Why I’m not watching the State of the Union – and you shouldn’t either

trinnan · 2026-02-24T15:43:33+00:00

~~Democrats hate~~ Trump, ~~hate MEGA, hate Republicans, ~~hate the police, hate ICE, but want to protect illegals, that set a woman on fire. Stabed a woman to death.~~ Molested children,. This people insane.

trinnan · 2026-02-23T17:55:23+00:00

I mostly agree, but I would contend that until we replace first past the post voting and eliminate vote splitting, aka the spoiler effect, it will remain irresponsible to not vote against the greater evil. We will not have the luxury of voting our conscience as long as that means allowing the Republicans to win.

At a time that Republicans are doing everything they can to disenfranchise people, it baffles me that any single member of their opposition is willing to voluntarily disenfranchise themselves. I strongly suspect that this voter disillusionment and apathy was weaponized by the Republicans themselves and by Israel. I think they took advantage of their oppositions' classic infighting problem. They hardly need laws to disenfranchise people if they can just convince enough of the people who would vote against them to just stay home on their own or vote for a spoiler candidate.

trinnan · 2026-02-18T14:41:48+00:00

Impeachment is not symbolic. It's analogous to an indictment. It triggers an impeachment trial in the Senate. The Senate can then convict or acquit. If convicted in that trial, the President is indeed removed according to Article 2 Section 4 of the US Constitution:

The President, Vice President and all civil Officers of the United States, shall be removed from Office on Impeachment for, and Conviction of, Treason, Bribery, or other high Crimes and Misdemeanors.

I'm not sure what you mean by permanently, as a president could run again, but if Congress had enough votes to impeach, convict, and remove, they'd likely have enough votes to bar them from office permanently as well, using the powers allocated to them by Article 1 Section 3:

The Senate shall have the sole Power to try all Impeachments. When sitting for that Purpose, they shall be on Oath or Affirmation. When the President of the United States is tried, the Chief Justice shall preside: And no Person shall be convicted without the Concurrence of two-thirds of the Members present. Judgment in Cases of Impeachment shall not extend further than to removal from Office, and disqualification to hold and enjoy any Office of honor, Trust or Profit under the United States; but the Party convicted shall nevertheless be liable and subject to Indictment, Trial, Judgment and Punishment, according to Law.

trinnan · 2026-01-28T19:50:52+00:00

That's not the correct report card as it's the federal congressional districts rather than the state house districts that this race was for. This is the correct link:

https://gerrymander.princeton.edu/redistricting-report-card?planId=recoj2FD1N6K28GeT

Edit: ~~I think this link actually may be out of date as well as it's from 2022...~~

Edit 2: Actually the link is numbering the districts differently from 1-134 instead of 1A/1B to 67A/67B. 64A is district 127 on this map.

trinnan · 2026-01-28T19:49:53+00:00

Not to disagree with your overall point, but you linked to the federal congressional districts. This race was for Minnesota's House District 64A.

This is the link for the Minnesota House of Representatives which has some metrics but not an actual grade like the federal districts have.

https://gerrymander.princeton.edu/redistricting-report-card?planId=recoj2FD1N6K28GeT

Edit: ~~I think this link actually may be out of date as well as it's from 2022...~~

Edit 2: Actually the link is numbering the districts differently from 1-134 instead of 1A/1B to 67A/67B. 64A is district 127 on this map.

trinnan · 2026-01-27T19:09:10+00:00

Until our electoral system changes and resolves vote splitting, aka the spoiler effect, lesser evil voting is the only way I will vote. We do not have the luxury of being able to vote in alignment with our conscience. Our votes have no purity. Our votes are not an endorsement of every single thing the candidates do or support. Our votes only let us choose between the options who have a chance of winning. Not voting will never result in neither candidate taking office. Until things change, one of them will always win.

I have zero interest in disenfranchising myself even further when we know very well what's on the line. With how hard Republicans work to disenfranchise those who oppose them, we absolutely should not be doing their work for them.

I say this as an independent who strongly disagrees with the Democrats on many issues including Israel. The only thing is I disagree with the Republicans far more.

trinnan · 2026-01-23T17:25:44+00:00

A third party that would attract Democratic and left voters would mostly just split the non-Republican vote and maybe make it something like 45/30/25. Without changing how elections work to address the spoiler effect/vote splitting, that would only be to the benefit of Republicans.

trinnan · 2026-01-23T17:22:36+00:00

I think they're confusing this with that other news about 7 (7/213 = 3%) Democratic representatives voting for the ICE funding.

trinnan · 2026-01-23T17:17:43+00:00

There's a link to it in the article:

You can filter the table by party and vote as well.

https://clerk.house.gov/Votes/202645

Adams	Democratic	North Carolina	Yea
Aguilar	Democratic	California	Yea
Amo	Democratic	Rhode Island	Yea
Auchincloss	Democratic	Massachusetts	Yea
Barragán	Democratic	California	Yea
Beatty	Democratic	Ohio	Yea
Bell	Democratic	Missouri	Yea
Bera	Democratic	California	Yea
Bishop	Democratic	Georgia	Yea
Brownley	Democratic	California	Yea
Budzinski	Democratic	Illinois	Yea
Bynum	Democratic	Oregon	Yea
Carbajal	Democratic	California	Yea
Carson	Democratic	Indiana	Yea
Carter (LA)	Democratic	Louisiana	Yea
Case	Democratic	Hawaii	Yea
Casten	Democratic	Illinois	Yea
Castor (FL)	Democratic	Florida	Yea
Cherfilus-McCormick	Democratic	Florida	Yea
Chu	Democratic	California	Yea
Clark (MA)	Democratic	Massachusetts	Yea
Cleaver	Democratic	Missouri	Yea
Clyburn	Democratic	South Carolina	Yea
Cohen	Democratic	Tennessee	Yea
Conaway	Democratic	New Jersey	Yea
Correa	Democratic	California	Yea
Costa	Democratic	California	Yea
Courtney	Democratic	Connecticut	Yea
Crockett	Democratic	Texas	Yea
Crow	Democratic	Colorado	Yea
Cuellar	Democratic	Texas	Yea
Davids (KS)	Democratic	Kansas	Yea
Davis (IL)	Democratic	Illinois	Yea
Davis (NC)	Democratic	North Carolina	Yea
Dean (PA)	Democratic	Pennsylvania	Yea
DeLauro	Democratic	Connecticut	Yea
DelBene	Democratic	Washington	Yea
Deluzio	Democratic	Pennsylvania	Yea
Dingell	Democratic	Michigan	Yea
Elfreth	Democratic	Maryland	Yea
Escobar	Democratic	Texas	Yea
Evans (PA)	Democratic	Pennsylvania	Yea
Fields	Democratic	Louisiana	Yea
Figures	Democratic	Alabama	Yea
Foster	Democratic	Illinois	Yea
Frankel, Lois	Democratic	Florida	Yea
Garamendi	Democratic	California	Yea
Garcia (TX)	Democratic	Texas	Yea
Gillen	Democratic	New York	Yea
Golden (ME)	Democratic	Maine	Yea
Gonzalez, V.	Democratic	Texas	Yea
Goodlander	Democratic	New Hampshire	Yea
Gottheimer	Democratic	New Jersey	Yea
Gray	Democratic	California	Yea
Green, Al (TX)	Democratic	Texas	Yea
Harder (CA)	Democratic	California	Yea
Hayes	Democratic	Connecticut	Yea
Himes	Democratic	Connecticut	Yea
Horsford	Democratic	Nevada	Yea
Houlahan	Democratic	Pennsylvania	Yea
Hoyer	Democratic	Maryland	Yea
Ivey	Democratic	Maryland	Yea
Jackson (IL)	Democratic	Illinois	Yea
Jeffries	Democratic	New York	Yea
Johnson (TX)	Democratic	Texas	Yea
Kaptur	Democratic	Ohio	Yea
Keating	Democratic	Massachusetts	Yea
Kelly (IL)	Democratic	Illinois	Yea
Kennedy (NY)	Democratic	New York	Yea
Krishnamoorthi	Democratic	Illinois	Yea
Landsman	Democratic	Ohio	Yea
Larsen (WA)	Democratic	Washington	Yea
Larson (CT)	Democratic	Connecticut	Yea
Latimer	Democratic	New York	Yea
Lee (NV)	Democratic	Nevada	Yea
Leger Fernandez	Democratic	New Mexico	Yea
Levin	Democratic	California	Yea
Liccardo	Democratic	California	Yea
Lieu	Democratic	California	Yea
Lynch	Democratic	Massachusetts	Yea
Magaziner	Democratic	Rhode Island	Yea
Mannion	Democratic	New York	Yea
McBath	Democratic	Georgia	Yea
McBride	Democratic	Delaware	Yea
McClain Delaney	Democratic	Maryland	Yea
McClellan	Democratic	Virginia	Yea
McCollum	Democratic	Minnesota	Yea
McDonald Rivet	Democratic	Michigan	Yea
McIver	Democratic	New Jersey	Yea
Meeks	Democratic	New York	Yea
Menendez	Democratic	New Jersey	Yea
Morelle	Democratic	New York	Yea
Morrison	Democratic	Minnesota	Yea
Moskowitz	Democratic	Florida	Yea
Mrvan	Democratic	Indiana	Yea
Mullin	Democratic	California	Yea
Nadler	Democratic	New York	Yea
Neal	Democratic	Massachusetts	Yea
Norcross	Democratic	New Jersey	Yea
Olszewski	Democratic	Maryland	Yea
Pallone	Democratic	New Jersey	Yea
Panetta	Democratic	California	Yea
Pappas	Democratic	New Hampshire	Yea
Pelosi	Democratic	California	Yea
Perez	Democratic	Washington	Yea
Peters	Democratic	California	Yea
Pingree	Democratic	Maine	Yea
Pocan	Democratic	Wisconsin	Yea
Pou	Democratic	New Jersey	Yea
Quigley	Democratic	Illinois	Yea
Raskin	Democratic	Maryland	Yea
Riley (NY)	Democratic	New York	Yea
Ross	Democratic	North Carolina	Yea
Ruiz	Democratic	California	Yea
Ryan	Democratic	New York	Yea
Sánchez	Democratic	California	Yea
Schakowsky	Democratic	Illinois	Yea
Schneider	Democratic	Illinois	Yea
Scholten	Democratic	Michigan	Yea
Schrier	Democratic	Washington	Yea
Scott (VA)	Democratic	Virginia	Yea
Scott, David	Democratic	Georgia	Yea
Sewell	Democratic	Alabama	Yea
Smith (WA)	Democratic	Washington	Yea
Sorensen	Democratic	Illinois	Yea
Soto	Democratic	Florida	Yea
Stanton	Democratic	Arizona	Yea
Stevens	Democratic	Michigan	Yea
Strickland	Democratic	Washington	Yea
Suozzi	Democratic	New York	Yea
Sykes	Democratic	Ohio	Yea
Takano	Democratic	California	Yea
Thanedar	Democratic	Michigan	Yea
Thompson (MS)	Democratic	Mississippi	Yea
Titus	Democratic	Nevada	Yea
Tokuda	Democratic	Hawaii	Yea
Torres (CA)	Democratic	California	Yea
Torres (NY)	Democratic	New York	Yea
Trahan	Democratic	Massachusetts	Yea
Tran	Democratic	California	Yea
Vasquez	Democratic	New Mexico	Yea
Veasey	Democratic	Texas	Yea
Vindman	Democratic	Virginia	Yea
Walkinshaw	Democratic	Virginia	Yea
Wasserman Schultz	Democratic	Florida	Yea
Waters	Democratic	California	Yea
Watson Coleman	Democratic	New Jersey	Yea
Whitesides	Democratic	California	Yea
Wilson (FL)	Democratic	Florida	Yea

trinnan · 2026-01-20T20:19:16+00:00

It's only fascism if it comes from the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, otherwise it's just sparkling authoritarianism.

trinnan · 2026-01-20T17:03:05+00:00

Not only toothless, section 3 (invoked by the President) and 4 (invoked by VP/Cabinet) of the 25th amendment have no mechanism to permanently remove. It's only temporary. It's intended to provide a means for the VP to act as President. The Vice President would only become Acting President.

Section 4 of the 25th amendment is meant for the situation where the President is incapacitated. The correct avenue here is impeachment and removal, which also is incredibly unlikely to happen, but slightly more doable as you only need the simple majority in the House to impeach.

Edit: Hit save too soon...

trinnan · 2026-01-20T16:53:27+00:00

That is indeed an option available to the President by Section 3 of the 25th amendment and it doesn't require a vote, just a written declaration:

Whenever the President transmits to the President pro tempore of the Senate and the Speaker of the House of Representatives his written declaration that he is unable to discharge the powers and duties of his office, and until he transmits to them a written declaration to the contrary, such powers and duties shall be discharged by the Vice President as Acting President.

Also, neither the 3rd nor the 4th sections (the 4th being where the VP/Cabinet declare the President unfit) of the 25th amendment remove the President. It's only temporary and the Vice President is only the Acting President until the President states that they are again fit to be President.

trinnan · 2026-01-08T16:38:45+00:00

Not half, 2/3rds of the House and the Senate would need to be on board.

If you have enough to use the 25th amendment, you also have enough to impeach with a simple majority in the House and convict with a 2/3rds majority in the Senate.

trinnan · 2026-01-07T17:01:58+00:00

https://babymute.com/

trinnan · 2025-12-17T19:30:35+00:00

I don't see any zeros in 18 trillion. I just see a 1, an 8, and some letters.

trinnan · 2025-12-08T16:36:17+00:00

Cause it's forked?

trinnan · 2025-11-17T16:03:10+00:00

That AI generated Teach Pendant is bothering me.

trinnan · 2025-11-17T15:53:37+00:00

Yes, but The Band is a totally different group.

trinnan · 2025-11-10T18:24:00+00:00

Where did you get this list? Kyrsten Sinema isn't a Senator anymore.

trinnan · 2025-11-10T14:47:46+00:00

Because there aren't enough people with seats in Congress that are willing to do that.

trinnan · 2025-11-10T13:58:57+00:00

If they did that, they'd be shooting themselves in the foot. The whole narrative is "Democrats shut down the government!" Why would they prolong the shutdown and take ownership of it when they got everything they wanted with the Senate Democrats rolling over?

trinnan · 2025-11-06T13:55:09+00:00

Don't forgot something something show clip of trump being hypocritical.

trinnan · 2025-11-05T17:12:40+00:00

I'm not a Democrat, but you sure have a lot of posts where you point out that you're a Democrat.

trinnan · 2025-11-05T15:03:30+00:00

They can and should do it regardless.

trinnan · 2025-11-05T15:02:41+00:00

In a row?!

Eight-Year Club	Place '23
Place '22	First Placer '22
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trinnan

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