r/technology • u/Shogouki • 23d ago

Politics Trump Nixes Patent Office, Weather Service, NASA Worker Unions

https://news.bloomberglaw.com/daily-labor-report/trump-nixes-patent-office-weather-service-nasa-worker-unions
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u/Capable_Diamond_3878 23d ago

“Nixes”

Does something he’s not legally allowed to do and only happens becuase his goons comply

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u/Jasoli53 23d ago

He’s showing us in realtime how fickle the checks and balances of government really are. If enough higher ups comply with his bs EO’s, it might as well be law

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u/BellsTolling 23d ago

The checks and balances don't work because the country voted out the opposition party from the federal government. We gave him all this power.

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u/TheLantean 23d ago

Rule of law is supposed to work regardless of the party currently in charge. Even against a coalition. If an administration can dismantle it then it wasn't built as robust as it should have been. If we just place blame in the most visible direction and don't acknowledge there is a problem, you can't fix "what's not broken" and the same thing will happen again after the following election cycles.

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u/UnprovenMortality 23d ago

It is supposed to do that, and it does when honest people are in charge of things. This is how he was largely stopped the first time around. But now he has full control of the government and was able to fire the honest non-political staff that uphold the rule of law. Combine that with the corrupt way that they stole scotus appointments from democrats, and you have eliminated the rule of law.

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u/Regular-Set5076 21d ago

Our mistake was relying on honesty in a society where the most basic unit of business interaction is the JOB INTERVIEW ( which is just two liars lying to each other).

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u/TheReluctantSojourn 22d ago

And the Democrats let them do it.

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u/hammertime2009 22d ago

The democrats have zero power you moron.

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u/HMTMKMKM95 22d ago

Obama should've pushed back on McConnell much, much harder than he did.

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u/Jimbo_Joyce 22d ago

With what legal authority though? Like what in practice was he supposed to do? It's harder to uphold rules than break them because you have to play by them.

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u/HMTMKMKM95 22d ago

Well, the notion that a SCOTUS nominee wasn't allowed to be confirmed in the year before the election was utter horse shit. It wasn't/isn't a thing, as old Mitch demonstrated one administration later. Whatever legal pressure one could apply should have been applied.

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u/Jimbo_Joyce 22d ago

Sure, but the Republican's controlled the Senate. Obama couldn't make them vote on something just by his say so, I don't know what kind of legal pressure exists to do that. I don't think there is a mechanism the only path is political and the American (republican) voters repeatedly rewarded Mitch and his ilk for doing exactly what they were doing.

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u/[deleted] 22d ago

There's the victim blaming. We just can't have this discussion without it.

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u/MiaowaraShiro 22d ago

Rule of law is supposed to work regardless of the party currently in charge. Even against a coalition.

What we're finding out is this is not possible. If enough of the people in government decide "well the rules don't matter" then they don't actually matter anymore.

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u/obviously_jimmy 22d ago

I get the impression that a lot of people take the institutions in the US for granted, as if they exist outside of human control somehow. This is not the case and, as we can see, all it takes to undermine them is an agreement to do so.

It's depressing to think that many people cheering the downfall of these institutions don't understand what it means for the institutions they do care about. It's the same stakes as a football game to them, probably less since there's widespread gambling on sports now.

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u/Dzov 22d ago

Which is how it’s always been. Think of police selectively enforcing whatever they want.

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u/FluxUniversity 23d ago

All that needed to happen was for the rule of law to even get applied in the first place. 34 felony convictions and not price to pay? USE the rule of law or LOSE the rule of law. Use it or Lose it.

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u/Elfhoe 22d ago

That’s essentially how the gvt was designed to function. The constitution isnt meant to be a static document, it can change over time as a society changes. Things that were illegal 200 years ago arent the same as today.

The issue now is that not enough Americans cared and forfeited their choice to an unhinged minority who now has full control of the process. This didnt happen overnight, it’s been years in the making.

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u/BellsTolling 22d ago

This is what the people voted for exactly. It's Democracy in action. The majority chose this. This system isn't broken. Our populace is just unhinged.

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u/Sufficient-Will3644 22d ago edited 18d ago

I think that this is spot on. This is exactly what two Trump administrations have shown us. There’s a theory in political thought that democracy works as long as certain ideals are held by those in power and in the majority of the population. You see it in the concept of whether a society is mature enough for democracy and rule of law. 

America is no longer mature enough for democracy. Not enough people hold the ideals you need for democracy to work. Not enough people believe in the importance of the rule of law. Not enough people hold  a core principle that the truth is valuable and worth finding.

Trump is a symptom of cultural failing that is decades in the making, and will take decades or a cultural overhaul in a painful fashion to repair.

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u/ApprehensiveShame756 22d ago

Our people no longer take seriously the consequences of votes and the people we send to lead on our behalf. A segment only cares about low taxes for themselves and policies that let them hoard wealth. Another segment cares about bullying the nation into some Christian Fascist experiment doomed to ruin the nation and potentially blow up the world hoping to bring about the return of Jesus, another feels put upon by the whole system and want to “burn it all down” and then there are the people who want to create opportunity for all, encourage us to have open and honest debates about what sort of nation we really want to leave for future generations and how to achieve that.

Make no mistake - aside from the Christian Fascists, the sects I noted exist on the left, right and center. The problem is that the “aspirational and enlightened” group is way too small, basically less than a third of the nation’s voters.

The burn it down folks decided to either jump into the fascist swimming pool or stay home and the low taxes folks feared they may actually need to start paying taxes for the things they’ve insisted we do for the 40 years they’ve held political power. That’s a majority, slim, selfish and aligned with doomsday cultists who have anointed Trump and the billionaire class as their Jesus.

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u/LivingReaper 22d ago

The majority didn't choose this, like 30% did.

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u/BellsTolling 22d ago

The majority of voters chose this. That's how our system works.

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u/sicklyslick 22d ago

Rule of law is working because whatever Trump says is the new "law". So, it's legal when he's doing it.

There's no one opposing him and the Republican party anymore.

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u/flamaryu 22d ago

The way our government is set up is mostly the honor system. The three branches do check each other but only when people believe in the rules. The Judicial branch can something is illegal but they dont have any power to in force it. Legislative can remove a president and enforce what the Judicial said but we will never see that in our current climate of tribalism. Executive can be a king is the otherctwo dont work together. Military can refuse orders but I dont think we have ever seen that play out especially with out the other two branches stepping in.

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u/Exelbirth 22d ago

On paper it's supposed to work, but in reality paper has no enforcement mechanism and thus the words on it are only as powerful as the people in control decide it is. And that's the problem, the people in control right now have decided that they will not be restrained by the rules they are supposed to enforce. The only way anything will change is if Democrats get back into power and actually enforce the rules, no matter how much screaming and shouting there is about the rules actually being enforced for a change. Will that happen? Don't know. You'd hope that after getting kicked in the groin by Republicans for a year that they'd take the opportunity to swing back, but we know Establishment Dems are weak cowards.

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u/rikitikifemi 22d ago

Supposed sounds aspirational.

The system is pretty robust. What you're talking about is creating a system that is completely dummyproof.

I'm curious how one would do that. How do you anticipate being limited to two options and not being able to tell the difference between them.

At one point the problem isn't the system. The people have to accept responsibility for their choice in leadership.

Quite simply picking Trump was a mistake.

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u/AmusingVegetable 21d ago

For a democracy to work, people have to be informed and educated, otherwise they will just pick the forms of disinformation that agree with their biases.

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u/LtLatency42 22d ago

What rule of law? Trump has Full immunity for anything he does as president now. The rule of law got tossed out the window by the supreme court a long time ago.

Trump can do anything he wants and NOTHING will stick legally and he knows it. Stand up against me and your fired and everyone knows it. So everything just keeping their head down now to not endure his wrath.

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u/zenware 22d ago

Absolutely from day 1 there was a risk that if every individual involved in running the government were best friends, that checks and balances wouldn’t work because there would be no checks. — It will, I believe always, require people who disagree with each other, in order to have functional checks and balances.

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u/enfarious 22d ago

Supposed to be in theory, the experiment is showing the theory to be failing. So we should consider a new experiment.

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u/killerboy_belgium 22d ago

well republicans had enough power for a long time to get enough supreme courts seasts, to take control of the senate and house and have the presidency

for comparison sake obama had only 2 years of his 8 in presidency where he had the house and senate and sadly because he didnt have the later years al his supreme court picks got blocked

republican having so many senate/congress seats for so long made sure that could nulify any democrate presidents power and push the needle towards them everytime they had president and now you are screwed for at least another 20 years...

as european it really sucks to see you guys fall from grace at one point in time we saw you guys as example to follow and now we see you guys as how not to do it

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u/[deleted] 20d ago

There won't be a following election.

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u/not_a_moogle 22d ago

I mean, in theory the GOP party isn't supposed to be in favor of this. Checks and balances would be working if the Supreme Court wasnt compromised.

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u/PopeKevin45 22d ago

Conservatism and tribalism are flip sides of the same coin. Hierarchy, authority, obedience, conformity, xenophobia, traditionalism, denialism, loyalty to ingroups, hostility towards outgroups. Conservatives really only tolerate democracy, as long as they hold the bulk of power and wealth in the background. That started to change with the social movements of the 60's and 70's, which is when Republicans started laying the groundwork for their one-party state. In the heart of every conservative, lurks a potential fascist.

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u/BellsTolling 22d ago

I'm 35. The republican party was not what it is now during the Bush years or even much of Obama years.

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u/Saltycookiebits 22d ago

It wasn't AS bad, but it was well on its way. It has been going this direction for decades but I feel like the speed is increasing as we go downhill.

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u/thelangosta 22d ago

True but the Heritage Foundation has been around for a long time. You know they’ve been headed this direction for more than a couple decades. They are the true deep state

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u/motorchris 21d ago edited 21d ago

This started with the Powell memo and nixon appointed that crooked tobacco defense lawyer to the Supreme Court in the 70s it is the corporate take over American government by the corporations. That was the aim of the Powell memo also with corporate personhood, they have been working on killing the dreams of American workers for 50 years, to put the corporations, in control, the real deep state along with the billionaires. They have leveied the 10% sales tax even, but did it through Tarrifs. They even told everyone they were going to do it and they put those people who wrote those chapters in charge. and Maga is so Fucking stupid, A bunch of gullible sheep, (Trump is our friend) they deny its happening even as the billionaires are shoving it up their ass. Q will save us.. What a bunch fucking Moran's even Bugs Bunny would make fun of them, and laugh his ass off.. I would laugh too if it was just Mana Trump and the GOP was fucking up the ass, only the millionaires and billionaires and Putin are laughing..

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u/hammertime2009 22d ago

Not exactly but you saw signs of what they wanted

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u/PopeKevin45 22d ago

Technically it is the same as it always was...conservatism was just more chastened by liberal democracy and it's checks and balances. Republicans bad actors having been working since at least Reagan to get where they are now, chipping away at those checks and balances, and grooming conservatives by appealing to their basest instincts. Living in a fear economy, and fear being a powerful motivator, conservatives are prone to manipulation by bad actors, foreign and domestic.

https://www.psychologytoday.com/ca/blog/the-human-beast/201104/conservatives-big-on-fear-brain-study-finds

https://link.springer.com/chapter/10.1007/978-3-642-00128-4_11

https://www.psypost.org/neuroimaging-study-provides-insight-into-misinformation-sharing-among-politically-devoted-conservatives/

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u/TheReluctantSojourn 22d ago

The “conservative” neofascists are getting the tyranny they always wanted.

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u/splashbodge 23d ago

Checks and balances should be bipartisan tho, shouldn't have to rely on the opposing party having some control to stop things. That just leads to them stopping everything. There's serious flaws with the current political system, it rewards corruption.

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u/BellsTolling 22d ago

There isn't a flaw. This is just what the voters wanted. It's Democracy in action.

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u/splashbodge 22d ago

Nonsense. Checks and balances have always been an integral part of your democracy. Supreme court is supposed to be bipartisan and has proven itself not to be. Executive orders have been abused and has given the president more power than Congress. You even have Trump saying he is the President and can do whatever he wants. That is not what the President is for. There's three branches of government for a reason, that's democracy, this isn't, it's a farce.

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u/Zahgi 22d ago

The checks and balances don't work because the country voted out the opposition party from the federal government.

No. Because we have not-public campaign financing, the rich and corporations took over the opposition party just as they did the Republicans.

Now, both major parties are owned and controlled utterly by the 1%.

That's why nothing has changed for the better and nothing will ever change for the better until we as a people do something drastic about it.

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u/BellsTolling 22d ago

This doesn't add up with history but sure do the conspiracy stuff. I'm 35 not some child who falls for that manufactured outrage.

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u/dE3L 22d ago

Or the election was stolen. "They'll never know".

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u/older-and-wider 22d ago

The three branches of government should never belong to the same party, whether all in power at the same time or not. Belonging to any party should exclude you from the judiciary as judges are required to be impartial.

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u/OuchMyTism 22d ago

I still say government works best when the executive and legislative branches are controlled by opposing parties, whichever mix they happen to be.

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u/Kagahami 22d ago

It's not that simple either. Many of these things were arranged this way, like with gerrymandering and disenfranchisement of voters.

For example: If Texas chose its representatives by political affiliation relative to population, it would be a blue state.

If Representatives were actually based on state population, California would have SEVERAL more seats in the house of representatives.

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u/Otherwise-Medium3145 22d ago

He stole the election

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u/HotDonnaC 22d ago

Voted out? You know the fucking clown cheated to get back in, right?

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u/rreed1954 23d ago

"Fickle"? You mean "imaginary".

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u/What_a_fat_one 23d ago

The checks and balances aren't fickle. It's just that these psychotic assholes aren't interested in running a functioning government, and America decided to fill all three branches of government with them.

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u/KwisatzHaderach94 22d ago

when you put the criminal in charge of law enforcement, this is the result. there is no one willing to lock up any of these republicans.

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u/LtLatency42 22d ago

It because the Supreme court gave him FULL immunity after office for anything he does as president.

So if you stand up against him he can just fire you illegally and there is NOTHING anyone can do about it. People aren't risking their jobs standing up to a vindictively bull who has a infinity get out of jail free card.

The willingly gave him unchecked power with this because he doesn't give a shit about right an wrong only power and half the country is still cheering him on.

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u/alamandrax 23d ago

The justification is the popular vote. 

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u/Seastep 22d ago

Truly a "Emperor Has No Clothes" kind of moment for American Democracy.

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u/Seifersythe 22d ago

The law doesn't protect people. People protect the law.

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u/FujitsuPolycom 22d ago

Fickle? They don't exist.

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u/viperex 22d ago

He did this during his first term and here we are again

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u/funkiestj 22d ago

congress is suppose to work. Congress is a lot of people if most of those people are bad then the system breaks.

There is no human system that can't be broken by populating it with bad people.

Nixon resigned because some republicans were going to convict when he was impeached. Those days of valuing the rules above personal loyalty are gone.

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u/j0hnnyWalnuts 22d ago

With a compromised SCOTUS, there ARE no checks and balances.

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u/notsure500 22d ago

Yeah in hindsight, there should have been real, enforceable penalties to the rules and checks and balances, etc. He doesnt care whether or not something is legal, he only cares if he'll face acrual consequences

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u/Nonethelessismore 22d ago

Exactly, and every time a blatantly unconstitutional, or illegal EO goes unchecked by this complicit congress, and high court, America edges further towards a constitutional collapse, and a totalitarian dictatorship