2024 US Election

  On 11/7/2024 at 2:54 AM, auxien said:

also, i find myself hoping we've got some good solid, evenkeeled folks in the CIA / FBI / military upper echelon who are having some nice little secretive meetings starting today about situations on how to deal with, ahem, potential issues that may arise over the coming months/years.

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shit's getting pretty fucking crazy right now. it's surreal, even just the little i'm seeing snippets of. (i'm very much head in the sand at the moment) but thinking of this post^

but also well aware that America deserves every fucking thing we're going to be getting from this. it's just begun y'all, it's just begun.

One of the problems is that the US has been run by agreements, norms and processes in many of its institutions that have not been codified into law and it takes just a party of bad actors for an upheaval of these to cause damage (remains to be seen how irreparable it will be) to these institutions. As it is looking it's going to be a major siphoning of taxpayer money to the coffers of the megabillionaires in Trumps circle and a complete dereliction of the governments duties towards its citizens. It will not of course dissuade the MAGA voters as they will eat a shit sandwich just so everyone else will have to smell their breath. LBJ was correct when he said "If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you". The American spirit is not to help each other to achieve greatness but to make sure that the other has it worse than you, even if it will also affect yourself.

  On 2/3/2025 at 5:24 AM, azatoth said:

One of the problems is that the US has been run by agreements, norms and processes in many of its institutions that have not been codified into law and it takes just a party of bad actors for an upheaval of these to cause damage (remains to be seen how irreparable it will be) to these institutions. As it is looking it's going to be a major siphoning of taxpayer money to the coffers of the megabillionaires in Trumps circle and a complete dereliction of the governments duties towards its citizens. It will not of course dissuade the MAGA voters as they will eat a shit sandwich just so everyone else will have to smell their breath. LBJ was correct when he said "If you can convince the lowest white man he's better than the best colored man, he won't notice you're picking his pocket. Hell, give him somebody to look down on, and he'll empty his pockets for you". The American spirit is not to help each other to achieve greatness but to make sure that the other has it worse than you, even if it will also affect yourself.

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there are laws. he's not supposed to be able to fire a bunch of people who oversee things w/o getting approval from congress. also, the president has a duty to see through laws that were passed.. can't go through the funding and and cross shit off. it's not how it works.. so, he is breaking the law.. and people will sue him but he doesn't care. the supreme court is bought and paid for and he can tie things up in the courts forever then pardon himself. but a judge has already blocked some of his bullshit. so, we'll see.. but so far musk and his boys are running rampant going into places on saturday night when very few people are there and forcing their way in w/threats of calling some enforcement agency. dude is unelected foreigner w/o oversight of a new made up department and they are finding the "yes men" to let them have their way.. btw.. if you wonder who he is roaming around with to these agencies.. it's a bunch of brainwashed chud younglings. 

so, while there are norms and traditions that are being thrown out while a bunch of liberal elites clutch their pearls and cry foul.. he is also breaking laws but he doesn't care and will just pardon himself anyways.. it's not like the republicans in congress are going to stand up to him and force him out. so, w/congress/the courts/presidency all pretty firmly in republican hands the checks and balances don't work. the backstop is the military, the people, and whatever congress people decide to try and bring things to a halt. but knowing the democrats.. some of them are probably willing to let him run wild for a bit to see if he causes the kind of chaos that people notice and get pissed off about. something to add fuel to their fire to try and burn him down or to say "well, we told ya so" or something like that.. because half of them are stooges playing games thinking they can control the outcome somehow once he goes 'too far'.. but they're collecting names of people who worked on the jan 6 prosecutions and a shit ton of people in the FBI and justice dept are going to get the axe.  meanwhile musk is having a field day w/his nerds looking into data and how they can fuck the system in the best way. 

I don't hold high hopes that the legal system will put a stop to Trumps madness, or that congress will either. It's become clear that if you are white and rich you can get away with pretty much anything.

  On 2/3/2025 at 7:13 AM, azatoth said:

I don't hold high hopes that the legal system will put a stop to Trumps madness, or that congress will either. It's become clear that if you are white and rich you can get away with pretty much anything.

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No argument from me on that take. There’s supposed to be guardrails and checks and balances but they’ve all been dismantled. The population that voted for him is largely clueless though there are some starting to realize. Far too many who just have no idea how things work or even what a tariff is etc. 

  On 2/3/2025 at 6:58 AM, ignatius said:

there are laws. he's not supposed to be able to fire a bunch of people who oversee things w/o getting approval from congress. also, the president has a duty to see through laws that were passed.. can't go through the funding and and cross shit off. it's not how it works.. so, he is breaking the law.. and people will sue him but he doesn't care. the supreme court is bought and paid for and he can tie things up in the courts forever then pardon himself. but a judge has already blocked some of his bullshit. so, we'll see.. but so far musk and his boys are running rampant going into places on saturday night when very few people are there and forcing their way in w/threats of calling some enforcement agency. dude is unelected foreigner w/o oversight of a new made up department and they are finding the "yes men" to let them have their way.. btw.. if you wonder who he is roaming around with to these agencies.. it's a bunch of brainwashed chud younglings. 

 musk is having a field day w/his nerds looking into data and how they can fuck the system in the best way. 

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Are these the actual people who are doing all that installing of hard drives at Treasury/OPM etc? WTF? These are literal children. Just read up on them - between 19-24! So easily manipulated by Thiel and Musk.

  On 2/3/2025 at 8:25 AM, chenGOD said:

Are these the actual people who are doing all that installing of hard drives at Treasury/OPM etc? WTF? These are literal children. Just read up on them - between 19-24! So easily manipulated by Thiel and Musk.

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Yeah. Wired magazine is getting their names. Posting on Reddit and social media. Bunch idiot kids. 

  On 2/3/2025 at 8:25 AM, chenGOD said:

Are these the actual people who are doing all that installing of hard drives at Treasury/OPM etc? WTF? These are literal children. Just read up on them - between 19-24! So easily manipulated by Thiel and Musk.

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Yes...It's Silicon Vally - in the most toxic form - taking over government. Remember Enron? That's where were going. X(

Good reporting from Wired on Musks take-over

    Quote

Elon Musk’s minions—from trusted sidekicks to random college students and former Musk company interns—have taken over the General Services Administration, a critical government agency that manages federal offices and technology. Already, the team is attempting to use White House security credentials to gain unusual access to GSA tech, deploying a suite of new AI software, and recreating the office in X’s image, according to leaked documents obtained by WIRED.

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https://www.wired.com/story/elon-musk-lackeys-general-services-administration/

  On 2/3/2025 at 4:52 AM, auxien said:

(i'm very much head in the sand at the moment)

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same. last time (2016-2020) - from the peanut gallery section at least - the big T show was an absurdist comedy gold mine. every day was essentially like what crazy ass shit will he say next! media losing their shit every day ha! this time around is just plain ol depressing. depressing in the sense that the majority of the voting population in this country were delusional enough to believe all his nonsensical BS, voted him back in. now after getting their guy are thinking well we didn't think he'd do that... it's very much a "we get what we deserve" vibe this time around. if these Elon influencer idiots turn the US govt into a lawless personal piggy bank / capitalistic crypto tech bro scheme, then so be it. this was predictable. millions in this country voted for this shit, so here we are. 

  On 2/3/2025 at 4:50 PM, zero said:

it's very much a "we get what we deserve" vibe this time around

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yeah 100% here. it’s just begun. seriously doing math in my head every week about if i could sell everything and leave the fucking country, it feels that seriously shit rn, not yet but like, how serious the horrific shit is going to get.

get ready for american citizens to be deported to el salvador to a mega prison.. 

https://www.cbsnews.com/amp/news/rubio-el-salvador-us-deportees-extraordinary-offer/

San Salvador, El Salvador — U.S. Secretary of State Marco Rubio said late Monday that El Salvador's president has offered to accept and incarcerate deportees from the U.S. of any nationality, including criminals with American citizenship currently imprisoned in the U.S. President Nayib Bukele confirmed the offer in a social media post, saying El Salvador was willing to rehouse deportees and American prisoners in a two-year-old "mega-prison" he had built as potent symbol of his crackdown on criminal gangs.

it sorta feels like the only thing that should matter in America right now is the takeover of the government? am i just uninformed (head in the sand for sure....) or is this exactly what this sort of thing looks like? this is actually insane or i've lost touch with reality, i can't tell anymore. is this being overblown by the left or is this like....actually how gov purging & reforming happens? i'm truly kinda perplexed. 

  On 2/5/2025 at 5:30 AM, auxien said:

it sorta feels like the only thing that should matter in America right now is the takeover of the government? am i just uninformed (head in the sand for sure....) or is this exactly what this sort of thing looks like? this is actually insane or i've lost touch with reality, i can't tell anymore. is this being overblown by the left or is this like....actually how gov purging & reforming happens? i'm truly kinda perplexed. 

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dismantling the departments of government means there's no one there to say "hey what the fuck?" and the office of the presidency can do whatever w/even fewer checks on power. hopefully some people in congress w/enough protestors to make it worth their while with photo ops.. do stand up to be counted and throw some shit in the gears to fuck up the program..  but based on shit i've read and people who've seen this happen in other countries this is pretty much standard authoritarian playbook.. trump style!

he ordered GITMO to prep for 30,000 "prisoners". 

his chief of staff after trump said the US would take over Gaza. 

fuckin dems goddamn idiots ffs

  On 2/5/2025 at 5:30 AM, auxien said:

it sorta feels like the only thing that should matter in America right now is the takeover of the government? am i just uninformed (head in the sand for sure....) or is this exactly what this sort of thing looks like? this is actually insane or i've lost touch with reality, i can't tell anymore. is this being overblown by the left or is this like....actually how gov purging & reforming happens? i'm truly kinda perplexed. 

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imo we will all have to wait a few months to see what the real direction of all this stuff is - to be clear, I have been following it loosely and some of the things happening do not look good to me at all, especially foreign policy wise and also some of the domestic stuff, but it has only been a few weeks with them in office.

On the other hand, I have been seeing some of the things that musk's group has been uncovering related to USAID, and I take it with a grain of salt because I do not trust musk as far as I can throw him (mainly because of his visits to israel and how he was very publicly seen in the capital chamber audience when netanyahu came to speak to senate and congress many months ago - he jokes around on twitter about how nazism and zionism are incompatible, but he offers no clear explanation of his support for netanyahu: if he was truly concerned about America and its foreign policy he would show his hand on this issue a little bit, but he is dead silent on this issue and therefore (imo) fundamentally untrustworthy.

Some of the USAID stuff seems to show how various departments related to the federal government basically use taxpayer funding to loot the public coffers - people may not like trump's deportation plans (and people should speak out against them whenever these things are handled inhumanely) - but no one mentions that obama deported over 3 million people who immigrated to our country illegally. Obama's deportation numbers are higher than Trump's at this point, although I have no doubt that Trump's numbers will be higher by the end of his second term: its all a sticky situation and I am not trying to ruffle people's feathers in saying this, but there was a huge surge of people from all over south america and the world who entered America illegally and resided here under biden admin. People throughout the country saw it in their communities, and it motivated a lot of people to vote trump. This issue more than any other may be the reason why he won both times.

Back to USAID stuff: there were all of these ngo groups that were associated with Lutheran philanthropy who were receiving very large sums of money to relocate migrants throughout the country. There were stories today that musk's group found out that mainstream political outlets, like Politico, were receiving federal money to the tune of millions of dollars (edit: the 8 million total was paid for by many federal departments, not just USAID). When you read stories about this in the mainstream media, there is no clear explanation of what the money was really for: some say that this is a right wing conspiracy, others that it was meant for biden admin to subsidize this private news publication, and as of yesterday politico has made no comment. An axios article about this, as an example, can be found here.

Regarding the lutheran stuff, here is an msnbc news article, and the gist of the article says that the lutheran angle is just a right wing conspiracy being promoted by musk, but it does not really have any investigative journalism going on in the article to truly refute it (which imo they really need to start doing more if they want to win back trust of americans and present a meaningful challenge to the new admin, the age old credo of american journalism, speaking truth to power). This is a problem imo that ultimately plays into the hands of trump: the media and the democratic party are basically prostrate, they have no real tools to challenge not only things that they do not like but also things that are potentially illegal. I heard for instance that the democrats are already going for impeachment against trump. I do not think that tactics like this are helpful or can realistically be successful in any way. It ultimately shows that the democrats do not have a proper vision for the country, a vision that average working class americans can get behind and vote for.

Also, USAID seems to have been a way for CIA to clandestinely put their policy into effect in foreign countries (or whoever directed their policy, whether it was internal, state dept, white house, some combination, etc.). This is sometimes referred to colloquially as 'colour revolutions' in the eastern hemisphere, but it is the same idea I think to the ideas and policies behind the so called arab spring revolutions. There are probably other groups like USAID that are federal institutions which are a way to fund shit like this (and also domestic initiatives) without elected officials or taxpayers really knowing what is going on. Maybe all of this stuff is just some right wing conspiracy and a way for musk and others to do a power grab, but I think there is some truth to how these organizations are basically a means for the federal government to siphon money from middle and lower-middle class taxpayers, which is exactly what happened (in a different context under george w. bush) during the bailouts after the financial crisis of 2008. No one at the top was held accountable, none of the mega wealthy people put their own money up for collateral, and the average american tax payer was forced to pay for the bailout.

TLDR - to answer your question, I think that some of the corruption that both democrats and republicans have been doing without any oversight may become exposed in the following years, but I ultimately do not know if this is true, and I think that more time has to pass before anyone outside of the halls of power (i.e. average citizens) knows what is happening.

tldr 2: I cannot imagine anyone actually reading huge posts like this, but I have the day off from work for a snow day and enjoy talking politics so figured what the hell, might as well do a mega post.

Why was USAID actually so high on Musks destruction list? What was so urgent?

Could it have been the investigation into Starlink in Ukraine that USAID had just initiated?

https://gizmodo.com/elon-musks-enemy-usaid-was-investigating-starlink-over-its-contracts-in-ukraine-2000559365
 

Such an interesting time to be alive  

https://www.instagram.com/reel/DFn8HtryeRT/?igsh=bnFldjhzajh6NHYw

  On 2/6/2025 at 2:50 PM, decibal cooper said:

imo we will all have to wait a few months to see what the real direction of all this stuff is

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idk man, it seems to be moving hard and fast. i think there's a shotgun approach going on, just hit everything and then hope it all does enough damage to slow down/degrade/destroy the standard workings of the gov. this is all in the service of enriching the wealthy and enacting anything they may feel like by the day. i don't think there's much of a 'real direction'

  On 2/6/2025 at 2:50 PM, decibal cooper said:

I have been following it loosely and some of the things happening do not look good to me at all, especially foreign policy wise

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lol yeah Trump outright saying the US is going to takeover another country's soil and kick out their millions of residents, with military force? i mean. um. 'not look good' is an understatement.

(i know him saying it doesn't mean it's going to happen, but ffs it might at this point, it really and truly might.)

  On 2/6/2025 at 2:50 PM, decibal cooper said:

if he was truly concerned about America and its foreign policy he would show his hand on this issue a little bit, but he is dead silent on this issue and therefore (imo) fundamentally untrustworthy.

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the only thing Musk cares about is attention and money, he doesn't give a fuck about this country.

  On 2/6/2025 at 2:50 PM, decibal cooper said:

Some of the USAID stuff seems to show how various departments related to the federal government basically use taxpayer funding to loot the public coffers

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idk that this tracks. people are largely supportive of some amount of their taxdollars going to aid those who are in need, including those in other countries.

  On 2/6/2025 at 2:50 PM, decibal cooper said:

I am not trying to ruffle people's feathers in saying this, but there was a huge surge of people from all over south america and the world who entered America illegally and resided here under biden admin. People throughout the country saw it in their communities, and it motivated a lot of people to vote trump. This issue more than any other may be the reason why he won both times.

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facts don't ruffle my feathers, there was a lot of immigration in that time period, yeah. the majority were not entering illegally, but yes it was increasing overall.

Trump won in part because of immigration, but mostly because of the inflation issues. 

  On 2/6/2025 at 2:50 PM, decibal cooper said:

hen you read stories about this in the mainstream media, there is no clear explanation of what the money was really for: some say that this is a right wing conspiracy, others that it was meant for biden admin to subsidize this private news publication, and as of yesterday politico has made no comment. An axios article about this, as an example, can be found here.

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interesting, haven't seen this until today. curious that those amounts of dollars are going to any media by way of official gov dollars tho (outside of funding nonpartisan public news sources/etc.). doesn't seem that you can search rn, but i imagine NYT/WSJ/etc. are getting far more than that if Politico is getting 8+mil. 

  On 2/6/2025 at 2:50 PM, decibal cooper said:

Regarding the lutheran stuff, here is an msnbc news article, and the gist of the article says that the lutheran angle is just a right wing conspiracy being promoted by musk, but it does not really have any investigative journalism going on in the article to truly refute it (which imo they really need to start doing more if they want to win back trust of americans and present a meaningful challenge to the new admin, the age old credo of american journalism, speaking truth to power).

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MSNBC has rarely done real reporting. a few folks there are actually doing real serious journalism, the bulk of them are just media personalities hosting TV shows/churning out clickbait for Facebook, basically.

  On 2/6/2025 at 2:50 PM, decibal cooper said:

I heard for instance that the democrats are already going for impeachment against trump. I do not think that tactics like this are helpful or can realistically be successful in any way. It ultimately shows that the democrats do not have a proper vision for the country, a vision that average working class americans can get behind and vote for.

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the dems haven't had a positive future vision for America in a while, but neither have the Rs. and truly, that's kind of okay...you don't have to have some grand design you're enacting....legislators just need to legislate, judges need to judge, etc. chip away at the things in front of you that it's your job to fix for the good of those who elected you, basically (very much dumbed down). a lot of this over time will, in theory, make things 'better' in the way that you and your constituents/neighors consider to be better.

the problem now is that none of them are enacting laws, nor having a vision with demonstrable paths forward. Biden/etc were getting a few things done for the good back last year but it was rare that things were moving ahead. the system is designed to be slow and churning, but the kinks and issues have compounded over the decades.

  On 2/6/2025 at 2:50 PM, decibal cooper said:

Also, USAID seems to have been a way for CIA to clandestinely put their policy into effect in foreign countries

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your existence and mine are both are on a chart somewhere in a CIA software file, and we're doing what we do because it's for some clandestine policy outcome determined to be desirable based on their most recent calculations. 

i don't mean that in a conspiratorial sense, but i mean it half silly/half serious that the CIA/etc. are definitely always putting their hands anywhere they can to allow the right face to be shown, the right cards to be dealt, etc. they don't have total control of course, but they've got some serious influence in a number of ways we'd never consider. the CIA or whoever else saying 'naw, let's ramp down Syrian donations but start upping donations to ______ because it could be beneficial to....' some random potential concern point on the globe for a 5 year plan...i mean, idk that i'm making sense, but like, the CIA is partly directing USAID funds? okay? no surprise. did they burn the money or did they give it to people who might make some good out of it? okay, cool....that's fine. 

  On 2/6/2025 at 2:50 PM, decibal cooper said:

but I think there is some truth to how these organizations are basically a means for the federal government to siphon money from middle and lower-middle class taxpayers, which is exactly what happened (in a different context under george w. bush) during the bailouts after the financial crisis of 2008. No one at the top was held accountable, none of the mega wealthy people put their own money up for collateral, and the average american tax payer was forced to pay for the bailout.

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welcome to America. if you don't like it, there's other countries you can move to.

(obv i'm joking but like, yeah...that's how the country's been operating for decades, if not a hundred years or more. it's been more blatant over the last few decades obv tho. it needs to change but the structure is set, you'll never change it with a ballot pull.)

Incel CLown Posse

How tf did a group of scrawny 4chan anons manage to lock out Treasury staff members? I wouldn't take that shit. I'd flog their little asses with three HDMI cables until they cower out of the room whimpering.

  On 2/3/2025 at 5:18 PM, auxien said:

yeah 100% here. it’s just begun. seriously doing math in my head every week about if i could sell everything and leave the fucking country, it feels that seriously shit rn, not yet but like, how serious the horrific shit is going to get.

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We take refugees in Canada....

It's obvious he's just spewing shit to please the person who happens to be in earshot of him

  On 2/7/2025 at 4:01 AM, chenGOD said:

We take refugees in Canada....

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lol if only. i'm sure not in dire enough straits to be considered a refugee, & believe me, i've looked into emigrating to Canada. i believe the only valid method i could take up would be buying my way in. i believe it was something like $60k and they'lll just sorta say 'yeah sure, you're Canadian now, welcome, sorry about the wait.'