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On March 12 2025 10:03 DarkPlasmaBall wrote:Show nested quote +On March 12 2025 09:59 JimmyJRaynor wrote:Some added context here... Linda McMahon is Vince McMahon's wife. Vince owned the WWF/WWE from 1984 to around 2021. Linda was a big part of the WWE's success. She is super smart. She is the education secretary. Being smart when it comes to one thing does NOT necessarily translate into being smart with another thing. Betsy DeVos was probably good at *something*, but she had no expertise when it came to the DoE. Same with Linda McMahon. I know you like wrestling, but she's not running the Department of Wrestling. She's running the Department of Education. Into the ground.
She's doing a good job of running it into the ground, which is what she was hired to do.
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On March 12 2025 10:59 WombaT wrote:Show nested quote +On March 12 2025 09:10 Introvert wrote:On March 12 2025 08:45 BlackJack wrote:
Flip the script and let’s pretend that the US passed a law or constitutional amendment giving Trumps Supreme Court authority to demand posts be deleted and users be banned. Let’s imagine John Robert’s first order of business is to demand Nazgûl ban Gorsameth and arrest any TL.net representatives in the US if they fail to do so because Gorsameth is a danger to the union.
Does anyone believe Gorsameth would be saying “This has nothing to do with freedom of speech. This has to do with Nazgûl failing to comply with lawful court orders to ban me.”
Does anyone think we’d have posts like Nazgûl needs to understand that Dutch interpretation of freedom of speech doesn’t apply universally?
Right… I’m sure there would be no mention of fascism… or freedom of speech… I haven't looked into this guy's case in particular but since we are posting about laws now and their intersection with free speech I would point out that the power to deport someone is quite strong. If this guy was *merely* saying Israel was a genocidal state than I would wish he was never allowed here but would probably be against deporting him. Again though, don't know what he actually did. Students who do break the law, by either taking over buildings or harassing Jewish students should probably be deported though. I'm not a 60s leftist. But you are right, there is a huge double standard here. I won't weep if any of these people are deported the only reason I worry precisely because the shoe is often on the other foot. A lesson many on the left are incapable of learning. I think it must be a core, if unstated and subliminal, part of that worldview. It’s not really a matter of principle if the worry is ‘if the shoe is on the other foot’ though. Although, the rest of your post reads otherwise, but plenty do think like that. On harassment, if that happened, then sure. I personally think anti-abortion folks have all the right in the world to protest, outside of harassing women in and around abortion clinics. That’s my personal line there. If bystanding Jewish students were targeted, including perhaps also those who aren’t even pro-Israel, then yeah. Not cool. To put it mildly. I dislike the state of Israel’s actions in certain domains pretty intensely myself, but for one, this is a shitty thing to do. Two, opponents of Israeli policy have to fight to separate that from accusations of anti-Semitism, all the time. If protestors are actively behaving in a way that conjoins them again, it makes it that much harder for the likes of myself. So fuck that. It’s my understanding the wheels were already turning, at least in terms of college disciplinary proceedings, and perhaps legal ones (unsure on that), already. I did a bit of scanning, I haven’t deep-dived. It’s really the difference between that process occurring, and perhaps criminal transgressions being found, and this individual being deported, versus someone in the State department unilaterally demanding they be deported. For whatever reason that may be, and I think many have probably accurately figured that out via speculation, although lack any smoking gun of evidence in that regard. I’m unsure what the double standard here really is. It’s oft-invoked, and I think oft-wrongly. Not always, but often. Are there really that many direct left analogues from the past few years for what we’re seeing in the first few months with Trump? I’d argue not really. In spirit perhaps, but not from individuals with comparable power. I’ll grant the Hunter Biden suppression/interference in that domain, incidentally I was personally against that, and vocalised it at the time. But I would implore those on the centre thru right, yanno what I think some on the left got some of these questions wrong. Some, malicious but the majority are at least trying to do right, even if misjudged. For some elusive greater good or whatever. Don’t cut your collective noses off to spite us lefties, if these are things you care about. Forget about us entirely, and look at the Orange King and what he’s getting up to, and judge according to your own sensibilities. There’s not even the vaguest pretence that he’s behaving for some greater good or collective principle. Immaterial in actuality, but unbelievably instructive of this regime, removing outlets from the intimate press corps (can’t remember the actual name) because they didn’t go with ‘Gulf of America’. It’s so thin-skinned, petty and pointlessly vindictive, so contemptuous of the whole role of the Fourth Estate, and over something so asinine. The fuck is he going to do with any actual serious threat to him and his power? I’ll also add that if Biden had renamed it something ‘woke’ and wrote an Executive Order to that effect. And got salty with the press for not playing ball, people would have lambasted him. And they should
Not giving yourself the power you wouldn't want others to have over you I think rises to the level of a principle. However, the problem in modern day America is that one side of the asile in particular has disregarded that rule for so long that now it's hard to invoke at all.
I think they have stuff on that guy who might be deported, I just haven't looked into it.
Obama renamed Mt. McKinley (named after a president) to Mt. Denali and he was mildly roasted for it by his political opponents. Maybe it's not as important as the Gulf, but it's a similar idea.
My general feeling with Trump right now has a few aspects, but I will just point out this one for tonight since it's late. The problem the federal bureaucracy has right now is of its own making. For decades, it has drifted further and further towards being basically just Democrats in opposition. Eventually it was going to be time to pay the price. Conservatives have long argued (before Trump, it's not an argument from convenience) that the president should have more power to fire civil servants (based on the sole executive power idea). It just hit the breaking point with Trump. What happens when plotters in a government kick out the leader but he returns triumphant back the the palace? He cleans house. That's the analogy for what's happening now. During his last go around the entire federal government was against him and the media was cheering on those who were the "resistance" inside the government. Well guess what, sometimes when you play a risky game you lose, and those people have now lost. Is he breaking things along the way? A little, and apparently at the first cabinet meeting the Secretaries were explicitly told by Trump that they were in charge. So maybe it will slow down, but in principle the idea of cleaning up and kicking out is sorely needed.
So in some sense I view what is happening as inevitable, it's what almost always happens.
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If it were competent conservative bureaucrats in charge, then sure you could argue that it’s just cleaning up shop.
I’m not sure there’s a lot of evidence of that really happening outside of a few department heads who have managed to carve out their fiefdoms. A lot of the “breaking” is occurring in areas that would slow down or prevent the open self dealing, grafting, and grifting that’s occurring in every section of American society. Yeah it’s sad that it’s inevitable and no one wants to do anything about it because that sort of corruption bleeds everywhere.
Considering the ineptness of American politics, you’re absolutely right that it’s just the continued enshittification of everything where economic nihilism is encouraged and everything is being built to exploit people with that mindset. If it were just American politics, then you could maybe ignore it but it’s bleeding into every facet of American cultural and economic output that corporations and politicians all around the world attempt to mimic.
On March 12 2025 13:02 Zambrah wrote:Show nested quote +On March 12 2025 12:15 GreenHorizons wrote:On March 12 2025 11:21 Zambrah wrote:The Curtis Yarvin playbook shit trying to get its gears to grinding. Company towns but probably worse, would not be surprised to see this actually exist during the next few years, lmao. Three cheers for Cyberpunk dystopia, where all of the worst parts are real but noone gets cool cyber implants and probably noone will be allowed to dye their hair cool colors. https://gizmodo.com/tech-execs-are-pushing-trump-to-build-freedom-cities-run-by-corporations-2000574510A new lobbying group, dubbed the Freedom Cities Coalition, wants to convince President Trump and Congress to authorize the creation of new special development zones within the U.S. These zones would allow wealthy investors to write their own laws and set up their own governance structures which would be corporately controlled and wouldn’t involve a traditional bureaucracy. The new zones could also serve as a testbed for weird new technologies without the need for government oversight. GH: They will be the nicest places in the country, if not the world to live too, at first. Sorta like a city sized version of the fancy tech workplaces that are full of amenities. Capitalists know the US desperately needs new infrastructure. It makes a lot more sense from their perspective for them to build it and own it privately than to pay taxes to rebuild the US's existing infrastructure and have to share it with the rest of society. I dunno, I think itll be like that for the corporate overlord, but I think whatever workers they attract will have the "luxury building!" vibe where its all stick construction, most basic possible granite countertops, cheap to build, not genuinely nice, but looks nice enough that they feel good charging 3000 dollars a month for a two bed one bath if youre lucky. They're too incompetent to get anything truly nice done. Too cheap and greedy for it, too.
That’s the worst thing about all of these assholes. At least gilded age industrialists spent money on some real impressive personal projects or infrastructure, there’s libraries paid for by Andrew Carnegie all over the world as an example.
Today’s captains of industry like Musk, Zuckerberg, and Bezos just have zero taste and are amazing misers who don’t have any sense of noblesse oblige. We’re getting absolutely nothing from them while they do everything to funnel tax dollars into their pockets.
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EU imposes retaliatory measures in response to Trump tariffs:www.bbc.com
I wonder what will happen next, will Brazil, Australia and other steel producing countries follow suit?
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On March 12 2025 16:31 Silvanel wrote:EU imposes retaliatory measures in response to Trump tariffs: www.bbc.comI wonder what will happen next, will Brazil, Australia and other steel producing countries follow suit?
Australia is not going to do anything, this is the country whose previous conservative Prime Minister got scammed by the American government for some submarines that will never be delivered. Whose current moderate Prime Minister is continuing the charade for reasons no one can comprehend.
Getting scammed is one thing but Australia was previously in a deal with France for some more sensible submarines they would be able to maintain without America’s help and also be built by local shipbuilders iirc. In order for Australia to enter this scam for submarines that will never be delivered, they infamously told France to get fucked in the process and had to pay a breach of contract penalty if I’m not misremembering the situation.
Right now the conservatives are doing anything to get table scraps from Musk and Trump, to the point they want to ditch fibre internet infrastructure and shove all that funding into Starlink. Which I shouldn’t need to tell you is pants on head stupid for so many reasons.
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On March 12 2025 14:38 decafchicken wrote:Show nested quote +On March 12 2025 10:03 DarkPlasmaBall wrote:On March 12 2025 09:59 JimmyJRaynor wrote:Some added context here... Linda McMahon is Vince McMahon's wife. Vince owned the WWF/WWE from 1984 to around 2021. Linda was a big part of the WWE's success. She is super smart. She is the education secretary. Being smart when it comes to one thing does NOT necessarily translate into being smart with another thing. Betsy DeVos was probably good at *something*, but she had no expertise when it came to the DoE. Same with Linda McMahon. I know you like wrestling, but she's not running the Department of Wrestling. She's running the Department of Education. Into the ground. She's doing a good job of running it into the ground, which is what she was hired to do.
Well played.
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United States42490 Posts
In response to fentanyl crossing the border and a failure to secure the arctic America is now also tariffing Australia. It’s about time the Australians took security seriously.
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No matter how high the tariffs will be, we won't import your corn sirup garbage and you'll still need our steel and machinery. How high is the first of many farmer bailouts to come going to be this time i wonder. And isn't that socialism?
Edit: While we're at it: You want to be the biggest player on the energy market. Why bring your biggest competitor back in Russia by pissing off all of your reliable trade partners and allies? We had them by the balls.
Wanting to crush the US economy seems to be the goal here. As someone mentionend: If you know a recession is coming, easy money is to be made if you have the capital to play.
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United States24660 Posts
On March 12 2025 16:37 Hat Trick of Today wrote:Show nested quote +On March 12 2025 16:31 Silvanel wrote:EU imposes retaliatory measures in response to Trump tariffs: www.bbc.comI wonder what will happen next, will Brazil, Australia and other steel producing countries follow suit? Australia is not going to do anything, this is the country whose previous conservative Prime Minister got scammed by the American government for some submarines that will never be delivered. Whose current moderate Prime Minister is continuing the charade for reasons no one can comprehend.Getting scammed is one thing but Australia was previously in a deal with France for some more sensible submarines they would be able to maintain without America’s help and also be built by local shipbuilders iirc. In order for Australia to enter this scam for submarines that will never be delivered, they infamously told France to get fucked in the process and had to pay a breach of contract penalty if I’m not misremembering the situation.
Can you state why you think the AUKUS agreement (submarines portion) is literally a scam? There definitely are concerns that the project won't complete, but that's different than it being a scam.
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Northern Ireland24945 Posts
On March 12 2025 18:09 DarkPlasmaBall wrote:Show nested quote +On March 12 2025 14:38 decafchicken wrote:On March 12 2025 10:03 DarkPlasmaBall wrote:On March 12 2025 09:59 JimmyJRaynor wrote:Some added context here... Linda McMahon is Vince McMahon's wife. Vince owned the WWF/WWE from 1984 to around 2021. Linda was a big part of the WWE's success. She is super smart. She is the education secretary. Being smart when it comes to one thing does NOT necessarily translate into being smart with another thing. Betsy DeVos was probably good at *something*, but she had no expertise when it came to the DoE. Same with Linda McMahon. I know you like wrestling, but she's not running the Department of Wrestling. She's running the Department of Education. Into the ground. She's doing a good job of running it into the ground, which is what she was hired to do. Well played.
Nah, it’s a whole bit, she’s gonna unveil a bunch of fantastic, well-considered reforms everyone loves
It’s, it’s MY GOD IT’S LINDA MCMAHON WITH THE STEEL CHAIR!
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On March 12 2025 20:07 WombaT wrote:Show nested quote +On March 12 2025 18:09 DarkPlasmaBall wrote:On March 12 2025 14:38 decafchicken wrote:On March 12 2025 10:03 DarkPlasmaBall wrote:On March 12 2025 09:59 JimmyJRaynor wrote:Some added context here... Linda McMahon is Vince McMahon's wife. Vince owned the WWF/WWE from 1984 to around 2021. Linda was a big part of the WWE's success. She is super smart. She is the education secretary. Being smart when it comes to one thing does NOT necessarily translate into being smart with another thing. Betsy DeVos was probably good at *something*, but she had no expertise when it came to the DoE. Same with Linda McMahon. I know you like wrestling, but she's not running the Department of Wrestling. She's running the Department of Education. Into the ground. She's doing a good job of running it into the ground, which is what she was hired to do. Well played. Nah, it’s a whole bit, she’s gonna unveil a bunch of fantastic, well-considered reforms everyone loves It’s, it’s MY GOD IT’S LINDA MCMAHON WITH THE STEEL CHAIR!
Taking a steel chair to financial aid, school research, education reform, and equitable academic access is definitely a fitting metaphor.
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I get thinking there is a bunch of waste in the government.
I get wanting it to be more streamlined and less red tape.
But after the fired half the Department of Energy and then having to scramble because it turned out they oversee the US nuclear arsenal and firing everyone on 'probation' because they were recently promoted you really need to reconsider if your dealing with competent people trimming fat or just morons.
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On March 12 2025 05:09 BlackJack wrote:Show nested quote +On March 12 2025 04:16 WombaT wrote:This feels pretty worrying as developments go. Luckily there are few other worrying ones these days… CNN - Judge temporarily blocks effort to deport Palestinian activist who helped lead Columbia student protestsI think regardless of one’s opinion around cause, or indeed methods of this man in question, there are really serious whiffs of someone up the chain trying to expedite this particular case and circumvent due process. The latter, seemingly only being upheld because those lower down are making it a point to stick to. The second, broader and perhaps even more pertinent point is this administration, quite openly launching an attack on free speech on college campuses. Under the auspices of a very deliberately vague conception of ‘illegal protests’. Are some the folks who spent the past decade complaining that the left were destroying freedom of speech in colleges going to be as fervent in their opposition to these developments? I mean, they really care about freedom of speech right? Right? Introvert and I frequently made the point that people will be singing a different tune on the censorship of speech once Trump is back in office. Well... well... well... Sure it's no big deal when it was Canada freezing the bank accounts of trucker protestors or the Brazilian Supreme court justice is threatening to jail Twitter staff for not complying with his censorship orders... But now it's serious because the right is doing it. My response is that it's atrocious. I think most people here would agree that it's atrocious. But I also suspect that if the left were in power and they tried to deport Musk for being an outside agitator in our politics they would be fully supportive to the point of giddiness over the idea.
There was also a trucker tantrum in Alberta where we have a critical infrastructure law about protesting. Much smaller protests that have blocked access to oil wells (indigenous or left wing environmental groups) have had their protests stopped by the RCMP, but not the Couts blockade. It is not some anti right wing bias, just that they have been the ones on the throat instead of the other way around.
Also, people on both sides of the isle were annoyed at the Trucker tantrums. First, until they were told it was really stupid, they were mad that unvaccinated could not go stateside. That was a murican rule! Next basically everything had been lifted and the rest was scheduled too. And finally it hurt many small businesses in Ottawa (and a lot of farmers in Alberta).
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Northern Ireland24945 Posts
On March 12 2025 15:11 Introvert wrote:Show nested quote +On March 12 2025 10:59 WombaT wrote:On March 12 2025 09:10 Introvert wrote:On March 12 2025 08:45 BlackJack wrote:
Flip the script and let’s pretend that the US passed a law or constitutional amendment giving Trumps Supreme Court authority to demand posts be deleted and users be banned. Let’s imagine John Robert’s first order of business is to demand Nazgûl ban Gorsameth and arrest any TL.net representatives in the US if they fail to do so because Gorsameth is a danger to the union.
Does anyone believe Gorsameth would be saying “This has nothing to do with freedom of speech. This has to do with Nazgûl failing to comply with lawful court orders to ban me.”
Does anyone think we’d have posts like Nazgûl needs to understand that Dutch interpretation of freedom of speech doesn’t apply universally?
Right… I’m sure there would be no mention of fascism… or freedom of speech… I haven't looked into this guy's case in particular but since we are posting about laws now and their intersection with free speech I would point out that the power to deport someone is quite strong. If this guy was *merely* saying Israel was a genocidal state than I would wish he was never allowed here but would probably be against deporting him. Again though, don't know what he actually did. Students who do break the law, by either taking over buildings or harassing Jewish students should probably be deported though. I'm not a 60s leftist. But you are right, there is a huge double standard here. I won't weep if any of these people are deported the only reason I worry precisely because the shoe is often on the other foot. A lesson many on the left are incapable of learning. I think it must be a core, if unstated and subliminal, part of that worldview. It’s not really a matter of principle if the worry is ‘if the shoe is on the other foot’ though. Although, the rest of your post reads otherwise, but plenty do think like that. On harassment, if that happened, then sure. I personally think anti-abortion folks have all the right in the world to protest, outside of harassing women in and around abortion clinics. That’s my personal line there. If bystanding Jewish students were targeted, including perhaps also those who aren’t even pro-Israel, then yeah. Not cool. To put it mildly. I dislike the state of Israel’s actions in certain domains pretty intensely myself, but for one, this is a shitty thing to do. Two, opponents of Israeli policy have to fight to separate that from accusations of anti-Semitism, all the time. If protestors are actively behaving in a way that conjoins them again, it makes it that much harder for the likes of myself. So fuck that. It’s my understanding the wheels were already turning, at least in terms of college disciplinary proceedings, and perhaps legal ones (unsure on that), already. I did a bit of scanning, I haven’t deep-dived. It’s really the difference between that process occurring, and perhaps criminal transgressions being found, and this individual being deported, versus someone in the State department unilaterally demanding they be deported. For whatever reason that may be, and I think many have probably accurately figured that out via speculation, although lack any smoking gun of evidence in that regard. I’m unsure what the double standard here really is. It’s oft-invoked, and I think oft-wrongly. Not always, but often. Are there really that many direct left analogues from the past few years for what we’re seeing in the first few months with Trump? I’d argue not really. In spirit perhaps, but not from individuals with comparable power. I’ll grant the Hunter Biden suppression/interference in that domain, incidentally I was personally against that, and vocalised it at the time. But I would implore those on the centre thru right, yanno what I think some on the left got some of these questions wrong. Some, malicious but the majority are at least trying to do right, even if misjudged. For some elusive greater good or whatever. Don’t cut your collective noses off to spite us lefties, if these are things you care about. Forget about us entirely, and look at the Orange King and what he’s getting up to, and judge according to your own sensibilities. There’s not even the vaguest pretence that he’s behaving for some greater good or collective principle. Immaterial in actuality, but unbelievably instructive of this regime, removing outlets from the intimate press corps (can’t remember the actual name) because they didn’t go with ‘Gulf of America’. It’s so thin-skinned, petty and pointlessly vindictive, so contemptuous of the whole role of the Fourth Estate, and over something so asinine. The fuck is he going to do with any actual serious threat to him and his power? I’ll also add that if Biden had renamed it something ‘woke’ and wrote an Executive Order to that effect. And got salty with the press for not playing ball, people would have lambasted him. And they should Not giving yourself the power you wouldn't want others to have over you I think rises to the level of a principle. However, the problem in modern day America is that one side of the asile in particular has disregarded that rule for so long that now it's hard to invoke at all. I think they have stuff on that guy who might be deported, I just haven't looked into it. Obama renamed Mt. McKinley (named after a president) to Mt. Denali and he was mildly roasted for it by his political opponents. Maybe it's not as important as the Gulf, but it's a similar idea. My general feeling with Trump right now has a few aspects, but I will just point out this one for tonight since it's late. The problem the federal bureaucracy has right now is of its own making. For decades, it has drifted further and further towards being basically just Democrats in opposition. Eventually it was going to be time to pay the price. Conservatives have long argued (before Trump, it's not an argument from convenience) that the president should have more power to fire civil servants (based on the sole executive power idea). It just hit the breaking point with Trump. What happens when plotters in a government kick out the leader but he returns triumphant back the the palace? He cleans house. That's the analogy for what's happening now. During his last go around the entire federal government was against him and the media was cheering on those who were the "resistance" inside the government. Well guess what, sometimes when you play a risky game you lose, and those people have now lost. Is he breaking things along the way? A little, and apparently at the first cabinet meeting the Secretaries were explicitly told by Trump that they were in charge. So maybe it will slow down, but in principle the idea of cleaning up and kicking out is sorely needed. So in some sense I view what is happening as inevitable, it's what almost always happens.
I think it’s a good way to test applying a principle in the real world, but it itself ain’t the principle, anyway I’m splitting hairs :p
It’s my understanding there was an investigatory process(es) already in motion. Then something happened upstairs to try and expedite it, and he would have basically been deported immediately, without a local judge putting their foot down. Anyway, just going off memory I’ll give myself a refresher in due course.
And bear in mind, this is really just the first (to my knowledge), quite public test case of Trump’s clampdown on college activism. It’s quite the important potential milestone in determining what that all looks like.
Best case scenario, basically a reversing of course here IMO. Best realistic scenario (IMO), what constitutes an ‘illegal protest’ and other such vagaries are properly defined, and thus a due process pipeline is created for such cases. Worst case, this doesn’t happen, and the dam breaks and we see a bunch of prosecutions and deportations, many without rigid due process. Which will have a huge chilling effect on campus protests, and completely neuter them.
If you have to really do quite a lot of quite serious stuff to get arrested and possibly deported if a foreign national, I can still protest in quite a few robust ways, and be confident I’m safe to do so. If those red lines aren’t clear at all, I might be wise not to protest, just so I don’t risk falling foul of nebulous and ill-defined anti-protest orders.
We’re also talking a bloke who pardoned en masse folks who surrounded, or stormed the Capitol building, demanding that ‘illegal’ college protestors get jailed, or deported if they’re foreigners.
Obama did that aye, plenty of places do get renamed. A sponsor may rename a hallowed football ground, but the fans will still use the old name. As I said, it’s a trivial thing itself. Gulf of America is lame as all fuck, but meh. Trump retaliating over people not doing it, it’s a matter of triviality but absolutely indicative of how he generally behaves in all domains.
I will consider the shredding of civil servants somewhat differently from freedom of speech issues. There isn’t all that much alignment to begin with.
If I’m talking to Dave Redhat who’s wanted to shred the Federal Government for years, hey, Trump is just sorta delivering that.
If I’m talking to Dave Redhat who’s been banging on about freedom of speech being threatened for years, Trump is absolutely not delivering on all counts there.
Not that I’m against a conversation on the former and perhaps I shall return to it, but such a conversation will start from a spot of probably quite profound disagreement, from the start.
Freedom of speech, from one of broad alignment, perhaps with some divergence and caveats. Maybe someone is like 99.5% on the free speech scale, with the only exceptions being things like saying fire in a crowded theatre. Maybe I’m a mere 90%, what with my desire for things like social media to be regulated properly.
It cycles back to my age-old gripe, conservatives basically will not criticise Trump and his administration no matter what he does. You actually saw the same with Musk as well with his Twitter takeover.
I’m not saying conservatives should care about freedom of speech, they have said they do. For years. Incessantly.
Speaking of cycles and shoes being on other feet, won’t the left’s time come again? If conservatives happily sit by and let Trump use instruments of state to suppress speech in various areas for 4 years without a peep, what’s the corresponding response going to look like?
Like I don’t expect us all to sit around singing Kumbayah anytime soon, but things are only going to get worse and worse.
As I said up the page, we’re paralysed by hypocrisy, both in seeking it in others and not confronting our own. We all need to collectively punch through that. Absolute baby steps, it’s a pretty toxic stew, but I think some forward progress can be made.
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On March 08 2025 01:30 JimmyJRaynor wrote:Show nested quote +On March 08 2025 01:26 KwarK wrote:On March 08 2025 00:53 JimmyJRaynor wrote:On March 07 2025 22:49 Billyboy wrote:
This is wildly stupid behavior, and would use it as a counter to anyone who says Trump has Americans interest at heart and is smart. He can't be both. He might be one (but I doubt it), but reality suggests he has only interest in himself, and he is not directly profiting off our oil (yet) and or too dumb to understand that buying the raw material for pennies on the dollar is a bigly amazing stupendous deal for the old U S of A. His goal is to get Alberta to separate from Canada OR to get an ownership slice of Alberta's energy reserves in exchange for zero tariffs. Trump/US Prez will probably agree to protect the Arctic as part of the deal.. Sorta like a Ukraine type deal. if his end game is to get Alberta to separate from Canada his moves make sense. Next, engage in some kind of sovereignty association deal similar to what the Parti Quebecois has outlined for Quebec. Trump is doing the right things to influence this outcome. Ontario is going down hard. Alberta is not going to want to support Ontario forever. Right now, they are willing to do so. That feeling will wane with time. Trudeau and Doug Ford are getting outplayed by Trump. That said, Trump is holding a way better hand so it is not hard for him to win. Trump can make all kinds of mistakes and still win. One way or another, the USA is getting Alberta's oil. Eventually, the USA will own it and all of Alberta's energy reserves. They already had the oil. The only pipeline went to US refineries and the price was low. There’s literally no upside here for the US. They do not own the rights to it or to the reserves. The USA wants to insure Canada/Alberta does not sell to any one else. A rights deal allows the USA to build a pipeline to the Pacific and start fucking with countries on the other side of the ocean. Show nested quote +On March 08 2025 01:29 WombaT wrote:On March 08 2025 00:53 JimmyJRaynor wrote:On March 07 2025 22:49 Billyboy wrote:
This is wildly stupid behavior, and would use it as a counter to anyone who says Trump has Americans interest at heart and is smart. He can't be both. He might be one (but I doubt it), but reality suggests he has only interest in himself, and he is not directly profiting off our oil (yet) and or too dumb to understand that buying the raw material for pennies on the dollar is a bigly amazing stupendous deal for the old U S of A. His goal is to get Alberta to separate from Canada OR to get an ownership slice of Alberta's energy reserves in exchange for zero tariffs. Trump/US Prez will probably agree to protect the Arctic as part of the deal.. Sorta like a Ukraine type deal. if his end game is to get Alberta to separate from Canada his moves make sense. Next, engage in some kind of sovereignty association deal similar to what the Parti Quebecois has outlined for Quebec. Trump is doing the right things to influence this outcome. Ontario is going down hard. Alberta is not going to want to support Ontario forever. Right now, they are willing to do so. That feeling will wane with time. Trudeau and Doug Ford are getting outplayed by Trump. That said, Trump is holding a way better hand so it is not hard for him to win. Trump can make all kinds of mistakes and still win. One way or another, the USA is getting Alberta's oil. Eventually, the USA will own it and all of Alberta's energy reserves. Why would that happen? Trump’s consistent miscalculation seems to be in forgetting tha t other countries have national pride and nationalism too. By continuously behaving like a contemptuous prick, all that’s doing is building resistance to handing the US anything Canada's flag has only been around for something like 50 years and was copied off of a hockey team and a minor league baseball team. LOL. I find it deeply ironic how Justin's father warned about nationalism wrecking a country and now his son is falling right into the trap Trump created. Canada is the child of 2 divorced parents(US, UK) playing one off of the other. I wonder if Canada will ever grow up.
The only thing Trump does by claiming he could annex anything, is projecting a level of power he doesn't posess to people who are desperately want to see a "strong leader".
Which he is not. He sells discount cars and shits his pants while ranting about transgenders and gay planes.
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Northern Ireland24945 Posts
On March 12 2025 23:20 KT_Elwood wrote:Show nested quote +On March 08 2025 01:30 JimmyJRaynor wrote:On March 08 2025 01:26 KwarK wrote:On March 08 2025 00:53 JimmyJRaynor wrote:On March 07 2025 22:49 Billyboy wrote:
This is wildly stupid behavior, and would use it as a counter to anyone who says Trump has Americans interest at heart and is smart. He can't be both. He might be one (but I doubt it), but reality suggests he has only interest in himself, and he is not directly profiting off our oil (yet) and or too dumb to understand that buying the raw material for pennies on the dollar is a bigly amazing stupendous deal for the old U S of A. His goal is to get Alberta to separate from Canada OR to get an ownership slice of Alberta's energy reserves in exchange for zero tariffs. Trump/US Prez will probably agree to protect the Arctic as part of the deal.. Sorta like a Ukraine type deal. if his end game is to get Alberta to separate from Canada his moves make sense. Next, engage in some kind of sovereignty association deal similar to what the Parti Quebecois has outlined for Quebec. Trump is doing the right things to influence this outcome. Ontario is going down hard. Alberta is not going to want to support Ontario forever. Right now, they are willing to do so. That feeling will wane with time. Trudeau and Doug Ford are getting outplayed by Trump. That said, Trump is holding a way better hand so it is not hard for him to win. Trump can make all kinds of mistakes and still win. One way or another, the USA is getting Alberta's oil. Eventually, the USA will own it and all of Alberta's energy reserves. They already had the oil. The only pipeline went to US refineries and the price was low. There’s literally no upside here for the US. They do not own the rights to it or to the reserves. The USA wants to insure Canada/Alberta does not sell to any one else. A rights deal allows the USA to build a pipeline to the Pacific and start fucking with countries on the other side of the ocean. On March 08 2025 01:29 WombaT wrote:On March 08 2025 00:53 JimmyJRaynor wrote:On March 07 2025 22:49 Billyboy wrote:
This is wildly stupid behavior, and would use it as a counter to anyone who says Trump has Americans interest at heart and is smart. He can't be both. He might be one (but I doubt it), but reality suggests he has only interest in himself, and he is not directly profiting off our oil (yet) and or too dumb to understand that buying the raw material for pennies on the dollar is a bigly amazing stupendous deal for the old U S of A. His goal is to get Alberta to separate from Canada OR to get an ownership slice of Alberta's energy reserves in exchange for zero tariffs. Trump/US Prez will probably agree to protect the Arctic as part of the deal.. Sorta like a Ukraine type deal. if his end game is to get Alberta to separate from Canada his moves make sense. Next, engage in some kind of sovereignty association deal similar to what the Parti Quebecois has outlined for Quebec. Trump is doing the right things to influence this outcome. Ontario is going down hard. Alberta is not going to want to support Ontario forever. Right now, they are willing to do so. That feeling will wane with time. Trudeau and Doug Ford are getting outplayed by Trump. That said, Trump is holding a way better hand so it is not hard for him to win. Trump can make all kinds of mistakes and still win. One way or another, the USA is getting Alberta's oil. Eventually, the USA will own it and all of Alberta's energy reserves. Why would that happen? Trump’s consistent miscalculation seems to be in forgetting tha t other countries have national pride and nationalism too. By continuously behaving like a contemptuous prick, all that’s doing is building resistance to handing the US anything Canada's flag has only been around for something like 50 years and was copied off of a hockey team and a minor league baseball team. LOL. I find it deeply ironic how Justin's father warned about nationalism wrecking a country and now his son is falling right into the trap Trump created. Canada is the child of 2 divorced parents(US, UK) playing one off of the other. I wonder if Canada will ever grow up. The only thing Trump does by claiming he could annex anything, is projecting a level of power he doesn't posess to people who are desperately want to see a "strong leader". Which he is not. He sells discount cars and shits his pants while ranting about transgenders and gay planes.
Don’t forget, stirring up antipathy!
There’s a lot of backlash already even from ‘small n’ nationalists, it’s truly strategic genius.
I’d be something of one. By that I mean, the kind of person who’s really not especially patriotic, or flag-wavy and often quite critical of one’s own nation where applicable. But, someone else starts shitting on it, and I’m temporarily an angry patriot. That kind of ‘yeah I know I talk shit about my brother all the time, doesn’t mean I’ll let you do it!’
Even by Trump’s standards this shit is baffling. Not the tariff back and forth, which is baffling but explicable by Trump and his base’s idiocy.
Specifically the 51st state, annexation talk. What is the fucking play there haha? It turns it from ‘oh America is playing a bit of hard ball that’s unfortunate eh?’ into a real ‘fuck this guy and fuck America’ pretty quickly.
It genuinely confuses me, if Trump has one actual political skill it’s in stirring up bullshit nationalism, did he just forget that other nations have nationalism too or what?
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The current VP called Trump Hitler. The notion that "Republicans" or "conservatives" somehow do not criticize Trump, either at the level of elected or the level of voters - just because Person X doesn't criticize Trump about Issue Y in the exact way one of us personally expects that they should - is not a gripe that has a strong signal in the data.
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On March 13 2025 00:14 oBlade wrote:
The current VP called Trump Hitler. The notion that "Republicans" or "conservatives" somehow do not criticize Trump, either at the level of elected or the level of voters - just because Person X doesn't criticize Trump about Issue Y in the exact way one of us personally expects that they should - is not a gripe that has a strong signal in the data.
Calling Trump "Hitler" is a criticism in the eyes of most people, but a badge of honor to his most fervent voters. That's why they do Nazi salutes and push for white nationalism.
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United States42490 Posts
On March 13 2025 00:14 oBlade wrote:
The current VP called Trump Hitler. The notion that "Republicans" or "conservatives" somehow do not criticize Trump, either at the level of elected or the level of voters - just because Person X doesn't criticize Trump about Issue Y in the exact way one of us personally expects that they should - is not a gripe that has a strong signal in the data.
The current VP is serving "Hitler: loyally. Your mistake is in thinking Hitler is a criticism when a Republican says it. It is not.
I don't even understand how you're making the argument you're making with a straight face, you know that Vance is on the same team as Trump and yet you're presenting him as a dignified and principled opponent who rightly identifies Trump as a fascist with the implication that he has a problem with Trump's fascism. Even though you know that he doesn't. Even though you know that implication is contrary to the basic foundational knowledge of who Vance is and what his role is.
The whole German Nazi party called literally Hitler Hitler. Calling someone Hitler doesn't count as criticism if you're on the pro-Hitler team.
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EPT
