Michael Sappir

Michael Sappir

@m.sappir.net

Socialist, Jewish-Israeli, text guy, against apartheid and genocide. Never not mad at Germany. Founding editor @thediasporist.bsky.social, co-host parallelweltpalaestina.info 📍Chicago, via Leipzig and Jerusalem

2.5K followers1.6K following1.8K posts

Michael Sappir reposted

As historian Gershon Shafir commented on my FB wall: "One side lost, and the question is whether the other side is ready to win"

Loser shit

Acyn@acyn.bsky.social

Kamala Harris: I think that going in the direction of impeachment is not a good idea. I was in the Senate for the last go-round, and the votes aren’t there. I think after the election, we all have to just also agree that our attitude has to be to get stuff done…

Sadder yet, they could likely do so without changing policies, just by not refusing to rely on Palestinian votes in confidence votes, but even that is highly unlikely.

Joel S.@joelhs.bsky.social

The fact that the Israeli opposition could chart a course away from the genocidal fascist who has ruined their country’s reputation worldwide - but only if they consent to see Palestinians as equals, with all the changing policies that implies - is a pretty good metaphor for the future of Israel.

Michael Sappir reposted

The fact that the Israeli opposition could chart a course away from the genocidal fascist who has ruined their country’s reputation worldwide - but only if they consent to see Palestinians as equals, with all the changing policies that implies - is a pretty good metaphor for the future of Israel.

Yair Wallach@yairwallach.bsky.social

Update, In a surprising upset, Likud will remain the largest party, ahead of Eisenkot. However, the current coalition is far from a majority, with 40% of Knesset seats. The opposition has about 60% of the Knesset. Will they be able to translate this majority to a coalition government?

Michael Sappir reposted

Israeli exit poll results confirm what's been clear for years: there can be no pro-democracy coalition without the non-Zionist parties. I don't believe the Zionist anti-Netanyahu bloc is willing to work with "the Arabs", even knowing the alternative. I hope against hope to be proven wrong.

I'm pessimistic about the anti-Netanyahu bloc because, again, this has been clear for years. If the leadership and public were willing to sacrifice a tiny bit of apartheid to preserve what little democracy Israelis enjoy, that would have had to be the premise of their campaign. They already chose.

Of the apparent 52 anti-Netanyahu Zionist mandates, only 10 are the Democrats, who signaled they understood the assignment. It's hard to imagine the ultranationalists making up the rest of the bloc going along with it, and very easy to imagine some of them defecting to the Netanyahu bloc.

Michael Sappir reposted

You can do the same thing, buying a house and borrowing against it—ha ha, just kidding, normal people get taxed annually on their wealth via property taxes, the "you can't tax wealth, the economy will collapse!" rule applies solely to the super-rich.

Steven T. Dennis@steventdennis.bsky.social

For the fabulously wealthy, paying taxes is pretty much optional. They can borrow against their vast wealth, which is mostly an untaxed capital gain, without paying taxes. When they die, the capital gain goes to zero. And loopholes exist to bypass the estate tax too.

Michael Sappir reposted

Not a big story, it's just the Attorney General working with an imprisoned pedophile to help cover up the pedophile President's crimes conducted with his best friend for 15 years, a pedophile who the President sent, as a birthday card, a drawing of a naked adolescent girl.

Amanda Marcotte@amandamarcotte.bsky.social

This report is genuinely overwhelming, in terms of the evidence both against Trump and of a ham-fisted cover-up. Including one instance in which Ghislaine Maxwell was actually about to mention one of Trump's young accusers and Todd Blanche told her to stop talking. The media response is "yawn."

Michael Sappir reposted

1. Lose election 2. Assume Trump will steal election for him 3. Trump is flailing around and failing to steal his own election 4. Oh shit oh fuck

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Michael Sappir reposted

The powerful executives who cozied up to Trump didn't oops accidentally forget about pendulum swings. They either: 1) Like the fascism 2) Calculated it was here to stay, so going along was savvy 3) Saw no real downside, no consequences when the pendulum swung Crucial to show them 3 was a mistake

Schooley@schooley.bsky.social

That this is in THE WASHINGTON POST is almost too much irony to bear.

Michael Sappir reposted

Replying to @olufemiotaiwo.bsky.social

Kyle Griffin@kylegriffin1.bsky.social

BREAKING WaPo: Brazil's right-wing Flávio Bolsonaro just effectively conceded defeat to the incumbent left-wing president — minutes after Trump indicated he would not intervene on his behalf.

Michael Sappir reposted

"Under Brazilian federal law, all legislators have immunity...To run for President, Bolsonaro decided not to run for his Senate seat. Now, after losing the Presidential election, he no longer has legislative immunity when his Senate term expires in January 2027." Very Special Episode of no amnesty

Mike Elk@mikeelk.bsky.social

Flávio Bolsonaro had his passport confiscated by the Brazilian fed police as his brother Eduardo told him to flee to the US. He is tied to paramilitary gangs, is being investigated & lost his legislative immunity when he left the Senate to run for president. paydayreport.com/brazilian-fe...

Michael Sappir reposted

The only reason I can think of for this news not being absolutely everywhere is that large media orgs don’t want to be seen as putting their thumbs on the scales a week before election day. And that’s cowardly as shit.

Marisa Kabas@marisakabas.bsky.social

Beyond disgusted by even more rape allegations against the President of the United States. "In total, more than 25 different women...have independently accused Donald Trump of rape, sexual assault, or other sexual misconduct." Report w/ new details: democrats-judiciary.house.gov/sites/evo-su...

Michael Sappir reposted

it feels truly insane that it’s not

Andy Craig@andycraig.bsky.social

I know there's a lot going on but I feel it should probably be more of an above-the-fold story that members of Congress released a thoroughly documented report directly accusing the president of the United States of being a serial rapist.

Michael Sappir reposted

Politico wrote up Zohran playing basketball with the uncovering-a-big-scandal tone the same day the NYTimes wrote up "credible allegation that The President of the United States raped a woman" as a political strategy story. Broken media in a nutshell

Chris Sommerfeldt@c-sommerfeldt.bsky.social

New: Mayor Zohran Mamdani and a group of his friends have been secretly using the NYPD Police Academy’s gymnasium in Queens to play pickup basketball — scrambling some operations at the facility. w/ @grahamrayman.bsky.social & Joe Anuta www.politico.com/news/2026/10...

Michael Sappir reposted

Zionists have weaponized the term anti-semitism to the point that its hard not to instinctively oppose it. But the phrase "antisemitism is the socialism of fools" is one that is ever-green and speaks to a condition/way of thinking that is so pervasive everywhere - that needs to be chipped away at.

Joel S.@joelhs.bsky.social

Antisemitism is structurally necessary for Musk's politics, because the right-wing populism he supports needs to frame itself as fighting for "the people" against "the elites," but as the world's wealthiest person, he needs a definition of "elite" not rooted in actual wealth or corporate ownership.

Michael Sappir reposted

So much to say about Brazil, not least of which is the role that Erika Hilton, a Black trans leader and most voted woman politician in Brazil, played in mobilizing folks for Lula. She was behind the critical, concrete, economic promise of shorter work-week. theprint.in/feature/erik...

theprint.inWho is Erika Hilton? Black trans politician was one of Lula’s loudest campaignersErika Hilton’s electoral triumph comes amid a hostile environment. Brazil has the highest number of reported murders of transgender people in the world, with 80 recorded in 2025.

Michael Sappir reposted

it is my deepest and most fervent wish that the tech oligarchs suffer consequences for openly allying with fascism the world over maybe we can extradite zuck in 2029

Rafa Sales Ross@rafiews.com

In his acceptance speech, Lula says he will work to regulate digital platforms in Brazil. “Digital crimes must be dealt with like real-life crimes.” This comes after Meta directly interfered with the Brazilian elections, favouring Flávio Bolsonaro.

Michael Sappir reposted

Michael Sappir reposted

Many comments on the great election victories in Brazil and Serbia state that the authorian right is in decline or that voters have rejected far-right authoritarianism. That is a wrong interpretation of what happened. Progressive movements mobilized and beat the authoritarian right. That's different

Michael Sappir reposted

Samantha Brennan@samanthabrennan.bsky.social

A new survey of 1,000 American adults found that the strongest supporters of transgender sports bans are not the people who admire women most: they are the people who hold the most hostile views about women. www.helenwebberley.com/news/transge...

Michael Sappir reposted

I’m not a political journalist, so was gladly surprised at the community I found here last night. To Americans anxious about the upcoming elections, a key thing we learned in Brazil that might help you: DO NOT engage with the far-right online. Don’t share rage bait. Amplify your people. Ignore them.