pusher_robot
PLEASE GO STAND BY THE STAIRS
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User ID: 278
pusher_robot
PLEASE GO STAND BY THE STAIRS
2mo ago
It's a trust issue. People are familiar with the conduct of lawyers with an axe to grind, and simply know better than to voluntarily place themselves in front of that buzzsaw.
pusher_robot
PLEASE GO STAND BY THE STAIRS
2mo ago
Nor recounts?
GIGO applies
Investigations?
Rarely, and almost never by disinterested authorities.
Observers?
Useless.
Do our elections have any checks and barriers to fraud?
On paper, yes, but practically speaking, not really. Between the desire to have a secret ballot and initiatives to designed maximize the number of votes cast, it seems to me that only very obvious malfeasance is readily detectable.
pusher_robot
PLEASE GO STAND BY THE STAIRS
2mo ago
Whenever Richard Cory went down town, We people on the pavement looked at him: He was a gentleman from sole to crown, Clean favored, and imperially slim.
pusher_robot
PLEASE GO STAND BY THE STAIRS
2mo ago
I'm confident they'll find a way to criminalize it
pusher_robot
PLEASE GO STAND BY THE STAIRS
2mo ago
Do you have any reasons to believe that TTV would have felt similarly stymied?
Not directly, I'm simply reasoning by analogy.
If TTV is inadequately equipped to do something about the fraud they claim to have uncovered, is there anyone who is?
No, I've thought since the beginning it was a futile effort because much of what is alleged would require the cooperation of the accused to prove. If it's rigged, there's basically nothing that can be done from the outside. It's hopeless, as an outsider, to force accountability.
pusher_robot
PLEASE GO STAND BY THE STAIRS
2mo ago
He wrote a whole book so it doesn't seem like the silence intimidation worked very well. What property was seized, are you talking about the laptop?
So, no harm, no foul? Government abuse is fine so long as the person persevered in any case?
What reasons would TTV have to believe that election authorities in Arizona and Georgia would not cooperate with them in good faith?
Are you asking, theoretically, or are you asking me if I know personally of specific reasons they believe this? I don't have first-hand knowledge, no. But I have personal first-hand experience with this sort of thing. I personally witnessed election malfeasance as an independent observer. Ultimately, I did nothing with that information for several reasons: A) I had no physical evidence. I knew what I observed but that's all that I had. I had no ability to corroborate my observations. B) The police and elections commission were involved. The same people that I could complain to. Did I expect they would seriously undertake efforts to investigate themselves of wrongdoing? No, I did not. C) Without physical evidence, I would actually be vulnerable to a defamation claim for taking my observations public. I would at a minimum be subject to the smears of people far more powerful than I am and who would be motivated to deny any wrong doing.
So, I know something was done improperly. I know nobody cares. I know that most people can't fight city hall.
pusher_robot
PLEASE GO STAND BY THE STAIRS
2mo ago
If they're telling the truth, I've seen no explanation for why they've refused to cooperate with election authorities.
One possible explanation is that they don't believe the election authorities wish to cooperate with them in good faith. For example, look at what cooperation with the FBI got John Paul Mac Isaac: they sandbagged the case, seized his property and refused to give it back, tried to deny claims that he was cooperating with them, and tried to intimidate him into silence.
pusher_robot
PLEASE GO STAND BY THE STAIRS
3mo ago
CO2 is not relevant in this case. Death is due to hypoxia, not CO2 poisoning.
pusher_robot
PLEASE GO STAND BY THE STAIRS
3mo ago
Both are unnecessarily messy
pusher_robot
PLEASE GO STAND BY THE STAIRS
3mo ago
Agree with all of this - especially that hanging out in a not-very-goal-oriented environment is key. I would recommend checking local gaming clubs or hobby shops, and find an IRL weekly tabletop, card game, board game, or D&D group looking for recruits. Then you just have to show up, bring some snacks, and play some low-stakes games.
pusher_robot
PLEASE GO STAND BY THE STAIRS
3mo ago
I've been watching a number of films from the 70's and it's remarkable how many end with the protagonist failing to accomplish their goals in a meaningful way.
- Blowup: the protagonist fails to stop the assassination conspiracy and his girlfriend is killed.
- Marathon Man: the protagonist foils the criminal conspiracy, but at the cost of both his and his brother's lives.
- Network: the primary protagonist loses his girlfriend, his wife, his job, and all influence and the secondary protagonist is assassinated live on television by the antagonists
- Parallax View: the protagonist fails to stop the assassination conspiracy and is killed
- The Conversation: the protagonist fails to stop the assassination conspiracy he uncovers and is left paranoid and alone
I think there is a lot to the theory that the JFK/RFK assassinations deeply traumatized the Boomer generation in a way we may only be slowly recovering from.
pusher_robot
PLEASE GO STAND BY THE STAIRS
3mo ago
FWIW, that wasn't the Beatles, that was a Lennon solo project Ono collaboration.
pusher_robot
PLEASE GO STAND BY THE STAIRS
3mo ago
Gas is not like electricity. There are buffers in the system as well as alternate supply options, but the prices will adjust accordingly.
pusher_robot
PLEASE GO STAND BY THE STAIRS
3mo ago
No, I intended this to mean "only to children where at least one biological parent ((is a citizen) or (resident having legally remained in the country continuously for a period of at least 3 years))".
pusher_robot
PLEASE GO STAND BY THE STAIRS
3mo ago
You make some good points, though I think the status quo is even more vulnerable in some ways. What would be a better way to try to equalize presidential influence over the court, do you think? Currently it seems a bit too based on luck, whether people die on the job while your party controls the Senate.
pusher_robot
PLEASE GO STAND BY THE STAIRS
3mo ago
It already is, I'm sure. Congress can designate federal enclaves basically wherever it wants to and doesn't need an amendment to do so, but I was just clarifying that rescission of D.C. didn't imply state jurisdiction.
pusher_robot
PLEASE GO STAND BY THE STAIRS
3mo ago
That would work too. The critical goals are (1) to regularize appointments so that there is a more linear relationship between winning the Presidency and influencing the Court that is less based on luck, and (2) taking Court-packing off the table completely.
pusher_robot
PLEASE GO STAND BY THE STAIRS
3mo ago
Interesting, would probably heavily moderate the supreme court members (to avoid being the one that gets yeeted next term).
My hope is that it would incentivize retirement to create the vacancy in order to take the choice away from the President.
pusher_robot
PLEASE GO STAND BY THE STAIRS
3mo ago
I suspect that it is not so much "processing" (why would blending up pork scraps and extruding them into a sausage shape change the nutrition) but specifically preservatives which are bad over time. Unfortunately, preservatives are usually introduced into processed foods to make them more consistent and less prone to spoilage, making them cheaper as well.
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The size of the Supreme Court shall be permanently fixed at 9 members. All Presidents are guaranteed one appointment per term. If there is no vacancy during the term, then the President may vacate any single judge to create a vacancy at the conclusion of the Presidential term. If there is more than one vacancy, the President may appoint additional interim justices who will automatically be vacated at the start of the next Presidential term. [EDIT] The Senate may veto permanent appointments by a two-thirds majority. Interim appointments may not be vetoed.
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The House of Representatives shall be expanded to 1,000 members, with additional districts being added proportionally. The House of Representatives must conduct its business in a way that allows members to participate without being present in the chamber. Members shall be required to maintain residency in their district, spending no less then 50% of the calendar days per year there.
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Birthright citizenship shall be granted only to children where at least one biological parent is a citizen or resident having legally remained in the country continuously for a period of at least 3 years. Children may have no greater than two biological parents.
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The non-state district of Washington, D.C. shall be formally dissolved and the land de-annexed to the original states from which it was obtained. Congress may designate property within the current district to remain federal enclaves immune to state jurisdiction.
pusher_robot
PLEASE GO STAND BY THE STAIRS
3mo ago
He's funny
pusher_robot
PLEASE GO STAND BY THE STAIRS
3mo ago
What everyone wants is a law that says you cannot use a gendered bathroom if you don't pass as that gender. It's just a hard thing to define so they usually end up making it over or underinclusive on some other criteria.
pusher_robot
PLEASE GO STAND BY THE STAIRS
3mo ago
See, in the twist cap situation, I would always lead with, "may I offer a suggestion?" When they inevitably agree, you're now offering solicited advice. You've engaged them in asking for your help, which makes them inherently more open to accepting it. "Don't offer unsolicited advice" doesn't mean "speak only when spoken to." And of course etiquette always takes a back seat to actual danger.
pusher_robot
PLEASE GO STAND BY THE STAIRS
4mo ago
If the economy grows but the supply of precious metal doesn't grow at the same rate, the result is monetary deflation, which is generally undesirable for currency for a variety of reasons having mostly to do with discouraging investment.
This already exists in the form of, e.g., Unitarian Universalism. It has not been hugely popular. I think there are a couple of reasons for this that similar proposals generally run into as well.
First, its teachings aren't different enough from intuitive "be nice" ethics to have any point. People who even think about the idea of ethical living generally do not need such basic levels of guidance, which makes the enterprise little more than a social club. But demanding more is too exclusionary or too "irrational", and therefore left to the other churches. I think that being exclusionary in at least some ways is critical to fostering a bond and creating a sense of actual belonging.
Related to this, the entire idea of religiosity without contradicting material existence is oxymoronic and counterproductive. The thing that people with a religious void feel they are missing is mystery, an insistence that there are some things that are beyond our comprehension, that are above and beyond us, forever. The peace that religion offers is from knowing that you don't have to think about it or justify it, you know and believe it without thinking. You cannot replicate the things that religion offers without offering undoubtable truth, but this is something that materialists cannot really bring themselves to do.
Another problem is that organizations without an unshakable grounding in text or canon will be highly vulnerable to entryism and taken over by activists. We saw this precise thing play out already in the Atheism movement, which tore itself apart when activists started trying to add political planks to the Atheism belief framework. Wishy-washy "be excellent to each other" churches will quickly succumb to the exact same issues simply because activists are more motivated than people who are there to sing hymns and pat each other on the back about how moral and ethical they are.
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