#consequences of an election

[eugenedebs1920]

When the party of inclusion and equality is shunned by half the country it means one of two things. Either half the population is a bunch a pricks, which is highly possible, or somewhere along the way that party went largely astray.

Think about it. Other than racists, bigots and homophobes, who’s going to look at a sect of the populous and be like ‘ God! I hate those guys, always being open minded and trying to embrace all peoples! They suck!’. Yes. There probably is maybe a quarter of Americans who may think that way due to prejudices and intolerance, but that means somewhere along the way we lost the other 75%.

How did that happen?

I grew up in a very liberal environment and turned out as such. My first election was Gore v Bush, and I have voted Dem ever since. There came a time though when I wasn’t all that proud to pronounce that I was a Democrat.

I can’t pinpoint the dates exactly, but it was after the Me Too movement, which I believe was justified and appropriate. There was this shift in culture though.

I remember going to protests against the invasion of Iraq under the second Bush regime and liberals where dirty hippies (like myself) anti establishment punk faulkers (like the majority of my friends) blue collar workers (which I turned out to be) and intellectuals, scholars and teachers (alas, not myself).

Then liberal causes became these young, whether male of female, Karens. Offended by every word anyone said. Like the overly dramatic character in an old movie that faints when they see something mildly disturbing.

When the term “woke” entered the scene, it became an incredible trigger for some. There’s whole opposition to it, the “war on woke”. Woke triggers me and I’m a liberal! Can we PLEASE drop that word and go back to liberal!? Liberal; adjective. willing to respect or accept behavior or opinions different from one's own; open to new ideas. The definition of liberal is beautiful, and fits like a glove our perspective and purpose.

There is a time, a cause, and a place to be offended and stand up to injustice. Ab-so-fuckin-lutly! That time is when injustice is happening.

We all heard the story, the boy who cried wolf. That story holds relevance to what I’m trying to pontificate here. By decrying everything as a grave injustice, by ostracizing people as bigots for the slightest thing, by creating a cancel culture where everyone has to tiptoe about, the power that once was in the pursuit of justice and equality had gotten diluted.

Like I said. I’m very liberal. A bit rough around the edges and sh*t talky, but I believe in equality. I believe in acceptance and inclusion, I believe that, as long as you’re not hurting others, you should be who and what you want to be without being afraid to do so.

It got to a point where my liberal ass would feel like I engaged in a hate crime if I called someone mam, or sir. Like, ‘sh*t I don’t know if that’s what they go by’, but in reality I was being polite. ‘Yes mam!’, ‘yes sir’. Not trying to be insensitive or rude, simply expressing common courtesy. When did that become inappropriate?

Think about it. Me. An open minded, inclusive, caring liberal, feeling like I was walking on eggshells with every random interaction. Now imagine you aren’t some bleeding heart liberal. You’re more center of the road, maybe leaning right, have your opinions on things, but mostly keep them to yourself, you go out and call someone sir and get disapproving looks. It’s not going to sit well with you. No one likes being told what to do, and no one likes being publicly called out for their mistakes. If it’s a friend or family member and they perhaps were a bit insensitive, express that to them later and in private.

In my late teens, early twenties, my friend group was eclectic to say the least. This lesbian couple, who the one girl was my best friend, we’d poke smot, eat dose, play hackysack, and chill. Her partner became a mentor to me, “kidnapping” me and taking me on Phish tour when I was 16. We’d sit around, listen to music and just talk, try and solve the world’s problems.

A topic that often came up was the concept of free will. Can free will exist when one person exercising their free will, impedes on another person’s free will. It’s a topic I still often ponder.

Where I think liberals went wrong, is in our pursuit of justice and equality, we demanded perfection. No ifs, ands, or buts, about it. We insisted everyone, all the time, be this picturesque version of an American citizen without question. If they faltered in this mold we constructed to fit them inside of, they were targeted and labeled as a racist, or a sexist, or xenophobic, or homophobic, when in actuality their transgression did not fit the punishment received.

Thats not to say that some people aren’t all those things and deserving of the criticism and consequences therein. I’m simply saying, by making everyone whose ever told a racial joke, or used a pronoun, or said some sh*t they probably shouldn’t have said in the heat of the moment out to be a tyrant, we have both lessened the power of calling out social injustice and alienated large swathes of society. When I say “we”, I mean some of y’all.

Now! Because of the crusade for justice being turned into a cancel culture movement, the puch is so watered down with crying wolf, ACTUAL, injustice is happening. Nazis, openly and without masks (some of them), having f*ckin parades, waving swastica flags, weekly in Nashville for months and months, recently at a showing of the play, The Dairy of Anne Frank, then again parading around Ohio. They have boat parades and storm the f*ckin capital.

WHERES THE CULTURE WARRIORS CALLING THAT OUT!?!

It seems like a good amount of that social injustice campaign was for show. A facade to get clicks and likes and make people feel superior to the lowly bigots who would dare tell a harmless joke. Thats where we went wrong.

Standing up for what’s right, what’s good, what’s just, should have ZERO to do with this, popularity contest, social media, vain exercise of self indulgence. Put your damn phone in your pocket!

I’ve been to a few, and seen a good amount of coverage of various protests, marches and rallies of late, and it’s embarrassing to see nearly every single younger person has their phone out, videoing. It’s one thing to record the event, or if things are getting wild, or there is brutally, but to just be selfie recording yourself during a march for justice to impress people you don’t know, or do, contaminates the whole movement. It gives the appearance that you’re there for the self gratification of showing people you were there, as opposed to being there because you felt strongly about the cause, the movement. Again! Cheapening and diluting the reasons behind it.

I know there wasn’t cell phones at the time, but think if in the footage of the march to Selma, a huge amount of the participants were selfie recording themselves to later post the video on some social media platform. It would lessen the potency of the struggle.

I’ve always felt that helping someone who will never be able to return the favor, without anyone but you and them knowing about it, makes it the purest, and strongest act of kindness one can engage in. Do what’s right because it’s the right thing to do. Not for bragging rights and to appear like a kind hearted philanthropist. Otherwise the act is tainted and a gesture is for oneself as opposed to being out of doing good.

As liberals. We need to do some soul searching. Our cause is just. Our approach is off. We’ve become what we were in opposition to. Discriminative.

Shunning, and alienating our fellow Americans, and humans, will not bode well for us. Acting elitist and entitled, will only hurt our cause. Scolding and correcting everyone for every little thing, will only push people farther away.

If we are the party of inclusion as we claim to be, it’s time we include people. Engage with them. Rather than criticize from afar, diplomatically debate as to the reasons why. Why they feel immigrants are poisoning blood, why they feel America isn’t great already. Converse as to why they’re so angry and hostile. INCLUDE them in the conversation.

We have segregated them, or ourselves, from the discussion for a while now. Unless we want to end up like the open minded, non hate filled, German people in the 1930’s, we better do that soon. Because with the way the tide is turning, with the hostile, rising populist movement at hand, if we don’t, it will get real bad real quick.

[deadpresidents]

"What emerged in two interviews with Trump, and conversations with more than a dozen of his closest advisers and confidants, were the outlines of an imperial presidency that would reshape America and its role in the world. To carry out a deportation operation designed to remove more than 11 millions people from the country, Trump told me, he would be willing to build migrant detention camps and deploy the U.S. military, both at the border and inland. He would let red states monitor women's pregnancies and prosecute those who violate abortion bans. He would, at his personal discretion, withhold funds appropriated by Congress, according to top advisers. He would be willing to fire a U.S. Attorney who doesn't carry out his order to prosecute someone, breaking with a tradition of independent law enforcement that dates from America's founding. He is weighing pardons for every one of his supporters accused of attacking the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, more than 800 of whom have pleaded guilty or been convicted by a jury. He might not come to the aid of an attacked ally in Europe or Asia if he felt that country wasn't paying enough for its own defense. He would gut the U.S. civil service, deploy the National Guard to American cities as he sees fit, close the White House pandemic-preparedness office, and staff his Administration with acolytes who back his false assertion that the 2020 election was stolen."

-- "How Far Would He Go", TIME Magazine's interviews with Donald Trump, April 30, 2024.

I know we're saturated in coverage of Trump and it's easy (and probably better for our mental health) to usually ignore most of the articles when we see them, especially since he's so full of shit and infuriating. But it's also important to recognize that he is going to be the Republican nominee for President and he could absolutely be elected in November, and if you thought his first term was scary and dangerous, you need to understand that in a second term he's going to have people around him that are better prepared and VERY willing to do the crazy shit that he wants to do to this country. They aren't even hiding the fact that they are seeking vengeance against political opponents whom they feel have wronged them, and are ready to fundamentally dismantle the democratic foundations that are barely holding this country together after nearly 250 years.

Just look at what Trump says about the people who he incited to attack the United States Capitol in an attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election and halt the peaceful transfer of power that has happened every four years since 1789:

"Trump has sought to recast an insurrectionist riot as an act of patriotism. 'I call them the J-6 patriots,' he say. When I ask whether he would consider pardoning every one of them, he says, 'Yes, absolutely.' As Trump faces dozens of felony charges, including for election interference, conspiracy to defraud the United States, willful retention of national-security secrets, and falsifying business records to conceal hush-money payments, he has tried to turn legal peril into a badge of honor."

Oh, and please note that Trump -- a former President of the United States and possible future President of the United States -- said on the record in these interviews with TIME: "There is a definite antiwhite feeling in the country and that can't be allowed either." We are at a point where political leaders are outright saying that in this country again, and it's because of Donald Trump.

So, take the time to recognize that Trump is straight-up telling us the country we're going to be living in if he wins again in November. And understand that your vote matters -- and WHO you vote for matters -- because, as I've been saying for years now, ELECTIONS HAVE FUCKING CONSEQUENCES.

[artielu]

Listen up.

The current Supreme Court is a 6-3 conservative majority.

Justice Thomas, that corrupt fascist fucker, is 75.

Justice Alito, that biased fascist fucker, is 74.

Each is married to a fascist ultra right wing woman. Ginny Thomas was actively involved in Trump's efforts to overturn the 2020 election. Martha Ann Alito is the alleged source of the ultra right wing flags on the Alito homes.

If Trump is elected in 2024, Thomas and Alito will retire, just like Kennedy did in 2018. Trump will get to appoint two more justices in their 50s.

Like sexual assaulter and liar Kavanaugh. Or handmaid's tale Coney Barrett. And the conservative majority will be on lock for thirty years. Gorsuch, Kavanaugh, and Coney Barrett are in their 50s.

Add two more ultraconservative justices in their 50s and you have a five seat conservative majority for 30 years if they live natural lifetimes.

If Trump is elected in 2024, we've not only lost the Court for at least a decade (now) but another thirty years.

What other civil rights would you like to lose? Because YOU WILL. We ALL will.

Can we fucking not? CAN WE FUCKING NOT?

Vote for Biden.

Vote for Democrats for the Senate.

[eugenedebs1920]

How’s that protest vote working out for you? Trump will let Bibi raise Gaza to the ground! You want to say Genocide Joe? You ain’t seen NOTHING yet! Trump will not only allow the slaughter of Palestinians, once they’re out of the way, Kushner will be there to erect luxury condos in their place. Maybe we deserve this. A lesson to not be so reactionary, entitled and uninformed.

It’s going to be a LOOOONG 4 years… 😐🔫

[lotus-pear]

FUCK this country

[tomorrowusa]

People need to be reminded of Trump's woeful incompetence which came to a head during the pandemic emergency and resulted in the unnecessary deaths of hundreds of thousands of Americans.

The Obama administration successfully dealt with the threats from swine flu and Ebola. There was no swine flu disaster, there was no Ebola disaster, and there was even no Zika disaster because competent people were running the US. Near the end of Obama's term, his National Security Council staff put together a 69-page playbook on how to deal with pandemic emergencies. It's called "Playbook for Early Response to High-Consequence Emerging Infectious Disease Threats and Biological Incidents". Of course Trump ignored the document and plunged the nation into COVID hell.

Trump team failed to follow NSC’s pandemic playbook

Michelle Obama, in one of her best speeches ever in Kalamazoo this weekend, excoriated Trump's incompetence.

Michelle Obama laced into Donald Trump in a searing speech in Michigan on Saturday, accusing the former president of “gross incompetence” and having an “amoral character” while challenging hesitant Americans to choose Kamala Harris for US president. “By every measure, she has demonstrated that she’s ready,” the former first lady told a rapt audience in Kalamazoo. “The real question is, as a country, are we ready for this moment?” [ ... ] In raw and strikingly personal terms, she asked why Harris was being held to a “higher standard” than her opponent. Trump’s handling of the Covid-19 pandemic and his failed attempt to cling to power after losing the 2020 election should alone be disqualifying, Obama argued. But now the people who worked closest with him when he was president – his former advisers and cabinet secretaries – had stepped forward with a warning that he should not be allowed to return to power.

ICYMI, here is Michelle Obama's speech in Michigan.

Too many people have been afflicted by Trumpnesia. They seem to have forgotten the catastrophe that happened starting on 22 January 2020 when the first COVID infection was discovered on US soil. On that day Trump told CNBC: "we have it totally under control" and "it's going to be just fine".

Instead of following Playbook for Early Response to High-Consequence Emerging Infectious Disease Threats and Biological Incidents, Trump did the usual bullshit Trump things like criticize the Oscars and rage-tweet from the bathroom. He belatedly declared a state of emergency on Friday the 13th of March – the day after the stock market crashed.

Don't let anybody in real life get away with describing the Trump years as some sort of utopia.

Some people disingenuously claim they don't know enough about Kamala Harris despite her 20 years in public service. We all know more than enough about Trump's egregious ineptitude which turned a national emergency into a prolonged national nightmare.

[alwaysbewoke]

[glassblossomsthunderstorm]

"Honestly, I don't really care why she lost. I care why he won."

- Desi Lydic

[grits-galraisedinthesouth]

History Repeating Itself 💔

Joe Biden’s Role in the Yom Kippur War

Joe Biden had his first meeting with an Israeli leader, Golda Meir, on the eve of the Yom Kippur war, right after meeting with officials in Cairo. During the then junior senator’s meeting with Meir, Biden suggested that Israel make a unilateral withdrawal from settlements for peace, criticizing the settlement policies of the Labor Party, and suggesting they represent a form of “creeping annexation.” Though Biden assured Meir that Egyptian officials were convinced of Israel’s military superiority, 40 days later, Sadat initiated a surprise attack against Israel.

This is the gist of a bombshell tweet from Israel’s Channel 13 reporter Nadav Eyal containing excerpts from a classified memo from an Israeli official who attended that fateful meeting. While it may have been the first meeting between Biden and an Israeli prime minister, it was certainly not the last. In subsequent meetings with Israeli prime ministers, Biden threatened Menachem Begin with withholding U.S. aid, and publicly upbraided Benyamin Netanyahu because it had been announced in a town council meeting that 1600 homes were to be built in future in the Jewish Jerusalem neighborhood of Ramat Shlomo (more about this here).   

Joe Biden paints that early meeting with Golda as something precious that cemented in his mind how important Israel is to the Jewish people. It is clear, however, that Joe Biden has always been against the Jewish people settling their indigenous territory. The very thought of Jews planning to build homes in Jerusalem makes him furious. Therefore, contrary to the love fest with Golda he has often described, Biden used the first chance he had to meet with an Israeli prime minister to broach the subject of unilateral concessions.

One wonders how much clout the young senator wielded at that time. Not to mention the timing of subsequent events, with the surprise attack on Israel by Egypt occurring just 40 days after Biden’s meeting with Meir. Is it possible that Golda Meir incurred wider U.S. displeasure by refusing to entertain Biden’s suggestion of unilateral concessions? Was Egypt perhaps emboldened by this state of affairs to attack Israel without fear of American intervention?

During its years in office, Israel fought the 1956 Sinai War, the Six-Day War and the Yom Kippur War. Labor agreed to UN Resolution 242 and the notion of trading land for peace. Nevertheless, successive Labor governments established settlements in the disputed territories and refrained from dismantling illegal settlements, such as those established in 1968 at Qiryat Arba in Hebron by Rabbi Moshe Levinger, and others set up by Gush Emunim. By 1976, more than thirty settlements had been established on the West Bank; however, their population was fewer than 10,000.

"TODAY’S BLOG:

Joe Biden’s Role in the Yom Kippur War

In January 1973, Joe Biden was sworn in as Senator from Delaware.

September of that year found him in the Middle East on a trip to Egypt. Shortly thereafter, Biden was in Israel in a meeting with Israeli PM Golda Meir.

In that meeting, Biden convinced Meir that Egypt would not attack Israel by convincing her that Egypt thought that Israel had absolute military superiority.

The meeting was documented on October 2, 1973 in a secret letter (below) written by Israel Foreign Ministry official Gideon Jordan. Four days later Egypt attacked Israel.

Foreign Ministry official Gideon Jordan summed up Biden’s words as follows: “Of all the personalities (in Egypt) he (Biden) met, he heard that there was not one of them who disbelieved in Israel’s perfect military superiority and therefore stated that it is not possible for Egypt to go to war against Israel now. According to the people he spoke to Egyptians, time will take its course and when God wills, he will find the solution.”

What this letter calls into question is Joe Biden’s extreme misreading of Arab “personalities” and their intentions. His misreading–and that of Israeli intelligence–had disastrous consequences in the Yom Kippur War. One cannot help but think of similar Biden misreadings when it comes to Iran, Lebanon, and elsewhere.

Gideon Jordan later notes in the secret document that Biden was interested in more than Egypt: “The senator repeatedly said that Israel should do a unilateral act, that is to withdraw from some territories, of course not from those territories of strategic importance such as the Golan Heights, Sharm el-Sheikh and the Gaza Strip–but to withdraw without even any negotiations or an agreement with the Arabs.”

Jordan remarks that Meir immediately disagreed with Biden about unilateral withdrawals without achieving true peace. Again, one cannot help but think about the disastrous Biden unilateral withdrawal from Afghanistan, and the unilateral concessions that the U.S. has demanded from Israel in the current Lebanon “agreement” talks.

The secret letter is below for those of you who read Hebrew:

When Biden met Meir: Joe Biden advised Jewish PM to trade land for peace - The Jerusalem Post

 Biden meeting between Joe Biden and former Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir, described in a memo published by Israeli reporter Nadav Eyal, sheds light on the former Vice President's thought process at that time, and what he believed Israel should do shortly before the Yom Kippur war broke out. The meeting took place following his return from Egypt where he discussed with Saadat several things, roughly 40 days before the surprise attack that would turn into the Yom Kippur war.

https://www.jpost.com/us-elections/when-biden-met-meir-joe-biden-advised-jewish-pm-to-trade-land-for-peace-646732

[atlas7seo]

Sometimes I feel like people failed US History and this recent election and talks about tariffs really do prove that. I mean did literally everyone collectively forget about the Smoot-Hawley Tariff Act and those major repercussions? Btw that act happened in 1930. There's a reason President Hoover's name was used to refer to Shanty Towns in the Great Depression. Or the fact that almost all tariff acts within the last 80 or so years have either been expanding negotiation for world trade or deliberately decreasing tariffs. And the one time in 2002 where steel had tariffs placed on it, it was repealed in under a year because the cost greatly outweighed any benefits.

Does anyone remember the last time Trump tried to make tariffs in 2018? How many people credit it to be one of the largest tax increases in US history!?

Are people really that stupid? Like it's literally a REQUIRED part of our general education. Why do you think it is!? So people can actually make smart decisions.

[eugenedebs1920]

Balance is a key part of life. From an ecosystem, to one’s health, from a work/life balance, to physically being able to balance. Balance is imperative for good mental health. Can’t just be all hunky dori all the time, pretending everything perfect, but you can’t stay in the dark too long being consumed by gloom and despair.

Balance is how one addresses the financial situations in life, you bring in roughly this much, this costs this much, my spending needs to be in this range. Even balanced substance abuse is how one can do a little something something, but not spend all their money and time on it, and still go to work. It’s ok to have a drink, or a puff here and there, it has to stay in balance with the other aspects of life or it becomes a problem.

Balance can be broke down on a global scale, rain is good, but too much rain is bad. Certain creatures on the lower levels of the food chain are important to feed creatures higher on the food chain, but too many lower level creatures are an infestation.

Balance brings harmony. The ying and the yang of existence. Everything In equipoise brings stability to its surroundings.

The United States basks in a state of asymmetric volatility on nearly every aspect except the split down the middle of political affiliation. There’s no concinnity harmonizing vital elements of society, justice, governance or economics.

The top 10% of earners own 67% of the wealth in this country, and the top 1% earn 31% of the nations wealth. It’s complicated with percentile vs percentile, so let’s break it down to a more conceivable scenario. Let’s say the earners in America is 100 people, and Americans yearly generated income was $100. Off the top $67 goes to ten people, with ninety people still needing their cut of the remaining $33. From the 90%-50% range of earners in our scenario, that’s 40 people, they split between them $30. That leaves us with 50 people who still need compensation for their labor from the 50% mark, to the lowest percentile, to split between them the remaining $3.

To recap. In our 100 person America, with $100 wealth distribution, 1 person gets $31. Nine people split $36, evenly distributed that $4 per person. Then 40 people split $30, which evenly distributed is 75 cents per person. Then 50 people split $3, which evenly distributed is 6 cents per person. There’s nearly 345 million people in the United States so those numbers are obviously massively simplified but you see what I’m getting at.

In our scenario as someone of 50 people receiving $0.06 I’m pissed! Even the next 40 people receiving $0.75 I’m not pumped about it. Take those top 9 earners making $4 each while one guy gets $31! It’s like, what the heck!?

That distribution is the lack of balance, and the very example of disproportion.

Now let’s take a look at incarceration.

The United States has the highest rates of incarceration in the world. While only representing 4% of the world’s population it harbors 25% of the world incarcerated people’s.

Let’s be clear. There are crimes that warrant (no pun intended) severe consequences. There are some crimes that ruin or take lives of the victims upon which they were conducted. Sex crimes, hate crimes, crimes against children, certain assaults, domestic violence, murder, drug related vehicular manslaughter, and some variations of fraud, are life altering or ending and should be judged as such. Yet one in five inmates being incarcerated for drug offenses is absurd.

Let’s be honest. Imprisonment equals profit. In 2023 the cost of incarceration to the American taxpayer was nearly $80 billion. Every state has different costs, and there’s different security levels of prisons, but the U.S. average per inmate is over $39,000 yearly.

Then There’s the nearly 10% of prisons that are “for profit prisons”, meaning they’re owned by private corporations and not only do they receive subsidies from the federal government but they charge up to $24 a phone call, they have unpaid inmate labor, selling the goods or services for profit, and charge exorbitant amounts for over the counter medications such as Tylenol or antihistamines.

The statistics change yearly and the variation of “crimes” is immense. Statistics show that between 44%-65% of incarcerations are drug related. The numbers for violent offenses are similar, 41%-68%. I realize these are more than 100%, and/or in contrast with each other but there’s county jails, local jails, state jails, state prisons, federal prisons, men prisons, female prisons, a significant amount of people in jail who have yet to be sentenced, migrant camps and so on. So finding solid, it’s THIS percent that makes up THAT percentage is nearly impossible. But hey! The price of admission for the article was fair 😉

Overall roughly half the jailed population is for drug offenders. Roughly. Drug use, and most drugs, were not wholly illegal until the 1970’s with Nixon declaring drugs as “public enemy number one”, thus began the war on drugs.

In 1994, Richard Nixon’s Domestic Policy Chief John Ehrlichman, would tell journalist Dan Baum, that the policy was primarily for Nixon’s reelection, saying Nixon had two major obstacles, “the antiwar left, and black people”. He would go on to say in the interview, “We knew we couldn’t make it illegal to be either against the war or black, but by getting the public to associate the hippies with marijuana and blacks with heroin, and then criminalizing both heavily, we could disrupt those communities. We could arrest their leaders, raid their homes, break up their meetings, and vilify them night after night on the evening news. Did we know we were lying about the drugs? Of course, we did.”

The population of Black Americans is a little over 12%, and Caucasian is a touch over 60%.

In 2022 the prison population by race was, 32% black, 31% white, 23% hispanic, 10 % multiracial, 2% Native American/Native Alaskan and 1% Asian.

If 12% of the population is Black American, that’s roughly 42 million Black Americans. Of those 42 million black Americans, 13,440,000 are or will be incarcerated. At 32% of the incarcerated population that breaks down to almost 30% of the Black population as a whole, are, or will end up incarcerated. White people are 60% of the population in America at 210 million. Of those 210 million white people 31% of 210 million is 65,100,000 that equates to 6.5% of whites are incarcerated per capita in comparison to 30% of the 12% out of 350 million. I think... I’m a plumber not a statistician, and that math was friggin painful so we’re just going to leave it at that.

So, even if my math is off a bit, it’s plain to see how the disproportionate incarceration percentage of black people being a smaller portion of the overall population, than the larger populations percentage in comparison to the incarceration rate. 😵‍💫 If that makes sense.

The balance between the two races outweighs one another significantly.

Moving on!….

Let’s take a look at political power in this country. We’re going to make this one a little less mathy. 😅

As of November of 2024, there have been 2,004 people who have served in the United States Senate. There’s been over 11,000 members who served in the United States House of Representatives. There’s has been 45 individuals who’ve had the honor of serving as The President of the United States of America.

Of those 2,004 individuals who have served in the Senate, with the addition of two excellent women of color in the 2024 election, by my count, 14 have been of African descent. With the addition of 3 new female members to the Senate, there has been 63 women who have served this nation as a U.S. Senator.

My brains all mushy from the statistical math from the incarceration segment, so we’re going to stay away from percentages but, it’s obvious the disproportionate amount of white men who have served in the Senate versus women and those of color.

Of the more than 11,000 Americans who have served in the United States House of Representatives, only 167 have been African American. With 6 of those being from either D.C. or U.S. territories. Of the more than 11,000 representatives 385 have been women, with the first trans woman elected to the House in 2024 making it 386.

Lastly, and sadly. Of the 45 people who have served as President of the United States of America, 45 of them were men, with one of those men who served two terms being that of African descent. There has been only 2 major party candidates that were women to run for the highest office in the land. And, in a incredibly messed up and cruel twist of fate, both were “defeated” by one of the most grossly incompetent, misogynistic, sexist, racist, conman, cheat, sexual assailant, fraudster, B-list reality tv personality, piece of garbage f*ck, Donald J. Trump.

When things are in balance, everything sits just precisely where it belongs. Beyond a physical realm, beyond what’s known. Harmony and peace coincide as one in a state of euphoria. Like being weightless on a cloud. Not overly ecstatic, but more than content.

Personally I think I’ve seen this most in nature (particularly with a little psychedelic accompaniment) everything existing in its own realm, doing what it’s intended to, unaware of its importance while simultaneous insignificance. Just being, together as one, perfect wistful bliss.

That is certainly not where we find ourselves today. Both as Americans and humanity. We are seemingly in endless conflict. Conflict with each other, conflict with ideology, conflict of nations, religions, practices. We even find we are in conflict with ourselves.

If we could find that balance, one day the endless turmoil would cease to be. Yet. That seems to be in contrast to human nature.

[deadpresidents]

The town hall, moderated by South Dakota Gov. Kristi Noem (R), began with questions from preselected attendees for the former President. Donald Trump offered meandering answers on how he would address housing affordability and help small businesses. But it took a sudden turn after two attendees required medical attention. And so Trump, after jokingly asking the crowd whether "anybody else would like to faint," took a different approach. "Let's not do any more questions. Let's just listen to music. Let's make it into a music. Who the hell wants to hear questions, right?" he said. For 39 minutes, Trump swayed, bopped -- sometimes stopping to speak -- as he turned the event into almost a living-room session of his favorite songs from his self-curated rally playlist. He played nine tracks. He danced. He shook hands with people onstage. He pointed to the crowd. Noem stood beside him, nodding with her hands clasped. Trump stayed in place onstage, slowly moving back and forth. He was done answering questions for the night.

Just want to point out that this is a real thing that actually happened at Donald Trump's "town hall" in Pennsylvania on Thursday. And, as I always feel the need to remind everybody: in less than a month, tens of millions of Americans will vote for this person to once again be President of the United States. Do your part in making sure that it does not happen again because this is not normal. This is the type of shit that bizarre dictators like Turkmenistan's Turkmenbashi would do because nobody was able or willing to say, "No, that's not a good idea." Vote on November 5th because ELECTIONS HAVE CONSEQUENCES.

[hotmess-exe]

"MY life has gotten marginally better or been unaffected under the current administration, so give the Democrats YOUR vote"

that's what y'all sound like. fuckin entitled. or do none of y'all actually believe in one person, one vote lol

just say that other people's problems, well-being, stability, and dignity is secondary to your fucking comfort under the status quo.

if things are "better under Biden" for you to such an extent that you feel entitled to other people's fucking votes, I got news for ya — you were probably fine under Trump too 🙃

[waytootiredstudent]

It's very weird. I am not American. None of my co-workers are. This is just a random office in Germany. And yet there is a notable air of anger and despair from everyone about the election results. One of my co-workers has a red coat and just bitterly said that it's a bad day to wear that colour. She normally really likes the colour and the coat. Theres a notable lack of laughter and smiles and a lot of grim faces in the break rooms. Like yeah everybody does their job. But they're all a little exhausted.

I don't have a point. It's just weird to see how present this is in everybodies minds. How many people that have nothing to do with it care about it. It is mostly met with disbelief. A sense of "I can't understand it. It doesn't make any sense. Why?"

[alwaysbewoke]

[frankie-catfish-morales]

i dunno if it's just me but there is something to a young white girl openly copying drag culture and making millions off it all while claiming she "hates" being famous, but then does every live event and interview show she's invited to while canceling planned events for her fans, and claiming she is all about the rights of POC and LGBTQ while at the same time undermining the upcoming election in a completely tone-deaf way proving she's just another white girl appropriating the cultures of others while not actually knowing anything of their struggles and what would actually happen to their rights should Tr*mp get re-elected. Like please be for real girl.