The goddamn Trump Administration

Only 43 lbs were intercepted at the border, we don;t know how much got through. But the small amount intercepted indicates that not much is passing through overall.

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Hey, where’s my free college that the first clip talks about?!

And fellow Canuckistaners; I don’t know about you, but I (and my 5th generation Canadian mother) pronounce Canuck to rhyme with puck, not hoot.

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I’d say it’s true of the Democratic PARTY, though, not necessarily individual politicians.

But that’s part of the messaging issue, yeah? That she (or rather the people running her campaign) couldn’t message on the progressive successes, and she in fact ran away from it by taking so much time to try and appeal to disaffected republicans rather than the left wing of the party… They totally muzzled the progressive impulses in Walz, and just made him the “coach” (presumably, because it would appeal to middle America).

I agree, but the party is an organization that has an outsized influence in how we perceive all members of the party, like it or not. As long as people like James Carville and the centrist Clinton faction are shaping the power structure, that’s going to be a large part of how the public perceives the party as a whole.

And the successes of the administration did not end up translating into a Harris victory, though, in part because they did not run on those progressive successes, at least not in a way that got into the public imagination and boosted her chances. More of the negatives (Gaza) made it’s way into the public discourse, though.

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Yah, as in the Vancouver Canucks. And the comic-book hero Captain Canuck!

(to me, the nuck sounds like that noise Curly Howard makes)

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I’ll admit to just being poorly informed in the latter stages of the campaign. I was paying far more attention to potential ratfuckery from the right than mis-steps from Harris. I did see her pulling in Liz Cheney and frankly thought the whole thing about having her in the cabinet was a feint rather than a real plan. I definitely did not see them muzzling Walz. If anything, it felt to me like they used him as the attack dog and kept Harris clear of that negativity.

Are they, though? I don’t see Carville being put forward by the party; I see him being put forward by the media.

And the DNC seems to be run by mostly progressives. Martin, Kenyatta, David Hogg - these are all folks who have serious progressive cred. It hasn’t been the party of Clinton centrists in a while.

I don’t see how they could have run any harder on those successes. It was 99.9% of the messaging at least through mid-October. But that’s not what the media covered. Instead they covered “Biden is old” until he dropped out in favor of Harris, then they covered “Dems stabbed Biden in the back - and should be investigated for not doing so sooner!” And other than that, they covered T****’s every fart breathlessly and treated Vance’s anti-immigrant lies like they had equal weight. Everything was inflation and illegals and Israel in the run up to November.

I’m not an expert on PR, but it doesn’t matter how good your messaging is if no one picks it up; if no one can hear it.

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Carville’s name is attached to text message fund raising on behalf of the DNC. I’ve gotten the texts. Specifically fund raising for Mallory McMirrow. He’s definitely part of the DNC inner circle.

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Somehow I’m not on that message list. I must be on every other one!

Ok, I’m chastened. [facepalm gif]

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The one we can’t change is the judiciary. Trump is openly trying to transform the most basic principles of American constitutional government. I am not yet convinced the courts will allow that to happen. As important as it may be to secure to the President the power to “take Care that the laws be faithfully executed,” it is even more important to assure that it is the laws that he is taking care to execute. Laws are passed by Congress. The President’s actions are repeatedly ignoring those laws.

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What. The. Actual. F---

if you can’t read the full article, please “enjoy” this less obstacular link of same: https://archive.ph/RLgVR

FTA:

Elon Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has plans to stage a “hackathon” next week in Washington, DC. The goal is to create a single “mega API”—a bridge that lets software systems talk to one another—for accessing IRS data, sources tell WIRED. The agency is expected to partner with a third-party vendor to manage certain aspects of the data project. Palantir, a software company cofounded by billionaire and Musk associate Peter Thiel, has been brought up consistently by DOGE representatives as a possible candidate, sources tell WIRED. …

[emphasis mine]

What is this, some kinda hot-swappable-billionaire-overlords SharkWeek at the WH?

Plantir. Really? Them?
Of course them. Why not them. It’s 2025.

WTAF.

ETA:

(sorry, one more pullquote from the article)

“We love disruption and whatever is good for America will be good for Americans and very good for Palantir,” Palantir CEO Alex Karp said in a February earnings call. “Disruption at the end of the day exposes things that aren’t working. There will be ups and downs. This is a revolution, some people are going to get their heads cut off.”

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I’ve got an idea where to start.

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Felt like they were trying to channel Team of Rivals, but that’s not the demographic they needed to reach.

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Disruption at the end of the day exposes things that aren’t working.

Alex Karp is a self-serving fuckwit.
Skum-style disruption makes things stop working!

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Pessimist me looks at all the photos/video of the excited and exercised folks attending the anti-Trump demos around the USA and is remembering the inexorable process by which the Biden administration tracked down and arrested the January 6 rioters.

If he isn’t stopped FAST the same process will happen to today’s demonstrators a year or two down the line, only with far less due process, far harsher sentences from the puppet courts, and no hope of a presidential pardon.

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Which is why I turned my phone off and wrapped it in foil before attending the demo. (I already wear a mask in public.) I was pretty surprised to see all the people cheerfully taking pictures, just like the protests in his first term. Surprised and a little disheartened - I don’t think people are realizing how much has changed, and how even innocuous acts are going to get criminalized.

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So, they’re putting this out thru the normal bidding process? Or have they prepared a sole source justification because they must use Palantir?

(Rhetorical)

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Well-spotted.

I can think of something else well-spotted:

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It was certainly a feel good “Hands Off” event today (in Seattle). So !@# proud of the gentle citizens who came out. Easily over 5000 folks there. And supposedly over 1000 events across the country. would not be at all surprised if it amounted to a million overall. Do the congressional republicans take note of these masses to stiffen their “spines” enough to counter trump tariff terrors? or fend off Social Security slashing? …so far probably not (“Those aren’t ‘our’ voters anyway!” …even all those in Wyoming, Montana, Idaho…!?) !@#$!!

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Americans really, really don’t understand trade, supply chains and what’s required to relocate manufacturing. Which makes me think it’ll be years before it dawns on a lot of people that hey, maybe the economy isn’t going to suddenly turn around with these tariffs in place…
Though there’s different levels, the simply ignorant:
image
The deliberately ignorant:
bafkreidpigf54ox5ft6274r5hpjec5sh2sy6p6n75twunygrl4ium66nl4

And the downright malevolent (“Yay, sweatshops!”):

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A good use for that umbrella:

And finally:

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