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On May 20 2026 00:14 LightSpectra wrote:
So, who gets to decide if a claimant actually was discriminated by the government and deserves a cut of the fund? Independent judiciary? Nope, five-member panel chosen by the (acting) AG Todd Blanche, who was Trump's former personal attorney.
None of which carry the protection of executive privilege that it keeps you up at night that Trump has.
All of which are either subject to impeachment (AG), criminal liability for corruption, or both.
Keepseagle did not use an "independent judiciary" either nor does the Department of Labor when adjudicating penalties for the fact that they administratively think some company statistically violated the Civil Rights Act based on Eric Holder's understanding of Math 100, nor did the EPA use an "independent judiciary" nor Congress when they decided ditches were Navigable Waters of the US that they could regulate to penalties, nor did the IRS have the involvement of an "independent judiciary" when they seized people's accounts under the "structuring" excuse that the target individual sent too many payments under $10,000 and not enough over $10,000 meaning they were intentionally skirting reporting limits to conceal illegal tax evasion.
That's just the government. That's life. It's still important to have clean water, no labor discrimination, and no tax evasion, and even no government weaponization and lawfare. Stop being born yesterday every time Trump breathes and then you find out come to think of it Obama also breathed.
You are worried about stuff like you uncovered the Temple of Doom when if that kind of power existed Trump could just call Bessent and have him wire $10 billion and you would never know a thing about it. That power just doesn't exist. The US isn't Turkey or Russia.
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On May 20 2026 00:21 WombaT wrote:Show nested quote +On May 19 2026 23:33 GreenHorizons wrote:On May 19 2026 18:51 Velr wrote:
The staggering part is how sheepish the people just accept it. If we find out the next Democrat nominee is exactly as corrupt as Trump and the next Republican is too, people here and otherwise wouldn't hesitate to accept voting for/supporting someone equally corrupt. It basically boils down to any imaginable alternative being too scary. I mean this just doesn’t pass muster
I don't even know what exactly you're attempting to disagree with?
I'm pretty confident this is another one of those things where it's clearly true but uncomfortable for people to confront.
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missing the forest for the trees while cherishing how Trump too likes to breath as something something that's life.
I guess the court of public opinion and people at the polls will have to be a check on this supercharged weaponization of the law and self dealing mess.
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Northern Ireland27271 Posts
On May 20 2026 00:32 oBlade wrote:Show nested quote +On May 20 2026 00:14 LightSpectra wrote:
So, who gets to decide if a claimant actually was discriminated by the government and deserves a cut of the fund? Independent judiciary? Nope, five-member panel chosen by the (acting) AG Todd Blanche, who was Trump's former personal attorney. None of which carry the protection of executive privilege that it keeps you up at night that Trump has. All of which are either subject to impeachment (AG), criminal liability for corruption, or both. Keepseagle did not use an "independent judiciary" either nor does the Department of Labor when adjudicating penalties for the fact that they administratively think some company statistically violated the Civil Rights Act based on Eric Holder's understanding of Math 100, nor did the EPA use an "independent judiciary" nor Congress when they decided ditches were Navigable Waters of the US that they could regulate to penalties, nor did the IRS have the involvement of an "independent judiciary" when they seized people's accounts under the "structuring" excuse that the target individual sent too many payments under $10,000 and not enough over $10,000 meaning they were intentionally skirting reporting limits to conceal illegal tax evasion. That's just the government. That's life. It's still important to have clean water, no labor discrimination, and no tax evasion, and even no government weaponization and lawfare. Stop being born yesterday every time Trump breathes and then you find out come to think of it Obama also breathed. You are worried about stuff like you uncovered the Temple of Doom when if that kind of power existed Trump could just call Bessent and have him wire $10 billion and you would never know a thing about it. That power just doesn't exist. The US isn't Turkey or Russia.
Lol.
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On May 20 2026 00:10 Doublemint wrote:the creation of a fund is what they have in common... the (political) beneficiary of a - rushed - settlement and the aggrieved party suing the IRS are the same in Mr. Trump(and family). I say rushed settlement because there was a high chance a judge would have thrown out the case of Trump suing the IRS for 10Billion dollars, a part of the government he is the head of. before there was a Keepseagle fund, Keepseagle v. Vilsack went through the courts for over a decade, apparently the case was not a bad one for the native American farmers alleging discrimination when it came to gaining subsidies in comparison to their caucasian farmer counterparts. not even a whiff of political impropriety or Democrats/Republicans at large benefitting from it. a lazy counter example dare I say...I guess the good guys all left or got purged at the Trump DOJ.
You don't think sending leftover $380m from a fund that was meant to pay compensation to claimants from an originally certified class, to NGOs instead, benefits those NGOs?
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Northern Ireland27271 Posts
On May 20 2026 00:45 GreenHorizons wrote:Show nested quote +On May 20 2026 00:21 WombaT wrote:On May 19 2026 23:33 GreenHorizons wrote:On May 19 2026 18:51 Velr wrote:
The staggering part is how sheepish the people just accept it. If we find out the next Democrat nominee is exactly as corrupt as Trump and the next Republican is too, people here and otherwise wouldn't hesitate to accept voting for/supporting someone equally corrupt. It basically boils down to any imaginable alternative being too scary. I mean this just doesn’t pass muster I don't even know what exactly you're attempting to disagree with? I'm pretty confident this is another one of those things where it's clearly true but uncomfortable for people to confront.
It’s complete nonsense, as seen by innumerable centre left thru left politicians across the globe getting fucking hammered for impropriety of various kinds that doesn’t even approach Trump’s
I know you have to get your Dem’s BadTM quota in but this ain’t it.
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Northern Ireland27271 Posts
On May 20 2026 00:54 oBlade wrote:Show nested quote +On May 20 2026 00:10 Doublemint wrote:the creation of a fund is what they have in common... the (political) beneficiary of a - rushed - settlement and the aggrieved party suing the IRS are the same in Mr. Trump(and family). I say rushed settlement because there was a high chance a judge would have thrown out the case of Trump suing the IRS for 10Billion dollars, a part of the government he is the head of. before there was a Keepseagle fund, Keepseagle v. Vilsack went through the courts for over a decade, apparently the case was not a bad one for the native American farmers alleging discrimination when it came to gaining subsidies in comparison to their caucasian farmer counterparts. not even a whiff of political impropriety or Democrats/Republicans at large benefitting from it. a lazy counter example dare I say...I guess the good guys all left or got purged at the Trump DOJ. You don't think sending leftover $380m from a fund that was meant to pay compensation to claimants from an originally certified class, to NGOs instead, benefits those NGOs?
Lol.
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The "You're alarmed they're sending money without evidence when no money has been sent" bit made me laugh out loud in real life too.
Armed men in ski masks come into a bank and start spraying over the security cams? Don't be alarmist bro, they haven't taken any money yet.
On May 20 2026 00:45 GreenHorizons wrote:Show nested quote +On May 20 2026 00:21 WombaT wrote:On May 19 2026 23:33 GreenHorizons wrote:On May 19 2026 18:51 Velr wrote:
The staggering part is how sheepish the people just accept it. If we find out the next Democrat nominee is exactly as corrupt as Trump and the next Republican is too, people here and otherwise wouldn't hesitate to accept voting for/supporting someone equally corrupt. It basically boils down to any imaginable alternative being too scary. I mean this just doesn’t pass muster I don't even know what exactly you're attempting to disagree with? I'm pretty confident this is another one of those things where it's clearly true but uncomfortable for people to confront.
You would crawl over broken glass to support Stalin if you were alive in the 1920-50s. I'm pretty confident this is another one of those things where it's clearly true but uncomfortable for people to confront.
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On May 20 2026 00:54 oBlade wrote:Show nested quote +On May 20 2026 00:10 Doublemint wrote:the creation of a fund is what they have in common... the (political) beneficiary of a - rushed - settlement and the aggrieved party suing the IRS are the same in Mr. Trump(and family). I say rushed settlement because there was a high chance a judge would have thrown out the case of Trump suing the IRS for 10Billion dollars, a part of the government he is the head of. before there was a Keepseagle fund, Keepseagle v. Vilsack went through the courts for over a decade, apparently the case was not a bad one for the native American farmers alleging discrimination when it came to gaining subsidies in comparison to their caucasian farmer counterparts. not even a whiff of political impropriety or Democrats/Republicans at large benefitting from it. a lazy counter example dare I say...I guess the good guys all left or got purged at the Trump DOJ. You don't think sending leftover $380m from a fund that was meant to pay compensation to claimants from an originally certified class, to NGOs instead, benefits those NGOs?
discrimination over many decades was alleged and in the end recognized. people could have died in the meantime. or went the GH route in hating on the Democrats for not doing enough sooner, not claiming it to spite them. I really don't care nor do I have to care as a district court and both parties were involved in deciding what was appropiate to do with the remaining $380m - not a political appointee or panel set up by the least trustworthy US administration in living memory.
After an extensive outreach campaign and claims process was conducted in 2011, which resulted in over 4300 completed claims, of which over 3600 were approved for payment in 2012. Successful Track A claimants, the vast majority of the claimants, received $50,000 directly, plus $12,500 paid to the IRS on their behalf to offset taxes. Track B claimants received up to $250,000, based upon their actual economic loss. Of the original $760 million settlement, this claims process left $380 million undisbursed.
Years of negotiations on how to distribute the unclaimed $380 million followed, and on April 20, 2016 the U.S. District Court approved an addendum to the original settlement agreement, reflecting a compromise between two competing goals: paying out more funds to claimants who successfully recovered through the claims process, and maintaining the cy pres distributions for the benefit of the class as a whole. Keepseagle v. Vilsack
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On May 20 2026 01:07 Doublemint wrote:Show nested quote +On May 20 2026 00:54 oBlade wrote:On May 20 2026 00:10 Doublemint wrote:the creation of a fund is what they have in common... the (political) beneficiary of a - rushed - settlement and the aggrieved party suing the IRS are the same in Mr. Trump(and family). I say rushed settlement because there was a high chance a judge would have thrown out the case of Trump suing the IRS for 10Billion dollars, a part of the government he is the head of. before there was a Keepseagle fund, Keepseagle v. Vilsack went through the courts for over a decade, apparently the case was not a bad one for the native American farmers alleging discrimination when it came to gaining subsidies in comparison to their caucasian farmer counterparts. not even a whiff of political impropriety or Democrats/Republicans at large benefitting from it. a lazy counter example dare I say...I guess the good guys all left or got purged at the Trump DOJ. You don't think sending leftover $380m from a fund that was meant to pay compensation to claimants from an originally certified class, to NGOs instead, benefits those NGOs? discrimination over many decades was alleged and in the end recognized. people could have died in the meantime. or went the GH route in hating on the Democrats for not doing enough sooner, not claiming it to spite them. I really don't care nor do I have to care as a district court decided what was appropiate to do with the remaining $380m - not a political appointee or panel set up by the least trustworthy US administration in living memory. Show nested quote +After an extensive outreach campaign and claims process was conducted in 2011, which resulted in over 4300 completed claims, of which over 3600 were approved for payment in 2012. Successful Track A claimants, the vast majority of the claimants, received $50,000 directly, plus $12,500 paid to the IRS on their behalf to offset taxes. Track B claimants received up to $250,000, based upon their actual economic loss. Of the original $760 million settlement, this claims process left $380 million undisbursed.
Years of negotiations on how to distribute the unclaimed $380 million followed, and on April 20, 2016 the U.S. District Court approved an addendum to the original settlement agreement, reflecting a compromise between two competing goals: paying out more funds to claimants who successfully recovered through the claims process, and maintaining the cy pres distributions for the benefit of the class as a whole. Keepseagle v. Vilsack
I'm on board. Since you'll just honor court decisions in lieu of forming opinions, I'll stipulate to that as well, we can wait and see what the judiciary thinks of the Anti-Weaponization Fund.
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The fundamental disconnect here is that conservatives think that "DOJ weaponization against conservatives" is true because right-wing media sources have been (baselessly) blathering on about it for almost a decade, whereas discrimination against Native Americans was sufficiently proven in a court of law. There simply isn't equivalence between something made up and something in reality.
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On May 20 2026 00:21 WombaT wrote:Show nested quote +On May 19 2026 23:05 Introvert wrote:On May 19 2026 22:49 WombaT wrote:On May 19 2026 22:21 Introvert wrote:On May 19 2026 08:57 Falling wrote:@oBlade I agree it would be considerably worse if Shirley did not say on camera that he was paying them. He is just as much a performative activist. Comparing him to Roger Stone's rats was probably hyperbolic and has gotten us off the main point. Partisan provocateur was my earlier descriptor and that stands. I'll settle for performative activist as a more accurate descriptor (using the mode of Just Asking Questions). Now that you have the context, what is your view on how Shirley represented his time Ukraine as well as his claims on where US support to Ukraine went? _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ It's astonishing at how brazen it all is. Run a ten billion dollar lawsuit against your own government and when the justice system just starts to balk at Trump paying himself and whether there was any foundation... "A sitting president seeks monetary damages for alleged harm to his personal interests from an executive agency that he controls," the experts wrote in what is known as an "amicus brief". Trump turns around and says, no problem. I'll do you a solid and pay myself and my followers $1.7 Billion instead. Art of the Deal. High ball with no foundation, then low ball with no foundation and generously include your supporters. The basic facts still haven't changed, but he's 'compromised' in how much he plunders the government. How very benevolent of Trump. Art of the Grift. Art of the Looter. His 'compromise' also include an agreement that the IRS never audit Trump family members again. Also, I strongly suspected deliberate market manipulation with most of Trump's tariff war of 'will he won't he' announcements seemingly timed with when markets close (and really many of his big bombshell foreign policy announcements.) But this is definitionally insider trading https://www.notus.org/money/donald-trump-stock-investments-palantir-axom-nvidiaPresident Donald Trump personally bought and sold millions of dollars worth of stock in technology companies and government contractors early this year, according to new government records. Trump purchased $1 million to $5 million dollars worth of Nvidia stock on Feb. 10, only a week before Nvidia announced a major computer processing power deal with AI and social media giant Meta. Trump previously purchased $500,000 to $1 million worth of Nvidia stock on Jan. 6, a week before the Commerce Department officially approved the sale of some Nvidia chips to China. The Chinese AI market is a long-sought target for Nvidia since the federal government controls the sale of advanced AI chips to countries designated as foreign adversaries, such as China.
While the Trump administration spent billions of dollars on immigration enforcement and mass deportation efforts, Trump also invested in companies that contracted with immigration enforcement agencies.
Chief among them: Palantir Technologies. Trump purchased at least $260,000 worth of Palantir stock during the first three months of 2026.
In January alone, Trump bought $65,000 to $150,000 of Palantir stock. In February, Trump sold between $1.1 million and roughly $5.3 million of his Palantir stock. In March, Trump’s Palantir stock purchases totaled between nearly $200,000 and $500,000.
In February, Palantir struck a billion-dollar agreement with the Department of Homeland Security to use the company’s software in the president’s deportation surge. Palantir also has a contract surpassing a billion dollars with the Pentagon to develop AI systems that help orchestrate attacks.
He bought Axon shares before Immigration and Customs Enforcement contracted Axon to produce Tasers. His departments control which companies get the contract and he can buy stocks before the contract is announced or approved. A nice bipartisan bill that most Americans would support ought to restrict Congress AND the president from trading stocks in some way... blind trust? Index only? I don't know, but it's pretty wild as it stands now. And no doubt Congress restrictions would pass and somehow we would learn that the president cannot be restricted in this way as it would infringe on the executive somehow, even though past presidents did so voluntarily. But Trump is special. Plus the pay for pardons https://www.thebulwark.com/p/how-corrupt-is-trump-here-are-the-numbers-trades-chips-nvidia-pardons-settlement-fundBut 1.7B to himself and is supporters and pay for pardons is the swamp, the vast Dead Marshes, that Trump built from the mud puddle from before. Just the newest version of sue and settle or other related techniques. Dems have been passing money out or changing rules using similar tactics for ages. Environmental activist orgs and the EPA in particular have done many dances like that over the years. A way to get what you want without changing the law and often biding your successors. Oh come on, you can’t believe that equivalence here The point is, collusion between two sides that really don't mind or actively want a particular outcome (monetary included) is not unusual but probably almost no one knows it happens. People just conveniently keep drawing the line right where Trump is. I'd take a few steps back. But there will always be excuses made instead. By ‘conveniently’ you mean around an individual who is so brazenly corrupt that even people who accept a certain amount of corrupt churn think it’s a bit much? Ridiculous deflection as per
See, it's the brazen nature not the act itself. Dems have been funneling money or intrest group rule changes to themselves for many many years using a similar strategy. But you didn't know that so this looks like "deflection." The next dem presidency will be interesting because all sorts of things will be justified by invoking the magic word "Trump." But what will be confused is that things will simply be more out in the open, not that the behavior will be nearly as different from former presidents as supposed.
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If a NGO provides a valuable service, then I'm fine with Congress and the POTUS passing a budget to give them funding.
If the NGO does not provide a valuable service in my opinion, then I would object to the funding being a mistake, but as long as it's passed lawfully in the way the Constitution outlines public funds can be spent, then I wouldn't have any objection to it on the basis of law.
On the other hand, two POTUS appointees of different agencies agreeing to give a billion dollars to the POTUS is just hilariously obvious corruption and even your aggressive gaslighting isn't going to win over the stupidest of people from seeing that.
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On May 20 2026 01:15 oBlade wrote:Show nested quote +On May 20 2026 01:07 Doublemint wrote:On May 20 2026 00:54 oBlade wrote:On May 20 2026 00:10 Doublemint wrote:the creation of a fund is what they have in common... the (political) beneficiary of a - rushed - settlement and the aggrieved party suing the IRS are the same in Mr. Trump(and family). I say rushed settlement because there was a high chance a judge would have thrown out the case of Trump suing the IRS for 10Billion dollars, a part of the government he is the head of. before there was a Keepseagle fund, Keepseagle v. Vilsack went through the courts for over a decade, apparently the case was not a bad one for the native American farmers alleging discrimination when it came to gaining subsidies in comparison to their caucasian farmer counterparts. not even a whiff of political impropriety or Democrats/Republicans at large benefitting from it. a lazy counter example dare I say...I guess the good guys all left or got purged at the Trump DOJ. You don't think sending leftover $380m from a fund that was meant to pay compensation to claimants from an originally certified class, to NGOs instead, benefits those NGOs? discrimination over many decades was alleged and in the end recognized. people could have died in the meantime. or went the GH route in hating on the Democrats for not doing enough sooner, not claiming it to spite them. I really don't care nor do I have to care as a district court decided what was appropiate to do with the remaining $380m - not a political appointee or panel set up by the least trustworthy US administration in living memory. After an extensive outreach campaign and claims process was conducted in 2011, which resulted in over 4300 completed claims, of which over 3600 were approved for payment in 2012. Successful Track A claimants, the vast majority of the claimants, received $50,000 directly, plus $12,500 paid to the IRS on their behalf to offset taxes. Track B claimants received up to $250,000, based upon their actual economic loss. Of the original $760 million settlement, this claims process left $380 million undisbursed.
Years of negotiations on how to distribute the unclaimed $380 million followed, and on April 20, 2016 the U.S. District Court approved an addendum to the original settlement agreement, reflecting a compromise between two competing goals: paying out more funds to claimants who successfully recovered through the claims process, and maintaining the cy pres distributions for the benefit of the class as a whole. Keepseagle v. Vilsack I'm on board. Since you'll just honor court decisions in lieu of forming opinions, I'll stipulate to that as well, we can wait and see what the judiciary thinks of the Anti-Weaponization Fund.
I hav a hard time believing that as thus far you seem to not have recognized a serious no no in the Trump vs IRS case to merit anywhere near what they deem appropriate :
by Trump suing his own government - where everyone is beholden to him and his executive powers - we get a "lack of adverse interests by counter parties in a lawsuit".
it's mockery of the rule of law. everything after isn't even lipstick on this pig with potential compensation for lawfully convicted and afterwards pardoned(by Trump...) Jan06. rioters.
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On May 19 2026 23:49 Billyboy wrote:Show nested quote +On May 19 2026 23:26 LightSpectra wrote:On May 19 2026 23:04 Billyboy wrote:On May 19 2026 21:56 LightSpectra wrote:
I remember when Netanyahu's corruption trial was still in public consciousness that several Israeli voters were quoted as saying something like "he's doing such a great job, who cares if he skims a little from the top." Now, multiply that attitude by several orders of magnitude because Trump's base is a personality cult in every metric, and there you go. It is strange that so many Americans want a selfish emperor over a public servant. I get selfish people wanting to be Trump or like Trump, but why would you want to be ruled by that type of guy? I was puzzled by that for a long time, but I think the answer for that is they want to live vicariously through him. Born rich, proudly ignorant, openly bigoted, gets to fuck kids with impunity, adoring masses of fools willing to die for him? They want to be him. Whenever Trump rips them off they feel like they're actually winning because that's what they'd do in his position. It has to be something like that. People who support Trump or the Republicans (and Dems when/if they have power) should be asking themselves, if the other team did this would I be happy. If the answer is no then it’s a bad policy and you’re being a manipulated sheep. And I bet less than 10% (maybe 2%) of Trumps policies would actually be supported by Republicans if Biden had done the exact same things. In fact they would be calling him treasonous and wanting him hanged. Trump does it and they kiss dear leaders ring
This seems like it would be a good strategy, but we have seen multiple times in this thread that it simply doesn't work. They are simply incapable of doing that.
You can say something like "imagine if Obama did a similar thing, how would you feel then", and expect them to finally get why it is bad. But it doesn't work. They are very, very good at doublethink. They find a reason why it would be bad if Obama did it, and not bad now.
Or they go the full distraction route that you see here, where Trump does something obviously indefensible, and instead of interacting with that, they point at some vaguely similar thing democrats did in the past. As if that would justify anything.
The reason is that their whole thinking is completely tribal. They do not actually interact with situations and judge them. They are incapable of doing that. They always look at which side their side is on, and then support that. The situations themselves don't matter.
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Northern Ireland27271 Posts
On May 20 2026 01:21 Introvert wrote:Show nested quote +On May 20 2026 00:21 WombaT wrote:On May 19 2026 23:05 Introvert wrote:On May 19 2026 22:49 WombaT wrote:On May 19 2026 22:21 Introvert wrote:On May 19 2026 08:57 Falling wrote:@oBlade I agree it would be considerably worse if Shirley did not say on camera that he was paying them. He is just as much a performative activist. Comparing him to Roger Stone's rats was probably hyperbolic and has gotten us off the main point. Partisan provocateur was my earlier descriptor and that stands. I'll settle for performative activist as a more accurate descriptor (using the mode of Just Asking Questions). Now that you have the context, what is your view on how Shirley represented his time Ukraine as well as his claims on where US support to Ukraine went? _____________________________________________________________________________________________________________ It's astonishing at how brazen it all is. Run a ten billion dollar lawsuit against your own government and when the justice system just starts to balk at Trump paying himself and whether there was any foundation... "A sitting president seeks monetary damages for alleged harm to his personal interests from an executive agency that he controls," the experts wrote in what is known as an "amicus brief". Trump turns around and says, no problem. I'll do you a solid and pay myself and my followers $1.7 Billion instead. Art of the Deal. High ball with no foundation, then low ball with no foundation and generously include your supporters. The basic facts still haven't changed, but he's 'compromised' in how much he plunders the government. How very benevolent of Trump. Art of the Grift. Art of the Looter. His 'compromise' also include an agreement that the IRS never audit Trump family members again. Also, I strongly suspected deliberate market manipulation with most of Trump's tariff war of 'will he won't he' announcements seemingly timed with when markets close (and really many of his big bombshell foreign policy announcements.) But this is definitionally insider trading https://www.notus.org/money/donald-trump-stock-investments-palantir-axom-nvidiaPresident Donald Trump personally bought and sold millions of dollars worth of stock in technology companies and government contractors early this year, according to new government records. Trump purchased $1 million to $5 million dollars worth of Nvidia stock on Feb. 10, only a week before Nvidia announced a major computer processing power deal with AI and social media giant Meta. Trump previously purchased $500,000 to $1 million worth of Nvidia stock on Jan. 6, a week before the Commerce Department officially approved the sale of some Nvidia chips to China. The Chinese AI market is a long-sought target for Nvidia since the federal government controls the sale of advanced AI chips to countries designated as foreign adversaries, such as China.
While the Trump administration spent billions of dollars on immigration enforcement and mass deportation efforts, Trump also invested in companies that contracted with immigration enforcement agencies.
Chief among them: Palantir Technologies. Trump purchased at least $260,000 worth of Palantir stock during the first three months of 2026.
In January alone, Trump bought $65,000 to $150,000 of Palantir stock. In February, Trump sold between $1.1 million and roughly $5.3 million of his Palantir stock. In March, Trump’s Palantir stock purchases totaled between nearly $200,000 and $500,000.
In February, Palantir struck a billion-dollar agreement with the Department of Homeland Security to use the company’s software in the president’s deportation surge. Palantir also has a contract surpassing a billion dollars with the Pentagon to develop AI systems that help orchestrate attacks.
He bought Axon shares before Immigration and Customs Enforcement contracted Axon to produce Tasers. His departments control which companies get the contract and he can buy stocks before the contract is announced or approved. A nice bipartisan bill that most Americans would support ought to restrict Congress AND the president from trading stocks in some way... blind trust? Index only? I don't know, but it's pretty wild as it stands now. And no doubt Congress restrictions would pass and somehow we would learn that the president cannot be restricted in this way as it would infringe on the executive somehow, even though past presidents did so voluntarily. But Trump is special. Plus the pay for pardons https://www.thebulwark.com/p/how-corrupt-is-trump-here-are-the-numbers-trades-chips-nvidia-pardons-settlement-fundBut 1.7B to himself and is supporters and pay for pardons is the swamp, the vast Dead Marshes, that Trump built from the mud puddle from before. Just the newest version of sue and settle or other related techniques. Dems have been passing money out or changing rules using similar tactics for ages. Environmental activist orgs and the EPA in particular have done many dances like that over the years. A way to get what you want without changing the law and often biding your successors. Oh come on, you can’t believe that equivalence here The point is, collusion between two sides that really don't mind or actively want a particular outcome (monetary included) is not unusual but probably almost no one knows it happens. People just conveniently keep drawing the line right where Trump is. I'd take a few steps back. But there will always be excuses made instead. By ‘conveniently’ you mean around an individual who is so brazenly corrupt that even people who accept a certain amount of corrupt churn think it’s a bit much? Ridiculous deflection as per See, it's the brazen nature not the act itself. Dems have been funneling money or intrest group rule changes to themselves for many many years using a similar strategy. But you didn't know that so this looks like "deflection." The next dem presidency will be interesting because all sorts of things will be justified by invoking the magic word "Trump." But what will be confused is that things will simply be more out in the open, not that the behavior will be nearly as different from former presidents as supposed.
Don’t you frequently argue over setting a bad precedent as your opponents may pick that ball up and run with?
As opposed to here where you just bat it away
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On May 20 2026 00:54 WombaT wrote:Show nested quote +On May 20 2026 00:45 GreenHorizons wrote:On May 20 2026 00:21 WombaT wrote:On May 19 2026 23:33 GreenHorizons wrote:On May 19 2026 18:51 Velr wrote:
The staggering part is how sheepish the people just accept it. If we find out the next Democrat nominee is exactly as corrupt as Trump and the next Republican is too, people here and otherwise wouldn't hesitate to accept voting for/supporting someone equally corrupt. It basically boils down to any imaginable alternative being too scary. I mean this just doesn’t pass muster I don't even know what exactly you're attempting to disagree with? I'm pretty confident this is another one of those things where it's clearly true but uncomfortable for people to confront. It’s complete nonsense, as seen by innumerable centre left thru left politicians across the globe getting fucking hammered for impropriety of various kinds that doesn’t even approach Trump’s + Show Spoiler +I know you have to get your Dem’s BadTM quota in but this ain’t it.
Okay. Are you trying to say they would hesitate before supporting them anyway or something else?
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On May 20 2026 01:26 LightSpectra wrote:
two POTUS appointees of different agencies agreeing to give a billion dollars to the POTUS is just hilariously obvious On May 20 2026 01:26 LightSpectra wrote:
gaslighting
The problem is by the end of 2028 when Trump has never gotten a dime from this fund, you're not going to remember how wrong you were now. But in the interim 2 years every time Trump so much as stubs his toe you'll be going "This is exactly like how he gave himself $1B through the DOJ D-days ago" with your entire ideology leaning on a load-bearing untruth that didn't and isn't going to happen.
On May 20 2026 01:28 Doublemint wrote:Show nested quote +On May 20 2026 01:15 oBlade wrote:On May 20 2026 01:07 Doublemint wrote:On May 20 2026 00:54 oBlade wrote:On May 20 2026 00:10 Doublemint wrote:the creation of a fund is what they have in common... the (political) beneficiary of a - rushed - settlement and the aggrieved party suing the IRS are the same in Mr. Trump(and family). I say rushed settlement because there was a high chance a judge would have thrown out the case of Trump suing the IRS for 10Billion dollars, a part of the government he is the head of. before there was a Keepseagle fund, Keepseagle v. Vilsack went through the courts for over a decade, apparently the case was not a bad one for the native American farmers alleging discrimination when it came to gaining subsidies in comparison to their caucasian farmer counterparts. not even a whiff of political impropriety or Democrats/Republicans at large benefitting from it. a lazy counter example dare I say...I guess the good guys all left or got purged at the Trump DOJ. You don't think sending leftover $380m from a fund that was meant to pay compensation to claimants from an originally certified class, to NGOs instead, benefits those NGOs? discrimination over many decades was alleged and in the end recognized. people could have died in the meantime. or went the GH route in hating on the Democrats for not doing enough sooner, not claiming it to spite them. I really don't care nor do I have to care as a district court decided what was appropiate to do with the remaining $380m - not a political appointee or panel set up by the least trustworthy US administration in living memory. After an extensive outreach campaign and claims process was conducted in 2011, which resulted in over 4300 completed claims, of which over 3600 were approved for payment in 2012. Successful Track A claimants, the vast majority of the claimants, received $50,000 directly, plus $12,500 paid to the IRS on their behalf to offset taxes. Track B claimants received up to $250,000, based upon their actual economic loss. Of the original $760 million settlement, this claims process left $380 million undisbursed.
Years of negotiations on how to distribute the unclaimed $380 million followed, and on April 20, 2016 the U.S. District Court approved an addendum to the original settlement agreement, reflecting a compromise between two competing goals: paying out more funds to claimants who successfully recovered through the claims process, and maintaining the cy pres distributions for the benefit of the class as a whole. Keepseagle v. Vilsack I'm on board. Since you'll just honor court decisions in lieu of forming opinions, I'll stipulate to that as well, we can wait and see what the judiciary thinks of the Anti-Weaponization Fund. I hav a hard time believing that as thus far you seem to not have recognized a serious no no in the Trump vs IRS case to merit anywhere near what they deem appropriate : by Trump suing his own government - where everyone is beholden to him and his executive powers - we get a "lack of adverse interests by counter parties in a lawsuit". it's mockery of the rule of law. everything after isn't even lipstick on this pig with potential compensation for lawfully convicted and afterwards pardoned(by Trump...) Jan06. rioters.
What who deems appropriate? Who is "they?"
The IRS lawsuit was dropped voluntarily. It's gone. The judge and case are history. There will almost certainly be future legal action around this fund and THAT is what it will be important to respect. The judge in that case doesn't have to deem anything because Trump isn't getting a reward for having won that case, because he didn't.
Being convicted does not in general protect the government from lawsuits against you. Even if not overturned. There is qualified immunity but I doubt we're going to become superfans of that even to spite Drumpf's Anti-Weaponization Fund. There are ongoing J6 lawsuits at this very moment. For example I don't think six months in pretrial solitary confinement for walking over a velvet rope is appropriate. Perhaps the government anticipates it can't defend all the cases.
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On May 20 2026 02:18 oBlade wrote:Show nested quote +On May 20 2026 01:26 LightSpectra wrote:
two POTUS appointees of different agencies agreeing to give a billion dollars to the POTUS is just hilariously obvious The problem is by the end of 2028 when Trump has never gotten a dime from this fund, you're not going to remember how wrong you were now. But in the interim 2 years every time Trump so much as stubs his toe you'll be going "This is exactly like how he gave himself $1B through the DOJ D-days ago" with your entire ideology leaning on a load-bearing untruth that didn't and isn't going to happen.
Translation: after this blatant embezzlement falls out of the news cycle because the next blatant act of corruption takes its spot, conservatives like you will pretend it never happened.
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On May 20 2026 02:39 LightSpectra wrote:Show nested quote +On May 20 2026 02:18 oBlade wrote:On May 20 2026 01:26 LightSpectra wrote:
two POTUS appointees of different agencies agreeing to give a billion dollars to the POTUS is just hilariously obvious On May 20 2026 01:26 LightSpectra wrote:
gaslighting The problem is by the end of 2028 when Trump has never gotten a dime from this fund, you're not going to remember how wrong you were now. But in the interim 2 years every time Trump so much as stubs his toe you'll be going "This is exactly like how he gave himself $1B through the DOJ D-days ago" with your entire ideology leaning on a load-bearing untruth that didn't and isn't going to happen. Translation: after this blatant embezzlement falls out of the news cycle because the next blatant act of corruption takes its spot, conservatives like you will pretend it never happened.
What are you talking about, look at this list of republican priorities, I’m sure they all still care and expect them.
Doge checks
Tariff checks
Greenland hospital boat
10% app credit cards
1500% cheaper drugs
2 dollar gas
Epstein files
Reopening the Hormuz straight, that is open or closed multiple times daily depending on who you talk to (closed to most actual ships since the war that’s not a war mind you)
Cheaper groceries
Ballroom funded by donors
Wall paid for by Mexico
Those are all still coming for sure, and many more of the promises, better than you even ever imagined. Don’t worry so much.
Oblade, you are up to date and plugged in, mind giving LS a quick update on each and when he can expect them completed?
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EPT
