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The White House is already one of the most blocked accounts on Bluesky
- hunglee2 1y agoA notable characteristic of the Trump 2.0 administration is its near universal disregard for protocol. The use of US government assets - like the White House social accounts - for partisan political messaging is clearly damaging to the long term credibility of those accounts, damage which will last long after this administration is gone. It's a crazy thing to observe
- ai-christianson 1y agoIsn't the hatch act supposed to prevent this?
- shawn-butler 1y agoDue to a lapse in appropriations, the U.S. Office of Special Counsel is closed. Complaints may still be filed, but most will not be addressed until OSC reopens. [0] They are the "independent" body that enforces Hatch act regulations. [0]: https://osc.gov https://osc.gov
- lisper 1y ago> They are the "independent" body that enforces Hatch act regulations. Right. And I have this nifty bridge you might be interested in buying.
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- newtonsmethod 1y agoI don't think the hatch act is supposed to prevent the use of the White House account for political purposes. It seems like basically every administration with an X account has done this, e.g.: https://x.com/WhiteHouse46/status/1662171756830892032 https://x.com/WhiteHouse46/status/1662171756830892032 . Although there are probably more contentious case with other government agencies.
- pclmulqdq 1y agoThe Hatch act just makes them more careful about what they say when an election is imminent. It's not a blanket ban on "politics."
- tshaddox 1y agoThat seems like it could have been a headline in a nonpartisan newspaper.
- newtonsmethod 1y agoA nonpartisan newspaper could also condemn or blame a political party for an action. But if all of its posts were supportive of one administration, it would no longer be partisan. You can just look through the old white house accounts. For example this tweet https://x.com/WhiteHouse46/status/1879171105044181097 https://x.com/WhiteHouse46/status/1879171105044181097 , "While Congressional Republicans refused to pass a bipartisan border security agreement, President Biden took action and encounters today are the lowest since July 2020." Looking through the tweets, you'll see it's not nonpartisan and isn't supposed to be.
- V__ 1y agoNobody is going to enforce any laws on Trump or his executive. Either the midterms will allow for oversight to return or he dies before the transition into authoritarianism is complete. With SCOTUS about to end the Voting Rights Act, it could be over sooner than people think.
- hshdhdhj4444 1y agoUnfortunately it’s worse in that the Supreme Court has declared that nothing Trump can do is illegal anymore.
- nickthegreek 1y agoNo such thing has occurred.
- tshaddox 1y agoDo you think a sitting President could ever be charged with a crime (apart from impeachment)?
- wtfwhateven 1y agoWrong.
- bitfilped 1y agohttps://www.aclu.org/press-releases/supreme-court-grants-trump-broad-immunity-for-official-acts-placing-presidents-above-the-law https://www.aclu.org/press-releases/supreme-court-grants-tru...
- theturtle 1y ago[dead]
- deleted 1y ago[deleted]
- pclmulqdq 1y agoIf it were August-September of 2026 and an election were around the corner, yes. The Hatch act is pretty narrowly tailored if you look at its enforcement history, though.
- gl-prod 1y agoLaws depend on having someone who wants to enforce them.
- thephyber 1y agoThe Hatch Act was famously almost never enforced. Couple that with this admin going out of their way to only selectively enforce laws/policies in ways that benefit only them and their desired constituents, and it’s not even worth talking about the Hatch Act until someone else heads the Executive Branch.
- deepurpleeel 1y ago[flagged]
- mschuster91 1y ago> for partisan political messaging is clearly damaging to the long term credibility of those accounts, damage which will last long after this administration is gone. It's a common topic with this admin: short term profits, long term losses. Be it that weird shit with a sell-off of public lands, the closure of and impedance to science in general, the rollback of clean renewable energy sources in favor of fossil fuels, the turn towards corruption and fascism, the fear they're spreading in everyone who's not white, citizenship be damned. In Germany we have a saying for this - "nach uns die Sintflut" or "after us, the floods may come". Trump, those around him and those profiting off of him are having one last blast at the cost of what is going to be our children, the truly uber rich are already building bunkers and thinking how to keep their guards loyal - everyone clearly knows where this ship is headed.
- TRiG_Ireland 1y agoWe have that saying in English, too, except that we quote it in French. "Après moi, le déluge."
- bitlax 1y ago[flagged]
- noworld 1y ago[flagged]
- jkestner 1y agoYou seem to think social media should be a marketplace of ideas. I just want to read stuff I like.
- gherkinnn 1y agoThe deranged antics of the current US administration and its sycophants are beyond echo chambers.
- tzs 1y agoI can't think of anything the White House under this administration would post on social media that is simultaneously (1) at least somewhat truthful, (2) concerns something that is of interest to me, and (3) will not be covered by other sources I read or follow.
- jauntywundrkind 1y agoReally enjoyed the following post-skit (that I think is basically the alternative, if you insist people have to see what the corporation wants to push in your face): normal person: i just want a place to hang out with my friends tech weirdo: and shitheads np: no just my friends tw: but what about hearing alternative views on race and gender? np: we just want to hang out and goof around tw: so where do the shitheads fit in then np: no shitheads tw: not following Via https://bsky.app/profile/msbarnes.bsky.social/post/3m3beqjjazc2u https://bsky.app/profile/msbarnes.bsky.social/post/3m3beqjja... Given that this White House is so so so proud of their king shitting on people's heads, the word choice here could not have been better. The White House is perhaps the most needed to block evil people out there, aiming for it, again and again: Miyazaki AI comes out and an old lady in handcuffs crying is what that's for. These people deserve no voice, no presence in society, except as a warning mark in the history books for what rot abounds from decoupled extremely online vicious edgelording. Which is all too effective and engagement schtick, that doesn't deserve attention.
- theturtle 1y ago[dead]
- pessimizer 1y ago[flagged]
- tzs 1y agoWhat the heck are you talking about?
- skybrian 1y agoI wouldn't even know the account existed if it weren't for the other people talking about it. (Generally true on Bluesky.)
- nothercastle 1y agoThis is why blue stalled. Discovery is absolutely crap. And the only thing it wanted to feed me originally was gay, furry and anime content. Probably not a solid intro feed setup.
- Gigachad 1y agoLol yeah I thought the discovery feed was fine but I do just want to find furries there.
- LexiMax 1y agoI'm not on bluesky myself, but is it weird that I am actually a little bit relieved by your description? Personally, I think it's generally a bad thing when a social space tries to be all things to all people.
- archagon 1y agoSeems lively and active to me.
- tim333 1y agoI saw a lot of mentions of it on X for what that's worth.
- janwl 1y agoI thought that bluesky only showed you posts from people you follow so why go through the effort of blocking someone whose posts you’ll never see?
- detaro 1y agoit doesn't
- mpalmer 1y agoBecause blocks are public and thus tend to be a form of expression
- Avshalom 1y agoThe default "following" feed only shows who you follow. There are a couple other default feeds like "Discover" and "Popular with Friends" that show other stuff. There also a bunch of feeds made by people that show whatever... The result is that even if you have extremely good hygiene about who you follow: rage bait will still often make it's way onto your skyline as quote dunks, reskeets or replies. So if there's an account you just don't ever want to see blocking is still the most fullproof way, even then you're still often exposed to screenshots of rage bait. As a corollary if there are accounts that everybody knows are just going to be trolls, mass blocks help starve them of attention before they get a foot hold.
- Our_Benefactors 1y ago> reskeets Gross.
- mcphage 1y agoPeople retweet and quote tweet things, and honestly, why would I ever want their brand of toxic garbage in my life? Even if accidentally?
- delichon 1y agoSelf defense. They are making significant real world changes that can change your plans if you, you know, interact with the world. Like traveling to another country, or saying things out loud. It's good to be prepared. The pace of those changes is at a historic high in the current administration. There's a sweet spot between being informed and obsessed, but it's sometimes hard to station keep.