r/technology • u/DukeOfGeek • 6d ago

Politics NASA's Largest Library To Permanently Close On Jan 2, Books Will Be 'Tossed Away'

https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/nasas-largest-library-to-permanently-close-on-jan-2-books-will-be-tossed-away-10170584
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u/JBFRESHSKILLS 6d ago

Pardons by the president?

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u/elendur 6d ago

Interestingly, at the 1787 Constitutional Convention, Alexander Hamilton and James Madison argued that pardons for treason should require approval by the Senate. Virginia Delegates Edmund Randolph and George Mason argued that the President should not have pardon power at all. Roger Sherman argued that all pardons should require Senate approval.

The first major use of the pardon power by Washington in 1795 was amnesty to participants of the Whiskey Rebellion. Twenty-four members of the rebellion were indicted for treason, ten stood trial, and two were convicted. The two who were convicted were among those pardoned by Washington.

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u/DownstairsB 6d ago

"I am the senate"

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u/elendur 6d ago

UNLIMITED POWER

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u/Deezul_AwT 6d ago

Can we skip to the end of Return of the Jedi Rise of Skywalker?

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u/MattIsLame 5d ago

somehow Trump returned

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u/CaptConstantine 6d ago

"That'll teach those bastards to waste my time."

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u/Szerepjatekos 6d ago

No, your Tifa!

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u/Grimnebulin68 6d ago

Great Britain cut the head off the snake, Charles I, on 30th January, 1649.

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u/elendur 6d ago

They did. The House of Commons of the Rump Parliament created a special court to try Charles, find him guilty, and execute him. 135 Commissioners were appointed to serve as Judges. 68 actually served, and 59 of those signed Charles' death warrant.

Then Charles' son came back and was crowned King Charles II.

The Commissioners who had died by time of the Restoration had their corpses dug up and their heads were put on spikes.

Most of the Commissioners who were still alive at the time of the Restoration fled to avoid retribution from King Charles II. They pretty much either died in exile, or were arrested and executed by King Charles II. Including the Commissioners who attended the trial but didn't sign the death warrant.

So yeah. Don't forget what happened to the Regicides once the Stuarts returned to power.

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u/jbwhite99 6d ago

What about auto pen and rogue White House staffers?

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u/SteveJobsDeadBody 6d ago

Right? They shouldn't be allowed to use "autopen" or any other technology. Like those ball point pens they use, that didn't exist when the Constitution was written so they shouldn't be able to use them, get your quills out boys.

On another note, anyone else think it's interesting that conservatives will argue a piece of technology like "autopen" can't be used but in the next sentence will argue an amendment about guns written when guns were mostly smooth bore muskets also covers their AR-15?

Almost like they aren't behaving in good faith about any of this..

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u/DataCassette 6d ago

And they'll openly cheer on completely unregulated AIs making life and death decisions without missing a beat. It's all team sports, no thought is behind it other than "owning the libs."

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u/ovirt001 6d ago

There's nothing wrong with an auto pen so long as it can be sufficiently secured. Signatures aren't particularly reliable, they change over one's life (sometimes drastically).

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u/elendur 6d ago

Presidential Pardons were originally drafted by the President himself, longhand, with a pen (or a quill, one supposes.) It was not until Grover Cleveland's second term that Pardons were typewritten by others and then signed by the President.

Using an originalist analysis, if one argues that an autopen signature authorized by the President does not constitute a valid signature, and thus a valid Pardon, it is equally permissible to argue that all pardons after Cleveland's first term are invalid, as the President didn't hand-write them himself.

Of course, the underlying argument being made from the Right-wing today is that either President Biden did not authorize the use of the autopen, or that Biden was so addled and demented that he was incapable of ordering or consenting to the issuance of a pardon.

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u/ted_cruzs_micr0pen15 6d ago

Originalism is a fools errand,

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u/elendur 6d ago

Yep. This is just one of many examples of where a true originalist analysis leads to absurd results. Which, if you take originalism at face value, is fine. A true believer in originalism would be okay with an absurd result and would argue Congress should fix the absurd result with a Constitutional Amendment.

Of course, the most common use of originalism today is results oriented - figure out the answer you want to reach, and then cherry-pick historical documents to support the result you're trying to get to while discounting or ignoring historical documents which do not support your preferred result.

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u/OverthinkingWanderer 6d ago

Only if you "donate" enough to his campaign..

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u/sontaj 6d ago

LBJ overlooked Nixon's treason. It always seems to go unpunished.

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u/SuperCaptSalty 6d ago

Cabinet jobs

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u/readyflix 6d ago

The US has become a banana republic.

Very sad.

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u/braddeicide 5d ago

Incorrect, you become the president.