u/KyleBerthoud

With July 4th being tomorrow, I thought I’d give everyone here a sliver of hope (however small it may be) with this article from The Bulwark that talks about positive quotes on the benefits of immigration from Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan(!)

Admittedly, this article starts off on a down note talking about Trump’s war against immigrants, but it definitely ends on an inspiring message for the future of our nation, which is absolutely necessary on what is a very tumultuous (putting it mildly) 250th birthday. This Saturday, in the words of Bill Pullman, we celebrate our Independence Day!

Proof that Zohran is in Trump’s head with all of the W’s he’s been racking up lately. Keep shooting yourself in the dick there, Donald! I’m sure Democrats are thanking you everyday for providing them constant soundbites they can use in campaign ads against you lol

Hello all!

So, for some reason, Reddit keeps removing my original posts that have links, but, so far, this is being reported by CBS News, the Associated Press, Al Jazeera, the New York Times, and more.

Keir Starmer is resigning as the PM of Britain and will support the seating of a new leader, which looks like it will be Andy Burnham, who just won the Makerfield by-election last week. Burnham’s victory seems to have given Starmer a lane to make this announcement.

All in all, this is a great thing for Britain, as Starmer’s approval ratings are underwater with the average Brit with him capitulating to the right even more than most Democrats, Burnham is the most popular politician in the UK (albeit at 35 percent), and the far-right Reform UK party has seen massive victories in the past year, specifically with their 2025 election wave.

Starmer seems to have seen the writing on the wall and, with Burnham’s victory, had the perfect opportunity to step aside and support a new, fresh candidate. Hopefully, this will set Britain on a better path moving forward, and will give Labour a better chance to prevent Reform and Nigel Farage from taking over Britain in a couple years. John Oliver also made a great vid last week about all of this, so I suggest you go check that out as well.

Britons have been through a lot, what with the economic downturn and austerity caused by the Tories, the pandemic, and, of course, Brexit, so this is definitely needed.

At the end of the day, this isn’t just about supporting the U.S. and their fight against rising fascism, but extending our hand and support towards every country that faces similar threats. So, let’s hope that the United Kingdom can avoid another Trump and rebuild properly after 14 tumultuous years under the rule of the Conservative Party, because they’re going to need all the help they can get, and this, at least for now, is a positive step forward.

Sincerely,

K.B.

Hello all!

It’s been a while since I’ve posted any long threads on here. I was mostly off this space for a while, as I went on vacation for 9 days and then had some stuff to take care of once I returned home, including watching my favorite basketball team win a championship, which is up there in the running for the happiest moment of my entire existence.

A lot has happened since I’ve been away, obviously, but I just wanted to pop in and give a morale boost to anyone who may be feeling overwhelmed by everything that’s been going on, from the White House UFC event (which I didn’t watch, but, from all accounts, was an absolute disaster), Elon becoming a trillionaire, and the Iran war continuing to wreak havoc on the entire world.

Times are hard, they may get harder, and it is unclear when they will ever get better. But, let me tell you all….it will! In the words of Paul Heyman, that’s not a prediction, that’s a spoiler.

The bad guys may seem invincible, but they are losing every single day. Trump just had his name removed from the Kennedy Center, Peter Thiel has been forced to flee to Argentina, Israel is losing more and more popularity amongst the populace, the president of UFC has already unequivocally stated that there will not be another event like Sunday’s due to all of the backlash against it, and promising Dems like Graham Platner, Abdul el-Sayed, and James Talarico look primed to win in November.

Sometimes, the only way out of a mess is to go straight through all the shit, and the good news is that, as of this current moment, it looks like we are already halfway through, and getting closer to full cleanup. The vibe shift has never been more felt, with progressives winning all over the country and gaining momentum daily, and more Democratic voters getting motivated to fight back against the institution and MAGA, and more MAGA voters leaving the cult, as well.

November is almost here, but Trump is so weak at this point he’s already losing influence. Less and less people are listening to him and taking what he says seriously, and it’s got him in a tizzy. He knows his time is coming, and that we are snapping at his heels, not letting up. That’s why he’s backing down more and more nowadays and pretending like it’s for reasons X, Y, and Z. Because he knows the end is near, but doesn’t want to lose the projection of strength (whatever he has left at this point, anyways).

So, remember this whenever you’re feeling down and like the fight is insurmountable: No matter what they throw at us, no matter how much they may want to make us feel hopeless and defeated, no matter what they say or do, no matter how much they try to drag us and this country’s name in the mud with them….

We WILL prevail! It’s only a matter of time. We will win, and, once we do, we will make sure all of the traitors never see a cushy office desk ever again for what they put us through, and we will rebuild this country into the social democracy we and our children and our grandchildren deserve to live in!

Thank you for reading this, and have a wonderful Tuesday night!

Sincerely,

K.B.

It’s been 17 years. In Yankeeland, that’s like an eternity. It’s time for us to even the numbers and get No. 28.

And, it doesn’t need to be in some distant future, either. If we can be 43-27 and in first place in the East despite injuries to Judge, Stanton, Grisham, and Fried, anything is possible.

A few moves are definitely necessary to get there imo (need a better catcher, another capable veteran bat or two, more relief pitching), but, as the Knicks just showed us, anything is possible in the world of professional sports.

Go Yankees!! NY sports forevah!!!

The Romano Report just released a video on why, even if he wanted to, Trump is powerless to cancel elections. There are lots of really good counters to doomer arguments in this one breakdown.

Trump and the Repubs keep shooting themselves in the crotch for the whole world to see. You love to see it!

It reeks of desperation among the GOP over here, and, like all of their other attempts, it didn’t work. A blue storm is coming soon, and there is nothing they can do to stop it!

Hello all!

So, it's now Memorial Day weekend, and things in the States have been, well, pretty interesting to say the least. Stephen Colbert just aired his final episode of The Late Show on Thursday, the regime just indicted Raul Castro, the former president of Cuba, and the Iran war continues to drag on as gas prices remain steady (at least for now).

I wanted to take this opportunity over the holiday weekend to type out something I've been thinking of writing for awhile: an argument against the concept of cynicism. Let me start off by saying that I can be pretty cynical myself. I used to be pretty down on human nature, and my cynicism really hits peak during two major moments, one of them being the Covid-19 pandemic.

On top of my mental health taking a huge hit due to the unprecedented lockdowns and not being able to see friends and some family members, I saw people all over the country rejecting the very idea of wearing masks and social distancing. Yeah, I didn't like it either, but, at the same time, I knew that we had to protect people and get case numbers at a manageable level. However, there were viral videos all over the Internet of random people hoarding toilet paper and screaming at innocent employees just trying to enforce mask rules as case numbers continued to spike, and my view of human nature dimmed further.

Another point where my cynicism reached new heights was, of course, when Trump was elected to a second term in 2024. I had convinced myself that the tides were turning in our favor in the runup to the election, seeing how Trump was making a massive fool of himself on the campaign trail and all the signs against him, like the excitement of the Harris-Walz ticket and the endless jokes at the expense of Trump and JD Vance and all of the Republicans who were rapidly turning on the party, and I became excited at the prospect of the first female President.

And, then, once Trump won, I was defeated. I was hopeless. I couldn't believe that my country had voted to elect a man who not only had a disaster of a first term with endless corruption, millions of deaths from a preventable pandemic, horrible immigration policy, and fucking JANUARY 6TH, but also spent an entire campaign spewing hate against immigrants and transgender people, ranting about Hannibal Lecter and Arnold Palmer's private area, and just looking lost and like he was an old mental patient. I became more depressed and detached, and decided that America was truly a country of hatred and exclusion, especially as Trump immediately started his mass deportation campaign when he got back in office. I watched as people around me stayed silent or, worse, seemed happy at the shit that was happening, and lost even more faith in my fellow Americans.

All of that being said, I do not wish for anyone reading this to adopt similar behaviors to what I went through. Because cynicism is NOT smart! It only hurts your mental health and, in some cases, can even lead to dark paths.

Trust me, it can feel good in the moment and like you are enlightened and smarter than the average person, but, once you get over that feeling, you'll feel stupid and think to yourself, "What was the point of me thinking those things?? What did it actually achieve??" And, it IGNORES all of the people out there who are genuinely fighting the good fight against all odds and trying to do right by their fellow citizens. And, in even worse cases, cynicism can even discredit and smear good acts from genuine people.

For example, during the start of the second Trump presidency, even as he went on a massive crusade against his enemies and minority groups, there were also small good things that people didn't notice, like the No Kings protests that trumped (no pun intended) the fascist-in-chief's military parade MASSIVELY, the pushback against the deportation of Kilmar Abrego Garcia (which worked btw), the failure to deport Rumeysa Ozturk, and Dems like Chris Murphy, Tim Walz, Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez, and others who pushed back against the administration's heinous actions. Trump wasn't getting everything he wanted, and did NOT declare martial law on April 20th like everyone thought he would, but I was so cynical and doomer that I had failed to appreciate these small glimmers of hope.

Even during Covid, I ignored the people who actually listened and wore masks to protect others, along with the many who clapped outside of their houses for first responders, raised money for aid for struggling families during the pandemic, and instead focused on the idiots who ranted about the first amendment to argue against having to wear face coverings.

Another important reason why cynicism is a bad idea is because it's what people like Trump WANT. Some of the main arguments of his campaign was that immigrants were "poisoning the blood" of America, and that transgender people were using kitty litter in schools, and stealing trophies and medals from young female athletes that they rightly deserved, and that Democrats were unfairly punishing him because he wanted to challenge the institution. This helped create an atmosphere that caused Trump voters to distrust everyone around them and think that minorities and Democrats were out to get them, and, in turn, they went to him for protection. This cynicism among the American people helped Trump thrive and got him elected.

It's not just Trump, either. Cynicism has benefited many an autocrat over the years. Hitler blamed Germany's woes in the 1930s on Jewish people and used antisemitism as a pretext to throw them into concentration camps and murder millions with little resistance. Xi Jinping has used hatred of Uyghur people to justify throwing them into interment camps. Benjamin Netanyahu has taken advantage of widespread Israeli hatred of Palestinians by bombing Gaza into oblivion and creating an unprecedented humanitarian crisis in the region. I could go on, but it is very clear: Authoritarians thrive the more cynical and distrustful the average citizens are of their peers, because it gives them a convenient scapegoat and takes attention away from their bad deeds.

Rutger Bregman released a great book called Humankind: A Hopeful History that essentially argues for the perception of humans as good and well-meaning. Throughout the novel, he gives little-known real-life examples of people being kind and virtuous towards their fellow man, as well as stories of the media skewing facts to drive a narrative that humans are evil, policies that have been enacted that allowed humans more freedom and infinitely improved their lives, and social experiments that prove that the human species is better than they are portrayed to be by politicians and the media. The central argument is that we'd be better served by interacting more with our fellow people, rather than less, trusting more rather than assuming that everyone is a bad-faith actor, and adopting good social policies that are based on this philosophy.

There is also a great YouTube video by this channel called Pop Culture Detective that uses clips from movies and TV shows, and was released in the immediate aftermath of the 2024 election. The narrator, Jonathan McIntosh, argues that pessimistic and cynical views of human nature are mostly false and made worse by the media and how biased it can be. He also mentions an experiment conducted by Noam Chomsky wherein he asked people to imagine a man walking down the street and stealing ice cream from a child, and then asked them if they thought that it was a perfect example of human nature. Most of the time, the people who were asked said no. So, not only is cynicism a defeatist mindset that does more harm than good, most of the time, the people who espouse these viewpoints don't mean what they say.

As someone who's been there before, I would argue it's more of a reactive mindset meant to try to protect us in times where things don't make sense to us. We distrust people because it's easy in difficult times. As humans, we look for easy solutions, and cynicism is one of them. It's easy to distrust the person next to you. It's easy to blame everyone around you for why the world is screwed up. It's easy to hate.

Which is why we MUST reject cynicism. It may seem easy and convenient in the moment, especially in a time where nothing makes sense and the free world is led by some of the worst people known to man, but it will only lead us towards a world that is unrecognizable, and not in a good way. The only way forward is to pick not only ourselves up, but the people around us, as well, and lift ourselves up and push for a better world. And, if we don't think that better world is possible to attain or that it's pointless to try (another symptom of cynicism), then that will lead us to nowhere.

There are selfish and bad people out there, yes, but there are also people, including those in this subreddit, who are standing up against injustice and helping out their fellow man. And, there are more of those people out there than we may think. It's just not broadcast to us because fear sells. We need as many hopeful people as we can, because hope is the only way forward in these trying times. It can be difficult at times, but nothing good in this world was ever gained through coasting. It was earned through fighting for change constantly, and, if we are to achieve what we need to turn this country around, we need to keep fighting and pushing for it every step of the way.

Soldier on and keep fighting, but, always remember this: do NOT become cynical! Because that kind of attitude will stop us from our current goals and help the enemy win more than anything. And, if that happens, we will only end up back at the same place we were at when this whole thing started sooner or later.

Sincerely,

K.B.

It’s genuinely heartwarming to see all of the late-night TV hosts banding together to support their friend Stephen Colbert on his last night. CBS royally fucked up here, even more so than ABC, especially since Kimmel was brought back in the end. Can’t wait to see what kind of ratings he gets tonight!

Amanda’s Mild Takes released a video going over our wins (and one loss) from last night, and also explained why Thomas Massie losing isn’t exactly a bad thing. Let’s keep it going, freedom fighters! We’re still on a roll, and we still will win!

Taco Monday, everyone? Perhaps? Idk, I guess anything can become a thing 🤷‍♂️

Hello all!

Here in the United States, it’s halfway through May already, if you can believe that. Where I live, it’s been a gorgeous day, the first time it’s felt like summer in awhile. The sun is out, the temp is perfect, and it makes you just wanna go out and bask it all in.

I wanted to take this opportunity to invite everyone on this sub to come in, take a step back from the crazy world around us, and share what you all are looking forward to as we approach the summer season and the weather becomes warmer. Are there any things outside of politics you all are excited for?

Me personally, I have a trip to Italy with my family booked in two weeks’ time (I’ll be going for 9 total days and I’m super excited), a friend of mine who lives in Florida is coming to visit next month for her niece’s b-day and we’re going to get together with other friends of ours, and, other than that, I am looking forward to movies like Christopher Nolan’s The Odyssey, the new Spider-Man, and Coyote vs. Acme, I’m planning on getting into the Resident Evil video game series in preparation for the movie coming out in September, and I’m thinking of doing more walking at some parks in my area (the parks by where I live are absolutely beautiful and full of life. Going on walks there always put me in a better mood).

Summer is very hot (especially nowadays), but it’s also a time of anticipation and excitement. I’d love to hear what you are most excited to do this season. Leave them in the comments below, and let’s get some positive (non-political) vibes going on in this space, because Lord knows we need it in these times!

Sincerely,

K.B.

Hello all!

I wanted to start off this post with a personal story of something that happened yesterday and fits well with the theme of this post.

Yesterday, I had lunch with some coworkers of mine. I actually had to go drive to pick it up and I went with another coworker who had paid for the food. On the drive there, the two listened to the radio and the whole time there and back, we sang every song that came on as loud as we could (it was a pretty good day to be listening to the radio, a lot of great songs came on). My coworker even had the window down, but we didn’t care if other people could hear us. Then, after that great car ride, we went back to our place of work, sat down with other coworkers, and ate a nice, delicious meal. I even told my coworker who I went with “we should do this more often!”

My point here is, even despite all of the BS going on in the world, even as it seems like everything is falling apart right in front of us, and one bad thing after another happens, it can be easy to forget that we are allowed from time to time to have unrestrained joy without caring what anyone else around you thinks. Singing in the car with my coworker and having lunch afterwards felt so relaxing and freeing in the moment. I didn’t have a care in the world, everything felt so right, and no dark topics about politics or global issues came up.

If you ever feel guilty for experiencing moments of happiness, DON’T! You know why? Because the people around the world who are suffering because of this administration and their actions wouldn’t want you to feel defeated and hopeless. And, those feelings are valid, but, eventually, they will drain you to the point where you have no agency to fight back.

AOC made this exact point on BlueSky. I reposted it, and it is pinned on her profile, and I wholeheartedly agree with it. She posted this way back in the days after DJT won, and it still holds true today. Joy is part of what will sustain us as we dig our way through the crap that this regime has left for us, and, if we don’t allow ourselves to feel happiness, we will suck ourselves dry to the point where we have nothing left.

Defeat is a self-fulfilling prophecy, and we do ourselves no favors by giving up in advance and giving into what the fascists want, and that is for us to check out and give up on the cause.

So, go ahead! Feel all the joy you want! Excited for that movie you always wanted to see? Good! Looking forward to that long-delayed video game that’s finally coming out this year? Awesome! Counting down the days until your favorite artist releases their next album? Splendid! Putting more happiness and excitement into the gauntlet will not only make you feel better in the moment, but, in the long term, makes our cause stronger and gives us the surge of energy to call out what is happening around us and challenge the institution.

Joy is and will always be a valuable form of resistance, and none of us should feel guilty for feeling it. Because the world needs more happy people, not less.

A great example of this is in The Color Purple (both the book and the movie). The main character, Celie, goes through absolute hell and abuse, and is mistreated for YEARS all throughout the story, but eventually allows herself to feel joy despite her circumstances and, as a result, gains enough confidence and self-esteem to stand up to her abuser and escape her situation.

That story provides a great metaphor for what we are going through. We were shellshocked after Dump won the White House again, some of us even checked out due to hopelessness, but, lately, our movement has gained enough momentum and confidence to where almost eighty percent of Democrats say that they are motivated and excited to vote in the midterms this November, compared to around fifty percent of Republicans. The No Kings protests have been a smashing success, and that is because people have unequivocally chosen to not give into defeatism and are motivated enough to rise up against our tyrannical government. And, as a result, we have the fascists flailing, scared, and on the run!

There are more of us than there are of them, and they know it! That’s why Trump has announced an initiative to label any “anti-fascists” as terrorists. Because he’s SCARED and has little left in the way of tactics, so he’s just punching at air and hoping to hit something. And, one way or another, his time is up soon.

So, we must keep our eyes on the road, not let up on the gas pedal, and keep our momentum going, and we will not do that if we are exhausted and broken. Joy is what will keep us going, and we must allow ourselves to feel it whenever we can. And, if you feel exhausted, broken, or anxious, don’t feel bad for needing a break. We will carry your load and wait for you when you’re ready.

Have a wonderful day!

Sincerely,

K.B.

Ever since winning the governor’s race, Abigail Spanberger has been putting in work in Virginia! I don’t live there, but I’d imagine people who do have been very happy with what she’s been doing. It seems like she has legit been delivering for her people. Keep doing your thing, Abigail!

Hello all!

So, whenever I scroll through social media lately and happen upon some comments from people, I have noticed a very common one that has been pretty hard to escape. It's usually some version of "you can't vote your way out of fascism" or "authoritarians don't have lame duck periods" or "the fact that you think voting will work is insane/hilarious". It's all over social media, everywhere you look. I've even seen versions of it on Reddit.

Whatever the comment says, the central theme is clear: voting does not work to get fascists out of power, and the only effective way to get out of authoritarianism is an uprising. And, it's easy to see why people can feel this way. With everything that's been happening lately, it's easy to feel deflated and hopeless, and like your vote doesn't matter in the grand scheme of things, especially since it can feel like Democrats are doing next to nothing to rein in Trump.

But, let me pose a question to all of those who post these types of comments:

If voting wasn't an effective way to deal with fascism, how do you explain Hungary? They had a hardline authoritarian in office for SIXTEEN YEARS, and are arguably much less equipped to deal with fascists than we are, and they just voted to electorally kick him out of office. Not only that, he ACCEPTED the results of the election and left with no fight. It sure seems like voting worked out there.

Also, how do you explain how Brazil, a relatively young democracy, not only voted their fascist out of office a few years ago, but survived an attempted coup to delegitimize the election results (sound familiar?) and sentenced their former president to jail time for his crimes, where he will likely spend the rest of his life behind bars?

If voting didn't work to stop a fascist, how is it possible that Chile voted out Augusto Pinochet, a ruthless dictator who killed MILLIONS of people, after which he stepped down, was arrested, and spent the remainder of his life dealing with criminal charges for his many crimes against humanity??

In those instances, people making their voices heard at the ballot boxes worked to put an end to fascist regimes, and they couldn't do anything about it, so they had no choice but to accept the results, or in the case of Bolsonaro in Brazil, were arrested for attempting a coup to remain in power. Now, there will be those who say, "Oh, but Trump won't accept the results anyway! He'll just stay in office illegally!"

Umm....okay?? Then, we'll FORCE him to leave! It's not like that would be the first time in history something like this happened. In the Phillippines in the 1980s, after Ferdinand Marcos illegitimately won an election, the citizens became fed up and started a revolution, forcing Marcos to flee the country. The same thing happened in Serbia in 2000 when Slobodan Milosevic lost an election and refused to accept the results. The citizens of Serbia started an uprising and were even joined by the police, and Milosevic was so outnumbered and against the wall that he was forced to accept the results and step down. If Trump refuses to accept the election results in 2028 and remains holed up at the White House, we the people will become pissed off enough to rise up and kick him out. And, that's assuming he's still alive by that point in time and isn't a vegetable.

Now, should we be concerned that Trump and his toadies won't accept any election results in 2026 and 2028?? Absolutely!! He's done it before and he will absolutely do it again. But, the thing is, whatever happens, whoever wins what election, he CAN'T DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT! He can whine and cry and bitch and moan and claim fraud by the Democrats all he wants, but, at the end of the day, WE THE PEOPLE decide who we want leading our country! Not the other way around! If he won't leave, we will make him! And the same goes for every other Republican whose seat is up for grabs this November and beyond. If we have to drag them out of office, we will. I mean, look at the "No Kings" protests, and how many people showed up for those. Do you really think that any amount of Republicans can outnumber THAT??

This is where I MUST put a disclaimer, though. Violence is NOT the answer to our current problem. Violence is and must always be seen as a last resort when all other options have been exhausted. No matter how much the naysayers want to claim otherwise, voting still works, and, if we all show up at the ballot boxes this November and in 2028, we can finally kick these traitorous narcissists out of office and reclaim our country! But, again, if they won't leave, we will make them one way or another, because there are more of us than there are of them, they have almost no popularity left, and they KNOW it!

So, let's get ready to roll up our sleeves this November, vote in droves big enough to make it "too big to rig", and show the GOP what we really think of them! Together, we are strong, and we...will....WIN!

Sincerely,

K.B.

If the scenario explained in this video takes shape come this November, I think we need a term for it. Maybe the “Netanyahu effect”. Israel’s genocide in Gaza tanked Dems in 2024 and, ironically, what they are doing in Iran may very well have the complete opposite effect this year in the midterms. And, with all the polling of Trump and Israel among average Americans, there is very real reason to believe this is the case. The definition of coming full circle

Oh look another thing that the administration does or says that’s meaningless in the grand scheme of things lmao! Donald, your desperation is showing