Do you feel like the winds of change are blowing today too? by 6ixStringJack

Quote:
Originally posted by second:
DEI initiatives were not put in place to ensure lower-qualified minorities could get hired instead of more highly-qualified white people.

It was put in place to ensure lower-qualified white people were not hired instead of more highly-qualified minorities.

There's 330 Million people here and only about 10 Million jobs that are any good, if we're lucky.

This argument holds no water when 90% of the jobs that anybody from any race or sex in America does are trash.

DEI only puts minorities in women in good jobs by replacing spots that were once held by far more qualified white men.

--------------------------------------------------

"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon

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Tuesday, February 11, 2025 6:31 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by second:
America’s First DUI Secretary of Defense
Our military helicopters didn’t collide with commercial aircraft while Lloyd Austin was Secretary of Defense. That only happens with DUI hires like Pete Hegseth.
https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2F03xmmwme5cg
e1.jpeg

Strange that a white guy was flying the plane, a white guy was flying the helicopter, and a white guy gutted the FAA last week but somehow MAGA is blaming "too much diversity."
https://www.reddit.com/media?url=https%3A%2F%2Fi.redd.it%2Ft075ph4fzag
e1.jpeg

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

According to Reddit, huh?

You giving up on Legacy Media too? Ted did weeks ago.

--------------------------------------------------

"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon

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Tuesday, February 11, 2025 8:42 PM

A lot of Democrat voting office workers in the public and private sectors are all going to be out of jobs soon.

They should learn to mine.

--------------------------------------------------

"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon

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Tuesday, February 11, 2025 9:20 PM

Are you feeling like you're living in a strange new world?

One that's very different from the world you thought you were living in 6 months ago?

--------------------------------------------------

"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon

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Wednesday, February 12, 2025 12:08 AM

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Are you feeling like you're living in a strange new world?

One that's very different from the world you thought you were living in 6 months ago?

Feels more like Trump takes a bribe from Ukraine:

President Trump claims that Ukraine has “essentially agreed” to give the US half a trillion dollars worth of rare earth minerals as payment for the military aid Washington will provide Kyiv.

By Mariya Yemets | Tuesday, 11 February 2025, 09:29

https://www.pravda.com.ua/eng/news/2025/02/11/7497661/

"I told them that I want the equivalent of like US$500 billion worth of rare earth [minerals – ed.], and they’ve essentially agreed to do that. They have tremendously valuable land in terms of rare earth [minerals – ed.], in terms of oil and gas, in terms of other things. I want to have our money secured, because we’re spending hundreds of billions of dollars [in Ukraine – ed.]."

6ixStringJack, in case it is unclear to you, if Russia wins, Ukraine can't pay the $500 billion to Trump. To put money in Trump's bank account, he is on Ukraine's side.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Wednesday, February 12, 2025 12:13 AM

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Are you feeling like you're living in a strange new world?

One that's very different from the world you thought you were living in 6 months ago?

Feels weird that Donald Trump did not offer any concrete policy proposals or timeline on his campaign promise to immediately halt inflation and bring down the price of “everything” during his latest Fox News interview.

https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/trump-
campaign-inflation-prices-eggs-b2695787.html

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Wednesday, February 12, 2025 1:21 AM

BRENDA

Six, you really can't lay all the world's ills at the feet of Liberalism.

Going back in time, Liberalism started allowing girls to go to school.
Liberalism, known today as the "social safety net" allowed both Canada and the USA to pull ourselves out of the Great Depression. The programs weren't perfect but they allowed people to feed themselves and clothe themselves and have a roof over their heads.
The Allies after WWII helped rebuild the western half of Germany. The US helped rebuild Japan.
Liberalism allowed in the 50s for women to work for themselves and not just stay at home with children.
Liberalism in the 60s allowed this line from your constitution, "That all men are created equal." to actual mean something.
Liberalism allows your brother with some help to live on his own and not be in an institution.
Liberalism allows you now to live how you like.

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Wednesday, February 12, 2025 2:00 AM

JEWELSTAITEFAN

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Since the original article was written so badly .... Where was the editor?
... I'll try to recap ..

Quote:
DOGE's Targets...
Sunday, Feb 09, 2025 - 06:20 AM

Authored by Jacob Burg via The Epoch Times (emphasis ours),

As the second Trump administration nears the end of its first three weeks leading the federal government, Elon Musk’s advisory commission, the Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), has deployed teams within multiple agencies to use technology to cut costs and streamline processes.

Moving at breakneck speed as President Donald Trump shakes up the executive branch, Musk’s engineers and advisers have accessed information technology (IT) systems in several federal departments.

the Pentagon and
Department of Education are next

So far, the DOGE team has accessed IT systems at agencies, including the
Treasury Department, the
Centers for Medicare and Medicaid Services (CMS), the
Department of Energy, and the
National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA)

Trump says
the Pentagon and
Department of Education are next

Since a coalition of labor unions has sued to block access at the
U.S. Department of Labor,
that implies that they're on the list, too.

Epoch Times could not independently confirm other agencies like
U.S. Office of Personnel Management and the
U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)*

were also on the list.

* Seems like DOGE has already been there.

Seems like most of these invetigations are being done with the cooperation of agency heads.

Don't forget HUD! It's been pointed to as the slush fund for dollar stabilization activities.

-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

AMERICANS SUPPORT AMERICA

I couldn't find a pertinent thread that sloppy seconds hasn't sh!t up.

https://pjmedia.com/matt-margolis/2025/02/08/did-a-federal-judge-block
-trumps-treasury-secretary-access-to-his-own-department-n4936820

Apparently Treasury payment data shows $50-100 Billion of payments without Social Security Numbers, nor Account Numbers attached. Some consider these to be suspicious, indicative of fraud.

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Wednesday, February 12, 2025 7:06 AM

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Six, you really can't lay all the world's ills at the feet of Liberalism.

Going back in time, Liberalism started allowing girls to go to school.
Liberalism, known today as the "social safety net" allowed both Canada and the USA to pull ourselves out of the Great Depression. The programs weren't perfect but they allowed people to feed themselves and clothe themselves and have a roof over their heads.
The Allies after WWII helped rebuild the western half of Germany. The US helped rebuild Japan.
Liberalism allowed in the 50s for women to work for themselves and not just stay at home with children.
Liberalism in the 60s allowed this line from your constitution, "That all men are created equal." to actual mean something.
Liberalism allows your brother with some help to live on his own and not be in an institution.
Liberalism allows you now to live how you like.

Brenda, 6ix thinks much like the Republican Presidents who try to destroy the programs you mention:

George W. Bush tried to significantly reduce Social Security spending. Mitt Romney ran on significantly reducing Medicare spending. Trump, in his first term, tried to completely eliminate ACA subsidies, completely eliminate Medicaid expansion, and then cut Medicaid even more to below the pre-ACA level. None of this succeeded.

The DOGE hyper-focus on things like foreign aid and the Department of Education is kind of clever politics, but the cleverness lies precisely in its ability to provide cover for diminished aspirations in the face of these failures. Trump is many things, but he is most of all a showman, who’s doing a good job of performing mastery rather than letting attention fall on the razor-thin GOP majority and their somewhat incoherent policy agenda.

The fact is, Republicans don’t have a politically or economically viable path to creating the level of taxation that they want. Rather than try to reconcile themselves to that reality and come up with a more realistic fiscal agenda, they are lashing out at the pillars of the political system itself.

More at https://www.slowboring.com/p/the-paradox-of-trumps-first-weeks

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Wednesday, February 12, 2025 7:46 AM

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

The Emperor’s New Tariffs
Trump is throwing a tantrum, but the damage will be real

By Paul Krugman | Feb 12, 2025

https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/the-emperors-new-tariffs-small-ugly

Many people expected Donald Trump to begin a global trade war soon after taking office. Many people in business, however, believed that after all the huffing and puffing he wouldn’t actually impose much in the way of tariffs.

What we actually have so far is Schrödinger’s trade war: Is it alive? Is it dead? Yes.

It’s hard to believe that just last week Trump seemed dead set on imposing 25 percent tariffs on Canada and Mexico, with similar tariffs likely soon against other trading partners. Then, suddenly, he put the whole thing on ice for 30 days. Trump tried to spin it as a victory, claiming falsely that he had won big concessions from our neighbors. But if you looked at what they actually agreed to — basically nothing they weren’t doing already — it was an ignominious retreat.

So is it over? No. This week Trump announced that he was imposing tariffs after all, but only on steel and aluminum.

Before we declare that the trade war is on again, however, there are three things you need to know. First, these tariffs are a much smaller deal than what Trump seemed about to do last week. Second, while they’re small, they’re ugly. Third, as an economic policy they are really, really stupid.

About the size of this week’s tariffs: Steel and aluminum are obviously crucial materials for the modern economy, and a major cost for some industries. But they’re a relatively small share of total imports:

Source: Bureau of Economic Analysis

More at https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/the-emperors-new-tariffs-small-ugly

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Wednesday, February 12, 2025 7:56 AM

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

An eerie prophecy of Trump’s second term — from 1998

Philosopher Richard Rorty predicted that someone like Trump might bring back public cruelty.

by Zack Beauchamp | Feb 12, 2025, 6:00 AM CST

https://www.vox.com/on-the-right-newsletter/399352/marko-elez-elon-mus
k-jd-vance-richard-rorty

Marko Elez, a staffer at Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Oversight, operated an anonymous X account that spewed out-and-out race hatred. He called on Americans to “normalize Indian hate,” said “you could not pay me to marry outside of my ethnicity,” and proudly declared that “I was racist before it was cool.”

After the Wall Street Journal outed Elez on Thursday, he resigned. By Friday afternoon, Musk reinstated him at the behest of Vice President JD Vance. “To err is human, to forgive is divine,” Musk posted on his platform.

Yet forgiveness requires contrition, and there’s no evidence Elez has any. He has not publicly apologized or even repudiated his ugly comments. In Trump’s America, you can engage in this kind of publicly performed cruelty without any real consequence.

This, for some, is actually the point of voting for Trump. New York’s Brock Colyar attended a swanky Trump party where one attendee said he voted for Trump because, in Colyar’s paraphrase, “he wanted the freedom to say ‘f**got’ and ‘r****ded.’” An anonymous “top banker” recently told the Financial Times that they felt “liberated” after Trump’s win because “we can say ‘r***rd’ and ‘p***y’ without the fear of getting canceled.”

The new ethos of cruelty reminded me of a passage in the philosopher Richard Rorty’s 1998 book Achieving Our Country. Warning of the rise of a right-wing American strongman in the not-too-distant future, Rorty predicted that such a political shift would also herald an alarming new cultural era:

Quote:
One thing that is very likely to happen is that the gains made in the past forty years by black and brown Americans, and by homosexuals, will be wiped out. Jocular contempt for women will come back into fashion. The words ‘n****r’ and ‘k*ke’ will once again be heard in the workplace. All the sadism which the academic Left has tried to make unacceptable to its students will come flooding back. All the resentment which badly educated Americans feel about having their manners dictated to them by college graduates will find an outlet.

Much more at https://www.vox.com/on-the-right-newsletter/399352/marko-elez-elon-mus
k-jd-vance-richard-rorty

Free download of Richard Rorty's Achieving Our Country from the mirrors at https://libgen.is//search.php?req=Richard+Rorty+Achieving+Our+Country

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Wednesday, February 12, 2025 8:42 AM

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

In a passage that was widely cited after Trump’s political victory in 2017, Rorty describes a series of events that sound eerily familiar:

Quote:
Members of labor unions, and unorganized unskilled workers, will sooner or later realize that their government is not even trying to prevent wages from sinking or to prevent jobs from being exported. Around the same time, they will realize that suburban white-collar workers — themselves desperately afraid of being downsized — are not going to let themselves be taxed to provide social benefits for anyone else.

At that point, something will crack. The non-suburban electorate will decide that the system has failed and start looking for a strongman to vote for — someone willing to assure them that, once he is elected, the smug bureaucrats, tricky lawyers, overpaid bond salesmen, and postmodernist professors will no longer be calling the shots.

The rise of this strongman, Rorty predicts, is what will cause “sadism” to start “flooding back.” His election on a platform of vicious cultural warfare encouraging those people who were never comfortable with a more diverse America to start once again openly performing cruelty.

Rorty saw that the post-Civil Rights consensus in favor of social equality was far thinner than many expected. Not only did he foresee such a future, but he saw the precise vehicle through which it could be cracked — a right-wing demagogue who claimed to stand for the people against the liberal elites.

https://www.vox.com/on-the-right-newsletter/399352/marko-elez-elon-mus
k-jd-vance-richard-rorty

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Wednesday, February 12, 2025 1:23 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Interesting parallel between USAID and the "Federal" Reserve

Quote:
Just like everything else in today’s Orwellian ‘upside-down’ construct—where the term “democracy” is casually tossed about to describe repression of dissenting voices, “peace” used to describe funneling more weapons to overt Nazi and apartheid regimes [Israel, Ukraine] —similarly “independent media” had described what was effectively an almost entirely government funded operation...

In short, USAID uses the same cloak of ambiguity as the ‘Federal’ Reserve to conceal true operating motives.

https://simplicius76.substack.com/p/usaids-demise-sparks-dizzying-acce
leration

-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

AMERICANS SUPPORT AMERICA

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Wednesday, February 12, 2025 1:54 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Six, you really can't lay all the world's ills at the feet of Liberalism.

Going back in time, Liberalism started allowing girls to go to school.
Liberalism, known today as the "social safety net" allowed both Canada and the USA to pull ourselves out of the Great Depression. The programs weren't perfect but they allowed people to feed themselves and clothe themselves and have a roof over their heads.
The Allies after WWII helped rebuild the western half of Germany. The US helped rebuild Japan.
Liberalism allowed in the 50s for women to work for themselves and not just stay at home with children.
Liberalism in the 60s allowed this line from your constitution, "That all men are created equal." to actual mean something.
Liberalism allows your brother with some help to live on his own and not be in an institution.
Liberalism allows you now to live how you like.

I don't have a problem with what Liberalism was.

I have a problem with what Liberalism has come to.

They've thrown away the concept of Equal Opportunity and swapped to outright racism and sexism trying to enforce Equal Outcome.

They've forced women to have to shower with dudes and their big ole dicks flopping around the locker rooms, when the dudes aren't outright destroying these girls in sports.

They forced everyone to get an experimental jab that we've only begun to see the negative repercussions of.

They give trillions of taxpayer dollars to everybody except for the Americans that pay the taxes.

They call everyone Nazis who don't agree with them on any topic.

Meanwhile, while the quality of life for everyone continues to disappear because of their policies, they keep pushing all these unpopular things and nobody can afford anything outside of the bare necessities. And even that's not true when the collective US Credit Card Debt is now well over $1 Trillion.

We're done with Liberalism. Liberalism is dead. The Liberals killed it.

--------------------------------------------------

"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon

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Wednesday, February 12, 2025 1:59 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

I think what Trump is doing is "testing" the various national leaders. He proposes something outrageous and observes what he can get away with.

Justin Trudeau folded.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum put up a little bit more of a fight.

Jordan is (publicly) threatening war and refusing to take ethnically cleansed Palestinians (altho what's being said in private may be different.)
Egypt is quiet.

Russia has said "Nyet" but is still willing to talk.

China imposed counter- tarrifs on LNG, oil and farm machinery, started anti-trust investigation on Google, and is blocking exports of five rare earth metals that USA depends on https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/what-are-five-new-critical
-metal-exports-restricted-by-china-2025-02-04/ to the USA, while calling for negotiation.

Denmark is insisting it will not sell Greenland.

Saudi Arabia and OPEC+ refused to increase oil production.

Panama was pressured into ending its BRI contracts with China (There was only one left supposedly) and to (reportedly) waive transit fees for the USA.

India and Brasil indicated they won't pay attention to Trump's threatened secondary sanctions on Russian energy (altho push hasn't come to shove, yet.)

*****

In other words, Trump is causing a lot of chaos and seeing which pieces fall, which stand firm, and which ones wobble.

Not IMHO the best way to represent American interests. A problem with bullhorn diplomacy is, if you make a Big Public Deal about a particular settlement and fail, it's a very public black eye.

And, it coalesces resistance.

I think Trump is blitzing other nations like he's blitzing the Executive branch. The difference is that Trump has a lot of authority over his own fiefdom (altho not unlimited. Limits will be contested in the courts.) but only as much influence over other nations as he can economically or financially impose. Supposedly, Trump is not for using the military.

-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

AMERICANS SUPPORT AMERICA

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Wednesday, February 12, 2025 3:22 PM

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:

I don't have a problem with what Liberalism was.

I have a problem with what Liberalism has come to.

They've thrown away the concept of Equal Opportunity and swapped to outright racism and sexism trying to enforce Equal Outcome.

They've forced women to have to shower with dudes and their big ole dicks flopping around the locker rooms, when the dudes aren't outright destroying these girls in sports.

They forced everyone to get an experimental jab that we've only begun to see the negative repercussions of.

They give trillions of taxpayer dollars to everybody except for the Americans that pay the taxes.

They call everyone Nazis who don't agree with them on any topic.

Meanwhile, while the quality of life for everyone continues to disappear because of their policies, they keep pushing all these unpopular things and nobody can afford anything outside of the bare necessities. And even that's not true when the collective US Credit Card Debt is now well over $1 Trillion.

We're done with Liberalism. Liberalism is dead. The Liberals killed it.

Trump’s purge of public health data

Collateral damage from Trump’s war on “DEI.”

By Dylan Scott | Feb 12, 2025, 7:30 AM CST

https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/399319/trump-cdc-health-data-remove
d-obesity-suicide

In the initial days of the Trump administration, officials scoured federal websites for any mention of what they deemed “DEI” keywords — terms as generic as “diverse” and “historically” and even “women.” They soon identified reams of some of the country’s most valuable public health data containing some of the targeted words, including language about LGBTQ+ people, and quickly took down much of it — from surveys on obesity and suicide rates to real-time reports on immediate infectious disease threats like bird flu.

The removal elicited a swift response from public health experts who warned that without this data, the country risked being in the dark about important health trends that shape life-and-death public health decisions made in communities across the country.

Some of this data was restored in a matter of days, but much of it was incomplete. In some cases, the raw data sheets were posted again, but the reference documents that would allow most people to decipher them were not. Meanwhile, health data continues to be taken down: The New York Times reported last week that data from the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention on bird flu transmission between humans and cats had been posted and then promptly removed.

Much more at https://www.vox.com/future-perfect/399319/trump-cdc-health-data-remove
d-obesity-suicide

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Wednesday, February 12, 2025 4:07 PM

Maybe you shouldn't have fucked around.

Now you're finding out.

The world you thought you were living in 6 months ago doesn't exist.

--------------------------------------------------

"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon

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Wednesday, February 12, 2025 5:01 PM

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Maybe you shouldn't have fucked around.

Now you're finding out.

The world you thought you were living in 6 months ago doesn't exist.

6ix, do you remember how the Confederates were convinced to free the slave workforce? 6ix, the persuasion wasn't verbal because the Confederates would not listen to words. Do you remember how the Nazis were persuaded? Again, not with words because the Nazis would not listen. How about the Japs? Japs couldn't comprehend English, so no words, but firebombs followed by A-bombs. 6ixStringJack, you and Trump are not listening. You will regret that you didn't listen carefully while there were still years to save yourselves.

Trumptards think they winning now, but the Confederates, Nazis, and Japs thought they were winning for years and years before the wordless truth got to them.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Wednesday, February 12, 2025 5:19 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by second:
Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Maybe you shouldn't have fucked around.

Now you're finding out.

The world you thought you were living in 6 months ago doesn't exist.
6ix, do you remember how the Confederates were convinced to free the slave workforce?

Nah. I wasn't alive back then.

I know what some old lady told us happened in history books that change every 5 years, under a strict curriculum that the Department of Education has been forcing to be taught nationwide for the last 50 years.

Quote:
6ix, the persuasion wasn't verbal because the Confederates would not listen to words. Do you remember how the Nazis were persuaded? Again, not with words because the Nazis would not listen. How about the Japs? Japs couldn't comprehend English, so no words, but firebombs followed by A-bombs. 6ixStringJack, you and Trump are not listening. You will regret that you didn't listen carefully while there were still years to save yourselves.

*Gasp!*

I'm terrified, dude.

Please. Oh please no. Please don't send the Soy Pussy Cuck Brigade after me.

Quote:
Trumptards think they winning now, but the Confederates, Nazis, and Japs thought they were winning for years and years before the wordless truth got to them.

You and your opinions became completely irrelevant overnight.

Just like I told you they would.

How does it feel?

--------------------------------------------------

"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon

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Wednesday, February 12, 2025 6:12 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

So, continuing Trump's foreign policy success, or not.

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
I think what Trump is doing is "testing" the various national leaders. He proposes something outrageous and observes what he can get away with.

Justin Trudeau folded.
Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum put up a little bit more of a fight.

Jordan is (publicly) threatening war and refusing to take ethnically cleansed Palestinians (altho what's being said in private may be different.)
Egypt is quiet.

Russia has said "Nyet" but is still willing to talk.

China imposed counter- tarrifs on LNG, oil and farm machinery, started anti-trust investigation on Google, and is blocking exports of five rare earth metals that USA depends on https://www.reuters.com/markets/commodities/what-are-five-new-critical
-metal-exports-restricted-by-china-2025-02-04/ to the USA, while calling for negotiation.

Denmark is insisting it will not sell Greenland.

Saudi Arabia and OPEC+ refused to increase oil production.

Panama was pressured into ending its BRI contracts with China (There was only one left supposedly) and to (reportedly) waive transit fees for the USA.

India and Brasil indicated they won't pay attention to Trump's threatened secondary sanctions on Russian energy (altho push hasn't come to shove, yet.)

*********

ABOUT UKRAINE: TALKS WITH PUTIN

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Quote:
Trump's envoy in Moscow [Witkof, not Gnl Kellogg] may have had lengthy talks with Putin, Fox News says

https://www.yahoo.com/news/trumps-envoy-moscow-may-had-103422144.html

Quote:
Russian President Vladimir Putin invites Donald Trump to Moscow to discuss ending the war in Ukraine after ‘lengthy’ phone call

Https://www.skynews.com.au/world-news/united-states/russian-president-
vladimir-putin-invites-donald-trump-to-moscow-to-discuss-ending-the-war-in-ukraine-after-lengthy-phone-call/news-story/7935f29572cc2a8560851be459569326

Quote:
Putin invited Trump to Moscow to discuss Ukraine, Kremlin says

https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/02/12/putin-trump-mo
scow-to-discuss-ukraine/78463575007/

Quote:
Putin and Trump speak by phone: LIVE UPDATES

https://www.rt.com/news/612591-putin-and-trump-speak-phone/

*********
IRAN:

Quote:
Ayatollah Responds To Trump's Big Stick Threats: 'Go Forward' With Military Growth

President Trump kicked off the week saying in a Fox interview that "Iran is very concerned. Iran is very frightened, to be honest with you, because their defense is pretty much gone." He had provocatively laid out that "I think Iran would love to make a deal and I would love to make a deal with them without bombing them."

How is Tehran's top leadership responding to the "big stick" threat? On Wednesday Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei urged his country to go forward with bolstering military development.

Khamenei said "progress should not be stopped" in the defense sector, amid ongoing threats from Israel and the US. "We cannot be satisfied," Khamenei stressed. "Say that we previously set a limit for the accuracy of our missiles, but we now feel this limit is no longer enough. We have to go forward."

...

Trump had further said in that Fox interview that thwarting Iran's development of nuclear weapons could be achieved either "with bombs or with a written piece of paper."

There are two things missing from this article. The first is that Iran and Russia signed a MILITARY agreement. Russia will be supplying advanced air defenses, and fighter jets. The second is that, as part of that agreement, Russia is insisting that Iran NOT develop a nuclear weapon. (I wonder if they're under Russia's nuclear umbrella)

So 'keeping Iran from developing nuclear weapons is a pretty easy win for Trump.

-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

AMERICANS SUPPORT AMERICA

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Wednesday, February 12, 2025 7:37 PM

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:

You and your opinions became completely irrelevant overnight.

Just like I told you they would.

How does it feel?

6ix, if you were expecting Trump to not take the $500 billion bribe Ukraine has offered him in exchange for weapons, you will likely be disappointed with Trump:

US presents Ukraine with a draft agreement on natural resources – Zelenskyy

By Daryna Vialko | Wed, February 12, 2025 – 19:36

https://newsukraine.rbc.ua/news/us-presents-ukraine-with-draft-agreeme
nt-1739381155.html

The US has presented Ukraine with a draft agreement on natural resources, which could be finalized at the Munich Security Conference, stated Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy.

Zelenskyy said he had just held productive and constructive talks with US Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent and received the first draft of a potential natural resources agreement.

"I know that our team has received the first draft agreement from the United States on a partnership between our countries. I want our team to review this document, and we will do everything to study and sign it as soon as possible," Zelenskyy said.

He added that the agreement could be reached at the Munich Security Conference later this week.

"The United States is our key partner. We will do everything to review all the details of the document in time for the Munich Conference because we do not want to waste time," he noted.

According to Zelenskyy, discussions did not include natural resources in Ukrainian territories occupied by Russia.

As previously reported by The New York Post, Ukraine had "essentially agreed" to provide the US with $500 billion worth of rare earth metals as payment for military aid received from Washington.

Zelenskyy also emphasized the importance of protecting Ukrainian territory from Russian forces not only from a security perspective but also financially. Otherwise, he said, valuable minerals, including rare earth elements, will go to Russia for free.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Wednesday, February 12, 2025 8:06 PM

Sounds like a good deal to me.

What did your guy get for all of the military aid that he gave Ukraine?

Oh right. We paid them to take it.

--------------------------------------------------

"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon

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Wednesday, February 12, 2025 10:42 PM

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Sounds like a good deal to me.

What did your guy get for all of the military aid that he gave Ukraine?

Oh right. We paid them to take it.

Well, Trump has to provide Ukraine with sufficient weapons to win. Trump can't collect his $500 billion bribe until after Ukraine wins because Russia would simply bomb the mineral extraction operations during the war. By the time Ukraine wins, Trump might be out of office, unless Trump is super generous with the amount of ammo he sends.

The second thing is that the US defense industry will be receiving hundreds of billions for the weapons shipped to Ukraine. The defense industry will provide Trump with a gratuity from that money for his service to Capitalism.

It occurred to me that maybe Trump will decide that history won't admire him for taking a $500 billion bribe. Maybe Trump won't sign the deal out of concern for his posthumous reputation.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Wednesday, February 12, 2025 10:43 PM

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

How much did Mayor Eric Adams pay Trump to drop charges? Winds of Change, indeed, 6ix.

New York Mayor Eric Adams is officially off the hook. Months of pandering to Donald Trump — defending him against accusations of fascism, jetting down to Florida to dine with the president, and quietly showing up to Trump’s inauguration — finally paid off Monday night, when the Department of Justice ordered prosecutors to drop their corruption charges against him.

“The Justice Department has reached this conclusion without assessing the strength of the evidence or the legal theories on which the case is based.” — Emil Bove, acting deputy attorney general, in a memo addressed to federal prosecutors in New York

https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2025/02/trump-news-eric-adams-mayo
r-doj-charges-dropped.html

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Wednesday, February 12, 2025 11:51 PM

BRENDA

Quote:
Originally posted by second:
Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Six, you really can't lay all the world's ills at the feet of Liberalism.

Going back in time, Liberalism started allowing girls to go to school.
Liberalism, known today as the "social safety net" allowed both Canada and the USA to pull ourselves out of the Great Depression. The programs weren't perfect but they allowed people to feed themselves and clothe themselves and have a roof over their heads.
The Allies after WWII helped rebuild the western half of Germany. The US helped rebuild Japan.
Liberalism allowed in the 50s for women to work for themselves and not just stay at home with children.
Liberalism in the 60s allowed this line from your constitution, "That all men are created equal." to actual mean something.
Liberalism allows your brother with some help to live on his own and not be in an institution.
Liberalism allows you now to live how you like.
Brenda, 6ix thinks much like the Republican Presidents who try to destroy the programs you mention:

George W. Bush tried to significantly reduce Social Security spending. Mitt Romney ran on significantly reducing Medicare spending. Trump, in his first term, tried to completely eliminate ACA subsidies, completely eliminate Medicaid expansion, and then cut Medicaid even more to below the pre-ACA level. None of this succeeded.

The DOGE hyper-focus on things like foreign aid and the Department of Education is kind of clever politics, but the cleverness lies precisely in its ability to provide cover for diminished aspirations in the face of these failures. Trump is many things, but he is most of all a showman, who’s doing a good job of performing mastery rather than letting attention fall on the razor-thin GOP majority and their somewhat incoherent policy agenda.

The fact is, Republicans don’t have a politically or economically viable path to creating the level of taxation that they want. Rather than try to reconcile themselves to that reality and come up with a more realistic fiscal agenda, they are lashing out at the pillars of the political system itself.

More at https://www.slowboring.com/p/the-paradox-of-trumps-first-weeks

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

Oh, I know Trump is a snake-oil salesman because of the way he talks.

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Thursday, February 13, 2025 12:02 AM

Oh, do you now?

--------------------------------------------------

"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon

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Thursday, February 13, 2025 12:03 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by second:
Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Sounds like a good deal to me.

What did your guy get for all of the military aid that he gave Ukraine?

Oh right. We paid them to take it.
Well, Trump has to provide Ukraine with sufficient weapons to win. Trump can't collect his $500 billion bribe until after Ukraine wins because Russia would simply bomb the mineral extraction operations during the war. By the time Ukraine wins, Trump might be out of office, unless Trump is super generous with the amount of ammo he sends.

Part of the rug pull.

The war is basically already over. And he's got Child Rapist Zelensky to just agree to give us $500 Billion, which should more than cover the tab so far.

--------------------------------------------------

"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon

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Thursday, February 13, 2025 2:06 AM

BRENDA

Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Oh, do you now?

--------------------------------------------------

"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon

Go back over a 100 years and a man like Trump would be with a medicine show. They travelled from town to town fleecing people out of their money with whatever they had made.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this elixir will cure whatever ails you. Sir, do you have lumbago? Well, sir what's in this bottle will get rid of that right away."

And people would give him their money and the next time they had an ache or whatever they would take some and wait and wait for it do something for them and it never would. The salesman was just taking their hard earned money. Sometimes these shows were run out of town by the local law if there was any and sometimes the people trying to get their money back once they realized they'd been conned.

And that is all Trump is.

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Thursday, February 13, 2025 2:55 AM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

I see SECOND has been instructed to pull the "racism" card.

Obedient little bitch, isn't he?

-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

AMERICANS SUPPORT AMERICA

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Thursday, February 13, 2025 2:57 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Oh, do you now?

--------------------------------------------------

"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon

Go back over a 100 years and a man like Trump would be with a medicine show. They travelled from town to town fleecing people out of their money with whatever they had made.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this elixir will cure whatever ails you. Sir, do you have lumbago? Well, sir what's in this bottle will get rid of that right away."

And people would give him their money and the next time they had an ache or whatever they would take some and wait and wait for it do something for them and it never would. The salesman was just taking their hard earned money. Sometimes these shows were run out of town by the local law if there was any and sometimes the people trying to get their money back once they realized they'd been conned.

And that is all Trump is.

Perhaps you're only hearing one side of the story, purposefully framed in a particular way.

Unlike Joe Biden* who probably only spoke in front of cameras about 100 hours within 4 years, Trump has already been filmed talking that much in 3 weeks.

He's not hiding anything. In fact, I think he's been pretty brutally honest about everything.

You can watch hours upon hours of what he has to say.

But if all you've heard is a few soundbytes here and there, then you're only hearing things framed in such a way to make you have that opinion without you being aware of it.

There is a reason why more minorities voted for Trump than any Republican in history. Quite a few, actually.

--------------------------------------------------

"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon

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Thursday, February 13, 2025 4:15 AM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:
Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Oh, do you now?

--------------------------------------------------

"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon

Go back over a 100 years and a man like Trump would be with a medicine show. They travelled from town to town fleecing people out of their money with whatever they had made.

"Ladies and gentlemen, this elixir will cure whatever ails you. Sir, do you have lumbago? Well, sir what's in this bottle will get rid of that right away."

And people would give him their money and the next time they had an ache or whatever they would take some and wait and wait for it do something for them and it never would. The salesman was just taking their hard earned money. Sometimes these shows were run out of town by the local law if there was any and sometimes the people trying to get their money back once they realized they'd been conned.

And that is all Trump is.

BRENDA, which is worse: having a blowhard salesman in office who really believes in making your nation better? Or a smooth-talking salesman who's under undercutting your nation at every step?

Bc I think you underestimate Trump. I know he sounds like a blowhard salesman, but I also believe that he's sincere, about wanting to make America better.

After all, if he was in it for himself, would he have persisted after years of being unfairly villified as a "Putin stooge", and BEING SHOT?

Yes, he's a billion-dollar real estate developer and TV personality with galloping ADHD, so how else do you expect him to sound?

There are things that I think he's wrong about. Being joined at the hip with Israel's genocidal program makes me angry. And in the end I don't believe he can fix our economy the way he wants; I think it would take running roughshod over our own set of oligarchs. But if he manages to control our borders, end our "forever wars" and our ceaseless regime change" operations, stop our unconstitutional censorship and snooping into everyone's lives, and stop the sexism and racism that we practice in the name of "equality" I think we'll be in far better shape. Maybe if a real diversity of opinions is allowed we can craft better policies.

Also, you were wrong about what "liberalism" accomplished. For example, many women sent to work during WWII since there was a labor shortage at home. Don't you remember Rosie the Riviter?

When men came home from war, women were expected to forget all that, put on an apron, and go back into the kitchen.

It was all economics and geopolitics.

BTW that was a nice piece of writing.

----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

AMERICANS SUPPORT AMERICA

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Thursday, February 13, 2025 5:50 AM

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Quote:
Originally posted by second:
Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Sounds like a good deal to me.

What did your guy get for all of the military aid that he gave Ukraine?

Oh right. We paid them to take it.
Well, Trump has to provide Ukraine with sufficient weapons to win. Trump can't collect his $500 billion bribe until after Ukraine wins because Russia would simply bomb the mineral extraction operations during the war. By the time Ukraine wins, Trump might be out of office, unless Trump is super generous with the amount of ammo he sends.

Part of the rug pull.

The war is basically already over. And he's got Child Rapist Zelensky to just agree to give us $500 Billion, which should more than cover the tab so far.

With the war over, Zelensky can not give Trump the $500 billion bribe. Maybe Putin will give Trump the $500 billion bribe? Or maybe Putin will keep the money for himself. Putin did invade Ukraine to steal its wealth and the $500 billion worth of minerals is part of that wealth.

We will see if Trump realizes that with Russia winning, the American weapon makers can't make money and Trump can't either.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Thursday, February 13, 2025 5:54 AM

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

The guy Trump released has plenty of money to pay Trump for the release secretly.

Kremlin Embarrasses Trump With Truth About U.S. Teacher Marc Fogel’s Release

Secretary of State Marco Rubio said on Tuesday that the school teacher’s freedom was “not in return for anything.” “There wasn’t some deal here where we had to release, like, 10 spies,” Rubio added.

The deal Donald Trump brokered with Russia to release American school teacher Marc Fogel on Tuesday was, in fact, a prisoner swap — even though the president had tried to suggest otherwise.

The Russian man freed in the deal is Alexander Vinnik, 45, who stands accused of laundering billions through the digital currency exchange website he ran. Vinnik, who ran the exchange BTC-e, was extradited to the U.S. after being arrested in Greece in 2017. He pleaded guilty to conspiracy to commit money laundering in May 2024.

Trump on Tuesday evaded questions about what exactly the U.S. gave up to free Fogel. The president would only repeat his evaluation that the deal was “very fair.” “I think there’s good will, in terms of the war,” Trump said. “I think this … could be a big, important part in getting the war over.”

https://www.thedailybeast.com/kremlin-embarrasses-donald-trump-with-tr
uth-about-marc-fogels-release/

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Thursday, February 13, 2025 6:59 AM

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

Quote:
Originally posted by Brenda:

Oh, I know Trump is a snake-oil salesman because of the way he talks.

Co-President Elon Musk is also selling snake oil:

Elon Musk Is Faking It
He thinks Americans are stupid. The fraudster who cried “fraud”

Did you hear the one about how USAID spent $50 million — or was it $100 million? — providing condoms to Hamas? This claim played a big role in the public relations campaign to rationalize the sudden, illegal dismantling of an agency that provides humanitarian aid to millions of people, and is also a key element of US foreign policy.

Reporters were puzzled by the claim because there didn’t appear to be any evidence. You will be happy to know that the mystery has been solved. Some DOGE staffers noticed that USAID had disbursed grants to local groups trying to limit the spread of sexually transmitted diseases in Gaza. But they didn’t read far enough in to learn that the Gaza in question isn’t the war-ravaged strip; it’s a province in the African nation of Mozambique. Oh well, southern Africa, the Middle East, what’s the difference?

Elon Musk actually admitted the mistake, albeit with minimal grace, during his extraordinary Oval Office press conference with President Trump on Tuesday. (Trump hasn’t acknowledged the error.) That conference consisted mainly of Musk pacing around, declaiming, while Trump sat passively at his desk, occasionally expressing agreement. Musk behaved as if he were the actual president and Trump merely a heavily made-up prop.

Anyway, the incident demonstrated the level of care and understanding that DOGE is bringing to its alleged mission of identifying waste, fraud and abuse.

But both Trump and Musk insisted that DOGE has already found billions, maybe tens of billions, of waste and fraud. Here’s a complete list of the specific examples Musk gave during the press conference:

THIS SPACE INTENTIONALLY LEFT BLANK

That’s right: Musk has yet to offer any specific examples of government waste. The closest Musk came to specifics was his assertion that DOGE had done

Quote:
just cursory examination of Social Security, and we got people in there that are 150 years old. Now, do you know anyone that's 150? I don't know. They should be on the Guinness Book of World Records. So that's a case where I think they're probably dead.

Is this true? Can we have some names please? It wouldn’t be a violation of privacy if the people are already dead.

Musk also asserted that

Quote:
there are quite a few people in the bureaucracy who have ostensibly a salary of a few hundred thousand dollars, but somehow managed to accrue tens of millions of dollars in net worth while they are in that position, which is what happened at USAID

Is this true? What are these peoples’ stories, if they exist? Sorry, Elon, but why should we believe you when the obvious explanation is that you are taking us for fools?

I am, however, sure that Musk knows that DOGE’s efforts to find waste and fraud have come up empty. If he had anything real to talk about, he would.

Whether Trump realizes that Musk is faking it is less clear. But as Tuesday’s event showed, it’s not clear whether Trump matters at this point.

In any case, Musk imagines that he can con the American people, that he can keep his racket going by talking fast and throwing around what sound like big numbers.

And I wish I were sure that he’s wrong.

https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/elon-musk-thinks-americans-are-stup
id

Bring Your Children to Work Day in the Oval Office

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Thursday, February 13, 2025 7:52 AM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Quote:
The following are 12 facts about the deindustrialization of America that will blow your mind…

#1 According to Google AI, our nation has lost almost 70,000 factories since the year 2000…

The United States has lost nearly 70,000 factories since 2000. This is part of a larger decline in the US manufacturing sector that has also resulted in the loss of over 5 million jobs.

#2 In July 1979, 19.5 million Americans had manufacturing jobs. Today, only 12.8 million Americans have manufacturing jobs even though our population is much larger than it was in 1979.

#3 According to a survey that was recently conducted by the Pew Research Center, 59 percent of Americans believe that the U.S. has lot more than it has gained from free trade.

#4 In 1959, manufacturing represented 28 percent of all U.S. economic output. At the beginning of the Great Recession in 2008, manufacturing represented only 11.5 percent of all U.S. economic output. Today, manufacturing represents just 10.3 percent of all U.S. economic output.

#5 More than a billion cellphones are sold worldwide each year. Only a few thousand of them are actually manufactured in the United States.

#6 The size of our trade deficit with China in 2024 was $295,000,000,000.

#7 At this point, China produces approximately 4 times as many vehicles each year than the United States does.

#8 In the early days of the industry, 100 percent of all semiconductors were manufactured in the United States. Today, that number is down to just 8 percent.

#9 Russia is producing three times as many artillery shells as the U.S. and Europe combined.

#10 The United States spends approximately $3.00 on Chinese goods for every $1 that the Chinese spend on goods from the United States.

#11 Our stores are absolutely overflowing with products that are made in China. Meanwhile, soybeans are the number one export from the U.S. to China.

#12 More than 36 million Americans are now living in poverty, homelessness in the U.S. is at an all-time record high, and demand at food banks in the U.S. is at record levels all over the nation.

-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

AMERICANS SUPPORT AMERICA

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Thursday, February 13, 2025 9:10 AM

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:

AMERICANS SUPPORT AMERICA(N Farmers)

Farmers cast their votes for Trump. Now Musk’s cuts are hitting them.

By Simon Montlake | Feb. 13, 2025, 5:15 a.m. ET

https://www.csmonitor.com/USA/Politics/2025/0213/elon-musk-trump-voter
s

It’s no exaggeration to say that America’s farmers helped put Donald Trump in the White House. Of the 444 counties classified as farm-dependent by the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA), most of which are located west of the Mississippi and east of the Rockies, Mr. Trump won all but 11 last November.

But now, some of these same communities are reacting with a sense of dismay and concern as they watch the Trump administration dismantle federal agencies and freeze Biden-era financing programs that directly impact their own economic livelihood.

Farmers who sell surplus crops to the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) for overseas distribution are fretting about future purchases and calling their state delegations. Business owners that qualified for USDA grants and invested in renewable energy technology and climate-resistant crops are unsure if they will be paid. Contract lawyers are getting involved.

“When you start ripping wires out of the federal government ... the unintended consequences could be strong and unexpected,” says Dante Scala, a political scientist at the University of New Hampshire.

Impact on farmers

Farmers who signed contracts with the USDA under programs funded by President Joe Biden’s 2022 clean energy law, the Inflation Reduction Act, are now calling on lawmakers to defend them. The law provided grants and loan guarantees for farmers to invest in renewable energy systems and plant crops that could withstand climate change. After Mr. Trump signed an executive order to rescind Biden-era initiatives, the USDA and other agencies were instructed to freeze funding in order to comply with new policies.

Among the funds frozen by the Trump administration is a $3 billion program called the Partnership for Climate-Smart Commodities. The Iowa Soybean Association (ISA) said last week that its members were at financial risk because of suspended reimbursements.

Farmers “are contractually owed $11 million for practices implemented in 2024,” the association’s president, Brent Swart, wrote in a letter to Iowa’s congressional delegation, all of whom are Republicans. “We ask for your support in advocating USDA honor its contractual obligation to ISA and its commitment to Midwestern farmers.”

Skylar Holden, a cattle farmer in Missouri, said he had invested in new fencing and a well on his farm after signing a $240,000 contract with the USDA to share costs, and had been told that he would have to wait on reimbursement. In a series of TikTok videos, he said he’d already spent more on materials for further improvements on his farm, including for water systems, and was counting on the promised federal funding. “I’ve already done a bunch of the work, already paid for the material and the labor, so I’m out all that cost,” he said.

In addition to the funding freeze, farmers also stand to lose out from Mr. Musk’s dismantling of USAID, which distributes food aid globally, including U.S.-grown crops. Republicans in Congress are reportedly preparing legislation to salvage a $1.8 billion USAID crop-purchasing program by transferring it to the USDA. The bill’s sponsors include GOP lawmakers from Kansas, North Carolina, North Dakota, and Arkansas. The program, called Food for Peace, is the largest donor of food to the United Nations’ World Food Programme.

On Tuesday, Mr. Trump fired the inspector general of USAID, a Biden appointee, after he issued a report that detailed how DOGE’s abrupt dismissal and recall of employees made it impossible to guarantee safe delivery of food aid.

At some point, Mr. Musk’s “sledgehammer approach” to government programs could become a political liability for Republicans, warns Mr. Wylie, the GOP strategist who is based in South Carolina.

GOP lawmakers who don’t assert congressional authority over budget matters and who simply applaud Mr. Trump for taking on the bureaucracy may wind up vulnerable in midterm elections, he says. If voters see DOGE’s actions impacting things like food prices and overdraft charges, “The risk is in two years ... they get kicked out because they didn’t do their job.”

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Thursday, February 13, 2025 9:29 AM

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Quote:
The following are 12 facts about the deindustrialization of America that will blow your mind…

#1 According to Google AI, our nation has lost almost 70,000 factories since the year 2000…

The United States has lost nearly 70,000 factories since 2000. This is part of a larger decline in the US manufacturing sector that has also resulted in the loss of over 5 million jobs.

#2 In July 1979, 19.5 million Americans had manufacturing jobs. Today, only 12.8 million Americans have manufacturing jobs even though our population is much larger than it was in 1979.

#3 According to a survey that was recently conducted by the Pew Research Center, 59 percent of Americans believe that the U.S. has lot more than it has gained from free trade.

#4 In 1959, manufacturing represented 28 percent of all U.S. economic output. At the beginning of the Great Recession in 2008, manufacturing represented only 11.5 percent of all U.S. economic output. Today, manufacturing represents just 10.3 percent of all U.S. economic output.

I'm not gonna correct you, Signym, because you never understand anything, but I will point out that manufacturing is following the same path that farming did. What path? Fewer farms and farmers and yet more food. Fewer factories and factory workers and yet more manufactured goods.

Millions of farmers have lost their jobs. That must mean Americans are starving! Or maybe not. A whopping 40% of all food grown and produced in the U.S. is never eaten. Farming accounts for about 1% of the U.S. gross domestic product.
https://www.fb.org/newsroom/fast-facts

Percentage of Labor Force in Agriculture
1860 53%
1870 52%
1880 51%
1890 43%
1900 40%
1910 31%
1920 26%
1930 21%
1940 23.1%
1950 15.2%
1960 8.7%
1970 4.7%
1980 2.7%
https://www.gilderlehrman.org/history-resources/teacher-resources/stat
istics-trends-american-farming

The oats for my oatmeal breakfast were grown in Canada. Oh my goodness! Canadians are stealing American farm jobs and they could starve us if they wanted to. Grow Oats In America To Make America Great Again!

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Thursday, February 13, 2025 12:10 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by second:
Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Quote:
Originally posted by second:
Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Sounds like a good deal to me.

What did your guy get for all of the military aid that he gave Ukraine?

Oh right. We paid them to take it.
Well, Trump has to provide Ukraine with sufficient weapons to win. Trump can't collect his $500 billion bribe until after Ukraine wins because Russia would simply bomb the mineral extraction operations during the war. By the time Ukraine wins, Trump might be out of office, unless Trump is super generous with the amount of ammo he sends.

Part of the rug pull.

The war is basically already over. And he's got Child Rapist Zelensky to just agree to give us $500 Billion, which should more than cover the tab so far.
With the war over, Zelensky can not give Trump the $500 billion bribe. Maybe Putin will give Trump the $500 billion bribe? Or maybe Putin will keep the money for himself. Putin did invade Ukraine to steal its wealth and the $500 billion worth of minerals is part of that wealth.

We will see if Trump realizes that with Russia winning, the American weapon makers can't make money and Trump can't either.

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

Trump doesn't need to make any money. He isn't a career Democrat who got rich rapeing the American Public.

Speaking of which, Nancy had better make sure her passport is up to date.

We're looking into how these rich politicians made their money next.

Tick Tock

--------------------------------------------------

"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon

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Thursday, February 13, 2025 12:43 PM

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

'The Trump Swamp Is Growing': President Fires Ethics Chief as DOJ Moves to Drop Eric Adams Charges

"Nothing says corruption like firing the top ethics cop on the beat," said Public Citizen co-president Lisa Gilbert.

U.S. President Donald Trump on Monday fired the director of the Office of Government Ethics as his administration — packed with billionaires and riddled with conflicts of interest — abandons even the pretense of opposing corruption and lawlessness, a course underscored by the Justice Department's push to drop bribery charges against New York City Mayor Eric Adams.

The removal of OGE chief David Huitema was announced in a brief statement on the office's website, which was inaccessible as of Tuesday morning.

By Jake Johnson | Feb 11, 2025

https://www.commondreams.org/news/trump-fires-ethics-director

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Thursday, February 13, 2025 1:34 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by second:
'The Trump Swamp Is Growing': President Fires Ethics Chief as DOJ Moves to Drop Eric Adams Charges

"Nothing says corruption like firing the top ethics cop on the beat," said Public Citizen co-president Lisa Gilbert.

If you displayed one ounce of ethics in the past up until now, you might have an argument.

This line of reasoning isn't going to save the Department of Education which has driven America down to the bottom of every measurable education list of 1st World Nations over the last 50 years.

Why the fuck would you think any American is going to cry about the current "Ethics Cop" losing his job?

He's fucking terrible at it.

--------------------------------------------------

"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon

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Thursday, February 13, 2025 2:20 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Quote:
Originally posted by second:
'The Trump Swamp Is Growing': President Fires Ethics Chief as DOJ Moves to Drop Eric Adams Charges

"Nothing says corruption like firing the top ethics cop on the beat," said Public Citizen co-president Lisa Gilbert.

If you displayed one ounce of ethics in the past up until now, you might have an argument.

This line of reasoning isn't going to save the Department of Education which has driven America down to the bottom of every measurable education list of 1st World Nations over the last 50 years.

Why the fuck would you think any American is going to cry about the current "Ethics Cop" losing his job?

He's fucking terrible at it.

--------------------------------------------------

"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon

Exactly. If the "top ethics cop" had actually been DOING HIS JOB, we wouldn't have had Biden and his son grifting across the globe, Congresspeople making beaucoup bucks on insider trading, "foundations" gathering pay-to-play money, ex-officials becoming multi multi millionaires who knows how, FBI/CIA/DOJ routinely violating our Constitution, etc etc.

It's like the Inspectors General who were fired. Apparently they never inspected much of anything.

You reap what you sow.

-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

AMERICANS SUPPORT AMERICA

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Thursday, February 13, 2025 3:04 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Quote:
Originally posted by second:
Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Quote:
The following are 12 facts about the deindustrialization of America that will blow your mind…

#1 According to Google AI, our nation has lost almost 70,000 factories since the year 2000…

The United States has lost nearly 70,000 factories since 2000. This is part of a larger decline in the US manufacturing sector that has also resulted in the loss of over 5 million jobs.

#2 In July 1979, 19.5 million Americans had manufacturing jobs. Today, only 12.8 million Americans have manufacturing jobs even though our population is much larger than it was in 1979.

#3 According to a survey that was recently conducted by the Pew Research Center, 59 percent of Americans believe that the U.S. has lot more than it has gained from free trade.

#4 In 1959, manufacturing represented 28 percent of all U.S. economic output. At the beginning of the Great Recession in 2008, manufacturing represented only 11.5 percent of all U.S. economic output. Today, manufacturing represents just 10.3 percent of all U.S. economic output.
I'm not gonna correct you, Signym, because you never understand anything, but I will point out that manufacturing is following the same path that farming did. What path? Fewer farms and farmers and yet more food. Fewer factories and factory workers and yet more manufactured goods.

WRONG.

There's a lot of manufacturing going on, BUT NOT HERE.

I DON'T KNOW WHY YOU POST OBVIOUS LIES.

A trip thru Amazon, or any department store, home improvement store, apppliance store, "superstore", auto sales lot, while inspecting country of origin will tell you who manufactures "stuff" and WHO DOESN'T.

Even ordering specialty chemicals, as I did, led me to China most often, and Germany second.

STEEL PRODUCTION

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/343071585/figure/fig1/AS:916467897860097@1595514382257/World-steel-production-historical-data-from-3.png

ALUMINUM PRODUCTION

SPECIALTY CHEMICALS
Top 50 specialty chemicals, by headquarter location
https://cen.acs.org/sections/global-top-50.html

CHIP PRODUCTION
https://cdn.statcdn.com/Infographic/images/normal/25552.jpeg

You're such a tool.

-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

AMERICANS SUPPORT AMERICA

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Thursday, February 13, 2025 3:20 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

I knew it would be bad, but not this bad. My heart sank when I read this

Quote:
UAE Ambassador Says Arab World Has 'No Alternative' To Trump's Gaza Plan

Thursday, Feb 13, 2025 - 10:10 AM

In an extraordinarily surprising development, the United Arab Emirates (UAE has signaled the possibility of removing all Palestinians from Gaza, in accordance with Trump's controversial Gaza plan.

UAE Ambassador to the US Yousef Al Otaiba in a fresh interview called the plan "difficult but inevitable" and said he's sees "no alternative" but Trump's plan to expel Gaza's population and undertake massive economic redevelopment of the Strip. He had been asked by a reporter whether the UAE is working on a separate plan, to which he responded no, there's no other plan.

MORE AT https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/uae-ambassador-says-arab-world-
has-no-alternative-trumps-gaza-plan

Turkiye and Arab states, especially the Gulf monarchies, often say they'llsupport Palestinians, but if they smell money they'll do the opposite.

This is deeply, deeply shameful. And all to bolster a nation that IS NOT THE UNITED STATES.

-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

AMERICANS SUPPORT AMERICA

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Thursday, February 13, 2025 5:48 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

On the brighter side

Quote:
MAHA: RFK Jr. Confirmed To Lead HHS Despite 'Traitor' McConnell Siding With Democrats.

-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

AMERICANS SUPPORT AMERICA

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Thursday, February 13, 2025 5:50 PM

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Quote:
Originally posted by second:
Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
Quote:
The following are 12 facts about the deindustrialization of America that will blow your mind…

#1 According to Google AI, our nation has lost almost 70,000 factories since the year 2000…

The United States has lost nearly 70,000 factories since 2000. This is part of a larger decline in the US manufacturing sector that has also resulted in the loss of over 5 million jobs.

#2 In July 1979, 19.5 million Americans had manufacturing jobs. Today, only 12.8 million Americans have manufacturing jobs even though our population is much larger than it was in 1979.

#3 According to a survey that was recently conducted by the Pew Research Center, 59 percent of Americans believe that the U.S. has lot more than it has gained from free trade.

#4 In 1959, manufacturing represented 28 percent of all U.S. economic output. At the beginning of the Great Recession in 2008, manufacturing represented only 11.5 percent of all U.S. economic output. Today, manufacturing represents just 10.3 percent of all U.S. economic output.
I'm not gonna correct you, Signym, because you never understand anything, but I will point out that manufacturing is following the same path that farming did. What path? Fewer farms and farmers and yet more food. Fewer factories and factory workers and yet more manufactured goods.

WRONG.

There's a lot of manufacturing going on, BUT NOT HERE.

I DON'T KNOW WHY YOU POST OBVIOUS LIES.

A trip thru Amazon, or any department store, home improvement store, apppliance store, "superstore", auto sales lot, while inspecting country of origin will tell you who manufactures "stuff" and WHO DOESN'T.

Even ordering specialty chemicals, as I did, led me to China most often, and Germany second.

STEEL PRODUCTION

I picked farming and farmers to make a point that a Signym can't understand about employment and purchases by consumers. I'm staying with food. Back in 1900, Americans were spending 40% of their income on food. In 2024 the spending was 10%.

Percentage of Labor Force in Agriculture was 40% in 1900 and 2% in 2024. The point is that food became abundant and cheap (see the word cheap) when the labor input approached zero. The same is true for the manufacturing of any item. To make the item cheap enough to satisfy the most gluttonous consumer means the labor input to make the item has to approach zero.

Signym, if your preferred future is for millions of Americans to switch work and to go into a manufacturing job, all of America will be poorer because the labor input will increase rather than approach zero.

Because the average American Trumptard does not know that in 1900 the average American was working 60 hours per week, poor and underfed compared to the fat, lazy Trumptards of 2025, none of this will be understood by them.

In 1900, the average American worker worked around 10-12 hours per day, which translates to a workweek of roughly 60 hours, as most jobs required six days of work per week; this was due to the prevalent long working hours in the industrial era, with many factory workers putting in even longer shifts.
https://www.google.com/search?q=how+many+hours+did+people+work+in+1900

The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two

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Thursday, February 13, 2025 6:31 PM

I believe in solving problems, not sharing them.

Quote:
I picked farming and farmers ~~to make a point that a Signym can't understand about employment and purchases by consumers.~~ because it skirts around the manufacturing story

Fixed it for you.

-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

AMERICANS SUPPORT AMERICA

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Thursday, February 13, 2025 9:07 PM

JAYNEZTOWN

Trump says Russia should be readmitted to G7, adding it was a mistake for Moscow to be expelled

https://www.reuters.com/world/trump-says-russia-should-be-readmitted-g
7-2025-02-13/

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Thursday, February 13, 2025 9:11 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:
I knew it would be bad, but not this bad. My heart sank when I read this

Quote:
UAE Ambassador Says Arab World Has 'No Alternative' To Trump's Gaza Plan

Thursday, Feb 13, 2025 - 10:10 AM

In an extraordinarily surprising development, the United Arab Emirates (UAE has signaled the possibility of removing all Palestinians from Gaza, in accordance with Trump's controversial Gaza plan.

UAE Ambassador to the US Yousef Al Otaiba in a fresh interview called the plan "difficult but inevitable" and said he's sees "no alternative" but Trump's plan to expel Gaza's population and undertake massive economic redevelopment of the Strip. He had been asked by a reporter whether the UAE is working on a separate plan, to which he responded no, there's no other plan.

MORE AT https://www.zerohedge.com/geopolitical/uae-ambassador-says-arab-world-
has-no-alternative-trumps-gaza-plan

Turkiye and Arab states, especially the Gulf monarchies, often say they'llsupport Palestinians, but if they smell money they'll do the opposite.

This is deeply, deeply shameful. And all to bolster a nation that IS NOT THE UNITED STATES.

-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal." - Henry Kissinger

AMERICANS SUPPORT AMERICA

Relocate them into the center of the Congo.

--------------------------------------------------

"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon

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Thursday, February 13, 2025 11:49 PM