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Author Topic: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa  (Read 1296505 times)

Robert Roaldi

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #16720 on: February 11, 2025, 12:50:59 pm »

In an interview Trump revealed that he doesn't see JD Vance as his successor. Well geez, Donald, nobody does.

One or the other of Trump and Musk revealed that one of their next targets will be the organization that protects consumers against financial fraud. They're both players in the crypto alternate universe, of course they don't want adult supervision. The crypto industry paid a lot of money into Trump's election coffers. I guess they are placing their trust in the free market to prevent financial fraud. Not even Adam Smith would swallow that. Since so little wealth is in the hands of the lower orders, I presume these kinds of decisions are preparing the ground for when the ruling elite begins to target all the money in the retirement funds of retired boomers. Lots of money in there, how can they keep their hands off it. First Medicaid, then eventually everything else, with tech bro funded private equity intermediating every step of the way. The script writes itself. I hope those people don't think that being affluent and white is going to protect them. We're talking about a President who publicly threatened allies with military invasion with no provocation, they won't be shy about grabbing other people's private money. Who is going to stop them.

Trump and Musk seem to be flirting with the idea of disregarding judicial decisions. Well why not, Trump is immune anyway, who is going to stop him from doing whatever he wants. This seems to be ok with a lot of people, including Congress. It will be interesting to see how this comes to a head. JD Vance is on record as saying that it's ok for the administration to ignore judges' orders. I saw him say so in a video clip. If they ignore laws then eventually others will feel that they can too and they may not be polite about it. It's not as if the US is unfamiliar with violent protest. How far away is martial law and suspension of elections? Seems farfetched, I know, but every day we see things that used to be farfetched. They only believe in democracy when they win.

We saw the first wave of undocumented alian arrests on the news. Is that show over for the moment, I can't tell from here. Maybe just inducing the fear was enough blood lust. I saw one report that some of them had to be released because there weren't enough prison cells to house them. Was that ever brought up at a press conference?

I see headlines that tariffs will hurt farmers. Some of them might have to sell, providing the monied elites at the top the opportunity to do some cheap land banking. Sweet.

My wife watched the news clip aboard the airplane during which Trump declared the new name for the Gulf of Mexico. The airbrushed Soviet era photos with missing politicians were better propaganda than this kids' show. Do people swallow this crap. They'll ruin the economy, send your sons and daughters to die in Panama, but hey, it's now called the Gulf of America so smile.

There was a kerfuffle to do with the Super Bowl, but I don't care enough about it to find out what it was about. I guess one team won. There will be another game next year.

It might turn ugly if the great unwashed decide that the country is being run by an organized crime syndicate. I hope the US can keep it all contained inside their own borders though, I don't think the rest of the world wants any involvement in that shit show.
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marvpelkey

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #16721 on: February 11, 2025, 06:33:34 pm »

If you think about it, who can/would enforce a judicial order against this president? The courts can rule but who would actually carry out the enforcement? DOJ? Nope. FBI? Nope. Marshals? Nope.

The U.S. has never experienced a President like this, who follows absolutely no historical norms, and is unafraid of thumbing his nose at anybody and everybody. And no-one knows how to deal with it.

And really, pre-Trump (Nixon comes to mind), the only real weapon (not literal) was Congress and Impeachment, and we currently see their appetite for that, especially when Congress is owned by the Republicans (who are owned by Trump). Perhaps if the public becomes so outraged, they drastically change the face of Congress in future elections, and give the Democrats Impeachment power. But until then, Trump, and anyone he wishes to protect, is literally immune. The voters and SCOTUS have ensured this. And I bet some in both groups are kicking themselves now.

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digitaldog

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #16722 on: February 11, 2025, 06:39:12 pm »

If you think about it, who can/would enforce a judicial order against this president? The courts can rule but who would actually carry out the enforcement? DOJ? Nope. FBI? Nope. Marshals? Nope.
Are we in a constitutional crisis?
https://www.npr.org/2025/02/11/1230674436/are-we-in-a-constitutional-crisis
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marvpelkey

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #16723 on: February 11, 2025, 07:22:07 pm »

I've heard the Constitutional Crisis cry a lot during his first, and now second, term and I'm not even sure it is that simple.

I think, although I am by no means a Constitutional expert, the American Constitution is/has been quite adequate. But, that's because most everyone, except for current circumstance, has accepted the power of the Law/Courts/Congress and pretty much plays by the rules. Even Nixon recognized that it was appropriate to resign because he had "been caught".

But when someone at the top does not hold the same reverence for anyones authority and is in a position where he wields pretty well all the power, I doubt if any Constitution could restrain him. Interesting times.
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Robert Roaldi

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #16724 on: February 12, 2025, 06:44:03 am »

The court jesters are at work.

This one wants to rename Greenland to "Red, White and Blue Land" https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/politics/2025/02/11/buddy-carter-greenland/78422602007/.

And this one wants to rename Lake Michigan https://www.newsweek.com/illinois-governor-says-lake-michigan-now-lake-illinois-2029376.

Trump barred a journalist from press conferences because he still called it Gulf of Mexico, https://www.cbsnews.com/news/associated-press-gulf-of-america-white-house/.

The straw debate is back https://newrepublic.com/post/191396/donald-trump-banned-paper-straws-reason. Back in the day there were only waxed paper straws, that's what I remember growing up. I don't remember having any problems with them.

Meanwhile the oligarchs are looting the country, same as in Russia. I'd start to worry about your bank accounts and private pension funds if I were you. If they're ok with going after the press and judges and renaming geographic locations, why would they be shy about your money. Might be time to go back and read those books about how the Russians did it. I know, I know, I'm being farfetched, this is all about free market efficiencies, I'm sure.

Canada hired a fentanyl czar (tsar?). I hope he starts tracking how much of it enters Canada from the US.
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Robert Roaldi

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #16725 on: February 12, 2025, 08:18:24 am »

This is what oligarchs do, in case you weren't aware. It's a report on US traffic accidents by brands, probably a bit of click bait in there https://www.guideautoweb.com/en/articles/77342/these-brands-have-the-worst-drivers-new-u-s.-study-shows/. They may be even be cherry-picking data to make their points, no way for me to know based on a quick read. But the relevant paragraph is this one:

"Unfortunately, some of the multiple accidents that have resulted from these actions have led to casualties. And yet, instead of working to fix that, Tesla CEO Elon Musk is calling for the U.S. National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) to drop the crash reporting requirements for automated systems. Go figure."

Leaving aside the two-word editorial at the end, you have to drink a lot of coolaid not to find this behaviour problematic. If anything, we should collect MORE information about automated systems, not less, given that it's new tech and that it's being beta-tested on public roads. I guess long-termers would make the argument that it's worth the sacrifice to kill and maim a few innocent bystanders now so that the systems learn more rapidly and become safer in the future. I wonder how people feel about that philosophical position when a car is crushing your kid's head while it learns what different kinds of bicycles look like. Yes, I know that's gratuitous, but shouldn't we be clear about what's going on here. I don't think that public roads are the appropriate testing ground to help Musk get rich(er).
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degrub

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #16726 on: February 12, 2025, 11:52:01 am »

i bet we went through the same thing when the automobile appeared and started pushing out horse and buggy. Only took 40-50 years to educate the masses of new drivers on the "rules of the road".
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Frans Waterlander

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #16727 on: February 12, 2025, 11:52:45 am »

"And yet, instead of working to fix that, Tesla CEO Elon Musk..." TDS developed a new variant: MDS.
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Frans Waterlander

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #16728 on: February 12, 2025, 11:56:42 am »

"Meanwhile the oligarchs are looting the country." ,
'Splain that, Lucy.
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Robert Roaldi

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #16729 on: February 12, 2025, 12:05:29 pm »

"Meanwhile the oligarchs are looting the country." ,
'Splain that, Lucy.

Have foreigners stopped eating pet dogs yet?

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Robert Roaldi

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #16730 on: February 12, 2025, 12:07:51 pm »

Ezra Klein's 13 min podcast on a more calm approach to the Trump/Musk shit show. His message is to not believe Trump, it's all just a sales pitch, he's not as powerful as he pretends, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=K8QLgLfqh6s. I hope he's right.
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digitaldog

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #16731 on: February 12, 2025, 12:24:51 pm »

"Meanwhile the oligarchs are looting the country." ,
'Splain that, Lucy.
"The fact that an opinion has been widely held is no evidence whatever that it is not utterly absurd".
Bertrand Russell
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Robert Roaldi

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #16732 on: February 12, 2025, 12:36:34 pm »

"And yet, instead of working to fix that, Tesla CEO Elon Musk..." TDS developed a new variant: MDS.

So you think it's ok for him to try to hide accident data. How does this serve the public? Are you saying it's ok for rich powerful people to unduly influence policy when it's to their benefit. Is this what you think a society is for?

Why is his desire to conceal the info more important than others' desires to reveal the info?
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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #16733 on: February 12, 2025, 12:49:22 pm »

So you think it's ok for him to try to hide accident data. How does this serve the public? Are you saying it's ok for rich powerful people to unduly influence policy when it's to their benefit. Is this what you think a society is for?

Why is his desire to conceal the info more important than others' desires to reveal the info?
Keep him hungry...
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Rob C

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #16734 on: February 12, 2025, 05:32:13 pm »

I’m afraid we are entering a new phase of accelerated disintegration of rational society - assuming, for the sake of argument, that society ever was rational.

Never mind hands-off driving, which, by definition, mean nobody’s driving the friggin’ vehicle, but let’s begin with relegation of the traditional speedo and rev counter to a screen: such an ugly replacement of two essential instruments, instantly visible sources for important information. Then, slide in all the other things relegated to a touch screen, and tell me how that’s an improvement since it requires taking attention away from the road. I can activate the screen wipers and the direction indicator stalks without looking, with no fear of hitting another control by mistake. I can hit the wrong keys on this iPad even as now, when the screen has my full attention. I think that says much of what one needs to know about the dangers of design before function. With electric cars, the makers have sold their souls to electricity even where it is not always the best implementation. An electric motor or two instead of a traditional gasoline or diesel one is fine and dandy, but that doesn’t mean that everything associated with the vehicle is better if turned into a non-mechanical version. I suppose it’s what you have to expect from a generation that nursed itself on video games and cellphones. I note in the latest Jay Leno car show that Tesla has reintroduced the much lamented direction indicator stalk in its newest baby - adding that the company “listens to its customers and their feedback…”

I wonder how much of that bit of well-choreographed PR derives from the currently big drop in worldwide sales? Somehow, I’m inclined to believe the recently reported story that that drop, in the German context, is attributed to Musk’s interference in their elections, where they report that he openly supported the far right group. Of course, Trump did just that in Britain, too.


Robert Roaldi

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #16735 on: February 12, 2025, 05:48:40 pm »

I’m afraid we are entering a new phase of accelerated disintegration of rational society - assuming, for the sake of argument, that society ever was rational.

Never mind hands-off driving, which, by definition, mean nobody’s driving the friggin’ vehicle, but let’s begin with relegation of the traditional speedo and rev counter to a screen: such an ugly replacement of two essential instruments, instantly visible sources for important information. Then, slide in all the other things relegated to a touch screen, and tell me how that’s an improvement since it requires taking attention away from the road. I can activate the screen wipers and the direction indicator stalks without looking, with no fear of hitting another control by mistake. I can hit the wrong keys on this iPad even as now, when the screen has my full attention. I think that says much of what one needs to know about the dangers of design before function. With electric cars, the makers have sold their souls to electricity even where it is not always the best implementation. An electric motor or two instead of a traditional gasoline or diesel one is fine and dandy, but that doesn’t mean that everything associated with the vehicle is better if turned into a non-mechanical version. I suppose it’s what you have to expect from a generation that nursed itself on video games and cellphones. I note in the latest Jay Leno car show that Tesla has reintroduced the much lamented direction indicator stalk in its newest baby - adding that the company “listens to its customers and their feedback…”

I wonder how much of that bit of well-choreographed PR derives from the currently big drop in worldwide sales? Somehow, I’m inclined to believe the recently reported story that that drop, in the German context, is attributed to Musk’s interference in their elections, where they report that he openly supported the far right group. Of course, Trump did just that in Britain, too.

If people dislike driving so much then they should be taking trains and taxis, not turning cars into video games. Except here in N.A. we decided to subsidize the automobile and trucking industries instead of railroads so we can't travel on trains very conveniently. Instead I have to drive myself for 6-7 hours to visit family in another city. I could fly I suppose but economy passenger air travel is repulsive now. "Deregulation" sure improved that.

You might like this from Patrick Boyle about tech bro inventions https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3jhTnk3TCtc. I was listening to some podcast the other day (if I can remember which one, I'll send it along) which listed all the hi-tech inventions since about 2000 that flopped, e.g., wifi eyeglasses, VR "reality", all rejected by the market because it was all dumb shit. As far as I am concerned we peaked at email and the world wide web. What was wrong with those two things was that they were essentially free, so they had to be supplanted. All the add-ons since then, especially walled social media, are crap that added no real value other than to control markets, and that was not for our benefit. I think people are slowly realizing that. It's all becoming the National Enquirer. I'm expecting alien abductions to make a comeback soon.
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Robert Roaldi

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #16736 on: February 13, 2025, 09:29:05 am »

An interesting item appeared on the CBC news site this morning about how scientists and librarians are trying to archive data from the CDC site because the Trump administration is trying to delete some of it, https://www.cbc.ca/news/politics/canada-us-medical-environmental-data-1.7457627. I don't know what the upside would be to delete public health and environmental data, as we can only speculate on whose interests are being served. Maybe no one's interests are being served, maybe it's just stupidity.

At the same time, medical research funds are being cut, https://thehill.com/policy/healthcare/5141905-trump-medical-research-cuts-threat/. It's not made clear what the point of these cutbacks would be.

RFK Jr is close to his nomination vote and that second article mentions his interest in chronic illness research, a laudable and timely goal. I just hope that he hasn't already made up his mind about the causes. If he pursues his attacks on vaccines, the US may end up performing a large scale public health experiment on its population, but if the data is not collected and made available the experiment won't be of much value.

If the knowledge of scientific authorities is not made public, then it might open the door to many charlatans to fill the void. I bet you the wealthy won't have problems getting vaccines.


I saw in other news that Musk (and/or his organizations) are raking in $8 millon per day in taxpayer funds to fire people in order to save taxpayers some money. I wonder if they interviewed any candidates who would be willing to do the job for a measley $800,000 thousand per day. Or even $80,000. I bet they could find a lot of candidates willing to work for only $80,000 per day.
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Frans Waterlander

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #16737 on: February 13, 2025, 11:46:28 am »

"I saw in other news that Musk (and/or his organizations) are raking in $8 millon per day in taxpayer funds to fire people in order to save taxpayers some money." And of course that is not fake news, is it now? Maybe you should try critical thinking for a change?
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Robert Roaldi

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #16738 on: February 13, 2025, 11:54:33 am »

"I saw in other news that Musk (and/or his organizations) are raking in $8 millon per day in taxpayer funds to fire people in order to save taxpayers some money." And of course that is not fake news, is it now? Maybe you should try critical thinking for a change?

I have no way to verify it one way or the other but it did come up in Congressional testimony, which is why it hit the news. I haven't seen a denial yet, which may or may not mean anything.

What do you think of Musk and his Six rooting around in your private data without proper security clearances? Getting a warm glow from that? Does it bother you that one of them came under security scrutiny in the past because of his online statements and another brags about being a trendy racist.

Btw, did they get finally those Venezuelan gangs out of that apartment building in Arizona? Or was it Colorado.

Are you ok with Putin?
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digitaldog

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Re: Bear Pit: now the sole domicile of politics at LuLa
« Reply #16739 on: February 13, 2025, 12:37:44 pm »

Maybe you should try critical thinking for a change?
Once again, the pot calls the kettle black. See tip #4 on both sites; it will really help you in the future:
https://www.wikihow.com/Be-Taken-Seriously
https://www.talentsmarteq.com/8-ways-to-get-people-to-take-you-more-seriously/
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