It's strange to see politicians up in arms about the CCP gaining access to people's data through TikTok. Yeah that's bad, but are they unaware that the FBI, CIA and NSA have a plethora of ways to spy on you thru US social media? If you own a smart phone you're basically a sitting duck if the US government decides to do... unconventional stuff with that data.

As far as TikTok itself, I vote crap. It's like crack for teen brains. Not sure I want to see it banned though.

And US social media is banned in China. I don't think it's surprising that US politicians would be concerned about Chinese government spies and blasé about US government spies. We're still waiting to see if China is game to start World War III.

Anyway, of course Republicans just LOVE government overreach. They just don't like helping poor people. But the governor of Florida launching a personal vendetta against Disney, that's no problem.

Krev wrote: Thu May 18, 2023 1:30 pm The irony is basically that Republicans' M.O. is fascism, graft, and concentration of wealth. They should love the Chinese Communist Party.

As always, republicans hate any honest competition for a market they want to corner. That’s why they hate the CCP. That, and racism.

Banning TikTok is just another move to tilt the playing field to their own vested, US-based interests. America needs stronger laws that protect consumers’ privacy overall. They won’t make laws like that, because as noted it would impact FBI/CIA/et al ability to freely surveil and exploit data of American consumers

I don't think the left has much love for the brutal, totalitarian, genocidal CCP either.

Anthony Flack wrote: Fri May 19, 2023 6:42 am I don't think the left has much love for the brutal, totalitarian, genocidal CCP either.

No, because the CCP is horrible bullshit. But I suppose that doesn't make every supposed move against them authentic, in good faith or ideologically consistent. See also the new trend in the American right that has a tolerance and respect for Russia that would make Reagan roll in his grave.

re: the US, what I hope is that liberal and moderate Democrats will draw the lesson from the Bernie campaign and find some way to gain support from poor white people in red states. The Republican party is split since Trump, and a danger here is that I think the Democrats have a natural inclination to look to moderate Republican politicians to form some kind of compact or agreement, which would be the worst thing to do. They should run a republican Democrat to deliver on those things hoped for in both Bernie and Trump, and which the Republican party will never deliver on.

Progressives could be of great help in facilitating this. Maybe this would allow them to mutually bury the ax from 2016.

There is no indication at all that the Republican Party is “split” over Trump. He is the overwhelming favorite to win the primary, and it’s not even close.

Some people have left the party, and maybe a small share will vote third party. And his popularity among independents is in the shitter.

I’m reminded of something the writer Laura Lippman said, after she’d asked a historian (I think?) about how it was possible for Hitler to rise in Germany. The response was something like, “What do you mean, how was it possible? There is no mystery. Germans loved Hitler.”

losthighway wrote: Fri May 19, 2023 7:07 am No, because the CCP is horrible bullshit. But I suppose that doesn't make every supposed move against them authentic, in good faith or ideologically consistent. See also the new trend in the American right that has a tolerance and respect for Russia that would make Reagan roll in his grave.

The converse is also true. Just because the far right are against it doesn't make it any better.

Republicans sucking up to Putin meanwhile is a truly revolting spectacle and I hope it repels some of those Reagan Republicans, if there are any left. Not because I respect those Reagan Republicans at all; Reagan was a piece of shit. I just want the Republicans to lose as many elections as possible, as badly as possible.

Wood Goblin wrote: I’m reminded of something the writer Laura Lippman said, after she’d asked a historian (I think?) about how it was possible for Hitler to rise in Germany. The response was something like, “What do you mean, how was it possible? There is no mystery. Germans loved Hitler.”

And famously, Americans loved Hitler too. And the Nazis loved America. The Nazis saw the United States as a model white supremacist society.

Anthony Flack wrote: Fri May 19, 2023 6:12 pm

losthighway wrote: Fri May 19, 2023 7:07 am No, because the CCP is horrible bullshit. But I suppose that doesn't make every supposed move against them authentic, in good faith or ideologically consistent. See also the new trend in the American right that has a tolerance and respect for Russia that would make Reagan roll in his grave.

The converse is also true. Just because the far right are against it doesn't make it any better.

Republicans sucking up to Putin meanwhile is a truly revolting spectacle and I hope it repels some of those Reagan Republicans, if there are any left. Not because I respect those Reagan Republicans at all; Reagan was a piece of shit. I just want the Republicans to lose as many elections as possible, as badly as possible.

Yes, yes and yes. I firmly agree with all of this.