#breaking points

[houseofbrat]

In Philadelphia, PENNSYLVANIA.

So...are we to assume Kamala is intent on picking PA Governor Josh Shapiro? Seems like it by announcing it in Philadelphia. I don't know why else she would announce not in someone's home state.

But picking Shapiro just proves how bad Kamala's political thinking and instincts are.

And also her timing.

— Student protests and Gaza. No issue has divided the Democratic coalition like the war in the Middle East. Shapiro’s strong support for Israel is arguably in line with other top Dems, but critics cite his reluctance to call for a cease-fire in Gaza and in particular his strong stance against pro-Palestinian student demonstrators, using his platform to urge Penn to shut down its protest encampment and even seeming to compare pro-Palestinian activists to “white supremacists” in interviews. But Shapiro has also spoken out against Palestinian civilian casualties, and his supporters say activists’ focus on the one VP finalist who is Jewish smacks of antisemitism. — Handling of sexual harassment. The Shapiro administration last year agreed to pay $295,000 to a former female aide who accused a long-time political associate of the governor — Mike Vereb, his legislative secretary, a cabinet post — of making unwanted sexual advances and frequent lewd talk. Female lawmakers in both parties have criticized the administration — which cites a non-disclosure agreement for not talking about the case — for an alleged lack of transparency. The Democratic candidate for state treasurer — political outsider Erin McClelland — sent shock waves through the veepstakes when she tweeted that she wanted a VP “who doesn’t sweep sexual harassment under the rug.”

This is a hopeful moment for the whole left-liberal coalition. The vibes, for once, are good. Almost every leftist I know is excited about Harris and thinks Trump is beatable. With a newly united party behind her, there are only so many ways Harris can screw it up, but one seems all too plausible: She could select Pennsylvania Governor Josh Shapiro as her running mate. On paper, it’s understandable why Shapiro is among the leading candidates reportedly being vetted by Harris. Like nearly all of the veep contenders, he’s a white male governor with a centrist reputation. At 51, he’s even younger than Harris and a fresh face, having only held his current job for 18 months. He has already shown himself to be a more than capable administrator, generating a lot of good publicity for repairing a damaged section of Interstate 95 within two weeks. Most importantly, Pennsylvania is the most valuable swing state in play, worth 19 electoral votes, and Shapiro is very popular there. Unfortunately, Shapiro also stands out among the current field of potential running mates as being egregiously bad on Palestine. It’s not just that he, like many Democrats, is an outspoken supporter of Israel—though he certainly is, having championed Israel’s war against Hamas consistently and without any apparent concern for Palestinian civilians. Shapiro has, moreover, done far more than most Democrats to attack pro-Palestine antiwar demonstrators, in ways that call into question his basic commitment to First Amendment rights. In his previous role as Pennsylvania attorney general, Shapiro championed the state’s constitutionally dubious anti-BDS (boycott, divestment, sanctions) law against Ben & Jerry’s after the ice cream maker refused to license its product for sale in Israeli settlements. “BDS is rooted in antisemitism,” Shapiro wrote in a statement in 2021, as he condemned a company named for its two Jewish American founders. “The stated goal of this amorphous movement is the removal of Jewish citizens from the region and I strongly oppose their efforts.”

[...] CNN’s John King has already flagged that antisemitism might make the selection of a Jewish vice presidential candidate risky; likewise, calls from the left to oppose Shapiro risk being branded as antisemitic. Shapiro is not, however, the only Jew who has been suggested as a possible running mate for Harris. Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker has also garnered attention, and he has taken a very different approach to this issue. Asked by the Illinois state politics site Capitol Fax whether he agreed with Jewish organizations calling for the resignation of Northwestern University’s president over a pro-Palestine encampment, Pritzker replied, “I support the Jewish organizations. I’m not about calling for people to step down.” He also drew a distinction between antiwar, pro-Palestinian demonstrators and “some bad actors” engaged in antisemitism, and affirmed the need to protect free speech along with student safety. Most other candidates floated for the V.P. spot have also taken a far less provocative approach to student protests than Shapiro (one partial exception is Arizona Senator Mark Kelly, who endorsed some GOP smears of campus protesters in an interview, though he hasn’t shown Shapiro’s same level of fixation). North Carolina Governor Roy Cooper actually drew criticism for making no public statement about an encampment at the University of North Carolina. Wisconsin Governor Tony Evers said that encampments at the University of Wisconsin were “in good faith,” even as he acknowledged they would eventually need to end. Neither Kentucky’s Andy Beshear nor Minnesota’s Tim Walz made any public statements about similar demonstrations in their states. [...]

Still, his particular hostility toward pro-Palestine activists threatens to blunt the enthusiasm among young progressive voters that Harris has managed to generate in the past few days. It could also undermine the Democratic ticket in Michigan, where Arab American activists have cheered the news of Biden’s withdrawal and are adopting a wait-and-see posture toward Harris. Michigan Representative Rashida Tlaib, the lone Palestinian American in Congress, is currently holding off on endorsing Harris but has expressed interest in engaging with her on ending the war in Gaza. Beyond Arab and Muslim Americans, Harris will need to mobilize thousands of young people across the country not only to vote for her but to knock doors, phone bank, and do all the other kinds of grassroots volunteering that translates into a successful presidential campaign. Younger Americans disproportionately sympathize with Palestinians, which is one reason Biden’s approval numbers have suffered badly over the past year. As long as U.S.-made bombs keep falling on Gaza, this issue won’t go away—protests will haunt the Democratic convention in Chicago next month and the beginning of the fall term on college campuses in September, and the anniversary of the attacks on October 7 will fall 29 days before Election Day.

And what happened recently? Oh, Israel decided to assassinate someone on Iranian territory, pretty close to the new Iranian president.

And we can all tell that a bigger war is coming in the Middle East because the airlines are starting to cancel flights.

So... when is the next attack going to happen? Wouldn't surprise me if it happens next week after Kamala announces her VP pick.

That would be just her luck.

Because let's not forget that Israel is trying to drag the US military directly into this. They can't fight Hezbollah on their own.

[runabout-river]

Fox Reporter STUNS: Israel 'MUST' Stop Killing Journalists

“The IDF is saying if you’re in Northern Gaza you must evacuate but then if you actually go out and move you’re shot at and killed. So you’re trapped in Northern Gaza even though you’ve been told to evacuate and the policy of the IDF after those forced evacuations is then you’re a legitimate, fair game, you must be a terrorist if you stay.

So you’ve effectively, with your drones and gunfire, trapped people in Northern Gaza and then turned them into legitimate targets.

It’s just a licence for extermination.”

[thethirdman8]

Workers of the world unite! Go United Auto Workers, UAW rocks! Strike baby strike! Power to the people!✊️

[pasparal]

Breaking Points: Krystal interviews author and political scientist Norm Finkelstein on Israel’s war in Gaza (November 25,  2023

Timestamps:     (0:00) Introduction, Norm’s Background     (9:54) Essential Facts on Israel/Palestine   (30:05) Norm Challenged on Hamas Atrocities   (39:00) Do Geneva Conventions Apply to Palestinians   (42:28) Norm Debunks Hillary Clinton   (56:39) Were Palestinians Failed By Their Leadership? (1:04:50) Can you “steelman” Israel’s view of the conflict? (1:16:00) Is focusing on Israel “antisemitic”? (1:19:45) What was the real reason Israel stormed Al-Shifa Hospital? (1:31:31) Norm Debunks Claims of Hamas and Human Shields (1:42:00) What Comes After a Ceasefire? (1:45:45) Norm Goes off on Ben Shapiro, Jordan Peterson

[ask-runtsans]

Do you remember a small skeleton of pink? They were ever so so sweet...but even the sweetest people have a breaking point.

But...depends if you still want to get to know them...even after they broken.

[thisisabernieblog]

No one can be surprised by this...

@lordandgodoftheobvious @petalsbleedingbeak @apas-95 @brendanicus @missedthestartgun @nandomando @definitely-ellie @cavern-creature @comrade-bastard @mirtifero @guerrillatech @venerabledreadnought @dicknouget @infectedwithnyanites @theothersparrow

[amaditalks]

Something that keeps resounding to me is how many people keep asking “how are we supposed to work and then do anything else?“ People are being so physically and mentally depleted by their workload and the atmosphere in their workplaces that they are disabled by their work, and they don’t even realize it. And it’s everyone, blue collar, white collar, pink collar, healthcare, hospitality, every sector, and every job type. When you come home at the end of the day and you are so drained that you struggle to carry out basic activities of life like making meals, taking care of your home, and maintaining relationships, that’s disability. That’s exactly what it is, and it’s happening to people who are young and otherwise healthy.

They didn’t cut away slack. It’s not taut staffing, it’s not lean staffing, it’s unsafe staffing.

They cut away the safety of having enough people to do the work. They cut away the safety of having some built-in redundancy. They cut away the safety of even the potential of appropriate work-life balance. They cut away the safety of being able to work without self destructing.

A minimum of 14 million Americans are no longer able to work because of long Covid, and countless others are being pushed to the brink by workplaces. Something is going to have to give very soon, something is just going to give very soon. 

I wonder if work just.. got harder in the 2000s, comparatively.

[femmmie]

Breaking points jumpscare

INDEED WE DO

[chiripepe]

PROOF: Oil Co's Caught In PRICE FIXING Scandal

[thegreatwhinger]

Steven Kenneth Bonnell II Is An Idiot

Steven Kenneth Bonnell II, otherwise known as 'Destiny' apparently thinks that foodstuffs with sugar aren't allowed into Gaza because Hamas would break them down for the sugar that they contain, to fuel rockets to attack Israel.

I shit you not. He thinks Israel is not allowing cookies and things like chocolate into Gaza because Hamas would use them to make rocket fuel.

This is so insanely dumb an idea that it amazes me that Breaking Points would embarrass themselves by inviting him on.

Norman Finkelstein showed us how to deal with Steven Kenneth Bonnell II, and it's not to take him seriously because he's not a serious person.

[realcleverissues]

EVERY New Young Billionaire Is Nepo Baby

And more evidence the economy is f**ked

[houseofbrat]

Well, well, well...

The debate that needed to happen, happened.

Can't pretend we all don't know now.

EXCEPT for this guy:

It was literally a debate that changed history, but the 44th POTUS is doing this:

Straight up gaslighting from Barack Obama about the situation that he caused.

Everyone else has known for a LOOOOONG time.

Here are some tweets from the land of sanity:

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And if you think Kamala is going to save you, well, most people don't think she could win a presidential election.

Can't wait until SCOTUS enters the fray with their last day of their current term ending tomorrow...

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"There are decades where nothing happens, and then there are weeks where decades happen." ~ Vladimir Lenin

[runabout-river]

COVERUP: Israel ARRESTS Journalists During ANOTHER Hospital Raid

For everyone who wants to keep up with (mostly American) politics, I reccommend Breaking Points. They are an independent news organization and Krystal Ball has covered the Gaza genocide since the beginning. They have left wing and right wing hosts and the right wing hosts are not lunatics like you know from other organizations.

[eightofpents]

I'd be perfectly willing to just chalk this up to dumb animation.

But it's more fun to say it's canon that Nathalie's the sort of person who jumps small fences and such with no regard for social mores.

[secretmellowblog]

People who try to analyze what happened on Tumblr on November 5th, 2020, often really overstate how much it was actually “about” Supernatural. As someone who has never been in the supernatural fandom ever but dID join in on the hysterical destielposting—it was really more about the stress of the pandemic and the 2020 presidential election.

The two biggest Youtubers I’ve seen try to dissect “what happened that November 5th” in video essays both weren’t American—- and I think that explains why they both tried to explain the hysteria primarily via analyzing the Supernatural fandom/the original show, rather than through the lens of the election. And while those videos are cool, valid, informational, and make lots of really well-considered interesting points— I can tell you that me and almost all my mutuals had literally no knowledge or interest in the fact that “oh supernatural had made nods at the ship in the past but the creators were adamant that I wouldn’t be canon” or etc etc etc etc. the first time I learned about any of that context was way later, watching videos where people claimed that fandom history context (that I did not know anything about) was the actual reason for the hysteria.

But the reality is that people latched on to the Destiel stuff because it was a piece of big useless inane zero-stakes fandom news in a time when we were desperately waiting for serious high stakes election news. We were latching onto a “positive “ piece of inane stupid fandom news in a time of great stress, with all the desperation of a drowning man who latches onto whatever piece of wood will keep him afloat.

The core of the hysteria was that Americans (who make up a huge chunk of tumblr’s userbase) were currently glued to their laptops watching the live presidential election vote counts come in. These vote counts were taking an extended amount of time due to the pandemic causing high numbers of mail-in ballots, resulting in a constant state of Election Day Stress for multiple days straight.

This was also during the height of the Pandemic. People had predicted Trump’s presidency would be bad; no one had predicted it would be this apocalyptically bad. No one had predicted pandemics and lockdowns and hospitals overflowing with bodybags. remember Trump spreading Covid lies and conspiracies?? There were so many Qanon conspiracies about democrats being Satanic child traffickers who had to be put to death, and coup threats were mounting from the right wing side. It seemed like this election was a choice between ‘centrist democrat’ and “apocalyptic right wing conspiracy theory authoritarianism,” in the midst of pandemic conditions that people feared would never ever improve— and it seemed like a close election.

Another major point was that Trump voters were more likely to be antimaskers/Covid deniers, while Biden voters were more likely to take the pandemic seriously— so Biden voters were more likely to send in mail-in ballots instead of risking the in-person voting crowds, which meant their ballots would take much longer to count. And so, in many state electoral vote counts, it would initially seem like Trump was very far in the lead— only for Biden to slooooowly build up an agonizingly small lead as the mail in ballots came in, and then defeat Trump at the very end.

So you’re just watching these news sites giving live election updates, refreshing the page every 2 minutes to see if you’re going to live under a spineless centrist democrat or a literal Qanon Dictatorship. And then you go on tumblr to distract yourself, and there’s more election posting, and more agonizing over the votes, and more stress and despair—-

And then it’s been days and we’re right at the crucial tipping point where it’s anyone’s game and the next few hours will determine whether Trump will win, so you need to keep your eye on the vote count, because the next hours will determine the future of the pandemic and your country and your plans for your entire life—

And then stupid Destiel becomes canon! And it becomes canon in the silliest way possible!

If Destiel had become canon at any other time, it would have been a big goofy tumblr celebration? But we wouldn’t have gotten the insane explosion of hysterical interaction.

The entire core of it was the contrast between the inane meaningless stupidity of fandom news vs the actual stressful election news you wanted to hear! It really is best conveyed in that meme where Castiel says “I love you” and Dean indifferently responds with a piece of important election news.

It’s about the contrast between the low-stakes inanity of fandom and the massive life-destroying stakes of a terrifying election. There really was no reason it had be Supernatural specifically, except that Supernatural was a thing everyone knew basic things about from dashboard osmosis— it could’ve been any other equally huge silly fandom ship news about a ship everyone *knew of* but might not necessarily be invested in (ex. Stucky becoming canon, Johnlock becoming canon, Kirk/Spock becoming more canon somehow, etc etc etc.)

I think it’s true that people who weren’t paying agonizingly close attention to the American election news got swept up in it, and that non American Supernatural fans also were extremely excited for purely fandom reasons — but the entire reason it blew up to an unprecedented degree was because of that core of stressed out terrified Americans glued to their computers watching election results and suddenly receiving stupid fandom news instead, and deciding to just hysterically parodically hyper-celebrate this absurd useless zero-stakes news.

I think it was also all elevated by the fact that, as I said before, this happened at the crucial “tipping point” of the election where the next few hours would determine the winner. The fact that Biden began to slowly develop a lead in the hours after made it feel, hysterically, as if the hours after Destiel became canon was somehow the turning point where he began to win; so celebrating Destiel felt like celebrating that slow turn towards victory.

The tl,dr is that it’s so important to Remember the Fifth of November …..in preparation the inevitable hysteria that will happen in the presidential election on November 5th of next year. XD. Personally I’m rooting for Johnlock or Frodo/Sam to somehow become canon in the eleventh hour right before the democrats win

[akanemnon]

Yeah, Kris is definitely NOT alright.

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