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Posted

This is pretty far down the list of things that are important, but they are absolutely going to ruin the enjoyment of watching sports by having maga freaks all over telecasts and increasing coverage of maga friendly athletes and coaches anecdotes.  The Super Bowl and the 4 Nations Face-off and Daytona (allegedly, I don't watch) are just the start.  The media companies are going to do it as part of their strategies to stay in good graces.  I don't see Longhorn football avoiding that fate either.  I'm going to wean myself off pro sports as best I can.

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Posted

well said gov pritzker ...

Only an idiot would think we should eliminate:
- Emergency response in natural disasters
- Education and healthcare for disabled children
- Clean air and water programs
- Gang crime investigations
- Monitoring of nursing home abuse
- Nuclear reactor regulation
- Cancer research

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Posted
21 hours ago, Brisketexan said:

Just wanted to toss out there a PERFECT encapsulation of Trumpism/MAGA.

- There is a relatively prominent attorney.

- He is super-Republican: pictures all over his social media with lots of GQP heavy-hitters.

- The bulk of posts on his social media are images of various bible quotes, so he's obviously SUPER-"Christian."

So, we've checked the key boxes -- GQP, very outwardly and show-y "Christian."

 

He just got a "show cause" order from a Federal Court.  That order tells him to show up in court, and give the court a reason not to cut his dingus clean off, because.....in response to a motion to dismiss one of his lawsuits as frivolous, he said (paraphrasing) oh yeah?  Well, I have an EXPERT who examined my case and says it has meritorious facts.  Here's an affidavit from him saying so!  Problem: the affidavit was signed, and states as much, on a certain date.  The expert?  Well...he's been DEAD....for a year before that date....and the lawyer knew it.  There is, literally, no way the expert signed that affidavit.

So, this is how GQP MAGA Christian world operates -- just shamelessly lie and commit fraud on the court.

The pathological dishonesty is a FEATURE, not a bug.

request of counselors present - can someone volunteer to keep up with this and update here as needed - thank ou

Posted
Spoiler

Adult in the Cabinet: Credit Markets

If it’s possible to hold our government hostage by capturing the federal payments system, then we need to work upstream of Musk’s chokepoint. Already, the Treasury Department has exhausted roughly 60% of the extraordinary measures at its disposal to delay a default on our bonds. The rates on the 10-year Treasury bill, however, indicate that Congress will raise the debt ceiling, as both parties have done 78 times since 1960. But what if Democrats refuse?

A dozen GOP senators and 49 House Republicans — more than 20% of each conference — have never previously voted to raise the debt ceiling. Democrats have a strong hand here. If they credibly threaten default, rates on the 10-year T-bill will increase and equities will likely suffer. This will be painful, but the pain will primarily fall on the 1% and corporations, i.e., those who own 90% of assets and have influence over Trump. In effect, the markets could do what Congress won’t — rein in Trump, kick Musk to the curb, and demand the U.S. remain a nation of laws.

 

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Posted
35 minutes ago, Old Freak Nasty said:

This is pretty far down the list of things that are important, but they are absolutely going to ruin the enjoyment of watching sports by having maga freaks all over telecasts and increasing coverage of maga friendly athletes and coaches anecdotes.  The Super Bowl and the 4 Nations Face-off and Daytona (allegedly, I don't watch) are just the start.  The media companies are going to do it as part of their strategies to stay in good graces.  I don't see Longhorn football avoiding that fate either.  I'm going to wean myself off pro sports as best I can.

It aint just sports that are going to get ruined...

 

 

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Posted
4 minutes ago, Hagbard Celine said:
  Hide contents

Adult in the Cabinet: Credit Markets

If it’s possible to hold our government hostage by capturing the federal payments system, then we need to work upstream of Musk’s chokepoint. Already, the Treasury Department has exhausted roughly 60% of the extraordinary measures at its disposal to delay a default on our bonds. The rates on the 10-year Treasury bill, however, indicate that Congress will raise the debt ceiling, as both parties have done 78 times since 1960. But what if Democrats refuse?

A dozen GOP senators and 49 House Republicans — more than 20% of each conference — have never previously voted to raise the debt ceiling. Democrats have a strong hand here. If they credibly threaten default, rates on the 10-year T-bill will increase and equities will likely suffer. This will be painful, but the pain will primarily fall on the 1% and corporations, i.e., those who own 90% of assets and have influence over Trump. In effect, the markets could do what Congress won’t — rein in Trump, kick Musk to the curb, and demand the U.S. remain a nation of laws.

 

Slight issue, dems are owned by and made up of corps/1%ers themselves. 

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Posted

Good, I have enough books to read for the rest of my life and plenty of woke video games.  Just got a badass new gaming machine ahead of tariffs so I don’t have any purchases planned either.  Going into full crab mode.

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Posted

fuck it - it's too important not to post this entire piece

Spoiler

 today

scott galloway

no mercy / no malice (his weekly email)

DOGE: What Can Be Done?

I’ve struggled my entire career to discern the difference between being right and being effective. A recent poll shows many moderates favor effective (move fast, break things) over right (checks and balances). Autocracies are seductive — in the short-term, they seem effective. A third of Americans, on both sides of the political spectrum, favor an autocrat as long as he (let’s be honest, it’s always a he) is aligned with their views.  

Many/most Americans, thus far, don’t feel life is any different under the new administration, and they like the idea of taking swift action against problems they believe have spiraled out of control: border crossings, government largesse, woke ideology. The blitzkrieg of threatening to invade allies, renaming bodies of water, and surrendering to Putin has left many Americans, especially Democrats, flat-footed, waiting for the outrage. If you believe that democracy should not surrender — as Trump is urging Ukraine to do — then the seminal question is … what to do? Honest answer? I don’t know. However, I do have some ideas.
Master of Coin

Nobody had Elon Musk as Master of Coin on their 2024 election bingo card. Seizing the levers of the federal payments system was strategic and elegant, as it gave the White House a single point of control, with influence over government priorities and policies via control of money flows. I do something similar when my sons are misbehaving. Rather than attempting to parent (hard) I just remotely shut off their phones’ internet access. Department of Dad Energy (DODE).

With this seizure of power, and money is power, Musk can reward friends, punish enemies, impose his political will, and effectively “delete” government agencies and departments by shutting off funding without worrying about pesky constitutional oversight. This is techno-authoritarianism: Musk’s dominion encompasses the public and private sectors, physical and digital realms, and even space.

In a 2007 essay, Musk ally and DOGE co-architect Peter Thiel argued for a new Alexander the Great, i.e., a king or dictator, to “cut the Gordian knot of our age.” The chief obstacle, according to Thiel: America’s constitutional machinery. “By setting ambition against ambition with an elaborate system of checks and balances, it prevents any single ambitious person from reconstructing the old Republic,” Thiel wrote. My Pivot co-host Kara Swisher described this mentality as, “Let’s wipe the slate clean, then we’ll build the civilization we want.” The problem: A plurality of American citizens did not vote for this vision, much less these individuals.
Musk Over MAGA

Trump won. In our system, the ideas he campaigned on can now become policy, assuming he has the votes in Congress. Musk is the most powerful vice president in history, and he wasn’t even elected. See: The Time cover of Musk behind the Resolute desk, followed by that surreal Oval Office press conference where Trump played the role of geriatric bystander to Musk’s policy blitzkrieg. I believe when their giddiness re owning the libtards subsides, Republicans in Congress will realize they have created a monster they can no longer control. Musk’s digital coup subjugates the right as much as the left; his attempt to hijack the government also hijacks the MAGA agenda.  

BTW, at some point Americans will realize the conservative/progressive battle is a misdirect. The real fulcrum, where the battle is being waged, is up/down — rich vs. not-rich. The wealthy and corporations, whom Trump and Musk listen to, will put up (largely) symbolic resistance to an emerging autocracy. They aren’t going to suffer, as the world now offers civil rights for sale: The 1% can move anywhere, buy influence, and ensure everybody in their circle has access to mifepristone.  The “savings” from DOGE are, again, a misdirect from an enormous tax increase on today’s youth via the deficits we’ll register if Trump’s tax cuts go through.
Their Secret: An Obsession With Wealth

I know a lot of very wealthy tech executives and financiers. The key to their wealth? Yes, much of it is luck — not their fault. And much of it is talent. However, the real secret sauce is a focus. The acquisition of wealth is an obsession for the (wait for it) wealthy. Pro tip: Anybody speaking at a university who claims they “never thought much about money” is obsessed with it. The right’s defense of Musk, that DOGE is some patriotic gesture, is laughable. His focus, and his only focus, is becoming a trillionaire. His “volunteerism” is an attempt to clear the obstacles between him and greater wealth, specifically regulators and fair play. Musk cultists often offer the same “aw shucks, he can’t help himself … he’s so authentic” rap when he says/tweets weird, reckless, and just-plain-stupid things. However, his ID is always in check when it comes to saying anything about China — where officials likely feel they have leverage over Musk. So measured, so thoughtful, so disciplined. So …. obsessed with money. He recognizes he doesn’t enjoy the umbrella protection of the First Amendment in China, and accusing a member of the CCP of being a sex criminal (his go-to) would likely result in swift economic retribution. He may or may not suffer from Asperger’s, but he definitely suffers from being an asshole. And BTW, for those of you/bots waiting to fill the comments section with cries of TDS or an obsession w/Musk, you’re wrong.  I have been clinically diagnosed with DAS (Democracy Addiction Syndrome). And, bitches, after four weeks of this nonsense/incompetence/surrender, my affliction is spreading.
Adult in the Cabinet: Credit Markets

If it’s possible to hold our government hostage by capturing the federal payments system, then we need to work upstream of Musk’s chokepoint. Already, the Treasury Department has exhausted roughly 60% of the extraordinary measures at its disposal to delay a default on our bonds. The rates on the 10-year Treasury bill, however, indicate that Congress will raise the debt ceiling, as both parties have done 78 times since 1960. But what if Democrats refuse?

A dozen GOP senators and 49 House Republicans — more than 20% of each conference — have never previously voted to raise the debt ceiling. Democrats have a strong hand here. If they credibly threaten default, rates on the 10-year T-bill will increase and equities will likely suffer. This will be painful, but the pain will primarily fall on the 1% and corporations, i.e., those who own 90% of assets and have influence over Trump. In effect, the markets could do what Congress won’t — rein in Trump, kick Musk to the curb, and demand the U.S. remain a nation of laws.  
Upstream

In March the government will run out of money, unless Congress acts. If the government shuts down, roughly 3 million federal workers will stop receiving paychecks. Stiffing the military, air traffic controllers, and people who keep our food and water safe is stupid — it hurts them and us. At the moment, however, a sleep-deprived alleged ketamine abuser who makes Nazi salutes is cutting off funding for programs he dislikes and promising “buyouts” to federal workers with money that isn’t there. Hakeem Jeffries is correct when he says there’s little Democrats can do legislatively to stop President Musk. But Democrats shouldn’t do anything legislatively to enable him, either. Here again, Democrats have a decent hand to extract concessions, as a shutdown is upstream of Musk’s power.    
Tesla Model SS

Musk’s wealth is the source of his power and his main point of vulnerability. One-third of his wealth is tied up in Tesla stock, which briefly rose after the election as the market priced in kleptocracy but has plunged 30% since December. I sold my Tesla a few years ago; I’m not down with accusing innocents of sex crimes (note: Musk won his defamation case, but there is no dispute over what he said) and making Nazi salutes. (Call me a reactionary.) Protests at Tesla locations across the U.S. indicate that others feel similarly. Tesla’s brand value dropped 26% YoY, due primarily to Musk entering the political arena. His behavior in Europe, where he endorsed Germany’s far-right neo-Nazi party, stoked a race riot in the UK, and stands accused of manipulating algorithms on X to influence public discourse in France, has hurt Tesla sales. In China, Tesla’s second-largest market, sales are down 11% YoY, while last month BYD sold 4x the number of EVs Tesla did. Musk’s politics are bad for America. We need to make them bad for his business.  
Shoot for the Stars

Musk once tweeted, “Between Tesla, Starlink and Twitter, I may have more real-time global economic data in one head than anyone ever.” Q: Is it in America’s best interest for one man to have the combined power of Henry Ford, NASA, and William Randolph Hearst? Starlink is a great product, but the growing leverage it gives Musk over global communications is alarming.
His Orbit

Already, Musk controls half the satellites in orbit. He plans to launch up to 58,000 more in the next five years and proposes to eventually increase that number to 500,000. In politics, the pendulum always swings back. Democrats should be clear that when they retake Congress, they will assess Musk’s dominance in satellites and instruct regulators to act in the interest of national security. (Note: This is also good politics, as Musk’s popularity is dropping, even among Republicans.) Think of it as threatening to invade Greenland, if Greenland was space. In the meantime, Senate Democrats can block government contracts Musk companies rely on by filibustering funding legislation, as Republicans do not have a filibuster-proof majority.
Grow a Pair

When I interviewed historian Niall Ferguson on my podcast, he said British politics is a “game of cricket between people who went to Oxford,” whereas American politics is a “blood sport.” I’d argue Niall misses some nuance. Recently, Democratic politics have felt like a stern game of bridge at the rest home. For MAGA, the coarseness of our discourse is a feature, not a bug. Musk and Trump understand this. They spew violent rhetoric and leverage political violence like January 6, because fear is a useful tool for keeping followers and opponents in line. Yesterday, a DOJ official began falsely accusing people of “threats” to Musk and his team and sending letters to officials to “clarify” their comments (i.e., intimidate them). Yeah, free speech, unless it’s our guys. This is an attempt to cast a chill on opposing speech in what can be described as the fascist hymn.

(Speaking of fascist hymns, The WSJ reported on Feb. 19 that Linda Yaccarino is now a brick in the fascist wall, threatening to leverage her dear leader’s influence to block the IPG/Omnicom merger if they do not advertise on her platform.)   

Despite credible threats, Trump has removed security details protecting his former Secretary of State Mike Pompeo, General Mark Milley, and Dr. Anthony Fauci, to name a few. In response, Democrats marched to a Federal building and did their best impression of a seniors facility when Jell-O night’s been canceled. Democrats should make clear that, when they return to power, Trump and anyone else engaging in the digital coup will also lose their security detail. It’s about incentives. We need to move beyond the strongly worded letter.  
Let Them

What I’ve outlined above is slow and incomplete, compared to the speed and destructive force of a 19-year-old computer engineer high on Mountain Dew. My concern is for America, but I’ll be fine. The people who will pay a far greater price are Trump voters, who believe this fight is for them. It’s not, it’s against them — red states receive more federal funding than they pay in taxes.
We Won … Right? Maybe Not

Republican leaders, who are under the delusion they control the power of the purse, and won, are instead quietly expressing concerns over what DOGE cuts mean for their constituents. Dismantling USAID hurts Kansans who sell their crops to a government program that fights hunger abroad. NIH cuts threaten jobs in Alabama, Florida, Nebraska, and other red states. One of Louisiana’s Republican senators believes plans to gut the FBI will hurt his state. Cuts to the VA fall on a key Trump constituency, as veterans skew Republican by 2 to 1. Delete the Department of Education? Trump carried four of the top five states that receive Title I funding for low-income students: Louisiana, Mississippi, Arizona, and Alabama.
Drizz

Amid a chaotic transition, the White House mistakenly elevated the wrong person to acting FBI director. In any other administration, this kind of fuckup would’ve been endless fodder for comedians and congressional investigations. In this administration, it barely gets a footnote. Brian Driscoll, aka Drizz, will likely be fired soon, but the G-man’s response to an attack on his colleagues and the rule of law is a lesson in leadership and masculinity: defaulting to protection. By refusing to comply with an unlawful order to name the 6,000-plus FBI agents who worked on January 6 cases, Drizz may have only delayed the inevitable.

But he succeeded in sounding the alarm and stiffening the resolve of his peers. The lesson? Submitting to a (second) insurrection without a fight will only make the insurrectionist bolder, but fighting, even if we lose, weakens him, as it inspires others to do the same. Think about this: A man who makes Nazi gestures owns the majority of satellites and space-launch capacity and has usurped the power of the purse and Congress. The same man is openly threatening other companies with government retribution if they don’t spend money on his companies. Democrats and Republicans: This isn’t a time to come together, but to the rescue.

Life is so rich,

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Posted
 

Trump: “You’d better do what I say or you won’t get any funding!”
Governor: “I will abide by state and federal laws.”
Judge Dredd: “I am the law!!”
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Posted

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/21/us/politics/migrants-military-sites.html

 

Quote

The Trump administration is ramping up plans to detain undocumented immigrants at military sites across the United States, a significant expansion of efforts by the White House to use wartime resources to make good on the president’s promised mass deportations.

President Trump’s team is developing a deportation hub at Fort Bliss, near El Paso, Texas, that could eventually hold up to 10,000 undocumented immigrants as they go through the process of being deported, according to three officials familiar with the plan.

 

Quote

Fort Bliss would serve as a model as the administration aims to develop more detention facilities on military sites across the country — from Utah to the area near Niagara Falls — to hold potentially thousands more people and make up for a shortfall of space at Immigration and Customs Enforcement facilities, the officials said. They spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss details of a plan that is still in its early stages and has not yet been finalized.

 

 

Quote

Previous administrations have held some immigrants at military bases, most recently children who would then be released into the country to the care of relatives or friends. The bases served as an emergency backup when the federal government’s shelter system for migrant children reached capacity.

But the Trump administration plan would expand that practice by establishing a nationwide network of military detention facilities for immigrants who are subject to deportation. The proposal would mark a major escalation in the militarization of immigration enforcement after Mr. Trump made clear when he came into office that he wanted to rely even more on the Pentagon to curtail immigration.

 

Posted
43 minutes ago, Ted Lange said:

 

If you watch and listen he actually starts off saying, "I am the federal law", but stops himself before he stating we are the federal law.

Posted

Would be so refreshing if the response to that was "so the fuck what?" but it'll be some jihad bullshit with firings, special sessions, investigations, and rolling over.

Posted

Musk’s blitzkrieg is unnerving many of Trump’s senior advisers
 

Spoiler

16–20 minutes

Top Treasury officials have complained about disruption. The secretary of state has pushed back on staff cuts. Inside the Education and Health and Human Services departments, political appointees have been informed - not consulted - about canceled grants and contracts, sometimes learning about decisions from the media.

Elon Musk’s aggressive tactics to reshape the federal government have irritated and blindsided many senior officials in the Trump administration, including those tasked with running Cabinet departments being squeezed by his U.S. DOGE Service, according to interviews with more than 30 current and former officials and their advisers, many of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters. Amid these bubbling tensions, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles personally asked Musk last week to better coordinate on DOGE’s sweeping actions.

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The broad goals of Musk’s team at DOGE, which stands for the Department of Government Efficiency, are shared by not just President Donald Trump, but most of his senior advisers, who also want to shrink the government through unilateral cuts. And yet agency heads Trump chose are finding themselves caught off-guard by DOGE’s actions and forced to reverse, mitigate or answer for some of its most disruptive moves. While working to win Senate confirmation to be health and human services secretary, for instance, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had to reassure GOP senators he would reexamine DOGE-driven cuts to the National Institutes of Health. Linda McMahon, President Donald Trump’s nominee for education secretary, told senators that she, too, would investigate cuts at her department.

DOGE’s blitzkrieg across the federal government has sparked deep concern among civil servants, who have been targeted for layoffs and required to implement policies they see as unwise, if not illegal. But Trump’s political appointees are quietly expressing unease with Musk as well.

“Basically every Cabinet member is sick of him, but nobody feels like they’re in a position to do anything about it,” said one person who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations with several incoming secretaries or their staffs. “People are afraid to cross him even as he’s wreaking havoc on their agencies.”

Trump, though, has made clear that he supports Musk. And none of the tensions with other appointees seem significant enough to block DOGE’s work.

In a joint interview aired on Fox News on Tuesday, Trump lavished praise on the billionaire and said Musk was ensuring his orders were not watered down by federal workers.

One of Trump’s few known complaints about Musk came after an Oval Office session last week to which Musk brought his toddler, who interrupted and gestured playfully while the men spoke with reporters, two people familiar with the matter said.

“When you sign these executive orders, a lot of them don’t get done,” Trump said on Fox. He said Musk would make sure they are implemented as intended: “Some guy that maybe didn’t want to do it, all of a sudden, he’s signing.”

The 78-year-old president and 53-year-old magnate have been seen together constantly since Trump’s victory in November. Musk has interviewed Cabinet picks, taken questions from reporters alongside the president and even joined Trump’s calls with world leaders. And he has made powerful allies in Stephen Miller, Trump’s deputy chief of staff, and his wife, Katie Miller, who has worked on behalf of DOGE.

In court filings, the White House has stated that Musk has no “actual or formal” authority to make decisions and is not a DOGE employee. In practice, however, DOGE’s ability to act even without prior approval from Cabinet secretaries illustrates how much power Musk has accrued.

“If you’re a generic Cabinet secretary, you might be looking at DOGE as limiting your ability to manage your agency, or feel you’ll look like a fool if you say X and DOGE does Y. You might find that annoying, and that’s understandable,” said Avik Roy, president of the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity, a think tank that promotes free markets. “But Trump likes the fact that these Cabinet heads don’t have carte blanche to do whatever they want and that Musk gives them another set of eyes at the agencies. That’s what the president wants, and he’s entitled to run the executive branch that way.”

But the extent of Musk’s ability to execute sweeping changes without approval or input from department heads appears to be unprecedented - and unsettling for the Cabinet.

“Why do you want to be a Cabinet secretary if you can’t run your own agency and the president and Elon Musk run your agency for you? That doesn’t seem like a great job to me. It’s very unusual. We’ve never seen anything like this,” said Doug Holtz-Eakin, president of the American Action Forum, a right-leaning think tank. “These uncoordinated efforts have downsides - you have the secretaries and DOGE at cross-purposes, and that doesn’t serve anyone well.”

A White House spokesman said there’s no tension between Musk and other officials, and other Trump officials downplayed any disagreement.

“The entire Trump administration is aligned on delivering on President Trump’s agenda to streamline our bloated government and make it more efficiently serve the American people,” spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement. “DOGE is working hand in hand with the White House and federal agencies to identify and slash waste, fraud, and abuse at lightning speed. Any unfounded rumors peddled by anonymous sources simply do not have any clue what’s happening or are actively working against the President’s agenda and the will of the American people.”

- - -

DOGE clashes with agencies

Almost as soon as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent took office, the DOGE team thrust his department into the spotlight.

David A. Lebryk, the most senior career official at Treasury, had clashed with DOGE allies who demanded access to sensitive payment systems that disburse more than $5 trillion annually so they could unilaterally terminate foreign aid payments. Lebryk thought that was illegal and resigned.

Just a few days after being sworn in, Bessent began to hear from peers about how valuable Lebryk was. In a call, Federal Reserve Board Chair Jerome H. Powell, a former Treasury official himself, extolled Lebryk as a valuable public servant, two people said, although that was not the primary purpose of the conversation. Several other former senior Treasury officials made similar points in separate calls with Bessent’s deputies around the same time, two other people said. The incident touched off broad alarm among the Treasury civil staff that secretaries depend on to manage their agencies, and even among Republicans who had served in the department.

The controversy around DOGE’s access to the payment network threatened to undercut the treasury secretary’s credibility as well. Bessent later told congressional Republicans that Musk’s team did not control the payment systems, and department officials said in a public statement that DOGE staffers only had “read-only” access. An affidavit filed in federal court from a senior career Treasury staffer said 25-year-old Marko Elez had, in fact, been granted editing permissions that were later revoked. Top Treasury officials later expressed frustration to confidants that the matter weakened their standing with the department, two people familiar with those comments said.

“It undermined him with the Treasury staff and made him look like he was not in control,” one former Trump administration official said.

On Bloomberg News on Thursday, Bessent compared Musk to star athletes Michael Jordan and Lionel Messi and praised DOGE’s work, which Treasury has said publicly it is supporting.

“He is focused, and his energy level is unbelievable,” Bessent said of Musk. “He has gotten to where he has because everything is on the table.”

Bessent is not the only Trump Cabinet secretary to have to manage fallout from Musk’s aggressive approach. Other political appointees have been left in the dark about key initiatives in their own departments - or forced to try to reverse Musk’s maneuvers.

During Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s first official foreign trip, DOGE representatives in Washington presented a plan to eliminate almost all of USAID, which Rubio was nominally running as acting administrator. The plan proposed cutting the 10,000-people agency to roughly 290, a staffing level so low that experts said it would be impossible to administer the tens of billions of dollars of foreign aid approved by Congress every year.

Rubio and his aides, who during his trip to Central America vowed that foreign aid would continue, advocated for more USAID officials to keep their jobs, resulting in 600 workers being deemed essential - roughly double what the DOGE team originally proposed.

But the Trump administration’s aid freeze still left chaos across the agency, the world’s largest provider of food assistance. In public, Rubio forcefully defended Musk and blamed USAID officials for “insubordination” in DOGE’s effort to audit the agency. But in more private settings with U.S. officials, Rubio has acknowledged that it’s much easier to smash things than put them back together, a point underscored by nonprofit groups that have struggled through the freeze to protect programs the Trump administration says it still supports, said current and former U.S. officials.

A spokeswoman for the State Department did not respond to requests for comment.

“The secretary is trying to make foreign aid work better, but much of the current DOGE actions inside and outside of Foggy Bottom are focused on ending it,” said Matthew Bartlett, a political appointee at the State Department during Trump’s first term.

- - -

A seized office and a white noise machine

In the first days after Trump’s inauguration, the offices on the seventh floor of the Education Department were mostly empty, waiting for senior political officials who require Senate confirmation to arrive. But at least one political appointee had found an office and started to settle in, said one person with knowledge of the situation.

Then, the DOGE team that arrived at the agency Jan. 31 abruptly commandeered that office. DOGE staffers refused to interact with others - declining even to return pleasantries or acknowledge greetings - and got into at least one altercation with a political appointee, this person said. The DOGE team also took possession of the large, windowed corner office meant for the agency’s undersecretary, dragging extra desks and chairs in to set up a war room. Also set up: white noise machines, to prevent others from hearing their conversations.

The DOGE team has made almost all of the decisions about what grants and contracts to cancel and which employees to put on leave, without seeking or considering input from political appointees on-site, people familiar with the situation said.

In many cases, political appointees are hearing about cuts at the same time as the public is - via DOGE or Musk posts on X, the social media network the billionaire owns.

The political appointees “had a plan in place for how they wanted the first couple of weeks or months to go, and this is just derailing it,” one person said. The team’s members, this person said, did not realize that they would have to “fight this battle.”

DOGE’s decisions included putting employees on leave because of alleged ties to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives - even if all they did was participate in a DEI program that had been endorsed by the first Trump administration. DOGE also canceled contracts for functions mandated by law and killed others in which the agency had already paid out most of the money. Many contracts will need to be rebid - a time-consuming and avoidable process, people familiar with the situation said.

McMahon, who is still awaiting Senate confirmation, has heard these complaints from political staff and has been frustrated by the situation, according to someone close to her.

“She’s frustrated because she’s going to have to come in and clean up a big mess,” this person said. He expects McMahon will tell DOGE to operate differently, saying she would probably explain: “Make recommendations, and then I will decide. You can no longer come in and cut and strike and delete.”

Asked for comment, an Education Department spokeswoman provided a statement from the agency’s chief of staff, Rachel Oglesby, who said DOGE team members were a valuable part of the department’s work. “We all serve at the pleasure of President Trump and are working to implement his agenda together,” she said. “Any reports to the contrary are inaccurate, unnecessary and unhelpful to accomplishing our shared goals.”

DOGE also descended at the Department of Health and Human Services, where it embedded several agents in what it says is an effort to root out waste and fraud in the agency’s nearly $2 trillion budget. Musk’s team has repeatedly surprised political officials who weren’t aware of DOGE’s plans or the extent of the group’s planned cuts, and they have sometimes learned of actions only from news reports.

Some Trump appointees were caught off-guard by a Friday night announcement on Feb. 7, driven by DOGE, that the National Institutes of Health would cut billions of dollars in payments to universities and research organizations, said two people familiar with the matter. That move also prompted complaints from GOP leaders worried about the impact on higher education and jobs in their states - leading Kennedy, who had not yet been confirmed as HHS secretary, to assure GOP senators he would review the policy.

The White House declined to comment on whether officials were briefed on DOGE’s specific actions such as NIH funding cuts.

- - -

‘DOGE is by definition disruptive’

Many of these complaints have found their way to the White House. But Trump has made clear his support for DOGE, limiting the options for constraining Musk’s power.

Last week, Wiles, the chief of staff, spoke privately with Musk near the East Room of the White House, two people familiar with the exchange said. But Wiles did not reprimand Musk or give him a list of demands - she just asked for improved coordination between DOGE and White House staff, people familiar with the conversation said. Some details of that talk were previously reported by Reuters.

A White House official said that lines of communication between the two have already improved. Musk traveled with Trump during a leg of his trip to Florida this past weekend, and on the plane, Musk ran things by Wiles and didn’t go into Trump’s office without letting her know.

“To be crystal clear, DOGE is by definition disruptive, so it’s normal and expected for Wiles to have some back and forth with Musk as he goes along,” said a senior administration official.

Democrats have long predicted a split between Musk and Trump, arguing that a falling-out between such large personalities is inevitable. Even many of Trump’s aides have wondered when or if the president will tire of sharing the spotlight with Musk, the richest person in the world.

“The conversation at Mar-a-Lago in late December was already, ‘Why is DOGE getting all this attention and credit?’” one person familiar with the dynamic said.

But others emphasize the men’s shared personal and ideological affinity. On Fox News, Trump referred to Musk as “brilliant” and marveled at his “tremendous imagination.” Musk was similarly complimentary of Trump: “Not once have I seen him do something that was mean or cruel or - or wrong. Not once.”

Nonpublic polling has shown that Americans’ negative feelings toward DOGE don’t affect Trump’s poll numbers, according to a White House official. A Washington Post-Ipsos poll found that 43 percent of Americans support what Trump has done in his first month, while 48 percent oppose it. But Musk’s polling is worse: Only 34 percent approve of how he’s handling his job, while 49 percent disapprove.

Allies say Trump believes Musk played a crucial role in the 2024 presidential election, especially turning out voters in key states, and is doing necessary work to weaken the federal civil service that has resisted Trump’s agenda. While DOGE has irritated Trump aides by generating nearly daily chaos in the capital, the president sees that disruption as a strength, not a weakness. Musk, meanwhile, has said Trump offers a generational opportunity to save the American government - and pave the way for his goal of getting to Mars.

“Trump understands that you can’t take on the establishment with a scalpel. If you take on the system with a scalpel, the system will break you,” said Newt Gingrich, who served as speaker of the House in the 1990s and is a Trump ally. “Trump understands he needs a sledgehammer. Elon is that sledgehammer.”

 

Posted
8 minutes ago, Bojack said:

Would be so refreshing if the response to that was "so the fuck what?" but it'll be some jihad bullshit with firings, special sessions, investigations, and rolling over.

 

5 minutes ago, TexasHooch said:

So the fuck what?

ed1c9b33-6cc6-4da2-8408-2244909a1ef0_tex

Posted
28 minutes ago, Hagbard Celine said:

Musk’s blitzkrieg is unnerving many of Trump’s senior advisers
 

  Reveal hidden contents

16–20 minutes

Top Treasury officials have complained about disruption. The secretary of state has pushed back on staff cuts. Inside the Education and Health and Human Services departments, political appointees have been informed - not consulted - about canceled grants and contracts, sometimes learning about decisions from the media.

Elon Musk’s aggressive tactics to reshape the federal government have irritated and blindsided many senior officials in the Trump administration, including those tasked with running Cabinet departments being squeezed by his U.S. DOGE Service, according to interviews with more than 30 current and former officials and their advisers, many of whom spoke on the condition of anonymity to discuss internal matters. Amid these bubbling tensions, White House Chief of Staff Susie Wiles personally asked Musk last week to better coordinate on DOGE’s sweeping actions.

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The broad goals of Musk’s team at DOGE, which stands for the Department of Government Efficiency, are shared by not just President Donald Trump, but most of his senior advisers, who also want to shrink the government through unilateral cuts. And yet agency heads Trump chose are finding themselves caught off-guard by DOGE’s actions and forced to reverse, mitigate or answer for some of its most disruptive moves. While working to win Senate confirmation to be health and human services secretary, for instance, Robert F. Kennedy Jr. had to reassure GOP senators he would reexamine DOGE-driven cuts to the National Institutes of Health. Linda McMahon, President Donald Trump’s nominee for education secretary, told senators that she, too, would investigate cuts at her department.

DOGE’s blitzkrieg across the federal government has sparked deep concern among civil servants, who have been targeted for layoffs and required to implement policies they see as unwise, if not illegal. But Trump’s political appointees are quietly expressing unease with Musk as well.

“Basically every Cabinet member is sick of him, but nobody feels like they’re in a position to do anything about it,” said one person who spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe private conversations with several incoming secretaries or their staffs. “People are afraid to cross him even as he’s wreaking havoc on their agencies.”

Trump, though, has made clear that he supports Musk. And none of the tensions with other appointees seem significant enough to block DOGE’s work.

In a joint interview aired on Fox News on Tuesday, Trump lavished praise on the billionaire and said Musk was ensuring his orders were not watered down by federal workers.

One of Trump’s few known complaints about Musk came after an Oval Office session last week to which Musk brought his toddler, who interrupted and gestured playfully while the men spoke with reporters, two people familiar with the matter said.

“When you sign these executive orders, a lot of them don’t get done,” Trump said on Fox. He said Musk would make sure they are implemented as intended: “Some guy that maybe didn’t want to do it, all of a sudden, he’s signing.”

The 78-year-old president and 53-year-old magnate have been seen together constantly since Trump’s victory in November. Musk has interviewed Cabinet picks, taken questions from reporters alongside the president and even joined Trump’s calls with world leaders. And he has made powerful allies in Stephen Miller, Trump’s deputy chief of staff, and his wife, Katie Miller, who has worked on behalf of DOGE.

In court filings, the White House has stated that Musk has no “actual or formal” authority to make decisions and is not a DOGE employee. In practice, however, DOGE’s ability to act even without prior approval from Cabinet secretaries illustrates how much power Musk has accrued.

“If you’re a generic Cabinet secretary, you might be looking at DOGE as limiting your ability to manage your agency, or feel you’ll look like a fool if you say X and DOGE does Y. You might find that annoying, and that’s understandable,” said Avik Roy, president of the Foundation for Research on Equal Opportunity, a think tank that promotes free markets. “But Trump likes the fact that these Cabinet heads don’t have carte blanche to do whatever they want and that Musk gives them another set of eyes at the agencies. That’s what the president wants, and he’s entitled to run the executive branch that way.”

But the extent of Musk’s ability to execute sweeping changes without approval or input from department heads appears to be unprecedented - and unsettling for the Cabinet.

“Why do you want to be a Cabinet secretary if you can’t run your own agency and the president and Elon Musk run your agency for you? That doesn’t seem like a great job to me. It’s very unusual. We’ve never seen anything like this,” said Doug Holtz-Eakin, president of the American Action Forum, a right-leaning think tank. “These uncoordinated efforts have downsides - you have the secretaries and DOGE at cross-purposes, and that doesn’t serve anyone well.”

A White House spokesman said there’s no tension between Musk and other officials, and other Trump officials downplayed any disagreement.

“The entire Trump administration is aligned on delivering on President Trump’s agenda to streamline our bloated government and make it more efficiently serve the American people,” spokesman Kush Desai said in a statement. “DOGE is working hand in hand with the White House and federal agencies to identify and slash waste, fraud, and abuse at lightning speed. Any unfounded rumors peddled by anonymous sources simply do not have any clue what’s happening or are actively working against the President’s agenda and the will of the American people.”

- - -

DOGE clashes with agencies

Almost as soon as Treasury Secretary Scott Bessent took office, the DOGE team thrust his department into the spotlight.

David A. Lebryk, the most senior career official at Treasury, had clashed with DOGE allies who demanded access to sensitive payment systems that disburse more than $5 trillion annually so they could unilaterally terminate foreign aid payments. Lebryk thought that was illegal and resigned.

Just a few days after being sworn in, Bessent began to hear from peers about how valuable Lebryk was. In a call, Federal Reserve Board Chair Jerome H. Powell, a former Treasury official himself, extolled Lebryk as a valuable public servant, two people said, although that was not the primary purpose of the conversation. Several other former senior Treasury officials made similar points in separate calls with Bessent’s deputies around the same time, two other people said. The incident touched off broad alarm among the Treasury civil staff that secretaries depend on to manage their agencies, and even among Republicans who had served in the department.

The controversy around DOGE’s access to the payment network threatened to undercut the treasury secretary’s credibility as well. Bessent later told congressional Republicans that Musk’s team did not control the payment systems, and department officials said in a public statement that DOGE staffers only had “read-only” access. An affidavit filed in federal court from a senior career Treasury staffer said 25-year-old Marko Elez had, in fact, been granted editing permissions that were later revoked. Top Treasury officials later expressed frustration to confidants that the matter weakened their standing with the department, two people familiar with those comments said.

“It undermined him with the Treasury staff and made him look like he was not in control,” one former Trump administration official said.

On Bloomberg News on Thursday, Bessent compared Musk to star athletes Michael Jordan and Lionel Messi and praised DOGE’s work, which Treasury has said publicly it is supporting.

“He is focused, and his energy level is unbelievable,” Bessent said of Musk. “He has gotten to where he has because everything is on the table.”

Bessent is not the only Trump Cabinet secretary to have to manage fallout from Musk’s aggressive approach. Other political appointees have been left in the dark about key initiatives in their own departments - or forced to try to reverse Musk’s maneuvers.

During Secretary of State Marco Rubio’s first official foreign trip, DOGE representatives in Washington presented a plan to eliminate almost all of USAID, which Rubio was nominally running as acting administrator. The plan proposed cutting the 10,000-people agency to roughly 290, a staffing level so low that experts said it would be impossible to administer the tens of billions of dollars of foreign aid approved by Congress every year.

Rubio and his aides, who during his trip to Central America vowed that foreign aid would continue, advocated for more USAID officials to keep their jobs, resulting in 600 workers being deemed essential - roughly double what the DOGE team originally proposed.

But the Trump administration’s aid freeze still left chaos across the agency, the world’s largest provider of food assistance. In public, Rubio forcefully defended Musk and blamed USAID officials for “insubordination” in DOGE’s effort to audit the agency. But in more private settings with U.S. officials, Rubio has acknowledged that it’s much easier to smash things than put them back together, a point underscored by nonprofit groups that have struggled through the freeze to protect programs the Trump administration says it still supports, said current and former U.S. officials.

A spokeswoman for the State Department did not respond to requests for comment.

“The secretary is trying to make foreign aid work better, but much of the current DOGE actions inside and outside of Foggy Bottom are focused on ending it,” said Matthew Bartlett, a political appointee at the State Department during Trump’s first term.

- - -

A seized office and a white noise machine

In the first days after Trump’s inauguration, the offices on the seventh floor of the Education Department were mostly empty, waiting for senior political officials who require Senate confirmation to arrive. But at least one political appointee had found an office and started to settle in, said one person with knowledge of the situation.

Then, the DOGE team that arrived at the agency Jan. 31 abruptly commandeered that office. DOGE staffers refused to interact with others - declining even to return pleasantries or acknowledge greetings - and got into at least one altercation with a political appointee, this person said. The DOGE team also took possession of the large, windowed corner office meant for the agency’s undersecretary, dragging extra desks and chairs in to set up a war room. Also set up: white noise machines, to prevent others from hearing their conversations.

The DOGE team has made almost all of the decisions about what grants and contracts to cancel and which employees to put on leave, without seeking or considering input from political appointees on-site, people familiar with the situation said.

In many cases, political appointees are hearing about cuts at the same time as the public is - via DOGE or Musk posts on X, the social media network the billionaire owns.

The political appointees “had a plan in place for how they wanted the first couple of weeks or months to go, and this is just derailing it,” one person said. The team’s members, this person said, did not realize that they would have to “fight this battle.”

DOGE’s decisions included putting employees on leave because of alleged ties to diversity, equity and inclusion initiatives - even if all they did was participate in a DEI program that had been endorsed by the first Trump administration. DOGE also canceled contracts for functions mandated by law and killed others in which the agency had already paid out most of the money. Many contracts will need to be rebid - a time-consuming and avoidable process, people familiar with the situation said.

McMahon, who is still awaiting Senate confirmation, has heard these complaints from political staff and has been frustrated by the situation, according to someone close to her.

“She’s frustrated because she’s going to have to come in and clean up a big mess,” this person said. He expects McMahon will tell DOGE to operate differently, saying she would probably explain: “Make recommendations, and then I will decide. You can no longer come in and cut and strike and delete.”

Asked for comment, an Education Department spokeswoman provided a statement from the agency’s chief of staff, Rachel Oglesby, who said DOGE team members were a valuable part of the department’s work. “We all serve at the pleasure of President Trump and are working to implement his agenda together,” she said. “Any reports to the contrary are inaccurate, unnecessary and unhelpful to accomplishing our shared goals.”

DOGE also descended at the Department of Health and Human Services, where it embedded several agents in what it says is an effort to root out waste and fraud in the agency’s nearly $2 trillion budget. Musk’s team has repeatedly surprised political officials who weren’t aware of DOGE’s plans or the extent of the group’s planned cuts, and they have sometimes learned of actions only from news reports.

Some Trump appointees were caught off-guard by a Friday night announcement on Feb. 7, driven by DOGE, that the National Institutes of Health would cut billions of dollars in payments to universities and research organizations, said two people familiar with the matter. That move also prompted complaints from GOP leaders worried about the impact on higher education and jobs in their states - leading Kennedy, who had not yet been confirmed as HHS secretary, to assure GOP senators he would review the policy.

The White House declined to comment on whether officials were briefed on DOGE’s specific actions such as NIH funding cuts.

- - -

‘DOGE is by definition disruptive’

Many of these complaints have found their way to the White House. But Trump has made clear his support for DOGE, limiting the options for constraining Musk’s power.

Last week, Wiles, the chief of staff, spoke privately with Musk near the East Room of the White House, two people familiar with the exchange said. But Wiles did not reprimand Musk or give him a list of demands - she just asked for improved coordination between DOGE and White House staff, people familiar with the conversation said. Some details of that talk were previously reported by Reuters.

A White House official said that lines of communication between the two have already improved. Musk traveled with Trump during a leg of his trip to Florida this past weekend, and on the plane, Musk ran things by Wiles and didn’t go into Trump’s office without letting her know.

“To be crystal clear, DOGE is by definition disruptive, so it’s normal and expected for Wiles to have some back and forth with Musk as he goes along,” said a senior administration official.

Democrats have long predicted a split between Musk and Trump, arguing that a falling-out between such large personalities is inevitable. Even many of Trump’s aides have wondered when or if the president will tire of sharing the spotlight with Musk, the richest person in the world.

“The conversation at Mar-a-Lago in late December was already, ‘Why is DOGE getting all this attention and credit?’” one person familiar with the dynamic said.

But others emphasize the men’s shared personal and ideological affinity. On Fox News, Trump referred to Musk as “brilliant” and marveled at his “tremendous imagination.” Musk was similarly complimentary of Trump: “Not once have I seen him do something that was mean or cruel or - or wrong. Not once.”

Nonpublic polling has shown that Americans’ negative feelings toward DOGE don’t affect Trump’s poll numbers, according to a White House official. A Washington Post-Ipsos poll found that 43 percent of Americans support what Trump has done in his first month, while 48 percent oppose it. But Musk’s polling is worse: Only 34 percent approve of how he’s handling his job, while 49 percent disapprove.

Allies say Trump believes Musk played a crucial role in the 2024 presidential election, especially turning out voters in key states, and is doing necessary work to weaken the federal civil service that has resisted Trump’s agenda. While DOGE has irritated Trump aides by generating nearly daily chaos in the capital, the president sees that disruption as a strength, not a weakness. Musk, meanwhile, has said Trump offers a generational opportunity to save the American government - and pave the way for his goal of getting to Mars.

“Trump understands that you can’t take on the establishment with a scalpel. If you take on the system with a scalpel, the system will break you,” said Newt Gingrich, who served as speaker of the House in the 1990s and is a Trump ally. “Trump understands he needs a sledgehammer. Elon is that sledgehammer.”

 

 

IMG_3019.jpeg

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Posted

So, this is what we’re doin’ now?
 

 

https://www.yahoo.com/news/us-attorney-launches-probes-whether-220050622.html

Martin, the interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, has sent letters to Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), accusing the two of threatening public officials.

Garcia, who publicly shared the letter Thursday, was accused by the new prosecutor of threatening Elon Musk.

The letter, dated Monday, asks Garcia about an interview on CNN in which he said, “What the American public wants is for us to bring actual weapons to this bar fight. This is an actual fight for democracy.”

 

The interview came the same day Garcia held up a photo of Musk during a hearing and called it a “d‑‑‑ pic,” — a reference to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) previously showing a lewd photo of Hunter Biden.

“This sounds to some like a threat to Mr. Musk — an appointed representative of President Donald Trump who you called a ‘d‑‑‑’ — and government staff who work for him. Their concerns have led to this inquiry,” Martin wrote in the letter.

Garcia said he would not be deterred by the letter.

 

  • Haha 5
Posted
2 minutes ago, Satchel said:

So, this is what we’re doin’ now?
 

 

https://www.yahoo.com/news/us-attorney-launches-probes-whether-220050622.html

Martin, the interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, has sent letters to Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), accusing the two of threatening public officials.

Garcia, who publicly shared the letter Thursday, was accused by the new prosecutor of threatening Elon Musk.

The letter, dated Monday, asks Garcia about an interview on CNN in which he said, “What the American public wants is for us to bring actual weapons to this bar fight. This is an actual fight for democracy.”

 

The interview came the same day Garcia held up a photo of Musk during a hearing and called it a “d‑‑‑ pic,” — a reference to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) previously showing a lewd photo of Hunter Biden.

“This sounds to some like a threat to Mr. Musk — an appointed representative of President Donald Trump who you called a ‘d‑‑‑’ — and government staff who work for him. Their concerns have led to this inquiry,” Martin wrote in the letter.

Garcia said he would not be deterred by the letter.

 

 

  

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Posted
7 minutes ago, Satchel said:

So, this is what we’re doin’ now?
 

 

https://www.yahoo.com/news/us-attorney-launches-probes-whether-220050622.html

Martin, the interim U.S. Attorney for the District of Columbia, has sent letters to Sen. Chuck Schumer (D-N.Y.) and Rep. Robert Garcia (D-Calif.), accusing the two of threatening public officials.

Garcia, who publicly shared the letter Thursday, was accused by the new prosecutor of threatening Elon Musk.

The letter, dated Monday, asks Garcia about an interview on CNN in which he said, “What the American public wants is for us to bring actual weapons to this bar fight. This is an actual fight for democracy.”

 

The interview came the same day Garcia held up a photo of Musk during a hearing and called it a “d‑‑‑ pic,” — a reference to Rep. Marjorie Taylor Greene (R-Ga.) previously showing a lewd photo of Hunter Biden.

“This sounds to some like a threat to Mr. Musk — an appointed representative of President Donald Trump who you called a ‘d‑‑‑’ — and government staff who work for him. Their concerns have led to this inquiry,” Martin wrote in the letter.

Garcia said he would not be deterred by the letter.

 

my favorite part is this:

Quote

"We take threats against public officials very seriously."

 

yeah.

trump-executive-orders.jpg

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Posted (edited)

I’m becoming a big Garcia fan. Passing off an image of Musk as a dick pic is genius in its simplicity.

Edited by Satchel
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Posted
30 minutes ago, Horn Under a Bad Sign said:

The stupidest fucking people on the planet.

 

Tarrio.jpg

It'd be a shame if he bumped his head getting into the squad car.  Tripped on the curb.

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Posted
4 hours ago, tx 3 putt said:

well said gov pritzker ...

Only an idiot would think we should eliminate:
- Emergency response in natural disasters
- Education and healthcare for disabled children
- Clean air and water programs
- Gang crime investigations
- Monitoring of nursing home abuse
- Nuclear reactor regulation
- Cancer research


I just wish he looked healthier/better.  He's the bulldog that we need.

Posted
6 hours ago, Horn Dog said:

We will all get fucked, but this will especially fuck over rural MAGA voters who heavily rely on subsidized mail.   Good luck getting Fed Ex to deliver your shit in Bumfuck town for  75 cents.  Fuck it, let’s do it.  Burn it all down!

Has the potential to fuck Bezos since USPS does a bunch of last mile deliveries for Amazon on the cheap.

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Posted
2 hours ago, Satchel said:

Holy shit.

https://www.christianpost.com/voices/is-doge-a-blessing-or-a-curse.html

 

I'll summarize so you don't have to read the entire thing - Elon is doing God's work by cutting waste and benefiting people of the US and the world. He is taking on himself the fate, suffering, heartache, rejection... (my editorial) JUST LIKE JESUS! And we should be compassionate to those who lost their jobs and are suffering. Oh, and this ain't supposed to be political. Amen.

 

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Posted

I go to a church that focuses on God, our relationship with God, and spreading the good word. The pastors acknowledge division in the country, but otherwise does NOT talk about politics.

 

When I read shit like that in the previous post, I see why people fucking hate Christians.

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Posted
4 hours ago, Ted Lange said:

 

After this tense exchange between President Trump and Gov. Mills today, the Department of Education’s civil rights division has announced it's launching a Title IX investigation into Maine’s Department of Education amid allegations it's violating Trump’s executive order banning transgender women from competing in women’s sports.

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Posted
12 minutes ago, tx 3 putt said:

After this tense exchange between President Trump and Gov. Mills today, the Department of Education’s civil rights division has announced it's launching a Title IX investigation into Maine’s Department of Education amid allegations it's violating Trump’s executive order banning transgender women from competing in women’s sports.

Man when he told her her life would suck once she was out of office I wish she would have said no I’ll be happy because that means you’ll at least be out of office if not dead

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Posted
4 hours ago, Ted Lange said:

 

STOP BRINGING TRANS ISSUES!!! /immamac, probably 

 

Yeah, pretty crazy that bugaboo make a cameo in this clip. For fucks sake, who would have guessed that hate for transgender people would be enough to gain all encompassing power. 

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Posted
37 minutes ago, tx 3 putt said:

Statement from Maine Governor @GovJanetMills :

"If the President attempts to unilaterally deprive Maine school children of the benefit of Federal funding, my Administration and the Attorney General will take all appropriate and necessary legal action to restore that funding and the academic opportunity it provides. The State of Maine will not be intimidated by the President's threats."

Whatever the case, standing and fighting is the best way to handle bullies.

But go on the offensive as well.  The State of Maine should open dozens of brutally expensive and harassing investigations and prosecutions of MAGA people.  Government is fully weaponized now -- start fucking using the weapon with brutality and cruelty.  Bullies only understand pain.  So hurt them.

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Posted
4 minutes ago, mchookem said:

my sister and my dad got in a bit of a tiff a few days ago (they live in the same backwoods NE TX town)... they were drinking and grilling at her place, both said too much...at some point my dad asked her 'well do you think i'm a good Christian?' (pretty devout and practicing  catholic) and she was just drunk enough to answer honestly that...no, she did not, based on the way he talked about groups of people and some of his adamant political attitudes and stances. he got pissed and literally left her house before dinner and went home. snowflake lol.

anyways, they made up the next day (way it goes with the booze in my family haha) but she was like 'i just tried to answer honestly!' and i said if he ever asked me the same (he won't, he doesn't like to debate me lol) my answer would be 'no worries dad, i think you are the absolute perfect embodiment of american christianity'.

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