Raleigh Forrester

The American who cannot be at least a little moved by its sentiment has, I think, something deficient in their patriotism, either an excess of hate or an absence of right feeling.

Honestly, one of the great American poems. Arguably the great American poem.

it's insanely funny for people to be talking like this about New York of all places, the city with a big metal lady in the harbor holding a sign that says "we love immigrants"

It is rather for us to be here dedicated to the great task remaining before us - that this nation, under God, shall have a new birth of wokeness.

imo the correct dem immigration position is engraved in stone on ellis island

"I was able to have a perfectly pleasant afternoon with trans people by politely holding my tongue long enough to have a mundane business transaction."

You know, there's a lesson to be learned here if he bothers upon reflection.

There needs to be a word for the feeling you get when you feel like you’re flustered in a debate not because you think you’re wrong, but because there is such a fundamental rejection of reality by the other side that there’s not enough of a shared reality to communicate concepts using words.

With respect what in gods gravy is a “non-militarised European security framework” and how would it stop 300 shahed drones bombing a city

one of the most insane thing about partisan politics is that Republicans are allowed to say "these four million American citizens shouldn't get the representation they are entitled because it would be politically inconvenient for us" and nobody bats an eye

Our 249-year-old system -- two-party presidentialism -- has sometimes worked in spite of itself due to favorable conditions, un-codified norms, & a few periodic fixes.

That run is clearly over. I argue below that we need a multiparty democracy with the legislature supreme and a limited executive.

i genuinely cannot stand actual european elites condescendingly explaining american public opinion to americans. reminds me of when some british lady IRL tried to tell me she understood southerners better than i ever could, a southerner who lives in the south.

I don’t know how you do it, but we have to be a filter of “come on, you don’t really believe that” on these arguments. Nobody believes that the 22nd amendment contained a hidden path to reward the diligent seeker with more than two terms. Shut up.

The thing that so deeply offends me about this is that the people arguing for such a loophole don’t even believe it exists. They don’t think the loophole reading is the best, most plausible reading of the text. It just flatters those seeking power, and those excusing them.

It’s a beautiful country and I refuse to surrender it to these traitors

Frodo x Sam is canon. The dwarves are a chosen people. Aragorn is probably black. The original sin of the Númenoreans was imperialism. And what is more, I can argue for all of these points from the text as written

I'm becoming convinced that most emergent problems in the US and other wealthy democracies stem from extreme decadence in the face unlimited plenty and security.

The rich are bored, lawyers play word games all day, the average American has no idea how anything works. We're destroying ourselves.

y'know I was not expecting "there really is an elite pedo conspiracy" to be one of my biggest changes-of-mind in the last few years but here we are

No there isn’t you Vichy bastards

once again the fundamental reactionary belief that uniformity = strength, especially racial and gender uniformity

now to take a big sip of tea and read a quick history of the early 20th century--

I genuinely do not and never will understand how people work themselves up into being angry about non assimilationist groups of people in the US. Like I just straight up don't care and to the extent I do I often just think it's actually kind of cool.

the most upsetting part about this is how it’s all obviously just for show because we are governed by the dumbest shitheads on earth who like seeing things blow up for fun

Well some desires are bad, and reflect badly on the value and character of people who have them. I think the desire to live in an all-white, segregated community is bad, and that people who want that are bad people *for* wanting it.

Has anyone actually written something on the apparently inability of the reactionary mind to grasp the basic themes and even overt text of Tolkien?

Like at some point Gandalf turns directly to camera and says “the Men of Gondor sure are insufficient to this task, we need the hobbits to do it”

You’re scared of Spanish? Do you also piss yourself when you see your own shadow

Lots of people rightly criticizing the gutter racism here but I also want to point out how contemptibly cowardly this idea is.

this on the other hand is just totally fake, imo. rich people did not need to invent racism to oppress poor people. racism--and reaction generally--has its own "vital force," its own motive power. it is not a creation of capitalism or inequality. we must recognize this.

one thing this whole debacle has made crystal clear is the infinite grace afforded to white men in politics, specifically white men with a working class aesthetic, no experience needed. meanwhile, Mamdani is getting smeared by CNN for referring to his father’s cousin as his aunt

These fucks need to be out of a job on Jan 20, 2029 at 12:01pm at the latest. We have allowed the creation of lawless, unaccountable agents of the State who use violence with impunity. No longer. I need national Dems with some fucking backbone who will say No More and tear this shit down immediately

i cannot believe that “mamdani calls a close adult relative an ‘aunt’ even if they are not literally their parent’s sister” is what counts as a “scandal” these days