Pragmatic politics focused on the public interest for those uncomfortable with America's two-party system and its way of doing politics. Considering the interface of politics with psychology, cognitive biology, social behavior, morality and history.
Etiquette
DP Etiquette
First rule: Don't be a jackass. Most people are good.
Other rules: Do not attack or insult people you disagree with. Engage with facts, logic and beliefs. Out of respect for others, please provide some sources for the facts and truths you rely on if you are asked for that. If emotion is getting out of hand, get it back in hand. To limit dehumanizing people, don't call people or whole groups of people disrespectful names, e.g., stupid, dumb or liar. Insulting people is counterproductive to rational discussion. Insult makes people angry and defensive. All points of view are welcome, right, center, left and elsewhere. Just disagree, but don't be belligerent or reject inconvenient facts, truths or defensible reasoning.
Philosophically speaking, here’s something rather on the heavy side:
We can’t all be movers and shakers, renowned for shaping world opinion. But we can all contribute in some way to the human society (humanity). So, I’m thinking/wondering…
Q: What do you believe is the most important* quality you, as an individual (or anyone really), can give to/leave behind as your legacy to humanity?
Give it some thought. Thanks for posting and recommending.
(by PrimalSoup)
_____________________________
*Note- "Important" is a subjective-type attribute. So if you want to use another word there, please do, and explain your reasoning. I use the word "important” meaning “a force for construction rather than destruction”; also subjective terms, I grant you. Maybe even not doing something (stealing, lying, cheating, etc.) can be a form of contribution.
Not surprisingly, MAGA elites are turning their attention to the parts of Project 2025 that deal with neutering elections and undermining election security. MAGA calls the efforts election integrity, but in fact they are election subversion tactics. Djt and MAGA want to convert free and fair elections into authoritarian shams. This goal was presaged by Viktor Orban, who killed off elections in Hungary within two years of his election in 2010. Slate writes:
In its crusade against federal agencies, the Trump administration is targeting our election system, making potentially dangerous reductions to protections that help keep elections free, fair, and secure. On Friday, the acting director of the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency sent a memo to all agency staff notifying them that “all election security activities” would be paused pending the results of an internal investigation. The memo also stated that the administration was cutting off all funds to the Election Infrastructure Information Sharing and Analysis Center—a Department of Homeland Security–funded organization that helps state and local officials monitor, analyze, and respond to cyberattacks targeting the nation’s election hardware and software.
The work of CISA and the EI-ISAC has been central to election security in the United States for most of the past decade, providing state and local election officials with critical tools and assistance to defend against cyber and physical threats to election systems. These steps and other recent blows to federal election guardrails were foretold in Project 2025.
Changes to CISA began shortly after Kristi Noem was sworn in as secretary of Homeland Security, which oversees the agency. Beyond the announced election security pause and defunding of EI-ISAC, the agency also put critical election security staff on leave and targeted them for potential termination. These staff .... were reportedly targeted because they had previously been involved with the agency’s efforts to communicate accurate information about election security to election officials and the public.
The article goes on to comment that in view of MAGA attacks on CISA’s work, the djt administration wants to permanently gut the agency’s election security role. That was a Project 2025 goal. In addition, attorney general Pam Bondi disbanded the FBI’s Foreign Influence Task Force. That, along with neutering the Federal Elections Commission, were other Project 2025 targets for disposal. The FBI task force was established during Trump’s first term, after Russian interference in the 2016 election, including hacked campaign emails and poisoning public opinion using social media. djt and MAGA elites have invited Russia back to participate in American elections.
The questions du jour, (i) to what extent will the 2026 mid-term elections be subverted, and (ii) how much honest information about that will flow to the public? Time will tell.
Senator Ben Sasse (R-NE), 2018: “. . . . . the people don't have a way to fire the bureaucrats. What we mostly do around this body is not pass laws. What we mostly decide to do is to give permission to the secretary or the administrator of bureaucracy X, Y or Z to make law-like regulations. That’s mostly what we do here. We go home and we pretend we make laws. No we don’t. We write giant pieces of legislation, 1200 pages, 1500 pages long, that people haven’t read, filled with all these terms that are undefined, and say to secretary of such and such that he shall promulgate rules that do the rest of our dang jobs. That’s why there are so many fights about the executive branch and the judiciary, because this body rarely finishes its work. And, the House is even worse.”
Assuming this not some kind of sophisticated hoax, at this link, https://www.whitehouse.gov/fact-sheets/2025/02/fact-sheet-president-donald-j-trump-reins-in-independent-agencies-to-restore-a-government-that-answers-to-the-american-people/ , DJT declares fully himself above the law in dealing with independent agencies in the executive branch.
What this means
The executive order (EO) asserts that all executive power is vested in the President, and all executive branch officials and employees are subject to his supervision without any constraint by any court or law that congress passes. The EO falsely claims that the President has the complete authority to interpret laws within the executive branch, even if they contradict what the president says they mean. The EO specifies that the President and the Attorney General, allegedly under the President's supervision and control, will exclusively interpret all laws that impinge on the executive branch in any way. This is a de facto assertion of legal power and authority within the executive branch.
Think about that for a moment. Think what it means. When congress passes one of its sloppy, incoherent laws, as it routinely does, the ambiguity inherent in slop and irrationality gives DJT vast power tom interpret most laws in almost any way he wants. But even worse, even if a law is clear and coherent, but it infringes on any executive power, DJT can simply ignore it by saying it is unconstitutional. If the Senate rejects a DJT nominee for some federal position, he can ignore it. He can claim it is an unconstitutional infringement on his power.
This EO will probably be challenged in federal court. I don't know how much or what kinds of damage this will cause before the courts intervene. Public Citizen comments:
“The Federal Election Commission, for example, is independent of presidential control so that it can serve its election integrity mission without partisan favor. For all the FEC’s many faults, it would be far worse under the thumb of Trump and his OMB hatchet man, Russ Vought.
“The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) and Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) are charged with defending consumer and investor rights and protecting market integrity. Their independence is designed to enable them to perform these duties without undue political pressure from giant corporations, the super rich and the super-connected. Trump’s EO would dissolve that independence and put the agencies under Trump’s thumb, ensuring they turn a blind eye to wrongdoing by favored corporations and leave consumers and investors out to dry.
“Not incidentally, both the FTC and SEC have ongoing investigations or enforcement actions against companies owned by Elon Musk. “Americans should understand exactly what this is: A giant gift to the corporate class and a Trumpian power grab.”
Remember that post I posted yesterday? It focused on DJT neutering independent agencies that protect consumers and workers, by limiting the power of dictators, kleptocrats, billionaires and monopolists. Specifically, DJT moved against the FTC (consumers, dictators, kleptocrats, billionaires and monopolists), the NLRB (dictators, workers, billionaires) and the CPSC (consumers, dictators, billionaires). This significantly expands on the scope of America's kleptocratic dictatorship to other independent agencies like the SEC and Federal Elections commission. Congress made them independent to try to keep them from being corrupted by a corrupt president or powerful corporations.
DJT and MAGA elites now undeniably assert full blown dictatorship over a major, critically important portion of the federal government. They massively lie about it, calling it "restoring accountability." That is no different than Republican state legislatures passing voter suppression and election subversion laws, calling them "election integrity" laws.
Qs: Is this just a temporary tempest in a teapot designed to create chaos and distraction, i.e., is it just a smoke screen to temporarily allow time for DJT and elite MAGA thugs to sabotage, break, pillage and loot the federal government? Or are DJT and MAGA elites making a dead serious run at full blown kleptocratic dictatorship, intending to expand unchecked executive power beyond independent agencies or even the executive branch itself?
He who saves his Country does not violate any Law.
Ok, so what is THIS thread about. It's about time on my hands and what is occupying my mind.
Let me be specific:
I find myself at home today with a winter bug of some sort, not feeling well, so got.................. time on my hands.
So, had my cuppa, turned on the news. Channel A - Trump. Channel B - Trump. Channel C - the other news dominating the Canadian news networks - the plane crash at Toronto airport, after that, guess what? Trump.
As if there were NO OTHER NEWS in the world except for Trump this and Trump that.
Example:
Florida man shot Israeli visitors thinking they were Palestinians
Won't find THAT story on Fox, CNN, MSNBC, CBC, Global, BBC, NBC, CBS.
So, with all this time on my hands, what should I do with myself today?
Oh, I know, pop onto Germaine's and bitch how we are spending too much time thinking about Trump, or watching what he is up to 24/7............ while not realizing the irony of doing so.
