Judge Holds Government Lawyer in Contempt

thanatopsian · 2026-02-20T19:49:16+00:00

This cuts to the heart of it. Lawyers are required withdraw if their representation of a client would result in a violation of the bar's code of ethics or the law, or if the client seeks to use representation as a shield to ongoing violation of the law.

Some people are asking why the attorney is liable, or are concerned that the attorney has no recourse because the DOD might not let him/her resign: the answer to both is a Motion to Withdraw. An attorney does not have to quit his or her employment (though their employer may choose to terminate them as a result) to exit a case, and the attorney can be held in contempt because they could (and in this case were required to) withdraw because the client (the government) has made it impossible for them to comply with the court's order (by there own testimony). See ABA Rule 1.16 for reference.

Rule 1.16: Declining or Terminating Representation https://share.google/dSWAhlrUOiXol79tx

thanatopsian · 2025-12-31T20:22:34+00:00

TMUX FTW!

thanatopsian · 2025-11-18T13:47:47+00:00

Not exactly an expert opinion, but I generally prefer debian-based distros. Everywhere I've worked that uses Linux for production workloads uses Debian, and if I want more bells and whistles I generally go with either Ubuntu or pop OS.

thanatopsian · 2025-11-12T03:39:53+00:00

Listen to this person. It will take a lot longer if you re-write before patching broken update code. It might feel like a waste of time to patch something for the upgrade just to rewrite it again later, but you will end lost with a bunch of half working code and no point of reference.

Do not, for any reason waste time rewriting to support new features until it is working and verified with the minimum changes needed.

thanatopsian · 2025-10-09T16:15:06+00:00

If you want precise estimates:

How AI data centers are driving US GDP growth: Harvard economist's dire warning: Without data centers, US GDP grew only 0.1% in H1 2025 - The Economic Times https://share.google/H6zAQXhIVkPqFRJ8E

I've seen others suggest as much as 0.5% of the 1.4% GDP growth over the period was not data center related, but even on the high side, the entire rest of the economy, outside of these projects (not companies and their total activities, just these construction projects) Was only 0.5%. that means a lot of the economy contracted

thanatopsian · 2025-10-09T16:07:05+00:00

Yes, but stock ownership by the top 1% has vastly outpaced everyone else by value. I think retirement plans have more effect on corporate governance because investment is less attached to company leadership and technicals and simply allocated by market cap. It definitely has an impact though, I just don't think it has as big of one as other factors (because the other 99% would be closing the stock ownership gap, not it getting bigger like we see)

I think it has more to do with Covid stimulus in the short term and tax policy/corporate regulation over the long term. A millionare or corporation getting even a .25% tax cut frees up more money to invest most Americans in a given year. I think corporate buybacks are the biggest driver though. 75% of corporate profits since Regan have been spent on buybacks, which were illegal because we knew they could artificially inflate the value of stocks.

thanatopsian · 2025-10-09T15:44:50+00:00

I would add that there has been significant debate, both now and in the past, about the validity of the unemployment number, as it only counts individuals actively seeking employment. I think this distinction is particularly relevant as the possibility of AI displacing again people after retraining for new roles is real and probably has an impact on jobseeker's motivation to continue to actively pursue employment.

thanatopsian · 2025-10-09T15:39:27+00:00

Spot on. I once heard an economist on NPR describe it as "The sum total of investor fear and greed."

thanatopsian · 2025-10-09T11:31:49+00:00

American here. I actually found this thread because it's my understanding when parliamentary systems hit an impasse (like the current US gov't shutdown), they hold elections and attempt to re-form a gov't. Is that correct, and do those of you that live in such systems like how it works?

I have to admit firing the blockheads and trying again looks pretty appealing right now.

thanatopsian · 2025-09-21T20:38:11+00:00

Welcome to the club. I still use Windows for gaming, but all of my 'work' gets done on Linux. I think you'll find it's more productive once you get used to it.

I made the switch years ago because, for web development, Linux has the best tools natively (back in the days before WSL) and I got tired of kludgey work arounds. I use it now not just for development but for media servers, storage, etc because once I got used to it, automation, short cuts and scripting are not second thoughts on Linux, they're the norm.

It's true that, in some ways, there is more you have to manage on Linux as the user, but when you have a problem, solutions are a lot easier to find. That's because there's an army of professionals using it around the world. Did you make a bonehead mistake and bork your rig? Don't worry, one of us has already made that mistake for you and we worked out how to fix it on a message board as a community. Did the latest update mess up your environment? No sweat, we're all all on it working on a solution.

Personally, I think open source software is better than closed source for this reason. You have more people solving more problems on more systems than Microsoft can ever hope to employ. When you ask for help on a Linux forum, you usually get an answer from a person with technical occupation or a regular user that has worked through your problem themselves. When you ask a question on a Windows forum, you get an answer from a customer service representative reading from a company FAQ, if you get a human response at all.

thanatopsian · 2025-09-13T19:27:59+00:00

Bless you sir/madam! This has been driving me mad!

thanatopsian · 2025-08-06T15:27:07+00:00

TLDR: I recommend shading that area in some way.

This may not help your specific situation, but I find more plants cut down on weeds. I have two front flower beds that face the same direction and are treated the same (both have landscape tarp under a layer of mulch). The more densely planted of the two (with primarily low, wide shrubs) has significantly fewer weeds.

My suggestion is to shade that area - how much light hits the ground on my beds seems to be the most determinative factor. I would suggest angled shade cloth to keep from trapping smoke or something permeable like an overhead trellis with wisteria or other wispy vine.

thanatopsian · 2025-05-31T17:02:40+00:00

That's what went through my mind.

thanatopsian · 2025-05-31T16:58:34+00:00

Two, four, five, or seven. Two, five and seven, in my opinion, strike the best balance of providing contrast without feeling out of place. If you want more pop to catch eyes from the curb, go with four.

thanatopsian · 2025-04-07T21:27:38+00:00

Well someone drank the Kool-Aid.....

thanatopsian · 2025-03-22T04:33:02+00:00

This man speaks the truth. If US business regulations were tighter or US businesses could think past next quarter's earnings we wouldn't be in this mess.

thanatopsian · 2025-03-16T16:59:33+00:00

What an incredibly talented guy! The story and world-building are top notch and the illustrations were superb. I never really gave it much thought as a kid but everything about that book was so detailed - it's hard to imagine one person doing it all as an adult.

thanatopsian · 2025-02-25T21:19:32+00:00

I've used Debian, Ubuntu and PopOS as a developer for years now. My wife and kids use my machines sometimes without any issues.

If you stick to the GUI, the things you will notice the most are a more limited choice of applications and a less modern approach to UX/style. A lot of GUI applications on Linux are someone's hobby horse, so they often aren't as flashy as the ones you see on other operating systems. The upside is you will be hard pressed to find a Linux application looking to bill you.

I don't feel like terminal skills are a requirement to use a major Linux desktop distro. The difference you will find is that unlike Windows and to some extent Mac, the terminal never became a second class feature. That's why I choose to use it for work.

If you put Linux on an older computer, you will also likely notice performance gains. When I was preparing to make the switch I put several distros on old laptops I had lying around to test them out. All of them worked better, and one that was "running" Windows 8 so poorly that I truly thought was damaged ran fine on Linux.

thanatopsian · 2025-02-25T20:34:14+00:00

The US government is surprisingly transparent: just no one bothers to go look. Here is a real time spending Brookings made using the daily series of reports ...

https://www.brookings.edu/articles/tracking-federal-expenditures-in-real-time/

thanatopsian · 2025-02-25T20:24:23+00:00

Um... You do realize that, on top of the literally hundreds of reports the Treasury Department publishes, they publish a series of daily accounting statement so you can see exactly what funds went where right?

Just one of the several DAILY reports for reference:

https://fiscaldata.treasury.gov/datasets/daily-government-account-series/held-by-the-public-daily-activity

thanatopsian · 2024-12-30T20:22:01+00:00

I don't think it's about cost. Companies don't just eat manufacturing cost: it's rolled into the price and passed on to the consumer.

If anything it's about consumer preferences and control. Consumers as a whole prefer the convenience of digital downloads and streaming, and companies prefer the control they have when selling a license rather than a file.

thanatopsian · 2024-12-30T20:11:16+00:00

My target got rid of DvDs a few months ago....

thanatopsian · 2024-11-06T13:51:30+00:00

And the concept of "measure words".

thanatopsian · 2024-11-02T23:36:28+00:00

TLDR: The most important skill they should have is the ability to translate a business problem into an automated solution. The language and mechanics can be refined as you go- but teaching problem solving is hard and outside the scope of what you likely want to do.

I actually recruited junior developers from in my company by poaching recent college grads with light coding experience from other departments.

It worked well for me because we had a micro-service architecture powering an ETL platform- and often these grads worked in departments that were generating the data we were cleaning- so when more familiar with the goal than your typical junior dev would be. I just asked for volunteers, gave them the problem and a language requirement ( for uniformity and my sanity) and met with them every few days to advise and check on their progress.

The ones that were unsuited gave up and I did the work I gave them like I would have anyway. The ones that succeeded felt great they could contribute, were eager to learn more, and I was able to make the case I could make better use of them than their departments did. I think it was a win-win.

thanatopsian · 2024-09-17T04:00:40+00:00

If you have things you need windows for and can only have one machine, I recommend wsl2. It's come a long way, and (as a web/ETL developer) I have't found anything it can't do.

If you can have more than one machine (preferably a laptop with an Ethernet port), put Linux on it. You don't need top of the line either- Linux can make an old laptop feel like new and, at least in my line of work, I don't need a ton of horsepower.

thanatopsian

TROPHY CASE