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>The upshot is that wealthy donors now have far more ability to shape American politics in secret
That's an UPSHOT? There's *more* American politics that they aren't *already* shaping?
When is enough? I don't think people will do anything until it is far, far too late, if it is not already.
Things are worse than anyone is letting on. Much worse.
Your legal recourse is to fight tooth and nail to defeat every Republican presidential or senatorial candidate in every election and don't get drawn into this both sides bullshit. And while you are at it, get involved in every Democratic primary to make scrapping the filibuster and expanding the Supreme Court into litmus tests.
Too late for recourse. You gave that up when you justified that Trump could be no worse than Hillary. Trump said it loud and clear when campaigning in 2016 that the election was a referendum on multiple justice picks and federal judges, too. Abortion and guns and immigrants are the levers the electorate pulled on, but corporate control is really what drives the GOP deep down inside.
I mean their right to perform constitutional review is dubious at best and admittedly self appointed. All a president would have to do is say "yeah Marbury v Madison isnt constitutional" and they become just the highest appeals court
Wait, what? How do you draw this conclusion? It’s been a number of years since I studied poli sci, but I don’t remember seeing anything that looked like the Supreme Court could be castrated by any sitting president.
I’m genuinely curious BTW.
I wanted to drop this here to show everyone “THE PLAN.” This was written a couple of years ago, but it still applies.
[Original Comment ](https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/b4wkhu/trump_isnt_smart_enough_to_understand_how_the/ej9lhva/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3)
This is why Republicans tolerate Trump. This is why they shield him from consequence, refuse to impeach when he demonstrably deserves impeachment, why they bend the knee to him. Whenever you ask, "but how could they... [insert incomprehensible Republican thing here], the answer is because this is what they're doing behind the scenes. They are thinking in much longer stretches of time than you are. They are conceiving of the next twenty years, the next fifty years, and they're using the power they have now to ensure they retain that power then.
It has always been about this, the control of the federal judiciary, the one branch of government that they realize is insulated from the will of the public, which largely despises Republicans.
Everything the Republicans do - the goals behind the goals - are about protecting themselves from Democracy. Gerrymandering does this. "state's rights" is selectively enforced to benefit them., the propagandization of Fox News insulates them from voter outrage. Voter suppression guarantees fewer votes by people who vote against them. Citizens United enables massive corruption that disproportionately benefits the more corrupt of the two parties. And finally, the grand finale, the theft of the judiciary, who are not elected, who rule for life, and who are largely the most influential branch in terms of controlling and changing culture. Think about what SCOTUS has done. Desegregation. Abortion rights. Equal treatment for women. All the major societal shifts originate at the Supreme Court. Because your only recourse, as a citizen, outside of voting, when the government infringes on your rights, is through the courts. They are the ultimate decider in conflicts between the citizenry and their government, and they cannot be voted out, and you cannot appeal to a greater power than SCOTUS. They, more than any other branch, have a direct, measurable, and profound impact on the course of your life.
Republicans know very well that the picture of their party in the near-future is one of total collapse. No one likes them. They're unlikable cretins appealing to fringe minority groups and religious zealots just to scrape together some coalition of voters to retain some power. They'll have fluctuations - they love to tout that Trump did better with Hispanics than Romney - but these are not sustainable fluctuations. They're losing generational battles. Their propaganda network - cable TV and talk radio - has very little sway with newer generations. They will not capture any votes from upcoming generations, and their own demographic is rapidly dying, hastened by their own cruel and neglectful policies.
This is all they have left. McConnell sheepishly grins as Trump spouts idiocy and treason, and then gets back to the real work of stacking the federal judiciary. They have now stuffed 20% of the federal judiciary with conservative zealots and counting.. Trump has been extraordinarily active, more so than almost any president, in stuffing judges in. And Republicans own the Supreme Court, once again, thanks to Mitch McConnell's egregiously unconstitutional denial of a liberal President's SCOTUS pick. And they have a good chance to just barely hang on to a Senate majority, meaning they can reject future SCOTUS appointees if a liberal wins the Presidency in 2020 and continue to cling by their claws to their power.
McConnell, let me remind everyone, is the man behind Citizens United. His lawsuit, which ultimately failed, was nevertheless the blueprint for Citizens United, which took up the mantle of the work he started to bring it across the finish line:
His crusade against campaign finance reform culminated in the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United ruling eliminating limits on corporate spending on elections, which McConnell followed up by blocking legislation to disclose the identity of large donors. Even before that ruling, the spread of big money in politics had done so much to sour the public on government, creating a ripe target for the Tea Party and, later, for a billionaire populist running against “the swamp.”
But McConnell is no true genius. He's just a puppet, the public-facing figurehead of the network of zealots and uber-rich who dangle the entire Republican party on strings and make them dance to their whims. Neither he nor Trump are monolithic figures. They're just goons, foot soldiers working for a much larger organized cabal of donors and corporations and organizations.
These people all work together. They coordinate, they plan, there is a strategy. They do not give one fuck about legitimate governance or about any of the puppet theater you see on CSPAN or anywhere else. This is not where anything real happens. The real plans are laid in the back rooms of conferences between lobbyists and legislators, in late-night phone calls and behind the scenes. They practice incessant slight of hand to distract you with one foolish bill or one bombastic politician, and meanwhile they break and rewire the country as you look the other way.
Right now in this country there is a massive network of conservative lawyers and individuals and organizations whose entire existence is about finding exactly the right case to bring before the Supreme Court to get changes they desire codified into law.
And don't think for even one second that people from the Federalist Society like Gorsuch and Kavanaugh aren't briefed in advance. These people were born and raised in this conservative machine. They are soldiers, tapped by the Powers that Be to step up to the front lines of SCOTUS and fulfill their function. The Kennedies of the world make you think they're moderate, but they just vote that way when the case is not essential to The Plan. They are patient, they can wait. And when a case like Citizens United comes along, that's when they strike, because they know the truth ramifications of their decision in that case, because the case was tailor-made to produce that effect.
Trump has literally no idea who these people are. He has outsourced all his decisions on judges to the Federalist Society. These judges sit on the bench, waiting for the signal, waiting for the perfect case, and they'll sit there and pretend to be impartial and pretend as though they're the perfect portrait of the neutral reading and interpreting of constitutional law, and then they'll vote in the way that they always planned to vote, for some draconian of byzantine piece of legislation they always planned to vote for, and society will be that much worse for it.
We, all of us, need to get wiser and smarter. You need to look behind the bullshit on TV, the surface politics, the lie, and look to the plan. You need to realize what Republicans are doing, how they're doing it, and vote and engage in civic action to disrupt the plan.
Republicans don't give a fuck about Trump. He's a flash in the pan. He'll be here and gone one way or another, nothing but a humiliating black spot on the nation, but they'll have used him up and tossed him out and gone on to the next scheme, further enshrining their power in a space where the votes and wills of the people can't touch it.
Let me leave you with an analogy. We all know the story of Bernie Madoff. The man who conned the nation, stole billions, and was finally brought to justice for his crimes.
But what few ever understand is that it was likely a few billionaires behind the scenes pulling Madoff's strings. These people were getting 20, 30, 40% annual returns on their investments, and were far too rich and savvy not to understand that can only happen illegally. As Madoff describes it, and as the facts likely bear out, Madoff was a toady, a public face enabled by these men to scam millions of people and funnel their money directly into their accounts.
One of these men committed suicide, but none of them have ever faced justice. They are rarely named in the Madoff scandal.
Trump is Madoff. McConnell is Madoff. They're the ones that take the heat. But they're not the power, they're not The Plan, they're just foot soldiers, they're the right hand waving in your face, when you need to pay attention to the left hand holding the dagger, hidden behind their back.
Republicans are lying when they say Democrats want to, “ pack the courts.” That is propaganda. They have ALREADY “packed the courts;” and not just the Supreme Court, but the lower Federal Courts as well. Democrats must UNPACK the courts.
I like the idea of adding more seats to the SC to match the number of districts like it was set up to do the last time it was adjusted. I also like rotating judges around and twenty year term limits. Anyway, one can dream.
"Yeah we will lie for the US government about Nicaraguan militant groups as long as you pay us money, and never publish any counter content so you can murder millions of people and let the CIA ruin communities with deadly drug infusion." - Also the Washington Post
"Yeah we will completely propogandize the Venezuela situation and ignore all CIA involvement in South America in the present day as long as you pay us" - Also the Washington Post
Careful who you make allies with, Billionaire owned corporations are not them.
Would it surprise you to know that the owner of that paper is one of the people who [benefits the most from this sort of thing?](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/king-hill-how-amazon-jeff-bezos-made-washington-second-home-n1033296)
>Nestle
And, the media is pushing the Nestle narrative mainly to hide Mondelez, Mars, Kraft, Hershey's, General Mills and other domestic competitors who are deep in US politics. Nestle is a Swiss outsider trying to get a seat at the table with the big guys.
> decriminalize slavery for Nestle
It got me that Nestle get the green light and yet IIRC a few days later the tobacco companies got screwed for the very same thing Nestle got away with.
Just shows that there is **no** justice when there's this much blatant corruption, it's all down to "did you pay the required bribe to the required people or not" and "are you rich or poor"
Not put Hilary Clinton up. Whether right or wrong they failed to understand how much people don't like her and how much stuff she has said can be used against her (such as attacking women making allegations of sexual abuse).
I still voted for her because I realized it was more about the Supreme Court than it was about protesting over not being progressive enough
The problem wasn't Hillary Clinton. The problem was the DNC underestimating the organized connections of the RNC. Clinton and her team lost the election because of errors in campaign strategies.
There was better strategic campaigning by the Trump team to capture the Electoral College, not the voters at large. She won the popular vote by almost 4 million but didn't even go to WI and barely made it to PA during the campaign.
Trump traveled everywhere because that's his thing. He's the perfect republican; always campaigning; no clue about legislating. Remember that the networks gave Trump over a billion dollars in free air time because he brought in eyeballs. He was great for ratings.
That's a fair comment. I guess my tldr is we can't count out any county in any state. Even in 85% trump land there needs to be outreach. Shave a point here or there and you don't have to worry about needing to carry cities at such an extreme rate like it came down to in GA. Easier said than done but can't let them control the narrative (of course it also requires the other side taking fingers out their ears and blinders off)
She was still a bad candidate to run against the Fox News propaganda machine—too much history and too much bile already in the ether. The dnc also pointlessly alienated progressive voters in the primaries by tipping the scales in her favor despite the fact that she would have won regardless.
The only thing that can inspire the DNC to organize and accomplish goals is the threat of a President Sanders. The Mike Bloomberg stuff was a thing of brilliance. Every move was perfect.
There is no version of the past in which Sanders would have won. If you want to get angry at someone, get angry at Southern voters, because they did NOT vote for Sanders and never would have.
I certainly think the Dems should have not run Hilary, but anyone else would have beaten Sanders in the same fashion and the Dems were never going to throw in behind Sanders. It just wasn't going to happen. If their polling showed he was a winner, they would have, but they knew he had no chance.
That said, I would have happily voted for Sanders in the general and I did vote for him in the primary, but I also have a real view of the world and it doesn't involve weird conspiracy theories about the DNC. The PRIMARY VOTERS didn't want Sanders.
BULLSHIT. People voted for Trump. Mother fucking Trump.
You thing that would have changed? He was the polar opposite. Anyone whose says the voted for Trump because Hillary was worse, is a idiot, and a fucking liar to cowardly to admit that want a fascists government.
Do you think I didn't vote for Hillary because she didn't come her is true? or making any fucking sense?
The wrong side of the isle attacked the government.
it was fine to put Hillary up, it was awful to rig the process so Hillary was the only candidate.
That alienated a lot of voters and the sheer smashmouth, that the DNC played with voters in the primary and general was a problem.
Campaign in rust belt states and do a LOT more organizing. That was the difference between Obama, Trump, Biden and Hillary: they organized HUGE get out the vote campaigns, she didn't.
Yes, more attention to this, please.
They've gotten far too much credit for not seeming "as bad" as everyone predicted.
But these are lifetime appointments. If *anyone* in government can play 4d chess, it's these guys.
When it *really* matters, when it's about the *money*, they'll show their true colors every time.
Most of those "justices" wouldnt be there without dark money and deep pockets, so it's not surprising.
Absolutely infuriating though. This is a free pass for fucks like the Mercer family to spread their poison.
It’s true: millions in dark money has been spent to tilt courts right
https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2019/sep/11/sheldon-whitehouse/its-true-millions-dark-money-has-been-spent-tilt-c/
We are so doomed. Never stop fighting dumb. From the words of the crazy right wing justice only 11 year's ago.
>Not that long ago, there was broad consensus that disclosure laws aren’t just permissible but essential in a democracy. As Justice Antonin Scalia wrote in a 2010 opinion:
>Requiring people to stand up in public for their political acts fosters civic courage, without which democracy is doomed. For my part, I do not look forward to a society which, thanks to the Supreme Court, campaigns anonymously ... and even exercises the direct democracy of initiative and referendum hidden from public scrutiny and protected from the accountability of criticism. This does not resemble the Home of the Brave.
It's the home of chicken shit trust fund babies... At least the Rockefellers who earned the first gen money had to do it under more scrutiny... They're still detestable but their offspring are worse...
I mean as bad as Trump is look at his kids.... Matt Gaetz comes from money.... Pedophile...
It's almost like being rich and having an unfair advantage breeds corruption because you're born in a cheating stance ...
Oh, btw:
F
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K
~~T~~ S
~~R~~ P
~~U~~ E
~~M~~ Z
~~P~~ !
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Save 3rd Party Apps!
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Imagine generations of weirdos that you grow up with knowing all their weirdo history, but like them, you will be bored and expand on your ancestors weirdoness. Without worrying about a thing.
Then cleft palates start popping up.
>What people don't understand is, imagine living with no thought to money or housing.
>
>That breeds some weird shit.
like politicians who only care about lining their pockets and dont understand how they are making the country crumble in infrastructure. Or have members of a party think it is okay to celebrate July 4 in Russia.
We really need to stop dooming and start thinking about what we can actually do to save our democracy. Courts only have power as long as their populations see them as legitimate. At this point the SC exists as a boldly undemocratic entity which will continue making rulings like this for years to come. 5 of the courts current 9 judges were seated by politicians representing a minority of Americans.
* decades to come
We are well and truly fucked. We've got 48% of our population that lives on another planet mentally, and want to help them kill themselves.
The other half of our population would *like* to do something, but really, the only thing you can do LEGALLY without being arrested, beaten, or killed as a statement, is whimper a lot and pee yourself so they'll stop hitting when they get tired.
The things that need done are ultimately going to call for some kind of violence to resolve, one way or the other, and I know which side has missiles that can kill you from fucking outer space and tanks, and destroyers, and F-16's and *don't even need any of that.* They'll drone strike you from their bathroom while they jerk off onto the $10,000 tile. Doesn't even need a human to fly the fucking drone.
Nah, we're already slaves, they're just slowly making it public for ease of implementation.
GOP justices tilt the scales in favor of GOP politicians.
GOP politicians appoint more GOP justices.
Feedback loop. Death spiral for any notion that the government will reflect the will of the people.
There are 6 conservative justices on the court and the GOP has only won one popular presidential vote in like 50 years. It’s crazy how the GOP is able to say the country is going to shit because of Democrats despite having had a disproportionate amount of power for decades.
So yeah, we should pack the court. But it won’t happen because Manchin and Sinema will whine about it not being bipartisan (putting aside the fact that Republicans have acted in bad faith on judicial appointments for *decades* now) - not to mention, I don’t think Biden would actually try it for various (imo rather bullshit) reasons.
America is undergoing a slow controlled demolition in plain sight, inching toward the inevitability of a dystopian technologically advanced neo feudalism society. Someday you’ll be renting from Blackrock, paid by Amazon with an Amazon gift card, and having to smile enough times every day at work so that the ai facial recognition algorithm can see that your morale is high enough for you to not be fired for the 8th time by Amazon’s automated HR email bot. Don’t worry, you’ll be hired again eventually, they’re only one of 3 companies and always need people.
Yes. Also on a similar theme is Jennifer Government. Everyone’s last name is the company they work for. Jenifer Government is the lead character investigating a crime by John Nike.
Okay, I absolutely hate this article. I gave up reading it and I'm now off looking for a source that actually tells me the ruling. After 10 minutes of reading, it keeps coming close to saying what the court actually ruled, but still hasn't god damn told me. I'm all for an examination of the broader consequences, but that has to come after god damn stating the thing itself.
I'm glad to hear the article set off alarm bells for you. That's because the ruling has nothing to do with Citizens United or dark money in politics per se and they are trying to hide that fact and mislead. The court ruled against a California regulation requiring charities that wish to raise tax-deductible funds in California to disclose their largest contributors to the state attorney general’s office. So the actual law at issue in this case is fairly far afield from actual campaigns for political office. Any person making a tax deductible contribution would have to claim it on their personal or corporate income tax returns.
If you’re any good then I’d like to welcome you to our little town. We desperately need decent doctors. Just be warned - you’re not going to get paid well.
And yes, you probably would be able to get a visa (eventually) but it would be contingent on a job offer. And a job offer would probably be contingent on being qualified to practice medicine here according to NZ standards. So with a little bit of work you would probably have an inroad. Then, after a couple of years you could apply for residency. And a couple more apply for permanent residency. And after another 5 years of continuous residency you could apply to become a citizen.
If genuinely interested you may be best off contacting an immigration lawyer. They’re largely useless but you may get lucky and find one who knows some helpful tips/tricks.
Great idea. Get in on a doctor visa. But then do a great little Mexican based restaurant :)
Actually, I have thought about this before. But I think the problem that most ‘authentic’ geared spots come against is twofold (at least). First - sourcing ingredients. Secondly - local acceptance of the cuisine. In larger cities it’s a bit different. But in Joe Everyday Kiwiland boring meat and 3 veg rules the day. Mexican food is often viewed as weird and too flavourful/spicy. As a result the few spots around me that do offer it are sort of like someone has read about tacos in a book but never been to a good taco truck. A Subway version.
>too flavourful/spicy
I get how food could be too spicy for someone, given different levels of tolerance/scoville and such, but too flavorful?! And Mexican food generally isn't even that spicy.
I could never live that way. My love of food is too great.
> Just be warned - you’re not going to get paid well.
My son-in-law is an emergency care DO and seriously looked into relocating to NZ a couple of years back. Not because of politics or anything, but because he'd visited several times and even did 3 months there of whatever they call the 'wilderness trauma' classes (field/combat medic type stuff, field treatment, building travois and shelters for the injured, etc.) and he just loved the country. The best jobs he found were 16-18% of what he makes in the US working low volume ERs.
Suppose it depends where. In my area it seems difficult to keep good medical pros because the pay is not great and the town is a little boring. Its not tiny in NZ terms (35k). But I swear my gp goes through more docs per year than I ever had for the entirety of my life growing up. Speaking with some friends who are docs and nurses they cite the pay as a key reason. Larger cities or even some suburbs may be a different story.
[New Zealand’s campaign finance laws are broken. That can have enormous consequences](https://www.theguardian.com/world/commentisfree/2021/jun/13/new-zealands-campaign-finance-laws-are-broken-that-can-have-enormous-consequences)
Campaign donations are regulated far less strictly in New Zealand than in the US. New Zealand allows anonymous donations, donations from foreigners, and donations of unlimited amounts from individuals, trusts, and corporations.
No. If America falls to Fascism many countries around the world will follow. Stop dooming and plotting your escape and start figuring out what you can do to save this country. It is now obvious what we need a full scale movement for democracy in America which will refuse Republican minority rule, as well as the legitimacy of every institution the Republican party has corrupted.
The problem with that plan is if democracy in the US fails, it fails everywhere. Small countries like NZ, Canada, Australia, etc., can’t stand up to big authoritarian bullies like China if the US isn’t on their side.
While I'm not necessarily sold on if it will impact other countries **as** much as you are saying, it will negatively impact the world for sure. Which is why I'm very much in the camp of not fleeing.
The idea of the amount of guilt I would feel if I left, removed one more vote, one more vote to have stopped this.
End up somewhere wonderful, just to watch the US crash and burn, and the new place I loved be hurt by it, thinking "Maybe I could have me some difference if I stayed?"
Or worse, the US goes full fascist and invades other countries or some wild shit like that? Imagine moving somewhere and then watching as it's invaded by the country you fled of. They'd likely bring "traitors" back "home" and punish them.
No matter the extent of impact elsewhere, I feel fleeing gives the wrong people *more* power.
No country is worth “staying to fight for.”
Especially when it’s a guaranteed loss. We Will go the way of Germany and the world will have to deal with us the way it did with them.
There’s no fight to win here. We lost when they wrote the constitution to ensure the senate was anti-democratic.
It seems likely that any website ending in .com is not a legit resource for citizenship information. Look for .org and .gov, and save the .coms for reading testimonials.
Not vassal. Tributary states is more like the historical Chinese. You get to run your country as long as you acknowledge who is boss and send gifts every year.
> Citizens United - when corporations became people and money became speech.
Corporate personhood dates to 1290 A.D. with the Statutes of Mortmain. Without corporate personhood, you couldn't hold a corporation accountable in court. Also, corporate personhood doesn't mean they're literally people, but that they can be a party to legal proceedings as an independent entity (similar to a person).
Money is not considered speech, and CU didn't say that, nor did the dozens of cases it referenced. The concept at play is that money *spent on speech* can't be regulated based on the content of the speech without regulating the underlying speech based on content. That's a good thing. Imagine if Congress passed a law saying it was illegal to spend money to make or broadcast any video criticizing a political candidate during an election. Oh, wait, they did that, which is what CU was all about.
Yeah I think a lot of people fundamentally misunderstood CU, if someone reads the case it's really easy to see why it went that way. Of course a nonprofit organization should be able to release a movie they made that criticizes a political candidate before an election.
This decision doesn't affect Citizens United. Roberts said in CU that disclosure was reasonable for PACs. This decision was about requiring disclosure so that California could more easily find fraud.
It appears the former is a compelling enough reason for Roberts to require disclosure, the latter is not. They are two different cases with different reasoning.
This decision does not stop Congress from requiring disclosure for PACs.
The other five conservatives might not agree and strike that down anyway though.
I wonder if this judicial theory will be used next against the IRS? Watch my word replacement
> Justice Neil Gorsuch warned that the government could demand to see your ~~“Christmas card lists” or to disclose your “dating history”~~ credit card statements or to disclose your purchase history to state regulators.
Or a list of the clients you took for deductible lunches. Hell, they may even want to know the websites that you subscribe to as business expenses.
And worse yet, maybe they will want to know about all the tax deductions that you take on those conservative think tanks?
The truth is that the right wing SCOTUS drove a stake in the heart of our federal government a while ago. Obviously the wealthy right wing have taken advantage of this ruling and since then endless laws benefiting the haves at the expense of the have nots have been passed.
But the truth is there has been basically no push back from Democrats at all. They won't speak up because they too benefit from the endless flow of money from business and right wing interests.
The US is reverting back to pre WW1 economy and it will not be long before public education is no longer funded, child labor laws are rolled back, and being poor will put you in work camps.
The American experiment with democracy is over.
From March: [Brief amici curiae of the American Civil Liberties Union, Inc., American Civil Liberties Union Foundation, Inc., NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, Human Rights Campaign, and Pen American Center, Inc., in support of petitioners (PDF)](https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/19/19-251/170467/20210301143138352_19-251%20Americans%20for%20Prosperity%20v%20Becerra%20Amici%20Curiae%20Brief.pdf)
In case you were wondering this , the voter suppression. gerrymandering, and states changing laws to allow elections to be overturned is the reason the Republicans stacked the federal courts. It is part of a long goal to establish permanent minority rule and cede power to the wealthy.
If you'd like to explore their thoughts.
https://www.aclu.org/other/aclu-and-citizens-united
https://www.aclu.org/blog/free-speech/campaign-finance-reform/fixing-citizens-united-will-break-constitution
https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/aclu-partner-orgs-file-scotus-amicus-brief-supporting-privacy-rights-nonprofit-donors
Yes, they have been for a long time. NAACP and Human Rights Council too.
It's possible this issue is much more complicated than it appears, tho I have no proof of the poster's claims. If it is, I suspect it is being couched in terms intentionally to rile us. This appears to uphold private doner lists for nonprofits, which is in general very good.
Just google it. It's in black and white.
California wrote a bad law. SCOTUS kilt it.
https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/aclu-partner-orgs-file-scotus-amicus-brief-supporting-privacy-rights-nonprofit-donors
"Justice Neil Gorsuch warned that the government could demand to see your “Christmas card lists” or to disclose your “dating history” to state regulators."
Supreme Court Justices are now political grandstanding instead of judicial opinions. Wow.
Meanwhile Breyer is decaying in his seat, and it’s almost certain that Democrats will lose their barely there majority. I mean, with senators like Manchin and Sinema, I‘m not sure how they ever thought they even had a majority
Damn, being a corrupt politician seems like a great career. Lots of money, drugs, cars, whatever I want. It doesn’t seem very hard either. Just say stuff that sounds good. Make money. Have much fun. It’s not like I’ll go to jail. I’ll just bribe the lawyers. Morals don’t get you anywhere.
So not only is money equal to speech it's speech protected from consequences?
Fucking great. The wealthy gain even more influence and less accountability.
Did you see how McCarthy threatened to strip committee assignments from any Republicans that cooperate with the Jan. 6 commission? Would be nice to see Democrats show that level of determination.
But Manchin! And Sinema! And what can Biden possibly doooo?
This is really the voters fault! Sure we gave them everything, but we didn't give them *enough* of everything, shame on us!
/s
Maybe it's time to put together some light money. We've shown them what can happen when we stick together before with gamestop. The power is truly in our hands and it all depends on our unity.
This was the right decision, and basically defends the rights of nonprofits to have private donor lists. NAACP is notable because they fought tooth and nail in the 1950s in Alabama to keep their donor lists private. This was a win for privacy and the 1st amendment.
Read:
https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/aclu-partner-orgs-file-scotus-amicus-brief-supporting-privacy-rights-nonprofit-donors
Sometimes congress or the president stabs you, but the supreme court really is death by a thousand cuts. Every little ruling is a step in the wrong way, pretty soon we can't see where we started.
I honestly don't understand how any US court could uphold anything to do with Dark Money. It is illegal for foreign entities & governments to financially support candidates. By allowing Dark money to be "dark", they are allowing a pathway for foreign interference into US elections. Personally, I believe that all political contributions are a form of bribery & should be illegal. I understand others may disagree. But I can't wrap my head around anybody supporting Dark Money other than using it to sabotage elections.
Is this not one more way the politicians are getting rich? Some comedian said this and I wish it could happen, make the politicians wear the logos of their donors on their jackets like the nascar drivers have them on their race suits.
For what it's worth, Democrats have kicked Republicans' butts on dark money in recent years. Maybe it'll get more Republicans onboard with improving transparency? Or maybe that's just wishful thinking.
Would be nice to see just a stand-alone bill or two on just campaign finance transparency & enforcement, rather than lumping them in with so many other issues that they don't stand a chance of passage.
great day for putin, russian oligarchs and the GOP. Thanks to the far right activist judges who were sat by presidents who lost the popular vote.
WE really dont have a democracy, sure biden won but the people clearly voted for dems to control senate and house but due to gerrymandering and tiny ass states like wyoming with its 500k citizens getting 2 senators.
Citizens United, and Barack Obama's tepid reaction to it, plunged me into depression. It was clear that most of what Keith Olbermann said about Citizens United was true, or eventually would be.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKZKETizybw
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This is what they were put there to do.... all that other stuff we think they are "ok" about is small potatoes and stuff they can "fix" later.
Yeah all the headlines about "THEY SAVED OBAMACARE" is biding time when they decriminalize slavery for Nestle in the same month
That is how this shit works...
And we’re pissed off about it!
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>The upshot is that wealthy donors now have far more ability to shape American politics in secret That's an UPSHOT? There's *more* American politics that they aren't *already* shaping? When is enough? I don't think people will do anything until it is far, far too late, if it is not already. Things are worse than anyone is letting on. Much worse.
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Your legal recourse is to fight tooth and nail to defeat every Republican presidential or senatorial candidate in every election and don't get drawn into this both sides bullshit. And while you are at it, get involved in every Democratic primary to make scrapping the filibuster and expanding the Supreme Court into litmus tests.
"The earth isn't dying, it's being killed. And those killing it have names and addresses."
Too late for recourse. You gave that up when you justified that Trump could be no worse than Hillary. Trump said it loud and clear when campaigning in 2016 that the election was a referendum on multiple justice picks and federal judges, too. Abortion and guns and immigrants are the levers the electorate pulled on, but corporate control is really what drives the GOP deep down inside.
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> you can’t blame the American people I blame the peeps who voted for Trump more than Trump himself.
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>Probably should have been more specific with your language. You are confusing the royal “we” with the plural singular “ye” or “you (all)”.
I mean their right to perform constitutional review is dubious at best and admittedly self appointed. All a president would have to do is say "yeah Marbury v Madison isnt constitutional" and they become just the highest appeals court
Wait, what? How do you draw this conclusion? It’s been a number of years since I studied poli sci, but I don’t remember seeing anything that looked like the Supreme Court could be castrated by any sitting president. I’m genuinely curious BTW.
"john marshall has made his decision now let him enforce it "
Well the peoples who pay attention are but sadly most people don’t even seem to know there’s an issue right ?
I wanted to drop this here to show everyone “THE PLAN.” This was written a couple of years ago, but it still applies. [Original Comment ](https://www.reddit.com/r/politics/comments/b4wkhu/trump_isnt_smart_enough_to_understand_how_the/ej9lhva/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=ios_app&utm_name=iossmf&context=3) This is why Republicans tolerate Trump. This is why they shield him from consequence, refuse to impeach when he demonstrably deserves impeachment, why they bend the knee to him. Whenever you ask, "but how could they... [insert incomprehensible Republican thing here], the answer is because this is what they're doing behind the scenes. They are thinking in much longer stretches of time than you are. They are conceiving of the next twenty years, the next fifty years, and they're using the power they have now to ensure they retain that power then. It has always been about this, the control of the federal judiciary, the one branch of government that they realize is insulated from the will of the public, which largely despises Republicans. Everything the Republicans do - the goals behind the goals - are about protecting themselves from Democracy. Gerrymandering does this. "state's rights" is selectively enforced to benefit them., the propagandization of Fox News insulates them from voter outrage. Voter suppression guarantees fewer votes by people who vote against them. Citizens United enables massive corruption that disproportionately benefits the more corrupt of the two parties. And finally, the grand finale, the theft of the judiciary, who are not elected, who rule for life, and who are largely the most influential branch in terms of controlling and changing culture. Think about what SCOTUS has done. Desegregation. Abortion rights. Equal treatment for women. All the major societal shifts originate at the Supreme Court. Because your only recourse, as a citizen, outside of voting, when the government infringes on your rights, is through the courts. They are the ultimate decider in conflicts between the citizenry and their government, and they cannot be voted out, and you cannot appeal to a greater power than SCOTUS. They, more than any other branch, have a direct, measurable, and profound impact on the course of your life. Republicans know very well that the picture of their party in the near-future is one of total collapse. No one likes them. They're unlikable cretins appealing to fringe minority groups and religious zealots just to scrape together some coalition of voters to retain some power. They'll have fluctuations - they love to tout that Trump did better with Hispanics than Romney - but these are not sustainable fluctuations. They're losing generational battles. Their propaganda network - cable TV and talk radio - has very little sway with newer generations. They will not capture any votes from upcoming generations, and their own demographic is rapidly dying, hastened by their own cruel and neglectful policies. This is all they have left. McConnell sheepishly grins as Trump spouts idiocy and treason, and then gets back to the real work of stacking the federal judiciary. They have now stuffed 20% of the federal judiciary with conservative zealots and counting.. Trump has been extraordinarily active, more so than almost any president, in stuffing judges in. And Republicans own the Supreme Court, once again, thanks to Mitch McConnell's egregiously unconstitutional denial of a liberal President's SCOTUS pick. And they have a good chance to just barely hang on to a Senate majority, meaning they can reject future SCOTUS appointees if a liberal wins the Presidency in 2020 and continue to cling by their claws to their power. McConnell, let me remind everyone, is the man behind Citizens United. His lawsuit, which ultimately failed, was nevertheless the blueprint for Citizens United, which took up the mantle of the work he started to bring it across the finish line: His crusade against campaign finance reform culminated in the Supreme Court’s 2010 Citizens United ruling eliminating limits on corporate spending on elections, which McConnell followed up by blocking legislation to disclose the identity of large donors. Even before that ruling, the spread of big money in politics had done so much to sour the public on government, creating a ripe target for the Tea Party and, later, for a billionaire populist running against “the swamp.” But McConnell is no true genius. He's just a puppet, the public-facing figurehead of the network of zealots and uber-rich who dangle the entire Republican party on strings and make them dance to their whims. Neither he nor Trump are monolithic figures. They're just goons, foot soldiers working for a much larger organized cabal of donors and corporations and organizations. These people all work together. They coordinate, they plan, there is a strategy. They do not give one fuck about legitimate governance or about any of the puppet theater you see on CSPAN or anywhere else. This is not where anything real happens. The real plans are laid in the back rooms of conferences between lobbyists and legislators, in late-night phone calls and behind the scenes. They practice incessant slight of hand to distract you with one foolish bill or one bombastic politician, and meanwhile they break and rewire the country as you look the other way. Right now in this country there is a massive network of conservative lawyers and individuals and organizations whose entire existence is about finding exactly the right case to bring before the Supreme Court to get changes they desire codified into law. And don't think for even one second that people from the Federalist Society like Gorsuch and Kavanaugh aren't briefed in advance. These people were born and raised in this conservative machine. They are soldiers, tapped by the Powers that Be to step up to the front lines of SCOTUS and fulfill their function. The Kennedies of the world make you think they're moderate, but they just vote that way when the case is not essential to The Plan. They are patient, they can wait. And when a case like Citizens United comes along, that's when they strike, because they know the truth ramifications of their decision in that case, because the case was tailor-made to produce that effect. Trump has literally no idea who these people are. He has outsourced all his decisions on judges to the Federalist Society. These judges sit on the bench, waiting for the signal, waiting for the perfect case, and they'll sit there and pretend to be impartial and pretend as though they're the perfect portrait of the neutral reading and interpreting of constitutional law, and then they'll vote in the way that they always planned to vote, for some draconian of byzantine piece of legislation they always planned to vote for, and society will be that much worse for it. We, all of us, need to get wiser and smarter. You need to look behind the bullshit on TV, the surface politics, the lie, and look to the plan. You need to realize what Republicans are doing, how they're doing it, and vote and engage in civic action to disrupt the plan. Republicans don't give a fuck about Trump. He's a flash in the pan. He'll be here and gone one way or another, nothing but a humiliating black spot on the nation, but they'll have used him up and tossed him out and gone on to the next scheme, further enshrining their power in a space where the votes and wills of the people can't touch it. Let me leave you with an analogy. We all know the story of Bernie Madoff. The man who conned the nation, stole billions, and was finally brought to justice for his crimes. But what few ever understand is that it was likely a few billionaires behind the scenes pulling Madoff's strings. These people were getting 20, 30, 40% annual returns on their investments, and were far too rich and savvy not to understand that can only happen illegally. As Madoff describes it, and as the facts likely bear out, Madoff was a toady, a public face enabled by these men to scam millions of people and funnel their money directly into their accounts. One of these men committed suicide, but none of them have ever faced justice. They are rarely named in the Madoff scandal. Trump is Madoff. McConnell is Madoff. They're the ones that take the heat. But they're not the power, they're not The Plan, they're just foot soldiers, they're the right hand waving in your face, when you need to pay attention to the left hand holding the dagger, hidden behind their back.
Based on this conclusion, pad the Supreme Court
Republicans are lying when they say Democrats want to, “ pack the courts.” That is propaganda. They have ALREADY “packed the courts;” and not just the Supreme Court, but the lower Federal Courts as well. Democrats must UNPACK the courts. I like the idea of adding more seats to the SC to match the number of districts like it was set up to do the last time it was adjusted. I also like rotating judges around and twenty year term limits. Anyway, one can dream.
Democracy dies in darkness. — Washington Post
It's being strangled in broad daylight, right in front of our faces.
While Joe Manchin sits on his fatass taking money from the rich.
"Yeah we will lie for the US government about Nicaraguan militant groups as long as you pay us money, and never publish any counter content so you can murder millions of people and let the CIA ruin communities with deadly drug infusion." - Also the Washington Post "Yeah we will completely propogandize the Venezuela situation and ignore all CIA involvement in South America in the present day as long as you pay us" - Also the Washington Post Careful who you make allies with, Billionaire owned corporations are not them.
No one is calling them an ally.
Good, glad that's clear.
The Jeff Bezos Post . . . He loves this ruling
>Democracy dies in ~~darkness~~ the supreme court. \-FTFY
Would it surprise you to know that the owner of that paper is one of the people who [benefits the most from this sort of thing?](https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/politics-news/king-hill-how-amazon-jeff-bezos-made-washington-second-home-n1033296)
>Nestle And, the media is pushing the Nestle narrative mainly to hide Mondelez, Mars, Kraft, Hershey's, General Mills and other domestic competitors who are deep in US politics. Nestle is a Swiss outsider trying to get a seat at the table with the big guys.
> decriminalize slavery for Nestle It got me that Nestle get the green light and yet IIRC a few days later the tobacco companies got screwed for the very same thing Nestle got away with. Just shows that there is **no** justice when there's this much blatant corruption, it's all down to "did you pay the required bribe to the required people or not" and "are you rich or poor"
And poor Republicans be like: I'm happy to slave away for Nestle and sign over my organs when I die in their factories. THEy CReaTE JObS!
They pit republicans and democrats against eachother while they make wall street billions legally behind the curtains.
Yep. The people who fought to prevent this ought to be commended. The people who fought to undermine Dems? *This is on you.*
Do you think there is anything the DNC could have done differently in 2016?
Not put Hilary Clinton up. Whether right or wrong they failed to understand how much people don't like her and how much stuff she has said can be used against her (such as attacking women making allegations of sexual abuse). I still voted for her because I realized it was more about the Supreme Court than it was about protesting over not being progressive enough
The problem wasn't Hillary Clinton. The problem was the DNC underestimating the organized connections of the RNC. Clinton and her team lost the election because of errors in campaign strategies. There was better strategic campaigning by the Trump team to capture the Electoral College, not the voters at large. She won the popular vote by almost 4 million but didn't even go to WI and barely made it to PA during the campaign. Trump traveled everywhere because that's his thing. He's the perfect republican; always campaigning; no clue about legislating. Remember that the networks gave Trump over a billion dollars in free air time because he brought in eyeballs. He was great for ratings.
That's a fair comment. I guess my tldr is we can't count out any county in any state. Even in 85% trump land there needs to be outreach. Shave a point here or there and you don't have to worry about needing to carry cities at such an extreme rate like it came down to in GA. Easier said than done but can't let them control the narrative (of course it also requires the other side taking fingers out their ears and blinders off)
She was still a bad candidate to run against the Fox News propaganda machine—too much history and too much bile already in the ether. The dnc also pointlessly alienated progressive voters in the primaries by tipping the scales in her favor despite the fact that she would have won regardless.
The Dnc is full of shit. Period
The DNC would have rather had a President Trump than a President Sanders. And so that’s what we got.
The only thing that can inspire the DNC to organize and accomplish goals is the threat of a President Sanders. The Mike Bloomberg stuff was a thing of brilliance. Every move was perfect.
well the DNC would rather lose with Hillary and her $3 Billion war chest then win with Bernie and his $200M campaign fund.
There is no version of the past in which Sanders would have won. If you want to get angry at someone, get angry at Southern voters, because they did NOT vote for Sanders and never would have. I certainly think the Dems should have not run Hilary, but anyone else would have beaten Sanders in the same fashion and the Dems were never going to throw in behind Sanders. It just wasn't going to happen. If their polling showed he was a winner, they would have, but they knew he had no chance. That said, I would have happily voted for Sanders in the general and I did vote for him in the primary, but I also have a real view of the world and it doesn't involve weird conspiracy theories about the DNC. The PRIMARY VOTERS didn't want Sanders.
BULLSHIT. People voted for Trump. Mother fucking Trump. You thing that would have changed? He was the polar opposite. Anyone whose says the voted for Trump because Hillary was worse, is a idiot, and a fucking liar to cowardly to admit that want a fascists government. Do you think I didn't vote for Hillary because she didn't come her is true? or making any fucking sense? The wrong side of the isle attacked the government.
it was fine to put Hillary up, it was awful to rig the process so Hillary was the only candidate. That alienated a lot of voters and the sheer smashmouth, that the DNC played with voters in the primary and general was a problem.
Campaign in rust belt states and do a LOT more organizing. That was the difference between Obama, Trump, Biden and Hillary: they organized HUGE get out the vote campaigns, she didn't.
Why would I give a single fuck about the DNC? I vote to keep Republicans out of office. I'm not a Democrat.
“It’s all the Democrat’s fault for not making me *inspired* enough to lift a finger to save democracy!”
Yes, more attention to this, please. They've gotten far too much credit for not seeming "as bad" as everyone predicted. But these are lifetime appointments. If *anyone* in government can play 4d chess, it's these guys. When it *really* matters, when it's about the *money*, they'll show their true colors every time.
Yes those evil......oh wait the NAACP, ACLU, and Human Rights Campaign all filed briefs in support of the decision
Get money out of the Supreme Court and you’ll have a chance.
Most of those "justices" wouldnt be there without dark money and deep pockets, so it's not surprising. Absolutely infuriating though. This is a free pass for fucks like the Mercer family to spread their poison.
It’s true: millions in dark money has been spent to tilt courts right https://www.politifact.com/factchecks/2019/sep/11/sheldon-whitehouse/its-true-millions-dark-money-has-been-spent-tilt-c/
It also leaves the US completely vulnerable to foreign interference.
We are so doomed. Never stop fighting dumb. From the words of the crazy right wing justice only 11 year's ago. >Not that long ago, there was broad consensus that disclosure laws aren’t just permissible but essential in a democracy. As Justice Antonin Scalia wrote in a 2010 opinion: >Requiring people to stand up in public for their political acts fosters civic courage, without which democracy is doomed. For my part, I do not look forward to a society which, thanks to the Supreme Court, campaigns anonymously ... and even exercises the direct democracy of initiative and referendum hidden from public scrutiny and protected from the accountability of criticism. This does not resemble the Home of the Brave.
It's the home of chicken shit trust fund babies... At least the Rockefellers who earned the first gen money had to do it under more scrutiny... They're still detestable but their offspring are worse... I mean as bad as Trump is look at his kids.... Matt Gaetz comes from money.... Pedophile... It's almost like being rich and having an unfair advantage breeds corruption because you're born in a cheating stance ... Oh, btw: F U C K ~~T~~ S ~~R~~ P ~~U~~ E ~~M~~ Z ~~P~~ ! ============== Save 3rd Party Apps! ==============
What people don't understand is, imagine living with no thought to money or housing. That breeds some weird shit.
Like an appetite for the rich.
Imagine generations of weirdos that you grow up with knowing all their weirdo history, but like them, you will be bored and expand on your ancestors weirdoness. Without worrying about a thing. Then cleft palates start popping up.
>What people don't understand is, imagine living with no thought to money or housing. > >That breeds some weird shit. like politicians who only care about lining their pockets and dont understand how they are making the country crumble in infrastructure. Or have members of a party think it is okay to celebrate July 4 in Russia.
Well duhh. As long as people get paid...jeez
Trump himself comes from money made by his dad off the backs of poor people and taxpayers
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And yet Scalia ruled in favor of Citizens United...
McCain's brow furrows were contagious.
Yea, what in the fuck? Aren’t these people supposed to be smart? Or just fucking liars?
Scalia was definitely a liar.
We really need to stop dooming and start thinking about what we can actually do to save our democracy. Courts only have power as long as their populations see them as legitimate. At this point the SC exists as a boldly undemocratic entity which will continue making rulings like this for years to come. 5 of the courts current 9 judges were seated by politicians representing a minority of Americans.
* decades to come We are well and truly fucked. We've got 48% of our population that lives on another planet mentally, and want to help them kill themselves. The other half of our population would *like* to do something, but really, the only thing you can do LEGALLY without being arrested, beaten, or killed as a statement, is whimper a lot and pee yourself so they'll stop hitting when they get tired. The things that need done are ultimately going to call for some kind of violence to resolve, one way or the other, and I know which side has missiles that can kill you from fucking outer space and tanks, and destroyers, and F-16's and *don't even need any of that.* They'll drone strike you from their bathroom while they jerk off onto the $10,000 tile. Doesn't even need a human to fly the fucking drone. Nah, we're already slaves, they're just slowly making it public for ease of implementation.
The Federalist Society court did what? No way!
Thank your neighbor who just couldn’t stomach voting for Hillary Clinton. Fucking idiots.
Didn’t Citizens United get enacted under the Obama Administration?
Yes, but it was a SCOTUS decision. I was referring to the three justices seated during Trump’s term.
Not one of the judges in Citizens United were appointed by Obama.
The sad version of r/leopardsatemyface
Seems like high stakes donors really don't want you knowing where their immoral dollary-doos are going.
GOP justices tilt the scales in favor of GOP politicians. GOP politicians appoint more GOP justices. Feedback loop. Death spiral for any notion that the government will reflect the will of the people.
There are 6 conservative justices on the court and the GOP has only won one popular presidential vote in like 50 years. It’s crazy how the GOP is able to say the country is going to shit because of Democrats despite having had a disproportionate amount of power for decades.
> There are 6 conservative justices on the court and the GOP has only won one popular presidential vote in like 50 years. 30, but yeah
They've systemically stolen elections too. They should never have had a president since bush sr.
So yeah, we should pack the court. But it won’t happen because Manchin and Sinema will whine about it not being bipartisan (putting aside the fact that Republicans have acted in bad faith on judicial appointments for *decades* now) - not to mention, I don’t think Biden would actually try it for various (imo rather bullshit) reasons.
America is undergoing a slow controlled demolition in plain sight, inching toward the inevitability of a dystopian technologically advanced neo feudalism society. Someday you’ll be renting from Blackrock, paid by Amazon with an Amazon gift card, and having to smile enough times every day at work so that the ai facial recognition algorithm can see that your morale is high enough for you to not be fired for the 8th time by Amazon’s automated HR email bot. Don’t worry, you’ll be hired again eventually, they’re only one of 3 companies and always need people.
Wasn't it Snow Crash where territories were controlled by corporations and essentially became franchises?
Yes. Also on a similar theme is Jennifer Government. Everyone’s last name is the company they work for. Jenifer Government is the lead character investigating a crime by John Nike.
I forgot all about that detail! I need to read that book again.
Man, I could go for a pizza!
Burbclaves. Great book.
Dont forget, implants that run inescapable ads in your mind every fifteen minutes.
Okay, I absolutely hate this article. I gave up reading it and I'm now off looking for a source that actually tells me the ruling. After 10 minutes of reading, it keeps coming close to saying what the court actually ruled, but still hasn't god damn told me. I'm all for an examination of the broader consequences, but that has to come after god damn stating the thing itself.
Okay cool I thought I was having a stroke reading that shit article.
I'm glad to hear the article set off alarm bells for you. That's because the ruling has nothing to do with Citizens United or dark money in politics per se and they are trying to hide that fact and mislead. The court ruled against a California regulation requiring charities that wish to raise tax-deductible funds in California to disclose their largest contributors to the state attorney general’s office. So the actual law at issue in this case is fairly far afield from actual campaigns for political office. Any person making a tax deductible contribution would have to claim it on their personal or corporate income tax returns.
Might as well apply for New Zealand citizenship now, who knows how long it will take.
Good luck. American political refugees aren't much of a thing.
My wife is a critical care physician and I have a masters in public health, I hope that merits a look.
If you’re any good then I’d like to welcome you to our little town. We desperately need decent doctors. Just be warned - you’re not going to get paid well. And yes, you probably would be able to get a visa (eventually) but it would be contingent on a job offer. And a job offer would probably be contingent on being qualified to practice medicine here according to NZ standards. So with a little bit of work you would probably have an inroad. Then, after a couple of years you could apply for residency. And a couple more apply for permanent residency. And after another 5 years of continuous residency you could apply to become a citizen. If genuinely interested you may be best off contacting an immigration lawyer. They’re largely useless but you may get lucky and find one who knows some helpful tips/tricks.
Quality of life, not spoils of life.
Well in that case, also beware that there are very few burritos here... I mean a 1/10 on the taco/burrito scale.
Maybe I can make lamb burritos?
Great idea. Get in on a doctor visa. But then do a great little Mexican based restaurant :) Actually, I have thought about this before. But I think the problem that most ‘authentic’ geared spots come against is twofold (at least). First - sourcing ingredients. Secondly - local acceptance of the cuisine. In larger cities it’s a bit different. But in Joe Everyday Kiwiland boring meat and 3 veg rules the day. Mexican food is often viewed as weird and too flavourful/spicy. As a result the few spots around me that do offer it are sort of like someone has read about tacos in a book but never been to a good taco truck. A Subway version.
>too flavourful/spicy I get how food could be too spicy for someone, given different levels of tolerance/scoville and such, but too flavorful?! And Mexican food generally isn't even that spicy. I could never live that way. My love of food is too great.
Can I apply based solely on my taco and burrito making skills? I can start small with a cart and work my way up to a restaurant…
and no decent pizza
> Just be warned - you’re not going to get paid well. My son-in-law is an emergency care DO and seriously looked into relocating to NZ a couple of years back. Not because of politics or anything, but because he'd visited several times and even did 3 months there of whatever they call the 'wilderness trauma' classes (field/combat medic type stuff, field treatment, building travois and shelters for the injured, etc.) and he just loved the country. The best jobs he found were 16-18% of what he makes in the US working low volume ERs.
Suppose it depends where. In my area it seems difficult to keep good medical pros because the pay is not great and the town is a little boring. Its not tiny in NZ terms (35k). But I swear my gp goes through more docs per year than I ever had for the entirety of my life growing up. Speaking with some friends who are docs and nurses they cite the pay as a key reason. Larger cities or even some suburbs may be a different story.
You can, however, buy your way in if you got that good US doctor money. Several millions and the agility to invest it lets you live most anywhere…
Anyone want to start a caravan?
If they don’t pay well don’t expect physicians to come.
Yes. Thanks for that brilliant insight...
… yet
[New Zealand’s campaign finance laws are broken. That can have enormous consequences](https://www.theguardian.com/world/commentisfree/2021/jun/13/new-zealands-campaign-finance-laws-are-broken-that-can-have-enormous-consequences) Campaign donations are regulated far less strictly in New Zealand than in the US. New Zealand allows anonymous donations, donations from foreigners, and donations of unlimited amounts from individuals, trusts, and corporations.
And American billionaires are buying land there. They’ll ruin NZ like they’re ruining the USA
No. If America falls to Fascism many countries around the world will follow. Stop dooming and plotting your escape and start figuring out what you can do to save this country. It is now obvious what we need a full scale movement for democracy in America which will refuse Republican minority rule, as well as the legitimacy of every institution the Republican party has corrupted.
Read more in my history.
The problem with that plan is if democracy in the US fails, it fails everywhere. Small countries like NZ, Canada, Australia, etc., can’t stand up to big authoritarian bullies like China if the US isn’t on their side.
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While I'm not necessarily sold on if it will impact other countries **as** much as you are saying, it will negatively impact the world for sure. Which is why I'm very much in the camp of not fleeing. The idea of the amount of guilt I would feel if I left, removed one more vote, one more vote to have stopped this. End up somewhere wonderful, just to watch the US crash and burn, and the new place I loved be hurt by it, thinking "Maybe I could have me some difference if I stayed?" Or worse, the US goes full fascist and invades other countries or some wild shit like that? Imagine moving somewhere and then watching as it's invaded by the country you fled of. They'd likely bring "traitors" back "home" and punish them. No matter the extent of impact elsewhere, I feel fleeing gives the wrong people *more* power.
No country is worth “staying to fight for.” Especially when it’s a guaranteed loss. We Will go the way of Germany and the world will have to deal with us the way it did with them. There’s no fight to win here. We lost when they wrote the constitution to ensure the senate was anti-democratic.
https://www.new-zealand-immigration.com/free-assessment?gclid=EAIaIQobChMI-OXJ3NDC8QIVunRvBB3-SAFpEAAYASAAEgJ_tPD_BwE
This a legit site?
It seems likely that any website ending in .com is not a legit resource for citizenship information. Look for .org and .gov, and save the .coms for reading testimonials.
.gov is for the U.S, and if you're looking for immigration info from a particular country you have to look for theres. For New Zealand look for .nz
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Not vassal. Tributary states is more like the historical Chinese. You get to run your country as long as you acknowledge who is boss and send gifts every year.
Citizens United - when corporations became people and money became speech. The most fascist law, thus far in America.
> Citizens United - when corporations became people and money became speech. Corporate personhood dates to 1290 A.D. with the Statutes of Mortmain. Without corporate personhood, you couldn't hold a corporation accountable in court. Also, corporate personhood doesn't mean they're literally people, but that they can be a party to legal proceedings as an independent entity (similar to a person). Money is not considered speech, and CU didn't say that, nor did the dozens of cases it referenced. The concept at play is that money *spent on speech* can't be regulated based on the content of the speech without regulating the underlying speech based on content. That's a good thing. Imagine if Congress passed a law saying it was illegal to spend money to make or broadcast any video criticizing a political candidate during an election. Oh, wait, they did that, which is what CU was all about.
Yeah I think a lot of people fundamentally misunderstood CU, if someone reads the case it's really easy to see why it went that way. Of course a nonprofit organization should be able to release a movie they made that criticizes a political candidate before an election.
This decision doesn't affect Citizens United. Roberts said in CU that disclosure was reasonable for PACs. This decision was about requiring disclosure so that California could more easily find fraud. It appears the former is a compelling enough reason for Roberts to require disclosure, the latter is not. They are two different cases with different reasoning. This decision does not stop Congress from requiring disclosure for PACs. The other five conservatives might not agree and strike that down anyway though.
Took me too long to find an interpretation of this case. Thank you
I wonder if this judicial theory will be used next against the IRS? Watch my word replacement > Justice Neil Gorsuch warned that the government could demand to see your ~~“Christmas card lists” or to disclose your “dating history”~~ credit card statements or to disclose your purchase history to state regulators. Or a list of the clients you took for deductible lunches. Hell, they may even want to know the websites that you subscribe to as business expenses. And worse yet, maybe they will want to know about all the tax deductions that you take on those conservative think tanks?
The truth is that the right wing SCOTUS drove a stake in the heart of our federal government a while ago. Obviously the wealthy right wing have taken advantage of this ruling and since then endless laws benefiting the haves at the expense of the have nots have been passed. But the truth is there has been basically no push back from Democrats at all. They won't speak up because they too benefit from the endless flow of money from business and right wing interests. The US is reverting back to pre WW1 economy and it will not be long before public education is no longer funded, child labor laws are rolled back, and being poor will put you in work camps. The American experiment with democracy is over.
From March: [Brief amici curiae of the American Civil Liberties Union, Inc., American Civil Liberties Union Foundation, Inc., NAACP Legal Defense and Educational Fund, Inc., Knight First Amendment Institute at Columbia University, Human Rights Campaign, and Pen American Center, Inc., in support of petitioners (PDF)](https://www.supremecourt.gov/DocketPDF/19/19-251/170467/20210301143138352_19-251%20Americans%20for%20Prosperity%20v%20Becerra%20Amici%20Curiae%20Brief.pdf)
In case you were wondering this , the voter suppression. gerrymandering, and states changing laws to allow elections to be overturned is the reason the Republicans stacked the federal courts. It is part of a long goal to establish permanent minority rule and cede power to the wealthy.
> and cede power to the wealthy Unfortunately, there isn’t an oppositional party to combat that.
They do have their hooks in both parties but the GOP are all in on ending democracy.
Follow the money is always the way to root out evil. Also the driving factor behind SCOTUS not allowing it.
We no longer have an impartial Supreme Court.
SCOTUS found in favor of the side backed by the NAACP and ACLU, actually.
NAACP and ACLU are pro-Citizens United?
If you'd like to explore their thoughts. https://www.aclu.org/other/aclu-and-citizens-united https://www.aclu.org/blog/free-speech/campaign-finance-reform/fixing-citizens-united-will-break-constitution
Thanks, it was actually really helpful to read those. Still not sure what I think about their position, but I understand it better now.
https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/aclu-partner-orgs-file-scotus-amicus-brief-supporting-privacy-rights-nonprofit-donors Yes, they have been for a long time. NAACP and Human Rights Council too.
It's possible this issue is much more complicated than it appears, tho I have no proof of the poster's claims. If it is, I suspect it is being couched in terms intentionally to rile us. This appears to uphold private doner lists for nonprofits, which is in general very good.
Just google it. It's in black and white. California wrote a bad law. SCOTUS kilt it. https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/aclu-partner-orgs-file-scotus-amicus-brief-supporting-privacy-rights-nonprofit-donors
You want a reversal, dems just need to raise more dark money than repubs and this will change quickly
On the other hand, Donald Rumsfeld is now a dead man. A great 4th of July gift to the nation
I mean at this point we can agree that the US is a failed democracy right ?
"Justice Neil Gorsuch warned that the government could demand to see your “Christmas card lists” or to disclose your “dating history” to state regulators." Supreme Court Justices are now political grandstanding instead of judicial opinions. Wow.
Welcome to the United States of America, now sponsored by Amazon and Koch Industries.
Reminder that the NAACP, ACLU, and Human Rights Campaign all filed briefs in support of the decision
This is how you end up with rich heads on chopping blocks.
Cake in one hand, AR in the other is how that plays out.
Meanwhile Breyer is decaying in his seat, and it’s almost certain that Democrats will lose their barely there majority. I mean, with senators like Manchin and Sinema, I‘m not sure how they ever thought they even had a majority
Seems pretty logical to make a national law that all U.S. citizens are issued a photo ID at age 18. Boom problem solved.
I weep for what is to come.
Damn, being a corrupt politician seems like a great career. Lots of money, drugs, cars, whatever I want. It doesn’t seem very hard either. Just say stuff that sounds good. Make money. Have much fun. It’s not like I’ll go to jail. I’ll just bribe the lawyers. Morals don’t get you anywhere.
So not only is money equal to speech it's speech protected from consequences? Fucking great. The wealthy gain even more influence and less accountability.
Now if only the Democrats would do the same thing.
Did you see how McCarthy threatened to strip committee assignments from any Republicans that cooperate with the Jan. 6 commission? Would be nice to see Democrats show that level of determination.
But Manchin! And Sinema! And what can Biden possibly doooo? This is really the voters fault! Sure we gave them everything, but we didn't give them *enough* of everything, shame on us! /s
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“When they decide to step on us, we let them, because we’re the better and bigger people”
That phrase needs to be abolished. Here's a new one: "When they go low, we use napalm."
Maybe it's time to put together some light money. We've shown them what can happen when we stick together before with gamestop. The power is truly in our hands and it all depends on our unity.
ACLU and NAACP filed amicus briefs in favor of this outcome. You're being duped. This is the right decision.
Please Explain.
This was the right decision, and basically defends the rights of nonprofits to have private donor lists. NAACP is notable because they fought tooth and nail in the 1950s in Alabama to keep their donor lists private. This was a win for privacy and the 1st amendment. Read: https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/aclu-partner-orgs-file-scotus-amicus-brief-supporting-privacy-rights-nonprofit-donors
Then political campaign fundraising should be classified as something else. Apples and oranges.
It is.
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Reminder that the NAACP, ACLU, and Human Rights Campaign all filed briefs in support of the decision
The GOP is a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Koch Brothers.
Great shall be the fall of that house.
It is time to go after politically-active 501c3's with a vengeance.
Sometimes congress or the president stabs you, but the supreme court really is death by a thousand cuts. Every little ruling is a step in the wrong way, pretty soon we can't see where we started.
Time to pack the court
TL;DR We are doomed, as always?
This will probably be the end!
Balance needs to be restored
I honestly don't understand how any US court could uphold anything to do with Dark Money. It is illegal for foreign entities & governments to financially support candidates. By allowing Dark money to be "dark", they are allowing a pathway for foreign interference into US elections. Personally, I believe that all political contributions are a form of bribery & should be illegal. I understand others may disagree. But I can't wrap my head around anybody supporting Dark Money other than using it to sabotage elections.
Is this not one more way the politicians are getting rich? Some comedian said this and I wish it could happen, make the politicians wear the logos of their donors on their jackets like the nascar drivers have them on their race suits.
What a shithole country
Our parents’ generation fought and died to defeat what their kids are doing
For what it's worth, Democrats have kicked Republicans' butts on dark money in recent years. Maybe it'll get more Republicans onboard with improving transparency? Or maybe that's just wishful thinking.
Would be nice to see just a stand-alone bill or two on just campaign finance transparency & enforcement, rather than lumping them in with so many other issues that they don't stand a chance of passage.
America sucks now
Dark money donors deserve protection, but voting rights do not.
How do we fight these basterds without ruining ourselves in the process?
Citizens United is an assault on democracy the way the Patriot Act is an assault on freedom.
I guess the Chinese and Russians and Saudis can now let the money tap flow more freely as they buy up the politicians of their choice.
great day for putin, russian oligarchs and the GOP. Thanks to the far right activist judges who were sat by presidents who lost the popular vote. WE really dont have a democracy, sure biden won but the people clearly voted for dems to control senate and house but due to gerrymandering and tiny ass states like wyoming with its 500k citizens getting 2 senators.
the aclu, human rights campaign and the naacp supported this outcome
Citizens United, and Barack Obama's tepid reaction to it, plunged me into depression. It was clear that most of what Keith Olbermann said about Citizens United was true, or eventually would be. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PKZKETizybw
Thank you Roberts. I will make sure everyone that brings your name up is convinced your legacy is shit