Tinidril

I agree that the distinction between defensive and offensive aid is little more than a rhetorical trick, but that's a long ways from being a "genocide apologist". To my knowledge, she does not deny that Israel is committing a genocide, and she does not pretend that it's justified. I think it's fair to call Biden a genocide apologist because he actively participated in obfuscating the reality of what was happening and attacking critics.

Foreign policy is complicated, and there is room for someone to think pragmatically that cutting off "defensive aid" will make things worse instead of better. I disagree with that someone, but I'd much rather have them as opposition than someone who is principally in favor of a Genocide.

... what?

No, they couldn't. Bernie knew that. There are too many loyal Democratic voters. It would just hand the election to the Republican.

Do you even realize that Hillary and Harris have similarities that aren't tits? What voters don't want is another corporate sellout.

Have you seen Democratic party approval ratings? They can shit on her all they want and it will only help her win.

If Gavin is the Democratic nominee, the country is 100% over. Even if he wins, another spineless corporate neoliberal will not be up to the job ahead.

Third parties are irrelevant. They have failed continuously for over a hundred years. How is someone going to build an effective 50 state organization, find and vet candidates that won't betray us in office, raise awareness with absolutely no old media coverage and social media that buries them, then win an election in 14 months? There are some solid progressives running in Democratic primaries, and they are the ones that need resources.

It's not that easy though. We are at the conclusion of a decades long campaign to poison not just our government and politics, but our society as well. Take out every fascist tonight, and we still have to contend with the fact that, as a people, we are no longer capable of operating a democracy. Healing the divides and fixing generations of indoctrination takes time we don't have.

I'm not saying there is no hope, but we have to sober about the tasks ahead of us if this country is ever going to heal.

Putin has been in power for almost one generation, and his administration is looking very much like it is about to flame out. Putin is also more intelligent than anybody in the Trump administration, certainly more than Trump himself.

Yes, Democrats are controlled opposition. Guess what? America is controlled opposition. I have no idea why some people get fixated on replacing the party instead of replacing the people in the party. It's not like anyone has the first clue how to keep their new party from becoming the new controlled opposition. Nevermind not knowing how to build a 50 state organization, get past the two parties controlling ballot access, or a billion other things. Nevermind that third party strategies have been a complete and utter failure for over 100 years. There are so many reasons this is a bad idea.

Not lawyer. But pretty sure the hate speech exception , if there is one, is only if it incites a crime.

Also not a lawyer, but inciting a crime isn't enough. It has to be a direct incitement of a specific crime. It's free speech to say that people should take up arms against this administration. (Don't be surprised if you end up on some lists though.) Providing a time and place where someone will be and suggesting a plan of action to conduct an assassination almost certainly would be out of bounds.

The bar for a person like the president who is a public figure, winning a libel or slander case is typically pretty high,

Unfortunately, winning the suit isn't really the goal. Several suits that would not have been won by Trump have been settled for crazy sums, just because institutions are afraid of Trump's willingness to abuse federal power to go after his personal enemies. They don't want to escalate further because all that really matters to them is the bottom line.

Fascism can't sustain itself and always crumbles eventually. The short term strategy is harm reduction for vulnerable groups. The long term strategy is building up Democrats that have what it takes to take power and do what it takes to crush this movement.