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And that’s basically it!
"Digitally signed" in this headline refers to pasting an image into a PDF file, not an actual digital signature.
I've never understood why people get upset over autopen.
Like - the signature doesn't really matter, it's just a formality showing that the president accepts the bill and makes it law. It could be a checkbox.
It's an excuse. They're trying to claim the autopen was used without his knowledge and he was too senile to actually sign legislation. Which is bullshit, but the entire Republican project is built on bullshit.
Yeah - but this isn't the first time people have been pissy about it. And it hasn't only been Republicans pushing back on it. Bush II took some flak over it as well IIRC.
Well, I still remember this:
https://www.theguardian.com/world/2004/dec/20/iraq.usa
For some people it's a sign of respect.
But in this case they are simply trying to invalidate some laws Biden passed.
"I can forgive someone being a 34 times convicted felon, a grifting conman, a toddler brained schoolyard bully who shits themselves, a proven and convicted rapist, an obvious racist, a person with well over 20 different court cases about sexual assault, a very verrrrry failed 'business' man, a person who raped his wife Ivana when his hair transplant went wrong, a russian agent and traitor, a person who cheats at golf, a treasonous thief of top secret documents, a daughter lusting pervert, a person who was Epsteins best friend, a pussy grabbing letch, a multi times bankrupted imbecile, an 'alleged ;-);-)' violent gang rapist of a 13 year old youngster, a paedo who ogles undressed young girls in competitions at his hotel ...but, BUT there is one thing I will not and can not forgive and that is using an autopen!!! The horror! Th..the, frankly, the communism of it! It just will not stand!!"
Because it is purely theater.
People need to realize that showing Republican hypocrisy doesn't work. Their voters don't see it as a flaw, they see it as shrewd strategy.
Liberals see news like this and think "we got him, we showed he's not trustworthy"
Republicans see it and think "attacking democrats for doing something and then doing it himself? what a clever boy!"
Yeah, honestly mocking them works better then pointing out hypocrisy
Don't say "fact over feelings, look at these facts". Instead, say "ok, if you can put away your delicate fee-fees for just a minute, let's look at reality"
They'll whine "no, I am the one who is facts over feelings!" And then you treat them like a small child. You patronize the fuck out of them, and drop the facts as a follow up.
That's how they win, they project and preempt, so when they say "The left wants to kill us all" you can't say "look, they're literally building camps! All domestic shooters are conservative!". Half the country does not listen to the words, they've vibes based
You've got to control the flow of the conversation, so that you get to make the accusation first. It makes the response look weak. It works especially well on the right, because they're feelings over facts snowflakes
So I had to look up what an "autopen" is.
The US president not only has basically dictatorial powers to create laws (call them executive orders or whatever, they're still laws), he can delegate the actual signing to someone else by a device that imitates signatures. So basically the idea of the president can create laws.
How was that ever a functional country ....
It's just a digital signature from what I am understanding. The same thing accepted by the federal governments executive branch for every IRS tax form I've submitted since 2006 when I started working.
If they believe a digital signature doesn't count, the executive branch should return all taxes paid with digital signatures immediately and ask we resubmit them come April when taxes are do again.
Edit: oh, also near all student loans are signed digitally, so they need to void those all as well.
You know every time I've had any medical work done I've digitally signed my consent for them to treat me and to bill me...
Can we also wipe out all medical debt and then sue the hospitals for treating without consent?
The funny thing what The Guardian and others do not get is the crucial difference between a “signature machine” and a digital signature. They treat both equally fake, even though a digital signature is a cryptographic secure way to proof someone’s identity, where the signature machine just puts ink on a paper.
But that’s how laws work in a lot of countries. Ink on the paper is accepted, digital signatures not. Now have fun proving if a signature was drawn by hand or machine.
I don't think The Guardian is wrong here, see this passage from the article:
Comer has sent 16 letters to former Biden White House officials requesting transcribed interviews, NBC said. Metadata analysis showed that all appeared to be signed with a digitally inserted signature. Further letters requesting testimony from the White House physician Dr Kevin O’Connor and Anthony Bernal, a senior aide to former first lady Jill Biden, were also signed with digital images, NBC said.
He did not use cryptographic signatures, but images of his written signature, which I think is pretty similar to using an autopen (albeit probably much easier to detect)
The whole purpose of a digital signature is to provide a legally verigiable signature. It's still being defined in some countries, but in US and Canada its very specifically defined. Autopen seems to available to rich people as needed, but if the wikipedia article is accurate, a form of autopen has been available to US presidents dating back to Thomas Jefferson. I'd be surprised if the legal minds haven't defined the legal use of autopen somewhere.
Executive orders cannot create laws. They're limited to changing enforcement of existing laws and setting priorities and stuff for agencies that were already delegated power by congress
You couldn’t make this shit up if you’re were on lsd.
I think it's to do with Donald being proud of signing stuff himself and getting a semi erect mushroomoid willy from it.
The republican party then hurries to gobble down on him like the hawk tua girl.
No its almost certainly projection. DJT has admitted that he uses auto pen from time to time and probably doesn't remember a few things he signed.
Gotta focus on the really important stuff