So wait, can we gerrymander a state to get 51% GOPers elected and then re-gerrymander a state so the 49% of other representatives are now in solidly red districts then sue to have those elections overturned so we can achieve 100% representation of a party with a minority of popular support?
American democracy is so innovative, I don’t think any other country has innovated so hard!
Pass a law in a few places that the state legislature can overrule the state results for president
Those states are enough to pick the president we want
President then fires all federal law enforcement or administrative official who's not loyal to him, replaces them from the Project 2025 binders, and just announces deployment of the military in the US and that anyone who's against him is illegal and goes to prison or shot
Bingo bango. More direct, less complicated, more permanent, nationwide results. Your thinking was along the right lines but too rules-based. Takes too long. Not enough innovative enough within the current system.
The fact that people still fail to understand this when the playbook is very literally available online in full form baffles and infuriates me. Like, there are Republicans who are doing things now that are in - or will very obviously enable specific goals listed in - that plan. They’re not even trying to hide it anymore.
Binding legal precedent us only set by appeals court rulings. If this is appealed and upheld, THAT will be a precedent setting. Otherwise, judges can pretty much ignore this case and rule on similar cases with similar facts in a way they see fit.
"We hope Judge Jones will not further delay justice by appealing but, instead, face Harris County voters in a new election when ordered by the court,” Simpson said in a statement.
Appeal that shit. Then, appeal that appeal and push it till the November elections when people will be voting anyway.
The signs held in the pic have terrible kerning and uninspired font choices. And guess what, I like it that way – a banner displaying corporate professionalism would indicate astroturfing.
In your legalized sex brothels, do you legally have to pay a portion of your paycheck to the house? If you’re working for yourself, do you have to purchase a license from the government, and do your own taxes and all that on your income?
It depends on the contract between the brothel and the sex worker, a normal employment where you get paid by the brothel and your taxes are deducted automatically is possible, but it will probably mostly be freelance, with the worker paying the brothel for services rendered; in some establishments, you pay 5-30€ flat-tax per day (with receipt), which the brothel paying that to the state and you do your taxes at the end of the year and then get a tax return (or have to pay more).
woelkchen@lemmy.world posted this, which gives a good overview:
I still continue to fail to understand the logic these people are trying to use.
I completely understand the dissatisfaction with the Biden administration and his support for an ally who is currently committing genocide on the daily. And if there were a candidate who wasn’t a completely batshit wannabe dictator, I’d at least understand why they’d vote for anyone else over Biden, if not agree with it.
But this is not the case. What these people fail to understand because they’re literally blinded with rage is that the only other option is exponentially worse. Trump isn’t going to stop Israel from bombing Gaza into oblivion. He’s said as much. He basically wants to glass the entire area. Do these people not realize that what Trump wants to do is exponentially worse?
Voting for Trump because you don’t like Biden’s policies on Israel and Gaza isn’t shooting yourself in the foot. It’s shooting yourself in the foot, then reloading the shotgun when you realize you missed a few toes, then wondering why the hell your foot hurts and you’re bleeding all over the place.
I understand the rationale of “I cannot in good conscience vote for a man who has supported and partially funded a brutal genocide.” But at the same time, you’re advocating for a man who’s literally campaigning on “I’ll genocide harder!”. Why?
If you think Trump is, in any situation, a viable option for anything, please seek professional help immediately. There is never a situation where Donald Trump’s decisions or actions are ever going to make your life better. Full stop.
Yet you understand the logic by Biden to not do the most obvious thing and stop supporting a genocide? Where is his urgency about US democracy? He has the power. Right now.
These people have a real reason to be angry and hold the Biden admin accountable, Biden does not have a justification for pushing ahead on his support of Israel. None.
Attempting to “hold Biden accountable” by supporting, advocating for, and voting for someone who has already gone on record as saying he wants to do even worse is probably not going to work out the way you think it will.
I understand the position that people are in. It’s pretty much Sophie’s Choice. Vote for Biden, who’s supporting an ally that is currently committing genocide, or vote for Trump, who says he’ll genocide harder. Or stay home and vote for nobody, and end up with Trump anyway. There’s no good options here. I get that.
Nobody wants to vote for a man who says “Vote for me and I’ll kill your wife”. But at the same time, the counter to that isn’t to advocate for the opponent who’s saying “Vote for me and I’ll kill your wife, your kids, and I’ll piss on your dog while I’m doing it.” I’m not saying I know what the best option is, but I know that Trump of all people certainly isn’t it and will just make the problem much worse.
Neither party is going to change in any real way, my only hope is that the GOP will rip itself apart and finally die the death it’s been fighting tooth and nail to delay, and then an actual left leaning party can arise in the FTTP system and the DNC can slide into the place of the more conservative of the two. At which point we can hopefully get ranked choice or star voting. A hilarious pipe dream I’m sure, and one that will take too long a time for anyone’s satisfaction. But it would take far less time for good things to happen that way that to fight out of a dictatorship, or rebuild after the country descends into civil war.
There won’t be time for the DNC to learn the lesson you want to teach them and then apply corrections, a second Trump term is a watershed moment for the future of the country, the world, and democracy. We won’t get a chance to try again in 4 years
100% I agree, I was just trying to spell out how we might still have some solid progress through them, I’m not one of the folks hesitant to vote for Biden. I don’t like him, the DNC, or that I have to do it but i understand the calculus, there’s no other option if you want to avoid catastrophe
Understood. And fundamentally I agree, it would be great if the DNC could live up to the role of opposing conservatives but we’ve got what we’ve got and trust me, we can make this worse…
Congress holds the power of the purse. If congress appropriates the money, the president is legally obligated to spend that money for the reason that it was appropriated. (It’s called impoundment of appropriated funds.) This is why Trump was impeached the first time; he tried to withhold funding from Ukraine–before Russia invaded–that had already been appropriated by congress unless he got personal quid pro quo from Zelensky. Trump did not have the legal authority to withhold that funding, and hence was impeached for corruption.
Similarly, Biden can’t withhold money appropriated for Israel. He can, at best, veto the appropriations bill, which would send it back to Congress to be overridden. (Given that it passed 79-21 in the Senate–I can find the House vote tallies at the moment–it is highly likely that his veto would be overridden.) Should he do it anyways? Sure. But it would be purely symbolic.
The only options Biden has are diplomatic, which he is exercising. He could arguably use the military to invade, but congress would pull him up short on that very fast. Could he do more diplomatically? Yes, definitely. Can he unilaterally stop Israel? Categorically no.
Not everyone in the Arab world looks favorably upon Palestine. They don’t care that Trump plans to escalate the genocide.
A lot of them are socially/fiscally conservative. Just because the Republicans lean overwhelmingly Christian doesn’t mean that their values differ entirely from Islam. Anyone who hates abortion, gay/trans people, and wants to keep drugs criminalized will be more inclined to vote Republican despite the widespread islamophobia.
The anti-Biden campaign, which is taking advantage of the Israel-Palestine conflict, has been successful at convincing voters, even if they are unwittingly voting against their own self-interest. The Republicans are good at that, such as how effectively they sway members of the working class towards supporting rich oligarchs and racial minorities to vote for racist candidates.
Not everyone in the Arab world looks favorably upon Palestine. They don’t care that Trump plans to escalate the genocide.
So if they either don’t care about Palestine or want to escalate the genocide, then why the hell do they care about Biden’s handling of the situation in the first place?
At best, they should be indifferent, no?
A lot of them are socially/fiscally conservative. Just because the Republicans lean overwhelmingly Christian doesn’t mean that their values differ entirely from Islam. Anyone who hates abortion, gay/trans people, and wants to keep drugs criminalized will be more inclined to vote Republican despite the widespread islamophobia.
This is a classic example of voting against their own interests.
The anti-Biden campaign, which is taking advantage of the Israel-Palestine conflict, has been successful at convincing voters, even if they are unwittingly voting against their own self-interest. The Republicans are good at that, such as how effectively they sway members of the working class towards supporting rich oligarchs and racial minorities to vote for racist candidates.
This is very true. If you can say one thing about the GOP, they’re specialists at getting the message out and convincing people to vote against their own interests.
You’re failing to understand because people are near-braindead levels of stupid. Democracy only works when the populous is generally well educated. We’ve been shooting ourselves in the foot in regards to education for a long time in this country that most people come out with the intelligence of a 5th grader, then say stupid things like “Trump is better than Biden”.
And what do they think is going to happen with Trump? A man who has already gone on record saying he’d do that and more?
Like I’ve repeatedly said, I understand and even support their point of view regarding Biden. But their only alternative is exponentially worse, and voting for Trump because you’re pissed off at Biden is a textbook example of cutting off your own nose to spite your face.
I legitimately don’t know how to handle these sorts of situations. I’ve learned that my methods don’t work on people with strong emotions on a subject without a 1 on 1 and some intoxicants.
I don’t believe this myself, but there is a not entirely ridiculous argument that when Democrats are doing the militarism against Arabs there’s no resistance at all, while when Republicans do it the Democrats (and aligned media) at least try to work against them. I don’t think that’s how it actually works out (I think the Democrats don’t really try and thus are completely ineffective), but I can see why a rational person could come to that belief.
Like take the protests right now vs. BLM. BLM wasn’t exactly a great performance by the Democrats, but there was at least some token support for the validity of their cause, but since Biden’s in power and the protests are in some part a criticism of him, everyone’s working overtime to discredit them and pretend like the only thing worth talking about it some smattering of antisemitism. There may be platitudes about having the “right to protest” while studiously avoiding referencing the reason they’re doing it, but most of the messaging is about outsider agitators, antisemitism, and violence (leaving aside that it’s mostly been committed against them).
So who’s fault is it when Trump is elected and gives Israel everything they need to make the current genocide look like a schoolyard spat by comparison?
Your logic is a prime example of cutting your nose off to spite your face.
Biden’s. Folks have made it clear, delete Israel or we get Trump. They are litterally willing to blow themselves up, what makes you think they won’t elect Trump first.
You’re upset with Biden for not doing more to stop the genocide in Israel, so in response you’re going to elect someone who’s literally campaigning on “I’ll genocide harder!”?
It would be one thing if the Republican candidate were someone who was pro-Palestine. But this? This is like standing in front of the firing squad, and your last words being an objection not because you’re innocent, but because those carrying out your execution don’t have big enough guns.
No, it’s more like declaring that if they’re going to shoot me, I’ll convince them to shoot you next. You’re suddenly a lot more motivated to stop them shooting me aren’t you?
It’s the good ol, stop Israel now or we’re going to burn thos place down. And Biden should fucking listen to that.
I mean my coworkers families are in danger today, why would you expect them to give a shit about an election six months away when they might get the call to find out they don’t have relatives tomorrow.
Because they’ll still exist tomorrow, and the not-having-relatives-danger only increases by supporting the republiQan?
Is this really that difficult to understand? Using this watershed election as an entry-point to understanding how national politics and foreign relations work (or don’t work) is not only irresponsible, it’s tragic timing. Perfect timing for russia tho. Coincidentally.
Please explain how electing a Republican in 6 months could possibly lower their families chances tomorrow. People not pressuring Biden are telling them don’t worry six months from now you can keep things exactly as bad for your family as they are now, but if you don’t we promise it will get even worse.
0 opportunity to improve things and a fat chance to make them worse, gee I wonder why they’re not sold. Dead is dead, and we are asking them to give us six months of waiting on the off chance that things would be worse the other way.
I’m going to keep it 💯 with you. Those people are in danger no matter who is in office because Israel is hellbent on commiting genocide, and the United States is strategically aligned with Israel. That isn’t going to change in the immediate term no matter what delusions you or anyone else might have.
What will get A LOT fucking worse is the future for everyone in the United States that is not part of the oligarchy if Donald Trump gets back in office. There won’t be any chance to make reforms, or change US foreign policy. Anybody that isn’t white, upper class, or a collaborator is going to become a second class citizen.
So it is time to decide whether you are going to support the party that is going to preserve democracy, or if you are going to doom this country because you want everyone to identify with the suffering of those in Gaza. Either way, Gaza will be in the same position that it is in right now. All we are discussing is whether we are going to doom millions more people along with them.
Or Biden could change course? He’s got time and the ramping up of pressure against him will hopefully reach a fever pitch that he’ll have no choice but to do so. If not, then he really likes Israel more than he likes democracy, and it’s as much his fault as it is the people who refuse to vote for the guy who’s killing their family members.
It’s really weird how people have seen the ramping up in pressure cause him to change course and then just decide that’s the limit, and further pressure will be ineffective.
Please explain how electing a Republican in 6 months could possibly lower their families chances tomorrow.
Certainly. The republiQan party’s ties to the Netanyahu right-wing government are much stronger and more aligned. They also wish to wipe out the population of Palestine and take their land. The Democratic party does not align with those goals.
That’s how they could lower their familie’s chances. Does that make sense?
It doesn’t. This is our american bed. Lay in it. This is what happens when lobbyists and affluent people are allowed to place hundreds of millions of free speech into the pockets of politicians. This is what happens when religion and government mix, even slightly. The only chance those people have of America ending support tomorrow is a violent uprising that would most likely make everything worse for every American. Pick your poison, they all cause death.
I’m definitely not voting for Trump. I live in a blue state where my vote doesn’t matter anyway. I’m just saying, you guys aren’t helping as much as you think you are. Look at it from their point of view. They’re not thinking rationally, and honestly, I don’t expect them to. It’s an emotionally charged situation when people you know or people like you are being genocided. The effort would be better spent trying to force Biden to change tactics on supporting Israel before election day.
If the choice is between just them being fucked and everyone being fucked, there’s plenty of people who would choose the latter, especially if that threat could potentially be used to reduce their fucking. Maybe just try to do something to help people whose families are dying instead of pleading for them to think of you?
a) That you need to enhance a Trump victory to him bombing US cities has to induce some minimal recognition that you’re going far off course.
b) That you think people wouldn’t risk their lives to save their family really speaks to how dumb it is to stick your head into their business. It’s just a hypothetical in a game theory thought argument to you, not actual people.
That b point sounds like a wild assumption. Israel is ruled by a right wing extremist party. Can you see how we don’t want a right wing extremist party to take control here? That’s the relation. No game theory hypothetical.
The right wing party is killing people outside of Israel. Most Israelis are perfect fine with the bloodshed, just as most Americans were happy with our decades of war and drone strikes. And you’re still not approaching this as if real people these voters loved are being killed right now because of Biden’s policy choices. It’s not an assumption, it’s evident in how flippant you are about them just letting it go.
Yeah there aren’t any US Presidential elections before November, that I’m aware of anyway.
I mean after six months is a kind of tomorrow, it’s just not literally tomorrow. Using the election to press a point is not really relevant if we’re not talking about the election though. We’d otherwise just agree.
They want him to change NOW. Not six months from now after he’s elected. NOW. The electoral threat is meant to cause current changes.
Threatening to vote against a politician is really the only leverage voters have, and it’s not like they just wait until the week of an election to demand things. “If you don’t do this, I won’t vote for you” is a standard template for demanding action.
well, howabout this: we’ll join in all the foot-stomping and loud sighing up until the election. If we can get some concessions through it - great! All for it.
But we vote Biden in November. Because if you want to drive the election like an asshole and steer it into the ditch so trump gets in - Yeah, no. Not just no, but HELL no.
How is this even a question? Do you even know what you’re talking about? Have you ever even voted before? Honestly the cavalier attitude to trump getting in is batshit insanity. I hope y’all are just stoned as fuck.
Sure, that seems pretty reasonable to me. It’ll notably look exactly like what you’re exasperated about though. “We’re definitely going to vote for you but we’re angry” is shorthand for “ignore me”.
Only if the whole “representative” part of democracy is a sham and a joke. I don’t think it is.
It’s weak, yes, in some ways broken, constantly under siege, in actual existential danger at the present time - but it’s real and the best version we’ve come up with yet in the history of the world. And it wasn’t easy to get here.
It’s representative because the representatives need their constituents’ votes to stay in power. It may not be a spoken exchange, but that’s exactly the exchange that takes place with every call. That’s not a sham, that’s exactly what makes it a democracy. The idea that elected officials broadly act out of the goodness of their hearts is describing a benevolent aristocracy. Also a fantasy.
And they do things for their constituents because otherwise they will lose votes. Which you seem to think would only occur if the democracy was a joke rather than the very core of the system.
Not “only” because they’d lose votes, but yes that is a feature of the representative system. What is it you think I’m saying about it? I think you’re saying representative democracy is bad because the representatives need votes to be in office . . . ?
It’ll notably look exactly like what you’re exasperated about though. “We’re definitely going to vote for you but we’re angry” is shorthand for “ignore me”.
Only if the whole “representative” part of democracy is a sham and a joke. I don’t think it is.
This sounds like you believe telling a representative that your vote is assured but your angry with their choice will get them to take your concerns seriously unless the “representative” part is a sham, but there’s no inherent expectation of goodness in a representative democracy. If they don’t want to do something and you (and all your allies) tell them “we want you to change your position, but we’re going to vote for you regardless of what you do”, you’ve told them all they need to know, because ignoring you won’t cost them any votes and presumably the other choice either will or is just what they’d like to do.
“Representative” democracy just means we hand over immediate power to the people we vote for to do the day to day governing. It doesn’t mean they actually innately represent their constituents nor does it involve just guessing who’d be best every four years and then sitting back and hoping it goes well.
Politicians ignore their constituents all the time. I’m glad that Biden doesn’t give a fuck that some pro-life zealots are big mad that he doesn’t ban abortion. He knows they have almost no chance of voting for him and it would lose him a bunch of his actual voters. But if we all got together and said “hey Joe, don’t worry about what we want on abortion, we’re 100% with you regardless”, he might start thinking about softening his stance on abortion bans to pick up a few more votes from the zealots. You can leave the threat to not vote for them unsaid, but the threat is what gets them to change their stance, and if you preemptively rule out ever taking away the thing they want in the transaction, they have no reason to do so.
Votes in exchange for policy is the whole deal. There’s no requirement in a functioning democratic system for the representatives to just do stuff out of innate goodness.
Who are ‘the Arabs’? Would that be the same ones that billions of dollars of investment in buying Trump? Does it really seem odd that they’d want their asset back in the White House?
This isn’t a failing of Biden. This is unchecked corruption.
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