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Rivalarrival

@ Rivalarrival @lemmy.today

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3 yr. ago

  • US edges closer to popular vote deciding winner of presidential elections

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  • The compact presumes that the individual states officially publish their popular vote count prior to the EC vote count. An unaffiliated state (or multiple states) can unilaterally declare that they will not officially publish their popular vote count until after the EC meets. The members of the compact cannot provably know the popular vote count; they cannot provably know that they will be casting their votes for the winner of the national popular vote, as required by the compact.

    That theoretical possibility is sufficient justification to overturn the whole compact.

    Further, if there is every a scenario where the compact actually changes the outcome of an election, any state that would be forced to switch its EC vote will see their populace pushing for immediate withdrawal from the compact, before the EC can even meet. They will have legislation drawn up and ready to sign on election day, releasing their electors from the requirements of the compact.

    As a theoretical exercise, the compact is interesting. As a practical alternative to the EC, it utterly fails.

  • JUST IN: House Democrats File Bill to Form 25th Amendment Commission to Assess Trump’s Mental Fitness

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  • Yes. The 25th explicitly requires the involvement of the VP.

    It could be argued that the Speaker of the House could do it if the VP position were vacant, but the 25th does not explicitly consider that situation.

  • JUST IN: House Democrats File Bill to Form 25th Amendment Commission to Assess Trump’s Mental Fitness

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  • Much less.

    Nobody likes Vance. He was tapped for VP because he posed no apparent threat to 47. He can't hold the MAGAt personality cult together.

  • JUST IN: House Democrats File Bill to Form 25th Amendment Commission to Assess Trump’s Mental Fitness

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  • And why he doesn't. And since he needs to be involved in any 25th amendment action, he gets to decide whether to do it before or after January 20th.

  • JUST IN: House Democrats File Bill to Form 25th Amendment Commission to Assess Trump’s Mental Fitness

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  • Impeachment is a claim of malfeasance. 25th is a claim of simple incompetence. The standards of evidence in an impeachment are effectively similar to that of a criminal trial: guilt beyond a reasonable doubt.

    The standards of evidence in a 25th amendment action are "reasonable belief".

    To impeach him for, say, threatening nuclear annihilation, prosecutors would have to prove that threat was illegally beyond his authority to issue that threat. Which would be difficult, because the president does, indeed, have the power to use nuclear weapons. Congress is free to refuse to act, or to drag their feet for months before acting.

    To invoke the 25th amendment, Vance merely has to say that the president is not acting reasonably.

  • JUST IN: House Democrats File Bill to Form 25th Amendment Commission to Assess Trump’s Mental Fitness

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  • Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.

    This "other body" is the commission they are talking about.

  • JUST IN: House Democrats File Bill to Form 25th Amendment Commission to Assess Trump’s Mental Fitness

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  • That is not completely accurate:

    Whenever the Vice President and a majority of either the principal officers of the executive departments or of such other body as Congress may by law provide, transmit to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives their written declaration that the President is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, the Vice President shall immediately assume the powers and duties of the office as Acting President.

    Congress can, indeed, create a commission that serves as a substitute to the cabinet for 25th amendment purposes.

  • US edges closer to popular vote deciding winner of presidential elections

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  • A red state refuses to publish their voter tally.

    Every blue state in the compact chooses to ignore that state.

    Since they can't know the true popular vote count, every red state in the compact has cover to refuse to cast blue EC votes as required by the compact.

    If you and your state overwhelmingly votes for candidate A, yet your state's EC votes are cast for Trump's third term, you (or people like you) are going to demand your state withdraw from the compact.

    If the compact ever actually affects an election, it will be scrapped in a hot minute.

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  • A person presumed to possess the legal capacity for consent cannot have sex with a person presumed to lack that legal capacity. The teenager is not restricted; the adult is restricted.

    When a camera is added, the law becomes inconsistent. The minor lacks the capacity to legally engage in sex, but is now (potentially) culpable in their own exploitation if they video themselves.

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  • What are you doing, Step-MP?

  • Bitcoin miners are losing $19,000 on every BTC produced as difficulty drops 7.8%

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  • So then Bitcoin mining only makes sense if you also heavily invest in the energy company

    Correct. Buying your own solar panels or wind turbines. Your mining rig only makes sense when your expected return from the rig is greater than the return you could get from backfeeding the grid.

    Or if you can somehow make use of the "waste" heat, perhaps by heating your home, or preheating water before it reaches your water heater.

  • An employee who allegedly burned down a California warehouse compared himself to Luigi Mangione in a message to co-workers after setting the fire.

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  • The hard working warehouse employees will be receiving unemployment. They just got several weeks of PTO.

    The demolition and reconstruction is new work that will be going on for the next few years.

  • Remember, living wages is less expensive than this!

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  • If I understand you correctly, you're saying that the insurance industry is the underlying problem?

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  • That was a late-stage enshittification; it's only been that way for a few years, and it was primarily used to suppress dissent.

    It is absolutely not something we should be porting over to the fediverse.

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  • Where do you get this idea?

    Where do you get the idea that it is at all possible to stand up on your soapbox in the town square, addressing every Tom, Dick, and Harry, yet keeping certain members of the public from hearing your speech?

    When I logout of my instance, you can't distinguish me from any other anonymous user. I'm part of the anonymous masses. If you want to keep me from seeing your content, you can't post it for the anonymous masses to see.

    Facebook (and other proprietary, centralized services) give the impression that this can be done, but the way they are doing it is by refusing to show content to anonymous users. You can't do that with federated services.

  • Republicans silent as Democrats call on US cabinet to oust Trump over Iran

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  • Term limits in SCOTUS would increase the current president's power to exert influence in the court. That sounds great, until we realize that about half the time, the president is a complete asshole who shouldn't be in charge of a McDonald's franchise, let alone the country.

    To reduce a president's undue influence on the court, we need to strictly limit the number of justices they can add per term. If three justices reach their term limits, and two others die or retire, the president is flipping five justices. That's a terrible idea.

    What we could do is eliminate the fixed size of the court. Eliminate the requirement that the court must consist of 9 people. Instead, the president appoints two justices per term, shortly after their first and third years in office. The court's size will likely fluctuate between 10 and 15 justices.

    To further remove political influence, we could introduce a means of replenishing the court without political grandstanding. Should the court membership fall below 5 members due to some kind of disaster or tragedy, (or should the president fail to appoint or the Senate confirm a presidential appointment, or should too many members of the current court have a conflict of interest and not be eligible to hear a case) appellate court justices are elevated to the supreme court in order of seniority.

  • What to Know About the 25th Amendment as Lawmakers Call for Trump’s Removal

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  • Vance is going to need that new, impeachment-ready Congress in place before his coup, or his coup will fail.

  • What to Know About the 25th Amendment as Lawmakers Call for Trump’s Removal

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  • Bingo.

    Vance is going to want to be seen as leading the coup, not being handed the job. But it's not happening for another 10 months. First, he needs a new Congress, one who is already itching for impeachment. And if he's waiting for Congress, he's going to wait another three weeks: so long as he only takes half of Trump's term, he remains eligible for two full terms himself.

    Vance will exercise Section 4 of the 25th after January 20th, 2027.

  • Incorrect Password

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  • What the fuck are you expecting from me?

    PasswordSpring2026!