• 0 Posts
  • 12 Comments
Joined 3 years ago
Cake day: July 9th, 2023
  • sinwell@infosec.pubtopolitics @lemmy.world•Trump accused of raping former Miss Switzerland in Democrats’ Epstein reportEnglish
    1·
    7 days ago

    But it was never in him. By letting the prosecution play out, and trusting the public he promised to represent, he acted as a faithful democratic leader. Wartime leaders like George Washington and Abraham Lincoln deliberately stepped aside to allow boring democratic leaders like Biden to facilitate reconciliation after conflict.

    In this case, the tactical error was letting the public re-take the wheel, assuming they had learned their lesson and were now smart enough to not be fooled by the same fascist conman.

    Making that decision for them might have thwarted the carnage, but more likely would have only postponed it allowing a significantly more competent and disciplined fascist administration to be granted power 4 years later.

  • sinwell@infosec.pubtopolitics @lemmy.world•Trump accused of raping former Miss Switzerland in Democrats’ Epstein reportEnglish
    3·
    7 days ago
    Though it pains me, and this opinion will undoubtedly be unpopular, I disagree that it was a mistake for Biden to avoid making Trump’s prosecution a priority.

    Obviously in hindsight it was a tactical error to allow American voters to re-take the wheel, but in principle the decision to not expedite a trial in order to conclude before the election expressed faith in the public to not screw up.

    In technical terms he was acting as a jus post bellum democratic leader, not a responsible-government technocrat, pragmatic tactician, or revolutionary.

    So it’s easy to say in hindsight “it’s a pity that he did not stab that vile creature when he had a chance!” But trust in others you claim to represent is never a mistake, even when that trust turns out to be misplaced.

  • sinwell@infosec.pubtoCrimes of ICE@lemmy.4d2.org•ICE crashes into pedestrian then lie about it, Woodland Police Dept dispute them (Woodland, CA, 10/20/2026)English
    2·
    9 days ago

    Yes, but even ignoring the ever-growing consensus among the populace that this abuse represents a new and special abuse of power, the litigation that’s been quietly snowballing for years now, relating to the crimes of ICE and the numerous other high crimes, misdemeanors, and treason of this government, has been pursued with the knowledge that none of them individually could significantly impede the lawless cabal while they hold power but would lay the groundwork necessary for the larger criminal trials to come. There’s simply no way around this reckoning, no matter how you cut it. From an international relations perspective alone, for example, the reality is no nation will ever again cooperate with US until we’ve acknowledged and dealt with the sheer gravity of what has transpired here these last two years.

  • sinwell@infosec.pubtoProgressive Politics@lemmy.world•Millions will be losing their insurance on January 1st 2027. Know that there are people here that are demanding you not vote against this.English
    6·
    9 days ago

    Historically, there are a few potential levers available to a unified Congress that are immune/mostly-immune to veto:

    1. Congressional Review Act (1996) can be used to override veto.

    This could delay implementation. It only applies to agency rules not statutes, however, and due to the 60-day window expiring in July, any further CRA resolutions would not gain the usual procedural protections (against filibuster, which in the Senate is essentially guaranteed).

    2. Concurrent resolutions (i.e., from both house and senate) skip the president’s desk.

    These can be used broadly to make “clarifications” WRT legislative intent and could in theory be used to lessen the negative impact of the legislation by applying leverage against the ambiguities present in the original wording. This can’t be used to repeal HR1 entirely (the only reason H.Con.Res. 86 had immediate binding authority was due its use of an existing statutory carve out offered by the War Powers Resolution of 1973, for all the good it did) but it could be used to, for example, counteract the agency interpretation/guidelines to expand the bounds of exempted participants.

    3. Attaching a repeal to any “must-pass” legislation.

    In particular, any appropriations-related bill offers use of “power of the purse” (by most accounts remains the strongest constitutional power available to Congress). This is likely the strongest lever available to a unified Congress to block implementation of presidential initiatives and force presidential signing of joint resolutions, since the presidency can’t perpetually block appropriations without shutting down the entire government.

    So on the whole, it’s difficult but not entirely hopeless. If nothing else, power of the purse is likely to be the one thing that can bring this otherwise lawless presidency to heel.

    Edit: use spoilers for details

  • sinwell@infosec.pubtoCrimes of ICE@lemmy.4d2.org•ICE crashes into pedestrian then lie about it, Woodland Police Dept dispute them (Woodland, CA, 10/20/2026)English
    31·
    9 days ago

    It’s far too early to say there will be no legal reckoning. Every bit of record keeping that individuals, local and state governments, and even the court systems have been doing this entire time has produced a great number of indelible artifacts and judgements admissible in court. This mountain of evidence will be needed in the public trials to come, which will establish as a matter of history how fascism was implemented in the US and who took part, kingpins to foot soldiers.

    It’s important work, and it’s unfortunate that it gets shat on so much around here simply because It hasn’t resulted in immediate consequences to the perpetrators.