The funny thing about living in the US is that we are confronting tyranny in an unusual sense. #RobertReich is an economist — first and foremost. He is good with citing statistics and presenting jobs numbers and economic performance charts, however I feel that Reich may not understand the undercurrents of all the strife that's now taking place in our fabled country. For him to write that we have tyranny may be disingenuous.

We technically have a weak republic or just a minimally functioning democracy. We have food security, there is not a serious population shortage here like they have going on right now in Japan, we do have a stable and well-regarded military (by writing this, I mean that people in our country generally approve of the job that the military is doing), and we have in place a mostly accountable (though highly inept) US Congress who cannot start wars without a formal declaration or official act of war.

People really are pulling their hair out over The Donald's ineptness. However, there is recent precedent for unauthentic and non-accountable leaders at just the national level. Remember the 2003 Iraq debacle and conflict? Outside of the military's motivations, nobody wanted to wage that war — except for the most powerful. Often, conservatives leave out vital information or just lie about this one part of recent US history where it involves our military and intelligence rings.

There was dissension in the ranks of the CIA. CIA operative Valerie Plame and her husband Joseph Wilson, who functioned as some kind of liaison to the State Department had both of their careers ruined over a single, impotent maverick reporter's assertions. The old-school journalist's name was Robert Novak[1].

Of course, all of that was before the era of social media — something which changed the standardized presentation and delivered format of exactly how media is consumed by US audiences.

Iraq No. 2 was actually a really dumb war. Everybody "in the know" knew that this something which resembled a truly staged conflict (if you were around back in 2003, you'd also remember that former S.o.S. Colin Powell openly lied to the United Nations about vials of chemicals being deployed as WMDs by Iraq) was all about enabling US-backed companies to secure oil rights globally. Most of what President GWB and his secret boss VP Dick Cheney did after 9/11 was slipshod and also misguided: establishing TSA at major US airports and their pedantic, permanent shoe removal program for security screenings, making DHS into a huge law enforcement entity with almost no credible oversight except when their core processes are revealed or discussed during closed and classified Congressional hearings, and the federal government making enhancements to our FBI such as improving the role of counter-terrorism.

Perhaps the last part about the Bureau served the most people effectively. I believe they've had a small role in stopping white supremacy and related terror acts from spreading, however their helpfulness is now diminished by the presence of the #OrangeIdiot.

I would encourage the old school liberals to take a step back and not call what we're dealing with "tyranny." We would literally have to be invaded by Britain, Canada, or maybe China's naval forces for tyranny to take effect.

It's more like a permanent, semi-irregular condition existing in our nation. Our high court is both ruined and stacked for a generation. We cannot escape that sad reality. Many rulings are ill-informed and bogus. They just need to put in place term limits for Supreme Court Justices like they already do in other countries' high courts — everywhere else on this green and blue planet. We all know imposed term limits will /never/ happen under Republicans' watch; ever, for any reason — at any time. It is grossly unfair and dangerous that they now sidestep or ignore the question of term limits. MAGA-fueled Republicans are both cocksure and emboldened by their own avarice and what they see as some kind of power struggle or wider class conflict.

Whether you are a conservative or a liberal, you now know that our legal world is too craven with the taint and indirect influence by the ultra-wealthy on our entire legal system. There are still good judges including a few of those appointed by the two Bush presidents who have fully reprimanded Trump's presidential incompetence and avarice through decisive legal rulings stopping him from making certain bad legal situations much worse.

It really is possible for a POTUS to have too much power. We are now locked in to Trump's second term. He won't quit until he physically croaks. He won't resign and thanks to how Congress and the courts interpret the new standards for presidential immunity he won't ever be removed by the 25th Amendment.

While we are not yet "fucked" as a country in the political sense, all of the independents such as me and everybody else who cares just enough to go above and beyond (this usually means most liberals) have much work ahead of us to personally see to.

[1] - Robert Novak's obituary: https://archive.is/fFWJk

@cyberfelidae

How many Ukrainian soldiers and civilians have lost their lives since February 2022 in the fight against the fascist Putin?

#OrangeIdiot #Putler