positive things…

kangals:

Yall thinking Trump’s run for the presidency is over the same way yall thought Brexit wouldn’t happen. Yall gon stay yall lazy asses home on November 8th and wake up to a nightmare on the 9th.

Register. Verify. Get your asses to the polls on November 8th and vote. Tweeting and posting and reblogging don’t do a damn thing if you don’t actually complete a ballot.

I don’t care if Hillary Clinton is corrupt. I don’t care if she lies, if she cheats, if she eats bowls of newborn chipmunks for breakfast.

She is literally the only thing standing in the way of a fascist dictator becoming President of the United States with a Republican majority congress that guarantees he can do anything he wants and nothing will be able to stop him.

I was and still am a Bernie supporter, and I hate a lot of things about Clinton, but none of that matters anymore. If Trump is elected, people are going to die. Women are going to die when Roe v Wade is overturned and Planned Parenthood is defunded. LGBTQ people are going to die when conversion therapy is further legalized and more bathroom bills are passed. POC are going to die as Trump rounds up Mexican immigrants, gives more power to the police, and fuels the fires of Islamaphobia. Poor people are going to die as Obamacare gets overturned and further cuts are made to welfare programs. And that’s just in this country. That’s not even taking account the all-too-likely outcomes of Trump starting new wars in the Middle East and having control of nuclear bombs that he’s said he ‘would not rule out’ using.

This is no longer even about ‘the lesser of two evils’. This is not ‘scare tactics’. This is literally life and death. Don’t fuck around and tell me you’re voting third-party or not voting at all, because you don’t have that luxury. 

I am delighted that this post has gotten as many notes as it has, but as Election Day grows closer I would like to flush it out with some additional information and facts, particularly for those people who are still considering voting third party and those who still consider Clinton “just as bad” as Trump.

Why you shouldn’t vote for Jill Stein

Why you shouldn’t vote for Gary Johnson

Why you shouldn’t vote third party AT ALL: x, x, x, x (hint, it’s because the electoral college presently makes it impossible for third party to win)

Worried about Clinton’s scandals? John Oliver breaks it down.

Comparison of Hillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders’ views. They voted the same 93% of the time. 

A comprehensive review of Donald Trump’s corruption

Donald Trump is being sued for raping a 13 year old girl in 1994, and there is merit to the case.

Oxford Economics predicts that Trump’s policies would remove $1 trillion from the US economy, while the Peterson Institute projects that a Trump presidency could cost nearly 5 million US jobs.

Donald Trump repeatedly asked why the US couldn’t use nuclear weapons

Donald Trump’s cruel streak

37 of the most offensive things Trump ever said

Donald Trump unveils plan to make abortion illegal again

Feds investigating Trump advisor’s meeting with Russian officials seeking to influence U.S. election (Trump called Putin a better leader than Obama.)

Trump’s campaign paid his businesses $8.2 million

Trump flies in a plane with gold-plated bathroom fixtures and pays for it with tax dollars

Trump’s financial plan would increase the debt by $5.3 trillion above current levels, Clinton’s by $200 billion 

Trump wants to eliminate food safety regulations

Trump was sued by the Justice Department for housing discrimination against black people

Trump has reaped at least $885 million in tax breaks, grants and other subsidies for luxury apartments, hotels and office buildings in New York

Concerned that Hillary Clinton defended a child rapist? She tried to get out of it, but she had no choice. 

The official Republican platform includes banning abortion, overturning marriage equality, no background checks for purchasing guns, declaring coal “clean energy”, religion used as a guide for legislation, a border wall, and pornography declared a “public menace”.

Politifact says that Hillary has made ‘false’ statements 11% of the time and ‘pants on fire’ statements 2%, compared to Trump’s 37% and 17%.

Bernie supporter? Bernie says that now is not the time for a protest vote. Bernie tells you why you should vote for Hillary Clinton. Bernie says that Trump must not become president.

Please do not waste your vote. You can complain about Hillary Clinton as much as you want, but complain about her while you vote for her.

US Politics Post

you know how i bug you to register to vote and then vote and it’s really super-annoying? well the republican party platform is rolling out and it includes a 100% ban on abortions and revocation of same-sex marriage and no background check for guns and oh yes also conversion therapy for LGBTQ+ people so yeah me bugging you is not going to change sorry not sorry please register to vote and then vote?

Other “highlights”, per the New York Times:

Reblogging for the NYT article link, and also this one from OccupyDemocrats. Your vote matters so much.

Please vote and please don’t be complacent. So very not good polling numbers for Clinton came out this morning, and in general I think polling is going to consistently undercount support for Trump (hi, I look at data regarding the election as part of my day job, I am not just talking out of my ass). Vote. Even if you think your state is “safe.” And please learn about your local down-ticket races, because that’s where the policy that affects your daily life happens.

If this passes, it will set our country back DECADES. Reblog so everyone can see and then vote in November.

I thought this was a hoax or a joke, because even the Republican Party couldn’t be that daft, regressive, and hateful.

It’s not a joke. It’s not a hoax.

VOTE.

I don’t care if you don’t like Hillary. I don’t much like her either. But the alternative is WORSE.

Vote downticket. Don’t forget about the legislature.

Look at me. Look me in the eye. On November the 8th, 2016, one of two things will happen: Hillary Clinton will become president, or Donald Trump will become president. These are the only two possibilities. The superdelegates aren’t going to switch. An indictment isn’t coming. There is no third possibility. There is no space between the spaces where you can hide. Every vote for Donald Trump requires two Hilary Clinton votes to overcome. A Hillary Clinton vote can only be overcome by two Donald Trump votes. If you stay home, a Donald Trump vote doubles its power. This is the real, actual reality of the situation. There is not one other option.

And there’s no ctrl-alt-del for the election. Read up on 2000 if you doubt this.

“if trump loses will clinton really be any better?” YES. yes holy shit why is this even a question yes she will fucking be better!!!! have you read her policy!!!! have you paid attention to what she’s saying!! you may not like her but she wants women to have access to abortion, she wants gun control, she doesn’t want to overturn same-sex marriage. she doesn’t want to ban muslims from immigrating to the country. like the amount of hatred for hillary clinton is honestly insane when your other option is donald trump

GOD PLEASE WATCH THIS IF YOU HAVE NOT

Mitt Romney is going to kill donald trump and I support him

#mitt romney redemption arc

It’s funny how Hillary Clinton will nae nae on stage, reference Beyoncé, try to court Latinos by saying she’s an Abuela, reference Star Wars, and literally change her accent depending on her audience, doing anything to appeal to everyone yet an old, unfashionable, unkempt, Jewish, socialist is winning with millennials by a 2-1 (and growing) margin just by being true to himself. Hmmm

The problem with Hillary and the people running her campaign is that they are running on the same mindset as everyone of that generation: they truly believe that millennials and younger voters “only care about memes” and are uninterested in politics or making the world better. What they don’t understand is that this younger generation isn’t uninterested in politics or the political process, but that they see American politics for what they are: a game of broken promises, where you can barely differentiate between liberals and conservatives as this point. The Democrats and Republicans running for office are all more invested in the interests of the rich and powerful than they are of the people. This generation isn’t untierested in politics, it’s just tired of playing a game that is clearly rigged. The reason Bernie is wrecking every other Democratic candidate with young voters is because he’s actually speaking about issues that this generation cares about, mirroring their fears and anger, and providing plans for possible solutions to problems like income inequality, the rising cost of higher education, the racism embedded in our social systems, the rising cost of living with no rise in wages anywhere on sight, etc. You can whip and nae nae all you fucking want and wish the Force to be with me, but what I really wanna know is why students are leaving universities with $30K+ of debt to a shit job market to be underpaid for their skills, or why our police departments are being given access to military grade weaponry, or why black people can’t drive without being harassed by police officers, up to a point where they will sometimes end up dead. Hillary can eat me.

kill em 

I cannot stress this enough for the 2016 election

If Bernie loses the primaries: YOU STILL MUST VOTE

Tumblr’s become so attached to Bernie that I’m not sure y’all are still gonna vote in the election if he loses. I will vote for him, I know most of you might too, but we must still be prepared for something like that :/ I know it would mean that you will have lost the one candidate you believed in the most. I know it will possibly mean voting for Hillary over the Republicans, when all of you don’t like her that much, I understand, believe me.

BUT HERE’S WHY YOU STILL VOTE:

1. Because are you going to give the Republicans a greater chance of victory?

2. Not voting means you are still deciding who has a better chance of winning in the election, don’t be fooled.

3. BECAUSE BERNIE WANTS YOU TO.

Seriously, he released a whole video on how “elites want big money to dominate the political process” and this:

And he KNOWS they don’t want that. You will not be making a positive change if you don’t vote, hence he is saying you will make the problem worse, if you avoid voting.

This is not only for this election. It is 2016 and beyond. Don’t forget that, please.

okay jesus fuck this conversation has gone far enough so:

hey, so you like bernie sanders! i like bernie sanders too! i agree with his politics! he is doing better than people expected in the democratic primaries, which is cool!

what are you going to do if he loses?

because given the tone of the conversations i hear on this website right now– given the sheer hatred of hillary that’s emerging, given the overwhelming feeling that bernie sanders is amazing and the messiah and the only candidate that’s worth voting for in america– here’s what i see happening in mid-2016:

(i literally shivered as i typed that last bullet point, btw– i know there are people voting in 2016 who were ten years old when obama was elected, and y’all may not remember much of the bush years. i was only 13 when bush left, but jesus christ– remember when hurricane katrina was overwhelmingly badly handled? remember when the patriot act passed? remember when the housing bubble collapsed? remember when the president said god told him to invade iraq? y’all wanna do that again?)

so what are you going to do if bernie sanders loses?

i need you to think about that now. i need you to not be surprised when it happens. i need you to not put all your hopes in one basket.

you think the gop won’t be pouring all their resources into this election? you think the superpacs and the koch brothers and the oil lobbyists won’t be throwing their money at ballot boxes until they spit out the result they want? you think the rich and powerful and conservative won’t be bringing their best game? 

they will, and if we don’t work twice as hard as they do– no matter who the democratic nominee is– we are fucked.

i need you to be okay with the idea of hillary clinton being president of the united states, and i need you to make peace with that before she wins the primaries, so that you’re prepared and ready to campaign for her with all your might if she’s the democratic nominee.

because i honest-to-god believe this country will not survive another four, eight, twelve years of a republican administration.

#remember ralph nader? #I FUCKING WELL REMEMBER RALPH NADER #WE’RE NOT DOING THAT AGAIN. (via swanjolras)

my hand to god i have seen so many posts on my dash that have been both heartbreakingly optimistic and absolutely mind-bogglingly uninformed (and naive, but that comes with time; information comes with googling the way the government of your own country works. fun fact: not all primaries are open primaries! i know! this is inconsistent! it is also the world that we live in and i don’t think we’re going to get around to redesigning the electoral system before november 2016. just saying) and, like every election year, i have sat down and thought, albeit briefly, about this possibility:

that is not a possibility that i can or will accept. i know we like to mythologize our figures here and put them on can-do-no-wrong pedestals, but, for god’s sake, to paraphrase: can we live in the real fucking world here, please? by all means, know that we can do better. by all means, know that we should. but here are some facts:

this is not how politics works. you don’t vote a politician into office and then stand back and watch the world fix itself! you don’t get to do that. it takes work and it takes time and it takes, sometimes, the willingness to accept and keep pushing through lowered expectations. i’m happy for your optimism and i’m happy for your energy. we need those! don’t lose them. do, however, remember that there is context to this, because we live, again, in the real fucking world.

#i have read posts calling hillary clinton problematic.#i fully expect an edit of bernie sanders in a flower crown to cross my dash sooner or later.#real. world. (via endquestionmark)

This is from September. 

Oop

Okay this is funny, because Black tumblr was dead pushin everyone and even they mothers to vote for Bernie Sanders! I can’t tell y’all how many posts I came across encouragin people to register to vote and vote for Bernie Sanders!

Bernie Sanders got your vote because he acknowledges that the police brutality in America is extremely critical in today’s society and a reform must be made to change the way the police behave and act towards us, ESPECIALLY TOWARDS BLACK PEOPLE.

Bernie Sanders got your vote because he wants public education, including public colleges to be free.

Bernie Sanders got your vote because he wants healthcare for all citizens.

Bernie Sanders got your vote because he marched to MLK the day he made his “I Have A Dream” speech and organized resistance to segregation.

He got your vote because he believes that minimum wages should be higher for everybody, is aware of global warming, AND is aware of economic inequality.

but the MOMENT y’all hear that Bernie Sanders voted for war on Palestine, all of a sudden, you aint supportin’ him? 

Like y’all expectin this nigga to be PERFECT!

Y'all was ridin’ his dick from the moment he announced his race to be the next US president, and y'all praised him for every word he said just moments ago!

Now he loses all credibility because of a vote? Y'all fake as fuck. Who you gonna vote for now? Hillary? 

SHE AINT NO BETTER THAN YO MAN BERNIE!

WHO ELSE YOU GONNA VOTE FOR?!

People want politicians to be perfect. We need to realize that we will never agree with everything a politician has done in their life.

This is also an over-simplified bit of nonsense that puts Sanders in the same position as every liberal Jew ever: either 100% denounce Israel and all of its people or be seen as an Islamophobic murderer of Palestinian babies.

News flash: It’s more complicated than that.  People might be aware of Sanders being asked about his (non-existent) Israeli citizenship in an NPR interview, but they should also pay attention to the rest of the interview where he is openly critical of Israel and supports a two-state solution.  He flat out says he doesn’t know how that might happen (because no one does, if we did we’d have done it already), but he doesn’t agree with the actions Netanyahu has been taking.

In contrast, Clinton has strongly supported Netanyahu and is more conservative on every single other issue.  You want a pro-Palestinian Democratic candidate?  You’re not going to get better than Sanders.  Yes, even though he’s Jewish.

Planning to vote for Bernie Sanders?

I just saw another enthusiastic post going around, encouraging people to vote for the man, but missing an important fact.

Bernie Sanders and Hillary Clinton are both running as Democrats.

The party will use YOUR votes to decide how many Democratic Party delegates from your state go to the Democratic National Convention and vote on who represents the party in the general election (what this means varies by state; see this article for an explanation). This means that in order for you to see Bernie Sanders in the White House, you must see him beat Hillary Clinton at the DNC.

If you do not vote for Bernie Sanders in the primary, you will NOT be able to vote for him as president, because only one person will represent the Democratic Party. If you want to see Bernie Sanders in the White House, again, you cannot wait for the general election, because he will have been knocked out of the race.

Bernie Sanders perfectly sums up why elites love apathetic voters

REGISTER! VOTE!

And why every apathetic voter who thinks they are making some sort of statement by not voting is actually supporting the very people they think they are making a statement against.