US Politics Thread 2021-24

[Gorpet]

Originally Posted by AVGWarhawk

Twice for me. Wife, kids and a mortgage. No one gave a crap. My new job was find a new job. Landed one in 8 weeks. It was to the point I would take anything. Three months on the new job, job eliminated. Back to the drawing board. Sigh..... Where is my job fair??? Where was my assistance from local government? Applied for unemployment. Never received it.

Just think, If you could have gotten that College loan, For free

Originally Posted by Buddahaid

Elon is very likely working outside the law with the new lawless and disorder party.

Working outside the laws and Constitution is the entire problem with this administration and I don't see how someone can call themselves patriotic for doing so without throwing up.

And in view of that, here's a new court order for Elon and DOGE.

"It is further ORDERED that Defendants Elon Musk, U.S. DOGE Service, and U.S. DOGE
Temporary Organization shall produce the requested documents and respond to the interrogatories
and requests for admissions in Plaintiffs’ Discovery Requests, as amended by the court, within 21 days of this Order.

Defendants’ request for a stay of any order granting expedited discovery is
DENIED.

It is further ORDERED that Plaintiffs’ request to notice two depositions is DENIED
without prejudice.

It is further ORDERED that Plaintiffs’ forthcoming motion for a preliminary injunction
shall be CONSOLIDATED with a hearing on the merits under Federal Rule of Civil Procedure
65(a)(2).

Date: March 12, 2025
Tanya S. Chutkan
TANYA S. CHUTKAN
United States District Judge"

https://storage.courtlistener.com/re...463.61.0_1.pdf

The Force is Strong with you,TDS ..This entire Government has been working outside of the law. And ****en on the Constitution for years.The only people who Bitch are those who have something to lose. Now if your living down on my street.Ya,know where the neon lights flash,That used to be good neighborhoods and now there ****.Yea we like Donald trump down here.Yes the people you support have not brought in my last 20 years of life. Anything that has increased prosperity or wealth or a feeling of safety. So i hope Donald, Dismantles you and your kind.

Originally Posted by Skybird

https://edition.cnn.com/2025/03/14/p...-us/index.html





And that hits the bull's eye. I first mentioned that outlook already during the Bush jr years, and that it would trigger a reaction from the Republicans that most likely would lead to authoritarianism, even with the possibility of establishing a dictatorship with strong support of the radical evangelical "Christians".

I think, Germans are already again under authoritarianism, And once again, they have no religion or moral fiber they are allowed to stand on.So Skybird your people and country will always be like the wheat in the field. Waving in the wind to be used. By your wealthy Politicians who will bend the knee and insure there will be no real Germans left by 2040. And that's a shame. culture genocide by yourselves.
Here in The United States the birthplace of modern Democracy, The last 30 years in this country is ripping the caucasian man to shreds and hey, The ideology of Democracy comes in many different versions. But Marxism and Socialism comes out the end of a gun barrel. And so does Modern Democracy.

Originally Posted by Buddahaid

Why don't you acknowledge the freedoms guaranteed by our system are just decoration for MAGA to hide behind while they act in a lawless and unconstitutional manner pining for a police state.

Here we go on the road again, Another police state, although we have been living in a Police State for the last 4 years. BY, Autopen, And the best decisions Democrats have made in the last 20 yrs, yes i am now 20 yrs older and this country and my state in life overall, has gotten worse and it damn sure wasn't Maga. It was incompetent Politicians who look good and talk good, But couldn't build a Simcity that would be viable if you gave them 30 days by themselves. There should be a required IQ test for all Politicians who want to become a person who shows up and says i want to work for the people, and i'm going to devote my life for the People. And that test should be done every 8 yrs. Don't you agree ? Let's start getting the local ones who can't do the latest Simcity out of office.

Originally Posted by Catfish

How deep wants your president to creep into Putin's a$$?

https://www.euronews.com/my-europe/2...-voa-and-rferl

Well we, could in the future know how far Obama, and his Vice President Joe Biden creeped into Vladimir Zelensky"s a$$ To start a war with Russia, Along with the EU and NATO.The noses of the Europeans creep far into the a$$ of the American Socialist and that is a fact.

[QUOTE=VipertheSniper;2949028]You think all the people who don't like Elons fascist views care about climate control or don't want the Russia Ukraine (I'm guessing you're getting this from the blue hair yellow jacket) war to end (regardless of how)?

Even so, it might be hypocritical, yes, not that anyone on Team R ever seems to be bothered by it when it's their side being hypocritical.

I'm trying to think up a cartoon in the same style pointing out hypocrisy in MAGA, but in that case the one on the right would still praise Trump even though everything has turned to sh*t.[/QUOTE

? What is going on in Austria, You do know you can get your ass off the couch, And join the French and The English and Get into Ukraine and Fight. Who gives a flip about Elon, your a continent away, and you might want to take a look at what A FASCIST government and its people look like. It was not the Germans but,The Italians and Benito Mussolini they were the first fascist. And their uniform was all black. Fast forward to today and who runs around in Black Hoodies and face mask. It's the Urban uniform of the fascist. And what is so ridiculous is in The United States where Democracy is the cry of the land, we have these young people running and rampaging, and if you look back at Benito's time they look the same.

Originally Posted by Ostfriese

No, that's not what I'm saying, but I don't think you'll be able/willing to understand what I want to say, so I won't waste my precious time.

Oh, and you "pay up, Europe" guys will also experience a surprise. Yes, Europe is doing so now, but any money that will be allocated now has to be spent in Europe. So far the European nations spent 63% of their procurement money on American weapons. That's btw. the reason why your corporate overlords hammered the idea of "pay up" into your conservative brains.

However, exactly 0% of the money allocated now and in the near future will be spent in the US or on US companies. Apart from that European countries have also begun to opt out of contracts for American weapons, most notably the F-35. The reasoning behind that: nations don't think America is reliable enough any more to deliver spare parts, software updates and so on.

In short: this will be costly for the US weapons industry. The losses are estimated to be as low as $1 trillion over the next ten years and as high as $6 trillion.
Well done

We must be living in the stupidest time line possible. The Trump government has asked European companies to export more eggs to the USA. Which country did they ask first? Denmark (Source, in Danish: https://agriwatch.dk/Nyheder/Landbru...le17985104.ece)


"Hey, we will invade a part of your country if you don't hand it over immediately. Oh, um, could we borrows some eggs, please?"

We, Don't need your eggs, And as a liberal tonight, You have to pay your share to stay in the tribe. What is it you don't understand ? And you have cut some welfare programs to build more weapons. As a tribe your country has to support the Ukraines! The USA. Has done it's part now it is your turn. Your Government wants war well you have to pay for war .

Originally Posted by Skybird

You want to reduce vulnerability to corruption, and you want that the more the more critical and influential a given job or office is.


There are two forms of corruption employees can be prone to: greed, and need.



The first is if you get enough but think its never enough, you always want more.


The second is if you want to be able to live a reasonable and affordable life, pay for your kids' education, and put some money aside for when you grow old, and you want not needing to worry whether all the lose ends and open bills you can service by the end of the month.


Governments themselves have an own interest as well. They want a loyal gang of accomplices that help to enforce "government" onto the ordinary people, and plunder them and live off them. It gets even more dubious if government, or state, translates into "political parties" and "individual politicians' career interest". Thats the case in practically every nation in the West, and most nations on the globe. Honestyl said: thinking of it I cannot come up with one exception from this rule.



How to solve all this dilemma? Cut back the state as much as possible. I see no other solution that has a chance to work over the longer run.



Of course, state and government want exactly the opposite: as much of themselves as possible, and then ever more. And so they continue to feed their gang of accomplices, and bribe those they formally need to "elect" them with what before they have stolen from them, and they even steal the future of the kids and young.

I have a better idea, Give every citizen, who reaches retirement age 20 million dollars.And let them escape to wherever. They have paid in.

Originally Posted by Dargo

In the two separate cases on the dismissal of thousands of civil servants in their probationary period, two judges on Thursday fielded harsh judgments. One called the dismissals a ‘sham’, the other argued that how they were carried out ‘bordered on the ridiculous’. There are more powers than state and government for good reason. The ‘performance’ of the officials was cited as the reason for the dismissals. But in the opinion of both judges, it was not actually to do so. The government is said to have used it as a ‘trick’ to circumvent legislation on structural downsizing of the government's actual purpose.

Judge William Alsup called it ‘sad’ that ‘our government fires good civil servants, supposedly because of their performance, when they know full well that is not true’. In the other case, Judge James Bredar said that many of the dismissal letters civil servants received ‘did not even superficially’ indicate anything about their performance.

And if the A/C went out in your house over the weekend. And i decided i did not want to come to work to be available to fix it.I would be fired.Civil servants are what they are. Civil servant's , I've never known one that couldn't be replaced within 48 hrs. From the local High School.

[Exocet25fr]

The Statue of Liberty no longer has its place in NY........!

[Skybird]

[FAZ] Is this Trump's grand economic plan?
By Gerald Braunberger

In the United States, ideas for a reorganization of the world's trade and financial system are circulating. Anyone who wants to be defended by America should buy American government bonds.

In 2002, the conservative American politician and journalist Patrick Buchanan wrote a book entitled "The Death of the West." As a Bible-believing Christian, he equated "global capitalists" with Cain and "true conservatives" with Abel, and predicted: "Because it is an elite project of unknown and unloved architects, globalism will founder on the Great Barrier Reef of patriotism."

Donald Trump may not cite Buchanan. But, as political scientist Hal Brands writes in an article for "Foreign Affairs," not only has Trump also recognized that globalization has gone too far, he also intuitively understands what many liberal internationalists have forgotten: order arises from power and can hardly be maintained without it. Trump isn't wrong in this perception, Brand believes. Especially in a world of expanding autocracies, "a superpower with sharp elbows might not be the worst thing right now."

The superpower is also showing sharp elbows in economic matters, with announcements of tariffs and the occasional swift retraction of these announcements by its hyperactive leader. Behind these seemingly erratic decisions, however, there may be a blueprint developed by conservative think tanks and discussed by other scholars that comprehensively summarizes political, military, and economic requirements, which in more unbiased times would have been called a "grand strategy."

The starting point is the thesis that in a more conflict-ridden world, the United States must rely more heavily on its own industry to secure its defense capabilities. "Without steel, you don't have a country," Trump once said. The severe loss of industry in recent decades is seen in this regard as an obstacle to its own arms production. However, the loss of industry is not explained by a lack of international competitiveness, but rather as the result of an overvaluation of the dollar, which is detrimental from the industry's perspective and which arises in part from global investors' demand for US government bonds as a safe investment for the world.

The United States also does not want to forgo the dollar's international role for security policy reasons. Because it secures power through the dollar's dominance in the world's capital markets. And because this makes it possible to use the dollar as a weapon, for example, in the form of economic sanctions. This creates a dilemma for Washington: From an industrial perspective, the dollar is too strong – but from an economic perspective, it must not become too weak.

In November 2024, Stephen Miran developed economic policy options for such a situation. At the time, Miran worked for the financial firm Hudson Bay Capital; he recently chaired the President's Council of Economic Advisors. "Contrary to much discussion on Wall Street and in academia, there are effective tools with which a government can influence the conditions of foreign trade, the value of the currency, and the structure of international economic relations," Miran wrote in November. "The Trump administration will likely increasingly link trade policy with security policy by viewing the provision of foreign exchange reserves and a security umbrella as intertwined and seeking a shared burden-sharing for both."

From the perspective of Germany, which has fallen into a deep geopolitical slumber in recent decades, linking economic and security policy seems alien. It is rather commonplace for the "grand strategy" of a global power; but its implementation is usually accompanied by diplomacy rather than by blows with a square of timber.

For trade policy, it is important to note that the average tariff rate levied by the United States on goods and services is lower than the average tariff rate levied by the European Union, the People's Republic of China, and many other countries. Trump's complaints about the United States being disadvantaged compared to its trading partners have a basis. What is more surprising is the idea of ​​a virtually borderless unrelenting power of tariff policy, which is intended to punish and discipline other countries while simultaneously filling the American coffers – and to do so without harming the United States in the long term. "This policy can help secure the American advantage in high-quality industrial production, slow and prevent the exodus of industry, and improve the negotiating position for obtaining from other countries the opening of their markets to American products or the defense of American intellectual property rights," writes Miran.

Securing the dollar as the leading currency and US Treasury bonds as a safe investment poses challenges other than trade policy. Miran emphasizes that his considerations should not be understood as a list of economic policy recommendations, as they have either never been tried before or come from the distant past. At their core, they involve the establishment of a new exchange rate system in the world, combined with restrictions on the free movement of capital that are uncharacteristic of the United States and potentially dangerous for the status of its Treasury bonds.

A new agreement on exchange rates had previously been proposed by Zoltan Poszar, one of the most widely read economists on Wall Street; Since then, it has circulated in the financial world under the name "Mar-a-Lago Accord." The name borrows from the "Louvre Accord" and the "Plaza Accord," two rather short-lived agreements on exchange rate targets between the leading Western industrial nations in the 1980s.

Poszar had drawn close links between exchange rate and security policy for a future "Mar-a-Lago Accord." His principles are: A common security zone with the United States is a public good, to be financed by its members through the purchase of US Treasury bonds. A common security zone is an investment, which should therefore be financed by 100-year US Treasury bonds and not just short-term government securities. And third, a common security zone is, so to speak, supported by barbed wire: Members who exchange 100-year bonds for shorter-term securities are penalized with tariffs. It would also be conceivable to increase the cost of selling US Treasury bonds through penalty fees.

For the Americans, the forced purchase of 100-year government bonds by central banks and sovereign wealth funds from security partners would have major advantages: They would not have to worry about refinancing even very large government deficits in the long run. Partners could be "convinced" of such an arrangement by first imposing high tariffs on them, which would then be lifted after they enter into a "Mar-a-Lago Accord."

These are, of course, economist considerations that in no way need to become part of official American policy. Even Miran recommends the utmost caution in the event of its implementation – a trait that seems rather alien to Trump. Wall Street's reactions to the new administration's performances so far already indicate a damaging influence of the uncertainty generated by Trump. Miran admits that the path to a successful combination of economic and security policy is narrow.

Political scientist Brands, on the other hand, is more blunt about what Trump has promised so far. "This program could fail due to its own contradictions," he warns, adding: "Trump will have a difficult time simultaneously increasing military spending, cutting taxes, and reducing the deficit."

Also in "Foreign Affairs," political scientist Michael Kimmage describes the devastating consequences of an overly aggressive tariff policy. "If Trump imposes the extreme 60 percent tariffs he has threatened, he will hit China's export-dependent economy hard," writes Kimmage. "Aggressive protectionism would diminish the collective prosperity that has long held the democratic world together and destroy the cohesion needed to contain a mercantilist China." Brands succinctly summarizes: "The potential benefits of a Trump presidency are considerable. The potential downsides are an abyss."

[Exocet25fr]

https://www.artymag.com/wp-content/u...caricature.jpg

[Buddahaid]

Originally Posted by Gorpet

...

The only people with TDS are MAGA.

[Skybird]

[Die Welt] To protect his critics from Donald Trump's vindictive justice, Joe Biden issued numerous preemptive pardons, including for his son Hunter. Now Trump claims the pardons are invalid because Biden did not personally sign them. The US President provides no evidence.

US President Donald Trump has, according to his own statements, revoked preemptive pardons issued by his predecessor, Joe Biden, for known Trump opponents. On Monday, Trump stated on his online platform Truth Social, without any evidence, that Biden did not personally sign the pardons shortly before the end of his term. Rather, the relevant documents were signed using a signature machine.

He therefore declares the pardons invalid, Trump wrote on Truth Social. They no longer have any effect. If Trump's argument were followed, however, several of his own executive orders and pardons would also no longer be valid, as they were also signed using a signature machine.

In January, shortly before the end of his term, Biden issued a series of preemptive pardons, including for members of the congressional committee investigating the storming of the Capitol by radical Trump supporters in January 2021. Biden sought to protect Trump critics like former Republican Representative Liz Cheney from possible politically motivated prosecution. Trump had repeatedly promised revenge against political opponents during the election campaign.
No Evidence of Acceptance of a Signature Machine

On Monday, Trump stated on Truth Social that the members of the former congressional committee should have known that they could be investigated "at the highest levels." However, Trump provided no evidence that the pardon documents were actually signed by a machine and not by Biden personally. Nor did Trump explain why such signatures should be invalid.
--------------

[mapuc]

They would say it's impossible it can't be done, if I say: Is Trump on his way to turn America into a dictatorship ?

Markus

[Catfish]

Sorry, can't keep up obviously
I wrote

Originally Posted by Catfish

^ This lol
Victor D. Hanson is right. On the other hand no word about Trump's plans. I mean he describes it as if he was lecturing Europe but it is the US that does a 180 degree turn and is suddenly best friends with Russia and China.

Originally Posted by u crank

Best friends? Really?

No not the US, sorry, and probably not China. But Trump seems to think that Putin is his friend on a personal level, and he could not be more wrong.

[Skybird]

Yes.

[Buddahaid]

Originally Posted by mapuc

They would say it's impossible it can't be done, if I say: Is Trump on his way to turn America into a dictatorship ?

Markus

Looks like it to me. When MAGA get stomped in the midterms the results will declared invalid.

[Dargo]

Originally Posted by Gorpet

And if the A/C went out in your house over the weekend. And i decided i did not want to come to work to be available to fix it.I would be fired.Civil servants are what they are. Civil servant's , I've never known one that couldn't be replaced within 48 hrs. From the local High School.

If my A/C goes out no civil servant will fix it sure because my A/C is not build or maintained by civil servants. Our energy network is owned and controlled by companies that are independent of the state! Duh!

[u crank]

Originally Posted by Buddahaid

Looks like it to me. When MAGA get stomped in the midterms the results will declared invalid.

Well it is a way off yet but the Democrat party's favorability will have to improve quite a bit for a stomping.

Among the American public overall, the Democratic Party’s favorability rating stands at just 29% – a record low in CNN’s polling dating back to 1992

https://www.cnn.com/2025/03/16/polit...ats/index.html

[Aktungbby]

...at a time when he's massively disrupting the planet economy, NATO allies, and DEI;shouldn't our 'fearless Kremlin (Agent Krasnov”) flunky' be in his oval office (justifying his own job) minding Mr. Musk's D.O.G.E depredations! https://www.msn.com/en-us/sports/gol...ade68c7a&ei=24 instead of hitting-the-links with his 'stiff putter and dimpled balls'??! afterall, he's certainly no Ike Eisenhower! Then again, small wonder France wants it's Statue of Liberty back! https://apnews.com/article/france-tr...7988bf6abdacf8

[MaDef]

LMAO Trump has set up shop rent free in your heads.

[Aktungbby]

Originally Posted by MaDef

LMAO Trump has set up shop rent free in your heads.

...well, having made the same mistake twice in eight years, 'Merikan voters' heads are clearly devoid of content to begin with.