US Politics Thread

[Federberg]

Once again, walking back another in a series of obvious blunders, Trump officials say that the letter sent to Harvard was sent by "mistake." FFS.

beggars the mind that voters thought this guy would ever be able to put together a competent administration

 

[Moxie]

beggars the mind that voters thought this guy would ever be able to put together a competent administration

But there will be no consequences. There is no competent or ethical person left to oversee these things. If Trump still likes them, they'll stay. He's only absolving himself because the letter was so stupid and landed so badly. And until the congressional Republicans decide to grow a collective pair, they will just watch this shit-show from the sidelines. It took the Republicans in Congress turning on Nixon to take him down, but back then they were a real party, and they still had ethics, and believed in the rule of law.

 

[Moxie]

Personally, I'm sick to death of Elon Musk. No one elected him, and he's not even a citizen. He and his little IT geeks are snooping around in everyone's information. He's not saving the money that he keeps on insisting that he is. There's no "efficiency" to firing people and having to take it back again, over and over. He just wants to break everything. In a country and economy this large, a bureaucracy is an infrostructure, and if you take a chainsaw to it, it’s going to spring leaks all over the place. As someone put it recently, if you take 25% of the parts out of a car, it doesn't run 25% slower. It doesn't run at all.

And now, a whistleblower seems to be saying that DOGE is actually stealing sensitive information. And potentially letting foreign agents in:

NLRB whistleblower claims Musk's DOGE potentially caused significant security breach

The National Labor Relations Board protects workers' right to organize and investigates unfair labor practices. A whistleblower complaint filed by an IT staffer claims Elon Musk and his DOGE team gained access to sensitive data that could have led directly to a “significant cybersecurity...

www.pbs.org

Musk has too many potential conflicts of interest, too, for having such access to the President, and sensitive data. We have to get rid of him.

 

[Kieran]

Mu

Personally, I'm sick to death of Elon Musk. No one elected him, and he's not even a citizen. He and his little IT geeks are snooping around in everyone's information. He's not saving the money that he keeps on insisting that he is. There's no "efficiency" to firing people and having to take it back again, over and over. He just wants to break everything. In a country and economy this large, a bureaucracy is an infrostructure, and if you take a chainsaw to it, it’s going to spring leaks all over the place. As someone put it recently, if you take 25% of the parts out of a car, it doesn't run 25% slower. It doesn't run at all.

And now, a whistleblower seems to be saying that DOGE is actually stealing sensitive information. And potentially letting foreign agents in:

NLRB whistleblower claims Musk's DOGE potentially caused significant security breach

The National Labor Relations Board protects workers' right to organize and investigates unfair labor practices. A whistleblower complaint filed by an IT staffer claims Elon Musk and his DOGE team gained access to sensitive data that could have led directly to a “significant cybersecurity...

www.pbs.org

Musk has too many potential conflicts of interest, too, for having such access to the President, and sensitive data. We have to get rid of him.

Elon Musk is an American citizen since 2002.

Nobody elected Fauci either, he had a lot more power and didn’t necessarily use it wisely for the betterment of all Americans. That’s the way the system works…

 

[Moxie]

Elon Musk is an American citizen since 2002.

I didn't know that, thanks.

Nobody elected Fauci either, he had a lot more power and didn’t necessarily use it wisely for the betterment of all Americans. That’s the way the system works…

Yes, but Fauci's job, as with many directorships in government agencies, had to be approved by the Senate. Trump made up a dept. for Musk, made him in charge of it, but not in name, and now he and his minions are hacking the system.

 

[Federberg]

Personally, I'm sick to death of Elon Musk. No one elected him, and he's not even a citizen. He and his little IT geeks are snooping around in everyone's information. He's not saving the money that he keeps on insisting that he is. There's no "efficiency" to firing people and having to take it back again, over and over. He just wants to break everything. In a country and economy this large, a bureaucracy is an infrostructure, and if you take a chainsaw to it, it’s going to spring leaks all over the place. As someone put it recently, if you take 25% of the parts out of a car, it doesn't run 25% slower. It doesn't run at all.

And now, a whistleblower seems to be saying that DOGE is actually stealing sensitive information. And potentially letting foreign agents in:

NLRB whistleblower claims Musk's DOGE potentially caused significant security breach

The National Labor Relations Board protects workers' right to organize and investigates unfair labor practices. A whistleblower complaint filed by an IT staffer claims Elon Musk and his DOGE team gained access to sensitive data that could have led directly to a “significant cybersecurity...

www.pbs.org

Musk has too many potential conflicts of interest, too, for having such access to the President, and sensitive data. We have to get rid of him.

I'm with you on Elon. It's going to be fascinating to see how things go. I find it hard to believe he'll be able to extricate himself from this without considerable personal harm. He's so embedded in the national security state with Starlink and Space-X it's not funny. I think Bezos ends up a huge beneficiary.

As an aside, the two of them have competing space dreams. Musk wants to colonise Mars, Bezos wants to create massive habitation around Earth. I think Bezos has by far the more realistic ambition given our level of technological development. Frankly the moons of Jupiter are probably a more realistic colonisation plan than Mars anyway

 

[Kieran]

I didn't know that, thanks.

Yes, but Fauci's job, as with many directorships in government agencies, had to be approved by the Senate. Trump made up a dept. for Musk, made him in charge of it, but not in name, and now he and his minions are hacking the system.

Your system was hacked decades ago but because it was by activists who are far left, you didn’t mind. I’m not a fan of Musk either, in this role he’s in, I’ve said several times that Vivek Ramaswamy would be better because he engages with leftists the way politicians used to, and I suspect he’s a more constructive person across the board, but it’s not unpredictable that people on the left detest Musk and are becoming violent towards cars. It’s Easter Sunday and if the good Lord Himself returned to take up a place in Trump’s administration, you’d all be stocking up on nails…

 

[Moxie]

Your system was hacked decades ago but because it was by activists who are far left, you didn’t mind. I’m not a fan of Musk either, in this role he’s in, I’ve said several times that Vivek Ramaswamy would be better because he engages with leftists the way politicians used to, and I suspect he’s a more constructive person across the board, but it’s not unpredictable that people on the left detest Musk and are becoming violent towards cars. It’s Easter Sunday and if the good Lord Himself returned to take up a place in Trump’s administration, you’d all be stocking up on nails…

I don't think you understand Musk's job, if you say Ramaswamy would have done it better because he engages with leftist politicians better. That's not the job. His job is to trim waste from the various agencies, only he's take "trim" to mean "hack away at completely indescriminately with a chain saw, consequences be damned." And there have been consequences. And yet, not so much in the way of actual savings.

Your Easter analogy is hyperbolic and flawed. (Easter is the day when Jesus rose, not the day he got nailed to the cross. But it's a cheap shot to attribute Christ killing to the left in a what if scenario.) Anyway, Federberg is far from a leftist, and you'll notice above that he agrees with me on Musk.

 

[Kieran]

I don't think you understand Musk's job, if you say Ramaswamy would have done it better because he engages with leftist politicians better. That's not the job. His job is to trim waste from the various agencies, only he's take "trim" to mean "hack away at completely indescriminately with a chain saw, consequences be damned." And there have been consequences. And yet, not so much in the way of actual savings.

Your Easter analogy is hyperbolic and flawed. (Easter is the day when Jesus rose, not the day he got nailed to the cross. But it's a cheap shot to attribute Christ killing to the left in a what if scenario.) Anyway, Federberg is far from a leftist, and you'll notice above that he agrees with me on Musk.

I think the analogy was understood - Jesus returned on Easter Sunday and if he worked for trump on Easter Monday, you’d be all ready to nail him to the cross again

You’re misunderstanding me on the difference between Vivek and Musk. It doesn’t matter what the job, your lot will insist they’re removed, just like republicans did when the roles were reversed. It’s a deranged tribalist division. I’ve said it several times, I’m not a fan of Musk in this job. But optics and engagement in good faith matter when the country is divided. Musk is not good at this, whereas Vivek is an excellent communicator, and he’s also open to correction. I think Vivek would be less impetuous and divisive. Either way, it’s time your country began to think across the aisle better, rather than always just picking up pitchforks and storming the castle…

 

[Moxie]

I think the analogy was understood - Jesus returned on Easter Sunday and if he worked for trump on Easter Monday, you’d be all ready to nail him to the cross again

It's still a horrible analogy. You say that we would nail Jesus to the cross, if he seemed too right-wing. I object to that comparison. I also think you've abdicated any position that you're neutral in the political conversation.

You’re misunderstanding me on the difference between Vivek and Musk. It doesn’t matter what the job, your lot will insist they’re removed, just like republicans did when the roles were reversed. It’s a deranged tribalist division. I’ve said it several times, I’m not a fan of Musk in this job. But optics and engagement in good faith matter when the country is divided. Musk is not good at this, whereas Vivek is an excellent communicator, and he’s also open to correction. I think Vivek would be less impetuous and divisive. Either way, it’s time your country began to think across the aisle better, rather than always just picking up pitchforks and storming the castle…

Maybe Vivek would have been more moderate and conciliatory as a choice. I'm not a fan, but I can see the argument.

The problem is that what we have is Musk, with his fingers in too many pies. And I think there is a serious argument that he and his people are stealing personal information for nefarious use.

I also think that gesture was, in fact, a nazi salute. Musk is a freak, and a fascist. He believes that populating the world with the children of his special sperm is important. And he really does seem to believe that breaking all we have, in service of colonizing Mars is the only way to save the planet. We need to get rid of him.

 

[Moxie]

This is Trump's Easter message to the country:

 

[Kieran]

It's still a horrible analogy. You say that we would nail Jesus to the cross, if he seemed too right-wing. I object to that comparison. I also think you've abdicated any position that you're neutral in the political conversation.

Don’t be a snowflake or I’ll bring up the ways the left are already ungodly.

Maybe Vivek would have been more moderate and conciliatory as a choice. I'm not a fan, but I can see the argument.

What do you not like about Vivek? I thought you weren’t familiar? He’s not perfect, but in terms of American politics, he actually seems like someone of calibre and integrity

I also think that gesture was, in fact, a nazi salute. Musk is a freak, and a fascist.

Of course you think it was a Nazi salute. Your side always do..

 

[Moxie]

Don’t be a snowflake or I’ll bring up the ways the left are already ungodly.

What do you not like about Vivek? I thought you weren’t familiar? He’s not perfect, but in terms of American politics, he actually seems like someone of calibre and integrity

Of course you think it was a Nazi salute. Your side always do..

The guy ran for President...he's not completely unknown. He's too far to the right of me on some cultural issues, and he espouses some conspiracy theories that I think are crackpot, (or "ass-kissing," in the case of the 2020 election and J-6 stuff.) But he doesn't come off as a complete freak like Musk, nor do I think he'd be anywhere near as inclined to steal the identities of private citizens for his own reasons.

Not everything looks like a nazi salute. But, if it's got a straight arm up, palm down...and it walks like a duck. Not only those on the left thought so. Many on the far right have been gleefully copying it, now that Elon gave them permission to do it in public.

 

[Kieran]

The guy ran for President...he's not completely unknown. He's too far to the right of me on some cultural issues, and he espouses some conspiracy theories that I think are crackpot, (or "ass-kissing," in the case of the 2020 election and J-6 stuff.) But he doesn't come off as a complete freak like Musk, nor do I think he'd be anywhere near as inclined to steal the identities of private citizens for his own reasons.

I think Vivek argued his point very well on his cultural differences with the left, but I’m amused at you describing Musk as a “freak”. I definitely think he’s a bit spectrumy but it’s freakist on your part to call him a freak.

You love your ‘femme-dick’ and ‘chest-feeding men’ freaks, so I suppose it’s just a matter of selective taste. Or tribe?

Not everything looks like a nazi salute. But, if it's got a straight arm up, palm down...and it walks like a duck. Not only those on the left thought so. Many on the far right have been gleefully copying it, now that Elon gave them permission to do it in public.

He only did a Nazi salute if you’re so inclined. You’re definitely so inclined. When democrats are racist you ignore it, but when the other side…whatever…

 

[Moxie]

I think Vivek argued his point very well on his cultural differences with the left, but I’m amused at you describing Musk as a “freak”. I definitely think he’s a bit spectrumy but it’s freakist on your part to call him a freak.

Self-diagnosed "on the spectrum." I'm talking about, for example, his inclination to populate the world with his own DNA, no matter how many women it takes. Or his actual belief that the only way to save the world is to go live on Mars. There's "freaky" in a good way, and "freaky" in a bad way. I think he's "freaky" in a bad way. Bizarre ideas, and a dangerous amount of money and power to effect them.

 

[Kieran]

Self-diagnosed "on the spectrum." I'm talking about, for example, his inclination to populate the world with his own DNA, no matter how many women it takes. Or his actual belief that the only way to save the world is to go live on Mars. There's "freaky" in a good way, and "freaky" in a bad way. I think he's "freaky" in a bad way. Bizarre ideas, and a dangerous amount of money and power to effect them.

Trust me, chest feeding men and femme cocks is not freaky in a good way. Musk is temporary, but them Frankenstein social experiments on the left have done huge damage and were in danger of becoming permanent…

 

[Moxie]

Trust me, chest feeding men and femme cocks is not freaky in a good way. Musk is temporary, but them Frankenstein social experiments on the left have done huge damage and were in danger of becoming permanent…

That's a non sequitur. You have your political issues, which you never fail to shoehorn into nearly every conversation, germane or not. Not relevant because that's not what Musk's job is. That's Trump's job, and that of the rest of his MAGA politicians. What I'm telling you is my specific concerns about Musk, in that he has too much power and too much access; and that he is temperamentally and philosophically unsuited to "trimming" waste from a system he neither believes in, nor actually knows much about.

 

[Kieran]

That's a non sequitur. You have your political issues, which you never fail to shoehorn into nearly every conversation, germane or not. Not relevant because that's not what Musk's job is. That's Trump's job, and that of the rest of his MAGA politicians. What I'm telling you is my specific concerns about Musk, in that he has too much power and too much access; and that he is temperamentally and philosophically unsuited to "trimming" waste from a system he neither believes in, nor actually knows much about.

Which is unrelated to all the other stuff you brought up about him, calling him a freak - which led me to remind you that your side is ideologically captured by freaks. Dangerous freaks, racists, the whole crew.

That’s not a non sequitur - that’s just replying to what you brought into the conversation: a predictably partisan non sequitur.

 

[Moxie]

Which is unrelated to all the other stuff you brought up about him, calling him a freak - which led me to remind you that your side is ideologically captured by freaks. Dangerous freaks, racists, the whole crew.

That’s not a non sequitur - that’s just replying to what you brought into the conversation: a predictably partisan non sequitur.

I'm sorry...that's a reach.