• espentan@lemmy.world
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      18 days ago

      Definitely. Do we know if the people who wanted a criminal moron in charge are still cheering him on, or are they starting to catch on to the fact that his plan always was to thoroughly fuck everyone over? Well, everyone but his clique.

        • SoftestSapphic@lemmy.world
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          18 days ago

          As long as the right people get hurt they’re happy.

          Republicans would shit their own pants just to make us smell it.

          They’re gonna be a lot less happy when they try putting armed citizens in camps and they get fucking shot.

          • chingadera@lemmy.world
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            17 days ago

            Time has shown that these motherfuckers don’t even care if “the right people get hurt”

            As long as there is hurt, and their preferred propaganda machine tells them, they’re happy.

            • Anegro_Montoya@sh.itjust.works
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              16 days ago

              They do care. They’re ok with people in authority hurting them but if a minority does, someone lesser than them, they’ll burn a fucking neighborhood down to get them.

      • gwheel@lemm.ee
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        18 days ago

        They’re completely caught in the misinfo and still cheering him on. Anyone getting hurt must have deserved it and if they’re getting hurt it just shows how important it is to hurt the others back.

      • taiyang@lemmy.world
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        17 days ago

        Everyone just giving their opinion but the answer is mixed. Some regret, many don’t. And it’s not just disinformation, people have to deal with their own cognitive dissonance. Just on the radio earlier was an Arab man still defending vote for Trump because “it’s just rhetoric” right now. He’s willing to say it’s terrible rhetoric, but won’t come to terms with the vote being a bad decision.

        • Clent@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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          17 days ago

          They will deny it until they can’t and go right back to denial the moment they can.

          He’s their security blanket, their binkie. Any parent knows it’s nonsense but to the child’s mind the magic of the binkie it is real. Arguing the reality of the binkie is futile.

          Parents can rely on their child growing out of magical thinking but since these are adults, we’ve got to accept they are forever lost to the magic.

          Their need for president binkie cannot be argued with. It can be slipped from their grasp by logic or trickery. The magic must be shattered, utterly and irrevocably. Only they can choose when that occurs.

          • FosterMolasses@leminal.space
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            16 days ago

            Yes, but actually no.

            Children, regardless of “magical thinking” naturally do not possess cognitive dissonance. Cognitive dissonance is a learned skill instilled into them by other adults. Everytime a kid asks “what’s wrong with daddy?” when he’s lying on the floor after having too much to drink, and the housewife replies “he’s just sleeping honey, now stop asking stupid questions” we gradually learn to deny our senses, critical thinking and reasoning skills. Children don’t need statistics or scientific journal entries, they can sense when something is wrong. If they see one of these protests outside on the way to the grocery store with mommy they can put two and two together without having to turn on CNN. Yet full grown adults can convince themselves a new pizza parlor must be opening.

            A child’s mind is better at discerning nonsense from the truth than you realize. It is we who repeatedly teach them that they are wrong.

      • Bronzebeard@lemm.ee
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        17 days ago

        The majority did not vote for this. The majority of voters didn’t even vote for this. He only won a plurality (<50%)

        • Kecessa@sh.itjust.works
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          17 days ago

          He got the support of all the people who voted for him and all the people who didn’t vote against him.

          • idiomaddict@lemmy.world
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            17 days ago

            Lucky the USA allows everyone to vote no matter what; doesn’t schedule it for a standard workday, meaning nobody has to choose between feeding their kids and voting; plans out enough polling stations so that people don’t have to wait for hours without access to food, water, or seating; doesn’t surprise deregister voters with little notice; and sends out absentee ballots reliably with sufficient time to return them…

            • ripcord@lemmy.world
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              17 days ago

              Georgia had both mail-in absentee voting and, especially, 2 weeks of early voting including on weekends. In most places the early voting lines weren’t terribly long. On election day most places were short.

              Most people still didn’t vote.

              Some people couldn’t vote. Millions of assholes just didn’t bother and are partly to blame.

          • Bronzebeard@lemm.ee
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            17 days ago

            Given that he campaigned claiming he wouldn’t be enacting Project 2025 (even though it was obvious he would be), I don’t think you can claim people not voting are automatically okay with him breaking that very explicit promise.

            No. Americans do not want this. Americans especially didn’t want it done by some nutjob private citizen who has zero authority to do what he’s doing, and no oversight.

            • GeneralEmergency@lemmy.world
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              17 days ago

              No. Americans do not want this

              Then they would’ve voted.

              By not voting they are saying they are ok with either option.

              That’s how democracy works. Voters can bury their heads in the sand, it doesn’t make the politicians go away.

              • Bronzebeard@lemm.ee
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                17 days ago

                Getting voted in is NOT permission to break the law.

                He’s illegally bypassing Congress with his actions. Doesn’t matter if this is what your dumbass voted for, it’s not how this works.

                • GeneralEmergency@lemmy.world
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                  16 days ago

                  Sounds an awful lot like you’re trying to convince yourself rather than me.

                  Doesn’t matter if this is what your dumbass voted for

                  The projection doesn’t help.

                  Trump has been pretty clear that this was his plan. Anyone surprised by this is just willfully ignorant.

        • Majorllama@lemmy.world
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          17 days ago

          No vote. No opinion.

          He got the majority of votes. He got the majority of the electoral.

          The majority of participating voters wanted this.

          Just because you guys cannot fathom how anyone would want this doesn’t mean this is the same panic inducing situation for them. The majority of politically active people in the United States of America wanted this to happen as evidence of the election we just held.

          • Bronzebeard@lemm.ee
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            17 days ago

            No. He got a plurality of the votes. Not a majority.

            The majority of participating voters voted against him.

            How many times do you need that repeated to understand?

            • applejuicy@lemmy.world
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              17 days ago

              I mean, I’m sure you’re right. What I don’t understand is how that technicality is even relevant. Even if 40% of the people voted for this, does that not still mean you have a sick and dangerous population on your hands? We’re talking about tens of millions of people that voted for a fascist regime.

              • Bronzebeard@lemm.ee
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                17 days ago

                It means he doesn’t have the popular mandate they keep claiming they do.

                But yes. Half of adults are functionally illiterate. 5th-6th grade reading levels. They can physically read the words, but will only grasp the most basic surface level meaning. Republicans’ started attacking education decades ago. This is what they wrought.

              • jjagaimo@sh.itjust.works
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                17 days ago

                Outdated data. The votes were not done being counted on November 10th. Trump got 49.8% to Harris’ 48.3%

                • Majorllama@lemmy.world
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                  17 days ago

                  Ah. Fair enough. Last time I had seen it it was more than 50% still. Well then by a technicality not a majority then. I do love a technically correct statement so I’ll give you that one.

                  Still. More people voted for this than didn’t vote for this.

      • PlainSimpleGarak@lemmings.world
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        16 days ago

        I didn’t vote for him, but I am chillin’. The president, whoever that may be, has little impact on a citizens day to day life. I am far more concerned of who the governer of my state is.

  • ClanOfTheOcho@lemmy.world
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    18 days ago

    That seems like a very bad sign. Someone wanted a message to get out to the public, but I’m not entirely sure what can be effectively done about it. Credit to the person with the balls to send out the warning, though.

    • floquant@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      17 days ago

      I’m not entirely sure what can be effectively done about it.

      History offers no control groups; there is no “right” way to proceed. What’s certain is that “nothing” is not the answer.

      • Allonzee@lemmy.world
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        17 days ago

        Maybe we should double down on capitalism again.

        It’s the only move the US has used in living memory.

        • pyre@lemmy.world
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          17 days ago

          I’m not even joking but if this doesn’t happen there’s no hope for the future. we’re past the point of simply prosecuting and hoping they get some time in prison. examples need to be made so others know that just because the supreme court said it’s legal to do whatever the fuck you want doesn’t mean you’re getting away with it from the public.

          • ZILtoid1991@lemmy.world
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            17 days ago

            I used to say “You know Monopoly is an old game, because it has rich people in prison”. The moment we stopped to hold them accountable, everything went really bad. And if the legal systems don’t hold them accountable, it’ll be the duty of the common people.

    • GiddyGap@lemm.ee
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      17 days ago

      There’s nothing that can be done. Republicans have every bit of power there is. At least for the next two years.

      • echolalia@lemmy.ml
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        17 days ago

        This is the message of the enemy. I am not sure what there is to be done, but to say this:

        There’s nothing that can be done.

        is to give up. The only thing that we ordinary people can know is that the democratic party is unable/unwilling to form an effective resistance right now.

        • Hemingways_Shotgun@lemmy.ca
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          17 days ago

          I know how anyone could organize something so large, But a mass strike/walkout would have more impact than anything else right now.

          None of the common people go in to work until shit stain “abdicates”

          • vaultdweller013@sh.itjust.works
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            17 days ago

            Ya seem to not gwt what he is saying, let me make it damn simply. The Tree of Liberty is watered by the blood of tyrants and patriots alike, and Freedom is earned through the barrel of a gun.

        • jj4211@lemmy.world
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          17 days ago

          This is a strong reason why I would think it would be a tactical error to mess with the elections. Elections are the pressure valve that people are willing to wait for. You can do so much harm and all is forgiven if you step down after an election loss.

          Take away that mechanism, and you put all your leadership at huge risk, for minor benefit (history has shown they can get their way like 90% of the time anyway, the “left” will barely even say anything about their material goals and let them stand).

        • WideEyedStupid@lemmy.world
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          17 days ago

          No, they say they want their 2nd amendment to protect their country from tyrants. But what they really meant was: to help the tyrant.

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    17 days ago

    Kudos to the person who is sending the correct message. Everyone who believes in protecting the US Constitution should fly the US flag upside down.

    • maxoakland@lemmy.world
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      17 days ago

      I think we need to do more than that. The flag is a distress signal. We have to help the people who are distressed

          • Chainweasel@lemmy.world
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            18 days ago

            It really makes me wonder how people were able to pull this shit off in the 50s, 60s and 70s when we can’t make it happen today with everything available to us.

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              17 days ago

              They still had third places where they could organize face-to-face. Think union halls, fraternal organizations (which us Millennials only know about from old cartoons), churches, etc.

              See also this Adam Conover video, which isn’t specifically about organizing to protest but nevertheless is pretty insightful about it.

            • 51dusty@lemmy.world
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              17 days ago

              they didn’t use maligned, monitored areas for communication… people today should coordinate face-to-face or at worst via telephone if they haven’t already exposed themselves.

              • nickwitha_k (he/him)@lemmy.sdf.org
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                17 days ago

                Telephones have been insecure for at least 20 years. Cellphones have backdoors built into the protocol standards. Face-to-face or good encryption are the options.

          • taiyang@lemmy.world
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            17 days ago

            Oddly, the recent thing in LA was via TikTok, but to be fair their knee bending is probably superficial at best.

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          18 days ago

          Based on white people Twitter ban this is similar to Luigi situation…

          People are just overwhelming their modding ability.

          It will be taken down and the opposition sentiment will be supressed in due course.

    • rational_lib@lemmy.world
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      This does appear to be the state department flag pole (on 21st street looking East from the state department). And it does appear to be winter, and there is construction in that area around the fed building. But that’s all I can say. The photo is weirdly blurry and grainy so be suspicious.

      • Obinice@lemmy.world
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        17 days ago

        The photo is weirdly blurry and grainy so be suspicious.

        You mean the filthy window? Yeah, something tells me they get pollution there and don’t clean the outside of the windows as often as they should. I’ve seen that kinda filthy often enough on office windows.

      • Cethin@lemmy.zip
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        17 days ago

        It clearly does have stars. They just blur into the field because the quality isn’t high enough. Zoom in and you can see there’s slightly whiter dots where the stars should be. You just can’t really make them out.

        • Probius@sopuli.xyz
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          17 days ago

          The real problem with AI is that you have to be so damn skeptical even of real posts.

    • M137@lemmy.world
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      17 days ago

      You write that like you’re sure it’s not real, and/or that others would or should think so. There’s no obvious thing pointing towards it being fake by just looking at the photo, no clear editing signs or anything like that. But we should make sure it is real by finding other photos, there must be more if it is real. And if there was ever a time in our lifetimes where this would be real, it’s now.

    • in4apenny@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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      17 days ago

      Yeah but we need to stop occupying sidewalks and start occupying gated communities. The fact that protest organizers won’t do this says everything you need to know about them - they prefer passive action that does nothing but maintain the status quo. I’ve been to over 100 protests everything from workers strikes to BLM to Occupy Wall St, and i’ve learned that occupying a sidewalk that the oligarchs don’t walk on does nothing but make the cause look pathetic. We need to protest where the oligarchs will be afraid, anything less is just playing into their hands.

    • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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      17 days ago

      Yeah like every day… none of this “we will spend one hour during our lunch break on one Wednesday!” bullshit.

    • john_lemmy@slrpnk.net
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      17 days ago

      Yeah, that is a great first step. Especially if you try to connect and network with other people during the protests to form longer lasting groups or find and participate in already existing ones.

      This shit won’t be fixed with protests alone, but if they help people get a taste for what it feels like to organize and take some power back, then it is already worth it. Hell, even being around people that feel the same way is already a net plus for a lot of people who are ideologically isolated.

    • IninewCrow@lemmy.ca
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      18 days ago

      The house has been burning and smoking for hours and people are still thinking that the fire just started

      • ShepherdPie@midwest.social
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        17 days ago

        No way. Harris getting elected would have been the end of this just like in 2020. That’s why we must attack anyone critical of her, apathetic voters, and pretty much everyone else except for the DNC.

          • ShepherdPie@midwest.social
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            17 days ago

            I’d prefer it if the radical liberals would fuck off so that they stop handing every election to the Republicans by running on diet-Republican policies thank you very much.

            • prole@lemmy.blahaj.zone
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              17 days ago

              And what are you (or literally anybody else) going to do in the next two years to organize a viable progressive party with viable progressive candidates?

              You sure you got the demographics right? Or do you think maybe Lemmy isn’t an accurate reflection of the nation as a whole, with respect to political ideology?

              Radical liberals

              Lol k

              It seems like you people believe that voting for Harris (and pointing out objective reality that it was the only real choice) precludes a person from being a leftist or progressive. You alienate the people who actually probably agree with you on a lot of things because they don’t pass your purity test.

              Leftism in a nutshell.

              • ShepherdPie@midwest.social
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                17 days ago

                You mean “viable candidates” like Clinton, Biden, and Harris who can’t win elections and put Israel, corporations, genocide, and xenophobia before the American people? These candidates who would gladly let Republicans take over the entire government if it means they don’t have to turn their backs on fascist leaders and their wealthy masters?

                The Democratic leadership are more interested in enabling the right than opposing them, which is why we all witnessed your “only choice” spend her campaign attacking immigrants and the working class and promoting human slaughter while touring around with the fucking Cheneys. This is why they crushed the only candidate who actually inspired voters in 2016 over the candidate who would get Donald Trump elected the first time. This is why they’re standing around now making empty statements of “concern” while the government is being dismantled literally feet away from them.

                What the fuck are you doing to prepare for 2026 other than demanding that everything remain exactly how it is now and attacking anyone who says otherwise?

                We truly are fucked if you reflect the nation as a whole because all you are is the controlled opposition arm of the Republican party. You only exist to give the voting process an air of legitimacy when the outcome has already been decided beforehand.

        • Delta_V@lemmy.world
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          17 days ago

          The culture war would have taken a different direction, but the class war would continue unabated. The owners of the Republicans and the Democrats are all on the same side in the class war.

  • werefreeatlast@lemmy.world
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    17 days ago

    Here’s something we could fix:

    We have no recall option! WTF! We should have such a mechanism. We should ask Congress to enact a law where we the people can recall the president via votes if we can collect enough signatures just like we are able to do for other things.

    • CaptSatelliteJack@lemy.lol
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      17 days ago

      We do. It’s the 2nd amendment. Literally what it was written for, the forceful reclamation of democratic freedom should it be taken by a tyrannical leadership. Too bad everyone that actually gives a damn about that option is on red team, and blue team thinks the 2nd amendment is for killing children and nothing else.

      • HotdogThud@lemmy.world
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        17 days ago

        I mean, to be fair, the red team thinks it’s pretty much only for killing children too…

      • MonkeMischief@lemmy.today
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        16 days ago

        Too bad everyone that actually gives a damn about that option is on red team, and blue team thinks the 2nd amendment is for killing children and nothing else.

        Thank you for acknowledging the quiet leftists who take responsibility for ourselves. I’ve been really upset with the crisis-mining nonstop drama panic rhetoric and dis-education about firearms from the Democratic party and their sockpuppet gun-panic action groups.

        (While they openly perpetuate systematic issues that increase likelihood of gun violence, of course.)

        Now firearms ownership is disproportionately in the hands of conspiracy nuts and goose-stepping good-ol-boys, while many liberals are dogmatically hoplophobic and ignorant about them.

        Reminder that the Socialist Rifle Association is a thing.

        Educate your friends, get them out to the range, and by Almighty God keep close social ties on each other’s mental health.

        I want to solve our problems with words and witty reparté, but all those safeguards are quickly breaking down and we’re seeing an increasing threat of mobilizing angry everyday-sadists looking to hurt people, and stern memorandums aren’t gonna cut it.

      • TheRealKuni@midwest.social
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        16 days ago

        We do. It’s the 2nd amendment. Literally what it was written for, the forceful reclamation of democratic freedom should it be taken by a tyrannical leadership.

        Except that’s not what it was written for. That’s a modern interpretation.

        The 2nd amendment was written because Madison believed a standing army would make the Federal government too powerful, so he didn’t want a large standing army. He wanted each state to have a militia made up of citizens. He changed his mind on the matter after the War of 1812.

        You know the 2nd amendment wasn’t about allowing overthrows of the government because the government put down rebellions with weapons in the years following its adoption.

      • NιƙƙιDιɱҽʂ@lemmy.world
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        17 days ago

        This is exactly why I’ve always maintained that the 2nd amendment against tyranny is complete and utter horseshit. There will never, ever, be a case in which civilians can take up arms against the US government and have any remote shot of doing anything. Any tyrannical government will get to where they are with such significant support they will be so ridiculously protected you’d have to take on the entire military and legal branches of the USA.

        In 1814 when everyone had a flintlock pistol? Sure. Now? Have fun getting remote drone striked before you even step foot into Washington D.C.

            • CancerMancer@sh.itjust.works
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              17 days ago

              Let’s pretend any of that actually matters and the US government doesn’t have a history of losing to locals, and ask the following: what happens if you willingly disarm yourself? Criminals will still have guns, your police will still shoot “less-lethal” rounds into the heads of protesters, and you will still be oppressed.

              What do you get out of this? A fraction of the illusion of safety? And all it cost you was the last defense against oppression anyone has.

              • NιƙƙιDιɱҽʂ@lemmy.world
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                17 days ago

                I really don’t care to get into overarching discussion of the 2nd amendment, it’s been done to death. It’s also not what this conversation was about.

            • endeavor@sopuli.xyz
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              17 days ago

              Then just move. I know the current administration is happy you are spreading propaganda that states to roll over since there’s nothing to do. You are the maga hero.

              • NιƙƙιDιɱҽʂ@lemmy.world
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                17 days ago

                Look, I’m not saying to just roll over, but wtf are we supposed to do. The second amendment is there, I don’t see anyone utilizing it, and I don’t think they ever will.

                • lambalicious@lemmy.sdf.org
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                  16 days ago

                  The 2A is there for you to do things, but it’s not only simply about rising up. It’s about instrumentalization. When every citizen can be armed “just in case”, all you need is for that to statistically compound into a Luigi or two getting three lucky marked shots on the tyrant du jour.

                • endeavor@sopuli.xyz
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                  16 days ago

                  If only the current administration could be paralleled with start of nazi germany with evocative imagery and slogans and made into memes and posted everywhere in order to get past the internet censoring. That could get more people thinking that a government they do not control is in nobody’s interests or something.

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              17 days ago

              When CW II kicks off some people will be caught, some people will be thrown in prison, and some people will be killed.

              Remember it’s “home of the brave”, not “home of the cowards”.

      • CircuitGuy@lemmy.world
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        17 days ago

        I believe in the 2nd Amendment, but certainly NOT to overthrow the government for light and transient causes. I don’t take Trump lightly, but he hasn’t turned into a total despot yet. There is grave risk, but there’s also a chance his abuses will lead to reforms that limit Executive branch powers. I think many non-Republicans like our guns as much as Republicans, but we don’t bluster about them and unlike Republicans we don’t rebel because our candidate lost an election.

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          17 days ago

          From a VA employee:

          This is destroying the Agency. People come to work terrified every day. I don’t know a single competent and qualified person who isn’t actively looking for work elsewhere and the only people who will be left to serve our Veterans are those with no other choices. The amount of sheer experience, knowledge, and brainpower being lost is irreplaceable, and the trust is already broken. We’ll never get it back. I am heartbroken that so many Republicans deeply, deeply hate us for doing our best every single day to serve Veterans. I will never forgive them for this.

          https://open.substack.com/pub/progressreport/p/revenge-of-the-whiny-pampered-baby?r=2lkdbh

          I don’t know what you think despotism looks like, but this sure as hell isn’t democracy nor is it a republic. This has nothing to do with losing an election, this has to do with some people’s fantasy that Trump will ever give up power. I guess we need to wait until evidence surfaces, and then only iron clad evidence that the worst is happening will possibly motivate them, maybe.

          I disagree with your overall assessment that we are experiencing “light” or “transient” causes for general revolt.

          • CircuitGuy@lemmy.world
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            16 days ago

            I think the most likely the despotism and the scenario @[email protected] describes will not happen. The thing is if they do happen, they are disastrous. It’s similar to how in Russian roulette you’ll probably be fine. I don’t know what level of risk justifies a armed rebellion. At this point an armed rebellion would turn a disaster that might happen into a certain disaster.
            I am not saying to appease them or not protest. I am still hoping the US can be saved without violent rebellion.

            • ℍ𝕂-𝟞𝟝@sopuli.xyz
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              14 days ago

              My friend, it’s already happening, a lot of it has already happened.

              The Gleichschaltung is already in motion, they are throwing out the mainstream press in favour of OANN and Breitbart from the Pentagon for example. They are building a “new media”, pushing thousands of random influencers and podcasters to drown out established news outlets. Trump is extorting CBS for billions just because he can.

              Institutions are being actively dismantled, some could resist, but the OPM is in serious peril. They are basically planning to replace everyone and building a new state apparatus.

              This is not bluster and promises, this is actually happening, a lot of it has already happened and can’t easily be undone, and almost none of it was legal.

              Trump is already sending threats all over the world, and a lot of countries are tring to appease him. For now, he’s seeing what he can get away with. We’ll see what he’ll do once he sees that Canada won’t do an Anschluss.

              • CircuitGuy@lemmy.world
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                they are throwing out the mainstream press in favour of OANN and Breitbart from the Pentagon for example. They are building a “new media”, pushing thousands of random influencers and podcasters to drown out established news outlets.

                It’s new that politicians take conspiracy zines seriously. It’s up to the people not to take them seriously and be suspicious of any politician who prefers them over journalists.

                Trump is extorting CBS for billions just because he can.

                I head he effectively took a bribe of millions by their settling a bogus lawsuit. Decades ago this would have been a huge scandal. Anything where a politician even appears to use the office to get money in their pocket looks horrible to me. I don’t understand why MAGA supporters abide this.

                Institutions are being actively dismantled, some could resist, but the OPM is in serious peril. They are basically planning to replace everyone and building a new state apparatus.

                I do not approve of the illegal way in which they’re doing it, but I have long wanted to decrease the size, intrusiveness, and cost of government. I want government to be more nimble. I have hope that they’re doing this because an illegal blitz, sold to the masses who pay little or no income tax as being anti-anti-bigotry, is the only practical way to shrink government. That’s me hitting the copium hard. It could be an effort to consolidate power.

                We’ll see what he’ll do once he sees that Canada won’t do an Anschluss.

                If Trump threatens Canada militarily, you will be proven right, and my hope will be proven to be unjustified.

        • ℍ𝕂-𝟞𝟝@sopuli.xyz
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          17 days ago

          That moment was Jan 6th. There was no heavy and hard change in Hitler’s Germany from the Beer Hall Putsch all the way to Stalingrad and the gas chambers. It’s all boiling the frog from here to there. Every change will seem like a light and transient one. By the time you feel you should go all in on the 2A, you will be mostly alone. That is by design.

          In fact, we are already in the Gleichschaltung and the appeasement phase.

      • DerArzt@lemmy.world
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        17 days ago

        Now why would the elected officials do something to their own detriment? You want them to act like representatives or how they’ve been acting?

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          17 days ago

          Many states have done things like that. the problem is for the feds its all defined in the constitution so getting an overwhelming majority to agree to limit power needs an overwhelming push.

          Imo the best thing to do would be push for a constitutional amendment that creates an initiative system that fully bypasses congress.

  • Xaphanos@lemmy.world
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    17 days ago

    The State is in distress. Who will answer the call? Who will come it’s aid? We have all been summoned.

  • tisktisk@piefed.social
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    18 days ago
    1. Is this real
    2. What does it mean?
    3. Where are we in terms of worrying? Should I begin to start to think about worrying or something more urgent?
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      17 days ago
      1. I see little reason to doubt it
      2. It means whoever hoisted it considers there to be a crisis, which is consistent with accounts of public offices being overtaken by random young white men who are rapidly taking control.
      3. Speaking as a non-American political scientist having worked a little with rule of law and fascism, it seems a bit late to start worrying. Think about what you can do for yourself, your neighbours, and your country, urgently or in the longer term. It’s going to be ugly for a while.
    • Ms. ArmoredThirteen@lemmy.zip
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      #3 depends where you are on the hit list I suppose. I’m trans, so I’m well past worry-o-clock and am actively making arrangements to leave the country. Someone like a cishet white male tech worker has a lot less to worry about though

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          17 days ago

          That looks like a PieFed bug - the leading # should normally not be parsed into a headline in Markdown unless it is followed by a space. I’ll give @[email protected] a heads up!

          That said, there’s every reason to scream at this point. I wish all Americans seeking to flee the country the best of luck.

    • fine_sandy_bottom@discuss.tchncs.de
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      1. I think so.

      2. That’s unclear but my take is that this is an expression of the distress felt by the employees, and perhaps the only possible outlet for their feelings. I suspect that it’s more likely the action of one or two people rather that some kind of collectively approved signal.

      3. I just don’t know. I’m not even American but I feel very discombobulated.

    • Furbag@lemmy.world
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      It appears to be real. The federal government is currently in the midst of the most comprehensive purge in the history of the nation, and many career civil servants are being asked to retire early with a severance “or else”. The worrying part should have come when Project 2025 laid out the groundwork for what is happening right at this very moment, back when it was first revealed. Trump intends to replace all of these government workers with yes-men and cronies who will be loyal to him and him alone, and not the constitution or the American people they are meant to serve. The damage being done right now will probably never be reversed in our lifetimes and will pave the way for absolute executive control - in other words, a dictatorship. This is not alarmist, this was the plan all along and nobody listened.

      If you don’t have a plan to GTFO in case things get even worse, I would start making one right now. You have to set an uncrossable line yourself and be prepared to act on it, because other people are going to continue to go along with this until the very end, so you can’t count on other people to be giving you signals on when to bail out.

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    18 days ago

    Wasn’t the upside down us flag thing used by j6’ers? Are the line workers taking it back as the symbol of a stolen country for themselves, or is this Musk and crew indicating we’re fucked?

    • Chainweasel@lemmy.world
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      It’s a sign of distress.
      They were distressed, but it’s only because they’re sore losers and couldn’t cope with Trump losing.
      This is actual distress, it’s appropriate this time.

      • Completely_random@lemmy.ml
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        16 days ago

        Off-topic:

        My impression is the most folks who voted for Trump did so because they genuinely, honestly believed that he is really and truly and antiestablishment rebel… Who is genuinely trying to help the working poor.

        Which they are [working poor.] (and, goes w/o saying, were hoodwinked by said ConMan… Just like all those retirees who voted for Ronald Reagan… And then were shocked and pissed when he immediately cut their Social Security.)

        In short,… Please don’t blame cult victims who’ve been deceived by s/o they misperceive as an authentic, charismatic individual.

        I could say the same thing about my parents, who (still) strongly support(ed) Biden, despite being equally strongly opposed to things he & his cronies did.

        They believed the lies.

    • TropicalDingdong@lemmy.world
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      18 days ago

      Its nothing exclusive to J6. Its an international sign that an insurrection or coup has occurred or is occurring.

      • Fondots@lemmy.world
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        18 days ago

        Not quite, it’s an international sign that a vessel is in distress.

        Then mostly right wing lunatics co-opted it to mean that our country is in distress.

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          Which they co-opted from protesters in the 60’s, rallying against the Vietnam war, which they co-opted from the Revolutionary war, where (allegedly, much harder to source), the revolutionaries also flew the Union Jack inverted. Its history to mean insurrection in the US is as old as the US.

          Its been used in many other instances internationally, and yes, also at sea with a much deeper history to signal distress. Regardless, the pedantry is both technically and figuratively misplaced.

          • wjrii@lemmy.world
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            17 days ago

            which they co-opted from the Revolutionary war, where (allegedly, much harder to source), the revolutionaries also flew the Union Jack inverted.

            If they did, I assume a half dozen vexillology enthusiasts with good eyesight got very concerned.

            • yeather@lemmy.ca
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              17 days ago

              The flag isn’t symmetrical, which is where the orginial flying the flag upside down comes from. It’s subtle enough pirates wont notice but an experienced British naval officer will and come rescue you.

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            17 days ago

            I could be mistaken, but I think that was a consideration when designing the stars and stripes. The colors and lack of symmetry make it easy to see its orientation from a distance.

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    16 days ago

    It’s funny to think that any of these comments are relevant. Are you new to the internet maybe?. The best I can do is hope to influence. The best an American can do is contact people already working to correct this and ask them what needs doing. This leads me to wonder how all the Americans are posting in this thread, being that they are all so exhausted. Why not go to sleep? Then wake up later and get in touch and involved.

    It’s almost like Americans are here trying to convince themselves there is nothing they can do.

    How brave of you. What a testament to your freedoms. What a fine demonstration of what it truly means to be American: A blame shifting, feckless inheritor of a once great country. All hype. No substance, apart from the folds of blubber around their mid sections. What a legacy. All your talk of freedom backed by nothing. FREEDOM!

    • Realitaetsverlust@lemmy.zip
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      Why not go to sleep? Then wake up later and get in touch and involved.

      Because that would require more effort than posting a comment online.

    • Anegro_Montoya@sh.itjust.works
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      Because freedom is propaganda unless you fit certain demographics. Otherwise, everyday you’re just surviving.

      White dudes can walk around heavily armed, try that as a black dude and see how free you are. We can’t even go for a run in a lot of places without the cops or neighborhood watch showing up.

      So shut the fuck up and stop blaming people caught in this bullshit and do something to help.

      • RootAccess@lemmynsfw.com
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        13 days ago

        No thanks. I’m done sugar-coating it for Americans. They are all too good at doing that for themselves.

        • RootAccess@lemmynsfw.com
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          13 days ago

          But I’m open to suggestions. Are their “missions” to save Amer8cans from themselves? Maybe some sad commercials showing masses of dumbfuck Americans all pointing blamesticks at each other like a spiderman meme, asking for donations?

      • BigAssFan@lemmy.world
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        16 days ago

        Calling for action. Could also be directed to Europeans btw, with obesity and fascism also growing hand in hand there.

        • RootAccess@lemmynsfw.com
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          13 days ago

          When European leaders start threatening my country I will do that. Until then this sounds like fictional whataboutism.

          • BigAssFan@lemmy.world
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            12 days ago

            I meant that Europe is moving in the same direction as the US is, with fascism on the rise again. European leaders are now merely reacting to what the US leaders are doing in terms of tariffs, which will increase costs and inflation for both the internal markets.

            When you see your country as more important than (people in) other countries in the rest of the world, that’s just short-sighted and unjustified.

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              11 days ago

              I’m confused. Are we still talking about the USA threatening Canada, Panama, and Greenland? And your response is “other countries might do that someday”?

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    17 days ago

    This has happened in México too, the most famously recorded one was during Enrique Peña Nieto’s term (sorry for linking to YT). They said the flag thing was an accident, but it was during the Flag Day and everyone was angry with the way the government was handling things. The government-influenced media was angry with the military because “they made a mistake”, but we all knew why it happened.

    https://youtu.be/cwW9X_GBtco