#I bet they will come running back to the Democrats then

[cyarsk52-20]

Like I said: If Black People aren’t the center, I’m not advocating.

Preach.

Speak for yourself but I wish the worst on them with trump in office I bet there will be no more Palestine Trump will give them a ceasefire after Israel wipes them off the map

We black folks worked on a damn plan for Palestine. Behind the scenes, we were busy, but I guess all work for nothing. I'm done! Y'all got it. We are clocking out!! For four years we’re minding our business and letting those who choose these bad decisions drown in a sea of their own folly while we black folks will mind our business.

[qqueenofhades]

Not that anything's a for sure bet but my read on the general situation re: Harris-Walz is that there's going to be a lot less headwind to fight for Harris specifically as opposed to Clinton because the amazing right wing media hasn't had twenty years for poison to seep into the layperson's thoughts about Clinton's "worthiness"

Well, that and the fact that the MAGA crowd are just really, really bad strategic planners (especially since a solid 75% of their strategy is "lol we'll just cheat and win it that way, we don't need anything else.") They howled for 3.5 years about how Biden was too old to serve and should step down, and then when he did, they had zero plan how to run against Kamala and Trump is now practically begging Biden to magically get back into the race and save him. They ran an anti-Shapiro influence campaign by encouraging the antisemitic online left and planning to exploit the issue among Democrats divided on Israel/Gaza, then furiously melted down when Walz was picked and had no plan to deal with him either. Fascism is a helluva drug, kiddos. Don't try it at home.

The reason Harris has been able to rocket so high is simple, which is that she's channeling Obama 08 energy in more ways than one. Obama also came onto the national political scene four years before (with his speech at the 2004 DNC) and four years later, he was the party's nominee. It didn't even matter that he was a skinny brown guy named Barack Hussein Obama, because people were so tired of the chaos and war and incompetence of Bush Jr that they latched onto a simple message of hope and change and the historical nature of his candidacy felt like an optimistic risk worth taking. Why couldn't it be time for the first African American president? Yes, of course, there was incredible vitriol and we are still dealing with that backlash in some ways now, but still.

As I have said before, Trump is technically not the incumbent, but the last 8 years have been dominated by his hatred, chaos, division, rage, and treason in a way even Bush could never quite manage, and when people get to that point, there's a lot of coiled-up energy that has at last come bursting out. We needed Biden's old-moderate-white-man cred to defeat Trump as the sitting president in 2020, when most of his worst scandals hadn't even happened yet, but this is not 2020 (or 2016) and the dynamic is different. We are now on offense and playing to win, people have readily and eagerly embraced the absolute god tier karma that would come from a black female prosecutor finally ending the Orange Menace's reign of terror once and for all, and the Republicans are spitting smoke and spinning gears running frantically through their usual tired old stupid cliche attacks. GAY TRANS EVIL BIRTHERISM SWIFTBOAT FOREIGN FAR LEFT COMMIE LIBERAL HEATHEN!! they scream desperately, trying to find something that sticks. Except this time, no matter how hard the corporate media tries to help them out, nobody is listening. Nobody is buying it. We know exactly what BS they're trying and we're just shrugging and going "Yeah, no. Weird."

It absolutely helps that Kamala is not dragging the ball and chain of 20 years of Republican smear attacks, yes. But there are a lot of reasons why the GOP is imploding before our eyes and it's probably now more statistically likely that there is a blue tsunami than it is that Trump wins. I still cannot, CANNOT, believe it has been barely three fucking weeks. If this is a dream don't want to wake up, etc. Let me goddamn stay in this timeline just a little longer. And if we do the work, we can in fact make it that way, and Yeah. Yeah.

[cherrycola27]

Red, White, and Rooster

Series Warnings: Language, alcohol consumption. Frenemies to lovers, relationship of convenience. Political situations. Allegations of affairs, military and political inaccuracies. Eventual smut. 18+ Minors DNI. Banner Credit: @thedroneranger

Series Master List Next Part

...........................................

Prologue: The Great Debate

Anxiety thrums through your body as you fidget with the knot of his tie. The intrusive thoughts are creeping in, but on the outside, you remain cool, calm, and collected.

"Please tell me why I have to wear a purple tie again?" He asks you with a huff.

You roll your eyes as you begin the same speech you have before every other debate. "Democrats wear blue, Republicans red, you're an Independent, so—"

"You wear purple to show that you're the perfect mix of both," He groans as he finishes your sentence.

You look up to him with hard eyes. You don't miss the flash of a genuine smile across his face before some television assistant comes to remind you that you have five minutes until he needs to be in place.

"Alright. This is the last debate before voting begins. By some miracle of God and my amazing campaign managing, you're ahead in the polls. Don't fuck this up for me." You tell him as you smooth out the arms of his suit.

"Don't fuck it up for you? I'm the one who is going to be in the Oval Office dear." He smirks at you.

"And I'm the one who is getting you there, and who is going to your Chief of Staff,— dear. So, like I said, don't fuck this up for me." You smirk back.

One more debate, you thought. You had to get him through one more debate and a few last-minute campaign stops, and then all your hard work would pay off.

If everything went according to plan, Lieutenant Bradley 'Rooster' Bradshaw would be the 47th president of the United States, and you, Y/N Wiseman, would be the youngest Chief of Staff to ever serve at just twenty-nine years old.

"Roos, Wise-woman, yall about ready?" His running mate, Lieutenant Jake 'Hangman' Seresin called out. "Or are you two still fighting over a tie?"

"We're good, Jake," you reply as you step back to admire your handy work. You've done a good job.

Bradley is in a dark grey suit with a deep plum colored tie. His silver watch is smart, but not flashy. His dark brown shoes offer a nice contrast to the suit without clashing. His sandy brown locks are styled to appear neat but casual. His mustache is trimmed to give him an edge of maturity.

It was something that most men his age didn't need, but being thirty-five and running for president, it was necessary for him. If elected, he would be the youngest to ever serve.

No, not if. When he is elected, he will be the youngest to ever serve.

"Alright, let's get this show on the road." You clap your hands. Bradley and Jake follow you out of the room. Bradley is directed to his mark while you and Jake find your seats.

You hear the welcoming music as the moderator steps on stage and beings speaking to the cameras. Applause and cheers cry out as the candidates step up to their podiums.

You take a deep breath. This is it. These next two hours are going to make or break over a years worth of work.

If someone had told you a year ago that the two former Navy pilots turned politicians, you met in a D.C. bar who hired you because of a bet were weeks away from winning the White House because of you, you would have laughed in their face.

But one game of pool, several beers, tears, and sleepless nights later, it was happening. It was so close, you could almost taste it.

.........................

"Oh my God you fucking killed it out there man!" Jake smacks Bradley on the back as soon as the three if you make it back stage from the debate.

Jake was right. Bradley did kill it out there. Your phone is already blowing up with Google Alerts from various media posts declaring him the winner of the debate.

His stances on education, heathcare, immigration, and the military blew his competition out of the water.

Frankly, he didn't have any competition because the other two candidates could only seem to focus on how young he was or his military background. Neither of them spoke much on their policies. Instead, they chose to try and poke at Bradley's past. However, that proved to be fatal for them.

America had rallied around Bradley's tragic childhood of losing his father at two, then being raised by a single mother, who died when he was barely nineteen. Bradley hadn't wanted to play the orphan card, and you really tried not to, but when he was lacking the polls, early in the campaign, you did what you had to do. He was mad at you for weeks but changed his tune when he saw the numbers.

One candidate, Reece Johnson, had tried to frame Bradley and Jake as monsters and killers since they were former military. You quickly rewrote the narrative, painting them as heros who received the medal of honor during their last flight mission. Bradley for risking his life while saving his captain and late father's best friend, and Jake for saving them both.

Every time someone tried to tear them down, you would swoop in and save them. All the while, running a clean campaign for them.

You were broken out of your thoughts by Bradley calling your name.

"Y/N. Hello. Earth to Y/N Wiseman." He waves his hand in front of your face.

"What?" You ask him. "How did I do?" He asks you. You can tell that he values your opinion. No matter how much he gets on your nerves or how much he grumbles. He needs to hear what you have to say.

"You didn't fuck it up for us." You tell him. A smile breaks out across his face. "I think that's the nicest thing you've ever said to me Wise-woman." He grins.

"Don't get used to it." You shoot back. "Alright, we need to head back to the hotel. We have an early flight to North Carolina tomorrow, and then a few more stops on the East Coast before we head to the Southwest." You remind him and Jake.

They nod their head and grab their belongings.

"I'm going to head to the parking garage and put my things in the SUV. Chapman, Davis, please make sure Mr. Bradshaw and Mr. Seresin make it down safely. Could you also alert Taylor to be waiting for us at the car?" You ask the secret service agents assigned to you three.

"Yes, Ma'am. Would you like an escort?" Davis ask you.

"No, I'll be fine. No one goes after the campaign manager." You joke before waving him off.

......................

You'd just gotten to the parking garage to put your things in when Taylor, your driver, informed you that he'd left his coat upstairs. You assured him you would be fine as he went to retrieve it.

You'd just finished putting your things in the trunk when you heard someone call out your name.

"Y/N!" A voice shouted. You turned around just in time to see a masked person standing a few feet away from you, with the barrel of a gun pointed directly at you.

Your breath caught in your throat. You didn't know what to do. You were frozen.

"Y/N! You bitch! You cost me everything!" They screamed at you. You heard them draw back the hammer of the revolver before they took their aim.

"GUN!" You head someone shout.

It all happened in slow motion. You couldn't fully process what was happening until it was all over.

You heard the deafening bang of a gunshot.

You felt a strong pair of arms wrap around you and pull you into them and down on the ground to safety while two men in black suits charged at the figure.

You watched with blank eyes as they tackled the person to the ground and wrestled the smoking weapon out of their hands.

Your ears were ringing, but you were vaguely aware of someone calling your name.

"Y/N! Are you alright? Are you hurt?" Bradley shook you.

Suddenly, you realized he was the one holding you.

"I—I'm alright." You stutter out just as you hear the click of cameras followed blare of police sirens.

"You—you saved me." You stutter, fully trying to process the situation. More cameras clicked as the press was making their way out of the venue and witnessing what happened.

Suddenly, it hit you. You had been shot at. Bradley and broken away from his security to save you. He had ignored protocol to protect you. He'd put his life on the line for you.

By now, the media and police were swarming around the two of you. Snapping picture after picture of the two of you while asking question after question. You knew those photos would be on every major news outlet, and the story of his heroism would go viral within hours.

As he helped you up, two things crossed your mind.

One, you were thankful to be alive.

Two, you'd just won the White House.

Eeeekkkk! Babes! I hope you enjoyed this first part! I'm excited to here your feedback!

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[mikeysbride]

We Are Not Going Back

The 2024 U.S. presidential election has been anything but typical or boring, especially in the last month. Once President Joe Biden made the decision to remove himself from the race against Donald Trump in favor of endorsing VP Kamala Harris, everything changed. And it changed for the better if you're a Democrat. I was upset when he first withdrew, feeling that he was basically pushed into it by the media's insistence he is too old to run despite the record he's had as President the last 4 years. But then, within minutes, it seemed, my attitude changed to one of a sense of hope I hadn't felt in a while where the election is concerned. In reality, he made the ultimate selfless decision to put the country's interests above his own, and that is a remarkable quality, especially in a politician. It shows he's the real deal.

It appears I am not alone. The surge of excitement in the Democratic Party surrounding Kamala's nomination, which she'll officially accept this week, has been nothing short of amazing to watch. I have not seen anything like this since President Obama, and that says a lot. Her rallies are breaking attendance records, and even longtime Republicans are pledging to vote for her.

Of course, Kamala has already received the predictable criticism from the Trump cult about everything from her heritage to her laugh. Trump also still refuses to pronounce her name correctly, which is blatantly disrespectful but also typical behavior for him. If Kamala ("comma-la") is too hard for him to pronounce, Madame President will do just fine, I'm sure. But none if this should come as news to anyone. They have nothing else to go on, so of course they resort to the lowest rungs on the ladder when in reality, she has a stellar resume and record having served as a prosecuting attorney, District Attorney, Attorney General, Senator, and now Vice President of the United States. She is an actual prosecutor going up against Trump and his 34 felony convictions, and he's allowed to do that for the highest job in the country even though many jobs won't consider you if you have even 1 felony conviction. It's laughable really; it would be hilarious if it weren't also so sad and ridiculous. You can bet anyone of color would not be allowed the same leniency.

A few days before Kamala became the presumptive nominee, my 16-year-old daughter told me she felt apprehensive about her future if there were to be another Trump presidency. I told her that I feel the same way for myself. I actually feel that way about anyone who isn't a rich, straight white male because those are the only people Donald Trump cares about - those who look and think exactly like he does. But then, Joe passed the torch to Kamala, and it seemed the country awakened to a clearly better alternative and someone even the independents could get behind. Suddenly, there was hope that maybe, just maybe, things would be OK after all. That same daughter then came to me, just a few days after our previous conversation, and told me she is no longer fearful the way she was before. My 14-year-old daughter echoes her feelings, and the both of them have taken a greater interest in the election as a result. My teenage daughters are inspired and can see themselves in Kamala, and that is huge for them and for me.

I don't care who you are; this is historic and a big deal. It takes an incredible amount of privilege to see all this unfolding and not appreciate how significant this is in our history. Not only are we on the verge of having our first female U.S. President, but she's also Black. Not only that, but she's smart, successful, personable, and damn qualified. I can't help but think of my grandparents and how thrilled they would have been to live to see Barack Obama become President and now Kamala Harris. We came so close to a female President with Hillary Clinton in 2016, and I pray the election deniers and complacent people don't mess it up for us this time. I honestly don't think we can survive another Trump presidency and come out the same way ever again. He's already promised to be a dictator on his first day back in office and has alluded to doing away with elections...neither of which we need. And we certainly don't need him. He only wants to be President to avoid jail time, point blank. We can't let that happen.

We have a chance this November to save our democracy and keep moving forward - to make a hopeful future available to everyone and not just the rich, straight white males of the country. We can do this, and I have to believe we will. This is a test we absolutely cannot stand to fail. I understand the assignment. Do you?

[mytardisisparked]

Car Games

A look at the ways Mulder and Scully pass the time on road trips.

Read on AO3

-

“Do you like car games?”

She looked up from the file in her lap, brows raised. “I’m sorry?”

He glanced over at her. “I, uh, wondered if you like car games. Y’know. Like, I Spy, or the License Plate Game.”

Scully took a deep breath, feeling a bit surprised. Her new partner was kind of interesting, the way he was so restless; it seemed to her that he was constantly moving, as though he thought the world would stop if he did. 

And yet, here he was, asking her if she enjoyed car games. 

“Um, I suppose. I played some with my brothers and sister when I was younger.”

He nodded. “Which one was your favorite?”

She took a deep breath. “Probably the License Plate Game.”

For a moment, he was quiet. “I don’t believe you.”

She whipped her head around to look at him. “Excuse me?”

He looked back at her, eyes dancing. “Oh come on, Scully. You grew up with three siblings. I refuse to believe the License Plate Game is your favorite.”

“Why would having siblings change that?”

He shrugged. “Siblings come up with messed-up games to play together. Or, really creative, unique ones. I bet you four had a really good one.”

She tilted her head at him, setting her jaw for a moment.

He was right, and she wasn’t sure how she felt about it. “Fine. We didn’t have a name for it, but we played this game where we would count how many animals were on our side of the car – usually Missy and I were on a team and Bill and Charlie paired up – and then if we passed a cemetery you would have to “kill” all your animals, “bury” them, and start over from zero.”

He smiled, not in arrogant triumph, but in a way that almost seemed impressed. “That’s a good one. Wanna play it?”

She wet her lips. “We don’t have to–”

“There’s a farm outside your window. Better hurry.”

With a small smile, she turned and started counting cows.

—

“‘W!’ I SEE A ‘W!’”

Mulder couldn’t help but laugh as Scully crowed out her victory. She was a whole 7 letters ahead of him in the Alphabet Game and, to be honest, he wasn’t mad about it.

She was competitive. She played it off well, but 7 hours into a road trip her calm, reasonable front started to slip and a Scully that seemed to strongly dislike losing came out to play. 

He glanced over at her, cheeks flushed with excitement and her eyes bright with good humor. She was getting more comfortable around him, just as he was with her.

“Okay, okay, we get it.” He shook his head in mock shame. “No one likes a bragger.”

She flashed him a smile. “I’m not bragging. I’m stating a fact.”

“Sure.” He focused outside, looking for road signs. “Have you ever lost the Alphabet Game?”

She was quiet for a minute. “No.”

He glanced at her. She was looking studiously out the window. 

“You hesitated.”

“Did not.”

“Did too.”

She took a deep, irritated breath. “Fine. Charlie beat me once on a technicality.”

Mulder nodded diplomatically. “On a technicality?”

“He and I saw a letter and called it at the same time. Bill and Missy were tired of me winning the game, so they voted Charlie the winner.”

Mulder barked out a laugh. “That sounds like less of a technicality and more like the democratic overthrow of a dictator!”

She spun to look at him, mouth open. “Excuse me?!”

He put up a hand. “I’m sorry, I’m sorry, harsh metaphor.”

Scully licked her lips, and he saw their corners curl. “It’s… not that inaccurate. I could be a bit…”

“Competitive?”

“A bit.”

“Like right now?”

She smiled at him. “Oh no, nothing like right now.” She chuckled with a hint of pride. “I could be so much worse.”

Before Mulder could reply, she pointed past him out the window. “There’s an ‘X.’”

—

“I spy something…. brown.”

Scully sighed deeply.

“C’mon, Scully. Something brown. You’re gonna miss it.”

She threw him a look. “This is Texas, Mulder. Everything is brown.”

He opened his mouth for a second – as if to retort – and then seemed to think better of it.

Good.

The car was silent for a few moments, the air conditioner running at top speed to combat the heat outside. Their radio had gone out 30 minutes ago, leaving the AC and the sound of the tires on the road as their only music. The steady hum might have provided Scully with a fairly restful sleep, were it not for her eternally restless companion. Every few moments he seemed to pop up with something new to say, to comment on, to point out; she envied, in a way, his immunity to the lethargy of the heat and the hum and the rolling desert.

“It was a tumbleweed.”

She looked at him, brow furrowed. “Huh?”

He glanced at her quickly, as though trying to see how close to a line he was stepping. “The brown object. It was a tumbleweed.”

She sighed and turned back to the window. “Which one?”

Out of the corner of her eye, she saw him smile and, despite herself, she bit back a smile of her own.

“It’s your turn, Scully.”

She wet her lips, feeling a crack in the bottom one; they had spent 2 full days in the dry heat and she had run out of chapstick before they had even left the airport to get their rental car. “Okay. I spy something brown.”

Even without looking at him directly, she could tell his face had just lit up.

“Is it that tumbleweed?” He pointed at a random one beside the road.

“No, it’s the one two to the left.”

“Rats. That was going to be my next guess.”

She finally allowed herself a small grin. “I’m sure it was.”

—

“It’s going to be really hard to find a ‘Hawaii’ license plate here in Ohio, I think.”

Mulder smiled. “You might be surprised, Scully. Ohio is a vacation destination.”

“Oh really?” She raised her brows. “Pray tell, what ‘destinations’ does the Buckeye State have to offer?”

He pointed out the window as she turned the car past a sign for Cuyahoga Valley National Recreation Area. “Well, look right there; there’s a national park here.”

“Hm, alright. What else?”

“Lake Erie.”

“Does it have beaches?”

“Probably.”

“Hmm.”

“The water’s probably too cold to swim in, though.”

“Says the boy from New England.”

He chuckled. “Are you egging me on, Scully?”

She tilted her head. “Maybe.”

He tilted his head, too. “You want to swim in a frigid lake?” When she shrugged, he grinned and went on. “Oh, I see, this is an excuse to see me in a bathing suit, huh?”

She threw a glare at him as she turned another corner. “You wish.” He couldn’t help but notice the red coloring that was slowly sneaking into her cheeks.

He smiled and left it at that.

He looked around out the windows again. “Maybe a nice family from Hawaii has their car parked at that Cheesecake Factory.” He nodded at a sign for one just off the road.

“We could go look after our meeting with the local PD.”

He smiled at her. “Sounds good to me. Even if we don’t find our last license plate we can at least get some cheesecake out of the deal.”

She glanced over at him, eyes bright. “You read my mind.”

—

“Mulder if you don’t stop fiddling with the dial, I’m going to drive us off the next bridge I find.”

Mulder looked up from the radio, motioning theatrically at the windows and the empty, rolling sand beyond. “Well, considering the fact that we’re in BFE New Mexico, I think you’ll be hard-pressed to find a bridge.”

He went back to trying to find a radio station as she groaned out loud.

“There’s no radio signal out here. Give it a rest. Please .”

He leaned back with a sigh. “Next time we come to the American Southwest I’m making a mixtape. We can play ‘Name That Tune.’”

Despite her earlier irritation, she felt a spark of curiosity. “What would you put on a road trip mixtape for us, Mulder?” She tried to put a bit of sarcasm in her voice to cover up her genuine interest.

“Well, ‘Jeremiah Was A Bullfrog’, for one.”

She shook her head. “The song is actually called ‘Joy to the World’ by Three Dog Night, and I’m not giving an encore performance.”

“Well, I suppose I can’t put it on anyway, now that I know I had the title wrong. You would automatically win.” Out of the corner of her eye, she could see the massive grin on his face.

“Fair enough. What else?”

“Hmm, maybe some Van Halen. A little Fleetwood Mac.” He sat back in the seat so he was turned towards her. “What would you put on a mixtape?”

She thought for a moment, and then the corners of her mouth turned up a smidge. “The Shaft theme song.”

Satisfaction settled soundly in her chest as she watched his jaw drop. “Scully! I know I didn’t sing that on that case–”

“Yes you did!”

“I did not!”

“Prove it!”

He gaped at her for a moment, mouth opening and closing like a fish. “You know, someday I will. I’ll get some kind of…. memory reader to go back in your memories and see that you made that up.”

She grinned triumphantly. “I can’t wait to see your face when this ‘memory reader’ tells you it really happened.”

Before Mulder could respond, the radio crackled back to life, and a slow song began coming through their speakers.

Scully pointed at the radio. “‘That’s the Way Love Goes,’ by Janet Jackson.”

Mulder let out a low whistle and pulled a small notebook out of his pocket. He wrote an M and an S at the top of the page, and made a mark under the S.

 “Point for Dana Scully.”

—

"Come on, Scully; Mothman, Bigfoot, or the Flatwoods Monster?" He tried to hide his smile as Scully’s brow furrowed rather cutely, a playful look of disgust on her face.

"I don't wanna kiss any of them, Mulder! Moths are dusty, Bigfoot is probably biologically close enough to humans to carry human diseases, and the Flatwoods Monster is probably dirty from being in the woods all day!"

He bit back a laugh. "I was in the woods all day today, you know."

"Yes. And I'm not kissing you until you shower." She set her mouth in a line, but he could still see the faint curl at the edge of her lips and the sparkle in her eye.

"Promise?"

She wet her lips and raised an eyebrow, giving him a long look. After a moment, she tilted her head. “I’d marry Bigfoot, kiss Mothman, and kill the Flatwoods Monster.”

Mulder clicked his tongue. “Interesting choices!”

“Well fine! What would you do?” She stopped trying to hide her smile. She’d been doing that more lately – smiling freely, flirting, laughing. Mulder liked it a lot.

“I’d marry Bigfoot, kiss the Flatwoods Monster, and kill Mothman.”

Scully let out an exaggerated sigh. “Well, we can’t both marry Bigfoot.”

“Ah,” he smiled, “but Bigfoot could marry us. As the officiant.”

She looked at him again, this time her face was less readable. He could feel her studying him. He tried to keep his face neutral.

“Mulder, when I marry you there will be zero cryptids involved.”

He was surprised he didn’t pull a muscle, whipping his head around to look at her and see if she was serious.

When his eyes had stopped bugging out of his head enough to focus on her face, he saw that she was smiling mysteriously down at the sudoku puzzle book in her lap.

[inkandguns]

2024 Election

The 2024 election will not be won by Trump. The entire life of the democrat party is at stake if they lose and here's why:

Democrats require 80% of black voters to vote for them of they'll lose every election. They dumped billions of dollars in to propaganda campaigns to erase their KKK past, so a loss now would invalidate all that money and decades of work. Trump made things better for poor people, and a lot of black people are poor. If he's allowed to do this again, democrats will start to lose brand recognition. When Covid hit the internet was full of black people making videos saying, "don't trust the government". Between the Tuskegee Experiments, the FBI assassination of MLK, and the FBI infiltration of the Black Panthers, I don't blame them for their mistrust. So when they were proven to be 100% correct about Covid, a lot of black people started questioning the democrat party narrative.

Current polling shows Biden's grip on the black voters slipping away. If Trump were allowed to win, he would usher in another time of prosperity for poor people and that would be the nail in the coffin for the democrat party. They aren't fighting for the Oval Office this time around, they're fighting for the life of their party. It's why all of these legal cases have come up recently instead of while Trump was in office or campaigning in 2015. He simply allowed too many black people to make money and the democrats can't allow that - it will kill their party if black people make too much money. The republicans did the same thing with Obamacare. Just like the dems run on reparations the GOP runs on "healthcare reform". If it's reformed then they won't have a platform to run on.

The democrats are backed in to a corner, and an cornered animal will do anything to survive. I don't rule out assassination attempts on Trump - I bet there's already multiple plans for it. I don't rule out cheating in the election, I'm certain there's already dozens of plans for that too. So most right wingers will focus on the issues - Trump is the clear winner here. They'll focus on the economy and foreign policy. But these are not the things the democrats care about at all. They've been running on the same policies that Hitler ran on since Obama was elected and people love it. They care about winning and keeping power. That's all. If things improve economically or socially for black people under a republican president, then the democrats won't win an election for over 100 years. It's why they bring up reparations every election but never follow through in any meaningful way. The fix is in, the results have already been "counted", and Trump is going to lose. If he manages an electoral win, he'll be killed before January 6th. My advice is to find a way to gamble on the election and then dump all of your winnings in to defense stocks like Raytheon and Boeing. At least you can get rich while the country melts down.

[misfitwashere]

Vance and the future of the anti-democracy movement 

Vance has been anointed its future leader

ROBERT REICH

OCT 3

Trump, Vance, Thiel 

Friends,

JD Vance, the Republican candidate for vice president, will almost certainly be the Republican presidential candidate in 2028, regardless of whether Trump wins in November.

But who is JD Vance, really? An opportunist chameleon who once viewed Donald Trump as “Hitler” and is now his pit bull? 

Or does Vance have an agenda over and above mere political ambition?

In one of the most important exchanges of Tuesday’s vice presidential debate, Vance refused to say that Trump lost the 2020 election, and he downplayed the violent events of January 6, 2021. Vance also declined to rule out challenging the outcome of the upcoming election even if votes were certified by every state leader as legitimate.

Trump picked Vance for his vice president because Vance publicly stated he’d do what Mike Pence refused to do: overturn democracy and place America under MAGA control.

In response to a question ABC’s George Stephanopoulos put to Vance last February — “Had you been vice president on January 6th, would you have certified the election results?” — Vance said:

“If I had been vice president, I would have told the states, like Pennsylvania, Georgia, and so many others that we needed to have multiple slates of electors, and I think the U.S. Congress should have fought over it from there.”

In 2020, Vance alleged that the 2020 election was stolen and that Biden’s immigration policy meant “more Democrat voters pouring into this country.” In 2022, he suggested that Democrats were attempting to “transform the electorate” amid an immigrant “invasion.”

Echoing the so-called “great replacement theory,” Vance told voters, “You’re talking about a shift in the democratic makeup of this country that would mean we never win, meaning Republicans would never win a national election in this country ever again.”

In contrast to Trump, who has no ideology except accumulating power and wealth for himself and taking revenge on those who would deny them to him, Vance does have an ideology. He’s the emerging leader of the anti-democracy movement in America.

Vance would never have become a senator from Ohio in 2022 were it not for billionaire tech financier Peter Thiel, who staked $15 million on Vance’s election — a major portion of all the funds that went into Vance’s race.

Thiel knew what he was buying. Vance had worked for Thiel’s California venture capital firm before running for the Senate and was part of Thiel’s libertarian community of rich crypto bros, tech executives, back-to-the-landers, and disaffected far-right intellectuals.

Because Thiel had been a major funder of Trump’s 2016 presidential run, he had significant influence with the former president when urging Trump to pick Vance for his vice president.

Why has Thiel been such a strong sponsor of Vance? Because Thiel sees in his protege a future leader of a political movement to turn America away from democracy. “For Peter,” said one of the people familiar with his thinking, “Vance is a generational bet.”

Thiel is a self-styled libertarian who once wrote: “I no longer believe that freedom and democracy are compatible.”

Hello? Freedom is incompatible with democracy only if you view democracy as a potential constraint on your wealth and power.

That’s the point. Thiel and Vance — along with Elon Musk, Steve Bannon, Blake Masters, tech entrepreneur David Sacks, Palantir co-founder Joe Lonsdale, Palantir adviser Jacob Helberg, Sequoia Capital’s Doug Leone, blogger Curtis Yarvin, and others in the anti-democracy movement — believe that the only way true libertarians can win in America is for a Caesar-like figure to wrest power from the American establishment and install a monarchical regime, run like a startup.

Yarvin comes as close as anyone to being the intellectual godfather of the anti-democracy movement. He has written that real political power in the United States is held by a liberal amalgam of universities and the mainstream press, whose commitment to equality and justice is eroding social order.

In Yarvin’s view, democratic governments are inefficient and wasteful; they should be replaced with sovereign joint-stock corporations whose major “shareholders” select an executive with total power, who serves at their pleasure. Yarvin refers to the city-state of Singapore as an example of a successful authoritarian regime.

How to achieve Yarvin’s vision? The first step, as Vance offered in a 2021 podcast, is to replace “every single midlevel bureaucrat, every civil servant in the administrative state … with our people. And when the courts stop you, stand before the country, and say—” as did Andrew Jackson — that “the chief justice has made his ruling. Now let him enforce it.”

Vance has been anointed by Thiel and the rest of the anti-democracy movement as the post-Trump president, tasked with replacing the American establishment with an authoritarian regime.

Make no mistake: The foundation for America’s first true anti-democracy president is being laid right now. 

[warpedwings]

I hope it's okay to talk about Emily now. I feel like Misha wouldn't have posted her name and photos if he wasn't okay with fans knowing about her and maybe speculating a bit, right?

I still feel kind of weird about it though. I mean, I sort of knew/suspected they were together a couple of years ago, but I figured it wasn't public knowledge so I didn't want to say anything.

I wondered if maybe they have something planned together? Like a new organization or social/charitable venture? That'd be cool. They both have a lot of experience in that arena and a lot of connections. I bet they could work wonders as a team!

I also hope, since they were at the DNC, they'll both be involved in some of the WA Democrats campaigns this fall. I'm really rooting for Emily Randall (running to replace Derek Kilmer in WA district 6) so I'd love to see them both endorse her and maybe get out the vote with her!

Hey Anon! I assume that it's okay to talk about her now. His phrasing with the initial photo, that 'she finally let me post a photo', implies that they've discussed all the possibilities that comes with her name and face being made public, including any possible repercussions. I also took that to mean that's been really excited about sharing her with the world, and showing off his new, happy relationship. From what I've seen, people have been extremely welcoming. She has an IG that people have started following, though it looks new-ish and she's not really active on it, though it could've been something set up specifically for this scenario. I get what you mean about it feeling kind of weird, and I too suspected a while ago they were together, which made the reveal more exciting to have the confirmation, and to see them so happy.

I haven't seen them teamed up on anything yet, but that would be really cool! With their connections, and their experiences in community outreach, they definitely could do a lot of good. She seemed just as excited about being at the DNC, and I'm sure with Misha being so vocal about backing Democrats she could easily get in on the fun of endorsements in Washington.

(And sorry for the late response, I never get notifications for asks and often forget to check for them!)

[iamyelling]

lol had dinner with my parents to catch up. about how my new job is going. and my mom just got back from a 5 day (4 nights) backpacking trip. we also discussed the fucking shit show of our weird ass crumbling empire thing. takin bets on who we think is gonna be the new nominees for the democratic party. right now i think we settled on harris and some dude from the midwest. idk which one i don’t pay attention enough to really care. but we think they will keep harris. probably would put her as president and do a dude vp.

it was fun discussing what we think they *should* do vs what we think they *will* do. not even talking about what we want lmao. we don’t get into that 😂😂

my dad thinks they should do newsom and harris but i made the point that they’d never do that bc they’re both from california.

i thought inslee (WA gov) would be actually not a bad president but he’s done, he’s not gonna run for governor again. totally out of the question obviously.

i was running off this list of options.

my parents think it’d be nice if they did harris and buttigieg but i’m like there’s no way again. gay and a interracial black woman? nah. and he comes across as too snooty bc of the mckinsey thing, which my parents like that he’s worked for mckinsey and im like most people don’t like that…

kinda think they might do harris as pres and someone else for vp bc they’re into the loyalty and earning it thing. but if they’re smart they’ll keep her as vp and do someone stronger for pres. idk.

anyways. clocks a tickin. by monday we’ll have two new pres+vp picks for the dems in sure. gonna be a wild weekend for sure.

they gotta pick soon bc the longer they take the less time they have to campaign for the new people. And the harder it is gonna be to compete with trump.

lol it was a funny conversation.

we did agree that it’s all about charisma though.

[mariacallous]

Senate Republicans blocked aid for Israel and Ukraine from advancing in a key vote on Wednesday in protest over a dispute about border security policy, a clash that threatens to derail passage of the foreign aid.

The tally for the procedural vote was 49 to 51, falling short of the 60-vote threshold needed proceed. At the end of the vote, Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer switched his vote to “no” – a procedural move that will allow him to bring up the measure again in the future.

Republicans have insisted that the foreign aid must be paired with major border security policy changes. There have been talks to try to find consensus, but no bipartisan deal has been reached over the contentious issue.

The stalemate comes amid Israel’s war against Hamas and Ukraine’s war against Russian aggression. The White House issued a dire warning earlier this week that funding for Ukraine is running out and failure to secure an agreement to approve further aid will present critical national security risks.

Senate Minority Leader Mitch McConnell said ahead of the vote that Republicans would block the bill when it came up for consideration because they believe it does not adequately address border security.

“Senate Republicans are going to deny cloture on a bill that doesn’t address America’s top national security priorities in a serious way. As we’ve said for weeks, legislation that does not include policy changes to secure our borders will not pass the Senate,” he said on the Senate floor.

Schumer has accused Republicans of “hostage taking” as the path to passing aid to Ukraine and Israel remains unclear.

Schumer warned on Tuesday that “without more aid from Congress, Ukraine may fall, democracy in Europe will be imperiled and those who think Vladimir Putin will stop merely at Ukraine willfully ignored the clear and unmistakable warnings of history.”

Republican senators are warning that they are on track to leave for the holidays without passing the supplemental, a stark message to their Democratic colleagues who they say aren’t serious enough about border security.

“It’s becoming more and more apparent that we are not going to be able to pass a supplemental, which I think is terrible,” Sen. John Cornyn, a Republican from Texas, told CNN.

“If I was a betting person, right now I would say I don’t know how you land this before the holidays unless we’re here right at the very end. But, we’ll see,” Senate GOP Whip John Thune said. “Maybe all of a sudden, there will be a convergence of views about the need to get this done.”

President Joe Biden urgently called on Congress to pass aid for Ukraine in an impassioned speech on Wednesday.

“Make no mistake: today’s vote is going to be long remembered. And history is going to judge harshly those who turned their back on freedom’s cause. We can’t let Putin win,” Biden said.

Senate Democrats have released legislative text for a $110 billion security assistance package that includes funding for Israel and Ukraine and humanitarian assistance for civilians in Gaza, among other priorities. The bill includes border security provisions, but a bipartisan deal hasn’t been struck over the issue.

In November, the GOP-controlled House passed a bill to provide $14.3 billion in aid to Israel. Democrats, however, took issue with the bill over the fact that it would enact funding cuts to the Internal Revenue Service and that it did not include aid to Ukraine.

House Speaker Mike Johnson has also stressed the importance of border security. “Any national security package has to begin with the security of our own border,” he said at a news conference Tuesday.

[airyairyaucontraire]

Watching The Mandalorian S3EIforget, "The Pirate"

Okay, 44 minutes of a show that's rapidly losing my allegiance, not for being offensive or brutal, just for being kind of dumb and palpably losing interest in its title character. Let's go then.

If this show was going to go with pirates while also being addicted to re-introducing characters from the CG TV shows, I really feel they could've graced our screens with Hondo Ohnaka. But I fundamentally don't want them to keep bringing in characters from the CG shows. The only exception I would make is Rex, because Temuera Morrison, but I would rather still have more Boba, because also Temuera Morrison.

They haven't even tried to re-member the dismembered IG-11 statue.

shiny ass-kissing droid

and now there are pirates

and I just feel like a man in Greef's position -

actually speaking of Greef's position, I love how before skyping the mossy pirate captain, he squares up and puts his hands on his hips like Henry VIII posing for Holbein

- okay, a man in Greef's position, formerly deeply involved with the bounty hunters' guild, ought to have a staff of mercenaries on site in readiness for shit like this. Instead he's as unprepared for the possibility of bad guys with a big ship showing up wanting to take his stuff as Boba was on Tatooine. Presenting these middle-aged guys who have been involved in the underbelly of the galaxy for their whole adult lives as so naïve about the security challenges of running one's own fiefdom during a somewhat lawless period of regime change is such a bizarre choice. Why is everyone in this show so dumb about stuff they should be totally used to? They're not Luke Skywalker coming from the middle of nowhere with starry eyes and feathered hair. Like they should be smarter than me at this type of thing, and I'm a typist from Auckland.

there's a PIRATE NATION taking over the Mid Rim? THAT I ACTUALLY AM SEMI-INTERESTED IN so I bet they won't show it.

Retreat to the lava flats - a large, open area without shelter or cover. Super.

exsqueeze me, Disney+ subtitler, but PSYCHEDELIC ROCK MUSIC PLAYING?

well, the krill farmers are still pumping out the blue juice, I see. And here's a nice Korean Canadian dad - you know what? I feel like Captain Teva is here to provide the Papa Smurf beard that Rex is not onscreen to give us.

Okay, so just as apparently Ragnar just hung out in a dinosaur's crop totally uninjured for 12 hours minimum while a search party stopped to rest overnight on their way to him, Mr Kim has time to travel to Coruscant and try to get a meeting with his superiors while Nevarro is under active pirate attack. He doesn't say "screw it, time is of the essence, I'll render aid and take the consequences." This show's idea of time in rescue situations is bizarre.

Who else feels like this fucking boring New Republic plotline was supposed to be part of the Rangers show that presumably Cara Dune would have headed up if the actress hadn't insisted on being a douchebag on Twitter? And now they're just trying to fold it into The Mandalorian. I resent it.

You know, when I heard the name Tuttle I had a brief feverish flowering of hope that a M*A*S*H tribute about the insanity of military bureaucracy might be in the works, but then it withered.

I know this guy from somewhere, somewhere relatively recent, but I am unable to place him. I am not interested enough to look him up.

I'm so irritated by the lazy cynicism of "If the Rebellion got into power they'd be useless." They're not the Democrats.

so now everyone's just wandering around in the blazing sunlight on hot black lava flats. Sorry Greef, your planet sucks.

And now... is this Jurassic Planet? yep, so I hope he doesn't get eaten by a serpent while he's here. Dude. Sir. You're standing so close to the bay that the mosasaurs like to pop out of. You've got your back to it. Please.

please help me

why does Paz address Teva as "Blue Boy"? He is dressed from neck to ankle in the most garish orange. Paz's own armour is predominantly blue. Is he fucking colour-blind?

Why does the Disney+ subtitler still head up Din's dialogue as "THE MANDALORIAN" when we've known for actual years that his name is Din Djarin?

they pride themselves on their secrecy... and their idiocy.

You know, this would never have happened if you'd stuck with your plan of repairing IG-11. He was no snitch.

Din calls him "Blue" too! HE IS DRESSED IN ORANGE

I CANNOT RECALL THE COLOUR BLUE EVER BEING SIGNIFICANTLY ASSOCIATED WITH THE REBELLION OR NEW REPUBLIC

HE HAS SOME BLUE STENCILS ON HIS HELMET BUT HE DELIBERATELY TOOK THAT OFF AND LEFT IT IN HIS SHIP WHEN HE GOT OUT TO PARLEY SO DIN AND PAZ CAN'T SEE IT

anyway BK's doing her swaggery walk again and while we're at it WHO ELSE PROMINENTLY WEARS BLUE?

and now we're going to have a long, leisurely meeting to discuss because what is time? what is urgency?

"and our children can feel what it is to play in the sunlight" - which we already let them do because we take absolutely no safety precautions about living right next to a bay where dinosaurs regularly pop out of the water or swoop from the sky to devour our young

"Does anyone else wish to speak?" No, because we are all just elaborately dressed extras. We know our place.

I'm... skipping stuff.

So the pirates are boozing it up in the school, like they wanted to. I'm happy that someone got what they wanted.

I like that one warthog pirate!

Did a Salacious B. Crumb monkey just tip off the Mandos?

I know they want me to be excited for the big battle, I know they do... I'm just too grumpy. I have a glass of wine, though, so that's good. Recognisable salmon pink in colour, The Ned Pinot Gris 2022 showcases classic aromas of quince, pear drop and vibrant stonefruit. The palate is lush with juicy nectarine and Braeburn flavours supported by an underlying hint of spice that leads to an unctuous ripe finish. A versatile wine when it comes to food matching with its notable fruitiness and gentle acidity. Try pairing this silky wine with succulent chicken thighs added to a creamy, lemon fettuccine pasta sauce.

you know, I don't usually tolerate words like unctuous and succulent being thrust at me by a mere product description, but I'll allow it

So... there wasn't much point to the mossy pirate at all, was there? Unless he bailed out with a parachute, he blowed up.

yes, the Anzellans are very cute. Always a pleasure to see them.

You know why I have a problem with this effort to do a whole thing about Bo-Katan and reuniting Mandalore and everything? It's the problem of trying to link up with the sequels, which were made before The Mandalorian was a consideration and gave absolutely no hint that the Mandalorians were a consideration either. Did they just "retake Mandalore" and then become totally isolationist, neither fighting the First Order nor supporting the Resistance? Did they get wiped out for keeps? Where were they when shit went down? You don't have to engage with that if you're prepared to just tell a small story of one dude and his kid, and a personal saga of family and faith, friendship and love, but once you commit to doing a big political historical story, you've gotta and it seems doomed to be unsatisfactory.

anyway if people are just whipping their helmets off now I reckon Din should pop back to Tatooine and show Cobb his smile

[bropunzeling]

rules: tag 9 people you want to get to know better; i was tagged by @msmargaretmurry

last song: if we count my running playlist, it’s fuck, i’m lonely by lauv. if we do not count my running playlist, it’s love you for a long time by maggie rogers, who is a mainstay on the marriage bets playlist

last show: hmmmm if we count live show, probably you’re wrong about live in portland, which was weird but a good time!!! otherwise.... i have not been to Events lately, except for the Event that is the Grand Democratic Process (otherwise known as legislative session)

currently watching: now that my busy season is over jack and i are now back to watching derry girls, which is good if also giving me excruciating secondhand embarrassment. i will also probably start up my grand rewatch of miss fisher’s murder mysteries again, because i love sizzling sexual tension with a dead body lying around

currently reading: i am working through beyond measure by james vincent, which is all about the history of measurement; taken at the flood by agatha christie, because i only have like 5 poirots i haven’t read yet; and should really start the book club book. at some point. maybe.

current obsession: well.. silly hockey shit, obviously. finishing my dumb fanned fiction so it can be published and i can feel free. but also like, being outside? did you all know you can be outside??? the breath of the wild sequel is coming soon, so i might start playing botw again just to be Ready. my kittens are perfect, except for how they love to make typos. we gotta go engagement ring shopping, which is really fucking with my google algorithm, but some of those rings are unfortunately very pretty. my sister and i are going to victoria barring a special session. it’s spring and everyone’s in love and flowers pick themselves! and most importantly, it is INTERIM which means i can read things, like books and fan fictions

i'm tagging: whoever wants to because all my friends have been previously tagged lmaooo

[theresa-of-liechtenstein]

man that got me thinking about the catholic school days… like transferring from public school was such a comedic experience i look back on it now and have to laugh

some people treated me like a poor unfortunate soul and asked me questions about my experience like i just walked into civilization from a jungle (“did people… bully you?” cue me: “…bullying exists everywhere?”)

i was also an Anomaly because when i took the entrance test i pretty much aced the math section and was placed into advanced math straightaway which hadn’t been seen from a transfer student before, which i at the time (forgetting i was literally in math olympiad and advanced math already) thought was much less of a big deal than they were making. (“they were impressed i could calculate the area of a trapezoid,” i complained to my mother after they informed me of my placement. “it was easy. they literally gave me the formula.”)

on my very first day there was held a pep rally for the middle school (this was a preschool through 8th grade school) and one of the “games” was to have a student from each year tell the whole middle school about something they did that summer. i don’t know who came up with that or who even thought that would be a suitable game to play for 11-13 year olds. anyway nobody was volunteering, the usual Kids Who Did Public Speaking didn’t want to do it, so i volunteered myself and delivered an impromptu stand-up set about my priest uncle coming to visit. i won.

the son of my favorite english teacher (who by the way. absolutely loved me from the moment i did that stand-up set on the first day. pretty much all my english teachers there simply loved me i have no clue why) straight up said to my face as we walked out of science class “you’re really smart, for a public school kid” and i was SO offended

i befriended most if not all the sisters on campus and spent time chatting with the one in the library who was from the democratic republic of the congo and spoke french swahili and english. or working the snack bar with another down near the playground who let me stack the pudding cups in the fridge. even the one running the cafeteria, who everyone said was mean, was actually really friendly if you were polite to her and were actually interested in her well-being. my mom and i even ended up being friends with the really quiet one who guarded the gate in the mornings

so much of junior high was me doing whatever the fuck i wanted honestly. i snuck broadway references into things. i think once i even used a matilda the musical song in a school project. i danced with a girl at the last formal social and nobody batted an eye.

we had our inaugural shakespeare performances outdoors where we did selected scenes from plays and i got lady macbeth hyping macbeth up to frame the guards for murdering the king (bc the guy teaching it was like this is the most challenging scene and i was like. bet). one of my friends made fake blood from a chocolate base (he was SO good at practical effects my god) and i was dying to taste it bc he said it was edible so we took our bows when the scene was over and i was still on stage in costume when i stuck a blood-covered finger in my mouth. cue HORRIFIED gasps from the audience. one of my classmate’s little sister was so terrified she would not speak to me for months.

we did eighth grade superlatives and there were fewer categories than students (but there were few students anyway so everyone got a superlative) and even though there were multiple people per superlative, i was the only one who was a “Responsible Individual”. which was hilarious

also i went from being the Poor Little Public School Kid to like. by the advisor’s words, “one of the best school presidents,” so i can really say i peaked in junior high

all this was what put me on the radar of the mother who, four years later, expressed that she wanted me to follow her son to [UNNAMED IVY LEAGUE SCHOOL]. which is the funniest bit of all

however i will say that talking to people from that era, they’re a little too quick to pin down our current achievements on the fact we went to catholic school, which is annoying. was talking to someone who was saying “it’s all because of the foundation catholic school gave you” conveniently forgetting i went to public school for FAR longer than i went to private school. it makes me wonder that, if i had been slightly less achieving now than i am, would they be adamant about my “catholic school foundations”? but that’s just speculation. i personally just had a fun time and i really enjoyed myself lol

[emperorblargus]

Why Blargus thinks you Should Back Democrats in the Georgia Special Election

Originally posted by equius2004

Today there's a Georgia run-off election to see who goes to the Senate of the United States, coincidentally, for six years. The race is between a pastor/vicar named Warnock, who is coincidentally a Democrat, and then there’s a former NFL player named Walker with a bunch of women claiming he pressured them into abortions and then there's a bunch of deadbeat dad and domestic violence allegations too on the side.

Really, commander?

In defense of Walker, at least he is not also a wrestler and porn star claiming to be a “conservative republican” (see video at bottom) while bashing gay people (actually Walker is doing that) and tweaking out on amphetamines (no comment) he uses to keep his private parts working (and Walker sure doesn’t keep them to hisself there) WAIT WHAT AM I FUCKING TYPING.

I should add there's a reason why my Twitter Handle is like this lately.

Perhaps it is because Warnock decided to back "werewolves" over "vampires", and went on a rant over Martians or something, and I decided to update my name accordingly. We're dealing with levels of off the rails that haven't been seen before, well, except they kind of are becoming normalized in the Republican party.

I should also note I am deeply skeptical the Republican party would actually back the rights of aliens. Also "equal rights for all" kind of means that werewolves and vampires, if they existed, would have the same rights as one another along with the protections as such.

I mean do you really think they would? Interactions with aliens with *these people* would probably only be somewhat cordial if it involved trade of drugs. What do you think this guy is on.

The Republican Party sure does seem to attract a certain kind of candidate, and it’s not just one thing that���s wrong with them. Sure, under the principles drilled into our heads in free western society everyone has a point, but it seems there’s something immediately off about these candidates, and when you start scratching beneath the surface things just get worse. Walker’s one of those people, and he isn’t the only one.

The whole Republican lineup, WITH VERY FEW EXCEPTIONS, kind of looks like this screecap (off Hiveswap: Act 2), but to be fair it's a lot worse than that. They always seem to find someone worse. Would you bet on the off chance ANY Republican candidate would somehow turn out otherwise?

In Georgia, and I guess this article is specifically aimed at folks living IN GEORGIA, Walker is actually bashing gay and trans rights, while Warnock has committed to defending the rights of the LGBTQIA+ community. That’s important, because these people deserve rights. LGBTQIA+ of course is short for some of what I call “other people��: anyone who doesn’t conform to certain bigoted narrow minded concepts of what someone deserving any rights whatsoever looks like.

Having grown tired of trying to make sense of the bigotry, Blargus decided to create his own Hoochie Daddy Short Short Abridged Short Shorts version of that book, which comes down to two words: “Other People”. We don’t need to extend any more intellectual effort and should not need to extend any further intellectual effort to quantify this.

Put that way, it sounds like these people have a real bloody problem, innit. Conservatives, that is. Or whatever these people call themselves now, something like “national populist pro-herrenvolk...” maybe, you know, maybe, put a cork in this before it gets to where things were in nazi Germany?

The choice should be clear BY THEN. Check your birth certificate, skin colour, age, bank balance, credit card statements, property ownership, and most people will fall afoul of Republican views.

And this is before I get to social security, which is to say you’re one of “needs social security now” or “will need social security in the future”. It’s before I get to voter suppression, and if you’re going to live in a Democracy, you know, it’s kind of important to be able to vote somehow and get your ballot counted or you might as well be considered disenfranchised. You’re disenfranchised in all but name, I get.

There ARE checks and balances, but as it is the US Supreme Court seems to have taken on a number of reactionary judges lately who aren’t actually going to back up voting rights (in fact the voting rights act was gutted if I remember rightly), and might even work to create a constitutional crisis where the logical contradictions build up to the point where nothing works and people, particularly those in power could get away with anything. In other words, those checks and balances are fraying. Fortunately, you CAN assert yourself in this election by adding one more Senator who will actually vote for a progressive or at least not-nihilistic judge and also the Democrats gain control of all the Senate committees instead of them being divided in two.

If you’re worried about “diversity” up there, and “one party rule”, remember the Democrats are a broad church. The fact that there’s constant wrangling between progressives, liberals, and a few outlier conservatives within the party should tell you that there is a functional structure in there that’s not all-out trying to impose a cultish totalitarian agenda in lockstep. No, it’s not ideal, but that’s what you’re working with.

Yes, a functional democracy is supposed to have checks and balances but when those fail, it is the citizens who have to step up where they can. This is what you'll have to do today in Georgia.

Will Warnock do everything he promises? Probably not, but that’s OK. It’s better than the alternative, which is opening the floodgates to insurrectionists and so on.

There’s always something more, isn’t there.

The next couple of elections are more focused on “America Remains a Democracy” or “America descends into Neo-Confederate Hell”. That’s how I sum it up. Democrats are the party of the former, Republicans are mostly of the latter with a few exceptions that are extraordinarily rare (and most have been pushed out or are actively being pushed out).

There’s a lot here but I think there should be enough information out there to convince you WHY this is important. And it’s not just for millennials (Gen Y and Gen Z) but also for everyone else, because anyone living in America (and actually most of the rest of the world) WILL be impacted by this election as by all others down the line.

Go vote.

[krsonmar]

Another point on this: if a race is a close call, it's so much easier to contest or delegitimize the results. The voter rights/suppression and "elections integrity" bills that have been passed or proposed in the past 20 years all pretty much come back to the 2000 POTUS election. That mess, where the Supreme Court had to get involved, happened because the results were close enough that a couple hundred votes were going to decide who got Florida's electoral votes and they had to do re-counts. If the margin of difference in votes had been greater, it never would have been an issue. If Al Gore had gotten, say, 54 percent of the vote to George W Bush's 46, that would have been indisputable. But Gore was considered boring and personality-less, and swing voters or those on only the slight left of the center weren't "excited" or "inspired" by him...so they stayed home. Which means American politics has unfortunately never been boring or even seemed "low-stakes" since. Boring and uneventful should be the goal, not hanging on for the next four years until we get another chance, if we get one.

Boring and uneventful mean stable, and that means a better ability to push the progress we want to make forward instead of having to desperately defend what we already have from being taken and putting out fires on too many fronts at once. Boring and uneventful means we're not spread thin, we have less activist burnout, more donations per cause because there are fewer battles to be fought, less "compassion fatigue" because the world's not on fire, and extremists aren't emboldened to see what else they can try next.

Close races mean disputed results. Close races mean SCOTUS gets involved. Close races mean people try to attack Congress so the election results can't be certified because people are used to questioning the legitimacy of elections now. Close races mean "we'll get you next election!!😡" every election, "noble lost causes" that dog the political landscape for decades, and more voter disenfranchisement bills and "citizen poll-watchers" with guns at polling places. Close races mean elected leaders can have the legitimacy of their position in office constantly challenged and they have to put energy toward that instead of getting anything done. Close races mean we win the White House but not Congress, so practically speaking, we'll be deadlocked for at least two years and nothing can get done anyway.

Showing up means wider margins. Wider margins hedge our bets and net us political capital for after the election. Wider margins show that yeah, this is the people's mandate and we have the numbers to make x thing happen.

I am not a registered Democrat. I don't love any of the candidates in this race, and if the ones I vote for get elected, I will be making sure, with my calls and e-mails over the next four years, that they keep to what they say right now that they'll do, and if they do something I don't like, they will hear about it then too, because voting is not the only step in the political process. But if they don't get elected, the Trump administration delighted in doing things because they were cruel, because we begged them not to, and that's what I mean by fearing losing my political voice. The Democrats suck but they're more likely to listen. Getting more of them into Congress and state governor and legislature offices makes our work not only infinitely easier but possible in the first place.

It's strategy, y'all. We're playing for the mid-range future here so we don't have to survive minute-to-minute. If we stabilize our position, we can then be in a place to get momentum behind a progressive agenda for the long-run. Set up the pieces into the positions you need them in early in the chess game, and you can sweep the endgame. Play turn-by-turn and you lose.

[fizzingwizard]

srry one more (us politics)

Gosh, waaaaay back when I heard Biden was going to run for a second term I just groaned. Because I thought he won the first time on a fluke - people were sick of Trump and wanted him out anyway they could. But it's been four years, Biden wasn't popular, and memory of what Trump's presidency was like fades. I was so annoyed they went with Biden. He was the "safe" bet but only for the very stupid reason that the democrats couldn't come up with anyone else.

I wanted a fresh candidate with a good track record instead. A good MALE candidate. I 100% believe in a female president. But I also never believed that a female candidate could beat Trump. Trump is the hero of anyone who grew up in the 60s/70s. He embodies that stinking old persona of the man who is what he is, does what he wants, and gets it all because of that. All those Boomers longing for the "good old days" key into that stupidity masquerading a simplicity and bravado masquerading as courage. You can believe whatever you want if you ignore facts and hate the other guy enough.

So when the democrats said they were switching to Harris, I said to my coworkers she wouldn't win. They protested. My mom protested. I wanted to believe she'd win but I just could not see it. A female, non-white president, showing up in the finale? If the democrats could have won purely on Trump hate like they did last time, they never would have pulled Biden. They would not have needed to. But they knew it was about more than just hating Trump. They did have to show they could do things differently. So they... picked the unpopular president's VP... a woman. I would say for a woman, let alone a woman of color, to win the presidency in the US, it would take decades of build up. I mean just look at Hilary Clinton, she nearly had it, but even she lost in the end. I don't think she lost because she's a woman, I think she lost because too many Americans were fed up with the political song and dance, and that year they saw Trump as being Not That at least.

The point is that Hilary Clinton had years of build up. Years of support. Kamala Harris just appeared in people's notice under Biden. Like a lot of VPs, what she was up to in that role was usually not big news. She needed at least the full four years of build-up to make her a strong enough candidate. At the very least, she should have been chosen via the primary. They should not have shoehorned in a woman of color as a candidate so late in the game. They threw her in at a disadvantage when she was already at a disadvantage. I do think she could have won! ... Against Al Gore or something. But Trump??

Despite blabbing more than a stereotypical high school girl in a teen romcom, Trump is the standard candidate. A rich white man who talks big. That's familiar; that's what a lot of Americans have been programmed to believe is "strength." It's all fake of course. But that doesn't matter. And we all should have learned that last time. That's how Trump won: "I'm the guy that all men around my age believe they could have been." Straight-talking, not fussy, untouchable by the law, walks away from a gun fight. To his supports he looks so damn cool.

Well, I really am looking forward to hearing the reasons voters in swing states went how they did because wow. I thought things would be at least a little tighter but. Safe to say the left won't be holding a coup in January bahaha.