Hone your inner Jimmy.

Bone apple tea!

Hmm, how do I say this without getting downvoted all to hell?

I think this is actually a decent pick. Rubio is fairly moderate for a Republican. His parents emigrated from Cuba, so he likely has at least some respect for the blight of immigrants. He presents well intentioned and intelligent. He’ll probably actually read his briefings.

Secretary of State had formerly been a springboard for higher office. Perhaps he would actually bring a smidge of sanity back to the GOP. This country deserves functional bipartisanship.

Probably not, but one could hope.

It’s true. They’re only as powerful as you let them be. The “First they came” poem comes to mind.

Well that’s an odd name to call your phlunctus.

My point is that fascism builds until the root causes and those fanning its flames are rooted out and destroyed ala Napoleon, Mussolini, Hitler; or they burn on and continue to oppress under an authoritarian like Franco, Pinochet or Putin. There aren’t a whole lot of examples in between where an authoritarian relinquishes power after a short term.

I know which one I prefer, and, from example, we can see a little jail time is insufficient.

I don’t know exactly why, but the way you stated that reminds me of how Saddam Hussein gained power.

There’s a part of me that thinks, if the right can do it, why can’t we? If it takes an order of magnitude more effort to clear up falsified statements then why are we taking up all of our resources on representing the truth? Why can’t we just start saying “they’ve started deporting American citizens in Miami back to Cuba?” or “The mafia is intimidating election workers to stuff ballots in XYZ county?” or “the government has been gutted so much that Social Security checks are not coming out in time. Old people in Arizona are getting kicked out into the streets and dying of heatstroke.”

But then the Ego side of my brain smacks the Id side and says, “You dunce, that’s how we become current-day Russia”

Hitler went to jail. What good did it serve the Germans?

It’s as if the sheep decided, “f these boring shepherds, let’s go party with these wolves.”

• Throat coat for when I’m sick
• Kenya Black or Irish Breakfast with full fat oat milk in the mornings
• Vanilla Spiced chai with a cinnamon stick, cardamom pods and star anise during the holidays
• Russian orange tea on a crisp winter’s day

Growing up in the south, at some point in my 20s I realized I just didn’t really enjoy overly sugared black tea. And then I discovered a whole new world. It’s been a wonderful journey.

I can’t remember where I heard it, maybe NPR politics podcast, but essentially, the election was more so a referendum on Biden’s (and Harris) perceived poor performance in office, particularly around immigration and inflation.

That’s an analysis that makes sense in my mind. My family is clearly in the middle class nowadays and we’ve struggled to keep up financially. Growing up poor, I remember how impossible the situation can be when times are tough.

So in that retrospective, it wasn’t necessarily that the public preferred MAGA policies, they just either like DT or liked him more than the current administration.

Also keep in mind that the vote margins were pretty thin in most swing states - within 1%.

So how does that translate to NC? Well, rebuke of Harris for one, but this is what no full endorsement of MAGA looks like. So we’re seeing that DT is a force all on his own, he’s like an FDR or TR or a Raegan, people just gravitate to him more that your typical politician.

Dems won downballot as well - Buckhout aligned herself with DT and lost. Same thing with Michelle Murrow.

Elaine Marshall, Rachel Hunt and Jeff Jackson won theirs. But further down Republicans, particularly incumbents, performed well.

Yes part of it was Robinson being a closet Nazi, but with DT at top of ticket attrition shouldn’t have been a concern with downballot races.

NC is one of those rare places that has long been purple. It likes to vote Republican for federal but moderate Dem for state. In a world where many other states have gone to “all politics are national”, NC is a holdout in that regard. Dems know how to win here (when not gerrymandered all to hell).

I attribute it to a) a well educated citizenry b) diversity c) dems sticking to their moderate constituency d) the right passing some unpopular laws this year

Biden tried numerous times with loan forgiveness. It was the conservative judges that kept blocking it.

The whole “Today I Found Out” universe of channels.

Teaches you history, keeps you current on current events (Warfronts is particularly good for geopolitics as it relates to wars going on). Places takes you through interesting places all around the world. Mega projects is like the old Mega project show on the history channel. Astro graphics takes you into space. Brain Blaze is a huge silly tangent.

Let it motivate you to go vote. You are not alone, even if you live in a deeply red area.

Every person who votes helps tell the story that the majority of this country rejects a crazy person leading our country.

I prefer fresh ideas and thoughts, even (especially) if they don’t align with my own values and beliefs. I thrive in that kind of environment. We, for the most part, seem to be at that stage. A stage Reddit was at circa 2009.

What I don’t want is this place becoming so popular that everything moves too fast and becomes derivative. I am not looking forward to an endless September. It’s probably inevitable, but if it could hold off another 5 - 10 years up to the point when I’m more into gardening or something rather than the Internet, that would be ideal.

I also fear that the model is unsustainable at a certain point. I trust Dessaslines and co aren’t chasing endless profits, but there does need to be enough people out there willing to donate and fund operations. Lichess is able to make it happen, so I hope we do here too.

Sure, my plan:

• Donate & Volunteer to candidates I support
• Vote for candidates I support in the primaries
• Get as many of those people elected
• Call them and donate to causes that advocate for what I believe in (SLPC, NAACP, CCL, EFF, etc)
• Call them and donate to causes that advocate for ranked choice voting or something better than FPTP
• Throw my hat in the ring one day

I can’t control what others do, I can only strive to influence others. So to entertain the question, if a dictator gets elected - I will fight, I will protest (and have) up until the point that I can’t or it no longer presents as a viable option for change. And if we do ever get to that point, then I’d reassess my options.

And as for your ignore constituency statement, I get it. I didn’t like the way it went down either. The timing was terrible - I was with Joe up until that disastrous debate and then yea, I started to call people and voice my concern. I responded to survey saying he was unfit. Morale was low. The powers that be decided on Kamala, and I stand by much of her platform. I liked her as a top candidate in 2016.

And I’ll just present you with this idea. Wouldn’t it be so lovely to bookend this racist moron and all of his racist followers with a black man preceding him and a black woman after? I think that gives me a little bit of hope and faith in America.

No, centrists who are against the genocide are over here thinking, you’re cutting off your nose to spite your face. The president isn’t a dictator, the country isn’t a monolith, and you don’t understand how the three chambers of US government works.

But hey maybe that’s the point, you’d rather destroy the system and get a dictator. I love having the freedom I have and it’s served me pretty well these years. I support the cause, but I’m not willing to walk with you if it means the end of democracy.

It’s a bold move. I suppose if you let in the guy who 100% supports the genocide and they go through in full with it, then you no longer have the problem 🤷‍♂️

Focus that stress energy and go volunteer!