yggstyle

Ah I'm certain that is the case. They should probably tweak their layout some and use bold borders or clip art for the eye-catching part. Or perhaps certain words colored for emphasis to draw a reader in. The quick shift to black and white (ish) was more to make a point about legibility... They'd probably have less people reading it if it stayed as it was.

Took 5 seconds with basic filters. 100% more legible. Eyes need contrast to work. That color selection is effectively like whispering in a crowd.

Right, after a lot of opportunities by Democrats to do things to stop him.

Surely you are aware of how judges are appointed for the supreme court. And frankly we needn't get into the selections themselves... which are dubious at best and their track record since appointment is well ... I digress. Suffice to say that they, like a large part of Congress, are not acting in a way befitting their station. Yes this has been a problem for a long time however ...

Is the subject at hand not "Why have we gotten into this situation ... "

... we are in this situation because a corrupt president who is willing (through coercion or he's simply that gullible) to be a megaphone for the Kremlin. The executive branch has a lot of flexibility in the role which could lead to abuse.. but the station was given sufficient respect and most do not grossly overstep. Enter the king clown. Not only willing to overstep but willing to go well beyond that. Typically you wouldn't expect this to cause too much chaos unless...

Trying to pin our problems on some external enemy is just missing the point. The Republicans don't need foreign encouragement to strip the country for parts and sell it to the rich.

The Republicans are willing dupes in this situation. They are being baited with tiny victories and hollow promises while mindlessly backing someone who has, oddly enough, been steadily moving us in a direction which benefits one entity... Russia. This isn't random:

Who benefits from us no longer sending Ukraine weapons? Russia.

Who benefits from a weaker NATO? See above.

Benefit from weakening global trade and ties? Yuuuup.

How about weakening the US's nuclear position? Hmm. Yep. Again. Odd.

Now maybe you are imagining some world where these are simply incidental...

What reason in this random world would our president be deeply interested in beneficial treatment of Russia while burning bridges with our existing allies? Do tell.

And don't get me started on Canada. Putin is looking for the hat trick here. Canada. The country we are so tight with that they provide a number of our states with significant amounts of electricity. Enough so, that should they cut us off, we could see catastrophic grid failures worse than the 2003 blackout. There is 0 reason to provoke our northern neighbors unless looking for this eventuality. No mental gymnastics can possibly explain away the fervor that the apricot has put into pissing Canadians, of all people, off.

You wrote a sentence that didn't have the information you were talking about in a comment that didn't talk about what you say the "it" was referring to in a thread with several points of discussion.

Inference is the key, comrade. I imagine most Americans are familiar with checks and balances and our government at a basic level... so if I am talking about something checking corruption... one might infer what I was referencing. I understand the confusion though: in some countries with "presidents" they have a virtual dictatorship where people fall out of windows if they step out of line. Naturally there are no such checks or balances in said places. One might be forgiven for not being able to catch an inference to something they are less familiar with.

... has made it easier for someone like Trump to get away with things he theoretically shouldn't. The courts being slowly corrupted. Etc.

Trump, may I remind you, installed a number of those judges. Now the list you provided is lengthy and generally most of the talking points brought up when speaking about capitalism corrupting the system. They exist. Those things have nothing to do with the subject at hand however. Let's keep it in between the lines.

What Russia is doing is besides the point. The US has plenty of it's own oligarchs to mess with our elections already...

So you believe they should be allowed to install a sock puppet? I believe that was what we were talking about about, was it not?

What is a feature of our system? You didn't specify.

Sorry I figured someone familiar with our system could interpret that as checks and balances. Something trump is currently trying to break. In what language should I provide your native translation?

Let's not mince words here and throw about whataboutisms. We can deal with your hand waving in a second:

Clearly you have your rosy view of history...

I know my history and have no illusions of what this country has done in the past- eugenics, experimentation on its own citizens, interfering with other countries... it's a list. Surely. But because I know my history I can safely say that it is unprecedented what is being done today.

Only either the truly ignorant or malicious could look at what is occurring and attribute it to standard politics. Let's be real: we've been observing the systematic isolation of the United States from its allies, the undermining of its protections, and attempts to dismantle or weaken it's defenses... And that's before we start to look at some of the other heinous shit that is going on.

The scary russians

Let's not pretend like Russia hasn't time and again been the aggressor and frequently is willing to cross lines (and borders) to enact it's will. You might argue the US has some similarities in that... and you'd be right- however; it is a feature of our system that has allowed us to retain some semblance of humanity and good will - despite the rot. I think I speak for most Americans when I say we'd rather not tread further into the realm of dictators and fascists.

Your rhetoric is in line with what is frequently parroted by the willfully ignorant in echo chambers... So which is it: are you seeding the disinformation or a product of it?

Oh I must have been confused.

It shows.

I forgot that history doesn't exist.

It's apparent.

Donald Trump is just randomly the president for no reason.

Being a Russian asset (sock puppet or fanboy... you can pick) ... helps considerably.

There must not be any reason he has the power to do the things he's doing. Nope. It's a mystery. Carry on.

Legally speaking he doesn't have the power to do a great deal of what he and his fascist ~~buyers~~ friends are doing.

Dispatched spiritually. Much faster and the angels don't cost our government a dime! Check mate socialists!

Initially I did as well - but we are fast approaching a point where simply ignoring this further will be unacceptable.

I feel that sometime soon we may be called to do more than be a voice of reason. Americans are being tested right now. Will you quietly look away because you fear discomfort as your freedoms are stripped away? As your neighbors are assailed?

I'm not fond of the sting of teargas and pepper spray... but it's probably about time to develop a taste for it again. Find a group, know your community, and stop hiding.

Oh, and if you see a Nazi? Punch it.

All threats. Foreign and domestic.

Build a bear?

Scared? The journalists shouldn't be. They'll never have to write about it.

Every major news organization is owned by a small handful of people playing for the same team. Internet exposure? Maybe for a few minutes before your site is delisted/deranked and/or taken down by a barrage of nonsense DCMA takedown notices that are effective immediately (with no evidence) but to reverse them you need to painstakingly disprove each: to both your provider and the claimant.

Time to accept that we're juuuust at the tipping point of freedom of speech and expression. Slip a bit more and we're sliding right into an identical situation as seen in China, North Korea, and Russia. Remind me... who does the head apricot idolize? Neat.

No, see it's like a chameleon: it's for blending into their surroundings. Their natural habitat is most likely... uh ... a faux leather seat from the 60s? Or some old slightly off color wood paneling. Get them in their hunting ground and all you will see is a telltale shimmer against the backdrop...

Tragically we have a dried apricot ceding power to the highest bidder. There isn't much for other countries to do directly unless they are paying for "sock puppet time" or getting in a pissing match with a clown that makes a juggalo look smart.

This is more about controlling (collateral) damage: in this case megacorps "kissing the ring" via stupid shit like Google is doing presently. Countries can fuck with corporations far easier than we can (guess who paid for sock puppet time...)

Google is clearly attempting to make themselves more "saleable" to the ruling party by dropping things like month names or renaming universally accepted names of global features. Right now their -baseline- is where we are at currently. A lawsuit does next to nothing. It's an operating cost. A country threatening to blacklist their service will hit them cleanly in the only thing that matters: their shareholders. Our biggest corporations have time and again rolled over for this tactic. They may have elevated themselves to a godlike status within the states but they are vulnerable outside our shores.