Donald Trump

[stylofone]

Trump is allowing fossil fuel developments to sidestep regulations by allowing them to go ahead under rules normally applied to the Army Corps of Engineers, i.e. he thinks it's so important to pipe oil and gas through the country that it's on the scale of a wartime emergency. As if the regular pace of capitalism wasn't enough to destroy the planet! One of the projects isn't even fossil fuels, it's a housing development by an oil company. Well that's a relief, it's a little less environmental destruction, a little more corruption. (Elvis could sing that).

His embrace of fascism, especially through his disturbing love of Russia has an almost instantaneous effect. With climate destruction, there's always a delay. I'm not sure of the typical time scale. Starting with "drill baby drill", through to funding, development extraction, refining , burning, and then for the CO2 to trap even more heat in the atmosphere, what would it be? 10 years? That's the likely time scale of the Trump disaster for humanity.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/202 ... el-climate

[stevebrooks]

Trump to destroy the USPS....well he says to take control, but it's to destroy, and probably also to take all those pesky mail in ballots and burn them out the back of the agencies so they don't get counted!

https://imgur.com/gallery/neat-M4iZ5LI

[stylofone]

MAGA is full of turkeys voting for Thanksgiving, and I've muttered "just you wait and see what happens, you clowns". Here's a column from the TImes saying pretty much the same thing. What it doesn't say is that the playbook of tyranny is to blame scapegoats and use any failures as fuel to burn down even more of our lives. So I actually don't think it's good to wait for them to be hurt by their own stupidity, it won't be that simple, and it's not the way it worked in the past. Of course we can hope, like we did when Trump got covid.

Original link below, archive link here: https://archive.is/bZW77#selection-1591.104-1591.652

as the fate of those Texan antivaxers shows, the luxury of consequence-free foolishness may be coming to an end. As the economy flounders, political crises loom, vaccination rates fall and science deniers enter government, the West is becoming a more dangerous place and its fools are less insulated from the repercussions of their own beliefs. The Texan antivaxers may only be the first to find out. The paradise of fools is coming to an end. I do not hope for an apology or recantation. I just hope they do not take the rest of us down with them.

https://www.thetimes.com/article/b3bbc9 ... d7c7c3abc0

[stevebrooks]

Along with giving away half the country to Putin, raping it of it's rare earth minerals and preventing it from joining NATO and the EU, Trump has decided on another way to destroy the country, he is now demanding Ukraine return all the aid spent on the country to help it against Russia;

Days after a brutal attack on Ukraine, Donald Trump has taken the rhetoric up a notch, making a wild demand that nobody saw coming.

On Saturday night local time in US, Trump declared that he wants the money back that the US gave to aid Ukraine’s defence after Russia launched a full-scale invasion in February 2022.

Speaking at the Conservative Political Action Conference (CPAC), the US President took aim at “stupid and incompetent” then-president Joe Biden, claiming “it never would have happened if I were president”.

I mean it's bizarre indeed because in actual fact most of that money never made its way to Ukraine in the first place, it was paid to manufacturers and workers in the US to supply Ukraine with what they need, so most of it actually stayed in the US. Trumps concept of the aid in this case seems to be that the US sent truckloads of money to Ukraine and that it needs to be sent back. The only thing I can think of is that this is coming direct from Putin to undermine Ukraine, the EU and the US!

https://www.news.com.au/world/north-ame ... 4581891df0

[stylofone]

As a legacy media dinosaur, I find the format generally labeled as "podcast" to be unworthy of my time. But this is interesting because the Trump victory and his current trampling of democracy and decency get all the attention. There's a feeling that the "resistance" is not a strong as it was this time 8 years ago, or at least not as visible. But there ought to be a groundswell, and maybe this is a sign that it's happening.

https://www.newsweek.com/joe-rogan-deth ... mp-2032673

[stevebrooks]

Well that's some good news at least and a good rejection of Trump/Musk policies, the Trump/Musk backed far right AfD in Germany underperformed so it looks like they won't get any representation in government. They still increased their vote share, but I suspect that as Trump/Musk craters the economy for the US and the rest of the world it may have negative effects on the far right movements everywhere;

https://www.commondreams.org/news/afd-germany-polls

[stevebrooks]

The Kennedy Center, one of the USA's foremost cultural locations was taken over by Trump, who fired directors and installed sycophants to run the center in his name, has been losing ticket sales hand over fist, they are going down the gurgler, so who better to get them back up on top again than a choir, specifically the J6 choir of convicted insurrectionists....wait, is this the Onion? No it's not, this is real!

During an appearance at CPAC on Thursday, conservative activist and Trump ally Steve Bannon shared that the J6 Prison Choir, which is comprised of men previously imprisoned for their involvement in the January 6th United States Capitol attack, will soon perform at the Kennedy Center. Bannon said he was informed of their invitation by Ric Grenell, who was recently appointed by Trump as Kennedy Center’s interim executive director.

How famous are they? This is how famous;

In 2023, the J6 Prison Choir released their lone record song, “Justice for All,” which consists of Trump reciting the Pledge of Allegiance interspersed with the choir singing “The Star-Spangled Banner.”

A single record, with the President, and they are going to be performing for the night?

Steve Bannon said:

Bannon claimed, before suggesting they also use the evening as an opportunity to put the “elites” in the “D.C. gulag for one night.”

He does now that the poors can't afford tickets to the Kennedy center right? They are struggling to pay their medical bills, rent and put food on the table. What they are doing, in fact, is pissing off the very audience they rely on to bring money in. I guess Musk will have to wield his cost cutting wand on the Kennedy Center soon!

https://consequence.net/2025/02/j6-choi ... dy-center/

[pipbarber]

Trump adjacent.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-n ... -of-attack

In his defense, i suppose Albo couldn't just declare that the US can't be trusted now. Hmm, then again, why couldn't he just declare that? Surely he doesn't really believe Trump would come to Australia's aid, he's just being...diplomatic? But why be diplomatic? I can't see any strategic electoral gain for the ALP from cowering to Trump, or not facing the new reality openly, realistically, maturely.

These left adjacent parties, they sold themselves to neoliberalism and now when they look in their toolboxes, there ain't nothin' there.

[stylofone]

Trump adjacent.

https://www.theguardian.com/australia-n ... -of-attack

In his defense, i suppose Albo couldn't just declare that the US can't be trusted now. Hmm, then again, why couldn't he just declare that? Surely he doesn't really believe Trump would come to Australia's aid, he's just being...diplomatic? But why be diplomatic? I can't see any strategic electoral gain for the ALP from cowering to Trump, or not facing the new reality openly, realistically, maturely.

These left adjacent parties, they sold themselves to neoliberalism and now when they look in their toolboxes, there ain't nothin' there.

It's an interesting comparison to Germany, where the SDP's Scholz couldn't accept the Trumpian reality, and the incoming CDU Chancellor is sounding much more realistic. There will be another "grand coalition" there, the German equivalent of "Laboral". Here we have both Labor and Liberal in denial. Dutton seems to admire Trump, but it's more like a condemned man admires his executioner.

https://www.smh.com.au/world/europe/the ... 5leio.html

[joele]

the Trump/Musk backed far right AfD in Germany underperformed so it looks like they won't get any representation in government. They still increased their vote share, but I suspect that as Trump/Musk craters the economy for the US and the rest of the world it may have negative effects on the far right movements everywhere;

The interesting, or is it sad, thing is that I don't think AfD underperformed, they beat the SPD and this is the first time since reunification that any party has broken through the two party system and got more seats than either one of them in an election.. That wasn't winning the election in the traditional sense but it is a seismic shift in Germany we shouldn’t ignore or dismiss, IMHO.