@Phil democracy in our constitution is invested in Congress. the President is not elected by the public, and the notion of one man representing the fractious public is absurd. “independence” is conferred by Congress against the influence of that one man, democratically and often appropriately. that this Supreme Court might strip that basic institutional and democratic prerogative from our system is on them. no agency is ever independent of Congress, the heart of our democracy.
Congress has created offices and agencies within the legislative branch, right? The Library of Congress, Congressional Research Service, the erstwhile Office of Technology Assessment, etc.
If the Supreme Court overturns Humphrey's Executor, could independent agencies migrate to the legislative branch?
“You cannot restrict unfreedom to a particular class of people. It will metastasize to consume the entire society.” @jbouie https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/16/opinion/trump-court-order-constitution.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare ht @jeffjarvis
just called my Florida Congressional delegation to express my CECOT outrage. one human picked up (on behalf of Rep Luna), two voicemails (Sens Scott and Moody).
the right time to throw the ring of power into the volcano is when it is you who holds it.
we forgot that, tried to wield it, now look who we’ve become.
@otfrom @BCAppelbaum generally speaking the plan from this administration is unlikely to be the one you want.
“nobody can be trusted with absolute power, least of all the demagogues who seek it. The one good thing Trump’s trade policies are achieving is to demonstrate this yet again. They are harbingers of chaos. The world’s challenge is to survive the folly. The US’s is to end it.” #MartinWolf https://www.ft.com/content/a3e6174c-25e9-4428-9109-16e37319e9e2
some people think it was a kind of ennui that left us open to fascism, citing perhaps Fukyama’s “last man” and a predicted rebellion against that status by those with “megalothymia”. 1/
i think it was not ennui but annoyance that left us vulnerable. people were just annoyed by pronouns and what one might call the microincriminations of “wokeness”. These seemed real, even pressing, while words like “fascism” or “tyranny” or “extermination camps” seemed hypothetical, overwrought. 2/
oops. /fin
“It’s a great idea, if…done right. Federal lands are a national resource, and the nation needs more housing… What cities like St. George need most—and what they mostly refuse to allow—are modest homes and apartments for…workers and families.” @BCAppelbaum https://www.nytimes.com/2025/04/15/opinion/housing-crisis-federal-land.html?smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare
(may i suggest microcities? www.interfluidity.com/v2/8772.html or just the sort of districts #MikeEliason would design and propose?)
if they had any sense they’d call the whole thing off and declare the weaker dollar a great victory.
every time i swipe the credit card, whatever bullshit i am blowing the money on, i am increasing my capital account surplus.
it’s been a long time, but i guess i’ll have to watch some 60 Minutes segments.
the same forces that pushed Obama to say “if you like your health insurance you can keep it” pushes an effective housing politics to concede “if you like your neighborhood, you can keep it”
in neither case is the constraint necessarily virtuous. perhaps it can be overcome. but it’s the same problem.
although the laundering itself remains illegal, providing extremely difficult to penetrate *money laundering services* has been effectively legalized, as long as the infrastructure is “digital assets”.
see @jp_koning https://www.moneyness.ca/2025/04/if-its-crypto-its-not-money-laundering.html
the most insidious propaganda by mainstream media is how it cheerfully chatters the days away as though we are living through ordinary times rather than a desperate national emergency.
@bigtuffal (there are just a few bright lights, sometimes from unexpected quarters, but i am grateful for them.)
@bigtuffal (princeton)
@bigtuffal not all universities have complied. it’d be an option for students. if they agree with you and no longer want the degree from the US institution, they can of course go elsewhere.
every university should offer students whose visas are arbitrarily rescinded pathways to complete their degrees via remote learning.
@Phil i spend much if my life thinking and writing about democracy, proposing reforms. but the administrative state we had was among the most transparent and accountable in all of history. it’s main flaw — a very serious flaw — was capture by monied interests. even as they burn it all down, that problem is exacerbated rather than remedied. freedom is high overdraft fees i guess.