Encouraging info re: the US election
Nov. 5th, 2024 01:27 pmIn early voting patterns, we are seeing huge gender gaps in several key swing states. We’re talking a 14-point difference in Pennsylvania, a 10-point difference in Michigan, an 8-point difference in Wisconsin, and an 11-point difference in North Carolina. That is extremely encouraging.
Good news from Kate Manne: women have been voting early a LOT more than men in swing states, and it's all about turnout when things are this tight.
No guarantee but a VERY good sign.
Good news from Kate Manne: women have been voting early a LOT more than men in swing states, and it's all about turnout when things are this tight.
No guarantee but a VERY good sign.
Quietly vibrating
Nov. 4th, 2020 05:57 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
jjhunter did another How Are You (in Haiku) post, and my answer was: Working, not looking
At terror lurking in the
Corner of my eye
I mean, I'm a Brit and I've done a really
The UK is embroiled in utter hideousness and it's only going to get worse as of 1st January (when Brexit rules come into play) and argh
Feel free to comment either re: the ARGH or with something unrelated and distracting, I'll follow your lead
Love From England
Jan. 20th, 2017 06:53 pmMy heart has been hurting all day. Tomorrow is the London Women’s March, in solidarity with my American sisters (and everyone else). In the meantime here’s a sonnet for America, from England. Or possibly for all my American siblings in the struggle from me.
( Love From England )
Roz Kaveney, poet & author & activist, wrote a sequence called The Poet To Her Young Comrades a few years ago. I was rereading them today (here's the original post) and beg her indulgence in reposting this angry one, because I think you might find it helpful too.
( The Poet To Her Young Comrades 3 )
( Love From England )
Roz Kaveney, poet & author & activist, wrote a sequence called The Poet To Her Young Comrades a few years ago. I was rereading them today (here's the original post) and beg her indulgence in reposting this angry one, because I think you might find it helpful too.
( The Poet To Her Young Comrades 3 )
Nine Eleven
Nov. 17th, 2016 03:56 amNB: in the UK, the ninth of November – the day we knew Trump had won – is written 9/11/16.
A cheap comparison to make, maybe;
No one died or jumped to escape the flames
They're live and whole in the... land of the free?
But it's a brave (bad) new world all the same.
(Live? I knew a woman who killed herself
Wednesday, before she could lose her healthcare.
Come January access to help and health
Would be considered more than her fair share.)
Americans say, how could it happen here?
Europeans say, we've seen this before.
And the Middle East holds its breath for fear
Of breathing the flames oxygen, of more.
Cheap comparison. But the date seems like kismet
Now we can only wait; the worst hasn't happened yet.
A cheap comparison to make, maybe;
No one died or jumped to escape the flames
They're live and whole in the... land of the free?
But it's a brave (bad) new world all the same.
(Live? I knew a woman who killed herself
Wednesday, before she could lose her healthcare.
Come January access to help and health
Would be considered more than her fair share.)
Americans say, how could it happen here?
Europeans say, we've seen this before.
And the Middle East holds its breath for fear
Of breathing the flames oxygen, of more.
Cheap comparison. But the date seems like kismet
Now we can only wait; the worst hasn't happened yet.
I’m still crushed. Heartbroken and furious and frightened. And it’s not only about having Trump as the US President. Clinton deserves to be the American president. She’s flawed, of course - as we all are, and certainly every president has been. I have plenty of friends who consider those flaws a bigger problem than I do and I truly do understand those concerns; particularly for the more doveish I see why you wished she weren’t the nominee, although I think the idea that Sanders (or Johnson or Stein, holy fuck) would be a better president in actual reality where compromise is necessary to be fairly ludicrous. Still it doesn't make me like anyone less. But I am crushed that she won't be president. She’s fiercely intelligent, works so hard, had so many great and detailed plans of how to improve people’s lives. She’s the reason American trans people can change their gender on their passports, did you know that? She and her team never publicised it at the time - or even in the campaign afaik - because of concerns about backlash.
And it’s not just that. Hillary Clinton, genius workaholic and half of a power couple to lead a superpower, with all the money and support and every newspaper endorsement, the most qualified candidate the US has ever had, running against the least. And it still wasn’t enough. She even got more votes! By a hair, and yet… never to be a President Rodham. I am so sad.
The first woman to be US president, the most powerful person in the world - is she even born yet? Am I going to be middle-aged before that happens? Am I going to be retired?
(That’s if I can retire. The US sneezes and Europe catches a cold; between Brexit and Trump’s mad protectionism I am truly afraid of the economic changes to come.)
You voted for a fascist? Are you that fucking scared of powerful women?
I mean. Wow there’s still a bunch more to talk about on that front. (I had the most depressing first date ever on Wednesday, which was drinks with a black guy from Oklahoma. I mean the date itself was pretty fun, but wow.) But I just had to have a sad about Clinton losing (as opposed to Trump winning). I was planning the post in the back of my mind. Various celebratory gifs; Buffy smiling at the end of Chosen; and a title. The second President Clinton (President Rodham if you’re nasty.)
And it’s not just that. Hillary Clinton, genius workaholic and half of a power couple to lead a superpower, with all the money and support and every newspaper endorsement, the most qualified candidate the US has ever had, running against the least. And it still wasn’t enough. She even got more votes! By a hair, and yet… never to be a President Rodham. I am so sad.
The first woman to be US president, the most powerful person in the world - is she even born yet? Am I going to be middle-aged before that happens? Am I going to be retired?
(That’s if I can retire. The US sneezes and Europe catches a cold; between Brexit and Trump’s mad protectionism I am truly afraid of the economic changes to come.)
You voted for a fascist? Are you that fucking scared of powerful women?
I mean. Wow there’s still a bunch more to talk about on that front. (I had the most depressing first date ever on Wednesday, which was drinks with a black guy from Oklahoma. I mean the date itself was pretty fun, but wow.) But I just had to have a sad about Clinton losing (as opposed to Trump winning). I was planning the post in the back of my mind. Various celebratory gifs; Buffy smiling at the end of Chosen; and a title. The second President Clinton (President Rodham if you’re nasty.)
Clinton vs the apocalypse
Nov. 8th, 2016 07:05 pmToday I went to see my grandpa in Sussex. I haven’t seen him since last Christmas, what with going to Italy for six months and all, so today my mum, Youngest Sister and I went. He’s very very deaf and getting much more tired; he’s in his late nineties, so it’s entirely natural, but rather sad. We did what we usually do: talked with him, went to this fucking amazing Indian place (the best I’ve ever found by far, and that includes some Brick Lane eateries), did some errands for him. Then Youngest Sister went to a feminist meeting I’m sad to be missing, about fighting the fucking ludicrous abortion ban in Northern Ireland - appallingly, in part of my own country, abortions are illegal unless the mother’s life is in danger. I came to work. My students haven’t shown up, so I’m doing the same thing I’ve been doing all day: a moment without a specific thing to think about, and I’m worrying about the American election.
( I haven’t posted about Trump really )
Oh, and here’s something else I think is important that I haven’t seen talked about much. There’ve been a lot of Brexit comparisons drawn with Trump’s ascendancy. I think some of those parallels hold water, but some don’t - I won’t get into that here, although we can do it in comments. (Also, the polls DID predict Brexit. People were surprised because they ignored the margin of error and that London is its own world.) I think the possibly more instructive, and scarier, comparison is with the British general election last year.
The Conservatives were not predicted a majority. Professional politicians, party leaders, well-known pundits all predicted a minority government or hung parliament. When the exit polls came out at 10pm, showing a ten-seat Tory majority, Paddy Ashdown (former Lib Dem leader and eminence grisee) said he’d eat his hat if they were correct. They weren’t. The Tories had a majority of seventeen.
Why were the polls so wrong? ‘Shy Tories’. People were not willing to admit to pollsters that they were planning to vote Conservative. How much stronger must that effect be for Trump voters? They’re not idiots; they know what people think. And there’s a documented effect where people say they’ll vote for a woman (or POC) but in the booth? They don’t.
However far ahead Clinton looks now, I can’t believe it yet. I want to. But… last May I went to my friends’ flat to watch the election get called. We started with olives and wine, and then at 10pm the Tory victory was predicted and we switched to chocolate and gin. I fell asleep WhatsApping a friend on the 23rd of June and woke up just before seven am to see three crying emojis on my screen. Chills go through me at the thought of it happening again, and worse.
I was scared of Romney. I’m scared of Republicans in general: I have a lot of friends who are women, POC, LGBTQ+, or some combination, living in the USA and deserving full rights over their bodies and lives. But it was nothing like this.
( I haven’t posted about Trump really )
Oh, and here’s something else I think is important that I haven’t seen talked about much. There’ve been a lot of Brexit comparisons drawn with Trump’s ascendancy. I think some of those parallels hold water, but some don’t - I won’t get into that here, although we can do it in comments. (Also, the polls DID predict Brexit. People were surprised because they ignored the margin of error and that London is its own world.) I think the possibly more instructive, and scarier, comparison is with the British general election last year.
The Conservatives were not predicted a majority. Professional politicians, party leaders, well-known pundits all predicted a minority government or hung parliament. When the exit polls came out at 10pm, showing a ten-seat Tory majority, Paddy Ashdown (former Lib Dem leader and eminence grisee) said he’d eat his hat if they were correct. They weren’t. The Tories had a majority of seventeen.
Why were the polls so wrong? ‘Shy Tories’. People were not willing to admit to pollsters that they were planning to vote Conservative. How much stronger must that effect be for Trump voters? They’re not idiots; they know what people think. And there’s a documented effect where people say they’ll vote for a woman (or POC) but in the booth? They don’t.
However far ahead Clinton looks now, I can’t believe it yet. I want to. But… last May I went to my friends’ flat to watch the election get called. We started with olives and wine, and then at 10pm the Tory victory was predicted and we switched to chocolate and gin. I fell asleep WhatsApping a friend on the 23rd of June and woke up just before seven am to see three crying emojis on my screen. Chills go through me at the thought of it happening again, and worse.
I was scared of Romney. I’m scared of Republicans in general: I have a lot of friends who are women, POC, LGBTQ+, or some combination, living in the USA and deserving full rights over their bodies and lives. But it was nothing like this.
W00t go Democrats!
Nov. 8th, 2006 04:09 pmYay! Congratulations to everyone on my flist who's an American voting Democrat. To the rest of you, well, I love you anyway. Voters always deserve kudos.
Oh well. I wouldn't worry, Republicans.
I am SO HAPPY that Nancy Pelosi's the Speaker for the House! Especially since the Republican campaign against her was: "If Nancy Pelosi becomes Speaker, she will attempt to advance her radical gay agenda!" Oh HORRORS! I wish I had some icon to express my hysteria at the sheer idea of 'the gay agenda', but I am poor and so use crappy free LJ.
From a British perspective this is even more entertaining. The British people at large despises Bush -- every one of our nine national papers, with the occasional exception of the Sun, hates him. That's quite an achievement. Now, of course, we get to watch Blair try to fix the credibility of Labour's relationship with Bush without destroying the "special relationship". *cough* Ha. I bet you're regretting just obeying him now, aren't you, Tony?
In case you couldn't tell, I am enjoying smug sarcasm to the max. It's almost enough to stop my disappointment in the Iraqi government for executing Saddam.
Oh well. I wouldn't worry, Republicans.
I am SO HAPPY that Nancy Pelosi's the Speaker for the House! Especially since the Republican campaign against her was: "If Nancy Pelosi becomes Speaker, she will attempt to advance her radical gay agenda!" Oh HORRORS! I wish I had some icon to express my hysteria at the sheer idea of 'the gay agenda', but I am poor and so use crappy free LJ.
From a British perspective this is even more entertaining. The British people at large despises Bush -- every one of our nine national papers, with the occasional exception of the Sun, hates him. That's quite an achievement. Now, of course, we get to watch Blair try to fix the credibility of Labour's relationship with Bush without destroying the "special relationship". *cough* Ha. I bet you're regretting just obeying him now, aren't you, Tony?
In case you couldn't tell, I am enjoying smug sarcasm to the max. It's almost enough to stop my disappointment in the Iraqi government for executing Saddam.
Independence Day
Jul. 4th, 2006 09:03 pmHappy Independence Day to all the American LJers! Empires are shitty things -- good on you for getting away from ours!
