If there’s one thing Jesus was consistent about, it’s that poor refugees seeking shelter should be ruthlessly murdered by drowning in a river tangled in razor wire.
“OK, my daughter loves Harriet Tubman. Tell me what you got!” she says. I explain our product, how we use historical women to teach girls about their worth and potential. The mother says: “But is it woke? I mean, I don’t want to teach my daughter about woke.”
Yes it does. It means you don’t trust politicians or the system, you reexamine your beliefs and look at it critically.
If you don’t think there’s a fascist threat in our country right now, there’s people who are literally burning “woke” books and firing elected “woke” prosecutors. They’re using the word “woke” fairly correctly without understanding what it means, ironically enough, because “non-woke” is whatever lies the party spreads and “woke” is anything that contradicts that
Right, so give a vague definition then. Give a conditional definiton. Say “woke is when black people are treated like humans and stuff, you know, like when they say marital rape is bad”. They won’t though, because while that is exactly what it means, they also know they can’t say it out loud.
“Woke” is the thing that opposes their horrible and reprehensible ideas, and they know it. Hell, when DeSantis’ lawyer had to define it in court he went with “the belief there are systemic injustices in American society and the need to address them.” It’s weird though, why haven’t conservatives just grasped on to this definition? Because “woke” is a dogwhistle for “someone who isn’t a trash human like me”.
If you want to define “woman”, I can do way better than a vague definition though. Of course, the question itself is in bad faith, but I don’t give a shit. In terms of gender: “A woman is anyone who wants to call themselves a woman and wants to be called a woman by others.”
Just as an aside, I’m of the opinion gender is a stupid concept anyway and we should get rid of it entirely.
There are words that are notoriously difficult to define in such a way that every edge case is covered. For those words we use criteria. Listing off essential attributes and marking the entire list as provisionally sufficient. The Greeks figured this out 25 centuries ago, just a fyi. I know it is hard for conservatives to keep up with modern ideas but 2 and a half millennium should be enough time.
And that's the really insidious part. The teacher is too ignorant of what she is ignorant of. If Harriet Tubman "might be too woke" then how would this women teach the nuance of protests? Of sit ins? Letters from a Birmingham jail? Much less modern protests. Her daughter is going to grow confidently saying things like
"I know all about black history, just not the woke stuff."
I went through California school a little under a decade ago and can tell you that the letters from Birmingham Jail and an at least somewhat decent overview of sit-ins were absolutely part of my standard curriculum
Though I’d bet there are plenty of places in this country where that’s not true
Grew up in Ohio. We touched on it. We definitely ignored the socialism and the condemnation of white moderates and the armed resistance (of that eta) aside from the black panthers who were portrayed with a mixed light much like Nat Turner was. But we were a Catholic school so we did condemn any violence.
I think the big thing is that it varies wildly. My area for example had a lot of focus on white resistance to chattel slavery, and acknowledgement of the reality of precolombian civilization. That’s not because we were woke but because those that was the local history of southern Ohio. We could go visit an Underground Railroad stop or one of the great mounds for a field trip.
Meanwhile in somewhere like Virginia, I would expect a lot more focus on the colonial period and early English settlement. And I think in somewhere like Birmingham or Memphis if they don’t focus on the civil rights era that’s on fucking purpose. And I assume texas is doing their own thing and pretending they didn’t secede from Mexico and the US over slavery.
Uhhhhh. Yes it is? My niece was going over all of that around 3rd grade. And that's about the same time I did, this was all in the PNW. I think your school district just had some major omissions.
Or she’ll learn on her own later. It’s sad, but many do it. The line of thinking of “we used to treat black people in utterly horrific ways” -> “we freed them but took a long time to give them the same rights” -> “they’re still mad and saying that racism still is a systemic problem” -> “why” is a path that many white Americans with intellectual curiosity have tread. Some don’t like the answers because they come with expectations, responsibility, guilt, and shame. Others decide that it doesn’t matter and accept what is learned.
It’s a shame she has to start there, but we have to believe that these indoctrinated children aren’t doomed
“What do you mean, ‘woke’?” I ask. She opens her mouth. Half-words and phrases stumble and tumble around. A few talking points from news sources fall out. Finally, she sighs. “I don’t know. Just tell me again what you write.”
Try browsing Reddit on this issue. Holy hell are bots gone all insane justifying that “Hamas needs to be crushed” on any civilian death. It’s a fascinating case study on how perceptions and narratives can be morphed and controlled.
Don’t have to go to reddit - you can just head on over to c/worldnews here on Lemmy to see the pro-Israeli hasbara narratives being allowed by the mods there.
Appeal to consensus is a fallacy. One that especially doesn’t work well on the internet, because platforms are generally quite able to be influenced by bots or by removal by moderation staff or platform owners.
If you exclude exclusively political lemmy instances like lemmygrad, lemmy is at most slightly more politically liberal than reddit, but without astroturfing racists being able to declare what makes it to the front page.
I don’t think it even breaks down to “liberal” or “conservative”. There’s an objective way of looking at what’s going on, the pro-Israel narrative is basically dependent on ignoring anything that happened before or after Oct. 7, omitting all other facts.
They did try. It was that there might be terrorist infrastructure there. They know there’s civilians there, but there might be infrastructure. They’re still looking into it, but they dropped that bomb, anyway.
Ford Motor Co.'s second-quarter profit more than tripled to $1.92 billion versus a year ago (source)
Revenue rose 12% to $44.95 billion
Kinda hard to drum up sympathy for the company when it’s raking in almost $2 billion in profit per quarter. Yes, Ford is burning about $1billon per quarter on EVs right now. That’s not something the workers should be financing. That’s money the company is investing to be viable in the future. That sucks for the shareholders; but, they are the ones who will reap any benefits of that investment and they should be the ones eating the cost.
“Outlaw,” which is a fucking incredible name for a police commissioner, is really just saying the quiet part out loud. “It’s very difficult when the details of a case change, and change in such a public way.” Like…difficult for who, you fucking monster?
This murderer is on a paid vacation. Because he murdered someone in cold blood—AND THEY ALL FUCKING LIED ABOUT IT. THEYRE ONLY GETTING CAUGHT BECAUSE THE FAMILY HAD THE RELATIVELY GOOD FORTUNE TO GET A DECENT LAWYER. WHAT THE FUCK.
This isn’t about the individual murders. Of course it is, but in the larger sense, how the fuck can these fuckers just keep perjuring themselves, and then when they get found out just paint the issue as, “oh, well, we are working to get the details straight.” MOTHERFUCKER, YOU ARE THE ONES OBSCURING THE GODDAMN DETAILS.
God fuckin dammit this is so incredibly fucked up. This is so, so, SO clearly a fucking system-wide problem. It’s not just the trigger happy cops. It’s the entire policing concept, it’s the entire concept of hierarchy, it’s legally protected murderers and liars and—honestly, just some fuckin assholes. No one should have this power. Yet here we are trying to figure out how to continue the problematic part without the ultra problematic part.
Go to the cop subs at reddit. They can't get past "everyone hates us because we catch them breaking the law" or "everyone hates us because they don't know what a hard job it is."
No assholes, it's because very nearly every single time there is video of a controversial event what turns out to be true? Cops lied, and would clearly have never come clean about those lies without BOTH the video AND public outcry and/or unsanctioned investigation of one sort or another.
Here's two other recent headlines about exactly that.
Anyone paying attention in recent years can rattle off more names almost without thinking.
There's a clear pattern across a wide number of departments. They are all about the legal power to end life or dispense life-altering injuries, but not whatsoever about culpability when they fuck it up. THAT is what is feeding public distrust of police, and it's not going to stop until it becomes the exception rather than the very observable rule.
You can choose to upload your own image instead of using a thumbnail pulled from the article, so I suspect that might be what OP did. To get attention, maybe?
You can see this thread on the original instance, and notice that this thumbnail doesn't exist there. Kbin pulled this because another link that was posted around the same time had this thumbnail, and Kbin duplicated it for some reason.
EDIT: I don't really know how to report bugs properly, but if anyone knows how to see if this has already been posted on the project page, please feel free to do so.
I remember a bunch of years ago there was a day or so where Imgur had a bug that had randomly re-associated all of its URLs to other images. It was a fun sort of image roulette, if you didn't mind surprise pornography sometimes being the result.
Then maybe they should have corrected them when they were just starting out on all the crazy, rather than endorsing the dude that’s literally the closest thing this world has seen to the anti-christ.
Man there was this (satirical, but not inaccurate) blog about how trump actually matches many features of the anti-christ, but I can’t find it now, only a bunch of blogspam copying it
I'm not saying it's "special". Hypocritical, counterintuitive, ironic, sure...
What I'm saying is that Trump represents the very antithesis of what Christianity preaches. He is a very high-profile and public embodiment of their "seven deadly sins". Which, to me at least, is very anti-christ-like. I'm not sure why you need that spelled out...
I mean, if we’re being all passive-aggressive I’ll also happily point out that the seven deadly sins have nothing to do with the antichrist technically, they are not even mentioned in the bible afaik. So bit of a crappy argument really
Remember, the Antichrist is not just "really evil person". It's "really evil person who convinces a lot of people that he's a good person and a prophet".
The term is open to interpretation, but it certainly doesn’t simply refer to non-christians.
Some interpretations view the antichrist as a specific individual or figure who opposes Christ in some hypothetical, end of days type situation, while others see it as a broader symbolic representation of a certain figure or person that represents the complete opposite of Christ’s teachings or the spirit of Christianity.
“Anti” can mean “opposite” just as much as it can mean “against”.
It may be there are worse people but they are more akin to satan (e.g Hitler was atheist (well not really he believed in the occult but didn't go down religion). Trump claims to be some sort of Jesus figure to religious so hits some.of the "pretends to be Christ" points of.the antichrist
(Edit Hitler religious views are very complex but I still. Stand by point he less acted like "Christ" figure than trump)
I’m going to take issue with your simplification and classification of Hitler, and the wider Nazi ideology here because I think this is very important given some of the patterns we see repeating from the early 20th century. There was a lot of nuance to the public and politically expedient viewpoints that Hitler professed regarding religion throughout his life versus his private viewpoints which colored the ideological mechanisms of Nazism.
It is tacitly incorrect to state that Hitler was an occultist, or an atheist by modern convention.
**Regarding Occultism:**He detested the mysticism, neo-paganism, and occult underpinnings that Himler brought to the party (specifically the SS). Hitler made it very clear that he considered these viewpoints to be sophistry and repugnant to his own view of the world, but he allowed them in so far as he supported Himler as a leader of the party.
**Regarding atheism:**Hitler, likewise, considered atheism to be an ideological evolution of Jewish Bolshevism that he believed was essentially responsible for the rise of Soviet Communism. It is well documented from close confidants who surrounded Hitler, and wrote about his views contemporaneously that he believed atheism was an ignorant and dangerous return to the animalistic hedonism of humanity.
Why am I bothering to quibble over these distinctions? Well, for one thing because truly dangerous political leaders generally possess the intelligence, as well as tactical forethought to manipulate and twist at the very heart of the tribal labelism that proliferates through the uneducated masses of society. They then warp these convenient in-group / out-group dynamics to fit the needs of their political ambitions. We see this today, although in a much lazier fashion, with the alliance of convenience between the neo-conservative and christian nationalist movements that have proven to be a foundational undergirding to the “Trump Cult” as it were.
We should all understand the complicated historical relationship of religion and politics from the 20th century. Especially regarding the manipulation of those relationships which lead to the rise of authoritarianism on a scale never seen before or since. Lest we go down that same road again, except the next time will invariably be the last time because the power of the technological panopticon we are now capable of creating would enslave humanity or destroy our species.
PS: If you’re interested in understanding the complexities of the religious and ideological positions espoused by Hitler throughout his life as well as the Nazi party as a whole this Wikipedia article on the subject is actually really good.
Someone mentioned this somewhere else in the thread, but the antichrist isn’t just a super-duper evil dude; he’s an evil dude with a religious following. He’s a guy where people voluntarily worship him. Not because they’re forced, not because they’re apathetic and just going with the flow, they willingly worship him. Additionally, trump has had pastors claim him to be sent from God, or that he is some kind of savior, which, iirc, is another characteristic of the antichrist. As evil as the others are, I’m pretty sure trump fits the bill better than they do.
The bible has a bunch of different references to oil, as it was used a lamp fuel(and some rituals).
This one refers to Revelation 6:6
And I heard a voice in the midst of the four beasts say, A measure of wheat for a penny, and three measures of barley for a penny; and see thou hurt not the oil and the wine.
From KJ or this one from the NIV
Then I heard what sounded like a voice among the four living creatures, saying, “Two pounds of wheat for a day’s wages, and six pounds of barley for a day’s wages, and do not damage the oil and the wine!”
Referring to how the price of food would go up, but oil and alcohol would not.
That’s an interesting read, thank you! Although I would still say most points on this list still apply to many fascist dictators
I’m not sure about the point regarding “one term”, surely the bible didn’t know about the system of presidential terms? How exactly does it say there? Same about oil, what is the biblical equivalent?
It’s all from the Benjamin Corey post I linked in a reply to the comment you’re replying to. The BIble is talking about different oil-- either food, or lamp oil. 'One term’s is a happy coincidence, the bible says ~3.5 years
considering his cult worships as the 2nd coming… he himself described himself as “the chosen one”, parrots reiligious one-liners while leading those who do worship him- and yes, that is the appropriate term- away from the teachings of christ.
Yea, it’s an archetype, but it’s funny how some predictions are oddly specific for such a broad recurrent archetype:
“… a despicable person will arise… a man of contempt… to whom the royal honor has not been rightfully conferred. He will slip in when least expected and will seize the kingdom through flattery and intrigue.” Daniel 11:21
“He will cause deceit to prosper, and he will consider himself superior… He will use every kind of evil deception to fool those on their way to destruction, because they refuse to love and accept the truth that would save them.” Daniel 8:25, 2 Thess 2:10
“But then the court will convene, and all his power will be taken away.” Daniel 7:26
From these, the Antichrist’s description is starting to sound like Hannah Arendt’s banality of evil and how that is scarier than fictional supernatural evil with horns and pitchforks.
It's a book of lessons learned from history, over a longer time span than our collective memory. Those who wrote it down knew that history repeats itself. Sadly many contemporary readers seem hell-bent on missing the point.
yep there are many like him around the world, and I’d wager to say that most of them are actually potentially more dangerous than Trump because they’re smarter and actually have an agenda of their own. What really did the USA in was not the person Trump, but rather that the whole republican apparatus and especially the corporate media went all in with him after it became clear he’d win the primaries. With the 2 party system, that means that basically half of the country was set up to deify him in a way that they haven’t really tried with previous republican candidates
'State' thugs is a strong term. Most police departments, by statements and actions, don't give a shit about what the government wants from them, except when it coincides with their ability to brutalize citizens with impunity.
If this was caused by actual inflation, Target wouldn’t be able to just lower prices on 5,000 items just because we’re struggling to survive. This isn’t inflation. This is unchecked capitalist greed.
Target would absolutely love to charge $1000 for a carton of eggs, and would if they could, but they can't. There has always been some ceiling price past which most consumers will simply walk away and go somewhere else. What exactly that number is depends firstly on the actual cost of getting the item in the first place, since no store will sell an item at a loss (unless they expect that to drive greater returns elsewhere), but then on how much money people actually have available to spend, and that very much is influenced by how much money the Fed is printing, among plenty of other things.
My point here isn't that corporate greed isn't a factor, but it's not a new factor. It's not like corporations were feeling generous in 2019 and then got in a greedy mood in 2021. They always have and always will charge as much as people are willing to pay, so any changes to what they're charging should be examined by looking at what other factors might be at play. In this case, they've probably realized that they've gotten past the point of driving too many customers away.
Obviously corporate PR will never come out and say "We're being greedy because fuck you, but we got a little too greedy so please come back", but that is and always has been the dynamic.
sorta my thoughts to. So you could have sold them lower the whole time. Surprise surprise. people buy less as prices rised and prioritize essentials. Banner times for purveyers of food and shelter.
And that’s a big part of why, despite everything Biden is doing, I am 100% voting for him. Because if Biden wins, there will be a 2028 election where we can hopefully find someone better, and I’m not convinced that there will be under Trump.
Four years of Trump came really close to turning this country into a kakistocratic dictatorship. I really don’t want to give him another chance.
Why not educate someone who is earnestly asking? There is so much information and misinformation, just typing “Biden Israel” into Google and expecting full context is hopeless.
Guys, I think this guy works in News /s. He’s being sensationalist, isn’t actually answering any questions anyone is asking, is focusing on the bad, and is seemingly reaaally determined to get a rise out of someone.
That’s a very true thing. The problem with search engines anymore. There’s so much money in propaganda and misinformation. Getting on and finding real information as opposed to false information can be a daunting task.
You fully misunderstood my stance. The person I responded to said “despite everything Biden is doing” as if he’s created other controversy. I was asking what that controversy is.
Not surprised. Republican voters won’t care, Centrists will lay the blame on Biden and Democratic voters who don’t see the full story get discouraged to vote for him.
The president doesn’t get to unilaterally declare law, he at best has the veto but his job is to forfill the will of the people and by extension Congress.
If congress orders the money and guns to Israel, he cannot stop them.
there will be a 2028 election where we can hopefully find someone better
I’ve literally had people utter this to me before every single presidential election that I’ve voted in and it’s never come true. Neither party has any incentive to improve things when they’re guaranteed to get votes because “the other guys are boogeymen!”
If Biden wins, then in 2028 he won’t be able to run again, and Trump won’t physically be able to. I’m reasonably confident there will be two “new” choices.
I’m very happy DeSantis seems to have crashed and burned, Christie had his last hurrah, and no one took Ramiswami seriously, but even Sanders’ age is a passing of the torch.
So, will you support Harris, Newsom, or AOC to go up against Abbot?
I’d support AOC but Newsom or Harris are more “status quo” Dems so they’ll probably get all the backing from the party in order to prevent a progressive from getting the nomination once again.
Trump can’t be both “different from everyone else” and “everyone’s worries about the guy are unfounded, he’s just another politician.”
While I know you didn’t say he’s the same, per se, you might as well by comparing alarms that Obama or Romney are going to be forever presidents to the guy literally “joking” about being a forever president that’s taken possibly criminal steps to subvert the results of an election already.
It’s not just the fringe paranoid folks saying “this could be the end of democracy as we know it if Trump wins.”
There are generally better things happening under democratic rule than republican rule. I get that it can feel small to those of us who want more radical change but there is a difference.
But I agree. Radical change is probably not happening from within the current system. Direct action and external pressure will be needed. But there is still a difference in how tolerant the two parties (and also between intra-party factions) will be of such a movement.
So when Trump pulls another January 6, but succeeds this time and declares himself president for life, do you think that will make the situation better or worse?
My concern is that he will run again and again until he dies. Ideally if he won this year he could never run again. Obviously he’s a fascist so he will probably try to stay in (again) but man I am not looking forward to the next 20-50 years of him. And I’m guessing he’s going to live forever at this point.
Trump has visibly diminished in the last 4 years, as has his influence. Now he seems like the tail the dog is wagging but before he called himself the dog. I just don’t see him lasting that long
For a half second I thought you were calling trump the clay rock superhero from the fantastic four.
I may have only thought it for a half second, but I’m still already making popcorn. Because of how entertaining it would be to watch you explain how trump is The Thing.
I hope you have your popcorn! I outsourced the explanation though.
Imagine Donald Trump as The Thing from the Fantastic Four: an oversized, lumbering figure with an unmistakable, gaudy orange, rock-like exterior. His presence is hard to ignore, not just because of his sheer size and brashness but because he bulldozes through political and social norms with little finesse, much like The Thing smashing through walls.
In this form, Trump’s bluntness and tendency to overpower conversations mirror The Thing’s raw physicality. His speeches are repetitive and simplistic, hammering his points home in a manner akin to The Thing’s catchphrase, “It’s clobberin’ time!”—straightforward and unsubtle.
However, just as The Thing struggles with his monstrous appearance, Trump’s public persona is marked by a mix of bravado and thin-skinned sensitivity. His abrasive approach often alienates allies and emboldens critics, making his interactions as rocky as his hypothetical exterior. Both figures are defined by their confrontational nature, but where The Thing’s battles are physical, Trump’s are rhetorical and often divisive.
That’d be quite the feat considering we have the Constitution and Congress. How do you suppose he’d succeed at this considering Trump and Co were basically laughed out of every courtroom when they brought their election fraud cases to court? He doesn’t need to be president for another Jan 6 to happen. He just needs a microphone and a big crowd of pissed off smooth-brains.
If paramilitary groups are how he seizes control of the government, then it doesn’t really matter whether he was elected or not because you’re talking about outright treason and a civil war, neither of which are predicated on him being elected to office first.
How can you say “who needs courts” when the courts already shot his election fraud nonsense down in every single case they tried to bring? The trial for J6 has barely begun so how can you claim the outcome already? He was already convicted in the NY civil fraud trial.
Maybe you should ask yourself why the guy who’s running against him can’t even be bothered to shape himself up when, as you claim, we’re on the verge of far-right paramilitary groups staging a coup if he doesn’t win? How shitty at your job do you have to be that you can’t even win against that?
You’re preaching to the choir here. Biden is shit. But, again, at least I know he’ll go away in 4 years. Trump is going to try his damnedest not to. He already fucking tried once. And frankly, the fact that it’s been four years and he’s free to try again is proof enough the courts aren’t doing enough to stop him. There’s a reason they’ve been pushing all this stuff until after election.
Open your eyes and stop pretending Trump is normal. In nearly 250 years that this country has existed, nobody has tried to pull the shit he’s tried to pull, and he will try it again.
People say we can find someone better next time and still vote for yell for everyone to vote for every Neoliberal like Biden when they show up on the ballot. The lesser evil route is what got us here now.
“Where we are now” is nowhere near as bad as things could be. Nazi Germany, Mussolini’s Italy, and Franco’s Spain all happened. Equally bad things could happen here, and in fact they have happened here. Remember how half this country’s economy was based on chattel slavery and it led to a bloody civil war? And how there was a genocide of the indigenous population? Is that what you want? Because that’s the kind of shit we’re in for if we let the fascists win.
Why on earth would you think democrats would allow for someone better in 2028? Biden’s win will prove that they can continue propping up fascist extremists and you’ll vote for fascist lite.
You’re not describing a strategy, you’re describing a slow death.
Hard agree. I’m tired of people saying the only way to avoid fascism is the guy who
sidestepped congress multiple times to fund/supply genocide,
is pushing legislation to strip leftist orgs of nonprofit status,
pushing legislation to make ANY criticism of Israel legally antisemitic so they can strip any college that allows protests of funding and accreditation
coming from a party that at the slightest whiff of a challenge had it legally ruled that they do what they want, voters and donors be damned
also a party equally complicit in moving the goalposts any time a third party comes close to meeting requirements for inclusion.
America has always been fascist, ruled by a singular corporate party with two wings. The quiet part is out loud now and even prominent democrats and pundits can’t help themselves but break out all the fascist stops on leftists.
When democrats and liberals say “we have to stop fascism” they mean “we have to protect my status quo and the fascism that benefits me.”
It most comes down to maintaining comfort. Liberals have no issue with groups being harmed by state violence from police and other groups when they aren’t the targets. Dems had 4 years to prepare and look forward to what is coming, and the best we have is Joe Biden standing between the status quo and Trump’s full-blown fascism.
They like to ignore that dems have had a few opportunities with the trifecta to actually codify these issues and enact stronger policies against the threats we face now (that were apparent at the time) but the problem is democrats don’t WANT to lock those basic rights issues down because they need the existential threat. Their only platform for like 20 years now has been “not those guys” so if they actually codified (for example) abortion or even better added it to an amendment - They wouldn’t be able to push this narrative that if you don’t vote for milquetoast mid right Biden then you’re actually WORSE than the fascists and you hate women and you’re handing their freedom to “”“the right”“” on a silver platter.
America has always been a single corporate party system, and both wings of that party are pushing for fascism because it’s the end goal of any capitalist system. It’s just a fight between “marginalized folk are slowly and quietly suppressed so my life continues as normal” fascism or “quiet part out loud day one which I would have to acknowledge” fascism.
I’ll take the lack of an argument as a confirmation that you understand what I said is true. Anyone who’s been alive for more than a single election has witnessed it, it’s pretty undeniable.
Even so, still better than a perpetual Trump dictatorship.
If Trump wins, he will, without a doubt, try again to end American democracy. He did before. And whatever you think of our current situation, at least we have a fucking voice right now.
It’s likely not better though, as the longer we let Dmeocrats play dick-grab with the GOP without actually fighting back tooth and nail (like politician’s like Biden are unwilling to do) the more the GOP is able to use their power in a way that’s concealed.
The reason RvW had a political effect is because it was shocking and too sudden. What will happen if we keep voting the lesser of two evils is people will get more and more acclimated to having their rights stripped away in small ways, rather than witnessing the horror in a way that’s easy to understand.
Even now, in this discussion, it’s difficult for you to see the pattern that’s occurring from the strategy you’re proposing of fear-based voting.
It’s uncertain whether a Trump term will allow for the GOP to enact their fascist take-over in full, but continuing to vote for the same milque-toast democrats is 100% a recipe for fascism because they will never reform on their own, and the general public will accept fascism if it comes slowly. I’m not going to try to tell you how to vote, but just own the consequences when they come and don’t try to blame others.
You seem to still be thinking in terms of Trump doing a term and going away. He won’t. He proved that on 1/6/2021, and his little jokes and musings now only reinforce it.
I have every expectation that, if Trump manages to become President again, he is not leaving that office until he dies. He will undo American democracy to keep his power. He already tried before.
Biden sucks. Democrats suck. You won’t catch me arguing with you there. But Trump is the death of the Republic.
And what chance do you think the Democrats are going to have to reform after Donald Trump undoes the entire democratic process and proclaims himself president for life?
He’s not going to go away quietly. We know this. He proved it on 1/6, and he’s outright saying it out loud again now. Stop pretending he’s just another politician. He’s a wannabe despot, and we need to not give him another chance to become an actual one.
Look, Biden is garbage. The Democrats are garbage. But at least they’re garbage that play by the fucking rules. If Trump wins, I honestly do not believe we are going to get another chance at this.
And what chance do you think the Democrats are going to have to reform after Donald Trump undoes the entire democratic process and proclaims himself president for life?
There’s no guaruntee he will actually be able to achieve this, it’s actually unlikely. The president is not a king, Project 2025 or not, they aren’t realistically going to be able to keep him in office longer than his term.
The only way out of this is getting fighters in office and the only way of doing that is making milque-toast “bipartisan” politicians politically unviable. And it is a long shot, but continuing support of the democratic establishment that has produced failure after failure simply will not work, no matter how long people do it. It won’t give us any opening
Neoliberalism has brought us to this point. It needs to be cast to the side as quickly as possible, not allowed to continue dragging the Democratic party down.
Look at it this way; Biden is willing to play chicken with our democracy himself, so what does that tell you he and the DNC think the actual immediate threat level is here? They seem pretty confident that it’s no big deal that Biden is neck and neck with Trump. That should be comforting to Biden supporters.
And what chance do you think Democrats are going to reform if you reward them for continuing to sprint rightward and enacting all the fascist policies NOW that you keep claiming you’re the only defense from?
Moving the goalposts any time a third party even comes close to the requirements for inclusion? Check
Having it legally ruled that voters and donors have no say in the DNC’s picks? Check
Pushing legislation to remove the red tape from stripping leftist orgs of nonprofit status? Check
Pushing legislation to make ANY criticism of Israel legally antisemetic so any school that allows protests can be stripped of funding and accreditation? Check
But at least they’re garbage that play by the rules
… yes, but do so to further the same fascist agendas.
If we don’t launch a general strike when the fascist Court guts the already weak NLRB then we’re going to lose everything. We’re already bringing back child labor, we’re already not lettting people retire, we’re already allowing union busting, but with the NLRB gone we’re fucked.
It means they were privileged enough to “escape” as if the spectre of the worlds largest military in the hands of tyrannical fascists won’t affect other places, too.
Further, it’s a real “I got out, you just need to pull yourselves up by your bootstraps” bullshit vibe that judges the weakest for being unable to escape.
The privileged will be happy to escape and leave the rest of us to suffer while preaching about how they saw it all coming and so should have we, as if we didn’t see it coming instead of simply not having the privilege to escape.
I doubt they will rule in his favor, or at least hope that is the case. The more likely scenario is that they’ll play for time. They refused to take the case early a few months ago so that it would be forced into a lower court. That court took it’s time and is now complete with the obvious ruling. Now the SCOTUS will take it up and sit on it till November.
This is doubtful. The Supreme Court fully understands that ruling the President has absolute immunity will serve to permanently undermine their own power. There is no material benefit to the Supreme Court in waiting to rule on this case, and every reason for them to make a hasty decision affirming the lower courts finding or simply refusing to hear the case altogether. Regardless of their own personal politics, it is extremely unlikely that the Supreme Court will make ANY rulings that serve to undermine or limit the authority of the judiciary.
You’re absolutely right. It’s highly unlikely they’d rule in his favor. As you said, that would give any president absolute power and that’s not agreeable to the court who, after overturning Chevron, will wield a lot more power themselves.
I hope they refuse the case. It would have been smart for the judiciary as a whole to do that a long time ago. Let trump face trial while they still had another viable candidate in the race. However, the strategy in all of his legal fights has been to drag this out as long as possible in the hope that he becomes president and it’s all null and void. Thus allowing him to never face trial and the court to never rule either way.
Now the SCOTUS will take it up and sit on it till November
I'm doubtful they'll sit on it. As you said, they already indicated a lack of desire to pick it up last time Trump submitted an appeal to them on this basis. I'm pretty sure everyone is expecting a repeat performance here. Remember the rule of four would apply here and I'm sure Sotomayor, Kagan, Jackson, and Roberts would do exactly the repeat as before.
There's just not the numbers to play petty favors for Trump here.
Don't be silly. They believe that the president would only have total immunity until they were impeached by Congress. So Biden would also have to execute anyone in Congress that would vote for impeachment. After that, he should be fine. Totally normal democracy in action.
That would be the most ridiculously stupid thing could do, it would be even more horrible and abhorrent than what Trump has ever threatened.
So, no.
What he could do, on the other hand, is unilaterally have him removed from any consideration for public office. And that would be perfectly sufficient. 
Joe Biden could also just revoke Donald Trump’s citizenship, which would then make him ineligible for office, and then deport him from the country. That would be simultaneously effective, and also completely hilarious.
Joe Biden could also just revoke Donald Trump’s citizenship
no, he can’t. there are extremely narrow circumstances under which that can be done, and this situation doesn’t warrant them. and, for, like, a zillion reasons, Biden shouldn’t exercise any extra-legal powers to do so when other options exist. (such as the one I mentioned).
That would be simultaneously effective, and also completely hilarious.
not a good enough reason, considering the multitudinous and catastrophic consequences.
To be clear, we’re talking about jokes being made about what Biden could do if the supreme Court grants the president unrestricted unilateral total immunity for all actions legal or otherwise.
So in the event that the president isn’t restricted by the rule of law or liable for the consequences of their actions, there’s a lot of things that Biden could do that would be advantageous for his personal political aims.
RealPage is one of the great unrecognized villains of the modern age.
Fun story, a few years back I caught my landlord overbilling me on utilities. I said hey I did the math and you owe me back $X and I'm not paying any more utilities until that amount I'd been overpaying has been used up. My landlord used Realpage for billing, and Realpage said no that's not how it works, we'll get it corrected but you need to keep paying what's in the system or you'll be delinquent. I said go fuck yourself, I have no reason to trust that you and the landlord will adjust it accurately if I give you more money, I'm not obligated to wait until your system figures it out, your system is your problem, not mine. I plan to pay amounts I actually owe and not amounts I don't. They said you really have to. I said hey check it out I think I don't, let's see which one of us is right.
We went back and forth about it for quite some time, including me telling my bank not to accept withdrawals from RealPage (since they started charging me even with emails expressly explaining that they were not authorized to), which made them even more irritated at me and charging me extra fees. I said dude I am more than happy to explain this all to a judge if you want to go that route. They said you really have to pay though, we've worked out the overbill and corrected it but you still have late and returned-payment fees. I said we went over this, go fuck yourself, did I stutter.
When I moved out my landlord tried to not give me back my security deposit until RealPage was happy with my utilities balance. I waited 31 days and then sent them a formal notice that if they didn't return my security deposit I was within my rights to take them to court and get paid triple and planned to do so in 7 days. They said it had all been a big misunderstanding and was there really a need for all this and gave me back my security deposit.
Just talking about it now again makes me amped-up and irritated.
I mean I'm glad it worked out right in the end. At the time I was just pissed, though.
Also, holy shit, I went back to look up some of the saga in my old emails, and there were definitely parts that were entertaining that I'd totally forgotten about. If you liked reading the summary check this out -- this is a short excerpt from one of some very long email exchanges I had about the whole thing:
Hey, I just logged in to look at sending a check for this month and I still see a balance for last month. Did you decide not to cash my check?
I'm not paying additional fees. I'm fine paying for my utilities. Charging me a late fee when I had a credit, that you didn't decide to apply until after the bill was due, is ridiculous. Charging me a fee to store my credit card, when you're refusing to un-store my credit card when I ask you to, is ridiculous. Again my bank's take on it when I talked to them about it was that it "sounds illegal." I'm sorta shocked that people put up with this + do business with you. Anyway let me know - just like last month, I'm fine sending you a check for what I actually owe you.
We have not received a check for your previous balance at this time. Once your check has been applied to the previous balance, you will receive an email notification. Until then, the full balance is still due on your account.
Okay, sure. I just sent via certified mail a check for $248.93. That represents:
$299.96, the amount currently on my account according to you for the past 2 months.
-$4 for the card storage fee from this bill (again, please stop storing my card; your system will not allow me to remove it)
-$4 for the card storage fee from March's invoice
-$8.11 for late fee from March's invoice
-$5.08 for late fee from February's invoice
-$4.84 for late fee from January's invoice
-$25 for returned item fee from January's invoice (I told you not to bill me, because I didn't owe you money - I'm happy that you eventually applied my credit to this balance instead of trying to collect more without authorization, but me putting a stop on you trying to bill me without authorization for money I don't owe you is 100% legitimate)
So in total $248.93. If there's anything above you feel like is justified let me know ... if (management agency) tries to take collection action against me for any of the nonsense above I plan to defend myself. I'm happy paying utilities and will not be paying random additional amounts of money. Hopefully that seems reasonable but whether or not it's acceptable to you, it's what I'll be doing. IDK why you guys do business this way, but best of luck with it I guess.
So the check, I sent to this address:
(photo)
Like this:
(photo)
The post office said they couldn't find your address. The best they could find was this (and I swear this is what they showed me, I'm not being funny):
(photo - their address is on Ritchie Road, but the post office I swear to God corrected it to "Bitchie Road")
So, that's where I sent it, certified mail. They said expected delivery is May 25th.
Again, best of luck.
There's more, including me threatening to charge them a late fee for the time when they owed me money and weren't willing to credit it back to me, but that's as much as I had time to dig back up right now.
Every credit card number is engraved on a golden plate which is stored in a special nuclear war-proof bunker and guarded by men with automatic weapons and combat armor.
When I stopped the payment with my bank in January, their system refused to let me use ACH payments anymore, and said I had to put in a credit card number in order to even log in and see my balance and history. Okay, sure. I put in a credit card number for a cash card that didn't have any money on it.
Then, their system said that I couldn't remove my credit card number from their system without putting in some other payment method (which had to be another credit card). But, in order to have a card number stored in their system (which I couldn't remove), I had to pay a $4 per month credit card storage fee.
This was when I started just mailing them checks and researching lawyers in Texas so I could take them to small claims court. I also sent the whole thing with documentation to the FTC explaining it as succinctly as I could.
No it wasn’t. He shoulda taken them to court sued and gotten on record this company acts this way so we hav precedent for this situation. In this story. No one wins. Company didn’t keep their security deposit and the renters time was wasted completely. No one won lol
Here in Brazil it’s much simpler because when you rent a place, basic services like electricity and water are transferred to you. So you get the bills, not your landlord.
And services like internet, you hire your own instead of using the ISP hired by your landlord.
USA landlords own the building so they get to say who your provider is and they will sometimes partner with a specific ISP and that is the only one you are allowed to use.
EDIT: OK so clearly some landlord are dicks and are telling people whom they have to use. I can see it if it’s included in the rent, but if not, I do not see how they could force someone. I am also not a lawyer and cannot speak the the legality of said practices. I have lived in a lot of apartments in a lot of places. Internet and electric have never been included in the rent,and I have never been told which provider I was required to use.
It is. Looked at an apartment yesterday who only provides Comcast as an ISP option and includes it mandatorily with rent payments. But sure be confidently incorrect
I’ve heard of just about any utility being included in rent and I’ve personally experienced a few of them being. Also it’s pretty easy if you own a large apartment building to have a say-so over who installs shit in your building. It’s all highly specific on the local context and how much of a greedy asshole the building owners are
It’s highly dependent on state and municipality but it actually is. I was shocked when I moved to San Diego and about half of all managed buildings we talked to had a single partner isp/cable provider. While it is technically in your rights to force them to let you install a dish because of federal laws, nothing requires them to let a different cable or internet provider run physical cable up their skyscraper so they all cut deals with just one for a kickback. We had to give up on a building we really liked because the only provider was still DSL
Okayyyyy, I’m sorry you believed what they told you,and maybe California has some crazy laws I’m not familiar with, but in Rhode Island, Massachusetts, Pennsylvania, and Alaska at least, renters can choose from whatever electric or internet providers are available in the area.
I actually just looked into it and it was 100% legal for landlords to do this until a new FCC rule kicked in in 2022. Your lived experience is not the same as actual laws. You are technically correct but only since 2022. Given I moved to this city in 2020, we can both be correct. Isn’t that neat? It’s likely the other commenter in the thread also had this experience before 2022.
This is pretty similar to how it is in the US at over 90% of the places I’ve ever rented. But since we’re the world leader in enshittification, this kind of scumbag bullshit has been on the rise over the last few years.
It isn’t consistent in the US. Some landlords or properties include utilities in the price of rent, some don’t. Some only include things like trash/water/sewer and it’s up to you to source an electric/gas/internet provider.
That's usually the US system, but occasionally not. Like a lot of things, there's no consistency; it's just kind of a big freedom free-for-all for better or for worse.
They always say this after they try to get away with bullshit.
They, in this case, could refer to banks, other corporations, your boss, politicians, police officers, etc. Anyone in a position of authority will inevitably be tempted to abuse that authority, or at the very least assume that their understanding of the situation is superior to the understanding of those over whom They wield that power. When conflict arises, if you’re correct regarding your rights, finances, etc., it’s “just a big misunderstanding, and can’t we all just get along?” But when They have the legal upper hand in a disagreement, They will fuck you with an iron bar and convince anyone watching that you are a deadbeat trying to pull one over on the rest of your fellow proletariats.
And meanwhile, guess who is constantly buying political influence to ensure they never lose the legal upper hand again?
The pandemic made me give up on working for other people, what I consider appropriate accommodation wasn’t in line and being told to put myself in danger as if it was a normal job requirement I signed up for made it real clear how valued workers are.
That being said. The first two things a person should buy once striking out on their own are a lawyer and an accountant. Those two peeps know how the world REALLY works. Youre not going to build stability from a shaky foundation, that’s just basic cause and effect y’know.
And having a lawyer on retainer is one of the best feelings in the world. It’s fuck you money, but you only need enough $ to pay your guy, not a warehouse of pandemic pine
I’m assuming it’s a trade, not many occupations put you in actual danger but are also ones you can strike out on your own. But I’ll admit my knowledge is limited.
Not a landlord, but I had a similar excuse thrown at me by a dealership. Towed my car an hour for a recall to a college town because everywhere else was booked for a while. They did close to $1000 of unauthorized work and then threw a fit when I told them I would not be paying for it unless they could show me a signed document where I agreed. When they realized I wasn’t a broke college kid after I threatened legal action and to report my car stolen if they were not willing to give it back, I got the “this was a misunderstanding, it never should have went this far” from the owner who had just called me a liar 10minutes prior. Such obvious BS
That is incredible you were able to advocate for yourself that way.
It’s exhausting to have to fight like that for a fair shake. It makes me sad because I know how much energy and focus that takes.
Even if the victims can recoup some money, settlements almost never pay out commensurate with what was financially lost. What’s more is that company and the landlords who utilize it will never be able to repay the people whose effort, happiness, and opportunity they stole.
Yeah it was like my own little holy war. It went on for quite a while. Honestly it's partly that I just like being a pain in the ass and being hostile to people, and this was a golden opportunity where it was warranted.
Think about if all the vitriol that goes into internet political arguments could instead be turned outwards at the people who run the fucked up system. It was a brief moment where that energy was channeled in a productive direction and towards the source of the problem.
Fuck yea man. I don’t understand how people can work for sleezebag companies. I know a lot of us have to work, I get it, but I worked phones (retention, the worst) for a credit card company for a bit and I was able to do it on the up, and be legitimately helpful for customers, all while I refused to upsell anything that they didn’t want.
I’d get “talked to” about it but I never cared. What’s a better experience for the customer? fuck your monthly metrics, the idea is to RETAIN customers, right? Well that starts by not fucking them off so you can make a bonus.
I never got a bonus, and I never cared. I’m of the mind that the product should sell itself, otherwise it’s not ready for market. If it’s not filling a need then it’s a waste of time and frankly, a companies resources. People generally don’t forgive corporations, nor should they. It still offends me that if sales weren’t what they were expecting it’s somehow the people at the bottoms fault, especially when the people writing the shit don’t have any need for the product. I won’t be moved from this rock. If my sales aren’t to your specs, take that back to legal and your ideas guys and tell them to try harder. Weak links can be found in more than one place.
Fwiw, I left the company, they didn’t let me go. To this day I refuse to carry debt or even own credit cards tho. Nope, doesn’t sit well with me. On the same vein tho, I measure how successful I am by how little I need and how little I spend, not how much I earn. This monopolization of everything has turned me staunchly anti-consumer (in the sense of consumption in general, not heil corporate/anti-customer. Right to repair 100%, revoke charters of those that bad faith skirt the intention). I both rue the reactionary in me, even if came from biological imperative, and fucking LOVE where Ive landed at the same time.
All you need to do in this world to win is kill your internal sense of justice but that’s a price too high. Team Rawls for life.
I don’t understand how people can work for sleezebag companies.
This is part one.
To this day I refuse to carry debt or even own credit cards tho.
I think this is part two.
It’s awesome that you do this, but if you can afford to avoid debt entirely you are probably somewhat priviledged compared to some. A lot of people in the US are working off student debts for degrees that didn’t quite deliver the jobs they were expecting. Or just were dealt a bad hand to begin with.
No man. In no way. I chop my firewood everyday. I have to rebuild everything I own. Everything. If it breaks, my life is learning whatever it is until it’s fixed. Case in point, my automatic transmission went out. I had to learn that and rebuild that. I am not a novice with a wrench, but that’s entirely because this is the life I’ve always had to live. I don’t not recommend it, I wouldn’t put my work load onto someone else and call that a rational thought.
July 5th we lost everything we own to fire. From our neighbors fireworks, we didn’t have any. Insurance told us to kick rocks. Starting over. Completely. Again.
No man. I’m not privileged. I got more help from my neighbors than my family, not to begrudge them, they’re all spread too thin too. I paid off my student loans in the mid aughties thankfully. I got the worst of the bunch, 3/4 of a degree, 4 years of debt and no degree. Thanks life. I took a vacation, once. I’ve been working full time since I was 15, almost 30 years now. I can’t afford dental care that I need and I don’t know what to do about that really, but I can tell, if it involves filling out 59 pages of bullshit that all says the same thing and spreading that nonsense around 5 agency, I’ll die from an abscess tooth first. The hoops required for help are indignant, and frankly, everyday the world makes a worse case for sticking around.
The only privilege I would say I have is I measure my success by what I don’t buy, which is the biggest middle finger I can give our society, as I teach others how to do the same. I’d go 128days on my dominant arm if that would put me at the negotiating table of an American General Strike. You couldn’t talk me out of it, in fact.
The only silver lining is that if I could not be me, then I would only want to be Diogenes.
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