In a world drowning in screens, the idea of a life without them feels like a cruel joke. 💔 The thought of being stripped away from the digital connections that define our existence feels like a relentless ache, a reminder of the loneliness that lurks in the shadows. Hidden burner phones and hunger strikes tell a tale of desperation, of teens fighting against a reality that seems unbearable. Each moment spent in this digital detox camp is a testament to the fear of isolation, of being disconnected from the fleeting joys that our devices provide. The silence is deafening, and the heart longs for the voices that once filled the void. #DigitalDetox #Loneliness #Disconnected #TeenStruggles #Heartbreak

In a world where trust is meant to prevail, I feel the weight of betrayal as ICE gains unprecedented access to our most intimate medical data. This revelation cuts deep, revealing how fragile our privacy truly is. Millions of lives reduced to mere data points, stripped of dignity, all in the name of control. The echoes of isolation grow louder, reminding me of the countless souls who now face even greater fears. How do we protect our humanity when our very existence is being hunted? I sit in silence, grappling with the pain of knowing that our most vulnerable moments are now under scrutiny. #PrivacyMatters #HumanRights #Healthcare #Freedom #Isolation

🌟 Hey there, wonderful souls! 🌟 Have you ever stumbled upon a piece of nostalgia that made you think about the little things in life? Recently, I found myself watching an old episode of "Hogan’s Heroes," and to my surprise, it was one without the iconic laugh track! 🥳 It was a strange experience, almost like watching a comedy without its signature laughter echoing through the room. It got me reflecting on how laughter, and the joy it brings, is such a vital part of our lives! Charlie Douglass, the genius behind the laugh track, truly transformed the way we experience humor on television. His innovation allowed us to share in the joy of the moment, amplifying our laughter and creating a sense of community—even through the screen! Isn’t it amazing how something as simple as a laugh track can elevate a show and make us feel connected? 🌈✨ In life, we often find ourselves in situations that may seem a bit odd or out of place. Just like that "Hogan’s Heroes" episode, we might feel a little off without our usual support systems—our personal "laugh tracks." But here’s the bright side: we have the power to create our own laughter! 🎉💖 Think of every challenge you face as a scene in a comedy where you’re the star. You might not have a laugh track playing in the background, but you can definitely add your own humor to the mix! Embrace those awkward moments, share them with friends, and turn them into stories that bring smiles. Remember, life is too short to take everything seriously. Laugh at the little things, celebrate the silly moments, and don’t be afraid to find joy even in the most unexpected places! 🌻💫 As we navigate through our daily lives, let’s carry that spirit of laughter with us. Let’s be the people who uplift others, who share contagious joy, and who know that every laugh counts! Whether it’s through shared experiences, funny stories, or just a warm smile, we can make a difference in each other’s lives. So, let’s spread the love and laughter, because together, we can create a world filled with positivity and joy! 🌍❤️ In closing, I challenge you to find a reason to laugh today! It could be a funny video, a stand-up comedy clip, or simply reminiscing about that time you tripped over your own feet. Whatever it is, embrace it! Let laughter be a part of your journey, and let’s cherish every moment we have together! 🌟✨ #LaughterIsTheBestMedicine #SpreadJoy #HogansHeroes #CharlieDouglass #PositiveVibes

In a world that once felt vibrant and alive, I find myself standing alone amidst the echoes of what used to be. The announcement of the Final Fantasy Tactics Remaster should have ignited a spark of nostalgia and joy within me, yet all I feel is an overwhelming sense of longing and betrayal. How did it come to this? How did a cherished memory become a bittersweet reminder of time lost? 💔 It’s been over a decade since I last held my breath while strategizing my way through the intricate battles of Ivalice, a realm that lived in my heart and mind. I remember the hours spent plotting my next move, the thrill of victory, and the heartbreak of defeat. Yet now, as the remaster nears its release, I can’t shake off the feeling that it was forced into existence, as if the very essence of what made it special was sacrificed for the sake of modernity. I find myself questioning: Is this the revival we hoped for, or just a shadow of its former self? 😞 Square Enix, a name that once resonated with dreams and adventure, has made controversial cuts that leave me feeling hollow. The magic of the original feels diluted, as if they took my beloved game and stripped it of its soul. The characters I cherished now seem distant, their voices muted in the rush to cater to new generations who may never truly appreciate the depth of the story. I feel like a ghost, haunting the remnants of a past that refuses to let me go, yet has also forgotten me. 🌧️ As September approaches, I wonder if I should even bother to dive back into Ivalice. Can I bear to face the changes that threaten to shatter my memories? The thought of playing a game that feels more like a corporate product than a passionate creation is almost too much to bear. The solitude of this anticipation weighs heavily on my heart, and I can’t help but feel abandoned by something that used to be a vital part of my life. Every pixel, every note of music, every character arc—now seemingly a casualty in the battle between nostalgia and progress. I long for the days when games were crafted with love and care, not merely as a means to an end. I wish for a return to the magic that existed in those pixelated battles and heartfelt narratives. As I prepare myself for this release, I can only hope that somehow, some way, I can find a piece of what I once adored. In my solitude, I cling to these memories, even as I brace myself for the reality of a remaster that feels more like a farewell than a homecoming. #FinalFantasyTactics #IvaliceChronicles #GamingNostalgia #Heartbreak #Loneliness

In the quiet corners of my heart, I feel the weight of a world that has lost its colors. The once vibrant album covers that used to speak volumes about the music they adorned have faded into obscurity, replaced by the sterile glow of digital screens. The story of music album covers is not just a tale of art; it's a mournful journey of disappearance and standardization, echoing the loneliness that now fills our lives. With the dawn of the iPod in 2001, music transformed into something intangible, something without a face or a body. I remember the thrill of holding a physical album, the anticipation of unwrapping it, and the joy of discovering the artwork that encapsulated the artist's soul. Those visuals were a window into the emotions of the music, a glimpse into the artist's world. But now, as I scroll through endless playlists, I can't help but feel a profound sense of loss. Each click feels hollow, devoid of the beauty that once was. Where are the stories behind the covers? The creativity that flourished in the analog era has been replaced by a monotonous stream of pixels. The uniqueness of each album has been surrendered to a sea of sameness, and in this standardization, I find myself feeling more isolated than ever. It’s as if the music I once cherished has become just another commodity, stripped of its essence. Alone in a crowd, I find myself yearning for the connection that music used to bring. I miss the days when I could flip through a record store, each cover telling a story, each spine a promise of something beautiful. Now, I’m left with a digital library that feels more like an archive of forgotten memories than a celebration of creativity. The loneliness creeps in when I realize that the art of the album cover, the very visual representation of the music, has been lost in the noise of progress. Every time I play a song, I can’t shake the feeling that I’m missing something vital. Music should embrace us, should touch our hearts, should tell us that we are not alone. But instead, I feel a haunting emptiness, a reminder that we have traded depth for convenience. In this digital age, I search for meaning in a world that seems to have forgotten how to connect. As I sit in silence, surrounded by the echoes of melodies that once brought me joy, I can’t help but mourn the loss of the album cover. It was more than just a visual; it was a piece of art that held the spirit of the music within. Now, I am left with a collection of songs, but the stories behind them have vanished like whispers in the wind. #MusicMemories #AlbumArt #Loneliness #DigitalEra #LostConnection

Who knows where branding will go in the future? However, for many of us working in the creative industries, it's our job to know. So it's something we need to start talking about, and Frontify Futures wants to be the platform where that conversation unfolds. This ambitious new thought leadership initiative from Frontify brings together an extraordinary coalition of voices—CMOs who've scaled global brands, creative leaders reimagining possibilities, strategy directors pioneering new approaches, and cultural forecasters mapping emerging opportunities—to explore how effectiveness, innovation, and scale will shape tomorrow's brand-building landscape. But Frontify Futures isn't just another content platform. Excitingly, from a design perspective, it's also a living experiment in what brand identity can become when technology meets craft, when systems embrace chaos, and when the future itself becomes a design material. Endless variation What makes Frontify Futures' typography unique isn't just its custom foundation: it's how that foundation enables endless variation and evolution. This was primarily achieved, reveals developer and digital art director Daniel Powell, by building bespoke tools for the project. "Rather than rely solely on streamlined tools built for speed and production, we started building our own," he explains. "The first was a node-based design tool that takes our custom Frame and Hairline fonts as a base and uses them as the foundations for our type generator. With it, we can generate unique type variations for each content strand—each article, even—and create both static and animated type, exportable as video or rendered live in the browser." Each of these tools included what Daniel calls a "chaos element: a small but intentional glitch in the system. A microstatement about the nature of the future: that it can be anticipated but never fully known. It's our way of keeping gesture alive inside the system." One of the clearest examples of this is the colour palette generator. "It samples from a dynamic photo grid tied to a rotating colour wheel that completes one full revolution per year," Daniel explains. "But here's the twist: wind speed and direction in St. Gallen, Switzerland—Frontify's HQ—nudges the wheel unpredictably off-centre. It's a subtle, living mechanic; each article contains a log of the wind data in its code as a kind of Easter Egg." Another favourite of Daniel's—yet to be released—is an expanded version of Conway's Game of Life. "It's been running continuously for over a month now, evolving patterns used in one of the content strand headers," he reveals. "The designer becomes a kind of photographer, capturing moments from a petri dish of generative motion." Core Philosophy In developing this unique identity, two phrases stood out to Daniel as guiding lights from the outset. The first was, 'We will show, not tell.' "This became the foundation for how we approached the identity," recalls Daniel. "It had to feel like a playground: open, experimental, and fluid. Not overly precious or prescriptive. A system the Frontify team could truly own, shape, and evolve. A platform, not a final product. A foundation, just as the future is always built on the past." The second guiding phrase, pulled directly from Frontify's rebrand materials, felt like "a call to action," says Daniel. "'Gestural and geometric. Human and machine. Art and science.' It's a tension that feels especially relevant in the creative industries today. As technology accelerates, we ask ourselves: how do we still hold onto our craft? What does it mean to be expressive in an increasingly systemised world?" Stripped back and skeletal typography The identity that Daniel and his team created reflects these themes through typography that literally embodies the platform's core philosophy. It really started from this idea of the past being built upon the 'foundations' of the past," he explains. "At the time Frontify Futures was being created, Frontify itself was going through a rebrand. With that, they'd started using a new variable typeface called Cranny, a custom cut of Azurio by Narrow Type." Daniel's team took Cranny and "pushed it into a stripped-back and almost skeletal take". The result was Crany-Frame and Crany-Hairline. "These fonts then served as our base scaffolding," he continues. "They were never seen in design, but instead, we applied decoration them to produce new typefaces for each content strand, giving the identity the space to grow and allow new ideas and shapes to form." As Daniel saw it, the demands on the typeface were pretty simple. "It needed to set an atmosphere. We needed it needed to feel alive. We wanted it to be something shifting and repositioning. And so, while we have a bunch of static cuts of each base style, we rarely use them; the typefaces you see on the website and social only exist at the moment as a string of parameters to create a general style that we use to create live animating versions of the font generated on the fly." In addition to setting the atmosphere, it needed to be extremely flexible and feature live inputs, as a significant part of the branding is about the unpredictability of the future. "So Daniel's team built in those aforementioned "chaos moments where everything from user interaction to live windspeeds can affect the font." Design Process The process of creating the typefaces is a fascinating one. "We started by working with the custom cut of Azuriofrom Narrow Type. We then redrew it to take inspiration from how a frame and a hairline could be produced from this original cut. From there, we built a type generation tool that uses them as a base. "It's a custom node-based system that lets us really get in there and play with the overlays for everything from grid-sizing, shapes and timing for the animation," he outlines. "We used this tool to design the variants for different content strands. We weren't just designing letterforms; we were designing a comprehensive toolset that could evolve in tandem with the content. "That became a big part of the process: designing systems that designers could actually use, not just look at; again, it was a wider conversation and concept around the future and how designers and machines can work together." In short, the evolution of the typeface system reflects the platform's broader commitment to continuous growth and adaptation." The whole idea was to make something open enough to keep building on," Daniel stresses. "We've already got tools in place to generate new weights, shapes and animated variants, and the tool itself still has a ton of unused functionality. "I can see that growing as new content strands emerge; we'll keep adapting the type with them," he adds. "It's less about version numbers and more about ongoing movement. The system's alive; that's the point. A provocation for the industry In this context, the Frontify Futures identity represents more than smart visual branding; it's also a manifesto for how creative systems might evolve in an age of increasing automation and systematisation. By building unpredictability into their tools, embracing the tension between human craft and machine precision, and creating systems that grow and adapt rather than merely scale, Daniel and the Frontify team have created something that feels genuinely forward-looking. For creatives grappling with similar questions about the future of their craft, Frontify Futures offers both inspiration and practical demonstration. It shows how brands can remain human while embracing technological capability, how systems can be both consistent and surprising, and how the future itself can become a creative medium. This clever approach suggests that the future of branding lies not in choosing between human creativity and systematic efficiency but in finding new ways to make them work together, creating something neither could achieve alone. #inside #thinking #behind #frontify #futures039

A serial killer is stalking the streets, and his murders are a work of art. That’s more or less the premise behind Psycasso®, a tongue-in-cheek 2D pixel art game from Omni Digital Technologies that’s debuting a demo at Steam Next Fest this week, with plans to head into Early Access later this year. Playing as the killer, you get a job and build a life by day, then hunt the streets by night to find and torture victims, paint masterpieces with their blood, then sell them to fund operations.I sat down with lead developer Benjamin Lavender and Omni, designer and producer, to talk about this playfully gory game that gives a classic retro style and a freshtwist.Let’s start with a bit of background about the game.Omni: We wanted to make something that stands out. We know a lot of indie studios are releasing games and the market is ever growing, so we wanted to make something that’s not just fun to play, but catches people’s attention when others tell them about it. We’ve created an open-world pixel art game about an artist who spends his day getting a job, trying to fit into society. Then at nighttime, things take a more sinister turn and he goes around and makes artwork out of his victim's blood.We didn’t want to make it creepy and gory. We kind of wanted it to be cutesy and fun, just to make it ironic. Making it was a big challenge. We basically had to create an entire city with functioning shops and NPCs who have their own lives, their own hobbies. It was a huge challenge.So what does the actual gameplay look like?Omni: There’s a day cycle and a night cycle that breaks up the gameplay. During the day, you can get a job, level up skills, buy properties and furniture upgrades. At nighttime, the lighting completely changes, the vibe completely changes, there’s police on the street and the flow of the game shifts. The idea is that you can kidnap NPCs using a whole bunch of different weapons – guns, throwable grenades, little traps and cool stuff that you can capture people with.Once captured on the street, you can either harvest their blood and body parts there, or buy a specialist room to keep them in a cage and put them in various equipment like hanging chains or torture chairs. The player gets better rewards for harvesting blood and body parts this way.On the flip side, there’s a whole other element to the game where the player is given missions each week from galleries around the city. They come up on your phone menu, and you can accept them and do either portrait or landscape paintings, with all of the painting being done using only shades of red. We've got some nice drip effects and splat sounds to make it feel like you’re painting with blood. Then you can give your creation a name, submit it to a gallery, then it goes into a fake auction, people will bid on the artwork and you get paid and large amount of in-game money so you can then buy upgrades for the home, upgrade painting tools like bigger paint brushes, more selection tools, stuff like that.Ben: There’s definitely nothing like it. And that was the aim, is when you are telling people about it, they’re like, “Oh, okay. Right. We’re not going to forget about this.” Let’s dig into the 2D tools you used to create this world.Ben: It’s using the 2D Renderer. The Happy Harvest 2D sample project that you guys made was kind of a big starting point, from a lighting perspective, and doing the normal maps of the 2D and getting the lighting to look nice. Our night system is a very stripped-down, then added-on version of the thing that you guys made. I was particularly interested by its shadows. The building’s shadows aren’t actually shadows – it’s a black light. We tried to recreate that with all of our buildings in the entire open world – so it does look beautiful for a 2D game, if I do say so myself.Can you say a bit about how you’re using AI or procedural generation in NPCs?Ben: I don’t know how many actually made it into the demo to be fair, number-wise. Every single NPC has a unique identity, as in they all have a place of work that they go to on a regular schedule. They have hobbies, they have spots where they prefer to loiter, a park bench or whatever. So you can get to know everyone’s individual lifestyle.So, the old man that lives in the same building as me might love to go to the casino at nighttime or go consistently on a Monday and a Friday, that kind of vibe.It uses the A* Pathfinding Project, because we knew we wanted to have a lot of AIs. We’ve locked off most of the city for the demo, but the actual size of the city is huge. The police mechanics are currently turned off, but there’s 80% police mechanics in there as well. If you punch someone or hurt someone, that’s a crime, and if anyone sees it, they can go and report to the police and then things happen. That’s a feature that’s there but not demo-ready yet.How close would you say you are to a full release?Omni: We should be scheduled for October for early access. By that point we’ll have the stealth mechanics and the policing systems polished and in and get some of the other upcoming features buttoned up. We’re fairly close.Ben: Lots of it’s already done, it’s just turned off for the demo. We don’t want to overwhelm people because there’s just so much for the player to do.Tell me a bit about the paint mechanics – how did you build that?Ben: It is custom. We built it ourselves completely from scratch. But I can't take responsibility for that one – someone else did the whole thing – that was their baby. It is really, really cool though.Omni: It’s got a variety of masking tools, the ability to change opacity and spacing, you can undo, redo. It’s a really fantastic feature that gives people the opportunity to express themselves and make some great art.Ben: And it's gamified, so it doesn’t feel like you’ve just opened up Paint in Windows.Omni: Best of all is when you make a painting, it gets turned into an inventory item so you physically carry it around with you and can sell it or treasure it.What’s the most exciting part of Psycasso for you?Omni: Stunning graphics. I think graphically, it looks really pretty.Ben: Visually, you could look at it and go, “Oh, that’s Psycasso.”Omni: What we’ve done is taken a cozy retro-style game, and we’ve brought modern design, logic, and technology into it. So you're playing what feels like a nostalgic game, but you're getting the experience of a much newer project.Check out the Psycasso demo on Steam, and stay tuned for more NextFest coverage. #making #killing #playful #terror #psycasso

When we think of an eBike, the form is usually large and clunky with motors whirring to propel us forward when needed – not so with the EIDOLON by Ponomarets. Everything obtrusive and unneeded has been stripped away, leaving a super sleek machine that truly does look and feel like its traditional counterparts in the luxury industry. Elegant German engineering meets material technology innovations in this 9.9 kgbike, weighing in right around the same, if not a touch beyond comparable traditional bikes. A cut above, the EIDOLON is tough to beat in terms of style, performance, and precision. A carbon fiber frame sets the stage for one of the lightest eBikes on the market. Handcrafted in partnership with All Ahead Composites in Veitshöchheim, Germany, the EIDOLON thoughtfully combines cutting edge components with human artistry. Inspired by classic racing bikes, the form is fluid and fast, showing movement even when stationary. A collaboration with VoyagerCo in Belgium takes this form to the next level, the thoughtful refinement of components and a certain discreet elegance maintaining intrigue and timelessness. For the braking system, Ponomarets worked with Swiss brand 612 Parts and Voyager to create a lightweight yet powerful addition to the EIDOLON. From handling capabilities to overall responsiveness, these brakes are crafted to the highest standards of quality. Exclusively designed for Ponomarets, this brake system features an advanced flatmount design, two-piston functionality, and is equipped with Trickstuff pads and Goodridge hoses. A top consideration is the option of having mechanical shifting or electronic shifting. The electronic shifting option outfits your bike with SRAM RED, top of the line components used by pro racers. The surprising simplicity of SRAM wireless electronic shifting is second to none, and keeps a tidy appearance since it does not require shift cables. Elegance and technical aesthetics are just the beginning with the EIDOLON. In a nod to traditional bike designs of the past, the wiring sits on the outside of the frame, completely serviceable and more importantly, creates the perfect conditions to reduce weight and improve performance. Staying true to their philosophy of honoring the past by retaining the specific choices that have delighted cyclists for decades, all while looking toward the future in terms of material choice and precision machining, the EIDOLON sets a new standard for eBike design going into the future. Ponomarets takes their design philosophy from precision timepieces and luxury cars, embodying the sleek, aerodynamic design choices preferred by these storied industries. Thoughtful, meticulous, and stylish, the brand looks to history in concept, and toward the future in execution. To learn more about the EIDOLON eBike by Ponomarets, please visit ponomarets.com. Imagery courtesy of Ponomarets. #ponomarets #launches #eidolon #worlds #lightest

For most of us, music is a background hum that we tap into for motivation, relaxation, or simply to fill the silence. But what if it could be something more? Something like a portal into our most creative, focused selves? Yes, this is as cool as it sounds. And that's the premise behind Flow State, a new content series from AlphaTheta – the brand more commonly known for its Pioneer DJ products – created in collaboration with countercultural media platform HUCK and agency OCD Studio. Rooted in AlphaTheta's brand values of innovation, mindfulness and personal growth, Flow State signals a deliberate move beyond the decks and into a broader creative conversation. Through a series of stylised vignettes and intimate interviews, the series challenges audiences to think differently about music, not just as entertainment but as a tool for unlocking peak mental and creative performance. "We saw an opportunity to shift the perception of AlphaTheta beyond just DJ gear and toward a broader idea that music is a tool for peak performance," explains Tom Young, creative director at OCD Studio. "With more creatives talking about flow and mindfulness, now felt like the right time to connect the science of sound with the experience of creating." The framing is no accident, as AlphaTheta's very name alludes to alpha and theta brainwaves, which are both linked to heightened creativity, focus and flow states. By positioning music as a direct trigger for these mental modes, the series opens up a more expansive, holistic narrative around the brand. It's a strategy that builds on earlier efforts, such as AlphaTheta's documentary 'We Become One', which explored the psychological effects of dance music and collective experiences. With Flow State, the ambition goes deeper: to position AlphaTheta as a catalyst for creativity across disciplines, not just DJ booths. Visually, Flow State is stripped-back and cinematic. Each film captures a different creative immersed in their craft, whether that's music production, DJing or movement. Featuring names like Object Blue, Anu and Joel Mignott, the series offers a window into moments where chaos falls away and instinct takes over. "Your flow and how you get into it is quite personal," says Tom. "So we stripped back the aesthetic to reflect that. Clean frames, close textures, emotional clarity. The style mirrors the stillness creatives feel when they're in the zone." That quiet intensity runs throughout the series, mirroring the mental landscapes it seeks to explore. In an age where distraction is constant and attention spans are short, the ability to tune out noise and find focus has become its own kind of cultural currency. As Tom puts it: "In a world of AI-generated everything, your ability to lock in amongst a world of clutter and distraction communicates that you are a person of purpose and clarity." HUCK's editorial team played a central role in shaping the stories, drawing on their reputation for spotlighting subcultures and emerging creative voices. Known for championing artists like Mac Demarco, Flying Lotus and Ghetts before they hit the mainstream, HUCK's involvement ensures the series feels rooted in authenticity rather than product placement. "HUCK understood that this was about how people create," says Tom. "Their deep-rooted culture journalism helped us tell richer, more honest stories and made sure each film felt like a genuine reflection of the artist, not a product demo." While Object Blue, Anu and Joel Mignott each bring distinct disciplines and backgrounds to the table, what connects them is their emotional approach to creativity. Whether it's finding comfort in sound, using movement as a form of self-expression, or chasing a sense of presence, each story reveals that true flow isn't forced. "Interviewing them really showed that flow state only really comes when they're feeling open," says Tom. "It's not something that comes with extreme discipline." Beyond celebrating individual journeys, Flow State also taps into wider conversations about mental health, mindfulness and creative wellbeing. It reflects a growing shift in how brands engage with creative communities, moving away from surface-level aesthetics toward more nuanced, human-centred narratives. "Deep knowledge and understanding are status symbols," says Tom. "People want these deeper stories. Brands who understand that and help people tap into their full creative potential are the ones who will stay relevant." At a time when AI-generated content threatens to homogenise the creative industries, Flow State offers a timely reminder: creativity isn't just about output; it's a state of being. Sometimes, all it takes to access it is the right soundtrack. #exploring #creativity #flow #states #through

Limited-time offer: Get more than 30% off a Vox Membership. Join today to support independent journalism. Federal civil servants are supposed to enjoy robust protections against being fired or demoted for political reasons. But President Donald Trump has effectively stripped them of these protections by neutralizing the federal agencies that implement these safeguards.An agency known as the Merit Systems Protection Boardhears civil servants’ claims that a “government employer discriminated against them, retaliated against them for whistleblowing, violated protections for veterans, or otherwise subjected them to an unlawful adverse employment action or prohibited personnel practice,” as a federal appeals court explained in an opinion on Tuesday. But the three-member board currently lacks the quorum it needs to operate because Trump fired two of the members.Trump also fired Hampton Dellinger, who until recently served as the special counsel of the United States, a role that investigates alleged violations of federal civil service protections and brings related cases to the MSPB. Trump recently nominated Paul Ingrassia, a far-right podcaster and recent law school graduate to replace Dellinger.The upshot of these firings is that no one in the government is able to enforce laws and regulations protecting civil servants. As Dellinger noted in an interview, the morning before a federal appeals court determined that Trump could fire him, he’d “been able to get 6,000 newly hired federal employees back on the job,” and was working to get “all probationary employees put back on the jobtheir unlawful firing” by the Department of Government Efficiency and other Trump administration efforts to cull the federal workforce. These and other efforts to reinstate illegally fired federal workers are on hold, and may not resume until Trump leaves office.Which brings us to the US Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit’s decision in National Association of Immigration Judges v. Owen, which proposes an innovative solution to this problem.As the Owen opinion notes, the Supreme Court has held that the MSPB process is the only process a federal worker can use if they believe they’ve been fired in violation of federal civil service laws. So if that process is shut down, the worker is out of luck.But the Fourth Circuit’s Owen opinion argues that this “conclusion can only be true…when the statute functions as Congress intended.” That is, if the MSPB and the special counsel are unable to “fulfill their roles prescribed by” federal law, then the courts should pick up the slack and start hearing cases brought by illegally fired civil servants.For procedural reasons, the Fourth Circuit’s decision will not take effect right away — the court sent the case back down to a trial judge to “conduct a factual inquiry” into whether the MSPB continues to function. And, even after that inquiry is complete, the Trump administration is likely to appeal the Fourth Circuit’s decision to the Supreme Court if it wants to keep civil service protections on ice.If the justices agree with the circuit court, however, that will close a legal loophole that has left federal civil servants unprotected by laws that are still very much on the books. And it will cure a problem that the Supreme Court bears much of the blame for creating.The “unitary executive,” or why the Supreme Court is to blame for the loss of civil service protectionsFederal law provides that Dellinger could “be removed by the President only for inefficiency, neglect of duty, or malfeasance in office,” and members of the MSPB enjoy similar protections against being fired. Trump’s decision to fire these officials was illegal under these laws.But a federal appeals court nonetheless permitted Trump to fire Dellinger, and the Supreme Court recently backed Trump’s decision to fire the MSPB members as well. The reason is a legal theory known as the “unitary executive,” which is popular among Republican legal scholars, and especially among the six Republicans that control the Supreme Court.If you want to know all the details of this theory, I can point you to three different explainers I’ve written on the unitary executive. The short explanation is that the unitary executive theory claims that the president must have the power to fire top political appointees charged with executing federal laws – including officials who execute laws protecting civil servants from illegal firings.But the Supreme Court has never claimed that the unitary executive permits the president to fire any federal worker regardless of whether Congress has protected them or not. In a seminal opinion laying out the unitary executive theory, for example, Justice Antonin Scalia argued that the president must have the power to remove “principal officers” — high-ranking officials like Dellinger who must be nominated by the president and confirmed by the Senate. Under Scalia’s approach, lower-ranking government workers may still be given some protection.The Fourth Circuit cannot override the Supreme Court’s decision to embrace the unitary executive theory. But the Owen opinion essentially tries to police the line drawn by Scalia. The Supreme Court has given Trump the power to fire some high-ranking officials, but he shouldn’t be able to use that power as a back door to eliminate job protections for all civil servants.The Fourth Circuit suggests that the federal law which simultaneously gave the MSPB exclusive authority over civil service disputes, while also protecting MSPB members from being fired for political reasons, must be read as a package. Congress, this argument goes, would not have agreed to shunt all civil service disputes to the MSPB if it had known that the Supreme Court would strip the MSPB of its independence. And so, if the MSPB loses its independence, it must also lose its exclusive authority over civil service disputes — and federal courts must regain the power to hear those cases.It remains to be seen whether this argument persuades a Republican Supreme Court — all three of the Fourth Circuit judges who decided the Owen case are Democrats, and two are Biden appointees. But the Fourth Circuit’s reasoning closely resembles the kind of inquiry that courts frequently engage in when a federal law is struck down.When a court declares a provision of federal law unconstitutional, it often needs to ask whether other parts of the law should fall along with the unconstitutional provision, an inquiry known as “severability.” Often, this severability analysis asks which hypothetical law Congress would have enacted if it had known that the one provision is invalid.The Fourth Circuit’s decision in Owen is essentially a severability opinion. It takes as a given the Supreme Court’s conclusion that laws protecting Dellinger and the MSPB members from being fired are unconstitutional, then asks which law Congress would have enacted if it had known that it could not protect MSPB members from political reprisal. The Fourth Circuit’s conclusion is that, if Congress had known that MSPB members cannot be politically independent, then it would not have given them exclusive authority over civil service disputes.If the Supreme Court permits Trump to neutralize the MSPB, that would fundamentally change how the government functionsThe idea that civil servants should be hired based on merit and insulated from political pressure is hardly new. The first law protecting civil servants, the Pendleton Civil Service Reform Act, which President Chester A. Arthur signed into law in 1883.Laws like the Pendleton Act do more than protect civil servants who, say, resist pressure to deny government services to the president’s enemies. They also make it possible for top government officials to actually do their jobs.Before the Pendleton Act, federal jobs were typically awarded as patronage — so when a Democratic administration took office, the Republicans who occupied most federal jobs would be fired and replaced by Democrats. This was obviously quite disruptive, and it made it difficult for the government to hire highly specialized workers. Why would someone go to the trouble of earning an economics degree and becoming an expert on federal monetary policy, if they knew that their job in the Treasury Department would disappear the minute their party lost an election?Meanwhile, the task of filling all of these patronage jobs overwhelmed new presidents. As Candice Millard wrote in a 2011 biography of President James A. Garfield, the last president elected before the Pendleton Act, when Garfield took office, a line of job seekers began to form outside the White House “before he even sat down to breakfast.” By the time Garfield had eaten, this line “snaked down the front walk, out the gate, and onto Pennsylvania Avenue.” Garfield was assassinated by a disgruntled job seeker, a fact that likely helped build political support for the Pendleton Act.By neutralizing the MSPB, Trump is effectively undoing nearly 150 years worth of civil service reforms, and returning the federal government to a much more primitive state. At the very least, the Fourth Circuit’s decision in Owen is likely to force the Supreme Court to ask if it really wants a century and a half of work to unravel.See More: #federal #courts #novel #proposal #rein