@starcrucial - Tumblr Blog

serah-farron-deactivated2022112

In loving memory of John McCain, here are some of his proudest achievements:

Violating the Geneva Convention to bomb a lightbulb factory in Vietnam

Snubbing the Vietnamese peasant who saved his life after he crashed his plane in Vietnam while violating the mentioned Geneva Convention

Supporting legislation to forcefully relocate native American populations Calling Vietnamese people “g**ks” Using his power as a senator to help the Lincoln Savings and Loan Association swindle the life savings of tax payers in one of the biggest political scandals in American history as a member of the Keating Five

Singing that we should “bomb bomb bomb Iran” because he thought calling for support of the murder of millions of innocents was something funny.

Calling people “low life scum” who were protesting Henry Kissinger, a notorious American war criminal who played a role in the US-backed overthrow of the democratically elected president of Chile, Salvador Allende, and his replacement with the fascist Augusto Pinochet, who became known for tossing political dissidents out of helicopters.

Calling for war and/or supporting war in Afghanistan, Iraq, Syria, Libya, West and Central Africa, Iran, Bosnia and Kosovo, Ukraine, Russia, and the DPRK.

Hanging out with neo-Nazis in Ukraine and supporting them shortly before their coup in Ukraine

Later hanging out with neo-Nazis again and holding a “good meeting” with them

Returning to congress while sick from cancer and receiving treatment for it on his free state-funded healthcare in order to make sure that poor people don’t get to have healthcare

edit: it has been brought to my attention that i misstepped in labeling the revolution in ukraine as reactionary in nature, and that ukraine is only trying to purge itself of the influence the russian oligarchy. i apologize for this error, and i am sorry i can not take it back now that this has been so widely reblogged, i should have only brought up mccains involvement with the neo-nazis and refrained from speaking on the wider situation in ukraine which i knew little about. in the future i will not speak of ukraine this way, and will correct anyone who repeats what i said earlier.

notbecauseofvictories

can you please talk about those protections to curtail executive power I'm really, really scared and could use the reassurance thank you

THINGS A PRESIDENT CANNOT DO:

Reverse any Supreme Court decision

This includes Obergefell v. Hodges, which made same-sex marriage a constitutional right; Whole Woman’s Health v. Hellerstedt, which reaffirmed a woman’s right to choose first articulated in Roe v. Wade, another Supreme Court case. Grutter v. Bollinger, which instituted affirmative action, the entire body of Civil Rights case law, plus anything related to due process, including the right of minors to due process, your right to an attorney, Miranda rights, inadmissible evidence, etc.

(Even if Trump appoints the worst possible SC nominee, they still can’t reverse any of these decisions without a really significant case coming before the Court with new facts, and then they have to write an opinion stating how this case is different than that other case…it’s unlikely to happen.)

Write law or repeal any existing law

While traditionally, presidents have exerted influence on the legislative agenda (see, Obama’s role in advancing and promoting the Affordable Care Act) they cannot actually write or pass legislation. Bills, joint resolutions, concurrent resolutions, and simple resolutions must be introduced in the House by a Representative.

Presidents cannot strike down law. Only Congress can repeal laws, and only the Supreme Court can strike them down as unconstitutional.

Presidential influence is just that—influence.

(And if—for example—you are hated by 95% of the party you joined last week, and burned all your goddamn bridges by insulting them at various points in your campaign…..they’re unlikely to partner with you in crafting legislation.)

Make any law or declaration that infringes in any way on the rights of the states

So in the US, most of the rights are reserved to the states. You name it, it’s a state-run power. Criminal procedure and law? States. Medicare and Medicaid? States. The definition of marriage? States. Insurance, health departments, housing, unemployment benefits, public education, all these are state programs. And the president cannot infringe on those powers given to the states.

(This is why down-ticket voting is so important, because Mike Pence as governor of Indiana had 800x the power he’s going to have as VP.)

Declare war.

This one is the most complicated, because with the advent of our “conflicts” in Vietnam, Iraq, Afghanistan, Libya, etc. there has been a significant shift in the articulation of the war doctrine, and it is one of the least restricted of the president’s “restricted” powers. But, despite all that, a president still has no power to declare war.

Unilaterally appoint heads of administrative departments

Unilaterally make treaties with foreign nations

Essentially, while presidents have a lot of power, it’s mostly unofficial—they can’t make sweeping laws, they can’t overturn existing rights, the most they can do is refuse to enforce them (which is absolutely a threat! and a problem!) but we aren’t electing de facto royalty here.

as-warm-as-choco

TO ALL WHO NEED THIS RIGHT NOW… My heart’s with you… Im so sorry…

slowspinningredemption

A quick note based on my post-Brexit experience in the UK – in the time period after the election, your biggest threat will not be Trump and his government. It will be your newly validated bigot neighbours. After Brexit, hate crime shot up by 60% in the UK nearly overnight and it still hasn’t returned to its pre-Brexit level. I imagine the same will happen in America. Be careful. No matter who they are, Trump voters are not your friends. Be safe. Your biggest enemy right now is the neighbour you went to church with and the people you pass on the street every day. Lock down. Go to ground if you have to. Look out for one another. Please, be careful.