Man, it sure is easy to walk into the office and shred all past agreements, burn down policies that have been in place for a generation, and not bother to replace them with anything. Trump is firing people left and right and sweeping away useful programs.
U.S. President Donald Trump ‘s administration moved Tuesday to end affirmative action in federal contracting and directed that all federal diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) staff be put on paid leave and eventually be laid off.
The moves follow an executive order Trump signed on his first day ordering a sweeping dismantling of the federal government’s diversity and inclusion programs that could touch on everything from anti-bias training to funding for minority farmers and homeowners. Trump has called the programs “discrimination” and insisted on restoring strictly “merit-based” hiring.
The executive order on affirmative action revokes an order issued by U.S. president Lyndon Johnson, and curtails DEI programs by federal contractors and grant recipients.
Sure, let’s tear down all the progress made since the 1960s. Dismantle the Great Society programs, since we’re now a small, mean, nasty society. Also, don’t you dare try to preserve them by renaming them.
Agencies must also cancel any DEI-related training and end any related contracts, and federal workers are being asked to report to Trump’s Office of Personnel Management if they suspect any DEI-related program has been renamed to obfuscate its purpose within 10 days or face “adverse consequences.”
I’m at a state university, so this doesn’t affect us yet, but I know people involved in Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion programs at the University of Minnesota; I’ve taken DEI training on several occasions. They’re good people and it’s useful information. How can you have “merit-based” hiring if you don’t recognize the existence of policies and attitudes and social pressures that work against merit? I think that’s the problem — they don’t recognize the existence of bigotry and bias while they practice them to the maximum degree.
While they’re taking a wrecking ball to our institutions, here’s another one: the US is pulling out of the World Health Organization.
The World Health Organization regrets the announcement that the United States of America intends to withdraw from the Organization. WHO plays a crucial role in protecting the health and security of the world’s people, including Americans, by addressing the root causes of disease, building stronger health systems, and detecting, preventing and responding to health emergencies, including disease outbreaks, often in dangerous places where others cannot go. The United States was a founding member of WHO in 1948 and has participated in shaping and governing WHO’s work ever since, alongside 193 other Member States, including through its active participation in the World Health Assembly and Executive Board. For over seven decades, WHO and the USA have saved countless lives and protected Americans and all people from health threats. Together, we ended smallpox, and together we have brought polio to the brink of eradication. American institutions have contributed to and benefited from membership in WHO. With the participation of the United States and other Member States, WHO has over the past 7 years implemented the largest set of reforms in its history, to transform our accountability, cost- effectiveness, and impact in countries. This work continues. We hope the United States will reconsider and we look forward to engaging in constructive dialogue to maintain the partnership between the USA and WHO, for the benefit of the health and well- being of millions of people around the globe.
The Trump administration is listening to RFK jr, a notorious crank and quack. We’re slowly emerging from a pandemic (one could argue that it’s not at all over), one that first emerged in Asia, and here we are, tearing down connections to the rest of the world and blinding ourselves to diseases outside of our little country. It’s stupid and short-sighted.
What happens in four years (we hope)? Do we just go crawling back to these international societies, hat in hand, and beg to be let back in? These betrayals are going to permanently damage our relationship with the rest of the world; they know we can’t be trusted, so every international relationship is going to be organized with the understanding that the USA is an unreliable partner.
Yeah, with the way the political divide has been for some years now, who is going to trust any agreements with a country that you know will just break them in four years time when the other party is in office. Another reason why first past the post is so stupid.
Much as I’d like to be wrong, I’m starting to feel like I’m living in Berlin in the 1930s.
According to the members of the Useless Left, that’s the fault of Genocide Joe for not winning the last election. The last election in which they did everything to make him lose, but somehow it’s not their fault.
Augustus, No. 3, I recognize those arguments because I made them myself in 2000 when I voted for Ralph Nader because Al Gore wasn’t progressive enough, only to get George Bush for eight years as the booby prize. I learned from that mistake and have not voted third party since. But it seems enough people on the useless left never do.
American politics works the way it works, like it or not, and the left does nobody any favors by pretending otherwise. I’d rather have someone I agree with 75% of the time than someone I agree with 25% of the time.
Thanks Vicar, beholder and all those others who did NOT vote for or argue and fight for Kamala Harris when you had the chance. Who put him in power instead of her.
You’ve fucked us all up royally and if only, if only, if only karma was an actual thing that only applied to you. Not the people who do NOT deserve what is now coming and now already happening because of you.
Sadly it ain’t.
Do your best yáll. Resist, oppose, help.
Endure.
Fight back.
Please.
Repeating my request to have the habitual liars from the Useless Left like Vicar, beholder and co. banned. It’s time these goobers feel at least some consequences for their frankly sociopathic tomfoolery.
I’m considering it. But if I did that, I’d be removing some of our favorite chew toys!
AugustusVerger : Joe Biden wasn’t even the candidate. Admittedly he probly shouldve resigned in favour of Kamala Harris about halfway thro’his term but, welm alternatiev universes, waht if ‘s and all.
In fact Biden never comitted genocuide – that’d be Netanyahu doing that. Against Biden’s calls for restraint and criticism and advice.. Among others like the actual genocidaire the Shit-Stein self- proclaimed tankie “leftists” who <3 Putin supported & empowered . Incliuding all too soon Trump. Will they call him Genocide Don or just cheer their actual orange idol on d’ýa reckon?
I am getting sick of reading the same back and forth accusations in these comments, even though I agree much more with one camp than the other.
Concerning that, I can recommend Brecht’s “Furcht und Elend des Dritten Reiches”, especially scene 4 “Die Moorsoldaten”, with a great English translation starting on page 21 here.
The Useless Left doesn’t care. They think they’re being superior and shrewd by not voting (or throwing their vote away) and are fishing for excuses to justify their immaturity and indolence. Any excuse from any source will do because the goal is to make them feel better about themselves, not to actually get anything done.
QFT.
They should because we are now an unreliable partner.
Trump and the GOP never learned one of the first rules in Kindergarten.
Be nice to your friends or you won’t have any.
It is all very stupid and self harming.
Who benefits from the USA shredding all our international treaties and pulling out of such useful and benign institutions as the World Health Organization are….our enemies.
Right now that would be Russia, China, North Korea, Iran, and Yemen.
Being a responsible and influential member of the world community is what is called “Soft Power”. Instead of using guns, bombs, jet planes, and the military to project power, we use positive activities.
Positive activities like funding medical research on infectious diseases, running a University system that is the best in the world with a lot of foreign students, foreign aid to developing nations, etc..
Soft Power can be and is quite effective and has the advantage that it doesn’t leave piles of dead bodies behind, a lot of hatred behind, and a bloody history.
@7. PZ Myers : Could we have a poll?
That we could pharyngulate?
Good ole days…
Clarity fix – @ 3. AugustusVerger :“According to the members of the Useless Left, that’s the fault of Genocide Joe for not winning the last election. The last election in which they did everything to make him lose, but somehow it’s not their fault.”
An election that Joe Biden wasn’t even running in. But in which they targeted him & blamed him for anyhow.
In fact, Biden never personally committed genocide – that’d be Netanyahu doing that. Among others like the actual genocidaire Putin that the Shit-Stein self-proclaimed “leftists” tankies supported & empowered along with his puppet Trump who will all too soon be committing genocide on Palestinians as well as Ukrainians and then others now thanks to them. Will they call him “Genocide Don” or just cheer their actual orange & homophobic idol on d’ýa reckon?
Ignoring that Biden’s called for restraint and criticised Netayhau and advised him against what he’s doing and got into screaming matches over the phone with him but, yeah, Trump who said Netanyahu should go further and “finish the job” was somehow better in their deluded minds. For ..reasons..
I’ve been having an intense discussion with my brother in Massachusetts over what’s occurred over the past 48 hours.
We feel like we should be doing something, but what? We both feel impotent. What would we have been able to do in 1933 Germany, even knowing everything we do today? We’re seeing the classic authoritarian takeover tactics using legal, constitutional means to destroy the democratic state. The real question is, just how far does Trump intend to take his fantasies?
We’ve already seen what these goobers do during Trump’s first staining of the White House, they’ll blame the Democratic party for any republican evil anyway.
Good question.
Just do what you can and don’t lose hope.
Trump didn’t even get 50% of the vote. Or all that much more than Kamala Harris. They don’t have a mandate, they have a very slight plurality.
I donate to my causes, Wikipedia, the animal shelter, FFRF, the Democratic party, etc..
I keep informed and read and post on social media, which these days is…Freethoughtblogs.
Trump lost his first reelection because the GOP was massively incompetent when they actually had to do something. Which was deal with a novel pandemic which ended up killing 1.4 million Americans.
The GOP future is contingent on what they actually do in the next 4 years and therefore is unpredictable.
If they carry out what they threaten, the rich will get richer and the rest of the USA will get poorer.
The voters might not like that.
@15 raven
Why should that suddenly be a dealbreaker now, when it hasn’t been for the past 50 years?
Trump in his incoherent clueless way actually does have an economic plan to Make America Great Again.
.1. Tariffs on imports.
This is supposed to allow the GOP to lower taxes, replacing them with tariffs.
This will also cause US manufacturing to go up because we have to make stuff rather than buy it from China, Canada, Mexico, and the EU.
More US manufacturing = more US jobs.
.2. Increase oil and gas production.
The USA is already the world’s largest oil producer.
We could do what Saudi Arabia and the UAE does, export billions of barrels of oil a day and collect a lot of money.
Needless to say, there are problems with both of these tactics.
.3. Instead of being economic magic, the tariffs if high enough, will just decrease our GDP by at least a percentage point or two.
Unless the tariffs are really high, say 25% to 50%, we will just pay them and import stuff any way. While our exports go down because our trading partners also enact tariffs.
We are also already at full employment any way.
We don’t need more jobs, we need more jobs that pay more money so people can afford our expensive housing, auto, and college prices.
.4. Drill baby drill.
Nothing new here. That is what we’ve been doing for the last 20 years.
The problem with increasing oil production is that the price of oil will fall if supply exceeds demand. Which is already happening.
Oil today is $75/barrel,. It’s been a lot higher in the recent past.
The oil companies and OPEC like to keep supply and demand balanced so the oil price isn’t too high but high enough that they still make huge amounts of profit.
So will the GOP plan work to make the average US citizen richer?
Or will it wreck the economy?
We won’t know until it happens so watch what happens.
@13 – John Watts “The real question is, just how far does Trump intend to take his fantasies?”
That has a simple answer and a few of us recognized it years ago. All the way, non-stop until he controls everything and everybody, there is no limit to what Trump will do. He is even challenging Putin with some of his new rhetoric. Yes, he has no limits, and I have been saying this for years. If I read one more headline that says “A new low for Trump” or the Republican Party, I will puke on my laptop. The Democrats needed to see this from the moment Biden took office in 2020. Trump needed to be prosecuted earlier in Biden’s term, but the weak Democrats didn’t want to look like they were using the judicial system to go after Trump, a criminal. Now Trump will do exactly what the Democrats were afraid to do. Unfortunately, Trump gets a pass no matter what next outrageous stunt he pulls. Now look at what we are stuck with.
Trump does not care if his legacy is good or bad, only that it is the most viewed, talked about and publicized in the history of America (or the entire world for that matter). Until someone or something can put up boundaries to control how much he can away with, we are doomed to tolerate his every whim.
PS, Biden (and the Democrats) stupidly didn’t take advantage of the Presidential Immunity given to him by the enemy (SCOTUS). They were handed a gun and decided to shoot themselves.
My view may sound extreme, but the other extreme is winning, good luck with what happens. I’m curling up and protecting myself as best I can unless I see a force that can counter the MAGA tsunami. And I believe even this safe place is not safe from the fascists.
I would say that I eagerly await the result of the next inevitable pandemic to hit America but we have a federal election over here in Australia and the leading candidate is appropriately nicknamed Il-Duce.
If you start banning people, you might get more useful commentary again. Chewtoys and people who incoherently chew on them are equally useless and drown out any exchange of ideas.
You say this like history hasn’t happened. Yes, that is exactly what the US did after W, and after Trump. And yes, the betrayals did permanently damage the US relationship with the rest of the world. Trump isn’t wrong that the US isn’t nearly as respected as it used to be. He’s just completely backwards on the reasons why it isn’t respected.
stuffin@18: yup. Biden was a terribly weak president, the historical record will show. He refused to use his powers to deal with the singular issue facing the country and the world, which is fascism. He’ll be compared to Chamberlain and von Hindenburg. Obama achieved a fair amount else, so his weakness against fascism isn’t so glaring, but he also excused a lot of crimes by his predecessor.
raven@17: drilling oil in the face of the end of demand growth isn’t a great policy for economic growth. Demand growth for oil assumes that China and middle-income countries buy up a lot of cars that burn gasoline. China is buying up a lot of cars … but they are increasingly electric. And it has enough capacity to flood the global market with electric cars. Countries that are increasing their car fleets are going to hop straight to electric, rather than buying up gasoline cars, while Europe and the US will have improving efficiency in their own fleets.
So the oil market is extremely screwed. And they know this; oil majors haven’t significantly invested in exploration in a decade, and they’ve given up on developing in expensive areas like the high arctic.
According to the members of the Useless Left, that’s the fault of Genocide Joe for not winning the last election.
Actually, yes, to a very real degree it IS Biden’s and Harris’s fault for not taking a sufficiently clear PUBLIC stand against Israel’s actions when they knew they could have. They had a chance to rally their constituents, and instead they flat-out said “Oh gosh no, we’re not taking a meaningful stand against Israel AT ALL!” Yes, they were indeed criticizing Beginyahu’s actions IN PRIVATE, which is good — but their refusal to take it public told everyone (rightly or not) that they were totally unwilling to take a stand against the Israel lobby. That’s why so many voters got discouraged and stayed home.
“What happens in four years (we hope)? Do we just go crawling back to these international societies, hat in hand, and beg to be let back in?”
Bold of you to assume the US will still exist as a nation in 4 years.
One reason Trump is pulling the USA out of WHO is because, according to Trump, America is being ripped off. He says this because the USA provides 22% of WHO funding. The USA is certainly WHO’s largest contributor but of course he ignores the fact that America has about 31% of the world’s wealth. Nor does he acknowledge that other countries do proportionally more: Germany for example provides 7.5% of WHO funding while having only 4% of the world’s wealth. Even Canada, which apparently engages in unfair trading practices with the USA, provides almost 3% of WHO funding while holding 2.5% of the world’s wealth.
I have a friend from college who is from Palestine and has family that still lives there. She was determined to vote 3rd party because Harris seemed poised to continue Biden’s position towards Palestine. A few of us tried to explain to her that Trump would be a hell of a lot worse, but she persisted. I understand why she felt the way she did, but I couldn’t understand that she couldn’t see that Trump didn’t care and would probably make things a lot worse. I mean, talk about voting against your own self-interest! She is normally a lot smarter than that.
If the magat is successful in removing all diversity, equity and inclusion (DEI) from society, all that remains will be imbecilic, murderous, sociopathic magat clones.
Martha and the Vandellas were right: Nowhere to Run to baby, nowhere to hide!
Didn’t some (in)famous person talk about being in some sort of a spiral???
@ 15 raven wrote: I donate to my causes, Wikipedia, the animal shelter, FFRF, the Democratic party,
I reply: We respect and appreciate your thoughtful contributions here. We donate to those same causes with the important exception of the democratic party. We see the DNC as being a corrupt supporter of corporate welfare. We DO however, contribute to individual democrats who show they work in support of ‘people issues’. I respectfully request that you consider doing the same.
@6 AugustusVerger wrote: Repeating my request to have the habitual liars from the Useless Left like Vicar, beholder and co. banned.
PZ said he is considering it.
I reply: It is PZ’s site. He can ban them if he wants. I agree that some of the opinions are corrosive. However, I think that PZ considers banning a rather drastic and final act. And, I see there are issues of whether he wants all the readers/commenters to be just a bunch of ‘yes, men’ (pardon the stupid gender reference). Also, on a related topic, the comments here so far have been on topic. I hope I do not have to wade through an endless morass of childish ad hominem comments.
However, PZ has the last word. (to use a silly paraphrase: ‘we comment at the PZ’s pleasure’)
@ pwdm – One reason Trump is pulling the USA out of WHO is because, according to Trump, America is being ripped off.
Anytime Trump claims America is being ripped off, he means he isn’t getting a cut.
What do we do now? For a start, educate yourself. For example, thanks to Belle of the Ranch on YT, I just learned there are three kinds of “Executive things” that Presidents do: Orders, Memoranda, and Actions, and depending on which one is used tells you a lot about how serious the President is about the topic at hand. I still am not 100% confident on this topic, but it appears that if Trump uses an Executive Action, you can be pretty sure he is just BSing you.
Also, now is the time to get on the email lists for ALL of your representatives: Federal, State, AND local, and start reading their releases so you know who is an actual ally and who is a wolf in sheep’s clothing.
Knowledge is Power.
Funny how that often happens as morning dawns on another continent.
John Watts @13: Some things you can do:
Join forces with people near you to make your local community better and stronger. Define ‘local community’ whichever way makes sense to you.
Join a local organization that is opposing Trump’s agenda in some way. For instance, I joined my local indivisible group. Yesterday we met with the staffers of our senators to tell them we demand that they protect the vulnerable. Some organizations have ways individual members can take action in protecting people who are targeted by the new policies.
@24 Artor
Whenever I hear “OMG we have four years of this to deal with!” I know I’m dealing with someone who doesn’t understand the situation.
This is a current thought circulating on the internet.
A lot of time, Trump with his executive orders is claiming powers he doesn’t have.
A good example is “ending birthright citizenship.”
He doesn’t have that power and is already being sued by a large number of influential people including 22 states.
Call him on it. Just say no.
A few of us tried to explain to her that Trump would be a hell of a lot worse [for Palestinians], but she persisted.
And, once again, actual Palestinians on the ground get screwed over by people, and nations, claiming to be their allies. I’m willing to bet that Stein and everyone in that whole “abandon Harris” campaign were paid and manipulated by the Israel lobby, just as Hamas were allowed and invited to attack Israel on 10/7.
Raging Bee @ # 23: … they were indeed criticizing Beginyahu’s actions … but their refusal to take it public told everyone (rightly or not) that they were totally unwilling to take a stand against the Israel lobby. That’s why so many voters got discouraged and stayed home.
I have to doubt that: Israel/Palestine didn’t even make the top 10 list of US voters’ concerns. “Foreign policy” as a whole barely made it to # 4.
And even among those who care, anti-genocide feeling is weak: … a plurality of Americans (36%) say they are unsure about Israel’s handling of the conflict. [emphasis added]
@17 Raven
Unless the tariffs are really high, say 25% to 50%
Trump has been threatening Canada and Mexico with 25% tariffs on 100% of imports to the USA for some time. The original threat was to implement them on January 20, 2025. It looks like the threat is postponed until February 1, 2025 or even into April of 2025. I am not sure just how intelligent it really is to start trade wars with your two largest and closest trading partners but oh well.
Not to worry really, the USA only imports about US$892 billion a year from us.
We, both, have our war rooms up and staffed.
Trump has been threatening 100% tariffs on BRICS members but I am not sure under exactly what circumstances and dates. It is not clear if these threats cover just BRICS members or also partners, that is candidate members. Not to worry, it’s only a small number of countries.
Country Status
Brazil Member
China Member
Egypt Member
Ethiopia Member
India Member
Indonesia Member
Iran Member
Russia Member
South Africa Member
UAE Member
Belarus Partner
Bolivia Partner
Cuba Partner
Kazakhstan Partner
Malaysia Partner
Thailand Partner
Uganda Partner
Uzbekistan Partner
This is besides threatening to invade and seize Greenland and Panama. Invading Greenland should be fun as it means invading a fellow NATO country and invokes Article V of the North Atlantic Treaty.
Pierce: That poll doesn’t mean there wasn’t a significant number of people abandoning Harris over Palestine; nor does it mean that abandonment didn’t or couldn’t make a difference. But hey, if Democrats made their choices by reading polls like that one, it certainly wouldn’t be their first time making that disgraceful mistake. And snatching defeat from the laws of victory as a result.
Another thing that poll seems to have missed: when a candidate shows lack of spine or leadership on one issue, it doesn’t just alienate people who care about that issue. It alienates EVERYONE who expects to see courage and leadership on whatever issues concern them.
People need leaders to actually lead, and they won’t follow — or vote for — someone who doesn’t act like they want to lead.
Oh, good. The echo chamber has started up again. “Biden didn’t commit the genocide”. No, neither did Netanyahu, if you’re going to get disingenuously nit-picky about it. In fact, since you need to kill huge numbers of people for there to be a genocide, no single person committed one, which means that the sum of all their guilt must be zero, and so I guess the genocide must not have existed at all, contrary to every single academic authority outside the US and Israel and most of them inside as well! Hooray! Biden only constantly lied to the public about the status of ceasefire negotiations, refused to enforce any red lines against Israel, repeatedly told everybody that his support for Israel was “unconditional” to remove any doubt, repeated lies about the justification for the whole thing which had long since been discredited, asked Congress for more aid for Israel long after red lines had been crossed and lies had been discredited, and also sent the maximum single amount of aid the President is permitted to send without Congressional approval to Israel as often as 90 times in 3 months. Several Israeli government officials said in the first few months that they couldn’t keep their attacks up without US funding, but obviously Biden’s guarantee of funding is not participation in genocide — neither are the small but significant numbers of US troops who were actually deployed to Gaza to help Israel, which cannot possibly have been there without Biden’s direct knowledge and consent. (I was able to find one of the links, that time.) And, of course, just as one of Obama’s last actions was to get Congress to fund refurbishing the existing nuclear arsenal and building new “tactical” ones — ones meant to be sent out with troops and used in battle instead of sitting in a silo as a deterrent, so that doomsday is now something any high-level military commander can set off, just in time for Trump to fill the military with his supporters — one of Biden’s final acts in office, when he no longer had to face any repercussions if he didn’t do what anybody wanted, was to sign off on billions more in aid to Israel. No genocide there! …you people physically sicken me; these word games you’re playing, desperately trying to absolve your party from crimes against humanity which they are blatantly participating in, are puerile.
You know what? Fine. I’m done. Watching you guys make excuses for the Democratic Party, which has deliberately been throwing away the future with both hands about 95% of the time since 1992, is just painful, and I’ve been coming back here less and less often because of it, and now I think I’m just going to stay away. I can get the same level of insight you guys show by reading the Twitter feed of Chuck Schumer — who just called for Democrats in the Senate to act with “bipartisanship”, when a majority is Trump-Republican. I’m sure he’s lining up to lead the #resistance! Why, he’ll probably go so far as to shake his head when the Republicans legislate mandatory attendance at Christian churches. He won’t vote against it, of course — that would be too radical for the leader of Democrats in the Senate, he’ll just vote “Present”. That’s about your speed, you genocide deniers, except that you even deny that your leaders were present.
You’ll get what you want, which is the Democrats moving right again, which most of you want because doing otherwise would be ideological capitulation to the “Useless Left” and an admission that those hated, apparently actually demonic “Bernie Bros” were, in fact, correct about what was needed — saying this is true is, if anything, an understatement, which is an unforgivable sin for which you will never forgive them.
In this election, Latinos in particular noticed the anti-immigration rhetoric and proposals that Biden and Harris adopted and put it together with the pro-ICE policies the Biden administration had from day 1 and decided the Democrats no longer had their backs, so it was okay to vote based on their other political views, and — surprise! — members of minority groups are actual human beings and are often conservative! This is totally new information! And apparently news to the Democratic Party, but the Democrats have already said that the lesson they’ve learned from this election is that they need to be even more anti-immigration from now on. (Just as they’ve decided to be anti-trans, and Democrats voted for and Biden signed the first openly-anti-LGBT bill in decades, thanks ever so much.) Biden already deported more immigrants than Trump did in his first term (just like Obama deported more immigrants in any 4 years of his administration than Trump did in his first term), and Obama built all those cages Trump famously put kids in (and Biden did too, but you stopped paying attention as soon as Trump was out of office), so actually becoming more anti-immigrant is going to be an uphill battle, but minorities whose friends and family are under threat are still supposed to pretend the Democrats are somehow magically better for them than Republicans, instead of merely being less vitriolic in their speech. The party is still astounded that any latino voter wouldn’t bow and scrape and kiss the DNC’s rings, after the last 16 years, which means they’ll never figure it out.
And you’ll agree with that move rightward — you’ll try to paint it as being done reluctantly and in good faith, just like you denied Biden taking part in genocide when he very obviously was. And they and you will find it inexplicable that minorities aren’t grateful to the Democrats anyway, in exchange for sweet fanny adams. This general sort of thing will happen on every policy front — the Democrats will again become much more like Republicans and then wonder why people don’t see the difference between the parties, just as they’ve done repeatedly now while you defended them, which is how they got away with doing it again and again. Your “but the Republicans!” defense lets them move as far right as they want, they found it very convenient in achieving their goal of becoming unelectable.
Don’t kid yourself that the US is going to split up or collapse merely because of Trump. We’re the attack dogs for financial powers not only of the US and Canada but also of the EU and the UK, and will continue to be even if we leave NATO, so the official US government will get any propping up which is necessary to keep our military ready to fight for the interests of the rich. (Overt military action in Africa looks likely soon since several former French colonies are once again, like Libya did, threatening to stop letting France control their economies.) They invest in us for very offensive “defense”, and we let them avoid public outcry over the various downsides of maintaining the kind of military they would need to enforce their will, like massive spending or a draft or a public outcry about all the military action. They can even criticize us for being so military while making our military possible, what a deal! And besides, the rich abroad will be able to invest in the very profitable looting operations Trump wants to implement while keeping their own hands clean enough for their countries’ regulators, just like they invest in Canadian-owned mining operations which devastate countries in the global south and the abstraction of responsibility keeps them clear of ethics rule violations. No, the US isn’t going away any time soon.
By 2028 the Democrats are going to be proposing policies that sound like the ones Trump is issuing now, just like Obama turned into a clone of GWB. (Hey, remember “Total Information Awareness”? Remember how much righteous indignation you poor saps had about it when GWB proposed it? But you were de facto fine with Obama implementing literally everything in the proposal other than the name so that now Trump can get reports on your Internet activities, phone calls, travel (via location on your phone), and any personal relationships which involve any sort of digital connection, all without a warrant.) Biden kept building Trump’s border wall all this time, although slower than Trump did, and even had variances from federal law granted so it could be extended — by the next election the Democratic Party, and therefore you guys, will consider a border wall to be crucial to attract voters, because Republicans want it and the party will still be chasing Republican votes, and you’ll boost the Democratic Candidate 2028 Memecoin because the Democrats are almost certainly going to embrace crypto, too (just as Labour in the UK has done). You’ve already celebrated that Biden made the US into the world’s largest producer of oil, so the jump to being openly and totally pro-climate-change won’t be a big deal, either.
The differences between you guys and MAGA are superficial, of a fill-in-the-blank Mad Libs (pun not intended, but noted) nature. The party faithful are still looking around for a new central figure for a personality cult to match Trump, since Hillary Clinton — who was the previous one — lost, but the tendency is definitely present on both sides, just like the denial of obvious reality is just as obvious in the “Biden didn’t commit genocide” tripe as it is when Trump supporters pretend he’s not a felon.
It’s been really depressing watching you defend the Democrats as they peacefully turn over everything to Trump. (Worked so well for the also-center-right Paul von Hindenburg, after all, so why not?) But that’s just it — you value the forms of democracy over any moral or ethical consideration; actual resistance in any form would make you feel like the January 6 rioters, and it’s so gauche to be willing to defy the law even in spirit over merely moral disagreement. Biden could have ordered stuff destroyed (like the dubiously legal DNA database the DHS has been collecting) to keep it out of Trump’s hands, but refused to, and you support that. Because enabling Trump is supporting the Rule Of Law and the Peaceful Transition of Power. I’d hope you’ll learn from what’s coming now, but I can’t help remembering a Japanese proverb — only death cures fools.
So long, assholes, I’ll do my best not to feel that you, at least, deeply deserve what Trump is going to do to us all for giving your support to the people who spent 32 years dismantling all effective defense against his ilk, but I can’t promise to succeed.
Do what you like with this comment, PZ, I honestly don’t care.
I think banning that lying piece of shit Vicar looks all the more attractive now.
“Biden didn’t commit the genocide”. No, neither did Netanyahu, if you’re going to get disingenuously nit-picky about it…
Go fuck yourself, liar. Beginyahu and his ruling coalition are DIRECTLY RESPONSIBLE for enacting and maintaining all the economic, law-enforcement and military policies that have been resulting in what is clearly a GENOCIDE against Palestinians, in both the West Bank and Gaza. Beginyahu was, and is, at the top of the political and military chain of command that’s been waging all those actions — which anyone with enough common sense can see add up to “genocide.” Biden, by contrast, was never even an Israeli citizen, let alone part of their chain of command.
@40. The Vicar (via Freethoughtblogs) :
Nice of the Vicar to know what we all really think and tell us all so! Pity, if predictable of course, that Vicar’s also totally wrong about what we – certainly I – actually think and has just confabulated a straw monster of their own which, of course, Vicar won’t and can’t back up with any evidence or quotes. It only proves yet again that they never listen or think about what others actually say here.
Further proving that, Vicar again, ignores all the points and cases made against them and questions asked of them.
Of course, the point that Biden was President of the USA and NOT in charge of Israel and that Biden called for Israel to show restraint and criticised Netanyahu is FAR from merely “disingenuous nitpicking.” Netanyahu was in control of Israel and dictated its policies and conduct in Gaza and Biden did NOT choose Israel’s policies, advised against them and criticised them. Totes a minor difference huh?
Also any POTUS will support Israel esp after Oct 7th 2023 – that’s just the political reality which the Democratic party has had emphasised recently with the ending of careers of Jamal Bowman and Cori Bush due to them being pro-Palestinian and now the further bigger success (aided by Vicar!) of the
IsraelLikud lobby defeating Biden and Kamala Harris who were widely criticised and attacked by the reichwing for NOT being pro-Netanyahu enough and being too sympathetic to the Palestinians. Oh, plus for the umpteenth time compare with the alternative which is who we now have in power and is – as predicted – already being worse. See : Trump Betrays Palestinians Immediately – The Kyle Kulinski Show (12 mins long) which is slightly misnamed given most of us – anyone paying actual attention here unlike Vicar – knew that Trump was NEVER on the pro-Palestinian side at all.Nice of Vicar to try to copy and reverse my condemnation of them although they failed badly because, y’know, they actually helped Trump take power and consistently argued against the only alternative to Trump never criticising Trump and the Repugs and focusing obsessively on HRC who, BTW was NOT the “previous” “cult figure” of the Democratic party but a person who wasn’t running for anything & hasn’t been since 2016. Revealing again Vicar’s warped, obsessive wilful ignorance and misplaced singular focus and priorities.
Do let the door hit you on the way out and good riddance Vicar – and do take your fellow Putinist troll and enabler of more and worse genocides beholder with you.
Finally, something good coming out of Trump’s return to power!