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Tuco

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Everything posted by Tuco

  1. Well, he's not King yet. Right now he can only gum up the system, not replace it. He gums it up enough and people will believe it needs to be replaced. Arkansas and Missouri are filled with enough cultists who will believe him as he says it's FEMA's fault. Huckabeef certainly won't blame Trump. And once the system is replaced* with a single decision maker, that decision maker has all the power. It's the same thing with Tariffs. Sure, he may fuck up the economy, but since Congress has ceded him the ability to either save or ruin companies, he can use that to demand loyalty. Same thing with deportations. When the President, or the Dept of State, can decide to cancel a visa, they can punish someone who says something they don't agree with. Trump is demonstrating what happens when a system is placed with a person. Note: it doesn't actually need to "replaced," just "reformed" in a way that makes it more "efficient." That includes which states/counties get funds. It could also include which contractors get the work, which would be a graft machine.
  2. Yeah, that's game plan. Crippled the agencies, drive up dissatisfaction with them, dismantle them completely, replacing the bureaucracy with a King handing out money to the governors who bend the knee. A competent dictatorship can be fast and even efficient. But the "competent" part of that isn't a system, it's luck. Luck that we will not have.
  3. Well, my main focus is still to whine incessantly about it on a social media platform with people who mostly agree with me. Podcasts are my back-up plan.
  4. Democrats weren't going on Rogan because he was giving a stage to Holocaust deniers and anti-vaxxers. There is, or was, a general mindset that you don't provide draw eyes to someone who is peddling irresponsible and dangerous bullshit. But, I think that mentality is changing. Frankly, there is nothing a politician is going to do to give Rogan "credibility" because credibility is an outdated notion in today's world.
  5. A short watch of Jordan Klepper talking about young MAGA:
  6. Ok, if he wasn't a pussy, what would he do? A strongly worded attack mailer.
  7. He's just trying to keep it in the news cycle. At best, if it actually went to a vote, he could get Republican Senators on the record for supporting corruption (as if that would fucking matter). What alternative was the "right" path? Schumer deserves a lot of shit for a lot of reasons, but I don't think this is one of them.
  8. “Hey guys, I’ve brought my own recipe for the hookah. You should give it a try before we talk business.”
  9. Maybe in the bonus round they can challenge MAGgots on questions about US History and Government.
  10. Ewing winning was a surprise. Ewing winning by 13 points was a shock. But, it's not really a repudiation of MAGA and it is definitely not a sign that the Democratic Party is getting their shit together. Stothert wasn't MAGA. She was vocal about not voting for Trump in 2016. As far as I know, she never bent the knee. Her loss may be an indication that it is getting harder for non-MAGA Republicans to survive. (She did have other issues, like spending enough time in St. Louis, where her boyfriend lived, that there was accusations that she didn't really live in Omaha.) As far as the Dems go, the State Party showed their incompetence by coordinating with another Republican candidate during the primaries on some anti-Stothert attack ads. The backstory is that McDonnell was Dem State Senator, who voted for the abortion bill, got enough blowback that he switched to Republican, but was the deciding vote against switching to winner-take-all for the 2024 Presidential election. The mayoral race is a non-partisan, top two advance, primary. So, there was a decent chance that two Republicans - McDonnell and Stothert - would have been the only general election candidates, and the Nebraska State Democratic Party was coordinating with one of them. That is soooo fucked up. But the good guy won. And John Ewing is the good guy. I've liked him since he was the county treasurer and he overhauled the car registration process to make it easier. Just simple, non-partisan, efforts to make your life better. Granted, I may be giving him credit for something technology enabled, but I still like him. And it may demonstrate a changing of the guard in Omaha. It's not that unusual for Omaha to have a Democratic mayor, but they are all that old Irish-mob-political-machine type. I think a lot of that base has eroded with reshifting with MAGA. Being the first black mayor should not be underestimated.
  11. Keep reading asshole. You're just a few verses short of "Pride goeth before the fall." I really wished Christians would actually read the Bible instead of just wearing the logo.
  12. Fixed it. Who wants to bet that Martin and Deborah talk a lot about their pure Castilian heritage?
  13. He knows it. He just thinks he's outsmarted it.
  14. The film tariff is fascinating. Does it apply to just movies shown in theaters? What about movies made for streaming? If it does, what if Netflix has a one episode series that is 2 hours long? Since intellectual property isn't consumed, does it apply retroactively? The scary part is this: "This is a concerted effort by other Nations, and therefore a national security threat. It is, in addition to everything else, messaging and propaganda." Let that sink in for a bit. That is not about industry or revenue. It's about controlling what Americans can watch, using "national security" as the justification.
  15. Slow response on this... I probably should have clarified: I don't think Elon is their biggest problem moving forward. There is a perception that Elon becoming toxic in the world of public opinion is why they are struggling. I think both of us are agreeing that the issues are much more fundamental, and more difficult to fix, than Elon's bad press.
  16. I believe that would be considered "persecuting Christians."
  17. Tesla is one of the most interesting stocks. If it’s a car company, it’s grossly overpriced. If it’s a tech company that is about to create new products (robots, robotaxis, ai, etc.) which spawn new markets, then it makes sense. It’s why Elon stresses the latter and dismisses any concerns about car sales. I think it’s a car company that hasn’t made a major advance in years and has lost its technology edge to the Chinese and is losing ground to domestic and European competitors. The truck was not only an Edsel-level flop, it demonstrated a dysfunction which undermines any confidence that they are competent in developing new products. Elon is a problem, but not their biggest one.
  18. Well, they’re still racist. They just don’t want to be poor racists.
  19. A couple of things: 1) it is important to do everything by the book. Not only would it impact me, it would hurt the organization to step over the line by making a false report;2) it’s pretty rare that the problem is too few cops. All you need is one Rambo for shit to get shittier.
  20. Last night I sat in some training for a rapid response team. Basically the organization has a number for folks in the community to call should they see a raid/conflict going on. Then a team member is sent to confirm (lots of false calls due to general fear.). If confirmed, a rapid response team is sent out to document the arrest(s). Basically trying to document where ICE is breaking the law. We can’t interfere at all and need to step back when the cops say they need space. This may get interesting. I think I should be able to stay out of jail, but I imagine I’ll need to bail out my wife at some point.
  21. Well, if there is one guy who deserves some leans years...
  22. You joke, but that is exactly what they are after. There is this great part in "The Unbearable Lightness of Being" that talks about how the point of the secret police (Prague, post 1968) isn't to arrest people who are dangerous to the state, it's to make everyone think twice about who is listening, how their actions would be perceived by the state, and what the state might be holding over them. Going after students on visas over social media posts makes everyone consider their social media posts.
  23. Trump may end up being great for the environment, despite his best intentions.
  24. OMG, she has a friend who uses coupons. She really has her pulse on poverty in America. Also, I don't think she really understood The Emperor's New Clothes.
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