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Everyone at NSF overseeing the Platforms for Wireless Experimentation is gone

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Re: Everyone at NSF overseeing the Platforms for Wireless Experimentation is gone

#291

Post by dylan604 »

rayiner wrote: post #252
digitaltrees wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s not far away from dying. I would argue that it’s already too late. The trump administration has shown that it can seize the power to control spending which is constitutionally an exclusive power if congress and courts can’t and won’t do anything about it. We are past a constitutional crisis, republicans had a theory of a unitary executive and prove they can stream roll other branches. Now trump and others are ta…

1) The fact that the President embodies the executive branch is just what Article II says: “The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America.” The same people who say that’s “just a theory” also think that “emanations from penumbras” is constitutional law. They’re not serious people. 2) Trump hasn’t seized the spending power. Congress was the one that delegated spending power to the…

1) While Article II says....it also depends on a checks and balance system with the other two branches of government. We've already seen where the congressional branch is laying down for the executive, and we've also seen where the judicial branch has granted immunity essentially giving carte blanche to the executive. Without equal branches providing checks and balances, you've just ceded power the Constitution requires. Any of the lower courts trying to hold on to any semblance of checks and balance will eventually be reversed once it reaches SCOTUS.

Re: Everyone at NSF overseeing the Platforms for Wireless Experimentation is gone

#292

Post by rayiner »

coliveira wrote: post #287
jltsiren wrote: post #161

Earlier quoted context omitted.

This is based on a too literal interpretation of democracy. Democracy had a bad reputation in the ancient world, because unconstrained majority decisions often led to terrible outcomes. In the modern world, democracy usually means liberal democracy, which includes things like the rule of law and constitutional protections. As a rough approximation, a constitution exists to prevent the government from doing what the v…

One thing Americans don't seem to realize is that the current constitution needs to be rewritten once we get out of this mess. One of the consequences of dictatorships is that they deform the constitution for their purposes. It seems that republicans have done enough to deform the system in an irreparable way.

How would you propose rewriting it that wouldn’t just mean “less democracy” and “more control by credentialed elites?”

Re: Everyone at NSF overseeing the Platforms for Wireless Experimentation is gone

#293

Post by dylan604 »

andix wrote: post #85
BLKNSLVR wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> We may be looking at a lost decade. We're looking at the US wilfully letting go of the possibiility of remaining the most powerful nation in the world. Reduced health, reduced education, reduced funding for research, reduced international aid programs (which both garner goodwill whilst also creating a bulwark against those who profit from misery), reduced oversight / regulation of the power of capital, alienation o…

You forgot "wilfully letting go of democracy". US democracy is far away from dying, but who knows how much longer it can keep holding up.

We're only one skipped election away from democratic death.

Re: Everyone at NSF overseeing the Platforms for Wireless Experimentation is gone

#294

Post by digitaltrees »

rayiner wrote: post #252
digitaltrees wrote: post #117

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It’s not far away from dying. I would argue that it’s already too late. The trump administration has shown that it can seize the power to control spending which is constitutionally an exclusive power if congress and courts can’t and won’t do anything about it. We are past a constitutional crisis, republicans had a theory of a unitary executive and prove they can stream roll other branches. Now trump and others are ta…

1) The fact that the President embodies the executive branch is just what Article II says: “The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America.” The same people who say that’s “just a theory” also think that “emanations from penumbras” is constitutional law. They’re not serious people. 2) Trump hasn’t seized the spending power. Congress was the one that delegated spending power to the…

Neither point is accurate. The executive power doesn't include the ability to create a fake department (DOGE), with a fake head (Elon Musk), lie that he isnt running it in court, and then run roughshod over the regulations and laws congress passed around employment regulations.

You know what the constitution does require, advise and consent. Not a single thing elon musk is doing is legal and yet their are seizing the power to remake departments created and funded by congress. If you want to eliminate USAID or any other department have CONGRESS pass a law to make the change, anything else is a constitutional seizure of power.

The executive power doesn't include a concept such as impoundment, yet the trump administration seized $80mil of FEMA funds from the the city of new york bank account.

Re: Everyone at NSF overseeing the Platforms for Wireless Experimentation is gone

#295

Post by toast0 »

bruce511 wrote: post #228
malcolmgreaves wrote: post #222

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Except it’s not really democracy. You have gerrymandered districts. You elect a leader not by who gets the most votes, but who wins a system that was designed for the benefit of white slave owners. And of course, who really believes the election results when you have Trump saying that Musk rigged some voting machines in his favor. Face it, the US no longer creates its government from the collective will of its citize…

I buy the gerrymandering concept at the congressional level. But Trump won the popular vote. He increased his numbers in 90% of counties. He grew across all demographics. This was not a structural failure. It was very clearly a country-wide mandate.

He clearly won, but a narrow victory is not a mandate.

1984 Reagan's victory was a mandate https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/1984_United_States_president...

Re: Everyone at NSF overseeing the Platforms for Wireless Experimentation is gone

#296

Post by dashundchen »

_heimdall wrote: post #230
malcolmgreaves wrote: post #226

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The Democratic Party is about as far away as you can get from any sort of Marxist political ideology as you can. There’s not a single even minor US political movement that is even remotely related to Marxism.

That seems like a hard claim to stand behind when Harris's father was a Marxist economist. BLM was also a very popular movement among the Democratic party, and it was organized and run by Marxists. How do you land on the party being as far from Marxism as a party can be?

What Marxist policies was Harris promoting?

Elon Musk's parents and grandparents were adovactes and beneficiaries of a violent, racist apartheid South Africa. His dad had children with his step-daughter.

Fred Trump was arrested for participating in a KKK rally and prosecuted for racist discriminatiory housing practices.

How do you land on Trump and Musk being far from violent ugly racism?

Re: Everyone at NSF overseeing the Platforms for Wireless Experimentation is gone

#297

Post by archagon »

rayiner wrote: post #264
_heimdall wrote: post #195

Earlier quoted context omitted.

> This is based on a too literal interpretation of democracy. Attempting to run a democracy in a non-literal way seems like a recipe for disaster. That seems to imply that citizens get to cast a vote and have their voice heard...unless those in charge decide the citizens don't know what is best for them. As a country we picked Trump. For better or worse we made that bed and we now have to lie in it.

Folks on the left would do well to remember that the same unelected bureaucracy that declared “resistance” to Trump would destroy an AOC or Sanders presidency too. Ultimately, it’s a good thing if electing the President can effectuate drastic changes in the executive branch, because that’s the only real lever voters have for affecting the largest and these days most powerful branch of government.

In a modern nation, it’s not tenable to flush the federal government down the toilet every four years.

Re: Everyone at NSF overseeing the Platforms for Wireless Experimentation is gone

#298

Post by digitaltrees »

rayiner wrote: post #290
mindslight wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

... which has been allowed and caused by the Republican congressional obstructionism going on since the 90's. Bush, Obama, and Biden could have reduced their own use of executive power, but they couldn't undo it - rather it was Congress that would have had to reign them in and shrink executive power. Just as the current Congress is ultimately allowing Trump's ongoing authoritarian power grabs, rather than passing law…

> For another example, take the frequent neofascist argument that the federal agencies are "unaccountable" without being under the direct command of the President It’s not “neofascist” lol, it’s just what the constitution says. The first sentence of article II: “ The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America.” It’s not Congress’s job to hold executive branch employees accountable…

Congress is supposed to hold both employees and departments accountable. Employees are held accountable via the advise and consent power so that the leadership of departments isn't beholden to the executive. Departments are held accountable by the budget process, don't do a good job, don't get appropriations. The executive power is merely administrative and logistical.

Re: Everyone at NSF overseeing the Platforms for Wireless Experimentation is gone

#299

Post by mindslight »

rayiner wrote: post #290
mindslight wrote: post #259

Earlier quoted context omitted.

... which has been allowed and caused by the Republican congressional obstructionism going on since the 90's. Bush, Obama, and Biden could have reduced their own use of executive power, but they couldn't undo it - rather it was Congress that would have had to reign them in and shrink executive power. Just as the current Congress is ultimately allowing Trump's ongoing authoritarian power grabs, rather than passing law…

> For another example, take the frequent neofascist argument that the federal agencies are "unaccountable" without being under the direct command of the President It’s not “neofascist” lol, it’s just what the constitution says. The first sentence of article II: “ The executive Power shall be vested in a President of the United States of America.” It’s not Congress’s job to hold executive branch employees accountable…

The executive power, as being laid out in the Constitution. Not all executive power. This is plainly clear by appointments requiring approval of the Senate. If the "executive branch" were meant to be a singular top-down command structure, then such approval (or ability to impeach) would not be required. This push for an authoritarian command structure is one pillar of what makes the term "fascist" appropriate.

I was not talking about the accountability of individual employees according to the law. The accountability I was talking about was the mandate for an agency. That was set by Congress when they created the agency, and can thus be clarified or changed by Congress at any time.

Re: Everyone at NSF overseeing the Platforms for Wireless Experimentation is gone

#300

Post by Krasnol »

alaxhn wrote: post #166
forgotoldacc wrote: post #12

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The real question is, what negatively changed when the debt went from 600k to 666k? What about 500k to 600k? What will negatively change if it goes from 666k to 700k? I hear a lot about the debt going up. Not once have I ever heard what the consequences of this debt are to the regular tax payer. None of these cuts are going to give normal people significant tax cuts, and cutting all these programs certainly doesn't s…

Generally sovereign debt is not a problem until creditors become worries that the debt will not be paid back. The exact threshold is subject to the regular market fear/greed manias and is not an exact figure. Once this happens the country issuing credit will have trouble lending at favorable rates and will be forced to choose between printing money (could lead to massive inflation) and making large cuts. Here is rece…

National debt is not like credit card dept...at all. There is nobody coming to get your car if you don't pay up.

My god...this is such a common misunderstanding, they should use a different word already...

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