Trump surely knows how to piss away the money he steals from regular hard-working Americans: an unworkable “golden dome” to protect us from missiles, a grand parade through the streets of Washington DC to celebrate dear leader’s birthday, a violent round-up of hardworking people - many of whom do work that citizens won’t - meanwhile pardoning criminals who were legally
convicted of crimes against our nation, cutting needed health care and other needed benefits to the working poor, etc. etc. etc.
This may not have been what some people thought they voted for, but this is what he promised he would do. And Trump doesn’t care what the law says, he just keeps bulldozing ahead, acting like he’s king of everything. Too many in the media, in corporations, in Congress, in education, in law firms bend the knee in acquiescence. As JVL says, good luck America.
and let's not forget the tax payer funded millions that will be required to retrofit his completely unnecessary Qatar vanity plane, which probably won't even be ready for use for another 2.5 years and then, in very short order, it goes directly to HIM ????????? I hate being part of his personal piggy bank. . . . To think of the several opportunities to have stopped all of this that were wasted..... We can only hope that the handful of senators and house reps who still could stop it wake the f up and do the right thing. WE ALL NEED TO BE LEANING ON THEM, AND DAILY!!
Bondi’s comments are incredible in their transparency. As with every overreach by this administration you can imagine a scenario where tortured leaders, mindful of both the constitution and security concerns, would feel they had no choice.
Trump and co. take that potentiality, declare the conditions that would support it (national security, crisis [X]) and brazenly abuse emergency powers where no emergency exists.
Keep in mind that we are only months into this term and are already starting to see the first glimmerings of the worst that can happen.
Ruth Ben-Ghiat has been warning for months and months that Trump is setting us up to normalize turning the military on American people as well as deporting citizens. We are watching each step in that direction in horror, but are not clear what we can do to quell this. Big numbers in protests are important. However, now there is the National Guard and perhaps the marines to contend with.
Yesterday Lucian Truscott said that it looked like the people engaging in violence in the LA protests were planted into the crowd to give Trump the kind of photo ops he wants to convince his minions to vote on his side in the mid-terms.
Trump is stirring up immigration protesting in the place where more than half the population has immigrant family members, so that he can get the images he wants to be able to show. Not his jackbooted henchmen, but the protesters appearing to be violent.
Musk might have been part of the performance to get people on Trump's side with the Big Bad Bill. Not sure.
I’m fairly certain that at least some of the rowdier protestors are legit, but false flag property damage wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest. These are people who are nihilistically unscrupulous.
I am very concerned about the performative and normalizing nature of what’s occurring. Most of the administration’s most controversial actions are designed to yank the window toward an authoritarian permission structure.
Trump is useful as a constant reminder that society and community are built on norms, consensus and the agreement that we will abide by those things in the interest of the whole. Society and community have rarely been so utterly exposed as the constructs they are, and the average person isn’t used to navigating existential crises.
I don't know what is legit and what is not, but I am worried about the optics. However, Ruth Ben-Ghiat has been preparing us for Trump turning the military on the people. What can we do? Protesting every day is not sustainable for most people indefinitely, which is what Trump is counting on. I see part of Putin's playbook here, but also that of so many authoritarians.
Without Canada's participation it doesn't sound like this will work. Isn't Canada in the middle of purchasing a system from Australia for this exact same purpose?
As usual none of Trump's plans are well thought-out (well, he's deficient in thinking). The renowned expert George Lin says that the Golden Dome "could end up costing taxpayers $831 billion over two decades, according to an estimate from the Congressional Budget Office" and is not likely to ever exist or come to fruition. Do his ramblings make his base and R's feel safe? Thanks for your reporting. (Others, please subsidize this valuable source.)
I wondered why Biden didn't gather the NATO forces to gather together to create some kind of Iron Dome for Ukraine as soon as it was so fiercely bombed from the air by Russia. Of course, it would be expensive, but what are all those lives and that ancient culture worth?
This kind of thing is the pipe dream of the paranoid not to discount the usefulness of the thinking, just not exclusively. Paranoids are handy to have around but not running things. When you need Patton or LeMay or MacArthur, great, but not in charge of the show. They're projectiles. Second Amendment fanatics were always spouting on about self defense, especially against the government, and states' rights and so on.
Look at where we are now. They're on the attack all over the place, in the possession of their delusions, and using the government they now control against the states and going after the elements least capable of defending themselves. All preemptively, also on the legal front. So much for honor but honor cultures are always this way. And those pushing for this discount any other way of thinking as being for idiots and sissies.
I’m fairly certain that at least some of the rowdier protestors are legit, but false flag property damage wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest. These are people who are nihilistically unscrupulous.
I am very concerned about the performative and normalizing nature of what’s occurring. Most of the administration’s most controversial actions are designed to yank the window toward an authoritarian permission structure.
Trump is useful as a constant reminder that society and community are built on norms, consensus and the agreement that we will abide by those things in the interest of the whole. Society and community have rarely been so utterly exposed as the constructs they are, and the average person isn’t used to navigating existential crises.
>would finally deliver on the promise of the Strategic Defense Initiative, a failed Reagan-era missile defense project
Star wars didn't fail. It caused the soviet union to spend a ton of money for which they got nothing. Which was what I understood was it's intended purpose all along.
Given that Trump is not good at diplomacy, and getting things done that he starts that do not directly put money in his pockets, the US defense position is looking less good than it did 6 months ago.
Wondering what is going on with Putin's invitation to Musk to exile in Russia. It appears that being buddies with Putin does not extend to wanting to live in Russia. Hope that Canada and South Africa tell Musk no, he cannot return. Musk feels he can burn bridges because his money will buy him new bridges. I know he has been looking in Tuscany for property. Will Meloni welcome him with open arms or see him as a threat to her own power?
Steve Bannon is as odious as both Musk and Trump but he had a good idea.The golden dome opens the door to a new round of the arms race between the nuclear powers. Having said that, nationalizing Space X, Tesla and Starlink needn’t have any effect on their functional capabilities. You simply replace the CEO and CFO, seize the company’s bank accounts and leave the actual scientists and engineers in place while Elon is deported to whatever country will accept his broke ass.
No doubt Trump won’t follow Bannon’s advice. No doubt the Golden Dome is the boondoggle that you described. The surveillance state marches on. What data does Elon have from DOGE? Only he and god knows.
All I want to see are the pics of Trump with the 13 yo who years ago claimed he raped her. Is she still alive? I imagine that is the thing that is in the Epstein files. Like Prince Andrew with his arm around a girl he claims he never met. The question is, will all of the magats who have defended Trump and defiled his accusers turn on him when they realize who he is? Or will they push that line even further into the muck? They are stuck in that muck so I imagine they will say the girl came onto him, wanted what she got, white trash, etc. Jeez, I hope that the same thing doesn't happen to a person they love.
Sorry I don't give a damn about the golden shower dome.
Trump surely knows how to piss away the money he steals from regular hard-working Americans: an unworkable “golden dome” to protect us from missiles, a grand parade through the streets of Washington DC to celebrate dear leader’s birthday, a violent round-up of hardworking people - many of whom do work that citizens won’t - meanwhile pardoning criminals who were legally
convicted of crimes against our nation, cutting needed health care and other needed benefits to the working poor, etc. etc. etc.
This may not have been what some people thought they voted for, but this is what he promised he would do. And Trump doesn’t care what the law says, he just keeps bulldozing ahead, acting like he’s king of everything. Too many in the media, in corporations, in Congress, in education, in law firms bend the knee in acquiescence. As JVL says, good luck America.
...or as ERMurrow says, Good Night and Good Luck!
and let's not forget the tax payer funded millions that will be required to retrofit his completely unnecessary Qatar vanity plane, which probably won't even be ready for use for another 2.5 years and then, in very short order, it goes directly to HIM ????????? I hate being part of his personal piggy bank. . . . To think of the several opportunities to have stopped all of this that were wasted..... We can only hope that the handful of senators and house reps who still could stop it wake the f up and do the right thing. WE ALL NEED TO BE LEANING ON THEM, AND DAILY!!
Good point!
It could shatter technology and business operations across multiple sectors. Our FAFO humanity is rushing as fast as it can into that FO space.
Bondi’s comments are incredible in their transparency. As with every overreach by this administration you can imagine a scenario where tortured leaders, mindful of both the constitution and security concerns, would feel they had no choice.
Trump and co. take that potentiality, declare the conditions that would support it (national security, crisis [X]) and brazenly abuse emergency powers where no emergency exists.
Keep in mind that we are only months into this term and are already starting to see the first glimmerings of the worst that can happen.
Ruth Ben-Ghiat has been warning for months and months that Trump is setting us up to normalize turning the military on American people as well as deporting citizens. We are watching each step in that direction in horror, but are not clear what we can do to quell this. Big numbers in protests are important. However, now there is the National Guard and perhaps the marines to contend with.
Yesterday Lucian Truscott said that it looked like the people engaging in violence in the LA protests were planted into the crowd to give Trump the kind of photo ops he wants to convince his minions to vote on his side in the mid-terms.
https://open.substack.com/pub/luciantruscott/p/the-worst-of-all-possible-worlds?r=f0qfn&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=web&showWelcomeOnShare=false
Trump is stirring up immigration protesting in the place where more than half the population has immigrant family members, so that he can get the images he wants to be able to show. Not his jackbooted henchmen, but the protesters appearing to be violent.
Musk might have been part of the performance to get people on Trump's side with the Big Bad Bill. Not sure.
I’m fairly certain that at least some of the rowdier protestors are legit, but false flag property damage wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest. These are people who are nihilistically unscrupulous.
I am very concerned about the performative and normalizing nature of what’s occurring. Most of the administration’s most controversial actions are designed to yank the window toward an authoritarian permission structure.
Trump is useful as a constant reminder that society and community are built on norms, consensus and the agreement that we will abide by those things in the interest of the whole. Society and community have rarely been so utterly exposed as the constructs they are, and the average person isn’t used to navigating existential crises.
I don't know what is legit and what is not, but I am worried about the optics. However, Ruth Ben-Ghiat has been preparing us for Trump turning the military on the people. What can we do? Protesting every day is not sustainable for most people indefinitely, which is what Trump is counting on. I see part of Putin's playbook here, but also that of so many authoritarians.
Without Canada's participation it doesn't sound like this will work. Isn't Canada in the middle of purchasing a system from Australia for this exact same purpose?
As usual none of Trump's plans are well thought-out (well, he's deficient in thinking). The renowned expert George Lin says that the Golden Dome "could end up costing taxpayers $831 billion over two decades, according to an estimate from the Congressional Budget Office" and is not likely to ever exist or come to fruition. Do his ramblings make his base and R's feel safe? Thanks for your reporting. (Others, please subsidize this valuable source.)
I wondered why Biden didn't gather the NATO forces to gather together to create some kind of Iron Dome for Ukraine as soon as it was so fiercely bombed from the air by Russia. Of course, it would be expensive, but what are all those lives and that ancient culture worth?
831 billion dollars?? Let me offer one word: diplomacy.
This kind of thing is the pipe dream of the paranoid not to discount the usefulness of the thinking, just not exclusively. Paranoids are handy to have around but not running things. When you need Patton or LeMay or MacArthur, great, but not in charge of the show. They're projectiles. Second Amendment fanatics were always spouting on about self defense, especially against the government, and states' rights and so on.
Look at where we are now. They're on the attack all over the place, in the possession of their delusions, and using the government they now control against the states and going after the elements least capable of defending themselves. All preemptively, also on the legal front. So much for honor but honor cultures are always this way. And those pushing for this discount any other way of thinking as being for idiots and sissies.
That the muskrat ACTUALLY referenced that "poem" is incomprehensible to me. It shows that he is a white South African racist through and through.
I’m fairly certain that at least some of the rowdier protestors are legit, but false flag property damage wouldn’t surprise me in the slightest. These are people who are nihilistically unscrupulous.
I am very concerned about the performative and normalizing nature of what’s occurring. Most of the administration’s most controversial actions are designed to yank the window toward an authoritarian permission structure.
Trump is useful as a constant reminder that society and community are built on norms, consensus and the agreement that we will abide by those things in the interest of the whole. Society and community have rarely been so utterly exposed as the constructs they are, and the average person isn’t used to navigating existential crises.
>would finally deliver on the promise of the Strategic Defense Initiative, a failed Reagan-era missile defense project
Star wars didn't fail. It caused the soviet union to spend a ton of money for which they got nothing. Which was what I understood was it's intended purpose all along.
Given that Trump is not good at diplomacy, and getting things done that he starts that do not directly put money in his pockets, the US defense position is looking less good than it did 6 months ago.
Wondering what is going on with Putin's invitation to Musk to exile in Russia. It appears that being buddies with Putin does not extend to wanting to live in Russia. Hope that Canada and South Africa tell Musk no, he cannot return. Musk feels he can burn bridges because his money will buy him new bridges. I know he has been looking in Tuscany for property. Will Meloni welcome him with open arms or see him as a threat to her own power?
Brilliant.. thank you
Steve Bannon is as odious as both Musk and Trump but he had a good idea.The golden dome opens the door to a new round of the arms race between the nuclear powers. Having said that, nationalizing Space X, Tesla and Starlink needn’t have any effect on their functional capabilities. You simply replace the CEO and CFO, seize the company’s bank accounts and leave the actual scientists and engineers in place while Elon is deported to whatever country will accept his broke ass.
Nationalizing SpaceX and Starlink are fantasies...at best, Trump can divert federal funding to these entities.
The Golden Dome is a way to grab data and taxpayer dollars, trading on Trump's lifelong obsession with nuclear war.
We'll be living in a full-blown Thiel-driven surveillance state years before a functional Dome system is designed, much less built.
No doubt Trump won’t follow Bannon’s advice. No doubt the Golden Dome is the boondoggle that you described. The surveillance state marches on. What data does Elon have from DOGE? Only he and god knows.
All I want to see are the pics of Trump with the 13 yo who years ago claimed he raped her. Is she still alive? I imagine that is the thing that is in the Epstein files. Like Prince Andrew with his arm around a girl he claims he never met. The question is, will all of the magats who have defended Trump and defiled his accusers turn on him when they realize who he is? Or will they push that line even further into the muck? They are stuck in that muck so I imagine they will say the girl came onto him, wanted what she got, white trash, etc. Jeez, I hope that the same thing doesn't happen to a person they love.
Sorry I don't give a damn about the golden shower dome.