#but we gotta vote biden because

[peachy-artist]

Gotta say, I’m tired of hearing “vote blue, Biden’s done good things!!!!” and then they show me an article of him saying good stuff about reproductive rights.

Sorry uhhhhh I do not care. He’s funding a genocide and destroying reproductive rights for Palestinians. A cool lil speech isn’t gonna make me go “oh good boy! I’ll vote for you again ☺️”

Show me something where he’s actively trying to stop the fucking genocide (will be hard to do because he ain’t doin it) and maybe, but rn the best way to force him to do things is to pressure and, yeah, that means threatening to not vote for him and holding onto that when he doesn’t change. Not saying “vote blue no matter what!!!!” 🙄

Anyway, get your click: https://arab.org/click-to-help/palestine/

#ignore me #politics #have y’all noticed that peeps who say vote blue no matter what are white? #I have #‘trump would be worse!’ #vote in the primaries. realize there’s more than just Biden and trump. #by saying ‘vote blue no matter what’ you’re saying they can do whatever the fuck they want and you’ll support them because you fear trump #that can’t be the way y’all. we gotta use our votes to pressure #we have so much power—use it #also contact your reps pls and thank you

[qqueenofhades]

I just read an article on The Conversation that states: "Today, most data has Trump narrowly beating Biden in the national popular vote, albeit within the statistical margin of error." (Source for that data: https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/president-general/)

In your opinion, is that true? How can that be possible after everything Trump has done? After the Insurrection? I'm terrified 😕

(For reference, the original article can be found at https://theconversation.com/five-reasons-why-trumps-republican-opponents-were-never-going-to-beat-him-223288?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=The%20Weekend%20Conversation%20-%202888329325&utm_content=The%20Weekend%20Conversation%20-%202888329325+CID_fceedfd21410eb8a7b6fd6e1124d9d54&utm_source=campaign_monitor_uk&utm_term=five%20reasons)

Short answer: no, I don't think it's true.

Long answer: no, I really don't think it's true. Here's why.

Broader context. A Republican has won the popular presidential vote only twice in the 21st century, and in the first of those occasions -- 2000 -- I use "won" very advisedly. We all know, or at least we should, about all the fuckery that went down in Florida with Bush vs. Gore and SCOTUS stepping in to stop the recount (which almost surely would have gone to Gore) and handing Florida, and thus the presidency, to George Dubya Bush by a mere 537 votes. Dubya then did win re-election and the popular vote/EC in 2004, in the throes of patriotic war fervor and the GOP's Swiftboating of John Kerry (who was a pretty terrible candidate to start with). Other than that? None. Zip. Nada. None. Even in 2016 when Trump squeaked out a win (and thus the presidency) in the Electoral College, he lost nationwide to HRC by over 3 million votes. He lost to Biden by 7 million votes nationwide last time. Also, the reason the GOP loves the antidemocratic Electoral College is that it always works in their favor, and because red states with relatively scant population are given the same power in the Senate. That's why California, with 40+ million people, gets two (Democratic) senators, and Wyoming, with 400,000 people, gets two (Republican) senators. There is just no way that red states can get the actual raw numbers to win the popular vote against heavily blue urban population centers. The only one that comes close is Texas, and while it's something of a white whale for Democrats who think fondly that it'll surely turn blue this election cycle (and then it doesn't), it's not giving all its votes popular-vote-wise to Republicans. So yeah. The numbers aren't there. Biden is about 99% certain to win the popular vote, but because this is America, the question is whether the EC will follow.

(Although, I gotta say. In the deeply unlikely event that Biden loses the popular vote but wins the Electoral College -- i.e. the exact same thing Trump did in 2016 -- the right wing would lose their fucking minds and it would be incredibly hilarious. Also, we might finally get some red states willing to sign up to the National Popular Vote Compact, which is just a few ratifications away from going into effect. As noted, the Republicans will cling onto the Electoral College with their last dying breath because it's the only thing that makes them competitive in nationwide elections. If it fucked Trump, they might finally listen to ideas about changing it.)

The media are incredibly biased, and so is Nate Silver. Silver first rose to prominence as an independent geeky Data Guy elections whiz-kid, and was relatively good at being unbiased. That is not the case anymore. He's now affiliated with the New York Times and has started echoing the smugly anti-Biden framework of both that paper and the mainstream media in general. I'm not necessarily saying his data is total bunk, but he's extremely eager to frame, narrate, and explain it in ways that artificially disadvantage Biden (in the same way the NYT itself is all in on "BUT HIS AGEEEEE," just as they were with "BUT HER EEEEEEMAILS" in 2016) And that's a problem, because:

The polls are shit. Like, really, really shit. Didn't we just go through this in 2022, where everyone howled about how All The Data pointed to a Red Wave and then were /shocked pikachu face when this was nothing more than a Red Dribble of Piss (and frankly, the best midterm election result for the ruling party since like, the 1930s?) We've also had major, real-time proof that the polls are showing a consistent pro-Trump bias of 10 or more points, which is a huge error and keeps getting corrected whenever people actually vote, but the media will never admit that, because TRUMP IS WINNING WE ARE ALL DOOMZED!! We heard about how Biden might lose New Hampshire because he wasn't even on the ballot and that would be a critical embarrassment for him. He cruised easily with 68% (all write-in votes and FAR more than any other Democratic "candidate.") Meanwhile, Trump won New Hampshire by about 15% under what the polls had predicted for him (after doing the same and barely squeaking over 50% in Iowa, one of the whitest, most rural, most Trump-loving states in the nation). The number ballparked for Biden in the NV Democratic primary was something like 75%; he got over 90% (and twice as many votes as any candidate in the Republican Primary/Caucus/Whatever That Mess Was). The number for what he was supposed to get in the SC primary was in the high 60% (driven by the media's other favorite "Black voters are abandoning Biden" canard); he absolutely crushed it at 97% statewide. When Biden is winning by whopping margins and Trump is underperforming badly, in both cases by gaps of ten percent or more, it means the polls are simply not showing us an accurate state of the race. This could be because of media bias, bad data, selective polling, inability to actually connect with voters (especially young voters, who are about as likely to eat a live scorpion as to pick up an unsolicited phone call from an unknown number). This also shows up in:

Special elections. We've heard tons of Very Smart Punditry (derogatory) about how Democrats kicking ass in pretty much every competitive election since Roe was overturned in 2022 totally means nothing for the general election. (Of course, if the situation was reversed and Republicans were cleaning up at the same rate, we would be hearing nothing except how we're all destined for Eternal Trumpocracy... wait. no... we're still only hearing this. Weird.) In the last special election in early February, Democrat Tom Suozzi won back his old U.S House seat (NY-03) by over eight points, after polls had given him at most a two- or three-point edge. (Funnily, once again a Democrat did far better than the media is determined to insist, so Politico hilariously called a thumping eight-point win "edging it out.") This represents almost a 16-point blue swing from even just 2022, when The Congressman Possibly Known as George Santos won it by 7 points. On that same night, a Democratic candidate in a Trump +26 district in deep, deep red Oklahoma only lost by 5 points, marking another massive pro-blue swing. This has been the case in every special election since Roe went down. Apparently blah blah This Won't Translate to the General Election, because the media is very smart. Even when Democrats (historically hard to motivate and muster in off-year election cycles, or you know in general) are turning up in elections that don't involve Trump to punish terrible Trumpist policies, we're supposed to think they won't be motivated to actually vote against the guy himself? And not just them, because:

Trump is a terrible candidate. Which we know, and have always known, but now it's really true. We've had up to half of Haley voters stating they will vote for Biden over Trump if that is the November matchup (which it will be). Haley, amusingly, actually outraised Trump in January, because it turns out that the Trump Crime Family's open promise to send every single donor or RNC dollar to pay El Trumpo's legal fees hasn't been a terribly effective message. We had Republicans in NY-03 telling CNN that they voted for the Democrat Suozzi because they're so fed up with the GOP clown show in the House and don't think Republicans can govern (which uh. Yeah. Welcome to reality, we all knew that ages ago too). We have had up to a third of Republican voters saying they won't vote for Trump if he's convicted of a felony before the election (and technically he already has been, but we're still hoping for the January 6 trial to go ahead). Now, yes, Republicans are a notoriously cliquey bunch and might change their minds, but for all the endless bullshit BIDEN SHOULD STEP DOWN BECAUSE DEMOCRATS ARE DISUNITED narrative the media has been pushing like their kidnapped grandmothers' lives depend on it, Democrats aren't actually disunited at all. Instead, Trump is in chaos, the GOP is in chaos, sizeable chunks of Republican voters are ready to vote for someone else and in some cases have already done so, and yet, do we hear a peep about how Trump should step down? Nah. In related news, did you hear that Biden is old?!?! Why isn't anyone writing about this?!?!

Now, I want to make it clear: Trump's chances of winning are not zero, and they are not inconsiderable. We need to face that fact and deal with it accordingly. Large chunks of the country are still willing to vote for white Christian nationalist fascism. Trump still has plenty of diehard cultists and the entire establishment Republican party in his pocket, and it's been made very clear that Putin is bringing the full force of his malevolent Russian fascist machine to bear on this election as well. Case in point: we spent four years hearing about HUNTER BIDEN HUNTER BIDEN SECRET CORRUPTION GIANT SECRET BUSINESS SCANDAL, and it turns out that the GOP's "star informant" has been actively working with Russian spies the whole time and fed them complete bullshit disinformation, which they were eager to repeat so long as it might hurt Joe Biden. (And it would hurt Ukraine, so, twofer! I cannot emphasize enough how much it was all a deliberate collaboration by some of the worst people on earth.)

In 2016, people naively assumed that Trump could never win, and so they were especially willing to throw away, spoil, or otherwise not exercise their vote, or throw purity hissy fits over HRC (likewise fed at the toxic teat of Russian disinformation). That was exactly what allowed Trump to squeak out a win in the EC and put us in the mess we are currently in. If people act in the same way in 2024 that they did in 2016, Trump's chances of winning are drastically increased. So once again, as I keep saying, it's up to us. If we all vote blue, and we get our networks to vote blue, Biden is very likely to win. If we don't, he won't, and Trump will win. It's that simple. We had better decide what we're doing. The end.

#jayciethings #ask #politics for ts #long post

[papasmoke]

What do you think is the best direct action to take instead of voting? Like what can we do that will change the structure, since other way, the structure of how the country works says Someone's Gotta Get Elected?

Directly interfere with the non-democratic mechanisms and institutions through which the US provides aid and maintains its partnership with Israel's Apartheid regime. Shut down weapons plants, last week some very brave young people in St. Charles did just that and halted work at the massive Boeing plant there.

Participate in BDS. Relentlessly. Uncompromisingly. Those anti-BDS laws most states have in place can suck my nuts and if you put any value in America as an institution you should appreciate that they're blatantly unconstitutional.

Participate in the protest wave happening right now. Show up outside your representative's (who is probably voicing their full support for Israel's terrorist bombing campaign right now) home with a big crowd and keep them up all night. Do everything you can to make the life of every public official rubberstamping this genocide a living hell. Harass them, don't let them spend a day, an hour, a second without being reminded of their unforgivable complicity in war crimes.

The US maintains its relationship with Israel because it is in our geostrategic and financial interest to do so. As Biden once said, if an Israel did not exist the US would have to invent an equivalent. It relies on Israel as a military hard point for the US empire. But exerting pressure on the framework that allows this relationship to be profitable and beneficial for the US can force our government's hand. The US is already isolating itself from the rest of the world by enabling Israel's barbaric violence, and the tipping point at which the US will be forced to abandon its unwavering support for the genocide, displacement, and subjugation of the Palestinian people can be reached quicker if widespread internal pressure is also applied by the American public.

[prismatic-bell]

SO YOU WANT TO HELP THE RAILWAY WORKERS: A CHECKLIST

If you don't know what I'm talking about, here's a news article.

This is a shitty, shitty situation, and unfortunately we're in a position where all we can do is make it less shitty. BUT. WE HAVE THE POWER TO DO THAT.

Grab that phone and your unlimited data plan, because we're about to flood some phone lines, babes. Start by texting "Sign PZPAKG" to 50409 to sign the action letter written by Resistbot. Once you've done that, reblog this post (if I see more likes than reblogs on this post I'm gonna shit lead) because there are links in here and Tumblr search will eat it, and this will only work if we get a ton of eyeballs on it.

First, you'll want this link, which lists all 100 State Senators. (If you live in Massachussetts or Rhode Island, skip down to "Ready to do more?" Don't call your Senators yet.) Yes, I'm aware this webpage looks like it was made in 2006, I'm extremely sorry (your tax dollars at work), but you do what you gotta. You're going to start by looking up the Senators from your state. This site will direct you to their official webpages. Look for "locations," not "contact," because most of them use email contact forms as a first line of contact these days. You want phone numbers. You should find at least two--one in Washington, DC and one in your state's capitol. (Some may have more than one in-state. I know here in AZ Kelly and Sinema have both a Phoenix and Tucscon office, and Kelly also has one on the Navajo Nation.)

Pick one, it doesn't matter which. Call it. You may get either a staffer or a voicemail. (If it's voicemail, listen carefully to the prompts. If it says voicemail is full, go back and try the other phone number.) Staffers are pretty friendly, but can occasionally seem a little disconnected or brusque. If that's the case, it is not you--your call's probably been routed through a switchboard and they're experiencing lag. Don't worry about it, just say your bit.

HERE IS THE SCRIPT I USED THIS MORNING: "My name is [legal name] and I'm a constituent of Senator [name]'s from [my town]. I'm calling in support of the railway unions in light of this frankly extremely bad deal they're being asked to accept. If railway workers are so important to our economy that Congress can get involved, then they're important enough to deserve paid sick time. I'd like to encourage the Senator to vote NO on any bill that doesn't provide railway union workers with at least seven days of paid sick time."

Total time elapsed for me doing this: about five minutes.

OKAY. READY TO DO MORE? Some Senators have already signed an open letter saying they're in support of providing sick time to railway union members. Those Senators are Bernie Sanders from Vermont, Kirsten Gillibrand from New York, Tammy Baldwin from Wisconsin, Cory Booker from New Jersey, Sherrod Brown from Ohio, Ed Markey and Elizabeth Warren from Massachusetts, Jeff Merkley from Oregon, Alex Padilla from Callifornia, and Jack Reed and Sheldon Whitehouse from Rhode Island. Give them a call next. HERE'S THE SCRIPT I'VE BEEN USING: "My name is [legal name]. I'm actually an Arizona resident, but I wanted to thank Senator [name] for supporting sick time for railway union members. I was really disappointed to hear President Biden basically decided to get involved in union-busting and I'm glad to hear the Senator is on labor's side. Please encourage them to stay the course and get that sick leave pushed through." If you're from Massachusetts or Rhode Island, feel free to say something about how you're glad your state is standing up for labor when you're calling your own Senators on that list. You can say that to any Senator on this list if they happen to be yours, obviously, it's just definitely got even more of an impact if you're already a constituent.

OKAY. WANT TO KEEP GOING?

I've got one more assignment for you. This is the list of committee members for the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. There are ten of them and some of them overlap with phone calls you've already made, so you're almost done. If you look at the script below and then look at the committee members and go "you think Republicans give a shit about this?," I am begging you to at least call Lisa Murkowski and Mitt Romney. Yes, the majority of the Republican Party is a nuclear trashfire. Yes, they're Republicans. But if you said "Nina, you have to go to dinner with six Senate members and three of them have to be Republicans," my picks would be Murkowski, Romney, and Liz Cheney. We might actually be able to make a dent in Murkowski and Romney if we try hard enough, and yes, "try" is important here. Fuck Yoda and his do-or-do-not bullshit, if activists in this country only went for sure things we'd still have chattel slavery and no votes for women. YOU GOTTA GET UP AND TRY.

SO HERE'S YOUR SCRIPT FOR THE COMMITTEE MEMBERS.

"My name is [name]. I'm calling because Senator [name] is a member of the Committee on Health, Education, Labor, and Pensions. I'd like to encourage him/her as a Committee member to lead by example in this current situation with the railway unions, and vote NO on any bill that does not provide railway workers with at least seven days of paid sick leave. I'm sure Senator [name]'s position on this committee has given them plenty of examples to know a healthy and organized labor force is far better for our economy than a sick and demoralized one."

GO BLOW UP THE PHONE LINES LIKE YOU'RE GUY FAWKES UNDER PARLIAMENT. The railway workers have had our backs all through Covid. It's high time we had theirs.

#politics #direct action #grassroots #unions #this is what all those words mean by the way

[askinnyblackman]

how long until they bring out obama to say “the constitution says you can protest. but don’t protest in a way that will actually disrupt anything because that makes our donors upset. also we will not change anything. breaking things is worse than genocide. you gotta vote for joe biden because donald trump is gonna do a fascism. yeah fascism is happening right now under biden but we prefer the fascist be OUR guy.”

#rich people have class solidarity but working class people do not. YET

[qweerhet]

the thing about project 2025 and associated fear tactics on social media right now is that... project 2025 itself does not need trump to work.

like, it's very obviously built around a coalition base that supports trump, and the ideology that has arisen from that coalition--but like, 1) the heritage foundation literally cannot legally promote any presidential candidates, which means that 2) the plan they have outline & the structures they are building to support said plan can work with, well, literally any candidate who wants to participate in them.

this isn't a one-and-done "this election is the most important one of our lives, gotta vote blue and then we can move on!" thing, project 2025 is a massively funded endeavor that involves building infrastructure and will be relevant again, every presidential election the republicans are involved in, until either they carry it out, they get bored and try a different tack, or some secret third option where it gets derailed through whatever new batshit political upheaval of the year comes up. like, trump can get convicted of federal crimes and removed from every ballot in the country, and project 2025 would still be of concern.

personally i think it'd be ridiculous to say we have to actively support any democratic candidate, no matter who they are, no matter how conservative they are, no matter what horrific regressive policies they platform, because of project 2025. but like, that's essentially what you're saying if you argue that the voter base has to platform biden and actively support his run this election cycle on the basis of preventing 2025; it's not going to just go away after the year 2025. the nonprofits will still exist, the funding will still exist, the people will still exist, and the infrastructure will still exist.

(i will not be responding to derailments along the lines of "what are the other options, it would be worse if trump won," etc--i am not laying out a plan to simultaneously abolish project 2025 and end the palestinian genocide in this post. i am pointing out that this proposed plan does not work; project 2025 is not dependent on trump specifically, and it will not improve matters domestically nor overseas to write a blank "votes" check for the democrats in perpetuity so long as the ideology behind project 2025 persists and is materially relevant. you are free to posit other ways to address the issue, but "aggressively support any and all democratic candidates, regardless of what their policies actually are" is not a good solution. it will not address the problem.)

[odinsblog]

I just found out about Jasmine Sherman and they look really cool. Like, the policies that they say they’re going to do? The fact that they have an audiobook option for people to listen to what the policies say on their platform? (If people don’t have JAWS or screen readers on their devices, JAWS for computers.) I really hope they get far enough in the presidential race. Although Cornel West is my next choice should he get far.

Yeah, sorry but Hell NO.

I’m all for audiobooks and JAWS readers, but I’ve never heard of Jasmine Sherman before and as far as I’m concerned, Ms. Sherman is just another throwaway vote. She has the same chance of winning the next election as a randomly picked name from a hat. Same goes for Cornel West and for 🤡 RFK Jr., and same for Marianne Williamson, and in fact, same for anyone who isn’t named (I honestly cannot believe that EYE am saying this, but here we are) Joe Biden.

Look, in 2020 I went through the same journey that I think a lot of voters are going through right now: I swore up and down that I wasn’t going to vote for Biden because he had (and still has, tbqh) a lot of conservative policies that I vehemently disagree with—LOL, don’t even get me started on Title 42, okay? But at the end of the day, I carried my Black ass into that voting booth and I begrudgingly did what I had to do.

All I know is, I do not want Donald fucking Trump in the White House. That’s it. Not “lesser evilism” not “he’s the next LBJ” not anything else, except for I’m voting for the person who has the best chance of beating Trump and keeping his racist ass out of the White House. THAT’S just about my only motivation here. Dassit. Periodt. I can deal with everything else later.

And I can live with myself with that vote.

But yeah, I’m Black and I gotta live not only with myself, but I also gotta live in this world and look other people in the eye. People who don’t even have my extremely limited level of privilege.

I’m not gonna go into detail about how a Trump presidency would make literally everything worse than it already is—and yes, sadly that includes Palestine, Ukraine, transphobia, homophobia, immigration, and whatever else is allegedly important to disproportionately ☭ white, online “leftists” 🙄 who keep telling people not to vote, or keep telling people to vote for candidates who cannot win.

As far as I’m concerned, Trump getting back into the White House is an existential threat to everything I hold dear. So no, anon, I will fucking not be throwing my vote away on some random ass person I’ve never heard of before, who has no mf chance of ever winning.

And yes, I still have problems with Biden. Like, a lot of problems. Like, a LOT, lot. But he’s the best chance we got at stopping Trump, and Trump needs to be stopped. That, plus I desperately want to see Trump pay for everything he’s gotten away with so far. Voting for Biden is the best way for me to give that a chance.

So yeah, I am deathly afraid of a second Trump term. And a big part of what is driving that fear is the fact that Joe Biden is vulnerable and super beatable. Like, his winning the next election is not a guarantee—did Hillary Clinton’s completely preventable loss teach you nothing at all??

Anyway, I’m not tryna write a book here. I think I’ve made my thoughts clear on Jasmine Sherman and whoever else is the flavor-of-the-day that can’t and won’t beat Trump. Biden is really fucking up and making himself even more beatable by unconditionally supporting Israel, and if he wins he might continue to fuck up, but I promise you that Trump will do unimaginably worse to Palestinians—and that’s not hyperbole.

Lastly, I really debated long and hard about whether or not to make this post rebloggable. PLEASE don’t make me regret that decision, OKAY??

Like, I know that a lot of people who unconditionally LOVE Joe Biden (that’s not me, btw) and the Democratic Party will be tempted to add, “VOTE BLUE NO MATTER WHO!” to this post, but I am begging you to please resist that urge, okay? I don’t know how to precisely put it into words, but unless you’re already convinced and have decided to vote for Biden, there’s just something about adding that braindead slogan that is incredibly off putting. It’s like an annoying ad that you want to skip and ignore on YouTube; it’s vapid; it’s old + tired; it’s lowkey offensive, and it tells people that you haven’t really given a lot of thought to anything and you’re just another insipid Blue MAGA sycophant blindly hopping on the bandwagon. Please find a better more intelligent way to express your support of Biden, okay?

ALSO, if you just search for Jasmine Sherman on Tumblr, you get a lot of anonymous asks like this

And sorry, but having lived through the 2016 and 2020 interface elections, yeah, it just smells fishy af. Chipping away at Biden votes is another way to help get Trump re-elected. And Trump supports Putin and Netanyahu

#anon #ask #answered #politics #election 2024 #jasmine sherman #this is a donald trump hate blog

[faithfromanewperspective]

was just thinking about how easy it is to compare the current president of Israel (whose name I don’t even remember) to hitler. it fits the way we think, doesn’t it, foreign people do bad things, what we see as familiar is good. but then the more I think about it, about how this whole thing has been set up and the extent (which I have to learn more about exactly still) to which usamerica is driving a literal genocide then the person I’ve gotta do that comparing to is actually… joe biden??? like that’s such a curveball in our brains we never expected but if you trace the power structures, yes there’s a fair deal of being a puppet going on but only because he never stands up against it. because he doesn’t actually care to stop it. and actually how fucked up is it that we’re literally talking about how the best thing is to continue voting for him for president because the other guy is worse like ??? none of us expected it of usamerica. we respected that country. we still respect its people and hang out with them every day

but like. let that sink in for a second. the guy encouraging and allowing a genocide is the better of two options?? if that’s the case I’m sorry but the civilians really don’t have any power. I’m sorry but if that’s the standards we have we have to start imagining better. this is like when your parent asks you if you want to wear a red shirt or a blue shirt but you never got the option to wear a dress instead or simply no shirt at all. it’s the illusion of choice. and as a world how do we turn a blind eye to this?? how do we not call out our dear cousin usamerica who is clearly in a bad state right now? whose leadership desperately needs to do better especially if they’re going to be in a position of leadership in the world as the power structures would have that they are?

because people live and breathe economy I was thinking, what if the rest of us simply boycott usamerica like we boycott Israel?? that would send the global economy to shambles. and I know it’s not gonna happen all of a sudden (so no need to hurriedly account for all the people that would get hurt) but what if we did? simply stop buying and consuming things that come out of America?

now I’m probably one of the biggest and most long-standing swifties you’ll meet (tumblr doesn’t count it’s an echo chamber) but could I? could I simply hold off listening to the tortured poets department when it comes out and stick to her older stuff I already own on cd’s and the like? Taylor doesn’t need my money or my numbers next to her songs and I’m going to be missing a lot if I do this but when this is over, her music will still be there. My favourite author is American. that one might be harder since I really want to read the second sword catcher book (I’m not worried about twp since it’s not coming out til 2026). I know a bunch of technology comes out of usamerica but I don’t need to update any of my devices and if I do there’s probably other brands I can buy from. I think because my iTunes is Australian I might be okay with it?? but I’m trying to transition away from it and buy more cds anyway. And I don’t watch tv, I rarely watch movies now so I could probably forgo that too.

I was actually just thinking about how there are so many songs out there I probably won’t get to listen to. what if, in boycotting some this is my chance to broaden my horizons? and I will preface with the fact that I know many non American artists do live and record in LA: im not gonna boycott them for that. In fact I’ll support their music because I want them to come home. and I might make an exception for green day and good charlotte for generally protesting much about usamerica?? but tell me guys, what do you think?? is this feasible? I might actually do it. I’ll make an exception for tumblr probably and use meta social media to the minimum (maybe I should for tumblr too and google). but also. is this racist?? is it going to do any harm?? because damn it I want to support the people. I want to support marginalised groups and native americans but I also want to be part of a boycott that’s meaningful rather than a token gesture. and I know the usamericans of us can’t do this, but please if I do it see it as me supporting your rights to having your opinions heard on a political level because I come from a country that isn’t great colonialism wise but at least we have that and I can’t imagine not having it

#boycott usamerica #boycott usa #<-genuinely can’t believe this is a tag in the wild gonna check it out #anyway. this is gonna hit hard for the fandoms I’m in on here #if I do it fully #luckily we still have 5sos #but I feel like I’m being up myself about it when Australia’s not really better #at the same time albo has finally gotten mad at israel and we don’t have anywhere near the international power #usamericans please weigh in on this #free palestine #human rights

[nokingsonlyfooles]

“It’s my hope, Mr. President, that you listen to us, that you choose democracy over tyranny.” - Abdullah Hammoud, Dearborn Mayor and Voter

YES! I can't fuckin' believe the media accurately reported this as a protest and printed/publicized the words of the voters explaining why they did it. AND NOBODY HAD TO ATTEMPT SUICIDE! This is big and it could get even bigger! But it's a qualified bigness, because...

Walz, a major supporter of Biden’s reelection campaign, said Michigan’s “uncommitted” results were a healthy demonstration of democracy. “I think they feel passionate, as they should, about an issue we all care about,” Walz said, adding that he expected most protest voters would eventually return to Biden’s side in a likely November rematch with former President Donald Trump, who himself has struggled with college-educated voters and suburbanites in his ongoing Republican primary against former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley. “I’m much more convinced there’s a chance bringing those folks home is much greater than bringing the ‘Never Trump’ folks back home,” Walz said.

Yeah. I know this song and dance. I've seen it happen in person, at protests, in reatime. They come out to "do voter outreach" and they're all smiles to start. "Yes! Please do continue to act upon your freedom of speech in a way I, an advocate for the status quo, find nonthreatening. Your feelings are valid, ha-ha! I expect nothing to change, and indeed I will act to change nothing, but good for you!" A few folks always believe the message has been received and quiet down, that's why they do it. But wait and see what happens to that smile when a few people start interrupting and yelling, "THAT'S NOT GOOD ENOUGH!"

At least this guy's willing to suggest Biden would pick up more votes by moving left than moving right, although I doubt he actually expects anything radical. A few more forgiven student loans or somewhat cheaper drugs aren't much of a problem, and that's leftist too! So we don't really have to worry about the ongoing genocide.

The thing is, if/when this picks up momentum and the DNC starts to think they might have to change something or lose, it will become something other than a positive demonstration of free speech. It'll be childish tantrum-throwing, pointless, uncivil, attention-whoring, astroturfed, counterproductive foreign interference, and whatever else sounds bad. If any of you out there in internet-land already feel threatened by it, you're probably saying that right now. (Go ahead and comment, you'll boost this with other people who think like you, and I might change some minds.)

And, if you are comfortable with it and want voters to do it instead of threatening to withhold votes from Biden in the general, check your privilege. Not every state offers this. Unless something changes real fast (at least, I THINK it hasn't changed, it's hard to do a search when "uncommitted" brings up SO MANY news articles about Michigan 😁), mine won't. I can't do this. I can't vote in a third party primary either. It'd be all blue or nothing. And neither of those things will get me any press, so I gotta keep talking. Maybe I'll motivate someone who can vote uncommitted! Or scare a politician! I still think I'm doing more good by staying alive, and I'm a bit distant from any property I might meaningfully damage (although I am open to suggestions that won't get me arrested and silenced), so this is the only thing I got that won't injure a human being.

Tumblr, no matter how you actually intend to vote, if you're not up for living in a two-party system where both parties think they can do a little genocide and stay in power, you have ways of making yourself heard. There are options beyond falling in line behind the lesser evil. Don't let anyone tell you there aren't. And when you start hearing "stop!" or "you can't!" that means you have something they want. A cessation of hostilities! Well, now you might be in a position to negotiate terms! Don't give up!

Please, please, please don't give up. There is so much to be done.

#us news #us elections #michigan primary #protest votes #protest #democracy #democrats #democratic party #palestine #genocide #resist #nonviolent resistance #uncommitted

[redjennies]

at the risk of sounding like a tankie, y'all gotta start checking the blogs of these "I'm not an American but the US Americans must vote for Biden" posts because I swear to fuckin God, 7 out of 10 times "not an American" means Western European neoliberal who's fully going mask off in the notes about how we need western imperialism specifically from the US to combat "The Yellow Peril, um I mean the Communist East uh wait, no Putin and Xi."

#friendly reminder that some Europeans are also racist imperialist bootswallowers #election year blues

[read-marx-and-lenin]

Boycotting the election doesn't work because you'd be indistinguishable from all the other non-voters out there. After all, in most presidential elections in the US, between one third and one half of eligible voters don't even vote! But remember, our leaders are still democratically elected representatives of the people!

Voting third-party doesn't work either. Everyone knows third parties and independents can't win. They don't have the funds or the media support necessary to launch a successful nationwide campaign. But remember, this is a free and open democracy, and anyone can be elected if they work hard enough!

If you live in a swing state, you have to vote for Biden if you don't want Trump in office. As we all know, swing states are what cost Hillary the election despite her getting 3 million more votes than Trump. But remember, we're a democracy, and every vote counts!

If you really want to make a difference, then you need to make your voices heard and help push the Democratic Party left. Even though Democratic politicians actively ignore left-wing voices and sabotage progressive candidates and fail to pass progressive legislation even in states where they have an overwhelming majority, there's still a chance we can work within the system! Nevada was a fluke! We just gotta wait for the old guard to die off and then we'll get real leftists in the party for sure!

#politics #us politics #liberalism #socialism #communism #anti capitalism #democratic socialism #social democracy #2024 election #joe biden

[qqueenofhades]

Think what strikes me about something like "we can't vote because the system is rigged! Ban the electoral college!" is the big underlying implication of it.

That there is no multiple solutions or paths, only the one correct path and everything else is worthless.

And that's incredibly frustrating because there are two levels of problems with it:

is the utter dismissiveness of anything other than their specific solution, which ignores how any degree of positive change cannot occur with only just ONE idea, it's usually the result of many ideas that lead to change.

The fact that it feels like they're skipping every step in between the current situation to this end result, or actively fixating on themselves having the correct solution, but only by literally getting everything in between completely wrong in the process.

Like, the latter point in particular is like a complex math equation: Just because you got the right answer doesn't mean you can just ignore every difficult step in between, or just assume that all of the WRONG processes become validated retroactively because you stumbled into the correct answer. You'd literally get failed and be forced to redo the problem if you tried that shit in math.

I saw a poll the other day claiming that support for abolishing the Electoral College had now reached 65% of all Americans. Now, I take all polls, whether good or bad, with a grain of salt, but this does reflect a growing awareness that the EC is a horrible racist anti-democratic dinosaur only applied to the presidential election and only used for electing Republicans who don't win the nationwide popular vote, and that there's a genuine groundswell of support to abolish it. See the National Popular Vote Interstate Compact, which could possibly collect enough state-by-state ratifications to go into effect into 2028 (in the best-case scenario). So even all the bitching about how "the system is rigged" (which. WE KNOW! WE KNOW! There's not a single Democratic voter going to vote like WOW I LOVE THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE CAN'T WAIT FOR MY VOTE TO DEPEND ON HOW MUCH IT COUNTS THANKS TO THE ELECTORAL COLLEGE WHEE OLD DEAD WHITE GUYS!) blatantly ignores that a possible seismic change IS possibly in the offing, because people put in the work to make it happen!!! The fact that the EC might soon be superseded or disempowered is FUCKING MONUMENTALLY HUGE!!! It has existed literally since the beginning of America and arbitrated every single presidential election!!! And let me tell you, the people working to make that change and fundamentally reshape American democracy are absolutely not the Online Leftists, whose grasp of civic and political theory starts and ends at "wah the system is rigged I do not vote I am very smart!"

This also reminds me of the recent idiots in my notes complaining that Biden was a) not "genuine" in supporting the striking auto workers, that b) Don't You Know He Broke The Rail Strike (the follow-up where he gave the railworkers what they most wanted with that strike was conveniently never mentioned), or c) that he wasn't "doing it for the right reasons" (whatever the fuck that means). Which accurately reflects their belief that the way you do politics, or praxis, or anything at all, is just by having the Really Goodest Mostest Purest Intentions really hard, and that's it. Like. Aside from the fact that it's impossible to prove why Biden is privately motivated to do anything, we have a long track record demonstrating that he is a person of genuine Catholic faith who has been moving more and more to the left overall, and has been the most pro-union, pro-labor president in American history. So first of all, complaining that "he's not GENUINE!!!!" in supporting the strikers is impossible to prove, and contradicted by actual evidence. But the Online Leftists gotta feel More Gooder Than Him somehow, so.

Likewise: as I said in one of my previous posts about Hillary Clinton: I do not give a fuck if she was privately the most Neoliberal Corporate Centrist Shill Ever To Shill (and as I also said, none of those words means what the Online Leftists think they do). I do not care about the American monarch president's personal feelings, unless they reflect directly on the policy that they make and the real-world effects that it has. I don't care if Clinton killed puppies (or dreamed about killing puppies, which for the thoughtcrime police is equally bad), as long as she appointed 3 new liberal justices to SCOTUS and throughout the courts, instead of the hacks that Trump forced onto the bench and literally everything else he did. In the same vein, Biden could secretly be like "hahahaha fuck all workers BIG CORPORATIONS FOR LYFE but I gotta support the workers and get them their rights so they'll vote 4 meeee" (not that I actually think he is, but still) and hold onto your hankies, children: I DO NOT CARE! Because the tangible real-world effects of that policy that he is working hard on making results in a better economy for those workers and substantial redistribution of capital away from the oligarchs for the first time in a generation! Not to mention, I kind of like the idea that a president decides to make himself most appealing to workers instead of bosses! But for the Online Leftists, if this action isn't done with the Sufficiently Pure Motives, it is Wrong and Bad and Not Good Enough and Blah Blah Biden Sekrit Republican.

Anyway. Yes. That. The end.

#anonymous #ask #politics for ts

[daxdraggon]

Gonna be real honest, as much as it's going to be impossible to vote 3rd party, we gotta try, but it's not because it's between Biden and Trump- because Trump isn't even on the god damn ballot in some states. So fucking, instead of trying to get everyone to vote for Jenocide Biden, work on getting your state to remove Trump from ballot. You're taking the easy route instead of the logical one.

Vote third party, and get trump off of your ballot. If you put the same amount of energy into bullying your state reps as you do bitching on tumblr and pretending to care about social unity, then you could move fucking mountains.

#bonus onus #political

[queen-mihai]

I hate that the right and nazis and the gop have stolen my age thing from me to try to act like biden is "old and frail and forgetful"

Like, once again, as usual, they've stolen something from a black person and just got it WRONG.

Yeah I do say biden is too old. Trump too. But that's because THEIR IDEAS ARE OLD STUPID SHIT.

AND TRUMP IS THE WORST OFFENDER

His bitch ass wants to bring back slavery and take away women's right to vote. If he had his way, wouldn't be BUT ONE VOTE.

HIS.

Bitch ass wants to be like some sort of damn king. Didn't you see us celebrating when the queen died? I'm FAKE royalty and I gotta do the damn work so my fake ass title doesn't become an embarrassment

dude wants all the rewards but don't wanna do the work? That's some real bitch moves. At least biden is TRYING to do some actual work.

They've BOTH got old ass ideas. But the GOP can't go into something as nuanced as "he's learning, but it would be better if we had a candidate who didn't have to re-learn EVERYTHING in order to create progressive policies"

No no. Dumb ass ageist bigots just see "big age number" and decide he's just too old and frail BECAUSE of the number. Not the actions at all. Biden ain't old LIKE THAT. Honestly I wouldn't put it past him to live another 20 damn years. In GOOD health with ALL his faculties.

Only reason I want somebody younger is because I don't think a candidate in their 40s or 50s would take quite so much badgering to finally have that serious meeting with netanyahu to quit all the freaking killing in Palestine. Maybe, just maybe, someone a little less *set in their ways* might have stopped all this a few damn months ago.

But that don't mean SHIT that he can't do the job. He's already doing the damn job. He's just not doing it the way somebody 40 years younger would be doing it.

Ugh.

Nuance, right? Why would anyone pay attention to that.

#politics

[batboyblog]

trans people are allowed to be frustrated with the state of the world what the fuck are you on. how are trans policies in michigan supposed to help trans kids in florida. do you see what im saying here. and bidens words arwnt worth shit if he doesnt actually do anything

Of course they should be frustrated I'm frustrated, who wouldn't be frustrated?

this is not about that, it's fine to say "the world really sucks right now" "this is shit" yes I totally fucking agree

it's when it goes off into "and there's nothing to be done" "no one else cares" "we are without friends and allies" "no one is doing anything" LIES! LIES! from the mouth of hell! lies that give aid and comfort to the enemy! PLAGUE! WE ARE IN THE MIDDLE OF A PLAGUE AND YOU BEHAVE LIKE THIS!

this ask is full of so much horseshit that needs to get unpacked I almost didn't but fuck it someone might read what I say.

First off I brought up Michigan because it was claimed no straight allies were useful or doing "fuck all" clearly untrue if we look at Michigan (and else where but lets stay focused) and as Harvey Milk taught us, hopelessness is the ally of oppression, if people don't believe it can get better they stop fighting, gotta give 'em hope. So clearly right now at a time when trans rights are under attack, in some places they're also making gains and that can happen in your state too.

You see Michigan had a Republican governor till 2019, but in 2018 after years of organizing and working (and voting) progressive forces managed to elect Gretchen Whitmer. In 2022 She was up for re-election against a woman named Tudor Dixon who made attacking LGBT people, trans kids in sports, and drag show central parts of her platform, she was defeated. But what's more till the 2022 election Republicans had a majority in both the MI Senate and State House. Hard work lead to Democrats flipping a handful of seats to get a majority in both and now they can pass things like expanding trans civil rights.

My point is Michigan could EASILY be passing its own "Don't Say Gay" bill, could easily be banning trans health care for minors, easily EASILY, those are the policies Michigan Republicans ran on last year, and they were the majority before the election. Hard work, organizing, showing up, beat them and we get the reverse of all that hate.

flipping a whole state government is a lot, and in some Red States that might not be doable. But take Nebraska, where state Senator Machaela Cavanaugh's heroic filibuster looks like it's gonna derail anti-trans legislation, she's only able to do that filibuster because the Republican majority is one seat shy of a super majority. They need 33 votes to end her filibuster, there are 32 Republicans. Because all the Democrats have her back the Republicans can't shut her down and the bill will die because the Democrats can filibuster it to death.

In Kansas the Democratic governor has vetoed an anti-trans law, in Kentucky the Democratic governor is expected to veto their anti-trans laws. In Utah in March 2022 the Republican Governor Spencer Cox vetoed an anti-trans sports bill (he's since supported an anti-trans bill this year) Now I bring these up because in each state Republicans have a super majority that can override the veto, they over turned Cox's 2022 veto, and are expected to in Kentucky. So if you live in a red state and you think "oh we can't flip the whole state!" you can flip one or two or 3 state house seats and make ALL the difference.

Finally on trans kids in Florida right now not after some future election. Four organizations are suing the state of Florida to block its hateful anti-trans health care rule, Southern Legal Counsel, GLBTQ Legal Advocates & Defenders, the National Center for Lesbian Rights, and the Human Rights Campaign. Again the charge was "trans allies fucking suck at their job" well one of these orgs isn't even an LGBT organization at all (Southern Legal Counsel) the others are LGBT groups supported by thousands (millions in the case of HRC) of dollars from allies across the country. These are the groups leading the fight in Florida right now to block this shit in court right now, trans allies.

FINALLY FINALLY on Biden, you can't say "basically the only people who has gotten upset over this are trans people" and claim that no one else said anything when the President of the United States of America did a WHITE HOUSE interview and called transphobia evil and transphobic laws "close to a sin". Either you want people talking about this problem or talking about it is meaningless which is it?

besides which Joe Biden is the most aggressively pro-trans President America has ever ever had and is most likely the most pro-trans head of state on earth right now, he's head and shoulders ahead of most European left wing parties on this issue rn. Don't take my word for it, let's see what America's largest LGBTQ rights org has to say and they're careful to point out more can be done, always more can be done. But people telling you Biden does nothing or only does bad things are not your friend they are giving aid and comfort to the enemy. Did you know Joe Biden is the first President to EVER appoint a trans person to a senate confirmed position? That he was an early endorser and supporter of the first openly trans person elected to state government Danica Roem? that the first trans state Senator, Sarah McBride got her start in politics working in the White House for Vice-President Biden? Biden is a historic friend and ally of trans people he's boosted trans people into office and supported trans polices. Change is possible progress is possible don't give in to defeatism and cynical both sides bullshit.

#trans #trans rights #politics #organize #run for office #vote #find allies #educate people

[rotating-hyperfixations]

Not to bring up politics on my fandom blog, but I gotta let out somewhere so I’m yelling into the void on tumblr so bear with me.

I truly think the U.S needs to go back to teaching civics in schools at a higher level then they currently are; because the amount of people who seemingly can’t grasp how elections and general politics run is astounding. Like, I totally get being frustrated with the state of American politics and the amount of corruption and private equity in what’s supposed be a public entity, but yall are really starting to test my patience when it comes to election season. Because yall are being dumb with this whole “don’t vote for Biden”/vote third period campaign you’re trying to put out there.

Unfortunately America is a two party system and a lot of people fall somewhere within the political spectrum. And generally throughout history, even if you didn’t agree with a candidate you vote for the one that more aligns with your values in the hopes that you can get them to change their opinion on important matters through congress and the senate (aka state reps). However in the last three election cycles a lot of people have become one policy voters (meaning one issue makes or breaks who they’ll vote for) and now we’re on the brink of rolling back a centuries worth of progress because a bunch of far right christofacists were able to come into power by people not voting. And rather then recognize that we are legitimately headed down a very dangerous path if Trump gets elected for a second term; people have just decided to not vote or mobilize a third party candidate. Both of which unfortunately just leads to a Trump victory because republicans are far more likely to vote as a party than democrats.

While think that at some point a real effort has to be made to try and get some more younger and progressive politicians in power, the year on election is not the time to start. and that is simply because America at this point it not capable of coming to together to recognize anyone who is not a democrat or a republican and it’s not a change you can implement at the national level immediately. For these changes to occur people need to start showing up at non Presidential elections and voting progressive and third party candidates locally, so it gets on the radar and they start to take it seriously and adopt that ideology within their own parties. However, yelling on the internet that you’re not going to vote with seemingly no alternative plan isn’t going to do anything. Not to mention no politician is ever going to cater to every base within a party, it’s simply not feasible. I’m sure that there are moderates who disagree with certain aspects of Bidens politics, but they understand that Biden is a far better alternative to Trump.

And ultimately that’s what all of this boils down to, the Trump of it all. If Biden was facing back Republicans of old like Mitt Romney or John McCain, I’d say sure not voting and making a statement on the democrats not accurately representing your beliefs will make you not vote for them would be ok. Unfortunately a second term of Trump is going to have far more reaching implications than I think people realize, and don’t realize how serious it is. Out side of the fact that Trump has basically already demonstrated that if he can, he won’t peacefully transfer power to whoever succeeds him. But he will roll back a ton of civil liberties and probably do irreparable damage to certain parts of the country and branches of government. Like do you really want to get an even more conservative Supreme Court or for things like abortion bans to become national law. And I know that people think that’s fear mongering or that they don’t care about the damage it does to their community, which is fine and all I suppose. But there are a ton of kids who are powerless in this matter who don’t get a say, who may not feel the same way and saying “you don’t care” even as a minority group is still an insanely privilege take and a very short term thinking.

And finally, if you’re not voting for Biden because of his handling of the Hamas Israel war, allowing Trump into office is not going to help anyone over there. Because Trump and republicans have already stated that they are pretty much on the side of Israel and are going to probably aid them even in more in bombing the shit out of Gaza. So if that’s the hill your will to die on, don’t dilute yourself into thinking that not voting for Biden will do anything to help anyone or desecrate the situation because Trump will make it far worse and then America will be complicit and all the activism in the world won’t help.

#us politics #2024 elections #president biden #donald trump #please don’t be dumb and let a fucking idiot fascist rise to power #also stop getting your news from TikTok and Twitter #I promise 95% of those people either don’t know what they are talking about or are misinformed themselves #israel hamas conflict #israel hamas war #let’s be rational about politics and how this country works #I beg of you