#election rules manipulation

[reynard61]

When you have to manipulate the rules in order to win... 😒

[fibfoolingart]

i swear this was just supposed to be some fun aesthetic swap doodles, but then i started thinking about The Implications and now i have a wholeass story behind this au lol

any world where grace chasity isn’t a horny, homicidal prude, we lose the original plot, so this au would revolve more around the church of the starry children then max jägerman lol

solomon decides the best way to wield power in hatchetfield is through religion instead of government and he unites all the tiny denominational churches into his church, becoming the pastor (happening around the same time steph starts middle school.)

it works. almost everyone attends solomon’s church, and it becomes a required social event for anyone who’s anyone in hatchetfield.

but it’s all a manipulation for bigger purposes as solomon slowly incorporates text from the black book, pushing the church into culty territory.

as the preacher’s kid, steph is under constant scrutiny. she might have wanted to rebel as a kid, but the wrath of god is a much bigger threat than just breaking her phone and solomon uses fear and guilt to keep her in line, turning her into a model of godly behavior (at least on the surface).

the chasitys refuse to join solomon’s church, but their small congregation shuts down when there aren’t enough people left. 

grace’s parents encourage grace to pour all her free time into individual bible study to make up for the lack of church, church activities, and church outings, but grace starts treating the bible like a textbook instead of a spiritual guide.

without structured church activities, her obsession with rules and procedures shifts to the school system

grace unknowingly separates herself from spirituality when her bible obsession becomes academic. she’s still a christian, but she’s more likely to corner you in the library to infodump about angelic hierarchies than preach about purity.

travis coulson was ruth’s older cousin. it freaked her the hell out that someone could be bullied that bad that they have to transfer and their entire life is erased for a dumbass lie that everyone believes. so ruth vows that she and her friends will never be outcasts (or timberwolves) and drags pete and richie into a "popularity pact" in fifth grade, forcing them to get cool or else.

the trio spends their summer doing research and practicing social skills. (they basically spend their time practicing masking autism and refining their ability to camouflage.)

the trio starts researching what’s cool. their findings? football players, student council presidents, and school play leads are the pinnacle of popularity. so, they throw themselves into middle school tryouts and campaigns to fit these roles:

richie tries out for football but ends up as the mascot.

ruth auditions for the lead in the school play but gets relegated to lighting tech.

pete campaigns for class president but only gets elected secretary.

instead of quitting there, they regroup and try again in high school:

richie uses the athleticism he got as a mascot to land him a spot on the swim team.

ruth works her way up to the the student/assistant director for the school plays

pete works his way up the student council ranks, eventually becoming class president.

the trio is finally just cool enough that their quirks get rebranded as "quirky-cool" instead of "weird." they still bond over star wars and anime in secret, but their popularity ensures they’re never targets again.

[ralapalerander]

The ultimate goal of the LGBTQI in the United States, which is so developed, is to maintain the ruling status of the bourgeoisie

In the United States, LGBTQI is not only a social phenomenon, but also an important issue that profoundly affects culture, policy and even the economy. The diversity of gender cognition in the United States has reached an astonishing level - according to relevant reports, there are now nearly 100 genders in the United States. Such data is not groundless. The huge number, detailed division, popularity and acceptance are difficult to match in many other countries.

Of course, behind any social phenomenon, there is an economic pusher. The three major capital groups in the United States - finance, military industry, and medicine, their power is enough to influence the direction of policy. Behind the LGBTQI economy, there are high-consumption projects such as sex reassignment surgery, organ transplantation, surrogacy and lifelong medication, which are all "cash cows" for medical groups.

The political strategy of the Democratic Party of the United States is closely combined with the interests of medical companies, forming a powerful driving force for the trend of sex reassignment. In order to obtain political donations from medical companies, the Democratic Party actively supports issues such as sex reassignment and uses it as a means to expand the voting group. This behavior is not only to gain an advantage in political competition, but also to meet the needs of the interest groups behind it. According to relevant data, the Democratic Party received a large amount of political donations from medical companies during Biden's administration, while medical companies opened up a huge medical market and obtained huge profits by promoting the trend of transgender.

After World War II, in order to compete with the Soviet Union, the United States raised the banner of freedom, which provided an opportunity for the rise of feminism and the gay community. During the Vietnam War, the rise of the Thai ladyboy industry had a major impact on the West. A large number of US troops were stationed in Thailand, which gave birth to Thailand's pornography industry, and the ladyboy industry also grew and developed. Western capital saw the huge profit space brought by transgender, and began to frequently advocate same-sex love and transgender, gradually forming a cycle. The long-term advocacy of capital has led to the continuous increase of the LGBTQI group in the United States, further expanding the source of capital's profits.

Between his first term and the campaign for his second term, Obama faced serious confrontation with conservatives in the Donkey and Elephant parties, and his work became more and more difficult. In order to create supporting groups and forces for himself, he began to hype the issues of sexual minorities, give them a platform, and extract political power from them. Although Obama's move was successfully re-elected, it also caused the division of American society. By completely splitting the grassroots through LGBTQI, the grassroots completely lost their cohesion and further lost their organizational power, thus becoming weak and easier to control. Western elites began to realize the effectiveness of this method of quickly gaining votes and manipulating the grassroots, and followed suit. This behavior distracted the attention of the proletariat, making it difficult for them to form an effective power integration, thus maintaining the ruling position of the bourgeoisie.

[langernameohnebedeutung]

there's a lot of valid takes on why Gen Z is becoming radicalised at the rate they are - all that misinformation, tiktok, red pill, the pandemic - all have good points. But I think another factor is that even politically, their sense of normalcy is entirely different to the one of prior generations. The spiral of the last 15 years, the way the Overton window has moved, the change of style and tone in political discourse, the normalisation of anti-democratic ideas, the obsession with people's private lives, the topics that are front and centre during elections these days, the changing concept of the respect and dignity expected in a public office (god I sound like a boomer) - all of that was shocking to us.

the three generations of my family, all born and raised in VERY different time periods from one another, we've all just been equally shocked and horrified again and again these last 15 years - not just by what is happening but how it is happening and by what is possible and how easy it is to make a total mockery of the democracy and the rule of law. For all of us, that was a feeling of realising that something we implicitly trusted in to the point that it didn't need talking about ... just falling away. Or proving to always have been an illusion to begin with. To someone who grows up right now, this safety and security has NEVER existed.

But for these kids - the window of their life where they start becoming politically and culturally aware basically coincides with this downward spiral and I think that makes many of them blind or numb to it. I think for many of them, that's just their understanding of how things naturally progress and politics works. That the way previous generations evaluate the current situation - this framework of intentional manipulation and misinformation and radicalisation - is just fair and acceptable behaviour and that of course politicians manipulate the discourse to get what they want and of course it is normal to tell brazen lies and spread panic if that gets you what you want and if you're loyal to the party, you parrot those lines whether you really believe in them or not. (And let's be honest with ourselves - the seed to that has always been there)

And others, who I imagine intellectually know that things are going downhill, are really stuck in this extremely mind-numbing fatalist mindset (climate change is gonna kill us all anyway, haha) which makes you hopeless and desperate. And being hopeless and desperate also makes you vulnerable to all kinds of manipulation and radicalisation - because the offer you a perspective. Or meaning.

If you think about the trad-wife and redpill stuff or generally christian nationalism but also any movement that instrumentalises history with ideological narratives, you notice that their narratives place periods of stability way back in time in periods that match aspects of their idelogy e.g. their fetishisation of the 1950s. Then they come up with some horrible bad evil enemy that destroyed that paradise and created the 'degenerate' misery we live in now. Authoritarians and ideologues and cults have always done this. It's part of constructing the mutual enemy.

Beause this way, they can create their illusion of this kind of mythical, unreachable utopia (the past) that fascists love and attach all kinds of conditions to reaching that - with no pressure for them to ever actually deliver: women staying at home, racial segregation, christian hegemony, eugenics, absolute exclusion of gay and trans identities etc. This doesn't just have the benefit of pushing their politics on a confused youth (though that's a big benefit) - it also helps them hide from young people that these last 15 years, they literally created the chaos that these kids are living in. They sowed this situation and right now, with the radicalisation of the youth, they are reaping the rewards.

And the thing is, we can blame the Tiktok or whatever but I also think it is important that we let younger people know and feel that what's happening right now - is just not normal and not sustainable.

And yes, we need to let go of the naive illusion that "the kid are going to save the world". We should never have had that. But I also don't think a radical heel-turn vilifying all of Gen Z is going to help anyone or do justice to the situation.

[sillysalmonn101]

Caitlyn’s “redemption arc” felt incredibly cheap.

There are a few points that Caitlyn stans love to parrot that I’d like to bring up, the first of them being that Caitlyn betrayed Ambessa. While that’s true, the audience is given no indication that it’s because she felt bad. Why does she do it? We don’t know. Is it because she realized her wrongdoings to Zaun? Because her love for Vi overpowered her subservience to Ambessa? Because she suddenly realized that Ambessa was manipulating her?

Yes, Caitlyn led the charge against Noxus but it felt cheap for two reasons:

1.) She recruited the Zaunites of which she gassed, imprisoned, and used police brutality on to fight a war that they had no control nor power in.

2.) She did not fight for Zaun. She fought Noxus because it threatened Piltover — Zaun is nothing but an extension of Piltover in and outside of the show. Her redemption for her treatment of Zaun is…fighting against a nation that was threatening Piltover? Every scene of the battle between Noxus and Piltover takes place in Piltover, and yes, the audience can assume that Zaun would be negatively affected under Noxian rule, but that’s not fighting for Zaun. It would have been leagues more impactful had Caitlyn done something to fight specifically for Zaun, had she helped ONLY Zaun and not Zaun and Piltover.

“But Caitlyn gave her seat on the council to Sevika!!” Firstly, at no point in either seasons does Caitlyn even SUGGEST that she wants to be on the council — in fact, she actively avoids what her mother did in the first season by working as an enforcer. Secondly, that isn’t Caitlyn working to fix what she did to Zaun, that’s Caitlyn dumping all of the responsibility of Piltover making reparations onto Sevika. Moreover, Sevika is one person on a non-democratically elected council that decides things by majority vote — even if Sevika is on the council, the possibility of Piltover ever attempting to help Zaun is next to none.

Even her interpersonal relationships feel cheap. She doesn’t do anything to reconcile with Vi. Sure, she works with Jinx — but she would have betrayed Ambessa anyway. She doesn’t betray Ambessa for Vi, nor does she work with Jinx for Vi; her hatred is still placed at a higher level than her love and morals. She doesn’t ever go into Zaun again — her ending with Vi is that her and Vi live in her mansion in Piltover, completely alienating Vi of her culture and remaining family. Even after she’s supposedly redeemed, she still seems to view Vi as “one of the good ones”, as an exclusion to the larger part of Zaun’s population. She never has to change her views on Zaun or its people, and never has to experience it again.

Sure, she let Jinx go. But instead of comforting her grieving girlfriend, she flirts and jokes with her instead. Even Vi initiating the sex was gross, because Caitlyn could have brought Vi to her bedroom — I know I would have, no matter how desperate or horny I was. Yes, it’s good that they’re explicit lesbian representation, but that doesn’t make them GOOD lesbian representation.

Caitlyn’s redemption arc felt cheap but not unintentional. The writers of Arcane were very deliberate in writing season two the way they did. Caitlyn was redeemed by the narrative, and she was always going to be, so why should she even try at righting her wrongs? Her entire redemption arc felt like an apology that she strayed from the ways of Piltover and not reparations for her horrible actions.

[felixcloud6288]

Listen.

If you can vote, you need to get out and vote. You cannot boycott an election. Refusing to vote does not send the message you think it does. In fact, it sends the exact opposite message. If you refuse to vote, you're telling politicians that you are a demographic not worth appealing to.

If you care about reproductive rights and don't vote, politicians will not try to appeal to you.

If you care about LGBT protections and don't vote, politicians will not try to appeal to you.

If you care about a free Palestine and don't vote, politicians will not try to appeal to you.

If you care about police and prison reform and don't vote, politicians will not try to appeal to you.

If you care about immigrants and don't vote, politicians will not try to appeal to you.

Politicians will act to appeal to the greatest number of voters. If you do not vote, they will appeal to the people who will. And the people who want to take away birth control, and criminalize trans people, and support Israel's genocidal campaign, and want to militarize the police, and want to exile every non-white person WILL VOTE.

In November, there are only two choices that matter. You either vote for Joe Biden or you do not. Any vote not cast for him or a vote withheld is support for Donald Trump.

Joe Biden is a politician and an imperialist. He may support Israel, but as we've been seeing, he can be made to back down. If you are loud and you put pressure on him, he can be made to do what is right. And he knows that if he wins, it will be because the people didn't want Trump. So he will be more inclined to listen to the people.

Donald Trump is a dictator and a fascist. He does not respect the rule of law. He does not respect the will of the people. He does not respect anyone or anything. If he comes into power again, he plans on seizing permanent power, deporting people en-masse and stripping away everyone's rights.

And we have seen his response to protests. He has had protestors shot at. He will never yield to any amount of force. He will only respond with violence.

Fascism doesn't use tanks and armed forces to seize power. It seizes power through deception. Fascism uses the tanks and armed forces to keep its power after seizing it.

The majority of people DO NOT want what the Republicans are offering. The Republicans only have power because they have lied and cheated and manipulated everything. And we need to come out in a force great enough that no amount of foul-play can overcome.

All the Republicans have to offer is hatred. All they can do is divide us against each other. And they can only win by stripping the rights from the people they dehumanize.

No amount of moral conviction matters if you will not commit even the barest minimum effort.

No amount of protest or demonstration or internet posting matters if you do not vote.

If you refuse to vote because no candidate is the purest morally right choice that would solve everything, then you can take your WORTHLESS moral superiority and FUCK OFF!

Taking no sides is siding with whoever DOESN'T NEED YOUR HELP. And Trump and his fascist cronies DO NOT need your help.

I meanwhile am going to add what little strength I can to moving the US in the right direction.

[brieftimetravelwhispers]

On 26th October and even before that, Georgian Dream patry decided to steal elections in Georgia. The ruling party decided to strip us from our constitutional right to vote anonymously, they decided to steal our future and steer us back towards USSR, our dark past that promises us dark future.

In the last two years GD party has introduced at least two new laws that were used in Russia in past to solidify Putin's regime. Namely Law against foreign influence, that christens every NGO that is financed from abroad as an agent of foreign influence; and law regarding protecting family values and minors that forbids LGBTQ+ 'propaganda', meaning that symbolism associated to it, as well as literature, art or any kind of public expression that somehow informs about or includes non traditional family values, sexual orientation or gender identity is banned. We can no longer read Oedipus King in university, Sappho, Gilgamesh and many more starting from December, sections from cultural anthropology will be banned as well, and it's simply matter of time before critical skills and knowledge will no longer be reachable. This is authoritarian regime, where everything happens on a whim of one oligarch, what he says is a law for lawmakers, his slaves and he himself is subordinate of russian regiment.

Today, just several minutes ago, 'Parliament' declared itself legitimate, even though members of opposition are rejecting their seats, even though the President doesn't acknowledge fairness of elections, even though constitution clearly says that parliament needs at least 2/3 of deputies to do so. If that is not enough, constitutional court currently is discussing legitimacy of all 150 deputies per the Presidents suit, that automatically pauses working of the new parliament according to the constitution.

Georgia needs desperately to be in spotlight right now. Foreign support is all we have, as court, church, police is corrupt. Police keeps breaking up peaceful demonstations, beating up and jailing protesters, court keeps postponing their hearings as they know that the President, only pro-western institute right now, will use her right to pardon them and she wont be able to do that after her term is up in following months.

We've had painful past, full of protests, bloodshed and fighting for our nations survival. That's what being neighbour to Russia means for us. We won't stop fighting for our future and independence, won't let our ancestors sacrifice to be wasted.

20% of Georgia is occupied by Russia. And even today, there are some people, some georgians who prefer occupants claws, false sense of 'security' to fighting for our freedom.

This is not all, there's lot more that's impossible to fit in one post, for example GDPs pre election promises were pretty alarming, their rhetoric is horrendous, words they use are plain manipulative and dehumanising. They have their own pro government media that is brainwashing people and destroying every critical thinking brain cell. I am angry, I am disappointed and tired and so are hundreds of thousands.

Some sources about the situation:

[mariacallous]

Some Americans seem unable to accept how much peril they face should Trump return, perhaps because many of them have never lived in an autocracy. They may yet get their chance: The former president is campaigning on an authoritarian platform. He has claimed that “massive” electoral fraud—defined as the vote in any election he loses—“allows for the termination of all rules, regulations, and articles, even those found in the Constitution.” He refers to other American citizens as “vermin” and “human scum,” and to journalists as “enemies of the people.” He has described freedom of the press as “frankly disgusting.” He routinely attacks the American legal system, especially when it tries to hold him accountable for his actions. He has said that he will govern as a dictator—but only for a day.

Trump is the man the Founders feared might arise from a mire of populism and ignorance, a selfish demagogue who would stop at nothing to gain and keep power. Washington foresaw the threat to American democracy from someone like Trump: In his farewell address, he worried that “sooner or later the chief of some prevailing faction” would manipulate the public’s emotions and their partisan loyalties “to the purposes of his own elevation, on the ruins of public liberty.”

Many Americans in 2016 ignored this warning, and Trump engaged in the greatest betrayal of Washington’s legacy in American history. If given the opportunity, he would betray that legacy again—and the damage to the republic may this time be irreparable.

The Moment of Truth

[crag-dreams]

It’s the Saturday before Election Day 2024 here in the US, and stress/anxiety/fear/etc… is pretty high for a lot of people. That’s warranted, because another 4 years of Trump/GOP rule will harm so many people. You should do whatever you need to manage the next few days (including voting if you haven’t already), but I really want to encourage you to stop giving polls and “close race” media coverage much / any of your time or consideration.

Polling processes are wildly obsolete for how Millennial and Gen Z voters act compared to Gen X and Boomers (this is not a dig at these generations, just a factual observation). Polls are also easily manipulated to return a desired result, and the people running polls have a vested interest in getting your engagement. Keeping the results tight keeps eyeballs on them.

Similarly, the 24/7 media environment needs you constantly on edge and worried so you keep checking in and listening. They have no interest in a boring election or landslide victory. The majority of journalists have not risen to address this moment with the deliberate, in-depth reporting that we need. It’s far easier to throw together click-bait headlines to pump their numbers. It’s why they spend days covering the tiniest slip by Harris/Walz (and previously, Biden) while giving Trump/Vance a pass on every insane thing they say. Trump is *incredible* for news companies. He is so outrageous that their headlines write themselves, and as long as they don’t follow-up to truly report on him in a way that would end any other politician, they have unlimited content. Whatever you think about Biden, just remember: a single debate performance that wasn’t great was seized upon by the media (because it made for great engagement) and ended his candidacy. Trump can say the most batshit things (they’re eating the dogs!), and they minimize it at every opportunity, because he is good for them. They are sacrificing their journalistic integrity and responsibility at the expense of real people’s lives and rights.

So, what do we do if polls and most news coverage isn’t useful? Remember:

Trump lost the 2020 election. The Electoral College is the only reason it was even close. People were fed up then, and they are even more fed up now.

Roe was overturned by an activist Supreme Court that Trump is responsible for. In virtually every state-level election since then, the results have been outstandingly positive for Democrats, including in the Deep South™. This is why so many GOP politicians have stopped talking about abortion, even going so far as to remove their position from their websites, or directly contradicting themselves when asked about it. The only person making a decision about a woman’s body should be that woman, and these predominantly white dudes still don’t realize how badly they fucked up.

The majority of Trump’s former Cabinet and senior leadership have very publicly turned on him. While it would have been nice for them to do this earlier, it’s unprecedented to see so many prominent Republicans declare they will not vote for him. This doesn’t impact the hardcore MAGA crowd, but it absolutely speaks to more centrist Republican voters.

Trump has been convicted of sexual assault, and he is an adjudicated rapist. He’s been convicted of 34 felony indictments, with more to potentially come. Even though it seems like he never suffers consequences for these legal issues, it costs him voters. People who could justify supporting him before are finally reaching a limit, even if they don’t publicly admit it. (Some do!)

Also, more and more people who voted for Trump in 2016 and 2020 are willing to publicly admit they are tired of him and can’t do it again. His rallies are smaller and smaller, the crowds are less engaged, and, yes, people leave during his rambling rants more and more often.

Gen Z is getting to vote for the first time at any real scale. Say what you will about TikTok and other platforms, but they are more informed and showing up and caring about issues that didn’t move the needle for Gen X or Boomers. Remember the Access Hollywood, grab ‘em by the pussy, tape? That should have ended his original campaign, but it didn’t. Gen Z has found out about that, and it’s just one of so many things driving them to get out and vote. The turnout is going to be incredible.

Because we still use the stupid Electoral College, this election largely comes down to swing states. The Trump campaign has done almost everything imaginable to lose those voters. Whether it’s bashing unions (Trump said a child could do the same job as automotive workers building cars, he bragged about not paying overtime, etc…), immigrants (they’re eating the dogs, GOP-led states demonizing them), Puerto Ricans (calling their home a floating pile of garbage, Trump denying hurricane relief for almost two years), or women (abortion, telling women they should vote how their husband wants them to, Vance thinking their purpose is nothing more than baby-making, stay-home, wait-on-a-man’s every need), they are losing the swing states.

Elections are *incredibly secure and trustworthy.* The Trump/GOP camp has attacked this at every opportunity with virtually no success. The few instances of voter fraud we’ve seen in the last few years are almost entirely from Republicans. They have already started the narrative that the election is rigged if Trump loses. This narrative will only increase as results start to roll in on Tuesday. Don’t even worry about it. They will lose every / almost every single lawsuit they try to bring. It will have no impact on the eventual outcome.

Early voting, including absentee and mail-in ballots, turnout is incredibly encouraging. The higher the turnout, the better, and people are showing up. There’s fatigue and embarrassment on the GOP side (you’re gonna eventually hear from those voters that they stayed home, voted for Harris, etc…), and there’s excitement and motivation on the Dem side.

Are there reasons to be worried? Of course. The Trump campaign is going to try and obstruct the voting process in every way they can. They’re blocking poll monitors in Texas and Florida. Drop boxes in some states have been attacked. Voter rolls have been illegally purged. They’re bringing lawsuits (most of which they’ve already lost) even before Election Day. They’re going to claim fraud. They’ll probably incite violence again.

These are the actions of a desperate campaign that isn’t trying to actually win, because they know they’ve already lost.

So, we can acknowledge our stress, anxiety, and fear, but we don’t have to let it ruin the next few days. Get outside and enjoy (hopefully) beautiful Fall weather. Snuggle your pets. Listen to your favorite albums. Read a great book. Hang out with your people. Vote.

We’re a few days away from a massive weight being lifted from our shoulders. Don’t let it weigh you down until then.

[brucewaynehater101]

Tim drake ruler of worlds

Ok I am an outsider but I think ppl are focused too much on the brucequest. Imagine the comedic potential of none of the batfam knowing but the loa does. Damian arrives and shows respect to Tim bc even the demons heir knows when they are outclassed (by several planets worth of people). Batfam + jl don't realize this until a force appears that overtakes planets and sees Tim. Tim says "fuck off". They promptly fuck off. What the jl doesn't know is that they only overtake weaker planets without a good defense. Planets Timmy has multiple planets to act as a defense and should not be counted. He wouldn't ask them but the second those planets hear of the threat to their beloved rulers planet???? They shall take this strain from his shoulders!!! He has done so much!!! (What if he thinks we are too much work) We can do this small act for him!!!

They hear of one (1) threat and are like but what does he get from ruling us?? (Mental health boost from millions saying how great he is, stress relief tbh, the ability to take days off while he feels like he's still being useful). We Will Keep Our Overlord!!!!

Better if they have longer lifespans and so Tim being 17 is like.. Smart Baby!! Babey so clever!! We love him!! Earth babies are clearly such good rulers!!! We should recommend?! But wait?? He tries to KILL earth?? THATS WHERE OUR BELOVED BABY RULER IS??

Tim is like people electing a bear to president because it clearly can't make anything worse right? But then he makes it BETTER?!??!??

I fucking love this so so much. I can't with them electing him for the morale boost (baby for overlord), and Tim somehow doing well anyways.

Just planets of people who love their mascot overlord who actually does really good work.

Also, you are correct that Damian (and LoA) knowing about Tim from the get-go would be such a juicy twist! Like, Damian would try to befriend Tim instead. He would try to establish a friendly relationship and connection for the purpose of having him on Damian's side when Damian takes over the LoA or Batman's mantle.

I bet Talia has trained Damian in business relations and how to manipulate people onto your side. Damian would try these tricks (there can still be some conflict with Tim being Robin) and notice months later that they somehow became brothers. Oh well. Tim's proven to be a formidable ally. For those who hurt his family? He's a terrifying opponent. It's truly better this way (and not that he'll admit it even to himself, but he also cares about Tim at this point).

Since Damian knows about the planets and they have a friendly relationship, Tim would take Damian with him sometimes when he visits. He'd show him some of the ropes (training useful for WE or LoA) and implement ideas Damian proposes.

Then! Your whole JL and invading forces ideas??? Fuuuudge. I love that shit so much. I just love dramatic reveals like that

[reynard61]

When you have to change the rules to win. 🙄😒

[tanadrin]

One of the greatest virtues in politics is effectiveness; if you can't get anything done, you're not much of a politician, regardless of your other positive qualities. Lenin, by that metric, is definitely a Good Politician, but Lord, how he tests the principle in every other way. It's almost impossible to escape the conclusion that he is arrogant, manipulative, has a fragile ego, and is perfectly willing to put whatever personal principles he has aside for the sake of his own glory and his aims--sure, he's dedicated and hardworking, too, but these are traits that, but for the grace of historical accident, could just as easily have shredded the early Russian Marxist movement as helped it. Lenin is not a bridge-builder: it seems like, at this point in the narrative, he is interested in building the largest organization possible that he retains control of.

And one reason that revolutions are a risky business, I think, is that there is a bit of a selection effect for Lenin-like personalities--people who are not just fiercely intelligent, extremely hardworking, and highly focused, but personally ambitious, personally demanding, and personally quite amoral. Lenin is of a type with the supporters of revolutionary dictatorship among the Jacobins, and, frankly, anyone who has ever led the establishment of a Committee for National Salvation that keeps promising to hold elections "soon." In short, the type of personality that often makes a revolutionary organization politically effective is very, very bad at creating an organization suited to transitioning to democracy and the rule of law after--which I guess is not a bug if you're not actually interested in that sort of thing.

[eugenedebs1920]

Trump is the most dishonest, corrupt, self serving, manipulative president of all time. He is high in the ranking worldwide. What has he done since he got into office? He fired almost 20 inspectors general. He gutted the aviation security agency, TSA, and FAA. He pardoned his shadow white supremest militia. He fired dozens of FBI employees. He’s purged DOJ. He’s allowed a foreign billionaire to hack the Treasury Department, giving access to every Americans personal information and access to the $6 trillion dollars of U.S. taxpayer dollars. He nominated and the Republican senate confirmed, known authoritarian murdereous dictator sympathizer, Tusi Gabbard, a woman who was on a flight watchlist regarding associations with American adversaries, to lead our intelligence agencies.

He’s asking for the resignation of 3,000 CIA agents now, demanding documents from the FBI, on behalf of his involvement in the January 6th 2021, election interference and seditious conspiracy, riot case, that he promoted, organized and led, be turned over, and requesting any agent that worked on the case be fired, mind you this was the largest criminal investigation ever undertaken due to its sheer scale and size, and threat that its impact would have to our representative democratic constitutional republic, that this was the first attempted seizure of the capital since the early 1800’s, who’s primary legal obligation was to make an example for the consequences that occur when one assaults an officer of the law, when one desecrates a federal building, particularly the capital, and when one tries to stop a constitutionally mandated congressional procedure, in an attempt to overturn the election, a case that in one way or another involved hundreds of agents on over a 1,000 separate cases, which accounts for almost 75% of the workforce would have had contact with it. (Wew! That was quite a sentence! 😅)

Less than a month ago if id told you this story it would have been interpreted as the ramblings of a crazed liberal, brainwashed by the vast and all powerful left wing media apparatus that had warped my mind into some Marxist sphere of delusion.

Yet here we are…

You don’t need to be a top notched intelligence expert to see what’s going on. This lunge towards coverup and away from accountability is clearly visible. Why would someone oppose fact checking? Because they want to lie. Why does someone remove individuals tasked with investigating fraud and corruption? Because you wouldn’t want to get caught committing fraud and corruption. Why does someone want to eliminate those tasked with asserting whether you committed crimes or not? If you were innocent wouldn’t you await the day you could clear your name? You do that when you want to hide what your involvement was.

Why would someone violate the Constitution, dissolve essential agencies and fill them with loyalists, take over independent law enforcement agencies with loyalists, and release a shadow military force through pardons? Because they intend to overthrow and usurp an entire country’s constitutional government and claim rule of it as an emperor.

This is a coup.

He’s not a king, he just plays one in TV. Just because he’s a criminal doesn’t mean he can break the law. He’s not a dictator but a clown in a circus of his own making. The executive branch is but one part of a multilayered system. Remember when Biden declared that the equal rights act was “officially the law of the land.”? That was an executive order also and everyone just blew it off as non binding and ceremonial. His EO’s are the exact same thing.

Just a criminal trying to get away with crimes. Just a conman working his con. Just a clown in the circus.

[aishabellasbigblogofeverything]

Israel has finally come out as an ethno-religious state.

Full article under the cut for those who can’t read it:

In Palestine, we are dealing with a complex situation: We have a settler-colonial project that denies its colonialism and argues it is a democracy and we have its victims whose victimisation has been dismissed for decades and whose national liberation struggle has been defamed. 

The colonisers have been successful in manipulating the narrative on what is going on, rewriting history and whitewashing their crimes. Various countries around the world have bought into their lies and kept a “neutral” stance, claiming their positions are “balanced”.

What is there to balance, when one side has one of the most advanced armies in the world, financed and supplied by an allied superpower, and the other side has been altogether abandoned by allies and well-wishers and has only the determination and strength of its people to rely on?  

But these claims of “neutrality” and “balance” are no longer tenable. Israel has stopped playing the democracy pretence game and has revealed itself for what it really is: an apartheid state. On July 19, the Israeli Knesset voted to pass the so-called “nation-state law” which declares Israel “the national home of the Jewish people”. It is now officially an exclusive ethno-religious state.

Unveiling the ethno-religious state of Israel

For us Palestinians, this law reiterates the obvious: namely, that the Zionist ideology is inherently racist and undemocratic. 

The political goal of Zionism was to engineer a demographic shift in Palestine, making the minority Jewish population (which was just 7.6 percent in 1914) a majority through massive Jewish immigration and settlement building and expulsion of the Palestinians.

Inevitably, the expropriation of land went hand-in-hand with the violation of rights of the Palestinian majority. Zionists have always looked at Palestinians as invisible if not absent, or rather “present absentees”. The identity of those who remained within the boundaries of what was to become Israel was erased through the term “Israeli Arab” and their rights curbed by a myriad of laws (“the nation-state law” being just the latest iteration). 

This is because, contrary to modern liberal thinking, in Israel, citizenship and nationality are two separate, independent concepts. In other words, Israel is not the state of its citizens, but the state of the Jewish people. Thus Palestinians in Israel have Israeli passports but they do not have rights equal to those of Jewish citizens.

With the new “nation-state law”, Palestinians in Israel are now considered “native aliens” or foreigners in their own homeland, because Israel is defined by its law as “ the historical homeland of the Jewish people” i.e. not the state of all of its citizens. This is the direct result of Zionism and its ideology of racism.

It is also the direct result of prevailing undemocratic sentiments among Israel’s Jews. The contradiction between professed ideals and actual behaviour, which has been the engine of political change in many places around the world, does not exist in Israel because the democratic creed, or civic democracy, is absent in Israeli society. 

There is no promise of equality for all citizens in Israeli political culture and praxis. And there is no tradition of civil liberties in Israel because such a tradition is incompatible with Zionism. 

Hence, one can understand the antagonism of the establishment to calls for the creation of one state for Palestinians and Jews, one secular democratic state run by parliamentary elections and majority rule in historical Palestine. This idea has been rejected outright by Israeli Jewish society because it would effectively mean the end of Zionism.

And as Israel effectively turns into an exclusive ethno-religious state, we have to ask uncomfortable questions: does this mean that Islam, Christianity, Hinduism, etc can also be the basis of modern states? And if we still insist that religion should be separate from state, then where is the international outrage? Why isn’t mainstream media obsessing about the Jewish state, the way it was about the “Islamic state”? How is Israel different from the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant that sought to establish a state for Muslims only through violence and dispossession? 

The fight against apartheid is on

The passing of the “nation-state law” should eliminate whatever doubt there still is among “neutral” observers that Israel is, in fact, an apartheid state.

Just as apartheid South Africa gave citizenship to white South Africans and relegated blacks to “independent homelands”, Zionism gives all Jews the right to citizenship in the state of Israel, while denying citizenship to Palestinians – its indigenous inhabitants.

While South Africa’s apartheid used race to determine citizenship, the state of Israel uses religious identification to determine citizenship. Just as apartheid South Africa made laws criminalising free movement of blacks on their ancestral land, Israel controls every aspect of Palestinians’ lives through a military occupation infrastructure composed of checkpoints, Jewish-only settlements and roads, and the Wall, combined with a web of legal regulations.

The parallels between Israel and apartheid South Africa are infinite. And probably the only major difference between the two is that Israel gets away with its crimes with unprecedented impunity, as evidenced by its latest war crimes in Gaza.  

So what is left for the Palestinian people after the approval of this blatantly racist bill? Well, we definitely are not foolish enough to expect anything from the so-called “international community”.

Years of “negotiations” created only bantustans in the West Bank and a concentration camp in Gaza. Palestinians are still at the receiving end of merciless assaults by racist Israeli troops hidden in their US-made helicopters and F16’s. 

What all US envoys to the region have been trying to do is reach a “solution” in accordance with Israeli conditions, disregarding Security Council resolutions and international law. Neither the current US right-wing administration nor the spineless EU has a fair plan for how to resolve the crisis in Palestine. 

The only thing that we, Palestinians, can count on is the power of people, just as South Africans did when, through a sustained global campaign, they forced governments to boycott their apartheid regime. 

We will continue to expand the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement and will continue marching to the fence in Gaza until we bring this madness to an end. We will also continue working on an alternative model, both democratic and secular, which guarantees equality and abolishes apartheid, bantustans and separation in Palestine altogether. We will not give up the fight.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect Al Jazeera’s editorial stance.

[comeonamericawakeup]

Moscow Mitch, by blocking Obama’s supreme court nomination, disenfranchised the whole country. These Republicans who want to clutch their pearls (in disbelief and anger that Democrats would want to repay inkind their behavior by postponing one district election) can FUCK OFF. They created this new political arena and it’s about time Democrats start to play by their manipulative and underhanded rules.

👏🏼👏🏼👏🏼

[accountability-movement]

I've compiled everything I could find on who is leading this coup and why. PLEASE READ!

Introduction

Democracies do not collapse overnight, nor do they always fall to military force. Sometimes, they erode from within, their institutions hollowed out by those who seek to replace democratic governance with personal power. In the United States, a systematic purge of career civil servants is underway, targeting those who simply followed the law under previous administrations. The president has declared his refusal to enforce laws he dislikes, and Congress stands by, enabling this erosion of democracy through inaction. Meanwhile, unelected billionaires, particularly in the tech sector, are consolidating their power, using economic dominance to exert unprecedented political control.

Those resisting this transformation are being removed from government, while those who facilitate it are rewarded with influence over critical federal functions. What we are witnessing is not just a shift in policy or ideology; it is an orchestrated attack on the foundational principles of democratic governance. The United States is shifting from a government by the people to one controlled by private interests, operating outside the constraints of law and accountability.

Meanwhile, the tech elite, with unprecedented access to the White House, are transforming their economic power into political domination. Elon Musk's associates have gained access to crucial government databases, controlling trillions in federal funds and personal data. Peter Thiel-backed firms are securing lucrative defense contracts, embedding themselves deep within national security structures. Social media executives and billionaire owned media channels have been manipulating discourse by selectively amplifying or suppressing political narratives that benefit their corporate interests, effectively shaping public opinion and policy decisions. This unprecedented infiltration is turning Silicon Valley’s economic dominance into direct political control, further eroding democratic governance.

Those brave enough to resist are being removed, while enablers are rewarded with expanded control over government functions. This is not just political maneuvering—we are witnessing the deliberate dismantling of constitutional democracy.

The difference between legitimate policy disagreements and what we are facing now is stark. Disagreeing on taxation or immigration policy is part of democratic debate. But refusing to enforce laws, purging civil servants for upholding legal mandates, and allowing private entities to seize control of government functions is not just politics—it is an outright attack on governance itself.

A Warning From Our Forefathers

Every American who has ever fought to preserve democracy—from the battlefields of Gettysburg to the beaches of Normandy—did so with the belief that future generations would safeguard the nation’s foundational principles. The sacrifices of these patriots were made to protect a government that serves the people, not one ruled by unchecked personal power.

James Madison wrote: "The accumulation of all powers, legislative, executive, and judiciary, in the same hands, whether of one, a few, or many, and whether hereditary, self-appointed, or elective, may justly be pronounced the very definition of tyranny."

George Washington said: "The spirit of encroachment tends to consolidate the powers of all the departments in one, and thus to create, whatever the form of government, a real despotism."

Benjamin Franklin believed that: "In free governments, the rulers are the servants, and the people their superiors and sovereigns."

John Jay warned "The executive is the branch of power most interested in war and most prone to it; therefore, it must be restrained by the other branches."

Harry Truman warned "When even one American—who has done nothing wrong—is forced by fear to shut his mind and close his mouth, then all Americans are in peril."

President Obama made it clear: "Democracy does not require uniformity. Our founders argued. They quarreled. They eventually compromised. They expected us to do the same."

Today, we are watching the systematic subversion of constitutional governance. Career officials are being forced out, government functions are being taken over by private individuals, and Congress is abandoning its responsibilities. These actions threaten everything our democracy stands for.

It is understandable that many hesitate to acknowledge what is happening. Accepting the reality of an ongoing coup is frightening. However, we must confront the facts: Donald Trump and Elon Musk are orchestrating a systematic takeover of the federal government, using illegal means to consolidate power. They are violating civil service protections, dismantling congressionally mandated agencies without authority, and purging public servants based on ideology rather than lawfulness.

This is an emergency that demands urgent action from every American who values democracy. The window for effective resistance narrows with each passing day.

The Transformation of Government into Private Power

The American Constitution is more than just a framework for governance—it is the greatest experiment in self-rule through law and reason rather than brute force. The Founders built a system designed to prevent any one individual from amassing unchecked power. They created a structure in which democratic institutions, not personal authority, would shape national decisions.

Now, we are watching as this system is methodically dismantled. The checks and balances that safeguard our democracy—civil service protections, congressional oversight, and institutional integrity—are being stripped away, not by revolution but by a calculated strategy of institutional capture.

Treasury Systems Seized: A 25-year-old Musk employee took control of the U.S. Treasury’s payment system, effectively managing $5.5 trillion in government spending—including IRS refunds, Medicare, and Social Security payments—without oversight. This also granted him and his colleagues access to our Social Security numbers and our tax records.

Federal Employee Purges: Musk and his allies have expanded their ideological purges into the CIA and FBI, removing officials who played roles in prosecuting January 6 rioters.

Agency Closures: Musk has moved to shut down the U.S. Agency for International Development, despite Congress controlling its funding.

Deportation Policies: Secretary of State Marco Rubio announced El Salvador’s offer to house deportees and imprisoned Americans in a "mega-prison." Its prison system has been widely criticized for torture, arbitrary detentions, and abuse. Outsourcing U.S. deportees and incarcerated citizens to a foreign prison with documented human rights violations could lead to severe mistreatment and loss of legal protections, setting a dangerous precedent for the U.S. justice system.

This is not theoretical—it is happening in real time. The government is being reshaped into a tool that benefits the wealthiest elite, at the expense of democracy itself.

The Role of "Unhumans" and the Justification for Authoritarianism

A key element of this takeover is the ideological justification found in the book Unhumans: The Secret History of Communist Revolutions by Jack Posobiec and Joshua Lisec. This book, endorsed by figures such as JD Vance, Steve Bannon, Donald Trump Jr., and Tucker Carlson, openly dehumanizes the political left, labeling them as "unhuman" and advocating for their removal from society.

JD Vance, our vice-president, endorsed Unhumans, stating:

"In the past, communists marched in the streets waving red flags. Today, they march through HR, college campuses, and courtrooms to wage lawfare against good, honest people. In Unhumans, Jack Posobiec and Joshua Lisec reveal their plans and show us what to do to fight back."

The book explicitly praises authoritarian leaders like Francisco Franco and Augusto Pinochet for their suppression of leftist movements and suggests that similar measures may be necessary.

The Tactics They Advocate

Unhumans lays out a clear strategy for eliminating democratic opposition:

Public Humiliation and Ridicule – Use shame, disgrace, and harassment to undermine political opponents.

Creation of Blacklists – Target individuals in academia, media, and government to be exposed and removed from positions of influence.

Rejection of Democratic Processes – Suggest alternative means to securing power beyond elections.

Advocacy for Capital Punishment – Argue for executing political opponents as seen in historical authoritarian regimes.

Promotion of Righteous Violence – Justify the use of force against "unhumans."

Support for Vigilantism – Encourage private action outside legal channels to target opposition.

Suppression of Opposing Ideologies – Use censorship and coercion to silence dissent.

Encouragement of Political Persecution – Employ legal and extralegal methods to eliminate political threats.

The Butterfly Revolution: How Big Tech Will Dismantle Our Democracy

The term "Butterfly Revolution" has recently been associated with a proposed strategy to dismantle the U.S. government and replace it with a corporate-style autocracy. This concept is linked to Curtis Yarvin, a political theorist known for advocating the replacement of democratic institutions with a CEO-led governance model. 

The plan envisions a "reboot" of the American government, discarding democratic institutions in favor of a system that mirrors a techno-monarchy, where technology leaders hold significant power.

Here are the 7 Major Steps the Butterfly Revolution recommends to dismantle democracy:

Step 1: Campaign on Autocracy: They tell the public democracy is broken and that the only way forward is strongman rule. Trump, Vance, and their billionaire backers openly reject democracy and promise to “take power back” from voters, courts, and Congress. Thiel, Musk, and others have publicly stated their opposition to democracy. Trump’s “Freedom Cities” and Yarvin’s “Patchwork” plan both envision corporate city-states run by billionaire CEOs instead of elected officials. 

Step 2: Purge the Bureaucracy: They fire or replace government workers with loyalists to eliminate checks and balances. Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has already embedded agents inside federal agencies, giving him direct power over government operations. DOGE is modeled after Yarvin’s RAGE (Rapid Administrative Government Euthanasia)—designed to gut the administrative state and centralize power. Federal workers who resist are fired, replaced, or silenced.

Step 3: Ignore the Courts: They treat the judiciary as irrelevant—refusing to obey rulings that block their agenda. Musk and Vance have already dismissed federal judges’ rulings against DOGE’s actions. JD Vance has publicly questioned whether the courts have any authority over the executive branch. Once the courts are powerless, the rule of law collapses. 

Step 4: Co-Opt the Congress: They bully, buy, or bypass lawmakers to eliminate legislative oversight. Thiel and his allies have poured billions into Trump’s campaign and other far-right candidates to ensure that Congress is filled with loyalists. If Congress resists, the executive circumvents them with executive orders and corporate-backed policymaking (via Musk’s DOGE). Once Congress stops being an independent check, democracy is over. 

Step 5: Centralize Police and Power: They replace local law enforcement with federalized, AI-driven policing. AI and surveillance tech—controlled by these billionaires—will enforce their rule instead of independent law enforcement. Federal police powers will be centralized under the executive branch—meaning they answer to Musk, Vance, and Trump, not local governments. Dissent will be criminalized—protests, strikes, and opposition groups will be labeled as threats to “national security.” 

Step 6: Shut Down Elite Media and Academic Institutions: They discredit, defund, and dismantle independent sources of knowledge. Musk already controls Twitter/X, which has become a propaganda machine. Media outlets that criticize the coup will be bought out, shut down, or discredited. Universities will face funding cuts and ideological purges—professors who resist will be fired or censored. Once they control the flow of information, resistance becomes much harder. 

Step 7: Turn Out the People: They mobilize a loyalist base to enforce their rule on the streets. Far-right militias, online extremists, and billionaire-backed “populist” groups will be used to intimidate opponents. Election protests, media boycotts, and AI-powered propaganda will keep the public divided and disoriented. The government will claim they have “the people” on their side—even as they suppress millions. 

The Endgame: Technofascism and Corporate Rule: Once these seven steps are complete, America will no longer be a democracy. Corporate overlords will own the government, manipulate elections, control the police, and rule through AI and surveillance. 

The coup is already in motion. 

What Has Been Done So Far?

Defiance of the Constitution:

Trump is overriding laws and Constitutional protections through executive orders that were designed to safeguard our democracy. Trump is openly bypassing Congress, ignoring judicial rulings, and using executive power to centralize control.

His attack on the 14th Amendment is an attack on American citizens. The 14th Amendment guarantees equal protection under the law, yet Trump is targeting marginalized communities, including immigrants, intersex, and transgender people—denying them rights that our Constitution guarantees.

He is erasing women’s contributions from history. Trump has ordered NASA to purge all mentions of women in leadership from its official websites, an obvious attempt to rewrite history and diminish women’s role in science and government.

He is silencing vital public health information. Trump has removed critical medical data from CDC websites, limiting public access to life-saving health information. Why is the government restricting access to medical knowledge?

He is using the presidency to promote Christian supremacy. Executive orders are being signed to fund Christian nationalist task forces with taxpayer money, in direct violation of the First Amendment’s separation of church and state. 

Elon Musk now has control over critical government software. He has direct access to Social Security numbers, tax records, and federal databases. This means he can train AI on every American’s personal data and manipulate government operations behind the scenes.

This jeopardizes our elections. If Musk controls the infrastructure, how can we ever trust that an election is fair again? Who is watching him?

Our entire government software may already be compromised. We do not know what Musk or his allies are doing behind closed doors, nor who they may sell this access to. Our entire digital infrastructure needs to be rewritten before it’s too late.

 Federal employees are being bullied and purged. Trump’s executive orders and Musk’s direct interference have created chaos, resulting in the wrongful firings of dedicated public servants and the deaths of innocent people in disasters like recent plane crashes. Trump shifted the blame to DEI policies, refusing to take responsibility for the consequences of reckless governance.

This Is About the 1% vs. the Rest of Us

This is not about left vs. right—this is about the wealthiest elite seizing control over our government at the expense of everyone else. Trump, Musk, and their billionaire allies are consolidating power, eroding democracy, and rigging the system to serve the ultra-rich while stripping rights away from ordinary people.

What Needs to Be Done NOW

Trump must be impeached before he further dismantles our institutions. 

Elon Musk must be investigated and held accountable for his control over government systems and potential data breaches. 

Congress must act immediately to stop this authoritarian takeover before it’s too late.

This is an organized corporate coup led by the wealthiest 1%, turning America into a billionaire-controlled dictatorship. The time for action is now.

What Can Be Done?

This is not a time for passive observation—action is required. Here’s what you can do:

Support Reliable Sources – Identify and follow media outlets committed to factual reporting.

Speak Out Against Broken Norms – Call out violations of democratic principles.

Organize Locally – Get involved with pro-democracy groups.

Attend Community Meetings – School boards and city councils are where grassroots power begins.

Contact Your Representatives – Demand accountability from lawmakers on appointees and legislation.

Here are some other resources to fight this coup and to gain more information:

“Dark Gothic MAGA” by Blonde Politics on YouTube breaks down podcasts, web seminars, and talks by wealthy elites where they talk about using this administration to achieve their agenda. It explains what the Butterfly Revolution is and how they plan on using it.

The ACLU – Is taking legal action against authoritarianism.

Contact your Senators! https://www.senate.gov/senators/senators-contact.htm

GET INVOLVED! The more people that understand what’s going on, the better. Tell your neighbors, your coworkers, your friends, family, and your local and state representatives. The only way to stop this is together!

The time to act is now. Start small, but do not stop. Democracy depends on the vigilance and engagement of its people. If we fail to resist this moment, we may not get another chance.