Matt
George Takei 
🏳️🌈🖖🏽A fair and important point. The drafters of Section 3 of the 14th Amendment understood why you needed to keep dangerous insurrectionists off the ballot in the first place.
Morten Kjeldgaard@georgetakei Probably everyone has sometime thought about the fact that democracies are vulnerable: An authoritarian, anti-democracy, anti-freedom type can be elected in a democracy and subsequently abolish it, claiming they were elected to execute the will of the people. The 14th Amendment is the last line of defence against the subversion of democracy, stating that if you have acted against democracy in the past, you cannot be elected again. Such a rule could have saved the world from Hitler.
volkris@mok0 That’s not how the US system works, though.
The US doesn’t give presidents the option of abolishing the electoral process.
And even if it did, which it doesn’t, the 14th would no longer apply to that situation, so it’s a mechanism that doesn’t address a problem that’s not real in the first place.
Steffen Christensen@volkris @mok0 @georgetakei A supermajority on the Supreme Court plus trumped-up charges against the liberal Justices would do much the same thing in practice.
Yes, states have their own independent systems of rights, but those mean little when the highest court safeguarding those rights abandons the rule of law in response to direct or threatened use of power.
Ask any of a dozen countries who thought they had a robust democracy until it was already gone.
@Wikisteff I would say at that point the horse has been out of the barn for generations.
It’s not that the conspiracy you describe would do much the same thing in practice. Rather, it would be a symptom of the same thing already having happened in practice, at which point we would no longer have been living in the United States for a while. People just would not have recognized it formally yet.
Furthermore, the supreme court at that point would no longer be acting within its own authority, so it’s not like they would have the authority to make such a declaration.
But like I said above, for the conspiracy you described to be practical we would have had to, collectively, long before have abandoned the structure of the United States.
Andrew@georgetakei my brain short circuited here and imagined defeating Trump on the basketball court
God I want to see that now
Aaron@cinebox @georgetakei He would keel over long before the game ended. I guess that still counts as being defeated, though.
ArtemesiaYes, we beat him at the ballot box in 2020. That was then, this is now. Now we have to beat him at the ballot box in 2024. Complaining about it is childish and whiny.
Erik Haugen@artemesia @georgetakei Additionally, taking somebody off the ballot for a crime for which they were not convicted is a bad look. Op's position really needs to maintain the high road in order to be legitimate.
jz.tuskPorque no los dos?
GretaGroots@georgetakei And what makes anyone think that if we beat him at the ballot box again in 2024, he will go away quietly, and there won't be violence?
derptron@georgetakei The messed up thing is that even with this clause they--insurrectionists and racists--still managed a take over and reversed most of the gains advanced in the few years after the war in which traitors were simply not welcome.
Nicole ParsonsTrump is on the ballot because Republican billionaire donors want him there.
They are the ones funding his campaign.
It's not "small dollar donors" financing Trump
It's likely a straw donor scheme using micropayments via GoFundMe, GiveSendGo, PayPal, churches, DAF's, non-profits, "charities" like the NRA, stolen credit cards, cryptocurrency, and corporations' coerced employee donations.
Some of these donations are automated & scheduled to stay under the threshold for reporting
zetabeta@Npars01 @georgetakei
trump is just a one man, what is behind him is scary. and is not limited to forces of money.
trump is just a one man, what is behind him is scary. and is not limited to forces of money.
Cryptocurrency straw donors:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2023/02/23/sam-bankman-fried-ftx-election/11331356002/
Gift cards
https://www.vanityfair.com/news/2023/07/gop-presidential-candidates-debates-donald-trump-joe-biden
Russians
https://www.politico.com/news/2021/09/20/gop-operatives-charged-funneling-russian-money-trump-rnc-513219
https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/donald-trump/gop-strategist-sentenced-russian-contribution-trump-campaign-rcna71301
Shell companies
https://thehill.com/homenews/campaign/3474124-shell-company-made-illegal-500k-donation-to-pro-trump-super-pac-watchdog-alleges/
Coerced employees
https://nymag.com/intelligencer/2020/09/what-we-know-about-louis-dejoys-campaign-finance-scandal.html
https://www.nytimes.com/2020/09/06/us/politics/dejoy-political-donations.html
SaanichGuy 🇨🇦🇨🇦
MessagingMatters@georgetakei Except that #Trump owns the Court. He appointed one third, and another third are likewise #Republican political hacks. A good reminder about the importance of off-year #Senate elections.
לירון 
7islucky@georgetakei I do not believe in all these #BeatHimAtTheBallotBox notions. Ultimately, that is what we have to do #Again If the judiciary and congress weren’t so corrupt, we wouldn’t have had him in the running, in the first place. #CyVance was always #AidingAndAbetting
@georgetakei What we truly need are #CitizensReviewBoards led by #ConstitutionalScholars who are #SubjectedToScruity by their #JudicialRecord if applicable. The judiciary ought not be #Hidden nor should their #JudicialRecord Citizens need to be #EngagedWithGovernment or we will always be at risk of losing democracy ‼️
Blamellors@georgetakei Also Trump wasn’t alone. He had a bunch of congressional representatives who should also be barred from running. Thats them crying.
@georgetakei it’s also ok to beat him in court
Matt Savener@georgetakei This is exceptional I highly recommend reading (gift link): Adam Serwer on how this case calls the originalists' bluff on whether they truly only rule based on the Constitution. We may find out soon enough.
Oliver KurthWhat do you do when someone repeatedly deletes a hiking trail from the map? It's not "designated" but clearly exists and is well used. No hazards either, or any signs that are discouraging its use.
Matt Clifton@okurth Have you tried the nice message approach yet? Aside from that, if ignored, I’d email the data working group to see if they can help.
@cliftonmr I did, the reply was that the trail is "illegal". Which is questionable, and I think also not relevant if it exists.
Where do I find the contact for the data working group?
@okurth Emails in here, but I thought the page would be more useful.
Alfabiker@okurth
First I try it for the good. Ask why he keeps deleting the path.
If he is not understanding, I try to get the user blocked.
[email protected]
First I try it for the good. Ask why he keeps deleting the path.
If he is not understanding, I try to get the user blocked.
[email protected]
watmildon@okurth You may find this page helpful. It's a collection of thoughts from various folks but driven by the OSMUS Trails Working Group. https://wiki.openstreetmap.org/wiki/Why_can%27t_I_delete_this_trail%3F
@watmildon Thank you, this is very helpful! I sent that link to the comments on the deletion commit. I hope it's convincing enough.
@okurth It is a very common occurrence and definitely understandable from their perspective. Always best to try and get everyone on the same page. You can always escalate to the Data Working Group if they are persistent in inappropriate deletions.
@georgetakei playground rules: if you dont accept the rules of the game - you can't play. You can't say: If I win - I win, if I lose - I dont accept it.
Trump proved he doesn't accept the rules of the USA - he shouldn't be allowed to run.
Trump proved he doesn't accept the rules of the USA - he shouldn't be allowed to run.
Here's Waldo@georgetakei Donald Trump was and wants to be a ruler. Joe Biden was, is and will be a leader.
Mike@georgetakei Fantastic!
@georgetakei but it misses the next step where, no really, the ballot box is what counted.
That Trump tried hard to avoid the results of the ballot box, and failed, just emphasizes that the ballot box is the way to go.
enmodo ⚛️ 🧬 🇺🇦 🍉@georgetakei exactly. To say "let the voters decide" is a recursive argument.
For some reason I'm hearing the song "There's a whole in my bucket" in my head now. It describes the American political system if SCOTUS maintains the voters must decide.
really? why?@georgetakei inappropriately condescends to the brilliant sarah longwell, misundersanding her message. she understands the crimes are real. she does focus groups weekly with voters about who they like and they like trump. sarah is a beacon of insight into the voter reality. she's saying we can't only rely on the prosecutions, we must also be prepared to beat him in a tough election.
Christian Schwägerl@georgetakei @bugbuster42 This „beat at the ballot box“ argument is so messed up. Let a serial killer prove he‘s a good man in his community instead of a trial!
@georgetakei Patrick says it all here. It's "heads we win tails you lose" with these folks. What does the original poster think will happen next time he is defeated at the polls? "Oh, I guess that since I lost twice, I'll just slink off to jail then?"
Eric Lee@Wikisteff Not many people understand that virtually all the realistic scenarios for this time next year are bad. Either trump somehow wins the election, or his supporters wreck the election. There's no scenario where he's defeated and just goes away quietly.
@saintgimp Exactly.
The only goodish paths are those where he comes to trial quickly... and those are also lousy.
The only goodish paths are those where he comes to trial quickly... and those are also lousy.
Virtue signal 💉💉💉🇺🇸 🇺🇦@georgetakei I love posts like this because they demonstrate the value of #QT 's – twice over.
SearingTruth