I'll soon need to back on some of my optional subscriptions, but the yearly donation to EFF is staying for sure

Idea: Pressing downvote triggers a prompt to reply to the thread or comment explaining why you're downvoting, which is posted and the downvote registered. If you don't create that linked post, or delete the post, the downvote is cancelled. Come to think of it, that wouldn't be a bad idea for upvotes as well. If you're not participating, why should you be able to vote either way?

Even simpler: no standalone voting. When entering a comment you are given the option to vote the post or comment up, down, or neutral. The vote is counted as long as your post stays up.

My understanding is that for efficiency it's typical for cases to continue to trial under the judge who presided over the preliminary hearings. That said, I expect the government will petition for her recusal or a change of judge based on how badly she got smacked down by the appeals court.

I agree with this to a point. To me the biggest reasons to celebrate world be convictions for conspiracy and incitement of the January 6 inspection, and election interference in Georgia (and possibly other states that fronted fake electors). Those actions were the most damaging to our democratic process.

However, these charges are also important because they serve as proof that no one in the United States is above the law. I have a glimmer of hope that accountability may help start to heal some of the damage our system has taken in recent years.

This may sound odd as a comforting game, but I fired up Fallout 3 a year or so ago, and it really made me feel good to be back in the Capitol Wasteland.

That's a good aspirational summary of how downvoting should be used, but in practice it's used as "I don't like this," not "this is against the core of what the site stands for," or "this is factually incorrect."

I just wanted to say thanks for approving me. This thread and the linked site philosophy posts made signing up here a no-brainer for me. I'm really excited to be a part of the growth of Beehaw!