Remember when we stopped shipping things for a while and it turned out that global sea temperatures were actually higher than we thought, but no one could tell becuase of all the smog from shipping blankets the oceans?

Andrew (Television Executive)

Since the end of the new deal, all the modern Dem party has been is a blanket of smog hiding how bad things actually are.

They have squandered nearly every opportunity to make things better, compromised, and funded genocide.

I am sad for what comes next, and I blame the democrats as much as I do anyone else.

Electoral politics won't save us. Now what?

Sam Whited

@ajroach42 My pitch for "now what" is always "Join the #IWW". Despite being a relatively small organization these days, we're out there organizing, doing mutual aid, and generally fighting back (less so literal fights these days). You don't have to be organizing your workplace to help others, we accept individual memberships. Plus there's singing! The Atlanta General Membership Branch is always looking for new fellow workers to join the cause!

#IWW #JoinTheIWW #Atlanta

Andrew (Television Executive)

So the lights are on.

We can see that the foundation is rotten.

At the helm we now have a man who is intent on toppling the structure built on that rotten foundation.

Who knows what will happen next? Certainly not me! But I can make some guesses.

The IRS is going to get gutted (again). (This probably wouldn't have happened under Harris.) This is going to further weaken the federal government.

We're going to keep shipping arms to Israel, and continue to abet the massacre of Palestinian people. (This would have happened under Harris.)

Likely, Israel is going to expand it's war efforts in the region and fight a direct war with Iran rather than a proxy war with Iran (this would have happened under Harris.)

The supreme court is going to continue to dismantle anything that looks like a public good (this would have happened under Harris. She could have stopped it, Joe could have stopped it. Either of them could have appointed more justices, but neither has the political will.)

Russia will complete it's invasion of Ukraine and might move on from there. (This probably wouldn't have happened under Harris, instead, Harris promised to make sure that we engaged in severe violent warfare.)

The country will continue to treat immigrants badly (Like they did under Biden, like they would have under Harris) except the Dems will now pretend that they think this is outrageous and bad, instead of praising Trump for continuing policies that Biden enacted.

The Post office will continue it's decline. This is as a result of policies enacted by the Trump appointed postmaster, who Biden took no action against, and who Harris will take no action against.

The internet will continue to grow less free. This is a continuation of policies that Biden has supported his entire career. He was in bed with the MPAA from the top.

Abortion access will continue to come under attack. Harris promised to codify Abortion access in to law, Biden promised to codify Abortion access in to law. He didn't do it, she wouldn't have done it. It's a stick to keep people voting blue.

Trans people will be in increasing danger of violent attack and will be decreasingly protected by the law. This trend was slowed but not reversed under Biden, and it's likely that it would have continued under Harris. It's also likely to accelerate under trump.

Federal regulatory bodies are going to be underfunded (the way they already are) and have their hands tied (the way the supreme court tied them under Biden) and the executive and legislative branches are going to do nothing about it (just like under Biden) but this time they're also not going to pretend they want to do something about it.

And, probably most importantly, we'll continue to take no action, or perhaps even move backwards, on climate change. We're probably locked in to 2 degrees of global warming now (four in freedom units) and that renders large portions of the population uninhabitable. On the plus side, Harris probably wouldn't have done anything about climate change either, and Biden certainly didn't.

In most ways that I can think of, Trump will move us in the same direction Harris would have, he's just going to speed things up. (To be clear, this is bad! It would have been bad if Harris had won, it is worse that Trump won, but it was already bad!)

Andrew (Television Executive)

So, the lights are on.

The united states is the most evil institution in modern history, and it is not currently pretending to be otherwise.

How did we get here?

Here's a quick primer from @connor_dylan

Coconut Trees - Self-Induced Amnesia (Episode 1)

Coconut Trees is New Ellijay TV's newest show, where we examine the past with a critical eye and try to get a better understanding for how we wound up facing a lot of the problems that have started...

New Ellijay TV (vod.newellijay.tv)

Andrew (Television Executive)

So, the lights are on.

The united states is the most evil institution in modern history and it's not currently pretending to be otherwise.

You know how we got here.

What do we do now?

What can you do?

First, Mourn if you must, but do not despair. We are not hopeless. This is not the end.

We have to believe that we can make a better world. We have to believe that we can make the world a more fair and more equitable place. We have to believe that we can win.

The lights are on. People are paying attention. We'll never have a better opportunity to get change tracks, rather than just speeding up or slowing down the rate at which things get worse.

Andrew (Television Executive)

Second, find your people.

Your community needs you. You need your community. Now, more than ever, it's important to know your neighbors, to find the people you can depend on, to show people that they can depend on you.

Build networks, online and off. Start a book club, start a movie night, make dinner with strangers. Live your life like you are a part of a community, because you are, rather than buying in to the islands of isolation that allow hate and fear to foment.

Do some key pair exchange, get your friends on signal. Shore up your opsec. Learn about self hosting. Get a Ham license maybe. Get prepared.

Andrew (Television Executive)

Prepared for what?

Climate disasters will continue to happen, they'll accelerate. The frequency and severity will increase.

Start planning ways to survive in the wake of Bad Stuff.

We're likely headed for a massive financial disaster. We've been headed for a massive financial disaster since 2019, and the fact that it hasn't hit yet is somewhat shocking (but also ... when it does hit, it's likely to be all the deeper because of the delay.)

I say this not to fearmonger, but to help drive understanding. We need to build local systems capable of surviving financial disasters. We need mutual aid networks and food pantries and support groups. We need to keep our neighbors safe. We need our neighbors to keep us safe.

Andrew (Television Executive)

The fanatical American right also tends to be pretty well armed and fairly organized. I'm not suggesting that you go out and buy a gun, because gun ownership is complicated and gun safety is complicated, and there's a mental health epidemic in this country already.

But I own several firearms, and I have spent some time becoming reasonably proficient with them. I do not want to use them, I hope I never feel the need to, but I am ready to defend my community if I have to.

I suspect I will not have to. I suspect that, whatever is coming next will look less violent than it did the first time around. I can't know that for a fact, so I try to stay prepared.

Andrew (Television Executive)

The most important thing you can do, the big message, is to build a community.

That's how we Organize. That's how we create social change.

Organizing for "the vote" is useless. The work happens in kitchens and coffee shops and bookstores and libraries and living rooms and concert halls.

Make friends. Support your friends. Be ready to defend one another if the moment calls for it. Figure out how to get to the other side. Figure out how to slow down. Figure out how to get off the ride.

Andrew (Television Executive)

Today's as good a day as any to listen to A Short Story About A War.

Andrew (Television Executive)

If you want to blame someone for what happened, consider blaming the party that decided genocide and the support of the Cheney family was a winning strategy.

But remember that, even if Trump had lost, things would still continue to get worse.

If we want things to get better, we have to move beyond this system.

Andrew (Television Executive)

The biggest thing that changed is the timeline. Most things were already bad and getting worse. Now they're also going to be faster.

Some new things will get worse in more obvious ways, but they probably would have gotten worse either way.

The biggest thing that changed is the timeline.

The most important thing we need to do in the wake of it is build, maintain, and protect our communities.

People, not politics. People, not technology.

Rich Puchalsky ⩜⃝

@sam

Don't join the IWW. As an IWW member I can say that the organization is completely dysfunctional and currently unable to do anything for new members, who will just be treated as a source of dues until they leave.

It's going to need something to happen before it's useful to anyone.

Sam Whited

@richpuchalsky probably depends where you are? I know the national level has been bad for a while, but they're all about to be voted out so hopefully that will be fixed soon. The Atlanta General Membership Branch is pretty active despite the national chaos and does a lot of good work. The thing is that it's a much more bottom up organization, national does mostly paperwork and locally is where stuff happens. That does mean that not all branches are good at engagement though

Sam Whited

@richpuchalsky anyways, sorry if you had a bad experience wherever you are

Rich Puchalsky ⩜⃝

@sam

If you want to say that your branch is great and people in Atlanta should join, that's fine. I'm in a job branch myself. But a general message to join NARA is a sacrifice of people who think that they are doing something useful and will just leave them embittered.

Sam Whited

@richpuchalsky I disagree. Obviously I can't say that every single person will find their political and organizing home there, no org is perfect and I want to acknowledge that the problem you're describing is probably very real, but overall it's a great organization doing great work. I'm sorry it wasn't good for you, but that doesn't mean it isn't a good recommendation for others.

Sam Whited

@richpuchalsky also, anything I can do to help sort out the problems with your work place branch? I'd be curious to know more if you're willing to chat.

Rich Puchalsky ⩜⃝

@sam

"I'm sorry it wasn't good for you": I'm a current member, I'm familiar with the organization, and I can only repeat that people should not join. I see no chance of the long-lasting problems being solved any time soon.

My problems are not with my branch, which is fine: my problems are that NARA has hurt my branch, not helped, as it has every IWW organizing effort.

Sam Whited

@richpuchalsky oh yah, totally agree that NARA is actively harmful right now. The election is almost done though and it sounds like they'll all be gone; I'm hopeful they'll get back to just getting gobs out on time and paying branches their remittances. Other than that, locally is where the important stuff happens, I'm not sure that NARA matters much. Also, lots of people here aren't even in north america and won't have to deal with NARA even indirectly.