#i used to think liberals were the good guys and republicans are the bad guys

[vibinglikethat]

this is going to sound harsh but hear me out: y'all have got to stop begging/demanding/guilt tripping people into voting for biden just so trump doesn't become president again. Y'ALL DID THIS SHIT THE FIRST TIME AND IT WASN'T FUCKING HELPFUL. IT STILL ISN'T.

it's just blowing my mind that y'all have somehow forgotten or ignored or dismissed the fact that president joseph biden is actively participating in a genocide against palestine. AND YOU ALL THINK IT'S A GOOD IDEA TO DEMAND PEOPLE TO FUCKING VOTE FOR HIM?

i really need y'all to wake up. democracy isn't dying because it's already dead. if it was ever alive to begin with. i'm not going to vote for a man who cares more about power and money than he does about palestinian men, women and children. your hatred for trump should not come before your compassion for others.

[freeleyenrashespeakstruth]

We are all just wasting time

You know, I'm giving upon listening to politics and believing anything that I hear. It's all the same and we all talk about it, and talk about it , and talk about it but nothing ever gets done. The politicians got us all convinced our votes matter, so we trust them and we think strongly that changes will be made because we say so, but they don't care, we don't matter. We work for them, they don't work for us. Then the next generation takes over. Nothing gets better, only worse. And those of us in my generation will all be dead already because we saw it happening 30 years ago and we all talked about it and talked about it, and talked about it, and talked about it, but the politicians had us all thinking our votes still mattered so we strongly fought and voted but it only got worse, never better.

And the older generation all died off and a new generation came out. (Funny, as i write this I'm listening to a Pink Floyd song and the words I heard were "sometimes it feels to me that I'm just being used." Classic, and perfect timing.) And at the time people saw things were not going right and they talked about it, and they talked about it, and talked about it, but then the politicians actually worked for us. Or at least it seemed that way. What We The People of the United States of America are seeing is a communist takeover of the best kind. We can't even fight it anymore. Our kids have been indoctrinated for years and each new generation is more liberal than the previous one.

This all started after, or before, world War 2 and it just keep getting stronger every year. All of our politicians know all about it. Any arrests these days are of mostly the good guys and never the bad guys, who literally get away with murder, and we the people don't ever seem to do anything about it at all. Every generation is the same. We start out more liberal and then as we grow up we start paying attention. But by then it's too late. Then we sit and wonder why isn't anyone doing anything about this especially after all these years. Then we die off and it just continues. It's evil. A communist takeover for sure, and yes, the end of the world as we know it.

Not to mention, the Democrats are much more obvious and blatant, although the Republicans pretend they are against it but get the same paycheck. At lease back in my day they pretended a lot more and a lot better. Not these Democrats. They come right out and tell you they want immigrants to flood the country, all on the backs of the citizen. And as it gets closer to an election they boldly lie and accuse the other party (see Biden's State of the Union Address) or just drop the subject in the media (no more talk about the lgbt agenda and indoctrinating our kids since before the last election, but I guarantee its still going on) and all we do is talk about it, then we talk more about it, then we talk about it., etc, etc, etc...

Then the older generation dies off, the new generation comes in and the cycle continues.

Our only hope, and our best hope at all times, is that Jesus is coming.

Jesus IS our Best hope.

Jesus IS our ONLY hope.

Come Lord Jesus!

Amen!

[qqueenofhades]

Am I crazy for thinking DeSantis is overextending on the cartoonish conservative evil in preparation for his presidential run? I feel like he might have drunk his own kool-aid as far as thinking “things that make you popular on Fox News also make you electable across the US”.

Book bans are not popular. They’re being shot down all over the US even in deep red areas. Taking away the liquor licenses of national chain hotels because they hosted a drag show seems like a good way to make big businesses wary of you, thus putting rifts in the evangelical/big business base of the GOP. People keep forgetting that Trump was a cipher when he ran. He had no record politically so both sides could think he’ll be the worst or the best, but there was no pinning him down. A lot of liberals entertained the possibility that Trump as a former democrat might not be so bad and he definitely caught the wave of people who wanted to try ANYTHING new rather than another Clinton.

Point is, even if DeSantis plays the Trump playbook but in a way more palatable to establishment GOP, that to me seems like a losing strategy rather than a winning one. Trump does not suffer competition and won’t endorse him. DeSantis lacks the decades of buildup of celebrity image and cult of personality. He’s got a an extremist GOP political record with lots of bold moves in a culture war that has NOT been fully litigated yet at the polls and might be less popular than the GOP realizes. I think the GOP is desperate to make him their guy since he’s a governor of a valuable state and he’s “reasonable” unlike Trump but at this point, is it possible they’re overestimating his appeal entirely and he’ll completely crash and burn when actually tested? Here’s hoping, but I’d love your thoughts.

Welp. Honestly, the media's relentless push to crown DeSantis "a more moderate version of Trump" is completely and demonstrably bullshit, since he is already a full-blown fascist and the only reason they think he's moderate is because he went to Harvard and can sometimes speak in complete sentences. Except every other one of those words is "woke," which the GOP can't define as literally anything apart from "something I don't like," and yeah.

The thing about DeSantis is that he's managed to curate an extremely hermetic personal bubble in Florida. He's staffed the state government with toadies and only gives interviews to hand-picked fawning conservative outlets. We're already seeing stories come out (and it's been noted before) that when you take him out of his personal comfort zone and make him answer actual questions from non-Fox reporters, he really struggles. He isn't smart or clever or original. He's just a dyed-in-the-wool white supremacist Christofascist who is willing to be "bold" (read: wildly extreme) and that makes him popular with the establishment GOP, who loved all of Trump's cruel policies but didn't like his personal demeanor. They think they can sell DeSantis to the suburban Republicans who really don't want to vote for Democrats (too liberal! Too brown! Too woke!) but were turned off by Trump's vulgar and criminal antics, and unfortunately, because white Republicans are the worst people in the world, they're probably right.

The problem for the GOP (hahahahhahahahahahaha thoughts and prayers motherfuckers!!!!!) is that Trump's base is still fanatically attached to his nasty orange backside and won't vote for DeSantis under any circumstances, as long as Trump is a factor in the race, because they think "respectability" is a dirty word and Trump's total derangement is what they like about him. He is their personal power fantasy and the living embodiment of their worst and most racist/sexist/xenophobic fantasies, and any hint of becoming acceptable to The Establishment would make them mad. So you've got the establishment GOP who wants to get back into power and thinks DeSantis is more likely to get them there, vs. the TrumpCult who will only ever vote for Trump, even as the establishment GOP is increasingly turning on him and treating him as the electoral liability that he is. (Don't forget the big Dominion lawsuit going on at Fox, which brutally exposed their hypocrisy for EVERYONE, even their own viewers, to see. Welp.)

And yes: America as a whole is not a nakedly fascist, deranged, extreme-right-wing white-supremacist Handmaid's Tale theocracy, despite the best efforts of a despicable minority. The GOP has not won one single meaningful election or federal office since Trump himself sneaked into the presidency thanks to the Electoral College in 2016 (barely squeaking out the House in 2022 and then watching Kevin McCarthy lose fifteen speakership elections in a row doesn't count). A recent poll showed that almost 60% of Americans thought "woke" was a good thing, meaning awareness of social and historical injustices rather than political correctness gone mad. The Democrats have continued to vastly overperform in special and state-level elections alike, including the much-hyped "Red Wave" in the 2022 midterms that turned out to be a Big Lol. Even this year, local Democrats are winning by bigger margins than Biden carried their districts. As I say, the reason Republicans try so hard to suppress, outlaw, and discredit the vote is because their policies/candidates will never win in any fair and legitimate election. They just won't. The only way they can bully their way into power is through fraud, fear, and lies. Of course, they're helped at every stage by the American media and its addiction to the "Both Sides Bad/Horse Race!!!" narrative, but even in this climate, Democrats are still winning.

Anyway: DeSantis is an empty suit who can reliably parrot fascist talking points and use his personal fiefdom of Florida to put them into action, but that doesn't translate to any kind of viable national candidate, especially since he implodes the instant you take him out of that bubble. I don't want to make anyone too overconfident or insist that it will clearly be fine, because the 2024 presidential election will be just as consequential as 2020 and there are way too many people in this country willing to vote for white supremacist fascism Because Gas Prices, but the overall sociocultural and political trends are not moving in DeSantis' direction and we need to work our asses off to make sure it stays that way.

[head-post]

Musk’s interview with Trump: All about EU, Ukraine, Biden and Harris

Billionaire entrepreneur Elon Musk spoke with Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump on social network X on Monday as part of the platform’s Spaces feature, where users host live streams.

The interview, scheduled for 8 p.m. US time and expected by hundreds of thousands of users around the world, ran into major overlaps and started 40 minutes late. Musk said X was subjected to a “massive DDOS attack,” which he said caused the broadcast to be delayed.

Musk did not mention his differences with Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer over the UK riots and free speech, but did raise the issue of an open letter published by EU domestic boss Thierry Breton asking him not to spread misinformation during an interview with the former president.

Mr. Trump responded by saying the EU was “bad” at trading with the US and criticised NATO for not spending enough on defence. Mr. Trump said:

That’s probably why they notified you. They don’t treat our country very well.

Musk asked Mr Trump about his views on the EU’s attempts to censor and impose censorship even on Americans from other countries.

The Republican candidate did not answer the question directly, starting to speculate about the US trade deficit with the EU. He added that, “they (the EU) enjoy a huge advantage over the United States on trade” and “they (the EU) are not as tough as China, but they are bad.”

Trump also touched on EU aid to Ukraine and compared it to US spending. He said:

I say, why aren’t you going to equalize? Why aren’t they paying what we’re paying? Why is the United States paying disproportionately more to defend Europe than Europe? That doesn’t make sense. That’s unfair, and that is an appropriate thing to address.

During the two-hour conversation, the Tesla boss and the Republican presidential candidate declared their mutual admiration and echoed shared political views on immigration and the economy.

Trump took the opportunity to lash out at President Joe Biden and Democratic presidential candidate Kamala Harris, whom he blamed for the rise in illegal immigration. He also said:

She is a San Francisco liberal who destroyed San Francisco, and then as attorney-general, she destroyed California.

“She’s going to be worse than him,” he added, referencing President Joe Biden, saying the country needed to prevent anything happening under “stupid people like Biden”.

At the start of his speech at a campaign rally, Trump spoke about the assassination attempt on him last month, promising to return to the town of Butler, Pennsylvania, where a bullet struck him in the ear. He said:

The doctors later told me that the ear is a very bloody place if it’s hit. If I hadn’t turned my head, I wouldn’t be talking to you right now – no matter how much I like you.

Mr. Trump boasted of his good relations with Russian President Vladimir Putin and North Korean leader Kim Jong Un, while Mr. Musk questioned whether Ms. Harris was tough enough to stand up to foreign leaders. He said:

There are some very tough personalities out there. And if they don’t think the American president is tough, they’re going to do what they want to do.

Earlier, Mr. Trump’s X account posted a series of tweets for the first time in almost a year.

The Harris campaign responded to the interview with a statement saying the following:

Donald Trump’s extremism and his dangerous “Project 2025” programme is a feature, not a glitch in his campaign, which was on full display for those who were unlucky enough to listen today during everything on Channel X. Trump’s entire campaign serves people like Elon Musk and himself – narcissistic rich people who will sell out the middle class and fail to deliver live in 2024.

Donald Trump said President Biden is “close to vegetable stage.” He noted during the interview:

I looked at him today on the beach, and I said, Why would anybody allow him? The guy could barely walk. Why would anybody allow him?

The call, which Mr. Musk described as a “conversation” rather than an interview, started late: people entering the online space were first greeted by music or silence rather than a conversation between the two men. Mr. Musk blamed the attack on X’s system for impeding access, writing, “Looks like X is under massive DDoS attack. Working on disabling it.”

He appeared to blame the Democrats for the attack on X. When one X user wrote: “Democrats are fighting to “save” democracy from two powerful disrupters!”, Mr. Musk replied, “Yes.”

A distributed denial of service (DDoS) attack is an attempt to disrupt a server or network by overwhelming it with a flood of Internet traffic.

Read more HERE

[kazashiniwielder]

Okay I don’t usually do politics but can I please emphasize that some of your everyday activities don’t equal your political party?

So I have a Ford Thunderbird, V8 engine. Why? Because when I was 18 it was $200 when I bought it and the car has never given me any major mechanical issues in the decade I had it. Last night while being out with friends, the one asked me how I can dare to be supporting liberal policies when I am clearly republican for driving a car like that.

I brought us the fact I live and work on a farm, I am thirty minutes from the nearest gas station, let alone anything that could potentially support an electric car (which I won’t get into my personal views on) on having such a vehicle is not only impractical but impossible. Not to mention I don’t have the money to buy such a car. I got the Thunderbird BECAUSE it was only $200! (A friend of my dad’s had to get rid of it due to the birth of a baby. They just couldn’t afford to maintain two cars anymore).

So the one guy at the table said I was being a hypocrite by supporting liberal policies when I couldn’t afford to financially back them up. So I switched up topics. I brought up the whole caping medication and asked why that was bad in their opinion. The same guy told me that it is the right of someone to determine the cost of their product and it’s unfair for the government to regulate it. I reminded him that many of these medications like insulin are required for people to continue to live and asked if it was fair for a company to put a price on your loved ones continued life span (as someone that had three type two diabetics in my family and have had two cousins, one grandmother, and an uncle who all died of cancer and lack of medical support for their conditions because my family couldn’t afford it and insurance wouldn’t cover it). His response: that isn’t his problem because none of his family members have these conditions and he’s not okay with paying for other people to survive.

I don’t really think our friendship is going to survive this election, and I am sorry about losing him but at the same time I also am trying to understand why people think like this. Because he isn’t the only one. I have stated a few times that while I have been critical of Biden, he had done many good things. When some of my coworkers told me that is bullshit, I had brought up many of the policies and acts that were signed into law during Biden’s administration. And every time they have said the same thing. Those policies don’t affect them so they don’t care.

And I don’t understand his logic because he is an illegal immigrate to the US who managed to become a legal citizen after being in the country for over two decades illegally. And his family is still working on their citizenship. When I reminded him of that he said that’s different because they aren’t dangerous like all the criminals that are illegally entering the country and due to that they will be protected under Trump. And he genuinely believes that. He genuinely believes that the Trump administration won’t come for his family who have no legal standing to be in the United States. Genuinely believes that his daughter, who has been fearing the same thing as I have been, is just over reacting about the very real threat that is waiting when they eventually return to the United States (we work for an American company in another country).

He genuinely believes that the stance of voting by mail is a horrible practice until I reminded him that if that were the case his vote WILL NOT count because we are overseas and will have to mail in our ballots!

And this is just my personal experience but many of these people are genuinely not afraid of these policies unless they see how they affect them and I don’t know how to explain that!!!!!

[seluvian]

So, we really need to be using our critical thinking skills here. Joe Biden claims he's been secretly working behind the scenes to get peace and a longer/permanent ceasefire in Gaza. That's what he said. And immediately I'm seeing an outpouring of appreciation, other liberals writing essays about how he's really just not good at marketing himself or talking about what he's doing, that's all.

Why do you believe him? Think about it for a moment. What has he actually done to show you that his claim is honest?

We know he has a PR team whose job it is to market him and talk about what he's doing. In the face of millions of people protesting nationwide and globally, he didn't take that opportunity to reassure the public he's here for peace. In fact, he doubled down. He called the Palestinian numbers false. He said Israel has a right to defend itself against a threat that barely exists, and certainly not as presented by Israeli media. He tried to win himself the right to send more weapons and money to Israel to fund and arm their death squads without having to run it by Congress or admit it to the public. He did that twice.

Why do you believe him? Does the evidence of his behavior match his words?

Staffers walked out in protest over the refusal to call for a ceasefire. Multiple staff and a few politicians resigned. Those who resigned spoke on how Joe Biden wouldn't entertain even the mention of ceasefire, that the mood in those rooms was hostile to people who were standing up for Palestinian lives. These people spoke on the fact that it was very clear speaking for Palestine was a move that would end a career of a staff or low level politician. At higher levels, we saw Rashida Tlaib get censured for talking about what Israel was and is doing. Only her. Is it a coincidence that she's Palestinian?

Why do you believe Joe Biden just because he said he wants a ceasefire? If he's telling the truth, why are so many politicians and staffers saying things that contradict that? If he's telling the truth, why does his behavior contradict that?

He's not immune to agenda just because he's blue. If we can't hold our leaders to the same standards as we do republican leaders, if we refuse to turn the same critical eye on our guy that we do on their guy, we are not sticking to our principles. If it's bad and evil when a republican does it, it must also follow that it's bad and evil when Joe Biden does it too. Because I think...I think the point is that these things are bad when anyone at all does them. And we need to demand better of our leaders, not give them the thumbs up because they gave us a wink and a crossed-fingers promise.

[that-bluesybitch]

Okay, I want to tell a story about my ex and why it is important to give young conservatives a chance. I know that that intro doesn't sound promising but hear me out please.

Last year I was dating this guy (was then engaged for a week, but that is not important) and he was very conservative. He voted for trump in the 2020 election, was only ever going to go green if someone put a gun to his head, hated muslums and did not believe in black lives matter or anything of the sort including crt. ( Also anti-abortion).

We had an argument over him liking Donald Trump because the reality of it was that where my ex was financially, Trump didn't actually benefit him whatsoever. This led to an argument over why Trump was problematic over all.

I sat down with him and actually showed him facts and evidence and after looking over it he apologized and recinded his previous statements to the contrary. And this made me wonder why he ever thought Trump was good in the first place. So ofcourse I asked him and he told me that he was told by his teachers (He went to a Catholic school) and his parents (both republicans) that Trump was the good guy and liberals were bad. He had never been given any evidence of their statements, but if he did not agree he would get punished beause growing up, what the conservative adults said was required to be taken as truth and it made me realize something.

He never had a chance to not belive stupid shit until college. He was forced to belive incorrect statements that had been shoved down his throat by adults who used their power over him in a negative way.

I also want to tell you all about the issues he had with math class. See, he was required to take and pass a math class in college as a gened course, as was I. Before we dated, he had taken 3 because he failed them all, along with having to retake an accounting course because he failed that too.

He told me how much he hated math and science, and whenever it came up in everyday life, he would desperately try to avoid being the person having to do the work that involved said math.

I offered to take a math course with him, so that I could be there to help. When we took the course I noticed he actually was not bad at math at all. He was just not used to some of the work that comes with it and had not been exposed to the thinking and methods that come with doing mathmatics.

In highschool, many of his classes were religion classes and revolved only around the bible, he was given very little chance to understand math or science and when he had trouble his teachers had called him stupid.

The fact of the matter was that he was not stupid at all. He just needed a chance to be smart, to get good at math.

It was the same with his political opinions, he needed a chance to see evidence and think for himself. He was completly capable of thinking for himself but was never given a chance. This is because along with not respecting women, gays and blacks (amoung others) republicans don't respect their children. They do not even want children, they want obediant slaves for them to beat on or push around. If those children get out of line, they are forced to go through public and private beratement.

I tell you all this so that you know and understand something. Adults who are republicans, have no excuse. But if you meet a child who is just spitting out their conservative parents' opinions, please be the person who shows them the right way in a kind manner. They have been disrespected all their lives and have never been given a chance to use their brain, nor taught how to.

I hate what republicans are doing to others, but what they are doing to their children is just as bad. They are harming their minds and their future's just so they can feel as if they are important and in charge.

[oatmealaddiction]

I am so sorry to come careening into your asks like this, but that post you reblogged where OP directly conflates conservatism with nazi germany is driving me insane. it’s like, has it occurred to people that painting a whole community as remorselessly evil perhaps has some drawbacks? maybe that history can also tell us about other times having no empathy for ‘the enemy’ has worked out well for all involved?

like. I get that conservatives have done violence and significant harm to our communities. those things are unforgivable. at the same time you cannot simply write off like half of the US for having bad politics. fight against them, fight against fasc alt right shit, just don’t say there’s something innately wrong with those shitheads that is beyond changing. that’s such eugenics bullshit.

There's a good book called "Eichmann in Jerusalem: A Report on the Banality of Evil" by Hannah Arendt. Arendt was a Jewish woman who fled Germany and the book was about the trial of Adolf Eichmann, an SS Officer who oversaw the deportation of many Jewish people to Auschwitz. What Arendt found after studying Eichmann was that at the end of the day, in spite of everything, he was just a normal guy. There was nothing off in his psychology, he wasn't mentally unwell, and by all accounts he was a regular citizen who had 'enthusiastically' upheld the system that the Nazi's put in place. Eichmann harbored zero guilt for any of his actions up until his execution, and argued throughout the trial that he bore no personal responsibility for what he'd done. I don't think it's inaccurate to compare conservatism to fascism these days given how many alt-right members are chomping at the bit to install an authoritarian in office, but if all you're going to say is that Republicans got the "Nazi" gene, you've got a misunderstanding about what makes people evil and how they justify evil to themselves. It's not that conservatives are born without the capacity to feel for others or that because they were born bad they became conservative and because you were born good you became liberal. When evil is systematized by those in power and held up as a status quo, doing depraved evil shit becomes ordinary and normal. For example, plenty of Americans still think it's normal and justifiable to enact the death penalty because it's been systematized as part of our criminal justice system. It's the status quo, so therefore it must be upheld no matter how immoral it is.

Frankly, I'm not going to sit here and try to defend conservative beliefs at a time when the Supreme Court is out here just chipping away at everyone's civil rights and white supremacists are breaking into the capital. I don't particularly feel bad writing off the people who continue to vote for and empower fascists. How do you empathize with someone who thinks you're a child predator or that you shouldn't have bodily autonomy? How do you keep your heart open to people advocating that teachers be shot for using someone's correct pronouns? Personally I think galvanizing more liberals into using their vote strategically and engaging in political action will have faster positive action than trying to win over the group who's dictated by bigotry. That said, it's important to understand that these views have been baked into America before the Pilgrims even got here. These ideas didn't pop up over night because an evil person invented them, they've been present for thousands and thousands of years. The conservative party acts the way they do because transphobia and misogyny and racism are normal aspects of American culture that have been systematized into our government and our society, Conservatives believe that because those things are normal, therefore they are just. So I take issue with the idea that there's something inherent in their brains or psychology that turned them evil, and that liberals are immune to this problem. Liberals will uphold the status quo too, albeit with different lingo. Plenty of liberals engage in True Crime podcasts where they celebrate when the police infringe on civil liberties in order to catch a serial killer. "No ethical consumption under capitalism" is often used as a blanket excuse to ignore unfair labor practices. The Queer community loves to accuse it's own of toxicity and predation just as much as the conservatives do. During the Heard v. Depp defamation trial, tons of liberals rejoiced at the way the legal system was used to silence a DV survivor and were happy to support suing a woman for talking about abuse. A lot of the time the people saying things like this, do not think of themselves as doing anything wrong. Evil is boring, and it's normal, and oftentimes those who act immorally do so without a single ping of their conscious. Thinking that conservatives were born with abusive personalities is the exact thinking people had about Nazi's in the wake of World War II. Americans assumed that there was something fundamentally sick and broken in the Nazi psychology, when in actuality it wasn't that different from the institutionalized segregation and systematized eugenics America itself had going on at the time. Being a Nazi was super normal in Nazi Germany just like being a racist was super normal in America. If you tell yourself that there's something fundamentally abnormal and inhuman in the actions of your enemies, you miss the wider picture of the systems they're part of. Worse, you're telling yourself that you could never be like that, that you could never do what they did, rather than examine the ways you're already complicit in abusive systems. Bigotry and abuse and apathy towards injustice are all human traits, and buddy we're all human.

tl,dr: Conservative politics aren't evil people politics, they're ubiquitous and we probably all hold them to some extent. So do your due diligence.

[spectralvulture]

Automattic

When I first met my husband online in a dating app, he was moving out to Oregon but still lived in Ohio. I told my sisters about him, that he was a software developer for WordPress and bought a house in Oregon to live and work from somewhere else for awhile. His sister was about to finish out her doctorate at a university in Oregon, and since the kids in that family are peas in a pod, it seemed like a good time and place to do his own thing away from his hometown. My sisters firmly stated that he must really be 40 and creepy, because that sounded unreal. He never gave me any reason to doubt him, especially since I investigated as one does in online dating, and found his presence online rather easily, including his parent's blog (hey guys, yeah, I knew a lot about you all before I even met him) and picture on the Automattic employee page. Seemed legit, like he was a cool dude, and had no reason not to believe him.

Turns out I was right, and thus began the best thing that's ever happened to me. Outside of him being the kindest and most loving soul I have ever come across, he was a tech dude. That meant he wasn’t put off by a brain raised by the internet her entire childhood while “unschooled” and home 24/7 without parental supervision online. We got each other, even if he is more of a technical computer brain vs my chaos meme brain. He made things for the internet, and I used that shit. So that brings me around to talking about Automattic, and the bizarro world of an employer who doesn’t abstain from taking care of it’s employees.

When I needed health insurance because I worked as a caregiver which didn't provide benefits, he handled it by getting me on as a domestic partner, because at that point it's what we were to each other. We got married shortly after, and he eventually moved from WP to Woo, and I was able to step back from caregiving and figure out what it was I wanted to do with my life. Let’s ignore the fact that that’s still an unwavering: “What the fuck am I doing with my life?” I grew up in a different world than he did, daughter of a republican mechanic and liberal spiritual housewife, no GED or degree to my name after being 'unschooled' and ill equipped to provide for myself upon adulthood. People love telling me: “Oh you seem smart! You could get your GED tomorrow if you wanted!” Unfortunately it doesn’t work quite as easily as people think, especially when a simple test causes anxiety attacks that are out of this world. Bigger problems to solve before it’s viable. They mean well, but they have no idea what they are talking about. Stay in school kids, if not just to get that stupid degree and bounce, or not have the most severe anxiety around an educational setting. After we moved out to Ohio after getting married, we got ourselves situated in The Hollow. He moved over to Tumblr when Automattic scooped it up right before Covid shutdowns. When the loneliness of being away from family and friends came to a head with the Covid shutdowns, and the fire's tearing about my friends and families lives in Oregon, my struggle with alcohol came to a head. When he wanted to take a couple weeks off to help me back on my feet, he was able to take off an entire month. I kicked the bad habit, but those inner demons still lurked. When things came back up to a head for me this year, after he had just gotten back to work for barely a month after his paid three month sabbatical, he was able to take time off again while I got my shit together once again (don't worry, I didn't relapse). I have always expected at every turn of our life that someday our luck would run out at my hand. It hasn't. They don't fault us for life happening, and that's one of the most important things an employer can do for their employees. Sure work is work, but work doesn't have to be soul crushing every step of the way. I hope someday the rest of the USA catches up, because it is long overdue.

Moral of the story, Automattic is pretty chill, and I don’t think they are out to destroy this hellsite. They wanna see it stay alive like the rest of us, so chin up old farts and stubborn youths. It’s in good caring hands.

[cksmart-world]

SMART BOMB

The Completely Unnecessary News Analysis

By Christopher Smart

July 30, 2024

PARIS: THE LAST DRAG QUEEN SUPPER — HOW DARE THEY!

Are you outraged? Well you should be. Did you see the Opening Ceremony of the Paris Olympics — OMG! There was a big thing in the lavish production and it looked like it could have been a reference to Leonardo da Vinci’s famous painting, “The Last Supper” of Jesus Christ and his 12 disciples. According to The New York Times, “[A] woman wearing a silver, halo-like headdress stood at the center of a long table, with drag queens posing on either side of her.” Outrageous! A mockery of Christianity! Critics weighed in: Don Jr., Spencer Cox, House Speaker Mike Johnson, Elon Musk, and that place-kicker guy from the Kansas City Chiefs all turned purple. Drag Queens! Last Supper! Blasphemy! This is almost as bad as the coronation of Kamala Harris, windmills killing whales and the Joe Biden Crime Family. Even in this age of lefty wokeness, this is... well, outrageous. OK, wait. It's not The Last Supper? What? It's actually a reference to the Greek God Dionysus? “The interpretation of the Greek God Dionysus makes us aware of the absurdity of violence between human beings,” said Paris Olympic artistic director Thomas Jolly. "We wanted to include everyone, as simple as that," he explained. “In France, we have the right to love whom we want.” Huh? How un-MAGA can you get.

NEW 4-LETTER WORD AND DOG WHISTLE: DEI

Diversity, equity, and inclusion — you gotta hand it to Republicans, when it comes to vocal weaponry they are without equal. Who would have guessed that terms, such as diversity, equity, and inclusion could be transformed into an ugly brand — DEI. Think l-i-b-e-r-a-l, as in “bleeding-heart liberal.” DEI was the term adopted broadly at universities, corporations and other organizations to signal openness to groups once excluded in a white, male majority society. The movement was thought to be enlightened and “progressive.” Of course, “progressive” has gone the way of “liberal.” DEI actually is reverse discrimination and unfair to white people who have worked hard only to see less qualified people, like Kamala Harris, rise to the top. Kamala Harris is a DEI hire, GOP faithful repeat over and over again. That is to say, she was elected district attorney in San Francisco, elected attorney general for the state of California and elected vice president of the United States only because she is a brown woman. Hey voters, in case you haven't noticed Kamala Harris isn't white. Oh yeah, and she's a “childless cat lady,” too. It's about time white men get an even break. What's this country coming to. You want cat ladies running things?

BACK ON THE WORLD COOL MAP!

Hey Wilson, congrats, we're back on the map of real places. That's right, Salt Lake City has been selected to host the 2034 Winter Olympic Games, which means that we're cool — again. Were even more cool than in 2002, the first time we hosted the Winter Games, when we demonstrated to the world that we are — in some ways — almost normal. Heady times they were. Booze flowed freely as state liquor laws were ignored for 17 days. Remember, Wilson, when you bought drinks for all those girls from the Czech Republic at the Swiss House and things got... well, never mind. People from all over the world flocked here and it was downright intoxicating (no pun intended). The sporting events were OK, too. And look at the stuff we got: the Olympic Park in Park City, the Olympic Skating Oval in Kearns and the Hoberman Arch, recently reassembled at the airport after years in a junk heap just in time for our new bid. (What a coincidence.) We deserve the Olympics because even though it's 10 years away, we're practically ready. We've got all the venues and all that's left is to crank up that good ol' Utah welcoming spirit where we put our moral standards on hold for a couple of weeks to please our guests, look good on TV and pretend to be cosmopolitan — yeah, that's it, cosmopolitan. Cool.

Post script — That's a wrap for another magical July week here at Smart Bomb where we keep track of “Kamala's Coup” so you don't have to. It's obvious to most of the GOP faithful that this whole Kamala-thing is a set-up, a conspiracy to switch candidates at the last minute in order to leave The Donald and J.D. Vance in the lurch. See, it's like this: Trump et.al. designed the campaign around battling the aging and crooked Joe Biden. But then Old Joe dropped out and Kamala waltzed in like it was a square-dance, or something. But the sleuths over at MAGA weren't fooled. It was a conspiracy, pure and simple. Sure, there was this big show after Biden's busted debate where Democrats came forward one at a time to urge him to hang it up. But that was all choreography. Those sneaky Dems had it planned all along. It was a coup and as Republicans will tell you, there is nothing worse than a coup — in most cases. Since we're talking politics, Wilson, did you hear that J.D. Vance had sex with a couch. We don't know all the details but the rumor is everywhere and he hasn't denied it. It's another example of what has happened to our social/political discourse. But then again, he who lives by the childless-cat-lady dies by sex-with-a-couch, or something like that. Et tu, J.D.

Well heck Wilson, the staff here at Smart Bomb remembers what it's like to be cool. It's time to take a break from all the noise, kick back and start practicing up to be cool again — for the Olympics, of course. So wake up the band and take us on out with one of your anthems of coolness:

Well you gassed her up Behind the wheel With your arm around your sweet one In your Oldsmobile Barrelin' down the boulevard You're looking for the heart of Saturday night And you got paid on Friday And your pockets are jinglin' And you see the lights You get all tinglin' cause you're cruisin' with a 6 And you're looking for the heart of Saturday night

Then you comb your hair Shave your face Tryin' to wipe out ev'ry trace All the other days In the week you know that this'll be the Saturday You're reachin' your peak Stoppin' on the red You're goin' on the green 'Cause tonight'll be like nothin' You've ever seen And you're barrelin' down the boulevard Lookin' for the heart of Saturday night Tell me is the crack of the poolballs, neon buzzin? Telephone's ringin'; it's your second cousin Is it the barmaid that's smilin' from the corner of her eye? Magic of the melancholy tear in your eye. Makes it kind of quiver down in the core 'Cause you're dreamin' of them Saturdays that came before And now you're stumblin' You're stumblin' onto the heart of Saturday night

(The Heart of Saturday Night — Tom Waits)

[menalez]

I'm a Brit and watching from the sidelines in horror at the US prospect of picking between two genocide maintainers, anti migration, racist, rich men both with a past of violence to women (structurally and interpersonally) who operationally both function to maintain and expand American imperial interests.

Then I look at my own country and we have two parties. One- creates poverty from neoliberal and right economic policies. They massage a wealth divide. They notoriously glass cliff woman and racial minority politicians, supports genocide and actively wishes to continue falsifying its imperial legacy and shirks their geopolitical role in creating immigration issues and pursuing inflammatory rhetoric that centralises hegemonic interests.

My other choice is another party who is saying this is all bad, let's get the tories out! Then use fluffy language to try to differentiate the way they aim to maintain the structures and factors that allow for all the strife we face but with no critical analysis of how we ended up in the situation. They want the same socioeconomic systems, want to also kick you in the face but with a softer boot.

I also have to play tactical voting so I'd vote green party as they align most to my economic and environmental interests and best choice for refugees, but on social issues like gender, royals, military they're still not far enough left. But England's crappy overton window this is a minority position. If I was still in my uni consistency I'd be voting green (interesting how they call it when students are home 🙃) but last election was a shit show minority seat and we've had a wanker tory MP who I badly want to vote out. This guy is bottom of the barrel, his alternate labour candidate is very much hearts and minds liberal wash but he is the only other opponent who can unseat him.

But I fucking hate Sir Keir Starmer, affectionately named Keith Starmer, Kiddy Starver, who loves racist criminal systems, won't take a firm stand on safe refugee routes and people are drowning, loves capitalism and cap doffing. I also despise the labour party and the whole British political system and its culture wars.

We all love scoffing at America but here we have the same issues, they just have a different polish.

Sorry for the blog, love your content! You make me a better feminist

the UK does operate similarly in the sense that the two parties that are typically in power are either labour or tories. but honestly i don’t think it’s AS bad in the sense that at least tories & labour do have some visible differences. meanwhile the differences between democrats & republicans at this point seem to mainly be how they present themselves, bc in practice they’re pretty much aligned on most fronts.

personally i think the UK’s system is more hopeful bc in general i do feel like there is less corruption and more fairness in the system but also i havent seen labour in power for an extremely long time (when i googled it, it seems the last time there was a labour PM was early 2010…) and UKIP grew in power + the UK seriously shot themselves in the foot with brexit + tories have been effectively making the UK worse. so perhaps that’s just naïveté on my part. but at least from what i’ve seen, the same hopeless mindset americans have doesn’t seem to persist among the brits… then again maybe the brits are seeing their govt thru rose-coloured glasses as u have stated so,, maybe that’s why.

idk much about the stuff u mentioned on labour not being particularly good tho. i know they also put in policies that were bad for working class ppl, but idk much else beyond that. also i know they’re frequently accused of being antisemitic tho i’m unsure how true that is

[ramrodd]

What is the historical context behind the Wagner mercenary group's attempted mutiny in Rostov-on-Don?

Wagner finished its job and got out to make it easy for Zelensky to declare victory.

COMMENTARY:

I believe it was theater decided upon by Putin and the Wagner guy to de-escalate the de-Nazification program because it had completed the liquidation Putin had begun to plan in 2013. He had not intended to be as public as things have turned out, but the January 6 insurgency in Washington by the Nazification of the GOP forced his hand against his existential opponents in Russia, the Nazification Oligarchs associated with Bill Browder, Merrill Lynch and Trump’s 2013 staging of the Miss Universe Pageant.

Right now, Africa is Jomini’s Fourth Wall of the battle space. The gallop towards American hegemony led by John Bolton and the Project for the New American Century neo-cons of Bush/Cheney abrogated the authorities of the Dayton Accords that included the NATO-Russia Kosovo Protocols that were poised to occupy the moral vacuum of Africa ahead of China. The continuation of the Cold War positioning of Bush/Cheney were adopted uncritically by Hillary Clinton’s Russian narrative by Obama/Biden, Trump’s unilateral surrender to the Taliban was inexplicable at the time except for reelection optics. but the subsequent exposure of Trump’s treachery and treason revealed by January 6 destablalized something in Russia that ended up with Putin massing on the border with the Ukraine with the intent of de-Nazification of the Dun Bas and putting out that nasty little war as part of the Dayton Accords.

Well, McGovern Democrats like Biden and Hillary have had their heads up their collective assholes in terms of Clausewitz since Watergate and Biden dropped the ball when Putin massed on the boarder. The object of the exercise was to flow in UN Blue Helment Peace Keepers like in Bosnia and enforce a ceasefire, with Putin and NATO just over the horizon. Clinton and the French Foreign Legion UN Blue Helment Peace Makers in Bosnia should have shared a Nobel Peace Prize for putting out a nasty little genocide, but neither liberal or conservative Boomers have any more idea what Pentagon is actually capable of doing than the Pope has of genecology.

So, the Ukraine Incursion has turned out the way it has, but the liquidation of the Nazification elements in the Dun Bas on both sides have been largely completed. Good, bad or indifferent, Wagner is a pro-Putin para-military faction opposed to the Nazification Oligarchs generally associated with America commercial Fascism and January 6 Republicans.

The hope of the Kremlin from what I can discern is that Zelensky accept victory short of the objectives of his current offensive. Zelensky is at a Pork Chop Hill moment in the conduct of his valiant defense of Ukraine. where he needs to shut down lethal military operations and submit to international arbitration. The problem is, he needs America’s enthusiastic support with the UN Peace Keepers and Biden seems to be a bit tone deaf if the combination of Trump and Tommy Tuberville as a proxy for the January 6 Republicans who are committed to impeaching Biden at a moment identical to when Gingrich and Tom DeLay produced the impeachment of Clinton for getting a blow job in the Oval Office just at the moment Clinton really needed a free hand to prevent the genocide in Bosnia before it got started.

So, that’s what I think that’s what the whole Wagner drama represents. IT is essential to understand that Trump and the Kremlin have never had any shared interests with the exception of the creation of the US Space Force, which will complete the American transition from the Military Industrial Complex of the Manhattan Project to the Aerospace-Entrepreneurial Matrix of Apollo 11 and 2001: A Space Odyssey. This whole January 6 Nazification is so 1950s Ivy League Socialism of the John Birch Society. 

[greensparty]

Movie Reviews - Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie / Master Gardener

A few weeks ago I attended the 2023 Independent Film Festival Boston and as is always the case, I sometimes don’t get to see some films they are screening because there’s too many other films or events at the same time. Kind of a good problem to have. But among those films I didn’t get to catch are two that I got to review this week. Lucky me!

Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie

One of the biggest stars of the 1980s was hands-down Michael J. Fox. The Canadian-raised actor came to Hollywood and completely ran with the role of Alex P. Keaton on TV’s Family Ties (NBC 1982-1989). In the Reagan 80s, young Republicans loved him and thought he was there guy, but then liberals loved Fox because it seemed like he was making fun of the GOP. In the end, everyone loved him! But through his knack for comic timing, it lead to leading man roles in movies like Teen Wolf, The Secret of My Success, and most notably as Marty McFly in the Back to the Future trilogy (one of my favorite trilogies ever)! He tried to show his range as a dramatic actor in Light of Day, Bright Lights Big City and Casualties of War, which I actually liked and was impressed by, but it seems audiences wanted Fox to do comedy. After trying movies that were hit or miss, he returned to TV with Spin City (ABC 1996-2001). It was around 1998 that Fox announced he had been living with Parkinson’s Disease since 1990. Since then he has slowed down his acting, but has shined with appearances on Curb Your Enthusiasm and Rescue Me. Now at age 61, Fox is getting the documentary treatment from Oscar-winner Davis Guggenheim (An Inconvenient Truth) with Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie.

movie poster

Fox tells his own story about his career and life. As with any good biopic of a Hollywood star, it intercuts various clips of his work. But it also intercuts with fly-on-the-wall moments of Fox working with his physical therapist, spending time with his family and introspective interviews. There are also some “re-enactments” interspersed. I say “re-enactments” because they are different than most re-enactments you would see on A&E or such, these are more over-the-should or from afar stand-ins for Fox heading to a set, doing a stunt or getting ready for a big event. 

Guggenheim has addressed serious topics in a lot of his docs, but even with Waiting for Superman about the education system, he interspersed clips of TV shows. He actually is very pop culture-savvy if you look at some of his films like It Might Get Loud or the U2 doc From the Sky Down, he truly loves entertainment. Here he is making a pop-culture soaked doc that is also delving deep into a man facing the realities of a debilitating disease. The fact that Fox is easily one of the most well-liked entertainers of all-time (seriously, find me anyone who has had a bad word to say about him?) makes you care for the subject that much more. But there’s also a nostalgic element as I’m thinking back to all of the great roles I remember enjoying him in as a kid and now he’s coming to grips with his health and future. It is surprising to see a director like Guggenheim delve into “re-enactments” and normally I don’t care for them, but here I actually thought it worked.

Still: A Michael J. Fox Movie is available on Apple TV+: https://tv.apple.com/us/movie/still-a-michael-j-fox-movie/umc.cmc.njewt06q05vqbgp6w42pqb0l/

4 out of 5 stars

Master Gardener

Paul Schrader wrote one of the greatest movies ever made with 1976′s Taxi Driver. The combination of Schrader’s writing, Martin Scorsese’s directing and a powerhouse performance from Robert De Niro made that one of my 15 Favorites of All Time. Schrader’s entire filmography of both writing and directing is about tortured and haunted men, i.e. Raging Bull, The Mosquito Coast, Affliction, and Auto Focus just to name a few. But it was his late career comeback First Reformed that truly blew everyone away, resulting in his very first Oscar nomination for screenwriting (which is astounding to me). He followed that up with The Card Counter (my #5 Movie of 2021). Now he’s back for what’s being called the third in his tortured men in a room trilogy (seems there’s been a lot more than just three, but who’s counting), with Master Gardener opening this week after numerous film festivals.

movie poster

Joel Edgerton stars as Narvel, a horticulturalist of an estate owned by wealthy dowager Norma Haverhill (Sigourney Weaver). Narvel oversees the gardening and his staff. Norma asks that he take on an apprentice, her troubled great-niece Maya (Quintessa Swindell). Things change once she begins working on the property. I’m going to try and avoid spoilers as much as I can, but Narvel has a dark past that comes to light with Maya.

This movie is going to be (hell, it already is) polarizing. Some might embrace the layered and nuanced performances, others are going to have issues with the class warfare and interpretations therein. Here is my take: in the very beginning of the film as Narvel is sitting in a room writing in his journal / narrating, and it almost felt like Schrader self-parody to see this motif again. But when the movie loses its way, stay with it - Edgarton truly is mesmerizing. There is a lot more exposition and blatant dialogue, more so than I’ve recalled in Schrader’s previous films. The three main actors are fantastic and that needs to be said. But the biggest problem I have with this movie is that it had the misfortune of following First Reformed and The Card Counter. In contrast with those two, this felt so much lesser. Schrader is a master storyteller of tortured souls, but this felt like been-there-done-that. There are definitely some inspired moments...but you have to, well, wait for this garden to grow to get there. 

For info on Master Gardener: http://www.magpictures.com/mastergardener/

2.5 out of 5 stars

[qqueenofhades]

I truly think the leftists forgot that Republicans got so far because THEY PLAY DIRTY. Did they forget the fiasco that was Bush v Al Gore? Forget all the racist BS Obama had to undergo and the many obstructions Republicans did to limit his power (Now I'm wondering if this wave of 'Roe v Wade being overturned was Obama's fault' from leftists was started by racist conservatives to divert attention. Hmmm)? Forget Trump's coup attempt?!?!?!?!?!? Republicans don't play by the rules.

I mean, we've established the fact that they struggle with basic reality and relevant political analysis of any type, especially if it involves actually blaming the Republicans for anything without finding a way to make it secretly be the Democrats' fault, so.... yeah. A lot of the early-twenties Twitter clout chasers are too young to remember Bush v. Gore, want to paint Obama solely as a "corporate centrist," and therefore act like that was the only reason his policies were so relentlessly obstructed and gave rise to the Tea Party and the rest of the white grievance backlash. We've also established that they're constantly vulnerable to right-wing psyops and bad-faith disinformation campaigns such as "not voting is a good thing and Hillary should be punished!", which was pushed HARD by the Russian-troll social media interference machine in 2016. It worked because certain segments of self-righteous leftists were predisposed to believe it anyway, and it exacerbated and increased their existing rhetoric. The right-wing slime machine is unparalleled at turning leftists and liberals against each other and knowing which weaknesses to exploit, for the precise reason so they don't get their shit together and vote in a consistent and organized fashion to stop the fascists. Welp.

This is likewise why it's a fucking stupid idea for Biden to make any deal with McConnell and actually think that Mitch will hold to his end of the bargain; he simply does not give a shit about honor, truth, precedent, previous statements, previous actions, or anything except seizing and consolidating Republican power as relentlessly as possible. Even if Biden does go through with this rumored nomination of an anti-abortion judge in Kentucky in order to buy off McConnell's opposition (and he's evidently only getting two US Attorneys for it, which is not a good trade for a lifetime federal judgeship), there's no reason to think that McConnell would honor the deal. He simply does not care what he said to you earlier; it was just a stopgap on his way to getting what he wanted. He will lie to your face and take as much as possible, and the Democrats, while they are a whole lot wiser to his game than they used to be, are still beholden to the fatuous idea that the American public really wants "bipartisanship." Obama tried it even after the Republicans made clear they would spit in his face every time; by the time he realized there was no working with them, he had lost Congress and it was too late to do anything but executive orders anyway. Biden has managed to get a few more bipartisan bills through the Senate, because he spent decades there and the old-school Republicans know him (and besides, he's an old white guy, so they don't have to look like they're doing the brown guy's bidding), but it's still an extremely one-sided relationship. It's infuriating to watch Biden mouth hoary cliches about Bipartisanship and act like the Republicans can be negotiated with in good faith, while they shamelessly fleece him for whatever they can get. Because as I said in an earlier post, he is too stuck in his past thinking and still believes there are "good people on both sides of the aisle" who genuinely have the political process and the country's best interests at heart. I would say, uh, no.

By now, Democrats know that Republicans can't be trusted and Republicans don't care about what anybody thinks except for God King Donald Trump. They have long ago given up trying to win a free and fair election on the merits of their ideas; they know that their ideas are total shit, toxically unpopular, and only benefit a tiny fraction of the most privileged white men in all of America. That's why they have turned so enthusiastically to attempting to rig elections, restrict voting rights, and pack the judiciary with partisan hacks. They don't give a shit what the average American wants, they don't want elections or politicians that reflect what's best for said average American, they don't believe in democracy, and they don't believe in going through a fair competition if it means they might lose. Cheating has been a fundamental part of their playbook for a while, and now it's become the only thing as they continue their jackbooted march to fascist authoritarianism. But, as ever, good luck getting the proud denizens of Cloud Cuckoo Leftist Land to understand that.

[thiswaycomessomethingwicked]

Was Napoleon a tyrant? I don't necessarily think he was: at least, I believe he was a better alternative to the absolute monarchs he was fighting. But there are those who disagree. What are your thoughts on the subject?

This is a can of worms to be sure.

I mean....how are we defining the word tyrant? All monarchs are tyrants to someone. Monarchy, by its very nature, is tyrannical in one way, shape, or form, no matter who is at its head. Even in the more neutered forms we see now days with the British. The Queen still exerts a ridiculous amount of power, all things considered.

Napoleon was no better or worse than any other monarch in Europe at that time. Indeed, better than some, worse than others. Because you know, he was human!

-

This got VERY long. SO LONG. Choice excerpts from below the cut:

"'Power was encroaching with large strides behind the words order and stability,' as Thibaudeau put it."

"(And I suspect he was concerned about seeming too eager for power/setting up a monarchical system. Fouche: You're about as subtle as a canon going off right next door. Napoleon: Hush.)"

"Theeeeeen the little bastard (affectionate) became Emperor."

"Napoleon Vs. Jeff Bezos: fight! fight! fight! (I'm putting my money on Napoleon.)"

--

tl;dr: a more or less benevolent emperor who had his faults and who was intimately aware, for better or worse, more than most monarchs, that the head is only tenuously attached to the body. (Skim to the bottom for my thoughts on the personal things i.e. how I interpret Napoleon's actions and brain)

But, more seriously, as with most absolute statements, I am opposed to calling him a tyrant because it is reductive and serves no purpose except to make broad sweeping political statements that I believe are far more about the person making the statement exemplifying their modern political, republican position (as in, actual republican-I-support-the-existence-of-republics not the gop) rather than expressing any sort of truth about the past. (wHaT iS tRuTh.)

For historical purposes, it can over-simplify the situation and lead to skewed interpretations of events because you're coming in with this word that has a lot of modern, 20th and 21st century baggage to it.

And, because these people are coming in with this big, bad word of tyrant as a label for Napoleon, it doesn't allow them to engage with the nuance and complexities of his reign.

Anyway.

Napoleon, as emperor, supported centralized power held in his own hands, with support from other governing bodies (senate, council of state etc.). However, Napoleon had a lot of influence in the structuring of these governing bodies and the subsequent appointments as a means to exert control over entities that would otherwise be able to act somewhat independent from him and impinge his power.

We see this consolidation of power beginning, obviously, under the consulate. 'Power was encroaching with large strides behind the words order and stability,' as Thibaudeau put it.

There was the whole theatre around the Tribunate offering to extend Napoleon's tenure as First Consul for another ten years as a means of thanks/showing gratitude for all he did for France (Fouche was like: fuck that, let's just make a statue of the guy). Napoleon played the part of Humble Servant of the Public and refused both statue and the ten year extension. (Very Julius Caesar: You all did see that on the Lupercal, I thrice presented him a kingly crown, which he did thrice refuse. Was this ambition?)

In actuality, though, he was pissed because he wanted it extended for life.

This resulted in the Council of State deciding "independently" (i.e. Napoleon wasn't present but he sure as hell influenced that Council session) to hold a plebiscite in order to ask The People two key questions: 'Should Napoleon Bonaparte be consul for life?' and 'Should he have the right to designate his successor?'

Napoleon nixed the second question saying to Cambaceres, 'The testament of Louis XIV was not respected, so why should mine be? A dead man has nothing to say.' Which is to say, he knew people would vote for him to be Consul for life, but the prospect of him choosing a successor, a la the Roman Empire, and having that choice be without input from the people and respected upon his death? Less clear.

(And, I suspect he was concerned about seeming too eager for power/setting up a monarchical system.

Fouche: You're about as subtle as a canon going off right next door.

Napoleon: Hush.)

For the Plebiscite, there were around 3.56 million votes for Yes to the question of Napoleon as consul for life and only around 8,300 for No.

The turnout rate was 60% which is uhh...impressive! (To be fair, there was no real evidence of tampering with the vote. Unlike in subsequent Plebiscites, such as the results for Do We Make Him Emperor, which were absolutely doctored. But, considering the highest turnout ever seen in the French Revolution was around 30/35%, double that is certainly something.)

Lafayette was pissed with this. He kicked up a fuss in the Senate and wrote to Napoleon saying that his 'restorative dictatorship' had been well and fine for now but has Napoleon thought about restoring liberty? and that he was certain Napoleon, of all people, wouldn't want an 'arbitrary regime' to be installed!

Napoleon: Bold of you to assume that, Lafayette.

There were, at this time, some mumblings and grumblings about tyranny from the liberals and those still wanting to continue the experiment of the French Republic, to be sure. They increased as time went on and Napoleon's power continued to consolidate.

Theeeeeen the little bastard (affectionate) became Emperor.

Lafayette: WhAt Is tHiS??

Napoleon: Look into my face and tell me honestly that you are shocked.

--

His government, as Consul and as Emperor, was centralized and very top-down in how it operated. Little was done without Napoleon's input.

The seemingly democratic institutions that had propped him up into power were retained and Napoleon used them as a means to facilitate his rule. As noted earlier, Napoleon had a heavy hand in appointments and the processes in place to fill various offices. Nothing was really...independent of him and his influence.

Though, in terms of Image Building of Empire, Napoleon worked hard to try and maintain the façade of impartiality as emperor. That he was head of state, sure, but all state apparatuses operated independent of him.

(Why is Napoleon's hat so big? because it is full of lies supporting the imperial image making machine.)

That said, when it came to filling those offices, Napoleon focused on merit more than anything as he wanted his governing officials to be capable, hardworking and, above all else, loyal.

(A good quote from Napoleon in one of his more Eat the Rich moments of the consulate: 'One cannot treat wealth as a title of nobility. A rich man is often a layabout without merit. A rich merchant is often only so by virtue of the art of selling expensively or stealing.'

Napoleon Vs. Jeff Bezos: fight! fight! fight!

(I'm putting my money on Napoleon.) )

--

This is getting really long and I feel that I've not addressed anything in a useful manner, but am I going to stop? No.

--

Napoleon, himself, at least in 1803, did express some conflicted views about assuming an imperial title. To Roederer he said, 'So many great things have been achieved over the past three years under the title of consul. It should be kept.'

Cambaceres said to Napoleon that upon assuming an imperial title 'your position changes and places you at odds with yourself.' No longer are you merely a public servant, an upholder of the Republic's ideals. Now you are a man wearing a crown, trying to be the upholder of the Republic's ideals.

(nb: I feel that duality is something Napoleon never fully got a handle on. He would veer strongly into authoritarian monarch then have moments of Rousseau-ian Idealism.)

Napoleon was insistent that his rule be a parliamentary monarchy (keeping the governance framework implemented in the Constitution of Year VIII, if I am not mistaken. But don't quote me on that.) and that the French were not his subjects but his people.

So, the imperial government worked thus with the Legislative process divided between four bodies:

Council of State which would draw up legislative proposals,

Tribunate which could debate on legislation but not vote on it,

a legislative body which could vote on legislation but not discuss it, and

Senate which would consider whether the proposed legislation conformed to the Constitution.

The Senate and the Legislative body could, theoretically, curtail Napoleon’s freedom/power. However, considering the fact that he was involved in the appointment process of these offices, and the general rhythm of daily governance, how much power they were able to exert over him was limited.

(This is at his height! Of course, towards the end we see a shift in that. But that's largely tied up in his military defeats and the British banging the door knocker demanding to be let in. Also they brought with them some friends. You might have heard of them? Bourbons?)

The initial terms the Senate brought to Napoleon with their offer of accepting him as a hereditary monarch included, but weren't limited to:

liberty cannot be infringed

equality cannot be jeopardized

sovereignty of the people must be maintained

the laws of the nation are inviolable

all institutions were to be free from undue imperial influence (e.g. the press)

the nation should never be put into a position where it needs to behead the head of state. Again.

Napoleon was uh. Not best pleased with this and had a new version drafted up that included acknowledgement of the sovereignty of the people, but a lot of the other things (e.g. freedom of the press) were cut out.

Yet, Napoleon maintained certain parts of the French Revolution's values which were reflected more in the 1804 Code Napoleon and other legislative and legal pieces than in the initial terms of Senatorial acceptance of his imperial title.

Some of the things enshrined in the Code that were carry-over from the Revolution include, but aren't limited to, the abolition of feudalism, equality before the law, freedom of conscience (to practice their own religion), gave fixed title to those who had bought church and émigré lands during the 1790s, and the equality of taxation was maintained (tax those aristos and the church). Also, there was affirmation of the idea of careers being "open to talent" rather than an accident of birth (as touched on above).

The Freedom of Conscience clause in the Code was a further formalization of several Articles Napoleon amended onto the Concordat in 1802. The Articles guaranteed the principle of religious toleration and made the Protestant and Jewish churches similarly subject to state authority (alongside the Catholic).

These are just a brief summary of some of the more liberal/revolution-informed aspects of Napoleon's governing.

The non-liberal ones I believe we're all pretty familiar with: suppression of the free press, roll-back of rights for women (women are for babies!), reinstatement of slavery (which he later reversed circa 1810/12-ish), top-down Emperor-has-final-word approach to ruling (Napoleon was all about Authority From Above, Trust From Below) etc. etc.

At the end of this, I would say Napoleon's empire falls into that "benevolent monarch" situation. For a given value of "benevolent." As stated at the start, he was like most other monarchs in Europe at the time. Better than some, not as great about certain things as others.

--

Really, it all ties back to Order and Stability.

Napoleon's assent, and his approach to strong, centralized ruling, was a result of uncertainty and constant government change over ten years of revolution alongside the growing belief, by 1803, that a republic like the Romans or Greeks was not going to happen any time soon. Not without constant warfare and the forever looming threat of a Bourbon restoration.

In addition, Napoleon was doing imperial drag. (If that makes sense.) He was dialing the notch of Emperor up to 11 - being the most emperor of all emperors. So, state control was absolute because he couldn't show any signs of weakness - either in his own body, his familial body, or the body of state. The court protocols were intense and over-the-top at times because he had to prove he was not just a second son of a parvenu lawyer from the sticks. No! he was worthy of this pomp. He was worthy of imperial majesty. He was worthy of the crown and scepter.

Napoleon was not raised to be anything other than a military officer and a middle-class head of a family (would have been a MASTER at doing Sunday Dad Puttering About the House). When he dawned the mantel of power, particularly that of empire, he had to make it up as he went along. For such a self-conscious and proud man, this was difficult. He never wanted to misstep and be embarrassed - on a personal level, political or military.

At the same time, he was reared on Rousseau and Revolution so still had those values and ideals imbedded in him, and those fears and memories. Napoleon knew as well as any Frenchman that a monarch's head is easily removable should it become necessary. Therefore, he sometimes ran roughshod over the liberty to ensure security. For better or worse, that was the choice he made.

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Napoleon was a flawed leader with a complex approach to governing that was focused on a centralization of power within him while, at the same time, trying to be the Successor of the Revolution, the Roman Republic and the Roman Empire. Layers! Like an onion.

His approach as emperor really was within the realm of normal-for-the-times when compared to most other monarchs on the European stage in 1800. He also granted liberties to his people that were unheard of in other countries.

I feel like all my Napoleonic ramblings end with the same message: Dude was nuanced. Dude was complex. Dude did good things and bad things. Dude helped people and hurt people. Dude contained multitudes. Because he was simply human, at the end of the day.

--

ANNNNNNND we are done.

Gods bless all y'all who made it this far.

Have my favourite picture of Napoleon at Tuileries as a prize.

hmm that beautiful heavy, handed symbolism.

[psychiatristreturning]

3:22 pm

a/n: @duck2005​. i adore sam and donna’s friendship. i mean remember when he calls her his BEST FRIEND, and then FIRES two guys cause they DISRESPECTED HER. i’m okay.  i really like this. sam with kids is wonderful and all that i want.  word count: 1k warnings: pregnancy, birth, maybe a curse??? masterlist

You have never hated a person as much as you hated Sam at the moment you were giving birth to your child. And you work at the White House, and you’re a liberal. Your job is to hate republicans most of the time. But oh boy, if you thought the pregnancy was hard, you were in for a bad surprise. “Sam Seaborn! I am going to kill you!” 

“Alright honey,” he patted your hand used to the empty threats you had been giving him for eight hours. 

Thankfully, the White House didn’t know you were here, but, if Senator Christiana had called and asked where you two were for the meeting, everyone would be able to put two and two together. You both had a normal morning, going to the Senior Staff meeting and then you two had to go to a meeting on the Hill. But on the way to the Hill, your water broke. Causing you two to rush to the hospital, a baby on the way. 

“Mrs. Seaborn, I need you to push!” the doctor said, you rolled your eyes. What have I been doing? 

You began pushing, squeezing Sam’s hand and shutting your eyes tightly. He pulled your sweaty flyways back from your forehead with his freehand, “You’re doing wonderful.” he kissed your forehead softly, pure adoration in his eyes. 

“I love you!” you whispered to him oddly aggressively, his eyes widened at your random outburst of passion, but he went along. 

“I love you too.” 

You had still been pushing, when the doctor exclaimed, “One more!” Suddenly, small and meek cries began to fill the room. Your daughter was born. Taking a deep breath your eyes filled with tears, shining in the bright hospital lights. The doctor carefully handed her to you, placing her softly in your arms. 

“Hi baby girl,” you cooed, she squirmed weakly, soft cries leaving her mouth. 

Sam reached over tentatively, “She’s beautiful.” he spoke, completely in awe. 

You looked up at Sam and smiled crookedly, “She has your eyes.” 

A nurse came in, politely asking to take her to be weighed and wrapped up, you gladly let the nurse take her. Sam wrapped an arm around you lovingly, “You did that.” he laughed childishly, “We have a daughter. And I’m so happy.” reaching up you kissed his him sweetly. 

“You should probably call Toby, considering he has been calling you all day.” 

He nodded, “Should I tell him?” 

“Defiantly, what are we going to do, lie about not having a baby?” 

Sam laughed and pulled out his phone, dialing Toby. Even from the bed you were laying in you could here Toby yelling on the phone, “Oh! Sam finally picked up! Where are you? I’m sort of lost without my deputy, also when he was supposed to go to a meeting!” 

“Well you see it’s funny-” 

“The only reason you wouldn’t be at the meeting is if, I don’t know, Y/N went into labor!” Sam went quiet, “Wait.” Toby said quietly, “Did Y/N have the baby?” 

“Yeah,” Sam smiled, “A healthy baby girl.” 

“Oh, jeez, congrats.” 

“Thanks. I’m going to call Josh now.”

“You know the president will demand to come down and meet her?” 

Laughing, Sam replied, “I know, and there is no stopping him.” 

“Yeah,” Toby stopped, and as he does occasionally, spoke genuinely and sweetly, “Congrats, I’m really happy for you two.” 

Sam gulped, trying to suppress his emotions, “Well, I’m going to call Josh.” 

“Okay great.” 

Sam hung up and planned to call Josh, but then the nurse knocked on the door holding a chart and your daughter. “Here she is!” the nurse placed her in your arms, she was now clean and swaddled. He began speaking about her, “She’s a healthy 7.2 pounds, strong heartbeat, everything’s good! She was born at 3:22 pm and is completely healthy.”

“Thank you.” Sam responded as you were too occupied looking at your baby. He came over when the nurse left, sitting down next to you. 

“We have a baby!” you whispered excitedly, cradling her sleeping form. 

“Is that all you can say right now?” he smirked at you.

“I’m pretty excited ‘cause we have a baby!” kissing her soft forehead you realized, that you had a baby! A real baby! With your husband! A feat by itself. “Can you pass me my water?” 

“Sure,” Sam handed you your water from the bedside table, and you gratefully accepted.

“Do you wanna hold her?” 

Sam’s eyes widened, “What if I drop her?” 

“Well I sure hope you don’t, she’s your daughter too!” He held out his arms, and you placed her in his arms. As you watched your genius husband hold your utterly angelic daughter, you thought that if it was physically possible, your heart might burst. But the stillness of the room was suddenly disturbed by the White House Senior Staff, who Toby had told. 

“What the he-” 

“No swearing around the baby, Samuel.” 

“C.J.-” she shot him a sharp look, and he kept his mouth shut. 

“Is she healthy?” Donna asked, eyes full of wonder and worry. 

Looking at your wonderful co-workers- friends, you answered, “Yup, sevens pounds and two ounces. Born at 3:22 pm.” 

“What’s her name?” you and Sam looked at each other, he nodded toward you, telling you to say it. 

“If you guys wouldn’t mind, we think Jean Donna Seaborn.” 

Donna’s hand flew up to her mouth and she teared up, C.J. just started laughing, in her normal ‘I-can’t-believe-it’ laugh. Donna began full out crying and Josh, without hesitation, grabbed her and hugged her. She embraced him and you and Sam looked at each other knowingly. Sam handed you Jean as you said, “You all wanna see her?” 

“Thank you Y/N.” you looked up at C.J. smiling wholeheartedly at you. 

“No problem, Claudia Jean.”