Trump’s 2nd term: American Carnage

[Strunk'sDessert]

I'm sadly concerned that this president will cause a much different civil war than we've seen in history,  "city v. town"

 

And I think this president will only stoke the embers that'll turn itself into a nation against each other (city v. rural) or be completely broken. 

 

I'm far from a historian, but I do love history. We're well into completing some massive mistakes, and it has nothing to do with party affiliation. 

 

I just want better for my children and I'm not seeing a path forward to that. 

 

I hope I'm seriously wrong, however. 

[Jamalisms]

44 minutes ago, Titans279 said:

Tweet from the Director of Immigration Studies at the Cato institute (libertarian) here. This guy is no liberal btw.

 

This is insane. The US government is dumping Asian and African families and children in random countries that they have no connection to. Dumping, not "deporting." Deportation implies the return of a person to their home country. This is treating people like toxic waste.

 

 

https://x.com/David_J_Bier/status/1890463266775667060

 

Racists who don't care acting like ... racists who don't care. 

 

Total shocker.

[rns90]

22 minutes ago, nine said:

That whole sequence encapsulated the incredibly narrowminded, uninformed,  and insular MAGA worldview:  “ ‘Murica only!  Fuck  everybody else!”  

The sad part is that those people are close to (or are ) the majority now in the sense this isnt some fringe group.

 

A lot of people are this ignorant and insular and that’s truly sad just in terms of understanding and learning from those different from you (ie the human experience).

[Jamalisms]

Elon Musk’s team at the so-called Department of Government Efficiency has posted classified information about the size and staff of a U.S. intelligence agency on its new website, raising bigger concerns about where Musk’s programmers got this information and what they are doing with it.

 

DOGE, which President Donald Trump created to purportedly root out waste in the federal government, launched its website on Wednesday night with a feature allowing users to “trace your tax dollars through the bureaucracy.” People can navigate through all federal agencies and offices for details about their head counts, budgets and average ages of employees.

 

The website states in tiny print at the bottom that its database excludes information from U.S. intelligence agencies.

 

But an easy search shows that DOGE’s database provides details on the National Reconnaissance Office, the federal agency that designs, builds and maintains U.S. intelligence satellites. Not only are NRO’s budgets and head counts classified, but the prospect of Musk’s tech team meddling in sensitive personnel information is setting off alarms for some in the intelligence community.

 

“DOGE just posted secret NOFORN info on their website about [intelligence community] headcount, so currently people are scrambling to check if their info has been accessed,” said one Defense Intelligence Agency employee, who requested anonymity to avoid retaliation from senior leaders.

 

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/elon-musk-doge-posts-classified-data_n_67ae646de4b0513a8d767112

 

[tgo]

 

[nine]

1 minute ago, Jamalisms said:

Elon Musk’s team at the so-called Department of Government Efficiency has posted classified information about the size and staff of a U.S. intelligence agency on its new website, raising bigger concerns about where Musk’s programmers got this information and what they are doing with it.

 

DOGE, which President Donald Trump created to purportedly root out waste in the federal government, launched its website on Wednesday night with a feature allowing users to “trace your tax dollars through the bureaucracy.” People can navigate through all federal agencies and offices for details about their head counts, budgets and average ages of employees.

 

The website states in tiny print at the bottom that its database excludes information from U.S. intelligence agencies.

 

But an easy search shows that DOGE’s database provides details on the National Reconnaissance Office, the federal agency that designs, builds and maintains U.S. intelligence satellites. Not only are NRO’s budgets and head counts classified, but the prospect of Musk’s tech team meddling in sensitive personnel information is setting off alarms for some in the intelligence community.

 

“DOGE just posted secret NOFORN info on their website about [intelligence community] headcount, so currently people are scrambling to check if their info has been accessed,” said one Defense Intelligence Agency employee, who requested anonymity to avoid retaliation from senior leaders.

 

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/elon-musk-doge-posts-classified-data_n_67ae646de4b0513a8d767112

 

 

As far I know, POTUS is uniquely empowered as the sole individual who has the ability to publicly publish/disseminate classified information without risk of prosecution.    The act of putting it out there makes it automatically declassified.

 

ANY either person or government entity that shares or publishes classified information is literally a threat to national security and should be treated as such.

 

It doesn't matter whether the information is critical or whether there's significant risk of being used for nefarious purposes.   The bottom line is, it's  classified information that was publicly released without authorization or going through the proper channels as required by law.

 

And I'll guarantee you not a single person will be investigated or face any consequences whatsoever for this disclosure.

[chef]

6 hours ago, Justafan said:

No, I don't really agree with the way they are going about it. My post wasn't a defense of Trump, or Musk even, but moreso that I do think he has a point and is doing what a majority of Americans want done, even if the process is both terrifying and potentially unethical. 

 

Why it's easy to win a majority of casual voters when you say you are going to cut down on gov't bloated spending... of which there is plenty.  We tend to think myopically (why comparing a household deficit to the Fed one is misguided).  Grandpa thinks Damn Straight, my grandson can't buy a house because blows too much on avocado toast, frappacinos and that GD Tik Tok.

 

Next thing he knows his bourbon allowance is cut of out family budget, as well as Sunday Ticket.  Then the power goes off during a roasting TN summer.  Bye bye A/C.  

 

Most think the cuts are always cutting someone else, someone who DESERVES to be cut.  Rarely look in the mirror too closely on this stuff.

 

 

4 hours ago, ChesterCopperpot1 said:

Ready for it all to burn and for people to hurt. Maybe people will finally wake the fuck up. 

 

At this point really is just about the only remedy.  Not like the Dems have gotten any points across that stuck enough to matter.  I can dream of that new 3rd centrist Common Sense party to form.  Will remain only a dream.

 

 

2 hours ago, nine said:

 

Remember the clip of a House or Senate hearing where a GOP member was grilling the CEO of an Asian social media company (Tik Tok, maybe?).  
 

The CEO kept having to repeatedly explain over and over that he’s from Singapore.  He’s not Chinese…not Korean….not Vietnamese or Japanese. He’s Singaporian.    
 

The congressman/woman who was asking the questions clearly had absolutely no idea that Singapore is a sovereign nation.  They simply couldn’t wrap their head around it or grasp the concept…even after having it explained repeatedly like a four-year old.    
 
That whole sequence encapsulated the incredibly narrowminded, uninformed,  and insular MAGA worldview:  “ ‘Murica only!  Fuck  everybody else!”  

 

Pretty darn sure Hawley knows where to find Singapore on a map.  Also pretty sure he knows a lot of 'Muricans cannot.  Very staged act that had to be beyond frustrating for that TikTok CEO - for whom I give no Fs but he did handle himself extremely well given circumstances.

 

Hawley is a lot of things but not a fool.  Plenty of those in Congress these days, especially in the house. He like always cheesed the game for points, not the spirit of the game.

 

Edited February 14, 2025 by chef

[Justafan]

2 hours ago, Bink said:

 

I used your comment as a jumping off point, as I was responding to what is, yes, a generalization (the government is bloated, the people in charge have gotten it wrong). I realize you are not totally in support of Musk, etc. Like in any dialogue I was not quoting you to do a one to one rhetorical analysis of what you've written. 

 

But glib comments aside, as what you have continued to share demonstrates I don't think I've missed your point. 

 

You are saying that Elon Musk represents someone doing something about a problem--a problem where the "auditors" have failed. 

 

I don't think any of us really disagree that there are problems, as have been shared here. My point was that the process by which this was being done is alarming. 

 

And to reframe what I said--it kind of seems like many are downplaying this, which is further alarming to me. 

 

I don't think there's a singular problem in America bad enough that we give up the basic foundations of American democracy and have one person rip through whole agencies--careers of work--like it's nothing. 

 

Without so much as having to make an argument to the American people. That doesn't not really feel like cutting bloat, it feels like burning the house down to get rid of clutter. And I have a hard time with people who rationalize Musk at all. It is chilling for me to see someone leverage wealth to gain unprecedented access and go through a process of destroying information, changing systems, and deleting agencies and programs. It seems like you agree to an extent, but don't agree about the severity of the issue. Maybe I am the one over thinking this, and this isn't a constitutional crisis and Musk standing behind the Resolute Desk is not really that big a deal. 

I think your side likes to demonize the other side and exaggerate everything for political gain. It doesn’t necessarily mean they are wrong in this instance. 

[Guest]

6 minutes ago, Justafan said:

I think your side likes to demonize the other side and exaggerate everything for political gain. It doesn’t necessarily mean they are wrong in this instance. 

 

It's interesting, because I don't necessarily identify as having a side and remember defending you fondly when you were called a brainwashed jarhead on this board. I engage in local politics a lot more than national ones. 

 

It's also seems pretty easy to point out who is being demonized in a variety of ways and how that has played out to effect. 

 

In this case, though, if the "demonization" is true and not an exaggeration--how do we proceed? Does that Trump the erosion of our governmental norms? Can we not stop and assess what is happening on face value?

 

Perhaps this feels different for me as someone on the liberal side of social issues in that I have existed as someone with a minority viewpoint for a lot of my life. You are used to hearing the criticism, the demonization, etc. and you learn to adapt, advocate around, contextualize, and see nuance. 

 

A lot of conservative people existed in a sphere where their ideas were never criticized or faced any kind of societal pushback.  That has changed, and the feelings of being attacked or looked down upon absolutely fueled this past election and the themes of "wokeness". 

 

I could never imagine a reality where a conservative party was leading a movement that is so transparently anti-constitutional, but here we are. The idea that government waste is a concern--this whole process is going to be incredibly wasteful and is already harming lower and middle class people, with legal implications, security implications, safety implications. 

 

What Trump is doing is just wildly unconservative to me--at least unconservative in the sense of the policies you and others describe neutrally removed from perspective of political persecution. 

 

Maybe I'm overblowing all of this, and that this chaotic brand of governance and Trump's cult of personality manifests into something different. 

 

But from this comment, what Trump has shared, how he speaks and operates--this is about fealty, compliance, and revenge. It's why Jan 6. has been closed over. This all feels about as un-American as it gets. Maybe social progression was just a price the American experiment could not pay. I suppose we'll see. 

[Starkiller]

4 hours ago, rns90 said:

Except that this isn’t real significant in terms of reigning in deficit spending .

 

And when you justapose it with the tax cuts that they want that will ADD to the deficit and make it larger, it sounds like utter bullshit.

If you look at the debt realistically, there are really only 2 answers mathematically as to how to eliminate the trillions in federal debt in any reasonable timeframe:

1. A wealth tax that would balance off the loss of income taxes the rich haven’t paid over decades
2. Start nationalizing big corporations that the government would effectively replace. Nationalize the health insurance industry. Nationalize the private prison industry. Nationalize the oil companies. Nationalize the airline industry. Nationalize SpaceX.

Would conservatives go apeshit? Absolutely? Would it be socialism? Without a doubt. But I’d challenge anyone to come up with another way to pay down $40T in debt…

[Starkiller]

https://newrepublic.com/post/191559/judge-tanya-chutkan-case-lawsuit-elon-musk
 

A major lawsuit to end Elon Musk’s takeover of the federal government has landed before one of Donald Trump’s least favorite judges.

 

Judge Tanya Chutkan, who presided over Trump’s federal election interference case, was assigned the federal lawsuit filed by 14 states against the president and Musk, attacking the so-called Department of Government Efficiency’s authority.

 

['Nator]

Elon Musk is everything the right accused George Soros of being. 

[oldschool]

1 hour ago, Jamalisms said:

Elon Musk’s team at the so-called Department of Government Efficiency has posted classified information about the size and staff of a U.S. intelligence agency on its new website, raising bigger concerns about where Musk’s programmers got this information and what they are doing with it.

 

DOGE, which President Donald Trump created to purportedly root out waste in the federal government, launched its website on Wednesday night with a feature allowing users to “trace your tax dollars through the bureaucracy.” People can navigate through all federal agencies and offices for details about their head counts, budgets and average ages of employees.

 

The website states in tiny print at the bottom that its database excludes information from U.S. intelligence agencies.

 

But an easy search shows that DOGE’s database provides details on the National Reconnaissance Office, the federal agency that designs, builds and maintains U.S. intelligence satellites. Not only are NRO’s budgets and head counts classified, but the prospect of Musk’s tech team meddling in sensitive personnel information is setting off alarms for some in the intelligence community.

 

“DOGE just posted secret NOFORN info on their website about [intelligence community] headcount, so currently people are scrambling to check if their info has been accessed,” said one Defense Intelligence Agency employee, who requested anonymity to avoid retaliation from senior leaders.

 

https://www.huffpost.com/entry/elon-musk-doge-posts-classified-data_n_67ae646de4b0513a8d767112

 

 

I've driven by the NRO compound in the VA suburbs... its locked down tighter than the Military bases I've been on. Stands to reason the idiot tech bros didn't realize NRO is an intelligence agency. a simple google search would have clued them in but the arrogance of coders/developers knows no bounds. They think because they can code they can do anything from running financial systems or even major countries.

Edited February 14, 2025 by oldschool

[LongTimeFan]

5 hours ago, tgo said:

 

So your headline says "has terminated " yet if you read the article it says "According to an NNSA employee, roughly 300 of the agency's 1,800 staff members are expected to be fired after the agency was denied a national security exemption."

 

See the difference? Dishonest liberal media as usual. Who is this NNSA employee? 

[OILERMAN]

4 hours ago, Titans279 said:

Tweet from the Director of Immigration Studies at the Cato institute (libertarian) here. This guy is no liberal btw.

 

This is insane. The US government is dumping Asian and African families and children in random countries that they have no connection to. Dumping, not "deporting." Deportation implies the return of a person to their home country. This is treating people like toxic waste.

 

 

https://x.com/David_J_Bier/status/1890463266775667060

 

Asians? I'm getting excited!