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| ▲ | SpicyLemonZest 3 days ago | parent | next [-] |
| It's very obvious that America has a dictatorial government, and I'm baffled why you would deny this. The dictator-in-chief has argued explicitly and repeatedly that the written laws of the land don't constrain him; he can shut down departments Congress ordered him to run, levy taxes they didn't authorize, and overrule or rewrite any statute he feels isn't correct. He seized 10% of Intel Corporation without even a fig leaf of legal basis! Perhaps you're confused that the normal system of laws is still operating? That's just the nature of dictatorship in a large country. The dictator only has so much time in the day, and if he has to delegate anyway he might as well use the preexisting courts and civil servants. He just has to put supervisors on top who can credibly threaten to invoke his wrath if people step too far out of line. |
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| ▲ | baggy_trough 2 days ago | parent [-] | | The reason that I would deny it is that your claims are greatly exaggerated. | | |
| ▲ | SpicyLemonZest 2 days ago | parent [-] | | Now I know you're lying, but I don't understand why. It's widely known, for example, that USAID is shut down. You can go to their site and see that they're shut down. What do you think you're going to gain by lying to me about such easily verifiable facts? | | |
| ▲ | baggy_trough 2 days ago | parent [-] | | [flagged] | | |
| ▲ | SpicyLemonZest 2 days ago | parent [-] | | Trump just announced that broadcasters who are against him should have their network license revoked! My patience with you has run out, so don't expect any further response, but I remain utterly baffled by this phenomenon of people who think it's "paranoid" or "hyperbole" to believe the president's official announcements about what he wants and what he plans to do. I understand that you don't perceive yourself to be an apologist for fascism - like other people I've met, you seem to genuinely believe that it's paranoid to accurately report what the President is doing and savvy to instead make up a fictional president who does less alarming things for more sympathetic reasons. But why? It's just absurd. |
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| ▲ | curt15 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| Does threatening to prosecute office supply store workers unless they print certain flyers count as the behavior of a dictator? That doesn't sound like the behavior of a government respecting the First Amendment. |
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| ▲ | baggy_trough 3 days ago | parent [-] | | I think it would count as a (very) small element of that. | | |
| ▲ | Loughla 3 days ago | parent [-] | | Any single element of dictatorial rule is dictatorial rule. There is no space for any amount of that bullshit, regardless of how inane seeming it is. A) Boundary testing. Small bites end up being large portions after enough are taken. B) If I shit in 10 gallons of chocolate pudding, would you want to eat a bite of that pudding? | | |
| ▲ | baggy_trough 3 days ago | parent [-] | | [flagged] | | |
| ▲ | Loughla 2 days ago | parent | next [-] | | If I steal just a little from you, are you okay with that? | |
| ▲ | vkou 3 days ago | parent | prev [-] | | You're being plainly absurd by splitting hairs over a dangerous destruction of the rule of law, complete breakdown of checks and balances, and an executive that is behaving like it is both above the law, and will never lose power. |
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| ▲ | tene80i 3 days ago | parent | prev | next [-] |
| No need for that. I was just asking someone to clarify what they were saying. Regardless of what you think about the government, that wasn’t a statement in the above. The statement was about tech companies. So it wasn’t clear. |
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| ▲ | knowsuchagency 3 days ago | parent | prev [-] |
| Obvious only to those with their head in the sand https://www.sfchronicle.com/opinion/openforum/article/ice-ra... |
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