• billwashere
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    1764 days ago

    So how much longer before we get pissed enough to start doing something about it? I’m a white CIS heterosexual male and this is infuriating to me. This isn’t correction of DEI policies. This is blatant sexism and racism. Fuck these nazis.

    • @[email protected]
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      924 days ago

      I watched AOC’s “What’s Happening & How You Can Take Action” video and thought it was really impactful, so much so I decided to write up a summary of the insights, copy pasted below.

      TL;TR for what you can do about it:

      1. Know your rights and teach other people their rights
      2. Contact your representative
      3. Help organize for Florida special elections to elect Gay Valimont & Joshua Weil

      Additional stuff that may be useful eventually:

      1. If something like war ever breaks out, engage in simple sabotage when you can. Short preview of link: “Whenever possible, arrange to have the fire start after you have gone away. Use a candle and paper, combination, setting it as close as possible to the inflammable material you want to burn”

      However, we’re not currently there yet. We don’t need to wait until things get impossibly bad before taking action. If you think all that stuff like “contacting representatives” & “organizing for elections” will do is slow our collective downfall, then realize that a slowed downfall means more time to organize a resistance and more time for vulnerable groups to escape the country.

      Also, feel free to copy-paste this excerpt anywhere if you’d like!

      TL;TR End


      Insights from “What’s Happening & How You Can Take Action” by AOC:

      Executive Orders are not that powerful: For all the Executive Orders being signed, know that they’re not actually as powerful as they might seem. Congress can block Executive Orders, courts can block Executive Orders (you might have heard of this being done for the EO ending birthright citizenship), and they’re essentially more limited in scope/permanence than actually signed laws. In fact, much of the EOs Trump has signed are meaningless or completely unconstitutional, which is not a pointless distinction, because as mentioned before, courts are blocking these EOs.

      Fascist dictators thrive on perceived power instead of actual power. They want to “flood the zone,” pump out so much terrible nonsense the populace becomes overwhelmed and docile. Don’t believe them, don’t become docile and don’t consent in advance. The reason Trump is using Executive Orders instead of actual laws is because he knows he only has a slim majority in the House (218R-215D, ie 2R’s could flip a vote, 2 vacancies in FL to be voted on 4/1, 1 R departure in NY-21 to be up for another special election)/Senate (53R-47D/I, ie 4R’s could flip a vote), and he doesn’t want his perceived power to crumble, such as when 3 GOP Senators John McCain, Susan Collins, and Lisa Murkowski blocked an Obamacare Repeal Bill “Health Care Freedom Act” from going through in 2017.

      (In this case, by erasing this womans history NASA is doing a little thing called complying in advance.)

      Action Being Done by Democrats: Apparently Trump did a bunch of stuff while Congress was on recess, and they only got back in session Feb 5th, which was why there hasn’t been much news from democrats. House Minority Leader Hakeem Jeffries recently released a 10 objectives plan for House Democrats to obstruct the administration

      What You Can Do: While I’m sure we’re all positively exhausted with everything going on, at a minimum, you can know your rights regarding ICE Raids: Don’t let them in without a Judicial warrant signed by a Judge, don’t answer their questions even if you are a citizen, don’t talk to them without a lawyer. If you have extra energy, you can:

      1. Educate people on their rights by printing up Know Your Rights Cards to hand out
      2. Contact your Representatives urging them to obstruct Trump nominees while Elon is invading the Treasury
      3. Help Organize for the Florida special elections 4/1 for the House of Representatives. While it would be difficult for these +30R seats to flip (Note in the Jan 29th Iowa special election for Senate (a state Trump won by +21) actually flipped to Democrats), even switching a +30R district to a +10R district lets Republicans know their policies are unpopular and they should think twice before supporting Trump’s policies. Additionally, there will eventually be another special election to fill a House of Representatives Republican vacancy up for grabs in NY-21.
      4. Help Organize for other Swing Elections near you

      Additional stuff that may be useful eventually:

      1. If something like war ever breaks out, engage in simple sabotage when you can (short preview: “Whenever possible, arrange to have the fire start after you have gone away. Use a candle and paper, combination, setting it as close as possible to the inflammable material you want to burn”)

      However, we’re not currently there yet. We don’t need to wait until things get impossibly bad before taking action. If you think all that stuff like “contacting representatives” & “organizing for elections” will do is slow our collective downfall, then realize that a slowed downfall means more time to organize a resistance and more time for vulnerable groups to escape the country.

      Contacting your Representatives: To contact your representatives, you can make a short 2 min phone call to their office, which will either be picked up by a staffer or go to voicemail. Representatives listen to phone calls when trying to get a sense of what their constituents care about, but other forms of contact (email, text, etc) are by and large ignored. Additionally, you should say where you live, because representatives only care about what their constituents think, not outside people. Note that the voicemails only record up to 2 min so be brief. You can find your representatives phone numbers at https://www.congress.gov/members/find-your-member

      To express your views to your representatives, the format goes like this: “Hi, my name is [Name] and I live in [City, State, Zip Code]. I wanted to ask for your support on [Policy, Bill, etc]. [Anecdote if you have one to be more personalized]. Thank you for listening, my phone number is [Phone Number] and my email is [Email].”

      I personally have just called my senators to let them know I want them to vote NO on advancing/approving all Trump nominees, and that I supported them continuing obstructionist actions including the 30hr filibuster against Russ Vought, Trump’s Director of the Office of Management and Budget pick. Florida 4/1 Special Elections for 2 House of Representative Members: Summary, trying to elect Gay Valimont (D) District 1 & Joshua Weil (D) District 6. You can sign up to volunteer on their websites (linked) if you’d like.

      New York-21 Eventual Special Election for 1 House of Representative Member: Elise Stefanik ® will be vacating her seat to become the U.N. Ambassador for the Trump administration, after which within 80-90 days a special election will be held for a new House member. While it’s somewhat of a pipe dream, if Dems win all 3 of these House seats up for grabs, it puts the House at 218D-217R.


      I hope this helped you get a sense of what you can do, feel free to copy-paste this anywhere if you’d like!

      • @[email protected]
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        164 days ago

        Fascist dictators thrive on perceived power instead of actual power. They want to “flood the zone,” pump out so much terrible nonsense the populace becomes overwhelmed and docile. Don’t believe them, don’t become docile and don’t consent in advance.

        Well said

      • @Yamainwitch
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        54 days ago

        This is incredible, thank you!

        • @[email protected]
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          43 days ago

          I would say AOC has a very emphasized presence in media that often allows her to break through into headlines despite corporate media’s tendency to never cover anything good a Democrat does ever and instead push this narrative that ‘if Democrats can’t manage to pass some legislation it’s Democrats fault for not doing enough and if Republicans do something awful it’s Democrats fault for not stopping them.’ The stereotype goes if Democrats hold rallies across all 50 states it’s radio silence, but if Trump breathes it gets 24/7 news coverage at work to normalize him, etc.

          To be honest I’m a bit guilty of this too. I don’t actively search for what members of Congress are saying/doing, and I originally only watched AOC’s video because it was being shared around on social media. That being said, I decided to search around a bit to see what members of Congress are saying:

          • Here’s Bernie Sander’s YouTube, he’s been talking about oligarchs lately
          • Ilhan Omar saying Trumps executive orders don’t have support from GOP in Congress on CBS News
          • Ayanna Pressley at a rally speaking out against Musk
          • Plently of complaining from inside the halls of Congress like from Greg Casar

          TL;DR: I would say AOC is probably the best at messaging directly to the people, and perhaps other members of Congress aren’t quite as effective as her, but a lot of them are still doing something even if we don’t always hear about it

        • @dariusj18
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          114 days ago

          No, she’s just the one with most of the followers

    • @[email protected]
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      4 days ago

      If someone starts a revolution I’d join the fight. “And just because he’s a worker, no class can free him but his own. The emancipation of the working class is the task of the worker alone.”

      • Flying Squid
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        94 days ago

        Isn’t that part of the problem? Everyone is waiting for the revolution to start. Everyone is waiting for the next Luigi. Everyone is waiting.

        Nothing’s getting better, but someone will come and fix all these problems any time now and I’ll be on their side!

        • NιƙƙιDιɱҽʂ
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          4 days ago

          Are you volunteering? 😅

          That’s the thing, though. As long as most people can comfortably skate by, that’s exactly what they’ll do. But, push come to shove, should things get bad enough, that’s when revolt happens.

          • Flying Squid
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            4 days ago

            No, I’m not volunteering because I don’t think either thing will work. But the people calling for those things to happen are waiting for someone else to do it.

            Also, how are things not bad enough right now? They’re sending people to Gitmo. Trump and Musk fired people who are responsible for safeguarding our nuclear weapons because they didn’t know what they did. People didn’t even notice despite it being all over the news. Or at least they didn’t notice enough to pick up their torches and pitchforks.

            And that’s just the latest horrific thing he’s done in the past three weeks.

            So what’s it going to take?

            • NιƙƙιDιɱҽʂ
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              24 days ago

              It’s going to take a direct impact on peoples’ lives. If the average person can continue to go to work, get a paycheck, and overpay for but afford groceries for their family, that’s what they’re going to do.

              • Flying Squid
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                13 days ago

                And if that never happens? If things get really bad but not that bad for Americans?

                Still sounds like waiting for someone else to do it.

          • Flying Squid
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            33 days ago

            Remember when I said he was a leader? Because I don’t.

    • @[email protected]
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      94 days ago

      The problem is, where do we start? We’ve been, er, “taking the L” for so long, when are we going to start giving the L?

        • @[email protected]
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          64 days ago

          No. Fuck the Green Party. They’ve disappeared immediately after the election like they always do, and we will not hear about them again for another four years.

          They are not a real party.

          • @Ougie
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            24 days ago

            Can someone explain why all this hatred for the green party? I don’t know anything about them but I wouldn’t be surprised if the reason for that is active silencing.

            • @[email protected]
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              33 days ago

              They are a fake party that comes out every four years (after primary season, when they could have become an actual viable candidate in our broken two-party system), to be a spoiler candidate that siphons votes from the Democratic party.

              Every time.

              Then they disappear for four years, and re-appear again at the same time during the next presidential election cycle and do it all again. They are not a serious party. If they were, they would have actual candidates running at state and local levels. They would participate in the primary process and/or campaign to switch away from First Past the Post system.

              But they do none of that.

            • Skeezix
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              44 days ago

              They exist merely to help an incumbent conservative president win by siphoning votes away from disgruntled progressives. They come out of the dark at election time, then disappear after the election, like demented cicadas.

              • @Ougie
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                04 days ago

                Hahahah ok I understand how that is what practically happens, but where do they stand politically? What I mean is, this time we saw Harris support fracking and guns, having a lackluster response to Israeli aggression - to say the least - buddying up with Liz Cheney etc etc. Do people who are disappointed by this right turn have any reason to turn to the greens? If not, is there anyone else?

          • @[email protected]
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            4 days ago

            We haven’t disappeared. The media only covers us when we’re running presidential candidates.

            • @[email protected]
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              43 days ago

              What positions have the green party been elected to? I don’t mean nationally I mean state side.

            • @[email protected]
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              13 days ago

              Oh cool, then I’m sure you guys will start campaigning right away with some new, serious, progressive faces to go against democrats in primary elections?

              No? You’ll be gone until 2028?

              Prove me wrong.

              • @[email protected]
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                23 days ago

                Do you mean midterms? Primaries are done within parties.

                Again, we are running candidates, but you likely haven’t heard about them because, like I said, we only get coverage during presidential elections.

                • @[email protected]
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                  3 days ago

                  Well until we get rid of first past the post, they have zero chance as a third party. Their only real chance would be to primary with the major party that they most align with.

                  Also, just because you can find one or two examples of green party candidates, does not mean that they are a real party. There is more to a political party than just allowing a person to use your party’s name while campaigning.

                  We need a real, grassroots, progressive party. The Green Party could clean up their act and become a serious party, and they’d still be shit because the name carries so much baggage. There are a whole lot of people who have been burned and will never vote Green Party again for the rest of their lives. Everyone would be better off with a new party.

                  • @[email protected]
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                    23 days ago

                    Cool. Let me know when this new party of yours is bigger than the Greens, and I’ll join it. I’m only a Green because they’re the best party out there. If something better comes along, I’m there.

        • @[email protected]
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          03 days ago

          PSL is the only actual revolutionary party in America that I know of right now. The green party is a joke.

        • @Gammelfisch
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          04 days ago

          Go piss in the wind! The US Green Party is not the same as the European versions, with exception to the turd and loser, Joschka Fischer.

    • @[email protected]
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      14 days ago

      Look into your local PSL or DSA. Us socialist are on the top of the leaderboard for Nazi killing and it’s not even close. Join the SRA too. This shits not going away with votes. Fascism doesn’t let you vote it out of power.

      • @[email protected]
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        23 days ago

        I do not recognize those acronyms, but would like to know more! Can you point me in the right direction?

        • @[email protected]
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          23 days ago

          Party for Socialism and Liberation (Marxist Leninists) Democratic Socialist of America (DemSocs) Socialist Rifle Association (All leftist welcome)

    • NostraDavid
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      -114 days ago

      Fuck these nazis.

      Are you going to storm the Capitol like your granddads stormed the beaches of Normandy? Are you going to only bitch about it on the internet, or are you actually going to do something about it - storming the Capitol not necessarily has to be a part of it - you can plan a better alternative.

        • billwashere
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          34 days ago

          Yeah me too. Storming anything is not likely the solution. If we get to the point of all out violence a lot can be lost in a short amount of time. But organizing protests or work stoppages can and do work with enough participation. But there’s the problem, enough participation. I don’t really know what the solution is but I am willing to participate even if it hurts. This shit ain’t right.

          • @[email protected]
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            The original comment is a dumb way to say it. But fascism doesn’t let you vote it out of power. Fascism doesn’t respond peacefully to peaceful protest either. Organized resistance will require violence in response to the inevitable violence of the state. The key word here being organized. The time for peaceful organization and voting has passed. Once fascist are in power the only thing to be done in the political arena is meant to delay while an organized resistance force can be formed. I highly doubt that will happen. But history tells us that this is the only viable option. All other efforts are only meant to delay. But if you’re only delaying and not organizing actual armed resistance than your delay is without purpose.

            Storming the capital is dumb. Hardening your local neighborhood with an armed resistance and safe harbor for the targets of the fascist is where efforts should be put. This is about saving lives and building allies locally. It’s the best place to put effort right now to protect the first targets of the fascist. Right now that is undocumented people. But they won’t stop there. They never do.

      • @Doomsider
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        4 days ago

        Typical American response. Yeehaw you gonna kill some people er what!?

        Attacking each other is not going to solve this problem because the wealthy have been pitting us against each other for a long time now. It was the wealthy that caused WWII and every other major war where everyone but them ends up dying.

        I agree there are better alternatives.

      • @[email protected]
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        You have to figure out how to reach people and get them off of the social media and bullshit news.

        Someone like that I would say, “who told you that? Mark Zuckerburg? That guys a fuckin’ greedy little creep. Fuck that guy.”

        But you can’t be too much of an asshole, you have to “rib” them and act like it’s kind of funny.

    • Robust Mirror
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      -104 days ago

      So how much longer before we get pissed enough to start doing something about it?

      Says the guy making no note of anything he is doing about it.

      The people in power aren’t going to do anything about it because they want it this way.

      Half the regular people also want it this way

      Of the people left, somewhere around 50% don’t care either way.

      And of the last people left who do care, probably at least half of those aren’t doing anything < this is presumably where you are.

      You can’t just sit around and expect everyone else to be as angry or angrier than you and expect everything to work out because THEY’LL do something about it.

      • @[email protected]
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        134 days ago

        Half the regular people also want it this way

        Only 28% of adults voted for this and lots of Trump voters just wanted the cheaper groceries that Trump promised them (he lied).

        So please don’t spread the lie that Trump has majority support or any kind of mandate. He doesn’t. Over a 100 million people didn’t bother to vote because they have no faith or hope that voting can improve their lives. They aren’t wrong. At best, electing Democrats is just a stay of execution.

        • @[email protected]
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          14 days ago

          Only 28% of adults voted for this

          Uh, isn’t that how American elections work? It’s decided based on the proportion of people who voted, not on the proportion of all adults. Trump won the popular vote 49.9% to 48.3% with the second highest number of votes in U.S. history. I don’t think any democracy divides votes by the total number of adults. How would that even work?

          • @[email protected]
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            24 days ago

            It does mean that not much more than 28% of the adult population support him though.

            So he’s enacting all these democracy eroding changes for techno-authoitirians/fuedalists off of less than 1/3rd of the US’s population’s support.

            Elections don’t care, nor does policy. But it is closer to 1/4 than 1/2 of people who can even begin to be said as his supporters. Despite what the media cycle might imply.

      • @[email protected]
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        104 days ago

        You can’t really assume people aren’t organizing themselves just from a post like that. Its also bad for opsec to just post what you are up to online. Plenty of people are, there just aren’t enough people as people are stuck in the mindset that the systems haven’t collapsed yet so there is no need to build up a safety net.

    • @[email protected]
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      -94 days ago

      Well let’s see… This country has been dealing with these issues for the entirety of its existence, so the time to start doing something about it has long passed.