hotspur
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515·3 months agoI’d imagine for the same reasons that people study the past and try and understand how events unfold. People still mention the name Chamberlain when discussing the rise of the third reich for instance.
When Snowden released his collection of files way back when, he made the argument that the panopticon that was being built wasn’t being used in the worst way at the time of his decision to whistleblow. But his point was that the construction of such tools could not be justified based on their eventual use by a worse form of American govt.
When the liberal mainstream—and this includes Biden, major media, and most other center/center-left politicians and pundits over the last year and a half—presided over the framing of anti-semitism as the act of being critical of Israeli govt actions and supported that govt in a year long punishment campaign to destroy an ethnic group, they normalized the positions that are now being used to deport green card holders and leverage higher ed into submission. Free speech on this issue was fought over last year, and generally, the anti-free speech side won.
It doesn’t necessarily mean they’re worse, or even equal in vileness to the current admin, but it is a point worth recognizing. Enshrining Trump, as horrid as he is, as an exception may be comforting, but it removes the broader narrative that brought our present about. If we don’t work to understand this sequence with clear eyed judgment, our resistance to it will likely fail.
“Scientist” as a general concept doesn’t have an inherent positive or negative value. Some scientists have invented things that saved lives or expanded our understanding of the universe. Others experimented on prisoners, or developed addicting drugs for big pharma. Personally I’d say scientists are more likely to resemble the first, not the second, but what defines the value is not the profession, but the actions they take as individuals.
His comment appeared to describe the issues with approval of scientists as a baseline, when the capitalist system they’re trapped within has other incentives and agendas. It’s a point one can certainly disagree with, but it is a coherent argument.
If one cannot learn from history, it will repeat. The actions that led to this moment are important to understand if one wants to be able to counter them and avoid them in the future.
Yeah ok, so similar MO to the other pay in and get your case squashed schemes that trump has been running. The corruption dial has really been turned to 11 I guess.
So, did this guy also buy millions of world liberty financial governance coins?
A.) this is a joke right? B.) amusing they think there’s gonna be a viable election in 2028
Uh huh, but worth it to who? So far all we’ve heard is some vague existential nonsense about how they have to implode the economy in order to save the economy. Based on the messaging I’ve heard all my life, “stagflation”is one of the least desirable economic modes to have under capitalism.
If we believe that the democrats didn’t properly recognize or hear the very real economic anxiety that Americans felt prior to the election, and that that disconnect in part contributed to their failure, I think we might also assume that Americans as a whole will not simply “take his word for it” that they should become homeless in order to drive crypto prices up.
When they were selling DOGE during the campaign, the pitch was they’d have a year or something to do their thing. The EO might have it spelled out can’t recall. But they also said they would just be an advisory group? Not insider threat hackers and political commissars at the top of every agency. Not sure why they are sweating a time limit since they dont care about any other law, regulation or protocol. I guess if they don’t deliver enough, Trump won’t do another EO extending their presence? They’re literally reworking agency stuff so that the DOGE staff have to sign off on commissioners actions, hiring etc so are they just going to revert that once the clock strikes midnight for DOGE?
I suppose the idea is that the admin wants to lock in all the creepy shit from project 2025 prior to mid terms since they know that all of it will end up being wildly unpopular and will result in republican losses in congress and potentially gridlock from that point forward… but again, their playbook essentially calls for the end of democracy, so why are they sweating something like the midterms…
That’s not how they’re doing it. They’re just slashing anything they don’t understand, entire departments. There are many interdependent systems and each uncalibrated attack brings them closer to failure/disruption.
There is no careful analysis about “people not doing their jobs” going on here.
Private equity has arrived for the federal govt.
I suspect amongst other things, this is probably a major reason Bernie is doing this tour—to demonstrate how a sane and worker-forward progressive populist message brings in a strong coalition of voters, even in states that the democrats write off as deplorable. I’m skeptical that it will change their minds, but it’s once again a reminder that continuing to shill a neo-liberal status quo message is a losing game.
To everyone pointing out that he won’t be charged, OP’s question was can he be charged. Yes we get that it’s unlikely given the current configuration of us gov’t, but do his actions meet the basic requirements? Yes, absolutely.
That said, most billionaires probably meet the definition.
They have been uniquely open about their plans to make economic experience worst for most people, but even so, I still suspect it will end up badly for them. We might say “hey the voters were informed” but a.) they almost certainly assumed that it would not be them who felt pain and b.) the voting public as a mass consciousness tends to operate on fairly simple stimulus-response dynamics, and the most important of those dynamics is the “feel bad about economy> vote out incumbent” pathway. So basically just, you can be honest about nuking the economy and promise some promised land on the other side, but if said promise land does not materialize well before elections, you’re probably cooked.
The people they’re discussing are on a detail loan from another agency, so they’re just going back to their original posts with their parent agencies. Whole thing is still shitty and stupid, but there’s been clear messaging that they’re going to rotate all of them regardless, so probably not worth resisting, you just go back to your original job.
Well but who decides that they’re our adversary, if not things like the president and the state department and other elements of the executive? Congress could put up a stink, but they certainly haven’t yet and they’re even more tilted in trumps favor right now. The president also commands the military, so Trump could literally just say, we’re friends with Russia now and we are turning our back on NATO and Ukraine and that would now be the paradigm. Kinda fucks my brain over but honestly who’s a friend and who’s an enemy is something very fluid and can simply change…
Yeah I mean there are sooo many products that this would affect, but for instance this is kinda like applying a 10-25% cost increase to residential construction, including multi-family structures. So much of the lumber used in the construction industry comes from Canada. We have our own production in the US, but this will drive the price up across the board whether it’s foreign or domestic source, I don’t think we have enough production to meet demand.
Add in some forest fires that we are definitely going to see going forward, and it could be pretty rough on housing pricing.
I feel like we’ve had tariffs on Canadian lumber in the past and they took us to the WTO over it.
Yeah why would he even want to do this. He makes milllions doing drugs on new-tv.
This is what my wife keeps saying, with certainty. I thought it was weird at first, but then I remember that he had that protective order specifically because of the strong threat of violence to him if he was deported back… to the country they sent him to.
I am hoping it’s not the case, and that this is just them wanting to avoid having to back down, but it really wouldn’t have been a big blow to them to bring one person back.