i haven't been able to go to detroit since early 2020 due to the pandemic and now my housing situation, but i used to hang out in hamtramck a lot (it became the artist district in detroit because it was cheap), and it was very noticeable that the small city (neighbourhood, really) had ethnic conflict bubbling up in it.

you could see this coming.

i think i posted about it, even.

in canada, cities are designed to prevent this kind of thing from happening. if left to become an isis enclave, the city is going to turn into a ghetto. the idea that a muslim majority council was a good thing was always stupid on it's face. would these people be happy about a majority conservative christian council? it's equivalent, in character. hopefully, a little burst of reality will help clarify why the fake left's politics around islam are so delusional and produce such a double standard; the ideology is incoherent because it's rooted in this concept of race that has no basis in empirical reality instead of identifiable religious and political ideology. the state needs to step in and try to create a larger level of diversity in the city by moving non-muslims in to water the population down.

are these residents of hamtramck expected to vote for the democrats? based on what logic? they're indiscernible from any other right wing christian. this is the base of the republican party. they are obvious republican voters, and it's an obvious republican demographic and voting block.

and, if you think something similar won't happen in your neigbourhood of toronto if it ends up majority muslim, you should think again. of course it will.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2023/jun/17/hamtramck-michigan-muslim-council-lgbtq-pride-flags-banned

everybody is so cynical nowadays. this must be a ploy to win, right?

the problem with running a parachuted-in candidate like harris is is that nobody actually knows where she stands on anything. she's clarified pretty clearly that she opposes restrictions on abortion. that's about it right now.

i don't think this is cynical and i don't think it's pragmatic. i think this is actually harris making an attempt to define herself as a moderate conservative, which is what she has always been, and attempting to honestly broadcast how she would actually govern.

as an aside, i'm really annoyed by the british press' insistence on the important of the muslim vote in michigan. there's no empirical basis to this and attempting to cater to muslim voters in a small region in suburban detroit is going to alienate the much larger and much more important black vote. distant british journalists clearly don't understand that the blacks and the muslims actually don't get along very well, and trying to cater to one has the tendency of pissing off the other. the democrats need to focus on winning black voters in detroit and on winning white liberals outside of detroit. appeasing conservative muslims that want to side with hamas cannot and should not be their secondary or tertiary concern if they want to actually win.

michigan does not have the most muslims in the united states:

further, it's worth pointing out that there's around 120,000 jews in michigan, as well.

it's certainly unusual that there are twice as many muslims as jews, and there would be few places in north america where that is true, but these are not numbers that are going to swing elections. in the long run, jews are generally liberals and muslims are generally conservatives. it makes no sense to focus on muslims at the explicit expense of jews. there are more than 250,000 arabs, but roughly half of them are christians that will assimilate as white within a generation or two. while it will be a smaller percentage than arab christians, an unknown but substantive (30%? 40%?) number of arab muslims in michigan will inevitably convert to christianity or atheism and assimilate as well.

this idea that michigan will be swung by the muslims is a narrative pushed by wealthy arab financiers that has little bearing in reality and that needs to be debunked as specious.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2024/oct/28/kamala-harris-moderates

i can also scribble myself in to a 2024 political compass.

is this accurate?

no. 

in recent years, i tend to argue that i agree with about 25% of the democratic party's platform and about 25% of the republican party's platform, and disagree with 75% of both of their respective platforms. i consequently oppose them equally and agree with them equally, but there's almost no overlap.

it is correct in pointing out that i'm a socialist and align much further to the left than the democrats, but the way these ideas are presented in today's spectrum is often confused. i actually wouldn't vote for the socialist party because i think they're too right-wing and too authoritarian. stalinism has re-emerged in critical theory and needs to be carefully resisted.

it has exaggerated my support for democrats and exaggerated my disinterest in republicans.

but these are the results and i want to post them as disclosure for transparency.