Thanks for the thoughtful reply. I think we may agree more than you think: the laws you mention aren't laws in the scientific sense of the word; instead, they're a technique (dialectics) for investigating the world. I agree that it is a very powerful technique, that's what I meant when I said that Marxism is best thought of as a methodology than a science. You said it yourself when you called Marxism "an analytical tool". You can use it to do science, but its not a science per se

imo treating it as a science does more to hurt the purpose of Marxism than it helps

marx and engel's project was originally conceived as a science in the true sense of the word, in the way we would consider physics or biology to be a science. But forcing abstract, universal laws (something which is essential to science) onto human civilization and development is extremely difficult, if not impossible to do in a productive way. More to the point, even within a single mode of production, the actual conditions on the ground at any given point will differ enormously, so any general doctrine will either lead you in the wrong direction or be abstracted to the point of being useless. Therefore, its more useful to think of Marxism as a methodology, not a science. Treating it this way keeps you in tune with the needs of the current place and time, and less focused on what should be happening according to abstract laws.

In addition, treating it as a science has the negative side of downplaying the moral force of socialism. No one I've met is socialist because they've been convinced by Marx's syllogism showing the inevitable decline of capitalism and rise of socialism. Rather, when you get down to it, people are socialists because they believe it to be the only way to create an ethical society. It is this moral force that represents the single greatest strength of any left politics, tbh. Treating Marxism as a science necessarily means you have to devalue that aspect.

The problem with this is that Biden is the only guy who could actually lose to Trump, even with the assassination attempt. Any generic democrat they pick to replace him will probably beat Trump, so all they're doing is tying themselves to ship that will either sink now or in November.

I would say that there must be something they feel they get out of supporting Biden but that would assume they're savvy politicians, which they don't really seem to be

I don't know if this is exactly what you are looking for, but John D'Emilio's Capitalism and Gay Identity is a very famous paper that argues for a historical materialist understanding of gay identity. The paper is actually fairly old (it was written in like 1983 or something), so it actually predates much of queer theory, but its absolutely still worth reading if you haven't yet

all due respect, but just take the L man

Pretty much, although I don't think its so much that he's impressed by it so much as he's trying to impress on his hangers-on just how much suffering they've caused via the jihad. Paul is very bitter/ironic about the whole exchange, he's clearly not happy about having killed so many people. Which, as others brought up, is essentially the whole point of Dune Messiah

Love these woodpeckers. You just don't think about a woodpecker being that big until you see one of them

I mean, maybe at some level but certainly not enough to make one side worth supporting over the other. Like ElGosso mentioned, the best thing is going to be what minimizes suffering for normal civilians, and I don't think that supporting Russia is the best way to that goal

Love that this person demands everyone else have a phd to argue with them about a subject they clearly understand less than a middle schooler

Oh I see, thanks for clarifying, I think I misunderstood your point about ontological uncertainty, that makes a lot of sense

ok so where is the line between what's been pre-determined and what hasn't been? Or is everything that is to happen already guaranteed to happen, down to the smallest possible action?

you're missing the best exchange from that episode:

Elaine (gifting Ned a shirt, which he says is 'too fancy'): Just because you're a communist, does that mean you can't wear anything nice? You look like Trotsky

Ned (excitedly): Good!