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Fucking cowards. He’s not legally immune from prosecution, it’s just DOJ policy to not prosecute a sitting president. And the recent presidential immunity opinion from the SCOTUS just said that a president is immune from being prosecuted for official presidential acts, which this fucking wasn’t. And he’s not yet a sitting president. Also, the prosecution is done. Just sentence him and then the case will be done with, and this can be done well before he’s sworn in. If he feels like appealing it after he’s sworn in, then he’s consenting to court activity while he’s in office.

I’m so sick of everybody bending over backwards to give him a pass.

Interesting. When the topic is punishment, there are plenty of resources. When the topic is helping people, it’s “who’s footing the bill for that?!” I never saw a headline about a 1400 acre ranch being offered up to house people in poverty, but it gets offered up to imprison people with the “wrong” names and skin color. And they have the audacity to parade out “America first!” as a slogan to prioritize helping Americans before worrying about solving problems around the world.

Punishing people for allegedly coming here illegally will do nothing to help me. Them allegedly having come here illegally never hurt me. Help people who have been unhoused or addicted to harmful substances or traumatized by abuse to get to a place where that can be productive in our society. That would obviously help them, and then they would be able to help their communities. It’s complicated and it’s difficult, but it’s work worth doing. I’m tired of lazy politicians and leaders looking for quick and easy solutions to fabricated problems so they can maximize the number of boxes that get checked. And that’s a generous read on it. The reality is that they’re greedy whores accepting money and power in exchange for punishing certain people while rewarding certain companies.

Republican politicians don’t give a flying fuck about you and yours.

I love the irony of putting two people in charge of an efficiency department. Satire is dead.

Conservatives are generally hierarchical pussies. Whoever is high ranking and assertive about being the new leader will be the new leader and everybody will line up to be his footrest. Even without a decent choice, they will push somebody into the position even if they’re bland garbage. Source: the shit show that was them searching for a House Speaker and settling for Mike Johnson.

The ones with the balls to break away from the party only did so to follow trump, and they now control the party because eventually the cowards got in line like good little followers. I think that trump losing this time may have convinced enough to steer the party back to a less extreme position, but his win taught them that the country is ready for full on christofascism, and there’s nothing to be gained from the inevitable failure that would be an attempt to fracture/mutiny the party. They’re more evil than dumb.

You’re absolutely right and I hate it. Once he finally dies, prepare for neotrumpism, which is the same thing but more quiet and headed by smarter, prettier, younger people. And it could happen sooner than people are prepared for. Vance will be a heartbeat away from the presidency. Who do you think will be in his inner circle?

Welp, better late than never.

I would love to be proven wrong, but I’m not sure there’s anything in our wildest dreams that could snap anybody in his base out of their trance at this point. What line is there that he hasn’t already crossed?

No, it’s more like “if Larry gets a 10% grade reduction for turning his paper in a day late to you, then I shouldn’t be getting this 20% grade reduction for turning this paper in a day late to you.” It’s more of a call for things to be fair and give everybody equal treatment.

There was a recent court decision regarding Donald Trump that, more or less, appointing a special counsel for the purposes of DOJ impartiality is not constitutionally acceptable. As a result, Hunter Biden, who was investigated and prosecuted via special counsel in order to maintain impartiality from the DOJ since his father is the sitting president, essentially argued that “what’s good for the goose is good for the gander.” Meaning that if Donald Trump should have his case dismissed under the pretext of special counsel being an invalid idea, then so too should Hunter Biden. That decision was already generally seen as fucking silly, but the silliness was put on full display for partisan hacks and their audience.

I was certain that a gander was a group of geese. Why? Because apparently everybody who has ever used the phrase “what’s good for the goose is good for the gander” around me was using it wrong. I just learned this week that a gander is a male goose. So based on misuse, I thought that the phrase meant that what’s beneficial for one is beneficial for the greater group, but what it really means is that what’s acceptable in the case for one should be equally acceptable for others in the same situation.

I’m nearly 36 and I would say that I’m smarter than most people, but this was a gaping hole in my knowledge that was pretty damn humbling to learn of and correct.

Just dropping a link to the relevant, most recent upload from Some More News aka Cody’s Showdy. TL;DW: the cyber truck is an oversized, overpriced, unreliable, terrible design that’s dangerous to everybody in and around it.

Oh, I thought there was some new story. Yeah, I was aware of that 8 years ago. And the “Hillary’s emails” “scandal”. And the trump “grab them by the pussy” tape. It’s all so cyclical. Nothing surprises me anymore. There will be firehosing to distract from trump’s actual existential disqualifications. He’s an easily manipulated, lying, stupid asshole. Meanwhile Harris is compassionate and educated, and has been duly elected to all three branches of government. She and Walz aren’t perfect, but it’s laughable to suggest that the alternative in this election is even worth considering. Anybody who believes something in the realm of pizzagate in this election cycle is feverishly searching for an excuse to vote for trump without being honest about their hated for women, minorities, and/or anybody left of the extreme right.

No? What happened now?

The real crazy part is that it’d be perfectly legal for Joe Biden to issue the same offer, so long as it’s through professional channels as an official act. The SCOTUS said so. Hell, to make it crystal clear, just order it through the military and then watch from the situation room. He could take out a few SCOTUS justices at the same time. And then unilaterally dictate that that sort of shit is not legal going forward. Best October surprise ever.

Thanks, much appreciated! I just hope that some of what I say gets through to at least one person and teaches them something or helps them in some way. It’s all for nothing if I’m just telling people who already know all of this.

It’s tough to hold onto hope regarding these things, but it’s worth it.

The litmus test for whether something is a lawful order is to ask what will happen if you refuse. If the penalty for refusal is your arrest, say that you would prefer not to but will comply under threat of arrest. If it actually wasn’t a lawful order but you complied to avoid arrest, you’ll learn from a lawyer and get to sue over that.

As somebody else noted, driving is a privilege, not a right; if you’re pulled over for a traffic offense, you’re obligated to hand over your license and other related documents as requested depending on the state, probably registration and proof of insurance. If you don’t, then in many states it’s assumed that you were driving without being licensed to do so, and you’re probably going to jail.

On the flip side, if the cop asks to search your vehicle, you can tell him no. Don’t stop him from doing it anyway, just reiterate that you don’t consent to it and fight in court. There are some situations (like you’re under arrest and your car is being inventoried and impounded) in which they don’t need your consent to get in your car. Probable cause also gets them access to your car without your consent.

If you’re asked to do a field sobriety test, just refuse. Same for a breathalyzer. They’ll probably take you in and have you use a lab machine at the station, but that’s preferable to their bullshit games if you know you’re not doing anything wrong. Make quantitative science be the only evidence. Don’t drink and drive in the first place and you’ll be fine on that front.

I’m 99% sure that you’re kidding, but a shitload of people actually think like that. Decades of copaganda in TV and movies weren’t for nothing, and now social media is full of it. The 80s was saturated with loose cannon cops who get results and it convinced people that sometimes it’s okay to violate rights. Now it’s cops doing tiktok dances or flipping water bottles to convince people that hey, they’re regular people just like me, and well, golly gee, I’m not a fascist so how can I possibly believe that they’re fascists?

Have one involuntary interaction with a cop and your view will change. The cops primarily target brown and/or poor people, so it’s no wonder that the vast majority of thin blue line dipshits are financially comfortable honkies who’ve never had the cops target them.

Sidenote: I’ve always chuckled at the people who have both a thin blue line bumper sticker and Gadsden flag bumper stick/license plate. Basically a billboard that says “tread on those ones, officers” but they’re always the same people claiming “I don’t have a racist bone in my body!” Okay, but only because bones can’t be racist; it’s your brain that’s racist.

Courts have ruled that the police have absolutely no duty to protect and serve you. That shit is a slogan. The reality is that they exist to protect capital and serve capitalists. Cops are class traitors, punishing anybody who steals or threatens value of capital. Some cops do some good, but that isn’t and never was the real intent.

This. You have rights, but the police will lie, cheat, and steal their way into getting whatever they want, especially when what they want is for you to waive your rights.

When stopped by the police (in America), you say “I invoke my fifth amendment right to not answer questions and I don’t consent to any searches and seizures. Am I being detained or am I free to go?” That question starts a clock for what is a reasonable amount of time to detain you for their investigation because you’ve made it clear that you’d like to leave as soon as you’re legally allowed to.

As for any kind of force, just stay silent and unthreatening. They’re gonna do what they’re gonna do, and anything you do can be used as rationalization for escalation, which they really seem to fucking love. Be polite when you do choose to speak. Obey lawful commands and let them arrest you if that’s what they’re gonna do. You don’t fight armed thugs in the street, you fight them in court. File complaints and sue when they violate your rights and cause undue harm. Swinging at them or shouting in their face is how you get shot. Let their ego win the moment and then administratively destroy their career and life later on.

I’m also not a lawyer, but this is what any half decent lawyer would tell you to do. Just shut the fuck up (but invoke your right to shut the fuck up or your silence can actually be used against you) and be as passive as possible so your lawyer has a slam dunk case getting your charges dropped and/or suing the everloving fuck out of them, hopefully nullifying their qualified immunity in the process. Nothing you do or say to the police can help you, but it sure as shit will be used against you. Even things you think are innocuous can corroborate that you’re who they’re looking for, so just shut the fuck up.

Keep going. I’m almost there.

And it’s fully constitutional to enslave convicts. So tons of free labor for every company who wants it, and then I guess export everything they help to make since nobody here can buy anything?