#i dont think the majority of the republicans are doing that

[ahaura]

im sure its been said already but as the election draws near more and more liberals will come out of the woodwork to shame people with a conscience to give away their vote to the democrats for free. i'm already seeing posts saying "why aren't people more concerned about a trump presidency?" you want to know why? it's because people already know he's bad. everyone already knows what he is and what he's done and what he'll do. there's nothing to discuss. he's a racist despotic worm of a man. there's nothing else to say.

biden is currently president. the genocide is happening under his watch. he's the one funding isra*l and arming them; he's sidestepped congress more than once to give them weapons. by oct. 27, the biden administration already knew that "Israel was regularly bombing buildings without solid intelligence that they were legitimate military targets." the state department/biden have engaged in atrocity propaganda, cast doubt on the legitimacy of the death toll recorded by the gaza health ministry, and so on. the united states is currently in the process of trying to pin the "war in gaza" on netanyahu (see sen. schumer's speech) after months of backing blatant genocide as a means to act as if they're "doing something" about the genocide (Instead of, say, threatening to cut off all aid to israel with the condition that all hostilities in gaza, the west bank, and occupied jerusalem are halted immediately and permanently, allowing palestinians freedom to travel, allowing aid into gaza, etc etc etc.)

the long and short of it is that liberals view their own lives as being worth more than palestinians'. that's it. they'll vote for another 4 years of the guy ushering in genocide and supporting apartheid + settler colonialism because he isn't outright attacking them (despite various laws and rulings happening both at the supreme court level and at the local level all over the country that will endanger people). they'll settle for the illusion of safety and security and shame anyone with a conscience and accuse them of "supporting the republicans" when in an actual democracy you would be able to use your vote as leverage to extract concessions from those who want to be elected. that's how it's supposed to fucking work.

democrats are not owed people's vote. if biden loses, it will be biden's fault; it will be his campaign's fault; it will be the democrats' fault. trump is bad; the republicans are bad. we already know this. this is not an endorsement of either. but if democrats are too cowardly and feckless and servile to the motivations of the american empire and never do anything for their constituents then why the fuck should anyone vote for them. you want to get mad at someone, why don't you do something useful and stop worrying about team-sports with a purely selfish basis and start hounding the people in power who are supposed to serve you, the voter.

#i think i already said this and frankly idc #uspol #📁.zip #to me personally it's abhorrent and vile to tell palestinians 'biden is facilitating the murder of your people culture and history but you #still have to vote for him!!1' like how is that not unbelievably callous and ghoulish #frankly speaking. a lot of this 'you should be concerned about trump' is going to turn into #blaming palestinians and arabs and muslims and anyone remotely with a conscience for biden's loss #instead of doing something productive like pushing for people in power to do something they'll nitpick and belittle #and tell palestinians + arabs and muslims + everyone who understands that genocide is bad that they SHOULD #settle for a decrepit genocidal monstrous freak who is CURRENTLY facilitating genocide because #it makes THEM feel better and they aren't personally threatened (yet) by the guy currently in power #any and all 'you're not taking trump seriously' comments should be met with extreme skepticism #because i promise i PROMISE that the vast majority of people unhappy with biden are not going to turn around and vote for trump #and if they do? well guess what THAT'S BIDEN'S FAULT! nevermind the vote uncommitted campaign that was very successful and #will be replicated in the near future. but liberals only care about asthetics and superficial and not #about real material change which is why they'll dress up their callousness and racism in a 'you hate gay people if you dont vote for biden' #like this country is already going to shit we are rapidly descending into fascism and i dont see biden doing anything to even remotely #challenge it do you???? once agian. NOT an endorsement of the republican party but my GOD when the 'lesser evil' #is DOING the evil or normalizing the evil then you cannot settle for 'the lesser'! end of story.

[qqueenofhades]

I really really REALLY need to see more people makimg the connection between trump and his russian handlers tbh.......like i know we've somehow gone through the looking glass of putin apologia but that piece abt the NYT you just posted, the bots, the interference: in the bag for trump? Yes. But i dont believe its due to his or even republican power or popularity or forcefulness.......this is a man with so much debt and kompromat thats only getting worse!! Not to sound kwazy BUT WE ARE BEING FULLY INFLITRATED and at the risk of conspiracizing i think the russians are ALSO behind the Times's demise along with so many other information centers etc. Like i KNOW these leftists love him but like. Wouldnt they care a LITTLE abt being manipulated like this???

Trump is 100% an active, willing, and eager Russian agent. That's not even paranoid conspiracy theory, that's just the only reasonable interpretation of the facts:

NOT TO MENTION that in the next two years after the Helsinki conference where Trump kowtowed to Putin in every way, the CIA admitted to losing huge and unusually high numbers of classified informants around the world (not CIA agents, but people secretly working for the American government in often-hostile countries):

Once again, this all happened when Trump was in office, when he was actively handing over CIA intel to the Kremlin against the wishes of the entire national security establishment, and which other experts have suggested was directly as a result of Trump handing over the identities of American informants to Russia, including those stationed in Russia itself:

Now, I could go on, but you get the point. Not to mention that Trump just lost a major UK-based lawsuit against Christopher Steele, the former MI6 agent who was the first to provide documents linking Trump to Russia in the controversial "Steele dossier":

And now: Trump is deeply in hock for hundreds of millions in legal fees and punitive judgments that are only increasing by the day, he somehow just came up with $90 million to appeal the judgment against E. Jean Carroll (nobody knows where he got this money either), and Russian state TV spends all their time openly salivating for Trump's return to the presidency (so he can hand over Ukraine and the rest of NATO and, as he literally said, "let Russia do whatever the hell they want.") I know we're largely numb to all the awful treasonous shit that Trump does, but like. This isn't a conspiracy theory, this is just what's going on in plain sight, and while the Online Leftists have recently become so stupid that I honestly can't tell if it's just terminal brainworms or active Russian psyops, it's strongly indicated that it is in fact a mix of both:

So, like. Just some food for thought.

#anonymous #ask #politics for ts #the giant orange monster

[andreabandrea]

i think all the time about how hard it is to be a kid even in the best case scenarios. like yeah as a kid you have very few responsibilities and youre innocent etc but i think the thing is that adults (at least in the USA) largely do not consider you to be a human.

i remember when i was a kid, my parents were nice to me and supportive and so on-- i didnt have a bad childhood. but there were times where my dad would just take things from me, or interrupt me on the computer/tv, not because i had exceeded screen time or anything but just because "im the dad and im more important so i can do what i want". i remember how powerless i felt when adults would shout at me, especially if it was over something i didnt understand and/or hadnt been taught.

i remember adults laughing in my face sometimes when i was crying or upset, and i think about this when i see those 'toddler/kid freakout' tiktok videos mocking a child's reaction, even if it is for something "stupid" like they dropped their candy or whatever.

even the most well-meaning adults will often write off your pain and negative emotions as 'overreactions', and this goes triple if youre neurodivergent. i had pneumonia as a child and my doctor thought i was just being dramatic.

your input on things is largely seen as worthless. if your parents want to travel the country in a van, but you want to go to school and have friends and have your own bedroom, they'll just pack you up and take you in that van because you're the child and you're their property. i think about this when i see those 'van life' families, and i think about this as i'm reading the Wavewalker book about the girl who was forced to live on her parents' boat with little to no schooling for 10 years.

if your parents spank you and hit you, largely thats seen as their "choice" as parents, no matter how many studies tell them it traumatizes children. and youre dependent on the adults around you and if those adults suck, or if youre in a bad situation, you have very little to no ability to change that and you just have to endure.

and thats what drives me insane about desantis is that we see more and more rhetoric like "the rights of parents" and "protecting children" but these kids are being told that they do not have rights. its as if people truly believe parents deserve to know everything, even if the child doesnt feel safe telling them. people think parents deserve to control their kids' every choice and every move. but when it comes to protecting kids from gun violence and protecting gay/trans kids and especially kids of color, republicans could not give less of a shit. hell, even the grand majority of democrats barely care.

yes, i get it. parenting is unimaginably hard. the nuclear family is unsustainable especially in today's double-income-not-even-making-rent economy. the world is fucked up. sometimes kids are shitty and it might hurt you as an adult. but kids are not evil, and kids are not adults who are acting with fully developed brains and social skills and empathy and so on and its important to keep that in mind.

on the chance that anyone wants to reply with "well i hate kids :/" look. you dont have to be a parent. but at least be kind to children in your life. let the kid in the park ramble to you about skibidi toilet or fucking whatever. you do owe people kindness, especially children

#bandrea blabbers

[hadeantaiga]

I studied American & British government and politics at a level, and the first thing we covered was electoral systems because they are so *so* awful.

The way I try and explain it to people who are struggling to understand FPTP is imagine a group of 10 people are deciding on a snack.

Your choices are:

Packet of ready salted crisps.

Packet of salt and vinegar crisps.

Packet of peanuts.

3 people pick ready salted crisps. 3 people pick salt and vinegar.

4 people pick the peanuts.

So 60% DONT pick peanuts, that's less than half. But EVERYONE gets peanuts. (And what if someone who voted crisps is allergic to peanuts? Tough. That's what everyone gets)

The electoral system is fucked. But if we replace the Dems with salt and vinegar, an Independent with ready salted, and Republicans with peanuts. It shows how Easy the Republicans can get a seat if you Don't vote blue.

I hope this helps people who struggle to get why not voting blue is a vote for the Republicans.

In my country (UK) the Conservatives (that's like your Republicans) don't have a majority of votes even though they have the majority of seats in Parliament.

(This doesn't take into account your absolutely fucked electoral college that doesn't make sense, sorry,,, I struggled to wrap my head around that)

Yeeeeaaaaah our electoral system is so, so fucked on LITERALLY every level, which is why it's so god damned important that we vote blue no matter who and that we don't do anything to damage people's willingness to vote blue. Republicans make sure the system is incredibly stacked against marginalized voters, because marginalized voters know that voting blue is the only way we get to cling to rights. We literally cannot afford to lose even a single blue vote.

On the bottom level, on the basis of the voters, Republicans use our system to fuck them over in many ways.

Restrictions against individual voters

Many states having difficult voter ID laws designed to prevent marginalized people from voting. These voting laws are implemented by Republicans. So there's a bunch of Democratic votes that never get cast.

Next, each state and city run by Republicans often do things like removing voting locations, making it harder for marginalized people to vote by making it harder for them to get to polling locations and making the lines in those locations longer. Marginalized people are often lower class, and it's almost impossible to get a whole day off to stand in line to vote, therefore, these people often have no choice: they can't risk their job to go vote. So there's more blue votes that never get cast.

Also, many of those states have restrictions on absentee voting, which could be a solution for folks who can't take time off to vote, but because absentee voting is made purposely difficult and confusing, it again restricts people from voting. More blue votes lost.

Those are just the harms done to individual voters by Republicans. We haven't even gotten to voting districts yet.

Voting Districts

So the way the electoral college works is that everyone's individual votes are first funneled up to voting districts, and then those districts are tallied to decide who won the state. The problem is, human beings draw those districts - and Republicans like to drawn them in very shitty ways that ensure marginalize people's votes don't count as much.

Look at this. That third diagram is what happens in states all across America. Anyone who thinks the USA works on a "one person, one vote" system is wrong. You do not directly vote - your vote is tallied as part of your district, and that total is what determines who wins the state.

And then you have what happens at the state level, because the system continues to fuck over voters.

The Electoral College

You thought it couldn't get worse? It gets worse. Each state has officials called "Electors", and they are the people who actually cast the true vote for president. Now, legally, in many states, these Electors are legally required to cast their vote for the candidate selected by the districts in the state, but in some states they technically could just vote for whoever they want. They don't, because they'd never win reelection, but still.

So, ok. How many Electors does each state get? Is it based off something logical, like population maybe? Kind of. Every state gets 1 for each Senator (so a total of 2) and then 1 for each congressional district - and the number of congressional districts a state gets is based off population.

This system, unfortunately, ends up giving more "weight" to voters from less populated states. Some people claim this is good, because it means those states will still have their opinions expressed in government. Other people note that land doesn't vote, and it's completely unfair a small number of voters get to basically override the choice of a majority of voters.

So, a candidate has to win 270 of these electoral votes to win the election. Notably, the electoral college results do not always match the "popular vote" - that's the 1:1 vote of the people. There have been several situations where the majority of individuals in the USA voted for candidate A, but because of how the electoral college works, candidate B won instead. The last two times this happened, it was Democrats who lost. Most recently, Hillary Clinton won the popular vote by over three million votes, but lost in the Electoral College, so we ended up with Trump.

Summary

If any of my followers are confused, I get it. But hopefully, you will also see now how incredibly stacked the system is against minority voters specifically because they're more likely to vote Democrat. Maybe now you will see that Republicans basically have to cheat at every stage of an election to win, and that if we actually had fair elections in this country based on 1:1 votes, Republicans couldn't win.

And maybe, hopefully, this will make it clear why it's so fucking dangerous to tell people to not vote for Biden. We are walking a razor thin wire across a chasm of jagged rocks, while Republicans laugh and throw fireballs at us. They don't want the system to change, because it benefits them! Every voter we successfully get to the polls is a win for us and a lose for them.

Please vote. Please vote blue. Please vote for election reform.

#uspol #us election 2024

[coyoxxtl]

it makes my head hurt thinking about how when the presidential election comes around and if the republican candidate’s campaign is successful these fucking Vote Blue No Matter Who cunts are going to blame normal fucking citizens for not wanting to vote for a man who committed genocide.

Like the majority of us DID vote for him the first time and we saw that he’s enacting the biggest push forward on the ethnic cleansing of the Palestinian population, and Naturally we go “oh no way I’m voting for this guy again.”

and YET we’ll still hear cries about how we NEED to vote for him again. we’ll be told that we NEED to push our grievances aside because those evil nasty republicans and trump will be worse you know. forget how shit is already pretty fucking bad without their help, you’re just mad at biden because its “the easy, popular thing to do” and not the righteous response to seeing thousands upon thousands of Palestinian men women and children get bombed.

i don’t think these people actually care about voting. not Really. i think if they did they wouldn’t accept a candidate they voted for enact genocide, they wouldn’t want to vote for someone like that again, they would demand another candidate. they would flood their representatives phones and mailboxes with demands to be better. but they dont. they just want to vote for a genocidal maniac (so long as theyre a democrat) so they can have a false sense of security. pretend that keeping that freak in office will keep human rights for american citizens safe (it doesn’t, hundreds of anti trans bills anyone?) what these people want is an easy way out, they don’t care about the issues or anything important. they want to have a handful of days every 2-4 years where they fill in dots next to names they dont know anything about and never think about it again until the next time they fill in dots. y’all don’t even discuss what to do when a representative you vote for lies or fails their promises. there’s no course of action when an elected official, such as a president, does shit like, oh i don’t know, ACTIVELY FUND A GENOCIDE. y’all got nothing! all y’all got is “oh well vote for him again”

Activism truly begins and ends with voting for you people, weak willed pussies who are too scared to get your hands dirty to do real activism, and y’all have the audacity to judge other people who have the conscience to see that biden shouldn’t even be considered to be voted for again.

i s2g some y’all are as bad as those MAGA freaks

#some of ​yall may not be bigoted but youre uncaring. unable to bring yourself to do anything substantial. #tho a lot of yall are bigoted lol #VOTING IS EASY! VOTING ISNT ACTIVISM! IF ALL YOU DO IS VOTE YOURE DOING NOTHING!! #txt

[listen-to-the-inner-walrus]

at this point my tumblr is just becoming a british politics blog but anyway, updates on the police misconduct at the coronation:

[Alt text:]

Anti-monarchy arrests at coronation to be scrutinised by MPs

Chair of home affairs select committee says decision to be made whether to hold inquiry into use of Public Order Act

Matthew Weaver, Wed 10 May 2023 10.38 BST

The arrest of anti-monarchy protesters at King Charles’s coronation and intimidatory Home Office warnings to campaigners before the event are to be scrutinised by a committee of MPs.

In a statement, the home affairs select committee said it would examine the Metropolitan police’s handling of republican protests at an evidence session next Wednesday.

It will investigate the force’s approach to public demonstrations, the practical implementation of the public order bill and the arrest of republican protesters. A full list of witnesses will be announced in the coming days.

Dame Diana Johnson, the chair of the home affairs select committee, said there were “real questions” about how the new Public Order Act was used to hold leading members of Republic for up to 16 hours during the coronation.

Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Johnson said she would be interested in reviewing how broad the law was and “what guidance was given to frontline police officers and whether there is an issue about training”.

Johnson added: “So there are real questions about that and we think this morning we’ll need to look at that and decide whether we want to have that short inquiry to learn some lessons and see what the implementation of that act actually means in practice to frontline police officers.”

The force also released without charge three women’s safety volunteers who were arrested on suspicion of committing a public nuisance for carrying rape alarms at the coronation.

Johnson also wants answers about the treatment of these women. She said: “There’s also an issue about the women who were giving out the rape alarms as well and the how they ended up arrested. I don’t think it was under the Public Order Act 2023, but they were arrested as well.

full article here

so, while the home affairs select committee (its basically like a bunch of mps from different parties who examine what the home office is doing. that includes policies, laws, policing, etc.) are meeting to look at what happened, they havent opened an official inquiry, and we dont know if they will.

the last inquiry the hasc opened was on the 7th february this year relating to human trafficking. there is currently an inquiry open on policing priorities (opened 21 july 2022). this seems to have been triggered by the chief inspector of policing andy cooke (truly these titles are pretentious as fuck) who has repeatedly criticised police for not focussing on preventing or solving crime.

you might think that would be the first priority, but considering on the night of the coronation, they were arresting people essentially for thought crimes, youd be wrong. most forces (including the met) often just dont record crimes, and andy cooke is apparently an outlier in believing police should attend every burgulary.

there hasnt been a report published yet for this inquiry but they stopped accepting evidence last november though the evidence transcripts are available for the public to review.

i would like to note that although the hasc is cross-party, 6 out of the 11 members are tories. the rest are made up of 3 labour, 1 independent and 1 snp. as far as i can tell theres no representation for northern island in the committee.

percentage wise, that makes the committee roughly 54% tory, 27% labour, 9% independent and 9% snp. so while diana johnson is labour and from up north, dont get your hopes up regarding an inquiry. i dont know how the ins and outs of their committee, but tories make up the majority.

we do now have official confirmation that six of the protesters were held for 16 hours on suspicion of committing a crime.

im also glad that diana johnson has brought up how the uh taking away the human right to protest act public order act 2023 was implemented. i discussed with my mom how fucking stupid it was to implement a new law thatll affect an event happening the next day.

i am interested as to what she means by the night star volunteers not being arrested under the no seriously guys the right to protest is protected as a human rights act public order act 2023 because why the fuck else were they arrested then? its been reported as "a conspiracy to disrupt public peace", and they were counted within the 64 arrested.

also just gonna mention, diana johnson has said publicly that she wants to review how broad the this law literally suppresses a human right public order act 2023, and idk, it feels like maybe we should have established that before it was enacted ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

tl/dr: the home affairs select committee are examining whether they should open an inquiry into the police action during the coronation. unfortunately its majority tory so dont get your hopes up for an actual inquiry happening.

#ukpol #britpol #british police #british politics #uk police #uk politics #coronation #anti coronation #monarchy #anti monarchy #public order act #human rights #protest #peaceful protests #peaceful protest #met police #metropolitan police #home affairs #home affairs select committee #diana johnson #the guardian #matthew weaver #unlawful arrests #police misconduct #tories #anti tories #anti tory #long post

[dreadfutures]

I do get very frustrated with the "how can you tell me to vote for x dem/leftist" and "I'm not going to vote for anyone" takes because like

demonstrably, one side at least entertains the possibility of governmental reform and freedom of speech and anti corruption laws and undoing gerrymandering and voter suppression. another side is adamantly against it and has spent countless millions to make an environment where violent racism and voter suppression and domestic terrorism against minorities is PROMOTED and UNPUNISHED.

during Trump's election I told all my friends after a certain point: "if you vote third party or for Bernie because of principle, knowing that they will not have a chance to become president, or if you sit out, you are saying to me that you are okay with what Trump is saying about Mexicans. You are going to have to look me in the face when the day after the election, a crowd walks through town and chants "go home" to every person who isn't white. You are saying you would rather give up and let it happen than accept that this is what we have to work with in our society as it stands. And if you decide to not vote because you want to keep your moral purity you better sign up immediately to go into policy and change our electoral college, and change how government officials are paid, and to work on anti corruption laws. You have to put in the work somehow to prove to me that you actually want the world to be better, because by putting trump in office you are making it HARDER and MORE DANGEROUS for me to do that activism."

and guess what fucking happened. the day after the election. in my town.

guess whose friends don't do anything but complain on the internet. Who don't call their politicians and who don't donate and who don't volunteer.

by sitting out and for voting against the nominee they said they would rather put trump in the office than to put a stop to white nationalism. they would rather put trump in the office than empower an administration that wouldnt gut the EPA (which by the way got investigated for misuse of funds and embezzlement under trump lmfao). they would rather put trump in office than empower an administration that probably would leave the majority of the state department alone to do effective work across the globe on most issues.

there is no moral choice except to keep that party out, and go leverage the tools we have to push the more malleable party to be better. And you know what, every us president is going to have blood on their hands until the day we dismantle the whole fucking military. None of us are going to live to see that day so we owe it to the future generations to set up a world where that WILL be possible.

WHO actually chased down the big banks? WHO actually chased down sketchy political donations? WHO actually enshrines laws that protect whistleblowers at least in name?

Getting big money out of politics, getting lobbyists out of politics, getting whistleblower protections and getting more independent-thinking government officials who are of minority backgrounds and empowering them to do the work they are experts in -- that is how we change the US society. And that will never happen under a conservative republican government.

Working for a government agency now I hear about how hard it was for good people to get good work and changes made in their jobs, even if it wasn't political at all! Because promoting better workplaces and a safer environment and green energy and food security and better infrastructure and better healthcare is all, apparently, Political. People were moved, fired, hushed up, and replaced with stooges during the last presidency. On the ground levels of government where people are really trying to make a difference.. And now they are ABLE to do the good work bc this administration is a) more inclined to want those things and b) is more inclined to keep its nose out of that, since they actually tend to respect the hierarchy of government.

If you DONT vote, or if you vote third party, the statistics and history show that we will end up with increasingly fascist and hostile government from top to bottom, that is NOT malleable to public opinion in any way shape or form.

We live in a terrible fucking world, alright? The rich protect their own interests and old white men protect the Norms and Biases that have kept them in power and kept the world quiet for so long. We don't have a lot to work with but the option to sit back is to allow another monster like Trump and Bush take over, who will UNDO many great improvements normal people have worked so hard to get implemented into policy, get rid of the people YOU WANT to be making policy on the ground, and IMPOSE WORSE POLICIES for everyone.

There is only so fucking much we can do with this fucking mess of a world where the figureheads are all rich buddies at the same country clubs and all of them laugh about arms deals like it's a trade on free and for sale, but like. Demonstrably. Demonstrably the only way to make sure the government gets incrementally better is to keep democrats in office.

And yes if you locally have a democrat up and comer who you like better than your old rep then yeah vote the old bastards out of office. But fucking hell literally when you are voting for a president you're voting for a whole administration and ideology about government. And sitting out IS LETTING SOMEONE ELSE'S VOTE FOR FASCISM COUNT MORE THAN YOURS!

Everyone has the potential to be a single issue voter. For a long time it was whether a politician was pro choice or not. Remember? But when the choice is between a Democrat who is prolife and a Republican who is pro life, you can't sit out. Because when the republican is in office, they are more likely to put in judges and officials and policies that will be incredibly restrictively prolife, and the dem is less likely to do that and more likely to leave it up to the states.

like god I hope we get an anti war presidential nominee, I hope we get a pro choice nominee, I hope we get a pro labor nominee, I hope we get someone willing to buck decades and decades of fundraising and lobbying and form their own moral stances but most of all I hope we don't end up with another round of hobbling government agencies, and silencing any and all dissenters and whistleblowers, and putting in even more conservative judges across the country and in the supreme court, and I hope we don't give a green light to fucking fascists everywhere to run rampant and hurt people and promote hatred because we're too busy eating each other alive about moral purity.

I hate the world we live in. I know the most important differences we can make are on the ground, volunteering with each other and doing actions in our communities. But it becomes infinitely harder to do that under certain administrations.

And if you still don't agree then you better fucking get out there on your hands and fucking knees to make the world better.

Yeah it's fucking unfair to ask minorities to do the work. But the other option is what?

Sitting in your internet armchair being angry at people and refusing to act because *they* should do it hasn't done fucking shit in your community. Yeah *they* should be better. That doesn't mean we get a free divine indulgence to let things get worse.

Take breaks? Sure. Tell people to do their own research and growth? Sure. But when it comes to bettering the world and there is a choice to potentially maybe make it better or definitely make it worse you have to act.

#us politics #personal #long post #i am angry! i am tired! #i am sick of voting for politicians who dont represent my moral views on very important issues! #i am! i am!!!!!!! #i do not want to sit at the healthcare planning table with someone who is prolife but #id rather sit with someone who is prolife but willing to listen on this planning table to every voice and come to a compromise on policy #rather than one who is prolife and crushes every other voice because they feel like they got a blank check to make policy no matter what

[safety-pin-punk]

I remember you saying you were registered as an independent at some point. I'm an anarchist, and I'm considering switching to independent because I've felt less represented by the democratic party lately. My state has open primaries btw. In your experience, what are the pros and cons of doing this?

Well I guess I should start with WHY I decided to register as an independent (because youre right, I am). First off, growing up my dad was and still is an independent, so it wasnt a radical idea in my house to go that route. Second, I think both major parties are full of idiotic, egotistical, assholes who have forgotten what it means to compromise and dont have a care in the world for the people they are supposed to represent unless its election season.

So between all of that, independent seemed like the best route for me. I dont vote based on party alliances. I read through the stances and look into the history of the candidates and decide who to vote for based on that, regardless of party affiliations. Thats just me, but I feel like it gives me a better idea of who these people are 🤷‍♂️

The cons for being an independent are far and few inbetween in my opinion.

You cant vote in primaires. Which just means that you cant help select the candidates for either party. (This would not apply in the case of open primaries)

Sometimes (very rarely) I’ve had people be upset at the idea of me being independent. Usually just because I’m not supporting their political party though.

The pros are much more expansive though.

Republicans cant attack you for being a democrat. (They usually are chill with people being independents)

Democrats cant attack you for being a republican. (Usually a bit more cautious but still chill with independents)

Actually I live in an area that is pretty split dems/repubs. So more often than not, when I have to deal with anything in the legal system, I’m treated pretty well. Because elected officials see me as one of the ones they need to convince to keep their jobs. They arent worried about party members because most party member vote straight dem or repub tickets. But independents are the wild card.

You dont have to stress about making sure you have time to go vote in primaries because you cant (again not the case with open primaries)

#mail tag #politics #us politics

[oh-my-damn]

Biden is about to learn the hard way what giving undying support to Israel means when he loses next year. He is alienating a lot of young voters because of this, and young voters make a huge base for democrats. 80% of dems are in favor of ceasefire that is a huge majority of the dem voters. I know I wont be voting for him or anyone else that supports this genocide, can't do it, would feel more guilty than already I do. The dems are really showing their racism and Islamophobia. The way this party is handling this situation shows me that majority of them don't really care Black lives, racism, immigration at home they just know they need these groups to win so they fake their support. If they actually truly cared their foreign policy wouldn't be built on racism and xenophobia. The fact their lumping innocent Palestinians with a Hamas, the fact they're okay with violating every human rights and international law tells me everything I need to know about their true intentions than I could ever know through their campaign promises and slogans. I don't think they truly understand how much younger generations hate wars, hate racism, and aren't easily manipulated through propaganda, like we see everything in real time we don't have to rely on biased news organizations. We can hear from the victims directly.

So who will you be voting for??

Will you be voting for the republican candidate????

Sometimes I look at y'all (Americans) and think

.....

How fucking STUPID can you be????

I see so many people saying they will ABSTAIN from voting bc they dont have a good candidate.

YALL HAVE NEVER HAD A GOOD CANDIDATE IN THE PAST ALMOST 10 YEARS. The last good one you guys had was Obama.

So what????

You're going to vote for the republican choice instead?????

AND MAKE ABORTION AND GAY MARRIAGE AND WOMENS RIGHTS ELIGIBLE FOR ACTUAL WITHDRAWAL????

YOU'RE GOING TO VOTE SOMEONE IN WHO IS MORE THAN WILLING TO UNDO THE LAWS THAT PROTECT THE MOST VULNERABLE OF PEOPLE???

Joe Biden is supporting Israel because THE UNITED STATES SUPPORTS ISRAEL.

THAT WONT GO AWAY JUST BECAUSE YOU VOTE FOR SOMEONE ELSE.

YOU ARE ALLIES. THE UNITED STATES AND ISRAEL HAVE BEEN ALLIES SINCE DAY ONE.

IN FACT, MOST OF THE WESTERN WORLD SUPPORT ISRAEL. PRIMARILY BECAUSE OF WORLD WAR 2.

I thoroughly hope you understand just how majorly what you're saying and deciding when voting time comes, will affect your country. And subsequently, the rest of the world.

SO MANY OF US ARE DEPENDENT ON YOU. DO YOU NOT REALIZE THAT WHO YOU CHOOSE TO LEAD YOU LITERALLY AFFECTS THE REST OF THE ENTIRE FUCKING WESTERN WORLD???

DO NOT.

PLEASE, I BEG YOU.

DO NOT VOTE FOR A REPUBLICAN BECAUSE YOU DISAGREE WITH "BIDEN" ON HOW HE HAS HANDLED THE ISRAEL-PALESTINE ISSUE.

IT WILL NOT CHANGE JUST BECAUSE YOU VOTE FOR SOMEONE ELSE.

BECAUSE THE US ARE ISRAELS BIGGEST SUPPORTERS. THEY ALWAYS HAVE BEEN. IT HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH WHO IS CURRENTLY PRESIDENT. IT HAS TO DO WITH INTERNATIONAL POLITICS AND ALLYSHIP.

PLEASE.

I CANNOT HANDLE ANOTHER TRUMP.

THE REST OF THE WORLD CANNOT HANDLE ANOTHER TRUMP.

AND IF IT'S NOT GOING TO BE TRUMP, IT'S JUST GOING TO BE SOMEONE EVEN WORSE.

USE YOUR VOICE. VOTE DEMOCRAT.

FOR THE SAKE OF THE ENTIRE FUCKING WORLD.

YOU HAVE A RESPONSIBILITY AS SOMEONE WHO CAN AFFECT A SUPERPOWER OF THE WORLD.

PLEASE. THE REST OF THE WORLD BEGS YOU.

VOTE DEMOCRATIC OR LIBERALISTIC. PLEASE.

THE WORLD LITERALLY DEPENDS ON YOU.

#Mandy answers #the united states #the us #election #democrats #liberals #biden #obama #trump #PLEASE VOTE #DEMOCRAT #LIBERAL #DO NOT ABSTAIN #YOU WILL KILL ALL OF US

[madohomurat]

regarding recent events, ive decided to take a different approach towards the label discourse.

TLDR: i still feel the label "bi lesbian" is harmful and perpetuates biphobia/transphobia/lesbophobia, however i am going to be less mean about it?

my approach to this was initially pure, unfiltered hatred and intolerance- this is typically how i react to anything i feel is wrong, like TERFs or republicans. etc.

to see people have this kind of mentality towards maia, to wish jail upon it, is just beyond fucked up. it doesn't deserve that and anyone who thinks that needs to step back and reevaluate their perspective on all of this.

i do not believe maia, or the majority of other individuals who use the "bi lesbian" label to be bad people, nor do i think they genuinely want to invalidate the identity of other people. so for me and anyone else to put them on the same level as like, someone whos straight up intentionally homophobic or transphobic, is absurd. these people arent some kind of dark evil individuals, all they want is to exist and be themselves and thats something that i can relate to!

the fighting between those who support the label and those who oppose it has gotten undeniably out of hand. weve been assuming the worst of one another just to fuel our own anger. for instance, i would often just say 'bi lesbians' legitimately hate lesbians and want us to love men, but honestly i dont even believe this.

comparatively, many people who have accused those who oppose the label as being TERFs, being queerphobic, comparing us to cops, and trying to force them into a box. i cant speak for the people who make these wild accusations, but i want to believe that they genuinely do not believe these claims they make. its particularly ridiculous when TERF accusations are thrown at trans women. like, you dont seriously believe that, do you? i have faith that you dont.

there is what i want to believe is a small minority of people who do live up to these accusations. pro 'bi lesbian' people who genuinely hate lesbians, as well as anti 'bi lesbian' people who are queerphobic and overall intolerant of the freedom of identity. but these two extremes do not apply to the majority.

this is way too wordy at this point, but my conclusion here is that i need to have more basic respect for these people, and not treat them like theyre downright diabolical enemies to me.

again, i still believe wholeheartedly that the label perpetuates harmful ideas. if me presenting points as to why i feel this way makes you uncomfortable, thats not my problem. if you take this genuine criticism of the label as an attack upon you, i hate to say it but, go outside.

i will not denounce anything and everything someone has said or done solely because they support the 'bi lesbian' label. however, im not going to keep my genuine criticisms of the label to myself either. im not opposed to talking to people about this either and further explaining why i feel the way i do! i can hold a civil, mature conversation with someone. im happy to do so.

#cy texts #we done here sisters

[burgerlabs]

hot take but if you talk about how florida & other states in the south of the US deserve to be overtaken by climate change-caused horrible natural disasters you are weird and fucked up. it doesnt matter if those states are 'red states' you are advocating for the destruction of land & the death + relocation of so so SOO many people, most of which are not the white republicans you think they are.

instead of advocating fer the removal of republican & right-wing influence in the south you instead decide to just talk about wiping us all out and me personally i think thats disgusting ?

especially when very specific cities & towns are brought up, too. i dont think you realise that you arent joking about the death of racist white men when you talk about miami being overtaken by the sealevel rising you are talking about the death and relocation of a population that is majority of colour, specifically latino & black. do better.

#burger labs.txt #not to mention joking about the destruction of #ANY portion of land is just overall so fucking disrespectful #both to the land and also indigenous people who's home is that land #i do NOT fucking find it funny when i watch mfs joke about #the insane heat waves in algeria and joke about algerian #land being destroyed by climate change #me personally as someone whos amazigh im pissed off by it big time

[ardourie]

hi I'm sorry if this is a dumb question but do u think if trump were to win and he'd continue to support the attack on palestine, that there would be a more effective opposition from within the US and foreign countries towards the US involvement.

I know ofc that Trump winning would come with lots of other problems but since his reputation is much worse than Biden's, and Trump would be more acceptable to be scrutinized in international media, it might be easier for other governments to intervene and call the US out on their war crimes in some kind of twisted way.

hi not a dumb question at all, i personally think it’s a toss up, other countries have attempted to intervene in foreign affairs that america has had hands in whether or not a republican or democrat was in office so it isn’t fully a matter of whose leading it, that said tho i feel we had more out in medical when trump was president doing the same things that democrats were, you have to understand that a lot of the powers for each country ultimately want white supremacy / capitalism to continue, so resistance is entirely dependent on how far america goes in interfering and what specifically they are interfering with.

obvious disclaimer i dont want trump as president just like i dont want biden as president, but i know for a fact i had never seen more white ppl and liberals in general taking to the streets and fighting for change than when trump was in office, and that is bc overt racism makes people uncomfortable while quiet racism is generally acceptable, rn with the genocide in gaza while some countries are speaking up the overwhelming majority is turning away for mostly money / economy reasons, and these reasons will be the same when and if a republican takes up the mantle, the only thing i can see making world leaders actually do meaningful meetings is from war on their own soil and i dont want it to come to that obviously, but i think trump being in office is one of the only things that will get citizens here to wake up again, bc this place has a tendency to go to sleep when someone blue is in office

#💌

[pixeljade]

Honestly my thing is, I genuinely believe the vast majority of people, even those who commit horrible acts, do so thinking they're the good guys

Like. Most of the Republicans? They think they're the good guys in a world of evil. They genuinely, wholly believe that Satan is a real force in the world, and whenever something new and strange enters their periphary they chalk it up to that evil. And because they're in an echo chamber that says it is NOT an echo chamber but the last bastion of sanity in an insane world, they hear not only a dozen other people who chalked it up to evil stated their flawed logic on why its evil, as well as a couple genuinely ill-intented douchebags. This reinforces those beliefs, compounds them, and eventually they believe "trans people are tools of Satan sent to corrupt your pure child for their perverted pleasure" as complete fact, as much as they believe the sky is blue. They didnt go in trying to ruin lives of people who are different from them, they just became entrenched in this sort of cultlike mentality.

You can see the same on here, with all the posts people dont fact-check. Like how some people got up in a tizzy over Ed Sheeran being anti-homeless from a single telegraph headline that said it. We're so used to being anti-rich, that immediately many people jumped to the conclusion it was true, when in fact he just wanted a fence installed which is pretty standard stuff, especially when you have to worry about papparazzi. Nobody's a villain there, except the person at The Telegraph who wrote that headline--But even then, its likely they have strict rules on those headlines, so maybe its a higher-up?

Point is, we humans love to view ourselves as good, rational individuals, especially under our current western society. But all of us, under the right conditions, will give into preconceived notions and kneejerk reactions. There've been takes I've shared here and then I see a take thats pointing out a major flaw in it that I didnt notice hundreds of times! I try to admit it and boost the second point as well, but even then I admit I often have the pride to want to double down, and fight back, to think maybe that second person just doesnt see it the way I do? And thats the road that leads to Maybe that second person is a villain trying to corrupt us. And that's silly and paranoid and really I think most of us are weird dumb monkeys trying our best. Be kind.

[mr-up-on-a-downer]

I got blocked by like 8 of my leftist friends when they were once again talking about "we need to ban guns now we need to repeal the 2nd amendment" literally just by asking "ok we can do that legislatively, but how do you propose we implement that in society? what if people dont want to? SCOTUS ruled 3d gun schematics were under 1st amendment, there are more guns than people in the US, please I sincerely want to hear how you would implement a nationwide total confiscation of semiautomatic rifles."

I'm not even opposed to stuff like mental illness checks being more strict and other stuff but like...logistically, it is literally impossible to ban guns. Muh "other countries dont have mass shootings" and stuff, yeah no shit we literally have more guns then they will ever have. Like it or not, this is the reality of the situation and just screaming the same center left talking points again and again without any idea how they'd actually be implemented just shows they dont actually want a solution that works within the current US Society.

I basically said the same thing to my mom. With the amount of registered firearms in the country plus the many that aren’t, a nationwide gun ban is practically impossible. Like yeah go ahead and ban assault weapons whatever that means but good luck enforcing it. It’s not even people would resist it cause majority of them saying they would also happen to vote Republican who have demonstrated time n time again they don’t actually care about gun control, it’s just logistically impractical.

Plus getting access to guns gets harder and harder by the year. I genuinely don’t know Tennessee’s laws but I doubt the shooter just walked into a store and bought one. That’s just not a thing that happens unless it’s off the books.

Moving on, it’s obvious why schools are targeted. None of this mass shooters are looking for a gunfight otherwise they’d attack precinct headquarters and the last few shootings showed how cowardly cops are, in spite of “muh protect n serve.” If we actually bothered to protect our schools maybe these people would think twice. What that could look like is really anything, but again, armed deterrence is better than no deterrence.

Also cops were notified a head of time that the shooter was suicidal and didn’t do a welfare check until after the shooting happened because they didn’t even know the shooter was the one they were called about. Remember this the next time someone says how defunding the police is unrealistic and only would lead to more crime because cops can’t even prevent a crime when they’re told in advance. This happens a lot more than you think (parkland shooter was investigated by law enforcement before the shooting occurred and concluded he wasn’t a threat).

and I’ll say this too, if banning guns could actually stop all this than it would be the reasonable thing to advocate for and I know a lot of constitutionalists are gonna be upset over me saying this, but again, it’s not really a viable solution at this stage.

#anon

[dhaaruni]

I just cant help but feel if dems started doing some of the "dont tread on me" "let me do whatever i want" messaging re lgbtq and abortion we could tap into the very active micromanaging that the R's are trying....like why cant THEY be the crybaby nanny losers in messaging like they are in real life???? We need some ads abt red blooded white american men who dont have to worry about having their porn or bc taken away. Like mono labe or whatver that 2A thing is.

I actually completely agree with you! I think Republicans ARE overreaching on abortion and I hope to god they feel the electoral consequences. At the core, America’s an extremely socially libertarian country like gun to head (pun intended), most Americans (minus the psycho trads) want to live and let live, and the Supreme Court stripping away women’s bodily autonomy is antithetical to that.

This is how I'd frame it if I was a Democratic Senate or House candidate:

Not even the reddest conservative (minus the true believer Evangelicals) wants their little 14-year-old soccer star to have their life ruined with an unwanted pregnancy or their beloved wife to suffer physical and emotional trauma from a miscarriage. We won't convince all of them, but we can convince enough of them to pass ballot props or whatever in red states with appeals to pathos.

(Of course, the majority of abortion havers aren't that "sympathetic" to conservatives, they're like poor women who can't afford another kid, but we should highlight the sympathetic ones so everybody that needs an abortion can get one, and go from there.)

#anonymous #answered #politics #abortion tw

[charmanderxerneas]

I can't sleep and i was having thoughts about Scott cawthon and fnaf. Lets ramble while im sleep deprived at 5 am. I have a weird perspective because i still think its okay to like fnaf and i dont think scott is the WORST person in the world, but i also dont think hes great and i think the fnaf fandom reacted very shittily. You can think of you will of me and my opinionz but i totally do understand and think youre justified if you disagree and think that fnaf is bad to support because of scott

(What the fuck where is the "read more" option on mobile.... Fuck it)

The whole drama with scott cawthon like. Last year. Was really fucking disheartening. As a fnaf fan who happens to be bigender and queer, seeing a majority of the stupid fucking fnaf fans immediately go "we support you scott you did nothing wrong!!" While being shitty to actual trans and queer people who were rightfully upset... I can't even put into words how disheartening and awful that is, i think those who jumped on the "i stand with scott" bandwagon should frankly feel ashamed.

I also understand that a majority of fnaf fans are kids and some were probably too young to understand the nuance of it all. It felt like their favorite game series was being attacked! And they wanted to feel like they could still like the game, so when scott made his super shitty response they were all like "its okay we forgive you" even though they weren't necessarily the ones able to make that call (not saying a cishet white person cant forgive Scott cawthon, just that they should listen to and seriously consider the voices of queer people or poc or anyone else who is harmed by the polititions he donated to.) But ultimately, being young isnt an excuse for excusing bad things.

Scott isnt the best person. And by supporting him, you do in a way support the shitty politicians he donates to.

However, i dont actually think scott is like. 100% completely immoral. Im going to be very generous here: this next paragraph is just giving him the entire benefit of the doubt and playing devils advocate, so feel free to disregard it: but hes not as bad as joanne rowling or anthing. He doesnt activly go out of his way to spread hatespeech, hasnt filled his game with antisemitism and homophobia and transphobia like she has, and by all accounts seems to be a nice guy who has been caring to queer fans, even if he is a Republican. I don't necessarily think being a Republican makes you an evil person. Yes, if youre extreme about it you are an evil person, but like. Im sure many of us have Republican family members you wouldnt necessarily call evil. Like, i have a wonderful grandma whos a Republican but she also fuckin hates trump and supports me and my identity and is generally a good person. I also think its worth mentioning that a lot of Republicans didnt like trump, but felt like they had to vote for him because they were Republican.

Now im not saying that last bit applies to scott cawthon: hes said he voted for trump so Yikes Man. He did support trump and other bad politicians, and in doing so he supported the terrible policys they push forward. Thats awful. And thats what makes him not the best person. More fnaf fans should consider that.

Finally: even if scott is bad, i don't think its bad to still like and play the fnaf games. Like i mentioned before, the politics of all that arent really written into fnaf and its story (claims to be pro life, makes a game where all the kids die anyways 😳). Scott has basically given steel wool the games now (even if he is still behind the scenes😔). And i dont think you're a bad person if you like. Buy fnaf merch and the games (yeah it sucks that in some way you are supporting someone who financially supports bad policies... But i can also see some removal from it simply because in this society today it is near impossible to not support Any Business Or Person that supports a Republican... In america at least, like half of our stores/businesses go towards that shit)

Sorry for this rant over i need some sleep i have a final paper due tomorrow that i havent started and im going to denver and im sleep deprived. FUCK