The Swamp

The Sybian wrote: Mon Feb 10, 2025 5:14 pm You know, the danger is in how he words it. An Executive’s legitimate power. He’s sort of right, but if the Judge declares his action Unconstitutional, it’s not legitimate, but they will claim the Judge’s decision illegitimate and the base will all cry that Radical Liberal judges are trying to steal power.

Bigger question, what happens when Trump ignores the judges? Lisa Murkowski could have impeached, but she said Trump learned his lesson and would follow the law. How’s that working, Lisa?

Gunpowder wrote: Tue Feb 11, 2025 6:39 am

The Sybian wrote: Mon Feb 10, 2025 5:14 pm You know, the danger is in how he words it. An Executive’s legitimate power. He’s sort of right, but if the Judge declares his action Unconstitutional, it’s not legitimate, but they will claim the Judge’s decision illegitimate and the base will all cry that Radical Liberal judges are trying to steal power.

Bigger question, what happens when Trump ignores the judges? Lisa Murkowski could have impeached, but she said Trump learned his lesson and would follow the law. How’s that working, Lisa?

Lincoln did it and we put him on a mountain

Funny though that this is suddenly a problem for people now after cheering it for the past four years

The Sybian wrote: Tue Feb 11, 2025 6:51 am When did Biden ever ignore the courts or declare they don’t have authority over the President? When did Biden ignore the Separation of Powers, the central tenet of our democracy, and cut off Congressionally appropriated funds or abolish agencies without Congressional approval after removing all inspector generals and oversite?

Gunpowder wrote: Tue Feb 11, 2025 12:53 pm I'm saying nobody seemed to have a problem with random state judges blocking a President until just now

The Sybian wrote: Tue Feb 11, 2025 1:53 pm

Gunpowder wrote: Tue Feb 11, 2025 12:53 pm I'm saying nobody seemed to have a problem with random state judges blocking a President until just now

Ah, gotcha. I didn’t think you’d make the argument I thought you made. To be slightly pedantic, they aren’t state judges, but federal judges named by the state in which their district resides.

Trump Border Czar Tom Homan is not backing down from his suggestion that Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez could have broken the law by holding a webinar informing immigrants of their rights during encounters with Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE).

Homan said on Fox News last week when discussing the webinar, "Is that impeding our law enforcement efforts? And if so, what are we going to do about it? Is she crossing the line? So, I'm working with the Department of Justice and finding out. Where is that line that they cross? So, maybe AOC's gonna be in trouble now."

sancarlos wrote: Sun Feb 16, 2025 4:39 pm

TankFarm2023 wrote: Mon Feb 17, 2025 2:19 pm I mean, I was expecting all this fuckery, but every day, every news item, each and every line crossed, is still managing to make me feel positively bewildered. Worse yet, it simply won't stop.

The daily soundtrack has become the voices of Gira, Alan & Mimi (R.I.P.) of Low chanting, LUNACY! LUNACY! LUNACY!

tennbengal wrote: Mon Feb 17, 2025 2:21 pm

TankFarm2023 wrote: Mon Feb 17, 2025 2:19 pm I mean, I was expecting all this fuckery, but every day, every news item, each and every line crossed, is still managing to make me feel positively bewildered. Worse yet, it simply won't stop.

The daily soundtrack has become the voices of Gira, Alan & Mimi (R.I.P.) of Low chanting, LUNACY! LUNACY! LUNACY!

I think because some portion of them genuinely wants a lot of people to die. I think that is the literal aim of this.

L-Jam3 wrote: Mon Feb 17, 2025 2:26 pm

tennbengal wrote: Mon Feb 17, 2025 2:21 pm

TankFarm2023 wrote: Mon Feb 17, 2025 2:19 pm I mean, I was expecting all this fuckery, but every day, every news item, each and every line crossed, is still managing to make me feel positively bewildered. Worse yet, it simply won't stop.

The daily soundtrack has become the voices of Gira, Alan & Mimi (R.I.P.) of Low chanting, LUNACY! LUNACY! LUNACY!

I think because some portion of them genuinely wants a lot of people to die. I think that is the literal aim of this.

I don't even understand this line of reasoning. I can see attacking the EPA and the SEC for bottom-line reasons. Those agencies directly affect an oligarch's profits. But wanting people to die makes no sense to me. You need people to work in your factories and buy your shit. I get these guys don't give a shit about history, but if they knew about the Black Death, wages skyrocketed because there was a decreased supply of labor. It was the death knell of feudalism. Did they not think this through? Don't answer that.

TankFarm2023 wrote: Mon Feb 17, 2025 2:19 pm I mean, I was expecting all this fuckery, but every day, every news item, each and every line crossed, is still managing to make me feel positively bewildered. Worse yet, it simply won't stop.

The daily soundtrack has become the voices of Gira, Alan & Mimi (R.I.P.) of Low chanting, LUNACY! LUNACY! LUNACY!

The Sybian wrote: Mon Feb 17, 2025 2:56 pm As bad as shit gets, I keep being thankful that it could be worse...I could be a high school civics teacher like Cerrano. Actually got certified to teach HS history about 15 years ago, but didn't pursue.

L-Jam3 wrote: Mon Feb 17, 2025 2:26 pm

tennbengal wrote: Mon Feb 17, 2025 2:21 pm

TankFarm2023 wrote: Mon Feb 17, 2025 2:19 pm I mean, I was expecting all this fuckery, but every day, every news item, each and every line crossed, is still managing to make me feel positively bewildered. Worse yet, it simply won't stop.

The daily soundtrack has become the voices of Gira, Alan & Mimi (R.I.P.) of Low chanting, LUNACY! LUNACY! LUNACY!

I think because some portion of them genuinely wants a lot of people to die. I think that is the literal aim of this.

I don't even understand this line of reasoning. I can see attacking the EPA and the SEC for bottom-line reasons. Those agencies directly affect an oligarch's profits. But wanting people to die makes no sense to me. You need people to work in your factories and buy your shit. I get these guys don't give a shit about history, but if they knew about the Black Death, wages skyrocketed because there was a decreased supply of labor. It was the death knell of feudalism. Did they not think this through? Don't answer that.

Discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin is illegal and morally reprehensible. Accordingly, I write to clarify and reaffirm the nondiscrimination obligations of schools and other entities that receive federal financial assistance from the United States Department of Education (Department). This letter explains and reiterates existing legal requirements under Title VI of the Civil Rights Act of 1964, the Equal Protection Clause of the United States Constitution, and other relevant authorities.

In recent years, American educational institutions have discriminated against students on the basis of race, including white and Asian students, many of whom come from disadvantaged backgrounds and low-income families. These institutions’ embrace of pervasive and repugnant race-based preferences and other forms of racial discrimination have emanated throughout every facet of academia.

Educational institutions have toxically indoctrinated students with the false premise that the United States is built upon “systemic and structural racism” and advanced discriminatory policies and practices. Proponents of these discriminatory practices have attempted to further justify the—particularly during the last four years—under the banner of “diversity, equity, and inclusion” (“DEI”), smuggling racial stereotypes and explicit race-consciousness into everyday training, programming, and discipline. But under any banner, discrimination on the basis of race, color, or national origin is, has been, and will continue to be illegal.

Although some programs may appear neutral on their face, a closer look reveals that they are, in fact, motivated by racial considerations.8 And race-based decision-making, no matter the form, remains impermissible. For example, a school may not use students’ personal essays, writing samples, participation in extracurriculars, or other cues as a means of determining or predicting a student’s race and favoring or disfavoring such students.

Relying on non-racial information as a proxy for race, and making decisions based on that information, violates the law. That is true whether the proxies are used to grant preferences on an individual basis or a systematic one. It would, for instance, be unlawful for an educational institution to eliminate standardized testing to achieve a desired racial balance or to increase racial diversity.

Other programs discriminate in less direct, but equally insidious, ways. DEI programs, for example, frequently preference certain racial groups and teach students that certain racial groups bear unique moral burdens that others do not. Such programs stigmatize students who belong to particular racial groups based on crude racial stereotypes. Consequently, they deny students the ability to participate fully in the life of a school.

The Department will no longer tolerate the overt and covert racial discrimination that has become widespread in this Nation’s educational institutions. The law is clear: treating students differently on the basis of race to achieve nebulous goals such as diversity, racial balancing, social justice, or equity is illegal under controlling Supreme Court precedent.

All students are entitled to a school environment free from discrimination. The Department is committed to ensuring those principles are a reality.

This letter provides notice of the Department’s existing interpretation of federal law. Additional legal guidance will follow in due course. The Department will vigorously enforce the law on equal terms as to all preschool, elementary, secondary, and postsecondary educational institutions, as well as state educational agencies, that receive financial assistance.

The Department intends to take appropriate measures to assess compliance with the applicable statutes and regulations based on the understanding embodied in this letter beginning no later than 14 days from today’s date, including antidiscrimination requirements that are a condition of receiving federal funding.

All educational institutions are advised to: (1) ensure that their policies and actions comply with existing civil rights law; (2) cease all efforts to circumvent prohibitions on the use of race by relying on proxies or other indirect means to accomplish such ends; and (3) cease all reliance on third-party contractors, clearinghouses, or aggregators that are being used by institutions in an effort to circumvent prohibited uses of race.

Institutions that fail to comply with federal civil rights law may, consistent with applicable law, face potential loss of federal funding. Anyone who believes that a covered entity has unlawfully discriminated may file a complaint with OCR. Information about filing a complaint with OCR, including a link to the online complaint form, is available here.

Thank you in advance for your commitment to providing our Nation’s students with an educational environment that is free of race, color, or national origin discrimination.

Sincerely,
/s/
Craig Trainor
Acting Assistant Secretary for Civil Rights
United States Department of Education

The Sybian wrote: Mon Feb 17, 2025 2:56 pmFirst, the shit they are citing is on it's face insane, and sure enough when you look into "$100 million for condoms to Gaza that are used at bombs" it isn't remotely true. More like $50 million in condoms to a country in Africa with high HIV rates. If you disagree with spending the money there, fine, but it doesn't make it fraud.

Jerloma wrote: Tue Feb 18, 2025 4:47 pm He's on my TV and he just said "I have the power to save millions of lives and end this war and I think it's going very well, but now I hear 'Oh, we <Zelensky> weren't invited to the table.' Well you've been there for three years, you should have never started it.

Then he said he doesn't understand how anyone still lives there because the place is in rubble.

I know I shouldn't be surprised but I refuse to normalize whatever fucking dimension we're in right now.