The problem isn’t that anyone can sue anyone, the problem is that these laws give legal standing for anyone to sue anyone. Normal lawsuits have to pass a certain bar to establish legal standing, and if you don’t pass that bar your case gets thrown out. These laws essentially skip that part by giving blanket legal standing. I don’t know if that would stand up in a higher court, but it’s a dangerous precedent that they’re establishing.

I’ve been testing out Bluesky. Too early to give it a final rating, but it’s been cool (if relatively empty) so far.

It’s more accurate to say that the British prevented either themselves (through inaction) or China (by treaty/law) from having any practical control. If you’d bother to read the wiki article OP linked you’d know. China should have had jurisdication, but Britain techincally had (imperialist) jurisdication. The result was a no-man’s land until Britain finally gave up.

EDIT: missed a word

What the fuck are you talking about? In actual reality it was a product of capitalism. Specifically British imperialist capitalism in China. It took until the mid 80’s (40 years after the Communists came to power) for the British to allow China to have control over the area and it was turned in to a park less than a decade later, clearly indicating that the Communists were in no way interested in continuing the existence of the dystopian walled city.

Is there a Charlie Cinematic Universe now? lol

Why would you make an intentionally off-topic post in a small community that’s just getting on its feet? It’s totally counter-productive.

For real, who seriously had the thought “you know what, we need another adaptation of that one book from decades ago. We could try adapting some of that guy’s other work, but why bother? I know we tried the goofy, fun spin and the dark, gritty spin, but I’m sure we missed an angle on that one kid’s book.”

More importantly how did the guy who had that thought not get kicked out of the pitch meeting immediately?

Caught part of a Bollweevils set a few years ago and it was a ton of fun. Highly recommend.

I’ve been impressed over the years with how consistently great the lineup is. This year is definitely a standout for me, but I’m not sure it’s even as good as 2017 or 2019 were. There’s been a few times I’ve gone where it wasn’t as much my speed, but even their off years still have enough to keep me satisified.

I’m vaguely aware of Lace Code but I’ve honestly never seen it used or even really mentioned outside of the internet. Part of me is curious if it was ever a really a thing outside of maybe a few scenes scattered about. Feels like something that, because the concept is kinda intriguing, the internet may have overblown. But I wasn’t around in the 80s, so I’m not sure. Curious to hear from anyone who was actually part of the scene back then.

I’ve done VIP in the past and can only recommend it with caveats. It’s probably not worth the price unless you’re really going to use the in/out privileges or consider AC bathrooms a must (as opposed to port-a-potties in GA). There’s not necessarily a ton in the area, so I’ve never personally used the in/out privileges. The AC bathrooms are great, but I’ve never really been bothered by using the port-a-potties (although they can get very hot if it’s a hot day). The other main perk of VIP is that there is a large tent set up for extra shade. There’s some shade in GA, but it’s limited and tends to get crowded if it’s a hot day. The VIP bars/food booths aren’t really worth it imo (I got food faster in GA last year and the best bar is a beer tent in GA imo).

That being said, highly recommend going to Riot Fest. This will be my fourth or fifth year and I always have a great time. I especially love that it’s a music-first festival as opposed to the more social media influencer or drug/rave culture festivals.

lol yeah there aren’t many of us at the moment, but my hope is that by posting regularly the community will get noticed more broadly and eventually there will be more of us…maybe even dozens of us!

Without this album there would be no skate punk. Fat Mike has publicly stated that NOFX really found their footing imitating this record, and without NOFX/Fat Wreck Chords there simply wouldn’t be skate punk.

An absolute classic that’s directly responsible for influencing so much other music I love. Also gotta love any song that uses the word “jurisprudence” as effortlessly as “You Are The Government”.

“Who controls the past now controls the future. Who controls the present now controls the past.” - “Testify”, Rage Against the Machine (also Orwell in 1984, but I wanted to mention the RATM song since it slaps so hard)

I thought I replied to this message, but it doesn’t appear to have posted.

I’m thrilled that the worker’s got sick time and credit where it’s due to anyone in the admin who helped make that happen. It doesn’t change the fact that the admin, with the help of AOC and others in Congress broke a strike. That’s a terrible, dangerous, anti-worker precedent to set, and shame on anyone who voted for it and Biden for signing it.

If I ask someone for $20 bucks for lunch and they kick me in the shin before giving me the money, am I supposed to be thankful and forget the fact that they just kicked me in the shin? Congress kicked workers in the proverbial, collective shin by blocking them from their right to strike.

Here’s a decent article from Jacobin written by an RWU representative making exactly that point: https://jacobin.com/2023/04/railroad-workers-united-aoc-strike-vote-rank-and-file

And here’s a decent rundown of the situation from a decent socialist source (even if it is Trot): https://www.wsws.org/en/articles/2023/04/19/jaco-a19.html

Listen, I’m thrilled that the workers got their sick days and credit where credit’s due to anyone in the admin who helped secure that, but that doesn’t make my point inaccurate. The Biden administration helped deny railroad workers their right to strike. That counts as breaking the back of the strike, even if after breaking their back they turned around and gave them (at least part) of what they were asking for. Breaking strikes via a literal act of Congress is a deeply upsetting, dangerous, and anti-worker move. Full stop.

In contrast to the IBEW statements you’ve quoted up above, look at the contrasting tone from the RWU in a recent Jacobin article:

RWU made crystal clear by our words and actions throughout contract negotiations that, while we were of course in full support of seven days of paid sick leave for railworkers, RWU would never be in favor of any legislation denying railroad workers our human right to withhold our labor when all else fails in our struggle for safe working conditions and dignity, regardless of whatever concessions may be dangled.

RWU was and is in favor of any legislation that would grant any relief to the barbaric working conditions we contend with — but we would never concede our right to strike. We thank Ocasio-Cortez and other members of the House of Representatives and the Senate for their votes in support of sick leave. But we are not happy at all with her or others in both chambers who voted to deny railroad workers the right to strike.

(Emphasis added by me)

What I want to see is for her and anyone else calling themselves a socialist to work to be a socialist power outside of the Democratic Party. The DNC is rotted to the core by the money and influence of the capitalist class in a way that, if not irreversible, is hopeless in the short to medium term. Just look at all of the explicitly capitalist Democratic leaders, including younger ones like Buttigieg.

If you want to pursue socialism, the DNC is the wrong place to do it. Hell, looking at history I think putting eggs in the electoralism bucket is fundamentally flawed. Look at the failed German revolution that helped make room for the ascension of the Nazis thanks to “socialists” making extreme compromises and undercutting socialist revolutionaries to instead work within bourgeois political parties.

For anyone who wasn’t previously convinced that AOC was a simple Dem operative rather than the socialist she was masquerading as, here you go. No serious socialist would back the reelection of an old white dinosaur who broke the rail strike’s back the way Biden did. The fact that DSA didn’t revoke her membership after that is a black mark on them as an organization.

Same boat here. The thing is, though, that I think being a Marxist communist is (in a way) just as punk as being an anarchist. I think it comes down to different interpretations of what the punk ethos even is. Anarchists tend to cling strongly to anti-authority as a universal, but I’m with them in being anti bourgeois authority. However, I do believe in the authority of the proletariat. That is, of freeing workers from our chains and allowing ourselves to organize society for the benefit of the masses. I think collective organization of the disenfranchised and oppressed is punk, and I think it’s a fundamental misunderstanding of Marxism/communism that scares away a lot of my fellow punks.