It’s worth noting that “blue no matter who” is just a bandaid, just a drive to get fascists out of power long enough to enact voting reform. The two party system is an organic result of First Past The Post voting; we have to move to some form of Rank Choice if we’re ever to see any progress. Thankfully voting regulations are on the local level, where change is still possible. This is one of the many reasons Trump is trying to federalize elections.

Until we get voting reform, there will only be Two Parties, and they will always drift to the right.

I love your optimism.

And, to be clear, we achieve that by changing local election laws to use some form of Rank Choice instead of First Past The Post.

The two party system is an organic result of FPTP voting. If we change to Rank Choice, the two party system will crumble.

“What? Really?? With Netflix and Amazon pulling shows left and right???”

Global maritime piracy

Ohhhhh, that’s … Uh, hm. Somehow less interesting and more interesting at the same time.

It’s worse than that. Any historian will tell you that the work of historians is basically gathering clues and hints to piece together a coherent story that fits all the data. Which is fine, except when you’re using that story to interpret legal doctrine. The very foundation of originalist philosophy, that we should interpret law according to history, is flawed because history can never be perfectly known or understood. We might have extremely good data and knowledge, we might have a NEARLY perfectly accurate story of what happened. But “nearly” isn’t enough, and it’s that very flaw that fascists use to exploit originalist philosophy to push their own agenda.

Exactly. Fascists very rarely operate in good faith.

Yeah well, it’s not their job to keep fascists out if power. It’s OUR job. Us, the voters.

Voting works. If it didn’t, they wouldn’t be trying so hard to stop us from doing it. And once we have Rank Choice we’ll be able to move beyond the “an actual fascist/not an actual fascist” dichotomy. But until then, for fucks sake, vote “not an actual fascist” even if you don’t like the person you’re voting for. I don’t care how terrible they are, if they’re not an actual fascist then you vote for them. THAT’S how you keep fascists out of power.

This is why I’m giving up on changing the DNC and refocusing my efforts on changing the voting system from First Past The Post to Rank Choice.

But we also need the fascists out of power, and kept out of power.

These two things have to be achieved in parallel. That’s why I vote Democrat, but only until I have Rank Choice at which point the Democrats will become my second pick (and then eventually third pick, and hopefully someday not one of my picks at all)

actual gender

Trans people are born trans and are biologically the get they identify as.

Here are a number of studies that show the biological reality of transgender people. It’s important to note that although some of these studies suggest causation (ie, HOW a person is born transgender) we can’t know if there’s more than one cause, and therefore using any one test to see if somebody is “biologically trans” is impossible.

Sex vs Gender and the role of the SRY gene specifically (as opposed to the Y chromosome generally) in the development of each, as well as the possible role of AR (androgen receptor) gene https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6505576/

A correlation is found between AR allele repeat length and a person being transgender https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3402034/

The brains of trans people more closely resemble those of their chosen gender identity than their natal sex https://www.ese-hormones.org/media/1506/transgender-brains-are-more-like-their-desired-gender-from-an-early-age.pdf

A trans person’s brain more closely resembles their chosen gender as demonstrated by their brain’s response to olfactory stimulation with androstadienone https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fendo.2014.00060/full

Estrogen signaling pathways identified which tell the brain to develop as one gender or the other, as well as mechanisms by which physical development can happen in one way while brain development can happen in the other https://www.nature.com/articles/s41598-019-53500-y

Cornell University summarizes 72 studies regarding the effect of gender transition on transgender well-being (with links to all 72 studies) https://whatweknow.inequality.cornell.edu/topics/lgbt-equality/what-does-the-scholarly-research-say-about-the-well-being-of-transgender-people/

So no, you’ve got it backwards: they’re being forced to turn in their id with their actual gender in exchange for one with the incorrect gender marker.

Your right to self identify doesn’t exist under fascist rule. Identify as you’re told, or face the consequences.

Today it’s gender. I wonder what facet of identity they’ll seek to control tomorrow. Sexual orientation? Religion? Political affiliation?

Your right to self identify doesn’t exist under fascist rule. Identify as you’re told, or face the consequences.

Today it’s gender. I wonder what facet of identity they’ll seek to control tomorrow. Sexual orientation? Religion? Political affiliation?

“I have to eat super slow. Doctor’s orders. Since no special accommodations are required to meet my medical needs, your not legally entitled to see documentation. Sorry Brenda.”

Ianal but “voluntarily” taking a shorter lunch break is still illegal in some states. In my state, my boss would get in trouble if it could be proven that they knew I wasn’t taking the full, mandatory 30 minutes.

Now we just need somebody on the inside to send up an unredacted complete copy of the Epstein Files in a weird looking weather balloon. It’s the only way.

The mirror test is frequently cited as a means of testing sentience.

OP I think you hit the nail on the head.

This is why the rumors of there being a Department of Remigration is so alarming. It really looks like they EVENTUALLY want to get rid of all non-white people.

Which won’t come as a surprise to anyone paying attention, but there’s a depressing number of people who insist on keeping their heads in the sand.

Tardigrades are just talented like that, don’t be a hater

Seriously.

“Trump destroyed my multi generation family business, but I’d rather lose my multi generation family business than have a black, female, Democrat for president.”

That’s the level of brainwashing we’re dealing with. It’s profound.

The Emperor Calígula declared war against Poseidon, had his army march to the English Channel, and ordered them to strike the water with their weapons and collect sea shells as spoils of war.

So yeah, I think you’re on to something.

If you’re the person being arrested, your options are to surrender or fight and hope they only beat you within an inch of your life without actually killing you (with the understanding that the chances of them killing you are increasing every day). Unless you manager to use legal force against them in which case you are 100% dead.

Community defense is when OTHER people come to rescue you, typically using nonviolent methods to harass and inhibit the agents until they give up and leave. Of course, the chances that agents will just kill them are increasing every day, too. Either way, once you’ve been targeted you’ll likely need to go into hiding, and engaging legal council is probably a good idea even if you’re a citizen.

I don’t think this is pessimistic or nihilistic. I feel like it’s a pretty accurate assessment of the likely possibilities. I’m open to hearing other interpretations, though.