Do you feel like the winds of change are blowing today too?
POSTED BY: 6ixStringJack
UPDATED: Thursday, September 10, 2026 23:15
VIEWED: 188758
PAGE 20 of 48
Surely Not?
If the US president were a Manchurian candidate, are there things he would hesitate to do?
(Such as not accept a $400 million "gift" of a 747, for example?)
By Christopher R. Browning | May 29, 2025 issue
https://www.nybooks.com/articles/2025/05/29/surely-not-manchurian-cand
idate-president/
Imagine that the president of the United States was a “Manchurian candidate,” an embedded foreign agent determined to wreak maximum damage on the country and limited only by the need not to act so outrageously and preposterously as to blow his cover. What are some of the things that even a Manchurian candidate would hesitate to do? What would be the limit of the self-inflicted wounds that he would dare to attempt?
In foreign affairs he might hesitate to openly undermine the world order established by the US after World War II, of which it has been the major beneficiary. Surely he would not declare Canada—a country with which we have the longest nonmilitarized frontier in the world and that has been our best trading partner—a threat to national security and target it for absorption through economic extortion as our fifty-first state. Surely he would not openly hope for and encourage the dissolution of the EU. Surely he would not disparage our NATO allies and threaten one member that has been extremely supportive of the US—Denmark—with the military seizure of its overseas territory of Greenland. Surely he would not consistently denigrate the leadership of our democratic allies as weak and stupid while praising our authoritarian rivals as smart and tough, thus revealing his own political role models and authoritarian aspirations.
Surely he would not cut off aid to Ukraine—which without the loss of a single American service member’s life has so taxed the military strength of Russia that it had to abandon a dictator it supported in Syria and has depleted its military stockpile to the extent that it is taking Cold War–era tanks out of mothballs—all to save a minuscule percentage of our defense budget (with most of this Ukrainian allotment spent on procuring weapons in the US in any case). Surely he would not seize the Panama Canal, where one homemade rocket fired from beyond the American reoccupation zone could take out just one lock and effectively close the canal to all traffic, thereby inflicting immense economic and strategic damage on the US. Surely he would not openly advocate the ethnic cleansing and American occupation of Gaza—policies that were prosecuted as violations of international law at Nuremberg. More likely, he might attempt to dismantle USAID, precisely because it is an extremely effective but underappreciated institution of American soft power that presents a favorable face of American expertise and compassion to the rest of the world.
Having inherited by far the strongest economy in the world, how far would he dare to go in squandering American prosperity and dissipating America’s leadership in the world economy? With the historic example of the Smoot–Hawley tariffs that aggravated the Great Depression, would he dare to launch a broad and untargeted tariff war on the entire world? And then would those tariffs be announced, suspended, and reimposed in a whiplash fashion for the triple effect of raising prices due to taxing imports, discouraging domestic investment due to uncertainty, and inviting widespread, systemic corruption as various companies scramble to obtain waivers? On top of that, would our Manchurian candidate threaten to politicize the Federal Reserve by firing its chairman, thereby also tanking the stock market, fanning inflation with lowered interest rates, triggering flight from the dollar, and ultimately threatening the dollar’s position as the reserve currency of the world economy and all the advantages of that position?
Would he proclaim eighteenth-century mercantilism as his economic philosophy, viewing all international economic relations as bilateral, win-lose scenarios determined by who has a favorable
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
When an Arsonist Poses as a Firefighter
Tariffs: What the hell just happened?
By Paul Krugman | May 12, 2025
https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/when-an-arsonist-poses-as-a-firefig
hter
Four points:
1. A 30 percent tariff is still really, really high, especially combined with the 10 percent tariff we’re imposing on everyone else. The back of my envelope says that the average U.S. tariff rate will now be around 13 percent, up from around 3 percent when Trump began his trade war. Before all this drama that would have been seen as wildly protectionist.
2. This wasn’t a case of both sides backing down. China only imposed its tariffs as a response to Trump’s gambit, and has reduced them only because he retreated. And retreat he did. This was basically Trump running away from the killer rabbit.
3. The prohibitive tariff has been paused, not canceled. Nobody knows what will happen in 90 days. I’ve long argued that the uncertainty created by Trump’s arbitrary, ever-changing tariffs is at least as important as the level of those tariffs. Well, the uncertainty level has arguably gone up rather than down.
4. This retreat probably hasn’t come soon enough to avoid high prices and empty shelves. Even if shipments from Shanghai to Los Angeles — which had come to a virtual halt — were to resume tomorrow, stuff wouldn’t arrive in time to avoid exhaustion of current inventories.
I guess it’s good news that Trump slammed on the brakes before driving completely off the cliff. But if you think that rationality has returned to the policy process, that the days of government by ignorant whim are now behind us, you’ll be sorely disappointed.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by second:
When an Arsonist Poses as a Firefighter
Tariffs: What the hell just happened?
By Paul Krugman | May 12, 2025
https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/when-an-arsonist-poses-as-a-firefig
hter
Four points:
1. A 30 percent tariff is still really, really high, especially combined with the 10 percent tariff we’re imposing on everyone else. The back of my envelope says that the average U.S. tariff rate will now be around 13 percent, up from around 3 percent when Trump began his trade war. Before all this drama that would have been seen as wildly protectionist.
2. This wasn’t a case of both sides backing down. China only imposed its tariffs as a response to Trump’s gambit, and has reduced them only because he retreated. And retreat he did. This was basically Trump running away from the killer rabbit.
3. The prohibitive tariff has been paused, not canceled. Nobody knows what will happen in 90 days. I’ve long argued that the uncertainty created by Trump’s arbitrary, ever-changing tariffs is at least as important as the level of those tariffs. Well, the uncertainty level has arguably gone up rather than down.
4. This retreat probably hasn’t come soon enough to avoid high prices and empty shelves. Even if shipments from Shanghai to Los Angeles — which had come to a virtual halt — were to resume tomorrow, stuff wouldn’t arrive in time to avoid exhaustion of current inventories.
I guess it’s good news that Trump slammed on the brakes before driving completely off the cliff. But if you think that rationality has returned to the policy process, that the days of government by ignorant whim are now behind us, you’ll be sorely disappointed.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
This entire article was written by a simple-minded fool who is completely unable to multi-task
in their own real lives, let alone entertain more than one topic at the same time when
thinking things through.
Either that, or they know their stupid readership like Second is that way.
--------------------------------------------------
"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
China Called Trump’s Bluff
There is a lesson here for anyone Trump threatens.
By Jonathan Chait | May 12, 2025, 11:21 AM ET
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2025/05/china-tariffs-tru
mp/682776/
When President Donald Trump launched his trade war on the world, he issued a stern warning: “Do not retaliate and you will be rewarded.” China ignored the warning. It was rewarded anyway. This morning, Trump largely suspended his trade war in return for nothing but promises of ongoing discussions. There is a lesson here for everybody Trump threatens, whether countries or businesses or universities.
The unveiling of the Trump global tariff regime was accompanied by a distinct form of dominance theater. The president and his gang assured his targets that if they submitted to his tariffs, he would repay their compliance. Any country that dared defy him would suffer terribly.
“I wouldn’t want to be the last country that tries to negotiate a trade deal with @realDonaldTrump,” posted Eric Trump. “The first to negotiate will win—the last will absolutely lose. I have seen this movie my entire life.”
Most of the world accepted this advice, only to discover the difficulty of making global trade deals with a president who doesn’t seem to understand how trade works. Foreign diplomats expressed repeated frustration as they failed to ascertain what Trump even wanted from them, let alone what he was prepared to offer in return. To date, only the United Kingdom has managed to resolve its trade status with the United States.
China, however, retaliated with countermeasures of its own, imposing steep tariffs on American imports. Trump decided to make an example of the country. “Based on the lack of respect that China has shown to the World’s Markets, I am hereby raising the Tariff charged to China by the United States of America to 125%, effective immediately,” he announced on Truth Social. (This figure eventually increased to 145 percent.) Other countries, which had showed proper respect, would receive a merciful reprieve. “The world is ready to work with President Trump to fix global trade, and China has chosen the opposite direction,” claimed Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick.
Trump held out for one month before backing down. Under the new 90-day agreement, tariffs on Chinese goods will come down to 30 percent; China’s tariffs on American goods will likewise decline to 10 percent. “The consensus from both delegations is that neither side wanted a decoupling,” Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent announced at a press conference in Geneva, as if the whole thing had been one big misunderstanding. The decades of China allegedly “ripping off” the United States were apparently forgotten, along with China’s insolence in retaliating and the supposed need for the U.S. to reduce its reliance on Chinese imports. The administration isn’t even pretending that it forced China to pay any special price for its defiance. It is memory-holing the entire “do not retaliate” episode and moving on as if the point this whole time was to get along better with Beijing.
As an exercise in trade policy, this makes no sense. But to treat Trump’s behavior as if it were narrowly tailored to the objective of reordering global trade misses the symbolic role it plays. Trump is performing a character, the presidential version of the boss he played in The Apprentice, sitting in a plush leather chair doling out justice to quavering supplicants.
His threats of conquest against Canada, Greenland, and Panama, and his unilateral renaming of the Gulf of Mexico, advance no practical objective. Indeed, they generate resentment that weakens his leverage over those countries. Trump’s best chance to add Greenland to the United States, for example, would have been to use a soft touch, rather than to insist that he would have it one way or another. The purpose that these gambits seem to serve is to establish Trump as the boss man lording his power over vulnerable targets.
The original target of this ritual was
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:The Trump Trade-War Scam
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
This entire article was written by a simple-minded fool who is completely unable to multi-task
in their own real lives, let alone entertain more than one topic at the same time when
thinking things through.
Either that, or they know their stupid readership like Second is that way.
How to understand the phony trade deals with Britain and China
By David Frum | May 12, 2025, 1:35 PM ET
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/05/trump-trade-war-scam
/682780/
If you’ve ever watched a game of three-card monte, you’ve noticed that the dealer talks nonstop. The chatter serves two functions. First, it distracts the victims. Second, and maybe more important, the dealer is deceiving his victims about what’s befalling them. The spiel invites them to imagine they’re playing a game in which they stand a fair chance. In reality, they are being swindled.
The Trump White House’s press releases about its so-called trade agreements and negotiations—first with the United Kingdom, now with China—are just so much dealer patter.
The tariff numbers go up. Up and up and up. Ooh, now they come down. Up! Down! And all the while, everybody involved is telling contradictory stories about what’s being done and why.
The noise is made even more confusing by the journalists trying to explain the game.
In the street-corner version of three-card monte, the dealer is typically assisted by confederates in the crowd. These confederates help the dealer misdirect the suckers and elbow out of the way anybody who seems wise to the hustle. Pro-Trump media play that same role in the tariff debate.
Meanwhile, the respectable financial media, which actually possess deep expertise on tariffs and trade, struggle as much as anybody else to interpret the seeming chaos. They perceive that the show being performed in no way resembles the negotiations that produced trade agreements in the past. But their own habits and rules forbid them from drawing the correct critical conclusions from the crazy discrepancy they observe.
Turn off the sound. Ignore the cards. Watch the players. And, suddenly, things come into focus.
A tariff is a tax, but a tax that differs from other taxes in three important ways.
First, a tariff is a tax that can be imposed by the president acting unilaterally. The normal constitutional rule is that only Congress can impose taxes. With tariffs, however, Congress has delegated much of its authority to the president. Theoretically, this deference is for emergency purposes, but because the president has the sole power to determine whether a trade emergency prevails, tariffs provide a means of raising revenue that he can impose all on his own.
Second, a tariff is a tax that the president can waive unilaterally. A president could never, say, exempt a company from corporate income tax on the condition that the company donate to the president’s inauguration committee; nor can he forgive a taxpayer’s obligation to pay capital-gains tax if that taxpayer buys the first lady’s lifetime rights for a documentary that never gets made. But a president can create tariff exemptions in those ways and for those reasons.
Third, a tariff is a uniquely regressive tax, one that falls most heavily on the least affluent people in society. Imagine a low-income family eating a meal at home. The table is tariffed, the chairs are tariffed, the plates are tariffed, the knives and forks are tariffed, the Canadian wheat in the pasta is tariffed. Now imagine a wealthy family eating a meal in a restaurant. Their tables, chairs, and so on might be tariffed too. But the most important costs in their restaurant meal are the wages of the chef and the servers, the rent the restaurant pays to occupy its premises, and other overheads. Those costs are not tariffed. Basically, the more of your income you spend on services, the less you pay in tariffs. Income that is saved and invested pays no tariff at all, so the richer yo
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Evidence Points to Insider Stock Trading Around Trump’s Tariff Announcements
By Greg Brailsford | April 14, 2025, 8:58 am
https://upriseri.com/insider-trading-trump-tariff-announcements/
When the stock market plunged following President Trump’s sweeping tariff announcement earlier this month, short sellers (those betting that the stock market will plummet) pocketed an estimated $127 billion. Days later, when Trump abruptly announced a 90-day pause on those same tariffs, the market rocketed upward, delivering windfall profits to those who had purchased call options (bets that the market will go up) just minutes before the news broke.
The pattern of trading activity surrounding these announcements has raised serious questions about whether Trump’s allies received advance notice of these market-moving policy shifts.
Insider trading – the illegal practice of trading stocks based on material, non-public information – carries severe penalties: up to 20 years in prison and fines up to $5 million. Yet the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) rarely pursues such cases against the politically connected, and Congressional representatives routinely engage in suspicious trading.
The timing is almost impossible to attribute to coincidence. Large purchases of short-dated call options (bets that the stock market will rise within days) on the S&P 500 ETF occurred within 15 to 20 minutes before Trump’s announcement on April 9. These trades yielded profits exceeding $30 million overnight.
The 15-Minute Window
Trading records reveal a particularly damning sequence on April 9. At 1:00 PM, just 18 minutes before Trump’s tariff pause announcement at 1:18 PM, an unusual block of 5,105 bets that the S&P 500 index would rise by the end of the day to a price over $502 changed hands at approximately $4.20 each. Ten minutes later, another batch of these bets with a $509 price traded at around $2.14.
These weren’t small bets. The first block alone represented an investment of roughly $2.1 million. When Trump announced the tariff pause and markets surged, these options exploded in value, turning $2.1 million into more than $30 million in less than 24 hours.
The odds of someone making that specific bet, in that volume, at that precise moment without foreknowledge are virtually zero. We’re talking about an extremely specific, short-dated option position taken minutes before a surprise announcement that sent those exact contracts soaring.
Financial records reveal a suspicious surge in short-selling activity that began on March 31, peaking on April 4 – perfectly positioned to profit from Trump’s initial tariff announcement. The short interest began declining by April 5-7, suggesting traders were closing positions ahead of the April 9 rebound.
This pattern – establishing positions before negative news, then reversing those positions before positive news – represents the hallmark of insider trading.
The Mar-a-Lago Connection
Sources close to the investigation have identified at least three hedge fund managers who attended a private dinner at Mar-a-Lago on March 30, just three days before Trump’s initial tariff announcement. All three funds dramatically increased their short positions in the 48 hours following that dinner.
“We were tracking unusual market moves and noticed a surge in shorting of import-dependent companies starting March 31,” said a senior trader at a major Wall Street bank who requested anonymity. “The positions were so targeted – heavily shorting companies with Chinese supply chains while avoiding domestic manufacturers who would benefit from tariffs. It looked like someone had a detailed breakdown of which sectors would be hit hardest.”
One hedge fund, Bluestone Capital, increased its short position in Tesla by 300% on April 1, one day before the tariff announcement that sent Tesla shares plummeting 17%. The fund then closed most of these short positions on April 8, just before Tesla rebounded 18% on news of the tariff pause.
If someone in Trump’s circle shared information about ei
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by second:Quote:Even if he later turns down the gift, or bribe from the persnickety viewpoint, because someone convinced him not to take it, Trump sees no problem:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Who is about to look like a giant asshole?
Trump defended the move and attempted to see off potential criticism online, by posting on his Truth Social platform: "So the fact that the Defense Department is getting a GIFT, FREE OF CHARGE, of a 747 aircraft to replace the 40 year old Air Force One, temporarily, in a very public and transparent transaction, so bothers the Crooked Democrats that they insist we pay, TOP DOLLAR, for the plane. Anybody can do that! The Dems are World Class Losers!!! MAGA [Make America Great Again]."
Donald Trump Will Get to Keep Qatar Jet Even After He Leaves Office
May 12, 2025 at 3:06 AM EDT
The jet will then be donated to Trump's presidential library when he leaves office, meaning he can continue to use it (or sell it)
The nature of the gift is unprecedented given its value, estimated at around $400 million.
https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-qatar-plane-air-force-one-207076
1
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
Says who on any of this? The people who always lie to you?
--------------------------------------------------
"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:Why have there always been unethical leaders? Trump for example. Human psychology is why:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Says who on any of this? The people who always lie to you?
--------------------------------------------------
"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon
Why the Most Foolish People End Up in Power – Machiavelli Knew This
Why Stupid People Gain Power – Machiavelli's Dark Truth in Leadership Psychology
Why do many unqualified individuals become CEOs, politicians, and powerful executives? This video uncovers the psychological and structural forces behind this disturbing trend, revealing how confidence, charisma, and manipulation often beat competence.
Grounded in Machiavelli’s political philosophy and backed by modern leadership psychology, it explores why many of the world’s most powerful figures aren’t necessarily the most capable—and what that means for organizations, institutions, and individuals like you.
What You'll Learn in This Leadership Psychology Masterclass:
The Machiavellian Paradox: Why intelligence can be a liability in power games
The Confidence Illusion: How boldness and charisma outperform actual skill
The Incompetence Network: How weak leaders surround themselves with yes-men
The Simplicity Trap: Why the public prefers clear, wrong answers to complex truths
The Ethical Handicap: How moral integrity blocks advancement in toxic systems
Toxic Environments: Where mediocrity thrives—and how to reverse the dynamic
Mass Distraction Tactics: How manipulative leaders maintain control and appear competent
Breaking the Cycle: Strategies to resist manipulation and promote merit-based leadership
This isn’t just philosophy—it's a roadmap to understanding modern leadership.
By fusing political theory, executive strategy, and organizational psychology, this breakdown equips you to recognize dysfunctional systems and navigate power dynamics more effectively in business, government, and daily life.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Biden went through congress and drug manufactures to lower drug prices. He got some of what he wanted despite Republicans blocking him. That preserves capitalism. Trump just puts out an executive order doing it. That's called communism. And it is illegal. It will get shredded in the courts and won't fly.
So why did he do it? Because it plays well with Americans who rightfully so, want lower prices. And, because his first 100 days in office were a disaster. China raped him and the damage he has done to our economy is about to become very clear.
We need someone to challenge the supreme courts decision to grant the president immunity. If they can overturn Roe vs Wade, they can overturn this.
T 
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by THG:
Biden went through congress and drug manufactures to lower drug prices. He got some of what he wanted despite Republicans blocking him. That preserves capitalism. Trump just puts out an executive order doing it. That's called communism. And it is illegal. It will get shredded in the courts and won't fly.
So why did he do it? Because it plays well with Americans who rightfully so, want lower prices. And, because his first 100 days in office were a disaster. China raped him and the damage he has done to our economy is about to become very clear.
We need someone to challenge the supreme courts decision to grant the president immunity. If they can overturn Roe vs Wade, they can overturn this.
T
Loser crying because he just lost the chess match.
The Democratic Party is official dead.
--------------------------------------------------
"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by second:Quote:Why have there always been unethical leaders?
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Says who on any of this? The people who always lie to you?
--------------------------------------------------
"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon
...
What You'll Learn in This Leadership Psychology Masterclass:
I don't need any classes from you, dummy. You just keep being wrong about everything every day and being more miserable every morning as you realize you lost even more relevance than the day before.
--------------------------------------------------
"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Trump’s Brain Drain Will Be Europe’s Gain
May 13, 2025, 10:04 AM | By Daniel B. Baer, the senior vice president for policy research at the Carnegie Endowment for International Peace.
https://foreignpolicy.com/2025/05/13/trump-science-technology-research
-universities-education-brain-drain-talent-entrepreneurship/
French President Emmanuel Macron hosted a conference at Sorbonne University in early May aimed at attracting U.S. scientists to France. European Commission President Ursula von der Leyen gave him an assist, announcing a two-year, 500 million euro ($556 million) effort to support U.S. scientists moving to Europe. It’s a smart start, but Europe should go bigger—much bigger—to take advantage of the Trump administration’s monumental own goal of attacking the U.S. scientific, technical, and broader academic research communities just as global competition around cutting-edge innovation accelerates.
While cozying up to Russia, starting a global trade war, and threatening to annex the United States’ closest neighbor have gotten more attention, among U.S. President Donald Trump’s most consequential actions for the United States’ long term international power has been the assault on science at home. By slashing federal funding for basic research, mounting attacks against universities, and sowing chaos in the visa system for foreign students, Trump has undermined one of the United States’ most important strategic advantages: the best basic research ecosystem in the world, one that drives U.S. commercial innovation and competitive success.
This ecosystem is underwritten by the United States’ ability to attract, develop, and retain a significant share of the world’s top researchers, and it thrives in a country where intellectual property rights and rule of law are upheld, and academic freedom is protected and respected.
The European Union and its member countries—together with the United Kingdom and perhaps Canada—should work together to create a research investment fund with an initially available drawdown of $20 billion to buy U.S. scientific and technological research labs. The fund could be chaired by a former finance minister and advised by small boards made up of private sector and academic leaders connected to specific areas of research—including biotech, artificial intelligence (AI), pharmaceuticals and medical research, and energy—that help make investment decisions. The idea would be to make quick investments at current run rates for lab and research group operations, with similar intellectual property arrangements to their current arrangements with U.S. universities and federal research facilities.
Where practical, the fund could offer to move these labs to European universities or research centers. In some cases, it will make sense for some of the labs to continue working, at least for the time being, in the United States. But these labs can be integrated more fully into the European research landscape over time.
One of the challenges with the initiative announced by von der Leyen this week—in addition to the fact that it needs to be bigger—is that it’s difficult for a single U.S.-based scientist to pick up and move, find another compatible research group across the ocean, and arrange funding. Johns Hopkins University, famous for its medical and public health research, recently announced the layoffs of 2,000 people involved in public health work. Europe should be ready to scoop up that talent in buckets when it comes on the market.
Investments in basic science and research don’t pay dividends in the short term. The consequences of the Trump administration’s attacks won’t be seen in next year’s initial public offerings–they’ll be seen in a less dynamic and innovative U.S. economy 20 years from now. It takes a decade or more for a new discovery to go through testing and development and be brought to market. Over the long run, these investments can lay a foundation for European competitiveness and innovation.
Scientific research labs aren’t
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Zion Don aka Trump is hanging out with the genocidal Satanic anti-human Moongod worshiping Ahmed al-Sharaa, the Al-Qaeda and ISIS guy...or so both sides of the US media called the guy up until a few weeks ago
caught trying to blow up Americans
Trump will take away all sanctions
a New Low for a US President
Trump looking to build 'normal relations' with Syrian leader Ahmed al-Sharaa after easing sanctions
https://www.abc.net.au/news/2025-05-14/united-states-sanctions-on-syri
a-lifted/105289658
NOTIFY: N | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Higher interest rates on Bonds are caused by Trump.
President Trump imposed higher tariffs and then, in many cases, delayed them. But the longer term is still uncertain. The market response to the back-and-forth over trade has been volatile, particularly when it comes to the bond market. Economics correspondent Paul Solman explains.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Goldman Sachs analysts read through more than 1,000 of Trump's social media posts. They found a key takeaway about how he talks about oil.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets/goldman-sachs-analysts-read-th
rough-more-than-1-000-of-trump-s-social-media-posts-they-found-a-key-takeaway-about-how-he-talks-about-oil/ar-AA1EKnfE
• Goldman Sachs analysts scrutinized President Donald Trump's social media posts for oil price insights.
• They said Trump's posts show a correlation with oil prices.
• The analysts concluded that the president prefers West Texas Intermediate prices in the $40-$50 a barrel range. (Goldman estimates average breakeven prices for US shale producers at $51 a barrel.)
President Donald Trump's social media posts have long gripped global markets. Now, even Goldman Sachs commodity analysts are scrutinizing them for clues to his views on oil prices.
In an analysis of Trump's social media posts on Twitter and Truth Social, Goldman's analysts concluded that the president appears to favor West Texas Intermediate oil in the $40 to $50 barrel range.
They wrote that Trump's "propensity to post about oil prices bottoms" when prices are in this price range.
US WTI oil futures are now trading around $63 a barrel — well above Trump's apparent comfort zone.
The analysts reviewed more than 1,000 posts from 16 years to identify patterns in Trump's thinking on oil. Energy market-related topics accounted for just over 1% of Trump's social media posts.
"President Trump has always been focused on energy markets, oil, and on US energy dominance, having posted nearly 900 times about energy markets since he joined Twitter in 2009," wrote Goldman Sachs' analysts in a Tuesday report.
Lower energy prices are one of Trump's campaign promises, as higher oil prices drive inflation.
However, Trump also has a "drill, baby, drill" agenda that aims to boost the US's energy dominance and increase the country's fossil fuel production.
Trump tends to call for lower prices — or celebrate declining prices — when WTI prices move above $50 a barrel, wrote the analysts at Goldman.
"President Trump has called for higher prices when prices are very low (WTI<$30), often in the context of supporting US production," they added.
Goldman estimates average breakeven prices for US shale producers at $51 a barrel.
While Trump seems to like lower prices for consumers, he likely wouldn't want prices so low that they hurt American oil producers.
"We believe several policymakers recognize the tendency for US oil supply growth to slow down when WTI prices drop into the $60s and approach the breakeven price of numerous producers," they added.
To be sure, Goldman analysts expect Trump's impact on global oil production to be limited in the short term. Furthermore, US regulatory easing may also only boost production significantly over the longer term.
However, "President Trump's inferred preference for relatively low oil prices directionally supports our view that oil prices are likely to edge lower in 2025-2026," they wrote.
Goldman forecast the WTI oil price to average $56 a barrel for the rest of 2025 and $52 a barrel in 2026.
Oil prices have been under pressure this year due to recession fears, fueled by Trump's trade war and OPEC's plans to boost output.
The WTI oil price has risen around 9% over the last five trading days due to positive sentiment over the US's trade deal with China. However, it is still about 12% lower year to date.
The White House did not immediately respond to a request for comment from Business Insider sent outside regular business hours.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Trump’s War on Normal
By Ken MacVey | Wednesday, May 14, 2025 6:00AM
https://3quarksdaily.com/3quarksdaily/2025/05/trumps-war-on-normal.htm
l
Many have talked about Trump’s war on the rule of law. No president in American history, not even Nixon, has engaged in such overt warfare on the rule of law. He attacks judges, issues executive orders that are facially unlawful, coyly defies court orders, humiliates and subjugates big law firms to his will, and weaponizes law enforcement to target those who seek to uphold the law.
What is not talked about as much is that this is part of a self-reinforcing pattern. Trump’s words, conduct, and example have been an assault on norms we once took for granted. With Trump 2 the assault has intensified. The new normal is there is no normal.
Trump as a businessman has never been a producer in the way other businesses are. Businesses sell products and services. Businesses manage their operations. As Warren Buffet commented, Trump is not particularly good at business operations but is good at licensing. That is because Trump’s product is himself. He is the product people consume and we are all his consumers—to love him is to be a consumer; to despise him is to be a consumer. Fox News and MSNBC are equally fueled by selling his product, which again is Trump himself. His game and his product are the same: “Look at me!” And we all fall for it.
It has become a cliché to note that Trump is a convicted felon, a businessman who has gone through six bankruptcies and who boasts about how he stiffs others. It is widely commented he lies, cheats, and according to a jury and his own admission, sexually assaults women. He is constantly taunting and insulting others, testing and crossing boundaries. None of this seems to ultimately hurt him. This is all part of his “authenticity” his base finds so appealing. He is the ultimate “sticking it to the Man” guy and by each insult, each crossing of what for anyone else would be a bridge too far, has become the Man himself. As president in a second term he is taking selling his product, that is himself, to new levels. People can buy access by contributing millions to his inauguration committee, paying millions to his crypto fund, or millions for his Trump gold card. Again, the product is always Trump himself. This then is coupled with his two in the morning postings on Truth Social (another Trump product where Trump is the product) or his White House posted AI generated images of his basking in the sun with Musk at a future resort in Gaza or his portrayal as king or pope.
The point is Trump is always the product, the center of attention, and no norms apply. The more of this product we consume in the attention universe the more he monopolizes our attention and in turn the more normalized his breaking norms becomes. His attack on the rule of law is just part of his overall attack on norms. This is self-reinforcing. By attacking norms overall he makes it easier to attack the rule of law, which is denigrated to just being another conventional norm. By attacking the rule of law it also makes it easier for him to flout other norms, such as when he is talking about going for a third term, while sometimes pretending, sometime not, it’s all a joke.
This isn’t to suggest all of this is the result of a grand strategic master plan. It is the result of who he is. He has to sell himself to himself too. He is an empty man who expands himself by inhaling his own flatulence of self-promotion. Therein lies a pathway for his opponents to respond that does not fall into the trap of giving him what he craves the most: attention that generates more attention.
The dilemma to anyone opposing Trump is that Trump cannot be ignored. This column is itself an example of that fact. Attention must be given. But it does not have to be the kind Trump craves, instead it can be the kind that weakens his brand.
What the Trump 2 administration is doing is what Steve Bannon calls “flooding the zone.” The administration does one shocking thing after another so that
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Having fun screaming into the void, Second?
--------------------------------------------------
"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:6ix, your future ends with a bullet in your head, you little Nazi. Very likely, you will be the one pulling the trigger and Making America Great Again with your death. Suicide seems to be thing with Trumptards in Texas, if not in Indiana. The Trumptards get trapped by their lawlessness and bad conduct and diseases caused by their excesses. Then they kill themselves, finally seeing the pointlessness of their rubbish lives.
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Having fun screaming into the void, Second?
--------------------------------------------------
"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
The End of Rule of Law in America
The 47th president seems to wish he were king—and he is willing to destroy what is precious about this country to get what he wants.
By J. Michael Luttig | May 14, 2025, 6:30 AM ET
J. Michael Luttig is a former federal judge on the U.S. Court of Appeals for the Fourth Circuit.
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/05/law-america-trump-co
nstitution/682793/
The president of the United States appears to have long ago forgotten that Americans fought the Revolutionary War not merely to secure their independence from the British monarchy but to establish a government of laws, not of men, so that they and future generations of Americans would never again be subject to the whims of a tyrannical king. As Thomas Paine wrote in Common Sense in 1776, “For as in absolute governments the king is law, so in free countries the law ought to be king; and there ought to be no other.”
Donald Trump seems also not to understand John Adams’s fundamental observation about the new nation that came into the world that same year. Just last month, an interviewer from Time magazine asked the president in the Oval Office, “Mr. President, you were showing us the new paintings you have behind us. You put all these new portraits. One of them includes John Adams. John Adams said we’re a government ruled by laws, not by men. Do you agree with that?” To which the president replied: “John Adams said that? Where was the painting?”
When the interviewer pointed to the portrait, Trump asked: “We’re a government ruled by laws, not by men? Well, I think we’re a government ruled by law, but you know, somebody has to administer the law. So therefore men, certainly, men and women, certainly play a role in it. I wouldn’t agree with it 100 percent. We are a government where men are involved in the process of law, and ideally, you’re going to have honest men like me.”
And earlier this month, a television journalist asked Trump the simple question “Don’t you need to uphold the Constitution of the United States as president?” Astonishingly, the president answered, “I don’t know.” The interviewer then asked, “Don’t you agree that every person in the United States is entitled to due process?” The president again replied, “I don’t know.”
This is not a man who respects the rule of law, nor one who seeks to understand it.
Thus far, Trump’s presidency has been a reign of lawless aggression by a tyrannical wannabe king, a rampage of presidential lawlessness in which Trump has proudly wielded the powers of the office and the federal government to persecute his enemies, while at the same time pardoning, glorifying, and favoring his political allies and friends—among them those who attacked the U.S. Capitol during the insurrection that Trump fomented on January 6, 2021. The president’s utter contempt for the Constitution and laws of the United States has been on spectacular display since Inauguration Day.
For the almost 250 years since the founding of this nation, America has been the beacon of freedom to the world because of its democracy and rule of law. Our system of checks and balances has been strained before, but democracy—government by the people—and the rule of law have always won the day. Until now, that is. America will never again be that same beacon to the world, because the president of the United States has subverted America’s democracy and corrupted its rule of law.
Until Trump exits public life altogether, it cannot be said either that America is a thriving democracy or that it has a government “of laws, not of men.”
History has already documented Trump’s subversion of America’s democracy through his attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election, his emphatic and steadfast repudiation of the fact that he tried to steal the presidency from the American people, and his perverted denial that January 6 was one of the darkest days in American history.
Now, in the first few months of his second administration, Trump has proved himself an exist
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by second:Quote:6ix, your future ends with a bullet in your head, you little Nazi. Very likely, you will be the one pulling the trigger and Making America Great Again with your death. Suicide seems to be thing with Trumptards in Texas, if not in Indiana. The Trumptards get trapped by their lawlessness and bad conduct and diseases caused by their excesses. Then they kill themselves, finally seeing the pointlessness of their rubbish lives.
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Having fun screaming into the void, Second?
--------------------------------------------------
"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
I see SECOND found the Nazi within himself.
-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger
AMERICANS SUPPORT AMERICA
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Because the Order in effect adjudicates and punishes alleged misconduct by Perkins Coie, it is an unconstitutional violation of the separation of powers.
Because it does so without notice and an opportunity to be heard, and because it punishes the entire firm for the purported misconduct of a handful of lawyers who are not employees of the firm, it is an unconstitutional violation of procedural due process and of the substantive due process right to practice one’s professional livelihood.
Because the Order singles out Perkins Coie, it denies the firm the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment.
Because the Order punishes the firm for the clients with which it has been associated and the legal positions it has taken on matters of election law, the Order constitutes retaliatory viewpoint discrimination and, therefore, violates the First Amendment rights of free expression and association, and the right to petition the government for redress.
Because the Order compels disclosure of confidential information revealing the firm’s relationships with its clients, it violates the First Amendment.
Because the Order retaliates against Perkins Coie for its diversity-related speech, it violates the First Amendment.
Because the Order is vague in proscribing what is prohibited “diversity, equity and inclusion,” it violates the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment.
Because the Order works to brand Perkins Coie as persona non grata and bar it from federal buildings, deny it the ability to communicate with federal employees, and terminate the government contracts of its clients, the Order violates the right to counsel afforded by the Fifth and Sixth Amendments.
Do corporations and businesses have Constitutional rights?
I would LOVE to see them adjudicated away! Bc until businesses are TAXED like individuals, until they shoulder the same MORAL RESPONSIBILITIES as individuals, until they can be charged with the same CRIMES as individuals (murder, manslaughter, etc) and until they can suffer the same PUNISHMENT as individuals (including the death penalty)... I say: Take away their so-called rights!
-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger
AMERICANS SUPPORT AMERICA
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:Quote:
Originally posted by second:Quote:6ix, your future ends with a bullet in your head, you little Nazi. Very likely, you will be the one pulling the trigger and Making America Great Again with your death. Suicide seems to be thing with Trumptards in Texas, if not in Indiana. The Trumptards get trapped by their lawlessness and bad conduct and diseases caused by their excesses. Then they kill themselves, finally seeing the pointlessness of their rubbish lives.
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Having fun screaming into the void, Second?
--------------------------------------------------
"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
I see SECOND found the Nazi within himself.
-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger
AMERICANS SUPPORT AMERICA
I'm a chigger that crawled into his ear and I'm digging so deep into that mind that I'm going to be a permanent fixture there.
Trump and I will be next-door neighbors in the alternate universe inside of Second's diseased brain.
Now there's a sitcom.
--------------------------------------------------
"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:Quote:
Because the Order in effect adjudicates and punishes alleged misconduct by Perkins Coie, it is an unconstitutional violation of the separation of powers.
Because it does so without notice and an opportunity to be heard, and because it punishes the entire firm for the purported misconduct of a handful of lawyers who are not employees of the firm, it is an unconstitutional violation of procedural due process and of the substantive due process right to practice one’s professional livelihood.
Because the Order singles out Perkins Coie, it denies the firm the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment.
Because the Order punishes the firm for the clients with which it has been associated and the legal positions it has taken on matters of election law, the Order constitutes retaliatory viewpoint discrimination and, therefore, violates the First Amendment rights of free expression and association, and the right to petition the government for redress.
Because the Order compels disclosure of confidential information revealing the firm’s relationships with its clients, it violates the First Amendment.
Because the Order retaliates against Perkins Coie for its diversity-related speech, it violates the First Amendment.
Because the Order is vague in proscribing what is prohibited “diversity, equity and inclusion,” it violates the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment.
Because the Order works to brand Perkins Coie as persona non grata and bar it from federal buildings, deny it the ability to communicate with federal employees, and terminate the government contracts of its clients, the Order violates the right to counsel afforded by the Fifth and Sixth Amendments.
Do corporations and businesses have Constitutional rights?
I would LOVE to see them adjudicated away! Bc until businesses are TAXED like individuals, until they shoulder the same MORAL RESPONSIBILITIES as individuals, until they can be charged with the same CRIMES as individuals (murder, manslaughter, etc) and until they can suffer the same PUNISHMENT as individuals (including the death penalty)... I say: Take away their so-called rights!
-----------
"It may be dangerous to be America's enemy, but to be America's friend is fatal."- Henry Kissinger
AMERICANS SUPPORT AMERICA
I 100% endorse this statement.
--------------------------------------------------
"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:Trumptards are mice, not chiggers. There are lethal traps and poisons specifically to keep them out of valuable things. But bleeding heart liberals think those are cruel ways to handle them because, ideally, mice (or Trumptards) can become cute little pet mice with enough cash wasted on making the mice happy. I prefer to save money and time by killing mice.
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
I'm a chigger that crawled into his ear and I'm digging so deep into that mind that I'm going to be a permanent fixture there.
Trump and I will be next-door neighbors in the alternate universe inside of Second's diseased brain.
Now there's a sitcom.
--------------------------------------------------
"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Trump 1.0 Actually Wasn’t That Bad, Other Than . . .
https://andrewtobias.com/1-0-actually-wasnt-that-bad-other-than/
I’ve been critical of the Trump presidency these last four years and am still exhausted from the experience.
But to be fair, President Trump wasn’t that bad, other than when he incited an insurrection against the government, Mismanaged a pandemic that killed over a million Americans, Called neo-Nazis “very fine people,” Separated children from their families, Lost those children in the bureaucracy, Tear-gassed peaceful protesters on Lafayette Square so he could hold a photo op holding a Bible in front of a church, Tried to block all Muslims from entering the country, Got impeached,
Got impeached again, Had the worst jobs record of any president in modern history, Pressured Ukraine to dig up dirt on Joe Biden, Fired the FBI director for investigating his ties to Russia, Bragged about firing the FBI director, Took Putin’s word over the US intelligence community, Diverted military funding to build his wall, Caused the longest government shutdown in US history, Called Black Lives Matter a “symbol of hate,” Lied over 30,000 times, Banned transgender people from serving in the military, Ejected reporters from the White House briefing room who asked tough questions, Vetoed the defense funding bill because it renamed military bases named for Confederate soldiers, Refused to release his tax returns,
Increased the national debt by nearly $8 trillion, Had three of the highest annual trade deficits in U.S. history, Called veterans and soldiers who died in combat losers and suckers, Coddled the leader of Saudi Arabia after he ordered the execution and dismembering of a US-based journalist, Refused to concede the 2020 election, Hired his unqualified daughter and son-in-law to work in the White House, Walked out of an interview with Lesley Stahl, Suggested that people should inject bleach into their bodies to fight COVID, Abandoned our allies the Kurds, Pushed through massive tax cuts for the wealthiest but balked at helping working Americans, Withdrew the US from the Paris climate accords, Withdrew the US from the Iranian nuclear deal, Withdrew the US from the Trans Pacific Partnership which was designed to block China’s advances, Insulted his own Cabinet members on Twitter, Pushed the leader of Montenegro out of the way during a photo op, Failed to reiterate US commitment to defending NATO allies, Called Haiti and African nations “shithole” countries, Called the city of Baltimore the “worst in the nation,”
Claimed that he single handedly brought back the phrase “Merry Christmas” even though it hadn’t gone anywhere, Forced his Cabinet members to praise him publicly like some cult leader, Believed he should be awarded the Nobel Peace Prize, Berated and belittled his hand-picked Attorney General when he recused himself from the Russia probe, Colluded with Mitch McConnell to push through federal judges and two Supreme Court justices, after supporting efforts to prevent his predecessor from appointing judges, Repeatedly called the media “enemies of the people,”
Claimed that if we tested fewer people for COVID we’d have fewer cases, Violated the emoluments clause, Thought Nambia was a country, Told Bob Woodward in private that the coronavirus was a big deal but then downplayed it in public, Called his exceedingly faithful vice president a “p—y” for following the Constitution, Nearly got us into a war with Iran after threatening them by tweet, Nominated a corrupt head of the EPA, Nominated a corrupt head of HHS, Nominated a corrupt head of the Interior Department, Nominated a corrupt head of the USDA, Praised dictators and authoritarians around the world while criticizing allies, Refused to allow the presidential transition to begin, Insulted war hero John McCain – even after his death, Spent an obscene amount of time playing golf after criticizing Barack Obama for playing (far less) golf while president, Falsely claimed that he won the 2016 popular vote, Called the Muslim mayor of London a “stone cold l
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
By trying to take control of the Library of Congress, Trump is attacking Congress itself
https://attentiontotheunseen.com/2025/05/13/by-trying-to-take-control-
of-the-library-of-congress-trump-is-attacking-congress-itself/
Rolling Stone reports:
Donald Trump’s administration is attempting a hostile takeover of the Library of Congress — an agency that is part of the legislative branch and functions as its research arm in addition to maintaining the world’s largest collection of books, manuscripts, maps, photographs, and recordings.
While the takeover has been framed as part of Trump’s broader purge of diversity, equity, and inclusion (DEI) content, it is the latest effort by the president and his team to subsume the role of Congress and ensure it cannot do its job.
An expert on the Library of Congress tells Rolling Stone that Trump’s takeover attempt is “dangerous,” given that the library’s sub-agencies provide confidential legal advice to members of Congress and help police misconduct by lawmakers.
The expert says the Trump administration is actively trying to place a landing team at the Library of Congress, noting that when Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has done this elsewhere, the first thing that team does is hoover up and gain control over as much sensitive data as possible.
Last week, the Trump administration attempted to fire the librarian of Congress, Carla Hayden, before the end of her 10-year term — and today, Trump moved to install Todd Blanche as interim director of the Library of Congress. Blanche, who’s currently serving as a U.S. deputy attorney general, is best known for representing Trump during his New York hush-money trial, in which the president was convicted on all counts.
Today, current interim director Robert Newlen wrote to staff that Blanche’s appointment has not been recognized. “Congress is engaged with the White House and we have not received direction from Congress about how to move forward,” Newlen wrote in an internal email obtained by Politico.
Over the weekend, the administration also removed Shira Perlmutter, head of the U.S. Copyright Office, days after the agency issued a report clarifying that tech companies’ efforts to train AI models on data scraped from public websites could run afoul of American copyright law and the intellectual-property rights of the data’s original creators.
It is disputed what legality, if any, there is for Trump’s ongoing power grab at the Library of Congress. According to two sources familiar with the matter, even before the internal message was sent, library staff were told by superiors this morning to refrain from recognizing Trump’s new pick at this time, describing the power grab as possibly illegal.
The expert on the Library of Congress says Perlmutter’s firing may be illegal — and more emphatically, that Trump “cannot name an acting librarian of Congress, because it’s not an executive-branch agency.”
“Inside the Library of Congress, they’re all congressional staff, and congressional staff are protected under the speech or debate clause in the Constitution,” adds the expert, whom Rolling Stone agreed not to name.
Moreover, they note that the Congressional Research Service (CRS), an agency within the Library of Congress, “provides confidential advice to Congress, including confidential legal advice, and there is a database that has all the questions that every member has asked for the last 50 years and the answers. That cannot be made available.”
Even amid Trump’s broader takeover of the federal agencies — and all of their sensitive data and systems — this effort stands out in that it poses significant risk to Congress, according to the expert. [Continue reading… https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/trump-library-
of-congress-take-over-legislative-branch-1235337425/ ]
The Washington Post reports:
In a rare bipartisan effort to defend its institutional authority, Congress is quietly resisting President Dona
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Lessons From the Newark Debacle
By Paul Krugman / May 15, 2025 at 6:09 AM
https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/lessons-from-the-newark-debacle
I did something either brave or foolish last week. I was booked on a flight from Amsterdam to Newark, and decided to ignore advice from friends urging me to rebook on a plane heading someplace else. And a strange thing happened: my flight arrived right on schedule.
Obviously thousands of flyers have been having very different experiences in recent weeks, and air traffic control at Newark remains a mess. So what can we learn from the debacle?
I’d like to blame Elon Musk and say that all those delayed travelers have been DOGEd. Sadly, the problems at Newark, and with air traffic control in general, have been building for many months. So you can’t blame this problem on the Muskenjugend — the tech bros barely old enough to shave that DOGE has parachuted into many government agencies — even though they are indeed wreaking havoc and will be responsible for many future debacles.
That said, the Newark mess is an object lesson in what’s wrong with DOGE and right-wing views of government in general.
The proximate causes of the current crisis, as I understand it, go like this: The Federal Aviation Administration as a whole is severely understaffed, with a dangerous shortage of air traffic controllers in particular, as well as relying on antiquated equipment — we’re talking Windows 95 and floppy disks. Recruiting controllers for the New York area has been especially hard because of the high cost of living (which is mainly about housing.) In an effort to improve recruitment, the FAA moved traffic control to Philadelphia, where the cost of living is substantially lower.
But many controllers refused to make the move, and the technology side of the transition was botched — apparently the Philadelphia center’s jerry-rigged link to radar and communications keeps going down, and some of the controllers in Philadelphia have been so traumatized that they have exercised their right to take leaves of absence, worsening the staff crisis.
Ordinarily I’d say that we’ll eventually have the full story of what went wrong and find ways to fix it. But maybe not. Do you trust Trump administration officials to conduct a full and honest inquiry rather than look for ways to blame the Biden administration and/or the traffic controllers? Do you trust them to look for real solutions rather than justifications for privatization and sweetheart contracts for supporters?
I was struck by Sean Duffy, the transportation secretary, declaring that “patriotic controllers are going to stay on and continue to serve the country.” This from an administration that has taken self-dealing to levels unimagined in our nation’s history.
But back to DOGE and all that. The whole premise underlying Muskification is that much of the federal workforce is deadwood — legions of overpaid bureaucrats pushing paper around without doing anything useful. In reality, however, many federal workers are like air traffic controllers — doing jobs that are essential to keeping the economy and normal life in general proceeding smoothly. And while the air traffic controller shortage is probably (I hope!) exceptionally severe, the federal bureaucracy is in general stretched thin after decades of anti-government rhetoric that have left federal employment as a share of total employment far below historical levels:
And if you’re wondering why the government is having trouble recruiting enough traffic controllers, you should know that the Congressional Budget Office has found that highly educated federal workers are, on average, paid less than equivalent workers in the private sector. Workers with a doctorate or professional degree are paid 29 percent less than their private-sector counterparts:
https://substackcdn.com/i
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Trump Embraces Syria's Jihadist Leader, Calls for Normalization with Israel
https://rachelblevins.substack.com/p/trump-syria-saudi-arabia-israel-v
ijay-prashad
NOTIFY: N | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Trump to Tim Cook: 'I Don't Want You Building iPhones in India'
Apple has shifted some of its iPhone production to India to avoid US tariffs. Trump says he spoke to the Apple CEO and told him he is 'not interested in you building in India.'
By James Peckham | May 15, 2025
https://www.pcmag.com/news/trump-tells-apple-to-build-its-gadgets-in-t
he-us
President Trump is applying pressure on Apple CEO Tim Cook to make iPhones in the US after the company switched production of its US-bound smartphones from China to India to avoid tariffs.
"I had a little problem with Tim Cook yesterday,” Trump said in Qatar on Wednesday, Bloomberg reports. "I said to him, my friend, I am treating you very good. You are coming up with $500 billion, but now I hear you are building all over India. I don’t want you building in India.
“We put up with all the plants you built in China for years," he added. "We are not interested in you building in India. India can take care of themselves. They are doing very well. We want you to build here [in the US].”
Apple has long relied on Chinese manufacturers to build the iPhone. Although Trump exempted smartphones from his extra (and now paused) 125% tariff on Chinese imports, the devices still faced another 20% duty. So, Apple moved some production to India, which had lower tariffs.
"For the June quarter, we do expect the majority of iPhones sold in the US will have India as their country of origin," Cook said in an earnings call. Most iPads, Macs, and Apple Watch devices sold in the US will come from Vietnam. “China would continue to be the country of origin for the vast majority of total product sales outside the US,” Cook added.
In February, Apple said it would invest more than $500 billion in the US over the next four years. The money will be used to build a server manufacturing facility in Houston, produce silicon chips in Arizona, establish a manufacturing academy in Detroit, and create 20,000 new jobs. But moving iPhone production to the US is probably an unrealistic and expensive goal.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by second:
Lessons From the Newark Debacle
By Paul Krugman
...
So my prediction...
I remember when you kept telling us that inflation was transitory, Paul.
What was your election prediction again?
Oh, right.
--------------------------------------------------
"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by second:Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
I'm a chigger that crawled into his ear and I'm digging so deep into that mind that I'm going to be a permanent fixture there.
Trump and I will be next-door neighbors in the alternate universe inside of Second's diseased brain.
Now there's a sitcom.
You, specifically, are a miserable cunt.
--------------------------------------------------
"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by second:Quote:Trumptards are mice, not chiggers.
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
I'm a chigger that crawled into his ear and I'm digging so deep into that mind that I'm going to be a permanent fixture there.
Trump and I will be next-door neighbors in the alternate universe inside of Second's diseased brain.
Now there's a sitcom.
--------------------------------------------------
"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon
You, specifically, are a miserable cunt.
Quote:
There are lethal traps and poisons specifically to keep them out of valuable things. But bleeding heart liberals think those are cruel ways to handle them because, ideally, mice (or Trumptards) can become cute little pet mice with enough cash wasted on making the mice happy. I prefer to save money and time by killing mice.
And a lunatic.
Come get some bitch so I can finally put you into the fucking ground where you belong.
Let's get this civil war you keep begging for started already. Because you're getting really boring in May of 2025.
--------------------------------------------------
"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quicker and Cheaper for the EU to kill Trump and JD Vance:
Replacing US military support in Europe would cost $1T
European NATO countries would face a short-term “window of vulnerability” against Russian aggression.
By Giovanna Coi | May 15, 2025 12:28 pm CET
https://www.politico.eu/article/united-states-military-europe-nato-ukr
aine-russia-war/
Europe could survive without United States military support — but it would take a quarter century to replace the Americans and cost as much as $1 trillion, according to a new report.
A study by the International Institute for Strategic Studies published Thursday found that a hypothetical U.S. withdrawal from Europe would leave the continent’s NATO members vulnerable to a Russian threat and faced with “stark choices” on how to fill the immense gaps.
The costs of like-for-like replacement of U.S. equipment and personnel would add up to approximately $1 trillion over 25 years, the study found. That includes one-off procurement costs ranging from $226 billion to $344 billion — depending on the quality of the equipment purchased — and additional expenses associated with military maintenance, personnel and support.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by SIGNYM:Quote:
Because the Order in effect adjudicates and punishes alleged misconduct by Perkins Coie, it is an unconstitutional violation of the separation of powers.
Because it does so without notice and an opportunity to be heard, and because it punishes the entire firm for the purported misconduct of a handful of lawyers who are not employees of the firm, it is an unconstitutional violation of procedural due process and of the substantive due process right to practice one’s professional livelihood.
Because the Order singles out Perkins Coie, it denies the firm the equal protection of the laws guaranteed by the due process clause of the Fifth Amendment.
Because the Order punishes the firm for the clients with which it has been associated and the legal positions it has taken on matters of election law, the Order constitutes retaliatory viewpoint discrimination and, therefore, violates the First Amendment rights of free expression and association, and the right to petition the government for redress.
Because the Order compels disclosure of confidential information revealing the firm’s relationships with its clients, it violates the First Amendment.
Because the Order retaliates against Perkins Coie for its diversity-related speech, it violates the First Amendment.
Because the Order is vague in proscribing what is prohibited “diversity, equity and inclusion,” it violates the Due Process Clause of the Fifth Amendment.
Because the Order works to brand Perkins Coie as persona non grata and bar it from federal buildings, deny it the ability to communicate with federal employees, and terminate the government contracts of its clients, the Order violates the right to counsel afforded by the Fifth and Sixth Amendments.
Do corporations and businesses have Constitutional rights?
I would LOVE to see them adjudicated away! Bc until businesses are TAXED like individuals, until they shoulder the same MORAL RESPONSIBILITIES as individuals, until they can be charged with the same CRIMES as individuals (murder, manslaughter, etc) and until they can suffer the same PUNISHMENT as individuals (including the death penalty)... I say: Take away their so-called rights!
Says comrade signym who excuses everything Putin and his mafia style run business do. Add to that that she excuses Trumps dictatorial way of acting, and complete distain for the rule of law. I have come to believe signym has multiple personalities. Or she is a hypocrite of the worst kind.
T
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by second:
Quicker and Cheaper for the EU to kill Trump and JD Vance:
All of your poison has been added to the list as you spew it.
--------------------------------------------------
"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by THG:
Says comrade signym who excuses everything Putin and his mafia style run business do. Add to that that she excuses Trumps dictatorial way of acting, and complete distain for the rule of law. I have come to believe signym has multiple personalities. Or she is a hypocrite of the worst kind.
It's time for you to shut the fuck up, you brainless little cunt.
--------------------------------------------------
"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:The Winds of Change are Blowing:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:Quote:
Originally posted by second:
Quicker and Cheaper for the EU to kill Trump and JD Vance:
All of your poison has been added to the list as you spew it.
In newly unstable world, some US allies ponder going nuclear
Unsure of how far President Donald Trump will go to defend them, some U.S. allies are reconsidering their decision not to build their own nuclear weapons.
By Ned Temko / May 15, 2025 at 1:38 PM
The American atomic bombs that ended World War II 80 summers ago snuffed out tens of thousands of lives in an instant. They blighted countless others. But they also left behind a more hopeful legacy: a collective determination by world powers to avoid the use of nuclear weapons forever, and to tightly limit their possession.
Today, that achievement is coming under strain as never before.
And while that is largely down to threats from America’s nuclear-armed rivals, especially Russian President Vladimir Putin in Ukraine, there is another catalyst.
It is the dramatic shift in America’s relations with its closest allies that President Donald Trump has effected since his return to the White House.
The stakes are more than theoretical. Last week, cross-border attacks by India and Pakistan – nuclear-armed enemies with weapons far more powerful than the bombs that devastated the Japanese cities of Hiroshima and Nagasaki – alarmed governments worldwide by drawing perilously close to the nuclear brink.
That served as a reminder of the reason the main nuclear powers have long acted to limit these weapons’ spread, a consensus formalized in a 1970 Nuclear Non-Proliferation Treaty signed by more than 190 countries.
Once countries get nuclear arms, there’s always the danger – whether by choice or by miscalculation – that they will use them.
So far, the “club” of nuclear-armed nations has remained small: only nine of the world’s nearly 200 countries.
Yet others may soon be knocking on the door, and not only U.S. rivals like Iran.
U.S. allies in Europe and Asia have long been capable of producing nuclear arms but have chosen not to do so. Under America’s nuclear umbrella, they haven’t felt the need.
Now, international political turbulence is prompting some of them to reconsider.
Mr. Putin’s unprovoked attack on Ukraine in 2022 was the first shock.
U.S. allies in Europe were well aware that Ukraine had once had nuclear arms. When the Soviet Union unravelled, the warheads on its soil made it the world’s third-largest nuclear power. It surrendered them in return for security guarantees from the United States, Britain, and Russia itself.
The worthlessness of those guarantees threw into sharp relief the value of the nuclear deterrent that Ukraine no longer had.
Intensifying Europeans’ sense of vulnerability, Mr. Putin has also periodically threatened to use nuclear weapons in Ukraine.
Still, until recently they have trusted in the bedrock support of the U.S. as a fellow member of the transatlantic NATO alliance.
Since President Trump’s second term began, that trust has been eroding.
He has announced tariffs on the 27 countries of the European Union, describing them this week as “nastier than China.”
Initially, he cut out European NATO partners, and Ukraine, from his bid for a peace deal there, dealing directly with Mr. Putin instead.
Among Russia’s closest neighbors – Finland, the Baltic states, and Poland – there are growing doubts that Washington would stand by their side against an attack by Mr. Putin.
Hence, the impetus to rethink their nuclear policy.
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, citing a “profound change of American geopolitics,” said recently, “It is time for us to look boldly” at “opportunities related to nuclear weapons.”
France and Britain, Europe’s only existing nuclear powers, have raised the idea of extending their protective nuclear umbrella to the rest of the continent.
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
All second has left in his quiver is praying for America to fail and thoughts of coup plots swimming around in that diseased little brain.
Have fun with your new life, son.
You deserve it.
--------------------------------------------------
"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Trump, wheeling and dealing across the mideast...
Quote:
US Treasury 'Surprised, Confused' By Trump's Sudden Lifting Of Syria Sanctions
Thursday, May 15, 2025 - 10:10 AM
Much of the world was caught off guard when amid an avalanche of multiple US-Gulf deals worth hundreds of billions of dollars each being signed Wednesday, President Trump not only announced that he is lifting all sanctions on Syria, but even met in-person with US-designated terrorist and Syrian President Ahmed al-Sharaa (Jolani) in the Saudi capital.
Apparently even the State Department and US Treasury departments were caught off guard. Trump's move to lift sanctions on Syria "took many by surprise," including his own officials at State and Treasury, according to Reuters.
"In Washington, senior officials at the State Department and Treasury Department scrambled to understand how to cancel the sanctions, many of which have been in place for decades … The White House had issued no memorandum or directive to State or Treasury sanctions officials to prepare for the unwinding and didn’t alert them that the president’s announcement was imminent," several senior US officials anonymously told publication.
"Officials were confused about exactly how the administration would unwind the layers of sanctions, which ones were being eased and when the White House wanted to begin the process," they added while emphasizing that top officials were "caught off guard."
"Everyone is trying to figure out how to implement it," Reuters cited the officials as saying. Legally and procedurally, the removal of the sanctions will be a process which could take weeks or even months.
Meanwhile there are reports saying the Syrian Pound (SYP) jumped 30% quickly upon Trump's announcement. The local currency has experienced runaway inflation, and people have to lug huge bricks of cash around to purchase simple items like eggs or medicines.
Syrians have further endured rolling blackouts and lack of resources, or even fuel, for years amid the US-sanctions regimen which was geared toward regime change. But now...
The streets of Syria were a carnival of car horns, fireworks and flags after President Donald Trump made the surprise announcement that the United States would lift sanctions that have throttled the country’s economy for more than 45 years.
Trump stunned even close observers on Tuesday by saying he wants to normalize relations after Syria’s longtime president, Bashar al Assad, was toppled in December. Trump met Wednesday with Assad’s successor, interim President Ahmad al-Sharaa, a former leader of an al-Qaeda offshoot group, in Saudi Arabia after urging him late Tuesday to “show us something special.”
Trump said he wanted to give Syrians a 'fresh start' - and indeed this could be the start of an economic turnaround after years of brutal proxy war.
With Assad having been overthrown, the Saudis and Qataris are also stepping in to cover national debt and prop up public sector salaries.
Ultimately, Washington and the Gulf monarchies got their desired regime change in Syria. It was never about "democracy" or the Syrian people at all. The brutality of the sanctions, which compounded the common mysery, proves that - as some US officials [admitted]...
But this sick policy of the Washington blob is nothing really new...
So instead of a secular elected Syrian government, multiple USA regimes elected to replace it with head chopping Sunni terrorists who are busy slaughtering (formerly protected) Christians, Shia, Alawites, Druze, and other minorities???
Oh, yipee.
I'm sure there's more to this than brotherly feelings between head-chopping Sunnis in Saudi Arabia and the head-chopping Sunnis now in Syria. There's probably a pipeline or three in the works.
SIX: FYI, all Muslims aren't the same. The Muslims in Saudi Arabia and
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:Major-General William T. Sherman wrote a letter on how to deal with the Trumptards of 1863. The same methods and contempt for Trumptards would work in 2025:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
All second has left in his quiver is praying for America to fail and thoughts of coup plots swimming around in that diseased little brain.
Have fun with your new life, son.
You deserve it.
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2020/04/major-general-william-t-
sherman-to_16.html
. . . I know we can manage this class, but only by action; argument is exhausted, and words have not their usual meaning. Nothing but the logic of events touches their understanding, but of late this has worked a wonderful change. If our country were like Europe, crowded with people, I would say it would be easier to replace this population than to reconstruct it subordinate to the policy of the nation; but as this is not the case, it is better to allow them, with individual exceptions, gradually to recover their plantations, to hire any species of labor, and adapt themselves to the new order of things. Still their friendship and assistance to reconstruct order out of the present ruin cannot be depended on. They watch the operations of our armies, and hope still for a Southern Confederacy that will restore to them the slaves and privileges which they feel are otherwise lost forever. In my judgment we have two more battles to win before we should even bother our minds with the idea of restoring civil order, viz, one near Meridian in November, and one near Shreveport in February and March, when Red River is navigable by our gunboats. When these are done, then, and not until then, win the planters of Louisiana, Arkansas, and Mississippi submit. Slavery is already gone, and to cultivate the land negro or other labor must be hired. This of itself is a vast revolution, and time must be afforded to allow men to adjust their minds and habits to the new order of things. A civil government of the representative type would suit this class far less than a pure military rule, one readily adapting itself to actual occurrences and able to enforce its laws and orders promptly and emphatically.
Second, the smaller farmers, mechanics, merchants, and laborers. This class will probably number three-fourths of the whole, have in fact no real interest in the establishment of a Southern Confederacy, and have been led or driven into war on the false theory that they were to be benefited somehow, they knew not how. They are essentially tired of the war, and would slink back home if they could. These are the real tiers-état of the South, and are hardly worthy a thought, for they swerve to and fro according to events they do not comprehend or attempt to shape. When the time for reconstruction comes they will want the old political system of caucuses, legislatures, &c., something to amuse them and make them believe they are achieving wonders, but in all things they will follow blindly the lead of the planter. The Southern politicians, who understand this class, use them as the French use their masses. Seemingly consulting their prejudices, they make their orders and enforce them. We should do the same.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by second:Quote:Major-General William T. Sherman wrote a letter on how to deal with the Trumptards of 1863. The same methods and contempt for Trumptards would work in 2025:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
All second has left in his quiver is praying for America to fail and thoughts of coup plots swimming around in that diseased little brain.
Have fun with your new life, son.
You deserve it.
https://civilwarnotebook.blogspot.com/2020/04/major-general-william-t-
sherman-to_16.html
. . . I know we can manage this class, but only by action; argument is exhausted, and words have not their usual meaning. Nothing but the logic of events touches their understanding, but of late this has worked a wonderful change. If our country were like Europe, crowded with people, I would say it would be easier to replace this population than to reconstruct it subordinate to the policy of the nation; but as this is not the case, it is better to allow them, with individual exceptions, gradually to recover their plantations, to hire any species of labor, and adapt themselves to the new order of things. Still their friendship and assistance to reconstruct order out of the present ruin cannot be depended on. They watch the operations of our armies, and hope still for a Southern Confederacy that will restore to them the slaves and privileges which they feel are otherwise lost forever. In my judgment we have two more battles to win before we should even bother our minds with the idea of restoring civil order, viz, one near Meridian in November, and one near Shreveport in February and March, when Red River is navigable by our gunboats. When these are done, then, and not until then, win the planters of Louisiana, Arkansas, and Mississippi submit. Slavery is already gone, and to cultivate the land negro or other labor must be hired. This of itself is a vast revolution, and time must be afforded to allow men to adjust their minds and habits to the new order of things. A civil government of the representative type would suit this class far less than a pure military rule, one readily adapting itself to actual occurrences and able to enforce its laws and orders promptly and emphatically.
Second, the smaller farmers, mechanics, merchants, and laborers. This class will probably number three-fourths of the whole, have in fact no real interest in the establishment of a Southern Confederacy, and have been led or driven into war on the false theory that they were to be benefited somehow, they knew not how. They are essentially tired of the war, and would slink back home if they could. These are the real tiers-état of the South, and are hardly worthy a thought, for they swerve to and fro according to events they do not comprehend or attempt to shape. When the time for reconstruction comes they will want the old political system of caucuses, legislatures, &c., something to amuse them and make them believe they are achieving wonders, but in all things they will follow blindly the lead of the planter. The Southern politicians, who understand this class, use them as the French use their masses. Seemingly consulting their prejudices, they make their orders and enforce them. We should do the same.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
Wow. You sound more like a literal Nazi everyday.
Bring it on, baby. Bring it on.
--------------------------------------------------
"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Who was better for the economy in the last 30 years, Republicans or Democrats?
Since WWII, Democrats have outperformed Republicans on the economy. GDP growth averages 4.23% under Dems vs. 2.36% under GOP. Job creation? 1.7% yearly for Dems, 1.0% for Republicans. Also, 9 of the last 10 recessions started under Republican presidents. Data speaks louder than party lines.
Musk’s own Grok chatbot declares Democrats better for the economy than Republicans
Better not tell Donald Trump
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/elon-mus
k-grok-ai-chatbot-b2714971.html
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:What did the US do to Nazi Germany? Firebombed them. Built an A-bomb specially for Nazis (who surrendered too soon for it to be used on them). The US didn't try persuasive words on the Nazis. Instead, the US went directly to killing them, their women, children, and old people. That is what good people do when confronted with evil people such as Nazis and Trumptards. But in our degenerate times, killing evil people has become evil, which is why there are so many semi-human evil people running around. Trump, for example.
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Wow. You sound more like a literal Nazi everyday.
Bring it on, baby. Bring it on.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Playing Along in Trump’s Ceasefire Charade
By Minna Ålander | May 16, 2025
https://phillipspobrien.substack.com/p/playing-along-in-trumps-ceasefi
re
. . . a potential meeting between Trump and Putin is fraught with traps. Apart from the fact that it will be easy for Putin to play Trump like a fiddle, the idea of having the US and Russia talk about Ukraine’s fate over the heads of the Ukrainians (and the rest of Europe) is reminiscent of the Molotov-Ribbentrop pact between the Soviet Union and Nazi Germany that divided Central and Eastern Europe into spheres of influence. Whatever Trump and Putin would come up with, it is going to be unacceptable for Ukraine and Europe. Luckily, Trump has not been too precise about the fine print (such as the UK-US trade “deal” that was, in fact, a non-binding document). And since Russia clearly does not have any sincere interest in ending the war, it is unlikely that anything substantial will result.
One constant in the Trump administration’s foreign policy has so far been the overestimation of their coercive power. In Canada, Trump has revived a nationalist spirit. Greenlanders quickly made clear that they strive for independence, not to exchange Denmark for the US. In the tariff standoff with China, Trump backed off. The latest to spite Trump is, awkwardly, Hungary stated that trade with China is a red line from which the country won’t back down even if pushed by Trump. Ukraine and Europe have patiently played along with Trump’s ceasefire charade, probably hoping for him to get bored with the whole thing (of which he showed signs some weeks ago). But Trump has not been able to force Ukraine into submission. Russia, on the other hand, has not handed him any wins either. Jury is still out on the Middle East, but it is doubtful that the Israelis will simply accept being sidelined.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
The Trade War Isn’t Over
Paul Krugman / May 16, 2025 at 5:39 AM
https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/the-trade-war-isnt-over
. . . Two further points about where we are right now on tariffs. First, nothing that has been announced is any kind of lasting commitment. Everything is at most an announcement about what tariff rates will be for the next 90 days. Nobody, very much including Trump himself, knows what policy will be a few months from now. We’re still living with huge uncertainty, which means an environment in which it’s impossible for businesses to make long-term plans.
Second, everything Trump is still doing on tariffs is a violation of longstanding international agreements. You may think you’ve made a deal with America, but U.S. officials treat solemn deals like suggestions at best.
In other words, not much has changed since last week. We may not be looking at the complete economic meltdown that seemed quite possible (and is still a possibility), but we’re still looking at much higher inflation and an economic slowdown at best — i.e., stagflation.
The interesting question, as I see it, is why so many pundits and reporters — and, it seems, small stock investors — have been sounding the all clear on Trump’s tariffs, when the reality is that all we’ve seen is a modest retreat from complete, destructive insanity to seriously harmful madness.
It’s hard to avoid the sense that what we’re seeing on tariffs is another version of the sanewashing that Trump has benefited from ever since he entered politics. People just keep wanting to believe that he’s making sense, that he isn’t as ignorant and irresponsible as he seems. But he is.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Trump PRAISES Al-Qaeda Ex-Jihadist Now Running Syria!
there is only so much Musk can cut?
https://odysee.com/$/search?q=usdebt
NOTIFY: N | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Congratulations to Amazon on Its Partnership With the Saudi Prince Who Murdered Jeff Bezos’ Employee and Hacked His Phone
When your behavior makes Walmart’s earnings call look like a profile in courage, it may be time to reassess.
By Ben Mathis-Lilley | May 16, 2025 5:40 AM
https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2025/05/trump-tariffs-amazon-jeff-
bezos-walmart-harvard-saudi-arabia.html
It has been, let’s say, illuminating to see which U.S. institutions have shown some backbone—even in a measured and self-interested way—when confronted with the corrupt requests of a president who was recently convicted of fraud, tried to overturn the last election, and seems to be openly soliciting favors, investments, and airplanes from foreign countries while running something resembling a “pump-and-dump” crypto scheme here at home. (Note: The president has not been charged with any crime related to cryptocurrency—what a phrase, to be including in this article—and the Trump family declined to comment on the New York Times’ story about its crypto activities.) It has also been … provocative to see which institutions have very much not stood up for themselves, much less for anyone else.
Walmart’s CEO announced on a call with investors that the company will soon be raising prices on some of the items it sells because of the tariffs that Trump has imposed. “The higher tariffs will result in higher prices,” Doug McMillon said. This might seem like a straightforward fact, but counts as bold truth-telling given Trump’s constant asinine claims otherwise and the context of what another major distributor of Chinese-made things and stuff has been doing recently.
That would be Amazon, the e-commerce giant founded by Jeff Bezos, who attended Trump’s inauguration and reportedly brokered a $40 million payment from the company to Melania Trump that is ostensibly a licensing fee for a documentary she is making. Amazon, in contrast to Walmart, responded to a late-April report that it might list tariff costs on checkout pages by publicly and immediately promising the White House that this would not be the case.
This week, meanwhile, current Amazon CEO Andy Jassy is in Saudi Arabia with Trump, where he (Jassy) has announced a partnership between the company and an A.I. firm cofounded by close Trump family ally Mohammed bin Salman. Bin Salman is the de facto Saudi leader who is believed to have ordered the 2018 kidnapping, murder, and dismemberment of a columnist at the Bezos-owned Washington Post (at least, that’s what the CIA concluded; bin Salman denies it). Bin Salman was also accused by Bezos himself in 2019 of hacking Bezos’ phone and obtaining information about an extramarital affair that was later published by the National Enquirer. Time heals all wounds, apparently, except for those suffered by the people who were working for Jeff Bezos when Mohammed bin Salman had them murdered. Allegedly.
Years from now, one wonders if figures like Bezos will still expect to command respect and authority in the United States after having supported what is in essence an attempt to make someone king. Really, how hard can it be to do the right thing when Walmart is pulling it off?
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:Quote:
Originally posted by THG:
Says comrade signym who excuses everything Putin and his mafia style run business do. Add to that that she excuses Trumps dictatorial way of acting, and complete distain for the rule of law. I have come to believe signym has multiple personalities. Or she is a hypocrite of the worst kind.
It's time for you to shut the fuck up, you brainless little cunt.
I respond to JSF and you jump in to defend him. Why, is he too much of a pussy to speak for himself? Is he not bright enough?
I post in responce to something Signym posts, and you jump in to defend her. Why, can she not speak for herself? Is she not bright enough?
T
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by second:
The Trade War Isn’t Over
Paul Krugman / May 16, 2025 at 5:39 AM
https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/the-trade-war-isnt-over
. . . Two further points about where we are right now on tariffs. First, nothing that has been announced is any kind of lasting commitment. Everything is at most an announcement about what tariff rates will be for the next 90 days. Nobody, very much including Trump himself, knows what policy will be a few months from now. We’re still living with huge uncertainty, which means an environment in which it’s impossible for businesses to make long-term plans.
Second, everything Trump is still doing on tariffs is a violation of longstanding international agreements. You may think you’ve made a deal with America, but U.S. officials treat solemn deals like suggestions at best.
In other words, not much has changed since last week. We may not be looking at the complete economic meltdown that seemed quite possible (and is still a possibility), but we’re still looking at much higher inflation and an economic slowdown at best — i.e., stagflation.
The interesting question, as I see it, is why so many pundits and reporters — and, it seems, small stock investors — have been sounding the all clear on Trump’s tariffs, when the reality is that all we’ve seen is a modest retreat from complete, destructive insanity to seriously harmful madness.
It’s hard to avoid the sense that what we’re seeing on tariffs is another version of the sanewashing that Trump has benefited from ever since he entered politics. People just keep wanting to believe that he’s making sense, that he isn’t as ignorant and irresponsible as he seems. But he is.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
It's great Trump backed down but Krugman is right. Tariffs on China are still at 30%. If it cost a dollar, it will now cost $1.33. If it cost $10.00, it will now cost $13.00. This is applied to most products from China. At least half those costs will have to be paid by the consumer. It's said prices will go up this month and even more next, we'll see how much.
We still have tariffs with much of the world. Mostly around 10% I believe. That too is going to have to be paid for by consumers. And I've said it before. It is possible most small businesses in America will go extinct.
Trump is using tariffs against American companies. They have to go to him personally to get a break. Trumps response, what's in it for me.
T
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by second:
The Trade War Isn’t Over
Paul Krugman / May 16, 2025 at 5:39 AM
https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/the-trade-war-isnt-over
. . . Two further points about where we are right now on tariffs. First, nothing that has been announced is any kind of lasting commitment. Everything is at most an announcement about what tariff rates will be for the next 90 days. Nobody, very much including Trump himself, knows what policy will be a few months from now. We’re still living with huge uncertainty, which means an environment in which it’s impossible for businesses to make long-term plans.
Second, everything Trump is still doing on tariffs is a violation of longstanding international agreements. You may think you’ve made a deal with America, but U.S. officials treat solemn deals like suggestions at best.
In other words, not much has changed since last week. We may not be looking at the complete economic meltdown that seemed quite possible (and is still a possibility), but we’re still looking at much higher inflation and an economic slowdown at best — i.e., stagflation.
The interesting question, as I see it, is why so many pundits and reporters — and, it seems, small stock investors — have been sounding the all clear on Trump’s tariffs, when the reality is that all we’ve seen is a modest retreat from complete, destructive insanity to seriously harmful madness.
It’s hard to avoid the sense that what we’re seeing on tariffs is another version of the sanewashing that Trump has benefited from ever since he entered politics. People just keep wanting to believe that he’s making sense, that he isn’t as ignorant and irresponsible as he seems. But he is.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
It's great Trump backed down but Krugman is right. Tariffs on China are still at 30%. If it cost a dollar, it will now cost $1.33. If it cost $10.00, it will now cost $13.00. This is applied to most products from China. At least half those costs will have to be paid by the consumer. It's said prices will go up this month and even more next, we'll see how much.
We still have tariffs with much of the world. Mostly around 10% I believe. That too is going to have to be paid for by consumers. And I've said it before. It is possible most small businesses in America will go extinct.
Trump is using tariffs against American companies. They have to go to him personally to get a break. Trumps response, what's in it for me.
T
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Krugman hasn't been right about anything in 20 years.
You guys keep listening to the same people who have been lying to you for decades and see where else it can get you.
You already let them destroy the Democratic Party.
Meanwhile, don't pretend to care about small businesses now, Ted.
More small businesses were closed forever after your Covid lockdowns your party inflicted on everyone and you cheerlead every step of the way.
You really should just stop talking in 2025. All of that hypocrisy is coming home to roost and you can't ever put up a single argument on any topic that doesn't make you look like an asshole after things you said before.
--------------------------------------------------
"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Moody's cuts US Treasury Bond Rating (The Winds of Change are Blowing Today, 6ixStringJack)
By David Morgan and Bo Erickson | May 16, 2025 5:45 PM CDT
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-tax-bill-faces-political-test-r
epublican-infighting-2025-05-16/
Moody's, which was the last of the three major ratings agencies to rate U.S. AAA, warned that the nation's debt burden could reach 134% of gross domestic product by 2035, compared with 98% in 2024.
"Successive U.S. administrations and Congress have failed to agree on measures to reverse the trend of large annual fiscal deficits and growing interest costs," Moody's wrote, adding that they didn't see enough spending cuts "from current fiscal proposals under consideration."
The federal government for years has spent more than it has taken in. Moody's said it expected the U.S.'s fiscal performance to deteriorate compared with other highly developed economies.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
A Trump trifecta as he slams Taylor Swift, Bruce Springsteen and Supreme Court on same day
May 16, 2025, 8:48 p.m. ET
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/05/16/trump-slams-ta
ylor-swift-bruce-springsteen-supreme-court/83680151007/
Despite Trump's team previously using Springsteen songs at campaign rallies, the president insisted he has "never liked" the "Dancing In The Dark" singer.
Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump
I see that Highly Overrated Bruce Springsteen goes to a Foreign Country to speak badly about the President of the United States. Never liked him, never liked his music, or his Radical Left Politics and, importantly, he's not a talented guy — Just a pushy, obnoxious JERK, who fervently supported Crooked Joe Biden, a mentally incompetent FOOL, and our WORST EVER President, who came close to destroying our Country. If I wasn't elected, it would have been GONE by now! Sleepy Joe didn't have a clue as to what he was doing, but Springsteen is "dumb as a rock,” and couldn't see what was going on, or could he (which is even worse!)? This dried out "prune" of a rocker (his skin is all atrophied!) ought to KEEP HIS MOUTH SHUT until he gets back into the Country, that's just "standard fare." Then we'll all see how it goes for him!
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by second:
Moody's cuts US Treasury Bond Rating (The Winds of Change are Blowing Today, 6ixStringJack)
By David Morgan and Bo Erickson | May 16, 2025 5:45 PM CDT
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-tax-bill-faces-political-test-r
epublican-infighting-2025-05-16/
Moody's, which was the last of the three major ratings agencies to rate U.S. AAA, warned that the nation's debt burden could reach 134% of gross domestic product by 2035, compared with 98% in 2024.
"Successive U.S. administrations and Congress have failed to agree on measures to reverse the trend of large annual fiscal deficits and growing interest costs," Moody's wrote, adding that they didn't see enough spending cuts "from current fiscal proposals under consideration."
The federal government for years has spent more than it has taken in. Moody's said it expected the U.S.'s fiscal performance to deteriorate compared with other highly developed economies.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
Yup. Trying to fix what 60 years of Democrats have done to us is a hell of a job.
--------------------------------------------------
"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:I was there for those 60 years and it was Republicans in Congress, the White House, and the Supreme Court who did the damage for their personal profit.
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Yup. Trying to fix what 60 years of Democrats have done to us is a hell of a job.
--------------------------------------------------
"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon
Supreme Court justices Clarence Thomas and Samuel Alito took bribes, recently, in the form of gifts and deluxe vacations they could never afford on a salary of only $$303,600.
President Trump received a $400 million airplane from Qatar, which he might not be able to keep, but he also took intangible billion dollar bribes all week in the Middle East:
Trump business deals revive questions about his family profiting off the presidency
"This week, President Trump visited three Middle Eastern nations where his family has deep business ties. Over the past month, billions of dollars have poured into Trump-owned companies. It has revived longstanding questions about whether the financial windfalls are influencing policy."
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
The farce of Trump’s Russia-Ukraine peace talks
America’s current leaders place the onus for peace on Ukraine, blaming the victim for the war.
May 17, 2025, 5:00 AM CDT
By Nicholas Grossman, political science professor at the University of Illinois
Secretary of State Marco Rubio recently lamented that people who were alive in Ukraine are dead today “because this war continues.”
Not exactly. They’re dead because Russia killed them in an ongoing attempt to subjugate their country. The war isn’t a natural disaster out of anyone’s control, like, say, a hurricane. Russian leader Vladimir Putin chose to aggressively attack Ukraine, and decided every day since then to keep attacking while making extensive demands.
That’s the central truth of the war, but Russia has always denied it, and under President Donald Trump, the United States denies it as well. That denial renders peace negotiations a farce.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
SCOTUS Is About to Suffer Buyers Remorse, Again
They decided to tackle the very messy question of nationwide injunctions instead of answering the easy, obviously unconstitutional issue.
Our eyes this week were trained on the arguments over birthright citizenship at the Supreme Court on Thursday. While Solicitor General John Sauer advanced wild arguments on behalf of the Trump administration, four of the justices (hint: the women) seemed extremely suspicious of his motives. The five men? Not so much. Slate senior writer Mark Joseph Stern joins Dahlia Lithwick to break down Trump v. CASA Inc. and the growing divide on the court between those who trust this president and those who don’t.
Although Thursday’s arguments touched on fundamental rights, SCOTUS made the strange choice to largely avoid the constitutional question and focus on a different one: Whether district courts have the power to issue “universal” injunctions that apply nationwide, as multiple courts did in order to protect birthright citizenship from the president. Judges have issued an unprecedented number of these orders against the Trump administration—in response to Trump’s unprecedented barrage of lawless executive orders. Some conservative justices seem perturbed by the explosion of universal injunctions. But it became clear on Thursday that this is the worst case for the court to use to rein them in.
https://slate.com/podcasts/amicus/2025/05/scotus-finally-heard-the-tru
mp-birthright-citizenship-case
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
The New MAGA World Order
This week’s Gulf tour revealed that Trump’s transactional foreign policy doesn’t lack values. It just has really bad ones.
By Jonathan Chait | May 16, 2025, 2:12 PM ET
https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2025/05/trump-immora
l-world-order/682826/
Earlier this week in Saudi Arabia, President Donald Trump delivered what the White House billed as a “major address,” which is a long-standing way to signal that a particular speech is meant to lay down a historical marker communicating the president’s values. Or, in this case, the lack thereof. Trump’s message was that, unlike interventionist Americans of the past, he did not take account of democracy or human rights when dealing with foreign states. His only concern was raw American interest. The host regime, which has had strained relations with the United States over the kingdom’s lack of human rights and its 2018 dismemberment of a Washington Post columnist, no doubt welcomed the moral reprieve.
“In recent years, far too many American presidents have been afflicted with the notion that it’s our job to look into the souls of foreign leaders and use U.S. policy to dispense justice for their sins,” the president announced. “I believe it is God’s job to sit in judgment; my job, to defend America and to promote the fundamental interests of stability, prosperity, and peace.”
Trump’s declaration meant that “the United States was done nation-building and intervening,” observed The New York Times. There was “no Wilsonianism in the speech,” noted National Review’s editor in chief, Rich Lowry, who pronounced the administration’s renunciation of moral judgment the “Trump doctrine.”
Read: A Senior White House Official Defines the Trump Doctrine: ‘We’re America, Bitch’
https://www.theatlantic.com/politics/archive/2018/06/a-senior-white-ho
use-official-defines-the-trump-doctrine-were-america-bitch/562511/
Two days later in Qatar, however, Trump sounded altogether less callous. “We are gonna protect this country. It’s a very special place with a special royal family,” he said. “It’s great people, and they’re gonna be protected by the United States.” The U.S. State Department has previously criticized Qatar’s ruling monarchy for violating human rights and imprisoning journalists, but Trump had looked into their souls, and found them to be special indeed. The tone he struck sounded less like a cold-eyed businessman and more like John F. Kennedy pledging to defend West Berlin.
It appears that Trump does care about the internal character of regimes he deals with. Rather than following a foreign policy that ignores values altogether, Trump has a clear preference for values that are, in the American context, historically anomalous or—to put it in less neutral terms—bad. And he wishes to spread those values around the world.
Whatever you say about this policy, it is not amoral. The primary difference between the Trump doctrine and traditional American values promotion is that the former, rather than seeking to impose a moral world order, aspires to create an immoral one.
In his address to the Saudis, Trump condemned his predecessors for “giving you lectures on how to live and how to govern your own affairs.” It’s true that Trump does not lecture dictatorships for suppressing democracy. But his administration is hardly reticent about denouncing other countries’ internal conduct.
Earlier this year, Vice President J. D. Vance scolded Europe for allowing in too many migrants and cracking down too hard on hate speech and far-right parties. “What German democracy—what no democracy, American, German, or European—will survive is telling millions of voters that their thoughts and concerns, their aspirations, their pleas for relief are invalid or unworthy of even being considered,” he said. Trump called Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky a “dictator” and proposed that he hold elections before the Russia invasion is repelled.
The administration has in fact made human rights a centerpiece of its diplomacy in one particular coun
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Another grocery store closing down in San Francisco. This is like fifth, sixth, seventh, eighth, ninth, tenth one this year
https://x.com/darren_stallcup/status/1923463001803301175
California can’t have anything nice. I seen it too many times. People come in and steal everything, they lock everything up and then nobody shops here
VFX Artist Reveals the TERRIFYING Speed of WILDFIRES
Hindu India is still angry
India Must Take A Stand To Hurt Turkey Economically: Suhel Seth
US Approves Over $300 Million Missile Deal With Pak-Supporter Turkey
https://www.republicworld.com/world-news/us-approves-304-million-missi
le-deal-with-pak-supporter-turkey
NOTIFY: N | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump
Whoever had control of the “AUTOPEN” is looking to be a bigger and bigger scandal by the moment. It is a major part of the real crime, THAT THE PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION OF 2020 WAS RIGGED AND STOLEN! Millions and millions of people knew that, but the Radical Left Democrats waged a campaign of inoculation and innocence like none that had ever been waged before. THIS IS WHY THE UNSELECT COMMITTEE OF POLITICAL THUGS, WHO WERE GIVEN A FULL AND COMPLETE PARDON BY THE PERSON WHO WIELDED THE NOW ILLEGALLY USED AUTOPEN, DELETED AND DESTROYED ALL EVIDENCE AND INFORMATION FROM THEIR CORRUPT AND VICIOUS WITCH HUNT AGAINST ME, AND MANY OTHER PEOPLE, WHOSE LIVES WERE COMPLETELY SHATTERED AND DESTROYED BY THIS HISTORICALLY CRIMINAL EVENT. Remember, it all began with DIRTY COP James Comey, Obama, a hapless and cognitively impaired Sleepy Joe Biden, and my now very famous ACCUSATION that,“THEY SPIED ON MY CAMPAIGN!” Whoever had control of the Autopen is just the beginning. The biggest crime of all is that THE 2020 PRESIDENTIAL ELECTION WAS RIGGED! I (MAGA!) WON THE ELECTION BY MILLIONS OF VOTES, AND EVERYONE KNOWS IT. GOD BLESS AMERICA, FOR THE FIGHT HAS JUST BEGUN!!!
May 17, 2025, 7:34 AM
https://truthsocial.com/@realDonaldTrump/posts/114523195208653918
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by second:
Moody's cuts US Treasury Bond Rating (The Winds of Change are Blowing Today, 6ixStringJack)
By David Morgan and Bo Erickson | May 16, 2025 5:45 PM CDT
https://www.reuters.com/world/us/trump-tax-bill-faces-political-test-r
epublican-infighting-2025-05-16/
Moody's, which was the last of the three major ratings agencies to rate U.S. AAA, warned that the nation's debt burden could reach 134% of gross domestic product by 2035, compared with 98% in 2024.
"Successive U.S. administrations and Congress have failed to agree on measures to reverse the trend of large annual fiscal deficits and growing interest costs," Moody's wrote, adding that they didn't see enough spending cuts "from current fiscal proposals under consideration."
The federal government for years has spent more than it has taken in. Moody's said it expected the U.S.'s fiscal performance to deteriorate compared with other highly developed economies.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
Ain't the first time. 4 of Obama's 8 years we had a cut rating. Some outfits actually downgrading us all the way down to a single A-.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_federal_government_credit-
rating_downgrades
It was bad enough that even Wikipedia didn't scrub it despite it happening squarely in the middle of the Barack Obama admin and persisting for nearly 4 years.
--------------------------------------------------
"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
People keep asking: How can Trump do this?
The biggest reason for Trump’s utter lack of inhibition this time around?
He believes nothing can stop him from doing whatever the hell he wants because nothing has.
He’s been impeached twice, indicted for trying to overthrow the results of the 2020 election, even convicted of criminal fraud. Not only has he gotten away scot-free, but the Supreme Court has given him presumptive immunity for whatever he does in office.
And a plurality of voters even reelected him president, with more votes than Kamala Harris.
Hell, he’s survived an attempted assassination.
So, he truly believes nothing can stop him, no matter what he does. This is the core reason that he’s uninhibited — feeling totally unconstrained in seeking money and power.
The only potential obstacles are forces that he can’t easily push around because they are too rich or powerful — Xi’s China, Vladimir Putin, global bond traders, possibly Harvard University and the U.S. Supreme Court.
So with them, he issues stern warnings and big threats. But if they don’t do what he wants, he ultimately caves and claims victory nonetheless (as he has with China and Harvard).
There’s one constraining force that in the long run will be the most important of all: the American public.
Like a huge sleeping giant, the American public is not easily stirred to action. Right now, some of the public is loudly opposing Trump. His net approval ratings have fallen by nearly 20 points since he took office.
But they’re still too few to credibly threaten congressional Republicans with electoral defeat unless they turn on Trump.
The American public will awaken — especially if Trump openly defies the Supreme Court, or arrests American citizens for saying or writing things he dislikes, or takes foreign bribes that compromise America’s national security (such as getting the Saudi’s to invest in his crypto exchange and coins, in exchange for which he gives them America’s most advanced AI chips, which they then give to China). We’re inches away from one or more of these scenarios.
And when the giant awakens, Trump and his regime will be toast.
https://www.alternet.org/trump-sleeping-giant/
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by second:
People keep asking: How can Trump do this?
You should really read some of the stupid shit your idiots have written over the years that I'm pulling up to the top, dummy.
That is why nobody is listening to any of your clickbait and bullshit and why the media is less trusted than it has ever been in history.
Keep putting out daily clickbait trash everyday and driving yourself nuts and see where it gets you. The rest of the world has moved on and doesn't give one single shit what you think about about anything anymore.
That world is dead.
Get used to it. This is your new normal for the rest of your life.
Sweet Dreams.
--------------------------------------------------
"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:Walmart called Trump a fat, fucking idiot who does not understand how prices are set:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
You should really read some of the stupid shit your idiots have written over the years that I'm pulling up to the top, dummy.
Panicked Trump Lashes Walmart for Telling Truth on Tariffs
By Liam Archacki | May 17 2025 5:09PM EDT
https://www.thedailybeast.com/panicked-trump-orders-walmart-to-eat-the
-tariffs-after-price-hikes/
Donald J. Trump @realDonaldTrump
Walmart should STOP trying to blame Tariffs as the reason for raising prices throughout the chain. Walmart made BILLIONS OF DOLLARS last year, far more than expected. Between Walmart and China they should, as is said, "EAT THE TARIFFS," and not charge valued customers ANYTHING. I'll be watching, and so will your customers!!!
Walmart poured cold water on Trump’s power play in a statement to the Daily Beast.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by second:Quote:Walmart called Trump a fat, fucking idiot who does not understand how prices are set:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
You should really read some of the stupid shit your idiots have written over the years that I'm pulling up to the top, dummy.
Nobody gives a shit. Nobody is listening to you anymore.
You have no voice. Your you have no purpose. You have no place in the world anymore.
--------------------------------------------------
"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:The weakness of Catholicism is that it won't use violence on evil people such as Trump and his Trumptards. The Pope leaves violent retribution in God's hands, suitably delayed until the evil Trumptards are already dead and facing Final Judgment. The weakness of leaving things for God to fix is very simple -- it leaves things broken.
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:Quote:
Originally posted by second:Quote:Walmart called Trump a fat, fucking idiot who does not understand how prices are set:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
You should really read some of the stupid shit your idiots have written over the years that I'm pulling up to the top, dummy.
Nobody gives a shit. Nobody is listening to you anymore.
You have no voice. Your you have no purpose. You have no place in the world anymore.
--------------------------------------------------
"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pope_Pius_XII_and_the_Holocaust#Backgrou
nd
Too bad that the Catholic Church won't burn Trump at the stake. He'd burn like a candle, as fat as he is, with his hair being the wick.
Pope Leo urges calm as Trump escalates his war on the truth — but I can't do it
By Sabrina Haake | May 17, 2025 | 10:37AM ET
https://www.alternet.org/alternet-exclusives/pope-trump/
America’s first Pope is the moral voice we urgently need
Pope Leo XIV is a perfectly timed antidote to the craven man in the oval office who seems hellbent on destroying forces of good. Pope Leo, like his beloved predecessor, walks the walk. Augustinians live simply and frugally, never ostentatiously. They believe in the pursuit of truth and humility, which puts them in diametric opposition to our current president. Like the Sisters of Providence, Augustinians live in service to the poor and underserved, something MAGA equates with weakness.
Pope Leo has already warned the world about the destructive combination of wealth and power. In his first papal press conference, he nailed the crisis of our current moment: Rising dictators use language of hatred and division, and suppress the media, to advance their own pursuit of power.
Defending free speech without naming Trump directly, Pope Leo stressed the need for leaders and the media to engage in more nuanced speech, condemning “loud,” i.e. boisterous communications: “We do not need loud, forceful communication, but rather communication that is capable of listening and of gathering the voices of the weak who have no voice.” He encouraged the world to soften and “disarm communication of all prejudice and resentment, fanaticism and even hatred.”
He champions “the precious gift of free speech and of the press,” as Trump tries to destroy both.
In love vs. hate, my money is still on love
The world just watched Trump shamelessly accept lavish gifts and royal treatment from Saudi Arabia’s royal rulers, the same people who ordered the dismemberment of Jamal Khashoggi, a Washington Post journalist, because he criticized them. Pope Leo delivered an urgent message in contrast, reiterating the Catholic church’s “solidarity with journalists who are imprisoned (and worse) for seeking and reporting the truth.” No doubt it was an unwelcome rejoinder to Trump, who has weaponized federal resources, barred journalists who fail to fawn over him from his press conferences, and filed repeated lawsuits to punish his critics as ‘enemies of the people.’
I get it that the Pope opposes abortion and gay marriage, two personal, Constitutional rights I hold dear. But unlike the U.S. government, leading by religious creed is literally the Pope’s job. More importantly, while Trump spews violent and divisive hatred trying to split the nation, including even the Catholic church, Pope Leo talks and walks the more evolved path of love and compassion.
He also plainly condemns the nativism endorsed by the MAGA movement. When Pope Leo was still Cardinal Robert Francis Prevost, he p
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
The President Who Became a Prophet
For many of Donald Trump’s followers, his appeal has an almost mystical dimension. What happens when the spell breaks?
By Manvir Singh | May 17, 2025
https://www.newyorker.com/culture/the-weekend-essay/the-president-who-
became-a-prophet
On April 1st, the day before President Donald Trump’s tariffs cratered global markets, House Speaker Mike Johnson told reporters “to trust the President’s instinct on the economy.” In the days afterward, Johnson’s message was echoed by legions of online supporters, who, amid plunging stock prices and predictions of a global recession, reminded one another to “trust the plan,” a catchphrase popular on QAnon forums.
For many devotees, Trump was a political savant. He was playing “4-D chess,” they said, supposedly outsmarting billionaire backers like Bill Ackman and Elon Musk, analysts who expected trade wars and job losses, and the twenty-three Nobel Prize-winning economists who cautioned that his policies would cause “higher prices, larger deficits, and greater inequality.” Elsewhere in the MAGAverse, self-proclaimed prophets announced that a divine plan was under way. In an April 7th video that’s been viewed nearly four hundred thousand times, the Iowa-based evangelist Julie Green claimed that God had warned her of the economic crash before the tariffs were announced. “Your economy, and all the markets, have been overtaken by the enemies from within,” God reportedly told her. “Their control over your nation, and its economy, is all collapsing in front of you.”
The tone marked a vibe shift from the technocracies of yesteryear. “I know that sometimes when I was President, and even when I was a candidate, folks would say, ‘Barack, you’re talking too long. You’re too professorial. You’re explaining stuff too much,’ ” Obama said, in 2018. His was a politics of complexity and deliberation, of data and binders and reasoned debate. Trump’s first term began in this style. Working alongside institutionalists like Paul Ryan and Mitch McConnell, and through appointees like Gary Cohn and H. R. McMaster, his Administration kicked off with a familiarly wonkish feel. But, in the eight years since Trump first took office, procedure has given way to prophecy. For millions of his followers, the President is no longer the Administrator-in-Chief but something closer to the hero Rama in the Hindu epic the Ramayana: a divine avatar destined to wage a holy war against evil.
Trump’s messianic appeal may seem like a twenty-first-century creation, a product of partisan rage, epistemic drift, and American-style evangelicalism. This is the conclusion of much of the analysis on the convergence of conspiratorial thinking and spiritual yearning, often termed “conspirituality.” In “The Age of Magical Overthinking,” the writer Amanda Montell treats the phenomenon as an algorithmic aberration: “Combine our organic animism with capitalism and tech-powered misinformation spread, and you get conspirituality.” Likewise, the scholars Charlotte Ward and David Voas, in their 2011 paper popularizing the term “conspirituality,” described it as a historically contingent synthesis: a fusion of the “female-dominated New Age (with its positive focus on self) and the male-dominated realm of conspiracy theory (with its negative focus on global politics).”
But to treat the right’s politico-mystical fervor as a modern malfunction is to miss its deeper logic. The Trumpian mystique echoes a dynamic that has occurred for centuries and across cultures. Its core ingredients—an alleged league of pedophiles, a godlike miracle worker, promises of an Edenic restoration—resemble archetypes that have long occupied humanity’s imagination. Trump’s followers may communicate through memes and message boards, but their faith belongs to a much older mythology: the eternal face-off between shaman and witch, prophet and cabal.
In 1987, an army of between seven and ten thousand soldiers advanced toward Uganda’s capital, Kampala. They were led by Alice Auma, a fishmonger turned spirit medium in her
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
'Weird reluctance to criticize': Expert explains why media ignores Trump's decline
By John Stoehr | May 12, 2025 | 11:27PM ET
https://www.alternet.org/trump-mental-decline/
The Washington press corps saw Joe Biden’s aging, but it doesn’t seem to notice Donald Trump’s. Why? It’s pretty simple, really. Trump acts like a big, tough man. He spends a lot of his time demonstrating his big, tough manhood. Biden never did that. It’s not in his nature. Guess which personality type gets more positive attention from reporters?
So even if Trump lies and lies and lies, even if he inexplicably sways and bops to music for minutes on end, even if he descends into outright gibberish, and even if he demands that you and everyone you know accept as gospel truth his maniacal delusions — even if he does all these things that old men with dementia often do, he’ll never be called old.
Because he looks big and tough.
Fact is, he’s weak. He’s always been weak. And his weakness is always on display, if you’re paying attention, even as he daily demonstrates his so-called dominance. Indeed, there is no other way of putting it honestly.
When you do a thing that triggers a reaction, then pull back that thing as a consequence of that reaction, that’s textbook weakness. That’s what he’s been doing with tariffs since he took office. On again, off again, no consistency, no logic, utter chaos – because he’s weak.
I don’t have much faith in recent polls that show majorities disapproving of his job performance, but I do think they could be useful in one important way: getting members of the press corps to take a harder look at Trump, perhaps even draw a lesson from their time covering Biden, and come to a conclusion about the president.
That said, I don’t have much faith in the press corps, as I say below to Jennifer Schulze. She does, though, and you should take her seriously. She’s a longtime Chicago journalist and publisher of Indistinct Chatter, a newsletter about the news. While the mainstream media has a “weird reluctance” to criticize Trump, she says, independent media and local news reporters don’t. She puts her faith in them. I’m inclined to agree.
John: So the president wore a blue suit to the pope’s funeral. He fiddled with his phone. He chewed gum. He fell asleep. If a Democrat were violating decorum like this, the press corps would be all over it.
Jennifer: Rightwing media will ignore all of it. Mainstream media might mention it in a throwaway sentence or as part of a pundit panel. But I doubt any will do it as a stand-alone story. (The New York Times did do a story on the blue suit, but it was by the fashion editor.) I do expect to see coverage of Trump’s behavior in independent media and in newsletters. That’s been the pattern for years with Trump coverage and especially since the start of the 2024 campaign.
There is a weird reluctance to criticize Trump. The thinking that it’s just “Trump being Trump” or “nothing new here” gets in the way of telling some hard truths about him, his patterns of behavior, etc.
John: That seems to be grounded in the belief that he’s dominant.
Jennifer: The press has always had an odd, hands-off approach to Trump. Now I think it’s driven by fear – of losing access, like the AP and others did; of being called out and then being targeted by Trump, Elon Musk, or the Maga hordes; of angering corporate media owners who seem more interested in protecting their other business interests.
A good test is to ask yourself if a Democrat (like Joe Biden) did this, how would the press cover it? Biden’s polling 100 days in was significantly higher than where Trump is now (52 percent versus 39 percent), yet much of the press seems to buy the Trump spin that he’s all powerful, overwhelmingly popular, etc. Is that because they are locked in the Trump bubble and can’t see what so many of the rest of us see? I think that’s certainly part of it, combined with fear.
John: You have written a lot about local news reporting, and how the administration’s policies are being reporte
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Trump orders the government to stop enforcing rules he doesn’t like
Story by Maxine Joselow, Hannah Natanson, Ian Duncan | May 18, 2025
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/us/trump-orders-the-government-to-stop-
enforcing-rules-he-doesn-t-like/ar-AA1EZHBy
At the Transportation Department, enforcement of pipeline safety rules has plunged to unprecedented lows since President Donald Trump’s inauguration.
Trump recently ordered Energy Department staff to stop enforcing water conservation standards for showerheads and other household appliances. And at one Labor Department division, his appointees have instructed employees to halt most work related to antidiscrimination laws.
Across the government, the Trump administration is trying a new tactic for gutting federal rules and policies that the president dislikes: simply stop enforcing them.
“The conscious effort to slow down enforcement on such a broad scale is something we have never seen in previous administrations,” said Donald Kettl, a professor emeritus at the University of Maryland’s School of Public Policy. “It amounts to a dramatic assertion of presidential power and authority.”
This account of the Trump administration’s efforts to scale back application of many laws is based on interviews with more than a dozen federal employees across seven agencies, as well as a review of internal documents and federal data. The employees spoke on the condition of anonymity for fear of retribution.
Trump officials say these efforts will allow the president to swiftly scrap regulations that are burdening a variety of businesses and industries.
“When you have a new regulation, it’s really, really hard on business,” Kevin Hassett, who directs Trump’s National Economic Council, told CNBC on Monday.
“They’ve got to hire all these engineers and lawyers to figure out, ‘What are we going to do with this new regulation?’” Hassett added. “And so by pausing that, already, we’re having a big, massive, positive effect.”
Critics say the administration is breaking the law and sidestepping the rulemaking process that presidents of both parties have routinely followed.
“They’re making across-the-board decisions not to enforce whole categories of standards, and it is of very dubious legality,” said Richard Revesz, who led the White House regulatory affairs office under President Joe Biden and is now the faculty director of the Institute for Policy Integrity at New York University School of Law.
At the Pipeline and Hazardous Materials Safety Administration, a division of the Transportation Department that enforces pipeline safety regulations, officials have opened five cases against potential violators of those rules since Trump’s inauguration, federal data shows. That marks a 95 percent drop from the 91 cases that PHMSA officials opened in the same period under Biden, as well as a 93 percent drop from the 68 cases in the same period in Trump’s first term and a 90 percent drop from the 52 cases opened in that period under President Barack Obama.
It is unclear whether the Trump administration’s mass firings have reduced enforcement staff at PHMSA and other safety agencies. But the decline in pipeline cases comes as the Transportation Department overhauls its approach to compliance, empowering challenges to enforcement actions and heightening scrutiny of those who carry them out.
On Thursday, the agency issued a proposal that would enable Transportation Department lawyers to recommend discipline against enforcement employees suspected of breaking agency rules. The blueprint also outlines a system for the targets of investigations to complain to the transportation secretary’s office, and seek to have evidence thrown out or a do-over of the investigation.
The proposal says it is designed to ensure that the department’s actions are “fair and free of bias.” But three department employees said that the disciplinary provision and other measures in the blueprint would probably have a chilling effect on enforcement.
“If we lived in a world where there existed
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:Quote:
Originally posted by second:
People keep asking: How can Trump do this?
You should really read some of the stupid shit your idiots have written over the years that I'm pulling up to the top, dummy.
That is why nobody is listening to any of your clickbait and bullshit and why the media is less trusted than it has ever been in history.
Keep putting out daily clickbait trash everyday and driving yourself nuts and see where it gets you. The rest of the world has moved on and doesn't give one single shit what you think about about anything anymore.
That world is dead.
Get used to it. This is your new normal for the rest of your life.
Sweet Dreams.
Shit SEOCND, Gilligan is cutting and pasting what he says to you, and reposting it when he responds to what I've posted elsewhere. Too Funny.
So, Gilligan, how about you show us some of the stupid shit that's been written by political leaders not affiliated with MAGA. And be thorough.
T
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Donald Trump keeps declaring national emergencies. Why?
Presidential emergency declarations mean emergency powers — and a way around Congress.
by Amanda Lewellyn and Noel King | May 18, 2025, 6:00 AM CDT
https://www.vox.com/today-explained-podcast/413218/donald-trump-nation
al-emergency-declaration-powers-congress-why
President Donald Trump has made a habit of declaring emergencies.
Since he took office for his second term, Trump has issued declarations of emergency at the southern border. On energy and trade. About drug trafficking and cartels, and even the International Criminal Court. In all, he’s declared eight emergencies in his first 100 days, a rate that far outstrips any previous president, including his own first term.
It’s unclear whether all these things meet the legal standard for an “emergency” — a situation so unusual and extraordinary that it can’t wait for congressional action. The US trade deficit with China, for instance, has been the status quo for decades. But by declaring it an emergency, Trump unlocks special authorities that wouldn’t otherwise be available to him.
The question of whether Trump can use his emergency powers this way is currently making its way through the courts . . .
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:I do not know every detail about Trumptards, other than Trump, because his life is well documented. From my experience with average Trumptards in Texas, I have concluded that they are all crazy, which is why their lives are disappointing and sad. The Trumptards want to punch back at America for not being kinder to them, but Trumptards should be punching themselves in the face because all their problems are the psychological problems that they can't adapt to their environment, and they can't control themselves.
Originally posted by THG:
Shit SECOND, Gilligan is cutting and pasting what he says to you, and reposting it when he responds to what I've posted elsewhere. Too Funny.
So, Gilligan, how about you show us some of the stupid shit that's been written by political leaders not affiliated with MAGA. And be thorough.
T
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Is Qatar’s Shiny Plane a White Elephant?
May 16, 2025, 6:11 PM
https://foreignpolicy.com/2025/05/16/is-qatars-shiny-plane-a-white-ele
phant/
Cameron Abadi: Qatar has offered to donate a new airplane to the Trump administration to serve as Air Force One—and for potential use by Trump after he leaves office. What sort of transaction is at work here?
Adam Tooze: Yeah, just for the record, the whole business of Air Force One is symptomatic of the state of things right now. I mean, the existing planes, which are so much the emblem of the American presidency in the world, they’re 30 years old. They need replacing—they are well beyond their usual service life. Talks about replacing them have been ongoing for 10 years or more. Trump’s first presidency already occupied itself with the issue. So there’s a real issue here. I mean, it’s not the top national priority, perhaps, but if you’re the president, it’s embarrassing to be flying around in an aircraft of this vintage.
And Trump has been in talks, actually, with the Qatari royal family—the Al Thanis, who are only too eager to help out—for some time about eyeing up one of their various flying palaces. The aircraft in question here is about 12 or 13 years old. Apparently, it’s already gone out of service as a main vehicle for the Al Thanis, so it had been palmed off on Global Jet Isle of Man, I think, a holding company, but this is the aircraft which is up for grabs. It’s valued variously at somewhere between $100 million and $400 million.
But obviously, yes, it’s a blurring of the fundamental lines between household and state, which are fundamental to the emergence of modern politics even in monarchies, let alone in republics where we have a president who is elected and rotates, and the office of state is therefore fundamentally separated from the person. But even in a constitutional monarchy, you would expect a clearer division than is exhibited here. This goes hand in hand with a bunch of other extremely personalistic deals. The Trump family is not shy about meddling in business in the Gulf. The Kushner real estate empire has strong links to various types of Gulf investors. There’s a Trump-branded golf course opening in Qatar as we speak.
But anyone who actually knows anything about Air Force One and aircraft and flying command centers and stuff will tell you that this is no deal at all, because Air Force One has to be a hardened aircraft. It has to have incredibly sophisticated communications equipment. It basically would have to be disassembled and reassembled to confirm A, that it was airworthy and up to the standards that you would want and B, that it wasn’t littered with bugs, various types of listening devices.
And so it doesn’t save any money at all. And to bring this thing into operation as a repurposed American Air Force One command center would require at least as much time as the most optimistic timelines on the Air Force Ones that are under contract. So it’s another one of those Trump spectacles, I think, which serves the purpose of ostentatiously flaunting levels of corruption, but also dysfunction at the heart of American government.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
You two little whiny cunts are on the edge today, huh?
Finally figuring out that the world you thought you were living in 6 months ago no longer exists.
Womp womp
--------------------------------------------------
"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Looks like Trump is up in all the polls this week. Even the leftiod ones.
Democrats are falling apart. CNN caught singing his praises every week, more and more.
Are you two feeling the walls closing in yet?
Your party is dead and the world you thought you were living in 6 months ago is dead along with them.
--------------------------------------------------
"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:Trumptards are passively playing Russian roulette. Trump actively spins the cylinder and points the barrel at Trumptards, then pulls the trigger to see if Trumptard politicians are smart enough to jump out of the way. Very few are. Mike Pence is one who jumps:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Looks like Trump is up in all the polls this week. Even the leftiod ones.
Democrats are falling apart. CNN caught singing his praises every week, more and more.
Are you two feeling the walls closing in yet?
Your party is dead and the world you thought you were living in 6 months ago is dead along with them.
--------------------------------------------------
"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon
'That neocon traitor': MAGA erupts at Mike Pence over criticism of Trump's policies
By Ailia Zehra | May 18, 2025 | 01:49PM ET
https://www.alternet.org/mike-pence-trump-maga/
Former Vice President Mike Pence said it was disheartening to see President Donald Trump revert to the same kind of rhetoric in his second term that had contributed to the January 6 Capitol riot.
In an interview with NBC aired Sunday, Pence also voiced criticism of Trump’s tariff strategy and various foreign policy choices.
“The initial reciprocal tariffs that he unveiled would be the largest peacetime tax hike on the American people in the history of this country,” Pence said, referencing the broad tariffs Trump introduced on the nation’s major trading partners in early April.
Supporters of the Make America Great Again (MAGA) movement on social media strongly criticized the former vice president over his remarks, calling him a "traitor"
"Every time they parade Mike Pence out for an interview, he reminds everyone just how much of a backstabbing traitor he really was as Trump's vice-president. Judas," wrote a MAGA supporter on the social platform X.
Another wrote: "Since Mike Pence is once again running his mouth about Donald Trump, let’s remind everyone of that Pence is a traitor. He had both a constitutional obligation and a moral responsibility to challenge the legitimacy of electoral votes from states that mysteriously halted counting in the middle of the night, something unprecedented in American history."
Trump's claims of widespread electoral fraud in the 2020 elections were widely debunked.
Another MAGA supporter @RealHickory posted a photo of Pence and wrote: "Do you consider Mike Pence a traitor? Yes or No?" The post received several responses calling Pence a traitor.
Another user wrote: "Mike Pence showing his true colors again - attacking Trump for advocating PEACE while defending the same BS wars that killed our troops and bankrupted America. What a pathetic attempt to stay relevant. This traitor stood by while J6 protesters rotted in jail, and now he's whining because Trump wants to END conflicts instead of starting new ones? Thank God Trump dumped this establishment puppet."
"Oh, look, that neocon traitor Mike Pence runs on Meet The Press to cry about President Trump and a free airplane," wrote another supporter.
In early 2021, amid intense pressure from Trump to reject the outcome of the 2020 election, Pence proceeded with the formal certification of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris's victory. This followed the violent breach of the U.S. Capitol on January 6, when a mob of Trump supporters tried to halt the certification process.
Later, Pence publicly distanced himself from Trump, criticizing aspects of his conduct and backing political figures who opposed Trump’s endorsed candidates.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Dan Bongino and Kash they refused to wear clown make-up for this one and a red nose but they seem to confirm Epstein died by jumping from a 2 foot bed, and all that camera mechanical failure, another camera with software malfunction seems to just be Coincidence, move along nothing to see here
meanwhile Zionist Sarah Silverman is all All-In for cancel culture wants to un-do all the vulgar comedy stuff she did
NOTIFY: N | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by second:Quote:Trumptards are passively playing Russian roulette. Trump actively spins the cylinder and points the barrel at Trumptards
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Looks like Trump is up in all the polls this week. Even the leftiod ones.
Democrats are falling apart. CNN caught singing his praises every week, more and more.
Are you two feeling the walls closing in yet?
Your party is dead and the world you thought you were living in 6 months ago is dead along with them.
--------------------------------------------------
"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon
Mayhap he's pointing it right in your face, son.
Keep on being miserable everyday. There are less and less of you choosing to keep doing this to themselves in 2025. I can't imagine there will be too many more of you around at all 10 years from now.
Just a dying breed that couldn't adapt when they couldn't leave the world from six months ago that no longer exists and is gone forever.
--------------------------------------------------
"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:You write like a Nazi marching to victory behind your hero, Adolph Trump. You are a pretty common type in history:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Mayhap he's pointing it right in your face, son.
Keep on being miserable everyday. There are less and less of you choosing to keep doing this to themselves in 2025. I can't imagine there will be too many more of you around at all 10 years from now.
Just a dying breed that couldn't adapt when they couldn't leave the world from six months ago that no longer exists and is gone forever.
How to Fight Fascism in America — with Timothy Snyder
Timothy Snyder, a leading historian of authoritarianism, Ukraine, and Eastern Europe, joins Scott Galloway to discuss the threats to American democracy, echoes of 1930s fascism, and what still gives him hope.
Which leaders from history does Trump most resemble?
Does the current administration invite a terror attack?
Is the U.S. vulnerable right now?
Download the book On Tyranny at https://libgen.rs/search.php?req=Timothy+Snyder+Tyranny
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Trump claims tariffs could 'eliminate' income tax
President Donald Trump says tariffs could deliver a financial windfall for everyday Americans — by wiping out their income taxes.
“When tariffs cut in, many people’s income taxes will be substantially reduced, maybe even completely eliminated,” Trump declared in a Truth Social post on April 27. “Focus will be on people making less than $200,000 a year.”
That’s a bold promise, especially considering that only 14.4% of U.S. households earned more than $200,000 annually in 2023, according to Census Bureau data. In other words, if Trump’s vision holds true, the vast majority of Americans would pay no income tax at all.
But don’t celebrate just yet. While Trump is optimistic, experts say the math simply doesn’t add up.
Economists Erica York and Huaqun Li of the Tax Foundation were blunt, explaining in a response on April 28 that “the individual income tax raises more than 27 times as much revenue as tariffs currently do,” and “even eliminating income taxes for a subset of taxpayers, such as those earning $200,000 or less, would require significantly higher replacement revenues than tariffs could generate.”
They estimate that the tariffs Trump has imposed and scheduled as of April 2025 would generate nearly $167 billion in new federal tax revenue in 2025 — covering less than 25% of the cost of eliminating income taxes for people earning below $200,000.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/personalfinance/trump-claims-tariffs-c
ould-eliminate-income-tax/ar-AA1F0jxj
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Attack of the Sadistic Zombies
By Paul Krugman / May 19, 2025 at 5:36 AM
https://paulkrugman.substack.com/p/attack-of-the-sadistic-zombies
Republicans in Congress, taking their marching orders from Donald Trump, are on track to enact a hugely regressive budget — big tax giveaways to the wealthy combined with cruel cuts in programs that serve lower-income Americans. True, the legislation suffered a setback last week, initially failing to make it out of committee. But that was largely because some right-wing Republicans didn’t think the benefit cuts were vicious enough.
OK, news at 11. Isn’t this what Republicans always do? But this reconciliation bill — that is, legislation structured in such a way that it can’t be filibustered and may well pass with no Democratic votes — is different in both degree and kind from what we’ve seen before: Its cruelty is exceptional even by recent right-wing standards. Furthermore, the way that cruelty will be implemented is notable for its reliance on claims we know aren’t true and policies we know won’t work — what some of us call zombie ideas.
And it’s hard to avoid the sense that the counterproductive viciousness is actually the point. Think of what we’re seeing as the attack of the sadistic zombies.
To get a sense of how extreme this legislation is, do a side-by-side comparison of the impact on different groups of Americans between this bill and Trump’s one major legislative achievement during his first term, the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act. It looks like this:
Source: Tax Policy Center and Penn-Wharton Budget Model
The TCJA, like the current legislation, gave big tax breaks to the wealthiest Americans. But it also threw a few crumbs to people further down the scale. By contrast, the House Reconciliation Bill, by slashing benefits — especially Medicaid — will cause immense, almost inconceivable hardship to the bottom 40 percent of Americans, especially the poorest fifth.
Medicaid, in case anyone needs reminding, is the national health insurance program for low-income Americans who probably don’t have any other way to pay for medical care. In 2023 Medicaid covered 69 million Americans, far more than Medicare (which covers seniors), including 39 percent of children.
Providing health care to children, by the way, isn’t just about social justice and basic decency. It’s also good economics: Children who receive adequate care grow up to be more productive adults. Among other things they end up paying more taxes, so Medicaid for children almost surely pays for itself.
And although Republican legislation apparently won’t explicitly target childrens’ care, it will impose paperwork requirements that will cause both children and their parents to lose coverage.
Back to the comparison with the TCJA. It's true that 2017 would have looked considerably worse in this comparison if Trump had also succeeded in his attempt to destroy the Affordable Care Act, depriving millions of Americans of health insurance coverage. But he didn’t. This time the assault on health care and the tax cuts for the 0.1 percent are part of the same legislation — a “big, beautiful bill,” as Trump calls it. And after some adjustments to make the bill even nastier, it’s likely to pass.
Wait, it gets worse. One of the ways Republicans will try to slash Medicaid is by requiring that adult Medicaid recipients be gainfully employed — or, more accurately, that they demonstrate to the satisfaction of government bureaucrats that they are gainfully employed, which is not at all the same thing.
The belief that many Americans receiving government support are malingering, that they could and should be working but are choosing to be lazy, is a classic zombie idea. That is, like the claim that cutting taxes on the rich will unleash an economic miracle, it’s a doctrine that should be long dea
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
A Texas salesman discovers the truth about 'Made in the U.S.A': no one's buying
May 18, 2025 8:20 AM ET
https://www.npr.org/2025/05/18/nx-s1-5399796/a-texas-salesman-discover
s-the-truth-about-made-in-the-u-s-a-no-ones-buying
VAN MEER: I wanted to see how many people actually would pay for the more expensive made-in-the-USA version.
HORSLEY: The test ran for a couple of weeks and the results were not even close. Of the more than 25,000 people who visited the website and the 600 or so who bought showerheads, not a single one chose the more expensive American-made model.
VAN MEER: I was surprised and not surprised. I was expecting the cheaper made-in-Asia to, quote-unquote, "win," but I was not expecting that the results were this off balance. We sold zero made-in-the-USA versions.
HORSLEY: Maybe that's why at my neighborhood Ace Hardware store, I found more than a dozen showerheads on display, almost all of them made in China. The one exception was a low-flow model called the SaverShower. Rick Whedon's (ph) family has been making them in West Hartford, Connecticut, for nearly half a century.
RICK WHEDON: My dad designed the original SaverShower in 1976. We were shipping 2,000 showerheads a week out of here 'cause everybody wanted to save energy.
HORSLEY: Whedon told me that, along with Ace Hardware, he sells a lot of showerheads through Menards, the big Midwestern chain.
WHEDON: Menards buys from us because we had a U.S.-made product, and we were the only ones they could find. The Ace buyer told me he doesn't think consumers care at all where a product's made, and I kind of think he's right.
HORSLEY: In fact, Whedon's company makes most other models of their showerheads overseas, with the exception of that original water-saving version. It takes eight local suppliers to make the parts for that showerhead, and Whedon says they're getting harder to come by.
WHEDON: When we started this, there were 300 machine shops in Connecticut that turned brass to make parts. Today, there might be 75. There's nobody in the United States that's going to start making showerheads here, even if the tariff were 250%.
HORSLEY: I heard a similar story from David Malcolm (ph), who turned his irrigation expertise to making showerheads in California, about 15 years ago. The regional machine shop he used to buy parts from went out of business when most of their customers left the country. So Malcolm now sources parts from Taiwan.
DAVID MALCOLM: When I go to a hardware store, I - and I'll buy something that has American flag on it, and I'll look very closely at it, and it'll say, made in the USA using global components.
HORSLEY: If you really want to bring this kind of manufacturing back to the U.S., you'd have to restore the whole ecosystem of parts suppliers and skilled workers, and neither shoppers nor the president have shown the patience for that. Trump temporarily suspended his most punishing tariffs on imports from China after just over a month. Van Meer, the Texas showerhead salesman, says there's no telling what comes next.
VAN MEER: The uncertainty is really bad for business owners. What's going to happen after 90 days? Is it going to be 200%? It's going to be lower? We don't know. So it's just going to be very hard to even plan ahead longer than three months.
HORSLEY: Van Meer says he's not giving up on making showerheads in the U.S., but it's not a high priority. He's got 30 American employees on his payroll and needs to keep selling imported showerheads to keep those paychecks coming.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:I do not know every detail about Trumptards, other than Trump, because his life is well documented. From my experience with average Trumptards in Texas, I have concluded that they are all crazy, which is why their lives are disappointing and sad. The Trumptards want to punch back at America for not being kinder to them, but Trumptards should be punching themselves in the face because all their problems are the psychological problems that they can't adapt to their environment, and they can't control themselves.
Originally posted by second:Quote:
Originally posted by THG:
Shit SECOND, Gilligan is cutting and pasting what he says to you, and reposting it when he responds to what I've posted elsewhere. Too Funny.
So, Gilligan, how about you show us some of the stupid shit that's been written by political leaders not affiliated with MAGA. And be thorough.
T
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
Agreed, and it's why Gilligan won't find crazy shit said by any others, other than Trump and MAGA politicians.
T
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Meanwhile... in reality.
No good news in the media for Democrats ever. Zero. None, whatsoever.
Your party is dead and your opinions are irrelevant.
May I suggest you move out of my country if you don't like here anymore. I hear El Salvador is nice this time of year.
--------------------------------------------------
"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by second:Quote:You write like a Nazi marching to victory behind your hero, Adolph Trump. You are a pretty common type in history:
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Mayhap he's pointing it right in your face, son.
Keep on being miserable everyday. There are less and less of you choosing to keep doing this to themselves in 2025. I can't imagine there will be too many more of you around at all 10 years from now.
Just a dying breed that couldn't adapt when they couldn't leave the world from six months ago that no longer exists and is gone forever.
How to Fight Fascism in America — with Timothy Snyder
Stop making threats and come fight me bitch.
--------------------------------------------------
"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:If someone responsible in Indiana, and a Nazi killer, becomes aware of 6ixStringJack, they will extinguish his candle. But even in Germany, millions and millions of Nazis got away with murder, except for a few dozen extremely obnoxious and famous Nazis who were made examples by the American and British legal systems.
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Stop making threats and come fight me bitch.
Author offers warnings after interviewing former Nazis for decades
By Russell Contreras | May 17, 2025
https://www.axios.com/2025/05/17/author-laurence-rees-nazi-mind-warnin
g-holocaust
Why it matters: "The Nazi Mind: Twelve Warnings from History" released in the U.S. last week comes as antisemitism and new authoritarian regimes are rising around the world.
London-based author Laurence Rees tells Axios he wasn't interested in calling out any present world leader or current policy, but sought to examine why former Nazis did what they did and later insisted they were right.
The intrigue: The book was released in the U.S. days before hip hop artist Ye released a song praising Adolf Hitler that is spreading online despite attempts to remove it.
• It also follows Elon Musk, the world’s richest man, giving what scholars, journalists and rights groups said was a Nazi salute.
• Last year, President Trump repeatedly said undocumented immigrants were ''poisoning the blood of our country," language echoing the rhetoric of white supremacists and Adolf Hitler.
Yes, but: Rees said he did not write the book to attack Trump because he didn't even know if he'd win the U.S. election. (But Rees knows Trump is a Nazi.)
• "It would be unbelievably presumptuous of me to say, 'Oh, well, here's how this applies in Caracas or in Seoul'," Rees said.
• "So the idea was to write it in such a way that the reader, whilst reading it, makes those links themselves, depending on where and when they are."
Download all Laurence Rees’ books for free from mirrors at https://libgen.rs/search.php?&req=Laurence+Rees
Quote:
Introduction to "The Nazi Mind: Twelve Warnings from History"
I first met a former member of the Waffen SS, the Nazis’ elite fighting force,1 while researching a television documentary in Austria in 1990. It was an extraordinary experience.
Not only was he intelligent and amiable – it was easy to understand how, after the war, he had forged a career as a senior executive with a German car company – but I soon discovered over our lunch that while he managed to function extremely successfully in the present, his view of the past was a fantasy: an alternative history in which the Third Reich had been a ‘golden era’, the war had not been Germany’s fault and the Jews had been a ‘problem’ that had to be dealt with ‘one way or another’. His eight years of imprisonment in Stalin’s Gulag immediately after the war had made him even more convinced that the Nazis deserved praise for trying to protect Europe from the ‘scourge of Bolshevism’. Over coffee he said he had agreed to see me because he admired the British, although he criticized Churchill for making the ‘terrible mistake’ of not pursuing an alliance with Nazi Germany, because then ‘we could have both ruled the world’
Ever since that lunch I’ve sought to understand how it was possible for this sophisticated individual to think, long after the end of the war, in the way he did. And in pursuit of that goal, over the intervening years I’ve met hundreds of other people who experienced the Third Reich.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by second:Quote:If someone responsible in Indiana, and a Nazi killer, becomes aware of 6ixStringJack, they will extinguish his candle.
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Stop making threats and come fight me bitch.
You just keep digging yourself a deeper hole while I laugh at how pathetic you are, buddy.
Hey... How'd you like that 8-1 Supreme Court decision today?
Must really suck to be you when real life is just constantly ripping you back out of that fantasy world inside of your diseased brain all the time in 2025, huh?
At this point, I'm not really sure why you would even want to live here. There are far more of us than there are of you. Maybe you should move out of my country and find one more inclined to your delicate sensibilities.
Maybe Rosie O'Donnel has an extra room in her mansion for you and your imaginary wife and kids and 3 cats?
Too white for you in Ireland still? That's okay...
I hear they've got plenty of vacancies in El Salvador right now and the weather there is absolutely gorgeous.
--------------------------------------------------
"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:6ix, I'm prospering in America and not leaving it. I guess you don't understand that the German Nazis reorganized Europe because they were not prospering in the system as it was. After the British and Americans beat the shit out of the Nazis, putting millions of them to death, Germany prospered. East Germany, under Russian control, did NOT prosper because Russians are dumber than Nazis.
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:Quote:
Originally posted by second:Quote:If someone responsible in Indiana, and a Nazi killer, becomes aware of 6ixStringJack, they will extinguish his candle.
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Stop making threats and come fight me bitch.
You just keep digging yourself a deeper hole while I laugh at how pathetic you are, buddy.
Hey... How'd you like that 8-1 Supreme Court decision today?
Must really suck to be you when real life is just constantly ripping you back out of that fantasy world inside of your diseased brain all the time in 2025, huh?
At this point, I'm not really sure why you would even want to live here. There are far more of us than there are of you. Maybe you should move out of my country and find one more inclined to your delicate sensibilities.
Maybe Rosie O'Donnel has an extra room in her mansion for you and your imaginary wife and kids and 3 cats?
Too white for you in Ireland still? That's okay...
I hear they've got plenty of vacancies in El Salvador right now and the weather there is absolutely gorgeous.
Trumptards, Nazis and Russians (from the Russian Revolution to 2025) are stupid people who tear things apart because they cannot adapt to things as they are. They cannot prosper because they cannot adapt.
I see Trumptard failure constantly at work. These semi-humans absolutely cannot troubleshoot technical problems. (Or family problems, but that's beyond my caring) They have to be shown the solution. Often they have to be threatened: if you don't use my solution right this second, I'm firing your stupid ass. The most belligerently stupid Trumptards will refuse to adapt and get fired, bringing peace and prosperity to work once the Trumptards are cleared. The same would be true for all of America. MAGA by ridding America of Trumptards. It worked in Germany, once the Nazis died or, if left alive, feared to act on their Nazis impulses because they would be killed. It will work in America. Make Trumptards fearful of being snuffed out. (The family problems I mentioned? With Trumptards, that class of problem isn't solved, but ends with dissolving their families. Divorce. Abandonment. Avoidance. Fleeing the family. If the Trumptard family stays together, they suffer because they won't adapt to the family.)
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Trump Is Tired of Courts Telling Him He’s Breaking the Law
By Adam Serwer | May 19, 2025, 1:34 PM ET
https://www.theatlantic.com/ideas/archive/2025/05/birthright-citizensh
ip-trump-supreme-court/682823/
The Trump administration’s relentless assault on the rule of law is a kind of arson: It is setting so many blazes that the fire department is having trouble putting them all out at once. Last week, Donald Trump asked the Supreme Court to cut off the water.
Trump’s executive order revoking birthright citizenship for undocumented immigrants—which flagrantly overrides law, Supreme Court precedent, and the text of the Fourteenth Amendment—has, at least for now, reached the justices primarily as a procedural question. At issue during oral argument before the Court was the constitutionality of nationwide injunctions put in place by district-court judges, rather than the merits of the order itself.
Nationwide injunctions are not an inherently partisan issue—leaders of both parties have complained at one point or another about an overreaching federal judge. But in this case, allowing the federal government to revoke birthright citizenship would create a logistical nightmare for states that would have to figure out how to verify the citizenship of babies in order to allocate or administer benefits. An entire class of stateless infants would be created overnight. Indeed, one could imagine a ruling that narrows the authority of judges to issue nationwide injunctions to specific circumstances but that would still allow for such an injunction in this extraordinary case. That may be where the justices are headed, although there was no apparent agreement at oral argument on how to do so.
After listening to the arguments, I was convinced by Justice Ketanji Brown Jackson’s observation that, in many cases, “universal injunctions” are just the courts “telling the defendant, Stop doing this thing that the court has found to be unlawful.” However frustrating nationwide injunctions may be when you oppose them, they seem preferable to the alternatives floated. Yes, they sometimes lead to judges making overbroad decisions, as with the abortion-medication case unanimously reversed by a very conservative Supreme Court. But the Trump administration’s view that such injunctions are unconstitutional, and that district-court judges should be able to bar the executive order revoking birthright citizenship with respect to only individual parties, would produce even worse outcomes, in which the federal government would be free to trample the constitutional rights of anyone who doesn’t specifically assert them unless the Supreme Court decides to act.
Justice Sonia Sotomayor put this in a context that her conservative colleagues might understand. “So when a new president orders that because there’s so much gun violence going on in the country, and he comes in and he says, ‘I have the right to take away the guns from everyone,’ then he sends out the military to seize everyone’s guns, we and the courts have to sit back and wait until every plaintiff whose gun is taken comes into court?” Sotomayor asked.
This is more or less what is happening now with birthright citizenship. The Trump administration is asking the Supreme Court to let Trump run riot over the Constitution indefinitely while narrowing the ability of those affected to challenge violations of their constitutional rights. And its proposed remedy—class-action lawsuits—is something that it also believes to be legally suspect, and that it would presumably attack later. As Solicitor General D. John Sauer made clear to the justices, “I do not concede that we wouldn’t oppose class certification in this particular case.” It was reminiscent of when, during Trump’s second impeachment, his lawyers argued that impeachment was unnecessary because he could be criminally prosecuted; once prosecutions began, those same people argued that prosecuting him was unconstitutional. There is no acceptable way to oppose Trump and his agenda
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
The U.S. Under Trump: Alone in Its Climate Denial
The administration is not only allowing more greenhouse gases. It is undermining the nation’s ability to understand and respond to a hotter planet.
By David Gelles | May 19, 2025
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/19/climate/trump-climate-denial.html
When the Trump administration declared two weeks ago that it would largely disregard the economic cost of climate change as it sets policies and regulations, it was just the latest step in a multipronged effort to erase global warming from the American agenda.
But President Trump is doing more than just turning a blind eye to the fact that the planet is growing hotter. He is weakening the country’s capacity to understand global warming and to prepare for its consequences.
The administration has dismantled climate research, firing some of the nation’s top scientists, and gutted efforts to chart how fast greenhouse gases are building up in the atmosphere and what that means for the economy, employment, agriculture, health and other aspects of American society. The government will no longer track major sources of greenhouse gases, data that has been used to measure the scale and identify sources of the problem for the past 15 years.
“We’re not doing that climate change, you know, crud, anymore,” Agriculture Secretary Brooke Rollins told Fox Business on May 8.
By getting rid of data, the administration is trying to halt the national discussion about how to deal with global warming, said Daniel Swain, a climate scientist at the University of California, Los Angeles. “The notion of there being any shared factual reality just seems to be completely out the window,” he said.
At the same time, through cuts to the National Weather Service and by denying disaster relief through the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the administration has weakened the country’s ability to prepare for and recover from hurricanes, wildfires, droughts and other extreme weather that is being made worse by climate change.
The president is also moving to loosen restrictions on air pollution, which experts say will lead to more planet warming emissions, and to overturn the government’s legal authority to regulate those gases.
Taken together, these moves are poised to leave the world’s biggest economy less informed, less prepared and, over time, more polluted.
Mr. Trump dismisses the threats posed by climate change, suggesting that rising seas would create more “oceanfront property.” He blames “climate lunatics” for environmental regulations that he says have been a drag on the U.S. economy.
On his first day in office, Mr. Trump declared a national energy emergency, something that experts dispute because the United States is producing more oil than any country in history and is the world’s largest exporter of natural gas. Mr. Trump has cited the emergency as justification for speeding approvals for oil, gas and coal projects and expanding logging in national forests.
Some agree that reforms to the nation’s environmental regulations were overdue. Complex and lengthy processes to get permits to build pipelines, transmission lines and drilling projects have also meant significant delays for wind farms, solar projects and other clean energy, said Robert Stavins, a professor of energy and economic development at Harvard University.
“Permitting as whole in the United States is just a mess,” he said.
But the president has gone much further than just trying to speed up permits. He’s made the American government a global outlier in its denial of science.
“It’s as if we’re in the Dark Ages,” said Rachel Cleetus, senior policy director with the climate and energy program at the Union of Concerned Scientists.
Eliminating climate data
At the most basic level, the Trump administration is dismantling the government’s ability to monitor a rapidly changing climate.
Last month, the Trump administration dismissed hundreds of scientists and experts who had been working on the National Cl
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by second:Quote:6ix, I'm prospering in America and not leaving it.
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:Quote:
Originally posted by second:Quote:If someone responsible in Indiana, and a Nazi killer, becomes aware of 6ixStringJack, they will extinguish his candle.
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Stop making threats and come fight me bitch.
You just keep digging yourself a deeper hole while I laugh at how pathetic you are, buddy.
Hey... How'd you like that 8-1 Supreme Court decision today?
Must really suck to be you when real life is just constantly ripping you back out of that fantasy world inside of your diseased brain all the time in 2025, huh?
At this point, I'm not really sure why you would even want to live here. There are far more of us than there are of you. Maybe you should move out of my country and find one more inclined to your delicate sensibilities.
Maybe Rosie O'Donnel has an extra room in her mansion for you and your imaginary wife and kids and 3 cats?
Too white for you in Ireland still? That's okay...
I hear they've got plenty of vacancies in El Salvador right now and the weather there is absolutely gorgeous.
Nobody is buying any of that.
You should leave. You hate it here and everyone here hates you.
--------------------------------------------------
"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:J.D. Vance understands Trumptards and Trump. He came to the same conclusion I have, that both are semi-human, which is why he is now V.P. Because both are semi-human, neither is useful to me, but then I'm not trying to get their votes. I'm playing a bigger game than Vance, to get complex work done, not to get elected. Semi-humans are worthless at solving complex mechanical problems, but they have the dexterity, barely, to use a voting machine. (Funny how so many Trumptard think of themselves as adept mechanics. It is laughable how long it takes, and how error-prone these self-satisfied mechanics are when overhauling an engine.)
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Nobody is buying any of that.
You should leave. You hate it here and everyone here hates you.
The Talented Mr. Vance (Trump’s Vice-President)
J. D. Vance could have brought the country’s conflicting strands together. Instead, he took a divisive path to the peak of power.
By George Packer | May 19, 2025, 6 AM ET
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2025/07/jd-vance-reinvent
ion-power/682828/
. . . The author of Hillbilly Elegy could only have a complex view of Donald Trump: an intuitive grasp of his appeal for people in Middletown, and horror at his effect on them. In an essay for this magazine published just a few weeks after the memoir, in the summer of 2016, Vance called Trump “cultural heroin”—the most apt metaphor possible. Trump was an overwhelmingly tempting drug that brought relief from pain but inevitably led to self-destruction, enabling all the ills—resentment, bigotry, coarseness, delusional hope—of a white working class in rapid decay. Shortly before the election, Vance warned that a refusal by Trump to accept its results would further alienate his supporters from politics, saying he hoped Trump “acts magnanimous.” Late on Election Night, when Trump’s shocking victory appeared imminent, ABC News, suddenly in need of an authority on Trump voters, pulled Vance from Yahoo News into its main studio as a native informant. “What are they looking for from Donald Trump?” George Stephanopoulos asked. “What do they want tangibly?” Vance replied that they wanted a change in direction, and that if Trump failed to bring one, there would be “a period of reckoning.” Then he added with a slight smile: “I do think that folks feel very vindicated now, right? They believed in their man. They felt like the media didn’t believe in their man.”
What did Vance believe in?
Trump’s win brought the author of Hillbilly Elegy to new prominence as a national voice. It also placed a roadblock directly in the path of his ambitions. He had identified himself as a Never Trump conservative, privately wondered if Trump was “America’s Hitler,” and voted for neither major-party candidate. Suddenly the establishment that had embraced him and elevated him beyond his dreams could no longer offer means of ascent. Just about everyone who knew Vance assumed he intended to enter politics, but the Daniels-Huntsman-Romney species of Republican was halfway to extinction.
In January 2017, a week after Trump’s inauguration, a group of about a dozen conservatives—adherents of “reform conservatism,” a modernizing, more inclusive strain that took seriously issues such as inequality and the environment—gathered with Vance at the Washington offices of the Hoover Institution to advise him on his political future. These were policy intellectuals who had encouraged and validated young Vance. They discussed what their agenda should be now that a Republican few, if any, of them had supported was president. Were there positive aspects to be gleaned from Trump’s populism on issues like immigration? How far should Vance go to accommodate himself to the cultural-heroin president? One thing was certain: The people in the room were already losing their value to Vance.
A week later, on February 3, he spoke about Hillbilly Elegy and Trump at David Axelrod’s Institute of Politics, in Chicago. He gave one of his most thoughtful performances
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Nobody cares about any of that.
What's your party up to today?
--------------------------------------------------
"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:Until Democratic Senators bring guns to work and kill Trumptard Senators, there is nothing to talk about.
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Nobody cares about any of that.
What's your party up to today?
Trump’s New Position on the War in Ukraine: Not My Problem
In a reversal, President Trump appears to have backed off joining a European push for new sanctions on Russia, seemingly eager to move on to doing business deals with it.
By David E. Sanger, Jonathan Swan, Maggie Haberman, Michael Schwirtz | May 20, 2025, 4:59 p.m. ET
https://www.nytimes.com/2025/05/20/us/politics/trump-ukraine-russia.ht
ml
For months, President Trump has been threatening to simply walk away from the frustrating negotiations for a cease-fire between Russia and Ukraine.
After a phone call on Monday between Mr. Trump and President Vladimir V. Putin of Russia, that appears to be exactly what the American president is doing. The deeper question now is whether he is also abandoning America’s three-year-long project to support Ukraine, a nascent democracy that he has frequently blamed for being illegally invaded.
Mr. Trump told President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine and other European leaders after his call with Mr. Putin that Russia and Ukraine would have to find a solution to the war themselves, just days after saying that only he and Mr. Putin had the power to broker a deal. And he backed away from his own threats to join a European pressure campaign that would include new sanctions on Russia, according to six officials who were familiar with the discussion. They spoke on condition of anonymity to describe a private conversation.
Their account sheds light on Mr. Trump’s decision to throw up his hands when it comes to a peace process that he had previously promised to resolve in just 24 hours. And, unless he again reverses course, Monday’s developments left Mr. Putin with exactly what he wanted: not only an end to American pressure, but the creation of a deep fissure inside the North Atlantic Treaty Organization, between the Americans and their traditional European allies, who say they are going ahead with sanctions anyway.
To many, Mr. Trump’s decision was foretold — first by his fiery, televised encounter with Mr. Zelensky in the Oval Office, then by the resignation of the American ambassador in Kyiv.
“The policy since the beginning of the Trump administration has been to put pressure on the victim, Ukraine, rather than the aggressor, Russia,” Bridget A. Brink, the former ambassador and a longtime Foreign Service officer, wrote after leaving Kyiv last month. “Peace at any price is not peace at all — it is appeasement.”
But Mr. Trump discovered that he could not get peace at any price, because Mr. Putin rejected his overtures. Even after Mr. Trump’s defense secretary, Pete Hegseth, declared that Ukraine would never join NATO and must abandon hopes of winning back all the territory that Russia had seized — two of Mr. Putin’s demands — it was not enough to get a cease-fire.
Mr. Trump, of course, is usually a fan of financial pressure: He routinely threatens tariffs and sanctions against allies and adversaries alike. But in a statement to The New York Times, a White House official said this was different. The official, who asked for anonymity to discuss the president’s private calls, said additional sanctions against Russia would hinder business opportunities and the president wants to maximize economic opportunities for Americans.
American officials, including Secretary of State Marco Rubio, have countered critics by pointing out that existing sanctions on Russia, largely imposed after the 2022 invasion, remain in place, as does intelligence sharing with Ukraine.
“When Vladimir Putin woke up this morning, he had the same set of sanctions on him that he’s always had since the beginning of this conflict,” Mr. Rubio told a Senate committee on Tuesday, adding that Ukraine was still receiving weapons from the United States and its allies.
Mr. Trum
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by second:Quote:Until Democratic Senators bring guns to work and kill Trumptard Senators, there is nothing to talk about.
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Nobody cares about any of that.
What's your party up to today?
Step out of your echo chamber, my friend. There is plenty to talk about.
I wonder if you'll even notice that by the time the echo chamber falls down around you that you've lost your party forever and didn't even realize it was happening.
Keep following your Legacy Media masters right off that cliff.
There are no more safety nets, so good luck with your fall.
--------------------------------------------------
"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
And I keep seeing footage of American Citizens getting visits from authorities and even being arrested for threats they've been making to other people online. This ain't 2020 anymore.
I'll keep warning you against that specific type of behavior, but you'd do best to go forward from here acting as if somebody is watching you and that you're not safe from prying eyes just because you're saying stuff on a forum for a show that's been dead for a quarter of a century.
I already told you the only thing that could happen where I will actively forward everything I have on you to the authorities. I don't think that would ever really happen, so I think you're going to be safe there as long as Trump remains safe.
But you're a fool if you think that nobody is watching what people post here.
--------------------------------------------------
"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:There is nothing to talk about. The Democrats refuse to act against evil because they feel that killing evil people would contaminate good people, making them evil. The classic example is slavery, where the abolitionists ran their mouths at the slave-owners for many, many decades, as if talking was a pure, wholesome, and effective way to change minds. Eventually, after years on the Civil War battlefield, the slave-owners forced the abolitionists to stop vainly talking about reconciliation with absolutely evil Americans and begin methodically murdering the slave-owners and burning their plantations. The North was several years into losing the Civil War before Lincoln understood that the only way to end the evil of slavery was to kill massive numbers of slave-owners and make the rest fear for their lives. Even to the present day, Libtards think they can either talk evil people, such as Trumptards, out of being evil or bribe evil people, with jobs and government handouts and tax cuts, to behave better when the only realistic answer is to kill evil people or make them fear for their lives. In business, we just fire the evil people, but Libtards have to do what they don't want to do and it is more than firing some goddamn Trumptard who is a worthless human being ludicrously convinced he is valuable.
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:Quote:
Originally posted by second:Quote:Until Democratic Senators bring guns to work and kill Trumptard Senators, there is nothing to talk about.
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Nobody cares about any of that.
What's your party up to today?
Step out of your echo chamber, my friend. There is plenty to talk about.
The Joss Whedon script for Serenity, where Wash lives, is Serenity-190pages.pdf at https://www.mediafire.com/two
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME
Quote:
Originally posted by second:Quote:There is nothing to talk about.
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:Quote:
Originally posted by second:Quote:Until Democratic Senators bring guns to work and kill Trumptard Senators, there is nothing to talk about.
Originally posted by 6ixStringJack:
Nobody cares about any of that.
What's your party up to today?
Step out of your echo chamber, my friend. There is plenty to talk about.
Your posts are evil. You are retarded.
Keep crying bitch. You're finished.
--------------------------------------------------
"I don't find this stuff amusing anymore." ~Paul Simon
NOTIFY: Y | REPLY | REPLY WITH QUOTE | PERMALINK | TOP | HOME