There was some push in the 1920s and 1930s about a revival of a pre-Christian witch cult that was purported to have been stamped out by the witch trials of the 17th century - which contemporaneously as described here. Most likely this wasn't the case, but there was apparently a growing interest in witchcraft and folklore at the time.

The 60s and 70s had a renewed interest in druidism and neopaganism as well and was the birth of modern Wicca as we understand it (named after Diana or something like that, I can't remember exactly).

Religion and spirituality are the soul of a soulless world.

People turn to witchcraft in times of duress when they're oppressed and seeking power but have no alternatives nearby.

As capitalism started to rise, it demanded that some certain work be unpaid/unrewarded as it was not profitable even if it was essential for the continuation of society - for women that meant childbirth and child rearing. In response, witchcraft and magic also started to be demonized as people worked out that tension but also as a way to root out the "wise women" that knew how to induce abortions, how to widwife, etc. so as to replace all that with male doctors and so on.

Now, we're on a precipice again. Child rearing is still unpaid but no one can afford anything on a single-person income and the state is unable to provide welfare or cheaper products after 50 years of neoliberalism. Women are back in the workforce, and for some they are side by side with other women and workers but many are isolated. Things are coming apart and people are massively isolated from each other and so they turn to things like astrology or witchcraft - which are incredibly individualistic things to do but allow you to exercise some (imaginary) power or some (imaginary) comfort.

People will awkwardly dabble with these ineffectual things but it's also part of the slowly awakening desire to change the world in a proletariate that is incredibly rusted and seized up.

Nate Copper also made a map that updates as you flip states

When you pick Florida, NC, Arizona for Trump, it's a 70/30 shot for Trump.

When you pick Florida and Ohio for Trump, neither of which is unlikely, it's a 50/50 shot. When you pick Pennsylvania for Trump in addition to the former 2, it's 90/10 for Trump. Pennsylvania is still really close and the GOP is not afraid to throw out ballots or challenge them or end the count early or slow-roll it until the deadline like in 2000.

Also, hilariously, Minnesota slides to favor Trump in addition to Wisconsin & Michigan in Nate Copper's model if Pennsylvania, Florida, and Ohio.

Though this rapid response effort targets immigrant workers, unions have already proven their efficiency at using rapid response principles to take advantage of the fears of worker safety related to the COVID-19 pandemic to gear up for an organizing push rapidly. One example is at hospitals where unions are energized. Unions representing nurses and other hospital workers quickly and aggressively began advocating for their members to get personal protective equipment, hazard pay, and more staff. It’s important to understand that this doesn’t stop at current members. A member of National Nurses United said that people who have never been part of an organizing campaign and were never union members are upset too and are expressing interest in organizing

This is apparently... a bad thing? It's from this blog post on the site.

I had my wisdom teeth pulled when I was still a kid, I was very dumb about it and still ate like popcorn or something. I ended up having an infection in my mouth.

I HAD TO TASTE PUS HOURLY. It was a miserable time.

More local org that does work in your area is more important even if it's a tendency you don't necessarily agree with (as in, food not bombs, IWW, whatever).

PSL has an at-large membership as well, IIRC. You may have to be the first in your area, but there will be people around you suffering and wondering if there's a better world possible and just waiting for someone else to give them permission to join in the struggle.

Critikal is also, like, good at chess. He's got such a bizarre constellation of characteristics - surprisingly hot, gamer, bizarre sense of humor, decent chess player, donated his youtube earnings for a while to charities in the pursuit of ending corruption, etc.

Also, there's an ongoing pandemic, lol. This is a time you can feel proud about being able to make friends and date exclusively online.

Your suffering is caused by attachment. Experience your hate and then let it go like so much falling snow. Vaush will pass, it is the nature of the internet for these people to rise and fall, it's an incredibly ephemeral medium. And when the revolution comes, we get to put people like Vaush up against the wall anyway as they will inevitably be class traitors.

I don't know if any of you have ever actually sought an apprenticeship. It isn't easy. It's the same problem you've experienced or at least heard of, the classic "5 years experience for this entry-level job."

No one wants to hire a first year apprentice, they're only looking for 2nd or up (or 3rd year if you're in a particularly long apprenticeship like plumbing).

After they ratfucked the primary and made it clear they don't want leftists in the coalition, the only upside was that this election was going to become pure spectacle and entertainment for most people. If Biden won, I couldn't wait to watch the MAGA chuds seethe. If Trump won, it was going to be fun to watch the libs meltdown again. And on top of all that, we were going to see 3 beautiful debates of the American gerontocracy sundown on live TV.

All the while we can still do the important work of the mass line, feeding the homeless, fixing our neighbors shit, growing our orgs, unionizing our workplaces, doing agitprop, showing up strapped to protect black lives from would-be fascists, etc, all of which will reduce more harm than a vote for Biden.

Could they not just... renege on the IMF deal? Just say fuck off we aren't paying? What would the consequences be? I'm assuming sanctions at the least and possibly direct military intervention at the worst.

And then just renationalize anything sold off without monetary compensation? It would have the double purpose of hamstringing future would-be privatizers (no one will want to buy if a year later they'll nationalize it back) as well as preserving nationalized industries.

"Twitter doesn't matter - but YouTube does!" Contra

"Reddit doesn't matter - but Twitter does!" CTH hosts

"Twitter doesn't matter - but MSNBC does!" Suburban Libs

In the end none of them matter, only praxis, only discipline, only your irl comrades that you can do cool things with like brake light repair, protest, unionize, etc.

On Venezuela, Biden's a hawk. He wants more sanctions, he's said things to the effect of "Venezuela is run by a strongman and America has the responsibility to 'give humanitarian relief.'"

On Iraq, Biden voted for the invasion. Trump was just some dipshit on TV at that time. So fuck off trying to say that was somehow equivalent. Biden knew more than Trump and had more power to temper off the saber-rattling as a leading member in the Democratic party - but no, they all wanted a piece of that foreign war pie. Biden was part of the effort in starting the war in Afghanistan and will absolutely not draw down the war.

You're not going to hear or read something like: "I, Biden, will invade Iran and start a second cold war with China by 2024" because the American public doesn't want anymore wars and doesn't like foreign adventurism while being denied medical care at home. Don't be a moron about this, keep your head on a swivel and don't be so fucking obtuse demanding to see receipts for something that is purposefully occluded.

Trump hasn't stopped the wars, but neither has he started new ones. This will absolutely not be the case under Biden. But, yeah, he's better on climate while still being nowhere near necessary I guess so that's something.

What kind of psychotic person would go through college and get a masters in social work just so they can turn away LGBTQ and disabled clients all for a salary of $55K? Obviously the governor and the board are a bunch of psychopaths, but hopefully not a single social worker in Texas actually takes advantage of this.

The dems want to become 90s and 00s republicans, it's been their dream since Clinton.

If you don't get banned from contrapoints subreddit, ur a lib

Before facebook you'd just ask if someone was single or not and no one thought it was creepy, lol, you just wanna know if it's okay to flirt with her and not get involved in relationship drama.

The way he talks and his level of knowledge made me think he was a 65 yo city planner/architect that has become completely jaded.

What they'll tell you: it's more researched, they have lots to say on a subject, they have so much to disprove, etc.

The material truth: They want to maximize the number of ads so they can earn more money, hiring an editor to cut down on dead air or to edit at all is too expensive and is very boring/awful to do compared to making the next video (some breadtube content is just like a 2+ hour long casual conversation between friends with dead air and stuttering included).