Election Fears & Climate Woes
I can't get on social media these days without being inundated with videos from various creators fretting about the midterm elections. Not how they'll go--how they will be disrupted, halted, stolen. It does seem a foregone conclusion that some amount of power is swung impotently back to the Dems. What's at issue is the fact that there are armed guards at post offices. That there have been threats of ICE at the polls. That Trump has tried to clamp down on mail-in voting, has barely had his hand slapped by the Supreme Court for it.
I'll remind you that electoral politics is a waste of time in a society that is wholly owned by the rich. Let that ease your mind somewhat. The outcome of this election may put a band-aid on a sucking chest wound, but don't forget for a moment that this amelioration is levied against a flood of damage in an effort to perpetuate the lie. We do not live in a democracy. This is a plutocracy, a government run by devils of the worst order. Replacing them with slightly lesser devils is not the great victory your liberal neighbors would have you believe. Remember, this is the Epstein class, no matter which party we're talking about.
I won't revisit the reasons why you should or shouldn't vote. I plan on voting in November to stick a thumb in the eye of our city council. I won't be voting for candidates in various races who are pro-genocide or pro-ICE, despite the ostensible gains over their opponents or the incumbents. I don't begrudge you a different decision.
But generally speaking we shouldn't ignore these issues surrounding the midterms. Trump's private police–which is what ICE is–standing watch over polling locations is a problem. I've recently heard there are "no plans" for this to take place, and it is illegal, but what this administration says and what it does don't have to be the same thing, nor do they need to align with the law.
For Those Who Are About to Vote
Do consider your own safety. If it turns out there are ICE agents at polling locations, and you happen to be even remotely at risk of apprehension–remember it doesn't matter, your actual legality or illegality–I would suggest caution. Participation in the death throes of a compromise democracy are not worth your incarceration, your being beaten, shot, raped. I'm sure some of you are incensed at this advice. You may think it worth the risk, that voting is still our civic duty. I would argue we have no duty, civic or otherwise, to this beast. You may think there is some spirit of the nation that yet remains, that we can save. There isn't. If there were, I'd remind you we began with genocide and slavery. We save the lives of traitors, rescue Nazis, and execute those who point out the truth.
If you insist, you can call a hotline: 866-OUR-VOTE, if you see ICE or other feds at the polls. That may feel paltry. It is. I would say that you could bring your beefiest friend with you to the voting booth if you feel you need assistance, because Section 208 of the Voting Rights Act says you can, but the Supreme Court let a lower court ruling stand, which says basically that an individual has no grounds to sue for a violation of this right. Which means if ICE is there, and they want to keep your beefy friend from entering to keep you company, they can, with impunity.
Where community action can back ICE agents off an arrest, I'm not sure it would work here. I would encourage it, over anything else, if you are going to vote. Gather your friends, family, neighbors, everyone. Go vote together, go in support of each other and other voters–but be careful. The laws in this regard are just barely in our favor in most places, and in some they aren't at all. You may remember that Georgia, for example, does not permit the material support of voters in line; you can't give a voter a bottle of water, for instance, if they've been in line all day. Bullshit like that. We may successfully gather and inspire voters to complete their civic duty, but we may as swiftly be kettled by police and arrested for inciting a riot with the supposed intent of stymying voters, not supporting them.
Our efforts are better spent elsewhere. The kind of change needed in this country will not be effected by the ballot. It will be effected by a general strike, or more. If some measure of power is wrested from the GOP this November, it will be temporary, ineffectual, and possibly overturned by sheer fascistic will. What I will say is that this could be a galvanizing moment–one upon which we should capitalize. I think voting is mostly worthless, but I would be incensed to hear that right had been fully stolen from us. Others would be, too.
The Climate Crisis Worsens
Switching tracks, I just want to aggregate here a few of the awful things that have happened in the last couple months: after the collapse of an enormous glacier in Nepal that caused a flash flood event, sweeping away entire towns, there has been another flash flood in recent days that has caused even more damage. Death estimates there are around 1,400 people, and that's likely low.
The Super El Niño has, as expected, superheated the Pacific and created a breeding ground for powerful storms, with several rapidly intensifying and 2026 tying for the most Category 5 hurricanes in a season. In addition, it has swept a Kelvin wave, which is a new thing for me, up the west coast. A Kelvin wave is a massive body of warm water pinned out at sea by trade winds. When these winds weaken due to El Niño, that body of water can slowly surge out of bounds. The Kelvin wave has pushed water levels up around a foot along the coast–add in Rachel, one of those charged up Pacific storms, and LA beachfront property has taken a pounding. The wave will continue northward very slowly, and keep elevating water levels for some time.
While this is plenty, what we haven't seen yet are the droughts and the heatwaves in the Southern Hemisphere, as the Super El Niño peaks during their summer. You may recall there are estimates of nearly half a million excess deaths from this El Niño–that's just from the heat. Droughts, famine, and flooding are not factored in that figure. Considering the state of the world, that should concern you. There are many, many people out there already on the brink of starvation or actively going through it; exacerbating food crises will make this catastrophic.
This is going to be a hard stretch of time, folks. We can hope that things get cooler after this El Niño fades, but that will be temporary. This is the era of broken records.