#people act like not voting means nobody gets elected

[boneswizard]

I hate having to block people because they post anti-voting rhetoric :/

[kiloueka]

Okay, I still have not heard one convincing argument that not voting does more good than voting for the lesser of two evils.

Like, I'm genuinely asking this and am not trying to be petty or smug or whatever.

I'm talking about the simple act of voting; not donating to campaign funds, not harassing people who are rightfully angry at genocide Joe/Kamala, not wasting time trying to get people to vote but not doing any other activism, not blaming nonvoters solely for xyz candidate losing when there's multiple factors that contributed to their loss.

I mean the simple act of spending a few hours every 2 years filling in some bubbles to try to slow our descent into fascism.

Like, I get that many libs think voting is the end-all-be-all of activism and that Kamala is our savior or something. I get the argument that dems aren't going to move left if people continue voting for them without question/pushing. I get how the dems are basically dangling our basic rights in front of us to get our votes. And I get that the dems are still fucking terrible and the end goal is to tear it all down and start over.

But I don't get how risking letting someone worse win to threaten/punish them is a valid strategy. Like, it seems too high-stakes to me.

I don't get how the argument is any different than, say, "protesting/rioting is shit because it's destructive and disrupts people' lives".

I don't get how it's better than just pushing people to do more on top of voting.

Like "here are the shitty things Kamala is doing and here's what to do about them". Or "Here's the few bubbles to fill to reduce the number of orphans going into the orphan crushing machine and here's the plan to destroy the machine after you turn in your ballot."

Being against voting all feels very "You claim to want things to improve yet you participate in society. I am very intelligent." I would very much not have to beg for my rights every election and instead burn the whole thing down and guillotine all the politicians but unfortunately my body is falling apart and my brain is shit so voting is one of the few things accessible to me.

I don't get how voting for a candidate that will protect (some of) your rights while trying to kill other groups is selfish when the only other option is trying to kill you AND them. How would the less at-risk groups help fight for the rights of the more at-risk groups if they're too busy also being killed if Trump wins? How would me risking my rights by not voting do any sort of material good for Palestinians facing genocide or kids in cages?

It seems like the arguments all seem to boil down to "pulling the trolley lever is icky because people will still die so I'll let someone else choose" or "there are two genders: voting or REAL activism (you can only pick one)" or "5000 bad things is exactly the same as 3000 bad things" or "if enough people don't vote then nobody will win the election"

I'm just trying to do what good I can do because I can't do much.

[qqueenofhades]

Do political parties have any better alternative to asking us to vote or donate than by constantly spamming our text messages with panic messages and doom and gloom? Because I feel like there’s a better way to do this instead of just annoying people for endless supplies of cash.

This is why my number one rule is that I never give my phone number to any political campaign or candidate, ever, no matter how much I like them. For one thing, I promise that I don't need to be reminded either to vote or donate. I vote every time in every election, and on the rare occasions I have money to spare, will donate to presidential, Senate, House, and DSCC races, to Act Blue, or to Democratic candidates running against particularly loathsome Republicans elsewhere in the country. This means that I get a shit ton of emails from candidates I have never heard of before, and I WILL instantly unsubscribe. Watch me.

But for all that? Never give my phone number to any of these and never will. Or I will likewise get spammed by those exact INSTANT DOOM AND GLOOM text messages, because apparently Democratic campaign strategists all read the same book on how YOU SHOULD MAKE VOTERS VERY AFRAID ABOUT NEW POLL #34629583. Okay, I get it. Someone gets scared, they will indeed Rush a Donation Before Midnight. But Jesus Christ, a little teeny tiny variant in messaging and/or constant manufactured terror would be nice. We know about it already. Fucking trust us. Nobody can forget about the Horror. So yeah.

[nokingsonlyfooles]

“It’s my hope, Mr. President, that you listen to us, that you choose democracy over tyranny.” - Abdullah Hammoud, Dearborn Mayor and Voter

YES! I can't fuckin' believe the media accurately reported this as a protest and printed/publicized the words of the voters explaining why they did it. AND NOBODY HAD TO ATTEMPT SUICIDE! This is big and it could get even bigger! But it's a qualified bigness, because...

Walz, a major supporter of Biden’s reelection campaign, said Michigan’s “uncommitted” results were a healthy demonstration of democracy. “I think they feel passionate, as they should, about an issue we all care about,” Walz said, adding that he expected most protest voters would eventually return to Biden’s side in a likely November rematch with former President Donald Trump, who himself has struggled with college-educated voters and suburbanites in his ongoing Republican primary against former U.N. Ambassador Nikki Haley. “I’m much more convinced there’s a chance bringing those folks home is much greater than bringing the ‘Never Trump’ folks back home,” Walz said.

Yeah. I know this song and dance. I've seen it happen in person, at protests, in reatime. They come out to "do voter outreach" and they're all smiles to start. "Yes! Please do continue to act upon your freedom of speech in a way I, an advocate for the status quo, find nonthreatening. Your feelings are valid, ha-ha! I expect nothing to change, and indeed I will act to change nothing, but good for you!" A few folks always believe the message has been received and quiet down, that's why they do it. But wait and see what happens to that smile when a few people start interrupting and yelling, "THAT'S NOT GOOD ENOUGH!"

At least this guy's willing to suggest Biden would pick up more votes by moving left than moving right, although I doubt he actually expects anything radical. A few more forgiven student loans or somewhat cheaper drugs aren't much of a problem, and that's leftist too! So we don't really have to worry about the ongoing genocide.

The thing is, if/when this picks up momentum and the DNC starts to think they might have to change something or lose, it will become something other than a positive demonstration of free speech. It'll be childish tantrum-throwing, pointless, uncivil, attention-whoring, astroturfed, counterproductive foreign interference, and whatever else sounds bad. If any of you out there in internet-land already feel threatened by it, you're probably saying that right now. (Go ahead and comment, you'll boost this with other people who think like you, and I might change some minds.)

And, if you are comfortable with it and want voters to do it instead of threatening to withhold votes from Biden in the general, check your privilege. Not every state offers this. Unless something changes real fast (at least, I THINK it hasn't changed, it's hard to do a search when "uncommitted" brings up SO MANY news articles about Michigan 😁), mine won't. I can't do this. I can't vote in a third party primary either. It'd be all blue or nothing. And neither of those things will get me any press, so I gotta keep talking. Maybe I'll motivate someone who can vote uncommitted! Or scare a politician! I still think I'm doing more good by staying alive, and I'm a bit distant from any property I might meaningfully damage (although I am open to suggestions that won't get me arrested and silenced), so this is the only thing I got that won't injure a human being.

Tumblr, no matter how you actually intend to vote, if you're not up for living in a two-party system where both parties think they can do a little genocide and stay in power, you have ways of making yourself heard. There are options beyond falling in line behind the lesser evil. Don't let anyone tell you there aren't. And when you start hearing "stop!" or "you can't!" that means you have something they want. A cessation of hostilities! Well, now you might be in a position to negotiate terms! Don't give up!

Please, please, please don't give up. There is so much to be done.

[realpontchartrain]

Just wanted to say yeah I'm not voting either. There's too many nuances with things and I am very stupid and struggle to understand unless it is written out plainly. And the intense morals surrounding voting and stuff with this election has me just shutting down mentally. Especially since I don't know any politics in my state either. I get voting is important and stuff. But America is also so fucked as is. And everything is complicated and I can't even figure out how to take care of myself or cook. I don't trust myself at all especially with state politics in my area. And there's so many different things different people say and what's okay and what's not okay. It confuses me and stresses me out and I just shut down. And I can't ever tell when someone is intentionally being a bitch about voting stuff or not so it also triggers my ocd.

So like. You're not alone in not voting. And the intense moral debate over it as some black and white thing is exhausting and just triggering for someone like me. It's genuinely nice not to see someone so up in arms over it. Cause everything with it has been giving my panic attacks and autistic shut downs. I am stupid and do not understand and cannot tell when someone has good intentions or is knowledgeable or not so I get confused easily.

This has been sitting on my conscience and bugging my ocd for so long so seeing you not voting made me wanna just vent. I feel incoherent so that's my rant. Woo. Voting is confusing and stressful and I hate this country. I'm just tired.

Something else I never got around to answering, but yeah. I mean hey, i’m all for people voting. I only just found out earlier that felons can technically vote in Texas so long as we’re not on parole/probation, and I’m still not because I have my personal beliefs and reasons for not even wanting to bother. I wholeheartedly support Kamala Harris, because of course I do, and I know she’s going to win and that’s a good thing. But I also understand you here somewhat. I never liked the purity culture and shit surrounding politics and voting. You saw how people jumped on my ass when I said that I wasn’t going to, even if I technically can to my new knowledge, as if me not voting is THE most problematic shit about me. Absolutely fucking ridiculous how downright stupid some people can be when it comes to having to choose between voting for the same two candidates just in two different colors.

People scream and cry and bemoan about how important it is to vote… but only if you’re voting for who THEY want you to vote for. I joked around and said that i’d vote for Trump because me (and several others i know) said that it’s about time we had a felon president to shine some light on the rights and shit of people with criminal records, and suddenly my vote doesn’t mean shit anymore, even if it was just a joke. If this is a free country, then I’m free to not vote for anyone. And if I did vote, I would also be free to vote for Trump’s left testicle if I wanted to. This is why I don’t engage in politics or want shit to do with voting. I frankly do not care who ends up in office because this country STILL let Trump run it despite the popular vote for Hillary, and the fact that this man didn’t have any prior experience in politics whatsoever before he even ran. And this was right after we elected our first black president. And then, this same country turned around and shuffled the rules right in front of our FACES to see to it that Trump would be immune from any sort of legal consequences for what he did as an “official act”.

You can also add on the fact that i’m a psychopath who doesn’t care about nobody but myself, therefore i’m doing everyone a fucking favor by keeping my vote to myself, and anyone who has a problem with that can simply kill themselves, like i don’t care. Vote if y’all want, I got better shit to do and think about in my life now lmfao

[kckramer]

Some US political complaining- feel free to ignore

It’s like the more I become engaged with the US progressive/leftist movement, the more I see that so many people just don’t know how politics works.

Why hasn’t UN/US/EU stopped Israel? For the same reason they haven’t stopped Russia- short of an invasion and setting up a new government, they can’t. Nations don’t answer to any higher entity. UN is a conflict resolution organization between established nation-states. It’s “power” is entirely dependent on countries wanting to abide by it. The UN isn’t some international cop who can force countries to do what it wants- and certainly not countries with highly advanced economies and nuclear weapons. The most the UN can do is use economic sanctions and international aid as leverage- but those really don’t work on countries with self-sufficient economies. And nobody wants to invade a country with an ambiguously sized nuclear arsenal (like Israel’s) because it’s a terrible idea.

And the single-issue voter thing is every bit as concerning as the most radical anti-choice activists I grew up around. This is how the GOP has managed to generate and maintain such high support and turnout to help achieve their other goals and now the evangelicals are eating out of their hand. But in the progressive/leftist sphere, it’s being used to stop people from voting, or to vote third party.

And the third party thing is another wild thing to see. Like, do people genuinely think they can get 40+ million people to vote for Dr. Stein when the vast majority of America has never heard of her? The internet, especially Tumblr and anything with an algorithm, is an echo chamber, certainly, but do so many people in the progressive/leftist movement not realize they’re a tiny percentage of the national voter base?? Dr. Stein’s highest voter score was 20%- and that was a local election. She’s never gotten more than 1% in a national election. Self identified Liberals are only 25% of the voter base, and of those, progressives are an even smaller portion.

Like. Maybe 2 people in 10 are progressive. That’s it. As a political minority, we need to be realistic here. We need to know how the system works, what the rest of our allies think, and act accordingly. We’re not going to win an election by ourselves. Period. That’s not an if/maybe- that’s math. But we can definitely lose an election. And that’s what happened in 2016.

Democracy is about compromise and progress happens slowly and gradually. I don’t know why that’s so hard for people to comprehend- and being in a minority means having to make the compromises to get the majority onboard. Sure, it’s annoying, and frustrating, but that’s how things work. We can talk all we want about changing the system, but that’s going to take just as long to accomplish. And no, “the revolution” is not an option. But Bangladesh! Bangladesh has a parliament, not a bicameral congress and a separate presidency. It’s far easier to bring down a parliamentary government without destroying the entire political infrastructure.

[thessalian]

Thess vs Political Media Spin

Thinking about the French election (CONGRATULATIONS, FRANCE) and realising that it's probably finally time to discuss a thing about the UK elections that nobody in the media wants to talk about. Because they mostly want to talk about Reform's 4.1m votes and 5 Parliament seats. Which is ... okay, not entirely fair, but understandable given that an awful lot of news media is written for "engagement" and is thus generally ragebait. However, there are two things that those of us in the UK really, really need to keep in mind:

We had an atrociously low voter turn-out this year, probably because so many of us were depressed and beaten over how the two main parties are behaving right now.

The Greens came in second for votes in forty constituencies. One of them was mine. (That latter shouldn't surprise me because this whole borough has been a very safe Labour seat for awhile and isn't it funny how this place started leaning towards the Greens when that Tory-with-a-red-tie Starmer was leading the party? Almost as if all those "safe Labour votes" are just very lefty votes looking for a place to break out?)

Now, point 2 couldn't work in the US. You guys have a two-party system, just because of how your voting works. While you guys get Electoral College votes for That One Guy, we get actual seats - actual voices - in the House of Commons. And honestly, Labour would have still had its landslide even without the forty seats the Greens could have won if a few more people had actually come out. But even the Americans can take a message away from this, and the message is: "refusal to vote is very liable to cripple any chance things have of getting better".

For the US - if you don't vote Democrat, and Trump gets in again, he's going to destroy your country. The question becomes who you'd rather have stacking the Supreme Court, and who you'd like to hand the loaded gun that is the current Supreme Court's decision to give Presidents immunity from prosecution in the course of "official acts", particularly when the full and detailed definition of "official acts" has yet to be determined. Do not assume he'll never win - my mother assumed that in 2016, because apparently she has not as yet plumbed the depths of human stupidity the way only those of us whose brains are trash and who live on the internet can. Do not assume that Biden will get enough votes without you protest-voting for a third party. If you want some examples of how that thinking works out, consider Brexit, and how many people who actually voted for it and then said, "Well, I mean, I didn't think we'd actually leave; I just wanted to protest it a little!" immediately afterwards.

For those of us in the UK, though? I know a lot of people didn't come out and vote and I understand why. But look what could have happened if you had. Imagine forty-four seats for the Greens, instead of just four, and those forty-four voices speaking and voting for us in the Commons. Imagine if the Greens had got the kind of votes Reform did. The media could not have ignored that the way they ignore the Greens' four seats.

Media spin basically crushed those of us who want better into not voting at all. I don't know if this country will get better under Labour, but I doubt it, and I mourn the chance we had. I am so thrilled that France has at least shown that left-wing politics aren't entirely dead. I can't save my own country beyond my one vote (the Greens this year, and I'm happy to have contributed to an actual left-wing party getting the second-most votes in my constituency, thanks), but I can give warnings. To the UK ... I know Starmer's a dickweed, but we can get a louder voice in Commons if we don't just give up on the entire electoral process. To the US ... I get that Biden is ... honestly, he is better than Starmer; it's just that "slow and steady wins the race" policies don't make headlines anymore. Just ... do you want God-Emperor Trump? Not voting in the US is how you get God-Emperor Trump.

[owl-by-night]

📓 <3

Thank you for the ask - you get one of the AUs I’ve had in my head for a very long time because it’s probably the weirdest thing I’ve come up with. Let me try to convince you! Every autumn as the days get shorter, Strictly Come Dancing appears on TV and I get nostalgic for the Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrel Strictly Come Dancing AU that I am never going to write for a million reasons, the first of which is that I don’t even know why I like it so much. It sounds ridiculous, doesn’t it?

But what if Strictly isn’t just Strictly? What if it’s being run by an enigmatic gentleman with a penchant for velvet jackets, making bargains and hair like… thistledown? What if the ballroom where you sign up to dance all day and all night is this AU’s Lost Hope? Where you can never leave because of your contract with the Gentleman? And who knows what bargains he struck to get you to agree….

The gentleman wants his favourite pro dancer Stephen to win at any cost and he means ANY. 

Sir Walter Pole wants a good PR hit before the next election so signs up his young and beautiful wife to aid his popularity (He couldn’t take part himself of course, because he might not do well and can’t risk looking foolish. He can, however, show up to support his wife). So the Gentleman makes a bargain, pairs Emma with Stephen and he’ll do anything to get them to the final so they can dance for him forever.  And if there was a tragic accident to Emma’s finger during early rehearsals well that’s just a chance for sympathetic reporting in the popular press. 

Thistles can’t always plan for everything though - Arabella Strange is an unexpected star with a husband who does the best supportive videos and is arranging a social media campaign by accident because he just loves his wife so much and wants to tell everyone how proud of her he is. 

John Childermass was supposed to be a joke act who left before Halloween but despite looking out of place in every costume the man can dance (sort of, when Hannah takes him in hand) and his blunt Yorkshire take on things has a definite fan following. His salsa goes viral. His rumba causes riots.

Flora Greysteel is popular with the younger generation and doing too well for Thistles to be comfortable. She might once have run off to have an affair with a poet but when ‘someone’ leaks it to the press she turns out to have a formidable protector in her father and her new friends the Stranges. 

John Segundus and Mr Honeyfoot were a pair of nobodies that should both have gone out in the early weeks but Segundus just keeps coming back. Nobody can doubt his persistence or his commitment to the training. Dancing is my life, he says, and he can’t think what he’d do if it was taken from him. That earnest comment earned him a solid block of devoted viewers. It also gained him devotion of another kind. Under the cover of the general Strictly mayhem, Childermass has been making tentative overtures to ‘John S’ as he battles with recurrent dizzy spells - is it just the Viennese waltz or is it the magic of Strictly? Childermass is always there to look after him if he needs it. 

While the stakes were low to start with as the no hopers were voted off, as the final looms The Gentleman has to make a choice about who he really wants to win now and what he’ll do to get it. If that means releasing some photos to the press suggesting that the Stranges are really rather fond of Bell’s dance partner Colley Grant, well he has the footage waiting and if some people need to encounter some strategic accidents so be it. By the end of November the Gentleman is using any kind of tactic to make sure the public vote the right way - social media influence and press scandals and dubious judge’s marking (one could almost swear that Craig has been bewitched). So the series runs with even more than the usual strictly scandals - Maria Bullworth’s husband cites her dance partner Art Wellesley in divorce proceedings but was it really him or was it fellow contestant Henry Lascelles? Art has a reputation for flings but backstage rumour says he’s far more interested in Flora’s partner Will and there are uglier rumours about Henry and who really caused Chris Drawlight to be injured by falling props in movie week (conveniently removing him from the show before any nasty rumours about his business dealings could break).

But it’s Strictly and the voting public is as fickle as ever. As scandals break, the tabloids go wild, and the stars get closer to the glitter ball, the stresses and stains begin to take their toll and the press start to ask ‘how is lady Pole?’  

“Unless you’ve done it before”, she says in an interview, “nobody can really understand what it’s like to be part of the magic of ballroom and when you’re on Strictly it feels like you’ve been dancing forever. And ever. And ever.”

[bearded-snorlax]

Begging people to stop acting like not voting means nobody gets elected. Please grow up.

[the-firebird69]

Getting ready to start attacking this stupid **** **** **** we don't like what he's saying and do it and we're going to go after him. Doesn't have a right to do what he is doing and we're gonna make sure he understands it he's breaking so many laws he thinks nobody will arrest him when people are starting to arrest him and his people for every infraction to try and get money and stuff and he is a complete disastrous fool we're going to go after him very hard today to express a point we're going to take out tons of his people it is gonna be a hellacious day for him and it's gonna start very soon. We do have some announcements.

- There are several things that are wrong with how John Remaard is treated by the people here in the government they are ignoring criminal acts in his committee and it is in essence condoning the behavior and they think that we're having a hard time with it and they're deciding today we heard in a meeting that they're stupid and they're the ones having a hard time and they found his son backpedaling on things he was saying in meetings because he was telling people to go screw out loud is saying we don't need you and we don't need you and they are not his people but they are people that they've worked together with for a long time on a lot of projects right now they're getting ready to kick them out of the government of Florida and Charlotte County especially with this general election coming up in the month of August most positions in the county are coming up in August believe it or not and it helps pave the way for the presidential election instead of it hitting all at once the person who is popular starts to take over before election process is complete and that means that the presidential election comes second after a lot of positions are filled by the party that is taking over and that's been going on for years as John Remallard is exiting and also BJA is leaving and they leave behind a legacy of evil they are not known as nice people they are known as destructive miscreants who are terrorizing the populist wherever they are and whichever populace is there they're not discriminating and that is going on right now this month and it has started in Charlotte County with several positions that are going to become a vacant daily I don't know and that means that the people who are in there now are going to be vacating their job and they say that they will see how the vote goes and that they are threatening not to allow anybody to do the work and you don't really know how that works if they're not in the office and yeah that's their idea so we have that coming up and truthfully they have been making arrests already based on preliminary information about this type of activity and it is an illegal practice and it is frowned upon and they are getting arrested already and they have a tendency to hide it and it's probably wrong right now there are several individuals who are being arrested and apprehended for this particular behavior very soon they will be asked to leave this county and not return and John Remallard is on the list it's one of his aliases and it is beginning already because it is August there are three positions that they are vacating today there is a procedure where a new person takes over and they will probably not do it that way what they're going to do is have temporary people fill in and John Reman Lard said it already about Charlotte County with his temporary part time teacher and it's not gonna go well for these people

Thor Freya

Olympus

we are so sick of you stupid people here you dont knw

macs

adn we are too

mac daddy

us too

michael tew

little babies dont know any mwath and lose tons of stuff an nukes and territory, isnt that enough, nope. so they lose positions here anso what they say

Zues Hera

we come in look at them h ere

mac daddy

good us too we do

macs

us too we shall

thor Freya

Olympus all of us

[rjalker]

why do y’all US americans act like not voting means nobody will get elected?? are you stupid?? i understand the concern for palestine, but there is no political party that is willing to help stop that. so instead of voting democrat and maybe protecting the rights of poc, abortion rights, and the rights of lgbtq people, you’re happy to not vote and let a fucking republican who’s also happy watching palestine be destroyed but very much wants to destroy the rights of people in the US as well. can’t believe you’ve got the privilege of living in a democracy but you’re too fucking stupid to vote for your leader anyway.

Lol

[ID: A black and white illustration of Pinoccio and a fish being lifted into the air in a swirl of water, with Pinocchio pointing a thumb over his shoulder, with a speech bubble added so he says, "Get a load of this, fish!". End ID.]

[taiwantalk]

I boldly predict that biden will win the re-election just like William lai who won his first presidential election.

The reason is very simple and not at all debatable.

Biden is an incumbent who has been attacked in the worst ways possible on his records and his look, his age, his mannerism by both sides and even his usual left wing moderate supporters who genuinely believe in foxnews propaganda are casting criticism about biden’s weak debate.

Lol, seriously. When have any of you ever seen such a weak supporter stomach? Like they echo precisely the bs from the right without refuting much but sounding agreeable.

But we know they won’t vote for trump. Biden’s supporters just gotta quit taking age and mannerism as real grownup reason to refute with the right.

It’s pure juvenile tease and the left wings are falling for it. It’s really no different than say mean things like vote for trump because biden is ugly and acts stupid.

The right wing did the same thing to William lai in Taiwan. The media in Taiwan did nothing but attacking William lai and played up how popular his opponents are. And in the end, his opponents were not even close.

Left wings need to remember that trump is a sore loser who went around demanding people to believe his biggest inauguration turnout.

Trump is a sore loser whose only argument is that he is 3 years younger than biden and can repeatly taunt faster and will not get tired sounding like a petulant child and is universally recognized as great election debate technique.

Really. Trump’s debate boils down to “you suck. Na na na na na you suck.”

Btw, there can only be one reason for trump to never relent on age attacks on biden - it’s to play up the fear that Kamala Harris will likely be a potus in the next 4 years.

That’s all. There’s potus and there’s vpotus. We have no reason worry about potus age.

Ask Roosevelt, ask Kennedy, ask Nixon, ask Reagan, ask trump. When trump caught covid19 was anyone really worried that he could die like so many others? No! Nobody gave a shit about how sick trump might be and whether he was strong enough because people are dying in the country while trump got the best care.

[little-grey-dowitcher]

I honestly cannot fully express the extent of my frustration and exhaustion with these “left-wing” political commentators who are basing their unyielding, undying support for Joe Biden solely on the economy.

It’s mostly millennial and Gen X commentators doing this with the occasional boomer, at least from what I’ve seen, but they’re always saying some shit like “these younger voters not supporting Biden just don’t understand how great the economy is under him” and like no, younger voters not supporting Biden understand better than anyone that he’s a career politician who is just trying to appeal to as many people as possible and improving the economy is an easy way to do that. We also understand better than anyone that he’s not actually as left-wing as he makes himself out to be, he’s a moderate centrist in a leftist trench coat offering empty promises of change and progress to passersby on the corner.

I’ve even seen commentators I used to kinda respect outright bash younger voters like myself and write us off as naive while in the same breath trying to use how great the economy is to justify glossing over Biden’s refusal to stand against Israel and blatantly ignoring the fact that that’s exactly what every career politician ever would want you to do. They don’t want you to push back against them and refuse to vote for them when they do abhorrent and inexcusable bullshit, they want you to stay complicit and vote for them regardless because “Look! The funny money numbers went up when he was president! That must mean he’s doing good things only/it’s ok to ignore any bad things he did!”

Is the economy improving a good thing? Yes, absolutely, especially since we are still feeling the effects from the height of the ongoing pandemic. But the economy is one of the few things both parties can agree and work together on, so it generally tends to improve in some way, shape, or form no matter which party holds the presidency, as long as Congress doesn’t do something stupid. And to this point, I do think that Biden has been somewhat held back by Congress in terms of what policies he’s able to push for, since they hold a Republican majority and here lately they vote almost exclusively on party lines, making it difficult to get anything the conservatives don’t like passed. But it’s undeniable that Biden has rightfully lost a good portion of his voter base over his refusal to condemn the genocide of Palestinians and nobody should be making excuses for that, especially not if their goal is to get those voters back.

If these “left-wing” commentators really want to win over young voters who are disgusted by Biden’s support of Israel, maybe they should, oh I don’t know, stop alienating those young voters further by treating them like they’re ignorant and naive? Help to further pressure Biden into doing the right thing by using their massive platforms to condemn him? Stop acting like the economy is the end all be all for why anyone would want to elect someone as president? Because idk about you guys but I personally care more about the lives of millions of people than the fucking stock market, and am not going to be more inclined to vote for someone when all of his supporters tell me I’m being dumb and selfish for not voting for a guy simply because he made slight improvements to the GDP, and also the other guy he’s running against is a literal fascist dictator. I’ll instead be inclined to vote for a guy who listens when his approval rating drops to the second-lowest of any president in history because his voter base is saying “hey dude we don’t approve of your complicity in genocide” and decides to act accordingly in order to get those voters back.

[anthonybialy]

Ilhan Omar (D, Somalia-1)

One person said something.  As a hint, it’s the same one who said some people did something.  Staying vague in Ilhan Omar’s honor is for her benefit, as the details of an appalling speech even for her where she declares "The US government will do what we want, nothing else. They must follow our orders. That is how we safeguard the interest of Somalia" do not precisely help make the case that she’s on our team.  Her own words merely seem to sound like an outrageous description.  The only bigger Somalia fan than Omar is Eric Cartman.  And even he came to realize piracy’s downsides.  

I wish good luck to Omar’s apologists who claimed her shrugging away September 11 was out of context.  Unlike her real declaration of allegiance to a primitive villainy hive, I don’t mean that.  The same obtuse defenders of horrific sentiments have a new project since they can’t admit a Democrat hates America any more than they can acknowledge inflation means money is worth less.

The NFL has 31 American franchises plus the Vikings in Somalia.  Roger Goodell’s dream of an international league has been achieved.  New Mogadishu’s congresswoman embodies Minnesota not nice.  By sheer chance, an active foe of her adopted country represents a city torched in the name of racial justice.  Everyone’s equally miserable now.

If Omar is going to betray America, it should be for someplace better than Somalia.  You don’t have to remain loyal to the place you left, which is supposed to be the whole point.  Foreign agents should enjoy a rewarding character arc by realizing the new locale is better than the homeland.

The worst Minnesota politician since Jesse Ventura got to flee a country the Third World is relieved exists because it makes them look functional by comparison.  With Jerry Springer gone to the eternal talk show, it’s tougher to find examples of life at its worst to make everyone else feel better about their own relatively mild dysfunctions.

Holding such preposterous ideals that nobody accepts they’re real isn’t the worst Democratic strategy.  A conservative would be called a deranged xenophobic Islamophobe for claiming Omar said what she actually did.  Those paranoid right-wingers outrageously maintain she’s working on Somalia’s behalf.  Meanwhile, she announced it.  Nothing makes her sound like a terror fan like the transcript.  Lunacy is classified as accurately describing what liberals believe.  Worst of all, it’s labeled as such by them.

A failed decent human also sucks as a spy.  The bad American and person is engaged in outright infiltration.  Admitting such is not clever, but neither is she.  Exploiting legal protections in the nation she loathes is the closest the Squad member gets to canny.

The bigger problem than Omar’s unhinged contempt is how many apparently share it.  There are a disturbing number of voters who know she’s on Somalia’s side and keep electing her.  There’s nobody to blame when voters decide who represents them.

Omar offers sad proof that Democrats will vote for anyone of the same party.  An orphanage arsonist could get a blue-colored piece of the pie chart for claiming to be pro-choice.  The wholesale subverter in question serves the interests of a more specific and unnerving bloc.  Apparently, enough fellow Somali immigrants didn’t want to really escape, either.  Minnesotans in name only still haven’t realized you can vote for someone of a different background who thinks the warlord mentality is not one to lug to a new home.

Aspiring Americans are supposed to move here for all that opportunity jazz.  But Omar doesn’t respect the Statue of Liberty poem or anything else.  Exploiting a republic’s liberties comes naturally to those acting like they’re living in the deepest of hellholes.  The Somali saboteur’s commitment to make everywhere as miserable is the only option aside from spreading improvement, and free markets just increase icky prosperity and comfort.

Like with carnage inflicted on Omar’s personal Christmas of September 11, there’s no repairing what’s happened.  It will always have been shameful that a backer of America’s most despicable adversaries served in its Congress.  She’s even worse than typical Democrats.  Sure, the person who cheered during rather inappropriate parts of Black Hawk Down believes success is an exploitative sin to be punished, but her desire to lesson America’s stature is relatively unabashed.  Her biggest sin to Democrats is honesty.  You’re not supposed to tell anyone you want socialized medicine and the power to silence misgenderers, either.

As for the genuinely naïve, Kumbaya liberals should join Johnny Ramone conservatives in condemnation of an assailant sympathizer who discredits their belief that people all over the world are as tolerantly cool as they are.  Those who profess that Muslims are not terror-supporting medieval enemies of civilization should despise her for pushing terrible stereotypes.  There’s still a chance to be the first good Islamic woman elected to Congress.  Rashida Tlaib certainly doesn’t count.

Fulfilling the description of treason is the first helpful thing Omar has ever done.  Her repulsive pledge is inadvertently helpful, and I’ll never deploy the courtesy of thanking her.

Eject Omar like she thinks bouncers won’t.  The congressional hijacker is daring those who are nobler than her to display enough nerve to call her bluff.  As with moving to a country she loathes and marrying a sibling, she thinks she can get away with it.  In an era where criminals enabled by Democrats grow evermore brazen in committing felonies, standing up to dastardly behavior is as thankless as it is crucial.

Expelling an American opponent from America’s Congress would actually aid her party.  The only thing worse for Democrats would be leaving the United Somalian representative in place to continue representing a land that’s both faraway in miles and progress.  It’s not regrettable enough that Joe Biden and AOC serve as their spokespeople.  Sharing an ideology with such kindly intellectual heavyweights provides all needed evidence.

Adherents of a rather silly philosophy could change their views, but that seems like a giant hassle.  It’s much easer to keep calling everyone who correctly notices there’s a traitor in the legislature racist.  We’re just trying to help.  Telling Ilhan Omar to go back to where she came from isn’t intolerant: it’s for her comfort.

[mozoloonline]

Will the EFF expose Ramaphosa’s lack of courage?

You’ve got to hand it to the Economic Freedom Fighters (EFF); they know how to enlarge their stature working with precious little. They’ve got many an unemployed person, who can somehow afford South African data, propping them up on Twitter. They’ve got many a news outlet engaged in their planned protest action. They’ve even slyly chosen a day between a weekend and a public holiday… a Monday no less… when nobody bothers anyway. Then they set the narrative – if there’s violence, it’s not their fault because they warned people to stay closed. If there’s looting, it’s not their fault either. After that, they get their acolytes to make false, yet believable, equivalencies to previous protest action. And thus the stage is set for the Fighters to do whatever they want, at any expense, and still come off looking like the good guys. They’ve really nailed the insecure kid doing stupid antics for attention on the playground so they get other unpopular kids to befriend them bit. ALSO READ: ‘Let’s avoid unnecessary conflict’: Mbeki calls on EFF to protest peacefully during national shutdown In cases like this, one must look at the popular kids too and reflect on what they’ve done to the less popular ones to make them act that way. Were they bullies? Were they better at sports? Did their parents fund the new school astroturf? The EFF and its supporters have a number of justified and shared concerns about the country. While they’ll have you believe that this alone justifies whatever action they’re condoning, the logic doesn’t quite work out. I mean, you can love Jesus all you like but “Snorting Coke for Christ” wouldn’t be the best Christian manner of worship. You can hate Ramaphosa all you like but forcing a democratically elected president out by protest action isn’t the best form of democracy… not that they’re really that keen on democracy anyway. And that’s why el presidente’s comment that the only way to get him out is through a vote, is a great stand on his part. It’s just that, like we’ve come to realise, he’s rather good at taking verbal stands but is found to be lacking when he actually has to pick up the phone and do something. It’s exactly this that the EFF love playing on. It’s why they’ll cause a ruckus in Parliament and get thrown out and then narrate it in such a way that they were victimised even though I have no doubt that a President Malema would have far more security and act in pretty much the same way. We know there’s a reluctance to call the army on your own people – and we saw this during the riots in KwaZulu-Natal. The EFF knows it too, so even if they act in a manner that requires some ass-kicking on Cupcake’s part, he’d be reluctant to so much as lift a knee. And yes, I know it’s presumptuous to think that a justified protest will lead to violence but the EFF hasn’t exactly done much now nor historically to curtail such presumptions. The narrative set up is also incredibly bossy. If I don’t elect to take part in your action, it’s my fault that my shop will be looted? That your cause and your method is justified to the extent that everybody should be partaking is not only arrogant but itself, pretty presumptuous. It’s also a story so common that Athol Fugard turned it into a play back in 1989. ALSO READ: ‘We’re not barbarians, but we’ll be militant,’ says Vavi on Monday’s national shutdown What the EFF may give us on Monday is the perfect opportunity for the president to show that he cares about law and order or that he cares more about his image. If it turns violent, will he do anything? What they’re certainly giving us is something far more reflective; what if the protest doesn’t turn violent? Will we all shame ourselves for making the presumptions that it would be? Will we take the EFF more seriously if the national shutdown is well attended and peacefully executed? Will we be willing to take bets on that now? Surely, Julius Malema isn’t that arrogant that he thinks his side will win a turf war against the ANC. They still have huge numbers so he has little incentive to get violent, but believing you can control a bunch of angry and abused South Africans is arrogant itself. Monday will be interesting any way it unfolds, but how the president reacts is going to tell us a lot about the man that is supposed to be leading us. Read the full article

[qqueenofhades]

took some time to rewatch some of the footage from Jan 6th and it gets me how we really were just one step away from the cliff edge

I mean.... yeah. We all knew it was bad at the time (I was texting with some friends on the morning of January 6, since we were braced for some kind of batfuckery to go down after Josh Hawlin' Ass announced his intention to object to the results in the Senate), and then it was just like... wait a second people have broken into the Capitol, what in the hell is going on, isn't there security, what is this, what the fuck. It was an anxious wait to see what the fuck was going to happen and/or if the police were going to get the rioters out of there, but I definitely didn't fully understand the gravity of what had gone on, even though we were all aware that an armed attack on the US Capitol in the name of overturning a lawful presidential election was a) very bad, and b) unprecedented in American history. I stayed up late that night to be sure that they would bring Congress back and certify the results, which they did, but also: Jesus Christ.

Everything that we've learned since has confirmed that this WAS a deadly serious attempted coup, and that while it failed, it was not due to lack of planning or effort on the bad guys' part. Trump was openly asking the DOJ and DHS and other high-level defense and security officials to do crazily illegal shit, declare martial law, seize voting machines, order a re-run of the election, etc etc. If they had just done what the president asked them, Jesus Christ knows where that would have taken us, and they get away with this shit because it has never happened before and nobody knows what to do, so they just decide to accept it since it's easier than fighting. Fortunately, some people, even otherwise openly terrible ones a la Bill Barr, told Trump to his face that this was insane treason and they weren't doing it. The Republican Party has been busy trying to remedy that fact by installing mindlessly loyal, Big Lie-believing toadies at every level of the state and federal apparatus, so that the next time a losing Republican candidate asks them to overturn an election, THEY WILL DO THAT. That is a deeply fucking terrifying fact: we had to rely on the personal choice of terrible people to decide that treason was a bridge too far, and say no. Next time, we do NOT have that certainty. As I have said before, our institutions are not designed to automatically counteract an endlessly malicious, evil, stupid wannabe fascist like Trump. They ultimately did hold, but they were stretched to the breaking point, and the GOP has been busily trying to break them the rest of the way ever since.

There are some signs that this message may be getting through, as a recent poll listed "threats to democracy" as the top issue motivating people to vote in the midterms. There has also been major movement toward Democrats on the generic Congressional ballot and overperformance for Democrats in otherwise strongly-Republican states and districts (the Kansas abortion referendum and special House elections in Nebraska and a red district of Minnesota). That is because, as I have said and keep saying, the Republicans are simply too dangerous to be allowed to hold any kind of power again, since they've gone around the crazy bend and then some. Trump's coup failed, but I've seen a lot of people acting like "lol he's so stupid of course it was gonna fail it was never a serious threat." JESUS CHRIST, NO! IT WAS A VERY SERIOUS THREAT AND THE ONLY REASON IT FAILED WAS DUE TO DUMB LUCK! Like, if Officer Eugene Goodman of the Capitol Police hadn't led the insurrectionists away from the open door into the Congress chamber, THEY LITERALLY WERE PLANNING ON MURDERING NANCY PELOSI AND MIKE PENCE. They have said this in their plea filings and their court appearances. They have straight-up admitted that their plan was to decapitate the government and install Trump as dictator. Jesus.

When the Jan. 6 committee publishes their full and formal report, I encourage every American to read it as a matter of basic patriotic and civic duty. Especially if you haven't been paying attention, you are still buying into the "both sides are bad" rhetoric, or anything else. Because this happened, it is still happening, and may yet happen for real if people get complacent and decide that it is over. So. Yes.