"If things go on as they are, we are heading toward a comparable collapse of the post-World War II order. This too would be followed with a true parade of horribles. Our salvation from such a fate won’t be found in Davos. It will be found, if it is to be found, in ourselves."
What can anyone at Davos say or do to prevent the impending catastrophe? Let's be real: there is no way the US or the world can endure three more years of this. Furthermore, after three years of this, there will be nothing left to prevent it continuing beyond three years; all institutions and resistance will be pulverized, elections if held will be a sham, and the only thing remaining will be an authoritarian and a government under his total control.
Europe needs to recognize what time it is? I think they know. Republicans in Congress need to recognize what time it is. Do 20 Republican Senators and a few Republicans in the House want to continue as a democracy? Because if not, and it's almost certain they do not, the post WWII order, is dead, NATO is dead, and American democracy is dead. The only way out of this now is Trump's removal.
We're only one year in, folks. Three more years of this and Hell will be unleashed.
I think the Second Amendment has been our undoing. GOP leaders are paralyzed with fear of their well armed trigger happy constituents. Imagine sacrificing your children’s futures because you’re too scared to defend what you know is right.
ICE standards for employment: run 1 1/2 miles in 15 minutes. Do 35 sit ups, do 15 pushups. And 47 days of training. Who the hell can't meet those requirements!
It's not just that, they aren't doing real background checks and all you need is a GED or equivalent for academic qualifications. McDonald's has higher standards.
The militias we're familiar with are not what the Founders had in mind. The closest thing to what they had in mind would be something like the greater part of the Swiss Army. Almost everyone is in the reserves and keeps a military grade weapon at home, along with a brushed aluminum case full of ammo. The Swiss are huge for shooting sports. They have a contest every year that draws as many as 50k entrants--with guns other than their government issued ones. The irony, though, is that the military ammo they keep is sealed and may only be opened on orders. Opening the ammo case with out orders can lead to several years in prison. *That's* a regulated militia.
(I'm sure the Founders did not require locked up ammo, though)
The logic of your comment is not widely understood in MAGA. Their enemy has always been things like healthcare, education, science. Things that made America great . . . ?
My understanding is that the "well-regulated militia" of the time was, essentially, able-bodied men ready and able to defend their community against aggressors.
As a libertarian-ish guy currently caucusing with the Democrats, I have no problem with that definition, and in light of the increasing potential for governmental, economic, and/or societal collapse, I really wish the Democrats would stop trying to unilaterally disarm.
I actually support 2A. I've got some guns and would be upset if they came to take them away. My problem is that there are currently no qualifications regarding basic sanity or firearms safety. These kids who buy AR's on their 18th birthdays then shoot up Walmarts wouldn't be allowed anywhere near a loaded firearm in our armed forces.
My question exactly! The government has come to take your rights away, kids! Isn't that why you said you needed guns? Where are you? Or did you just need guns to hug in the dark as you cower like the cowards we always knew you were?
They are more concerned with getting re-elected than they are about getting shot--although that calculus is shifting. Never underestimate a politicians desire to stay in office, especially when you do not actually have to DO anything, just mouth the right words.
I disagree. I think they are more afraid for their own physical safety and that of their families. Mitt Romney told his biographer that detail - a rare admission from his colleagues heard only in the cloakroom. Romney himself was paying $5K PER DAY for security for his family. Who did he fear? The people. Judges are being shot, killed, in their homes. Lisa Murkowski said with trepidation, “We are all afraid”.
Hoisted by their own petard then. Who could have thought that allowing increasingly extremist people access to weapons would not be a good thing?
As we say in the teaching profession, after some student screws things up royally and triggers a massive policy change: This is why we can't have nice things.
When it comes to certain things, you kind of have to plan/legislate around the lowest (stupidest) common denominator. That seems to be where most law actually comes from and where we get the stupid labels on everything telling you NOT to do the stupid thing that you are about to do--like use your blowdryer in the bath.
The days of militias died (in reality) during the Civil War with the advent of industrialized warfare... and militias were supposed to be state-sponsered and regulated things for the protection of the individual state from the federal government (oh, and from the slaves). They were never super effective and often caused problems.
I have my doubts. I got an email from my dad who is not a super hard core Trumpist but who IS a hardcore, this is my tribe. His twists and turns and wild misinterpretations of events combined with issues I had never heard of, were all about justifying and normalizing everything. And I'd love to say it is lack of education but he has a PhD in history and I worry that he is very representative of Republican members of Congress and the Senate.
The you would have Vance, which is arguably worse. Someone smarter, with a lower level of pathology, and more under the thumb of the techbros who wouldn't be quite so stupid and openly narcissistic about things.
The major thing getting in the way of the authoritarian project is Trump, himself. He is more hated than loved and does openly stupid things. Someone smarter, calmer, and more organized would be much more dangerous--and Trump is dangerous enough as it is.
Things are only going to get worse because the clock is ticking and Trump, et al. can hear those very loud ticks as the midterms approach. They are going to have to speed things up immensely if they are going to negate the midterms.
Last night, Maddow spent time on Harry Reid (a new book on his fighting style), suggesting that we are already "there". The time for strongly worded letters was over before it began. Time for the gophers to surface, from both parties. Do more. Stop letting Trump divert the conversation and flood the zone. Otherwise that bulletproof ballroom "for an inauguration" will usher in.... who? Under what circumstances?
I can only see this: the time is now for the Democrats to win both the House and the Senate. This means Democrats winning lots and lots more votes in November, which I can argue means talking to all the American people. Democrats have been lousy at it. They speak a Newspeak which MAGA Newspeak has thoroughly trounced. Can the talking each other on MS NOW out of their torpor wrap it up soon, please?
“What can anyone at Davos say or do to prevent the impending catastrophe?”
Excellent comment. Perhaps the better question though would be which ones of these master’s of the universe aren’t in on the grift?
The European leaders know exactly what happening, but they can’t just cut off the US or decouple immediately without causing a global economic meltdown.
However, plans without US military support and reducing their economic reliance on the US are current in the works. Military stocks in Europe are up. India, Canada, France and Great Britain are scaling up their Military capabilities (buying European) and creating separate supply chains outside of the purview of US control.
And while Trump has his heart set on conquering Greenland, the world is replacing fossil fuels for renewables. To get elected, Trump sold his soul to every major industry group; and he’s become obsessed with doubling down on fossil fuels and coal. It’s like betting on a horse and carriage, because the combustible engine is in its infancy; and we all know how well that would have worked out!
That said, solar and wind are gaining ground; becoming cheaper and less polluting and far cheaper to scale than traditional fuel sources. Yet, Trump and his minions decided to leave the US behind; to the detriment of our future economic prospects and our youth!
And if anyone is poisoning the blood of our youth, it isn’t immigrants, unless you’re talking about Musk and Thiel! IMHO..:)
Don't forget project 2025 and Russel Voight. They are reforming the US into an oligharic fascist state. If you haven't read it, do so. But not before bedtime, its chilling. It also calls for a personal presidential military to "curb" dissent. They are relentless and caught many of us who are complacent. I do not think they will let the Democrats takeover the Congress so don't get your hopes up..
We are in hell now. He is trying his damndest to ignite a civil war! Impeachment is the only out, short of the military refusing an illegal order and arresting him and his minions for treason!
Let's say you're back to being a schoolchild. Your teacher is constantly heaping praise on you and your work, all day, every day. Even when you didn't really do anything to deserve it. Eventually, the praise loses its luster. It stops being special. You just take it as read that you're going to be praised no matter what.
Threats and violence work in much the same way. ICE and MAGA are constant, daily threat to us all. An extreme threat, yes. But constant. Sooner or later, its not going to seem threatening. Sooner or later, people will stop being afraid and instead will be ready when ICE/MAGA comes to their city/state.
When you constantly push a machine past its limits, something eventually breaks. In this case, it will be this government's ability to control people.
You are 100% right. At first people thought ICE was going after illegal immigrant gang members, but then they went after illegal busboys and street cleaners. No one said anything. Then they went after dark skinned legal immigrants. I said ICE was Trumps private military. Now they shoot citizens who dissent. Next they will harass voters at polling place to make sure "illegals"aren't voting. I worked elections for years. Its virtually impossible for non registered voters to vote. And illegals can't register.
I think you're misunderstanding me. My point is, that when the reward for obedience is the same as the consequence for dissent, people will begin to wonder "What's the point? They're going to kill me either way, so what does it matter whether I comply or resist?"
It’s fascism plain and simple. And these guys keep taking pseudo legitimate issues and weaponizing them with the most perverse anti-immigrant rhetoric and policies.
Agreed! Essentially, they want to scare immigrants; whether legal or not, to self deport. And if they don’t, they will forever be looking over their shoulder for masked men in unmarked cars, waiting to whisk them away.
This is the strategy, and it’s been tried and trued over time! And ironically, it’s a form of state sponsored terrorism!…:)
Then the important thing they will do is what humans have done since humans have existed. They will build community. They will look out for each other, support and defend each other. They will build trust in one another. When one sees an unmarked van full of masked men coming, they'll raise the alarm so everyone knows a threat has arrived. The community will take up defensive positions. Those who can legally own firearms will openly carry them, and defend members of their community who cannot or will not.
The one thing people at Davos could do to prevent a catastrophe is to quit funding it. They provide enormous amounts of money in hopes of increasing their already enormous fortunes.
This morning Erick son of Erick has been saying that the media will pay more attention to Trump and Greenland instead of protestors at a church in Minnesota. No shit, Erick. Yes, the President and his note are more important than one protest.
The right wingers are always mad when their Fox Noise story-of-the-day doesn't dominate every other media outlet. They're always looking for another Bengazhi or email-lady hit episode to rile up and anger their old white viewers.
Well, dang, you killed our guy Charile Kirk so we killed your gal Renee Good. The twisted MAGAt mind of Erik son of Erik son of Erik summons another eye-for-an-eye rationale.
This ride is going to be hell. Given everything that has been happening, I decided to reach out to my MAGA father living in ruby red Idaho to see how he would rationalize Renee Good, and later Greenland as penance for not giving Trump a prize. Keep in mind that this is supposedly a normie Republican. Someone who was a big Reagan fan and thinks the Democratic Party is evil. Typical for a Republican. Here is our conversation verbatim regarding Greenland yesterday.
Me: Come get your boy. He’s taking us to war because he didn’t get a prize. Please explain how this f*cker is following the constitution. Show me where the president has this right. Come on, you think you know it all. Prove it. He’s f*cking insane and you know it. (+Link to Reuters article).
Him: Hahaha..just seeing where you get your information from a bias organization. Says it all! FAKE NEWS!
Me: The letter has been verified as legit. What’s fake about it? (Two pages of duck duck go screen captures shared). Pick your link. (Meme shared showing Fox News replacing a “war is bad” chip with a “war is good” chip in the brains of MAGA).
Him: Ok I’ve read where he has said that. He’s said that as an intimidation tactic. Not to go out and start something. He smart like a fox and he knows and does things for a reason. You go for a triggered response, as the left always does. But it serves a purpose to the goal for a strong u.s.a.
———
These people are lost and do not want to come back to reality.
The darkest aspect of this situation to me is the fact that plenty of MAGA supporters have decided that their allegiance to the cult and the fleeting feelings of superiority it brings them have overridden their emotional capacities for love and devotion. Someone mocking his own son in deference to someone he's never met is a person who has willingly thrown away his capacity for empathy.
The MAGAs NEED to feel the pain. They need to subsist on the starvation diet (concentration camps had a higher calorie count!) that the administration thinks they can survive on. Their small businesses need to crash. It took a global depression to get FDR and wake people up.
I agree with that to an extent. It’s hard to feel superior if the reality is relentlessly unpleasant, and struggle forces people to look outward and reach out to others.
The several decades of relative peace and prosperity in the West occurred because of two world wars and a depression.
In MPLS, businesses are already experiencing this. It is not hard to imagine who. Mexican, Asian or any restaurant for that matter. Some have even closed down because workers won' show up out of fear. It is not just MPLS. It is St Paul. It is Rochester (MN 3rd largest city) and St Cloud.
Having 3rd thoughts about moving to MN if I can't find an affordable rental here! My taxes would be higher than CA, doesn't have Kaiser insurance so my insurance will be higher, the cold would kill me (and Nomi), no mountains and doesn't rely on sunshine for snow removal. :-) Throw in ICE. My sister, who was a child back in the 60s, couldn't find her naturalization paperwork. Will I have to carry mine? They invaded a small town not far from you.
I know too many ppl who still think Trump's biggest fault is that he posts too much. They don't see his danger. After J6 who can trust him does not register, as they believe the Big Lie.
He’s convinced them he’s so smart he’s playing 5-D chess, but chess master Gary Kasparov says he’s eating the pieces. I don’t even bother to mention anything political to my best friend from childhood, who used to be a lifelong Democrat until he appeared. It’s like a prion disease.
I'm sorry for you, and all families that are divided on this.
I don't engage with the half of my siblings that have decided to take the maga ride, It's too painful to hear them turn themselves into human pretzels to justify the stupid insanity of this regime. They are beyond understanding, or even meeting halfway. I don't know what they think of this latest Greenland, Venezuela, Minneapolis, East Wing fuckery, and I have no desire to find out.
New Disney Ride: Ride into the abyss. Like the Avatar ride, only in Darkness and you don't know where you are going. kind of like Space Mountain but you don't know when it ends.
Jeff, you are finding out what I found out a long time ago. You will never convince Ideologues they are wrong regardless of the facts you give them. In fact they double down more and move the goal posts. I have relatives like that and I avoid talking politics ( like the plague) with them.
Thanks for sharing and I'm very sorry that your dad's on the kool-aid. Good for you for being independent, factual and objective.
Regarding the "intimidation tactic"...I'm SO tired of the flocks of Trump supporting flying monkeys constantly reverse engineering everything he says/does such that they say things like: "He was only joking!", "It's 4-d chess", "That's just the way he is...deal with it"
I want to shake them hard and yell at them: "How the F will you ever know if you're being conned if you having to work so hard cleaning up everything he says/does?"
They're off the damn reservation...no question about it. Again...sorry about your dad.
Self-deception is the most powerful deception. Plus he lives in Idaho, a huge echo chamber for his rationalizations. People move to Idaho because they want to live in a mostly white state. (92% white).
He now allows that her killing “was a tragedy,” but thinks Good was led astray by the idea that “protecting illegal aliens,” even criminal ones, is a righteous cause.
Led astray by the teachings of that rabble rouser Jesus Christ, who these fucked up people stand up as their lord and saviour, when in fact, they don't even follow the basics of of his teachings. SHAME on them. There will be a special place in hell for them, one can only hope.
I hear you, Thomas, but I have to say that if one is a Christian, one can only hope and pray for their repentance, not their damnation. The God of "that rabble rouser Jesus Christ" is totally just AND totally merciful, which should give everyone pause. Yes, stand and work against injustice and violence and lies, but IF one is a Christian, the command is to pray for our enemies -- a profoundly unpopular part of the Sermon on the Mount. Personally, I quite dislike it; it makes me very uncomfortable.
I have the same issue comparing Renee Good and Ashli Babbitt. Babbitt died deep inside of our Capitol building near a blockaded door with windows being bashed in by a mob. What exactly was she going to do once they breached that barricaded door? Complain about the vending machines being empty?
On the other hand, like you were alluding to, Renee Good was being a nuisance to the cops in order to protect her neighbors....illegal or not...effective or not. You can call it misguided but it sure seems a lot more of a defendable case to my Christian roots and remembering Jesus imploring His followers to "Do the same!" following sharing the parable of the Good Samaritan. Help your neighbors.
I was having a discussion with a MAGA adjacent apologist about Christianity. He(who says he is Christian) asked me about the teachings of Jesus. When I described taking care of the poor and dispossessed, he said, “well, that’s your opinion.”
I hear ya. The scary thing I hear these days is that God is using a broken vessel (i.e. Trump) to accomplish His will. Excuse the French, but how the F can you tell when people are doing bad things...that it's really God's will?
Seemingly the MAGAs get to pick & choose what God's will is these days. I hope that HE's ok with it...
God is money. They and their friends, and anything they like/want are Jesus.
This is the new decoder ring I'm testing out when I'm trying to understand what pieces of shit mean when they intentionally use words they don't seem to understand.
I don't think they believe in Hell. There's been no accountability for the evils they've committed on this plane so why wouldn't their Jesus welcome them into Heaven. They believe they're doing His work.
Oh, they believe in Hell, alright. Hell is for their enemies, i.e., Liberals/Democrats/Socialists/LGBT folks and non-whites who don't know their place. They are perfectly confident that they are the Good Guys and on the side of Light, and therefore justified in anything they do to their enemies.
If you turn off, or scare off, the normies, you lose. Attacking churches is an excellent way to convince the majority that your side is at least as bad as ICE.
In America, a thing only happened if the masses see it on a screen - phone, TV, whatever. No matter how obscure or out-of-the-way. It really all comes down to who has the best marketing skills to reach the most eyeballs. After all, more than one MAGA-gun type has done way more to 'attack' a church than chanting in the aisle.
"But the takeaway from Davos, I believe, will be a demonstration of the refusal of the great majority of those assembled there to come to grips with the moment."
But Bill, why would Thiel and Co. "come to grips with the moment" they want in your sense, and why would they want anything else than the dystopia you paint? Their puppet is acting out, in their interest, to gain control of what they see as the next big frontier in mining, drilling, and other environmentally catastrophic activity in the name of Holy Yenom (can't say dollar given the way it is skiing downhill.) THEY LIKE IT, because it makes them even filthier (filthier rich that is.)
They think their enclaves, sequestered in places like New Zealand, will provide long term safety and security for them and their families. This may not work out quite as well as they think…
Or they think that they can pay people off. The safety of people (especially the wealthy) is dependent upon the consent of the governed. What if they no longer consent and feel they have nothing to lose?
Elon Musk has 15 children and brings vials of his sperm to parties, in case there might be interest... .Seems more like a science project than a family.
Even if he brought that vial one time that one whole episode is covered in ick.
Too much money and not enough brains. I've read that the more money you have the more captive you are to it. You are a prisoner only moving in the circles of your fellow prisoners. What a sterile life.
Apparently Musk regularly reaches out to women on social media and offers to father a child with them, for $15 million up front and $500K a year after that. Not sure how many women have taken him up on it. Physical contact is not needed.
I tried to find this story. Sounds like it's a bit of an urban legend. Says Musk offered his semen at a party to a couple that was having trouble conceiving...not that he took his semen with him to the party. Plus, sperm quickly dies within minutes when exposed to air.
Have you ever seen any passing interactions that JD Vance has with this children. I caught a passing glance at his children walking in with him to the stupid Trump birthday military parade and it was very obvious that JD does not like his kids.
I didn’t see that video, but Vance’s disdainful attitude towards his children is a familiar meme. I saw a video during the campaign, in a grocery store set up, when he asked his children to pretend to be normal, or something along those lines.
I remember reading somewhere that when Trump called Vance to ask him if he'd be his Vice President, the first thing he did was turn & tell his son to " shut the hell up".
This talk about Renee Good's background bugs me in another way: police have no authority to administer summary punishment to anyone. The sole issue is imminent serious or lethal harm to the officer or to some other person. It doesn't matter who they are or what they are alleged to have done.
They don’t see her as fleeing a traffic stop. They see her as deliberately trying to run over an ICE officer (Trump, who is their truth-teller, quickly said SHE DID!!).
This country's attitude towards police power is insane. We hear a lot these days about the folly of "defund the police," and I agree it was a bad slogan, but the predominant culture seems to be driven by too many cop shows and people's fantasies of wielding such power themselves, never of being subject to it.
One of the biggest problems I have in talking to people about stuff like this is everyone thinks they're in the trolley trying to decide whether to run over 5 people or 1 person. No! You are tied to the tracks!
"Defund the Police" was a slogan chosen for us by the Right--like "Abolish ICE." Screening of people to become cops is better than it used to be, but it needs to be a whole lot better. I advocate for degrees or Psych or Sociology for cops, and for pay to match.
To be clear, I don't think police are uniformly bad as individuals, but the cultural attitudes about what they are supposed to do and should be permitted to do are a mess. Part of me says that functions requiring a lot of psychology or sociology knowledge should be done by some other type of professional, but I'm not sure. I do think everyone, cops and non-cops, should have much deeper thinking about what the role of cops in society is.
During the George Floyd summer, I could not for the life of me figure out how it was that cops in my town were being blamed for something that happened in Minneapolis. Blaming all cops was wrong, just like blaming all Somalians or all Haitians is wrong.
The amount of fascist bootlickers who think that summary execution is the proper law enforcement response to someone blocking traffic is really disturbing. I had no idea just how many of the "Don't Tread on Me" folks would roll over like a puppy.
As someone who attended a portion of the federal trial for Bundy et al following the takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge I have the same question. (Those people are cray!). It seems another bit of cognitive dissonance.
I mean, it's always been about raw power and in-group/out-group dynamics. Government force is not to be used on rugged white men with guns, or anyone WASPy. I was homeschooled, and it was a common fear that The Government was gonna show up and take your kids from you.
But now those people are on control, so obviously this all isn't going to be weaponized against them. They can wield it against their enemies, who are obviously the enemies of freedom and liberty.
You gotta remember, a lot of the MAGA/Tea Party types have been living in a weird siege mindset. The godless communist liberals and globalist immigrants wanted to destroy them, wanted to persecute them, hence all the "don't tread on me" signs. The fact that it didn't actually happen was really just lucky coincidence and the power of the law. They really do think people like Obama wanted to destroy America and turn us into Cold-War-era Cuba.
I suppose it's easy to talk tough when you have a system that will protect you. This system will not protect them for any antigovernment protest. It's actually trying to recruit them for ICE.
When pushed to the brink on trying to explain his nonsensical MAGA talk, a coworker broke down to an angry voice yelling, "WE'RE NOT THE OUTCASTS! MAGA'S NOT THE OUTCASTS! DEMOCRATS ARE THE OUTCASTS!"
It really is just the people who were never "in" on the joke or "what's cool" trying to stick it to everyone else. They see nothing said ever matters when you jump to the next thing and pretend like you know what's going. They are frozen adolescent minds.
One recalls the prophetic words of Sir Edward Gray, the British Foreign Secretary as he stood watching Europe descend into the first of the two most catastrophic man-made events in human history (so far). “The lamps are going out all over Europe. We shall not see them lit again in our lifetime”.
He was both more right and more prescient than he knew. Now Trump, the would be Darth Vader of today is reaching to extinguish the lights all over the world. The hand of his minion, Stephen Miller (who seems to be both minion and mentor to Trump) hovers over the controls of the death ray even as Trump talks in grandiose terms of a Board of Peace, which has clear overtones of the Empire.
This is Munich in spades.(and yes, I do love mixing metaphors)
Magic Mountain (so you do not have to read it) - one of the themes is how perception of time passing differs based on how much happens. I.e. the Dog Year that felt
The sensation of the relativity of time in "Magic Mountain" is the most impressive part of that novel. I remember looking up from it at times and then flipping back pages to see where the author had "tricked" me into missing the transitions. It's pretty darn brilliant.
I always look at all of this from the standpoint of an attorney who graduated from the University of Chicago Law School in 1983, with all of the learning from that period. Some of my professors traced their legal history and training to the Nuremberg trials and all of the debates about the rule of law and the role of the courts and the law in preserving a civil society, especially Professors Bernard Meltzer and Edward Levi. I remember the discussion and debates about what the courts did and didn’t do and the concepts of retroactive law against officials and when the courts need to make a stand on the application of the law against powerful government officials even when they knew it was likely to be ignored. Let me make it clear that we are nowhere near anything like the situation in Germany before and after the rise and rule of the Nazis. But I can’t stop asking, where is the Supreme Court in all of this now occurring here in a country supposedly guided by the rule of law. If the Supreme Court had ruled promptly that these artificial “emergencies” purporting to allow for tariffs at the whim of the President were beyond Presidential powers, then this nonsense with Greenland and Europe would have been blocked ab initio (couldn’t resist the legal phrase from Latin: from the beginning) and Trump would need Congress to either approve tariffs or there simply are no tariffs. Now with US citizens being arrested and mistreated in clear violation of the Constitution and the rule of law, where the hell are the courts, and above all the Supreme Court? Don’t be misled. The Supreme Court can act promptly and decisively if it so desires. The silence is deafening.
It is effectively full immunity. The words may not say that, but that is functionally what it is. No DoJ of a sitting President is going to prosecute that President... and a prosecution of a past President ny an opposition party President is very unlikely given the recent shitshow with prosecuting Trump.
I keep waiting for the noise to get so loud that the markets (humming loudly and with fingers plugging their ears) finally cave. We saw on “liberation day” that failing markets at least gets Trump’s advisors attention.
So overnight there was a Japanese bond market crash (interest rates spiking) and it has spread to our markets this morning. US 10 yr Treasury rates are now approaching 4.3%, not a good sign for the home mortgage market or Scott Bessent trying to fund our $38 trillion of debt.
If crazy talk doesn’t motivate the elites, perhaps economic pain will?
The market is actually way down right now. I find myself hoping it crashes so that the billionaires become just millionaires. And crypto disappears. I have yet to see a real reason for its existence. It is NOT real - not paper, not gold, not silver, not oil, not even dirt, nothing tangible. It's sole reason for being is to con people into "investing" in an imaginary wet dream of some tech kid using real money.
ive been watching this market for a long time now. it goes down and then there's a long climb out ... most of the time its at parity or so around the early afternoon, but not always. I expect a similar pattern today. Whether it will recovery today I dont know but it at least suggests there's weakness to it if the pres continue to follow his plan of attack.
we need that pain and some layoffs. i mean not that i want it but i can't think of anything more "recoverable" than economic issues. we need broad based unhappiness with the president. no more looking the other way my portfolio is doing great stuff.
No, people who lose their jobs will only blame everyone else. They are too far gone down the rabbit hole. Once upon a time, when we all shared a reality, it worked. Not today.
well we will never get everyone. but many people are not loyalists, they just thought they were getting a raise one way or another. let's help dispel them of that notion.
I've asked several Trumpers online by asking them if the Renee Good shooting was a good thing or a bad thing, and they've responded two ways:
1. They say it was bad but then try to justify the shooting and ICE violence.
2. They actively avoid answering the question by attempting to change the subject.
The quiet part (for now) is that MAGAs are either getting a sadistic joy out of seeing someone deemed liberal get shot and killed, and while some of them wouldn't personally pull the trigger themselves, they're happy to vicariously live through people that would. Either that or the constant addiction to rage, fear, and sadism is overriding any empathy they may have once possessed. Unfortunately, for plenty of them, I don't think that there is a bottom to their penchant for cruelty and indifference.
In respect to the Davos conference, I remember a snippet of Rutger Bregman (a Dutch author) being at a conference and scolding the billionaires in the audience by pointing out:
1. Many of them were openly anti-taxation.
2. They were flying in on their personal private jets and listening to lectures about the dangers of climate change and a big societal push being needed to successfully address it.
3. The situation was equivalent to going to a firefighting convention where no one is allowed to talk about water.
I think that a lot of the people in that conference are addicted to the notion of prestige and status to the point where they won't admit to themselves that:
1. Making the world habitable for everyone (including them) is going to require them making major sacrifices to their wealth.
2. The reason the world is in the precarious position it is has a lot to do with people at Davos and decisions and actions they've made.
I agree that it was bad strategy to interrupt the church service, but I'm sure every member of that congregation is aware that Jesus overturned the tables in the temple in protest against the moneychangers there. Conservative Christians talk a lot about being "Christ-like," so there's a pretty direct example there. That said, I think picketing outside would have been far more effective and less polarizing. I do think it's fair to call public attention to this pastor's role in the decidedly un-Christlike behavior of ICE. And it's worth noting that they were effective in doing that. Everyone following the news here in the Twin Cities knows about it now.
One other note--I'm listening to Minnesota Public Radio now, and one thing they are talking about is the drop in church attendance here because ICE is stopping people at church, but that's not getting mentioned much, much less spun up into outrage.
Watch Pat Kahnke, a former evangelical pastor in Minneapolis, on YouTube, especially since all this started not far from where he lives. He’s also on Substack.
“Rosenfeld misses a few things. ICE agents do use nonlethal ammunition, including rubber bullets and pepper balls—primarily against protesters. Given that the Goods were involved with “ICE watch,” it’s very likely that they had heard about these incidents.”
These “right-wing” flamethrowers are missing the point. Most cops use stun guns as a first resort; not bullets. And if this guy truly felt his life was on the line, why was he walking around the vehicle nonchalantly before opening fire, if in fact, he thought she was a threat or even a domestic terrorist?
This guy wasn’t worried, and made his feelings known right after the shooting when he said: F**king B**tch! The only thing missing was a slur for lesbian.
Bottom line, the use of the phrase domestic terrorist should be criticized in every conversation. They guys don’t get to make up laws by decree or executive order. It’s time some democratic leaders grow a pair or a spine, because even though Trump is a lunatic; his chaos is winning the day. Time to regroup and shut this horror show down! IMHO…:)
When we see something like slavery, we are sickened. When we see something like man's inhumanity to humanity, we are apalled. When we see democracy turned upside down - turned into a force and weapon of one man's will, we know it's wrong. There is no, "other side of the story," that balances it out.
When we see humans treated as a means to an end, we should know that this type of behavior breaks a categorical imperative of morality. Rather than this being some some high-level philosophical concept, this type of behavior is felt. When we see this type of behavior we experience it with revulsion and fear. This fear is a message to the deep core of our humanity that something is wrong! We know it's wrong. We.just.know.it.
Europe has seen this kind of avarice and immorality many times in the last one hundred years. Maybe if they haven't seen it, their mothers and fathers have. None of this is new. It's just new to us. European leaders should have some good advice for us and the world.
"Hey, European leaders, we need your help here. We're new to this. We don't know how to handle it."
I am going to qualify this with some: some are sickened, some are appalled and some know it’s wrong. The institution of slavery did not exist because too many were sickened by it — the exact opposite; not enough were sickened and you can do down the line.
As for the Europeans, I suggest you look at the last German election. Yes, once again they rearranged the deck chairs of the traditional parties, but if you look a little bit deeper the neo-Nazi AFD was the 1st or 2nd choice for everyone under 45 years of age. That isn’t sustainable in the long run. They are more committed for now as the European Union is a long term project they are all invested in, but when you look under the hood of the national politics, it isn’t pretty.
"If things go on as they are, we are heading toward a comparable collapse of the post-World War II order. This too would be followed with a true parade of horribles. Our salvation from such a fate won’t be found in Davos. It will be found, if it is to be found, in ourselves."
What can anyone at Davos say or do to prevent the impending catastrophe? Let's be real: there is no way the US or the world can endure three more years of this. Furthermore, after three years of this, there will be nothing left to prevent it continuing beyond three years; all institutions and resistance will be pulverized, elections if held will be a sham, and the only thing remaining will be an authoritarian and a government under his total control.
Europe needs to recognize what time it is? I think they know. Republicans in Congress need to recognize what time it is. Do 20 Republican Senators and a few Republicans in the House want to continue as a democracy? Because if not, and it's almost certain they do not, the post WWII order, is dead, NATO is dead, and American democracy is dead. The only way out of this now is Trump's removal.
We're only one year in, folks. Three more years of this and Hell will be unleashed.
I think the Second Amendment has been our undoing. GOP leaders are paralyzed with fear of their well armed trigger happy constituents. Imagine sacrificing your children’s futures because you’re too scared to defend what you know is right.
If only they would regulate their militia.
They sort of have. A lot of them are in ICE. There was a reason ICE dropped their enlistment standards to below sewer level.
ICE is Trumps Gestapo.
ICE standards for employment: run 1 1/2 miles in 15 minutes. Do 35 sit ups, do 15 pushups. And 47 days of training. Who the hell can't meet those requirements!
It's not just that, they aren't doing real background checks and all you need is a GED or equivalent for academic qualifications. McDonald's has higher standards.
But then who doesn't.
Me. But I'm 65.
However, I bet if I shaved my head and grew a goatee, they would waive the other requirements.
That’s the problem with militias; they are not prone to regulation. A built-in paradox?
The militias we're familiar with are not what the Founders had in mind. The closest thing to what they had in mind would be something like the greater part of the Swiss Army. Almost everyone is in the reserves and keeps a military grade weapon at home, along with a brushed aluminum case full of ammo. The Swiss are huge for shooting sports. They have a contest every year that draws as many as 50k entrants--with guns other than their government issued ones. The irony, though, is that the military ammo they keep is sealed and may only be opened on orders. Opening the ammo case with out orders can lead to several years in prison. *That's* a regulated militia.
(I'm sure the Founders did not require locked up ammo, though)
The logic of your comment is not widely understood in MAGA. Their enemy has always been things like healthcare, education, science. Things that made America great . . . ?
One correction, the MAGA's love them their government subsidies. They don't like the fact those other people also get them.
My understanding is that the "well-regulated militia" of the time was, essentially, able-bodied men ready and able to defend their community against aggressors.
As a libertarian-ish guy currently caucusing with the Democrats, I have no problem with that definition, and in light of the increasing potential for governmental, economic, and/or societal collapse, I really wish the Democrats would stop trying to unilaterally disarm.
I actually support 2A. I've got some guns and would be upset if they came to take them away. My problem is that there are currently no qualifications regarding basic sanity or firearms safety. These kids who buy AR's on their 18th birthdays then shoot up Walmarts wouldn't be allowed anywhere near a loaded firearm in our armed forces.
It was all good, though, when their trigger happy constituents were just threatening the Dems back in the pre-Trump days!
Where are these trigger happy, Gadsden flag flying, don’t tread on me constituents? I thought this is what they were locked and loaded for!!
They're fine as long as others are being tread upon. "Don't Tread on Me" has always been code for "Tread on Them".
It is fine when it is"Treading" on the others.
My question exactly! The government has come to take your rights away, kids! Isn't that why you said you needed guns? Where are you? Or did you just need guns to hug in the dark as you cower like the cowards we always knew you were?
Little dick syndrome…
Ammosexuals
Really. Trump's doing about half the things the Oathkeepers swore they would never abide.
They are more concerned with getting re-elected than they are about getting shot--although that calculus is shifting. Never underestimate a politicians desire to stay in office, especially when you do not actually have to DO anything, just mouth the right words.
I disagree. I think they are more afraid for their own physical safety and that of their families. Mitt Romney told his biographer that detail - a rare admission from his colleagues heard only in the cloakroom. Romney himself was paying $5K PER DAY for security for his family. Who did he fear? The people. Judges are being shot, killed, in their homes. Lisa Murkowski said with trepidation, “We are all afraid”.
Hoisted by their own petard then. Who could have thought that allowing increasingly extremist people access to weapons would not be a good thing?
As we say in the teaching profession, after some student screws things up royally and triggers a massive policy change: This is why we can't have nice things.
When it comes to certain things, you kind of have to plan/legislate around the lowest (stupidest) common denominator. That seems to be where most law actually comes from and where we get the stupid labels on everything telling you NOT to do the stupid thing that you are about to do--like use your blowdryer in the bath.
The days of militias died (in reality) during the Civil War with the advent of industrialized warfare... and militias were supposed to be state-sponsered and regulated things for the protection of the individual state from the federal government (oh, and from the slaves). They were never super effective and often caused problems.
Unfortunately, we are all being hoisted. What an imbalance is created by a minority with weapons and the typical concurrence of lack of restraint.
This !!!!
Believe me, GOP Senators know what time it is. They just want someone else to stop the mad king.
Also, more than few of 'em like what time it is.
Absolutely. They perfectly reflect the desires of their voters back home.
ouch
I have my doubts. I got an email from my dad who is not a super hard core Trumpist but who IS a hardcore, this is my tribe. His twists and turns and wild misinterpretations of events combined with issues I had never heard of, were all about justifying and normalizing everything. And I'd love to say it is lack of education but he has a PhD in history and I worry that he is very representative of Republican members of Congress and the Senate.
Operation Big Mac is going to pay off someday?....it better hurry up
The you would have Vance, which is arguably worse. Someone smarter, with a lower level of pathology, and more under the thumb of the techbros who wouldn't be quite so stupid and openly narcissistic about things.
The major thing getting in the way of the authoritarian project is Trump, himself. He is more hated than loved and does openly stupid things. Someone smarter, calmer, and more organized would be much more dangerous--and Trump is dangerous enough as it is.
Things are only going to get worse because the clock is ticking and Trump, et al. can hear those very loud ticks as the midterms approach. They are going to have to speed things up immensely if they are going to negate the midterms.
Last night, Maddow spent time on Harry Reid (a new book on his fighting style), suggesting that we are already "there". The time for strongly worded letters was over before it began. Time for the gophers to surface, from both parties. Do more. Stop letting Trump divert the conversation and flood the zone. Otherwise that bulletproof ballroom "for an inauguration" will usher in.... who? Under what circumstances?
Bullies are best dealt with early and firmly. The GOP failed, utterly. The entire world will pay the price.
I can only see this: the time is now for the Democrats to win both the House and the Senate. This means Democrats winning lots and lots more votes in November, which I can argue means talking to all the American people. Democrats have been lousy at it. They speak a Newspeak which MAGA Newspeak has thoroughly trounced. Can the talking each other on MS NOW out of their torpor wrap it up soon, please?
I miss Harry Reid.
“What can anyone at Davos say or do to prevent the impending catastrophe?”
Excellent comment. Perhaps the better question though would be which ones of these master’s of the universe aren’t in on the grift?
The European leaders know exactly what happening, but they can’t just cut off the US or decouple immediately without causing a global economic meltdown.
However, plans without US military support and reducing their economic reliance on the US are current in the works. Military stocks in Europe are up. India, Canada, France and Great Britain are scaling up their Military capabilities (buying European) and creating separate supply chains outside of the purview of US control.
And while Trump has his heart set on conquering Greenland, the world is replacing fossil fuels for renewables. To get elected, Trump sold his soul to every major industry group; and he’s become obsessed with doubling down on fossil fuels and coal. It’s like betting on a horse and carriage, because the combustible engine is in its infancy; and we all know how well that would have worked out!
That said, solar and wind are gaining ground; becoming cheaper and less polluting and far cheaper to scale than traditional fuel sources. Yet, Trump and his minions decided to leave the US behind; to the detriment of our future economic prospects and our youth!
And if anyone is poisoning the blood of our youth, it isn’t immigrants, unless you’re talking about Musk and Thiel! IMHO..:)
Don't forget project 2025 and Russel Voight. They are reforming the US into an oligharic fascist state. If you haven't read it, do so. But not before bedtime, its chilling. It also calls for a personal presidential military to "curb" dissent. They are relentless and caught many of us who are complacent. I do not think they will let the Democrats takeover the Congress so don't get your hopes up..
100% agree and read it. It is an exact translation of Orban’s original plan in Hungary…:)
We are in hell now. He is trying his damndest to ignite a civil war! Impeachment is the only out, short of the military refusing an illegal order and arresting him and his minions for treason!
OK, I'll admit it. I fantasize a Delta Force extraction mission on a Sunday at Mar a Lago.
The army will support Trump. He got rid of all the generals who spoke out. And dont forget, its always the Colonels who do the dictators bidding.
Instead of one Chamberlain, we have several thousand of them.
What they have in Goebbels, Himmler, and Speer.
Not sure that has not already occured, Don. New version of old saying, Hell hath no fury like a petulant Trump scorned.
I see it differently. We're not in 1930's Germany. We're actually in Tsarist Russia, right before the Bolsheviks stormed the Winter Palace.
Interesting. I haven't looked at it through that lens.
To help you, consider the following:
Let's say you're back to being a schoolchild. Your teacher is constantly heaping praise on you and your work, all day, every day. Even when you didn't really do anything to deserve it. Eventually, the praise loses its luster. It stops being special. You just take it as read that you're going to be praised no matter what.
Threats and violence work in much the same way. ICE and MAGA are constant, daily threat to us all. An extreme threat, yes. But constant. Sooner or later, its not going to seem threatening. Sooner or later, people will stop being afraid and instead will be ready when ICE/MAGA comes to their city/state.
When you constantly push a machine past its limits, something eventually breaks. In this case, it will be this government's ability to control people.
You are 100% right. At first people thought ICE was going after illegal immigrant gang members, but then they went after illegal busboys and street cleaners. No one said anything. Then they went after dark skinned legal immigrants. I said ICE was Trumps private military. Now they shoot citizens who dissent. Next they will harass voters at polling place to make sure "illegals"aren't voting. I worked elections for years. Its virtually impossible for non registered voters to vote. And illegals can't register.
I think you're misunderstanding me. My point is, that when the reward for obedience is the same as the consequence for dissent, people will begin to wonder "What's the point? They're going to kill me either way, so what does it matter whether I comply or resist?"
Do you mean some citizens will determine to put up a fight or go out on their own terms?
It’s fascism plain and simple. And these guys keep taking pseudo legitimate issues and weaponizing them with the most perverse anti-immigrant rhetoric and policies.
Agreed! Essentially, they want to scare immigrants; whether legal or not, to self deport. And if they don’t, they will forever be looking over their shoulder for masked men in unmarked cars, waiting to whisk them away.
This is the strategy, and it’s been tried and trued over time! And ironically, it’s a form of state sponsored terrorism!…:)
Then the important thing they will do is what humans have done since humans have existed. They will build community. They will look out for each other, support and defend each other. They will build trust in one another. When one sees an unmarked van full of masked men coming, they'll raise the alarm so everyone knows a threat has arrived. The community will take up defensive positions. Those who can legally own firearms will openly carry them, and defend members of their community who cannot or will not.
The one thing people at Davos could do to prevent a catastrophe is to quit funding it. They provide enormous amounts of money in hopes of increasing their already enormous fortunes.
That's adorable. You think the tech oligarchs are on the side of the people and Democracy
Davos is cheering on the side of the catastrophe. Chaos is a ladder if you're rich.
This morning Erick son of Erick has been saying that the media will pay more attention to Trump and Greenland instead of protestors at a church in Minnesota. No shit, Erick. Yes, the President and his note are more important than one protest.
Christian victimhood is too valuable a cudgel to let go of.
Amen sister! Pun intended.
The media already has paid way too much attention to protestors at a church in Minneapolis.
They can't pass up an opportunity to "both sides"ANYTHING.
"Sure Trump is fucking up the world, but did you hear about this one thing that happened in ________"
It is their raison d'être......
The right wingers are always mad when their Fox Noise story-of-the-day doesn't dominate every other media outlet. They're always looking for another Bengazhi or email-lady hit episode to rile up and anger their old white viewers.
Well, dang, you killed our guy Charile Kirk so we killed your gal Renee Good. The twisted MAGAt mind of Erik son of Erik son of Erik summons another eye-for-an-eye rationale.
This ride is going to be hell. Given everything that has been happening, I decided to reach out to my MAGA father living in ruby red Idaho to see how he would rationalize Renee Good, and later Greenland as penance for not giving Trump a prize. Keep in mind that this is supposedly a normie Republican. Someone who was a big Reagan fan and thinks the Democratic Party is evil. Typical for a Republican. Here is our conversation verbatim regarding Greenland yesterday.
Me: Come get your boy. He’s taking us to war because he didn’t get a prize. Please explain how this f*cker is following the constitution. Show me where the president has this right. Come on, you think you know it all. Prove it. He’s f*cking insane and you know it. (+Link to Reuters article).
Him: Hahaha..just seeing where you get your information from a bias organization. Says it all! FAKE NEWS!
Me: The letter has been verified as legit. What’s fake about it? (Two pages of duck duck go screen captures shared). Pick your link. (Meme shared showing Fox News replacing a “war is bad” chip with a “war is good” chip in the brains of MAGA).
Him: Ok I’ve read where he has said that. He’s said that as an intimidation tactic. Not to go out and start something. He smart like a fox and he knows and does things for a reason. You go for a triggered response, as the left always does. But it serves a purpose to the goal for a strong u.s.a.
———
These people are lost and do not want to come back to reality.
The darkest aspect of this situation to me is the fact that plenty of MAGA supporters have decided that their allegiance to the cult and the fleeting feelings of superiority it brings them have overridden their emotional capacities for love and devotion. Someone mocking his own son in deference to someone he's never met is a person who has willingly thrown away his capacity for empathy.
The MAGAs NEED to feel the pain. They need to subsist on the starvation diet (concentration camps had a higher calorie count!) that the administration thinks they can survive on. Their small businesses need to crash. It took a global depression to get FDR and wake people up.
I agree with that to an extent. It’s hard to feel superior if the reality is relentlessly unpleasant, and struggle forces people to look outward and reach out to others.
The several decades of relative peace and prosperity in the West occurred because of two world wars and a depression.
In MPLS, businesses are already experiencing this. It is not hard to imagine who. Mexican, Asian or any restaurant for that matter. Some have even closed down because workers won' show up out of fear. It is not just MPLS. It is St Paul. It is Rochester (MN 3rd largest city) and St Cloud.
Having 3rd thoughts about moving to MN if I can't find an affordable rental here! My taxes would be higher than CA, doesn't have Kaiser insurance so my insurance will be higher, the cold would kill me (and Nomi), no mountains and doesn't rely on sunshine for snow removal. :-) Throw in ICE. My sister, who was a child back in the 60s, couldn't find her naturalization paperwork. Will I have to carry mine? They invaded a small town not far from you.
The "fun" part is, when things hit the fan, your Dad can say "I had no idea."
Just like too many who could smell the concentration camp a few miles down the road.
I know too many ppl who still think Trump's biggest fault is that he posts too much. They don't see his danger. After J6 who can trust him does not register, as they believe the Big Lie.
As Charlie Sykes says sarcastically, "If only we were warned".
Actually, he can’t. I have every text message he’s sent me since 2017 saved.
I'll wager a $100 dollar donation to the charity of your choice that he says it anyway. 😀
Jeff, you poor guy! By the way, how many?
That's a lot of paper trail. Respect
Wow, I gave up arguing with my Dad and other stone walls during the pandemic. It must have been a long decade.
He’s convinced them he’s so smart he’s playing 5-D chess, but chess master Gary Kasparov says he’s eating the pieces. I don’t even bother to mention anything political to my best friend from childhood, who used to be a lifelong Democrat until he appeared. It’s like a prion disease.
I'm sorry for you, and all families that are divided on this.
I don't engage with the half of my siblings that have decided to take the maga ride, It's too painful to hear them turn themselves into human pretzels to justify the stupid insanity of this regime. They are beyond understanding, or even meeting halfway. I don't know what they think of this latest Greenland, Venezuela, Minneapolis, East Wing fuckery, and I have no desire to find out.
New Disney Ride: Ride into the abyss. Like the Avatar ride, only in Darkness and you don't know where you are going. kind of like Space Mountain but you don't know when it ends.
Sadly, I have a feeling you know all too well what they think of all the things you listed.
Jeff, you are finding out what I found out a long time ago. You will never convince Ideologues they are wrong regardless of the facts you give them. In fact they double down more and move the goal posts. I have relatives like that and I avoid talking politics ( like the plague) with them.
Thanks for sharing and I'm very sorry that your dad's on the kool-aid. Good for you for being independent, factual and objective.
Regarding the "intimidation tactic"...I'm SO tired of the flocks of Trump supporting flying monkeys constantly reverse engineering everything he says/does such that they say things like: "He was only joking!", "It's 4-d chess", "That's just the way he is...deal with it"
I want to shake them hard and yell at them: "How the F will you ever know if you're being conned if you having to work so hard cleaning up everything he says/does?"
They're off the damn reservation...no question about it. Again...sorry about your dad.
Self-deception is the most powerful deception. Plus he lives in Idaho, a huge echo chamber for his rationalizations. People move to Idaho because they want to live in a mostly white state. (92% white).
He now allows that her killing “was a tragedy,” but thinks Good was led astray by the idea that “protecting illegal aliens,” even criminal ones, is a righteous cause.
Led astray by the teachings of that rabble rouser Jesus Christ, who these fucked up people stand up as their lord and saviour, when in fact, they don't even follow the basics of of his teachings. SHAME on them. There will be a special place in hell for them, one can only hope.
I hear you, Thomas, but I have to say that if one is a Christian, one can only hope and pray for their repentance, not their damnation. The God of "that rabble rouser Jesus Christ" is totally just AND totally merciful, which should give everyone pause. Yes, stand and work against injustice and violence and lies, but IF one is a Christian, the command is to pray for our enemies -- a profoundly unpopular part of the Sermon on the Mount. Personally, I quite dislike it; it makes me very uncomfortable.
Yeah, that turning the other cheek thing ... you mean, right now? Like, today? It's a daily struggle, that's for sure.
You mean, like, THEM? I have to pray for THEM? Wait, let me see the fine print here.
Hypocrisy is a main ingredient in our fragile edifice. Always has been, really.
I have the same issue comparing Renee Good and Ashli Babbitt. Babbitt died deep inside of our Capitol building near a blockaded door with windows being bashed in by a mob. What exactly was she going to do once they breached that barricaded door? Complain about the vending machines being empty?
On the other hand, like you were alluding to, Renee Good was being a nuisance to the cops in order to protect her neighbors....illegal or not...effective or not. You can call it misguided but it sure seems a lot more of a defendable case to my Christian roots and remembering Jesus imploring His followers to "Do the same!" following sharing the parable of the Good Samaritan. Help your neighbors.
I was having a discussion with a MAGA adjacent apologist about Christianity. He(who says he is Christian) asked me about the teachings of Jesus. When I described taking care of the poor and dispossessed, he said, “well, that’s your opinion.”
I hear ya. The scary thing I hear these days is that God is using a broken vessel (i.e. Trump) to accomplish His will. Excuse the French, but how the F can you tell when people are doing bad things...that it's really God's will?
Seemingly the MAGAs get to pick & choose what God's will is these days. I hope that HE's ok with it...
And evolution is just a nice theory, but the Bible shows us that the earth is only 6000 years old....reminds me of something P T Barnum said.
Is the New Testament a closed book to him? Yeesh!
God is money. They and their friends, and anything they like/want are Jesus.
This is the new decoder ring I'm testing out when I'm trying to understand what pieces of shit mean when they intentionally use words they don't seem to understand.
I don't think they believe in Hell. There's been no accountability for the evils they've committed on this plane so why wouldn't their Jesus welcome them into Heaven. They believe they're doing His work.
Oh, they believe in Hell, alright. Hell is for their enemies, i.e., Liberals/Democrats/Socialists/LGBT folks and non-whites who don't know their place. They are perfectly confident that they are the Good Guys and on the side of Light, and therefore justified in anything they do to their enemies.
I guess you are right, I mean they think that Dj tRUMP is the Messiah, JC was just a footnote.
Heaven forbid that the opposition to injustice and brutality be “uncivil.”
Exactly. Like staying seated on a bus when told to stand.
If you turn off, or scare off, the normies, you lose. Attacking churches is an excellent way to convince the majority that your side is at least as bad as ICE.
In America, a thing only happened if the masses see it on a screen - phone, TV, whatever. No matter how obscure or out-of-the-way. It really all comes down to who has the best marketing skills to reach the most eyeballs. After all, more than one MAGA-gun type has done way more to 'attack' a church than chanting in the aisle.
America didn't win it's Independence by writing a Declaration. We won it with murder. Lots of murder. Both on and off the battlefield.
"But the takeaway from Davos, I believe, will be a demonstration of the refusal of the great majority of those assembled there to come to grips with the moment."
But Bill, why would Thiel and Co. "come to grips with the moment" they want in your sense, and why would they want anything else than the dystopia you paint? Their puppet is acting out, in their interest, to gain control of what they see as the next big frontier in mining, drilling, and other environmentally catastrophic activity in the name of Holy Yenom (can't say dollar given the way it is skiing downhill.) THEY LIKE IT, because it makes them even filthier (filthier rich that is.)
A lot of the oligarchs have children. Which apparently they do not love enough.
They think their enclaves, sequestered in places like New Zealand, will provide long term safety and security for them and their families. This may not work out quite as well as they think…
Or they think that they can pay people off. The safety of people (especially the wealthy) is dependent upon the consent of the governed. What if they no longer consent and feel they have nothing to lose?
Elon Musk has 15 children and brings vials of his sperm to parties, in case there might be interest... .Seems more like a science project than a family.
Haha, yes; closer to spawning than a “family”.
For real??!
Yes. The only sort of exaggeration is that I don't know that Musk brings the vial routinely. He did at least once.
Even if he brought that vial one time that one whole episode is covered in ick.
Too much money and not enough brains. I've read that the more money you have the more captive you are to it. You are a prisoner only moving in the circles of your fellow prisoners. What a sterile life.
That is just . . . ick.
Apparently Musk regularly reaches out to women on social media and offers to father a child with them, for $15 million up front and $500K a year after that. Not sure how many women have taken him up on it. Physical contact is not needed.
Appalling AND disgusting, but by now, not surprising.
there have been unverified rumors it is a LOT more offspring than that
I tried to find this story. Sounds like it's a bit of an urban legend. Says Musk offered his semen at a party to a couple that was having trouble conceiving...not that he took his semen with him to the party. Plus, sperm quickly dies within minutes when exposed to air.
Children are great but they cost a lot of money, and don't really bring any in. ;)
Love stands no chance, against a poor ROI.
I'm sure they would tell you that their children are the reason they steal and hoard.
Have you ever seen any passing interactions that JD Vance has with this children. I caught a passing glance at his children walking in with him to the stupid Trump birthday military parade and it was very obvious that JD does not like his kids.
I didn’t see that video, but Vance’s disdainful attitude towards his children is a familiar meme. I saw a video during the campaign, in a grocery store set up, when he asked his children to pretend to be normal, or something along those lines.
I remember reading somewhere that when Trump called Vance to ask him if he'd be his Vice President, the first thing he did was turn & tell his son to " shut the hell up".
This talk about Renee Good's background bugs me in another way: police have no authority to administer summary punishment to anyone. The sole issue is imminent serious or lethal harm to the officer or to some other person. It doesn't matter who they are or what they are alleged to have done.
And ICE has no authority over citizens. They are not local law enforcement.
Authority has nothing to do with it. They have the right to protect themselves from serious harm, same as you and I have.
But, but, but she was fleeing a traffic stop! /s
They don’t see her as fleeing a traffic stop. They see her as deliberately trying to run over an ICE officer (Trump, who is their truth-teller, quickly said SHE DID!!).
I sawthe videos and that didn't happen. Not seeing things for themselves is going to destroy the nation and maybe the world.
Tribalism is a helluva drug.
This country's attitude towards police power is insane. We hear a lot these days about the folly of "defund the police," and I agree it was a bad slogan, but the predominant culture seems to be driven by too many cop shows and people's fantasies of wielding such power themselves, never of being subject to it.
One of the biggest problems I have in talking to people about stuff like this is everyone thinks they're in the trolley trying to decide whether to run over 5 people or 1 person. No! You are tied to the tracks!
"Defund the Police" was a slogan chosen for us by the Right--like "Abolish ICE." Screening of people to become cops is better than it used to be, but it needs to be a whole lot better. I advocate for degrees or Psych or Sociology for cops, and for pay to match.
To be clear, I don't think police are uniformly bad as individuals, but the cultural attitudes about what they are supposed to do and should be permitted to do are a mess. Part of me says that functions requiring a lot of psychology or sociology knowledge should be done by some other type of professional, but I'm not sure. I do think everyone, cops and non-cops, should have much deeper thinking about what the role of cops in society is.
During the George Floyd summer, I could not for the life of me figure out how it was that cops in my town were being blamed for something that happened in Minneapolis. Blaming all cops was wrong, just like blaming all Somalians or all Haitians is wrong.
The amount of fascist bootlickers who think that summary execution is the proper law enforcement response to someone blocking traffic is really disturbing. I had no idea just how many of the "Don't Tread on Me" folks would roll over like a puppy.
As someone who attended a portion of the federal trial for Bundy et al following the takeover of the Malheur National Wildlife Refuge I have the same question. (Those people are cray!). It seems another bit of cognitive dissonance.
I mean, it's always been about raw power and in-group/out-group dynamics. Government force is not to be used on rugged white men with guns, or anyone WASPy. I was homeschooled, and it was a common fear that The Government was gonna show up and take your kids from you.
But now those people are on control, so obviously this all isn't going to be weaponized against them. They can wield it against their enemies, who are obviously the enemies of freedom and liberty.
You gotta remember, a lot of the MAGA/Tea Party types have been living in a weird siege mindset. The godless communist liberals and globalist immigrants wanted to destroy them, wanted to persecute them, hence all the "don't tread on me" signs. The fact that it didn't actually happen was really just lucky coincidence and the power of the law. They really do think people like Obama wanted to destroy America and turn us into Cold-War-era Cuba.
I suppose it's easy to talk tough when you have a system that will protect you. This system will not protect them for any antigovernment protest. It's actually trying to recruit them for ICE.
When pushed to the brink on trying to explain his nonsensical MAGA talk, a coworker broke down to an angry voice yelling, "WE'RE NOT THE OUTCASTS! MAGA'S NOT THE OUTCASTS! DEMOCRATS ARE THE OUTCASTS!"
It really is just the people who were never "in" on the joke or "what's cool" trying to stick it to everyone else. They see nothing said ever matters when you jump to the next thing and pretend like you know what's going. They are frozen adolescent minds.
One recalls the prophetic words of Sir Edward Gray, the British Foreign Secretary as he stood watching Europe descend into the first of the two most catastrophic man-made events in human history (so far). “The lamps are going out all over Europe. We shall not see them lit again in our lifetime”.
He was both more right and more prescient than he knew. Now Trump, the would be Darth Vader of today is reaching to extinguish the lights all over the world. The hand of his minion, Stephen Miller (who seems to be both minion and mentor to Trump) hovers over the controls of the death ray even as Trump talks in grandiose terms of a Board of Peace, which has clear overtones of the Empire.
This is Munich in spades.(and yes, I do love mixing metaphors)
Magic Mountain (so you do not have to read it) - one of the themes is how perception of time passing differs based on how much happens. I.e. the Dog Year that felt
like 4 years that was Trump 2.0.1
The sensation of the relativity of time in "Magic Mountain" is the most impressive part of that novel. I remember looking up from it at times and then flipping back pages to see where the author had "tricked" me into missing the transitions. It's pretty darn brilliant.
I always look at all of this from the standpoint of an attorney who graduated from the University of Chicago Law School in 1983, with all of the learning from that period. Some of my professors traced their legal history and training to the Nuremberg trials and all of the debates about the rule of law and the role of the courts and the law in preserving a civil society, especially Professors Bernard Meltzer and Edward Levi. I remember the discussion and debates about what the courts did and didn’t do and the concepts of retroactive law against officials and when the courts need to make a stand on the application of the law against powerful government officials even when they knew it was likely to be ignored. Let me make it clear that we are nowhere near anything like the situation in Germany before and after the rise and rule of the Nazis. But I can’t stop asking, where is the Supreme Court in all of this now occurring here in a country supposedly guided by the rule of law. If the Supreme Court had ruled promptly that these artificial “emergencies” purporting to allow for tariffs at the whim of the President were beyond Presidential powers, then this nonsense with Greenland and Europe would have been blocked ab initio (couldn’t resist the legal phrase from Latin: from the beginning) and Trump would need Congress to either approve tariffs or there simply are no tariffs. Now with US citizens being arrested and mistreated in clear violation of the Constitution and the rule of law, where the hell are the courts, and above all the Supreme Court? Don’t be misled. The Supreme Court can act promptly and decisively if it so desires. The silence is deafening.
This Supreme Court gave him full immunity! That tells you were they are. Traitors like the entire establishment at the moment.
No, it wasn't quite "full immunity." That's a bit of a mischaracterization of the ruling.
It is effectively full immunity. The words may not say that, but that is functionally what it is. No DoJ of a sitting President is going to prosecute that President... and a prosecution of a past President ny an opposition party President is very unlikely given the recent shitshow with prosecuting Trump.
“Full immunity” is the way Trump thinks of it, just as he characterized the Mueller Report as “total exoneration “.
I keep waiting for the noise to get so loud that the markets (humming loudly and with fingers plugging their ears) finally cave. We saw on “liberation day” that failing markets at least gets Trump’s advisors attention.
So overnight there was a Japanese bond market crash (interest rates spiking) and it has spread to our markets this morning. US 10 yr Treasury rates are now approaching 4.3%, not a good sign for the home mortgage market or Scott Bessent trying to fund our $38 trillion of debt.
If crazy talk doesn’t motivate the elites, perhaps economic pain will?
The market is actually way down right now. I find myself hoping it crashes so that the billionaires become just millionaires. And crypto disappears. I have yet to see a real reason for its existence. It is NOT real - not paper, not gold, not silver, not oil, not even dirt, nothing tangible. It's sole reason for being is to con people into "investing" in an imaginary wet dream of some tech kid using real money.
Well-said. If it’ll rid us of this lunatic in the Oval Office I’d happily watch my entire stock portfolio disappear.
ive been watching this market for a long time now. it goes down and then there's a long climb out ... most of the time its at parity or so around the early afternoon, but not always. I expect a similar pattern today. Whether it will recovery today I dont know but it at least suggests there's weakness to it if the pres continue to follow his plan of attack.
we need that pain and some layoffs. i mean not that i want it but i can't think of anything more "recoverable" than economic issues. we need broad based unhappiness with the president. no more looking the other way my portfolio is doing great stuff.
No, people who lose their jobs will only blame everyone else. They are too far gone down the rabbit hole. Once upon a time, when we all shared a reality, it worked. Not today.
well we will never get everyone. but many people are not loyalists, they just thought they were getting a raise one way or another. let's help dispel them of that notion.
I've asked several Trumpers online by asking them if the Renee Good shooting was a good thing or a bad thing, and they've responded two ways:
1. They say it was bad but then try to justify the shooting and ICE violence.
2. They actively avoid answering the question by attempting to change the subject.
The quiet part (for now) is that MAGAs are either getting a sadistic joy out of seeing someone deemed liberal get shot and killed, and while some of them wouldn't personally pull the trigger themselves, they're happy to vicariously live through people that would. Either that or the constant addiction to rage, fear, and sadism is overriding any empathy they may have once possessed. Unfortunately, for plenty of them, I don't think that there is a bottom to their penchant for cruelty and indifference.
In respect to the Davos conference, I remember a snippet of Rutger Bregman (a Dutch author) being at a conference and scolding the billionaires in the audience by pointing out:
1. Many of them were openly anti-taxation.
2. They were flying in on their personal private jets and listening to lectures about the dangers of climate change and a big societal push being needed to successfully address it.
3. The situation was equivalent to going to a firefighting convention where no one is allowed to talk about water.
I think that a lot of the people in that conference are addicted to the notion of prestige and status to the point where they won't admit to themselves that:
1. Making the world habitable for everyone (including them) is going to require them making major sacrifices to their wealth.
2. The reason the world is in the precarious position it is has a lot to do with people at Davos and decisions and actions they've made.
I agree that it was bad strategy to interrupt the church service, but I'm sure every member of that congregation is aware that Jesus overturned the tables in the temple in protest against the moneychangers there. Conservative Christians talk a lot about being "Christ-like," so there's a pretty direct example there. That said, I think picketing outside would have been far more effective and less polarizing. I do think it's fair to call public attention to this pastor's role in the decidedly un-Christlike behavior of ICE. And it's worth noting that they were effective in doing that. Everyone following the news here in the Twin Cities knows about it now.
One other note--I'm listening to Minnesota Public Radio now, and one thing they are talking about is the drop in church attendance here because ICE is stopping people at church, but that's not getting mentioned much, much less spun up into outrage.
Watch Pat Kahnke, a former evangelical pastor in Minneapolis, on YouTube, especially since all this started not far from where he lives. He’s also on Substack.
I will. Thanks.
“Rosenfeld misses a few things. ICE agents do use nonlethal ammunition, including rubber bullets and pepper balls—primarily against protesters. Given that the Goods were involved with “ICE watch,” it’s very likely that they had heard about these incidents.”
These “right-wing” flamethrowers are missing the point. Most cops use stun guns as a first resort; not bullets. And if this guy truly felt his life was on the line, why was he walking around the vehicle nonchalantly before opening fire, if in fact, he thought she was a threat or even a domestic terrorist?
This guy wasn’t worried, and made his feelings known right after the shooting when he said: F**king B**tch! The only thing missing was a slur for lesbian.
Bottom line, the use of the phrase domestic terrorist should be criticized in every conversation. They guys don’t get to make up laws by decree or executive order. It’s time some democratic leaders grow a pair or a spine, because even though Trump is a lunatic; his chaos is winning the day. Time to regroup and shut this horror show down! IMHO…:)
When we see something like slavery, we are sickened. When we see something like man's inhumanity to humanity, we are apalled. When we see democracy turned upside down - turned into a force and weapon of one man's will, we know it's wrong. There is no, "other side of the story," that balances it out.
When we see humans treated as a means to an end, we should know that this type of behavior breaks a categorical imperative of morality. Rather than this being some some high-level philosophical concept, this type of behavior is felt. When we see this type of behavior we experience it with revulsion and fear. This fear is a message to the deep core of our humanity that something is wrong! We know it's wrong. We.just.know.it.
Europe has seen this kind of avarice and immorality many times in the last one hundred years. Maybe if they haven't seen it, their mothers and fathers have. None of this is new. It's just new to us. European leaders should have some good advice for us and the world.
"Hey, European leaders, we need your help here. We're new to this. We don't know how to handle it."
I am going to qualify this with some: some are sickened, some are appalled and some know it’s wrong. The institution of slavery did not exist because too many were sickened by it — the exact opposite; not enough were sickened and you can do down the line.
As for the Europeans, I suggest you look at the last German election. Yes, once again they rearranged the deck chairs of the traditional parties, but if you look a little bit deeper the neo-Nazi AFD was the 1st or 2nd choice for everyone under 45 years of age. That isn’t sustainable in the long run. They are more committed for now as the European Union is a long term project they are all invested in, but when you look under the hood of the national politics, it isn’t pretty.
Good points, all. I guess I'm a bit optimistic about the majority of us.
A little Immanuel Kant this early in the morning. Impressive.
I know. Tis the moment to pull out the heavy artillery.