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How dare Taylor Swift, a celebrity (!), wade into politics...
...said the people who made Trump and Reagan into the god-heads of their party.
From Mary L. #Trump
Not only did Vice President #Kamala Harris expose my uncle’s #weakness on the #debate stage last night, which left him seething with rage and reduced to sputtering #incoherence, she also gave millions of us something we have needed for almost a decade — catharsis.
And Harris did it in a way that was not just masterful, it was almost surgical. She #dominated Donald from the outset, crossing the stage to his lectern and forcing him to do something he did not want to do—shake her hand. (I confess, I did not want her to shake his hand—not because I thought it was a tactical mistake, but because I didn’t want her to have to touch him.) And then, while addressing policy issues and giving us substantive answers to the moderator’s questions in a way that underscored how incapable Donald was of doing the same, she slid the knife in again and again. She told him to his face in front of the world that he is a #disgrace. She looked at him with bemused condescension, pity, and outright #contempt. She called out his lies and, worst of all for him, she #mocked his rallies:
“I'm going to invite you to attend one of Donald Trump's rallies because it's a really interesting thing to watch. You will see during the course of his rallies he talks about fictional characters like Hannibal Lecter. He will talk about windmills cause cancer. And what you will also notice is that people start leaving his rallies early out of exhaustion and boredom.”
Donald never recovered from that accurate and damning assessment of one of the most important metrics by which he measures his worth This bit of rhetorical evisceration, which happened at about the 25-minute mark, undid him and he spent the next hour defensive, desperate, and flailing.
We needed someone to call out Donald’s lies in a context he did not control. We needed someone to set the record straight while he had to stand there and listen. Harris did that while laying out his decades’-long patterns of #racist, #corrupt, and #disturbing behaviors that are utterly disqualifying.
For over nine years, this country has been in thrall to a cruel and deranged man who cares only about himself. His constant war on truth and basic human decency has worn us down, #demoralizing those of us who care about other people, who want a better world, and who crave a leader who exhibits empathy and understanding.
We’ve been waiting for somebody in a position of authority to stand up to Donald in a way that would matter, that would loosen Donald’s grip on power and perhaps even undo him. Instead, we’ve watched helplessly as the entire Republican Party bent its knee to him; as corrupt judges give him a pass; and as the #illegitimate super-majority of the Supreme Court ripped up the Constitution in order to give him, this man who has earned nothing and deserves nothing, more power.
Here's the thing about the pet eating story. Yes, it's bonkers. It's ridiculous. But it's also classic racist propaganda. It's painting the people you want to scapegoat as something so evil, so alien, that nothing you do to them is too cruel or extreme. "They took our jobs" is meant to drive votes. "They steal and eat dogs" is meant to drive violence.
In case you missed the Space Cadets for Harris Call, there's the upcoming Geeks and Nerds for Harris Call!
#HarrisWalz2024 #Election2024 #UsPol #StarTrek
Geeks and Nerds for Harris Walz Organizing Call Tickets, Tue, Sep 24, 2024 at 8:00 PM | Eventbrite
eventbrite.com/e/geeks-and-ner…
I’d just like to say to every obnoxious Reply Guy Leftist who gave me shit on Twitter for what I said about Tulsi Gabbard 4-5 years ago:
1. I told you so.
2. I’m telling you so about Jill Stein too.
The RNC is intervening on Trump's behalf to fight for the right to continue removing voters from Georgia rolls. The revelation comes in a federal lawsuit alleging Republican violations of the National Voting Rights Act.
#GOPCorruption #TFG #Election #USPol #NVRA
rollingstone.com/politics/poli…
Trump’s RNC Is Backing Georgia Republicans’ Voter Purge in Court
The RNC moved to intervene in a federal lawsuit over Georgia county election boards removing voters — many of whom are homeless — from the rolls.Justin Glawe (Rolling Stone)
Lawrence: 'Stupidest' candidate Trump did not answer reporters' questions
Donald Trump rambled and lied for over an hour without any follow up questions or fact-checking. MSNBC’s Lawrence O’Donnell says that while he hopes Vice Pre...YouTube
Literally the *only* story I'm going to share about the goddamn Olympics:
U.S. Rugby player Ariana Ramsey found out athletes get free healthcare in the Olympic Village and immediately booked a bunch of appointments for routine services many Americans living under our dystopian private healthcare regime simply can't afford:
si.com/olympics/american-athle…
"Like, what?” she said in a post on TikTok describing her new discovery: The Olympic Village offers free healthcare.
The United States, of course, does not. So in the days following her victory, Ramsey made appointments with the Village gynecologist, dentist and ophthalmologist. According to the Paris 2024 organizing committee, the Village also offers cardiology, orthopedics, physiotherapy, psychology, podiatry and, of course, sports medicine—all at no cost to the athletes. (Paralympic athletes will also have access to dermatology.)"
The best part of the story is that Ramsey not only convinced a bunch of other U.S. Athletes to take advantage of the program, but after realizing how beneficial having access to free healthcare is, she's decided to become an advocate for Universal Healthcare in America.
On a personal level and as someone who has spent time in multiple countries that offer free healthcare to their citizens, I honestly cannot stress how much it improves not only health outcomes, but also quality of life for labor class people; from increasing your lifespan, to freeing workers from dependence on bad employers just to keep their health insurance, this is one social policy that has ripples throughout almost every aspect of the lives of everyday people. And it says a LOT about the priorities of the American ruling class that they'd do almost anything to keep you from having access to universal healthcare.
#UniversalHealthcare #USPol #Capitalism #Olympics
U.S. Athletes Are Taking Full Advantage of Free Healthcare in Olympic Village
Women’s rugby player Ariana Ramsey’s videos showcasing her appointments have gone viral, and now many others are making good use of the medical services offered in Paris.Stephanie Apstein (Sports Illustrated)
Tampons are offensive to Republicans because it suggests a woman is not pregnant.
He's now referring to one of the moderators in the third person, calling her "rude" and "nasty."
This is going _fantastically_.
#USPol
I think a major factor to the Harris switch is that Trump was ready to run the rest of his campaign holed up in Mar-A-Lago, popping out to rallies and interviews with safe outlets. And now he's out here showing his ass to a roomful of Black journalists.
I hope he stays out of his comfort zone for the rest of the election. Harris will win in a walk.
#USPol
As you may have heard, the Kids Online Safety Act, or KOSA as it's more commonly known, just passed the US Senate by a vote of 91-3; only one Democrat, Ron Wyden (D-Ore.) voted against it. The bill was co-written and sponsored by Marsha Blackburn (Nazi Party-TN), one of the most virulently anti-queer fascists in American government, and endorsed by The Heritage Foundation (the very same nazis who brought you Project 2025.) As an American trans woman facing down a real-as-fuck, increasingly mainstream fascist pogrom against trans people, I'm furious at this betrayal by Senate Dems, and more than a little afraid for my future online, or otherwise.
Despite its protested benevolent intentions, this is a foundationally fascist bill that would give the FTC (controlled by whoever happens to be President) and State Attorney Generals (including hardcore nazis like Ken Paxton in Texas) the ability to force online platforms to censor any content they *think* might cause minors "anxiety" or "distress." What exactly is content fascists think might cause "distress" or "anxiety" in young people? Well, given the vague wording of the bill, it's hard to say, but the "conservatives" who support it have repeatedly made clear that they consider information about sex education, sexual abuse/assault, anti-racist literature, history they don't like, information about contraception, and information about queer, particularly trans people, simply existing, to be "distressing" and "damaging" to children, so it's not that hard to guess. Blackburn herself has given interviews where she admits the fascist right intend to use the bill to "protect" young people from "the transgender" and "gender ideology." The Heritage Foundation and various other fascist think tanks who support the bill have also indicated the same. While the far right insists the purpose of the bill is to protect children from harm and pornography, that reasoning falls a little flat when you realize they've openly stated that just knowing trans and queer people exist is "harmful to children" and "pornographic" or "sexualizing" in nature.
Furthermore, the prosecution of an anti-queer agenda, and an ongoing anti-trans pogrom aren't the only horrifying problems with this bill. While the Act is ostensibly designed to protect young people, and its sponsors swear up and down it won't lead to age-gating and violations of privacy for everyday adult users of online platforms, it does require those platforms to know which users are, and aren't, minors; which is going to be pretty much impossible without demanding identification or some form of identifying age-verification process. One can easily imagine numerous ways this poorly-thought out censorship regime can go completely sideways. For example, if "red-state" fascists want to unmask you on large online platforms, all they're going to have to do is flag you as a potential minor, which in turn will force you to essentially identify yourself to prove otherwise or lose access.
Liberal proponents of the bill, and disingenuous fascists trying to hide their already-admitted intentions, have of course insisted that KOSA contains safeguards that will prevent it from acting as a fascist censorship law on large internet platforms. This argument is however clearly divorced from reality when you examine the intentions and standard operations of those platforms. No Big Tech company will wait around to get sued by nazi American parent groups and fascist State Attorney generals, and they sure as fuck aren't going to spend the resources necessary to resolve this on a case by case basis when they can just pre-emptively ban anything myopic wingers might find objectionable and call it a day; especially since that will cost less and reactionary Tech Bros who own big online platforms don't really want to host queer content, resources for sexual abuse victims, or anti-racist content in the first place. Half the folks running these companies already donate to Trump and wholly support the Christian Nationalist agenda Project 2025 is designed to further.
Of course passing the Senate doesn't make KOSA a law yet, but given that fascist Republicans prosecuting a Christian Nationalist agenda hold a slim majority in Congress, and President Biden has already endorsed the bill, I'm not feeling very optimistic it won't be soon. And while I'm certainly outraged at nazis who intend to use this bill to prosecute a fundie fascist agenda designed to pogrom trans people and chase their political opponents out of public life, I must admit I reserve a special ire for Senate Dems empowering that agenda in exchange for warm feelings of "bipartisan co-operation" and the purely hypothetical support of white suburban nazis who call themselves parents. It's pretty hard for me to believe you folks oppose Project 2025, when you're already helping the fascists pass laws that support it and Trump hasn't even been elected President, yet.
#KOSA #Facism #USPol #TransRights
#MastodonForHarris has reached $400,000 after an initial goal of just $1,000.
As pledged, I smashed that subscribe button for Senator Tammy Baldwin, perhaps the greatest representative Wisconsin will ever have.
Next Senator gets adopted at $500,000!
Join the effort and show your support for #Harris and Mastodon: secure.actblue.com/donate/mast…
#uspol #politics #uspolitics #election #election2024 #Mastodon4Harris
Trump claims 62,000 people were at the Butler rally.
Maybe 62,000 would _claim_ to be for street cred, but the only estimate I can find is 20,000, by the county GOP chair.
He said he got 25,000 in the South Bronx. He got 8-10k.
He said one in NJ got 105k. Even Jesse Watters said it was no more than 30k.
Just lies all around.
#USPol
For the next 24 hours, all proceeds from our apps @mastowatch and #Audracity will go to the #Kamala campaign!
#usPol #usa #harris #biden #Election2024
Audracity: apple.co/47HmGeg
Mastowatch: apple.co/3VUPytt
Mastowatch
Hi! I’m Mastowatch and I can help you find and inspect Mastodon servers. Whether you're new to Mastodon and just need help finding the perfect instance or you want to look up details and statistics about your favorites, Mastowatch can help you find …App Store
🚨🚨🚨
The Joe Biden web store has been converted to the Harris campaign and has a *ton* of #KamalaHarris merch, including bi and trans flag stuff!
Quick reminder: DO NOT USE YOUR PRIMARY EMAIL OR PHONE FOR ANY POLITICAL CONTRIBUTIONS.
What I did in 2020: sent a check, snail mail, to the campaign. I gave my full name, legal address, occupation and employer (legal requirement for $200+). No email, no phone.
For good measure, I crossed out the phone number and put a sticky on the check that said “NO DNC, NO DSCC, NO DCCC”.
The Biden campaign mailed me a magnet, and a thank-you after the election. I got 0 calls/emails. From anyone.
#USPol
You hear that? That’s the sound of a thousand “Biden must go” newspaper editorials being hastily rewritten as “With Biden gone, Democrats are still in trouble.”
It’s finally time to release my newest project: followthecrypto.org/
This website provides a real-time lens into the cryptocurrency industry’s efforts to influence 2024 elections in the United States.
#crypto #cryptocurrency #elections #USpol #lobbying
Follow the Crypto
Follow the cryptocurrency industry’s influence on 2024 elections in the United States.Follow the Crypto
The Onion doesn't miss.
theonion.com/clarence-thomas-t…
Clarence Thomas Torn Over Case Where Both Sides Offer Compelling Scuba Trips
WASHINGTON—Admitting that he had never been more conflicted about a ruling in his life, Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas was reportedly torn Monday over a case in which both sides offered compelling scuba trips.ji39f8deollek3 (The Onion)
“Large numbers of Americans who have bought guns over the past four years or who regularly carry their loaded weapons in public are willing to engage in political violence, even to the extent of shooting a perceived opponent, a new mega-survey has found.
The study of almost 13,000 Americans, drawn from across the US and weighted for demographics, provides alarming evidence of the openness of certain types of gun owners to the idea – and possibly the practice – of violence as a political act.”
theguardian.com/us-news/2024/a…
228/ 🧵
#OrganisedAffiliatedFuckers
#DontPayTheGuardian
#USpol
Many Americans who recently bought guns open to political violence, survey finds
Study of 13,000 Americans finds particular risk among certain types of gun owners, including those who carry weapons in publicEd Pilkington (The Guardian)
“The far-right Georgia congresswoman Marjorie Taylor Greene is ungovernable and should be known as ‘Moscow Marjorie’, said a former Republican colleague in the US House, accusing Greene of ‘getting her talking points from the Kremlin’ when opposing new federal aid for Ukraine.”
I am so here for the Republicans entering their ‘finding out' phase, but it sucks that it has to cost lives elsewhere. Again.
theguardian.com/us-news/2024/a…
227/ 🧵
#OrganisedAffiliatedFuckers
#DontPayTheGuardian
#USpol
‘Moscow Marjorie’: Republican accuses Greene of irresponsible Ukraine rhetoric
Former congressman Ken Buck says Marjorie Taylor Greene gets ‘her talking points from the Kremlin’ when opposing Ukraine aidMartin Pengelly (The Guardian)
Let’s be very clear about something: there is no conspiracy in saying that AIPAC is an enemy of the left in the US or in being concerned about their influence in elections.
Political Action Committees are a horrific part of US politics, and it is factually accurate to say that AIPAC is funding right wing candidates to oust relatively left-wing incumbents.
However (as most of us know), AIPAC is not unique in participating in the political system this way; and claims that they are the masterminds or that the “Zionist lobby” is controlling US politics are stepping too far.
Fuck AIPAC, and all political action committes, and our whole system of money in politics. However, until that system is dismantled, it is fair to highlight right-wing PACs such as AIPAC and criticize their actions.
"And some of us who come from poor families, who carry around the hidden injuries of class, are very impressed -- are very, very impressed -- by these achievements..."
Damn straight. Don't you fucking tell me that the richest country on the planet can't do what the poorest ones did a fucking CENTURY ago.
Full transcript below.
"Communism, ladies and gentlemen, I say it without flinching: Communism in eastern Europe, Russia, China, Mongolia, North Korea, and Cuba, brought land reform and human services; a dramatic bettering of the living conditions of hundreds of millions of people, on a scale never before, or never since, witnessed in human history. And that's something to appreciate. Communism transformed desperately poor countries into societies in which everyone had adequate food, shelter, medical care, and education. And some of us who come from poor families, who carry around the hidden injuries of class, are very impressed -- are very, very impressed -- by these achievements, and are not willing to dismiss them as 'economistic.' To say that 'socialism doesn't work,' is to overlook the fact that it DID work! And it worked for hundreds of millions of people!"
--Michael Parenti
#MichaelParenti #Parenti #uspol #socialism #communism #marxism
Any missourians about to lose trans healthcare in the KC metro area, the University of Kansas hospital is right across the border and I can personally vouch that their trans healthcare team is amazing, they've had some ups and downs, but I was a patient with them from 2017 when they started the clinic all the way to 2022 when I left the state.
They do require a letter for HRT, BUT If you're already on hormones they'll help you stay on them while the letter gets sorted out. I hope this helps someone here 
kansashealthsystem.com/care/sp…
Gender-Affirming and Transgender Medicine In Kansas City | The University Of Kansas Health System
We aim to assist people who identify as transgender, transsexual, gender variant, gender nonconforming and gender questioning.www.kansashealthsystem.com
We're in a horrible situation in the US, but I guess one silver lining is that some politicians are finally taking #privacy more seriously
#Congress
#Politics
#RoeVsWade
#SupremeCourt
#USpol
therecord.media/dems-want-ftc-…
Dems want FTC to investigate Apple and Google for privacy harms made worse Post-Roe
Both companies use unique tracking identifiers in their popular Android and iOS mobile operating systems for advertising purposes.Andrea Peterson (The Record by Recorded Future)