#2022 US Nationals

[figureskatingcostumes]

Ilia Malinin skating to music by Autograf and Woodkid for his free program at the 2022 Junior Worlds, 2022 US Nationals and 2022 Worlds.

(Sources: 1, 2, 3 and 4)

[dontmean2bepoliticalbut]

[ricoelpobre]

HERE'S HOW WE CAN STILL SEE THE RIDDLER IN BATMAN PART II

[rabbitcruiser]

Pike Expedition: Lieutenant Zebulon Pike spotted a mountain peak while near the Colorado foothills of the Rocky Mountains on November 15, 1806. It is later named Pikes Peak in his honor.

[mapsontheweb]

Number of visitors to United States National Parks in 2022.

by @DevinMLea

[rdlain]

Oh damn guess we're doing "terrorism aimed at its own citizens" again lol. It's giving Y2K, bush administration loved doing that

[pocasu]

mithra bday 2024 outfit...😟 no piercings no rings no makeup what's even the point of it all

[boreal-sea]

Look.

I have made you a chart. A very simple chart.

People say "You have to draw the line somewhere, and Biden has crossed it-" and my response is "Trump has crossed way more lines than Biden".

These categories are based off of actual policy enacted by both of these men while they were in office.

If the ONLY LINE YOU CARE ABOUT is line 12, you have an incredible amount of privilege, AND YOU DO NOT CARE ABOUT PALESTINIANS. You obviously have nothing to fear from a Trump presidency, and you do not give a fuck if a ceasefire actually occurs. You are obviously fine if your queer, disabled, and marginalized loved ones are hurt. You clearly don't care about the status of American democracy, which Trump has openly stated he plans to destroy on day 1 he is in office.

EDIT:

Ok fine, I spent 3 hours compiling sources for all of these, you can find that below the cut.

I'll give at least one link per subject area. There are of course many more sources to be read on these subject areas and no post could possibly give someone a full education on these subjects.

Biden and trans rights: https://www.hrc.org/resources/president-bidens-pro-lgbtq-timeline

Trump and trans rights: https://www.aclu.org/news/lgbtq-rights/trump-on-lgbtq-rights-rolling-back-protections-and-criminalizing-gender-nonconformity

The two sources above show how Biden has done a lot of work to promote trans rights, and how Trump did a lot of work to hurt trans rights.

Biden on abortion access: https://www.cnn.com/2022/07/08/politics/what-is-in-biden-abortion-executive-order/index.html

Trump on abortion access: https://apnews.com/article/abortion-trump-republican-presidential-election-2024-585faf025a1416d13d2fbc23da8d8637

Biden openly supports access to abortion and has taken steps to protect those rights at a federal level even after Roe v Wade was overturned. Trump, on the other hand, was the man who appointed the judges who helped overturn Roe v Wade and he openly brags about how proud he is of that decision. He also states that he believes individual states should have the final say in whether or not abortion is legal, and that he trusts them to "do the right thing", meaning he supports stronger abortion bans.

Biden on environmental reform: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/statements-releases/2021/10/07/fact-sheet-president-biden-restores-protections-for-three-national-monuments-and-renews-american-leadership-to-steward-lands-waters-and-cultural-resources/

Trump on environmental reform: https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2020/climate/trump-environment-rollbacks-list.html

Biden has made major steps forward for environmental reform. He has restored protections that Trump rolled back. He has enacted many executive orders and more to promote environmental protections, including rejoining the Paris Accords, which Trump withdrew the USA from. Trump is also well known for spreading conspiracy theories and lies about global climate change, calling it a "Chinese hoax".

Biden on healthcare and prescription reform: https://www.hhs.gov/about/news/2023/06/09/biden-administration-announces-savings-43-prescription-drugs-part-cost-saving-measures-president-bidens-inflation-reduction-act.html

Trump on healthcare reform: https://www.cnn.com/2024/01/07/politics/obamacare-health-insurance-ending-trump/index.html

I'm rolling healthcare and prescriptions and vaccines and public health all into one category here since they are related. Biden has lowered drug costs, expanded access to medicaid, and ACA enrollment has risen during his presidency. He has also made it so medical debt no longer applies to a person's credit score. He signed many executive orders during his first few weeks in office in order to get a handle on Trump's grievous mishandling of the COVID pandemic. Trump also wants to end the ACA. Trump is well known for refusing to wear a mask during the pandemic, encouraging the use of hydroxylchloroquine to "treat" COVID, and being openly anti-vaxx.

Biden on student loan forgiveness: https://www.ed.gov/news/press-releases/biden-harris-administration-announces-additional-77-billion-approved-student-debt-relief-160000-borrowers

Trump on student loan forgiveness: https://www.forbes.com/sites/adamminsky/2024/06/20/trump-knocks-bidens-vile-student-loan-forgiveness-plans-suggests-reversal/

Trump wants to reverse the student loan forgiveness plans Biden has enacted. Biden has already forgiven billions of dollars in loans and continues to work towards forgiving more.

Infrastructure funding:

I'm putting these links next together because they are all about infrastructure.

In general, Trump's "achievements" for infrastructure were to destroy environmental protections to speed up projects. Many of his plans were ineffective due to the fact that he did not clearly outline where the money was going to come from, and he was unwilling to raise taxes to pay for the projects. He was unable (and unwilling) to pass a bipartisan infrastructure bill during his 4 years in office. He did sign a few disaster relief bills. He did not enthusiastically promote renewable energy infrastructure. He created "Infrastructure Weeks" that the federal government then failed to fund. Trump did not do nothing for infrastructure, but his no-tax stance and his dislike for renewable energy means the contributions he made to American infrastructure were not as much as he claimed they were, nor as much as they could have been. Basically, he made a lot of promises, and delivered on very few of them. He is not "against" infrastructure, but he's certainly against funding it.

Biden was able to pass that bipartisan bill after taking office. The Bipartisan Infrastructure Plan that Trump tried to prevent from passing during Biden's term contains concrete funding sources and step by step plans to rebuild America's infrastructure. If you want to read the plan, you can find it here: https://www.whitehouse.gov/build/guidebook/. Biden has done far more for American infrastructure than Trump did, most notably by actually getting the bipartisan bill through congress.

Biden on Racial Equity: https://www.npr.org/sections/president-biden-takes-office/2021/01/26/960725707/biden-aims-to-advance-racial-equity-with-executive-actions

Trump on Racial Equity: https://www.axios.com/2024/04/01/trump-reverse-racism-civil-rights https://www.bbc.com/news/av/world-us-canada-37230916

Trump's racist policies are loud and clear for everyone to hear. We all heard him call Mexicans "Drug dealers, criminals, rapists". We all watched as he enacted travel bans on people from majority-Muslim nations. Biden, on the other hand, has done quite a lot during his term to attempt to reconcile racism in this country, including reversing Trump's "Muslim ban" the first day he was in office.

Biden on DEI: https://www.whitehouse.gov/briefing-room/presidential-actions/2021/06/25/executive-order-on-diversity-equity-inclusion-and-accessibility-in-the-federal-workforce/

Trump on DEI: https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics/trump-tried-to-crush-the-dei-revolution-heres-how-he-might-finish-the-job/ar-BB1jg3gz

Biden supports DEI and has signed executive orders and passed laws that support DEI on the federal level. Trump absolutely hates DEI and wants to eradicate it.

Biden on criminal justice reform: https://time.com/6155084/biden-criminal-justice-reform/

Trump on criminal justice reform: https://www.vox.com/2020-presidential-election/21418911/donald-trump-crime-criminal-justice-policy-record https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2024/05/trumps-extreme-plans-crime/678502/

From pardons for non-violent marijuana convictions to reducing the federal government's reliance on private prisons, Biden has done a lot in four years to reform our criminal justice system on the federal level. Meanwhile, Trump has described himself as "tough on crime". He advocates for more policing, including "stop and frisk" activities. Ironically it's actually quite difficult to find sources about what Trump thinks about crime, because almost all of the search results are about his own crimes.

Biden on military support for Israel: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/biden-obama-divide-closely-support-israel-rcna127107

Trump on military support for Israel: https://www.vox.com/politics/353037/trump-gaza-israel-protests-biden-election-2024

Biden supports Israel financially and militarily and promotes holding Israel close. So did Trump. Trump was also very pro-Israel during his time in office and even moved the embassy to Jerusalem and declared Jerusalem the capitol of Israel, a move that inflamed attitudes in the region.

Biden on a ceasefire: https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/world/2024/06/05/gaza-israel-hamas-cease-fire-plan-biden/73967659007/

Trump on a ceasefire: https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/trump-israel-gaza-finish-problem-rcna141905

Trump has tried to be quiet on the issue but recently said he wants Israel to "finish the problem". He of course claims he could have prevented the whole problem. Trump also openly stated after Oct 7th that he would bar immigrants who support Hamas from the country and send in officers to American protests to arrest anyone supporting Hamas.

Biden meanwhile has been quietly urging Netanyahu to accept a ceasefire deal for months, including the most recent announcement earlier in June, though it seems as though that deal has finally fallen through as well.

[attheexactlyrighttimeandplace]

I tried to be cheerful and keep my message positive because the goal was to encourage people to vote, but this last response was the straw that broke the camel's back (no pun intended since I say this as an Arab).

I'm not American and honestly I didn't understand 80% of your message about your electoral system. This shouldn't be a problem: I should mind my own business quietly, not understanding any of your fucking useless, perverse American political mind games.

Jill Stein is on the ballot and she's the only sane option at this point. That you can still nitpick about her level of commitment and her ability to win, without even trying to make her win, says everything there is to say about your stupidity!

What a privileged life you have to be able to not care about the consequences of your choices on the rest of the world! And you really like rubbing it in our faces!

This is not possible for us. The stakes - a world war is looming with a new almost certain genocide but this time throughout the Middle East - of this American presidential election are too great for my continent, my country, my region, my religion, my culture and my family ! I'm totally trapped in your quagmire and I can't escape it, even if I don't want to be involved.

You have no idea what it does to our minds:

to see you weigh the options as if it were a consumer choice, the same one you make between spinach and broccoli. You don't like the menu: Trump nor Biden, but you still feel powerful like rich people because you eat at the restaurant (democracy reserved for whites and as an exception poc living in Western countries), so it's your right to critique each meal/option in detail. Maybe your restaurant is small, not famous, cheap (you'll suffer from racism or discrimination), but you still feel proud of your privilege of putting your interests first and letting someone else pay for you. So the taste of this meal will be forgotten as quickly as the new massacres you heard about on the radio on your commute to school or work. You're just going to turn off the radio and continue your daily life

Seeing you pretend that this is democracy, because if your rights are protected, everything will be fine.

To see you pretend that your trans rights are more important than our lives, as the pathetic and shameless TheRogueFeminist reminded us earlier in this thread (I'm not even tagging this empty shell who pretend to be a human being).

To see you pretend that Biden didn't act like a serial killer butcher, cutting up entire human beings, from babies to the elderly, reducing them to limbs, smashing their heads until their brain matter was out of their skulls.

To see you pretend that Biden is not doing this with the American bombs paid with your taxes, making YOU responsable for his actions!

Seeing you pretend that what happens in the Middle East, in Russia, in China, in Africa will never have direct effects on your lives, because "America is never at war, America is in shopping malls" while others suffer the consequences of the wars your government chooses to lead on your behalf.

You know what? This time, you'll have to give a damn. I have two updates on what the Biden election means for your precious lives, so superior to ours:

First, Biden “the least bad option” is in the process of militarizing the whole american society, as explained in this Antiwar article about conscription:

Friday both the U.S. Senate Armed Service Committee and the full U.S. House of Representatives approved different proposals to expand and/or make it harder to avoid the requirement for men ages 16-26 to register with the Selective Service System for a possible military draft.  The House vote was 217-199.

And it's not just about guys this time:

The Senate Armed Services Committee (SASC) approved a version of the NDAA that would expand Selective Service registration to include young women as well as young men. This version of the NDAA will now go to the floor as the starting point for consideration and approval by the full Senate.

There is also a worse version of the proposal where enlistment is automated to track everyone who tries to escape enlistment:

Also on June 14th the full House of Representatives approved a different version of the NDAA that would make Selective Service registration automatic while keeping it for men only.

Combine all the worst of these proposals and imagine what Biden, the protector of your dear American democracy, will do to you at the end of the year, after his election, considering this draft came during his mandate and it is he who pushes for wars with Russia and China through NATO and the EU :

Floor amendments are still possible in the Senate before it approves its version of the NDAA. But as of now, it seems likely that competing bad proposals with respect to expansion and/or attempted enforcement through automation of Selective Service — one from the Republican-majority House to try to make it automatic, and one from the Democratic-majority Senate to expand it to women — will be included in the House and Senate versions of the NDAA and go to the eventual House-Senate conference committee to sort out in closed-door negotiations late this year, after the elections.

No matter how much he doubts the practicality of this technical solution to meet the Biden administration's need to "enable planning and engagement in endless, unlimited wars,  without needing to consider regard for whether young people will volunteer to fight them".

the author's conclusion of this article said:

Young people should continue to resist draft registration and keep the draft out of the policy arsenal of the warmongers. Allies of young people and of their resistance to the draft should lobby members of Congress who oppose endless, unlimited, undeclared wars to reintroduce and push for hearings on the Selective Service Repeal Act.

If you think World War III isn't around the corner, that means you're really out of the loop in terms of current events.

In the following video (I can't post the short clip of the video I wanted to share in this thread, so I added the link to Twitter), Serbian President Vucic literally breaks down over the possibility of a nuclear confrontation between the West and Russia before the end of this year.

We are talking about a Western head of state who has been present at all NATO and EU meetings on war and peace and who is aware of all the intelligence on the subject. In this interview, he is about to fall off his chair from fear, because he knows we are heading towards a global nuclear war that will be fought on every continent.

The link for the complete video:

“We are heading for a major catastrophe and it seems that the train has already left the station and can no longer be stopped. No one in the West is talking about peace anymore - only more war. The West thinks it can win and take out Russia. I think the West is wrong. Both sides now believe it is existential for them, so I don't think they will find a solution other than war and everything, everything is at stake. In Europe, the leaders act as the big heroes, but they are not honest and do not tell their citizens that they will all pay a big price if it comes to war.”

So keep your condescension to yourself and start campaigning for Jill Stein!

to be honest it would make me a lot more comfortable if you guys would show a little concern about trump running for president again. Do not inbox me and say you don’t like joe biden omg i already know. but can we show a little concern. about donald trump. being the republican candidate for president. for the third election in a row.

[weepingfireflies]

People & countries mentioned in the thread:

DR Congo - M23, Cobalt

Darfur, Sudan - International Criminal Court, CNN, BBC (Overview); Twitter Explanation on Sudan

Tigray - Human Rights Watch (Ethnic Cleansing Report)

the Sámi people - IWGIA, Euronews

Hawai'i - IWGIA

Syria - Amnesty International

Kashmir- Amnesty Summary (PDF), Wikipedia (Jammu and Kashmir), Human Rights Watch (2022)

Iran - Human Rights Watch, Morality Police (Mahsa/Jina Amini - Al Jazeera, Wikipedia)

Uyghurs - Uyghur Human Rights Project (UHRP) Q&A, Wikipedia, Al Jazeera, UN Report

Tibetans - SaveTibet.org, United Nations

Yazidi people - Wikipedia, United Nations

West Papua - Free West Papua, Genocide Watch

Yemen - Human Rights Watch (Saudi border guards kill migrants), Carrd

Sri Lanka (Tamils) - Amnesty International, Human Rights Watch

Afghans in Pakistan - Al Jazeera, NPR

Ongoing Edits: more from the notes / me

Armenians in Nagorno-Karabakh/Azerbaijan (Artsakh) - Global Conflict Tracker ("Nagorno-Karabakh Conflict"), Council on Foreign Relations, Human Rights Watch (Azerbaijan overview), Armenian Food Bank

Baháʼís in Iran - Bahá'í International Community, Amnesty, Wikipedia, Minority Rights Group International

Kafala System in the Middle East - Council on Foreign Relations, Migrant Rights

Rohingya - Human Rights Watch, UNHCR, Al Jazeera, UNICEF

Montagnards (Vietnam Highlands) - World Without Genocide, Montagnard Human Rights Organization (MHRO), VOA News

Ukraine - Human Rights Watch (April 2022), Support Ukraine Now (SUN), Ukraine Website, Schools & Education (HRW), Dnieper River advancement (Nov. 15, 2023 - Ap News)

Reblogs with Links / From Others

Indigenous Ppl of Canada, Cambodia, Mexico, Colombia

Libya

Armenia Reblog 1, Armenia Reblog 2

Armenia, Ukraine, Central African Republic, Indigenous Americans, Black ppl (US)

Rohingya (Myanmar)

More Hawai'i Links from @sageisnazty - Ka Lahui Hawaii, Nation of Hawai'i on Soverignty, Rejected Apology Resolution

From @rodeodeparis: Assyrian Policy Institute, Free Yezidi

From @is-this-a-cool-url: North American Manipur Tribal Association (NAMTA)

From @dougielombax & compiled by @azhdakha: Assyrians & Yazidis

West Sahara conflict

Last Updated: Feb. 19th, 2024 (If I missed smth before this, feel free to @ me to add it)

[figureskatingcostumes]

Nathan Chen's Rocket Man costume at the 2022 US Championships.

(Sources: 1, 2 and 3)

[bishopsbelova]

Two days in. TWO DAYS

Nazi salutes

Started mass deportations (and ICE raids in major cities)

Has sent the national guard to the Mexico border

Wants to rename the fucking Gulf of Mexico to the Gulf of America

Is targeting the cartels (cause that's gonna end well)

Shut down the CBP One app - which the Biden-Harris administration started to start process for immigrants to enter legally

Wants to get rid of "birthright citizenship" which GOES AGANIST the 14the amendment of the constitution. 18 states have pushed back against him.

Withdrew us from the Paris Climate Agreement.

Withdrew us from the World Health Organization

The government is only recognizing two sexes

Revoked the Equal Employment Opportunity order of 1965

He required a full-time return to in-office work for federal employees and ordered a hiring freeze on government positions.

The hiring freeze does not apply to the military or "immigration enforcement, national security, or public safety."

Pardoned the domestic terrorists who stormed the capitol on Jan 6.

Trump also rescinded a 2022 Biden order to lower the cost of prescription drugs.

And there's probably so much more that I'm leaving out or not seeing; because I can't fucking keep up.

He also owns the house and the senate….

[frogeyedape]

Mmmm....ironic mimicry may be perceived as plain opinion by someone not in the know that it's irony--that doesn't mean ironic mimicry is always and universally equivalent to "ironic" genuine opinions. It does bear thinking about whether speaking plainly/without irony might be warranted in various situations such as in the presence of people who you don't know well and who don't know you well (it being somewhat easier to weed out "jokes" from frustrated mockery of the opposition when you know someone well)

"reject modernity embrace tradition" isn't even a dogwhistle it's literally just saying regressive ideology directly. how does anyone not get this

[rabbitcruiser]

Forest (No. 82)

Mesa Verde National Park, CO

[carolinemillerbooks]

New Post has been published on Books by Caroline Miller

New Post has been published on https://www.booksbycarolinemiller.com/musings/harry-potter-v-doctrine-of-discovery/

Harry Potter v. Doctrine of Discovery

I threw a DVD  of “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” into my player last night.  I needed a touch of innocence to block out the television news.  Hard to accept but the real world had grown more fantastical, dark, and insane, than makebelieve. In the episode I selected, Neville Longbottom proves to be a hero. Knowing his friends Harry, Hermione, and Ron intend to break curfew and dishonor Gryffindor, he blocks their escape. “I’ll fight you,” he says shakily, his small fists rolled into balls to prove he means what he says. In the real world, Nikki Halley could have used Longbottom’s courage.  She accused Donald Trump of being unhinged, but like the rest of her peers in the Republican Party, she endorsed him. Fear rather than admiration was the reason. Each of them preferred to suffer the reign of an avowed tyrant and his band of Christian Nationalists rather than risk their careers.    To take a stand against allies and friends is difficult as studies show.  In turbulent times, only the brave are willing to sacrifice themselves for the greater good.  Of the 7 Republicans who voted to impeach Donald Trump, for example, only 2 survived the next election.  The rest faded away though the nation owes them a debt.    Though they may not know it, Trump and his band of White Christian Nationalists can trace their sense of a right to govern to the Doctrine of Discovery. Written in 1493, this Papal Bull was an answer to a question that troubled Christopher Columbus.  After returning from the New World with a plan to set out again, he wondered how he should treat the inhabitants of these faraway lands. The Holy See’s answer was unequivocal. Columbus owed heathens nothing except to convert them to the faith.   Chief Justice John Marshall answered the same question concerning American Indian rights in Johnson v. McIntosh  (1823)  When white Christian farmers settled on lands belonging to the Oneida Nation, the Indians sued. Marshall relied on the Doctrine of Discover in his response.  He defined the Indians as “occupiers” of the land, but assigned ownership to the white Christians. It may surprise some to learn this prejudice persisted in American law as late as 2005. That was the year Ruth Bader Ginsberg decided a case on the same Papal grounds even though Pope Francis had rescinded the Bull in 2003.  PPRI,  a nonprofit research group that focuses on the intersection of religion, culture, and politics, published a poll regarding the Doctrine of Discovery in 2022.  The question they asked was, “Do you agree or disagree that America was designed by God to be a promised land for European Christians?” Thirty percent of those who answered agreed with the statement. Republicans form the nucleus of Christianity in this country so a number of those who replied were probably Christian conservatives. In any case, this nostalgia for injustices of the past comes at a time of demographic change in the United States.  “Self-identified Republicans today are 70 percent white and Christian in a country that is only 42% white and Christian.” (“Finding the Hidden Roots of White Supremacy,” by Robert P. Jones, FFRF, May 2024, pg. 13.) Understandably, in 2020, when a defeated Trump claimed the election was rigged, the Christian right believed him and their response grew to a full-throated rage that culminated in an assault upon our nation’s Capitol. The rebellion was quelled but the fury remained, erupting sporadically in violence or threats of violence. During this period of turbulence, the Supreme Court seems to be administering law and order with an uneven hand.  Many who participated in the Capito riot have gone to jail.  On the other hand, the High Court has made it increasingly difficult to prosecute verbal assault. In Counterman v. Colorado, for example, the Supreme Court ruled that violent speech has First Amendment protection and is prosecutable only if the perpetrator has “some subjective understanding of the threatening nature of his statements.”    Political threats come from all sides of the philosophical spectrum, of course, but they are increasing in number and the range of those targeted is widening. In 2021, the National League of Cities published a poll that shows public servants have come under heavy assault.  The political climate has become so toxic that a former head of the Republican Party told 60 Minutes he went along with a scheme to overturn the 2020 election because he was “scared to death.” Likewise, former Georgia Governor, Roy Barnes  admitted he refused to assist district attorney Farni Willis in her prosecution of Donald Trump because  “I wasn’t going to live with bodyguards for the rest of my life.” History informs us that defending our democracy takes courage.  In a speech given at Harvard University, Supreme Court Justice Sotomayor reminded us of this fact when she praised the jurists who ended segregation in our public schools. (Brown v. Board of Education)  “They were brave men who believed in the power of law to form that more perfect union, and I believe it,” she said.  We all need to believe it for we have stumbled upon a time when the assault upon our democracy is coming not only from external enemies but from our fellow citizens.  I refer to those who defend the idea that some of us are occupiers and others are owners. In an earlier blog, I predicted a blue wave was coming. The prediction wasn’t magical thinking.  That wave will arrive come November. In a free land, ordinary people like Neville Longbottom will always rise to defend their country in a time of crisis.    

[nottheoneyouwantmetobe]

Riches deserve nothing but death