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They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45 (1955)

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Re: They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45 (1955)

#111

Post by whatever1 »

Intralexical wrote: post #30
cyberlurker wrote: post #8

Earlier quoted context omitted.

I don’t see the call to action. It describes perfectly the feeling of hopelessness I’ve had for years now. The election was the last chance and everyone blew it.

Vladimir Putin first took power in 2000, and never really gave it up. Russians were still holding large-scale pro-democracy protests over 10 years later. Of course, that didn't go so hot for them. But Russian democratic culture was only 20 years old, and the fall of the Soviet Union had gutted their economy almost on the level of the Great Depression. They weren't really set up to win. Poland has been doing comparati…

Τhe promise of the NRA+ folks is that guns in the hands of citizens will avert such a situation. Let's see if at least one of the things they claimed is not a lie.

Re: They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45 (1955)

#112

Post by subsistence234 »

smaudet wrote: post #68
Avicebron wrote: post #2

[flagged]

I hear you. And the reason is "drumroll", people like Musk. How exactly, is it that billionaires have continued to do so well for so long while the working class hasn't experienced a pay increase since the 70s? You know pays those salaries, right? Big companies and the billionaires who chair them. Of course, good job f'ing yourself over further, that safety net you might have had? Gone under Musk.

All the world's billionaires own about $20T. Distributing that equally among all the people of the world would provide each a $75 annuity indefinitely.

Re: They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45 (1955)

#114

Post by asdasdsddd »

palmotea wrote: post #98
asdasdsddd wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The president is fascist because he's, checks notes... , relinquishing governmental power by shutting down agencies? I think the only thing people have been habituated to is the enormity of the government; go back to any other point in history, was the government this big in terms of independent agencies, employee/contractor count, budget/debt as percentage of gdp? Sure the spoils system was bad, but the current iter…

> The president is fascist because he's, checks notes... , relinquishing governmental power by shutting down agencies? You do know the president is not supposed to have that power , right? His job is to execute the law, which as currently written requires those agencies to exist .

Yes and FDR also skirted around constitutionality and even threatened to pack the courts to ram his reforms in. I don't agree with everything the president is doing, but the rail we are going down is just doomed. What is your proposition to stop interest from eating 100% of the federal budget. We just paid 1T of interest, do you think that is going to decelerate?

Re: They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45 (1955)

#115

Post by asdasdsddd »

etchalon wrote: post #107
asdasdsddd wrote: post #104

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Yes and we managed to do that for 150 years with a fraction of the current government size.

... there's a lot of people who aren't landing-owning white men who would disagree with you.

So you are saying if the founding fathers had 100 agencies then slavery wouldve been abolished?

Re: They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45 (1955)

#116

Post by subsistence234 »

palmotea wrote: post #94
subsistence234 wrote: post #90

Earlier quoted context omitted.

sure, making the government smaller is basically the same as putting the government in control of everything.

> sure, making the government smaller is basically the same as putting the government in control of everything. Come on. A "hostile takeover and dismantling of our democracy" is completely orthogonal to the size of government, before or after the takeover.

How do you clean up a corrupt organization?

Re: They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45 (1955)

#117

Post by asdasdsddd »

etchalon wrote: post #106
asdasdsddd wrote: post #92

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The president is fascist because he's, checks notes... , relinquishing governmental power by shutting down agencies? I think the only thing people have been habituated to is the enormity of the government; go back to any other point in history, was the government this big in terms of independent agencies, employee/contractor count, budget/debt as percentage of gdp? Sure the spoils system was bad, but the current iter…

He's not shutting down agencies to relinquish governmental power. He's shutting them down to strengthen his own power.

What power has he gained.

Re: They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45 (1955)

#118

Post by Waterluvian »

pwatsonwailes wrote: post #74
LandoCalrissian wrote: post #46

President is unilaterally shutting down federal agencies. If this goes on there really isn't a constitution anymore, not in practice anyway.

You never have one except because everyone decides they do. The moment anyone with a modicum of power decides to say it doesn't exist, it doesn't exist.

I think it’s important to clarify that in this case, having a “modicum of power” is in the form of being able to say it doesn’t exist without a riot and a beheading. It’s not in the form of money or command of an army, though those things definitely help.

Re: They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45 (1955)

#119

Post by throw310822 »

defrost wrote: post #108
throw310822 wrote: post #80

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Notice that this benevolence and protection by the media is granted to Musk (and Trump) by their complete subservience to Israel's demands and wants. Trump just proposed ethnic cleansing the Gaza Strip and cleaning up the rubble with American money and work so it can be handed over to Israel in a nice shape.

I suspect a large part of the subtext is that considerable real estate holdings, hotels, casinos, apartments, etc. will mysteriously end up slightly off book on some TrumpCo. spinoff or another. It's the new Riviera after all . . .

No, that's missing the point. What hotels, casinos and apartments were promised to the Biden administration to flood Israel with money and weapons to flatten the Gaza strip into rubble and kill and maim hundreds of thousands?

It's not important what leverage Israel has used to make yet another US president do exactly what they want, contrary to any idea of justice, international law, basic humanity and common sense. The point is that Israel has that kind of leverage and nobody is able to resist it.

Re: They Thought They Were Free: The Germans, 1933-45 (1955)

#120

Post by etchalon »

asdasdsddd wrote: post #115
etchalon wrote: post #107

Earlier quoted context omitted.

... there's a lot of people who aren't landing-owning white men who would disagree with you.

So you are saying if the founding fathers had 100 agencies then slavery wouldve been abolished?

I'm saying your premise is so hilariously ahistorical it deserves mocking.
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