Recent content by sunnyheel

Ethnonationalism is the evil. Trump Putin Netanyahu and some lesser players like Orban Modi and Erdogan

I’m hesitant to offer any optimism given our situation and recent history, but I’m very encouraged by what I see from these new Democrats - Mamdani, Talarico and (more guardedly) Platner. Seems a traditional liberal spirit is rising from the walking corpse of neoliberalism - hopefully early...

Likewise but moreover I think it’s imperative that the new Democratic game plan must include appeals to broader and deeper values. The values that distinguish democracies from authoritarian regimes. Values like those practiced by Jesus and regardless of one’s position on the religious element...

Man, this is going to get tricky for Democrats. With a strong majority of the electorate already opposed to this illegal war and an overwhelming majority of Dems opposed, staking a position on the war and in particular the proposed War Resolution is going to sniff out those who serve...

That’s a good counterpoint to my remarks but that demographic homogeneity (overwhelmingly white) of Mainers is a core element of my thesis. The bleeding of wwc voters from the Democratic coalition is the essential source of its electoral diminution. Once the Black and Latino blocs started to...

Nominated for Best Use of Understatement

I’m not that well versed in the details of this race but I do think we’re seeing a bellwether of the future of the Democratic Party. Platner has cast himself as being from the “socialist” wing of the party and that’s the nub of the intraparty duel. Schumer is the standard bearer of the...

I hope Democratic primary voters take a more thoughtful approach than reciprocating the hate-warrior approach of the Republicans.

For my money there’s no one more incisive on the subject than Thomas Friedman: Opinion | Netanyahu Plays Trump and American Jews for Fools — Again

While your analysis is trenchant, I think you’re making the mistake of many liberals who still organize under the banner of human rights and the rule of law. The world is now in a brutalist phase that scoffs at such manner of idealism. The modern version of Zionism (a raw conception of ethnic...

“What say you about the influence of Israel and Israeli interests in American politics?” In a word: toxic. The alignment between the US and Israel worked well enough when Israel was the plucky democratic striver. Once US support shifted to co-dependency and then into a parasitic one, backed...

Your pithy distillation of current trends seems to be forming a consensus view even among many with a vested interest in the future of AI. The counterargument is that the grossly disruptive technology will generate a burst of innovation so as to generate an abundance of new classes of jobs and...

This might not be the best place to raise the subject, but I’ve been struggling with my feelings, really for decades, a nagging sense that what made me fall in love with Carolina has receded and what has replaced that it is hollow commercialism/commodification and ultimately conformism and...

You’ve received excellent advice and here’s my practical addendum: if you’re planning to visit an area away from your base, wait to drive after morning and afternoon rush hours and spend the entire day and into the evening at your destination. Traffic and parking are really problematic. Wynnwood...

I didn’t want to rain on the OP’s parade, but this post echoes my thoughts. Miami (and Miami Beach in particular) is truly one of a kind, as much frenetic energy as you’ll find anywhere with a cast of exuberant characters as varied as anyplace. You and especially your kid will definitely have...