Chit-Chat: The Feels

[Lugal]

1 hour ago, tearknee said:

Most white working class guys without degrees voted for him in '16 (ironically, they are the supposed 'engine of the socialist revolution').

My mistake.  I double checked and saw that 60% of white working class men did vote for him in 2016, but they made up only 30% of his winning coalition.

[bluegirl147]

38 minutes ago, Anela said:

When trump says that he loves the uneducated, it isn't a compliment. 

The uneducated do think it's a compliment.

16 minutes ago, fastiller said:

Misogyny & Racism make one hell of a team!

I'm not saying every Republican is a racist or misogynist.  However from where I sit it sure does seem like a majority of racists and misogynists are Republicans.

20 minutes ago, Anela said:

Why were white men just expected to go for Trump?

We heard a lot of theories. One was they liked him because he slept with beautiful women.  One was he got away with things they wanted to get away with.  I can only speak for myself and I say this as a white woman the only people I fear are white men with MAGA hats or shirts.

 

[bluegirl147]

4 minutes ago, Dimity said:

Gee when was the last time we heard one of the Obama, Bush, Clinton, Carter, Biden, Regan, Kennedy, Johnson, Nixon.... children threatening fellow Americans?  Hmm, never?

Well RFK Jr is threatening us with all the "good" things he wants to do for us.

[Turquoise]

20 minutes ago, heatherchandler said:

I’m in Hinsdale, IL.  So a pocket of red in a blue state.  I’ve only seen civilized discussion on FB.  I saw both Trump and Harris signs.  I guess I’m lucky it’s a very non-confrontational area.  Everyone is pretty respectful.  Maybe that’s why I cannot understand the hate from both sides.  It is clear that both Fox and msnbc is stoking the fires.

Well hey neighbor(ish)...same state, completely different end. :)

I'm glad there are areas where conversations can still be held. There's a good chunk of people around here that believe in the myth of They...They are trying to <insert whatever conspiracy here>. You can't convince them there is no They. It's an immediate you're anti-American/support the deep state/something about George Soros. A lot of people still parrot the stolen election line. I spent most of my childhood in this region, so I was still in touch with a lot of people here while living in TN. I saw that stupid Muslim Prayer Curtains meme shared all over, and I was shocked at some of the people passing it around. Also the photoshopped ones of Michelle Obama claiming to "prove" she's a man. People that I truly thought knew better than to get involved in that nonsense. The past decade has been really disheartening. I've seen ugliness in places I wasn't aware it existed.

[Dimity]

11 minutes ago, bluegirl147 said:

Well RFK Jr is threatening us with all the "good" things he wants to do for us.

While I miss my late grandmother very much I am so glad she didn't live to see the son of one of her heroes turn out like RFK Jr. has.

[Dimity]

[bluegirl147]

8 minutes ago, Turquoise said:

People that I truly thought knew better than to get involved in that nonsense.

Remember about 6 years ago when that whole Wayfair Furniture thing that people were sharing?  They (meaning lunatics) were saying the furniture company was trafficking children.  That the names of the furniture were code names for children.  There was the whole Save the Children meme being shared and my own daughter in law got mad at me because I wouldn't share it. She said don't you care about the children. In her mind if you didn't believe this you were supporting child trafficking.  Then of course as with most conspiracy theories it simply went away and nobody admits to every believing it.

 

4 minutes ago, Dimity said:

Those Colombians are going to be safer in Colombia.

[peacheslatour]

Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth on Sunday said the removal of Tuskegee Airmen videos and curriculum about the Tuskegee Airmen from its military instruction curriculum “has been immediately reversed.”

Hegesth posted the comment in response to concerns from U.S. Sen. Katie Britt about “malicious compliance we’ve seen in recent days.”

“We’re all over it Senator. This will not stand,” Hegseth posted in response to Britt’s social media comments. “This will not stand.”

[Milk-Eyed Mender]

Right out of the Trump playbook: something is not a problem, Trump invents a problem, Trump solves the problem by returning that something to its pre-problem status, declares victory, maga eats it up. 

Lord, do I hate this timeline.

 

 

[Dimity]

Anyone else on FB today finding post after stupid post about some big name celebrity leaving America and never coming back?  You'd think the bots would at least try to be subtle.

[Anela]

1 minute ago, Dimity said:

Anyone else on FB today finding post after stupid post about some big name celebrity leaving America and never coming back?  You'd think the bots would at least try to be subtle.

No, but I saw several of them last month, and in November.  

[Dimity]

1 minute ago, Anela said:

No, but I saw several of them last month, and in November.  

Today has been crazy with posts from the Trumpers.* Usually there's some balance and some days there is nothing at all.  Those are the best days.

*unsolicited needless to say.  Zuckerberg, you slay me.  I'm already half way out the door this is not keeping me loyal.

Edited Monday at 08:35 PM by Dimity

[Anela]

16 minutes ago, Dimity said:

Today has been crazy with posts from the Trumpers.* Usually there's some balance and some days there is nothing at all.  Those are the best days.

*unsolicited needless to say.  Zuckerberg, you slay me.  I'm already half way out the door this is not keeping me loyal.

I just keep seeing pages that I don’t follow.  That stopped for a while, until zuck released that video.  

[peacheslatour]

Elizabeth Warren gets it. I wanted her in 2016. Just think where we would be now if that had happened.

 

Donald Trump vowed to slash grocery prices as soon as he took office, yet he has barely addressed the cost of food in the whirlwind of executive orders he signed in his first week, Sen. Elizabeth Warren and other Democratic lawmakers wrote in a searing letter.

The letter, addressed to Trump, accuses the president of backtracking on a campaign promise to lower supermarket bills starting on Day 1 of his term.

“During your campaign, you repeatedly promised you would lower food prices ‘immediately’ if elected president,” read the letter, which was sent to Trump on Sunday evening and shared first with NBC News. “But during your first week of office you have instead focused on mass deportations and pardoning January 6 attackers.”

[PRgal]

22 minutes ago, Dimity said:

Anyone else on FB today finding post after stupid post about some big name celebrity leaving America and never coming back?  You'd think the bots would at least try to be subtle.

Not seeing this.  And no, I can't completely stay away from Zuck's companies because my parent reps communicate with the entire grade on WhatsApp.  Plus I own shares and I don't want to sell, knowing that he's going to suck up to whoever is in office in 2028 and beyond.

[anony.miss]

3 hours ago, PRgal said:

 I’ve read so many articles on how misogyny in this part of the world is due to colonialism (so not specifically White, Anglo-Protestant males)

But colonialism in Canada/U.S. was driven by white, Anglo Saxon men (like Sir John A in Canada, Founding Fathers here) and misogyny was a core concept in colonialism - even with a female monarch, the British empire was happy to hold women down (unable to own property, inherit estates, vote, etc etc) and  the Founders couldn't stand to give women the vote (so much for Abigail Adam's request that her husband "Remember the ladies.") The U.S. started as a property of the crown, so those values infiltrated much of this country's history, imo  (manifest destiny = empire building).

Quote

 It often ignores cultures of people whose families have been in the new country for fewer than 100 years.  Most of these people still have deep connections in one way or another to their ancestral homelands and their cultures.

What's interesting is that a majority of Asian American voters aged sixty-five plus (elders who might have a more profound connection to traditional values from the homeland) voted overwhelmingly for Harris:

Given Trump's attempts to paint this election as him winning thevote of most POC,  I think it's important to acknowledge that the majority of  "non white people" voted for a "non white candidate"  in 2024 (African Americans, Asian Americans, Latino or Hispanic Americans, etc). Only Cubans went for Trump:

"Cuban Americans were the only one in which over half of voters chose Trump, as they went for him by a decisive 58 percent. Mexican Americans—by far the largest Latino community in the country—only went 33 percent for Trump, with Puerto Ricans at 37 percent and Central Americans at 36 percent.

https://newrepublic.com/post/188203/latino-vote-trump-harris-2024-election-data-breakdown

As a white woman, it pains me to say it, but:  white men/white women were the voting blocs that decided that a convicted felon and rapist was fit to be president. Misogyny and internalized misogyny, served up with racism.

Edited Monday at 09:26 PM by anony.miss

[peacheslatour]

2 minutes ago, anony.miss said:

But colonialism in this part of the world was perpetrated by white, Anglo Saxon men (like Sir John A in Canada, Founding Fathers here) and misogyny was a core concept in colonialism - even with a female monarch, the British empire was happy to hold women down (unable to own property, inherit estates, vote, etc etc) and  the Founders couldn't stand to give women the vote (so much for Abigail Adam's request that her husband "Remember the ladies".) The U.S. started as a property of the crown, so those values infiltrated much of this country's history, imo  (manifest destiny = empire building).

What's interesting is that a majority of Asian American voters aged sixty-five plus (elders who might have a more profound connection to traditional values from the homeland) voted overwhelmingly for Harris:

Given Trump's attempts to paint this election as him winning thevote of most POC,  I think it's important to acknowledge that the majority of  "non white people" voted for a "non white candidate"  in 2024 (African Americans, Asian Americans, Latino or Hispanic Americans, etc). Only Cubans went for Trump:

"Cuban Americans were the only one in which over half of voters chose Trump, as they went for him by a decisive 58 percent. Mexican Americans—by far the largest Latino community in the country—only went 33 percent for Trump, with Puerto Ricans at 37 percent and Central Americans at 36 percent.

https://newrepublic.com/post/188203/latino-vote-trump-harris-2024-election-data-breakdown

As a white woman, it pains me to say it, but:  white men/white women were the voting blocs that decided that a convicted felon and rapist was fit to be president. Misogyny and internalized misogyny, served up with racism.

Cuban ex pats have been constantly conservative. Some are waking up.

 

[PRgal]

Just now, peacheslatour said:

Cuban ex pats have been constantly conservative. Some are waking up.

 

You mean immigrants.  Expats go to a country temporarily for work and then return.  If I work in the UK or Japan on a visa because some company hires me, then I’m an expat.  If I move to either, intending to stay for the rest of my life, then I am an immigrants. 

[Dimity]

9 minutes ago, peacheslatour said:

Some are waking up.

I know we should be glad about this but seriously, what the hell?  So they were fine with every damn thing he did prior to right now?  Sigh.

[peacheslatour]

2 minutes ago, Dimity said:

I know we should be glad about this but seriously, what the hell?  So they were fine with every damn thing he did prior to right now?  Sigh.

I'm so tired of saying  we told you so.

[Ohiopirate02]

2 minutes ago, Dimity said:

I know we should be glad about this but seriously, what the hell?  So they were fine with every damn thing he did prior to right now?  Sigh.

The Cuban community in Miami was originally made up of those who fled Cuba right when Fidel Castro took power. For decades they lived under the shared delusion that once Fidel died they would be able to move back to Cuba to reclaim their birthright.

[Anela]

7 minutes ago, Avaleigh said:

So...does anyone want to tell Eric that the expression is 'toe the line' not 'toe the line'?

I wonder how many trump supporters agreed with his threatening us to do as we’re told, or else.  But they voted for “freedom”. 🙄

[peacheslatour]

4 minutes ago, Anela said:

I wonder how many trump supporters agreed with his threatening us to do as we’re told, or else.  But they voted for “freedom”. 🙄

I know rightwing news media is responsible for a lot of this utter ignorance but didn't they even listen to their candidate? He said he was gonna.

[Anela]

Trump justice department fires officials who worked for prosecutor Jack Smith

Quote

Acting attorney general reportedly says officials could not be trusted to ‘faithfully implement president’s agenda’

They’re supposed to work for all of us, not fulfill his agenda, but here we go…

[Dimity]

1 hour ago, Anela said:

Trump justice department fires officials who worked for prosecutor Jack Smith

They’re supposed to work for all of us, not fulfill his agenda, but here we go…

Trump can't risk having anyone actually prepared to follow the law. You have elected a mob boss, they have their own lawyers. Bought and paid for.

[Annber03]

14 hours ago, tearknee said:

Calling people brainwashed and manipulated isn't really helpful when you want to convince them to crawl out of the abyss that they have fallen into.

Except they are, though? I'm not going to shy away from stating facts just because it might make somebody all huffy and upset. 

And besides that, I wasn't even using that as an example of something to say to Trump supporters, rather, I was simply pointing out that to boil it down to Trump supporters feeling alienated by the "academic elite" and that's supposedly why a lot of them went for Trump just seems to ignore all the other variables and reasons why they went for him. 

But again, though, we've got immigrants being depiorted in shameful and horrific ways right now. We've got women losing the ability to control their own bodies, and some women have died because of these bans and restrictions on reproductive rights. We have transgender people's rights under threat, and kids being told what books they are and aren't allowed to read in school. We have a party in power that continues to look the other way and do fuck all when a mass shooting happens. Said party also runs rampant with racist/xenophobic conspiracy theories and is cozying up to billionaires who are out here doing full on Nazi salutes. 

So yeah, I'm REALLY not all that concerned about Trump supporters having their feelings hurt by someone calling them "white trash", or "brainwashed" or things of that sort. If they're tired of being called those things, then maybe they need to stop supporting shitty people and policies that hurt those around them. 

People have spent the last decade trying to be nice and explain things to Trump supporters. Repeatedly. Many of us here have family members and friends who've been sucked down the Trump wormhole and we've all had moments of trying to reach out to them, without insults or mockery. 

It hasn't done shit. The Trump supporters just continue to dig in their heels and ignore any and all evidence and facts that prove whatever nonsense they believe to be untrue, and they pride themselves on being cruel and bullying others and "owning the libs" and so on. 

So at this point, the rest of us are just flat out  tired. And we're angry. And we are out of patience and understanding. Again, I do not deny that the left needs to figure out a good messaging campaign, if only to try and combat the rampant misinformation that's out there. 

But at some point, Trump supporters need to stop blaming everyone and everything else for why they voted for Trump. They're happy to cheer him on when he does all this crazy stuff, they can own their voting for him, too, instead of trying to act like they had no choice because some people were a little "mean" to them. No, they had a choice, and they made it, and now they have to deal with the consequences of it, up to and including people's responses and reactions to their supporting someone like him. 

[peacheslatour]

Here are the 7 Democrats who voted to confirm Kristi Noem as Secretary of Homeland Security. Vote accordingly.

Sen. John Fetterman (PA) (are we surprised)

Sen. Maggie Hassan (N.H.) 

Sen. Tim Kaine (Va.) (kinda sad about this one)

Sen. Andy Kim (N.J.) 

Sen. Gary Peters (Mich.)

Sen. Jeanne Shaheen (N.H.)

Sen. Elissa Slotkin (Mich.) 

[Dimity]

As long as we have Trump supporters, here and elsewhere, sneering and laughing when we voice our concerns I am not too worried that they are sitting back sad about having their feelings hurt. They have more than demonstrated that they don't care.

Edited Monday at 11:47 PM by Dimity

[peacheslatour]

3 minutes ago, Dimity said:

As long as we have Trump supporters, here and elsewhere, sneering and laughing when we voice out concerns I am not too worried that they are sitting back sad about having their feelings hurt. They have more than demonstrated that they don't care.

Yep. I don't feel bad about it and I hope they all get what they so richly deserve from this administration.

[Dimity]

[Browncoat]

21 minutes ago, peacheslatour said:

Sen. Tim Kaine (Va.) (kinda sad about this one)

This one makes me incredibly sad. 

[PRgal]

Today is Holocaust Remembrance Day.   

Edited Tuesday at 01:14 AM by PRgal

[peacheslatour]

This is going to set us back into the fucking stone age.

The National Science Foundation canceled all of its grant review panels this week, as the organization works to align its grantmaking process with new executive orders from the Trump administration.

Public Health

Under communications freeze, CDC updates some important health data but not others

The NSF funds a wide range of scientific research through grants to universities and research institutions. It convenes panels of experts to weigh the merits of those proposals, ultimately informing which receive federal funding. It has a budget of around $9 billion.

Shots - Health News

The FDA pulls key DEI initiative for cancer studies from its website

More than 60 of those meetings were scheduled for this week, all of which were abruptly canceled Monday morning. The move sparked confusion among panelists as to the extent of the pause. In a statement to NPR, an NSF spokesperson said that all review panels will be rescheduled. "This will allow the agency to make the best use of everyone's time and resources as we continue to develop guidance to ensure compliance with the recent executive orders."

 

 

[Annber03]

Can somebody, anybody, PLEASE come in and put a stop to this insanity already? Please? 

[Absolom]

NIH has cancelled, too. As have most other agencies. 

[Lantern7]

One week. One week of this jerk, approximately 207 to go. That is, if we’re lucky.

[Annber03]

Like I've said before, that's what I don't get about people voting for him again. Aren't you all exhausted now? Setting aside the horrific nature of everything he and his administration are doing, how the fuck are people not just beyond TIRED of him at this point? 

[Lantern7]

On 11/6/2024 at 3:09 AM, Annber03 said:

For as long as I live, I will never understand the hold this guy has over people. 

I saw this in the "most viewed" category. I have a theory: I think he might have a superpower. Basically, if you spend enough time around him, you become subservient to him. Lets say Clark Kent gets an exclusive interview with him for the Daily Planet, and that lasts about 2-3 hours. The next day, Superman would be grabbing anyone that "doesn't look American" and throwing them over the US/Mexico border. And I mean that he'd do it as far away as from Minnesota. Grab a guy, yeet them in the direction of south, they bounce harmlessly ten feet past the border.

I've had that theory in my head for ages. If none of you think it's funny, I wouldn't blame you. I just want to make sense as to why so many people get into bed with this guy, even as everyone can see the crabs crawling from underneath the blanket.

Edited Tuesday at 05:35 AM by Lantern7

[Yeah No]

13 hours ago, bluegirl147 said:

Not necessarily.  Democrats especially those running in swing state/districts try to appeal to Republican voters in hopes of winning.  But doing so can and does alienate Democrats.  I remember back in 2009 when the ACA was coming together Democratic House members were reluctant to go home and do town halls about it because the Tea Party was protesting it. Of course now it's popular but if Dems had embraced back then people would have been more receptive to it. 

I don't think either Hillary or Kamala did enough to appeal to the other side, and what they did was weak and didn't come across, unfortunately. Admittedly it would have been an uphill battle at best. I don't know if anything they could have done would have been effective at appealing to them. They both already had one strike against them in being women, and Kamala two in also being Black.

12 hours ago, PRgal said:

I think it's time to admit that EVERYONE is a victim of SOMETHING, regardless of ethnic heritage, gender, religion or socio-economic background.  Or whatever else I'm missing.  No one is completely NOT a target.  I'm seeing that with the narrow view of masculinity compared to femininity, for example.  And yes, even middle class/wealthy Anglo-Protestant, hetero cisgender males can be targets (see narrow definition).  

I agree with you that even middle class/wealthy WASP hetero males can be victims in specific situations, but it depends on the situation. People tend to paint with too broad a brush so it's an unpopular opinion. Or their attitude is "cry me a river" because of all the other advantages they have that others don't.

12 hours ago, heatherchandler said:

I’ve heard a lot and it’s very positive.  Are you talking about people you know or the news?  The right is celebrating.  I don’t talk politics with friends but all the Trump voters I know who post of FB, etc are expressing joy.  They are saying that he’s “getting things done.”  I am not a Trump supporter but I watch right and left news and am friends with right and left-leaning people.  

I did explain in my post that I am talking about the people that were basically undecided or independent and voted for Trump based on one issue they thought he could solve for them better than Harris. Many of them were "low information voters" and definitely not MAGA or part of Trump's core base. Some of them were Democrats that for one reason or another didn't like Harris. These are the people that when polled on the street said they voted for Trump because they thought he would be able to bring down prices. They may not have voted for him in past elections. I know people in this category in my personal life. I know some on Facebook that have been unusually quiet in the past week. Although @peacheslatour posted about a Cuban person that appeared to admit to some regret. My best friend voted for Trump this time and also has expressed some regret already. But most people in that category have been very quiet and likely are not ready to admit that they made a mistake. And some may never be ready.

11 hours ago, Lugal said:

The Democrats' problem is they largely abandoned class analysis to focus on identity politics, which is why the Republicans always attack them as "woke".  And they've also been captured by wealthy elites.

I agree and that was a big mistake in my opinion. I notice, though, and have read articles to confirm that Harris and the Dem. candidates in general have backed away from identity politics in recent years because they know that even many moderate Democrats are not crazy about it.

10 hours ago, heatherchandler said:

I’m in Hinsdale, IL.  So a pocket of red in a blue state.  I’ve only seen civilized discussion on FB.  I saw both Trump and Harris signs.  I guess I’m lucky it’s a very non-confrontational area.  Everyone is pretty respectful.  Maybe that’s why I cannot understand the hate from both sides.  It is clear that both Fox and msnbc is stoking the fires.

Another case in which I can use one of my favorite expressions: "Oh honey, you and I have lead different lives". 😉

I live in a very blue state (CT) and there are small pockets of red here, but the level of vitriol online toward Democrats from Trump supporting Republicans here would make you think there were far more of them than there are. 

And the tirades of hate I see on FB are another example. And stories told by friends who've had to endure hearing such conflicts at family gatherings, etc. Definitely not civilized discussion.

10 hours ago, Lugal said:

My mistake.  I double checked and saw that 60% of white working class men did vote for him in 2016, but they made up only 30% of his winning coalition.

Thanks, you saved me a long post complete with links to statistics, LOL.

[tearknee]

11 hours ago, PRgal said:

This.  It often ignores cultures of people whose families have been in the new country for fewer than 100 years.  Most of these people still have deep connections in one way or another to their ancestral homelands and their cultures.  There's also the ignorance of these cultures' histories and I am tired of hearing that cultures' misogyny is related to colonialism.  It's not always based on that, and to say that it ALWAYS is dismisses/ignores, say, the 3,500+ history of Confucianism.  

Exactly. If they can't blame the West, they don't care. Muslims killing other Muslims in the Islamic world or the old liberation groups being the ever-government in much of post-colonial Africa is not concerning to them.

 

[Spartan Girl]

5 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

I saw this in the "most viewed" category. I have a theory: I think he might have a superpower. Basically, if you spend enough time around him, you become subservient to him. Lets say Clark Kent gets an exclusive interview with him for the Daily Planet, and that lasts about 2-3 hours. The next day, Superman would be grabbing anyone that "doesn't look American" and throwing them over the US/Mexico border. And I mean that he'd do it as far away as from Minnesota. Grab a guy, yeet them in the direction of south, they bounce harmlessly ten feet past the border.

I've had that theory in my head for ages. If none of you think it's funny, I wouldn't blame you. I just want to make sense as to why so many people get into bed with this guy, even as everyone can see the crabs crawling from underneath the blanket.

Snoop Dog went from “Fuck Trump” to going full red hat. But I’d like to think Superman is made of stronger stuff than that.

[CM-BlueButterfly]

Hi everyone, 

just a quick drop-in with a friendly reminder to please provide a link when you post excerpts of an article, a press release or other cited information. Publications should always be sourced to give credit and so that anyone who wishes to can read the article, press release etc in its entirety. 

Thank you.

 

 

[Macbeth1966]

They are well on their way to dismantling the Federal Government.  

This is a tweet from someone who works at OPM - 

https://twitter.com/RachelBitecofer/status/1884061500882706884

“OPM employee here, we are not the bad guys. I'm a current employee at the Office of Personnel Management (OPM). This is a throwaway account for obvious reasons. I'm posting this because people need to know what's going on at OPM. I've been an OPM employee for nearly a decade and a Federal Employee for almost 20 years. I've never witnessed anything even remotely close to what's happening right now. In short, there's a hostile takeover of the federal civil service. Let me say this in no uncertain terms - OPM has been compromised and taken over. The very backbone of American Government, the HR of all HR in the U.S. Government has been taken over by outside politicals. In just five days, they managed to push aside dozens of non-political, career civil servants who were there specifically to prevent the civil service from becoming the President's henchmen.

The current Acting Director, Charles (Chuck) Ezell is a low-level branch chief. He's the friendliest "yes man" you'll ever meet. He never says no. It's clear they pushed aside all the high-level non political civil servants who refused to do Donald Trump's bidding, until they found Chuck.

Under his name, they've sent numerous request-all the agencies to collect information on gov't employees that they see as a threat to their agenud. Instructions say to send these lists to Amanda Scales Rut Amanda is not actually an OPM employee. Under his name, they've sent numerous requests to all the agencies to collect information on gov't employees that they see as a threat to their agenda. Instructions say to send these lists to Amanda Scales. But Amanda is not actually an OPM employee, she works for Elon Musk.

She wasn't even properly cleared by OPM Personnel Security. Our CIO, Melvin Brown, (also a non political career public servant) was pushed aside just one week into his tenure because he refused to setup email lists to send out direct communications to all career civil servants. Such communications are normally left up to each agency. Instead, an on-prem (on-site) email server was setup. Someone literally walked into our building and plugged in an email server to our network to make it appear that emails were coming from OPM. It's been the one sending those various "test" message you've all seen. We think they're building a massive email list of all federal employees to generate mass RIF notices down the road.

The non-political civil servants here at OPM are watching helplessly as our government is being systematically dismantled bit by bit. Even the IGs are being fired to prevent them from investigating the numerous whistleblower complaints we've filed. Please share this and tell the world that OPM is not the bad guy. We're just as helpless to stop this as the rest of our fellow public servants. Hopefully someone out there can help us, but it's looking pretty grim.”

Edited Tuesday at 01:12 PM by Macbeth1966

[EtheltoTillie]

10 hours ago, peacheslatour said:

This is going to set us back into the fucking stone age.

The National Science Foundation canceled all of its grant review panels this week, as the organization works to align its grantmaking process with new executive orders from the Trump administration.

Public Health

Under communications freeze, CDC updates some important health data but not others

The NSF funds a wide range of scientific research through grants to universities and research institutions. It convenes panels of experts to weigh the merits of those proposals, ultimately informing which receive federal funding. It has a budget of around $9 billion.

Shots - Health News

The FDA pulls key DEI initiative for cancer studies from its website

More than 60 of those meetings were scheduled for this week, all of which were abruptly canceled Monday morning. The move sparked confusion among panelists as to the extent of the pause. In a statement to NPR, an NSF spokesperson said that all review panels will be rescheduled. "This will allow the agency to make the best use of everyone's time and resources as we continue to develop guidance to ensure compliance with the recent executive orders."

 

 

Yup. My husband works at a major medical school/hospital center. People don’t know what to do. 

7 hours ago, Lantern7 said:

I saw this in the "most viewed" category. I have a theory: I think he might have a superpower. Basically, if you spend enough time around him, you become subservient to him. Lets say Clark Kent gets an exclusive interview with him for the Daily Planet, and that lasts about 2-3 hours. The next day, Superman would be grabbing anyone that "doesn't look American" and throwing them over the US/Mexico border. And I mean that he'd do it as far away as from Minnesota. Grab a guy, yeet them in the direction of south, they bounce harmlessly ten feet past the border.

I've had that theory in my head for ages. If none of you think it's funny, I wouldn't blame you. I just want to make sense as to why so many people get into bed with this guy, even as everyone can see the crabs crawling from underneath the blanket.

FWIW I was amazed to see how subservient all the people were around him last week during the California Fire meeting. 

[Annber03]

So much for all the assurances that the guardrails would hold. There's got to be a way to push back on and stop this, this is insane. And frightening. 

Edited Tuesday at 01:29 PM by Annber03

[Ohiopirate02]

3 minutes ago, Annber03 said:

So much for all the assurances that the guardrails would hold. There's got to be a way to push back on and stop this, this is insane. And frightening. 

What the Dems need to do is get together and read every single item listed in Project 2025 and plan on how to counter the stuff that has not happened yet. Because everything Trump has done since last Monday is straight from that playbook, so he's telling us what his next moves are going to be.

[tearknee]

The GOP: "THE USA! IS! ALL! MIIINE!"

The rest: 

[EtheltoTillie]

30 minutes ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

What the Dems need to do is get together and read every single item listed in Project 2025 and plan on how to counter the stuff that has not happened yet. Because everything Trump has done since last Monday is straight from that playbook, so he's telling us what his next moves are going to be.

I told people about this and they wouldn't listen or they didn't care.  The biggest thing I took away from reading Project 2025 last year was the promise to take over the federal agency system.  You could see what chaos this would sow, but no one paid attention or just didn't understand.  Grr. 

[DrSpaceman73]

The other thing I've come to believe is those that did vote for him have a false sense of the danger he poses to the country and seem to be in denial about his plans

One person stated while hes not a fan he didnt like harris andd feels like trump is  no worse than many past presidents. 

Another just tends to vote republucan and doesn't believe the he will be as bad for the country as democrats claim. 

They seem to be in denial in other words about how bad he could be for the country and seem to think the party and system will keep him from doing major long term damage.  Or just feel like the potential danger from him is exaggerated.

I think they're completely wrong and naive, but seems to be the thinking 

Despite liking to complain about the government, the two party system and who is in office Americans seem to have a 'or can't happen here ' view of a any major power grab towards loss of democracy and real choice.  Each step of the way by trump they justify and rationalize and are just in denial about what a shit show this could become quickly.  

Major powers eventually fall and often fall quickly.  

Edited Tuesday at 03:15 PM by DrSpaceman73

[PRgal]

Some probably thought he'd be just like v1.  But 2.0 is extreme.  I'm now reading that some people of Hispanic descent are encouraged to carry passports or their birth certificates with them at all times, just in case.  In fact, one mom/food influencer has a post on what to do if officials arrive at your house.

Edited Tuesday at 03:20 PM by PRgal