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university of california academic workers have authorised a strike in response to uc action against pro palestinian protestors and solidarity encampments, especially at UCLA.

this includes 48000 workers across 10 campuses.

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spot the difference

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This isn’t entirely true. It’s EVEN WORSE (because on the surface you’d think only 538 people control the votes, but it’s actually the government controlling those 538 people. Literally they will not be selected as an elector if they refuse to follow state election “rules,” and they will go to jail if they lie to become an elector and then disobey).

In theory, yes, those 538 have sole voting power. But each state’s legislature sets their own rules.

My mom looked into becoming an elector once because she was pissed about her vote never counting. In the state of Oklahoma (and many other states), electors have to sign a contract basically saying they’re just a figurehead and will vote however the state says they should vote.

This most often takes the form of the entire state’s electors voting for a single candidate (despite the actual popular vote). (Extreme) Example: say in Oklahoma the Republican candidate gets 51% of the vote, Dem gets 49% (forget 3rd party. Can’t even tell you the last time 3rd party candidates received an electoral vote), guess which candidate ALL electors are required to vote for (because they had to agree to do it in order to be an elector in the first place)??? The republicans.

That’s actually how every state (except Maine and Nebraska) work with their electors: Party Block Voting. And that’s how republicans haven’t won a popular vote in forever but keep stealing the White House. (That, and the fact that tiny conservative states have a proportionally larger share of electoral college votes). This is also why, as an extreme leftist, I am dead serious when I say voting 3rd party is pointless (and until the electoral college is gone, they will NEVER win)

It also brings up the entire point of the electoral college… if everyone signs a contract to vote how the state tells them, why do we even need a person (a literal puppet) sitting there marking a box on a form???

Because they want to make us FEEL like we’re doing something, and that our vote matters. Because the popular vote often means the difference between 0 and all electoral votes, but no matter how you look at it, the US Electoral College removes peoples’ choices.

Let’s get rid of it.

here's the thing: if you're not a member of the electoral college in the USA, it literally does not matter if you vote. electoral college members take the popular vote numbers, officially, as a *suggestion*, and they are full within their rights to vote against it (historically this was justified using the potential case of the ballots being collected just prior to some major event that would clearly invalidate a prior vote, such as a candidate being killed by another candidate). it literally only matters whether these unelected 538 people (unrelatedly, the USA has ~700 billionaires) vote for a given party. literally everyone in the country could vote for one candidate, but if those 538 people decided they didn't want to, they could just elect the other one, and it would be perfectly within the bounds of the US's constitution and so-called bourgeois 'democracy'.

Lenin said:

Freedom in capitalist society always remains about the same as it was in ancient Greek republics: Freedom for the slave-owners.

#fuck the electoral college

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Air biscuits

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“Trump can’t win the general election with 78% of the Republican vote. In 2020, Trump got 94% of the Republican vote and lost. The country would be well served if most of the Haley voters either voted for Biden, voted third party, stayed home or wrote somebody in for president. They don’t have to vote for Biden to thwart Trump. Even Fox “News” has admitted that Trump can’t win without Haley’s supporters. Another symptom of Trump fatigue is that Mike Pence has declined to endorse his candidacy. This is huge news. What if Al Gore had refused to endorse Biden? In addition, 41 out of 44 Trump cabinet members have declined to endorse him. These are the people who know Trump best. This gives millions of Republicans a permission slip to not vote for Trump in November.”

—

Republicans In Disarray - Why Trump Won’t Win

I don’t believe we can take a single moment’s rest until he is vanquished, and I’m terrified he will find a way to successfully execute the coup this time, but this writer has some good observations that can help keep us focused.

#I mean he was still president in 2020 even though he lost like… #There were so many articles and think pieces about how Clinton had it in the bag #All those southern states will immediately turn red for whatever candidate they nominate the second polls open #and when dinky southern states have more voting power than massively populous states via the electoral college #it literally doesn’t matter #Fivethirtyeight who had RARELY ever been wrong with its statistical analyses became a laughing stock because of how incorrect it was #Not to mention they belong to ABC/Disney now so I wouldn’t trust them anymore regardless but I digress… #Vote for whoever the fuck you want; the electoral college is still picking Trump #I’m not engaging with the lesser of two evils discourse #this country deserves what it gets honestly

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as always l The Oatmeal l ⬇txt-edited

#2nd night of auroras was like this for me #and I didn’t hear about the first night until AFTER #ugh fml

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“Hey, I found your blog on Tumblr-”

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Today I learned 3D animation is a horror show outside the camera's field of view.

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I know I sound like your mom but you kids need to stop fucking vaping

#yeah you kids need to stop vaping #so like obviously anything that you put into your lungs besides plain old air is bad #yes don’t start vaping #but I’m sick of all the scare tactics too like it’s somehow more deadly or worse than cigarettes #1) not true. vaping coats your lungs with the chemicals you’re vaping which is vastly different depending on the brands #cancer? sure maybe but again—no different than anything besides pure air that you breathe #2) diacetyl hasn’t been super common since popcorn lung became like a major thing with vapes. they use other chemicals for flavor #if your vape has anything other than Nicotine Propylene Glycol VG and natural flavor you shouldn’t get it #and it should go without saying don’t buy any vape that doesn’t print their ingredient list on the box (and it’s surprising how many don’t) #3 & 4) no different than literally anything you put in your lungs (besides pure air) #better stop smoking joints too (because it causes heart attacks) lol #let’s not even talk about just general air pollution and what THAT does to your lungs #5) MOST studies done in vapes WERE PERFORMED BY THE TOBACCO COMPANIES #like if that’s not the biggest fucking red flag right there I don’t know what to tell you #but yeah don’t vape around strangers who didn’t consent #this isn’t 19 fucking 20 you guys #even if we disagree on the impact that doesn’t mean we go back to smoking sections EVERYWHERE #My biggest complaint about the anti-vaping crowd is that it seems they want us all to go back to smoking #I know; they’d prefer us to just STOP altogether #but short of that they want us to switch back to cigarettes #they’re cheaper they’re ‘more social’ and big tobacco actually has a proven paper trail of ulterior motives here #it’s annoying that people act like vaping is just this new candy cigarette for babies #when like it’s actually helped SO MANY people quit smoking #but the more stigma against vaping and more regulated it becomes (more regulated than cigarettes btw) the more smokers we create #see point 5 again to understand the whole point of manufacturing outrage and false data for ‘studies’

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The real Tragedy of Episode 9 of X-men '97 is how much of a Backslide it is for everyone.

Genosha didn't just tarnish all the good work Mutants have done, it's practically reversed it.

The X-men are basically back at square one, Magneto is going to end the world, Charles is pontificating, Jean might be dead, Again.

They're literally right back where they started and the only way I can see this forward is Scott standing up to both Erik and Charles and saying "Everytime theres a set back you two chuckle-fucks literaly go right back to Zero."

#lol exactly why Scott killed his sugar daddy that one time #(well maybe not exactly but the sentiment is the same) #Xavier deserves it

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The important thing is that Marcille did not learn to blaspheme against the natural order to save her girlfriend. She just happened to have studied the art of spitting in God's eye for wholly unrelated reasons, and when the opportunity by chance arose to employ that skill in service of girlfriend-saving, she was ready.

#how I feel when I’m asked to write literally anything #please sir can I have some words to type

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queer platonic polycule whose primary purpose is to allow us to afford a house

#where #please y’all I NEED this in my life

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I have no concept of tmi you should tell me everything