gbriggs.bsky.social
32 posts
23 followers
57 following
Active Commenter
comment in response to
post
comment in response to
post
In "Listen, Marxist!," Murray Bookchin decried how many contemporary socialist groups were political cargo cults instead of actual revolutionaries trying to propose new solutions to society's evolving problems (which increasingly had less to do with material scarcity). He wrote this in 1969.
comment in response to
post
Well hard to focus on a parade when you're being ordered to radically restructure, implement RTO, decimate your civilian workforce, etc, etc...
comment in response to
post
Always loved the seal of the Unionist "Restored Government of Virginia" (1861-1863)
comment in response to
post
Well or they buy into this form of motivated reasoning: en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Social_...
comment in response to
post
Well to be pedantic about it, it was "everything I don't like is fascism" which just so happened to encompass everything that wasn't Kremlin-aligned communism, including social liberalism and democratic socialism, hence the term "social fascism".
comment in response to
post
In this case even skimming Wikipedia articles might be helpful for people... particularly with the question, "what was neoliberalism a reaction to?" in mind.
comment in response to
post
On the other side of the spectrum, the thing that annoys me the most is the, arguably Euro-centric, erasure of American social liberalism as an ideological label from the discourse. Just because I don't identify as a democratic socialist doesn't make me by default a neoliberal.
comment in response to
post
XD series? You could be misreading that situation... Cashier might have sent his heart aflutter and he blushingly forgot for a moment that he was there with his particular shopping list because of the Serbian family that moved into the neighborhood...
comment in response to
post
I think a "farm system" would be a more appropriate analogy, and by that interpretation Dems actually have a solid one, assuming your criteria is producing competent public servants, and not "dominating reality TV popularity contests dictated by the fickle whims of the media infotainment complex."
comment in response to
post
Having seen a family member terminally decline with dementia and another noticeably slow-down with age, but still run a personal business and engage in nuanced, albeit stilted, conversations on various topics... I perpetually feel like I'm being gaslit on this issue.
comment in response to
post
I'm guilty of repeating the "even numbered ones are good" mantra in the past, but upon reflection, I think it's more accurate to say the "even numbered ones are the most accessible."
comment in response to
post
The odd numbered ones certainly are. Even V, which is certainly the weakest, has standout elements that get overlooked in the race to make it a punchline.
comment in response to
post
For some, I wouldn't discount the weird Gilded Age ideological angle as well. Like Wilhelm II, some of these freaks think that we need Russia as the great bulwark against the heathen "yellow horde."
comment in response to
post
Where's the "this is a distraction!" brigade when you actually need them?
comment in response to
post
Even knowing that's Clooney, my brain keeps going, "Rami Malek's dad?"
comment in response to
post
Luthen is just a plain, simple antiquities dealer...
comment in response to
post
*Cardassian resistance arc exists*
comment in response to
post
Plausibly doable, but you'd have to stand up a whole agency dedicated to figuring out the details and implementation... Which you know is totally in keeping with their current approach toward the federal government.
comment in response to
post
Leave the blaster, take Only One Canoli
comment in response to
post
comment in response to
post
Lawyer on phone: *sigh* "I have no doubt you looked 'dope as fuck', but you do realize keeping your helmet, goggles, and scarf on for the mugshot makes my job significantly more difficult..."
comment in response to
post
Highly recommend Don Doyle's "The Cause of All Nations: An International History of the American Civil War".
comment in response to
post
When Grant assumed overall command and arrived at the Army of the Potomac, he did, to Meade's chagrin, mock this flag, "what is Imperial Caeser somewhere about here?"
(Also he wasn't a big fan of Napoleon either, which caused some awkwardness in Paris during his world tour)
comment in response to
post
Only way I'd be interested in a show/film focused on Section 31 would be if it were an Armando Iannucci-style comedy where all the official Federation intelligence/law enforcement orgs are engaged in bureaucratic finger pointing over shit S31 pulled, and 1/2 the characters don't know what S31 is...
comment in response to
post
Also, Grant's drinking was partly related to separation anxiety he had being away from his wife, Julia, whom he adored and was faithful to. So that would certainly be an interesting comparison...
comment in response to
post
Yeah, they would probably think the original GOP was too "Wide Awake," and would get heartburn from the fanboy mail and editorials Karl Marx sent and wrote about Lincoln.
comment in response to
post
Reminds me of the James Baldwin quote: “I imagine one of the reasons people cling to their hates so stubbornly is because they sense, once hate is gone, they will be forced to deal with pain.”
comment in response to
post
But the Great Depression was definitely a real thing, so even if voters didn't have a coherent idea about what to do policy-wise, the rejection at least makes sense. We currently seem poised to try to solve a "vibecession" by attempting to induce an actual recession.
comment in response to
post
If you read about FDR's campaign against Hoover, it was often a random kitchen sink of attacks that weren't particularly coherent. Like one line of attack was that Hoover was doing *too much* government spending and interference with the economy.
comment in response to
post
youtu.be/pgHxFNFWlZc?...
comment in response to
post
In this case, though, it was pretty much a first order effect surrounded by neon lights.