#also thinking of making a poll to vote on whether or not i should make a public list of all my plans

[flyingspicerack]

Okaaaay daydreaming time then sleeby nienie eveyone!!

[anistarrose]

Please don't tune out when you get to the non-partisan section of your ballot this November. First off, where state Supreme Court justices are elected, Republicans are trying their darndest to elect candidates who will destroy reproductive freedom, gut voting rights, and do everything in their power to give "contested" elections to Republicans. Contrast Wisconsin electing a justice in 2023 who helped rule two partisan gerrymanders unconstitutional, versus North Carolina electing a conservative majority in 2022, who upheld a racist voter ID law and a partisan gerrymander that liberal justices had previously struck down both of.

Second, local judicial offices will make infinitely more of an impact on your community than a divided state or federal legislature will. District and circuit courts, especially, are where criminalization of homelessness and poverty play out, and where electing a progressive judge with a commitment to criminal justice reform can make an immediate difference in people's lives.

It's a premier example of buying people time, and doing profound-short-term good, while we work to eventually change the system. You might not think there will be any such progressive justices running in your district, but you won't know unless you do your research. (More on "research" in a moment.)

The candidates you elect to your non-partisan city council will determine whether those laws criminalizing homelessness get passed, how many blank checks the police get to surveil and oppress, and whether lifesaving harm reduction programs, like needle exchanges and even fentanyl test strips, are legal in your municipality. Your non-partisan school board might need your vote to fend off Moms for Liberty candidates and their ilk, who want to ban every book with a queer person or acknowledgement of racism in it.

Of course, this begs the question — if these candidates are non-partisan, and often hyper-local, then how do I research them? There's so much less information and press about them, so how do I make an informed decision?

I'm not an expert, myself. But I do think/hope I have enough tips to consist of a useful conclusion to this post:

Plan ahead. If you vote in person, figure out what's on your ballot before you show up and get jumpscared by names you don't know. Find out what's on your ballot beforehand, and bring notes with you when you vote. Your city website should have a sample ballot, and if they drop the ball, go to Ballotpedia.

Ballotpedia in general, speaking of which. Candidates often answer Ballotpedia's interviews, and if you're lucky, you'll also get all the dirt on who's donating to their campaign.

Check endorsements. Usually candidates are very vocal about these on their websites. If local/state progressive leaders and a couple unions (not counting police unions lol) are endorsing a candidate, then that's not the end of my personal research process per se, but it usually speeds things up.

Check the back of the ballot. That's where non-partisan races usually bleed over to. This is the other reason why notes are helpful, because they can confirm you're not missing anything.

I've seen some misconceptions in the reblogs, so an addendum to my point about bringing notes on the candidates: I strongly suggest making those notes a physical list that you bring polling place with you. Many states do allow phones at the polling place, but several states explicitly don't — Nevada, Maryland, and Texas all ban phones, and that may not be an exhaustive list. There may also be states that allow individual city clerks to set policies.

You should also pause and think before you take a photo of your ballot, because even some states that don't ban phones still ban ballot photographs. But whether it's a photo, or just having your phone in general — in an environment as high-risk for voter suppression as the current one, you don't want even a little bit of ambiguity about your conduct. Physical notes are your friends.

[basketobread]

does anyone remember that one popcorn meme comic from like forever ago because it makes me think of these little critters... also is popcorn canon in the bg3 universe??? it should be?? if it isnt, let's pretend gale is the inventor of popcorn.

also, i did a poll a few days ago about whether or not i should free gale from the portal in this new campaign and... the people have voted yes... so i suppose gale will be making some appearances in the lunara comics now!!

[froggibus]

hello hello! froggi i have something rotting my brain and i would love to hear your thoughts on it, but by no means is this something you have to answer!

how do you think gojo satoru and nanami kento (and anyone else you'd like to include!) would feel about having someone pack lunches for them? like real, thought out, balanced lunches in nice containers and thermoses with little drinks and maybe notes

i can already see the confused first years, yuji and nobara gossiping about whether they're dating someone and megumi being weirded out gojo isnt just buying something like the rich boy he is

Sack Lunch - Satoru Gojo, Nanami Kento & Suguru Geto

Pairing(s): Satoru Gojo x gn! reader, Nanami Kento x gn! reader, Suguru Geto x gn! reader

Genre: fluff!

Word Count: 667 (Gojo's), 685 (Nanami's), 680 (Suguru's)

Summary: a day in your s/o's life when you pack a lunch for him

CW: established relationships!, jokes about dying/being widowed (Gojo's--though they are not necessarily married), lots of cutesy stuff, Gojo acts like a child

anon you are the first person ever to call me froggi (and i kinda love it omg)!! i have not answered a request/ask in a hot minute, but this one was too cute to pass up! not sure if you wanted headcanons for this or not, but i got really carried away :') hope this is what you wanted! also i really feel strongly about Gojo having a 90s lunchbox collection that he is very proud of! - also!! the Valentine's Poll is open if you guys have any ideas of what you want for our Valentine's event this year!! you can vote here - also thank you @l0serloki for helping me with writing nanami!!

Satoru Gojo:

“Satoru!” You shake your head at the man as he slinks past the kitchen.

He pops his head in, white hair falling over his eyes. “Yes?”

“Don’t forget your lunch.”

“You made me lunch?” He coos, surging forward to pinch your cheek, “you’re so cute.”

You roll your eyes. “No one should spend as much money on food as you do.” You chastise. “And I want to make sure you don’t only eat sweets today. I can’t have you dying on me at 30.”

“Pft, I’m gonna live forever!”

You shove the metallic Sailor Moon lunchbox into his hands. “Keep eating what I make you and you just might.”

“Aw, baby,” he practically sings, “look at you, trying to take care of me.”

He playfully ruffles your hair, but upon seeing your scowl, drags his hand down to your waist. He leans in and presses a sloppy, needy kiss to your lips. You stand on your toes just to kiss him back, rubbing your hands up and down his back.

He pulls away blushing, lunchbox in hand. “I’ll see you later! Love you lots!”

You wave to him as he heads out the door, “love you too!”

Even when he gets out to his car, the grin on his face doesn’t fade. He might have teased you a little, but only because he was so honoured that you even thought to pack him a lunch. The cute Sailor Moon lunch box that totally isn’t his is only the icing on the cake.

—

Nobara and Yuji stare at Gojo in disbelief. The man has his feet propped up on his desk, whistling a song as he peels a mandarin. A mandarin. The sight of their teacher eating an actual, real fruit is jarring. 

Yuji elbows Nobara gently, “has Gojo-sensei finally lost it?”

“He must have, have you ever seen him eat real food before?”

Gojo rolls his eyes behind his blindfold, popping a slice of the orange into his mouth. He listens to his first years gossip about him as he makes his way through the lunch you packed. You really outdid yourself with this one, he has to admit.

It’s all of the foods he likes, cutely displayed in pink containers that match the glittery exterior of the lunch box. You even packed him strawberry mochi, homemade and neatly bundled. There’s a note in there, too.

Please eat all your fruits and veggies, I don’t want to be a widow. 

Lots of love!

Y/n

Gojo stifles his laughter at your note, but he can’t stop the flush that creeps up to his blindfold. Not only did you pack him a lunch, you wrote him a note. He can’t wait to come home to you and tell you how much he loves you.

It’s when Gojo gets up to use the bathroom that Yuji makes a mad dash to peek in his lunch box. “Sailor Moon?!”

Nobara leaps to her feet, joining Itadori at the desk. “There’s a note, look.”

Fushiguro sits at his desk, softly chewing on the sandwich that you also made for him this morning. He shakes his head at his nosy peers, wondering why they care so much about their ridiculous teacher’s life.

“From y/n?!” They cry out in unison.

“Did he steal this from someone?!” Nobara exclaims.

“Did he do something to y/n’s boyfriend?!”

The pair share their conspiracies on just how Gojo ended up with a homemade lunch and a handwritten note from you, oblivious to the way Megumi snickers at them in the back. 

Finally, he can’t take it anymore. “They’re together.”

Their eyes practically pop out. “They are?!”

“Yep,” Gojo leans against the door to the classroom, smirking at his students.

“And it’s…like that?” Yuji asks quietly.

“It’s like that.” Gojo raises his eyebrows for emphasis.

All three First Years cringe, groans filling the room. Gojo smiles proudly though, already figuring out how he’s going to tell this story to you when he comes home to you.

-

Kento Nanami:

Nanami’s cheeks tinge pink as he makes his way to the door and sees you standing there. There’s a massive grin on your face and you’re holding a grey lunchbox in one hand and a coffee thermos in the other. Despite this being an everyday occurance, Nanami still isn’t used to it.

“I packed your lunch.”

He leans in and presses a soft kiss to your lips, grabbing the items from your hands. He sets them on the small table just next to the door to free up his hands before immediately wrapping them around your waist. He caresses your sides gently, almost as gently as he kisses you—trying to show all his gratitude and love for you with a single gesture. 

You’re flustered when he pulls away, straightening out your clothes while you find your breath once more. You watch Nanami as he grabs his lunch and coffee from the table and pulls his keys out of his pocket, clicking open the lock on the front door.

“Oh!” You call to him just before he steps out. “There’s some extra snacks in there, just in case Yuji wants them!”

His dark eyes fill with admiration, his face falling into that soft look he saves for those closest to him. “You really are the greatest.”

You giggle, “I love you.”

“I love you too,” he says. “Have a great day today, dear.”

“I will!” You wave at him from the door as he walks to his car. “Oh! And please don’t forget the cutlery at work again!”

“Will do!” His words are punctuated by the closing of his car door followed by the roar of the engine.

You shut the door but the grin doesn’t fall from your face. These mornings are always a highlight for you.

—

Nanami is exhausted by the time he makes it to his lunch hour. Him and Yuji had been running around all afternoon chasing some low grade curse. The second his watch beeped to indicate lunch time, Nanami was already headed to the crosswalk to head to the park across the street, Itadori in tow.

It’s a beautiful day out, the warm sun heating the wood of the park bench just enough to keep it comfortable. He has his most recent novel open on his lap, his lunchbox on the seat next to him. Yuji sits on the other side of his lunch, happily snacking on the extra things you packed for him.

“Y/n really is the best, Nanamin.” He says through a mouthful of food, “packing you all these snacks and keeping you healthy.”

Nanami offers the boy a half grin, though he’s tempted to remind him of his table manners and how rude it is to talk with food in his mouth. He takes a sip of the coffee in his thermos—still warm from this morning—and relaxes farther into the bench. You always make it just the way he likes it, no sugar and hardly any cream. 

He reaches a hand into his lunchbox to grab the small container of carrot slices when his fingers graze something else. He closes his novel and leans over to examine the paper he’s just grabbed.

Hope you’re having a great lunch today, honey. Made with love

To the moon and back,

Y/n

He tries to hide his widening grin and reddening cheeks by pretending to cough into his arm, but only succeeds in drawing more attention to his flustered state. 

“Are you okay?”

Nanami nods, catching his breath from his fake cough. The heat starts to fade from his face. He pulls his head out of his elbow and turns to address the boy, only for his eyes to widen in horror as he realizes the First Year is clutching the note that was just in his hand.

“Woah,” Yuji’s eyes widen. “It’s like that? You really are lucky, Nanamin.”

Nanami breathes a sigh of relief, glad it was Yuji that found the note and not Nobara or Gojo. Had they found it, he would never hear the end of it.

“Yeah,” he agrees. “I am lucky.”

-

Suguru Geto:

Suguru is shocked when he sees you waiting for him by the door with a small, black bag in your hand. He tilts his head at you when your eyes meet his, as if asking you what you’re doing.

“I threw together a couple of things,” you explain. “For lunch.”

He’s never been cared for like this, never had anyone to pack him a lunch. A million thoughts cross his mind. Thank you, you’re the best, how’d I get so lucky? Of course, none of that comes out.

Instead, he utters a simple, “...why?”

He cringes at the sound of his own voice, bracing himself for you to be disappointed. Luckily, you don’t offend easily and your smile never wavers.

“Well, you were complaining about Satoru only ever wanting to go to sweet shops—and that you were sick of eating lunch alone, so…”

You look down to his hands, suddenly too embarrassed to face him. It felt like a great idea at the moment, but the longer Geto looks at you, the dorkier the idea feels.

Geto closes the gap between you, grabbing your hand from under the lunch box handle. “Thank you,” he mumbles against your lips, tugging you closer so he can taste you better.

Relief floods through you at his words of gratitude. You lean into the kiss, relishing in the way he feels against you.

“I really do love you, you know?” He says softly when he pulls away, the bag now hanging from his hand.

“I know.”

He looks at you expectantly, giving you the same look he does when you’re acting like a dork or giving him attitude.

“I love you too, Suguru. Now get going! I don’t want you to be late.”

He offers you a small wave before he heads out the door, wondering exactly how he’ll return the favor when he gets home.

—

Satoru stares at Suguru from across the table in the teachers lounge. Even with the blindfold on, Geto can tell the man is eyeing the food he has spread out in front of him.

Gojo raises a finger, about to open his mouth.

“Not a word, Satoru.”

His best friend chuckles, dropping his hands in surrender, and goes back to eating his pastries out of a cute pink box. Geto goes back to his own lunch. Though you claimed you just ‘threw together a few things’, he knows that’s far from the truth.

It must have taken you an hour to prepare it all, at minimum. Not only did you make his favorite meal, but you also packed him steamed, honey coated carrots, a slice of homemade banana bread, and a small thermos of his favorite roasted rice tea.

He pops open the lid of the thermos to smell it, the familiar toasty aroma filling his senses. It smells like home—like the nights where he can’t sleep and you bring him a cup of it mixed with sweet honey.

“What’s this?” Satoru snatches the lid from the desk, flipping it upside down and letting a small piece of stationary fall out.

Suguru groans, reaching desperately across the desk for the lid, only for Satoru’s jaw to fall open. He lets the paper float back down to the desk.

“What?” He demands.

Gojo offers him a teasing grin. “Y/n and Suguru, sitting in a tree….”

Geto scowls and grabs the note before Gojo can pick it up and tease him more. Any annoyance he was feeling at the fellow special grade fades away when he sees your handwriting scrawled across the paper.

Hope Satoru doesn’t give you too much trouble today. I love you so much, can’t wait to hear about your day when you get back

All the stars in the sky,

Y/n

Satoru must not see the way Suguru’s cheeks redden at the sight of the note—or if he does, he doesn’t say anything about it. Though he teases, he couldn’t be any happier for his friend as he watches him read the words on the note over and over, a growing smile on his face.

-

masterlist | jjk masterlist

[gammija]

[CECIL]: "So, as we move into the final hours of the competition, vote! Whether it's for your favorite, local, Night Vale community radio host or some... pile of bones, don't let your voice go unheard.

Also... Well, this might be a little bit outside the rules, but you could even make a second account to show a little more support for whoever you think should win. You probably won't get caught. As City Council declared in a recent press release, "Voter fraud doesn't exist."

"There is no such thing as voter fraud," City Council said last Wednesday, their many mouths moving as one. "No one can vote more than once. We certainly can't. Ha, ha." Some of their feet shuffled. "We definitely did NOT commit voter fraud by using the recently developed cloning technology to make copies of ourselves, force them to vote for us, then bus them into the Whispering Forest where we threw them out. That. Never. Happened," they added emphatically.

Immediately after the press conference they disbanded the City Council's, 'Night Vale committee for Fair Elections', by eating them."

[A door creaks.]

[CECIL]: "Listeners, someone has just entered my studio.

Uhm, excuse me! You're not allowed to be in here!

It looks like it's a small man, with a smoothly bald head, and dark empty eyes...

Oh no. They're sockets. This must be him, this 'Snas' the skeleton. He's coming to defend his title...

Listeners, as I prepare myself for what will surely be a fight to the death, seeing who takes who out first, I take you... To the weather."

[CECIL]: "Welcome back. I know you're all dying to know whether I won the Tumblr sexyman poll, and if I defeated the small skeleton. Well...

I was all ready to fight, getting into a stance, when the skeleton held up his hands. He said that he didn't want to fight, and that he'd come here to concede and hand me the title.

I'll admit, I was a bit taken aback by this at first. Of course, I had to protest. Wouldn't that be unfair to the few people who voted for him, I asked?

But he explained that, since he already won last year, he wasn't really looking forward to all the attention and hassle from winning a second time. And seeing as it apparently meant a lot to me, he'd rather just let me win than miss his wedding.

Yeah, apparently he's about to be wed to someone named Komaeda in a few days? Good for him.

Dear listeners, after his heartfelt plee, I felt I had no choice but to accept the win.

Which means I am now, officially, Tumblr sexyman of 2023. Yay!

Stay tuned next for muffled sounds of celebration, overheard from a neighbour's house nearby.

Good night, Night Vale. Good night."

[tdvotes]

Welcome to Total! Drama! Tumblr!!!!!!

Now that we've wrapped up our analysis on every vote in the canon Total Drama series, it's time to mix it up a little.

This will be something of a crossbreed between Total Drama, The Ridonculous Race, and the Tumblr tournaments that have been so popular recently. Here are the rules:

All 100 contestants from Total Drama and the Ridonculous Race will compete.

Because of this, there will be no submission phase. Instead, there will be a "team building" phase. Click on the form below to submit two or more characters who you think should be on the same team. You can also submit a team name if you like. Once we've received enough submissions, I will put together the teams based on the information received. Please submit as many teams as you want.

The characters will initially be split into 10 teams with 10 players on each team.

I will call each player by their in game name. That means, for example, Mildred Stacey Andrews O'Halloran will be called Blaineley, and Valentina Escobar will be called MacArthur. While this rule applies to me, you can call the characters any name you want.

We will probably put each pair of Ridonculous Race partners on the same team, as well as Katie and Sadie, Amy and Samey, and Wayne and Raj.

A typical episode will be split into 3 polls, each of which will last a day:

On day 1, a challenge poll will pit all the teams against each other. Vote for the team you want to WIN the challenge.

On day 2, a campfire poll will pit the members of the LOSING team against each other. Vote for the player you want to ELIMINATE.

And on day 3, a final poll will pit the two players with the MOST votes against each other. Again, vote for the player you want to ELIMINATE.

The player who loses that poll will be eliminated and have their total stats revealed, both for the canon series and for our game. The stats will include how many votes they received vs how many votes they mathematically could have received, how many elimination ceremonies they went to, how many times they won invincibility, and more.

Teams that won the challenge may or may not receive an extra vote or two in the next challenge.

(Obviously, since the polls last 24 hours each, and I need time in between polls to tally the results, and my schedule will not always align with the time the poll expires, each episode will last slightly longer than 3 days.)

Feel free to submit roleplay, propaganda for or against a certain player or team, or virtually anything else you wish. You can also use DMs as a confessional, either as yourself or as a character.

Language: if it's allowed on the Canadian version of Total Drama, it's allowed here. (For those unfamiliar, they do allow phrases like "arts and crap center", "I'm gonna frickin die", "It's beef testicle bourginion", and "The Sucky Outdoors", but they bleep out other swear words. As another example, Lindsay's rant against Heather is entirely bleeped out in the Canadian version, whereas in the American version it is replaced with a load of PG insults.)

I may introduce game elements that happened or were mentioned in the real show, including but not limited to non-elimination / double elimination rounds, tiebreaker polls, returning players, immunity idols, team swaps, merging teams or eliminating an entire team if a certain team becomes too small, etc. Depends on how the game goes.

While I reserve the right to run the tournament however I want, here are the rules on tied polls:

If a challenge poll is tied for last, the tied teams will either battle it out in a tiebreaker poll, or have an elimination ceremony for each, or have a combined elimination ceremony, depending how I'm feeling that day and how many players are left on each team.

If a campfire poll is tied for first or second, the tied campers will all compete for the final marshmallows.

If a final marshmallow poll is tied, it is at my discretion whether to make it a double elimination, non-elimination, or tiebreaker.

With all that out of the way, the team building form is linked below:

Again, please submit as many teams as you want!

Signal boosting all the tournament blogs I know below the cut!

@tournament-announcer @mysterycharacterbracket @sea-creature-tournaments @freaky-fellers-tourney @guess-that-ship @doofenshmirtzjingletourney @yall-hate-kids-tourney @mystery-classic-lit-bracket @halloweensongbracket @badlysummedupmoviestournament @trioswag-competition @ferbracket @whosthatcharacter-bracket @cartoon-character-competition @blueboybracket @girlgeniusbracket @tmblrsfavshow @autisticgirliesbracket @weird-al-song-tourney @super-shapeshifter-showdown @died-but-not-dead-tournament @siblingshowdown @disneyvillainbracket @dwampyverse-tournaments @best-green-character @orangecharactersmackdown @battle-of-the-dads

[qqueenofhades]

I just read an article on The Conversation that states: "Today, most data has Trump narrowly beating Biden in the national popular vote, albeit within the statistical margin of error." (Source for that data: https://projects.fivethirtyeight.com/polls/president-general/)

In your opinion, is that true? How can that be possible after everything Trump has done? After the Insurrection? I'm terrified 😕

(For reference, the original article can be found at https://theconversation.com/five-reasons-why-trumps-republican-opponents-were-never-going-to-beat-him-223288?utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=The%20Weekend%20Conversation%20-%202888329325&utm_content=The%20Weekend%20Conversation%20-%202888329325+CID_fceedfd21410eb8a7b6fd6e1124d9d54&utm_source=campaign_monitor_uk&utm_term=five%20reasons)

Short answer: no, I don't think it's true.

Long answer: no, I really don't think it's true. Here's why.

Broader context. A Republican has won the popular presidential vote only twice in the 21st century, and in the first of those occasions -- 2000 -- I use "won" very advisedly. We all know, or at least we should, about all the fuckery that went down in Florida with Bush vs. Gore and SCOTUS stepping in to stop the recount (which almost surely would have gone to Gore) and handing Florida, and thus the presidency, to George Dubya Bush by a mere 537 votes. Dubya then did win re-election and the popular vote/EC in 2004, in the throes of patriotic war fervor and the GOP's Swiftboating of John Kerry (who was a pretty terrible candidate to start with). Other than that? None. Zip. Nada. None. Even in 2016 when Trump squeaked out a win (and thus the presidency) in the Electoral College, he lost nationwide to HRC by over 3 million votes. He lost to Biden by 7 million votes nationwide last time. Also, the reason the GOP loves the antidemocratic Electoral College is that it always works in their favor, and because red states with relatively scant population are given the same power in the Senate. That's why California, with 40+ million people, gets two (Democratic) senators, and Wyoming, with 400,000 people, gets two (Republican) senators. There is just no way that red states can get the actual raw numbers to win the popular vote against heavily blue urban population centers. The only one that comes close is Texas, and while it's something of a white whale for Democrats who think fondly that it'll surely turn blue this election cycle (and then it doesn't), it's not giving all its votes popular-vote-wise to Republicans. So yeah. The numbers aren't there. Biden is about 99% certain to win the popular vote, but because this is America, the question is whether the EC will follow.

(Although, I gotta say. In the deeply unlikely event that Biden loses the popular vote but wins the Electoral College -- i.e. the exact same thing Trump did in 2016 -- the right wing would lose their fucking minds and it would be incredibly hilarious. Also, we might finally get some red states willing to sign up to the National Popular Vote Compact, which is just a few ratifications away from going into effect. As noted, the Republicans will cling onto the Electoral College with their last dying breath because it's the only thing that makes them competitive in nationwide elections. If it fucked Trump, they might finally listen to ideas about changing it.)

The media are incredibly biased, and so is Nate Silver. Silver first rose to prominence as an independent geeky Data Guy elections whiz-kid, and was relatively good at being unbiased. That is not the case anymore. He's now affiliated with the New York Times and has started echoing the smugly anti-Biden framework of both that paper and the mainstream media in general. I'm not necessarily saying his data is total bunk, but he's extremely eager to frame, narrate, and explain it in ways that artificially disadvantage Biden (in the same way the NYT itself is all in on "BUT HIS AGEEEEE," just as they were with "BUT HER EEEEEEMAILS" in 2016) And that's a problem, because:

The polls are shit. Like, really, really shit. Didn't we just go through this in 2022, where everyone howled about how All The Data pointed to a Red Wave and then were /shocked pikachu face when this was nothing more than a Red Dribble of Piss (and frankly, the best midterm election result for the ruling party since like, the 1930s?) We've also had major, real-time proof that the polls are showing a consistent pro-Trump bias of 10 or more points, which is a huge error and keeps getting corrected whenever people actually vote, but the media will never admit that, because TRUMP IS WINNING WE ARE ALL DOOMZED!! We heard about how Biden might lose New Hampshire because he wasn't even on the ballot and that would be a critical embarrassment for him. He cruised easily with 68% (all write-in votes and FAR more than any other Democratic "candidate.") Meanwhile, Trump won New Hampshire by about 15% under what the polls had predicted for him (after doing the same and barely squeaking over 50% in Iowa, one of the whitest, most rural, most Trump-loving states in the nation). The number ballparked for Biden in the NV Democratic primary was something like 75%; he got over 90% (and twice as many votes as any candidate in the Republican Primary/Caucus/Whatever That Mess Was). The number for what he was supposed to get in the SC primary was in the high 60% (driven by the media's other favorite "Black voters are abandoning Biden" canard); he absolutely crushed it at 97% statewide. When Biden is winning by whopping margins and Trump is underperforming badly, in both cases by gaps of ten percent or more, it means the polls are simply not showing us an accurate state of the race. This could be because of media bias, bad data, selective polling, inability to actually connect with voters (especially young voters, who are about as likely to eat a live scorpion as to pick up an unsolicited phone call from an unknown number). This also shows up in:

Special elections. We've heard tons of Very Smart Punditry (derogatory) about how Democrats kicking ass in pretty much every competitive election since Roe was overturned in 2022 totally means nothing for the general election. (Of course, if the situation was reversed and Republicans were cleaning up at the same rate, we would be hearing nothing except how we're all destined for Eternal Trumpocracy... wait. no... we're still only hearing this. Weird.) In the last special election in early February, Democrat Tom Suozzi won back his old U.S House seat (NY-03) by over eight points, after polls had given him at most a two- or three-point edge. (Funnily, once again a Democrat did far better than the media is determined to insist, so Politico hilariously called a thumping eight-point win "edging it out.") This represents almost a 16-point blue swing from even just 2022, when The Congressman Possibly Known as George Santos won it by 7 points. On that same night, a Democratic candidate in a Trump +26 district in deep, deep red Oklahoma only lost by 5 points, marking another massive pro-blue swing. This has been the case in every special election since Roe went down. Apparently blah blah This Won't Translate to the General Election, because the media is very smart. Even when Democrats (historically hard to motivate and muster in off-year election cycles, or you know in general) are turning up in elections that don't involve Trump to punish terrible Trumpist policies, we're supposed to think they won't be motivated to actually vote against the guy himself? And not just them, because:

Trump is a terrible candidate. Which we know, and have always known, but now it's really true. We've had up to half of Haley voters stating they will vote for Biden over Trump if that is the November matchup (which it will be). Haley, amusingly, actually outraised Trump in January, because it turns out that the Trump Crime Family's open promise to send every single donor or RNC dollar to pay El Trumpo's legal fees hasn't been a terribly effective message. We had Republicans in NY-03 telling CNN that they voted for the Democrat Suozzi because they're so fed up with the GOP clown show in the House and don't think Republicans can govern (which uh. Yeah. Welcome to reality, we all knew that ages ago too). We have had up to a third of Republican voters saying they won't vote for Trump if he's convicted of a felony before the election (and technically he already has been, but we're still hoping for the January 6 trial to go ahead). Now, yes, Republicans are a notoriously cliquey bunch and might change their minds, but for all the endless bullshit BIDEN SHOULD STEP DOWN BECAUSE DEMOCRATS ARE DISUNITED narrative the media has been pushing like their kidnapped grandmothers' lives depend on it, Democrats aren't actually disunited at all. Instead, Trump is in chaos, the GOP is in chaos, sizeable chunks of Republican voters are ready to vote for someone else and in some cases have already done so, and yet, do we hear a peep about how Trump should step down? Nah. In related news, did you hear that Biden is old?!?! Why isn't anyone writing about this?!?!

Now, I want to make it clear: Trump's chances of winning are not zero, and they are not inconsiderable. We need to face that fact and deal with it accordingly. Large chunks of the country are still willing to vote for white Christian nationalist fascism. Trump still has plenty of diehard cultists and the entire establishment Republican party in his pocket, and it's been made very clear that Putin is bringing the full force of his malevolent Russian fascist machine to bear on this election as well. Case in point: we spent four years hearing about HUNTER BIDEN HUNTER BIDEN SECRET CORRUPTION GIANT SECRET BUSINESS SCANDAL, and it turns out that the GOP's "star informant" has been actively working with Russian spies the whole time and fed them complete bullshit disinformation, which they were eager to repeat so long as it might hurt Joe Biden. (And it would hurt Ukraine, so, twofer! I cannot emphasize enough how much it was all a deliberate collaboration by some of the worst people on earth.)

In 2016, people naively assumed that Trump could never win, and so they were especially willing to throw away, spoil, or otherwise not exercise their vote, or throw purity hissy fits over HRC (likewise fed at the toxic teat of Russian disinformation). That was exactly what allowed Trump to squeak out a win in the EC and put us in the mess we are currently in. If people act in the same way in 2024 that they did in 2016, Trump's chances of winning are drastically increased. So once again, as I keep saying, it's up to us. If we all vote blue, and we get our networks to vote blue, Biden is very likely to win. If we don't, he won't, and Trump will win. It's that simple. We had better decide what we're doing. The end.

[readyandnot]

WHY I AM HUXLEY’S NO. 1 FAN

{ a ready rambles special! }

credit to the lovely @milogreer once again this is amazing :)) and Morgan for getting it for me!

1: I am Huxley’s No. 1 Fan

2: I am a certified Huxley Simp 🪪

3: All jokes aside, Huxley has and will continue to remain my favorite out of all the characters in the Redactedverse. From the moment I listened to his first audio (meeting FL) I fell in love IMMEDIATELY. I’ve never seen a himbo so perfectly portrayed in a character as Huxley and he’s made me love them even more (him especially of course).

4: Even with Huxley dating Damien instead of FL, he continues to remain my favorite character because he is so much more to me than a romance option. He is is own person with flaws and perfections. He is so emotionally intelligent, physically and mentally strong (even in the dark moments), and so sweet to everyone. He is also so protective of his friends (saw that in Inversion) and supportive it’s so heartwarming.

5: I also still love him when he’s dating Damien because it’s brought out a new side of him and Dami that I absolutely LOVE. They’re so perfect together it makes me so happy for them both even though they were potential romance options for FL.

6: I payed for the Patreon and the FIRST THING I DID was listen to his BA… (it’s so good like wow)

7: I have written so much about Huxley with my FL, and Morgan can vouch on how often I think of and write Huxley whenever we write our FL’s. He’s the first one I think of with my FL in every single AU we do together.

8: I have made numerous thumbnails involving Huxley and have had thumbnails made for me by the fabulously talented Morgan on multiple occasions with Huxley!

9: I have posted on numerous occasions (whether my own post or on someone else’s) about my love for Huxley!

10: I have voted for Huxley in every poll that involved him :))

11: For most of the time, I call Huxley by his full name because it’s such a beautiful name and deserves to be said fully (Hux is a cute nickname though don’t get me wrong!)

12: I have a Pinterest board SPECIFICALLY for Huxley 💚

13: Huxley in my opinion is the underrated one of the DAMN group, and he is so sweet it makes me sad sometimes! He is the balance of everyone in the group: The sweet to Dami, the gentle to Lasko, the ease to Freelancer and the fun to Gavin! It makes me smile seeing him interact with everyone and I love him so much with the group because it’s so nice seeing him be himself after so many years of not!

14: The first commission I ever asked and received was one of Huxley and my FL :))

credit to @sri-rachaa for this beautiful masterpiece you made quite a long while ago!!!

15: I am Huxley’s Sunflower :))

N E WAY

These are fifteen reasons why I believe you should vote for me as Huxley’s biggest fan! Blunt and explained points and it would mean so much to my fictional and irl heart if awarded :))

Even to be nominated is awesome and I sincerely wish the best of luck to the other nominees and the other categories!

Good luck @morgansplace with Lasko, you got my vote :))

@plaqying Thanks for letting me be a nominee!

Sincerely,

[shrink-or-grow]

WELCOME TO THE BLOG!!! TAKE A SIZE RAY AND HAVE A SEAT.

This is a blog for making polls about giant/tiny size headcanons about characters from all kinds of different media, run by me, the one-and-only @tiny-brain. Yeah, you've probably (never) heard of me. I (don't) get around.

Each poll will be about a different character from a different piece of media, determining whether they should shrink, grow, or if they'd work better as a full-on sizeshifter!

I'm going to try to make this a daily thing, but don't be surprised if I disappear or forget to post some days. Basically just check back whenever and see if there's a new poll or not. I'll try not to keep you all waiting too long if I do go missing.

There's also a chance I'll hand this blog off to someone else in the future, cause while I obviously wanna stick around for as long as I can, I DO NOT want to be doing this forever. I might be willing to come back on occasion though, so who knows?

ANYWAY ON TO THE MOST IMPORTANT PART: DA RULES!!!

ALL CHARACTERS MUST BE SUGGESTED VIA ASKS! If you have questions about a character you are submitting please DM me through my main blog, @tiny-brain.

Characters can come from almost anything (movies, TV, video games, web series, comics, novels, etc), and be almost anything (even inanimate objects or memes/jokes).

This blog is SFW only. PLEASE DO NOT SUGGEST CHARACTERS WITH OVERLY SEXUAL/NSFW CONNOTATIONS BEHIND THEM (Or if they come from something intentionally meant to be NSFW) NSFW blogs, please DNI.

DO NOT Suggest characters associated with problematic real-life individuals/organizations. I will not tolerate any racism, sexism, homophobia, transphobia, hatred for religious or ethnic groups, or any other prejudice of any kind. This blog is meant to be a safe space for everyone. If you are not willing to tolerate others because of their differences, do not interact with me or follow me.

I also reserve the right to refuse to do a poll on a character if I don't want to do one for them. You can DM me on my main account to argue your case for them, and I will explain my own reasoning, but if I still refuse, please do not continue to bug me about it.

Your OCs are wonderful and I love them all, but chances are they're already big and/or small, if you're the kind of people I think you are (cause who else would follow a blog like this?). Suggesting them for this poll would be kind of redundant, wouldn't it? If you want to submit an OC that's not already size-related though, that's fair game, just be sure to provide me with art/images of them to use in the poll header.

Please make sure to be kind and considerate to others! This isn't a competition, so if more people vote for a character to be a different size than what you thought they should be, don't be a jerk about it. We've all got our own headcanons, and if you want Reigan to be a smol little guy in your AU fanfic, nobody's stopping ya. In fact, tell people about it! I'm sure they'll love your ideas, even if they chose to vote differently.

AGTHMP I ALMOST FORGOR THIS RULE AM SORRYYY Basically, please only submit one character per ask. That means no groups for now, sorry. I'd like for each individual character to have their own poll before we start messing with both them and all their friends together as a unit. Sorry!

And that should do it! Now start suggesting characters! I can't wait to get this started. I put off doing homework for this!

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Oriana González at NOTUS:

Democrats thought having abortion rights on the ballot would put Republicans on the defensive, supercharge turnout and deliver victories like the ones they saw in 2022 after Roe v. Wade was overturned. Instead, Tuesday’s election results are empowering Republicans and anti-abortion activists to lean harder into an anti-abortion platform than they ever have before. Over the course of the campaign, Republicans repeatedly attempted to change their messaging: saying abortion is a state issue, trying to make a “pro-family” message and avoid talk of bans, claiming that there shouldn’t be a united GOP message, arguing that a personhood bill is not an abortion ban, focusing all of their reproductive health messaging on IVF and even borrowing terminology from the abortion rights movement.

But advocates hope that the election results empower Republicans. If the GOP gains control of the House, they’ll have a trifecta in Washington. It’s unclear exactly what would get through Congress, given the 60-vote threshold for legislation in the Senate and a likely narrow majority in the House, but the days of Republicans shying away from talking about abortion seem over. It’s unclear whether anti-abortion legislation would move up higher under the legislative priority, Speaker Mike Johnson’s office did not return a request for comment, but for longtime allies of the anti-abortion movement in Congress, they are happy their colleagues will be able to speak out more forcefully. GOP Rep. Mike Kelly, who has introduced a bill to federally ban abortion after six weeks of pregnancy multiple times, told NOTUS that it is “absolutely” time for Republicans to be louder about their anti-abortion beliefs. “I don’t believe you should let a political, what some people think is a political advantage, be that way,” Kelly, who is not in a competitive district, said. “I am always going to vote for life.”

[...]

Data shows that abortion was not top of mind for most voters. Only 25% of voters said that abortion was the most important factor to their vote, with larger shares saying their biggest issues were the border (29%), free speech (31%), inflation (40%) and the future of democracy (50%), according to a KFF analysis of an Associated Press survey that polled over 115,000 voters nationally conducted between Oct. 28 and when the polls closed on Tuesday. Those numbers were even lower with independent voters, with 21% saying it was their most important issue. Democrats had hoped that abortion rights support would rally undecided voters to their side. Trump managed to neutralize the issue during the campaign. His most consistent abortion message this cycle was that it is up to the states, and Democratic strategists previously admitted to NOTUS that the president-elect’s messaging may have worked. At the same time, Trump managed to keep the anti-abortion movement in his corner, with groups like Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America and Students for Life — both want to see a federal ban enacted — saying they made unprecedented investments in voter outreach efforts to turn people away from Kamala Harris.

[...] Anti-abortion advocates saw their biggest wins in years on Tuesday. Measures to protect abortion rights — in Florida, Nebraska and South Dakota — failed for the first time since the Dobbs decision. Nebraska also became the first state to have an anti-abortion measure win at the ballot box since then.

“If the playing field is evened by pro-life elected officials fighting back, life wins. Abortion activists’ lies do not prevail when Republicans devote money and messaging to the truth,” said Marjorie Dannenfelser, president of Susan B. Anthony Pro-Life America. She said Republicans should follow Gov. Ron DeSantis’ example, saying that he “did not back down” and “traveled across the state” to speak with voters about his opposition to Florida’s abortion rights initiative (although most Florida voters supported the measure). She also thanked Sen. Pete Ricketts, who backed Nebraska’s anti-abortion measure, and Rep. Dusty Johnson in South Dakota, who “ran ads and sent mailers” to voters saying the abortion rights referendum went too far.

Abortion rights measures largely passed on Tuesday Night in several states; however, Donald Trump’s win, the GOP flipping the Senate, and the House likely narrowly staying GOP has emboldened anti-abortion activists.

[forsetti]

On Pres. Biden: Sadness, Anger, Counterfactuals, And Motivation

Right up front, I want to say that Kamala Harris was my first choice to be the presidential nominee in 2020. Joe Biden was way down my list of preferred candidates. It wasn’t that I didn’t like Joe or respect him, I just didn’t think he had it in him to be the candidate for change the country needed. Boy, I was wrong. He outperformed every expectation, and then some. His record over the past three and a half years is something any president would be thrilled to have as their legacy.

It is this legacy that makes me both sad and angry he decided not to continue to run for reelection.

I am sad because I cannot imagine how difficult this decision was for him to make. He has dedicated a half-century of his life to serving his country and was responsible for the greatest economic boom in America over the past fifty years.

I’m angry because he deserved better.

He deserved better from the media that opted not to discuss his accomplishments but instead focus on bullshit claims from the right about Hunter, the border, the economy, his mental state…

He absolutely deserved better from the left who, at the first sign of negative press, turned on him like a pack of rabid dogs. Whatever happens in Nov., I will NEVER forgive the Dems who dog-piled on Pres. Biden because a bunch of donors panicked and some well-funded, right-wing pushed polls showed Biden in trouble in some key states. (I can tell you as a matter of fact there is no way in hell he was trailing Trump in Michigan.)

As someone who has gone through what he has in his life, who was the proud Vice President to the first black president in history, who put the first black woman on his winning ticket, who appointed the most minorities to high-ranking posts and judgeships, who had his only surviving son publicly dragged and attacked by the right, who transformed the country’s economic model away from top down to middle out, he absolutely fucking deserved better.

While it is true Pres. Biden deserved better, it is also true, that he really had no choice but to step down from running for reelection. There were just too many forces outside his control pushing the narrative and it was affecting voter enthusiasm. He might have weathered the storm of bullshit had every Dem rallied to his defense but they didn’t for a multitude of spineless reasons.

No matter what happens in Nov., I am pretty sure the wrong lessons will be learned by the ones who helped push him out. Whether VP Harris wins or loses, the media will pat themselves on their backs because they were losing money on the Biden v Trump matchup. The chaos of Biden stepping down and the opportunity to come up with whole new lines of attacks against VP Harris is going to boost ratings, regardless of the election’s outcome.

The far-left, mostly white dudebro talking heads, pundits, and podcasters who pushed the hardest for Biden to step down won’t learn a lesson because if VP Harris wins, they will claim it was because of their efforts to get Biden off the ticket. If she loses, they will claim it was because Biden didn’t step down soon enough or because she really wasn’t who they wanted to replace Biden (Hint-she absolutely is not who they want to run.)

The media and the far-left are also the ones pushing for the Democratic Party to not go with VP Harris but instead have an open convention. There is no good reason to do this. The Biden/Harris ticket not only beat Trump in 2020 but 14 million people voted for this ticket in the 2024 primaries. The student body president at Bugtussle High got more votes cast for them than the second-place person in the Democratic Primaries. Dems wanted Biden/Harris. Not that the top of that ticket has stepped down, but that doesn’t mean Dean Phillips, RFK Jr., Marianne Williamson or the fifth-place finisher at the Nathan’s Hot Dog eating contest should be given a second look.

A contested convention would serve only two purposes: 1-created chaos which the media would gobble up like the attention whores they are; 2-allow the misogynist dudebros on the left to bypass VP Harris because that has always been their real purpose of getting Biden to step down.

Here’s the thing, no one knows what would have happened had Pres. Biden stayed in the race. No one. Not the pollsters. Not the pundits. Not the media. No-fucking-one.

Three weeks before the 2012 Presidential Election, Mitt Romney was polling 2 points ahead of Pres. Obama in the nationwide polls. How’d that turn out? Polls used to be fairly accurate but once people figured out they can manipulate and rig polls to suppress voter enthusiasm, they really aren’t that reliable.

The real problem is, any hot take about what would have/wouldn’t have happened if Biden had stayed in the race or stepped down sooner or whether there was an open contest at the Democratic convention relies on a counterfactual.

Counterfactuals are conditional sentences that discuss what would have been true under different circumstances. For example, “If Draymond Green had not been suspended for game five of the 2016 NBA Finals, the Golden State Warriors would have won the title.” Or, to stay with politics, “If Bernie Sanders had been the nominee in 2016, he would have beaten Trump.” Maybe. Maybe not. Just because you believe a counterfactual does not make it true.

The problem with counterfactuals is NOTHING counts against them. There is no way to swap out the conditions and replay the scenario. Counterfactuals are nothing more than guesses disguised as factual statements.

The Media and Left-Wing Dudebros LOVE counterfactuals because they allow them to NEVER be wrong. No matter what they proclaim would have happened, there is no way to prove them wrong. What they don’t say is, there is no way they can prove their claim(s) would have turned out true.

With this being said, through all the sadness and all the anger, I’m politically motivated more than I’ve been in years. I want Kamala Harris to be the next president not only because I believe she will do a tremendous job but I want her, and everything she is and what she stands for, to be a daily reminder of what America is supposed to be. I want her ethnicity to be a thorn in the side of every racist and bigot. I want her gender to annoy every misogynist. I want her example to be a ray of hope for everyone who feels marginalized. I want a Black/Asian woman to be the one defending America against the fascism, totalitarianism, and authoritarianism of the right.

The key to everything is if Democrats can maintain the enthusiasm, unity, and motivation they currently enjoy. These are going to be put to the test because the right-wing propaganda machine is going to be working overtime to discredit VP Harris and tear Dems apart. After all, that is the only way they can win.

[waywardsunlight]

Info About Inclusion Under Cut

The last time I did this it was received with a lot of people trying to define what a dad is. Being a dad is purely about whether or not the kid(s) see them as a dad. Dads who adopt/who are step dads, dads who died before meeting their kids, and/or are father figures to children they don’t adopt/raise are still dads. I don’t care about this discourse and I don’t support the people who tried to argue that anyone should be removed for not being a “dad” in their definition.

Also redoing because I think that the perception of certain characters have changed, ei I like Alador more after the finale, so I think it’s fun to see how the fandom changed after the final episode. Warden Wrath was removed for space and lack of votes in the last poll but he’s still a dad and make a case for him in the tags!!

I removed teams because it was unfair last round, I originally did it bc I was worried the Parks wouldn’t get votes, I had no idea ppl would mobilize around them and use them against other dads intentionally. It didn’t feel like a win to me bc the tags were filled with ppl saying stuff like “vote Parks so Darius doesn’t win” or otherwise along that line when those votes may have gone to Perry, or Caleb, or the Titan, or anyone else. This isn’t me trying to change the results, there just should’ve never been teams in the first place bc having a partner effects the poll (ei. If Alador had Odalia that would’ve tanked against him, if Darius had Eber that might’ve changed results, it wasn’t fair for Harvey and Gilbert to share the same spot bc they’re actually different people who have different relationships to Willow). All dads are on the same playing field now.

GO SUPPORT YOUR DADS!!!

[fe-smashorpass]

Introduction! (Please Read)

Inspired by other smash or pass blogs, this one is about Fire Emblem characters!

My name is Mod Garn and I use she/her!

Will only be posting characters who are 18+ but since this is Fire Emblem not everyone has a canon age. Even if they do, a character's age can be called into question (here’s another post I made on this topic). TL;DR I'll be arbitrarily judging a character if they look old enough for this. If you think a character should or shouldn't be here, I am sorry.

I will be doing almost every character in the franchise, including from the mainline and spin-off games, one off generics, the cipher exclusives, and manga exclusives.

Also I am splitting up characters who are technically the same character but under different identities.

Characters that will be excluded are:

underage characters (as mentioned before)

characters without any pictures of them

Characters who share the same portrait as each other since that would be redundant

Generic portraits for classes, so if a character uses a generic class portrait (ex the 10 elites from fe3h) they won't be included (the only exceptions are Abysskeeper and Gatekeeper)

I'll be posting 3 characters a day, alphabetically, (unless a new character drops with a name that starts with a letter that’s already finished), at 12PM EST.

Also thank you to reddit user u/Just_Nefariousness55 for making this post compiling every character in the games. My life was made so much easier because of you.

#fe smash or pass and #fire emblem smash or pass are the tags used for the actual smash or pass polls

FAQ under the cut (please read!)

Q. Why? A. Because I can

Q. What’s the age limit of the polls? A. I’d rather not have any underage people rebloging/commenting/liking on the smash or pass polls (for y’all’s safety)

Q. Why are people smashing/passing X character? A. IDK!!! Maybe to piss people off. Maybe the character is not as hot as you think. Maybe something else. Baseline is… I don’t know!

Q. Can you post X character? A. No, as I've stated before, I post characters alphabetically (unless a new character drops with a name that starts with a letter that’s already finished) and certain characters will be excluded due to a multitude of reasons (read above). If you're asking me if I were to smash or pass a certain character, please specify and I will answer.

Q. Can you add a “not attracted to character’s gender” option? A. No I don’t think it’s necessary to have, you can just press “pass” or not vote at all

Q. Why is fe2 Nuibaba your pfp? A. It funni

Q. IDK this character, can I still participate in the poll? A. Sure! You can decide whether to smash or pass just based on looks

Q. Can I explain the reason why I would/wouldn't smash? A. Yes cause I'm nosey

Q. What will happen once you’re finished with all the characters? A. I’ll do the generic portraits for classes and idk what will happen afterwards

Q. Are you a fan of Digimon? A. Yes :}

[greatwyrmgold]

There's a lot of discourse around what leftists in the USA should do on election day. A lot of people think we should not vote for Kamala Harris (and either voting for a third-party candidate or abstaining entirely), but I disagree.

Lots of people point to Harris's bad decisions in the past and mediocre decisions promised for the future, but for pretty much every point, Trump has done or promised worse. Maybe there are some points where Harris would be unexpectedly savage and Trump would be unexpectedly kind, but it's exceedingly unlikely that this will be true on most issues. And if it is, the Supreme Court isn't going to give her as much leeway as it will Trump. Arguing that Harris would be overall worse than Trump (or even equally bad) is just counterfactual.

A more reasonable argument is that Kamala is bad, and withholding our votes would convince the Democratic Party to stop appointing bad candidates. I want to say "Did you forget 2016 already?", but a lot of people of voting age this election were in middle school when Trump was elected. I wasn't paying much attention to politics in middle school, either.

Back in 2016, the left did not turn out for Hillary Clinton. Voter turnout among the more left-leaning Bernie-supporting demographics was low, and votes for third-party candidates were high. The Libertarians got more votes than they ever had before or since (about 3% of the popular vote), and the Green Party got more than 1% for the second time (the first being Ralph Nader in 2000).

Did the Democratic Party adjust its strategy to appeal to the American left wing? No. They blamed the left wing for their loss, picked an even more right-wing candidate for the 2020 election. Their 2024 candidate is less right-wing than Biden not because Biden polled badly with socialists, but because his age and health started to make centrists worry, so they promoted his VP.

The US Democratic Party has demonstrated that they do not give a shit how the left wing votes. They'll blame us when they lose and ignore us when they win. If the left wants to influence American politics beyond the local level, they cannot do so by voting.

But while voting isn't going to change the world on its own, it's still a thing you can do. You can vote and also organize; voting doesn't take that long. Whether and how you vote is a separate question from non-electoral praxis. And if withholding your vote (or supporting a third party) isn't going to do shit, you might as well support the mainstream candidate whose policies are less terrible.

If you can vote, vote Harris.

[asmallorb]

Regarding the 2024 Election: Do not despair.

I left Tumblr for Cara a while back but I'm here again to make myself heard on the matter. This is a post I've been wanting to make to my US friends for a while, and certain events have spurred things forward. Do not despair. Always remember the future is unwritten. No matter what your friends or family say, no matter how much media pressures you that things are a certain way, no matter what polls say - your vote is not and never will be pointless. Both here in the UK and France there was a lot of uncertainty around whether the conservative parties would take the vote. But voter turn out proved them wrong. In an example closer to home for you; Oklahoma County came very close to flipping in 2020 as Biden and was only 3,326 votes shy. So yes, even if you are in a state where the rural mentality is dominant, that still shouldn't discourage you from making your own voice heard. Can you imagine if everyone who didn't bother to vote turned up and made the difference? Your vote matters. Period. So please, if you haven't registered to vote in the upcoming elections. Do so. ANYONE who says that your vote doesn't matter in the state that you're in, or discourages you from voting for whatever reason - doesn't want you to vote. If you feel like your vote doesn't matter, vote anyway. If you expect protesters to be around polls ready to intimidate you, go with friends, family or vote over post. In the US record numbers of younger voters have already signed up to vote, go be one of them.

I would also strongly advise adding some palate cleansers to your news feed. Because here's a hard truth that few are willing to accept - there is good in this world. There are good people doing amazing things and making real tangible progress that you are benefitting from right now and don't even know about. People think that negativity = being realistic and that gives them a free pass to not participate in making a better future, when in fact the opposite is true. While I myself am a firm believer of preparing for the worst, it's important to have room in your mind for hoping for the best as well. Because if you just roll over and accept the worst outcome, guess what, it will happen because you let it happen. I highly recommend Fix the News. https://fixthenews.com/ and the blog @reasonsforhope.

One last thing:

Don't let perfect be the enemy of done.

Yes, the democrats are not perfect. And should be called out by the people they're supposed to serve when they fail.

But struggling over if they're the perfect candidate is not going to help in this situation.

Vote, donate, talk to friends and family.

And most of all: do not let yourself regret not participating when you had the chance.

[flonautilus]

Hazbin Philosophy Poll #1

So I reckon everyone's seen a bunch of polls on the sexuality of hazbin characters, appropriately given it is, after all, pride. But sadly, no one's asked about your philosophical identity! Let's return to philosophy 101! Are you a deontologist or a consequentialist, and what are your opinions on the redeemability of sinners?

So, Deontology/Consequentialism, for those not in the know, simply refer to the two main schools of ethics. A consequentialist (of which an utilitarian is a subcategory), is someone who believes that the outcomes of an action are the most/only important metric when it comes to judging its moral worth (i.e. action is wrong if and only if it results in bad outcomes). A deontologist thinks that actions should at least somewhat be judged on the moral worth of the action itself (i.e. murder is bad, doesn't matter if I killed a murderer, two wrongs don't make a right etc)

Anyway, please vote!

Also it doesn't matter who you think is irredeemable as long as you think at least one (1) sinner is irredeemable no matter what, don't pick you think all sinners are redeemable!