I mean, yeah. That’s a fair point, too. If enough people in Congress actually wanted it they could make it happen.
Gas Bandit's Political Thread V: The Vampire Likes Bats
- Thread starter GasBandit
- Start date
That's the thing, though. Too much of Congress is already doing whatever they want... instead of doing their JOB which is to represent the populace.
--Patrick
People cannot avoiding doing the right thing for fear that someone villainous will find a way to abuse it in the future. Nothing will ever get done.
And I get that. Doesn't stop my worry.
GasBandit
Staff member
The important thing is accountability. As long as anyone can be, and everyone is, held accountable to others, we can have some reassurance.
This was the intent behind the federal government's checks and balances. Unfortunately it has been undermined by an entrenched two party system and decades of intellectual and ethical erosion by moneyed interests.
This was the intent behind the federal government's checks and balances. Unfortunately it has been undermined by an entrenched two party system and decades of intellectual and ethical erosion by moneyed interests.
The 80s-90s-00s were a three decades long slow slide from democracy into corporatism as a government form in most of the West. While I'd argue the US is slightly further along than some European countries (mainly because of the 2 party system and because the US is so big and important as a market - lobbying to the US is obviously vastly more important than, say, lobbying in Greece), it's the same in all Western countries. Money buys power, and lobbying has become so central as to be impossible to get rid of - ti's all "free speech" and "interested parties" and all that jazz.
Rich and powerful face no consequences. This has always been true up to a point, but the point's been moving lately. I really fear we'll go a long way towards "worse" before we reach the point of guillotines and wide spread societal upheaval.
But the whole "no consequences for the powerful" goes along with the way we're looking at Russia these days, too. The amount of people who seem to really believe the only way forward to peace is to give Russia the Donbass or more is staggering. Appeasement has NEVER solved or avoided a war. Consequences should not be "well, ok, you get what you want and we'll just sort of ignore how you got it". But that's exactly where we'll end up. See also: Qatar World Cup, Brazil STILL destroying the Amazon at an INCREASING pace, etc etc.
Rich and powerful face no consequences. This has always been true up to a point, but the point's been moving lately. I really fear we'll go a long way towards "worse" before we reach the point of guillotines and wide spread societal upheaval.
But the whole "no consequences for the powerful" goes along with the way we're looking at Russia these days, too. The amount of people who seem to really believe the only way forward to peace is to give Russia the Donbass or more is staggering. Appeasement has NEVER solved or avoided a war. Consequences should not be "well, ok, you get what you want and we'll just sort of ignore how you got it". But that's exactly where we'll end up. See also: Qatar World Cup, Brazil STILL destroying the Amazon at an INCREASING pace, etc etc.
For a republican? Yes
It's practically a requirement in order to be considered for office, these days.
--Patrick
With those neck angles he'd be in a wheel chair...
never mind.
never mind.
GasBandit
Staff member
Arizona judge rules that 'law enforcement' is NOT a profession
A challenge to the makeup of Arizona's Board of Executive Clemency redefined the dedicated individuals who enforce the law, and not in a good way.
TL/DR; the AZ Board of Executive Clemency (the people who conduct parole hearings for and decide whether or not to pardon a crime) cannot have more than two persons of a profession. Well, the AZ board has 3 former law enforcement "professionals." The panel is supposed to be diverse for a reason: to get a broad and educated spectrum of ideas. Biasing a parole board towards law enforcement is a dirty way of keeping people in prison.
Welp, if this happens, I'm done with Twitter.
Sad thing is it's not even Twitter. They have no say in any of it. The board of directors put in by shareholders are the ones that will accept the deal or not and basically let Musk buy out all the shares.
Trump held in contempt for failing to comply with New York AG's subpoena
A state judge ordered the former president to pay $10,000 every day until he respects the subpoena for documents as part of an ongoing civil investigation into his business dealings.
www.politico.com
$10k a day? That'll add up.
figmentPez
Staff member
So far everything against Trump has added up to nothing. The contempt charge could be a million a day and it wouldn't matter if he's never forced to pay it.Trump held in contempt for failing to comply with New York AG's subpoena
A state judge ordered the former president to pay $10,000 every day until he respects the subpoena for documents as part of an ongoing civil investigation into his business dealings.
$10k a day? That'll add up.
GasBandit
Staff member
My current theory is that any penalty laid against Trump that does not involve at least direct physical restraint will be ignored and go nowhere. Everything short of being cuffed and perp-walked requires him to acquiesce, and NOT jam up the system with bogus motions and legal paperwork and other such nonsense.
This is a good example.
He doesn't turn over subpoenaed documents.
Judge holds him in contempt of court, assigns a penalty of $10k/day for noncompliance.
Trump doesn't pay it. Maybe he appeals, maybe he just doesn't pay, maybe he says he's gonna pay and then doesn't.
What happens then? Either somebody has to go cuff him (which, oh please oh please, might require TACKLING him he's such a big baby), or nothing happens other than angry words that he ignores.
Then again, Kushner just got paid 2 billion dollars by the Saudis for nebulous reasons, so maybe he'll go ahead and pay it until the next phase of legal rigamarole comes along to void the penalty.
And twitter is now a safe space to call people a "pedo" for upstaging you.
www.bbc.com
Truly a victory for freedom of speech.
Elon Musk strikes deal to buy Twitter for $44bn
Mr Musk, who made the shock bid just over a week ago, said he would "unlock" the social media firm's potential.
www.bbc.com
Truly a victory for freedom of speech.
Oh, right, Trump. Man, how quickly I forgot just how bad that was.
GasBandit
Staff member
Police Raid MAGA ‘King of Toxic Masculinity’ in Human-Trafficking Investigation
The raid was prompted by reports that an American woman had been abducted.
I had to look up what you were talking about and… wow. I hope this guy spends the rest of his days in a dark cell.
So supposedly Elon Musk is buying Twitter using a bunch of bank loans approved due to his Tesla stock value. Tesla stock just dropped 11% today, a loss of over 100 billion in value. If it drops too much he will have to pay back the loans out of his pocket.
Kind of wish that would happen.
Kind of wish that would happen.
GasBandit
Staff member
This guy is just stupid as hell and malignant as fuck
apnews.com
And unfortunately teflon, it seems.
TSA: Airport security finds loaded gun in Cawthorn's bag
A loaded gun was found in North Carolina U.S. Rep. Madison Cawthorn's carry-on bag at an airport security checkpoint Tuesday — the second time he has been stopped with a gun at an airport in the past 14 months, officials said.
apnews.com
And unfortunately teflon, it seems.