The modern concepts of conservative and liberal are born out of the French Revolution. Conservatives were the monarchists, and they still are.

So there’s this phenomenon where a person can change their mind because of learning new information.

For example, a person can reasonably say “Our elections are safe and secure” and then, after learning new information, say “Our elections are so insecure.”

The last four years don’t undermine the current claims because there was no credible evidence that the election was compromised then. But new information contains evidence that this time the election may have been compromised. This new information can and should encourage people to change their minds about how secure our elections are. Changing your mind in the face of new information isn’t hypocrisy, it’s rational thinking.

As for your last paragraph, confirming the number of people who voted and the number of ballots recorded does nothing to verify that the ballots were recorded correctly. To do that they need to audit the paper ballots against the computerized count, which is a massive undertaking that will require a lot of time and money. There’s nothing simple about that.

Look, I don’t completely disagree with you. IMO the only thing that’s going to stop the fascists (without taking us into full blown war) is a general strike. And it’s frustrating to see nothing but planned demonstrations, schedule to a specific day, and only for that day. A protest with a scheduled end time is a protest that’s planned its own failure.

But that’s not what’s happening in LA, and that’s why the fascists are trying to put it down so hard. This thing is finally, organically, taking on a life of its own. Will it last? Does it have staying power? Who knows, but why discourage it? Why be cynical and reduce the chance that this time is different even further? You’re literally the problem you just complained about.

All of that said, I genuinely understand why you’re cynical. All I can really say is that you gotta be the change you want to see in the world. I hate using a canned phrase like that but in this case it’s deeply true.

Ya hear that everyone? Cancel the protests! We just gotta buy some bumper stickers and t-shirts, and Trump will be done for! Thank goodness Melvin figured it out, we’d be in real trouble otherwise!

Interestingly, Mexico is celebrating a change in their constitution that let’s them elect judges.

I don’t think the problem in America is the fact these people are elected. I think the problem in America is Americans.

They do it because it creates a premise, a justification, for policy changes and to bully private entities into following new policy. It doesn’t matter that the documents they’re using for justification are incorrect and mostly fiction because they’ll never admit to that. Any attempt at rebuttal will be completely ignored and they just keep repeating “we have to do X because of Y justification and if you don’t do X also then you hate America.”

In this case, the hospital doesn’t have to do anything like that because the anti abortion law itself is coercion enough. If the family does anything that could even potentially contribute to the fetus dying, such as refusing care, they’ll be prosecuted for murder. That they can’t afford the care is immaterial.

No, they get that. They WANT that. It’s what the dark enlightenment bullshit is all about, and the religious nutjobs think it’ll bring about the kingdom of heaven. They both want civilization in shambles, completely unable to resist their authoritarian fantasies.

This is just trying to ban access to fluoride entirely

Well yeah. These are extremists, absolutists, radicals. Their dogma must be simple and without exceptions. If they admit even one scenario where fluoride has more benefits than deficits, their whole ideology and worldview crumbles. Nuance is an existential threat.

Afaik he was being detained by the state, initially under suspicion of breaking the law but then later they continued to hold him just because ICE asked them to.

Reporting on this story hasn’t been very good, it’s been difficult to follow the more nuanced details of what’s going on. But the bottom line is very clear: he was detained illegally, and the fascists wanted to deport him anyway.

You know what they say, go woke go broke!

Wait…

Related to this, there’s a Google translate button at the top that reads, in Turkish, “translate to Turkish”

Which could be evidence that the screenshot comes from somebody who speaks Turkish, which increases the chances that the person receiving the email is in Turkey.

That doesn’t answer your question, but it suggests that Bluesky may only be honoring requests regarding accounts they believe are subject to the local laws.

Two very important points:

• This is proof of nothing
• I personally will continue to use Mastodon instead of Bluesky