This week as this country celebrates the 4th of July I want to put a little focus on how the w the people are represented in the USA.
SCOTUS, CorpsRppl2, Representation, SNAFU
Last week the SCOTUS was in the news for several decisions they made which went against the grain for tens of millions of Americans. One of those was the Biden v Nebraska decision to stop the Biden administration from forgiving some student loan debt. One of the important things about that case which traveled a bit under the radar was whether or not there was standing to hear that case at all.
Robert Reich wrote this: “When I argued cases before the Supreme Court in the 1970s, a challenger had to show they’d suffered a specific injury that could be remedied by relief from a federal court. If they failed to establish such standing, the high court would dismiss the case without considering the merits of their claim.“
In the B v N case, it was Missouri to which they gave standing to challenge the program because the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority (MOHELA) “might suffer financial losses from the loan program” and thereby directly harm the State.
“As Justice Elena Kagan wrote in her dissent, “In adjudicating Missouri’s claim, the majority reaches out to decide a matter it has no business deciding” — with a ruling that “blows through a constitutional guardrail intended to keep courts acting like courts.””
But, waaaaa, corporations are people too and they need our elite judges to look out for them. Well, it wasn’t this squad that gave them the biggest gift. In 2010 when Obama was President:
“The decades-old system of rules that govern the financing of the nation’s political campaigns was partially upended by a U.S. Supreme Court ruling issued just ahead of the pivotal 2010 midterm congressional election season.”The decades-old system of rules that govern the financing of the nation’s political campaigns was partially upended by a U.S. Supreme Court ruling issued just ahead of the pivotal 2010 midterm congressional election season.
Thursday’s landmark decision, approved by a 5-4 margin, could unleash a torrent of corporate and union cash into the political realm and transform how campaigns for president and Congress are fought in the coming years.” source NPR
We know that it absolutely did. It’s been disastrous, imho. Or maybe we were already !@#$ed and just didn’t know it, yet: “On its own, it will not be responsible to opening the floodgates to corporate money … because the floodgates were pretty wide open to begin with,” Persily says.“
NPR has an interesting article from 2014 that lays out the evolution of how the SCOTUS entitled corporations to be people that you can read here. Here’s an excerpt:
It ruled that corporations have the right to spend money in candidate elections, and that some for-profit corporations may, on religious grounds, refuse to comply with a federal mandate to cover birth control in their employee health plans. … These are personal rights accorded to corporations. To many, the concept of corporations as people seems odd, to say the least. But it is not new.
The dictionary defines “corporation” as “a number of persons united in one body for a purpose.” Corporate entities date back to medieval times, observes Columbia law professor John Coffee, an authority on corporate law. “You could think of the Catholic Church as probably the first entity that could buy and sell property in its own name,” he says.
With regard to that, here is something else that caught my eye this week. The very famous business friendly state of Delaware (I just read that’s where Harry & Megan like to register their businesses because all the details can be kept private) decided that Seaford, a town of about 8,000 on the Nanticoke River, amended its charter in April to allow businesses — including LLCs, corporations, trusts or partnerships — the right to vote in local elections. The law would go into effect once both houses of Delaware’s state legislature approve it.
They’ve approved it. So, yup, businesses can vote. Rather mind boggling, isn’t it? BTW, Seaford wasn’t the first in Delaware…
Anyway, how Americans are represented is a deep rabbit hole to explore. Let me leave you with this video explaining how we the people are represented… or not. Is it any wonder, at all, that the average, living paycheck to paycheck, person in the USA is disgusted and ready to follow anyone, including Donald Trump, in the hopes that things will actually change? Nope. Not at all.
Musk Censors Tweets
Claiming protections from AI scraping Musk said unverified accounts would be restricted to read 1000 and verified 10,000 tweets per day. The news makes it sound like it’d be people doing that and I say that any human being who has the time to sit and read 1,000 or 10,000 posts per day really needs a better life….. of course this isn’t about humans, it’s about bots and Google, supposedly, has smacked back.
“Google has reportedly removed much of Twitter’s links from its search results after the social network’s owner Elon Musk announced reading tweets would be limited.”
About 50%, so far. Supposedly. But then there is also this wrt the relationship between Google & Twitter:
Platformer reported last month that Twitter refused to pay its bill for Google Cloud services.
“Prior to Musk buying Twitter last year, the company signed a multi-year contract with Google to host services related to fighting spam, removing child sexual abuse material, and protecting accounts, among other things,” according to Platformer.” source
Meanwhile, we now have THREADS, the new Facebook alternative giving Twitter a run for the money. Less than 24 hours since the launch and tens of millions have already signed up. It’s the battle of the billionaire businesses, babes!!
When is that cage fight!? Screw both of ’em. Let’s all use Mastodon!
Excessive Heat Update
I have to laugh at Texas. They say the weather is going to be cooler… well, in Texas-speak, that means that instead of being 96 it’s 91. But this isn’t about Texas. This excessive heat update is about EARTH. Our one and only home. That gorgeous little blue dot.
“The globe set a record for the warmest June since at least 1940, new and emerging climate data shows, obliterating the previous milestone from 2019. Separately, the globe set new single day records for the hottest day yet measured, on July 3 and 4.” source
And since I wrote that we have another one! (i schedule these highlights to auto-post on Fridays at 7am cdt and add bits as the week goes along).
Read more in 7/5/2023 Nature: June’s record-smashing temperatures — in data. Extreme heat across land and sea has led to disastrous consequences in some regions.
Here’s a thought – what if this Summer is actually cool when compared to what lies ahead?
Private Equity Buying Music
This time it’s Nelly.
Nelly Scores $50 Million Payday By Selling Half Of His Catalog To Private Equity Firm – this July 6 Story by Maurice Cassidy
Why do they do it? Because they want the cold hard cash. Learn more:
Private Equity Firms Want Your Music: Should You Sell?
Rights & Song Royalties… A look inside the world of buy & selling music royalties.
Trump Doxes Obama, Lunatic Apprehended (no, not DT, sorry)
Did you hear the one about our very own unbridled Trump supposedly posting the Obamas’ address on his Truth social account?
And then a guy named Taylor Taranto, who lives in his van, who’s been taunting the DOJ to come get him for what he did during the Jan 6 violence, decided to go to Obama’s home and the whole way was live streaming his violent intentions. Oh… yes.
Luckily law enforcement was on it and apprehended him. He had two firearms in the van along with hundreds of rounds of 9mm ammo and a machete.
In addition
- Prosecutors allege he threatened to blow up the National Institute of Standards and Technology and warned Speaker Kevin McCarthy (R) that he “can’t stop what’s coming.
- Taranto also allegedly entered an elementary school near the Maryland home of Democratic Rep. Jamie Raskin while making apparent threats to the congressman, per prosecutors.
It’s remarkable that Trump doxed Obama like this when you really think about it. We’re numb to his behavior at this point and just roll our eyes and say, “yeah… sounds about right” but when you really think about it you have to wonder if the man has a serious mental illness. To still carry on the hate he has for Obama, that’s not normal. To say that that cocaine found in the WH was the Bidens’ or Jack Smith’s, to call Jack Smith a crackhead and threaten the man’s family, THAT IS NOT NORMAL and if it were you or I doing that shite…. I mean, folks, this guy scares me worse than ever before. Scary stuff.
MQG Booted
Speaking of crazy and scary – Marjorie Q Greene has been booted from the clown car uh i mean Freedom Caucus. They say it’s how she behaved in sparring with Boebert (Q called Boeb a little bitch, uh okay) over who would file the impeachment bill against Biden. Some say it’s because she supports Kevin McCarthy. They’re going to eat themselves, I’m telling you. Anyway, I couldn’t stand her after what she did to David Hogg so I’m always happy to see her taken down a peg.
This Week In AI
No highlights for the week are complete without something about AI included.
This woman, Sabine Hossenfelder, does some interesting videos. This week she dropped this one which you, too, may find a bit thought provoking. It’s about 20 mins so skip it if you don’t care.
A side comment about it that I have is: IQ avg by country… the USA 29th! ha!! Not that I put much stock in IQ tests… After working at the IBM Thomas J. Watson Research Center for a few years and having met, in-person, more than once, Mandelbrot and other ‘geniuses’ including one I dated for a year… I want more than a number too!
ALOBOI!
Have an öhrwurm for the weekend and try to stay cool. *mwah*