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Edited by Mrph1 on Nov 30th 2023 at 11:03:59 AM
(Actual) conservative David Frum has written up his vision of the future, and how autocracy will happen.
In his view: "The benefit of controlling a modern state is less the power to persecute the innocent, more the power to protect the guilty.”
It's notably more optimistic than what some of us here see, myself included, though it's still not a pretty picture.
In particular, I think the reaction to the current protest movement(s) will be a deciding factor in whether his assessment is accurate. According to Frum: "Civil unrest will not be a problem for the Trump presidency. It will be a resource. Trump will likely want to enflame more of it." I am more inclined to fear that it will be the opposite.
edited 30th Jan '17 6:19:40 PM by Eschaton
Uh...
Trump just fired Sally Yates for "betraying the Department of Justice.
Jesus, I got no idea how the appointment of A Gs works, since I'm an outsider....but isn't that a little too fast for to simply appoint one straight after firing one?
Ah, alright. But damn, I couldn't remember a president that acted this fast straight away immediately after getting to President. Usually, they would just learn the ropes, explore, or something like that before laying down orders....
I do plan on visiting my family in the US sometime this year but I'm pretty scared to because of his ban....
If he was going to do that, he would never have been made acting AG, so no.
Still, it's worth remembering that Yates surely knew that she would be fired when she gave that order. This should honestly come as no surprise to any of us.
If you're of a nationality or ethnicity that might be targeted by the new administration, I'm sorry to say it but I'd recommend giving us a wide berth for the foreseeable future. (And remember, that applies to more than just the seven countries the Muslim ban applies to. Mexicans on the southern border have been detained and questioned as well, according to reports.)
edited 30th Jan '17 6:44:44 PM by RBluefish
"We'll take the next chance, and the next, until we win, or the chances are spent."Yeah, Dana Boente is another Obama pick. He'll probably not follow through with the Muslim Ban either, but he probably won't say out loud that he won't do it.
However, Jeff Sessions is probably going to get voted in as Attorney General tomorrow. If your a Straight White or Black Man (and maybe Woman) in the USA, Sessions won't suck that much for you. Other then that, he's going to be Trump's lackey and definitely enforce Illegal Immigrant Crackdowns, Muslim Bans, and any Anti-LGBT law that Trump creates (though maybe he won't touch Gay Marriage and Abortion if we're lucky).
At worse, he'll be neutral towards most of them and hostile towards BLM. The man hired and promoted Blacks when he was AG of Alabama, and actively persecuted Klansmen in the 80's. I know a lot of people view Sessions as Racist towards Black People, and I don't blame them, but I'm not sure if he's an active Racist towards Black Citizens of the USA.
edited 30th Jan '17 6:49:56 PM by DingoWalley1
Wait wait, why can Trump just appoint an acting AG? Shouldn't it just go down a line of succession within the department? What's the point of confirmation being required if Trump can appoint anyone to be the acting AG without them needing to be confirmed?
“And the Bunny nails it!” ~ Gabrael “If the UN can get through a day without everyone strangling everyone else so can we.” ~ Cyran@R Blue Fish: Ah... Might as well cancel my plans and settle down via video chat/social site with them for two years. (Four tops, if he somehow got approved to go full term).
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From the NY Times:
"For as long as I am the acting attorney general, the Department of Justice will not present arguments in defense of the executive order, unless and until I become convinced that it is appropriate to do so,” she wrote.
He can fire her, but she's the only one authorized to do the job.
Also, this
It goes without saying here, but fuck these guys.
edited 30th Jan '17 7:02:36 PM by iflewaway
something@Dingo Walley 1: Are you serious? Of course he's a racist. He said that he thought the KKK were all right until he found out they smoked weed, and was deemed too racist to be a judge in Alabama in the Reagan era. Do you know how racist you have to be to be too racist for Alabama in the Reagan era? MLK's wife even wrote a letter begging for him not to be appointed as a judge.
The man's a nightmare.
Also, I don't have a link offhand (this is still breaking news), but I saw somewhere that Dana Boente is going to uphold the Muslim ban. Again, he wouldn't have been appointed if that weren't the case.
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Approved for a full term? Doesn't work that way. He's in it for the full four years unless he's actively removed somehow.
edited 30th Jan '17 7:00:10 PM by RBluefish
"We'll take the next chance, and the next, until we win, or the chances are spent."

This feels like a good time for another group roundup of places to donate to or volunteer with, and other ways to help.
First, aside from everything else, the ACLU and anything similar is the big one right now. That's the kind of thing carrying the fight in the short-term, to help people survive.
But there's more to it than just survival. Most of my research lately has been put into finding ways to spread education to places that don't normally get a lot of attention, in hopes of breaking the disinformation bubbles and helping people thrive by helping them learn to think critically, and learn to seek out and weigh information, at an early age. Places like Reader to Reader ( http://readertoreader.org/
) have been doing some good work, from what I can tell, and there's also First Book ( http://firstbook.org/
) and Pajama Program ( http://pajamaprogram.org/
), although I haven't researched those as much. I like Reader to Reader because they also build computer labs and provide other resources; First Book has a lot of donation-matching incentives from corporate sponsors.
Anyone else?
EDIT: Pfft, got ninja'd about the ACLU. That's really heartening, though.
edited 30th Jan '17 6:19:40 PM by RisingStar