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#41

Off the Record / Re: What does a TRUMP presiden...

Last post by The Minsky Moment - February 10, 2025, 07:11:22 PM

I know you know this, but for the rest of our group - A Federal Judge ruled today that his order to release federal grant money was violated by the White House and the court noted that persons who fail to follow an order of the court are generally found to be in criminal contempt.

The Trumpists are unlikely to back down.  The US is days away from a full blown constitutional crisis (if it has not reached that point already).

For further clarity -

if this happens, the implication is not just that the federal judiciary is no longer a functioning constitutional check, it also means that the United States Congress has been rendered irrelevant as well.  Congressional power to pass laws is meaningless if Executive has no obligation to carry them out. The power of the purse is meaningless if the Executive machinery can simply collect what taxes it wishes and deploy them as it wishes.  There is no purpose for a separate law making body if the Executive can legislate by Executive Order

That is why the implication is a fully accomplished coup

#42

Off the Record / Re: What does a TRUMP presiden...

Last post by The Minsky Moment - February 10, 2025, 07:07:14 PM

Yeah its ridiculously naive to think that Elon and his crack team of 20-something cybercriminals are carefully following government record keeping rules in the first place.

#43

Off the Record / Re: Quo Vadis, Democrats?

Last post by Admiral Yi - February 10, 2025, 07:03:38 PM

Republicans blocked the appointment of milquetoast supreme Garland, though one has to wonder if that would have made a difference - still, it may have given the US someone more competent as Attorney General.

Are you claiming that the lack of a confirmation for Garland was a result of Democratic ineptitude?

#44

Off the Record / Re: What does a TRUMP presiden...

Last post by crazy canuck - February 10, 2025, 07:03:30 PM

Key to watch is if and when a federal judge holds an admin official in contempt for violating a court order. Contempt is enforced by federal marshals but although the marshals act as the enforcement arm of the judiciary, the Marshals Service is a branch of the DOJ. If Bondi orders the marshals not to enforce contempt orders against the administration, then we will have reached the stage of a fully accomplished Executive Coup d'etat.

Agreed, and we are likely only a few days from that.

I know you know this, but for the rest of our group - A Federal Judge ruled today that his order to release federal grant money was violated by the White House and the court noted that persons who fail to follow an order of the court are generally found to be in criminal contempt.

The Trumpists are unlikely to back down.  The US is days away from a full blown constitutional crisis (if it has not reached that point already).

#45

Off the Record / Re: Elon Musk: Always A Douche

Last post by DGuller - February 10, 2025, 06:59:11 PM

These kinds of discussions are one reason why I think protectionism is not as bad as it is portrayed, in the long term.  I'm not denying the obvious economic efficiencies of free trade, but I think free traders are ignoring the strategic costs of making yourself economically vulnerable, because they are unquantifiable.  Unfortunately, too many people, even smart ones, treat unquantifiable as zero.

#46

Off the Record / Re: [Canada] Canadian Politics...

Last post by crazy canuck - February 10, 2025, 06:54:52 PM

That article is about foreign aid generally.  Not the two organizations we were discussing.

We should not assume they are different.

Why?

#47

Off the Record / Re: German Federal Election 23...

Last post by Sheilbh - February 10, 2025, 06:52:55 PM

I assume "high income" is just a different way to say "Western Europe + US + Canada"?

So I looked it up - that chart is from the Lancet and those categories are the "GBD Super-Regions" which is apparently "Global Burden of Disease" super-regions. Which is a bit more nuanced and unusual than I'd expected. Map below with super-regions and the regions within them:

#48

Off the Record / Re: Elon Musk: Always A Douche

Last post by Sheilbh - February 10, 2025, 06:48:44 PM

So talk to me about the requirements for making your own cloud services. I'm assuming it's going to be somewhat costly due to economies of scale, but what would it actually take on a national level? Or could it potentially be done as a supra-national effort, in collaboration with the EU or some such?

Well, apropos of nothing:
https://european-alternatives.eu/alternatives-to

Not sure how many are realistic alternatives particularly at scale.

And obviously it is reinforcing the trend to nationalism/deglobalisation.

#49

Off the Record / Re: What does a TRUMP presiden...

Last post by HisMajestyBOB - February 10, 2025, 06:47:08 PM

Washington, D.C., Feb. 5, 2025 — President Donald Trump and Elon Musk are trying to use the Presidential Records Act's giant loopholes to hide records for the Department of Government Efficiency. 404 Media's Jason Koebler reports that staff at the U.S. Digital Service, which is being rebranded as the U.S. DOGE Service, will transition from being a Federal Records Act entity into a Presidential Records Act entity.

This means the public will have to wait until 2034 to file Freedom of Information Act requests for DOGE records, and hope they aren't destroyed before then.

https://freedom.press/the-classifieds/reform-the-presidential-records-act-or-risk-losing-doge-records/

That optimistically assumes they are keeping records to begin with and aren't already deleting as they go.

#50

Off the Record / Re: Elon Musk: Always A Douche

Last post by Jacob - February 10, 2025, 06:46:28 PM

Our strategic planners should look into that at the earliest opportunity.