#i am voting for harris regardless

[pkdonuts5]

I don't talk about politics much on here (this is my escape lol), but in terms of Kamala Harris' VP hunt, her choices are:

-A popular blue state governor who pushed and defended liberal policies while attacking the GOP's lack of humanity

-another governor who defended abortion and trans kids despite governing a hard red state

-a centrist senator who, despite my own personal disagreements, has a strong political brand and is fairly well-liked

And finally,

-an admittedly popular swing-state governor who is blatantly ambitious (dude literally does an Obama impression, it's uncanny), compared pro-Palestinian protesters to the KKK, supports charter schools putting him at odds with teachers unions, and helped settle a sexual misconduct case by one of his top aides and didn't immediately fire the guy

And what's makes all this hilarious in a very sick way is everyone instinctually knows who she's gonna pick 🙃

[yourlocalxenomorph3]

it sucks that the choice between the fascist telling people that haitian immigrants are eating their dogs and the woman who worked for the legal system in an effort to do good things is such a difficult choice. like wow there really is no lesser evil between the guy who said covid would just "disappear like a miracle" and the woman who thinks people should be able to have bodily autonomy and access to vital healthcare. it's so unfortunate that there is absolutely zero difference between the guy who said we would "never have to vote again" and the woman who wants to raise taxes on the ludicrously wealthy. what a shame that there's just absolutely no way to choose between the man who thinks disabled people should just die and the woman who wants kids to never go hungry and never get shot at school. and the choice between the guy's side-guy who wants woman to be nothing more than baby-making maids and the woman's side-guy who thinks period supplies should be easy to access? forget it, that's an impossible choice

what a truly terrible, terrible, election where neither party is acceptable in any way. voting just simply doesn't matter because they're both utterly abhorrent people with absolutely no differences at all

[reading comprehension disclaimer: this post is thoroughly sarcastic and intended to mock people who insist that voting is meaningless and that both parties and candidates are identical]

[favroitecrime]

I hate to break it to you, but that Project 2025 list is very much legit in its entirety and to imply that it’s not simply because it seems outlandish is irresponsible. Project 2025 calls the FBI a “bloated, arrogant, increasingly lawless organization,” and wants to replace government employees with political appointees. There’s a lot of rhetoric about reviving traditional families and taking away financial and social support for single-parent families and redirect it towards “marriage education.” They explicitly talk about biblical marriage.

I understand where you’re coming from, but there’s really no need to downplay the severity of Project 2025. It really is just as bad as everyone says it is, and if anything on that list seems implausible to you, I suggest you fact check it yourself before spreading misinformation.

I didn’t spread misinformation. My questioning of the list doesn’t come from whether or not I think anything is going to happen, it stems from the disbelief that they’ll easily find a way to get rid of the FBI and Homeland Security. Like I said in my tags, there’s way too much to do in order to get stuff like that done anyhow.

[qqueenofhades]

I am FULLY ONBOARD the Harris/Waltz train, tho before this i was leaning towards Mark Kelly (AZ is a swing state! He's an ASTRONAUT!) If you want or have time, no pressure, but any thoughts on what makes Waltz a better pick?

I like Mark Kelly too, and since he's married to Gabby Giffords (having run for public office after she got shot and could no longer do so) he would have been an amazing pick in terms of supporting the first female POTUS. But he is a less charismatic public speaker than Walz (for whatever that's worth, but politics is a mess of Aesthetics and Vibes that matter as much and/or more than actual facts) and more moderate/conservative. He's been a great senator and picking him would defuse some of the BORDER IMMIGRATION BLAH BLAH!!! scaremongering that Republicans love to run on, but it would also leave open the possibility of losing a special election and other dangers with the Democratic senate that we really need to minimize. So Walz is a better choice for that alone, but also:

He really has serious progressive credentials as governor, even if he was a fairly mainstream Democrat (who flipped a rural red House district in Minnesota that Democrats have not been able to win again after he left) during his 12 years in the House. This is an INCOMPLETE LIST of what he was able to do in two years with a one-seat Democratic majority in Minnesota:

A Climate Action Plan that included:

Investing in energy infrastructure

100% carbon-free electricity by 2040 goal

Transition off of fossil fuels and onto clean energy resources

Building more electric vehicle charging stations

Providing funding to help workers acquire new skills through apprenticeship programs in clean energy fields

Direct state funding for transit

Money for rail

Tax credit for e-bikes

Permitting form to fast-track clean energy projects

And that was in addition to:

Codified abortion access in Minnesota

Guaranteed paid sick time and paid family and medical leave

Funded replacing ALL LEAD PIPES IN THE STATE

Free school breakfasts and lunches for all

Made public college free

Stronger labor protections

Drivers’ Licenses for All

Voting Rights Act to reverse recent court rulings that make voting harder, including restored voting rights to convicted felons

Banning medical debt from credit bureaus

The "Taylor Swift Bill" requiring all ticket "junk fees" be shown up front

Banning most "junk fees"

No book bans

Protection for tipped workers

Banned non-competes

Legalized recreational cannabis

Gun control, including increased penalties for straw purchases of firearms, expanded background checks and enacted red-flag laws, passing gun safety measures that the GOP has thwarted for years

Made MN a Trans Refuge State, and required health plans to cover “medically necessary gender-affirming care.”

Pay increase for Uber and Lyft drivers

Elimination of the so-called “gay panic defense”

A ban on “doxxing” election workers

A prohibition on “swatting” elected officials

In March, during the height of the Gaza/uncommitted primary protests against Biden, Walz said that young people should be listened to and they had a right to be speaking up and the situation in Gaza was horrible and intolerable, without directly slamming Biden or getting involved in the issue in a way to draw negative headlines. Regardless of what you think about any of it, that is a very deft way to handle it and pairs well with Kamala's better responsiveness on the Gaza issue overall. That was a big part of the reason why Gen Z/younger voters were very excited about Walz despite him being an "old" (actually the same age as Kamala but he has joked that teaching high school for 20 years will do that to a guy) white guy. If half the battle in politics is making the right pick to excite your core voters and reach out to new ones, then Harris nailed it. As I have said in earlier posts, there was just too much energy with young voters FINALLY checking in when Harris became the candidate, to risk introducing a big ideological split with Shapiro.

Aside from that: the most insufferable Smart White-Bro Political Pundits (TM) are big mad about Walz, many Never Trumper Republicans thought they were entitled to a "moderate" in exchange for oh-so-generously lending us their vote against Trump and not run the risk that we might end up with someone *gasp* progressive, and the regular MAGA Republicans are hysterical, which means they're terrified. It's also incredibly hard to paint Literal Midwestern Stereotype Dad (football coach, social studies high school teacher, military veteran, etc) as THE EVIL END OF AMERICA in the way they desperately want to do, though the fact that they're trying shows that they've got literally nothing. The fact that Kamala picked Walz against the PREVAILING WISDOM!!! that she had to take Shapiro (for whatever reason that might have been) is also a good sign, because by far the most genuine and extensive enthusiasm that I have seen from Democratic voters, especially those feeling burned out or disillusioned or angry with specific policy choices of the current administration, was for Walz. Having everyone excited for the pick beforehand, effectively using the "weird" line, and rallying behind the guy, only for her to actually go for him, is inspiring. It makes people feel like they're being heard and the Democrats have decided to win by being progressive, and not just endlessly Catering To The (Imaginary) Middle as they have always been told to do (and often done). That alone is MASSIVE.

Walz is tremendously funny, personable, has Democrats from AOC to Joe Manchin praising it (again, shocking), was right out the gate supporting Kamala, has already been majorly successful on TV, was by far the most progressive-on-policy picks of the VP finalists, is incredibly, hilariously wholesome and small-town Midwestern (he's the JD Vance that they wish JD Vance was), and is already sending ActBlue gangbusters with donations again. And when you're getting this kind of response on the Cursed Bird Hellsite, just:

Just. I don't know what's happening either. But let's enjoy it, and then work hard, because we gotta fucking do this and for possibly the first time this entire year, I really think we might. Heck yeah.

[prozach27]

As someone who has had posts supporting Kamala Harris in the 2024 election receive an influx of attention, I think it’s worth mentioning that this leads to a number of accounts 1) sending me copy and pasted, word for word indictments of her not letting Palestinians speak at the DNC, and 2) reblogging the post to state that people who support democrats are racist because democrats “support genocide” - despite my post arguing that democrats shouldn’t be trusted to have our best interest in mind and that they’re complicit in genocide but more likely to capitulate to demands than a Trump administration. Interestingly, those who reblog to talk about how white democrats supporting Kamala are racist also have never offered a single alternate option, have no candidates they’re recommending, and offer no ways to support Palestine during their critique.

I am BEGGING you all to recognize election interference when it is this blatant. Do you know who is most likely to become concerned about voting based on this messaging? White liberals in their teens and 20s who make up a significant portion of the Democratic voting population. Do you know who falls victim to people concerned about how “Harris won’t let Palestinians speak” at the DNC? Liberals who care about Palestine, which is DEMONSTRABLY the largest portion of the voting base. We will never have a viable candidate for president who presses for everything we want against Israel since they’re one of our closest allies for decades. Regardless, voting for president isn’t about voting for who’s the best person - it’s about voting for the enemy you want in office to fight against in meeting your demands. You have Trump, who has told Israel to finish the job, and Harris, who has repeatedly discussed ceasefires and resolutions. If your politics see those two positions as no different, tell that to the Palestinian lives who will be saved in a ceasefire brokered by the US.

Tumblr is once again home to election interference, and I am asking you to please recognize the signs that accounts are preying upon potential Democratic voters to get Trump in office and make things exponentially worse. Question why someone is railing against Harris while offering no alternative. Ask yourself, “who is it this person is telling me to support in the election, how viable is their preferred candidate to win, and why do they think they’re better?” If a post tearing down Harris can’t meet these basic requirements, assume it’s election interference and report it. Better yet, reblog this post and tag blogs who continually fail to meet these requirements so people can block them. We need to be aware that this is happening. It’s time to combat it as a community.

[misfitwashere]

Friends,

Trump called attention to the discrepancy between his height (reportedly 6-foot-3) and Kamala Harris’s (5-7½ in heels), insisting that no accommodation be made to appear closer in size.

“No boxes or artificial lifts will be allowed to stand on during my upcoming debate with Comrade Kamala Harris,” he wrote, adding that such accommodations would be “a form of cheating.” There’s no evidence Harris has sought such things. 

Nicholas Rule, a psychology professor at the University of Toronto who researches social perception and cognition, said Harris’s shorter height will be irrelevant tonight because she exudes “Tall Energy,” which he defined as “the confidence that comes from being above average height.”

I am 4-feet-10. At my highest, I was 4-feet-11. I doubt I have “Tall energy.” But if I were on the stage tonight with Donald Trump, I’d demolish him. 

To be sure, when it comes to choosing leaders, our society is exceptionally heightist. 

When I ran for the Democratic nomination for governor of Massachusetts in 2002, it seemed that the only attribute reporters wanted to cover was my height. Regardless of what I said in my speeches, the Boston Globe ran photos of me standing on boxes so I could see over the podium. The right-wing Boston Herald ran a headline on its front page charging “Short People Are Furious with Reich” because I had joked about my height on the campaign trail. 

None of it helped me with that election. But I didn’t lose because of my height. I lost because I was a lousy campaigner.

Research shows that voters do prefer taller candidates. A paper published in 2013 by psychologists at the University of Groningen in the Netherlands analyzed the results of American presidential elections dating back to 1789. They found that taller candidates received more votes than shorter ones in roughly two-thirds of all elections. And the taller the candidates were relative to their opponents, the greater the average margin of their victory. 

Among presidents who have sought a second term, winners have been two inches taller, on average, than losers. The authors conclude that height may explain as much as 15 percent of the variation in election outcomes. 

It’s similar in the private sector. A survey of the heights of CEOs of Fortune 500 companies showed they were on average six feet tall -- about 2.5 inches taller than the average American man.

Why are we so heightist? Probably because of some genetic trigger in our brain that told early humans they needed the protection of very big men. Other things being equal, large males are more to be feared and they live longer. An impulse to defer to them, or prefer them as mates, makes evolutionary sense.

In Size Matters, Stephen S. Hall writes that in the eighteenth-century Frederick William of Prussia paid huge sums to recruit giant soldiers from around the world, thereby giving tangible value to matters of inches, and revealing “the desirability of height for the first time in a large, post-medieval society.”

But hey, I’m okay with giant soldiers, big security guards, and massive CEOs. I don’t care if I lack “Tall energy.” I’m fortunate to have grown up (or at least grown upward) in a society that values brains at least as much as brawn.

Kamala will win tonight, and she’ll go on to win the election in 55 days — not because of her “Tall energy,” but because she’s smarter, tougher, and better in every way than her large, stupid, decrepit opponent. 

[arcadeii]

KAMALA HARRIS 2024

as a queer 15 year old in one of america’s most progressive cities, I urge everyone who can to vote for kamala harris. If it’s somehow not harris, vote for whatever democrat is on the ballot.

I am dead terrified of what trump could do to this country, and many of you suggest voting for a more progressive independent candidate. In mine and most’s eyes, there is absolutely no way an independent candidate would win. project 2025 is such a disaster that my younger brother genuinely thought it a myth. I genuinely cannot read their ideas without wondering how such an evil thing could be thought up, much less widely known and supported as it is today. If I were feeling philosophical i might doubt the existence of an evil and good in the world, but here is one of the circumstances where I feel completely confident. Project 2025, and what it could do to america, is evil.

setting up the necessary campaign for an independent candidate to be even widely known about in years would be unprecedented. much less, 3 months. Regardless of a democratic candidate’s potential blunders, anything will be better than inadvertently contributing to the downfall of democracy in america (an exaggeration? I don’t know. you tell me. :) ). Maybe biden or harris have done something you could consider evil. All of us know that biden continues to support israel in the current conflict. That stance and the war itself is on my list of evils and I truly believe it is something that everyone should be able to see the evil in.

However we cannot forget that trump has said he would be harsher on palestine. this article highlights just some of that. In specific reference, trump had reportedly said in reference to the college protests that swept the nation:

“Well, if you get me elected, and you should really be doing this, if you get me reelected, we’re going to set that movement back 25 or 30 years.”

That is not someone we can elect. Those are the words of a man who will do nothing but worsen the problem. perhaps kamala harris will be more progressive on the issue than biden, even.

yes, this election will be a bit of a trolley problem. yes, it may not feel great to vote for someone who you don’t agree with. but much worse would be electing a president that will do absolutely nothing good and turn this country not greater, but into a ditch by the road, thereby taking the rest of the world with it.

on a lighter note, earlier today I was more scared than I am now. a lot of you online are hopeful and I will join you in that. My doomscrolling has turned to “hope”scrolling as the day progressed, as I saw someone else say. Once again, I can’t vote, but I’m going to be helping my mom and my grandma write postcards encouraging others to vote. I can’t vote but I will try my hardest to help out in any ways, i suppose starting in small part by this post. Alone I will have little impact but I believe that if we can raise 52,000,000$ in one day, 27,5000,000 in FIVE HOURS, we can win this election.

Keep the energy up,

KAMALA HARRIS 2024!!!!

ps. i found out biden dropped out 2 hours after leaving a vacation with my republican grandparent. bullet dodged. then had a wonderful hour long conversation with my awesome grandma at home ❤️

[tikkunolamresistance]

One of the greatest cons was Arab Americans pretending they're reliable Democratic voters. They're the second most reliable Republican voting bloc after white people. Muslims are just as conservative as their Evangelical counterparts.

They elected George W. Bush (because they didn't like that Al Gore chose a Jewish vice president). Recently in Michigan, they voted for Governor Whitmer's far-right challenger. So they can miss me with their "I'm not voting for Kamala Harris because Gaza/her Jewish husband/she might choose a Jewish VP."

Black voters will win us Michigan. Black and Jewish voters will win us Pennsylvania. Arabs will vote Republican like they always do.

i find this ask to be very inappropriate for a number of reasons.

first, while i am american, i have no interest in debating politics with you. largely because this is sourceless and disrespectful.

second, it is incredibly presumptuous and quite racist that you are generalizing a population of only ~4million people and grouping them with evangelicals to judge their voting patterns based on alleged faith.

third, people don’t owe you an explanation for why they voted the way they did nor should you expect one. they’re going to vote whichever way regardless of your assumptions or what you think they should do.

this ask seems to be three lines away from dropping a “you people.”

just go and vote and advocate for the candidate you want to see in office.

bottom line: this ask is stinky.

[overclockedopossum]

Incidentally, while I am extremely strongly opposed to all the "you must vote for the DNC candidate regardless of their policies or record" stuff, I do think it's important to point out that Harris seems to be relatively OK on gaza.

Yes, ideally being in the same room as Netanyahu she would have taken her chance to arrest the fucker. I'm not saying there isn't room for criticism from the left. Yes, the word "relatively" is doing a lot of heavy lifting.

But "she wants a proper ceasefire" is a much better argument than "I assume she doesn't give a shit about gaza and think she still deserves to win". The former is actual political compromise, the latter is white supremacist rhetoric disguised as political compromise.

(not that everyone repeating the latter is actively a white supremacist, but the people originating it sure as fuck are and the people repeating it could stand to work on their critical thinking) ***BY REBLOGGING THIS POST YOU AGREE THAT "a protest vote is a vote for trump" IS NONSENSE***

[forsetti]

On Pres. Biden: Sadness, Anger, Counterfactuals, And Motivation

Right up front, I want to say that Kamala Harris was my first choice to be the presidential nominee in 2020. Joe Biden was way down my list of preferred candidates. It wasn’t that I didn’t like Joe or respect him, I just didn’t think he had it in him to be the candidate for change the country needed. Boy, I was wrong. He outperformed every expectation, and then some. His record over the past three and a half years is something any president would be thrilled to have as their legacy.

It is this legacy that makes me both sad and angry he decided not to continue to run for reelection.

I am sad because I cannot imagine how difficult this decision was for him to make. He has dedicated a half-century of his life to serving his country and was responsible for the greatest economic boom in America over the past fifty years.

I’m angry because he deserved better.

He deserved better from the media that opted not to discuss his accomplishments but instead focus on bullshit claims from the right about Hunter, the border, the economy, his mental state…

He absolutely deserved better from the left who, at the first sign of negative press, turned on him like a pack of rabid dogs. Whatever happens in Nov., I will NEVER forgive the Dems who dog-piled on Pres. Biden because a bunch of donors panicked and some well-funded, right-wing pushed polls showed Biden in trouble in some key states. (I can tell you as a matter of fact there is no way in hell he was trailing Trump in Michigan.)

As someone who has gone through what he has in his life, who was the proud Vice President to the first black president in history, who put the first black woman on his winning ticket, who appointed the most minorities to high-ranking posts and judgeships, who had his only surviving son publicly dragged and attacked by the right, who transformed the country’s economic model away from top down to middle out, he absolutely fucking deserved better.

While it is true Pres. Biden deserved better, it is also true, that he really had no choice but to step down from running for reelection. There were just too many forces outside his control pushing the narrative and it was affecting voter enthusiasm. He might have weathered the storm of bullshit had every Dem rallied to his defense but they didn’t for a multitude of spineless reasons.

No matter what happens in Nov., I am pretty sure the wrong lessons will be learned by the ones who helped push him out. Whether VP Harris wins or loses, the media will pat themselves on their backs because they were losing money on the Biden v Trump matchup. The chaos of Biden stepping down and the opportunity to come up with whole new lines of attacks against VP Harris is going to boost ratings, regardless of the election’s outcome.

The far-left, mostly white dudebro talking heads, pundits, and podcasters who pushed the hardest for Biden to step down won’t learn a lesson because if VP Harris wins, they will claim it was because of their efforts to get Biden off the ticket. If she loses, they will claim it was because Biden didn’t step down soon enough or because she really wasn’t who they wanted to replace Biden (Hint-she absolutely is not who they want to run.)

The media and the far-left are also the ones pushing for the Democratic Party to not go with VP Harris but instead have an open convention. There is no good reason to do this. The Biden/Harris ticket not only beat Trump in 2020 but 14 million people voted for this ticket in the 2024 primaries. The student body president at Bugtussle High got more votes cast for them than the second-place person in the Democratic Primaries. Dems wanted Biden/Harris. Not that the top of that ticket has stepped down, but that doesn’t mean Dean Phillips, RFK Jr., Marianne Williamson or the fifth-place finisher at the Nathan’s Hot Dog eating contest should be given a second look.

A contested convention would serve only two purposes: 1-created chaos which the media would gobble up like the attention whores they are; 2-allow the misogynist dudebros on the left to bypass VP Harris because that has always been their real purpose of getting Biden to step down.

Here’s the thing, no one knows what would have happened had Pres. Biden stayed in the race. No one. Not the pollsters. Not the pundits. Not the media. No-fucking-one.

Three weeks before the 2012 Presidential Election, Mitt Romney was polling 2 points ahead of Pres. Obama in the nationwide polls. How’d that turn out? Polls used to be fairly accurate but once people figured out they can manipulate and rig polls to suppress voter enthusiasm, they really aren’t that reliable.

The real problem is, any hot take about what would have/wouldn’t have happened if Biden had stayed in the race or stepped down sooner or whether there was an open contest at the Democratic convention relies on a counterfactual.

Counterfactuals are conditional sentences that discuss what would have been true under different circumstances. For example, “If Draymond Green had not been suspended for game five of the 2016 NBA Finals, the Golden State Warriors would have won the title.” Or, to stay with politics, “If Bernie Sanders had been the nominee in 2016, he would have beaten Trump.” Maybe. Maybe not. Just because you believe a counterfactual does not make it true.

The problem with counterfactuals is NOTHING counts against them. There is no way to swap out the conditions and replay the scenario. Counterfactuals are nothing more than guesses disguised as factual statements.

The Media and Left-Wing Dudebros LOVE counterfactuals because they allow them to NEVER be wrong. No matter what they proclaim would have happened, there is no way to prove them wrong. What they don’t say is, there is no way they can prove their claim(s) would have turned out true.

With this being said, through all the sadness and all the anger, I’m politically motivated more than I’ve been in years. I want Kamala Harris to be the next president not only because I believe she will do a tremendous job but I want her, and everything she is and what she stands for, to be a daily reminder of what America is supposed to be. I want her ethnicity to be a thorn in the side of every racist and bigot. I want her gender to annoy every misogynist. I want her example to be a ray of hope for everyone who feels marginalized. I want a Black/Asian woman to be the one defending America against the fascism, totalitarianism, and authoritarianism of the right.

The key to everything is if Democrats can maintain the enthusiasm, unity, and motivation they currently enjoy. These are going to be put to the test because the right-wing propaganda machine is going to be working overtime to discredit VP Harris and tear Dems apart. After all, that is the only way they can win.

[anthonycrowley]

my mother was like so are you voting for harris* and four years of memes and also shit i heard she did while she was ag and also like a billion other things flashed through my head and i was like well. remember when i said repeatedly for like a year that i’d be happy to take a lukewarm ham sandwich as president over either biden or trump? well unfortunately they’ve finally bowed to my demands and given me another option so i am going to have to give her the benefit of the doubt for a little while 😐

*i’m from massachusetts where she will probably win regardless and also i think we should be able to lightly criticize candidates on here without automatically being labelled as russian spies and also also idk it just feels weird to do that shit on social media anyway. love and light.

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Oren Oppenheim, Jacob Steinberg, Tommy Barone, Isabella Murray, and Brittany Shepherd at ABC News:

Vice President Kamala Harris has enough Democratic Party delegate votes in a virtual roll call to officially earn the party's nomination when the roll call ends Monday, Democratic National Committee Chair Jaime Harrison announced Friday. "I am so proud to confirm that Vice President Harris has earned more than a majority of votes from all convention delegates and will be the nominee of the Democratic Party following the close of voting on Monday," Harrison said during a campaign update video call on Friday.

"You returned your nomination petitions at lightning speed. You made your voices heard. And what you said was clear: We are not going back. We have to send Kamala Harris to the White House," Harrison said to the delegates in a call plagued by audio issues. "You demonstrated your dedication and your commitment to this process." Convention delegates have been virtually voting by email or phone since 9 a.m. ET on Thursday in a virtual roll call set up by the Democratic National Committee. Delegates still have until Monday at 6 p.m. ET to vote in the nomination process, and Harris -- who joined the call -- highlighted that she would officially accept her nomination then, after the voting period is closed.

"I am honored to be the presumptive Democratic nominee for president of the United States," said Harris, who the DNC deemed the presumptive nominee on Tuesday after she emerged from a process, laid out by the party's Rules Committee, as the only qualified candidate. "As your future president, I know we are up to this fight, and when we fight, everyone will say, we win," she later added. The nomination is a historic one -- if she wins the general election in November against former President Donald Trump, she would be the first woman to serve as president. Harris is already the first woman, Black person and person of South Asian descent to be vice president.

[...] Harris is the first candidate to become the nominee for either major party without winning a single party primary since Hubert Humphrey in 1968. (That year's convention precipitated reforms that led to the modern primary process.)

Vice President Kamala Harris has officially clinched the Democratic nomination, as she obtained enough delegate votes. She is the first Black woman and first South Asian (regardless of gender) to be nominated for President by a major party.

Harris is set to accept the nomination in the virtual roll call next week.

Harris is set to pick a running mate within the next few days. #Harris2024

[60s-musician-tournament]

OK. here we go. MATCHUPS! notes + text version under the cut

poll starts Sunday (Dec. 17th) now live !! links under the cut

Jimi Hendrix vs. Jimmy Page Phil Ochs vs. Lou Reed Janis Joplin vs. Jim Morrison Debbie Harry vs. Leonard Cohen Paul McCartney vs. Eric Andersen Syd Barrett vs. Bob Dylan Norma Tanega vs. Levon Helm Chuck Berry vs. Dusty Springfield Ronnie Spector vs. Cher Davy Jones vs. George Harrison John Lennon vs. Joni Mitchell Lesley Gore vs. Graham Nash Nancy Sinatra vs. Françoise Hardy Joan Baez vs. Ringo Starr Nick Drake vs. Margo Guryan Dolly Parton vs. Stevie Nicks

SO. i did try to balance around popularity and how well-known an artist is because (from my experience) people do tend to vote for the person they happen to know regardless of poll theme... but as i was sorting this i realized that, wow, a lot of these guys are INSANELY well known. it was hard to just outright avoid wild matchups in round 1, they were kind of inevitable.

(also, before anyone says it, i am aware that debbie harry/blondie is more 80s... she was technically musically active in the 60s and i just straight up missed it while checking artists i didn't know, but that's entirely on me)

[am-i-the-asshole-official]

AITA for refusing to empty the food waste bin every single day?

I (22f) am a uni student sharing a flat with three other friends. As most people will be finding at the moment, we're having a real problem with fruit flies. Not like an infestation or anything, just enough of them around the flat to be annoying. Our flat sits over a pizza shop and our kitchen window looks out over all the bins which I think makes the problem worse.

To begin with, we tried keeping our food waste bin (one of those small countertop ones) by the door outside. It made a small difference but not enough to justify how annoying it was to go down the stairs each time we wanted to throw away a teabag or an apple core, so we voted 3:1 to put it back in the kitchen. The minority voter (22f), let's call her Jane, suggested that we instead empty the food waste bin every single day.

Me and another flatmate, let's call her Debbie, said we were fine if she wanted to do that herself but that we didn't want to do it too. We have a bin rotor in the flat and each of us has a particular day on which we're supposed to empty any bins that are full. Jane was proposing that the food waste bin gets emptied every day regardless of how full it was. For context, it usually takes the four of us 3-4 days to fill up the bin. We said that we didn't see the point as it wouldn't make enough of a difference to bother, and we didn't want to waste the biodegradable binbags by going through 1 a day as they're expensive.

Jane got really upset that we refused to cooperate, even though we emphasised that we had no problem with her taking on the extra labour and costs herself, accusing us of ignoring her particular comfort needs. We said we didn't think it was fair to ask us to go above and beyond what is considered normal for the sake of her comfort, but she claimed that it was normal to empty a food waste bin every day (despite the fact it would take a family a good few days to fill one up) and that this was how her family had always done it (even though she'd been happy until now with just emptying it whenever it gets full). She implied that me and Debbie were dirty or had low standards for being able to tolerate the "smell" even though there was no smell at all and as far as we were concerned the issue had always been related to the fruit flies.

After a long discussion, which I guess got a little tense or passive aggressive in places, but there were no raised voices or anything like that, we agreed to disagree and we left it by saying that Jane could empty it each day if she wanted to but that the rest of us weren't going to empty it on our days unless it was full. I thought it was a bit annoying but ultimately not that deep as these sorts of spats are just part of living with other people. However it soon became apparent that Jane took it a lot more personally than either Debbie or I as she didn't speak to either of us for three days. When she eventually did speak, she asked if we could sit down to have a Talk and basically said that she felt like we had been overly harsh (even though all we had done is disagree with her) and that she wanted an apology. We had a civil discussion about it where we asked for her to tell us specifically what we had said or done that was harsh, she couldn't give us any examples, so then we explained that we weren't going to apologise as we didn't feel like we had done anything to apologise for but that we weren't annoyed at her or anything as sometimes in life people disagree about things and that's just normal. And also this whole thing is about a bin which is just ridiculous (though we didn't say that).

We felt like the discussion was civil and productive but afterwards Jane cried to our other flatmate, let's call him Harry (who isn't taking sides) and apparently is really upset that we didn't apologise. Now she's back to not speaking with us. We feel like this has been blown out of all proportion but can't tell if we're truly being unreasonable.

Am I (/are we) the asshole(s)?

What are these acronyms?

[the-ind1gen0us-jude4n]

America

Now, this is a post which will undoubtedly piss so many people off (not that my other posts haven't)

I'm Australian, our democracy isn't perfect, our laws surrounding donations and lobbying are terrible. But we have a system of compulsory voting, and participation in Democracy is always encouraged, if not sometimes forced. This has debatably created an environment based more off of pluralism and tolerance for opposing other peoples views, and also a culture of preventing polarisation. Australia, despite its issues, is at least stable, and a fully functioning Liberal Democracy.

The same cannot be said for America. Put it bluntly, the United States is fucked. Whoever gets in next election, regardless of who does, will have so much work to do. I know I'm an outsider, I'm not American, I don't know that much about American domestic policy apart from all the news I have received from American 'outlets'. But I feel that an outsiders opinion in such a country as the USA could really be beneficial.

Now for the part that will piss many people off (considering Tumblr is a VERY politically biased place). I don't care who anyone in America votes for, Both candidates are awful.

Call me ignorant, call me apathetic (because I kind of am in this case), I don't care. I don't like Trump, he's an idiot, he is a misogynist, he had terrible policies surrounding much of American domestic policy, he was always loud and obnoxious etc. But Harris IS NOT ANY BETTER. The Democratic party is funded by the rich as much as the republicans, Biden's foreign policy has been absolutely awful, the Democrats have done next to nothing to help the country through these times, and Harris has voiced support for protestors who not only want dead Jews, but SYMPATHISE WITH THE TERRORISTS WHO COMMITTED 9/11. Not to mention that the Democratic party has the support of the worlds blandest and most soulless celebrities who brainwash American society.

I understand that the democrats have better domestic policies on abortion, women's rights, the LGBT community, healthcare, some personal liberties etc. I understand Tim Waltz has done great things to his state. But I really don't care. (I say that as a Gay man and someone who strongly believes in women's rights)

Many of you will be pissed off that I just insulted the woman much of Tumblr is kissing the feet of and worshipping, others that I didn't condemn her enough, others that I played the 'both sides are shit' game, but I don't care.

I despise both candidates. None of them should be running. Someone actually worthy of running the worlds superpower should be president.

To the American's reading, if you're offended, good. It just shows how politics has completely blinded the American consciousness, and for that you have no-one to blame but yourselves. You all have some extremely serious work to do, otherwise the rest of the world will continue to laugh at you.

I know it isn't my place to be talking about America in the way I am, I have lost friends because of my comments on America, but someone has to say this.

Politics is the dirtiest game one can play, so play it well, because like war, politics has no winners or losers, only victims and perpetrators.

[monstrous-femme]

I think regardless of whether you choose to vote for Harris or uncommitted, it's important to remember that the election is a single day, and that's a single election on the ballot. Have you taken time to learn about what else is on your ballot? Are you making plans to act according to your politics in a vast myriad of ways throughout the entire year?

If you're overwhelmed by the idea of action beyond voting and don't know where to start, try these ideas:

Look for where the action already is.

When I gave public testimony at a city council meeting last month, part of why I felt able to do so is that there was a group organizing people to testify, with a leader who was willing to talk on the phone with me about how the process works and the most helpful things to say. When we can be in community with others, it's much easier to act then it is alone.

Start small.

Find one thing you feel like you can do, and once you've done it, take a moment to celebrate and let it feel good. Those positive feelings are self reinforcing, and will make it easier to do the next thing

Look for things that are tangible and put you in community.

Going back to my city council example, what was amazing was how I could do the same thing I do at home (bitch about why certain policy is bad) and have it be actually meaningful. It felt good to be directing my frustration at something. And I am positive it made more of a difference than any time I've argued ferociously with someone online, which usually leaves me feeling upset and confused and depleted. We have real power, and when we use it collectively with others, real things happen.

We didn't get everything we wanted from that council meeting, but the member sponsoring a harmful bill announced an amendment she'll make to the bill that came directly from our public comment. And it's not over yet. I'm going to the next meeting, as are many others, and we'll push harder. I feel engaged in ways that feel transformative and full of possibility rather than dread, and it's because instead of worrying about everything in the world, I have picked one tangible thing and am doing it with others.

I hope this helps! Feel free to add on if you have ideas to help people transition their ideological politics into tangible action, and please be sure to do it kindly. The more possible we make participation, the better off every one of us will be.