mahiwaga

AFAICT, people on the radical left of U.S. politics (which is not that far left as far as international politics in industrialized countries is concerned) probably don’t feel either candidate is very leftist. Essentially, the choice is still between two neoliberals so the main determiner is going to be name brand recognition and the resignation to the fact that a neoliberal is still better than a fascist or a theocrat.

Chomsky: I’d ‘absolutely’ vote for Hillary Clinton • 2016 Jan 25 • Nolan D. McCaskill • Politico

There were really at least two lessons from the end of the Cold War and the collapse of the U.S.S.R.:

1. totalitarian communism is a shitty system
2. holding together a global empire is very, very expensive and the costs will eventually destroy your nation-state.

We seem to only remember the first lesson.

Oh, the crazy shit that flows through my Facebook newsfeed.

1. Justice Scalia spent his last hours with members of this secretive society of elite hunters • National Security • 2016 Feb 24 • Amy Brittain and Sari Horwitz • Washington Post

   (crossposted on Facebook)

2. Internet conspiracy theorists think Katy Perry is actually JonBenét Ramsey • 2016 Feb 26 • KTBS 3

Clinton reacted badly to being interrupted by #BlackLivesMatter protester Ashley Williams. I think this is going to cost her among young PoCs. But she’s not doing great in this demographic anyway.

Hillary Clinton has a race problem — and it’s resurfacing at a dangerous time • 2016 Feb 26 • Eliza Webb • Salon

Neither Democratic candidate seems to be particularly sympathetic to #BlackLivesMatter though, although Sanders seems to have handled being interrupted much better and his policies will actually at least partially ameliorate some of the issues BLM is fighting for.

Still, neither candidate seems all that excited about trying to tackle institutionalized racism head on.¹

Raising the minimum wage has none of the dire consequences that conventional wisdom warns about and has all sorts of benefits.

But it doesn’t matter because people want to believe what they want to believe.

Minimum Wage Mythbusters • U.S. Dept. of Labor

(crossposted on Facebook)