#when i cant sleep

[like-wuatafauq]

Is now a good time to mention that I don't know what the fuck is going on and that I don't know what the fuck to do

[abigailspinach]

Scalzi's Whatever - I do love how he writes about politics

As for being cautious about what the right might say about them on social media — well, the Harris/Walz campaign is too busy metaphorically punching Donald Trump and his pals in the face, in press releases and on social media, to worry about any of that. Their tactic of labeling Trump, JD Vance and all their party pals as “weird” has been so rhetorically effective that the right’s ability to bluster and bully, and to make their blustering and bullying stick, has been effectively neutralized. Other people have noted that those on the US right want you to fear them, and are perfectly happy for you to hate them — but can’t abide when you ridicule them. The Harris/Walz campaign is rather masterfully ridiculing them, which gives permission for everyone else to ridicule them as well. And that’s what’s been sticking this election cycle so far.

This change has wobbled the right so hard and so fast that they haven’t managed to recover. Every counterattack they’ve made has failed. It’s hard to paint a former criminal prosecutor as a dangerous liberal, especially when your candidate is an actual felon. Trump can’t figure out a good belittling nickname for Harris. The attempt to attack Tim Walz’s military service wasn’t a swift boat, it was a leaky dingy, and the right’s pile-on to make fun of Gus Walz’s being tearfully proud of his dad backfired so spectacularly that even Ann Coulter, of all people, felt obliged to delete her shitty tweet about him.

And as for JD Vance, still warm from being in Peter Thiel’s pocket, everything he does is ridiculed because he is ridiculous; he can’t even order donuts like a normal human. The salient feature about the “couch-fucking” meme involving Vance is not that it’s true — we all know it is not — but that it nevertheless so perfectly fits what he chooses to project about himself into the world that from now to the end of days, Vance and couch fucking are inextricably intertwined, and one cannot think the name “JD Vance” without picturing a shuddering and exhausted davenport.

Moreover, as again 2016 shows us, you don’t need to win the popular vote to become president; a few thousand votes each in five or so swing states is all it takes to get into the White House. Kamala Harris could swamp the popular vote and still be leaving Washington DC on January 20. Harris could win the electoral vote and have recalcitrant state officials throw sand into the gears of the election long enough to throw it to the House of Representatives. The latter is unlikely, but so was a sitting president trying to overthrow a legitimate election, and look what happened on January 6, 2021.

2024 is not 2020 is not 2016. I think Kamala Harris can win, and if I had to put money on it, that’s how I would bet. But it would be better if she won by such a large margin in the electoral vote that any potential fuckery coming out of, say, Georgia, simply wouldn’t matter. And that margin is possible! I think if Harris/Walz keep some momentum, and Trump and Vance keep being weird and remain off-balance, a healthy electoral vote total could happen. It’s going to take a hell of a lot of work, however. The question is how much the Democrats (and the people who are not Democrats but loathe Trump and his party pals and their plans for our nation) want it.

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Some of the comments

mythago August 23, 2024, 11:09 am

What the GOP never understood about Harris is that she rose to the top in San Francisco politics, an environment most charitably described as a knife fight in a phone booth, and that Willie Brown – whatever else may be said about him – doesn’t do political favors for dummies. She has had to be ten times smarter than the next guy and have elbows as sharp as razors her whole career.

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I just wish more people on the far left understood the American electoral system. I can’t tell you how many people I’ve interacted with who say “Oh I couldn’t possible vote for Biden|Harris because [insert issue, these days likely Palestine].” “Congratulations! You are voting for Trump!” “No, voting is important I’m sending a message!” “Ok, but the time to do that was the primaries. Now any vote is either Harris or Trump”. “But that’s not fair!” “Yep. Welcome to first past the post. If you don’t like it you can move to Australia with Single Transferable Vote or various parts of Europe with proportional representation. Unfortunately that’s not how the US works”. “But but but”. “Look, you don’t vote for Kamala you are voting for Trump. It’s that simple…do you REALLY think Trump will be better for Palestine? Really?”

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MisterForkbeard August 23, 2024, 11:59 am

I’m very optimistic – Harris was my choice in the 2020 primaries and I’ve even got a couple of really silly old Kamala shirts I’m going to break out.

That said – it’s really hard for Dems to win, just structurally. Trump is working the Red state election boards hard to prevent a repeated of Georgia and Arizona, and republicans across the country are doing their best to ratfuck the Democratic vote. And the electoral college is currently tilted towards Republicans, and Dems need to win the popular vote by 2-4% generally to win the EC.

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People who aren’t familiar with the incel culture and terminology that has oozed into the right-wing media ecosystem are surprised and repulsed by the way Vance talks and the company he keeps. For example, his agreement with a podcast host about “the whole purpose of the post-menopausal female” being to care for grandchildren is not only cringe-worthy but it really spotlights how dehumanizing even the vocabulary of the right has become. To most normal people, just using the phrase “post-menopausal female” is weird as sh*t. And the more he’s out on the campaign trail, and the more people dig into his background, the worse it’s going to get.

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I’m glad the Democrats are finally fighting back. I feel so many people misunderstood Michelle Obama’s quote, “When they go low, we go high”

She never meant that we can’t defend ourselves or knock them in the teeth (that high enough, for you?) We don’t have to be nice

She was talking about how when someone treats you as a subhuman animal and threatens your children’s lives, you don’t have to do that in return. You can fight back and retain your humanity.

And I’m glad that Harris campaign seems to agree. They’re throwing some really ugly misogynoir at her and she’s just like, “That’s a weird thing to say. Why are you so weird??”

She’s still technically going high in comparison to them. I hope she keeps going for their necks. And I’m going to keep calling that weirdo a couch-fucker

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[hinamie]

9 / 266

[candleswans]

my mom cursed me to be a puppy when she let me sleep on a dog bed with my doggie my whole childhood

[rapidhighway]

more.

[ahhrenata]

Steve tries to stay quiet while he gets ready for work, but Eddie hears him. He keeps his eyes closed and just listens- to Steve grumbling to himself when his hair doesn’t sit quite right, who starts to hum and whisper some catchy song. Eddie turns his sleepy gaze onto Steve as he shuffles around their room- watching quietly as he slips on his clothes, his shoes, a simple chain with Eddie’s ring around his neck. A warm, affectionate smile breaks across his face. Before he leaves, Steve glances at what he expects to be a sleeping Eddie, but instead, he’s met with a rasped, ‘Hey.’ Eddie sits himself up, stretches his arm across Steve’s side of the bed, and reaches, fingers wiggling. Steve crosses the room to cradle his face.

Their foreheads press, noses bump, and Steve brushes his fingers across scars and dimples.

He breathes a quiet,

‘Sorry, I didn’t mean to wake you.’

Eddie huffs a tired laugh,

‘You know I never mind.’

Because, yeah.

Every morning Steve tries to stay quiet while he gets ready for work, but Eddie always hears him.

( another one from the poll | WIP )

[heartorbit]

the narcissist fools himself

[b4kuch1n]

podcast people in my phone

[p4nishers]

crowley, drunk off his ass: and i was yk just some fucked up soul born in cold and rain but he was my fucking sunlight or whatever

hozier, frantically writing on a napkin: HHHMMMM TELL ME MORE

[crumb-crumblet-s-crumbington]

wintersberg date night with @heraxic designs......... they r refueling my wintersberg phase 😭😭😭

i think ethan would be a very emotional drunk

[your-local-asylum-escapee]

the Blueprint™ for any mlm ship is literally just a dark-haired skinny loser and his himbo light-haired bf

oh and also at least one of 'em has blue eyes... I don't make the rules here

[abstractfrog]

THE GLORIA SCOTT - part 2, and a follow up to my comic for the first half of this scene! thanks sm to @crashingmeteorz for allowing me to source validation for my whimsical cosmic approach to this moment <3

[justaz]

merlin (immortal) giving arthur (pendragon) the only blade that could kill him

[obsmiechujek]

Phoenix is the "carry your groceries" type

[tubbytarchia]

For the ranchers a bit more shleep i just really like charakters comfy and nice:Dc /nf

Eepies. Jimmy woke up to really sore wings but its okay because Tango

[ikarakie]

it's corroded coffin's first, proper world tour. they've skyrocketed into the public eye within the last few years, and they couldn't be fucking happier. it's all so amazing, so surreal.

they get to indiana. the crowd is electric, the venue bigger than any of the bars or crappy hole in the walls they used to perform in. eddie steps to the mic nearing the end of the second half of the show.

"indiana, it'a a fuckin' pleasure to be with you tonight." he says, a bit lowly, into the mic. screams fill his ears, thousands of smiling faces. but he's after one in particular. "i'm gonna need your help for a minute here, guys." he motions for the lights to go up, grabs the mic from the stand and crouches close to the barricade, squinting.

"i've got someone out there, mixed up in the crowd." he can't help the fond smile as he says it. "and i wanna find him before this next one. take a quick look around ya, if you're next to a guy about my age, fluffy brown hair, big brown eyes, probably in a preppy little outfit and glasses, give me a scream."

everyone's looking this way and that, eyeing the people around them. thirty seconds later there's screaming to his left. eddie crosses the stage, peers into the crowd. the big screens capture the moment he spots him; his eyes go bright, there's a crooked lovesick grin on his lips.

"hey, sweetheart." he coos into the mic. the crowd bursts into cheers and whoops and chatter. the camera cuts to someone at the barricade, having been pushed forward by others. he's exactly as eddie had described, leaning against the railing and smiling up at the star. for a few seconds they gaze at each other like they're the only ones in the room.

then eddie blows him a kiss, which he catches. eddie laughs a little, brings himself back to center stage. picks his guitar back up and settles mic back into the stand.

"this next one," he begins, adjusting the stand slightly. "is something you haven't heard before." there's unmistakable moisture gathering in his eyes. "i wrote the lyrics entirely myself. it's- it's for those people in my life who i couldn't be here without." his eyes stray back to where steve is, watching him with a watery smile. "those who were there, in '86. who pulled me back up from hell. the bravest fuckin' souls i ever met in my life." he takes a deep breath. hears the rest of the fuckers scream from the VIP area, dustin's voice unmistakable.

"this, my dearest indy, is 'knights of the upside down.'"