RE: https://masto.ai/@transworld/116133383689609626

This isn't about courting voters—they intend to consolidate both parties to agreement on the dehumanization of many groups of people in hopes of continuing the fascist/authoritarian tightening of control.

This isn't about the "culture". It's not about what people in general feel. This is about power, control, & the ability to murder people.

Trans folks are fighting for their lives.

To abandon them right now is unthinkable.

This isn't about what we the people want.

This is about what powerful people want us to want.

Just fucking wait. If we follow them down this path in a couple years Democrats will be saying "we need to be more 'culturally normal' & stop talking about women's rights."
@artemis The Democratic Party is the oligarchs' plan B for fascism.

@Quasit @artemis

The Democrats are fascism with lube.

@jrdepriest @Quasit @artemis

Or at least, the promise of lube... that never arrives.

@violetmadder @Quasit @artemis

"Slow and steady wins the race"

@jrdepriest @Quasit @artemis

It's around here somewhere, honest. They're trying REALLY HARD to find it, but you know it's just so difficult and the Republicans keep getting in the way.

@Quasit @artemis
Honestly, Gavin Newsom is the dems planning to lose. They've had a year and a half to digest Harris' loss, their own studies told them running right was a mistake and yet here we are. They aren't running to win.
@TheGreatLlama @Quasit @artemis Oh boy, here we go again. Kamala was one of the most progressive candidates of my lifetime. Look at her voting record in the Senate and you will find it was comparable to Bernie Sanders.
@HakeemG @TheGreatLlama @artemis
How is it progressive to send billions of our taxpayer dollars to Israel to kill babies?
@Quasit @HakeemG @artemis
I honestly thought he was joking at first. No one making a statement like that is asking to be taken seriously.
@Quasit @TheGreatLlama @artemis It's not. You realize Bernie spent three decades doing the same thing, right?

@HakeemG @TheGreatLlama @artemis I don't worship Bernie. Genocide support is an absolute dealbreaker no matter WHO supports it.

As it should be for any decent human being.

Is that the new Democratic position? That genocide is okay sometimes, depending on who it benefits?

@Quasit @TheGreatLlama @artemis So you're going to vote for nobody. That will fix it. Why not run for office or organize and support a candidate.

@HakeemG @TheGreatLlama @artemis
Let me get this straight: if two people show up with guns and say that they're going to murder your children, your response will be to decide which of them is...BETTER?

You wouldn't fight back? Not even for your children's lives? Two people tell you that you must choose which of them will kill your family, and you just ACCEPT that choice?

I really hope you're some sort of AI bot, because I don't want to believe that a genuine human being would react like that.

As for not voting, I vote - not that it's any of your business. But only someone in a complete state of delusion (or an AI bot, or a paid shill) could seriously claim that we're going to be allowed to VOTE our way out of fascism. We're way past that.

We have to fight, or die. In this case "fighting" means a prolonged general strike. We shut down the economy and drive the oligarchs (and their Republican and Democratic flunkies) out of the country. Forever.

#GeneralStrike #Politics

@Quasit @HakeemG @artemis
Earlier today, they literally posted, "I'm pretty sure you can actually vote out fascists." Apparently that's what Normandy was: aggressive voting.

Honestly, it's been somewhat amusing laughing at them, but it's getting repetitive and I think if there is a real human behind the account they're getting a troll's joy out of it, so I'm just blocking them now.

@TheGreatLlama @HakeemG @artemis
Yeah, I tend to agree with you on that. This isn't a serious person, if they're actually a person at all.

But I like that they don't seem to be as effective on Mastodon as they've been on Facebook and Reddit in the past.

Maybe I'll dig up my "How to spot a DNC shill" article and post it here with some updates.

@Quasit @TheGreatLlama @artemis

Just popping in to say thanks for the heads up, and a preemptive block. The Schumer/Jeffries apologists have nothing constructive to offer at this point. Zero.

Imagine, in 2026, looking out from the party that lost the House and Senate to the Insurrection Party, that lost to Chump TWICE, and still believing the problem is everyone else.

@OGjester @Quasit @artemis
Full Principal Skinner mode. "No, it's the children who are wrong!"
@TheGreatLlama @OGjester @artemis
This is turning into a really great thread!

@Quasit @TheGreatLlama @HakeemG @artemis
"A reminder for Mamdani, the Uncommitted Movement, and everyone else who didn't vote for Kamala to not complain about the war in Iran, you made your bed you can lay in it.
"the chickens coming home to roost"
--
Malcolm X"

apparently this person thinks Brother Malcolm was on the side of the ballot in his proposition

@johnbrowntypeface @Quasit @TheGreatLlama @artemis Yes because this person actually reads books and doesn't get his information from accelarationists on social media.

"The Ballot or the Bullet" is the title of a public speech by human rights activist Malcolm X. The speech was delivered on two occasions, and encouraged black people to vote!

@HakeemG @Quasit @TheGreatLlama @artemis
"In the speech, Malcolm X advised African Americans to judiciously exercise their right to vote, but he cautioned that if the government continued to prevent African Americans from attaining full equality, it might be necessary for them to take up arms."

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Ballot_or_the_Bullet

The Ballot or the Bullet - Wikipedia

@johnbrowntypeface @TheGreatLlama @HakeemG @artemis

No doubt he thinks Malcolm X was a big supporter of the Democratic Party. It's amazing what some people can believe when they keep their eyes closed to history!

@Quasit @johnbrowntypeface @TheGreatLlama @artemis Your buddy thought Malcolm X didn't want black people to vote. 😂
@Quasit @[email protected] @artemis
Yeah, I think Bluesky is far more fertile ground for the shill patrol.

@TheGreatLlama @Quasit
Tell you what, every time I start posting on this topic, I'm glad my instance restricts mastodon.social

I appreciate all y'all who are willing to come in here & tell people what's up because I simply cannot both write threads like this AND deal directly with the shills. It zaps all my energy.

@artemis @Quasit
It was good for a laugh for a minute. Totally serious that I thought their first post was a joke.

I'm pretty sure all they accomplished here today was to get blocked by several people.

@TheGreatLlama @artemis
I haven't blocked them yet. I like to watch them squirm for a while. 😈
@Quasit @artemis
Feel free to send screenshots if they ever reach the comedic heights of "Kamala the arch progressive" again.

@TheGreatLlama @artemis

Maybe they'll start telling us about how Hillary was the most qualified candidate in history. 🤣🤣🤣

@Quasit @artemis
I'd bet even money you could find it in their post history.

@Quasit @HakeemG @TheGreatLlama @artemis

Vote Satan or Cthulhu will win!

How dare you not want to vote for the candidate who will only eat HALF of your children!

Principles and morals have no place in the real grown-up world! Only childish idealists refuse to tolerate genocide! Lower your standards!

@violetmadder @HakeemG @TheGreatLlama @artemis

If I wasn't already following you, I'd have followed you all over again for that post! 🤣

@Quasit @HakeemG @TheGreatLlama @artemis

D'aww! 😁

I went to protest at the 2016 DNC, the shit I saw there and the way I got SCREAMED AT by some Hillary delegate who totally lost his shit at me... Yeah. I've been hearing all this "lesser evil" shit and allllll the associated insults since I voted for Nader twenty-five goddamn years ago, and FUCK ALL OF THAT NOISE. It's like nobody has ever heard of Good Cop / Bad Cop.

The spoiler effect is a weapon of voter suppression that the DNC jerks off to all day.

@violetmadder @Quasit @TheGreatLlama @artemis The only thing you guys won't do is anything, lesser clowns seems appropriate.

@HakeemG @Quasit @TheGreatLlama @artemis

Ever heard of mutual aid, direct action, or labor organizing?

I participate in those. Also I work in mental health.

But sure, go on making huge assumptions and insulting people if that's what you really think is effective.

@HakeemG @violetmadder @TheGreatLlama @artemis
You're here trying to persuade us to support fascists who kill children, and you're calling US clowns?

Are you Donald Trump?

@Quasit @violetmadder @TheGreatLlama @artemis No I'm here saying you don't stand for anything. Just a bunch of Internet edgelords like those MAGA teenagers.

@HakeemG @violetmadder @TheGreatLlama @artemis
I oppose genocide. You support it. It's that straightforward.

You don't have a moral leg to stand on. And now you're not even funny anymore.

Voting doesn't have anything to do with your principles and morals, unless your principals and morals believe in the power of the vote. And if that's the case, why aren't you voting? You can vote for someone who supports genocide, and also oppose genocide. It seems counterintuitive, but a vote is just a mark on paper. What it means depends on what you want it to mean.

CC: @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected]

@cy @HakeemG @TheGreatLlama @artemis @violetmadder

So by your logic, I could vote for Hitler, or Donald Trump, but because my FEELINGS oppose genocide and fascism that would be just peachy keen? There would be no contradiction in that, in your eyes?

That's certainly an interesting way of looking at things. Can't say it makes any sense, but...yeah.

Good luck with that.

No because your ACTIONS oppose genocide and fascism. What did Oskar Schindler have to apologize for?

CC: @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected]

@cy @HakeemG @TheGreatLlama @artemis @violetmadder

Are you seriously comparing Oscar Schindler, who risked his life to save hundreds or thousands of human beings, to people who vote for candidates who promise to keep killing children?

What "actions" of those voters make up for what they have supported with their votes?

Children are dead. Warmongers caused those deaths. Politicians enabled that genocide. Voters elected those politicians. Somehow you're whitewashing those voters of any responsibility for the consequence of their ACTION of knowingly voting for genocidal candidates.

That's not a kind of thinking I understand, nor am I interested in trying to understand it. It isn't a sane approach to the world, as far as I'm concerned.

There is no forgiveness for genocide.

Not everyone is in a position to do what he did. I'm just saying that people who never hurt anyone, who wouldn't wish harm on their worst enemy, who they voted for really doesn't matter. Maybe they made a mistake. Maybe they thought it would turn out differently. You have become the enemy enabling all this death and violence and warmongering, because you're driving us apart, and making us fear and hate each other, while the pigs on top laugh all the way to the bank.

Save your anger for the people who lie for him and kill for him, and do all that warmongering and genocide. The ones who simply MAY have voted incorrectly don't have to be your enemy. In making them your enemy, you're defeating any hope of a peaceful movement ever organizing against the tyrants. You're handing all our lives into the hands of the oppressor. We are all in this together, even the people who mistakenly believe some war on some 20 mile speck of land on this planet is ethical.

And there is forgiveness for EVERYTHING. Soon as you say there isn't, the fascists whisper into your ear "Yes, hate those people just like we do," and now you have to support them, or stop hating genocide. They have you by the balls. The only thing that should govern your actions is the future. And some crazed baby killer is highly unlikely to start being a decent fellow, but what's important is what they're likely to do, not what they have done. Retributive justice is slavery; you want to punish the bad guys, and the bad guys end up as the wardens, with their victims as the criminals. Instead, make it so bad guys can't prosper. By not hating people for making the wrong mark on a piece of paper.

CC: @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected] @[email protected]
@HakeemG @Quasit @artemis
JFC, you're really fucking lost if you think you found the Bernie fanclub. Bernie is the compromise position, my initial position is "eat the rich".
@HakeemG @TheGreatLlama @Quasit @artemis unfortunately that’s not how she positioned herself in her campaign. “I’ll be tougher on immigrants and less tough on Israel than the guy who won in a landslide last time” lost her a lot of enthusiasm from her base, and the Dems ignored (or scolded) EVERYONE who pointed out that very, very obvious outcome

@quietewe @HakeemG @TheGreatLlama @Quasit @artemis

Trans rights are a hard line for me. I will not cross it for anyone. I compromised about Israel and now 27 members of my family are dead. I have a transkid. They will have to go through me to get to her, and I’m a tough old bird.

Compromise in the 21st century is collaboration with fascists. There can be no compromise on human rights, whatever pronoun they use.

@quietewe @HakeemG @TheGreatLlama @Quasit @artemis

Furthermore, I posit that Gavin is, at the very least, bro-adjacent if not Bro himself, and I categorically refuse to vote for a 14 year old boy in a man's couture.

@MissConstrue @quietewe @[email protected] @Quasit @artemis
Full bro, absolutely.

• Rich kid
• From San Francisco (not damning by itself, but combined with the other factors...)
• Pays someone to make him seem cool on social media
• "Started a business" with family friend billionaire money
• Has a podcast

I could go on...

@TheGreatLlama @quietewe @Quasit @artemis

I mean, I don't want to be the cat in the room, (I am TOTALLY the cat in the room), but the man had the poor judgement to marry Kimberly Guilfoyle...and that... how do you even come back from that.

@MissConstrue @quietewe @HakeemG @TheGreatLlama @artemis
Gavin Newsom has done everything he can to oppose progressive values in any way possible. He started up concentration camps for the homeless in the desert, for God's sake! He shipped the homeless out in order to make the city look cleaner for the visiting President Xi.

He's just a slicker version of Trump, a fascist in a three-piece suit.

@quietewe @[email protected] @Quasit @artemis
Exactly what I was saying. The Dem's actually conducted studies that told them Palestine in particular cost them the race, and they've done their best to bury that study. There's an Axios story about it that I would link if I could find a link that wasn't paywalled.

@TheGreatLlama
Newsom is a fascist in blue clothing

He's having a good ol' time trolling TFG, but when it comes down to brass tacks, he's for the oligarchy

Case in point: California is trying to tax the billionaires, and Gavin's fighting it
@Quasit @artemis

@artemis They already are. Ruben Fucking Gallego faced no consequences for making disgusting comments about a colleague and then doubling down claiming he was just saying what everyone who matters (aka queerphobic misogynists) was thinking and the party needs to jettison women who aren't pleasing to the male gaze and men who aren't patriarchal enough, plus any meaningful effort at climate action, to appease truck driving 'working class' dudebros who are going to vote 75+% Republican anyway.