volkris @volkris@qoto.org

@notwhatwethink

But you're missing that voters elect and reelect these representatives.

This is democracy at work, for better or worse.

@stopgopfox@libretooth.gr @joeinwynnewood

Never forget that the Department of Justice is 100% under the control of the president.

Under the design of the US government 100% of the executive branch is the responsibility of the president, and an enormous reason for that is so that we can hold the president accountable for everything that happens under his branch, and we can even impeach him for anything that happens under his branch of government. This is a critical element of the design of the US government.

Every single thing that Merrick Garland does is the responsibility of Biden. Again, that's just built into the design of the US government because if any underling misbehaves, including Merrick Garland, the president stands to be impeached over it.

Every time the press secretary talks about the independence of the DOJ she is doing a disservice to the design of the US government, and it is really really annoying to hear it because it is misleading the public.

The president is absolutely responsible for the Department of Justice. The president absolutely stands to be impeached if the DOJ does wrong. We absolutely need to hold him accountable, whether you happen to think they are doing a good job or a bad job, it is 100% up to the president to make sure it is a good job.

@joeinwynnewood @stopgopfox@libretooth.gr

The whole "fake electors" conspiracy theory is based on missing that the US legal system requires token gestures to stand up and present somebody who has been harmed for the sake of standing.

It's not some weird conspiracy theory; it's just a standard legal fiction.

People getting all upset over this particular element just really don't understand how legal system works in the US. And that's a shame because they are all too often falling for a conspiracy theory based on lack of understanding of how the legal system works.

@joeinwynnewood @stopgopfox@libretooth.gr @Teri_Kanefield

Still looking for that specific statute.

@stopgopfox@libretooth.gr @joeinwynnewood

One problem is that so many of these accusations are based on misunderstandings of laws or the processes of electing presidents.

I'm always amazed that in the US we have people who every four years stop and ask, wait, how do we elect elect presidents again? How does the electoral college work?

We have so many people who have no idea how government actually works voting on government. But that's democracy for you.

Frankly, I suspect that the reason Biden hasn't prosecuted these people is because the cases against them are seriously deficient, that they actually didn't do things violating federal law, regardless of the sensationalistic reports that biased outlets are putting out.

Sometimes a person is not prosecuted simply because they didn't break laws and articles attacking them are just stupid and wrong.

@scottjenson @tchambers @pfefferle

I'd say there's a pretty big difference that ActivityPub actively transmits updates while RSS only passively provides them.

@KingDetrick @Oldfartrant @stopgopfox@libretooth.gr

Oh, in my experience the definition of "insurrectionist" these days means "person I disagree with."

We live in stupid times.

@joeinwynnewood @stopgopfox@libretooth.gr

Well the thing is, if it's criminal then there will be a specific statute to reference. It wouldn't just be eyeballing the situation and giving an opinion.

So, what specific statutes would criminalize these actions even assuming they happened?

@KingDetrick @Oldfartrant @stopgopfox@libretooth.gr

Some kind of breakdown in the fediverse? The post was nothing but talking about the people on the floor of Congress, at least as it showed up on my instance here.

@KingDetrick @Oldfartrant @stopgopfox@libretooth.gr

When the OP highlighted people being on the floor of Congress to debate anything, it seems to me that was focusing on disagreement with the election of these people by their voters.

If the point was just about the judicial process then I would not have mentioned Congress at all since it really has nothing to do with their election.

If somebody should be rounded up by the authorities and thrown in jail or whatever, that's a completely separate issue from voters voting for their representatives.

@stopgopfox@libretooth.gr

Not at all. Prosecute away. There's nothing to stop prosecutors from prosecuting democratically elected representatives.

It's a completely separate issue.

But it just has nothing to do with their being democratically elected, and it is dangerous territory to talk about overriding voters or undermining the democratic process because one would rather authorities bring down a hammer.

@Oldfartrant @stopgopfox@libretooth.gr

Of course it is, because people are still voting those members into office.

You can talk around that all you want but at the end of the day, unless you are saying the voting system is itself reporting inaccurate results, it's still democratic.

@TheOldGuy

I don't think only guilty of some things but not additional things is the huge victory this headline makes it out to be.

@ignis

Ha! Now that I glance over at my home feed (whatever they're called) I do see your post there since I believe I follow the hashtag of Mastodon.

You'll be glad to hear that!

@ignis

I was just randomly scrolling through the federated feed on my instance, the little world logo that shows all of the content that this instance sees from the broadcasts from all of the other instances It knows about.

@ignis

I have similar questions, and I sort of get the impression that it is almost like a social credit system where I will follow you and an exchange you will follow me and the whole point is to mutually boost our follower counts because that number makes us feel good?

Yeah I really don't get microblogging.

@stopgopfox@libretooth.gr

It is about the democratic process because they were democratically elected to the democratic institution.

You are welcome to want to use the state to punish them. But let's be clear that you're talking about applying authority that would subvert the democratic process that elected them.

That happens from time to time in history.
The results tend to be less than ideal.