I'm so glad Robert got a stay. I'm autistic and I'm horrified about the whole thing.
The conspiracy theory that I think has upset/enraged me the most is the weather control. My brother lives in North Carolina and the hours of waiting before we got a "We're okay" text were horrific. Then he got put on flood alert as they purged the dams. Thankfully he was fine, but my god.
My fyp was all videos of the flooding and devastation in the mountains. I have friends who lost family and homes. Then these absolute fucknuggets turn around and say the government did it? That they targeted red states? That it's cloud seeding this, FEMA that? When there are dead children in trees and whole communities gone? It makes me so angry. The complete denial of climate change and what humans and corporations are doing to this planet yet they believe that governments can just create a hurricane? It makes me want to scream.
I get a similar feeling with the crisis actor stuff, too - there is just something so fundamentally insulting to the loss of life when very *real* issues (in this case, climate change plays a part) are replaced with some political boogeyman. I hate it.
💯 that one was so cruel and to deliberately make people who already lost everything and those trying to help them fear for their lives because the conspiracy sicced the Nazi militia on them… just 🤯 I’m so sorry for your friends’ and family’s losses. Just horrific.
Thanks for so doggedly following the news that matters David - the saga of my beautiful painting of the Prime Minister. I just want all the worms to know that if you go to TradeMe to ask me questions on the auction, I’ll do my best to answer them. NOTHING SEXUAL
Q) Well I must remark, this painting seems friendly to families, and safe to buyers. Will the black come off with a chemical treatment? 🤓
A) Sort of? Dousing it in petrol and applying a match should take care of the black paint and indeed the rest of the painting, and (much like our Coalition government policies) it’d be a nice thing to do for our poor struggling fossil fuel industry
Way in the future, I hope art historians at the time will do a scan of your painting and remark that there are different colours underneath, and restore it to its original look.
😁🤭👏👏 Thanks Josh for keeping it going & thanks David for telling us it is back (in black!) The Minister-without-portfolio still looks evil AF, and IF I could afford it there is no way it would get any wall space in my home, but hope you get lots of $$ for your charities + the comments are so much fun 😻
The GOP has only won the popular vote once since the 80s. It’s not so much what people will vote that I’m worried about, it’s how the electoral college will twist it. I also just desperately want this to be over. I want to never have to hear that man speak again. I want some stability in this country, not just for us but for the rest of the world who suffers the consequences of everything we do.
It’s exhausting. And as a person living on the margins of society already, I feel like my life and the lives of a lot of people like me are on the line every time. Not everybody survived last time. We can’t afford to keep doing this, nor can people around the world who are dying as we speak.
10 years ago if a presidential candidate went on live TV and started ranting about people eating cats and dogs they would have been laughed out of any chance of winning, for some reason Trump keeps getting away with it.
I was talking to my friend Dan the other day, about how even one little line or inappropriate sneeze would be critiqued for not being "presidential". Now we're at this point. Gloves are off.
From growing up far away from this place, it all really does feel like a movie. And yes, movies that have been made are currently being echoed and it's so, so odd.
I think if it were anybody other than Trump they'd be laughed out. The GOP has lost a lot of winnable races because they keep running Trump-like candidates that don't have his Teflon coating.
I really hope Mike is right and that the Republicans are just sick to death of him too. And enough of their voters. Pity this whole thing comes down to like 20 voters in Michigan or whatever...
Hard to imagine that Joe McCarthy’s credibility instantly evaporated after he was asked “Have you no sense of decency?” Trump and his minions would have responded “What’s decency?”
That last thing you said about the choices between the two is like a kick in the guts. I felt that on every level. Why can’t we just start over?
And great read. This is why I fell in love with Webworm. I love reading about conspiracy theories, mind you I don’t believe in them. The crazy shit people will believe is mind blowing.
Well worded Mike on Milton. That one still baffles me.
Also, what conspiracy theories will be said if Trump loses?
I worry about the violence if he loses... followed by the waves of misinformation. Or, maybe everyone will have just had enough and go "We can't do all this AGAIN" and stfu. Here's hoping.
While I understand that the political two-party system in the US is fundamentally flawed and broken (our leaders stance on Palestine is an excellent example of this), I’m trying to remain optimistic, despite feeling exhausted and helpless.
Trump has shown that he is a cancer on democracy; he said the quiet part out loud: he wants to be a dictator on Day One. That statement should frighten any sane American from voting against him, but no. That’s terrifying.
I will be voting blue because Kamala is focused on the future, while Trump is obsessed with the past. Is she perfect? No. I would rather have a sane person leading us than someone who’s only out for himself.
Yeah, for overall sanity Kamala is the way to go. It's just such a bummer seeing how even in the last 3 months she and her VP have become to middle of the road - I just keeping thinking of Hayden's piece: https://www.webworm.co/p/how-good-politicians-become-untrustworthy
But yeah, will be good to have her just for women's rights. God. I don't wanna do another 4 years of Trumpy.
Right before I read this, I looked down at my "absentee ballot debris" from the ballot I mailed yesterday...and realized I forgot the damn special "official inner envelope." I hope to hell it doesn't invalidate my ballot, but I've contacted my county clerk just in case. It is THAT important to me.
Several folks I know voting for Trump, I'm not sure they even know or care about conspiracy theories. They just hate Joe Biden, and by extension, Kamala Harris, and that's the long and short of it for them. Trying to get them to have a critical thought seems as easy as teaching a worm to play drums.
Yeah - you raise something important: Just that deep seated hatred handed down from parent to child of whatever party. And with republicans it seems particularly incestuous, right?
My new favourite: the music played at the recent Trump rally for 39 minutes was actually Trump selflessly protecting the rally goers from an energy weapon that was being directed at them, to make them leave the rally
I no longer believe the rhetoric that said that with conspiracy theorists, it's not about intelligence. It is all about intelligence and how they all lack it. I can't stand the lack of critical thinking, I just can't stand the dumbness anymore.
I wish I could believe that, but I have seen so many smart people head down that path. I may get shit for saying this - but I just look at certain religious beliefs INCREDIBLY smart people hold - and those ideas are as whacky as any new conspiracy theory. So much of this is fear and emotions overriding braincells.
I'm ready and not ready for election day. I cannot wait until the daily bombardment of asinine headlines stop, but I also really fear the election outcome. Living in a very pro-Trump area has me very worried that he could actually win. I just don't understand how any sane person could vote for him, and then there are many seemingly intelligent people voting for him (some of them my extended family). I just feel so damn lucky that my parents aren't on that wagon.
My dad was an elected US Congressman for 15 years...he was a moderate republican. He has since changed to Independent and has publicly endorsed Harris stating that Trump is literally unfit to be a president. I sure hope there are more people like my dad out there! Reading all of your comments strangely makes me feel optimistic...there are sane people out there!
The adage: only concentrate on what you can control, is really testing our collective will these past few years huh. I remember watching the 2016 presidential debates (from Tauranga, NZ) and thinking it was all great theatre, trump was clearly a dangerous narcissistic idiot and could never win the election! Well since then I've massively checked out of politics, which is a massive privilege I understand that. I used to be really into it (mainly NZ politics but it's hard to avoid influence from the US) but it's all a hot garbage fire. I get political ads here in Australia for the liberal party (why god/algorithm whyyyy) and their take downs of labour and the greens (who I'd vote for if I was eligible to vote at all) are just such negative spurious bullshit. Like 4 milliseconds of critical reasoning will tell you that Kamala Harris can't, on her own, get Statesiders to completely stop eating meat (my NZ aunt came out with that nugget)
Wake up sheeple! (Kidding kidding kidding 😂) Seriously though, the critical reasoning! Get some. One thing that concerns me is how different folks see different media depending on their leanings, like the messed up AI memes or whatever. I can't speak with any authority on this as I don't spend much time on social media (once again: privilege) but I pick up some whisperings from here and there (case in point: fox news watching aunt)
My phone's autocorrect didn't capitalise the t in trump and I'm not going back in there to fix the error. Petty 😅
I'm trying to stay optimistic about the election, but am absolutely terrified. Everytime I hear that polls are close I just think.. How can we possibly be in this situation again. I too just really want it to be over, election day is just going to be filled with anxiety. Perhaps we need a webworm election day chat to get us through it ...
So pleased that Robert got his stay, but there's a long way to go yet. My wife and I have a friend on Death Row in the same prison as Robert and we were visiting a couple of weeks back, and had breakfast with Roberts wife Manuela. It has to be so stressful for her.
Oh my gosh, that's a real small world thing. If you can be bothered, do you mind emailing me about this? I dunno - I'd like to do more around this. Optional! davidfarrier@protonmail.com
I wish someone could just sedate me for the next 3 weeks. I just want it to be over. It was so nice having a couple years where I didn't have to think about Donald Trump every day. I just want to go back to that.
Fortunately, Trump has gutted and outsourced the RNC's GOTV operation, and early vote turnout looks promising. And Turmp is pulling out of multiple interviews citing "exhaustion". I'm cautiously optimistic, and then I remember how confident I was in 2016, and I spiral a bit again.
And that's just the surface of the Mark Robinson stuff. I would advise against going any deeper though. I caught a few snippets on Twitter, and it gets quite... graphic.
I just worry it all comes down to like 20 voters in Michigan or whatever? Like - voting in CA barely makes a lick of difference, right? It's the system that fucks me up. And I still definitely don't have my head wrapped around it properly.
The electoral college is insanely outdated and should be abolished!! Every person's vote should count equally, one person=one vote!! The republicans, however, will never allow the constitution to be amended because (as an earlier commenter pointed out) they would lose virtually every election. It is beyond disheartening to those of us who vote with the 'popular vote' and still end up losing. I was raised to believe it's not only my right to vote, but my responsibility. That said, all I can do is vote and watch the results roll in with fingers crossed.
Yeah, it's a dumb system. My presidential vote may not end up truly mattering, but I plan to cast it anyway. The larger the margin of victory in the popular vote is, the harder it will be for him to cry fraud.
And it may well come down to 20 votes is Michigan! That's where a superior GOTV operation really matters. Part of the reason the 2020 results ended up being closer than the polls indicated was that the Dems didn't run a traditional ground game due to COVID. This year we are, and the Republicans have outsourced their ground game to Elon Musk. And I think we have a lot of evidence that Elon Musk isn't good at a lot of things.
I'm so glad Robert got a stay. I'm autistic and I'm horrified about the whole thing.
The conspiracy theory that I think has upset/enraged me the most is the weather control. My brother lives in North Carolina and the hours of waiting before we got a "We're okay" text were horrific. Then he got put on flood alert as they purged the dams. Thankfully he was fine, but my god.
My fyp was all videos of the flooding and devastation in the mountains. I have friends who lost family and homes. Then these absolute fucknuggets turn around and say the government did it? That they targeted red states? That it's cloud seeding this, FEMA that? When there are dead children in trees and whole communities gone? It makes me so angry. The complete denial of climate change and what humans and corporations are doing to this planet yet they believe that governments can just create a hurricane? It makes me want to scream.
I get a similar feeling with the crisis actor stuff, too - there is just something so fundamentally insulting to the loss of life when very *real* issues (in this case, climate change plays a part) are replaced with some political boogeyman. I hate it.
💯 that one was so cruel and to deliberately make people who already lost everything and those trying to help them fear for their lives because the conspiracy sicced the Nazi militia on them… just 🤯 I’m so sorry for your friends’ and family’s losses. Just horrific.
Thanks for so doggedly following the news that matters David - the saga of my beautiful painting of the Prime Minister. I just want all the worms to know that if you go to TradeMe to ask me questions on the auction, I’ll do my best to answer them. NOTHING SEXUAL
The Q&A is going bangbusters. God's work, Josh:
Q) Well I must remark, this painting seems friendly to families, and safe to buyers. Will the black come off with a chemical treatment? 🤓
A) Sort of? Dousing it in petrol and applying a match should take care of the black paint and indeed the rest of the painting, and (much like our Coalition government policies) it’d be a nice thing to do for our poor struggling fossil fuel industry
Way in the future, I hope art historians at the time will do a scan of your painting and remark that there are different colours underneath, and restore it to its original look.
It will be a glorious (and for them, confusing) day.
😁🤭👏👏 Thanks Josh for keeping it going & thanks David for telling us it is back (in black!) The Minister-without-portfolio still looks evil AF, and IF I could afford it there is no way it would get any wall space in my home, but hope you get lots of $$ for your charities + the comments are so much fun 😻
The GOP has only won the popular vote once since the 80s. It’s not so much what people will vote that I’m worried about, it’s how the electoral college will twist it. I also just desperately want this to be over. I want to never have to hear that man speak again. I want some stability in this country, not just for us but for the rest of the world who suffers the consequences of everything we do.
It’s exhausting. And as a person living on the margins of society already, I feel like my life and the lives of a lot of people like me are on the line every time. Not everybody survived last time. We can’t afford to keep doing this, nor can people around the world who are dying as we speak.
Four years of him again is something I don't really wanna dwell on for too long. With ya, Chelle.
10 years ago if a presidential candidate went on live TV and started ranting about people eating cats and dogs they would have been laughed out of any chance of winning, for some reason Trump keeps getting away with it.
I was talking to my friend Dan the other day, about how even one little line or inappropriate sneeze would be critiqued for not being "presidential". Now we're at this point. Gloves are off.
From growing up far away from this place, it all really does feel like a movie. And yes, movies that have been made are currently being echoed and it's so, so odd.
I think if it were anybody other than Trump they'd be laughed out. The GOP has lost a lot of winnable races because they keep running Trump-like candidates that don't have his Teflon coating.
I really hope Mike is right and that the Republicans are just sick to death of him too. And enough of their voters. Pity this whole thing comes down to like 20 voters in Michigan or whatever...
Hard to imagine that Joe McCarthy’s credibility instantly evaporated after he was asked “Have you no sense of decency?” Trump and his minions would have responded “What’s decency?”
That last thing you said about the choices between the two is like a kick in the guts. I felt that on every level. Why can’t we just start over?
And great read. This is why I fell in love with Webworm. I love reading about conspiracy theories, mind you I don’t believe in them. The crazy shit people will believe is mind blowing.
Well worded Mike on Milton. That one still baffles me.
Also, what conspiracy theories will be said if Trump loses?
I worry about the violence if he loses... followed by the waves of misinformation. Or, maybe everyone will have just had enough and go "We can't do all this AGAIN" and stfu. Here's hoping.
While I understand that the political two-party system in the US is fundamentally flawed and broken (our leaders stance on Palestine is an excellent example of this), I’m trying to remain optimistic, despite feeling exhausted and helpless.
Trump has shown that he is a cancer on democracy; he said the quiet part out loud: he wants to be a dictator on Day One. That statement should frighten any sane American from voting against him, but no. That’s terrifying.
I will be voting blue because Kamala is focused on the future, while Trump is obsessed with the past. Is she perfect? No. I would rather have a sane person leading us than someone who’s only out for himself.
Yeah, for overall sanity Kamala is the way to go. It's just such a bummer seeing how even in the last 3 months she and her VP have become to middle of the road - I just keeping thinking of Hayden's piece: https://www.webworm.co/p/how-good-politicians-become-untrustworthy
But yeah, will be good to have her just for women's rights. God. I don't wanna do another 4 years of Trumpy.
I won’t vote for someone who will take my 16-year old niece’s right to choose away. It’s that simple for me.
*for, not against
Right before I read this, I looked down at my "absentee ballot debris" from the ballot I mailed yesterday...and realized I forgot the damn special "official inner envelope." I hope to hell it doesn't invalidate my ballot, but I've contacted my county clerk just in case. It is THAT important to me.
Several folks I know voting for Trump, I'm not sure they even know or care about conspiracy theories. They just hate Joe Biden, and by extension, Kamala Harris, and that's the long and short of it for them. Trying to get them to have a critical thought seems as easy as teaching a worm to play drums.
GAAAAHHHHHH.
Yeah - you raise something important: Just that deep seated hatred handed down from parent to child of whatever party. And with republicans it seems particularly incestuous, right?
United States of America… where even common sense has been deregulated.
(All worms are excluded from the above statement).
My new favourite: the music played at the recent Trump rally for 39 minutes was actually Trump selflessly protecting the rally goers from an energy weapon that was being directed at them, to make them leave the rally
Oh my lords, thanks for this. I had not heard it.
I no longer believe the rhetoric that said that with conspiracy theorists, it's not about intelligence. It is all about intelligence and how they all lack it. I can't stand the lack of critical thinking, I just can't stand the dumbness anymore.
I wish I could believe that, but I have seen so many smart people head down that path. I may get shit for saying this - but I just look at certain religious beliefs INCREDIBLY smart people hold - and those ideas are as whacky as any new conspiracy theory. So much of this is fear and emotions overriding braincells.
I'm ready and not ready for election day. I cannot wait until the daily bombardment of asinine headlines stop, but I also really fear the election outcome. Living in a very pro-Trump area has me very worried that he could actually win. I just don't understand how any sane person could vote for him, and then there are many seemingly intelligent people voting for him (some of them my extended family). I just feel so damn lucky that my parents aren't on that wagon.
My dad was an elected US Congressman for 15 years...he was a moderate republican. He has since changed to Independent and has publicly endorsed Harris stating that Trump is literally unfit to be a president. I sure hope there are more people like my dad out there! Reading all of your comments strangely makes me feel optimistic...there are sane people out there!
YOUR DAD MAKES ME FEEL A LIL' GLOW OF OPTIMISM FOR HUMANS AND HOW WE CAN CHANGE
Sorry, I had to shout that. Go your dad.
I am also hoping there are many many many more people just like your dad!!!!!
The adage: only concentrate on what you can control, is really testing our collective will these past few years huh. I remember watching the 2016 presidential debates (from Tauranga, NZ) and thinking it was all great theatre, trump was clearly a dangerous narcissistic idiot and could never win the election! Well since then I've massively checked out of politics, which is a massive privilege I understand that. I used to be really into it (mainly NZ politics but it's hard to avoid influence from the US) but it's all a hot garbage fire. I get political ads here in Australia for the liberal party (why god/algorithm whyyyy) and their take downs of labour and the greens (who I'd vote for if I was eligible to vote at all) are just such negative spurious bullshit. Like 4 milliseconds of critical reasoning will tell you that Kamala Harris can't, on her own, get Statesiders to completely stop eating meat (my NZ aunt came out with that nugget)
Wake up sheeple! (Kidding kidding kidding 😂) Seriously though, the critical reasoning! Get some. One thing that concerns me is how different folks see different media depending on their leanings, like the messed up AI memes or whatever. I can't speak with any authority on this as I don't spend much time on social media (once again: privilege) but I pick up some whisperings from here and there (case in point: fox news watching aunt)
My phone's autocorrect didn't capitalise the t in trump and I'm not going back in there to fix the error. Petty 😅
I'm trying to stay optimistic about the election, but am absolutely terrified. Everytime I hear that polls are close I just think.. How can we possibly be in this situation again. I too just really want it to be over, election day is just going to be filled with anxiety. Perhaps we need a webworm election day chat to get us through it ...
I will DEFINITELY have an election thread running here. Absolutely.
18 Days. Surreal.
17. Arghhh!
So pleased that Robert got his stay, but there's a long way to go yet. My wife and I have a friend on Death Row in the same prison as Robert and we were visiting a couple of weeks back, and had breakfast with Roberts wife Manuela. It has to be so stressful for her.
Oh my gosh, that's a real small world thing. If you can be bothered, do you mind emailing me about this? I dunno - I'd like to do more around this. Optional! davidfarrier@protonmail.com
Sent!
Absolutely, just out walking the dog but will send you an email later on this evening (we're in the UK so not sure what time that will be for you)
I wish someone could just sedate me for the next 3 weeks. I just want it to be over. It was so nice having a couple years where I didn't have to think about Donald Trump every day. I just want to go back to that.
Fortunately, Trump has gutted and outsourced the RNC's GOTV operation, and early vote turnout looks promising. And Turmp is pulling out of multiple interviews citing "exhaustion". I'm cautiously optimistic, and then I remember how confident I was in 2016, and I spiral a bit again.
And that's just the surface of the Mark Robinson stuff. I would advise against going any deeper though. I caught a few snippets on Twitter, and it gets quite... graphic.
I just worry it all comes down to like 20 voters in Michigan or whatever? Like - voting in CA barely makes a lick of difference, right? It's the system that fucks me up. And I still definitely don't have my head wrapped around it properly.
The electoral college is insanely outdated and should be abolished!! Every person's vote should count equally, one person=one vote!! The republicans, however, will never allow the constitution to be amended because (as an earlier commenter pointed out) they would lose virtually every election. It is beyond disheartening to those of us who vote with the 'popular vote' and still end up losing. I was raised to believe it's not only my right to vote, but my responsibility. That said, all I can do is vote and watch the results roll in with fingers crossed.
Yeah, it's a dumb system. My presidential vote may not end up truly mattering, but I plan to cast it anyway. The larger the margin of victory in the popular vote is, the harder it will be for him to cry fraud.
And it may well come down to 20 votes is Michigan! That's where a superior GOTV operation really matters. Part of the reason the 2020 results ended up being closer than the polls indicated was that the Dems didn't run a traditional ground game due to COVID. This year we are, and the Republicans have outsourced their ground game to Elon Musk. And I think we have a lot of evidence that Elon Musk isn't good at a lot of things.