Democrats have blown millions of dollars on efforts to appeal to “American Men,” who turned to President Donald Trump in droves on election day, in the hopes of winning back the working class, according to a report.

Democrats have spent $20 million on their efforts, with donors and strategists holing up in luxury hotel rooms brainstorming how to convince working-class men to return to the party, according to a New York Times report.

The plan, code-named SAM, or “Speaking with American Men: A Strategic Plan,” promises to use the funds to “study the syntax, language and content that gains attention and virality in these spaces,” according to the report.

As the Times described it, the reports “can read like anthropological studies of people from faraway places.”

The effort also recommends Democrats buy advertisements in video games, among other things, the Times reported.

Imagine finishing an online Match or beating a boss and getting this cutscene

""im once asking for your financial support"

“Above all, we must shift from a moralizing tone,” the plan urges.

Democrats have “lost credibility by being seen as alien on cultural issues,” McCrary added.

"we gotta get more racist"

by hueoops on twiteer

Memorandum Issued by Institute for American Studies of DPRK Foreign Ministry

Pyongyang, May 27 (KCNA) -- The Institute for American Studies of the DPRK Foreign Ministry Monday released a memorandum to inform the international community that the U.S. establishment of a new missile defense system is a very dangerous "threatening initiative" aimed at threatening the strategic security of the nuclear weapons states regarded by the U.S. with hostility and facilitating the use of the offensive military muscle of the U.S. forces.

According to the memorandum, the U.S. plan for the "Golden Dome" missile defense system setting it as a goal to closely defend the Continent of North America from the ballistic missile, cruise missile and supersonic missile attack by its strategic enemy states is a typical product of "America first", the height of self-righteousness, arrogance, high-handed and arbitrary practice, and is an outer space nuclear war scenario supporting the U.S. strategy for uni-polar domination with the preemptive establishment of the outer space-based military substructure, not a "defensive measure" to cope with the "threat" from someone.

The memorandum disclosed the U.S. offensive weapon system aimed at the preemptive strike at sovereign states.

The U.S., which defined outer space as a battlefield in future in its early years, has been hell-bent on the moves to militarize outer space, claiming that those who dominate outer space can win victory in the future war.

The plan for "Golden Dome" being advocated by the present U.S. administration is also the expression of another attempt to militarize outer space coming from the past strategies for dominating outer space and the epitome revealing the criminal past of the U.S. which plunged the whole world into the nightmare of the outbreak of a nuclear war.

Down through history, the U.S. has justified its moves for space militarization, claiming that the perfect interception of nuclear missiles by its enemy states flying toward its mainland can be realized only by the introduction of the space-based interception system. Under the pretext of defending its mainland, it has been hell-bent on building a missile defense system targeting the independent sovereign states including the DPRK.

Clear is the reason why the U.S. is scheming to freeze the so-called "threat" from sovereign states as a pretext for modernizing its missile defense system, persistently spinning out the time-worn sophism just like a guilty party filing the suit first.

It is to preemptively attain military superiority in an all-round way by justifying its hegemony-oriented moves for space arms buildup and accelerating outer space militarization behind the screen of "mainland defence" and to launch the military strike at its enemy states at its will by relying on it. This is the military strategic goal pursued by the U.S. and the main goal of the "Golden Dome" project being prioritized by the present U.S. administration.

The memorandum pointed out the malignant factor that has heated the strategic arms race worldwide and accelerated the potential danger of outer space war.

The U.S. plan for building a new missile defense system is the root cause of sparking off global nuclear and space arms race by stimulating the security concerns of nuclear weapons states and turning the outer space into a potential nuclear war field.

Shortly ago, a U.S. space company announced that the U.S. Space Force is planning the design of a kind of orbit transporter called "space aircraft carrier" and will invest 60 million U.S. dollars in it.

The reality in which the global concern about the fact that the advent of the "space aircraft carrier" will be a catalyst for aggravating military confrontation in outer space is growing is a typical example proving a catastrophic consequence to be entailed by the U.S. moves to militarize outer space.

Another example of the U.S. moves to militarize outer space is the development of the "X-37B" unmanned spacecraft being accelerated by the U.S. Space Force.

It is not fortuitous that many space experts appreciate that the threat posed by the "X-37B" to the world is no less than nuke as the advent of the "X-37B" is an unpleasant factor reminiscent of the realistic possibility of space warfare that has been considered by mankind as imagination.

The memorandum disclosed the U.S. military hazardous attempt of betting the security of its satellites.

Since 2016, the U.S. has staged all sorts of missile interception drills including missile warning drill, combined ballistic missile defense drill and naval missile defense drill by mobilizing Aegis destroyers and latest drones together with Japan and the ROK.

The U.S. set up a space force unit in the ROK in December 2022. It inaugurated the U.S. space force in Japan at the Yokoda U.S. Air Force Base in December 2024, and formally operated the real-time tripartite missile information sharing system among the U.S., Japan and ROK targeting the DPRK's missile launch in December 2023.

Clear is the aim sought by the U.S. in its persistent attempt to build an integrated missile defense system with Japan and the ROK.

Lurking behind it is an attempt to further intensify their military subjugation to the U.S. through the establishment of the integrated missile defense system with its satellite countries and to use the forces of its satellites for the military operations of the U.S. forces in case offensive actions against regional countries are launched.

The above-said facts prove that the U.S. moves to build the integrated missile defense system are the dangerous military gambling prompted by the ignorant and selfish intention of the suzerain state to use its satellites as the cannon fodder and bullet shield for realizing its interests even by betting the security of its satellites.

The memorandum pointed out the means of offering profits to ensure the constant boom of the U.S. munitions monopolies.

Today, the U.S. armaments spent in the space field are three times the cost of civil space development, which corresponds to 95 percent of the space-related expenditure of all countries of the world.

The present U.S. administration claims that the establishment of the "Golden Dome" missile defense system will cost only 175 billion U.S. dollars, but the recent announcement of the U.S. Congressional Budget Office that the cost of building the space-based interceptor missile system will amount to 542 billion U.S. dollars to maximum suggests that the plan for "Golden Dome" is the largest arms buildup plan in history.

The global security environment, which is becoming uncertain due to the U.S. undisguised moves for space militarization, proves that the security of the state and the region can be reliably guaranteed only by the symmetry of the matchless power capable of firmly bringing not only the current challenges but also the coming challenges under its control, the memorandum stressed. -0-
www.kcna.kp (2025.05.27.)

http://kcna.kp/en/article/q/fcfbe41bf590dc0904a4448a70173e76.kcmsf

https://archive.is/eUzFJ

cross-posted from: https://hexbear.net/post/5043365

“We stand proudly with the people. You stand complicit with the war criminals. We are on the right side of history. You are not. We will fight you in your court. We will win. Free Palestine.”

https://archive.is/kW3dk

When Senator John Fetterman, Democrat of Pennsylvania, showed up at a hearing on May 8 with Sam Altman, the chief executive of OpenAI, his colleagues were surprised to see him. Until then, his chair on the dais of the Senate Commerce, Science and Transportation Committee had sat empty all year. But under intense scrutiny about his mental health and his ability to function in his job, Mr. Fetterman has been in damage control mode, attending hearings and votes that he had been routinely skipping over the past year. His colleagues, some of whom have privately described him as absent from the Senate and troubled when he is there, are trying to be supportive.

“Good thoughts, Senator Fetterman,” Senator Amy Klobuchar, Democrat of Minnesota, said encouragingly after Mr. Fetterman finished his turn questioning Mr. Altman. Mr. Fetterman does not enjoy participating in these hearings that he has sat through in recent weeks as he seeks to prove that he is capable of performing the job he was elected to do until 2028. In fact, at a critical moment for the country, he appears to have little interest in the day-to-day work of serving in the United States Senate.

In an interview, Mr. Fetterman, who represents 13 million people, said he felt he had been unfairly shamed into fulfilling senatorial duties, such as participating in committee work and casting procedural votes on the floor, dismissing them as a “performative” waste of time. Instead, he said he was “showing up because people in the media have weaponized” his absenteeism on Capitol Hill to portray him as mentally unfit, when in fact it is a product of a decision to spend more time at home and less on the mundane tasks of being a senator. “My doctor warned years ago: After it’s public that you are getting help for depression, people will weaponize that,” Mr. Fetterman said in his office this week. “Simple things are turned. That’s exactly what happened.” He added: “It shook me that people are willing to weaponize that I got help.”

It is the latest chapter in Mr. Fetterman’s rocky time in the national political spotlight, where at the height of his popularity he harbored aspirations to run for president in 2028. Now, he is aggrieved that such a dream appears out of reach. And for that, he largely blames his decision to speak out two years ago about his mental health struggles, which he said gave rise to all that has followed, including a recent series of unflattering reports detailing erratic behavior, a poor attendance record and general disinterest in doing his job.

To recap: Mr. Fetterman, the 6-foot-8-inch, self-proclaimed champion of working-class voters, had a life-threatening stroke in 2022 in the middle of the most competitive Senate race in the country, which he went on to win. Shortly after being sworn in, he checked himself into Walter Reed National Military Medical Center to be treated for depression for six weeks, and appeared to make a remarkable recovery as he began speaking out about the importance of getting help when needed.

He was an outspoken supporter of Israel after the Oct. 7, 2023, terrorist attack and started picking more fights with the left. His pro-Israel stance gave him a sense of purpose on Capitol Hill in a job he otherwise did not enjoy. And then, at some point in the middle of last year, he pulled even further back from participating in many aspects of the Senate, like attending committee meetings, casting votes and holding town halls.

It was around that time that his former chief of staff wrote to Mr. Fetterman’s doctor that his boss was spiraling out of control and that his mental health issues could cost him his life. That letter, first published by New York Magazine earlier this month, raised a new round of questions about Mr. Fetterman’s behavior and performance in the Senate.

Sitting in his office last week, dressed in his uniform of a black Carhartt hoodie and gym shorts, Mr. Fetterman toggled between humor, anger and emotion in discussing his current situation. He expressed deep frustration over the constant questions about his mental health, portraying himself as the victim of untenable circumstances. “This became the Belichick girlfriend story of politics,” he quipped at one point, referring to the recent media attention around the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill football coach. “It just keeps going and going.”

After his discharge from Walter Reed in 2023, Mr. Fetterman embraced a role as a stigma-busting spokesman for the power of treatment and used his challenges as an opportunity to bridge partisan politics. “Red or blue, if you have depression, get help, please,” he said in an interview later that year. These days, Mr. Fetterman is not so sure it was wise to talk about any of that. He doesn’t think it’s anyone’s business whether, as some former aides have suggested, he is or isn’t following the regimen that his doctors recommended to treat his mental health issues. He sings the praises only of Mounjaro, the injectable diabetes and weight-loss drug that he credits with making him feel “a decade younger, as well as clearer-headed and more optimistic than I’d been in years.”

Still, there have been big gaps in his attendance. Since his return from Walter Reed, Mr. Fetterman has missed more votes than all but two senators, both of whom were campaigning for president last year: Republicans JD Vance of Ohio and Tim Scott of South Carolina, according to a New York Times analysis of Senate roll call records. This year, the analysis found, Mr. Fetterman also has missed more votes than all but two of his colleagues: Senators Patty Murray, Democrat of Washington, and Bernie Sanders, independent of Vermont. Ms. Murray has been absent to care for her ailing husband, while Mr. Sanders has been on his “Fighting Oligarchy Tour,” speaking out against President Trump and drawing a total of 265,000 people to events across 12 states so far, according to a spokeswoman.

Mr. Fetterman, who has said that being away from his family is heartbreaking and “the worst part of the job,” says he has missed votes to spend more time at home with his children. He seethes over the idea that he must show up for Monday night votes — a staple of the Senate calendar often known as “bed checks,” a term he finds paternalistic and demeaning — rather than skip them and enjoy an extra day with his children. “The votes I missed were overwhelmingly procedural; they’re even called ‘bed check’ votes,” he said. “I had to make a decision: getting here and sticking my thumb in the door for three seconds for a procedural vote or spend Monday night as a dad-daughter date.”

He has also often missed Thursday evening votes because he likes to check in with his father, who recently had a heart attack. “I would go visit my dad instead of a throwaway vote,” he said. Hearings also seem to him like a waste of time. Senators question witnesses in order of seniority, leaving Mr. Fetterman, a first-term lawmaker, feeling that by the time his turn comes around, there’s nothing left to ask. He has told people it is like making a plate out of the dregs of a buffet bar.

Mr. Fetterman has also foregone events in his state. He has avoided hosting town halls with his constituents because he does not want to get heckled by protesters. “I just want to be in a room full of love,” he has told people. At the same time, Mr. Fetterman has shed staff. And he has grown more isolated from his Democratic colleagues. (Mr. Fetterman detests the word “isolated,” which he thinks is just code for mental health issues.) Despite attempts from his friends in Congress to draw him out, Mr. Fetterman still does not attend the weekly Democratic caucus lunch in the Capitol. He quit the caucus group chat, he said, because he couldn’t figure out how to turn off the notifications and most of the conversation was insignificant senatorial chitchat.

“It’s not like we were on a chain planning to bomb Yemen,” he said, referring jokingly to leaked Signal chats among top Trump officials. “It’s mostly just happy birthdays. Some days, it’s just emojis.” Pennsylvania voters who elected Mr. Fetterman in 2022 knew that he was a gruff guy; it was part of his political brand. But his absence has raised questions about whether he is doing the job for which he was sent to Washington. Some constituents have complained that they cannot reach him or his office.

And it has prompted alarm among his Democratic colleagues. “This is very stressful,” Senator Peter Welch, the Vermont Democrat who is Mr. Fetterman’s closest friend in the caucus, said in an interview. Mr. Welch had dinner this monthwith Mr. Fetterman and Senator Katie Britt, Republican of Alabama. He conceded that the scrutiny about his colleague’s behavior has been difficult for Mr. Fetterman. “John is hanging in,” he said. “It’s fair to say this is pretty stressful. This is a hard thing.”

Senator Chuck Schumer, Democrat of New York and minority leader, recently encouraged Democrats at one of the weekly lunches to do more to reach out and offer support to Mr. Fetterman. And he met with Mr. Fetterman last Thursday to discuss how he is holding up amid the renewed scrutiny of his conduct. Ms. Klobuchar also met with Mr. Fetterman last week to discuss his priorities on the Agriculture Committee, where she serves as the top Democrat. “I enjoy working with him and appreciate his perspectives,” she said.

But Mr. Fetterman’s behavior can be jarring to some people who have seen him up close. In the letter to his doctor last year, Mr. Fetterman’s former chief of staff, Adam Jentleson, wrote that he was concerned that the senator was not sticking to his treatment plan. Former staff aides who have worked closely with him describe erratic behavior and someone who is disconnected from his job. Mr. Fetterman shrugs off those concerns as the griping of anonymous sources with axes to grind.

As his alienation from his party has grown, some Republicans have begun courting Mr. Fetterman, a development that distresses some of his former aides, who argue that he is allowing himself to be used by Republicans to attack other Democrats. “Really, really cool dude,” Senator Bernie Moreno, Republican of Ohio, said of Mr. Fetterman. “Chuck Schumer is a drooling moron compared to John Fetterman.” Mr. Fetterman was offended at the suggestion that his Republican friends were exploiting him for political purposes. “That’s insulting and patronizing to say,” he said. “There’s no political upside for them to be nice to me. They realize what it is, and it’s a smear.” He said he enjoys the company of G.O.P. lawmakers and agrees with them on several issues — unequivocal support for Israel, the need to crack down on immigration, the downsides of cancel culture — but would never switch parties. “I’m not going to become a Republican; there’s no lane for me,” he said. “I’m very pro-L.G.B.T.Q.+, pro-choice, pro-union, pro-Medicaid. It’s just not a good match for either of us.”

Senator Peter Welch, the Vermont Democrat who is close with Mr. Fetterman, at a hearing last month. “It’s fair to say this is pretty stressful,” Mr. Welch, who was the first Democratic senator to publicly call for former President Joseph R. Biden Jr. to step aside last summer, said that he did not harbor similar concerns about Mr. Fetterman’s ability to do his job.

“The health issues of a member of the House or the Senate are important, he said, “but they’re not as existential as who is our candidate for president.” But some Democrats outside of Congress speak openly about their wish to see him go. “The regrettable fact is that John Fetterman is not doing the job he was elected to perform,” said Kierstyn Zolfo, a member of the progressive grass roots group Indivisible, who lives in Bucks County in Pennsylvania. “It makes me very sad, because I have supported him for so long, and I worked so hard to get him elected. But he’s just not getting the job done.”

Energy lines, trade routes, supply chains, tariffs, finance networks, railways, shipping lanes, and even space pacts – these are the new frontlines of global power. The rules of international order are being ripped up. What comes next is a raw, unregulated contest for supremacy.

The wars in Ukraine and Gaza, tensions across Taiwan, Cyprus, Greenland, and the Panama Canal – all are symptoms of this larger war over trade routes and corridors. Each represents a bid to dominate the flow of energy, goods, and capital.

West Asia, as always, is ground zero. It is no coincidence that US President Donald Trump’s first foreign visit in office was to the Persian Gulf. That 2025 tour yielded $3.2 trillion in deals and unveiled Washington’s counter to China’s Belt and Road Initiative (BRI): the India-Middle East-Europe Economic Corridor (IMEC) that seeks to connect India, via the Persian Gulf, to Israel, and onward to Europe.

IMEC is a construct aimed entirely at bypassing China’s BRI and reasserting US influence through West and Central Asia. But the corridor fight has exposed the fragmentation of global power.

India, China's biggest regional rival, projected to be the world’s second-largest economy by 2050, is Washington’s main partner in IMEC. Yet its open alliance with Israel and its hostile stance toward Pakistan jeopardize the entire plan. Few Muslim-majority nations are eager to align publicly with Tel Aviv. If India provokes a deeper conflict with nuclear-armed Pakistan, IMEC collapses.

Full Article

Pretty good article talking about the importance of the maritine/land trade corridors and how the US and China are planning about it

But the notion that journalists don’t play favorites is belied by another passage in Sulzberger’s updated manifesto. He wrote:

A record number of journalists have been killed or jailed in recent years. Many more are subjected to campaigns of harassment, intimidation, surveillance and censorship. Those efforts have been perhaps most obvious and intense in authoritarian states like China and Russia. But a more insidious playbook for undermining the press has emerged in places like Hungary and India. Places where democracy persists but in a more conditional way, under leaders who were elected legitimately and then set about undermining checks on their power.

https://www.newsweek.com/republican-missed-key-one-big-beautiful-bill-vote-because-he-fell-asleep-2075721