He’s just a Harvard neolib that thinks he might be able to convince liberals into voting for him just because he’s black and and calls himself a “non-Marxist socialist”. He’s just a different flavor of Dem grifter.

Are you guys just now learning that West is a nutjob grifter? He repeatedly calls himself a “Non-Marxist Socialist” because he doesn’t believe that his Christian belief and Marxism are reconcilable. What even is a “Non-Marxist Socialist”?

He quite literally wrote an entire essay defending DeSantis for being a “Revolutionary Defender of the Working Class” for defending “classic education”. This man is a MAGA communist at best, or a neolib lying through his teeth.

He also speaks out regularly against “left wing cancel culture”. Meaning he subscribes to right wing talking points and garbage hoaxes. He also announced his presidential bid on the Russel Brand podcast of all places… a podcast known for hosting QAnon figures, Neo Nazis, right wingers, and so on.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/desantiss-revolutionary-defense-of-the-classics-florida-western-canon-galileo-caesar-great-books-275268d9

That is still a massive percentage, and a large increase in the past several years. For reference the Chinese military expenditure as a percentage of GDP has stayed steady at 1.7% from 2014-2023, and the US has dropped its percentage from 3.7% to 3.4%. Meanwhile Russia has gone from 4.1% to 5.9%. This is the largest increase in military expenditure as a factor of gdp by a major world power by a long shot.

Is it a full war economy? Absolutely not, that is embodied more by Ukraine with its military expenditure sitting at 36.6%. However, it would be disingenuous to say that Russia has not pumped a massive amount of money into its military industrial complex. Something that would absolutely materialize as short term economic growth with little to no long term benefit for civilian markets.

Saying that that spending is the entirety of the reason behind why the Russian economy has grown is also disingenuous cope. The reality is probably more of a midpoint.

I’m really confused. Why would they need to buy that data from AT&T and why was it assumed they didn’t already have this data? Would they not automatically have it when the call is transmitted through cell towers and satellites which are owned by the government?

Also why is location data such a sticking point? Your phone has to bounce off the nearest tower to make a call to begin with, which makes it relatively obvious where you and the call receiver are.

Why would it be assumed that they didn’t already have all this data? Companies collect all of what’s listed in order to charge you for your phone usage, and then they have to store that information for a period of several years, which the government could easily access.

That’s the sad reality. Red lines keep getting pushed because confronting the reality of the situation is to painful of a bandage to rip off.

The cost of turning a blind eye to Israeli attacks and the effects of the war are still more enticing then the political disaster that declaring war would bring. Essentially it’s a sacrifice that Hezbollah are willing to make.

But at the same time, can you really fault them? A war would bring tens of thousand of dead at the minimum, along with untold damage to the civilian population. Even if Lebanon wins a brilliant victory against Israel and turns into a world hero, the long term ramifications would be disastrous and leave Lebanon in a weakened position for years of not decades.

The cost of war for a nation the size of Lebanon is often disastrous. They are not like Russia or the US who can afford to take the ramifications in step.

No one is excited to go to war. Telling your population that you are going to send their family members to their deaths is political suicide. No one is roaring to send themselves, their father, husband, brother, or sister to get shot and killed; even if it’s for a righteous cause.

It’s why offensive wars rarely work. The populace just gives up. While defensive wars are extremely easy to politically justify.

Lebanon is much more evenly matched with Israel, and might even succeed in a war. However, not without a heavy cost to civilian lives lost, military casualties, their economy, industry, tourism, and so on. It’ll be a lot harder for Hezbollah to justify why they got involved when Israeli cruise missiles rain down on Beirut; even if they are winning the war. Especially when they could instead continue their current course of action of preparing for conflict and stalling.

It’s not even the goofiest name a communist leader has had. Stalin quite literally changed his birth name to, “Joe Steel”, like he’s some sort of cosplaying superhero.

If we can have a Joe Steel, then we can absolutely have a Mr. Dong.

Oh we should absolutely refer to him as Mr. Dong now.

That sounds wonderful! I hope your vacation goes well! : )

Oh, that’s good then, I’m probably going to watch it and was worried there might have been something problematic that I didn’t see at first glance.

Is there something wrong with it based on lorty’s comment?

It looks like a very sweet movie from the little I’ve seen and read.

Did lose a portion of his ear, but it probably was fast enough that adrenaline took over.

Will have to see what his follow up response is.

My bad, thanks for the info. I was watching a low quality broadcast, thought him going down was him collapsing.

One of the agents did hand his hat back to him though judging from the close up shots. I guess he likes his hat.

He does not look good.

Nevermind, apparently it grazed him and took off a part of his ear.

Isn’t that just the Communist Manifesto?

Like that was its entire point lol, a short few page pamphlet so that illiterate or uneducated workers could quickly understand Marx without needing to read Kapital or his other works.

Could you mind cutting it back with your posts and questions? Maybe once a week for a question that’s been bugging you and that you couldn’t find on Google?

You just sound like a chatbot when you ask questions that would be answered by reading the first few paragraphs of any of Marx’s writing.

(1924-1965) USSR Amazing, China (Not enough data/ Civil War)

(1965-1980) USSR Good, China facing growing pains

(1980-1995) USSR Atrocious, China decent and rapidly improving

(1995-2010) Ex-USSR Disaster, China good but many problems remain

(2010-Present) Ex-USSR Horrific, China Amazing

Did I get the general comparison right?

Eh, the Maginot line was incredibly successful all things considered and it succeeded in being impervious. Belgium refused to let the French build it on their border however, and believed that the British would be fast enough to stop a German attack if it ever happened. The British were not, and the rest is history.

That was WW2 however, I’m sure Estonia’s little peepee poopoo cement bunkers will do wonderfully against modern munitions.

Maybe one day they’ll be able to string together a coherent thought! Let them keep trying!

It never was and is recognized by the UN and China as such. It was stolen from China by the British Empire and the Chinese took it back. It was historically never part of any Indian governance. It was always under the leadership of the Dalai Lama and Tibet.

I legitimately cannot believe that you are supporting the actions of the British Empire and its imperialism.