On July 27, workers, descendants of the strikers, and the local labor community came together at Wabun Park in Minneapolis to honor the 90th anniversary of the 1934 Truckers’ Strike that brought Minneapolis to a standstill and served as a spark for radical and militant labor struggle across the country.

The strike lasted about three months, as Teamsters Local 574 truckers demanded a fair wage and official recognition of the union. The trucking companies had the support of the Citizens Alliance, an anti-trade union organization that sought to break the strike. The strike’s impact reverberated throughout the city, bringing much of the Minneapolis economy to a halt.

After reaching an agreement, the trucking companies did not honor the terms and workers returned to the streets. On July 20, 1934, the Minneapolis police attacked and opened fire on picketers in the streets of the Warehouse District. Police shot 67 strikers and killed two, Henry Ness and John Belor. The deadly police attack became known as “Bloody Friday.” On July 24, 1934, about 100,000 people lined the streets to honor Henry Ness’ funeral procession in Minneapolis.

Unicorn Riot heard from two grandchildren of Henry Ness and other descendants of the 1934 strike during the anniversary. More: https://unicornriot.ninja/2024/the-90th-anniversary-of-the-1934-truckers-strike-honors-minneapolis-militant-labor-history/

These fucking dipshits lol, its winter, so the trees are missing leaves and there's coal smog on everything, which was in wide use in the west just as it was in the east because it was cheap and domestically abundant. The reason it held on longer in the east after reunification is because the east was economically hollowed out and coal continued to be cheap compared to retrofitting in modern heating.

Here's a picture from the late 60s(?) that's not in winter (though it unfortunately frames out the large trees that are visible in the foreground of the reddit OP):

One near me is having an issue with rats. I think really they just need better trash pickup mainly, and better shelters in general, but they've specifically asked for help getting rat poison. Would bait boxes with poison even make a dent in an outdoor environment like that? I can't singlehandedly improve the cleanliness of the camp or get everyone rat-proof shelter obviously, but I feel like just going straight for the poison could have adverse consequences and not be effective, potentially.

Please don't be a dick, I'm genuinely feeling pretty down.

For context, I'm a massive nerd about like electronics and technology, and some other things (less enthusiastic than I used to be because of burnout and capitalism and surveillance and such, but still), and I'm reasonably well off, as long as I can hold onto this job anyhow, but not 6 figures or anything (USD).

So I see videos like this one: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J38kDEsVZ3A

and I just am so sad. It is so up my alley, it looks so fun, but I just don't feel like I can justify devoting that much of my life to hobbies and events like that just to make me happy (and showing up empty handed and burned out to events like that with no projects to show off or even talk about isn't that fun either). I'm probably too busy with work, and even if I wasn't, how can I justify it when my comrades are starving, freezing, homeless, etc. and fascism is looming, I need to be organizing and learning and preparing, not making fun toy projects and getting drunk in the woods with a bunch of cool, queer, but ultimately pretty white upper class leaning people....

I know communism isn't when No Fun, but I just don't feel like I can square the circle of living life to the fullest, doing the things I know I must, politically and morally, and working for capitalists to survive. Instead I sorta half ass all three and am happy with none. Sometimes I feel like I'm just treading water and getting more and more cynical...

reinventing commie blocks from first principles with five-over-one characteristics

I'll still take it

Fake country

Somewhat reddit-brained lib friend of mine sent this article which triggered a whole discussion of geopolitics: https://www.tomshardware.com/tech-industry/tsmcs-euv-machines-are-equipped-with-a-remote-self-destruct-in-case-of-an-invasion

He said that would reduce the chance of an invasion and I was like (paraphrasing): "really? does it? the generations-long and unfinished business of the chinese civil war and all the history there is outweighed by the thought of losing one chip fab that they've already proven they don't really need after all the sanctions? They aren't going to invade unless their hand is forced, there's literally already US troops on taiwan-held islands, if they were on the brink of invading they would have done it already, but they aren't."

He basically argued that the majority of people there wanted to be independent therefore its simple self determination and the US should help them, etc.

I said the no capitalist state gives a flying fuck about self determination and asked if texas has the right to secede, or perhaps more relevantly, if texas settlers had the right to secede from mexico and join the US in the first place? because its not like the nationalists that took over the island were its native inhabitants, who are now mostly dead, flooding a low-population place with "settlers" doesn't mean you own it...

we went back and forth a bunch and he stopped arguing when I pointed out the inconsistency of supporting palestine but also taiwan, when they (while not the same, taiwan wasn't settler colonialism) have kind of a similar arc, what with israel's "majority", both having invaded and largely displacing the prior inhabitants.

I don't feel I had all the best arguments at my disposal, though overall I feel good about my responses.