Instagram blocked searches related to a number of political hashtags, including #democrats, #democrat, #jan6th, #republicans and a number of other terms Tuesday.
The only range I see is on the leftist end of the spectrum. So you have everything from socialists (far left) to big government progressives (middle left?), with a handful of people on the mainstream left (left leaning?). I don’t see anyone really on the right end of the spectrum, i.e. anarcho capitalists (far right, but not Nazis) to mainstream conservatives (e.g. Mitt Romney, John McCain, etc).
I found a “conservative” community complete with a Gadsden Flag, but it’s just lefties poking fun at conservatives. It really is leftists all the way down here, and the most common perspective I see is that conservatives are all literally fascists. I’m certainly not conservative, but my family and neighbors are, and I honestly have to look really hard to find someone who is actually intolerant (assuming it’s not election season, that is, otherwise they out themselves). In fact, I see more rainbow flags than Trump flags here, and my district votes 70-80% for Republicans (many local seats are uncontested) and my state almost always goes to the GOP w/ >65% of the vote for statewide offices. In fact, my governor is openly protective of trans kids (but he doesn’t actually fight for anything, he’s a disappointment)…
The only time you’ll see someone right of Biden on this site is a half dozen comments down a chain or downvoted to oblivion, because Lemmy is even worse about using the downvote as “disagree” instead if “not constructive” than Reddit, and it was a huge problem there.
I’m leery of Biden’s mass pardons. And Trump’s.
I’d certainly rather correct the bad laws than rely on pardons (which can absolutely be abused, e.g. Hunter Biden), but in general, I prefer to err on the side of not locking people up in jail. If I were President, I’d absolutely pardon all non-violent drug offenders, for example, because police unfairly enforce that law to target POC, while at the same time working to revise the law to make those pardons unnecessary (I think jail time for victimless crimes like drug use is “cruel and unusual” and therefore a violation of the 8th amendment).
I’d rather there be a few more murderers and rapists out there than a few more innocent people locked up in prison. That’s why I’m against the death penalty, and why I’m in favor of Ross Ulbricht being released (he was made an example of, instead of receiving proper justice). Ross Ulbricht was first and foremost an activist, and IMO that should never come with a life sentence, especially when there’s no violence whatsoever.
I’d rather have government waste than people who can’t get what they need
Sure, but that doesn’t have to be the only two options.
Government agencies have no motivation to be careful with money, provided they don’t run out. In fact, many budgets are “use it or lose it,” so there’s actually the opposite incentive. IMO, we shouldn’t even need to do a budget at all, here’s how I think it should work:
Budgets are automatically adjusted for inflation every year
Unused budget rolls into a surplus, which can grow up to some fixed percentage of the overall budget (say, 50%)
Surpluses can used as needed, like to pay for large cap ex items
If an agency exceeds the surplus cap, the budget is reconsidered (i.e. cut) and the excess is paid out as a one-time bonus to employees in the agency
If an agency cuts costs while meeting objectives, a portion of the excess (say, 50%) should be paid out as a bonus
Basically, we should be encouraging spending cuts within the org. The approach Musk and Ramaswamy are taking is dangerous IMO, but that doesn’t mean we can’t make painless cuts.
It seemed odd that Trump wanted to ban it. It seems odd that Trump wants to reverse it.
I don’t think it’s that complicated:
ban - China = bad, and TikTok is Chinese; owning the Chinese = good
unban - turns out people like TikTok, so banning is bad PR; let’s “pause” the ban so people like me
He didn’t reverse the ban, just delayed it, so he’s trying to appeal to both sides of the issue. It’s just typical populist nonsense.
Yeah, what I was getting at is that I can still easily see downvoted comments here. It’s easier when a post that explodes has like 100 comments. A Reddit post that explodes could have four or even five figures worth of comments.
I get where you’re coming from with drug crimes, but I don’t think I agree. Non-violent doesn’t mean harmless…as with the Cash for Kids situation.
I’m all for using money efficiently. I’m sure you can understand my skepticism though – usually when people talk about government cuts, they tend to talk about/favour cuts for things they don’t like or understand.
oh, I definitely get that Trump’s TikTok flip-flop is a PR stunt. So it’s the actual justification that I’m not really following.
Also “Trump’s TikTok Flip-Flop” is perfect for a headline. Some news writer person, please take it and use it!
I consider kidnapping people to be “violence.” Knowingly putting someone in jail longer than necessary is kidnapping in my book.
If I can point to a direct victim, it’s “violent.” You cannot be your own victim, so using or possessing drugs should never be a jailable offense. IMO, jail should only be used to protect the public from an offender, it should never be the punishment itself, and as soon as a prisoner is no longer a threat to the public, they should be released. Ross Ulbricht wasn’t a threat to anyone and his platform was completely consensual, so jail makes no sense.
And it’s totally fine to disagree, that’s what I look for in platforms like this.
I’m sure you can understand my skepticism though
Absolutely, in fact I share it.
So it’s the actual justification that I’m not really following.
You mean the stated reason? It’s pretty simple, he’s giving TikTok more time to come to an agreement. He doesn’t want TikTok to go away, he just wants the US government to control it like it does Facebook (i.e. comply with data access requests for things like law enforcement).
But the real reason is just populism. He’d probably embrace universal healthcare if he thought his base would be okay with it and it would spike his approval rating among the left.
The only range I see is on the leftist end of the spectrum. So you have everything from socialists (far left) to big government progressives (middle left?), with a handful of people on the mainstream left (left leaning?). I don’t see anyone really on the right end of the spectrum, i.e. anarcho capitalists (far right, but not Nazis) to mainstream conservatives (e.g. Mitt Romney, John McCain, etc).
I found a “conservative” community complete with a Gadsden Flag, but it’s just lefties poking fun at conservatives. It really is leftists all the way down here, and the most common perspective I see is that conservatives are all literally fascists. I’m certainly not conservative, but my family and neighbors are, and I honestly have to look really hard to find someone who is actually intolerant (assuming it’s not election season, that is, otherwise they out themselves). In fact, I see more rainbow flags than Trump flags here, and my district votes 70-80% for Republicans (many local seats are uncontested) and my state almost always goes to the GOP w/ >65% of the vote for statewide offices. In fact, my governor is openly protective of trans kids (but he doesn’t actually fight for anything, he’s a disappointment)…
The only time you’ll see someone right of Biden on this site is a half dozen comments down a chain or downvoted to oblivion, because Lemmy is even worse about using the downvote as “disagree” instead if “not constructive” than Reddit, and it was a huge problem there.
I’d certainly rather correct the bad laws than rely on pardons (which can absolutely be abused, e.g. Hunter Biden), but in general, I prefer to err on the side of not locking people up in jail. If I were President, I’d absolutely pardon all non-violent drug offenders, for example, because police unfairly enforce that law to target POC, while at the same time working to revise the law to make those pardons unnecessary (I think jail time for victimless crimes like drug use is “cruel and unusual” and therefore a violation of the 8th amendment).
I’d rather there be a few more murderers and rapists out there than a few more innocent people locked up in prison. That’s why I’m against the death penalty, and why I’m in favor of Ross Ulbricht being released (he was made an example of, instead of receiving proper justice). Ross Ulbricht was first and foremost an activist, and IMO that should never come with a life sentence, especially when there’s no violence whatsoever.
Sure, but that doesn’t have to be the only two options.
Government agencies have no motivation to be careful with money, provided they don’t run out. In fact, many budgets are “use it or lose it,” so there’s actually the opposite incentive. IMO, we shouldn’t even need to do a budget at all, here’s how I think it should work:
Basically, we should be encouraging spending cuts within the org. The approach Musk and Ramaswamy are taking is dangerous IMO, but that doesn’t mean we can’t make painless cuts.
I don’t think it’s that complicated:
He didn’t reverse the ban, just delayed it, so he’s trying to appeal to both sides of the issue. It’s just typical populist nonsense.
Yeah, what I was getting at is that I can still easily see downvoted comments here. It’s easier when a post that explodes has like 100 comments. A Reddit post that explodes could have four or even five figures worth of comments.
Also “Trump’s TikTok Flip-Flop” is perfect for a headline. Some news writer person, please take it and use it!
I consider kidnapping people to be “violence.” Knowingly putting someone in jail longer than necessary is kidnapping in my book.
If I can point to a direct victim, it’s “violent.” You cannot be your own victim, so using or possessing drugs should never be a jailable offense. IMO, jail should only be used to protect the public from an offender, it should never be the punishment itself, and as soon as a prisoner is no longer a threat to the public, they should be released. Ross Ulbricht wasn’t a threat to anyone and his platform was completely consensual, so jail makes no sense.
And it’s totally fine to disagree, that’s what I look for in platforms like this.
Absolutely, in fact I share it.
You mean the stated reason? It’s pretty simple, he’s giving TikTok more time to come to an agreement. He doesn’t want TikTok to go away, he just wants the US government to control it like it does Facebook (i.e. comply with data access requests for things like law enforcement).
But the real reason is just populism. He’d probably embrace universal healthcare if he thought his base would be okay with it and it would spike his approval rating among the left.