What happened? Well, the Democrats were the decent caring party. The all-inclusive party. The protectors of immigrants and women's rights (Roe v Wade). The Democrats fought for Blacks, gay marriage, and LGBTQ. The Democrats fought to keep books in schools and free lunch.
The…
— Willie Ross Jr. Knee Deep (@RossKneeDeep) November 12, 2024
The Democrats fought for all these things. Alas, it wasn’t enough. The Republicans ran on hate, lies, bigotry, and racism. They ran horrible racist ads about Hispanic people. They took away women’s rights. The Republicans dogged gay and transgender people. Yet, it was just what America wanted and needed. Make no mistake. There were no undecided voters in this election. They all knew what they were getting.
I’ll never forget my New Testament professor telling me that sometimes God’s wrath looks like just letting people have the reality they demanded. The reality they voted for.
— Rev. Benjamin Cremer (@Brcremer) November 10, 2024
Cool that every single Republican is fucking stupid https://t.co/buqQlfpKy8
— evan loves worf (@esjesjesj) November 12, 2024
IM GONNA LOSE IT pic.twitter.com/S9eE5cgMFP
— thaena (@ppPepoComfy) November 9, 2024
Those who drink tears stay thirsty!…
This is why Truth Social has no juice. There are no libs to own.
— Bene Jesserit (@JessLizBryan) November 10, 2024
Yeah, I keep seeing fewer “liberal tears” tweets and a helluva lot of “liberals are mean for not wanting to speak to us”tweets
Even conservatives hate being stuck being around other conservatives. The conservative craves liberal approval https://t.co/J2mvIwNbxk
— constans (@constans) November 10, 2024
Okay, I admit, I've been kind of rope-a-doping some of the people angry over my "it's okay to drop friends over politics posts." So I'll wrap up:
I don't recall anyone on my right getting mad when I wrote this in a right-wing – now insanely right wing – magazine in 2016. /1 pic.twitter.com/gvPd5lUcoU— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) November 11, 2024
If you're angry over dropping friends and family over Trump now, but weren't in 2016, or aren't over calls now to de-recognize other citizens as Americans (and I assume that means friends who voted for Harris)…well…
/3— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) November 11, 2024
What you're *really* doing is a special pleading for your right to judge others – and to remove them as Americans in your eyes – while demanding that *others* still treat you as a friend.
This isn't kindergarten. We're not all required to be friends. /4x— Tom Nichols (@RadioFreeTom) November 11, 2024
Personally, I think that 100% tariffs, firing half the Federal government, and invading Mexico are bad ideas that will not help the country, but the wisdom of the American people has decided otherwise, and who am I argue with that? https://t.co/Sfn57iJdE2
— Nathan Goldwag ???? (@GoldwagNathan) November 10, 2024
If you look at her twitter feed, the woman in the embedded video below is a satirist. ‘The Disrespected Trucker’ fella, on the other hand, seems to be quite seriously indignant for his fellow MAGAts!
Her: no, you didn’t understand, it was fuck YOUR feelings. My feelings are very important and need to be accommodating of mine.
Look, it’s a very phenomenon that trunk voters are gross unpleasant people who have gross and repulsive personalities and find Trump attractive. https://t.co/TNIhUydpOM
— constans (@constans) November 10, 2024
This tweet is still relevant to this day. pic.twitter.com/fmhrY3Hrcc
— Corey (@Thecolours) November 10, 2024
War for Ukraine Day 993: Russia Brings a New Form of Terror by Drone to Kharkiv
Mathguy
Wow, first comment? 3:23 CST and can’t sleep. It’s been a week and still affected by 11/5. I really don’t want to live in Mississippi but come 1/21, that’s where we’ll be, if we’re lucky. To hell with the shitgibbon and all his minions.
I’m somewhere around stage 4 on the stages of grief.
Bruce K in ATH-GR
I think the verdict of history will be that everyone – everyone – lost last Tuesday. It’s just that not everyone realizes it yet. It’s what I’ve been thinking and saying about Brexit ever since it happened, but writ larger.
Speaking of which, has anyone heard from Tony Jay since the Disaster hit?
Rusty
Conservatives want to be loved even as they are hateful, nasty, divisive, people. They also want to be respected even as they are all those things too. It’s such a weird phenomena, being nasty and fragile at the same time, calling people snowflakes while being snowflakes. I’d have more respect for them if they just owned their meanness, that would at least be honest.
Mathguy
@Rusty: as always with them EAIAC.
Rusty
@Mathguy: Mostly conservatives want everywhere to be like Mississippi because they enjoy hurting people. But there is also a practical reason to do so. From the news, something like a quarter of OB/GYN’s have left Idaho over its severe anti-abortion law. A survey found half of OB/GYN’S in Texas are planning to leave or retire early over the Texas abortion law. If you make everywhere else shitty, then maybe people won’t exercise their freedom to move and take their skills with them. The brain drain from conservative states could in the longer term because a problem for those states unless stopped.
TBone
As I shuffled down the hall toward the coffee maker, I heard a prolonged noise, a nerve-grating effort at a male voice bleating about processed food and childhood diabetes. Then a soothing Michelle Obama clip for juxtaposition. Then the ear-bleed-inducing grating began again. Fuck, GMA, c’mon man, please don’t continue to give RFK, Jr. a platform ALREADY! It’s waaaay too early for this shit 🤦♀️
nevsky42
Heh, I just got off the Leopards Ate My Face thread on Reddit. These stories are going to be my solace for the next four years if our society lasts that long…
TBone
USA now means
Uncomprehending
Stupid
Assholes
Exhibit A: “GEO Group was built for this unique moment in our country’s history,” said the private prison giant’s chairman to investors this week. After maxing out on campaign donations, it’s now preparing for mass surveillance and deportations under the new admin. GEO stock is up 46%”
eclare
@Bruce K in ATH-GR:
Yep. Those Google searches remind me how after Brexit passed, people suddenly researched what it meant to leave the EU.
Baud
This post makes me believe that liberals are finally developing some pride. It’s about time. Hopefully it’s not too late.
Kay
I’m in Portugal with my Danish granddaughter – Portugal is wonderful. Go if you get a chance.
Was reading Tik Tok last night and there’s now a whole genre of liberal women explaining Trump policy to Trump voters.
Apparently Trump told parents they would get 10k a year for homeschooling. Instead he plans to allow them to invest 10k of their own money in a 529 education savings plan which they can use to pay themselves for homeschooling.
They didn’t understand that he was promising them 10k of their own education savings account – the education account none of them have.
I don’t care what happens to them so I’m enjoying it.
It IS sort of interesting that Trump made all these promises for handouts to conservatives though and that went completely under the radar. Was there any coverage at all of the fact that he promised them 10k in cash? I mean, it was a lie (of course) but why didn’t we hear about it?
NotoriousJRT
@Rusty: I don’t know if they want to be loved so much as they want to be RIGHT, and for everyone to nod (applause would be better) along with their every pronouncement.
Baud
@Kay:
Media was too busy reporting that Harris had no policies.
eclare
@Kay:
I never heard about $10k for homeschooling.
Besides, isn’t that something that would go through the Dept. of Education, which he wants to eliminate?
TBone
Public Service Announcement:
Up first: Bill Murray!
His interview is at the bottom of this page:
https://link.chtbl.com/talking-pictures?lid=8dpp9alt9wvo
Baud
@eclare:
I looked it up. A 529 plan gets special tax benefits for education. I guess Trump is promising to expand it so people can use the money in their accounts for homeschooling and keep the tax benefits.
Kay
@Baud:
He promised them he would ban investors from buying homes!
I heard not a word about this. Apparently there was an entire Trump campaign promise agenda that media didn’t cover at all.
TBone
Theme song for this post by The Alan Parsons Project 🎶😎😍
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=JuooKF-IZaE
Baud
@Kay:
That’s not a bad promise for votes. But how did people hear about it if we didn’t?
I don’t expect him to follow through, of course. He’s not going to undercut real estate investors, especially after they bribe him.
John S.
@nevsky42:
That sub is hilarious. Found this gem in the comments:
Kay
@Baud:
I think it was probably that microtargeting – run it thru Right wing media (Twitter, Fox, all the religious media)
TBone
After decades of screeching, preaching, crappy manners, and overall DelCo baditude, my RWNJ former bestie texted this in response to me asking how her other friends feel about how she voted (direct quote):
Oh, NOW you’re gonna be polite? Are you FUCKING KIDDING ME? I had to listen to you scream about a vengeful God for years and NOW you’re gonna finally STFU?
MagdaInBlack
@Kay: Yes, he made that promise, at one of his rally’s. I watched far to many of those things.
Baud
@TBone:
They own you know. That’s all they wanted.
TBone
@Baud: 😆 she is in a crapton of debt, a true financial shitstorm AFTER I paid off her mortgage for her because she was suicidal. She was finally able to pay down her other debts but then…RELAPSE she went out and reloaded herself to the hilt 😆 guess who is never gonna help ever again?
She was crying about her car last week, she can’t afford to fix it, too bad, so sad.
MagdaInBlack
@TBone: Small blessings?
TBone
@MagdaInBlack: 😊 just gonna sit back and wait for the rapid, unplanned disassembly implosion.
TBone
@TBone: “You voted for this, dear.”
p.a
Oh for fucks sake. You mean the “heighten the contradictions” crowd were right?!?!
I don’t know if that’s a joke or not, when 50.7% of American voters did what they did 8 days ago
What’s than Mencken quote again?
Dave
@Rusty: Like Christ this entire time period has caused me to appreciate Dick Cheney because at least he’s not a pathetic whiner.
Jeffg166
I hope a lot of blue states start to talk about state’s rights.
I don’t know how the MAGA era will end. Badly is a given.
Baud
@TBone:
I personally would ghost someone like that. But I really have no patience for people.
MagdaInBlack
I see Elon’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE, how cute) will have 2 directors. Because they’re efficient like that
Eta: Elon and Vivek
Dave
@p.a: The absolute kindest I can be is that once the absolute deluge of disinformation receded and the fun of a protest vote or they both suck whatever fades and the specter of real consequences begins to take form that some people suddenly remembered that they can in fact think.
I’m not in a mental state to be nice about it more fine you fucked up and fucked us all over in the process. What are you going to do about it.
On the other point of the thread they wanted a game of liberal tears but instead have found fairly contained liberal rage and the boot of looming consequences. And it’s not fun anymore.
Baud
According to Blue sky. Chris Hayes gave Bluesky a shout out on his show yesterday.
ETA related
TBone
@Baud: I go through long periods of no contact. I reached out in an effort to change her vote two months ago and made a lot of progress – formerly she wouldn’t listen to Word One about Democrats but this time the Medicare paying for in home care got her to listen. Then her sister got to her and everything we’d talked about was quickly thrown into the shitter …
I normally let her be, and wait months for the inevitable “hey, where ya been, guess what happened?” This time I contacted her first right after Nov. 5 to lay out some info about what she’d voted for. She didn’t believe me. So I’m at the cease and desist stage again. Can’t wait to say “I told you so!” the next time she says “Guess what happened, the leopards ate my face again!”
I’ve known her since we were 13 y.o.
Ksmiami
Still think I’m being a doomer? Electing Trump was national suicide. Do what you all need to get out and or just get by. The uSA is over.
Baud
@Ksmiami:
How’s the Italy application going?
What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?
Speaking of people furiously googling policies after the fact I wonder if Elmo this morning is googling “how to help an electric car company survive without subsidies” because Trump wants to eliminate those along with all the other energy efficiency tax breaks.
If I were on the Tesla board I might consider taking measures but I’m not.
TBone
@Baud: heh, the distracted boyfriend meme now features Elno as the girlfriend, Bluesky as the enticing passerby 😆 and the Elno Photoshop pic is shirtless.
Betty Cracker
I’m disappointed, pissed off and worried about how the incoming fascist regime will hurt people and fuck things up like everyone else here. But I slept like a rock last night. I’ve got no fucks left to give.
When I see a headline about a dumb and catastrophic thing on the horizon (like the dog shooter woman being put in charge of homeland security or Florida’s crackpot surgeon general being considered as head of public health policy), it’s like reading about another goddamn hurricane forming.
Yeah, it fucking sucks, and maybe it will ruin my family and/or others I care about. But it sure as hell is not my fault, and there ain’t a damn thing I can do except prepare to endure it as best I can.
BellyCat
Like y’inz, also been feeling pretty bleak about the state of the majority of the nation.
However, two podcasts turned me around a bit:
The podcast “Past, Present, Future”. Two Historians analyze Trump’s Triumph and their conclusion is: interest rates. Totally normal based on the last 100 years. Virtually every Democratic/Liberal incumbent (globally) has been thrown out during times when interest rates increase. They, of course, are concerned about the extreme nature of Trump, but their conclusion is this extremity is not what attracted most voters. Worth a listen.
The other was a recent podcast by Stacey Abrams pod on Post Election Thoughts
Pretty moving thoughts from her. She believes we should be focused on the 60 million people who did not vote. Figure out what the hell it is that they need and care about. Otherwise, we are just preaching to the same choir and trying to drink each other’s milkshake among the current voters.
(Apple podcast linkys. If not working for you Windoze folx, search ‘em up.)
MagdaInBlack
@Betty Cracker: I’m with you, Betty. No fucks left. Plus my dark and bitter sense of humor has returned. It now has plenty of fodder.
MagdaInBlack
@TBone: I confess I like the one’s with elno as the First Lady.
And where has Vance been in all of this. Sitting somewhere holding his dance card waiting to be noticed?
TBone
Why do people always say “majority” when it is no such thing? Frustrating. They just cry louder and longer, that doesn’t mean they’re the majority.
TBone
@MagdaInBlack: 😆😎
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
Fabulous.
Suzanne
Did y’all see the TikTok video with the white MAGA dude talking about how he lies to women about his political views, because he prefers liberal women?
Any version of “I don’t follow politics” = MAGA.
WereBear
@p.a: “They deserve to get what they want, good and hard.”
Suzanne
@Betty Cracker: SAME. I have spent so long dreading this, and trying really hard to do my incredibly small part to get this country to pull its head out of its ass. That was a heavy burden. But now, I’m putting it down. My resources (time, money, emotional valence) are now strictly for my immediate circle and their survival.
I spent multiple Saturdays out in blazing heat registering new Latino voters.
Princess
@BellyCat: I agree with Abrams about communicating with the people who don’t vote. Many of them are poor, including the working poor, and they feel nothing will ever help them. They are hard to reach.
eclare
@WereBear:
Unfortunately some of us might become collateral damage. I get health insurance through the ACA, I’m terrified.
My hope is that a combo of TCFG solely focused on retribution and a dysfunctional House saves it.
Baud
@Suzanne:
I think I read that PA Latinos did good. It was most Texas and Florida that went right.
Baud
@eclare:
Collateral damage is the reason we fought so hard to prevent this. But it’s out of our hands now.
eclare
@Baud:
Believe me, I am mortally aware of that fact. I have a preexisting condition, if the ACA is repealed, I will be uninsured. At 56.
Suzanne
@BellyCat: Past Present Future is probably my favorite podcast.
Actually, David Runciman’s previous podcast, History of Ideas, is probably my favorite one ever. If, like me, you graduated from college some years ago and it’s been a while since you read political philosophy, it is a fantastic journey.
WereBear
@TBone: Because everything about them is either a willful lie or wishful thinking.
They act like thinking hurts. Perhaps because they can’t be lazy and casually mean and get a sense of worth from putting people down… and thinking/decision making like a functioning adult is hard.
Pretending is so much easier. Which is why they have a Sky Daddy who loves only them and they get to be a rotten little brat forever and ever, Amen.
I was raised in Protestant churches until mid-adolescence, when the rigid sex roles finally ruined my parents’ marriage. These days, Mother would be the joyous businesswoman and Father would be the guy who stayed home and took the kids on nature walks.
It was probably late junior high when I found a book in my own small town library which explained why they were Southern Baptists. They built slaveholding into their religion.
Just couldn’t sign on to that… which shaped the rest of my life. Always had that liberal handicap… not enough Freudian defense mechanisms in the world to handle the mess it would make of my life.
Suzanne
@Baud: Arizona Latinos also went right. It also appears that Native Americans shifted significantly to the right.
You know what group went leftward? College-educated women of every race.
TBone
@WereBear: I’m glad you survived! 😊
TBone
Comment from elsewhere last night:
VeniceRiley
Elon put me in half day timeout for calling Chris Murphy a c**T. Then sent me a extra note that it may be longer, after their careful consideration. Mister free speech.
I’ve had this account since 2009. Going to delete after the dust settles. Don’t want to give them satisfaction. Don’t have the energy to migrate right now. Too busy day sleeping.
Baud
@Suzanne:
I heard the Native American stat isn’t reliable.
p.a
@Baud: IIRC there has been “slippage” in Hispanic Rio Grande districts before this election.
TBone
I know that we have deemed the Mueller She Wrote lady a kooky grifter, but the replies in this thread are giving me life!
https://bsky.app/profile/muellershewrote.bsky.social/post/3lasg4r7ten2k
(ETA the earlier replies, not the last half hour or so…)
“They’re eating the doges!”
Baud
@eclare:
Hopefully the passage of time since Obama was president will lesson their desire to completely repeal it. It’ll hurt a lot of their own voters.
Soprano2
@Kay: I think a big problem is that people think the president has a magic wand that can be waved and *poof* he does the things he said he would. Then when that doesn’t happen, they get mad. Of course he could promise anything because he lies all the time, but they think he’s telling the truth. One guy at work thinks now there will be no taxes on overtime!
narya
@Baud: yeah, me too. The vibe after 2016 was shock and PROTEST. The vibe now seems much more protective of each other AND DNGAF about the tears of RWNJs and dolts.
Suzanne
@Baud: Yeah, we’ll find out more in weeks and months to come. The NYT’s info indicated that Native-majority counties did shift 10 points to the right.
Suzanne
@WereBear:
Every muscle hurts when you don’t move it for a while.
p.a
The Doge of Venice was the head of state and highest-ranking official in the Republic of Venice for over a thousand years:
Title: The word “Doge” comes from the Latin word dux, which means “leader”.
Election: The Doge was elected for life by the Great Council.
The Doge was a symbol of Venetian sovereignty. The Doge’s Palace featured a balcony where the Doge could address crowds and the Giants’ Staircase, where the Doge made ceremonial appearances.
Duties: The Doge held audiences with ambassadors, but only responded to compliments made to his authority.
Abolished: The position of Doge was abolished in 1797.
WereBear
@eclare: I hear and see you, sadly. We’re both
Industry collapsed, had to take early retirement, so the Pandemic dispensed with my career and my 401k. I took out the scrap that remained this week, lest it vanish from vain hope.
This summer I charted the financials for our little cat business and made a safety decision. Cut out the tricky parts that relied on product and shipping and getting supplies — and took up physical space. Shut down the space we rented for that, and went all digital.
I’m going to write books and finally start my Youtube channel for promotional purposes. I’m doing well on Tiktok because it’s so easy, but I know how to do these things… it’s just energy availability that is stopping me now.
But not much. Writing is what keeps me sane.
eclare
@Baud:
I hope so too. It seems the focus, as it were, is on other things, like immigrants and tariffs. Plus in the debate with Kamala TCFG claimed credit for saving it. So we’ll see, but I’m still scared.
brendancalling
I’m gonna see one of those “why can’t we be friends” types tonight at my open mic, and if he tries it on me, it will not go well for him.
eclare
@WereBear:
I hear you, I’ve been looking for a job for the past year, but again, I’m 56.
Once you get your YouTube channel up, be sure to let us know.
Baud
@eclare:
It’s a stressful time for decent folks. My fear is that libs (not you) will process that fear by turning it inward and blame allies for not doing enough, which I think has happened in the past and will be an idea pushed by propaganda.
Chris Johnson
@Kay: That’s super interesting to me. It would follow. I have someone I can ask about how they’ll get 10K for homeschooling. More than one, actually. They don’t tell us that stuff, and now they’re on the hook for it (or a really harsh bait-and-switch: we said 10K but instead, Nazis! And an app you can use to report enemies!)
We can’t remind them of what they were promised if we don’t know any of it. Simple as that.
Baud
Liberal families might need look into homeschooling options.
eclare
@Baud:
My blame is most definitely not focused on allies. I know exactly who to blame.
MagdaInBlack
@p.a: Only to be resurrected as Elno’s favorite crypto-currency
Baud
@eclare:
👍
WereBear
@TBone: Me too!
Four siblings… one liberal, one normie, and two religious Trumpers. Kind of Mendelian.
sab
@Baud: Conservative churches have their own media networks. Those have been active at least since the Bush years. Not so much the churches pers se as among the members.
TBone
@WereBear: we bred fruit flies at Rosemont College molecular bio classes and now they’re running the country!
Baud
@sab:
Yes, they’ve done a good job creating a powerful media propaganda ecosystem, while our side clings to the NYT.
Betty Cracker
@Baud: If I still had K-12 school-aged kids, I think I’d still send them to public school but supplement their education with home schooling on topics the far right has abolished or dumbed down, i.e., science, history, etc. We did do that when sending our child to school in the Pretrumpian Era, when right-wing jerks were already nibbling at the edges of public education.
I think school serves a purpose beyond education; it’s an introduction to community, such as it is, and kids need to learn to live in it. That’s one reason kids were so hard hit by covid protocols. They missed out on that part.
Mai Naem mobile ¹
@BellyCat: no don’t bother focusing on the 60 million who didn’t vote. 99% are plain lazy and are essentially free loaders depending on us to vote and take care of everything. No, the next time you hear somebody who you know was a non-voter bitch about something that would have been different under Harris, tell them to STFU since they didn’t vote.
Splitting Image
@TBone:
This is actually hilarious, because if there is one entity in the U.S. that takes microbes really fucking seriously, it’s the military.
Every country in the world has an entire industry dedicated to killing, and microbes are still better at it, and have been throughout history.
Can you imagine being on a submarine with Mr. “I haven’t washed my hands in ten years”?
Baud
@Betty Cracker:
My limited understanding is that home schooling can be a big operation involving lots of kids.
But I generally agree, if it’s possible to keep kids in public school, that’s a good thing.
TBone
@Splitting Image: exactly 🎯 Glad you noticed!
eclare
Reading Twitter, TCFG wrote a letter to a Middle East/North Africa Chamber of Commerce group headquartered in Dearborn that said he would call for a ceasefire on November 6. The group has written him back asking why he hasn’t. How can people continue to believe this motherfucker?
Like the people who believed that they would get $10k for homeschooling?
Twitter link for those still on
https://x.com/RonFilipkowski/status/1856671124395844011
WereBear
@Suzanne: If so, it only means every human population has the same problem.
The Idiocracy problem.
Chris Johnson
@TBone: That’s what I’ve seen. Like every righty friend I have had for many, many, many years, and whom I’m close to for other legitimate reasons (sharing a recovery program), has been getting told for years not to talk about religion or politics, all while us dirty leftist hippies chatter like grackles XD
This is why I’m going to make a point of not demanding they start talking. Hell, I’m on the flipside. They should not be talking to THEIR friends, because it grows and they turn on each other and they’re going to have to get their own asses out of this one. They’re more qualified. Strictly in theory and obviously I have never seen a friend like this, they’re the ones with the arsenals.
At one point I thought one of them was a never-trumper and I wanted to volunteer to help them, but now I’ll never know. Even if that was true there is nothing I could do for them they’re not better at doing for themselves. I will simply refuse to know anything beyond surface nice, it can go to my core, intentionally, as a means of self-defense.
Moscow Rules, baby! To the Nth degree. Refuse to conspire. Tend your garden. There is no cover when you become the simple gardener in order to protect yourself and others. I make a shitty radical anyway.
And that might make all the difference, because a bunch of these people (at least in my world) sort of sense the truth of this, are jittery and unhappy, and they desperately want those private friends, the intimate besties to whom they could confide their inner doubts, y’know, if they wanted to.
That’s absolutely gone. I represent the BEST they’re gonna get, and it will sting like fuck, and I’m not even joking. I’m not dumb enough to flip the table and announce myself their enemy. That’s too dangerous. Oh no no. Everyone is my friend, because nobody is my friend. And they desperately want to be trusted and reassured, and I will never trust them again (nor anyone else who is not tending gardens in peace, in the rubble).
And they had better not trust their ‘friends’ either. Shit got real. They can watch. And if they have a change of heart, don’t tell me. I will never trust them again, and they should know better, they’re the ones who’ve been hiding this all this time, now it’s their turn to see the blank faces and know they are not welcome to their friends’ secret worries.
We will just have to shoulder our burdens alone, and share only simple animal things like hugs, because it’s not safe to do anything else. I’m gonna be hell on these folks if they start coming over all liberal and whinging about their worries or fears. Shut up, you’ll get yourself killed, this is not a drill.
Betty Cracker
@Baud: I don’t know much about homeschooling either, but that’s my understanding too, that it can be a larger community. But if it’s a self-selected group of people who’ve opted out of public school, can it give kids exposure to a proper cross-section of people in the regional community? Will they develop the skills they need to navigate that environment? I don’t know, but my sense is that exposure is part of the value of public schools.
prostratedragon
“Satan,” Jon Lucien
sab
@WereBear: Yes, please keep up the writing. My seven cats depend on you.
bluefoot
@BellyCat: I agree w Stacy Abrams that we should look toward the people who didn’t vote. Even though I think people who didn’t vote are like people who stand by and watch bullies beat up on others, or are essentially collaborators. I mean, the American republic was on the line and they couldn’t be bothered?
WereBear
@Chris Johnson: Heck, they will TELL you what they voted for.
I am waiting. This is a time when acquaintances approach me to “chat,” but I know it’s because I’m be one of the few people they know who might have a clue.
Which would be great, if they learned something after a couple of decades of approaching me and asking why something didn’t work.
But then, I’m a liberal. Easily ignored in “good times.”
Sister Machine Gun of Quiet Harmony
@Kay: I heard about the $10K thing on the much derided NPR before the election. He was promising people anything everywhere at the end because he was afraid he was losing.
Chris Johnson
@MagdaInBlack: Good observation. Vance is simply a placeholder for Thiel. Thiel NEVER puts himself forward, he’s the Rasputin. Genuinely smart guy but his ethics are kinda sketchy. He thinks he has a key to immortality, and the old kings here and elsewhere are gonna be very interested in that, so he’s a really key player. He’s also a crypto guy, and that’s… unfortunate.
WereBear
@Baud: Might have to. Guess what? No standards in many states. Which is how people learn history from the demonic point of view.
TBone
@Chris Johnson: gotta treat ’em all like addicts and let them hit rock bottom all of their own accord.
Co-depency is a trap, a yawning, gaping pothole of need that will swallow anyone who doesn’t know you have to FIND A NEW STREET without potholes!
Moscow rules indeed.
eclare
@Betty Cracker:
Preventing abuse is also a big reason kids should be in public schools. Teachers are required to report it. Prime example is that couple who drove their minivan off of a cliff in CA with their six kids inside. They had been homeschooled and not seen a dr. for years as they were abused. But no one outside the family knew.
Actually I think one kid escaped and kind of told a neighbor, and the neighbor called social services, but it was too late. The kid went home.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
From Professor Michael E. Mann:
The proposed cabinet picks are basically DeVos-like-picks on steroids.
We’ve failed the test of self-governance as a society:
https://www.thenation.com/article/politics/trump-is-america-not-a-fluke/
Once again, time to pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off and keep at it.
TBone
@Betty Cracker: I’m gonna inquire at my local library and see if there are any educational groups there that could use my support.
sab
@Baud: Our school district is already cutting back on developmental disabled services since our red state government shifted resources away from public schools towards vouchers ( i.e. parochoal school.)
So our daughter is thinking seriously about going back to homeschooling her autistic daughter like she did during early Covid. Granddaughter had been in with the same group of normies since starting kindergarden two years late. She was popular. Now she is in with a bunch of unfamiliar DD kids, amd she never sees her old friends.
I voted for the school bond is this last time as I always do, but I doubt I will ever vote for another.
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: I am going to focus on personal projects that I have control over and then reactivate during the 2026 Congressional elections.
Baud
@comrade scotts agenda of rage:
Yeah, I have no problem with people giving up but I’ll never scold people who are fighting to the end.
People who do are the worst class of liberals IMHO.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@TBone:
Google:
volunteer reading programs for children
And see what you come up with. There was one I’d targeted here in Denver but it shut down cuz of Covid and I’m not sure it’s back up.
AM in NC
@eclare: Same. My pre-existing condition is that I had a C-section for my first kid. I am now post-menopausal. But that’s still a reason to deny me coverage.
Ain’t life under Republicans grand?
And somehow I feel an ethical responsibility to my MAGA-pilled father. Why is it that we are always the ones who have to be the decent people? Because we ARE the decent people. That’s what I hold onto.
I refuse to let these mostly scared and ignorant people turn me into what I have spent decades fighting against – ugly, selfish, cruel, authoritarianism.
And I will punch a Nazi when I see them. It may be the middle-aged lady version of punching a Nazi, but I’m calling that garbage out in public wherever and whenever I see it. These assholes need to understand we see them. We know who they are. And we’re calling them out for it.
sab
@schrodingers_cat: Locally we won on everything. So we still have our Congresswoman and good local judges. But at the state and federal level it is very grim.
different-church-lady
@Baud: What a shame democracy has to fall before people will give up Twitter.
Layer8Problem
@Chris Johnson: I highly doubt most fellow rich guys have any belief Thiel has a genuwine scientific magick cure for oldism.
different-church-lady
I had the “pleasure” of working with a crew from Orlando this week.
I overhear a guy saying, “She won’t talk to me any more because she thinks I voted away her right to body autonomy.”
And I’m thinking, “THAT’S EXACTLY WHAT YOU DID DO, YOU FUCKING DIPSHIT!”
schrodingers_cat
@Baud: I did everything I could at a personal level. Voted, donated, canvassed, volunteered. Used my voice to the extent I could IRL, on Twitter and here.
I could see that jettisoning a successful incumbent because of polls conducted by a hostile media, that was against us from the get go, would be a disaster and send the wrong message both to our detractors and the normies whose votes we needed.
I got called names on this blog by those who like their tokens in principle but they don’t want to actually listen.
MAGA wants to kill me and liberal spaces want a GungaDin.
Its dispiriting.
I am going to take a break and revive my blog. Talk about economics, especially macro because that’s not covered well at all in the media. There is a lot of misinfo, disinfo and just plain ignorance
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Baud:
Some of us are spartiate that way. Okay, maybe not the best word to use when describing “fight to the bitter end come hell or high water” but I just wanted to use the word “spartiate” today.
sab
@AM in NC: Back in the day I paid for insdividual health insurance for three years before I discovered that I actually had no coverage because they reevaluated a preexisting condition as more serious than it was when I submitted a claim. So I went another five years with no coverage and no medical care. Fortunately healthy.
I had my cardiac event later under Obamacare. If it had happened before I would have died at home because no way would we have risked emergency room charges just because I felt unwell.
I wouldn’t have risked the paid-for roof over my husband’s head to get medical treatment we coudn’t afford.
eclare
@AM in NC:
Very well said. I still stay in touch with my 94 yo aunt who votes Republican. I’m an only child with no kids whose parents have died, so I don’t have many relatives.
I have high blood pressure which is easily controlled by a cheap prescription (cheap even wo insurance) but I would be uninsurable.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@schrodingers_cat:
I would be interested in the macro econ stuff. I see your twitter link but not the old blog link.
Please share when you restart that.
catclub
@Baud: wow! massive growth. who knew?
Betty Cracker
@Baud: Turning fear inward and blaming allies is a common enough reaction to a disaster, and I’m trying to avoid doing it and cut otherwise reasonable people some slack when they lapse into that behavior during a stressful time. But it’s important to recognize that some folks do that shit full time in good times and bad. It’s a species of abuse, IMO, and we don’t owe abusers any presumption of good faith.
catclub
I can imagine many of them thinking, ‘It probably won’t work, but hey, give it a try. Look what you might gain?”
Also, “I have more money than I will ever spend, why not spend some more of it on….. ME.”
different-church-lady
@Baud: Hell, Baud, we blame allies for not doing enough even when we win.
WereBear
@TBone: We should have knocked out that “gullible” gene.
But they had so many!
catclub
@Baud: Why is Ted Kennedy’s most quoted speech the one where he lost?
sab
I miss going to my husband to tell him about the latest idiocy out of our red state legislature. He is in complete political news blackout mode. He’s adamant about it.
WereBear
Training, since birth, to unthinkingly obey authority in the form of white guys quoting the bible, end of line.
mrmoshpotato
@MagdaInBlack:
Putting his dick between couch cushions.
evodevo
@Princess: The ones I know don’t register to vote because they want to remain under the radar because they operate on the cash economy/change residence frequently and don’t want the hassle of re-registering/ are dodging a child support/drug warrant somewhere/just don’t care. You will NEVER convince them to register with the gubmint to vote…
catclub
@bluefoot:
Vote by mail in 2020 was too easy, or made actually going to vote in 2024 seem too hard.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
Too good not to share despite the underlying depressiveness of the quote:
https://x.com/brontyman/status/1856154061277364674/photo/1
WereBear
@Betty Cracker: The podcast Kitchen Table Cult is about two women who escaped from their families and the whole Quiverfull movement.
It is a sealed ecosystem where they are indoctrinated. And there are no educational standards. They learn the Batshit Christian version of everything.
Which is why it’s so rare to meet escapees. It’s what they were born into, or escape… into a world full of demons and then hell.
different-church-lady
@Kay: None of that was news because Biden was old.
Chris
When my grandmother put an “impeach Bush” sticker on her car during the first Dubya maladministration, my wingnut uncle told her he wouldn’t bring his grandchildren to her house as long as that was on her car.
When my aunt moved in with her wingnut daughter to help her take care of her kids after a divorce (yes, I know), the daughter not only banned all “liberal” media in the house, but she wasn’t even allowed to talk to her friends on the phone about anything politics related lest the poor littluns be exposed to heretical thoughts; she had to go on long walks outside the house.
When my wingnut former friend from college was searching far and wide for her MRS degree, the list of criteria she had was extremely long, including both politics (no Democrats) and religion (nobody but Lutherans, and even those Missouri Synod Lutherans and a bit sus, while the ELCA Lutherans might as well be Jews), in addition to social class (no one without a college degree) and, you guessed it, race (no coloreds at this drinking fountain!)
… you get the point. The idea that conservatives don’t carefully curate the world around them to turn it into a conservatism-only safe space is too ridiculous for words. (It’s why Fox News and One America Network exist). True, liberals are more likely to have the maturity to just say “you know what, I think we’re just too different and should part ways here;” conservatives are much more likely to want the liberals around, so long as they abide by the code in which they never do or say anything that upsets the conservatives. (After all, somebody has to watch the kids).
Chris Johnson
@Betty Cracker: Pfff! Of course not, that’s the point.
It’s past talking about whether destroying public schools is GOOD for anybody. Or whether a liberal multicultural democracy is, in fact, a kick-ass way to compete in a global marketplace. That has ended, through a largely novel kind of war.
It’s not about being good, it’s about a sort of Canticle for Leibowitz kind of future in which we play nice or die, or play nice AND die, and try to preserve whatever we can, especially in terms of information, science, concepts and so on. My money’s on us being able to do that, there’s just too much civilization to erase. Too much cultural memory of being a great nation.
The dumb part is, because of who we lost to, we’re to be reduced to sub-Soviet conditions. We’re peasants with memories now. GREAT can stand for garbage, retarded, empty, assholes, and tiny.
Not ‘totalitarian’, because it ain’t us running all this. It’s whatever is left of Putin, propped up by whatever Thiel has for immortality treatments, and a smattering of oligarchs scheming over who inherits the throne or takes the most out of the ensuing chaos.
Could be worse, could have been nukes. I think Putin would have to import OUR nukes to be able to nuke us, I think his are all fucked. Our generals etc. are going to have to reckon with the prospects of Russia hitting us with our own nukes, now, ‘cos it ain’t just COVID machines and state secrets anymore. Our arsenal is theirs. Note however they didn’t have to do that, and it might raise eyebrows if they did.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
New Deal Democrat posted something along those lines last week:
http://bonddad.blogspot.com/2024/11/how-fed-helped-doom-democrats.html
Similar analysis at No More Mr Nice Blog:
https://nomoremister.blogspot.com/2024/11/the-election-explained-in-two-charts.html
Chris
What’s always pissed me off about this is that nobody actually disagrees that it’s okay for politics to affect your friendships! If I joined a Salafi mosque or signed up for the Communist Party, would my friends and family cut contact with me? Probably not all of them, but their opinion of me would certainly take a big hit, and it should. (Until eight years or so ago I could have added “or joined the Nazi Party” to that, but then Charlottesville happened and now they’re very fine people, or at least not disqualified from very fine personhood). Everybody is completely fine with the idea that there are some movements and ideas that are so evil that it is, in fact, okay to unfriend you on Facebook over it.
Except apparently, Republican Party membership was supposed to be some kind of talisman that exempted you from these kinds of consequences, no matter who or what it currently stood for.
Soprano2
@TBone: It’s become something the media asserts without evidence, that conservatives are the majority in this country.
TBone
@WereBear: 😆😎
TBone
@Soprano2: YES it is now the preferred narrative of Putin.
Geminid
From Tom Watson:
Chris Johnson
@WereBear: Tell them about Moscow Rules, if you love them. You can love people who are dumb and make mistakes, and we’ve yet to see the full extent of how hard they were fooled. I don’t blame ’em for not figuring it out, we’re in different worlds.
Tell them about Moscow Rules. If they’re Terry Pratchett fans, tell them we’re Genua now, ‘cos we absolutely are. Tell them to not fuck around or act like they’re free to have second thoughts if you love them: they are WAY more at risk than you are. They don’t get to waver on this.
The bright side is, they’re the people who’ve been playing coy about what their world really looks like this whole time: all you see is that they think you’re dumb, and you don’t get told WHY they think you’re dumb. They can keep secrets better than we can, and they’re the ones with the arsenals.
Look for, say, Liz Cheney or whoever to pledge fealty and convincingly act like she’s had a change of heart. Lincoln Project went fucking totally offline and possibly fled the country, instantly, as they were on ‘taunt Trump into fucking up’ duty, and they know exactly what’s going on.
I’m serious. If you have rightwinger friends and they want reassurance, the most loving thing you can do for them is tell them you can’t talk politics, you quit, you always hated the US imperialist warmongers anyway and now it’s a curse on all their houses… Tell them that because this is disastrous, they’re not safe either and that their shit has to get real, fast. Do not protest. Do not present the appearance of doubt. And if they are all-in on this regime of stupid and retarded (hey hey, it’s definitely okay to say that and all slurs now!), they’re not your friend because you’re a good person. And if they are NOT all-in… do not publicly say that! It is already too late! Comply! And so, everyone is your friend because no-one is, and they can have a hug but neither of you dare talk about anything except surface nice.
This might upset them, especially if they’d had concerns and now see them coming true at turbo speed. Weep with them but do not communicate. Neither of you can afford it, in Moscow Rules.
Salty Sam
I made plans to before the election to go visit my Mom for Thanksgiving, even though it means having to be in contact with her despicable Trumpy partner. Since the election, I have toyed with the idea of canceling, but she is in poor health, will probably not see another Thanksgiving- I do this as a gift for her, even though it means I will suffer.
But it’s gonna be tough.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Soprano2:
When all you ever see when venturing out “into the country” are white people at Ohio diners at 10am, well yeah, that’s the logical conclusion to draw. /s
TBone
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: I prefer to go in person and speak with librarian first (one are trans) and get specific about other things as well like starting a local resistance book club.
Volunteer groups frequently require intrusive background checks.
ETA thank you for your suggestion also because that’s my next step after in person!
Dorothy A. Winsor
Oh yay! Doug J (AKA The Pitchbot) it on Blue Sky
Soprano2
@eclare: I’ve got a friend who was “forcibly retired” from her job at Mary Washington College last year. She’s 63. She got her pension from the college, but most of her voluntary retirement savings went to propping up her son’s family during Covid (bad decision, yeah it’s her fault) so she’s been looking for a job. She pays $900/mo for health insurance from her former job. She wants a job because it would have health insurance. She finally decided to file for Social Security. She’s been doing some freelance work, and so between her pension and SS and the freelance stuff she might be able to keep her house. She said the most ironic thing is that if she had been able to keep the house she had when she was married, it had a full basement where her son’s family could have lived and she’d still have her retirement savings!
Chris Johnson
@Layer8Problem: Oh no, he might be onto something, it’s just wildly unethical. As near as I can work out, he’s interested in substantial blood transfusions of young blood from people whose bodies are still growing, and may or may not have worked out what’s going on. I’m sure finding it and synthesizing it is a priority, but we’ll find out whether he’s right, if the old kings put on a spectacular performance of not kicking the bucket. Ya never know.
Salty Sam
…and forced me to look it up!
trnc
Has anyone had a trump voter gloat yet? I haven’t yet, but I’ve been thinking about the best response for when it happens. So far, I’m thinking something like “So were you actually hurt by the economy, or did you vote for the cruelty and violence?”
Any other suggestions, especially if you’ve used and found effective?
WereBear
@Chris Johnson: So, just your run-of-the-mill ego-ridden narcissist billionaire.
I can see how it might be difficult to be outstanding in that field.
NotMax
@Salty Sam
Your next etymological mission, should you choose to accept it: Kalsarikännit.
;)
Josie
@comrade scotts agenda of rage:
It’s ironic that Trump wanted to fire Powell, since Powell did him the biggest solid of all.
WereBear
@AM in NC: Just… know your environment.
I find a piercing, knowing, look just before turning away is not actionable. “I don’t want to talk about politics.
But gives them pause if they have any guilt in them. And they do.
It is my experience that they KNOW, they just lie so we think they are sincere, and sigh, and try to uphold the social contract by not trying not to let the steamroller hit them.
That’s why the denial is so very deep and mucky they lose a shoe every time they try to step out.
Gloria DryGarden
It has become hard to find much news about our current president, Joe Biden, and his vp and the current government and it’s activities.
I should very much enjoy, and be calmed by, news of current events of the normal functioning kind.
Of course we need to prepare, and imagine, and brainstorm together. And I can take the Debbie downer ride spiraling down, and there are lots of great contingency plans and ideas being discussed. The dooming and imagining about unknown dire futures, it’s a lot of “down time.” Oops, I meant, downer time.
It’s just that, like the last 3.7 years, Biden seems to get below the fold, or deep in the newspaper, or the headlines in Google news smear him ( and MVP) or make him/them seem lame, while what’s his face and his ill effects HAVE COMMANDED so much attention. For years, OMG.
I thought that was one of the complaints about TNYT.
Is anyone else interested in news about the current administration, and government? I want to spend part of my time in the present.
Chris Johnson
@trnc: Absolutely I have a suggestion.
If a Trump voter gloats, are they dumb or are they all-in on the fascism WE know all about?
Their side is real siloed. The person might believe all the lies they’re told AND all the lies they’re told about us. I had one be completely unworried about hanging out with a known homosexual, but quietly panic when I talked about becoming publically an Episcopalian Christian. That is because to him, nobody really persecutes gays, but there are gangs of antifa hunting down Christians, so he hears. Only explanation for that reaction. And then, he got nervous when a nearby right-winger lady became visibly upset at the conversation touching on homosexuality at all…
The question for you is ‘so things finally get to become good, then?’. And your follow up is, ‘well… I guess I’ll have to wait and see…’ because it’s on them now. I think the smart ones know it’s already going horribly wrong, and only the dumbest people don’t see slips of the mask. Those dumbest people might as well be aliens as far as you’re concerned, their world is a total fantasy.
Gloating can only happen from pure fascists or the hopelessly siloed AND stupid. Anybody else is jittery, because they were taking a chance and knew it might be risky, but didn’t appreciate how right our warnings were. And those people aren’t gloating at all, they’re extremely anxious and don’t want to pick a fight and will be very hard to drag out into public endorsements of their own beliefs. They’re taught such beliefs will make liberals attack them on sight.
Soprano2
@Betty Cracker: I’ve got a friend who has a music company that is specifically for kids who are homeschooled. She has an orchestra and I think a choir and people who give lessons. She told me she lost over half of her homeschool people during Covid because she insisted that the kids wear masks.
Baud
@Chris Johnson:
I like this personally.
Might throw in a Congratulations and an I hope things work out for you.
gene108
@eclare:
I’m dependent on the ACA for healthcare. I welcome being collateral damage, as long as Trump voters also get fucked. I want them to suffer. I’m willing to get fucked to see their lives get fucked too.
Kayla Rudbek
@Betty Cracker: I should probably start buying my godson more books along those lines. He’s going to Catholic school and my sibling griped about the book on Galileo because my godson was already getting low grades in reverence. Maybe I should get him some books on mythology (Norse, Egyptian)
WereBear
@Kayla Rudbek: Early exposure to classic myths helped me a lot :)
eclare
@Soprano2:
Ironic and sad, too.
Gloria DryGarden
I’m practicing my neutral questions. Oh, you’re disappointed? It surprised you? How is this affecting you?
Salty Sam
Look it up!?! Hells bells, that’s been my life since 11/6…
AM in NC
@trnc: “Sure hope no woman you love starts miscarrying. Because when there’s a bad outcome because of doctors being terrified of going to jail if they do their jobs? THAT’S ON YOU.”
THAT IS ON YOU.
And if you have their email or phone number? Forward them EVERY article about a pregnant woman dying or being harmed by their Christofascist anti-woman policies.
They need their noses rubbed in what they did.
Chris Johnson
@Gloria DryGarden: I’d go beyond that. Remember, you’re stepping away from being a partisan, it’s no longer on you to ‘fix’ them.
“Oh no! I hope things work out the way they are promised. I know I’ve been negative, but I’ll have to check out and trust you for a while instead of being so negative. If it goes really wrong, please don’t tell me, it’s too depressing”
You’re meant to be a misguided helpless whiney hectoring snowflake. They’ve taken ‘hectoring’ off the table, that’s not safe, nor whining. We tried, but it’s on them now. Time to see who is an out fascist, and who is having all their promises broken. Your agency is kind of gone for the duration (EXCEPT, continuing to understand the real situation: and that is best expressed by being rightly worried FOR them if they think they’re still free)
NotMax
@Salty Sam
Did someone say Hell’s bells?
;)
Chris Johnson
@AM in NC: That or: they’re the only ones who will be still able to help, and doing so will make them enemies of the state.
They’re in more danger than we are. Again: Lincoln Project fucking vanished. Those over there who were still kicking up a fuss, like all those ex-staffers and military folks endorsing Harris? They’re in more danger than we are, and they knew instantly what it meant when the guy pulled off a ‘popular’ win.
Soprano2
One thing I’m pissed about is that TCFG is going to get credit for things that are happening now, that would have happened if Harris won. Here’s a story about falling grocery prices.
All the MAGAs will say it’s because of TCFG getting elected, and the press will probably parrot that while also saying “But not really”. Plus, if he does those tariffs and deports people like he promised, that won’t last long.
Baud
@AM in NC:
Take this with a grain of salt because I avoid interacting with Trump people, but I think being scolded makes them feel better about themselves than the opposite. I personally like the approach of isolating them and freezing them out socially and emotionally. YMMV.
Baud
@Soprano2:
Most of us predicted that when prices started falling several months ago.
Soprano2
I heard one of those guys interviewed on “This American Life” in an episode this summer. He said he started carrying a gun everywhere he went, and he was almost certain someone in a black SUV was surveilling him. He said he was planning to leave the country if TCFG won, because he knows he’s not safe here. I don’t tell normies things like this, because they think you sound crazy.
Soprano2
@Baud: I would point out to people all the signs I saw in WalMart about price rollbacks, and they didn’t seem to have noticed them at all. I’m sure they’re all seeing them now, but they’ve been there for a year!!!
Chief Oshkosh
@Baud: Clinging to the NYTimes is only part of the issue.
Never underestimate the power of a lot of money. A lot of money has been spent over decades to create the rightwing media world. Some of it is profit-driven (Fox), and a lot of is has arisen since the creation of a wacko billionaire class who are fine with just throwing money at creating and maintaining this alternate reality.
I despise the NYTimes political reporting “unit,” but liberal love of it is not the major driver here.
Baud
@Soprano2:
People believe what they want to believe.
But people don’t want to believe me when I say that.
Kristine
@Splitting Image:
I’m wondering if any foreign diplomats he meets will wear gloves when they shake his hand.
But also wondering how that “no hand washing in ten years” was managed. How the hell did he soap up in the shower?
Layer8Problem
@Chris Johnson: Call me old fashioned, but I’d need to see a couple of controlled studies. It’s the STEM major in me. Right now it seems more orgone and pyramid power and exotic chelation therapies.
NotMax
@Kristine
“Shower? A term I’m unfamiliar with.”
//
NotMax
@Layer8Problem
“Drinking the urine of nubile young virgins was good enough for our forebears.”
//
WereBear
As long as we are trained liberals and just make them feel good.
As we do.
Just listened to a Black woman on TikTok who gave me cries of laughter, and it was a clip so I couldn’t see who it was, but she was dead on in explaining how they need liberals around, or they would never have any fun.
She pointed out that they don’t want to hang around only with other conservatives. “Nobody likes them.”
We’re the only ones who are kind enough to give them anything in the way of social care. We might be their only fun.
Gray Rock.
Baud
@WereBear:
I’m pleased to see Gray Rock for another reason. IMHO too many liberals have been too fascinated and entertained by the right. I hope that changes during this dark period.
WereBear
@Chris Johnson: All of that is wonderful. Thank you.
Safe spaces to all.
Starfish
@Baud: I think right now you can use the money for both college and private school.
If you allow it for homeschooling, there are some people who are definitely going to for sure need an ATV, a fishing pole, and two cases of beer for their homeschool.
Starfish
@Baud: Every little town has a rumor mill that starts a pyramid scheme every few years, and it is for sure going to work this time.
Chief Oshkosh
@Baud: Always good for a chuckle (or at least a smile). Thanks.
TBone
WQSU college radio is trolling right now (Johnny Cash style😎):
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=bksZ4Qu18kc
We’re all goin’down South 🎶
Baud
@Starfish:
I think Dems should give up raising money and campaigning and invest in a nationwide phone tree.
If everyone calls two people, we can take advantage of the wonders of exponential growth.
TBone
@Baud: gee, your hair smells terrific!
(70s shampoo ad depicting a phone tree)
TBone
Now Johnny and Bob are singing Let Her Hair Hang Down
WereBear
@AM in NC: No, they don’t. Puppies don’t learn from that and these people have less in the way of thinking skills.
And I say that as a rescuer of puppies. I know both types.
It was ANNOUNCED that America as we know will operate under different rules. Find an expression that is sad for them, but also hints that you somehow know who they voted for.
And while their mind whirls with all the things you could say to them and then they can get mad… you leave.
SHUN THEM.
It’s safe and it drives them crazy. If they could learn, they would have by now.
Starfish
@Baud: And that is to be expected. They should always expect this and quit with the shocked Pikachu face about Texas Latinos and Florida Latinos.
narya
@Baud: I’ve been interested (and, honestly, gratified) to see the vibe shift in the direction you’re identifying. In 2016, it was outrage and protest; this time, it’s just disengaging and protecting the vulnerable around us (or ourselves) as much as possible. The one “advantage” we have is that we can see a little of what’s coming–not all of it, for sure–and many have already started taking some steps. But denying them attention drives them crazy. Good.
Omnes Omnibus
@TBone:
Do you mean Girl from the North Country?
Bupalos
@Baud: Yes what we need is pride to goeth before!
RevRick
@p.a: The margin is down to 50.2% versus Harris’ 48.1%. She now trails by less than 3.2 million votes, according to the Wikipedia website. That’s the smallest margin since Carter over Ford.
Baud
@Bupalos:
No one is going to force anyone to be proud.
Jinchi
@What Have the Romans Ever Done for Us?:
Tesla will be doing just fine, as will Space-X.
Baud
Via reddit
RevRick
@trnc: Oh, I heard several on Facebook celebrate Trump’s victory, but I posted Congratulations America! You just spat on the graves of every WW2 veteran.
Baud
@narya:
Yeah. We’re more battle hardened.
I’m not opposed to protests per se, but IMHO I rarely see them accompanied by a productive folllow-through. There has to be a step 2, and there rarely seems to be.
Starfish
@Suzanne: Does it say anything about turnout? Was turnout the same in 2024 as in 2020? Were there big disenfranchisement efforts going on?
Jinchi
Mr. Free Speech is already calling for prosecution of people who criticized him.
https://www.aol.com/news/elon-musk-worries-free-speech-190950833.html
WereBear
@WereBear: Found that Tiktok lady:
https://www.tiktok.com/@iam_kjmiller
WereBear
@Baud: They work for the French.
They learned about fear. What if that is the only thing that motivates our opposition?
Honestagawd, haven’t we proved that now?
Strike, official Democrats, in our name get to smiting for us!
That is what you are there for.
Chacal Charles Calthrop
@Kay: in Sinclair Lewis’ it can’t happen here, American dictator Buzz Windrip promises every American $10k once he’s elected (which of course was worth a lot more in the 30’s). Then as soon as he’s in power he announces that the national emergency delays payment, of course, and nobody ever gets the money.
cain
@Suzanne:
We spent a lot of time trying to prevent this scenario but the American public didn’t listen.
They still expect us to save them. We can only unfortunately focus on saving ourselves.
narya
@Baud: I do think that sometimes protests serve the purpose of letting folks know they’re not alone; that’s important for many people. But we’re fighting against a party that has tried to break government, then claim government doesn’t work, then sell it off to the highest bidder, all in an environment that wants to make a Sport! of everything. And I’m just tired.
cain
@Princess:
Perhaps some fascism will be helpful motivation.
Jinchi
Trump was credited with being “better for the economy”, despite the last year and a half of his presidency being dominated by mass unemployment and empty shelves at the stores. Even the national news bought into that idea.
cain
@Soprano2:
Yes but they only get mad at the democratic president
trnc
@Chris Johnson: Thanks!
trnc
@AM in NC:
Thanks!
Starfish
@Betty Cracker: I know numerous people who home schooled for various reasons.
Some places have “homeschool centers” where people can have their kids take a single class on a topic of interest.
A lot of the homeschool curriculum materials is very Jesus-y church stuff. If you want to teach your kids Latin and not have it be very church-y, I think that is quite hard.
If you have museums around you, they will have middle of the day programming for home schoolers.
There are some radical unschooling influencers that need to be sent to Mars with Elon. These jackasses are not teaching their kids to read.
kalakal
@Layer8Problem: A heck of a lot of them believed Elizabeth Holmes had a working magic box. They’re the ultimate believers in
If you’re very rich you must very smart
I am very rich
Ergo I must be very smart
Bupalos
@VeniceRiley: If you’re throwing that term around, you really belong on Truth Social.
Layer8Problem
Marching registers discontent or outrage. Then people go home. But further work still needs to happen. In the meantime the press reports “Bunch of People Unhappy About Something” on A23.
“But I did something!” Occupy Wall Street didn’t have a follow through either. It ends up like Werner Erhard’s Hunger Project – “We did nothing but raise consciousness! That oughta work!”
Omnes Omnibus
@Bupalos: They are living in Britain. It’s used differently there.
Kathleen
@MagdaInBlack: Cincinnati sent two of its worst. Vivek and Vance. We really do have some brilliant people here.
Bupalos
@cain: I’m afraid the nature of smartphones and the internet and chosen “communities” is gradually convincing us that we’re not all in this together. That’s not some kind of kumbaya moral plea. It’s a description of physical reality. The us/them perspective is the view from fantasy land. “Us” is plain reality.
We’re largely going to share conditions with the people who voted for Trump. “We” aren’t going to save “us” and not “them.” “They” aren’t going to destroy “us” and not “themselves.” That is simply and objectively true, and the fantasies that exist where we suppose we can get around that are splintered dystopias that only look realistic while you’re staring at a phone.
They fucked up and are going to hurt us all. Most of us fucked up fostering and enjoying a social and economic order that destroys our means to live on the planet and breeds ever-refreshed versions of underclass resentment. Now with new and improved Wi-Fi access.
schrodingers_cat
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: I will do that.
dc
@eclare: Biden has been trying very hard to get a cease fire. Even if the Asshole in Chief elect were to ask for one, why would Israel listen? They won’t. Period. So why was this promise a deciding factor for these people. It makes no sense. They are mad (as they should be) and are hitting out for the sake of hitting out. Now the leopard they picked out will continue to eat their face.
tam1MI
I haven’t, but I have been actively avoiding my Trumpy acquaintances.
different-church-lady
@Baud:
Well who doesn’t like horror films?
tam1MI
This goes double for the Biden supporters who warned everyone that ousting him would turn the possibility of a defeat into the certainty of one, and then saw their prediction come true.
Layer8Problem
@different-church-lady: I don’t! I’m very sensitive, you know.
Warren Senders
We homeschooled our daughter all the way up to when she went off to college. We are easygoing progressives with a house full of books, musical instruments, and woodworking tools. Kid is a voracious reader, a great musician, and has built & tuned two full-size xylophones with her own hands. She’s in her sophomore year, majoring in linguistics, and doing very well in all her classes.
Homeschooling can work great, but you have to be ready to put a lot of time and effort into it. Both my wife and I are teachers, and hoo boy, we did.
Chris
@WereBear:
I’ve been pointing this out for years, but pretty much all you need to know about red vs blue America is that when rich people, who have the money to live anywhere, make their choice, they overwhelmingly choose to live in big blue cities.
brantl
@TBone: Yep, they can’t take the screaming, they’re delicate little cupcakes!
Ruckus
@eclare:
Considering that shitforbrains – djt – is/has gone completely insane and is pouting as only a 78 yr old complete and utter asshole can do, because he’s gone insane, that not everyone believes everything he does/says/believes is the absolute truth to end all absolute truth, we should respect him even more than we did over the last 5 million decades it feels like he’s been yapping about how great he is and how he and he alone can fix the world?
Ruckus
@dc:
Many, many people have zero idea how the world/humanity works. Their world often revolves around the stick stuck someplace, I won’t be specific – you’ll get the picture…
For many of those many, many people their world revolves around a pole stuck somewhere. It’s either their world or them that’s revolving. They are not big thinkers, they see the world in a rather narrow view. (I used to be a mental health counselor – I’ve had direct conformation that this is possibly not a concept retained by a very few humans – IOW more humans than one might expect quite possibly/absolutely believe this) Many people see the world, including humanity of course, from a rather/very narrow view point.
MUL98
@Betty Cracker: This is exactly where I am. Not only is this not my fault, but there’s zero chance we recover from Trump in my lifetime. (I’m in my mid 50s)
Best case scenario is that we hold an election in 4 years, America gets its head out of its ass – and votes for sane government. Even if that happens, fixing the damage he’s about to do will take decades. Worst case scenario is that we’re figuring out how to fund the American version of the IRA to throw out the fascists. Either way, we are headed for a long slog that’s going to get much worse before it gets even slightly better.
I’ve seen the best this country can be in my lifetime, and I’m done trying to help people who just don’t want my help. All my efforts going forward will focus on protecting those I love from the worst of this.
The Audacity of Krope
I did. Old high school friend texted. I quickly called him a Nazi and told him about my plans to minimize my usefulness to large capitalist enterprises.
Then he started crediting Trump with what he suddenly noticed was a great economy and I blocked him.
Chris T.
@BellyCat:
It’s definitely something to consider.
Meanwhile, my out-of-fucks-to-give state says to me that any time in the next however many years, if someone is complaining to me about their situation (whether economic or whatever) I’ll ask: “did you vote for the rapist felon, or for Harris, or third-party/didn’t vote?” If the answer is “for the rapist felon” I’ll say “ha: now lie back and enjoy what you voted for”. If it’s “didn’t vote” I’ll be sympathetic but unhelpful. If it’s for Harris I’ll see what I can do to help.
It’s too soon to guess how this will all play out though, so the above are just idle thoughts. Civil-War-2, or “Trump keels over, Vance becomes Pres”, or “Trump assassinated, Vance shot for doing it without any proof that he did it”, etc., all make radical changes to, well, everything. So I’m really just venting.
Chris T.
@Soprano2:
Well, that’s sort-of true: as soon as possible, there will be no overtime. Your 120 hours of required work a week will all get paid $.75/hr, and all of that will be taxed at the usual 50% rate because none of it is overtime. So: no taxes on the overtime you don’t have!