Geist Appreciator 👻🧠🍔

@vivaLaErre @ContraPoints Fuck those people my government is trying to starve and deprive of medicine

.@ContraPoints wishes she could forget leftist theory??: "It's Bible study for lefties. That's what theory is [...] I'm just not a church person, I don't want to make the trips to Cuba"

@Fargoose1 @CoolMarxist I never said only the US government and media lie. I just don’t think 42,000 is accurate. And the US government and media don’t care about those killed at all. They use their deaths to justify a war on Iran that will kill many more.

@ppmcderm @CoolMarxist It’s almost like Iranian government admitted on their own tv and justified it by saying “they were all Mossad”, when you learn that it it’s not just US who lies, you maybe will grow up

How the 4 Iranian snipers were moving against the protesters

@wyabraylen It’s pretty funny tho

having your youngest child walk behind everyone in a post apocalyptic world is insane 😭

@jonfavs Come on Jon, this guy literally organized the SS collaborators in Eastern Europe to kill Jews and trade unionists. I’ll still vote for him of course but we should be clear eyed on this man’s past

Graham Platner isn’t just our best and only chance to beat Susan Collins, he’s a good, decent man who’s struggled and grown and is always trying to do better. I hope everyone with reservations takes a little time to get to know the real life version of him, not what the algorithm throws in our faces. Clearly, that’s what so many people in Maine have done - from all different walks of life and political persuasions.

@jonfavs Mmmm, ham

I think this is worth reading, even if you don't end up agreeing with all of it. Trump gets most of the blame for the sickness, but the sickness is still spreading. And yes, I also think it's better to deal with this by actually engaging with these views, because they're not just going away on their own.

@jonfavs Trump’s been telling supporters to beat up and potentially kill protesters at his rallies since 2015

Sincere question: do Trump supporters who genuinely want to reduce political violence actually think that lobbing transparently hypocritical accusations about the left's rhetoric is in any way effective? Are we really gonna go through another cycle where MAGA folks point out incendiary rhetoric on the left without ever acknowledging that some of the most violent and incendiary rhetoric in America comes from the President and his supporters? Do you not think the rest of the country has eyes and ears? It's truly awful that President Trump has been the target of political violence. It's also truly awful how he's frequently talked about his political opponents: accusing them of treason, amplifying calls for their execution, publicly celebrating their death, calling them scum, garbage, vermin, animals. It was like 3 weeks ago that he threatened the annihilation of an entire civilization! It was just a few months ago that he and his White House knowingly smeared two Americans who'd been killed by federal agents as domestic terrorists! I hate political violence. I hate what happened last night. Probably 99% of Americans agree. But let's not insult everyone's intelligence by pretending that the most powerful person in the world isn't a huge part of the problem here.

@greatreavers @oelayat I’ve also ghosted most of the men in your family. I’m sorry about that

@ppmcderm @oelayat There's a clip of him saying it. Babies are valid targets. As per Hasan. Im sorry about what HE SAID.

Graeme “it is possible to kill children legally” Wood writing about America’s moral code is a perfect representation of The Atlantic: moral preening in service of reactionary politics

@greatreavers @oelayat I guess if we’re just making stuff up, I’ve ghosted all the women in your family

@oelayat Hasan has literally said Settler Babies were valid military targets during Oct 7. 🤣 🤣

@MattBruenig @emmma_camp_ It when you lift up the bananas a little on the scale at self checkout

@emmma_camp_ what is leftist morality

One of the reasons I am a liberal and not a leftist is that leftist morality is about power, not rights. Good actions reduce power imbalances, bad actions exacerbate them. Murder, theft, and discrimination can all be justified if they harm a “powerful” person or group. Liberals condemn these actions because they violate individual rights and dignity. Liberalism seeks equal rights, leftism seeks equal power.

@MattBruenig @ZaidJilani Great point. China is already the largest economy in the world in ppp terms. Why should the mom and pop weapons manufacturers have to suffer for activists in Washington?

@ZaidJilani Yeah I mean the US refuses to sell arms to much larger markets (i.e. countries) than Israel.

I think 99 percent of Americans wouldn’t even notice or know if we had an arms embargo on Israel. Yggy always tries to be too smart but has a hard time overcoming his minute interaction with actual voters

What the fuck. The man just died. Have some respect. Give it a rest for a few hours my god.

@MattBruenig @sunraysunray Hey Matt. Just heard this guy on Ezra and was curious what you thought of him. He seems sympatico with your world view. Union activist, studied labor but went into tech instead of law. You looked into him? What are your thoughts on his schtick?

@sunraysunray Token tax + equity in the AI firms is such a great analogue to nationalized oil reserves plus a state-owned oil company, which is peak performance.

I would vote for Bores if I was in his district but, as a general point, rhetoric about job creation and job guarantees is better than dividend / UBI talk.

@jonfavs @Yair_Rosenberg Hasan being pro Russia is completely made up. What he thinks on china is a discussion worth having but it's hard cuz of all the propaganda that's taken as common sense around china. FYI when you mention Hasan you get a lot of followers of disgraced sex criminals in your replies

I think @Yair_Rosenberg's piece is worth a read and appreciate the thoughtful criticism. I wrote him a longer response (because arguing on here is dumb), but just to summarize: 1) Good corrective to the Einstein story that I fully admit to not knowing in advance, though I'm not sure the full details change Hasan's broader critique of Zionism in a meaningful way (whether or not you agree with it) 2) If I had another hour with Hasan, I absolutely would've focused on his China/Russia views, but thought it was more valuable in this particular discussion to dig in on the controversy at hand than to do a quicker drive-by on all his views and statements. But again, genuinely appreciate Yair's take

@FalconryFinance He's gonna want some water with those

oh he's good

@OwenWanless @MattBruenig I’m also partially trolling Matt. I’ve been following him for years and find his model of socialism to be the most compelling model. Better than all state run or all coops which seem to be the other models. Also doesn’t require an end date for when you abolish private property

@OwenWanless @MattBruenig I think his example answers the automation question and even labor dynamism q pretty well but less so the business creation, and competition questions. It could be the case that competition is low and large entrenched companies are not often challenged in their market positions.

Norwegian transit workers are far more unionized than American ones!

@MattBruenig Hmm. Your silence is deafening @MattBruenig the nordics sound like they’re probably Harrison Bergeron-esque societies.

@MattBruenig As a random HIGHLY skeptical internet person this makes sense to me. Do the incentives for high automation, business creation, competition, and labor market dynamism still exist?

@AaronBastani I’m more of a sectoral bargaining and progressive tax to control inequality guy but the pay cap definitely seems like a decent rhetorical move

Zack Polanski seeing 58% of Reform voters support a 10-1 pay ratio inside companies.