#I've voted in every presidential election since 2004

[ms-demeanor]

making my own post because nobody needs my bullshit on their post:

OP:

Reblog 1:

Reblog 2:

My response:

The IRA blogs were here and they were active and they were quite popular; their posting patterns did not match normal tumblr users (i was followed by lagonegirl and followed back only to be put off by the account reblogging the same five or ten posts every hour for a day before selecting another five or ten posts to reblog hourly the next day - it was clear engagement bait).

Tumblr has never been as transparent about these accounts as both Twitter and Facebook were, but several of the accounts had shared names across platforms and you can find a significant amount of data that was released by both facebook (ex: ads purchased by the IRA accounts) and twitter (over three million tweets from IRA accounts). Academic researchers have published papers on the data released from facebook and twitter. Several papers. So many papers. Soooooo many papers. We have a LOT of direct evidence that you can explore for yourself that there were hundreds (possibly thousands) of IRA accounts that were created on Facebook and Twitter. Of those accounts, some shared usernames across platforms, and of those accounts, a few had tumblr accounts that posted the same content on twitter and tumblr.

To quote a buzzfeed news article from the time:

The Russian-run Tumblr accounts used the same, or very similar, usernames as the account names contained on a list of confirmed IRA accounts Twitter submitted to congressional investigators. In some cases, the Tumblr and Twitter account has the same profile image or linked to each other in their bios. Some IRA Tumblrs and Twitter accounts also cross-promoted content between platforms, further linking them together.

Current tumblr user @ alwaysbewoke (who I don't want to tag because I'm sure he's got better things to do) is interviewed in that article and talks about following one of the blogs identified by tumblr as an IRA blog that had a matching account on twitter identified as an IRA account but unfollowing when the left-leaning blog supposedly run by a black creator started rooting for trump in the election.

Dr. Jonathan Albright is heavily quoted in the article; the data review he collaborated on is one of the only reviews of this subject that includes data from Tumblr and Reddit.

One of the claims that I've seen is that tumblr just deleted funny black people, but these were blogs with thousands of followers on tumblr who never recreated, never popped up on another social media site, never started a reddit account after getting banned; nobody ever showed up saying "hey this is 4mysquad, I got banned on tumblr and twitter, follow me to pillowfort". These very popular blogs got deleted and, as far as I know, nobody ever popped up claiming to be a person who was deleted - and it's not like tumblr users haven't figured out how to evade bans.

What you are doing when you make posts saying that the IRA accounts on tumblr never existed is *absolving tumblr of guilt for their utter lack of transparency.*

Tumblr is not the only tech company that has tried to fly under the radar as its larger counterparts face regular scrutiny in Congress and in the press. Earlier this month, Reddit revealed it too had deleted hundreds of accounts with ties to the Internet Research Agency. A WIRED investigation found more than a thousand links to Russian propaganda websites are still live on Reddit, and unearthed two suspicious accounts that Reddit immediately shut down.

So should you believe what Tumblr says? No, because Tumblr has been functionally fucking silent on this issue and the information about this subject aside from the list of blogs has come from the hard work of data scientists, journalists, and researchers.

(For the record; some of those bot accounts that were recorded by Dr. Albright also had Google+ accounts in 2017 - there is every possibility that they had myspace accounts).

Now, the reason that I'm popping onto this post as an annoyed anarchist is that I was tracking a similar group of blogs for a while and was discussing them and I stopped precisely because of the galaxy-brained liberals who are now trying to dunk on communists for criticizing electoralism. One of the people who was following my project was one of the ones who started calling out the "joe biden kills dogs" posts as disinfo and I realized they were using some of the guidelines I'd written up to "identify" misinformation and that is very a rock fucking stupid approach to what was clearly a leftist making jokes and was horrified and realized there was no way that I could continue documenting what I was documenting without someone attempting to call actual leftists russian bots.

I've seen the post that OP is referencing [it's one where someone makes a very obvious joke about the democrat presidential ticket and people jump on to call them a bot and then someone tries to do the "AI tell me a story" thing and OP is just like "I don't want to :(", proving that they are in fact a person and not an AI] and have deeply enjoyed the humor of watching liberals a) not understand a very, VERY obvious joke and b) become the unwitting butt of a joke they were trying to make, but also I am so exhausted by watching normie dems call leftists AI bots after years of watching normie dems call real live actual leftists who hold actual political views that real people actually have, like prison abolition, russian bots.

But I am also so fucking tired of left conspiracism and how stupid it sounds when leftists dismiss a preponderance of evidence that is easily accessible and publicly available for analysis as "lol so you just trust everything tumblr tells you?"

No, dipshit, learn to click a fucking link or twelve.

[norma-jean-monster]

I've voted in every presidential election since I was old enough to vote in 2004 and quite frankly I would be embarrassed to admit that i was old enough to vote but actively chose not to. Especially as a woman.

Y'all non voters are cringe as hell and you really think you're doing something with your inaction. I would never admit to that shit and I judge you if you're proudly anti-vote. Full stop.

[protoindoeuropean]

@erikag59

Oh yes, people are indeed generally quite surprised when they hear about a party forming 3 months before the elections and then winning.

But for us in Slovenia this "experimental" approach comes as no surprise, because that has already happened before ... twice

To bring out a graph I've already posted here before:

These are the results of the parliamentary elections since 1992, with the paries approximately ideologically arranged: the aquamarine of DeSUS serves as an approximate centrist dividing line between the left-leaning parties below it (DL is a notable centrist exception, but I liked its downward curve there lol) and right-leaning parties above it)

There's quite a mess in the bottom part of this graph. That is the left-leaning voting block, which has chosen to rally behind a different party in every consecutive election after 2008 – following the collapse of LDS, the OG centre-left party that ruled from 1992 to 2004 (with a short, half-year intermission in 2000), back in 2006~2007 – being dissapointed with the results each time:

PS, which won the most votes in 2011, was established a bit more than 2 months before the elections by Zoran Janković, the mayor of the capital Ljubljana (2006–2011, 2012– ). What followed was one of the weirdest sequences of events in Slovenian political history* (though definitely not the weirdest one).

SMC, which won the most votes in 2014, was established a bit more than 1 month before the elections by Miro Cerar, a highly respected legal scholar.

LMŠ, which didn't win even close to the most votes in 2018 (but ended up leading the government), was the party of the mayor of Kamnik, Marjan Šarec, who had worked as a political satirist before going into politics himself (most prominently, he was a famous imitator of Slovenian politicians – well, mostly:

). His national-level political project started a bit earlier as a surprisingly effective challenge to the incumbent Borut Pahor at the 2017 presidential elections (though the latter did end up winning), carrying that political potential into the 2018 parliamentary elections.

GS, which won the most votes in 2022, was, as mentioned, established 3 months before the elections by Robert Golob after Janša made him (practically out of nowhere) into his direct opponent (the the post in the link above).

So, the continual emergence of left-leaning parties at every election is not a surprise anymore at this point, it's a pattern. Which can be frustrating, but it does also mean that when people (especially in the foreign press) see the consistently high results of Janša's SDS and think that that means that party is going to win the next election, that's deceiving. Despite SDS's consistent results, we've only had right-wing governments for about 8 of the 33 years of independent Slovenia (1991–92, 2000, 2004–8, 2012–13, 2020–22).

*In 2011 Janković failed to form a coalition and we had to endure 1 year of Janša, before his govt collapsed and PS did eventually take over, with its then-president Alenka Braušek becoming PM – the Janša govt collapsed because of the opening of a corruption investigation regarding both Janša and Janković; Bratušek took over PS while the charges against Janković were being investigated. In a turn of events that are hard to conceive of, a year later, when the corruption commission didn't find anything, Janković challenged Bratušek for the presidency of the party, while she was the sitting prime minister of the country. She lost the party election, splintering the party in two, with a significant part of the PS membership (including Robert Golob, interestingly enough) following her in forming her own party (ZaAB, later SAB). In the process, she resigned as PM, triggering snap-elections. PS, which received 28.51% of the vote in 2011, failed to reach the 4% threshold in 2014 (literally decimating its support down to 2.97%), falling into obscurity, while ZaAB did get into parliament (barely, with 4.38%).

Bratušek was again successful with getting into parliament in 2018, before being swallowed up by Golob's GS in 2022 (quite literally: after its electoral failure, SAB – together with LMŠ – officially merged with GS in June 2022). She is currently the Minister of Infrastructure. Janković is still the mayor of Ljubljana.

[loki-theatre-gurl]

I have been voting by Mail-in Ballot for every single election I've been eligible for since the 2004 Presidential Election.

It is the the best way to vote! You don't need to take off work or school! (In other words it won't cut into your work hours which means voting won't cut into your paycheck! Or you won't fall behind on your school work...)

Do you have anxiety in lines? Guess what? You can vote from the comfort of your own home, in your PJ's! No stress or anxiety about taking too much time in the voting booth!

You can use the internet to look up any information about the candidates or ballot measures you're still unsure about (especially the local candidates... Like reelecting county judges... or not reelecting judges with bad stats).

Are you a First Time New Voter (as in you just turned 18)? You can talk to your parents (or legal guardian) about how to properly fill out the ballot so you don't make mistakes in filling it out. You can talk about pros & cons about different candidates/ballot measures.

After you have finished filling out the ballot, you seal it up in the provided return envelope. Sign & Date the outside of the return envelope (there is a box with a signature line on the outside of the envelope, it will also ask for a phone number "in case they have questions/issues with your ballot" but I've never had any calls about my ballot).

Once it is signed & sealed, all you need to do is one of three things...

1) stick it in your outgoing mailbox. No postage necessary within US Borders (if you are outside the US voting by Absentee Ballot, then it will need valid postage... Like if you're at a military base in foreign country).

2) You can drop it off at an official drop off location.

3) you can drop it off at an official polling station.

Mail-in voting is 100% Legal. It is not corrupt. It is not fraudulent.

Mail-in Voting is the easiest, stress-free way to vote. You won't have to worry about standing in long lines for hours upon hours. You won't have to worry about Social Distancing in a crowded polling location. You won't have to worry about taking precious time off work & losing money on your paycheck! Especially with the shortage of poll workers and the reduction in number of actual polling places, if you go to a physical polling place you could spend 4+ hours in line, around strangers who might have Covid-19.

There are so many good reasons to vote by mail! And most states you can update your voter registration online thru the DMV, to request being added to the Mail-in Voting List!

Ladies, Gaydies, And Theydies We’re Voting By Mail.

Election Day is November 3rd and Trump wants to make it harder to vote by mail even though we’re in a raging pandemic and the CDC is recommending that all voting possible be done by mail. If you live in one of the 34 states that allows you to vote by mail without an excuse, one of the 7 that will allow you to use the pandemic as an excuse (NY and CT are working to make COVID a listed excuse), or just want to check/update your voter registration, the people at Vote Save America have created a site to request your ballot, register to vote, and get involved in the election in other meaningful and impactful ways even during the pandemic.

request your ballot now

The USPS is already saying that they are expecting a record number of people to vote by mail and due to lack of funding they probably won’t be able to guarantee anything sooner than a 2 week ballot turn around. We all need to request our ballots now so there’s enough time to receive and return them well before November 3rd. 

If voting didn’t work, Republicans wouldn’t spend so much time and money making sure people don’t vote.

[its-wingedbouquet-fan]

Some reference for Indonesian history:

A History of Modern Indonesia since c. 1300 (Sejarah Indonesia Modern 1200–2008). Book by M. C. Ricklefs

Sukarno: An Autobiography. Book by Cindy Adams and Sukarno.

This is great! And for once I want to speak up. Feel free to correct or add! And please, please if anybody seeing this from SEA, add your own country's version, I'd love to know more!

I'm not a historian so take this as one from many absolutely biased Indonesian point of views. Also, under the cut, these are what I've been thought by textbooks and teachers at school.

So to make it short, in a span of +/- 350 years Indonesia was colonized by the Dutch, British, and Japan. A lot came out of it as well as the sacrifices we made.

After the independence of Indonesia on August 17 1945, the first few years were really rough, like the Dutch refused to acknowledge the Indonesian independence and with the help of the Allies, tried to regain their grip on Indonesian land. The capital had to be relocated several times, battles were fought, and some Indonesian burned their own city to the ground just so it won't fall to the opposition's hand (hence the song, Bandung Lautan Api - Bandung, Sea of Fire). Then there were several rounds of agreements, until Indonesia completely recognized as an independent country several years later.

During the cold war, Indonesia held the Konferensi Asia-Afrika or Bandung Conference which eventually led to the creation of Non Aligned Movement. Now you see, since Allies helped the Dutch (on the previous paragraph), there were some strong anti-allies vision on the general public. The first president, Soekarno, were known for his bold and brave attitude towards the US. Because of this, some people says that Soekarno favors Russia and by extension, PKI (Indonesian Communist Party). Soekarno ended up ruling as a president from 1945 to 1967 (presidential -> quasi-parliament -> parliamentary -> back to presidential). A long period indeed. Soekarno's era also known as Orde Lama (The Old Order, yes there's another 'Order' ahead) ended with a bloody military coup, look up Gerakan 30 September PKI (G30S PKI) followed with the mass killing of the PKI members (also their families, affiliates, and general people suspected to be a member of the communist party) by The New Order. There are many conspiracies blanketing the actual events, which is still blurry to the general public.

The next order, known as Orde Baru (The New Order) with Soeharto as the president from 1967 - 1998. Yep, a much longer regime. Mostly known as strict. Basically responsible for the mass killing. Corruption and foreign debt flourished. Many people went missing. And ended with student's coup and bloody riot pushed by the worsening economic crisis. The event is known as Kerusuhan Mei 1998 (May Riot 1998). Demonstration, vandalism, mass violence happened. Many targeted attacks and crime towards chinese and chinese-indonesian people in almost every big city in Indonesia.

After Soeharto got dethroned, B. J. Habibie replaced him from May 1998 - October 1999. A genius engineer, burdened with the responsibility to fix the mess resulted from the previous government's atrocities. East Timor got their independence. Released thousands of political prisoners.

And then followed by Abdurrahman Wahid aka Gus Dur from October 1999 - July 2001. Abolished all remaining legal discrimination against chinese-indonesian. Highly values religious and racial tolerance, which conservatives extremists hate so much.

Then:

Megawati, the daughter of Soekarno, July 2001 - October 2004. Terrorist bombing happened.

Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono (SBY), ruled as president for 2 periods based on majority voting. October 2004 - October 2014. Weakened the terrorist organization by deploying Densus 88 (Detachment 88, basically special forces for terrorist & bombings).

Joko Widodo (October 2024 - now) also elected as a president for 2 periods based on majority voting. His electoral rival, Prabowo Subianto, used to be the son-in-law of Soeharto, now acted as Minister of Defense.

Now, A LOT has happened in the past 10 years alone. Let me get this straight, Indonesia is not an Islamic country. It's just, the majority of the population are Muslim. Indonesia recognizes Islam, Catholic, Protestant, Hindu, Buddha, Konghucu, and ethnic believes, and still working to recognize more religion/beliefs. But of course, extremists exists just like in any other groups.

The turning point of social norms that I actually witnessed, was The 212 movement. During the Mayor election for Jakarta, the Indonesian capital.

The current president, was actually governing Jakarta as the Mayor with the vice mayor, Ahok (Basuki TP). But, since the Mayor got elected as president, the vice mayor stood on his stead for the rest of the term. Ahok was straightforward and efficient. Zero tolerance to corruption. Public schools from elementary to high school are freed from tuition, unlike in any other region in Indonesia. Rivers in Jakarta are actually being cleansed. Many people were not pleased by this just because Ahok is not a Muslim (and that zero tolerance for corruption ofc).

And by the next term election, where Ahok actually won the first round of vote, there were accusations of Ahok disgraced the Quran (Muslim's holy book), when in fact, he was just stating that it's not okay to measure people only by their religion.

Okay, a second to explain. So, Islam has its branches just like Christian does. The major differs on how to do the prayers and stuff. And the other branches, got influenced by culture, region, social norms, etc.

So basically, a group of Muslim believes that it is not okay to have a non-muslim leader. (I am a Muslim and I don't even know where they get that). They don't like what Ahok has said. And the opposite party use the false accusation to move people to march and redo the election, and prisoned Ahok.

And they managed to did that, unfortunately.

The social norms changed.

I used to be the 'religious kid' at high school. And now, I'm the least-religious one in my friend group.

Since that point of time, it's like, people are following the trend of being religious. Worst, the judgment towards other beliefs is growing.

Muslims, in Indonesia, as the majority population often forgets that they are the majority, unlike in most other countries. We, Indonesian muslims, acted as victims when stumbled upon foreign news of religious oppression while we have never been oppressed in our own country, and even do the exact same thing to the minorities. It is okay to be empathetic towards our brothers and sisters who faced discrimination. But, we cried victims as we are doing the crime itself. We forget that we're privileged to wear our religious symbols, to pray, to just exist freely, without fear of hate speech, false accusations, judgment, xenophobia, and religious discrimination.

I believe being a minority in other places doesn't give you the right to be a jerk in your own where you're the majority.

Yeah that's what's going on. Sorry for the rambles, I just have to get this out of my chest.

hey can i ask if u can ask ur followers if any of them know of any legit resources for SEA pre-colonial history books? stuff on culture, beliefs and which country/ethnic group? I got interested in seeing what the differences and similarities are in our countries before colonial powers messed with us but i cant go to the library right now and was having trouble narrowing down which sources to consider on the net. i never really got into history before.

That’s a great topic to explore. Like let’s just be honest, most people don’t know much at all about Southeast Asia and for those that do know a little something, it’s usually some negative stereotype that comes from a European/western perspective because as colonizers, they got to define the narrative.

The shit that’s going down in Myanmar right now is a legacy of colonialism; the many complex identities of Filipino folks are from colonialism; Indonesians were literally enslaved by Dutch colonizers; and even Thailand (which was never colonized) gets jabbed at with homophobic, transphobic, and anti-sex work rhetoric all the time. Thailand is actually very interesting because it was never colonized yet western perspectives plague it’s image as if it were. And obviously one of worst cases was the US militarization of Vietnam and the broader Southeast/East Asia that pushed the misogynistic image of Southeast/East Asian women in general.

I’m not a Southeast Asian historian but just some things to think about to push you into that direction. But if anyone wants to share resources and books for anon, definitely feel free to leave a reply!

Angry Asian Guy