Trump / Musk (other than DOGE)

[WaynetheDrain]

 

[Granville]

I have no problems with the threads or the moderation.

 

[gtyellowjacket]

I have no problems with the threads or the moderation.

Me either. If we want less threads that's fine but if we want more threads, that's fine too. I am a big fan of people not calling for the assassination of public figures. Can't believe that's controversial.

 

[Duke Mu]

1. Because Biden and Harris were, in fact, keeping Bibi at least somewhat in check. And because Biden and Harris would never sell out the very idea of Palestine, as Trump has done. And, after the election passed, the administration would have more leeway to address both sides of the conflict. You just can't embrace pro-terrorist voices during an election season. You just can't. Voters expecting them to do so have little comprehension of our system and refuse to listen.

2. Biden and Harris embraced them as much as possible consistent with winning. That's the best you're going to get as a pariah group. Did black people like it when Clinton denounced Sista Souljah? Not the ones I knew. But Clinton was way better for racial equality and justice than the GOP. Black activists realized that the best way to help their communities was not by big political campaigns, but getting well-placed in policy positions where their voices could be heard, or their views put into practice by administrative agencies. I get it -- this was a war, and not something amenable to incrementalism. But in the end, what they did was devastating to their cause.

Take another example: climate change. Climate change has probably become my #1 voting issue. When I think of the damage being caused by Trump, I think of climate change. Trump is basically locking humanity into a devastating climate change future, unless we find miracle technologies to decarbonize and/or die out to AI. Did the Dems embrace that? No -- they barely said anything about climate change. So yeah, I'm frustrated with that. But I also know that Dems are trying to do something, even if it's insufficient; and are likely to do more when they have more power; and at least they won't make that worse. It's not great bread, but it's better than eating grass.

3. I say this as someone who has zero tolerance for bullshit discrimination, and who tries to do my best to act out my principles. An Afghani restaurant opened up near me last spring, run I'm sure by refugees. My wife and I basically stopped eating anywhere else, to give the restaurant our maximum support. The food was meh. But the idea was important. Alas, it closed last week.

Welp, I suppose Musk and Trump can just fire NOAA scientists and then they can't track problems related to climate change...like it doesn't happen. "Climate is always changing."

So as an example of positive feedback (amplification in a biological system ), the increase in CO2 and warming has caused fires and dumping of CO2 from Canadian and Siberian tundra.

As always, Trump fails to examine the perks and problems of a "real estate acquisition."

https://www.noaa.gov/news-release/arctic-tundra-becoming-source-of-carbon-dioxide-emissions

 

[Duke Mu]

1. Because Biden and Harris were, in fact, keeping Bibi at least somewhat in check. And because Biden and Harris would never sell out the very idea of Palestine, as Trump has done. And, after the election passed, the administration would have more leeway to address both sides of the conflict. You just can't embrace pro-terrorist voices during an election season. You just can't. Voters expecting them to do so have little comprehension of our system and refuse to listen.

2. Biden and Harris embraced them as much as possible consistent with winning. That's the best you're going to get as a pariah group. Did black people like it when Clinton denounced Sista Souljah? Not the ones I knew. But Clinton was way better for racial equality and justice than the GOP. Black activists realized that the best way to help their communities was not by big political campaigns, but getting well-placed in policy positions where their voices could be heard, or their views put into practice by administrative agencies. I get it -- this was a war, and not something amenable to incrementalism. But in the end, what they did was devastating to their cause.

Take another example: climate change. Climate change has probably become my #1 voting issue. When I think of the damage being caused by Trump, I think of climate change. Trump is basically locking humanity into a devastating climate change future, unless we find miracle technologies to decarbonize and/or die out to AI. Did the Dems embrace that? No -- they barely said anything about climate change. So yeah, I'm frustrated with that. But I also know that Dems are trying to do something, even if it's insufficient; and are likely to do more when they have more power; and at least they won't make that worse. It's not great bread, but it's better than eating grass.

3. I say this as someone who has zero tolerance for bullshit discrimination, and who tries to do my best to act out my principles. An Afghani restaurant opened up near me last spring, run I'm sure by refugees. My wife and I basically stopped eating anywhere else, to give the restaurant our maximum support. The food was meh. But the idea was important. Alas, it closed last week.

The Infrastructure Bill supported green energy, but it wasn't enough. We need a Man on the Moon initiative for Fusion Power. Trump is trying to make sure that when he Destroys the US this time, there ain't no coming back...and/or a military auto-coup.

 

[Paine]

Paine and I have had some disagreements that have led to useful discussions that people seem to like. But he's been scarce, probably in part because he's engaged and seems to have other things going on, and maybe because this bores him. Otherwise, the overall dynamic is approximated by "nycfan posts news; people get angry and yell at the posters who are provoking them as stand-ins for the tyrants who we would really like to be speaking to but they aren't listening."

My engagement has dropped off due to several reasons:

1. The usual personal and work commitments.

2. Lack of depth and nuance in discussions here since the election (though point 1 sometimes precludes my ability to participate in the ones that have been attempted).

3. Realization that engaging with like-minded people outside of digital spaces is crucial towards the left-wing political project. Crucial not only in terms of practice but also as an act of resistance towards digital monopolization of our time. It also helps avoid the surveillance and liability issues discussed here.

 

[Shenanigans]

Me either. If we want less threads that's fine but if we want more threads, that's fine too. I am a big fan of people not calling for the assassination of public figures. Can't believe that's controversial.

The assassination of conservative dictators. Get it right, for once in your bosiding life.

 

[CFordUNC]

Me either. If we want less threads that's fine but if we want more threads, that's fine too. I am a big fan of people not calling for the assassination of public figures. Can't believe that's controversial.

Me either. If we want less threads that's fine but if we want more threads, that's fine too. I am a big fan of people not calling for the assassination of public figures. Can't believe that's controversial.

Definitely with you on all of the above. I just meant that for me personally, I find it a bit frustrating how many brand new threads are started every single day on topics that are very similar, but at the same time I am not criticizing anyone for starting those threads, nor am I saying that the board should cater to my personal preferences by any means. I just felt like it was the right time and forum in which to share that feedback on this thread.

 

[gtyellowjacket]

Definitely with you on all of the above. I just meant that for me personally, I find it a bit frustrating how many brand new threads are started every single day on topics that are very similar, but at the same time I am not criticizing anyone for starting those threads, nor am I saying that the board should cater to my personal preferences by any means. I just felt like it was the right time and forum in which to share that feedback on this thread.

Yeah. Definitely agree that feedback is good for Rock and NYC. This place is still new and I'm sure it helps them.

 

[CFordUNC]

Yeah. Definitely agree that feedback is good for Rock and NYC. This place is still new and I'm sure it helps them.

Absolutely. They both do such an incredible job with this board - and largely a thankless one at that- so that dorks like me can come argue about politics on the internet. They definitely have my gratitude.

 

[nycfan]

Merged the Trump Gaza video into the general thread as a clean-up of thread proliferation.

 

[BlueSteel]

Trump is trolling. Possibly hoping to distract from the tax cuts for rich people going through Congress. And its going to work.

Exactly this. It's been Trump's entire playbook for years now. His only, and I mean only, interest in this presidency is twofold:

a. avoid accountability (read: jail) for his multiple felonies --- Done.
b. make as much money as possible over the next four years via backdoor schemes and tax cuts for the rich --- In progress.

Everything else is simply a distraction to divert attention from those priorities. Hand-picking his WH press pool makes things all the more easy.

And Americans continue to fall for it. Spectacularly.

One day we'll all look back and scratch our heads as to why, in the waning moments of losing our democracy entirely, we just sat on our hands and did as we were told—seemingly unaware that our country was in fact gasping its final breaths.

 

[Calheel]

Exactly this. It's been Trump's entire playbook for years now. His only, and I mean only, interest in this presidency is twofold:

a. avoid accountability (read: jail) for his multiple felonies --- Done.
b. make as much money as possible over the next four years via backdoor schemes and tax cuts for the rich --- In progress.

Everything else is simply a distraction to divert attention from those priorities. Hand-picking his WH press pool makes things all the more easy.

And Americans continue to fall for it. Spectacularly.

One day we'll all look back and scratch our heads as to why, in the waning moments of losing our democracy entirely, we just sat on our hands and did as we were told—seemingly unaware that our country was in fact gasping its final breaths.

You forgot c. His ego.

DT absolutely loves the power to force people to grovel beneath him. He likes that almost as much as he likes money.

 

[Zoo_View]

Sure he may be trolling and he sure looooves the attention, but it's just SO incomprehensible that this man is president. And that millions of people voted for him and love him, and what that says about us as a society. Republicans used to run on values, but really it turns out that MAGA values are to be the most selfish, greedy humans possible. (Unless you're in their in-group, in which case they might be kind on an as-needed basis.) Pitiful.

Republicans such as Reagan, George H.W. Bush, Bob Dole, Dubya, Mitt Romney, and the clown cars of GOPers in ‘16 and ‘24 CLAIMED to be the “family values” party……CLAIMED.

 

[bassydude77]

Welp, I suppose Musk and Trump can just fire NOAA scientists and then they can't track problems related to climate change...like it doesn't happen. "Climate is always changing."

So as an example of positive feedback (amplification in a biological system ), the increase in CO2 and warming has caused fires and dumping of CO2 from Canadian and Siberian tundra.

As always, Trump fails to examine the perks and problems of a "real estate acquisition."

https://www.noaa.gov/news-release/arctic-tundra-becoming-source-of-carbon-dioxide-emissions

We live in an area with a lot of NOAA, USGS, Fisheries and related scientists. I was talking to a friend last night who's wife works for NOAA. They are totally streesed out. No idea what is likely to happen from one day to the next. Another friends wife works for a nonprofit that supports wetlands management. They have multiple wetlands retoration projects under construction that are largely funded by federal grants, so they have no idea if there will be money to pay the contractors that are in the field doing the work.

Not to say all of these projects are necessary or helpful, but the people that voted for Trump really make no connection to the consequences of cutting funding for all of these departments and projects and the impact on actual working Americans. These cuts ripple through the entire economy. The private sector (energy, pharmaceuticals, tech) uses a tremendous amount of research produced by Federal level scientists. Will the private sector start funding all of that needed research on their own? Maybe?

The contractors doing the field work for the wetlands restoration projects likely voted for Trump without any thought as to how cuts would impact them.

FAFO indeed.

 

[Zoo_View]

"...The total amount is probably larger: This analysis includes only publicly available contracts, omitting classified defense and intelligence work for the federal government. SpaceX has been developing spy satellites for the National Reconnaissance Office, the Pentagon’s spy satellite division, according to the Reuters news agency. The Wall Street Journal reported that contract was worth $1.8 billion, citing company documents.

The Post found nearly a dozen other local grants, reimbursements and tax credits where the specific amount of money is not public.

An additional 52 ongoing contracts with seven government agencies — including NASA, the Defense Department and the General Services Administration — are on track to potentially pay Musk’s companies an additional $11.8 billion over the next few years, according to The Post’s analysis.

Government contracts to SpaceX from NASA and the Defense Department make up the majority of funds. Tesla has earned $11.4 billion in regulatory credits from federal and state programs aimed at boosting the electric-car industry, and experts say its sales have been bolstered by a federal $7,500 electric-vehicle tax credit for consumers. Musk has called for an end to that consumer credit, arguing his competitors need the incentive more than Tesla.

DOGE, which stands for Department of Government Efficiency, has sought to cut staff, slash budgets or cut contracts at all seven of the agencies where Musk’s companies have ongoing contracts. That includes the General Services Administration, Defense Department and Transportation Department.

Musk’s relationships with government agencies have at times been mutually beneficial: His ventures have pioneered new markets that have advanced U.S. government goals, including space exploration and the expansion of electric vehicles. And while many of the government programs Musk has benefited from are open to others in the electric-vehicle industry, no other company has gone on to achieve Tesla’s market dominance. ..."

Ross Perot was at times jokingly referred to as “the world’s first welfare billionaire.” IIRC, the company Perot founded and that made him wealthy, EDS, was created approximately when Medicare was enacted. Perot, who had been one of, if not the most, successful IBM salesmen - selling “Big Iron” (mainframe computers) to corporations and governmental agencies and departments.

He saw the opportunity of Medicare for mainframe computing and left IBM and founded EDS.

Elon Musk looks at Ross Perot and thinks, “Piker.”

 

[Geisterfahrer]

How about just moral reasons. If folks feel like they want to form a Committee on Public Safety discuss a Reign of Terror, go find yourself a Jacobin site and figure out who is your Robespierre. I get it, I’ll be first against the wall.

 

[Zoo_View]

I read somewhere that up to 40% of Interior Department employees may be fired due to GOP budget cuts and DOGE slashing government employees. If you're traveling to a National Park soon, be prepared to do pretty much everything yourself with no help or assistance, and god help you if you run into trouble or there's a forest fire.

Or, need to use a toilet.

 

[nycfan]

Merged several pages of Trump/DOGE/Musk threads into one.

Probably best to start new threads as folks choose. Will lock this if it gets unstable due to mega-merge. Just trying to clear the air for whoever wants to start a topic to do so.

 

[grimes70]