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Though Trump has been in office for more than three weeks, he has yet to send a substantive bill to Congress. Some observers have compared Trump’s flurry of action to Franklin Roosevelt’s first 100 days, or Lyndon Johnson’s Great Society agenda. They are missing the point. FDR and LBJ sent big legislation to Congress. Trump is starting with a pipeline of executive orders. If the courts stymie those, they will be blocking his agenda. His strategy rests on a pliant judiciary.

He believes the US electorate gave him an unchecked mandate. It follows that any interference in his exercise of power — including an Alice-style belief that the US constitution means what he chooses it to mean — amounts to a block on democracy. Could he put 30,000 illegal immigrants beyond legal reach in a refitted Guantánamo Bay? Of course. The American people have spoken. Might he pick which of America’s creditors to repay and which to declare fraudulent? Quite possibly. Trump, not judges, will be the decider.

The Republican-controlled Congress has removed itself from Trump’s path. Unelected judges are the problem. Ultimate among those are the nine justices of the US Supreme Court. It is to their inboxes such dilemmas are heading. At stake is their reason for existing.

Turkeys are allegedly opposed to Thanksgiving. Yet the Supreme Court last July granted the US president sweeping immunity from almost any “official” acts. It takes little imagination to infer that this could be stretched to ignoring the courts. The six justices who put their names to that ruling may now regret their loose phrasing. They could have edited themselves into an advisory body. The problem the court faces is that Trump has a strong wind at his back. Constitutional lawyers warn that he could destroy America’s separation of powers.

https://www.ft.com/content/8e52b5ae-56b4-4571-ba09-103d5799ce9a
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Today, Elon Musk is the real head of the executive branch of the US Government. He has a government strategy, he executes on his plans and, importantly, he is taking control over the purse. Trump only signs papers and makes loud noises.

The arrangement is clearly unconstitutional because [a bunch of arguments here], but it will take a lot of time to litigate the situation in courts. In the meantime, the de-facto president will do whatever he wants to do. This creates an important precedent for the future of American democracy. No unelected person in the history of the country had that much executive power in combination with zero accountability.
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If he succeeds, Trump's disregard for the law is going to create a long-term problem for the country:
Perhaps the biggest test for Congress is Trump’s bid to wrestle power over one of the legislature’s core functions: deciding what programs get funded, and at what cost. In an unprecedented action, the Trump administration offered 2 million federal employees a chance to resign now and receive eight months of pay, implying an expenditure of money not authorized by Congress. Further, Trump and his allies have said they would contest a Nixon-era law that requires him to spend money on programs as appropriated by Congress. Trump allies have said the law is unconstitutional and that the president can impound, or refuse to spend, money for programs he doesn’t like.

The tepid response so far offers the latest measure of how much Congress has ceded its authority since earlier eras in which powerful committee chairmen defended their constitutional turf no matter who was in the White House. Today, Trump dominates his party, and many GOP lawmakers fear that challenging him could cost them their jobs, as the president and his allies could back primary challenges against them.

https://www.wsj.com/politics/policy/trump-kicks-aside-congress-with-sweeping-claims-of-presidential-power-a3daf68b
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I wonder if somebody is going to sue the administration to stop the tariffs because they are imposed under a false pretense of a national security threat, which clearly doesn't exist in Canada's case.
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“Fairy tales operate according to several other fundamental principles of magical thinking besides natural magic and animist vitality: animal metamorphosis and changeable bodies on the one hand, and the binding power of promises and curses on the other, govern the logic of the plots—although logic is hardly the mot juste, since magic springs continual surprises that break all the rules of probability. The implied, ever-present possibility of transmogrification means that fairytale protagonists...may be changed, sometimes literally, sometimes figuratively. A stroke of fate will raise them high or lay them low.

Although magic operates according to fundamental principles, its manifestations differ from culture to culture, and era to era, which adds spice and variety to fairy tales.”

...
The stress falls on the binding power of words: the father must keep his promise to the Beast, the beauty will sleep for a hundred years, according to the letter of the spell.
...

“Prophecies—and curses—march on unstoppably. One message of fairy tales is ‘Beware what you wish for.’ Another would be ‘Beware what you promise.’ Yet another would be ‘Beware what you utter.’ You can’t take back what you say. There’s a profound respect in the genre for what words do in the world, as well as in the stories.”

--Warner, Marina;. “Once upon a Time.”

=====
Promises create a stable structure, while everything else is changeable. This way "what is" and "what ought to be" ultimately are the same.
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The city of Springfield should sue the Trump campaign for libel. The campaign knowingly spread false news that caused harm to the town's residents and its institutions.

SPRINGFIELD, Ohio—City Manager Bryan Heck fielded an unusual question at City Hall on the morning of Sept. 9, from a staff member of Republican vice presidential nominee JD Vance. The staffer called to ask if there was any truth to bizarre rumors about Haitian immigrants and pets in Springfield.

“He asked point-blank, ‘Are the rumors true of pets being taken and eaten?’” recalled Heck. “I told him no. There was no verifiable evidence or reports to show this was true. I told them these claims were baseless.”
...
The cat-eating rumors, started with a post by a Springfield woman on a private Facebook page, turned out to be third-hand and were subsequently disavowed by the original poster, according to NewsGuard, a company that tracks online misinformation.
...
A Vance spokesperson on Tuesday provided The Wall Street Journal with a police report in which a resident had claimed her pet might have been taken by Haitian neighbors. But when a reporter went to Anna Kilgore’s house Tuesday evening, she said her cat Miss Sassy, which went missing in late August, had actually returned a few days later—found safe in her own basement.

https://www.wsj.com/us-news/springfield-ohio-pet-eating-claims-haitian-migrants-04598d48
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https://digitalcommons.law.buffalo.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1053&context=circles

Analysis of fairy tale narratives relative to law and power structures.
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Люди, обсуждающие американскую политику делятся на две части: 1) те, кто понимают, что законы (bills), касающиеся бюджетных денег, принимает Конгресс, а не президент и 2) те, кто не понимают.

Еще интересно, что в рассуждениях по п.2 Байден настолько выжил из ума, что коварно украл все деньги.
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Основатель и генеральный директор «Телеграма» Павел Дуров более 50 раз въезжал в Россию в период с 2015 по 2021 годы, выяснили «Важные истории».

С этого момента [продажа вк] и до конца 2017 года бизнесмен приезжал в Москву и Петербург как минимум 41 раз. В Россию из Финляндии заезжал и его брат Николай — программист, который фактически и создал популярный мессенджер.

В июле 2017 года в силу вступил одиозный пакет законов депутата Ирины Яровой, по которому операторы обязаны передавать ФСБ ключи расшифровки сообщений пользователей.В этот момент Кремль начал репрессивную кампанию против «Телеграма». Несмотря на риски, миллиардер провел почти весь остаток 2017 года главным образом в России, на несколько дней выезжая в Финляндию, Латвию и Францию, свидетельствуют данные базы «Кордон».

...Дуров впервые с декабря 2017-го приезжает в Россию. Точная дата пересечения границы не отображена в базах ФСБ, однако можно с уверенностью сказать, что Дуров был в Петербурге 18 июня 2020 года — вечером этого дня он сел на самолет из Пулково в Белград.

Днем 18 июня Роскомнадзор внезапно выпустил заявление о прекращении блокировки мессенджера в России по согласованию с Генпрокуратурой: «Позитивно оцениваем высказанную основателем Telegram готовность противодействовать терроризму и экстремизму». При этом суд не отменял решения о блокировке, а Госдума не принимала законопроектов, которые позволили бы инициировать разблокировку мессенджера.

21 октября 2021 года Дуров улетел из питерского Пулково на Ибицу и больше не приезжал в Россию. Зато туда регулярно ездит его личный ассистент, который ранее готовил визиты Дурова в страну, следует из базы ФСБ. Этот же ассистент сопровождал его в поездке в Азербайджан перед задержанием во Франции, следует из анализа соцсетей этого сотрудника «Телеграм».

https://storage.googleapis.com/istories/news/2024/08/27/pavel-durov-priezzhal-v-rossiyu-bolee-50-raz-s-momenta-izgnaniya-v-2014-m/index.html


Freedom of speech situation in Russia doesn't seem to bother him at all.
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Throughout Alabama, there is widespread shock, anger and confusion over how to proceed after the state Supreme Court ruled Friday that frozen embryos are people, a potentially far-reaching decision that could upend women’s reproductive health care in a state that already has one of the nation’s strictest abortion laws.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/ar-BB1iCkls


"extra uterine children"
https://www.wbur.org/hereandnow/2024/02/21/embryos-people-alabama
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Donald Trump's real estate empire could be saved by his wife, former first lady Melania Trump, after the former president was barred from conducting business in the state of New York for three years.

https://www.newsweek.com/melania-ivanka-could-save-donald-trumps-businesses-1870853
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Musk's drug use is becoming an issue that might end up in courts. Remarkably, Larry Ellison offered Musk a detox on his island but didn't succeed in convincing the addict. It's not going to end well.


https://www.wsj.com/tech/elon-musk-tesla-money-drugs-board-61af9ac4
https://www.wsj.com/business/elon-musk-illegal-drugs-e826a9e1
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В Нижнем Новгороде 24-летнюю девушку отправили под административный арест за ношение сережек в цветах радуги. Об этом сообщает правозащитный проект «Эгида». 29 января к ней подошли двое неизвестных. Записывая происходящее на камеру, они потребовали, чтобы она и ее друг немедленно сняли с себя «экстремистскую символику». Впоследствии видео опубликовали в соцсетях, и героиню ролика вызвали на допрос. Сотрудники центра «Э» составили на нее протокол о демонстрации экстремистской символики. Силовики решили, что радужные серьги связаны с ЛГБТ («Международное общественное движение ЛГБТ» признано экстремистским и запрещено на территории РФ), и задержали девушку. После чего суд отправил ее под арест на пять суток.

https://t.me/rusbrief/196395

Сейчас становится хорошо видно, как тоталитарный режим порождает стимулы для доносительства. Экстремизм относится к тяжелым преступлениям; в той же категории находятся убийства, ограбления и т.д. Раскрываемость по убийствам в России около 30%, а экстремизма - 100%. Чтобы улучшить показатели раскрываемости тяжелых преступлений, полиция будет бороться с экстремистскими радужными сережками, а не с убийствами. С принятием закона о конфискации за "фейки" стимулы к ловле "экстремистов" усилятся.
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  1. Cities of China* — 626m cameras to 1.43bn people = 439.07 cameras per 1,000 people
  2. Hyderabad, India — 900,000 cameras for 10,801,163 people = 83.32 cameras per 1,000 people
  3. Indore, India – 200,000 cameras per 3,302,077 people = 60.57 cameras per 1,000 people
  4. Delhi, India — 449,934 cameras for 22,547,000 people = 19.96 cameras per 1,000 people
  5. Singapore, Singapore — 109,072 cameras for 6,080,859 people = 17.94 cameras per 1,000 people
  6. Moscow, Russia — 214,000 cameras for 12,680,389 people = 16.88 cameras per 1,000 people
  7. Baghdad, Iraq — 120,000 cameras for 7,711,305 people = 15.56 cameras per 1,000 people
  8. Seoul, South Korea — 144,513 cameras for 9,988,049 people = 14.47 cameras per 1,000 people
  9. St. Petersburg, Russia — 75,000 cameras for 5,561,294 people = 13.49 cameras per 1,000 people
  10. London, England (UK) — 127,423 cameras for 9,648,110 people = 13.21 cameras per 1,000 people.
https://www.comparitech.com/vpn-privacy/the-worlds-most-surveilled-cities/
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He[Ricoeur] derives this initial ethical understanding of institution from Arendt’s concept of “power in common” that is contrasted with domination (“power over”) and that is realised by a plurality of people acting in concert. ...

Because acting in concert with unknown third parties needs time to unfold, institutions are needed. Institutions thereby provide the neces- sary temporal dimension for the power in common to endure, which lies at the basis of any political community. Read more... )

--- Reijers, Coeckelbergh. Narrative and Technology Ethics.

In this respect, good institutions bridge time, i.e. form social infrastructure the same water reservoirs form physical infrastructure. Need to find a related quote from Hegel that good judges/courts represent infinity.
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A grand jury in Atlanta returned an indictment of Trump after hearing evidence presented by Fulton County District Attorney Fani Willis over the course of a more than two-year investigation.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/donald-trump-indicted-georgia-election-interference-case-64deb461


The record is impressive. So far, our stable genius got two impeachments, four criminal indictments and one guilty jury verdict in a civil case.
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Trump created a whole industry, by taking money from low middle class men and giving them to well-connected lawyers.

https://www.wsj.com/articles/trumps-donors-help-fund-his-legal-bills-becoming-windfalls-for-his-attorneys-9b119b1c
Those bills are being subsidized in part by many small-dollar contributors. A major fundraising stream for Save America, called the Trump Save America Joint Fundraising Committee, received more than 40% of its donations this year from donors who gave $200 or less.
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Посмотрел русские телеграмм-каналы по поводу взрыва моста и заодно обнаружил интересный материал, как устроены права собственности в российском сегменте. Read more... )
Гарантией же свободы творчества и предпринимательства начинает становиться публичная лояльность одной из кремлевских башен. Грубо говоря, в телеграм приходит принцип «мочи оппозицию и зарабатывай на чем хочешь».
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In Dominion vs Fox, court documents show that Fox knew conspiracy theories about "stolen elections" were bunk, but kept peddling them to Trumpidiots.

https://twitter.com/ErikWemple/status/1626372140479004672
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Why can't I get ChatGPT to brush and floss my teeth?

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