I’ll say it again, please just grit your teeth and vote for Biden…

Vote blue.

Are those "Biden protections" in the room with us at the moment? Go eat shit and die.

They are in fact in the room with us right now.

4/26/24 - Biden/Harris administration incorporates latest rule to the ACA that includes protections on the basis of sexual orientation and improves pre-existing protections for gender identity, mandating nondiscrimination in health care and insurance coverage for LGBTQ+ Americans.

4/19/24 - Biden/Harris administration finalized a Title IX rule that clarifies the scope of nondiscrimination protections on the basis of sexual orientation and gender identity throughout educational activities and programs.

1/9/24 - Biden/Harris administration reverses Trump/Pence era “License to Discriminate” rules.

6/8/23 - Biden personally announces a series of initiatives that include efforts to protect queer and trans foster youth, improve access to mental health services for LGBTQ+ youth and address the rise in hate-fueled violence.

4/26/23 - Biden/Harris administration files lawsuit against the state of Tennessee, challenging the constitutionality of recently enacted legislation banning age-appropriate, medically necessary gender-affirming care for transgender youth.

2/7/23 - Biden uses his SotU address to encouraged Congress to pass the Equality Act “to ensure LGBTQ Americans, especially transgender young people, can live with safety and dignity.”

12/13/22 - Biden signs the Respect for Marriage Act, one of the biggest legislative wins in the fight for LGBTQ+ equality in over a decade, guaranteeing federal rights, benefits and obligations of marriages in the federal code for same-sex couples. The legislation also repealed the Defense of Marriage Act and affirmed public acts, records and proceedings should be recognized by all states.

8/4/22 - Biden/Harris administration declares Monkeypox a public emergency and wields federal power to ensure equal access in the distribution of vaccines and treatment.

3/21/22 - Biden/Harris administration takes steps on Transgender Day of Visibility to protect trans Americans that includes issuing passports with an “X” gender marker, streamlining identity verification during the travel experience and providing resources to transgender kids and their families.

And that’s just the last two years, without including any educational or research work done towards new policies or educating Americans about LGBTQ identities and politics, like displaying parts of the AIDS quilt in the White House or regularly acknowledging Pride, days of visibility, or other issues within the community.

You may be too young to remember this, but Biden was one of the first major federal-level politicians to support gay marriage, and he dragged Obama along kicking and screaming to the finish line. This administration is one of the strongest allies the LGBTQ community has had. Ever.

For the many many people who do not seem to understand how a government actually works, this doesn't mean Biden himself came up with these decisions, but they were approved and implemented by Congress because conservatives didn't have both the presidency and a majority. They desperately want the white house right now because it will allow them to make any policy changes they want uncontested.

I am not unaware of the negatives of Biden's presidency, and I am not trying to elide or forgive them. I'm reblogging posts about the Biden administration because I think it's really important that potential voters in the US realize that there is, in fact, a very big difference between the two parties, and voting for Biden is not just damage control--it actually does good. It's okay, you can actually feel a little excited about making meaningful progress, and not just hold your nose.

He's been very unflashy. He's not a great leader, he's not charismatic and he knows it, but he's an adroit politician and administrator, and he's been getting things done. Letting Trump win at this point would be tantamount to throwing the entire country on the bonfire. It's not a choice between bad and bad, it's a choice between meaningful, if imperfect, progress and fucking doom.

I keep doing it because I don't hear any buzz about the real progress that's happening, and that's frusterating.

I keep doing it because fear isn't actually all that effective to get people to do something. But I just want to be screaming "What the actual f*ck!" when folks act like the dude who sent unmarked vans to scoop up Black Lives Matter protesters and stans Andrew *Trail of Tears* Jackson is the equivalent of the dude lowering the price of prescriptions drugs and standing on the picket line with auto workers. Mainly by giving Biden somewhat more power than he actually has.

I keep doing it because I regularly volunteer with a marginalized group who are very aware of what's at stake.

Some things Biden and Congress have done:

I'm reblogging stuff about Biden when I can because I actually care about engaged democracy. And Biden is great at democracy, but really bad at engagement. (in many ways, he got elected exactly because of that, because The Other Guy is extremely engaging, but cares not a whit about either democracy or integrity). Biden cares about democracy, and he is engaged, even though lacking the ability to engage people. Which is so fucking frustrating, because now is a great time to make sure that every elected official understands that the American public actually wants democracy. Like, the GOP has become a death-cult. Giving the Democrats an actually significant win this year, while making it clear that election reform is something that should be considered top of the agenda? Ending the Electoral College and Gerrymandering, at the very least? Maybe adding some Ranked Choice Voting? Maybe restoring voting rights for felons? The GOP knows that they can't win elections without the current system in place, because they've rigged the system very very carefully. If enough Americans get out and empower the Democrats this year, the political map of this country could change forever. Because the Republicans can't win elections unless they cheat. They've said it themselves that significant voter reform would make them incapable of winning elections. The schism would finally sunder them. And probably that would in turn sunder the Democrats. And instead of the current state of affairs, where we have Violent White Nationalism vs Politics As Usual, we might actually arrive at a state of affairs where we are balancing between Radical Progress vs Politics As Usual, instead. If we get lucky enough, we might even get more than two options. That is to say, a moderate amount of voting reform would probably change the bipartisan system into a Centrist Career Politicians Party (the great reunion tour of the motherfucking Democratic Republicans) vs an Actually Progressive Politicians Party (who might finally even decide it's finally safe to gather under the Democratic Socialists flag 🍞🌹✊). And the tug-of-war would change into the speed with which we could implement progressive policies. Or, if there's actually engagement enough to call for real voter reform, for a new amendment to the Constitution (or perhaps a full rewriting of the Constitution, like most actually functional democracies do once or twice a century?)... the political scene could change in real ways. Like. I'm reblogging about Biden because he's showing that he wants to engage with the issues. If the voters make it clear that the top issue is election reform, and then follow through and empowers Biden's party to do something about it? The likelihood is that he would actually do it. (But this is only possible if, you know, the Democrats get all the majorities they need to push things through, which requires actual wide-spread ENGAGEMENT.

Who is helped in this scenario?

More to the point: how will your one issue improve under Trump?

This is why you vote & vote Blue

They ran on doing this; not on how this was impossible.

This is why we want candidates to campaign on these issues: Because people want these jobs done.

Voting matters. #VoteBlue 💙

I think it's really important to take a good look at who you're voting for in primaries, too. It's not being talked about that a lot of the people who got this done are a) younger and b) marginalized in one or more ways and c) aren't entrenched in establishment politics.

One of the reasons that things got done is because the people pushing those agendas aren't following the old "well we have to appeal to the right to our own detriment" Democrat defeatist stuff, and because they're young and because nobody had yet told them it couldn't be done, they just did it.

If you haven't yet seen the video of the young man responsible for the gig work reform bill being literally carried around on the shoulders of Uber drivers after the bill passed, go look it up. It's good stuff.

Yes, vote blue, because the Republican party is... *waves hands* but pay attention to who you're voting for. Show up at primaries. Don't just vote in the incumbent if they're not getting shit done.

Hell, run for shit, and if you do? Don't let 'em tell you that it can't be done.

Yes, Omar Fateh (the guy behind the gig workers bill) is really respected in his district, and he specifically ran in both the primary and the actual election as a person committed to Getting Shit Done. And then he did!

It is so important to keep an eye out for folks like this in your primaries and give them your vote. Even if they don’t win, many candidates use primary results to help them choose which issues to address during the main campaign and in session.

And if your preferred political party has caucuses, or meetings, or whatever in preparation for the primary, try to go! That’s a great place to share your concerns with potential candidates or get a feel for what plans everyone is likely to focus on.

Thank you so much! I couldn't remember his name.

Let's flip the Senate. Register. Donate. Vote.

I know people are being shown right now that voting does not fix everything, so some people might be feeling despair and wondering why we even bother to vote. Often the Democrats we vote in are still imperfect. But that does not make voting less important. We must still vote, and then we must HOLD THOSE DEMOCRATS ACCOUNTABLE TO THEIR CONSTITUENTS. Both political actions are important!! An crappy Democrat in office leaves much to be desired but is still miles better than a Republican, so we must ensure that Republicans do not win. 

“There are other forces at work in this world besides the will of evil.”

Best go vote add I’ve seen, maybe ever

I’ve been repeating this quote to myself almost every day for a couple years now.

Images description: Text of Frodo and Gandalf dialogue (movie version) overlaid over scenes of 2020 events. Breakdown below to compare with movie clip: https://youtu.be/hdAN0o3oqB8 Breakdown below:  

1.       Overhead view of a coronavirus patient being moved over a cobblestone road by staff in hazmat suits: “I wish the ring had never come to me.” (Photo credit: Kim Chul-Soo/EFE)

2.       Over a photo of a firefighter walking in the remains of a forest completely engulfed in flames: “I wish none of this had happened.” (Photo credit: Daniel Knox/Horsley Park Rural Fire Brigade)

3.       “So do I” over the smoldering Beirut port (Photo credit: Lorenzo Tugnoli, The Washington Post)

4.       “And so do all who live to see such times”: riot police pepper spraying two unarmed protestors (Photo credit: Junfu Han, Detroit Free Press)

5.       “But that is not for them to decide” Exterior photo of The White House, Washington, D.C. at night (Photo source unknown, likely stock photo)

6.       “All we have to decide” overhead image of line protestors with front line of umbrellas standing across from police or other state actors in riot gear.  Location likely Hong Kong

7.       “Is what to do” side view of unarmed protestors yelling, many with fists raised in air at sheriff’s deputies in Hennepin County, Minnesota (Photo credit: Zachary Boyden-Holmes, Des Moines Register,

“With the time given to us” Woman at ballot booth, face hidden by booth with prominent U.S. flag and vote sign.  (Photo credit: Justin Merriman/Getty Images/AFP)

Hey. Hello.

I am monumentally tired of fighting. But I’m going to continue to do so for as long as I can.

Right now I am seeing long-time followers attack Kamala Harris and Joe Biden for picking her as a running mate. I know a lot of people look at this duo and see “more of the same.” I’ve seen so many intelligent people saying they are not going to vote.

It is absolutely critical that you vote the Biden/Harris ticket. I want you to remember that while you are pointing out the flaws, and here is why.

The current president is literally a fascist. He’s slow-burning, meaning he’s slowly moving the goalpost farther right. The only reason he’s slow-moving is because the Republican party still has the barest semblance of a conscience. Think of what would have happened if #45 said “we should delay the election!” and McConnell said “yeah okay that sounds cool.”

Do you know how terrifying that is? Because if he got congress to delay the election somehow, there would be no reason to ever have a federal election again. He could just keep delaying it forever.

“But CK,” you say. “The constitution says we can’t delay a presidential election!”

Checks and balances say a lot of things. Checks and balances say that bills are supposed to be voted on and go to the president for signing or veto. Currently McConnell has found a loophole and just has 400 bills sitting on his desk, ignored.

I want you to keep this in mind: Under fascism, the constitution does not matter. They will find a way around it. They’re trying to find ways around amendments, too, poking and prodding at free speech until they can find a way to shut it down.

And if #45 decides he doesn’t want to play anymore, he’s got a whole fucking army, and he’s just proven that the secret police he has in his employ will do whatever the fuck he says. I need you to recognized that this throwing people in Portland into vans thing wasn’t the ultimate violation of freedom. It was only one step in a massive authoritarian takeover. You cannot trust the secret police to do the right thing and say no. #45 has just proven they’ll listen to him like trained dogs.

He has already started talking about more terms. If he discards the constitution, there will be nothing stopping him from taking them. He’s currently, blatantly trying to rig a free and fair election. This has happened in other countries across the globe, and the same people who are posting “NEVER VOTE FOR BIDEN” are the same ones who post things like “JUSTICE FOR _______” when a despot steals an election.

If the incumbent president wins another term, this will be the last election we have. This will be it. This is how fascism works. This isn’t slippery-slope talk. This isn’t “potential worst case scenario.” We are in the middle of the worst case scenario now.

Please. For the sake of the millions of people who will die under #45. For the sake of people who cannot survive another 4+ years. Think of Biden/Harris as a road block. A barricade. Right in the middle of the road. It stops traffic and doesn’t do anything to get people where they’re going, but at least it stops them from careening off a bridge.

If you never want to have to make this choice again, you have to fight to abolish the US’s First-Past-The-Post voting system, but it is TOO LATE to do that now. No third party candidate can win. Study the election results from the last 40 years and you’ll see.

Please. Wise up. This is our last chance.

As someone who is in local leftist circles, I’m seeing a lot of people mocking “vote blue no matter who”. Lately, even comparing those people with the Back The Blue movement which sides with the police against protesters. They’re saying that if you insist people vote Democrat, you’re basically a boot licker. I’ve been hearing, “time to burn it all down”.

Mmkay. When?

When is your glorious revolution going to start? Please explain your plan to me. Explain how it will topple the current government. Explain how you will install something better in its place. Explain how the new government will legitimize itself and stay in power. Now, Explain how you will do this without killing millions of poor, disabled, and marginalized people.

Oh. You don’t have one of those plans? Then you have to deal with the government we actually have, not a fantasy version of it. You have to look at what you can realistically accomplish within the two party system that we have, not the fantasy multi-party system you want. You have to look at the REAL, ACTUAL candidates and say, “which one starts closer to my eventual goal, and which one can be moved by a sustained concerted effort?” And you have to say, “which one will kill the fewest people while we’re trying to fix the problems that gave us this system we hate in the first place?”

Because you cannot campaign for a ranked voting system in the eleventh hour. It’s too fucking late. That choice isn’t on the table for you anymore. Don’t whine and kick your feet and refuse to take the first step towards fixing things because that step isn’t big enough for you. There are hundreds of notches on the needle between Biden/Harris and all the things we want: racial Justice, indigenous land reparations, universal basic income, socialized medicine. Hundreds of notches. But if we cannot even agree to pull the needle ONE NOTCH FURTHER LEFT in unison, how the fuck are we supposed to get there? How do we ever reach a destination when half of us turn our noses up at a first step?

The Right got us here because they pull in unison. They’ve been doing it for decades and every election, the whole country slides. There are more of us but we refuse to work together. We refuse to just decide on a first step and take it. We refuse so hard we’d rather say “burn it down” than comprise our political purity. But I am here to tell you that no amount of philosophy is worth an ounce of praxis and your purity will not absolve you from the moral laziness of deciding your neighbors are acceptable sacrifices in the name of a brave new world.

Change requires realistic goals and sustained effort. It requires responsibility and involvement. It is measured in increments. It isn’t glorious.

“Burn it all down” only requires you to stand back and watch. So. I see y'all.

My feed is currently exploding with the fact that Biden picked Kamala Harris as his veep. I would like to remind my friends of the following points:

1) She's a cop, and we're allowed to be unhappy. We're allowed to be mad, even.

2) We are not just voting for the Presidency. We are also voting for Ruth Bader Ginsburg's replacement. And a lot of other stuff, but let RBG retire or die secure in the knowledge that doing so will not fuck over this country.

3) "Kamala Harris is a cop and ACAB" and "Kamala Harris's nomination represents a number of important firsts in the field of politics" are both solid takes that do not cancel one another out and in fact coexist because we do not live in a magic Star Wars world where we have just have the Light Side and Dark Side.

4) The immigrants currently being held in cages and doused with weapons-grade disinfectant by our own government will not appreciate the subtleties of our political choices if we elect Trump for a second term through our inaction or dithering. For that matter, the people dying of COVID because Trump gutted the pandemic response team and then mishandled our response to the virus will not appreciate them. Because they're dying or dead. Because we couldn't get our shit together four years ago. My own mother may be one of these people. I'll never know for sure.

You're all adults, and I'm not here to tell you what to do. I will, however, share what I'm going to do: I will vote for Biden and his cop sidekick in November. And then if Trump gets a second term anyway, I'm arming myself and getting my ducks in order to go underground, because my Jewish wife and I are not going into the gas chambers quietly.

Yall, I don’t want to be alarmist but…. that’s… concerning. 

Well, and least we got this about of it. Even Ted Cruz had to slam on the damage control brakes.

I just want to clarify- even though McConnell and other republicans have slammed on the “NO NO NO we aren’t doing that” brakes- we should still be concerned. 

Between this and Trump’s refusal to commit to election results, he is deliberately undermining his base’s trust in the electoral process. By citing “voter fraud” as his reason to try to delay the election, now even though the election WILL happen on time, if (when) he loses, he can claim that the election was illegitimate- that it was voter fraud, that he warned us, that he knew it was rigged, that Congress didn’t do enough to stop all the ~fraud~ that he knew was there, and he will refuse to step aside peacefully. 

He has been placing armed mercenaries in major American cities run by democratic mayors, and he is laying the groundwork to claim that the election is illegitimate if (when) he loses. 

You need to vote, so that both the Electoral College and the Popular vote are against him, and when this asshole finally breaks the tradition of the peaceful transition of power (which is what he is planning), when you need to be willing to protest and fight more than you ever have before. 

Like, I do not want to be an alarmist here, but we could be looking at like… Congress having to send in armed men to remove this man from office, and depending how the Republicans in power and his base handle that, we could be looking at a level of violence in the transition of power that is literally unheard of in the US.   

^^^^^^ This. 

This si why you vote blue even if you’re in a scarlet state with no hope of winning the electoral college. 

This is why you vote for Biden even if you loathe him with every fiber of your being. 

This is it. 

If we are to have any hope of maintaining a fair system and avoiding an all-out dictatorship, the numbers have to be absolutely unambiguous. 

Go. Vote. Blue. 

Fuck. Joe. Biden.

Look, YES fuck Joe Biden. And I know that asking people to vote for a shitty option because the other viable option is FAR worse is hardly convincing. I know. 

But a vote for Joe Biden isn’t just a vote against Trump. It’s also a vote for all the positions that Biden would get to fill, rather than leave Trump’s people (like Barr and DeVos) in charge. 

It’s also a vote for all the judges Biden would appoint (Which is likely at LEAST 1 Supreme Court pick.)

 It’s a vote for all of the 700+ positions that the President appoints and Senate confirms (Not just being generally better than Trump’s picks, but ACTUALLY GETTING FILLED. Trump still had over 170 unfilled appointments as of this year.)

And honestly, at this point, it’s also a vote that says “You shouldn’t get to undermine our electoral process and threaten the peaceful transition of power and STAY IN POWER.” 

Joe Biden is a bad candidate, and I wish we had gotten nearly anyone else. But I do believe that he’s a candidate who like… generally respects our political process, who could competently staff an administration, who could be reasoned with and compromised with, and who isn’t going to try to crown himself Emperor. Biden probably won’t spend hours a day on Twitter instead of like, reading security briefings.  It SUCKS that we have to aim as low as “isn’t literally trying to power grab himself a dictatorship” but the other option is to forfeit your vote and let the dictator get reelected.

So please, for the love of fuck, can we try to temper our disappointment with pragmatism? We should always vote for the best possible option, even if the best possible option is kinda shitty. 

As if having a corpse with puppet strings in the office would make things any better. Theres seriously enough resentment towards both major parties that a third party or independent candidate could actually stand a chance if die-hard party-liners could think for themselves.

1. Having Biden, as much of a rat bastard as he is, is absolutely better than Trump, and if you can’t see that then you are lacking in perspective. If for no other reason than Biden, at a minimum, will like… respect the checks and balances of government and not clumsily hint at a coup leading up to his reelection. It’s a low bar, but an important one.

2. No there isn’t. There is no third party in this country that even comes close to winning a SINGLE STATE, much less the entire Electoral College. If you want to see more third party representation, then between now and 2024, you need to campaign HARD for Ranked Ballots and abolishing the EC. But if you honest to God think that any third party has enough support to be viable RIGHT NOW, you are out of your mind.

House:

Senate:

THIS is not a political landscape where your dark horse miracle third party candidate is going to win, and it’s naive to think so. (Also WHO? Which third party candidate do you think enough people could possibly rally behind?)

I’m sorry. It’s not fair that your choices are Joe Biden and the End of American Democracy.  But guess fucking what? That’s the choice you get this year. Make it, and then fight like hell to reform our electoral system so you never have to make a choice so rotten again.

And to be clear, your choices ARE Joe Biden and the End of American Democracy. Trump wants to be a dictator, he has said as much, and he is not going without a fight. 

Today I saw two posts going around where an anonymouse had asked a person if they really wouldn’t vote for Biden if he got the nom. It was followed by that person going hell no to Biden and then people fighting back and forth about whether he was any better than 45 (which, yes, one is literally a white supremacist nationalist). I clicked on the links and found that the op of one was a troll and the other appeared to be a young black woman.

So this is me reminding people that in 2016, when Russian trolls infiltrated tumblr and Twitter and Facebook, they came in many forms. They came as Trumpers. They came as Bernie Bros. They came as Black Lives Matter activists.

They will spread the idea that Biden is the same as Trump so that you get discouraged and don’t vote. They will try to convince you that there is no hope. This will only help get 45 re-elected and further America’s descent into totalitarianism.

So hey, fuck that. Hopepunk 2020. Vote Blue no matter what

Join in and help the #BlueWave wipe out the GOP.

We can’t do anything if Republicans still control the Senate and block everything, and the States could use some help too!

Vote blue in November

It’s Election Day, gang!

Time to make the GOP cry.

Ignore the polls. Ignore the news until the voting is done. Just go and VOTE MOTHERFUCKER VOTE!

Vote for the people at the border who can’t vote because they aren’t citizens yet, but they still have human rights. Vote for kids like mine, who aren’t old enough yet but who deserve to go to school and not be shot. Vote to help the rest of us who are voting—the races are close, the margin of error is real, every vote counts because there is no electoral college for the Senate or the governor. Vote so Batman the cat will get smoochies and treats!

Vote so when Mueller publishes his report, we can maybe do something about his findings.

We may or may not win everything we want, but whatever the outcome, as @kawuli has said, the work isn’t done. The fight does not end tonight, whether we turn both the Senate and the House blue, whether the GOP keeps both.

If the polls close while you’re in line, you still get to vote. Take your ID, don’t take ballot selfies, and don’t talk politics in line. (You can probably sing “Do you know who the fuck I am?” softly to yourself as you fill out your ballot, though.)

Here we go, y’all. See you on the other end of the midterms.

#ontuesdayswewearblue 💙🇺🇸💙 . #electionday