ComradeKayAdams

Preemptive attacks are contentious issues in international law and depend entirely on the evidence for “imminence.” Sure, you can be logically consistent in denouncing Israel’s actions in Gaza while supporting their preemptive strikes in Iran. My question, however, is why should the outside world trust a country that is actively committing a genocide and stealing land in every direction?? I personally trust Israel’s government far less than I do the same American government that told us about those WMD’s in Iraq! But now Israel is attacking Iran’s oil and gas infrastructure. So now the goalposts are rapidly moving beyond “prevention of imminent nuclear attack” to “regime change war, with assistance from the United States.” Lovely. If Iran chooses to close off the Strait of Hormuz, say hello to a devastating economic recession. Israel couldn’t wait a few more days for the peace talks in Oman?? Really?! Yeah, right… Keep in mind that we already know Israel has been sabotaging direct talks between the U.S. and Hamas so to keep Hamas in power in Gaza. Many of you guys need to examine why you keep falling for neocon lies and message framing. There are many nuanced lessons to be learned about the dehumanization process, “might makes right” American imperialism, Zionism, and the like. I’ll keep things simple: what is the perspective of our perceived enemy, Iran? Answer that question. My answer: Iran has no reason to ever trust the United States. Our country has been disrespecting their sovereignty since the 1950’s, due to access to fossil fuel energy resources. Iran agreed to the JCPOA and followed it faithfully, according to the IAEA. Then Trump ripped it up, made unsubstantiated claims of violations, and failed to replace the JCPOA with revised peace terms. Fast forward to 2025, and Trump’s “Art of the Deal” strategies somehow include denying Iran’s fundamental international right to fissile nuclear material for energy and medical research purposes. Meanwhile, Trump is supporting Israel’s offensive attacks against Iran…just as he’s supporting their ethnic cleansing in Gaza and their annexation of both the West Bank and southwest Syria (all of which had been previewed years earlier with the Abraham Accords and with Trump’s acknowledged annexation of the Golan Heights). To be clear: I’m no fan of Iran’s theocracy, in a similar way that I’m no fan of Christian nationalism in the United States or of Jewish apartheid practices in Israel. But the neocon fearmongering of Iran using nuclear weapons in the region, which would thereby 100% assure their own destruction, is tired and stupid. If Iran wants nuclear weapons ASAP, it is so to avoid becoming the next Libya.

My top 5 (double asterisks for movies that have already been mentioned in the thread): The Last of the Mohicans L.A. Confidential** Mulholland Drive Rear Window The Silence of the Lambs** Honorable Mention #1: The Godfather**: It should probably be my #1 movie of all time, but I’m such a fan of Puzo’s book that it’s tough for the movie to live up to my super high standards. Honorable Mention #2-3: The Big Lebowski**, The Notebook: I’ve probably seen these movies TOO many times, to the point of fatigue. Honorable Mention #4-6: Saving Private Ryan**, Terminator 2, The Thing: I’m normally not a fan of the war, action, and horror movie genres. The fact that I enjoyed these movies so much means they’re worthy of a mention.

Update to my top-5 ranked-choice vote: 1. Zohran Mamdani 2. Brad Lander 3. Zellnor Myrie 4. Scott Stringer 5. Adrienne Adams I removed Jessica Ramos and replaced her with Adrienne Adams. As it turns out, Jessica is indeed a FILTHY RAT and was also running an incompetent campaign. Adrienne is widely perceived to have strong centrist support, which makes her the most competitive challenger to Cuomo should Zohran and the progressives falter. So if you despise Cuomo at all costs but don’t think Zohran can make the final ranked-choice elimination round, then you’ll most likely want Adrienne somewhere on your top-5 list so that you’ll at least have a voice in the final say. Yeah, but the 2020 NYC lockdown occurred because there was evidence of a pandemic and because NYC is one of the most densely populated places in the world. There is no legal justification for an imposition of Sharia law. And besides, pics I’ve seen from Zohran’s recent wedding show a well-assimilated American Muslim with a new wife (Rama Duwaji) not practicing Sharia law. The actual criticisms surrounding Zohran are related to his inexperience and to his potential naivete about what he could realistically accomplish. Cuomo is also hitting him hard for his anti-Israel stance, bizarrely enough, in a U.S. mayoral race. Within wonky progressive circles, social democrats like myself might lightly challenge him on rent freeze details or on his “$30 by ‘30” minimum wage plan (FWIW: it’s currently $16.50 in NYC, $15.50 in NYS, and $7.25 in the US).

A really important question! The short answer is that ICE needs to consistently overstep their authority in order to meet the high daily deportation quotas that the Trump administration established. This overstepping of authority is the specific reason for the ICE protests, regardless of what MAGA’s may try to argue otherwise. The longer answer is that authoritarians use the dehumanization process* as a cudgel for increasing power. What it means to dehumanize, in the legal sense, is to not respect certain rights as universal that are supposed to be thought of as such: due process, free speech, no cruel/unusual punishment, recognition of international law, etc… As soon as the citizenry sees these rights infringed upon, it is their duty to protest and disobey so as to not normalize the aberrant behavior. Intelligent people will understand how the dehumanization process is an eventual boomerang**. MAGA populists, meanwhile, easily fall for the scapegoating*** of brown immigrants (illegal or legal). * - Other examples of creeping authoritarianism: ignoring and undermining decrees from the judicial branch, subsuming the powers of Congress to set tariffs, circumventing the Congressional “power of the purse,” crafting unconstitutional executive orders, increasing voter disenfranchisement, leaving military spending unfettered, hosting military parades, and normalizing military responses to domestic affairs. ** - Speaking of boomerangs…it is said (by some French guy, I think…Foucault?) that fascism is imperialism turned inward. So when an empire expends money and energy abroad to the neglect of its own citizens, the domestic decay leads to internal instability. The government will then attempt to stabilize using tactics it perfected abroad. The point here is that the MAGA authoritarianism we’re witnessing isn’t a black swan event, but rather the predictable product of unchecked post-WW2 imperialism (along with Reagan neoliberalism). *** - Culpability lies with the people responsible for labor exploitation and the people who destroyed collective bargaining leverage in the United States.

For any PPP lurkers voting in the NYC mayoral primary…I will share with you my official top-5 ranked-choice vote, after much contemplation: 1. Zohran Mamdani (Queens) 2. Brad Lander (Brooklyn) 3. Zellnor Myrie (Brooklyn) 4. Jessica Ramos (Queens) 5. Scott Stringer (Manhattan) Adrienne Adams (Queens) is AOC’s second choice and also Julia Salazar’s fourth choice. Adrienne comes across as super “meh” to me, so I’m not sure what the ranked-choice strategy might be here. Neither AOC nor Julia chose to rank Jessica Ramos. Since I’m not privy to any of the drama surrounding Jessica’s sudden decision to endorse Cuomo, I just put together my own ranking with a heavy emphasis on policy. FWIW: I’m your basic social democracy progressive, to the left of a liberal and to the right of a socialist. You’re asking why Zohran hasn’t publicly declared his stance on Sharia law? Simply because no media people in the city have bothered to ask him. Everyone here assumes that he won’t enforce it on NYC if elected mayor because, well, it would be really really weird for a DSA member to want to do that! I’m not even sure how a mayor could go about imposing such a policy on all NYC’ers. Everyone at the moment is more focused on practical issues like public transportation costs, rent controls, child care availability, minimum wages, and grocery store worker co-ops in “food deserts.” Multiculturalism has its benefits: higher tolerances of others, increased levels of professional creativity, better food options, etc… But I also think you’re putting too much stock in my diversity pride remark. It was a frivolous thought, similar to how a native Buffalonian like myself might take pride in the Bills or the snowy climate or the large concentration of Polish-Americans there. The ethnic, national, and religious diversity within NYC is a unique feature. People oftentimes take pride in uniqueness. Having said all that…I’m probably overstating what most NYC’ers actually think about pride in diversity. Most probably don’t bother thinking about it because they’re so accustomed to it.

Thank you. I very much appreciate you setting the record straight on my positions. I also appreciate your willingness to engage me in conversation. There’s no need to rush responses or even respond at all. I’d rather you take the time to carefully read what I write and then do independent study on this topic, for your own verification, using what I’ve written as a guide if needed. I’ll leave you with two important questions on your journey of moral and intellectual enlightenment: 1. What evidence has led the International Association of Genocide Scholars to their virtually unanimous determination that Israel is committing genocide? 2. Why has Israel, since 10/7/23, accelerated its illegal expansion of West Bank settlements and intensified the violence perpetrated against West Bank (i.e. non-Gazan) Palestinians? On a much lighter note…HECK YEAH, I can totally see you rocking the Arthur Fonzarelli look!! The blue jeans, white t-shirt, (faux) leather jacket, and slicked-back hair is a timeless rebel look…quintessential Leh-nerd. You ARE undoubtedly The Fonz. Always remember to choose a fashion aesthetic that best fits your unique personality, Leh-nerd. Do not chase trends. Care to guess what I’m going with today?? Yup: a floral-patterned bell-sleeved skater dress, black sheer tights, and a crown braid. BOOM. Another easy-peasy weekend morning routine for La Commie Kay.

1. My “interesting perspective” on a Hamas alliance with the United States: I do very much appreciate your willingness to politically tango with La Commie Kay, but please don’t step on my dance toes! I never even so much as intimated that an alliance with Hamas should be an objective. I was merely challenging your silly perspective that Hamas posed some kind of threat to our American way of life. It’s akin to George W. Bush’s “They hate us for our freedoms!” insight. No, they hate us because we’re imperialist sh!theads who, in this instance, are supporting our settler colonial proxy state’s ethnic cleansing. 2. You “reading stories of” Hamas violence against Gazans: OMG…I think I just found your fundamental problem. You badly need to diversify your news sources beyond corporate media ones that are in the pockets of powerful Zionists. The hasbara propaganda is apparent once you compare different media coverages of the same events. The fact that you’re fixated on alleged Hamas violence toward Gazans to the exclusion of Israel’s ACTUAL GENOCIDE of Gazans… 3. How “most Palestinians seem to support Hamas” to you: I think you meant to say Gazans instead of Palestinians. It’s hard to tell what Gazans think right now because it’s hard to do polling in there. Their society has broken down so badly to the point that they can’t properly maintain death records anymore. I can only surmise that many Gazans are unhappy with what Hamas leadership has been able to deliver for them to date, most are simply preoccupied with surviving, and nearly all are understandably angrier with the Israelis performing the genocide on them. Gaza is an entire society of descendants of Nakba refugees, so their resentment is unsurprisingly deep and generational. 4. “The innate goodness and decency of Hamas” you think I see: Now you are crushing my tango toes. STEP OFF. This is reckless and libelous speculation on your part. I’ve never come close to suggesting that in anything I’ve ever wrote. In my personal opinion, many of the leaders and members among the military wing of Hamas are likely irredeemable sociopaths. 5. “The current binary choice world” that you live in: Why do you stubbornly choose to see the world like this?? The real world is wonderfully multifaceted and highly nuanced. You are a willing prisoner inside your own mind. 6. “The path forward” for a partnership with both Israel and Hamas: I refuse to lay out such a path because I insist that both the Israeli government and the Hamas leadership have forfeited their rights to continue governing. They should all be charged with war crimes, sent to The Hague to stand trial, and serve their appropriate prison sentences. 7. A Brief Posting Retrospective with Leh-nerd Skin-erd: All in all, I’d say our discussion so far is going pretty well, no? I’m trying my best to effectuate a kinder, gentler posting philosophy with you called “What would Muppy Do?,” or “WMD” for short. It helps that I’m analogizing our debate to a tango dance instead of a boxing match! We’ll see how long this lasts, though. I have my guarded eyes fixed on you…

Early June is probably the right time for the endorsement. If too early, no one is paying attention. If too late, there’s not enough time to fully take advantage of the publicity boost AOC’s name recognition provides. Now we just need an endorsement from Bernie… Trust me when I say that no one who knows Zohran personally is afraid he would impose Sharia law on NYC! Far-left politicians, nationwide, have virtually an impeccable record respecting the Establishment Clause. NYC is also the most culturally diverse city in the world and likely in human history. It’s a source of pride here. Being Muslim isn’t going to hurt Zohran like some outsider pundits stuck in the 9/11/01 worldview want to think. I’m actually begging Andrew Cuomo to dig deep into that Islamophobia campaign playbook because I think it will backfire spectacularly on him and because Zohran needs every potential advantage he can find in such a close race. Cuomo has already begun that descent with his recent “anti-Zionism = anti-Semitism” rhetoric, but we have less than three full weeks of campaign runway remaining. An Emerson College poll from last week showed Cuomo defeating Zohran 54.4% to 45.6% in the tenth round of ranked-choice voting. This essentially means Zohran has three weekends to convince 1 out of every 20 primary voters to switch their ballot order between him and Andrew.

Oh no! A Muslim!! Eeeek!!! LOL…wear your bigotry proudly, guys… So AOC has now officially endorsed Zohran Mamdani!! You DON’T mess with The Zohran. The NYC Dem Party primary is Tuesday, June 24. Vote Zohran Mamdani as your top choice and fill in your next four choices with names, but make sure to leave Andrew Cuomo completely off your top-5 list. Also: if you live in the greater NYC area, Zohran still needs lots of volunteer help in The Bronx.

TRANSLATION: “It quickly became apparent to me that I had no chance of winning this debate, so I’ll just pretend that Kay condones acts of terrorism and then proceed to quit with feigned righteous indignation. Hopefully she will leave me alone now, and hopefully this response will allow me to save face with my two dozen reactionary Boomer/middle-aged friends who were evidently equally afraid to engage with Kay…since none of them bothered to come to my rescue during our debate…” For the record: yes, I unequivocally condemn all acts of terrorism on innocent civilians and non-combatants. I do so on both moral and strategic grounds. But I also vociferously condemn collective punishment, ethnic cleansing, genocide, apartheid ethnostates, and acts of terrorism on Palestinian Americans from mentally ill Zionists…all of which apparently the two dozen TBD PPP reactionary Boomers/middle-agers AND YOU do not. You’re presenting a false binary choice. Why not forego an alliance with both Hamas AND Israel? In what way does Hamas threaten our American way of life?? They are a political organization localized to the Gaza Strip. They’ve never physically harmed an American outside of Israel. You can read their 1988 and 2017 charters to get a sense of their specific grievances, but any issues they have with the U.S. are restricted to our support of a country that has infamously confined their citizens to an “open-air prison” for the past two decades. In what way is Israel a good ally?? We send them ~$4 billion a year in aid, ~$20 billion since 10/7/23, and ~$300 billion total since Israel’s founding. That is not an “America first” policy! In return, our support of them has seriously strained our international and Middle East regional alliances, already sucked us into multiple disastrous Middle East conflicts, and at this point has destroyed whatever remaining moral legitimacy our country had in the post-WW2 era. All this for better economic access to the Suez Canal region, which the Houthis have now strained SPECIFICALLY because of our support for Israel’s genocide??

Child Order Psychology: Middle children are known for being good conflict mediators. I guess I can sorta see that in you, based on your PPP posting history. You oftentimes seek the more centrist or ”reasonable” political position, willingly explore both sides, and avoid emotional extremes. I’m the youngest in my family with two older brothers close in age, so maybe that helps explain my high levels of combativeness on a pro football message board subforum? I hope Muppy chimes in to tell us hers, though I’m afraid to “at” her because I know she hates PPP. Ugh. I’m already bored with this thread topic. Let’s just finish up with an old-fashioned “debate by combat,” Game of Thrones style! 1. Historians of the Nazi Party reached their consensus assessments from public quotes, private letters, interviews, newspaper depictions, and the Nuremberg Trials. << punches Leh-nerd in the nose >> 2. Computer glitch! << left hook to Leh-nerd’s face >> 3. Soda poetry! << right hook to Leh-nerd’s face >> 4. Poignant quote! << devastating uppercut to Leh-nerd’s jaw >> Debate conclusion: TKO! Kay wins another political debate against Leh-nerd! Yay, Kay!! Catwomen: Agreed! I’m familiar with all of the character’s actresses, and I think Julie Newmar wins on physical beauty and charisma. She was crazy tall, too. Catwoman should be tall and physically intimidating. Meaner Memes: Hmmm…upon further review, that meme has been deemed “very meh.” As an homage to our pugilistic repartee, it shall be replaced with this more delightful internet meme:

Read again my first paragraph and the post to which I was responding. 1. My “twisted propaganda version” of history: Be specific. Tell me exactly what you think is my propaganda and what is truth. My version of history comes from the widely accepted “New Historians” of Israel (Benny Morris et al.). 2. My alleged TDS: I’ve been calling this conflict a genocide since November 2023 and have been extremely critical of Zombie Zionist Biden the entire time. I was highly critical of my own political people (Bernie + AOC) for not denouncing the genocide much earlier. I’ve been against apartheid Israel since first reading Chomsky in high school. Can we talk about YOUR Trump apologisms?? Any profound thoughts on AIPAC money, Miriam Adelson’s special $100+ million bribe, and Trump’s real estate interests in an ethnically cleansed Gaza?? 3. Palestinians “started a battle” on 10/7/23: Sure, but what U.S. diplomatic events precipitated that battle?? Name them. And how did the broader “war” influence this battle (Balfour Declaration, Nakba, Green Line disputes, Camp David, Oslo Accords, Rabin assassination, both Intifadas, etc.)? 4. Your “barbaric squatters” remark: Oh! A very interesting and revelatory choice of words, indeed! The international community, FYI, does officially recognize the state of Palestine. They consider Gaza, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, chunks of southwest Syria, and parts of southern Lebanon to all be land that Israel is illegally occupying. 5. “Not one person in Palestine” publicly condemning attack: Shocking that you’ve been unaware of the peaceful humanitarian leaders and organizations throughout Palestine and abroad! I can excuse most Gazans for not vocally expressing their outrage because they’ve been preoccupied with basic survival in a dystopian landscape for the past 20 months. 6. “No doubt good and peaceful individuals” within Gaza: Your magnanimity warms my heart! Half of all Gazans aren’t even adults, FYI. 7. “They should be able to escape that and go to a more civilized” place: Agreed! Oh, wait…that whole “total blockade” situation in Gaza since 2007…and that whole “ethnic cleansing is wrong” concept… 8. “Palestine has lost any right to exist as a nation and they get what they deserve.” A powerful final thought from you. I’ll counter by arguing that the far superior country, militarily, has certain moral obligations. The U.N. and the ICJ have been compiling an outrageous litany of evidence for recent war crimes against Israel. The far-right Israeli government now openly expresses their plans for ethnic cleansing in both Gaza AND the West Bank. Academic experts on genocide are now unanimous in their agreement on calling this a genocide. These are all pretty glaring examples of Israel’s breach in their moral obligations. Just the other day, Jeremy Scahill (investigative journalist for Drop Site News) revealed details on ceasefire negotiations showing that Israel doesn’t even want Hamas to leave their positions of governance! In other words, Israel WANTS the genocide and ethnic cleansing to continue. The presence of Hamas is Israel’s one remaining justification for their contemptible behavior. So it was never about saving the hostages (no complete resolution after 20 months??) or about destroying Hamas. It was always about stealing more land and taking more natural resources…the settler colonial Zionist raison d’etre since the New Yishuv, wrapped up in a pretty Biblical bow. My solution: systematically dismantle the Jewish ethnostate of Israel. No two states. One state of Palestine, with equal rights for all. Have explicit constitutional protections for minority religious/ethnic groups like Jews. Employ heavy international/U.S. guidance early on to build up a peacefully functioning Palestine-Israel state. Oh I hear ya, but I also look at this as a moral imperative to provide at least some type of response.

You forgot that you had called me a cat?? That must have made reading my previous post a bit unsettling! 1. Why did you use the “overruled” word if you weren’t overruling me and didn’t think you can overrule anyone, including historians? So mysterious… 2. I’ve been consistent this whole time. Top-down government management and bottom-up worker co-op management are two organizational versions of the same system in which “workers own the means of production.” If you nationalize an industry (health care, energy, etc.), the employees in that industry are also taxpaying/voting citizens and therefore part of the ownership group. There are no uber-wealthy CEO’s and workers below the poverty line in a nationalized industry model. There WERE such things, however, throughout the entire Nazi Germany economy. 3. << hugs Leh-nerd >> 4. Hmmm…meh. << punches Leh-nerd >> Leh-nerd’s Catcalling Problems: Yes, I sometimes speak metaphorically. No, I am not an actual cat typing this out with a pair of heavy-handed paws. That would be patently absurd, Leh-nerd. Please try to keep up with me. It’s as if I’m traversing a 5-D hyperspace chessboard of communication with ease, while your 16 pieces are stuck on a congested 1-D line… Also, you should have gone with Catwoman instead of Garfield. Consider their main adversaries, too, and how they match our own adversarial relationship. Catwoman is super bad*ss and loves violently assaulting Batman. Nermal is far too cute. If they were to make a TBD PPP superhero movie for some reason, then obviously 1990’s Renee Zellweger (before Bridget Jones) would play my Catwoman and 1980’s Sloth Fratelli (during Goonies) would play your Batman. Kay’s Mean Meme: I viewed it as a fairly creative variation of the “Son I am Disappoint” meme. Not even a thumbs-up +1 rep boost?? Humph. << punches Leh-nerd >>

Yes, I very much think the Palestine protestors have peaceful intentions!! Isolated incidents of violence from mentally disturbed people don’t define or negate an entire political/humanitarian movement. Would you like me to carefully review all the violent hate crimes, in the U.S. alone since 10/7/23, by self-avowed Zionists against Palestinian Americans?? Where were all you PPP sh!theads when, say, Joseph Czuba murdered Wadee Alfayoumi??!! I’m kind of relieved, though, to see Israel apologists FINALLY admitting that they want Trump to crack down on free speech. This is the natural impulse for those who can’t defend the indefensible: a certifiable GENOCIDE funded by the American taxpayer. But those who would like to try anyway with me should first understand that this conflict spatially extends beyond the Gaza Strip and temporally before 10/7/23. So before attempting to tango with La Commie Kay, you must first have a decent understanding of the West Bank settler encroachments and the New Yishuv of the pre-Nakba era. And so I’ll now patiently await among the verdant subforum foliage, like a political praying mantis, ready to rip some f*cking Zionist heads off after our disputatious embrace. Peace, -Kay

It’s technically not a definitional component of communism, either. Authoritarianism has historically accompanied communism** because of the difficulty in scaling communism up to fit a society any larger and more diverse than what you’d likely find on a hippie commune. Any system of governance that poorly models collective human behavior will devolve into extreme violence. Anarcho-capitalism is on the opposite side of that same communist coin. ** - While we’re being super technical here…I should note that the historical/practical instances of communism failed in coming close to matching the academic/theoretical definition of communism. Don’t get cute with me, Leh-nerd. You’re the one who called me a cat. Now you think of me more as someone who is youthful, adorable, persistent, brilliant, self-confident, and always able to declare victory. Hmmm…yes, let’s roll with Stewie! 1. You’re getting cute with me, Leh-nerd. YOU “overruled” ME. I was simply regurgitating the consensus thoughts of credible academic HISTORIANS. Therefore, YOU are overruling (i.e. disagreeing with) the HISTORIANS. Transitive property, bruh. 2. True. Direct government management has historically been far more common than worker cooperatives. 3. You’re very welcome! 4. I see where you’re going with this, but I will easily argue that modern American conservatives have far more overlap with historical fascists than do my democratic socialist comrades. Regarding your aborted Garfield remark: Let’s go ahead and “flesh it out” before we “flush it out.” Garfield is known for being lazy, fat, and a lover of lasagna. I am a workaholic, have a 19.3 BMI, and have been a 100% vegan for many years now. Diagnosis: FAIL.