Trumps Presidency 2025

[Tigeraholic1]

1 hour ago, chasfh said:

He's clearly become an operative. Why are people giving him so much air?

Operative, sounds sinister.

[oblong]

3 hours ago, chasfh said:

I also don't respect when anyone vaingloriously guilts people into thanking them for their service and/or shutting the hell up about whatever by highlighting sacrifices they say they endured so other people don't have to do it.

There's a passage in Matthew about this very thing, which you'll hear in Ash Wednesday services: "When you fast, do not look somber as the hypocrites do, for they disfigure their faces to show others they are fasting. Truly I tell you, they have received their reward in full." Ex-mils who guilt others about their own stint are receiving their reward in full whenever they do that.

There are many ways to serve. The military is but just one of them.  You can organize food drives. You can deliver food. You can volunteer in your church for functions.  You can coach. You can be involved in other youth activities. You can visit nursing homes. Even some jobs that pay remedial wages but are tremendously impactful I would count as ways of serving, like those in schools or social work.  
 

I won’t obviously criticize members of the military but I’m not going to kiss their ass either just because of that service. Same with cops and firefighters. I have known to many who are bad people to just automatically grant that to them. They have to earn it like everyone else. 

[romad1]

Excusing Eddie Gallagher and other war criminals is a good way to tell me you never had PME.

[CMRivdogs]

About a dozen years ago I was helping to man a booth at the Detroit Auto Show. TACOM had a booth highlighting some of their vehicles. PBS shared a table promoting the upcoming Ken Burns documentary on Viet NamThey were offering veterans a chance to share their experience, not only in Viet Nam but in other conflicts as well.

We were told by TACOM to refrain from using the phrase "Thank you for your service" when talking with them. The reasoning was some vets find the phrase trite and impersonal, a bit like "have a good day". We were urged to come up with different ways to acknowledge their contribution.  That's stuck with me.    

[Archie]

1 hour ago, mtutiger said:

Regarding the potential tariffs against Colombia, one thing Trump has never understood (or maybe just doesn't care about) is how much of our power in the world comes from being a trusted, reliable partner. It's soft power, but it has worked to our benefit as a country since the end of WWII

Actions like this cede ground... And when ground is ceded, a vacuum is created. And vacuum's end up being filled by others (ie. China)

For the last four years Biden has been pushed around by everyone and did little to nothing to stand up for the US. Trump is showing there is a new sheriff in town and he won’t be pushed around.  If Biden would have been a strong leader there likely wouldn’t be a war in Ukraine and the palestinian terrorists would not have attacked Israel.

[mtutiger]

28 minutes ago, oblong said:

I won’t obviously criticize members of the military but I’m not going to kiss their ass either just because of that service. Same with cops and firefighters. I have known to many who are bad people to just automatically grant that to them. They have to earn it like everyone else. 

It's just the whole "Walter Sobchak" routine that some vets or active duty do that's grating for me... Where they fall back on their service to short circuit any discussion that they don't like or doesn't comport to their views.

Most aren't like this... a lot of vets that I know in my life are 3D people that don't have to center everything around their service. I've even seen cases where I've known people a long period of time before service even comes up. (My last neighbor before moving is a good example)

[CMRivdogs]

Does anybody in this administration have an inkling how to use spellcheck?

Kevin M. Kruse

‪@kevinmkruse.bsky.social‬

Follow

Wow, it’s really been a rough few years for the university

[LaceyLou]

2 hours ago, smr-nj said:

LL, I’m afraid that ship has sailed. Whether they restore this little bit, it will not make the picture any brighter for women in this country.  We’ve been told to “keep your legs together, you slut” in one breath, and “have lots of kids, but stay at home, and don’t worry that you’ll be replaced by a younger version in a few years (because you will), you’ll be “taken care of”. (Giant lie)
 

Good lord.  The race to the bottom took less time than anyone could have imagined.

True. I'm old enough that I grew up with women from the "good old days" when they had to stay in abusive marriages, couldn't get a credit card or a mortgage, and good luck if you become a widow because you were encouraged to not get an education or if you did, to not ever be able to make more than your husband.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg. I think you and I grew up up seeing, hearing and even experiencing some of the same things that we'd hoped we wouldn't see again. 😞

[CMRivdogs]

1 minute ago, LaceyLou said:

True. I'm old enough that I grew up with women from the "good old days" when they had to stay in abusive marriages, couldn't get a credit card or a mortgage, and good luck if you become a widow because you were encouraged to not get an education or if you did, to not ever be able to make more than your husband.

And that's just the tip of the iceberg. I think you and I grew up up seeing, hearing and even experiencing some of the same things that we'd hoped we wouldn't see again. 😞

My wife was once told by the General Manager of a major station "A woman will never work morning drive on my station". 
Had a car dealer tell her to come back with your husband. (she was planning on paying cash)

Been passed over for several promotions because of the "good ole boys" club. F em all. Especially since we have a president who basically got where he is because of a daddy who bailed him out several times. Trump is the poster boy for DEI

[LaceyLou]

7 minutes ago, mtutiger said:

It's just the whole "Walter Sobchak" routine that some vets or active duty do that's grating for me... Where they fall back on their service to short circuit any discussion that they don't like or doesn't comport to their views.

Most aren't like this... a lot of vets that I know in my life are 3D people that don't have to center everything around their service. I've even seen cases where I've known people a long period of time before service even comes up. (My last neighbor before moving is a good example)

My father, and most of his circle, preferred not to talk about his service or things they saw and experienced-this seemed especially true of those involved in liberating any of the concentration camps. It probably wasn't healthy to keep it in, either. 

[chasfh]

13 minutes ago, CMRivdogs said:

Does anybody in this administration have an inkling how to use spellcheck?

Kevin M. Kruse

‪@kevinmkruse.bsky.social‬

 

Follow

Wow, it’s really been a rough few years for the university

What, you missed Trump's proclamation that the country must now be spelled with a "u"?

[oblong]

 

[mtutiger]

Thanks Trump...

[mtutiger]

[CMRivdogs]

Here's the translation of the X

Quote

Trump, I don't really like to travel to the United States, it's a bit boring, but I confess that there are meritorious things, I like to go to the black neighborhoods of Washington, there I saw a whole fight in the capital of the US between blacks and Latinos with barricades, which I thought was an asshole, because they should unite.

I confess that I like Walt Withman and Paul Simon and Noam Chomsky and Miller

I confess that Sacco and Vanzetti, who have my blood, in the history of the United States, are memorable and I follow them. They were murdered by workers' leaders with the electric chair, the fascists who are inside the United States as they are inside my country

I don't like his oil, Trump, he's going to end the human species out of greed. Maybe one day, along with a drink of Whiskey that I accept, despite my gastritis, we can talk frankly about this, but it is difficult because you consider me an inferior race and I am not, nor any Colombian.

So if you know someone stubborn, that's me, period. He can with his economic strength and his arrogance try to give a coup d'état as they did with Allende. But I die in my law, I resisted torture and I resist you. I don't want slavers next to Colombia, we already had many and we freed ourselves. What I want next to Colombia is freedom lovers. If you can't accompany me, I'll go somewhere else. Colombia is the heart of the world and you didn't understand it, this is the land of yellow butterflies, of the beauty of Remedios, but also of the colonels Aurelianos Buendía, of which I am one of them, perhaps the last

You will kill me, but I will survive in my village that is before yours, in the Americas. We are peoples of the winds, the mountains, the Caribbean Sea and freedom

You don't like our freedom, okay. I don't shake hands with white slavers. I shake the hands of the white libertarian heirs of Lincoln and the black and white peasant boys of the United States, before whose tombs I cried and prayed on a battlefield, which I arrived, after walking mountains of Italian Tuscany and after saving myself from covid.

They are the United States and I kneel before them, before anyone else.

Leave me president and the Americas and humanity will answer you.

Colombia now stops looking north, looks at the world, our blood comes from the blood of the caliphate of Córdoba, the civilization at that time, of the Latin Romans of the Mediterranean, the civilization of that time, who founded the republic, democracy in Athens; our blood has the resistant blacks turned into slaves by you. In Colombia is the first free territory of America, before Washington, of all of America, there I take shelter in its African songs.

My land is of goldsmithing existing at the time of the Egyptian pharaohs, and of the first artists in the world in Chiribiquete.

You will never dominate us. The warrior who rode our lands opposes, shouting freedom and who is called Bolivar

Our peoples are somewhat fearful, somewhat shy, they are naive and kind, lovers, but they will know how to win the Panama Canal, which you violently took away from us. Two hundred heroes from all over Latin America lie in Bocas del Toro, present-day Panama, formerly Colombia, which you murdered.

I raise a flag and as Gaitán said, so he is left alone, he will continue to be raised with the Latin American dignity that is the dignity of America, which his great-grandfather did not know, and mine did, Mr. President immigrant in the United States,

Its blockade does not scare me; because Colombia, in addition to being the country of beauty, is the heart of the world. I know you love beauty like me, don't disrespect it and you will give you your sweetness.

COLOMBIA FROM TODAY OPENS TO THE WHOLE WORLD, WITH OPEN ARMS, WE ARE BUILDERS OF FREEDOM, LIFE AND HUMANITY.

They inform me that you put on our fruit of human labor 50% tariff to enter the United States, I do the same.

May our people sow corn that was discovered in Colombia and feed the world

 

[romad1]

are we going to buy Colombia now?

[mtutiger]

We will have to see if anyone ultimately blinks, but one of the biggest errors that Trump (and frankly our media and his supporters) make is assuming that countries will just roll over when he takes actions like this.

First of all, countries have pride and patriotism... When we insult them and inflict economic pain on them, they are unlikely to respond kindly. Even if we are bigger than them... Giving into bullies means getting bullied even more in the future.

Second of all, the Colombians all know they sell us products that we like. We all go to Starbucks or Biggby or wherever and buy coffee, or to Speedway or Casey's or wherever to buy gas. They know that Trump is susceptible politically to increases in prices on these items. And they know that they have imports (such as corn, a huge staple in the Midwest and one that they import a lot of) where they can hit us with tariffs.

All of this is to say others have always had way more leverage than is assumed

Edited Sunday at 11:36 PM by mtutiger

[Tigeraholic1]

[gehringer_2]

5 hours ago, Tigeraholic1 said:

 Heck, kids these days don’t even bother getting married.

I'd imagine a good part of the reason for that is that they don't feel like being profiteered on by the social expectations of the modern wedding. I can't blame them for that - and another good part is that both the Church and the State have so damaged their credibility with most young people that they don't particularly care to ask either for its blessing.

[mtutiger]

8 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

I'd imagine a good part of the reason for that is that they don't feel like being profiteered on by the social expectations of the modern wedding. 

It's honestly shocking how much people pay for them

[romad1]

Just now, mtutiger said:

It's honestly shocking how much people pay for them

However, the not getting married and having kids out of wedlock thing is classic poor people self-destructive behavior.  We have the rituals and the dogmas to cement the two kids together so they can muscle their way into the middle class together or perhaps secure their passage into the upper crust.  Hard to do that as a single or as an unwed parent.

[Kacie]

[gehringer_2]

10 minutes ago, romad1 said:

However, the not getting married and having kids out of wedlock thing is classic poor people self-destructive behavior.  We have the rituals and the dogmas to cement the two kids together so they can muscle their way into the middle class together or perhaps secure their passage into the upper crust.  Hard to do that as a single or as an unwed parent.

But it's not marriage that matters, it's commitment - whether a couple stays together. I have increasingly seen couples stay together for decades and raise children without benefit of formal sanction - so I wouldn't mistake cause vs effect. We used to use the ritual and dogma as the commitment markers, but in an era when the purveyors of ritual and dogma have so debased themselves, it shouldn't be unexpected that people reject the ritual and dogmas.

I'd also rather see it be otherwise, but the I'm afraid the institutions will have to clean their own houses before the kids are going to care about them again.

The purely civil marriage has never been that popular in the US, but maybe it will catch on.

Edited Monday at 12:06 AM by gehringer_2

[romad1]

2 minutes ago, gehringer_2 said:

But it's not marriage that matters, it's commitment - whether a couple stays together. I have increasingly seen couples stay together for decades and raise children without benefit of formal sanction - so I wouldn't mistake cause vs effect. We used to use the ritual and dogma as the commitment markers, but in an era when the purveyors of ritual and dogma have so debased themselves, it shouldn't be unexpected that people reject the ritual and dogmas.

I'd also rather see it be otherwise, but the I'm afraid the institutions will have to clean their own houses before the kids are going to care about them again.

The only way the middle class works is if everyone is terrified of letting everyone else down.

I'm totally riffing and just goofing here but...its a lot like Orwell's outer party.

Edited Monday at 12:07 AM by romad1

[1776]

59 minutes ago, romad1 said:

are we going to buy Colombia now?

They’re currently on layaway.