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maybe he did, but it was his first time and it hits real different at 81.
i should be gripping rat
maybe he did, but it was his first time and it hits real different at 81.
a bonus meme for all my homies that comment:
I thought this would be about Truth Social, but it’s mostly about stuff like Breitbart. But then at the end:
Baragona observed that Trump’s Truth Social platform also saw a significant decline in unique users. In May of 2024, Truth Social had just 2.7 million unique users, which is a 14% drop compared to May of 2023. This marked the platform’s second-worst performing month since its launch.
So that’s dropping, too. I wonder where all the users are going?
It’s the reality of modern US politics. One party is a complex coalition of vaguely progressive neolibs, and the other is a literal cult. Either you say “Jan 6th wasn’t a big deal” or they force you to quit.
Empirical evidence is always the most reliable.
I appreciate your willingness to question the narrative and push for peace even while everyone seems to have a real appetite for war. I found this article from 2014 that discusses the US’s influence in the 2014 protests. The cited experts are Yale University history professor Timothy Snyder and retired CIA analyst Ray McGovern. They discuss a recorded phone conversation where two US State Dept officials are going over who they want in power in Ukraine. Snyder seems pretty convinced that the 2014 protests and elections were genuine, regardless of State Department conversations about who they want to win. Then you have McGovern, who has experience in this sort of thing, saying that the CIA does not really do this sort of thing anymore, and so the State Dept does it instead. And as i’m reading, he seems quite convinced that the US was placing its thumb on the scales, and he seems to agree that maybe this should be resolved by everyone coming to the table.
McGovern’s most convincing piece of evidence is this:
The other thing is, you know, Professor Snyder talks about the parliamentary vote, voting in the new government. Well, he must know that that was a rump vote. I think it was—I think it was unanimous, something like 253 to nothing, which, you know, really is sort of a nostalgic look back at the votes that I used to count in the Soviet Union. There’s something very smelly here.
But I looked it up, and it seems like in 2014, the Prime Minister Yatsenyuk was elected via a parliamentary election where he got 371 of the 372 members that voted. Which sounds suspicious, but you should factor in the other 78 members that were either abstaining or not voting. Is it strange? Sure, but here’s another theory: the protests happened with no or very little Western influence, but the elections happened with lots of implied Western influence. There was a lot of crisis and turmoil, protests and corruption combined with Russian soldiers on the doorstep. The Parliament was under a lot of pressure to act swiftly and decisively to ease unrest. So they picked up the phone when the US called, and listened to their advice. In this way, the US got the outcome it wanted, but not by particularly manipulative means. They just offered their advice, and the Parliament listened. And so, all of the anti or neutral-to-Russia Parliament simply fell in line, to bring stability to the country.
Now, I have no evidence of this. This is just my extended thoughts on the matter after trying to understand your point of view. I think the reason many are quick to defend Ukraine’s side in this conflict is that Russia has shown itself to be corrupt, fascistic, and manipulative in foreign and domestic affairs multiple times over the past decade or so. And in the context of what has happened and continues to happen, it’s hard to be sympathetic to Russia’s “position” when they’ve been shown to argue in bad faith over and over again. It’s impossible for us to know what the people of Crimea want because they live under an authoritarian regime. It’s impossible for us to make treaties and concessions to Russia because they always break them. Every barrier to peace seems to be created by Russia, so people side with Ukraine, the underdog that they know very little about.
Didn’t realize La Pen was still haunting French politics. But then, I can’t pretend i am particularly well versed in European politics as a whole. This NYT article helped me understand this a bit better. For fellow clueless Americans, the OP article makes a lot more sense after reading that NYT article.
Like who? The Supreme Court? I don’t think you’re gonna like what they have to say…
Dammit that sounds too cool
“Weaponized Pedantry” should be this Supreme Court’s motto. They should get it embroidered on the backs of their robes in Latin.
That’s a good hot take. Here’s another one: maybe the entire Supreme Court should be changed every year or two, with the bench randomly selected from the entire panel of federal judges that meet a certain minimum experience requirement. Hypothetically that should do something for these outrageous bribes and corruption.
in capitalist america, everything is for sale! even accountability…
i sure hope so! 🙃
All US states have their own Constitution, which is usually similar to the US federal Constitution but always with at least a few differences. “Constitution” in this case refers to the foundational law of the land, which supercedes all other laws. Some, but not all US states have constitutions that say the constitution can be amended by ballot initiative, and yes, it is a bit more like direct democracy. However, how the measure gets on the ballot is important.
In most states (I think actually all states but I’m not intimately familiar with every state’s laws), the governor has veto power, which means the legislature can’t pass most laws unless the governor agrees with them. This is similar to the US federal government, where the president can veto almost anything that is passed by Congress. What this means is that, in states where the governor represents one party and the legislature represents another, neither party can pass anything that the other party disagrees with, so most laws that are passed are pretty moderate. This is the state of affairs in Wisconsin right now.
Evidently, in Wisconsin, the legislature can put constitutional amendment questions on the ballot without the governor’s approval. Additionally, the legislature gets to decide how the question is phrased. And this is Republicans approving these particular ballot initiatives, so we can assume that the phrasing will be intentionally-misleading to confuse misinformed moderate/centrist voters into voting against their best interests.
Finally, because these are constitutional amendments, this means that they take precedence over other laws passed by the legislature. If the electorate is misled into voting against their best interests, then it would take more than a motivated legislature to repeal. It would take either a legal challenge (sometimes difficult), or another ballot initiative to repeal. Obviously both of these solutions can be time-consuming, and while time passes, Republicans can use the new amendments to take even more rights away.
Does that clear up your confusion?
Really wish he had mentioned solidarity with fucking PALESTINE as well. We as a nation can support Ukraine against Putin, Israel against Hamas, and Palestine against Israel and Hamas, all at the same time. It isn’t that wild of an idea.
Killing Is My Business… and Business Is Good!
Strike Buster Joe Biden, supporting a union? I guess he doesn’t perceive them as a real threat.
Hennepin County District Court Judge Joseph Klein’s Sept. 5th decision handed a win to two NIMBY groups, indicating concerns that the city’s new zoning provisions could cause “irreparable harm to the environment” such as harm caused by making existing city neighborhoods denser.
Spoken like a true homeowner that doesn’t have to worry about finding an affordable place to live 🙃
I just like to stay apprised of it so i have ammo in the off-chance that i’m having a civil conversation with someone that somehow doesn’t realize how hypocritical and morally-bankrupt the GOP leaders are.
Found Putin’s Lemmy account