On Politics, FiMF, and Stuff · 7:01pm Nov 10th, 2016
TL;DR - All political blogs will be tagged and breakcut from now on, just ignore them if they bother you.
A while back, I said I'd stop talking about politics on FiMF because that's not what FiMF is here for. And I tried very hard to keep to that.
Now...Tuesday, something happened which has divided my nation and created sharp divides in thought and opinion and stoked tempers to past the boiling point.
I'm not the only one using FiMF as an outlet to vent about the post-election catastrophe that is America. But I'm trying to limit it to sharing the fallout from the election--the way the election has hurt people who have to live through this nightmare--not to bitch because my candidate lost.
I understand some of you don't want to see that. Let me be perfectly clear:
I don't want to have the need to POST that.
I would very much like to not be this engaged in politics. I would very much like to not feel the need to vent my spleen on every social venue available to me.
But that's not the world we live in today, and I am a very frightened, angry, and outraged American citizen.
If I post something political, I'll tag it as such and put a cutaway tag on it. That way if my non-horseword rants offend or upset you in any way, you can just scroll past it in your feed. (Which, by the way, you could already do, but whatever.)
I know a lot of you don't want to see this kind of thing. But this is a very dangerous, dark time we are living in. And I am not going to be silent about it. I'm sorry. I can't.
For me, the scary thing about Trump is not the man himself. I doubt he means most of what he's said and even if he does, he won't have the power as President he thinks he does to do anything too drastic. A friend at work made the good comparison he's used to being company CEO, where he can do anything he likes, but politics and the presidency don't work that way.
What frightens me about Trump is his supporters. Many of them, not all of course, but many of them do believe his hateful, intolerant, bigoted rhetoric, and agree with him heartily. And even the ones that don't agree, they don't mind that he said them, which is just as bad. Trump has taken all the ignorant, vile viewpoints we normally condemn people for, and made them socially acceptable. He's made it okay to hate. You hate Mexicans, Muslims, women, blacks? You don't have to be ashamed of it anymore.
He gave the haters a champion to rally behind at last.
The nation was already divided. America has always been divided. That's why we have two major political parties. Only a totalitarian state would be "united."
At any rate, thanks. I was nervous before the freaking election, but right now I'm on the verge of a nervous breakdown. I haven't slept good in nights didn't sleep one wink last night. Good gravy, you'd think NO ONE had ever lost an election before! Up until now (except for 1860), whenever someone lost he licked his wounds and resolved to fight another day.
DANG these non-Theistically based "moral" hang-ups!!! I need an animal sacrifice...STAT!!!
4295589 That's EXACTLY why I fear a Trump Presidency. My Twitter feed for the last 36 hours has been a waking nightmare. So many people I'm following are tweeting and retweeting about hate crimes ranging from swastikas painted on buildings to physical assault, all perpetrated by Trump supporters.
Of course, the man HIMSELF is a problem because he is now the representative of America to the world stage, and that is the most terrifying fucking thing imaginable.
4295596 You...don't get what this is really about, do you? At all? This isn't about the election. It's about the fallout. It's about sanctioning hate, bigotry, misogyny, and sexism. It's about Hispanics, blacks, Muslims, Asians, Jews, and the LGBTQ community becoming targets. Literally. Just this morning I had tweets in my feed about Muslims who were physically assaulted by white supremacists. Yesterday I had four. Not to mention all the swastikas cropping up everywhere.
This is about more than a simple democratic process. This is about the character of the nation and what this election and its aftermath have brought into the forefront of America.
4295607 And unfortunately you didn't understand a word I typed. Unless there is a G-d who has explicitly forbidden all the things you speak of, there's nothing wrong with any of it. NOTHING. And if you want to invoke Him against that stuff, you have to accept ALL His commandments in totality--including all those "outdated" sexual prohibitions.
THERE IS NO SUCH THING AS A VALID NON-THEISTICALLY BASED MORAL OR ETHICAL SYSTEM.
I'm gonna have to unfollow you for a while. I'll be back when you've settled down or when the popular will has been overturned because it didn't fit a non-existent "morality" about "hatred" or something.
You know, since poor white trash are the cause of all the evil in the world, I suppose simply exterminating them would solve everything. Goodness knows enough people seem to think it would be totally justified.
Long politic reply to this because everyone else is writing those!!!
Yeah, that's all I've got.
Well, there's always the option to bring it ENTIRELY into our own hands. For example, I've noticed many online rallies calling for Trump o be impeached, as he is currently awaiting trial, and a president must not have committed ANY crime.
Of all the people in America, we elect this assholepoliticalmemestoday.files.wordpress.com/2015/08/donald-trump-money-does-not-buy-class.jpg?w=680&h=443
All I have to say.
*Breathes in, Breathes out* Okay. I'm not sure why I'm suggesting this at a time like this, but why do I feel like your anger could translate into the next chapter of Sunset Vs.? (SO SORRY IF I ANGERED YOU FURTHER!)
4295637 Do us all a favour; never procreate.
4295759 That actual sounds like a brilliant idea. Seriously, go for it Mothy!
Wise words. I wished I had of kept my mouth shut while responding to someone else in what I thought was a completely non-offensive way. Now I'm in a heated argument (them yelling at me basically) of how I'm wrong, and how I should f-myself.
4295689
Tempting as this is, I'd rather have any impeachment process done right, which means sitting back, shutting up, and hoping Congress does their damn jobs for once (I know, I know). More importantly, Pence might be even worse, at least for LGBT people, if what I've heard about him promoting "conversion therapy" is true.
4295819
Advocating eugenics, eh? Well, that is one solution to the problem of political dissent, I suppose.
Well, as a British person who supported remain but is now too afraid to talk about it, I admire you.
Truth is I'm worried about everything. I hope people will just calm down once the next year rolls around. Personally I was not a fan of either candidates, but hopefully with Republicans in control of both the House and Senate they can at least get some work done and HOPEFULLY stop Trump from making any stupid decisions if he has good advisors.
4295904 :P
4295759
4295824 I've already said I will not be dragging this mess into my stories any more than I already have, and I stand by that.
4295637 Please unfollow me permanently. I really do not want to be followed by the likes of you.
4295991 You uh...you HAVE seen some of his key appointments, right? Like Ben Carson as Secretary of Education, Rudy Giuliani as Attorney General?
4295912 Oh, I could care less about your opinion on politics. My issue, as an irreligious apistevist, is on your position regarding morality. Namely, that you apparently think the development of morality and ethics necessitates a belief in an imaginary space genie invented by Bronze Age sheep herders who thought the world was a giant snow globe, otherwise all bets are off and "everything becomes permissible". I'd rather you didn't subject any potential offspring to that kind of nonsense.
4295637 I need to get this straight: Are you saying that hate crimes are perfectly fine and morals don't exists because there's no God?
4296222 I don't follow politics any more than the extremely obvious. I'm just trying to stay positive and hope for the best.
I don't blame you for being afraid and scared. Even though I live in California, I still worry about the rest of the Nation. Trump winning was the biggest FUCK YOU ever recorded because people are sick and tired of the government abandoning them and they just want to see the system burn down at the risk of society collapsing. All I can hope is that the Democrats learn their lesson about shifting to the right (it doesn't work). Bernie Sanders should be the next head of the DNC; that way he can shift the party back to the Left.
What should we do then? Impeach the guy when he hasn't even done anything yet?
4296602 ...are you fucking kidding me? He has MULTIPLE pending lawsuits for everything from fraud to child molestation. A lot of which are coming up BEFORE THE FORMAL ELECTORAL VOTE. He will actually be defending himself in court (or his legal representatives will) ON. THE DAY. THEY VOTE. HIM INTO POWER.
And let me absolutely stress that: Being "the President-elect" after the general election, the way things are set up in America presently? That's like having your big wedding ceremony but not actually signing your marriage license. You can spend three hours in the church, have the minister do the ceremony, have everyone throw the rice, but if you didn't sign the legal document, you ain't married.
Right now, Donald Trump is not yet President nor has he actually been given the power to take the Oath of Office. Everything between Election Day and the Electoral College vote is presumptive formality. And the Electoral College has this thing called "faithless electors". Where the electoral representatives can oppose the will of the general vote during the electoral vote.
It isn't a thing that happens frequently, but it DOES happen.
And if ever it was going to happen in enough numbers to change the election outcome, it's now. Which is why people are organizing letter writing campaigns to the electoral representatives in the swing states. Because they have the power to overturn this stupidity before it's too late.
4296607 Fine then.
4296613 Expanded my comment with some important stuff to remember.
4296607 Then what do you suggest we do? I'm all ears.
4296619 K.
I heard from a friend that his tax plan would put us into hyperinflation.
4296650 Everything he plans to do or thinks he wants to do will cause (a) a recession, (b) more jobs LOST instead of more jobs CREATED, (c) putting families who can't afford health care into the poor house, and (d) inflation like we have never seen.
But MOST of that shit? Even the Republican Congress is never going to let happen, because they actually DO have some sense. The things I'm most worried about are his Cabinet appointments, the divided nation we're looking at right now, and the horrifying message we've sent to the world by giving this incompetent, misogynist bigot this much power and attention.
He wants to make Ben Carson Secretary of Education. He wants to make Newt Gingrich Secretary of State (I think? Honestly kinda have a memory block on that one). He wants Rudy Giuliani as Attorney General. He wants that Breitbart guy as Chief of Staff and even his inner circle are saying HELL NO to that.
4296607
You do realize that the representatives are members of the party that won, right? Also, what makes you so sure that the faithless electors wouldn't do something like vote for Bernie Sanders, Gary Johnson, or Jill Stein as a protest vote? Face it, it's pretty much a fantasy that faithless electors will elect Hillary Clinton instead of Donald Trump.
Also, if you think people are pissed about the election now, wait until that hypothetical scenario occurs. That shit would have a good chance of starting another civil war, and you don't want that bullshit to happen for very obvious reasons.
Finally, Hillary Clinton wanted a No-Fly Zone in Syria, which could've caused war with Syria and Russia according to a high-ranking general, Bernie Sanders, etc, possibly causing World War Three, which is something to avoid at All. Fucking. Costs. Hell, at the third debate, she claimed that a No-Fly Zone would save lives, but she said before that that she KNEW that a No-Fly Zone would kill Syrians.
Edited to add: Let's also not forget that Hillary Clinton is an authoritarian that as a senator tried to pass a bill making it illegal to sell a Mature or AO rated video game to minors (anyone below 18), punishable by a $1,000 fine or 100 hours of community service, with subsequent offenses being punishable by a $5,000 fine or 500 hours of community service.
4297813 What relevance do video games have in this conversation?
4298089
None, I'm pointing out that if you believed that Hillary Clinton was in any way whatsoever not an authoritarian, you're wrong. As another example of that before I get off my soapbox and shut up, she supports a tax on sodas, kinda like Michael Bloomberg.
4298131 I have to agree with that.
4298131 But the Republican Congress would have kept her in check. Instead, we have an incompetent, racist, misogynist demagogue one formal Electoral proceeding from the White House, with a VP who has criminalized being gay in his own state, and absolutely nothing standing between them and raping this country into oblivion except WHATEVER Republicans in Congress actually have any kind of sense whatsoever...and given Trump's slew of pending Cabinet appointments, I am honestly growing more fearful with each passing day.
Whatever problems exist with Hillary, she had the knowledge and skill to do the job, and would have been held in check from doing any SERIOUS damage by a hostile Congress. Instead, we have an absolute nightmare looming over us.
I'd rather have had that soda tax.
4298184 Wouldn't she have tried to go around congress?
4298324 That's not how government works. Setting aside Obama's litany of unconstitutional executive orders, there's only so much the President can get away with without the support of Congress. And only so much Congress can get away with without the support of the President.
Bottom line: Hillary would not have been an ideal President, but she would not have been the DESTRUCTIVE MESS that Trump ALREADY IS without even being formally elected by the Electoral College yet. Just look at what's happening across America right now. Do you think things would be this insane had Hillary won? We'd have had some hate crimes, yes. We'd have had some riots from his supporters. But they would have been condemned and suppressed immediately by law enforcement. Instead, we have (mostly) peaceful protests which law enforcement are supporting AND policing, and hundreds of terrible hate crimes by Trumpers which are going completely unchecked. Oh, and Trump's various transition team and Cabinet appointments are a daily nightmare as this whole disaster continues to unfold. Oh, and Trump's schizophrenic Twitter account alternately condemning the peaceful protests (when Trump himself tweets) and praising them (when his staff hijack it), with Trump himself not REMOTELY trying to get everyone to calm down WHICH SHOULD HAVE BEEN THE FIRST MOTHERFUCKING THING HE DID.
So, again, Hillary: Career politician, history of corruption which is frankly JUST ABOUT ON PAR WITH EVERYONE ELSE IN WASHINGTON, some unpopular policies, would've been a third Obama term but would have kept things steady. Trump: Divisive demagogue who has endorsed and supported racism, homophobia, Islamophobia, and misogyny, whose election has led to three straight days of sheer hell in America that is only a prelude to what is going to be a very ugly four years.
So tell me, do you still want to argue about how bad Hillary would've been? Or do I need to start linking tweets from Muslims who have been attacked in broad daylight? Photos of swastikas painted on walls along with racist graffiti? Asians, blacks, and Hispanics who have been beaten and robbed?
4298400 I agree with the whole thing about congress. And no, I don't want to inflame this anymore than it's already been inflamed. If I can be completely honest; I'm nervous about Trump too.
4298131
Wait a minute, you don't already tax soda?
Wait another minute, you call the desire to tax soda indicative of authoritarianism?
Wow, just wow.
Edit: The site you linked is unreadable, trying to shove a membership or something down my throat when all I want is to get a quick glimpse on what's actually the matter.
4299859 To be fair, a tax on soda is kinda nonsensical. It's basically saying "you're fat because you drink something we've decided isn't healthy, so we're going to tax you for being fat", even though not all soda drinkers are fat and not all fat people drink soda. I, myself, drink nothing but (MOSTLY diet) soda because it's simply what I prefer to drink and it's my one vice that I can't live without, so I am against a soda tax both on general principle and out of personal interest. But if the alternative is Trump and everything vile he stands for, I would not complain about a soda tax (much).
4295637 You don't really get how ethics work, do you?
4295991
In the sense that Hitler got some work done, yes. This really is not a good thing.
4299871 Fair enough, I misunderstood the point to mean that there currently aren't any taxes (i.e. sales tax) on soda at all, but if it's about artificially inflating the price of soda similar to cigarettes because of health issues I can understand where they are coming from. Authoritarianism is a bit harsh though, I think paternalism (or maternalism in the case of Hillary?) would be a better term.
4298184
Considering that we had at least a couple of Republican senators call for a No-Fly Zone themselves, and the fact that the Democrats had a good chance of gaining control of the Senate if she won the election, and she could've most likely gotten them to go along with what she wanted, I think that scenario of a "hostile Congress" may be overly optimistic in the event of her winning, to be honest. That's all I will say on the matter until you could find me proof of a majority of Congress opposing that idea.
4299859
And I suppose that the proposed ban on selling M-rated video games to minors was indicative of her not being an authoritarian?
She supported the PATRIOT Act, she supported a law that ended up increasing our incarceration rate, then of course flip-flopped on that, but there's no way of knowing whether she's actually changed her position or not.
She supports allowing gun manufacturers to be sued if someone commits a crime with a gun, which Bernie Sanders thought was stupid. That's seriously about as stupid as suing a cigarette manufacturer for their products giving you lung cancer, but whatever, I'm not her.
Oh, and kinda off topic on this one, but she seems to support the Black Lives Matter organization.
She wants to charge Edward Snowden.
And really? You got more than one mouse click to get to the article? Huh, that didn't happen to me, to be honest. Happy now?
4300002
HOLY CRAP ARE YOU EVEN LISTENING TO YOURSELF?
Y'think maybe there's a REASON THAT'S PROBABLY A GOOD IDEA? KINDA LIKE HOW KIDS CAN'T GET INTO R-RATED MOVIES BY THEMSELVES?!
And...? Contrary to what the Republicans and some media outlets would have you believe, BLM isn't a terrorist group or a hate organization. It's a protest group at its core. There are violent and radical outliers, of course, but that's true of any political or social movement.
Honestly, NOT supporting Black Lives Matter would be worse than supporting it.
Honestly, it sounds to me like you're pissed off about a lot of really stupid things and ignoring the larger picture, which is that while she is not ideal, Hillary is qualified to be President, whereas Trump is not only unqualified, but is already showing signs that he never actually wanted the job and isn't dealing with the reality of it well at all.
4299871 No more stupid taxes on soda.
4300002
What about Trump's proposed ban on allowing people of a certain race, religion, or nationality to enter the country?
What about Trump's proposed ban on allowing skilled professionals to immigrate legally into the country?
What about Trump's proposed ban on freedom of the press?
At least your other points are debatable. But the one above is so asinine and trivial it's incomprehensible how anyone could bring it to the table.
4300019
I don't see why that part in particular warranted rage-typing, is there something I'm missing?
So, to get started, you would support having a law on the books that would force people to pay a $1,000 fine (subsequent offenses being $5,000 or 500 hours) or 100 hours of community service, for selling a M or AO only video game to someone say, 14-16 years old? That was exactly what the bill was saying. Are you really that concerned about teenagers playing M rated video games and such? I really can't for the life of me understand the appeal for government to solve bad parenting, but, eh, c'est la vie.
They're not really helping their case on that one, considering that one of their most prominent members won't speak out against it. BLM is a fundamentally flawed idea to start out with in that it makes issues with the police into a race issue, when it would've been a better idea to be inclusive to people of all color and such, so you can unite everyone under one banner. Why would you support them when they won't condemn riots?
No, it's actually the icing on the proverbial shit sundae, I already went over one of the major reasons that I didn't want her elected at all costs, on top of others that I'm not going into here on the basis that it would just cause more "what-if" disagreements and such. The main point was that she is too dangerous to get elected. I'm certain that she would've gotten people to go along with her on the No-Fly Zone, as I said in a previous comment in which I said that she probably would've had a Democrat senate majority and certainly at least a few Republicans on her side if she managed to get herself elected, which didn't happen.
Finally, her losing is exactly what she and the DNC deserved after that bullshit against Bernie Sanders in the primaries. (Yay, more icing on the shit sundae!)
I'm acutely aware that Donald Trump isn't a good choice, at all, but with the major bullshit she wanted and had a chance of getting, I couldn't go along with that.
4300117
Notice how I didn’t actually mention Trump once? My point was that if you thought that Trump was the only one who was an authoritarian, you'd be mistaken.
I think that it would be quite difficult to get that thing about "freedom of the press" to actually happen, the rest is nothing compared to a possible war with Russia started by her No-Fly Zone that she had a fetish for.
I'd rather be fucked on social issues than die in a war with Russia.
4300258
Straw logic is not an argument. Or are you THAT blind to the real purpose of the law (keeping like, 9yos from buying games they shouldn't be)?
And, y'know, if a teenager who is mature enough to play those kinds of games wants to buy them, there's no reason they can't get their parents to go with them when they do. Unless the parent is one of those types...but the intent of the law is, y'know, to protect younger kids. No law is going to be right for everyone. That's just the reality of the world.
The reason I jumped on you for that particular point, by the way, is because you're trotting out a petty grievance as if it's some HUGE THING that makes a candidate unsuitable and you're ignoring...y'know...everything about Trump that will, and already IS, destroying America.
Kinda like how Trump isn't speaking out against the dozens of hate crimes being committed in his name every day since the election?
Except that Black Lives Matter was founded because of black citizens being shot by white cops. That's kind of why it's called BLACK Lives Matter. Or did you miss the dozens of fatal police shootings of unarmed black men over the last few years? And yes, people of other races have been gunned down by police of all races. It's a problem that is not unique to blacks, but it's a problem that hits the African-American community disproportionately.
THEN WHAT THE FUCK DO YOU CALL DONALD TRUMP.
4300273
*sigh*
You...don't really understand anything, do you? Like...at all...
4300273 There was never going to be a war with Russia. Global interests are too intertwined to allow that, and the US does (or at least did) have a better diplomatic corps than the media gave it credit for. All you heard was saber-rattling from a strongman who needed to bark loudly to make himself important during a very delicate time in THIS country's elections.
And evidently, many people swallowed it hook, line, and sinker.
At least you didn't dispute how utterly idiotic the point about "oh noes she's gunna banz mah gamez!" was.