We will get somewhere, but I’m not sure it’ll be a good place. Here’s my prediction of how it will go:

Once Gaza and the West Bank are fully and exclusively populated by Israelis and American tourists, once the Palestinians have all been slaughtered or run out of their own country, once all the dust has settled and resort hotels have been built on top of all the mass graves, then and only then will our news agencies finally refer to what happened as a genocide. Some well-known news anchor will look into the camera with weary eyes and a little ribbon pinned to their lapel, they’ll take on a somber tone, and they’ll say “never again”. Someone will win a Peabody for the story. And just as society starts to believe those words, “never again”, the history of those events will be banned from schools and libraries, and those teaching it will be fired and jailed. The memo will come down from corporate and that same news anchor will again appear on TV. They’ll look into the camera with a sparkle in their eye, flashing their overly white news anchor smile, and talk about how all the trans people being rounded up and put into camps is definitely not a genocide, and saying so means you hate God.

“This is Jim Tradman for Channel Five News, signing off. Blessed are the fruit, under His eye.”

But then, I’m a bit of a pessimist.

Most definitely. And since their entire job is illegal, why not go all-in and do more illegal stuff on cam for higher pay? That would be my thought process.

Some will. But like with alcohol prohibition, many of the people who work in the industry will just go to work in the black market.

Yeah that $3 billion won’t do squat. California spent $24 billion over a five year period and didn’t track any of the money, how it was spent, or the outcomes. It’s a safe bet that most of the money went to contractors charging extortionate fees for services while providing almost nothing in return, and probably quite a bit landing in the pockets of local politicians. It was basically a big scam to further enrich a bunch of greedy parasites. A few low-level idiots were charged with fraud and embezzlement of like $400k, but that doesn’t even scratch the surface of corruption involved in that whole scheme.

This is exactly it. A couple of days ago there was an Ask Lemmy thread about the legalization of marijuana. My entire argument is “Prohibition of vice does not work and only empowers organized crime.” This has been proven over and over again throughout history. It shouldn’t even be a question anymore.

Just think about the popularity of the “schoolgirl/barely legal” image as it currently exists in porn. If it becomes just as illegal to hire a young-looking 25 year old actress as it is to exploit an actual child, a lot producers will opt for the latter.

If you think the porn industry is exploitative and abusive now, just wait until they push it all underground.

Not that I’m in favor of disarming citizens, but if you bring up gun control around these people, one of their first arguments against it is that a database of people who own guns is bad because it will be used for nefarious purposes. The unspoken part is “because that’s what we would do.”

“Dort wo man Bücher verbrennt, verbrennt man auch am Ende Menschen.” - Heinrich Heine

Book burners have never once been on the right side of history.

This won’t stop until the job becomes too dangerous for them to do.

Yeah now it’s all written by AI, sourcing their info from Twitter and Reddit posts that were also written by AI.

I realized journalism was truly dead a few years back when I noticed that most news articles online are just a bunch of Twitter posts talking about the headline. I fantasize about writing a movie where Edward R. Murrow comes back from the dead as a demon and just goes around slaughtering lazy journalists, which forces other journalists to actually do their fucking jobs.

Republicans would have to win two thirds of state legislatures with MAGA loyalists to even bring a vote to overturn the 22nd. There is no way that happens legally, and Republicans know it. If they plan on a third Trump term, my bet is they will either be ignoring the 22nd altogether, or enacting emergency powers to suspend the entire Constitution indefinitely.

I’m not trying to be a pessimist, but this is the same kind of logic J6ers used in 2021. They believed that the election was stolen and tried to invade the capitol as a result.

And if they had been right, it would have been justified. The problem is that they had zero evidence of a stolen election. Trump went to court over 60 times to get the election overturned, and never once produced a shred of evidence that the election was stolen from him, even when it was in front of judges he personally appointed. The January 6th rioters were basing their actions on nothing more than right-wing propaganda.

In contrast, Trump is openly signaling that he is going to ignore the Constitution (or unilaterally alter it) and run for a third term. A January 6th style riot would be justified in this case (if all legal routes fail), because if he is allowed to get away with this, what’s stopping him from just handing his fourth presidency to Donald Jr, then Barron, and so on?

I was banned for up voting this image:

He’s the hype man. The Flava Flav of Prosperity Theology.

In this past election, it’s kind of a non-issue. Both parties have always had it in their rules that if the nominee drops out after the primaries, the party can select a new nominee without holding another primary. And to be honest, it’s an understandable rule, at least within the scope of an overall shitty system. People generally aren’t going to show out for primaries, then watch a nominee drop out, then show out for yet another round of primaries, and then show out for a general election. It’s hard enough just to get people to vote once.

Prior to 2024 though, the DNC and DCCC putting their fingers on the scale to fuck Sanders and elevate Clinton is unforgivable.

Before I was banned, my highest up-voted post on Reddit was a clip of this woman babbling in tongues for God to intervene in the 2020 election.

HAHA fucking found it! I challenge you to watch it and not laugh.

I don’t doubt it. My comment was more aimed at the general idea that religious people shouldn’t be lumped together, more than at you specifically. Interestingly, as I scrolled past this post, I came upon this one. Here’s the linked article.

‘God has an order’: Head of Trump’s faith office says women must ‘submit’ to men

Televangelist Paula White, leader of the White House Faith Office, argued that women must “submit” to men.
During a Wednesday interview on Real America’s Voice, host Steve Gruber spoke to White about the state of faith in America during President Donald Trump’s second term in office.
“God is moving mightily, and what’s so exciting to me?” White explained. “It’s especially among young people and men. Men are the fastest returning to church.”
Gruber agreed that “real men” were needed to take leadership roles.
“Absolutely,” White continued. “They are becoming the bedrock, which is how God designed… Because God has an order.”

It’s really difficult not to lump all Christians together when someone like Paula White has so much influence on one of the most powerful governments on earth, and there is no push-back from the Christian community as a whole. She preaches blatant bigotry from the seat of government, and Christian leaders and congregations are silent. It’s hard to disentangle the good from the bad when everyone is quiet.

Every movement against hate has relied upon allies. Women’s suffrage needed men, Civil Rights needed white folks, LGBTQ+ rights needs straight folks, and so on. We need Christians like yourself to be loud as fuck about this. I don’t want to lump you in with them. I want you to be the standard by which they are judged, not the other way around.