comment: >
  
  Honestly the biggest problem there is the fact that they can read, but they don’t have the ability to do the due diligence required to understand what they just read and how it fits into the bigger picture. It’s possibly even more damaging than if they simply couldn’t read.
context: Republican lawmakers said during debate on the Ohio legislation that even if Trump’s claims aren’t true, the skepticism they have caused among conservatives about the accuracy of election results justifies imposing new limits.
  
  Skepticism that the GQP lawmakers THEMSELVES manufactured and amplified. >
  
  It was a perfectly acceptable solution when it served to get us in to power. 
  Now that same measure threatens to remove us, so we have to take it away before that happens. You get it. >
  
  Bro.... veterans and military are in every single one of those groups you mentioned.
  This military isn't made up of all straight white republicans. >
  
  And you can't forget the vets, and entire families who put those vets on pedestals. 
  And the wannabes who worship them. >
  
  The American fetishism of veterans and people in the military fucking astounds me. I’ve worked with a bunch of vets/reservists and my father is a veteran. They’re normal fucking people. Outside of being drafted and forced to go to war why should I give a shit what someone did for a living? We aren’t going to give medical professionals who went through years of hell over Covid a 10% discount everywhere all the time. I’d wager a majority of people who have been in the service over the last two decades haven’t actually seen combat. >
  
  We should absolutely give medical professionals a 10% discount. Also, teachers. >
  
  I’m not arguing that we shouldn’t, just that it won’t happen. You’ll never see a sizeable push outside of more left leaning circles as medical professionals and teachers are the new villains for the far right crazies. >
  
  The company I work for gives medical professionals and teachers a 15% discount, prompted entirely by COVID. >
  
  That’s great to hear and encouraging. I hope others start to pick that up as well nationally. >
  
  So fucked up how they got here. Republicans used to love mail in voting. Their base has a lot of old people that find it more convenient. For a long time the GOP relied on these voters.
  It wasn’t until Trump’s horrific response to Covid that it changed. And because trump tried to write covid off as not a big deal, anything related to acknowledging it’s reality was therefore an attack on him. So since mail in ballots would help with covid distancing, they became ‘Anti-Trump’ and should be stopped.
  Who knows how much better their votes would be if they didn’t demonize mail in voting. Even 2 years after the loss, they are still continually shooting themselves in the foot just to humor their biggest loser. >
  
  To be fair, they only support in person voting the way they do because it's just so much easier to strategically close polling places where they know their opposition votes, while keeping them open or moving them to places where their own likely voters can easily get to. Like senior centers. Or retirement villas.
  They also know that working people often don't have time during the day to vote, so they make sure that polls close early to stifle the chances people have to vote. While retirees, farmers, self-employed people and the rich all have an easy time getting to the polls because they don't have someone else telling them that no, you cannot leave early or come in late. >
  
  And then throw in their voter id requirements. They know exactly what they’re doing. >
  
  My favorite story is a GOP county chair (or whatever he was) getting an election worker blackballed because they challenged the chair's completely fabricated ID under the law the GOP created to require IDs. >
  
  It wasn’t even a good fabrication either, it was like a library card or some dumb shit like that >
  
  A fake library card?  A real library card is a valid (non-photo) government issued ID. >
  
  Let me get this straight 
  -   you don’t like mail-in ballots because the demographic that uses them isn’t your demographic
  -   you knowingly make false claims about fraud though mail-in ballots
  -   people believe those false claims with absolutely zero evidence
  -   because people believe the lies, you want to punish the people who use mail-in ballots?
  To quote Zoolander, “I feel like I’m taking crazy pills.” >
  
  It's even dumber. Didn't this start with COVID, when these jerkwads decided mail in was pro vaccination, to avoid being around others who might not be wearing masks.
  It was an own the libs move that also stopped old people and military votes. >
  
  
  “While there is certainly more work to do, this new law drastically enhances Ohio’s election security and improves the integrity of our elections, which my constituents and citizens across the state have demanded,” [Republican state Sen. Theresa Gavarone] said.
  
  How? More vague, baseless bullshit. Creating fake problems to disenfranchise people or outright taking their rights away is a core Republican strategy.  It's one of the characteristics of fascism. >
  
  As an Ohio citizen, I did not demand this. >
  
  
  “What kind of society do we call ourselves if we are disenfranchising people from the rights that they are over there protecting?” said Willis Gordon, a Navy veteran
  
  This is something the military families should have extensive first hand knowledge about. 
  It's called "Collateral Damage."
  In order to count fewer Democratic ballots, some other people will get hurt. But how else will the Republicans keep their claws on power if they don't cheat? >
  
  And yet, the large majority of military members and vets supported Trump will still vote R.
  Zero sympathy for those who do so. >
  
  The military used to swing pretty hard to the right but it's changed a lot over the last 15 years or so. The military as a whole now votes slightly more to the left. >
  
  It has definitely moved more to the left compared to past trends, but the military definitely still leans R. >
  
  They (Republicans) only care about the military because of the defense spending and contractors who give money to them. Full stop. When it comes to actually doing anything for the people who are doing the work in the field, they don’t give a shit. Yet the ethos of the military has convinced them that if there’s a R next to their name, you should vote for them. >
  
  Yet another gleaming example to throw on the ever-growing pile of evidence that shows how goddamn stupid much of the population is. 
  It really doesn’t take much effort to discern how the GOP literally doesn’t care about the soldiers they often claim to care about and regularly use as political pawns.
  But many people don’t know how, won’t, or can’t educate themselves on the issues, so they just wait for someone on the tv/internet to tell them what to think and how to feel. 
  We really need to bring back the “knowledge is power” type of mindset into modern society so we can better combat this culture of idiocy.
  It’s something I’ve been trying my damnedest to remedy in whatever small way I can, but it’s a grueling and often thankless ordeal. But I’m gonna keep at it regardless. >
  
  
  The pace of ballot counting after Election Day has become a target of conservatives egged on by former President Donald Trump. He has promoted a false narrative
  
  I can't think of a more sugar-coated way of saying that "he lied about the election results as part of an attempted coup against the US government". >
  
  An easier fix to this is too start counting mail in as they come in...Oh wait we can't do that cause yeah reasons >
  
  I mean, the GOP does not care about military families and constantly does things to show them that they do not care about them, but still many military families will support them. >
  
  Yeah, guys I was deployed with still voted Republican last year, just weeks after Republicans blocked the PACT Act. >
  
  
  PACT Act
  
  That was really frustrating.  Good thing a comedian/tv show host decided to go hard on the super controversial "doing what's right" issue and shame them into passing it. >
  
  Yeah, one guy even told me he supported them blocking it because “the democrats probably put something in the bill to ban guns”. He didn’t read the bill. >
  
  Could he read? >
  
  he’s a republican; he can’t read