Political Cataclysm

[PAL]

And another article-Yarvin. In it he says Trump can declare a state of emergency in his Inaguaral address and then power would be absolute.
MAGA crowd has no idea what they may be getting.
I do wonder what the long term effects of Ketamine are.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/opinion/ ... 9eb1&ei=94
And surely in jest, speaker Mike Johnson asked Elon if he would want to be Speaker of the House? MTG is all for it.

[just-jim]

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Great…..a nazi oligarch on Ketamine - along with a president on Adderall. What could possibly go wrong?
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[PAL]

So this explains the problem with Elon being our leader.

https://www.msn.com/en-us/health/other/ ... 972c&ei=40

[mister_coffee]

….nor the rest of us.

Yes, it certainly won't. And I care far more about what happens to the rest of us than I do about what happens to people like Elon and Donald.

I do find some cold comfort in the fact that the vast majority of the people who voted for this insanity will suffer far more than I will.

When I try to comprehend what has happened to us I keep reminding myself that abused and traumatized people do self-destructive things.

[just-jim]

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Next up?

Pee-Pants and Elon’s bromance falls apart. Dementia donny fires Elon…..

https://www.msn.com/en-us/money/markets ... r-AA1veVo6

An endless twitter-spat ensues….
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[Rideback]

‪Seth Abramson‬ ‪@sethabramson.bsky.social‬
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2h
CNN confirmed on-air just now that top Trump aides are furiously calling journalists to insist that Elon Musk has been following the orders of Trump rather than the other way around. As predicted, Trump is horrified and enraged at the idea that Musk is now seen as the President of the United States.

[just-jim]

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I think you are more right - than not - in both your last 2 posts, David.

This whole thing with Musk is not going to end well….not for him or Pee-Pants….nor the rest of us.
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[mister_coffee]

The other institutional weakness of the Rs that is on display this week is that the current CR drama shows that the Republicans cannot cooperate with each other, even if it is in the best interest of all of them to do so. That is one more reason I doubt that the near-future Mump Regime will be very stable or survive very long. One way or the other.

[mister_coffee]

It is pretty obvious to me that nobody has thought this all the way through.

The recent murder of the United Healthcare CEO shows that the popular view of the ultra-rich and ultra-powerful is somewhere between antipathy and incandescent hatred. Elon Musk could easily become the poster boy for that. That could make the close alliance between The Elon and The Donald a huge millstone around the neck of the second Trump presidency.

If the Democrats are smart (a huge if) they will go after this hammer and tongs. Making everything about Elon is literally a way to kill two birds with one boulder: Trump has a frail ego and needs to be the center of attention. Talking around him and talking like Elon is really running things hits him square in the ego. And like I said the ultra-rich are very unpopular in this country right now and that unpopularity crosses party lines and could also undermine Trump with his base.

Whoever figures out how to harness the current hatred for the ultra-rich politically will probably own the government for the next generation. There is no future in defending the ultra-rich at this point.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2yuZp5JX2mI

[just-jim]

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Historian Timothy Snyder calls this new regime ‘Mump’, today:

https://snyder.substack.com/p/the-mump-regime

“How to call this thing that is coming to America in a month?

"Administration" seems inaccurate, since it assumes that the elected president just administers a government for four years, whereas Trump clearly wants to rule indefinitely. It also seems wrong since the people he has appointed will chiefly break things rather than run them.

And so "regime" rather than administration. But whose?
It's not Trump's. He's a poor man, compared to Musk. And he owes Musk a great debt, more than he owes his voters or his other donors. Looking ahead, it will be Musk, not Trump, who pays for all the lawsuits to quiet the rest of us, or for the campaigns to primary dissenting Republicans.

It's funny to say "President Musk," but that's not quite right: we face a situation in which the officeholder has less power than than the moneybag. In another post I called this "Trumpomuskovia." But perhaps Musk’s name should really come first, before Trump’s. Mu…mp…

And so "Mump." The Mump Regime.

And that recalls a very essential element of the collapse. One weakness of democracy in the United States has always been public health. The lack of a national health system brings us shorter lives, greater anxiety, and less freedom.

Now, with RFK Jr., we face the rollback of vaccinations, and thus a return, precisely, of mumps. And rubella and measles, which are halted by the same vaccine. And much else. The rest of oligarchical cabinet will weaken government by law through incompetence, spite, or avarice. But RFK Jr. will break society by making us sick.

And, thus, another reason to call this thing the Mump Regime. Get ready.”
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[mister_coffee]

Well, on the bright side, I think it is safe to say that Donald Trump is no longer the most dangerous person in American politics.

[Rideback]

Getting the CR passed to keep the doors open is proving to be a whole lot harder for the Rep House since Musk and Trump decided to intervene. Trump figures the easiest way out is just to stop balancing the budget and force the Legislative branch of govt to give up their independence.
https://www.mediaite.com/tv/chip-roy-lo ... bEVBiWm7CA

'Rep. Chip Roy (R-TX) lost it at his Republican colleagues on the House floor, Thursday over their decision to back a bill which would raise the debt ceiling by trillions of dollars.

After President-elect Donald Trump railed against Roy on social media for refusing to toe the party line, Roy delivered a heated speech accusing his colleagues of betraying their constituents:

What we’re doing right now is to continue to double down on the things that are destroying the Republic. We are going to increase the debt ceiling not just four trillion, that’s false. We have spent $4.7 trillion in additional debt in the last nineteen months. We’re gonna increase the debt by $5 trillion. That’s what’s gonna happen. Right here, by Republicans, increasing the debt $5 trillion, and what are you doing in the same bill? $110 billion unpaid for! Because you never have any ounce of self-respect to go out and campaign, saying you’re going to do balance the budget, and then you come in here and pass $110 billion unpaid for!'

There's always a fight over the budget but there's never been an unelected billionaire pulling the levers of power like this before with a President elect bending a knee to him to do what 'works for him, not the American people'.
https://www.mediaite.com/tv/house-repub ... BHxx238mQg

And then there's this:

‪Steven Beschloss‬ ‪@stevenbeschloss.bsky.social‬
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4m
This is what Elon Musk is after. He’s not the cool guy who makes electric cars and launches rockets. He’s a fascist who wants white supremacist control and all the riches to accrue to him.

‪Bill Kristol‬ ‪@billkristolbulwark.bsky.social‬
·
2h
I think this should be kind of a big deal: Elon Musk tweeting at 1:03am, “Only the AfD can save Germany.”

The AfD is Germany’s neo-Nazi party.

[Rideback]

Trump did not win a clear mandate. His win was less than 50% of the voters and in the week after the election one of the most common google searches was 'how can I change my vote?'.

Watching the fiasco today where Musk has convinced not just the Rep House but Trump as well not to pass a CR is mind boggling.

"A bunch of cry baby billionaires who never served in the military want to force millions of our troops to go without pay at Christmas.

But do go on about the price of eggs won’t you." seems an appropriate observation.

[PAL]

They profess to care so much for children and unborn babies. Look what was cut by President Elon.
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/politics ... 27ed&ei=66

[mister_coffee]

People can complain all they want, but President Elon Musk was given a clear mandate by the voters in November.

[just-jim]

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And the wise farmers and ranchers I know - when THEY have problem?

They consult someone with a DVM, or an agronomist, range specialist or botanist with a BS, MS, or PhD behind their name.

Not some drooling fool on the corner.
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[Rideback]

Pretty sure those wise farmers you listen to would be the first to tell you that when their family is sick they go to a doctor, you know, the ones with the letters of higher education like MD after their names? Likewise, when they need advice on their taxes they go to their accountant, you know the one with the letters CPA after their name.

That's what makes them wise, they know what they know and they know what they don't know so they seek help from people who have had specialized training.

[dorankj]

And yet you’re a reprobate asshole who won’t even follow through with basic morality and principles. Keep it up keyboard jackwagon, everyone here knows you’re an empty blowhard.

[just-jim]

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And you are a prime example……

Im glad you finally recognize that I am better educated, more well read and smarter than you are. As are most of us here.
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[mister_coffee]

I don't think it is worth the bytes to engage in a debate with anyone whose morality and common sense are so rotted out as to vote for a rapist. For any elected position. And if you feel the need to debate about whether it was "technically rape" you are losing.

It isn't really that difficult:

Rape is bad.

Rapists are bad.

If you knowingly enable a rapist you are a bad person.

[Rideback]

Per the trial judge:
"The definition of rape in the New York Penal Law is far narrower than the meaning of 'rape' in common modern parlance, its definition in some dictionaries, in some federal and state criminal statutes, and elsewhere," he wrote.

However, Kaplan emphasized this did not mean Carroll "failed to prove that Mr. Trump 'raped' her as many people commonly understand the word 'rape.'"

For those that missed it, Trump was found guilty of sexual assault by the jury. That was as far as the jury could go under NY law as Trump penetrated her violently with his fingers not his penis. Rape is all about violence.

[mister_coffee]

Common sense at one time was:

1. You cured disease with leeches.
2. Witches were real.
3. The Earth was flat.

Damn those pointy-headed overeducated fools for correcting us!

[just-jim]

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Once again - dim-wit - there was NO bet. Here’s the whole string of posts about that - 3+ months ago.

https://chewack.com/bb/viewtopic.php?t=1764&hilit=Bet

Are you really that thick? Or, just generally - and willingly - stupid all the time?
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[dorankj]

And you are a prime example jackass, pay your bet!

[just-jim]

….Over educated idiots run rampant these days. I’ll take a wise and principled ranch or farm worker who uses practicality and experience over some knucklehead with lots of letters behind their name but no real world wisdom or more likely an agenda to push.

Yep, everytime I need Medical advice, or help with astrophysics, virology or some knotty Economics quandary - I go look up Clem at the feed-yard; he only made through 10th grade - but I’m pretty sure he knows EVERYTHING!

One dumb-sh+t taking advice from another dumba*s still adds up to Exactly 0!

You know, at the end of the Dark Age humanity went through the ‘Enlightenment’ - where reason, logic, empiricism and scientific expertise prevailed. That’s began almost 400 years ago.

I guess some knuckle dragging idiots still walk among us…..