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
SCOTUS isn't in charge of the USPS. This is a matter of law, specifically statutes passed by Congress.
Congress wrote a law saying USPS can't be sued for this stuff. If you have a question about that, well, ask congresspeople how they expect that to work out.
Keep in mind that the Supreme Court ruling simply recognizes the law that Congress wrote specifically to ensure that such a lawsuit can't be brought.
So, it's a matter for Congress to address if they wish. They can update the statute at any time to close that exception.
The ruling wasn't particularly insane. The law may be, in which case Congress should fix it, but the ruling just applied the law.
Bingo, this #SOTU was about showmanship, not communicating.
#Trump was putting on a show for his audience, his supporters, nothing more. That's why it wasn't worth watching for anyone outside of that audience, why it wasn't worth factchecking, and why it went so long.
Might as well factcheck a concert performance or complain that the musicians didn't cut their set short.
It was obvious that that's what it was going to be, and it was.
#Trump turned the Well of the House into a stage from which he could perform for his adoring crowd, and they got exactly the show they wanted.
The thing is, you absolutely can enshrine that into law, and SCOTUS is happy to recognize that reality.
As the line goes, government has the social monopoly on violence. That's core to what government IS, the entity that promises to commit acceptable acts of violence so members of the public hopefully won't.
So yes, we have laws enshrining everything for prisons through executions through use of military through taxation, and on and on.
In reality, yes, law is largely about violence or else, without penalties, they'd have no teeth.
We have to start with that realization before talking about how best to use that enshrined harm.
The key is to emphasize that fascism isn't culturally normal.
I mean yes, everybody lives with the outcomes of the dice that we all roll when we vote.
What of it?
Trump is constantly refuted by his minions. He constantly makes pronouncements that don't actually come to pass because he's a joke and everyone around him knows it. They all just use him.
Look at all these trade deals that he announced that didn't actually turn out. Look at all these peace plans that he announced when there was no peace afterwards. Look at all these laws that he announced that didn't actually get passed the way that he said they would work.
The guy is a joke, and everyone around him knows it and they just use him for staging and then they ignore him and do what they want to do anyway.
Unfortunately so many people voted for him because they were convinced that he was this great leader. Unfortunately his opposition didn't bother to tell them What a loser he is.
There's a good chance. Even sadder is that he's just pushing buttons, too damn stupid to know he's even doing it.
And then he'll get all huffy and blame someone else.
@faab64 He just doesn't know what he's talking about.
Is he real? Sure. He's just as real as any other idiot armchair quarterbacking based on what their buddies tell them.
@SPF are you kidding?
Trump constantly attempts to communicate with the public in long form speaking. It's part of his narcissism. And it just doesn't matter.
In theory you might have a point, but in reality? It doesn't apply to this president because talking at length is pretty much all he can do, whether he makes sense or not.
There's no reason to listen to this. You can listen to him ramble any day of the week, so don't waste time on this one.
It's just an example of how #Trump is not the leader that folks hold him up to be. His supporters pick and choose what they believed from him, and he follows what he sees from them on Fox News.
He's the effect, not the cause.
#BrianKilmeade: What are you talking about, Iran nuclear program? Everybody knows Trump destroyed that! There is no program, everybody knows that!...
@racingdaily absolutely.
And because we elected and reelected ineffective people to Congress, he won't be removed. So yeah, this is the unfortunate result of our voting.
Yay democracy.
You say Trump was clear, but that ignores that he and his people would immediately contradict his statements and go the other way.
Heck, his own supporters can't agree on what the guy is saying on a daily basis. GOP commentators looking at the same gobbeldygook say it means opposite things.
Mainly, people knew they didn't want Harris. It was obviously stupid for Democrats to skip primaries and run her. Voters didn't know what Trump would do because he's so nonsensical, so they rolled the dice.
Well, because this sort of thing is up to Congress, not the president. Congress needs to create laws to restrict it, and absent that, they haven't given the president the authority to stop it.
Trump's people are happy to obey the law when it suits them and ignore it when it doesn't.
This is a case of them actually obeying the limits of presidential authority.
@jd I don't think it's clear that assassination was the goal.
The guy sounds like he didn't have much of a plan, given that Trump was a thousand miles away and he was allegedly lugging around a gas can.
@ChrisMayLA6 who are you referring to?
The only commentary I see trying to sane-wash Trump's babbling are those speaking from inside the GOP echo chamber, and they're getting fewer and fewer as time goes by and his positions become harder to justify.
The Supreme Court didn't order Trump to stop tariff collections. That's not how the process works.
Standing as an appellate court, SCOTUS affirmed the lower court's judgement so that the lower court can do what it needs to do.
So no, Trump didn't defy the SCOTUS here, and the bureaucracy around collecting tariffs reasonably takes time to process directives to change its practices.
Yes, Trump should have never demanded these tariffs in the first place, but this is pretty normal for how the management changes direction.
Yep. But that's been the case for years now. His whole track record is strewn with examples of his losing.
Had his critics focused on that for the last decade I don't think he would have been reelected.
Instead, his critics spent their time yelling about how he was going to be effective in getting his way, which only built him up to his base.
Well right. The US corporate media is full of presenters, effectively actors, not experts who so often don't know what they're talking about and don't bother bringing in people who do.
Keep in mind, this isn't conspiracy. Same as Trump, it's simply mediocrity.
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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