Everything is Political

[St. Gloede]

I'm not in the US, so I don't have to be a cynic. I am deeply worried about the way our Labour party has been moving towards liberalism, as well as the rise of our centre/centre-left agrarian party - which may swing politics further right even if the left win. My main worry is that we will not continue to create publicly owned companies in the new economy, and lose our high ownership share in the economy - as opposed to increasing it - but that is a very different conversation.

There is also a very different political culture here, where I don't think our Conservative Party is actively trying to murder Norwegians for profit, etc. Yes, I am highly sceptical of their motives, and there is an insidious (and open) agenda of weakening workers rights and pay (which I find abhorrent - but nowhere close to the US situation). I am actually fairly happy, comparatively, that we have the right-wing we do. The Liberal Party (which to be fair is the smaller, more progressive junior partner to the Conservatives), even pushed legalizing marijuana and placing it under a public monopoly (which I have been arguing for years). No one is speaking up against the unions, everyone respects the authority and power of LO and the Syndicate Congress - in general - from a comparison analysis perspective - I am very happy with where we are.

The issue with US, and UK, Germany, etc. is that the push right globally always affects the smaller countries, like us, and that we need to (especially being in EEA) adjust to their economic activity - or at least open for this - the alternative is losing out on trade - and this means we always need to participate in the race to the bottom.

[kanafani]

Sounds wonderful.

I guess it's not so bad for me either. If things in the US keep getting worse, I can always go back to Lebanon. Oh wait...

[Holymanm]

this team truly understands optics

like having katy perry, with a net worth of $330 million, singing and telling people it's okay, the nightmare is over now; the party that cares about you is back in power

(...speaking of fireworks, nyuk nyuk)

[Holymanm]

"GIVING A VOICE TO [bad/stupid/annoying/racist people]"

yeah, bipartisanship has become an excuse to accept that some people believe 2 + 2 = 5, and that's ok cuz differences of opinion are fun! no different than how freedumb has become an excuse for some to say 'the grass is blue and the sky is green and that's my opinion and the first amendment entitles me to it!' would love to see some gutsy politician get up on a debate stage and just straight up say 'no you're wrong so you're either lying or ignorant or misinformed, and here's decades worth of data that backs me up and proves you wrong'

of course, that never happens, and so we sit around debating trickle down economics like that shit hasn't been debunked for decades...

one of these tweets had someone commenting and saying how FDR and Teddy R - two brothers, two Republicans, and the inventors of American healthcare - were a much better duo than the disgraceful team of Obama and Biden. Half the people liking and commenting felt "right on!", and half pointed out that every part of it was false. OP then said "lol I was just trolling" - but probably hundreds of people went away believing those things, and just hating one side and supporting the other more and more. It's a dangerous age for trolling I miss my sweet, innocent internets

[---]

Mr Obama sent FBI agents along with his attorney general to help Ferguson police quell the unrest and investigate the shooting that sparked it all.

this is not fascism and the democrats wouldnt be considered extremely right-wing or right-wing at all anywhere unless only compared to the most left-wing

True. Except for parts of Latin America, Africa, the middle East, and Central and South Asia I guess

some countries leaning far-left doesnt mean that they consider anything else to be far-right particularly when plenty of other countries around them actually have right-leaning governments

?

I said they'd consider the Dems far right not because of their own policies, but because the Dems have pillaged their nations and installed fascist governments for profit

Dems are considered right-wing in literally every other developed country, including Canada. They literally don't even support universal healthcare.

[FLABREZU]

Re: Fascism - Neither Trump nor Obama are Fascist in the traditional sense, ie totalitarian nationalism. Trump is closer as he built an image of being a strongman, scapegoated social groups and pushed nationalism/conservatism to a higher degree - including stripping trans people of their rights and attempting to ban Muslims from coming into the country. There is however many ways that Obama is Fascist-adjacent as well (listed above) but he is far more of a traditional hard to far right authoritarian as opposed to overtly pushing nationalism and conservatism - even though he still was an imperialist, American supremacist, etc.

Mr Obama sent FBI agents along with his attorney general to help Ferguson police quell the unrest and investigate the shooting that sparked it all.

this is not fascism and the democrats wouldnt be considered extremely right-wing or right-wing at all anywhere unless only compared to the most left-wing

None of those examples support the claim that Obama is fascist-adjacent. If he sent in the FBI to stop people from peacefully protesting, then you may have a case, but it doesn't say that, there were no examples given of that happening, and there was significant destruction and theft of private property. Are there countries out there where people start rioting and looting and the government just does nothing about it?

The article on deportations says that "The Obama Administration has focused more on deporting illegal immigrants with criminal histories, especially violent ones." I have no idea what this has to do with fascism, and speaking to Democrats more broadly, Biden has proposed a path to citizenship for 11 million people currently living in the U.S. illegally.

If Obama was interested in fascism, then why did he wait until right before he was going to leave office and the opposing party was going to take over to implement these new surveillance powers? A plausible explanation seems to be that it was to prevent Trump from going even further: https://www.theatlantic.com/technology/ ... rs/513041/

Obama: I believe in American exceptionalism, just as I suspect that the Brits believe in British exceptionalism and the Greeks believe in Greek exceptionalism.

I guess everyone's a fascist now?

I have to take a big issue with this last remark. Democrats are, in general, to the right of every large, mainstream Conservative party almost anywhere in the world. Compare them to the Conservatives in the UK (who again are well to the right of our conservatives in Norway) - they even ran on increasing public hospitals within their National Health Service. Not even Bernie Sanders is running on a National Health Service. Bernie Sanders' policies are mostly centre-right policies from Europe - and the large majority of dems are to the right of him, not only opposing a NHS, but even opposing Universal Healthcare as a concept. These people are right wing extremists in essentially every country in the world.

Even basic principles, like codetermination (workers on the board of directors) is only pushed by a select few, like Warren, Sanders.

Of course a political party supports universal healthcare in a country that has had it for over 70 years and where it's already popular. The U.S. is behind the rest of the world in healthcare; a large amount of its population doesn't even think that the government should be involved in healthcare, and they didn't even have the public option before Obama. The Clintons tried to accomplish a form of universal healthcare in 1993 that incorporated private insurance, and even that failed. The Democrats have tried and continue to make progress in the right direction. It's unreasonable to look at a single policy in a country with citizens that have drastically different views and say that they're right-wing extremists because of that. And as far as I'm aware, there's no mandatory codetermination in the UK (or in most other countries), and even then, nearly a third of Democrat senators recently supported it.

What about BIden's plan for a $15 minimum wage that's higher than the UK's? Or his plan to cancel some student debt, and to make college free for households earning under $125,000? Or his plan for other massive expansion of welfare systems, including quadrupling federal spending on low-income housing assistance, and increasing spending on transit in high-poverty areas? What about his aforementioned path to citizenship for 11 million people currently living in the U.S. illegally? Are these the policies of right-wing extremists?

[nrh]

having katy perry, with a net worth of $330 million, singing and telling people it's okay, the nightmare is over now; the party that cares about you is back in power

(...speaking of fireworks, nyuk nyuk)

if bernie had won we'd have ariana and cardi b whatever katy perry's net worth is she hasn't had a decent single in years

[Holymanm]

having katy perry, with a net worth of $330 million, singing and telling people it's okay, the nightmare is over now; the party that cares about you is back in power

(...speaking of fireworks, nyuk nyuk)

if bernie had won we'd have ariana and cardi b whatever katy perry's net worth is she hasn't had a decent single in years

In my heart of hearts I like to think he would've had Neil Young, who would play...

https://youtu.be/CqS9iaaWflE

[Holdrüholoheuho]

[Holdrüholoheuho]

BREAKING NEWS: ERECTION AGAINST UNITED STATES!
https://twitter.com/KatherineM213/statu ... 94306?s=20
https://youtu.be/eySs4Iu8dV4

[St. Gloede]

Apologies, FLABEREZU. I see I never replied to you.

-

I entirely agree that the country you live in, its culture, history, material conditions, etc. will affect the kinds of policies you come to accept and champion - but at least to me that does not change the way I view the question of how far left/right a politician or party is compared to other nations - it is merely an explanation.

It can, of course, explain the difference between actual ideology and proposed policies - for example why it can still be argued that, say Sanders is ideologically on the left (comparatively) despite mainly pushing centre-leaning policies (as these are hard left within a US perspective). The direction someone is pushing in is not entirely irrelevant.

However:

Universal healthcare is such a basic right that I'm afraid anyone who opposes it has to be classified as a right-wing extremist - regardless of any other views. 68,000 Americans die every year due to lack of healthcare (Yale study). The views of the actual population is also not a plausible defence. The large majority of Americans support Medicare for All (and that's just 1 version of universal healthcare). It is one thing to make smaller steps towards universal healthcare (say Buttigieg), but opposing it in its entirety, like Biden, and many other top Democrats is tantamount to actively fighting to mass-murder your population in the name of shareholder profits - I can't think of anything else to call you but a right-wing extremist.

I don't think a 15 USD minimum wage makes up for fighting to mass murder your citizens (I don't think that language is too harsh, but I understand that some do). Still, that policy on its own is of course to the left.

I think it can easily be argued that Biden's platform is one of the most progressive of any US president (some have claimed it is the most progressive, with data on show). I'm not going to argue that point, only that it says more about how far to the extreme right US politics actually are.

(Also, ideologically it is quite clear, that Biden, and the majority of the Democratic Party are fairly strong Liberals, with only a minority in the Social Liberal camp, i.e. FDR/New Deal Democrats and even less Social Democrats/"Democratic Socialists" - i.e. centre-left in quite a few other countries).

[Holdrüholoheuho]

The Meaning of the Mittens: Five Possibilities
https://theintercept.com/2021/01/21/ina ... s-mittens/

Why did so many millions connect to whatever language the mittens were speaking?
Was it pandemic delirium — all of us projecting our social isolation onto the most isolated person in the crowd?
What is the meaning, the mittenology of it all?

1. The Mittens as Reserved Judgment
2. The Mittens as Warning
3. The Mittens as the Conscience of Liberals
4. The Mittens as Street Cred
5. The Mittens as Movement Flex

[---]

I think it can easily be argued that Biden's platform is one of the most progressive of any US president (some have claimed it is the most progressive, with data on show). I'm not going to argue that point, only that it says more about how far to the extreme right US politics actually are.

Yes yes yes yes a million times YES!!

[thoxans]

perhaps not totally politics related but the fairly swift and obviously orchestrated crackdown on the financial subforums behind the recent short squeezes on gamestop and the like should be bigger news imo. a big bright shining blatant example of the self-serving and underhanded influence wielded by the powers that be. totes cool for billionaires to bet on and profit off of ensuring a business fails, but totes uncool when regular folk take that bet and attempt to profit in turn. of course, this won’t go anywhere; if anything, the regulatory agencies will probs crack down on this as some bs example of insider trading or market manipulation or whatever, but in the meantime it’s cool to see rich fucks lose the next mortgage payment on their second beach house, and see a few degenerates make enough to help pay off some debts

[Monsieur Arkadin]

It's been pretty huge in my social-media circle, but that might just be the crowd I'm connected to. Yeah, it's been a really good couple days as far as Schadenfreude. I guess the hedge funds have been collaborating after market hours to drop the gamestock prices like 10% in the hopes that it would scare everyone into selling when they wake up the next morning, but what they don't realize is that most of these people own very little stock and it's not that scary to them.

I love watching rich people lose money.

[thoxans]

an app named robinhood is restricting trading for the poor, in an effort to help out the rich... it's so ironic that it's like ironically ironic irony

[thoxans]

what they don't realize is that most of these people own very little stock and it's not that scary to them

exactly. some low income dude who turned $100 into $5,000 isn't freaking out. it's only the assholes who turned $1bil into $50mil that are freaking out. and to that i say boofuckinghoo

[rischka]

https://twitter.com/coopercooperco/stat ... 69894?s=20

i saw some commentators blaming this on 'incels' k sry back to exile

https://twitter.com/tedcruz/status/1354 ... 31905?s=20

https://twitter.com/AOC/status/1354848253729234944?s=20

+ this awesome exchange

[thoxans]

@kanafani robinhood rightfully catching major flak, so i think now's the time to start working on our finance app to fill what might become a big void! we can call it poolparty or something catchy that'll seem cool with this new young investor class (our little logo can be scrooge mcduck jumping into a swimming pool filled with cash, i mean, it practically writes itself), and it'll give all the non-pmc peeps a chance to pool their money together to make more sizeable investments like some working class hedge fund, and then we'll sell everyone's data, make millions, sell the technology to amazon, make billions, then finally screw over all the people that we set out to help in the first place... whoops. got a little ahead of myself there ::sideglancerosycheeksemoji::

[Holdrüholoheuho]

1988 poll viewing No41:
TESTAMENT (John Akomfrah)
https://letterboxd.com/film/testament-1988/

On 12 June 1949, he (Kwame Nkrumah) announced the formation of the Convention People's Party (CPP), with the word "convention" chosen, according to Nkrumah, "to carry the masses with us". The CPP adopted the red cockerel as its symbol – a familiar icon for local ethnic groups, and a symbol of leadership, alertness, and masculinity.

From 1951–1966, Ghana was controlled by the Convention People's Party and its founder Kwame Nkrumah.

In 1964, Nkrumah won a heavily rigged referendum that made the CPP the sole legal party, with himself as president for life of both nation and party.

In February 1966, while Nkrumah was on a state visit to North Vietnam and China, his government was overthrown in a violent coup d'état led by the national military and police forces, with backing from the civil service. The conspirators, led by Joseph Arthur Ankrah, named themselves the National Liberation Council and ruled as a military government for three years. Nkrumah did not learn of the coup until he arrived in China. After the coup, Nkrumah stayed in Beijing for four days and Premier Zhou Enlai treated him with courtesy.

The National Liberation Council (NLC) led the Ghanaian government from 24 February 1966 to 1 October 1969. The body emerged from an allegedly CIA-supported coup d'état (Ghana's first) against the civilian government led by Kwame Nkrumah. The Ghana Police Service and Ghana Armed Forces carried out the coup jointly, with collaboration from the Ghana Civil Service. It is alleged that the plotters were well connected with the governments of Britain (under PM Harold Wilson) and the United States (then under Lyndon B. Johnson), who some believe approved of the coup because of Nkrumah's pro-communist foreign policy. The new government implemented structural adjustment policies recommended by the International Monetary Fund (IMF) and World Bank. Money in the national budget shifted away from agriculture and industrialization towards the military. National enterprises, property, and capital were privatized or abandoned.

In failing health, he (Kwame Nkrumah) flew to Bucharest, Romania, for medical treatment in August 1971. He died of prostate cancer in April 1972 at the age of 62 while in (Ceausescu's) Romania.

ca 1986 (20 yrs after the coup) the story of the film takes place.

https://lux.org.uk/work/testament
In Testament, the condition of the postcolony is embodied in the figure of activist turned television reporter Abena who returns to contemporary Ghana, for the first time since the 1966 coup that ended President Kwame Nkrumah’s experiment in African socialism. Adrift in a ‘war zone of memories’ Abena is caught in the tension between public history and private memory. The film is characterised by a depopulated frame and a deliberately cold look that evokes an emotional landscape of postcolonial trauma.

now (30+ yrs after the transition from "socialism-biased-by-stalinism" to "free-market-neoliberalism" in Czechoslovakia/Czechia), i was able to attune to Testament's "depopulated frame", "cold look" and mood of trauma & frustration (and will include it within my ballot).

[Holdrüholoheuho]

[Holdrüholoheuho]

#PowerStepAerobics
#SeizeThePowerWorkout
https://youtu.be/y1RpuOabVs8

[pabs]

We shouldn't make light of this but it is funny. What if there was a video like this with the attempted coup going on at the Washington Capitol in the background?

[kanafani]

#PowerStepAerobics
#SeizeThePowerWorkout
https://youtu.be/y1RpuOabVs8

Life imitates a Apichatpong Weerasethakul movie

[Holdrüholoheuho]

i must admit i already tried to imitate the lady.
normally, i don't exercise at home but doing Coup Fitness is too (absurdly) tempting.

and this below, i consider as an ideal smokescreen workout for the MAGA Coup.

LET'S STOP TALKING AND DO SOME COUP GALLOP!
NOW, IT'S YOUR TURN!
GET OUT THERE AND HAVE SOME FUN!

https://youtu.be/o-50GjySwew

[Holdrüholoheuho]

Life imitates a Apichatpong Weerasethakul movie

Btw. in THE STRAWBERRY STATEMENT (Stuart Hagmann, 1970), while the cops are crushing the university takeover by youth, one of the resisting students says...

- Hey, did you see the newsreel from Prague. This looks just like it.

"The newsreel from Prague" (I expect) refers to protests against the Warsaw Pact invasion in Czechoslovakia (August 1968).
Considering, the Columbia University protests of 1968 took place (if I am not mistaken) in April/May 1968, the "newsreel from Prague" reference might be rather the part of "Strawberry" fiction.
Maybe a similar remark was made (related to some other protests going on in 1968) and it was "adjusted" in the script?!
Whatever?!
However, only a few weeks later I watched a documentary about Czechoslovak Velvet Revolution (1989), and in the archival footage one of the protesting students says he watched not long ago "The Strawberry Statement" and he was excited to realize (in the middle of Velvet Revolution protests) he is experiencing in "real" life the scenes that he watched recently in the "Strawberry Statement".

Regardless of the plain fact that all the protests have something in common and thus one protest brings to mind another, thereafter I still got preoccupied with the idea of the "historical event" as "re-enactment of the cinematic scenario".

That someone "real" ("reenacting" who knows what???) might protest against the Warsaw Pact invasion, it is captured on film and displayed on the TV (on CNN or FOX or who knows what?!).
Then, some student of some American University watches this "newsreel from Prague" and "reenacts" it in his "real" life during his own protests.
Then, this "reenactment" is made as a film ("Strawberry Statement") and some student in Prague cinema watches it and then he "reenacts" it during the Velvet Revolution.
Thus the (Prague-Strawberry-Prague) circle is closed (like Ouroboros biting its tail).
Tho Luis Bunuel would be probably able to incorporate even Weerasethakul's footage and this coup-workout video in all of this (if writing a script to the sequel of THE PHANTOM OF LIBERTY).

Is "cynical" an abbreviation of "cinematical"?

[...]

Life imitates a Apichatpong Weerasethakul movie

Oh, that's good! And that video is kinda awesome for just that feeling. I can't stop watching it.

[Holdrüholoheuho]

If Angelina Jolie wouldn't be in urgent need of cash, I would never get to know Winston Churchill was a painter.

https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-edi ... -paintings
Deflated of power and consumed with anxiety, he took up an unexpected new hobby: painting.
He eventually created over 550 paintings.

[flip]

george w bush of all people was inspired by churchill to become a painter after his presidency

[Holdrüholoheuho]

Boris Johnson is not that far yet (seems like).
This is all I could find about him making art...