Tell you what. I just got a couple boxes of canvas. If they do “ban porn,” I’ll dedicate every one of these brand new canvasses to making erotic paintings out of spite.

And I mean, I’m not even a porn consumer. I just fucking hate fascists.

^{… *though I also* happen to enjoy creating suggestive imagery, as well as painting nude figures. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯}

It’s easy to look like they “got their shit on lockdown” when they’re straight-up copying the fascist playbook.

The blame game isn’t helpful, though. Divide and conquer is from that same fascist playbook. Blaming anyone except the Republican establishment serves only to diminish their primary role in this situation, and further divide us from each other. We have to stop attacking fellow victims and put that blame squarely where it belongs.

I know tensions are high and we all want to play the blame game, but doing so won’t solve our problems. I’m angry about the same things, but I know that attacking someone who’s ostensibly on our side does nothing but cause further division between us. That’s what the fascists want.

Right now, it’s okay to grieve. We’re all dealing with intense emotions that can overwhelm our better judgement. But OP is right - in order to look forward, we must first look out for each other. The establishment has failed us. We are all we’ve got now.

It sounds like we’re on the same page. I didn’t mention foreign influence, only monied influence, which is the same thing you’re saying.

My point was that these influences previously existed in the U.S. long before now. They didn’t materialize out of the blue. Anyone who’s been explicitly anti-fascist prior to the past decade knows that there was already an undercurrent pulling people in that direction.

I appreciate hearing your perspective, and you’re absolutely on point. One thing I know for sure is that things are going to get a lot worse before they get better.

pretending that this neofascism is some kind of external infection is tantamount to covering one’s own ears.

See, I think it’s mixed. You’re absolutely right that people voted for this. At the same time, years of propaganda by monied interests have led us up to this point. Authoritarianism has been low-key popular at least since the 90s (maybe earlier, but the 90s was when I started school, and learned by experience that fascism is how the school system operates.) People are scared to rock the boat against their “leaders,” and given enough time, this is the result.

I wish I had time right now to write more about this, because there is some deep psychological manipulation that’s embedded in the fabric of this country. It doesn’t excuse people’s behaviors, but knowing how and why they operate is crucial to understanding the big picture.

Other parts of the planet. One area that’s received a disproportionate amount of precipitation this year is the Sahara. In Morocco, “two days of rainfall in September exceeded yearly averages in several areas that see less than 250 millimeters (10 inches) annually.”

Trump: Get off that beautiful couch

Vance: Believe me, I’m trying!

I thought that too and immediately went, “If he’s trying to lessen the political divide, that’s too little, too late.”

Surprisingly, he does come close to that approach:

Vance asked rally-goers not to discard lifelong relationships “because people vote the wrong way,” saying, “Here in our movement, we love every citizen of this country. We want their prosperity because we love this nation, and that means loving the people who live here.”

That’s not how MAGA operate. They are fueled by hatred and anger. Besides, Vance doesn’t have the power nor immunity from criticism that their dear leader has. Asking people to “love each other” is close to hippie-talk, which MAGAts despise.

Not only that, but telling their own followers “not to discard relationships” is a weird take. I get the feeling it’s mostly the anti-MAGAts that are cutting the haters out of their lives, not the other way around. People who define themselves by their social status are unlikely to cut off benign contacts - they like keeping followers of lower status around, both for the power and so they can punch down to lift themselves whenever they feel like it. They only cut off those who threaten their higher status, like those who speak up or fight back, or who can “tarnish” their image, such as family members who are LGBTQ+, who date interracially, or do whatever else they disapprove of.

If Vance is expecting that group to listen to him, he sorely misunderstands everything that’s going on. The only way to reconnect such family is to take the hate out of them and get them to honestly redeem themselves to those they have hurt. Which… yeah, that’s not happening.

And then shit has to change. Fast. We cannot be allowed to go through this sort of threat again. Every tier of government now has a responsibility to recognize and close any legal loopholes that have been abused in order to bring us to this point. As well, they must proactively pass legislation to prevent this kind of fuckery from easily recurring.

For me, the necessary catharsis won’t arrive until I feel assured that democracy is safe again.

It’s interesting how this is only being reported now - the day before election day. When the early-voters already cast their ballots, and when the campaign no longer has to worry about keeping up the charade.

How many people signed onto this thing only because they thought they could be the lucky winner? It’s not like they can take it back now. Musk got exactly what he wanted - tons of signatures of support from registered voters in swing states, that can now be trotted out as some kind of “proof” for his preferred candidate when he loses.

On the one hand, some people do not know about, or even would believe, this news. Like die-hard MAGAts and/or people who don’t pay attention to current events.

But for the people who signed the petition for the hell of it, hear about this now, and who are capable of accepting bad news? Oh, they will be pissed. I wouldn’t put it past such a person to respond, “Well, fuck you, too” by not voting tomorrow, or by specifically voting for Harris.

I can’t expect the number of such people to be very high, but I do think that spite is a powerful force. Those who were on the fence before now have a personal reason to distrust Trump. And right in time to express it at the voting booth!