Rabbi Danya Ruttenberg: You see the fascism and doublespeak, yes? Is everybody paying attention to exactly how bad this is? Exactly how terrifying this is? Are we all clear about what is at stake in this election, and the work that is upon us now?

You see the fascism and doublespeak, yes? Is everybody paying attention to exactly how bad this is? Exactly how terrifying this is? Are we all clear about what is at stake in this election, and the work that is upon us now?

UNC trustees voted this morning to reallocate the university's $2.3 million DEI budget to campus police. Budget vice chair: “I think that DEI in a lot of people’s minds is divisiveness, exclusion and indoctrination. We need more unity and togetherness, more dialogue, more diversity of thought.”

UNC-Chapel Hill BOT votes to divert DEI funding, redirecting it to campus public safetywww.wunc.org The UNC-Chapel Hill Board of Trustees voted to divert millions of diversity, equity and inclusion funding to public safety and campus law enforcement

And for everyone observing that this is happening under Biden's watch: Yes, I am aware. Which is why we will have much work to do regardless. It's just a question of how many more people will suffer and die, and how much harder it is to improve things, with Trump in power.

Even if you want to regard voting for Biden as harm reduction, do that. And yes, I am cognizant of now. But not voting for him only does one thing. There is no messianic option that suddenly appears if we let a man who has already tried an authoritarian coup take the reins of power again.

We can push wrt the human rights emergency now while also pushing for to keep out the guy that we know wouldn't hesitate to permit nukes there, he'd give the Kahanists the blank check of their lives, God help us all. We can multitask. We don't have a choice.

And if we get Biden back in power it's not all magically better. The real work begins. There's so much to do. Like, we were beginning a new civil rights movement before all this backsliding of our so many kinds of rights these last howevermany years. It boggles, where we are now.

There may be some of you who are young enough not to have the collective PTSD from the Trump years. But those of us who were already activists? Do you guys remember? How many fewer people would have died from COVID if a grownup had been in charge from the start? I mean?

I don't know that I can actually imagine a world where the CDC wasn't broken when COVID started now that we've existed in one where it was, but I want to.

It's disappointing that voting for Biden is only the beginning. But not voting for Biden is surely the end.

I remember. And I live in a solid blue state so my vote for Pres one way or another won’t make a difference. I’m mad that people who don’t do shit for marginalized groups on the regular fucked us over by not demanding a ceasefire. They were too busy lecturing us & promising to vote for Biden.

I do remember thinking when marriage equality was recognized, and the trend of legal cannabis in so many states, "This is a shift to the left by the US, faster than I could've imagined." And there are active, powerful forces at work against them all, motivated to turn the clock WAY back.

Yup. And we will lose all of that if DT becomes president and a GOP Congress. Not only that but they will absolutely ban abortion and implement segregation 2.0. Count on it. When people say they won’t vote for Biden, i just don’t understand what they think will happen. It will be grim!

When I was born, my parents couldn’t be federally recognized as being married (had they been married…but that’s another story). As it was, they could barely go anywhere together w/o being harassed. We will backslide all the way.

We queers completely ignored SCOTUS's assault on Black Civil Rights that same judicial season.

It's not just Biden, either. We need a Democratic House and Senate to start repairing the damage.

And state houses! It’s a monumental task!

yeah it's one of those necessary-but-not-sufficient things that can be annoyingly uninspiring but what can you do but do what ya gotta do

In the UK (somewhat of a US “trial policy” island at this point..) many of the things happening here are suspiciously then occurring in the US , ever since Brexit ; the “ one of the best US investments” :/ and people are a lot more pacified here.

AOC said: "Which guy would you rather be organizing under?"

This is it. Moving the rock, keeping the football away from the hard place. I was astonished Moldy Orange didn't nuke anybody last time. He clearly wanted to. Anybody would do. He won't let the opportunity pass him by twice.

For me, I just want to increase the chance that I can vote for someone better in 2028. Voting for Biden makes that more likely than any other option.

No it doesn't. Look how the Dems in NY kicked off every single 3rd party that isn't a "fusion party," ie, a party that only endorses Republicans or Democrats. Democrats actively and aggressively work to restrict our choices at the ballot box. "Someone better" won't have a D or R by their name.

Deeply uninterested in the opinion of someone with a hammer and sickle in their name. That symbol has been the death of millions.

You're describing capitalism. How many people in the Global South have to suffer and die for your comfort? (hint: it's a lot)

yup

the threat of withholding votes has to be credible in order for it to force concessions though. how will we stop this genocide by telegraphing he has our support regardless ?

I don't know. I genuinely don't have the answers here. I just know that we have to stop this and we have to keep Trump out. It's imperative.

"I'm voting against you in the primary because you aren't taking the mass slaughter in Gaza seriously." Unsaid: And in the general, I will vote for you and thereafter make your life miserable reminding you what we are supposed to do to preserve democracy.

I think the only *potential* way is protest brinkmanship. Protests in the weeks leading up to the election. Protests in swing states days before. Protests during. idk. I just hope.

Individual votes are actually a terrible way to send a message. You only have one bit of information and no way for the candidate to know that you, particularly, voted no and why that was. Vote for the guy you think you have the best hope of negotiating with if he’s elected.

yea i am pretty sure the Biden campaign has gotten the message around the Uncommitted blocs. but regardless this is what people said in 2020 and then did absolutely nothing to try to stop his atrocities so i’m pretty skeptical seeing that line trotted out again! bit lazy really

As someone more articulate than me put it, elections are not decided by the total number of votes, they are decided by the percentages of the votes cast. Withholding your vote from one candidate improves the other candidate's percentage. That arithmetic is undeniable. (1/2)

Trump's cult is going to vote. If someone stays home to teach Biden, or all Democrats, a lesson or for whatever other reason, they improve Trump's percentage. That arithmetic also is undeniable. Staying home to "send a message," etc. you improve Trump's chances. Period. End of sentence. (2/2)

I’m reminded of this scene. Trump is telling us what he’s going to do. His supporters are telling us what they’re going to do. January 6 and his first term showed us what he’s going to do. Anyone who stays home will deserve to hear, “What the hell are you doing here?” www.youtube.com/watch?v=hZ4z...

The West Wing - The Man that Lived by the Riverwww.youtube.com

womp, womp

Amen.

Is voting for Biden harm reduction though? Trump had 4 years in office without committing genocide. Biden is committing multiple concurrent genocides. And as a disabled person, Biden has absolutely committed more harm against my community than Trump did, or will. Same for the trans community.

If you can still think of Biden as harm reduction, respectfully, you're not seeing the massive amounts of harm he's done & continues doing. And electing Biden now will only push all politics in USA further to the right. And I won't survive that. The world needs to know neither of these men has...

...the consent of the people they'd claim to govern, or we're lost. The vulnerable will be killed off, the safe will be made vulnerable, & late stage capitalism will prolly make earth unlivable within 200 years (Biden is also worse for the planet than Trump).

Right now, the US is pushing the entire planet to death, & Colombia & Ireland are the only ones to put up even token resistance. That needs to change. If we the people don't embarrass the hell out of our plutocrats in the next election, we don't have time to turn the tide.

Orange monkey is promising a genocide the next time that it is on office.

The only thing the greedy sociopath is consistent about is NOT putting his money where his mouth is. He considers the US treasury HIS money. He's not going to give Bibi billions like Biden has, & Bibi can't do sh*t w/o our billions.

Meanwhile Genocide Joe is ACTUALLY genociding Gaza, disabled people, trans people, homeless people, & is complicit in the genocides in Sudan & Congo. Not to mention the planet, which will kill everyone. Actual, real deaths worse under Biden than Trump.

Fk tankies.

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