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If you need to B*tch about something... this is the place — Page 474

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I’m not sure why. Roe v. Wade isn’t about whether abortion should be allowed or not. It’s about whether the U.S. Constitution guarantees a right to it. It’s mind-boggling that people could read abortion rights into the Constitution.

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I’m so ashamed to be an American and I hate what this country is becoming

I’m just a simple man trying to make my way in the universe.

Star Wars has 3 eras: The eras are 1977-1983(pre Expanded Universe), (1983-2014) expanded universe, or (2014- now) Disney-bought version. Each are valid.

Important voice tool:
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/1472151/action/topic#1472151

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Becoming? America has always been pretty backwards place, at least within my lifetime. I’m glad to be living north of the border where the healthcare is mostly free and the local schools don’t have a leaderboard for kills. Roe v. Wade being overturned is not surprising to me in the slightest. It’s a very American move to make.

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fmalover said:

I’m not American and do not live in the US, but the overturning of Roe v Wade feels so very wrong.

That’s because it is. And it’s probably just the beginning.

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RicOlie_2 said:

I’m not sure why. Roe v. Wade isn’t about whether abortion should be allowed or not. It’s about whether the U.S. Constitution guarantees a right to it. It’s mind-boggling that people could read abortion rights into the Constitution.

The Constitution doesn’t guarantee any rights for its citizens, that’s why Constitutional Amendments exist.

The 14th Amendment guarantees the right to privacy, and Roe argued that the right to be secure in your person implied the right to bodily autonomy, thus, abortion.

It’s up for debate, constitutionally, because the Constitution didn’t guarantee a lot of rights now taken for granted, such as for women to have the right to vote, so why would it guarantee the right to an abortion? Pretty sure the Founding Fathers didn’t give women any thought at all. Women were essentially property, and if you weren’t white you can forget the word ‘essentially’.

The only reason this changed was because of Constitutional Amendments such as the 14th and 19th Amendments. This, by the way, is people ‘reading’ rights into the Constitution that never existed. One may argue that there should just be more amendments then, but the last amendment to the constitution which passed both houses of congress and was ratified by the states was proposed in 1971.

For over 50 years, it has been politically impossible to get new amendments passed, even massively popular ones, as evidenced by the Voting Rights Act which languished for most of a decade before dying due to lack of state support. Thus, the process of reading new rights into the Constitution has been taken up by the courts, which of course only last until the courts decide to rescind these rights.

The right to contraceptives, the right to gay and interracial marriage, the right to abortion…all of these rights are contingent on the whims of a court which is wildly unrepresentative of the population at large, and entirely free from oversight and precedent. The last fifty years in America didn’t happen, Constitutionally speaking, and that’s before getting to work on reinterpreting the actual Constitution and its amendments.

This is a ride down a mountain without any brakes.

You probably don’t recognize me because of the red arm.
Episode 9 Rewrite, The Starlight Project (Released!) and ANH Technicolor Project (Released!)

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America is an authoritarian, imperialist, settler colonial shithole and has been so since Day 1. Just as evil as the British Empire that sired it.

“The Anarchists are right in everything; in the negation of the existing order and in the assertion that, without Authority there could not be worse violence than that of Authority under existing conditions. They are mistaken only in thinking that anarchy can be instituted by a violent revolution… There can be only one permanent revolution — a moral one: the regeneration of the inner man. How is this revolution to take place? Nobody knows how it will take place in humanity, but every man feels it clearly in himself. And yet in our world everybody thinks of changing humanity, and nobody thinks of changing himself.”

― Leo Tolstoy

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Superweapon VII said:

America is an authoritarian, imperialist, settler colonial shithole and has been so since Day 1. Just as evil as the British Empire that sired it.

Completely agree

I’m just a simple man trying to make my way in the universe.

Star Wars has 3 eras: The eras are 1977-1983(pre Expanded Universe), (1983-2014) expanded universe, or (2014- now) Disney-bought version. Each are valid.

Important voice tool:
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/1472151/action/topic#1472151

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The way I see it, all countries are shady.

I live in Venezuela, a country that has ‘freed’ itself from the American Empire, and frankly the state-run socialist government I’ve experienced for the past 23 years is just as bad as the rampant capitalism of the US, maybe even worse.

Remember that scene in The Mandalorian where Werner Herzog’s character questions whether the Rebellion’s toppling of the Empire has actually accomplished anything? That’s pretty much how I feel right now, as this government has trampled on my every dream and aspiration. I sincerely hope sooner rather than later I can finally leave this country and never return nor hear about it ever again.

You can say I have grown past the common trope in works of fiction about the ‘Evil Empire’ that must be taken down, as my life experiences have taught me that the reality is a lot more complicated.

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I’ve long suspected that the capitalist vs socialist framing of countries is largely a distraction which confuses more than illuminates. I find that a simplifying factor for determining the virtue of a country is its level of democracy as opposed to autocracy. America has never been a true democracy but is quickly barreling towards oligarchy or even full autocracy and the enshrinement of minority rule.

Your experience in Venezuela sounds terrible, but comports with what I’ve read, which is that the country has been quite autocratic throughout the 21st century. It’s difficult for any country reliant on mineral or oil wealth to escape the pull of autocracy, as Russia aptly demonstrates.

The question every country must ask is whether it values people over power and profit, and if it is the latter, dictatorship inevitably follows.

You probably don’t recognize me because of the red arm.
Episode 9 Rewrite, The Starlight Project (Released!) and ANH Technicolor Project (Released!)

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NeverarGreat said:

I’ve long suspected that the capitalist vs socialist framing of countries is largely a distraction which confuses more than illuminates. I find that a simplifying factor for determining the virtue of a country is its level of democracy as opposed to autocracy. America has never been a true democracy but is quickly barreling towards oligarchy or even full autocracy and the enshrinement of minority rule.

Your experience in Venezuela sounds terrible, but comports with what I’ve read, which is that the country has been quite autocratic throughout the 21st century. It’s difficult for any country reliant on mineral or oil wealth to escape the pull of autocracy, as Russia aptly demonstrates.

The question every country must ask is whether it values people over power and profit, and if it is the latter, dictatorship inevitably follows.

Way too true

I’m just a simple man trying to make my way in the universe.

Star Wars has 3 eras: The eras are 1977-1983(pre Expanded Universe), (1983-2014) expanded universe, or (2014- now) Disney-bought version. Each are valid.

Important voice tool:
https://originaltrilogy.com/post/id/1472151/action/topic#1472151

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To quote Noam Chomsky, “State socialism is a contradiction.”

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=y_3sG1igy3k

The Nordic countries ain’t socialist, either.

“The Anarchists are right in everything; in the negation of the existing order and in the assertion that, without Authority there could not be worse violence than that of Authority under existing conditions. They are mistaken only in thinking that anarchy can be instituted by a violent revolution… There can be only one permanent revolution — a moral one: the regeneration of the inner man. How is this revolution to take place? Nobody knows how it will take place in humanity, but every man feels it clearly in himself. And yet in our world everybody thinks of changing humanity, and nobody thinks of changing himself.”

― Leo Tolstoy

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Looks like American imperialism has played no small part in Venezuela’s situation. Colour me unsurprised.

https://michael-hudson.com/2019/02/venezuela-as-the-pivot-for-new-internationalism/

“The Anarchists are right in everything; in the negation of the existing order and in the assertion that, without Authority there could not be worse violence than that of Authority under existing conditions. They are mistaken only in thinking that anarchy can be instituted by a violent revolution… There can be only one permanent revolution — a moral one: the regeneration of the inner man. How is this revolution to take place? Nobody knows how it will take place in humanity, but every man feels it clearly in himself. And yet in our world everybody thinks of changing humanity, and nobody thinks of changing himself.”

― Leo Tolstoy

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The Nordic countries ain’t socialist, either.

I would define them as socialist. Socialist =/= communist.

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Anakin Starkiller said:

The Nordic countries ain’t socialist, either.

I would define them as socialist. Socialist =/= communist.

They’re social democracies. Social democracy =/= socialism.

https://jacobin.com/2018/08/democratic-socialism-social-democracy-nordic-countries

“The Anarchists are right in everything; in the negation of the existing order and in the assertion that, without Authority there could not be worse violence than that of Authority under existing conditions. They are mistaken only in thinking that anarchy can be instituted by a violent revolution… There can be only one permanent revolution — a moral one: the regeneration of the inner man. How is this revolution to take place? Nobody knows how it will take place in humanity, but every man feels it clearly in himself. And yet in our world everybody thinks of changing humanity, and nobody thinks of changing himself.”

― Leo Tolstoy

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So how would you define socialism then and how is it different from communism?

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https://libcom.org/library/brief-explainer-radical-ideas-socialism-communism-syndicalism-anarchism

“The Anarchists are right in everything; in the negation of the existing order and in the assertion that, without Authority there could not be worse violence than that of Authority under existing conditions. They are mistaken only in thinking that anarchy can be instituted by a violent revolution… There can be only one permanent revolution — a moral one: the regeneration of the inner man. How is this revolution to take place? Nobody knows how it will take place in humanity, but every man feels it clearly in himself. And yet in our world everybody thinks of changing humanity, and nobody thinks of changing himself.”

― Leo Tolstoy

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The USA really isn’t all that bad. Yes it has serious issues (such as the whole abortion issue), but it’s still a decent country. It is in NO way a “shithole”. Be glad you’re not living in North Korea.

I do not support the overturning of the Roe v. Wade, (I also ain’t American), but to say that America is a shithole is just taking things to the extreme.

And oh Lor’, don’t devolve into political bickering. I honestly feel uneasy reading the last few posts.

Also, fuck pessimism!

When’s something gonna happen?

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Spuffure said:

The USA really isn’t all that bad. Yes it has serious issues (such as the whole abortion issue), but it’s still a decent country. It is in NO way a “shithole”. Be glad you’re not living in North Korea.

Tell that to all the Indigenous people who died or lost their culture to genocide, and the black slaves who experienced the same. Tell that to every poor American currently suffering and dying needlessly to preventable illness due to America’s inhumane health care system.

As for those living in North Korea, I’m sure they’d be doing a smidgen better if the US hadn’t first bombed the place to near-oblivion, not to mention all the sanctions in the decades following.

But I’ll end my spiel here, if that’s your wish.

“The Anarchists are right in everything; in the negation of the existing order and in the assertion that, without Authority there could not be worse violence than that of Authority under existing conditions. They are mistaken only in thinking that anarchy can be instituted by a violent revolution… There can be only one permanent revolution — a moral one: the regeneration of the inner man. How is this revolution to take place? Nobody knows how it will take place in humanity, but every man feels it clearly in himself. And yet in our world everybody thinks of changing humanity, and nobody thinks of changing himself.”

― Leo Tolstoy

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Superweapon VII said:

Spuffure said:

The USA really isn’t all that bad. Yes it has serious issues (such as the whole abortion issue), but it’s still a decent country. It is in NO way a “shithole”. Be glad you’re not living in North Korea.

Tell that to all the Indigenous people who died or lost their culture to genocide, and the black slaves who experienced the same. Tell that to every poor American currently suffering and dying needlessly to preventable illness due to America’s inhumane health care system.

As for those living in North Korea, I’m sure they’d be doing a smidgen better if the US hadn’t first bombed the place to near-oblivion, not to mention all the sanctions in the decades following.

But I’ll end my spiel here, if that’s your wish.

Look, I’m not trying to undermine the colonization, treatment of the Indigenous population as well as enslavement of Africans (which both honestly deeply upset me), and the bad healthcare. Those are very serious issues. I’m just trying to say America isn’t completely bad and is nowhere near as bad as other countries. Sorry if I sounded like I was undermining anything. I also take back the “at least it isn’t North Korea” bit. I’d say more like “At least you don’t live in Medieval Europe.”

When’s something gonna happen?

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The USA really isn’t all that bad. Yes it has serious issues (such as the whole abortion issue), but it’s still a decent country. It is in NO way a “shithole”. Be glad you’re not living in North Korea.

This. I don’t “like” the US per say but it’s frankly ludicrous when people claim Donald Trump or whoever candidate/president they hate is a literal dictator bringing about the end of democracy in America. These people have no sense of perspective.

Anyway, the rant I came here to make now. You ever just watch an entire show assuming it was new and that a second season was coming only to look it up and find out the first season came out two years ago and the creator’s now working on something else for Marvel? It ended on a cliffhanger too. Onyx Equinox feels like The Dark Crystal all over again in that regard.

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Anakin Starkiller said:

The USA really isn’t all that bad. Yes it has serious issues (such as the whole abortion issue), but it’s still a decent country. It is in NO way a “shithole”. Be glad you’re not living in North Korea.

This. I don’t “like” the US per say but it’s frankly ludicrous when people claim Donald Trump or whoever candidate/president they hate is a literal dictator bringing about the end of democracy in America. These people have no sense of perspective.

I agree that it’s absurd and tiresome for people to attack political opponents in extreme terms, especially when all they usually do is attempt to game America’s backwards election system to gain power.

To put it in perspective, no president in American history has actually declared the results of a free election fraudulent, threatened elections officials who disagreed, and incited a violent uprising against its government.

Except one.

You probably don’t recognize me because of the red arm.
Episode 9 Rewrite, The Starlight Project (Released!) and ANH Technicolor Project (Released!)

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I chuckle whenever Republicans accuse the Democratic party of leading the country on the path to communism and portraying them as radical left-wingers.

Trust me when I say the Democratic party is about as far removed from the left as it gets. In any western European country Democrats would be perceived as boringly moderate.

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I think people who say that are more concerned about rapid social change than actual economic policies. But I could be wrong.

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I think the Overton window in North America is skewed so far to the right that your average citizen thinks anything more progressive than milquetoast centrism is “radical leftism.”

That’s decades of Red Scaremongering for you (not that assholes like Stalin didn’t play right into their hands).

“The Anarchists are right in everything; in the negation of the existing order and in the assertion that, without Authority there could not be worse violence than that of Authority under existing conditions. They are mistaken only in thinking that anarchy can be instituted by a violent revolution… There can be only one permanent revolution — a moral one: the regeneration of the inner man. How is this revolution to take place? Nobody knows how it will take place in humanity, but every man feels it clearly in himself. And yet in our world everybody thinks of changing humanity, and nobody thinks of changing himself.”

― Leo Tolstoy

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As someone who lives in the Southern hemisphere, it’s so fucking cold right now and I can’t wait for Spring to come.

When’s something gonna happen?