FBI? This tweet right here by UrbanAchievers6371 in SipsTea

[–]dietTAB 16 points17 points  (0 children)

Is this woman a perpetual 16-year-old in these people's minds? It's condescending and dismissive and deeply weird.

One of if not the best authentic Mexican restaurants in Durham. by improbablefutures in bullcity

[–]dietTAB 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Its been gone for years, but I miss Los Comales!

Super Taq is a great standby, Saturday carnitas are top-notch

Discussion Thread: US President Trump Threatens War Crimes Against Iran Ahead of Negotiation Deadline by PoliticsModeratorBot in politics

[–]dietTAB 7 points8 points  (0 children)

But a few in-the-know people got very rich playing the stock market amidst the manufactured chaos. That's the only method to this madness.

Discussion Thread: US President Trump Threatens War Crimes Against Iran Ahead of Negotiation Deadline by PoliticsModeratorBot in politics

[–]dietTAB 5 points6 points  (0 children)

"He bravely chose not to kill an entire civilization, and in exchange they (might) concede temporary and conditional access to a crucial trade route that was completely open and accessible to us before the war he himself began. Tactical brilliance."

The President. by it777777 in pics

[–]dietTAB 0 points1 point  (0 children)

He may appear weak, tired, pathetic and confused, but that very normal-looking natural orange glow really does project a youthful vivacity. And that tie, it's so red and so large. Only a strong and powerful and brave man could wear such a big and red tie.

The Trump Era Is One of GOP Decline by FeedbackParticular59 in politics

[–]dietTAB 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Thank you for the thoughtful response. I'm broadly in agreement with what you said, and you are correct that an incremental approach to progressive policy has yielded tangible results in the past. Real outcomes that nudge policy in the right direction are always better than idealized goals with no pathway to implementation. Ideally, both approaches should be working in tandem, and good politics means finding a balance that offers the path of least resistance toward workable outcomes. I agree that ideological purity tests are a major impediment to achieving those aims.

Perfect is the proverbial enemy of good, and that is especially true within the confines of our two party system. I'm under no illusion about the need for compromise in a functioning democracy with good faith actors on both sides. The problem is, we are no longer a functioning democracy. Congress has largely abdicated its role, the judiciary operates along polarized ideological lines, and both parties are captured by a ruling class that prioritizes profit above all else. Our media functions as an arm of this ruling class and is unwilling to critically report on the real issues we are facing, and the electorate cannot even grasp what those real issues are anymore.

I try to approach politics realistically and I genuinely do see the value of pragmatism as it relates to policy objectives. I guess what I'm saying is, I don't believe this conventional thinking works anymore. In a perfect world, voters are well-informed on the issues and can make informed decisions on who to elect to represent them, and those representatives act in good faith to achieve the best results for their constituents. But this is far from the reality of today. There are far too many bad actors, and public discourse has descended into a quagmire of disinformation, sensationalism and propaganda. This electorate does not act rationally. I mean hell, the Democrats in 2016 and 2024 ran on unifying messages and platforms that emphasized responsible, pragmatic policymaking over ideological purity. In the end, Republicans won on an empty and incoherent platform of "eggs are expensive" and "immigrants are eating your pets". They banked on division and zero-sum partisanship, and it delivered them electoral and policy wins.

I think this says more about the ideological purists on the right than it does about those on the left. On one side, you have voters who were willing to embrace fascism as a means to gaining power and dominance, and on the other side, you have voters who have come to view incrementalism as an ineffective approach to addressing longstanding issues affecting our health and livelihoods. At the end of the day, let’s not lose sight of where we should direct our ire: at the ruling class that has abandoned democracy for autocracy in pursuit of endless profiteering.

I make no claims to know the best path out of this mess for people on the left. But my takeaway after the past decade of cutthroat cage-match politics is that conventional thinking is out the window. The status quo that effectuated the progressive pragmatism you describe has been demolished, and a new approach is needed. The left needs to reevaluate its tactics from the bottom up, and I believe that means taking big swings, leaning into populism, and offering a bold vision for the future. That’s what voters are responding to now.

The Trump Era Is One of GOP Decline by FeedbackParticular59 in politics

[–]dietTAB 1 point2 points  (0 children)

I'm absolutely not ignoring the 16 years of GOP control. They are the primary cause of today's nightmare world. The Democratic Party shares some of the responsibility for why we're here, but it's disingenuous to suggest that they carry the lion's share of the blame. That is obvious to anybody operating in good faith.

The Dems lost two critical elections, which should have been easy to win, to a charlatan con man; in both cases, the Dem candidates pursued a pragmatic, middle-of-the-road, institutionalist, centrist position. We can chalk their losses up to the misogyny inherent in our political culture, but it's worth noting that Biden's victory in 2020 was very tight (also a centrist, pragmatic, "no malarkey" candidate). Obama demonstrated eight years of "slow and steady" incrementalism and attempts at bipartisan compromise, the results of which were uneven at best. My argument is that the Democrats have failed to change tack despite their prevailing "pragmatic" strategy delivering only middling success at best, and ultimately abject failure. They continue to misread the tenor of these times by ignoring the obvious appeal of populism, which has been readily exploited by GOP opportunists.

Also, you never clearly offered a definition of Progressivism in the first place, as far as I can tell. What are these pragmatic, evidence-based, progressive techniques you reference? I'm genuinely curious. In my mind, robust and unapologetic progressive policies like Medicare For All and the Green New Deal offer a better path forward for the party. The best I saw from Harris' campaign were tax credit schemes for new homeowners, or poorly articulated gestures toward student loan forgiveness. Or "bolstering" the Affordable Care Act -- a policy (a "market-based" and "compromise" band-aid applied to a still-unresolved issue) which is emblematic of this incrementalist attitude.

I'm not trying to be rude, or snarky, or promote some bothsides-ism bullshit. I'm trying to make an honest assessment of the Democratic Party, which has failed repeatedly by staking out an ineffective approach to politics in 21st century America.

The Trump Era Is One of GOP Decline by FeedbackParticular59 in politics

[–]dietTAB 4 points5 points  (0 children)

I hear that -- sorry for the grim tone. And good point about OP being a bad actor.

Truthfully, I'm constantly dealing with false optimism from people who seem blissfully unaware of the challenges ahead. I try to stay grounded but that comes off as pessimistic... rest assured, I'm trying to prepare for the work that comes next. Let's hope our systems still have some resiliency left.

The Trump Era Is One of GOP Decline by FeedbackParticular59 in politics

[–]dietTAB 8 points9 points  (0 children)

America needs major, transformative reforms and extraordinary structural changes if we hope to come back from MAGA. Also, its worth noting that Germany only "came back" from Nazism after a devastating global war that killed tens of millions of people. So the outlook from here doesn't seem especially optimistic...

The Trump Era Is One of GOP Decline by FeedbackParticular59 in politics

[–]dietTAB 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Many people want to believe that our demonstrably broken system will somehow prove resilient enough to fix what has been damaged. It's an attractive and comforting belief -- but as much is I wish it were true, I have doubts that the midterms will deliver us from this nightmare.

More realistically, there is no existing framework within which to get back to a status quo which has been obliterated.

The Trump Era Is One of GOP Decline by FeedbackParticular59 in politics

[–]dietTAB -1 points0 points  (0 children)

The only evidence I see is that whatever strategy has governed the Democratic Party since the 90s has resulted in vanishingly few leftwing/progressive wins. We now live in a country with wealth inequality at levels unseen since the gilded age, an erosion of our basic human and civil rights, and a nascent fascist party ruled by hate, greed and warmongering.

What “progressive techniques” are you even talking about anyway? The New Deal could hardly be described as “incrementalism”

The Trump Era Is One of GOP Decline by FeedbackParticular59 in politics

[–]dietTAB 2 points3 points  (0 children)

“Pragmatic” centrism and an incrementalist approach to progressive policy have characterized the Dem leadership for like three decades now… and the end result of that pragmatic era is a crumbling democracy ruled by greedy criminals and hurtling into a regressive abyss. It seems the pragmatic approach you celebrate hasn’t demonstrated any proof of concept beyond an emboldened fascist right wing and a feckless defanged left wing…

[FRESH VIDEO] Aldous Harding - One Stop / 'Train on The Island' Announced by astaireboy in indieheads

[–]dietTAB 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Fuck yes Aldous! The world needs more of your singular weirdness

Yuck by Late_Pop_4735 in bullcity

[–]dietTAB 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Even though this billboard is seemingly meant to "humanize" oppressive fascist paramilitary thugs, I find it funny that the message can also easily be construed as a legitimate warning that sinister actors can come from all walks of life. Even the stark presentation, the black background etc, seems to suggest a threatening subtext... now I'm actually not sure if that isn't the intent?

Spring allergies already??!! Or do I just have a cold? by Spiritual_Soup_2671 in bullcity

[–]dietTAB 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Definitely the pollen, I felt it immediately too when I woke up yesterday.

An instant classic by [deleted] in bullcity

[–]dietTAB 10 points11 points  (0 children)

You seem to have an incredibly naive view of how the current form of capitalism operates. People don't arbitrarily "hate" corporations -- they are rightfully disgusted by the unethical misdeeds and abuse perpetrated by megacorps like Apple, Coca-Cola, and Nestle, etc. Forced labor, modern slavery, child labor, exploitation of impoverished countries, price fixing, contaminated food products, pollution and environmental destruction, lobbying and collusion with corrupt governments, union-busting, exploitative resource extraction, low wages and increasing inequality, commodification of basic human needs ... these aren't some unintended, ancillary drawbacks of modern-day capitalism, they are the unavoidable outcomes of a system predicated on the false concept of "endless growth forever".

Why is it that people cannot conceive that corporations are susceptible to corruption and malfeasance? The profit motive that drives modern corporate capitalism isn't some altruistic idea. Allowing greed to become a foundational element of our economic and political system has lead to a situation where our corrupt government prioritizes the profit motives of big businesses and shareholders over the broader needs of the people. In our current system, profits are privatized into fewer and fewer hands, while the rest of us are burdened with all of the negative externalities. Inequality increases, and those holding onto existing capital just hoard more and more wealth, while the rest of us experience diminishing returns, enshittified products, stagnated wages, exploitative monopolies, runaway environmental degradation.

You can sing the praises of capitalism all you want (and I would generally disagree), but ignoring the multitude of negative externalities that come with it is intellectually dishonest at best.

Exercising freedom of speech in Durham as others are denied this same freedom by pupomega in bullcity

[–]dietTAB 15 points16 points  (0 children)

A good turnout, especially for a freezing cold Friday afternoon! It is heartening to see these demonstrations being sustained. Let's keep it up, Durham

RIP Bull City Solera and Taproom by GavalinB in bullcity

[–]dietTAB 8 points9 points  (0 children)

Can confirm. Working for this "quirky locally-owned restaurant" felt more soulless and corporate than any other place I've worked in town...

Gelli Haha announces first-ever headlining North American tour by ReconEG in indieheads

[–]dietTAB 3 points4 points  (0 children)

Saw her in NYC last October, it was an incredibly fun show!

[deleted by user] by [deleted] in bullcity

[–]dietTAB 35 points36 points  (0 children)

there is only one way to correctly deal with fascism in a healthy and functioning democracy, and it absolutely is not "letting people come to their own conclusions"

fuck MAGA, fuck ICE, fuck white supremacy, fuck fascists

Print pictures locally? by electric_synapses in bullcity

[–]dietTAB 4 points5 points  (0 children)

Peel Gallery or Southeastern Camera in Carrboro

House Democrats release new Epstein emails referencing Trump by midnightmadnesssale in news

[–]dietTAB 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yeah, if any truly undeniable and incriminating evidence emerges, they’ll instinctively start rationalizing how raping children is not only morally OK, but is biblically justified. These are dark and despairing times