For waltky: http://quakes.globalincidentmap.com/
"The Nation that makes a great distinction between its scholars and its warriors will have its thinking done by cowards and its fighting done by fools."
- Thucydides
"Democracy is two wolves and a lamb voting on what to have for lunch. Liberty is a well-armed lamb contesting the vote" B. Franklin
Igitur qui desiderat pacem, praeparet bellum
Sure, I'll bite. Trump swore an oath to uphold the Constitution, from all enemies, foreign and domestic. Let's examine this.
First, if anyone doubts, even for a moment, that we live in a country where our representation in government has been traded out for representation of the billionaire donor class, go ahead and stop reading here. I would also recommend calling your Rep's office and inviting them to your next social gathering, and when they don't reply or attend, look at their schedule and see which billionaire funder's parties they attended instead of yours. This will help clear things up for you.
Anyway, our Constitution is, in essence, a contract between the people and our representative government. Strangely, we are party to this contract from just being born here, even though we are under the age of consent for the first 18 years of our life. But nonetheless, our Constitution has embedded in it, certain unalienable rights. Unalienable meaning, not to be tampered with, not to be toyed with, not to be negotiated with, and not to be infringed upon in any way. Under the framer's ideologies, these rights were considered ours from just being born on this earth as a human being, and our Constitution was an effort to preserve these rights within our own home nation, and to keep our government in check and from becoming despotic and tyrannical.
I would argue that anything done by the President and within the halls of Congress that tampers or diminishes, in any way, our basic rights, is exactly violating that very oath to uphold and defend the Constitution. The real source of authority behind our Constitution is actually the citizen's consent, and I would argue that stripping rights way from the people is the same thing as breaking the contract and the sworn oath to uphold it. It is tantamount to spitting on and tearing up the Constitution in our faces, and it is treasonous, treason being not only a felony, but a crime deserving, not just impeachment, but has traditionally been served with penalties of expulsion, life imprisonment, or worse.
In our representative form of government, our reps are tasked with listening to all of us, and taking our concerns into consideration, legislate on our behalf. Sometimes, even refusing to pass legislation on our behalf. If the Congress overreaches into our rights, our Courts are supposed to be there to protect us. But our representation in government has been swapped out, starting slowly from almost the beginning, for representation by those who can afford to help people get elected into office. Our reps are then beholden to those specific interests, and they receive consideration and legislation that helps them, even if it takes money from our tax dollars and infringes on our rights.
Through this process of corruption, those who's interests are being served at our expense have entwined themselves as inseparable from our government. Their choices that lead to their profits and advantages, have become our national choices. Their will and interests have become our national policies, and the entire motive force of our country has become their club to wield in the world. Our representation has been wholly highjacked, and yet, here we are, still paying taxes to a government that no longer represents the people, but just a small hand full. Our government, in abandoning it's purpose, to secure our rights against all who would attempt to infringe on them, has become the very embodiment of tyranny our founders freed themselves from. All who have, wittingly or unwittingly, played a part in this evolution into a despotic regime controlled by the billionaire donor class, are traitors and criminals of the highest order.
President Trump just signed some legislation the other day for our national budget. At the last minute, an extension of the Patriot Act was also thrown in. This was by design, of course, as part of the negotiation between Trump and Pelosi and their party members. For those who are unaware, the Patriot Act is the foundation and legitimizing of invasions of all of our rights to privacy. The right to be secure in our papers and effects, as extended into this digital age, would include our personal emails. Also, this Act has set up secret FISA courts, a secret warrant process, and put US citizens at the risk of loss of personal liberty through detention in a process completely outside the scope of the Constitution. Under the Patriot Act, any US citizen looses their right to trial by a jury of their peers, they don't get to see evidence against them, nor question witnesses. The only oversight that exists making sure warrants are issued with enough probable cause is secret also.
All of us are having our rights taken or infringed upon through this Act having the force of law, and Trump just signed it. Both houses of Congress voted to pass it. They have all violated their oath to uphold and defend the Constitution, and they did it in the worst way, stripping rights from the people while making the government more powerful and unaccountable. This is treason.
Meanwhile, the President is undergoing an impeachment inquiry for a load of made-up and partially true nonsense that amounts to nothing more than a tactical political maneuver, who's sole goal is to get one party more in the pocket of the billionaire donor class than the other during this next election cycle. And the only reason they will never attempt to impeach him on anything real is obvious- they are equally as guilty. Calling out Trump on real issues like the one I just presented would be easy and carry weight with all reasonable people. But to do so would be the same as impeaching themselves for their treasonous acts as well.
You have all, at one time or another, seen the threads where members have laid out how Trump's deregulation of big business have hurt us, the citizens. Most here act like they never read any of it, but the number of comments and arguments certainly testify against them. But when Trump had deregulated our large industries, it gives them carte blanche to pollute and over-access resources supposedly owned by all of us. We will all live in a country that is more polluted because of it. And when we attempt to clean up the mess, it will be taxpayer dollars that do the work, instead of corporate dollars from those that created the mess to begin with.
With our foreign policy, things have gotten worse also. The world community we live in today is far more fractured and antagonistic that just even a few years ago. Our relationships with dictators and countries that support global terrorism and domination of resources have strengthened, while our relationships with our traditional allies we are supposed to share goals and human values with have suffered and get tested to their limits daily. Our country no longer carries the weight of morality, fairness, and justice in our ambassadorship. We are greeted by the world with scorn, mockery, and tremendous fear of being next on the regime-change list of the US. So, any goal or ideal we would like to see in the world can never be supported by other nations unless we coerce them or just pay them off. This is a definite harm to our country, it will cost us through our international trade policy tariffs and the higher taxes or higher borrowing required to increase our military backing to pull off our coercion, and it could take decades to fix. Everything will cost more for the citizens of the US, and we may well find ourselves unwanted as visitors to other nations, whether at the business level, or even as tourists.
But the real damage is being done to us, the people. Taking away or just chipping away at our fundamental rights, whether denying us our Constitutional rights to a fair trial, or simply limiting magazine capacities in firearms, our very rights are being shelved in favor of the new, uncontested owners of those liberties, the billionaire donor class who operate the corporations that control our government, and all of our lives. Oh, and the link to the actual laws that Trump has broken- https://usconstitution.net/const.html
I live with a profound happiness that can only be achieved by being hated by Mr.Veritis
Orion Rules (12-12-2019)
stjames1_53 (12-14-2019)