Because science is tied to climate change and not artificial intelligence, robotics and space flight? Biden had an extra few billion for R&D and chips act seems like a good start. However, Trump won in part because he won silicon valley and it was a revolt of those elites against the Democrats. Some key critiques of Trump are that he is too captured by that group.

What test standards are lower? That's been a Hallmark of everyone since we were in high school as we can't leave a child behind!

2/8/2025 6:27:59 PM

Trump is more captured by billionaires than Silicon Valley. The actually smart people doing the work in Silicon Valley hate trump.

Musk and friends think there was some untapped reservoir of smart engineers who are also racist but it doesn’t exist— smart people tend to be more liberal for obvious reasons.

https://www.opensecrets.org/industries/indus?ind=B13

2/8/2025 6:52:03 PM

Quote :

"Because science is tied to climate change and not artificial intelligence, robotics and space flight?"

Wow. What you see there isn't supporting science, it's merely placating their base. Support rockets to support Musk, reject climate change to support big oil. Tell me, which one of those things did Democrats reject? None? Oh, that's because Republicans aren't for science. They're actually playing politics by choosing which scientific pursuits to support/reject.

2/8/2025 8:14:39 PM

Quote :

"Trump is more captured by billionaires than Silicon Valley. The actually smart people doing the work in Silicon Valley hate trump. "

Quote :

" Forbes found at least 100 billionaires in the corners of either former President Donald Trump or Vice President Kamala Harris—with many more backing Harris—but unlike the world’s richest man Elon Musk, who stumps extensively on Trump’s behalf, many have elected to watch from the sidelines, like Warren Buffett and Mark Zuckerberg"

https://www.forbes.com/sites/dereksaul/2024/10/30/kamala-harris-has-more-billionaires-prominently-backing-her-than-trump-bezos-and-griffin-weigh-in-updated/

We live in an oligarchy, it comes down to whether you like what the oligarchs did for the last 15 years where our hamburgers cost $16 or whether you want to give the new hoody autist ones a chance.

I am well aware what the politics of SV are, if you recall I fucking worked there and in California at tech companies the last 13 years. My first couple of years in California: "I'm going to go to the occupy protest for workers rights."

"What in your $100K BMW X series? Don't they key your car?"

2/8/2025 8:29:55 PM

Your schtick is tired.

2/8/2025 10:15:28 PM

Moving faster on the "ignore the courts" front than i expected. I figured it would be 2 months in. We're l9oking at possibly 2.5 weeks. Fucking awesome

2/9/2025 10:34:48 PM

https://apnews.com/article/trump-judiciary-musk-separation-of-powers-balance-checks-069c169ea1ddf6eea76f502d544c4c16

Constitutional Crisis, here we come!

Quote :

"Top Trump administration officials are openly questioning the judiciary’s authority to serve as a check on executive power as the new president’s sweeping agenda faces growing pushback from the courts. Over the past 24 hours, officials ranging from billionaire Elon Musk to Vice President JD Vance have not only criticized a federal judge’s decision early Saturday that blocks Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency from accessing Treasury Department records, but have also attacked the legitimacy of judicial oversight, a fundamental pillar of American democracy, which is based on the separation of powers. “If a judge tried to tell a general how to conduct a military operation, that would be illegal. If a judge tried to command the attorney general in how to use her discretion as a prosecutor, that’s also illegal. Judges aren’t allowed to control the executive’s legitimate power,” Vance wrote on X on Sunday morning. That post came hours after Musk said overnight that the judge who ruled against him should be impeached. “A corrupt judge protecting corruption. He needs to be impeached NOW!” said Musk, who has been tasked by President Donald Trump with rooting out waste across the federal government."

2/10/2025 10:02:04 AM

^ maybe worse than that

https://talkingpointsmemo.com/edblog/trump-says-some-treasury-notes-may-not-be-real

Can someone tell me what happens if the value of treasury notes is seen as arbitrary based on the whims of the President?

2/10/2025 12:13:00 PM

^ it's arbitrary based on the Fed, so what's the difference?

2/10/2025 12:18:13 PM

Your libertarian shtick is tired

2/10/2025 1:38:09 PM

^^
Not to the people purchasing them. Trump is implying theyre going to tell holders of us debt that they’ll never pay, which has a serious change of collapsing the value of the US dollar. This will not be good for the price of your hamburger

2/10/2025 1:56:16 PM

https://www.cnbc.com/2025/02/10/trump-doj-foreign-corrupt-practices-act-pause.html

Quote :

" President Donald Trump will sign an executive order directing the Department of Justice to pause enforcing a nearly half-century-old law that prohibits American companies and foreign firms from bribing officials of foreign governments to obtain or retain business."

2/10/2025 4:09:20 PM

Trump ordered doj to drop charges on mayor Adam’s

I think this is the most comic book villain levels of naked corruption in my lifetime

[Edited on February 10, 2025 at 8:31 PM. Reason : ]

2/10/2025 8:31:30 PM

Big whoop on Adams...not like he is gonna win re-election anyway

2/10/2025 10:44:58 PM

I don't get that one, unless he's hoping Adams will put pressure on Bragg

2/10/2025 11:31:50 PM

My take… New York City has 10 million white people

Trump lost New York by 1.1M votes

I think trump is correctly calculating that if he gets rid of a meaningful number of immigrants in NYC there’s at least 1M new white voters for him in the state

Same deal with the weird California stuff. The uneducated love the performances

Oklahoma is the only true red state. Every other state is within a flippable margin

2/11/2025 12:31:00 AM

My take...Adams is sucking Trumps cock...Trump tells justice to lay off him?

2/11/2025 12:41:21 AM

https://bsky.app/profile/thetnholler.bsky.social/post/3lhulprlfx222

Looks like is is using masked plain clothes goons to abduct people now

2/11/2025 10:39:17 AM

There have already been multiple instances of people falsely claiming to be ICE agents so that they too can get in on the fun of the round-ups. True patriots, for sure!

2/11/2025 11:35:32 AM

^^, ^^^^ We got the official scoop now. Trump bought Adams to use him to implement immigration policies in the city. The letter telling the US Attorney to stand down said they didn't evaluate the merits of the case, they just felt that Adams wouldn't be able to help with immigration if he was under indictment. The ultra dirty part is they aren't going to dismiss with prejudice, meaning Adams has to keep sucking. It's an explicit, obvious bribe that allows the President to control the mayor of the country's largest city.

Thanks, John Roberts!

2/11/2025 1:48:13 PM

first ~10 min or so gives some interesting perspective on the thinking around Greenland/Canada/Panama

2/15/2025 10:05:39 AM

nvm

[Edited on February 15, 2025 at 10:25 AM. Reason : 1]

2/15/2025 10:21:46 AM

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/national-security/trump-administration-wants-un-fire-nuclear-safety-workers-cant-figure-rcna192345

2/15/2025 2:32:47 PM

Quote :

"He who saves his Country does not violate any Law"

-Dear Leader

2/16/2025 12:45:28 AM

Yeah, if you're the winner.

But this is something you want to hear a vigilante say, not someone in government

2/16/2025 7:10:05 AM

^^^https://apnews.com/article/nuclear-doge-firings-trump-federal-916e6819104f04f44c345b7dde4904d5

Clown shoes

2/17/2025 11:48:54 AM

https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-news/trump-admininstration-banks-raise-overdraft-fees-1235271368/

Quote :

"The Trump administration is looking to overturn a Biden-era rule limiting major banks’ ability to penalize customers with overdraft fees, a reversal that has major banking associations salivating at the mouth. Last week, House Financial Service Committee Chair French Hill (R-Ark.) and Senate Banking Committee Chairman Tim Scott (R-S.C.) introduced legislation to repeal the rule, which eliminated junk fees associated with account overdrafting — capping the penalty at $5 — and gave banks several options to manage overdraft costs without placing an excess burden on consumers. The Trump administration endorsed the legislation on Monday, with Office of Management and Budget Director and Consumer Financial Protection Bureau Interim Director Russ Vought writing on X that he was “grateful” that the representatives had introduced legislation overturning the rule. “Passing this important legislation will immediately further President Trump’s deregulatory agenda,” he wrote. At the time the rule was passed, former CFPB Director Rohit Chopra wrote that the directive was expected to “add up to $5 billion in annual overdraft fee savings to consumers, or $225 per household that pays overdraft fees.” “Over the past few decades, these highly profitable overdraft loans have increased consumer costs by billions of dollars,” Chopra argued. “The loans have also led to tens of millions of consumers losing access to banking services, as well as facing negative credit reporting that has prevented them from opening another account in the future.” The rule angered major banking organizations. In December, the The American Bankers Association sued the Biden administration alongside a coalition of banking groups, accusing the CFPB of exceeding its authority and claiming that the regulations would harm consumers. On Monday, several banking associations once again called on the CFPB to withdraw the rule. In their announcement, Reps. Scott and Hill wrote that they have the “support of key stakeholders, including the Consumer Bankers Association, Independent Community Bankers of America, American Bankers Association, and America’s Credit Unions.” Under the auspices of Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE), the CFPB has become a target of the Trump administration’s gutting of the federal workforce, which has included regulatory agencies providing oversight to major corporations. In a statement released earlier this month, the White House accused the CFPB of functioning “as another woke, weaponized arm of the bureaucracy that leverages its power against certain industries and individuals disfavored by so-called ‘elites.’” Musk added “CFPB RIP “ on X, writing that while the organization did “above zero good things,” they “still need to go.” Last week, Vought ordered all work at the bureau to cease, pending layoffs at the organization amid efforts to shut it down entirely. Over the weekend, a federal judge blocked the mass firing of CFPB staffers following a union challenge. Sen. Elizabeth Warren (D-Mass.) torched the administration’s actions in a recent interview with Rolling Stone. “ Donald Trump campaigned on lowering costs for working families ‘on day one,’ she said. “He is now sidelining the agency that over the last dozen years, has returned $21 billion directly to people who got cheated by giant financial institutions. In other words, his plan is to do nothing on reducing costs, but sure enough, put in place a plan to raise costs for people who are working hardest in our economy.”"

2/19/2025 11:46:21 AM

Quote :

"@MeredithMcGraw President Trump said he got an idea from Mexico President Sheinbaum to do a major anti-drug campaign in the US: "We're going to spend hundreds of millions of dollars advertising how bad drugs are, so that kids don't use them, that they chew up your brain, they destroy your teeth""

Very good. Very original.

2/19/2025 7:40:36 PM

"Trumps done more in a month than" rabble rabble rabble

Its like yeah how much of the shit do people like once they have a chance to digest it. Flood the zone is right.

2/20/2025 1:27:00 AM

you know good and well those people eat shit and are convinced it's ice cream

2/21/2025 4:43:49 PM

2/21/2025 6:18:25 PM

This Ukraine-Russia negotiation stuff is so weird

Occam’s razor is that it’s just incompetence

But the downstream effects seem so bad that it has to be more than this…?

[Edited on February 23, 2025 at 12:14 AM. Reason : ]

2/23/2025 12:14:17 AM

The rights mind-boggling pass of Trumps affinity for Russia is one of the universes great mysteries

2/23/2025 12:20:27 AM

Here is my theory on Ukraine, at least potentially:

Trump mostly doesn't give a shit. He doesn't think about or value the 2nd, 3rd, 20th order effects of standing with allies, backing democracies, punishing despots who engage in violent conquests of territory, etc. I think he's way too cozy with Russia/Putin, but I don't think he's generally pro-Russia. I think he's primarily agnostic (which is a problem, but that's another story).

I think that he doesn't care a whole lot how it plays out, as long as we aren't involved or footing bills for anything. I think that he would sell Ukraine down the river, burn bridges with allies, and enable despots like Putin and think nothing of it.

With all of that in mind, I think that above all else he's dealing with the situation the way he deals with most things--like an opportunistic mob boss. Amoral at best, immoral at worst, with no guiding principles other than near-term self-interest. I think that he sees this as an opportunity to subjugate and extort Ukraine. He mentioned a deal where we'd get a huge portion of Ukraine's natural resources, and it didn't seem like there was much traction on it. Then, you see him scheduling talks with Putin, and stiff-arming both Ukraine and the Europeans from it--and also parroting Russian talking points, being needlessly hostile to Ukraine.

Now you see Zelensky making statements along the lines of "So...this catastrophically shitty deal you want to strong-arm us into? How about sweetening the pot and making it just...really shitty instead? Also I'll step down, or whatever."

This isn't good for America...whatever we can mine out of Ukraine isn't nearly as valuable to us as what we could have diplomatically reaped if we'd handled this the right way...but I'm hoping that Trump will accept some mafia-like deal where we exploit Ukraine, but vanquish the Russians...and in a few years if a non-authoritarian POTUS of at least average competence is elected, we can set things right-ish better late than never.

^^ there's a shitload of incompetence...but the one thing Trump is fairly good at is being an unprincipled slimeball concerned with absolutely nothing but immediate self-advancement.

[Edited on February 23, 2025 at 6:44 PM. Reason : ]

2/23/2025 6:43:11 PM

It's kind of the horrifying reality of it all. Not any deep plotting going on
just belief

2/23/2025 7:44:28 PM

^^ what do you say to the claim that the lines of battle have barely changed despite the financial and human loss of both sides? What are the other options? A slow trickle of death and destruction, or a commiting of boots on the ground which we have neither the will nor capacity for?

https://x.com/JDVance/status/1892569791140946073?t=aGZrW-uTuo4XdSNtS_UzVw&s=19

2/23/2025 8:19:29 PM

I would say that gives us/Ukraine/EU leverage against Russia. Their military capabilities have been ruined and they've gotten essentially nothing for it. Threaten to up support for Ukraine even more, or alternatively they can accept a token concession or two on something, call it a victory or a peace with honor or whatever they want, and go home.

Or, if you want pure Machiavellianism...even if we maintained the status quo, we are putting Russia in a ruinous, paralyzing situation, for a bargain price, that Europe is happily sharing with us.

And China is watching.

2/23/2025 8:45:28 PM

So bizarre that the President of the United States is tweeting Sponge Bob memes on his "official" twitter account. Mocking federal workers who are upset that they're being fired in large numbers. What a weird timeline we're living in. It would have been almost unbelievable 10 years ago.

2/24/2025 9:59:41 AM

the limestone mine was actually a great idea except the roof is starting to deteriorate.

2/24/2025 11:27:48 AM

countdown to taking credit for joy reid firing and any future firings at msnbc like rachel maddow or chris hayes.

[Edited on February 25, 2025 at 7:42 AM. Reason : "firing"]

2/25/2025 7:39:59 AM

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/25/business/media/trump-white-house-press.html

Quote :

"White House Moves to Pick the Pool Reporters Who Cover Trump In announcing plans to hand-select the reporters who can ask the president questions at many events, the White House is breaking decades of precedent."

2/25/2025 5:08:23 PM

To my previous hypothesis on Trump’s angle on Ukraine negotiations:

https://www.ft.com/content/1890d104-1395-4393-a71d-d299aed448e6

2/25/2025 6:07:29 PM

I can't even see what that article is about without subscribing

[Edited on February 25, 2025 at 8:32 PM. Reason : Oh nevermind mineral deal ]

2/25/2025 8:31:45 PM

Can you copy and paste or share a gift article? It says 75(wtf) per month. Even I don't like the news that much

2/25/2025 8:32:12 PM

wtf? I didn't have to subscribe.

Hang on, I'll try to copy/paste

[Edited on February 25, 2025 at 9:49 PM. Reason : shit never mind, now it's asking me to subscribe]

2/25/2025 9:49:02 PM

try this link https://archive.ph/WhGog

2/25/2025 10:13:18 PM

Dang that was kind of disappointing after reading. Nothing really noteworthy i thought

Its clear to me ukraine is doing this to placate trump and if he abandons them, the deal will go to shit. Nttawwt. Ukraine has nothing to lose at this point by signing deal

2/25/2025 10:27:37 PM

an economic deal like this in ukraine makes future bullshit with russia far less likely.

like a security deal but with the extra caveat we can put resources there to defend our interests.

sorry you all think we should do it out of the goodness of our hearts, we arent good, never were.

2/26/2025 7:27:21 AM

just curious, who's "you all"?

2/26/2025 10:44:54 AM

"Trump Gaza is finally here"

2/26/2025 11:05:13 AM