@mekkaokereke States where calling out Republican Senators about the klept budget can make the most difference:

1. Thom Tillis in North Carolina,
2. Susan Collins in Maine,
(less vulnerable but still worth putting pressure on)
3. John Cornyn and his primary challenger Ken Paxton in Texas,
4. Bill Cassidy in Louisiana,
5. Pete Ricketts in Nebraska.

https://centerforpolitics.org/crystalball/notes-on-the-state-of-the-senate-the-post-kemp-battlefield/

@dmitry @mekkaokereke I agree.

But the goal isn’t to move the racists on immigration. It’s to mobilize everyone else.

@lolcat @mekkaokereke

How many of the voices on right-wing message boards are humans and how many are AI bots? Is there a way to find out?

@rick_baumhauer

That person is lying to themselves, and lying to you, but they can't lie to me.

They remember "Build the wall," and that Trump then tried to build the wall. They remember the Muslim travel ban.

So they knew 100% that Trump would really try to do this. They just didn't know that it would affect them. They felt safe.

@inquiline @mekkaokereke

As at least one Black person wrote:

"I haven't seen any white people shouting 'I didn't vote for this!' about the deportations."

@cheddar_goblin

I'm not sure that's true. But regardless of whether it is or not...

I do understand the people that decide not to talk to Trump voters at all. I get it.

But I don't understand the people that don't talk to Trump voters, and don't look at any Trump voter data, but then try to convince Black people that do look at data and do talk to Trump voters, that "Trump voters didn't vote for this! They're as shocked as you and I!" when that is clearly not the case. 🤷🏿‍♂️

@cheddar_goblin @mekkaokereke

It is worth ACTIVELY SHUNNING THEM

Boycott their business or job, fire them if you can.
Drop them socially. They are not your friends.

Ostracize them. Punish them for stealing America from us.

Because "votes matter"

#stopthecoup

@MrAptronym @mekkaokereke I always want to ask the ones having their faces eaten or even acquaintances stirring some inkling of questioning their dear leader “so what did we learn?”

But I already know the answer is “not one single damn thing.”

Even among people I kind of know, I know that they will never look directly at the fact that every personality and institution they believe in has been lying to them their entire life. Even if we manage to get out of this, they will go to their graves deluding themselves that of there’d just been one more year of MAGA power everything in their life and the country at large would have been perfect.*

To be fair their definition of “perfect” is stupid and racist, but it’s still their dumbass idea of a utopia. They really do want it just as much as I want a world where everyone stops being such a bunch of racist, misogynist, greedy, self-centered assholes. They just don’t realize they’re pining for a utopia built for somebody who isn’t them.

@AnnyJoe

No, the military have already been given orders to fire on protesters, back in Black Lives Matter, and the military did not. The military also got orders to help pervert the transfer of power, and again did not. The reason for the military leadership purge, is that they want to replace military leadership of pesky "follow the constitution," high integrity types.

And there's an even more critical reason that sending the military to LA in particular is unlikely to be successful, that I'll put in the next post behind a content warning, because it's not pleasant at all.

@juergen_hubert

Yup.

Shaquille O'Neal was so big and strong and powerful, that no one could stop him from dunking on them. No one. And he dunked so hard that he often broke the rim. Seriously.

https://m.youtube.com/shorts/WjJ3CKcFi4k

He was an incredibly popular basketball player.

If you were a fan of Shaq, someone telling you, "Shaq is bad! He dunks too hard!" wouldn't stop you from being a Shaq fan. You'd say, "Uh... I know? That's why I paid all this money for this ticket to see it live! Some fool is about to get dunked on!😀"

If they implored, "No, dunking that hard is terrible! He might break the rim! There could be plexiglass everywhere! The whole game would be delayed! Maybe cancelled! Someone might get hurt! The shot clock could even fall on someone's head!" You'd say, "Man, if you don't be quiet and get out of my way! The game is about to start!"

If the game started and Shaq dunked and broke the rim, the person with common sense might say, "See! He dunked too hard and broke the rim! You have shards of plexiglass all over you! You can't eat your popcorn now! I told you this would happen! Aren't you sad now?" You would reply, "No! This makes the expensive front row ticket worth it! This is great!"

If Shaq showed up at your local 24hr Fitness gym the next day with a film crew, and said, "People think I'm too old to play against even regular people now. I'm here to prove them wrong! Guard me chump! Ball up!" Shaq would then dunk on you. A lot. If he broke your gym's rim, and it cracked you on the head on the way down, you would expect people to feel sorry for you. If the video, "Shaq dunked too hard and sent this average person to the ER!" went viral and everyone laughed at you, you'd feel that this was all very unfair.

If you had an expensive hospital bill, and your gym expected you to pay for the broken rim, you would be severely financially impacted. But at no point would you stop being a fan of basketball, or say, "I was wrong to enjoy Shaq's powerful dunks!" You would want Shaq to pay for the rim, and your hospital bills, and to *keep dunking* on *other people*, but not on you.

You might say, "Shaq, I've always been a huge fan. I still am! But this hospital bill is too much, and that rim is expensive. Please help me!"