#but 25% of the vote was reform

[awkwxrdapple]

Hi my name's Anna and according to this c*nt I'm a vegetable

[navree]

Incorrect, the fact that Biden has dropped out and a candidate with history of supporting medicare for all and being more receptive to a ceasefire in the I/P conflict has made me go from "I cannot morally support the Democratic nominee" to "I am voting for the Democratic nominee despite the fact she isn't perfect in every respect." I'm really happy this played out. The Dems for the most part abandoned the old Obama platform and it feels like its possible an actual progressive agenda could come to pass in my lifetime.

Kamala 2024!

If you weren't going to vote Democratic in this election before Biden dropped out you're a dorkass loser who does not care about any of the issues you're yammering about here and also a fundamentally bad person, and I hope you get run over by a bus.

But you got one thing right in all of this gibberish, Kamala 2024.

[notasapleasure]

.

god I don't CARE what you call the germanic peoples who migrated to the british isles in the post-roman period did you have to fucking hack my client who still owes me £500 for work completed months ago

[lady-raziel]

here is my optimistic take re: the biden news. i think this should be an absolute motivator to vote blue as much as possible in november. while having a new candidate may slightly improve chances, harris will have to be selected outside the traditional candidate-choosing means-- meaning regular people didn't get a say.

while winning is vital to stopgap the changes the republicans want to make, this whole situation with biden and harris offers enormous leverage to demand reform to the party process and compel the democrats to take up policies that they've shied away from.

this situation explicitly came about because of a 25+ year history of the democrats favoring elites and not listening to the wishes of their voters on policy and candidate choices-- this all can be held up as a means to force the party to change and reform.

this is THEIR fuckup, and we cannot allow them to sweep it under the rug even if the democrats win in november.

[literaryvein-reblogs]

How to write a secret society in historical fiction setup? Say, women-only?

Writing Notes: Secret Society

Secret Society

An organization whose members are sworn to secrecy about its activities.

Any of a large range of membership organizations or associations that utilize secret initiations or other rituals and whose members often employ unique oaths, grips (handshakes), or other signs of recognition.

Elements of secrecy may vary from a mere password to elaborate rituals, private languages, costumes, and symbols.

The term may be applied to such widely divergent groups as U.S. college fraternities and sororities, the Ku Klux Klan, and international Freemasonry as well as to similar phenomena in ancient or precolonial cultures.

Historical Fiction

A literary genre where the story takes place in the past.

Historical novels capture the details of the time period as accurately as possible for authenticity, including social norms, manners, customs, and traditions.

Many novels in this genre tell fictional stories that involve actual historical figures or historical events.

Characteristics of Historical Fiction

There is a wealth of accurate historical detail relating to setting (geography, customs, beliefs, culture, society, habits) as well as to characters and events.

Story lines may focus on a particular historical event or time period, or they may follow the life of a character (real or fictional). Novels may raise difficult social or moral issues through the plot.

Characters may be real or fictional, but they are portrayed in such a way that they fit the times. The historical setting shapes their lives and actions.

Historical novels are usually big books, with stories that unfold at a leisurely pace. Even shorter Historical novels are usually so densely written that they must be read slowly.

Language and style may affect a reader’s experience. Some readers appreciate an “authentic” style, while others find this distracting. Dialects and format choices (such as epistolary novels) also affect reader reaction.

The tone of Historical novels runs the gamut from rollicking to somber, and this tone may be a major, if unacknowledged, factor in reading choices.

Example of An All-Women Secret Society

Heterodoxy - a secret society that paved the way for modern feminism.

The female debating club’s name referred to the many unorthodox women among its members. They “questioned forms of orthodoxy in culture, in politics, in philosophy—and in sexuality.”

Born as part of the initial wave of modern feminism that emerged during the 19th and early 20th centuries with suffrage at its center, the radical ideologies debated at Heterodoxy gatherings extended well beyond the scope of a women’s right to vote. In fact, Heterodoxy had only one requirement for membership: that a woman “not be orthodox in her opinion.”

Heterodoxy met every other Saturday to discuss such issues and see how members might collaborate and cultivate networks of reform. Gatherings were considered a safe space for women to talk, exchange ideas and take action.

With 25 charter members, Heterodoxy included individuals of diverse backgrounds, including lesbian and bisexual women, labor radicals and socialites, and artists and nurses.

Meetings were often held in the basement of Polly’s, a MacDougal Street hangout established by anarchist Polly Holladay. Here, at what Berman calls a “sort of nexus for progressive, artistic, intellectual and political thought,” the women would gather at wooden tables to discuss issues like fair employment and fair wages, reproductive rights, and the antiwar movement.

The meetings often went on for hours, with each typically revolving around a specific subject determined in advance.

As the club’s core members aged, Heterodoxy became more about continuing friendships than debating radical ideologies.

By the early 1940s, the biweekly meetings of Heterodoxy were no more. Still, the club’s legacy lives on, even beyond the scope of modern feminism.

Other Examples. 19th Century Collegiate Secret Societies.

Organized women’s collegiate secret societies formed across America.

These societies were created with the intent of cultivating lifelong friendships with one another, encouraging passionate “sisterly” bonds with all members, and supporting an organized network of women that would encourage their own daughters to carry on this membership into the next generation.

Adopted a motto proclaiming values of boundless loyalty to their fellow “sisters”.

Below are examples of secret societies, their respective mottos, and the dates of their founding:

The Adelphean society (later ΑΔΠ) “We Live for Each Other.” 1851

The Philomathean society (later ΦΜ) “The Faithful Sisters.” 1852

I.C. Sorosis (later ΠΒΦ) “Friends and Leaders for Life.” 1867

Alpha Phi (ΑΦ) “Union Hand in Hand” 1872

Delta Delta Delta (ΔΔΔ) “Let Us Steadfastly Love One Another” 1888

Young girls at boarding school would be “adopted” by older girls who would play as pseudo motherly figures and role models for the younger classes to admire as well as emulate.

This same process can be seen in the pledging processes of collegiate societies.

Example: The Philomathean Society was originally created as a secret literary society, membership in one of these organizations was highly coveted, and the process of mutual selection between a potential new member and the respective society often caused a plethora of emotions to stir.

In their annual yearbook from the year 1900 is a story that was written with the intention to depict what life was like for a Philomathean, and detailed the secrecy and the high emotions that were involved in the pledging process.

Initiated upperclassmen were considered “the girls to be” and were admired by many freshmen for their demeanor and social presence in the school.

As these upperclassmen both from the Adelphean society and the Philomathean society sought out potential new members, there were secret interactions between potential new members and initiated members to try and connect more deeply with each new girl and sway her to pledge to a certain society.

Sources: 1 2 3 4 5 ⚜ More: Notes & References ⚜ Writing Resources PDFs

Incorporate elements and characteristics of historical fiction in your story, and research more on which women-only secret society your work will center around. You may even take inspiration from more than one secret society from history. Do go through the sources above as I only included excerpts here. Hope this helps with your writing!

[duchess-of-mandalore]

Star Wars, friends. I know this is not why you follow me, but please make this my most shared post.

You are here.

We're living the lead-up to Revenge of the Sith, and it scares me so much a) it feels like there is so little we can do, and b) young people are acting as if there is nothing we can do.

If you don't know what's going on, I need you to wake up and get engaged.

I have two history degrees. My whole life I've always been the person saying, "When people say, 'This is the most important election ever," it just shows how little they know about history.'"

So please believe me when I tell you that THIS is the most important election (cycle, not just presidential race) that you will likely ever be a part of.

Trump is not Hitler. He's too stupid to be Hitler.

But our democracy only held together in 2020 because of a few people like Mike Pence who were willing to stand up against Trump when it was truly the last line of defense. I know that's hard for some of you to hear, but whatever you think of his beliefs, Pence showed he has integrity and stands by the Constitution.

There will be no Mike Pences this time around. Trump will not make the mistake of surrounding himself with those who are not fully committed to him.

Trump is a convicted felon. He is running to avoid his convictions and likely jail time more than anything else. If he wins, he will be able to pardon himself of his federal crimes, but he's going to keep acting like Donald Trump. If he's still alive in 2028, do you think he will leave the White House peacefully and just submit to further cases against him?

Please watch John Oliver's recent expose on Project 2025 and Trump's Second Term. It is linked in a comment below.

Trump and his administration are already putting in place plans for sweeping reforms that truly will make America look like The Handmaid's Tale. Presidents usually will push for more when they're in their second term because they don't have to worry about another election campaign, but this is different. This is about dismantling the democratic system so that it only benefits the most radical conservatives and Christians.

Christians, I am one of you. I was raised Evangelical (capital E meaning politically motivated culture warrior), and I am still evangelical (lower-case e, referring to theological beliefs). This is not the posture of Christ-followers. There is no good that comes from state-mandated religion, which both coerces people to claim that they are believers for social and cultural clout AND waters down the true religious fervor of the church because most people are only nominal believers.

There is NOTHING about Christian Nationalism that is in the best interest of Christians or in the best interest of the neighbors Christians are called to sacrificially love. If you need a reminder of who your neighbor is, read Luke 10:25-37.

Please start talking with your friends. Young people, please register to vote and bring your friends to do the same.

I know so many of you are disillusioned. I am too. Things that are going on in Palestine and Ukraine and so many other places make it very hard to vote for people with "D"s behind their names (especially after the recent presidential debate).

But punishing Joe Biden is not the revenge you want to pursue here. Are you unhappy with him giving Israel $12.5 billion? I am too, but do you think that number won't be repeated multiple times under Trump? Again, I was raised Evangelical. A staple of (politically-focused) Evangelicalism is that Christians (and thus America) must support (the modern state of) Israel no matter what because they have a hyper-literal understanding of the verse where God tells Abraham that he will bless those who bless him (including his descendants who became Israel).

Do not underestimate the importance of that view in their ideology. Nearly every member of my biological family has shunned me for suggesting that this is not a blanket endorsement of every action the modern state of Israel takes.

Trump is a criminal running for president to save his skin. He supports Benjamin Netanyahu, the prime minister of Israel who is now himself wanted for war crimes. Trump has aligned himself with the authoritarian leaders/dictators of Hungary, China, North Korea, and Russia. He is open about his love for Russian president Vladimir Putin's authoritarian regime and stands against Ukraine's democracy and national sovereignty.

This is what happened before World War I and World War II.

I know this isn't what you follow me for.

But George Lucas was showing the dangers of authoritarianism. He shows that democracy is hard. It's frustrating trying to negotiate with people you disagree with vehemently. It may seem like nothing gets done.

Go and watch the Naboo picnic scene. Go and do it. And after chuckling at all the funny memes it's given us, let me tell you why it scares me so much.

Because Padme laughs.

Anakin tells her who he is, and she laughs.

She passes it off as a joke, or as flirting, or maybe even as just the ignorant views of a boy who views life as far more black and white than she knows it to be.

But the alternative to all of that frustrating democracy, all that gridlock in the Senate, all those choices and compromises you have to make in order to benefit the people at all ... the alternative is a dictator who says, "I will make all the decisions for us."

That's why there are people who applaud Palpatine. That's why we as viewers see Bail and Padme as the reasonable ones and think it's crazy that anyone would applaud, but they do.

The applaud because Palpatine says, "You don't have to be frustrated anymore. You don't have to be worried about those who disagree with you anymore." Safety and security and ease are powerful temptations when you live in a polarized society, and Palpatine offers them all of those things.

That's why many people applaud Trump, too.

There were also people who applauded Palpatine who did see the danger of what he was doing. But they applauded because it was easier to do so. He had already amassed power because they didn't stand up to him before. They applaud him now because standing against him now would have dire consequences they wouldn't have faced if they had stood against him before.

So vote. And get your friends to vote.

If there is any part of you that believes Star Wars has important things to tell us about real life, then I need you to fan that flame into a fire.

Otherwise, you won't be living in the prequels anymore. You will be living in the time of the Empire.

Vote.

[saywhat-politics]

Republicans block bill to cover budget shortfall threatening Arizona’s disability services

House Democrats tried to bring DDD funding bill up for vote, but Republicans say any fix needs to include reforms

PHOENIX — State funding for Arizona’s crucial disability services runs out next month, but a fix remains out of reach.

Democrats in the Arizona House tried on Tuesday afternoon to bring House Bill 2816 up for a vote. The bill would cover the Division of Developmental Disabilities' shortfall, but Republicans blocked the vote.

“My members want to get to work,” said Majority Leader Michael Carbone, R-District 25. “We have bills. We want to get into Committee of the Whole.”

The House then moved on to other business, discussing other legislation and voting on other bills.

[probablyasocialecologist]

Just 35 per cent voted Labour. That is the smallest share of the Britain-wide vote ever obtained by any party winning an outright majority, however small. It must be one of the weirdest landslides that any mature democracy has ever served up.

[...]

Labour’s majority this time is close to that enjoyed by Tony Blair in 1997. Yet its 35 per cent share yesterday was nine points lower than Blair’s 44 per cent—and six points lower than under Corbyn in 2017. The most dramatic result of the night illustrates what happened. In South West Norfolk, Liz Truss was defeated by Labour’s Terry Jermy. Socialism sweeps the Fens? Not exactly. Jermy won just 26.7 per cent of the vote. But in a crowded field, first-past-the-post does odd things. Truss, with 25.3 per cent, was followed closely by Reform’s Toby McKenzie, on 22.5 per cent. Had just one in 10 Reform voters backed Truss, she would have held her seat. Sunak, then, was right to say that, by taking votes from the Tories, they would help Labour win seat after seat. Sunak’s problem was that these voters, having lost their fear of a Starmer government, had no reason to hold back on their animus towards the Conservatives. So, rather than saying the electorate divided 65-35 per cent against Labour, the larger truth—both arithmetically and politically—is that the electorate divided 75-25 per cent against the Tories. And that 75 per cent vote has given us a parliament in which 80 per cent of British MPs are non-Conservative. 

July 5 2024

[axvoter]

Blatantly Partisan Party Reviews: 2025 Western Australian State Election

A new state election, a new edition of this blog’s reviews! Hello everyone, it’s time to discover what weird micro-parties are cluttering the ballots in Australia’s western third. Let’s have some fun.

It’s my first state election since moving to WA, and I have come here at the right time: Labor won such a massive landslide in 2021 that it could take control of the Legislative Council (the upper house of parliament) and they introduced a much more democratic method of election. This year is the first election under the new system, where the state at large will elect the upper house, replacing a gerrymander that favoured WA’s most lightly populated regions. I’ll say more about this below.

Election day is Saturday, 8 March 2025. Early voting commences today, Monday 24 February. As usual I will not review the Liberals, the ALP, or the Greens, because I assume that if you are reading this blog you probably already have some idea about where those parties stand and how you feel about them. I will review every other party contesting the election, plus all the independents contesting the Legislative Council. For the first time ever, I will review the Nationals because of the distinctive nature of WA state politics (I normally do not review any members of the federal Coalition), and although I had previously sworn off reviewing One Nation after getting bored of writing the same thing about a party everybody knows just as well as they know the majors, this time I have something to say about them.

You will receive two ballots at the polling place. The smaller one is for your local seat in the Legislative Assembly, the lower house of parliament, where government is formed. The Legislative Assembly has 59 seats that each elect an individual member via full preferential instant runoff voting. This means that on the ballot for your local seat, you must number 1 for your first preference, and then number all the remaining squares in the order of your preference.

No matter what happens, your vote will shape the two-candidate-preferred outcome: it will either sit with the elected candidate, or with the last remaining unsuccessful candidate. This means you should think carefully about the order of all candidates: the final contest for the seat might come down to your two least favourite candidates, so who do you hate less? For instance, you might have a raging disdain for the Liberal Party—but there’s a good chance you despise far-right racist or religious fundamentalist parties even more.

As for the Legislative Council (the upper house, a house of review), it used to have 36 members: six elected from six regions. These were designed to favour rural WA so strongly that in 2021, 25% of the state elected half the members. In the three regions covering metropolitan Perth, a candidate needed about 52,000 votes to win a seat; by comparison, in the most sparsely populated region, Mining and Pastoral, a candidate needed just 7,010! Most Australasian parliaments have in the past had a “country quota” to give regional areas more seats than they are entitled on a population basis. WA clung to such a system for the longest. It effectively meant Labor could never win a majority in the upper house—until McGowan’s landslide in 2021. Labor was therefore able to enact democratic reforms that embody the principle of “one person, one vote, one value”.

So, at this election, WA will elect 37 members to the Legislative Council on a statewide basis. Your vote is worth just as much as any other voter anywhere in the state, and the only people mad about this are furious idiots in towns nobody else wants to live in who think they deserve more of a say than anybody else. Here’s a tip for regional areas upset about not getting enough representation in Perth: be somewhere that more people want to live! But apparently “attract more residents by having more of the things people like and less of the things they don’t” is too much to ask for these entitled whingers.

Anyway, to win a seat on the Legislative Council, a candidate will need 2.63% of the vote. It’s going to be fascinating to see who gets in, as this is the lowest quota anywhere in Australasia. Labor and Liberal should each win somewhere between 10–15 seats, the Greens can hope for 3���4, the Nationals 1–2, and then we will see which of the minors get in. Preferences won’t play a tremendously large role but they will matter. Most seats will be won on a quota, but the last few will come down to preferences—either for a minor party seeking their one and only seat (say from a primary vote of 2.1%) or for the last candidate of a bigger party (e.g. Greens primary vote might be good for 3.7 quotas and they get the remainder of the fourth quota via preferences).

There are two ways to vote for the Legislative Council:

Above the line: you vote for a party or group of independents and accept their candidates in the order they are listed below the line. You must number 1 for your first preference, and then distribute as many preferences as you want. To get a square above the line, a party or group of independents must nominate at least 5 candidates. All parties/groups this election nominated at least 5 people; the one group of independents (column M) does not have their box labelled—only registered parties get that.

Pros: it’s much quicker; it is sufficient for the average voter to express their view

Cons: you cannot reorder candidates within a group; you cannot give preferences to ungrouped independents (there are five people standing solo, listed in the rightmost column)

Below the line: you vote for individual candidates in any order of your choosing. You must give a minimum of 20 preferences, and then you can keep preferencing as far as you want.

Pros: you can change the order of a group’s candidates; you can mix preferences between individuals from multiple parties; you can vote for ungrouped independents

Cons: it is way more time consuming; none of the ungrouped independents have a chance of victory and nor do down-ballot candidates for many groups (below about 3rd for most), so is it worth your time?

Whichever way you vote, I recommend distributing as many preferences as you feel you can—it makes your vote more powerful.

Every review will end with my recommendation of how favourably to preference a party. This is the recommendation system I will be using:

Good preference: a party with a positive overall platform that has few or no significant flaws for the left-wing voter.

Decent preference: a party with a generally positive overall platform but some reservations; or, a single-issue party with a good objective but by definition too limited in their scope to encompass the fullness of parliamentary business.

Middling preference: a party with a balance of positive and negative qualities, or a party with a decent platform undermined by a notably terrible policy or characteristic.

Weak or no preference: a party with more negatives than positives. Either give this party a poor preference or (in the upper house only) you might prefer to let your vote exhaust before reaching it.

This schema is flexible; I may, for instance, suggest a “middling to decent preference”. Every election, I link to my reviews of each party from previous elections, and this will be no exception. I have not reviewed a WA state election before, but my good friend b_auspol reviewed 2021 and I will link to her reviews; our politics are pretty similar, and I cannot think of any time we’ve had a notable divergence of opinion about a micro-party or obscure independent. I’m happy to endorse her takes.

[dreaminginthedeepsouth]

Steve Brodner

* * * *

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

July 24, 2024

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

JUL 25, 2024

Tonight, President Joe Biden explained to the American people why he decided to refuse the 2024 Democratic presidential nomination and hand the torch to Vice President Kamala Harris. 

Speaking from the Oval Office from his seat behind the Resolute Desk, a gift from Queen Victoria to President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1880, Biden recalled the nation’s history. He invoked Thomas Jefferson, who wrote the Declaration of Independence; George Washington, who “showed us presidents are not kings”; Abraham Lincoln, who “implored us to reject malice”; and Franklin Delano Roosevelt, who “inspired us to reject fear.”

And then he turned to himself. “I revere this office, but I love my country more,” he said. “It’s been the honor of my life to serve as your president.” But, he said, the defense of democracy is more important than any title, and democracy is “larger than any one of us.” We must unite to protect it. 

“In recent weeks, it has become clear to me that I need to unite my party in this critical endeavor,” he said. “I believe my record as president, my leadership in the world, my vision for America’s future, all merited a second term. But nothing, nothing can come in the way of saving our democracy. That includes personal ambition. So I’ve decided the best way forward is to pass the torch to a new generation. It’s the best way to unite our nation.”

There is “a time and a place for long years of experience in public life,” Biden said. “There’s also a time and a place for new voices, fresh voices, yes, younger voices. And that time and place is now.”

Biden reminded listeners that he is not leaving the presidency and will be continuing to use its power for the American people. In outlining what that means, he summed up his presidency. 

For the next six months, he said, he will “continue to lower costs for hard-working families [and] grow our economy. I will keep defending our personal freedoms and civil rights, from the right to vote to the right to choose. I will keep calling out hate and extremism, making it clear there is…no place in America for political violence or any violence ever, period. I’m going to keep speaking out to protect our kids from gun violence [and] our planet from [the] climate crisis.”

Biden reiterated his support for his Cancer Moonshot to end cancer—a personal cause for him since the 2015 death of his son Beau from brain cancer—and says he will fight for it, (although House Republicans have recently slashed funding for the program). He said he will call for reforming the Supreme Court “because this is critical to our democracy.”

He promised to continue “working to ensure America remains strong, secure and the leader of the free world,” and pointed out that he is “the first president of this century to report to the American people that the United States is not at war anywhere in the world.” He promised to continue rallying a coalition of nations to stop Putin’s attempt to take over Ukraine, and vowed to continue to build the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO). He reminded listeners that when he took office, the conventional wisdom was that China would inevitably surpass the United States, but that is no longer the case, and he said he would continue to strengthen allies and partners in the Pacific. 

Biden promised to continue to work to “end the war in Gaza, bring home all the hostages and bring peace and security to the Middle East and end this war,” as well as “to bring home Americans being unjustly detained all around the world.”

The president reminded people how far the nation has come since he took office on January 20, 2021, a day when, although he didn’t mention it tonight, he went directly to work after taking the oath of office. “On that day,” he recalled, “we…stood in a winter of peril and winter of possibilities.” The United States was “in the grip of the worst pandemic in the century, the worst economic crisis since the Great Depression, the worst attack on our democracy since the Civil War.” But, Biden said, “We came together as Americans. We got through it. We emerged stronger, more prosperous and more secure.”

“Today we have the strongest economy in the world, creating nearly 16 million new jobs—a record. Wages are up, inflation continues to come down, the racial wealth gap is the lowest it’s been in 20 years. We are literally rebuilding our entire nation—urban, suburban and rural and tribal communities. Manufacturing has come back to America. We are leading the world again in chips and science and innovation. We finally beat Big Pharma after all these years to lower the cost of prescription drugs for seniors…. More people have health care today in America than ever before.” Biden noted that he signed the PACT Act to help millions of veterans and their families who were exposed to toxic materials, as well as the “most significant climate law…in the history of the world” and “the first major gun safety law in 30 years.”

The “violent crime rate is at a 50-year low,” he said, and “[b]order crossings are lower today than when the previous administration left office. I’ve kept my commitment to appoint the first Black woman to the Supreme Court of the United States of America. I also kept my commitment to have an administration that looks like America and [to] be a president for all Americans.”

Then Biden turned from his own record to the larger meaning of America.

“I ran for president four years ago because I believed…that the soul of America was at stake,” he said. “America is an idea. An idea stronger than any army, bigger than any ocean, more powerful than any dictator or tyrant. It’s the most powerful idea in the history of the world.” 

“We hold these truths to be self-evident,” he said. “We are all created equal, endowed by our creator with certain inalienable rights: life, liberty, the pursuit of happiness. We’ve never fully lived up to…this sacred idea—but we’ve never walked away from it either. And I do not believe the American people will walk away from it now.

“In just a few months, the American people will choose the course of America’s future. I made my choice…. “[O]ur great vice president, Kamala Harris… is experienced, she is tough, she is capable. She’s been an incredible partner to me and a leader for our country.

“Now the choice is up to you, the American people. When you make that choice, remember the words of Benjamin Franklin hanging on my wall here in the Oval Office, alongside the busts of Dr. [Martin Luther] King and Rosa Parks and Cesar Chavez. When Ben Franklin was asked, as he emerged from the [constitutional] convention…, whether the founders [had] given America a monarchy or a republic, Franklin’s response was: ‘A republic, if you can keep it.’... Whether we keep our republic is now in your hands.” 

“My fellow Americans, it’s been the privilege of my life to serve this nation for over 50 years,” President Biden told the American people. “Nowhere else on Earth could a kid with a stutter from modest beginnings in Scranton, Pennsylvania, and in Claymont, Delaware, one day sit behind the Resolute Desk in the Oval Office as the president of the United States, but here I am.

“That’s what’s so special about America. We are a nation of promise and possibilities. Of dreamers and doers. Of ordinary Americans doing extraordinary things. I’ve given my heart and my soul to our nation, like so many others. And I’ve been blessed a million times in return with the love and support of the American people. I hope you have some idea how grateful I am to all of you.

The great thing about America is, here kings and dictators do not rule—the people do. History is in your hands. The power’s in your hands. The idea of America lies in your hands. You just have to keep faith—keep the faith—and remember who we are. We are the United States of America, and there is simply nothing, nothing beyond our capacity when we do it together. So let’s act together, [and] preserve our democracy. God bless you all and may God protect our troops. 

“Thank you.”

And with that, President Joe Biden followed the example of the nation’s first president, George Washington, who declined to run for a third term to demonstrate that the United States of America would not have a king, and of its second president, John Adams, who handed the power of the presidency over to his rival Thomas Jefferson and thus established the nation’s tradition of the peaceful transition of power. Like them, Biden gave up the pursuit of power for himself in order to demonstrate the importance of democracy. 

After the speech, the White House served ice cream to the Bidens and hundreds of White House staffers in the Rose Garden.

And when the evening was over, First Lady Dr. Jill Biden posted an image of a handwritten note on social media. It read: “To those who never wavered, to those who refused to doubt, to those who always believed, my heart is full of gratitude. Thank you for the trust you put in Joe—now it’s time to put that trust in Kamala.” 

—

LETTERS FROM AN AMERICAN

HEATHER COX RICHARDSON

[eaglesnick]

“A democracy exists whenever those who are free and are not well-off, being in the majority, are in sovereign control of government, an oligarchy when control lies with the rich and better-born, these being few.” - Aristotle.

Trump is finally President and Farage is on the rise in the UK. Whatever else you may think of Joe Biden, he was absolutely on the money when he said:

“Today, an oligarchy is taking shape in America of extreme wealth, power and influence that really threatens our entire democracy, our basic rights and freedom.”

We have all witnessed the march of the rich and super-rich to Mar-a-Lago to pay homage to Donald Trump and to petition him for financial favours.

“From Tesla's Elon Musk to a lesser known UAE real estate power broker, the wealthiest are flocking to Florida." (Salon: 07/01/25)

Petitioning the monarch for financial gain has been a tried and tested method of wielding influence throughout history. In late medieval England, petitions were a common way for the nobility and wealthy individuals to seek financial privileges from the reigning monarch. In France, King Louis XIV was frequently petitioned by his nobles for financial support to keep them in their lavish lifestyle while the peasants continued to suffer great hardship.

In England it was no different and petitioning was still being practiced as late as 1950 when many of England’s landed aristocracy petitioned the King for financial support to maintain their estates and properties while the rest of Britain was suffering wartime rationing and a chronic housing shortage.

Nothing has changed apart from the word petition being replaced by the word lobby. What also remains the same is the gullibility of the poor and less well-off in society who persist in voting for right-wing leaders and political parties in the belief their super-rich backers will actually make life better for them.

Right-wing Jair Bolsonaro in Brazil promised the people economic growth and prosperity through deregulation and privatisation. However, his tenure saw economic stagnation, rising unemployment, and increased poverty.

Silvio Berlusconi in Italy promised tax cuts and economic reforms to boost Italy's economy. However, his government was plagued by corruption scandals and economic mismanagement, leading to a lack of significant economic improvement for ordinary citizens.

Donald Trump made the same promises during his first period as President. Trump promised to bring back manufacturing jobs and revitalize the American economy. While some sectors saw temporary gains, many of his policies, such as the trade war with China, led to economic instability and job losses rather than new job opportunities. .

Despite this evidence , both in America and in Britain, ordinary working people mistakenly believe right-wing populist leaders and their multi-millionaire and billionaire’s buddies actually care about them.

Over the next few years we will see working class people in America becoming increasingly worse off while the likes of Musk, Zuckerberg, Bezoz. Gates and Brin become even richer than they are now. At some point in the future people will wake up and realise that Emperor Trump has no clothes but it may be too late by then.

I wish this misguided faith in the super-rich to improve the lives of ordinary working families was a purely American phenomenon but here in England we are suffering from the same delusion.

“Nigel Farage’s big poll leap leaves Reform breathing down neck of Labour and Tories”. (Independent: 18/01/25)

The super-rich leaders of Reform UK may be in a lower league than the fabulously rich supporters of Trump but they all share the same goal: to increase their own personal wealth no matter what the cost or consequences for ordinary people.

We really should be careful what they wish for.

Like

Comment

Send

Share

[mariacallous]

The US Federal Communications Commission voted on Thursday to lower price caps on prison phone calls and closed a loophole that allowed prison telecoms to charge high rates for intrastate calls. The vote will cut the price of interstate calls in half and set price caps on intrastate calls for the first time.

The FCC said it “voted to end exorbitant phone and video call rates that have burdened incarcerated people and their families for decades. Under the new rules, the cost of a 15-minute phone call will drop to 90 cents from as much as $11.35 in large jails and, in small jails, to $1.35 from $12.10.”

The new rules are expected to take effect in January 2025 for all prisons and for jails with at least 1,000 incarcerated people. The rate caps would take effect in smaller jails in April 2025.

Worth Rises, a nonprofit group advocating for prison reform, estimates that the new rules “will impact 83 percent of incarcerated people (about 1.4 million) and save impacted families at least $500 million annually."

New Power Over Intrastate Calls

The FCC has taken numerous votes to lower prison phone rates over the years, but Thursday's is particularly significant. While the FCC was previously able to cap prices of interstate calls, an attempt to set prices for intrastate calls was struck down in court in 2017.

Prison phone companies could sue again. But the FCC said it now has authority over intrastate prison phone prices because of the Martha Wright-Reed Just and Reasonable Communications Act, which was approved by Congress and signed by President Biden in January 2023. The new law "empowered the FCC to close the final loopholes in the communications system," the commission said.

The 2023 law—named for a grandmother who campaigned for lower prison phone rates—“removes the principal statutory limitations that had prevented the commission from setting comprehensive just and reasonable rates," the FCC said. Specifically, the law removed "limits to the commission's ability to regulate rates for intrastate calls and video communications."

More than half of prison audio call traffic is intrastate, with the calling and called parties both in the same state, according to data in a draft of the FCC order released before the meeting.

The FCC's work to reduce prison phone rates "was not always embraced by the courts," FCC chair Jessica Rosenworcel said. "We were told—over and over again—that the commission did not have the authority to address every aspect of these rates, because while interstate calls fell within our jurisdiction, intrastate calls did not."

Previously, the FCC imposed price caps on interstate calls ranging from 14 to 21 cents per minute for audio calls, depending on the size of the facility. Going forward, a uniform set of price caps ranging from 6 to 12 cents per minute will apply to both interstate and intrastate calls.

Ban on Other Fees

The FCC also adopted video call rate caps for the first time. The video call caps range from 11 to 25 cents per minute. These caps are classified as "interim" and could be lowered in the future.

Other fees will be prohibited, too. “Using this new law, we fix what has been wrong for too long," Rosenworcel said. “We reduce calling rates by more than half. We stop tacked-on costs like ancillary fees and prohibit special fees for site commissions. We make clear these policies apply to both interstate and intrastate rates. We also set rates for video calls for the first time. On top of that, we strengthen accessibility requirements for incarcerated people with disabilities and improve consumer disclosures.”

Site commissions are payments that phone companies make to prisons and jails in exchange for the exclusive right to offer service to inmates. FCC Commissioner Geoffrey Starks said that banning the commissions will "end the practice of provider kickbacks to correctional facilities and payments for costs irrelevant to providing services so callers will no longer be forced to bear the financial burden of these costs."

The nonprofit Prison Policy Institute said that prison phone companies charge ancillary fees for things "like making a deposit to fund an account." The ban on those fees "also effectively blocks a practice that we have been campaigning against for years: companies charging fees to consumers who choose to make single calls rather than fund a calling account, and deliberately steering new consumers to this higher-cost option in order to increase fee revenue," the group said.

The ancillary fee ban is a “technical-sounding change” but will help “eliminate some of the industry's dirtiest tricks that shortchange both the families and the facilities,” the group said.

FCC: Revenue Will Still Exceed Costs

The FCC's draft order said that even with the new caps, potential "revenues for eight out of 12 [Incarcerated People's Communications Services] providers exceed their total reported costs when excluding site commissions and safety and security categories that generally are not used and useful in the provision of IPCS. These eight firms represent over 90 percent of revenue, 96 percent of [average jail and prison population], and 96 percent of billed and unbilled minutes in the data set."

Worth Rises said that the "primary factors driving the FCC's lower rate caps is the exclusion of security and surveillance costs as well as the exclusion of commissions. For decades, the cost of an ever-expanding suite of invasive surveillance services has been passed on to incarcerated people and their loved ones. With [the] new rules, prison telecoms will be barred from recovering the cost of the majority of such services from ratepayers."

The price-cap order was fully supported by the FCC's three Democrats and Republican Nathan Simington. Republican Brendan Carr approved in part and concurred in part, saying he had concerns about the rate structure.

[stripesandbutterflies]

the new yougov voting intention poll is actually terrifying like wdym labour has 26% and reform has 25%??? i'm all for more parties having an influence rather than a two-party stronghold but not like this.

[interested-pig]

Why young people must Vote

The older generation are shitting on their children’s future and their children are letting them do it.

Reform UK, campaigned on Changing Human Rights Legistation, Revise the Equalities Act, Scraping the Net Zero Target and Removing Environmental Lobbies. 18% of 65+ voted for Reform UK, that is nearly 1 in 5 of old people don’t give a f*ck about equality, the environment and human rights. However, only 5% of people below 24 voted for Reform UK, the difference however, is that only 50% of them voted, whereas 80% of 65+ year olds voted.

Joseph de Maistre said "Every nation gets the government it deserves." Young people will get the government they deserve if they don’t vote.

Here is the figures I abstracted from the ONS (which I can’t be bothered to reference) to produce this. Not the upward trend of Votes Cast, and Votes per Reform UK with age. Are 20%+ of parents so stupid as to not notice the world they wish to create for the people they most love?

- 18-24 Years Old:

- Total Votes Cast: 47%

- Votes for Reform UK: 5%

- 25-34 Years Old:

- Total Votes Cast: 55%

- Votes for Reform UK: 8%

- 35-44 Years Old:

- Total Votes Cast: 63%

- Votes for Reform UK: 10%

- 45-54 Years Old:

- Total Votes Cast: 68%

- Votes for Reform UK: 12%

- 55-64 Years Old:

- Total Votes Cast: 74%

- Votes for Reform UK: 14%

- 65+ Years Old:

- Total Votes Cast: 80%

- Votes for Reform UK: 18%

[ivygorgon]

Welcome, my lovely hatchlings! 🐍💜

I’m Ivy Gorgon—a VTuber, YouTuber, and naga woman passionate about music, RPGs, and lavender purple. But beyond gaming and creativity, I believe in civic engagement that transcends party lines, empowering people to stay informed and take action.

💜 Looking for my non-political blog? @ivygorgon

One of the most effective tools I use is @Resistbot—a free service that turns messages to elected officials into petitions others can sign. It’s a powerful way to amplify our voices and drive real change. Learn more about how I use Resistbot here.

Change starts with awareness—and action. Let’s take the next step together. 🌀✨

Twitch, Youtube, Resistbot, Discord, Spotify

💜 Activate your activism with these letters:

🗽 Impeach Trump: Congress must open an impeachment investigation 1 so far! Help us get to 5 signers! 📱Text SIGN PHYWFQ to 50409

🗳️ Pro RCV: Implement Ranked-Choice Voting & Election Reforms For Vote Integrity 32 so far! Help us get to 50 signers! 📱Text SIGN PMZPRT to 50409

💃 Pro drag: REDS! Let The Silly People Be Clowns! Protect the American Right to Free Speech! 3 so far! Help us get to 5 signers! 📱Text SIGN PHFSPG to 50409

🫄 Pro choice: Abortion as reproductive healthcare is a right, PERIOD. 47 so far! Help us get to 50 signers! 📱Text SIGN PINRVQ to 50409

🇵🇸 Pro Palestine: Call your dogs home! - Urgent Action Needed to Stop Humanitarian Crisis in Palestine 13 so far! Help us get to 25 signers! 📱 Text SIGN PNIWKP to 50409

🤯 Liked it? Text FOLLOW IVYGORGON to 50409

Want more? Here are a few open letters from other authors:

Project 2025: Defend democracy against Project 2025's authoritarian agenda 57 so far! Help us get to 100 signers! 📱 Text SIGN PNXFDB to 50409

Anti Trump POTUS: Prohibit Felons From Serving as President 46 so far! Help us get to 50 signers! 📱 Text SIGN PDCKKQ to 50409

[glitches-and-bugs]

The State Of The Community (From an outsider)

Let me preface this by saying that this is all based on information I could gather on my own from the Discord and the various blogs involved. I will do my best to be as accurate as possible but since nobody involved in the situation came to explain, I'm quite limited. Thank you to the two of you (Aside from my main contact) that approached me to tell me what was going on, even though you were both distant from what was happening. I wholeheartedly appreciate you.

Let's get started, shall we?

The Server

This will address both the previous state of the server, the current state, and the demands presented in order to reform the server.

Firstly, the previous state. It's abundantly clear that none of you involved in the management of that server 1) know how to run a server with a mixed age range, 2) Have enough emotional control to not abuse moderator positions, and 3) Know what to include and not to include in a server in order to provide a healthy environment. This is not calling you out, this is a statement of fact because this community is mostly children. Yes, yes, some of you are close to 18. But I'm fucking 25. You're children to me.

The current state. Though the NSFW channels seem to be removed (Which they shouldn't have even existed in the first place without proper age verification and a moderator group of adults), there's still aspects present that should NOT be in a healthy server. Let's break it down. The Trigger Channel. Though I understand that it might be seen as necessary for you to make sure that people don't misstep, you do realize that people can use those against you, right? You should NEVER discuss your triggers publicly. The sheer amount of Vent/Mental Health chats. Look. It's clear that you're all trying to take responsibility for each other and that's nice and all, but none of you have boundaries. These types of discussions are fine to have with friends, it's important to have a supportive net of friends, but you should NEVER have a vent chat unless it is in private. These discussions you're all having in there are things that should be brought up to medical professionals. Some of you should be going to HOSPITALS. The fact that there were NSFW chats at all. This is a community of mostly children. I know nothing can stop you kids from exploring on your own, but there should never be a place where adults and children can go at the same time that has sexual connotation. I know y'all might not think this is serious but you kids can get adults into trouble, or end up in compromising situations yourselves. I pray nobody's groomed or grooming any of you.

Now the demands, reviewed by someone that worked as a professional Twitch/Discord moderator for a few years. Things I understand why you want to change it: The sheer amount of moderators. Too many cooks spoil the stew. By having so many people with that much power, you cause confusion and disarray. Limit your moderation team to 1 moderator per like, 20-30 members, with a good spread of time zone variance. Transparency of moderator decisions. Sorta. This should always be a given. Any rule changes and major events should be publicized, but things like rule violations, bans, and things as such should stay in the background. You are not entitled to every piece of information. No-nonsense moderator applications. Being a moderator is something to be taken seriously. You're ensuring the safety of your peers, not making a secret club. Things I do not understand: Public moderator applications. This isn't necessary. Sharing applications with the moderation team is all well and good, but it's not a public affair. You aren't voted on like parliament or the senate. "Collectivized" server ownership. A server should be made up of one trusted owner and a team of moderators. This isn't a government, it's a leisure activity. A big server I'm in has one moderator per 50 members. YOURS has at LEAST one for every FUCKING EIGHT. That's oversaturation. Any further collectivization and you may as well just make everyone a moderator. Server owner rotates between moderators. This isn't going to work. I promise you with all my little rotten heart that this isn't going to work. You're either going to give up or someone is going to just... Not give up the server owner position. You do realize that can happen, right? That they can just not give up the Server Owner role? What happens then? Did you have a contingency plan? Opt-in Mental Health channels. It's better than just leaving them free and open, but having them at ALL is still not good. Like I brought up before.

Phew, and that's all just the SERVER.

The Tumblr Community

As some of you may know, I was one of the handful of founding blogs in this project.

It has gotten way out of hand.

We have lost the spirit of what we started as, and as a result we have become a very toxic, disorganized community built on the backs of people who cannot support it.

People are being exiled from the community left and right for reasons I cannot figure out but am certain are petty in spirit. You're all great kids, but you're ruthless. You're going to cannibalize this community someday. I pray it happens soon, so you can all get over the grief that much sooner. I pray it rips off like a bandage, quick and efficient, a grand hoorah that leaves this place etched in the annals of Tumblr history. But we all know it won't. You'll all slowly cannibalize the community, ousting any member that stands up against whatever in group is most popular at the time, and you'll slowly decline in number until it's just a handful of you all bickering with yourselves about what went wrong. You'll look back and wonder what happened to change this community so much and there won't be anything to pinpoint because it's not just one event that caused its downfall. It's dozens.

If you know what's best for you, you'll leave on your own terms before that day comes.

Go touch grass. Stay in school, go to college, follow your dreams, and go to fucking therapy. All of you.

I promise you, as someone who was once in your shoes; young and stupid with a big RP blog and a lot of moxie, I know how this ends. Godspeed Tem-ily, you beautiful Undertale blog.

Final thoughts

I'll give a summary of Glitches' and Bugs' storyline tonight or tomorrow or something. Feel free to send me asks through the day, maybe tomorrow. but after that I'm gonna abandon the blog for good.

As an adult of my age, I shouldn't have even stayed when I realized how young some of you were. This is me rectifying that mistake. Any adults are free to hit me up, but i don't wanna deal with y'all being so young compared to me. It's just not right for us to interact.

Goodbye and good luck.

Glitches.