Dimmer06

Nah kids shouldn't work and we should make society so that kids don't have to work.

Maybe there should be a ubi for kids so they have some spending money.

I've been watching The Wire and the Baltimore PD in the show basically just does all the heinous shit people are getting mad at ICE for (including dropping innocent people off miles from any civilization) and I guess it's better people get upset about it late than never but also it's been common knowledge this is what cops do for decades at this point

Unions and union staff make their money by automatically collecting dues from employees' paychecks. If employees stop working, how are dues gonna get paid?

Not to mention the unions are legally obligated not to support unlawful strikes and are usually terrified of striking even when it is allowed.

Unions throughout history do not inherently share the interest of the broader working class and frequently work against it.

When I was in the DSA this was pretty common. I realized by the end of my time there that you kinda just need to force things through yourself and nine times out of ten all the detractors will just follow you anyways. If they have complaints about something set a deadline for them to fix it themselves otherwise it isn't changing. You should be helpful and friendly to your comrades especially if they're actually going to participate but that doesn't mean they should hold you back if you have vision. It's like Lenin's analogy about the soldiers marching through the swamp from What is to be Done.

Edit: more specifically, pick an action, set a time and a place, and then solve the details. Without deadlines you'll never get anything done.

Edit 2: the reason the right wing of the DSA is so effective is because as individual or in their small groups they're competent enough to get the ball rolling on the things they want and then the great mass of the rest of the org just falls in line. Meanwhile the "left" of the org is constantly bickering over every little detail while actually contributing very little to enacting a program. Be like the rightists in carrying out work.

This is probably just because it's much harder to get a conviction if the death penalty is on the table. A jury would have to think twice about signing of on his death. It'll be much easier to convince them to give him life in prison.

It wasn't the last straw but I dropped out of school shortly after my comparative politics professor handed out full page color prints of Winnie the Pooh to every student the day we were supposed to discuss China. I figured I wouldn't be learning anything in that program.

OP did not state that they were only interested in unarmed martial arts and I understood their comment about firearms to imply they actually might be interested in weapons.

If OP is asking about fun sports or good exercise then my comment would be definitely be unhelpful but at least to me that doesn't seem to be what they're asking.

I'm not sure how that makes me a "disingenuous, contrarian, annoying internet shithead".

If self defense is really your main concern and guns aren't an option your next best bet is probably learning to use a collapsible baton or maybe a stun gun. Having a weapon is always going to be better than being unarmed no matter how good a fighter you are.

Edit: should probably also add that focusing on your cardio is gonna be the best thing you can do for your own safety no matter what because the best thing you can do in a self defense situation is GTFO, and if you do end up in a melee it will be very cardio intense.

Tbh the urban design of most of the US is basically perfect to ambush groups walking down the streets. Big, mostly empty streets surrounded by one or two story houses that are typically above street level and easy to exit the sides or rear or get off the roof.

Two riflemen crossfiring could decimate a squad and be out the back door before anyone knew what happened. Even just a lone shooter with trigger discipline could do a lot of damage. I've always been surprised it doesn't happen at all.

My honest guess is that the US has built remote shit into a lot of the heavy NATO weapons so if they were ever turned on the US they could be disabled or at least tracked. This would make repelling a US attack nearly impossible except where countries have maintained their own independent military infrastructure which is probably next to non-existent.

The US military can't hold more ground than a military base anywhere though. They haven't been able to since WW2 and even that's being generous to them. Their whole MO is destroying and terrorizing a country in the hopes they succumb to the US' whims. The US military cannot occupy or conquer foreign lands. So the US military could probably return Europe to the state it was in after WW2 if they wanted but they couldn't meaningfully control it if the Europeans didn't want to be controlled.

It's a little bit frustrating to see everyone freaking out about everything going on now because it's not like any of this shit is brand new.

It might be a good opportunity to talk to other members if the union is doing phone banking or canvassing the members. You could put up a stink and try to change it but if the endorsement has already happened it might be better to let it ride and figure out how to change it next time around. I wouldn't give any money to the effort though.

Is there a better candidate running than the one the union endorsed?