Okay, let me tell you a story about Hillary Clinton. She first made national headlines when she was something like 22 and the student graduation speaker at Wellesley College. Now Wellesley is the most famous women’s college in the United States and at the time when women were not admitted to most of the Ivy League it was considered one of the top schools in the country for a woman to attend. She used her platform to eviscerate the sitting Senator of Massachusetts, a Republican, for his support of the Vietnam War. To his face because he was on the stage with her.
She was identified as a future leader of the Democratic Party from when she was in her early twenties. After law school at one of the top law schools in the country she was hired as a staff worker on the Watergate Commission. Now everyone in American politics in 1973 knew that the young people who worked on the investigation of Richard Nixon’s criminal activity were the future leaders of the Democratic Party.
And from that moment, in her twenties, the American right decided to try and destroy her. As an aside the right has spread unfounded rumors that she was fired from the Watergate Commission, the man who claims to have done it never had the authority to fire her and she worked on the commission until it closed down only leaving when all the staff at her level left, but facts have never gotten in the way of a good demonization of this woman.
She was one of the leading advocates for abused children and legal aid for poor people in the country in the late 1970s and 1980s when she was living in Arkansas and the narrative about her then was that she was the demon feminist who was masterminding letting children “divorce” their parents. Because apparently there is never a circumstance in the minds of those on the right that a child might need to be emancipated from their parents or that children’s rights might be independent of those with the most power to control and abuse them.
When her husband was running for president she was attacked for her looks (and for the looks of her at the time twelve year old daughter). Her career as a lawyer and as a law professor was used against her and the reason we have a “first ladies cookie recipe contest” every presidential campaign is because she had the audacity to say she was busy having a career and not baking cookies. By the way this humiliating exercise is one she won both times when her husband was running and the magazine didn’t think that perhaps when she was running for president this little 24 year old personal attack exercise against her should be retired when she was making history. Bill submitted the same recipe she won with in the 1990s.
And then the investigations started immediately.
She lost several hundred thousand dollars in an investment scheme and she was accused of insider trading.
A personal friend committed suicide and she was accused both of having an affair with him and of killing him.
She was routinely accused of sleeping with … basically any female friend of hers. Because making someone a scary lesbian wasn’t yet out of fashion in the mid 1990s.
She was attacked for trying to keep her family together as she was humiliated daily on national television.
And she was attacked for being mad at her husband as she was humiliated daily on national television.
They even attacked her cat because proper presidential families have dogs and it was clearly her witchcraft familiar.
The Republicans in congress have been launching fishing expeditions against this woman for the last 22 years and that’s not even counting the smear attacks that started in the late 1960s. Today the Republicans in the House have spent more time and money investigating the attack on the embassy in Benghazi when she was secretary of state then was spent investigating the attacks on 9/11. Ignoring that attacks on American embassies have occurred under every presidential administration for the last six decades and there were far more of them under George W Bush and for more people died in them under Ronald Reagan.
Oh. And she was mocked in the late 1990s for daring to say there was a vast right wing conspiracy against her and her husband. Because a woman should never acknowledge … you know… a provable fact.
So of course the average American voter has trouble distinguishing the truly horrific facts about Trump from the noise about Clinton. We’ve been fed a steady diet of it for 45 fucking years with the express purpose of making sure this woman was never president of the United States.
The fact that she is going to be anyway isn’t a condemnation of my country. It’s evidence of how strong and smart and resilient Hillary Clinton is.
Worth nothing that the email thing the Republicans are trying to hang her with? Her Republican predecessors (Colin Powell) set up their email the same way. The previous Republican president’s staff used a private server. This is literally “It’s OK If You’re A Republican” (IOKIYAR) in action. And the emails that are under investigation were never hacked. The Wikileaks crap is from the DNC hack, not from the State department.
The paid Russian trolls are still pushing the evil lesbian thing, btw, but the memes have shifted to paint her as a pedophile lesbian, because just “lesbian” isn’t enough to scare people anymore. And Trump keeps bringing up her husband’s infidelities because everything that happens in her life is somehow her fault (she stayed, so she’s a bad mother. If she’d left she’d be a disgrace who didn’t stand by her man).
Considering how many liberals dislike, disapprove of, or are suspicious of Clinton, it turns out devoting thousands of man hours and an incredible amount of money to discredit someone can be pretty effective! (Misogyny helps too.)
i literally cant believe that this election is so neck-and-neck
like????? trump has literally never held a political office in his life, he doesnt understand how the government works, he’s a terrible person, he literally does not know what he’s talking about on any issues, and he’s literally admitted to sexual assault and is currently at this moment facing charges of child rape. also none of his business ventures have actually been successful, while his whole campaign revolves around the concept that he is a good businessman.
meanwhile, hillary’s not perfect, but neither is obama??? or any president???????? any president we have is going to be inherently problematic, bc the presidency is a position of power within a fucked up capitalistic imperialistic system. but at least she’s fuckign qualified and educated on the topics she talks about and does genuinely want to do some good in the world.
like. i literally dont understand how a woman who is more qualified than possibly anyone else in the country is neck-and-neck with a racist orange reptile
In North Carolina, early voting is your best chance to make your that you will be able to vote. Early voting ends on the 5th (Saturday).
The last days to vote early in North Carolina are Friday the 4th, and Saturday the 5th. If you’re reading this post on Friday or Saturday, please try to vote today if you haven’t voted already.
You can vote today (Friday the 4th) or tomorrow (Friday the 5th) *even if you have not already registered to vote*. If you are not already registered to vote, you will not be able to vote on election day. You must vote during early voting.
You must vote in the county you live in. Every county has at least one early voting site, some have more. You can check where your early voting site is on the North Carolina Board of Election website. http://vt.ncsbe.gov/ossite/
If you are not already registered to vote, you will need to present an ID. (And it’s a good idea to bring one anyway.) These are IDs North Carolina accepts during on-site registration for early voting:
a NC driver’s license
photo ID from a government agency
student photo ID with a school document showing the student’s address
or a utility bill, bank statement, payroll stub, or document from any government agency with your name and current address.
If you are already registered to vote, you do *not* need to show ID in order to vote in person. (But it’s a good idea to bring one anyway.)
If you are trans, the National Center For Trans Equality guide “Voting While Trans: Preparing for Voter ID Laws” may be helpful. It’s also helpful information for anyone whose identity may be challenged for any reason.
If you have been convicted of a felony in the past: If you have served your sentence and are not currently on probation or parole, you *are* eligible to vote in North Carolina. You do not need to apply for restoration of rights, but you *do* need to re-register to vote (your registration was cancelled when you were convicted). You need to re-register to vote, even if you were registered before. If you haven’t already re-registered to vote since you were convicted, you will need to vote during Early Voting (Which ends Saturday the 5th).
If you have a disability and need assistance voting, North Carolina requires poll workers to ask you whether you want assistance, and if so, who you want it from. They are also explicitly required to accept non-verbal forms of communication, including your answers to yes or no questions that they ask. These rules apply both during early voting and on election day. From the memo sent to polling officials about communicating with voters with disabilities:
“”””A qualified voter seeking assistance at the voting place must provide his or her current name and address and request permission to obtain assistance, stating the reasons.4 The requirement to state a reason for the assistance does not require the voter to provide details of the disability. Certain disabilities may affect voters’ ability to vocalize their request, but federal law still provides that such a disabled voter is entitled to assistance. Accordingly, elections officials should exercise their best efforts to understand and respond to individual requests for assistance, however communicated. State administrative law provides that an election official may prompt the voter, where appropriate.5
An election official may pose “yes” or “no” questions, may allow the voter to point out the person from whom he or she wishes to receive assistance, or may use the Voter Assistance Section of the Station Guide as a visual tool to ensure that voters are enabled to communicate their request for assistance. In many cases, a voter in need of assistance will be accompanied by another individual. However, unless the voter requests the assistance of the accompanying individual, that individual is not entitled to assist the voter. The voter may instead request assistance from election judges or an election assistant.
If you are unable to speak, the election official might ask you to point to options from their election rules handbook. It may be worth familiarizing yourself with that manual and making sure that you will be able to point to the choice you intend. (Or printing it out and bringing a copy to point to yourself). If you are unable to say your name and address, it may be a good idea to bring ID. (It is not legal to require it of you when other voters are not required to present ID, but your ID may be the fastest way to effectively communicate your identify and eligibility to the polling official in a way that they will accept). Disability Rights North Carolina has more information about disability voting rights in NC.
If you are reading this after the 5th and you need to vote on election day itself: A voter ID law was passed this year, but it was also struck down by the courts. So people *tried* to require IDs, and some people may be under the impression that you need IDs in order to vote in North Carolina. Most voters do not need an ID to vote in person. “If there was a problem with verifying the information on your registration form” you may be asked to present a current photo ID *or* a utility bill, bank statement, payroll stub, or document from a government agency. So if you have any of those documents, bring them anyway.
There may be people outside the polls trying to trick you into not voting. Some of them may try to pass themselves off as election officials. They might lie to you about the requirements, or they might try to check your ID and tell you that it’s not valid.
Election officials themselves may also illegally try to tell you that you need ID in order to vote, or may illegally reject an ID they’re required to accept.
If anyone, official or not, tells you that you can’t vote, don’t give up on voting. There may be volunteer lawyers outside the polls who can help you assert your right to vote. If you are able to use a phone, you can also call the (nonpartisan) Election Protection Hotline 866-OUR-VOTE (866-687-8683) for help http://www.866ourvote.org/pages/2016-live-hotline-hours-and-dates
The National Federation of the Blind Election Day Hotline (1-877-632-1940)
Disability Rights NC at 877-235-4210 (888-268-5535 TTY)
tl;dr If you vote in North Carolina and haven’t voted yet, your best chance of being able to cast a vote is to vote on Friday the 4th or Saturday the 5th at in-person Early Voting. Scroll up for information on voting rights in North Carolina during Early Voting and on Election Day, including information for disabled voters.
It’s November 8 2016. Election Day. And you didn’t vote. You knew that trump is evil “but Hillary is just as bad”, you said. You hate both of them, so you refused to vote. “Neither deserves to win”, you said and by the way, it’s rigged anyway, right? You refuse to play that game and you feel quite good about it. You’re a rebel. It’s your kind of protest against the corrupt system!
You come home from work, with a smile on your face. It looks like your protest works: Some of your friends also didn’t vote or wrote in the name of a third candidate. You feel really good. Maybe you and your friends are enough to change the system! And if not, well, you’ve seen presidents change before and it never had too many consequences in your life.
You sit down in front of your tv, reach for the remote and your phone buzzes. It’s a text from one of your friends, the weird one who begged you to vote for Hillary – and your smile falls off your face “It looks like Trump will probably win. I’m so scared. My sister is crying.”
You suddenly remember that your friend’s sister is trans.
You turn on the tv and you can’t believe your eyes. The third candidate one of your other friends voted for is at 4%! That’s great, isn’t it? But wait.. Hillary is currently behind Trump? By 6%? Oh. You didn’t expect that.
Another text. A co-worker. “Two people called in sick. I think it’s because they’re scared to go outside in case Trump wins..”
One of your co-workers is black, one is Muslim.
You stare at the tv and you can’t believe what you hear. “Trump won.” It was a head-at-head race and Hillary almost won – but only almost. You can’t believe it. None of your friends were going to vote for him!
You want to go outside to think about something else – but you stop as you hear your neighbor crying on the phone. “I’m so scared i’ll lose the custody right when our marriage gets annulled”.
You suddenly remember that your neighbors are a gay couple with a cute little daughter.
But Hillary would’ve been just as bad, right?
in short, vote Hillary if you care about keeping this country in one piece. otherwise, you better go apologize to every single minority and woman that you know on November 9th because your protest vote has put them in danger.
And remember that conservatives routinely do things to make voting harder for people to do. Redistricting, closing polls in areas with a high minority population, “poll watchers”. They don’t want you to vote. That’s literally what they play on. “Not voting” isn’t going against the system, you’re playing the conservative’s game just how they want it.
my favorite new trump supporter conspiracy theory is that hillary clinton was wearing a hidden earpiece feeding her debate answers because to them it’s simply implausible that a yale law school graduate is better at words and facts than an oversized circus peanut with hair
ruby-dear archive 