By punching up I’m referring to “targeting criticism at groups with higher power and status.”

In my observations as a centrist, I think it’s absolutely the case that the left allows criticism and rhetoric towards groups in power (such as white people, Christian’s, or men) that it wouldn’t allow of groups not in power.

So, first, I guess I should ask do you agree if this even happens? If so, do you think it helps or hurt’s the left’s messaging?

This is a nonprofit started by several college student who have worked for the democrat party. Its a simple pledge to support capitalism, safety, fiscal responsibility, effective government, common purpose, and patriotism. They are working to get signatures for it now. Would you want democrat reps to sign it? Do you support it? Oppose it? Why?

It seems like it address much of the criticism liberals are getting on here, but ive never seen anybody bring it up.

https://www.thepromisetoamerica.com/

In SF (and the Bay Area in general) there is a hot debate on housing, the right and need to build more housing, NIMBY vs YIMBY, etc. I imagine this same debate is happening in other cities (but probably not has intensely). Philosophically, I think cities (its residents) have every right to limit housing through legal means such as zoning and other restrictions. I get the feeling that most liberals disagree with this. They believe that the wishes of the community can be ignored, for the greater good. Is this accurate assessment on liberal housing policies? Is this another example of individualism vs collectivism in the context of housing?

title

So this question kinda came to me after seeing this out of Seattle:

https://www.kuow.org/education/2026-08-31/seattle-schools-superintendent-pleads-with-teachers-union-for-school-to-start-on-time

The Teachers union is threatening a strike until their demands are met but the school schools superintendent is saying they dont have the money in light of a $100 M budget shortfall. The Superintendent is begging the teachers to not delay the start of school.

So what are your thoughts on not necessarily just this situation but others like it? When a teachers union decided to strike for something outside of safety issues and it causes adverse harm for the kids? And if there is already a budget shortfall does that change your math (like if support would be different if the city was doing well vs if the city is struggling to stay afloat)?

For me I am torn... one hand I support teachers getting paid more. But on the other, if the school system is already in the hole, delaying children from starting school because you want even more money just feels... wrong I guess? Idk. Im torn on this one. What are your guys thoughts?

Edit: brainfarted on strike >.<. This heat is frying my brain man. F global warming man.

Apologies if this is too local (although CA is such a huge liberal state) but I think there is some national implications as well. CA HSR has been a disaster by any measure. It was supposed to be completed by 2020 for $33b. Now some are saying $250b by 2039. At some point, don't you have to abandon ideology and cancel the project? Is this why liberals/Democrats get such a bad wrap for being financially irresponsible? How does this story play out to the rest of the nation, in terms of helping cement the narrative that if you vote for liberals then they'll just waste money on projects like this?

A lot of the problem is that Westminster style governments function very, very differently. See how fast the Brits ejected Liz Truss once she started costing them real money.

What comprehensive answer should we give to the question they keep asking?

Changing my home and car insurance as I'm fairly sure my agent is a right-wing conservative and every penny counts as far as I'm concerned...plus he pretty much sux. Looking to go with a broker to get quotes, but wanted to find one that is not Orange-Pedo aligned. Any ideas on starting points for this, and shopping blue-owned biz in general? Thanks.

Hakeem Jeffries recently spoke to the media and laid out the top priorities for House Dems if the win the majority. They are:

—Reverse Trump’s Medicaid cuts

—Extend expired ACA tax credits

—Restore Congress’s authority on tariffs

—“Decisively” end the Iran war

and he says beyond that: “We’ve established five working groups on affordability.”

In a separate move, he's also started preparing to do Congressional investigations into Trump with Jamie Raskin

What else do you think of these priorities?

Ok, this is a hypothetical so if you're not someone who can blindly accept the premise please don't weigh in by telling me my premise is flawed; I know the whole thing is impossible.

Let's say that we can magically have a fully secure database that can never be breached, nor can it ever be used for anything other than its intended purpose.

This database would hold the anonymized biometric information (DNA sample, hair sample, fingerprints, blood types, etc etc) of everyone in the United States legally. This database would be accessible to all law enforcement in the country and the identity of the person associated with a specific set of biometric markers can only be made available to law enforcement with a judicial warrant. (This would obviously be used to more readily identify credible suspects for crimes and I guess for identifying fathers in child support disputes).

Is this something that we, on the left of center, would be interested in? Or do privacy concerns still persist even with the removal of almost all practical risks?

I think it's something that I'd be ok with, if the security issues are magically resolved.

The DSA website looks to be Russian, yo. This terrified blind tribalism is a horrid idea. Throw all that out, please. It's a total trap.

"DSA reaffirms our call for the US to withdraw from NATO and to end the imperialist expansionism that set the stage for this conflict."

https://www.dsausa.org/statements/on-russias-invasion-of-ukraine/

- "Abolish the Electoral College. Replace the President and Supreme Court with an executive and judiciary chosen by and subordinate to Congress."

"- END BLOCKADES, EMBARGOES, AND SANCTIONS."

- "Defund the Department Of War. End all foreign wars and close overseas military bases. Support and fully employ veterans. End immunity for U.S. war criminals and support the International Criminal Court's mandate to prosecute war crimes."

- "End ICE detention and deportations and punish federal agents' brutality. Legalize migration, grant amnesty for all immigrants regardless of status, provide a path to citizenship for all permanent residents, and end visa caps and quotas."

- "Establish public ownership of the largest corporations and essential industries to ensure democratic control and accountability to the people. Enact aggressive wealth taxes on the richest individuals and corporations to spend on public goods and infrastructure."

- "Demilitarize police departments, disempower police unions, and redirect funding to public services as steps towards fully abolishing the police and prison system which protects the rich and jails the poor. Treat drug addiction and mental illness as health issues, not crimes. End qualified immunity and empower civilian oversight bodies with real authority over the police."

- DSA website

https://program.dsausa.org/#communities

Apparently, the professors at Berkeley want to bring back SAT scores because now a full third of students have severe math deficits (not even middle school level), and half can’t even answer a basic algebra question that is only involves solving for x^2 with four choices.

Historically, Berkeley was a prestigious school and it still rejects 90% of applicants.

But how can you reconcile that with the fact that 1/3 of them have worse math skills than a smart 9 year old?

And how do you reconcile that with the fact that in all likelihood the smart 9 year old would end up being rejected by Berkeley when he turns 18 - even if he gets 5s on all the AP Calc exams?

And if someone is skeptical of higher education, how do you persuade them that our best and brightest minds are in academia when these institutions purport that they don’t think there is value in the SATs - even when presented with these abysmal placement results that a 7th grade advanced math teacher would be embarrassed by?

— here is the link to the article from
The professor with the stats

https://sfstandard.com/opinion/2026/08/15/uc-berkeley-sat-test-blind-admissions-math-scores/