now, Zohran Mamdani, explicitly talked about "winning socialism" and achieving the "end goal of seizing the means of production".

I have written about this many times, but each time the apologetics is that they do not really mean it. I call BS on that.

The real fear, for them, is a populist movement to secure European-style vigorous human rights protections.

But that's not socialism. And not everything done in Europe is better than here either - for example US has much more robust protection of free speech than EU countries or the UK.

I really fear that DSA will take over the Democratic Party like MAGA has all but taken over the GOP.
The next big test will be in Michigan next Tuesday. Will sanity prevail among Michiganders? Or will they give the nomination to islamoleftist Abdul?

 

[ZiprHead]

Maybe not yet. But many running in the Democratic Party primaries are members of the DSA which embraces actual socialism, not social democracy. In their constitution, they write openly that they reject "private profit", preferring "economic planning" - reminiscent of planned economies of the actually existing socialist countries - and "equitable distribution". DSA also supports "popular control of resources and production".
The perhaps most powerful DSA politician right now, Zohran Mamdani, explicitly talked about "winning socialism" and achieving the "end goal of seizing the means of production".

I have written about this many times, but each time the apologetics is that they do not really mean it. I call BS on that.

Walk us through exactly how this would be accomplished in the modern USA.

 

[Harry Bosch]

There's something odd about Republicans trying to start another Red Scare. To see why that is, let us look at the previous two Red Scares.

The first one was provoked by the Bolshevik revolutionaries taking over Russia.

The second one was provoked by the Soviet Union imposing Communism on Eastern Europe and Communist revolutionaries taking over China. "Who lost China?" became a big political issue, even if fighting the Chinese Communists would have required a mobilization comparable to fighting World War II.

Where is Communism now? There are only 5 surviving Communist countries - China, Vietnam, Laos, Cuba, North Korea - and most of them are now capitalist roaders, to use an old Maoist insult. If anything, China has converged on Fascism: autocratic rule by a single party with an ideology of belligerent nationalism.

Something odd? Buddy: republicans are playing you! Creating a “red scare” is political gold for republicans. Calling dems who want a bigger safety net socialists or communists is electoral gold. And the left falls for it every single time!

 

[Harry Bosch]

There's something odd about Republicans trying to start another Red Scare. To see why that is, let us look at the previous two Red Scares.

They don't mean literal communism as an economist would define it, they mean race, gender, and religious equality. They know perfectly well that no Democrat is pushing to abolish money or dismantle corporate personhood, even if they say otherwise to confuse fools. The real fear, for them, is a populist movement to secure European-style vigorous human rights protections.

The left wants to win the intellectual argument and be grammatically correct. The right wants to win elections. Nationally, registered dems outnumber republicans by 6 million (last time I saw the numbers). And yet republicans control every single branch of government. It’s depressing!

 

[bilby]

At least our new AI overlords won't be Republicans.

https://www.theregister.com/ai-and-...grok-are-all-a-bunch-of-leftist-punks/5279208

Leading AI models subjected to the Political Compass quiz overwhelmingly landed in the libertarian-left quadrant - even "MechaHitler," aka Grok, managed it in half its runs.

 

[Politesse]

The left wants to win the intellectual argument and be grammatically correct.

This so-called "Leftist" (I have no actual Leftist beliefs) wants to win elections too, but not at the cost of accepting Republican values and projects as the American norm, no. Fuck these honorless traitors. Look around you, and you can see the cost of their perverted ideology all too plainly. Democrats should eschew bad ideas, not try to adopt them halfway in the interest of a securing a profitable truce the other side is not in fact offering.

 

[ZiprHead]

Fuck me sideways.

BREAKING: In a loss for voters, the D.C. Circuit affirmed a lower court ruling upholding parts of Trump's executive order targeting mail voting, including allowing:DHS to build a citizenship registryUSPS to withhold mail ballots from states that don't share voter data with the government

 

[Politesse]

That isn't just a loss for voting rights. That database is itself a serious infringement of our rights as citizens, and will be used to commit further abrogations of our rights the longer it exists. But yes, they will claim that any state they don't like has withheld voter data, a claim which will be difficult and time-consuming to disprove. A large number of us may not be voting this year, even though we thought we had.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

The Court notes that the EO says it has to abide by the Privacy Act of 1974, so that already covers the ground the Plaintiffs were concerned with.

We affirm because, while Plaintiffs have identified a number of serious questions concerning the lawfulness of proposed actions if implemented on the threshold of the upcoming federal election, this case likely is unripe for review in its present posture. See Trump v. New York,141 S. Ct. 530, 535–537 (2020) (per curiam). In particular, Plaintiffs’ request for preliminary relief “is premised on the threatened impact” of the Executive Order after it is implemented and if in violation of federal law. Id. at 535. In addition, the Executive Order, which is not self executing, directs the agencies to act only to “the extent feasible and consistent with applicable law, including but not limited to the Privacy Act of 1974,” and so requires compliance with the very legal limitations about which Plaintiffs are concerned. Exec. Order 14,399 § 2(a); see also id. §§ 3(b)(iv), 4(c), 7(b).

IE, they haven't broken the law... yet.

 

[laughing dog]

In order for the USPS to withhold ballots it must identify them. I think any state could figure out a method to make that difficult.

 

[ZiprHead]

In order for the USPS to withhold ballots it must identify them. I think any state could figure out a method to make that difficult.

I always take my ballots directly to the drop box behind city hall.

 

[crazyfingers]

In order for the USPS to withhold ballots it must identify them. I think any state could figure out a method to make that difficult.

I always take my ballots directly to the drop box behind city hall.

The problem would be getting it in the first place. The fucking scumbag in chief doesn't want the USPS to deliver your ballot to you.

 

[laughing dog]

In order for the USPS to withhold ballots it must identify them. I think any state could figure out a method to make that difficult.

I always take my ballots directly to the drop box behind city hall.

The problem would be getting it in the first place. The fucking scumbag in chief doesn't want the USPS to deliver your ballot to you.

But surely any state could send a ballot that is not easily identified by eye inspection. Is the USPS going to open every piece of mail?

 

[Tigers!]

In order for the USPS to withhold ballots it must identify them. I think any state could figure out a method to make that difficult.

I always take my ballots directly to the drop box behind city hall.

Be careful of the ballot stuffers who may lurk there.

 

[Derec]

Walk us through exactly how this would be accomplished in the modern USA.

Like Mamdani said: by electing more socialists.

The few DSA members were already able to pull the Biden administration significantly to the Left. In the next Congress, there will be many more DSA members. Maybe even a few Senators such as Abdul from Michigan. So the next Democratic president will be under even more pressure. And if somebody from DSA gets elected president, they won't even have to be pressured.

 

[Politesse]

What's the downside?

 

[ZiprHead]

Walk us through exactly how this would be accomplished in the modern USA.

Like Mamdani said: by electing more socialists.

The few DSA members were already able to pull the Biden administration significantly to the Left. In the next Congress, there will be many more DSA members. Maybe even a few Senators such as Abdul from Michigan. So the next Democratic president will be under even more pressure. And if somebody from DSA gets elected president, they won't even have to be pressured.

That's barely a walk through.

It doesn't address the almost innumerable state and federal laws that would have to be changed for you irrational fears to come about.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Walk us through exactly how this would be accomplished in the modern USA.

Like Mamdani said: by electing more socialists.

The few DSA members were already able to pull the Biden administration significantly to the Left. In the next Congress, there will be many more DSA members. Maybe even a few Senators such as Abdul from Michigan. So the next Democratic president will be under even more pressure. And if somebody from DSA gets elected president, they won't even have to be pressured.

This isn't even bordering on paranoia level nonsense. Biden Admin shifted significantly to the Left?

The suburbs won't accept anything with a label of Socialism (big 'S') and General Elections can't be won without the suburbs.