did they apply neoliberalism to their military industry complex?

Yes, 100%, for at least the last 20-25 years. The Bush admin aggressively privatized and outsourced things. The section on this in Naomi Klein’s The Shock Doctrine is a good overview of this.

With Trump, you really need to first look if he said something unprompted, or if someone in the media asked him a leading question.

If you ask Trump, “do you still plan on taking Greenland?” like this interviewer did, of course Trump will say he still plans on taking it. His narcissist ass is completely incapable of backing down from anything. It’s possible he hasn’t even thought of Greenland in the last six months. But Trump will never ever say he’s reconsidered something or changed his mind when asked a leading question. His response to this question is meaningless.

To shreds you say?

It’s sounds like he’s only saying he’s going to stop doing weekly videos, leaving the door open to do podcasts, maybe a monthly video, etc.

I like Gary quite a bit. I don’t think a wealth tax will cure the problems capitalism creates but I’ve found him to be an excellent resource for ideas on how to talk to people IRL about how capitalism by definition must lead to the rich getting richer and the poor getting poorer (and even if Gary himself doesn’t realize it, he’s basically taking is points from Capital).

This is a country that was supposed to be ready to fight a hot war with China by 2027…

I don’t remember what it’s called, but in Japan there is a tendency to repair things rather than replace them; and further than that, a repair made properly can be see as enhancing the beauty of an object. I like that.

It is possible to:

A: Appreciate what Mamdani’s campaign did to build class consciousness in NYC as well as appreciate that the most popular politician in the country identifies as a socialist.

B: Praise Mamdani for any good policies he enacts or statements he makes.

C: Not pull any punches and criticize him for any bad policies or statements (in fact, we are obligated to do this for any public official who calls themselves a socialist).

We can do multiple things at the same time. This black and white thinking on fucking everything that comes up in online leftist spaces is really getting exhausting. For a bunch of self-proclaimed Marxists we sure do love avoiding nuance and dialectical thinking here, don’t we?

Edit: as CyborgMarx has pointed out, all this isn’t even accurate.

There are well-evidenced problems, sure. But what these governments think are the well-evidenced “problems” versus what you think they are, are two very different things.

I’ve been reading Gerald Horne’s The Counter-Revolution of 1776, and honestly just summarizing the main points from that book would blow a lot of peoples’ minds.

Yes - Gibraltar is a bit of an insult to Spain but no one is actively being harmed by it. In Western Sahara you have indigenous people who being displaced and oppressed by a foreign occupying power and their settlers.

Well they will certainly be fewer after that operation!

She’s listing to port a bit but otherwise in ship-shape!

Jfc he doesn’t realize that he’s now unintentionally begging Mossad to kill him.

You know those plastic ball pits that they have for kids to play in at places like fast food restaurants (moreso pre-COVID)? My understanding from working in the industry is that there is a machine that can quickly clean and sterilize those plastic balls. It’s a machine made by one old man, and it’s the only practical way to clean those plastic balls. So any place across the entire planet that wants to not let those ball pits get gross has to buy one of these machines from this one guy.

(And yes, I know I’m inviting people to think I’m making this up because “ball-washing lol”… but I’m 100% serious).

I’m 100% sure that guys like Thiel and Musk have only, at most, watched the LotR movies but certainly have never read the books.

Most evangelicals consider the PCUSA to be no better than liberal heretics who “aren’t true Christians” and functionally the same as Unitarians.

I don’t know how you would find it, but years ago on one of Bill Simmons-branded podcasts (one associated with Grantland, is all I remember), Chuck Klosterman interviewed Weird Al and it was fantastic. I really developed an appreciation for not only him as a person but also him (and his band) as a musician. Incredibly down-to-earth guy. If you can find that interview it’s worth a listen.

For Zionists, this is a feature, not a bug. They want Jewish people living outside of Israel to feel unsafe and unwelcome in their home countries, so they consequently consider moving to Israel.

your litmus test is decidedly posting-brained

1,000%

For Republicans, in their minds people like Avila-Chevalier, Hasan, etc are very “useful”. They can point to them and say “oooooh look they even call themselves COMMUNISTS!” They think that simple red-baiting will score them points with voters.

For now, they don’t see how every day this tactic is becoming less effective and for anyone under 40 or so, it’s actually having the opposite effect of making socialism look good. I don’t expect they will figure it out and change tack anytime soon, though.