ComradeKayAdams

LOLOL…yup, sooo true!! MAGA has fashioned quite the image of themselves as a bunch of manly men manlying around with their manly manliness, driven by some masculine ideal of purely rational thought. They perceive Harris voters, meanwhile, as overly emotional and irrational types, driven by this stereotypically feminine decision-making construct. And yet here we are…the “f*ck your feelings” crowd losing their collective sh!t over a singularly random comment from a senile lame duck president. Imagine that!! The ”garbage” remark, however, was perfectly apt. Behind each MAGA’s veil of machismo lies a prisoner of their own combined low IQ and EQ…a Platonic ideal, if you will, of the “stupid a*shole.” Let’s delve a bit deeper into the dullardly mind of a MAGA, shall we? What specifically DEFINES these sh!thead simpletons? Here I shall emphasize PUBLIC POLICIES and not their personality peccadillos, as reflected from their Dear Leader/Boyfriend a.k.a. Donald Trump. I’ll only highlight a small handful of issues which I don’t think others here have already addressed: 1. Corporate oligarchy: MAGA dumb-dumbs like to think of themselves as heroic populists fighting some poorly defined “establishment,” and yet they have an equally poorly defined stance on Citizens United v. FEC (2010). They don’t seem all too perturbed that post-2016 Trump now embraces the concept of billionaires purchasing government power. 2. American imperialism: MAGA claims they are anti-war and against the MIC, but they also embraced various “might-makes-right” Trumpian foreign policies against not-white-enough peoples: thousands of Middle East drone strikes, keeping troops in Afghanistan, bombing Syria repeatedly, occupying countries over oil, provocatory assassinations of Iranian generals, organized coups in Venezuela, backing a Saudi-led Yemen genocide, etc… And what about reducing the bloated military budget?? Nope! “We need to maintain only the bestest, most tremendous military,” insist Trump and his acolytes. 3. Gaza: This issue is really just an extension of the broader American imperialism that MAGA idiots and Trump embrace. When you are a Judeo-Christian supremacist and an Islamophobe, Zionism is second nature to you. Apartheid practices, collective punishment war crimes, ethnic cleansing, and genocide are all rationalized. The Leahy Laws are ignored. Illegally occupying Gaza, the West Bank, East Jerusalem, the Golan Heights, and now southern Lebanon are all condoned. Trump’s contributions, ultimately, to October 7 are conveniently forgotten (exiting the JCPOA, moving the US embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem, mediating the Abraham Accords, and recognizing the Golan Heights annexation). 4. Economic philosophy: MAGA morons, ever the champions for the working class, willfully choose to embrace the free market fundamentalism of their slightly more intelligent libertarian sociopathic comrades. My Gawd…we could write lengthy doctoral dissertations, right here in this forum, on all the foolishness which stems from their ridiculous oversimplifications of the highly complex field that is macroeconomics. But let’s note only the most recent example of their foolishness: their blind support of Trump’s high tariffs/zero income tax idea, which is straight out of the famously progressive utopian era that was America’s Gilded Age. Even if one were to explain the blatantly regressive nature of this plan to these Austrian school sycophants, they’d probably just shrug their shoulders and tell you, “Meh. Go, like, pick yourself up from your bootstraps. Or something.” 5. Health care: Is your family overwhelmed with medical debt? Are you dying from cancer because you can’t afford treatment? Stuck in a terrible job because you’re afraid to lose your health care plan? “Too bad,” says MAGA. “F*ck off and die.” We’re all still waiting on Trump’s amazing health care plan, by the way. LOL… 6. Abortion: Simply put, you are every bit a “garbage” human being if you are okay with women in certain states being legally forced to carry their rapist’s fetus to term. Moreover, you are not very smart if you don’t understand exactly how legal abortions well beyond the first trimester (i.e. keeping reproductive health decisions strictly between a mother and her health care professionals, not the government) are necessary for prioritizing a mother’s health, life, and general safety. 7. Transgender rights: People who can understand science can understand that the concept of gender identity is linked to the gender-determining morphology and function of the human brain. In the vast majority of humans, this particular gender identity marker also happens to match the sex determined by that person’s chromosomes and reproductive equipment. For MAGA, however, science is really really hard; bigotry and bullying, meanwhile, are super duper fun! 8. Anthropogenic global warming: El. Oh. El. For many people, middle school earth science was a trivial endeavor. For MAGA, both their cognitive limitations and their complete disregard for negative externalities invite a horrifying (yet admittedly highly entertaining!) array of delightfully grand conspiracies. Scientific conspiracies, evidently, fill the vacuum that is their pathetic scope of scientific understanding. That’s all the morning polemicizing for now. Gotta get ready for work. Also, everyone please wish me luck on my Halloween party costume this weekend: Medusa, the tragic feminist martyr from Greek mythology (but the SEXY version…with a puffy long-sleeved bodycon dress, bedazzled with sequins and glitter and sh!t, while drenched in sundry floral aromas from Juicy Couture*). Woohoo! Enjoy the coming weekend, everyone! Yes, even all you MAGA dullards…you too! GO BILLS. CIRCLE. DEM. WAGONS. SQUISH. DEM. FISH. *-yes, I’m well aware that Juicy Couture isn’t 100% cruelty-free. These perfumes were gifted to me. This addendum is directed at all the disputatious TBD PPP posters** who are always trying to spot my hypocrisies, but who always fail spectacularly in doing so. **-namely, Leh-nerd Skin-erd.

Yep, this is basically what I’m predicting. More specifically, I have Harris winning 287 to 251 in electoral votes (i.e., all seven swing states minus Georgia and North Carolina). Two basic reasons why: 1. I’m expecting a systemic overperformance in the polls very similar to what was observed during the 2022 midterms, fueled by unmarried women’s opposition to Dobbs v. Jackson WHO plus independent voters’ revulsion to January 6 election results denialism. 2. Trump’s overreliance on low-propensity voter demographics (mostly male ones). Lots of mainstream political analysts seem to be forgetting that voter preference doesn’t fully equate to voter enthusiasm.

JOSH overrated?? Hawk Tua is going down. We spit on THEIR thang. “Not safe for work, Kay. Your mind is in the gutter. Message from the mods.” My fault, Two Bills Drive, But haikus I use to lube. Fish Squish Week excites. “What did we tell you?! It’s a family forum. Your final warning.” I can’t help myself… A five-seven-five format At least I maintain! “This is true, Adams. A haiku Hill you are not. The poet abides.”

Same! I grew up with two annoying older brothers: both varsity athlete mesomorph types, whereas I myself have always been disadvantaged with more of a diminutive ectomorph physique. Nevertheless, the one thing I have always been blessed with is a resourceful survivor spirit! So while there’s no way I could physically take on Coach McDermott, I do consider the brain to be the most powerful muscle in the human body. Coach McD strikes me as a guy wound just a bit too tight, perhaps secretly dealing with a multitude of mental health issues ranging from paranoia and insecurity to chronic anxiety and insomnia. My strategy of choice would therefore be to personally subject Coach McD to months of torturous psychological manipulation, ideally culminating in a life-threatening eating disorder. Once the eating disorder has advanced to a stage requiring in-patient hospitalization care, I will come visit Coach McD at the Catholic Mercy Hospital of Buffalo. Though to be clear: no mercy will be offered to him by me on that final day. As I saunter over to his hospital room bed, Coach McD’s eyes will fully widen as he sees me, like a woodland owl forced to acknowledge its indefatigable apex predator. “You again! Why?! Why did you do this to me?! Was it the 13 Seconds game? The pathetic Bengals playoff home game? Too many men on the field for the final play of last season’s ridiculous Broncos game? All I ever wanted in life was to bring gridiron joy to all you lovely Western New Yorkers! Why, Kay? Why?!” This is the moment where I then slowly lean in towards him, gently stroke his arm, massage his shoulder, and whisper softly into his ear, “Because I could, Sean. Because I could.” As I get up and walk away, a nearby nurse vigorously holds down Coach McD’s emaciated and flailing body to the hospital bed, as his pale Irish countenance turns bright red like an aged star approaching supernova status. “Curses to thee, of sly mind and small body, and with neither sling nor stone…another favorable victory I have blown!” Sean rather poetically screams out to yours truly. “May you welcome as your eternal abode the fiery pits below, you Baphomet-worshiping banshee! Arrrgggh!” << END SCENE. >> << BEGIN EPILOGUE. >> The rhythmic clicking of Kay’s VEERAH stiletto heels echo through the hospital hallway as she walks away from Coach McDermott’s room. The reverberating clicks grow louder, drowning out the distant flatlining emission from Sean’s electrocardiogram. Kay suddenly removes a wig and rubber facial mask, revealing herself to be…<<dramatic pause>>…Tyler Dunne in drag! Eeek! The “Go Long” journalist, evidently all along, was playing his own long game on poor ol’ Sean.

It might be!! Anecdotally, I can say that I know this under-30 female demographic quite well. I probably have about 500 or so of them in my extended social network. We are part of the “childless cat lady” demographic whom J.D. Vance and his WEIRD acolytes despise so much. Based on my Instagram surfing alone, I get the strong sense that we are pretty much all committed now to voting for Harris-Walz. I could analyze the “why” in a million different ways, but let’s start with the most obvious: we can’t be allowing any state in the union to force a 10-year-old girl to give birth to her rapist’s child. Reactionaries have failed “Team Menstruation” horribly with their interpretations of the Ninth, Tenth, and Fourteenth Amendments (plus the First, Fourth, and Fifth…). DEEP THOUGHT ALERT: I often find myself contextualizing contemporary politics through the prism of history. I’m seeing potential parallels on the horizon with Republicans and the Whig Party. Abortion could ultimately divide and destroy the Republican Party in a similar way that slavery divided and destroyed the Whigs. Anyone else agree?? Disagree??

Trump is their OG communist, actually! Anyone else remember Executive Order #13948 back in the summer of 2020?? Oh, Commie Kay remembers… Right-wingers were praising this price control on prescription drugs because political tribalism often trumps (pun delightfully intended!) political principles. “Communist” is just a label now that has been rendered devoid of any meaning beyond “someone conservatives don’t like.” My very limited (and possibly erroneous) awareness of Kamala’s grocery price control proposal is that it would be a sunset provision reserved specifically for proven food price gouging. Temporary price controls do have a history of success when restricted to societal emergency situations. Permanent price controls, on occasion, can also work; you already mentioned such an example involving a price floor (minimum wages) and one involving a price ceiling (trust busting). But while price collusion is a type of market failure like any other, it can sometimes be difficult to prove conclusively. So one’s educated opinion of Kamala’s policy efficacy will depend on how obvious one thinks the evidence of collusion may be (based heavily on corporate profit margin histories), along with what one thinks are the causal factors of our present inflation: corporate price gouging (yes), lingering cost-push international supply chain issues (yes, somewhat, due to strife abroad and what not), cost-push energy supply shocks (LOL…an eyeroll for those who don’t understand how international energy free markets work yet dogmatically cling to them…), demand-pull stimulus effects (sure, though not in the way right-wingers think because CARES and ARP also prevented dangerous deflationary collapses), a lax monetary policy (certainly not ruling out artificially low interest rates and aggressive money supply expansions), etc. Kamala is also proposing a price control on rent, and right now I’m equally unfamiliar with the details of this particular policy. My firm belief, however, is that you can’t just throw government subsidies at this problem without addressing root causes (namely: corporate oligopoly effects on local housing markets). Furthermore, I’m an unapologetic tree-hugging eco-fascist who rages deliriously at the specter of creeping suburban sprawl; when I so much as hear mere MURMURS of lowering housing costs via a widespread government promotion of increases to the supply…BIG TROUBLE. EDIT: Misspelled “murmurs.” Terrible.

Note that I’m referring strictly to market socialism models in my response: 1. Taxation: You’re always going to have tax requirements, with all of the accompanying potential headaches, whenever you have public services. Market socialism is not necessarily any better or worse than other forms of government in this regard. Even societies practicing anarcho-capitalism will feature an annoying array of “tax-like” user fees that must be paid. 2. Nationalization: Market socialism definitely doesn’t forbid privatization! Private companies won’t be shut down as long as their ownership structures meet certain regulatory criteria. 3. Central Planning: The whole point of market socialism is to NOT have top-down micromanagement of a macroeconomic system! Government intervention into a free market isn’t the same concept as a centrally planned economy. No economic system of any practical merit is truly laisse-faire because many types of market failures are inherent. 4. Various Inefficiencies: On the microeconomic level, not all goods and services are the same. Some of them function better outside the profit motive (national defense, law and order, firefighting, transportation infrastructure, health care, water utilities, possibly all forms of energy, etc.). On the macroeconomic level, the theory behind market socialism is that societies are maximally efficient when socioeconomic mobility is optimal, and that socioeconomic mobility is optimal when labor exploitation is minimal (i.e., a laborer receives reasonable compensation for his/her contribution to the final product…so no cases of subsistence on food stamps while the capitalist accumulates wealth surpassing that of small countries…). The underlying theory is all rooted in standard Keynesian economics plus well-established Marxist critiques of capitalism. You basically want more people fully engaged in the economy, from both a consumer’s point of view and an investor’s one. You may recall from my previous post, however, where I did acknowledge my reservations with the ability of market socialism to set labor wages and generate entrepreneurial speculation. Successful food co-ops are succeeding within the framework of a decidedly capitalistic economy; billionaires can be genuinely unique in their risk-taking personalities. There are no simply defined problems with obvious solutions in the world of political economics, even though socialists and libertarians alike may implore you otherwise. That is my current belief.

For completeness, the number of states where abortion is on the November ballot stands at 11: Arizona, Nevada, Montana, Colorado, Nebraska, South Dakota, Missouri, Arkansas, Florida, Maryland, and our beautiful home state of New York. Arizona and Nevada are 2 of the 6 key swing states in the presidential election, while Montana has a hotly contested Senate seat in play. 5 of those 6 key swing states (including Wisconsin, Michigan, and Pennsylvania…all but Georgia) also have a Senate seat up for election in 2024. Ohio’s Senate seat election could be influenced by the abortion issue, as well. It’s going to be a real challenge for the Democrats to sweep the 7 aforementioned Senate elections in order to reach an overall 50-50 Senate tie. But if they continue the trend of outperforming polls since Roe v. Wade was overturned, then it’s more than just possible and maybe even becomes the most probable outcome.

Oh…well that last sentence of mine was actually typed tongue-in-cheek, though your inability to recognize that was a failure of my writing style and not your reading comprehension! I’ll try to answer your questions: When market socialists speak of transitioning beyond the current U.S. mixed economy, they’re usually thinking of models that don’t meaningfully alter the existing ratio of private businesses to public services (well…aside from the health care industry…and maybe also the energy industry…). So all that would really change is the matter of who owns the means of production and the particular way this ownership is distributed. These ownership details, however, would then fall under government regulation. A simple example of what I mean: you want to start a business, but your business model involves you collecting 99.9% of all profits while the rest of your employees split the remaining 0.1% in the form of very low-wage jobs. The market socialist government steps in and tells you that, as founder/CEO, your personal profit collection is to be capped at, say, 51% while the rest of your employees are collectively entitled to the remaining 49%. So you can still make your high-quality products at lower costs to the consumer and with better worker compensation than your competitors. The key difference is that the socialist government more aggressively enforces minimum standards in the worker compensation component of your business plan. In case you’re wondering why I’m just a social democrat and not a full-blown market socialist: for me, it’s much more about data-driven macroeconomic optimization than it is about the restrictions to certain entrepreneurial freedoms. There ARE situations in which I believe supply-side solutions best promote growth (especially if there is greater national oversight of outsourcing, stock buybacks, taxation loopholes, etc.). My reservations with market socialism models are related to potential unintended consequences arising from supply-side market distortions as well as from labor market distortions. At least for the time being, I’d be more than okay with a robust social safety net that includes universal health care and the complete elimination of medical debt.

Were you wanting me to respond to the article, B-Man? I can do that: 1. GDP: I have a HUGE problem here with the author’s economic interpretations. According to him, Minnesota’s state GDP (per capita) fell below the national average as a direct consequence of progressive policies. I’m familiar with mountains of international macroeconomic data typically indicating the opposite correlation. Moreover, GDP has clear limitations in its usage for defining economic (and especially societal) health. Let’s dust off our introductory macroeconomics textbooks and recall one of its key operational definitions: [GDP] = [Government Expenditures] + [Private Consumption] + [Private Business Investments] + [Export/Import Differential]. It’s quite easy to imagine how a rare global pandemic can alter this formula for a random, mostly landlocked northern state in ways unrelated to the state’s public policies. Population changes affect this metric, too, and there’s no data specifically supporting a tax flight hypothesis for frigid Minnesota. What was the magnitude of Minnesota’s GDP fall, by the way?? That might also be relevant to the narrative formation… 2. George Floyd Protests/General Crime: The only criticism in the article with merit, in my opinion. Walz himself has acknowledged mistakes he has made during his tenure as governor, with respect to law and order in the state of Minnesota. I view such an admission as a sign of character strength. Voters who prioritize this issue are free to hold that against Walz, though I would remind these voters that crime is predominantly the domain of state and local politicians, not that of the POTUS. 3. Public School Test Scores: The declines between 2019 and now are part of observed nationwide phenomena not limited to Minnesota. They pretty much have everything to do with COVID and pretty much nothing to do with “woke agendas.” I don’t fault Walz for school closure policies that just about everyone else in the country and world followed. 4. Rural Popularity: I didn’t find his “mostly rocks and cows” remark to be an expression of contempt for rural people. Not at all! Rather, I interpreted it as a cute way to describe a basic political strategy. Since I hate arguments of “whataboutism,” I’ll reserve my thoughts on Vance’s “Hillbilly Elegy” for another time… 5. Military Record Controversy: Doesn’t bother me one bit. A middle-aged family man changed his mind and decided to retire, for whatever reason(s), after 24 years of service. Even if we were to assume cowardice as the singular explanation…so what?? The second Iraq War was beyond stupid, deeply immoral, and completely unrelated to our national security. Choosing not to die for the MIC and for corporate oligarchs is a sign of intelligence, as far as I’m concerned! Since I said that I’m against “whaboutism” arguments, I promise not to bring up Trump’s bone spurs… TL;DR Summary: Walz is super awesome. A social democrat’s dream candidate. His pragmatic progressivism is the perfect gateway drug for a potential revolutionary transition into market socialism by mid-century << crosses fingers >>.

Perhaps. If that’s the case, then she will be exposed during the debates and during any interviews scheduled after the Democratic Party convention. In the meantime, I’m guessing that her campaign team is specifically instructing her to keep a low profile while they iron out policy details leading up to this convention. Actually…Kamala COULD avoid any difficult interviews altogether and cruise to an easy 303 electoral votes victory, provided the following occur: 1. A pivot to the center on immigration. 2. Clarifications of the messaging on crime, inflation, and transgender rights. 3. An unambiguous positioning to the left of Biden on the Gaza genocide. 4. Stylistic wins over Trump in the debates. 5. Strong campaign ground game efforts in the college towns of the six swing states (Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania, Georgia, Arizona, and Nevada). 6. MOST IMPORTANT: the maintenance of good campaign vibes with delightfully irreverent memes. “Brat summer” must seamlessly transition to “brat fall.”

A below average president whose political impotence helped contribute to the rise of neoliberalism. Far from the worst ever, however. I don’t feel like treading into the deep weeds of 1970’s macroeconomics right now, but my basic opinion is that the underlying issues went well beyond the purview of his office. Reagan, in fact, ended up benefiting greatly from Carter’s chairman of the Federal Reserve (Paul Volcker). As for the non-economics stuff: I think Carter was pretty good on the environment, civil rights, and foreign diplomacy. Mixed feelings on the Carter Doctrine. The Iran hostage crisis was poorly handled, no doubt, though its occurrence was a consequence of several decades of American imperialism that happened to blow up on Carter’s watch. Sure, though a lot of PEPFAR’s success can be attributed to its subsequent years, once all the ridiculous Christian moralizing that imbued the program during its earliest incarnation was removed. Bottom line: I do like PEPFAR, but it doesn’t move the approval needle for me when you factor in the second Iraq war, Afghanistan, the loss of freedoms from the Patriot Act, the inability to prevent 9/11, his Katrina response, causal factors of the Great Recession, the national debt, global warming denialism, all of the LGBT bigotry, etc… GWB not only failed to address major crises that were presented to him, but he unnecessarily created entirely new ones and failed to anticipate others on the distant horizon. Ugh…fine. I’ll bump him slightly ahead of Andrew Johnson. Happy now??

THANK YOU. From my unapologetically biased perspective as a progressive, I’d easily rank him as the worst president of the American Neoliberal Era (1980-2024+): 1. Clinton 2. Obama 3. Reagan 4. Bush Sr. 5. Biden 6. Trump 7. GWB He’s probably in the running for worst ever…even worse than the likes of Johnson, Buchanan, Harding, etc.

STOP IT, B-Man. Us young progressives adore Bernie Sanders, a noted Jewish politician. Many supporters of the BDS movement, of course, are Jewish themselves. Shapiro’s problem is that he’s a genocide-enabling Zionist who doesn’t fully defend the First Amendment. Please read my posts in the “Israel and the Slaughter in Gaza” thread to understand how and why this conflict was always primarily about stealing land, not defeating Hamas or rescuing hostages. Yes, Kelly has been against the PRO Act since joining the Senate in 2020. I still think Cooper is the most likely choice, unless of course my newest meme (attached below) goes viral in time. I’ve also been working on additional campaign slogans: “2024 is the year: vote Harris-Beshear.” “A new political frontier with Kamala Harris and Andy Beshear.” “These two are top tier: Kamala Harris and Andy Beshear.” “A political pioneer: Kamala Harris, plus Beshear.” “Donate money or volunteer for Kamala Harris and Andy Beshear.” “A clean campaign with no need to smear: in 2024, vote Harris-Beshear.” “Enjoy a glass of wine or a can of beer with Kamala Harris and Andy Beshear.” “Avoid the Trumpian nadir: choose Harris and Beshear.” “For Trump and Vance we shed no tear: opt for Harris and Beshear.” “More patriotic than Paul Revere is how I would describe Harris and Beshear.” “At least our candidates don’t get shot in the ear: vote Kamala Harris and Andy Beshear.” “I sure hope the Russians don’t interfere! In 2024, vote Harris-Beshear.” “Behind the corporate oligarch veneer is a fun flirty candidate plus a VP named Beshear.” “Harris did NOT sleep her way up in her career, and neither did Andy Beshear!” “Stick with the front or try it in the rear? Hey…why not both when with Andy Beshear?!” “You some kind of Texan? A steer? A q_u_e_e_r?! Well…all are ok with Harris and Beshear!” “This particular campaign slogan is totally sincere: the best VP is simply Andy Beshear.” EDIT: Filter doesn't like the word, "q_u_e_e_r."

On second thought, Tibsy, this ticket might have way too much estrogen for America in the year of our Lord 2024. Let’s just go with my choice: Kentucky’s governor. Mama Kamala and America’s Generic Dad…the K-Hive teaming up with the B-Hive…swallowing the coconut pill and receiving the racehorse tranquilizer (a Kentucky Derby reference), etc… I even have the campaign slogan ready: “Spare us your fear. Choose Harris and Beshear.” Alternate slogan: “Kick it into gear with Harris and Beshear.” We can print these on green t-shirts so that they can color match with my green MAFA hats. You: “What does the ‘F’ stand for, Kay?” I’m so glad you asked, Tiberius!! The “F” stands for “Forested,” as in “Make America Forested Again.” The hats are conversation starters and are meant to spread awareness on the importance of reforestation efforts to meet our nation’s carbon sequestration targets, as outlined in both the “30 by 30” movement and the Paris Agreement. I plan to wear my brown yoga pants and brown ballet flats with the t-shirt and hat, so that I LITERALLY look like a tree. How cool is that?! Wouldn’t you like to be a tree for a day, Tiberius?? << Narrator: Sensing the sudden discomfort in Tiberius, Kay decides to quickly change the conversation. >> Allow me to clarify: Harris should consider adopting progressive policies that poll favorably for at least 60-65% of the GENERAL American population. At the absolute bare minimum, she must distance herself from Biden’s foreign policy on Israel-Palestine. I would also add transgender rights, regardless of wherever their current favorability polling happens to be, because these issues accentuate the fundamental mean-spiritedness of the Trump-Vance MAGA movement (and also because it’s a moral imperative of the Democrats to make the case for transgender rights like they did for gay marriage a decade ago). You guys are falling into the same logical traps that killed Hillary’s 2016 campaign if you think far-left progressives have greater motivation to come out to vote against Trump than do center-left liberals/neoliberals and independents. In essence, progressives are known to be much more motivated by issues than by personalities or party affiliation. Liberals, centrists, and independents tend to be the opposite (broadly speaking, of course) when it comes specifically to Donald Trump. I would also pay close attention to the sudden rise of Tim Walz, the (very) progressive governor of Minnesota. The mere fact that he’s now being mentioned in corporate media conversations for VP suggests to me that the Biden/Harris campaign machine has alarming internal polling data…data showing establishment Dems to be in SERIOUS trouble with Midwest progressives.

I really like Andy Beshear, the current governor of Kentucky. He would present himself as a nice complement to Harris and a nice countervailing force to Vance. I’d also be fine with J.B. Pritzker and Gretchen Whitmer. The most realistic pick, however, is probably Roy Cooper because of his current working relationships with Biden/Harris and because of the perception of North Carolina as a key Southern swing state. FYI…progressives will NOT support Josh Shapiro (genocide apologist), James Stavridis (imperialist), or Mark Kelly (anti-labor). Harris can’t win the “northern blue firewall” (Wisconsin, Michigan, Pennsylvania) without sufficient support from progressives, and a practical path to 270 EC votes becomes too difficult for the Democratic Party without all three of those states. So it’s perfectly reasonable to think of progressives as the power brokers of 2024. Whether or not Bernie, Jayapal, and The Squad are willing to utilize this power to actually influence Kamala’s policy agenda is another matter altogether.

I assume you read this sentence near the bottom of the article: “Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu has reiterated time and again that Israel will not end the war in Gaza until Hamas is destroyed.” If part of that peace deal included Hamas destroying itself, no wonder why Hamas rejected it… Of course, we can all rationally deduce that this wasn’t part of the peace deal. We have four variations here of the truth (besides the actual truth): what Hamas leaders say, what Israel’s government leaders say, what Blinken says, and what AIPAC-funded media sources like the New York Post report. None of these involved parties, to date, have shown themselves to be wholly trustworthy. What’s perplexing to me is why an uber-skeptical conservative such as yourself would suddenly trust the Secretary of State for Joe Biden! Assiduous readers of the Kay-mmunist Manifestos have probably already surmised what’s happening: Blinken’s mendacity regarding the peace deal is providing legal cover for Israel and the U.S., while also allowing both countries to save face in the general international community. It’s in the best interests of both countries to muddle and obviate the truth from reaching the ICJ and uncompromised media sources. For Israel’s government, the post-October 7 Gaza conflict was always about stealing land and resources more so than rescuing hostages and destroying Hamas. Violence and illegal settlements in the West Bank have escalated, while not even 50% of the hostages have been successfully returned after 8+ months and while Hamas recruitment in Gaza increases. What any permanent ceasefire means to Israel’s political leaders with ICC arrest warrants in their name (Bibi et al.) is their subsequent loss of power and their having to face domestic and international criminal prosecution. By the way: remember the recent IDF rescue mission in the Nuseirat refugee camp that saved 4 hostages? The one that you wanted me to celebrate? According to the Gaza Health Ministry, 274 Palestinians died and 698 more were injured during that mission. According to Hamas, 3 other hostages died during it. Pragmatic negotiations for partial hostage releases could have prevented this reckless carnage. Just saying… Also: I have no “embargo” on criticizing Hamas. I’ve always called them untrustworthy terrorists and psychopaths whose interests aren’t aligned with those of Palestinians. Do you have an “embargo” on criticizing Israel?? When are you going to call out their far-right government and the IDF as war criminals guilty of ethnic cleansing and genocide?? I hope you’re having a great Father’s Day, Leh-nerd. Tomorrow is Meatless Monday, so plan your meals accordingly.

That PFR HOF metric undersells Cookie’s worthiness, in my opinion. It explicitly penalizes players who only played in the AFL and not the NFL. It also excludes the 6 CFL seasons during Cookie’s physical prime (ages 21-26), years that would later qualify him for Canada’s own football HOF. 1956-1961 happened to be a time in pro football when the CFL was still considered to be roughly on par with the NFL in talent. Furthermore, the PFR HOF metric doesn’t consider Cookie’s civil rights contributions to the sport. Lynch and McCoy were both selected for the 2010’s NFL All-Decade Team, so that’s a good indication that they will eventually make it in. By any metric we use (total First-Team All-Pro nominations, total Pro Bowl nominations, accrued Hall of Fame RB seasons, number of 1k+ rushing yards seasons), the Bills are definitely up there with the greatest NFL franchises for RB’s. I’m guessing the top competitors are the Browns, Steelers, Colts, Oilers/Titans, Cowboys, Bears, and Rams. This elite status has been mostly by design because cold-weather Buffalo has always prioritized running the ball. We may even end up with the most prolific running QB in pro football history! My own top 5 all-time Buffalo RB’s ranking: 1. OJ 2. Thurman 3. Cookie 4. Shady 5. Cribbs James Cook can make my list if he has two more seasons like last one, cleans up his pass-blocking issues, and stops dropping crucial TD passes.

I was a bit “hangry” at the time of that post. Perhaps my combative tone would have been more subdued had I first consumed my pre-workout “No Cow: Chocolate Peanut Butter Cup” bar?? Or perhaps not. Part of the Commie Kay experience is simply dealing with the behaviorally volatile nature. To paraphrase a seminal vegan cartoon character, “I yam what I yam, and that’s all that I yam: a SWEET potato! Now let’s have a strong posting finish while I eats me some spinach…” Didactically speaking, I rarely see the value in criticizing Hamas or in defending the defensible components of the Israeli nationalist perspective here at PPP. This is a very far-right forum (especially if you have BillStime and Tibsy blocked), so that side of the debate is thoroughly presented on just about every related news event imaginable. If this was, say, a 2010’s ISIS internet chat room, then you might think I was some ardent Zionist based on what would be the content focus of my posts. Nevertheless, I HAVE posted advocacy here before for hostage human rights and for Israel’s right to exist in peace, as well as scathing criticisms of Hamas…but you apparently don’t read my posts all that often or all that closely anymore, Leh-nerd. << Kay Adams cry emoji >> Merit in SOME of my remaining bullet points, you say?? Let’s revisit my most important debate point: #7. Israel’s government leaders now claim, post-10/7, that they can’t entertain giving Palestinians their own sovereign state (or full and equal citizenship, for that matter) because that would be akin to rewarding terrorism. Do you agree with that sentiment? Keep in mind that one could conceivably do two things concurrently: grant a particular subset of humans what should be their inalienable rights as human beings, as well as prosecute terrorists for their acts of terrorism. My central argument has long been that Israel was a terribly flawed construction since its inception, which has made their generational path to perpetual national insecurity inevitable, and which has set them on a ruinous path of moral damnation, and which can best (or only?) be salvaged with a one-state solution that also provides specifically stated tyranny-of-majority constitutional protections for Jewish people. Thank you for the well-wishes on my core workouts, Leh-nerd. It’s all about what you can wear after Memorial Day weekend. “Oooh whoa, oh-ah, it’s a cruel summer,” as Taylor Swift tells us. I like that. Which dirty name?? Oh…you mean “sh!thead?” Well, Leh-nerd, you did insinuate that I was unhappy to see Israeli hostages freed, as if the nuanced politics of Commie Kay can be reduced to such starkly Machiavellian terms… I didn’t see Muppy at the most recent TBD PPP Girls meeting, but I was the meeting recorder there (and the only one at the meeting, incidentally). The minutes read as follows: “1. Leh-nerd S. is a poopyface. 2. Crown braids FTW. 3. L. Skin-erd is a doodoohead. 4. Cucumber-based moisturizers FTW. 5. L.S. smells like fecal matter from the neck up. 6. Next meeting’s snacks: birthday cake-flavored No Cow bars.”

BLATANTLY INCORRECT. My ideal peace deal would look something like this: 1. Immediate release of all hostages from October 7. 2. Immediate and permanent ceasefire. 3. Partial release of hostages whom IDF is holding. 4. Full and immediate allowance of international humanitarian aid inside Gaza. 5. Complete withdrawal of IDF from the Gaza strip. 6. Some type of international reconstruction agreement, in the spirit of the 1948 Marshall Plan. 7. Agreement to, and outline of, a one-state or two-state or contiguous two-state (including Negev Desert) or three-state (Gaza and West Bank as separate countries) solution. Note condition #1. The only reason why I’d be willing to compromise on #1 as a multi-stage process instead is because I acknowledge that #7 is going to take a bit more time to sort out than a resolution by, say, tomorrow morning. I’m simply choosing to prioritize the urgent famine crisis for hundreds of thousands of Gazan children over the extended hostage conditions of ~50-100 adults. Several problems I’m seeing with your point of view: 1. Palestinian lives are worth much less to you than Israeli lives, for some reason. 2. You don’t recognize the importance of the aforementioned condition #7 to enduring peace (as both a practical and a moral imperative). 3. You’re apparently oblivious to all the war crimes committed on Israel’s side…such as the Guantanamo Bay-like conditions to which the IDF themselves are subjecting their Gazan detainees (some genuinely guilty of something; some likely not). A negotiation is fundamentally still a negotiation, regardless of the stakes, with various gives-and-takes (cool accidental rhyme!). Or at least that’s how Hamas likely sees it. I thought we were discussing more along the lines of how the world is and not how we want it to be? Israel emboldens Hamas when they commit daily war crimes and continue to occupy/steal other people’s land, yet you’re fixated on the impact from a relative handful of powerless American leftists speaking out against genocide?? What a joke. “Powerless,” by the way, is a very apt descriptor because Biden and Congress would have otherwise ignored all the AIPAC bribes months ago and withheld munitions to Israel. Fantastic!! You did it, Leh-nerd!! You just solved the hopelessly intractable Israel-Palestine crisis!! Yay!! Netanyahu: “Release all our hostages. Here’s a very detailed outline for a peace deal.” Sinwar: “No.” Biden: “Please return their hostages. Here’s a complex, multi-phase peace proposal.” Sinwar: “Hmmm…nope.” Leh-nerd’s personal e-mail to Yahya: “Bro, you need to release all the hostages. It’s that simple. Come on now. Here’s a random pic of my hand outline on a napkin, with a ‘Go Bills!’ phrase and a poorly drawn Bills logo in the center.” Sinwar: “Okay, deal. You had me at ‘bro,’ good sir.” It’s cause to celebrate. Stop being such a sh!thead. Helpful life hack: I’m going to the gym right now to put the finishing touches on my flat summer tummy, while listening to Joe Marino’s Locked on Bills podcast, with a delicious VEGAN snack beforehand. Try my habits sometime instead of your 24/7 TBD PPP right-wing brain rot routine. P.S.: I believe Tibsy is a standard liberal and might be insulted to be lumped in with progressive leftists like myself. But he can speak for himself…he has beautiful long hair, so he’s probably busy picking out the perfect conditioner at Wegmans at this moment.

No I don’t, actually, and you would know that if you had been reading my earlier posts on this conflict. In my contemporary pie chart of blame, a majority of it is filled with Israel, a significant portion the United States, and some of it actual anti-Semitism. At one point in history, the pie chart was roughly evenly split between Great Britain and European/Middle Eastern anti-Semitism. LOL…so Israel gets all its hostages back and Hamas, in return, gets some vague promise of a future cessation in hostilities? Helpful hint, Leh-nerd: an important part of negotiations is trying to understand the perspectives of all involved parties. This type of offer has already been denied multiple times by Hamas, but the N-th time will be the charm? You say that “a ceasefire is in everyone’s best interest.” Is it, though? The humanitarian crisis in Gaza doesn’t seem to be the paramount concern of Hamas. They’re almost reveling in the internecine warfare because, at some level, they may even think they’re defeating Israel: the IDF can’t hold cities in Gaza, Hamas recruitment is up, Israel is losing respect internationally, Israel’s economy is declining, Hezbollah is getting involved, the Camp David Accords are in jeopardy at the Gazan border, and American leftists are applying political pressure on Biden. You’re trivializing, by the way, the importance of those negotiating factors you enumerated. Land disputes are absolutely integral (read: causal) to this entire conflict and to the motivations of both sides. Hamas prisoner swaps are valuable negotiating leverage for Israel, as are financial settlements (though who are we kidding here…the American taxpayer is going to be footing the bill for any urban reconstruction…regardless of the outcome in November’s elections). Well it shouldn’t have been okay for us then, and it’s not okay for Israel now. Are you attempting to present an argument here other than American hypocrisy? When you are a longstanding imperialistic superpower founded on principles of settler colonialism, you become inured to all the egregious human rights violations you yourself inflict abroad. The rest of the world acquiesces because seriously challenging a superpower has negative consequences. It also helps to have the Fourth Estate owned by corporate oligarchs profiting in some way from the regime change wars, military occupations, coups, assassinations, and illegal drone strikes committed…not to mention the obvious international exploitation of labor and natural resources. It also helps to have the electorally culpable civilian population geographically isolated from the blowback, thanks in large part to two major oceans. My best explanation, however, for the discrepancy in outrage you’re noting: the evolution of independent news media and social media platforms have profoundly altered the landscape of propaganda efficacy, between the Second Iraq War and today. Right, but different wars have different civilian casualty ratios. The one in this ongoing Gaza conflict could easily be as high as 10:1 or 20:1, when you consider bodies still unaccounted for that are trapped underneath the rubble, or the slipshod manner in which adult males get lumped into the category of “combatants.” I’m certainly no expert military strategist, but was it really necessary to raze ~65% of Gaza’s buildings with 70 thousand tons of bombs, including every hospital but one, all schools and universities, media centers, mosques, museums and other heritage sites, cemeteries, etc…not to mention the farmland destroyed and the severe restrictions in humanitarian aid that are creating famine conditions?? The answer is “YES” if you are intentionally trying to make a place unlivable. Just shout, “but…Hamas tunnels!” every time a human rights referee challenges a bomb strike of yours.

Yeah, what a world…a world that denounces collective punishment, ethnic cleansing, and genocide as a response to a terrorist attack…sounds like a world with a functioning moral compass, actually…a world that was overwhelmingly on Israel’s side after the October 7 attack and until Israel went psychotic… People who truly care about the future well-being of Israel will stop wallowing in realms of perpetual victimhood, stop indulging in interminable revenge fantasies, and start thinking about the factors that precipitated those unforgivable atrocities on October 7. You see the obvious analogy between 10/7 and 9/11, right?? Who is discarding common sense here?? You want a peace deal in which all Israeli hostages are immediately released. Awesome! So do I. Now what are you suggesting Hamas be offered in order for them to agree to such a deal? SUGGEST SOMETHING so that I can then give you my opinion of the likelihood that Hamas accepts it. You already know what I would suggest. If Hamas were to dare reject an Israeli offering of Palestinian statehood at this particular moment in the conflict’s long history, I believe Palestinians would quickly turn against Hamas. You don’t need to insinuate or speculate anything about me because I’ve been very clear and upfront on this topic. You can read my entire post history in this thread (February 13-16, March 4-8, March 23, April 15-22, and now). I’ve also posted in the equivalent thread over at BillsFans.com (October 10-13 and November 8). It’s disappointing that you are unable to denounce the blatant ethnic cleansing and genocide that Israel is committing in Gaza. I do think very highly of your character, believe it or not, which is why I’m particularly upset that you aren’t seeing through the Zionist propaganda permeating mainstream/corporate American media. You’re only reinforcing my point: it takes a high level of imagination to consider Mr. Lumpkins as anything other than a MAGA voter. What do you think Fuzzy’s policy stance is on gun rights?? How about eminent domain?? STOP DESECRATING MY CHILDHOOD. Next thing you’re going to tell me is that Jess Mariano wasn’t the perfect partner for Rory Gilmore, and that Rory would have been better off marrying Logan…<< Kay Adams eyeroll >>

The Powerpuff Girls reference conjured up childhood nostalgia. I was enjoying the ephemeral dopamine kick before getting to the rest of your post. An international pariah state status is a highly intolerable position in which an economically aspirational country can find itself. Ask 1980’s South Africa. I totally respect wanting all Israeli hostages released upfront in any peace deal, but my point is that Israel would need to initially offer something truly substantive to Hamas in return. Otherwise, the round of negotiations would abruptly end. That truly substantive thing would likely be on the order of a promise of Palestinian statehood, with an opening gambit maybe being the approximate pre-1967 Green Line borders? I do realize negotiations aren’t this simple, of course, especially considering that Netanyahu’s interests aren’t necessarily aligned with those of Israel (and likewise for Yahya Sinwar and Palestine). By the way, I can’t tell if you’re unaware of the full scope of the genocide in Gaza, or if you simply don’t value Palestinian lives nearly as much you do Israeli lives?? Euro-Med Human Rights Monitor is doing an admirable job of collating the facts and evidence of the genocide. The picture being painted is perhaps the darkest stain on human existence in the twenty-first century. P.S. Fuzzy Lumpkins would be a MAGA hat-wearing Trump voter in the year 2024. Disagree?

A Powerpuff Girls reference?? Leh-nerd, you had my curiosity…but now you have my attention. Hostages are the main negotiating leverage Hamas has over Israel, so demanding their full release is pointless before a suitable articulation of this Phase 2 criterion is met: “a permanent end to hostilities.” Unless Israel agrees beforehand to the end of apartheid practices or to the establishment of a separate Palestinian state, I don’t see why Hamas would bother entertaining such a condition to a peace agreement. The current peace proposal is obviously a good one for Palestinians because they badly need the humanitarian aid ASAP, but it’s also a good one for Israel because it’s in Israel’s financial and national security interests to avoid their international pariah state trajectory (and because some hostages released is always better than none). Acceptance of this proposal would also be ideal for Brokering Biden in terms of party coalition building and November electability. Better late than never, I suppose, even as Genocide Joe’s main leverage (the withholding of U.S. munitions) remains unutilized... Moot debate, however, since I believe Netanyahu already rejected the proposal. It should be apparent that hostage rescue and the defeat of Hamas (a practical impossibility, by the way) were secondary objectives to Israel’s government and to the IDF. It should have been apparent since late October that Israel’s main agenda was ethnic cleansing and a genocide to facilitate said cleansing. They want to finish in Gaza (plus the West Bank via acceleration of illegal settlements…plus southern Lebanon military encroachments…plus the Golan Heights) what they started with the Nakba in 1948. National security risks and/or make-believe Biblical mandates are the lies that Israelis tell themselves to justify their support of collective punishment, ethnic cleansing, and genocide. At least European settlers were a bit more forthright with Native Americans: they wanted their land and their resources, and they believed they were innately superior humans who could make better use of it all. Zionists have historically been far more duplicitous toward Palestinians, though the mask is slipping.

LOL…Chase Fraser is such a showman! Many of the coolest and most creative lacrosse goals that I’ve ever seen came from him. That one-bounce goal of his last night was super fun, too. A lot of the NLL’s problems come down to really poor marketing. It’s not so much that people are rejecting the pro lacrosse product as it is that people don’t even know of the league’s existence.