volkris @volkris@qoto.org

@accretionist@techhub.social I'm describing the experience of working in the US government these days.

Thanks for asking for clarification, though.

Yes, it is really a frustrating time to be involved in the research community, as science is being hampered by orders coming out of this administration.

@servelan Well, how do you think it works?

What exactly do you think the Supreme Court does when somebody ignores a ruling?

@servelan Read up on the history of people and governments ignoring Supreme Court rulings.

Part of the checks and balances in the US system is that the Supreme Court, like all courts, get to issue their rulings, but they have no enforcement power.

The other branches, like everyone else, are free to ignore whatever papers come out of the Supreme Court, which is part of assuring that those lifetime appointments aren't so powerful that they become problematic.

The Supreme Court, like all courts, interpret law.
But they cannot force anyone else to listen to their interpretations.

Which is a good thing when it comes to cases that one might consider wrongly decided.

@dougiec3 No, Mother Jones is notoriously really sensationalistic and just flat out wrong in so many of its stories, and this is no exception to that.

Mother Jones is not a reliable source. That needs to be emphasized.

@servelan I mean yeah, that's how the US government is set up. The Supreme Court can only hand down opinions, and as history shows very well, people can and do ignore them.

Then it becomes an issue for the executive branch to respond.

But the governor is right here.

It's really important to realize what he's saying and how it fits into the constitutional order.

@DrFell Yeah sometimes Tucker isn't exactly the best source

@accretionist@techhub.social I can repeat it if you missed it, but I am completely frustrated that Republicans have not yet wisened up and sent Trump back to the sewer from which he came.

And same with Democrats. I wish that either party would decide they would rather win the election by a landslide by choosing almost any candidate who is not named Trump or Biden.

If you're interested in more detail, while I say that my experience under Biden has been the worst I've seen from any president, I assume that's just because Trump was too damn and confident and stupid to actually figure out what phone to talk in to to do his own damage.

Undo Biden the administration has been micromanaging science in the US in very kind expensive and counterproductive ways.

I'm sure Trump would love to do the same, but he's just too damn stupid to know how to do that.

@DrFell

I think it's important to be precise in this case and recognize it as state affiliated media and not state media, because I agree that it's troubling that the connection is there, but there's a lot of people who are going to play gotcha if the terminology lets them.

Yeah, NPR has a concerning relationship with various governments, and that needs to be highlighted.

@nedhamson1 Well it sounds like the UN agency should have addressed this earlier before it got to this point.

@Hypx Why do you say it needs to move away from down votes altogether?

@kolektyw_szmer

@Hyolobrika (ok fine I suppose I should correct my statement that there are some limited authorities that don't require Congress, but they are extremely limited :) )

@freemo @realcaseyrollins

@accretionist@techhub.social wow, That's quite a leap you are making, quite a lot of assumptions!

Just because I have personally seen how much worse things have gotten under Biden doesn't mean I have any love for Trump. In fact, I am seriously seriously hoping the Republicans come to their senses and nominate someone different through the remaining primaries.

Same with Democrats. I really hope they come to their senses and choose a different candidate. It was a good chance I would vote for that person.

Biden has been a disaster for science in the US, which I have experienced firsthand. So I will not vote for him.

I really really hope both parties dump those two, and I have a little hope for that because whichever party nominates someone different will probably win.

@Hyolobrika Oh, it's one of the main areas I nerd out on, so I could talk about it all day 🙂

I also think it's fascinating to contrast the US system against the UK system, the role that the written Constitution plays in contrast to the British system of fundamental law.

If you're really interested I could suggest some readings, particularly from the federalist papers, a set of documents written by the people who wrote the US Constitution explaining exactly what they were thinking and how they imagined the US system functioning.

But yeah, in a sentence the US president has absolutely no authority that hasn't been granted to him by the Constitution plus the Congress. Any action he attempts to take that is not granted by both is illegal and anybody carrying out such orders would be carrying out illegal orders.

So it doesn't matter how much a president might want to be a dictator. The entire massive institution that is the federal government is structured such that dictatorial leanings would be smothered.

@freemo @realcaseyrollins

@dontreportme mismanagement and micromanagement by people who don't know how the work is done but are happy to send out demands, especially ones that seem focused on CYA sorts of situations.

For example, and I'm being vague because I really don't like to talk about my institutions as part of my professional philosophy, but imposing procedures that make sense in a factory upon scientific researchers, and down systems until those unworkable policies work... you can see how that is a problem.

You can see how administration officials who don't understand the work environment might just think that the factory procedure should just plain work fine everywhere, but it doesn't.

The amount of money that's being wasted has gone through the roof under this administration, and the amount of downtime where no research is going on has also skyrocketed because they are making such a mess of things.

@Jayslacks

@lauren Well I'm happy to clarify that I meant no such thing.

I really enjoy teaching in my real life. I never look down on students; I see teaching as a way to help them enhance their lives and find better futures.

I don't actually consider myself a techie anyway, but in my classrooms I've found it really important to point out when somebody is going in the wrong direction with their assignment, not because they're stupid or anything, but because with a boost they'll find themselves on the right track, and that'll be good for everybody.

Build up, don't tear down, is always my philosophy.

@freemo Yeah, the way I figure if we elect someone to office who is really into dictatorship, well, that's really going to suck for them because they are going to spend every day in the Oval Office lamenting that they don't have dictatorial powers

We probably shouldn't elect such a person, but if we do, honestly that person is probably going to be the worst off from it.

@Hyolobrika @realcaseyrollins

@Hyolobrika maybe the thing that you are missing is that in a system like the US they don't get that power merely because they get elected.

In the US it is fundamental to the system that no, we absolutely don't trust ANYONE with such power.

It doesn't matter if you get elected, it doesn't matter if you really really want the power, it doesn't matter if you think you have the power, you still don't have the power, because the US system was designed specifically to make sure you don't have that power.

That's a huge problem with this whole " democracy is on the ballot" nonsense. No, it's not, because the US system was designed specifically to make such a thing impossible.

So I would say that if the people want to elect somebody promising things that they wouldn't have the authority to do at all, then the people are wasting their votes and they're going to be disappointed, but that's really the long and short of it.

Might as well vote for the candidate that is promising to flap his arms and fly to the ceiling.

We should absolutely educate the public on civics so that they know those promises are unfulfillable, but if they want to vote for someone based on a promise that he can't keep, well...

@freemo @realcaseyrollins

@freemo

Notice that I used the plural 🙂
This is not merely one friend, but the prospective offered by many different working historians during their get togethers on, for example, the sidelines of conferences.

@Hyolobrika @realcaseyrollins