anti_dan
21hr ago
But when and how do you sound the alarm when a dictator is slowly installing an authoritarian regime over a country?
You make the case persuasively.
Democrats cannot do this because Obama and Biden did their own, more authoritarian, things that are very similar to Trump's power grabs, and they just point to minor differences why this time its different, when it is not. The things often cited by his opponents are just not persuasive. Blowing up drug boats? Presidents have been blowing people up for decades at this point, Obama even added the "even people with American citizenship" flavor to that pie. Prosecutions that appear political? Biden is you #1, and in fact, Trump tried promulgating EOs in his first term that attempted to depoliticize the DOJ, particularly around its controversial methods of "Sue & Settle" wherein they would force people to payoff progressive NGOs in class actions. Biden, of course, reversed that. Tariffs? Nobody knows what they actually do. I dont like it, its most likely kinda bad. Serious people don't hang their hat there when shit like dishonorable discharges and court martials were handed out to soldiers over covid vaccines, killing a pipeline, attempting to cancel student loans, etc.
OTOH, Trump's pseudo-impoundment is much more timid. Firstly, I'm fairly confident that the Impoundment control act is unconstitutional under original meaning. The founders were basically penny pinchers, and they imagined that Congress's power over the executive was impeachment and refusing to fund him, not forcing him to fund things. In fact, the latter is impossible from a logical perspective because the executive cannot spend money that is not in the treasury, and if congress passed a bill in 1805 that said "the president shall give every American $100" that would have been impossible, so obviously he could have refused. Thus, again fairly obviously, all appropriations are discretionary because they cannot be guaranteed to be fulfilled.
And one of the other major complaints relates to ICE and the National Guard. What is the president to do, realistically, when local law enforcement is aiding and abetting persons impeding federal law enforcement. If the Iowa State police prevent FDA inspection of all Iowa corn fields would Barack Obama just give up? If they let rioters around the farms do the same? Obviously not. Trump has been much more measured than ole Barack would have been in such a situation, because in that situation the Governor of Iowa would have been in custody. Gavin Newsom amd Karen Bass are not in custody, thus the light touch of Trump is revealed.
anti_dan
1d ago
If trying to point out they are a hypocrite, perhaps. But that is not what is happening here, or Trump is not Reagan and isn't being a hypocrite.
In addition, the average use of bible quotes against Christians usually just shows a misunderstanding of that text, but that isn't really worth getting into at this time.
anti_dan
1d ago
I dont recall if you have addressed this point in the past, but given what appear to be tactical blunders on just about every level, how do you defend Biden's failure to fire multiple Generals and other high level commanding officers that participated in the withdrawal?
anti_dan
1d ago
On an unrelated note, I'm guessing the Republican reevaluation and demythologization of his legacy is something that is bound to happen at some point.
Its been a long running trend among younger generation Republicans that Reagan was tricked by Democrats on numerous issues, particularly immigration and balancing the budget.
anti_dan
1d ago
This codes to me as very similar to the atheist quoting the bible meme. Does anyone really think Doug Ford is a huge Reagan fan?
anti_dan
1d ago
How would the situation be different, if the House GOP simply couldn't get its shit together? Aren't they generally unable to get their shit together and isn't Trump generally exceeding limits on executive power faster than they can be enforced?
This particular part is why I can't take the article in the OP seriously. The House HAS done its job and passed a bill to fund the government. This entire shutdown is in the court of like 8 Democrats in the Senate.
anti_dan
3d ago
I don't think those countries hate Jews nearly as much because of the lack of interaction, but they do like to be part of the coalition that is formed as a result.
anti_dan
4d ago
Your confusion is easily solved by understanding basic jew hatred.
Jew hatred appears to exist all over the place.
I dont see why aside from general dislike of people who are kinda progressive and kinda lame anyone would dislike Jews for a reason other than their Jewishness.
But the progressive and lame countries also hate them. This is telling because they should otherwise be lovers of the Jews.
So generally the problem is obviously Jewishness.
These opinions also undermine Israel.
They also bolster Islam, which hates Jews, but tries to frame it as hate of Israel instead.
So it appears all nonsense to me.
anti_dan
4d ago
These numbers are "skewed" for this question in that they are not directly asking why people dont have faith in the juries or judges or prosecutors or courts in general.
As someone who interacts with the system on a regular basis, the correct answer to "why don't people trust XXX part of the court system" is not because they are or know a convicted felon who is innocent, instead it is because they think criminals are going to go free. Those that think criminals will go free, are, of course, correct. Most cases end up dismissed or plead to minimal conditions because trials are a huge pain to actually put on.
Take something as simple as a misdemeanor DUI case where you are the victim who's care was hit by a drunk driver. On day 1, you get hit. On day 30(ish) you go to court and there is a continuance. You file your civil claims. The defendant's team doesn't cooperate based on vague assertions of 5th amendment stuff in the civil case. Plus he's prolly got no money anyways. On day 60(ish) you again go to criminal court. Nothing happens again. People tell you to stop coming until trial. Then, all the sudden 22 months later you get a letter in the mail telling you to go to court at 9 AM on a wednesday for trial. If you are astounding, you come. The defense weasels out of the trial and gets a new date. Now you have lost 3 days of work and the case is still going. Repeat until you or the police officer doesnt show up and the case is dismissed.
Now you have heard a summary of the average DUI victim's experience with criminal courts.
anti_dan
4d ago
A similar source of ragebait that you see on Caleb's channel: "disabled" veterans who are clearly very functional but have managed to find a sympathetic doctor who declares they have service-related injuries which mean they now get a check for life. Even if they never saw combat. Even if they were never in a combat-facing role. Are you man enough to call out veterans for welfare-queen behavior?
This (and the pension double dipping thing) are super crazy. I know of multiple people who are mid 30s, work full time as engineers or accountants, and pull in 30k extra income a year because of military disability benefits.
anti_dan
4d ago
Also, to the extent Europe is unsafe for Jewish people, it's approximately 100% due to mass migration from Muslim countries.
The people of Israel dont seem to share this confidence.
That doesn't seem to follow. Just because you lose a vote doesn't mean you have no support. Presumably there were more than two votes in your favor, but if it's you and your bully friend against literally the entire world it might be time to start asking "are we the baddies?"
I have considered this and have found the hypothesis lacking. Islam appears to be the cause of most of the baddieness in the region, and when it comes to my country in large numbers causes more bad stuff here.
anti_dan
5d ago
If there were enough places for Jews to go to following an ethnic cleansing of Israel, they wouldn't lose basically every UN vote ever without American Security Council intervention.
anti_dan
5d ago
I am going to write the first part of my response before clicking, and the second after.
- Notably posted without a timestamp indicating Biden was giving Trump credit prior to the election.
AND
- Yup, safely in the rear view mirror. Biden already thought he probably was going to have Trump on Treason charges at this point. And all he really gave Trump credit for at all was taking the vaccine, not making it happen.
anti_dan
5d ago
People really do underestimate the GFC right now. I think in a just world it will be remembered much more prominently 60 years from now than it is today. Will this happen, I don't know, but it really is staggering to me the sheer number of people who graduated in that era and just...never found a real job and have been in a nearly 20 year state (at this point) of constantly applying for jobs they are technically qualified for and being rejected, while desperately clinging to whatever low paid sales/admin/service job they can swing.
anti_dan
5d ago
I commented on the original article last week so I have nothing to really add on that, but this piece is typically Frenchian, with an interesting addition of ahistorical ignorance.
It was not squadrons of women who guillotined dissenters during the French Revolution.
Did French not read any history, or even historical fiction like Tale of Two Cities? There was no lack of female influence amongst the French Revolutionaries. Some even did the violent violence themselves like Charlotte Corday and Théroigne de Méricourt.
I suppose the claim that there was not multiple "squadrons of women" who ran guillotines might technically be true. I am not actually well versed enough in French history to know of such a female guillotine squad. But I do know that on top of the violence doing women participants there were many more agitators like de Gouges and Pauline Leon who essentially helped construct lists of folks they think should be sent to their deaths, and eventually I think one or both of them were victims of their own success.
anti_dan
5d ago
It is part of my job on a regular basis, although I am not chickenoverlord. His percentages seem a bit charitable for me. "I was scared" is sometimes, much more often it is "I was scared of getting caught."
anti_dan
5d ago
But is the state supreme court's pronouncement of "the wicked flee when no man pursueth" truly applicable in the modern age? According to a recent poll, in 2023 confidence in the police was only 49 percent among whites and a pitiful 31 percent among nonwhites in the US. Those numbers recovered to 54 percent and 44 percent (respectively) in 2024, but even that is a bit lower than one might expect. Should a defendant's distrust of the police be held against him in court?
I would say this is a jury question that appellate courts have little legitimacy in evaluating their judgements. The jury tests their own plausibility of the two cases, and specifically in this case heard from the defendant. If they found him less credible than the other witnesses who laid out the prosecutions case, then that should be undisturbed, just as he would argue if they had bought his self defense claim and acquitted him of all charges.
anti_dan
6d ago
The Kochs have been funding libertarian think tanks for decades, it has been ineffective at making libertarian economics a winning political position.
anti_dan
7d ago
Not just that, but why would he egg on this idea that he wants to be king? It makes zero strategic sense from my perspective, all it does is fan the flames. I suppose if he wants to fan the flames of the culture war, fine, but that's also not something I'm behind.
I would like to see the situation cool down, but it doesn't seem reasonable to expect that even if Trump did nothing but release completely banal press releases until Jan 2029. The reality is that there are government supported riots impeding federal law enforcement. There are people running for statewide office in large states supporting violence against political opponents. Trump memes can't fan these flames any harder. Its the existence of opposition that causes the fire. Trump memes are just a positive morale strategy for the base.
I think a big reason money in politics didn't manifest the way the doomers predicted is because money in politics just isn't that effective when employed the way envisioned by the doomers. Taking out hundreds of hours of ads just doesn't move the needle all that much. Instead, as Elon showed, what actually matters is institutions. Buying twitter isn't really something exxon or disney is realistically going to do.
The question is, for political purposes, is any of this affordable? Can you buy Harvard and the rest of the Ivy league? Probably not. Can you buy disney, youtube, etc? For most people, the answer is going to be no. And even if you can, like Bezos did with the Washington Times*, you'll discover your ability to influence the influence your institution wields is still limited by staff.
Edit: Meant the Post.
anti_dan
9d ago
No, I'm serious - I don't want to call you a nazi, nor have I called anyone a nazi. What word would you like me to use to describe someone who believes that politicians are importing brown people to replace the white race, and all the attendant beliefs that normally swirl around that one? A Great Replacement Theorist? What word would you like me to describe someone who thinks that Trump should have power to do X, Y and Z regardless of their legality without resorting to what you see as slurs?
Isn't the phrase for this just, "someone who has read Democratic talking points from 2000-current day?"
When we aren't explicitly discussing "great replacement theory" or other "myths" this sort of talking point is not uncommon. We have the infamous book, "The Emerging Democratic Majority" that makes the case explicitly that just lowering the white population enough as a % means progressives win. Its not a one off, it happens whenever there is a mask off moment on the topic on the left.
I mean, lets take the charitable take that the political party that uses "whiteness" as a slur, doesn't actually mean it and only incidentally supports immigration from majority nonwhite countries. You are upset with people who are seeing a result and not applying the most charitable ideological framing of their opponents, in the face of rhetoric that makes said charitable framing difficult to justify.
Six Guys? Did I watch a different movie than you?
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