my biggest hurdle is they never seem to know or care. they are completely checked out about imperial processes and contented to accept that when a GOP president does something overseas, it’s probably bad, but when a dem president does something, there’s probably a good reason for it. and that’s the entire critical lens: a bifocal that lets them ignore the rest of the planet.

frankly, the surest sign ive found for uncovering a fellow leftist is, in discussion, realizing they pay detailed attention to and have a memory of what the US and its vassals & clients do overseas in its name.

because what the US does overseas is intimately connected to domestic processes and the patterns make material analysis much more obvious than the vibes-based bullshit libs soothe themselves with.

Obama voice: “We air striked some folks.”

We tortured some folks.

When Obama made that mistake - it must have taken me at least five minutes to figure out why. We all misspeak. But I knew this case wasn’t a garden variety slip of the tongue. There was a reason. Finally - I realized the obvious. “Folks” is a very non-Obama word. Once he started running for president - he must’ve practiced using it naturally so he’d never seem stiff and Spock-like to folks when he used it. But when torture came up - like an ESL student trying to avoid making a mistake with an uncomfortable slang - he made one.

Look it was all laid out after 9/11 to overthrow 7 countries in 5-50 years give or take. Be pragmatic. /s