The US military was a bastion of DEMOCRACY™, I wish my ©hild could've gone to the meat grinder in Afghanistan not Minnesota.

"Shocking nobody, corporate dems found slurping up cash from AI lobbyists."

Polls show that a majority of US voters—and especially Democrats—want more robust guardrails on artificial intelligence, but Democratic governors' silence on President Donald Trump's directive banning states from regulating AI has some observers asking if lobbying by the powerful industry is to blame.

Sludge's David Moore and Donald Shaw reported Friday that tech titans including OpenAI and Meta last week sent a small army of lobbyists to meet with attendees of the Democratic Governors Association’s annual meeting, held this year at the swanky Biltmore Hotel in Phoenix.

According to the report, lobbyists and governors—some of whom "are teasing White House bids in 2028 or rumored to be in the mix"—gathered for a closed-door meeting. California Gov. Gavin Newsom, Michigan Gov. Gretchen Whitmer, Kentucky Gov. Andy Beshear, and Maryland Gov. Wes Moore were among those who reportedly met with the lobbyists.

Trump signed an executive order trying to prevent states from regulating AI and following through on the safety laws they enacted, but there was little public pushback from Democratic governors.AI lobbyists descended on the DGA winter meeting last weekend in Phoenix, per a list we obtained:

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— David Moore (@davidrussellmoore.bsky.social) December 12, 2025 at 11:15 AM

The meeting preceded Trump's Thursday signing of an executive order aimed at limiting states' ability to regulate rapidly evolving AI technology. The order directs the US Department of Justice to establish an AI Litigation Task Force empowered to sue states that enact “onerous and excessive" AI regulation. The edict also threatens to withhold federal funding from states that implement AI regulations that the Trump administration finds objectionable.

Democratic governors have been relatively muted on the order, especially given the overwhelming support for regulation of AI—which many experts say poses threats to humanity that may equal or outweigh its benefits—across the political spectrum.

As Moore and Shaw wrote:

While Democratic governors were silent, their Republican counterparts have been loudly arguing for months against the federal government preempting state AI policies. In June, 17 Republican governors sent a letter to Senate Majority Leader John Thune [R-SD] and House Speaker Mike Johnson [R-La.] warning them against preempting their states’ protections on AI use. Over the past couple months, a trio of Republican governors—Spencer Cox (Utah), Ron DeSantis (Fla.), and Sarah Huckabee Sanders (Ark.)—continued to make known their opposition to the Trump administration’s executive order.

Newsom, who many observers believe is eyeing a 2028 White House run, especially disappointed proponents of AI safeguards last year when he vetoed what would have been the nation's strongest AI safety regulations.

It's not just Democratic governors—congressional Democrats have increasingly partnered with an industry expected to soon be worth trillions of dollars. Some Democrats, like Rep. Josh Gottheimer of New Jersey, are personally invested in AI stocks. The AI industry also made record contributions to political campaigns during the 2024 cycle.

Other Democrats, including some who may have their sights set on higher office—notably Congresswoman Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York—advocate stronger guardrails on AI development.

The public is worried about AI. Regulating AI is winning issue for Democrats but their own party leaders are too complicit with Silicon Valley to use it. www.thenation.com/article/poli...

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— Jeet Heer (@jeetheer.bsky.social) December 12, 2025 at 7:24 AM

"Voters want the party to get tough on the industry. But Democratic leaders are following the money instead," Jeet Heer, national affairs correspondent for The Nation, wrote Friday.

Citing voters' desire for stronger regulation, Heer argued that "Democrats have a tremendous opportunity to use the AI backlash for wedge politics," adding that "it's a way to win back working-class voters who are already disillusioned with the GOP and Trump."

From Common Dreams via This RSS Feed.

Do better, Dems. You are supposed to be the opposition party, not the collaboration party.

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/7011976

linky

Ugh.

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/6931377

cross-posted from: https://news.abolish.capital/post/11379

Since Israel began bombarding Gaza and starving its population of more than 2 million Palestinians in October 2023, the consensus that the Israeli government is committing genocide has steadily grown to include international and Israeli human rights groups, a United Nations panel, Holocaust scholars, and nearly 40% of Jewish Americans, according to one striking recent survey.

But in 10 words, former US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton on Tuesday waved away the findings of respected groups like Amnesty International and renowned experts like Brown University professor Omer Bartov, when she commented on why young Americans are expressing support for Palestinians.

"They were getting their information from social media, particularly TikTok," said Clinton.

Without pointing to any evidence, the former secretary of state said young people in the US are "seeing short-form videos, some of them totally made up, some of them not at all representing what they claim to be showing, and that’s where they get their information" about Israel's attacks on Gaza.

She added that "it’s not just the usual suspects"—without naming who those pro-Palestinian "suspects" are.

"It’s a lot of young Jewish Americans who don’t know the history and don’t understand," she said. "A lot of the challenge is with younger people."

Hillary Clinton blames TikTok and “totally made up” videos for young people’s views on Israel and Palestine.

She says social media influenced “not just the usual suspects” but also “young Jewish Americans who don’t know the history and don’t understand.” https://t.co/rUVXRqK2rK pic.twitter.com/hAwG7Gbhwf
— Prem Thakker (@prem_thakker) December 2, 2025

Her remarks echoed those of former Obama White House speechwriter Sarah Hurwitz, who spoke recently about the challenges Zionists are presented with when they try to defend Israel to young Jewish people who have seen widely available, credible images and news out of Gaza, where Israel has killed more than 70,000 Palestinians and is continuing to restrict humanitarian aid despite a ceasefire deal reached in October.

"Anything that we try to say to them, they’re hearing it through this wall of carnage," Hurwitz lamented last month, drawing condemnation.

Clinton was speaking at an event in New York City for Israel Hayom, the most widely read newspaper in Israel, which is run by billionaire Miriam Adelson, a megadonor to President Donald Trump. Adelson published an editorial in the Jewish Journal in November 2023 saying pro-Palestinian protesters "are dead to us," and her late husband, Republican donor Sheldon Adelson, said in 2014 that the Palestinians are "an invented people."

Jeremy Slevin, a senior adviser to Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), pointed to the irony of Clinton attending an event associated with the Adelsons and then claiming that "the kids are being radicalized by anti-Israel propaganda."

— (@)

Clinton has frequently claimed that pro-Palestinian Americans, particularly students who took part in nationwide campus protests last year as they urged the Biden administration to comply with US law and stop funding Israel's attacks on Gaza, are simply misinformed about Palestine and ignorant of history, particularly pointing to the 2000 Camp David Summit hosted by former President Bill Clinton.

The former secretary of state has repeated the claim that the Palestinians were offered a "generous deal" at the meeting and "walked away"—a "myth" that Camp David negotiator Robert Malley has debunked, warning it's been used by Clinton and others to "justify Israel's genocide."

Robert Malley on the myth of “Palestinians walked away” at Camp David (July 2000):

➤ Malley says the popular story pushed since 2000 – that Arafat rejected a “generous offer” – is contradicted by the actual record. Israeli PM Barak sidelined the Palestinians for a year,… pic.twitter.com/3vlf1Rl4qj
— Drop Site (@DropSiteNews) November 28, 2025

"She’s the one getting the history wrong," including at the Israel Hayom event, said Drop Site News on Tuesday.

A number of observers took issue with Clinton's suggestion that anti-Israel sentiment in the US is being driven solely by young people, with Just Security executive editor Adil Haque issuing a "periodic reminder that the biggest shift in attitudes toward Israel and Palestine has been among older Democrats."

In 2022, 43% Democratic voters ages 50 and up had an unfavorable view of Israel. That percentage has risen sharply since Israel began its onslaught in Gaza, with 66% of those voters reporting an unfavorable view in a Pew Research Center poll this year.

Meanwhile, 71% of Democrats ages 49 and under opposed Israel in the same poll, and 62% of them had expressed opposition in 2022, denoting a less extreme shift in opinion.

"Democrats get their news from CNN more than other mainstream sources," said Haque, pointing to the network's recent investigation about Palestinian aid-seekers who were killed by Israeli forces. "If you're a 60-year-old with grandkids and you read or watch CNN's Gaza reporting, you don't need TikTok to know that what's happening is very, very wrong."

Dylan Williams, vice president of government affairs at the Center for International Policy, also suggested Clinton has an inaccurate view of who opposes Israel's ongoing attacks on Palestinians.

"I’m nearly 50. I don’t use TikTok. I listen to NPR 'Morning Edition' and read the Financial Times daily," said Williams. "I’m a lawyer who has worked on Israel-Palestine issues for the last 20 years. The evidence I’ve seen that Israel committed atrocities including genocide in Gaza is overwhelming."

Author Jason Overstreet wondered how Clinton would explain the findings of human rights groups like Amnesty International and Israel-based B'Tselem, which pointed to testimonies by Israeli soldiers and the documented destruction of Gaza's food system when it concluded in a report in July that Israel is committing genocide in the exclave.

"I guess Hillary Clinton also thinks that Amnesty International called what’s happening in Gaza a genocide because they saw some videos on TikTok and just 'did not know history,'" said Overstreet. "Young people’s views on Israel are based on young people knowing that Israel has committed genocide."

From Common Dreams via This RSS Feed.

The resolution “denouncing the horrors of socialism” passed 285 to 98 on Friday morning, with 86 Democrats joining 199 Republicans in voting “yes.” Ninety-eight Democrats voted against the measure, while two voted “present.”

Such a "progressive" party!

leave it to a liberal to be the dumbest person in any given room.

cross-posted from: https://sopuli.xyz/post/36517987

“How absolutely pathetic,” declared the Justice Democrats, an advocacy group that focuses on assisting progressive challengers willing to take on more establishment lawmakers in office. “Your voters expect you to hold the line for their basic healthcare and food benefits. This is just surrender. Every Senate Democrat that joined Republicans to pass this sold the American people out and we should make sure they have no future in public office.”

“Let’s be clear — this proposal isn’t a compromise, it’s a capitulation,” said Rep. Jonathan L. Jackson (D-Ill.). “Millions [will] lose their health coverage, and millions more [will] face skyrocketing premiums. The Senate should reject this misguided plan. In the House, my vote will be HELL NO.”

The Democratic Party is dead and liberal centrism is an obstacle to progress, the DNC is not a bulwark against fascism it is a tacit and cowardly endorsement of it.

Democrats just condemned ~50,000 US citizens to death every year, let that sink in...

According to the report, premiums for Americans who buy their own health insurance will double on average next year, while 15 million people are expected to lose coverage as a result of the Republican budget. The report details how the cuts would substantially increase the number of uninsured Americans in every state in the country and double the uninsured rate in some states, including Massachusetts and Louisiana. A study from Yale University and the University of Pennsylvania estimates that the cuts could cause more than 50,000 unnecessary deaths every year.

The report includes dozens of firsthand accounts from Americans facing life-threatening consequences:

https://www.help.senate.gov/dem/newsroom/press/news-im-terrified-ill-die_americans-speak-out-on-devastating-republican-health-care-cuts

Harris dismissed polls that place her as an outsider to win a place on the Democratic ticket – currently ranking behind even Hollywood actor Dwayne “the Rock” Johnson.

“If I listened to polls I would have not run for my first office, or my second office – and I certainly wouldn’t be sitting here,” she said.

Lib wastes no time in throwing trans people under the bus and spreading Zionist talking points while blaming the left for purity tests.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/37163347

Relevant transcription:

Leftist:
It cost you the election because that was your entire platform. Liberals giving voters real policies that improve their lives? No thanks we’ll take “trump bad” and blame you for not voting for us!

Brilliant strategy guys. It will totally work next time.

Lib:
This may come as a surprise, but the fact that you don’t have the mental capacity to think for yourself, that you not only can be so easily swayed by a vapid idiot, isn’t the problem. It’s the fact that if there was no vapid idiot barking orders at you to make you feel all special, you wouldn’t vote at all.

And that goes for you and every other right wing voter, because the only difference between you and everyone else at your table is the custom size of your swastika armband.

There is nothing you can add to the conversation, because everything coming out of your mouth is absolutely in bad faith.

I only took this time to let you know in case there’s a chance you don’t, but I’m sure you do, I won’t be taking any further time to describe reality to you.

For context, the bottom part that is a screenshot that says "this user is Antifa;" people have been adding this to the end of their posts on Threads as satire. This fragile little snowflake liberal can't take a joke, apparently, especially when other people's First Amendment rights are being dissolved in real time.

Harris wrote in her memoir “107 Days,” which was released Tuesday, that she predicted how Trump would act in a second term, but she didn’t expect the level of capitulation from the private sector toward him.

She was pressed on MSNBC’s “The Rachel Maddow Show” about why she didn’t anticipate such action and responded that she believed “titans of industry would be guardrails for our democracy.”

“Democracy sustains capitalism. Capitalism thrives in a democracy. And, right now, we are dealing with, as I called him at my speech on the Ellipse, a tyrant,” she said, referencing her rally last year on the White House Ellipse in Washington. “We used to compare the strength of our democracy to communist dictators. That’s what we’re dealing with right now in Donald Trump. And these titans of industry are not speaking up,”

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/6233912

Live Trump reaction

No doubt!

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/6117166

Zohran Mamdani, a democratic socialist who won the mayoral primary, said the department was racist and homophobic in a social media post.

its true tho

Zohran Mamdani, the Democratic nominee for mayor of New York City, said on Thursday that he intended to apologize for comments he made in 2020 calling the New York Police Department “racist, anti-queer & a major threat to public safety.”

He said that the remarks, which he wrote in June 2020 in a social media post in support of the defund the police movement, were made after the police killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis a month earlier.

The comments were made “at the height of frustration,” he said in an interview with The New York Times, and were not reflective of his current campaign or “my view of public safety and the fact that police will be critical partners in delivering public safety.”

Mr. Mamdani’s post from 2020 has been recirculated by his political opponents, who have used his previous criticism of the police to portray him as weak on issues of public safety. Mr. Mamdani, a New York State assemblyman, is far ahead of his three rivals, who include Mayor Eric Adams, a former police captain who has consistently placed fourth in recent polling.

When he was asked if he should apologize to the city’s police officers, he paused noticeably before answering. He then went on to explain how his views had changed. After he was asked again if he owed officers an apology, he said, “Yes.”

Mr. Mamdani’s statements on Thursday came amid recent attempts to reach out to the police rank-and-file, an effort to address one of his biggest political vulnerabilities. His past criticism of the police has fed the skepticism and even hostility expressed by many police officers, who are wary of the changes he plans to make to the department.

Full Article

dude you have like a 20 points lead, stop capitulating

Fun Historical Fact

Louis Blanc was a popular French Socialist who advocated for the creation of State-run Stores & Businesses to benefit the Working Class

He would go on to condemn the Paris Commune for being too Radical, just before the Army violently purged the City's Working Class