James Joyner is a Professor of Security Studies. He's a former Army officer and Desert Storm veteran. Views expressed here are his own. Follow James on Twitter @DrJJoyner.
We all saw the events of Jan 6th.
It wasn’t the FBI.
It wasn’t the Deep State.
It wasn’t Antifa.
It wasn’t Pelosi.
The blanket pardon of violent insurrectionists begins a long dark night for Democracy in the USA.
I’m not trying to restart a debate on a thoroughly overworked topic – this is more of a post about trying on some hope rather than negativity.
Last night I tried to put myself in the headspace of our three top level posters, who thought the most important thing to discuss about Biden’s pardons was their violation of norms, rather than the lawlessness and malignancy which caused him to deem them necessary. Could it be that I am overestimating the descent into fascism that is starting, and underestimating the ability of our democratic system to hold off the worst of it? I tried, I really tried to see if I could believe that, but to no avail. The entirety of the discussion seemed to be about whether a fireman had the proper uniform on as he pulled people from a burning building, with the arson that led to that state of affairs being relegated to a side note.
Buyers are receiving what essentially amounts to a digital playing card, the purchase of which is supposed to symbolize a show of support, not an investment opportunity or political donation, according to lengthy disclosures posted online.
But a digital firm affiliated with the Trump organization owns 80 percent of the supply, the project disclosed, and appears to collect a fee on sales. Trump has also promoted the project to his roughly 97 million followers on the social media site X, and on Sunday, he steered followers to a similar meme coin tied to incoming first lady Melania Trump.
By Sunday evening, the total value of the $TRUMP project had reached more than $67 billion, according to CoinMarketCap, which tracks crypto prices and computed the figure by estimating the total market capitalization if every coin were in circulation.
Two of the president-elect’s sons, Eric and Donald Jr., described the project this weekend as the “hottest digital meme on earth,” and they promised the Trump family’s separate crypto project — a new token and platform called World Liberty Financial — would be the “future of finance.”
So an ongoing Trump family enterprise.
There are 200 million $TRUMP in circulation at an initial offering price of $25. Do the math – how many people would it take to buy 1000 of these each? Or maybe 200 people buying a million of them each? I can’t believe the bulk of these are held by ordinary red hats.
“He’s launching a major, new multibillion-dollar venture in the burgeoning crypto industry, where he has the most profound conflict of interest between [what] he’s seeking to gain and his duties to regulate that industry — which now includes himself,” Eisen said. “This may represent the single worst conflict of interest in the modern history of the presidency.”
Eisen also noted that foreign governments could buy into the meme coin, raising its value and enriching Trump’s wealth, thereby violating the foreign emoluments clause of the Constitution.
“Cryptocurrency should thrive but should also be appropriately regulated, and when it is not, [it] could be abused as a conduit for money laundering, tax evasion and terrorist financing,” Eisen warned.
Indeed.
Years after decrying crypto as a “scam,” Trump has tried to fashion himself as the first crypto president, and he has turned to aides who boast deep ties to the highly volatile industry.
Those advisers include David Sacks, a Silicon Valley venture capitalist set to guide Trump on crypto policy in the White House, and Paul Atkins, a former consultant to crypto companies whom the president has nominated to lead the Securities and Exchange Commission, a powerful financial watchdog. Some of Trump’s advisers during the transition process, meanwhile, are closely tied to Marc Andreessen and his venture firm, which has extensive investments in crypto.
snip
Trump has also explored executive orders that would streamline federal crypto regulation, such as by tasking agencies to study and remove legal barriers to the industry or clarifying the exact oversight roles of two federal financial regulators, the SEC and the Commodity Futures Trading Commission, the people said. And the president’s team has spoken with lawmakers and experts about his controversial idea to maintain a federal stockpile of bitcoin, The Washington Post previously reported.
Trump and his family have lent their names and support to World Liberty Financial, which aims to offer crypto lending, though they do not appear to be officers at the company.
But the projects have only resurfaced familiar questions about Trump’s commingling of government and business, and the extent to which political actors might seek to curry favor by investing in his growing real estate and tech enterprises. The stakes became apparent only weeks after the election, when Chinese cryptocurrency entrepreneur Justin Sun purchased $30 million in tokens from World Liberty Financial. Sun is under investigation by the SEC.
I found the pictures of the Bidens graciously welcoming the Trumps to the White House pretty offensive. I like the attitude of the other German political parties towards their AfD and Elon Musk much better.
Meta claims it’s a technical issue. Somehow, I’m not buying that.
Having the owners of the WaPo, Facebook, and Twitter openly in the tank for Trump is not great!(Not to mention Fox News and the Sinclair Broadcast Group.)
@MarkedMan: “The entirety of the discussion seemed to be about whether a fireman had the proper uniform on as he pulled people from a burning building, with the arson that led to that state of affairs being relegated to a side note.”
Nailed it beautifully, MM. I agreed and still agree wholeheartedly. It seemed to me you have the best take on this.
And LC is correct too. When I was 13/14 years old, we read The Diary of Anne Frank in class. While we felt horrified in that American way that immediately relegates awful events to Other Places Far Away that had nothing to do with us, some of us also felt that the Franks should have seen the writing on the wall and lit out for other countries a lot faster than they did.
Our teacher tried to walk us through what it might feel for a family pulling up stakes in a town and country their families had lived in for centuries, how they didn’t speak other languages, how they’d have to leave family and jobs behind, how it’s so easy to think things will get better. We scoffed – we wouldn’t care about any of that, we’d just concentrate on getting out, how naive would you have to be not to see that Hitler meant everything he said.
I haven’t thought about it in years but remember it vividly now. What arrogant little sh*ts we were.
The Constitution spells out clearly the process for amending the Constitution.
Trump, yesterday, amended the 14th Amendment by Executive Order.
So much for that quaint oath to protect and defend the Constitution.
I figure the plan, if there is one, is to escalate the matter to the Leo & Crow Court, where the 6-3 opinion written by Roberts will state “It is emphatically the duty of the Judicial Department to say that the law is what the felon rapist and overgrown toddler says it is.”
I deleted my instagram account. I want to delete the fakebook account, too, but it’s the only thing that allows me to stay in touch with a few people. Unless they all move to Bluesky or Mastodon, I may have to keep it.
Tracking Trump’s national-security conflicts of interest
t is a quirk of constitutional checks-and-balances interpretation that presidents are generally exempt from laws that seek to prevent U.S. officials from acting in their own interests instead of the country’s. Still, modern chief executives have customarily taken steps to reduce conflicts of interest—particularly to keep the prospect of personal gain or foreign pressures from emboldening or even empowering America’s enemies.
Not Donald Trump.
During his first term as president, Trump declined to divest his global businesses, leading to more than 3,400 conflicts of interest, as counted in 2020 by the Center for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
Now, as he returns to the Oval Office, policy experts and watchdog organizations say Trump’s record, 2024 campaign, and transition process suggest that his second-term conflicts of interest will be far more numerous, blatant, and dangerous.
“I think that that people have essentially internalized and normalized that we have a president coming in who is going to disregard basic ethical principles and use the presidency for his own benefit, in ways that might result in decisions that are not in the interest of the American people,” CREW President Noah Bookbinder said. “I hope the American people will express real concern about this.”
@MarkedMan:
I read what you’re writing. I don’t disagree.
Context matters. This is a blog, which presumably is intended to foster rich discussion.
The issue of norms makes for much more interesting discussion than does the latest installment of Trump’s awfulness. That’s my opinion anyways as a very occasional commenter.
The other day I dreamt song lyrics from “El Vendedor” by Mocedades. Only it was some kind of alien telling someone else a portion of the lyrics. This stayed with me for some reason, and I can’t quite let it go.
The portion, in Spanish, is “Tu eres el que ha pasado, el que ha llegado, y el que vendrá.” the translation to English is unsatisfying. I can’t quite convey the feel. here goes “You’re the one who passed, the one who’s arrived, and the one yet to come.”
Problem is the first clause. it means more something like “you came and did something remarkable or very important,” but that can’t be reduced to one word in English.
I want to use it in a story I’m working on, as it’s both cryptic and kind of poetic, and I do know what it eventually means. It also gives off B5 Minbari savior vibes, being three parts and three tenses.
It is a quirk of constitutional checks-and-balances interpretation that presidents are generally exempt from laws that seek to prevent U.S. officials from acting in their own interests instead of the country’s.
All the way back in 2017, the rapist interpreted this quirk as meaning “the president(sic) can’t have a conflict of interests.”
This is manifestly untrue, but since the law doesn’t apply tot he white house occupant, the rapist can do what he wants. The bigger problem is he doesn’t even think he shouldn’t be doing such things. He may believe he can auction off pardons on eBay and that’s not only not illegal, but not even improper. he can’t have a conflict of interests.
My husband cancelled instagram and facebook recently. Since I have never been on any social media, I have nothing to cancel.
I did get rid of google as my search engine and boy, are they pissed. Too bad. Too much ai crap. Do you know one ai query uses a shitload more energy than a simple search? Whoever the techbro ceo of google is actually said, out loud, that since the world wasn’t going to make the climate goals, might as well go all in on ai.
I refuse to voluntarily feed the beast.
We have Trump and Melania coins. Now the MAGA preacher Trump likes has his own coin, the Lorenzo Sewell coin. At this point when you add in all of the other crypto scandals it’s hard to overlook that a prime use for crypto is scamming/grifting. There is little doubt that Trump will deregulate crypto. I have come to the conclusion that we should just go ahead and completely deregulate it. That means is someone is scammed they just lose their money. We dont spend my tax money investigating, prosecuting and trying to get money back for those scammed. Make it truly laissez faire and buyer beware. Let buyers take all of the risks instead of me helping to offset some of the risk.
What’s worse with Google these days, is there’s an Ai summary of most searches even if you don’t ask for it. So they’re just mindlessly using up energy. I ignore it 99% of the time.
How long?’: hot mic catches German interpreter at Trump swearing-in – video
A reporter at the German TV channel Phoenix went off-script while he was on air during Donald Trump’s inauguration on Monday, asking colleagues: ‘How long did you want to stay with this shit?’
Eisen also noted that foreign governments could buy into the meme coin, raising its value and enriching Trump’s wealth, thereby violating the foreign emoluments clause of the Constitution.
The coin is not only a vehicle for foreign governments and other well-funded actors to personally reward trump, but to punish him as well. After having bought large stakes of the meme coin, they have the ability to tank its value through heavy selling.
They’re going to end up diluting themselves in the marketplace for extra dumb pointless crypto.
That will happen in some cases. The melania coin has sunk to $3.80, which is about half the price at which it was initially available. So anyone who has bought and held that coin is a literal loser.
Meta claims it’s a technical issue. Somehow, I’m not buying that.
Sometimes a technical issue is a low level technical employee doing shit because they’re a MAGA fucknut.
There’s clearly intent, but we don’t know whose intent, and Meta wants to maintain the fiction of being a place for everyone, so I would guess random MAGA fucknut, at least for blocking the #Democrat and #DNC.
Why would they be able to? They could be misusing tools for blocking things associated with child porn. Or they genuinely believe QAnon shit and are using them correctly.
We are still in the “Roman Salute” stage of fascism, where they are trying to not show their hand.
Question for this engineer-heavy commentariat. My eldest is (finally) continuing her education, and has enrolled in an actual university. She’s aiming for urban planning via a civil engineer degree. (I think her long-term goal is to turn American cities into Amsterdam.) She has pretty respectable math and computer skills, is very detail-oriented, very smart. (Absolutely great copy editor.)
@Michael Reynolds:
Yes, it’s definitely attainable and a good route to get there. I think it makes more sense to go civil engineering at the undergrad level. Especially if there is an urban planning track. Urban planning IMO is better as a graduate degree–after she gets some experience.
That said, the next four years will probably be a mixed bag for anyone studying that. I’d definitely suggest she concentrates on the local or county level. That will provide the most flexibility.
@MarkedMan: I made a comment two and a half months ago about the grieving process, it being perfectly normal for people to go through. It doesn’t mean your thinking is clear when it’s happening though. There’s a lot of mob psychology going on here. If you think the mainstream media is whitewashing the situation, you’re overheated. Talking to equally overheated people makes it even worse.
Thanks, I’ll pass that along. Kind of hoping there’s a ‘study abroad’ option.
There are a lot of great options outside the US at both levels–especially in Europe. If your daughter would be interested in talking to someone with some generalized experience in this area, I’m happy to find some time.
@Michael Reynolds: “Attainable Goal” depends on your daughter and you are certainly in a better position to answer that than anyone here, and possibly even better than your daughter herself, although parents get nowhere by opining on things like that.
Unless something has drastically changed since my time in engineering school (EE for me, but we had Civil, Mechanical, Packaging and a couple others as well) , a Civil Engineering BS will give the foundation she would need to tackle a more specific area in grad school. She will also need to get her Professional Engineer’s certificate when she is finishing up. This is required to be able to be a lead engineer or even submit documents for certain types of projects. Never needed one as an EE in my specific field, but every Civil Engineer student I knew was studying for this as hard as for their regular classwork.
I haven’t, so far, seen much opposition from the loyal opposition. What I do see is Joe Biden welcoming Trump home, Chuck Schumer promising to be bi-partisan, and fund raising emails. Atrios links to an explanation as to why this is from a ex-Sanders campaign manager who has decided to run for chair of the DNC. He sees the DNC as powerless and the whole show being run by consultants. Consultants get paid, win or lose.
The RNC seems no better, but the GOPs are backed by, for lack of a better term, the Kochtopus. Maybe now more the Techbropus. Dems have nothing comparable. Except in the bothsides sense that we have the Sierra Club and they have Heritage Action.
A lot of people voted on Trump looking strong, Dems need to look strong. We look like wimps. Yes, Dems need to pick their fights, but first they have to decide to fight.
@gVOR10: There’s not much you can do against executive orders, and the Dems don’t have an obvious national leader. Newsom would have been the good guess but he can’t take that role right now. There are some cabinet nominees who haven’t been voted on, so the Senate would be a smart place to present a case.
@gVOR10: And when to fight. Now is probably not the time. Pretty good bet he and his clowns will cause a big mess fairly soon, and then the protesting can be on what is happening and not on what might happen.
My first choice matchup for the Super Bowl this year was Minnesota vs Buffalo. the second was Detroit vs Buffalo. These can’t happen now. So I’m now reduced to Buffalo vs either Philadelphia or Washington.
I’ve a predilection for matchups between teams that have never won the championship.
@dazedandconfused:
As as outsider, fogive my imperinence, but I’d also advise trying to abide by political norms as far as possible, and keep your powder try for the real outrages.
Which probably won’t be long in coming.
For instance, the likely legal fight over the Tik-Tok issue.
Setting aside any questions of the merits of the ban, what is the legal position of a President apparently intent on overturning a law by fiat?
Also, not too far down the road, there will be the detonation of the tariffs issue: inflationary effects, reactions of the bond markets to the budget projections, likely Trump vs Fed crisis if the Fed hikes interest rates. Possible currency effects.
And the likely techbro vs MAGA war over H1B visas.
I have a suspicion that come the 2026 elections, the Democrats may actually be in a rather good place.
Nil desperandum.
Or, as Churchill often said: “Keep buggering on.”
I have a suspicion that come the 2026 elections, the Democrats may actually be in a rather good place.
If the rapist doesn’t declare a very wide, very vague emergency, deploys troops throughout the country (esp. in cities), and suspends the midterm elections.
He wouldn’t do it, but I’m less certain what his project 2025 handlers will get him to do. What if President Xlon really wants it and buys some rapist memes to show he’s serious?
@Kathy:
Perhaps, at the outside. But I suspect by then Elon and the Felon may have had a massive falling out.
Congress is unlikely to love DOGE trying to usurp its prerogatives.
H1B visas are an obvious Musk vs MAGA tension; also China issues various.
And the obvious potential clashes of finance-oriented Republicans vs MAGA over various economic issues; and GoP judicial supremacists are not likely, I suspect, to be wowed by the prospect of subordination to MAGA populists.
Judges tend to have a very high opinion of themselves.
A “dash for fash” is an obvious danger.
But otoh, the US is highly decentralized polity; and a lot of the military likely take their oath to uphold the constitution quite seriously.
The base question seems to be: are the higher courts, and the Republicans in Congress, genuinely willing to slit their own throats in fealty to an Orange Overlord?
I have my doubts.
@Fortune: @dazedandconfused: Yes, the party does not have leader. That’s a problem with presidential systems. I’ve seen a lot of suggestions Dems have a shadow cabinet. Difficult without a leader. Yes, the clown act will provide good targets. Yes, this is just the way it is, the excuse of every conservative, ever, about everything. GOPs had a leader, albeit a horrible one, during their term in opposition. People could line up behind Hakeem Jeffries until the primaries (I’ve given up on Schumer). Is it too much to ask that when we have new DNC leadership, they lead? We’re liberals, make something better. Don’t pick a dumb fight, but for FS show some willingness to fight.
Not to pick on you two, but I am really discouraged not only by what Trump is doing, but by what Dems are and are not doing.
What John Lewis said, “If not us, who? And if not now, when?”
@MarkedMan:
She has no fear of tests. Now, whether she’ll pursue it that far. . . Her parents set a bad example. My way is to just not do it because oppositional defiant disorder. If she does it her mother’s way, she’ll start studying about 12 hours before the test.
The varios socialist and communists groups in Russia had a falling out even before the 1917 revolution. They still wrecked the country and instituted 7 decades of oppressive rule.
Some judges are ambitious and many don’t like their decisions overturned. Many will go along with whatever the rapist wants, because the Leo Court will rule in his favor anyway. Maybe a favorable decision early on gets them a seat on a circuit court or the Leo court.
BTW, the case about gender affirming care for minors is pending. Before the election I thought it was likely the odious six would rule along the lines of overturning Roe and turn it to the states. After November 5th., though, I’m convinced they’ll ban all affirming care for minors nationwide.
@Kathy: They’re going to undo every single good thing Biden did during his administration (Medicare drug negotiating/price caps, etc), and then ban everything else on the culture war buzzword list. And tariff’s on Mexico and Canada by Feb 1, I hear. Wouldn’t be surprised to hear about Obergefell a lot more by Feb 1, too, they are drunk on power right now. Everything is on the block.
Because Biden was too old. And he was, I admit that. But he’s all we had. And look at/listen to Trump! Also OBVIOUSLY too old, but the ACTUAL “Shadow Cabinet” will prop him up just like our local trolls said they were doing to Biden. And our local trolls are fine with the reverse situation.
Federal immigration authorities will be permitted to target schools and churches after President Donald Trump revoked a directive barring arrests in “sensitive” areas.
[…]
This action empowers the brave men and women in CBP and ICE to enforce our immigration laws and catch criminal aliens — including murders and rapists — who have illegally come into our country,” the spokesperson said.
“Criminals will no longer be able to hide in America’s schools and churches to avoid arrest,” the statement continued. “The Trump Administration will not tie the hands of our brave law enforcement, and instead trusts them to use common sense.”
Because our schools are infested with “murderers and rapists.”
When tariffs and such come in and things get worse, especially if the rapist triggers a recession, he’ll double down on culture war BS, because that always gets him applause with the base.
I’m not very concerned for Obergefell given the Respect for Marriage Act. But the Leo Court could easily eviscerate their earlier decision, and cause lots of trouble. I don’t want to speculate, as I’m depressed enough already.
The thing is the rapist could suck on his thumb and take a dump publicly at the UN General Assembly, and his base will declare it the greatest ever speech given at that nest of communistwokeenemiesofthepeople, besides it never happened.
A friend sent me a text indicating personal knowledge of a significant number of trans kids looking to emigrate. I sent it along to my daughter. She wrote back a very cogent explanation of her thinking in staying in the Bay Area, and then invited us to stop with advice involving fleeing.
It’s quite a nice moment when you realize you’ve raised someone brave.
@Michael Reynolds: I got a call from my kid’s principal this morning. The school flagged them for looking at 4chan, apparently.
In context, we were discussing why Elon Musk and tech bro’s were so fucking WEIRD, and we were talking about how they might want to go into gaming or cooking school when graduation comes. They’d never heard of 4chan, or Gamergate, so they looked it up on the school computer.
I am not sure how I’m going to respond. I think the principal deserves the context, but my kid already feels like a target.
A Gish Gallop of executive orders
We all saw the events of Jan 6th.
It wasn’t the FBI.
It wasn’t the Deep State.
It wasn’t Antifa.
It wasn’t Pelosi.
The blanket pardon of violent insurrectionists begins a long dark night for Democracy in the USA.
I’m not trying to restart a debate on a thoroughly overworked topic – this is more of a post about trying on some hope rather than negativity.
Last night I tried to put myself in the headspace of our three top level posters, who thought the most important thing to discuss about Biden’s pardons was their violation of norms, rather than the lawlessness and malignancy which caused him to deem them necessary. Could it be that I am overestimating the descent into fascism that is starting, and underestimating the ability of our democratic system to hold off the worst of it? I tried, I really tried to see if I could believe that, but to no avail. The entirety of the discussion seemed to be about whether a fireman had the proper uniform on as he pulled people from a burning building, with the arson that led to that state of affairs being relegated to a side note.
“WaPost”
So an ongoing Trump family enterprise.
There are 200 million $TRUMP in circulation at an initial offering price of $25. Do the math – how many people would it take to buy 1000 of these each? Or maybe 200 people buying a million of them each? I can’t believe the bulk of these are held by ordinary red hats.
Indeed.
snip
@MarkedMan:
I found the pictures of the Bidens graciously welcoming the Trumps to the White House pretty offensive. I like the attitude of the other German political parties towards their AfD and Elon Musk much better.
This is going well:
Meta under fire for making users automatically follow Trump & Vance on Facebook, blocks #Democrat & #DNC on Instagram
Meta claims it’s a technical issue. Somehow, I’m not buying that.
Having the owners of the WaPo, Facebook, and Twitter openly in the tank for Trump is not great!(Not to mention Fox News and the Sinclair Broadcast Group.)
@MarkedMan: “The entirety of the discussion seemed to be about whether a fireman had the proper uniform on as he pulled people from a burning building, with the arson that led to that state of affairs being relegated to a side note.”
Nailed it beautifully, MM. I agreed and still agree wholeheartedly. It seemed to me you have the best take on this.
And LC is correct too. When I was 13/14 years old, we read The Diary of Anne Frank in class. While we felt horrified in that American way that immediately relegates awful events to Other Places Far Away that had nothing to do with us, some of us also felt that the Franks should have seen the writing on the wall and lit out for other countries a lot faster than they did.
Our teacher tried to walk us through what it might feel for a family pulling up stakes in a town and country their families had lived in for centuries, how they didn’t speak other languages, how they’d have to leave family and jobs behind, how it’s so easy to think things will get better. We scoffed – we wouldn’t care about any of that, we’d just concentrate on getting out, how naive would you have to be not to see that Hitler meant everything he said.
I haven’t thought about it in years but remember it vividly now. What arrogant little sh*ts we were.
Caitlyn Jenner tweeted: “Congratulations Mr. President. Thanks be to God!”
To which someone replied: “He just ordered the government to call you Bruce.”
The Constitution spells out clearly the process for amending the Constitution.
Trump, yesterday, amended the 14th Amendment by Executive Order.
So much for that quaint oath to protect and defend the Constitution.
@Daryl:
I figure the plan, if there is one, is to escalate the matter to the Leo & Crow Court, where the 6-3 opinion written by Roberts will state “It is emphatically the duty of the Judicial Department to say that the law is what the felon rapist and overgrown toddler says it is.”
@charontwo:
We’ll see what happens when the felon directs the Treasury to pay interest on the national debt with orange rapist memes.
@drj:
I deleted my instagram account. I want to delete the fakebook account, too, but it’s the only thing that allows me to stay in touch with a few people. Unless they all move to Bluesky or Mastodon, I may have to keep it.
@Kathy:
I wasn’t using Twitter much anymore, but my account is gone now.
I get that Facebook is a bit more complicated. Still, personally, I would leave. And I’d tell all my friends exactly why.
The looting has just begun.
Tracking Trump’s national-security conflicts of interest
t is a quirk of constitutional checks-and-balances interpretation that presidents are generally exempt from laws that seek to prevent U.S. officials from acting in their own interests instead of the country’s. Still, modern chief executives have customarily taken steps to reduce conflicts of interest—particularly to keep the prospect of personal gain or foreign pressures from emboldening or even empowering America’s enemies.
Not Donald Trump.
During his first term as president, Trump declined to divest his global businesses, leading to more than 3,400 conflicts of interest, as counted in 2020 by the Center for Responsibility and Ethics in Washington.
Now, as he returns to the Oval Office, policy experts and watchdog organizations say Trump’s record, 2024 campaign, and transition process suggest that his second-term conflicts of interest will be far more numerous, blatant, and dangerous.
“I think that that people have essentially internalized and normalized that we have a president coming in who is going to disregard basic ethical principles and use the presidency for his own benefit, in ways that might result in decisions that are not in the interest of the American people,” CREW President Noah Bookbinder said. “I hope the American people will express real concern about this.”
@drj:
I’ve not yet received my FB orders to follow Trump and Vance.
@MarkedMan:
I read what you’re writing. I don’t disagree.
Context matters. This is a blog, which presumably is intended to foster rich discussion.
The issue of norms makes for much more interesting discussion than does the latest installment of Trump’s awfulness. That’s my opinion anyways as a very occasional commenter.
The other day I dreamt song lyrics from “El Vendedor” by Mocedades. Only it was some kind of alien telling someone else a portion of the lyrics. This stayed with me for some reason, and I can’t quite let it go.
The portion, in Spanish, is “Tu eres el que ha pasado, el que ha llegado, y el que vendrá.” the translation to English is unsatisfying. I can’t quite convey the feel. here goes “You’re the one who passed, the one who’s arrived, and the one yet to come.”
Problem is the first clause. it means more something like “you came and did something remarkable or very important,” but that can’t be reduced to one word in English.
I want to use it in a story I’m working on, as it’s both cryptic and kind of poetic, and I do know what it eventually means. It also gives off B5 Minbari savior vibes, being three parts and three tenses.
@Scott:
All the way back in 2017, the rapist interpreted this quirk as meaning “the president(sic) can’t have a conflict of interests.”
This is manifestly untrue, but since the law doesn’t apply tot he white house occupant, the rapist can do what he wants. The bigger problem is he doesn’t even think he shouldn’t be doing such things. He may believe he can auction off pardons on eBay and that’s not only not illegal, but not even improper. he can’t have a conflict of interests.
My husband cancelled instagram and facebook recently. Since I have never been on any social media, I have nothing to cancel.
I did get rid of google as my search engine and boy, are they pissed. Too bad. Too much ai crap. Do you know one ai query uses a shitload more energy than a simple search? Whoever the techbro ceo of google is actually said, out loud, that since the world wasn’t going to make the climate goals, might as well go all in on ai.
I refuse to voluntarily feed the beast.
We have Trump and Melania coins. Now the MAGA preacher Trump likes has his own coin, the Lorenzo Sewell coin. At this point when you add in all of the other crypto scandals it’s hard to overlook that a prime use for crypto is scamming/grifting. There is little doubt that Trump will deregulate crypto. I have come to the conclusion that we should just go ahead and completely deregulate it. That means is someone is scammed they just lose their money. We dont spend my tax money investigating, prosecuting and trying to get money back for those scammed. Make it truly laissez faire and buyer beware. Let buyers take all of the risks instead of me helping to offset some of the risk.
Steve
While looking up the lyrics of El Vendedor online, I came across this oddity: Shakira, age ten, singing El Vendedor on TV, c. 1987
The video quality is crappy, but the audio is reasonably good.
@becca:
What’s worse with Google these days, is there’s an Ai summary of most searches even if you don’t ask for it. So they’re just mindlessly using up energy. I ignore it 99% of the time.
A question America will be asking itself:
@steve:
They’re going to end up diluting themselves in the marketplace for extra dumb pointless crypto.
@charontwo:
The coin is not only a vehicle for foreign governments and other well-funded actors to personally reward trump, but to punish him as well. After having bought large stakes of the meme coin, they have the ability to tank its value through heavy selling.
@Rob1:
That will happen in some cases. The melania coin has sunk to $3.80, which is about half the price at which it was initially available. So anyone who has bought and held that coin is a literal loser.
@Rob1:
I guess that makes it a genuine swearing in.
What’s German for “shitstorm”? Scheissesturm?
@drj:
Sometimes a technical issue is a low level technical employee doing shit because they’re a MAGA fucknut.
There’s clearly intent, but we don’t know whose intent, and Meta wants to maintain the fiction of being a place for everyone, so I would guess random MAGA fucknut, at least for blocking the #Democrat and #DNC.
Why would they be able to? They could be misusing tools for blocking things associated with child porn. Or they genuinely believe QAnon shit and are using them correctly.
We are still in the “Roman Salute” stage of fascism, where they are trying to not show their hand.
@CSK: They just borrow “shitstorm.”
Question for this engineer-heavy commentariat. My eldest is (finally) continuing her education, and has enrolled in an actual university. She’s aiming for urban planning via a civil engineer degree. (I think her long-term goal is to turn American cities into Amsterdam.) She has pretty respectable math and computer skills, is very detail-oriented, very smart. (Absolutely great copy editor.)
Useful degree? Attainable goal?
@CSK:
If the German word for shit isn’t trump, it should be.
@Michael Reynolds:
Yes, it’s definitely attainable and a good route to get there. I think it makes more sense to go civil engineering at the undergrad level. Especially if there is an urban planning track. Urban planning IMO is better as a graduate degree–after she gets some experience.
That said, the next four years will probably be a mixed bag for anyone studying that. I’d definitely suggest she concentrates on the local or county level. That will provide the most flexibility.
@MarkedMan: I made a comment two and a half months ago about the grieving process, it being perfectly normal for people to go through. It doesn’t mean your thinking is clear when it’s happening though. There’s a lot of mob psychology going on here. If you think the mainstream media is whitewashing the situation, you’re overheated. Talking to equally overheated people makes it even worse.
@Matt Bernius:
Thanks, I’ll pass that along. Kind of hoping there’s a ‘study abroad’ option.
@Michael Reynolds: “(I think her long-term goal is to turn American cities into Amsterdam.)”
I wish her the very best with that. But first she’s going to figure out how to turn Americans into Dutch people.
@Michael Reynolds:
There are a lot of great options outside the US at both levels–especially in Europe. If your daughter would be interested in talking to someone with some generalized experience in this area, I’m happy to find some time.
@Michael Reynolds: “Attainable Goal” depends on your daughter and you are certainly in a better position to answer that than anyone here, and possibly even better than your daughter herself, although parents get nowhere by opining on things like that.
Unless something has drastically changed since my time in engineering school (EE for me, but we had Civil, Mechanical, Packaging and a couple others as well) , a Civil Engineering BS will give the foundation she would need to tackle a more specific area in grad school. She will also need to get her Professional Engineer’s certificate when she is finishing up. This is required to be able to be a lead engineer or even submit documents for certain types of projects. Never needed one as an EE in my specific field, but every Civil Engineer student I knew was studying for this as hard as for their regular classwork.
I haven’t, so far, seen much opposition from the loyal opposition. What I do see is Joe Biden welcoming Trump home, Chuck Schumer promising to be bi-partisan, and fund raising emails. Atrios links to an explanation as to why this is from a ex-Sanders campaign manager who has decided to run for chair of the DNC. He sees the DNC as powerless and the whole show being run by consultants. Consultants get paid, win or lose.
The RNC seems no better, but the GOPs are backed by, for lack of a better term, the Kochtopus. Maybe now more the Techbropus. Dems have nothing comparable. Except in the bothsides sense that we have the Sierra Club and they have Heritage Action.
A lot of people voted on Trump looking strong, Dems need to look strong. We look like wimps. Yes, Dems need to pick their fights, but first they have to decide to fight.
@gVOR10: There’s not much you can do against executive orders, and the Dems don’t have an obvious national leader. Newsom would have been the good guess but he can’t take that role right now. There are some cabinet nominees who haven’t been voted on, so the Senate would be a smart place to present a case.
@gVOR10: And when to fight. Now is probably not the time. Pretty good bet he and his clowns will cause a big mess fairly soon, and then the protesting can be on what is happening and not on what might happen.
My first choice matchup for the Super Bowl this year was Minnesota vs Buffalo. the second was Detroit vs Buffalo. These can’t happen now. So I’m now reduced to Buffalo vs either Philadelphia or Washington.
I’ve a predilection for matchups between teams that have never won the championship.
I’m sure Mahomes will deny me.
@dazedandconfused:
As as outsider, fogive my imperinence, but I’d also advise trying to abide by political norms as far as possible, and keep your powder try for the real outrages.
Which probably won’t be long in coming.
For instance, the likely legal fight over the Tik-Tok issue.
Setting aside any questions of the merits of the ban, what is the legal position of a President apparently intent on overturning a law by fiat?
Also, not too far down the road, there will be the detonation of the tariffs issue: inflationary effects, reactions of the bond markets to the budget projections, likely Trump vs Fed crisis if the Fed hikes interest rates. Possible currency effects.
And the likely techbro vs MAGA war over H1B visas.
I have a suspicion that come the 2026 elections, the Democrats may actually be in a rather good place.
Nil desperandum.
Or, as Churchill often said: “Keep buggering on.”
@JohnSF:
If the rapist doesn’t declare a very wide, very vague emergency, deploys troops throughout the country (esp. in cities), and suspends the midterm elections.
He wouldn’t do it, but I’m less certain what his project 2025 handlers will get him to do. What if President Xlon really wants it and buys some rapist memes to show he’s serious?
I’ve nightmares during the day while wide awake.
@Kathy:
Perhaps, at the outside. But I suspect by then Elon and the Felon may have had a massive falling out.
Congress is unlikely to love DOGE trying to usurp its prerogatives.
H1B visas are an obvious Musk vs MAGA tension; also China issues various.
And the obvious potential clashes of finance-oriented Republicans vs MAGA over various economic issues; and GoP judicial supremacists are not likely, I suspect, to be wowed by the prospect of subordination to MAGA populists.
Judges tend to have a very high opinion of themselves.
A “dash for fash” is an obvious danger.
But otoh, the US is highly decentralized polity; and a lot of the military likely take their oath to uphold the constitution quite seriously.
The base question seems to be: are the higher courts, and the Republicans in Congress, genuinely willing to slit their own throats in fealty to an Orange Overlord?
I have my doubts.
@Fortune: @dazedandconfused: Yes, the party does not have leader. That’s a problem with presidential systems. I’ve seen a lot of suggestions Dems have a shadow cabinet. Difficult without a leader. Yes, the clown act will provide good targets. Yes, this is just the way it is, the excuse of every conservative, ever, about everything. GOPs had a leader, albeit a horrible one, during their term in opposition. People could line up behind Hakeem Jeffries until the primaries (I’ve given up on Schumer). Is it too much to ask that when we have new DNC leadership, they lead? We’re liberals, make something better. Don’t pick a dumb fight, but for FS show some willingness to fight.
Not to pick on you two, but I am really discouraged not only by what Trump is doing, but by what Dems are and are not doing.
What John Lewis said, “If not us, who? And if not now, when?”
@Matt Bernius:
Thanks, Matt, very cool of you.
@MarkedMan:
She has no fear of tests. Now, whether she’ll pursue it that far. . . Her parents set a bad example. My way is to just not do it because oppositional defiant disorder. If she does it her mother’s way, she’ll start studying about 12 hours before the test.
@JohnSF:
The varios socialist and communists groups in Russia had a falling out even before the 1917 revolution. They still wrecked the country and instituted 7 decades of oppressive rule.
Some judges are ambitious and many don’t like their decisions overturned. Many will go along with whatever the rapist wants, because the Leo Court will rule in his favor anyway. Maybe a favorable decision early on gets them a seat on a circuit court or the Leo court.
BTW, the case about gender affirming care for minors is pending. Before the election I thought it was likely the odious six would rule along the lines of overturning Roe and turn it to the states. After November 5th., though, I’m convinced they’ll ban all affirming care for minors nationwide.
@Kathy: They’re going to undo every single good thing Biden did during his administration (Medicare drug negotiating/price caps, etc), and then ban everything else on the culture war buzzword list. And tariff’s on Mexico and Canada by Feb 1, I hear. Wouldn’t be surprised to hear about Obergefell a lot more by Feb 1, too, they are drunk on power right now. Everything is on the block.
Because Biden was too old. And he was, I admit that. But he’s all we had. And look at/listen to Trump! Also OBVIOUSLY too old, but the ACTUAL “Shadow Cabinet” will prop him up just like our local trolls said they were doing to Biden. And our local trolls are fine with the reverse situation.
Trump has authorized his mass deportation forces to terrorize schoolchildren and desecrate places of worship.
Trump authorizes ICE to target schools and churches
Because our schools are infested with “murderers and rapists.”
@Jax:
When tariffs and such come in and things get worse, especially if the rapist triggers a recession, he’ll double down on culture war BS, because that always gets him applause with the base.
I’m not very concerned for Obergefell given the Respect for Marriage Act. But the Leo Court could easily eviscerate their earlier decision, and cause lots of trouble. I don’t want to speculate, as I’m depressed enough already.
The thing is the rapist could suck on his thumb and take a dump publicly at the UN General Assembly, and his base will declare it the greatest ever speech given at that nest of communistwokeenemiesofthepeople, besides it never happened.
A friend sent me a text indicating personal knowledge of a significant number of trans kids looking to emigrate. I sent it along to my daughter. She wrote back a very cogent explanation of her thinking in staying in the Bay Area, and then invited us to stop with advice involving fleeing.
It’s quite a nice moment when you realize you’ve raised someone brave.
@Michael Reynolds: I got a call from my kid’s principal this morning. The school flagged them for looking at 4chan, apparently.
In context, we were discussing why Elon Musk and tech bro’s were so fucking WEIRD, and we were talking about how they might want to go into gaming or cooking school when graduation comes. They’d never heard of 4chan, or Gamergate, so they looked it up on the school computer.
I am not sure how I’m going to respond. I think the principal deserves the context, but my kid already feels like a target.