#I understood the assignment

[lonestar-badash]

You know what Thursday is 😉

[revenantghost]

[heathersdesk]

I'm a Mixed Race Woman in Idaho and I'm Calling You Racist for Not Voting for Kamala Harris

It is a fact of life that most people don't actually say what they mean. And I've been struggling for almost 35 years to learn the lesson that this means, unavoidably, that most people don't actually mean what they say. They don't like being confronted on it, and will double down the second you reveal it. So I try—genuinely—not to point this out as often as I see it.

But I have to in this case. No, not have to. I get to. I get to do it in this case because it's racist. And I'm tired of pretending it's not.

I've been watching TFG and Kamala Harris are "basically the same" takes, especially when it comes to Israel, for over a year now. And now that we're less than a week out from Election Day, I'm willing to kick that hornets nest right over a fence with everything I've got.

Because that's not what you believe. Not really. At the core of that argument, you're trying to say two things, not one.

The first is that Donald Trump's only term and Joe Biden's second first term are "basically the same" when it comes to the Israeli/Palestinian conflict. That's what you mean to say. And if that's what you want to believe, I'm not going to stop you. If you want to compare those two time periods, badly, at the exclusion of all the other history since the 1940s, knock yourself out.

But that comparison (Trump 1 v. Biden 2 1) is a stupid thing to bring up in a discussion about Kamala Harris unless you also mean to say a second thing: that she and Joe Biden are "basically the same." They very much are not, and haven't ever been. And if you are uninformed enough to think that, let's take a tour through some recent history together.

Remember when she humiliated him in the 2020 debates when he bragged about being able to work with anyone, including segregationists, in Congress? And she called him out on national television for opposing school integration because he didn't support busing black kids to white schools?

She looked him and all of America right in the face and said, in accusation to him, "there was a little girl in California who was part of the second class to integrate her public schools, and she was bused to school every day. And that little girl was me."

She throat punched him in front of God and everyone. Go back and watch it. It was in the second debate of 2020. You can see it in his face that she snatched the air right out of his lungs, and he couldn't do anything to defend himself because he knew he deserved it. That moment was decades in the making and his bill for being a "moderate" came due. It was an incredible thing to witness, and something more moderates need to learn from.

That moment was why I was genuinely shocked that he picked her as his running mate. I still don't believe he wanted to do it. And why I wasn't at all surprised when this was the reporting that was coming out. This example is from 2021.

Joe Biden attempted to prevent Kamala Harris from replacing him, in exactly the way she ended up doing, by giving her absolutely nothing to do as a Vice President. He chose the candidate who was the greatest threat to him as his Vice President so he could bury her. He let people gossip about her and humiliate her without ever coming to her defense in any meaningful way, for years. He gave her stupid and meaningless assignments where she never got to punch at her weight, let alone above it, when she was more than capable of doing that.

People made fun of her for how she sang "The Wheels on the Bus" wrong and her "love" of yellow school buses. They called her cringey. They made fun of her laugh. They made jokes about how they needed to find someone to love them as much as she loves yellow school buses. She doesn't love school buses, idiot! You might as well say that about Ruby Bridges while you're at it.

You did all that without ever questioning whether Joe Biden putting her on school bus duty (do you see the irony now?) was the best use of a former prosecuting attorney's talents and abilities. You've already forgotten that him doing this to her was an ongoing source of conflict between them that was poorly concealed the entire first term of his presidency.

Multiple people in my family say they don't like her because they're picking up on the fact that she has a very controlled, almost artificial demeanor.

Of course she does! Did you ever stop to ask yourself why?

She goes to work every day with a boss she fundamentally doesn't respect on many levels, day in and day out, because that's what it's going to take for her to get the promotion she deserves.

We could've had her instead of him already! Israel's escalation in Palestine could've never happened if she had been president! But we'll never know now, will we? Y'all were too racist to vote for her in 2020 when she was running. You fell for the right wing nonsense that told you to call her a cop, when the exact opposite was true. But y'all don't want to talk about that now, do you. No question mark because it's not a question.

She has to watch an old man do a job she is more than capable of doing, while he's doing it very badly at times, without revealing how frustrated she is. And she had to learn the hard way to be careful who she showed that frustration to because they went directly to the press with it every time.

Could you do that? I've done my own version of that, in a very small way, with a sexist old white man. He was a mediocre veterinarian from Minnesota who loved polka music and pissing me off. I lasted a year. I was losing my mind by the end of it and quit my job when I couldn't take it anymore.

Have you ever had to do cleanup after an old white man who should've retired two decades ago? Because I have. It is some of the most humiliating work you can do. I was helping an ungrateful man make more money than I'll ever see keep his clients, despite being very bad with people, while I was being paid $12 an hour.

It's ridiculous we still make women do this. Have you ever had to do it, at a national level, with cameras pointed at you everywhere you go? No. You haven't. Shut up.

And by the way, it hasn't ended. It's still happening. He still can't get over himself, and neither can his staff. They're going to make podcasts about it one day and y'all are going to see how bad it was for her.

Kamala Harris has not put up with eight years of Joe Biden's inadequacies and petulance for you to say she's exactly like him. That's a deeply uneducated and racist thing for you to say. All it demonstrates is that you didn't see and recognize all of this when it was happening for what it was, either because you couldn't see it or didn't care. You never stopped to examine your own gender and racial biases to understand why you felt that way. A part of you somewhere genuinely believes that this was part of her job, to be a Mammy to Joe Biden, which is why you couldn't see the problem while it was happening. Those were the conditions under which you accepted her becoming Vice President.

You and Drew Barrymore both. Remember that? Drew Barrymore said what the rest of America was thinking, and has been thinking since Kamala Harris became Vice President. And now that she's been Mamala to Biden and to us for eight years, you don't want to promote her? And you want me to believe there's anything other than misogynoir behind that?

Get out of my face with that. Don't you ever say she's "basically the same" as Donald Trump or Joe Biden ever again. It makes you look incredibly ignorant and unkempt, like you've never had anyone who loves you enough to teach you how to act in public.

Kamala Harris is a Black Asian woman from California who grew up in segregation. She is more qualified to be President than Donald Trump, Ronald Reagan, and Joe Biden put together before she even wakes up in the morning. She deserves respect she doesn't get, and will continue not to get even as President, and she's still running anyway with a smile on her face.

Miraculous!

The least you can do is vote for her. But if doing the bare minimum is asking too much of you, you need to sit down and really look at yourself. Why do you let the people around you tell you to hate black women, to mistrust them even as they're actively taking care of you? Why do you feel like that's okay for you to do? And why do you only stop when everyone else collectively changes their mind about that black woman?

Especially y'all who want to constantly call out white cishet nonsense. What good does it do anyone to put your mama and daddy, your grandpa, and your uncle at Thanksgiving on blast for clout if you can't even see the ugly in yourself when it matters?

Fix your face. Do it now. You have until November 5th. Go vote for Kamala Harris.

And quit expecting strangers on the Internet to do the free labor of spoon-feeding you the things you should know already—especially if you were there. Do whatever you have to do to be smarter than that. As always, I suggest reading a book, preferably from your public library.

[astarkey]

Wow, I never showed you guys I actually went all in on my Halloween costume this year 🤣

[evendumbo]

[edges-boots]

I HAVEN'T POSTED MY ART IN A BIT SO......

HAVE THIS, I MADE IT LAST MONTH

[poundpuppy29]

When I was delivering my mom's ballot I decided to do early voting because I can and I was wearing my Wonder Woman shirt because I understand the assignment #vote #iunderstoodtheassignment #voteblue democracyisontheballot

[thefoxtrot008]

The Reader's Blog

Me, trying to convince you guys to read The Unwind series (by Neal Shusterman) based on the playlist I made for it and this meme alone;

Something Real (Post Malone) "So tell me how the fuck am I still alive, it's a miracle" "I would trade my life just to be at peace" "It's a double-edged sword cutting' off ties with the ones I know" I feel like this one would be good if they made like a movie/tv show about it, and they pan to different point of views at the very end of it. I think it would be cool.

2. Litlost (X Ambassadors) Um... literally the entire song is lit and a vibe. It's pretty sad though, which fits the whole series. (fair bit of warning: you might need tissues) "And your grandfather clock is still ticking, but the chime never rings" "And I'll never be whole again" "What have I done? With my heart on the floor, I must be out of my mind."

3. The Phoenix (Fall Out Boy) "So, we can take the world back from a heart attack one maniac at a time we will take it back." "Doesn't it feel like our time is running out?" For this one, (I'm not gonna be specific because of spoilers) but that whole fight scene in book 2, would be great. Or in book 3, when they start to take over the camps.

4. The Kids Aren't Alright (Fall Out Boy) "blessed be the boys time can't capture" "I'm not passive but aggressive, and I still feel that rush in my veins. All the people in those old photographs I've seen are dead." This could be the theme song. For reals.

5. Clocks (Coldplay) "The lights go out and I can't be saved, tides that I tried to swim against, have brought me down upon my knees" "Cursed missed opportunities, am I part of the cure, or am I a part of the disease? Singin'"

6. Devil I Know (Allie X) "I want to, wanna get free" "But you bring me down to my knees when push comes to shove" Could be used when kids get rounded up by the police and they try to fight or run.

7. Hopeless Opus (Imagine Dragons) "It's not a picture perfect life, not what I had in mind" "Let me write my own line, I've got this place that I've filled with empty space"

8. Paradise (Coldplay) "In the night, the stormy night, away she'd fly; and dream of para-para paradise" For this one, again, perhaps another theme song? Maybe it's what every AWOL kid secretly wishes for.

9. Can't Feel My Face (The Weeknd) "And I know she'll be the death of me, at least, we'll both be numb" I think this one is kinda funny to add. I think it would be good to use it, because it would sort of show the opposite side of the problem, those that think unwinding is good. Maybe if they show the adds like they do in the books, then this song could be a background song to it. Who knows.

10.. Eat Your Young (Hozier) "There's money to be made, whatever's still to come." "Come and get some, skinning the children for a war drum." "It's quicker and easier to eat your young." For some reason, this song makes me think of the fancy parts-pirate in book 5.

11. Ends and Begins (Labrinth) "I hear your name, I hear a melody, I'll never forget, ah. 'Cause it's carved in my memory. Ah, forevermore. And infinity, ah." "Like a brand-new start, baby" So, this one would be PERFECT for the end scene in book 5. I also think that it's perfect for all the main characters. Lev, Risa, Connor, and Hayden. Their names will go down in history. Especially after everything they've all been through. That'll all I've got to say.

AND THAT'S ALL FOLKS! Let me know if you do end up reading this series, it's amazing! Or if you have any thoughts on any of these artists!

[myjetpackisonfire]

I messaged someone “I love you unprompted”

Obligatory RB

do not forget to tell someone u love them unprompted on this chilly october day

[normalcyisfake]

There were a fair amount of people.

[ethereal-occultist]

It took me like 5 minutes from start to finish thank god

[uwudonoodle]

Storytime: My brother Dave used to manage a Little Ceasars, and he hated it. So when my mom asked him what he wanted on his birthday cake, he jokingly said the Little Ceasars guy being stabbed with his own spear. My mom, who doesn't always get sarcasm, didn't even question it. She lovingly made him exactly what he asked for. It's my favorite cake ever.

Happy Ides of March to Ceasar getting stabbed!

[pharmasrightarm]

separate ways

[swankyangles]

The Great Day of His Wrath by John Martin.

Thumbnails and images on your phone can't possibly do his work Justice you really have to see it high res on something like a 47-in TV or bigger. I would very much like to see some of this paintings in real life one day.

Here's a somewhat hi res from Wikipedia

He was very much a populist shock and awe type of painter but it's hard not to be with his depictions of the land turning the sky and vice versa. I'm 100% sure I've seen his stuff on magic the gathering cards before, LOL

reblog this and put in the tag what’s on your laptop background

[onceuponamako]

am i a hoe? maybe okay but to be fair, i was always very verbal about the things i planned to do once i hit college