🧵 @gwynnion has blocked me for calling out this 💩 take.
I get that politics is disappointing. No one ever gets everything they want from any politician.
That said, we should be EXTREMELY critical (dare I say suspicious, even) of anyone who'd trivialize voting in a constitutional republic, especially in one where people died for the right to do so within living memory. Let's also not forget that our foreign adversaries are amplifying these kinds of messages to weaken our societies from...
1/2
Therefore you should #vote like your life depends on it.
I understand our system is by no means perfect, and change requires activism beyond the ballot box. But suggesting that voting is meaningless is either woefully ignorant or deliberately malign (in some cases maybe both).
You’re right, of course. Those of us here all know what the stakes are, that there’s an axis of wealth and fascism that desperately wants to entrench themselves. They’ve gone to great lengths to confuse people and she’s their success story. Because they don’t have the numbers in their favor, they suppress votes, they cheat, and they rely on dissatisfied people to sit this one out, or vote for a protest candidate. Such folly.😒 You’re correct to gently but firmly say no.
@humanhorseshoes@DeeGLloyd@anderspuck I mean by any means their constituency isn’t influenced by Russian information war efforts. Nah, that would be too silly.
Mass propaganda is just so damn easy in the knee-jerk information age. Stopping to think is basically a social death sentence.
You get to the voters, you get to the politicians. Populists are driven by memes, by defition.
I drove to #KansasCity today to enjoy some of the nice #Spring Weather. I was walking around & some young folks from #amnestyinternational asked me if I wanted to donate & support. I asked them "Is Agnes Callamard still running the place?" One of them said, "Yeah I think so" so I replied "No thanks. Glory to #Ukraine" & walked away. #TrueStory #AgnesCallamardMustResign
Short 🧵
Yesterday the #NewOrcTimes claimed that 100s of #Ukraine'ian soldiers were captured by #Russia in a retreat from #Avdiivka so chaotic & poorly executed that even #Kremlin#propaganda couldn't keep up (so far behind, RU Mil blogger Murz decided to kill himself!)
My question is, has there been any evidence since yesterday? Beyond statements of "unnamed Western officials" and anonymous interviews with Ukrainian soldiers?
I have no doubt that the retreat was rushed & chaotic, but this would be a huge scandal for #Ukraine and a major PR victory for #Russia if the scale of #POWs alleged here were to be corroborated.
I'm going to be VERY skeptical until there is more proof.
Please keep up the great work you & your team are doing covering the #Russia'n invasion of #Ukraine. The #Journalism you folks are doing is invaluable. Glad I could support.
Now if we can just get the #US#Congress to get off their rear ends & pass the aid package!
I'll also be calling his junior colleague in the #Senate#RogerMarshall to tell him to get his head out of his rear end & support Ukrainians fighting off #Russia's brutal invasion.
Over on #BirdChan, the main correspondent covering #Ukraine for the #Economist Oliver Carroll is slowly morphing into Kevin Rothrock.
Between his antics & Masha Gessen's atrocious piece for the #NewYorker, I'm kinda over seeing these people tell Ukrainians with a straight face "you don't understand how #Journalism works."
I feel like your "I don't know why everyone says I'm a traitor that works for Putin, it's so weird that everyone thinks that" argument is that convincing bro.