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mush-dooms · 2 months ago

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MISSOURI VOTERS!!!

ABORTION RIGHTS ARE OFFICIALLY ON THE MO BALLOT THIS NOVEMBER 5

I know tumblr dot com doesn't give a shit about rural, deep red states, but this is HUGE. Missouri has one of the most restrictive abortion bans in the US, allowing exceptions only "to save the pregnant person's life" or "to prevent serious risk to the pregnant person's physical health," and even these have stipulations requiring a mandatory 72-hour waiting period and counseling, parental consent for minors, as well as banning Medicare and insurance from providing abortion coverage

WE CAN CHANGE THIS

Ammendment 3 would change the Missouri constitution, effectively reestablishing reproductive freedom. More specifically, this includes "the right to make and carry out decisions about all matters relating to reproductive health care, including but not limited to prenatal care, childbirth, postpartum care, birth control, abortion care, miscarriage care, and respectful birthing conditions."

Ammendment 3 also only allows for future legislation restricting abortion access after fetal viability. While this is less than ideal, you have to understand that this is Missouri we're talking about, a state where Trump won in 2020 by a 15% margin. Republicans have already tried (and failed!!!) to have Ammendment 3 removed from the ballot-- they're scared, but we HAVE TO SHOW UP.

A "Yes" vote on Ammendment 3 is in favor of amending the MO constitution and restoring the right to choose what happens to OUR bodies.

WE HAVE A CHANCE TO FIX THINGS

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Voter Resources:

October 9 is the deadline to register to vote, and you can do so here: https://www.sos.mo.gov/elections/goVoteMissouri/register

Find a polling place: https://voteroutreach.sos.mo.gov/portal

Online: https://www.vote.org/absentee-ballot/missouri/

By Mail: https://www.sos.mo.gov/elections/goVoteMissouri/howtovote

Confirm your registration status: https://voteroutreach.sos.mo.gov/portal/

Accepted Forms of Voter ID (required in MO): https://www.sos.mo.gov/voterid

REBLOG TO SPREAD AWARENESS

#us politics #politics #pro choice #abortion #2024 elections #missouri #vote blue #vote democrat #vote harris #vote kamala #vote #feminism #right to choose #harris walz 2024 #harris walz #signal boost

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qqueenofhades · 4 months ago

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Having seen what's currently happening in Venezuela, I feel so terrible for everyone to tried to vote Maduro out, and I worry about the US election. Will Trump and the GOP be able to do the same thing??

I agree that what's happening in Venezuela is bad and scary, but it's also not unexpected (unfortunately), and it doesn't correlate to the US election. It is very much a cautionary tale for us, but in the case of what could happen, not what has happened yet (and which we could and MUST still avoid). Here's why I think that.

First, Maduro is the heir of 25+ years of dictatorship (first the Chavez regime and then his), and that political machine has had a full generation to fix/control everything in Venezuela just as they want it. They've collapsed the economy, driven mass emigration/purges/brain drains, installed corrupt systems and destroyed civil society, staffed the government with cronies who will only ever do what Maduro personally says -- etc. In other words, exactly what Trump and the Republicans aspire to do here in America, but with 25 years' head start, so all those fixes are well entrenched. Outside observers were also warning well ahead of the Venezuelan vote that even an overwhelming majority for the opposition candidate might not be enough, because Maduro and co. can just fix the result however they want with imaginary fantasy numbers. (See Putin's "win" in the Russian presidential "election.") Because dictators all draw from the same playbook regardless of their professed ideological temperament, they always use the same tools.

Next, voting in Venezuela is all-electronic, which is obviously the easiest kind of voting to jigger, and which means that whatever the people actually select has little to no relevance to what gets published, recorded, or proclaimed. Now, despite the Republicans' constant screaming about ELECTION FRAUD, the 2020 elections in America were widely hailed as the safest, most accurate, and fraud-free in the nation's history. (For that matter, multiple investigations afterward have re-confirmed this, and the tiny handful of cases of election fraud that were found were committed by, you guessed it, Republicans.) This did not happen because of the Orange Fuhrer and co., who were busy trying to commit election fraud on their own behalves, but because America, however flawed, is still a participatory liberal democracy and citizens have the right to engage and to do so in a meaningful fashion. We had the entire investigation about how Russia meddled with the election in 2016, and changes were made. Cybersecurity experts were brought in; redundancies and failsafes were introduced; etc., and even the Russian campaign focused on psychological influence rather than actually, physically changing already-cast votes, because that is very, very hard to do in America. We are not an all e-voting nation; there are paper trails, hard-copy ballots, hand recounts, poll observers, election lawyers, and multiple other safeguards that exist. The Republicans have been attacking them as hard as they can, but they're still there.

Thirdly, the Evil Orange tried to fix the elections when he was the sitting president (don't forget the infamous "find me 11,780 votes" phone call to the Georgia Secretary of State that got him slapped with felony charges), but he couldn't do it even then. He also tried a coup as the sitting president, with full discretion as to whether, for example, the National Guard should be deployed to the Capitol on January 6, and that didn't succeed. As such, when he's a disgraced jobless felon who is not the commander-in-chief of the American military and holds no official or political role, he's definitely not getting it done now. There were reforms made to the Electoral Count Act to prevent another January 6, Biden and not Trump would be the president at any other attempted attack on the counting of electoral votes, and I can guarantee Biden would not sit around for three hours watching Fox News and cheering the rioters on if such a thing happened again. Trump has been threatening violence again because that's the only move in his playbook, and he wants to intimidate people into voting for him out of fear that he'll attack them if they don't give him what he wants, like any other psychopathic bully. But that does not mean he actually has the tools to successfully carry it off, and honestly, motherfucker? Try it one more fucking time. I double fucking dog dare you. Biden has 6 months left in his term and total immunity, according to your own SCOTUS. So.

Basically, Venezuela has already been a banana republic for 20+ years, the dictator has had a full generation to destroy it/remake it/turn it into his personal fiefdom, he allows elections only because he already knows they won't change anything or actually remove him from power, and that is precisely what Trump wants to do in the US -- but, and this is crucial, has not done yet. Which is why it is so, so important to Orange-Proof America and get rid of him once and for fucking all on November 5th. We can do it. So yes.

#aquitainequeen #ask #politics for ts #the giant orange monster

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noenvyy · 6 days ago

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Bill H.R. 9495--Declares Certain Non-profits terrorist organizations

Please read and share and CALL YOUR SENATORS

EMERGENCY: Earlier today, MAGA Republicans in Congress just rammed through legislation that could give Donald Trump the power to destroy organizations that oppose him—including MoveOn.1

Even more terrifying, 15 Democrats voted in favor of the bill.2

The bill, H.R. 9495, gives the Treasury Department—i.e., the Trump administration—unilateral power to declare a nonprofit to be a "terrorist-supporting organization" and strip its tax-exempt status.3 Organizations that oppose him could be shut down with just a swipe of a pen from Trump.

While Trump's Cabinet appointees soaked up the news cycle, the House tried to push this thoroughly dangerous bill under the radar last week. Two-thirds of the House was initially needed to pass the bill. But now Speaker Mike Johnson has figured out a new way to require only a simple majority to pass the bill, and the House voted to pass the bill earlier today.

H.R. 9495 was originally written to attack organizations showing support for Palestinians, and it is a dire threat to nongovernment organizations trying to support the Palestinian people suffering in the current war, but it could give the Trump administration the ability to declare any organization as "supporting terrorists"—with no proof, no burden of evidence, no due process.4,5

More than 150 religious, reproductive health, immigrant rights, human rights, racial justice, LGBTQ+, environmental, and educational organizations, led by the American Civil Liberties Union, have spoken up against this awful bill.6

The House tried to push through the bill with a two-thirds majority procedure last week, and 52 Democrats voted for it.7 Today they needed only a simple majority, and the House passed the bill with the support of 15 Democrats. We cannot allow a MAGA-controlled Senate in January to pass this bill.

This bill is different. If it passes, it has the possibility to silence any organization that Trump targets. And considering his history of retribution, we know he won't miss out on this opportunity to try to shut us down. It's an especially frightening prospect given Trump's previous attempt to designate anti-MAGA protesters and pro-Palestinian advocates as terrorists, and to vilify those he disagrees with as the "enemy from within."10

We need to sound the alarm in a major way to stop H.R. 9495 and prevent Trump from shutting down nonprofit organizations!

Please, please please, flood the Senate with calls to make it very clear that we will not abide by this attack on our First Amendment rights. We need to step up before it's too late. Use this link to find and contact your representatives: https://www.house.gov/representatives/find-your-representative

Take Action: Tell Congress to OPPOSE H.R. 9495

1. Visit the IS Action Center to sign a petition to oppose H.R. 9495.

2. Call your Congressional Representative TODAY and urge them to vote NO on H.R. 9495 when it comes up again for a vote. You can find contact information for your Member of Congress here. And the list of California representatives who already voted yes on previous votes here.

3. Social Media Engagement: Post on your platforms and tag your Representative to urge them to oppose H.R.9495.

Sample posts:

ACTION NEEDED As a constituent of [@RepresentativesSocialMedia] and a staunch supporter of the nonprofit sector, I urge you to vote NO on H.R. 9495. This bill may be well-intentioned but it erodes due process and jeopardizes vital services for vulnerable communities.

Nonprofits are critical to our communities. H.R. 9495 may mean well, but it threatens due process and risks harming those we serve. [@RepresentativesSocialMedia], vote NO on #HR9495. #ProtectNonprofits

Sample script for calling your representative:

I’m calling to urge you to oppose H.R. 9495, the Stop Terror-Financing and Tax Penalties on American Hostages Act, scheduled for a vote later today. This bill poses a direct threat to nonprofits by granting the Treasury Secretary unchecked power to label organizations as “terrorist supporting” and strip their tax-exempt status. Even worse, this can happen without evidence, intentional links, or any requirement to disclose the reasons for the designation. The lack of due process and accountability leaves nonprofits defenseless against vague and potentially politically motivated accusations.

While the bill includes provisions for tax relief for American hostages—a noble cause—this should not come at the expense of jeopardizing nonprofit operations and democratic values. These provisions should be separated into their own bill that doesn’t include the unchecked harm to nonprofits.

Please oppose H.R. 9495 to protect nonprofits and the communities they serve. Thank you for your time and consideration.

____________________________________________________________

Sources:

1. "HR 9495: Bill Threatening Nonprofits Passes House," Nonprofit Quarterly, November 21, 2024 https://act.moveon.org/go/200463?t=8&akid=416946%2E34090080%2EE7NXm5

2. Ibid.

3. Ibid.

4. "Congress Is About to Gift Trump Sweeping Powers to Crush His Political Enemies," The Intercept, November 10, 2024 https://act.moveon.org/go/200453?t=10&akid=416946%2E34090080%2EE7NXm5

5. Ibid.

6. "Civil Society Letter to House Opposing H.R. 9495," ACLU, September 20, 2024 https://act.moveon.org/go/198929?t=12&akid=416946%2E34090080%2EE7NXm5

7. "House GOP Moves to Ram Through Bill That Gives Trump Unilateral Power to Kill Nonprofits," The Intercept, November 15, 2024 https://act.moveon.org/go/200452?t=14&akid=416946%2E34090080%2EE7NXm5

8. "No Labels files DOJ complaint about groups boycotting its 2024 presidential ballot access effort," CBS News, January 18, 2024 https://act.moveon.org/go/186092?t=16&akid=416946%2E34090080%2EE7NXm5

9. "MoveOn.org and Bucks man defend post-insurrection petition in NAC, Worthington defamation claim," Phillyburbs.com, June 7, 2021 https://act.moveon.org/go/200454?t=18&akid=416946%2E34090080%2EE7NXm5

10. "Scalise preps vote on terrorism bill decried as a gift for Trump," MSNBC, November 19, 2024 https://act.moveon.org/go/200446?t=20&akid=416946%2E34090080%2EE7NXm5

#donald trump #aclu #bill H.R. 9495 #non profit #call your senators #us politics #free palestine #house gop #save palestine #community action #resist #rebel

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unofficial-project-2025 · 5 months ago

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Project 2025 is the republicans' plan to turn the USA into a dictatorship if Trump, or any other republican candidate, wins this year's election. It's policies (all images are from there, links from r/Defeat_Project_2025) include:

Expand presidential powers and use religion to shape laws

Fire 50K federal workers and hire loyalists instead

Make affirming a trans child's gender count as abuse, outlaw p*rnographic material and equate LGBTQ+ content as p*rn

Try to ban birth control and contraception

Decry single moms

Rollback climate change protactions

Replace equality measures with 'anti white racism' laws

And this is only some of the things that I can link to without going over the link limit! Check the 'policies' link for PDFs of 'The Mandate For Leadership', which perfectly explain what Project 2025 is about!

Please, vote for Blue this year to prevent Trump from winning. You are not voting for just one person, but for an entire administration that will rule what's probably the most inffluential country in the world for the next 4 years. And it's also important to know that Trump has said that he want to 'crush pro-palestine protests'. Just an extra thing that I wanted to add.

If you want to help stop this, go join Stop The Coup 2025 to help educate people, and check the aformentioned r/Defeat_Project_2025 for additional resources that I can't link to! (also change the 'www' to either 'new' or 'old' to change the layout to something better).

Organize with your friends to protest and find flyers online to put everywhere you can so that more people may know about this! reblog this post to make more people see it! Get in contact with your local democrats and vote for them everywhere you can, even outside of the presidential elections!

We can't let Trump win this year or any other, because he and the entire republican party won't be kind on anyone who doesn't fit their worldview.

If we fight together, then we can win!

#project 2025 #usa #trump is a threat to democracy #usa politics #lgbtq #biden 2024 #stop the coup 2025 #donald trump #democrats #republicans #climate crisis #transgender #protest #joe biden #united states #politics

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justinspoliticalcorner · 5 months ago

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Dean Obeidallah at The Dean's Report:

We must make our focus keeping the barbarians outside the gate, not figuring out how to lessen the damage once they are on the inside. That was my immediate thought Sunday when I read NY Times in-depth article, “The Resistance to a New Trump Administration Has Already Started.” The piece featured a wide network of Democratic officials, progressive activists and more who are engaged in “extraordinary steps to prepare for a potential second Trump presidency.” Examples include Democratic Governor Washington State Jay Inslee’s efforts to make the state a safe haven for women seeking reproductive freedom to an organization hiring a new auditor in case a second term Trump directs the Internal Revenue Service to target them. On one hand, I truly applaud these officials and organizations for grasping that Donald Trump back in the White House poses a unique threat to our freedoms and democratic Republic. Far too many don’t understand this threat.

But on the other hand, the only certain way to prevent Trump from using the government to wage a campaign of retribution, ending civil service protections so that only Trump loyalists will be in key positions in the federal government--as well as ushering in a far right wing agenda being peddled by his allies--is to defeat him this November. Again, we must make our focus keeping the barbarians outside the gate, not figuring out how to lessen the damage once they are on the inside. Trump is telling all who will listen his dark goals for a second term—from mass deportations to building in essence concentration camps for migrants to expanding executive power. There’s also Trump’s deeply concerning vow to “liberate” America from those not loyal to him. We first heard this during his 2023 speech at the conservative gathering CPAC where he promised his supporters to be their “retribution.” He then alarmingly vowed that if elected to target Democrats, “the fake news media,” Republicans in name only, the globalists and others who oppose him, bellowing, “we will liberate America from these villains and scoundrels once and for all.”

He has repeated this pledge to “liberate” our nation from those who oppose him, including at a rally last month in Wisconsin. When have you ever heard an American political figure speak about “liberating” America from those who politically oppose him or her?! You can’t find it because we never had an aspiring fascist—who has pledged to be a dictator on “day one”— lead one of the two main political parties. To be blunt, the forms of resistance utilized to stymie some of Trump’s agenda in the first term are unlikely to work against this bitter, angry convicted felon who is hellbent on retribution and purging America from those who won’t bend a knee to him.

[...]

From a legislative point of view, If Trump were able to win and his MAGA GOP were able to also take control of the House and Senate, we can expect him deliver for them on a laundry list of right-wing policy dreams from national abortion and birth control bans to further weakening civil rights protections for LGBTQ and Black Americans and worse. This won’t be like Trump’s first term when some Republicans stood up to him to block his radical agenda—with the most famous example being the late Senator John McCain preventing Trump from repealing the Affordable Care Act with his vote. The Republicans who have dared to stand up to Trump are almost all out of Congress or now capitulated to his undemocratic goals. Of the ten House Republicans who voted in January 2021 to impeach Trump for inciting the Jan. 6 insurrection, only two remain in the House. Senator Mitt Romney--a vocal critics of Trump--will be leaving office this January. Even GOP Senate minority leader Mitch McConnell who slammed Trump on the Senate floor after the Jan. 6 attack with the words, “There is no question that President Trump is practically and morally responsible for provoking the events of that day,” last week met with Trump and dubbed it “entirely positive.”

[...] If Trump wins, there are few things that can rein him in. That is why diverting efforts at this point to second term resistance strategies is dangerous given the threat Trump poses. Rather, the top and only priority must be utilizing all resources to defeat him. Nothing else matters.

Dean Obeidallah dropping truth nuggets in his latest Dean's Report post on why defeating fascist felon Donald Trump is imperative to save our nation.

See Also:

CNN: Opinion: Don’t focus on bracing for a Trump win

#Joe Biden #Donald Trump #Dean Obeidallah #2024 Presidential Election #2024 Elections #Project 2025 #The Dean's Report

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tripod-fish · 1 year ago

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conservatives want to genocide trans people & imprison sex workers in the next election - cis people are in danger as well. nobody is talking about this, so REBLOG IT.

REBLOG THIS. i do not care if this doesn't fit with your blog. conservatives, if the next president is republican, want to implement things that involve killing/jailing trans people, information control, actively stopping efforts to stop climate change, etc. if a twitter thread is more digestible, you can find one i made here. RETWEET IT.

https://twitter.com/nuniyoa/status/1698534141472727358

so fucking nobody (that i've seen) is talking about this and i've only seen 1 tumblr post about it with less than 6k notes. @asterosian was the one who brought this to my attention, and here's his post: https://ganbreedings.tumblr.com/post/727921195127865344

the document, which can be found below this paragraph, is ~1000 pages long and i know nobody on tumblr has the patience to read that. use ctrl+f on this pdf (link is to view it in browser) to look up specific topics. in this post, i will be briefly discussing some of the things said using textual evidence and citations. https://thf_media.s3.amazonaws.com/project2025/2025_MandateForLeadership_FULL.pdf

just some of the things this document talks about are:

wanting to imprison trans people for existing, make discrimination of people legal in the workplace, punish education about the existence of trans people, make sex work illegal, make education about sex illegal, make contraception unaffordable, ban the week-after pill, imply fatherhood is a requirement, ban education on real american history, ignore other governments, seal the borders, enforce the death penalty (including for trans people for just existing), stop efforts to end climate change, fund the military, claim OAR science is theoretical and downsize it and NOAA, eliminate critical race theory in education, want to eliminate teaching of critical race theory based on a gross misunderstanding, eliminate diversity, the teaching of marxism's existence, "deleting" words regarding queer and reproductive topics, and so much more.

we trans people are called pornography:

"Pornography, manifested today in the omnipresent propagation of transgender ideology sexualization of children..." (page 37)

and conservatives want to outlaw pornography and say those who distribute it should be imprisoned. if trans people are pornography, is not going about our day outside distributing porn?

"Pornography should be outlawed. The people who produce and distribute it should be imprisoned" (page 37)

they also support the death penalty and say that "child sexual abusers" should be given that. i am not disagreeing that CSA is bad; it is. i'm talking about how they're going to classify trans people as that for exposing minors to "porn" for simply going out in public. by saying this, they are using roundabout language and logic to say trans people should be given the death penalty.

"It should also pursue the death penalty for applicable crimes...crimes involving...sexual abuse of children..." (page 554)

they don't want people to be taught about our existence. and they don't want sex taught at all; even safe sex.

"Educators and public librarians who purvey [porn] should be classed as registered sex offenders..." (page 37)

sex education needs to be taught, period. and if they're going to ban abortions and contraceptives, it especially needs to be taught.

"HHS should rescind...preventive services...preventive services include contraception..." (page 483)

"Eliminate the week-after-pill..." (page 485)

they want to ignore what other countries say.

"International organizations and agreements that erode our Constitution, rule of law, or popular sovereignty should not be reformed: They should be abandoned" (page 12)

they want the border SEALED and illegal immigration ended:

"Illegal immigration...ended...the border sealed..." (page 12)

and, of course, more xenophobic shit about china:

"Economic engagement with China ended..." (page 13)

"[Universities funded by the CCP should] lose their accreditation, charters, and eligibility for federal funds" (page 13).

they want to stop efforts to end climate change:

"Repeal climate change initiatives..." (page 508)

and downsize funds given to the government division (OAR) that forwards its information on climate change to the NOAA, and they want climate change research "disbanded":

"...[OAR climate change research is] theoretical..." (page 676)

"...disbanded..." (page 676)

they want critical race theory and gender ideology erased from schools because they "poison our children". they are erasing things from being taught; and critical race theory isn't about affirming one's characteristics. it's for showing that white people are on top and that it needs to change:

"...'critical race theory and 'gender ideology' should be excised from curricula in every public school in the country..." (page 5)

"These theories poison our children..." (page 5)

"...affirm the color of their skin fundamentally determines their identity and even their moral status..." (page 5)

and they straight up don't want america's history being taught. america is founded on racism, tears, oppression, etc. they don't want this taught because they don't want people knowing real american history. so they can't see history repeating itself:

"...racist, anti-American, ahistorical propaganda [in] America's classrooms" (page 8)

they want discrimination based on queer status and "sex characteristics" legal. this is said in regards to the military, but it won't stop there. and "sex characteristics" means YOU, cis people. you can be denied things just for having boobs or a beard. even if you're cis:

"Rescind regulations prohibiting discrimination on the basis of sexual orientation, gender identity, transgender status, and sex characteristics" (page 585)

"...abolish newly established diversity, equity, and inclusion offices and staff" (page 103)

and misinformation is present of course by saying gender-affirming care causes irreparable damage:

"...'gender transition' procedures or 'gender-affirming care,' which cause irreversible physical and mental harm to those who receive them"

and, quite abhorrently, and i quote, they want words related to queerness DELETED:

"This starts with deleting the terms sexual orientation and gender identity ('SOGI'), diversity, equity, and inclusion ('DEI'), gender, gender equality, gender equity, gender awareness, gender-sensitive, abortion, reproductive health, reproductive rights, and any other term used to deprive Americans of their First Amendment rights..." (pages 4-5).

there is... SO much more i could cover. but i need to cut it short somewhere. and remember: this affects everyone.

cis people, you can be discriminated against for "sex characteristics", which includes things like breasts or facial hair. transphobic queer people, you can and will be discriminated against for your sexuality. your children are at danger of being taught deliberate misinformation at school. america is sealing itself off in a fascist bubble; as much as it hates countries like china and north korea, it is doing the exact same thing. and climate change regulations want to be repealed and climate change science is called "theoretical". this isn't even just about america anymore; this is about the whole world.

vote in the 2024 election. vote democrat. don't let the "mandate of leadership: the conservative promise" by the heritage foundation make this shithole country even worse.

#queer #trans #gay #lesbian #bisexual #lgbtq #climate change #america #climate crisis #global warming #politics

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somethingusefulfromflorida · 5 months ago

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Joe Biden needs to very seriously consider the plain fact that the Republican nominee for president just successfully argued to the Supreme Court that the sitting president is legally allowed to assassinate his political opponents. That is not a hypothetical, that was his attorney's exact argument, and SCOTUS agreed. What do you think Joe Biden is going to do now that he has been granted absolute immunity from all forms of prosecution for any and all official acts as president? My guess is NOTHING whatsoever. Okay, but do you think his opponent, the man who just successfully argued for that power will do nothing with it?!? Do the fucking calculus, Joe!

History will remember that the left wing coalition which regularly gets more vites than the rightwing coalition has done absolutely nothing to prevent the right from seizing power. The Democrats were unable to find concensus within their own ranks that this power grab was substantial enough to do anything about. There is not and very likely will never be unanimous agreement among the congressional membership that the Republicans have gone too far and need to be reigned in. I can name two senators right now who would vote against confirming any justices if Joe Biden were to use his absolute immunity from prosecution to remove some sitting members from the bench, maybe even more than two, and no less than a dozen members in the House who would vote with Republicans to impeach him.

There is no dissent within the Republican party. You don't get to be a Republican if you stand against the party's platform. Every single rep who voted to impeach Trump has been removed. Every single senator who voted to convict has been removed. Mitt Fucking Romney, the Mormon semator from the Mormom capital of the country was so ashamed of going against his party that he didn't even TRY to run for re-election to a seat he won 62-31 in 2018 because he thought for sure that his own constituents would punish him for his "betrayal" and replace him in the primary. Republicans have total control over their membership, and Demcorats do not, plain and simple.

Democrats act as though they are simply placeholder politicians, powerless caretakers who are supposed to keep their heads down and do nothing while in power only to bitch and moan about how evil the other side is when they're out of power. They see Republicans as the rightful rulers, as evidenced by the fact that both parties respond to losing an election by shifting to the right.

The President of the United States has been given absolute, unchecked authority, and the fact that only one party is willing to use it is damning. What are the Democrats even doing? It's not a matter of IF Republicans take back power but WHEN, and it is looking increasingly more likely to be this November rather than 2028 or 2032. There is a ticking clock before the Republicans go nuclear, and the Democrats aren't gonna do shit about it for fear of alienating voters, when that has never been a concern for the Republicans.

If your opponent successfully argues that he is allowed to kill you, and your response is "well, let's hope he doesn't do that," you have failed your country.

#game over #closing time #pack it in folks #time to go #this has been a long time coming and I am absolutely appalled that nobody has tries to stop it

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newdog14 · 1 year ago

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I want to talk to everyone who's still saying "I know Biden is bad, but Trump is worse, so just vote Blue."

I know that American Politics sucks right now. Everyone is a bad option and every year our options get worse. I get it, and it sucks, but here's the thing: If we keep saying "Vote Blue no matter what!" then the Democratic party is never going to get better. In fact, it'll probably get worse, because if ignoring the voices of their voter base doesn't lose them votes, then why bother listening?

If you want things to get better, if you want politicians that you can vote for without feeling like you've betrayed your ethics, then we need to show that we WILL stop voting for people who we don't agree with. We need to show that the American people have heard Biden's Administration say "There are no red lines for Israel" and we do not agree.

Politicians only care about us for our votes. If supporting genocides demonstrably loses votes, then politicians will take note and change their policies in accordance. But if we vote Biden no matter what, if we vote Blue no matter what, then they aren't going to listen to us when we call and protest and scream.

Now, some of you may be thinking, what about Trump?

There is a chance he won't be able to run after all; he's currently in a legal shit storm that got his ability to do business in New York revoked. And with many of his co-defendants and associates pleading guilty things aren't looking good for him. Even if he can dodge the numerous felony fraud charges he's been hit with, this is going to be an expensive, embarrassing, dragged out process that will severely limit his time and funds for campaigning.

That doesn't mean he won't find his way onto the ballot anyway, but he hasn't won the Republican nomination yet. Even if he does though, sticking by Biden doesn't mean you're putting someone better in the White House. Given the ever climbing death toll that Biden is not just ignoring but enabling, it’s getting increasingly difficult, at least for me, to believe that Trump is actually worse. They’re both bad, and they’re both hurting people, so instead let’s look at why so many are clinging to the democratic party, even in the face of a genocide.

I know the biggest reason so many folks are hesitating to cut support for Biden is that they're worried about what that means for those of us in the United States.

Who will stop the anti-trans bathroom bills that keep popping up? Who will keep abortion bans off the books? Who will prevent censorship in schools?

Well, in point of fact, not your president!

Think about it. Did Biden being president put a stop to Florida's "don't say gay" bill? No. He had zero impact there.

Is he what stands between Virginia and the Abortion Ban currently being proposed for the state? Also no. He's not involved at all.

Has Biden stopped the bans on Drag Shows so many states are trying to implement? No, the Federal Courts have been doing that, including judges who were appointed by Trump.

See, the President of the United States is all about the big picture. Their opinions matter, and they can set a tone for their party, but they don’t control everything. Their impacts on the governing of states come from the people they appoint, like judges, but even then, most people will still do their jobs over pleasing the person who got them that job. Especially so because federal judges are actually really difficult to remove, and that only really happens if they’re so bad at following the rules that congress gets rid of them.

I’m not sure if Biden can’t stop states from making laws or if he just wouldn’t, but either way he’s not protecting us.

The President honestly can’t do a hell of a lot to the American people, especially not in just four years. That’s why we survived Trump’s first presidency, and it’s why we as a whole would survive it if he got a second term.

The place where a President’s influence is immediately and drastically felt, however, is in the international sphere. The American people are protected, the citizens of the world are not, and with that fun little “well we’re not declaring war” workaround, the President, aka the Commander in Chief of the US Military, can do a hell of a lot of damage.

The people of Palestine may not survive another four years of Biden’s presidency. If things carry on like they are, they may not survive the remaining one year of his term.

So we the American people need to show that we will not stand by a president that endorses genocide. We need to show that we will not stand by a party that endorses genocide. We need to start talking, and loudly, about how we will not be voting for Biden next year. We need it to be clear that it is specifically his foreign policy that has lost his support, and that we will not be willing to just switch him out for a newer model who reminds me of no one so much as a modern day Aaron Burr.

There are a lot of things that we can do to express our displeasure for Biden, and for Israel, and there are a lot of people who can help you call for change, plan boycotts, organize marches, and determine where to aim direct action to have the greatest impact. But all of that needs to be done while putting our votes where our voices are, or else all of that rage will burn out and nothing will really change, just like it has in the Black Lives Matter movement.

In this case, as we do not currently have a better option, the place to put our presidential votes is with no one.

It’s not an ideal solution, I know. After all the years we’ve spent saying, “Vote! Vote no matter what! Vote or else you can’t complain about what happens!”, not voting feels like one of the most counterproductive moves to make. The reason we have to do it though, is because voting in the same sort of people and hoping they’ll make things better isn’t working, and we’re never going to get new options if we keep supporting the old ones. Cutting support for Biden, for Democrats on the national level, without a viable alternative isn't an easy choice to make. It's scary and I admit that it's kind of a gamble. No one has ever tried it before, not the way I'm hoping you all will.

Have you ever heard the phrase, “If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it?” It’s time for us to break. No more unconditional blue votes.

We have to force the Democratic party to recognize that their voting base will not just mindlessly support them, and that the candidates they put forth will be expected to hold up a certain moral standard. Our democracy is skewed to favor the opinions of corporations and the mega rich, but politicians do still need the masses to vote them into office, just like companies need us to buy things so that they can make money in the first place, and voting margins are tight enough that just like in the Speaker of the House vote, it won’t actually take that many of us to throw a wrench in the party’s bottom line.

We might not be able to win, but we can make sure that they lose until they shape up and start making meaningful changes.

And you may be thinking, won’t that just leave us in the hands of Republicans?

I want you to scroll back up. Look at all the bills I brought up that Biden didn’t stop. We are already in Republican hands, and the majority of Democrats are not willing to actually stand up to them.

That said, not voting across the board isn’t what I’m asking you to do.

Our choices for President may be shot to hell, but there will be other people on that ballot in 2024. Local people, who will very directly affect your hometown and not much outside of it. Vote for your local sheriff, for your school board members, for your mayor and your state delegates.

These are the people who control whether or not your senator can pass a drag show ban. These are the people who enable or block bills that hurt LGBTQ+ students. These are the folks who vote on whether or not to pass abortion bans. And in local elections? Your vote really, truly counts in a way that it just can’t on a national level.

And it’s not just people who wind up on your ballots. Local initiatives for conservation, funding for infrastructure, redistricting drives, and changes to your state’s constitution appear on your ballots too, and those are things that you’re going to want to have a say in.

There’s more to this mess than just voting or not voting, of course. There is always going to be more than one step we have to take to force change. That's why we cannot and do not vote inside a vacuum. We still have to make calls, and go to protests, and put our money where our morals are. Change isn't easy, and when you're fighting a decades old machine it's not quick either. But the longer we drag our feet about pushing back, the longer we keep betting on the lesser evil to change, the worse our options will get.

It might feel hopeless right now. Like our voices don't matter, and that we're screaming our lungs out alone. We can't give up though. We can't give into despair, and we can’t let up the pressure before new voices step forward, even if it takes time, and even if it takes more effort then checking a box or sharing a post.

One step will never be enough on its own, but every step we take adds up, and when we take those steps together we magnify our voices into something that cannot be ignored.

This is how we force our politicians to change: consequences and losses. If we start up early enough we might even get better options who could actually win the presidency, but we can't balk if we don't.

I know you might be scared to lose this election. As I write this, it feels counterintuitive, and it's something I never could have imagined saying years ago. But we can't change our political options unless we force politicians to change, and that only happens if they can't get elected as they are.

So don't elect them, and make sure they know that you're doing it on purpose and for a reason.

#american politics #us politics #political #vote #free palestine #palestine

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sixstringphonic · 2 months ago

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Right-Wing Influencers Claim ‘They’ Defeated Physics, Geoengineered Hurricane Milton

Representative Marjorie Taylor Greene and a whole host of conspiracy theorists are claiming the hurricane was planned in order to harm Republicans. Climate experts tell WIRED that’s impossible. (via WIRED, Oct. 8th 2024)

Politicians and right-wing influencers have spread conspiracy theories online suggesting that Hurricane Milton has been geoengineered by nefarious forces, with the end goal of preventing Republicans from voting in the presidential election.

“Milton looks like another man-made storm, and it looks like Trump voters are victims. Is this really what’s happening?” wrote one user on X. “Biden and Harris are messing with the weather! Hurricane Milton was sent to Florida just like the other hurricane to wipe Florida out!! They know those are mostly Trump supporters who live in that state, so 85% of them won’t be able to vote next month,” wrote another.

“They want to kill Trump supporters and interfere with the election,” another user declared.

The “weather weapon” theory and others began proliferating when Hurricane Helene made landfall nearly two weeks ago, leaving at least 230 dead. And now, some of these wild narratives are not only reverberating on fringe corners of the internet but also are being spread by major accounts—chief among them, GOP congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene of Georgia.

Greene, after spending years trying to distance herself from her infamous 2018 remarks on social media blaming wildfires on “Jewish Space Lasers,” is now using this climate emergency to double down on weather conspiracies and lasers.

While Greene stopped short of blaming Jews for the hurricanes, she has promoted conspiracies that have a history of being steeped in antisemitism. “Yes they can control the weather,” Greene wrote on X on October 3 about the hurricanes, without specifying who “they” are. “It’s ridiculous for anyone to lie and say it can’t be done.”

The conspiracy theory that Jews, specifically the Rothschild family, can manipulate world events, including climate and weather events, to their favor, is rooted in centuries of antisemitic scapegoating. The weather conspiracies in particular ramped up significantly after 2011, when a member of the Rothschild family acquired a controlling stake in Weather Central, a company that provides weather data to media companies.

Greene later surfaced a nine-year-old CBS News clip featuring futurist and physicist Michio Kaku discussing experimental lab research into weather modification using lasers. “Lasers,” Greene wrote. “CBS, 9 years ago, talked about lasers controlling the weather.” Right-wing blog The Gateway Pundit, which is known for trafficking in conspiracy theories, gave Greene a major boost on Tuesday with the headline “Marjorie Taylor Greene’s Weather Manipulation Claims Backed by Science—Must Read Deep Dive into History of Weather Manipulation—Shocking Facts Revealed!”

Attempts to politicize Hurricane Milton—which is expected to be a deadly event when it makes landfall Wednesday—are serving as a distraction from dire warnings by local officials. “I can say this without any dramatization whatsoever,” Tampa mayor Jane Castor said on CNN Monday night. “If you choose to stay in those evacuation areas, you are going to die.”

On Monday, amid desperate evacuation warnings, Greene unleashed a hot new take. “Climate change is the new Covid,” she wrote. “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 recent conspiracy theories that have dominated social media have been directed toward the Federal Emergency Management Agency, a long-standing target of anti-government narratives. Some have falsely claimed that the agency was intentionally withholding relief to punish Trump-supporting enclaves or that the organization had spent all its money on the border and foreign wars.

Those conspiracy theories, parroted by Donald Trump and other high-profile Republicans, have muddied the zone and hampered relief efforts. “The GREAT people of North Carolina are being stood up by Harris and Biden, who are giving almost all of the FEMA money to Illegal Migrants,” Trump wrote in one of many posts shared to Truth Social.

Over the weekend, the White House put out a memo titled “Fighting Hurricane Helene Falsehoods With Facts,” debunking some dominant narratives about FEMA’s relief efforts—stating that, for example, no money had been diverted from disaster response needs toward the border.

“Disinformation of this kind can discourage people from seeking critical assistance when they need it most,” the memo said. "It is paramount that every leader, whatever their political beliefs, stops spreading this poison."

This hasn’t stopped other accounts online from weighing in. Private equity manager Grant Cardone, who holds a yellow-ticked “verified organization” account on X, claimed that he’d never seen a hurricane follow a path like the one Milton was on. (Readers added context, noting that while it’s an uncommon track, it has been seen at least six times in the Gulf of Mexico since 1851). “Do you think Gov’t is using technology to manipulate weather patterns & storms?” Cardone asked in a post that’s been viewed over 5 million times.

“Cloud seeding or manipulating the weather is real,” wrote a user on X in a post that’s been viewed 180,000 times. “Kills Americans, catastrophic events JUST BEFORE AN ELECTION. Voting becomes impossible for many. October surprise??”

Experts tell WIRED that there is absolutely no truth to any of these claims that the hurricanes could be engineered by scientists.

Joshua Horton, a senior program fellow studying solar geoengineering at Harvard University, says he has worked in the field of geoengineering for 15 years and had never once encountered lasers being used. Horton noted that in the 1960s, there were attempts to use weather modification to steer hurricanes away from coasts. In perhaps 30 years, he says, solar engineering research may have advanced to the point where scientists could know how to reduce the severity of hurricanes. One theory that’s being explored is whether shooting seaspray into low-lying marine clouds to make them more reflective over areas in the ocean where it gets very hot could potentially reduce the severity of hurricanes. But at this stage, that’s still “totally speculative,” says Horton.

“Scientists cannot control the weather in the ways that MTG is claiming,” says Leah Aronowsky, an assistant professor of climate at Columbia University’s Climate School.

Aronowsky says that the field of geoengineering, which involves intervening in Earth’s atmosphere, oceans, and soils to mitigate the effects of climate change, is controversial and worthy of some “real conversations.” But it’s also a field frequently targeted by conspiracy theorists, who envision nefarious actors using emerging complex technology for political means.

Many online conspiracy theorists have zeroed in on the High-frequency Active Auroral Research Program at the University of Alaska Fairbanks, known as HAARP, which researches the ionosphere, as the brains behind Hurricanes Helene and Milton. Google Trends shows a sharp uptick in searches for HAARP over the past two weeks.

“Why are record-breaking hurricanes happening back-to-back,” asked one X user in a post that garnered 53,000 views. “Why do they target the regions that resisted lockdowns and vaccines? And why are they mysteriously forming deep within the Caribbean? Shall we talk about HAARP?”

"Do these clouds look natural to you?” reads a post from Alux Jownes Team, a cryptocurrency token based on a Solana blockchain that holds a yellow-ticked “verified organization” account on X. The post garnered nearly 790,000 views.

“Hurricane Milton Harris is what geo engineering looks like,” it continued. “Look up HAARP … They’re using fucking weather weapons on us."

HAARP was initially jointly funded by the US military and the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Since 2015, it’s been run and funded solely by the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

HAARP did not respond to WIRED’s request for comment, but as an FAQ section on its site indicates, it has faced similar conspiracy theories in the past. (Earlier this year, Trump ally Laura Loomer suggested that then-Republican presidential candidate Nikki Haley and her deep state allies had deployed HAARP to disturb the Iowa caucus.) Among the frequently asked questions are, “Can HAARP exert mind control over people?” (answer: no) and “Can HAARP control or manipulate the weather?” (also no).

“This is all really dangerous, that this is all swirling around at the same time,” says Aronowsky, who is concerned about the effect of further undermining public trust in science, particularly at a moment of national emergency. “It really serves as a dangerous diversionary tactic and starts to make the conversation about political blame rather than the humanitarian crisis that the US is currently facing.”

#hurricanes #disinformation #conspiracy theories #hurricane milton #hurricane helene #what the actual fuck #long post #this is bonkers #completely unhinged #absolute madness #us politics #tw: antisemitism

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ikiyou · 2 months ago

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Don't Forget to Vote!

To Florida voters, I wanted to bring attention to an issue on your ballot - one that you're probably not watching due to other other big ticket items.

This item is about school boards. Specifically, it's a proposal to turn school board elections from nonpartisan into PARTISAN elections.

The Republicans put this item on the ballot.

The Republicans claim that, since there's already been political battles on school boards due to book bans, that there won't be any difference because they're mostly political now anyway, so who cares? Might as well make it official right? It'll increase 'transparency' and you'll know 'who's who' - who to harass, who to hate.

You know what ELSE it'll do???

It will prevent 30% of you from being able to vote in school board elections, because in order to vote for a political candidate, you have to join one of the political parties!

And 30% of you are registered as independent, and cannot vote in partisan elections! So it's an effort to further remove a large chunk of probably more moderate voters from being able to put good people on the school boards.

This is another effort to remove non-Republicans from the voting pool, just like every effort made to limit voting rights and absentee voting.

And, this is a Republican effort to exert control starting from your schools - in other words, your children. The same thing as book bans.

To everyone voting, RESEARCH ALL YOUR ISSUES. Do not take them at face value - read several websites that explain the implications behind a yes or no vote.

I can already tell you, on my ballot, 2 major issues had an extra paragraph that only explained the negative implications (from a Republican perspective). Nowhere was there an effort to highlight equally pros and cons. It was a clear effort to bias voters toward the Republican motive, on my official ballot.

#voting #election #election 2024 #set several hours aside to research all your issues #and all your justices & judges - you'll have to read court case decisions. They aren't listed as one party or the other. This takes time.#make sure you know how you want to vote BEFORE you vote!

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tomorrowusa · 5 months ago

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Here's a project for anybody who hates dictatorships.

Tell one person a day about Project 2025 – effectively the Trump equivalent of Mein Kampf. (I call Project 2025 Mein Trumpf.) Look through it and quote passages which may be of special interest to the person you're speaking with.

Nobody in Germany who read Mein Kampf can claim that they knew nothing of Hitler's plans. Don't think that Mein Trumpf is just some sort of theoretical exercise.

On Wednesday, Navigator released the third and final results from its latest survey about Project 2025. Conducted June 20-24, the survey found that the most salient and message about Project 2025 is that it “is an unprecedented, extreme Republican plan that will fundamentally alter the American government making Trump even more dangerous in a second term by granting him presidential powers like no president before him has ever had.” According to Navigator, the most effective messages focused on the impact rather than on political consequences. The message that worked best for Democrats and independents was that Project 2025 would "roll back and eliminate Americans’ constitutionally protected rights and freedoms," while the message that worked best for non-MAGA Republicans—i.e., Republican voters who did not self-identify as supporting the MAGA movement—was that it would "hurt hard-working American families and seniors." “Nearly 9 in 10 Democrats (87%), 7 in 10 independents (70%), and about half of non-MAGA Republicans (48%) believed it would have a negative impact on them and their families after exposure to Project 2025’s policies and messaging,” Navigator found. There’s plenty in the authoritarian plan to worry Americans. It seeks to end no-fault divorce and restrict access to birth control—even condoms! It demands cuts to Social Security—raising the retirement age from 67 to 70—and wants to privatize Medicare. Then there are the proposals to curtail food assistance, eliminate Head Start, restrict help to disabled veterans, and roll back overtime pay requirements for hourly workers. Voters of all stripes know Trump, so all his efforts to distance himself from these policies won’t work. The majority of people surveyed by Navigator also believe that Project 2025 describes policy positions of the Republican Party and Donald Trump, and that Republicans would implement it if they win full control of the government in 2024.

Project 2025/Mein Trumpf seems hellbent on eliminating reproductive freedom in every form. They even wish to restrict condoms.

The authors, overwhelmingly Trumpist white males, want to return the US to a mythological 1950s which probably didn't really exist – except in their far right imaginations. Even Ward and June Cleaver might have difficulty recognizing the dystopia outlined in this proposal.

The big takeaway from Navigator’s three surveys on this is that the more people find out about it, the more unpopular it is. Navigator writes, “Project 2025 is underwater by 48 points at the end of this survey … with nearly 3 in 4 independents opposed to it … and Republicans split on the plan … [and] more than 9 in 10 Democrats are opposed to Project 2025 by the end of the survey.”

Learn all you can about Project 2025/Mein Trumpf and its most hideous proposals. Let everybody know what the MAGA GOP has in store for a second Trump term. If you post about it here or anywhere, use the tag #Project 2024

Being passive and quiet will only bring about a patriarchal dictatorship; dictators are still easier to prevent than get rid of.

Here is the text of Project 2025. (PDF) You might wish to download it before the far right Heritage Foundation removes it if it becomes too much of a political liability during the Republican National Convention.

#project 2025 #mein trumpf #dictatorship #reproductive freedom #donald trump #maga #republicans #joan mccarter #election 2024 #vote blue no matter who

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qqueenofhades · 11 months ago

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I completely understand if you don’t feel comfortable answering this, but my mind is spiraling out of control and you’re the only person I know with the level of knowledge to where I can feel comfortable asking this without getting some form of “bla bla we live in a safe state don’t worry.”

I’m sincerely wondering if I need to be making plans to leave the country in the event of November bringing the most horrible of outcomes despite our best efforts (and yes I’m planning to vote blue in everything I can); as a AFAB in CA?

I know about project 2025. I’m terrified. Forgive my pop culture reference, but I feel like a version of Princess Zelda staring down a barrel of possible doom while everyone around me is like “nah that future you literally had a nightmare about where they made it illegal for a woman to have a bank account without a guy co-signing it and took the money from everyone who didn’t comply by a certain date isn’t even a possibility!”

I’m just confused about my life and am trying to take it day by day, and exercising every right while I still have it to prevent this outcome, but it feels weird making plans and retirement accounts and just general Setting Up Adult Life And Future Things™️……while wondering if I even have a future in this place at all and I’m just making it harder to escape if need be.

I’m sorry I’m rambling, and I guess I don’t know what I’m asking since no one has a crystal ball.

But I guess, it’s stuff like how much can the feds effect state’s policies? Is it possible for them to immediately block international travel for all women practically upon inauguration? How much time would I even have to gtfo if the worst begins?

Bc honestly this whole thing feels like the lead in to a very nasty chapter of a history book, and even though I have hope we’ll have another blue tsunami, it can be hard to try and figure things out when it feels like there’s barely any historical precedent for any of it.

Welp. Okay. First of all, I am giving you a comforting hug, I am walking with you to your favorite coffee shop, I am paying for your favorite beverage and also a baked goodie of your choice, and we are sitting down in a corner where we can talk honestly. So that's where I want you to imagine us having this conversation.

To start with, yes, I completely understand this feeling of utter, paralyzing doom, where I am trying to go about my daily life and make plans for my career and carry out daily tasks and Be Responsible while there's still just this total void beyond the end of the year, the utter impossibility of knowing if we will have dodged an absolutely massive bullet and finally be safe (since if Trump loses again he is 100% going to jail in the next four years) or, well. You know. That is a very hard way to live, when you're wondering if anything is going to matter and you can't see beyond that black cloud of fear on the horizon. It sucks you down and tells you that nothing is worth doing now in case it just gets so much worse. I am not going to tell you not to feel that. We all do. We are all scared. That in and of itself is a perfectly normal way to feel.

However, there are things you can do both now and if (I repeat, if) God absolutely forbid, the worst was to happen (again). First of all, we have already lived through a Trump presidency once. It was terrible and scary and awful and demoralizing as fuck, but we can do it again if we absolutely Goddamn fucking have to (once, again, God forbid). Second, you are currently about as safe as you could be in California. Newsom has proven himself to be smart, tough, able to run rings around Republicans, and unwilling to comply with their stupid performative-cruelty directives. He's not a saint or a magician, but you don't need that; you need a shrewd politician able to fight back, and he has proven himself willing and capable of doing that. So as long as he is governor, you're going to be more safe than not, and I'd also like to ask all the shrieking Online Leftists if, should the shit go down, they would rather live in a state with a Democratic governor who will fight Trump 2.0 every step of the way, or a Republican governor who will just roll over and obey. (But that would destroy their BOTH PARTIES ARE THE SAME talking point, so you know.)

Next of all, even if the Republicans are doing their best impression, America in 2024 isn't Germany in 1934. There are different tools, different ways to fight back, and different awarenesses/social media/visibility factors. I also need everyone to remember that just as Biden can't just sign an executive order and fix everything everywhere, Trump can't just sign an executive order and fuck everything everywhere, just like that with no more discussion ever. He tried that last time, it generally didn't work, and trust me, at least this time nobody is sleeping on the danger he poses. His candidacy in 2016 was dismissed as a long-shot joke that nobody took seriously until it was too late, and for better or worse, people aren't doing that this time. He will be sued instantly, incredibly, and repeatedly with everything his band of wannabe fascists try, and since we have had four years of Biden fixing the courts from where Trump trashed them, that does mean something. There is no scenario where even if he does issue some outrageous order against women, LGBTQ+ people, immigrants, etc (which to be clear, I'm sure he would try) it would just be carried out completely, immediately, and with no feasible way to stop it. Evil is evil, but it is also stupid, clueless, determined to hurt people just for the hell of it without any regard for what is possible or which will be allowed, and there's a lot more grey area in there than just "Trump says something terrible and it's instantly done, the end."

Once again, I'm not going to say that the worst-case scenario is not possible, but I don't think it's likely, and even if that does happen, there are ways for us to survive and fight back (again). Nobody wants it and it should not have to be asked of us due to the utter collapse of the social, civic, political, and intellectual fabric of this country thanks to the TrumpCult, but once again... these people are so loud and dangerous and cruel and stupid because they are in the minority. Etc. etc. polls are garbage, but we did just have an interesting piece of empirical data from the Iowa caucuses. Trump -- in one of the whitest, most rural, most conservative, most religious, most Trump-loving states in the country -- struggled to break 50%. Almost half of a rabid Republican fully-Trumpized electorate, among the diehards sufficiently motivated to get out and caucus in extreme freezing weather, voted for someone else (Haley and DeSantis took about 20% apiece). Now, no, we don't know how that will translate to the general election, and if registered Republicans will flock back to the nominee even if it's Trump, but as almost half of Haley voters said they would vote for Biden if it was a Biden-Trump matchup in the general, there is some sense that Trump is an aberration to their otherwise ironclad party loyalty. Now, Republicans are the fucking worst and nobody should be relying on them to save us; we still need to get out and vote for Democrats with all our might. But Trump is no longer barn-burningly popular even in core Trump heartland, and it'll be interesting to see how things go in future primaries.

My point is: I know the feeling that evil is awful and unstoppable and all-powerful, and will crush our lives and our futures no matter what we do to resist it. I really, really do. But Trump is a terrible candidate, he's running literally only to keep himself out of a long, long prison sentence, and if he had crushed the Iowa caucuses regardless, we might be having a different conversation. However, we need to remember that it is possible, again (God forbid) in the worst scenario, to resist, to live, and to win. Everyone who is motivated to work for a better world will still be here. Everyone who can help you and all of us will still be here. And there are more of us than there are of them. Yes, I do understand the feeling that we need to have contingency plans in place, I do absolutely know that it could get very bad, and all that (as you say, nobody has a crystal ball). But for now, I want you to take a deep breath, try to take this day by day, and remember that this is not a crushing and inevitable future that will sweep over you and destroy you without you (or any other person of good will) having a say in the matter. You still have agency, you still have the ability to protect yourself, and you still have others who will protect you in turn. You're not alone. The bad guys want you to think that, because when you're isolated and terrorized, you're easier to pick off and/or recruit into their cult. But you're not.

In conclusion: "What are we holding onto, Sam?"

#anonymous #ask #politics for ts #hang in there!

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leviathan-supersystem · 4 months ago

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@yourtoradorasextendedwarranty most of the dogshit in that interminable long argument wasn't even worth addressing but this part jumped out at me as especially moronic and blatantly dishonest.

first i'd like to clarify that i'm not trying to get involved in electoral politics, i'm not interested in trying to prove that republicans are fascist, and i'm certainly not trying to prove democrats aren't. the point i'm making here is simply "these arguments presented here are dogshit"

like, for one thing, the idea of "more state rights"="not fascist" is very dumb. if a state were, say, rounding up black people and putting them in camps, is it non-fascist for them to do that (since it's a state government doing it, not the federal government) and conversely is fascist for the federal government to prevent the state from doing that? if for whatever reason that hypothetical isn't striking a chord with you, maybe switch black people in the hypothetical for, idk, christians.

or to use a more down-to-earth real-world example, which side do you think most actual fascists side with when it comes to state rights regarding slavery? or integration? (and certainly the degree to which fascists and libertarians are in agreement when it comes to whether states/businesses should be compelled to integrate would call into question whether those two ideologies are really "opposites")

"state rights" on it's own has no real political alignment-the alignment of any given "state rights" issue hinges on the question "states right to what"? obviously fascists are all in favor of states having the right to suppress minorities, or impose excessive draconian laws.

which brings us to the subject of what i can only assume it what you were alluding to with this whole "states rights" thing- namely the overturning of roe v. wade- the "states rights" in question is the right for states to surveil women and to lock them in prison for the decisions they make regarding their own personal reproductive healthcare. such personal liberty!

and of course building off of this, trump and co. are not by any means consistently pro-states rights. see the federal abortion ban that has been floated by those in trump's camp- the pose of being "pro states right" was obviously just a tactical maneuver until he could get abortion banned federally.

now, of course none of this proves he's a fascist- being willing to impose draconian measures to control women's reproductive health is widespread among all sorts of right-wing ideologies- but it certainly doesn't prove he isn't one either.

(also regarding "sending taxes overseas"- do trump and his supporters want to stop sending those taxes to israel? no of course not, the parties are in perfect lockstep on that, just one of the many reasons both parties are ultimately worthless)

regarding the "stop putting naked kids in front of our kids" claim- it's hard to know what the fuck you're even talking about here. my closest best guess is that this is about "kids seeing drag"- and if that's the case this is some of the most disgusting misrepresentation of that issue i've ever seen. the whole culture war around kids and drag has centered around parents taking their own kids to all-ages drag shows- so those aren't your kids, and the people they're taking them to see aren't naked. and far from your narrative of the poor best-upon right-wingers just trying to raise their own children in peace, what has actually been happening is right wingers calling for parents who take their kids to see drag shows have their kids taken from them and be thrown in jail.

now, again, right-wingers wanting to take away the kids of progressives is not something i'd consider to be exclusive to fascism. all kinds of right-wing ideological groups support that (although the "taking your kids to see mrs doubtfire is child abuse" shtick is a new spin). you, on the other hand, did claim that wanting to take people's kids away is specifically fascist- so make of that what you will.

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mariacallous · 2 months ago

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“They want to kill Trump supporters and interfere with the election,” another user declared.

Experts tell WIRED that there is absolutely no truth to any of these claims that the hurricanes could be engineered by scientists.

“Scientists cannot control the weather in the ways that MTG is claiming,” says Leah Aronowsky, an assistant professor of climate at Columbia University’s Climate School.

“Hurricane Milton Harris is what geo engineering looks like,” it continued. “Look up HAARP … They’re using fucking weather weapons on us."

HAARP was initially jointly funded by the US military and the University of Alaska Fairbanks. Since 2015, it’s been run and funded solely by the University of Alaska Fairbanks.

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justinspoliticalcorner · 3 months ago

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Dean Obeidallah at The Dean's Report:

No, Donald Trump is not “flip-flopping” on abortion as some corporate media headlines are claiming. But the silver lining to this debate is that it elevates the issue of reproductive freedom to the forefront in the closing months of the campaign—reminding people Trump was “honored” to “kill” Roe v. Wade and that his abortion bans are literally killing women. What sparked the headlines about Trump’s so-called “flip-flop” on abortion was when Trump first stated last week that he opposed the GOP enacted six week abortion ban in Florida. Trump told Fox News this six-week ban was a “mistake,” adding, "I think six weeks, you need more time.” However, after the pro-forced birth activists and Christian nationalists expressed outrage, Trump reversed course, saying he would vote no on the proposed Florida ballot measure that would repeal the state's six-week abortion ban.

Trump did not “evolve” on the issue of reproductive freedom. In reality, he has no core beliefs other than racism and sexism. The convicted felon simply sees the same polls and election results we have when it comes to abortion. Trump gets that a recent Gallup poll found only 12% of Americans support the GOP’s total abortion bans—while 85% of Americans believe abortion should be legal in all or certain circumstances. Add to that, a recent CNN poll found nearly two thirds of Americans oppose the 2022 Supreme Court decision overturning Roe v. Wade.

Trump simply wanted to appear more reasonable on abortion given new polls show Americans overwhelmingly trust VP Harris to handle the issue of reproductive freedom--which has contributed to a record gender gap. This explains Trump’s latest proposal regarding in vitro fertilization (IVF) that he claims will force insurance companies to pay for the costs of in vitro fertilization (IVF.) I’m sure we will see this “amazing” IVF plan the same time we see Trump’s “great” healthcare plan that he repeatedly promised since 2015 he would be unveiling in “two weeks.” Never happened.

Trump’s new IVF is not even original--he stole it from the Democrats. In June, Senate Democrats proposed legislation known as the Right to IVF Act that would have both enshrined into federal law a right for individuals to receive IVF treatment and would’ve mandated coverage for fertility treatments under health insurance plans. In other words, what Trump says he now wants to do. However, that legislation was blocked by all but two Senate Republicans included Trump’s own running mate, JD Vance.

What Trump and the GOP don’t get—or care to grasp—is that stripping women of a 50-year constitutional right to reproductive freedom is not a political issue, it’s personal. In fact, nothing is more personal than Republican laws that force women against their will to carry a fetus to term. And that is exactly what Republicans have done in 14 states they control with their total abortion bans that in essence mean on day one of pregnancy, a women’s uterus becomes property of the GOP. (An additional eight GOP controlled states have also implemented abortion bans still far more restrictive than under Roe v. Wade.) These abortion bans—as studies have now detailed—are literally killing women. One study found that “women in states with abortion bans are nearly three times more likely to die during pregnancy, childbirth or soon after giving birth.” A July study found that “the highest rates of maternal mortality can be found in the Mississippi Delta, which includes Arkansas, Louisiana, Mississippi, and Tennessee.” These states—as well as Texas and others--all have extreme abortion bans that have resulted in preventing women from receiving an abortion to address a women’s health needs. Rather, a woman must be on the doorstep of death before doctors are permitted by law to perform an abortion to save her life.

Abortion bans are harming and killing women, point blank. These have the imprimatur of Trump-appointed justices and GOP legislators across the nation, along with Trump himself.

#Donald Trump #Abortion #Anti Abortion Extremism #2024 Elections #2024 Presidential Election #Women #Abortion Bans #Reproductive Health #Right To IVF Act #IVF #Florida Amendment 4

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