volkris @volkris@qoto.org
I think the most pressing and fundamental problem of the day is that people lack a practically effective means of sorting out questions of fact in the larger world. We can hardly begin to discuss ways of addressing reality if we can't agree what reality even is, after all.
The institutions that have served this role in the past have dropped the ball, so the next best solution is talking to each other, particularly to those who disagree, to sort out conflicting claims.
Unfortunately, far too many actively oppose this, leaving all opposing claims untested. It's very regressive.
So that's my hobby, striving to understanding the arguments of all sides at least because it's interesting to see how mythologies are formed but also because maybe through that process we can all have our beliefs tested.
But if nothing else, social media platforms like this are chances to vent frustrations that on so many issues both sides are obviously wrong ;)
Joined Dec 2022
But the thing I want to emphasize is that we are far from the point of saying SCOTUS needs reformation or abolition. First let's use the tools we have to improve it.
It's like, I don't know, deciding to throw away your car and buy a new one when first we just need to try to fill the gas tank.
We have the democratic tools to fix the government. And if we're not willing to go the democratic direction first, well, all bets are off at that point.
Let's try democracy first. Let's try to educate and inform voters and empower them, because lately we have been seriously falling down on that option. Let's give it a shot.
If I really looked around and felt like we tried the democratic option and it wasn't working, okay. Then we can talk about more extreme solutions, but until we try that first step I'd say we haven't really tried the good options yet.
But he's bragging about screwing up his own job though.
If he hasn't been able to secure funding to move forward then he shouldn't be experiencing these massive costs that are based on assumptions of funding that are tenuous.
Without the funding in hand he should have been in DC working to secure the funding that he wants, not jetting around the country and involving himself in projects that aren't funded.
It's such a superficial stance for him to be taking.
We really need to stop lionizing the position of majority leader in the senate like that. It really overstates their power and excuses other senators from doing their jobs.
No, it took votes of most of the senate in cooperation with the president to appoint ACB. Every senator should be held responsible for their part in that process, not just McConnell.
(Although yes, we also need to remember that RBG set the stage for this through intentional strategizing that didn't work out)
If it was about gerrymandering then we would see substantial if minority motion toward impeachment. Gerrymandering tends to marginalize positions, but what we see there is general absence of the position.
No, my own experience from talking to people all across the country is that people don't pay attention to what their representatives are doing. They empower and re-elect representatives who act against voters' preferences, and sadly the voters are just not aware that it happens.
In this particular case I see a ton of people not realizing that impeachment is the solution at all. They aren't asking for it because they don't realize it is the thing they need to be asking for.
We can't really blame gerrymandering for this situation when the problem is much deeper: people are getting the representatives they want to vote for, but they are sadly misinformed and therefore voting for the wrong representatives.
I mean, maybe we shouldn't make it easy for authorities to punish people?
I find it troubling how many seem eager to expand government power to attack and harm us with less oversight and restriction.
Such authoritarianism is exactly what we have checks to protect us from.
The order cites statutes and rulings from the 70s that have nothing to do with the affirmative action case.
This is about a law preventing "a contractual regime based on race" not admissions.
The Supreme Court is accountable to the people that we elect to Congress, who have the ability to impeach and remove any justice that's misbehaving.
This needs to be shouted loudly and often as so many seem to be missing that through our democratic processes we have the tools through which to resolve so many disputes in society these days, including this one.
Perhaps one doesn't like that a justice isn't being impeached and removed. Fine! Stop voting for representatives who are failing to impeach, and push others to do the same.
When we keep reelecting bad representatives, well, that's on us, but it doesn't change that we have that mechanism should we choose to use it.
The order from the Court didn't specify a conflict of interest.
@ekes well, not quite:
Fediverse didn't seek to decentralize social media but rather to re-centralize it around instances.
There are major implications of that design decision, on all levels from technological through social organization.
We'll see what comes of Bluesky. Sure, they're moving suspiciously slowly, but that in itself isn't reason to make assumptions about their intentions.
Yes, that's exactly what happened: the Court announced that they didn't have enough justices among themselves interested in taking the case and that Thomas didn't participate in the discussion where they figured out if they wanted to take it.
That's all, and as usual the Court issued that resolution without providing any additional detail.
A lot of people are speculating and trying to make assumptions, but it's all just speculation past that.
The Court can't do much as it doesn't have that sort of power.
It would take action of the Executive Branch to impact social media in the way you fear.
This wasn't about the cars themselves but about whether the drivers could get out of the arbitration agreement that they'd agreed to.
The question about marketing will now be resolved through arbitration, as per the agreement.
*shrug* I suggest we read Section 3 of the 14th Amendment if we want to know what it says.
If other sources reliably quote it great! If they don't that's a shame. But no matter whether they're reliable or not (and The Atlantic is hardly reliable), the amendment says what it says.
We can read it for ourselves, so let's go right to the source to see what it says.
If small minorities are able to conduct such sabotage then we're not talking about democracy in the first place.
The two statements are inconsistent.
It's an ActivityPub design issue.
AP specifies everything from a bloated signaling protocol through behaviors that suggest exponential processing and traffic as functions of instances involved in a post.
It doesn't matter how well an implementation is written; it will be subject to that design.
Hate speech is an integral part of Twitter?
You're saying the social media platform would just collapse without hate speech?
That's clearly wrong.
Also, I don't care about whatever ridiculous pronouncements the EU makes. They can deal with their own screwy system.
I mean, we all are.
We can all read the opinions ourselves and judge them based on their reasoning, though too few people bother to read opinions before adopting VERY STRONG OPINIONS about what those unread opinions actually say.
This is such an important point that so many, sadly, miss.
volkris
boosted
The justices often get pigeon-holed as "conservative" or "liberal", but political scientist John Tures says that's too simplistic.
Typically, over half of decisions each term (which may be the less controversial and publicized ones) are decided unanimously or 8-1.
#uspolitics #USPol #SCOTUS (2 of 3)
I think the most pressing and fundamental problem of the day is that people lack a practically effective means of sorting out questions of fact in the larger world. We can hardly begin to discuss ways of addressing reality if we can't agree what reality even is, after all.
The institutions that have served this role in the past have dropped the ball, so the next best solution is talking to each other, particularly to those who disagree, to sort out conflicting claims.
Unfortunately, far too many actively oppose this, leaving all opposing claims untested. It's very regressive.
So that's my hobby, striving to understanding the arguments of all sides at least because it's interesting to see how mythologies are formed but also because maybe through that process we can all have our beliefs tested.
But if nothing else, social media platforms like this are chances to vent frustrations that on so many issues both sides are obviously wrong ;)
Joined Dec 2022
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