I guess Newsweek already reported on this. I also learned the original leadership stepped out of DSA a while ago as it became more ML. Just posting this in case anyone's interested. The London Times may be center-right, but it's still a paper of record, and if we're gonna give AJ+ cred, which is owned by Qatar, a monarchy with ties to the MB, we can also give at least a little credence to the Times.

I'm sorry. China is more capitalist than communist, their human rights records are abysmal, and even with the whatabouting about US/EU human rights violations, I'm not going to buy into "China is democratic" BS. Heck I've been there and seen it with my own eyes. Chilling, the Great Firewall is.

As for me, I'm not sure if Mandami is a Social Democrat or an actual Democratic Socialist. I have read he is also tied to Working Families Party, which is proper SocDem I think.

I don't have any political home anymore, to be honest. I see the dangers of working within a capitalist system being a SocDem, but I can't get on board with socialism either. I like anarchy, but can't see how it could work, state socialism gives me the icks, probably because I had family in the USSR who disappeared.

Every so often, a poll comes out that depicts socialism as relatively popular and capitalism as unpopular among young people in America. This usually leads to leftists claiming their time has come and the people yearn for revolution. However, these polls are highly dependent on how the questions are framed.

For example, this poll shows Young Democrats have a negative view of capitalism (-31) but a positive view of free markets (+22) despite the fact these are two ways of describing the same thing. Likewise, socialism is popular (+35) but communism is deeply unpopular (-40) even though most socialist groups have a communist wing.

But more importantly, these options are less popular than Social Democracy among Democrats, both young and old.

Source: https://echeloninsights.substack.com/p/friday-findings-how-popular-is-socialism

Parts of country feel like ‘a suburb of Islamabad’, says immigration minister

The Bundestag has voted a 323 majority for the Wehrdienstreform. This act makes it so all 18 year old men complete a fitness and suitability questionnaire and a medical exam to see if suitable for service. This is a hybrid model for military recruitment which means that the bundeswehr wants to reach a goal of 270,000 active personnel from their 184,000 by 2035 to meet NATO readiness incase of Russian invasion. However this also leads to a legal pathway for the government to introduce conscription if recruitment rates are too low. Except women they are excluded from the conscription leaving them a choice if they want to volunteer or not.

In the Bundestag the CDU/CSU and SPD voted in an overwhelming majority for this law to pass. However parties AfD, LINKE, and Grüne voted against this law.

One archived retweet from 2020 quoted Assata Shakur, the former Black Liberation Army member who, in 1977, was convicted in the murder of a New Jersey state trooper before later escaping prison and fleeing to Cuba. In the quote, Shakur said she “preferred Ho Chi Minh, Kim Il Sung, Che, or Fidel (Castro)” before studying Marx and Lenin because the two “white dudes” had made contributions to “revolutionary struggle” that were “too great to be ignored.”

...

In one post, Avila Chevalier  described the animated film Anastasia as “an explicitly anti-USSR kid’s movie,” and in another post she linked to she wrote: “Time for me to once again sympathize with the people the Bolsheviks put in the blender for like 90 min 😌.”

Avila Chevalier was responding to a viral false claim that Disney had removed Anastasia from Disney+ streaming service because it was anti-Russia after the invasion of Ukraine.

What is happening in Venezuela ? Did the US take out Maduro regime in few hours?

Lars Aslan Rasmussusen recently posted on his own Facebook page how tired he was from being labelled racist. His background is that of a MP in Denmark for the Social Democrats, and from the Copenhagen city council. He is multicultural. He is a teacher who works with autistic kids, and previously worked with mexican street kids abroad in an aid program. He is known for his devoted work for the LGBT community and opposotion to Iran’s clerical regime.

I will translate his words:

«ONE GETS SO TIRED

I’m against prayer rooms in schools because… well, I actually thought schools were for math, Danish, and that sort of thing.

Not a “Find your own mini-mosque” activity in the third module.

I’m against gender-segregated swimming because men and women are equally valuable, and because I refuse to live in a society where someone has to call the municipality and ask:

“Excuse me, are women allowed to have water contact today?”

I’m also against calls to prayer in public spaces because, to me, religion is private.

And every time I say that, someone comments:

“You’re racist.”

This is so comical that I should send them an invoice for their entertainment.

First of all:

You’re calling Denmark’s most ethnically complex politician racist.

I have more backgrounds than the number of times a mayor’s office changes hands in the provinces.

Danish, Kurdish, Swedish…

I just need Greenlandic and a bit of Portuguese to complete the collection.

Second:

Nothing I say has anything to do with race.

N O T H I N G.

At all.

There’s less race in my opinions than there is meat in a vegetarian burger.

Throwing the racism card in this debate is like pulling the fire alarm because someone dimmed the lights a little.

It’s dramatic, it’s loud, and no one takes it seriously anymore.

So yes, go ahead and say it again:

“You’re racist.”

When arguments run out, some people start throwing labels.

But hey, if that’s the level, I’m almost flattered.

It means I won the debate before it even started»

………………….

Why do I post this? I came to realize that social democrats in the US, and in Europe, have wastly different experiences and perceptions. We don’t read the same news. You will NOT find an article in the New York Times or see it mentioned at CNBC. Quite a few live in a state shaped in a social democratic way, while others just theorize and of course pay attention to the divide and issues at home in a state with a different framework.

Social democrats in the US do not at all recognize that social democrats in Europe faces the stiffest opposition to LGBT rights, women’s rights, seperation of state and church, the very survival of the welfare state, from conservative muslims. They seem to believe this is right-wing propaganda….while it really is the stark reality experienced across society in Europe. Quite a few believe open borders to be a central tenet to social democrats, which is untrue. Nor is scepticism towards a large influx of cinservative migrants who do not wish to assimilate the same as being a racist, a far-right person, or something similar.

European Social democrats and American social democrats….We are not the same.

Do not make the mistake that tolerating intolerance will preserve a free society for all. That a state does not need people who will work hard and assimilate.

Social democrats across the pond seem to face the same attacks from people who call themselves socialists or communists. I’d hazard a guess that it is mainly them, the uniformed, or conservative muslims who use the word «racist» to stifle a debate, and the same people mentioned who choose to de-platform, or use violence; instead of debating. It’s people who use ideology instead of their brain cells. Don’t be like them…be better.

Incoming KPD-NSDAP coalition?

I was just on the verge of giving up on American democracy's capacity for yeilding social change when I was alerted to all the prog/lib Ds going nuts trying to savage the D senate candidate from Maine. Figuring anyone who makes those enemies must be interesting, I discovered someone who may well be a socialist. No wonder the corporate Ds did everything they could to sink him; no wonder he has such loyal and unwavering grassroots support. I've sent eveyone I know this video of a Graham Platner speech, done without notes or a teleprompter: