America has lost their moral compass. Sorry to say, but USA might never be the same. I invited everyone to read a little about how societies and empires have collapsed. Spoiler alert, starts gradually and then move fairly fast.
this post was submitted on 15 Feb 2025
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Republicans. Republicans have lost their moral compass (if they ever really have one, and that's debatable).
Remember: most of the nation did not vote for these fuckers.
Yes that's true.
But there are 90 million people who didn't care if these people were in power either. I wouldn't say those people have a moral compass either or we wouldn't be here now.
I would agree about some portion of them. I will say a whole lot of people are just checked the hell out. Many people think their vote does not matter and take virtually everything for granted.
But then there are the people that DID know better, but thought they'd play games because of Gaza and/or because the Democrats did not give them a pretty, pretty pony. They convinced others to be just as apathetic, too.
Infuriating.
Were you around when Obama promised to close Gitmo? He never did and the public never pressed him on that.
he legitimately tried though
I'm more angry that the public didn't press him and the rest of the government to do more. It's a moral failing of the country as a whole.
And now it's expanding.
Resignations are no longer working. They are not shaming people into doing the right things. They just allow the corrupt to carry out their actions unimpeded.
Staying is a career killer. You stay, it means you're on board with this shit. You can leave and your next employer will see it as a good reason.
Atlas Shrugged is a shit book, but I find myself thinking more and more about the world left behind when the "smart" people all leave. Nepotism breeds ineptitude leading to failed systems. Infrastructure crumbles. Businesses fail. Government stops functioning.
I wonder, after a cascade of failures of complex, core societal systems, which will be the first to actually affect the oligarchs? Gotta be the stock market, right? I mean, well after everyone's pensions and 401(k)s are in the shitter, but eventually? Maybe?
Oh God. Do you realize where we're going?
Elongate.
Omfg…. 😂 Now THAT is clever!
Or fElongate to be more precise.
Can't spell FELON without ELON! 🤣
Nope theirs was more clever
With all the screeching Republicans do about Democratic corruption, you think Trump would treat prosecuting Adams like a slam dunk.
It really is like Trump is embracing corruption as a matter of policy.
Yes but then they'll just put another Democrat in his place. This way he has one he can force into doing his bidding holding charges above his head.
COOL. Cool. cool. Doesn't this mean they will just get replaced by people that fall in line with corruption?
Yeah - but when future generations (if there are any) appraise this time frame at least these folk will be seen as being outside and opposed to the oligarch-fascist take over.
just a bump in the road. bondi gonna fire those who doesn't anyway.
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I find it fascinating that there are still regular references to Watergate in American political reporting/commentary. It just doesn't seem relevant.
From my contacts with Americans, it seems that anti-trump Americans are in a state of shock (understandable), but still clinging to the hope that their institutions will save them (debatable considering global examples with the rise of authoritarian/corporate regimes in democratic environments; generally a "second term" tends to be a make or break period).
The pro-trump group seems to be doubling down on trump and even low key trying to justify statements like the Gaza annexation proposal by claiming "that's just Trump, he says things." Some of the stuff I've heard honestly made me a bit uncomfortable (these are people I know well for 15+ years) and I don't discuss internal US matters with the pro-trump camp.
Watergate was a really big deal. By all accounts, it still technically is. It’s pretty blatant corruption and was cartoonishly executed. That said, what’s happening now is under the guise of “making America greater.”
The players are equally cartoonish goons (Anthony Scaramucci? Guilliani? Steve Bannon? His entire administration was toon town) but Trump is slimier than Nixon and is great at getting people to do his bidding for access. The deluge of news and control of the narrative they have has greatly played into their hand. They figured out how to rig the modern media machine. Nixon could never have done that.
The cult following he has is truly astonishing. The perfect toilet bowl of gullible and psychopath
Watergate is about as far back as the average person can connect the historical dots. My view is that it goes much further back, to slavery itself - but many still view Watergate as some kind of original sin.
Personally, I find it simply amazing that Watergate is thought of as the worst thing in recent memory, when Iran/Contra is right fucking there. I think Iran/Contra is more instructive in how Republicans of today behave.
Basically, no one at the very top paid the price. Ronnie Raygun got to ride off into the sunset, even if he was hated at the time, to have the Strategic Forgettery Crew work in the decades since to resurrect his "memory", in a very Orwellian fashion.
Even naming shit after that fucker. They still want that criminal on currency. And that's with him having the most criminal administration in history - at least up until donvict. I don't know how donvict's first term or the second stacks up to Ronnie Raygun's criminal legacy.
There are different types of worst.
Watergate was a different type of worst than Iran/Contra, and vis versa.
Not everything is the same, and no one should group every event in history together as one thing.
I think Iran/Contra was one of the first incidents where the media did quite a lot to paper over the issue. Statements were made like how "tired" the American people were of scandal and so on, given all the things found in the 1970s (I'm sure the people that lived through seeing MLK, JFK, and RFK assassinated, then seeing things like Nixon's Watergate and the Church Committee's findings did go through quite a lot, but Iran/Contra hearings were over a decade later than Watergate) and how "America" did not want to go through such things, etc...
I think if the media had given both of these things equal treatment, rather than trying to run cover for the Republicans because of some supposed public sentiment they were sensing in the nation, impressions might be quite a bit different now. I don't think Watergate should be the metric every scandal since then, but this is probably the continuing influence of boomers, thinking the very worst thing(s) happened when they were in their formative years, rather than looking at the actual crimes involved and how one might have had far broader implications than the other...
I guess the other thing to consider is that you can slap "gate" on virtually anything and people know what you mean. You could try slapping "tra" or "ontra" on things maybe but most people won't understand the reference. Sadly.
Watergate is as far as you can draw a direct line. That's when Roger Ailes really started working on right-wing television. That got us Fox News, and here we are today.
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We started naming every scandal [name]-Gate after it so it's still in the public conscious and only one sitting US president has ever left their term early due to scandal.
Of course the rules are different now. Impeachment and removal (or resignation to avoid it) are almost impossible with the current state of Congress. So we can only say "This might have been as big as the Watergate scandal if we still had any ethics as a country."
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Came here to post the Reuters article "US prosecutors formally ask judge to drop case against NY mayor Eric Adams", but saw that it's already posted.
I'll just quote a part from the other article and add some comments about it:
"The pending prosecution has unduly restricted Mayor Adams' ability to devote full attention and resources to ... illegal immigration and violent crime," Bove, Trump's former personal lawyer and a political appointee, wrote in the memo seen by Reuters.
Essentially, they are sending a letter to a court of law saying "we're playing politics, don't distract us with your laws". I think that should be named "political corruption" and "obstruction of justice".
Fortunately not everyone was spineless:
"I am confident that Adams has committed the crimes with which he is charged," Sassoon wrote on Wednesday in a letter to Attorney General Pam Bondi seen by Reuters. "I cannot agree to seek a dismissal driven by improper considerations."
My viewpoint:
- resignation is not the best way to deal with a fascist takeover, resistance would be better (and every political firing of a resisting prosecutor should come with a court case attached)
- letting politicians directly influence prosecutors (to stop cases before they go to court) presents massive opportunities for political corruption
- fortunately this case has already gone to court, so next they will be putting pressure on the judge, who is better protected against influence
- if corruption trials should become unfeasible, or feasible only for unimportant or opposition-minded persons, there's not much point in having a legal system
These people need to understand this quickly, like yesterday: This whole "protesting by stepping down" thing, doesn't help a damn thing. These mass resignations only embolden the shitheads to continue breaking the law with no fear of reprisal
When demonstrating against a larger power, one can only use the tools at one's disposal.
Or would you rather they stay and change the system from within, ie: evolution over disruption ... which would take time, patience, ability and maneuvering to keep their jobs in the first place.
Say it with me: "No."
No is extremely powerful magic, especially if you embrace it completely.
They are saying No.
Theyre saying No I will not be a part of this corruption.
YES. This whole performative "Me stepping down and letting some right wing stooge replace me will really inspire people" bullshit has to come to an end. They're just conceding defeat, fucking forfeiting, when that's the last goddamned thing we need from our civil servants! .. you're not fucking helping!
The tool they should be using is saying "fuck off". If you want to go to the top, you need to have responsibility.
Yeah I have to say, this is probably what they want, then they can replace people who pose a real threat with loyalists. If anything, pretend to be on board while sabotaging them at every opportunity
I wonder how strong is his immunity against prosecution for anything.
Like is it " I can shoot someone on fifth Avenue " immunity?
Ive been wanting to replay luigi's mansione lately
I've been on a BioShock 3 kick myself
We need to disallow allow any elected Official, or anyone they appoint, to have or even talk about anything to do with the Justice Department.
The Justice department has to be answerable to someone. Or elect them directly as a fourth branch of government. That's frankly the problem with any system of government. At the end of the day, someone must be granted powers they could but don't abuse. Power must be wielded to keep the system functioning.
The trick is to not let your country get run by the wrong person. Whoopsie!
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