What are the consequences to a legislator for violating their oath of office?
helpfully, Mastodon mentions are distinct in format from Bluesky mentions, and vice versa.
BlueSky clients should turn Mastodon mentions into profile links, and Mastodon clients should do the same for BlueSky links.
(can’t, and shouldn’t, for X/Twitter, which shares mention format with eg Insta.)
@fisherstudio @KimSJ have you seen this, via @Arianity? https://mastodon.social/@Arianity/113970992711223783
This point is so obvious it should fit in one post.
Elon Musk’s role is plainly illegal. The “advice and consent” clause of the Constitution is obviously intended to prevent a President from such powerful delegations of authority without explicit Congressional consent.
the Fed chair gets the tone slightly wrong while musing about inflation, markets tumble.
the President apparently muses about US Treasuries "It could be that a lot of those things don't count."
futures green!
buy treasuries because a recession is coming or sell treasuries before a great revulsion destroys US assets?
really interesting times!
Would Apple backdoor Advanced Data Protection, or just cease to offer it as a kind of canary? https://mastodon.world/@Hawaii/113976025533421147
"When history is written, the first few months of Trump 2.0 will go down as the most craven and prostrate in the history of the Republican Party. We are living in a country ruled by fantastic conspiracy theories and personal revenge, and not a single Republican is willing to stand against it. Not one." #KevinDrum https://jabberwocking.com/this-is-the-republican-partys-most-spineless-hour/
we are fortunate Musk has the character flaw of a B-movie serial killer. he can't refrain from openly taking credit for his misdeeds.
their worldview is basically government is a radical left-wing idea.
do the never-Trump former neocons now agree that every billionaire is a policy failure?
“voters are pleased to have a president who's taking some kind of decisive action and making sure we know he's taking decisive action.”
// that last part was Biden’s weak spot https://mstdn.social/@nomoremister/113975256174998286
if the founders wanted a unitary executive, why did they assign to Congress the task of structuring the executive branch?
“all other Officers of the United States, whose Appointments are not herein otherwise provided for, and which shall be established by Law”
instead of risking that bright, hardworking Chinese grad students might be CCP spies here to steal our science, what if we just didn’t have any science?
that’ll show ‘em.
here in the US, among my lib/leftie crowd, we spend a fair amount of time dwelling on the US’ hypocrisies, its sins against the liberal values it ostensibly promotes. 1/
yet when an illiberal movement assumes power in the US, it does not merely seek to turn American power to illiberal ends. it seeks to sabotage the roots of American power, to render the country impotent. 2/
that suggests to me, for all the United States’ sometimes miserable flaws, the enemies of liberal values, even when they dominate the apparatus of state, still perceive in the US an implacable threat. 3/
i take some hope in that. /fin
elon musk as jodie foster in elysium.
[new draft post] Might Elon Musk be personally liable? https://drafts.interfluidity.com/2025/02/08/might-elon-musk-be-personally-liable/index.html
“If we don’t resign, remote workers have been told they need to move to work in one of nine cities by March 3, and we haven’t been told if we get to pick from among the nine or if we will randomly be assigned to a city in which we don’t live or have any connections.” #AnniePorter https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2025/02/opm-fork-musk-trump-federal-personnel-management-employee.html
“Big, credible news media outlets are mostly unable to imbue their reporting…with the seriousness that is warranted: whether due to their proprietors, their finances, or other sources of obeisance towards Trump/Musk.” #KateMackenzie #TimSahay https://buttondown.com/polycrisisdispatch/archive/organizing-around-and-without-the-us/
maybe we can have the AIs fight out the civil war for us, claude vs grok or something. automate the unpleasant work.