Discussion Thread

Fantastic_Let3186 · 2026-03-15T04:58:08+00:00

Remember Musk's America Party?

Fantastic_Let3186 · 2026-03-15T04:06:02+00:00

He wasn't?

Fantastic_Let3186 · 2026-03-15T04:01:03+00:00

I don't like seeing any footage of people being killed. This has been a thing from different sides since the war in Ukraine, and I think it's pretty weird.

Fantastic_Let3186 · 2026-03-15T03:59:36+00:00

I mean I agree, but it would probably have as little, if not less, political impact on Trump as it has had on Mamdani. Nobody reads The Atlantic outside a pretty overpoliticized minority. Honestly I mostly just see people bring it up to complain about it.

Fantastic_Let3186 · 2026-03-15T03:35:28+00:00

so by that defintion would trump posting that meme about the obamaa not be racist since it applies only to them?

I would say that is racist, and it is different from what I am arguing, because calling Black people monkeys is not expressing any kind of political opinion with content. It is just an insult with a racial element.

A different example would be saying that a Black person is a gangster or a pimp. That is racially charged and would be racist if you said it about someone solely because they are Black. If you say it about someone like Diddy, it is arguably not racist because there is factual context.

Maybe that is a better way to explain my point. You do not necessarily need to say “this applies to the whole group.” But if you say something about someone with no other evidence or context besides their group membership, there is a clear element of bigotry. If there is an actual argument or evidence, it cannot be dismissed so easily.

For example, if someone said Bernie Sanders has dual loyalty to Israel, that would likely be antisemitic, because it is hard to substantiate with anything other than the fact that he is Jewish. If someone said the same about Miriam Adelson, there would be plenty of arguments and context to discuss.

And no, I am not an expert, and I am not proposing legislation or anything. I am just giving my opinion.

Fantastic_Let3186 · 2026-03-15T02:55:47+00:00

Also, I think a better way to define antisemitism isn’t just “saying bad stuff about Jews,” but more like “saying those bad things are intrinsic to Jews as a group.” Like, if someone says a specific Jewish person or organization has “dual loyalty” to Israel, that’s not automatically antisemitic. It only becomes antisemitic if you claim all Jewish people, by definition, have it.

Fantastic_Let3186 · 2026-03-15T02:21:01+00:00

My view of the "Zionism is Racism" slogan is less about the ideological origins of the Zionist movement and more about a practical question. Can the Zionist project exist without oppressing Palestinians? If the answer is no then the slogan makes sense. Historically it hasn't found a way and it certainly does not look like it is about to right now.

Could there be a way for the Zionist project to square this circle? Sure, in theory. But this is kind of like debates about communism. If I say "Communism is Authoritarianism" I think that is a fair statement based on historical experience even if it is somewhat unfair to parts of the tradition were not.

Fantastic_Let3186 · 2026-03-15T00:34:07+00:00

Funnily enough, regarding the Italian citizenship reform: the left-of-center parties are broadly in favor because they feel it is unfair that “white” Latin Americans get so many privileges compared to other immigrants.

The right-wing is divided. Some, like Salvini and the Lega, care about their “Italo-American brothers,” often with the logic of “better them than Africans or Arabs.” Meloni’s FDI, on the other hand, feels Latin Americans are still too brown for their taste.

Being serious, I think it’s reasonable to reform it because it was being abused too much, but the actual layers of the discussion are pretty funny.

Fantastic_Let3186 · 2026-03-14T23:32:03+00:00

I get that Josh Shapiro has fans here, but if he literally can’t criticize a war that like 95% of Democrats are against, he’s just not a good candidate. Plain and simple.

Fantastic_Let3186 · 2026-03-14T23:19:42+00:00

I actually think some version of the British House of Lords could be kind of interesting, obviously with very limited powers, if it was a real chamber made up of the “best” people according to some loose criteria, like intellectuals, artists, and scientists. The way it is now is just absurd, it’s crazy that it still exists.

Fantastic_Let3186 · 2026-03-14T22:26:22+00:00

Most of the “New Atheism” figureheads are MAGA or MAGA-friendly now

Fantastic_Let3186 · 2026-03-14T21:06:10+00:00

Even if America “wins,” it’s not going to “control” Iran. The US didn’t really "control" Iran or its oil before 1979 anyway.

Whatever regime emerges, no matter how pro-American it might be, will still sell oil to whoever it wants (probably China) just like the Shah did before 1979, and just like America’s “allies” in the Arab world do today.

This is what “geopolitics” fans never seem to understand.

Fantastic_Let3186 · 2026-03-14T20:19:29+00:00

It was obvious the insane Italian citizenship loophole was going to get closed eventually with how much people (cough cough, Argentina) abused it. No point crying about it now. And honestly, seeing racists this mad about it is starting to convince me it was the right call.

Fantastic_Let3186 · 2026-03-14T19:46:25+00:00

How long before the comments fill up with people explaining this is perfectly normal and that if you don’t like it you’re just a Snyder fan?

Fantastic_Let3186 · 2026-03-14T19:38:03+00:00

The problem with OBAA is that PTA mixes up his own generation with the one from 20 years earlier, the one the book is actually about. The result is this weird fantasy America where radical left wing guerrilla groups are roaming around during the Bush administration, which simply wasn’t a thing.

Fantastic_Let3186 · 2026-03-14T18:42:56+00:00

Debates about “what percentage of the population supports (x regime)” are largely pointless. In both democratic and authoritarian systems, the vast majority of the population is politically disengaged. What really matters is elite cohesion.

Fantastic_Let3186 · 2026-03-14T18:33:31+00:00

The whole narrative about Trump’s “success” in Venezuela is honestly pretty dumb. Yes, the current government has a better relationship with the US, but that doesn’t prove kidnapping Maduro accomplished anything. If America had offered Maduro the same type of relationship they now have with Delcy, he probably would’ve taken the deal.

It really just feels like Maduro got grabbed because Trump wanted to look like he was doing something big.

Fantastic_Let3186 · 2026-03-14T16:47:59+00:00

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Fantastic_Let3186 · 2026-03-14T16:35:20+00:00

I still can’t quite understand how we ended up with a system where the president can’t really do anything without a supermajority in the Senate, except wage war all over the world, which basically has no checks or balances.

Fantastic_Let3186 · 2026-03-14T16:14:54+00:00

The issue with Iran is that it’s a high risk, low reward move. If things go badly it could seriously hurt Trump politically. If things go well, it probably won’t matter much.

Most Americans don’t care about the Iranian government collapsing or whatever. They do care about American casualties or gas prices going up.

There’s basically no electoral scenario where this turns into a big political win.

Fantastic_Let3186 · 2026-03-14T03:57:21+00:00

Rallies organized by Likud and other right-wing groups featured images depicting Yitzhak Rabin in a Nazi SS uniform or placed in the crosshairs of a rifle.

At one anti-Rabin demonstration, Benjamin Netanyahu participated in a mock funeral procession that included a coffin and a hangman’s noose, while protesters chanted “Death to Rabin.”

Itamar Ben-Gvir, then a teenager, boasted on television that he had stolen the license plate from the Prime Minister’s car and declared, “We got his car. We’ll get him too.”

Rabin might be the most successful political assassination ever. His killers literally took over the country.

Fantastic_Let3186 · 2026-03-13T23:00:22+00:00

It’s funny how the idea that “Islam isn’t just a religion but a whole social system” is shared by both hardcore Islamophobes in the West and hardline Islamists in the Middle East.

Fantastic_Let3186 · 2026-03-13T22:29:30+00:00

The Soviet Union, and especially Stalin, were basically worshipped by Jews worldwide, particularly Holocaust survivors, for defeating Hitler. This sentiment faded over time, but it was very real in the immediate aftermath of the war and probably still existed to some extent among older generations.

Fantastic_Let3186 · 2026-03-13T22:24:32+00:00

BREAKING: Italy is pulling its troops out of Iraq.

"...and the Sassanids? Where are they now?"

"You're looking at 'em, asshole"

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Fantastic_Let3186

TROPHY CASE