Thank all the gods for the warriors who still fight back:
Republicans came for Social Security in 2005 — we stopped them. They came for the ACA in 2017 — we stopped them.
Now they’ve come for your PRIVATE Social Security and Medicaid payment data to take health care — we WILL stop them again!
Share YOUR Story:https://t.co/paFvALd8ZJ pic.twitter.com/JnOyzspnk2
— Nancy Pelosi (@TeamPelosi) February 1, 2025
Jasmine Crockett: "The problem is that Americans thought it was okay to take a full fledged criminal and make him the President of the US and then they want to act aghast when he does criminal things. Let me tell you, we have a thug in charge of the US and if we don't wake up we may not have a US"
— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) February 2, 2025 at 3:31 PM
The Republicans, on the other hand: Mammary glands on a male bovine.
I dunno, Mitch. Why didn't you end his political career after J6 when you had it in your power?
— Patrick Chovanec (@prchovanec.bsky.social) February 2, 2025 at 7:56 PM
#MoscowMitch, meet Musk/Trump’s Manlings of the Hour!
The men carrying out Musk's coup are Akash Bobba, Edward Coristine, Luke Farritor, Gautier Cole Killian, Gavin Kliger, and Ethan Shaotran.
Make them famous. And, eventually, when possible, arrest them and charge them with multiple felonies. www.wired.com/story/elon-m…— Craig Calcaterra (@craigcalcaterra.bsky.social) February 2, 2025 at 2:08 PM
They’re (no doubt) doing amazing jobs, and being recognized more and more:
… WIRED has identified six young men—all apparently between the ages of 19 and 24, according to public databases, their online presences, and other records—who have little to no government experience and are now playing critical roles in Musk’s so-called Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) project, tasked by executive order with “modernizing Federal technology and software to maximize governmental efficiency and productivity.” The engineers all hold nebulous job titles within DOGE, and at least one appears to be working as a volunteer.
The engineers are Akash Bobba, Edward Coristine, Luke Farritor, Gautier Cole Killian, Gavin Kliger, and Ethan Shaotran. None have responded to requests for comment from WIRED. Representatives from OPM, GSA, and DOGE did not respond to requests for comment.
The six men are one part of the broader project of Musk allies assuming key government positions. Already, Musk’s lackeys—including more senior staff from xAI, Tesla, and the Boring Company—have taken control of the Office of Personnel Management (OPM) and General Services Administration (GSA), and have gained access to the Treasury Department’s payment system, potentially allowing him access to a vast range of sensitive information about tens of millions of citizens, businesses, and more. On Sunday, CNN reported that DOGE personnel attempted to improperly access classified information and security systems at the US Agency for International Development and that top USAID security officials who thwarted the attempt were subsequently put on leave. The Associated Press reported that DOGE personnel had indeed accessed classified material..
Bobba has attended UC Berkeley, where he was in the prestigious Management, Entrepreneurship, and Technology program. According to a copy of his now-deleted LinkedIn obtained by WIRED, Bobba was an investment engineering intern at the Bridgewater Associates hedge fund as of last spring and was previously an intern at both Meta and Palantir. He was a featured guest on a since-deleted podcast with Aman Manazir, an engineer who interviews engineers about how they landed their dream jobs, where he talked about those experiences last June.
Coristine, as WIRED previously reported, appears to have recently graduated from high school and to have been enrolled at Northeastern University. According to a copy of his résumé obtained by WIRED, he spent three months at Neuralink, Musk’s brain-computer interface company, last summer…
Farritor, who per sources has a working GSA email address, is a former intern at SpaceX, Musk’s space company, and currently a Thiel Fellow after, according to his LinkedIn, dropping out of the University of Nebraska—Lincoln. While in school, he was part of an award-winning team that deciphered portions of an ancient Greek scroll.
Kliger, whose LinkedIn lists him as a special adviser to the director of OPM and who is listed in internal records reviewed by WIRED as a special adviser to the director for information technology, attended UC Berkeley until 2020; most recently, according to his LinkedIn, he worked for the AI company Databricks. His Substack includes a post titled “The Curious Case of Matt Gaetz: How the Deep State Destroys Its Enemies,” as well as another titled “Pete Hegseth as Secretary of Defense: The Warrior Washington Fears.”
Killian, also known as Cole Killian, has a working email associated with DOGE, where he is currently listed as a volunteer, according to internal records reviewed by WIRED. According to a copy of his now-deleted résumé obtained by WIRED, he attended McGill University through at least 2021 and graduated high school in 2019. An archived copy of his now-deleted personal website indicates that he worked as an engineer at Jump Trading, which specializes in algorithmic and high-frequency financial trades.
Shaotran told Business Insider in September that he was a senior at Harvard studying computer science and also the founder of an OpenAI-backed startup, Energize AI. Shaotran was the runner-up in a hackathon held by xAI, Musk’s AI company. In the Business Insider article, Shaotran says he received a $100,000 grant from OpenAI to build his scheduling assistant, Spark…
I wouldn’t hire any of these trust-fund glibertarian kiddies to water my garden for a week, but then I’m a Cynic.
Thinking of the young air national guardsman who illegally shared classified material on Discord to impress people he played video games with online.
If he had waited a few years, he could’ve been placed high in the Office of Personnel Management, downloading US secrets with White House permission.— Nicholas Grossman (@nicholasgrossman.bsky.social) February 3, 2025 at 12:42 AM
Professor Bigfoot
From the dead open thread below: I don’t understand why nobody in any of these institutions has the ovaries to tell these punks, “Who TF are you, what TF are you doing, and if you don’t step away from that server you’re gonna catch these hands right now!
Edited: And FIRST? ME? Holy cow.
(obligatory ‘not all white people’)
E.
@Professor Bigfoot: We don’t know what’s happening in the hallways. It could be a lot. I hope people are waking up to the fact this is an ongoing coup and we have everything to lose.
prostratedragon
A nostalgia piece, performed by the composer:
Phylllis
Welp, here we go: Rep. Thomas Massie (Miscreant, KY) files bill to eliminate Dept. of Education.
Trivia Man
@Professor Bigfoot: Because the FBI and other security enforcers are in on it. You could stop them, but apparently it was just minutes before the guns showed up to escort the defenders from the building. Whoever controls tge badges and guns has a huge advantage.
Professor Bigfoot
@E.: I think if one of these little trust-fund shits got his face punched in we’d be hearing about it.
Like a mini-Luigi, if you know what I mean and I’m sure that you do.
Professor Bigfoot
@Trivia Man: That’s the story we should be hearing– not just that these little shits are mucking about in those systems, but that men with guns are protecting them while they do so.
Bruce K in ATH-GR
@Professor Bigfoot: I’ve read skeets with reports that there are such people, basically saying “We blocked them. They’re coming back with men with guns to do it anyway. Someone call Congress?”
And Moscow Mitch can go sodomize himself with the aid of a steak knife and a corkscrew. He had his chance to put an end to Trumpism, and he decided that the price the Republican Party would pay for it was too high.
We’re up against it now. Either the GOP dies or America dies. And I’m not optimistic about America’s chances.
Phylllis
@Professor Bigfoot: From ABC news:
Some real Karen ‘get me your manager’ energy there. I wish the security guards had opted to say “Knock yourself out, dude”, but I wasn’t there and one wonders what else the guards might have been threatened with.
sentient ai from the future
@Professor Bigfoot: some at usaid did, prevented muskox from entering a scif and were then placed on admin leave
Professor Bigfoot
@Bruce K in ATH-GR: I haven’t been for a while, now.
Americans* looked at a convicted felon, heard his unmistakable Nazi rhetoric, Nazi policy prescriptions, and Nazi threats of political violence and said, “yeah, we want that.”
I keep waiting for someone to come up with answers that don’t include troops, weapons, and mass death but I haven’t heard it yet.
What I seem to hear a lot is “Democrats didn’t do enough to stop this!”
Which, of course, I interpret as “DEI failed us!”
Jackie
Welp, USAID workers have the “day off.”
Dorothy A. Winsor
I hope this Blue Sky link works. It suggests Musk has it in for USAID because of work they did in South Africa after apartheid.
satby
@Professor Bigfoot: Some were: https://dcmediagroup.us/2025/02/02/federal-workers-block-doors-of-admin-building-over-elon-musk-data-breach/
Dorothy A. Winsor
@Professor Bigfoot: To me, what we’re seeing now is the kind of thing that leads to tumbrels because people have no other option
Ksmiami
@Bruce K in ATH-GR: it really will come down to massive strikes, boycotts, seizing our state and national buildings etc. Or we just sit back and let everything fall.
Quinerly
This is a good piece on where different media outlets are in settling these frivolous suits filed by Trump. I guess I missed the suits he has against Simon & Schuster ( a Bob Woodward book) and against CNN for defamation and the suits against him by co founders of “Truth Social.”
https://www.publicnotice.co/p/trump-meta-paramount-lawsuits-abc-explained
Nukular Biskits
Good mornin, y’all?
Who’s gonna be calling their US Reps & Senators today?
Action Item: Contact Federal Reps About the Illegal Musk Takeover (Open Thread)
Do All The Things
trnc
@Professor Bigfoot: I assume they’re being threatened at the very least with frivolous DOJ investigations, which would be expensive to fight.
Nukular Biskits
I’m gonna have to give up reading BJ in the morning as everytime I do, I get pissed off.
From above:
As Adam (and a few others here, I’m sure) can tell you, for those of us who hold security clearances, this kind of shit can get said clearance yanked, your ass fired and/or (depending on the severity), your ass thrown in jail. And for folks who have no such clearance????? Even more so.
Yet this is somehow A-OK in Trumplandia … and not a single damned Republican will speak out about it?
WTAFO?
trnc
Bolded part goes a long way toward explaining how we got here.
Starfish (she/her)
@Professor Bigfoot: People did tell them to get out. Those people either got fired or put on administrative leave.
— Al Jazeera
Professor Bigfoot
Have I been banned? Or does Balloon Juice have specific words that are now banned? I have tried to reply to Dorothy A. Winsor a couple of times and it just locks up and disappears my comment.
Kay
The young men have the potential to be whistleblowers. Musk is a horrible boss. An NDA cannot protect criminal behavior or void whistleblower protection laws.
Professor Bigfoot
@Starfish (she/her): I’d like to know just who put them on leave? Who had that authority?
Quinerly
@Starfish (she/her):
AP reporting:
Early Monday, Musk held a live session on X Spaces, previously known as Twitter Spaces, and said that he spoke in detail about USAID with the president. “He agreed we should shut it down,” Musk said.
“It became apparent that its not an apple with a worm it in,” Musk said. “What we have is just a ball of worms. You’ve got to basically get rid of the whole thing. It’s beyond repair.” “We’re shutting it down.”
Professor Bigfoot
@Kay: They’re co-conspirators. They’re not and would never be “whistleblowers.”
They are totally Musk fanbois with stars in their eyes.
Kay
@Starfish (she/her): n
Funny, but in a sad way. Remember how we spent 4 years discussing Hillary L Clinton’s emails and the threat to national security? Now we have 19 year old trust fund babies with access to everything.
Scout211
DC Media Group is following a group of Federal workers protesting and blocking the doors of the Admin building.
. . .
The protests are starting. Let’s shine a light on every single one, jackals.
satby
On BS, shared by John Marshall: “Giving access to SSNs, other data on government employees to non-employees like Musk is a violation of 5 USC 552a, and carries with it a penalty of $1000 per person whose data was accessed. We are building a case. Govt employees who want to participate should contact me directly” https://bsky.app/profile/marklemley.bsky.social/post/3lhbmwfn2qc2n
Doing naked links today for all the people who don’t click links.
Starfish (she/her)
@Kay: The young men are probably true believers, and they are tied in with networks that are going to land them good jobs. They are probably considering doing a YCombinator start up in a year or two if they haven’t done one already.
Suzanne
@Phylllis:
We need to come up with a derogatory term for when men act like bullies. Karen behavior isn’t okay, but it also is something we only punish when women do it.
Aside from that…. seems like Wired is doing some quality journalism here. Good to know.
davek319
@Professor Bigfoot: Exactly right. Turns out our side doesn’t have any men with guns to enforce the law.
Makes ya wonder where the men with guns think their authority comes from.
This is the big unknown in any coup attempt, isn’t it? Whose side are the security services on?
We’re not going to like the answer.
WereBear
This is what Europe went through between the World Wars.
Arrogant to think the Death of Fundamentalist God would not have any effect on us. Fervent Confederate Protestantism got us into this. We are watching the Death Throes because we (as a society) took the Constitution for granted.
Only a piece of paper if it’s not enforced.
lowtechcyclist
@Phylllis:
Dumb shit thinks this Administration needs bills to do stuff like that?! Boy howdy, is he ever behind the times!
Kay
@Professor Bigfoot:
Nah. True believers are the most betrayed and bitter when they turn. They’re much more invested in him than any federal employee.
Starfish (she/her)
@Kay: My feeling on this is that congress should put down the confirmations and do several Benghazis worth of hearings on who granted President Musk a line item veto, and why the executive branch of government thinks it has the power to take away funds that have already been granted.
Scamp Dog
@Nukular Biskits: Thanks for reminding me about that thread. I’ll be dropping by the office of my newly elected R representative to talk about Musk’s coup. I’ll report back on my visit later today.
frosty
@Nukular Biskits: I wrote on their website contact forms yesterday. I guess today is the day for calling.
Anybody else? Time to (try to) make your Republican reps stand up.
TBone
Buck the Eff UP palate cleansing spirits lifter!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=IEHko2DkPvI
Ovarian CHUTZPAH
Betty Cracker
Among the goons who’ve expropriated our data is this broccoli-headed twatwaffle who calls himself “bigballs” on LinkedIn.
satby
@davek319: our side has plenty of men with guns.
Kay
@Starfish (she/her):
That’s a good idea. Send it to a receptive Dem House member.
I would watch and so might 70 million other people.
Quinerly
I totally missed Mike Flynn’s involvement over the weekend.
From Heather Cox Richardson:
“Musk reposted a social media post from MAGA religious extremist General Mike Flynn, who resigned from his position as Trump’s national security advisor in 2017 after pleading guilty to secret conversations with a Russian agent—for which Trump pardoned him—and who publicly embraced the QAnon conspiracy theory. In today’s post, Flynn complained about the ‘Lutheran faith’ and, referring to federal grants provided to Lutheran Family Services and affiliated organizations, said, ‘this use of ‘religion’ as a money laundering operation must end.’ Musk added: ‘The [DOGE] team is rapidly shutting down these illegal payments.’
In fact, this is money appropriated by Congress, and its payment is required by law. Republican lawmakers have pushed government subsidies and grants toward religious organizations for years, and Lutheran Social Services is one of the largest employers in South Dakota, where it operates senior living facilities.
South Dakota is the home of Senate majority leader John Thune, who has not been a strong Trump supporter, as well as Homeland Security secretary nominee Kristi Noem.”
If anyone needs an actual link, I can add.
Phylllis
@Suzanne: I believe they’re referred to as Kyle or Chad. I defaulted to Karen because…lazy thinking I reckon. I will use bully going forward since it’s gender neutral & just like being called racist, actual bullies hate it when you call them what they are.
satby
@Betty Cracker: Betty, can you share hoopy frood’s postcard he made of the known Muskrats? It would be useful for people to have when contacting their representatives.
Professor Bigfoot
@Suzanne: That, alas, is a bit of a challenge– so many of the best insults in English are very much gender coded.
I find myself using the “C-word” under my breath a good bit, but with a solid Cockney accent to de-genderize it, if you will… but the challenge remains.
For example, “bitch” is a gendered insult, but “bad ass bitch” is a gendered praise.
IS there a solid, genuinely effective insult for white men?
lowtechcyclist
@Jackie:
Fixed that for ya, CNN.
Jeffg166
When unemployment plus inflation skyrocket and the economy tanks a third impeachment might look attractive to the GQP. Stranger things have happened.
Professor Bigfoot
@Kay: But first they have to turn, and true believers have a hard time turning.
See, for example, the current President and his supporters.
Suzanne
@Dorothy A. Winsor:
Yup.
I have said before — and been roasted for saying it — that one of the things I admire about French civic culture is that they remind their leaders periodically that guillotines exist as a last resort.
As someone who deeply desires a country governed by a rule of law and not vigilante justice or political violence…. the people in charge need to understand that they are now responsible for creating a society governed by order and fairness and due process. If they do not, stochastic violence is an inevitable result. That’s not a result I want, but it is what I predict.
Quinerly
@Betty Cracker:
It’s worth reading up on this kid’s father and his company.
Nukular Biskits
@Scamp Dog:
Good point:
If your US Senators and/or US Representative have a local office nearby, consider paying them a visit. Be nice, respectful, but let the staffers there (who may or may not be drinking the Trump/Musk Koolaid) know in no uncertain terms of your concerns, demands.
They’re counting on people to not push back. Don’t let them be right.
Were I at home, I’d be visiting Wicker’s, Hyde-Smith’s and Ezell’s office conveniently located in Gulfport.
ETA: Corrected.
Suzanne
@Phylllis: Chad and Stacy are hot people who get laid easily, I thought. That’s incel terminology.
I’m old. I can’t keep up.
Professor Bigfoot
@TBone: And if we both weren’t happily committed, I’d have asked you to marry me long since. ;)
glory b
@Phylllis: In another instance, those who tried to deny them access were escorted from the building and placed on indeterminate leave.
Quinerly
Chrystia Freeland quite good on MSNBC this AM.
zhena gogolia
Called Murphy. DC office mailbox full. Left a message on Hartford number.
Called Blumenthal. Left message on DC mailbox.
Left message on my rep’s Dc mailbox.
Phylllis
@lowtechcyclist: Ok, that made me chuckle. My thinking is they’re going to use the expiration of the continuing resolution to shut down the government, then defund all the things. They don’t have to repeal the laws that authorize the federal title & special ed funds, they can just zero out the line items and move everything to school choice vouchers.
Now, where folks think all these private school slots are suddenly going to be available, I can’t tell you. I also know there is a limited appetite for homeschooling, based on how desperate parents were to get the kids out from under them during the COVID shutdown.
Kay
@Starfish (she/her):
People had this frustration during Bush II, that Congress ITSELF wasn’t protecting its constitutional role. The encroachment of the executive on legislative powers has been a problem for a long time. I personally think Congress willingly gave up a lot of their war powers because they prefer the President have sole responsibility for wars.
Its baffling to me. They work so hard to get those seats and then to just give the President a line item veto by default? Crazy.
WereBear
I like “How Trumpy ARE you?” Since I consider that waste of plasma the nadir of the breed.
frosty
@lowtechcyclist: Dumb shit thinks this Administration needs bills to do stuff like that?! Boy howdy, is he ever behind the times!
That’s the theme of my call to my useless R today: “Hi dude, wake up! Did you just go through a campaign to keep your job so you could get neutered by Elon Musk? Nothing Congess is doing matters to him. Stand up and take it back!”
Suzanne
@Professor Bigfoot:
I have heard it suggested that “douchebag” is that term, but that doesn’t have the bullying connotation of “Karen”. To me, “douchebag” is just a general term for an asshole, and there isn’t a power dynamic at work.
Most of our insults to men are to call them women, or women’s body parts.
lowtechcyclist
@trnc:
Yeah, they misspelled ‘deform.’
Phylllis
@Quinerly: Our next door neighbor is a Lutheran minister; his Facebook is mostly posts about his wife and their cutie-patootie toddler. He put up a post yesterday outraged about Flynn’s remarks, which sound a lot like slander to me. I think offending and pissing off 300+ million Lutherans in America is maybe not a good move.
Suzanne
@WereBear:
Yes. The law is only what people in power say it is.
Kay
@Professor Bigfoot:
The story of every far Right anti government terrorist starts like this “I believed all of it – stars and stripes rah rah, we were the good guys…” – then something happens to jolt them out of this fantasy, reality hits them all at once and they go 180 the other way.
Starfish (she/her)
@Betty Cracker: In this short video of a British person watching Trump’s press conference on the plane crash, the person calls J. D. Vance “Cabbage Patch Satan,” and I thought you would very much like to know that.
RevRick
@Suzanne: Thug. The word is thug.
Betty Cracker
Here it is.
Betty Cracker
@Starfish (she/her): First genuine laugh of the day — thank you!
Professor Bigfoot
@Kay: I understand, but first something has to smack them in the face.
Look at the J6 seditionists– how many of them were arrested, tried, convicted and jailed, but the moment they were pardoned they were out to go buy more guns.
Everybody’s got a plan ’til they get punched in the mouth, and if no one punches them in the mouth (as we are seeing so far) then… the plan goes on.
WereBear
@RevRick: But that has been racial-ized.
I understand the phrase “big girl’s blouse” and our own “empty suit” might work better.
Scout211
Highlighting another protest.
They eventually were dispersed by police but no arrests.
Suzanne
@RevRick: “Thug” has been historically used to marginalize black men pretty specifically, and thus I won’t use it. You are right that their behavior fits the dictionary-definition of thuggish, though.
There’s a reason we don’t have widely-used language to describe bad behavior by white men. It’s a way of making sure we don’t see it or talk about it.
lowtechcyclist
@Quinerly:
As I said in the overnight thread, the Saturday Night Massacre of 1973 is the last time I can recall a government agency being forcibly shut down. That was when the Special Prosecutor’s office was shut down in the wake of the firings of Archibald Cox, Elliott Richardson, and William Ruckelshaus.
That was treated by the media at the time as a Big Fucking Deal, and directly led to impeachment proceedings for Nixon.
Needless to say, I don’t have hopes of a similar reaction here. But this is illegal as all get out, and we’re clearly in coup territory now.
Chris Johnson
@Kay: That’s why they’re children. Musk has chosen people he can brainwash into compliance and promise the world. They’re not old enough to do real threat assessment or know the trouble they’re in, or care.
Fucking ablative children AGAIN. It’s a real pattern with this motherfucker.
Kay
@Phylllis:
It is hysterical they dont know what Lutheran family services is – they get a ton of government contracts as a “faith based provider”. The name is deceptive. It should be Lutheran Government Contractors.
Catholic Charities is 2/3rds government funded. I’m sure the Lutheran contractor is comparable.
They should all be called American Social Services since everyone is paying for them.
davek319
@satby: Yeah? Where the fuck are they while a Nazi fuck and his little jizzwad squad are stealing all the government’s–as in yours and mine, amirite?–data?
George
I suggest people stop using “Americans” and “us” when talking about who elected FFOTUS. I suggest people start using “Republicans” and “them” to define the enemy on whom we can focus. Blaming all Americans or subtly blaming ourselves is a fool’s errand and won’t help our cause, especially if we want to get normies to join the resistance.
Professor Bigfoot
@WereBear: I think we’ve established that there is NO word, phrase, or even gestured insult that comes close to the nuclear intensity of the “n-word” and the “c-word.”
Thus telling us exactly who invented those words that we use circumlocutions for but they throw around joyfully and are offended if such is questioned.
glory b
@Dorothy A. Winsor: He’s called USAID a corrupt, criminal organization that must be dismantled immediately.
I understand that all USAID employees have been given a “vacation day.”
RevRick
@Phylllis: I think the Lutheran churches would be surprised to hear that there are so many of them.
But they do have lots of mainline church friends.
Yesterday, during the time of Announcements I got up and told the congregation that the slander of Lutheran Family Service was an attack on the church.
The plan is to threaten all of us with “bend the knee, or else!”
WereBear
@Scout211: The whole “trying to kill more Angelinos” fire disaster shows they will happily kill everyone.
The Third Reich was very careful to keep their mayhem where the prejudice of centuries could support their actions. It was a White Christian identity and they were coddled with the spoils of that war.
For a while.
But these jerks are declaring we will be ruled by teenagers. No good has ever come of that.
Starfish (she/her)
I don’t like how Musk’s geniuses are being called children. They are adults doing adult crimes that land folks in adult jail. They, like Republicans, have agency in the world.
AM in NC
@Professor Bigfoot: Shrivel Dick? Scrote face? Wrinkled ballsack of a man?
Scout211
And another protest in Dallas.
About 2,000 demonstrators filled Dallas City Hall Plaza and downtown streets Sunday afternoon to protest immigration and deportation actions taken by the Trump administration.
Again, highlighting all the protests that are happening nationwide (here in the comments) from local news sources because the national media is not covering them.
Professor Bigfoot
This is how “whiteness” and “white supremacy” hide themselves– it’s why I’m constantly on with “don’t talk about ‘people’ when you know it’s only ‘white people.'”
This is how white supremacy hides its depredations with the unwitting support of the white-person-in-the-street.
Kay
@Scout211:
Good for them. It’s tough to take up for immigrants right now. The people who do it are brave.
WereBear
@Professor Bigfoot: Tells us all we need to know.
All a BSW can DO is knock things over and shrink in cold water.
Betty Cracker
An excerpt from the Substack linked at #41 with a theory on Musk’s data predation:
Serious question: who is in charge of investigating data breaches? To whom would one report it?
RevRick
@WereBear:
@Suzanne:
Racialized by whom? The very shits for whom it would be the worst insult possible. Shove it right back at them.
E.
@lowtechcyclist: Obama shut down the Minerals Management Service. And you know what? They were actually, genuinely, bona-fide corrupt.
glory b
@Starfish (she/her): You surely don’t think that Speaker Johnson will do this do you?
Kay
@Scout211:
The best and most resilient grass roots efforts begin with no coverage. There’s a “stealth” and “underground” aspect to all of them. US media is profit-obsessed garbage product. They ruin everything they touch. All they’ll do is cheapen any solidarity movement and exploit divisions. We’re all better off if it gets a chance to grow before they stomp.it out.
But thanks for posting. I didn’t know about these. I was hoping people would step up and lead – I was confident they would.
Geminid
@WereBear: “Goon” works. It’s out of style, but a few decades ago it was used pretty much like thug is now.
Scout211
FBI?
I’m sure Kash Patel will be on it.
WereBear
@AM in NC: Perhaps “you empty ballsack” would have some Freudian potency.
Starfish (she/her)
@Betty Cracker: It depends. If the company is listed on the stock exchange, I think there are SEC reporting requirements because these incidents are important to how a company is valued.
Belafon
I’m just waiting to see what the stock market is going to look like today.
prostratedragon
@Jeffg166: I’m hip. And things could even get to where 3’s the charm for them. Thing is, they’re going to need some loyal protection for their sessions.
Stacy
@Betty Cracker: His father, Charles Coristine, is the CEO of the organic snack food maker, LesserEvil.
Starfish (she/her)
@glory b: The representatives can sort what they will or will not do. Mine is to write them and ask them to do the right thing.
Scout211
One more this morning:
Large crowd in South Omaha protests against Trump administration policies
wu ming
that first post by pelosi is really good framing. bush’s attempt to ram through the privatization of social security in 2005 and the way we rallied the netroots (and many initially reluctant elected dems) to block it is a good analogue to the current crisis.
George
@glory b:
Having first-hand experience on an assignment with USAID, I note that the people I worked with were committed to providing humanitarian aid around the world to people suffering from natural disasters or civil wars. Alleviating human suffering is a cause that any sane human being, but especially those people with a religious bent, should support with no qualifiers.
The fact that the administration is trying to cripple or eliminate USAID shows FFOTUS’s desire to destroy America’s soft power around the world, allowing China and perhaps India and Russia to move in.
Nukular Biskits
@Professor Bigfoot:
Cuck.
tobie
@Jackie: One wonders what is in the classified files at USAID that these guys are desperate to get.
Suzanne
@Professor Bigfoot: Agree.
There are times I feel that we sometimes forget that homophobia, misogyny, ableism, transphobia, etc. also exist, though. It’s a cornucopia of hate.
ETA: It’s been shocking to me to see on Xhitter how many men apparently deeply resented that they shouldn’t say the R-word.
frosty
@Jeffg166: I was going to recommend to my Useless Republican Representative that he should grow a spine: it’s time to impeach Trump. Then I realized it would mean President Vance who Musk and Thiel would like even better.
They really embedded themselves nicely, didn’t they?
prostratedragon
@Starfish (she/her):
“Cabbage Patch Satan”
Superb!
Professor Bigfoot
This, entirely THIS.
We don’t need elaborate conspiracy theories to explain their behavior when their own craven pursuit of profit at all costs perfectly explains their behavior.
Phylllis
@RevRick: Aargh, typed the wrong number–that’s the US population more or less. More like 2.79 million baptized Lutheran members. That’s still a lot.
zhena gogolia
@Suzanne: Don’t forget ageism.
Jeffg166
@frosty:
They could also impeach Vance and pastor Mike if the line of succession holds. They won’t but it is a thought.
Belafon
@Stacy: A company Musk’s brother is invested in.
The Thin Black Duke
@Suzanne: “Riots are the language of the unheard.”–MLK Jr
glory b
@Scout211: I had hoped that the pro Gaza protests showed that another way is needed, pissing off people trying to get to work on time, or getting their kids to daycare before they soil themselves has been proven NOT to be the way to win friends and influence people.
According to my brother who lives in Texas, them simply not showing up for work would cause such a massive problem (because the Texas economy would implode without them) that it would be MUCH more effective.
Belafon
@Nukular Biskits: Mediocre and mama’s boy are also pretty effective.
Belafon
@frosty: If we can get rid of a Trump, we can get rid of a Vance.
frosty
Brilliant! So all our blather about Jeffries having some negotiation clout when the CR comes due turns to bullshit. They don’t care.
TBone
@Professor Bigfoot:
*blushes and kicks a pebble
Kristine
@Starfish (she/her):
According to all I’ve seen and read, white men are considered children until the age of 40 or so. Not responsible. Didn’t realize the ramifications.
mrmoshpotato
@Suzanne:
You might get broasted this time.
Gloria DryGarden
@Nukular Biskits: i called mine. Got a real person at my representative’s office. He said congress isn’t meeting today. And that a lot of lawsuits have been filed. I asked if my call was just a hash mark in the do something column, and he said no, the representative looks at the call logs.
I trust they will be flooded with calls today.
Thank you to everyone who calls their senators and representative today.
Belafon
@glory b: If you have the ability to protest during the weekday, either you don’t have a job or the company isn’t really going to miss you.
Part of the problem right now is that Americans work because they’ve balanced their life on a knife’s edge of spending to earnings. Losing a week’s pay, much less a job, would be devastating.
glory b
@George: Yes, amazing how, for all his bluster about making America strong, all he does is weaken it.
Russia might soon be too spent to move in, Putin’s support of Trump was a smart move but his obsession (because that’s all I can all it), might well undo everything he envisioned.
Xi is probably pretty happy though.
Geminid
@George: The big winner with Trump “America First” program will be China.
tobie
I read a pretty compelling thread on Mastodon that Trump is tying tariffs to ending the progressive income tax system. Essentially a regressive consumption tax would fund what little is left of the government, and that tax would be paid by the poor and middle class who spend every penny the earn just to survive. This vision is so dystopian.
prostratedragon
@frosty: Maybe Treasury | Justice first.
Belafon
@tobie: I can’t wait for Russia to own the USS Ronald Reagan.
glory b
@Gloria DryGarden: I have a relative who worked for as a Congressional staffer, she assured me that EVERY member checks their call logs. No matter what they might say to the media, they are always aware of the nature of the calls they get.
Gloria DryGarden
@Professor Bigfoot: prick
priviledged, denialist unconscious person. (Though not true for all)
pendejo. Boludo.
btw, i never understand using the c word as an insult. It’s rather insulting to women, and feels like hatred toward my sex.
Starfish (she/her)
@glory b: This is already happening. Folks are scared of the ICE raids, and people will stay home for fear of an ICE raid.
Spanky
@Belafon: Here we go! Weeeee!
Starfish (she/her)
@Belafon: If you have the ability to protest during the week day, you might have taken the day off already or you might be “sick” that day. A lot of people are not chained to their desks, despite what CEOs would like to do.
Quinerly
@Geminid:
https://www.vox.com/world-politics/397741/axis-upheaval-crinks-china-russia-iran-north-korea
Suzanne
@Belafon: This is a problem with a lot of organizing and political action. It’s very difficult for working people, people with kids in school, etc. Mr. Suzanne did a bunch of canvassing this cycle, and they often started at 4 PM on weekdays. He works from home, so he was able to do that, but that’s a significant challenge for a lot of people.
Gloria DryGarden
@glory b: that is great. I can’t imagine how they take notes on everything that was said. Maybe they have check boxes? Maybe it’s just my name and zip, since he asked for it at the end.
Thanks to your relative for their service.
tobie
@wu ming:
Agree. It also shows she’s got fight in the belly. We need that right now. Rising up is about the only thing we can do as citizens with the Republican lock on government. We need to know there’s an opposition party committed to opposing the complete privatization of all govt functions (i.e., gifting it to the executive’s friends and family).
prostratedragon
@Professor Bigfoot:
“Bukra”
“Haole”
Can’t quickly think of an example of the former from pop culture. In an episode of Twin Peaks, Dr. Jacoby bids the cops a friendly “Hang loose, haoles!”
Spanky
Words to remember:
sentient ai from the future
@Gloria DryGarden: how about pinche basura sinverguenza naranja malcriado chupamierda
RevRick
@Belafon: That “if” is doing a ridiculous amount of work here. Because as long as the GOP controls Congress, you’re more likely to get the desired results by praying for the sudden death of every Republican official in the country.
Gloria DryGarden
@frosty: thats the other thing that really sucks.
mrmoshpotato
@Belafon:
And they’ll have it renamed for Gorbachev.
Professor Bigfoot
@Nukular Biskits: Alas, that only works when coming from another white man; and even that doesn’t hit anything like the n-word.
Belafon
@RevRick: Agree. Mine was a purely logical statement: If X, then Y. The comment I was replying to was assuming X.
TBone
@Professor Bigfoot: pencil necked geek, bootlicking, puny, sorry assed freak!
Bescumber the lobberscotchers!
That’s white woman talk for GTFOH before I make you spit your brown, stained Chiclets, LOSER.
Also, Bald Headed Chicken Fuckers works real good, ask me how I know!
Belafon
I went to CNBC to check the markets, and there are two side stories titled:
In a switch, Trump approves of the Fed’s decision to hold interest rates steady
Putin says Europe will ‘stand at the feet of the master’ as Trump’s tariffs alarm allies
Professor Bigfoot
@prostratedragon: Most American white men have no idea what “haole” means; and TBH, it’s simply a descriptor, not an essential insult.
Bukra I haven’t heard of, and so I doubt seriously very many white men would have any idea, so again a fail as far as insult is concerned.
Personally I like “peckerwood” and “ofay,” but they’re rather obscure classics today. ;)
Planetjanet
@Professor Bigfoot: They are and are being fired and escorted out of the building.
catclub
So the US is 300 million Lutherans and 30 Million others?
Professor Bigfoot
@sentient ai from the future: ¡Esto me gusta muchismo!
<stands and claps enthusiastically>
Nukular Biskits
@Professor Bigfoot:
Propriety prevents me from correctin/updating explicitly the term but how about a possessive version; i.e. “N’s cuck”?
You have no idea how long it took me to write that while on the treadmill and autocorrect repeatedly ” correcting ” it ..lol
sixthdoctor
From Aaron Fritschner:
Congressman @beyer.house.gov will be going to USAID today with colleagues to shine a light on what is happening there, I think others will join us. Figuring out details now and will share but flagging now for press and public in the area.
https://bsky.app/profile/fritschner.bsky.social/post/3lhbqph7rjc2e
bluefoot
@Scout211: Thanks for all these. People need to know that others are standing up against what’s going on. That if nothing else we have the power of our voices.
and of course to show solidarity. For example, the federal worker Reddit is full of people wondering where members of Congress are, and if anyone cares they’re being hung out to dry.
Belafon
@Professor Bigfoot: I know the first, but not the second.
Old Man Shadow
I do not think Democrats sufficiently understand yet exactly how angry their base is.
I do not want bipartisanship. I do not want congeniality. I want anger. I want malice. I want hatred.
And when this all ends, if I am alive to see it, I don’t want truth and reconciliation. I want blood. I want public trials. I want to see Nazis hang again. I want the miserable little fuckers afraid to poke their heads out again for at least a hundred years.
Redshift
@tobie: I don’t buy any explanation that Trump secretly understands the things he makes insanely ignorant and wrong-headed statements about and has an elaborate plan. You can construct such a theory in many cases but spending a lot of effort in what might be true doesn’t make it true.
I’m going to stick with Trump’s Razor, which served well the first time around: if there are multiple possible explanations, the stupidest one is the most likely to be true.
CaseyL
I called Jayapal and spoke to an actual human being, who said she would pass my message on. She said she could not speak to what Jayapal was doing.
I tried calling my Senators, but their voicemail boxes are full – which is, I hope, a good sign. I have filled out their online contact forms telling them to take themselves, more Senators, and media crews to OPM. Telling them Musk and his accomplices have violated laws against unauthorized access to every American’s PHI and PFI, and also are – without any authority to do so – shutting down government offices and government programs.
If I weren’t on the other end of the country from DC, I’d be heading out to OPM myself. If this goes on, I might fly out there anyway.
Kirk
coupists. rebels. insurrectionists.
Dare I say, Traitors. For have they not acted to usurp and overthrow the government of the United States, remaking it in their terms?
Belafon
@sixthdoctor: Let’s find out which news orgs show up.
Suzanne
@Nukular Biskits: “Cuck”, the way it’s used by the people who use it, is about criticizing perceived weakness. (It is gross AF.)
I want something that describes being a fucking bully.
I like “pendejo”, myself, but I don’t know that most white people know what it means, LOL.
TBone
@TBone: it is Chinchilla time again, pendejo!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=gnPKYVkK_iA
rikyrah
Good Morning Everyone 😊 😊 😊
AWOL
@Phylllis: There are 330,000,000 generally useless objects called “US Citizens. How did 300,000,000 become Lutherans?
TBone
@Suzanne: you beat me to it!
Professor Bigfoot
@Suzanne: As I’ve seen it put elsehwere, “those who hate Jews seldom hate ONLY Jews.”
There’s a wide streak of “dominance and submission” fantasy in the average American white man; and it’s so widespread that few of them even recognize it.
glory b
@tobie: But she’s OLD!!!!
Everyone knows old people have nothing to offer and must be pushed out onto ice floes as soon a practicable.
Fair Economist
@Suzanne:
Doesn’t matter. If people perceive it as an insult, it becomes one. It’s a good insult, I think.
Kristine
“Pencildick” isn’t race-specific but pretty understandable.
sab
@Professor Bigfoot: These Muskrat twerps are all male but they aren’t all White.
Geminid
@Redshift: I think you have to factor in the prople around Trump. Trump’s basically an ignoramus, but he can be led by people who are not.
glory b
@Old Man Shadow: The majority of voters voted for Trump.
Young people have taken a notable turn towards the Republican party, Gen X is polled saying they need annual incomes of $600,000 to be satisfied.
I doubt that this will happen.
TBone
The last time two grown white men ganged up on me, I brought out my Home Security System baseball bat and clocked one on the cheek. Everyone calmed right the fuck down instantly. After that, he and his grown son nicknamed me Kimbo Slice. Respectfully.
Professor Bigfoot
@sab: I bet they wouldn’t agree if you told THEM that.
THEY think they’re white. The ones we see and perceive as non-white simply have not received their “n-word wake-up call” yet.
Like Vivek did.
Whiteness and white adjacency are, as always, at the root.
CaseyL
Per Aaron Fritschner on BSky (he’s in Representative Beyer’s office, and has been an excellent source of immediate news frequently)
Nukular Biskits
@Suzanne:
Your point is well taken but, at their core, bullies are weak. Only bullies with a conscience (if such a thing exists) can be forced into reexamining themselves upon being called a “bully”.
Cutting straight to the chase, though, reminds them that they’re weak.
Gloria DryGarden
@Starfish (she/her): congress isn’t meeting today, I was told when I called.
I left messages for my senators, that they don’t need to be doing confirmation hearings today, but only attend to this, to stop Elon, and take possession of whatever computer equipment they brought in to download our data. And to charge these people.
I have the same question as professor Bigfoot, who gave the firings and administrative leave to so many people?
tobie
@Redshift: I agree with you that Trump doesn’t know what he’s talking about. He parrots lines given to him. The authors of Project 2025 want to get rid of income taxes and have long argued that tariffs would give the US Treasury all the revenue it needs for govt operations. Marc Andreeson and others have endless threads and posts with graphs on Twitter comparing govt revenue before and after the introduction of a progressive income tax. I didn’t appreciate just how much rich people find it offensive that they should have to pay taxes to fund roads, hospitals, special ed, clean air, Soc Sec, Medicare, air traffic controls, etc. The new titans of industry don’t see themselves as part of any collective and benefitting from the wellbeing of that collective. It’s such a primitive vision.
glory b
@sab: White adjacent
Professor Bigfoot
@glory b:
The majority of voters… and the vast majority of WHITE voters.
WHITE people chose this.
Suzanne
@Old Man Shadow:
Apparently Schumer is of the opinion that we need to sit and wait until Trump screws up.
That seems exceedingly feckless to me.
Gloria DryGarden
@Suzanne: son todos boludos. Probably more in use in South America.
CaseyL
Also from BlueSky: This is happening right at the time the debt ceiling needs to be raised, and ALSO when outgoing funds need to be monitored by government regulators.
From Greg Sargent:
Josie
@Fair Economist:
@Suzanne:
I agree. “Pendejo” sums it up nicely.
lowtechcyclist
@CaseyL:
GOOD. That’s exactly what they need to be doing.
Related – is anyone else having problems with the phone system when making calls to their Senators? I tried Alsobrooks and Van Hollen in the past 15 minutes on both my land line and my cell phone, and the connection was extremely choppy on both lines and to both offices.
ETA: I called Hoyer’s office before calling my Senators, and had no problem with the connection.
Phylllis
@catclub: Yeah, total brain fart when I typed that. Corrected it in a response to RevRick
Betty Cracker
@sixthdoctor: Excellent news.
Librettist
I once had a co-worker tell me about a customer of his constantly asking for general ledger changes. To cover up the fraud.
Quiltingfool
How about calling these people “assholes?” It is a gender neutral term. For example, I prefer calling Nancy Mace an asshole, instead of bitch or what I call a “fighting word,” c**t.
elliottg
A motion for impeachment or referral can be made on the house floor as a question of executive privilege. This is something Democratic House members can do.
TBone
@TBone: that reputation spread and protected me for years. Playing the crazy white bitch card when you must is a good thing, sometimes…
Kirk
@CaseyL: A complication to that is – hey, all, it’s the start of “pay your income tax” season. W2s were required to have been sent by now so that clock is ticking.
Spanky
Dow currently down 1.35% and NASDAQ down 2.41% and both more or less leveled off. The Market is kinda “meh” about the weekend’s happenings. From now on it’ll react m/l in realtime to the
shenanigansongoing coup.Kirk
@Professor Bigfoot: The vast majority of white men. A rather small majority of white women.
Me, being a white man, am mostly resigned to the backlash if the side I support wins. It’ll suck, but it’ll be better than now for a hell of a lot more people, so… shrug.
Betty Cracker
@lowtechcyclist: I also got a choppy connection while calling my two (shitty Republican) senators. No one picked up, and the outgoing message prior to the recording was so choppy as to be unintelligible. I left messages anyway but have to wonder if the incoming messages are similarly fucked up.
Sandia Blanca
@Nukular Biskits: I did! I normally call my local (Austin) offices, because there’s a better chance of talking to a staffer rather than voice-mail. Just talked to someone at Sen. Cruz’s office and my Rep. Lloyd Doggett’s office. Sen. Cornyn’s voice-mail was full, however. I’ll try them again later.
artem1s
this is when SS payments go out. If they intend to end SS by stopping payments, then we’ll know next Wednesday. More likely they are setting up to put our contribution into some crypto currency or brokerage account of their choosing.
If you were born on the 1st through the 10th of the month, you’ll be paid on the second Wednesday of the month.
If you were born on the 11th through the 20th of the month, you’ll be paid on the third Wednesday of the month.
If you were born after the 20th of the month, you’ll be paid on the fourth Wednesday of the month.
Gonna be an instant default of the US if the cash flow from SS contribution stop coming into the Treasury. USD will be worth nothing and there will be no FDIC funds to bail out the insured accounts. It will take about 3 months for them to pump and dump the crypto or whatever brokerage accounts they will dump our tax dollars into. Hold on to your butts.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@tobie:
And that’s just one long-time conservative goal.
Somebody over the weekend linked to a Kevin Drum piece which asked where are all the (R)s in this, suggesting that our grousing about examples of (D) fecklessness in the face of this is misguided. That angle misses the point as well in that (R)s are silent because they’re all having a collective orgasm over this.
They’ve been trying to undo myriad aspects of how the US Federal government has evolved since, as shown above, the establishment of a national income tax.
So of course they’re silent. The fact that a separate branch of government, tasked under the Constitution to be a backstop against shit like this and is choosing not to because it’s loyal to it’s party and the money behind it, simply shows how broken the system is.
We can make all the tumbrel analogies we want (I certainly make plenty of them) but the sad fact is the US as a society, in 2025, ain’t gonna take that route.
Well, okay, Luigi Mangione did. It didn’t, and ain’t, gonna spark nothing.
It’s Doomer Monday in my house!
Scout211
I may be an outlier here, but I am not in favor of name-calling as a way to fight back. IMHO, it makes the name-caller temporarily feel powerful but is not at all productive.
But that’s just me, so carry on.
rikyrah
Straight up… No chaser… there truly is no forgiveness for those who got us into this situation.
those who voted for him
those who voted 3rd party
those who didn’t vote
you are all the same and worth complete and utter contempt 😡 😡 😤
Baud
@rikyrah:
Good morning.
Kay
@Quiltingfool:
I hate “Karen”. I knew it would be weaponized by the Right to describe any woman who demands anything or is assertive and it has been.
It hasn’t missed my notice that not only is there no comparable term for a man, men are NEVER told their demands are unreasonable.
comrade scotts agenda of rage
@Old Man Shadow:
The problem is who do you ask and how they define “the base”. I look around me at the pale-blue, white professional, self-professed progressives who grew up in a lily-white burb with “socially liberal/fiscally conservative” parents who voted (R) and they’re not seeing a threat…and depending on who you ask, are seen as the “base” of the party now.
As Bupulos said last week, “our basket of voters got whiter and wealthier and that’s why we lost.”
All this rambling notwithstanding, I’d be curious as to how the chairs of each state’s Democratic Party feel about “the base” at the moment. Or how our federal electeds are handling this unprecedented assault on our institutions and democracy.
Or how normies see this. Or even know about it.
Kay
I’m severely limiting my seed starting because I hope to move this summer but I am trying to grow Texas Bluebonnets from seed just to keep me occupied.
Everyone has different opinions on growing them so I’m just going to the botanical name and finding a flower I have grown to compare them to.
I love a knotty seed starting problem!
Matt McIrvin
@Suzanne: “Cuck” immediately red-flags the person using it as a Nazi, in my mind.
horatius
@WereBear: From the picture, it doesn’t look like his balls have dropped yet.
oldgold
Senator Grassley wrote Trump this morning requesting that potash be exempted from the tariffs being imposed on Canadian trade.
Beyond the economic stupidity animating these tariffs, this demonstrates the other danger of presidentially imposed tariffs. Grassley is the head of the Senate Judiciary Committee. What price will the notoriously transactional Trump extract for a potash exemption? Letting the IG debacle go and no second hearing for Patel for starters? And, this will playout again and again as individual Congress members need exemptions from this new tariff regime.
Geminid
@comrade scotts agenda of rage: I have yet to see evidence that Democratic voters got “Whiter” and wealthier in the last election and that was “why” we lost.
We may get some when voting roll information is released and analyzed. Then we’ll be able to better evaluate the hot takes people have been tossing around here.
Professor Bigfoot
@Kirk: Here’s the thing though— you will never suffer for your white male identity under any circumstances.
We would never seek to harm you for simply being white; and they will absolutely protect you for simply being white.
¯\_(ツ)_/¯
tobie
BJ is getting choppy. I think I posted a comment but it got lost.
It wasn’t much. I linked to Elizabeth Warren’s 2012 explanation of the social contract. I really think this needs to be Dem’s message going forward. The Republican vision is to privatize everything from your local fire department to your roads and bridges to your schools to your medical care. A few will profit from this and everyone else will have to pay them for overpriced, inadequate services. We need to make the case that our fortunes are tied together. No one in the US seems to believe this any longer and they’re willing to trade what’s left of the public sphere for a feudal vision.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=htX2usfqMEs&t=1s
Professor Bigfoot
@Kay: white men are never told their demands are unreasonable.
They like to kill Black men who demand too much. Just ask the shade of MLKJr.
Soprano2
@Geminid: I wonder if R’s who support this realize that programs like USAID are one way we fight against China. If we don’t help people, China certainly will.
I read that Musk hates USAID because it helped the South African government after apartheid was done away with. You know, those black people.
Quinerly
Tariffs on Mexico paused for one month
https://www.cnbc.com/2025/02/03/trump-tariffs-mexico-canada-china-sheinbaum-responds.htm
Mexico will immediately reinforce the border with 10,000 members of its National Guard, while the US committed to working on preventing high-powered weapons from being trafficked to Mexico, Sheinbaum said.
princess leia
@Quinerly:
That must be why the market is recovering ATM.
Matt McIrvin
@Professor Bigfoot: White men do get grief from other white men for *turning against* some aspect of their white male identity. It’s like a toxic fraternity. But even there, the bar is pretty high because there’s an initial assumption of allegiance.
Kirk
@Professor Bigfoot:
In the world as it is, I agree.
I said backlash. While I do believe that the revolution will be televised, it will also be ugly. And there is a human response to being the target of ugliness. Ideally the better angels will mitigate it but they won’t always be successful.
Racism is the core sin of this nation. (I harp on misogyny but that’s more of a global sin.) Even once the sinners truly repent or are expunged it shall warp the behavior of all for generations.
Suzanne
@Matt McIrvin:
This is another one of those terms that came from incel-dom, IIRC. It is supremely gross.
different-church-lady
@Professor Bigfoot:
Too many people still on denial about this. “Oh, the just weren’t paying attention. Oh they’re just misinformed. Oh they just want cheap eggs.” Pretty lies they’re telling themselves because they can’t deal with the idea that half the country wants a Hitler.
Quinerly
@princess leia:
Down less than 120 pts now
princess leia
@Quinerly:
Wild, that.
Suzanne
@different-church-lady: Eh. I think there is a headspace of people who do just want the cheap eggs. And I think it’s large.
It’s really difficult to fight, because it is such a self-centered and narrow view. It’s almost impervious to evidence or consequences. But we need a chunk of those voters to win in the future. If there is ever another election.
Kristine
@Quinerly: Their eyes are on the tariffs. They never believed they’d be implemented. Then they didn’t believe they would last long if they were. I guess we’ll see if TFG’s minions work out something with Canada so that he can claim Victory! and the goods continue to flow.
Some of those price hikes may remain, though. Just in case.
Miss Bianca
@Scout211: Yeah, it’s great to hear about protests and all. I just wish half this energy from these protest organizers had gone into organizing to vote for a Democratic POTUS who, you know, wouldn’t have been up for “shock and awe” mass deportation schemes.
Maybe I’m just being cynical, but it seems to me that a lot of people just find “resistance” sexier than “civic engagement”.
Quinerly
@Kristine:
Just seeing this
The Canadian province of Ontario has said it will cancel a $100mn contract with Elon Musk’s Starlink in retaliation against US tariffs.
“Maybe Elon Musk can call his buddy. He is part of the Trump team,” premier Doug Ford posted said at an event in Toronto on Monday.
The deal, agreed in November, was intended to help connect 15,000 households in remote parts of Canada’s most populous province.
Ford said he would “be ripping up the province’s contract with Starlink. Ontario won’t do business with people hell-bent on destroying our economy.”
Financial Times reporting
satby
@Miss Bianca: not cynical at all, accurate.
Ksmiami
@Suzanne: he’s useless. Seriously, we all need to rise up against these assholes everywhere.
Professor Bigfoot
@different-church-lady: White people really do hate to call out white people for whiteness’s shenanigans; and one way of dealing with THAT is to pretend that whiteness has nothing to do with whatever.
(obligatory ‘Not All White People’)
Citizen Alan
@Suzanne:
Jasmine crockett used the word thug in the post quoted above. I applaud her effort to deracialize a term that perfectly describes the nazi animals attacking our government.
Citizen Alan
@George: i’m nearly to the point of not using the word Republican at all, unless it has the prefix “traitor-” in front of it. As in, “everybody look at what the traitor- republicans have done now.”
Geminid
@Soprano2: Israeli commentator Iris Boker posted a thread last week about the Trump administration’s withdrawal from the World Health Organization. Boker pointed out that this would make China the principal policy-making actor in the organization; also the main supplier of medicine to third-world nations as well as the principal beneficiary of research conducted in them.
It’s also an opening for influence on public opinion worldwide. Boker said China was already flooding social media in and outside China with two messages: the US is unreliable nation, and that “democracy and elections are a disaster.”
Suzanne
@Citizen Alan: I think she can use it. I’m not comfortable using it, personally. It might hit different coming from me.
MobiusKlein
Glory b
@rikyrah: Here’s your chair at the mean girls’ table!
Contempt it is.
Gloria DryGarden
@Scout211: name calling is better for venting about someone who is not present. Glad you brought this up.
Kay
Here’s Matt Gaetz saying the GOP doesn’t need “Karens” because they’ll replace lost Karens with Julios and Jamals
They’ve weaponized the term against all women except for subservient women
https://www.the-independent.com/news/world/americas/us-politics/matt-gaetz-donald-trump-2024-b2480849.html
Kristine
@Quinerly: I wish every Starlink contract could be ripped up. Unfortunately the system in important to Ukraine.
Gloria DryGarden
@Suzanne: I’ve had a lot of repairs and repairmen here in the last two years, and I’ve hear many people (young white men) repeat similar talking points, the price of gas, or of eggs.
My sense is they are fed these talking points from their news feed, probably fox or similar, or worse. It’s the presidents fault, so I don’t want that president.
I keep circling back to the media issues: access to accurate information. And critical thinking, the ability to recognize bias even when it slips in subtly.
Kristine
@Miss Bianca: “civic engagement” doesn’t get clicks. It happens off-screen.
Also, I swear part of it is just the doom-and-gloom circle jerk of despair. Who can post the most depressing, carve-it-on-a-tombstone, pronouncement. Words to remember as we all burn.
Gloria DryGarden
@Geminid: and they would have a point.
although part of it is democracy can be subverted to serve the few, or the very few; it can be converted into dictatorship.
PJ
@different-church-lady:
Over half the electorate is bigoted, racist, and misogynist. They may have other reasons for voting for Trump, but there is no mistaking what Trump and his vizier Musk believe in and want to do to this country – they told us what they would do, and now they are doing it!
Peale
@Betty Cracker: Yep. There’s a reason why they are going to destroy the FDIC. Because the fintech companies found that its actually hard to run a bank and most people don’t want to put their savings and checking accounts into something that can declare itself a lottery at any given time. They are planning on ripping out the foundations of banking because…reasons.
But for that to happen, you need to have bank runs that end up with people who didn’t get their money out losing their money.
Glory b
@Miss Bianca: OF COURSE they do.
Starfish (she/her)
@Kristine: Elon Musk has been allowed to put too many things in LEO, and his reign of space-terror needs to come to an end. There are other satellite constellations in place. Elon needs to be banned from adding to his. Right now, he has over 7,000 satellites in LEO.
For contrast, Iridium has 66 satellites.
Allowing one company to take up as much of LEO as Musk has been allowed is a security risk because you can’t rely on one crazy person, and if the technology has a security flaw, you can’t easily turn to another one to replace it.
Kay
@Miss Bianca:
I understand this sentiment but Democrats couldn’t win forever. Eking out a narrow win in the House or even the Presidency was not going to stop this freight train – only delay it.
They wanted complete control of the country and they would get it in 2 or 3 cycles instead of one.
“Winning elections” is no longer sufficient. It’s a stopgap measure, at best.
TBone
@Suzanne: although I’m aware that it became popular semi recently by incel usage, I thought that word is a reference to “cuckold” which itself is supremely ironic in the face of the Liberty University “pool boy schtupps my wife while I watch” scandal.
https://www.rollingstone.com/politics/politics-features/pool-boy-jerry-falwell-love-triangle-1234610995/
Kay
@Miss Bianca:
To believe an election would cure this is to believe things are going back to “normal” at some point.
I don’t believe that and either do activists. We’re not returning to the 2010 GOP. That’s gone.
WereBear
@Kay: Republicans aren’t the only ones living in denial. They’re just much better at it than we are.
WereBear
I blame the election on the biggest con of all. All the people who heard Trump’s call to vote for him and become “white.”
Like all Trump promises, this was immediately broken and the victim slapped around for even thinking such a ridiculous thing.
I wonder if it won’t be an example of how big a cult can get. But for the first time there are people feeling regret and “losing faith.”
Re-reading When Prophecies Fail.
satby
Thank g-d that old guy isn’t in charge anymore, amirite? FO for everyone!
Jay
https://nitter.poast.org/kenklippenstein/status/1886464335985172764#m
For those who don’t know Ken, he used to work for VICE covering US Extremism and Indigenous Protests.
https://nitter.poast.org/calebecarma/status/1886427604984516806#m
https://nitter.poast.org/JenGriffinFNC/status/1886282588526149775#m
As always, Nitter is a mirror site you can use to see what is on the Dead Bird Site, Felon Musk’s personal cesspool, it does not give clicks or views to the Dead Bird Site, but, never read the comments, even though you can. Just too much ignorant angry shit to wade through for one or two pearls.
Ruckus
@Nukular Biskits:
I held a high clearance when I was in the USN over half a century ago. I had to have access to every compartment on the boat, because of my job, as we had equipment in every compartment, top to bottom/front to back. And up on the mast. That’s fun, to climb a ladder 50-60 feet (or higher) above the main deck and out on both sides of the yardarm, 20 feet from the center of the ship to work on a piece of our department’s equipment, with a rope that I had tied to save me if I slipped or fell. I must have tied it OK, I’m still here. Good times. I hope that the US military is better equipped today, but I’m not holding my breath.
My point is that it’s a big government, with a lot of departments, channels, levels, programs and some of the uber wealthy have always seemingly been pissed that they pay actual taxes on that wealth and want control over that money because they gave more than 2% of their rather nice income/holdings level to support said government, which is supposed to help the less fortunate and continue to have a government of, by and for ALL THE PEOPLE, not just those uber rich fucks, who can easily afford whatever they want to buy – well, other than a country that is owned by ALL CITIZENS.
Some seem to be rather pissed off that their money doesn’t make them above everyone else. They seem to easily forget what this country is supposed to be about, and it’s not the almighty rich fucks, it is everyone, all of us, working, retired, healthy, not so healthy, rich, poor, the screwed over masses (often by said rich fucks), ALL OF US.
They have money but it’s seemingly not enough – it’s never enough.
It’s greed, plain and simple. On behalf of the citizens who work, or worked for decades to be a part of a reasonable government of a reasonable country, here for all of us, the poor, the giant middle and the uber wealthy – we are all equal in the eyes of the founders and damn well should be, in even the eyes of the most greedy of assholes.
sempronia
Farritor, one of the people doing Musk’s bidding, is a huge disappointment. He’s a previous winner of the Vesuvius Prize, the challenge to use technology to read anything in the scrolls recovered from Herculaneum. He was the first person to identify any words from those scrolls – “purple” was the word, a stunning accomplishment. What a massive disappointment to find out that he’s so deeply involved in all this.
Miss Bianca
@Kay: Ugh. Well, I’m sure you’re right about this, you’re right about stuff more often than not, but…in that case, I don’t know how the hell we actually combat it. “Resistance” – in the form of protests – doesn’t really cut it in terms of actually changing things, if the other side is that hellbent on seizing control. Unless it’s armed resistance, of course, and then things will get *really* ugly, really fast.
Kayla Rudbek
@Geminid: hooligan would be another one (corruption of Houlihan, so an anti-Irish slur originally)
Kayla Rudbek
@sempronia: I would bet that he cheated and took credit for someone else’s work