Christine Lemmer-WebberJul 1

So, ICE is getting $75 billion in funding in this spending bill.

There's a directive to build a ton of new private prisons which are effectively concentration camps. Actually let's remove the "effectively". They ARE concentration camps, under nearly any definition of that term.

So why do people keep getting swept up for nearly no reason whatsoever? It's about quotas. 🧵

Show threadChristine Lemmer-WebberJul 1

When you have a system like this, what we are looking at is a well funded set of slots and quotas, a promise of numbers.

And you know what happens with this. You know what it's like for you or someone else to get pulled over for a bullshit speeding ticket at the end of the month. The cop has been given a quota to fill. They'll be in trouble if they don't fill it. They *have to find* people who are in trouble, or *they'll* be in trouble. 🧵

Show threadPteryx the Puzzle SecretaryJul 1
@cwebber If we come out the other side of this, we need as a constitutional amendment (or core aspect of the new constitution) a ban on quotas for arrests, convictions, and/or punishment, at ALL levels of government.
Show threadHeathen 🐈Jul 2
@pteryx @cwebber
I mean, the laws we HAVE are useless because the people in power violate them without a real consequence, making more laws seems kind of useless at the moment.
Show threadPteryx the Puzzle SecretaryJul 2
@heathen_cat @cwebber
Hence "if we come out the other side of this". We would have to get the rule of law back first.
Show threadA Flock of Beagles

@pteryx @heathen_cat @cwebber

the "rule of law" isn't gone. the laws are being changed. capitalist law will always produce these conditions.

Jul 3 at 1:15amWeb
Show threadPteryx the Puzzle SecretaryJul 3

@burnitdown @heathen_cat @cwebber
You seem to be defining "law" differently from most people. Law is distinct from the random whims of a dictator in that, at least in theory, those in charge of a government are bound by the rules set out in them. If this is not the case, then what is happening is rule by fiat, not rule of law.

And I'm pretty sure what Trump is doing now is blatantly violating actual written laws, then *maybe* rewriting them after the fact.

Show threadA Flock of BeaglesJul 3

@pteryx @heathen_cat @cwebber

is it really distinct? the laws of capitalists don't bind them if no one does the binding, and no one really does the binding. the law protects the ruling class, and does not bind them.

"you were put here to protect us
but who protects us from you?
every time you say 'that's illegal'
doesn't mean that that's true."
--Who Protects Us, by Boogie Down Productions

Show threadPteryx the Puzzle SecretaryJul 3
@burnitdown @heathen_cat @cwebber
I don't think we can have a productive conversation about whether or not the rule of law is in place or not if you think law is just fake to begin with.
Show threadA Flock of BeaglesJul 3

@pteryx @heathen_cat @cwebber

i didn't say the law is fake.

laws don't stop existing just because they're terrible laws and the person who made them is also terrible. white supremacist, fascist laws are still laws.

what "rule of law" would you have? who do you expect to enforce this intentionally vague "rule of law", and how will the people it protects but does not bind become bound to it?

Show threadPteryx the Puzzle SecretaryJul 3
@burnitdown @heathen_cat @cwebber
You may not have said law is fake, but you did indicate that you see no distinction at all between rule of law and rule of fiat, which means that we aren't operating on sufficiently shared consensus to have a useful conversation about it.
Show threadA Flock of BeaglesJul 3

@pteryx

it would help if "rule of law" had any meaningful definition in the first place. i keep asking "who enforces it?" and getting no answer. that's not a lack of concensus about a dinstinction between terms, but a refusal to say wtf the term means in the first place.

Show threadPteryx the Puzzle SecretaryJul 3
@burnitdown For the third time, I refuse to play the "gotcha" game with an anarchist. Now please go away.
Show threadA Flock of BeaglesJul 3

@pteryx oh, it's a "gotcha game with an anarchist" now!

go fuck yourself. eat shit, fucko. take your bad faith bullshit and walk into the sea with it.