Red
Well-Known Member
I was thinking it’s not hard to imagine Trump realizing “maybe spoiling people’s vacations this summer will mean people won’t love me as much”.
Trump Dictatorship and All Things Politics
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Red
Well-Known Member
Well, it is only 5 weeks.
Make no mistake: Trump, Vance, and Musk continue to be an indiscriminate wrecking ball that has already caused major destruction and will continue to weaken and isolate America. But their takeover has been slowed.
Their plan was based on doing so much, so fast that the rest of us would give in to negativity and despair. They want a dictatorship built on hopelessness and fear.
That may have been the case initially, but we can take courage from the green shoots of rebellion now appearing across America and the world.
As several of you have pointed out, successful resistance movements maintain hope and a positive vision of the future, no matter how dark the present.
More than 55 years ago, I participated in the resistance to the Vietnam War — a resistance that ultimately ended the war and caused a once powerful president to resign. That resistance gave us courage we didn’t even know we had. It changed American culture, inspiring songs such as “The Times They Are A Changing,” and “Blowin’ In The Wind.”
No one person led that anti-war movement. It was an amalgam of groups and leaders spanning more than six years of mobilization and organization, at all levels of society.
The Civil Rights Movement that culminated in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 required over 18 years of organizing, demonstrating, and mobilizing.
The current coup is less than five weeks old, and resistance has only begun. The Trump-Vance-Musk regime will fail. Even so, the Democracy Movement now emerging will require at least a decade, if not a generation, to rebuild and strengthen what has been destroyed, and to fix the raging inequalities, injustices, and corruption that led so many to vote for Trump for a second time.
Those of you who want the leaders of the Democratic Party to step up and be heard are right, of course. But political parties do not lead. The anti-war movement and the Civil Rights Movement didn’t depend on the Democratic Party for their successes. They depended on a mass mobilization of all of us who accepted the responsibilities of being American.
We will prevail because we are relearning the basic truth — that we are the leaders we’ve been waiting for.
Make no mistake: Trump, Vance, and Musk continue to be an indiscriminate wrecking ball that has already caused major destruction and will continue to weaken and isolate America. But their takeover has been slowed.
Their plan was based on doing so much, so fast that the rest of us would give in to negativity and despair. They want a dictatorship built on hopelessness and fear.
That may have been the case initially, but we can take courage from the green shoots of rebellion now appearing across America and the world.
As several of you have pointed out, successful resistance movements maintain hope and a positive vision of the future, no matter how dark the present.
More than 55 years ago, I participated in the resistance to the Vietnam War — a resistance that ultimately ended the war and caused a once powerful president to resign. That resistance gave us courage we didn’t even know we had. It changed American culture, inspiring songs such as “The Times They Are A Changing,” and “Blowin’ In The Wind.”
No one person led that anti-war movement. It was an amalgam of groups and leaders spanning more than six years of mobilization and organization, at all levels of society.
The Civil Rights Movement that culminated in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 required over 18 years of organizing, demonstrating, and mobilizing.
The current coup is less than five weeks old, and resistance has only begun. The Trump-Vance-Musk regime will fail. Even so, the Democracy Movement now emerging will require at least a decade, if not a generation, to rebuild and strengthen what has been destroyed, and to fix the raging inequalities, injustices, and corruption that led so many to vote for Trump for a second time.
Those of you who want the leaders of the Democratic Party to step up and be heard are right, of course. But political parties do not lead. The anti-war movement and the Civil Rights Movement didn’t depend on the Democratic Party for their successes. They depended on a mass mobilization of all of us who accepted the responsibilities of being American.
We will prevail because we are relearning the basic truth — that we are the leaders we’ve been waiting for.
Step-Back Lauri
Well-Known Member
Well, it is only 5 weeks.
Make no mistake: Trump, Vance, and Musk continue to be an indiscriminate wrecking ball that has already caused major destruction and will continue to weaken and isolate America. But their takeover has been slowed.
Their plan was based on doing so much, so fast that the rest of us would give in to negativity and despair. They want a dictatorship built on hopelessness and fear.
That may have been the case initially, but we can take courage from the green shoots of rebellion now appearing across America and the world.
As several of you have pointed out, successful resistance movements maintain hope and a positive vision of the future, no matter how dark the present.
More than 55 years ago, I participated in the resistance to the Vietnam War — a resistance that ultimately ended the war and caused a once powerful president to resign. That resistance gave us courage we didn’t even know we had. It changed American culture, inspiring songs such as “The Times They Are A Changing,” and “Blowin’ In The Wind.”
No one person led that anti-war movement. It was an amalgam of groups and leaders spanning more than six years of mobilization and organization, at all levels of society.
The Civil Rights Movement that culminated in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 required over 18 years of organizing, demonstrating, and mobilizing.
The current coup is less than five weeks old, and resistance has only begun. The Trump-Vance-Musk regime will fail. Even so, the Democracy Movement now emerging will require at least a decade, if not a generation, to rebuild and strengthen what has been destroyed, and to fix the raging inequalities, injustices, and corruption that led so many to vote for Trump for a second time.
Those of you who want the leaders of the Democratic Party to step up and be heard are right, of course. But political parties do not lead. The anti-war movement and the Civil Rights Movement didn’t depend on the Democratic Party for their successes. They depended on a mass mobilization of all of us who accepted the responsibilities of being American.
We will prevail because we are relearning the basic truth — that we are the leaders we’ve been waiting for.
Well, it is only 5 weeks.
Make no mistake: Trump, Vance, and Musk continue to be an indiscriminate wrecking ball that has already caused major destruction and will continue to weaken and isolate America. But their takeover has been slowed.
Their plan was based on doing so much, so fast that the rest of us would give in to negativity and despair. They want a dictatorship built on hopelessness and fear.
That may have been the case initially, but we can take courage from the green shoots of rebellion now appearing across America and the world.
As several of you have pointed out, successful resistance movements maintain hope and a positive vision of the future, no matter how dark the present.
More than 55 years ago, I participated in the resistance to the Vietnam War — a resistance that ultimately ended the war and caused a once powerful president to resign. That resistance gave us courage we didn’t even know we had. It changed American culture, inspiring songs such as “The Times They Are A Changing,” and “Blowin’ In The Wind.”
No one person led that anti-war movement. It was an amalgam of groups and leaders spanning more than six years of mobilization and organization, at all levels of society.
The Civil Rights Movement that culminated in the Civil Rights Act of 1964 and the Voting Rights Act of 1965 required over 18 years of organizing, demonstrating, and mobilizing.
The current coup is less than five weeks old, and resistance has only begun. The Trump-Vance-Musk regime will fail. Even so, the Democracy Movement now emerging will require at least a decade, if not a generation, to rebuild and strengthen what has been destroyed, and to fix the raging inequalities, injustices, and corruption that led so many to vote for Trump for a second time.
Those of you who want the leaders of the Democratic Party to step up and be heard are right, of course. But political parties do not lead. The anti-war movement and the Civil Rights Movement didn’t depend on the Democratic Party for their successes. They depended on a mass mobilization of all of us who accepted the responsibilities of being American.
We will prevail because we are relearning the basic truth — that we are the leaders we’ve been waiting for.
I like the positivity of this. Although, it has to be said in fairness, that unlike on past decades, now people can be connected in seconds to organize, but also can be spied and controlled easier. The other factor is that so many of us will stay home in front of our screens, being just keyboard "warriors", waiting for the dopamine rush we get from likes to our posts. Just like me, a pathetic excuse of an activist that has become too lazy in his fourties. I gotta kick myself in me arse.
I'll go to my local cooperative based bookstore that has lot of people organizing demonstrations, here in Finland. Well need worldwide demonstrations against fascism in America emerging, we need a worldwide push to show how ridiculous this **** is. We need to hit where it hurts: American pride. We need to build up a worldwide pressure and ridicule over the current administration of Trump II that's trying to build a new, worse world order for most of us, in any side of the political scale (aside extreme right/fascists, that most of us really are not)
Al-O-Meter
Well-Known Member
Tremendous Upside
Well-Known Member
The MAGA movement has one very large, very real problem. There is nobody to replace the God Emperor. In fact, there can't be. That's the whole point of God Emperors.
Too much time has passed since Trump's first term. He is now a very old, very sick man. When he dies – which may happen within a few years, or tomorrow – this whole clown show will start to collapse. None of Trump's lackeys have anywhere near the charisma or personality needed to run the show in his stead and speak to the faithul in their own language. Vance? Musk? Don't make me laugh.
All those guys are awkward, annoying dorks and geeks from elite universities, the type of people the typical MAGA cultist used to enjoy torturing in high school. They are tolerated now because Big Daddy is still there, making them seem powerful by association, but once he goes... the sudden smell of weakness will be impossible to ignore. People will turn their backs and scatter.
MAGA will survive for a while like a snake with its head cut off, but it's a pointless existence.
That's the problem with personal cults. They're personal.
Too much time has passed since Trump's first term. He is now a very old, very sick man. When he dies – which may happen within a few years, or tomorrow – this whole clown show will start to collapse. None of Trump's lackeys have anywhere near the charisma or personality needed to run the show in his stead and speak to the faithul in their own language. Vance? Musk? Don't make me laugh.
All those guys are awkward, annoying dorks and geeks from elite universities, the type of people the typical MAGA cultist used to enjoy torturing in high school. They are tolerated now because Big Daddy is still there, making them seem powerful by association, but once he goes... the sudden smell of weakness will be impossible to ignore. People will turn their backs and scatter.
MAGA will survive for a while like a snake with its head cut off, but it's a pointless existence.
That's the problem with personal cults. They're personal.
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Step-Back Lauri
Well-Known Member
Well at least he was not raping children and grab women's ******* like your master Trump.
Mongoose
Well-Known Member
You mean MAGA will have to find someone that people will like and are willing to vote for? That's a strange idea coming from a bluanon cultist.
Should MAGA try the left strategy of installing an unpopular moron that nobody likes and expect its cult followers to vote for her like they did with Harris? Who's is a cult if you're worried about MAGA finding someone people are willing to vote for, when you'll vote for whoever you're told "blue no matter who"... dummies.
Do you really want to compare realistic candidates from MAGA vs realistic democrat candidates? Mark Cuban?? haha
Tulsi, JD, or RFK would destroy any candidate coming from the dying dems. The democratic party is brain dead like its last puppet leader. It's got the death rattle. AOC and Harris are nothing more than a gurgling sound coming from a dead body.
Step-Back Lauri
Well-Known Member
Based on recent development, If anyone still strongly supports current Trump cult, you support Putin and unstable world order.
IMO all HC Trumpists should be banned from this forum based on the latest development. If Trump is not advocating democracy and REAL freedom of speech, why should we allow these bitches be spewing their crap out here?
IMO all HC Trumpists should be banned from this forum based on the latest development. If Trump is not advocating democracy and REAL freedom of speech, why should we allow these bitches be spewing their crap out here?
enchilada_style
Well-Known Member
You are assuming the next four years are going to go well. lol
Mongoose
Well-Known Member
So are you pretending the last four years were a success? It’s been a complete disaster for democrats as indicated by the recent election. What are you especially proud of over the last 4 years?
Brain dead president?
Terrible VP and presidential candidate that nobody wanted or voted for?
Authoritarian policies?
Lies upon lies about Covid?
Media meltdowns?
Inability to move on from Trump?
Assassination attempts on political opponents?
Lawfair against political opponents?
Making Trump more popular than ever?
Pushing Tulsi out of the party?
Pushing RFK out of the party?
Cheney endorsements?
Becoming closer to WWIII and nuclear annihilation?
Maui fires?
California fires?
NC disaster response?
Men in woman’s sports?
Men in women’s restrooms?
Mental and physical health crisis?
Fentanyl deaths?
Open borders?
I could go on but I’m wondering what you are especially proud of?
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enchilada_style
Well-Known Member
I am most proud of the fact that everyday wasn't a constitutional crisis. Isn't it amazing how low the bar is now?
Mongoose
Well-Known Member
Sure having a corrupt, brain dead, geriatric, demented, shell as president is what the founding fathers had in mind when they wrote the constitution.
Red
Well-Known Member
You don’t know Jack s*** about what the founding fathers had in mind. In general, MAGA is clueless in what the founders feared the most. Your knowledge of the founders and the constitution is abysmal….
Civics 101: Keep Demagogues Out of Democracy
Political philosophers from the Greeks to the framers of the U.S. Constitution to Abraham Lincoln all warned of the mortal danger that demagogues pose to democracies. Vital to their understanding of that danger was their familiarity with Greek and Roman history and political philosophy. These...
www.vanderbilt.edu
The preservation of a healthy constitutional democracy in the United States in the coming decades hinges critically on whether Americans heed a golden rule of this free form of government as taught throughout the ages by democracy experts like Plato, Aristotle, Thucydides, Livy, Edward Gibbon, Alexis de Tocqueville, Abraham Lincoln and especially the framers of the U.S. Constitution.
The golden rule is that demagogues destroy democracies. In their writings and speeches, these incisive political philosophers teach us that demagogues, especially those serving as heads of state, are to the body politic of democracy what cancer is to the human body. If the cancer is not kept out, or removed, it eviscerates critical organs and eventually kills the democracy.
The presidency of Donald J. Trump, culminating in the deadly assault on the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, is enlightening proof of the wisdom and relevancy of these teachings. Trump is a textbook example of a demagogue, and the lesson all Americans must take from his four years in the Oval Office is that no matter how much we may like a demagogue's disruptive style or policies, it is suicide for a democracy to elect, or reelect, this species of political actor to the highest office in the land.
The framers of the Constitution were the first Americans to understand this all-important principle of democracy, so much so that thwarting the rise of a demagogue was one of the primary motivations behind the Constitutional Convention of 1787.
Less than two weeks after the start of the convention, George Washington made this fact plain in a letter to the Marquis de Lafayette. In the letter, Washington explained that his crucial purpose in attending the emergency gathering of delegates in Philadelphia that summer was to prevent a demagogue from gaining power in the politically unstable young nation--and thus eroding constitutionalism and stripping Americans of their newly won rights, freedoms and liberties.
Washington described to Lafayette how he had recently been compelled out of retirement by an urgent risk to the United States. "Anarchy and confusion" were threatening the security of the American people and the rule of constitutional law. But, Washington wrote, there was a deeper risk than this. It was that the political chaos of those years created fertile ground for exploitation "by some aspiring demagogue who will not consult the interest of his country so much as his own ambitious views."
In a letter written three weeks later to David Stuart, a political colleague from Virginia, Washington reiterated the point, lamenting that the widespread distrust in the federal government under the Articles of Confederation had rendered "the situation of this great country weak, inefficient and disgraceful." In this letter, too, he concluded by warning about the destructive impact of "Demagogue
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Red
Well-Known Member
You should study American history more. You might learn something about your own nation….Again, you’re ignorant of the thoughts of the founders. It shows. Bigly.
If the Founding Fathers were alive today, they would tremble for the future of our republic.
Watching the rise of hyperpartisanship and populist demagogues in the United States and around the world would be their worst nightmare. And they would wonder: Can the citizens of today muster the personal and political virtue necessary to save our nation?
When they drafted the Constitution, the Founders’ greatest fear was that a populist demagogue would flatter the mob, subvert American democracy and establish authoritarian rule. “The only path to a subversion of the republican system of the Country is, by flattering the prejudices of the people, and exciting their jealousies and apprehensions, to throw affairs into confusion, and bring on civil commotion,” Alexander Hamilton wrote to George Washington in 1792. “When a man unprincipled in private life[,] desperate in his fortune, bold in his temper … is seen to mount the hobby horse of popularity … It may justly be suspected that his object is to throw things into confusion that he may ‘ride the storm and direct the whirlwind.’”
Thomas Jefferson agreed with Hamilton about very little, except for the danger of populist demagogues. After he read a draft of the Constitution, his main concern was that an unscrupulous candidate in the distant future might lose an election and refuse to leave office. “If once elected, and at a second or third election outvoted by one or two votes, he will pretend false votes, foul play, hold possession of the reins of government, be supported by the States voting for him,” Jefferson wrote to James Madison in 1787.
In the Founders’ view, the only thing standing between America and an authoritarian demagogue was the virtuous self-control of citizens who would find the wisdom to choose virtuous leaders. “I go on this great republican principle, that the people will have virtue and intelligence to select men of virtue and wisdom,” Madison said at the Constitutional Convention. “Is there no virtue among us? If there be not, we are in a wretched situation. No theoretical checks — no form of government can render us secure.”
When the Founders talked about the need for virtuous citizens and leaders, they were referring to the four classical virtues: prudence, temperance, fortitude and justice. (By contrast, the three theological virtues are faith, hope and charity.) Following the classical and Enlightenment moral philosophers, the Founders believed that personal self-government was necessary for political self-government. In their view, the key to a healthy republic begins with how we address our own flaws and commit to becoming better citizens over time.
In the Federalist Papers, Madison and Hamilton made clear that the Constitution was designed to foster deliberation so that citizens could avoid retreating into the angry mobs and partisan factions that demagogues can inflame. Ancient Athens had fallen because the demagogue Cleon had seduced the Athenian assembly into continuing the war with the Peloponnesian League; the Roman Republic had fallen because the people were corrupted by Caesar, who offered them luxury in exchange for liberty. Only by governing their selfish emotions as individuals could citizens avoid degenerating into selfish factions that threaten the common good.
The Founders believed that virtuous self-mastery was necessary for both personal and political happiness. Today, we think of happiness as the pursuit of pleasure. But classical and Enlightenment thinkers defined happiness as the pursuit of virtue — as being good rather than feelinggood. Just as individuals can use their powers of reason to achieve psychological happiness, so can groups of citizens use theirs to achieve political happiness.
fishonjazz
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Investors are concerned over U.S. economy statistics showing continually high inflation and a slowing economy.
Stocks hit new lows Friday as the Dow Jones Industrial Average dropped over 700 points, the S&P 500 plunged by 1.7%, and the Nasdaq Composite fell dropped 2%. Walmart shares also toppled by 2.5%.
It was the worst day for the U.S. economy since President Donald Trump took office in January, and stockholders growing wary of increasing tariffs and seemingly arbitrary policy changes. The economy data has pushed some investors into buying bonds, making yields fall. According to a consumer survey conducted by the University of Michigan, people are also increasingly worried about inflation. The survey found consumer sentiment fell 10%, with buyers showing concern as home sales decreased more than expected in January. A five-year inflation forecast also put inflation percentages at 3.5%, the highest since 1995.
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Elon Musk is annoyed that X's Community Notes feature is fact-checking tweets with information that runs counter to his and President Trump's worldview.
At issue are tweets about the popularity of Ukraine President Volodymyr Zelensky. Earlier this week, President Trump claimed that Zelensky's approval rating was at 4%, without citing a source. As the BBC notes, polling is hard to come by in Ukraine these days given the ongoing war with Russia, but a recent poll from Ukraine-based Kyiv International Institute of Sociology put Zelensky's approval at 57%.
Community Notes is a crowdsourced feature that allows users to debunk misleading or factually incorrect posts by leaving a note explaining why it's inaccurate. The community votes on these notes and the one deemed most accurate is displayed underneath the offending tweet.
It remains to be seen how Musk plans to “fix” Community Notes on X. But he's complained about them in the past. Last year, he got into a spat over a more innocuous subject—being forced to create a Microsoft account when setting up a new PC. When Community Notes pointed out that he could set up the computer without a Microsoft account, Musk tweeted: "Community Notes is failing here."
The news comes at a time when Musk's approval ratings are sinking. According to a Pew Research Center survey released Wednesday, 54% of respondents viewed him unfavorably.
From the comments: Yeah, little Elon thinks "freedom of speech" is just about speech that supports HIM. Same for little Donnie. Neither have any idea what the Constitution or the Bill of Rights is all about. They are basically Mussolini-wannabes who want to turn the US into what Putin did to Russia.
fishonjazz
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I thought this wasn't happening but this article is from 2 hours ago: https://www.msn.com/en-us/travel/ne...1&cvid=ab85cef9773048dda2edee17d122af3b&ei=87
National Parks across the country are cutting hours, cancelling cave tours, closing visitor centers and warning of other cutbacks following Trump administration cuts to the federal workforce.
Park advocates and fired employees have been predicting those impacts for weeks, but a string of social media posts from park managers made after the Feb. 14 cuts appear to be the first formal acknowledgements.
"I think it's going to be a very rough spring," said Cassidy Jones, a former park service ranger who now works for the nonprofit National Parks Conservation Association.
Among other parks, Saguaro National Park in Tucson announced that it was closing its two visitors centers on Mondays starting Feb. 24. At Yosemite National Park, officials announced they're halting reservations for 577 coveted camping spots this summer. Effigy Mounds in Iowa said it's closing its visitor center two days a week until the summer.
Online calendars for reservable tours in some parks show zero availability, a casualty of losing the rangers who led them. Carlsbad Caverns National Park has cancelled its guided tours, and announced that in March it will be ending self-guided tours.
Visitors to other parks are also noting staffing problems, including at Grand Canyon National Park, where terminations cut deeply into the employees who staff the entrance stations, leading to long lines last weekend.
Trump announced the cuts last Friday in what's been dubbed the Valentine's Day Massacre. In addition to the cuts by the Department of the Interior, led by Secretary Doug Burgum, similar cuts were made within the Department of Agriculture, which oversees the U.S. Forest Service and thousands of wildland firefighters and forest rangers.
Roughly 1,000 National Park Service employees were laid off in that round. Park employees and advocates say parks were already understaffed.
Advocates say the cuts will hurt the park's users: the American public.
"I don't know whether we’ll see overflowing latrines, polluted streams, or deadly wildfires first, but Doug Burgum is already leaving a path of destruction across America’s parks and public lands," said Aaron Weiss, the deputy director of the public lands advocacy group Center for Western Priorities. "These terminations are foolish, heartless, and do nothing to make the government more efficient.
Ashley Korenblat, who runs Western Spirit Cycling in Moab, Utah, said she wonders how many of the people she works with regularly have been let go. Moab is home to Arches and Canyonlands national parks, and depends heavily on their reputations to attract tourists, especially internationally.
Korenblat said a group of Canadian riders just cancelled their upcoming trip over concerns about cuts and Trump's tariff war with Canada, costing her a $10,000 booking.
A 2023 National Park Service report said parks in southeast Utah that year drew 2.4 million visitors, directly supported 5,122 jobs and had a cumulative economic impact of more than $486 million.
"We've spent millions and millions and millions of dollars marketing America's National Parks to the world and now we're just throwing away that money," she said. "Are we making these cuts to low-paying jobs so we can give a bigger tax break to the rich? Is that the plan?"
Yep, trump is the worst
from the comments:
How are they ever going to rake all these forest with even more understaffing? After all, most of the forests burning out west are on federal lands.
Among the fired employees are those who maintain trails and FIGHT WILDLAND FIRES. Brilliant
Some funding was restored at Acadia NP after Susan Collins had her say. That's one park.
Step-Back Lauri
Well-Known Member
When the resistance starts growing and ideas flying make sure to give any tips for us foreigners to help you out in any imaginable way. It's a global cause now and I'm ready to invest some time to help you/us out.