Ah yes, the tankie triad, forever pushing everybody away from their shitty takes with snide comments

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When did Kamala Harris stab or boil anybody?

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Sometimes that means recognizing there’s nobody worth voting for in a given race and agreeing - collectively - that you’re not going to support anyone.

I guess I personally don’t really agree with that approach. People are free to take that approach of course. But it reminds me of people refusing to vote for Kamala Harris because her Israel policy wasn’t quite perfect, when all this did was help Trump, who quite clearly was always going to take a much more pro-Israel position.

Just going out and slapping buttons and saying “Okay what’s next?” is a sucker’s gambit.

One vote doesn’t make a big difference I guess. But like you said, you can join organisations, and those organisations can have much bigger political impacts. Maybe voting is necessary but not sufficient if you want to bring about political change.

Voting can definitely bring change. Look at Zohran Mamdani in NYC. The reason he’s mayor, instead of someone else, is because enough people voted for him.

But if you’re not satisfied with voting alone then you can get more involved with politics. Join a party, or start a party. Join a trade union, or start one, if you want. Things like that.

As a Brit, I’m in favour of:

• European digital sovereignty, to reduce dependence on the US, given how unreliable they now are
• The UK being part of efforts for European digital sovereignty

I think some Americans seem to be decent people who like Europe, but many Americans, including the current US government and all their supporters, clearly would be completely happy to see Europe invaded or destroyed.

True yes, but then there are workers much lower down with “email jobs” who spend a lot of time dealing with emails, while also dealing with lots of pressure, and stress, and low pay

Nobody has mentioned this guy yet

It warms my heart

Freude, schöner Götterfunken, Tochter aus Elysium…

That makes sense. I don’t know tons about the space industry but I think SLS in America has been very expensive, while private rockets - from morally bankrupt billionaires - have turned out to be much more affordable. Hopefully Europe will have more success with rockets, whether publicly or privately owned, but preferably without the morally bankrupt billionaires.

Maybe the Ariane rockets are publicly owned by Europeans? Funded by the European Space Agency, which I guess is paid for by European taxpayers. So maybe the ESA holds the rights to the Ariane rockets (while using a private company to have them built), but I don’t know.

Yes the German rocket in the article seems to be a private venture, not a public venture. Maybe it’s good to have both. A public option means you don’t need to depend only on profit-driven companies. But private options can reduce the cost of space access and stimulate the economy, providing good jobs.

I really do not care if they critically support Russia and China, in fact I prefer it to supporting western “democracies”

I think it is surely true that EU countries (just as a sample of “western” countries) are quite a bit more democratic than Russia is

This bit in the article is interesting:

Cezary Tomczyk, Poland’s deputy defence minister, said this month Warsaw was preparing for the possibility of a full-scale conflict.

Tomczyk told Super Express media: “We are preparing for war, hoping it never happens.”

I want the Ukrainian people to be able to live in Ukraine and make their own democratic choices without being invaded by Russia. Choices such as joining NATO if they wish to do so.

I hope nobody is forced to fight if they don’t want to. But like I say, I also hope that Russia does not invade Ukraine. Russia should withdraw their murderous invasion immediately.

those brain differences aren’t innate

Makes sense. Surely political views are most of the time just a product of someone’s life circumstances. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that billionaires are conservatives who want to lower taxes on rich people. I don’t think it’s a coincidence that people who face particular struggles in life (low income, discrimination, dangerous work, health problems) often support left-wing politics.

Is he? I don’t think Newsom demonises immigrants as much as Trump does… and Newsom has talked recently about favouring federal taxes on very wealthy people, to fund things like healthcare, while Trump seems to be happy to allow the wealthy to keep getting richer and act however they want towards the American public.

I think it’s fair to say that you shouldn’t blindly vote for someone just because they’re a Democrat. You should definitely evaluate the person. But I think Gavin Newsom specifically is an alright guy and I think he would lead a fairer administration than Trump’s, if elected. But I guess most people, if elected, would lead a fairer administration than Trump’s.

If Newsom is the Democrat candidate in 2028, I think that’s an alright outcome. I think he would be a better president than Trump. Not just because he has a “D” next to his name, but instead because his viewpoints seem more rational and fair than those of Trump.

Some people might think that Newsom isn’t progressive enough, but whoever is the Democrat candidate, they need to have broad enough appeal to win a national election. If the candidate is someone who is very progressive then they might alienate a lot of centrist voters and fail to win a national election.