cross-posted from: https://lemmy.librarysocialism.social/post/61306
The US Senate on Monday voted in bipartisan fashion to advance a fossil fuel industry-backed permitting reform bill that would weaken the Clean Water Act and other key environmental protections to make it easier for the federal government to streamline energy projects—including climate-wrecking gas pipelines.
It sucks that a lot of them are on their way out, but somewhat expected because this is how democrats have helped pass bullshit in the past. Also dissapointed to see freshly elected democrats (like Ossof) vote for this, though I’m not familiar with most of their track record on this type of stuff.
Ossof is a conservative Democrat that is somewhat adept at co-opting a shaved down language of left wing economic populism(while functionally upholding the class interests of donors and the party status quo aligned with them). So he is good at tricking Dem party loyalists and pundit-brain rotted progressives into thinking he’s the next Obama.
Hence why he is also currently circulating as the new hot 2028 candidate from the Dem pundit and consultant mouthpieces in the media.
That is the smell I get from him as well. I have found myself liking some things he says but then i think of his support for the isreali genocide in gaza and it greatly shadows anything positive he might have a hand in.
My litmus test for support has come down to where they lean on the support for genocide. Given his stance on that, I’m not exactly surprised about him voting for the bill in the op or the other things you mention.
It’s not a bad litmus test under current US politics.
It is about the most powerful third rail in politics right now that exposes the contradictions within the Democratic Party and their voters
Someone that is an Israel First Democrat is basically a 1 for 1 for being corporate captured on other issues as well.
And a willingness to call Israel a genocide, an apartheid, and support a full arms embargo(including defensive weapons) is also a good clue they won’t be speaking half measured on healthcare policy, housing, wealth taxes, universal childcare, fighting Trump, ending Citizens United, supporting unions, banning AI data centers, a living wage, and any other issue that faces internal contradictions with Establishment corporate Dems and their voters.
And sure enough, Ossoff is problematic on all those domains as well.
Well said and I agree.
The whole defensive weapons package argument is not a good excuse to keep delivering bombs to our genocidal maniac of an “ally”. If you give weapons to a bully that can blow up anyone that retaliates against their aggression, that in itself becomes an offensive tool. I can’t stand them trying to manipulate our empathy like that.
I’ve since checked out Ossof’s voting record and wonder why I even considered him nominally progressive.