markslater74.bsky.social
Dismayed optimist, cautiously considering the possibility that idiocy and hubris will undermine evil before it can do too terrible or permanent damage, and that something new and much better will eventually rise from from the chaos and destruction.
192 posts
52 followers
90 following
Active Commenter
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It's not my place to say, but I believe people of good will vastly outnumber those who don't. Most people believe in true equality - not the blatantly male, white, regardless of the bogus equity utter bullshit these racist MFs are trying to pretend..... Truth will prevail! X
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Twitter is boring. It pushes the same pointlessly confrontational and cliched antagonism at you incessantly, and a lot of it seems to be bots.
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He cares about being seen as being strong and a winner more than anything else because he is a very elderly, unfit narcissist in obvious decline. His actions are mainly determined by his need to bolster his self-image, so destruction, chaos and violence will work just fine for him.
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Trump is an elderly narcissist in decline - all he cares about is proving he's still the most powerful man in the world. The more destruction & chaos he causes the more powerful he feels, & more opposition=more excuse to violently extinguish opposition. It'll get worse until he's stopped or dies.
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They're only better if the collection, storage and counting process is open and transparent and not controlled by the current government. What's the likelihood of Trump et al not being aware of this? Why would they favour change if not to fix it in their favour?
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Let me guess, they're going to introduce a new voting system where all the votes are counted by hand (by officials approved by Trump after the purge of all non-MAGA staff).
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That account is like the Daily Express for gullible lefties. I'm very left wing, but it is extremely unreliable.
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Sorry, gobshite!
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Being a far-right gobsite seems to be a reasonably lucrative career option for people with absolutely no shame or morals whatsoever. Probably because such views align with the interests of the people with nearly all the money.
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Equality feels like oppression to the oppressors.
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He's so transparent he's extremely easy to manipulate. He is willing to do and believe anything that flatters himself and his perception of his own power, so push the narrative that Trump giving Putin what he wants makes him Putin's poodle, he's in Putin's pocket, weakling to the strongman etc.
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They're deluded because all forms of media are dominated by a concerted campaign to create a hermetically sealed alternate reality where RW grifters are brave, honest and honourable and decent people are dangerous zealots intent on destroying everything good.
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I have been getting an embarrassing amount of joy from having just had a functional extractor fan fitted after twelve years of cooking without one. It is wonderful!
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That's the RW grifter's Trump cope it would seem: when Trump says something so appalling or utterly batshit even they can't defend it, they simply claim he meant something entirely different from what he actually said and in fact has a very cunning plan. Risible and dangerous - as usual.
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One of the defining features of the new fascists is constant, breathtaking projection. They confess their own worst crimes and deepest failings with every accusation. It is so staggering and blatant that it seems inconceivable they would do it - but it is a fundamental part of their communication.
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The US doesn't have a leader of the opposition, it's a total mess. There will always be disagreement about how to tackle the all encompassing problems we face, so there needs to be someone to say "Right, we're doing this!" to have any strong, coherent, powerful counter message.
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Staggering, unprecedented corruption more like...
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Yes. The US is a rogue state. Utterly unreliable at best, more likely actively conniving at smashing the world order and carving up the wreckage with other dictatorial colonialist criminal regimes. Hard to believe, but that's where we are.
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This is the way: Trump is Putin's Poodle, he's in Putin's pocket. He's a lap dog to the Russia bear. Small man Trump in strongman Putin's shadow etc. etc.
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I'm getting the vibes of an official in a totalitarian regime reading out a press release because he knows his family are being held at gunpoint. Except we might have some sympathy for the official, unlike for Rubio.
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The most important thing I learned in education was how to think - how to find out whether something was true or not, and assess how reliable it is. Who's telling me this, what's in it for them, how do they know, how can I verify it... Thank you Dr Devlin! (History teacher)
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Badenoch and her party are very similar to Trump: they believe their own ability to rule without limit or responsibility is synonomous with the British state. They don't have to deliver anything or improve the country or anything like that, they just believe they are born to rule.
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Continuing to allow the Conservative Party to loot the British state at will is not a necessary foundation of Western Democracy... They have been by far the most destructive force in Britain since WW2, and particularly from Thatcher onwards. They deserve electoral oblivion.
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It's still worth proving they're breaking the law. Most Americans don't want to live in a lawless country, and most Trump fans thought the previous criminal charges weren't real. We need to hammer home that these people are criminals, looting all the good stuff from the US at their expense.
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Putin understands how to manipulate Trump. Trump wants to join the strongman club, but Europe needs to let him know he will be seen as Putin's poodle if he rewards the invasion. Trump needs to feel strong because he is a rapidly declining elderly narcissist, so this is the line that must be taken.
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She's not trying to sell them though is she? She actually is selling them. This is on the suckers who are her customers...
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I hope Macron had the sense to implant the idea in Trump's head that he will be seen as Putin's poodle if he rewards the invasion of Ukraine.
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The Trump era will I believe eventually lead to the almost universal routine acceptance of common decency and equality for all that is currently being attacked under the far-right misappropriation of the term 'woke'. Being a decent human being will never be extinguished.
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The Tories are taking their own destruction too far. For the sake of the country they need to tone it down a bit and remain a slightly viable electoral force - that way they can combine with Reform and hopelessly split the RW vote and doom them to electoral oblivion thanks to their beloved FPTP.
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Self-care is a moral act - we need good people to take care of themselves, we can't afford to lose them. Not looking after yourself is not sustainable. This will be a long fight - maybe the rest of our lives. Easier said than done, but still important.
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If someone is foolish enough to buy a Cybertruck I'd imagine such a profound lack of judgement and good sense would ruin their effectiveness at most things, including running a business.
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I don't disagree with you, but even if they were all too willing to believe the lies because it flatters their ignorance and prejudices, they are still being taken for fools by people who despise them and it's going to be increasingly easy to point this out as they suffer the consequences.
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Corbyn tried to lead and got precisely nowhere because any chance of credibility had already been destroyed before he started by thirty years of Murdoch and anti-left propaganda.
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The 1945 government had the benefit of the Marshall Plan from the US (equiv. $173.8 billion), the economy was vastly more benign for Blair, the country vastly less broken and the Overton Window considerably further towards the centre, including for the media. Also no RW dominated social media.
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Too right! Why on earth wouldn't you? And if you have kids I recommend picking the best surname for the child unless you want to go double-barrelled. My son has my partner's name and my surname as a middle name because her name would die with her otherwise, and it's also a vastly cooler name.
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Yes, but everything is broken and they only have so much capacity, can't do everything at once. They also can't really take on the press/media until they have some evidence of moving in the right direction on issues that people care about and can feel - they need credibility first.
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Labour have made changes to allow regulatory alignment with EU standards. If we automatically follow EU regulations, the objection to rejoining and having an influence over them again becomes incoherent - nothing more than a call to go back to the pointless problems without any upside.
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I think Labour are planning to reverse Brexit without risking reanimating the utterly bogus binary in/out teams that won Johnson his election. It is trying to be a low-risk strategy, and it might be too slow, but it is not static. It remains to be seen how it develops over the next four years.
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Labour's positions will continue to move. People accuse Starmer of lying because he has changed his positions on numerous issues since becoming leader. He successfully moved the Brexit debate from yes or no to how do we fix the problems, and the solutions become ever more starkly obvious.
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It provides a strong narrative for a second term though - we need to rejoin freedom of movement to rebuild the country etc.
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Labour's missions all entail starting to reverse Brexit - more workers needed, barriers to trade must go - so that is what I think they will do. At a maddeningly slow pace, whilst pretending they aren't doing it, but I expect lots of unannounced progress in the background.
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I think he thinks pretty much everyone else is too stupid to matter. Which is a stupid thing to think, and I doubt is sustainable in the long term. Also risky with a rapidly declining mega-narcissist like Trump as a key variable.
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This may all be entirely fair (and I agree with it), but it still remains true that these people were & are being lied to. As we try to resist & find a way to fight back, I think we need to hold onto this being a battle between truth and lies. We can easily show their lies - the truth is powerful.
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They literally refer to the vast majority of the population as NPCs - brainless automatons who obey simple instructions... Their astonishing hubris will hopefully bring them down before the damage is irretrievable.
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So do I!
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There is no new status quo - there is a rogue state where the US used to be. I think even the most venal, short-sighted and self-serving leaders will see more electoral advantage in opposing Putin rather than becoming future prey.
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I don't know. There always seems to be far more money available for military spending than anything else, even when supposedly nothing else can be afforded. The most powerful country in the world going rogue is the biggest threat to peace and stability since the Cold War.
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A concerted refusal from Europe to consent to Trump's apparent desire to hand over large parts of Ukraine to Russia and take half the resources of whatever is left may influence US policy. Trump only cares about being seen as strong: if Europe starts looking stronger than him it may help.
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History will show we are. I have no idea how to challenge & destroy the domination of media by people determined to falsify reality, but I'm convinced building our narratives on the contrast between truth and lies will help. Trump's behaviour makes this easier: we tell the truth about him.