Notices by Steve's Place (steter@mastodon.stevesworld.co)

Did you know: in prep for 45's admin, Project 2025 trained people, now in almost every federal agency's leadership, how to not take notes or write things down so they wouldn't be subject to Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) requests or subpoenas?

Well, now you know they were trained in how to evade accountability.

Analysis of their training from August 2024: https://www.propublica.org/article/inside-project-2025-secret-training-videos-trump-election

at 19:20 evading FOIA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xxe55mU4DA8&t=1160s

project page: https://www.project2025.org/training/conservative-governance-101/

#USpol #coup

SpaceX debris smashing into the ground. It's not just for Canada anymore.

@sundogplanets

https://flipboard.com/@bbcnews/top-stories-hc55lmo2z/-/a-JQ9B6lK8Q-WOWJIiltvbeA%3Aa%3A3199692-%2F0

24/ 🤦🏻♀️Harry Litman:

Hearing finished. Judge Ho says he will rule soon but not now. Expect a written opinion expressing some incredulity and distress at DOJ position but then permitting the dismissal without prejudice.

Klasfeld:

Ho: "I’m going to take everything you said under careful consideration. It’s not in anyone’s interest here for this to drag on. I understand that..

"To exercise my discretion properly, I’m not going to shoot from the hip here on the bench."

END

"Europeans are waking up to the fact that they are entirely dependent on a foreign power that is no longer acting like itself. America, which once championed the liberal democratic world order, is now turning against it in ways that are shocking to its allies.”

~ Farah Stockman

#Trump #Ukraine #Zelenskyy #Russia #Putin
/4

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/19/opinion/trump-munich-security-conference.html

@MLE_online You have my sympathies. It's draining.

The judge then turns to #EmilBove’s order to the acting US attorney in Manhattan, #DanielleSassoon, instructing her to abandon the case. The judge asks whether Ho can consider what is in the memo, & Bove says “no.” He says that case #law suggests that Ho does not have the discretion to do so, even as he acknowledges whether a judge is entitled to inquire whether the order was made “in bad faith.”

#law #DOJ #Trump #EricAdams #justice #TrumpCoup #QuidProQuo

The idea that #EmilBove is expanding his theory of “prosecutorial discretion” to a police commissioner under investigation is remarkable for several reasons: 1, it’s novelty; 2, because it appears as if he is expanding the #immunity that #SCOTUS recently granted to presidents to all manner of officials, including the men & women who head the city’s PD; & 3, two of the mayor’s former police commissioners remain the focus of inquiries by the same prosecutor’s office that charged the mayor.

#law

#EmilBove concedes that #EricAdams can have his security clearance restored even if the case proceeds undermines a central contention in his argument for the case’s dismissal.

In his Feb 13 letter to #DanielleSassoon, the first US atty who resigned, Bove wrote that a lack of security clearance meant, “He cannot speak to federal officials regarding imminent security threats to the city.…This situation is unacceptable & directly endangers the lives of millions of New Yorkers.”

#law #DOJ #Trump

#EmilBove calls the abandonment of the #EricAdams case “a standard exercise of prosecutorial discretion,” a ridiculous thing to say. Judge Ho moves on & asks if Bove’s rationale would be similar if the police commissioner were subject to a similar investigation. Bove says yes.

This means, in effect, that the #DOJ will prioritize officials’ cooperation w/ #Trump’s agenda over whether they are heeding the #law.

#justice #TrumpCoup #QuidProQuo

Judge Ho asks #EmilBove for other examples in which his reasoning has been invoked in a decision to abandon an indictment, in which the defendant is a public ofcl w/serious responsibilities. Bove says he’s not aware of one, but says that prosecutors have invoked foreign policy interests in order to make justice-related decisions. He brings up the case of Viktor Bout, a Russian arms dealer who was released in a prisoner swap for the basketball player Brittney Griner.

#law #DOJ #Trump #EricAdams

The fact that #EmilBove affirmed that the charges could be brought again is a big deal. It is that circumstance — the idea that the charges could be resurrected after the November mayoral election — that has created the notion that #EricAdams will remain under #Trump’s thumb through the duration of his first term in office.

Bove says that while the DOJ could revisit the charges against the mayor, “I don’t have any plans for that at this time.”

#law #DOJ #justice #TrumpCoup #QuidProQuo

The judge addressed his first question to #EmilBove, as the parties began to discuss the fact that prosecutors are seeking dismissal of the case without prejudice.

The judge asked whether there are any limits to circumstances in which the govt could bring charges in the future. This line of questioning is highly relevant: It’s been noted that dismissing the case without prejudice effectively gives the #Trump #DOJ a means of controlling the mayor.

#law #justice #TrumpCoup #QuidProQuo

#Trump #Justice Dept to be questioned in court on #NYC Mayor #EricAdams case

Top #DOJ ofcls are expected to defend their decision to drop #corruption charges against Adams…[Wednesday afternoon].

The afternoon hearing before US District Judge Dale E. Ho comes days after the govt’s push to withdraw its case sparked open conflict within the DOJ, leading to #resignations in protest from 8 veteran dept lawyers, including Manhattan’s top federal prosecutor.

#law #QuidProQuo
https://www.washingtonpost.com/national-security/2025/02/19/eric-adams-court-hearing-corruption-justice-department/

@georgepenney I once wrote a screenplay about wizards and didn't think of a group name. Hm. A wizend of wizards.

Looks like you can live inside a cinder cone on top of an active volcano, if you want. Cheap rent?

Kid and dog friendly hike!

https://hikingcampania.com/portfolio/pozzuoli-monte-nuovo/

#Via Governor JB Pritzker/ govpritzker.illinois.gov
Feb 19, 2025, 1:44 PM

"My oath is to the Constitution of our state and of our country.

We don’t have kings in America – and I don’t intend to bend the knee to one.

I am not speaking up in service to my ambitions — but in deference to my obligations."

3/5

@tinker Best of luck. It's crazy from here in Europe, but to have the fascist coup unfolding around you must be grim.

Remember in history class, when we learned about the Gilded Age snake oil medicines? Sawdust substituted for flour in bread? The kind of stuff that led to the creation of the FDA?

Can we please not go back?

#SaveOurServices

https://www.usatoday.com/story/opinion/columnist/2025/02/19/kennedy-fda-head-resigns-food-safety/79093267007/

I need to trap when the last NPC team is victorious. It went into something akin to infinite loop land.

But it got there, and it was a blast watching the teams defeat and devour each other.

I'm almost ready to play as a human again. I need to add more information to widgets. One useful item is which teams have declared war on you.

When a team is defeated, their capitol is gone, but all of the fighters there, as well as all of the ones already on their way there, engage in a giant scrum replete with mage blasts. It gets to be a strobe. It can go on for a while.

Then a team will leave the scrum to march off in a different direction because they've declared war on some other team.

The food health boost keeps scrums alive a bit longer than they would otherwise last.

I changed the AI spawners to use the victorious team's faction when their side loses. Ta-da. No more stragglers. Their existence was problematic for the war logic. They existed, but had no capitol for other teams to attack. The idea was for them to be absorbed into the winning team. Now they all are.

The game can be civilized by adding a factor for willingness to go to war. Right now, NPC play is pretty brutal, fairly fast, and would be no fun for a novice human player. Like me, lol.

I could also alter their rate of growth. Or both. Settings. Who doesn't need more of them?

#GameDev #RTS #UE5