DandomRude

A good example of how fundamental religious belief is nothing more than mental illness.

What makes you think that a Supreme Court that has ruled that the US president is effectively above the law would make any decision that is compatible with a democratic constitution - this decision is certainly not compatible with any democratic constitution in any country that I am aware of.

The rest of what I describe has little to do with the legal system, because ICE already exists in the form described.

Again, I should point out that I am from Europe and this is merely my opinion, but against the backdrop of recent events, I cannot see how anyone can still have any faith left in the US legal system. To me, it seems more like an accomplice that enables organized crime on this absurd scale in the first place, rather than a system that serves the good of the people.

I'm not entirely sure what you're getting at, but I can assure you of one thing: the status quo in the US is currently miles away from what an autocracy is. If you lived in one, you would have to fear for your life just because of these social media comments. And I mean that seriously: Palantir is just as much a thing in the US as the Patriot Act - if this country finally falls to fascism, every opposition, every dissident will be mercilessly wiped out. How that will play out is already evident today in the closest ally of the US, also a fascist regime: namely, Israel.

There is no doubt that the US has been an oligarchy for several decades. However, an autocracy is a different thing, because in such a system, the oligarchs enforce their power through brute force.

An example that is not very far from the US in this regard is Russia: this country is ruled by a tiny elite, as has long been the case in the US, but this elite no longer even pretends that the people they oppress have any choice. Anyone who opposes the system simply disappears, and I think it is precisely this total power that US billionaires are now claiming for themselves. In other words, I think the US oligarchs have now realized that no one is stopping them - and they will use this to abolish even the illusion of democracy.

I think the Supreme Court was just a means to an end. The establishment of an autocracy, however, will essentially be achieved through ICE, an agency that was introduced under Bush Jr. and now serves as a secret police force with exclusive loyalty to the head of the fascist conspiracy. To me this seems obvious by now, given that this agency operates beyond the law and even executes people in the open street. Another very obvious indication is its astronomical budget, which is equivalent to the military spending of a medium-sized country, or, in US terms, more than the cumulative budget of all other federal US-agencies such as the FBI, CIA, etc.

Please note: This is nothing more than my opinion as a reasonably interested observer from afar.

For the Attorney General, an incredible amount of what Bondi is doing is absolutely illegal.

As a lawyer, she is of course aware of this, but she does it anyway because she has no other choice anymore.

In a constitutional state, she would undoubtedly be sentenced to life imprisonment for all her crimes, because what she is doing is in fact high treason.

However, like the rest of this administration, she seems to assume that the rule of law no longer exists, which is indeed the case under this regime.

So I think: The blantant criminals who are in charge in the US not only will, but must establish an autocracy, following failed states like Russia, for example, because otherwise they will go to prison. This would be the logical consequence of a new, democratically elected government, even in a legal system as corrupt as that of the US – the people would quite rightly demand at least some consequences, and leaders like Bondi are not nearly influential enough to undermine the rule of law in the way that the current president is doing.

However, this is merely my assessment as a European - perhaps I am underestimating the degree to which the obviously absurdly corrupt political system in the US is undermining fundamental democratic functions. So maybe people like Bondi could somehow still get away with their crimes under new administration.

It would be great if US citizens would at least hold him accountable for this horrific act of violence against little girls, if they don't want to hold him accountable for the horrific acts of violence against little girls that led him to start this war in the first place, which violates international law.

A gift? So China should consider itself lucky that the US has launched a war of aggression against Iran in violation of international law?

The hubris is almost as hard to bear as the heinous war crimes committed by the US together with its genocidal allies in Israel.

Manipulation is indeed happening on mainstream social media platforms to such an extent that this is now very endangering all remaining democracies.

In the Fediverse, however, this has hardly been a problem so far, as none of the participating platforms has a reach that is even remotely relevant. Of course, this network is also vulnerable, even quite significantly due to its decentralized architecture, but I have not noticed any such attempts here so far (except for a few really pathetic users who wanted to give their opinions more weight with various fake accounts).

Nevertheless, what you say is a serious problem, but I don't think it plays a major role in this network for now.

I think it's just the usual, completely absurd US "patriotism." Unfortunately that is still a thing, even under Trump. There are simply a lot of people who believe that it is a sign of excellence when their home country wins the gold medal in Olympic hockey -for some reason people see this as their personal success and act accordingly on social media.

This is news because it provides evidence of what a piece of shit he is.

Just one example: in Germany, even complete idiots can see why it is more than absurd for any state to use Palantir products. It is really sad that it is even necessary to refute this proposal by obviously corrupt politicians, but this connection to a child molester makes it at least a little easier.

As I said, I'm not a fan of generalizations because they have little to do with reality. The US has a political system that doesn't even take the population of states into account. If that were the case, Harris would have won back then with almost two million more votes.

What US citizens can certainly be criticized for, however, is their passivity. Yes, there are protests in the US, some of which are among the largest this country has ever seen, but given how utterly corrupt the political system is, I cannot understand why there has still been no general strike that could very well paralyze the country until the reforms that have been necessary for decades are implemented, the failure to implement which has led the US to the brink of dictatorship in the first place - and the absence of which has ensured that the country has been an oligarchy for several decades.

I understand your anger and I share it to a certain extent, but I can only warn against falling into nationalistic thinking, because that is precisely the kind of thinking that leads to war and misery instead of exchange and understanding.

What about all the numerous accounts that have deemed it necessary in recent days, even here in the Fediverse, to discuss at length whether the US is actually responsible for the cold-blooded murder of more than 150 little schoolgirls? Are these all bots? And if so who pays for that?

To be honest, I very much doubt that these are bot account - and if you ask me, there can be no doubt about the fact that the US is commiting the most heinous war crimes in Iran, because the US is led by an absolute monster, which we do seem to agree on.