America

[Son of Mathonwy]

Moving on from a discussion where no-one's going to convince the other...

Trump's next landgrab
https://us.cnn.com/2025/02/04/politics/ ... index.html
Use US troops to ethnically cleanse Gaza, and then have it as a US vassal.

'We'll own it' and 'long term ownership'. So he's actually talking about annexing it for the US, not Israel. No way would Netanyahu be happy with that. Maybe he's just cut a deal where Donald Trump becomes owner of significant parts of the strip? Or it could be a Hong Kong type thing where the US gives it to Israel after a very long period.

Anyway, what a piece of shit war criminal.

Not sure how having US troops coming back in bodybags is going to go down with Trump's supporters though.

[Son of Mathonwy]

I thought the US had more lawyers per square foot than any other country. If what Musk is doing at various agencies is illegal - eg because the agencies were set up by congress so the President has no power to shut them down - why isn't someone, eg the Democrats, launching a lawsuit to prevent it??

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... adquarters


At least the unions have taken this action because the data grab by Musk seems to shatter the Privacy Act and some other legislation:

https://therecord.media/union-groups-su ... ss-to-data

It's possible that a class action could be taken on behalf of the whole US population to sue for the theft of their data.

[Which Tyler]

I thought the US had more lawyers per square foot than any other country. If what Musk is doing at various agencies is illegal - eg because the agencies were set up by congress so the President has no power to shut them down - why isn't someone, eg the Democrats, launching a lawsuit to prevent it??

A] They are
B] It takes time to then reach court
C] It then gets bumped up to more senior courts, and things like this, probably as far as the Supreme court
D] Trump stacked the courts (not just the SC) with his lickspittles last time out
E] The Supreme Court has already (in essence) said "If the president does it, it's not illegal"

[Son of Mathonwy]

I thought the US had more lawyers per square foot than any other country. If what Musk is doing at various agencies is illegal - eg because the agencies were set up by congress so the President has no power to shut them down - why isn't someone, eg the Democrats, launching a lawsuit to prevent it??

A] They are
B] It takes time to then reach court
C] It then gets bumped up to more senior courts, and things like this, probably as far as the Supreme court
D] Trump stacked the courts (not just the SC) with his lickspittles last time out
E] The Supreme Court has already (in essence) said "If the president does it, it's not illegal"

Yes, that is the really scary thing. That if they do fight it, it will just end up with the Supreme Court writing this power grab into law*.

That country is fucked.


* NB I hope there is some way to do this that wouldn't end up before the SC but am far too ignorant of US law to know.

[Mikey Brown]

Is Morepork still alive? Has this whole debacle seen him off?

[morepork]

Is Morepork still alive? Has this whole debacle seen him off?

Pretty much.

[Son of Mathonwy]

Tesla car sales plunge across the world. Not surprising. And that'll hit him where it really hurts.

https://thedriven.io/2025/02/05/tesla-s ... k-problem/

[Mikey Brown]

Is Morepork still alive? Has this whole debacle seen him off?

Pretty much.

Well that's something. Are you past even needing to vent on here?

[Son of Mathonwy]

Is Morepork still alive? Has this whole debacle seen him off?

Pretty much.

Fair enough. I find the Trump/Musk double act scary enough from my side of the Atlantic.

[J Dory]

Interesting podcast on the Trump/Musk agenda here:

https://www.cbc.ca/listen/cbc-podcasts/ ... government

[J Dory]

Is Morepork still alive? Has this whole debacle seen him off?

Pretty much.

Well that's something. Are you past even needing to vent on here?

I think MP is busy swatting sandflies.

[J Dory]

Moving on from a discussion where no-one's going to convince the other...

Trump's next landgrab
https://us.cnn.com/2025/02/04/politics/ ... index.html
Use US troops to ethnically cleanse Gaza, and then have it as a US vassal.

'We'll own it' and 'long term ownership'. So he's actually talking about annexing it for the US, not Israel. No way would Netanyahu be happy with that. Maybe he's just cut a deal where Donald Trump becomes owner of significant parts of the strip? Or it could be a Hong Kong type thing where the US gives it to Israel after a very long period.

Anyway, what a piece of shit war criminal.

Not sure how having US troops coming back in bodybags is going to go down with Trump's supporters though.

Kushner was talking about redeveloping Gaza over a year ago during a talk at Harvard.

[Son of Mathonwy]

Moving on from a discussion where no-one's going to convince the other...

Trump's next landgrab
https://us.cnn.com/2025/02/04/politics/ ... index.html
Use US troops to ethnically cleanse Gaza, and then have it as a US vassal.

'We'll own it' and 'long term ownership'. So he's actually talking about annexing it for the US, not Israel. No way would Netanyahu be happy with that. Maybe he's just cut a deal where Donald Trump becomes owner of significant parts of the strip? Or it could be a Hong Kong type thing where the US gives it to Israel after a very long period.

Anyway, what a piece of shit war criminal.

Not sure how having US troops coming back in bodybags is going to go down with Trump's supporters though.

Kushner was talking about redeveloping Gaza over a year ago during a talk at Harvard.

Yep. Jared Kushner, another empathy-free life form.

Jared Kushner finding a new low: https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... rael-negev

Puja

[Son of Mathonwy]

Tesla car sales plunge across the world. Not surprising. And that'll hit him where it really hurts.

https://thedriven.io/2025/02/05/tesla-s ... k-problem/

I guess what's keeping Tesla shares from crashing is the suspicion that it's just one Donald Trump whim (or Elon Musk whim) away from a multi-billion dollar contract to build America a fleet of electric tanks or driverless aircraft carriers or whatever the fuck it takes to keep it from insolvency.

[paddy no 11]

Tesla car sales plunge across the world. Not surprising. And that'll hit him where it really hurts.

https://thedriven.io/2025/02/05/tesla-s ... k-problem/

I guess what's keeping Tesla shares from crashing is the suspicion that it's just one Donald Trump whim (or Elon Musk whim) away from a multi-billion dollar contract to build America a fleet of electric tanks or driverless aircraft carriers or whatever the fuck it takes to keep it from insolvency.

Absolutely, the glory of the free market eh

[Which Tyler]

Military vehicles are supposed to blow up the other guys, aren't they? not your own side?

[Stom]

Military vehicles are supposed to blow up the other guys, aren't they? not your own side?

Well, this is America… I just remember there was a time on the afghan war when more British troops had been killed by Americans than by the taliban…

[Son of Mathonwy]

Tesla car sales plunge across the world. Not surprising. And that'll hit him where it really hurts.

https://thedriven.io/2025/02/05/tesla-s ... k-problem/

I guess what's keeping Tesla shares from crashing is the suspicion that it's just one Donald Trump whim (or Elon Musk whim) away from a multi-billion dollar contract to build America a fleet of electric tanks or driverless aircraft carriers or whatever the fuck it takes to keep it from insolvency.

Absolutely, the glory of the free market eh

I'd suggest more mad products but I can't think of anything too mad for these lunatics.

[Son of Mathonwy]

I thought the US had more lawyers per square foot than any other country. If what Musk is doing at various agencies is illegal - eg because the agencies were set up by congress so the President has no power to shut them down - why isn't someone, eg the Democrats, launching a lawsuit to prevent it??

A] They are
B] It takes time to then reach court
C] It then gets bumped up to more senior courts, and things like this, probably as far as the Supreme court
D] Trump stacked the courts (not just the SC) with his lickspittles last time out
E] The Supreme Court has already (in essence) said "If the president does it, it's not illegal"

Yes, that is the really scary thing. That if they do fight it, it will just end up with the Supreme Court writing this power grab into law*.

That country is fucked.


* NB I hope there is some way to do this that wouldn't end up before the SC but am far too ignorant of US law to know.

More on this:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... -democracy

[Son of Mathonwy]

The dismantling of democracy:

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... -autocracy

What's he got left to do? Suppress liberal news media. Arrest/intimidate/beat up political rivals. Really fix the elections in time for the mid-terms. When it comes to 2028 will he simply stand again and wait for any objections to be shot down by the supreme court? Assuming there's anyone brave enough to object by that point.

[paddy no 11]

So, the gutting of the USAID programmes and the Inflation Reduction Act has had wide reaching consequences, including those in the agricultural sector - who overwhelmingly voted for Trump by a 3:1 ratio.

Meanwhile, deregulation has also caused the US to become the only "developed" (lol) country where H5N1 is ripping through cow herds, because it is legal to feed cows chicken shit.


Them face-eating leopards will be eating like kings for a while.

Can you ladybird this leopard thing please

[Puja]

So, the gutting of the USAID programmes and the Inflation Reduction Act has had wide reaching consequences, including those in the agricultural sector - who overwhelmingly voted for Trump by a 3:1 ratio.

Meanwhile, deregulation has also caused the US to become the only "developed" (lol) country where H5N1 is ripping through cow herds, because it is legal to feed cows chicken shit.


Them face-eating leopards will be eating like kings for a while.

Can you ladybird this leopard thing please

It comes off the back of a 2015 tweet that became a meme:


Incidentally, I found the screengrab off this blog, which makes a good point about it being funny, but not useful in making change: https://www.tumblr.com/earlgraytay/1747 ... by-now-you

Puja

[paddy no 11]

Thanks for that, agree with that post aswell

[Son of Mathonwy]

So, the gutting of the USAID programmes and the Inflation Reduction Act has had wide reaching consequences, including those in the agricultural sector - who overwhelmingly voted for Trump by a 3:1 ratio.

Meanwhile, deregulation has also caused the US to become the only "developed" (lol) country where H5N1 is ripping through cow herds, because it is legal to feed cows chicken shit.


Them face-eating leopards will be eating like kings for a while.

Can you ladybird this leopard thing please

It comes off the back of a 2015 tweet that became a meme:


Incidentally, I found the screengrab off this blog, which makes a good point about it being funny, but not useful in making change: https://www.tumblr.com/earlgraytay/1747 ... by-now-you

Puja

Thanks. I was almost at the point of asking for a translation.

[Stom]

Incidentally, I found the screengrab off this blog, which makes a good point about it being funny, but not useful in making change: https://www.tumblr.com/earlgraytay/1747 ... by-now-you

Puja

Yeah, but on the other hand, at a certain point, when that person repeatedly insists on voting for the Leopards Eating Faces, ignoring every obvious sign that their faces are on the menu too, and cry foul when their face gets a chunk bitten out of it, it gets to a point where the only possible answer is "what the fuck did you think was going to happen." Doubly so when it involves the Leopards repeatedly, and loudly, shouting about exactly whom they are, over and over again. Like, the shit that's happening right now? Homeboy said repeatedly "this is exactly what I'm going to do." When someone tells you who they are, it's always in your best interests to believe them. If you refuse to do so, then that's on you.

Because if we don't try to understand why they missed or ignored the red flags, we'll never learn what we need to do better, both politically and as a society.

As there is a lot to learn from this, just as there has been a lot to learn in Hungary from the Fidesz rule. And just as there has been a lot to learn in the UK from the Brexit debacle.

If you don't learn, if all you do is bleat about stupid people, you may still get your change of government...

But instead of Bernie Sanders, you get Keir Starmer.

Instead of Gergely Karacsony, you get Peter Magyar.

And so on.

So, yeah, without thinking about how it's better for my mental health, there's a lot more positive to come out of thinking about their reasons and not dismissing them.