Ocasio-Cortez took to Instagram after the Department of Homeland Security suggested they may pursue arrests of three Democratic lawmakers who partook in a protest outside of an ICE facility in Newark, New Jersey. Reps. Bonnie Watson Coleman (D-NJ), Rob Menendez (D-NJ) and LaMonica McIver (D-NJ) all attended the protest.

    • disguy_ovahea@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      They do. They can’t do anything through Congress, but they’re helping the ACLU get the cases through the courts. If they go after a member of Congress, that member can personally press charges on the administration. That is her point.

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            8 months ago

            The ones that don’t matter to the regime are upheld so Democrats keep thinking the Courts will save them and they keep wasting time in legal battles instead of organizing in other ways. The ones that Trump actually cares about are overturned.

            • Soulg@ani.social
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              8 months ago

              Nah, they’re going to call everyone else not doing that an enemy while continuing to do nothing at all, of not actually helping MAGA like they did during the election!

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            8 months ago

            I believe in the power of organized strikes combined with mass protests. That’s what works and what forces Courts rule in our favor. That’s hardly being a doomer.

            You just don’t want to have to do anything.

            • twistypencil@lemmy.world
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              8 months ago

              Weird things to say to someone that you don’t know anything about. You aren’t spying on me because you wouldn’t say that, so I’m going to chalk it up to unfounded accusation, maybe to try and feel better?

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                You clearly want to wait around for the Courts to solve everything so you don’t have to do anything. I don’t know you, but I know your type. The only political actions you have ever taken are voting, signing petitions, and maybe donating. All stuff that requires no effort and carries no risk.

                • twistypencil@lemmy.world
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                  I’m amazed how much you depend on ESP for your clarity and your willingness to loudly tell everyone how you make conclusions based on unfounded basis… If you only knew how wrong you were, you would be embarrassed

    • Lucky_777@lemmy.world
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      8 months ago

      Fun to think about, but American males are not ready for a strong female presence in their lives. They can’t handle it.

      I would love for AOC to show the world her fire and Americans some grace. Not going to happen with the lot in America right now sadly.

      • ℍ𝕂-𝟞𝟝@sopuli.xyz
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        8 months ago

        I don’t know if American men are ready for it, but neither Harris nor Clinton were strong presidential candidates, and not because of their gender.

        • Railing5132@lemmy.world
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          but neither Harris nor Clinton were strong presidential candidates, and not because of their gender.

          That’s a bunch of bs. It was sexism, pure and simple.

          Clinton was an accomplished lawyer and accomplished civil servant in her own right, having spent her entire life in service. As former first lady, she had exclusive access to the inner machinations of the presidency (I’m not saying that being the spouse of an elected leader alone qualifies one for that position (see Republicans’ voting for dead candidates and swapping the deceased’s spouse in after the election)), but rather adds to the cumulative total. She was also the head of the state department.

          And because of a successful attack at a foreign embassy in a hostile nation, that became a millstone around her neck that trumpers bashed her for, capping off an otherwise stellar career.

          Against that orange buffoon, on paper, she should have mopped the floor with his toupe’

          Harris was VP, senator, Attorney General. She didn’t have the cv of Clinton, but she was a woman, and she had a foreign sounding name. I worked as an election inspector (not the jackoff people who challenge voter’s ability to vote, but the people who conduct the election at the local jurisdiction level). The election room as a smallish town hall, and many couples came in to vote together. The amount of people who were speaking loud enough to be overheard saying things like: “never vote for a woman” or making referring to “white pride” was shockingly scarry. They wanted to be heard.

          Why, yes, I live in a racist, misogynistic hellhole - how’d you guess?

          • WoodScientist@sh.itjust.works
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            8 months ago

            Personally, I don’t think we should allow any men to be president. Just of think of how absurd it is. We keep electing a bunch of testosterone-addled rage junkies to be in charge of the nuclear button. Men are just too emotional to be president, or even leaders in general. They’re just as likely to take off their pants and start waiving their dicks at each other as they are to come up with something that even meets the definition of “policy.” Electing a man a leader is like electing a rabid inbred gorilla hopped up on PCP as a leader.

            Men belong in the home. That’s their rightful place. That way they don’t have to spend too much time seeing other men, which only inspires rage reflexes in them. You let two men meet and they start beating their chests and trying to assert dominance over each other, usually while stripping off clothing and pulling out firearms. Men have no place in politics, business, or any field that really matters. Men should be kept in the home where they can’t do too much damage.

            But a man as president? Comically absurd. Literal clown world. How could such irrational, angry, emotionally fragile beings ever be elected a leader?

          • Revan343@lemmy.ca
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            The amount of people who were speaking loud enough to be overheard saying things like: “never vote for a woman” or making referring to “white pride” was shockingly scarry. They wanted to be heard.

            None of those people were ever going to vote Democrat

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            8 months ago

            The idea that they lost only because of sexism is the most delusional shit I’ve ever fucking heard, oh my God

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            Hillary also had to contend with Bernie as her opponent in the primary, a much more beloved candidate who polled better than both her and Trump, and was also handicapped by the Dems running a crooked primary by saying that they didn’t have to and would never pick Bernie as the candidate, even if he won the primary. She also called herself a “Goldwater girl” during the campaign, a man who ran for President on segregation as a campaign promise. People also had a negative view of her because she’s a Clinton, and there was a bit of dissatisfaction with “political dynasties” after the Bush era.

            And Harris ran a campaign that tried to appeal to conservative voters with promises such as building the wall on the Mexican border and campaigning with Cheney, which caused her to immediately begin losing percentages in the polls amongst independent voters. She also has a legacy of questionable actions against minorities of color during her time in California, which I saw a number of people criticizing.

            Not to say that sexism and racism didn’t play a part because oh my God, even here in liberal Massachusetts I see that shit. But they also did the usual Democrat campaign strategy of not appealing to their base because they were courting a mythical moderate conservative voter that doesn’t exist, and that’s a losing strategy. Dems fall in love, Republicans fall in line. AOC is so popular because she speaks to the issues that people have, and she does so passionately.

            Despite that, I unfortunately remain unconvinced that she could pull out a presidential victory because of the aforementioned racism and sexism that’s so prevalent in this country. As someone wiser than me once said, racism is so American that when you criticize it, people think that you’re criticizing America.

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          They weren’t, but they were a hell of a lot stronger than Trump. And Biden for that matter.

          The reality is there’s clearly a double standard in how Americans - both male and female - view women as candidates. Look at how they attacked Kamala for having a monogamous relationship with Willie Brown while Trump cheated on 3 spouses and sexually assaulted somewhere between 1 and 25 people.

          Does anyone think there’s a chance that a woman who was caught cheating on her spouse could get elected? And it’s not just sex stuff, the way opinions and mannerisms are scrutinized is different too. There’s 100x as many ways for a woman to be cringe as a man.

        • Ledericas@lemm.eeBanned from community
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          it was soely sexism, the fact you dont think that means your also kinda sexists too.

          • explodicle@sh.itjust.works
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            Spreading the delusional belief that it was solely sexism is sexist because it discourages people from voting for a woman.

            Clinton and Harris were both absolutely shitty candidates. AOC is not, and can rally a huge segment of voters who previously stayed home.

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        Male here. Hillary was probably the worst female option who’s ever ran for president.

        Kamala wasn’t much better, and felt like a rush job to prevent Biden being an easy sweep.

        Not that I’m advocating for trump in either case. I’m just saying its like the old south park joke of douche vs turd sandwich.

        Only difference is that AOC is actually a good choice. Whereas Hillary and Kamala were never good choices.

        I would fully support an AOC run. I would vote FOR AOC. Whereas with Hillary and Kamala it felt like it was voting against trump by selecting “whoever the opposition is”.

        Which for the record, isn’t a gender thing. Biden was also “not trump” on the ballots in 2020. You didn’t vote FOR Biden. You voted AGAINST trump.

        • Serinus@lemmy.world
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          Hillary likely would have made a great moderate president. She was a “bad choice” only because Fox News attacked her for 20 years.

          • Quadhammer@lemmy.worldBanned from community
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            Downvotes but she was a cool hippy chick once. Neoliberal was the game she chose to play and it might have worked if she played more on the radical side

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        People are downvoting you, and as much as I would like it to not be true, you are right. There’s too many male dems I’ve talked to that didn’t vote for Kamala because she was a woman. It was shocking, and disappointing to say the least.

        So I can’t, in good conscience, downvote you, because you’re not wrong, as much as I don’t like it.

        Edit: I also should have expected people also downvoting me just because they don’t like the message. I don’t like it either, but downvoting me does not make it less true. I voted for Hillary and Kamala and campaigned for them both, so don’t downvote me just because I’m the messenger of observations about shitty behaviors I’ve encountered among my fellow dems.

      • conditional_soup@lemm.ee
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        Disagree. I think that the failures of Harris and Clinton have a lot more to do with campaign and messaging failures than they do with the fact that they’re women. We’re living a populist moment, and the democrats want to rise to that with “noooo lmao everything’s fine, you’re not actually struggling at the grocery store shut up lol. Nooo we can’t offer a real policy platform to vote for, just vote against Nazis for the rest of your life and hope we never lose (we will, and we’ll blame you).”

        They’re GOING to fuck this up in 2028 if we even have elections, and they’re not going to let anyone stop them from fucking it up, not even AOC or David Hogg. Right now, Gavin Newsom is leaning hard into giving himself a republican-lite glow-up so that he can run the Newsom/Pence ticket in 2028 and try to peel off a whole six moderate republicans. Their campaign platform will be:

        • Bulldoze the homeless (now with BIGGER dozers!)

        • shut up, don’t worry about it, just keep voting against Nazis for the rest of your life and hope we never lose (we will, and we’ll blame you)

        • jimjam5@lemmy.world
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          8 months ago

          My brain has a conniption whenever I try to see how women could vote against other accomplished successful women, their own interests, and instead for a misogynistic ugly orange rapist. Like I’m done trying to understand the stupidity. 🙄

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        8 months ago

        You need to rephrase that as “falsely ex-MAGAt American males who will immediately vote Republican next election despite claiming they were moving a sub from it for our sympathy and so they wouldn’t face the consequences they deserve” aren’t ready…

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      I like the fantasy and I wish that’s where we were at, but please just give me a boring middle aged white guy. The people who love AOC the most apparently just aren’t going to show up at the polls in numbers. It’s a problem we’ve been talking about since I was the one not voting and we were blaming it on the way they treated green party candidates (I know, probably even longer). There’s a new excuse every few years, but there always is one and it doesn’t look like it’s changing any time soon.

      Please, let’s throw the old people a bone and give them an easy choice so we all don’t have to suffer again. I hate having to think about ‘electable’ too, but let’s just do that astronaut guy they were pushing for Harris’ running mate, they’d love that guy.

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        8 months ago

        We just had a boring middle aged white guy and he spent his entire abandoned campaign pushing for genocide. Dems never learn basic humanity.

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        The people who love AOC the most apparently just aren’t going to show up at the polls in numbers.

        Cite your sources here

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        8 months ago

        I feel like those people are never going to vote though. The communists and socialists will be too busy going on about bourgeoisie this and that and won’t be satisfied unless Marx himself is running because no one else is good enough. And the anarchists will go going “why should I take this opportunity to fight fascists if I’m not getting my perfect anarchist utopia out of it? Don’t vote, it’ll go against your perfect idealism.” Just like they did this last time around.

        I think that Bernie Sanders showed us that people who don’t have ideological sticks up their asses will be willing to vote for something better that gets us all a little bit closer to utopia, even if it’s not perfect yet. And as a non-American, I think AOC has that same infectious energy. But of course, as a non-American, I might also be underestimating how much Americans hate women and brown people.

    • WizardofFrobozz@lemmy.ca
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      She’s great- but she’s not the revolutionary leader you need to do what’s necessary. She’s the person you need AFTERWARD to pick up the pieces.

    • PaulBunyan@lemm.ee
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      Why doesn’t she already have a problem? I was hoping AOC would be leading the charge, but she’s more like a background character.

      This screams “it doesn’t matter until it’s me.”

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    8 months ago

    Ma’am, with the greatest and utmost possible respect, the rest of the world submits that you people already have several problems.

  • rumba@lemmy.zip
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    8 months ago

    If you come for my constituents, stop no…

    If you come for our mayors, that’s unfortunate.

    Threaten our governors? So sad, horrible, can nothing be done?

    Come for me? We’re going to have a problem.

    None fo the Dems are going to do shit until they come for them directly, a year after it’s too late to do shit.

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        8 months ago

        The oligarchs have the population exactly where they want them to be: poor, unhealthy, divided and unable to mount a concrete unified resistance.

        • MangioneDontMiss@lemm.ee
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          8 months ago

          the whole US population has been indoctrinated to believe non-violent action is effective and the only thing thats acceptable. fucking strange for a country that is so hardcore 2a.

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              8 months ago

              Which is cool and all, but fascism has never been beaten in a peaceful manner. Fascists don’t give a shit about how peaceful or honorable you are. They’ll strip you of your rights, imprison anyone who disagrees, and murder the people they don’t like.

                • MBech@feddit.dk
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                  8 months ago

                  I’m not american, so thankfully I’m not in a position to, but either you lay down, and let them do whatever they want to do like the ordinary germans in the 1930’s, or you stand against it, because freedom and democracy is worth dying for. If democracy isn’t worth dying for, then you won’t ever be able to have it.

            • hexonxonx@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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              8 months ago

              What makes you think you have to kill people? Why not just sink their yachts, burn their planes and homes? Dox them. Shut down airports with drones – nationally. Burn their warehouses, datacenters, factories. Hack their computers and steal their money. Etc… etc…

              Americans are so indoctrinated that they think killing is the natural next progression of peaceful protests.

              Humiliating them is much more damaging to their stupid movement.

            • IceFoxX@lemm.ee
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              8 months ago

              Republicans successfully storm the Capitol and split the country Extremely successful. Trump’s fascist approach and his supporters are also very successful.
              You so " how do you think something like that is successful! Peace Dude here some flowers please be nice again or I’ll go on a peaceful protest… that’ll show you what’s up!"
              His false claims of election tampering succeeded ( clearly even if no election fraud could be proven Trump had achieved what he wanted ).
              Your so “we accept the election… We don’t even think about the Republicans rigging the election or anything else… we’ll let the Republicans do it easier… how we want to protect our democracy? Here’s some flowers!!!”

  • TankovayaDiviziya@lemmy.world
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    AOC reminding Americans how to be brave. Penny auctions were a thing, which implied Americans used to be able to stand up to corrupt oligarchs and monied interests. Where is that solidarity and sentiment now? Do Americans need to be poor again altogether in order to rise up?

  • TheDemonBuer@lemmy.world
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    8 months ago

    You can’t defeat an enemy that you refuse to fight.

    I’m sure the Democrats will take every legal avenue available to them. However, if they run out of legal, nonviolent options, they’re going to be in a very rough spot because they don’t have any other arrows in their quiver.

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        8 months ago

        What else do you expect from them?

        Very little.

        I don’t expect AOC and her octogenarian colleagues to strap on an assault rifle and go full commando, but they do need to recognize what the Republicans are already well aware of: not all conflicts can be resolved peacefully.

        The Republicans are more than willing to use all tools at their disposal to achieve their goals. If the Democrats are not, then they are putting themselves at a severe disadvantage.

          • TheDemonBuer@lemmy.world
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            I understand why the Democrats want to try to resolve conflicts peacefully. No reasonable person wants violence. However, what the Democrats perceive as compromise is actually often appeasement. The Republicans use the threat of violence to extort the Democrats, and the Democrats often concede because they don’t feel like they have any other choice. But appeasement does not prevent violence, it only delays it. The only real solution is the destruction of the extortionists.

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    8 months ago

    There are going to be so many furrowed brows.

    I hope they don’t need to write another Strongly Worded Letter!

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      8 months ago

      I’m honestly more mad at the Dems at this point for just continuing to do nothing while the right runs roughshod over the law and the people.

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      Ugh there’s so much of this obnoxious shit on YouTube. “Person A DEMOLISHES Trump in front of Setting B!” And then the video is literally just someone saying the same shit everyone is saying and Trump isn’t even there. Or like “Watch Republican mortified as they realize they screwed themselves by electing Trump” and there’s literally zero self reflection or regret.

      There are so many videos and headlines that are literally just feeding on the clickbait potential of people waiting for a substantial response to this complete mess. Hypothetical dunking on people who aren’t even in the room or don’t react at all isn’t the victory people seem to like to advertise it as.

      And then they like fully miss an actual town hall in a Republican district booing the shit out of some MAGA toolbox.

    • Buffalox@lemmy.world
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      I was about to write they need to make an offense first.
      But you are right, they already did that, by preventing legal oversight.
      That shouldn’t be allowed to pass.

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        And 1000 other things. It’s long past time for them to “have a problem”. Put up or shut up AOC.

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    “suggested” they “may pursue”… wow. Did they fire six shots or only five? Y’know, in all that excitement, I kinda lost track myself.

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    Oh a big problem!? Like what exactly? What are going to do against a group of people who laugh at the supreme court and dont follow court orders? All they can do is send a strongly worded letter and say “Shame shame”. We are already a dictatorship these other branches have no power other than for optics.

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      So many. The people on the left are gutless and ineffective.

      You’re way past the point of being able to do anything. Maybe some more protests would have helped. They were super effective.

      We still talk about the clown convoy. Yet nobody can make one of the left’s protests even though there is one a week.

      And now people can’t help but say the left can’t do anything because… They don’t want to… Because it’s already a dictatorship… Because … Because… Because.

      Meanwhile the right are marching in the streets armed and beating the shit out of drag performers at brunch. They’re communicating and organizing on Twitter and Reddit and Facebook. It’s just so asymmetrical the amount of effective effort, actions and behaviors one side is able to muster over the other.

      AOC is right and should have support by people showing up and making the government eat their words. This is authoritarianism. But nobody is out there putting the work in. It’s a heading, an article then it disappears into the ether only for us to react to the next news headlines tomorrow. Nobody is making anything stick and that’s on us.

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    Now maybe I’m being pedantic here but this does seem to slightly suggest that the ordinary citizens being kidnapped off the streets, and sent to death camps…whoops, I mean ‘prison’, without any legal support is not a problem?

    However the upper class fools doing absolutely fuck all to stop the ordinary people being abducted by the us’s Gestapo being fingered by tRUMP and his cronies is a step too far?

    I like her. Don’t get me wrong. She seems to be a good one. Speaks her mind etc etc but if she, and the congress people, would’ve had a problem about the little guys being taken on broad daylight then there wouldn’t be any need to have a problem about her unpoors being fingered!!

    Remember the German poem:
    First they came for the poors but I did not speak out for I am not poor.
    Then…

  • Ledericas@lemm.eeBanned from community
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    8 months ago

    except you got enablers like schumer and hakeem bending the knee to the megadonors.

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      They are behaving exactly like controlled opposition, at this point I could care less about how much they actually are or aren’t controlled opposition, what matters is their action or rather lack of it is catastrophic.

      • Ledericas@lemm.eeBanned from community
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        pretty much are dinos at this point, alot of them wouldnt get voted otherwise.

  • Almacca@aussie.zone
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    What? You don’t have a problem already? Stop drawing lines. They’ve already crossed enough of them.

    • Emergency3030@lemmy.world
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      Look for a video Hasan Piker posted on IG. He explains that customs agents ask him if he had ever said anything wrong against Trump. That’s a sign we’re already in a dictatorship. You can call it fascism but it’s a dictatorship where you can’t say anything wrong against the supreme leader or you get punished for it. CBP agents asking if someone has ever said anything against Trump is a sign of dictatorship.

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        Absolutely. I feel like it reminds me of some dystopian show, asking people on their visit if they’ve engaged in anti-XYZ person activities etc. Hasan is a scumbag for his worship of russia, but he is right this time. This is a dictatorship, and it’s spreading fast.

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    If the bar has to be that high given everything they have already done, then perhaps you are living in an oligarchy.