I liked a lot of what McElwee was saying - probably surprising no one - but this is the part that concerns me:
if three years from now Data for Progress has not enacted its vision, has not exercised itself upon the world and its ideas on the world, then we will have failed and we should stop doing this.”
Wasn’t that self-imposed timeline a little quick for broad political change to happen, I asked.
“We’re all going to fucking die of climate change,” McElwee shot back. “We have to accelerate, accelerate, accelerate.”
There's still a lot of people who would love to die of climate change in a hundred years, instead of being shot by police, dying of hunger, etc, and it's concerning if people are going to go away if they don't get their way in three years.
― Frederik B, Wednesday, 23 January 2019 11:22 (five years ago) link
Calling yourself an "Overton window mover" is some straight up delusions of grandeur shit.Unrelated, but if you're taking the pulse of the new US left and consulting Paul Krugman but no one from (for example) the major chunk of DSA not interested in reforming the Dems, that's pretty fucking weak imho
― resident hack (Simon H.), Wednesday, 23 January 2019 11:31 (five years ago) link
I'm pretty sure she's not including Krugman as being among the new US left. Might have overlooked that connection, but I don't think it's there.
― Frederik B, Wednesday, 23 January 2019 12:08 (five years ago) link
And the fact that Krugman is thinking about plans to nationalize 25% of the economy is a pretty great indication of the impact the new left has had, imo.
― Frederik B, Wednesday, 23 January 2019 12:09 (five years ago) link
i sorta get grifter vibes from McElwee, but he's followed by some good people not that necessarily means anything
― anvil, Wednesday, 23 January 2019 12:12 (five years ago) link
I've seen ppl outright call him a grifter but imo that term implies malice/forethought, imo he's just an activist who got a little media + politician love and let it get to his head (inadvertently minimizing the work of a hell of a lot of other people while he's at it)
and no the piece doesn't lump in Krugman with them, it does something even more annoying and turns to him to say "hmm maybe the mainstream political spectrum IS too limited huh" as though that's not something he could have started doing something about a long fuckin' time ago if he really cared that much about it, and as if tons of ppl haven't been screaming this at the NYT and every other mainstream outlet about their biases for a million years
― resident hack (Simon H.), Wednesday, 23 January 2019 12:40 (five years ago) link
Yeah, exactly. Which is why it's such a good example to show how the new left has succeeded where others has failed?
― Frederik B, Wednesday, 23 January 2019 12:56 (five years ago) link
idk I just don't think persuading Krugman of the value of our ideas is a super useful measurement of impact
― resident hack (Simon H.), Wednesday, 23 January 2019 12:59 (five years ago) link
Fair enough. I do.
― Frederik B, Wednesday, 23 January 2019 13:00 (five years ago) link
this is goodhttps://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2019/jan/23/emmanuel-macron-presidency-gilets-jaunes?CMP=Share_iOSApp_Other
― illegal economic migration (Tracer Hand), Wednesday, 23 January 2019 17:51 (five years ago) link
AFA International President Sara Nelson accepted the 2019 AFL-CIO MLK Drum Major for Justice Award, with a call to conference activists from across the Labor Movement to talk with their union leadership about conducting a General Strike to end the Government Shutdown.
look i'm corny as fuck but i teared up at this:
Now listen to me… We can end this Shutdown together.Federal sector unions have their hands full caring for the 800,000 federal workers who are at the tip of the spear. Some would say the answer is for them to walk off the job. I say, “what are you willing to do? Their destiny IS tied up with our destiny – and they don’t even have time to ask us for help. Don’t wait for an invitation. Get engaged, join or plan a rally, get on a picket line, organize sit-ins at lawmakers’ offices.Almost a million workers are locked out or being forced to work without pay. Others are going to work when our workspace is increasingly unsafe. What is the Labor Movement waiting for?Go back with the Fierce Urgency of NOW to talk with your Locals and International unions about all workers joining together - To End this Shutdown with a General Strike.We can do this. Together. Si se puede. Every gender, race, culture, and creed. The American Labor Movement. We have the power.
Federal sector unions have their hands full caring for the 800,000 federal workers who are at the tip of the spear. Some would say the answer is for them to walk off the job. I say, “what are you willing to do? Their destiny IS tied up with our destiny – and they don’t even have time to ask us for help. Don’t wait for an invitation. Get engaged, join or plan a rally, get on a picket line, organize sit-ins at lawmakers’ offices.
Almost a million workers are locked out or being forced to work without pay. Others are going to work when our workspace is increasingly unsafe. What is the Labor Movement waiting for?
Go back with the Fierce Urgency of NOW to talk with your Locals and International unions about all workers joining together - To End this Shutdown with a General Strike.
We can do this. Together. Si se puede. Every gender, race, culture, and creed. The American Labor Movement. We have the power.
https://www.afacwa.org/fierce_urgency_of_now
― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Thursday, 24 January 2019 02:48 (five years ago) link
thank you. i emailed my AFT rep about it. who to email at AFL-CIO?
― the late great, Thursday, 24 January 2019 04:58 (five years ago) link
hell yeah
― resident hack (Simon H.), Thursday, 24 January 2019 05:07 (five years ago) link
also i would like to lol @ the bureacratically oriented invitation to "conference activists from across the Labor Movement to talk with their union leadership about conducting a General Strike"
― BIG HOOS aka the steendriver, Thursday, 24 January 2019 19:26 (five years ago) link
The (literal) money quote from Bill De Blasio in this interview; "If you're not willing to say we need to tax the wealthy more, you're not a part of the Democratic Party anymore." https://t.co/kFSg0rpljE— Dave Weigel (@daveweigel) February 12, 2019
― 𝔠𝔞𝔢𝔨 (caek), Tuesday, 12 February 2019 23:33 (five years ago) link
haven't listened to this yet but will later.
venerable marxist prof emeritus Robert Brenner talks about the US Economy on Jacobin Radio with Suzi Weissman
https://www.blubrry.com/jacobin/41771287/robert-brenner-on-the-state-of-the-economy/
― ( ͡☉ ͜ʖ ͡☉) (jim in vancouver), Wednesday, 13 February 2019 19:44 (five years ago) link
nice
Not sure where to slot this exactly, but Tim Faust has a new M4A primer
https://splinternews.com/the-only-guide-to-medicare-for-all-that-you-will-ever-n-1832594853
― bhad bundy (Simon H.), Thursday, 14 February 2019 19:44 (five years ago) link
that link is clarifying a ton of stuff for me, simon, thank you.
― |Restore| |Restart| |Quit| (Doctor Casino), Thursday, 14 February 2019 21:22 (five years ago) link
Siri, show me the Overton Window moving: https://t.co/KD0dWlIvKh— Michael T Sweeney (@mtsw) February 16, 2019
― 𝔠𝔞𝔢𝔨 (caek), Sunday, 17 February 2019 19:27 (five years ago) link
is there a good explainer of the ADOS movement/hashtag anywhere? google is failing me
― bhad bundy (Simon H.), Monday, 4 March 2019 16:45 (five years ago) link
America Dunks On Sunken?
― moose; squirrel (silby), Monday, 4 March 2019 17:12 (five years ago) link
american descendants of slaves. reparations. can't find much about it from a cursory search
― ( ͡☉ ͜ʖ ͡☉) (jim in vancouver), Monday, 4 March 2019 18:25 (five years ago) link
https://socialistworker.org/2019/03/22/nothing-can-be-changed-until-it-is-faced
― Simon H., Friday, 22 March 2019 14:56 (five years ago) link
Oh no anything but that
Just received approval from the House for the formation of the Anti-Socialism Caucus. This caucus will defend individual liberty & free markets and highlight the dark history of socialism.— Rep. Chris Stewart (@RepChrisStewart) April 3, 2019
― Glower, Disruption & Pies (kingfish), Thursday, 4 April 2019 00:36 (five years ago) link
nice corrective to the NYMag piece on Brooklyn socialists, interviewing DSA folks in Iowa
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2019/04/democratic-socialism-surging-iowa-ahead-2020/586441/
Also, a bunch of socialists won election to city council in Chicago:
https://chicago.suntimes.com/news/democratic-socialists-america-city-council-dsa-rodriguez-sanchez/
― Simon H., Friday, 5 April 2019 13:53 (five years ago) link
The 2018 GSS was just released and there's some big news. Those of "no religion" (23.1%) are statistically the same size as evangelicals (22.8%). There was also a small resurgence of mainline Protestants, while Catholics are down 3% in the last four years. pic.twitter.com/uiyDSe7M6f— Ryan Burge 📊 (@ryanburge) March 20, 2019
― 𝔠𝔞𝔢𝔨 (caek), Wednesday, 10 April 2019 03:25 (five years ago) link
glad to see the surge in "no religion"
― Dan S, Wednesday, 10 April 2019 03:31 (five years ago) link
Other than evangelicals, who track very closely to anti-abortion politics, I'm not sure whether any of the other religious categories called out in that survey correlate very closely to right or left wing politics.
― A is for (Aimless), Wednesday, 10 April 2019 03:35 (five years ago) link
sure. and the surge in "no religion" predates the more recent left wing drift we're talking about on this thread as i understand it.
but the size/progress of this trend was news to me, and pretty much guarantees a left/center drift assuming your defn of left/center includes social attitudes (perhaps a little quaint these days).
― 𝔠𝔞𝔢𝔨 (caek), Wednesday, 10 April 2019 05:05 (five years ago) link
is this praxis
https://external-preview.redd.it/CtqO236_Nua4TOf7H5-e67xdJAXV4r4eamG8tYX1k1Y.png?width=432&auto=webp&s=4a8f29bfe3fdd0d168540bfe9796f84e07640bc5
― arli$$ and bible black (bizarro gazzara), Thursday, 11 April 2019 13:24 (five years ago) link
There Is A Spectre Haunting My Ass
― Simon H., Thursday, 11 April 2019 13:43 (five years ago) link
Lack of shirtless, ripped Marx is truly disappointing.
― Mario Meatwagon (Moodles), Thursday, 11 April 2019 13:44 (five years ago) link
― Simon H., Thursday, April 11, 2019 3:43 PM (two minutes ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink
Lmao
― Uptown VONC (Le Bateau Ivre), Thursday, 11 April 2019 13:45 (five years ago) link
seize the means of production and do 100 reps with it
repeat until ripped
― arli$$ and bible black (bizarro gazzara), Thursday, 11 April 2019 13:46 (five years ago) link
Conquested In The Butt By My Billionaire Anthropomorphic Loaf Of Bread
― they're not booing you, sir, they're shouting "Boot Edge Edge" (Will M.), Thursday, 11 April 2019 15:57 (five years ago) link
I wish people would understand how counterproductive it is to deny or downplay this stuff
https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/inside-the-russian-effort-to-target-sanders-supporters--and-help-elect-trump/2019/04/11/741d7308-5576-11e9-8ef3-fbd41a2ce4d5_story.html
"Russian employees at the Internet Research Agency were given a document explaining how to influence the U.S. election. The workers were told to “use any opportunity to criticize Hillary and the rest (except Sanders and Trump — we support them),” according to Mueller’s indictment of the Russians."
― Dan I., Friday, 12 April 2019 14:51 (five years ago) link
On the denial/downplaying side (I'm paywalled for WaPo atm so can't assess one vs the other)
https://www.carlbeijer.com/2019/04/the-flimsy-case-for-russias-role-in.html
― Simon H., Friday, 12 April 2019 14:59 (five years ago) link
I agree that the efficacy is impossible to fully gauge. After Warren, I think Bernie's the best 2020 candidate out there, and I think it's going to be really interesting to see what happens if it starts to look like he's going to win the nomination. I suspect there will be an apparent collapse of his support among the far left--all of a sudden people will be taking Gravel's "joke" candidacy very seriously, and saying that Bernie's a capitalist sell-out for reasons X, Y, and Z, and so they would never be willing to vote for him.
― Dan I., Friday, 12 April 2019 15:26 (five years ago) link
And I think it's maladaptive to not take seriously the idea that shifts like that might not be organic.
― Dan I., Friday, 12 April 2019 15:28 (five years ago) link
I don't foresee that happening at all, even if Gravel makes it to the debate stage and manages to not sound like a 90-year-old quack. (Two big Ifs.) He hasn't even managed the 65k donation threshold yet AFAIK. The biggest threat to Sanders is Warren, who's been much more consistent in offering substantive legislation, but she hasn't been picking up support yet.
― Simon H., Friday, 12 April 2019 15:31 (five years ago) link
The gravel thing is just an example of an astroturfed message that the Left is more vulnerable to if they deny the possibility of being subjected to propaganda. It could just as easily be a heavy push on the "change never happens at the ballot box" message or any number of other things.
― Dan I., Friday, 12 April 2019 15:38 (five years ago) link
I could imagine Bernie's support eroding if he seems poised to capture the nomination and honestly if I were a Bernie supporter (I'm not - he's near the bottom of my list of preferred candidates) I'd be concerned about him getting the nomination. He's a great protest candidate but seems like a potential disaster for the left as an actual nominee or President (whereas Warren who is at the top of my list I think could actually make good on the left-wing agenda).
― Mordy, Friday, 12 April 2019 15:40 (five years ago) link
Ben Burgis went on Dave Smith’s show yesterday, and it was a rare case when you have an actual Marxist Professor debating an actual AnCap on Taxation as Theft. It goes more congenial than one would expect.
https://youtu.be/nqbglf3KRlo
― Glower, Disruption & Pies (kingfish), Friday, 12 April 2019 21:04 (five years ago) link
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nqbglf3KRlo
― Glower, Disruption & Pies (kingfish), Friday, 12 April 2019 21:05 (five years ago) link
Why the attack on Highlander matters:
https://www.thenation.com/article/highlander-attack-arson-racism/
― Lil' Brexit (Tracer Hand), Saturday, 13 April 2019 21:31 (five years ago) link
Finally having an organizing meeting for a local chapter of the Tech Workers Collective this weekend, let’s see how it goes
― Glower, Disruption & Pies (kingfish), Friday, 26 April 2019 03:29 (five years ago) link
That’s great, Kingfish!
― Leaghaidh am brón an t-anam bochd (dowd), Friday, 26 April 2019 06:21 (five years ago) link
― Mordy,
Can you go into a bit more detail on this? I am a Bernie supporter, so what interests me most is good/persuasive takes that he shouldn't be. There's a lot packed into this post, so i think i have three questions
1) Why would his support erode if he got the nomination?2) Why would he be a disaster as nominee?3) Why would he be a disaster as president?
― anvil, Friday, 26 April 2019 06:48 (five years ago) link
my thought when i wrote that post is that a lot of what ppl like about bernie don't seem to be attributes that suggest success in governing. they like that he's antagonistic and critical of the dem party but if he wins the nom he's going to need the wide support of that party to win the election. they like that he wants a political revolution but his supposed plan for governing (generate a mass mobilization of protestors that force ppl like senate republicans to pass legislation) seems very unlikely to me. once he's in office he'll have trouble enough shepherding his own party where some of the party will be openly hostile (cf corbyn labour), and it'll be even harder to get republicans in line which will be necessary even if he did have a full support of the dem party. there are options for getting around that as well (like ending the filibuster) but he seems totally unwilling to consider them. so if he did win it would be with a divided dem party, a recalcitrant republican party. much of his agenda relies on radical new legislation but if it plays out like this he'll be limited to executive orders. one could easily imagine a scenario where he's a complete disappointment and ineffective president which ultimately sets back the leftist agenda. (by contrast Warren i think has more of these transactional skills, she at least seems willing to get rid of the filibuster, she seems to have a good handle on what kind of policy is necessary and what will be effective.) i have no faith that bernie has either the disposition or intelligence for POTUS - but i think he's great for organizing people and exciting people so it's not like he's a bad person just imo unsuited for this particular job. so i could imagine if it seems like he's going to win ppl starting to notice these areas of concern. as long as he's primarily about registering a protest ppl may (huge caveat here that i could be super wrong and ppl will just get really fired up at this point but at the time i wrote that post -- and iirc without scrolling back up i was responding to someone or somepeople making a similar claim?) be willing to overlook what seem like terrible flaws but once he's going to be the nominee and/or actual president the same skills don't apply and the risk of the venture might become more apparent.
― Mordy, Friday, 26 April 2019 15:41 (five years ago) link
i don't like trump is like bernie comparisons bc trump is a liar, criminal and bigot and bernie is not but they both have styles of "leadership" where i think it'll be a big struggle to "get stuff done." the press will be extremely critical, i don't get the sense bernie knows how to hire good employees, that it's hard for him to listen to others, hard to run a large organization, he'll be fighting his own party, he'll be fighting the opposition, and his entire plan (a critical mass of protestors) is a fantasy. i think one of the reliefs of the trump era is how incompetent he has turned out to be about exercising his will - he's been incapable of marshaling the tools and power of the presidency to enact the kind of changes he wants and that's been a blessing. but bernie might struggle in similar ways and if you're a bernie supporter that might not be quite the same sort of blessing to see him flounder and fight a dozen different enemies while his legislative wishlist languishes.
― Mordy, Friday, 26 April 2019 15:48 (five years ago) link