#political bs sorry

[lucysweatslove]

I got my new car today!!! I haven’t actually driven it yet. Because new things are scary for me and it takes me a little while to get used to something like driving a new car, I wanted to drive it around my parents’ a little before going in a busy road. Rob said it has “responsive break” and i wanna get that “feel” down before I’m in heavy traffic. I like it though and am very grateful and excited!!

Being at my parents’ hasn’t been too triggering this time around. Usually there are some kind of comments about my body or what I’m eating, but we have such a short turn around this year that thankfully it hasn’t been too bad…

Did have to listen to my mom talk about this guy who has multiple myeloma (my mom has a precursor to MM) and apparently is in “full remission” using an antiviral but it came back because he got the covid vaccine…. Tried to explain why that’s probably not true actually but you know… I think she just desperately wants there to be simple/easier answers to the cancer she might develop, which I get, but I also feel like this is how misinformation takes roots.

(We don’t have a perfect system here in the US by far, but we aren’t lagging behind in the cancer treatment realm…. If antivirals worked to cure MM, there would be research on it… and people would do it… contrary to popular belief, Big Pharma isn’t pushing ineffective expensive drugs to steal your money and keep you sick…drugs are ridiculously expensive, but it’s not malicious… insurance companies are far more malicious for refusing coverage than the pharma companies imo)

Also listening to some people talk about pot shop workers (specifically managerial roles) not deserving to be paid a certain amount, all the gender critical bs, like yall, I don’t like government regulations in general and I have my views on how we attempt legislating morality and why it doesn’t work, but like…… when you use that argument to justify why people who “don’t have any education and just know drugs” (not a real quote just a paraphase) don’t deserve to be paid a certain amount, AND you don’t use it to say that like, gov shouldn’t restrict access to health care like abortions and gender affirming care… that’s not “government shouldn’t legislate morality,” that’s “government should legislate the morality I agree with” which is… the same thing you’re complaining about the “other side” doing.

Especially the gender stuff. It takes very little actual energy to use somebody’s preferred, correct pronouns. Affirming care literally saves lives. When you spend a lot of energy and time lobbying against these things, it really just tells me how uncomfortable you are with the idea that somebody could have a different life experience than you. The only person who should be spending that much time and energy caring about those things… should be the person themselves. Partners or family ofc should care too, but in a “how do we support this person so they can live a fulfilling life” way, not in a “i can’t handle anybody having a different lived experience than me” kind of way.

And also if you’re gonna complain about federal spending and budgets, can you at least acknowledge the ridiculous defense budget? Even if your viewpoint is “I don’t know how we can realistically and safely scale that back,” just like… recognize how little the government actually spends on programs like VA health care in relation to the massive defense budget. We rank third in the world for per capita military spending… I’m not saying you need answers on how to solve anything, but if you’re gonna criticize the drops in the bucket, acknowledging that they are in fact drops in the bucket comparatively would be nice.

[ifellintothestyx]

The funny thing about JC defenders is that they always try to argue that JC refusing to cover the Wens and side with WWX was the correct political move. In the short term, perhaps, but in the long term, that was proven wrong in the books themselves.

(It's even funnier thinking that correct political moves exist in a bullshit political system that blatantly serves only the gentry, is held together by hearsay and rumors, and has no actual system of laws that can serve as a basis to accuse, judge, or punish someone.)

So how was JC's refusal to side with WWX and the Wens considered the "correct political move"? Reasons include that the Jiang sect was still recovering from the war, that going against the Jins would result in another war that would end in major losses on the Jiang sect's side, and that the Wens weren't and shouldn't have been a priority for JC at all.

Let's clear a few things up. The Jiang clan was not the only clan recovering, so were the Nies and the Lans. In the aftermath of the war, it's not explicitly stated how well the other sects were doing, so we couldn't really tell if the Jiangs were worse off than the other three. It could be noted, however, that the Jins retained much of their wealth and influence, so much so that Jin Guangyao was able to take the position of Chief Cultivator with little to no opposition. The main point, though, is that at that moment in the aftermath of the war, we could not easily assume the Jiangs were the worst off, as the other three sects also lost many disciples in the war, and we didn't really know how much the other sects recovered.

For the second reason, if a major war somehow did happen again, this time Jiangs vs everyone else, everyone else would lose. WWX's presence single-handedly helped them win the war against the Wens. A war between the Jiangs and the jianghu would be based on numbers, which reflects the war between the Wens and the jianghu. The Wens had more disciples, and no matter how many LWJs or NMJs you got up your sleeve, numbers make a big difference in war. That's why WWX's skills were a critical part in winning: he is a one-man army of thousands. He could easily make up for the gap in numbers. That's why the Jins kept trying to get rid of him—they were nervous about so much power belonging to only one faction: the Jiangs. JGS couldn't exactly claim his desired role as Chief Cultivator if a younger, smarter, and more powerful individual was still around to keep him in check.

Finally, we get to the part of why I'm making this long-ass post on a caffeine-driven rage. See, the point of trying to stop a powerful faction from committing atrocities is to stop them from thinking they can do it whenever they like. The Jins were given a pass to do whatever the hell they wanted to a small, outcasted faction (the Wens), and they proceeded to take that pass as a pass for everything else. Nobody stopped them from torturing the Wens, so what's stopping them from allowing a mass murderer like XY to run wild in an attempt to create their own WWX? Definitely not NMJ, hahaha, because, y'know, the hypocrites in the gentry have already decided that whatever the Jins do is alright so long as it's not their problem. An exterminated clan isn't their priority. So, what was stopping XY from going out and doing it again to SL's sect? Absolutely nothing! Because the Jins could cover it up and no one could say a word despite how suspicious it was, because hey, remember what happened to the last guy that spoke up against the Jins?

Calling out the Jins on their crimes against the Wens, who were elderly and children save for WQ and WN (who JC owed his damn life and core to), would have created a precedent of not allowing massive crimes to slide under the radar. But because the opposite happened, because nobody fucking realized that apathy and selfishness don't fucking help in the long run, two sects were exterminated because JGS and JGY were basically given an "okay, fine, just keep that bullshit away from us". That's not actual justice. That's not "morally grey". Allowing people in power to trample over others just because it doesn't affect you personally is not sustainable, because what happens when it's you they've decided to trample over? Are you going to complain? Are you going to look to others for help, when you personally couldn't be bothered to offer your hand to those who suffered? When the reason the people trampling over you gained that power is because you allowed it?

The unopposed killing of WWX and the Wens led to the political climate that allowed the massacres of two sects because the Jins were trying to protect and satisfy their pet project. It led to the murder of NMJ because JGS/JGY wanted to keep people from checking their power. If JC couldn't find it in his heart to be sympathetic to the Wens, fine, but at the very least, he should have considered the potential harm in rolling over and giving a political faction too much power.

[brick-van-dyke]

If there's one thing I've respectively noticed from Zionists and defenders of Israeli war crimes, it's that every source, argument and potential avenue to explore each explanation is riddled with cherry picking, moving the goalposts and mental gymnastics to explain why their conclusions, which typically are barely even related to the sources they use, somehow overshadow literal reality and what we see with our own eyes.

While scrolling, one example I came across was the repetitive misrepresentation of BLM, antifa and quotes from Martin Luther King Jr, as well as statistics, scholarly journal articles and government website information. These are all good sources, yet every single time they're mangled completely until the only possible "interpretation" of any of them is "well Israel is right to defend itself after shorting rockets beforehand because the retaliation was brutal and all Arabs are bad by default therefore". As if any of these sources are even about individual exceptions of Israel versus hatred towards Arabs.

I think what I find most absurd, as someone in the middle of their own studies, is how every bit of critical thinking and logic goes out the window as they do every single thing possible to do what professors worldwide say NOT to do when evaluating sources. It's like watching a race to see who can tangle and misconstrue scientific information to fit their world view the fastest. Then said people say "um actually I studied at university before so it's actually not wrong that I'm doing this exact this everyone is warned not to do because I have a permit". Ignorance I can forgive, but willful and arrogant manipulation? That's another thing entirely.

[nodirectionhome-ao3]

Elon Musk and Vivek Ramaswamy in the cabinet ahahahahahahahahahhahaha I am going to walk into the ocean!!!!

[werewolf-cuddles]

Fucking hell, ANOTHER assassination attempt against Trump? At least nobody died this time...

[m1ckeyb3rry]

i wish you guys could see the notion page i’m making for the icoamd rewrite because i’m actually being serious about the world building this time and it’s getting a little crazy

[baka-monarch]

I hate how in America it's like-

The only way to get this well paying job is to have this education

The only way to get this education is to pay thousands of dollars

If you don't have the money you can't get the education or the job

With minimum wage job your paid x amount of money

It's not enough for a house

It's not enough for bills/taxes

It's not enough for medical help

It's not enough for a steady supply of healthy food

So you need a well paying job

To get that job you need to pay for the education

You can't but you can pay it back in debt

Then after you get your well paying job (if you even make it out of college) you pay back college and end up with a little more than what you were making before

Even then, most jobs still aren't enough for a house unless it's something that pays you thousands of dollars a shift

The only way to have enough money to afford the basic human needs to survive would be to combine wages with one or more people and probably live with them

Let's say you end up doing that through marriage and you have a kid

Now the government wants you to pay extra for your kid, instead of just paying more for food and clothes and such for them, there are bills for having a dependent on the house

So then a large percentage of you and your partner's wage is spent not keeping the kid alive but to the government for keeping a kid- and that's only one kid, imagine having multiple

And so you kinda end up back at square one, budgeting and saving and hoping you have enough money to make it through the month

And that's the middle class

The middle class

The only way to live comfortably in America is being part of the high class (I don't think that's the right name but whatever) or being Upper middle class and even then that just means you don't have to worry about having all the money for bills by the end of the month, when it comes to recreational stuff well either you don't have the money or you're going to have to save up for it

This is- I can't be the only one who thinks this is all a bunch of bullshit! Like- why are we literally paying to stay alive!? Why do we have to work the longest shift possible just to make sure we have money to keep our home and have food

Yeah there's countries that have it worse but like- America is supposed to be a wealthy country but the people here are also being exploited because for some reason the minimum wage is lower than the living wage and it's almost impossible to get a good paying job because practically no one can afford college and no one is going to hire you without a degree apart from someone who's going to work you as much as possible and pay you as little as they can

It's bullshit!

[firedragon1321]

I saw this post from the orange cheeto man and it was missing a sitcom laugh track. So here we are.

[hazelcephalopod]

Ok so to be clear. Things the government of Texas has spent the last year doing: attacking trans children, their families, and queer people in general.

Things the government of Texas has not spent the last year doing: sufficiently maintaining and improving their power grid and ensuring it will not fail due to the weather. OR IDK, accept climate change is real and they need to move to less damaging energy sources to prevent worse weather in the future and make a plan to deal with that.

[genericpuff]

k first of all , 5 years is a good start but let's absolutely make it more LMAO like holy crap I don't usually get political on this blog (for good reason, it's just a fandom blog) but man, if THIS is what it takes Musk and Rowling to shut the fuck up, I'm all here for it.

Second of all, I was really hoping this would be the case because - I AM NOT A LAWYER - I feel like there's an even bigger case that could be made in Imane's favor as an Olympian representing Algeria.

Like, y'all... Imane isn't just some random woman. The Olympics aren't just about sports and entertainment. The whole essence of the modern Olympics is meant to be a celebration of exceptional athletes and their cultures and countries around the world, coming together to participate in friendly competition. It's also an opportunity for these countries to make a shitload of money from a massively profitable event.

Outside of the money, though, even just qualifying for the Olympics - before you factor in any potential medals to win - is an extremely high honor that is taken very seriously by both the athletes, their coaches, and their respective governments of the countries where they hail from, and much of this DOES come down to politics. This sort of means that the athletes sent in to compete aren't just random people who are REALLY GOOD at their respective sport, but COULD be argued and defended as diplomats representing an entire country and its culture.

This is all with the hope that these athletes will put on a good show, represent the best of what their country has to offer, and - if all goes well - bring home proof of that representation in the form of a medal, which many athletes are additionally rewarded for by their countries when they return home.

Imane Khelif isn't just some 'random' woman who's good at boxing, she's an Olympian athlete recognized by the IOC as such and sent to the Olympics to represent Algeria as both a country and a political entity.

J.K. Rowling and Musk aren't just 'random' chronically online Internet randos punching at the air on Twitter. They are two globally-recognized chronically online billionaires who use their wealth to fund and propel their own political platforms and control shares of their respective industries.

And they used that power to create hate mobs rooted in blatant misinformation and bigotry-motivated delusion to specifically target an Olympic competitor who would go on to win gold for her country.

I'm not a lawyer, but this feels like something that should go far beyond a personal case of defamation and cyberbullying and into a case of deliberate abuse of political power towards a political entity.

I know Rowling and Musk will each pull their own cartoon villain stunts to keep themselves out of jail, but I am PRAYING that this kills two birds with one stone, not just out of wanting to see justice for Khelif, but to send a message that billionaires like Rowling and Musk are not above the law and should not be exempt from the consequences of their actions simply because they are billionaires.

MANIFEST

MANIFEST

[deep-spacediver577]

I promised not to get political but everyone being in a funk makes it hard not to say anything...

Let me just say that moving is the worst mistake you can make if you're American (unless you are not born there I guess), I know you're not happy but dwelling and moping ain't gonna fix nor change life, as humans we adapted and improvise day to day.

But I'm serious! Moving can be more trouble than it's worth, Most of my family lives in Canada and let's just say housing there is terrible (unless you're filthy rich) not to mention everything is way more expensive like basic essentials. There is also health care which is "free" at a cost of waiting 7 to 16 hours in the ER just to be told off In some cases, not to mention getting a doctor is a chore and a half. And I'm not gonna even go on about wages...

I also might add that the moron who is in charge has been going strong for 8 years and can keep on running despite most of the population's hate for him. This mofo could stay for 20 years if he had his way, and voting does sh!t if you live on the western side of Canada. To put simply my Family what's him out, and moving to another country is something they can't nor want to do despite his rule.

Listen at the end of the day idiots run the world but leaving one situation/country over another won't help (unless you're in immediate danger), just trust me on that.

[butchwink]

hello liesel yes liesel this is me doing stalin dracula voice please liesel i vant to vatch cowboy movies vith you again. remember lord of the rings? throw the cowboy hat in the fire woody!! fuck you buzz lightyear!! remember this lucky luke? let me explain to you why this lucky luke guy is so lucky. you see his mother was stronger with the force. they let her play with guns and swords once and the revolution kept going from there. but they never gave her a blood test they just gave her a boyfriend who overpasses yoda on the epic blood score and a plot to follow. an ego and an id, it seems. compulsory heterosexuality with the chosen one is a bitch bc the author choses here. padmes a lesbian. and so is anakin. this sucks for everyone

they all fucked up here. she was just funnier than the guys with the blank contract wanting to trade. she was like fuck you on my planet theres 2 things we hate more than stars and wars. its contractual bullshit and compulsory bullshit and this is both.

no seriously two random aliens are like. dont trust the military parade today. its an invasion and they want to trade. its the trade federation in ottawa in a decade or two. idk the thing is im funny enough to go guns blazing for no reason too. why not thats the whole invitation. alien invasion? surrender the crown of earth? i have more childish bullshit for you even at 29 im not a lawyer. and THESE NEGOTIATIONS CANNOT TAKE PLACE

[cuntrytaylor]

hm.

[beardedhandstoadshark]

Have you ever miss social distancing?

Rarely, sometimes. Mostly when it’s super crowded/you’re forced to stay in a line for a long time. The sudden rise in online availability of services and institutions was nice though and I‘m glad it stuck in some places (especially as someone dependent on the -pun half intended- utter train wreck that is the DB train system lmao)

[netflixofficial]

Thoroughly convinced that I've completed twelve hours worth of work in the past 45 minutes. Don't ask me how but I think I should get to leave work now.

[thevikingwoman]

along with millions of people already don't vote, what's the campaign going to do after the election? If Trump wins, he'll do his best to position conservatives in positions that extends far beyond the presidential office, (even though he'd also try to keep his power there as much as possible). Dismantling environmental agencies, protections from minorities, installing judges, expanding executive power... and much more. Not to sound all doom and gloom, but I'm pretty doom and gloom about it. Things that Republicans in the US are very very good at are

getting their core voters to vote

makeing sure voting is complicated to keep democratic leaning voters off

making sure minor offices and positions are filled with conservatives (note: two county judge positions in my my county are running unopposed. they're technically non-partisan, but US does a lot of legislation through the courts so..)

on top of this, Trump is even more keen on expanding his own personal power and filling every position he can with his family and sycophants.

and once he is in power, it's done. the Democrats could change their policy to "earn" your vote, but will it matter?

the presidential election is not where you change and question the system. Ask questions of your local politicians. Vote for the more progressives on your city council, you school board, whatever. Show your local democrats the pressure to go more progressive. Vote for 3rd party candidates for city and build a viable 3rd party. Not voting in the presidential election tells the campaign nothing.

So there's something I want to say re: intentionally withholding your vote, and I want to do it without coming across as condescending or dismissive.

I've worked as a field organizer in two campaigns, 2010 and 2012, and my job was to help turnout the vote for Democratic candidates up and down the ticket. Technology may have changed, but people are still knocking on doors for specific voters the way they were 12 years ago.

If you say you're not voting/voting 3rd party, the campaign volunteer is supposed to mark that and move on. Their job, in the final month of the election, is to make sure the campaign's supporters have all the information and resources they need to cast a vote.

They aren't collecting data on why you're withholding your vote. They aren't submitting opinion polling results to the campaign. Something like 155 million people voted in the 2020 election, and if you say you're not voting, the campaign is not going to waste a volunteer's time and morale begging you to vote when there are literally millions of other voters to turn out.

Let me repeat that: The campaign does not track why you're not voting. They simply note your vote is not a priority for turnout and move on.

I say this because I see a lot of promotion of non-voting like that's a boycott, when the function is not the same. A boycott is a coordinated mass refusal to engage with an institution—which sounds similar if you see a vote as a good or service to withhold. Unfortunately, it's not.

A vote is a choice you're making as part of a community hiring committee. Your abstention doesn't prevent someone from being hired. It just lowers the threshold for the worst candidate to succeed.

All this to say: In my direct experience as an organizer, abstaining from the vote sends a message. That message is not "You need to try harder to win my vote." It's "Don't waste time on me."