6 ms·

> We’re just as upset by these idiots The former soviets were upset with their empire, and got rid of it themselves. Is there any reason you all would not be

> We’re just as upset by these idiots The former soviets were upset with their empire, and got rid of it themselves. Is there any reason you all would not be capable of doing what they did?

TrackerFF 10mo ago
There's no mechanism for the people to remove the president. You can't have a loss of confidence vote that every eligible voter can partake in. There's no coalition system where one part can pull out and essentially dissolve the sitting coalition. No snap election. By now it should be clear to anyone that the only way to remove the president, by lawful means, is to impeach and remove him. But with politicians choosing party over people, that will likely not happen anytime soon. The median senator and congressman in the US has a net worth close to a million dollars. Other than in the very unlikely event that the US invaded, they will really never feel the effects of bad presidents. At worst they will live under the threat of being primaried. US politics is very much a case of "you've made your bed, now lie in it" for minimum the next 4 years.
- aebtebeten 10mo ago
  If I understand correctly, this is to say the Soviet Union was more responsive* to its people than the United States is? If the people wished to, could they not make it clear what the results of a primary would be, eg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissolution_of_the_Soviet_Union#:~:text=An%20estimated%202,spheres%20of%20influence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissolution_of_the_Soviet_Unio... If legislators are afraid of the President, should they not be more afraid of their constituents? * in the event, it looks like it took them 4 years as well, 1988-1991, but somehow I doubt they were just telling themselves they'd sit around and wait for 2028...
  - gsf_emergency_6 10mo ago
    soviet mil was a representative slice of soviet demographics. US civilian enforcers: not so much. (Elsewhen- the antiVW movement "worked" because the same was true of the US mil) That's mostly it I think. Edit- "anti-Kissinger" movement
    - aebtebeten 10mo ago
      Question for anyone still living in the home of the free and land of the brave: Does the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posse_Comitatus_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posse_Comitatus_Act still apply? Or is it now a case of "except where void or prohibited by law"? Or are you all at the tender mercies of DHS? Are they at least under something resembling UCMJ? (NB: the Geneva Conventions only apply to uniformed* combatants, not internal matters) separated at birth? Department Ministerium of für Homeland Staats- Security sicherheit * with a command structure. Just wait until someone tries to AI-wash command responsibility! (note for gsf: sorry, I hadn't understood what you meant by civilian enforcers until now! BTW, something Linebarger has that's missing from what I've skimmed of the current PSYOP FM series: a lucid description of the bright lines [at the time?] between war and murder, and what the requirements are for an insurrection to count as uniformed combatants for the purposes of Geneva Convention protections ... will get back to you later on Katyusha's descendants)
    - aebtebeten 10mo ago
      I know/knew people who marched first in the CR and then in the antiVW movement. One important piece of advice from their experiences: have plenty of people during your peaceful demonstration who are ready, willing, and able to eject provocateurs from your midst. A related lesson from Airstrip One: just because someone is sleeping with you doesn't mean they're not an informant. Of course, if all you're doing is peacefully demonstrating, as you should be, even if they're looking for dirt as hard as they can, you can still screw their brains out with a clean conscience. MLK sermon on nonviolent resistance: https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/draft-chapter-i-tough-mind-and-tender-heart https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/dra... Lagniappe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MN_9VqfVQ9c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MN_9VqfVQ9c
      - gsf_emergency_6 10mo ago
        Reminds me of.. (The site may be triggering..) "Grothendieck got angry when they started pestering him. Justine recalled in an interview with Allyn Jackson: “The next thing we know, the two policemen are on the ground.” Grothendieck, who once practiced boxing, had single-handedly decked two police officers." You had a chance here to disambiguate the strategy :) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46530990 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46530990 It's luck for everyone that the Latin side of classics is ideologically less controversial (+fertile in symbolism)??
- timeon 10mo ago
  It is fascinating how Americans see their system like something unchangeable given by god. My country is in about its sixth iteration and I'm already thinking it is time for new constitution.
tomaskafka 10mo ago
Oh no, they did not. USSR collapse was precipitated by decades of economic war, where trying to keep up with US advancements depleted more and more of russian budget, finally plunging the country into collapse deep enough for elites to accept formal change of regime (of course while ensuring they stay on top). The actual soviet people were bystanders.
- aebtebeten 10mo ago
  Unfortunately, that makes a great deal of sense to me. This explanation kind of implies the whole planet winds up sunk into the banana republic attractor? (might Fahd have had more to do with the final collapse than Reagan? By opening his spigots to keep the nomenklatura from earning much hard currency with their principal export, could he have pulled a classic "the market can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent" trillionaires' poker move?)
  - aebtebeten 10mo ago
    > sunk into the banana republic attractor? κῦδος to all currently trying nonviolently* to de-banana-ice the republic for which it stands! It gives me hope, Jo'anna. May the Force be with you! * a parody paper reports that Greenland is already being strongly defended — with strewn Lego blocks: https://www.der-postillon.com/2026/01/legosteine-groenland.html https://www.der-postillon.com/2026/01/legosteine-groenland.h... (It's good they're hand, not remote, laid; I trust all feasible precautions were taken to protect civilians from their effects?)

> We’re just as upset by these idiots The former soviets were upset with their empire, and got rid of it themselves. Is there any reason you all would not be capable of doing what they did?

TrackerFF 10mo ago

There's no mechanism for the people to remove the president. You can't have a loss of confidence vote that every eligible voter can partake in. There's no coalition system where one part can pull out and essentially dissolve the sitting coalition. No snap election. By now it should be clear to anyone that the only way to remove the president, by lawful means, is to impeach and remove him. But with politicians choosing party over people, that will likely not happen anytime soon. The median senator and congressman in the US has a net worth close to a million dollars. Other than in the very unlikely event that the US invaded, they will really never feel the effects of bad presidents. At worst they will live under the threat of being primaried. US politics is very much a case of "you've made your bed, now lie in it" for minimum the next 4 years.

aebtebeten 10mo ago
If I understand correctly, this is to say the Soviet Union was more responsive* to its people than the United States is? If the people wished to, could they not make it clear what the results of a primary would be, eg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissolution_of_the_Soviet_Union#:~:text=An%20estimated%202,spheres%20of%20influence https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dissolution_of_the_Soviet_Unio... If legislators are afraid of the President, should they not be more afraid of their constituents? * in the event, it looks like it took them 4 years as well, 1988-1991, but somehow I doubt they were just telling themselves they'd sit around and wait for 2028...
- gsf_emergency_6 10mo ago
  soviet mil was a representative slice of soviet demographics. US civilian enforcers: not so much. (Elsewhen- the antiVW movement "worked" because the same was true of the US mil) That's mostly it I think. Edit- "anti-Kissinger" movement
  - aebtebeten 10mo ago
    Question for anyone still living in the home of the free and land of the brave: Does the https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posse_Comitatus_Act https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posse_Comitatus_Act still apply? Or is it now a case of "except where void or prohibited by law"? Or are you all at the tender mercies of DHS? Are they at least under something resembling UCMJ? (NB: the Geneva Conventions only apply to uniformed* combatants, not internal matters) separated at birth? Department Ministerium of für Homeland Staats- Security sicherheit * with a command structure. Just wait until someone tries to AI-wash command responsibility! (note for gsf: sorry, I hadn't understood what you meant by civilian enforcers until now! BTW, something Linebarger has that's missing from what I've skimmed of the current PSYOP FM series: a lucid description of the bright lines [at the time?] between war and murder, and what the requirements are for an insurrection to count as uniformed combatants for the purposes of Geneva Convention protections ... will get back to you later on Katyusha's descendants)
  - aebtebeten 10mo ago
    I know/knew people who marched first in the CR and then in the antiVW movement. One important piece of advice from their experiences: have plenty of people during your peaceful demonstration who are ready, willing, and able to eject provocateurs from your midst. A related lesson from Airstrip One: just because someone is sleeping with you doesn't mean they're not an informant. Of course, if all you're doing is peacefully demonstrating, as you should be, even if they're looking for dirt as hard as they can, you can still screw their brains out with a clean conscience. MLK sermon on nonviolent resistance: https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/draft-chapter-i-tough-mind-and-tender-heart https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/king-papers/documents/dra... Lagniappe: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MN_9VqfVQ9c https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MN_9VqfVQ9c
    - gsf_emergency_6 10mo ago
      Reminds me of.. (The site may be triggering..) "Grothendieck got angry when they started pestering him. Justine recalled in an interview with Allyn Jackson: “The next thing we know, the two policemen are on the ground.” Grothendieck, who once practiced boxing, had single-handedly decked two police officers." You had a chance here to disambiguate the strategy :) https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46530990 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=46530990 It's luck for everyone that the Latin side of classics is ideologically less controversial (+fertile in symbolism)??
timeon 10mo ago
It is fascinating how Americans see their system like something unchangeable given by god. My country is in about its sixth iteration and I'm already thinking it is time for new constitution.

tomaskafka 10mo ago

Oh no, they did not. USSR collapse was precipitated by decades of economic war, where trying to keep up with US advancements depleted more and more of russian budget, finally plunging the country into collapse deep enough for elites to accept formal change of regime (of course while ensuring they stay on top). The actual soviet people were bystanders.

aebtebeten 10mo ago
Unfortunately, that makes a great deal of sense to me. This explanation kind of implies the whole planet winds up sunk into the banana republic attractor? (might Fahd have had more to do with the final collapse than Reagan? By opening his spigots to keep the nomenklatura from earning much hard currency with their principal export, could he have pulled a classic "the market can remain irrational longer than you can remain solvent" trillionaires' poker move?)
- aebtebeten 10mo ago
  > sunk into the banana republic attractor? κῦδος to all currently trying nonviolently* to de-banana-ice the republic for which it stands! It gives me hope, Jo'anna. May the Force be with you! * a parody paper reports that Greenland is already being strongly defended — with strewn Lego blocks: https://www.der-postillon.com/2026/01/legosteine-groenland.html https://www.der-postillon.com/2026/01/legosteine-groenland.h... (It's good they're hand, not remote, laid; I trust all feasible precautions were taken to protect civilians from their effects?)