I appreciate the insightful item, "Why Are Progressives Now In the Same Trench With Neoliberal Corporations like Lyft, Google, Microsoft, Apple, and Facebook?" And I think Charles boils it down to its essence with the two terms, neoliberalism and cosmopolitanism, and the fact that, in this case, the interests of the former overlap with the values of the latter. And I have to confess, it's in this overlap that I myself sometimes feel uncomfortable with my own liberal, progressive values. Like (to pursue the converse) don't the Seattle WTO protesters back in 1999 (whose farsightedness the 21st century has borne out) have more in common with the blue-collar Trump supporters in OH and PA and MI and WI and the Brexiteers in Sunderland and Liverpool than we might have imagined? And of course, I didn't vote for Trump and I wouldn't have voted for Brexit.
Oh, and to put a bow on what I wrote @2, this tension Charles describes also captures much of why I wasn't happy with Hillary, even though I voted for her. The Trump administration is our ongoing lesson that there are worse outcomes than making the world safe for multinational corporations.
@5 - this is an interesting and important point.
And one that opponents of mass transit sometimes whisper, that increased public transportation is increased control of the public.
If they ban cars or make cars too expensive to drive, people will be at the mercy of the city. Who can shut off the LINK or stop the buses any time they like.
Of course, they can also block streets or pull cars over. But forcing people to rely on mass transit and then taking that mass transit away is a powerful tool. And much faster.
I'm more for buses than I am for cars, but it's a thought-provoking point.
We all know what's coming next. It works the same in every dictatorship:
1. First they go after immigrants and refugees, the people with the least political power.
2. Next: racial, ethnic, and sexual minorities. The regime's inner circle is filled with psychopathic, sadistic, hate-crazed homophobes, so you know that they're saving the worst for us.
3. Women's rights will be significantly undermined and curtailed.
4. A staged "terrorist" attack will be committed against a US city in order to create panic and to justify a state of emergency and suspension of the Constitution in the name of "national security."
They'll have no problem finding collaborators to pull this off, as we've all seen the police and military murdering civilians at home and abroad with impunity.
This will send Twitler voters into a state of religious and racist ecstasy, and they'll demand the mass extermination of everyone that they hate, which is everyone other than them.
The economy will be in a total shambles at this point, so the regime will begin stealing the assets of its victims and resisters.
5. The judiciary and free press are disbanded and replaced by pro-regime sock puppets and propaganists. Political opponents will be exiled, imprisoned, or murdered.
6. A crude and ham-fisted national rebranding for the theocratic, white-supremacist, fascist country occupying the borders of the former United States. Perhaps The Republican States of America Hotels and Casinos.
Charles, neoliberal corporations are siding with protesters because they see it as free advertising. If something unpopular with the your clientele is happening, siding against it brings rich people to your stores so they can support you with their money in a wave of armchair activism. Chik-Fil-A did the same thing for their audience when they had the whole gay thing a few years back. Activism is being co-opted by corporations for increased profits. "I don't have to walk in the streets, I just haveta upsize my small mocha to a medium mocha. My ass will feel it, but I did good today." It's been a trend for forever, but it's so prevalent now that South Park based a whole season on it in 2015.
"Progressives Now In the Same Trench With Neoliberal Corporations like Lyft, Google, Microsoft, Apple, Starbucks, and Facebook" is Steve Bannon's argument: http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/st…
While Islam is absolutely hideous and is the antithesis of feminism, a blanket banning of people based on their nationality or religion is the dumbest fucking thing ever. I can probably see banning single, fighting-aged men from Syria, but this is horrible. On a positive note, the cops I interacted with at Westlake last night were very friendly, even in the face of some incredible cunts trying to goad them to catch something on video.
At any rate, it's almost as if Trump said he'd do all these things he's doing. And really, for supporting the evil Hillary machine who strangled our only hope, we all kind of deserve this. Especially anyone who was a Hillary voter from the beginning.
Charles, I'm surprised you didn't mention along with the story of the arrest in the Beaver Lake incident that the police, in their search for the suspect, shot and killed someone else. Most news outlets are reporting that he was taken to the hospital but if you dig around you can find out that he is actually dead. They are also referring to him as a "man" when in fact he was 17.
I wouldn't be so certain that cars are less susceptible than mass transit to shut down; after all, except for light rail, every other public transit mechanism relies on the same roads as do automobiles, and there are plenty of choke-points where a strategically positioned barricade would render most major arterials into or out of a specific location effectively inoperable. Sure, there are always alternate routes, surface streets and the like, but as anyone who's ever tried to get off a stalled freeway to bypass an accident knows: the sheer number of vehicles all trying to do the same thing tends to negate most, if not all of the advantage of performing the maneuver.
But that pepper spray story link is dead - so you can resurrect it since you have divine powers.
https://www.thesun.co.uk/news/2734248/tr…
And one that opponents of mass transit sometimes whisper, that increased public transportation is increased control of the public.
If they ban cars or make cars too expensive to drive, people will be at the mercy of the city. Who can shut off the LINK or stop the buses any time they like.
Of course, they can also block streets or pull cars over. But forcing people to rely on mass transit and then taking that mass transit away is a powerful tool. And much faster.
I'm more for buses than I am for cars, but it's a thought-provoking point.
1. First they go after immigrants and refugees, the people with the least political power.
2. Next: racial, ethnic, and sexual minorities. The regime's inner circle is filled with psychopathic, sadistic, hate-crazed homophobes, so you know that they're saving the worst for us.
3. Women's rights will be significantly undermined and curtailed.
4. A staged "terrorist" attack will be committed against a US city in order to create panic and to justify a state of emergency and suspension of the Constitution in the name of "national security."
They'll have no problem finding collaborators to pull this off, as we've all seen the police and military murdering civilians at home and abroad with impunity.
This will send Twitler voters into a state of religious and racist ecstasy, and they'll demand the mass extermination of everyone that they hate, which is everyone other than them.
The economy will be in a total shambles at this point, so the regime will begin stealing the assets of its victims and resisters.
5. The judiciary and free press are disbanded and replaced by pro-regime sock puppets and propaganists. Political opponents will be exiled, imprisoned, or murdered.
6. A crude and ham-fisted national rebranding for the theocratic, white-supremacist, fascist country occupying the borders of the former United States. Perhaps The Republican States of America Hotels and Casinos.
No, dipshit. What that taught us is cars were not shut down by the whim of the fuckin' pigs. Tactics Sir, not ideology.
At any rate, it's almost as if Trump said he'd do all these things he's doing. And really, for supporting the evil Hillary machine who strangled our only hope, we all kind of deserve this. Especially anyone who was a Hillary voter from the beginning.
...and burn mosques in Texas.