Great article Jack, love the mandate, I’ve already got a migraine thinking about the inevitable and tedious “this is the most important election of our lives!!!!” takes that’re incoming. I will, however, push back on your rhetorical point about what the point of this place is, because as we all know this is secretly a bird blog masquerading as one about politics :) Happy New Year Discoursers.
Im so glad I stumbled across the blog. I have so many complicated feelings about voting for Biden or not because of the genocide. As a black woman I feel obligated to vote because of those who died so that I could. And yet, I know that Biden and the Dems’ support of Israel is positively abhorrent. Because of our two party system, if i MUST vote, I have no choice but to hold my nose and vote for that man, once again. Because voting for trump is not something I could ever dream of doing.
Glad this is gonna be a safe space for me and those who are likeminded.
Fantastic article, Jack. Not only do we have this rematch, but we're about to find out over the next few days if people who stopped getting COVID-19 boosters are as vulnerable as new research suggests. This pandemic is now in its fifth year and there is a non-zero chance we will see 2,000 people die each week towards the end of this month. Reliving parts of 2020 was not in my plans, but here we are.
I'll just add a theme that I expect to see a lot on this excellent blog. If saving the republic was as easy as defeating Trump in November, I'd drink less and sleep better at night. But look at what has happened to this nation since 2015 when that orange turd came down his silly escalator. Each year has been worse than the last. We have lost a lot since 2015, including some constitutional rights. States are criminalizing medicine, which was unthinkable decades ago. Mayors of Democratic cities are crying that migrants -not the housing crisis or capitalism in general- are destroying our cities. Once a society starts asking questions like, "will we soon live under an autocracy," then it already has serious problems. So I pledge to get back to resisting the GOP rather than obsess over the election. Trump is one man. The party he leads will be hurting us long after he expires.
I voted Biden in 2020 with great reservations. He lost me when he broke the rail strike, and his handling of Israel-Gaza is absolutely unconscionable. I'll be writing in Shawn Fain in both the primary and general.
That said, I live in one of the bluest of blue states so this is all easy for me to say. There are several valid harm-reduction arguments for a Biden vote in 2024, not least of which is the certain presence of an out and proud fascist on top of the Republican ticket. I have no problem assuming good faith on the part of someone who's willing to grant me the same courtesy.
"possibly the worst rematch in human history.” Two bad, old, unpopular men with visibly declining grips on reality forcing us to watch them run basically the same campaigns they ran four years ago
Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield have entered the chat.
Thank you, Jack. Plus ca change...Talk about repetition compulsion! What was it Einstein said about endlessly repeating an action and expecting a different result? Although one could say that things do change for the worse.
I thought Nixie was the nadir...well, think again. Every time the United States of Amnesia (thank you, Uncle Gore) hits bottom it breaks new ground and keeps on digging. HAPPY NEW YEAR to all!
What I find particularly frustrating about "if you criticize Joe Biden, you're helping Trump turn us fascist" is that Joe Biden, as president, and the Democratic leadership for the past 8 years have *** assiduously avoided a direct confrontation with Trump, or taken any actions that would truly frustrate or impede his work towards ending democracy in the US ***.
The few times the Democrats have directly attacked Trump, they have been dragged and cornered into it by Trump's brazen, egregious criminality. When Trump directly attacked Biden with an outrageously corrupt and unethical blackmail scheme to jam up Ukraine, Democrats calculated that they couldn't just slink away from some kind of confrontation. Same with Trump's coup attempt that culminated in in his Jan 6 attack on Congress. Even these impeachments were narrow. A reasonable person might judge that impeaching Trump over his corrupt Ukraine ratfuck attempt should also include all the other corrupt things Trump and his family did, out in the open, during his term, and a reasonable person might also judge that, after Jan 6, the first order of business for the new Democratic administration should be to haul Trump into the hoosegow in handcuffs for an attempted coup, because Trump was a direct threat to the authority of the people and the US government. But not the Democrats, and not Joe Biden.
Joe Biden and Merrick Garland's justice department have followed the pattern of avoiding conflict with the GOP and Trump, presumably in the service of renewing bipartisan rapprochement with the GOP (which has, of course, gone great. The fever has finally broke! ha ha ha.). Garland finally indicted Trump for withholding classified documents after 2 years of pretty-pleasing didn't work, and finally assigned a special prosecutor when various states lapped him by indicting Trump for the various criminal acts he engaged in before and during his term as POTUS.
Set aside valid grievances the left has with the Democratic party and Biden, and you still have Biden and a Democratic party that does not understand the grave threat Trump poses to us and/or are too woodenheaded or scared to do anything about it. The only way it seems that Biden would stop Trump from implementing his fascist aspirations would be to occupy the presidency as someone who isn't Trump. That's it - that's the plan.
I truly believe that Trump is dangerous, and I believe that he should be stopped by any means necessary. I'm sure we have all had online debates where someone who's defending Biden will ask you "well, what would YOU do about Trump, then?", as if Biden has been going hammer and tongs after Trump and his lieutenants and various lickspittles.
I'm not supposed to have that answer, Biden is supposed to figure it out. He's the president! Any leftist (indeed, any educated person) is fully aware of the many perfectly legal ways the federal government can make your life hell - if they want to. Numerous progressive, civil rights, environmental and anti-police movements have been surveilled and hauled into court on anything a state or federal prosecutor can dream up. The feds and the cops have surveilled Muslims for 20 years since 9/11, simply for being Muslim. Weathermen and Black Panthers have been fugitives for years; you could fit the full prison sentences of 20-30 Jan 6 goons have served into the jail time any one member of either group served in prison, when the feds caught up with them. Don't ask ME figure out how the goddamn President of the United States can dragoon Trump and his clutch of fascists!
"Voters" alone can't stop Trump. Voting for Biden is necessary, in the narrowest of ways, but not sufficient, for stopping Trump. It's truly useless if Biden continues to avoid nailing Trump to the wall in his next term - Trump, his capos, and his movement are obviously amping themselves up for violence, and laying the groundwork for more attacks on anyone they believe is standing in their way. All the things Biden's defenders tout: "the economy", incremental domestic policy successes - the conceit that Bidden is "the most progressives president" - all of it is moot if he doesn't stop Trump. He's not doing anything to stop Trump or protect people from Trump's various goon squads. Biden's online defenders know this - that's why they're yelling at you.
Great article Jack, love the mandate, I’ve already got a migraine thinking about the inevitable and tedious “this is the most important election of our lives!!!!” takes that’re incoming. I will, however, push back on your rhetorical point about what the point of this place is, because as we all know this is secretly a bird blog masquerading as one about politics :) Happy New Year Discoursers.
lol i can't argue with that!!! buckle up because we have great bird plans :)
If this upcoming election isn't presented as a reason all drugs should be legal, then what are we even doing here?
I plan to spend 2024 in as much of a sedated state possible for this exact reason.
I don't vote for genocides. I recommend the democrats choose not to put a genocidaire on their ticket. Just a little tip from me to them, ya know
I’m envisioning the old forum-style “USER WAS BANNED FOR THIS POST” making a comeback.
It’s important that your vote keep the senile rapist out of office. No, not *that* senile rapist, the other one!
Im so glad I stumbled across the blog. I have so many complicated feelings about voting for Biden or not because of the genocide. As a black woman I feel obligated to vote because of those who died so that I could. And yet, I know that Biden and the Dems’ support of Israel is positively abhorrent. Because of our two party system, if i MUST vote, I have no choice but to hold my nose and vote for that man, once again. Because voting for trump is not something I could ever dream of doing.
Glad this is gonna be a safe space for me and those who are likeminded.
Fantastic article, Jack. Not only do we have this rematch, but we're about to find out over the next few days if people who stopped getting COVID-19 boosters are as vulnerable as new research suggests. This pandemic is now in its fifth year and there is a non-zero chance we will see 2,000 people die each week towards the end of this month. Reliving parts of 2020 was not in my plans, but here we are.
I'll just add a theme that I expect to see a lot on this excellent blog. If saving the republic was as easy as defeating Trump in November, I'd drink less and sleep better at night. But look at what has happened to this nation since 2015 when that orange turd came down his silly escalator. Each year has been worse than the last. We have lost a lot since 2015, including some constitutional rights. States are criminalizing medicine, which was unthinkable decades ago. Mayors of Democratic cities are crying that migrants -not the housing crisis or capitalism in general- are destroying our cities. Once a society starts asking questions like, "will we soon live under an autocracy," then it already has serious problems. So I pledge to get back to resisting the GOP rather than obsess over the election. Trump is one man. The party he leads will be hurting us long after he expires.
I voted Biden in 2020 with great reservations. He lost me when he broke the rail strike, and his handling of Israel-Gaza is absolutely unconscionable. I'll be writing in Shawn Fain in both the primary and general.
That said, I live in one of the bluest of blue states so this is all easy for me to say. There are several valid harm-reduction arguments for a Biden vote in 2024, not least of which is the certain presence of an out and proud fascist on top of the Republican ticket. I have no problem assuming good faith on the part of someone who's willing to grant me the same courtesy.
...But do you condemn Hamas?
"possibly the worst rematch in human history.” Two bad, old, unpopular men with visibly declining grips on reality forcing us to watch them run basically the same campaigns they ran four years ago
Mike Tyson and Evander Holyfield have entered the chat.
so you're saying one presidential candidate will bite off a chunk of the other's ear?
It would only heighten the level of discourse.
Oh awesome can one of them run for president?
Thank you, Jack. Plus ca change...Talk about repetition compulsion! What was it Einstein said about endlessly repeating an action and expecting a different result? Although one could say that things do change for the worse.
I thought Nixie was the nadir...well, think again. Every time the United States of Amnesia (thank you, Uncle Gore) hits bottom it breaks new ground and keeps on digging. HAPPY NEW YEAR to all!
Hear hear.
What I find particularly frustrating about "if you criticize Joe Biden, you're helping Trump turn us fascist" is that Joe Biden, as president, and the Democratic leadership for the past 8 years have *** assiduously avoided a direct confrontation with Trump, or taken any actions that would truly frustrate or impede his work towards ending democracy in the US ***.
The few times the Democrats have directly attacked Trump, they have been dragged and cornered into it by Trump's brazen, egregious criminality. When Trump directly attacked Biden with an outrageously corrupt and unethical blackmail scheme to jam up Ukraine, Democrats calculated that they couldn't just slink away from some kind of confrontation. Same with Trump's coup attempt that culminated in in his Jan 6 attack on Congress. Even these impeachments were narrow. A reasonable person might judge that impeaching Trump over his corrupt Ukraine ratfuck attempt should also include all the other corrupt things Trump and his family did, out in the open, during his term, and a reasonable person might also judge that, after Jan 6, the first order of business for the new Democratic administration should be to haul Trump into the hoosegow in handcuffs for an attempted coup, because Trump was a direct threat to the authority of the people and the US government. But not the Democrats, and not Joe Biden.
Joe Biden and Merrick Garland's justice department have followed the pattern of avoiding conflict with the GOP and Trump, presumably in the service of renewing bipartisan rapprochement with the GOP (which has, of course, gone great. The fever has finally broke! ha ha ha.). Garland finally indicted Trump for withholding classified documents after 2 years of pretty-pleasing didn't work, and finally assigned a special prosecutor when various states lapped him by indicting Trump for the various criminal acts he engaged in before and during his term as POTUS.
Set aside valid grievances the left has with the Democratic party and Biden, and you still have Biden and a Democratic party that does not understand the grave threat Trump poses to us and/or are too woodenheaded or scared to do anything about it. The only way it seems that Biden would stop Trump from implementing his fascist aspirations would be to occupy the presidency as someone who isn't Trump. That's it - that's the plan.
I truly believe that Trump is dangerous, and I believe that he should be stopped by any means necessary. I'm sure we have all had online debates where someone who's defending Biden will ask you "well, what would YOU do about Trump, then?", as if Biden has been going hammer and tongs after Trump and his lieutenants and various lickspittles.
I'm not supposed to have that answer, Biden is supposed to figure it out. He's the president! Any leftist (indeed, any educated person) is fully aware of the many perfectly legal ways the federal government can make your life hell - if they want to. Numerous progressive, civil rights, environmental and anti-police movements have been surveilled and hauled into court on anything a state or federal prosecutor can dream up. The feds and the cops have surveilled Muslims for 20 years since 9/11, simply for being Muslim. Weathermen and Black Panthers have been fugitives for years; you could fit the full prison sentences of 20-30 Jan 6 goons have served into the jail time any one member of either group served in prison, when the feds caught up with them. Don't ask ME figure out how the goddamn President of the United States can dragoon Trump and his clutch of fascists!
"Voters" alone can't stop Trump. Voting for Biden is necessary, in the narrowest of ways, but not sufficient, for stopping Trump. It's truly useless if Biden continues to avoid nailing Trump to the wall in his next term - Trump, his capos, and his movement are obviously amping themselves up for violence, and laying the groundwork for more attacks on anyone they believe is standing in their way. All the things Biden's defenders tout: "the economy", incremental domestic policy successes - the conceit that Bidden is "the most progressives president" - all of it is moot if he doesn't stop Trump. He's not doing anything to stop Trump or protect people from Trump's various goon squads. Biden's online defenders know this - that's why they're yelling at you.
Good rule. I'm definitely going to lose the few shreds of my sanity I have left this year.