#no where am I a registered democrat

[safety-pin-punk]

Getting political spam texts that are like ‘Hey fellow Democrat…’ nope sorry Im not a democrat

Or

‘Good morning respectable Republican…’ yeah no Im not a republican either

I’m an ☁️INDEPENDENT☁️

[qqueenofhades]

Something that gets me is not folks who are refusing to vote: I don’t agree with them BUT I understand the moral pain and can be empathic to that. I also understand people threatening not to try to convince policy changes. But there’s also a crowd that’s like “if you vote, you’re a piece of shit” and like, guys, im not gonna chase you down to vote but i will spend one day doing a small task to try to prevent as much death as possible.

See, maybe it is just because I am An Old and didn't come of age in the whole leftist social media "voting is at best morally neutral and at worst actively evil" Discourse TM that predominates today, but I just... don't sympathize at all with this "oh no it hurts my tender fee-fees to pick a flawed candidate in a flawed system" thing. I voted for the first time as a freshman in college in 2006. I registered when I turned 18, I walked to the polling place a couple blocks from my dorm, and I felt really excited to do it. I didn't come from a particularly active political household, though George W. Bush-bashing was a popular sport and my parents, once conservative Christian Reagan voters (ugh) were consistently voting for Democrats in the presidential race no later than 2000 or so, but are still technically unaffiliated. It was just because I had taken it in that voting was a good thing to do and part of becoming a responsible adult, so I did.

Since then, I have done two things I am proud of, which is a) never voted for any Republican ever anywhere (straight blue tickets for... almost 20 years CHRIST I AM OLD), and b) only missed one or at most two elections in that time (and certainly no presidential or major midterms). This included voting from overseas in two presidential elections (2008, 2016), voting by mail in others, changing my voter registration across multiple moves/states and to places where it would be more electorally useful, and otherwise making a conscious effort to keep it current and to use it every time. As I said, I don't know if this is because I'm old and therefore my perceptions were not shaped by this constant social media need to caveat and excuse and apologize for voting, or having to argue everyone really hard into doing it, but it is just not a moral burden for me. Voting is good. Voting is always preferable to the alternative. Voting is not something that needs to be extensively disclaimed. Just do it, you fuckers. Get off my lawn.

[motsimages]

Info about European Parliament elections

Because the elections to the European Parliament are approaching (6-9 of June), I wanted to make some kind of master post about it to see if I understand it better and to give some tips. But I forgot we're talking about the fucking European Union and all its levels and sublevels and the respect to each country doing whatever the fuck they want. You may want to watch the series Parliament. It's funny and you will understand how the EU works better than I could ever explain it (I am not kidding).

THANKFULLY, the EU knows the mess it all is and they created a very clear and easy to use website just for this: https://elections.europa.eu.

It gives you general info and a guide for your country. I want to kiss in the mouth to whoever designed the website and wrote the text. Whatever it is they are paid, it's not enough.

IF READING THIS POST IN ENGLISH IS HARD FOR YOU, THAT WEBSITE, AS MOST EU WEBSITES/INFO, IS TRANSLATED INTO EVERY OFFICIAL LANGUAGE OF THE EU.

The most important thing about these elections is that the European Parliament represents the interests of the European citizens. Copying from that website I gave: The European Commission is the EU’s executive branch, responsible for proposing and implementing EU law and the day-to-day running of the EU. The European Parliament, representing the interests of EU citizens, and the Council, representing the interests of the countries, shape Commission proposals and, if they agree on them, adopt them.

This is important to know because the Parliament will elect the new President of the European Commission who later will examine and approve the entire College of Commissioners. But this is another thing, so go check wikipedia about the President of the European Comission. In the last elections there was some mix-up between the candidate, the system and who ended up being president (current president is Ursula von der Leyen, chosen in 2019).

The European parliament is separated into 7 political groups. 23 members are necessary to create a group and each group must represent at least a quarter of the countries in the EU (again, watch Parliament, this is very well explained there in a fun way). Here you can find the list of the political groups (if you click each link, they send you to the website of the group and you can look for who/which party from your country is part of it). Some people do not belong to any political group.

From what I see, those 7 political groups include:

4 Right-wing groups (some say "center-right" but they may be right-right. 2 of them are clearly called something like "Christian democrats" or "Conservatives")

1 green party

1 left party

1 center-leftish party

Not all of the websites for these political groups are in several languages of the EU, but they are all in English. Here you can see how many members of the parliament belong to each group by country. In short, you can see where your country is leaning in the European parliament. For instance, Spain has 13 christian democrats, 9 "center-right" and 4 right vs 21 "center-left", 3 green and 6 left, plus 3 non registered in any group for a total of 59 members.

In reality, we do not vote for those political groups. We vote for politicians in our countries and then, they, if they want, they join one group or another. In short, if you vote a left-wing party from your country, it is likely that they will be part of The Left political group of the European parliament.

Historically, over 50% of the parliament is a group of right and another group of center-right. No sé qué de los nazis por Europa estos últimos años. This is how it looks like right now. The yellow party is right-wing adjacent too (Renew Europe), so you can see how it currently looks for the left (green and red colours, where the dark red colour is The Left and the bright red is center-left). The gray one do not belong to any political group.

In other elections, about 50% of the population did not vote (which may be why there are more right-wing parties than others, just saying).

So yeah, vote. This organ represents you and your interests directly. They are the ones who adopt laws that affect anyone and everyone.

Vote because the European Parliament is your voice in the EU.

[compacflt]

Hi, big fan of your fics. I've just found your Tumblr and binged everything Icemav-related. When reading about Icemav's political beliefs, I've gotten curious. Does Bradley share the same political beliefs as Ice (and Mav)? Does being raised by them or them pulling his papers influence how he votes? Or there are other factors in the play (e.g. generations, social media)? How about Jake and the other Daggers? How does this young generation of the Navy perceive politics (elections, gender, etc.)? My apologies for bombarding you with questions. But as a non-American, American politics have always been something we must pay attention to. I've seen many interesting interpretations on Tumblr but it feels more or less wistful than realistic, but I might be wrong (again not an American) so I would love to see your perspective on this. Thank you.

a good politics roundup post before i leave this blog

icemav & their conservatism: here, here, here

ice’s NECESSARY conservatism as commander of the pacific fleet (i.e. officers who are most likely to get promoted to the highest ranks do NOT break the service line when it comes to domestic politics, so by necessity ice would’ve had to keep his mouth shut, he Cannot be both a four-star and a revolutionary, like he just can’t; and being a revolutionary is otherwise antithetical to his character anyway): here, here.

and the original “ice & mav politics post” which is being updated here: here

I’ve gone back and forth on everyones politics over the last year of me being involved with these characters, but let me just tell you where I’ve ended up headcanoning them politically, if ur interested

ice: reagan democrat. “educated moderate” who was more right-leaning pre-9/11. now just a regular ol liberal (did you SEE those gay little round glasses in tgm? no way this guy isn’t a straight-up lib) with absolutely no strong feelings about most domestic politics besides “fascism bad”. Has some foreign policy opinions that areeeee questionable at best, like all members of the military elite (hangman voice: DO NOT ASK ICEMAN ABOUT CHINA. WORST MISTAKE OF MY LIFE). foreign policy neoliberal favoring the dovish side of the spectrum. A force conservator (“let’s save our military assets [read: my boyfriend maverick 🥺] for when we really need them, not for any old conflict. the deterring specter of the American war machine should outweigh the risk of underperforming”). He’s in favor of marriage equality of course, but treats it like a privilege and not a right. would be sad/upset if it got repealed but wouldn’t necessarily fight for it. “well at least my marriage will always be legal in california so i just won’t leave, problem solved.” Normie median Biden voter.

mav: political wildcard tbh. original 1986 mav is DEFINITELY right-leaning (i think i’ve written elsewhere, “he fully believes bill clinton is an affront to god”). i get young republican vibes from him. Full on patriotic (but dispassionate) 1980s reaganite anti-commie neoconservative. but after the 2010s i am very confused tbh. Tom cruise’s political aura is an insanely confusing one. idk. No matter what, Mav has some Hot Takes that a.) can immediately be shot down by ice using Facts and Logic at any time and b.) are not strictly partisan. He’s registered democrat just to support marriage equality (his marriage is his top priority but he doesn’t care about Other gays’ marriages, only his own), doesn’t care about any of the party’s other lines. Votes however ice tells him to. I get real “kind clueless libertarian” vibes from 2022 maverick tbh. Especially with the “isolating himself in a hangar in the middle of the mojave desert.” that has a political connotation to it for sure. bro just does whatever he wants out there

also, ice & mav live in San Diego, which… while in blue/democrat leaning California…is famously a bastion of right-wingers & has a hitler particle level off the charts… (sorry its not my favorite place in the world). That’s why they’re both continually so disgusted by San Francisco (a metonym for effete liberal homosexuality). Theyre from San Diego, hatred of SF & liberal SF politics is kinda par for the course down there.

Bradley: as u will see in the extras i definitely hc Bradley as an activist, but because he’s… in the navy and also like in his 30s… It’s not college campus activism, it’s just “things all of us in the left wing can agree upon” activism. so, like, BLM or pride, etc. He’s an “in this house we believe” yard sign liberal. He is 38 years old. hes a solid millennial so not politically hip with the kids (me)

Bradley & ice/mav disagree on the VISIBILITY of politics. Ice & mav, who did live through the vietnam era draft/near-dissolution of American society in the 60s and 70s, are not in favor of possibly losing their job/honor they have fought and killed for, for the sake of a political statement. And they believe their relationship IS a political statement, whereas Bradley would rather encourage them to treat their relationship like, I don’t know, a relationship that has a right to exist independent of politics!

Jake and the other daggers: idk. i don’t really give a shit about the daggers sorry. They r blank slates 2 me. jake especially is canonically frat-boy sexist in a way that gives me the heebs, much like original 1986 maverick and ice. But the navy tends to be the most left-wing (or thought of as left wing in common thought) service of the military, if that helps. But it is also the most traditional service of the military, and by traditional I mean BRITISH!!!! 🇬🇧💂there’s so much pomp and circumstance and hoity-toitiness that comes from the navy’s origins in the Royal Navy. A lot of sticking to outdated tradition in the very fabric of the navy itself, while the navy’s enlisted demographics shift younger and more left-wing/“revolutionary…” some interesting conflicts there. Like that one sailor who got blasted by multiple congressmen on social media for (with permission!) reading a poem about their queer identity on the USS Gerald ford’s intercom a few months back, if I remember correctly. Hoo boy the Takes that day were wild. Younger Americans tend to be more liberal but YMMV with officers, who are by nature trying to uphold outdated traditions of the navy for the sake of keeping the navy a unified service

i am of course writing carole as a christian republican who has gay friends and a gay kid not by choice but by the Grace of God

[thatswhywelovegermany]

October 29, 1923: The first radio broadcast in Germany goes on air

Radio had a rough start in Germany. At the end of World War I, where the German army was among the pioneers in radio communication, during the November Revolution, revolutionary workers occupied the headquarters of the German press and news service, falsely claiming the victory of the communist and socialist revolutionary forces. This made the social democratic government to impose harsh restrictions on radio broadcast, which severely hampered the development of the new medium in Germany:

Only the state had the sovereign right of to set up and operate transmitting and receiving systems

Private individuals were prohibited to receive any radio broadcast

Receivers were limited in their technical characteristics, supported by a requirement for state approval for any new model

This led to the state-controlled postal service becoming a monopolist serving a small number of (mostly public) institutions. Nonetheless, the first entertainment broadcast was distributed at Christmas 1920, when postal employees brought instruments to the broadcast center in Königs Wusterhausen (south of Berlin), played music and recited poems.

After heavy lobbying by radio pioneers such as Hans Bredow, complaints and public discontent and increasing numbers of illegal self-made private receivers, which frequently caused interferences, the harsh restrictions were finally lifted in 1923. Each owner of a state-approved receiver had to register as a "radio participant" and pay a license fee. In autumn of 1923, at the height of the inflation, a license cost 780 billion Mark per year, a sum that only very few were able and willing to afford. Thst's why the first broadcast by Funk-Stunde Berlin from a studio in the Vox House on October 29, 1923 has no (paying) listeners. The first registered participant was Berlin tobacco retailer Wilhelm Kollhoff, who received his license and his radio on October 31.

Rapidly, a number of radio stations opened throughout Germany, which were consolidated under the umbrella organization "Reichs-Rundfunk-Gesellschaft".

Infamously, radio became the main propaganda instrument of the Nazis, who quickly forced all radio stations into line, sending the liberal radio pioneers to the first concentration camps. The development and widespread distribution of a cheap radio receiver, the "Volksempfänger" ("people's receiver"), made radio a medium for the masses. Nonetheless, only 46.9 % of the German households had a radio in 1937, compared with the USA or the UK, which had already a density of 78.3 % and 66.1 %, respectively.

After World War II, radio developed differently in East and West Germany. Radio in East Germany remained state-controlled, sending communist propaganda now. In the West, organizations under public law were founded in the federal states, funded by fees of radio users and controlled by bodies in which the relevant societal groups are equally represented. In the 1980s, private radio stations were allowed.

Because Germany received only very few AM frequencies as part of the sactions after World War II, development of FM radio was accelerated, leading to new standards in the quality of transmission and HiFi stereo radio. Radio established itself as a promoter of culture in the area of literature and music. The stations set up symphonic and dance orchestras, big bands, choirs, and elaborate audioplay studios. They were also pioneering promoters of electronic music. In the recent years, however, the importance of radio as promoters of high culture has diminished more and more. With the exceptions of a few stations, radio is regarded as background entertainment for people who cannot stand silence.

In the future, it is expected that the split between music and entertainment, high culture, and information will will deepen. Radio as a promotor of culture will probably not play a role any more. Taking over podcast productions may revive the role of radio as an opinion-forming medium. Radio is still unrivalled as the fastest medium, being able to provide the latest news virtually in real-time.

[kp777]

By Brett Wilkins

Common Dreams

Feb. 5, 2024

"Forty-seven percent of the voters are poor or low-wage," said one activist. "Getting that vote in is very important."

The Poor People's Campaign on Monday launched a 42-week nationwide mobilization of poor and low-income Americans to "wake the sleeping giant" of a voting bloc with the potential to determine the outcome of the 2024 elections.

"It is time for a resurrection and not an insurrection," Poor People's Campaign co-chair Rev. Dr. William Barber II said during a press conference in Washington, D.C. "We must engage poor and low-wealth people to change the political landscape."

"For far too long extremists have blamed poor people and low-wage people for their plight, while moderates too often have ignored poor people, appealing instead to the so-called middle class," he continued. "Meanwhile, poor and low-income people have become nearly half of this country and we are here today to make one thing clear: Poor and low-wage brothers and sisters have the power to determine and decide the 2024 elections and elections beyond."

"Economic justice and saving this democracy are deeply connected."

Poor People's Campaign co-chair Rev. Dr. Liz Theoharis stressed that "economic justice and saving this democracy are deeply connected."

"In this rich nation that has the wherewithal to end poverty tomorrow where there's the political will, we must not overlook the voices and votes of poor and low-income people," she added. "We are mobilizing and organizing, registering and educating people for a movement that votes... for healthcare and debt cancellation. Votes for living wages and strong anti-poverty programs. Votes for fair taxes and demilitarization of our communities and our world. Votes for immigrant rights and more."

Democratic pollster Celinda Lake said at the press conference: "In 2024, the election is going to be about mobilization... Democrats have an enthusiasm gap today and the progressive alliance and Democrats have fissures within their constituencies that make getting out the vote even more important."

"The biggest bloc of potential voters by far is low-income, low-wage voters," Lake noted. "Where the margin of victory is projected to be less than 3% in 2024, 30-45% of the voters are low-wage voters or low-income families... The turnout among low-wage voters and low-income voters today is... 20-22% below the average turnout. This is a huge bloc of voters, and it is a bloc of voters that votes 58-60%—at minimum—progressive, no matter how conservative the state."

"You're talking about a huge number—a game-changing number—of voters," she added.

The campaign's main scheduled events are a Mass Poor People's & Low-Wage Workers' Moral March to State House Assemblies on March 2 and a rally and march in Washington, D.C. on June 15.

"I have been struggling to pay my bills since I've been working at 16 years old. I work full time, 64 hours a week, seven days a week," said Beth Schafer of Raise Up for $15 during a video promoting the new campaign. "I am exhausted."

Crow Roberts, an organizer with the Indiana Poor People's Campaign, said in the video that "our government finds it necessary to ban abortion to say that they are saving our children, but more children die as a result of poverty in this country."

Guadalupe de la Cruz of the Florida Poor People's Campaign asserted that "we should not be cornered and forced to choose between one necessity or another."

Speaking at the press conference, Alabama activist Linda Burns said that "for three years I worked the assembly line at Amazon in Bessemer, Alabama. The work was grueling. We were expected to work like robots, moving like 1,000 pieces per hour."

"I got badly injured. My left arm," she continued. "I had two surgeries. I had to get a third surgery, but I didn't have no more insurance. Amazon, they cut my insurance off a year after. They let me go last October."

"Amazon let me go because I was helping organize the union," said Burns. "We didn't get the union in Alabama but I'm gonna do everything in my power to stand in solidarity. Organizing the union showed me just how many people were in the same situation I was. Not just in Alabama, but all over the world."

"Forty-seven percent of the voters are poor or low-wage. Getting that vote in is very important," she added. "We cannot settle for less, we've got to stand up for our rights. We are forward together—not one step back."

[beardedmrbean]

California Democratic state Sen. Susan Talamantes Eggman urged her progressive colleagues to pass a Republican-led bill that would make it a felony to solicit a child for sex. 

"I'd like to say as a progressive, proud member of this body for the last 12 years, I'm done," Eggman said on the Senate floor before voting for the bill last week. "I'm done with us protecting people who would buy and abuse our children. I'm done. I don't want to send more Black and brown men to prison. I don't want more people in prison, but I don't want people buying girls.

"I don't want people buying little girls anymore, and I'm tired of saying it's OK and that we have to protect the men who do it." 

Senate Bill 1414, introduced by Republican state Sen. Shannon Grove along with Democratic state senators Anna Caballero and Susan Rubio, classifies soliciting or purchasing sex from children 15 and under as either a misdemeanor or felony with the possibility of jail time. 

NEWSOM IGNORING CALIFORNIA CRISES TO PROMOTE HIMSELF IN PRO-ABORTION CAMPAIGN, GOP LAWMAKERS SAY

For those aged 16-17, it's considered a misdemeanor. While a felony charge entails prison time, repeat offenders with a substantial age gap with the victim must register as tier one sex offenders on their second offense.

"As a mental health professional and as a social worker, I can tell you I've spent my entire career working with people who have been wounded," Eggman added. "I'm not gonna say beyond repair, but they have been wounded to their core by the abuse that's been heaped on them oftentimes by those that they love and look to protect them."

Grove's bill toughens the punishment for child trafficking and increased it from a misdemeanor charge to a felony, carrying a maximum penalty of four years in prison and a $25,000 fine. Unlike current law, the penalties would apply regardless of whether the adult was aware of the child's age. 

CHURCH SERVICES DISTURBED AS RAMPANT SAN DIEGO PROSTITUTION HITS FEVER PITCH

Last month, Democrats on the Public Safety Committee "mutilated" portions of Grove's bill and added several amendments that only made proposed charges applicable if the child is younger than 15. The bill cleared the state Senate last week without Grove's original language in a 36-0 vote. Democratic Gov. Gavin Newsom also signaled his support for the bill, which now heads to the Assembly, where Grove hopes to reinsert a few of the bill's original proposals.

GOV. GAVIN NEWSOM FACES RECKONING WITH $73B BUDGET DEFICIT LAWMAKERS SAY HE HELPED CREATE

Grove had also proposed amendments to classify solicitation or purchasing sex from a child of any age as a prison felony and eliminate the 10-year age gap requirement for the sex offender registry.

"The crime of purchasing a child of any age for sex in the state of California should be a prison felony. I am incredibly disappointed in the Senate Pro Tem and Senate leadership for, once again, passing on an opportunity to restore amendments to the bill and stand up for all of California’s children," Grove said in a statement. 

"This outcome is a failure on the part of legislative leadership who caved to political pressure and did not prioritize the safety of our children. We must restore this bill in the Assembly to protect every child in the state of California from the horrific crime of sex trafficking."

[lesewut]

A short introduction of a Big Thinker- Meant to share, not to represent the wide fields he is dealing since the 1980s: Slavoj Zizek .

Platon dreamt of a state, led by philosophers and Zizek is kind of transposing this idea with the party Troika in Slovenia, together with two other philosophers.

Zizek, a critical and maybe unconventional thinker of our time, combing psychological methods of Lacan with the dialectic of Hegel (also Zizek tries to re-connect the Lacain rejection of philosophy). Making philosophy not only relevant in pop-cultural way, but also as a system of making an opinion in order to analyze the differences arousing in political conflicts, in historical-dialectic process. Zizek is opening discourse that is interlinking different disciplines, also connecting media as examples for underlining his point. Showing a critical understantment of happenings, that are often the product of ideology. Drawing attention of phenomena that is suppressed by media in order to let the audience in a dogmatic black-and-white-thinking, like an article published in the New York Times in 2014, where survivors of the Shoa are condemning 'the massacre of Palestinians in Gaza and the ongoing occupation and colonization of historic Palestine'. Likewise the paradox that whenever global finances crash, the stock markets register an upswing (quoting Yanis Varoufakis). Also that we do not live in a system of capitalism, more appropriate: In a Neo-Feudalism of Companies and that all groups that reject this system (mostly Islam influenced communites, but also indigenious folks..) are in the same breath presented in an anti-democratic behavior... Still I am shaked, when reading about the PR-work behind the justification of the Iraq-war and I recommend to read Zizek's work "The Borrowed Kettle" in which he is tracing the geo-political intentions behind this war. As Zizek emphasizes continously: The catastrophy has happened, but we haven't recognized. Prima facie it is some kind of uncomfortable to see and hear him speaking (touching his nose and snorting, speaking not fluently and his rhetoric skills…), when used to read him. So it was a mental work for me to 'comprehend' his theories without being extracted by those superficialities, as for my opinion, there was and is a link of fineness of in- and outside. But this is exactly the work and therapeutic aim behind Zizek, to accept our own discomfort, when hearing him, to look more into the deepness of some sentences, that seem to been thrown out a gut-feeling, but is more the work of critical analysis, not clinging into political directions of right and left, but showing the fatality in both. A stand point that is missed in the politcal discourse. It will stay a fragment to present all those enlightening ideas and summaries of Zizek, as he had also the time and experience to built his world-view around a historic-philosophic-psychological order. Not always I can agree on his ideas (e.g. ciritsing the criticers of Eurocentric methods as hypocratical, because in his opinion, the methods of critism are rooting in 'pure European thinking', but I have my problems by locating the human consciousness in one contitent, as we can not divide the reciproce influences from all time and areas, like the 'European heritage of Ancient Greece' would have been lost without the mental work in Toledo, also a wonderful proof in history how all religious were able to work together ; Also I miss a critical analysis of the Covid-pandemia in a Foucault-Bio-Power-way, not to negate the danger of the virus, but the methods of politcal practice.) But this is exactly what a good conversation must include, approach the 'truth' through discussions and disagreements.

[lunargracklepersonal]

It occurs to me that we're in a collective abusive relationship with our government. We have the chance to elect a government composed of one of two main forces. One is openly abusive. The other is covertly abusive.

There exist other forces we could elect to make up our government, but as a result of the first-past-the-post voting system most people don't consider these viable options.

Look, I come from a (relatively mildly) abusive family. If I had to choose to vote between my mother or father, one of who is less abusive than the other, and those were always my two choices, eventually do you know what I'd still realize? This is an abusive family. Does that mean I am obligated, morally, to vote for the less abusive one, and that things will in time stop being abusive as a result?

Now, imagine my siblings, some of whom are periodically being gaslit to be convinced no abuse is taking place, also get a vote.

Do you get where I'm going with this?

I'm essentially trying to get this family to vote for Uncle Mike, just long enough for us all to realize what's going on.

Failing that, I'm trying to get enough people to vote for Uncle Mike to trigger - something, anything, that gets real change. Maybe the abusive elements of the government will try to illegally crack down on people who voted third party and folks will riot. Maybe somebody more charismatic than I am will use that as the impetus to start a movement. Maybe, maybe, maybe. Better than waiting around for politicians to magically start growing a conscience.

But that's beside the point.

Do you see why I can't get behind the democratic party now?

This is still an abusive situation, just covertly instead of directly. These people are still fascists, just subtly instead of openly. And given a choice between Hitler and Mussolini the moral choice is not Mussolini as was proposed in a post that floated across my dash a few days ago.

I still believe in voting as a tool of democracy. Just consider voting third party - any third party you feel comfortable with will do. Vote for a joke if you can't find a good one. The point is to convince the people in power that you're still willing to put time and energy into democracy. Voting third party is a threat to them. A roundabout way of saying 'fuck your two party system'.

The argument of the split vote effect becomes irrelevant when both parties are abusive and you do not want either to win.

Someone somewhere is muttering, still, vote blue no matter who. Fuck that. Relegate it to the depths of hell where it belongs.

Do you realize how far right the blue has gone?

Even basic criticisms of wealth inequality have gone from a basic milquetoast centrist position anyone from the center right to the left could hold back on the 1990s to being considered actively leftist. (Oh, democrats, my dear sweet summer child, if you think a leftist is someone who criticizes wealth inequality and maybe has pronouns you're in for some shock when you fuck with any actual leftist.)

And do you know how we got here?

By voting without criticality.

A claim to blue-ness is a nothing claim. It's like claiming to be a nutritionist (as opposed to registered dietician) - anyone can do it, it's a nonregulated term. There are no official criteria. There is no test. No battle of wits with your predecessor or even a swearing in.

In other words, infiltration is really, really easy. Especially when your base keeps chanting 'vote blue no matter who'! So is just... Enshittification. We could have done so much better if we had held our side to a higher standard.

As far as I'm concerned, it's already over. Don't bother trying to convince me there's a chance to push the dems farther left or god forbid, rehabilitate Biden. I am an anarchist.

Tl;dr fuck 'vote blue no matter who'.

[mattyknees]

Hey! The vast majority of non voters are people who are in such maligned, marginalized circumstances that voting has never materially benefitted them ever, but you've never given a shit about their circumstances because you're in a position where voting DOES effect you, and THAT is your privilege!

You calling the poorest, most disabled, most violently oppressed people in the US "at fault" for the political crisis for not voting is actually you being a disgusting classist racist! And also politically illiterate in what a normal voter turnout is under democracy. Genuinely hope you learn to extend empathy to people who've never felt any ounce of political power in their life and RIGHTLY so not trust the system to advocate for them, you vile piece of shit 👍

hey, listen. i know you're angry and probably very very young and likely wouldn't be able to sniff out a case of "not for you, rabbit ears" if it were staring you in the face. but voting does actually materially benefit you, always.

i understand recency bias has influenced a good majority of y'all that have just become eligible or just started to pay attention to ampol in a serious way either since oct 7 or since mid 2023 when campaigning started up again. but it shows your lack of attention, insight, and political knowledge to say that voting does not benefit people that are marginalized. especially voting in us elections.

i am one of those people. i grew up on SNAP and WIC and independently still qualify for SNAP. the only reason i am not on SNAP is because i live with my mother and washington state considers me a dependent with combined income. i have been multiply disabled for my entire life and have more medical debt than you can fathom. i am not white. i am visibly transgender. all of these things impact my ability to vote in person. but you didn't consider any of these things before you sent this, did you?

i also should not have to qualify these things when i make the point to stir and promote political engagement. the only point where i politically have a leg up is that i vote absentee, because my state has mail in ballots by default, and it's somewhat easy to register in washington state. that's it. that's the only part of this where i have it easier.

we all benefit from political engagement. voting is the most crucial part of political engagement. protesting is useless when it is illegal. writing to your representatives is useless when your representatives are fascists. sending money overseas is useless when you are legally no longer allowed to have a job or a bank account. making ragebait posts on twitter and resharing infographics on your insta stories does fuckall when you live in a country ruled by an 80 year old nazi. but you, hiding behind those cute anonymous sunglasses enjoying your time on the internet like the nineteen year old jobless nobody like you are, don't understand that. because you're angry, and you're taking that anger out on someone that is also angry instead of directing it somewhere productive. and here i am doing the same because of it. but i'm also gonna give you some fucking information at the same time. because you wasted my morning sending this to me.

project 2025 is going to happen if we do not vote blue across the board and at that point you will literally not be allowed any form of political engagement. life will be worse for you than it already is now.

also, just because "normal" during a midterm means "less than during the primaries and generals", doesn't mean the turnout we have during the primaries and generals is something good or something to strive for. we need to be better than that if we actually want to move past the stale fucking 80 year old center right democrats we currently have speaking for us. we need to aim for 100% voter turnout. i will not settle for less.

there are also plenty of things elected democrats have done that have materially benefited us. plenty of things the Biden Administration has done! but again none of you fucks are paying attention!

inflation reduction act and medicare - access to prescriptions for disabled people, highlighting insulin caps and the ability to negotiate even lower. we are paying significantly less than we were before this legislation was signed.

bipartisan infrastructure law - specific provisions for women and minority owned businesses, public transport, fish and wildlife, indigenous land.

bipartisan safer communities act - gun control legislation, expanding access to telehealth under medicaid and CHIP, expanding the medicaid and CHIP networks, allows NICS to look into potentially disqualifying juvenile records and closes the "boyfriend loophole", provides multiple grants for multiple mental health services.

respect for marriage act - defines marriage as any valid legal union between two people and

DEA rescheduling of cannabis - oct 2022 biden asked the DEA to consider rescheduling cannabis. reschedulings are rarely denied - deschedulings are rarely approved. this will almost guaranteed happen.

electoral count act reform (2) - makes it exceedingly difficult for another january sixth to happen

local democrats also codified abortion access and protections in michigan, ohio, and washington. local republicans have been a nightmare for it in florida and arizona. dook at what julie mccluskie has done for colorado.

and again, with resources like how to vote in every state, the excuse of "i can't" is lazy as hell at this point. people can literally show up at your door and help you fill out an absentee ballot or get to a polling station to vote curbside, people are allowed at the voting booth to help you with a language barrier or processing issue if you need it.

but. like i said. continue to be angry. continue to rage in my inbox, behind your anonymous sunglasses. continue to be disengaged. and then be all fucking shocked pikachu face when trump and the like-minded GOP get voted in, and everyone in southwest asia gets bombed to shit, and every queer USian gets legislated out of existence, and every latino not born here gets deported. continue to make this a me issue, and not a disengaged voter bloc issue. because this is all about me, someone that has voted in every single election since august 2018, and totally not about the youth vote that has notoriously been disengaged and fucking useless in american politics. sure babe.

[qqueenofhades]

As an European I do love to shit on American politics of course, but at the same time, the moment you're a little bit aware of world politics as European you know to watch the USA.

Like. This is of utmost importance to us too. Look at the massive right in far right fascist ideas in Europe right now. I am willing to bet on Trump paving the way for these idiots. (In fact the night after Trump was elected, I dreamt he nuked the world outside of North America just because he felt like it).

In 2008, the crisis started in America and it spread from there. I remember watching with baited breath and it was rough. Tumblr's Americanocentrism is frustrating and unwarranted and must change, but American politics definitely DO affect the rest of the world in tangible ways. America is used as precedent. (I know you know this, mx. Queen, but idk about your followers which is why I'm saying this!)

These elections aren't just the most important to American citizens. They are extremely important to non-American too.

Ps I think it is bullshit you need to register to vote. I assume this is another Republican attempt to stop people from voting? Coming from a country where you're sent an invitation to vote when you're 18+ and they've voting offices at universities and train stations to increase the number of voters... Yikes. Fuck the Republicans and any politician abroad who supports them!

If, God forbid, American democracy was to end, the damage to both America itself, and the rest of the world, would be utterly incalculable. America is the oldest democratic republic and also the most powerful country in the world. We know the "freedom" thing is abused and misused, has been invoked to justify countless ill-omened imperial and foreign adventures, done plenty of very real harm to many places, and is built on a systemic and deliberate misreading of history. But if that's the case even in a flawed liberal democracy, how many orders of magnitude worse would it be in an unabashed theocratic fascist dictatorship? Can you even begin to imagine the damage that regime could and would do to EVERYONE?

America is a flawed, messy bitch of a country in so many ways, and it has never once actually lived up to its founding ideals. But at least it has been a democracy, and the influence it exerts on the rest of the world, for better or worse, is incalculable. It would be an absolute, unmitigated, unbearable, irreversible tragedy if fascism was allowed to have free rein here. If anyone is like "I hate America": I GET IT. I GET IT SO HARD. But if your response to that is "I don't care if it becomes openly fascist and won't act to stop that," that is a huge problem.

[iphigeniacomplex]

লিখি লোৱা, মই এজন মিঞা ("Write Down 'I am a Miyah'", 2016) by Hafiz Ahmed, translated from Assamese to English by Shalim M. Hussain, began a movement of resistance poetry among Assamese Muslims of Bengali descent, referred to as Miya Poetry after a slur used to describe this community. From Abdul Kalam Azad, for Indian Express ("Write...I am a Miya", 2019):

This poem went viral and other young poets started responding to him through poems. The young poets also started reclaiming “Miya”, a slur used against us, as our identity with pride. This chain of Facebook posts continued for days, reiterating the violence, suffering and humiliation expressed by our community. As time passed, more poets wrote in various languages and dialects, including many Miya dialects. The nomenclature ‘Miya Poetry’ got generated organically but the poets and their associates have been inspired by the Negritude and Black Arts movements, and queer, feminist and Dalit literary movements, where the oppressed have reclaimed the identity which was used to dehumanise them. The trend transcended our community. Poets from the mainstream Assamese community also wrote several poems in solidarity with the Miya poets while some regretted not being poets. Gradually, this became a full-fledged poetry movement and got recognised by other poets, critics and commentators. The quality and soul of these poems are so universal that they started finding prominence on reputed platforms. For the first time in the history of our community, we had started telling our own stories and reclaiming the Miya identity to fight against our harassers who were dehumanising us with the same word. They accused us of portraying the whole Assamese society as xenophobic. The fact is we have just analysed our conditions. Forget generalising the Assamese society as ‘xenophobic’, no Miya poet has ever used the term ‘xenophobic’ nor any of its variants. The guilt complex of our accusers is so profound that they don’t have the patience to examine why we wrote the poems.

Amrita Singh, writing for The Caravan ("Assam Against Itself", 2019), detailed the political backlash against Miya Poetry, in particular the above poem.

On 10 July this year, Pranabjit Doloi, an Assam-based journalist, filed a complaint at Guwahati’s Panbazar police station accusing ten people of indulging in criminal activities “to defame the Assamese people as Xenophobic in the world.” Doloi claimed that the ten people were trying to hinder the ongoing updation of the National Register of Citizens, a list of Assam’s Indian citizens that is due to be published on 31 August. The premise of Doloi’s complaint was a widely-circulated poem called, “Write down I am Miya,” by Hafiz Ahmed, a school teacher and social activist. “Write. Write down I am a Miya/ A citizen of democratic secular republic without any rights,” Ahmed wrote. The police registered a first information report against Doloi’s complaint, booking all ten persons for promoting enmity between groups, among other offences. [...] At the press conference, Mander emphasised that people in Assam are in distress because of the NRC’s arbitrary and rigid procedures. “One spelling mistake when you are writing a Bengali name in English … that is enough for you to be in a detention center, declared a foreigner,” Mander said. “If you are not allowing this lament to come out in the form of poetry, then where is this republic of India going?”

Ahmed's poem is influenced in structure by "Identity Card", a 1964 poem by by Palestinian poet Mahmoud Darwish which uses the symbolic figure of the Palestinian working man to confront Israeli occupiers. Darwish's identity card, a symbol of Israeli subjugation transformed into a cry of Palestinian national identity, is reshaped by Ahmed into the National Register of Citizens for Assam and the accompanying fear of statelessness and disenfranchisement for the Miya people.

This solidarity between writers from oppressed groups is, of course, not one that ends with Darwish and Ahmed, nor with the Black, queer, feminist, and Dalit influences of Miya Poetry. As long as there is oppression, there will be companionship and recognition reflected in art and activism. On December 13, 2023, Black Agenda Report reprinted Refaat Alareer's "If I Must Die", acknowledging the connection between Alareer's poem and "If We Must Die" by Claude McKay, written in 1919 in response to the Red Summer white supremacist riots. In 2000, Haitian community activist Dahoud Andre translated "If We Must Die" into Kreyòl, and the Black Agenda Report editorial honors Alareer in a similar way, reprinting "If I Must Die" with an accompanying Kreyòl translation. (POEM: If I Must Die, Refaat Alareer, 2023.)

Transcripts under the cut.

[Hafiz Ahmed Transcripts (Assamese and English):

লিখি লোৱা, মই এজন মিঞা

লিখা, লিখি লোৱা মই এজন মিঞা এন. আৰ. চিৰ ক্রমিক নং ২০০৫৪৩ দুজন সন্তানৰ বাপেক মই, অহাবাৰ গ্ৰীষ্মত জন্ম ল’ব আৰু এজনে তাকো তুমি ঘিণ কৰিবা নেকি যিদৰে ঘিণ কৰা মোক?

লিখি লোৱা, মই এজন মিঞা পতিত ভূমি, পিতনিক মই ৰূপান্তৰিত কৰিছোঁ শস্য-শ্যামলা সেউজী পথাৰলৈ তোমাক খুৱাবলৈ মই ইটা কঢ়িয়াইছোঁ তোমাৰ অট্টালিকা সাজিবলৈ, তোমাৰ গাড়ী চলাইছোঁ তোমাক আৰাম দিবলৈ, তোমাৰ নৰ্দমা ছাফা কৰিছোঁ তোমাক নিৰোগী কৰি ৰাখিবলৈ, তোমাৰে সেৱাতে মগন মই অনবৰত তাৰ পিছতো কিয় তুমি খৰ্গহস্ত? লিখা, লিখি লোৱা মই এজন মিঞা গণতান্ত্ৰিক, গণৰাজ্য এখনৰ নাগৰিক এজন যাৰ কোনো অধিকাৰ নাইকিয়া মাতৃক মোৰ সজোৱা হৈছে সন্দেহযুক্ত ভোটাৰ যদিও পিতৃ-মাতৃ তাইৰ নিঃসন্দেহে ভাৰতীয়

ইচ্ছা কৰিলেই তুমি মোক হত্যা কৰিব পাৰা, জ্বলাই দিব পৰা মোৰ খেৰৰ পঁজা, খেদি দিব পাৰা মোক মোৰেই গাঁৱৰ পৰা, কাঢ়ি নিব পাৰা মোৰ সেউজী পথাৰ মোৰ বুকুৰ ওপৰেৰে চলাব পাৰা তোমাৰ বুলড্‌জাৰ তোমাৰ বুলেটে বুকুখন মোৰ কৰিব পাৰে থকাসৰকা (তোমাৰ এই কাৰ্যৰ বাবে তুমি কোনো স্তিও নোপোৱা) যুগ-যুগান্তৰ তোমাৰ অত্যাচাৰ সহ্য কৰি ব্ৰহ্মপুত্ৰৰ চৰত বাস কৰা মই এজন মিঞা মোৰ দেহা হৈ পৰিছে নিগ্ৰো কলা মোৰ চকুযুৰি অঙঠাৰ দৰে ৰঙা সাৱধান! মোৰ দুচকুত জমা হৈ আছে যুগ যুগান্তৰৰ বঞ্চনাৰ বাৰুদ আঁতৰি যোৱা, নতুবা অচিৰেই পৰিণত হ’বা মূল্যহীন ছাইত!

Write Down ‘I am a Miyah’ Hafiz Ahmed, 2016 trans. Shalim M. Hussain

Write Write Down I am a Miya My serial number in the NRC is 200543 I have two children Another is coming Next summer. Will you hate him As you hate me?

write I am a Miya I turn waste, marshy lands To green paddy fields To feed you. I carry bricks To build your buildings Drive your car For your comfort Clean your drain To keep you healthy. I have always been In your service And yet you are dissatisfied! Write down I am a Miya, A citizen of a democratic, secular, Republic Without any rights My mother a D voter, Though her parents are Indian.

If you wish kill me, drive me from my village, Snatch my green fields hire bulldozers To roll over me. Your bullets Can shatter my breast for no crime.

Write I am a Miya Of the Brahamaputra Your torture Has burnt my body black Reddened my eyes with fire. Beware! I have nothing but anger in stock. Keep away! Or Turn to Ashes.

]

[Mahmoud Darwish Transcripts (Arabic and English):

سجِّل أنا عربي ورقمُ بطاقتي خمسونَ ألفْ وأطفالي ثمانيةٌ وتاسعهُم.. سيأتي بعدَ صيفْ! فهلْ تغضبْ؟ سجِّلْ أنا عربي وأعملُ مع رفاقِ الكدحِ في محجرْ وأطفالي ثمانيةٌ أسلُّ لهمْ رغيفَ الخبزِ، والأثوابَ والدفترْ من الصخرِ ولا أتوسَّلُ الصدقاتِ من بابِكْ ولا أصغرْ أمامَ بلاطِ أعتابكْ فهل تغضب؟ سجل أنا عربي أنا اسم بلا لقبِ صَبورٌ في بلادٍ كلُّ ما فيها يعيشُ بفَوْرةِ الغضبِ جذوري قبلَ ميلادِ الزمانِ رستْ وقبلَ تفتّحِ الحقبِ وقبلَ السّروِ والزيتونِ .. وقبلَ ترعرعِ العشبِ أبي.. من أسرةِ المحراثِ لا من سادةٍ نُجُبِ وجدّي كانَ فلاحاً بلا حسبٍ.. ولا نسبِ! يُعَلّمني شموخَ الشمسِ قبلَ قراءةِ الكتبِ وبيتي’ كوخُ ناطورٍ منَ الأعوادِ والقصبِ فهل تُرضيكَ منزلتي؟ أنا اسم بلا لقبِ! سجلْ أنا عربي ولونُ الشعرِ.. فحميٌّ ولونُ العينِ.. بنيٌّ وميزاتي: على رأسي عقالٌ فوقَ كوفيّه وكفّي صلبةٌ كالصخرِ... تخمشُ من يلامسَها وعنواني: أنا من قريةٍ عزلاءَ منسيّهْ شوارعُها بلا أسماء وكلُّ رجالها في الحقلِ والمحجرْ فهل تغضبْ؟ سجِّل! أنا عربي سلبتُ كرومَ أجدادي وأرضاً كنتُ أفلحُها أنا وجميعُ أولادي ولم تتركْ لنا.. ولكلِّ أحفادي سوى هذي الصخورِ... فهل ستأخذُها حكومتكمْ.. كما قيلا!؟ إذنْ سجِّل.. برأسِ الصفحةِ الأولى أنا لا أكرهُ الناسَ ولا أسطو على أحدٍ ولكنّي.. إذا ما جعتُ آكلُ لحمَ مغتصبي حذارِ.. حذارِ.. من جوعي ومن غضبي!!

Identity Card Mahmoud Darwish, 1964 trans. Denys Johnson-Davies

Put it on record. I am an Arab

And the number of my card is fifty thousand I have eight children And the ninth is due after summer. What's there to be angry about?

Put it on record. I am an Arab

Working with comrades of toil in a quarry. I have eight children For them I wrest the loaf of bread, The clothes and exercise books From the rocks And beg for no alms at your door, Lower not myself at your doorstep. What's there to be angry about?

Put it on record. I am an Arab.

I am a name without a title, Patient in a country where everything Lives in a whirlpool of anger. My roots Took hold before the birth of time Before the burgeoning of the ages, Before cypress and olive trees, Before the proliferation of weeds.

My father is from the family of the plough Not from highborn nobles.

And my grandfather was a peasant Without line or genealogy.

My house is a watchman's hut Made of sticks and reeds.

Does my status satisfy you? I am a name without a surname.

Put it on record. I am an Arab.

Color of hair: jet black. Color of eyes: brown. My distinguishing features: On my head the `iqal cords over a keffiyeh Scratching him who touches it.

My address: I'm from a village, remote, forgotten, Its streets without name And all its men in the fields and quarry. What's there to be angry about?

Put it on record. I am an Arab.

You stole my forefathers' vineyards And land I used to till, I and all my children, And you left us and all my grandchildren Nothing but these rocks. Will your government be taking them too As is being said?

So! Put it on record at the top of page one: I don't hate people, I trespass on no one's property.

And yet, if I were to become hungry I shall eat the flesh of my usurper. Beware, beware of my hunger And of my anger!

]

[mariacallous]

We are less than one year away from Election Day and although there has been no new evidence or litigation regarding election fraud in the 2020 election, many people continue to believe that the 2020 election was flawed. In the summer, a poll by the Associated Press showed that 22% of Republicans and 71% of Democrats have high confidence in votes being counted accurately in 2024. A more recent Washington Post poll found that among New Hampshire Republicans, over 50% believe Biden’s win was fraudulent, including 85% of Trump supporters.

Chief among those who continue to believe that the 2020 election was fraudulent is the former president, Donald Trump, who can’t seem to stop talking about it. In one post, he goes after the Republican Party for not doing enough — “… the RNC, and Ronna McDaniel, must spend their time working on this, instead of meaningless Debates where I am up by more than 50 points.”

So, where’s the fraud?

The Heritage Foundation, a conservative think tank, has been monitoring election fraud cases state by state. Election fraud covers a range of activities — such as registering someone to vote and forging their signature, filling out an absentee ballot for someone who has died or moved away, voting while ineligible, or pretending to be someone else at the polling place and voting. They find that there have been 1,465 proven cases of election fraud — 1,264 of these resulted in criminal prosecutions and the remainder resulted in civil prosecutions, diversion programs, judicial findings, or official findings.

These may sound like big numbers, however, they must be examined in context. The findings encompass more than a decade of data during which, nationally, hundreds of millions of votes have been cast. For instance, in Texas, Heritage found 103 cases of confirmed election fraud. However, those 103 ranged from 2005 to 2022 during which time over 107 million ballots were cast. There were 11 million ballots cast in the 2020 presidential election alone. The fraud in Texas amounted to 0.000096% of all ballots cast — hardly evidence of a fundamentally corrupt system.

Of course, true conspiracy believers will argue that Trump opponents knew that Trump was going to win Texas, so they didn’t bother to commit fraud there — fraud was only rampant in the swing states. But the story is much the same in swing states. For instance, in Arizona, where President Biden won by a mere 10,457 votes in 2020, Heritage documents just four cases of fraudulent voting in the general election. Furthermore, while former Republican gubernatorial candidate and 2024 Senate candidate Kari Lake falsely claimed widespread fraud following her loss in 2022, there have been zero reported cases from that year thus far. To put these cases (or lack thereof) in perspective, Arizonans cast over 6 million votes in the 2020 and 2022 general elections. There is also minimal evidence to suggest that the few fraudulent votes benefited Democratic candidates. In one 2020 case, a 64-year-old Arizona Republican cast a Republican ballot on behalf of her deceased mother in an apparent effort to counteract what she believed was widespread voter fraud by Democrats.

Other swing states have also recorded negligible numbers of election fraud. In Georgia, Heritage has reported no cases of fraud in the 2020 or 2022 general elections, in which nearly nine million votes were cast. Otherwise, just one case of fraud has been reported in the state in the last four years. It involved a 62-year-old convicted felon who filled out and submitted a ballot sent to the wrong address during the January 2021 Senate runoff election. And yet Trump’s attempts to overturn the election results in Georgia are based on his assertion that there was enough voter fraud to flip the state.

In Florida, there were nine cases of election fraud between the 2020 and 2022 elections but many of those involved individuals who were confused over whether or not they had the right to vote.

In 2018, voters in the state passed a constitutional amendment allowing people convicted of felonies to vote once they had served their time. Subsequently the Florida legislature passed a law requiring felons to pay all fines before they could vote. In fact, some of those convicted of voter fraud were even given a Florida voter ID card and specifically told by local election officials that they would be able to vote. This was contested as a violation of the constitutional ban on poll taxes. The administrative back and forth left some would-be voters confused about their right to vote (or rather, lack thereof). Whether or not this is evidence of widespread fraud is questionable to say the least.

So, what’s going on here? Nothing. Confirmed conspiracy theorists never take no for an answer, so they will certainly insist that there was massive fraud or that prosecutors were bought off. But one fact about elections is often overlooked. The political parties at the national, state, and local level have an intense interest in who votes and how. That’s why, come election years, both parties mobilize thousands of attorneys who, armed with blank injunctions, are ready to run to court at the slightest sign of illegal behavior. In Pennsylvania alone, for example, it is estimated that litigation attempts cost $4 million in taxpayer dollars. Despite the millions of dollars spent on litigation attempts regarding the 2020 election, 61 out of the 62 lawsuits filed had failed by January 2021 alone.

To believe that massive fraud could occur against the Republican Party means that one also has to believe that the Republican Party was asleep at the switch — that they did not mobilize attorneys or that the attorneys they did mobilize didn’t do their job. In fact, Donald Trump is attacking his own hand-picked and loyal Republican National Committee Chair, Ronna McDaniel, for not spending more time preventing fraud. The same woman was party chair in 2020 — if she had really cost Republicans the election by failing to find evidence of fraud that would stand up in court, why did Trump keep her around?

Heritage admits that their tracker is not complete, and we have no doubts that there are probably cases out there still to be discovered or prosecuted. But thus far, the amount of proven election fraud is miniscule.

[thessalian]

Thess vs A CrapSack World

So basically the world is really, really fucked up right now. I can bullet-point a lot of it, or at least I can try.

GENOCIDE BAD, OKAY?

And across the pond from me... Not seeing nearly enough about the fact that "old white dude quietly trying to get shit done as leader of his country but also maintaining the status quo on genocide" is still better than "old orange-ish dude who will destroy your fucking country and exacerbate the genocide if you let him get in again"

Apparently standing up and shouting "GENOCIDE BAD" is enough to panic people in this country so hard that folks are spinning fantasies about some Israeli Deep State controlling all of us (yes, actual government officials are saying this shit, and not even really getting condemned for it - look up Lee Anderson sometime) and start hinting at new anti-protest legislation (as if we didn't have enough of that) because "mob rule is replacing democratic rule". Says the man who nobody voted for.

Everything is way too expensive. And is only getting more and more expensive as time goes on - especially here, since we're having the worst effects of Brexit hitting us in stages and we're just about at the worst of it now.

The wealthy are blaming us for not wanting to work too hard for too little money, and for not buying enough to keep industries running, and generally fucking over everybody to keep their profit margins going ever-upwards. I can almost see the upcoming destruction of the bubble, but apparently we're going to go into "dynamic pricing" first, to make us pay more even for essentials depending on some AI's idea of when they can fleece us the most. Basically I'm tired of being a money-stuffed pinata to be beaten on by our corporate overlords until cash comes out.

On a personal note, I just had to register for postal voting and have no the fuck idea who I should be voting for because for fuck's sake, they're all as bad as each other at that point. I could probably focus on my constituency, but this is such a safe Labour seat that it barely even matters. Still, I'm not going to hike up a fucking hill to exercise my democratic rights, even if I don't know if there's anyone I can actually in all good conscience vote for.

Further personal note: just about every fucking part of the government seems to hate trans people. They all seem to be making the statement about "I know what a man is and I know what a woman is and there is no confusion about that", with the underlying suggestion of "man = penis, woman = vulva", which ... dear gods. We've got people asking, "Were the two kids who murdered a trans pupil really evil?" like, "Yeah, they fucking killed somebody, but ... well, it was only one of those..."

Final personal note: I am still so fucking tired of being disabled. I want to go out to the yarn store in my area, because ... y'know, good yarn, learning to crochet, yadda. Plus some other errands - I need gluten-free pasta, which they ran out of for my big monthly grocery order, and some other stuff. But I'm having to plan this entire trip in the most strategic way you can imagine because ... well, pain. I am so tired of having pain.

So there's all of ... y'know. This. And sometimes I don't know how I don't just despair myself into the ground. Because I can't do anything about most of this. Hell, I can't do anything about any of this. It just sits there, being shitty.

However. I had a really helpful therapist once, after I had my really major breakdown, and she said that the whole thing where I was grabbing at anything that might have the remotest chance of making me even briefly happy was a good instinct, and I just had to learn to do it more consciously. So. As small and shallow as some of these things are, here are my things right now:

I have the most awesome friends.

On the subject of friends, I have D&D nights.

I have pretty decent parentals, all told.

I have a new-old book (an old favourite I haven't read in a long time, and picked up for my Kindle recently)

I have a week off work, so I can recover a bit from the ow.

I have the first game I've pre-ordered since Dredge, which will be available in just over two weeks.

I have a trip to the yarn store ... and the yarn store has a shop cat.

That'll do for the time being. It may not seem like much, but it's a good bulwark between me and despair. I remember enough about my really major breakdown to know I really need those.

[margueritesauvage]

Finally I'm officially a Canadian citizen!! After 8 years on Canadian soil and various immigrant statues I now have double nationality.

I swear to King Charles the Third but the leaflet from immigration is still with Queen Elizabeth.

This is a big achievement in my life.

The funny anecdote is the woman that registered me during the online ceremony wanted me to provide proof of being in Canada, my laptop is wired, including internet, so I couldn't move it to show her outside, finally she understood that and asked me to bring some Canadian food FROM MY FRIDGE I chose the Olympic and Liberty yogourt, and maple syrup, but she didn't know the brands. Then she asked for milk and, hum, we are a lactose intolerant family. At the end she accepted to acknowledge I was on Canadian soil for REAL.

I know how lucky and privileged I am to be French and Canadian, 2 democratic and wealthy countries, and I really wish that everyone get the chances to live in a country where they feel safe.

#canadiancitizenship #immigrationcanada #citizenshipceremony #citizenshipcertificate

[satorugojowidow]

I will take the chance that you people be so interested in titanic related issue to share what is going on in Argentina with indigenous community and teachers 

Movie director James Cameron says he feels he “walked into an ambush” this week during a visit to Argentina in which he believes there was an attempt to use his image as an environmentalist to give a positive spin to lithium mining operations despite Indigenous opposition.

Cameron, the director of “Avatar” and “Titanic,” said Friday he would now devote attention and money from his Avatar Alliance Foundation to support Indigenous communities opposing lithium operations in South America.

“Ironically, the outcome of this is that I am now aware of the problem and we will now assist through my foundation with the issue of Indigenous rights with respect to lithium extraction,” Cameron told a group of journalists gathered in his hotel room in the capital of Buenos Aires Friday evening.

Cameron came to Argentina this week to speak at a sustainability conference in Buenos Aires on Friday.

“I believed that I was coming here to make a kind of motivational speech about environmental causes,” Cameron said.

As part of the visit, Cameron traveled to northern Jujuy province Thursday to visit a large solar power plant with Gov. Gerardo Morales and says he was never told lithium would be part of the discussion.

After Cameron’s visit, Morales wrote a message on social media thanking Cameron for the visit, writing that the province was looking to “transform the energy matrix” through projects such as the solar power plant and “lithium extraction.”

The director received a letter that a group of 33 Indigenous communities from the area had written to him a few days earlier asking him to either cancel his trip or meet with them so they could explain their long-held opposition to lithium mining projects they say affect their land rights and negatively impact the environment.

“I feel like I walked into an ambush,” Cameron told journalists after meeting with local environmentalists, saying he was unaware of controversy involving lithium projects. “I feel like I was put into an optic that had meaning that I wasn’t aware of.”

read more

Context

Gerardo Morales is facing the protest of teachers that gain almost a third of a minimum wage for their work. During this protest he used his majority in the legislature to push a reform of the Constitution of the province of Jujuy where he is the governor, that bans protest (that is constitutional right in argentinian National Constitution). 

The reform include modification of article 36, "right to private property", leaves registered owners who dispute land with indigenous communities in better conditions, since it incorporates "fast and expeditious mechanisms and routes that protect private property and restore any alteration in possession , use and enjoyment of the goods in favor of its owner". And it affirms that non-consensual occupation will be considered a "serious violation of the right to property", and also encourages the enactment of a law that determines "the conditions for eviction".

It also eliminates midterm elections and establishes that "the party that obtains the majority of votes in the elections for Governor (will obtain) half plus one of the seats in the Legislature."

It established the "Right to Social Peace and Peaceful Democratic Coexistence", which proposes to incorporate into the new Constitution "the express prohibition of total blockades of streets and roadblocks, as well as any other disturbance to the right to free movement of the inhabitants of the province and its legal consequences". That will criminalize the protest. 

source

The national deputy of the Frente de Todos (FdT) for Jujuy Carolina Moisés said this Saturday that "the background of the provincial constitutional reform" goes through "the management of the lithium industry", and accused the district governor, Gerardo Morales, of deal with the logic of "extortion". 

"It is a screen and a smokescreen to download these two articles. The communities have already rejected it because the problem is not article 50, where it names the communities, but the chapter in which it refers to the use of natural resources. This is something that the communities must approve because the lands correspond to them”, observed Moisés.

In this sense, the deputy indicated that "the fiscal land regime proposed by Morales authorizes the Executive to decide on all the undertakings that it wants to carry out in the province", as well as "arrogates the right to authorize the legal status of communities, in the chapter related to social peace," she clarified.

source

In this context, teachers, unions, social movements and independent citizens have been protesting against the reform and suffered violence from the police. 

The UN Human Rights Office in Argentina expressed concern over reports of violations of rights and violent actions that occurred during protests taking place in the province of Jujuy, in the north of the country, in response to a reform of the provincial Constitution. approved yesterday Tuesday June 20 by the local legislature.

The UN information reports the improper use of force by police officers, which has left dozens of people injured, including a teenager with severe eye trauma and another person with serious head injuries.

read more