United States Politics Thread 47

[jcb]

And Melania Trump just made a shitcoin called "Melania Meme", after seeing how well her husband's has done:
https://x.com/MELANIATRUMP/status/1881094861279129643
https://www.axios.com/2025/01/19/melani ... oin-crypto
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7EbV7kyiKZA

If you get rug pulled by the POTUS or his wife, do you at least get a tshirt out of it? or maybe a merit badge for your boy/girl scout uniform?

[xxx]

congratulations to our american friends on their new president...

[zompist]

congratulations to our american friends on their new president...

Read the board rules: "Don't troll. If you're just trying to get a rise out of people, don't do that.".

You can read them carefully while you're banned.

[Raholeun]

I bet that as we speak his whitelaced, swastika embossed jackboots are dictatorially resting on the desk in the Oval Office.

[jcb]

Day 1 (of 1461):
Musk makes a salute that looks awfully nazi-like.
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2bbb-6Clhs
Trump pardons all the Jan 6 insurrectionists.
- https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/liv ... -live-blog

[keenir]

I bet that as we speak his whitelaced, swastika embossed jackboots are dictatorially resting on the desk in the Oval Office.

Wouldn't jackboots cause his bone spurs to bleed?

[keenir]

I have the feeling that something like this might happen:

Time: Launch day for ARTEMIS 2 to the Moon.
Loudspeaker: "Ten nine eight seven - count paused for message from the President."
President Trump: "Hi there, astronaut people. You're good people. Thats why I'm sending you to Mars now, like another good friend of mine suggested to me. We need boots on Mars, and we'll be first, which means we'll be number one, which is the best number, just like me. And you're going to the Red Planet, which is a great color, Vlad and Kim agree."

Shortly afterwards, a news blackout was placed around all aspects of the ARTEMIS 2 mission to Mars...the blackout ended after the crew made landfall on the Red Planet.

Also, it took us over 200 years to accept the possibility of a Catholic President...we turned down the Philipines(sp), and have been doing a song-and-dance with P.R......does Trump think MAGA is going to accept Quebec?

That assumes they decide to grant statehood to Canadian provinces. It seems more likely to me that Canada becomes a US territory (or several) like Puerto Rico with some level of autonomy but no vote in US elections or congressional seats.

so...like when we owned the Philipines(sp) ?

While acknowledging that Harris was far from perfect and would not have solved the deeper systemic issues facing this country, I cannot overstate how much I wish she had won. She would not have gotten us off the death row of late-stage capitalism by any means, but she would have given us a last minute reprieve.

I'm confused...we'd have gotten a reprieve, thus saving our late-stage capitalism?...or thus saving us from late-stage capitalism?...or...?

[doctor shark]

Also, it took us over 200 years to accept the possibility of a Catholic President...we turned down the Philipines(sp), and have been doing a song-and-dance with P.R......does Trump think MAGA is going to accept Quebec?

That assumes they decide to grant statehood to Canadian provinces. It seems more likely to me that Canada becomes a US territory (or several) like Puerto Rico with some level of autonomy but no vote in US elections or congressional seats.

so...like when we owned the Philipines(sp) ?

Possibly like when the US controlled the Philippines and maybe like the current situation with American Samoa. Though that would come with the provision that the inhabitants wouldn't be US citizens (but US nationals, which is a different status), and I'm not sure if that would be accepted.

Though it may be that an annexation assimilation of Canada would not result in thirteen states being added: some would probably be combined, more than likely, though there's also a possible "risk" of one or two being divided, given that Canada's biggest province would be the 5th largest state by population*; treating Canada as a single state would involve it being the largest by both population and land area. Such a thing is unlikely to happen, though to be honest, with Canada's approaching Federal election in the coming year, who knows what's on the table.

*Ontario has ~16 million people, just under New York but above Pennsylvania.

yeah, shadow president implies that he has more power than the real president (or that the real president isn't etcetera) and that's almost certainly false: but it's pretty clear that heading a government agency that closes (or at least hamstrings) other government agencies qualifies as more power than Bannon would have had, no?

It's not a proper government agency/department yet, though, and there are already legal complaints about its legitimacy. Unless results happen, I don't really see it as power, but more influence.


In any event, I'm not surprised with the "bloodbath" of day one. Though some policies (esp. the birthright citizenship) will probably prove harder to implement than others, with undoing over a century and change of constitutional legal precedent. (Didn't stop the Supreme Court in the Hobbs decision, though that was only ~50 years of precedent.) Still means my big project for this year is underway...

[zompist]

Shortly afterwards, a news blackout was placed around all aspects of the ARTEMIS 2 mission to Mars...the blackout ended after the crew made landfall on the Red Planet.

Trump can do many things, but getting someone to Mars isn't one of them.

Artemis is a disaster. NASA's rockets can't even get to the moon-- yes, we've regressed, and heavily, since 1972. All they can do is get into a near-moon orbit that takes 7 days... compare the Apollo orbiter which orbited every 2 hours. The current plan is to build a space station out in lunar orbit, using private rockets that don't work yet to build it, then build a behemoth lander, also private, dangerously tall, also never tested. To get the lander into position will require a fleet of space refuelling rockets, which also has never been tried.

The original date for Artemis III (the one that'll actually land) was 2024; now it's mid-2027 and I sure wouldn't bet on that date.

[Linguoboy]

While acknowledging that Harris was far from perfect and would not have solved the deeper systemic issues facing this country, I cannot overstate how much I wish she had won.

Hard same. I don't generally have any use for accelerationism, but nonetheless I find myself hoping there's some merit to the idea that ripping the friendly mask off of late-stage capitalism will radicalise folks into taking actions they hadn't previously contemplated. It's a filament of a thread of a straw of hope but it's all I really have right now.

Literally the only good news I read from yesterday was that Peltier's sentence had been commuted to house arrest. Now at least there's some chance he won't die in prison. (He's in very bad shape and the decree doesn't take effect for another month. Not sure if there's any way Trump can gum things up at this point, but I'm sure he or his cronies will try.)

[saizai]

yeah, shadow president implies that he has more power than the real president (or that the real president isn't etcetera) and that's almost certainly false: but it's pretty clear that heading a government agency that closes (or at least hamstrings) other government agencies qualifies as more power than Bannon would have had, no?

It's not a proper government agency/department yet, though, and there are already legal complaints about its legitimacy. Unless results happen, I don't really see it as power, but more influence.

FYI: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential ... fficiency/

See also the various other things at https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential-actions/

[saizai]

Trump has saved TikTok!... after being the one to suggest to ban it in the first place years ago!
https://www.reuters.com/technology/tikt ... 025-01-19/
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5e9pI4UMdc4

FYI: https://www.whitehouse.gov/presidential ... to-tiktok/

[keenir]

{at some point today, my internet connection went out}

Shortly afterwards, a news blackout was placed around all aspects of the ARTEMIS 2 mission to Mars...the blackout ended after the crew made landfall on the Red Planet.

Trump can do many things, but getting someone to Mars isn't one of them.

oh no, he'd just give the order...and if he's not obeyed, he cuts NASA funding severely and badmouths all the "disloyal" people there...if he is obeyed, he praises NASA, and thats what the media blackout is for: so nobody knows the astronauts perished en route.

All they can do is get into a near-moon orbit that takes 7 days... compare the Apollo orbiter which orbited every 2 hours. The current plan is to build a space station out in lunar orbit, using private rockets that don't work yet to build it, then build a behemoth lander, also private, dangerously tall, also never tested. To get the lander into position will require a fleet of space refuelling rockets, which also has never been tried.

O.O

that seems like multiplying the number of moving parts and inviting greater risk at every point.

[jcb]

Day 2:
Trump renames the "Gulf of Mexico" to the "Gulf of America". (I'm sure this will help make eggs cheaper, somehow...)
- https://abcnews.go.com/US/trump-rename- ... =117886074

[malloc]

I plan on considering it a shibboleth and assuming the worst about anyone who calls it the Gulf of America.

[Linguoboy]

I plan on considering it a shibboleth and assuming the worst about anyone who calls it the Gulf of America.

Yeah, I think that's pretty reasonable.

As with a lot of these orders, I'm not sure if this one actually changes anything. The United States Board on Geographic Names has a whole process for changing the official forms of toponyms, requiring a "compelling reason" for altering longstanding versions, and I'm not sure whether the POTUS can legally circumvent that all with an executive order or not. Ultimately, though, their recommendations are only binding for Federal government agencies and the rest of us are free to ignore them. So any private individual voluntarily using that name is clearly signalling something.

---

In these dark times, we take our schadenfreude where we can and today I'm savouring all the outraged reactions from present and former law enforcement officials (including the leadership of several police unions) and their lackeys who are "disgusted" by Trump's blanket pardons for the January 6th rioters. Like, y'all actually expected that a convicted felon who incited an insurrection was going to uphold the rule of law when in office? Congrats on really thinking that one through.

[Ahzoh]

Day 1 (of 1461):
Musk makes a salute that looks awfully nazi-like.
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2bbb-6Clhs

The number of people trying to gaslight us and say it wasn't a nazi salute. And it's disappointing to see how ideologically captured the ADL is to blatantly deny that he did a nazi salute when anyone else who did exactly as he did would be vehemently claimed as doing so by them.

[Linguoboy]

The number of people trying to gaslight us and say it wasn't a nazi salute. And it's disappointing to see how ideologically captured the ADL is to blatantly deny that he did a nazi salute when anyone else who did exactly as he did would be vehemently claimed as doing so by them.

As Em Hilton pointed out in an excellent opinion piece for +972 last November, hitching your wagon to the far-right train never works out well in the long run.

[jcb]

Day 1 (of 1461):
Musk makes a salute that looks awfully nazi-like.
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e2bbb-6Clhs

The number of people trying to gaslight us and say it wasn't a nazi salute. And it's disappointing to see how ideologically captured the ADL is to blatantly deny that he did a nazi salute when anyone else who did exactly as he did would be vehemently claimed as doing so by them.

Indeed, Musk knew exactly what he was doing by doing it in such a way to create just enough plausible deniability to allow him to deny it.

The ADL is pathetic. They are mistaken in thinking that the leopards will spare them if they get full power.

***

Update on TrumpCoin: Some people have already lost their life savings by "investing" in it!
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYpbiQW3X1k

I can't help but think of this clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CR8u-2TKb0 . I must conclude that cryptocurrency scams are now legal in the United States of America.

[Ahzoh]

Update on TrumpCoin: Some people have already lost their life savings by "investing" in it!
- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYpbiQW3X1k

I can't help but think of this clip: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4CR8u-2TKb0 . I must conclude that cryptocurrency scams are now legal in the United States of America.

I am frankly of the belief that scam coins are just a form of gambling where entrants are simply playing a game of trying to pull one over each other before it becomes too worthless to scam with.