ICE agent arrested, prosecutor asked for 'no bond' https://www.cincinnati.com/story/news/crime/2025/12/08/ice-agent-arrested-prosecutor-asked-for-no-bond/87673776007/
@gcvsa There's definitely room for sarcasm about that ;-)
I don't think Congress can fire judges, though, can it?
...but even if you're exactly correct (which is entirely possible), it has long seemed clear to me that we need more representatives per person (compare with how many there were when the system was first designed) -- and this is one way to explicitly spread the load of legislative work, and help break up conflicts of interest.
Another would be to just drastically increase the number of Congress seats (in both houses), which is maybe a good idea.
(Disclaimer: I may not actually know what I'm talking about; it's my bedtime...)
So, yeah, I'm kinda proposing a fourth branch of government -- call it the "auditorial" branch. It can't make laws, it doesn't decide how laws should be enforced, and it doesn't have anything to do with the military.
All it does is fire people1 aka "improve government efficiency"2 after due process3, if they're not doing their jobs or are breaking laws4. It should have direct and immediate access to any nonclassified government records.
...and we can use this opportunity to have its members elected by a much more democratic method -- let's say national popular vote, using ranked choice. Elections every year, but no term limits. Any member can be recalled via popular initiative at any time.
(Just a thought; y'all have a nice day.)
@riley ...and also on Sesame Street
(We have this song, minus the monster noises, on our car stick.)
@bmacDonald94 Likewise! :queer100: for "Make America Good Again", because right now we suck so badly. 😿
...actually it should be "Oh no it's Mr. Hands!" but somehow that has gotten morphed in my brain over the years...
@jaykuo I think maybe we need some kind of official citizen's council that has the legal power to remove people from federal office, after due process, for any of several reasons (among which would certainly be "breaking international law").
@stavvers Is it time once again for me to dredge up my Occupy-Wall-Street-themed parody which starts with the line "police knocked me out"? <.<
Reprise of the thoughtful little queenfisher I saw last week because eir tiny toes are just so good.
The American Statistical Association will be releasing a report on the health of US federal statistical agencies on the morning on Wednesday morning:
I expect the report will document the many ways in which federal statistical reporting has suffered, in detail and with strong efforts to sound apolitical. But really, the current regime is hostile to transparency and knowledge, so I expect the report to highlight many deficiencies.
The public is invited to a public unveiling of the report; register here:
https://amstat.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_6DmmK8FmRbWJTjWfHAPGkQ#/registration
@amcooper Andy always did tend to sound a lot like his brothers, especially in the harmony-bits...
(Appropos of nothing: I have the vinyl of both of those songs, on LP.)
More relevantly, the lack of ability to curate on streaming platforms (including YouTube) is something I've been low-key thinking about for a few years. The only real solutions I've been able to come up with involve media piracy, and how to give it such a large surface area that there's no one target to really "make an example of".
@lilithsaintcrow Almost as if, like, they could possibly be arguing in bad faith, maybe... :blobcatthink:
I'm getting a LOT of new followers this weekend and today from mastodon.social that claim to be news aggregators. all created in the past 72 hours. Someone's spinning up a MONSTROUS propaganda/fake news campaign out there right now! I'm guessing it's a state level actor. Be cautious and double-check anything that sounds too good to be true or too outrageous to ignore!
Speaking just for myself, I'd say it helps with:
