this post was submitted on 05 Nov 2024
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Showerthoughts

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A "Showerthought" is a simple term used to describe the thoughts that pop into your head while you're doing everyday things like taking a shower, driving, or just daydreaming. The best ones are thoughts that many people can relate to and they find something funny or interesting in regular stuff.

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These might be the good old days. Go outside, feel the grass, say wassup to your neighbors,... whatever you do that means community, because sh*t might get bad for a while.

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[–] [email protected] 3 points 59 minutes ago

Nope we’re in those times right now.

[–] [email protected] 3 points 2 hours ago
[–] [email protected] 34 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 7 hours ago) (1 children)

I'm seeing a lot of "democracy is going to die" posts.. But... I hate to break it to you:

America is not a democracy. And if somehow it is a democracy, then it's an incredibly bad one. It's the least democratic democracy in the Western world.

The two party system, the first past the post voting system, the indirect method of counting votes, lobbying, gerrymandering, the electoral collage. Systems to try and manipulate what a vote means. Systems that try to remove as much democracy from democracy as possible, while still being able to keep up some mock appearance.

Your whole country is fucked and backwards from the very beginning, and that wouldn't be so bad. But if America does something we all have to suffer for it!

[–] [email protected] 7 points 6 hours ago

I don’t think it was ever a true democracy, we’re just cycling back to the white male landowner as the only vote being counted as the norm. Another rally at MSG, all the racist rhetoric, all the dog whistles are just regular shouting now

[–] [email protected] 61 points 8 hours ago (14 children)

As a person from Europe, who's is living next to Ukraine, who's girlfriend is ukranian, who's many friends are Ukrainian, who's many friends died due to that terrorist state: If you were eligible to vote in the US and didn't, fuck you.

Any vote that didn't go to Kamala, is a vote for fascism, a vote to accelerate and finish the genocide of palestine, a vote to cease support for Ukraine and a vote to help terrorists in ruzzia. If you support any of that, Fuck. You.

But I know my ukranian brothers, they will not surrender. Even if you selfish American pricks don't support them. They will fight until they can't fight anymore, and then they will still fight.

Unlike you, they are brave. They are heroes. They know whats fucking right.

And frankly, for all terrible things coming to the US, if you didnt vote, you deserve them all.

If you are from the LGBTQ+ community, not white or a woman, and you didn't vote, you have just commited suicide.

I will still support Ukraine, financially. Its not much but I don't care. And if its not enough and the worst comes, I am ready to die to save my brothers, just like my people did in the past.

I am willing to do my part, if you didn't vote, you didnt. So one, last fuck you.

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[–] [email protected] 10 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

Democracy died, not with a cry, but a cheer

[–] [email protected] 0 points 2 hours ago

Yay................

(It was likely already dead in the US, but yeah this might be your "sign")

[–] [email protected] 69 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 10 hours ago) (1 children)

So as far as I understand it as of now it's pretty much decided early with almost no chance of Harris making it.

So there you are. You're right. I was right. We all were.

We hoped for sanity.

But it seems a massive criminal openly stating he will run a dictatorship has been voluntarily elected.

[–] [email protected] 23 points 9 hours ago

It's like allowing someone in your house telling you that he's going to rob you, but he promises to do it LEGALLY. It's hilarious and maddening at the same time.

[–] [email protected] 55 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago) (9 children)

I honestly find this hilarious for a couple reasons—

  1. His retarded voters are going to wake up 6 months from now with more Indian, Mexican, and Middle Eastern neighbors than ever before.

  2. Inflation is going to increase like it did before under him.

  3. The measures his government will pass will heavily favor corporations, both foreign and domestic.

  4. If incels think that women hated them before, just wait, his incel base of voters are going to be enemy number one with women from all walks of life.

  5. Women dying from lack of abortion care is going to get worse (I don't find this funny). The wives and daughters of republicans are going to among those that pass away from the lack of abortion care.

  6. Trump doesn't care about White people and their weird obsession with being replaced. He even stated that he's going to increase immigration to levels never before seen due to AI, for some reason.

This upcoming Trump presidency is going to be a dumpster fire for his voting base because he will accomplish none of the things that they think Trump will do. He won't get them a wife, he won't end no fault divorce, he won't make anime real, he won't start mass deportations—he's just trying to stay out of jail.

For the rest of us, just laugh. We've been through 4 years of this idiot before.

The only thing I find irksome is the gloating of his retarded voting base. They would really vote against their own interest just to laugh at CNN/MSNBC pundits panicking online. It's like setting fire to your house because it makes your neighbor seethe.

[–] [email protected] 14 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

I don't live in the US, so my views are probably biased by our anti-Trump media hype, so even though I agree with most of your points, I'd leave two open for discussion:

If incels think that women hated them before, just wait, his incel base of voters are going to be enemy number one with women from all walks of life.

I was under the impression that Republicans are not looking for love from women, but their total subjugation. Women don't need to love them (perhaps they can, only in Stockholm syndrome mode), but they have to obey. I don't think incels will be disappointed.

For the rest of us, just laugh. We’ve been through 4 years of this idiot before.

I said this twice before, and I was always wrong, so take this with a huge boulder of sand. But I don't think he'll last four years (unless they do a Weekend at Bernies), so part of the 4 years will be with that weird cross-dresser, and I have absolutely no idea what to expect from him.

[–] [email protected] 4 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago)

I agree that he probably won't last the four years but even if he does he is already too senile to set any policy. He was also already more than happy for others to do the actual work of creating policy because he's incredibly lazy last time.

So I think Vance (and Musk) will be the real rulers behind King Trump. I don't think either is really that much interested in religion and racism but both are incredibly sexist and/or transphobic. So sadly a lot of horror and pain will be delivered to women and transgender people. (Which doesn't mean immigrants are safe.)

Musk will also push for deregulation/privatization of technology so that he can become even richer. This will lead to more monopolization/enshittification and stifle innovation for years, maybe decades. Vance will go along with it due to the Thiel-connection.

Additionally, Putin has made sure that Musk will also champion his interests even if Trump is unable to due to senility. The US will become a de facto ally of Russia and a geopolitical enemy of Europe in a similar vein as China (meaning not openly).

The military-industrial complex will quickly warm to the new reality of an autocracy and the US will start a new war somewhere. Probably in the Middle East. Maybe not within the first four years though. It will be used to distract from a crashing economy and the very real climate catastrophe (mirroring Ruzzia).

I wish all of this were ideas for an alt-history book and not a possible scenario for our future.

As a German aware of my country's history I can only shake my head in sad recognition and try not to feel utterly hopeless not only about the future of a once-great country but the entire world.

We're in the endgame now.

[–] [email protected] 21 points 10 hours ago

All of this already happened + a mismanaged pandemic and his voters still supported him.

From day 1 there's going to be somebody recreating his persona to be ready for 2028 to repeat this.

The US being a dumpster fire is nothing new. But this is a new low

[–] [email protected] 3 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago)
  1. 11% more women voted than men, if they all voted democrat, they would have won easily.

You could argue that a proportion of these women are brainwashed or whatever else but the simple fact of the matter is that not enough of them felt engaged with democratic policies.

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[–] [email protected] 101 points 11 hours ago (3 children)

as an european, i am watching in absolute shock. i really dont understand how HALF the USA can still vote for this Chicken Nugget of a person.

[–] [email protected] 47 points 10 hours ago (3 children)

Some people only have information from one side of the story. If Trump wins, he will likely try to mimic what both Putin and Orbán did with the media.

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[–] [email protected] 22 points 11 hours ago (3 children)

While you're mostly right, it isn't really half because we have this fun thing called the electoral college, that likes to make Republicans win.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 10 hours ago

It's not even close to half. Republicans are a quarter to a third of the country.

It's voter suppression and Democrats being the biggest possible fuckups they could be at every fucking opportunity.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 11 hours ago (1 children)

Well and so far the popular vote is more red then blue. I think the USA will get the government the voters deserve.

Here's hoping the rest of the world can not get pulled down.

[–] [email protected] 17 points 10 hours ago (4 children)

I'm someone smack in the middle of a liberal city in an always blue state, I don't know what else there is for me to do. I've attempted helping educate and getting people to vote in other states who normally choose not to, I've voted in every election down to local boards and try to know who I'm voting for. Locally, we had a lot of successes so far this election in our state...but that won't help much if, y'know, fascism.

[–] [email protected] 31 points 10 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago) (1 children)

People turn fascist when they're desperate and angry, same as always. So when people experience economic hardship they look for somone to blame, often immigrants. So we call them racists, and I guess that's true, but it comes from something else; economic inequality.

In Europe we do the same thing, in the French elections the rural population voted overwhelmingly for the fascists - here in brown.

In the German elections, the poorer former East-German provinces also supported the fascist AfD, here shown in the darker colours.

Even in Denmark, where I live, the more right-wing and extremist parties are popular in the southern, western, and northern parst of the country - the poorer rural areas, who's seen their jobs disappear, their shops close, and their income stall even as the country as a whole gets richer.

So the challenge of liberal democracy is clear; show the population outside the cities that they, too, can get their piece of the pie. If we cannot solve that, then we'll see more countries turn fascist in the next decade.

[–] [email protected] 10 points 9 hours ago

Jesus, been scrolling for hours and finally someone has said it. It's why someone like Bernie trended so well and actually had a chance if the DNC would've ran him in 2016. He wanted to raise EVERYONE up, regardless of any identity or ideology. He came with receipts and actual plans that he non-stopped harped on every second he had a mic in front of him. This election cycle I didn't hear a single actual legislative plan fleshed out like they did with the healthcare for all in 2016 debates. You're not gonna win a mud-slinging contest of "he said, she said" when people just don't care.

A lot of people (white and/or rich mostly) also know that they have benefited from racial discrimination and opportunities stolen from other people. They saw their parents buying homes, getting loans and jobs. They vaguely heard how difficult it was for POC or displaced individuals, they don't want the system turning on them. In their bleak futurism that the right-wing paints, we will all be treated equally so everyone is a target. Instead of targeting voters concerns in an economical way, they went with a polisci approach like Harris's horrible housing innovative.

Harris proposes to provide $25,000 down-payment assistance to first-time homebuyers who have paid rent on time for two years, with more generous support for qualifying first-generation homeowners. .... The proposal stems from an idea the Biden-Harris administration presented earlier this year, which called on Congress to implement $25,000 in down-payment assistance exclusively for 400,000 first-generation buyers, or first-time buyers whose parents weren’t homeowners, and a $10,000 tax credit for first-time buyers.

You're parents had a shack? sorry. Get no economical support from parents but they effect your government support? sorry. Congress didn't pass it? sorry. We've decided to change the definition of a "starter-home". Sorry.

The piece of the pie was a perfect way to put it, I've seen so many shit takes from everyone on here I'm flabbergasted. From people "getting popcorn to watch everyone get their just desserts" to "maybe we shouldn't of ran a woman-POC this election cycle".

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[–] [email protected] 42 points 10 hours ago (1 children)

So this is how a democracy dies...it votes for its own death.

[–] [email protected] 18 points 7 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago)

This is what I don't get...everyone keeps saying it is going to be a bad 4 years but most likely this is it we are done. Trump is going to pardon himself for all the shit he did last time in office and now he doesn't need to worry about breaking any laws since SCOTUS gave him immunity. This is going to be horrific. We are witnessing the death of America.

[–] [email protected] 90 points 12 hours ago (14 children)

NYT is calling it for Trump. America as we know it, may be over.

The war in Ukraine is about to end, with Russia probably getting everything they want, NATO might disband, China likely takes Taiwan, 100 years of authoritarianism and tyranny may be upon us after Trump truly consolidates powers, and nukes the Federal government.

I fucking wish I was being hyperbolic.

[–] [email protected] 30 points 12 hours ago (4 children)

Nah, we're gonna balkanize sooner or later. Economy is fucked beyond fucked. (Thank you Reagan) It won't be able to keep going. Especially not with republicans at the tiller. The end of the US will be the same as every other empire. But with nukes.

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[–] [email protected] 11 points 10 hours ago

America thought they had the funniest joke on the planet in 2016 and had to say it again.

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