Octopus Overlords

"FEMA is gonna be a whole big discussion very shortly, because I'd rather see the states takes care of their own problems."

Jolor wrote: Wed Jan 22, 2025 9:28 pm Q: Should OO move our net presence to another provider/country to retain free communications? If so, how would we be able to continue to enable access to the US citizens?

IceBear wrote: Thu Jan 23, 2025 8:42 am Given the similarities to the rise of the 3rd Reich and use being Austria in that example, it probably needs to be further away to be safe

$iljanus wrote: Wed Jan 22, 2025 5:39 pm The new training sessions and grant review will return…but we may not like it.

WYBaugh wrote: Wed Jan 22, 2025 7:32 pm https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-ex ... 5f2b834b9c

On Wednesday, President Donald Trump revoked a six-decade-old executive order designed to combat workplace discrimination by federal contractors, undoing a landmark labor standard that stretches back to the presidency of Lyndon Baines Johnson.

The rule Trump nuked, Executive Order 11246, forbade federal contractors from discriminating on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation or gender identity. It granted the Labor Department the power to enforce its provisions through a contracting standards office.

LawBeefaroni wrote: Thu Jan 23, 2025 10:38 am They will be run by the private sector wirh a pure profit motive

Zarathud wrote: Thu Jan 23, 2025 12:47 am This is only because it is California in need rather than Florida.

WYBaugh wrote: Wed Jan 22, 2025 7:32 pm https://www.huffpost.com/entry/trump-ex ... 5f2b834b9c

The rule Trump nuked, Executive Order 11246, forbade federal contractors from discriminating on the basis of race, color, religion, national origin, sex, sexual orientation or gender identity. It granted the Labor Department the power to enforce its provisions through a contracting standards office.

raydude wrote: Thu Jan 23, 2025 11:28 am So yesterday acting administrator Janet Petro sent an email to NASA employees and contractors notifying them that NASA is closing all agency DEIA offices and DEIA-related contracts. But the email contained this nugget:

"These programs divided Americans by race, wasted taxpayer dollars, and resulted in shameful discrimination."

LawBeefaroni wrote: Thu Jan 23, 2025 10:38 am

$iljanus wrote: Wed Jan 22, 2025 5:39 pm The new training sessions and grant review will return…but we may not like it.

They will be run by the private sector wirh a pure profit motive. Rare disease? Not worth researching. Can't commercialize the cure? Not worth researching. Not my company? No grant.

raydude wrote: Thu Jan 23, 2025 11:28 am So yesterday acting administrator Janet Petro sent an email to NASA employees and contractors notifying them that NASA is closing all agency DEIA offices and DEIA-related contracts. But the email contained this nugget:

"These programs divided Americans by race, wasted taxpayer dollars, and resulted in shameful discrimination."

Come to find out this clause is from the "template" provided by OPM: https://chcoc.gov/sites/default/files/O ... Orders.pdf

Ugh, even when I try to ignore the news I can't get away from Trump and his goons.

El Guapo wrote: Thu Jan 23, 2025 11:17 am I am debating now whether a federal contractor could now say to an interviewee - "No I am not hiring you because you are black / Jewish / etc." without breaking the law. I think federal civil rights statutes still prohibit that, although presumably they would not have to worry (at least for now) about being sued by DOJ. Might still have to worry about the state attorney general depending upon the state.

Alefroth wrote: Thu Jan 23, 2025 1:55 pm

El Guapo wrote: Thu Jan 23, 2025 11:17 am I am debating now whether a federal contractor could now say to an interviewee - "No I am not hiring you because you are black / Jewish / etc." without breaking the law. I think federal civil rights statutes still prohibit that, although presumably they would not have to worry (at least for now) about being sued by DOJ. Might still have to worry about the state attorney general depending upon the state.

Does that mean they can also say "No I am not hiring you because you are white"?

Smoove_B wrote: Wed Jan 22, 2025 10:01 pm

Holman wrote: Wed Jan 22, 2025 9:17 pm A responsible media would investigate why MAGA sees public-health science as a threat.

There are some that have suggested that this indeed a test for the media - how will they respond to what's just happened? Will they report on all the things these various agencies are responsible for - how they impact the lives of every American? Will they detail all the medical advancements that have come out of the NIH over the last 40+ years?

Will they connect the dots on how this is all tied directly to Project 2025 - that everything that is happening can be connected to bullet-point objectives that were communicated in the giant document?

Or will they downplay and ignore what's been done because it's not "sexy" enough to grab eyeballs?

Blackhawk wrote: Thu Jan 23, 2025 2:08 pm

Alefroth wrote: Thu Jan 23, 2025 1:55 pm

El Guapo wrote: Thu Jan 23, 2025 11:17 am I am debating now whether a federal contractor could now say to an interviewee - "No I am not hiring you because you are black / Jewish / etc." without breaking the law. I think federal civil rights statutes still prohibit that, although presumably they would not have to worry (at least for now) about being sued by DOJ. Might still have to worry about the state attorney general depending upon the state.

Does that mean they can also say "No I am not hiring you because you are white"?

Of course not. That would be discrimination.

Isgrimnur wrote: Thu Jan 23, 2025 12:09 pm Only four more months until hurricane season

Spoiler:

IceBear wrote: Thu Jan 23, 2025 1:05 pm He spoke of annexing Canada again according to BBC report

Spoiler:

raydude wrote: Thu Jan 23, 2025 11:57 am

Zarathud wrote: Thu Jan 23, 2025 12:47 am This is only because it is California in need rather than Florida.

We've got 4 more years and the Earth is still undergoing climate change. I'm sure at least one or more Republican states will be affected by a major disaster during his term.

Viktor Orban pacified Hungarian universities by tightening control over their funding. It went pretty smoothly. Trump is going the same way. We will see how many American academics will be ready to risk their careers in defense of #AcademicFreedom
.

LawBeefaroni wrote: Thu Jan 23, 2025 3:17 pm

IceBear wrote: Thu Jan 23, 2025 1:05 pm He spoke of annexing Canada again according to BBC report

In the Trump administration’s arguments defending his order to suspend birthright citizenship, the Justice Department called into question the citizenship of Native Americans born in the United States, citing a 19th-century law that excluded Native Americans from birthright citizenship.

In a case on Trump's birthright citizenship executive order coming out of Washington, Justice Department attorneys quote the 14th Amendment, which reads that “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside,” and hang their one of their arguments on the phrase “subject to the jurisdiction thereof.”

Max Peck wrote: Thu Jan 23, 2025 5:15 pm Did anyone have "Native Americans are not citizens" on their Trumpocalypse bingo card?

"Excluding Indians": Trump admin questions Native Americans' birthright citizenship in court

In the Trump administration’s arguments defending his order to suspend birthright citizenship, the Justice Department called into question the citizenship of Native Americans born in the United States, citing a 19th-century law that excluded Native Americans from birthright citizenship.

In a case on Trump's birthright citizenship executive order coming out of Washington, Justice Department attorneys quote the 14th Amendment, which reads that “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of the State wherein they reside,” and hang their one of their arguments on the phrase “subject to the jurisdiction thereof.”

Enough wrote: Thu Jan 23, 2025 3:39 pm Looking at uni admins around the country, it does not give me great confidence that leadership will not kowtow to the orange one.

Viktor Orban pacified Hungarian universities by tightening control over their funding. It went pretty smoothly. Trump is going the same way. We will see how many American academics will be ready to risk their careers in defense of #AcademicFreedom
.

NIH funding has a huge influence on universities and so it will be a test.

The crazy thing is I studied in Hungary on fellowship right when Orban's party was coming into power and let's just say they really flipped from the people I met when I was there. I even got to meet Fidesz folks like Orban himself in the early 90s. Back then they were raging idealists that would recoil in horror over the very same things they are doing now. It's wild to see how power apparently can corrupt one pretty thoroughly.

Another connection I have is one of my best friends in life turned out to be a maga talking head (Michael Shellenberger). When we were in high school he started an ACLU chapter and in college was a raging progressive. Now he is one of the main scribes of the twitter files for Elon, regularly appears on Fox, Rogan, etc. and even got a gig as Chair of Politics, Censorship, and Free Speech at the safe-space University of Austin that Bari Weiss has been grifting on. Seeing his descent hurts a lot. I was often in disagreement with him but very proud of him for his work when he was younger in working with Earth First in the redwoods and then later becoming a leading advocate for resuming nuclear energy. Now he comes to my state to help headline an anti-trans conference and as of late he's even gotten in on the UFO grift and has become something of a hero to the many ufo communities on reddit and elsewhere. Shit is so weird to see in person in one's life.

Skinypupy wrote: Thu Jan 23, 2025 10:43 pm So where, exactly, do they plan on deporting them to?

Skinypupy wrote: Thu Jan 23, 2025 10:43 pm So where, exactly, do they plan on deporting them to?

Alefroth wrote: Tue Jan 21, 2025 2:57 pm

waitingtoconnect wrote: Tue Jan 21, 2025 2:53 am The left needs to decide if it’s worth fighting trump on one of the few areas of trumps policy that most Americans could well support giving him airspace to do his meme coins and other highly questionable stuff.

You think most Americans would support revoking birthright citizenship?