Trump’s 2nd term: American Carnage

[Titandan]

7 minutes ago, MadMax said:

I don't understand your almost paternal affection for this sweaty kid.

You mean Sweetie Kid?  Oman and I go way back.  Stop trying to ruin our Bromance, you Sithlord-looking penguin muthafucka!  I kid.. I love you too, MadMax

Edited February 4 by Titandan

[chef]

35 minutes ago, MadMax said:

I don't understand your almost paternal affection for this sweaty kid.

Illegitimate love child?!?  

[LongTimeFan]

I love the lib meltdowns. 

[Titandan]

12 minutes ago, chef said:

Illegitimate love child?!?  

He wishes.... besides, if my math is correct, O-man probably would've had to have been like 7 years old if I was his bastard.
But I think O-man's a vet just like my RL dad. Hmmm...

Even though I disagree with them on most political issues, I still get warm fuzzies when I see @Starkiller, @OILERMAN, and @reo post. 

[Titandan]

I think this is at the root of a lot of our disagreements. 

I think fundamentally we have different priorities.

I don't think you guys on the left are evil and I hope you guys don't feel that way about us on the right. Some of you piss me off when you take cheap shots but I don't automatically assume you're an evil person. To be clear, there are evil people of all political leanings. But for the true believers on both sides, I think this might be at the core of why we side with certain sides when it comes to policies. 

 

 

[ChesterCopperpot1]

 

[Jamalisms]

9 minutes ago, ChesterCopperpot1 said:

 

 

Duh.

[Starkiller]

2 hours ago, OILERMAN said:

Ty McEachern

Pretty incredible that Mexico and Canada just listed things they were already planning to do and mister art of the deal caved and said yes because he didn’t like the bad press he was getting for tanking the economy

 

Collins: He said that Canada is going to be implementing a $1.3 billion border plan, where they talk about reinforcing the border. I should note that's actually something that was announced back in December

https://x.com/mceachern_ty/status/1886541935256412483

A few days ago Trump was all "there is nothing Mexico and Canada can do to stop these tariffs".

 

Now they made a Trump look like a bitch.

[nine]

1 hour ago, Jamalisms said:

As Elon Musk sweeps through the federal government, those close to the billionaire are touting one particular tool in their arsenal: artificial intelligence.

 

Mr. Musk, who leads a bevy of technology companies, including SpaceX, Tesla, X and xAI, has been tasked by the Trump administration with drastically reducing federal spending through the so-called Department of Government Efficiency, or DOGE. In the first two weeks of the administration, the group has upended federal agencies and urged workers to resign in order to reduce costs.

 

Musk allies who have taken on roles inside government agencies are evaluating how to harness A.I. to identify budget cuts and detect waste and abuse, according to people familiar with internal conversations, who spoke on the condition of anonymity out of fear of retaliati

on.

 

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/03/technology/musk-allies-ai-government.html

 

--=--

 

That's fun. I'm sure the data will continue to be owned by the government itself and not some private company. Totally secure, too.

My big takeaway from this is that Musk’s plan is to eventually have AI handle all aspects of the day-to-day operations of the federal government.   
 

Which absolutely makes sense as a long-term goal:  computers and AI are infinitely better than humans at managing and executing the type of mindless, mundane tasks that make government bureaucracy so incredibly inefficient.  
 

But the fact is, Musk’s teams are still working out the kinks and reliability of an AI-driven car…and regardless of what thinks of him personally, he’s widely recognized as an aggressive forward thinker who’s more than willing to release a product platform before it’s fully fleshed out and using early adopters as guinea pigs.  
 

Which is fine for a corporation with voluntary early adopters…which is very different from a nation of 330M and tens of millions of human lives relying heavily on federal assistance and services.  
 

Considering  Tesla’s track record and reputation for abysmal customer service, I’d be very skeptical of his ability to quickly design and implement a system capable of managing government operations.  
 

And the even bigger concern is his myopic narcissism and refusing to acknowledge or address an issue until forced to do so by the government.  
 

And now that Musk IS the government and special advisor to the President…the President will be the only one who can force him to fix it.  
 

But of course, the President is too dumb to even understand what the problem is…and is more likely to deflect and blame the issue on the radical left while simulaneously denying the problem even exists.  

[Stan]

Not a trump fan but any means, but I highly support them rounding up all the illegals and sending them back and all these protests and people crying about it, like should stfu. These people don’t understand try entering Russia illegally or any foreign nation they won’t send you back they’ll send your ass to prison for years without any due process. Liberals make these wacky conservatives look sane. 

[Titandan]

11 minutes ago, Stan said:

Not a trump fan but any means, but I highly support them rounding up all the illegals and sending them back and all these protests and people crying about it, like should stfu. These people don’t understand try entering Russia illegally or any foreign nation they won’t send you back they’ll send your ass to prison for years without any due process. Liberals make these wacky conservatives look sane. 

Uh Oh... 

[Starkiller]

1 hour ago, nine said:

My big takeaway from this is that Musk’s plan is to eventually have AI handle all aspects of the day-to-day operations of the federal government.   
 

Which absolutely makes sense as a long-term goal:  computers and AI are infinitely better than humans at managing and executing the type of mindless, mundane tasks that make government bureaucracy so incredibly inefficient.  
 

But the fact is, Musk’s teams are still working out the kinks and reliability of an AI-driven car…and regardless of what thinks of him personally, he’s widely recognized as an aggressive forward thinker who’s more than willing to release a product platform before it’s fully fleshed out and using early adopters as guinea pigs.  
 

Which is fine for a corporation with voluntary early adopters…which is very different from a nation of 330M and tens of millions of human lives relying heavily on federal assistance and services.  
 

Considering  Tesla’s track record and reputation for abysmal customer service, I’d be very skeptical of his ability to quickly design and implement a system capable of managing government operations.  
 

And the even bigger concern is his myopic narcissism and refusing to acknowledge or address an issue until forced to do so by the government.  
 

And now that Musk IS the government and special advisor to the President…the President will be the only one who can force him to fix it.  
 

But of course, the President is too dumb to even understand what the problem is…and is more likely to deflect and blame the issue on the radical left while simulaneously denying the problem even exists.  

Musk doesn’t want to put AI in charge. Musk thinks that HE should be in charge. He’s a technocrat (like his grandpa) who thinks he is some genius who should run everything. And Republicans are just letting him. 

Edited February 4 by Starkiller

[Starkiller]

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/04/business/economy/trump-tariffs-china.html
 

Mr. Trump’s 10 percent tariff on all Chinese products went into effect at 12:01 a.m. Tuesday, the result of an executive order issued over the weekend aimed at pressuring Beijing to crack down on fentanyl shipments into the United States.

 

The Chinese government came back with a series of retaliatory steps, including additional tariffs on coal, natural gas, farm machinery and other products from the United States. It also said it had implemented restrictions on the export of certain critical minerals, many of which are used in the production of high-tech products.

 

In addition, Chinese market regulators said they had launched an antimonopoly investigation into Google. Google is blocked from China’s internet, but the move may disrupt the company’s dealings with Chinese companies.

[Mythos27]

11 hours ago, Jamalisms said:

 

I assume you know this and you were just turning it around on me like a little bastard but I was giving you the options of him as the person cosplaying as a brick wall and you as the person who thinks you're going to get through to him.

I'm not "trying to get through to him" though. I'm trying to get the best discourse I can because the other options seem less productive to me. There are plenty of conservatives on here that I'll get into flame wars with, no need for another.  But again, I get everyone does not feel the same way. 

[Mythos27]

11 hours ago, Titandan said:

Do you always think the worst of someone who has opposing opinions?  You will miss out on a lot if that's the case. 

@Mythos27, ultimately, as satisfying as it is, I really don't care about "owning" or "destroying" anyone.  I think the end goal for us in these discussions should be to arrive at the truth (or as close to it as possible).  If I'm wrong and the evidence is as conclusive as possible, I will gladly concede and adapt the better idea.  And I will applaud democrat policies that work for the benefit of the American people.

Which is why I made the suggestion I did. My read is that you seek at least some level of good dialogue and so the trolly stuff is counter-productive to this as good or righteous as it may feel in the moment. Arriving at truth should be everyone's goal.