Skip Navigation

pjwestin

@ pjwestin @lemmy.world

Posts
10
Comments
1103
Joined
2 yr. ago

  • Five-Alarm Fire Warning After Trump Says 'Republicans Ought to Nationalize the Voting'

    Jump

  • That's about ending the Electoral College. What Trump is talking about is the federal government taking control of how elections are run. The state's are in charge of conducting their own elections, even federal elections, rather than the federal government, per the Constitution. This is what makes it difficult for Trump to rig elections through direct methods such as ballot stuffing.

  • Five-Alarm Fire Warning After Trump Says 'Republicans Ought to Nationalize the Voting'

    Jump

  • Yes, but most of those have either not been achieved yet or have only been achieved because they were relatively easy. He tried to abolish the 14th Amendment through EO on day one, and it's just getting to the Supreme Court now. He's been able to illegally dissolve federal agencies because the Republicans in Congress have abdicated their power, and destroying something is much easier than building it.

    Even if he signs an EO to take over the elections tomorrow, he'll still face legal challenges that will likely wind up in the Supreme Court, and he'll still need to build out the infrastructure to run these elections federally, something the federal government has never done. I'm not saying that he can't steal the elections, or that we shouldn't be worried, but the idea that he's just going to, "federalize," elections in fifteen states before the midterms seems pretty unlikely.

  • Five-Alarm Fire Warning After Trump Says 'Republicans Ought to Nationalize the Voting'

    Jump

  • The thing is, there's no mechanism for nationalizing voting, and I don't really see a clear path for Republicans to do that in the next nine months. They'd have to pass legislation to do that, which would be extremely difficult given their margins in congress. Even then, states control elections as a function of the Constitution, and while the Supreme Court is happy to approve whatever unconstitutional bullshit Trump dreams up, it will take times to get through the courts. He could try to seize control of the voting process from states, but I don't know that he has the infrastructure to manage the whole voting process through the executive branch, and the fact that he's asking the Republicans to do this for him makes me think he knows this. Either way, any kind of coup on the election process would face the same legal challenges as legislation.

    That doesn't mean we shouldn't be extremely worried. I think it's unlikely that the Republicans will, "nationalize the voting," but I think it's very likely he'll send federal goons in to, "prevent voter fraud," (AKA suppress the vote).

  • What's one lifestyle or hobby you wish you got in to but never did?

    Jump

  • And your husband knows what he's doing on a skateboard. Learning at my age will destroy my knees and make me look like an idiot. Part of me will always want to know the thrill of zooming down a half-pipe, but it's just not worth it. Someone suggested longboarding, that might be fun, or maybe surfing.

  • What's one lifestyle or hobby you wish you got in to but never did?

    Jump

  • Oof, that is my nightmare. I'm a runner, and so far I've never torn a ligament or anything, but as I get older I get more worried about it. I always stretch before and after each run, but I know any damage I do will take 10 times as long to heal as it did in my 20s, if it even does heal.

  • What's one lifestyle or hobby you wish you got in to but never did?

    Jump

  • Oh, no, I agree that I'm primed for a midlife crisis, but it's way too late to start skateboarding. I'm in pretty good shape, eat fairly healthy, exercise regularly, etc., but I can't shake off an a injury like I did in my teens or twenties. I'm not risking permanently messing up my knees learning how to ollie.

  • What's one lifestyle or hobby you wish you got in to but never did?

    Jump

  • Skateboarding. I was into punk in middle/high-school, some of my friends were skateboarders, but I never bought a board. I'm pushing 40 now and it's way too late to start, even as a midlife crisis.

  • Trump unloads new 'instruction' to Kristi Noem to leave Dem cities alone 'unless they ask'

    Jump

  • "Please be aware that I have instructed ICE and/or Border Patrol to be very forceful in this protection of Federal Government Property."

    Well, they just gassed a bunch of peaceful protesters in Portland, including children, so I guess that part is true.

  • Ecuador Objects After ICE Agent Tries to Enter Minneapolis Consulate | Video showed diplomatic staff blocking the agent from entering on Tuesday morning.

    Jump

  • Honestly, I'm kinda impressed. I didn't think you could start a diplomatic crisis wandering around Minneapolis, but ICE found a way.

  • Vanilla Ice

    Jump

  • It would be naive to think race isn't a factor here, but documentation of the crime is also a huge portion of it as well. I have seen the murder of Renee Good from at least 3 different angles, and Alex Pretti from 4, including the exact moment they shot him in the back. There are certainly a lot of Americans that would be more likely to justify this if they had been PoC, but there was also a lot of national outrage over Eric Garner and George Floyd because of how heavily documented those murders were.

  • Obamas say Trump administration seems 'eager to escalate' situation in Minneapolis

    Jump

  • Wow. Thank you for that limp-dick statement in these troubling times. Very inspiring, Mr. President.

  • Removed

    BURRRRRRRRRRRHHHHH

    Jump

  • No, I'm on mobile, and my phone is constantly correcting incorrectly. Lately it's been, "anyway," to, "Anyway," because I start a lot of sentences with it, so no it thinks it's supposed to be capitalized. It's learned that, "thar," is a word because I frequently fat-finger type it when I want to write, "that," so I have to periodically delete it from learned words or it will start automatically switching to, "thar," even when I type it correctly. I'm sure I wrote something that was a letter off from dispersing and it changed it to disbursing because I had a conversation with my dad about his mandatory 401k withdrawals six months ago.

  • Deleted

    Minneapolis judge bars DHS agents from arresting peaceful protesters

    Jump

  • This is from the 16th. A higher court already overturned the injunction. And then they murder another citizen today in what was clearly a point-blank execution.

  • Arizona AG suggests state's self-defense laws allow residents to shoot masked ICE agents

    Jump

  • True, but then again, there was that tow truck driver in LA who towed that ICE car, with flashing police lights, in the middle of a stop. I can't imagine someone getting away with that if it had been a normal LAPD stop.

  • Removed

    BURRRRRRRRRRRHHHHH

    Jump

  • Fucking autocorrect.

  • Removed

    BURRRRRRRRRRRHHHHH

    Jump

  • Even if you like AI, this kind of post is extremely harmful. Leaf blowers are helpful for disbursing dispersing tear gas, not mace.

  • Arizona AG suggests state's self-defense laws allow residents to shoot masked ICE agents

    Jump

  • They had this grand plan to weaponize the DOJ, but no one stopped to ask, "wait, what if everyone on the jury fucking hates us?"

  • Arizona AG suggests state's self-defense laws allow residents to shoot masked ICE agents

    Jump

  • Trick will be that pressing the murder charge would be federal since a federal agent dies in the line of official work (though illegal), which would give the president grounds to push for death.

    Federal prosecutors are having a real tough time getting juries to convict, and sometimes even indict, citizens accused of assaulting ICE and CBP agents. They have 30 cases against Chicago residents, and so far they're 0 for 15. They couldn't get a felony indictment for the sandwich-throwing guy in DC, so they went for a misdemeanor; he was aquitted despite clearly having done it. It is not at all clear to me that the feds could get a conviction for killing someone during what is, legally, a home invasion.

    (This is not an incitement of violence towards any federal agents, nor am I advocating for anyone to break any state or federal laws. To any FBI agents reading this, I think you're very smart and handsome.)

  • Ice Out Protest Minneapolis, MN today

    Jump

  • Please grow the fuck up. The majority of people who didn't vote for Harris weren't, "throwing a tantrum." They were tired, working class people who didn't feel that voting would improve their lives and didn't want to waste their time on it.

    Election day is not a holiday in this country. Mail-in voting is not available in many states. Voting is a hardship, one which is most felt by working-class voters making hourly, minimum wage. If you want those people to vote for you, you have to give them something to vote for.

    How did the Democrats do that? Well, first they ran an 80-year-old man that the majority of their voters didn't want running in an essentially unchallenged primary. Then, when the cognitive issues his team were clearly hiding spilled out on national TV, they allowed him to dig his heals in and stay in the race until the 11th hour. When he finally dropped out, they replaced him with a candidate who failed to win a single primary state and had her campaign with Republicans because they decided it was better for her to appeal to conservatives than her base. Oh, and they wouldn't stop funding a genocide, can't forget that.

    It is not the voters job to get politicians elected; it is literally the exact opposite of that. The Democrats did a spectacularly bad job in 2024, and the fact that the people associated with the administration and the campaign still have influence within the party is absurd and disgusting. Point the blame at those who deserve it.

  • Lemmy Shitpost @lemmy.world
    pjwestin @lemmy.world

    "Winner"

  • memes @lemmy.world
    pjwestin @lemmy.world

    I mean...violence is bad.

  • Out of Context Comics @lemmy.world
    pjwestin @lemmy.world

    Seems Legit

  • Out of Context Comics @lemmy.world
    pjwestin @lemmy.world

    He's cracked the case!

  • Out of Context Comics @lemmy.world
    pjwestin @lemmy.world

    Ghosted

  • Out of Context Comics @lemmy.world
    pjwestin @lemmy.world

    I have been waiting for this community my whole life

  • TenForward: Where Every Vulcan Knows Your Name @lemmy.world
    pjwestin @lemmy.world

    Not to get too topical, but...

  • Facepalm @lemmy.wtf
    pjwestin @lemmy.world

    I want to thank Sync for placing this ad next to this post

  • Lemmy Shitpost @lemmy.world
    pjwestin @lemmy.world

    I thought he sounded fine.

  • Political Memes @lemmy.world
    pjwestin @lemmy.world

    I'm begging you to learn how to use this term.