• 5 Posts
  • 283 Comments
Joined 3 years ago
Cake day: June 12th, 2023
  • procrastitron@lemmy.worldtoShowerthoughts@lemmy.world•I've never met a loud and outspoken atheist that didn't celebrate Christmas.
    2·
    14 days ago

    I think people in general need some sort of mid-winter holiday. Especially near the winter solstice, people need a distraction and something to feel excited about.

    Moreover, I think that’s all Christmas really is. Any religious connection it has is just a tenuous excuse to have a holiday; it’s widely accepted that Jesus would have been born in the spring, but if you give people an excuse to have a holiday they won’t nitpick it… they just want any excuse.

    I think that’s also why there are so many holidays during the winter. People want to distract themselves from the weather and reduced sunlight.

  • procrastitron@lemmy.worldtoPeople Twitter@sh.itjust.works•I guess he finally snapped
    6·
    14 days ago

    I don’t think it’s ever been tested*, but arguably no, the president can’t pardon war crimes.

    They can only pardon “offenses against the United States”.

    A war crime isn’t just an offense against the United States but also a violation of international law.

    So, a future administration could try to go after these people for the international law violations.

    As others have noted, the chances of that actually happening are nil.

    *Trump has pardoned war crimes, but no one has yet tried going after the war criminals for the international law violations they committed.