America

[Which Tyler]

If watching this, I recommend setting the playback speed to approximately 90%

[Sandydragon]

Yep. Not the only fundamental problem with US politics though.

Agreed. Its fucked. I dont entirely blame the republicans for it, its been a slow erosion over decades. But the thought that they are about to elect a dictator (by Trumps own words) with immunity, is terrifying. The only hope is that people hold their nose and vote Biden.

The Dems haven't tried hard enough to fix things (ie most of them have been too accepting of the status quo) but it's the Republicans who've been pushing the envelope . . . all the way to dictatorship it seems.

I'm still hoping that Biden will be convinced to stand down. Obama needs to tell him straight - he's got nothing to gain or lose. If there's a slow buildup of calls from Democrats and bad polls then the penny might drop.

I blame both sides for the breakdown in consensus and the inability to work constructively across party lines. But I would put the
Majority of the
Blame on the republicans who have been steadily embracing the batshit mad right for years.

[Sandydragon]

May I recommend ‘How Democracies Die’ by Stephen Levitsky? I read it a few years ago and it’s a shame that the democrats and sensible republicans appear to have ignored it.

[Puja]

Step forward Taylor swift

Don't even joke man.

I would fucking take it right now.

Puja

[Which Tyler]

I thought the board had moved on from the "would you?" posts

[paddy no 11]

If watching this, I recommend setting the playback speed to approximately 90%

Yeesh, would like to see one from this guy on the decision on federal bodies having to go to court

[Son of Mathonwy]

If watching this, I recommend setting the playback speed to approximately 90%

Is this how democracy breaks in the USA? The supreme court was the weak point?

[Sandydragon]

If watching this, I recommend setting the playback speed to approximately 90%

Is this how democracy breaks in the USA? The supreme court was the weak point?

I think the weak point was the assumption that everyone would not cross the red lines. Trump hasn’t met a rule he hasn’t wanted to break. It’s ironic that the same people who hold up the constitution as a near religious document are those who are busy shredding it.

[morepork]

The weak point is the executive branch, which the judicial branch is supposed to check. Stalemate. The ongoing experiment continues at pace. Welcome to candidate priority. The US needs to stop the Founding Fathers circle jerk. Now.

[paddy no 11]

Biden war chest could be used by kamala Harris

If Biden fails this interview he'll be gone

[morepork]

He's gone full sad walking cliche.

[Puja]

More details on Project 2025 and it's all so much worse: https://threadreaderapp.com/thread/1807 ... 24403.html

Puja

[Which Tyler]

I've an American friend who's doing heroic work of actually reading the whole thing, bit by bit.

She's obviously up to the childcare provisions bit.
Yesterday's highligh was: all contraception to be banned (condoms are murder folks).
Today's is: all children under 18 who are donor conceived and don’t live in a male-female parent situation will be removed and placed into foster care.

The whole thing seems to be "kill the Taliban, steal their ideas, turn them up to 11"

[Sandydragon]

I've an American friend who's doing heroic work of actually reading the whole thing, bit by bit.

She's obviously up to the childcare provisions bit.
Yesterday's highligh was: all contraception to be banned (condoms are murder folks).
Today's is: all children under 18 who are donor conceived and don’t live in a male-female parent situation will be removed and placed into foster care.

The whole thing seems to be "kill the Taliban, steal their ideas, turn them up to 11"

Sounds like someone watched The Handmaids Tale and considered it prophecy rather than dystopian fiction.

[Son of Mathonwy]

I've an American friend who's doing heroic work of actually reading the whole thing, bit by bit.

She's obviously up to the childcare provisions bit.
Yesterday's highligh was: all contraception to be banned (condoms are murder folks).
Today's is: all children under 18 who are donor conceived and don’t live in a male-female parent situation will be removed and placed into foster care.

The whole thing seems to be "kill the Taliban, steal their ideas, turn them up to 11"

Sounds like someone watched The Handmaids Tale and considered it prophecy rather than dystopian fiction.

They must wonder why those Gideon guys are portrayed as the bad guys.

Why aren't the Dems using this to destroy Trump? Are they waiting till closer to November? Or is this just another example of their cluelessness?

[Which Tyler]

They must wonder why those Gideon guys are portrayed as the bad guys.

There's a notable proportion of Americans who watch "The Boys" and think that blond-guy is the hero and a roll model (can't remember his name - I stopped watching part-way through the 2nd season).

Why aren't the Dems using this to destroy Trump? Are they waiting till closer to November? Or is this just another example of their cluelessness?

They are, but barely anyone seems to have pointed out that the Trump campaign is (apparently) the biggest donor to the Heritage Foundation. Basically, they're too busy fighting amongst themselves to land any punches.

[Puja]

I've an American friend who's doing heroic work of actually reading the whole thing, bit by bit.

She's obviously up to the childcare provisions bit.
Yesterday's highligh was: all contraception to be banned (condoms are murder folks).
Today's is: all children under 18 who are donor conceived and don’t live in a male-female parent situation will be removed and placed into foster care.

The whole thing seems to be "kill the Taliban, steal their ideas, turn them up to 11"

Sounds like someone watched The Handmaids Tale and considered it prophecy rather than dystopian fiction.

They must wonder why those Gideon guys are portrayed as the bad guys.

Why aren't the Dems using this to destroy Trump? Are they waiting till closer to November? Or is this just another example of their cluelessness?

The issue is that it's not official policy that can be unequivocally tied to them and the US populace has largely stopped listening. So the Democrats say, "Look what he's planning to do!" and he'll say, "It's terrible, just terrible all these lies that they're spreading about me, I don't have any connection to these people, it's just advice, just advice, I didn't write it! It's Trump derangement syndrome, it's Project Fear, of course they're trying to scare you cause they don't have anything else."

Add to that is the fact that so much of the wickedness in there is complicated and boring procedural stuff about using schedule F to reclassify federal employees and the average person is already asleep. But if you don't go into the weeds of "These are the very specific ways in which they're planning to fuck up your democracy," and just give the headlines, then it sounds like ridiculous overexaggeration and people will dismiss it as lies.

Puja

[Sandydragon]

Sounds like someone watched The Handmaids Tale and considered it prophecy rather than dystopian fiction.

They must wonder why those Gideon guys are portrayed as the bad guys.

Why aren't the Dems using this to destroy Trump? Are they waiting till closer to November? Or is this just another example of their cluelessness?

The issue is that it's not official policy that can be unequivocally tied to them and the US populace has largely stopped listening. So the Democrats say, "Look what he's planning to do!" and he'll say, "It's terrible, just terrible all these lies that they're spreading about me, I don't have any connection to these people, it's just advice, just advice, I didn't write it! It's Trump derangement syndrome, it's Project Fear, of course they're trying to scare you cause they don't have anything else."

Add to that is the fact that so much of the wickedness in there is complicated and boring procedural stuff about using schedule F to reclassify federal employees and the average person is already asleep. But if you don't go into the weeds of "These are the very specific ways in which they're planning to fuck up your democracy," and just give the headlines, then it sounds like ridiculous overexaggeration and people will dismiss it as lies.

Puja

The job of the Dems Shirley has to be to take that inaccessible crap and put it into language people understand. But I suspect the arguments around Biden are all consuming and distracting. Someone seems to be advising trump to stfu for the time being and allow the dems to fuck themselves up.

[Puja]

Biden just introduced Zelenskiy's speech as "Now, I'll hand over to the President of Ukraine, President Putin."

He surely must go. There's no way he can survive this.

Puja

[Mikey Brown]

I would hope you're joking but I think not. There's putting your foot in your mouth and then there's whatever that is.

[Son of Mathonwy]

Biden just introduced Zelenskiy's speech as "Now, I'll hand over to the President of Ukraine, President Putin."

He surely must go. There's no way he can survive this.

Puja

This is a good thing. No way can he get through this.

[morepork]

Fuck my arse.

[morepork]

and a collective international security issue turns into a domestic campaign speech. Fucking hell, what an insult to alliance.

[morepork]

Christ on a bike.

[Sandydragon]

Biden just introduced Zelenskiy's speech as "Now, I'll hand over to the President of Ukraine, President Putin."

He surely must go. There's no way he can survive this.

Puja

This is a good thing. No way can he get through this.

Wanna bet? He still has to decide to go of his own accord. We’ve been talking
About this for the last two weeks. Trump can basically sit back and let the dems lose the election and not have any scrutiny of his own plans. Biden just won’t shake this off