technocrit

For anyone who wants a truly progressive Democratic Party, Gavin Newsom is bad news.

Unsurprisingly, there has been little indication the American progressive left perceives Newsom as deserving anything but disdain. Recent weeks have only bolstered the sense that committing to the abolition of ICE is a prerequisite for any remotely moral candidate in 2028. If Newsom fails to become that candidate, it will not be because he appeared too left-wing, but because he lacked the guts or the inclination to be anything except what he manifestly is: a preening political operator, beholden to a status quo that no longer exists.

Source: https://thisisnthappiness.com/post/807567249204461568/please-clap-brecht-vandenbroucke

These votes demonstrate that the Democratic Party functions not as an opposition but as an enabler of the Trump administration. Its priority is to ensure the uninterrupted funding of the US military while diverting popular opposition with calls for meaningless cosmetic changes to the administration’s efforts to establish a presidential dictatorship.

Last week was the 50th anniversary of the Supreme Court decision enshrining the idea that money in politics is not corruption, but constitutionally protected speech. States and cities across the US are battling the rotten legacy of that decision.

It’s hard to imagine viewers who end up tuning in to the new hagiographic Melania Trump documentary, Melania, having a reaction other than “time to sharpen our guillotines.”

With roughly 1.8 million commercial trucks on California roads, chances are high that you’ll encounter one on your next drive. But despite the heightened dangers that come with such colossal vehicles, over a hundred unlicensed schools operate in California with little to no oversight.

As CalMatters’ Adam Echelman and Erica Yee explain, under current state law, private trucking schools that charge students $2,500 or less don’t need state licenses. At least 184 trucking schools in California are not regulated by the state, according to a CalMatters analysis of federal data.

Steve Gold, the founder and CEO of a chain of trucking schools, told CalMatters that his commercial trucking program took 18 months to become state certified. His schools charge students $6,000 and require about 160 hours of training. Meanwhile, students in unlicensed programs are told they can finish in 15 hours — the minimum requirement for behind-the-wheel training under state law.

...

Sadly, that’s exactly where bike lanes were installed in 2017 after a years-long community process, only to be removed following complaints from drivers used to zooming along the street.

It’s impossible to know whether this tragedy could have been prevented if the bike lanes were still there. But their removal will almost certainly mean Los Angeles will be liable for her death.

CHP Officer Adrian Gonzalez, according to SFGATE, said that arriving units “found carnage out there,” and that cars and trucks were “turned over and up on each other, under each other.”

...

Images of the crash, which prompted a six-hour closure of north and southbound lanes, showed several big rigs involved in the pile-up and other vehicles sustaining severe damage that left some of them looking unrecognizable.

Critics of Schumer’s leadership took his comments Sunday as yet more confirmation that his relentless and unquestioning support for Israel—despite the genocide in Gaza, the enormous drop in public support for US support of the Israeli government’s policies—as a sign that he remains far out of step with the general public and party membership, especially younger Democrats.

“No matter where [people] come from,” Melania announces during one of her grating voiceovers, “we are bound by the same humanity.” Though she speaks with a thick Slavic drawl, she refers only obliquely to her “country of birth” (Slovenia is referenced, directly, once). A parade of immigrants, including French-born fashion designer Hervé Pierre, appear to reinforce this vaguely cosmopolitan angle. “Opportunities, equality,” says Tham Kannalikham, a designer who moved to the US from Laos aged just two. “It’s really the American dream.” These are the good immigrants serving the Trump administration; a far cry from the ones in cages, the ones tear-gassed on the streets of Minneapolis, the ones festering in a jail cell in El Salvador.