Exactly! Supporting the “third party” movement is a requirement for any serious socialist/communist in the US. The US left is extremely weak and we obviously have a lot of work to get done. Practical things that US leftists can do this election year are getting involved with the local Green, PSL, or other parties running presidential candidates and helping out in some way. Even posting educational materials online or links helps.

And for those thinking, “Oh no, I’ll just work within the Democratic Party.” You will never change the capitalist “Democratic” Party political machine in any serious way, but the machine will change you. Always remember that!

Well, at least it was not some freaky, absolutely-unhinged, Neocon, nuclear warmonger (like Nikki Haley, John Bolton, or even Mike Pence).

However, Vance does seem to be quite anti-China. His selection likely represents a growing split within the US ruling class. One faction wants to “destroy Russia first, then attack China” (i.e. the pro-Biden faction). The other faction wants to “attack China now, then destroy Russia” (i.e. the pro-Trump faction). Both factions seek the same goal: US global domination.

Of course, both of these ruling class factions are arrogant, delusional morons. They could not successfully occupy Iraq and Afghanistan without bankrupting the US federal government. They definitely will not be able to defeat China and Russia.

Disagree. I consider myself normal and call out the Clintonites for being right-wing assholes all the freaking time. ;-)

I can’t find any evidence of his family supporting Trump. Their local city councilor, a Democrat who recalled speaking with his parents, stated that the mother is a Democrat and the father is a Libertarian. He also stated the parents were pleasant and open to hearing his platform. Doesn’t sound pro-Trump at all.

I still think he was definitely some kind of corporate neo-liberal “centrist” Democrat. He could have just registered Republican to vote for nuclear warmonger Nikki Haley against Trump in the primaries.

Here’s an interesting snip from the Wikipedia article on him:

“On January 20, 2021, at the age of 17, he donated $15 to the Progressive Turnout Project, a liberal voter turnout group, through the Democratic Party donation platform ActBlue.”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Matthew_Crooks

Apparently a former friend also described him as “right-leaning,” but that could easily describe any neo-liberal, Clintonite DNC hack.

I suspect that the individual who made the assassination attempt was most likely one of those really unhinged corporate neo-liberals that fanatically believes that Donald Trump is secretly “a Russian agent.” Even though Trump’s actual foreign policies as president were just as anti-Russia as any of his predecessors (his administration continued fully supporting and arming the fascist Maidan dictatorship in Kiev). Just pointing this out, because it’s only a matter of time before someone starts falsely accusing socialists/communists of being responsible.

They also won the California Peace and Freedom Party’s presidential primary and should be on the ballot there too. I’ve also read that they have ballot access in Utah, Idaho, and Hawaii.

I just found Claudia de la Cruz’s presidential campaign site, for those interested:

https://votesocialist2024.com/

That’s a good question. The Russian Federation’s military industrial complex is primarily state-owned and state-directed. Note, by “military industrial complex” I am referring to Russia’s military related manufacturing companies collectively. As a socialist, I certainly believe that the primary role of state-ownership of these companies makes their production significantly more efficient than, say, the United States’ bloated and corrupt, totally private military industrial complex that endlessly fleeces US taxpayers.

Exactly! Half of my ancestors lived near Odessa and I have been following events in Russia/Ukraine for over 20 years. I want to point out some key indicators that Kiev is obviously losing the war that anti-Russia propagandists will never admit to:

1. The most significant is that Ukrainian military losses are vastly higher than what Kiev is admitting to, anywhere from five to ten+ times that of Russian losses. This is due to Russia’s vast superiority in artillery and aviation. This superiority comes from Russia’s much better organized military industrial complex (which can actually outproduce the entire West) and its almost unlimited natural resources.

2. The Russian military is not launching any large scale offensives and, in fact, is very happy to continue its primarily defensive ‘war of attrition’ strategy (where it utilizes its vast firepower superiority to grind down the Ukrainian military until there will be practically nothing left).

3. Despite not launching any major offensives, Russia’s primarily defensive campaign (with small, limited offensive operations) has still successfully broken through Kiev’s lines on many different parts of the front over the past eight months. In fact, during this time Russian forces have actually liberated around 65 settlements, including two notable cities in the Donetsk People’s Republic (Marinka and Avdeyevka).

4. During the entire time of Russia’s military operations since late February of 2022, only 300,000 people in the Russian Federation were ‘drafted’ or mobilized, all of which were actually military reservists. By comparison, during that same time, something like 500,000 to 600,000 people also volunteered to join the Russian military (i.e. far more volunteered than were drafted). Meanwhile, Kiev brutally conscripts any man (even the disabled) that it can kidnap and drag off the streets into dirty old vans. Ukrainian men have been frantically fleeing the country for their lives for over two years now and continue to do so.

5. Russian forces continue obliterating all of Kiev’s military equipment, including “top” Western military equipment (like Leopard 2 tanks, M1A1 Abrams tanks, M109 self-propelled howitzers, M777 howitzers, “HIMARS” launchers, and even Patriot launchers).

6. Last, but not least, is that Russia’s population is far larger than that of the territory controlled by Kiev. Simply put, it’s only a matter of time until Kiev runs out of men and the whole thing will be over at that point.