#it's republican majority & they suck

[vintageseawitch]

let this be a reminder: A LOT OF PEOPLE ARE GOING TO VOTE FOR TRUMP.

it's a big deal that Harris was on such a massively popular podcast "Call Her Daddy" & i hope many young women have been swayed in a good way to get out there & vote.

it seems like, according to the comments on Instagram, that there are MANY white maga women who listen to/watch that podcast & they're ANGRY. there are more positive comments on TikTok but there you go.

it's disheartening in some ways but don't lose hope. we can't lose hope! there's probably bots & plants from different countries commenting, etc. we already know millions of people will be voting for him, white women unfortunately included in too high of a number. but maybe this podcast was a spark of hope for some young women out there. maybe that combined with those sticky notes & people posting on social media & discussing it privately amongst friends that YOUR VOTE IS PRIVATE. YOUR RIGHTS ARE AT STAKE. YOUR WHITENESS WILL NOT SAVE YOU FOR LONG.

they want to ban abortion, contraception, IVF, no-fault divorce. don't be surprised if they take away our right to vote, have a bank account without a husband or father giving permission, owning property, hell maybe they'll restrict our right to drive or travel or what we fucking wear. they have so many terrible things in mind because they hate us.

those white maga women? there's a lot of them. it's concerning how much they hate others. it's concerning that they think they're the exception or it won't get that bad. to any other woman out there on the fence: do you really want to take that gamble? do you really only want to be considered an incubator where a potential idea has more rights than you? where are corpse has more rights than you?

let this be a wake up call to voters: we got a helluva fight we need to get through. they intend to not just vote in droves but will cause mischief of not outright violence & harm. let's beat them. there are a lot of women who will vote against their best interests but i would like to believe there will be a surprising amount who will vote in a good way.

your vote is private. please think about your rights & everyone else's who will be at stake. oh, & Alex Cooper did a phenomenal job interviewing her that shames mainstream media. i hope this turns out for the best.

please, PLEASE, VOTE 💙

[poisonedapples]

Super heavy vent ahead in the tags

[tibli]

yknow, i usually vote democrat no matter what, but im not really sure how a president that actively sends ammunition and money to help a genocide is like. the "lesser" of two evils. at this point i dont really care if biden has done like. a few good things for our country, that doesnt really make up for the whole genocide thing in my eyes, sorry

[locallibrarylover]

people from the southern united states hating the south is vastly different from any other usamerican hating the south. btw.

[therosevest]

like you need to get this picture. im actually at a point of like angry stress tears monday my professor had cornered me and then talked shit abt me behind my back and again demonstrated a need for a ketamine addiction im stressed out of my mind im like i have no privacy i havent had me time in forever i lock myself in the bathroom get like 10 mins to myself and then i hear a commotion people are knocking from several points of entry that i had locked and i didnt even have time to form an excuse bc i walked out and three extra girls on top of my roommates and one friend are standing in the living room with all of the one’s stuff packed up in suitcases. and im standing there with my hands freshly washed just like huh. well.

[fairuzfan]

Would you rather have a president that enables a genocide? Or would you rather have a president that vilifies immigrants, promotes facism, dismantles the rights of women and minorities, emboldens white nationalists, worsens the wage gap, defunds vital services, AND enables a genocide?

It's an unfair and unreasonable question to ask. I know. Unfortunately those are our choices for president. It sucks, but it's a 2 party system. And until any change is made where a 3rd party vote is no longer equivalent to not voting at all, it's better to just vote blue for the presidential election. Not because Democrats are the "lesser evil", but because NOT having a Republican president will prevent further suffering of Americans and will lessen the risks of minorities' rights being threatened and revoked.

The president chooses the members of the supreme court who hold lifelong positions and whose legal decisions have decades-long ramifications. Trump picked 3 of the 11 current members who currently hold a Republican majority. It was that supreme court that overturned Roe V Wade and that decision is harming thousands of people today in multiple states.

Biden already nominated one SCOTUS, and in his next term he could appoint 1-2 more Democratic members who would work to protect rather than erode American rights.

The Trump administration was lethal for thousands of Americans for a multitude of reasons, including his failure to properly respond to and then proceeded to politicize the COVID-19 pandemic.

As awful as it sounds, as hard as it is to believe in the moment, ESPECIALLY with the atrocities Biden is perpetuating in Palestine right now, don't believe for a moment that this genocide would be even slightly less cruel under Trump. The difference is Trump's cruelties would extend to Americans as well— especially immigrants.

The point I'm making is the only ethical choice for this election is to vote for Biden, but at the same time that vote is not the same as condoning his actions. Don't let voting be the end all for political action, and I hope you understand why this choice is necessary in an unfair voting system. Please participate in your local elections, Call your representatives. Continue demanding a permanent ceasefire and an end of Israel's occupation over Palestine. And please keep helping Palestinians.

I think it's quite wild to say people domestically haven't been dying under Biden. Hundreds of thousands disabled people have died during the Biden presidency due to covid. I myself only got covid because people around my family stopped masking. Even some of my family members stopped masking because of the CDC thing. There have been countless other things that I'm too tired to list as well that directly contributed to the death of people.

I'm sorry I don't know why you sent this I'm not going to change my mind. I'm not voting for the man that killed people I know and lied to our faces about it.

[visenyaism]

Stuff about American election night that you should know:

We’re one week out! Crazy. So I know too much about US politics because I explain this for money, so I figured it might be helpful to talk a bit about what we should expect from election night. If you're not American, are new to our insane election system, or are anxious about what's happening next week, here's the deal with next Tuesday:

1. Most important thing: Do NOT expect to know the winner on election night. Different states have different laws about when they can start counting early/mail-in votes, which often slows down reporting time.

2020 took until the Saturday after to call because of the high mail-in vote count due to Covid, and while that isn't happening this time, it'll take longer than 2016, 2012, or 2008 because the polls are predicting that this one's going to be a lot closer than those. Consider just going to bed instead of staying up for the results.

2. Because of the Electoral College, popular vote doesn't matter as much as who wins each individual state does. Every state has a certain amount of electoral votes based on population, whoever wins a state gets all their votes, whoever gets to 270/538 wins. We know how most states are going to vote. The Electoral College puts the election in the hands of 7 "swing" states that could go either way. This time, that's Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina, Michigan, Wisconsin, Arizona, and Nevada. These are the states to watch. Here's the map:

3. No one will know anything until polls close and states start reporting results. Doomscrolling is kind of pointless anyways, but it's especially pointless before 7pm. here's a map of closure times:

4. Data will shift throughout the night. Rural counties report results first because fewer people live there. This means the earlier you check, the more conservative the state maps might look. Do not look at the election results for any state with less than 90% reporting and freak out, especially if the state hasn't been called (deemed mathematically impossible for the other candidate to win) by multiple news outlets.

5. Voter fraud happens way less than you think it does. Pretty much never, actually. One study claims you're more likely to get struck by lightning than you are to witness actual, impersonation-based voter fraud in a modern US election. Be extremely skeptical of any voter fraud claims you might see.

6. Avoid getting news from social media accounts that aren't news outlets. There's a lot of disinformation out there, especially as AI/Deepfake tech is getting worse. Fact-check everything you might see. Anyone can make a destiel meme about the election. make sure it's true before you reblog it.

7. The electoral college sucks shit and does allow for a 269-269 vote tie. In this case, it goes to the House of Representatives, who are majority-Republican and will pick Trump. Some states might be within 1% (like 49.3%-49.7%) and candidates can demand recounts, which might delay official results by weeks or months. It HAS to be over by mid- December when the Electoral College officially votes.

8. take care of yourselves. if we're not going to know on election night, you may as well power down your phone and go to bed at a reasonable hour.

[lesspopped]

since I’ve spoken to a few different people who were disappointed by the outcome of the elections, especially people who haven’t voted in many elections previously, and so were surprised to hear this: y’all, this election actually went shockingly well for the democratic party. as a rule, the sitting president’s party does not do well in midterms, especially the first midterm after that president is elected. this is the best a sitting president’s party has done in the midterm in twenty years. the last time it went this well for the sitting president’s party was 2002, when the republicans were still riding the post-9/11 jingoism wave. in the first midterm after obama was elected, the democratic party lost 63 house seats; last I checked the nyt's final projection for them to lose this time was somewhere in the neighborhood of 12.

yes, it sucks that we’re likely losing the house and it sucks that the senate is still up in the air and it super sucks that the democrats have basically given up on bothering to campaign in florida. but losing the house was always likely and we have not lost it by nearly as much as we were predicted to, and honestly, without a filibuster-proof majority, even having both chambers of congress isn’t a guarantee of being able to get much done there. there are definitely disappointments, but this is nowhere near a disaster. ultimately, from what I can tell, there are a lot more republicans disappointed by this election than democrats, because this was supposed to be a massive blowout for the republicans and it very much has not been. like, at all. 

again I am not saying there are not things to be disappointed by, and it sucks immeasurably that we have to take “this didn’t go as badly as it could have” as a victory, but also, it really, really is a victory. at the very least, it’s not a flat-out defeat, and there are a lot of reasons not to feel despair. the smaller, state-level victories are not as flashy and dramatic as the higher-profile ones like the house or senate, but they’re extremely important, and will make a huge difference in a lot of people’s lives — in many cases a greater difference, day-to-day, than the senate or house elections will make. it’s really important not to lose sight of these wins.

(personally, what was really keeping me up at night was a) abortion referendums and b) the number of 2020 election deniers who were running for state- or local-level seats that would have put them in the position of being in charge of election administration in 2024 and beyond, making it much easier for them to rig future elections. well, republicans have pretty soundly gotten their asses handed to them on both counts, which is fan-fucking-tastic. like I said, these are not necessarily the things that get a lot of attention on the national level, but they’re so, so important and will make a big difference for a lot of people in the coming years.)

[qqueenofhades]

Leaving aside possible reversals, disasters, doom & gloom, can we take a moment to savor the Trump meltdown over Harris/Walz and the momentum that makes a possible blue tsunami seem an entirely plausible outcome? I'd love to give you the space to ramble about it if you'd like, as my current fandom at least for the moment has shifted back to US politics (but not, for the first time in a while, to doom scrolling politics!).

Aha, I feel as I have probably already said most of my current thoughts, but here are a few things that really make me desire a heaping helping of butt-whooping blue wave in November:

The state that has had the most volunteer sign-ups since Harris took over the ticket? Fucking Florida, with over 18,000. The Villages, formerly a hotbed of Trump support (and y'know, probably still is), also had a major pro-Kamala event, and she is allegedly up 15 points in Miami-Dade (after Biden won the county by 7% and lost the state only by 3%). Now, we all know that Obama won Florida twice, but it has become such a symbol of retrograde Trumpian/DeSantisian politics that winning there would be literally seismic. I'm not going so far as saying that it's in PLAY play, but let's just hold onto that happy, happy idea.

Likewise the poll I mentioned the other day, where Trump is struggling to break 50% in Ohio, once a swing state and now also reliably red. The fact that this is Vance's home state and he's dragging the ticket down every single time he opens his mouth, thus offering the smallest sliver of hope that Ohio (which DID legalize abortion and weed by major margins last year) could also go blue? Incredible. Amazing. Showstopping.

Harris is also tied with Trump (46%-46%) in North Carolina and there is a lot of chatter about how the terrible GOP governor candidate could give a boost to Democratic turnout statewide.

The Mormons have apparently announced their intention to abandon (or at least support much less than they usually do) the Republican presidential ticket in 2024. Remember when Obama won Indiana in 2008? In my wildest dreams, I imagine Utah going blue in 2024. It won't but shh.

Basically, where we were braced for another agonizing nail-biting grind-it-out three-day election determined by a few thousand votes in key states (because etc etc the Electoral College sucks) we are now looking at the very real possibility that Harris wins at least one state, and possibly more, that Biden didn't, and which have been seen as out of reach for Democrats since Trump came on the scene. I don't think I need to counsel anyone against complacency, because we're all too damn scared for that, but yeah. Polls, even the good-looking ones that we like, don't vote. They are still skewed and subjective and do not represent the actual reality, whatever that may end up being. The Republicans and the media will be trying their absolute goddamnfuckingest to ratfuck us again in the 80-something days that remain, but:

WE CAN DO THIS, WE WILL DO THIS, WE MUST DO THIS.

WHAT IS THIS.... JOY SCROLLING? FOR AMERICAN POLITICS? IN THE YEAR 2024 WITH DONALD TRUMP ON THE TICKET FOR THE FUCKING THIRD TIME?

UNPOSSIBLE.

[ceasarslegion]

Some songs are just entirely divorced from who made them. Like yeah skillets made up of christian nationalists who suck major republican dick but Monster does not belong to them. It belongs to the 2000s warrior cats AMV makers who were drawing graystripe with an emo haircut using a mouse in ms paint

[hotvintagepoll]

Propaganda

Gene Tierney (Laura, The Ghost and Mrs Muir, Leave Her to Heaven)— The class, the elegance. The way she walks into frame and immediately all focus is on her. She had a pretty lengthy struggle with mental health that she describes in her book, which I think made her all the more sensitive in portraying characters like in leave her to heaven. Also she dumped JFK so

Nina Mae McKinney (Hallelujah, Pie Pie Blackbird, The Devil’s Daughter)—One of the first black movie stars, Nina worked with Bill ‘Bojangles’ Robinson, King Vidor, and Paul Robeson. She was the first Black Actress to be signed to one of the major studios, MGM, but her career was stalled by a lack of roles.

This is round 3 of the tournament. All other polls in this bracket can be found here. Please reblog with further support of your beloved hot sexy vintage woman.

[additional propaganda submitted under the cut.]

Gene Tierney:

64.media.tumblr.com

The entire plot of Laura is that a guy has to become completely obsessed with a woman after just seeing her portrait. This only works because Gene was cast in the role. I 10000% believe anyone could fall in love after seeing her face.

Those eyes! Just look at those eyes! She’s at her hottest in Leave Her To Heaven— I literally want her to ruin my life.

Absolute grade-A babe, she is the perfection incarnate.

Gene Tierney was beautiful, poised, intense. I associate her with roles where she was murderous or an intelligent woman being patronized to - like a woman on the edge! As far as I am concerned, she deserved to do whatever she wanted.

64.media.tumblr.com

She had a slight overbite which was amazingly sexy, and a throaty voice that was very memorable as well. She’s terrific in Laura, which reminds me I should watch it again.

EYES!! Her diabolical acting in Leave Her to Heaven is just perfect, Rosamund Pike definitely took notes for her Gone Girl from her.

Oscar-nominated and simply one of the most beautiful women to ever walk this Earth.

Absolutely stunning. In Leave Her to Heaven, she reaches Rosamund-Pike-in-Gone-Girl levels of “holy fucking shit?!?!?!” She had a fling with JFK in the ‘40s and also dated the exes of Rita Hayworth and Hedy Lamarr (Prince Aly Khan and W. Howard Lee, respectively). Sadly, her daughter was born with a disability (during a time in which there were few good mainstream options for disabled children and their parents), likely because of a fan who was sick with measles and went out of her way to meet Tierney (who was pregnant) anyway. Topical! Sure would be good if people stayed home when they were sick! Anyway, she was also a Republican, which sucks. Laura and Leave Her to Heaven are great viewing though.

Nina Mae McKinney:

Hollywood's first Black vamp, and have you seen her dance? 👀

She has such delicate features and such a delightfully impish smile

[justinspoliticalcorner]

Gabe Fleisher at Wake Up To Politics:

A few weeks ago, after CNN published its bombshell report about North Carolina Lt. Gov. Mark Robinson, I was texting with a friend. Rumors had been flying around the political world all day about what the report would bring. Now that it had arrived, my friend told me he was unimpressed; it wasn’t as earth-shattering as he’d been expecting. “One day, when your grandchildren ask you what American politics was like in 2024,” I responded, “you can tell them that we learned a gubernatorial candidate called himself a Nazi on a porn website, and your initial response was to shrug.” [...]

The U.S. is currently grappling with two major hurricanes at once — trying to prepare for one while still recovering from the damage of the other. The latter, Hurricane Helene, was the deadliest hurricane to hit the mainland U.S. since Katrina in 2005. More than 200 people have been killed, mostly in North Carolina, but also in Georgia and South Carolina as well. Entire towns in western North Carolina were leveled; some residents have now gone more than a week without running water.

The former, Hurricane Milton, is expected to make landfall in Florida tonight. Forecasters suggest that it could hit Tampa Bay, which was also impacted by the devastation of Helene but has not been in the direct path of a hurricane since 1921. The city is considered uniquely vulnerable to natural disaster; analysts are already predicting damage upwards of $50 billion. Local, state, and federal officials have been pleading with anyone in Milton’s path to evacuate immediately. “I can say this without any dramatization whatsoever: If you choose to stay in one of those evacuation areas, you are going to die,” Tampa Mayor Jane Castor said on CNN earlier this week.

“Several years ago I asked [the National Hurricane Center] to show me what the worst case storm hitting Florida would look like,” Sen. Marco Rubio (R-FL) posted on X. “What they showed me back then is almost identical to the #Milton forecast now.” With both storms hitting the U.S. only weeks before a heated presidential election, it is not shocking that they has quickly been sucked into the political discourse. America has a long history of election-year disasters becoming talking points on the campaign trail, from Hurricane Andrew hurting George H.W. Bush in 1992 to Hurricane Sandy boosting Barack Obama in 2012. But the responses to Helene and Milton have been marked by something new: an unprecedented flood of misinformation and conspiracy theories. Don’t take it from me. Take it from FEMA Administrator Deanne Criswell, who told reporters on a Tuesday conference call that the misinformation surrounding these two hurricanes has been “absolutely the worst I have ever seen.”

Many of the false claims have come directly from Republican presidential nominee Donald Trump, who has claimed that: the Biden administration is “going out of their way to not help people in Republican areas” (GOP governors have said otherwise); that “Kamala spent all her FEMA money, billions of dollars, on housing for illegal migrants” (FEMA’s congressionally-appropriated program to help local governments house migrants is completely separate from FEMA’s disaster relief funds); and that “we give foreign countries hundreds of billions of dollars and we’re handing North Carolina $750” (that is merely the amount of aid made available to hurricane victims immediately; over the long run, victims can receive up to tens of thousands of dollars in support). A slew of Trump allies, including X owner Elon Musk, have amplified several other conspiracy theories online. But the prize for Biggest Whopper goes to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-GA), who posted — on her official congressional account — this week: “Yes they can control the weather.” The supposed “they” was not immediately identified, although Greene previously suggested in 2018 that California wildfires that year were caused by space lasers linked to the Rothschilds, a prominent Jewish family that has long been the subject of antisemitic conspiracy theories. (Greene posted again about “lasers controlling the weather” this week.) In recent weeks, Hurricanes Helene and Milton have sparked a flurry of antisemitic attacks against Jewish officials involved in the response, including claims that they created the disasters.

In her initial post, Greene attached a video of former CIA Director John Brennan discussing geoengineering, an umbrella term for scientific research into manipulating climate systems in order to mitigate the effects of climate change. Geoengineering remains largely theoretical; it is not possible to geoengineer a hurricane, and the technology has no connection to anything that happened with either Helene or Milton. “Climate change is the new Covid,” Greene asserted in another message. “Ask your government if the weather is manipulated or controlled. Did you ever give permission to them to do it? Are you paying for it? Of course you are.”

Other right-wing influencers advanced the argument. “The weather can and is being manipulated,” Georgia Republican Party official Kandiss Taylor posted to her nearly 60,000 X followers, adding: “[Georgia] voting has been compromised and don’t know if we will be able to get all our early voting days in. Now, a hurricane is coming straight for Florida. These two states are necessary for a Trump victory! No coincidence.” Taylor’s message has received more than 3 million views on X. The theories became popular enough in right-wing circles that Rep. Chuck Edwards (R-NC), who represents Asheville and most of western North Carolina (the area hit hardest by Helene), issued a press release on Tuesday to reassure his constituents of the falsity of various claims. Near the top of the list? “Nobody can control the weather,” he wrote. The statement, in its entirety, is a fascinating historical document — showing the types of claims that a Republican congressman felt he needed to fact-check in 2024, partially due to misinformation spread by his own colleagues and his party’s presidential candidate.

This piece in Wake Up To Politics by Gabe Fleisher is a must-read on the misinformation/disinformation crisis regarding Hurricanes Helene and Milton, thanks to Donald Trump and MAGA-aligned figures (especially in the right-wing media apparatus).

See Also:

MMFA: On The Victory Channel's FlashPoint, pro-Trump prophets suggest Hurricanes Helene and Milton are “spiritual” and that “God did say in the prophecies that these storms would be sent to interrupt the flow of our election process”

[andreabandrea]

i think all the time about how hard it is to be a kid even in the best case scenarios. like yeah as a kid you have very few responsibilities and youre innocent etc but i think the thing is that adults (at least in the USA) largely do not consider you to be a human.

i remember when i was a kid, my parents were nice to me and supportive and so on-- i didnt have a bad childhood. but there were times where my dad would just take things from me, or interrupt me on the computer/tv, not because i had exceeded screen time or anything but just because "im the dad and im more important so i can do what i want". i remember how powerless i felt when adults would shout at me, especially if it was over something i didnt understand and/or hadnt been taught.

i remember adults laughing in my face sometimes when i was crying or upset, and i think about this when i see those 'toddler/kid freakout' tiktok videos mocking a child's reaction, even if it is for something "stupid" like they dropped their candy or whatever.

even the most well-meaning adults will often write off your pain and negative emotions as 'overreactions', and this goes triple if youre neurodivergent. i had pneumonia as a child and my doctor thought i was just being dramatic.

your input on things is largely seen as worthless. if your parents want to travel the country in a van, but you want to go to school and have friends and have your own bedroom, they'll just pack you up and take you in that van because you're the child and you're their property. i think about this when i see those 'van life' families, and i think about this as i'm reading the Wavewalker book about the girl who was forced to live on her parents' boat with little to no schooling for 10 years.

if your parents spank you and hit you, largely thats seen as their "choice" as parents, no matter how many studies tell them it traumatizes children. and youre dependent on the adults around you and if those adults suck, or if youre in a bad situation, you have very little to no ability to change that and you just have to endure.

and thats what drives me insane about desantis is that we see more and more rhetoric like "the rights of parents" and "protecting children" but these kids are being told that they do not have rights. its as if people truly believe parents deserve to know everything, even if the child doesnt feel safe telling them. people think parents deserve to control their kids' every choice and every move. but when it comes to protecting kids from gun violence and protecting gay/trans kids and especially kids of color, republicans could not give less of a shit. hell, even the grand majority of democrats barely care.

yes, i get it. parenting is unimaginably hard. the nuclear family is unsustainable especially in today's double-income-not-even-making-rent economy. the world is fucked up. sometimes kids are shitty and it might hurt you as an adult. but kids are not evil, and kids are not adults who are acting with fully developed brains and social skills and empathy and so on and its important to keep that in mind.

on the chance that anyone wants to reply with "well i hate kids :/" look. you dont have to be a parent. but at least be kind to children in your life. let the kid in the park ramble to you about skibidi toilet or fucking whatever. you do owe people kindness, especially children

[sunbentshadows]

I've been turning this over in my head the past few days: Does anyone else think of the way the Millennial/GenZ generation in the USA have never had a functioning federal government in our lives? We're so USED to living like this we hardly even register it.

Think of all the stupid day-to-day things that make your life worse- the small things . Billions of emails in your inbox after one purchase, all of whom have already sold your data. Inability to easily cancel subscriptions online. 23andme going under meaning it's very likely their entire userbase's genetic data is about to be sold to private equity. Forever. Data privacy, passwords, the fact your SSN and health records and everything else have been leaked online and you just have to hope you don't win the stolen-identity lottery.

Or cars - touchscreens in cars which are so horrifically dangerous they should have been banned in the beginning, or that the stupid fucking Cybertruck is even allowed to be on roads, the ridiculous lifted-trucks that kill people and children that are now STANDARD model, or LED headlights so DANGEROUSLY bright they destroy your night-vision. Or even WATER - corporations allowed to take water rights and bottle and sell, or food-waste laws, or plastic-waste laws...

That I still need four different chargers MINIMUM for all my bits and bobs of technology, that tech companies are allowed to do planned-obsolescence, that it's perfectly legal for private equity to buy up homes, that medical education isn't free or highly-subsidized in the US in spite of the massive, slow-moving crash that is our lack of doctors...

These are not EASY problems (well. they are. usually they are solved with money and regulations applied correctly), but by fucking god they're the problems that could be legislated to make your life better. The functioning role of government is to pass fucking laws and protect citizens and improve their lives. But it has become SO NORMAL that we have a dysfunctional government that we're so used to life sucking in all these little ways.

Yes, there are the big ones - student loans, minimum wage, healthcare, gun control etc etc... but like, life COULD be better in other ways too, if the government would fucking DO something (if Republicans were not in office). The last major piece of "clear, everyday life-improving" legislation that passed was the ACA - and even with that, instead of making things BETTER, congress (Republicans, of course, let's again name them) spent several sessions trying to KILL the last good thing the US government ever did for its citizens.

I'm not saying dems would be perfect if they could sweep this election, but go look at what Minnesota managed to do with a one-vote majority, and then think of the way our lives could be better in small ways too.

Vote, etc. I'm so exhausted of all of this.

[greatlakesrebel]

I've slapped together a list of reasons why I'm voting blue, as a Palestine supporter

1. one of two people will become president: Harris or Trump. there is no way around it. the president won't be Jill Stein, it won't be "no one," it will be Harris or Trump.

2. trump would continue arming israel. in fact, he's netanyahu's preferred candidate who recently bragged onscreen about sabotaging biden's ceasefire talks. it sucks that neither harris nor trump are willing to divest from israel, but making harris lose won't save any palestinian lives. we might as well salvage what rights we can, by packing dems into office all the way down the ballot. a coalition of arab, muslim, palestinian, and progressive community leaders in arizona made this spot-on statement about this dilemma, go give it a read!

3. Biden/Harris won't be "punished" by losing. they'll retire comfortably, as former presidents do. it's the rest of us normies who will bear the brunt of the loss for 4+ years

4. 2 republican supreme court justices will likely retire within the next 4 years. that means the next president will nominate 2 new SCOTUS members to replace them. with harris, we have a chance to get a 5-4 democratic majority and reverse the damages republicans have done since the trump administration

5. voting isn't a pledge of unquestioning loyalty. we can march on monday, vote on tuesday, and barricade buildings on wednesday.

6. the only certain way to break the 2-party duopoly is through ranked-choice voting, which we need dems in office for, because republicans HATE IT. more people will be comfortable making a 3rd party their #1 choice if they know their vote's not going to waste. and depending on where you live, ranked-choice voting might be directly on your ballot (Alaska, Colorado, DC, Idaho, Missouri, Nevada, and Oregon: this is you!!!)

7. I am NOT subjecting myself to hearing about that orange, dried-up motherfucker every day for 4 more years please please please I'm so tired man

[jones-friend]

All you non US peeps need to know abt US politics is we have two parties, they’re two wings of the same bird. You can vote blue or red but the train heads in the same direction.

You can also vote blue and get red. In 1988 George HW Bush won the presidency and a 52.8% voter turnout rate is considered normal. That was 35 years ago, and it was the last time a republican party won the popular vote without being an incumbent wartime president. George W Bush won the 2000 election without the majority of votes with a controversy regarding Florida talked about over twenty years later. Then Trump won the 2016 election without the popular vote again. He is also poised to do well this election despite his many criminal cases proceeding.

Its why peeps get demoralized when they’re told vote blue no matter who. I agree with the sentiment but it SUCKS. Bc even in a best case scenario democrats still pass republican legislation to “reach across the aisle”, meanwhile republicans are making it illegal to serve in office as a democrat (see: the Wisconsin legislature). So you still have to vote otherwise it gets much worse. Its like having to choose do you wanna explode your house with you in it or go hungry. It sucks.

But also not voting isn’t an option otherwise blow your house up wins. Barring a few exceptions you only stand to lose fast or slow.