#the republicans are committed to destroying us

[short-wooloo]

I cannot overstate this enough, but with the threat of trump and project 2025, there is GENUINELY a chance that this year's pride month could be the last...

I want y'all to really think about that, think about it when you hear or think "I'm not voting" or "both sides are the same

#we are not fucking around here #both sides are not the same #vote blue #vote biden #vote democrat #pride #pride month #pride 2024 #don't let it be “the final pride month” #vote if you want pride 2025 #or pride 2026 #or 2027 #or 2028 #and so on and so forth #the republicans are committed to destroying us #we cannot give up we cannot be complacent we cannot assume #we have to vote and we have to vote blue every election #to not do so is to support our own deaths #biden 2024 #us elections #us politics #politics #us presidential election #2024 us presidential election #2024 us elections #joe biden #democrats #vote blue dammit #wooloo-writes #wooloo writes

[qqueenofhades]

Hwy dod we even need to send more money to Ukraine tho like we’ve already supported them plenty! But let Europe pull their weight and we can go back to spending that money on American policies

Do you read like, any news outside Tumblr, any Ukrainian perspectives, any basic analyses of the conflict, any rationale from Democrats or Congress, or anything? Because, in brief:

Ukrainians are currently facing a full-scale genocide. It has been going on for over a year and Russian military leadership has every plan to continue until fruition. If they stop resisting, there will be no more Ukraine or Ukrainians. So all the "appeasers" or "realists" insisting that Ukraine should "give up land for peace" (which notably worked so well with Czechoslovakia and Hitler in 1938) are basically deciding that it's fine to let the genocide be carried out, if it's even minorly inconvenient for us. Putin and cronies have repeatedly stated that if they are successful in taking Ukraine, they will go further. This is the exact scenario that leads to the "escalation" and/or WWIII that various people keep wringing their hands over. It is far more just and safe for Ukraine to be supported now and to stop that before it gets even worse.

America is not actually giving over buckets of black cash, regardless of what various bad-faith takes claim. They are handing over weapons valued at various amounts of money, along with some financial and budgetary aid. A lot of these weapons are older and would cost more to decommission than they cost to give to a sovereign democracy fighting for its life against an imperialist autocratic neighbor. This is some tiny amount like 5% (if that) of America's bloated military budget. And again: it's actual weapons valued at a certain dollar amount. These cannot be spent on American domestic policies.

The idea that helping Ukraine is directly coming out of our own pockets or preventing us from spending as needed on our own needs is propaganda. It is not good to repeat it.

I wrote this post the other day about why Putin is trying so hard to break American/Western support for Ukraine, and why the hard-right MAGA has enabled him in it. Putin's Russia is the motivating nexus, coordination, and funding center for Russian/European/American far-right theocratic fascism. This whole "America Only" is the exact rationale that appeals to said far-right domestic fascists and gives Putin and other imperial expansionist kleptocrats the justification to just throw away post-WWII international order and declare that any larger and more powerful state can systematically eradicate any neighboring country, claim its territory, destroy its government, kill its people, and get away with it. Because why would they stop, if there aren't any consequences and they are rewarded for it?

Putin has repeatedly interfered in American elections to help Trump and the Republicans. That should tell you something about who he sees as most favorable to his interests and what he would do again if allowed to emerge victorious.

Europe IS actually pulling its weight! They just brought all 27 defense ministers to Kyiv, they have been working on Ukraine's accession talks, they have committed all types of weapons (including the long-range missiles that the US still won't clearly authorize), they've committed a new tranche of 5 billion euros in long-term assistance, etc. But the whole "we should pull out of NATO and leave Europe to fend for itself" was a key isolationist and xenophobic Trump idea. We can see what that led to.

American aid is vital to Ukraine's continued existence as a sovereign country, period, and it is in American interests to continue to provide it as agreed upon. Not least because such an egregious betrayal of a democratic ally would empower the fascists of the world, both Russian and American, and because as noted, if this conflict was not stopped and got bigger, it would then involve American troops. It is a moral, democratic, political, and ethical imperative. This is not a difficult call or a complicated situation, regardless of what the Online Leftist tankies and the MAGA-world nutcases (because horseshoe theory) want you to think.

Слава Україні.

The end.

#anonymous #ask #russia ukraine war

[eretzyisrael]

A firm called WPA Intelligence did a survey of American voters asking various questions about whether they want a ceasefire in Gaza and other things.

But one question say volumes about how little liberal - and supposedly educated - Americans know about the conflict they are so eager to opine about.

67% of Democrats agreed with the statement that “a sovereign Arab country named Palestine used to exist where Israel is presently located.” 

Two out of three Democrats don't know this basic fact. For Republicans, 55% thought the statement was false. For all American voters, the results were about 50/50, which is disheartening on its own. 

Older respondents tended to answer the question correctly, while 68% of those ages 18-34 got it wrong.

But the percentage of people altogether who believe the lie is not at all correlated to education. 57% of those with a high school or lower education, 58% of those with some college education, 54% of those with a bachelor's degree and 56% of those with a postgraduate degree believed this fiction of an independent Palestinian state.

This is a damning indictment of the US educational system. 

Another survey question is relevant. When asked, without context, whether they supported a ceasefire in Gaza. 70% said they do.

Then the survey told them that this means that a ceasefire would mean that the hostages would not be released. Suddenly, 20% of those who supported the ceasefire switched sides. (But 70% of Democrats still support a ceasefire without Hamas being defeated and without the hostages being returned.)

Now, imagine if the people surveyed knew about Hamas' promise that October 7 was just the beginning, and the terror group intended to mount much deadlier attacks "again and again" until Israel is destroyed - a story that did not get nearly as much publicity as the daily reports of civilian deaths in Gaza. There would be another large shift against a ceasefire when people get an inkling of what the conflict is really about and how depraved Hamas is. 

The 70% who say they support a ceasefire are the same 70% who know nothing about the history, the facts, the context. 

The people who are the most informed tend to side with Israel.  

The corollary to this is that the people who hate Israel will do everything they can to misrepresent the facts and lie about the conflict in order to get people on their side. 

People learn about the conflict not from school but from social media, from TikTok and YouTube, from loud and obnoxious anti-Israel activists who are committed to lie and misrepresent the issues.  And it shows. 

The media isn't helping matters because most journalists are at least passively anti-Israel and their coverage will minimize real facts, history and context and emphasize Palestinian victimhood. 

If you think that Israel replaced a Palestinian state, of course you would be anti-Israel. This is exactly why so many social media posts represent British Mandate currency as if it was from a nation named "Palestine" and people named "Palestinian."  The coin suggests a story, the reality shows the opposite, and a lot of people don't want the people to know the reality.

#wpa intelligence #hamas #gaza #survey #israel #country of palestine

[tittyinfinity]

i can't shut up i'm sorry I'm ranting about Biden again

I'm starting to think Trump's presidency really wasn't any worse than what we have going on now, he was just targeting different people.

Bear with me.

The thing is, Biden has been the president for most of the pandemic and he hasn't been doing anything to stop the spread of it, so when people say "but Trump would kill US here!!" I wanna mention that Biden is already killing people of all parts of the political spectrum with his passiveness on covid

Biden is smarter than Trump. He's been in politics longer. He has had decades of learning how to maneuver politics. He has agreed with a lot of bad policies, many more than Trump even had the ability to do w his only 4 years of presidency. Trump is more interested in his image than anything else. Which is also dangerous! But it's much easier to convince people that Trump, a guy who is loud about his prejudices and caused a lot of damage because of that, is worse than a guy who pretends to agree with you on issues and then commits literal genocide.

Like I said, it just changes who is targeted instead. But is that really the case? We're already being targeted in different ways. A few good things have passed under Biden! But we also lost more bodily autonomy rights as far as abortion and trans rights go (not everywhere, but many states have become dangerous to live in). "That's not completely his fault" sure! Well then if the president doesn't have the power to change things truly for the better themselves, then worrying about who the president will be doesn't really matter. Also, presidents in the US have the ability to make executive orders.

And maybe he has spoken up on these things more and I just haven't heard about them - but Biden does not take the time to speak out about the anti-abortion, anti-trans, or healthcare related issues, except for the occasional quip here and there before he goes right back to not giving a shit. And I'm only using those as an example because a lot of "vote blue no matter who" people apparently only care about what happens to people here instead of in other countries.

And it's just really shitty to say "well what about the people who COULD die under a republican presidency instead of the real people dying from Biden's incitement of genocide right now!"

Trump incited a LOT of hatred in our country, yes. It pushed people to be more loud and open about their prejudices. But the deaths caused by hate crimes and COVID here in America were not on near of a large and deadly scale as what Biden is doing right now. We didn't watch our entire cities get destroyed and have our entire families wiped out.

So it seems, again, like the "vote blue no matter who" crowd only cares about politics when it comes to how THEY will (or MIGHT) be affected.

Am I saying vote for Trump or DeSantis? Fuck no. I'm saying prevent the next election from happening and burn this imperialistic genocidal government to the ground. The US has caused enough death, well into the millions, ever since it was created, and hasn't ever stopped committing genocide. But it only seems to matter when it (COULD) happen to white Americans.

Mexican people are still being put in cages and having their children stolen, too.

Indigenous people are still being murdered.

Disabled people are still dying from lack of accessible healthcare.

And the prices of everything have SKYROCKETED since Biden became president.

People are already suffering under a democratic president. You just won't care until it happens to you.

#.bdo

[warrioreowynofrohan]

For quite a while, the section “The Bishop in the Presence of an Unknown Light,” was my favourite bit of Les Misérables, and this was my favourite line of that section:

“A cloud had been forming for fifteen hundred years; at the end of fifteen centuries it burst. You condemn the thunderbolt.” [1500 from at little before 1800 gives you somewhere around 300 A.D.; this is far too long to be referring to the Bourbon monarchy - thanks to a friend for the idea that it probably refers to the creation of a state church under Constantine in the A.D. 300s.]

N.K. Jemisin has a line communicating what is, I think, a very similar idea in her Broken Earth trilogy, in a world that is beset by great earthquakes:

When a comm [community] builds atop a fault line, do you blame its walls when they inevitably crush the people inside? No; you blame whoever was stupid enough to think they could defy the laws of nature forever. Well, some worlds are build on a fault line of pain, held up by nightmares. Don’t lament when those worlds fall. Rage that they were built doomed in the first place.

And this us not, in some respects, all that different from what Bishop Myriel himself said in an earlier chapter:

“The faults of women, children, and servants, of the feeble, the indigent, and the ignorant, are the faults of their husbands, fathers, and masters, of the strong, the rich, and the wise…If the soul is left in darkness, sins will be committed. The guilty one is not he who commits the sin, but he who causes the darkness.”

As I’ve learned more detail about the French Revolution, I have become unconvinced of the conventionary’s assertion that it “loosened all the secret bonds of society, made the waves of civilization flow over the earth, is the consecrecration of humanity.” If it destroyed the old tyranny and oppression, it replaced it with a new tyranny and oppression (actual several new ones, from the partisan purge to the ‘managed democracy’ to the military dictatorship); if it removed the old religious intolerance, it replaced it with a new religious intolerance. It was more willing to kill people for following their consciences than the regime of Louis XVI that preceded it, and it encouraged ordinary people to kill not rich oppressors but ordinary neighbours (ref: Murder in Aubagne by D.G.M. Sutherland, a case study on the cycles of violence that came from it becoming socially normal to kill your neighbours for being associated with a different form of republicanism than yourself, and then normal to even kill anyone who agreed with you politically but objected to the murdering).

You condemn the thunderbolt, is, I think, the more convincing assertion - if pressure builds up to a certain point, it will break, like a dam, and the primary blame lies with those who allowed it build up to that point. The argument is not that the dam breaking is the ideal, but that under certain circumstances it is inevitable. Oppression should be fought; reform should be made, firstly for its own sake became it is good and necessary and just and compassionate, and secondly to avert the damage the thunderbolt would do to the innocent; and if that reform is not happening fast enough, the answer is not to say to the suffering, “Be patient!” but to say to the powerful, “Move faster!”

#les mis letters #lm 1.1.10 #les miserables

[tomorrowusa]

A MAGA think tank (sort of an oxymoron) published a document with the official title Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise but is widely known as Project 2025 after the name of the group inside the Heritage Foundation which compiled it. Whatever you call it, it is a bloodcurdling blueprint of the shape a second Trump administration would take.

Carlos Lozada of the New York Times read 887 pages of it so we don't have to.

[W]hat is most striking about the book is not the specific policy agenda it outlines but how far the authors are willing to go in pursuit of that agenda and how reckless their assumptions are about law, power and public service. “Mandate for Leadership,” which was edited by Paul Dans and Steven Groves of the Heritage Foundation, is not about anything as simplistic as being dictator for a day but about consolidating authority and eroding accountability for the long haul. It calls for a relentless politicizing of the federal government, with presidential appointees overpowering career officials at every turn and agencies and offices abolished on overtly ideological grounds. Though it assures readers that the president and his or her subordinates “must be committed to the Constitution and the rule of law,” it portrays the president as the personal embodiment of popular will and treats the law as an impediment to conservative governance. It elevates the role of religious beliefs in government affairs and regards the powers of Congress and the judiciary with dismissiveness. And for all the book’s rhetoric about the need to “dismantle the administrative state,” it soon becomes clear that vanquishing the federal bureaucracy is not the document’s animating ambition. There may be plenty worth jettisoning from the executive branch, but “Mandate for Leadership” is about capturing the administrative state, not unmaking it. The main conservative promise here is to wield the state as a tool for concentrating power and entrenching ideology.

We hear a lot of far right rhetoric about destroying "the deep state" or "the administrative state" – particularly from the odious Steve Bannon. But what's clear from Project 2025 is that what MAGA really intends is an unfriendly takeover of "the administrative state".

Executing a conservative president’s agenda “requires a well-conceived, coordinated, unified plan and a trained and committed cadre of personnel to implement it,” the document says on its opening page. The phrasing quickly grows militaristic: The authors wish to “assemble an army of aligned, vetted, trained and prepared conservatives to go to work on Day 1 to deconstruct the administrative state.” That deconstruction can be blunt. Portions of “Mandate for Leadership” read as though the authors did a Control-F search of the executive branch for any terms they deemed suspect and then deleted the offending programs or offices. The White House’s Gender Policy Council must go, along with its Office of Domestic Climate Policy. The Department of Energy’s Office of Clean Energy Demonstrations is a no-no. The E.P.A. can do without its Office of Environmental Justice and External Civil Rights. And the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration should be dismantled because it constitutes “one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm industry.”

Making the US safe for fossil fuel companies is a HŪGE Trump priority which gets too little attention. Remember "drill drill drill" from Trump's dictator interview? If there's any hope of reversing climate change, you can kiss it goodbye if Republicans win in November.

Of course abortion is a target of Project 2025. Christian nationalism would become the semi-official ideology.

If “Mandate for Leadership” has its way, the next conservative administration will also target the data gathering and analysis that undergirds public policy. Every U.S. state should be required by Health and Human Services to report “exactly how many abortions take place within its borders, at what gestational age of the child, for what reason, the mother’s state of residence and by what method.” By contrast, the government should prohibit the collection of employment statistics based on race or ethnicity, and the Centers for Disease Control should discontinue gathering data on gender identity, on the grounds that such collection “encourages the phenomenon of ever-multiplying subjective identities.” (Why the executive branch might concern itself with the subjective identities of American citizens becomes clearer some 25 pages later, when the document affirms that the government should “maintain a biblically based, social-science-reinforced definition of marriage and family.”)

A far right army of ideological zealots is to be recruited to replace anybody in the federal government not sufficiently pro-Trump.

One of the “pillars” of Project 2025 is the creation of a personnel database — a sort of “right-wing LinkedIn,” The Times has reported, seeking to attract some 20,000 potential administration officials. “Mandate for Leadership” maintains that “empowering political appointees across the administration is crucial to a president’s success,” and virtually every chapter calls for additional appointees to wrest power from longtime career staff members in their respective departments.

In short... (emphasis added)

This book does not call for an effort to depoliticize the administrative state. It simply wishes to politicize it in favor of a new side. Everybody does it; now it’s our turn. Get over it.

The book is hardly a secret. The far right is quite open about its intent.

Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise (PDF)

As with Mein Kampf, we know ahead of time what the bad guys will do if they hold power. We need to take the danger more seriously than Germany of the early 1930s.

What's needed to defeat Trump is a pro-democracy mobilization of the United States. That means putting aside ideological quibbles with other anti-Trump groupings and becoming more politically active in real life.

EDIT: Tumblr is telling me that the link to Mandate for Leadership: The Conservative Promise isn't working and refuses to let me post it. But I just checked it twice and it's fine. Until this peculiar glitch gets fixed, go to this Substack article and click "Mandate for Leadership" in the middle of the first paragraph.

#donald trump #the gop #danger to democracy #outline for dictatorship #project 2025 #mandate for leadership: the conservative promise #christian nationalism #abortion #fossil fuels #climate change #republicans #maga think tank #the heritage foundation #carlos lozada #election 2024 #vote blue no matter who #help save democracy

[totallyseiso]

US politics is very simple. See, you've got two candidates: there's the good guy innocent UwU bean (democrat) vs the most evil person to ever live (republican) so you have to vote for UwU bean. Even if you're not a US citizen you still have to vote for UwU bean because not voting is, like, double voting for the evil guy, which is bad! Because once the evil guy is in power he will single-handedly destroy democracy in the whole world forever! (T_T) and he can do this because being president gives him total power over everything ever. So you have to vote for UwU bean, but! Once UwU bean is in power, since being president gives him no power over anything ever, don't expect anything to get better, his hands are tied.

Sometimes it may look like UwU bean is doing bad things, but he has no choice! (T_T) so no matter how many war crimes he commits, or how many billions of dollars he sends to people committing genocide, you've still gotta get out there and vote! d=(^o^)=b

Otherwise it could be the end of democracy in the only country that matters! (@_@)

#i hope one day americans learn that withholding votes is the most basic way to get politicians to do what you want but i wont hold my breath

[naturalrights-retard]

The Senate has prevented the US government from sending billions to aid foreign wars in a 49-51 vote. Republicans demanded that protections for the US border be implemented in the latest $111 billion spending package. The nation is spending billions on the illegals entering the country and those requesting a secure border are asking for a fraction of what the Biden Administration sent to Ukraine alone. Biden is now threatening to send American troops to Ukraine if he cannot send a blank check.

Biden continued with the claim that Putin wants to build the Russian empire and will not stop at Ukraine. “We’ll have something that we don’t seek and that we don’t have today: American troops fighting Russian troops,” Biden declared. Now some say Biden was merely stating that America would be forced to act if Russia attacked a  NATO nation. The truth of the matter is that Biden is threatening to kill American men and women if he does not secure funding. National Security spokesperson John Kirby reiterated Biden’s threats. “America will not only spend money, but also shed its own blood,” he claimed. “If you think the cost of supporting Ukraine is high now just imagine how much higher it’s going to be not just in National Treasure but in American blood if he [Putin] starts going after one of our NATO allies… we [will] take our Article 5 commitments very seriously,” said Kirby.

Senator Bernie Sanders actually sided with the GOP over this issue as he did not want to send Israel “no-strings-attached money.” Sanders believes Netanyahu is a far-right extremist but does not believe the war can simply end. Rather, he does not believe America should focus on funding foreign wars at this time. “The problem with saying it is, it is not going to happen, because in Hamas, you have a corrupt terrorist organization that has stated before the attack on October 7, and after the attack on October 7, that their goal is to destroy Israel and engage in perpetual warfare,” Sanders continued. “To simply say ‘cease-fire,’ in my view, would be to provide false hope to anybody. I don’t know how you have a cease-fire with a group who says we don’t want a cease-fire.”

As for the Biden Administration, the situation at the US-Mexico border has never been worse. Americans want American taxes to go toward securing our own border and we deserve to have representation.

[ms-cellanies]

WE CANNOT LET REPBULIKKKANS DESTROY OUR SOCIAL SECURITY. IT IS OUR MONEY & NOT THE MONEY THAT OUR ELECTED OFFICIALS MAKE.

TAX THE RICH if for no other reason than THEY CAN AFFORD TO PAY TAXES. Considering their exorbitant WEALTH they would NEVER MISS THE TAXES THEY SHOULD, LIKE THE REST OF US, BE PAYING TO THE IRS.

LET'S MAKE REPUBLIKKKANS STOP FUNDING THE WEALTHY. TELL REPUBLIKKKANS TO KEEP THEIR HANDS OFF OUR SOCIAL SECURITY CHECKS.

[1americanconservative]

My fellow Americans: 

This is Vivek Ramaswamy. I hoped to email you on a lighter note but I didn’t have another choice with everything happening right now. 

The unholy alliance between Joe Biden, the corrupt Deep State, the DC Swamp, the Liberal Media, and the Radical Left Democrats is a national disgrace. 

We, the American People, will never forget what they’ve done to us. Luckily, we have a plan to stop these radicals who: – Desecrated Easter Sunday with wokeism – Arrested the leader of the Republican Party – Removed Trump from the ballot in key states – Raided Mar-a-Lago with armed agents – Censored Conservative voices – Spied on Catholic worshippers – Gutted election integrity measures – Peddled the Russia Hoax for years  – Threw open our border to illegals – Abandoned Americans in Afghanistan – Caved to the Chinese Communist Party – Moved to pack the Supreme Court – Forced propaganda into classrooms

And the list goes on and on and on! Never before in the history of the world has a truly great country fallen so far from grace in such a short time. If the Radical Left Democrats somehow win control of the White House, the Senate, and the House… America will be lost forever. 

I know this to be true. You know it too. But when everything is on the line, moments like this separate the strong from the weak. And make no mistake – the future of our country hangs in the balance.

That’s why I’m partnering with Majority Leader Steve Scalise for the FIRST TIME. Together, we’re rallying the STRONGEST American Patriots from across the country and building the biggest surge of grassroots support this country has ever seen.

If you consider yourself a strong American Patriot – like the two of us do – I’m personally asking for your full commitment right here and right now. 

The resources we collect today will help build the largest GOP voter turnout operation in history, deploy an army of volunteers in swing districts, run hard-hitting ads in battleground states, harvest ballots where it’s legal, and help make this the most secure election EVER. 

THAT is how Conservatives will win in a landslide…

THAT is how we take control of the White House, Senate, AND House… 

THAT is how we stop the Radical Left Democrats from destroying America…

THAT is how we save our country as we know it…

AND THAT is how we send shockwaves through the heart of the Deep State, DC Swamp, and Liberal Media…

[ridenwithbiden]

Marilyn Lands, a Democrat who made reproductive rights a central part of her campaign, will win a special election Tuesday for an Alabama state House seat, CNN projects.

Her victory serves as another data point for national Democrats, who hope the backlash over strict state abortion laws following the overturning of Roe v. Wade and concerns about in vitro fertilization treatments will help their party in November, even in traditionally Republican areas.

The Biden campaign heralded Lands’ victory as a “warning sign” for former President Donald Trump and “extreme MAGA Republicans.” Alabama voters “know exactly who’s to blame for restricting their ability to decide how and when to build their families and they’re ready to fight back,” Biden-Harris campaign manager Julie Chavez Rodriguez said in a statement.

Lands said her win sends “a clear message” to Montgomery. “Our legislature must repeal Alabama’s no-exceptions abortion ban, fully restore access to IVF, and protect the right to contraception,” she said Tuesday night.

The special election will not change the balance of power in Alabama, where Republicans hold super majorities in both legislative chambers and control the governor’s office.

But Democrats touted the win in a red state and what that could mean for November. “Tonight’s victory is a political earthquake in Alabama – the heart of Republican territory and ground zero for the most egregious attacks on our fundamental freedoms,” Heather Williams, the president of the Democratic Legislative Campaign Committee, said in a statement.

Williams called the win a “harbinger of things to come” ahead of the general election.

Lands, a licensed professional counselor who lost her 2022 bid for the Huntsville-area seat by nearly 7 points, opposes the state’s near-total ban on abortion and openly discussed the abortion she had more than 20 years ago after her fetus tested positive for a rare genetic condition.

Her opponent, Republican Teddy Powell, a two-term Madison City councilman, avoided discussing abortion rights and focused his campaign on economic development, infrastructure and education funding. Powell described himself as “pro-life” but said he might be open to considering legislation to add exceptions for rape and incest to Alabama’s abortion ban.

The seat opened up after Republican state Rep. David Cole resigned last year. Cole pleaded guilty to committing election fraud by voting in the district he represented despite not living there.

Alabama became one of about a dozen states to prohibit abortion with few exceptions when its trigger law went into effect after the US Supreme Court eliminated federal abortion protections in 2022.

Earlier this year, the Alabama Supreme Court ruled that frozen embryos are considered children, which made IVF clinics liable in wrongful-death lawsuits if embryos were destroyed. Several Alabama providers paused some IVF services in the wake of the ruling. Though Alabama politicians quickly enacted legislation to shield patients and clinics from criminal and civil liability, Democrats and abortion rights advocates said the court decision grew out of anti-abortion policies, including laws that say life begins at conception.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Judd Legum and Tesnim Zekeria at Popular Information:

In the 2024 presidential election, one of the central attacks that Trump and his political allies are levying against Biden is that Biden is responsible for a "migrant crime" wave. The argument was summarized by Trump in a March 22 video:

[[A] real bloodbath is occurring right now under crooked Joe. It’s Biden’s Border Bloodbath. There’s never been anything like that. Every day, Joe Biden is setting loose thousands of unvetted, unscreened, military-age men into the United States from parts unknown… We had the safest border in history. Now we have the worst border probably in the history of the world. Every day innocent citizens are being killed, stabbed, shot, raped, and murdered because of Biden migrant crime. It’s a new word, a new term. It’s migrant crime, but we call it Biden migrant crime cause he’s responsible for it 100%... When I’m your president, we’re going to end this disgrace, and we’re going to stop Biden’s Border Bloodbath. It is a bloodbath indeed, and we’re going to get it stopped.]

The Republican National Committee (RNC) has launched a website dedicated to the issue, BidenBloodbath.com. "History will remember Biden for his destruction, chaos, and failure. Lives of everyday Americans have been shattered as a direct result of Biden’s open border policies — and he doesn’t care," the RNC claims on the homepage. "We have to stand up and stop Biden before he destroys our nation. The cost of doing nothing is measured in the lives lost to the… crime wave washing across America."

This message has been amplified by the right-wing media. Fox News' Jesse Watters, who hosts the network's top-rated primetime show, offered this commentary on April 12:

[Migrant crime is quickly becoming one of the largest issues affecting the American people. Communities all across the United States are being terrorized by violent illegals, while Biden rolls out the red carpet for them with his open border policies, but Donald Trump is pledging to take care of the problem and keep our citizens safe when Republicans get back in power]

There are violent crimes committed by undocumented migrants, which are traumatic for the victims, their families, and their communities. That is why the accusation that Biden is responsible for a surge in violent crime by undocumented migrants is so politically potent. There are disturbing anecdotes of crimes that make powerful fodder for attacks during a political campaign. People, understandably, want to feel safe.  But is there evidence that, since Biden took office, there has been a surge in violent crime by undocumented migrants? 

[...]

The national crime decline

If there is no migrant crime wave at the border, perhaps it will show up in other areas of the country. The data does not support that claim either.  Nationwide, homicide and violent crime dramatically declined in 2023. According to the latest FBI’s Quarterly Uniform Crime report, which was released in March, homicides were down 13% in 2023 compared to 2022. Meanwhile, violent crime and property crime dipped 6% and 4% respectively. This data is preliminary and based on reports submitted by 15,199 of 19,152 law enforcement agencies across the country, reflecting “about 82% of the U.S. population.” (The FBI will release a more complete analysis for 2023 in the fall.) 

[...] The fact that we are not seeing evidence of a migrant crime surge is consistent with historical data that shows migrants, even undocumented migrants, are less likely to commit crimes than native-born Americans. A peer-reviewed 2020 study, which used data from the Texas Department of Public Safety from 2012 to 2018, "found a lower felony arrest rate for immigrants in the U.S. illegally compared to legal immigrants and native-born U.S. citizens and no evidence of increasing criminality among immigrants." An upcoming study by a researcher at the libertarian Cato Institute similarly found that "undocumented migrants in Texas were about 26% less likely to be convicted of homicide than native-born Americans over the decade of 2013-22." It appears, however, that Republican messaging around the issue is having an impact. Despite the data, most people believe crime is up. A Gallup poll in November 2023 found that 77% of Americans “believe there is more crime in the U.S. than a year ago.” 

Popular Information debunks the right-wing myth of a "migrant crime" wave. Such fact-free propaganda has been spewed out by the likes of Donald Trump and other conservative media outlets.

#Crime #Donald Trump #2024 Presidential Election #2024 Elections #Joe Biden #Bloodbath #Popular Information

[istherewifiinhell]

Key US Republican calls South Africa’s ICJ case ‘anti-Semitic’

Elise Stefanik, a top legislator in the US House of Representatives, noted that Republicans are “unified” in rejecting South Africa’s petition to the UN court accusing Israel of violating the Genocide Convention.

Dozens of lawmakers from President Joe Biden’s Democratic Party had also joined Republicans in signing on to a letter expressing “disgust” at the case.

“I joined a letter condemning South Africa for filing an anti-Semitic case against our ally Israel that perpetuates false and dangerous allegations against the Jewish state,” Stefanik said in a social media post.

The UN defines genocide as “acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group”. Israel has killed more than one percent of Gaza’s population since October 7.

#palestine #us pol #beyond words. as always. sorry like. what part of the case. what part of SAs case about the WAR CRIMES #once again. a completely calculated and evil move. #cant see that having any consequences for when ppl need to ACTUALLY call things antisemitic./ssssss fucking. #anyone else really feeling the complete loop of the media cycle

[chiarrara]

I don't know I just feel like....

We just watched a man self-immolate in his military uniform. And I don't want to sound like an idiot, because it's much more than this but, couldn't you say that was a very extreme form of conscientious objection?

He could not be complicit anymore, but there is literally no way out of being complicit in this genocide if you live in America. For him especially, being trapped in military service. But for all of us. All of us are trapped in complicity in some way, and we can try to counteract that sin with as much meaningful direct action as we can possibly do, but all of that action comes with some proportional level of risk.

So, a man burned himself alive in an extreme form of conscientious objection (the only form available to him - one of great violence)

And people are still on here telling people to suck it up and vote for Biden.

I just... maybe I'm really stupid and I just can't see the logic y'all are putting forward. Because the way you lay it out it all seems to make so much sense to you. I understand we're trapped in a two party system. I understand the Republicans don't have the same consciences we do and are gonna vote en masse for Trump. I understand Trump is a danger globally and domestically. I understand all that, and I don't want his second term to come to pass. I'm not ignorant of how dangerous he is.

But a man self-immolated to object to the system of complicity he's trapped in, and the most logical response y'all have to a bunch of people wanting to opt out of complicity in this election, and the next four years of horrors that will be done in their name is to tell them, you just have to suck it up and be complicit. Your only tool is to make a phone call. You can try to protest, but there's a non-zero chance you'll be beaten and arrested and have your life ruined, by the way. You can donate to try and put a bandaid on the horrors you're seeing through your phone screen everyday (and you should, but God it's sure not stopping anything). But you're not allowed to object to being complicit in the selection of the Genocider-In-Chief.

It's not going to stop the genocide. We know this. It's not going to stop the election. We know this. It's not going to change anything directly, and Trump is going to get elected (which he will either way. most people who would vote against him are doing it anyway, y'all are fighting a very very small online minority).

But a man self-immolated in his military uniform. He didn't think that act was going to directly stop aid from going to Israel, or stop the genocide, or destroy the US military industrial complex. He didn't think his one small (but extremely brave and impactful) act was going to solve everything. Everything that was going to happen is still going to happen just with one less man in uniform.

But it wasn't nothing. It didn't do nothing. It's not his fault that the military will keep on chugging. It's not his fault that things are getting worse in Gaza every day. But he's not complicit anymore and he sent a message. And he had to die to achieve that.

And y'all are telling us we can't even do the very small act of not being complicit in the presidency. It's a less effective act of protest, but I also don't have to die for it.

It's not a boycott (I've seen this strawman, i don't know why you think we think that). It's not going to "send a message to the government" (obviously, we're not ignorant). It's to the Party that runs these candidates, and makes money off of "pick us because we're not the other guy" then commits crimes against humanity. I don't want to roll over and be fucking complicit in that.

Parties and candidates look at those numbers. they see how many people voted for them last time and how many people this time.

They don't care about our voices, and our protests, and our emails. They care about donations, and they care about votes. That's it. That's all they look at. If the emails and the phone calls and the protests don't result in a drop in one of those two things, they don't fucking care.

I don't know. This is a long ass ramble, but I'm trying to work out my feelings about this. Because we can't opt out of paying taxes, we can't really opt out of the benefits of living and being born in the Global North, we can't opt out of work, we can't opt out of the military, we can't opt out of following the law without extreme violence being brought against us. We can't do a whole fucking lot besides call, email, donate, and protest in a way that doesn't get us beaten and arrested, and if you do get beaten and arrested, you'll be dealing with the legal consequences for years or potentially the rest of your life.

And a man burned himself to death to object but I can't withhold my vote???

#just saw a long ass post that asked the question “what is your objective” #and concluded if you don't have any leverage you should just do nothing #and i really really thought about it because it was very well thought out #but i just can't agree with the conclusion #yes find your leverage and use it #yes tailor your tactics to your objectives #but I'm not wrong to object to the system in the very limited ways that are available to me #i feel like I'm crazy #but I've spent this whole last term regretting breaking down and voting for biden last time when my morals told me not to #i don't think i can do it again #and it's not a baseless moral stance or a self-centered “i don't want to feel bad” one #it just doesn't make sense to me #maybe I'll feel guilty when trump wins and wish I'd chosen differently #but i think #I'll feel like this system didn't give me a choice #and I'd rather not let my voice be used to prop up genocide #than roll over and act like no choice is a choice #“people fought for your right to vote” then they fought for my right to opt out of that as well #I'm not good at outlining my logic but i hope if anyone actually sees this #you understand where I'm coming from

[dosesofcommonsense]

1. The post from #BioClandestine

I don’t care about Israel.

I don’t care about Ukraine.

I don’t care about Taiwan.

Stop sending our money to other countries and stop sending our troops to die in wars that have nothing to do with us.

If you come to the decision that war is the answer, you’ve been manipulated.

—-

2. Has anyone in Congress actually read the Constitution? The Constitution forbids Emergency money to anyone. We cannot “rightly” take money from someone who has nothing (taxes) and “appropriate” that money to someone whose house burned down, was wiped out by hurricane, who was flooded out. We all want to help, but that money should be coming from crowd funding and not our tax money. Likewise, there’s a host of reasons why George Washington didn’t want us engaged in foreign wars. The US government is supposed to protect the US people, not protect the war machine pigs capitalizing on death and destruction.

3. Congress is so ready to help all these other countries commit mass murder with our tax dollars. Why aren’t they interested in the American people and closing our borders? Cause that would end the war machine money.

The Globalist contingency (Republican in name only [RINO], modern DNC, socialists, communists, Green Party, the squad of terrorists) want to destroy this country and walk away kings while you and I suffer.

2024 should be a landslide election for MAGA. If it’s not, and Biden’s cheating machine steals another election, there will be a revolt against the Globalists.

#truth #common sense #msm is the enemy #globalist playbook #donald trump #maga #foreign aid

[foreverlogical]

Donald Trump, who led a seditious conspiracy against the United States government, has yet another new lawyer. If you're wondering what sort of person would agree to represent Donald Trump despite a history of Trump-allied lawyers going to prison, facing potential disbarment, never getting paid, and/or becoming national laughingstocks, meet Joe Tacopina. Tacopina's been doing his best to become an Important Television Lawyer, now that he's in Trump's employ. It hasn't been going well.

Actually, we're going to need to revise that. "Hasn't been going well" is when you hold a big important press conference and your hair dye starts dribbling down your head like your brain just blew a head gasket and it's going to be a very, very expensive repair. Tacopina's more a fan of the "What if I intentionally pierced the veil of my client's dodgy corporate shell company during a televised interview?" sort of Bad Day Haver.

CHUCK TODD: You keep saying it was personal funds. That was not what Michael Cohen pleaded guilty to. These were funds repaid by the Trump Org TACOPINA: That's personal TODD: So everything w/ the Trump Org is Trump's personal funds? You realize the door you're opening there?  pic.twitter.com/CiPJBNjQWs— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 26, 2023

WHOOPS. BIG HUGE WHOOPS. One of the things you do not want to do, when you are defending your new client from many crimes and civil lawsuits and possible exorcisms or what have you, is stipulate on camera that the shell company your client hides his money in is actually his "personal funds," blowing up the distinction between the two and making it easy for litigants to scrape money out of both places instead of just one. That is a Lionel Hutz bad court thingy right there.

Even worse, imagine blowing up a significant part of your own defense in an interview with Chuck Todd. That's like being clubbed to death by a Teletubby.

Don't worry, Joe can fix this. He went to big-time lawyer school, he knows how to win back a jury.

TACOPINA: What was he supposed to put in his personal ledger? "Payment for hush money to quiet an affair that I claim I never had so my family doesn't get embarrassed"? CHUCK TODD: How about the truth? Shouldn't it be the truth?  pic.twitter.com/XGcWV0Y0J7— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 26, 2023

Your honor, of course my client committed business fraud, which I have now explained is indistinguishable from personal fraud because it's the same set of books. It was either engaging in fraud or admitting he cheated on his pregnant wife with a porn star, and who among us has not yada yada whatever?

The weekend has not gone well for Trump in general. Here's a friendly legal tip: Just because Joe Tacopina wants to be on television doesn't mean Joe Tacopina should be on television. He's not great at it.

OMG I missed Al Sharpton destroying Joe Tacopina on MSNBC yesterday "What was the intent of the payment? ... if we were in court I would ask you to read back your statement. She came forward two weeks before the election, which meant you were reacting to the election!"  pic.twitter.com/hKbRIGTN1b— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 26, 2023

Then there's the House Republican efforts to immunize Donald Trump from every last damn crime Donald Trump has ever done. There's no way to argue that without sounding stupid, but House Republicans have a whole bench of people for whom "sounding stupid" is their own personal art form.

JAKE TAPPER: Are you arguing that people who commit business crimes aren't committing crimes? COMER: We're talking about a federal election crime TAPPER: My understanding is that he's being investigated for falsifying business records (This interview did not go well for Comer)  pic.twitter.com/SuF8AaxkfG— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar) March 26, 2023

Rep. James Comer ought to try out being Trump's lawyer for a month or two. He can't possibly do worse than any of the others.