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immutable

@ immutable @lemmy.zip

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9 mo. ago

  • Democrats Sue to Find Out if Trump Will Send Armed Officers to Election Sites

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  • I remember the day so clearly when Bernie had won a few of the early primaries, Biden was coming in 4th and seemed like he would wash out.

    A colleague told me something big had happened, it was the day all the other centrist candidates pulled out right before Super Tuesday and threw their support behind Biden. It worked he ended up winning a bunch of primaries in a bunch of states that would later go on to vote for trump in the general election, but that was enough for the media to crown him the winner.

    I was in California at the time, working phone banks for Bernie, and there was tons of excitement for him. That day was a gut punch, I remember thinking “we haven’t stopped our slip into fascism just pressed pause”

    Ive never wanted to be wrong more in my life. Now I look around and think about the 4 years where we could have zealously prosecuted MAGA for the crimes they committed right out in the open (every time I bring this up people go, “oh you want them to punish their enemies and ignore the law.” No I want them to enforce the laws which would have the side effect of actual consequences for MAGA)x

    Instead, and unthinkably after a terrible pandemic response and literal attempt to overthrow democracy, the bland 4 years did nothing to prevent another trump term.

    • Biden didn’t deliver punishment for MAGA to hold them accountable
    • Biden didn't change the conditions of American life enough to make the siren song of the fascists unpalatable

    This isn’t to say he didn’t do anything good, but look where we are. The actions failed to meet the moment and now we are asking ourselves “will an armed paramilitary force prevent people from voting?”

    Love Biden or hate him, this is where we are.

  • Democrats Sue to Find Out if Trump Will Send Armed Officers to Election Sites

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  • Don’t worry, just like with the war powers acts, if the Dems find out that there is a concrete plan to steal the elections you can rest assured that 4 Dems from safe districts will join up with the republicans to vote down any attempt to stop it.

    https://time.com/7382846/democrats-who-voted-against-war-powers-resolution-iran-conflict-trump/

    212-219 because 4 Dems crossed over, if they had held to the “party line” that’s a 216-215 vote.

    The best thing for the Democratic Party is for everyone to blame those 4 politicians. It happens every time though, different politicians, always just enough.

    There’s only two ways to interpret whats going on. The first is the one the party wants you to believe, they are just too weak to keep their members from voting against the party. They like this because they can reframe that weakness as a strength, you see they are such a big coalition and put such a priority on independent decision making that it’s a good thing that just enough Dems defect every time to keep the party from achieving any goals. What can they do? Aw shucks, guess whatever horrible thing we just failed to stop is going to happen.

    The second way, which I think is closer to the truth, is that they are bought. For each issue there’s some deep pocketed interest going “alright pick a few people from safe seats, just enough to pass / vote down this thing.”

    Otherwise it’s just terrifically bad luck right? Every consequential vote has a different set of just the right number of defectors to not do anything.

    All the while the emails and texts go out pleading dor just a little bit more money. Sure we couldn’t get the bill you wanted passed, but if you give us some more money for our fight fund, boy you won’t believe how much we will not fight next time.

    As a lifelong democrat that donated thousands of dollars to them over the years, I’ll still vote for them because our voting system means there’s no good alternative, but I’m no longer believing they are anything but controlled opposition. They make noises, they go on tv and say “oh this is bad,” but when it comes to actually doing anything about it they are always just a little short. They need just a few more seats, just a couple more donations. Ok we’ve got a 58 seat majority in the senate, but you know, it’s really time to compromise and make sure the republicans get what they want.

  • Ray is basic.

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  • It’s such a shame that all of human knowledge isnt readily available to this person. Oh it is, on the very device he’s using to post this, how embarrassing

  • The State of the Union Revealed a Sad Reality. Donald Trump misused the annual presidential tradition in ways so radical as to call the ritual itself into question.

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  • He can tell Americans they are in a new golden age all he wants, his hyper focus on it belies his anxiety.

    People will swallow a lot of lies. Immigrants caused you to be poor, trans people pose some existential threat to you, if it were for woke DEI youd be better off.

    These lies work because there’s no real way for the listener to validate it, you are giving them some reason why their lousy lot isn't their fault.

    The lie that doesn’t work is “you have it good” because that person you’re lying to knows whether or not they have it good. They are paying the bills and if you tell them “actually the bills are cheap” even the most believing believer will have to compartmentalize that. They will either have to sit with the lie and accept it or contort themselves into a less blatant lie like “things could be worse”

    Trump is at the bar chatting up the down on her luck, past her prime, divorcee, telling her how now that she’s met him she’s hot again, everyone is saying how hot she is, everyone is saying how rich she is, everyone is saying how much she’s winning. But when she looks in the mirror, or in the bank account, she has to believe him more than her own eyes.

    That’s a tough sell, he has a cult so it might work, but it’s a real tough sell.

  • Removed

    Rep. Jeffries on DHS Shutdown

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  • Americans overwhelmingly disapprove of ICE

    Six in 10 Americans disapprove of the job ICE is doing, while about 3 in 10 approve. Opinions about the agency and its actions are sharply divided along political lines, with 91% of Democrats and 66% of independents registering their disapproval. Republicans, however, remain supportive, with 73% approving of the agency's work.

    This could be a fucking victory lap. The democrats have shut down this rogue agency and will keep it shut down as long as it puts innocent Americans at risk.

    But no, democratic leadership instead is so sad about how they wish they could get ICE back to doing the very necessary work they need to be doing. If only the republicans would stop blocking some token reform like body cams (that will have a phased rollout over the next 10 years, agents of course will be able to disable them at their discretion, and the footage will have to undergo an internal review and redaction before release) then we could finally give the voters what they want, a fully funded ICE back on the streets.

    This party is fucking useless

  • Trump Posts Video Depicting Barack and Michelle Obama as Apes

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  • In this case I think it’s distraction.

    It’s amazing how easy it was to subvert all checks and balances and criticisms by just always having a few more awful things ready to go.

    Video showing your paramilitary murdering citizens, boom release some Epstein files

    Credible evidence that you are a pedophile, boom racist meme

    People upset about racism, boom attack trans kids or something.

    As long as there are a couple outrage plates spinning he can always just wander over to another one if people start getting too upset.

  • Johnny Appleseed planting apple trees for kids to eat

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  • This is true and has led to my new system for evaluating economic systems, what does it do with antisocial people.

    Capitalism is interesting in that it actually has a plan for them. Let them be greedy little fucks and the system works for a while. Then they fuck everything up and the system collapses, either in a minor correction every couple of years or into fascism.

    I would love for something like socialism or communism to work, but there’s this 1% that would pick the trees clean to better their own lot.

    I don’t have any answer, but I have come to the conclusion that every economic and social system should only be considered viable if there’s a reasonable and compelling solution for what to do with the guy that wants to pick the fruit tree clean.

  • Democrats Get ICE Protest Vote But Shy Away From Forcing a Shutdown | Funding bill let Democrats make a statement without creating a standoff.

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  • I remember after getting pepper sprayed in DC at a protest against W’s Iraq war being told, “we need more and better democrats, vote for better ones in the primary and then whoever wins the primary in the general”

    I’ve been doing that for over 2 decades now. Nothing has gotten better, everything has gotten worse, the party is effectively openly corrupt and openly controlled opposition.

    I remember the gut punch in the lead up to 2020 when Bernie Sanders was winning primaries and the entire party decided to coalesce around Biden, all the other centrist candidates dropped out and threw their support behind him so he could win a bunch of primaries in states that would go on to vote Republican in the general election. But it was enough, the party was able to knee cap a better candidate and get Biden in office.

    I remember thinking then that we had not pulled the country back from the edge of disaster, we had merely pressed pause. That a Biden administration wouldn’t do the things necessary to prevent another trump. Four years later I get to watch as a lawless paramilitary kills people in an American city that’s effectively under siege by the federal government while king trump is somehow back in the White House.

    I’ll probably still vote for the Dems in the elections because it’s the best tactical move, but I’ve found it’s a terrible strategic move. The party is a failure, it is completely captured and currently aligned with fascism. They are sending me pleas to donate to their fight fund while their members cross the aisle to vote to give the ICE more money, more power, more funding.

    The Democratic Party will not save us, they show us again and again they have no interest in that.

  • Black Panthers in Philly: All the power to the mother fucking people! No power to the pig!

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  • Omar Warns Trump Aims to Provoke Enough Agitation in Minnesota So He Can Declare 'Martial Law'

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  • According to Wikipedia, on paper yes but in practice the duty to retreat has been upheld in case law.

    Even if you have a jurisdiction with rock solid castle doctrine, using that as a defense for shooting at law enforcement is a perilous legal strategy.

  • Omar Warns Trump Aims to Provoke Enough Agitation in Minnesota So He Can Declare 'Martial Law'

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  • Right but if everyone stays peaceful then the de facto martial law won’t become declared martial law.

    And this is clearly beneficial because of all these benefits of being under de facto martial law instead of declared martial law like

    • hmm
    • well let’s see
    • there should probably be some kind of benefits here

    Not convinced yet? Well you see there’s also a host of benefits you get from quietly obeying and surrendering your rights like

    • getting shot by unaccountable federal officers
    • having your door kicked in for exercising your rights to free speech
    • emboldening the fascists by showing there’s nothing you are willing to do to defend yourself

    If everyone stays peaceful, surely the jackbooted thugs who delight in hurting and killing citizens and immigrants alike will… continue doing that.

  • How do I deal with the outside world when I have germaphobia and don't really like outside?

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  • My spouse has this exact same thing, the thing that worked for them is OCD therapy.

    OCD therapy is a combination of cognitive behavioral therapy, exposure therapy, and occupational therapy (which despite the name is more just about strategies to use for practical things like going to the store, out to a cafe, etc)

    It hasn’t been easy but they’ve been keeping at it and it’s really helped them in a way nothing else has.

    There are very few problems so large that they can’t be solved, but that doesn’t mean the solutions aren’t big and scary themselves. It’s easy to say “go get therapy” but I know that the reality of doing so is difficult. I’ve seen it now first hand how hard it is, but it’s worth it.

    The phone call to discuss whether or not they can help is free, NOCD

    Take care of yourself, you deserve it.

  • ICE says U.S. citizen’s birth certificate is fake after arresting her: attorneys

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  • This is why people get confused, because they think authoritarianism is some strong man saying “you can’t do this, you can’t do that”

    There’s a quote about how authoritarianism isnt someone saying “you can’t” but instead it’s someone saying “you may”

    • You may ignore this law
    • You may jail these people
    • You may disregard due process

    That’s the real danger, when rights and law are replaced with the whims and favor of a despot.

  • House GOP will not allow amendment vote to extend ObamaCare subsidies

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  • Not completely useless it allowed the republicans to have a talking point that the democrats were obstructing for no reason.

  • What's your boomer trait?

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  • I’m a software engineer that is also deeply uninterested in chasing shiny new things. I think another factor is that tech that I did care about has somewhat stalled out.

    I’ve had iPhones since a I think the iPhone 4. I’m on the iPhone 11 which released back in 2019, I only really upgraded because my iPhone 8s battery was crapping out.

    There’s just nothing exciting about these newer devices, same form factor, same OS, same basic functionality. And in a similar fashion, anything new is stuff I don’t really give a shit about. Oh it can do some kind of ai thing I don’t want, no thanks.

    I’ve tried to see it as a positive. I have lots of stuff that I’ve filled my life up with, things that are meaningful to me. I think that’s what took up the space I used to fill with reading about and getting excited about this new gadget or that one. Now I’m excited to go see my niece’s Christmas recital or bake cookies with my wife to take to a friends of the library event.

    Doesn’t hurt that every company seems to be in a non stop contest to see how little they can give the consumer for the maximum price while installing as much revenue generating spyware as possible.

  • Supreme Court Conservatives Reinstate Texas’ Gerrymandered House Maps

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  • It’s also frustrating that they let a seat be stolen.

    McConnell invents a rule out of whole cloth and blocks an appointment.

    The Dems could have played hard ball, they could have gone with the line that the senate was fulfilling its role of advising and consenting by not holding a vote. They want it to be read as a rejection, make them hold a vote, say that no vote means they are fine with it.

    Republicans exceed their powers every time they have them to reshape this country to their vision. Democrats refuse to use the full scope of their power to accomplish anything.

    Repeat ad nauseam.

  • Don't crucify me

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  • I would also be in the target audience I think.

    I’m a software engineer, been one for 20+ years. Built my own PCs before.

    I’m just not super interested in doing it anymore. A reasonably priced steam box that just works out of the box without any troubleshooting and is a common enough hardware profile for developers to put in the effort to make work so I don’t have to burn the precious hours of my life fixing stupid bullshit to play a video game, yes, take my money.

  • don't do ai and code kids

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  • I have been into AI Safety since before chat gpt.

    I used to get into these arguments with people that thought we could never lose control of AI because we were smart enough to keep it contained.

    The rise of LLMs have effectively neutered that argument since being even remotely interesting was enough for a vast swath of people to just give it root access to the internet and fall all over themselves inventing competing protocols to empower it to do stuff without our supervision.

  • Trump says he plans to cancel most of Biden’s executive orders

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  • Executive orders shouldn’t have the ability to make law or ignore laws. The legislative branch passes the laws and the executive branch is supposed to faithfully execute them.

    An executive order is meant to lay out how the executive departments should carry out the laws passed by the legislative branch. And if they overstep that by failing to faithfully execute the laws or creating their own laws out of executive orders, the judiciary is supposed to act as a check.

    Our constitutional order seems to have completely failed. The legislative branch is in a state of permanent deadlock, except when it comes to tax breaks for the uber wealthy and defense spending. So EOs have expanded in scope and the judiciary has just shrugged and decided that the whole separation of powers and checks and balances thing isn't worthwhile anymore.