#And yet so many of them are still going to vote red this election

[nowisthewinter]

Hey, do you think it's a coincidence that so many of the Republican led states that want to get rid of the Department of Education and public schools in general and replace the system with vouchers that are guaranteed to overflood private schools to the point that many, many children will not be able to go to school at all are also the same states that have or are trying to lower the working age of children so that children as young as twelve can work jobs that would normally be filled with adults.

You know, adults who would be more likely to form unions than children and would demand higher wages, job security and safety regulations.

That's just a coincidence....right?

[batboyblog]

2024 Senate Elections: You'd Better VOTE!

Yes it's election year yet again in America! but not just for President, almost as important will be the US Senate!

I'm not gonna lie this is a rough map for Democrats, we're playing a lot of defense in some pretty red states with even our best hopes for a pick up being pretty long shots. But even with narrow control of the Senate we've managed the biggest climate bill in American History a huge infrastructure bill thats bring high speed rail to America capped the price of insulin changed the law to allow Medicare to negotiate drug prices bring savings to everyone, and put over 160 federal judges on the bench, 2/3rds of whom are women and/or people of color the first time white men haven't been the majority of nominees by a President. So let's keep progress going by voting for, supporting, donating, and volunteering for the following candidates in the races that will decide the US Senate this year.

Arizona

Ruben Gallego (Hold)

After frustrating Democrats by repeatedly voting against major Democratic priorities, supporting the filibuster and putting donors over voters, Arizona Senator Kyrsten Sinema left the Democratic Party to become an independent in 2022. Democratic congressman Ruben Gallego was running to primary Sinema before she left the party and is now the likely Democratic nominee to unseat her and give Arizona the Democratic Senator it deserves. Gallego is a former Marine, combat veteran, Harvard grad, a former state representative, and since 2014 a member of Congress. Gallego is a member of the Progressive Caucus and is known for his blunt and combative style standing up to Republicans. In Congress Gallego has been a strong supporter of native rights advocating for tribes on health care and child welfare issues. Gallego is also the sponsor of a bill to bring about nation wide, free, all-day kindergarten which isn't available in many states. If elected Gallego would be Arizona's first hispanic Senator. Republicans hope that the Democratic vote will split between Sinema and Gallego allowing them to win this important seat. The Republican front runner is conspiracy theorist and Trump super fan, Kari Lake. Lake rose to national fame in 2021 for pushing conspiracy theories about Trump having won the 2020 election, as well as anti-mask and anti-vaccine Covid conspiracies. Lake was the Republican nominee for Arizona governor in 2022. During that campaign she ran on an aggressive anti-LGBT platform, saying she'd ban drag, and was against trans rights. Lake also is against Abortion in all cases. After losing to Democrat Katie Hobbs, Lake refused to concede, and still pushes the conspiracy theory that she's the rightful governor of Arizona. If you live in Arizona please make sure you vote, but more if you have any time between now and November, volunteer to help Gallego! and if you don't live there you can still Donate or buy a pro-choice shirt from his campaign!

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Florida

Debbie Mucarsel-Powell (Flip)

Florida's current Republican Senator Rick Scott is a right wing extremist pushing dangerous ideas even by the standards of the Modern GOP. During his first term as Senator Scott has pushed to defund the IRS, and the Department of Education. He's sponsored bills to punish schools that allow students to use preferred pronouns, to ban affirmative action, bans teaching critical race theory, and ban trans people from women's sports. Scott is against abortion in all cases. Most alarming Rick Scott proposed a radical plan that would "sun-set" ANY and all federal laws after 5 years, including Social Security and Medicare, Scott would place all federal programs and agencies on the chopping block every 5 years for a radical Republican minority to block their renewal and leave us without Social Security, or the EPA, to name just two examples. The likely Democratic nominee is former Congresswoman Debbie Mucarsel-Powell. Born in Ecuador, Mucarsel-Powell immigrated to the US when she was 14 and had work to help support her family. When she was elected to Congress in 2018 she became the first South American born immigrant and first person of Ecuadorian heritage to be elected to Congress. In Congress Mucarsel-Powell was a member of the Progressive caucus, she fought to expand medicare, and secured $200 million for Everglades restoration. After a narrow defeat in 2020 Mucarsel-Powell joined the gun control advocacy group Giffords to fight for gun control a personal issue for her after her father was murdered when she was 24. If you're in Florida please make sure you vote, and Volunteer to help remove on of the most extreme Senators, If you're not in Florida you can help Debbie win by donating.

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Michigan

Elissa Slotkin (hold)

Long time Democratic Senator Debbie Stabenow is retiring this election, so there will be a tough fight for control of this important swing state Senate seat. The likely Democratic nominee is Congresswoman Elissa Slotkin. Slotkin is a former CIA analyst, after retiring from the CIA she worked in the State and Defense departments during the Obama administration. Slotkin was first elected to Congress in 2018 winning and being re-elected in a tough swing district. In Congress she's fought for common sense gun control, supported the cap on insulin prices and Medicare drug price negotiation, she helped pass a law on drug price transparency, she championed the CHIP act to bring high tech manufacturing jobs back to America, and was a big supporter of Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Slotkin is centering a pro-choice message in her campaign as well as gun control and bring down medical costs. Who the Republicans will pick isn't totally clear, it seems like it's between Former Congressman Mike Rogers and former Detroit Police chief James Craig. Craig ran for Michigan governor in 2022 before he was disqualified for fraudulent signatures on his nominating petition. Craig has listed cutting off US support to Ukraine as one of his top priorities, and endorsed Trump's 3rd run for President early in the primaries. Mike Rogers is also trying to win over Trump voters and has attacked the rights of LGBT students in schools calling it "social engineering". If you live in Michigan make sure to get out and vote, and also volunteer! And for everyone outside the state you can donate or buy some merch.

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Montana

Jon Tester (re-elect)

In most contexts Montana is a deep red state going for Trump in 2020 57% to 40%. This makes the reelection of Montana's only Democratic member of Congress and only statewide elected Democrat, Jon Tester maybe the toughest election for Democrats this year. A Senator since he was first elected in 2006 Tester has won a series of upset wins in Montana over the years. A 3rd generation farmer Tester has been as strong for small farmers and ranchers in Washington. Tester has always been a champion of accountably and transparency in government pushing ethnics and campaign finance reforms. Tester is rated one of the most effective senators and managed to pass more bills last year than any one else in Congress. He's never been afraid to stand up for the Democratic side even if it'd be an unpopular vote in Red Montana. Tester voted to impeach Trump twice, and he voted against all 3 of Trump's nominees to the Supreme Court. He supported President Obama on The Affordable Care Act and Dodd-Frank, and has supported President Biden on the Inflation Reduction Act and Bipartisan Infrastructure Law. Republicans seem likely to nominate right wing influencer and former Navy SEAL Tim Sheehy. Sheehy promises to get drag queens out of schools and the Lord's Prayer in to the classroom. He also hopes to repeal Obamacare calling for a "total privatization" of health care and made statements against the very idea of health insurance, insisting people should pay full price at point of use. If you're a Montanan make sure to vote to re-elect a champion of the little guy, and also volunteer! if you're not please think of donating what you can, if you can only give to one campaign this cycle this one, or Ohio are the most important!

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Nevada

Jacky Rosen (re-elect)

First elected to Congress in 2016 Jacky Rosen moved up to the Senate in 2018. In her first term as a Senator Rosen has championed green energy for Nevada. Together with fellow Democratic Nevada Senator Catherine Cortez Masto, Rosen has gotten millions for solar manufacturing in Nevada as well as millions to replace the state's school buses with electric, and programs to study new groundbreaking green technology. Senator Rosen has been a supporter of gun control, is in favor of banning assault weapons. She sponsored a bill, the Background Check Expansion Act, that would require background checks for all gun sales closing loopholes for on-line sales and gun shows. Rosen is pro-choice and has sponsored a bill to protect doctors from being prosecuted across state lines for providing reproductive care, and is a co-sponsor of a bill to codify Roe V. Wade into federal law. Rosen will likely face Republican celebrity and army veteran Sam Brown. Brown ran and lost a race for the Texas State House in 2014 and ran and lost for Nevada's other Senate seat in 2022. Brown stated he was in favor of getting rid of the Departments of Education, Transportation, and Energy. Brown is against Red Flag gun laws that allow police to temporarily remove fire arms from the home of someone deemed a danger to themselves or others. Brown also has refused to say if he supports a national abortion ban, but does say he's pro-life and wouldn't support any judges that weren't. If you live in Nevada make sure to get out to vote and volunteer to protect the state's green future and the right to reproductive care. If you're not in Nevada consider donating or buying some merch.

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Ohio

Sherrod Brown (re-elect)

Ohio together with Montana represents the toughest re-elect for Democrats this year. The state went for Trump twice, elected a right wing radical, JD Vaince, to the Senate in 2022 and has had a Republican governor since 2010. To complicate thing more Democrat Sherrod Brown is one of the most progressive members of the Senate, regularly scoring along side Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren for the most left wing in the Senate. From the time he was first elected to Congress in 1992 Brown refused to take the Congressional Health Insurance until all Americans could be covered. Brown first supported a Medicare for all bill in 2006 and has supported different efforts to expand Medicare and health coverage. He was a key supporter of the Children Health Insurance Program (CHIP). Brown is a strong supporter of unions and has struggled his whole career to protect unionized manufacturing jobs in Ohio. He was one of the first Senators out on the picket line during the UAW strike of 2023. Brown's hard work has help make Ohio the center of a new booming lithium battery manufacturing in America, a green manufacturing future for the state. Republicans look likely to nominate former used car dealer and father-in-law of Republican Congressman Max Miller, Bernie Moreno. Moreno's main qualification seems to be having been endorsed by Donald Trump. He lists among his priorities "End Socialism in America" and "End Wokeness and Cancel Culture". If you're in Ohio make sure to vote to re-elect a progressive giant and volunteer too! If you live out of Ohio donate, if you're looking for the race where your dollar will matter the most, this one or Montana guys.

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Pennsylvania

Bob Casey Jr. (re-elect)

First elected in 2006 Bob Casey famously beat incumbent Republican homophobe Rick Santorum by 17 points. Since first entering the Senate Casey has moved leftward on a number of issues. First elected as a pro-Gun Democrat since 2012 Casey has sponsored a number of bills to expand background checks, ban assault weapons, ban extended magazines, and well as supporting mental health funds for victims of gun violence. For a number of years Casey was called the last pro-life Democrat in the Senate, however in 2022 he came out in support of Roe V Wade and voted twice on bills that would have codified the right to an abortion into federal law. Casey voted against all 3 of Trump's Supreme Court picks and has long supported Planned Parenthood's contraception efforts with federal funds, seeing easily available birth control as key to reducing the number of abortions. In 2021 Casey published a plan he called "The Five Freedoms for America's Children" modeled after FDR's famous speech. He proposed automatically enrolling all kids in Medicaid, an expanded child tax cut, a federally supported college fund for all kids who's parents make under $100,000, expanded free school meals, more funds for head start and abuse prevention programs. Republicans are rallying behind Mitch McConnell's hand picked candidate, hedge fund CEO David McCormick. McCormick worked for the Bush administration during Bush's second term. McCormick's wife Dina Powell also worked for the George W. Bush administration and was a senior aid to Trump as well. If you're in Pennsylvania make sure to get out and vote for a solid Democrat out to solve child poverty in America and keep the Hedge Fund guy from Connecticut out, and Volunteer if you can. Remember you can donate where ever you are.

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Texas

Colin Allred (flip)

Texas is currently represented by likely the most hated man in Washington, Ted Cruz. Republicans hate him, Democrats hate him more, he has a very punchable face, he might be the zodiac killer (thats a joke and meme). From shutting down the government in 2013 to try to overturn Obamacare, to leading the charge in Congress to overturn the 2020 election on January 6th Ted Cruz is a greatest hits of the worst parts of the Republican Party of the last 10 years. When Texas lost power in the middle of a historic ice storm in 2021 Ted Cruz and family ditched the state to go on vacation in Mexico, classy. Cruz in the Biden years has cast himself as a culture warrior fighting against "woke" publishing a book "Unwoke: How to Defeat Cultural Marxism in America" in 2023 to kick off his re-election campaign. Texas is a traditionally red state but things are starting to shift and in 2018 Cruz narrowly won re-election over Beto O'Rourke. Democrats hope with the right candidate they can turn Texas blue and beat the most hated Senator in America. Democrats think Congressman Colin Allred is the man for the job. Allred is a former NFL Linebacker for the Titans. After the NFL he went on to get his law degree from UC Berkeley, and work in the Obama administration. Allred was first elected to Congress in 2018, unseating a Republican who'd been in office since 1997 and becoming the first Democrat to represent the area in Congress since 1968. In Congress Allred has supported bills to expand voting right and protect abortion rights, as well as gun control. In the Senate he promises to address Texas' shaky power grid and make sure Texas is never left in the dark again with its leaders missing. Lets do this Texas, make blue Texas a reality if you live in Texas remember to vote and volunteer, if you're an American who hates Ted Cruz you can donate to make in unemployed.

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Wisconsin

Tammy Baldwin (re-elect)

When Tammy Baldwin first ran for Congress in 1998 she was the first openly gay person elected to the US House and the first open Lesbian to serve in Congress. In 2012 she became the first openly gay person elected to the US Senate and the first Lesbian to be a Senator, she is still the only openly gay Senator. Through out her time in office Baldwin has been a tireless voice for LGBT rights, in 2022 she helped spear head the passage of the Respect for Marriage Act to help protect gay marriage, she's also a sponsor of the Equality Act to protect all LGBT people from discrimination. Baldwin is a progressive who was a member of the House Progressive caucus, opposed the Iraq War and supported impeaching Dick Cheney. In the House she introduced bills for a single payer healthcare system in 2000, 2002, 2004, and 2005. In the Senate Baldwin is regularly listed as one of the most progressive members, voting against tax cuts for the rich, supporting a bill to require companies to have workers on their boards, she sponsored a bill to create a public option in Health Care, and has supported gun control efforts. The Republican field to challenge Senator Baldwin is uncertain, but former Milwaukee sheriff David Clarke dominates the polls if he decides to run. Clarke's sheriff's department is accused a number of human rights violations from his time as sheriff, including allowing a prisoner to die of dehydration after 6 days without water in the Milwaukee County Jail. Clarke is a Trump super fan who has pushed conspiracy theories about mass shootings being fake, attacked Black Lives Matter, called Planned Parenthood "Planned Genocide", and called for the mass detention without trial of Americans because he believed there were a million ISIS supporters in America. If you're in Wisconsin make sure to get out and vote for a trailblazing icon and also volunteer if you can, all Americans can donate and support Baldwin wherever they are.

VOTE VOLUNTEER DONATE SHOP

If you're an American citizen and will be 18 years old (or older) by November 5th 2024, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE! make sure you're registered to VOTE please check Vote.Org to find out what you need to do, what deadlines there are and act NOW

If you're an American living outside the US, YOU HAVE THE RIGHT TO VOTE. Please checkout Vote From Aboard they have literally all the information you need to get registered and get your ballot wherever in the world you are, and Check out Democrats Abroad to take part in the global primary

Where ever you live in the US, there is an important life changing election happening! Get off your phone or computer and get involved, There are Events happening all around you right now Volunteer

Finally if you're a US citizen of any age any where on earth you can donate, donate to elect Biden/Harris donate to elect Democrats to the Senate, To the House, to Governorships, to local office

and the smallest thing you can do is reblog this very long post, thank you!

[qqueenofhades]

There is no law that prevents a convicted felon from running for and becoming president, nor a law that bans someone from being president in prison. Also, if Trump gets incapacitated in someway, many ultra right republicans who equally despise trans people and immigrants and Muslims would happily take his place

And I ask, with all due respect, what is your point?

Do you think I don't know that?

Do you think I am somehow convinced that everything is hunky dory now and we don't have any work left to do?

Are you just determined to be the first of the gloom-and-doomers who show up like clockwork in my inbox, every time some consequence happens to Trump, to morosely insist that no consequences will happen to him? First it was "he'll win re-election." Then it was "the coup will succeed." Then it was "he will never be indicted." Then it was "2022 will be a red wave!" Then it was "he will never be tried." Then it was "he will never be convicted." Now we've moved on, within less than 2 hours of the first US President ever to be convicted of ONE felony, let alone THIRTY-FOUR, "he'll never be sentenced or face a real consequence or lose the election." The goalposts keep moving RIGHT along without even a single pause to acknowledge the difficulty and the value of the progress we have made thus far, and it makes me CRAZY.

Do you people realize how fucking rare it is, both in the world today and historically, for a former (and would-be future) head of state to be held to criminal account by a jury of 12 anonymous ordinary citizens? When that one person, Trump, is the center of the malignant fascist cancer that has spread through this country ever since 2016, and plenty of his cultists are still insisting that it's Trump or nobody for them? When we've actually reached the stage of holding him legally accountable for (some of) his crimes for the first time in his miserable misbegotten life? I suspect that most of you are so deep in the "America is totally broken and the system is useless and we can only Revolute!!!1" rabbit hole that you're bound and determined to argue away every step we take, however slow, as Meaning Nothing TM. Voting? Fake. Fighting to make real progress? Also fake. Everything is fake except our belief that everything is broken and we need the Keyboard Warrior Glorious Revolution!!! As long as you can keep inventing ever more contorted twists of logic to ignore everything else that's happened so far, this makes sense... or something. I guess?

Now we're onto "removing Trump won't matter :(" when a whole lot of people have been fighting day and fucking night to get all the privileged-princess Online Leftists to get off their Che Guevara cosplaying asses and cast a single fucking vote to keep us from full-on-sliding into fascism. A slide into fascism that, again, has been spearheaded and centered around Trump's toxic cult of personality and which is still tied to him in almost every way. Apparently holding him to account (again, which has never happened to him in his life) already doesn't matter because wah wah he won't suffer any consequences. If he loses this election he's probably going to jail for the rest of his life! We would have electorally defeated the greatest threat to the American democratic experiment in 250 years, and frankly a huge part of the fascist far-right hydra that is currently attempting a comeback around the world! This is, yet again:

THE FIRST TIME ANY AMERICAN PRESIDENT, EVER, HAS BEEN CONVICTED OF MULTIPLE FELONY CHARGES IN A COURT OF LAW BY A JURY OF HIS PEERS

and yet we're still hearing that nothing matters and no work has been done and removing him will have no effect???

Come on. Come on. I know it's tiring and it's slow and it doesn't go as fast as we want. But every single damn time the process goes another step, here you people are in my inbox insisting that we're still at zero progress and it means nothing, and lemme tell you, I am Tired of it. Come on. You don't have to jump up and down (my own feeling is glee and vindication but still not relaxation, I will not relax until he loses the fucking election and goes to jail), but you also don't need to keep myopically pretending that all the effort thus far by so many people means nothing. Come on.

[imagitory]

I've never been more heartbroken in my life.

I was gobsmacked in 2016, don't get me wrong. I was devastated and frightened and shaken beyond words. I even had to go behind a wall and collect myself at one point that horrible November 9th, 2016, after colliding with a man wearing a red MAGA hat at work. A good chunk of us at work talked amongst ourselves about it, offering each other comfort.

But this? This is different. I could imagine dumb people making excuses for voting for Trump in 2016 -- saying that they thought a businessman would be good for the economy, saying that they wanted someone who wasn't a "Washington insider" like Hilary Clinton. Sure, it was stupid, but people can be stupid. Quite frankly, a lot of people are stupid, in this country and otherwise.

But now? Anyone who voted for Trump now has voted for a man who not only rounded up immigrants and put them in concentration camps separated from their families; bungled the response to COVID-19 so badly that the American death toll easily surpassed every other country on Earth; has poisoned the Supreme Court to the extent that they overturned years of precedence with Roe V. Wade and has basically given Trump cart-blanche to do whatever he wants while he's president; was the first president in history to refuse to concede on election day; was impeached for crimes in office not once but TWICE; was instrumental to and passionately supportive of the full-on attempted coup at the U.S. capitol on January 6, 2021 that could've very easily resulted in the deaths of his own Vice President and multiple members of Congress; has spoken glowingly of despots like Vladimir Putin and Kim Jong Un and even said he will be "a dictator on day one" if elected again; has both used slogans originally used by modern American Neo-Nazis ("America First") and purportedly told one of his ex-subordinates that he wanted generals like Adolf Hitler's...but also has by the day proven more and more just how mentally inept, vindictive, and mean-spirited he truly is.

And unlike in his previous races, Trump is ahead in the popular vote too. We can't just blame this on the electoral college being antiquated and gerrymandered AF like in the Trump-Clinton or Bush-Gore elections. Even if all of the third-party voters in this country had grown a bloody brain cell and voted for Harris so as to show solidarity against Trump and his form of American fascism, it still somehow wouldn't be enough. We could potentially blame this on lower voter turn-out -- according to what I'm seeing so far, even with all the votes not counted in this race yet, it looks like there were far less votes cast this election than in the last one, though likely still more than the 2016 race. But even so, I don't think that's the only problem. I truly think there were just a lot of people who turned out en-masse to vote for Trump. And all I can think in regards to those people is...

This is beyond stupidity or even selfishness. This is cruelty. This is large swaths of people deciding that they want fellow American citizens to suffer -- because in their minds, if those people suffer, that'll somehow make them happy. This is a large chunk of America saying, "yeah, you know all that crap about 'liberty and justice for all'? Screw that, I want a 'strong man' to bully people different from me for my own amusement." And -- perhaps -- there's also an element of feeling like their vote doesn't really have any consequences for them, so why should they care if the man they voted for is a god-awful person? It's not like that man will hurt them.

I had hoped. I had hoped, seeing the outpouring of support from liberals, independents, and conservatives for Harris/Walz. I'd hoped, seeing how many ex-Trump appointees were standing up against him, how much people were shouting their disdain for Project 2025 from the rooftops, and how many women were protesting in the face of Roe V. Wade being overturned. I truly had started to hope that America would prove we'd grown beyond our country's own original sin -- how our United States preached freedom for all while still being built on the backs of slaves and refusing to grant a vote to over half their population -- by electing a smart, successful, charismatic woman of color who sees our country as great in potential and wants us to pursue that potential as our first female president, rather than backtracking all the slow progress we've made over the last 200+ years.

But now...my hope has faded. My heart is in pieces and the world is so dark. I hardly know how I'll function at work tomorrow, even if I know somehow, I have to try. We'll all have to stand somehow. Somehow, someway...we'll have to find the strength. We'll have to stand, and we'll have to keep moving forward, even when it feels like we're a Little Mermaid walking on knives.

We'll have to stand.

[charmwasjess]

My tiny mountain town is a blue dot swallowed up in a sea of red. Our statistically-irrelevant town went for Harris. The larger counties around us all went for Trump. Here’s what this election looked like in the southeastern Appalachian on the front lines of that cultural divide: 

Outright unprosecuted voter intimidation: in the few blocks walk from my house to downtown, I can see a prop skeleton dressed as a Harris supporter hanging from a noose, and Harris yard signs slashed with a knife, others just ripped down to the cardboard.

Gerrymandering - years ago, these little-known poorer districts were redrawn around population centers in ways that give likely Republican strongholds more weight, particularly in rural areas like mine. Republican lawmakers literally have opened prisons in rural counties in my state to artificially inflate population numbers with people who can’t vote due to their felon status to tip the scales.  

Of course, the Electoral college, where US votes are decided by weight of a state’s respective collective population and importance rather than just the counted individuals votes

I’m not making excuses. I echo the rest of the world’s collective disgust and horror about the outcome. I am literally sick with my country. People will die because of this. People who don’t live here, people who didn’t get a choice or stake in the US elections, and who probably wish they’d never heard of the place. And people in my own community. 

Yet it is so easy to picture this election as the ultimate triumph of laziness and inattention, particularly in “ignorant hillbilly” places like where I live, which generally go for Trump without any fight - at least not one that shows up on an election night map. But the Republican right has been working for decades to put the legal, economic, and societal pressures that lead to this in place here. 

We fought hard. Grassroots campaigners, our organizers of LGBTQIA+ groups, leaders in our communities who showed up despite the fact that it put a target on their backs if shit went bad. Teachers fighting Republican-led mandates of ignorance and racism to choke out any thinking that might interfere with their political goals for their ideal voter base. Librarians who get death threats for having kid’s books dealing with gender or queerness in the public libraries. 

These are not imagined examples, these are things that happen to real people I know in my tiny blue community. And the violent, right-wing party, the party that promised to make this second Trump term one of revenge and retribution, knows who those people are too. 

The Charlottesville “Ignite the Right” attack happened in my backyard. I had friends on that street when a self-described neo nazi drove into a crowd and killed Heather Heyer and injured 35 others. Trump was president when it happened; he called the alt-right who invaded Charlottesville with guns and armor and torches that day “good people.” 

I have no faith in my party now. It feels like we’re still trying to play a game we lost years ago, while the other side is busy winning a new game, one where they get to make up all the rules. 

I realize that there are greater global trends at play - incumbents being ousted, a swing to the right, post-pandemic economic scrambles - larger issues than the difficulties of voter suppression in my rural American communities. I'm not in a great mindset to consider them this week. I've been politically active since I was old enough to vote, and it feels like we always build so much momentum and then slam facefirst into this fucking invisible wall.

Honestly? I’m so tired and depressed and anxious, I feel like I can barely function right now. At the same time, I’m disgusted by my own despair and whining. What gives me the right to stop trying now, when so many people across the globe are facing the same anger and exhaustion? When so many people are in more active danger, with less options than I have?

Anyway, I wanted to write something out about the election, maybe just to let go of the words and get them out of me. I'm a queer politically active liberal in a Republican-dominated rural space. Next week, I'll read all the posts about hard work and hope and building support networks. This week, I just need a fucking minute on the floor.

[11queensupreme11]

Well America is doomed 🙏 I genuinely do NOT understand people who voted for a CONVICTED FELON A RAPIST AND A PEDO.

(warning: i'm gonna rant a bit because this has really disappointed me. i'm not surprised, but i am disappointed)

there's still a sliver of hope left in me (copium) for a recount just like last time, which helped biden a lot. plus, there's evidence of a lot of voter suppression, election fraud and interference going on (ballot boxes being burned, mail-in ballots being turned away because of "inability to verify signatures", poll stations closing early, bomb threats, etc.) and all of this coincidentally happening in blue areas only smh, so i'm really hoping that kamala doesn't concede and lets the votes keep counting (because there's still millions left), or at least demand a recount later on

remember, counting doesn't last only a day. it takes days, not a single night. there's still more votes to be counted and incidents to be investigated AND the chance for a recount should kamala ask for one.

this election should be an eye-opener on just how deeply hateful and uneducated a lot of americans are. literally the only people who would ever benefit from a trump reign are rich, white, heterosexual, cisgender men and that EXACT combination only. it doesn't matter if you're a rich black woman, or a broke white man, or a heterosexual poc, etc. if you are not rich AND white AND straight AND cisgender male, you will NOT benefit from him at all.

and yet we had exactly those sort of people voting him in. black women and men of all ages did so good voting blue, but their hard work has been ruined because SO many white women and men, and latinos have voted against their own interests. hell i saw gay couples and trans people proudly voting for trump all over twitter. all because of their own hatred and lack of education because some of them GENUINELY thought trump would make their lives better. they hate everyone and they hate themselves, and they aren't even aware of it. they're so stupid too, they don't understand what's going to happen to them under trump and they don't WANT to

don't even get me started on the jill stein bs. i get it that people genuinely thought that voting for her would save palestine, but she was being endorsed by a member of the KKK and has a running mate who is openly against abortion and trump himself has said that he liked her -- that should've been telling. not only that but she's part of the green party. green parties will never win, their sole purpose is to divide votes and that's exactly what happened in some of the states kamala could've won had it not been for so many people choosing jill stein instead. all those wasted votes could've HELPED US.

right now we've lost the senate and house of representatives, we are becoming a very fascistic country -- even more than we were before. rfk jr -- the man who's wife killed herself because of his rampant cheating scandal, the man who chooses conspiracy theories over science, who promised to ban ALL vaccines (polio, flu, covid, measles, smallpox, etc) -- will soon be in charge of public health (including women's health), the department of education will be targeted even more than before because dumb, uneducated americans are more likely to vote red (a fact which has been proven many many times before -- this very election is also proof of that), palestine and ukraine are in more danger than ever -- trump wants all of palestine wiped out for israel and he wants to remove the US out of NATO so european countries are going to have to do whatever they can to protect ukraine and themselves from russia because putin's not gonna stop at ukraine and israel's not gonna stop with palestine, syria, lebanon, and yemen.

this is a country full of dangerously dumb and cruel people and it's going to impact EVERYONE because america can't keep their claws out of other countries' businesses

[somethingusefulfromflorida]

Trump has so many charges against him that he's almost certainly going to be convicted of something. Not everything, probably not even a majority, but something. He knows he won't get unanimous acquittals across the board, so his only hope will be to slip loyalists onto some of the juries to hang them. A mistrial means months or years of delays as prosecution works each case through the system all over again.

In New York, he'd be retried over and over until a unanimous verdict is reached, guilty or not guilty, however long that takes, and every state level Republican candidate from now on will campaign on promises to drop the charges or pardon him or help him in some way, shape, or form.

In Georgia (he hasn't been indicted yet, but it's coming), he's going to be pardoned almost immediately. In fact, I wouldn't be surprised if he gets pardoned before it even goes to trial. Yeah, the governor refused to find 11,000 votes for him, but he's still a Republican and trump is still the leader of his party. If he didn't pardon trump, he would be crucified by his voters and shamed out of office, and his successor would pardon him instead. If he stood his ground and couldn't be bullied into resigning, then just as in New York every Republican candidate would run on the pardon promise platform. Trump will NEVER face justice in Georgia.

In the federal case in Florida, a mistrial means the judge, a trump appointee, could drop the charges and prevent the DOJ from retrying it. Best case scenario, it would get delayed into 2025 or 2026 and a different judge in the southern district of Florida will be randomly assigned to it, but that's assuming Biden wins re-election in 2024. If trump wins, he'd immediately pardon himself, or invoke the 25th to have his loyalist VP pardon him to avoid a Supreme Court decision on a self-pardon's validity. If Biden wins, the 2028 Republican candidates will all run on promises to pardon him, so he'll be out of prison the second the White House goes red. I don't trust Democrats to hold the line long enough for him to die in prison.

The federal case in Washington, DC looks open and shut, the best chance for a conviction. Trump only has four appointees in that district, so the odds of him getting off on a retrial in case of a hung jury are 4 in 13, 30.77% (4/15, 26.67% if Biden can fill the two remaining vacancies). Again, all this does is kick the can down the road until 2025 or 2026. He will walk free whenever the Republicans take back power.

The only way donald trump faces long term consequences for his crimes is if New York stays solid blue for the rest of his life, something like the next 15 or 20 years. The federal charges will disappear the second one of his allies gets elected president; I don't think the party would nominate him for a fourth time in 2028 if he loses 2024 for them, so it's looking like it's gonna be ron desantis vs Kamala Harris (God help us all). Then again, who knows? A lot can happen in the next 5 years, so maybe some nobody will be frontrunner by then and desantis will have slinked away into post-gubernatorial obscurity like Jeb and Charlie Crist. Whoever trump endorses will be the nominee, so whoever strokes his ego the hardest will have hometeam advantage. My money says it'll be some blonde woman or a lightskinned black guy for diversity points (whoever it is, they'll be even farther right than trump himself)

[fandom-hoarder]

happy wincest wednesday! what is something the boys would do for each when the other isn't looking or paying attention just to be nice?

Hahhh... sorry for letting this sit so long; I have been extremely distracted. Idk if it's appropriate to say "happy" today, but it does so happen to be wincest wednesday and well... this probably wasn't the kind of answer you expected at the time, but here's what this makes me think about today...

~

Dean wakes up -- later than he's been used to most of his life, but earlier than he's grown accustom. He can feel that Sam's still in bed, and guesses it's before Sam's 6am run. But then the hairs on his body raise inexplicably, and he sits up with the urgency of a house fire.

"What's going on?"

And Sam's answer is tired, red-rimmed eyes and his phone wordlessly turned so Dean can see the screen.

Dean feels detached from the bigger issues of the election as Sam cycles through the stages of grief throughout the morning. Dean's only concern is Sam.

Sam tries to start getting ready for his run. "They haven't really even finished the count yet. There's still a chance for a miracle in the mail-in votes," he says, but his shoe drops from his hand when he tries to pick it up, and he just stares at it. Dean wonders if Sammy is thinking about their track record in miracles.

So Dean agrees, "Of course, come on, this guy again? No way. The blue guys'll clinch it." And he helps Sam put on his shoes and then puts on his own, pulling Sam out of the bunker with him and bracing against the early morning chill, only to be met with a balmy, pre-sunrise 50 degrees.

Halfway through their jog, Sam suddenly breaks his sync with Dean, kicking at a tree with a guttural growl and the full force of his foot as if he was wearing his hunting boots. Dean cringes.

"Maybe if I'd found a way for us to vote without getting arrested -- we've broken so many laws anyway, what's a little voter fraud, right?! But no. And now look!"

He aims for the tree again, but Dean catches his leg with an 'oof.'

"C'mon, Sam, you know that's ridiculous. The two of us wouldn't have turned Kansas around by ourselves. You can't help that you still have faith in people, Sammy. You wouldn't be you if you didn't."

"Because I'm stupid," Sam says bitterly, and turns around to jog back to the bunker.

Dean follows him, but can't quite keep up this time. When he reaches the bunker, Sam is on the phone in the kitchen.

"I'm tellin' you, Garth, it's just like that time with Dick Roman when they drugged everybody to turn us into food. You really haven't heard anything? Don't you think it's completely crazy to believe his followers aren't under some kind of supernatural influence, for him to get away with all the horrible shit he does?"

"Well, maybe you could try asking Rowena---" Garth's tinny voice suggests as Dean pulls the phone away and hangs up.

"Dean--" Sam complains, reaching for the phone dispassionately.

"You know we already looked into this asshole. He's 100% human evil, Sammy."

Sam collapses onto the table bench, hand over his face. "Claire's already texted me twelve times. I don't even know what to say to her."

Dean looks at Sams phone and sees that there's a voicemail from Patience too. Pursing his lips, he turns off Sam's phone and pockets it. He sidles up behind Sam, cupping the back of Sam's neck and squeezing like he's scruffing him.

Sam takes a deep, hitching breath and holds it, breathing it out long and slow as Dean slides his hands down to dig his thumbs into the knots Sam's formed over the last twelve anxious hours.

"Well I guess," Sam starts, softly, "At least now he can't run again after this."

Dean starts to glimpse the promise of relief in his belly, before Sam adds with a self deprecating laugh: "As long as he doesn't change the law about term limits."

Dean squeezes Sam's shoulders, and keeps working at the tension until his hands get sore. Then he makes them breakfast, and makes sure Sam gets something in his stomach besides coffee.

But after Sam mechanically finishes the eggs and pancakes, Dean adds a couple splashes of whiskey when he tops up Sam's coffee -- after which, Sam says he should finally take his shower, but decides to lay his head down on the table for a minute and falls asleep.

Dean does his best to make sure Sam won't wake up with an even gnarlier backache, and does the dishes quickly before sneaking into the archives for the ingredients to contact Rowena.

But Rowena is no help to him if it doesn't come with a deal, and Dean has finally learned enough to know Sam wouldn't find the trade fair.

Dean lets Rowena go and turns Sam's phone back on, refreshing the election map. It still shows a handful of states at less than 80% reported, despite the bold banner at the top announcing a winner, and Dean looks at it in disgust.

A new text notification chimes in, and Dean sees Claire's name and a preview of her text: "I can get Alex to teach us how to do backroom abor" and Dean can guess what the rest of the text says.

Dean meets Sam in the hallway, calling for him.

"Hey," Sam says, sliding on his socked feet as he sees Dean and stops short. "I heard my phone. Was that Claire?" He snatches his phone from Dean and immediately starts scrolling, reading Claire's texts under his breath and dancing his fingers across the keys in a sudden fury. Quickly, Sam goes from upright to hunched like a question mark over his phone, shuffling restlessly up and down the corridor and mumbling about hrt supplies.

"Sammy, will ya take a breath? I'll knock over a pharmacy before I make ya go without your shots. --They'll still be makin' it for cis dudes, right?"

"Yeah. Probably. And I know you would, Dean, but I'm not worried about me," Sam says, not looking up. "Claire's going to scope out some manufacturing facilities with the girls and we're gonna set up an underground hrt resource. I wonder if there's anyone in our network who could work out a small manufacturing setup. It's too bad Kevin...or Charlie..." Sam mumbles down into nothing as he keeps typing, and Dean's stomach clenches.

He herds Sam, still typing, down to the showers, and gets the steam going while he strips Sam down and finally pulls the phone from his grasp. Dean pulls Sam down to him and goes up on his tiptoes to kiss Sam's forehead. He swears he can smell the salt of Sam's tears, and when he looks at Sam's face again they shimmer on his cheeks like the silvery scars of his top surgery.

Gently, Dean pushes Sam into the shower and under the water, carving his hands through Sam's hair to wet it down.

"Didn't think we'd be going through another apocalypse again so soon."

"Or ever," Dean agrees gruffly, grabbing Sam's special shampoo. "But this one isn't on us, Sam."

Sam closes his eyes, somehow still admonishing even as more tears join the water on his face. Dean's sudsy fingers scrub his scalp soothingly. "Dean. It's what we do."

"HRT, ok, that's one thing. But clandestine abortions?"

Sam snorts. "Alex can teach us."

"Us?"

Sam leans to rinse under the water when Dean directs him. "We'll cache abortion pills for the easy stuff, but we should be prepared to do more. We've taken bigger risks on DIY, and at least we'll get some training on this. Soon there might not even be any other options..."

So that's how Dean finds himself on his knees. Alone in his room. Praying to Jack as Sam sets up some type of mission control in the library.

"Please, Jack, I know you said you're hands off, an' all, but I think you should make an exception for Sammy. Just this once. He's had a lifetime of Hell-- more'n a lifetime-- and this is supposed to be our retirement. So can ya chip in a little for his 41st half-birthday -- which you missed, by the way -- and fix this freaking election so we don't hafta spend our retirement in another friggin' apocalypse?"

A weird feeling comes over Dean as he prays, buzzing through him with warm, alien reassurance. And as his stomach starts to unclench, he adds: "and hey, I'm not expecting ya to fix all of human history-- we're still team free will down here-- but throw in some worldwide human rights and extended ceasefires while you're at it. You missed a few of his actual birthdays, too, y'know."

Five minutes later, Dean's knees are cracking as he stands up and sprints down the halls towards the sound of Sam's bellowed, "Oh my god. Dean!"

Sam is gaping blearily at his laptop in the library.

"What's up? You okay?"

Sam can only gesture at his laptop, where the screen is displaying the final results of the count, and the Dems managed to pull a sudden upset, tilting the final count to their favor by two swing states after the paper ballots were counted.

"Ho-ly shit," Dean says, almost unable to believe it himself.

"And that's not all!" Sam says with a hint of bright incredulity, and scrolls down his news page.

"ALL the firearms disappeared?!" Dean asks, reaching for his gun automatically but realizing he'd never armed himself today. "Bombs, too? How?"

He knows how, but he still feels shocked. He'll have to check their stashes to see if Jack disarmed even them -- Dean really needs to get better at wording his wishes. They can't just be naked out here if monsters still exist.

But Sam answers Dean obliviously, "No idea! There's already a bunch of conspiracy theories on social media, each one crazier and yet more plausible than the last. Tucker Carlson already uploaded an AI shortfilm about how it was demons---" Sam turns to Dean suddenly and Dean cuts him off before he can speak it.

"It wasn't Rowena."

When Sam frowns at him in confusion, Dean begrudgingly elaborates, "I tried asking her for a favor while you were asleep, but she said that big of an ask would require a deal. You know I know better than that." (Now.)

Sam looks outrageously skeptical, and Dean feels offended. "Dean, people are reporting resurrections and olive trees sprouting full grown from rubble. Razor wire around global borders turning to wildflowers. Fields of grain in Ukraine. Cereal stalks cropping up in desolate Sudan farms, sprouted with grain and full heads of cooked kisra..." Sam keeps scrolling past miraculous headlines. "And these videos don't look like AI."

Dean bites his lip, wondering-- hoping-- that this will bring an end to the suffering, and not just be a bandaid before things continue going to shit. He focuses on the headlines and video titles quickly scrolling by, watching for anything about peace agreements or troops retreating. Screw free will, actually, just a little bit.

"D-Dean... do you think... Jack?"

Dean watches the weight of the world ease off Sammy's shoulders, infinitesimally, and doesn't resist the urge to wrap his arms around Sam, kissing his temple.

"Maybe, Sammy. Maybe."

[charyou-tree]

If you’re going to panic about the Supreme Court, channel that energy into getting your friends to vote.

The courts were never going to save us from trump’s fascism. He can still run from jail if he wants to. This was always going to come down to needing him and his republican enablers to lose the election.

It’s not over yet, if voting was pointless there wouldn’t be so many propaganda accounts desperately trying to convince you not to.

The 2024 election is 2020: double or nothing.

Either the republican fascists win and get their theocratic dictatorship, or they lose and a lot of them go to jail for their crimes against democracy. That’s why they’re going in so hard, they know that taking over the country is their last best chance to avoid the consequences of their actions.

The midterms and special elections since 2020 have actually been very encouraging, republicans in deep red states have been losing badly now that so many reasonable voters are mobilized and angry about their reproductive rights being taken away, the coup attempt, the bigotry and corruption, and all the rest of their fascist bullshit. We just need to carry that momentum forward and stick the landing.

Now is the time to wield your power as a citizen. Check your registration, help your friends check theirs and get registered, bring as many people to the polls as you can.

Vote like your life depends on it, because it very likely does.

[kilowogcore]

Trump's Day One Plans

I'm going to talk as Kilomin, because this is very important.

Let's talk about the United States election, comrades. If you follow me, you know the only elections I believe can further progress are local elections. Even in a local election, it's difficult, but leftists can organize and work hard and actually get good people into local office. That is only possible on a small scale, with a few rare exceptions like Vermont.

I mean this honestly: State and national elections won't fix anything. Voting Democrat at the national level will not fix any of our country's problems. Joe Biden and the congressional Democrats will make things worse than they are now.

However, you should still vote Blue for a crucial reason: It saves lives. See, the only way to fix this country is by organizing outside the system and then putting enough pressure on the system to change it. I'm hoping that can be done just by the threat of disruption or disruption without anything further, but I don't know.

What I do know is that an organized people is the only way we can fix this country. A national movement like that requires local infrastructure. Many people already do that with local politics, unions, leftist groups, activist groups, social programs, and other organizations. But we are still getting ready. We still need more local organizing, and we won't have a national movement ready to go by November.

And that's why you swallow your bile and vote for the blue fascists. It'll save lives while we get ready. Any liberal who thinks voting is all we need to do is the enemy, but leftists who do the more important work of organizing and also vote? They are comrades.

Some leftists I talk to aren't sure voting will save lives. After all, Biden's a fascist, Biden endorses genocide, Biden runs concentration camps for asylum seekers, Biden drives out immigrants, and Biden keeps throwing money at cops. It's easy to see why someone might think there's no lesser evil this time.

But there is. And I'll link to a story about just one part of that, among many. This is just one example of how Republicans would cause more suffering and harm than Democrats. https://epgn.com/2024/05/15/trump-pledges-to-end-lgtbq-protections-on-day-one/

Plenty of people won't make it four more years no matter who's in charge. The Democrat politicians, with very few exceptions, and the Republican politicians, with no exceptions, are mass murdering fascists. But more people survive the blue mass murder, and those lives matter.

A lot of those people are my friends. I'm queer, and I might be doing okay in California, but the people I love in other states are not. It's bad enough in red states right now, but if the Republicans get the power, they will impose Floridian-style oppression and worse nationwide, not just on queer people but on BIPOC people, women, disabled people, and every other marginalized group. That's why US marginalized people have overwhelmingly been begging everyone to vote Blue. I'm going to listen to them and, as a disabled queer person, add my voice to theirs.

I wish we were ready to take the whole wretched system down, and I believe we will be soon, but not yet. So please, for the sake of the people I love and for the millions and millions of marginalized people of all types, swallow that bile, and vote to save lives while we organize.

Thanks for reading comrades.

[walks-the-ages]

"I did not mean to derail this post"

so why are you still leaving paragraphs and paragraphs and paragraphs ignoring every single thing that was said before by the people you decided to argue with by saying that it's

"better to keep Democrats in office to hold them accountable for their actions, because if they lose office they'll just blame Republicans for the things they did"

????

"Why are you telling me your finances, do you seriously think I'm not also working class?"

I mean, if you actually fucking read my response where I spelled out my finances and engaged with it properly you would have seen the giant glaring message that I am spelling out my (and thus, 90% of American's reality) financial situation of 99% of my paycheck going towards basic living costs even before actual food is on the table because I'm pointing out how much fucking rediculous money politicians make when they hold the highest office in the Country ($400k per year + a $50k Expense Account) ,and thats what you're advocating to pay these people for them to continue to commit genocide.

you think its a good idea to keep Democrats in office because you somehow think that them staying in power and making life-changing amounts of money off of our tax dollars to continue that genocide with, because you think somehow you can hold them accountable even as you acknowledge its impossible to push them Left once they're elected into office???

make the fucking cognitive dissonance make sense.

You acknowledge Democrats are committing genocide

You acknowledge Democrats cannot be "Pushed Left"

You acknowledge that its a good thing for people to Vote Third Party ""if they believe it will work"".

But you also demonize people who choose not to vote even if you deny that "demonization" accusation as you continue to insist people who don't vote aren't doing anything at all politically.

You do all this......... as you then turn around and insist we actually need to keep Democrats in power, otherwise they'll just blame Republicans for Democrat's actions while in office, and somehow that will magically brainwash millions of Americans into...... uhhhhh caring about Palestine finally, because it will have been done by a party in red instead of blue?

"Democrats will just wash their hands of the blame for Palestine if they lose the election"

I mean, if you let them, sure! And you know how you let them wash their hands of the blame? by fucking voting for them. by endorsing them despite their genocidal actions and crimes against humanity.

The only people who are letting Democrats wash their hands of these atrocities are the people who vote for them despite knowing there's a dozen other options .

You can reblog as many donation posts as you want, but if you're advocating to reward Democrats for being genocidaires by keeping them in power against ALL advocacy by actual Palestinians and Arab Americans, including arguing with these people on their posts where they talk about how they're directly impacted by the Democrat's genocidal campaign... do you actually care about other people, or do you care more about maintaining the status quo??

Anyways. Vote Jill Stein for a Free Palestine.

Do not re-elect Genocidal warmongers.

Don't forget your daily clicks

And if you have any kind of disposable income , please donate directly to vetted Gaza funds if you can!

[samtallchester]

To my moots, followers and friends. I know you follow me for my content or whatever other reason. And I know you must have noticed the sudden number of posts based on Portuguese elections and are probably gonna skip this post. If you're still reading this, thank you.

Portugal clearly isn't the only one heading this way. You may have heard of Vox [Spanish far right party] as well and maybe other countries. Sure there are wars raging. There is a lot going on and you'll probably think "what does it even matter?" Because many people do, because true, we are [thankfully] not going through any of that. But what I want to bring to attention is important at least to me. And I wanted to share with everyone. Because oppression still matters.

25th April marks the year my grandparents – minus my ugly ass paternal grandpa (an oppressor working for the dictator), as well as my grandparents' parents were freed from the dark clutches of the reign of terror known as the New State.

50 years later, it's happening again. AD won and Chega wants a coalition. If he doesn't achieve so, and Montenegro continues with his original plan of leading a minority government, Ventura [CHEGA] claims to shoot down any bills he may want to pass – which is petty imo. But you know politics is politics.

Eventually, AD is gonna have to go. Minority governments don't last. So Portugal may be stuck with Chega at some point in the next 5 years. My home will no longer be a democracy but will be a fascist reign of terror once again because no doubt. Estado Novo [The New State] will be back, if Ventura really brings it back. Censorships. Health care will totally change. Immigrants will be forced to go back to their home countries. Romi people will likely be dislodged. Abortion laws will change. Trans people will not be allowed to be who they are.

All because young people like us let themselves fool themselves into believing that André Ventura is right. Maybe because their romi neighbor made them mad last week so they voted Chega, whatever petty reason. Or PSD messed them up, I don't care.

They haven't learned. Surely their grandparents told them stories about how worthless living was under Salazar. Or some might have even died because people like my paternal grandpa hunted them down for being anti-fascist. And yet, you still vote for the same man who thinks women are beneath him. Who made a fuss over BE's leader wearing bright red lipstick and shamed her [Marisa Matias] for it.

I am disappointed in my nation. We are welcoming those people into our arms, not even caring where we are voting and God I feel disgusted that people these days are so stupid that they vote another party out of revenge? So what? There's like 10 parties. You could have picked another.

We are disappointing our ancestors and Mario Soares. The MFA [Movimento das Forças Armadas], every single person who fought 48 years of oppression and censorship.

Maybe I got some facts wrong – because i am not perfect and i am trying to merely educate myself. The future is uncertain. That is for sure. Because genuinely, I am ashamed to believe this country really lost its sense. Our ancestors deserved better.

[skullshoal]

us election rant

every good thing i voted for on the ballet got denied and

what do you MEAN 1 MILLION more people voted yes on these and no wins.

I shouldnt be surprised rick scott stays in but it sucks. I shouldn't be surprised trump wins by a lot but it sucks. There are so many good people in florida it doesn't make sense. I know it's just so many people dont care and vote whatever i just

I just feel helpless. It feels like it doesn't matter. Where could I even go that it does. I feel like the election ended two hours in to it. I feel like things are going to get a lot worse and I don't know where to go. Florida isn't even my home I just live here because my parents moved me here idek how long ago has it been a decade? how depressing. I need to leave this state before I've been here longer than I've been in my home state. Not that Georgia is much better. Not that anywhere in the south is much better. Not that everything I know and love is here and it still feels like if I want to belong it just can't be here.

I love the south and i mean it its full of good people. The states are red but the people aren't so many people aren't. It pisses me off getting written off as the shitty place to live in america and yet it betrays me time and time again why do I still love it? I wish I could pack my bags and forget about the Appalachia and the live oaks and beautiful wildlife and the warm summers and cold winters and magnolia trees and southern charm and hospitality but all of it lives in me. All the kind people who live here who will smile at you and treat you like a human and like family and vote for trump out of idk ignorance? That's the kindest way I can put it. I am stabbed in the back by the south but I love it like my own family I love my friends I've made here who have always lived here like me.

I'm just tired and so so sad. I'm so sad and scared and there is no light at the end of the dark dark tunnel theres only through and through and through and through again. I'm scared of all the people that will die because of one decision it feels like I didn't have a choice in. I'm scared of losing my rights as a trans person and as someone in a same sex marriage and as someone who is not white. Will my father be deported? He's only lived here for 30 years.

And on top of all of this it's so hard to be hopeful even though I'm supposed to start a job in a week that would fix our money problems and the people who work there are kind and good people and it feels like it's supposed to be getting better and maybe it will be but it also feels like it's not real yet and i'm just waiting for them to take it away still. I can't believe in it cause it's not real yet.

anyway. all this to say. Get me out of here but I don't want to go. Find me my home in a world without homes. I want to feel wanted. I want us all to be ok. I'm not going to die but that does mean i have to live through all the bad stuff to come. It'll be fine It'll be ok. It has to be. I'm just rambling now but it has to be. If it's not ok it's not the end. Ok? ok.

[qqueenofhades]

Is it foolish of me to sympathize with how marginalized people on the far-left are incredibly frustrated that the Democratic establishment isn't as scared of/desperate to please them as the Republican establishment are toward the MAGA fringe? I guess from their perspective, voting feels like begging - most of the people who hear you won't even glance at you, let alone drop you a coin. But you still have to do it, or else you (or worse, your family) are *guaranteed* to starve.

Okay, a few thoughts here. Note: for you and the other people who have recently sent politics asks, I have been very deliberately NOT talking about it for the last few months. I had to break it yesterday because of the Orange Menace finally getting fucking convicted, but I do want to go back to not doing that (at least for the next few weeks/months/until whatever else stupid happens). So while I will answer this, I am generally not going to answer others and my apologies for that, but yeah. It's just so much and I have GOT to keep myself sane until November somehow. (Or God forbid, afterward, but you know.)

First off, most members of the American far left aren't actually marginalized people, or at least not marginalized enough that their personal well-being seems in any way likely to be affected by their loud and ceaseless campaign to tell other people not to vote. Actual marginalized people who have lived in America for any length of time are *well* aware of how the government and the state can be weaponized against them; witness how black community organizers will voice well-deserved criticisms of the Democratic establishment or other aspects of American party politics that are frustrating for everyone, but they will still always tell people to vote. Black people are also extremely aware that earning the right to vote was an incredibly long, difficult, and bloody battle that they were never given it for free, and the white power establishment fought them having it at every turn. They are thus far more aware than your average white online leftist that voting matters, because they had to work so hard to get it (and still to defend it as various red states launch openly racist assaults on voting rights, especially aimed at disenfranchising people of color). Witness how Bernie also got literally zero traction with African American voters, despite being the darling of the (white) online left.

Hispanic people are also (rightfully) frustrated at how both American parties can use Latino immigrants as a political football, but they're still backing Biden by 30-point margins. We hear a lot of chatter about Trump supposedly gaining ground with voters of color -- maybe he has, though I doubt it, but that's still incremental gains from the massive holes he was in before, and where he generally remains. Arab Americans are (rightfully) angry with Biden over Gaza, but even in the much-hyped Michigan primary, he got roughly the same amount of "uncommitted" voters as Obama did as an uncontested incumbent in 2012, and most of them have said they'll grit their teeth and vote for him in the general election anyway. Yes, a few of them have decided not to, but they are not the size of the Black and Latino populations in America insofar as electoral power, and many of them have grudgingly decided that as bad as Biden might be on this particular issue (though far less so than the social media groupthink would paint him) the alternative (i.e. Trump openly promising to deport everybody who's not white and crack down on pro-Palestinian protests and anything else) is much, much worse.

And yet, white leftists seem utterly incapable of making these same calculations. Frankly, I'm not sure they actually care about Gaza, let alone anything else they say, because if so, they wouldn't be slavering at the mouth to let Trump back in there to "teach a lesson" to Biden, Democrats, and everyone else who was not Smart And Clever Enough to sanctimoniously sit on their hands and let the fascists take over. I know this because they spent all their time lying about Biden and distorting his record and insisting people not vote even before October of last year, and then it only got ten thousand times worse. I'm not saying that all leftist or leftist-identified people are white, but they are disproportionately predominant in leftist spaces and in pushing the idea that there's "no difference" between the parties and somehow Trump and Biden are morally equivalent or will have the same amount of impact on what will happen after one of them is elected. That is, yes, because they are white and they have the privilege of assuming that a weaponized fascist government will not go after them for that reason (even though Trump and his surrogates are now claiming that "everyone" who opposes Trump has to be "dealt with.") As such, when you say that marginalized far-left people are frustrated with the Democrats, I'm... not entirely sure that's true. Marginalized people AND the far left are both frustrated with the Democrats, but one of those groups has generally still decided not to voluntarily disenfranchise themselves, and the other is pumping out Vladimir Putin-wet-dream anti-voting propaganda at every chance they get.

There is also the fact that America is not a left-wing country in any sense of the word, and that while it's easy for the MAGA Republicans to go ever further far-right and promise to be even more outrageously cruel and stupid and fascist than ever before, but that's not an actual policy or a plan. It is also a strategy of diminishing returns; witness the fact that for all the cruelty and stupidity Republicans have pumped into the public arena since 2016, they haven't actually been that good at winning elections, and most of their major successes have come from Trump winning in 2016 and thus being able to stack SCOTUS and the district and circuit courts with hand-picked right-wing nut jobs, who are functioning exactly as they were designed to do. (Which Hillary Clinton warned about, along with everyone else, and yet she was taken out by the exact same dirtbag leftist disinformation moral purity machine that is working overtime to handicap Biden for the exact same reasons.) Mainstream Democrats warned about this before the 2016 election and were scorned and laughed off. Indeed, the entire Online Left continues to resolutely deny that the extremist SCOTUS is responsible for anything (It's Biden's Fault) and thus are likewise identical to Trumpies. And since they also want Trump to get back in there and teach a lesson to the Democrats, they're just as anti-democratic, dangerous, stupid, and deliberately short-sighted as actual MAGATs, and can by no means be considered allies to the singular movement of keeping fascists out of power. That is our only present goal.

If Democrats bent over to everything the far left asks for (which is often a combination of tankie gobbledygook, various vague ideas about Communism utopia where capitalism magically vanishes with no consequences, half-baked revolution cosplays, and other stuff that is functionally equivalent to the wildest lunacies of MAGA) they would never win an election again, and that would be exactly what the fascists want. Witness how they struggled when they were branded "defunders of the police" and "socialists" and other effective responses to the mildest milquetoast efforts for reform or accountability. And the political climate right now is just far too dangerous to throw everything to the wind and prance out some pipe-dream perfect-utopia plan. I'm sure you've heard about Project 2025 and how the far-right Heritage Foundation is planning to systematically implement fascism at all levels of the country, the instant they have a compliant Republican president and congress. I would take all these people crying about Biden even a fraction more seriously if they weren't openly jonesing for something that is so unbelievably, incredibly worse.

For example: I currently have major beefs with literally the entire foreign policy of the Biden administration right now. I think they're being too hard on Ukraine (forbidding them to strike targets on Russian soil with American weapons, which would end the war faster) and, despite some promising signs and open displeasure, still far too easy on Israel. They looked foolish after insisting that Rafah was a red line and then essentially making up an excuse that what's going on now is not a "major operation." Secretary of State Blinken floating the idea of helping Congress censure or neuter the International Criminal Court arrest warrants issued for Netanyahu and co. was also one of the fucking stupidest things I've heard from a serious (i.e. non-Trumpist) American diplomat in a long time. So we respect the ICC when it issues warrants for tyrants we don't like (Putin), but when it issues one for tyrants we still do, apparently (Netanyahu), then bingo, it's back to the bad old habit of ignoring international law like we're special and it doesn't apply to us, and allows all the other bad actors around the world to do the same by pointing at America and correctly pointing out that we ignore it when it doesn't suit our purposes. I think this is wrong and I don't agree. So? What am I going to do?

Well, you see. I'm going to vote for Biden and I am going to give him money and I am going to remind everyone I know that they have no moral option but to do the same. I do this because I am aware that despite my disagreements, Biden is acting from a cautious anti-interventionist standpoint and does not want to throw American military might around recklessly or dangerously like good ol' George Dubya or Trump or even Obama and the drones. He is listening to sober mainstream advisors who have (however incorrect and useless) ideas about "avoiding escalation" and trying to bring conflict to a managed end. He is doing this with a realistic appraisal of the power of the office of American presidency and he's not going to capriciously end democracy and become a full-blown fascist dictator on day one, as Trump has openly and repeatedly promised to do. Yes, if there was a viable option apart from Biden, maybe I would think about voting for them, but there is not, and literally everyone who does not actively vote for him is helping Trump. I do not care about any other contrived and disingenuous online squealing. I know that Biden does not want the war in Gaza to go on for no reason and for maximum carnage; Netanyahu and Trump both do. That is just to name one thing.

So: yes. I absolutely understand being frustrated with the Democrats and wishing they would push harder and etc. But I am also aware that they can be pushed, that they are the only option right now, and the people who huff and puff and whine and groan about how it's such a moral imposition to vote for them are literally doing the fascists' work for them, and that is not acceptable. If they want a better system or a better world that isn't just useless internet fantasies about magical end-of-days Raptures fixing everything, also a la the crazy fundamentalists, they will have to get off their ass, do the work, and create that change. I will be happy to vote for that candidate when or if they arrive. In the meantime, I will continue to do my damndest to ensure that we even have a chance to get there. So yeah.

[vintageseawitch]

i hear about this:

& all i can think of are a few things: for one thing, the Uncommitted Movement, various Muslim community leaders throughout the US, other Palestinian Americans, etc have been PLEADING with people to not vote third party because while it would hurt Harris, it would in turn help trump, & CERTAIN THIRD PARTY VOTERS ARE IGNORING EVERYONE ANYWAYS.

second, while it's great they said something, i wish it wasn't less than a week before Election Day, but maybe it would help some people who haven't voted yet reconsider... maybe.

third, HAHAHAHAHAHA at the way they give the impression they believe jill stein has any integrity, decency, empathy, or anything we would like to have in a potential leader (if she was serious, which she is not). i admire that they are giving the impression they believe the American Green Party has any inclination to pursue its noble goals when their mascot (stein) has index funds with XL Pipeline, has received funds from Lockheed Martin, has stated some anti-vaxx stances, etc while pretending they're pro-environment, pro-human rights (even though she only JUST started "caring" about Gaza this election cycle as though what's happening over there has only been going on since October 7th & not for literal decades), & so on. stein's running mate is also massively anti-lgbtq & anti-abortion but hey he's Palestinian so he understands your genocide hard line!!!!! anyways i have a feeling the European Green Parties are very aware the American Green Party has become a sick joke but i admire their alleged belief in it being on the same page as them.

finally, there's this particular story:

& what it makes me think of is all these LARPing revolutionaries will never, NEVER EVER EVER, have the same courage or backbone the way Liz Cheney has displayed in the wake of real-life fascism. i don't hear jill stein or other members of the Green Party calling out this heinous bullshit. stein is too busy pretending to get that fucking "5%" while trying to make noise in key swing states only instead of blue states where reaching that 5% is more in reach, further proof of her bullshit.

it infuriates me that third party voters & non-voters, ESPECIALLY ones who are encouraging & SHAMING people to do the same, are doing all this bullshit while pretending 2016 didn't happen & so many of these folks are not just white but also INCREDIBLY anti-black even though many of these folks were on the BLM train a few years ago but now black people especially women are also talking about how they're voting for Harris & y'all are CALLING THEM PRO-GENOCIDE FOR IT. y'all are just as complicit as the rest of us because of our tax dollars & i'm not seeing any of you go to jail because you're refusing to pay for them over this. only CERTAIN kinds of genocides count to you & while those who actually have skin in the game, like actual Palestinians, are begging you not to vote third party & to vote for Harris, y'all shit on them & think you know better because you've been on a high fucking horse for a year. you claim to care about climate change but you're working harder to make sure Harris loses which means trump will win. WHAT IS YOUR FUCKING PLAN FOR THIS.

Liz Cheney & other Republicans like her & Muslim Americans who have family & loved ones affected by what our government is helping netanyahu do & are STILL going to vote for Harris & are encouraging others to do the same because they're pragmatic & know what's at stake are braver than any of you accelerationists. you all sound like maga because of your unending love for red flag McGee jill stein. y'all don't think Russia is a problem & that amongst a myriad of things makes you sound fascist as fuck. you make me sick. there's so much at stake. please listen to those who have been doing the actual work longer than you've pretended to give a damn.

i can't get over hearing about the video of a voter writing in the flashy "arms embargo now" instead of voting for PRAMILA JAYAPAL who is up for re-election. do you even know who she is?? do you know how our government works??? your emotions are making you STUPID & encouraging you to "vote" in a way that is just cutting off your fucking nose to spite your fucking face. y'all are UNSERIOUS.

try to be as brave as Liz Cheney & as pragmatic & aware as the rest of the fucking world who knows that third party voting only hurts the Democrats. being an Ernst Thälmann in this election is fucking EMBARRASSING.

[thessalian]

Thess vs Political Media Spin

Thinking about the French election (CONGRATULATIONS, FRANCE) and realising that it's probably finally time to discuss a thing about the UK elections that nobody in the media wants to talk about. Because they mostly want to talk about Reform's 4.1m votes and 5 Parliament seats. Which is ... okay, not entirely fair, but understandable given that an awful lot of news media is written for "engagement" and is thus generally ragebait. However, there are two things that those of us in the UK really, really need to keep in mind:

We had an atrociously low voter turn-out this year, probably because so many of us were depressed and beaten over how the two main parties are behaving right now.

The Greens came in second for votes in forty constituencies. One of them was mine. (That latter shouldn't surprise me because this whole borough has been a very safe Labour seat for awhile and isn't it funny how this place started leaning towards the Greens when that Tory-with-a-red-tie Starmer was leading the party? Almost as if all those "safe Labour votes" are just very lefty votes looking for a place to break out?)

Now, point 2 couldn't work in the US. You guys have a two-party system, just because of how your voting works. While you guys get Electoral College votes for That One Guy, we get actual seats - actual voices - in the House of Commons. And honestly, Labour would have still had its landslide even without the forty seats the Greens could have won if a few more people had actually come out. But even the Americans can take a message away from this, and the message is: "refusal to vote is very liable to cripple any chance things have of getting better".

For the US - if you don't vote Democrat, and Trump gets in again, he's going to destroy your country. The question becomes who you'd rather have stacking the Supreme Court, and who you'd like to hand the loaded gun that is the current Supreme Court's decision to give Presidents immunity from prosecution in the course of "official acts", particularly when the full and detailed definition of "official acts" has yet to be determined. Do not assume he'll never win - my mother assumed that in 2016, because apparently she has not as yet plumbed the depths of human stupidity the way only those of us whose brains are trash and who live on the internet can. Do not assume that Biden will get enough votes without you protest-voting for a third party. If you want some examples of how that thinking works out, consider Brexit, and how many people who actually voted for it and then said, "Well, I mean, I didn't think we'd actually leave; I just wanted to protest it a little!" immediately afterwards.

For those of us in the UK, though? I know a lot of people didn't come out and vote and I understand why. But look what could have happened if you had. Imagine forty-four seats for the Greens, instead of just four, and those forty-four voices speaking and voting for us in the Commons. Imagine if the Greens had got the kind of votes Reform did. The media could not have ignored that the way they ignore the Greens' four seats.

Media spin basically crushed those of us who want better into not voting at all. I don't know if this country will get better under Labour, but I doubt it, and I mourn the chance we had. I am so thrilled that France has at least shown that left-wing politics aren't entirely dead. I can't save my own country beyond my one vote (the Greens this year, and I'm happy to have contributed to an actual left-wing party getting the second-most votes in my constituency, thanks), but I can give warnings. To the UK ... I know Starmer's a dickweed, but we can get a louder voice in Commons if we don't just give up on the entire electoral process. To the US ... I get that Biden is ... honestly, he is better than Starmer; it's just that "slow and steady wins the race" policies don't make headlines anymore. Just ... do you want God-Emperor Trump? Not voting in the US is how you get God-Emperor Trump.