Toby Buckle

politicalphilosophypodcast.comUK media's anti-trans frenzy with Ændra RininslandHow Britain's insular, twitterbrained press pushed us to the far right

there's been a worldwide campaign against trans people—nowhere has it been stronger (& less opposed) than the uk latest podcast with @aendra.com www.politicalphilosophypodcast.com/uk-media-trans

& if we're agreed on voting dem 99% of the time, let's move on from this one take a leaf out of brazil's book & spend the next week aggressively boosting positive messages from the *best* dems

Toby Buckle@polphilpod.bsky.social

i think "vote dem across the board, but for the 4 very worst dems on trans rights you can leave them blank" is a reasonable position (& a reasonable compromise between vbnmw & fears about dems going full uk labour)

14h

i think people increasingly understand what we're voting against. in the final stretch, let's highlight what we're voting *for* there's a lot of talent & some genuinely good people in the progressive wing of the party, let's make sure that gets the attention it deserves

thyme & za'atar bread

with a pumpkin, prune, & lamb stew

persian is still my absolute favourite cooking tradition & i think it's starting to get the respect it deserves—i see new restaurants, cookbooks, etc

Toby Buckle reposted

Eduardo Rodríguez

@nemarona.eurosky.social

liberalcurrents.comWe Need to Get Off the Defensive About ImmigrationFree movement is a fantastic thing, and we should say it.

This is a great article by @polphilpod.bsky.social. I missed it when it came out (in January), but it remains incredibly relevant. www.liberalcurrents.com/we-need-to-g...

17h

caring about other countries politics is good actually: fascism is an international threat, the response must be too

17h

there's obviously bad takes from people abroad, but there's also bad takes from people at home, so

17h

& thinking through similarities & differences is instructive & ... idk, just kinda interesting

erininthemorning.comDon’t Vote For The Worst Anti-Trans DemocratsThe Democratic Party should, and likely will, win big in the midterms. We must not send the worst anti-trans voices to join them.

Erin Reed@erininthemorning.com

The elections are on next Tuesday, and so much is at stake, including the soul of the Democratic Party when it comes to transgender people. I am asking you to leave a very small number of races blank in which a Democrat has embraced extreme anti-trans hate. I make my case here.

i'd probably still vote dem, but, again, there's limits to what you can ask other people to do

18h

& *believe me* i get the "you can't just let a republican win argument i'm just being pragmatic here: "i'll vote for every dem but these 4 fuckers" > "i'm sitting this one out" if that's where people who bought abstention arguments land, it could be a heck of a lot worse

erininthemorning.comDon’t Vote For The Worst Anti-Trans DemocratsThe Democratic Party should, and likely will, win big in the midterms. We must not send the worst anti-trans voices to join them.

Erin Reed@erininthemorning.com

i wouldn't frame it as a strategy, i think we'll argue about what the data shows (&, again, i think polling already tells us this sort of appeasement is at best ineffective) i'd just say "vote dem, but for the worst of the worst if you can't bring youself to, that's understandable"

i wouldn't go as far as erin in saying "don't vote for these 4"—the difference between them & a republican is still a lot & i don't really buy the strategic argument more like, for them, it's a matter of individual conscience

erininthemorning.comDon’t Vote For The Worst Anti-Trans DemocratsThe Democratic Party should, and likely will, win big in the midterms. We must not send the worst anti-trans voices to join them.

Erin Reed@erininthemorning.com

i think we already have the data to show that "moderating" on trans rights doesn't make that big a difference one way or the other & full blow surrender costs you but like if evidence made a difference starmer's implosion should've given pause for thought & it didn't bother them in the slightest

i'd phrase it more simply—nbnmw i a good principle, but it has it's limits you can't ask people to cast a ballot for candidates talking about them in dehumanising language or (in the case of the very worst dem) threatening to take away their healthcare

erininthemorning.comDon’t Vote For The Worst Anti-Trans DemocratsThe Democratic Party should, and likely will, win big in the midterms. We must not send the worst anti-trans voices to join them.

Erin Reed@erininthemorning.com

my fears about abstention were that people (including, not to point fingers, people with large followings) where saying or implying we shouldn't vote dem *at all* which felt like the wrong approach for all sorts of reasons

i guess a slight difference with erin is they frame is as "prove that transphobia doesn't win elections" for the idiot centrists pushing this nothing will persuade them otherwise—appeasement is something they reason from, not reasoned to

question: how does being a progressive make your day-to-day life better?

21h

& as borderline banal as it sounds, it's nice to experience people & get to know them as individuals (as opposed to the fascist practice of seeing everything as emergent properties of race & gender) bsky.app/profile/drea...

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21h

love this—you do notice people always pretend to be a bit more progressive than they actually are; the centre-right claims to be libs, fascists claim to be centre-right there's some tacit acknowledgement it's the better set or morals bsky.app/profile/leen...

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Toby Buckle reposted

Dan McDonough

@danluvsbeer.bsky.social

I'm not afraid to ride public transit. Saves me a lot of money.

Toby Buckle@polphilpod.bsky.social

question: how does being a progressive make your day-to-day life better?

question: how does being a progressive make your day-to-day life better?

broad sense of progressive—lib, left, socialist, radical whatever

for me, i'd say being open to new experiences & not worried about conforming to a traditional model of masculinity has allowed me to have hobbies & interests that bring me a lot of joy

& that mirrors how we should conceptualise this more generally: this isn't a fight within the liberal framework, it's a fight *for* the liberal framework

Bruno Dies@brunodias.dev

What's striking to me are the rules of engagement and the methodology of action here, which more or less is predicated on burying liberal delusions about "debate" or the "marketplace of ideas". The rules were ultimately very simple: amplify your own message and suppress your opponent's.

it's looking like the first decade of the trump-era will end with a string of victories & partial victories for our side: orban out, wins in brazil & serbia, republicans will do badly in the midterms, netanyahu will be weakened & *may* be removed, the uk got rid of an uber appeasement focused pm

this isn't the endgame, i don't think, the last of those—israel & the uk—are improvements more than outright wins, & of course trump will still be president, & removal still remote but the notion that his 2024 win was game over for liberalism has clearly proved premature

& as ugly as it's going to be, i think a protracted, knock-down-drag-out fight favours us: fascism relies on an aura on inevitability & as that starts to fade its power will crumble

Avishay BSG (Ben-Sasson-Gordis)

& of course ukraine still standing despite everything

Toby Buckle reposted

@avishaybsg.bsky.social

In about 24 hours, poles will open here in Israel. In what is a strong contender for Israel’s most critical elections. The election pits Netanyahu’s extremely unpopular coalition against a non-coherent, but moderately more liberal, opposition. Here are some thoughts as we head into it.

"its [brexit] weakened our control of immigration" even in rejecting it's consequnces, we still affirm nativism's premises

Liz Webster 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇬🇧🇪🇺 @lizwebster.bsky.social

🤩 This is a significant moment. Burnham says openly that Brexit has weakened 🇬🇧 economy, failed to deliver promised control over immigration and produced a harder Brexit than many people were led to expect in 2016. On rejoin EU: “I would like to see that happen in my lifetime.” And next 👇 🧵

conversely, i don't think "we want less immigration but not the economic consequences of that" is either a coherent message or governing strategy

to wit, you cannot have both the entire country look like midsummer murders & a gdp higher than albania, this is not a type of economy that exists bsky.app/profile/did:...

Toby Buckle@polphilpod.bsky.social

i think we should make the link explicit: brexit failed because it was grounded in bad values, it assumed a fundamentally false view of the world

"its [brexit] weakened our control of immigration" even in rejecting it's consequnces, we still affirm nativism's premises

Liz Webster 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇬🇧🇪🇺 @lizwebster.bsky.social

politicalphilosophypodcast.comHow liberals can win on immigration with Greg SargentRevulsion at ICE offers an opportunity for a different vision.

me @gregsargent.bsky.social have made this point repeatedly: across the world we're seeing the profound failure of a closed border philosophy—we need to make that case www.politicalphilosophypodcast.com/li

liberalcurrents.comWe Need to Get Off the Defensive About ImmigrationFree movement is a fantastic thing, and we should say it.

i know politicians are terrified of public opinion on immigration, but given how badly the other side has failed, i really think if we had a bit of courage many people would hear us out www.liberalcurrents.com/we-need-to-g...

"its [brexit] weakened our control of immigration" even in rejecting it's consequnces, we still affirm nativism's premises

Liz Webster 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁷󠁬󠁳󠁿🇬🇧🇪🇺 @lizwebster.bsky.social

i think we should make the link explicit: brexit failed because it was grounded in bad values, it assumed a fundamentally false view of the world

bbc.co.ukBrazil election live: Lula defeats Bolsonaro - follow latestLula, 80, overturns the outcome from the first round of voting, but Bolsonaro calls the result "inexplicable" and refuses to concede.

woop, woop www.bbc.co.uk/news/live/cm...

of course he does