It also doesn’t have to be all or nothing. Even if there is some specific issue that keeps you bound to Amazon, seeking out alternatives the rest of the time is still an improvement.

I know someone who has extreme difficulty taking pills and who frequently needs pain relievers to function. The only thing they have ever found that works for them is the Walmart brand Tylenol (aka tiny lol). They don’t buy anything else from Walmart on principle, but thos pills are a necessity.

That said, in my experience at least, while Amazon’s shopping experience has gotten significantly worse over time, smaller local and regional businesses have been making things much better over the last few years. It’s easier to find what I need on the website of my local hardware store than Amazon, with prices that are as good or better on most things, and without the glut of trash items clogging my search. I can even get 2 hour delivery if I need it. I can’t get a fucking pizza delivered to me but I can have a socket wrench and a change of underwear here at a moment’s notice.

I can’t say that there is a better option available to everyone for anything they need. But I would bet that there are good alternatives available the vast majority of the time.

The Trump administration claims that the children of immigrants who are born here only inherit their parent’s legal status rather than becoming citizens. And they claim they can revoke legal status at any time, even for those who become citizens. Since everyone in the country has ancestors who weren’t citizens, the combination of these two ideas would mean that anyone could be deported.

Well, that and anything is possible when you can deny do process. The next administration could round up everyone from the previous administration and deport them to Atlantis. Hope they’re good swimmers.

Off the streets and into the Whitehouse.

At this point, there is no position so indefensible and abhorrent that I would bet against the Supreme Court ruling in favor of it.

We need to have criminal charges for this shit and throw the assholes responsible in prison. And not the minimum security bullshit either, they need to get the same punishment that the rest of us would get if we stole that much from them.

Do that, and seize the money, and hit them with fines, and make them pay for the cost of their prosecution if they are convicted. Then we might start taking the legal risks a bit more seriously.

IIRC, a contempt charge has to be voted on (not happening) and if it passes it is then referred to the US attorney’s office for them to pursue. And since that office is currently held by a Fox News host whose only qualifications are loyalty to Trump and a total lack of ethics, that case wouldn’t go anywhere.

Assuming the 23% and the 28% aren’t overlapping, that makes 51% that think a shut down is woth it if it gets their side what they want.

That actually involves being slightly helpful. This is just security guard stuff. Paul Blart would be overqualified for this.

The only reason it hasn’t happened yet is because the people who would have to support it would prefer to hide behind an erratic Trump who is prone to manipulation. His cabinet can get what they want and let Trump take any heat from the consequences. And congress sure as fuck doesn’t want to be seen as betraying Trump, nor do I expect many of them want to see a president Vance, especially in the lead up to the 28 primaries.

Technically, that was in a concurring opinion, so it’s not actually a precedent and lower courts are free to ignore it. But it’s also clear that the Supreme Court will kill this case if it gets to them, they’ll just do it on the shadow docket with virtually no explanation beyond a single paragraph citing a (dubious) procedural issue.

It would be disastrous for the country both economically and strategically. Unfortunately, that doesn’t seem to be much of a deterrent for this administration. If anything, that would seem to align with their existing policies.