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Chit-Chat: The Feels


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(edited)
5 hours ago, Soapy Goddess said:

That makes no sense at all. He renamed it Gulf of AMERICA because he loves America! Not because he hates Mexico. And before you (or anyone else) replies with the usual pat answer...as many here have pointed out, criminals are entering the U.S. from ALL parts of world, not just Mexico.

That's a little too oddly specific a change for me not to think there was a deeper motive behind it. Trump doesn't do anything just because he "loves America" or that can't also have a positive spin put on it. It's his way of having the part of his base with a conscience that wants to believe he's well intended not see his true motives. He always gives them the option to put on the rose colored glasses about him. But he has been more than public with his feelings about Mexico and how it hasn't given in to his demands to his liking, so there is that. At the very least the name change is a snub, an attempt at showing Mexico who's boss, and intimidating it into submitting to his demands. I am sure that if Mexico was heeling to him he would never have made the change. No one gave 2 craps about it before including him. It's straight out of the "make a deal by intimidation" chapter of his book I am sure.

Also, Mexico is the point of entry for immigrants from many nations both in Central and South America and beyond and he holds it partly responsible for that.

Edited by Yeah No
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4 hours ago, Soapy Goddess said:

I don't understand how you can say that when he's finding fraud/overspending in our government. Billions of dollars have been wasted on numerous ridiculous programs, and he's getting to the bottom of it. 

No doubt a little trimming and re-allocating is always necessary in government. But taking a sledgehammer to essential services and agencies is not the way to go about doing it. He thinks this makes him look like he's "getting things done". In reality he is undoing a lot of things that are necessary and will only cause a ton more problems and government spending without them. They are not picking and choosing the right things to cut and cutting them to a degree that benefits no one. But it looks great to people that don't see the implications and that's all he cares about. But even when it starts to affect them they'll find some way to blame a Democrat for it anyway, no doubt.

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4 hours ago, Soapy Goddess said:

That makes no sense at all. He renamed it Gulf of AMERICA because he loves America! Not because he hates Mexico.

A poster was unhappy Apple Maps changing the name to Gulf of America and your response to her was do you have something against America.  So using your train of thought Trump must hate Mexico since he didn't like the Gulf named after that country.

4 hours ago, Soapy Goddess said:

And let's not pretend that DJT is the only president to rename anything. I don't recall any uproar when Obama and Biden renamed Ft. Bragg to Ft. Liberty.

Fort Bragg was named after a Confederate General, and not even a competent one, he lost a lot of soldiers under his guidance.  Not the same as Trump changing the name of a body of water he nor the US owns.

4 hours ago, Soapy Goddess said:

I don't understand how you can say that when he's finding fraud/overspending in our government. Billions of dollars have been wasted on numerous ridiculous programs, and he's getting to the bottom of it. 

So far the only "misuse of fraud" they have publicly announced is the condoms that went to Mozambique.  Not Gaza as they said. I wouldn't be surprised if they simply did a word search and cut things that had words they didn't like.

4 hours ago, Soapy Goddess said:

If only people would concentrate on the good that's being done, as opposed to listening to Maddow's rhetoric, you'll see that he's trying to save us money while getting our country out of debt.

And that huge tax break they are planning will only add trillions to our debt.

3 hours ago, abbyzenn said:

Another point to make is how much Congress is at fault for all this - after all they're the ones that allot the money AND make the laws.  The federal employees are just carrying out these laws - they're not making the laws.

And with Trump Musk now president Congress doesn't look to be making laws anymore anyways.

32 minutes ago, Anela said:

So now they are trying to bully the rest of the world.  The United Nations is and should be representative of all the countries in the world.  So yeah their programs  are going to be and should be what the right derisively calls DEI.

36 minutes ago, Ohiopirate02 said:

Because the next part is that Congress has to decide where all the money being "saved" is going to go.

I think we know where that money (and a whole lot more) is going to go.

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(edited)

Agree with most of upthread posters.  I don't believe that one or some people can go into any agency and figure in a nano second that the whole operation is fraud and waste.  I worked in a state agency where I administered a federal formula grant program. You can bet that I and my coworkers did our best because we were audited regularly and didn't want to have even anything to correct. I don't think we were all that special. My peers in other states were the same way.

edited to add that we had all kinds of written rules to follow regarding spending and program outcomes. Nothing was "willy nilly"

Edited by lookeyloo
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9 minutes ago, DrSpaceman73 said:

I'm all for a real audit of federal programs. 

 

That's not what this is.  I have little doubt they are using some BS AI search algorithm to find stuff they don't like snd remove it

.that's not an audit.  Real audits takes weeks to months.  They involve cpas and actually finance experts. He has none of that

When I was the office manager at an engineering firm, we got audited by the state for resale tax thing. It took one month of a state forensic accountant going through our books all day, five days a week. He took over our conference room and was meticulous. We ended up paying like $150. because we had forgotten a filing deadline on one job. There is no way in hell these guys are finding anything but they have to say they are to justify their own existences. 

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7 minutes ago, Dimity said:

Speaking of fraud and misuse of funds, I just read in another thread that Rubio is allocating IIRC $400 mil to purchase Teslas.  No conflict of interest going on there.  Cripes you can't make this stuff up.

As much as I love a good reason to complain about anyone in the Trump administration looks like the Tesla deal was done in December. Now if Trump wants to do the right thing he will cancel the contract. But since he is letting Musk be president I doubt that he will.

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5 minutes ago, Dimity said:

Speaking of fraud and misuse of funds, I just read in another thread that Rubio is allocating IIRC $400 mil to purchase Teslas.  No conflict of interest going on there.  Cripes you can't make this stuff up.

They put that on hold. Now they;re just calling them "EVs" but you know they will be Wakenpanzers. From Newsweek Feb. 13, 2025-

A Department of State contract for armored electric vehicles has removed Tesla from its documentation, and Elon Musk said he was "pretty sure" his company wasn't involved in a deal.

Initially, a procurement forecast included Tesla as part of a $400 million vehicle contract, but the State Department later removed the company from the document after reports highlighted its inclusion.

You may ask yourself why does the State Dept. need armored vehicles? 

Maybe next time it won't be tear gas.

image.png.547b354b4132eab2711dd0dd8e4b399b.png

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(edited)

Elon musk has between $15 and $22 billion on contracts wuth the DOD

 

Edited to add :  one source for this. There are others. 

 

https://abcnews.go.com/US/musk-works-slash-federal-spending-firms-received-billions/story?id=118589121

 

He just signed a new $40 million contract. 

 

https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/us-politics/elon-musk-spacex-contracts-doge-b2697271.html

Edited by DrSpaceman73
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6 minutes ago, Browncoat said:

Couldn't possibly be any fraud or waste there....

I heard that he audited himself and found no fraud and I am not even making this up.  At this point, I can't even discern what is being said in jest or in all seriousness because we are living in a constant state of CRAZY so make of it what you will.  CRAZY.

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1 hour ago, peacheslatour said:

They put that on hold. Now they;re just calling them "EVs" but you know they will be Wakenpanzers. From Newsweek Feb. 13, 2025-

A Department of State contract for armored electric vehicles has removed Tesla from its documentation, and Elon Musk said he was "pretty sure" his company wasn't involved in a deal.

Initially, a procurement forecast included Tesla as part of a $400 million vehicle contract, but the State Department later removed the company from the document after reports highlighted its inclusion.

You may ask yourself why does the State Dept. need armored vehicles? 

Maybe next time it won't be tear gas.

image.png.547b354b4132eab2711dd0dd8e4b399b.png

What is sad is Trump's base (or is it Musk's base now?) will believe there is nothing to see here. No pay to play or quid pro quo or outright corruption. I'm old enough to remember when even the look of corruption was enough to get you in trouble. Now it's just normal. 

Remember when we thought Nixon and Bush Jr were the worst Republican presidents ever?  

45 minutes ago, Cementhead said:

I heard that he audited himself and found no fraud and I am not even making this up.  At this point, I can't even discern what is being said in jest or in all seriousness because we are living in a constant state of CRAZY so make of it what you will.  CRAZY.

I'm not sure who is crazier.  Trump/Musk (should we call them Trusk or Mump?) or the people who believe they are going to do good things for this country.

33 minutes ago, peacheslatour said:

Lol he has his mug shot in the Oval Office. Very presidential. Much dignity. Wow. 

From the Daily Mail 14 February 2025.

image.png.1d973c95a12cc9a8f3a6c629a9853a7b.png

My apologies to anyone who identifies as such but how much more white trash could Trump be?

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(edited)

The US vice-president, JD Vance, has launched a brutal ideological assault on Europe, accusing its leaders of suppressing free speech, failing to halt illegal migration and running in fear from voters’ true beliefs.

In a chastising speech on Friday that openly questioned whether current European values warranted defence by the US, he painted a picture of European politics infected by media censorship, cancelled elections and political correctness.

The blistering and confrontational remarks were met with shock at the conference and were later condemned by the EU and Germany, while drawing praise from Russian state television. They signalled a deepening of the transatlantic chasm beyond different perceptions of Russia to an even deeper societal rupture about values and the nature of democracy.

Vance said: “If you are afraid of the voices, the opinions and the conscience that guide your very own people … If you’re running in fear of your own voters, there is nothing America can do for you, nor for that matter is there anything you can do for the American people.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/14/jd-vance-stuns-munich-conference-with-blistering-attack-on-europes-leaders

Edited by suomi
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(edited)
11 hours ago, Soapy Goddess said:

I don't understand how you can say that when he's finding fraud/overspending in our government.

Neither Musk nor Trump have found, or presented any evidence, of fraud or overspending. What Musk has done is go after several agencies that found his businesses defiantly in breach of multiple laws:

"At least 11 federal agencies have more than 32 continuing investigations, pending complaints,  or enforcement actions into Mr. Musk’s six companies, according to a review by The New York Times...Over at the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau, a public database shows hundreds of complaints about the electric car company Tesla concerning debt collection or loan problems. The agency has now effectively been put out of commission...The bureau also is an agency that would have regulated Mr. Musk’s new efforts to bring a payments service to X. “CFPB RIP,” Mr. Musk wrote in a social media post last week as the Trump administration moved to close down the bureau."

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/11/us/politics/elon-musk-companies-conflicts.html

Musk is gutting agencies keeping him from cheating Tesla customers, polluting the environment, engaging in predatory payment, etc. He's committing his own kind of fraud on American taxpayers, not stopping it.

musk corruption.png

Edited by anony.miss
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6 minutes ago, Trini said:

???

I don't understand what this administration thinks it's going to accomplish by antagonizing our actual allies.  So then everyone hates us and won't do business with us; then what??

Vance is following the Musk playbook that seems to involve supporting far right parties.  We are seeing ever more clearly that the President of the United States of America is Elon Musk.

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5 minutes ago, Trini said:

???

I don't understand what this administration thinks it's going to accomplish by antagonizing our actual allies.  So then everyone hates us and won't do business with us; then what??

It plays into his victim narrative. He uses his status as a victim to justify bad behavior.

"Look what you made me do. You made me get in bed with Putin." 

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37 minutes ago, suomi said:

The US vice-president, JD Vance, has launched a brutal ideological assault on Europe, accusing its leaders of suppressing free speech, failing to halt illegal migration and running in fear from voters’ true beliefs.

In a chastising speech on Friday that openly questioned whether current European values warranted defence by the US, he painted a picture of European politics infected by media censorship, cancelled elections and political correctness.

The blistering and confrontational remarks were met with shock at the conference and were later condemned by the EU and Germany, while drawing praise from Russian state television. They signalled a deepening of the transatlantic chasm beyond different perceptions of Russia to an even deeper societal rupture about values and the nature of democracy.

Vance said: “If you are afraid of the voices, the opinions and the conscience that guide your very own people … If you’re running in fear of your own voters, there is nothing America can do for you, nor for that matter is there anything you can do for the American people.”

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2025/feb/14/jd-vance-stuns-munich-conference-with-blistering-attack-on-europes-leaders

Ah nothing like some good old fashioned projection to ingratiate oneself into the world.

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4 minutes ago, Dimity said:

Vance is following the Musk playbook that seems to involve supporting far right parties.  We are seeing ever more clearly that the President of the United States of America is Elon Musk.

Hmmm. An exceptionally cruel and vindictive man long noted for being friendless suddenly gains the wealthiest human on the planet as his new best friend. During the honeymoon stage of that friendship, vindictive man becomes the first Repub in 20 years to win the popular vote and also sweeps the seven swing states. Wealthy new friend is gifted the keys to the kingdom and quickly demonstrates that he is vindictive man's shot caller. Hmmm. 

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16 minutes ago, Dimity said:

Are Americans buying this "us against everyone else in the whole damn world (except Russia)" schtick?  I am going to assume the MAGA are eating it up but they aren't everyone.  At least not yet.

In the last half century the Soviet Union has been an ally, our worst enemy and  caricature movie villains. After Reagan, in the early nineties, they reverted to being Russia. They were still considered a non-democratic dictatorship. Trump wants to be a dictator, he idolizes them. And millions of Americans voted for him. What kind of change happened in this country to get us here?

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13 minutes ago, Dimity said:

Are Americans buying this "us against everyone else in the whole damn world (except Russia)" schtick?  I am going to assume the MAGA are eating it up but they aren't everyone.  At least not yet.

I'm not.  And sadly, it's not for no reason that I and much of the rest of my family have ensured our Irish passports are up-to-date.  Not that Ireland (or anywhere for that matter) is immune to this crap.  (I read a great book a a couple years ago called Prophet Song that's all about Ireland in the weeks/months just after a totalitarian/authoritarian government took over.  Fiction.  But seeing the US at the moment, could be non-fiction.)

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1 hour ago, suomi said:

Hmmm. An exceptionally cruel and vindictive man long noted for being friendless suddenly gains the wealthiest human on the planet as his new best friend. During the honeymoon stage of that friendship, vindictive man becomes the first Repub in 20 years to win the popular vote and also sweeps the seven swing states. Wealthy new friend is gifted the keys to the kingdom and quickly demonstrates that he is vindictive man's shot caller. Hmmm

 

3 hours ago, Turquoise said:

Is this like declassifying documents by declaring them declassified, or merely thinking that in your mind?

Pretty much!  Trump is singing his praises and is granting him new executive powers. One thing that jumped out at me as I was listening to the radio this morning, was this idea that there is going to be a DOGE representative essentially at every federal agency who will have power to approve new hires. The formula they've outlined seems to suggests that for every four individuals who leave the federal service, one new hire can be made (because you know how being understaffed and overworked works SO WELL).

But if you think about it, what that puts in place is an organization headed by a wealthy individual with considerable interests in federal matters, who is also a major donor to the president, having substantial input over hiring decisions. 

Based on what other posters have mentioned about defense contracts and the recent visit with Modi (likely trying to expand Tesla to India), it's probably not a coincidence. What are the risks of meeting with foreign heads of state on public territory in this way when the president assumes it's because he wants to "do business?" Is he there in his official capacity or as a businessman?

Totally normal from this unelected fourth branch of government.

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RFK's first full day on the job at HHS. 😡

Layoffs start at CDC, targeting probationary staff

https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/02/14/nx-s1-5297913/cdc-layoffs-hhs-trump-doge

CDC cuts expected to devastate Epidemic Intelligence Service, a ‘crown jewel’ of public health

https://www.statnews.com/2025/02/14/trump-cdc-cuts-include-epidemic-intelligence-service-outbreak-investigators/

The EIS, as it is known, is the world’s premier training program for applied epidemiology. Many public health leaders at the CDC and elsewhere in the world are graduates of the EIS, which was established in 1951 by the CDC’s then-chief epidemiologist Alexander Langmuir, in part because of Cold War era concerns about the threat of germ warfare.

EIS officers make up the frontline in public health emergencies, both in the United States and abroad. When a difficult disease outbreak hits, when state health departments need assistance tracing the source of foodborne illnesses, EIS officers are dispatched. They were among the first responders when letters laced with anthrax were mailed to legislators and news outlets around the country in 2001. 

"For more than 70 years, EIS officers have served on America’s front line as its disease detectives, ready at a moment’s notice to protect Americans by responding to emerging outbreaks here in the U.S. and around the globe,” said former CDC director Tom Frieden, who is president and CEO of the non-profit Resolve to Save Lives.

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2 hours ago, Dimity said:

Are Americans buying this "us against everyone else in the whole damn world (except Russia)" schtick?  I am going to assume the MAGA are eating it up but they aren't everyone.  At least not yet.

I sure as hell am not. But it's absolutely horrifying to know there are Americans out there who are. 

45 minutes ago, ProudMary said:

RFK's first full day on the job at HHS. 😡

Layoffs start at CDC, targeting probationary staff

https://www.npr.org/sections/shots-health-news/2025/02/14/nx-s1-5297913/cdc-layoffs-hhs-trump-doge

CDC cuts expected to devastate Epidemic Intelligence Service, a ‘crown jewel’ of public health

https://www.statnews.com/2025/02/14/trump-cdc-cuts-include-epidemic-intelligence-service-outbreak-investigators/

 

 

I fucking hate this timeline. 

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2 hours ago, peacheslatour said:

In the last half century the Soviet Union has been an ally, our worst enemy and  caricature movie villains. After Reagan, in the early nineties, they reverted to being Russia. They were still considered a non-democratic dictatorship. Trump wants to be a dictator, he idolizes them. And millions of Americans voted for him. What kind of change happened in this country to get us here?

The internet and social media combined with an economy that benefits the wealthy has brought us here.  Trump took advantage of both.   Without Twitter he never would have won the nomination. And without all those white voters suffering from hate and bigotry economic anxiety he never would have won the rust belt states.

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1 hour ago, ProudMary said:

RFK's first full day on the job at HHS. 😡

Layoffs start at CDC, targeting probationary staff

To be fair to RFK - layoffs of probationary staff occurred throughout the federal government today.  It's been real fun.  Imagine getting to tell new enthusiastic people that they've lost their jobs just because the President wants to push people around.  It's not based on the quality of their work or anything else - it's just because they are easy targets.

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