American Politics IV: 1400 Reasons Why(A Stimulus Serial)

[Picairn]

It's not just a violation of international law, it's illegal under US law. Congress is supposed to have the sole power to declare war. By undermining its authority (admittedly something several presidents did before him), Bush eroded the democratically elected Congress, which in my opinion is a huge threat to American democracy.

Not really, Bush was authorized to use force against Iraq in the AUMF, which is a de facto declaration of war. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authori ... on_of_2002

[Kowani]

a functioning political party
(Image)

I get that they think it's all "we're badass, we're the storm" but like..."We're gonna wreck the place and cause millions if not billions of dollars of damage, displace massive amounts of people, destroy essential infrastructure, and overwhelm systems and services. When I'm done, I'll disperse without a trace leaving little of value behind."

nah, Nak was right
"we are the storm" is a Qanon thing
it's not a "normal" political slogan

[Umeria]

It's not just a violation of international law, it's illegal under US law. Congress is supposed to have the sole power to declare war. By undermining its authority (admittedly something several presidents did before him), Bush eroded the democratically elected Congress, which in my opinion is a huge threat to American democracy.

Not really, Bush was authorized to use force against Iraq in the AUMF, which is a de facto declaration of war. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authori ... on_of_2002

All that means is Congress was complicit in undermining their own authority. If it's not an official declaration of war it's unconstitutional.

[Postauthoritarian America]

Potential Cuomo challenger Tom Reed accused of abuse; don't hold your breath waiting for the chorus of Republican elected officials calling on Reed to resign tho...

Tom Reed isn't the governor of new york, hope this helps.

Tom Reed is a Republican US Congressman from New York. Al Franken was forced to resign from the US Senate because he was a little handsy and Democrats called for his resignation. Waiting for the chorus of Republican representatives to do the same. Waiting...waiting...waiting...

[Postauthoritarian America]

Not really, Bush was authorized to use force against Iraq in the AUMF, which is a de facto declaration of war. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Authori ... on_of_2002

All that means is Congress was complicit in undermining their own authority. If it's not an official declaration of war it's unconstitutional.

What it means is that the US Congress authorized planning and waging offensive war and so is complicit in the supreme war crime. Be that as it may neither W nor John McCain called for an insurrection to overturn the 2008 election result, ergo Trump is worse than either of them, QED.

[Umeria]

All that means is Congress was complicit in undermining their own authority. If it's not an official declaration of war it's unconstitutional.

What it means is that the US Congress authorized planning and waging offensive war and so is complicit in the supreme war crime. Be that as it may neither W nor John McCain called for an insurrection to overturn the 2008 election result, ergo Trump is worse than either of them, QED.

I mean Trump could have been much worse than Bush if his coup attempt had succeeded, but it didn't. The material consequences of Bush's presidency were much worse than Trump's (although Trump did do several war crimes of his own, such as the role he played in the Yemen genocide).

[Purgatio]

What it means is that the US Congress authorized planning and waging offensive war and so is complicit in the supreme war crime. Be that as it may neither W nor John McCain called for an insurrection to overturn the 2008 election result, ergo Trump is worse than either of them, QED.

I mean Trump could have been much worse than Bush if his coup attempt had succeeded, but it didn't. The material consequences of Bush's presidency were much worse than Trump's (although Trump did do several war crimes of his own, such as the role he played in the Yemen genocide).

He endangered democracy. He established an extremely-bad precedent because his almost-successful coup is almost certainly gonna incentivise future wannabe dictators to try it again if they think it could succeed, and the fact that Trump's attempt nearly succeeded doesn't exactly make for the best incentives there. The fact that he failed is good, obviously, but it shouldn't negate how dangerous and perilous it is to have a sitting President actively try and jeopardise democracy. Anyone who lives in an unstable democracy with a history of attempted and successful coups or post-election insurrections from the losing side (Thailand, Kenya, Venezuela etc.) can attest that the undermining of democratic institutions is a syncretistic process. Its not a simplistic all-or-nothing proposition where either democracy gets endangered or it doesn't, and nothing in between. Rather, to successfully underme democratic institutions in a presently-stable democracy generally requires a combination of many different steps, with people in power slowly pushing the envelope, gradually pushing the boundaries, gradually normalising what would have previously been unthinkable, shifting the Overton window on what is acceptable behaviour from a losing candidate, desensitising people to political violence, undermining faith and trust in the veracity or reliability of elections so electoral results become meaningless. So successful or not, Trump's nearly-successful Capitol coup in January 2021 has consequences in undermining faith in democratic and electoral institutions in future, setting a very dangerous precedent in the process.

[Heloin]

I get that they think it's all "we're badass, we're the storm" but like..."We're gonna wreck the place and cause millions if not billions of dollars of damage, displace massive amounts of people, destroy essential infrastructure, and overwhelm systems and services. When I'm done, I'll disperse without a trace leaving little of value behind."

nah, Nak was right
"we are the storm" is a Qanon thing
it's not a "normal" political slogan

The last few years must have been really annoying for anyone with actual Q clearance.

[Nakena]

nah, Nak was right
"we are the storm" is a Qanon thing
it's not a "normal" political slogan

The last few years must have been really annoying for anyone with actual Q clearance.

It's far more mundane and horrifying.

See also: https://twitter.com/m8urnett/status/1029123091123724288

tl;dr: Basically people falling for stuff someone randomly typed into their keyboard.

[Heloin]

The last few years must have been really annoying for anyone with actual Q clearance.

It's far more mundane and horrifying.

See also: https://twitter.com/m8urnett/status/1029123091123724288

tl;dr: Basically people falling for stuff someone randomly typed into their keyboard.

Keyboard massing clearly proves that someone only with DOE clearance to read classified data about nukes is going to reveal the satanic deep state. Conspiracy theorists live in a much more exciting world with what sounds like an extremely competent government to keep that kind of secret.

[Umeria]

I mean Trump could have been much worse than Bush if his coup attempt had succeeded, but it didn't. The material consequences of Bush's presidency were much worse than Trump's (although Trump did do several war crimes of his own, such as the role he played in the Yemen genocide).

He endangered democracy. He established an extremely-bad precedent because his almost-successful coup is almost certainly gonna incentivise future wannabe dictators to try it again if they think it could succeed, and the fact that Trump's attempt nearly succeeded doesn't exactly make for the best incentives there. The fact that he failed is good, obviously, but it shouldn't negate how dangerous and perilous it is to have a sitting President actively try and jeopardise democracy. Anyone who lives in an unstable democracy with a history of attempted and successful coups or post-election insurrections from the losing side (Thailand, Kenya, Venezuela etc.) can attest that the undermining of democratic institutions is a syncretistic process. Its not a simplistic all-or-nothing proposition where either democracy gets endangered or it doesn't, and nothing in between. Rather, to successfully underme democratic institutions in a presently-stable democracy generally requires a combination of many different steps, with people in power slowly pushing the envelope, gradually pushing the boundaries, gradually normalising what would have previously been unthinkable, shifting the Overton window on what is acceptable behaviour from a losing candidate, desensitising people to political violence, undermining faith and trust in the veracity or reliability of elections so electoral results become meaningless. So successful or not, Trump's nearly-successful Capitol coup in January 2021 has consequences in undermining faith in democratic and electoral institutions in future, setting a very dangerous precedent in the process.

I guess the question is whether doing war crimes directly is better than setting the stage for even worse things to happen in the future. There isn't really a concrete answer to that question, but in my opinion doing either should result in a permanent ban from the moral high ground. That's what I'm objecting to - Bush implying that his own hands are clean.

[The Derpy Democratic Republic Of Herp]

a functioning political party
(Image)

Q is just eating the repubs right now

In other news: repubs want voter supression.

[Cannot think of a name]

I get that they think it's all "we're badass, we're the storm" but like..."We're gonna wreck the place and cause millions if not billions of dollars of damage, displace massive amounts of people, destroy essential infrastructure, and overwhelm systems and services. When I'm done, I'll disperse without a trace leaving little of value behind."

nah, Nak was right
"we are the storm" is a Qanon thing
it's not a "normal" political slogan

My critique wasn't really reliant on who generated it, it's still stupid.

[Neanderthaland]

I get that they think it's all "we're badass, we're the storm" but like..."We're gonna wreck the place and cause millions if not billions of dollars of damage, displace massive amounts of people, destroy essential infrastructure, and overwhelm systems and services. When I'm done, I'll disperse without a trace leaving little of value behind."

nah, Nak was right
"we are the storm" is a Qanon thing
it's not a "normal" political slogan

[Eahland]

I'm hopeful that Congress abolishes the time changes this year and we stick with Summer time year-round like our European friends.

The EU is springing forward one last time this Spring before never looking back. 15 U.S. States have passed legislation to switch to DST/Summer time permanently in the past three years, pending Congress changing federal law to give states authority to do - or doing it themselves (current federal law says states can't have DST year-round). Another 27 states are currently considering DST-related legislation, most of which seeks to make Summer time/DST permanent year-round (DST-related legislation has been proposed in 28 states this year, but it failed in Virginia).

What are the odds Congress finally decides we can stop wasting our lives with remembering to spring forward or fall back?

I wish the meddling busybodies who think that getting adequate sleep is a sign of moral turpitude would at least be honest about what they're doing and stop fucking with the clock. Set 12:00 to noon and 00:00 to midnight, or as near as time zone approximation allows, and leave it there, and then see if you can sell, "Oh you have to get up for work an hour earlier now because waking up at 4 AM is great, there's so much of the day you're wasting! Also your kids have to catch the bus when it's pitch fucking black out now because winter sunrise isn't even until an hour after school starts!"

[Shrillland]

The Louisiana Congressional byelections were today. Alexandria-Monroe was a Republican Hold after Julia Letlow won her late husband's seat, whilst New Orleans Central-Baton Rouge is a Democratic Hold after two Democrats, more mainstream Troy Carter and progressive Karen Carter Peterson, go on to an April 24 runoff.

[Shrillland]

I'm hopeful that Congress abolishes the time changes this year and we stick with Summer time year-round like our European friends.

The EU is springing forward one last time this Spring before never looking back. 15 U.S. States have passed legislation to switch to DST/Summer time permanently in the past three years, pending Congress changing federal law to give states authority to do - or doing it themselves (current federal law says states can't have DST year-round). Another 27 states are currently considering DST-related legislation, most of which seeks to make Summer time/DST permanent year-round (DST-related legislation has been proposed in 28 states this year, but it failed in Virginia).

What are the odds Congress finally decides we can stop wasting our lives with remembering to spring forward or fall back?

I wish the meddling busybodies who think that getting adequate sleep is a sign of moral turpitude would at least be honest about what they're doing and stop fucking with the clock. Set 12:00 to noon and 00:00 to midnight, or as near as time zone approximation allows, and leave it there, and then see if you can sell, "Oh you have to get up for work an hour earlier now because waking up at 4 AM is great, there's so much of the day you're wasting! Also your kids have to catch the bus when it's pitch fucking black out now because winter sunrise isn't even until an hour after school starts!"

Permanent DST opponents already tried selling that argument in California, it didn't work.

[Kowani]

Date for release of Census Data moves up a month-but it’ll be in the old format

States under pressure to redraw congressional and legislature districts but facing a delay in the release of the needed data may be able to get the numbers in an outdated format in August, more than a month earlier than the planned date for their official release, a U.S. Census Bureau official said Thursday.

The redistricting data will be available in mid-to-late August, but they will be in an older data format that may be difficult for some states to work with since they require extra steps to be taken to make them usable, Al Fontenot, the bureau's associate director of decennial census programs, told a Census Bureau advisory committee.

[…] The availability of the redistricting data in the outdated format in August was first disclosed last week in a statement by a Census Bureau official in the Ohio lawsuit. The data officially released to the states in September will be on DVDs and flash drives with a software tool that makes it easy for browsing through the data, Fontenot told the Census Scientific Advisory Committee.

The data ready in the outdated format in August will need to be imported into a database. Relationships then will need to be established between files, and users will need to pull a subset of files to look at a specific geography.

Given the difficulty in using data in this format, any state using this data would have to accept responsibility for how they process these files, whether correctly or incorrectly," James Whitehorne, the bureau's chief of the Census Redistricting and Voting Rights Data Office, said in the court filing in the Ohio lawsuit.

The Census Bureau is planning to release apportionment figures, the state population counts used for determining how many congressional seats and Electoral College votes each state gets, by the end of April. One of the reasons the extra time was needed for the redistricting data is that the Census Bureau originally had prioritized tasks to get the apportionment numbers finished, pushing back work on the redistricting data, Fontenot said.

Despite the challenges of the 2020 census — the pandemic, hurricanes and wildfires — the Census Bureau hasn't uncovered anything so far to suggest that the data “will not be fit for its constitutional and statutory purposes," Fontenot told the advisory committee made up of demographers, computer scientists and geographers.

The Census Bureau is working with outside experts to evaluate the quality of the 2020 census data given the challenges, and two statistical programmers have begun analyzing the data, the American Statistical Association said Thursday.

Although some anomalies have been found during the processing of the census data, that's normal based on past experience, and they allow statisticians to fix potential errors, said Michael Thieme, an assistant director for Decennial Census Programs at the bureau.

[Shrillland]

Something that fell through the cracks this week...

The Arkansas Legislature passed a bill that would allow doctors to refuse any kind of treatments to patients that go against their religious beliefs

[Kowani]

Something that fell through the cracks this week...

The Arkansas Legislature passed a bill that would allow doctors to refuse any kind of treatments to patients that go against their religious beliefs

so trans healthcare and abortion in arkansas just died

[Shrillland]

Something that fell through the cracks this week...

The Arkansas Legislature passed a bill that would allow doctors to refuse any kind of treatments to patients that go against their religious beliefs

so trans healthcare and abortion in arkansas just died

And not just those things, but any treatments of any kind, so that could include things like providing insulin, organ transplants, blood transfusions, etc.

[Kowani]

so trans healthcare and abortion in arkansas just died

And not just those things, but any treatments of any kind, so that could include things like providing insulin, organ transplants, blood transfusions, etc.

...is there a substantial movement opposed to insulin? the latter two, i know that some fundamentalists hate them, but i've never heard of anyone whose actually opposed to insulin

[Shrillland]

And not just those things, but any treatments of any kind, so that could include things like providing insulin, organ transplants, blood transfusions, etc.

...is there a substantial movement opposed to insulin? the latter two, i know that some fundamentalists hate them, but i've never heard of anyone whose actually opposed to insulin

Among some Jews and Muslims, yes. The non-synthetic stuff still comes from cattle and pig pancreases.

[Kowani]

...is there a substantial movement opposed to insulin? the latter two, i know that some fundamentalists hate them, but i've never heard of anyone whose actually opposed to insulin

Among some Jews and Muslims, yes. The non-synthetic stuff still comes from cattle and pig pancreases.

learn something every day...

[Necroghastia]

Something that fell through the cracks this week...

The Arkansas Legislature passed a bill that would allow doctors to refuse any kind of treatments to patients that go against their religious beliefs

so trans healthcare and abortion in arkansas just died

Particularly since it's not just doctors, but insurance providers as well. Fuck.