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Phyllis Fong, who was investigating Neuralink, "forcefully removed "
- llamaimperative 2y agoThe specific law that Trump is very obviously breaking is the Securing Inspector General Independence Act of 2022, which says Congress must be notified 30 days in advance and given "substantive" rationale for dismissing inspectors general. This law was passed specifically in response to Trump breaking the antecedent law, Inspector General Reform Act of 2008, during his first term. Will the "party of law and order" do anything? Nope. https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF11546 https://crsreports.congress.gov/product/pdf/IF/IF11546 Good on Ms Fong for refusing to leave.
- rokkamokka 2y agoAh yes, the little known legal loophole of "nobody is going to stop me". In all seriousness, the situation is very dire. The future does not, currently, bode well for the common man.
- rqtwteye 2y agoThe Trump people went extremely well prepared into this. They are spamming with a ton of things, often legally questionable. They know that Congress doesn't have a backbone and lawsuits will take a very long time. It's a brilliant strategy.
- madhadron 2y agoLawsuits take a very long time, but a court injunction can control which way that time is spent.
- nickff 2y agoA number of (especially recent) administrations have performed a large number of legally questionable acts which were often structured in such a way as to be difficult to challenge (the CFPB comes to mind). Trump’s innovation seems to be taking this tactic to an extreme, remarkably early in this administration.
- llamaimperative 2y agoSay more about how the CFPB was illegal? It was created by an act of Congress.
- nickff 2y agoThere are/were a number of issues with its structure, some of which are described in the lawsuits mentioned on its Wikipedia page: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumer_Financial_Protection_Bureau https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Consumer_Financial_Protectio...
- llamaimperative 2y agoIts constitutionality was literally upheld in SCOTUS So no, not really. You have a list of complaints from the regulated parties.
- nickff 2y agoThat’s one of the decisions; on the other hand, the director was made removable at will (by the courts, in response to a challenge, and contrary to the original statute), and there have been other proposed challenges. This change has proved consequential.
- Terr_ 2y agoI'm tired of congressional Republicans being treated as unmentioned bystanders in this. Reporters should be pushing microphones in their faces asking why they approve of the latest thing Trump did, or at least what they think of him breaking laws they passed.
- llamaimperative 2y agoAbsolutely agreed.
- anigbrowl 2y agoReporters are doing that. But politicians in general and Republicans in particular excel at using rhetorical fallacies and other tactics to avoid answering difficult questions. Here's an example from last year where a bunch of Republicans simply booed and abused a reporter whose question they disliked: https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4274345-republican-tells-reporter-to-shut-up-johnson-2020-election/ https://thehill.com/homenews/house/4274345-republican-tells-... The media has many shortcomings, but how are reporters supposed to hold accountable people who simply do not care?
- amazingamazing 2y ago[flagged]
- llamaimperative 2y ago"Plz explain why you are breaking the law?" - Senators The IGs have already been removed. He already broke the law. Requesting an explanation as to why he did it post facto changes nothing about that, ergo the GOP Senators are doing effectively nothing: the IGs are already gone. The letter doesn't even allude to any consequences whatsoever, neither for the initial illegality nor refusing their request for explanation of the illegality.
- tegiddrone 2y agoThanks for shedding some light on this element of the story. I like to keep references like this when mustering support for action. What does bipartisan even mean? I've seen my state lose a republican congressperson who, while I disagreed with, called out trump on disrespecting branches of gov during first term and since been replaced with a pro-trump congressperson. The checks and balances are eroding and the citizen response has to be strong.
- phonon 2y agoAre you serious? A. he already broke the law. The point in notifying in advance is for Congress to push back if they think the reason was inappropriate, as Inspector Generals are the watchdogs that report to Congress. B. Do you really think he had "the substantive rationale, including detailed and case-specific reasons for any such removal or transfer" for 17 simultaneous firings days into his administration?
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- amazingamazing 2y ago[flagged]
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- MarkLowenstein 2y ago[flagged]
- r0ckarong 2y agoNothing to see here. Just a massive conflict of interest from an unelected foreigner exacting power over your government.
- bmitc 2y agoAn illegal immigrant at that.
- DonHopkins 2y ago[flagged]
- jazzyjackson 2y agoIt’s not illegal for the rich to pay to skip the line. (For the uninitiated, at first glance it would appear Elon was in violation of his J-1 student visa as he didn’t attend classes at Stanford, but he was swiftly employed by way of an H1-B visa and had the paperwork fast tracked through his VC-DC connections. His brother did refer to himself and Elon as illegal immigrants tho, I would say no more illegal than our First Lady.) The law, in its majestic equality, forbids the rich as well as the poor to sleep under bridges, to beg in the streets, and to steal bread
- bmitc 2y agoHe was never enrolled at Stanford and was working while on a J-1. That is visa fraud. It's likely, because he never even enrolled in classes, that he intentionally applied to Stanford with the intention to never go to school there but to instead use it as a front to start working in Silicon Valley. And it's possible he even overstayed his J-1 visa while waiting on an H1-B.
- MarkLowenstein 2y ago[flagged]
- mattnewton 2y ago
- bmitc 2y agoOur government is literally falling in a matter of weeks. It's being assaulted, and we're all just standing by.
- I_dream_of_Gen1 2y ago[dead]
- khazhoux 2y agoThe people spoke very clearly in November: they wanted this.
- Loudergood 2y agoThanks to California's incredibly slow counting system it was a lot closer in popular vote than it initially appeared.
- kevstev 2y agoThis is my big struggle with all of this. His first term I felt America was duped by a con man so protested and made a fuss on social media. Americans saw the first four years and astonishingly decided they wanted more of it, by a decent margin. So while I absolutely hate what is going on right now this seems to be what the people wanted. I question each day whether that needs to be respected or we should resist. I also wonder if his supporters have any idea of what is going on. I am sure fox news isn't covering any of this and if they are it's probably being spun in some horrific way.
- int_19h 2y agoWhat is "the people" at this point, even? Is there really such a thing as "American people" that can be meaningfully defined? What would be its ideals?
- bmitc 2y ago> I also wonder if his supporters have any idea of what is going on. They do not. Most of his supporters are either rich or uneducated normal people who lack the mental capacity to realize what's going on. They just repeat the talking points. Respond to anyone of them with a non-talking point, compassion, and honesty and they just shut down. They haven't a clue about what's really going on. I bet none of his supporters even know who Robert Mercer is, the person that got him elected in the first place.
- I_dream_of_Gen1 2y agoI have to laugh at the trump administration idiocy with saying they are removing "these rogue, partisan bureaucrats", when, clearly, she's been there through 6 administrations... SMH.
- llamaimperative 2y agoPropaganda. Propaganda is the term you're looking for. Nothing idiotic about it, except the hordes of people willingly buying into it (including "smart" people on this very forum!)
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- darkwater 2y agoThe US is starting to look like Berlusconi's Italy 30 years ago in this regard... The only difference is that Berlusconi was Italian and could be elected, when politicians were not obeying as he expected.
- callamdelaney 2y agoUh what? If I got fired from a private company security would also remove me
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- llamaimperative 2y agoI guess one minor distinction is the piece of legislation Congress passed that outlines the specific process for firing Fong, which was not followed, whereas I assume you have no such protection on your job? Just a minor distinction though!
- dingnuts 2y agoI guess it must have been an official act
- mindslight 2y agoThis mistaken belief that government works like a corporation is the essence of fascism. Corporations are inherently authoritarian, government should not be. The entire point of bureaucracy is that supreme power should not vest into one person, but rather be divided amongst many people and mediated by a system of rules.
- theendisney4 2y agoYou can have entirely seperate governing entities complete with their own taxes and elections. The most interesting part imho is that people not even bother voting if the entity does its job properly.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- NicoJuicy 2y agoUS is becoming a banana republic
- fuzztester 2y agobecoming? past tense is more like it. also Google your own term in Wikipedia to see the history of it.
- 2OEH8eoCRo0 2y agoThis extreme cynicism is part of what got us here. People have made this cynicism manifest. They're making the government of their imaginations real.
- fuzztester 2y agocynicism? enough with your puerile, shallow pop psychology, bro. maybe you didn't get what I mean by "your term". I meant this comment by NicoJuicy, the parent comment that I replied to: >US is becoming a banana republic and the term that I meant was, Banana republic. possibly you have not read the details of what a Banana republic really means, and how horrible it is, of both parties involved in that injustice, or rather those injustices, because it happened many times, with many countries, south of the US, in Central and/or South America. here you go: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_republic https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Banana_republic short partial summary: the US and some US business companies (in a nexus, of course) was usually involved in the creation of those Banana republics, to the financial advantage of both them and the concerned countries' rulers aka dictators, and to the huge detriment of the general public in these countries, including huge scheming, violence and looting against them, etc. and guess just who coined the term Banana republic? I bet this will surprise you. it was an American author, with pen name O. Henry: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/O._Henry https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/O._Henry he was not innocent himself, he embezzled money from a bank, and fled south. I have read a short story by him: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Leaf https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Last_Leaf it may be even manipulative by him, to make money, by tugging at heart strings, but I found it good nonetheless. we had it in English literature class in High School, IIRC. wrong use of caps not by me, but by voice typing errors, can't be bothered to correct them. also, wherever you are from, maybe you should read the following articles before pronouncing judgement on things you seem to know very little about: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_United_States https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_United_States https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Indigenous_Peoples%27_History_of_the_United_States https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/An_Indigenous_Peoples%27_His... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bury_My_Heart_at_Wounded_Knee https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bury_My_Heart_at_Wounded_Kne... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dee_Brown_(writer) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dee_Brown_(writer) https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism_in_the_United_States https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Racism_in_the_United_States https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_women_in_the_United_States https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_women_in_the_Unit... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_United_States_foreign_policy https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/History_of_the_United_States... https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_imperialism https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_imperialism and maybe most of all, because it is kind of a summary and an indictment: https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_exceptionalism https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/American_exceptionalism
- smitty1e 2y agoI gather that I'm further right than much of the HN crowd, having been on the edge of the Tea Party movement &c. The presence of the Citrus Caesar and the billionaire boys is due to substantial, ongoing problems. The U.S. Government, like any code base, has accrued much cruft over the last century. Whether or not DJT has any lasting positive effect isn't knowable yet. The risk of this current course being a cure worse than the disease is substantial. The two things to keep in mind in any case are: - trust, but verify - look for the substantive reform, not lipstick on the pig
- llamaimperative 2y agoA third thing to keep in mind: law is law and must be followed.
- smitty1e 2y agoThat's an excellent going-in position. Given sufficient complexity and overlap, frictions arise. Hence all of the allegations and lawsuits and appeals and so forth. The voters are the ultimate judge, and typically end up with a government that reflects them, warts and all.
- llamaimperative 2y agoThere’s nothing complex about “IGs cannot be dismissed without 30 days notice to Congress.” And no, judges are judges. That’s why they’re called that.
- smitty1e 2y agoI guess that I'd be closer to your position if the last eight years of...however you characterize it...hadn't gone down.
- llamaimperative 2y ago?
- fuzztester 2y agohttps://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/technology/tech-news/phyllis-fong-who-was-investigating-elon-musks-brain-implant-startup-neuralink-forcefully-removed-from-office-after-refusing-termination-order/articleshow/117800543.cms https://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/technology/tech-news/phy... hmmm. let's see ... $ echo "Phyllis Fong, who was investigating Elon Musk's brain implant startup Neuralink, "forcefully removed from office" after refusing termination order" | ... oh, never mind. I'm too lazy to write the regex for getting this output from the above input: Elon Musk's brain implant forcefully removed after termination order
- shitter 2y agoecho "Phyllis Fong, who was investigating Elon Musk's brain implant startup Neuralink, "forcefully removed from office" after refusing termination order" | sed -E "s/Phyllis Fong, who was investigating (.*) startup Neuralink,(.*) from office(.*) refusing/\1\2\3/"
- fuzztester 2y agothere may be a bug in your sed
- shitter 2y agoIt works on my Mac and Linux box!
- mellosouls 2y agoLess annoying web page here, same story: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/29/usda-inspector-general-phyllis-fong https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/jan/29/usda-inspect...
- sho_hn 2y agoAre there any good blogs that are chronicling the USA Federal gov's slow descent into facism and overt corruption, just collecting and archiving pieces like this with a classiciation/categorization etc.? I think it's an unprecedented opportunity to record the history of a downfall using modern tools, and future generations might benefit enormously. When I learned about the disruption of the Weimar Republic in highschool, a thing our teacher did was make copious use of newspaper clippings to explain the delta between ground truth and public sentiment, and how certain narratives increased in frequency, etc. He had personally spent quite some time in old archives and on microfilm readers to create his little library. Something like this, but with much more data. A friend of mine did her master's in political science on crawling data in Islamic extremist social media cycles and trying to correlate activity there with a dataset on terrorist events, trying to find out if you could anticipate them somehow. This is a loose collection of thoughts, but I think there's something there in the signal.
- anigbrowl 2y agoThere's lots of them, but I respectfully submit that doing something about it in the present - whatever you determine that to be, given your skills and inclinations - is a far higher priority than the educational byproduct for future generations. Using your Weimar example, I would not argue that Germany or humanity is/are better off for having gone through the cataclysm of WW2. In terms of building context, you might find it helpful to read this dry but very detailed examination of the nazi administrative state, and how it delivered economic resources to its political clients through a combination of reorganization, financial engineering, and striaght-up theft: https://archive.org/details/hitlersbeneficia00alyg https://archive.org/details/hitlersbeneficia00alyg On a more abstract level, try 'The logic of political survival' by Smith & Bueno de Mesquita. both books will give you a useful framework within which to assess the contextual significance of ongoing news events.
- sho_hn 2y agoThanks! I also think this is a good summary for those who had never heard of Weimar before: https://archive.is/xh2Ci https://archive.is/xh2Ci But like most summaries, it suffers a bit from focusing on the key events, and not capturing this sort of ... change in the ambient noise floor, and what relationship the average citizen had to what was going on, and what perception of events. I think it's the "Would you have been able to tell that it'd get this bad?" is kind of the more interesting part. A political weather forecasting model, if you will.
- likeabatterycar 2y agoNice truncating the title and removing context. If you got fired from literally any private sector company and refused to leave your office, security would escort you out immediately.
- anigbrowl 2y agoExcept that the rules about firing public officials and inspector generals in particular are different, by law. Accusing the headline writers of omitting context while ignoring that key difference makes your comment reek of hypocrisy.
- deleted 2y ago[deleted]
- iancmceachern 2y agoTitle was trimmed to fit into the character limits imposed by HN. I did my best to preserve meaning.
- amazingamazing 2y agoI wonder about the purpose of many of these actions. Since they’re done via EOs they can easily be reversed.
- nico 2y agoIf this continues, it won’t be easy to track and revert 4 years of EOs. And it will be impossible to undo all the consequences
- amazingamazing 2y agoThey’re literally all on the White House site in order.
- Hikikomori 2y agoYou think they're just text on a website?
- nico 2y agoThey might not be there for too long though https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42910099 https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=42910099
- jacobjjacob 2y agoMaybe it will be an opportunity to “build back better”, like in 2021. However, that’s assuming he actually leaves office which is not a given.
- therealcamino 2y agoThe purpose of firing Inspectors General en masse is so that there are no independent overseers to investigate illegal or corrupt actions within the executive branch during your term in office. Reversing it four years later is just too late.
- kakaface 2y ago[flagged]
- 93po 2y agoTitle makes it sound like she was in an Neuralink office and physically shoved out the door. The non-clickbait version is that she is in the same agency that started a Neuralink investigation (due to perceive conflicts of interest in its board) and her dismissal has zero substantive connection to neuralink or elon.