#we can't allow another Trump term

[faircatch]

Trump and his allies plan to infuse "Christian nationalism" into his administration.

[boopshoops]

Heya!

Things are lookin rough right now, huh? But here are a few reminders:

Your blorbo will still be here tomorrow.

You have people who love and care and support you.

Policies and enactments will not all be immediate. Everything will not go to shit all at once.

Things getting harder doesnt mean they're impossible.

It's okay to be upset. It's okay to be scared. It's okay to cry. That does not make you weak.

I know there are some individuals like me who did not feel safe voting due to outside factors, like living with individuals who support trump or being disabled, do not blame yourself. (Excuse me for getting personal, yes I do want to move out. Very badly. Sadly my mental and physical health are not in a space to do so yet).

This is the last term he is allowed in office. After that, I can't help but think about how the more extremist supporters- would they even want to vote? Idk. But it's food for thought. Safe to say the voter turnout for either side was insane compared to previous years, if we keep that stride up, I honestly think and hope the democrats are almost guaranteed the next election. But this is just me blabbing.

Block tags you aren't in the mindset for seeing rn. It's okay, no one is going to villainize you when the election process is giving you a panic attack. If they try, ignore them. This is for you, not them.

We've survived through one term. We can survive through another. I know it feels difficult right now while thinking about things like access to healthcare or prices skyrocketing or job security, but we really have. Things will get better. We will push through.

Here are some ideas that might help with mental health right now:

Eat some of your favorite food

Look up pictures of your favorite animal

Watch some funny or wholesome videos

Go for a walk

Exist. Because sometimes that is enough

Positive affirmations

Schedule an appointment with your therapist if you have one

Drink water. Or dont! Maybe drink a different thing that you like.

Remind yourself that these feelings will pass.

They cannot steal your identity from you. Internally, you know who you are. Even if you're still figuring it out. They can't take your mind. Your thoughts.

To those like me dealing with finals right now. Its okay. Take that break.

I love u /p

[traegorn]

"Actual leftism involves making pragmatic moves" you say?

"Even where there is no prospect of achieving their election the workers must put up their own candidates to preserve their independence, to gauge their own strength and to bring their revolutionary position and party standpoint to public attention. They must not be led astray by the empty phrases of the democrats, who will maintain that the workers’ candidates will split the democratic party and offer the forces of reaction the chance of victory."

-Marx, 1850.

Perhaps gain more than a vibes-based understanding of leftism before speaking on it. PA voter here, voting 3rd party.

Ah, we gotta theory bro here who thinks leftism starts and ends with Marx. Believe it or not, we've learned a few things in the last hundred and seventy five years. When we talk about making pragmatic decisions, we know that incrementalism is the only way progress has been made.

Here's the thing, you can't boycott an election. It's a two party system. EIther Harris or Trump is going to win, and Daddy Revolution ain't coming.

Time to put the book down and take some actions that will make an actual difference, and if Trump gets a second term, we don't be able to do that.

Your vote for a third party will only help put Trump in power, which will set us back another twenty years. There will be two seats up on the supreme court, which would cement the conservative majority. Trump has stated he want to use the US Military to round up his political opposition, and is using Nazi rhetoric about immigrant populations. Trans rights are under attack, and the only thing that's stopped it at the national level is the Republicans not holding the white house. Trump wants to pull aid from Ukraine, which would allow Russia to continue their genocide there.

In 2016 we were fighting for a higher minimum wage, and now we're fighting for basic rights that were destroyed by those four years of Trump.

And, like, the people in Gaza want us to elect Harris, as do other members of that community.

So if you really do claim to care about the things you say you do, you'll do the right thing and vote for Harris.

Because if you have the values you claim you do, I can't think of any reason other than selfish ego why you wouldn't.

[tittyinfinity]

I still can't believe that this election year of all years isn't the deal breaker for a lot of people when it comes to the two-party system.

Not willing at all to organize for another candidate or even protest the fact that many states aren't allowing you to vote for anyone but Biden for the democratic candidate.

You won't even demand that the Democrats put forward a different candidate to vote for? Even though you know that the guy running is a lifelong conservative who only recently put on the liberal sheep's clothing?

Just put your head down and vote for him No Matter What under threat of violence from the other party? No matter who the candidate is? No matter how bad they get, until they come for you? "You'll always have my vote as long as you keep ME safe from the Actually Evil party. Damage control!"

As if telling a political party that they can be as horrible as they want & STILL have your vote is any kind of "damage control." Maybe it's short-term damage control for you. But why would dems be incentivized to give you rights and work for your vote if you tell them that you'll vote for them no matter what policies they have? How will that look years down the line?

Why would they even try to stop republicans if all they have to say is "vote for us because the other party is worse?" Whenever every time something bad happens under a democratic presidency, you say it's not really their fault? How in the hell does that "push the democratic party to the left?" Because I see a lot of "vote for them first, THEN push them to the left!" Well then how the fuck do you expect to do that? Just ask them pretty pretty please? Are you "pushing Biden to the left" right now? How does telling people not to criticize Biden "because it increases the chances of the other guy winning" push him to the left?

Biden is issuing executive orders to send weapons over to Israel but won't do that for Roe v. Wade or trans rights. He's threatening to take away some of our first amendment rights and cut us off from outside information. And if that isn't enough, you know what happened because of the weapons he sent to israel? And how it affects you personally? Look at what happened to Fall and Winter. So much progress towards combating climate change. Lost. The US military is the largest polluter in the world & the military industrial complex will eventually kill us all if we don't stop it.

NOT TO MENTION his fucking track record? If a lifetime of advocating for racist policies that have killed and continue to kill tens of thousands of people doesn't make him as bad as Trump, what does? Trump's shitty 4-year presidency somehow cancels the decades of lives lost to Biden? WHAT? The fuck do you MEAN one of them is the "lesser of two evils"?!?!?!?

It ultimately comes down to "I prefer the violence to be where I can't see it." You're not afraid for the people that the Democrats are currently killing and have been killing while lying to your face about it, you're not afraid for the people who have been watching their family members be blown to bits for months – but you're so terrified of a republican president that you'll put up with tens of thousands of people dying in another country in order to have better domestic policies. Instead of ever fighting for anything different.

"Well then what's your plan?" Are you not embarrassed to admit that you've been actively ignoring every person who's laid out clear options for you? You can't think of anything else yourself other than "vote blue no matter who?" Newsflash, literally anything is better than enabling TWO FASCISTS to run for office.

We stop BOTH of them. Not just one of them. Step the FUCK up.

[swiftiesforkamalaharris]

I've never really gotten the whole abstaining from voting thing tbh. I've grown up in Texas my whole life and I've always worried about what human rights violations my state government will commit next.

Let me tell you all something: living in a republican-led government is hell. It is hell. We have zero worker protections or rights. Our bosses are legally not required to give us breaks unless we're currently breastfeeding. No bathroom breaks, no water breaks, nothing. You could work for fourteen hours straight without a break (ask me how I know.)

LGBTQIA folks live in fear of being killed by rabid nazis. They have no protections whatsoever. Our governor and his gaggle of loons do not see them as people.

Personally as a cis female dating a cis male, I am constantly worried of my birth control failing and possibly having a ectopic pregnancy. Tell me, if that happens, where can I go to get care? Oh right, the closest place is Colorado or New Mexico which would take me like a whole day to get there. (Literally a whole day, I live near Paris, TX)

Everyone telling themselves and others to not vote because Kamala Harris isn't perfect and they'll have their own revolution on their own time is either A) incredibly naive or B) a troll trying to manipulate the masses into not voting and allowing Trump to win a second term.

I'm assuming good faith so I'm going with A for now.

Us folks in Texas are suffering. I don't doubt those in other red states are doing poorly as well. My point is that we can't say we're going to have a leftist revolution and overthrow the Christofacist dictatorship while Project 2025 is in effect.

Another Trump administration would be beyond devastating to us all. Even if you live in the bluest of blue places. Take it from me. Listen to me. Learn from me.

[schraubd]

Yet More Trumpist Humiliation of the ADL

I really don't intend for my post-election coverage to be so ADL-centric. But I can't help but be struck at the degree to which Trump's Jewish and Israel-related decision-making might as well be solely based on how to personally humiliate the ADL, and prompt them into embarrassing and degrading acts of submission and hypocrisy, to the greatest extent possible. For example, Trump's announced pick for UN Ambassador is New York congresswoman Elise Stefanik. One of my basic rules of 2024 political observation was that "one does not, under any circumstances, have to hand it to Elise Stefanik," who defined the term bad-faith grandstanding when it came to her supposed objections to campus antisemitism even as she was directly promoting dangerous antisemitic conspiracy theories on her own.  But alas, the ADL eagerly jumped in with praise for the selection, allowing us to juxtapose this: next to this: Like I said -- just abject, humiliating supplication. It couldn't be more pathetic. Or consider the position of United States Ambassador to Israel. If ever past was prologue, this is it. The first time Donald Trump was elected, he appointed an ambassador to Israel who referred to liberal Jews as "kapos". The ADL maintained a studious silence, a choice which I maintained "sold out" a substantial swath of the Jewish community that it purportedly was tasked to protect. This time around, the nominee is going to be former Arkansas Gov. Mike Huckabee, who has an even more illustrative history with the ADL. You see, back in 2011, the following sequence occurred: Huckabee made spurious and offensive analogies to the Holocaust (comparing it to, of all things, the national debt). The ADL publicly took exception. Huckabee threatened the ADL. The ADL scampered backwards and issued a groveling apology. So here, at least, the ADL already got ahead of schedule, and I look forward to some embarrassingly effusive praise directed towards Huckabee to emerge forthwith. What we saw in 2016, is only going to be worse in 2024. That's true on many levels, but for the ADL in particular it is evidently apparent -- they will sell us out. They will take vulnerable American Jews, who are rightfully terrified about emergent Christian nationalism and White supremacy and violent extremism and, yes, left-wing campus antisemitism too*, and they will leave us to twist. They will do it regularly, and repeatedly, and without hesitation, and for an embarrassingly cheap payoff. * I include this because, by cuddling up to the far-right powers that be, the ADL will necessarily kneecap any ability to effectively fight campus antisemitism, though they certainly will retain the capacity to yell about it. The sorts of tactics which actually might tamp down on and respond to campus antisemitism, versus the sorts of tactics which yield good Fox News ragebait and can justify blowing up the Department of Education, are not compatible with one another, and the ADL is going to lash itself to the latter at the expense of the former. While there still may be utility in what the ADL can do for someone like me on the local level, in terms of a cohesive, national strategy I do not have any more confidence in the ADL's ability to effectively protect me from campus antisemitism than I have confidence in its ability to protect me from conservative antisemitism. via The Debate Link https://ift.tt/VHakqpj

[mybookof-you]

I found the above article to say some important things worth consideration. It is a serious matter, and, while it is fun to post memes, there are some somber issues to think about.

I have hesitated to point out the dangerous plans laid out by Project 2025. There is no direct way to prove Former President Donald Trump is in favor of the plan. The plan has inconsistencies, direct contradictions, and seems like something out of a fictional novel. Surely, it can't be. It is plausible for someone to frame me as a doomsday prophet drudging up fear where it isn't warranted should I make the claim that this is indeed the direction former President Donald Trump plans to carry out.

Yet, we have seen the results of the majority in the Supreme Court, a majority created by the appointments of the Trump Administration, which dismantled freedoms we took for granted. Those freedoms have been defended by Donald Trump as state's rights from what I understand. What it looks like to me is the states have been granted the freedom to trample the rights of its citizens. You know, those rights we so highly value which allow individuals to live as they believe. As has been reported, the rights given to citizens has been so egregiously crippled as to cause people to lose the ability to have control over their own lives. The outcomes, set in play by the former Trump Administration, have taken us backward and seem to support Project 2025 goals.

There are other examples which are worthy of consideration. I don't know the heart of Donald Trump. I don't know why he will state one thing in very clear terms to one audience and, then, turn around and contradict that statement to another audience. He has a bit of explaining to do. Meanwhile, I am permitted not to trust what he says. I need more transparency and more clarity. What does he really stand for? I value the rights of all people, and I do not wish to see any of us hurt by an administration which would seek to diminish those rights.

I appreciate what has echoed through social media recently in that we really need to do our research. No one can tell you how to vote or what to think. How will you know what to think if you do not research, check out opposing opinions, and weigh the facts? We can only do what we are able to do. What a tragedy it would be if I voted for someone without examining information available to me, and that person turned out to oppose everything I believe in. If the President of the United States is allowed to have so much power as to turn the F.B.I. into fodder, restrict anyone or any agency from balancing his power, grant pardons to those who violate laws designed to protect its citizens, etc., I have basically shot myself in my own foot.

Terry Pratchett wrote something to that effect. You know, if you seek to restrict or oppress certain peoples and rights, what makes you think you won't be next? Something more brilliantly said, but you get the idea.

Ask yourself what you really want. Do the research. Vote.

What I say in private is my own business. I don't always mean what I say. Sometimes, I blurt things out in anger or sorrow or pain. Feelings are your own, and they do not define your character. Your actions define who you are, and you always have the opportunity to change if you do not like who you are. That is your business. The first thing I thought when Trump was an "apparent" victim of a second assassination attempt was, "Geez, they keep missing." I don't really want to see him assassinated. That is not a true reflection of how much I value human life. Though, I am sure some of you get the feels.

Sure, you can wonder what people say in private if they are willing to say certain things in public (like Project 2025's website). I don't really care what Donald Trump says in private. I can't speculate about who he really is in his private life or in his heart. I do care about what he says in public, however. What he does in public demonstrates who he is. Maybe he means what he says. Maybe he doesn't. His actions while he was in office show that he means it when he says he believes he can be friends with Putin and Orbán. He may think he can prevent World War III. I don't know, but I am pretty sure I don't want to find out how he plans to ensure that, given his affiliation with authoritarian governments. I don't know about you, but I think that doesn't look good for us, peoples.

I am willing to bet that if you currently support Donald Trump for President, you want certain things to happen that you believe in. Consider the whole picture beyond those hopes. Consider what that means for others and what that might mean in action. It just might not be what you bargained for. Only you can decide. So, I won't preach the end of the world. The world always seems to go on, but, please, I urge you to consider the kind of world you want to live in and how that can be accomplished.

SRS 2024.09.18

#personal #opinion

[thessalian]

Thess vs the Bank Holiday Blues

Currently doing the mental health evaluation and ... well, sometimes you just do everything you possibly can and you're still fucking struggling. Which fucking blows, thank you very much.

I've gone through the checklist. I've eaten. I've hydrated. I slept recently. Technically my "meds for neuropathic pain" are an antidepressant so I can't even say I need meds. As for therapy ... well, been there, done that, developed the coping mechanisms. But mental health-wise? I am struggling to cope at this point.

To be fair, this is largely external factors. This is the realisation that I was very much right about literally nothing changing in this country when we got a Labour government, because now they're saying, "Well, the Tories lied about the massive financial hole they left so we have to scrap all our infrastructure promises, cut the winter fuel allowance, and let the energy companies jack up their prices right at the start of autumn" and it's getting to a point where I wonder if they're just trying to kill the old people so they don't have to pay their state pension.

This is seeing some of the short-sighted bullshit going on in the US in the run-up to their own election. Because I know a whole lot about populist garbage and people making protest votes without thinking about what they're doing, okay? Our general elections here aren't the best example of it, but I have a better one - Brexit. We ended up leaving the EU for a few very simple reasons: a) populist wankers like Johnson and Farage lied through their teeth to win the racist vote; b) some people didn't really want to leave the EU but didn't like how the EU was going about things so voted leave in protest; or c) figured that Leave couldn't actually win and so didn't bother voting. Now, does any of that sound familiar?!? All you have to do is add d) third options that will never win but take the vote away from the sensible choice and you've basically got the US right now. And this country destroyed itself at least partly based on that one stupid badly-planned referendum. The US can't survive another Trump term, I can't actually do anything about the stupids that might allow Trump to take the election, and I have too many people I love in that country to be anything less than terrified. I know that my feelings are valid, I know I can't spend too much emotional energy on something I can't change, but still.

My situation is still not great. It's never going to be, and I know that, just because of circumstance. I guess it's just harder to keep from being depressed about my disability when so much else is weighing me down. I try to keep counting my blessings, because I have a lot of those. Still, no matter how hard you try, some days everything that's wrong seems so big that you're kind of stuck squished. That and probably the Bank Holiday Blues. I mean, I don't work Mondays anyway, but there's a different vibe to the world on Bank Holiday Mondays.

Right. I just need to take my mind off the blues. One of the blessings I can count is that my last therapist was basically the best. She didn't focus on the diagnosis as handed down from the psychs (which was almost definitely a standard "ADHD is often misdiagnosed as BPD in women" thing) and instead looked at my symptoms and my previous coping methods, and helped me hone them into something healthier. Some people would call what I do "avoidance" and "escapism"; I call it "therapeutic hyperfocus". I've done every healthy thing I can to improve my mood, so if the mood's still there, and hyperfocusing on, like, a video game or something keeps me grounded until it blows over, I do that.

Of course, then I have to pick which video game, but I do have a playthrough of BG3 that I am determined to complete, and nothing says "hyperfocus" like "game you've played a few times before but will still hold a couple of surprises because Dice Be Like That". And I deserve some fun after having had to spend most of Saturday in bed because migraine and exhaustion.

[meret118]

Anti-abortion activists took that argument to the Supreme Court last month to drastically restrict access to mifepristone, one of the two pills used in medication abortion, which research has shown has continued to grow in popularity since the FDA allowed them to be prescribed virtually and sent by mail starting in December 2021.

Project 2025, an initiative led by dozens of conservative groups and spearheaded by the Heritage Foundation, repeatedly cited the Comstock Act—by its statute numbers, not by name—throughout “Mandate for Leadership,” its blueprint for Trump’s next term. Given Comstock, it stated, “the Department of Justice in the next conservative administration should therefore announce its intent to enforce federal law against providers and distributors of [abortion] pills.”

Jonathan Mitchell, the conservative lawyer behind the Texas abortion ban, told the New York Times in February, “We don’t need a federal ban when we have Comstock on the books,” cautioning Trump and anti-abortion groups to keep quiet about the Comstock Act until after the election.

-----

It could do a whole lot more than ban abortion. Comstock doesn't just apply to actions. It applies to everything, including information. It can be used to make sex education, queer subjects, porn of any kind (including fan fiction), feminism, contraception, premarital sex, being transgender, same sex acts, books, art, movies, divorce, etc all illegal.

Basically it could be used to make anything they don't like illegal. All they have to do is call something immoral. The law is already in existence. It's never been specifically repealed. It's an enormous landmine that the GOP can't wait to trigger.

[tardistimeladyyeah]

This.

The "both parties are the same" and "I'm not voting" and the "I don't like either so I'm going to vote third party" arguments are all garbage.

Both parties are NOT the same and if you don't see that you need to compare the policies and results that a blue state compared to a red state produces.

In Georgia, people with uteruses are being murdered by their state's abortion law (which was overturned yesterday, but it already killed at least two women, Amber Nicole Thurman and Candi Miller. Both took an abortion pill and experienced complications. Thurman waited for 20 hours to get a procedure before dying. Miller was afraid of the law and what they would do to her, so she didn't seek help (WABE). Both were mothers. https://www.wabe.org/black-health-and-civil-rights-advocates-rally-against-georgia-abortion-ban-after-two-mothers-deaths/

Meanwhile, blue states have been able to implement laws that protect abortion, either in their state constitutions or as a law. Some states like California have even made it to where if a person with a uterus seeks care in their state because they couldn't receive care in their home state that police departments/medical facilities cannot share information with the police departments in that person's home state.

One side is murdering people who have uteruses just because they don't want to carry a pregnancy (or literally can't), and the other is making sure people with uteruses in their state have access to healthcare, in addition to making sure that if people from states that have banned this healthcare cannot be prosecuted for it in their original state of origin.

(It's worth noting that Republicans are saying they won't ban abortion at the federal level or that they won't outlaw birth control at the federal level but I don't believe them. That crap is in Project 2025 and I wouldn't be shocked if it's in Agenda 47, which is Trump's plan for a second term. They said they wouldn't overturn Roe and here we are with people with uteruses dying because Republicans overturned Roe. I. Don't. Believe. Them.)

That's not even the beginning. In my hellscape (er, home state) of Oklahoma, the absolute trash (and worst swiftie of all time) state superintendent has done some horrible things, including but not limited to:

1. The mismanagement of federal funding

2. Refusing to allow certain people (including news media) into PUBLIC meetings

3. Ignoring the state AG about allowing said people into said public meetings (he ordered them to allow them in but I think a news channel eventually filed a lawsuit because it kept happening)

4. Requesting money for classroom bibles for PUBLIC schools

5. Setting the requirements for said bibles to only meet the stupid Trump bibles (y'know, instead of giving teachers raises or buying textbooks that weren't used by Blake Shelton)

6. Doing all that crap I mentioned about the bibles instead of buying things like inhalers for schools (the AG called him out on that. Really wish he could step in and be like "bro what the hell are you doing")

7. Straight up withholding title 1 funding (federal funding for certain schools in lower-income areas)

8. Calling teachers unions terrorism organizations

9. Associating himself with the "Libs of TikTok" idiot

10. Revoking teachers' licenses just because they distributed a QR code to help them access reading material that was "banned" due to a law that is no longer enforceable

11. Threatening to revoke the license of another teacher because of a social media joke made like five years ago BEFORE this guy was the state superintendent

12. Pushing private school vouchers (it's a whole thing. I don'tlike them because 1. studies show there isn't much of a difference between those who go to a private school on a voucher than those who stayed at a public school and 2. Just take the money and reinvest it into fixing the school if you're so upset about the quality of the school).

13. Just being an absolute menace in general. There are legitimately so many things I can't name them all

(Also, the governor likes to refuse federal funding for lunches. Luckily the tribes can accept it, which he probably hates. He's term limited but I don't expect the brainwashed citizens of Oklahoma to vote for someone better)

So, while places like Minnesota (barely controlled by democrats) are focused on improving the lives of students (by providing free meals to all students in the state), places like Oklahoma want to destroy public education and don't see the value in it (there is legitimately so much value in public education that is untapped in America and it sucks)

Another point that Democrats and Republicans drastically disagree on is the LGBTQIA+ community. Republicans have gone on a tirade against people who are LGBTQIA+, especially transgender Americans.

They restrict (or straight up outlaw) care for trans Americans, among other degrading things like making it difficult (or impossible) to change the sex on birth certificates and drivers licenses and other forms of ID. It's insulting to these people who want to be who they really are.

Meanwhile, trans healthcare is being protected in states like Colorado, Minnesota, and California. In those states, trans healthcare is accessible to those who need it.

So, no. Both parties are not the same. That argument doesn't stand very well if you look at the "laboratories of democracy" (or lack thereof) known as state legislatures and states in general.

And yeah. The US is not receptive to what is going on in the middle east right now because they're supporting the wrong side (everyone does deserve a safe place on Earth, Israelis and Palestinians alike. But if the Israelis could not commit war crimes that would be fantastic) but the best thing for everyone is to take a liberalist approach to the situation by working on negotiations for a ceasefire and ensure that both sides get better governments. It's also important to remember that the funding bills that contain aid to Israel come from Congress. The president, while voicing support for Israel, cannot line-item veto anything. This includes spending bills.

If we go back to government class, you may remember that Congress "has the power of the purse," meaning they control where money goes. These bills may contain support for federal agencies and/or funding to support countries like Ukraine. If the president took a Pro-Palestine stance and Congress passed a bill that contained funding for other allies (like Ukraine) who need funding as well. The president cannot do line-item vetoes as mentioned earlier, so they would be in a hard place. What I'm trying to say here is the president doesn't have as much power as a lot of Americans believe. Yes, they do have power, but that power does not include the appropriation of federal funding. Sure, the president can ask Congress to allocate funding in a certain way or request funding for certain purposes, but ultimately Congress has to give the okay before anything can proceed.

That being said, the role of president is still important, especially if one wants to consolidate power to become a dictator who sees people with uteruses as baby makers and sees education as for the rich only and doesn't think that LGBTQIA+ people should exist. The role of president not only carries with it the face of the state (country) they're representing, but they also push important policies and programs and they are supposed to be prepared to defend the country and all of its citizens, regardless of color or sexual orientation, from harm. The entire point of government is to exchange some rights and freedoms for the protection of other (more important) rights and freedoms like bodily autonomy, freedom of speech, and privacy (among other things).

All you do when you don't vote or vote third party is throw your vote in the garbage. You want to see change? You gotta vote. There is a reason you all were protesting outside of the DNC and that is because you know that Democrats are starting to listen to concerns and you know that if they don't right now, they might get there with enough pressure.

Obviously, democrats aren't perfect. However, they are our only hope to defend basic human rights and make America livable again.

if you would rather elect a fascist than a liberal you're not a leftist you're just edgy

[ozma914]

More Presidential Predictions, or: I have a time machine!

 I was very curious to know what the results would be from the upcoming US Presidential election, so I borrowed a car from a friend of mine and went to check it out.

When that baby hit 88 mph, I saw some serious stuff.

First of all, I was surprised to learn of the massive grass-roots write-in campaign that led to the election of "None of the above".

It perhaps comes as no surprised that after a tie vote in the Senate, Senate President Kamala Harris cast the deciding vote to deny the results, her reasoning being that None Of the Above is not a real person. That led to a surprising challenge from California, by a person who, in 2005, did indeed have their name changed legally from Karma Applebutter to None Of the Above.

None--if I can call them that--lost their case after it was discovered they were born to Swedish parents during an airplane trip from London to Dubai to protest climate change. For those of you who haven't read it, that made them Constitutionally unable to run for the highest office. The same held true for their VP candidate, Toker Guitarsolo, although they claimed to have at least been conceived during a northern California wine tasting event.

 This left the election winner as the second biggest vote getter, which was another surprise because, it turns out, no one had actually checked to see who the second biggest vote getter was.

Vice President Harris again cast the deciding vote in the Senate, contending that, while having a tiger as a Vice President would be kind of cool and useful for dealing with dictatorships, Calvin and Hobbes technically are not real people.

This came as a great disappointment, and in the years since has generally been recognized as a great opportunity lost.

A movement to repeat the election collapsed when Donald Trump and Joe Biden announced they were leaving politics to become standup comedians. Their HBO special, "Joe and Don Comedy Tour" broke viewership records and won three Emmy Awards.

In the end Kamala Harris was certified as winning the election by narrow margins in both the popular and electoral vote, after serving as temporary President until the recount was finished in early 2026. The last of the legal challenges was thrown out of the 9th Circuit Court just after Harris finished her second term in 2039. The attorneys pushing that lawsuit disappeared shortly thereafter.

"Oh, a sanity clause won't work here."

Harris' suspension of the Constitutional to allow her to serve longer is hardly surprising, considering the outbreak of the Second Civil War in 2029. The conflict, between one side that called itself the United States and another that called itself the United States, ended quickly when the side nicknamed "The Coast States" discovered that their opponents in "The Middle" did indeed have a lot more guns and ammunition. The US Military, busy in other countries, declared itself neutral.

Presidents Harris and Vance then held a productive meeting in which The Coast agreed to stop making reality TV shows. The Middle promised to keep sending food to the cities, whose populations had never been entirely clear on where most food came from.

The citizens of Chicago later tried to secede and join Canada, but Canadian Prime Minister Justin Beiber refused, saying Chicago was "too mean".

 So, there you have it. As I predicted last week, Kamala Harris will be declared the next President. Hold your noses and vote, people.

Remember, folks: Humor. Parody. Stuff like that. While I still believe Harris will be declared winner, I can't confirm or deny that I have a time machine.

We and our books can be found ... everywhere:

·        Amazon:  https://www.amazon.com/-/e/B0058CL6OO

·        Barnes & Noble:  https://www.barnesandnoble.com/s/"Mark R Hunter"

·        Goodreads:  https://www.goodreads.com/author/show/4898846.Mark_R_Hunter

·        Blog: https://markrhunter.blogspot.com/

·        Website: http://www.markrhunter.com/

·        Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/ozma914/

·        Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/MarkRHunter914

·        Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/markrhunter/

·        Twitter: https://twitter.com/MarkRHunter

·        Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@MarkRHunter

·        Substack:  https://substack.com/@markrhunter

·        Tumblr:  https://www.tumblr.com/ozma914

·        Smashwords:  https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/ozma914

Remember: Lots of great books are NOT about politics.

[bllsbailey]

Biden caters to 'far-left' dark money groups with Supreme Court 'gimmick,' critics say

President Biden’s push to impose radical changes to the Supreme Court caters to the left-wing base of the Democrat party from an administration that was once billed as a "moderate," critics argue.

On Monday, Biden and Vice President Harris, who is now running at the top of the presidential ticket for Democrats in November, backed drastic measures for Congress to adopt, including term limits, ethics rules and a constitutional amendment to limit presidential immunity.

Biden, in an op-ed published in the Washington Post, said he has "great respect for our institutions and separation of powers" but "what is happening now is not normal, and it undermines the public’s confidence in the court’s decisions, including those impacting personal freedoms. We now stand in a breach."

The move marks a nearly 180-degree pivot for Biden, who had generally bucked plans even from within his own party to make such changes to the high court. 

President Biden walks down the steps of Air Force One at Dover Air Force Base in Delaware on July 17, 2024. (Susan Walsh/AP)

During the early years of his political career in the Senate, Biden called President Franklin D. Roosevelt’s plans to place term limits on older justices and packing the court "a bonehead idea." Packing the court, or court packing, is a term for increasing the number of justices on a court.

On the campaign trail in 2020, he resisted calls to expand the size of the court, saying that it would undermine its credibility.

With Monday’s announcement, Biden hasn’t said he wants to pack the court. But on his way out the Oval Office door, he’s endorsing plans from the most radical wing of his party.

"The far-left calls to destroy the Supreme Court were answered first by a candidate desperate to save his failing campaign," said Carrie Severino, president of Judicial Crisis Network.

President Biden speaks at a campaign event at Pullman Yards in Atlanta on March 9, 2024. (Megan Varner/Getty Images)

"Now they will be championed by a candidate who needs to cater to dark money groups in the Arabella Advisors network like Demand Justice, Fix the Court and a host of other pop-up groups funded by liberal billionaires," she added.

Arabella Advisors is a dark money fund that feeds various left-wing causes. Notably, Harris’ communications director, Brian Fallon, is the former head of Demand Justice, which is an Arabella-funded group that advocates for court packing.

Fix the Court, another Arabella-connected group, pushes for term limits for Justices.

"[Biden is] trying to gin up his base with this gimmick," said GOP strategist Matt Gorman.

"The idea that Joe Biden would advocate for term limits is laughable. The left can’t stand that they don’t control the court, so they’ll do whatever they can to take it by legislative force," he said.

The ideological swing of the high court shifted when former President Trump appointed Justices Neil Gorsuch, Brett Kavanaugh and Amy Coney Barrett. The conservative block is certainly not always in a lockstep vote, but Democrats in Congress and in the White House have nevertheless claimed that about the Republican-appointed majority.

"President Joe Biden and Vice President Kamala Harris want to end-run the Constitution and destroy the Supreme Court because they can't control it," said Severino.

"Biden and Harris are declaring war on the separation of powers with this announcement," she added.

The Harris campaign did not respond to Fox News Digital's request for comment.

White House spokesperson Andrew Bates responded, "As he stands up for the rule of law and the integrity of the Supreme Court, President Biden is grateful for the support these proposals are receiving from bipartisan legal experts, members of Congress, and large majorities of the American people. 

'DANGEROUS' DEMOCRAT JUDICIAL ETHICS BILL WOULD ALLOW ANY 'JACKALOON' TO DEMAND A RECUSAL, SEN. KENNEDY SAYS

"Now, congressional Republicans have a choice to make: will they safeguard conflicts of interests on our nation’s highest court and help presidents remain above the law, or will they side with Joe Biden, conservative former judges, and their own constituents to protect principals that should override any partisanship?" said Bates. 

Notably, the Supreme Court last year adopted a new code of conduct after months of scrutiny from Democrats in Congress. 

"For the most part, these rules and principles are not new: The Court has long had the equivalent of common law ethics rules, that is, a body of rules derived from a variety of sources, including statutory provisions, the code that applies to other members of the federal judiciary, ethics advisory opinions issued by the Judicial Conference Committee on Codes of Conduct, and historic practice," a statement signed by all the justices said.

CLICK HERE TO DOWNLOAD THE FOX NEWS APP

"The absence of a Code, however, has led in recent years to the misunderstanding that the Justices of this Court, unlike all other jurists in this country, regard themselves as unrestricted by any ethics rules. To dispel this misunderstanding, we are issuing this Code, which largely represents a codification of principles that we have long regarded as governing our conduct," it said. 

[sybbi]

i think people want to replace biden because they dont see any chance of him winning against trump anymore and most people have lost faith. another candidate would restore optimism and bring in more voters

Would it?

Here's my issue: what candidate should replace Biden? I ask that question and everyone seems to have a different answer. That, for me, is more dangerous than Biden stumbling over his words a little. It is too fucking late for us to go running around looking like chickens with our heads cut off while the Republicans present a strong, increasingly unified front behind Trump.

Harris, some people say. Well ffs, Harris is already on the ticket. If you're one of those people who's afraid Joe Biden can't run things or won't live through his full term or WHATEVER, SHE IS ALREADY GUARANTEED TO REPLACE HIM. And I see no reason to switch him out wholesale when, again, there needs to be a show of a unified front. That's part of what kills me in all this - you have to have faith to inspire it in others. To fight against a unified front, you have to show unity and strength in your own cause, but instead the left-leaners are doing what they have almost always historically done: fracturing over internal perceptions and differences instead of saying "The biggest threat right now is not us, it's them."

I saw, on that giant lame-ass post by Wheaton, that he was saying we needed a candidate that can force the American people to see what kind of danger we're in. And frankly that is horseshit. The American people, I believe, largely know the stakes here. And Biden has, repeatedly, made grim and coherent speeches about the threat our democracy currently faces. The only thing that has distracted the American public recently FROM the grim threat to our democracy is this aforementioned public pants shitting that, for some reason, has gained more traction than the fact that Trump will be in effect a fucking king if he is allowed in the Oval Office again.

If the Democrats and anti-Trumpers had ANY sense they would be fucking HAMMERING on that. They would be reemphasizing all of Trumps unpopular policies, his instability, his cozy relationship with foreign leaders who act antithetical to American values and ideals, his corruption, his EVERYTHING. Because again, THIS IS A REFERENDUM ON TRUMPISM, FIRST AND FOREMOST. But no. Once again, the left is letting perfect be the enemy of good.

How much faith do you think you can drum up for Harris, who has been torn apart by the left and the media separately, or any other random replacement this late in the game, that you couldn't manage for Biden with an actual concerted fucking effort? The logic of "we need a new candidate that can draw in voters" is so flawed because there is NO candidate that is not going to be torn to shreds by a certain crowd, that will not have doubt placed on them about something, who won't be scrutinized for a story under a magnifying glass. If you give in here, why the fuck wouldn't you give in when the next guy or girl gets torn up for something innocuous, something not reflective of their actual public service? What the fuck are you going to stand for if, every time people show an ounce of criticism about ANYTHING your side does, your solution is to throw the baby out with the bathwater? Meanwhile the MAGAts continue to fortify themselves, casting themselves as strong leaders, as we run around directionless and grasping.

All this is doing, in my view, is giving in to panic and inviting more confusion and panic which can have an even more demoralizing effect on more offline voters. Because where did the loss of faith come from? A bad debate that many voters didn't even watch, because most have probably already made up their mind? Once again, everyone already knows these two candidates. They know Biden is old. They know he's tripped over words before. And they know Trump, too. Biden wasn't elected the first time because he was the perfect candidate. He was the anti-Trump vote. And I agree that just being Not Trump shouldn't be good enough for a candidate. But Biden had managed to return the country to some semblance of normalcy, and despite far right politicians and interest groups throwing up obstruction after obstruction, he has still managed to help many and has done what was within his power to undo the harms brought on by the first Trump presidency.

All this to say, once again, that there WAS a time to talk about replacing Biden. IT IS PAST. I will eat my fucking words if the DNC doesn't nominate him and simultaneously mald over what I think would probably be one of the stupidest decisions they could make. But whatever. It's out of my hands.

[arpov-blog-blog]

..."Folks, I’m worried about Donald Trump and his mental decline, which was on vivid display at a rally Tuesday night on one of his Florida golf courses.

During the event, the former president slurred words, claimed his son Don Jr. is married when he’s actually just engaged, and consistently described the world around him in a manner wholly inconsistent with reality.

During one heartbreaking moment, Trump stopped talking for a full minute while the usual eerie music favored by an unhinged conspiracy group called QAnon played in the background. He sweatily moved his head back and forth and randomly pointed at people, appearing to not know exactly what he was doing.

It was tough to watch, but there’s little question the 78-year-old no longer has the faculties needed to take on President Joe Biden in the race for the presidency. It’s now up to Trump’s family and responsible members of the Republican Party to find a way for him to gracefully step aside and let a younger and more competent candidate take over, possibly someone like Georgia Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene.

At one point during Tuesday’s rally, Trump said tourists who go to Washington, D.C., and visit the Jefferson Memorial or the Washington Monument “end up getting shot, mugged, raped.” It was troubling to see a man hoping to become president again act so confused. Violent crime in the District of Columbia is down more than 20% this year, as crime nationwide has plummeted.

Trump’s delusions continued as he incorrectly identified America as “a Third World nation,” babbled confusingly about the fictional serial killer Hannibal Lecter and then very freely said, without a hint of irony, “We are a nation where free speech is no longer allowed.”

About that wacky GOP platform:'A Nation in SERIOUS DECLINE': GOP platform is an unhinged all-caps list of Trump lies.

It was truly sad. We’ve all known older friends or relatives whose minds have started to slip. There’s no shame in it. But surely the Republican Party knows that with Trump so clearly in decline, it can’t win in November.

At one point during his speech, Trump appeared to completely forget that hundreds of his supporters violently stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, injuring police officers and desecrating the halls of our nation’s government. Those domestic terrorists have been tried for their crimes, convicted and properly sentenced, yet Trump said: “But when people who love our country protest on January 6 in Washington, they become hostages unfairly imprisoned for long periods of time.”

Trump slurred his words again while apparently making a promise that, if reelected, no American will ever overdose on drugs again: "Mothers will never again be forced to watch their children overdosing and hosplee.”

Trump’s clear disconnect from reality, which he admirably tries to cover with incessant lies, should prompt pundits, political strategists and all major news outlets to immediately call for him to step aside, for the good of the country.

He’s obviously too old and frail to handle the rigors of another four-year term.

I look forward to the breathless news coverage and weighty editorials about a presidential candidate who has so clearly become unelectable."

[lonelinessisadisease]

To the revolutionaries who want to destroy the government: do you really think a republican government is easier to dismantle? The democratic party sides with weapons and investment (military and exploitation of all forms). They have done this and will continue to do this. It is one of the painful realities we all have to face.

But the republican party? Trump in particular? They are not here to just side with fascists, to allow fascism a seat at the table. They are not here to keep the American war machine well-oiled. They are those seats, and they are the war machine.

I cannot over-express how much Biden fucking sucks. He does. There will be a throne of bodies for him to rest on in Hell.

But level with me. Why are you really not voting for Biden? I know it's not because you think Trump is better. I know it's not because you think there will be a magical third candidate that will win.

It's because you feel guilty, isn't it? You've been seeing genocide after genocide, atrocity after atrocity, and it's getting harder to justify your place in this world.

And I get it. It's really, really hard to wake up and remember the voting system we are under is just another tool for evil. It's easier to just...remove yourself from the equation. You're not voting for either of those old, evil assholes. You didn't put your pennies into the pot so it's not your fault when it boils over. You don't need to feel bad anymore if you don't vote for them.

But that's not how this works. I know you know that's not how this works. I saw all of you rallying together to vote Trump out of office after his term because you all knew that regardless of how bad Biden was he would be leagues better.

Part of being an activist means fighting back. Failing to vote in the current political climate is not rebellion, it's a silent defeat. It is us giving up because it's too hard, because it feels too bad.

It is our job as people to take care of each other. Most of us believe this. I know you do. It's clear you all care so much about each other. I've seen the constant desire to help across nations. But I feel like we forgot that preventing harm in our own country is just as important as preventing harm in others.

Even and especially when it hurts.

I'm sorry, but that responsibility doesn't go away just because we don't want to bear it. It is just as important that we vote now as it was before. It will be just as important every time after this, too. I'll say it again and again, as many times as I need to.

Stop thinking of it as voting Biden in, for a second. We don't want that asshole in office any more than you do. That's not the point.

The point is that we need to vote Trump out. We already know what it's going to look like if we don't.

I want to honor that this is an incredibly hard decision to make. I know how gut-wrenching the thought of perpetuating a bad system feels. I know the doubts.

Is it worth it to keep fighting for what we have when it hurts this much? Is it worth it? Should our guilt be dictating our decisions? Should it be stopping our actions? Should we allow it to define our activism?

I have been shown time and time again that people are resilient, they are brave, and they are kind. They will face insurmountable odds to help one another, and they do things even when it's hard. You do things even when they're hard, because you're brave.

And you can do this, too.

Go to polling booths. Send in your ballot when you get it.

If it feels too bad to bear the burden of picking Biden, put it on me. I've already taken the weight of asking you to vote for Biden, okay? You don't need to feel bad about this. You don't need to destroy yourself because you don't see any way out.

The only way out is forward. If your guilt is keeping you from moving, it's not worth keeping. So give it to me.

Go vote pissed, or mad, or bored. Be mad at me. Be mad at the system. Be mad at Biden and Trump. Be mad. Be sad and grieving and frustrated. If you can't get rid of it, be guilty.

Then do it anyway. I know you can.

if i see one more article, post, or news anchor talking about how joe biden is old, i'm putting my fist through a window. i feel like i've gone through the fucking looking glass.

this is project 2025, trump's plan for what he'll do if elected. whatever you think is in there, it's worse. watch a breakdown of the highlights here. this man wants to unravel the fabric of our democracy for good - this all aside from his vitriolic hatred of poc, his determination to start ww3, and the fact that he can't string a sentence together without telling outrageous and easily verifiable lies. his administration will start their crusade to exterminate trans people on day one, and they won't stop there.

do not talk to me about how joe biden is old, as if that could ever matter to me more than my life or the lives of my friends and family. my little sister is 14, she's trans, and i don't know what to tell her when we talk about politics, because one of these people wants her dead and the other one is old and some of you are still acting like those problems are equals.

i can't fucking stand this. i'm not hearing it this time, we are not repeating 2016. refusing to vote is not an act of protest, it is an act of complacency, and our most vulnerable will suffer for your negligence. vote like your life depends on it, because for some of us, it really fucking does.

[thepitofjob]

Job 1: 16-19. "The Mighty Wind."

Common knowledge about the Book of Job state it pertains to unfailing obedience to God. We do not need a story for that. That should be happening anyway. I have mentioned in a prior frame the Beersheba and the Commandments and the Rab lists 613 Mitzvot, and everyone knows what they are. Obedience should not at all be an issue.

The real focus of the Book of Job, failure of mankind to evolve, is revealed in more specific terms below. Job's family was partying in the eldest brother's house, and this forbidden by the Torah. The oldest sibling is never the focus of the parents, it is the youngest. We recently saw how Donald Trump's mishandling of Covid caused millions of young persons to undergo a warped childhood. Now we are going to have to deal with this all of our lives.

If we had a real president instead of an assfuck on the White House, the impact of three years of isolation on young people as a result of quarantine could have been discussed and an highly educated new approach to education and learning could have been implemented. Now we have a crop of young kids and adolescents that can't do much of anything we associate with persons who are more typically developed.

Donald Trump and those filthy cunts he appointed to the SCOTUS crawled up your snatch holes and banned abortions, but did he manage the nation and pave the way to the future for young people and their parents? He didn't do shit.

The Book of Job says instead of engaging in corruption, we should look always at all of the parameters affecting childhood development and provide everything a new human being needs to be a success as an adult. We need to teach the right things, and chastise the wrong. Informing the world "well we just don't know if Donald Trump, a disgusting asshole pig is going to have to pay for his crimes or not! Guffaw!" sends the wrongest message to the world one can send.

How about this one, "What will NATO look like if Donald Trump pulls America out and lets Russia pursue its agenda in Europe?" Well that is the dumbest question I hope we never ever answer. Its existence is a sign a bunch of jackasses are running the world.

In the following Four Directions are hints as to why we are acting like Satan and going the wrong way.

Messengers are the angel prophets in the Torah. The Torah says slavery and oppression, the kind brought on by Donald Trump and that dripping oozing whore Amy Barrett are forbidden. War and weapons are and violence are forbidden, corruption, poverty, and human rights violations are forbidden. Yet we have allowed the "servants" the minds of mankind to think it is cool and sexy to be a rebel and do whatever the hell it wants.

Job says we need Chaldeans "possessed of Chesed" to set us and our offspring straight. Allowing big brother who is a conservative pile of shit lead the way is not working out.

16 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “The fire of God fell from the heavens and burned up the sheep and the servants, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”

17 While he was still speaking, another messenger came and said, “The Chaldeans formed three raiding parties and swept down on your camels and made off with them. They put the servants to the sword, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”

18 While he was still speaking, yet another messenger came and said, “Your sons and daughters were feasting and drinking wine at the oldest brother’s house, 

19 when suddenly a mighty wind swept in from the desert and struck the four corners of the house. It collapsed on them and they are dead, and I am the only one who has escaped to tell you!”

Chesed emphasizes going beyond what is required, performing acts of kindness willingly and wholeheartedly. It's a way of embodying the values of empathy and selflessness, which are central to Jewish tradition. The Torah mentions the concept of Chesed over 190 times.

Chesed, according to Job is the only way to surpass the Third Day and evade the Wrong Turn. In the above tract, the Chaldeans take the camels, the little kids away, and train them in the Torah. Verse 19, the West Wind is the first and final argument that collapses the house, stating "love your neighbor as you love yourself." If you confess you are not demonstrating this, providing an example of Chesed to the world none of your religious logic is correct. You are heretic.

Chesed is not the result of obedience to faith, unfortunately, it must be volunteered. So billions of fuckups have some thinking to do.

The Values in Gematria follow:

v. 16: The fire of God fell from heaven. God empowers the Jewish people to rain fire on persons who cannot conceive of Chesed and are a threat, like the Mormons, to the rest. Mormons are not allowed on the planet, they attacked Israel in plain sight, right in front of the US Government who knew what they were doing and for this they must be deleted from human history.

They will never practice Chesed, not they nor their children.

The Number is 9894, טח‎טד‎, tahtad, "the echo." History needs to hear the story of how Donald Trump and a bunch of uneducated losers used State Power to engineer an attack on sacred soil and they are all dead, to the last man. As with Sodom and Gomorrah, there are none left, no not a one.

v. 17: Another messenger said: Without Chaldeans, wise persons capable of illustrating the proper way to behave, we cannot chastise corruption and change the course of society. The Number is 12378, יבגז‎ח, yevzach, "remember to be pure and spotless at all times."

v. 18: Yet another messenger came. The Number is 8973, חטזג‎ ‎, "the display indicator." = people working during Shabbat.

We have armies and navies on the move. We are not even trying to observe Shabbat.

v. 19: I am the only one who escaped to tell you. The Number is 11064, יא‎אֶפֶסוד‎‎, yeapsud, "if you keep the secret you will be lost."

The Secret is called the Kiryat Akiva Shema, that which is called a Report. Jews are required to Report they understand they were not made as a warped or perverted thing, are not suited to slavery, abuse or oppression, will forthwith leave Egypt for the Heights of Ha Shem to discover their proper names, they will not abandon their faith. Jews of all ages are encouraged to do this but the earlier in life the better.

This is symbolized in the Book of Job as a desert storm which means the desert is not a safe place and one should seek higher ground as soon as possible.