You of course understand that most such abstentions are in states where the outcome is already determined. What would a democratic vote in Pittsburgh do for your presidential votescolding?
Ohio used to be a swing state! Florida used to be a swing state! You don’t get to sit this shit out when vindictive white baby boomers are the most consistently reliable voting demographic! That’s how people end up with Ted Fucking Cruz and a gerrymandered state legislature outlawing abortion and transgender health care!
Also, let’s say you’re right, and there is genuinely no chance to flip your district from red to blue. It is still important to vote. Because if the Republicans know your district is absolutely safe, they don’t have to spend any money to keep their guy in office, they can spend the money on the place where their guy is in danger.
If your district has a rise in the number of people voting Democrat, all of a sudden your district isn’t looking that safe any longer. And they have to spend money there on ads and shit to make sure it stays safe. And that’s money they’re not spending in swing districts. That makes it easier for Democrats elsewhere to get elected.
Also, local offices are on the ballot. And local offices need a lot fewer votes to win an election than national offices.
If you have, for example, two judge positions and one of them is “tough on crime” and one of them talks about “wanting to make sure that all people get justice regardless of race or gender or any other factor” it will make a big difference to your community which one of them gets elected.
If you have two candidates for school board and one is advocating for book bans and the other one isn’t, it will make a big difference to your community which one of them gets elected.
Isn’t Pittsburgh in Pennsylvania which is a swing state? Doesn’t turning a state from firmly Democratic to firmly swing require one or both of more Republican and fewer Democratic voters?
Yes, Ohio was a swing state. Not even that long ago, seriously. Eight years.
Kansas used to be Bright Fucking Red. Now it’s trending toward maroon. We have a democrat governor. Wichita KS elected an openly trans councilwoman. We kept abortion safe and legal here. Because we fucking showed up at the polls. Sure, our piddly little two electoral votes don’t “matter” in the presidential election, but that other shit? That Fucking Matters. We have more work to do, for sure, but showing up and voting is the first step.
Kamala Harris passed the Bar Exam (easily verifiable in California records); Mango Mussolini brags (without proof) that he passed a basic cognitive test. These things are not the same.
But it can be reversed. Start small. If you hit this post then take 5 minutes to put your phone down in another room and do something. Do a crossword. Go for a walk. Be present! CBT is a hugely successful therapy for phone addiction and can even reverse the damage done to your brain.
I get it. I have dozens of beloved friends online, and I’m more informed now than I would ever have been without access to the Internet, but wouldn’t it be nice to wonder sometimes? Wouldn’t it be nice to be able to go outside and not itch for your phone screen? To have that creativity and confidence back? Start small. Start now.
I recall seeing all these studies and articles come out about Internet addiction when social media was still a burgeoning new concept, but now I basically only see it talked about as a joke especially by millennials/genz (the whole “lol brainrot” thing). I always felt like the coverage waned because of pressure from growing social media companies tbh but that’s just my conspiracy theory
The Jeebs both trundle like Smooch did, a low-to-the-ground, rapid trot that becomes a scuttle when mischief is afoot.
Jasper’s “please stop, please put me down!” noise is a kind of…. It goes like if !_*’ was a noise. Tiny squeak, tense hitch, little “kh!” sound. Distinctive noise, Ihave only ever heard one other cat make it: Smooch. He did it to make a point about something he wanted. But it’s the same distinctive sound.
It’s not that I don’t miss Raleigh and Sid, of course I do. But Smooch was mine, attached to me like a hairy limpet, always there. And so I feel that loss physically so much of the time.
Normally the other cats of the household squeeze together after a loss and fill that hole, pulling the edges together so it can heal a little faster. So the mind doesn’t trip over as many gaps.
We lost all our boys, all of them, our dear boys. There’s nothing to close the wound but Fancy and the tenuous threads of affection between the Jeebers and us. It’s not enough.
I had a very bad couple of hours this afternoon thinking about those final goodbyes. Smooch went so easy and didn’t suffer beforehand. He passed out at home after a huge snack, during a nap with both of us on the bed. He never regained consciousness. That helps. But I miss him. I miss him in ways I didn’t expect, and so I wasn’t prepared.
I have two pale little shades in my house, who look so much like him, if I’m not really looking. I’m not sorry at all to have them. But it’s like his ghost roams with them sometimes.
The others we were going to look at were black and white. Not black tabbies like Raleigh or colorpoints like Smooch, nor quite solid black like Sid – the blacker of the two was fluffy which Sid wasn’t, the shorthair was high white. I wouldn’t have chosen to color match, if I’d really been choosing. But the babies came to us and I wasn’t going to say no to their little faces; how could anyone?
It’s just…a form of haunting. I would honestly prefer a genuine ghost.
All that said, I’m so happy the babies are here and I rejoice in how beautiful they are. Truly gorgeous cats. A hundred times a day I think how are such beautiful cats ours?
I miss Skeleton War posts so much. They’d usually start popping up around this time. People would be celebrating, even cracking jokes or participating. What happened to our dear Skeleton War brethren? Have they found peace? Or are we doomed to have weak bones?
I propose:
Skeleton War 2024.
We must fight the fuckbois now more than ever before
I love this post so much I have done everything in my power to make sure I will never forget it via reblogging it every October 5th, in memory of discovering it for the first time
I really don’t feel like we as a society are talking enough about this
TURN THE FUCKING AUDIO ON
PROVIDE SUBTITLES
Fawn: *squeaking adorably throughout the entire video*
Man: I’m not momma, momma’s over there. Hi there little guy. You are teeny-tiny. Here, look at you next to my coffee cup so we can see how little you are. *laughs* You are teeny-teeny-tiny.
ALT
amhrancas 