@RepBrianFitz@RepGregLandsman And yet you voted to ban our freedom of speech by voting to ban tiktok. You're all about the shoe, Brian. You're not about protecting our rights
I am proud to be leading this bipartisan effort with @RepGregLandsman which will provide necessary resources to protect our dedicated letter carriers, while making sure we are punishing criminals to the fullest extent of the law. The men and women of the postal service are the backbone of our community, and they work hard around the clock, rain or shine, to deliver essential goods. I will always have their back.
Iāve been seeing a few people saying theyāre not sure what Iām about politically. As a reader-supported writer I try to be transparent about such things to let any would-be patrons know what theyāre getting into, so hereās my position on a bunch of different issues if anyoneās curious.
Ideology
Iāve always called myself a socialist. Lately a lot of people have been calling me a communist, which I donāt mind either. Really I just support shoving things as far to the left as possible until weāve created a healthy and harmonious world and moved from competition-based systems to systems in which we collaborate with each other and with our ecosystem for the good of everyone.
Thatās my ideological preference, but Iām not arrogant enough to believe I personally know whatās best for everyone, so more than anything what I want is a world where weāre not being manipulated and deceived about whatās going on so that we can figure out the best course for our species as a collective. Thatās why first and foremost ahead of my own ideological preferences I support government transparency, democratized information, free speech, and the end of mass-scale manipulation and propaganda. Once everythingās out in the light and our perception is no longer being obfuscated and distorted by the powerful I personally believe weāll find our way toward something resembling socialism, but I hold that belief with an open palm.
Politics
I believe the closer you get to the nexus of power the more worthless electoral politics becomes, because more and more effort goes into manipulating the electoral process to protect the interests of status quo power. US presidential elections are completely fake, and even the elections for lower-level positions like senators and representatives are aggressively manipulated in the most powerful country on earth. Both parties are stacked to serve the interests of the powerful.
I donāt personally think weāre likely to see big meaningful changes in the west until the people force change to happen by direct action, and thatās not going to occur as long as everyoneās being successfully manipulated into accepting the status quo by mass-scale propaganda. Thatās why I write about propaganda so muchāāāI see it as the ultimate obstacle to the revolutionary changes we desperately need.
War and militarism
I see the empire-like power structure centralized around the United States as the greatest source of conflict and dysfunction in the world today. All the largest international conflicts of our day ultimately boil down to the US empire trying to secure planetary domination and weaker nations resisting it in some way. This campaign to secure planetary hegemony is placing our world at greater and greater risk of nuclear war as it sees the empire engaging in increasingly confrontational standoffs with Russia and China. I therefore see ending the US empire and neutering its global war machine as a matter of existential importance for humanity.
Environment
I believe environmental collapse and nuclear war are the two greatest existential threats to our species, and both are breathing down our necks. I think global warming is real and caused by human activity, but I also think itās suspicious that that debate consumes so much oxygen when thereās so much other evidence that the biosphere is dying (ocean desertification, deforestation, vanishing wildlife, plummeting insect populations, etc).
Obviously there are rich and powerful people whoāll be looking to ride their various agendas on top of humanityās shift from fossil fuels to other energy systems, but that doesnāt mean climate change isnāt realāāāit would be strange if they werenāt doing that. That just means we need to pry the fingers of the powerful from the steering wheel of our civilization, not that drastic changes arenāt needed to how we live on this planet.
Religion
I was raised Roman Catholic but now despise the church. Iām critical of all religion and 99 percent of what people call spirituality, but that one percent of authentic spirituality just might be what ends up being what saves humanity.
I view authentic spirituality not as any set of beliefs but as a sincere investigation in our own experience into the nature of consciousness, self, mind, and perception. The discoveries this investigation turns up can be deeply transformative, and could solve all the worldās problems if realized at mass scale.
Civil rights
I think protecting the rights of the individual protects the health of the collective. Itās always going to be the outspoken fringesters who first notice somethingās wrong about where weāre at or where weāre headed, so you need to make sure thereās space for them to speak and be heard. Because nobody can be trusted to determine what speech is valid and true, it needs to be legal to the furthest extent the collective can tolerate without harm.
The freer people are to think, speak, act and live however they want undisturbed, the healthier our society is; this means freeing them from having their minds manipulated by the powerful as noted above.
The collective is also within its rights to stop an individual from harming them. If someoneās using wealth and power as a weapon to exploit and abuse people for instance, then their wealth and power can rightfully be taken away in the same way a mass shooterās weapon can be taken away to protect the collective.
Social justice issues
I oppose racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, and discrimination against disempowered groups of all sorts. These are real problems that do need to be solved as humanity winds its way into the future; we canāt just ignore them.
I do get frustrated at times with the way these issues consume all the political oxygen in the room without leaving any space for far more urgent matters like the looming threat of nuclear war, and I do think itās a bit ridiculous that in our current political environment being a racist is regarded as far more outrageous and offensive than being a warmonger. But I understand thatās just the nature of the mainstream political framework people are being presented with, where weāre encouraged to argue as hotly as possible over culture war issues that donāt threaten the powerful at all so we donāt start turning that heat onto issues like war, ecocide and oligarchy.
Feminism
Iām a pretty hardcore feminist with a lot of ideas on the subject that I think are interesting and worthy, but I donāt bother because I always get a bunch of furious men with mommy issues screaming at me for days. There are more important things to write about right now anyway.
Covid-19
Iāve annoyed a lot of people with how Iāve refused to take a position on some Covid-related issues like masks and lockdowns and the lab leak vs zoonotic origin debate, but I donāt really care. I canāt be an expert on all issues, and the amount of scientific research Iād need to pour into Covid to take a confident stand on disputed scientific points would leave me with no time to talk about anything else. There are literally hundreds of other commentators whoāve spent years talking about Covid from any angle you could possibly want if you want commentary on Covid.
I have repeatedly and unequivocally opposed things like vaccine mandates, police brutality enforcing Covid restrictions, and the censorship of Covid skeptics, because those are positions I feel solid on. Beyond that I feel perfectly comfortable with my agnosticism on such things, especially now that the lockdowns are long over while we hurtle toward nuclear armageddon.
Israel/Palestine
Israel is an apartheid state whose existence can only be maintained by nonstop violence, both inside and outside its borders. A nation that canāt exist without continuous war is like a house that canāt exist without continuous construction. If your house is perpetually buzzing with power tools and construction workers because if the construction stops it will collapse, eventually youāre going to start thinking you maybe shouldnāt have built your house there in the first place.
Julian Assange
Support.
Cryptocurrencies
Indifferent.
Cashlessness/central bank digital currencies
Oppose.
UFOs
Intensely skeptical.
9/11
Thereās nothing Iād put past these assholes.
JFK assassination
See 9/11.
This or that indie media figure
People are always asking me what I think of various indie media figures, but I donāt have time to form opinions about other commentators, let alone write about them. If I see them saying something useful Iāll highlight it, if I donāt I donāt. Thatās as far as my interest generally goes.
Right wingers
I read and follow right-wing libertarians for their anti-war commentary and I welcome people from any ideology to read and follow me, but over the years Iāve become aware that thereās a lot less useful anti-war sentiment on the right than I used to hope there was. The so-called āpopulist rightā mostly just opposes US aggressions toward Russia so they can prepare for aggressions toward China, and few put nearly as much energy into opposing Russia brinkmanship as they do into shrieking about trans people and āwokeismā. For the most part todayās rightists are the same stuffy conservative bigoted militarists theyāve always been, no matter how hard they try to rebrand themselves as āpopulistā these days.
Progressives
Over the years Iāve found that most people who identify as āprogressiveā and support Bernie Sanders and AOC have a lot less in common with me than I used to think they did. Most are just empire loyalists who hope the empire gives them healthcare one day. They donāt oppose the empire, they just quibble over a few of the details about how the empire should be run.
US intelligence agencies
Smash them into a thousand pieces and scatter them to the winds.
Peter, if you claim what RFKjr is saying is āmisinformationā I am offering you $100,000.00 to the charity of your choice if youāre willing to debate him on my show with no time limit.
@ProFootballTalk Best thing happened as result was WFAN'S Chunky Soup tug of war in Tony Luke's lot following year...never laughed so hard in all my life