#all cops are bad and the presidency is like a cop position

[botaniqueer]

It’s a good development that more and more people are getting disillusioned with Biden because it means people aren’t supporting politicians uncritically despite having voted for them.

The next step to make the most of this is to also realize that Biden isn’t even an outstandingly bad or good president and is average in terms of human rights abuses. What is different about Biden is that COVID, an overly gung-ho US imperialist ally (Netanyahu), and following Trump have made it much harder to control the optics and veneer that the US normally maintains.

He isn’t any more or less genocidal than any of his predecessors or anyone else we’ve personally voted for in the past, but he’s having trouble maintaining the illusion that there is such a thing as a just United States. The curtain that is usually there has been torn by a confluence of events and the machinery that has always been here is easier to see.

[autumnoakes]

i still have yet to play it despite having it downloaded on my pc but i love how all the gameplay i've seen of resident evil 6 is the funniest shit i've ever seen

[foxgirlmoth]

Okay, lets go through this apparent list of positives that Biden is in favor of.

Trans Rights: There have been multiple laws within states to fully close off especially trans kids rights to medical treatments and more. This is extremely current. Biden puts in minimal effort to look like he's doing anything at all for trans and queer rights, and there haven't really been any efforts aside from doing one or two proposals that immediately get shot down, and he's more than okay with that, hence why there's no longer really any push for this shit still. If you're trans, you can't piss in Utah without the risk of getting a fine right now. Even though these are state laws, the fact that there's been nearly zero effort federally to address this besides the title IX rule, speaks a lot about priorities in this area.

Abortion Access: Are we just forgetting the whole Roe V Wade getting overturned thing that happened in 2022? Are you really trying to say that this is good for abortion access? Abortion access has gotten actively worse.

Environmental Reform: Biden has endorsed extreme oil drilling projects and in general oil companies still love him! Not to mention the train crashes which we'll get to later.

Healthcare Reform: Covid-19 is still around and is sadly predicted to stay around for a long while. Healthcare is still private and a competitive field in the US and that causes major issues as well. If you look this up, you see articles titled along the lines of "Biden has lowered the cost of insurance" and meanwhile it just dropped in 2020 once during the pandemic but has been growing in cost.

Prescription Reform: Reading into this, not much has changed, which isn't surprising under genocide Joe. Drugs in the US are still higher than anywhere else in the world, and with healthcare issues still abundant, this is still a big issue.

Student Loan Forgiveness: Student debt is still extremely high in the US, and while Biden has rolled out some plans for forgiveness, it's a fraction of the debt, and he primarily uses the whole thing to win over swing states. This is a dangling carrot that provides very little overall.

Infrastructure Funding: Train crashes from 2020-present, worldwide, but notice the amount of US crashes! Neat! Quite literally just look up train crashes in the US during his presidency, there's too many to link here. It is also important to remember that Biden signed a bill to prevent rail strikes, preventing a lot of pressure to the government and the economy, which would have been a GOOD THING. Seriously, this guy has fucked up our environment and our rights in multiple ways.

Advocating Racial Equity: Structural racism within the US is still a huge problem, Biden hasn't addressed much. Also people are still in cages on the Mexico/US border (Which has been maintained by every president in office since it was established), with a very recent crackdown on the border.

Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion: Just. Look at the racial equity and trans rights sections above. Biden does the bare minimum, loves focusing on swing states, and all around uses the ol' carrot on a stick.

Vaccines and Public Health: Once again look above at sections on healthcare, abortion access, and prescription reform. Its bad. Remember how Covid-19 vaccines aren't being continued for free?

Criminal Justice Reform: This is just structural slavery still. Disproportionate amounts of black people are incarcerated, police are still heavily funded under Biden. He does not care about reforming the justice system, he even supports cops breaking up campus protests! Cool!

Military Support for Israel: Yup! Both sides suck! Biden has a very long history of sure hating Arabic countries though! He's done nothing but ship weapons and participate in the genocide of Palestinian people. Would Trump also do this? Yes. Does this mean this is an issue you should just drop and call a non-issue? No, what the hell are you talking about.

Israel/Hamas Ceasefire: Netanyahu has no plans to accept any actual ceasefire, yet Biden still provides weapons and support. Wow! That sure is weird? I wonder if Biden really cares about a ceasefire or how he just looks publicly.

Biden is not a good president, much less a good human being. You provided such a flimsy chart with zero resources or support behind you, and it just feels like people are just making shit up at this point. Get your heads out of the liberal cesspool you grew up in.

[rei-ismyname]

The X-Men and activism

Doomed are the peacemakers mutants

The X-Men have just moved to San Francisco because the city loves them, mostly. Simon Trask is pushing Proposition X - that would legislate mandatory chemical sterility for all mutants - and it's looking like it's going to be put to an emergency vote in the California state legislature.

Let's just ignore that he's a cyborg sentinel

His 'grassroots' political movement is marching on city hall for a demonstration while some of the X-Men have organised a counter protest. As is so often the case, mutants are not a monolith and have different ideas about the best approach. Hank McCoy is here to peacefully assemble, but some of the younger mutants like the idea of direct action.

There's a pretty obvious irony that Hellion calls them racists (they are) while using supremacist language. It's true to life that organising is very hard and there's always going to be people who escalate, but it's a little uncomfortable to 'both sides' a eugenics proposition by making the oppressed guilty of starting a riot. They don't throw the first punch, but they certainly get blamed for it. Maybe that's the point. Prop X's real life inspiration, Prop 8, did pass in California. However, it was ruled unconstitutional by the Supreme Court. Marvel's constitution and human rights charter might be different though, because anti-mutant policy doesn't seem to get challenged on that level, ever. A minority underclass that actually is dangerous muddles the mutant metaphor. Mutants being 'loaded guns' is the stated reason for Prop X, but the actual content is unconscionable.

Hank tries to assert his desire for peaceful protest to both sides, but he looks naive when Trask's mob are beating the shit out of kids. People should fucking riot.

If you've been in a riot, or really any kind of violent crowd situation, you'll know that controlling a mob with words is near impossible. It's unrealistic that there were no cops present from the start. Trask's Humanity Now! coalition marched here from Sacramento so they'd certainly be aware. Selectively enforcing state violence is nothing new, but it's a bad look for the city. Cops and ambulances do arrive, but they aren't shown beating a single person.

As the riot flares up we start to see the media report on it, with the language used poisoning the well for mutants. That, at least, is realistic.

Ironically, the only advocate for non-violence - Beast - is tased repeatedly by cops at gunpoint. It's not commented on, but I think it's obvious they're doing it because he looks scary. Sure, he may have refused some police direction or resisted arrest (unlikely) but it's obvious this was always going to happen. He's standing over the unconscious Pixie, trying to protect her, and gets attacked and arrested for his trouble.

What's presented as political pundits discussing the riot makes a token effort to hold the hate mob accountable, but the voice blaming mutants for violence gets the last word. There's also cries of 'where the hell are the X-Men?' suggesting they're both responsible for violence, expected to contain it, AND make a PR statement. There's really no way to win here except to not play, except they can't sit around and do nothing when their reproductive autonomy is threatened. It highlights a major flaw in Charles Xavier ideology - positioning the X-Men as the mutant cops and representatives of all mutants leaves you stuck in the middle of shit like this. The state won't protect them and non-X-Men mutants don't get a political voice.

That's even more apparent when Scott and Emma meet with the Mayor of San Francisco. She asks why he allowed this to happen and complains of clearly biased media coverage showing Hellion and company protecting themselves - spun into mutants as aggressors. Scott kinda is and isn't the president of mutants. He's got the relationship with the mayor and the most influence among mutants, but his job and responsibilities are informal.

He and Emma push back, but all parties seem to agree that he needs to take responsibility for putting this fire out. Not Trask, not local law enforcement, but a civilian who runs a paramilitary group/school that's the face of an entire people. Blamed for any problems with mutants, responsible for defusing them, and responsible for protecting mutants. It's a lot, and that's just reactively navigating problems that come to them, proactivity is completely off the table. As he says to Xavier when Utopia is raised, 'you didn't teach me any of this.'

Trask holds a press conference denying responsibility and parroting his usual ugly talking points. No mutant does the same thing, which is probably a mistake. I doubt it would have deescalated or changed anyone's mind, but if Scott is in the position of leadership there's value in showing the world your face and challenging the narrative. He's going to be smeared by the press anyway while they report unevenly, and some mutants will think he's a bootlicker, but not using a national platform feels like a waste.

Then again, this whole thing is a setup. He's in an impossible position and counter protesting just got mutants beaten up by bigots and cops alike. He could say that the X-Men are doing everything they can, but that opens a whole can of worms. He could refute Trask's rhetoric, but the media would edit it unfavorably. Also, he's only just been thrust into this position and there's going to be a learning curve. Norman Osborn and HAMMER deploy very quickly too, so there may not have been enough time. Osborn is notoriously a bad faith actor and they'll have to deal with him soon enough.

We see how other influential parties in the world think. The Fantastic Four don't give a shit. As long as Franklin is safe it's not their problem. The Avengers tell Logan he can go but don't do anything themselves, despite mutants facing forced sterilisation, a huge hate group, and a state-sponsored supervillain.

DOOM and Loki find it interesting, but they're mainly concerned with the ticking clock that is Norman Osborn's mental stability. Scott isn't shown telling anyone to stop protesting, though he does deploy X-Men as harm minimisation. As before, Humanity Now! are shown initiating violence without any law enforcement stepping in.

It's here that Scott actually, doing exactly what Xavier would want minus unethical telepathy. Bad mutants doing bad things? The X-Men beat them up. Again, the mutants didn't start this but are willing to fight back, but Cyke leads a team in shutting them down. It's not exactly showing the world a united front but it's what's expected of them. It's likely he recognises that this is an arena they can't win in and wants to regroup to engage on his terms. Plenty of mutants disagree, and who can blame them? Civil rights are written in the blood of minorities.

Critically, there's no appeal to mutant solidarity between Scott and Toad. It's not clear what Toad was doing or what his political agenda is, but the art portrays him as a snarling, ugly savage. My interpretation is that we're meant to agree with Scott - that Toad is just here for the violence despite making a scathing accusation of the X-Men. Needless to say, this is not any kind of means for successful coalition building - nobody responds well to threats and insults. Especially when mutants are such a tiny group, they need all the allies they can get. Toad and Scott might hate each other, but a big part of organising is standing next to people you don't like and pointing yourselves in the same direction. I find Toad sympathetic here, and not just because of ACAB. Toad is a non-passing mutant with a criminal record who's never had a voice in mutant politics. If everyone hates him, how TF is he expected to act?

It's not clear who throws the brick at Scott. The blocking of the scene suggests it's a Humanity Now! member, though he's lecturing Toad at the time. I'm pretty sure it's the dude that's being arrested in the fourth panel. Interestingly, the cops are portrayed as very reasonable, simply not having the manpower to stop a million people. It's ridiculous that Scott is expected to deescalate this situation, and he asks the cop if they can't handle this hate mob, who can? I have to wonder if his respect for law and order here is genuine. Sure, in the abstract that's a good thing, but when the protection of said law isn't extended to you (and you're meant to be an auxiliary agent of it) what choice do you have?

The whole X-Men modus operandi assumes good faith from the state, and that's never been true even at the best of times. This isn't the best of times, and sometimes an especially bad faith actor is elected or appointed. The idea is that more reasonable political actors counterbalance that, but that's not even true in real life. Sure, Osborn could stand in for Trump or whoever, but there's rarely just a single bad guy with power. There's a whole lot of them and even more who are apathetic centrists, operating in a system that's fundamentally unjust.

The X-Men have always been a PR group at their core - they save the world and stop bad guys - but they do it to show the world 'not all mutants.' The world knows this already, it just doesn't care, making their position incredibly fragile. They'll always be the social other. Most won't care enough to advocate for them, and many profit from the inequality. They fight to protect a world that hates and fears them, but that hasn't achieved a lot in terms of protections and rights. This is part 1 of what I have planned as a five part series on the X-Men's activism and political action. Part two (right here) will be a direct sequel to this situation, and then we go back in time to examine Xavier as a human-presenting mutant advocate.

[hobiebrownismygod]

Such a Lovely Face Hobie Brown/Spider-Punk x Fem!Reader

~1.5k words

Synopsis: After a bad day, you find yourself sitting on a rooftop to calm down, and end up encountering Hobie Brown. The two of you have a nice conversation.

TW: Mention of police brutality, explosions, slight implication of the reader having depression/being depressed

A/N: I tried something new with the lyrics being a part of the story, so if it doesn't really work I'm sorry 😭. I'm really trying to accustom myself to new writing styles cuz I'm still fairly new to fanfictions, so lmk if it doesn't make sense or could be better!

____________________________________________________________

On a dark desert highway Cool wind in my hair

You were sitting atop one of the many rooftops in Camden, London, quietly humming one of your favorite songs to yourself as you looked out into the distance. The cool breeze was refreshing compared to the stuffy atmosphere of your tiny apartment downstairs, and you decided you'd stay up here on the rooftop for as long as you could, until of course you were caught by the police for breaking the curfew. It had happened before.

My head grew heavy and my sight grew dim I had to stop for the night

You hugged your knees to your chest and rested your chin atop them, breathing in the night air softly, the moonlight shining onto your face as you looked up at the stars. But you could barely see them, the entire sky covered in a thick layer of fog, gases emitted from the thousands of horrific factories littering the streets of London, courtesy of the one and only President Osborne, a hopeless tyrant with nothing better to do than pollute.

There she stood in the doorway I heard the mission bell

"What're you lookin' at lassie?"

You swiveled your head around, heart beating out of your chest as you stumbled back, nearly falling off the rooftop, searching for where that voice had come from. "Hey, don't worry. I'm not a cop" A man appeared from the shadows with a wink, wearing a bright red and blue costume, completed with a leather jacket and skinny jeans on top. The one and only Spider-punk.

"Whatcha doin' up 'ere all my y'self at this time of nigh'?" He asked, plopping down next to you, mask lit up by the light coming from the night sky. "O-oh just hanging out" you stammered, a bit taken aback by his cool, playful nature. You weren't expecting to meet the vigilante at this time, and you definitely weren't expecting him to take a seat next to you.

And I was thinking to myself This could be heaven or this could be hell

"I heard you singing somethin'." He leaned in toward you slightly, head tilted sideways as he looked down at you. "What song was 't?" You fidgeted with your fingers, sitting in a criss-cross position and keeping your gaze on the distance in front of the two of you. "Hotel California" you said quietly, a smile appearing on your face as the lyrics crossed your mind. "Its a nice song". He nodded, looking out at the distance like you were. "Tha' it is."

Then she lit up a candle And she showed me the way

"You didn't answer m'question though" He said, looking back at you. "What're you doing up at this time of night all by y'self?"

"I was just thinking."

"Thinking 'bout what?"

"Everything."

There were voices down the corridor I thought I heard them say

He blinked. "You gonna keep acting like a priss or are ya gonna tell me?" You shot him a scowl. "There's just a lot going on in my life right now, okay? Besides, I'm sure you don't want to hear about it. There's probably plenty people out there that you need to save" you said somberly, biting the inside of your cheek as you looked away again.

"Look 'ere peng," He said, snapping his fingers at you. "I'm London's friendly neighborhood Spider-man. I'm not just here to save people. Whatever you 'ave to say, I'm here to listen too."

Welcome to the Hotel California

"Really? So I can ask you anything?"

"Anything."

A moment of silence followed, a moment you took to think about what your question should be. And then it hit you.

"Why do you do what you do?"

He looked a bit taken aback by this question, the white eyes of his mask widening slightly. "Jumping right into it, are we?" He asked with a soft chuckle, looking down over the rooftop. His fingers fidgeted, picking at a rip in his jeans as he thought up what his answer would be. He hadn't been expecting you to ask a question that would require such a complicated answer.

"You did say I could ask you anything..." Your voice was slightly cocky, enjoying how tongue-tied he seemed trying to give a response. The question may have seemed innocent, but you were genuinely curious.

Your life wasn't terrible. You came from a fairly well-off family, you attended a good college, you lived in a clean neighborhood in a nice apartment. But you were so sad all the time. There was no reason for it, it was just as if you didn't understand the point of anything you did. Like nothing mattered. Like you didn't matter.

How was this man supporting the weight of the world on his shoulders without voicing a single complaint? How could a person be so strong? Why was he so strong?

"I do this-this Spider-man gig-" He gestured as his suit, "-because if I don't, nobody else will."

He looked back over at you and noticed your head slightly tilted as if you were waiting for a longer response. "Thats it. Tha's my reason."

"Oh?"

He stammered for a moment, gears in his head turning as he tried to explain what he was trying to say. "Look, I'm the only Spider-man in this city, right? If I'm gone, what'll happen to the people I'm s'posed to protect?" He pointed out towards the distant lights of the inner city, "The people in the slums, the punks and protestors of London, I'm their voice." He sighed softly, looking up at the stars, the light making the eyes of his mask shine brightly, an almost ethereal glow emanating. "I have to do this. I have to fight for these people. I'm their only hope."

Such a lovely place Such a lovely face

"I see." You said quietly, a slight smile spreading across your face. He wasn't as perfect as he seemed. The poor guy seemed pretty stressed from the look of it. All that pressure..., "I was expecting you to say it was for the freedom. Or the fame." You added in a slightly teasing tone, nudging his shoulder gently to snap him out of his somber trance.

He jumped slightly at the touch before a grin returned to his face. "What fame? Half the city hates me and the other half think I'm a saint." He shook his head. "I'm neither."

"You're not a saint?"

"I'm not a hero."

You were a bit taken aback by this declaration. "What are you talking about? If anyone's a hero it's you." you said, raising an eyebrow at him. He chuckled softly, looking at you, the white of his mask boring into you. "Guess you're part of the second half then."

You rolled your eyes at him. "Mate, you're the sole reason London's not up in flames at this moment. That seems pretty heroic to me."

"I've been the reason for a lot of other things going up in flames, though" he countered teasingly, leaning in towards you slightly, that playful tone returning to his voice.

"Yeah but that's all Osborne's crap. Nobody's complaining about it."

Plenty of room at the Hotel California

"Hah. Damn right."

Another moment of silence followed, the quiet tension almost deafening. "Not as perfect as you seem, hmm pretty boy?"

"You think I'm pretty?" He gave you a sly wink. "You haven't even seen my face. But you're probably right about the perfect part." You smacked his arm playfully, laughing as you did so.

You hadn't expected your spirits to have been lifted so easily, but he just had that effect. A can-do attitude and a cocky tone could do wonders for a bad day. "So? Did your friendly neighborhood Spider-man save yet another boring night?" He asked smugly, tilting his head and putting his hands behind him to support him as he leaned back. "Honestly? Yeah. Thanks." You said, offering him as fist bump. He took it, gently bumping his suited fist against yours and making a pop noise with his mouth as he pulled it away.

Suddenly, you heard an explosion from the distance, probably the result of yet another instance of police brutality, Osborne's pigs being well-known for their trigger-happy fingers and exclusively deadly weaponry. There wasn't a day gone by where something didn't get blown up or a group of people wasn't killed. But that was just life in London. "I suppose that's my cue to leave" Spider-punk said, hopping up and stretching out his arms, cracking his neck to the side. "It was nice meeting you, Ms...?"

"Y/N"

"Y/N." he repeated, letting the name roll off his tongue. "Lovely name for a lovely face."

You shook your head at him. "Don't you have somewhere to be?" You asked, suppressing a laugh. "Yeah, yeah. I'll see you around, darling." And he was off.

Anytime of year You can find it here

"See you." you whispered as you watched him swing away, his guitar slung over his shoulder, just barely holding on. You smiled to yourself before you got up, ready to go back inside. You were feeling much better now.

You knew that next time you were feeling down, you'd be sure to call him over. After all, what's the point of having a friendly neighborhood Spider-man if you can't make use of him?

____________________________________________________________

Taglist: @s6onder @therealloopylupin2099 @spiderrinn @l0starl @daydreaming-en-pointe

[qqueenofhades]

Once you get offline, Biden’s doing ok with everyone but Republicans and racists. Unfortunately, that’s a pretty big voting bloc, but it should be manageable. More unfortunately, Harris is. Not popular. With anyone. Like, we’re talking Dan “To not have a mind is being very wasteful” Quayle levels of dissing. You can blame some of it on sexism and racism, but enough women and people of color have jumped on the “Kamala’s letting The Team down” bandwagon that there’s got to be more to it than this. Any thoughts?

Yeah, uh, I don't think that's fair OR accurate, and deserves quite a bit more reflection and pushback than is implied here (since your question frames it as thinking there MUST be something wrong with her and invites me to expand on it). First off, I am not comfortable comparing the first female vice president (AND female VP of color) to empty suit Dan Quayle, and especially when there's such a disparity in their background, social perception, and accomplishments, not to mention their role in the administration. So:

"You can blame some of it on sexism and racism, but -- " Okay, but how much? Are we actually assigning a weight to that and taking it into consideration, or hand-waving it aside in search of the "real" cause? Online Leftists are already disposed to irrationally dislike Kamala because of the "she's a cop!!!" business that went around during the primaries, which was likewise inaccurate and misleading, but showed how women, especially women of color, are often treated in white leftist spaces (including by leftist-identifying women). That very much WAS down to sexism, racism, and perceiving her as "shrill" or "there's just something I don't like about her." Okay, what is that? WHAT is the thing you don't like about her? Would you notice it in a male politician? Would you critique it in a male politician? If the answer is any part unclear, this needs more work and is in fact reflective of that dynamic, whether or not anyone is aware of it or thinks that's the reason why.

No, seriously. If someone professes that they "just don't like" Kamala or "there's something about her that rubs me the wrong way" or whatever else, my immediate next question would be "Why? What don't you like about her?" And keep drilling down through whatever excuses about "unlikeability" or "personality" or whatever else is offered. If this can be persuasively articulated in a way that a) exposes a substantive policy reason, b) can be differentiated from what any male vice president or other person in her position would do or what should be expected of them, and c) isn't just about "offputting vibes," then sure, we can have a discussion about that. Otherwise, yeah. That's not convincing me that it's anything other than the constant, long-running, ever-present discomfort with seeing a powerful and accomplished woman of color, who started her career prosecuting sex criminals, was the first Black woman in the Senate, and is now the first female vice president, actually state her issues and own her role.

"Enough women and people of color have jumped on the 'Kamala Is Letting the Team Down' bandwagon that there must be -- " Really? Must there? First of all, it's damn near impossible to find any Online Leftist who's willing to give Biden accurate credit for his accomplishments -- see the "Biden is bad and uninspiring and anti-trans but we should I guess vote for him anyway" rhetoric which is the closest they can possibly get to acknowledging it. (None of which is actually true!) When that's the case with the top of the ticket, it's orders of magnitude easier to project that irrational dislike and distortion onto "shrill" or "dislikable" Kamala. So who are these "women and people of color" who don't like Kamala? Are they in the room with us right now? Do they actually care about/vote for the Democrats, support their policy accomplishments, and realistically understand the progress that's been made and what remains to be done, or do they want to use Kamala as yet another convenient stick to beat the Democrats (since they won't give them accurate credit to start with?)

Even if this was true, sexism and racism somehow magically wasn't a factor (which uh, it is not) and Kamala had some terrible personality defect that was unique to her and her alone and not any of the far worse vice presidents there have been in the last 20 years alone: what is this kind of question intended to accomplish? Are we supposed to fear that by voting for Biden, we might vote for Kamala as well? Well, she was on the ticket last time too, and they won the election. Don't know what else to tell you.

[milfygerard]

it feels a little callous but i cant help but find this whole brittany mahomes thing kind of extremely funny because like. Ok so taylor has very valid reason to not speak out on this upcoming election at all considering she just narrowly avoided a terrorist attack from a different far right extremist group and america has guns and a decent population of people who thought shed use the superbowl to brainwash people into getting gay biden vaccines and im positive many of those people were the cops who would be in charge of investigating that terrorist threat but ALSO none of this wouldve happened if she didnt feel a deep need to be liked and so felt compelled to befriend her boyfriends coworkers wife except her boyfriend is a linebacktightendwhatever for the nfl so of course his coworkers wife (as well as a number of his coworkers) is a conservative white lady who obviously voted trump on the dl and so are most of her friends folding taylor into a circle that even at her most politically mum she never wanted to be involved in. Taylor swift is also of course a known coward who took 10 years and a movie to even just declare that shes a democrat which she obviously was and also obviously hid for marketing reasons (which was heavily encouraged by her team and her dad who is in her team) while taking advantage of the 2015 aesthetic pop politics to say that she likes gay people and respects women, which left a bad taste in peoples mouths once popular politics left its frothy naiivete behind in 2016 and she fell off the face of the earth in a valiant effort to not kill herself which allowed for the co-opting of her extremely white image from the growing reactionary movement that she eventually had to do way more work to cut down bc she didnt nip it in the bud fast enough which has left a long standing bad taste in peoples mouths and a negative association in their minds

but anyway this all leads back to the bizarre mean girl politics of 78 year old high schooler donald trump whose still mad that taylor called him a fascist because i guess he liked her music and who has spent the last few months trying to tie himself to her because she is currently God of the Monoculture and any mention of her brings attention which is mr celebrity apprentices only desire and the reason he even ran for president but now HIS star is falling as the republican party has finally found a good excuse to kick him to the curb because they have a far less embarassing woman who is popular enough that you can publicly support her and only leftists will be disgusted but fascist enough to work directly with you to continue funding and supporting the brutal racist border policies we hold with mexico and the insanse christian zionist genocide happening in palestine and definitely wont do anything to stop the transphobia culture war that you have rolling which will keep you in legislative and representative power for as long as you want BUT i digress. donald trump found out probably from understandably angry swifties that some WAG who liked posts supporting him is ALSO publicly associated with taylor swift and is considered a friend in her circles and so the DAY BEFORE hr boyfriends first game where she generally sits in the WAG group with families and partners including her new bestie brittany he makes a very public post announcing how he just SOOO APPRECIATES brittany mahomes and her PUBLIC SUPPORT and how its SO IMPORTANT TO HIM which sets a trap specifically made to torture taylor swift of choosing between publicly rejecting and admonishing brittany mahomes and her support which will not just piss off brittany and patrick burning a personal AND professional bridge, but also a large chunk of the extremely conservative NFL and could potentially have a negative impact on travis' career going forward considering how petty sports drama can be OR she can say nothing and trigger headline after headline of TAYLOR SWIFT FRIENDS WITHWOMAN PUBLICLY THANKED BY DONALD TRUMP FOR SUPPORT which isnt only a pr nightmare but also gets trump his one actual desire which is being paid attention to and discussed OR she can go to the game but show in some way that she endorses Harris/Walz which will cause a similar shitstorm but in this one the likeliness of major conspiracy thoeries and terrorist threats and plots based on those theories rises exponentially less than a month after the last terrorist plot (discussed earlier in the post) that led her to cancel a 4 show stay that I imagine wasnt great for her anxiety and paranoia

and the funniest part is this is 10000% entirely her fault for failing to pick a side on the public about politics vs just a singer and artist debate and constantly going back and forth as her morals, her business instincts, her cowardice, and her self conscious need to be liked all go to war with each other because she just had to be friends with her boyfriends coworkers wife without ever assuming that this wildly wealthy white woman may possibly be a conservative because all the wildly wealthy white women she hangs out with are DEMOCRATS! or at least PRETEND to be! and THIS is why you dont date guys who work in the NFL!

[zugmode]

i can’t tell you how many takes i’ve seen about how solidarity is all we need to dismantle the two-party system NOW! and voting for kamala is as bad as voting for trump, because she’s a cop/she was involved in the incumbent administration/she’s accountable for the latest social injustices. therefore the only morally good vote is independent/green/socialist/write-in (etc). this needs to end.

voting independent in this coming election will do quite literally nothing. historically speaking, independent candidates have never been elected straight to presidency. no amount of solidarity among the radical youth in november will trump (pun not intended) the institutional monster that is democratic party. i understand that voting third party seems attractive because independent candidates’ positions align most closely with that of the radical youth, yet NOW is not the time to worry about that. we need perspective on what we’re up against: project 2025 is threatening to revoke major pieces of social legislation. many of us will lose basic civil rights. beyond that, none of us want to relive the trump administration! none of us want white power/racism/homophobia/etc reenabled in the federal government! you don’t have to like it, but voting blue is the biggest preventative measure we can take to keep the worst from happening.

i’ll say it again: no amount of solidarity among the radical youth will get an independent candidate elected in 2024. you can dismantle the two-party system when the stakes are lower.

[sherbertilluminated]

Watched Babylon Berlin S2E7 tonight and I have some predictions. This show is about police violence and the fall of the Weimar Republic.

This episode was probably the climax of the Prangertag storyline. At least, it feels like something definite has happened and a new/unknown condition has been established.

Namely: Although Operation Prangertag was halted, the influence of its aristocratic/high-ranking architects prevents them from facing consequences for their plots. Benda—and Gereon, who since Stefan's death has become Benda's right hand—has continuously stymied in his efforts to prosecute the nationalists. All he can do is play defense as the attacks come.

On the other hand: assassination attempt #13 has been foiled.

Benda and Gereon have succeeded on a mission together. Through their combined efforts, the republic has been preserved, and Benda has made good on his narrative function as "only guy in the room who cares about preserving the republic." Which among other reasons is why I'm scared he's going to die soon.

It looks like Greta is going to kill him too.

This episode she's contacted by a friend of her creepy boyfriend Fritz, who returns his effects to her and directs her grief toward Benda, despite the identity of Fritz' killers being carefully obscured last episode.

This is the same rhetoric that Fritz has used throughout the last few episodes: he reminds her that Benda's position as Regierungsrat/leader of the "politische" implicates him in the state violence against communists, especially during the May Day Demonstrations.

This would be a compelling rhetorical tack, if Fritz' character were not consistently framed as an aggressor. Every time they meet up, he a) violates one of her boundaries, b) tries to play it off as mischievous sticking-it-to-the-man, and c) reminds her that Benda is complicit in the violence of the state.

But Fritz' persuasive tactics have been mostly been orthodox communism. His friend throws some antisemitism in.

Notably he says "seine Leute," which implies a looser epistemological association than the hierarchy implied by "his men". Either way, the conversation priming her for ideological violence based on sweeping divisions between societal groups.

So Greta, whose arc since getting hired by the Benda family has been about small tests of loyalty—Fritz's needling, Mrs. Benda's instruction of "no meat!" vs. Mr. Benda asking her to fry a sausage, the secrecy of the household, etc.— is probably going to turn against them.

Another person with reason to dislike Benda is Bruno, who is shown at the end of the episode sulking and smoking in the sun sets.

But it's more likely that Bruno will go after Gereon in the next episode; they've been fighting all season, and while I do like this show I don't think they're so innovative as to avoid doing "good cop vs. bad cop" character things.

And since he's already murdered Stefan and tried to kill Streseman in this episode, killing Benda would make it seem like he's a unique danger to the stability of the Weimar Republic. That's not the kind of story the show wants to tell. It's interested in representing a diverse array of people with unique motivations who inexorably contribute to the changes in their society.

\In Greta's case that might mean being (figuratively) seduced into ideological violence which, although urged by the death of her ostensibly-communist boyfriend, is terribly convenient for all the nationalists Benda is trying to hinder.

But if that's to be their arc, I don't think it can come to a satisfying end without a response to Fritz' argument. Benda is portrayed onscreen trying to prosecute nationalists and prevent political violence, but his complicity or lack thereof in violence against communists is almost deliberately obscured.

The most we actually see of him in conjunction with police violence is in Season 1 Episode 3, where he's seen introducing the police president Zörgiebel

and afterward in episode 5, where he discourages Zörgiebel from using force against the protesters.

So we get the argument that Benda is complicit in police violence only from Fritz and his antisemitic friend. But now Fritz is dead. And his argument remains unresolved.

And if Greta is going to kill Benda, who has proven himself to be such a pillar of stability that his death would destabilize the narrative enough to distinguish seasons 2 and 3, that resolution needs to come soon, probably in the next two episodes.

Here's how.

At the end of S2E2 Gereon is approached by Dr. Völcker for help in clearing the names of two women whom police killed on May Day.

Gereon refuses. Because he's a cop. But last season he also threw out the false testimony which would have implicated the women. So the guilt of the police is a matter that remains both unresolved and on his mind.

It's a matter that directly pertains to the question of Benda's own guilt that day, and that acts in narrative parallel.

Now that the plotline of the attempted assassination is resolved, there's a little space to pick up running threads. Including Gereon's own guilt (for violence he definitely did commit) and Benda's role in the institution of police.

Gereon and Benda have been working together all season to foil a coup that a large number of cops were involved in. It might make sense for Gereon to turn to the one authority figure he respects for advice about individual responsibility and institutional corruption.

Any response that Benda gives, from "I've been urging deescalation for years but you see how little power I have to change this institution" to "I completely endorse violence in the name of preserving the Republic," would provide closure to this question. It would move Gereon's character development re: being a cop and make his eventual death hit harder.

I want this scene to happen because it would make sense, and because like Greta I don't like the dissonance between the show's portrayal of a soft-spoken champion of democracy/mentor figure and the rhetoric of a man who is personally really creepy. The show is good enough that I want narrative closure for Benda.

But I don't want him to die. And I suspect I'm running out of time.

[virgo-mess]

Good Cop, Bad Cop

Chapter 1: Good Cop

TW: None for this chapter

Reader’s Pov

            You hum softly to yourself inhaling the salty scent of the New England coastline as you walk down Manomet beach with your shoes in your hands. You had missed taking your morning walks along the beach since moving to New York for school twelve years ago. You had always intended on moving back to your hometown of Plymouth, Massachusetts after you graduated, but life seemed to have other plans for you. You had landed a well-paying job as an investment broker on Wall Street after college and had managed to work your way up to Senior Vice President at your company. The success of your position allowed you to live very comfortably in New York with extra perks like big end of the year bonuses and paid time off but often left the personal aspects of your life neglected.

You hadn’t been home in two years, which was also due in part to a really messy breakup. You started to work extra hours after that. You had thought keeping yourself busy would help you get over it. It had worked for a little bit, but you ultimately ended up burning yourself out. You also may have had a very small mental breakdown in the middle office last week. Your boss all but forced you to use the paid time off you’d accumulated to clear your head and cope the healthy way. Heading back home for four weeks seemed like the best way to decompress and catch up with old friends. Everything just happened to line up perfectly with your best friend Daisy’s wedding, too; she had asked you to be one of her maids of honor months ago. The wedding was quickly approaching. People were already driving and flying in for the Bachelorette and Bachelor parties. Hosting them close together seemed like the best option.

You’re abruptly pulled out of your inner thoughts and daydreams when you bump into something hard. You let out a yelp as the force of the impact has you flying backwards. Before you know it, you’re staring up at the sky. The back of your head is throbbing a bit, and you can feel the sting of freshly scraped skin on your elbows. You let out a pained groan as you move yourself to sit up, wondering what you even walked into. Your unspoken question is answered when you feel large hands grip your upper arms.

“Easy now, sorry about that butterfly” comes a deep voice in a soothing tone, you couldn’t remember the last time anyone used that nickname for you but there was only ever one person that really called you that. You take a moment to focus your attention on the figure in front of you and recognize their icy blue eyes instantly. You take a moment to look him over since you hadn’t seen him in nearly twelve years. His hair is now grey instead of black, but he’s still got that dark, alluring, brooding prettiness to his face. This doesn’t surprise you because Cashton Micheal “Cash” Ewing had always been gorgeous, all the girls at school drooled over him, and you were no different. You had moved into the house next to his when you were seven, and it was only natural that you guys became friends.

“Cash” you said softly feeling a sudden blush spread across your cheeks as you register that he had been what you walked into. You were able to make out the ripple of his muscles through his white t-shirt he is a cop after all. He gave you a quick dazzling smile but there was something dark swirling in his eyes as he stared back at you intensely.

“You remember me that’s good. You were so quiet; I was beginning to think you hit your head too hard. Are you okay?” he asked sincerely as he looked you over rubbing his thumbs in small circles. You don’t miss the way his eyes linger on your breasts and then the tops of your thighs. You quickly move to pull the hem of your dress down, not noticing how much it had ridden up during your fall.

“I’m fine, I feel great” you blurt out, forcing a smile on your face you were sure you were as red as a tomato by now. You look at him briefly before attempting to scramble to your feet on your own, but Cash doesn’t let you. He throws you a reassuring smile before wrapping an arm around your waist. He helps you up slowly and makes sure you’re stable before letting go.

“I’m glad you feel great, y/n. You look great too” he said in a low, almost seductive tone that leaves you feeling hot all over. You see a slight smirk tug on his lips as he raises his brows a bit at you. You let out a nervous chuckle.

“You are also looking great, sir.” you said very awkwardly. “Are you going to the wedding?” You ask quickly, trying to change the subject, so he’ll focus on anything but you. There’s an amused sort of glint in his eyes now, but ultimately, he takes the bait.

“Yes, I’m going to be a groomsman, are you?” he asked, you nodded letting an excited sort of smile cross your face.

“Yeah, I’m a maid of honor” you said in a boastful tone. Almost like it was the biggest achievement you’d ever made. Quite sadly, it was the highlight of the last two years of her life. Cash smiled softly at you, but that dark sort of emotion was swirling in his eyes again. You're not sure what it is, Cash had always been so nice to you. But something about him feels different.

“Of course, you are that was a dumb question. I forgot how close you and Daisy are” he admitted. You nod your head with a small smile.

“Yeah, you’ve been away for a long time. Wanna tell me what you’ve been up to while we grab coffee?” you asked, finally slipping your white tennis shoes back on. Cash gave you a half smile as he nodded his head.

“Sure, but there’s not that much to tell” he said honestly, moving to walk in step with you as you make your way off the beach to your car.

Cash’s Pov

            Cash can’t help the way he bites down on his lip as he watches you walk back up to the coffee counter, appreciating the way the thin material of your tiny dress clings to your ass. You, the pretty girl next door, his pretty little butterfly had occupied so many of his thoughts and dreams back then. His first crush; if Cash had it his way, you would’ve been his first everything. It surprised him how quickly the thoughts and desires he had for you had crept back in on him. Time wasn’t on his side back then. By the time he had worked up the courage to do something about it, you were running off to New York. He thought about applying to the NYPD after he finished up at the academy, thought he’d run it by you when he saw you that Christmas, the last Christmas he came home for. When he got back, you, of course, were with some dick head you’d met at school. It was then that Cash impulsively decided to take a job in Cleveland and forget about you. It worked somewhat, but thinking about it now, he only dated women who reminded him of you in some way. Cash already knew what he was going to do with you; he figured it all out while you were gazing up at him with those beautiful innocent eyes of yours. The way you checked him out only spurred him on. It gave him a bit of hope that you weren’t going to be entirely resistant.

            His suspension had made him somewhat of a loose cannon, and his days of patiently waiting for what he wanted were long gone. Cash had it all planned out already. For now, he would charm you, play the good cop, soften you up just a bit, and then later he would take you just the way he always wanted to. When it was over, he’d simply turn the charm right back on and quite possibly do it all over again. Cash didn’t care how he got you as long as he did. He had decided he would have you the minute you let him scoop you off the ground.

            “Here’s your coffee” you said softly before setting it in front of him. Cash threw you his best smile watching a deep blush spread across your cheeks.

            “Thank you butterfly.”

Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

[cervinelich]

U.S. Americans: Vote Locally. Do it.

There seems to be a common misconception that the presidential election is the most important one not just for the USA, but for the world - WRONG!

Let me be clear: You should vote in the Presidential election.

Historically, young people don't vote. Even though young voter turnout has increased drastically since Trump, local voting is still largely being determined by conservative older generations.

Importantly, you should be voting locally in part because this is the largest influence over who gets nominated in the Primary and how your opinion is vocalized on a national scale. Also:

voter restriction/suppression

climate change efforts/issues (such as pipelines getting built)

policing, law enforcement and mass incarceration

availability of affordable housing, public transport, disability relief

education - as in, whether or not PragerU gets taught in schools

If you are worried about "being selfish" for focusing smaller local issues instead of global ones (such as the current genocide), I understand. However, this is a more effective way to pressure the current President - local legislators have more voice than we do. This is also setting up a less racist, genocidal future for global politics because Presidential nominees are almost always picked from State level positions.

The Presidential election helps people to feel good/bad about an "immediate" measurable result from a single action. But the truth is that the Bidens of the US will keep being the only rival to "I want to be a dictator" Trumps if we don't start investing our votes from the ground up.

Here is a guide (mostly from this website https://tminstituteldf.org/local-elections/ ):

CITY GOVERNMENT

School Boards:

Have the power to set policy and budgets for local schools, such as whether or not you can protest without losing your job or getting expelled.

Sherrifs:

Generally speaking, Sherrifs are fucked up. It's too much for me to go into here. They have way too much unilateral power with no oversight at all.

Prosecutors:

The largest contributor to mass incarceration

They set the terms on whether someone is charged with a misdemeanor or felony and being convicted of a felony will strip your right to vote in many states - some permanently.

City Council:

City Council approve things like city budgets and implement criminal and civil laws and regulations

Also the voice of their City at a State and Federal level. Generally, these are some of the people you should be shouting at to bring your voice higher up the food chain.

This includes the Mayor who often decides where budgets go (like schools or cops), and they also determine the level of enforcement of local laws.

County Board of Supervisors (County Commissioners):

Represent county issues in front of state and federal legislative bodies. Counties are also responsible for registering voters and administrating elections. i.e., another group of people who have a stronger voice against the elected Democrat when it comes to larger issues.

Planning and Zoning Commission:

Determines how and where affordable housing is zoned in your area. Has a huge effect on housing segregation.

Comptroller:

The City's accountant and budget manager - this is the person who audits the City Council and makes sure they aren't basically stealing money. They also approve city contracts such as those for affordable public transportation and shelters.

STATE GOVERNMENT

Judges:

This one is crucial. Your state judges act as the Supreme Court of your given state. The cases that they weigh on when it comes to state laws (such as abortion, medical autonomy, immigration, right to protest/free speech, etc.) these are binding and final.

Superintendent of Education:

This is the person who decides if PragerU gets to teach classes on why Zionism and Evangelical teachings are "ok and good, actually".

Secretary of State:

The person who certifies elections in your state - for the Presidency, but also for all of these other positions mentioned. It is so, so important that this person cannot be bought or pressured.

Attorney General:

Has influence over law enforcement agencies and represents the state in legal disputes - such as those where someone is disputing their rights are being infringed by the state. (abortion, medical autonomy, immigration, right to protest/free speech, etc.)

Governor:

Is basically the president of your state. They sign in laws, have veto power and oversee all of the other departments. They also can appoint Justices and State Senate seats if they are empty.

Not only does this person have a lot of state power, they also have a ton of influence over the broader federal climate and are one of the positions that fast-tracks to Presidency (see: Ron Desantis).

State Comptroller (or Controller):

Same as City Comptroller except extremely importantly they manage disaster relief/preparation funding - which is especially important amidst climate change.

Also oversee fraud investigations.

Public Service Commissioner:

Determines rates for things like energy, water, internet in your state.

Also deals with the gas and oil industry in your state, often being in charge of approval/rejection of the building of oil pipelines.

They can be appointed by the Governor.

State Senators:

Has just about the most authority in a state, with the ability to impeach Governors and deny someone the Governor tries to appoint

Another position that fast-tracks to Presidency

Draft and introduce/pass state laws and amend the state constitution

State House of Reps:

Can call for the removal of another legislator

Draft and introduce/pass state laws

All Right. I'm running out of steam on this post. Please, please, please, PLEASE register to vote *right now* and look over the website when you do to see if it can set up email alerts when an election is coming up.

Buy a calendar and mark voting days and stick it to your wall TODAY. Set aside an hour of your time, TODAY, to make a plan for voting.

Go to this website, enter your state. It will tell you exactly what to do. Register.

Lastly, if you don't like Biden and it makes you feel like shit to vote for him (understandably), then YOU NEED TO VOTE IN THE PRIMARY.

[aquadraco20]

To be clear I am a progressive who voted for Harris. This post is my attempt to understand why people voted for Trump, who I despise and think is a threat to many people.

Obviously the results are a shock for a lot of reasons, namely that so many people are willing to ignore all the negative aspects of Trump to the point of wanting him to have the single most powerful position in America, and to literally put the lives of their friends, family, and neighbors at risk.

I've been thinking about this a lot and talking to people a lot and reading what I can to make sense of it all- why did Kamala lose and how can we prevent this from happening again?

I heard two big reasons,

1. Kamala did talk enough about how she was going to achieve her goals and the scope of her goals was too narrow and

2. America wasn't ready for a woman to be president.

But another thing I've been thinking about is social media and algorithms. We unknowingly created echo chambers for ourselves.

This means we developed the false belief that more people were going to vote for Kamala, and we didn't even get the chance to entertain the priorities of people who thought voting for Trump was a good idea.

So when the polls came in and said it was 50/50, we didnt believe them. When the results came in, people were claiming that Trump cheated (very plausible), ballots weren't being counted and people couldnt vote because of bomb threats. And to be clear, all of these things did happen. But they still dont make up for margin that trump won by. If our perspective was correct, Kamala wouldve won by a landslide and all these things wouldnt have made that much of a difference.

People are upset because everything is so expensive, and trump took advantage of that and made a scapegoat. Things are expensive because immigrants are taking people's jobs, or that we're spending too much on regulation and climate action, or that we're too reliant on importing things from China. And his plan was to deport immigrants, cut regulations, and impose tariffs.

This is a plan. It's a very flawed plan, but his followers dont realize that its corporate greed and monopolies that are keeping prices high, and its easier to listen to a guy who is a charismatic talker and believe what he says, because hey, this guy is rich and he's been in business for years, and it's easy to hate people who you dont feel connected to and blame them for your problems than to research every claim he makes and realize that things are super complicated and difficult to solve, especially when congress keeps getting in the way.

There's a lot of lies but also some half truths, but people are overworked, underpaid, tired and angry. They dont have the time and energy to research all the things he talks about. They just hear that he's going to make things better for you (white, cis, hetero) people and he's going to get rid if the people who make you feel uncomfortable, and he's saying all the hateful things that the uneducated, frustrated, and fearful side of you thinks but cant say outloud without pushback and he gets away with it. He survived a gunshot. People say he committed crimes and sexually assaulted people but he still walks free so he must be innocent because cops are good and the criminal justice system is functional and only bad guys like drug dealers and thieves go to jail.

And purity culture!! The dems are all about pronouns and womens rights and if you don't do something correctly than someone's going to dig up something you did and cancel you and now you cant watch Rosanne on tv anymore. So if you feel like you cant do anything right and the beliefs that you had for years are suddenly wrong and now theirs all these people giving themselves titles that you dont understand, you aren't going to feel a connection or even care about these people. You might even think they're crazy, or being manipulated, or that taking away their rights is actually good for them.

All the moreso when Trump and his cronies and his media paint these people, who you dont understand, don't care about, and never interact with are painted that way, and then backed up with more half truths and lies.

Trump supporters have been brainwashed, and nonvoters and moderate white men were pulled to trump by he least offensive policy ideas.

So how do we fix this? Well, if its safe to do so, we need to start talking to people about reproductive health care, and what being a trans kid actually involves. And we need to learn more about the topics that trump supporters think are important, like the economy and immigration, and we need to talk to our family, friends, and neighbors about them.

I'm not saying that democrats need to sacrifice their beliefs and move to the right. But we do need to leave our echo chambers and talk to people or this will only get worse.

[hondacivictrucknuts]

Assorted thoughts on Kamala Harris.

I voted for her in 2016, in the California Senate primary. At the time I was hanging out with BLM activists, and Harris seemed like she had potentially interesting ideas about race and crime and how to improve the situation in realistic ways (I still love my BLM friends but they have never had realistic ideas for how to make things better).

She does not seem to be corrupt or crooked in any traditional sense. Per WSJ:

Harris and Emhoff together earned $450,299 in 2023, according to a jointly filed tax return. That consists of the $218,784 Harris reported earning in wages as vice president and $174,994 Emhoff made as a visiting professor at Georgetown University Law Center. Around $6,000 came in from royalties on Harris’s books. They made $50,603 in taxable interest on bank accounts and other investments. The couple’s income is significantly lower than it was before Harris took office as vice president. Emhoff, who was a partner at the corporate law firm DLA Piper, left the practice in August 2020 before Harris was inaugurated. He made more than $1.2 million in partnership income at DLA Piper in 2020. Harris was also making more from her two books published in 2019. She has profited a total of $749,484 since 2020.

The couple has retirement assets and bank account balances worth somewhere between $3.6 million and $7.36 million. A significant portion of Harris’s and Emhoff’s net worth is held in retirement accounts, according to government ethics forms.

I.e. she and her husband have been moderately successful and are living within their resulting means.

The childless cat lady thing: I do generally agree with J.D. Vance that childless people have less stake in society and their political opinions should count for less, but it doesn't apply to every individual. Note that Joe Biden, who was a thoroughly decent and generally honest man, seems to have committed his most corrupt acts in support of his prodigal son.

She's probably of middling intellect. She went to law school at UC Hastings, where the median LSAT of a recent class was 160, about the 75th percentile. Recall that the last woman to run against Trump went to Yale Law, where the median LSAT was 173, or the 99th percentile. I don't know anything about law school histories but from what I know of the UC system in general, Hastings Law was probably worse when Harris went there. Will this matter? Other than Joe Biden and John McCain, all the presidents in my memory and everybody who ran against them were top tier intellects. Running for president and being president requires one to speak to broad audiences about many complex issues, and that's a lot easier when you understand the complex issues deeply.

The enthusiasm for her does not seem durable. So far it looks like a combination of orange man bad, relief that the candidate is someone other than Biden of the June 27 debate, and lingering vestiges of "black girl magic" from ca. 2018.

What is her position on Israel and Hamas? Sooner or later she's going to have to make that clear. That she hasn't yet alienated either the Jewish or jihadi wing of the Democratic Party seems to be mostly the result of not taking any firm stance in public.

She is a fierce prosecutor, and in her brief Senate career was best known for her questioning at hearings. I think this plays into what Black men tend to dislike about Black women, and will end up hurting her with that demographic.

Trump's nickname for her, "Border Czar Harris," is brilliant in typical Trump form. First, it's original, to her if not to him. Second, it frames her as an incompetent cop, while letting the listener do most of the work themselves. Third, even if it's not quite true, she can't argue with it because the reality is worse, i.e. that she was not actually that involved in the so-called Biden-Harris administration's immigration policy.

As a national politician, her biggest issue is abortion. What is the substantive policy there in a post-Dobbs nation? Even if she got lucky and Clarence Thomas died or something, it doesn't seem like Roberts is eager to re-instate Roe v. Wade via some other case. That leaves legislation, which Congress was unable ever to do despite a half-century of platform planks about "codifying Roe." I don't know how they could even do that now under the 10th Amendment, but what do I know.

Her fundraising ads on YouTube are somewhat scolding: "today, not tomorrow,..." Compare J.D. Vance saying If you can't afford to donate because of the Biden economy, that's fine, take care of your family. I guess it's working for now but can it last 3+ months?

[yujisbabyy]

WE ARE FUCKED

Maybe I'm just looking into things a little bit too much.But what I've seen on TikTok and tumbler is a lot of white leftists apparently are the most morally correct people on this earth? It baffles me how many people shape their political views about Kamala Harris from seeing white people dislike her. I saw a video on TikTok of this white man telling black people! African Americans that they shouldn't vote for Kamala Harris cause she put it black people in jail?? Which is the most stupidest thing I've ever heard because I'm pretty sure her job as a prosecutor is to put people in trial. But what was crazy about that?Is that I went to the comments section and it was full of people agreeing , saying that the "BLM protest must have been for nothing because THEY want to put a cop in presidecy"

Like I must be crazy The Donald Trump gave the deaf penalty he signed off a group of black men who were falsely accused of RAPING SOMEONE The death penalty, I'm pretty sure he did that. It's actually a photo of him smiling with that same paper with him signing off. The death penalty for those 5 men and YES they were black, BUTTTT Kamala Harris is a terrible person because somebody with their own free will and their own money wanted to buy marijuana....they got caught and because it was a illegal they were put on trial for doing something illegal??

Like I don't support cops it all but I cannot hold Kamala responsible for your cousin going to jail for a marijuana position that they knew was a legal.I cannot hold her accountable because you did on your free will. AND yes kamala Here's maybe Zionist.Yes, because she, along with Joe Biden supported Israel.I don't support israel at all but I do know how to read a book and I do know how to read a article and I do understand history. I am understand that the United States has an alliance to Israel, no matter what America has the backup Israel Barack Obama, did Trump ,did even Reagan? And the best thing we can help in pray.For is the kamala pulls the u s out of this alliance that we have we israel because no other president has.

But back to the white people I then saw another video of this, so-called moral correct white man telling people of color people did look like me black.A woman fit if Kamala Harris doesn't check all of our boxes supporting palestiniabl GB.T and minority rights we can't vote her n, I AGREE. But where he got off track was that he was saying to vote third party because kamalo's just as bad as Trump.No, she isn't Kamala is the same thing.You'll talk, Joe Biden was the same thing.That you thought every other President was the LESSER EVIL! I mean, this man was trying to put morally correct compassive in presidency and I had to think when was the last time a President with a so-called morally correct compass became President. Oh yeah, I remember every President. Oh yeah, I remember Joe Biden was the same person you white people said was morally correct and HE FAILED!!! I'm not saying Kamala is the better option if we had Morocco Obama or michelle Obama up there?But I am saying this voting.Third party is giving your vote to Trump.Voting for 3rd party is like voting for a person you never seen before because they waltz up in a free Palestine and a pride flag pin and you rush to vote for them with no background info. THE SAME THING PEOPLE DID FOR BIDEN!? I'm telling you this NOW everybody that is a third party candidate for presidency you only see them every 4 years, you never see them any other time.

In paper bottle for every time you lit the so-called democratic primordially correct, white people tell you how to vote and you don't do no background research you only listen to what they say. Because those same people I scroll 2 videos up. I see their entire point getting debug. Kamala Yu thought here is a cop.She turned out to be a prosecutor whole made up that rumor??WHITE PEOPLE! At this point, it is not democratic or Republican. It is handmaid's tale or nothing. A blank slate everything that Kamala stands for is what democrats believe in. But Kamala stands for also probably some bad things. They republicans are sure ready to fire for. But it's only gonna take a white person to come app on a app with no background information of what they're talking about and just writing on full-fledged emotions you will believe them, and this is what's going to make America fall. This is what's going to make Project 2025 happen faster than it's already going, you don't read on your own. You listen to other people on the internet and you don't want to read, you don't want a Google search. A person in every comment section is saying so are WE... multiple people, they're saying they're basing THEIR vote off of other people...They're basing their vote off of what THEY think, other people think is morally correct.That is the same thing that's going to kill more palestinians.Think. Read.

If people do not take advantage of reading in the next few years because you do not read and you did not think about this one election, you're not gonna have a next election? If you vote for Trump, you're not going to have an option of Democrat or Republican. It is not fear-mongering and it's not a scare tactic. To get people to vote Democrat. It is real life now. The scare tactic was used for Biden. It's no more scary tactics. It's real life now. It is only one clear option. Do the same thing that you did for Biden, vote for Kamala because you just want to keep your rights.

[beardedmrbean]

A mother and her four children were killed in a house fire that has been deemed “suspicious” by Missouri authorities.

The fire was reported at 4:20 a.m. Monday, Feb. 19, at a home in Ferguson, a suburb of St. Louis, according to the St. Louis County Police Department.

Photos shared by the Ferguson Police Department show smoke fill the home. The smoke was visible for miles, KTVI reported.

Firefighters found the bodies of five people inside the home, police said. There were also three dogs who were found dead.

“The smoke was so bad. I tried to kick the front door,” Jerry McClure, a neighbor, told the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. “We just couldn’t wake them up.”

The victims were identified by KMOV as Bernadine “Birdie” Pruessner and her four children: 2-year-old Millie, 5-year-old Jackson and 9-year-old twin girls Ellie and Ivy.

A cause for the fire is unknown, but authorities told the Post-Dispatch and KTVI “suspicious” circumstances were involved. The investigation is ongoing.

’A tragedy for our community’

Pruessner, a former math teacher at City Academy in St. Louis, was named the Missouri Teacher of the Year in 2013 by the American Board.

More recently, she was an assistant professor at Lewis and Clark Community College in Godfrey, Illinois, according to Metro East Star. She is also a published author and the founder of a nonprofit, Root Cause Agricultural Education Group.

“Birdie was a dear colleague and friend to all. She cared so deeply about her students and about helping others,” Lewis and Clark President Ken Trzaska said in a statement, Metro East Star reported. “She brought energy and illuminated such a bright light of positivity and kindness to our campus community.”

Pruessner was nearing the completion of her doctorate degree in early childhood education, her father told the Post-Dispatch, referring to her as “brilliant.”

Dara Ashby of the Ferguson Animal Coalition called the deaths of Pruessner and her children “a tragedy for our community,” KSDK reported.

“She was a wonderful person and loved her kids, loved her family, loved her animals,” Ashby told the station. “She was just a treasure to our community. So this is a huge loss.”

’Live each day like it’s your last’

Before her Monday morning death, Pruessner spent Sunday with her children, going to a reptile show, soccer game and camping out in their living room, she said on Facebook.

“Making today one of those live each day like it’s your last kind of days,” she said.

That night, she shared a photo of her family and said she was “blessed” to be their mother. “Us against the world,” she wrote in the post.

Pruessner and her children were referred to as a “beautiful family” by one friend.

“None of this seems real, today has been really really hard. How could Birdie, Elly, Ivy, Jack and Millie be gone?” Allison Nichole Fox said in a Facebook post. “Birdie was an incredible mother and had the brightest light always surrounding her.”

[mariacallous]

China’s economy is limping back to life after President Xi Jinping’s ill-fated “zero covid” decree, but there is one big victim: the country’s efforts to tackle climate change. China’s carbon emissions recently recorded their largest annual jump and are on track to reach an all-time high. Fueled by new Chinese Communist Party (CCP) language that posits coal as the mainstay of the energy system, domestic production and consumption have ticked up. As has approval of new coal-fired power stations.

Xi’s signature “dual carbon” goals—for China to peak emissions before 2030, and to reach carbon neutrality by 2060—are not yet at risk. But that’s only because of Beijing’s preponderance for setting its climate targets so low to begin with. However, the cost of China now meeting these goals is only going up, and the room for them to do more is shrinking.

The problem is that for the CCP leadership the only thing that matters at present is ensuring a short-term economic bump. Xi’s modest annual growth target of 5 percent must be achieved at all costs. That’s why if we are to have any hope of stopping runaway climate change in time, the West needs a strategy that is as much about climate sticks as it is about carrots. It’s about time we see climate inaction on the same par as human rights abuses or even incursions to international peace and security.

By far the biggest stick available to the west is implementing new green tariffs. These tariffs would increase the cost to China of exporting carbon intensive goods such as cement, steel and aluminum to regions like the European Union where local manufacturers are already subject to strict regulations on their own pollution. For the first time, it would mean a direct hip pocket cost for climate inaction on the Chinese trade balance sheet. It would help force Chinese manufacturers to adapt to lower polluting methods.

In October, the European Union will begin implementing a “carbon border adjustment mechanism” (CBAM), due to be fully operationally in its coverage by 2026. In the United States, both Republicans and Democrats have already taken steps to prepare for a similar scheme. A bill to calculate the emissions intensity of industrial materials produced domestically was recently passed, and there is a possibility of a follow-up to the CHIPS and Science Act or a new standalone “Foreign Pollution Act” bill will put in place the cornerstone of a future scheme—though that is still some time away. In the meantime, the United States and the European Union are also negotiating a green steel deal that will be an important placeholder by individually placing some tariffs on China absent a wider scheme.

The Middle Kingdom hates the idea of green tariffs. For them, trade and climate should never be discussed in the same sentence. It’s easy to see why. Deloitte estimates China will be the most exposed market (behind Russia) to the EU’s new scheme, with €6.5 billion of trade from China affected to begin with. The United Kingdom and Canada are also considering similar schemes. Persuading others like South Korea and Japan—which already have or are implementing domestic carbon markets—to follow suit would help tighten the screws on Beijing by covering over a quarter of their export market. Just as important will be getting developing countries like South Africa (and perhaps even India over time) to also do so to avoid fragmenting the global trade environment they already complain of.

It’s crucial these countries can not only come together, but that they then stick together. When dealing with China, it is always better to move in packs. Unfortunately, Brussels has a propensity for wanting to play the good cop with China to Washington’s bad cop. For instance, a recent commitment by the EU to “better understand and address China’s concerns” with their scheme has raised eyebrows.

Diplomacy therefore still matters. It can also show the foreign policy hard heads in Beijing who continue to set the small playing field for China’s international climate agenda, that this issue is fundamental to China’s global standing and not one that cannot be geopolitically horse traded. Given his proclivity for the opposite, Wang Yi’s return as foreign minister has likely made that job harder in recent weeks.

The bottom line is the world is running out of time for dialogue alone to solve the climate crisis. In May, the World Meteorological Organization said that by 2027 we were more likely than not to breach the 1.5 degrees Celsius temperature limit, widely considered by scientists to be a climate tipping point.

Yet in the face of this, Xi is only standing firm. During a recent visit by U.S. climate envoy John Kerry, Xi defended the pace and intensity of China’s actions, which he said “should and must be” determined free of outside interference. And while the resumption of climate talks between the United States and China is a welcome step forward in the geopolitical milieu of the broader relationship, Beijing clearly feels it owes nothing more to Washington.

It’s time get tougher. For the last decade or more, the cornerstone of the West’s approach to China on climate change has simply been to encourage the country to play a part in combatting it. That has had some impact. In 2009, China was prepared to walk away from a proposed global deal in Copenhagen that posited developed and developing countries should be treated the same. But by 2014, China stood alongside the United States and put forward its own plan to reduce emissions that helped pave the way for the Paris Agreement. A shifting domestic zeitgeist as air pollution in Chinese cities, and a greater awareness of the impacts of climate change taking hold was far more consequential for changing the attitude of the CCP leadership. The west needs to help that shifting domestic sentiment along.

For its part, China would say its installed more renewable energy last year and sold more electric vehicles than the rest of the world combined. China is also on track to double its goal for installed solar and wind capacity this decade. But absent a more concerted effort by Beijing, none of this is likely to matter much. More than two-thirds of the world’s installed coal-fired power capacity will soon be in China, if over 300 mooted new plants are built. By the middle of the century, China will also overtake the United States as the world’s largest historical emitter. This will remove its bifurcated defense against responsibility that because it did not cause the issue, it has no responsibility for fixing it.

If the West can move quickly to implement new green tariffs, it won’t take us long to know if they have been effective. In 2025, China along with the rest of the world will be required to set new targets to reduce emissions for a decade ahead. For its part, the United States will be under particular pressure to take a big step up from its goal of a 50 percent to 52 percent emissions reduction by 2030, buoyed by the Inflation Reduction Act’s new measures. Having finally peaked emissions at the end of this decade, the key question for China will be whether they can put them into structural decline. If it doesn’t, the consequences will be felt by us all.