Kind of an empty news story when DOJ is simultaneously fighting over half the states in court to even get this data in the first place and likely to lose that fight, but I’m not surprised CBS is pretending this is a done deal to scare people away from voting

Yeah, I mean on the one hand I think what Dems were theoretically asking for here was stupid (more regulations on ICE in exchange for more funding for ICE when they have already been flagrantly violating laws left and right), so in terms of actual policy coming out of this I think this is the second best outcome we could have gotten (best would have been keeping DHS shut down until Trump was impeached and removed and ICE was totally defunded or until midterms and reassessing from there).

But on the other, the fact that Dems didn’t get the stupid thing they were asking for is a pretty hollow victory to campaign on for anyone paying close attention, and (assuming the House and Trump sign off on this) now we can’t point to the TSA and FEMA and etc. agencies being unable to function under this administration as further evidence they need to be removed from power as quickly as possible, which is really the only logically defensible position anyone can take.

Wasted millions on cop overtime so they could arrest a bunch of protesters and not do a goddamn thing to protect cities’ residences from ICE brutality

I would say “Now watch as these cities move their money around and defund actual useful public services to keep their police departments over-funded,” but we probably won’t get a deep dive investigation on those things like we did with this

according to some people on this platform now

But your point is well taken

What’s the difference between Chuck Norris and Chuck Norris jokes? The jokes keep getting older.

The real takeaway here is that the war isn’t doing anything to stop Iran’s violent repression

It’s not relevant until it is. Self described democracies that are unable to respond to popular sentiment get unstable.

Exactly. It’s anecdotal but most people I have met in my American life are quietly good people. Their biggest problem is finding the courage to speak up when a loud jerk is doing their thing.

I know there are some members of this community who are at least as surprised that anybody living in Arkansas has a moral compass

Agreed with a lot of this, but

Yes, AI will probably not be used to replace plumbers, car mechanics, carpenters, etc.

Lots of those people did get replaced already by technology, it was just called industrialization and assembly lines. What’s left now is artisan wood working and emergency repair work for plumbers and mechanics, and you can’t employ all of America’s blue collar workers with luxury stuff and emergencies.

Another thing that doesn’t get mentioned here - if AI and self driving cars work out like they want them to, goodbye delivery work and long haul trucking, which actually is a ton of blue collar jobs. Also, self checkout machines and chatbots are eating customer service jobs that less educated workers might otherwise be doing.

The biggest portion of blue collar jobs that will be tough to automate will be everything associated with construction just because they’re moving to different sites and jobs faster than it would take to get bots well trained to do that work, but if unemployment jumps and new home sales even look like they might slow down those jobs disappear fast.

My point is - if technology and labor rights get to the point the office workers are starting to feel the bite, guaranteed blue collar workers are all teeth marks by that point. Not that I would expect a CEO to talk honestly about that.

Yeah, I’m not totally sure I would go as far as requiring criminal charges to kick things off, but their ought to be some restraints on recalls. Besides stability in government being at least somewhat important, it’s unfair to the past electorate who voted whichever candidate in for a given term to have a different electorate (because new people are always becoming eligible and other people are passing away or otherwise becoming inelligble) come along and mess with that.

Fair point in practice, but in theory that’s a campaign finance regulation problem not a recall election problem

I think it’s less a matter of people clinging to anything than just not knowing what to do because of everything you mention in that final paragraph. I think more people are willing to sacrifice for a greater good than is commonly realized, but nobody wants to sacrifice themselves for nothing, and that’s almost certainly what would come from trying to take forceful action at this point. I sympathize with being deeply frustrated, but honestly I think the best thing a good comrade can do for the revolution right now is to try to survive for long enough for a better opportunity to present itself.

So it costs the Pentagon $435 to purchase a $15 hammer, maybe, but it all depends on which numbers they choose to present because their accounting practices are a total mess. Yay?

I would include these CEOs of private prison companies in the group of grifters who need some sort of criminal punishment, but if they’re willing to give testimony against the government officials they worked with some sort of leniency may be appropriate.

It’s all awful, but in terms of the scale of awfulness the systematic human rights abuses are worse than the graft imo.

Trump denied any prior knowledge of Israel attacking South Pars, pushing back against reports that the strike was coordinated with and approved by his administration.

All I need to read to know they definitely coordinated with Israel on this and directly ordered this strike. Pretty insane that the moment the US and Israel crossed over the line of what the rest of the world is willing to tolerate wasn’t when they bombed a bunch of school children but instead was when they bombed some petro infrastructure, but not exactly surprising I guess.

Dipshits who already hated Mamdani continue to hate Mamdani. The real news here is that the prosecution was forced to drop that ridiculous felony charge down to a petty misdemeanor. That kind of “overcharging to force a plea” bullshit ought to be stopped.

“Maybe you wouldn’t be so sad about the way we repeatedly bomb children and never get punished for it if you couldn’t post about it?” - world leaders (actually)

You have the right to remain silent but we’re still having this conversation because rights are something you get to choose when you exercise and when you waive. The university’s board of trustees or whatever governing entity they have should not get to choose, they should just be reading the law and following it to the best of their ability.

the university has a right

No, the university has an obligation to comply with laws that forbid groups that would try to disrupt some students’ experiences for bigoted reasons. They do not have the right to pick and choose when they honor that obligation.