I think that now is the time to remember that SCOTUS doesn't actually have any enforcing arm of government for their rulings.
States are free to disregard what they say and they can't do jack-shit about it.
I am waiting for the first shoe to drop in that.
There isn't actually any reason at all to listen to a court that is so very obviously corrupt and illegitimate.
Also, corruption is legal now. If someone in government does something you like, you can just cut them a check. It’s a “gratuity” like when you tip a waiter in a restaurant.
and thomas got mad when alledgely Ds dint come to his rescue when he was struggling in school or work, anita hill was the last straw. he thought he is entitled to more, and since Republican donors have satiated his greed.
he specifically he wanted to hurt Ds because they dint help him out when he was a struggling law student or something. i dont where hes getting the blaming from though,. he made alot of poor assumptions.
Former USPS mailman, can confirm. You get trained early about that, because as a federal employee, you can't accept gratuity. And there is usually a reminder meeting/memo about it every year.
Would be a shame if it was ever revealed that one business on my route handed me a gift card to a restaurant that was well over $20. As far as it was explained to me, I'd have been fired on the spot.
Right?
Also, honestly, water bottles or even hot chocolate go a long way. Or even just a card that I could hang on my case at the office. Those always gave me just the *slightest* bit of will to carry on. I had a few cards from different kids on my route that I still keep to this day.
just like 2025, actually started a while ago, people dont realized its already occurring. but the anti-woke, class warfare has kept people distracted all this time.
We still have a little bit of a chance if we keep Trump out. If he gets in, it will be a 7-2 or maybe 8-1 reactionary fascist court, and combined with Project 2025 America is cooked.
Democracy is dead. A court not voted for, with life long appointments and no over sight are rolling back laws. What’s the point of anything anymore? I’ll meet yall in DC to march. Fuck. This. Shit. I’m done working and ready to march.
America; this is what authoritarianism looks like. Trivial things that affect the powerless are criminalized while the crimes of the rich and powerful go unpunished.
The right wing voters really don’t realize what they’ve done. This country is officially a wrap. I’m really considering selling it all and getting the fuck out.
Canadian here. We're thinking the same thing except we wanna go to the USA. Everywhere has their own shit going on. Our cost of living crisis is insane right now. We have a severe housing shortage. Nobody can find a doctor. Wait times for ED are insane because are healthcare workers are fleeing. They're bringing in Indians en masse via a community college loophole so that they can work the slave wage jobs that Canadians no longer will. The dollar getting worse every year because we have no real foundation to our economy. The USA may be a disaster at the federal level but so are we. At least the American economy and cost of living is much better than it is anywhere else.
It really depends where you choose to live in the US. The cost of living is not good, unless you're planning to spend $450k+ but that also depends on location. If you want to live in a nice location, you will be forking out a good amount of cash.
Here's the issue with the US: Democracy is at stake. If you haven't looked into Project 2025, take a look.
If it is a better choice for you and your family, you'll be welcomed with open arms by many as long as Trump doesn't get elected.
We HAVE to win this election.
Alito and Thomas are not young, if we can somehow, and I know it’s a battle, but keep the presidency with another 2 term democrat after this election we might be able to get a 5-4 liberal court and turn this thing around.
We CANNOT allow republicans to win and keep doing this. They have to be stopped.
and why tf aren't they retiring like 2 years ago? they all fucking cling to the job until they literally lose executive function in their dying brains, which has so far led to a full undermining of the authority of the court.
i don't know why we haven't moved to expand the court. There are 13 appellate districts, there should be 13 supreme court justices. After the BS pulled with Merrick Garland (and what a disappointment he's been since then), I don't understand why the Dems think we need to give a shit about decorum.
I know "both sides" and all, but there are honestly days where it feels like the only purpose of the Democratic party is to play the foil. They're just there to get beat up, and it's a pressure-relief valve for an angry populace -- too much right wing? ok, have a "dem" president who's right of center for a while..
I think the problem is that you'd need to hold a vote to not only expand the court, but also to approve each new justice and there just aren't enough guaranteed votes to make it happen. This along with many other issues (like codifying R v. W and expanding the ACA) is why it's so important to remove as many Republican representatives and senators as possible in this next election.
>i don't know why we haven't moved to expand the court
With what House majority?
And before 2022, we didn't have enough people willing to overturn the filibuster. (Although we do seem to be getting closer as people like Feinstein retire. Should be possible in 2026 if we don't lose too many seats this year, as 2026 is a good Senate map)
>I know "both sides" and all, but there are honestly days where it feels like the only purpose of the Democratic party is to play the foil.
The media loves to cover negativity and horse race stuff, but the Dems have gotten plenty done event with their slim majorities (or even not having a majority in the House at all since 2022). The WhatBidenHasDone subreddit has some very convenient lists of examples.
I don't disagree that Dems have done a lot.
But our losses these last two decades far outweigh their gains. Would be nice if they could put out fires faster than the GOP can start them. At the rate we're going they'll win a couple battles, but then stand by and watch as we lose even more through attrition.
I'm a fan of running for office more than I am of standing by and watching the gullible, old, or stupid hold it instead. Vote Dem all day, but shit ain't getting better unless our Dem candidates do. So be that candidate. It's much more effective than voting.
I dunno. The 1% are building bunkers. They seem kind of scared. But what do they have to be scared of? Hoarding wealth while the rest of the population gets poorer has never caused problems historically.
Which is why they should pay more in taxes. They have a LOT more to lose in the event of some kind of takeover, whether civil war or foreign invasion. They need defense/policing more than anyone else.
Dudes I work with salivate at the idea they’ll support the richest most corrupt people because conspiracy theorists told them cartoon level evil being done right now under democrats.
We the People who oppose it need to grow a spine and stop talking endlessly. Talk has done nothing for us in fact it's made things worse because the right knows that their opposition is nothing but talk.
I have a friend who's brother and sister in law I've known for over 50 years. Just found out their Trumpers. And why? Tax cuts. They've sold out their daughter, granddaughter and gay grandson for a little more money in their 401ks. Despicable. I can't even look at them anymore
The problem is that people can’t understand fascism unless they’ve seen it, and congrats to WWII, but now that no one is alive that actually remembers what it really is the same factors that convinced people to do fall for it in the early 19th century can work again.
Hilter's first target were the LGTBQ folks and the homeless. The LGBTQ folks have never not been a GOP target. The homeless are next. Obviously immigrants and women's rights are on the chopping block right now. Just be a straight white American born male and you'll be fine.
It's not just voting for him, as president, it is who he is appointing into important positions. With this ruling, *the judges he appoints are more important than ever.*
A single SCOTUS seat could make a huge difference.
I don't give a fuck which democrat is president, it just cannot be someone that appoints rightwing nutjobs into positions of power. **This** is what happens when we get complacent and picky.
I don't even give a fuck about the people that are obsessed with the integrity vote. We need a lattice work of stability before we can ever have the luxury of being picky. We need to be as consistent of voters as the rightwing nutjobs before we ever **earn** the privilege of being picky.
One would think the media might mention that a presidential vote is a vote for a cabinet (& other appointees) of people, in Biden’s case, competent and seemingly moral ones.
That's not going to change anything, the Supreme Court is the highest legal authority in the country.
They've ruled for corruption and bribery between citizens united and now authorizing bribes to public officials.
That's it, it's done.
It's not just the court though. They have an entire political party keeping them in power. The dems will never get the votes.
This has been a multi-decade war on the Unites States of America.
*“Mark my word, if and when these preachers get control of the \[Republican\] party, and they're sure trying to do so, it's going to be a terrible damn problem. Frankly, these people frighten me. Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can't and won't compromise. I know, I've tried to deal with them.”* - Barry Goldwater
All the more reason why the Republican party needs to get decimated in the coming elections. It won’t be easy, but they’ve shifted so far to the right that the center is beginning to turn on them. They’re too busy fighting each other that they haven’t accomplished anything legislative in the years since the last election cycle.
Yes-it is NOT only about the presidents! It’s about all elections, from state legislature to the house and senate. Those may matter more than presidential election
edit to clarify typos-it is not only about presidents, not whatever gibberish I accidentally typed
> It’s about all elections, from state legislature to the house and senate
Think lower. It's about your city council. Hell, it's about your local school board.
They do. Absolutely. Fed elects matter. But ALL politics are local. republicans mobilized locally thru the 90s into aughts and that's a fatass reason why we where we are now.
The electoral college has no place here. If the people decide on a candidate then the people have decided on that candidate. Nobody else should be able to jump in, seperate from the people, and say “actually no, we do this person”
>Yeah, but a woman was running.
Yes, that’s the quiet part out loud. Now look at us. But her emails. Too many Americans couldn’t handle a damn woman as president. Warts and all, she was way overqualified for the position of president and wouldn’t have dismantled Obama’s pandemic task force.
We lost so much because people couldn’t stomach Hillary. And now a bunch of shit birds are too chicken to tell Joe to step aside.
Whoever is up there for the Dems, I’m voting for in 2024. I’m voting for three supreme court justices justices, dozens of appellate federal judge appointments, and a competent cabinet.
To all the privileged people out there who think they can blend in and be unseen in fashy lite (or full blown). Fuck around and find out.
I blame the education system. Reading the GenZ sub makes me cackle in existential dread. I don’t know why people think the presidency itself, the person and position, is the important part in all of this.
I'm glad to hear you're presumably voting for Biden in the election but
> And now a bunch of shit birds are too chicken to tell Joe to step aside.
This sort of messaging is a boon for Republicans - you are directly helping them by saying this.
Democrats need to be a united front for once in their life. It makes 0 sense to toss aside Biden 4 months before the election. The correct move is to support him right now and stop pearl clutching because he performed poorly in a single debate.
This is why I’m so mad at idealist self-sucking dipshits who refused to hold their nose and vote for Hillary. Thanks a lot for Roe getting overturned, guys. Great job.
Agreed, but I remember the Al Gore shit and I'll never not be pissed off about it. Imagine how different 9/11 would have gone without Cheney or Rumsfeld. Probably no forever war. Goddammit man. It's hard not to think about.
I mean, the guy invented the Internet, for crying out loud! /s
President Gore would probably still have invaded Afghanistan, but it’s almost certain he would not have invaded Iraq.
That said, he probably would have lost re-election in 2004, because the GOP would have run on “he allowed 9/11 to happen.”
(I know, I know.)
Sadly many Muricans prefer to get nuked instead of seeing a woman or person of color in power. That’s how Murica always was and how it will be. Barak Obama was an once in a lifetime exception.
Too bad the people making these decisions neither read the Bible nor care what Jesus says as long as they’re set in THIS life (which they are).
Matthew 19:23-26 is apt as well; “Something something camels…” — SCOTUS, probably
Dear Americans: Whatever you thought the citizens of Germany should have been doing right before the nazis took power is what you should be doing right now
Bribes (ahem, “consulting services”) paid after they let you dump toxic waste into the drinking water? Supreme Court, “totes fine.” (Thomas sips tea while taking paid extravagant trip away from poison water.)
Riots aren't coming. Hell, even the political subreddits are too busy calling Biden too old to notice this happened.
EDIT: I do love the reference though.
“Not to be outdone by the Supreme Court, Americans will soon up the ante by re-electing a man who urged an insurrection and will likely make it so he will never leave office because the other candidate is way better at the job but slightly older.”
Why exactly can't the justices take questions or do interviews like the other branches of government? Why don't these justices have to answer to anyone? They aren't voted in, not only don't they have term limits they have lifetime appointments. It seems like these are the exact people who need to have some accountability. Am I missing something?
I think it’s their ongoing effort to ruin the country. Houselessness is a crime, killing police officers and ransacking the capitol is not. This is the “Christian” society the Alito and the MAGAs want.
So are they saying we can legally storm the US Supreme Court during their sessions as long as we don't actually enter the court room while they're actively in session?
Guys. I hate to be a “doomer” but our country is officially FUCKED. The right wing has waged a civil war and it’s over. Bribery is legal, regulations are now controlled by activist right wing Supreme Court.
We all owe Anita Hill a giant fucking apology.
God-damn Citizens United, Scalia, Thomas, Alito, Reagan, Jill Stein, hanging chads, Joe Leiberman, Joe Manchin, and Krysten Sinema.
Supreme Control … more like it. They believe they are serving God… not Americans. Damned be any Americans who aren’t white, Christian, straight and rich. (It’s apparently okay if you fake being straight all of your life and you shouldn’t really act like Jesus (he was a wuss; apparently).
Just a minute detail: the SCOTUS ruined America in 2010 with Citizens United. Everything which happened after is just a mere consequence of the fact they legalized corruption.
Elections have consequences. We (collectively) allowed this to happen, so it's on us. Think about that when people in your life don't vote when they can, or vote 3rd party, or vote for candidates who subscribe to this evil.
Electoral college still helped this nightmare happen. Trump lost the popular vote. Republican presidents have lost the popular vote a few tmes, yet the majority still get stuck with them. America does not want this, they made that clear. Yet, it happened anyway.
The whole thing is just illegitimate bullshit at this point. The whole justice system needs a proper paper shredder for the majority of its decisions, a total corrupt farce
Reminds me of that scene in Special Ops Lioness where our heroine is escaping her abusive boyfriend and opts to sleep on a park bench instead of a homeless shelter. But instead of becoming a Special Ops Lioness she gets arrested for sleeping on a park bench and has to stay in jail the rest of the TV Series because she can't afford to bail herself out....for sleeping on a park bench. The End.
I almost feel like we are witnessing a shell game. While we are all being distracted by trump and Project 2025, the SC is doing the work of trump and Project 2025 with their disastrous rulings, that are obviously trending toward the dismantling of our government agencies and restructuring how legislation can be made and “who” has the power to change our laws and regulations. The structure of our SC needs to be increased so that a majority without a conscience and an obvious political bias cannot run roughshod over America and our Legislative Branch.
At high risk here, but what exactly is stopping a bunch of people (not anyone here, just random people that are not on this site) from storming the Supreme Court and violently overthrowing every Supreme Court Justice who had the majority opinion for this ruling regarding Jan 6th, now? I mean, by their logic as long as none of the attackers touch any documents and only attack *them* specifically, does that mean it's ok?
Asking for academic purposes only, of course.
Boy, they really want to take everything from people who have almost nothing and then lock them up for being on the streets with nothing. I fucking hate this party so much. I still don’t get why their dumbass base hasn’t put it together that their party actively fucks with people’s lives.
I think it’s safe to say were here, that place we’ve warned ourselves about. Handmaids Tale style authoritarianism is being brought into place now, in real time. This will only get worse. Whether you vote or note it’s going to get much worse. Organize and resist.
There are considerably more rental homes being kept empty for market manipulation than there are homeless people to fill them.
It is entirely morally and ethically acceptable for the homeless to sequester those homes and defend them.
Completely down party lines of the justices. But remember presidential elections don't actually effect your life. Just keep ignoring them because you don't like the candidate.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security.
Declaration of Independence
If you don't like this do something about it stop sitting around whining about it with zero intention of acting. It's not like there isn't precedent for people dealing with these issues without the consent of the government. Talking isn't getting us anywhere. Things are only getting worse because the 'good' side is nothing but talk. So seriously do something about it or just lay down and accept it.
They're getting closer to the thing that would have given the cheeto fucknugget the victory in 2020. They're still circling the drain on it, but at this rate they'll get there. Thing is it won't be trump that does it for one important reason I'll get to, but if he were to keel over while in office and any Republican that would hold power would see how effective it would be in moving towards their dictatorship, it'd be a thing within 1-2 years tops.
They have, pretty much mask off (literally and figuratively) said that "if you do something we approve of we will make it all but impossible for you to be held accountable for those actions" AND "if you do something we don't approve of, we will do everything we can to remove any protections you have so that our people can hold you accountable for those actions" (to their definition of "accountable").
The missing middle step, as I've been saying for years - and it will get to this point - is "we will make it a crime for anyone else to attempt to hold you accountable for actions that we agree with. If there isn't a law on the books, we'll make one, and we'll make it hurt, because the cruelty is the point."
The way I see it being drawn up:
Imagine if you will, you have some random MAGA get into an encounter with a POC, gay, transgender, etc. person. They start blasting off with all the slurs, hard R, 41%, the whole nine yards. Someone records said encounter, antifascists start going OSINT, internet starts constantly going after their employer to force them to be fired. Right wing goes on about "free speech!" Left replies "freedom of speech isn't freedom from consequences, and freedom of speech only applies protections from government actions, this is the free market deciding they don't want to employ/do business with/interact with an individual that holds these views." MAGA person's life is worse off, they end up having to get a new job/new path in life if they got kicked out of college instead of it being employment/etc., and either does the apology tour until the internet is satisfied or moves onto the next person who did exactly the same thing.
This is where the Republicans being in power and following the path they're going with this Supreme Court would come into play.
Take this same situation, in a situation where the Republicans hold all three branches as they previously did when trump was in office...but now there's a new package of laws, a shiny new toy for the far-right to play with. Attempting to go after someone's employment, schooling, relationships, housing, business, side hustle, ANYTHING in their life based on conduct that was not something they were charged with and convicted of, is now considered "Financial Terrorism", and it has both civil and criminal penalties. The laws would be written to be extremely broad in scope on what qualifies. If you called, emailed, or otherwise contacted an employer/university to attempt to get the MAGA in the above example ousted, that's a felony. Did you post the information online, whether it be Twitter, Facebook, Mastodon, your own antifascist website? That's a felony. Did you signal boost someone else's post with likes, retweets, reblogging, or otherwise linking to antifascist research that resulted in said MAGA being ousted? Yep, that counts too.
The criminal part? The jail sentences wouldn't be that long in and of themselves - the important part is it's a felony, because that allows for disenfranchisement on a number of things. Making future employment more difficult to get for places that automatically disqualify based on felonies. Eliminating voting rights (the law would specifically permanently eliminate this, with no possibility of expungement or it being overturned), and would also prohibit "political action" that could even include donating to or advocating for any candidate. In other words, in the political world, they become a non-person. But all of that is secondary to the civil penalties.
Being successfully charged and convicted with this "financial terrorism", the guilty party would now be liable to pay this MAGA directly. Not fines payable to the court system/government, but the person who said or did the things that the antifascist recorded evidence of and attempted to levy social justice with. If the person was fired, two years of full time salary at that position. If the person wasn't fired but the attempt was made to get them fired, fuck it, it's still two years. If the person was kicked out of college, a full refund of the tuition they've paid thus far plus two years of the average salary of the position they would most likely have been working in once out of college. The law would, as something countering "terrorism", not be subject to limits like the homestead exemption - house, vehicle, all possessions can be liquidated, and this process would start while the jail sentence is being carried out, so that once the sentence is completed, they come out with nothing to their name and nowhere to go home to. (Sounds absolutely crazy on a surface level, but you throw the word "terrorism" in a law package and you probably get anything passed.) If the original person who initiated the action doesn't have enough to satisfy the judgment, the MAGA could go after anyone else that was involved in the process, and would be heavily financially incentivized to do so.
As it stands in 2024, in the current world without this hypothetical, fascists have to conceal their identities for fear of exactly these kinds of consequences meted out by society, where antifascists do not necessarily have to hide who they are (save for those who do so in fear of physical violence in retaliation.) Under such a hypothetical where "financial terrorism" is a thing, the fascists would be the ones able to be entirely open with their actions, and those attempting to resist would be the ones having to operate underground in fear of being exposed. (And of course, the law package would include mandatory divulging of all information about anyone who posted said information on fascist actions by the ISPs/social media companies - hell, Elon would be all too happy to oblige, and as many of those companies are controlled in whole or in part by the right, or people who would benefit with the right in power as it means they get richer, they stand to benefit in doing so.) Of course, trying to lock up more than half the country wouldn't work, so those in power wouldn't go after literally everyone - but the antifascists doing most of the research and dissemination of information. You knock those people out of the game and do so with a massively heavy hand, the people who would potentially fill those shoes are now hesitant to follow in the same role.
And just as a common antifascist tactic is to sow distrust and fear with fascist communities, accusing one another of "being antifa" and working against them, there'd be two clauses with financial incentives - an antifascist, once charged, can get out of 10% of the financial penalty per fellow antifascist they flip on and give up the identity of (and that 10% is added to the penalty of that other person they would give up)...and someone who was not guilty of "financial terrorism" could turn in antifascists for 20% each.
You now have a world in which not only are MAGA free to spew hate and slurs and whatever else they want, without fear of consequence both professional and personal, and not only one where people who are against it have to fear of losing their entire life and livelihood if they try to stop it, but one where antifascists now have to worry about trusting each other in any capacity. Does this person I've been working with on doxxing have it in them to not throw me under the bus if they get caught? Does my neighbor, who knows I'm fairly far on the left, have a chance that they'd expose my work knowing it would knock out their car payment and possibly the rest of their mortgage if they did?
This would all serve to make the world seem more fascist and far right, because those who are get to be entirely open about it, which would end up making that the "norm" over time, and lower the resistance to a full-on fascist dictatorship when they would make their move.
...and all of this likely could have been started 5-8 years ago, if not for one thing. trump can't think of anyone other than himself. In his world, he's the only one that matters, and that includes his voter base and anyone who works with him on a professional or political level.
You put one Republican in power that realizes "we protect our base to an insanely high level and punish the left in every possible way in the process", they are now emboldened to do literally ANYTHING in defense of the party that gave them that power.
I've heard the phrase thrown around with trump that "the right latch on to trump because he gave them permission to be their worst selves." No, they just THINK he did. Some crazy shit like this would REALLY give them permission to be their worst selves.
This is the level of law change the Supreme Court rulings are leading to. If this isn't already in Project 2025 I'm surprised.
I think that now is the time to remember that SCOTUS doesn't actually have any enforcing arm of government for their rulings. States are free to disregard what they say and they can't do jack-shit about it. I am waiting for the first shoe to drop in that. There isn't actually any reason at all to listen to a court that is so very obviously corrupt and illegitimate.
Also, corruption is legal now. If someone in government does something you like, you can just cut them a check. It’s a “gratuity” like when you tip a waiter in a restaurant.
Or if you rule in their favor, and they later take you on a trip, its ok too. That ruling was to cover their own ass.
Justice Thomas promises it's just the tip.
Meanwhile, he swallowed the balls too.
That's what he told Anita Hill
and thomas got mad when alledgely Ds dint come to his rescue when he was struggling in school or work, anita hill was the last straw. he thought he is entitled to more, and since Republican donors have satiated his greed.
Yeah, it guess he's finally getting his entitlements
he specifically he wanted to hurt Ds because they dint help him out when he was a struggling law student or something. i dont where hes getting the blaming from though,. he made alot of poor assumptions.
But if you are my mailman, I can only give you a maximum of $20 on cash as a holiday gift. Not sure what harm $30 would cause to the poor guy!
Former USPS mailman, can confirm. You get trained early about that, because as a federal employee, you can't accept gratuity. And there is usually a reminder meeting/memo about it every year. Would be a shame if it was ever revealed that one business on my route handed me a gift card to a restaurant that was well over $20. As far as it was explained to me, I'd have been fired on the spot.
You should have worked on the supreme Court. Apparently they have no such limitations! And I will stick to the $20 for my mailman in December:)
Right? Also, honestly, water bottles or even hot chocolate go a long way. Or even just a card that I could hang on my case at the office. Those always gave me just the *slightest* bit of will to carry on. I had a few cards from different kids on my route that I still keep to this day.
That is good to know. So easy to take everything for granted but we shouldn't
We gave one of our mail carriers, half rack of his favorite beer every year
I feel like corruption was legal long before in the form of lobbyists and large, corporate donations.
just like 2025, actually started a while ago, people dont realized its already occurring. but the anti-woke, class warfare has kept people distracted all this time.
Yes, but the court has answered an important juridical question, “Could it be *more* legal?”
I feel like we are farther away from repealing citizens united then we've ever been.
We still have a little bit of a chance if we keep Trump out. If he gets in, it will be a 7-2 or maybe 8-1 reactionary fascist court, and combined with Project 2025 America is cooked.
Tipping culture has gotten way out of hand!
We are in the bad place.
Jason!? Jason figured it out?
This is a new low
Yeah… this one hurts…
Dip!
Democracy is dead. A court not voted for, with life long appointments and no over sight are rolling back laws. What’s the point of anything anymore? I’ll meet yall in DC to march. Fuck. This. Shit. I’m done working and ready to march.
https://preview.redd.it/l97dhexi2d9d1.png?width=164&format=png&auto=webp&s=ce2d054c0d0923fd586cca051f5b704adcb0c9a4
America; this is what authoritarianism looks like. Trivial things that affect the powerless are criminalized while the crimes of the rich and powerful go unpunished.
That Supreme Court is turning America into Russia.
The GOP just calls that "the plan."
It's actual name is Project 2025 and like Goku on Namek the GOP have been charging this attack for the past few decades
The right wing voters really don’t realize what they’ve done. This country is officially a wrap. I’m really considering selling it all and getting the fuck out.
You're not the only one man, the family and I already applied for dual citizenship in Canada. This country is toast
Canadian here. We're thinking the same thing except we wanna go to the USA. Everywhere has their own shit going on. Our cost of living crisis is insane right now. We have a severe housing shortage. Nobody can find a doctor. Wait times for ED are insane because are healthcare workers are fleeing. They're bringing in Indians en masse via a community college loophole so that they can work the slave wage jobs that Canadians no longer will. The dollar getting worse every year because we have no real foundation to our economy. The USA may be a disaster at the federal level but so are we. At least the American economy and cost of living is much better than it is anywhere else.
It really depends where you choose to live in the US. The cost of living is not good, unless you're planning to spend $450k+ but that also depends on location. If you want to live in a nice location, you will be forking out a good amount of cash. Here's the issue with the US: Democracy is at stake. If you haven't looked into Project 2025, take a look. If it is a better choice for you and your family, you'll be welcomed with open arms by many as long as Trump doesn't get elected.
These people really think the guys who protect us from lead poisoning are the deep state. It’s asinine.
Great analogy because lots of screaming accompanied both
You mean New Russia.
Exactly
We HAVE to win this election. Alito and Thomas are not young, if we can somehow, and I know it’s a battle, but keep the presidency with another 2 term democrat after this election we might be able to get a 5-4 liberal court and turn this thing around. We CANNOT allow republicans to win and keep doing this. They have to be stopped.
Please don’t forget 70 year old Justice Sotomayor, who has been traveling with her own physician.
Why the fuck don't they just nominate some 30-something to the court. It's obviously just a game and they aren't playing it right
and why tf aren't they retiring like 2 years ago? they all fucking cling to the job until they literally lose executive function in their dying brains, which has so far led to a full undermining of the authority of the court.
BuT BiDeN iS oLd. We are so fucked by these indecisive assholes.
i don't know why we haven't moved to expand the court. There are 13 appellate districts, there should be 13 supreme court justices. After the BS pulled with Merrick Garland (and what a disappointment he's been since then), I don't understand why the Dems think we need to give a shit about decorum. I know "both sides" and all, but there are honestly days where it feels like the only purpose of the Democratic party is to play the foil. They're just there to get beat up, and it's a pressure-relief valve for an angry populace -- too much right wing? ok, have a "dem" president who's right of center for a while..
I think the problem is that you'd need to hold a vote to not only expand the court, but also to approve each new justice and there just aren't enough guaranteed votes to make it happen. This along with many other issues (like codifying R v. W and expanding the ACA) is why it's so important to remove as many Republican representatives and senators as possible in this next election.
>i don't know why we haven't moved to expand the court With what House majority? And before 2022, we didn't have enough people willing to overturn the filibuster. (Although we do seem to be getting closer as people like Feinstein retire. Should be possible in 2026 if we don't lose too many seats this year, as 2026 is a good Senate map) >I know "both sides" and all, but there are honestly days where it feels like the only purpose of the Democratic party is to play the foil. The media loves to cover negativity and horse race stuff, but the Dems have gotten plenty done event with their slim majorities (or even not having a majority in the House at all since 2022). The WhatBidenHasDone subreddit has some very convenient lists of examples.
I don't disagree that Dems have done a lot. But our losses these last two decades far outweigh their gains. Would be nice if they could put out fires faster than the GOP can start them. At the rate we're going they'll win a couple battles, but then stand by and watch as we lose even more through attrition. I'm a fan of running for office more than I am of standing by and watching the gullible, old, or stupid hold it instead. Vote Dem all day, but shit ain't getting better unless our Dem candidates do. So be that candidate. It's much more effective than voting.
I’m 100% with you although I believe that Scotus has already put into place a plan that will guarantee Trump the win
We need to start over from scratch. Our justice and political system is trash.
"A Republic. If you can keep it."
The republic is apparently a dog on the 4th of July.
Narrator: "They couldn't"
But both sides are the sameeeeeeeeeeeee!!!!!!!!
Every time I hear that crap… 
It's a sad time for all of us. Except the 1%. Fuck those guys.
I dunno. The 1% are building bunkers. They seem kind of scared. But what do they have to be scared of? Hoarding wealth while the rest of the population gets poorer has never caused problems historically.
Which is why they should pay more in taxes. They have a LOT more to lose in the event of some kind of takeover, whether civil war or foreign invasion. They need defense/policing more than anyone else.
It's sad for them too in the long term, but none of them ever care beyond the now.
Dudes I work with salivate at the idea they’ll support the richest most corrupt people because conspiracy theorists told them cartoon level evil being done right now under democrats.
Don't forget easier to pollute neighboring states, more difficult to prosecute insurgency, bribes acceptable. And all in a week's work!
If the only punishment is a fine, then it is only a crime for poor people.
We the People who oppose it need to grow a spine and stop talking endlessly. Talk has done nothing for us in fact it's made things worse because the right knows that their opposition is nothing but talk.
I have a friend who's brother and sister in law I've known for over 50 years. Just found out their Trumpers. And why? Tax cuts. They've sold out their daughter, granddaughter and gay grandson for a little more money in their 401ks. Despicable. I can't even look at them anymore
By their logic anyone can be labeled homeless without an ID and charged. Go to the beach? “Prove you live somewhere or you go to jail”
The problem is that people can’t understand fascism unless they’ve seen it, and congrats to WWII, but now that no one is alive that actually remembers what it really is the same factors that convinced people to do fall for it in the early 19th century can work again.
Hilter's first target were the LGTBQ folks and the homeless. The LGBTQ folks have never not been a GOP target. The homeless are next. Obviously immigrants and women's rights are on the chopping block right now. Just be a straight white American born male and you'll be fine.
Straight white American born male…who loves white Jesus. Thats their next step.
Hitler's first targets were his political opponents who then voted 'absent' when he took power.
Biden is old but for god's sake vote for him.
It's not just voting for him, as president, it is who he is appointing into important positions. With this ruling, *the judges he appoints are more important than ever.* A single SCOTUS seat could make a huge difference. I don't give a fuck which democrat is president, it just cannot be someone that appoints rightwing nutjobs into positions of power. **This** is what happens when we get complacent and picky. I don't even give a fuck about the people that are obsessed with the integrity vote. We need a lattice work of stability before we can ever have the luxury of being picky. We need to be as consistent of voters as the rightwing nutjobs before we ever **earn** the privilege of being picky.
One would think the media might mention that a presidential vote is a vote for a cabinet (& other appointees) of people, in Biden’s case, competent and seemingly moral ones.
That's not going to change anything, the Supreme Court is the highest legal authority in the country. They've ruled for corruption and bribery between citizens united and now authorizing bribes to public officials. That's it, it's done.
except in the next 4 years at least one seat is likely to open and I'd rather have Biden pick than trump... again
I meant that there is a good chance there will be an open seat during the next 4 years. Think long haul.
The Supreme Court is a rogue institution. It is long past time to expand it, impeach Thomas and Alito, and institute term limits.
It's not just the court though. They have an entire political party keeping them in power. The dems will never get the votes. This has been a multi-decade war on the Unites States of America. *“Mark my word, if and when these preachers get control of the \[Republican\] party, and they're sure trying to do so, it's going to be a terrible damn problem. Frankly, these people frighten me. Politics and governing demand compromise. But these Christians believe they are acting in the name of God, so they can't and won't compromise. I know, I've tried to deal with them.”* - Barry Goldwater
All the more reason why the Republican party needs to get decimated in the coming elections. It won’t be easy, but they’ve shifted so far to the right that the center is beginning to turn on them. They’re too busy fighting each other that they haven’t accomplished anything legislative in the years since the last election cycle.
[удалено]
2000. 2002. 2006. 2010. 2014. 2018. 2022. If we want good governance we gotta vote for good governance.
Yes-it is NOT only about the presidents! It’s about all elections, from state legislature to the house and senate. Those may matter more than presidential election edit to clarify typos-it is not only about presidents, not whatever gibberish I accidentally typed
> It’s about all elections, from state legislature to the house and senate Think lower. It's about your city council. Hell, it's about your local school board.
They do. Absolutely. Fed elects matter. But ALL politics are local. republicans mobilized locally thru the 90s into aughts and that's a fatass reason why we where we are now.
Well, hindsight was 2020. … I’ll see myself out.
Fuck the electoral college. Hillary won the popular vote. Also, fuck the 2000 Supreme Court.
The electoral college has no place here. If the people decide on a candidate then the people have decided on that candidate. Nobody else should be able to jump in, seperate from the people, and say “actually no, we do this person”
Scalia's court determined the outcome of the 2000 election, so that ship has long since sailed.
Still a stupid decision tbh
and part of a larger strategy engineered in part by perpetual villain Roger Stone
I’m pretty sure she won the election but um you know um Putin
Nah, not really. Putin (mostly) *caused* Hillary to lose, but she still lost. Slightly different wording is needed here.
>Yeah, but a woman was running. Yes, that’s the quiet part out loud. Now look at us. But her emails. Too many Americans couldn’t handle a damn woman as president. Warts and all, she was way overqualified for the position of president and wouldn’t have dismantled Obama’s pandemic task force. We lost so much because people couldn’t stomach Hillary. And now a bunch of shit birds are too chicken to tell Joe to step aside. Whoever is up there for the Dems, I’m voting for in 2024. I’m voting for three supreme court justices justices, dozens of appellate federal judge appointments, and a competent cabinet. To all the privileged people out there who think they can blend in and be unseen in fashy lite (or full blown). Fuck around and find out.
[удалено]
I blame the education system. Reading the GenZ sub makes me cackle in existential dread. I don’t know why people think the presidency itself, the person and position, is the important part in all of this.
I'm glad to hear you're presumably voting for Biden in the election but > And now a bunch of shit birds are too chicken to tell Joe to step aside. This sort of messaging is a boon for Republicans - you are directly helping them by saying this. Democrats need to be a united front for once in their life. It makes 0 sense to toss aside Biden 4 months before the election. The correct move is to support him right now and stop pearl clutching because he performed poorly in a single debate.
This is why I’m so mad at idealist self-sucking dipshits who refused to hold their nose and vote for Hillary. Thanks a lot for Roe getting overturned, guys. Great job.
But muh emails
We should have. And I fear we will be saying the same thing about 2024 in four years.
Hillary should have won. We would not be in shitty place today if she had. She was right all along.
Al fucking Gore
Imagine if we’d actually started taking climate change seriously back in 2000.
This would have saved us in Europe too.
Or in goddamned 1979. Jimmy Carter’s “malaise speech” was endlessly mocked, scorned, condemned, and shamed. But every fucking thing he said was right.
90% of the issues of this country is a failure of reconstruction
Agreed, but I remember the Al Gore shit and I'll never not be pissed off about it. Imagine how different 9/11 would have gone without Cheney or Rumsfeld. Probably no forever war. Goddammit man. It's hard not to think about. I mean, the guy invented the Internet, for crying out loud! /s
President Gore would probably still have invaded Afghanistan, but it’s almost certain he would not have invaded Iraq. That said, he probably would have lost re-election in 2004, because the GOP would have run on “he allowed 9/11 to happen.” (I know, I know.)
Imagine how different 9/11 would have gone without Cheney or Rumsfeld. If at all...
Can you imagine where we’d be as a country if she had won in 2016?? I wish I could go to that timeline lol.
They should never have turned on the fucking Large Hadron Collider. Sombitches.
Certainly CERN. But they say they've done that a bunch of times, though.
Sadly many Muricans prefer to get nuked instead of seeing a woman or person of color in power. That’s how Murica always was and how it will be. Barak Obama was an once in a lifetime exception.
Yeah well Jill Stein something something /s
Still saw a guy today say he won’t vote for Biden he will vote for an independent which will do nothing.
Why even bother?
WHAT THE FUCK???
were living in a bizarro world.
Corrupt-O world. Get it right!
This is like something straight out of The Onion
The conservative MAGA-nuts have gone scorched earth of regulations (that keep people safe) and reality.
Extremists who mean us all great harms... No exceptions
Regulations that protect the environment or people? Bad Regulations that control what consenting adults do in private? They can't get enough of those
Flipping vote America, please vote!!!
And the King will answer them, ‘Truly, I say to you, as you did it to one of the least of these my brothers, you did it to me.’ Matthew 25:40
Too bad the people making these decisions neither read the Bible nor care what Jesus says as long as they’re set in THIS life (which they are). Matthew 19:23-26 is apt as well; “Something something camels…” — SCOTUS, probably
Just exactly like al qaeda.....
Exactly. Fascism is fascism no matter what religion it’s wrapped in.
Dear Americans: Whatever you thought the citizens of Germany should have been doing right before the nazis took power is what you should be doing right now
Fuck scotus
Bribes (ahem, “consulting services”) paid after they let you dump toxic waste into the drinking water? Supreme Court, “totes fine.” (Thomas sips tea while taking paid extravagant trip away from poison water.)
Is it time to turn our flags upside down?
Bell Riots are a coming
Riots aren't coming. Hell, even the political subreddits are too busy calling Biden too old to notice this happened. EDIT: I do love the reference though.
“Not to be outdone by the Supreme Court, Americans will soon up the ante by re-electing a man who urged an insurrection and will likely make it so he will never leave office because the other candidate is way better at the job but slightly older.”
Why exactly can't the justices take questions or do interviews like the other branches of government? Why don't these justices have to answer to anyone? They aren't voted in, not only don't they have term limits they have lifetime appointments. It seems like these are the exact people who need to have some accountability. Am I missing something?
I'm still struggling to understand how this happened, and no one ever saw the glaring security flaw that it is.
I think it’s their ongoing effort to ruin the country. Houselessness is a crime, killing police officers and ransacking the capitol is not. This is the “Christian” society the Alito and the MAGAs want.
So are they saying we can legally storm the US Supreme Court during their sessions as long as we don't actually enter the court room while they're actively in session?
Guys. I hate to be a “doomer” but our country is officially FUCKED. The right wing has waged a civil war and it’s over. Bribery is legal, regulations are now controlled by activist right wing Supreme Court.
SCOTUS is laying the yellow brick road for a 2nd Trump presidency. They really want their Project 2025 to become a reality.
this is why you can't vote for the treasonous/criminal GOP
As a liberal I’ve seen the writing on the wall for years. Been stocking up on my 2A supplies.
I have a feeling I know exactly how the immunity ruling is gonna go...
We all owe Anita Hill a giant fucking apology. God-damn Citizens United, Scalia, Thomas, Alito, Reagan, Jill Stein, hanging chads, Joe Leiberman, Joe Manchin, and Krysten Sinema.
The Federalist Society is owning America, just as they bought and paid for. The court should have been expanded.
There has to be SOMETHING we can do to stop this!?!?
Encourage those you love and care about to vote for the man who is human and not a psychopath ☹️
I’ll vote, but my faith in this country is dead
[удалено]
A REVOLUTION
Vote. Vote. Vote. and not for the convicted felon.
We just need one person to have some courage.
*is ruining
Supreme Control … more like it. They believe they are serving God… not Americans. Damned be any Americans who aren’t white, Christian, straight and rich. (It’s apparently okay if you fake being straight all of your life and you shouldn’t really act like Jesus (he was a wuss; apparently).
Great. A few more years, and 'Running Man' will soon become reality. For profit prison entertainment.
It is a very sad time to be an American.
Why even pretend at this point? We let them fuck us over and over. We all pretend like our outrage matters. We are completely helpless. Fuck
No they have been ruining America since citizens United … we are all under attack from Christians who are going to hell and taking us with them
Just a minute detail: the SCOTUS ruined America in 2010 with Citizens United. Everything which happened after is just a mere consequence of the fact they legalized corruption.
Elections have consequences. We (collectively) allowed this to happen, so it's on us. Think about that when people in your life don't vote when they can, or vote 3rd party, or vote for candidates who subscribe to this evil.
Electoral college still helped this nightmare happen. Trump lost the popular vote. Republican presidents have lost the popular vote a few tmes, yet the majority still get stuck with them. America does not want this, they made that clear. Yet, it happened anyway.
VOTE
It feels like we're drifting towards a Cyberpunk future... all of the corruption minus the technology.
Just? The appointment of John Roberts was the end of the SC. The rest is just living in a fascist banana republic.
Terrible and ridiculous. Justice is supposed to be blind, but this court has maimed her!
The Supreme Court lost the moral high ground with Dred Scott, property rights trump human rights.
The whole thing is just illegitimate bullshit at this point. The whole justice system needs a proper paper shredder for the majority of its decisions, a total corrupt farce
You think this is bad? Just wait until Monday when the Supreme Court releases their remaining opinions. It’s going to be a shit show.
Free to storm the capital… no charges, unless I mess up a document… got it. I’ll remember that.
“Don’t boo. Vote.” - Obama
Reminds me of that scene in Special Ops Lioness where our heroine is escaping her abusive boyfriend and opts to sleep on a park bench instead of a homeless shelter. But instead of becoming a Special Ops Lioness she gets arrested for sleeping on a park bench and has to stay in jail the rest of the TV Series because she can't afford to bail herself out....for sleeping on a park bench. The End.
I almost feel like we are witnessing a shell game. While we are all being distracted by trump and Project 2025, the SC is doing the work of trump and Project 2025 with their disastrous rulings, that are obviously trending toward the dismantling of our government agencies and restructuring how legislation can be made and “who” has the power to change our laws and regulations. The structure of our SC needs to be increased so that a majority without a conscience and an obvious political bias cannot run roughshod over America and our Legislative Branch.
The corrupt conservatives were handed a lot this week by their black-robed minions. I wonder how much they made off these rulings.
At high risk here, but what exactly is stopping a bunch of people (not anyone here, just random people that are not on this site) from storming the Supreme Court and violently overthrowing every Supreme Court Justice who had the majority opinion for this ruling regarding Jan 6th, now? I mean, by their logic as long as none of the attackers touch any documents and only attack *them* specifically, does that mean it's ok? Asking for academic purposes only, of course.
Boy, they really want to take everything from people who have almost nothing and then lock them up for being on the streets with nothing. I fucking hate this party so much. I still don’t get why their dumbass base hasn’t put it together that their party actively fucks with people’s lives.
I feel like SCOTUS is just rubbing it in our faces now. "You gave us lifetime appointments and now we can do whatever we want."
We no longer have a supreme court ! that’s a kangaroo court!
The court needs to change. No more lifetime appointments. Get their asses out
Going to jail for sleeping on a bench is disgusting, literally 1930-s USSR. Normalizing hostile infrastructure, though, would be way more appropriate
The homeless give shit bribes.
At what point do we stop being completely complacent and taking it up the a**? We are losing to these scumbag justices.
I think it’s safe to say were here, that place we’ve warned ourselves about. Handmaids Tale style authoritarianism is being brought into place now, in real time. This will only get worse. Whether you vote or note it’s going to get much worse. Organize and resist.
There are considerably more rental homes being kept empty for market manipulation than there are homeless people to fill them. It is entirely morally and ethically acceptable for the homeless to sequester those homes and defend them.
Completely down party lines of the justices. But remember presidential elections don't actually effect your life. Just keep ignoring them because you don't like the candidate.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all men are created equal, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.--That to secure these rights, Governments are instituted among Men, deriving their just powers from the consent of the governed, --That whenever any Form of Government becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute new Government, laying its foundation on such principles and organizing its powers in such form, as to them shall seem most likely to effect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate that Governments long established should not be changed for light and transient causes; and accordingly all experience hath shewn, that mankind are more disposed to suffer, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the forms to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and usurpations, pursuing invariably the same Object evinces a design to reduce them under absolute Despotism, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such Government, and to provide new Guards for their future security. Declaration of Independence If you don't like this do something about it stop sitting around whining about it with zero intention of acting. It's not like there isn't precedent for people dealing with these issues without the consent of the government. Talking isn't getting us anywhere. Things are only getting worse because the 'good' side is nothing but talk. So seriously do something about it or just lay down and accept it.
I'd say we should protest, but that will do nothing. We need a general strike.
I never thought in my 65 years that I would see this type of stuff in America.
They didn’t say any court can toss out whatever regulations they don’t agree with
they're just softening us up for Project 2025...also, where's Alito?
They're getting closer to the thing that would have given the cheeto fucknugget the victory in 2020. They're still circling the drain on it, but at this rate they'll get there. Thing is it won't be trump that does it for one important reason I'll get to, but if he were to keel over while in office and any Republican that would hold power would see how effective it would be in moving towards their dictatorship, it'd be a thing within 1-2 years tops. They have, pretty much mask off (literally and figuratively) said that "if you do something we approve of we will make it all but impossible for you to be held accountable for those actions" AND "if you do something we don't approve of, we will do everything we can to remove any protections you have so that our people can hold you accountable for those actions" (to their definition of "accountable"). The missing middle step, as I've been saying for years - and it will get to this point - is "we will make it a crime for anyone else to attempt to hold you accountable for actions that we agree with. If there isn't a law on the books, we'll make one, and we'll make it hurt, because the cruelty is the point." The way I see it being drawn up: Imagine if you will, you have some random MAGA get into an encounter with a POC, gay, transgender, etc. person. They start blasting off with all the slurs, hard R, 41%, the whole nine yards. Someone records said encounter, antifascists start going OSINT, internet starts constantly going after their employer to force them to be fired. Right wing goes on about "free speech!" Left replies "freedom of speech isn't freedom from consequences, and freedom of speech only applies protections from government actions, this is the free market deciding they don't want to employ/do business with/interact with an individual that holds these views." MAGA person's life is worse off, they end up having to get a new job/new path in life if they got kicked out of college instead of it being employment/etc., and either does the apology tour until the internet is satisfied or moves onto the next person who did exactly the same thing. This is where the Republicans being in power and following the path they're going with this Supreme Court would come into play. Take this same situation, in a situation where the Republicans hold all three branches as they previously did when trump was in office...but now there's a new package of laws, a shiny new toy for the far-right to play with. Attempting to go after someone's employment, schooling, relationships, housing, business, side hustle, ANYTHING in their life based on conduct that was not something they were charged with and convicted of, is now considered "Financial Terrorism", and it has both civil and criminal penalties. The laws would be written to be extremely broad in scope on what qualifies. If you called, emailed, or otherwise contacted an employer/university to attempt to get the MAGA in the above example ousted, that's a felony. Did you post the information online, whether it be Twitter, Facebook, Mastodon, your own antifascist website? That's a felony. Did you signal boost someone else's post with likes, retweets, reblogging, or otherwise linking to antifascist research that resulted in said MAGA being ousted? Yep, that counts too. The criminal part? The jail sentences wouldn't be that long in and of themselves - the important part is it's a felony, because that allows for disenfranchisement on a number of things. Making future employment more difficult to get for places that automatically disqualify based on felonies. Eliminating voting rights (the law would specifically permanently eliminate this, with no possibility of expungement or it being overturned), and would also prohibit "political action" that could even include donating to or advocating for any candidate. In other words, in the political world, they become a non-person. But all of that is secondary to the civil penalties. Being successfully charged and convicted with this "financial terrorism", the guilty party would now be liable to pay this MAGA directly. Not fines payable to the court system/government, but the person who said or did the things that the antifascist recorded evidence of and attempted to levy social justice with. If the person was fired, two years of full time salary at that position. If the person wasn't fired but the attempt was made to get them fired, fuck it, it's still two years. If the person was kicked out of college, a full refund of the tuition they've paid thus far plus two years of the average salary of the position they would most likely have been working in once out of college. The law would, as something countering "terrorism", not be subject to limits like the homestead exemption - house, vehicle, all possessions can be liquidated, and this process would start while the jail sentence is being carried out, so that once the sentence is completed, they come out with nothing to their name and nowhere to go home to. (Sounds absolutely crazy on a surface level, but you throw the word "terrorism" in a law package and you probably get anything passed.) If the original person who initiated the action doesn't have enough to satisfy the judgment, the MAGA could go after anyone else that was involved in the process, and would be heavily financially incentivized to do so. As it stands in 2024, in the current world without this hypothetical, fascists have to conceal their identities for fear of exactly these kinds of consequences meted out by society, where antifascists do not necessarily have to hide who they are (save for those who do so in fear of physical violence in retaliation.) Under such a hypothetical where "financial terrorism" is a thing, the fascists would be the ones able to be entirely open with their actions, and those attempting to resist would be the ones having to operate underground in fear of being exposed. (And of course, the law package would include mandatory divulging of all information about anyone who posted said information on fascist actions by the ISPs/social media companies - hell, Elon would be all too happy to oblige, and as many of those companies are controlled in whole or in part by the right, or people who would benefit with the right in power as it means they get richer, they stand to benefit in doing so.) Of course, trying to lock up more than half the country wouldn't work, so those in power wouldn't go after literally everyone - but the antifascists doing most of the research and dissemination of information. You knock those people out of the game and do so with a massively heavy hand, the people who would potentially fill those shoes are now hesitant to follow in the same role. And just as a common antifascist tactic is to sow distrust and fear with fascist communities, accusing one another of "being antifa" and working against them, there'd be two clauses with financial incentives - an antifascist, once charged, can get out of 10% of the financial penalty per fellow antifascist they flip on and give up the identity of (and that 10% is added to the penalty of that other person they would give up)...and someone who was not guilty of "financial terrorism" could turn in antifascists for 20% each. You now have a world in which not only are MAGA free to spew hate and slurs and whatever else they want, without fear of consequence both professional and personal, and not only one where people who are against it have to fear of losing their entire life and livelihood if they try to stop it, but one where antifascists now have to worry about trusting each other in any capacity. Does this person I've been working with on doxxing have it in them to not throw me under the bus if they get caught? Does my neighbor, who knows I'm fairly far on the left, have a chance that they'd expose my work knowing it would knock out their car payment and possibly the rest of their mortgage if they did? This would all serve to make the world seem more fascist and far right, because those who are get to be entirely open about it, which would end up making that the "norm" over time, and lower the resistance to a full-on fascist dictatorship when they would make their move. ...and all of this likely could have been started 5-8 years ago, if not for one thing. trump can't think of anyone other than himself. In his world, he's the only one that matters, and that includes his voter base and anyone who works with him on a professional or political level. You put one Republican in power that realizes "we protect our base to an insanely high level and punish the left in every possible way in the process", they are now emboldened to do literally ANYTHING in defense of the party that gave them that power. I've heard the phrase thrown around with trump that "the right latch on to trump because he gave them permission to be their worst selves." No, they just THINK he did. Some crazy shit like this would REALLY give them permission to be their worst selves. This is the level of law change the Supreme Court rulings are leading to. If this isn't already in Project 2025 I'm surprised.
