Second verse, same as the worst: Random Political Thoughts

I suspect that my views comport more closely with the other 7.4 billion people living on the planet who aren't Americans.

God, you are such a parochial gynophobic neofascist.

Bernie doesn't - AFAICT - advocate for the state owning the means of production, although this isn't a defining feature of "soft" socialism in the mold of Scandinavia or Germany's SDP. I'd place him further left than - say - Keir Starmer, who's really a corporate patsy hell bent on purging the Labour party in the UK of any genuine socialist elements, but not as far left as Mélenchon - although much of France's left has been absorbed by Macron's center.

When you strip away policies which are just accepted as "normal" within much of Europe - higher direct tax burden (especially for the wealthy), free or affordable healthcare systems, more robust trade unions, free higher education, a general willingness to accept interventionst policies from government etc. - then Bernie looks a lot less leftist. He's striving to achieve a baseline which Europe achieved decades ago - much of which was possible, ironically, with the help of American $$$ in the wake of WWII.

I have to say that my experience of trade unions in the USA - working in a managerial capacity - was not positive, and reminded me of regressive European elements from the 80s. I was sort of dumbfounded that the closed shop was still a thing, it being deemed an affront to workers' rights by the EU some time back in the early 90s. And the accountability of trade union reps in the US - don't even get me started. I would normally consider myself staunchly pro-union, but I think the relationship between unions and management in Europe is generally more collaborative, and less adversarial (I was disciplined for calling the union rep at my work a petty-minded Stalinist, which is admittedly rather adversarial). And it bothered me no end that "you can't work here unless you donate 5% of your paycheck to the Democrats": their super PAC blew $14M on psycho Hillary in the 2016 election.

That was the SEIU, who are also corrupt as hell; obviously my experience may have differed if I'd been in a different environment.

A lot of unions in the US are regressive and corrupt as fuck, though there are the occasional really good ones, and I wouldn't advocate for doing away with Unions, just reform. And reform that isn't de facto written by Wal*Mart, Amazon, etc...


TL/DR: Ned Price is a shithead who can't properly hold a press conference and we need more journalists like Lee.

It is. When I don't have time I just read something shilling for the left and from the right and where they overlap consistently I figure a small amount of facts lay.

Worth reading. David Sirota on corporate media misinformation:

link

Takeaway: people all know Fox is full of shit; their mistake is in thinking that any other legacy media outlet is somehow different.

Yes, I understand that the Jacobin is hard leftist. So sue me.

To a point. I think there's a difference between banging an ideological drum (as the Jacobin does), and actively promoting a corporate agenda which is bound up with the machinery of power. 



Joe Rogan is just a bloke with a podcast. The fact that so many people are listening to him - and taking his random stoner musings seriously - is just another reflection on how much distrust MSM has garnered at this point. He never expected this level of exposure or influence.

The fact that CNN and MSNBC are wailing on Rogan so much is a useful distraction to prevent their own bullshit being scrutinized, while they can still have "defense experts" on (who do side work for the Pentagon and/or Lockheed Martin) and get people in the mood for whatever bullshit war they're pushing.

Maybe.

I'll grant you, the Jacobin isn't part of a larger conglomerate, but it is the propaganda arm of the Democratic Socialists.

No one can ever predict that they'll be the next Howard Stern,

It's also a way for the Left to silence an outlet that allows disagreement with them. Two birds, one stone.




Well of course not. Break out of your echo chamber? Who would expect that!

You should, the Left is trying to censor a show that allows dissent with the Left (as well as the Right and everyone else). Social-political censorship is dangerous.