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profpech.bsky.social
Laurent Pech 🇺🇦
@profpech.bsky.social
6K followers 1.3K following 1.3K posts

Professor of Law, Dean of @ucdschooloflaw.bsky.social, Senior Research Fellow at the CEU Democracy Institute in Budapest, and co-director of @goodlobbyprofs.bsky.social. Usual disclaimers.

Videos
Political science 77%
Law 13%
Posts Replies Media Videos

profpech.bsky.social
Laurent Pech 🇺🇦 @profpech.bsky.social · 1h
Autocracy in America: "The threat of criminal charges is a consequence of the Federal Reserve setting interest rates based on our best assessment of what will serve the public, rather than following the preferences of the President"

Reposted by Laurent Pech

irishtimes.com
The Irish Times @irishtimes.com · 3h
Una Mullally: How rotten does X have to be before politicians finally leave it?
Una Mullally: How rotten does X have to be before politicians finally leave it?
Under Elon Musk, X is a vast disinformation network, a hotbed of extremism, a radicalisation tool. And now its chatbot is a creator, publisher and distributor of awful material
www.irishtimes.com

Reposted by Stephen M. Walt, Kori Schake, Claudia Sahm , and 71 more

federalreserve.gov
Federal Reserve @federalreserve.gov · 8h
Video message from Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell:
www.youtube.com/watch?v=KckG...
www.federalreserve.gov/newsevents/s...
Statement by Federal Reserve Chair Jerome H. Powell
YouTube video by Federal Reserve
www.youtube.com

Reposted by Laurent Pech

donmoyn.bsky.social
Don Moynihan @donmoyn.bsky.social · 17h
I spoke with the authors of the study, Christian Gläßel and
@ascharpf.bsky.social, who drew direct parallels between the creation of secret police in authoritarian regimes and what is happening under the Trump administration.

Right now, the signals of impunity for loyalists stands out.
Gläßel and Scharpf pointed to three mechanisms that reshape career incentives: purges, the erosion of legitimate accountability mechanisms, and signals of impunity for loyalists. These patterns that are clearly emerging in agencies like the FBI, and mirror other authoritarian settings they have studied. Once an agency is corrupted: officers hope that the regime will reward them for shouldering the burden of the regime’s dirty work. The rationale is simple: extreme loyalty and repressive commitment offer a path to advancement otherwise unavailable to them.

profpech.bsky.social
Laurent Pech 🇺🇦 @profpech.bsky.social · 18h
"It doesn't just offer to make images of children in states of undress, as a feature for its customers. It will also offer to take images of anyone and generate a sexualised image of them. The foreign industrialist announced this feature himself with an emoji"

www.thegist.ie/the-gist-the...
The Gist: The Abuse Factory
X, the child abuse imagery app, revealed our state has no red lines. This is the Gist.
www.thegist.ie

Reposted by Anna O. Law, Steve Peers, Melissa Johnson , and 1 more

normeisen.bsky.social
Norm Eisen @normeisen.bsky.social · 18h
I disagree with the suggestion in the NYT story today that rule of law is not working to stop Trump

Yes the "Trump judges" have been disproportionately bad, but the overall win rate of over 60% or >320 wins is still EXTRAORDINARY

And the wins in the most important areas have been even bigger👇

1/x
A Year of Fighting for Democracy–in Print and in Court
Exactly one year ago today, Jen Rubin and I and a small band of colleagues were furiously working to launch a new publication dedicated to the idea of honest but unabashed defense of democracy.
open.substack.com

Reposted by Laurent Pech

tupped.bsky.social
Simon McGarr @tupped.bsky.social · 19h
New Gist: What you can do about the Abuse Factory

As a follow-up to yesterday’s Gist, I’ve done a list of four things you can do about X without even having to put down your iPhone.

www.thegist.ie/the-gist-wha...

Reposted by Laurent Pech

sundersays.bsky.social
Sunder Katwala (sundersays) @sundersays.bsky.social · 23h
Elon Musk has become v radicalised by the great replacement theory into the promotion + advocacy of overt racism + violence

So Musk believes this overt maximalist racist is a "moderate"

Musk often promotes those calling for mass remigration, including deporting all ethnic minorities from Britain

profpech.bsky.social
Laurent Pech 🇺🇦 @profpech.bsky.social · 23h
Dear @vonderleyen.ec.europa.eu, @teresaribera.ec.europa.eu, @hennavirkkunen.bsky.social, @michaelmcgratheu.bsky.social, what are you waiting for to adopt interim measures?

profpech.bsky.social
Laurent Pech 🇺🇦 @profpech.bsky.social · 23h
As rightly denounced by @ec.europa.eu: "This is not 'spicy'. This is illegal. This is appalling. This is disgusting. This has no place in Europe."

UK Royal Society President: Nazi-saluting Musk is just another Sir Isaac Newton... 🤮

www.euronews.com/my-europe/20...
EU Commission examines childlike sexual images created by Musk’s AI
A spokesperson for the European Commission said it was “very seriously looking into” the creation of sexually explicit images of girls – including minors – by Grok, the AI model integrated into X.
www.euronews.com

profpech.bsky.social
Laurent Pech 🇺🇦 @profpech.bsky.social · 23h
"Musk should keep his UK Royal Society fellowship even though" he's proactively helping with dissemination of Child Sexual Abuse Material...

When it comes to moral bankruptcy & abject cowardice, it is difficult to think of a more contemptible institution than the UKRS & its pathetic "leadership"
mikepeeljourno.bsky.social Michael Peel @mikepeeljourno.bsky.social · 1d
"I think it is naive, frankly, to say that we should get rid of him because he’s a bad person," the new UK Royal Society president says of Elon Musk's membership.

The society would have expelled Isaac Newton if it made judgments on character & behaviour, Paul Nurse says.

www.ft.com/content/088b...
Elon Musk should keep UK Royal Society membership, says president
Paul Nurse tells FT that national science academy should avoid ‘making judgments’ about ‘character’ of fellows
www.ft.com

profpech.bsky.social
Laurent Pech 🇺🇦 @profpech.bsky.social · 1d
"I informed them they were violating the law. They said they didn't care"
atrupar.com Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d
Rep. Angie Craig: "We were told because this facility is being funding by the 'Big Beautiful Bill,' not the congressional appropriations act, that we would not be allowed to enter the facility. That's complete nonsense ... I informed them they were violating the law. They said they didn't care."

Reposted by Laurent Pech, David R. Miller, Anthony Burke

stephenwest.bsky.social
Stephen West @stephenwest.bsky.social · 1d
"The National Portrait Gallery removed a swath of text that mentioned President Donald Trump’s two impeachments and the Jan. 6, 2021, insurrection as it swapped out a prominent photo of him this week."
Smithsonian removes Trump impeachment text as it swaps his portrait
A Trump official previously complained about a caption beside his National Portrait Gallery photo mentioning his impeachments and the U.S. Capitol insurrection.
wapo.st

Reposted by Laurent Pech

johnpfaff.bsky.social
John Pfaff @johnpfaff.bsky.social · 1d
Unless I’m missing it, the December order barring ICE from illegally denying Members of Congress access at any time to their facilities has not been stayed.

ICE was violating the text of the law, now defying a court order.

ICE is incompatible w democratic governance. (CBP too.)

Reposted by Joanna Bryson, Elizabeth Saunders, Nandita Sharma , and 16 more

atrupar.com
Aaron Rupar @atrupar.com · 1d
Rep. Angie Craig: "We were told because this facility is being funding by the 'Big Beautiful Bill,' not the congressional appropriations act, that we would not be allowed to enter the facility. That's complete nonsense ... I informed them they were violating the law. They said they didn't care."

Reposted by Laurent Pech

anneapplebaum.bsky.social
Anne Applebaum @anneapplebaum.bsky.social · 1d
A WSJ visual investigation found that the Minneapolis ICE killing is one of 13 incidents where federal immigration agents have used deadly force against civilians in vehicles since July

www.wsj.com/us-news/vide...
Videos Show How ICE Vehicle Stops Can Escalate to Shootings
A WSJ visual investigation found that the Minneapolis ICE killing is one of 13 incidents where federal immigration agents have used deadly force against civilians in vehicles since July.
www.wsj.com

Reposted by Laurent Pech, Claire L. Adida

mclem.org
Michael Clemens @mclem.org · 1d
Please ask any company or institution you are affiliated with to stop supporting this depraved person with their continued reliance on his child exploitation network.

There is no excuse. Several excellent alternative networks exist.

Reposted by Joe R. Feagin, Rosemary A. Joyce, Michael Kevane , and 6 more

premthakker.bsky.social
Prem Thakker ツ @premthakker.bsky.social · 1d
JUST NOW: Huge mass of agents in a standoff, weapons drawn as Reps. Ilhan Omar, Angie Craig, and Kelly Morrison attempt to conduct congressional oversight at the Whipple Building, which has been HQ for thousands of ICE agents.

@zeteo.com

profpech.bsky.social
Laurent Pech 🇺🇦 @profpech.bsky.social · 1d
"Imperial Germany mistook external action for internal strength. The resulting recklessness ultimately contributed to the outbreak of the First World War. The danger for the United States is not entirely dissimilar"

profpech.bsky.social
Laurent Pech 🇺🇦 @profpech.bsky.social · 1d
"One would think that the US government freely killing people without any lawful basis, both inside and outside its borders, would be enough to rouse legislators and judges ... But a government that blithely ignores ... the Epstein Act and disregards court orders knows it can do as it wants."
prospectmagazine.co.uk Prospect Magazine @prospectmagazine.co.uk · 2d
Apparently the US government can kill people on the high seas, in other lands and on its own streets—and nothing will be done to stop it. The US is now a gangster state at home and a rogue state abroad, writes dag
Death in Minnesota
The significance of the reaction to the killing of Renee Nicole Good
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk

profpech.bsky.social
Laurent Pech 🇺🇦 @profpech.bsky.social · 1d
"Hey, does anyone else remember when Tumblr got booted from the App Store over pornographic images of children? I guess the real problem was that Tumblr wasn’t owned by Musk, not its violation of App Store policy. Whoopsie!"

profpech.bsky.social
Laurent Pech 🇺🇦 @profpech.bsky.social · 1d
Tim Cook and Sundar Pichai "sold their principles for power, and now they don’t even control their own companies. Welcome to gangster tech regulation"

www.theverge.com/policy/85990...

Reposted by Cameron Campbell, Laurent Pech

mikepeeljourno.bsky.social
Michael Peel @mikepeeljourno.bsky.social · 1d
"I think it is naive, frankly, to say that we should get rid of him because he’s a bad person," the new UK Royal Society president says of Elon Musk's membership.

The society would have expelled Isaac Newton if it made judgments on character & behaviour, Paul Nurse says.

www.ft.com/content/088b...
Elon Musk should keep UK Royal Society membership, says president
Paul Nurse tells FT that national science academy should avoid ‘making judgments’ about ‘character’ of fellows
www.ft.com

Reposted by Shannon Vallor, Norbert Schwarz, Will Jennings , and 7 more

paulbrand.bsky.social
Paul Brand @paulbrand.bsky.social · 2d
Preventing the sharing of sexualised images of children is “censorship” according to Elon Musk.

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...
Musk says X outcry is 'excuse for censorship'
The government is urging Ofcom to use all its powers – up to and including an effective ban – against X.
www.bbc.co.uk

Reposted by Laurent Pech

tjmcintyre.com
TJ McIntyre @tjmcintyre.com · 2d
This is an exceptionally good analysis of the role of X in global fascism, and illustrates why Ireland and the EU must act against it now. connectedplaces.online/reports/a-po...
We’re now at a strange stand-off, where it is extremely clear it is unacceptable what X is doing, and governments make a lot of noise about how upset they are, without daring to pull the trigger on taking action. Everyone is waiting on everyone else to take the first move. This leads to three possible outcomes: no government dares to take action, and they keep to calling things “completely unacceptable” while accepting the actual situation. Things stay as they currently are, and the world keeps sliding into a more dangerous and harmful place. One government takes action against X, and the US regime retaliates so hard that no other government will dare to do meaningful enforcement against the massive harms created by X. One government takes enforcement action against X, creating a permission structure for other governments to also take actions. All three options have a meaningful impact on the open social web. For the first two outcomes, it further cements X as the place of power for the neo-royalty, further cementing its dominance in the political sphere. This position of power is also what prevents the alternative open networks to become a place of political power in it’s own right. The third option, of mass enforcement, is what creates an opening for open social networks to not just be an alternative, but to be a source of political power as well.

Reposted by Laurent Pech

contrariannews.org
The Contrarian @contrariannews.org · 2d
A shadow government has been quietly building the framework for authoritarian rule in the U.S.

Authoritarianism and fascism expert Ruth Ben-Ghiat unpacks the dark history on The Pod.

Listen: https://contrarian.substack.com/p/trumps-dictator-playbook-and-standing

Reposted by Steve Peers, Laurent Pech, Christina Pagel

prospectmagazine.co.uk
Prospect Magazine @prospectmagazine.co.uk · 2d
Apparently the US government can kill people on the high seas, in other lands and on its own streets—and nothing will be done to stop it. The US is now a gangster state at home and a rogue state abroad, writes dag
Death in Minnesota
The significance of the reaction to the killing of Renee Nicole Good
www.prospectmagazine.co.uk

profpech.bsky.social
Laurent Pech 🇺🇦 @profpech.bsky.social · 2d
"Ziobro has been observing the events from Budapest, where he has found a safe haven alongside another former Justice Ministry official, Marcin Romanowski, who was granted political asylum by the administration of Prime Minister Viktor Orbán. .. Ziobro hinted he would not apply for asylum"

profpech.bsky.social
Laurent Pech 🇺🇦 @profpech.bsky.social · 2d
Could one of these two 🇵🇱 citizens be a former Minister of Justice and Prosecutor General? Time will tell 😬

www.politico.eu/article/form...

profpech.bsky.social
Laurent Pech 🇺🇦 @profpech.bsky.social · 2d
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