#it's republican majority & they suck

[fozmeadows]

There's a lot of conversations to be had around the current influx of Americans to Xiaohongshu (RedNote/Little Red Book) ahead of the TikTok ban, many of which are better articulated by more knowledgeable people than me. And for all the fun various parties of both nationalities seem to having with memes and wholesome interactions, it's undoubtedly true that there's also some American entitlement and exoticization going on, which sucks. But a sentiment I've seen repeatedly online is that, if it's taken actually speaking to Chinese people and viewing Chinese content for Americans to understand that they've been propagandized to about China and its people, then that just proves how racist they are, and I want to push back on that, because it strikes me as being a singularly reductive and unhelpful framing of something far more complex.

Firstly: while there's frequently overlap between racism and xenophobia, the distinction between them matters in this instance, because the primary point of American propaganda about China is that Communism Is Fundamentally Evil And Unamerican And Never Ever Works, and thinking a country's government sucks is not the same as thinking the population is racially inferior. The way most Republicans in particular talk about China, you'd think it was functionally indistinguishable from North Korea, which it really isn't. Does this mean there's no critique to be made of either communism in general or the CCP? Absolutely not! But if you've been told your whole life that communist countries are impoverished, corrupt and dangerous because Communism Never Works, and you've only really encountered members of the Chinese diaspora - i.e., people whose families left China, often under traumatic circumstances, because they thought America would be better or safer - rather than Chinese nationals, then no: it's not automatically racist to be surprised that their daily lives and standard of living don't match up with what you'd assumed. Secondly: TikTok's userbase skews young. While there's certainly Americans in their 30s and older investigating Xiaohongshu, it seems very reasonable to assume that the vast majority are in their teens or twenties - young enough that, barring a gateway interest in something like C-dramas, danmei or other Chinese cultural products, and assuming they're not of Chinese descent themselves, there's no reason why they'd know anything about China beyond what they've heard in the news, or from politicians, or from their parents, which is likely not much, and very little firsthand. But even with an interest in China, there's a difference between reading about or watching movies from a place, and engaging firsthand, in real time, with people from that place, not just through text exchanges, but in a visual medium that lets you see what their houses, markets, shopping centers, public transport, schools, businesses, infrastructure and landmarks look like. Does this mean that what's being observed isn't a curated perspective on China as determined both by Xiaohongshu's TOU and the demographic skewing of its userbase? Of course not! But that doesn't mean it isn't still a representative glimpse of a part of China, which is certainly more than most young Americans have ever had before.

Thirdly: I really need people to stop framing propaganda as something that only stupid bigots fall for, as though it's possible to natively resist all the implicit cultural biases you're raised with and exist as a perfect moral being without ever having to actively challenge yourself. To cite the sacred texts:

Like. Would the world be a better place if everyone could just Tell when they're being lied to and act accordingly? Obviously! But that is extremely not how anything actually works, and as much as it clearly discomforts some to witness, the most common way of realizing you've been propagandized to about a particular group of people is to interact with them. Can this be cringe and awkward and embarrassing at times? Yes! Will some people inevitably say something shitty or rude during this process? Also yes! But the reality is that cultural exchange is pretty much always bumpy to some extent; the difficulties are a feature, not a bug, because the process is inherently one of learning and conversation, and as individual people both learn at different rates and have different opinions on that learning, there's really no way to iron all that out such that nobody ever feels weird or annoyed or offput. Even interactions between career diplomats aren't guaranteed smooth sailing, and you're mad that random teenagers interacting through a language barrier in their first flush of enthusiasm for something new aren't doing it perfectly? Come on now.

Fourthly: Back before AO3 was banned in China, there was a period where the site was hit with an influx of Chinese users who, IIRC, were hopping over when one of their own fansites got shut down, which sparked a similar conversation around differences in site etiquette and how to engage respectfully. Which is also one of the many things that makes the current moment so deeply ironic: the US has historically criticized China for exactly the sort of censorship and redaction of free speech that led to AO3 being banned, and yet is now doing the very same thing with TikTok. Which is why what's happening on Xiaohongshu is, IMO, such an incredible cultural moment: because while there are, as mentioned, absolutely relevant things to be said about (say) Chinese censorship, US-centrism, orientalism and so on, what's ultimately happening is that, despite - or in some sense because of - the recent surge in anti-Chinese rhetoric from US politicians, a significant number of Americans who might otherwise never have done so are interacting directly with Chinese citizens in a way that, whatever else can be said of it, is actively undermining government propaganda, and that matters.

What it all most puts me in mind of, in fact, is a quote from French-Iranian novelist and cartoonist Marjane Satrapi, namely:

“The difference between you and your government is much bigger than the difference between you and me. And the difference between me and my government is much bigger than the difference between me and you. And our governments are very much the same.”

And at this particular moment in history, this strikes me as being a singularly powerful realization for Americans in particular to have.

[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.

[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.

[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.

[brazenautomaton]

Dude, I have been waiting for someone ANYONE to finally say that blaming voters and being so absurdly out of touch is not a good look. I honestly have gotten so sick and tired of the Democrats and people who suck up to them trying to sink the ship just because they can’t be the captain when they lose and attack our moral character. Speaking from personal experience, these are people who are so self-centered and close-minded that they believe if something is bad for them, it’s bad for everyone else. And it’s not just in politics where this mindset is prevalent.

well, I've been saying it for a while, using the "blaming the voters for losing the election is like blaming the points for losing a football game" analogy

call it insularity or call it "epistemic closure," the refusal to listen to anyone and insistence on making things up about what other people believe to tell flattering stories to yourself is ruinous. since I don't like what republicans do most of the time and really don't like what Trump does, this is bad for me.

when Trump wins by gaining more of the minority vote than any Republican in living memory, saying he was the "candidate of white supremacy" and that white supremacy won the election for him is wrong. it's not correct. it's just flattering yourself -- "I didn't really lose, it's not that I failed, it's just that I'm too good and everyone else is too evil." any time you float the idea that democrats might be wrong about anything, they instantly default to "Oh, so we should just abandon all minorities and embrace white supremacy" or some similar horseshit, because they can't get the idea that they're doing a bad job of the things they claim to be doing.

honestly a major component of this is that the "elite" or "expert class" of Democratic-leaning institutions have absolutely incinerated their credibility, and don't seem to realize it. They say "Oh no, people are radicalized by the algorithm, they fall into these right-wing rabbit holes and get brainwashed by OneAmerica Network and Fox News and Alex Jones," as if the fact that people who agree with you create the overwhelming, crushing majority of all media content just can't account for anything. if people who agree with you create the majority of media content people see, and then seeing a few hours of videos by people who don't agree with you is enough to convince people to abandon you, you done fucked up. the demand for these right-wing media outlets arose because you had an absolute stranglehold on the media which you used to show everyone how completely untrustworthy and out of touch you are. They remember that shit! They remember all the lies you told about Covid and all the times you fucking flip-flopped on it! The "open letter" from the medical establishment about how people should join the George Floyd protests because Racism Is The Real Virus, when one week ago they were saying anyone who went outside for any reason was a murderer and probably a fascist succeeded only in annihilating the credibility of the medial establishment forever. It proved it didn't say things that were true, only things that benefited and flattered Democratic politics, so now anybody who isn't already in the tank for Democratic politics won't believe they're telling the truth.

Democrats think that the media must not be hard enough on Trump and the solution is they have to be harder on Trump and then, and THEN everyone will believe them and hate Trump too! Trump gets stronger every time the media attacks him because the media has proven itself to be so biased and untrustworthy that anyone they attack is probably doing something right! They keep expecting that people should just believe everything they say and do what they tell them, and no, it doesn't work like that, you've proven you can't be trusted.

Yet Democrats think they are entitled to people's support, trust, and votes. They seem surprised and aghast every time someone tries to oppose them, like they're totally unaware that's a thing they'd have to deal with. Because they don't fucking listen to anyone.

[tanadrin]

I'm still stuck on the thought that the right-wing influencer sphere + conservative owned mainstream news sites (whether its Fox or CNN) are still this impenetrable wall that will maintain the vibes that the second trump administration is doing good things to "save america". If you have an explanation that even these factors favoring republicans will falter, I'm open to hear it.

trump didn't win the election because maga ultras constituted an absolute majority of the voting public. trump won because low-information voters thought the biden economy sucked, and they either didn't believe trump when he said what he was going to do, or weren't paying attention. these voters aren't fox news watchers (for the most part they don't consume much news at all), and are about to be reminded what a recession actually looks like

[ranwing]

The plan going forward (or The Resistance 2.0)

I'm still processing and digesting the results of the election, because it is beyond disheartening. I am aware that many American voters have very short attention spans, and they bought the argument that because the economy was better under Trump's first term that it made sense to return him to the White House. They conveniently forgot that he was a major reason why our economy went into the tank, or that Biden managed the nearly impossible of curbing inflation while not plunging the economy into a recession. That many of the same people who voted to secure reproductive health rights in their states also voted for the man who tore those rights away.

The reality is that we're going to have to deal with a second Trump presidency, coupled with a stacked Supreme Court that already ruled that he has unlimited power, and a Senate that will approve anything he asks for. We're going to have Elon Musk poking his fingers into all aspects of our government. We're going to have RFK Jr. meddling in our healthcare systems and making his conspiracy theories public policy. And it's going to suck.

So we've got a few weeks before the nightmare begins. Take some time to get yourself mentally strong again. Do some things that give you pleasure. Hold your family (the ones who haven't been sucked into the MAGA cult) close. Cuddle your pets. Cry if you need to. Because once January comes around, the work starts again.

If Republicans can ever be counted on to do anything, it's to overreach. That first year is going to be horrific. But knowing Trump and the Republicans, they can be counted on to go too far. And we will have to fight back. It's going to be hard and might seem pointless, but it's vital. That small percentage that shifted the election is going to suffer alongside us. They will have to hurt before they recognize that they made the wrong choice. And it's going to be marching and protesting again. It's going to mean confrontations and challenging the powers that be. And it's more important now than ever before.

After one year, we then have the midterm elections, where we can really turn things around. More Republicans in the Senate will be defending seats, giving us the opportunity to regain it. The House will also be up for grabs. In less than two years, we can completely hamstring Trump and curb his administration. But that's going to mean not giving into despair and fighting back. We have to hold fast.

We have history books full of what happens when citizens allow a tyrant to give in to his worst impulses without challenge. I refuse to be another example of that. I would rather fight and lose than have future generations wonder why I just gave in.

[slyandthefamilybook]

in a sense that tweet about how "you can program Republicans by using phrases they like" really gets on my nerves because. yeah? is this news to you? did you think you'd get your 75-year-old grandfather on side by telling him that his cisheteronormative modalities are preventing deconstruction of patriarchal attitudes of toxic masculinity? I mean I'm not surprised; the majority of this website sucks total ass at talking to people. but like, yeah. you gotta meet people on their level. this should not be a חידוש

[us-cj]

From Mindy Robinson,

Are we ever going to get answers about the Las Vegas Sh**ting cover up, or nah? Where is Kash on this....and why hasn't anyone contacted me, when I have all the evidence the government covered it up right in front of me?

• Or the J6 pipe bomber, even though they have their license plate?

• Or the cocaine in the White House?

• Or who really was running the Biden administration since he clearly wasn't wiping his own ass, or even signing anything?

• Or how a military op Warp Speed vaccine that couldn't possibly have been long term tested, was touted as "safe and effective?"

• Or how the 9/11 Hijackers made an impossible flight maneuver into the Pentagon, or why the only video of it looks like a missile?

• Or why foreign countries are allowed to donate to, buy out, and control our politicians?

• Or why battleground states that Trump won, kept counting until all the down ballot races magically flipped days later?

• Or why they're allowed to put toxic chemicals and preservatives into our food, that's banned in other countries?

• Or why Fauci hasn't been strung up for the people he murdered through AZT, Remdesivir, and that virus he illegally created with a foreign communist enemy?

• Or why doctors who sexually butcher children, aren't in MF jail right now?

• Or why the government is adding a toxic chemical like fluoride into our drinking water, when we already have to go out of our way to buy toothpaste without it?

• Or why Congress is allowed to insider trade by owning stock at all?

• Or why psybicilin mushrooms that can naturally cure depression, PTSD, addiction, alcoholism, and personal trauma are illegal....but life destroying pharmaceuticals like opioids are not?

• Or why there aren't class action lawsuits across the nation against all these companies for poisoning us with micro-plastics?

• Or why drug companies are even allowed to put commercials on TV, when all it does is give them control of all the networks as major sponsors?

• Or why the J6 committee gave themselves congressional immunity from ever being sued, if they were truly righteous in their actions?

• Or how was Michael Byrd cleared of murdering Ashli Babbit BEFORE ever being interviewed about the incident?

• Or why there was no water in the fire hydrants during BOTH the Maui and LA fires?

• Or how did the RINO sheriff during the Las Vegas shooting who lied about the timeline 3 times, let evidence like the computer hard drive walk off his crime scene, and refused to investigate or name the 3 other people registered to the room...."won" a primary against a more popular Republican opponent, where over 40k couldn't vote due to a "DMV glitch?"

• Or why any Americans should pay taxes this year after finding out that DC swamp donkeys have been r*ping us through fake projects, charities, and foreign aid money laundering scams into oblivion?

• Or why the FBI covered up Hunter's laptop, and got away with lying about it being "Russian disinformation?"

• Or why every mass shooter is always "previously known to Feds?"

• Or what the hell happened with that Nashville truck explosion?

• Or what the hell happened with that Vegas Tesla explosion?

• Or those secret Jewish tunnels in New York, where they were pulling a dirty mattress and kid's high chair out of?

• Or why Obama bailed out the corrupt banks out of the housing market crash they caused using tax payer funds....instead of home owners?

• Or why no one was held accountable for the botched Afghanistan pull out, and leaving all those weapons and military vehicles there?

• Or why we haven't ended the foreign bank controlled, soul sucking usery system that is the privately owned Federal Reserve?

• Or stop who's spraying these goddamn chemtrails everywhere?

• Or why not a single election audit has been done in any state by independent investigators yet?

The tax payer funded, state sponsored fake news might have conveniently forgotten about all of this....but I sure as shit never will. 🇺🇸

[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

[qqueenofhades]

AAAAHHHHHHHH It's TIM! 1000% strong MN girl here and boy it's been real fun to watch Tim (and Peggy! Our amazing lieutenant governor) take a small small Democratic majority and do incredible things. My kid ate two meals at school every day for free. DELIGHTED that he's the VP pick. LET'S GOOOOOOOO!!!!

Listen, I am just ECSTATIC. Ever since I seriously became tuned into the veepstakes, he was my number one pick (I mean, I was not immune to the brief flirtation everyone had with Beshear/Buttigieg/etc), but yes. Walz was my top pick and I was trying desperately not to get my heart too set on him in case it fell through, but he was the obvious best choice of the contenders by a country mile. He has an almost absurdly Midwestern pro-America background (military veteran, public school teacher, football coach from a small rural town, etc) AND he has managed to enact a long list of progressive policies in Minnesota with a very narrow majority in the state legislature. Also, you're going to be seeing a lot of this video, for good reason:

Also.... let's be real, Shapiro would have been an incredible distraction/drag on the ticket, unfortunately. We don't need to deal with his retrograde views on Gaza and his other baggage, and while he is a very popular governor in Pennsylvania, it's less certain that his appeal would translate to other states. We can argue (or you know, let's not and move on) about whether or not that was fair, but this is just not the year to try to win the most critical high-stakes election ever by pissing off young voters. Shapiro has done plenty of good things and has time to develop his career further, but he would have been a BAD pick for 2024 and I was alarmed at how many Respected Pundits (tm) were pulling for him. Reuters even claimed that picking him would "defang Republican attempts to make Israel-Gaza a wedge issue for Democrats," which is such a mind-bogglingly stupid statement that it makes you wonder how anyone writing it actually got paid for their political insight, but it also explains a lot about mainstream media these days. Picking Shapiro would have been an absolute gift to the Republicans and bad-faith actors and others (plus like, I don't want to have to spend time winning back the young voters who are actually once more engaged in the process!) and would have led to the media eagerly jumping into the feeding frenzy (because they're desperate to have a reason not to cover Trump's increasingly crazy-ass shit) and other Democratic-on-Democratic infighting. And it goes without saying that WE CANNOT AFFORD THAT.

As well, picking Shapiro just because you need to win PA this election cycle is yet another example of why the Electoral College sucks, and the polling averages in PA have been moving solidly blue anyway. You can just park Shapiro there and have him campaign in the state as the sitting popular governor, rather than expose him to the liability of a nationwide campaign where, as noted, all the other stuff would be a drag. If it's true that the establishment was pushing Harris to pick Shapiro and she picked Walz instead, a) GOOD! and b) if anything, this election cycle needs to fucking teach us that we have got to stop going with the Conventional Wisdom Tee Em. Walz was already out there, he was already popular with the public/energizing the grassroots, AND he was the guy who coined the "Weird" attack line that is actually effective and organically popular against the Republicans and drives them batshit. So for Kamala to lean into that and take him as her running mate is... zomgz... smart, and I am not used to the Democrats playing smart and aggressive and not just passive-defensive. I don't understand. Wow.

Anyway, now watch the New York Times (and the others, lbr, but especially the NYT) desperately try to dig up scandalous stories about that time Walz didn't stop at the 4H booth at the county fair, or walked past someone without saying "Ope just gonna sneak by ya first" or some other terrible Midwestern sin, but fuck those guys. I am EXCITED I am ENERGIZED I am THRILLED. This is a GREAT new ticket that came together at incredibly short notice and completely changed the dynamics everywhere, Walz is gonna make JD Vance cry (unsure whether I want to see Harris demolish Trumpster or Midwestern Dad to turn the cranks on Weird Couchfucking Fascist Skidmark more, but both, both, both is good). LET'S GO GET THOSE WEIRD MOTHERFUCKERS, Y'ALL!!

HARRIS/WALZ 2024!

[misfitwashere]

ROBERT REICH

FEB 2

Friends,

Before I post my Sunday cartoon, I want to share with you some thoughts about the second horrific week of Trump II.

It’s even worse than I’d imagined. 

He’s been “flooding the zone” with so many outrageous (and often illegal) initiatives that many people are overwhelmed, demoralized, and just plain freaked out. 

That’s the intent. 

This morning, a woman I didn’t know was about to pass me on the sidewalk and then stopped, turned toward me, and almost shouted, “It’s a fucking nightmare!” 

Well, it is a “fucking nightmare” and unfortunately there’s nothing anyone can do right now to legally stop it (unless you’re a federal judge). 

For now, we can and should do everything possible to protect people who are most vulnerable to the nightmare. 

But allow me to take a longer-term view. 

A “fucking nightmare” is not all bad if it awakens America. 

Remember how Martin Luther King Jr. mobilized the nation against racial injustice? He let everyone see its horrors. On television. Night after night. Peaceful Black people getting clubbed and arrested for exercising their rights. 

Were it not for that painful national exposure to racist brutality, we wouldn’t have gotten the Civil Rights Act or the Voting Rights Act. 

Something similar happened in the first years of the twentieth century when muckraking journalists revealed the giant monopolies, corruption, and public harms of the robber barons. 

Were it not for that painful national exposure, we wouldn’t have gotten the reforms of the Progressive Era.

I believe a similar dynamic will play out as Americans witness the nightmare of Trump’s neofascism. 

When we see and absorb its horrors, there will be mass outrage, and we will mobilize against it. Not all of us, of course, but the great majority. 

We had to come to this point. We couldn’t go on as we were, even under Democratic presidents. For forty years, a narrow economic elite has been siphoning ever more wealth and power for themselves. 

I’m old enough to remember when America had the largest and fastest-growing middle class in the world. We adhered to the basic bargain that if someone worked hard and played by the rules, they’d do better than their parents had, and their children would do even better than they.

I remember when CEOs took home 20 times the pay of their workers, not 300 times. When members of Congress acted in the interests of their constituents rather than be bribed by campaign donations to do the bidding of big corporations and the super-wealthy. 

I remember when our biggest domestic challenges were civil rights, women’s rights, and gay rights — not the very survival of democracy and the rule of law. 

But over the last forty years, starting with Reagan, America went off the rails. Deregulation, privatization, free trade, wild gambling by Wall Street, union-busting, record levels of inequality, stagnant wages for most, staggering wealth for a few, big money taking over our politics, 

Corporate profits became more important than good jobs and good wages for all. Stock buybacks and the well-being of investors became more important than the common good. 

Democratic presidents were better than Republican, to be sure, but the underlying rot continued to worsen. It was undermining the foundations of America. 

The Trump regime will harm many innocent people. It already has. Its lawless cruelty is sickening — as is the cowardice of so many CEOs, Wall Street bankers, leading lawyers, university presidents, publishers, social media titans, Republican politicians, some Democratic politicians, and other so-called “leaders” who are staying mum or obeying in advance or sucking up to Trump. 

There will be a reckoning. 

As bad as this “fucking nightmare” gets, it will awaken Americans to the truth about what has happened to this country — and what we must do to get it back on the track toward social justice, democracy, and widespread prosperity. 

That’s what I believe. That’s my faith as we slide into deepening darkness. 

Be well. Be safe. We will prevail. 

[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”

[tanadrin]

The swing to Trump seems a lot bigger than just the realm of a polling error, though. And it's so comprehensive - I admit I wasn't paying the closest attention, but was anyone anticipating such a complete right-wing legislative victory?

i mean any substantial miss between the vote and the polls is in some sense a "polling error," right? but i think it's within a normal polling miss, i.e., it's not like trump won by 10 points nationally. the House election has not been resolved yet, but so far it looks really close, with the R majority being like 5 seats or less. it's pretty close. and if you look at a chart of incumbent party loss of vote share this year across the developed world, the Democrats actually come out at the very bottom.

in other words, in a global anti-incumbent year the Democrats held on to almost all their congressional seats. i don't think that's a "complete right-wing victory." i think that's a modest-but-significant anti-incumbent backlash. and it sucks! it sucks that the opposition leader happened to be Donald Fucking Trump, and not like a normal-grade-of-shitty republican. But it's also entirely possible a normal-grade-of-shitty republican would have put up Reagan numbers against congressional Dems.

[my-castles-crumbling]

hey, ik people are always asking you for advice and i'm so grateful for that and i appreciate you so much

i think someone mightve already asked this but are YOU okay? how are you dealing with the election results? vent, whatever you need.

Honestly I’m mad and sad. I’m scared because there’s a republican majority in the senate and it looks like there will be in the house, too. I’m trying to tell myself that I am safe in a blue state but that doesn’t help me not worry about everyone who isn’t, and I also wonder how much power the states truly have.

I know that we will get through this. I know that the best thing to do is to keep fighting and speaking out. But it’s absolutely devastating to see that more than half of my country thinks that a man who has actively tried to take my rights away is the best leader for our country. It makes me feel about three inches tall. It makes me wonder if my identity is even valid.

I know I’m worthy and I know my identity and my life is worthy. But it’s disheartening and I think we need to acknowledge that. But we also have to recognize that we can’t give up. We can let these people be the reason we give in. And I know there are a lot of people out there considering very negative permanent solutions right now and I want to remind those people that 8 years ago, the first time he was elected, I was considering those same permanent solutions. And I’m so glad I didn’t do that because if I had I never would have met my wife or ended up where I am now.

Things suck now and there’s no use ignoring that but somehow, they’ll get better again, because asks like this are proof that there is good in the world and people care. And eventually that will win.