this is a brilliant observation honestly. every accusation or criticism levied against the fascists gets reversed in a “I know you are but what am?” sneer. it works for many reasons, and it’s part of the right wing playbook.

• accused of nepotism? flip it around and prosecute Hunter.
• accused of Jan 6 violence? bring up the George Floyd riots or antifa.
• accused of sexual scandal? point out Bill Clinton’s many accusers and Bidens hair sniffing.
• greed? bring up Pelosi’s insider trading.
• coercing abortion? they point to vaccines/mask mandates.

obviously none are equivalent in scale or scope, but they have truthiness to them at first glance. and just as importantly, like in your purse thief example, they redirect attention and create doubt… just long enough to avoid getting caught or face the wrath of the crowd.

it also works, esp in America, partly because the so-called opposition party is actually kind of a piece of shit and has been for generations. Dems profess to hate the extreme consequences of capitalism, but love capitalism itself and benefit from it. so they ultimately can’t condemn it or offer long term solutions to the problems it creates. conservatives at least offer simpler solutions which all boil down to “hate who you’re told” and “obey your God King and you’ll someday be rewarded”.

threats to federal workers across the entire government - ‘you have 10 days to turn in your colleagues or else you’re fired’ - went out January 20th. Remote workers were threatened with firings the day or so after. people currently being hired but not yet finalized were given notice the same week, and people hired but on probationary status (doesn’t mean what youre thinking it’s just a designation for people in good standing who haven’t secured permanent position) - were told to fuck right off around January 23rd.

the amount of chaos and fear generated in the first week alone was staggering. but you’re right, the actual FIRINGS took a couple more days. the threats came IMMEDIATELY.

not saying it caused the crash entirely, but there’s reasonable evidence the administration at least contributed to the high levels of stress ATCs already experience. especially since they’re nationally short staffed from retirements linked to Reagan.

better question is, why the fuck should military helicopters be doing exercises right the fuck beneath flight paths of commercial airlines? there’s literally thousands of military bases where they can pRaCTiCe and do military shit. gtfo civilian air space.

TIL

based af

idk, I don’t think it will be as swift as some imagine/want. this will be a long road ahead. the wealthiest 10-20% aren’t going to vanish overnight because food stamps got scaled back or national parks sold off to real estate developer or groceries become more expensive.

total collapse is going to take a few generations. we should plan accordingly and start building micro communities decoupled from capitalism and moderately self sufficient within a small region. small enclaves of survivors may have a chance at a life less destitute.

instead of buying a new gun… get a used one! better yet, simply wait to inherit one from a dead relative! even better, steal one from a conservative!

arms dealers hate this one trick!

if only we lived in a time where we had to worry more about kids shooting up Tesla dealerships rather than schools… where did we go wrong?

that’s the problem with KidS tHeSe dAyZ! they furget which country they’re livin in!

if they wore Official Donald J Trump Stars & Stripes Underwear every day like I do, they’d NEVER FORGET!

< salutes flag >

[Redacted]

c’mon, just block the community and move on if you’re unhappy about the content. other people having a bit of fun (pointing out the hypocrisy and deeply flawed irrational nature of a reactionary political philosophy) isn’t worth getting upset about. given current circumstances in America, it’s refreshing to see people criticizing authority and those who seek to empower the powerful at the expense of the many.

thank you! you get it.

people with decades of experience responding to communicable illnesses have been getting fired without cause or driven out of government just for some conservative publicity stunt precisely when they’re needed (which it turns out, is actually all the time). even when no diseases are breaking out, they are developing plans and strategies for the next event. we need these experts.

mmm big egg 🥚

this is anti-THRUG propaganda and I won’t stand for it.

RIP THRUG (76,358 BC - 76, 335)

hope he’s up there in heaven eatin raw guts smiling down on us.

not everything on the internet is for you. even if you’re #not-like-the-other-freethinking-independents, people aren’t required to accept or like what you say. you can either read the room and change how you say stuff, or you can just keep quiet, or you can leave. no one’s making anyone a hostage on discussion boards. we can all walk away anytime we feel like it. it’s called being a grown up in a society. leave or go start your own “this word is okay to say club”. you haven’t been arrested for saying retarded, you were simply kicked out of a chat group. whoopty doo.

agree to disagree.

Lemmy does lean left everywhere else, but it’s all serious af “dystopia is here” stuff.

this community reborn with the amazing effort from @cm0002@lemmy.world has brought some much needed humor and lightheartednes.

subbed!

this is a valid concern. ty for mentioning.

it’s a myth anyways. Gary Stevenson talks about it. ultra rich people are rich because they own physical assets that society (businesses and individuals) must pay them to rent or use. you don’t have to be a resident of a place to invest in it, you can drop cash into places from anywhere. in other words, where money gets invested is NOT dependent on where the investor lives.

it’s naive to think that a billionaire who leaves the country will just walk away from say, a lucrative oil drilling operation or a supermarket chain or a new skyscraper or a data center… simply because they don’t live there? even if they choose to avoid US opportunities, other investors will come along to snatch it up.

billionaires can change countries and move anywhere in the world, but they can’t take a stadium or an office building or a football team with them. the productive resources (factories, shops, commercial buildings, apartments) that enable wealth generation and contribute to gross productive capacity each quarter, aren’t portable.

the physical resources and tools of production will still be here, the parasites who extract rents from them will not. besides, plutocrats don’t pay any income or wealth taxes, so it’s no net loss whatsoever.

hmm … know who else has a lot of oil… somewhere verrrry close to you… you might even be standing on it.

wait, are you saying that we should nationalize the US oil industry to achieve socialism?

I agree!