Random political thought thread.

[FemMecha]

Anyone here ever think of running for their local city counsel or school board?

I recently helped with a fundraiser and it sparked my curiosity about making a difference. My brain is toying with the notion for a few years in the future.

Where I live the school board is volunteer but city counsel pays $24/year. Just a thought for my peeps here.

 

[The Cat]

>_<
"100% OPSEC"
>_<

Super glad the country I fucked up my mental health for; I served, is being run into the ground.
Just. Awesome sauce all around.
But I better put on a happy face, or else.

Hell of a set up; this life. Can't wait for the punchline.

Well, that's enough of the news cycle today.
​

 

[The Cat]

Keep in mind Elon and his ilk believe that is all just a simulation and we're just npcs...
The fascists in charge...believe in simulation theory and that injecting the blood of their teenage children will make them younger.

I'd ask what's cooking, but it's us.​

 

[Coriolis]

Anyone here ever think of running for their local city counsel or school board?

I recently helped with a fundraiser and it sparked my curiosity about making a difference. My brain is toying with the notion for a few years in the future.

Where I live the school board is volunteer but city counsel pays $24/year. Just a thought for my peeps here.

Local elected offices often have some of the greatest impact on our day to day lives. Broader grassroots movements often start at the local level, then move on to state level. This is how Republicans have managed to achieve gerrymandering in so many states. On any level, politics can be a rough and dirty business. People entering it need to be very grounded in who they are, and have a bit of a thick skin to survive. If you are interested in running, I would get in touch with your local and/or state League of Women Voters. They often have helpful resources for people seeking to run for office for the first time, plus many valuable connections.

Even if you decide being a candidate is not for you, as you have seen, you can still help to elect candidates you support by fundraising and other volunteering. I did this years ago for someone from my college who ran for state rep. He lost against a longtime incumbent, but won the next time. The incumbent saw the writing on the wall and retired.

 

[JocktheMotie]

Since I am effectively retired I've entertained getting more involved in local planning; I've got a lot of problems with local governance especially local NIMBYism so I'd love to be the one at these meetings telling these old people to STFU and die already. Once my kids get older and I hit my mid 40s this is likely my plan to keep myself (and #mywife) from going insane with weird personal projects.

 

[Virtual ghost]

Von der Leyen vows EU will protect its interests as Trump announces huge car tariffs

 

[The Cat]

From this:

To this:

To This.

Great again?



​

 

[The Cat]

https://www.reddit.com/r/abanpreach/comments/1jlm65k The New Daughters of the Confederacy...The Simps for Billionares. Yes from telling gen x, millenials and elder gen z's that they should break their bodys and bank their souls to become millionares, younger gen z and gen alpha will be taught to worship billionares. These too rich fuckers of all the sexy everyone has their needs met and gets laid dystopias they could make happen, they're doing fucking suck ass fascist ones.

 

[FemMecha]

Please don’t quote - I’ll come back to delete, wondered what do you think? This is a concern.

John Schwarz on Instagram: "Please Share!!! The awareness is vital!"

3,454 likes, 258 comments - theonecalledjai on March 28, 2025: "Please Share!!! The awareness is vital!".

www.instagram.com

 

[Virtual ghost]

Just in case you missed it.
Only a first few minutes of the video matter, after that is basically just repeating.

 

[ygolo]

Just in case you missed it.
Only a first few minutes of the video matter, after that is basically just repeating.

Maybe I am worried about nothing.

The politically active skews more left than right( or maybe it was more incumbent than anti-incumbent before), so special elections may not be as hopeful as we think.

But, maybe the missteps of the Trump administration can be capitalized on.

 

[Virtual ghost]

Maybe I am worried about nothing.

The politically active skews more left than right( or maybe it was more incumbent than anti-incumbent before), so special elections may not be as hopeful as we think.

But, maybe the missteps of the Trump administration can be capitalized on.

Yes, but this shows there is certain outrage in the mix and there are some very important races coming. Like the one for state supreme court in Wisconsin. Which will in the end define the maps for the swing state. In other words this one was 15 point swing and Trump's margin in Wisconsin was 0.8 points.

 

[ygolo]

The Harsh Truth About Disability Inclusion

1.3 billion people have a disability. DEI cuts could make their lives more difficult, writes Jessica Smith.

time.com

If you take all the disabilities, big and small, together, I think you'd find a majority of people. Individual disabilities would be minority.

Similarly, those who feel abused by the system are a majority, despite the individual grievance may be a minority.

 

[Virtual ghost]

Zelenskyy says no to any US minerals deal that might risk Ukraine’s EU bid


Ouch.

 

[Coriolis]

The Harsh Truth About Disability Inclusion

1.3 billion people have a disability. DEI cuts could make their lives more difficult, writes Jessica Smith.

time.com

If you take all the disabilities, big and small, together, I think you'd find a majority of people. Individual disabilities would be minority.

Similarly, those who feel abused by the system are a majority, despite the individual grievance may be a minority.

Well, yes, when you add up all the people targeted by DEI, it is a sizeable majority. DEI programs in employment and education include not only racial, cultural, and gender-diverse groups, but disabled people and even veterans. Our armed forces can now no longer target veterans for civilian recruitment, or have veteran affinity groups in the workplace. And that is supposed to improve our fighting stance. It certainly isn't good for morale, and any commander worth their salt knows that's one resource you can't requisition from the supply depot.

The reality is that the whole anti-DEI campaign is designed to benefit one group that really is a minority: straight, white, Christian men. It's a tactic Elon Musk will be familiar with from South Africa. Apartheid was based on dividing the native black population into subgroups, leaving whites as the largest single group. Divide and conquer. If we let them.

Zelenskyy says no to any US minerals deal that might risk Ukraine’s EU bid


Ouch.

Good for him. Now that's a leader, someone who actually has a spine and will stand up to bullies and act in the best interests of his people.

 

[Red Herring]

Well, yes, when you add up all the people targeted by DEI, it is a sizeable majority. DEI programs in employment and education include not only racial, cultural, and gender-diverse groups, but disabled people and even veterans. Our armed forces can now no longer target veterans for civilian recruitment, or have veteran affinity groups in the workplace. And that is supposed to improve our fighting stance. It certainly isn't good for morale, and any commander worth their salt knows that's one resource you can't requisition from the supply depot.

The reality is that the whole anti-DEI campaign is designed to benefit one group that really is a minority: straight, white, Christian men. It's a tactic Elon Musk will be familiar with from South Africa. Apartheid was based on dividing the native black population into subgroups, leaving whites as the largest single group. Divide and conquer. If we let them.

Not sure if you heard about this, but the Trump administration is not only canceling DEI in government financed projects and pressuring American businesses to cancel DEI programms ... they are now also putting pressure on European businesses as well.

CNBC - Trump administration reportedly warns European companies to comply with anti-DEI order
Fortune - Most affirmative action policies are illegal in France, but US warns French companies against using DEI policies *

Oh, and obviously not just businesses but also universities and research institutions (which are evil anyway):
Nature -Trump team ‘survey’ sent to overseas researchers prompts foreign-interference fears

So let me get this straight, American style anti-discrimination measures now violate the US anti-discrimination laws?



* Yes, France has laws against discrimination, but their approach to racism is that classifying people by race is, by its nature, racist, and that a post-racial society should be the goal. For similar reasons the German state does not keep data on people's race or religion. From a European perspective Americans are weirdly obsessed with ethnicity.

 

[Virtual ghost]

Not sure if you heard about this, but the Trump administration is not only canceling DEI in government financed projects and pressuring American businesses to cancel DEI programms ... they are now also putting pressure on European businesses as well.

CNBC - Trump administration reportedly warns European companies to comply with anti-DEI order
Fortune - Most affirmative action policies are illegal in France, but US warns French companies against using DEI policies *

Oh, and obviously not just businesses but also universities and research institutions (which are evil anyway):
Nature -Trump team ‘survey’ sent to overseas researchers prompts foreign-interference fears

So let me get this straight, American style anti-discrimination measures now violate the US anti-discrimination laws?



* Yes, France has laws against discrimination, but their approach to racism is that classifying people by race is, by its nature, racist, and that a post-racial society should be the goal. For similar reasons the German state does not keep data on people's race or religion. From a European perspective Americans are weirdly obsessed with ethnicity.

It is pretty obvious what this is:

1. He wants to export his cultural revolution.

2. He wants to see his ideas rejected in Europe. So that he can escalate tensions and make sure that the far right gathers points on the premise that this was rejected by mainstream parties.

 

[Red Herring]

Speaking of pushback, this is what the streets of Istanbul (and other cities in Turkey) currently look like:

 

[Coriolis]

Not sure if you heard about this, but the Trump administration is not only canceling DEI in government financed projects and pressuring American businesses to cancel DEI programms ... they are now also putting pressure on European businesses as well.

CNBC - Trump administration reportedly warns European companies to comply with anti-DEI order
Fortune - Most affirmative action policies are illegal in France, but US warns French companies against using DEI policies *

Oh, and obviously not just businesses but also universities and research institutions (which are evil anyway):
Nature -Trump team ‘survey’ sent to overseas researchers prompts foreign-interference fears

So let me get this straight, American style anti-discrimination measures now violate the US anti-discrimination laws?



* Yes, France has laws against discrimination, but their approach to racism is that classifying people by race is, by its nature, racist, and that a post-racial society should be the goal. For similar reasons the German state does not keep data on people's race or religion. From a European perspective Americans are weirdly obsessed with ethnicity.

This is part of what I mean about European "help". European organizations need to stand firm and not give in to Trump demands. More U.S. entities need to do so, too. It is shameful how many large, strong, well-respected institutions including universities, law firms, and corporations are kowtowing to this irrationality. As citizens we need as much as possible to vote with our dollars, as well as with our feet.

 

[The Cat]