onfocus

Here are some of the basic ingredients of a truly pro-business atmosphere: The rule of law; a functional and predictable court system; enforceable contracts; intelligible regulations; trustworthy and accurate government data; widely available well educated and healthy workers; and strong public services that create a customer base that is, itself, healthy and wealthy and flourishing enough to spend money freely.

Business leaders thinking mafia style is preferable to a predictable legal system are in the FA stage of FAFO. (Linked to an archived version because Substack is the worst but this article is good.)

If the uncertainty is getting to you, I have the plainest and most time-tested advice which is: Unless or until clarity about the most crucial levers becomes available, do what you can reach. Make the calls. Care for the people you can find. Hold on by hanging onto each other.

Great advice, and some good resources to check out.

…screens and all the technologies that accompany them are tools to make the world seem more predictable and less uncertain: infinite scroll; autoplay; the always-on “live” news cycle; the steady drumbeat of notifications; the apps that summon servants to our doors, hiding all the labor and improvisation and accidents (often involving blood and bone) that go into moving atoms from one place to another. These tools train us in convenience, which is training in predictability, in the facade of certainty. And when that facade inevitably breaks, we often find ourselves at sea.

Strategies for living with uncertainty.

One day, I saw what felt like Gorton on a ferry traversing the waters Bay Area. A few weeks later, I spotted it on a sign in a national park. Then on an intercom. On a street lighting access cover. In an elevator. At my dentist’s office. In an alley.

Beautiful story of discovering some surprisingly ubiquitous typography that tells us about past production methods.

The individuals, who work in an agency that overseas the nation's nuclear stockpile, had been fired on Thursday and lost access to their federal government email accounts.

Trimming the fat.

Although Trump and Musk insist they are fighting fraud, they have not yet provided evidence for their sweeping claims. Although they demand transparency, Musk conceals his own conflicts of interest. Although they do say they want efficiency, Musk has made no attempt to professionally audit or even understand many of the programs being cut. Although they say they want to cut costs, the programs they are attacking represent a tiny fraction of the U.S. budget. The only thing these policies will certainly do, and are clearly designed to do, is alter the behavior and values of the civil service. Suddenly, and not accidentally, people who work for the American federal government are having the same experience as people who find themselves living under foreign occupation.

This is a demolition, not a restructuring.

I tell ya, I’m tryin’, dear friends. I’m struggling here not to engage in hyperbole. But I don’t know what else to call these people besides political commissars. And again, they report to Elon Musk. He’s already very clearly operating here as an independent actor whose actions the President blesses after he’s found out what’s happened. This is a parallel overlaying of authority over the entire structure of the U.S. government.

At least he got a security clearance and was approved by congress. Oh wait.

“It’s a shit show,“ says Dr. Jeff Jensen, vice chair of research in obstetrics and gynecology at the OHSU School of Medicine. “But it’s that way by intention. They are doing it to destabilize everyone who didn’t vote for them. People will lose jobs.”

OHSU is a fantastic organization that does important work for humans regardless of party affiliation. It’s painful to watch them (and every research institution) being attacked for the lulz.

A stunning 54% of Americans now believe we’re in a Constitutional crisis, according to recent YouGov polling. They’re right.

It’s not going well for Uncle Sam.

It has been three weeks since Inauguration Day. Most Americans recognize that newly elected leaders bring change. That is expected. But most Americans also expect that changes will take place in accordance with the rule of law and in an orderly manner that respects the lives of affected individuals and the work they have been asked to perform.

Just a completely normal statement from the American Bar Association advocating for the rule of law. Very precedented.

Nichols noted that despite Trump’s claim of massive “corruption and fraud” in the agency, government lawyers had no support for that argument in court. Aside from that assertion, the judge said, the administration was unable to explain “what harm would befall the government if it could not immediately place on administrative leave the more than 2000 employees in question.”

It’s interesting to see what shows up in court vs press conferences. Lawyers are still hesitant to present false evidence in court.

"This is terrible, these families are the most at risk, the most vulnerable across our state, and they depend on us for many services," said Morrison-Frichtl. "For some of our children, we meet two-thirds of their nutritional needs each day. Families depend on us to get to their job, to have their child in a safe, educational, caring place."

The suffering is what people voted for. No, I don't really think everyone voted for this level of suffering.