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Joined 1 year ago
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Cake day: July 21st, 2023

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  • Tarrifs must be congressional approved first. That means the bill must be presented, debated on, voted on, then signed.

    Unless Congress has already given the president that authority.

    In early 2018 President Trump imposed tariffs on steel and aluminum imports under Section 232 of the Trade Expansion Act of 1962. This law states that the president can raise tariffs on imports that pose a threat to national security. Section 232 allows the President to implement these tariffs without the approval of Congress, following an investigation by the Department of Commerce. The Commerce Department has noted that threats to national security may include “fostering U.S. dependence on unreliable or unsafe imports” or “fundamentally threatening the ability of U.S. domestic industries to satisfy national security needs.”1







  • Seriously it took a criminally long time for Rudy to see this particular, well deserved, consequence to his actions.

    Did it though? His actions followed the 2020 election, so they occurred at various times in 2021. Bar discipline isn’t occurring while the original cases are pending. Then there is a complaint filed, which has to be investigated, and if they find corroboration, then there needs to be an administrative hearing, akin to a trial.

    Please understand that this is a person’s livelihood and needs to be carefully considered. He was disbarred in the summer of 2024 in NY. I’ve had cases, not bar discipline, that take over 5 years to get to trial.

    To be clear, I’m absolutely in favor of disbarring shitty attorneys who don’t live up to their ethics obligations.




  • empathy is a double edge sword, often causing more suffering than not. empathy has no morals.

    This makes no sense. People have moral systems, empathy is often a component of that.

    compassion is love without conditions.

    No it isn’t. Compassion is about sympathy and pity, and also is without morals. Unconditional love isn’t a thing, and people can act compassionately without loving someone. It also doesn’t require understanding which is vital to resolution.

    compassion does not require feeling what others are feeling in order to understand their suffering.

    Empathy doesn’t require you to feel their suffering, but to simply understand and appreciate it.

    compassion is the goal, empathy is the shitty tool that sometimes achieves the goal.

    Not my goal, seems shitty. Empathy appears to be superior.

    Definitions:

    Compassion: sympathetic pity and concern for the sufferings or misfortunes of others.

    Empathy: the ability to understand and share the feelings of another.


  • Why should it be taxed? Not “Why it shouldn’t”.

    Because income is taxed. We have a progressive tax system, so the first small amount is untaxed, the next is taxed at a low rate, the next is taxed at a slightly higher rate, and so on through the tax brackets.

    You’re now saying that salary and hourly employees wages should be taxed, but not tipped income. So my question remains, why shouldn’t it be taxed? Why create an inequity between different sources of income.

    Imo, income tax should only affect the rich, and they aren’t working tipped jobs.

    Not taxing tipped income doesn’t achieve your stated goal. The majority of low and middle income wage earners are still taxed. Altering the tax brackets would be more fair, and come closer to achieving your stated goal. Exempting tips remains a terrible idea.








  • Dems haven’t shifted right. They advocate and vote for rights for LGBTQ, worker’s rights, and a myriad of other causes. The Democrats attempt to pass favorable laws, they are blocked procedurally by the Republicans, and then idiots say that the Democrats don’t do anything. It’s a tired refrain.

    I would love to see Democrats take a harder line against Israel, but if they had how would this election season be going?? How much money has AIPAC spent? Does it make sense to take a hard line against Israel, and then lose the presidential election, lose the house, and lose the Senate? What do you think happens in Israel and Palestine with a republican supermajority and control of the White House?

    Take time to understand situations before commenting on them. The Democrats largely haven’t had the ability to pass laws through the house and the Senate without the Republicans obstructing it. Only for about 70 days in the last few decades.


  • They could have protected Roe. They had opportunity to do so. They could have applied the brakes. They chose to coast.

    They had a majority in the House, 60 votes in the Senate, and the Presidency for like 70 days. Why wouldn’t SCOTUS have overturned their law when they struck Roe? Matters of health and wellness tend to be the purview of the states. Where does Congress get the power? Interstate Commerce Clause?

    They could have passed the John Lewis Voting Rights Act, and curtailed some of Republicans’ attempts at election fuckery. They could have applied the brakes. They chose to coast.

    And SCOTUS wouldn’t gut it just like they already gutted the voting rights act already? They didn’t have 60 votes in the Senate, so how were they getting it through the Senate…you know, where it failed?

    Coulda codified Obergefell, nope. Coasted. Coulda raised the minimum wage. Coasted.

    No they couldn’t. None of these things would get through a Republican controlled house, nor would they have 60 votes for cloture in the Senate.

    This is what bothers me constantly. The Dems try to do things, Republicans block them, and then idiots say the Dems don’t do anything. Republicans currently control the house and the Dems don’t have 60 votes in the Senate. They only have a majority due to Independents caucusing with them. There are not the votes to remove the filibuster.

    Congress only has the powers expressly given to them, all others are the purview of the states. It is ludicrous to think SCOTUS doesn’t overturn these laws that could have been passed in Congress.

    Article 1, Section 4 of the Constitution explains that the States have the primary authority over election administration, the “times, places, and manner of holding elections”. Conversely, the Constitution grants the Congress a purely secondary role to alter or create election laws only in the extreme cases of invasion, legislative neglect, or obstinate refusal to pass election laws.