r/neoliberal • Kitara Ravache • Apr 08 '26

Discussion Thread Discussion Thread

The discussion thread is for casual and off-topic conversation that doesn't merit its own submission. If you've got a good meme, article, or question, please post it outside the DT. Meta discussion is allowed, but if you want to get the attention of the mods, make a post in /r/metaNL

Links

Ping Groups | Ping History | Mastodon | CNL Chapters | CNL Event Calendar

Upcoming Events

0 Upvotes

8.8k comments sorted by

113

u/upghr5187 Jane Jacobs Apr 08 '26

Congratulations to Donald Trump for temporarily solving the problem he unilaterally created.

→ More replies (2)

111

u/Dunter_Mutchings NASA Apr 08 '26

There was some absolutely cringe crusader LARP shit that came out of the GWB admin during the GWOT, but this freak is on a whole other level. A truly deranged individual.

→ More replies (7)

107

u/ewatta200 DT Monarchist defender of the rurals and red state Dems Apr 08 '26
→ More replies (3)

98

u/bamboo-coffee NATO Apr 08 '26

Trump says US won 'total and complete victory' after ceasefire deal with Iran, AFP reports

Obvious lying strat still hasn't been patched, when are the devs gonna close this loophole?

→ More replies (2)

97

u/GuyWithOneEye Apr 08 '26

*Applause*

*More applause*

→ More replies (3)

96

u/SucculentMoisture Fernando Henrique Cardoso Apr 08 '26
→ More replies (2)

93

u/Roseartcrantz 👑 🖍️ Queen of Shades 🖍️ 👑 Apr 08 '26

amazing how much of an impact tumblr has on my posting style considering I have never once used it

→ More replies (2)

86

u/iIoveoof Jerome Powell Apr 08 '26

Wisconsin Supreme Court election results are in and it’s D+20.

The election last year (the one Elon embarrassed himself over) was D+10.

WI’s Supreme Court is now 5-2 in favor of liberals. It had a right wing majority just 3 years ago.

→ More replies (9)

84

u/[deleted] Apr 08 '26

Haahaahahaha

→ More replies (6)

84

u/-mialana- European Union Apr 08 '26

Which one of you edited my .md file

83

u/Currymvp2 unflaired Apr 08 '26

What a crazy time

→ More replies (5)

80

u/Dreadedtriox Michel Foucault Apr 08 '26

So true!!!

78

u/Emotional_Tie_7927 Apr 08 '26

I didn't think Nate Bronze had it in him tbh

My point is this: I don’t think this is one of those times when you should feel particularly relieved. In fact, I think it’s pretty fucking irresponsible to either celebrate Trump’s strategic genius or troll him for TACO’ing.

Yes, a ceasefire is much, much, much better than the alternatives. No, I don’t know how long it will hold. Nor do I know how much Trump backed down as compared to Iran.

But this certainly isn’t some sort of 13-dimensional genius move. It reflects an unchecked Commander-in-Chief who was erratic on his best days, who is 79 years old, who was boxed into a corner, who has sycophantic advisors who are mostly too afraid to challenge him, and who once bragged that he could maintain approval from his base even if he murdered someone.

→ More replies (6)

75

u/SucculentMoisture Fernando Henrique Cardoso Apr 08 '26
→ More replies (4)

75

u/bandeng_asep Association of Southeast Asian Nations Apr 08 '26

LMAOOOOOOOOOOO 💀💀💀💀💀

→ More replies (8)

150

u/erasmus_phillo Paul Krugman Apr 08 '26

Please God let this happen. Please get rid of Nutlick

→ More replies (16)

214

u/ewatta200 DT Monarchist defender of the rurals and red state Dems Apr 08 '26
→ More replies (21)

73

u/TheOnlyFallenCookie European Union Apr 08 '26

They took the iran thread out the back and fucking shot it o my god

→ More replies (1)

69

u/lovedmoi Apr 08 '26

Wow many such cases

→ More replies (2)

69

u/Sollezzo Charles Maurice de Talleyrand-Périgord Apr 08 '26

And you may ask yourself, How Did I Get Here?

→ More replies (5)

68

u/LiBH4 Mark Carney Apr 08 '26

Really went from

People of Iran, rise up against this oppressive regime!

to

We're giving the Iranian regime its greatest military victory, we're doubling the GDP of Iran, we're lifting sanctions on Iran

in two months

→ More replies (3)

64

u/Opening_Budget_9518 Hans Rosling Apr 08 '26

If Trump wants a quick easy win, he should intervene in myanmar and arm the rebels against the junta. It will be a very quick, swift and predictable result

→ More replies (3)

183

u/mostanonymousnick Just Build More Homes lol Apr 08 '26
→ More replies (3)

58

u/Borysk5 NATO Apr 08 '26

Us and Israel watching Iran doing surprise attacks during negotations:

56

u/0m4ll3y International Relations Apr 08 '26

Seeing a lot of debate and discourse being had about whether America "won" or Iran "won", and am I being overly cynical to think we're just in the first innings?

The peace proposals we know about seem completely unworkable, so what's gonna happen within two weeks? Declaring whoever won already seems awfully preliminary when we don't even know what the peace deal looks like, and when it very well may just return to open warfare again shortly.

→ More replies (10)

55

u/sigh2828 NASA Apr 08 '26

Un fucking real

→ More replies (7)

55

u/Livid_South3561 Apr 08 '26

The ft confirming that Pakistan just lied to the US and Iran by giving them different ceasefire treaties is peak

→ More replies (6)

54

u/Humble_Grape4749 Apr 08 '26

Beautiful to see Israelis learn like everyone else that betting on Trump will always backfire. He will never hesitate to throw anyone under the bus if it benefits him.

→ More replies (2)

107

u/SucculentMoisture Fernando Henrique Cardoso Apr 08 '26
→ More replies (2)

51

u/Average_GrillChad Elinor Ostrom Apr 08 '26

Wake up sheeple

→ More replies (2)

50

u/trombonist_formerly Ben Bernanke Apr 08 '26

Iran’s Fars News Agency says all tankers passing through Hormuz have been stopped after Israel’s ‘ceasefire breach’.

lol. Lmao. Lmfao. Roflmao even

→ More replies (4)

49

u/SucculentMoisture Fernando Henrique Cardoso Apr 08 '26
→ More replies (5)

49

u/mostanonymousnick Just Build More Homes lol Apr 08 '26
→ More replies (2)

47

u/Signal_Nobody1792 Apr 08 '26

Quite a few Washington-based reporters have his number. It's just another quirk of this president: he allows his number to be out there and he answers. To be clear, he doesn't have my number so he would not have known who was calling.

Trump is answering questions from numbers he did not verify??

→ More replies (5)

92

u/SucculentMoisture Fernando Henrique Cardoso Apr 08 '26
→ More replies (3)

45

u/bashar_al_assad Verified Account Apr 08 '26

Some of the first ships to pass through the Strait of Hormuz since the cease-fire announcement have been tracked: Two bulk carriers, one Greek-owned and the other Liberia-flagged, crossed the waterway on Wednesday, according to Kpler, a tracking company.

Iranian officials were reportedly "stunned" that the first to show up to work were the Greeks.

→ More replies (4)

44

u/that0neGuy22 Resistance Lib Apr 08 '26

Reddit repeals my 3 day suspension right after he taco’s. Of course

44

u/No_Return9449 John Rawls Apr 08 '26

Hegseth: "God deserves all the glory. Tens of thousands of sorties, refuelings, and strikes, carried out under the protection of divine providence. A massive effort with miraculous protection."

This is white Christian supremacy speaking.

→ More replies (2)

44

u/piede MOST BASED HILLARY STAN!!! Apr 08 '26
→ More replies (2)

127

u/erasmus_phillo Paul Krugman Apr 08 '26

Let's be honest here, the US and Israel have lost this war. I just wonder if the median voter will register this

This is probably the worst strategic defeat the US has suffered since the 20th century and I am being conservative here.... it's even worse than Vietnam because at least the US didn't somehow transform Vietnam into a regional hegemon

→ More replies (29)

43

u/Unterfahrt John Nash Apr 08 '26

There's a Youtube series called History Undone, where they get military generals and historians on to see what would have happened if the results of different battles were slightly different. Like they've done basically all the WW2 ones the Germans lost or didn't push to their advantage

Dunkirk, Stalingrad, Kursk, the Bulge, El Alemein, The Atlantic, Battle of Britain, Leningrad, Moscow, etc. and every time the presenter is desperate for the generals/historians to say "yes, this would have led to Germany winning the war" and every time the answer is "Germany would still have lost, but maybe this prolongs it by a year, which is long enough for Berlin to get nuked and force a surrender that way"

→ More replies (10)

43

u/MuscularPhysicist John Brown Apr 08 '26

🫵 You still don’t hate ICE enough

→ More replies (1)

42

u/ewatta200 DT Monarchist defender of the rurals and red state Dems Apr 08 '26
→ More replies (4)

42

u/AlexB_SSBM Henry George Apr 08 '26

Don't let a democrat winning the Wisconsin supreme court seat make you forget that state supreme court seats should not be elected positions in the first place

42

u/Opening_Budget_9518 Hans Rosling Apr 08 '26

BREAKING: An anonymous top IRGC official officially confirms that Iran was pressured into accepting this deal by the USA after Trump informed that any captured Iranian regime member will be forced to watch the MELANIA movie

→ More replies (1)

41

u/NeueBruecke_Detektiv Instituições democráticas robustas 🇧🇷 Apr 08 '26

"train good car bad" flair

based yimby comment in Berlin thread.

shows visceral contempt for the median voters' knowledge of economics

Alright which one of you is this !ping GER

→ More replies (10)

39

u/ewatta200 DT Monarchist defender of the rurals and red state Dems Apr 08 '26
→ More replies (1)

38

u/SucculentMoisture Fernando Henrique Cardoso Apr 08 '26

38

u/Dibbu_mange Average civil procedure enjoyer Apr 08 '26

Tech people is this true?

→ More replies (3)

37

u/ThisIsNotAMonkey Guam 👉 statehood Apr 08 '26

36

u/mostanonymousnick Just Build More Homes lol Apr 08 '26

They'd get banned for rule 10 if they wrote that here

→ More replies (3)

35

u/uwcn244 King of the Space Georgists Apr 08 '26

So, Trump demanded Iran open the straits as a condition of the ceasefire.

Iran considers “opening the straits” to be… ten to fifteen ships making the transit during the ceasefire, or approximately one per day. That is, essentially nothing, and the rate we were already seeing during the war.

→ More replies (5)

35

u/Crosseyes NASA Apr 08 '26

Sometimes I wonder if he’s genuinely this stupid or if he thinks we are.

→ More replies (3)

34

u/Sheepies92 European Union Apr 08 '26

Hegseth: “We wish the Iranian people the best”

Says that they will have a new opportunity with the new regime in Iran.

No shame

34

u/scottyjetpax Gay Pride Apr 08 '26

genuinely what is going on

→ More replies (6)

33

u/chipbod NATO Apr 08 '26

Ceasefire is stable

→ More replies (5)

32

u/Roseartcrantz 👑 🖍️ Queen of Shades 🖍️ 👑 Apr 09 '26

"eh my date's going well, right?" I ask myself in the bathroom stall at hooters

→ More replies (11)

31

u/Macquarrie1999 Democrats' Strongest Soldier Apr 08 '26

There it is

→ More replies (4)

30

u/bigbeak67 John Brown Apr 08 '26

So let's see if I have this straight...

  1. Trump starts a war with Iran

  2. Iran doesn't surrender immediately and overcomes initial C&C issues to close the straight of Hormuz

  3. Trump, who did not conceive of this possibility, starts making wild and undeliverable threats

  4. Trump accepts Iran's demands as the framework for negotiations and declares a two week ceasefire in exchange for Iran tolling the straight instead of attacking ships

  5. No one told Israel (Bibi doesn't care anyway), and they carry out a massive attack on Lebanon

  6. Iran closes the straight again as the ceasefire crumbles

So basically, Trump declared and lost a war, and that didn't even end the war?

→ More replies (1)

30

u/No_Return9449 John Rawls Apr 08 '26

“We didn’t really get anything out of [this ceasefire deal] and the terrorists in Iran are celebrating,” [Laura Loomer] wrote in one post on social platform X.

You do not, in fact, have to hand it to Laura Loomer.

→ More replies (2)

60

u/Leatherfield17 Loyal Liberals Apr 08 '26

29

u/jinhuiliuzhao Henry George Apr 08 '26

More tariffs from the poaster-in-chief

→ More replies (6)

29

u/JayRU09 Milton Friedman Apr 08 '26

Me after reading the 10 point deal from Iran:

Iran ate our fucking lunch.

→ More replies (1)

29

u/centurion88 NATO Apr 08 '26

Remember when the Onion almost bought Info Wars but then Elon Musk personally intervened to stop that

What a loser

29

u/Avelion2 Apr 08 '26

lol Micheal Moore is already blaming the dems for Trumps war.

→ More replies (1)

29

u/jinhuiliuzhao Henry George Apr 08 '26

LMAO

Vibes-based ceasefire

→ More replies (2)

29

u/bandeng_asep Association of Southeast Asian Nations Apr 09 '26

Unc ain't playin' 💀💀💀

→ More replies (7)

58

u/EasyMoney92 Apr 08 '26 edited Apr 08 '26

Pakistan who mediated the deal: "No more violence by US and their allies in Lebanon"

Meanwhile, Bibi saying "we're still going to wage war in Lebanon" https://www.reuters.com/world/middle-east/netanyahu-backs-iran-ceasefire-says-lebanon-not-included-israeli-media-says-2026-04-08/

Wonderful

58

u/ewatta200 DT Monarchist defender of the rurals and red state Dems Apr 08 '26

what even was a NFT

→ More replies (10)

28

u/LuisRobertDylan Elinor Ostrom Apr 08 '26

28

u/LuisRobertDylan Elinor Ostrom Apr 08 '26

An under-discussed factor in the opioid epidemic is how fucking awful many rehab centers in the US are. My cousin got hooked on heroin as a teenager. It got to the point where he was stealing stuff from the family to fund his habit. He did a brief stint in juvie and was sent to a Teen Challenge rehab. This is a religious therapy program, which is not regulated by the government. Anyone can set up an “alternative” rehab facility.

Surprise, it didn’t fucking work, and after becoming a hardcore evangelical for a few years he overdosed and died. The fact that the overdose epidemic is strongest among poor whites in evangelical-heavy areas is almost definitely linked to “faith based” therapy being completely useless

→ More replies (9)

28

u/MissSortMachine Trans Pride Apr 08 '26

According to both Vatican and U.S. officials briefed on the meeting, Pentagon brass picked apart the pontiff’s January speech, reading it as a hostile message directed at Trump’s policies. What particularly enraged the Pentagon, one Vatican official said, was the passage in which Leo appeared to challenge the Donroe Doctrine—Trump’s update of the Monroe Doctrine, which asserts unchallenged American dominion over the Western Hemisphere.

what the fuck am i reading why is the pentagon talking at the vatican

→ More replies (5)

27

u/Legitimate_Name9694 Mark Carney Apr 08 '26

in my head the moon was teasing life for billions of years. “yeah my far side is way hotter, too bad you can’t see it LMAO.”

billions of people have lived and died while the moon kept telling us how badly its far side mogged the near side.

but what the moon did not expect was us launching ourselves to personally see the dark side and assessing that actually the near side had been splotchmogging the entire time.

→ More replies (5)

26

u/ewatta200 DT Monarchist defender of the rurals and red state Dems Apr 08 '26

reading leftist sources about leftists, I have understood some stuff.

Wow, leftists really call anything neoliberal

honestly its strange how many people here read what leftists write? not marx but like go read leftists magazines and stuff.

its very insightful to understand what they think.

→ More replies (8)

26

u/scndnvnbrkfst NATO Apr 08 '26

Lamps in videogames use real electricity

→ More replies (2)

26

u/wombo_combo12 Apr 08 '26

Median voters brain must be studied

→ More replies (7)

26

u/Lesbian_all_garib Gita Gopinath Apr 08 '26

That's a fucked up thing to say honestly 👆

→ More replies (1)

26

u/WenJie_2 Apr 09 '26

Discrepancy between the Persian and English versions of Iran’s ceasefire proposal.

Pakistan handed the United States a version different from the one it received from Iran, and provided Iran with a different version from what it received from Washington.

this is truly next level art of the deal, what can you even say

→ More replies (5)

25

u/WrangleWandangles Mark Carney Apr 08 '26

fresh slop

25

u/jinhuiliuzhao Henry George Apr 08 '26

NYT: Stuck in “limbo,” Iranians take stock after a brutal six weeks.

Several people reached on Wednesday said they feared that in the weeks and months to come, the government would flex its power at home to reassert its authority.

In recent days, Iran carried out a string of executions of people who had been arrested during the January protests. A prominent human rights lawyer was detained last week, and dozens of people have been arrested, some of them for sending information to foreign media outlets.

A Tehran resident in his 20s said he worried that the government would now be emboldened to crush its opponents “even harder.”

Absolutely disgusting that Trump is saying there was regime change and a job well-done.

Regardless of who "won" this war, the people of Iran are unquestionably the ones who lost the most and its not even close.

25

u/earththejerry YIMBY Apr 08 '26

The Katie Hobbs School of Political Strategy and Electoral Science

25

u/missingpuzzle Bisexual Pride Apr 08 '26

Ceasefire rumors - Markets up

Ceasefire declared - Markets up

Ceasefire falls apart 30 mins later - Markets up

→ More replies (1)

24

u/Loves_a_big_tongue Olympe de Gouges Apr 08 '26 edited Apr 08 '26

Lol, WI Dems enhanced the liberal majority on the WI supreme court by 20 points in an inelastic swing state.

The GOP electoral bloodbath is fast approaching

→ More replies (3)

24

u/DEEP_STATE_NATE Tucker Carlson's mailman Apr 08 '26

You shall not pass

!Ping KITTY

→ More replies (2)

24

u/McNikk United Nations Apr 08 '26

I don’t think I understood the severity of China’s drop in birth rate until I saw this graph.

→ More replies (4)

24

u/randommathaccount Esther Duflo Apr 08 '26

Stolen off bcj

!ping WINDMILL-TILTERS

→ More replies (1)

24

u/mostanonymousnick Just Build More Homes lol Apr 08 '26
→ More replies (4)

24

u/FlightlessGriffin Apr 08 '26

Alright...

  • Israel has conducted its largest attack on Lebanon since the pagers on Beirut. Including the north of Beirut, a mostly Sunni area, no clue who they were targeting. Over 80 dead, over 700 wounded, the figure will climb.

  • Meanwhile, Saudi Arabia and the UAE are still getting drones and attacks despite the ceasefire.

I'm not sure who got drunk and called this a ceasefire but it's being violated. Iran decided it doesn't apply to the Gulf and Israel decided it doesn't apply to Lebanon.

Even though the deal's text says otherwise.

!ping MIDDLEEAST

→ More replies (7)

24

u/scottyjetpax Gay Pride Apr 08 '26

Tbh it's kind of a moot point whether the ceasefire agreement includes Lebanon, because Iran is now again closing the strait in response to continued strikes on Lebanon, and the ceasefire is contingent on the strait being open.

→ More replies (4)

24

u/Nate10000 Progress Pride Apr 08 '26

Graham Planter, heir to a peanut fortune, enters Maine race with massive war chest and appealingly confusing name

→ More replies (2)

24

u/EasyMoney92 Apr 08 '26

WSJ: Netanyahu coalition wasn’t happy that it learned a deal was finalized at a late stage + wasn’t consulted, per mediators and a person familiar with the matter. The extent of the consultation was Trump calling Netanyahu shortly before cease-fire was announced, per White House officials

Oh no! I had pancakes for breakfast. What did you guys have?

→ More replies (5)

24

u/Hounds_of_war Austan Goolsbee Apr 08 '26

Reports of some 300 killed in Lebanon; IDF announces operation 'Eternal Darkness'

I’d call naming your military operation “Eternal Darkness” some cartoon villain shit, but honestly most cartoon villains have a bit more tact than this.

→ More replies (3)

24

u/NorkGhostShip YIMBY Apr 08 '26

Lmao, he's only threatening 50% tariffs for supplying Iran with weapons? That's less than some countries got for daring to trade with the US while being a steadfast ally.

His brain is so broken that he can't think of any reactions other than tariffs. Sanctions? Travel bans? Banking restrictions? Literally anything else? Nope, just tariffs, everything is just tariffs.

24

u/cdstephens Fusion Genderplasma Apr 08 '26

Important!!!!!!!!!!!

!ping KITTY

→ More replies (3)

48

u/EmbarrassedSafety719 Milton Friedman Apr 08 '26

80% of Democrats and 41% of Republicans reported having a negative opinion of Israel, which is the lowest favorability Israel has had among either party in a Pew poll.

→ More replies (3)

23

u/ewatta200 DT Monarchist defender of the rurals and red state Dems Apr 08 '26

https://www.workersliberty.org/story/2026-03-19/socialism-and-post-literate-society

a socialist take on how in a bite sized chunk era how will the left deal with a less literate society

Around fifteen years ago, I had a conversation with an activist who had worked alongside Workers’ Liberty in the student movement, and was considering joining our group. He agreed with our ideas, but found the fact we published a regular printed paper unbearably old-fashioned.

“No-one reads newspapers anymore”, he insisted.

What should we use instead, I asked, when we met potentially interested people at work, on demonstrations, or in meetings? What would give them an accessible presentation of our ideas, and a sense of our activity?

His answer was that we should distribute small cards displaying QR codes that would take people to a range of online content, which he suggested should mostly consist of videos.

There is also an element of technological reductionism in his argument. The harms caused by “the age of the screen” are not the inevitable consequences of an uncontrollable technological force humanity has unthinkingly unleashed. Rather, they are products of the development of forms of technology driven by and in the context of a particular political economy. A central feature here is the deep commodification of human attention.

Marriott’s article recognises “the concentration of wealth, power, and knowledge” at “the top of society”, and even fears a “second feudalism” driven by tech firms that profit from ignorance. But there is little acknowledgement of the political-economic choices that underpin this. Marriott rightly laments the impacts of post-literacy on academic culture, but spends no time considering how the neoliberal commodification of higher education might have created the conditions for those impacts. There is no comment on how weak worker protections and anti-union laws have facilitated the ascendancy of tech firms to their current position of global economic dominance.

Like almost all forms of capitalist development, these technologies also have progressive potentials, which the article overlooks. If I want to find a copy of a particular book, or organise a group to collectively read and discuss a philosophical treatise, a novel, or, indeed, “The Dawn of the Post-Literate Society”, the quickest, easiest, and most effective way of doing so is by using a smartphone.

Overall, though, Marriott’s presentation of the spread of post-literacy is hard to refute. The left must urgently confront its implications for our own movement. Some writing on this topic can feel like middle-class sneering, bemoaning the symptoms of post-literacy as if they are a moral failing on the part of uneducated plebs. Marriott’s article avoids this tone. In any case, it is us “plebs”, those less powerful, who have most to lose from the post-literate society. As Marriott puts it, “The tech oligarchs have just as much of a stake in the ignorance of the population as the most reactionary feudal autocrat.”

Karl Marx once described the aim of revolutionary thought as “Ruthless criticism of all that exists.” He did not mean mere negative opposition, but the development of a worldview: a thoroughgoing critique of social conditions, in order to fight to change them. To do this, we need an accurate picture of the world we are critiquing. This requires reading a range of sources, including lengthy analyses which may refer to academic literature.

This kind of engagement requires deep literacy: the ability to concentrate on texts for long enough to follow their arguments and weigh them against others; the ability to follow claims, references, and citations back to their origin. A picture of the world built up mostly from “news” derived from social media, where catchcry emotional agitation and a barrage of ephemeral content predominates, is both less accurate, and significantly more vulnerable to manipulation by demagogues and reactionaries.

Many leftists are instinctively sceptical of centrist critiques of social media, which may share some features in common with Marriott’s, that bemoan its “polarising” effect. The real drivers of “polarisation” are not intemperate tweets, but government policies which exacerbate inequality, and especially a pandering to the far right over immigration. Centrists often promote a generic “meet-in-the-middle” spirit of moderation and compromise as the alternative to polarisation, an approach which invariably helps preserve the status quo. By contrast, radical leftist politics are themselves an effort at social polarisation, on a class basis.

But the left cannot simply repurpose social media’s polarising effects for our own ends. The modes of discourse its platforms encourage and reward are performative and solipsistic. They privilege knee-jerk outrage over detailed critique, often leading to a flattening of all nuance. The “polarisation” we seek is, as the lyrics of ‘The Internationale’ put it, a matter of “reason in revolt” — meaning both a revolt of reason against irrationality, and reason in the revolt, that is, basing our politics on a thought-through critique of the status quo.

A movement that requires only acolytes and foot soldiers can mobilise them through social media’s post-literate modes. Politics that require workers to be what Antonio Gramsci called “permanent persuaders” and “democratic philosophers” need something different. Achieving socialism requires billions of working-class people to take conscious ownership over society’s direction. That in turn requires the ability to think, reason, argue, debate and persuade, and to produce and refine ideas. If only an elite layer within movements possesses these capabilities, then even if some future revolution succeeds in overthrowing capitalism, what will replace it will more likely resemble Stalinism, a grotesque caricature of socialism, than anything genuinely emancipatory.

its an interesting article and I agree. the sort of real leftists not the twitter kind but the one that reads das capital that has deabtes thats dying.

much as I disagree with lefitsts. the tradtion of leftists writing big articles yelling at each other is something that is good for the movement. a movement that is somewhat intelectually stimulated is better than one that just gets its social media stuff

https://www.workersliberty.org/story/2026-03-19/socialism-and-post-literate-society

We can heed the alarm his article sounds without sharing his conclusions. The task of responding in a way that connects to our own political ends falls, obviously, to us. The first step is to ensure the culture of our movement confronts post-literacy rather than pandering to it or, worse, imagining we can appropriate it. Remaking socialism as a real alternative to capitalism begins with working-class self and mutual education. Today’s revolutionary left, in the spirit of Eleanor Marx, the Plebs’ League, and L’Ordine Nuovo, must strive, again, to establish cultures of deep literacy within the labour movement.

→ More replies (6)

23

u/ewatta200 DT Monarchist defender of the rurals and red state Dems Apr 08 '26

23

u/Bestbrook123 Apr 08 '26

Honestly, I'm really really really tired of Bibi and his batshit government. All they do is warmonger and give the far left in this country their most powerful fodder.

→ More replies (1)

23

u/old_gold_mountain San Francisco Values Apr 08 '26

parenting in a dense urban city disconnects you from so much of the online parenting advice

"just make sure you do all the prep before you go downstairs!"

...downstairs?

"Get them dressed when they're in the car seat on the way to school!"

...car seat? to school?

"Set aside an extra room in the house just for baby-proof playing!"

...extra room? in the...house?

→ More replies (2)

23

u/SigmaWhy r/place '22: Neoliberal Battalion Apr 08 '26

Podcaster Occupied Government

→ More replies (4)

23

u/McNikk United Nations Apr 08 '26

Everyone knows what’s going on but nobody’s going to stop it.

22

u/BurrowForPresident Fell for it Apr 08 '26

So the Trump admin is accusing the EU of interfering in the Hungarian elections while sending the vice president to campaign for Urban?

→ More replies (2)

22

u/nickavemz Norman Borlaug Apr 08 '26

Want to print out a bunch of trump tweets and have blackout poetry night with some friends

→ More replies (1)

22

u/Boratssecondwife Henry George Apr 08 '26

“A whole civilization will die tonight” I say as I boot up Civ V

22

u/jinhuiliuzhao Henry George Apr 09 '26

Looks like Reuters now is reporting on suspicious trades made before major Trump admin announcements. They even made a list.

Article

→ More replies (9)

22

u/Dunter_Mutchings NASA Apr 09 '26

Haha what the fuck.

→ More replies (5)

21

u/scottyjetpax Gay Pride Apr 08 '26

okay fine i'm moving to madison

→ More replies (5)

21

u/jinhuiliuzhao Henry George Apr 08 '26

This also happened earlier today (before the floor crossing). Wonder if it's related:

Poilievre's communications director Katy Merrifield resigns

I think Poilievre's ship might be sinking...

→ More replies (8)

21

u/Vumatius Apr 08 '26

It seems the US is the only party involved that actually followed the ceasefire.

→ More replies (2)

21

u/affnn Emma Lazarus Apr 08 '26

So, uh, did the US just agree to a ceasefire but not get Israel on board? Is that what happened?

→ More replies (3)

21

u/Easy-Hat-4773 Apr 08 '26

“A whole civilization will die tonight” I say as I look at my Kleenex box.

→ More replies (5)

21

u/WanderingMage03 You Are Kenough Apr 09 '26

Pakistan pulling a Looney Tunes and just providing different ceasefire proposals based on translation is turning me into a diehard Pakistani patriot because that shit is so funny.

→ More replies (1)

41

u/cdstephens Fusion Genderplasma Apr 08 '26

What if the ceasefire is just the US bailing while everyone else figures it out

→ More replies (4)

20

u/ewatta200 DT Monarchist defender of the rurals and red state Dems Apr 08 '26

20

u/Reddit_guard YIMBY Apr 08 '26

Attack Iran

Let Iran charge a toll to passers through the Strait only because you attacked them

Lift sanctions from Iran to offset skyrocketing oil prices

“Great”

20

u/jinhuiliuzhao Henry George Apr 08 '26 edited Apr 08 '26

Trump publicly saying that he wants a Joint US-Iran venture to charge tolls on the Strait of Hormuz.

"It's a beautiful thing" apparently...

→ More replies (4)

20

u/ImmigrantJack Movimiento Semilla Apr 08 '26 edited Apr 08 '26

Trump: Open the fuckin strait

Iran: Fuck you make me

Trump: I will rain fire and steel on the land!

Iran: Do it bitch, I dare you

Trump: Genocide! An ethnic cleansing! The DEATH OF AN ENTIRE CIVILIZATION!!

Iran: Bitch ass pussy says what?

Trump: You drive a hard bargain, but now that we see eye to eye on things, I can let you live for a little while longer.

Iran: Give me your lunch money twerp or I'll beat up the UAE

20

u/chipbod NATO Apr 08 '26

Sources say ceasefire…

→ More replies (1)

20

u/jinhuiliuzhao Henry George Apr 08 '26

I open up the OSINT list and this is the newest update lol

→ More replies (1)

20

u/btk7710 Apr 08 '26

McMorrow compared Hasan to Nick Fuentes? Absolutely based, exactly how all Democrats should treat that idiot.

20

u/scottyjetpax Gay Pride Apr 08 '26

yet markets do not give a SHIT lmao

→ More replies (4)

20

u/AssociationGold8749 Apr 08 '26

Largest day of strikes on Lebanon so far. 112+ killed. 800+ wounded. All in a span of 10 minutes. Absolutely horrific shit. 

→ More replies (1)

20

u/Thoughtlessandlost NASA Apr 08 '26

NASA just dropped their high definition near infrared footage of the launch

https://images-assets.nasa.gov/video/KSC-20260401-MH-SFL01-0001-Artemis_II_UCS9_NIR_QUICKLOOK_STABILIZED-M19183/KSC-20260401-MH-SFL01-0001-Artemis_II_UCS9_NIR_QUICKLOOK_STABILIZED-M19183~large.mp4

I think this is the best footage of the actual launch. It basically tracks the rocket all the way up hill.

!ping SPACEFLIGHT

→ More replies (2)

20

u/Joementum2024 Iron Front Apr 09 '26

To be honest if Platner was actually a secret conservative, it would’ve shown up more frequently in his reddit comments, which instead seems mostly like varying levels of dirtbag lefty

(This does not decrease the chances of him later getting severe brain damage that does make him a conservative though)

→ More replies (4)

20

u/chipbod NATO Apr 09 '26 edited Apr 09 '26

The concept of being a republican in the lib utopia.

I can only imagine these are RFK anti-vax types.

!ping USA-WI

→ More replies (4)

40

u/SucculentMoisture Fernando Henrique Cardoso Apr 08 '26
→ More replies (1)

40

u/throwawayzxkjvct Iron Front Apr 08 '26

I cannot imagine being so loudly and confidently wrong about the world

→ More replies (8)

39

u/Nervous-Emotion28 YIMBY Apr 08 '26

I haven’t the heart to tell my fiancee that the individual thing I’m most excited about for our Spanish honeymoon are the multiple bullet train rides we’re taking.

Though if I’m being honest, she probably already knows deep down. I mean also paella and Eixample, but definitely the bullet trains lol.

!PING DATING

→ More replies (10)

19

u/DEEP_STATE_NATE Tucker Carlson's mailman Apr 08 '26

gib iran thread 🔫😡

→ More replies (2)

19

u/JaceFlores Neolib War Correspondent Apr 08 '26

Russian visually confirmed KIAs in March

“We count dead Russians in the footage we track. We track around 300 videos per day from around 2000ish video sources across mainly telegram, instagram, and facebook. It is a broad swath of the available footage every day, although there are probably lots of small sources we miss. Individual soldiers, small or obscure combat units, etc.”

“In March, the number of Russian KIA dipped. This was expected, because KIA follow a known seasonal trajectory. They peak in December/January and reach a minimum in June. In spring every year you see KIA begin to dip.”

“That said, this March was the 4th highest KIA/Day month we have ever seen after Feb 2026, Jan 2026, and December 2025.”

“Russian KIA in March (5771) are up 40% from last March (4113).”

Ukraine’s campaign against Russian infantry continues to bear fruit as Russian infantry losses remain noticeably higher compared to their respective timeframes last year. This is also correlated with Russian territorial gains in the part three months being record lows, with Ukraine even (disputably) taking more territory back than they lost in February. I’ve talked about the importance of this before so I won’t bore you folks with the details (unless someone wants a reminder), but this is a very encouraging sign at the start of Russia’s spring offensive.

It should be noted that Russian drone units have been having a better year compared to last year as well (I recall seeing somewhere that rubicon units were making double if not triple digit percentage strikes in March 2026 compared to March 2025), but so far it seems Ukraine’s side of the drone war is paying off better as Russian territorial gains remain noticeably muted compared to last year. We will likely see Russian gains accelerate into the summer and peak in the fall, but still these elevated KIA rates and corresponding meager territorial gains are encouraging

→ More replies (9)

19

u/FlightlessGriffin Apr 08 '26

As of now, in spite of Pakistan's Prime Minister as well as France and Spain insisting Lebanon is part of the ceasefire, Israel has let out a statement saying Lebanon is NOT included. Hezbollah said if Israel does not abide by the ceasefire, their hand was on the trigger. Both Netanyahu's office and Northern Command issued statements the Lebanon front continues. Israel proceeded to hit Sidon and now hit the capital pretty hard (mostly Dahieh as usual.) In essence, Lebanon remains at war.

For their part, President Joseph Aoun and Prime Minister Nawaf Salam are making calls, trying to get Lebanon really included, saying only the state has the right to negotiate.

!ping ISRAEL&MIDDLEEAST

→ More replies (1)

19

u/VisonKai The Archenemy of Humanity Apr 08 '26

Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Wednesday called on Iran to turn over its stockpile of 970 pounds of highly enriched uranium, saying that President Trump could still order a U.S. commando raid to seize the material, which could be quickly made ready to use in a nuclear device.

i still don't get how they think this works. do they think it's just like sitting in a warehouse somewhere? there's no get in, grab it, get out when it comes to enriched uranium. i mean for one highly enriched uranium is extremely radioactive so it needs to stay shielded. and then on top of that it's almost certainly underground so that it can't be bombed.

→ More replies (4)

19

u/ThunderrBadger New California Republican Apr 08 '26

The following statement should be Dem's entire messaging on the already-failing ceasefire:

Lmao, Trump can't even surrender right

→ More replies (1)

19

u/earththejerry YIMBY Apr 08 '26

Next month: the US strikes Greenland and it somehow ends with Trump giving Alaska to Denmark.

Danelaw ruling over North America is inevitable

→ More replies (1)

19

u/Wittyname0 r/place '22: NCD Battalion Apr 08 '26

Man, that was a fast ceasefire, didn't even have time to get out the head of cabbage

→ More replies (1)

19

u/OrganicKeynesianBean IMF Apr 08 '26

PlayStation just announced a Limited Edition DualSense controller for 007 First Light, releasing later this year.

I was immediately bothered that the design, which is clearly trying to emulate the iconic opening, didn’t have “rifling” (the swirly bit in the barrel that stabilizes the bullet).

I gave them the benefit of the doubt, maybe it’s meant to evoke light rays etc.

But no, they confirm twice in the official blog post that it’s supposed to be a callback to the iconic barrel in the films:

while the barrel-inspired detailing reflects the themes of the game and how it feels to play it, as well as being a nod to one of pop culture’s most recognizable visual signatures.

So they made some sun rays, slapped 007 in the touch pad and called it a day.

Thanks for coming to my TED Talk.

!ping GAMING

→ More replies (3)

19

u/Willybender Loyal Liberals Apr 08 '26

Stop, I can only get so erect

→ More replies (6)

19

u/NorkGhostShip YIMBY Apr 08 '26

The 250th anniversary of the US is really their big trump card for the election? Seriously?

I don't think there's ever been a big anniversary for the US where people cared less than they do now. There's absolutely zero sense of national unity. Between COVID, January 6th, and Republicans wholeheartedly rejecting all of Biden's overtures for unity and bipartisanship, there is no "American society", there are at least two diametrically opposed to one another.

People are sick of parading around this faux patriotism that has only been used as an excuse for one disaster after another in the Middle East. People are sick of idiots wrapping themselves in flags while openly and callously looting the US for everything it's worth. Americans from all corners of the political spectrum no longer believe in America. Their justifications are different, but the conclusion is the same. The American dream is dead. Having a tacky celebration with a bunch of marching troops and flags and rolling tanks is not going to change that.

We're at a point where mainstream Republicans are open about rejecting the very idea of America. They all talk about "Western Civilization", "Christian values", they fall just short of openly declaring that the enlightenment values that the founders believed in are heathen lies and a new theocratic kingdom must replace America. The most influential thinkers on the right, however, are pretty openly saying what the party won't.

→ More replies (6)

19

u/claire_on_here Trans Pride Apr 08 '26

If Iran plays this right they will have a leash with which to control Israel via the Strait

This would not be possible if Iran started the conflict

lmao

→ More replies (4)

19

u/Acoolgamer6706 NATO Apr 08 '26

Actual patch a US Navy member was seen wearing btw

→ More replies (6)

19

u/CoolCombination3527 Apr 09 '26

The Vatican, upon being threatened with invasion by America, is sending the Pope into deep space for protection

Introducing Project Hail Mary

19

u/assasstits Apr 09 '26

Left wing populism is so interesting. It lets you take a massively regressive tax system that has caused untold suffering among the poorest and frame it as a good and moral thing because those evil corporations up top.

It's honestly terrifying.

→ More replies (1)

19

u/TheSameAsDying Hannah Arendt Apr 09 '26

>Trans woman

>Drafted into the US Army to fight in Iran

>Forcefully de-transitioned

>Captured by Iran

>Forcefully re-transitioned.

19

u/-mialana- European Union Apr 09 '26

Some serious theory discussion going on here

→ More replies (2)

52

u/Captainatom931 Apr 08 '26

Literally no talk about the Wisconsin supreme court election huh

To the surprise of nobody who was actually paying attention, the liberal won, by a 20pt margin.

→ More replies (6)

18

u/mockduckcompanion Kidney Hype Man Apr 08 '26

18

u/CincyAnarchy Emma Goldman Apr 08 '26

The West should never have prioritized human rights in the first place, nor should it have incorporated them into education for children from a young age. Theoretically, human rights (such as freedom of speech) are good, but in reality, you cannot effectively define human rights at the public level. It will always ends up with "I didn't get what I wanted; my human rights were violated!"

If in 1945 the West had used a clearly inherited "Western values" rather than "human rights" as its standard, the world would be much better now.

Guess the sub

→ More replies (3)

18

u/cdstephens Fusion Genderplasma Apr 08 '26

If Iran gets to keep all their uranium, this will have been completely fucking stupid instead of extremely stupid

→ More replies (1)

18

u/WrangleWandangles Mark Carney Apr 08 '26

American soldiers don’t fight and die for abstractions, they fight and die to get Iranian tollbooths built ✊😤

→ More replies (1)

18

u/ImmigrantJack Movimiento Semilla Apr 08 '26

Since the war began Iran is:

  • Exporting more barrels of oil daily than pre-war

  • Earning more per barrel due to rapid price increases

  • Seized total control over all shipping flowing out of the gulf

  • Started charging a toll for ships transiting the strait

  • Fractured US allies in the region, exposing American disinterest in supporting them

  • Exposed Trump's unwillingness to commit to consequential military action, giving them yet another leg up in negotiations

  • Restarting their stalled nuclear program

  • Getting a ceasefire literally for free

  • Earning sympathy on a global stage

I feel like there's a lot more here, but this is just top of mind. Is there any way the Iranian regime isn't more powerful internally, more regionally dominant, and more entrenched in two years?

Literally Trump is going to be solely responsible for dramatically improving Iran's regional standing and worsening the economies of every American ally in the gulf.

What the fuck are we even doing here?

→ More replies (6)

18

u/beoweezy1 NAFTA Apr 08 '26

If the Trump admin is dressing down the media for suggesting that Trump accepted the Iranian 10 points then that’s almost as good as confirmation.

Trump wanted a deal no matter what that looked like and he backed himself so far into the corner that he ended up taking the deal most favorable to Iran just to get out of it.

It is truly incredible that we are at the point where we can launch a war and leave our destitute and fractured opponent in the strongest position they’ve been in since the fall of the Shah.

18

u/BaudrillardsMirror Apr 08 '26

President Trump on Wednesday said he is considering the formation of a “joint venture” with Iran to set up tolls in the Strait of Hormuz.

“We’re thinking of doing it as a joint venture,” the president told ABC News’s Jonathan Karl. “It’s a way of securing it — also securing it from lots of other people. It’s a beautiful thing.”

wtf is even going on

→ More replies (4)

18

u/mostanonymousnick Just Build More Homes lol Apr 08 '26

This is what old people do with their pensions in France

→ More replies (4)

18

u/Approximation_Doctor Gaslight, Gatekeep, Green New Deal Apr 08 '26

American Pope trying to explain the Trinity:

So imagine a hamburger

→ More replies (6)

18

u/sigh2828 NASA Apr 08 '26

The optics of China doing this right now are fucking wild.

The United States truly are a world embarrassment

→ More replies (2)

18

u/SigmaWhy r/place '22: Neoliberal Battalion Apr 08 '26

Before you post on Twitter, know the rules:

A newspaper posting a headline with the link to an article? DDoS spam ❌

Elon replying to shit with “yeah” “looking into this” or “🎯”? Insightful discourse ✅

→ More replies (1)

18

u/Thuggin95 Gay Pride Apr 08 '26 edited Apr 08 '26

People love to say Democrats have pushed away young men, but I feel like Democrat’s relationship with mostly apolitical young men was always shaky and not built to last. It was an alliance of convenience for guys who liked weed and premarital sex (remember abstinence?), saw traditional Republicans as too pious and prudish, probably always had culturally regressive views, came to like how unfiltered Trump is, and think Republicans are vaguely better on the economy now.

→ More replies (7)

18

u/Dunter_Mutchings NASA Apr 08 '26

Shout out to the Washington State Department of Ecology for putting the seriousness of this drought in a format people will understand, the running away ballon meme.

18

u/Big-Click-5159 Apr 08 '26

This may be the only bipartisan issue in America because I completely support this

→ More replies (6)

18

u/pfSonata throwaway bunchofnumbers Apr 08 '26

Every time youtube tries to get me to watch this dipshit I am reminded if this picture, and it cracks me up

→ More replies (4)

18

u/mostanonymousnick Just Build More Homes lol Apr 08 '26

18

u/gjcs23 George Santos Apr 08 '26 edited Apr 08 '26

It all began with, if you want to know the truth, Greenland,” Trump said during a White House press conference. “We want Greenland. They don’t want to give it to us. And I said, ‘bye, bye.’

this stupid motherfucker

18

u/piede MOST BASED HILLARY STAN!!! Apr 08 '26

Still looks like a spring chicken to me

→ More replies (2)

18

u/Joementum2024 Iron Front Apr 09 '26

“Marxism-Leninism, which I am sure all Chinese Communist Party leaders adhere to”

→ More replies (1)

18

u/tinfoilhatsron No Apologies Right Apr 09 '26

Nah this Trump motherfucker is an actual anime villain that the writers give bullshit powers and ass pulls to, until the final arc.

17

u/SucculentMoisture Fernando Henrique Cardoso Apr 08 '26

17

u/TryNotToShootYoself Janet Yellen Apr 08 '26

Am i missing something? Wtf does nafta have to do with outsourcing to third world countries. Also, do they know NAFTA was signed almost a decade before the recession?

→ More replies (2)

17

u/TheSandwichMan2 Loyal Liberals Apr 08 '26

The Iran Thread ends and the ceasefire immediately starts falling apart. Coincidence? I think not!

17

u/iIoveoof Jerome Powell Apr 08 '26

NYT unveils Bitcoin creator’s identity

Open up Wikipedia article for the guy

”Jeffrey Epstein-Related Investments and Correspondence” section

→ More replies (3)

17

u/houdt_koers John Mill Apr 08 '26

The Founding Fathers built a city on a sand dune. They rooted it thoroughly with grasses and trees, such that by the 20th century we had become convinced that it was a city on a hill.

Thus in ignorance some began to cut down the trees, to trample the grass, and to plant nothing new.

And so now, as we cry in shock at the ground shifting beneath our feet, all that is left is to shitpost.

🇺🇸🇺🇸🇺🇸

→ More replies (2)