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bolverk

Certifiably Surly
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Everything posted by bolverk

  1. Unfortunately, they missed changing the stripes to make a Russian flag.
  2. That second of the two that I bolded is the one that stood out to me as causing more potential harm. The DEA/ATF merger is what's going to get the headlines though, but I don't have much to criticize about that other than what you've stated.
  3. How Major Car Brands Are Affected by Trump’s Tariffs The scale of the damage depends on the circumstances of each company’s supply chain. The tariffs on cars and auto parts that President Trump announced on Wednesday will have far-reaching effects on automakers in the United States and abroad. But there will be important differences based on the circumstances of each company. Tesla The company run by Mr. Trump’s confidant, Elon Musk, makes the cars it sells in the United States in factories in California and Texas. As a result, it is perhaps the least exposed to tariffs. But the company does buy parts from other countries β€” about a quarter of the components by value in its cars come from abroad, according to the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. In addition, Tesla is struggling with falling sales around the world, in part because Mr. Musk’s political activities and statements have turned off moderate and liberal car buyers. Some countries could seek to retaliate against Mr. Trump’s tariffs by targeting Tesla. A few Canadian provinces have already stopped offering incentives for purchases of Tesla’s electric vehicles. General Motors The largest U.S. automaker imports many of its best selling and most profitable cars and trucks, especially from Mexico, where it has several large factories that churn out models like the Chevrolet Silverado. Roughly 40 percent of G.M.’s sales in the United States last year were vehicles assembled abroad. This could make the company vulnerable to the tariffs. But unlike some other automakers, G.M. has posted strong profits in recent years and is considered by analysts to be on good financial footing. That could help it weather the tariffs better than other companies, especially if the import taxes are removed or diluted by Mr. Trump. Ford Motor Ford is much less reliant on imported cars than many of its rivals. It makes about 80 percent of the vehicles it sells in the United States in the country. As a result, it would be relatively insulated from the 25 percent tariffs on imported vehicles. But the company is still dependent on foreign factories for major parts like engines. A Ford factory in Ontario, for example, makes engines for some of its pickup trucks. Ford has been losing billions of dollars on electric vehicles. One of its three battery-powered models, the Mustang Mach-E, is produced at a factory near Mexico City. Stellantis The company that owns Chrysler, Dodge, Jeep and Ram, uses overseas factories, in Mexico in particular, to assemble some popular models like Ram pickup trucks. Another model, the Chrysler Pacifica minivan, is made in Ontario. Stellantis, which was created by the 2021 merger of Fiat Chrysler and Peugeot, has also been struggling with sluggish sales and is searching for a new chief executive. Those challenges put the company, along with some others like Nissan, at greater risk, especially if the tariffs stay in place for months or years. Toyota Like other Japanese automakers, Toyota is very dependent on the United States and sold 2.3 million cars in the country last year. About one million of those vehicles were made in other countries, many of them in Canada, Mexico and Japan. That could be a big problem for the company and automakers like Subaru and Mazda, with which Toyota works closely. But Toyota, the world’s largest automaker, is in a better position than other automakers. It is profitable and considered by analysts to be one of the best-run companies in the global auto industry. Volkswagen Europe’s largest automaker could be really hurt by tariffs because it has just one factory in the United States, in Chattanooga, Tenn., where it makes the Atlas and ID.4 sport utility vehicles. It imports many of its cars, including Audis and Volkswagens from Mexico and Porsches from Germany. The company has struggled financially in recent years because its sales have fallen sharply in China, where domestic automakers have grown quickly by introducing lots of affordable electric and hybrid vehicles. Volkswagen had hoped to make inroads in the United States, but Mr. Trump’s latest tariffs could make that difficult task even harder. Hyundai and Kia The South Korean stablemates have made impressive sales gains in the United States in recent years. The companies have also invested in a new electric vehicle factory in Georgia that is starting to increase production, which could help them avoid tariffs on some models. On Monday, Hyundai’s executive chair, Euisun Chung, announced at the White House with Mr. Trump that his company would invest another $21 billion in the United States, including in a new steel factory in Louisiana. Even though Hyundai and Kia now have three factories in Georgia and Alabama, they will not be able to avoid tariffs on the hundreds of thousands of cars they import into the United States. Many of those vehicles came from South Korea, which negotiated a trade agreement with the United States in 2007 that was updated during Mr. Trump’s first term.
  4. It's like an open invitation.
  5. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/27/us/trump-dea-atf.html?smid=url-share The Trump administration is considering major changes in how the Justice Department operates, including by merging the Drug Enforcement Administration and the Bureau of Alcohol, Tobacco, Firearms and Explosives into one, according to an internal memo. The other changes include drastically altering how the department’s public integrity section functions; downsizing the fraud-focused investigations that involve foreign business practices and foreign influence efforts; and closing down the community relations office that works to quell public unrest after police shootings. The proposal, outlined in a memo issued by the deputy attorney general, Todd Blanche, and obtained by The New York Times, has yet to take effect. Officials are still seeking feedback from within the department before proceeding with what current and former Justice Department officials view as a significant reorganization. A spokesman for the Justice Department did not immediately comment on the memo. Overall, the Trump administration’s vision for the Justice Department, as outlined in the memo, is to downsize by consolidating some work inside its headquarters, while farming other responsibilities out to the U.S. attorney’s offices. The changes are described as part of the government’s efforts to downsize and streamline the federal work force, with help from the Elon Musk-led Department of Government Efficiency. The proposal to merge the D.E.A. and A.T.F. would almost certainly require congressional approval, though so far in the new administration, Congress appears to be playing a shrinking role in how the federal government is organized. Historically, lawmakers on the appropriations committees zealously guarded their authority over the organization of agencies like the Justice Department. It is unclear if the current leaders in Congress intend to assert such authority during the Trump administration. Administrations have long considered restructuring one or both of those two agencies, but no major reorganization has occurred since the post-Sept. 11 era, when the Department of Homeland Security was created and the A.T.F. was moved from the Treasury Department into the Justice Department. Under the plan, antitrust offices in Chicago and San Francisco would close, as would environmental offices in Denver, Seattle, San Francisco and Sacramento. Civil litigation offices in New York, Chicago, Raleigh and San Francisco would also be closed, according to the memo. The plan also calls for reassigning tax division lawyers to U.S. attorney offices around the country, and consolidating the department’s various legal divisions, including for national security, criminal prosecutions and other matters, into one single office. In the memo to Justice Department employees, Mr. Blanche asked for feedback on the plans by April 2.
  6. Decimating the public health system will surely be an effective strategy for combatting bird flu, measles, fentanyl addiction, and the myriad maladies causing illness in Americans. Make food poisoning great again! The FDA & CDC are expected to lose roughly 20 percent of their staff from the latest cuts alone. CDC will lose about 2,400 employees with cuts to its mission FDA will see 3,500 jobs cut National Institutes of Health will lose 1,200 staff The agency that administers Medicare and Medicaid is expected to lose 300 https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/27/us/politics/health-department-job-layoffs-rfk-jr.html
  7. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/27/us/politics/health-department-job-layoffs-rfk-jr.html
  8. I have no doubt. Still, I'm happy to see Elise get dumped after all her public knobslobbing.
  9. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/27/us/politics/overdraft-fees-limit-cfpb.html?smid=url-share
  10. All that cocksucking only to get left at the altar. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/27/us/politics/stefanik-trump-cabinet.html?smid=url-share
  11. Tons of capitalist free-riders post in Business & Markets. Since they ought to understand your need to monetize the board for a bit of revenue, you should do the same there.
  12. I got fucking food poisoning from a cookout there - next to the lake, not at the metal spaceship house - and had to spend the next morning at the UMC ER. Your first photo isn't showing for me, so it may well be an after-shot of it after someone finally finished it (or fixed it up). At least, I think I've heard it was finally completed a few years ago. Edit: Found an article about it. Pretty kick-ass, tbh. https://www.realtor.com/news/unique-homes/steel-house-texas-auction-robert-bruno/
  13. We had a plan to do that 10 years ago: TPP. Guess who killed it?
  14. Wordle 1,377 4/6 πŸŸ©β¬›β¬›πŸŸ¨πŸŸ¨ πŸŸ©β¬›πŸŸ©β¬›πŸŸ© πŸŸ©β¬›πŸŸ©πŸŸ©πŸŸ© 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 By the hair of my chinny, chin, chin. Connections Puzzle #655 🟨🟨🟦🟨 🟨🟩🟨🟦 🟨🟩🟦🟨 🟨🟨🟨🟨 πŸŸͺπŸŸͺπŸŸͺπŸŸͺ 🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟦🟦🟦🟦 πŸ™‚ Daily Quordle 1158 4️⃣8️⃣ 7️⃣6️⃣ m-w.com/games/quordle/ ⬜⬜⬜⬜🟨 ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ 🟩⬜🟩🟩🟩 ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟨 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜🟨⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜⬜⬜🟨🟨 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩⬜⬜⬜🟨 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩⬜⬜⬜🟨 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬜🟨⬜🟨⬜ ⬜⬜🟨⬜⬜ ⬜🟨⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟩⬜🟩 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ ⬜⬜🟩⬜🟩 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟩⬜🟩⬜🟩 ⬜⬜⬜⬜⬜ 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 🟩🟩🟩🟩🟩 ⬛⬛⬛⬛⬛
  15. No, you're right. There is an app, but I don't remember where I downloaded it from.
  16. Feel free to add new aggy content for us to make fun of. By all means, please, be my guest. They're going to do to Tarleton what they did to Texas A&I. Or they trying to copy UT-Dallas? https://www.star-telegram.com/news/business/fort-worth/article302793794.html The new Texas A&M-Fort Worth campus could eventually have five buildings, according to a rendering the university recently posted on its website. One building, for the law school, is under construction now. Texas A&M is doing design work on a second building for research programs, and has previously announced a third β€œgateway” building. The rendering posted online shows a possible β€œPerformance, Visualization and Fine Arts Building” along East Lancaster Avenue, and a second research building. Those projects are part of the university’s long-range plans for the campus. There is not a public timeline. The property where the performance, visualization and fine arts building is shown in the rendering is vacant land. The Fort Worth campus will house an extension of A&M’s Visual Production Institute, a high tech center that will teach students to use cutting edge filmmaking and graphics technology. Fort Worth is working to become a hub for film production. Included in plans when the campus was initially announced, the Gateway Building will serve as a doorway to the new campus. It’s expected to be built at the site of the existing Texas A&M School of Law, once the first research and innovation building is complete. Designs for any of the buildings would need to be approved by the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents. Planning for the Fort Worth campus is ongoing, and newer iterations of renderings have differed from those released when the campus was announced. The new campus is expected to be transformational for Fort Worth, developing a languishing corridor of downtown into an engine for economic growth that will likely create jobs and attract new companies to the area. Ground has yet to break on the first Research and Innovation Building, which could cost up to $260 million. A utility-related, pre-development permit for the project was filed with the city in February. The building will house offices and labs for a number of Texas state agencies. Companies including aerospace giant Lockheed Martin Aeronautics and eyecare maker Alcon are expected to collaborate with the new campus to design curriculum that will prepare students for the workforce. The campus’ first structure, the Law and Education Building, is expected to be complete in summer 2026. The $180 million building broke ground in June 2023.
  17. Hey @Gucci_Suit, maybe learn some shit rather than lashing out with a neg when you know you've been had. Yes, your sociopathic boy's quote is real as are all the others.
  18. I'm sure he "likes to watch," too, in both senses.
  19. From Blotto's article: https://archive.is/czBD9
  20. Nothing to see here other than billionaire co-POTUS pumping millions into a state Supreme Court campaign to influence the outcome of legislation that affects his own company. I seem to recall a venerable old conservative president who praised our federalist system as empowering individual states to devise their own paths forward and calling them "laboratories of democracy." You know, the whole "local rule" principle. It used to be important to conservatives. Today's so-called "conservatives" bend over backward to accommodate a corrupt regime's intent to further entrench an oligarch who holds the levers of power over the whole fucking system. https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/26/us/politics/elon-musk-tesla-wisconsin.html Elon Musk is far and away the biggest spender in this year’s race for the Wisconsin Supreme Court, throwing his fortune behind a conservative candidate aiming to topple the court’s 4-to-3 liberal majority. The deluge of cash β€” $20 million and counting from Mr. Musk and groups tied to him β€” comes as his electric car company, Tesla, is suing Wisconsin over its law prohibiting vehicle manufacturers from selling cars directly to consumers. The law requires a franchisee to act as a middleman. Tesla filed the lawsuit in January, days before Mr. Musk began spending on the race. He has not publicly mentioned the litigation, but for weeks it has served as a backdrop of the April 1 election. The case is now before a court in Milwaukee County, but it could proceed to the Wisconsin Supreme Court in the coming months. The conservative candidate, Brad Schimel, a Waukesha County judge who has declined to discuss the Tesla case, appeared with Mr. Musk on a social media livestream on Saturday and drew President Trump’s endorsement late last week. He faces Susan Crawford, a liberal Dane County judge backed by Wisconsin Democrats. Since Mr. Musk began spending to help Judge Schimel, Judge Crawford and Wisconsin Democrats have built their public messaging around the idea that she is in a battle with the billionaire leading Mr. Trump’s destruction of the federal government. β€œIt is no coincidence that Elon Musk started spending that money within days of Tesla filing a lawsuit in Wisconsin,” Judge Crawford said during a televised debate this month.
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