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
@light It's funny that without phonebooks anymore we no longer have that convenient analogy.
Well I guess we still have different sorts of address books we could point to.
Well, Trump is being told by his handlers that the economy is awesome now and the working class has been taken care of, so there is no more affordability issue.
Therefore it must be a hoax.
It highlights that Trump and so many of his supporters are being fed misinformation, that they're acting on.
That description doesn't accurately capture what's going on in this case.
Federal law prevented Monsanto from including the warning on its label, but a state tried to preempt DC by requiring it, and that despite scientific consensus.
This isn't so much about shielding Monsanto from liability as it is about keeping states from undermining the EPA.
"Of two competing theories, the simpler explanation of an entity is to be preferred."
Trump's self-defeating incompetency, that we can observe every day, is the controlling element here, and core to the situation.
Sure, he can be both an idiot and corrupt and smelly, but because of the idiocy it doesn't even matter.
But if you go after an assumed conspiracy that doesn't exist, that's going to distract from actually addressing the problem.
@LevZadov I don't know how you go from me saying it might be bad to thinking I'm defending it.
I'm just asking you if you have evidence to support your own claims.
I didn't defend anything.
I asked if you had proof that the people who claim to be elected weren't actually elected.
Whether that's good or bad is a different matter.
Yes! It's the simpler explanation, and Occam's Razor would have us assume it.
Yes, Kooky Grandpa is the explanation that simply explains all of that PLUS all of the stuff that Trump has been botching. If there really was this whole conspiracy that you're describing, chances are he wouldn't be messing up so much other stuff.
If Trump wasn't Kooky Grandpa then would would have to start assuming he's just really good at putting on this idiot act even though it makes his own life harder because he really is a super duper genius playing eight-dimensional chess against the rest of the world with some grand goal that we can't even imagine.
Or maybe he really is just an idiot. That's the much simpler explanation.
Y'all are giving this administration too much credit.
TOFU: Trump Only Fucks Up, which you can see everywhere from botched prosecutions through botched international negotiations.
Corruption? Oil fields? No, the administration is just continuing to fuck up.
No need to look for anything more complicated than that.
The key is followthrough.
"We need to give people something to vote for" is a solid plan, but they need to then give people something to vote for.
From Harris to Behn they lost their elections because what they were offering just didn't give voters something to vote for.
It's important to keep in mind that this refund process wouldn't actually be THAT complicated since the US trade commissions already have those procedures on the books.
There are a TON of ways that tariff payments have to be adjusted under normal times, so those procedures are already part of the system. These refunds would simply trigger those.
There are a lot of folks who say the tariffs might be illegal, but it would be too disruptive to rule against them now. They need to know that it wouldn't actually be that disruptive to do the right thing.
I can't read the paywalled article, but your comment gets it backwards.
The argument is that the VRA *requires* racial redistricting, so for the Court to confirm racial redistricting would strengthen the Voting Rights Act, not weaken it.
@LevZadov you have proof that there is widespread election fraud?
You can prove that the folks in Congress weren't actually elected?
Occasionally #Trump comes right out and admits that his handlers aren't giving him the real picture of what's going on.
It's really important to keep that in mind, that the guy is so sheltered from the outside world. as it clarifies the concern about the administration.
Trump isn't really in charge. The people around him use him.
#Trump, on the double tap boat strike:Hegseth said, he did not say that. And I believe him, I wouldn't have wanted that. Not a second strike. The ...
Well... right, because it's not really up to the Supreme Court in the US system. It's up to Congress.
SCOTUS has little real enforcement power by design. They only judge. It's up to the people we elect to Congress to really respond to a misbehaving executive.
Congress can impeach and remove from office, can withhold funds, can generally engage with the executive branch as needed. The Supreme Court is limited to judging cases brought before them.
@LGS the thing is, the Supreme Court hands out public arguments to back its positions, and they're there to be scrutinized.
We don't need to delve into dark conspiracy theories like this. We can read the rulings for ourselves to see if they hold up.
What matters is the argument laid out in the rulings, not the personal backstories of justices.
@Akshay you're missing that so many Republicans DO care about the Rule of Law, but they're too uninformed to know what the law actually says.
So many honestly believe that the president has a legal right to do so many of those things.
@mmasnick.bsky.social meh, I'd say it's not even about censorship and control.
I suspect it's about politics, plain and simple, generating talkingpoints for politicians to squawk about to their base.
Without a push to actually pass anything through the Senate, or even on the floor of the House itself, it's just bluster.
Reps get to crow about trying to protect kids online even if they don't have any expectation of actually making law.
@cbarbermd Don't discount the possibility that he's not trying to hide anything, he's just really that stupid, his brain is so adled with dementia, that he actually doesn't know.
There doesn't need to be a deeper plan than that.
@bettycjung.bsky.social The federal government does consider them to be professional.
It's just that they don't have the same qualifications as PHD level backgrounds.
@billbennett bingo. This exactly.
I remember a study of #Trump voters when he was first elected that found his voters to be a coalition of something like five distinctive groups with dramatically opposite values and expectations. For example, one group wanted freer trade while another group wanted it restricted.
So what you say here nails it: one group of his voters actually think he is really really smart and capable while another group of his voters thinks he's an absolute moron that can be manipulated.
But in the end, yay democracy.
He's a fine representation of the population here. I don't know why we would expect anything better given the level that voters are at.
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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