Maggoty
@Maggoty@lemmy.world
- Comment on let's goooooo 34 minutes ago:
Nature also has animals that happily have gay relationships and plenty of species where the male and female roles don’t even come close to lining up with judeo-christian values. Just like actual history it only looks that way when you have a legion of biased researchers making sure it looks “correct”
- Comment on So, is the USA screwed? 4 days ago:
A new constitution is a really bad idea until we can do a lot more organizing. Conservatives have been practicing for a convention for at least 20 years. If we called one right now they’d steamroll the liberals and we’d have an actual king again.
- Comment on So, is the USA screwed? 4 days ago:
Yeah I never claimed this would be easy. It’s all predicated on people showing up. Because of course if we just sit there and go, “oh dear, someone should do something.” Nobody is going to do anything.
- Comment on So, is the USA screwed? 4 days ago:
No, in the USA States have a limited form of sovereignty. They elect their own officials and hold all powers not expressly given to the Federal Government. So while the President has some law enforcement agents, most of them are actually employed by the State Governors and Counties/Cities. The Governors have a Secretary of State that is also elected who are responsible for running all elections in the state.
So if Trump tried to make an Executive Order that only Republicans could vote, (this is meant to be an extreme example, it would backfire hilariously in real life), the states could legally ignore it. However if Congress passed that as a law and the Supreme Court upheld it then the states would be legally bound to prevent anyone not registered as a Republican from voting for federal offices.
The thing is the Republicans don’t have enough of a majority to just pass any law they want. So it’s very unlikely there will be an extreme voting law in the next 2 years. So if federal agents showed up trying to enforce an Executive Order from Trump or is highly likely they would be arrested by the state or city police for interfering in voting.
- Comment on why do transphobes mention pedophiles/compare them to pedophiles when most trans people (as do most people) hate pedophiles? 4 days ago:
I’d like to speak to your manager, I was promised a sonnet about the love of pumpkin pie and all I got was bigotry.
- Comment on So, is the USA screwed? 4 days ago:
That’s not what I’m saying. The entire point here is that he does not have the physical power to interfere in state elections without an act of Congress. The states would arrest any federal agents trying to do so. This isn’t a “gentleman’s agreement” that nobody is enforcing.
- Comment on why do transphobes mention pedophiles/compare them to pedophiles when most trans people (as do most people) hate pedophiles? 4 days ago:
That tracks, I had to deal with people like you when I was a kid.
- Comment on So, is the USA screwed? 4 days ago:
He can certainly try, but he can’t pass laws about elections without Congress, which brings the filibuster into play.
Arresting the party leaders of the opposition also generally doesn’t work if you do it more than once or the situation is already very politicized.
At the end of the day it’s going to require us to be in the streets no matter what he tries. Our state leaders need to see that they have support to stand up to Trump.
- Comment on why do transphobes mention pedophiles/compare them to pedophiles when most trans people (as do most people) hate pedophiles? 4 days ago:
That’s a load of shit. I’m sorry but it is. You don’t need permission to tell someone to stay away from your kid. And the treatment for minors is puberty blockers. Not surgery. It’s less life altering than getting a tattoo. Perpetuating hate because you need to give yourself permission to keep people away from you kids because you don’t understand what’s actually happening is just a load of shit.
Do better.
- Comment on why do transphobes mention pedophiles/compare them to pedophiles when most trans people (as do most people) hate pedophiles? 4 days ago:
It’s not meant to make sense. It’s meant to make you shut down any argument in favor of giving non heterosexual people human rights. That’s all.
- Comment on So, is the USA screwed? 4 days ago:
This is actually one of the more pessimistic courses. It’s probable that Trump gets enough push back that his legacy consists of massively handicapping the civil service, screwing up the economy and our alliances, and then peacefully transferring power to a democratic party president.
One of the other things we need to do is seriously organize to support a more left candidate in the 2028 primaries. Part of this shock and awe is meant to make us give up, not only resisting Trump but also in organizing within the Democratic party.
- Comment on So, is the USA screwed? 4 days ago:
Yeah, there’s still quite a few good paths here. I can’t guarantee we do what’s needed but I can show how if we demand it from our leaders and publicly support them it becomes really hard for Trump and friends to reach their goals.
- Comment on So, is the USA screwed? 4 days ago:
Yeah that’s true. The American South was exceptionally evil. I don’t think we’ve ever properly processed that as a country.
- Comment on Why hasn't the deep state stopped trump? 4 days ago:
It was always a made up thing. Government leaders are doing what they always do. They’re obeying the president to the limits of the law. Where Trump and Musk are insisting on things they think are illegal they are resisting until they’re forced out or they resign/retire.
- Comment on So, is the USA screwed? 4 days ago:
I’m probably not smarter than you, this is just in my field of study. And to throw a little water on it, it depends on people doing things. We can all sit on our couch and watch the ministry of newspeak broadcasts or we can be in the streets. Our leaders are humans and we can’t expect them to act in a way that endangers themselves without visible support. But it actually takes a heck of a lot to kill a country. We aren’t anywhere near that point yet. Get mad, get in the streets.
- Comment on So, is the USA screwed? 4 days ago:
That just means your target changes. You’re not protesting to change an unchangeable administration. Instead you’re building consensus and creating a movement that can activate if certain lines are crossed.
- Comment on So, is the USA screwed? 4 days ago:
You should read about the Spanish missions and their treatment of the native people on the west coast. But also the Mexicans weren’t innocent of things either. They were constantly having political violence and even voluntarily returned monarchies. (yes plural)
- Comment on So, is the USA screwed? 4 days ago:
Not even close to being done. Right now the biggest changes are a reduction in non law enforcement/immigration government staff and contracts being paid out. The biggest thing coming down the pipeline is Trump clearly wants to free himself of the courts and congress. But it’s far too early to say he’s won that. And even that wouldn’t be the end of things. In the US the states have a lot of autonomy. They are actually the ones responsible for holding elections. So let’s look at a worst case scenario, where he tries to say we shouldn’t have elections.
The first thing that’s going to happen is all the blue states are going to tell him to fuck off and hold them anyways. The second thing that’s going to happen is some red states will also do so, although they’ll likely be less coarse with the language. Then a few more red states will be pressured into having elections by massive protests of people angry they can’t vote anymore. Then while Trump is having a fit because there’s no real way for him to stop this process, we get to learn about a fun feature of the US Congress. There is no law requiring it to meet in D.C. Trump would likely try to claim whatever is left over is the real congress, but without having been elected the Constitution is clear that those states forfeit representation until they hold an election.
So we’d be left with a House that is majority anti-Trump, after all, he tried to make them irrelevant at best. In the Senate we’d likely be looking at something of an even split in 2026. There’s probably 5-7ish red states that would hold elections anyways and combined with the blue states and senate democrats leaving DC they would be able to convene elsewhere with a majority to declare rules of the Senate without Trump’s interference. The new Congress would likely swiftly vote to impeach Trump. The remnants of the old one would protest this but they don’t have any legal power. Only the backing of Trump and propaganda power.
This leaves Vance with a choice. This would be by design because our democratic party leaders only appear to be stupid when convenient. Vance can throw his weight behind Trump and get impeached himself or he can order Trump removed from the White House thus acknowledging the primacy of Congress. If he chooses the first option then Congress simply repeats the process and the presidency goes to the next person in line, the speaker of the house. Yes, Congress can effectively vote one of it’s own members into the White House at any time. This president then declares an emergency and orders the military to secure DC. The military loves process, and loves the Constitution. It is highly likely this order would be followed.
However all would not be well, it’s not a fairy tale. It would likely be the start of an American Insurgency that would take decades to root out. It would certainly be the end of the US as the hegemonic world power. Our Aircraft Carriers would rust in port and our projection of soft and hard power over the world would wither. But we would still be here, just much diminished and never the same in our lifetimes. This is certainly scary but if we all do our part this is as close as we would come to losing our democracy. Far more insidious is the threat of slowly revoking the right to vote. They’d start by raising the age, then by requiring you to not have any debt of specific kinds, then by making harsh punishments for illegally voting, and other such things until voting is effectively restricted to land owners. Certain factions would like to get it to white christian male landowners but that’s probably a decade or more down that line if at all.
Notes - Why wouldn’t he just send in the military? 2028 isn’t enough time to purge and train enough people to make the military loyal to him. He would be mid project on that at best and the states could effectively counter him into a stand still with their national guard. This would make many people stay home, but the determined voters are likely to be anti-trump because that’s the change incentive. Loyalists will feel like the elections don’t matter.
What’s stopping SCOTUS from declaring the elections invalid? The states. SCOTUS is only relevant as long as they have reputation of being an impartial arbiter of Constitutional Law. That opinion is already in the trash heap. They could not make such a decision today, or after 4 more years unless they spend the next 4 years setting themselves as at least a mild opposition in a long game. But they haven’t shown that kind of patience.
What happens in Trump surrounds himself with thousands of armed loyalists in DC? We select a new capital and wish him the best of luck dealing with DC. There is no law requiring DC be the Capital. The Constitution doesn’t even require the states to give up a district, it only provides the legal possibility. There’s no need to engage in that kind of a conflict. Such a group would be arrested bit by bit by Maryland, Virginia, and Federal authorities until it could be resolved swiftly.
- Comment on Let's talk...wait... No! Not like that! 6 days ago:
At no point have they felt beholden to the truth. And it doesn’t have to be Auschwitz to kill you. Just ask the Japanese sent to camps during w/World War 2 and any work camp survivor from Russia, China, North Korea…
We’ve seen this film before. We don’t have to wait for them to do the big stage reveal.
- Comment on Let's talk...wait... No! Not like that! 6 days ago:
I’m sorry but the people who do things like this also have no problem locking their “patients” behind triple strand razor wire and machinegun towers. There will be no “rifle therapy” or plucky camp uprising. The only way to win is to not end up in the camp in the first place.
- Comment on How does this pic show that Elon Musk doesnt know SQL? 1 week ago:
But I was assured he was a materials engineer, rocket scientist, computer programmer, and businessman extraordinaire!
- Comment on Eaten’ on the roof 1 week ago:
Sometimes that’s also the best spot though. The table that’s basically the server’s office during slow hours. That lets you just be human with them and learn the origin story of every cook in the kitchen. Eventually if you’re a regular you’ll even get free food.
- Comment on Doordash deserves it's fate 2 weeks ago:
Where I am you’re almost never the only delivery.
- Comment on Doordash deserves it's fate 2 weeks ago:
They do make multiple deliveries per trip…
- Comment on Anon lives with his sister 2 weeks ago:
Can we stop sex shaming people?
- Comment on No beans, only dogs 2 weeks ago:
Oh I’m sure some people do. But it seems very prevalent in this chart for a condiment that seems a lot less prevalent in real life.
- Comment on Man, their reputation really has gone to shit 2 weeks ago:
This was always the truth of it. The FBI was always the organization the people in power wanted it to be. They love that the FBI takes the blame for their policies.
- Comment on Anon cheats through college 2 weeks ago:
Usually this joke is run with a second point of view saying, do I tell them or let them keep thinking this is cheating?
- Comment on Anon cheats through college 2 weeks ago:
No he’s right. Before ChatGPT there was Stack Overflow. A lot of learning to code is learning to search up solutions on the Internet. The crucial thing is to learn why that solution works though. The idea of memorizing code like a language is impossible. You’ll obviously memorize some common stuff but things change really fast in the programming world.
- Comment on If you're falling apart at only 27 you're in real trouble 2 weeks ago:
Oh United Health has nothing on the VA. The VA literally left veterans with cancer in a waiting list until they died. On purpose.