Political Discussion and Commentary

There’s of course the quote of DJT saying “Vote, one last time and you won’t have to vote again after that” at some evangelical event before the election. But the way I know is because unlike his first term, he has completely stopped holding rallies for his supporters.

Yes, there is no third term announced yet, but I’m sure he and his sycophants will engineer a crisis to ensure marshal law can be invoked or some other measure to let him rule till death like daddy Vladdy.

He stopped feeling accountable to his base, which is the first time since he’s gotten into politics. He knows if there ever was accountability again in government, he and Muskrat are absolutely done.

Because it was.

Wait.

Hear me out.

Remember Cambridge Analytica. Rigging elections is a perfected profession now. We’re talking about deep rigging, through manipulating voters very targeted and algorithmically.

2016 We know they did it. We know Mueller could not really link anything to anyone. The cloak and dagger was very well done. This is something both DJT and Russia are really good at. The corruption is implied but never explicit or provable.

2020 They attempted but somehow it didn’t work. I don’t know how, but at least DJT must have thought it was locked in. So did Putin as he was planning on doing the whole Ukraine thing without meat grinding his young boys. But his puppet somehow didn’t get back in and it increasingly looked like Trump would face serious consequences from the 92 charges against him. So Putin went in.

2024 Having learned from both 2016 and knowing the stakes being so much higher, the rigging was in much deeper and serious dark pools of money with Musk at the top ensured a sure fire win. I’m sure genocide Joe, non-nominated Kamala and the assassination attempt all helped, but they were both very motivated and certain they would win. Project 2025 and a bunch of language in his speeches suggests they knew he would win.

I have no proof, but him being a rigger and a cheater in every other aspect of his life makes me feel he’s just pissed off his fix didn’t work in 2020.

Curious if I’m the only one who thinks this.

The U.S. education system is broken. Underfunded schools, overworked teachers, and massive disparities in quality depending on where you live. Meanwhile, countries like Finland, Sweden, and Denmark consistently rank among the best in the world.

Some U.S. states, like Massachusetts and New Jersey, have taken a more Nordic style approach, prioritizing well funded public schools, high teacher standards, and universal access. The results speak for themselves. Students in these states outperform much of the country. So why are we not following their lead on a national scale?

Should the Department of Education take a stronger role in setting national standards, equalizing funding, and ensuring every student, no matter their zip code, gets a high quality education? Or should education remain a state by state issue, even if it means vast inequality between states.

Some push school choice as a solution, diverting funds from public schools to private and charter schools. But does this actually improve education, or does it just drain resources from the schools that need them most?

The U.S. is one of the wealthiest countries in the world. There should be no excuse for having a failing education system. If we want to remain competitive, we need to stop making education a political football and start treating it like the national priority it should be.

Genuinely curious what people think. All points welcome. How does this best get addressed?

They won't vote for you.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.world/post/26739451

This feels more like poignant food for thought and a call to be prepared for heavy rolls than actual news-news, but I don't know where else to share it on Lemmy.world, so my apologies if this content is better housed in a different community. I'm a reddit reject, so I'm still learning the norms here (and it appears I didn't learn them there, for what it's worth).

Thesis from the article: "It would be helpful if we stopped pretending this terrible chapter in American history won’t close without bloodshed…"

I've read some great dystopian novels, but their settings were all in established dystopias. Life as We Knew It is the only one I've read that follows the devolution from onset to full maturation, although I only read the first book of the series. I guess World War Z is another example. Both of those books' dystopias were catalyzed by major pseudonatural disasters. Anyone have any suggestions on other good titles that try to accurately portray what happens? I saw The Unthinkable: Who Survives When Disaster Strikes-And Why suggested in a sub before my ban. Rise and Fall of the 3rd Reich is probably another good place to start as well.

inb4 why youtube link when piped exists I have been struggling to find a piped instance that works recently. The instances I've tried are either Bad Gateways, dont exist at all anymore, or their search box just doesnt work (I type something in and hit enter/click the search button and just nothing happens)

If a “Tax the Rich” party was created:

What do you think it’s platform should be?

Would it need a social agenda?

What conditions would be necessary for you to vote for it?

I originally posted to politics@... but was removed (I guess because not a link)

https://lemmy.today/post/25296202

I started looking through my post history to see if there were any swarmy posts I could use to meme about how all the support for Palestine has virtually vanished.

The best I could find was this one post

It was close but not worth the vitriol I would get for it. I was curious about what the person I was arguing with was up to, though.

Here's a link to the entire argument:

https://lemmy.world/comment/13093272

What I found was better than any meme. Turns out I was arguing with a Harris voter. Despite the fact they wanted to get in the mud with me, on election day, they were at the polls fighting fascism. I don't think anything I said or did contributed to this outcome but this election cycle made me think all people were straight up, dumb. Turns out I'm dumb, for not having more faith in people.

Think what you will, and maybe this doesn't have the same impact on you but I know now there is a path forward. It's not a matter of fighting or not fighting. It's a matter of trusting.

I trust in goodness. I trust in love. I trust in my neighbor who's done nothing but leave me be and check up on me when I'm in trouble. No matter how many people destroy my gate there is always one who will try to shut it.

I wasn't fully convinced before that Putin has Trump in his pocket, but after that stunt, I am convinced that he is under Putin's thumb. Trump and co. could have had marching orders from Putin to do exactly that. Also, this is something that Putin have done and would do, publicly humiliating someone on live TV.

cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/26567894

The AP had one too.

I don't believe it. I don't believe the federal sector is responsible for the bulk of the black middle class. That's absurd.

So many black people in so many professions, every profession possible, and this kind of article comes out? It gets those Trump/Musk idiots crowing. And it's so obviously wrong.

I gather that congress required the creation of USAID and provided funds for it through the Foreign Assistance Act. Through that act the President is given power (and requirement?) to execute the mission, with a lot of rules to guide the execution. So if the USAID agency is being dismantled, is the President not still required to fulfill the mission of the Foreign Assistance Act?

Some examples from the text of the Foreign Assistance Act:

Title I — Development Loan Fund

The President shall establish a fund to be known as the "Development Loan Fund " to be used by the President to make loans pursuant to the authority contained in this title. (b) The President is authorized to make loans payable as to principal and interest in United States dollars on such terms and conditions as he may determine, in order to promote the economic development of less developed friendly countries and areas, with emphasis upon assisting long-range plans and programs designed to develop economic resources and increase productive capacities.

Title II — DEVELOPMENT GRANTS AND TECHNICAL COOPERATION

The President is authorized to furnish assistance on such terms and conditions as he may determine in order to promote the economic development of less developed friendly countries and areas, with emphasis upon assisting the development of human resources through such means as programs of technical cooperation and development.

I prefer thoughtful answers. And as always, lets keep things civil for the sake of the mods.

I think it has become pretty clear That corporations have completely taken over the U.S.

I have wondered what their end game was, and now I got it. They don't care about politics or policy. All they wanted was full complete access to the most powerful item America has.

It's Economic power.

They see how America "controls" most of the economies of the world. THAT is the power they crave. They HAVE to add that extra zero to their balance sheet no matter what. Tariffs against Mexico, Canada and China are a test run. To see how well their expectations are met, after all nobody who matters is gonna suffer right?

Unfortunately, they forgot one thing. Most other democratic counties are still democratic. Sure we all have corporate penetration at some level, but WE don't have their personally chosen puppet master standing behind our world leader. And we especially don't like it when someone is telling us what to do.

Canada is now officially looking to break as many financial ties with america as it can, and is opening up trade to as many Asian and European partners as they can. Mexico is doing the same.

There are only two outcomes that are going to happen in this scenario. Either way, america is going to be the big loser.

Scenario 1: They try for the full four years to force the rest of the world to bend the knee (they will of course fail)

scenario 2 however...

scenario 2: they go militaristic.

Here is why the Canadian "51st state" rhetoric should be concerning everybody. Especially Americans.

They are trying to set up a "Ukraine 2.0" situation should they need it. Why? Because they have access to all the Data about climate change. And Canada has in abundance the resources the states will need survive it all. bigger country but a VASTLY smaller population. I mean what could go wrong right? I mean sure the Russians fucked it up, but we're americans right!? We have the most powerful army in the world!

Because nobody learned anything from Afghanistan...

But here's the real reason why ALL Americans should be concerned. Guess what they can suspend during a "time of war?" That's right, the Constitution. SO guess who would get to hold onto the reigns of power until the "war" over?" Their puppet.

I am going to close with this. I have worked with alot of ex Canadian military guys, one guy was a retired Colonel in the Army. He told me a story about one day when they were at a training exercise with the American military. It was after hours and all the leadership got together for a little "Get to know you" function. drinks were flowing liberally, and after imbibing some, he was talking to an American General. And point blank asked him what he thought would happen if they ever tried to invade Canada? His answer was one simple sentence...

"We'd take her, but we'd never be able to keep her."

We can try a criminal case with the slimmest possible amount of information. Why is bad faith action not criminal in modern democracy. It amounts to fraud of the highest degree. To me the most blatant form is those elected representatives who changed political party after election, but includes any elected official acting contrary to the platform they were elected on.

Democracy cannot survive this kind of fraud.

The Democrats are still playing old-school politics and it cost them the election. The Republicans have apparently given over to the oligarchs. A party that actually represents the working class could break the stranglehold that the two-party system has on us.

I remember the Hilary PUMA voters protesting Obama’s victory in 2008, but I don’t remember them saying it was rigged.

We’re years removed from 2016 and 2020, and yet both the far left and far right are accusing democrats of rigging elections. NOBODY cares about who dropped out and endorsed someone, or the media wanting one candidate over the other, or Dominion Voting Machines, or the fallacy that illegals are voting. It’s getting ridiculous, the people who vote are ADULTS who can think for themselves.

If anything, you could make an argument that the system was rigged against Hillary, she got more votes than Bernie, then went onto the general and got more votes than Trump, and didn’t become president. If this was vice versa, you’d never hear the end of it from the Bernie or Trump cults online.

If it gets america out of the war trade I'm for it but this is just another example how russia has perfectly positioned itself to deconstruct america as a global power.

Republicans cozy up to them thinking they are like minded and if things got bad america could never fail. Except by every indication Republicans are morons and putin knows so he's robbing them blind. The greatest threat to America is it has given all its power to the stupidest people on the face of the planet.

Recent events in #politics triggered me to write a manifesto on the values of #Democracy and what we can to do preserve them.