Mike Howard @mikehoward.bsky.social · 30/09/2026It's the PC Party in a yellow hat, and they still can't poll better than 40%. The average Albertan has zero understanding of either party's platform and just votes based on the name. 040
Mike Howard @mikehoward.bsky.social · 30/09/2026Carney's a deal making machine, from the EU to Slenderman, he's locking things in. 022
Mike Howard @mikehoward.bsky.social · 15/09/2026If the stance is "I don't care, let the other guy win so the world burns" then that's not what I was defending nor is it how I interpreted the original comment. I have my own battles here and I have learned to keep my trap shut on your battles. I also wish you luck, sincerely. 110
Mike Howard @mikehoward.bsky.social · 15/09/2026who are more or less on the same team are arguing about which one of them is to blame while your country burns around you. I didn't mean to offend anyone, I just don't understand how being expected to vote for something you don't agree with puts you at fault. 100
Mike Howard @mikehoward.bsky.social · 15/09/2026Then I guess you are a smarter person than I. LOL Wasn't my intention to comment on the specific details of the election, only that I don't see how a voter making a 3rd choice makes them culpable for a negative outcome. It boggles my mind that the US system has gotten so out of whack that people 100
Mike Howard @mikehoward.bsky.social · 15/09/2026No... you put those words iny mouth I didn't say "never criticize a voter". 100
Mike Howard @mikehoward.bsky.social · 15/09/2026You're comparing regional parties to national parties. There is a difference, if you are comparing the Dems to the LFI or PS in France, you have to use the national Democratic Platform. 100
Mike Howard @mikehoward.bsky.social · 15/09/2026I didn't say "never criticize a voter". I didn't agree with the premise that someone not voting for a Dem means they are the problem. The problem is those that vote Republican, not those that don't vote Democrat 000
Mike Howard @mikehoward.bsky.social · 15/09/2026democracy. Using fear to motivate voters is what authoritarians running sham democracies do. And on top of that, in this specific instance it has the center/center left blaming the left instead of focusing on the opponent. 100
Mike Howard @mikehoward.bsky.social · 15/09/2026Having the voting population trapped in an A or B choice creates an environment where people vote defensively, and that allows candidates to pander to the lowest common denominator while keeping the rest of their supporters voting for them out of fear the other Candidate might win. That's not 100
Mike Howard @mikehoward.bsky.social · 15/09/2026Of course you do. But the person was saying they wouldn't vote for either option. Not voting for a party you don't support doesn't mean you support the other party. And I don't think what I'm stating is too much, the system allowed Trump to win (twice) and the binary choice is part of the problem. 100
Mike Howard @mikehoward.bsky.social · 15/09/2026I'm informed enough to know that you don't shame voters for doing what they think is right. I don't know the details of the race, nor do I need to. I saw someone attacking a voter for what they believed in and called them out. Now I'm here somehow. 100
Mike Howard @mikehoward.bsky.social · 15/09/2026And the battle some people have chosen is to attack the 5% that agree with them on most things as opposed to blaming the 50% that are garbage? 100
Mike Howard @mikehoward.bsky.social · 15/09/2026I didn't see anything stating "we should let Republicans win" on the original thread when I made my comment. 000
Mike Howard @mikehoward.bsky.social · 15/09/2026That's not my argument. Mine is that the system sucks and if you keep blaming people for wanting a third option you're not helping anything. My country is slowly falling into a 2-party system and it scares the shit out of me. That's why I jumped in on this when I saw the wrong folks being blamed. 100
Mike Howard @mikehoward.bsky.social · 15/09/2026Maybe I just felt like saying something for once. 000
Mike Howard @mikehoward.bsky.social · 15/09/2026I'm not yelling at folks, I'm trying to state that blaming those who are not voting Dem because they feel the Dems are too far right on specific issues shouldn't be thrown under the bus as to why things are so shitty. Republicans won because 50% of people are garbage, not because 5% voted 3rd party 300
Mike Howard @mikehoward.bsky.social · 15/09/2026And I stick by that. It doesn't mean those countries are necessarily more left of the Dems, it just means the Dems would be a center/center right party (and probably get elected on that platform) Most countries have viable parties that are much more left of the Dems. 100
Mike Howard @mikehoward.bsky.social · 15/09/2026Maybe not... but are they the problem? Or is the problem that some people are anti trans (on both sides of the voter base)? This started as someone blaming these folks as the problem as opposed to the POS that support anti trans policies in the first place. 200
Mike Howard @mikehoward.bsky.social · 15/09/2026I don't, but it's also not the time to blame those who are drawing a line in the sand on trans rights as being the problem, which is what the whole point of this was. The problem is the people that vote Republican or drag Dems right on these issues in order to secure their votes. 100
Mike Howard @mikehoward.bsky.social · 15/09/2026No... my argument is don't shame people for drawing a line in the sand. I'm not advocating for one candidate over another, I'm saying you can't shame people for making an informed decision to not vote Dem because they disagree on an issue that means everything to them. 310
Mike Howard @mikehoward.bsky.social · 15/09/2026It is how the world works, just not how the US works. 000
Mike Howard @mikehoward.bsky.social · 15/09/2026It doesn't, it encourages Dems to continue to slide right and throw more people overboard. At some point it needs to stop. There are those that believe that time is now. 400
Mike Howard @mikehoward.bsky.social · 15/09/2026Are you sure? If the Dems can win by throwing trans people overboard, what's to say they don't keep doing so. I'm not saying don't vote Dem, I'm saying don't shame those that have made an informed choice to draw this line in the sand because they may feel the Dems have already abandoned them. 100
Mike Howard @mikehoward.bsky.social · 15/09/2026I do agree. My argument here wasn't people shouldn't vote for Paxton, it was that you shouldn't shame people who don't because they have drawn a line in the sand on trans rights. There is a reason Dems have to come off this issue in areas, and the people they need to do that for deserve the shame. 100
Mike Howard @mikehoward.bsky.social · 15/09/2026Yes, but there are other legitimate parties within those countries that are much more supportive of trans rights. 100
Mike Howard @mikehoward.bsky.social · 15/09/2026Then you need to get out more. As a Canadian, most Dem policies (nationally) are aligned with our center to center right (nationally) There are obviously differences in regions across both countries that move Dems further right or further left but overall they are right of our leftist parties. 100
Mike Howard @mikehoward.bsky.social · 15/09/2026But then you can't blame people that draw a line in the sand either. If people make an active and informed choice to have a non negotiable issue, you need to accept that, whatever the consequences 110
Mike Howard @mikehoward.bsky.social · 15/09/2026My argument isn't that you shouldn't do it, it's that 1. People who make that choice aren't the problem, the system is 2. If you are voting out of "harm reduction" you don't have a democracy 100
Mike Howard @mikehoward.bsky.social · 15/09/2026Fighting to make sure that you didn't have to make the choice between Trump's cronies and some watered down centrist would have been what actually solved this problem. You guys had 10yrs to alter your system so it wasn't 1v1. Now you're dealing with that consequence (again) 300
Mike Howard @mikehoward.bsky.social · 15/09/2026This isn't a "candidate X wants to cut back the National Park Budget by 15%, which I disagree with, but candidate Y wants to decrease taxes on the 1%, so I'm ok to vote X". This is about people's right to live a free and healthy life. 100
Mike Howard @mikehoward.bsky.social · 15/09/2026100%. Compromise is the whole point of democracy, but not compromising the rights of some because it helps the rights of others is a perfectly acceptable line to draw in the sand. It's also extremely undemocratic to even have to have voters make that decision in the first place. 200
Mike Howard @mikehoward.bsky.social · 15/09/2026You are writing in a dreamy mcdreamface world if you think the Dems are the most pro trans party in the developed world. Most countries would place the Dems as a center right party on almost all issues, including trans rights. 100
Mike Howard @mikehoward.bsky.social · 15/09/2026I am grown up. Your the one looking at this like a child. You're blaming others who think slightly different than you for the failings of people that think completely opposite of you. Your opponent isn't people choosing to not vote Dem, it's the people voting Republican. 200
Mike Howard @mikehoward.bsky.social · 15/09/2026So if no one voter is special, why is it suddenly an issue that a voter is saying they won't vote Dem because of the anti trans platforms? That's what started this whole thread. 100
Mike Howard @mikehoward.bsky.social · 15/09/2026No... That's what you've built your system to be. Most of the world gets multiple options so there is a spectrum of choices. You've built a system that demands a binary choice, and now people want to blame those that are looking for more choice as the failure point. 200
Mike Howard @mikehoward.bsky.social · 15/09/2026The Dem candidates that are running anti trans platforms This is about saving more people, not sacrificing more. Not voting Dem is not the same as voting Rep. My choice would be a candidate that respects the lives of all, and every voter would get that option if the US was a functional system. 100
Mike Howard @mikehoward.bsky.social · 15/09/2026It's not that they don't "fit a vision". It's that they will sacrifice the lives of others as part of that deal. If you think the lives trans folks are worth exchanging for the lives of others, that's your choice. But you can't say people refusing to make that choice are the problem 200
Mike Howard @mikehoward.bsky.social · 15/09/2026To shame voters because they were given terrible choices is absolutely absurd. The blame lies with a system that makes choosing between whose rights are worth trading for the rights of others. To blame a voter for not being willing to make that trade off is just wrong. 200
Mike Howard @mikehoward.bsky.social · 15/09/2026So because others won't give up their stance on things I disagree with, I have to give up mine? If the defense was "look, we can't win on this item today but we will fight like hell to win it next time" I could buy the argument, but it never is. It's just an expectation to "take one for the team" 300
Mike Howard @mikehoward.bsky.social · 15/09/2026How is voting for something you don't support, just because the other option are things you really don't support, democracy? People should vote for what best suits their vision, asking them to do otherwise is asking them to vote out of fear, which is not a democratic principle. 910
Mike Howard @mikehoward.bsky.social · 30/08/2026I gave Americans a pass on the first Trump term. Things like that can happen, especially in a flawed democracy, but he was elected again, after a term out of office. It's on every one of them now. They had the opportunity to implement change, and didn't bother to do so. 000
Mike Howard @mikehoward.bsky.social · 25/08/2026It's so cute that you guys still believe you have a functional democracy 000
Mike Howard @mikehoward.bsky.social · 24/08/2026Canada shouldn't even acknowledge this, let alone act like we are going to negotiate off it. There are only 2 outcomes that matter by Jan 1. Dems control at least the House, and Trump's trade war(s) can be addressed. GOP still has full control and the world needs to leave US trade dependence 010
Mike Howard @mikehoward.bsky.social · 23/08/2026The US doesn't "provide us protection". They need Canada's airspace and northern land as an early warning buffer. If they don't like that it costs money to station troops and equipment here to protect their country, then get your fucking military out of our country, we don't need it here. 000
Reposted by Mike Howard🦇🎃💀 Riana-mator 💀🎃🦇 @riana.bsky.social · 15/08/2026Rest in power. www.nytimes.com/2026/08/14/u...nytimes.comMary Morello, Free Speech Activist Who Defended Explicit Lyrics, Dies at 102 (Gift Article)An Illinois teacher — and the mother of the rock star Tom Morello — she took on Tipper Gore during culture war skirmishes over warning labels on records. 31285278
Mike Howard @mikehoward.bsky.social · 05/08/2026Ok... But then you would need another robot to clean the robot's solar panels and then another to clean that robot's panels and so on. Eventually it becomes so inefficient to do this and wastes more energy than it's generating, which is why solar is not a viable option. 020
