Makes sense.

If you think you have the best idea, the natural next move is to force everyone to follow that best idea, no room for disagreement or alternatives.

This pops up everywhere, everywhere ideology is involved in decisions.

Which is why it's so fun to see American leftists and rightists get at each other throats, while they share the common denominator of authoritarianism and are more similar than they would like to admit.

> politics has more than one axis.

The "political compass" has two dimensions: left/right horizontally and authoritarian/libertarian vertically.

Unfortunately "political compass" is also for the quadrant memes: https://en.meming.world/wiki/Political_Compass (which has some good commentary on the compass and great examples).

And there's the Nolan Chart: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nolan_Chart which is even more confusing. The word "liberal" is not used in New Zealand much, although perhaps the US meaning is taking hold. Also centrist here is unclear so the Nolan Chart makes no sense to me.

there is not one intelligent credible person on planet earth who endorses horseshoe theory. It’s utter nonsense designed to try and discredit anyone outside of a narrow neoliberal window.

Had exactly the effect that I’d expect. Hollowed out every aspect of society and helped lead to exactly the sort of extreme government you don’t want.

If you overload right to mean authoritarian, for sure.

Good to remember that pretty much all leftist governments had to pivot toward authoritarianism 'for the greater good'.

Don't forget about Wagenknecht though. Very conservative socially, very left wing economically.

Yes, far right parties are very often more popular in areas that have seen more economic hardship.

East Germany was economically crippled for the latter half of the 20th century under Soviet rule. It's started to recover, a bit, but it's slow going. That makes the people there more willing to listen to anyone who will lie to them about a) who's responsible, and b) how easy it is to solve their problems.

> fascist consolidation of state and businesses has little to do with communism and "seizing the means of production".

Yeah sure they are very different except for the consolidation of state and business that every fascist and every communist state has attempted :)

Just like the Democratic People's Republic of Korea is well-known to be a bastion of democracy.

First thing Hitler did was arrest the socialists and communists, then make unions illegal.

Please name, say, three elements of NAZI policies that were socialist. To my knowledge, the only thing that's even a tiny bit socialist was Hitler's plan for some sort of central bank, because of course he saw banking and loans as part of some Jewish conspiracy.

Hitler was an O.G. troll, taking over the Workers' Party and renaming it with the word Socialism purely to aggravate his political opponents. He hated socialists, communists, and anarchists.

People get angry when you say this but you are right. Paid holidays, retirement, health insurance. There is a reason why Nazis were popular.

Ofcourse it was all built on economic quicksand.

Right: Socialism only for those who were worthy. Those considered to be "true" parts of the German Nation.

Everyone else gets to be exploited, deported, or just plain murdered.

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It makes me so happy that he's still going. I remember listening to him when I was like 15, and now I'm way older...

This podcast is one of my favorites to listen to while out riding my bike. Something about the cardio + his way of breaking down the core meaning behind philosophers' works is just a very edifying and enjoyable experience.

I had no idea who Byung-Chul_Han was before listening to this podcast- he has a lot of interesting things to say about the current state of our capitalist society. ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Byung-Chul_Han )

Fascism is the world's most evil people lying to the world's most stupid people about what fascism is.

We're not supposed to get political here, but my comment was more observation rather than accusation.

As for communism -- if you think the Dems are communists I recommend you research what communism really means.

Disclaimer: I'm non-partisan and abhor partisan politics, but I do think the Constitution is a worthy document to try to adhere to as best possible.

No, it’s a reaction to capitalism failing. It’s capitalism eating itself.

Self-certification generally doesn't mean simply saying "trust us, we won't lie to you". They still expect you to be able to hand over a bunch of laboratory reports proving that you have actually tested your stuff.

The main difference is that with self-certification they will accept reports from your own in-house laboratory, rather than demanding reports from an independent pre-vetted testing lab.

Same with paperwork: you can make your own rather than having it made by an independent auditor - but you better still be able to back it up!

From your first link:

> Does CBP require an aluminum certificate of analysis to be filed at the time of entry? > > At this time, CBP does not require an aluminum certificate of analysis to be filed at the time of entry. CBP, however, >>> can <<< request the importer to provide an aluminum certificate of analysis if CBP needs one to ensure compliance with the entry requirements pertinent to the item being imported.

In other words: they usually trust people to file their paperwork correctly, but reserve the right to demand lab reports when they suspected foul play. Filing lab paperwork in advance is not needed, however.

As mentioned in Olimex's blog post: US customs is now starting to ask everyone for a Certificate of Analysis. Paperwork isn't enough anymore, even when it is an obviously harmless product which has been imported many times in the past without any issues. If you can't hand over a lab report, it's not getting in.