#fall of democracy

[boymanmaletheshequel]

So a video went viral this week of a Neo Nazi at a five guys in Vermont who came in and harassed and attacked a Hispanic worker. He called him “b*aner” (a slur against Hispanic and Latino people) 10+ times, and on top of this, did the sig heil (nazi salute) multiple times. The Hispanic man who was being victimized, a single father, posted the video to social media, where he was promptly fired from five guys for quote “instigating and attacking the beliefs of a customer”. Yes, you heard this correctly, he was FIRED FOR RESISTING A RACIST ATTACK FROM A NAZI. Make no mistake, this will become more and more common as hate crime protection laws are repelled by the trump admin, and queer, Latino, black, female, ect employees will be forced to bare attacks agaisnt them and their humanity by racists and nazis because if they don’t, they can be fired for retaliating. This is trumps America, this is fascism. I’m sorry for the political posts today, but this is important for queer, POC, and other minorities like me to know as we are reaching the ages in which we are going to have to start entering the workforce sooner or later. We will not be allowed to defend ourselves anymore, because the racist and homophobic nazis are now in control of our rights and voices. They have won. We have lost. But don’t stand down, boycott five guys, boycott ANY corpo shitstain that runs with fascism and hatred to protect profit margins. EQUAL RIGHTS EQUAL FIGHTS, PUNCH A NAZI TODAY!

[theperplexedpoet]

wake up!

you were given the job with the expectation of performance

not of second guessing

not of knowing better a servant of the people our long arm within the system of law improving our reach, upholding our constitution we gave you no power of attorney we gave you our trust that you would honor and uphold our will this was not about you or your story, your glory, or prowess it was about your promise to serve at the bend of your constituents within the systems of governance as laid out by we the people not the highest bidder for our benefit and protection not egotistic insurrection centered around this cult of personality of obstruction and douchebaggery wake up! you don't have to be woke, but you do have to wake the fuck up to the world and the horrors we enact on each other through our apathetic disengagement or worse, our antipathetic participation wake up! heads out of the sand, and freed from the starfish's hold breathe free of that foul perversion of the norms of the standards and practices the beast that would have you stay breathing in his noxious cloud of disinformation and disdain wake up! we can do better, we can be better but we have to try it does take effort because they've made the other way the easier path so for progress, for change that is worthy of belief, that takes effort staying asleep through the daze and haze of this corruption of ideals and principles is easy to let go and live in a dream is effortless you have to want to- wake up! (2/13/24)

[tamamita]

Make no mistake

Tamamita

[skellymom]

IF YOU FEEL DEPRESSED ABOUT THE STATE OF THINGS...

LISTEN TO THIS!!!

Turn it up until your ears bleed! Turn on the base! Put it on repeat if you MUST! Get up, eat, hydrate, take a walk, hug your loved ones, get dressed, face the day...or night, AND realize:

YOU AREN'T ALONE!!!

It will be hard, it will be dark. But THIS fandom was built for this. I FULLY INTEND TO STAY PUT ON THIS PLATFORM AS LONG AS POSSIBLE!!! I WILL BE HERE FOR YOU ALL! If you need me, don't hesitate to message or comment. There is strength in numbers!!! Look for ways, even TINY ones, to help in the coming months. Everyone is important. Everyone participating will be key in the next 4 years or more. Even just extending empathy or a shoulder to another person is a BIG step!

KEEP WRITING, MAKING ART, MEME'S, OR ANYTHING ELSE THAT GIVES YOU JOY! It will be vitally important in the coming days...years...and will help you cope while helping others do the same. We will inspire, bond, and PERSEVERE!!!

WE ARE THE RESISTENCE!

WE ARE THE REBELLION!!!

Don't let this setback discourage you. Yes, mourn and do what you can for mental health and safety. But there are MANY of us! We are legion!!!

We are defective AND effective!

We don't leave our own behind!

FOR THE REPUBLIC!

FOR DEMOCRACY!

UNITED WE STAND,

DIVIDED WE FALL!!!

AND I EXTEND EMPATHY AND SUPPORT TO YOU ALL!!!

MAKE THIS MAN PROUD!

WE CAN DO THIS!!!

PLEASE PASS THIS ON TO INSPIRE OTHERS TO CONTINUE TO SEE ANOTHER DAY OF HOPE!!!

[bedlamsbard]

me trying to be optimistic and encouraging: you think WE have problems let's talk about the time Athens fucked up so badly they panicked and dismantled their own democracy and realized five minutes later it had been a horrible mistake and dismantled the new system in order to slink back to their democracy

(I actually do find ancient history very soothing, but I do understand that sometimes the connections aren't obvious or. you know. soothing. also I cannot emphasize this enough, classical Athens had so many other problems.)

[rippersz]

For American followers:

Politics do not belong in all spaces and I usually prefer to keep art and politics separate, however I must mention this here:

If you are a follower/admirer of my work, my posts, my art - and you have voted Republican or Green or anything OTHER than Democratic, in any way, shape, or form in this 2024 United States election, then you need to know that you are part of the issue, the problem, and the horrific state of this country.

I do not like you. The work I make is not for you.

And it never will be. Suck my dick and choke.

- Ripley

[its-simply-just-krys]

if you voted for trump fucking unfollow me, i don’t want anything to do with you ignorant motherfuckers.

[chromateclipse]

Undecided U.S. Citizens Please!

Immigrants are what make up this country. America is and always has been a melting pot of people from all of the world. That's the entire message that the United States has always made. This country is meant to be a safe place for every human being on earth, and under Trump's control, it will not be. My reach is small but I urge you. Please care for your fellow friends, coworkers, and neighbors and vote Kamala Harris.

[thehetrophobe]

Ever notice how Defaults put the gay relationships in children's cartoons at the end of the series itself, then turn and expect a medal from us?

Lol what for? Cowardice? 🤣🤣

Looking at you, Adventure Time, Gravity Falls, Legend of Korra, and Arthur 👀👀

[gryficowa]

Boycott!

Remember, Democrats covered their ears when Israel's victims were mentioned, and Harris silenced activists by using the Trump scare as if he were a boogymen

You won't swipe it to the left, but it has already swiped you to the right

Now that I have your attention:

[snailstrailz]

Saw a debate over in Twitter on Uncle Grandpa vs Bill Chiper, lots of people say Uncle Grandpa would win, but tbh I think it would be a stalemate. But who cares? Imma ask y'all.

[beastkeeper91]

By Heart We'll Save Our Home Again

(Verse 1)

When there's nothing left but the fire in my chest and the air that fills my lungs

I'll hold my tears and trade my years for a glimpse of freedom's song

On the other side of tyranny, there's a land we long to see

The strife we share will take us there to peace and liberty

(Chorus)

Oh by heart, we'll save our home again, by heart, we'll save our home

By love or fight, we'll make it right

By heart, we'll save our home

(Verse 2)

In our own towns, we're strangers now, our voices drowned and cursed

The headlines scream of another scheme, not the last and not the worst

Oh my ancestors, they look down on me, I wonder what they feel

To see their noble dreams trampled down beneath a tyrant's heel

(Chorus)

Oh by heart, we'll save our home again, by heart, we'll save our home

By love or fight, we'll make it right

By heart, we'll save our home

(Verse 3)

The road is dark, the way is lost, my eyes they strain to see

I struggle forth to find a friend to light the way for me

Oh comrades, can you hear my voice or am I all alone

If there's no fire to guide my way, then I will start my own

(Chorus)

Oh by heart, we'll save our home again, by heart, we'll save our home

By love or fight, we'll make it right

By heart, we'll save our home

(Closing)

Oh by heart, we'll save our home again, by heart, we'll save our home

By love or fight, we'll make it right

By heart, we'll save our home

[is-the-owl-video-cute]

https://www.reddit.com/r/interestingasfuck/s/dZPyQKnY7J

So is this bullshit even legal or able to happen if trump wins!? Aka him bragging about doing away with voting all together if he gets in

It won’t happen unless he does a more effective coup. I think he may just be saying “I only get four more years anyway just vote for me and don’t worry about voting after that when it’s not me I don’t care”.

The thing about trump is he just. Says things. That make no sense. He’s speaking out his ass. I wouldn't worry about it too much beyond voting against him this election. Now that he’s not against Biden I feel he may be spiraling a bit. With Biden we would have seen a landslide in his favor, with an annoying neo-liberal on the other hand, well. The results are likely to mirror the 2020 election. Trump is looking down the barrel at a serious loss, so he’s just appealing to whatever extremists he can at this point. The Republican Party by and large is not a fan of trump. It’s actually a massive division in the party at present with a very sizable fraction of republicans leaning towards not voting or voting third party/democrat. Just like there were a lot of democrat voters biting the bullet and willing to vote Biden just to avoid trump, so too were there plenty of republican voters only willing to vote trump to avoid Biden. With the threat of a second Biden term gone, you will see a weaker turnout, even if just marginally.

Trump is also rapidly showing his age, it was just less noticeable when he was against Biden who was worse. Everyone but his cultists see it. Republican voters also despise Vance, trump’s selected VP, because Vance says the quiet part a bit TOO loud, even when compared to trump. Republicans overall tend to agree with the things Vance has said about women, immigrants, etc., but it’s preferred to keep the mask on (ironic choice of words is unintentional). If trump wanted to win this, choosing a more moderate Republican as VP is a better look because it would have garnered support from people who hate trump but favor the next in line. As is, he picked someone so far right it makes trump look moderate in comparison which is a worse move by a long shot. People on the fence about voting trump are not going to be won over by someone like Vance. People who are die hard trump fans probably recall Vance speaking unfavorably about trump in the past.

Overall, the future is very uncertain for trump. There’s a good chance in another four years he’s going to be too old to run at all. As a result, he’s making even weirder promises he knows he can’t and won’t keep. His strategy has gone into just banking on the votes of the far right and hoping for a silent majority.

Every word the man says is a lie. If you are concerned by them, vote. I don’t even care if you vote for Harris or whomever the presidential nominee for the democrats is going to be, vote democrat on every other seat on the ballot. Ensure that, even if the electoral college selects trump, his nonsensical and dangerous actions will be blocked. That is the most important thing you can do this election.

But no, to answer your question, he cannot just remove the already flimsy democracy we already have. The ones who could would be the Supreme Court. They are already playing heavily in favor of trump, if you want to uno-reverse card them on all the actions they are taking to ensure a dictatorship can occur, I would recommend voting a democrat for your presidential pick.

[playbarbies]

this grief is unlike anything i’ve ever experienced before. i had a major breakdown at 3AM, and i think most people would have thought someone died with how agonized the cries were. but something did die. democracy died. hope died. my faith in my country died. as a disabled queer jew with a reproductive system, i have never been so terrified, both for myself and those i care about, and so disappointed. to my fellow americans, i am so sorry, and i am here for you. my IM’s are open if you need/want to talk. i love you all, please try and do nice things and silly distractions for yourself today. take care of yourself as best you can, and i’m here for you always.

[clonehub]

okay so firsties thanks to @saga-ordsmed for the Mandatory Service idea and the massive chunk of worldbuilding and concepts I'm about to use to solidify one of the most important arcs in Kiki's life.

Ninoreth I is a mission, at first, to get fair wages for mine workers. It turns into a revolution.

There are two characters whom Kiki establishes an important relationship with: Chular Sahines, who's native to the land, and Beziff Tarsos, multi-billionaire who runs as massive shipping company. All three are present as the "official meetings" that are really just distractions to keep the combination of indentured servants, slaves, and actual laborers occupied while the COalition of Mine Lords keeps them occupied.

Beziff Tarsos, I think, needs a more solid reason to be there beyond just "I'm the guy that ships things too and from the planet -- mostly from". He's not very subtle or politically savvy, but he does know shipping lanes and routes. I also want to use Mandatory Service (MS) as a reason for him to have close economic ties to Ninoreth I. On the outside, he's paying his laborers well and fairly. He has an MS license to operate in the star system, but without auditing there's a LOT of problems and often times those under an MS contract can get shuffled into the minelord's clutches.

Tarsos's shipping company is far-reaching and popular within the Senate, which otherwise ignores him. He has a contract or two with the Republic. He's friends with a lot of Senators. Tarsos is not very bright, however!

At about the halfway point through the arc, when Kiki loses patience with the dull and circuitous (and paradoxical? contradictory? lifeless. limp) "We can't use violence we have to use the power of POLITICS and VOTING" liberal meetings, Kiki very easily blackmails Tarsos. I can see her literally sitting on a chair in his office, the lights off, the glow from his computer highlighting her face, and she's already downloaded like a Terabyte of damning evidence. Normally a billionaire would get off scott-free, especially with an MS license as robust as Tarsos's, but this evidence includes a LOT of Senators, politicians, and even other CEOs by name. So she uses this information to get him to sway minelord coalition votes so that they're sufficiently distracted while Chular can shore up enough resources to arm the workers to the teeth.

Now the question is of WHO gets pulled into Tarsos's mandatory service. Former convicts? People who prefer the term "mandatory service worker" to "indentured servant?" Idk. I haven't thought that far.

Pros:

moral greyness! Kiki's holding onto butt loads of information of various economic and labor rights abuses and violations and she KEEPS this information for the duration of the war in order to get Tarsos to cooperate.

worldbuilding depth! thanks @saga-ordsmed

Cons

This is. the MOST politically dense arc i'd have to write. There's a lto of messages and parallels to real life liberation movements and leaders in here.

I also need to get in enough characterization for Kiki and her master to show how much they dont work together and also justify Kiki choosing to stay while he goes back to Coruscant.

something else im forgetting

Wait wait wait just realized. The indentured servants of Ninoreth I who often have the "better" conditions than the slaves but who are worse off than the "laborers" (wage slaves) CAN be the Mandatory Service Workers. They can be for both the minelords, who employ them with the company as a way to undercut the local labor force and ensure a loyal domestic supply of laborers, AND for Tarsos, who sometimes trades in MSWs rather than like. money.

[asurrogateblog]

I see you CNN commentator