I think that CJ Roberts will rule they way you stated, he needs to protect the Courts’ authority. But what mechanisms does the Court have to enforce their ruling? I therein lies the rub. Are there enough Republicans in Congress that will defend Trump?
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And we’ll see if those first four are in fact some small semblance of “the court” or merely the ever-so-slightly less unrespectable avatars of the completely heinous two.
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I don’t even see how the courts would remain a check at that point. If Roberts goes all in on the notion that the executive is higher than the law, then he’s writing the courts out of the picture as well. Of course, Roberts being Roberts, he may find some technicality (real or imagined) that would allow him to side with Trump without admitting he’s ceding the power of the judiciary, but I’m not sure he’ll be fooling anyone but himself.
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Lawrence Tribe:
“For America at this point in the war to -help- Russia undo Ukrainian sovereignty is not just injustice but a provocation to a much broader war.”
I think John Roberts gets this. Let’s just hope he doesn’t make an ash of himself, along with the rest of us.
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We talk about the oligarchs and those around the Trump lifeboat as “fascists”, “crazies”, “misogynists”, “White Supremacists”, etc. And they scoff, like we are not really in on the deal. I suggest we refer to Musk, Thiel and other oligarchs of this strand as “Neo-Malthusians”.
The options facing a New World Order were spelled out by the zoologist Garrett Hardin a half century ago, and likely has influenced Thiel’s thinking, whereby he rejects the “benign demographic transition,” a tenet of most international development agencies (and the reason for the obvious blithe dismantling of USAID). Hardin’s famous essay, Living on a Lifeboat was published in 1974, when Peter Thiel was 7. Among other things, it calls for “unitary sovereign control”, many years before Curtis Yarvin was shaving.
For the metaphor of a spaceship to be correct, the aggregate of people on board would have to be under unitary sovereign control (Ophuls 1974). A true ship always has a captain. It is conceivable that a ship could be run by a committee. But it could not possibly survive if its course were determined by bickering tribes that claimed rights without responsibilities.
If this is what Trump’s oligarch’s aspire to, isn’t it time to put their cards on the table. They don’t get to bet our lives without our assent, do they? And really, if the Lifeboat needs a Captain, shouldn’t it be somebody a bit more respectable than Trump or Musk?
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Just in time for hurricane, tornado season
Hundreds of weather forecasters fired in latest wave of DOGE cuts
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No matter how Roberts and the other GOP toadies rule on this issue they are still CRAVEN.
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“…given that the administration was, plainly unlawfully, refusing to send money that Congress had already allocated.”
Isn’t that what Trump did to Ukraine in his firs term (remember quid pro quo) and look what happened.
As far as the Court goes, anything is on the table but at leasst we will know where it stands early in Trump’s 2nd term.
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Neither Dick nor Tater can even count as a captain since they are simply intent on selling the spaceship for parts. Frankly, whatever the hell Ophuls wrote in 1974 is probably not convincing, and the whole metaphor is about as appropriate as thinking of the Executive as a CEO, but if you grant the metaphor then we’ve got co-Captains Queeg at the helm.
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Just along for the ride
Donald Trump Named Repeatedly in Jeffrey Epstein Files Released by Pam Bondi
President Donald Trump flew on Jeffrey Epstein’s private jets repeatedly during the 1990s, files released by Attorney General Pam Bondi show.
The files did not disclose new information as flight logs naming Trump as a passenger on Epstein’s aircraft at least seven times had already been made public in a separate court case. There is no suggestion in the documents that the president engaged in any illegal acts.
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Thats right! We didn’t go to the moon either, ALL FAKE
Kevin McCarthy Claims America Didn’t Build Rockets Until Elon Musk Arrived: ‘He Should Be Given a Medal’
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Correct. That “suggestion” comes from a prior court document where he was found guilty by a jury of rape and sexual assault.
Or the Access Hollywood tape.
Or the sleezy pictures of him eye fucking his daughter while she squirms and dances on “daddies lap”
Im sure he and Jeffie were just showing each other how to swing their “soft woods”.
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The first two paras in the Hardin essay are about metaphor. You keyed into the discussion pretty quick! 
BTW: Peter Thiel’s plans for a bunker with a view on the side of Mt. Alpha on New Zealand’s South Island were rejected in 2022. Now that bunker has been built at another “undisclosed” location. Looks like he has been watching too much Silo. Apparently Thiel doesn’t even trust a promise of a place on the Trump/Musk Lifeboat, preferring to go it alone in his own hidey-hole.
In any case, Thiel isn’t the only rich person to plan on sitting out the collapse of the US in New Zealand.
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Something people need to understand about “weather forecasters”. To be a meteorologist recognized by the American Meteorological Society - even the person who brings you your 10 PM forecast - requires a Masters degree. That’s going to apply for NOAA/NWS.
And they aren’t just firing “weather” forecasters - they cover tsunamis and seismological monitoring (earthquakes) as well. Severe weather? Tornadoes or hurricanes? Two totally different needs. Those who do hurricanes work with the US military and the “hurricane hunters” who fly into the storms. What happens with them now? Who will direct them and get their data, interpret it, forecast from it.
Oh, and since there’s no climate change, no one will need to monitor the ocean temperatures and currents. Nope, not at all.
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TL;DR: John Roberts and his gang of reprobates have painted themselves into a corner. Under other circumstances (in which I’m observing this from a safe space rather being a minor participant) this would be amusing to watch.
Actual quasi-serious thoughts on the matter
Exactly SCotUS is simultaneously the most powerful branch of the US Government and the weakest branch. It is the most powerful in that (per Marbury v. Madison) it alone decides the validity of laws and decisions under the Constitution. It is the weakest in that it has no means of enforcing those decisions. It relies on the other branches (and citizenry generally) accepting its decisions. People don’t accept decisions from those they disrespect (unless the decision goes the way they want). Roberts has fucked up in big way by spending the Court’s moral authority enforcing the reactionaries’ Let’s party like it’s 1525 agenda.
Congress has the power of the purse, or they had it until the Republicans decided they wanted an Emperor rather than a President. The Executive has the Departments of Justice and Defense. Both are more effective (and faster-acting) sources of power than moral suasion and respect.
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Just as predictably as the Pentagon fails every audit (and Congress gleefully gives them even more money) SCOTUS will fail this test and rule Putin’s cock-holster is completely free of any restraints on his power.
After all, since it has ruled it is within his power to send Seal Team 6 to assassinate them ….
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Why not?
Hasn’t the court already done that with the immunity decision?
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From Guardian:
There is no plan or thought into how to continue to deliver science or service on weather, severe storms and events, conservation and management of our coasts and ocean life and much more.
Let’s not pretend this is about efficiency, quality of work or cost savings because none of those false justifications are remotely true.
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I love this story! Thank you for sharing.