Notices by John Coates (jciv@mastodon.social)

In case you haven't been following Musk's career, there's a simple reason he is donating to GOP folks who want to impeach judges: Musk seems incapable of following rules, whether laws or his own promises.

He's lost repeatedly in court -- in disputes sounding in contract, corporate law, securities regulation, or simple court orders.

Only someone who has so much money he thinks he's above the law would want to put judges in jail for following the law.

@br00t4c His lips are moving.

Alito’s an unashamed liar, professing to be “stunned” that there is an Article I that comes before Article II in the US Constitution.

If the Fed cannot fight inflation, then the bond markets will predictably expect inflation.

Inflation effectively raises the cost of lending (it erodes the value of repayment in the future).

Rational lenders and bond buyers will price that risk in.

They will raise interest rates.

That will make it vastly more expensive to sustain our deficit, since we pay most of our debts as a country by borrowing more.

3/n

The only way the Fed can fight inflation is if it's independent.

Imagine Jay Powell doesn't cut rates when Trump wants him to do that, to juice the economy when it eventually slides into recession.

If the DOJ's position is upheld by the SCOTUS, then Trump could fire Powell and install anyone (Musk, Bannon, my dogwalker) with strict instructions to cut rates.

2/n

The news today that the DOJ won't defend the independence of independent regulatory agencies -- here,

https://fingfx.thomsonreuters.com/gfx/legaldocs/movawxboava/2025.02.12-OUT-Durbin-530D.pdf --

should begin to trigger a spike in bond yields and the cost of paying for our massive deficit.

To understand why...

1/n

Anyone with the resources and options to abandon Starlink, Tesla, X, Facebook, and Instagram - now would be a good time.

I won’t ask re Amazon, given its monopoly power, but start looking for alternatives to it now - and walk away from Amazon Prime, WaPo, and Whole Foods.

In Trump's first act, the United States joins Iran, Libya and Yemen as the only four countries not party to the Paris climate accords. -- NYT

Three GOP judges make up their own reality to vacate the FCC's net neutrality rule.

They cite Supreme Court's precedent-reversing decision in Loper Bright.

They view it as giving them carte blanche to decide not only what statutes mean but answers to complex factual questions in applying those laws.

None of the judges have any technical expertise or knowledge, and they veer from common sense.

Politics corrupting law thru creative fiction is the brave new world Leonard Leo has created.

“Today, private equity firms own around 460 US hospitals, about 8 percent of all private hospitals and 22 percent of all for-profit hospitals.” - Boston Globe

@phaedral Litotes.

Law firms proud to associate with felons:

Squire Patton Boggs
Holland & Knight
Akin Gump Strauss Hauer & Feld

I teach my law students that law’s most important purpose to address anger, where possible, in a socially functional way. The social media reaction to a cold blooded first degree murder suggests laws governing health care are not performing that task adequately.

TIL:

"The [tipping norm in the US] was born out of exploitation. After the Civil War, restaurant owners facing demands for higher wages from white workers instead hired newly freed slaves to work for gratuities alone."

FT

When does a discovery of a valuable asset threaten the security, stability and viability of a country? When the asset is oil, the country's partner is Exxon, and Exxon is already leaning on its "reputation" as a way to assure everyone that everything will be fine.

https://www.ft.com/content/2e4b2015-27e6-4b26-a02f-0040a71c6852

Nothing see here, just typical summer rain, says GOP

How can the media focus be on Cohen in response to this testimony:

“During cross-examination, Cohen admitted to stealing from Trump’s company. He kept money that was meant to go to a tech company hired to rig polls in Trump’s favor”?

Hired to rig polls? This is part of Trump’s defense? Cohen stole money I wanted him to spend committing election fraud, so we shouldn’t believe him when he says I committed election fraud?