Hodad

As much as you despise data, the numbers are the numbers. Trump is helping the middle class by whimsically multiplying the costs of the goods they consume while tanking their 401Ks? Soooo helpful. Your fantasy that investment is up based on tariffs that keep being put "on hold" is laughable. Investment has been up based on IRA and CHIPS incentives. The on-again-off-again tariffs haven't had any impact on real investment. Nobody is investing based on schizophrenic policy. The only things tariffs have accomplished is to scare the shit out of the markets, alienate allies, devalue the dollar, and drive trade to other companies. Pure destruction. There is no upside.

Gaffes or no gaffes, we successfully rebuilt the economy under Biden, going from Trumpster fire to the envy of the world. And now Trump is back in office, mashing buttons and yanking levers he CLEARLY does not understand, and we're tanking.

No, exactly as I said, district court judge Paula Xinis ordered his return. The administration has broken and continues to break the law, as affirmed by the SCOTUS. This is the United States of America, not yet Trumpistan. A court order is a court order, and the executive can't ignore it and the AG can't overturn it or retroactively deem actions legal. Whatever bullshit you read on Twitter, this is reality.

Sure, just keep on pretending that what's been confirmed by multiple independent new outlets didn't happen. You weren't IN the chat so there's no possible way for you to gain information about it. No dignity. A. Bondi did not refer the case for reversal or appeal or change of status or anything else. They simply scooped up a man who was legally living and working in the United States and shipped him to a prison in El Salvador. The exact same due process that protects every American citizen applies to Abrego Garcia. And if he can be disappeared to a foreign gulag then anyone can. There is no question that they broke the law. B. The order to return him is NOT from an immigration judge, but from a district court judge. In no way, shape or form can the AG overrule a district court judge. Again, not even in the same branch of government. They are breaking the law. C. The SCOTUS has confirmed that the administration is breaking the law, upholding the district court ruling but asking for clarification of one word. The administration is refusing to comply. They are breaking the law. They ignoring the SCOTUS. We are watching a constitutional crisis unfold in real time.

Q: How many smart people does it take to teach BASIC economics to a giant orange toddler? A: A lot! It's like we've given a child the captaincy of the world's biggest airplane mid-flight. He's banging all the buttons and levers in the cockpit without a clue what they do, while the grownups around him patiently explain that he's headed for the ground--and we simply hope he can be persuaded of basic reality.

No, quoting irrelevant portions of my links back to me is stupid, but not dishonest. The dishonest part is that you claimed those articles confirmed the existence of the chat but not the content of the chat, which is untrue. Every on of those articles also stated that their respective outlets had confirmed the content. You lied about it, and then tried to cover it up with bogus citations. Abrego Garcia has maintained all along that he is not in a gang. You are making up the idea that he argued otherwise. His position was that he and his family had been threatened by a gang, not that he was in one. And WTF are you even talking about. No, the AG cannot overrule a judge. They aren't even in the same goddamn branch of government, FFS. Do you not have any idea of how our government operates?

Jeebus. I can post links, but I can't make you be honest about what's in them. It says the NYT was the first to report because the NYT was the first to report. That's how journalism works. Rather than just repeating the NYT story, each of those outlets has independently confirmed that the second chat is real AND confirmation that the contents were as described. It's right there in each article. You just deny, deny, deny while the world moves by. Hope Trump is worth your dignity! These are the exact same goddamn links. AP A person familiar with the contents and those who received the messages, who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss sensitive matters, confirmed the second chat to The Associated Press. ABC Department of Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth shared details about an imminent attack on Houthis in Yemen in March in a second group chat using the messaging app Signal that included his wife, his brother and his personal lawyer, two sources familiar with the contents of the chat told ABC News. NBC Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth used his personal phone to send information about U.S. military operations in Yemen to a 13-person Signal group chat, including his wife and his brother, two sources with knowledge of the matter confirmed to NBC News. A. This is America. We don't arrest people for what other people think their tattoos might mean. B. Again, a judicial ruling is the formal decision on a specific legal question. It is not comprehensive of the rationale that led there. And his order of withholding was based on threats against himself and his family, not on gang affiliation. He has consistently denied any gang affiliation. -- He's a man with a family, legally living in the US, working a union job as a tradesman, with no criminal record whatsoever. A nation of laws does NOT just put this man on a plane to another country. C. Deportees are almost always sent back to their home country. This idea of, essentially outsourcing undesirables to third-party nations is rather novel. What an amazing invention by this upstanding administration. And, again, NONE OF THAT MATTERS. We are a nation of laws, for the moment at least. And this administration is breaking both the spirit and letter of those laws. While you clap and fawn over it.

And the Guardian (linked in original update), and NBC, and the AP, and ABC, and on and on... It's real. The guy's a total flop. The Houthi's have shot down two of our drones, and Hegseth, the buffoon, is texting his buddies--and a journalist--about the attack flight times of piloted aircraft. He has to go. He does not have a tattoo that says MS13. A pathological liar told you that his tattoos should be interpreted as MS13. The same guy who used a sharpie to "edit" the path of a hurricane to be more convenient. Photos taken at the same desk, even. So that's not worth much. Judges did not "rule" that, though they may have believed it. And he was picked up at Home Depot with the other day laborers... in 2019. Again, wife, kids and no criminal record. AND NONE OF THAT REALLY MATTERS. Whether he was at one time or even is affiliated with MS13--which seems like a stretch to conclude--he was protected against deportation by a court order and is entitled to due process. That's the crux of it. I don't know Abrego Garcia at all and have no investment in him, but I care deeply that we have a nation of laws and due process. Everyone should care about that essential element of our democracy. But Dear Leader did something obviously illegal again, and you'll choose him over the law every time. When the executive admits it made a mistake, is court ordered to correct the mistake, and even escalated to the SCOTUS to correct the mistake, AND STILL WON'T CORRECT THE MISTAKE then we have a constitutional crisis. Like a toddler testing boundaries, he's trying to see if there are still functional restraints-- if there are still checks an balances. To see if they've sufficiently undermined checks and balances enough to do whatever they want.

As a fan of the network upon which Pete Hegseth was recently a pundit--another job for which he had no real qualifications, but at dramatically lower stakes--it's clear that you have no idea of journalistic standards. If multiple outlets are confirming it from multiple sources, it happened. And the irony of your post is over the top hilarious. You "knowing" and it being "proven" that Garcia is a gang member based on a tip--no evidence. You call him a wife beater? Hegseth's own mother called him an abuser in writing. Abrego Garcia has been in this country 16 years with steady employment, no criminal record and a lasting marriage. While Hegseth has been certainly accused of rape, sexual harassment, alcoholism and more. And Abrego Garcia has never put our military at risk. Maybe Hegseth should be deported? He should definitely be fired. --and let's not let it go unmentioned that you're trying to hand-wave away a court order in favor of executive fiat. Poo-poo to the rule of law! Bring on the dictator!

Kennedy is a certified kook. That's been known for a long time. I'm just now finding out that he's also an a-hole. His characterization of people on the spectrum is unbelievably tone deaf. And frankly, mean spirited. But back to the kookery... The guy who is overflowing with science misinformation thinks that after decades of autism research, he's going to crack the code by September? That's just nonsense. What's actually happening is that he's given himself to September to pretend like they've figured it out and craft an outcome that suits his preconceptions. That is the only point of such a timeline. If he really just wanted to prioritize autism research he would fund it and let science take its course.

The official cause of death was stroke. Unofficially? Disappointment. "Like, seriously, world?"

MAGA can't stand education. Critical thinking ruins people for thoughtless following.

The "soft little bìtches" are you gutless wonders, who lack both courage and conviction. Who will sell out the American experiment entirely just to get your way. Pete Hegseth is a haircut. And, evidently, a massive security risk. If you think putting someone utterly unqualified--and dangerously so--in charge of the military makes it a "strong military," you're even dumber than you seem. I'd take a trans service person with strength of character over you creeps any day. They're worth 10 of you.

No, you're a partisan without principles, so I have no expectation that you would let gross negligence and incompetence nudge you off the part line. As long as you think you are getting your way, you cannot be bothered about the corners cut to get there.

Nice try. It's confirmed by multiple outlets.

Holy shit. Hegseth, the fool, also texted classified information to his family and friends! He cannot possibly keep the job--for which he is entirely unqualified--any longer. Not even in this clown show of an administration. What an utter embarrassment. The Guardian Before the US launched military strikes on Yemen in March, Pete Hegseth, the defense secretary, sent detailed information about the planned attacks to a private Signal group chat that he created himself, which included his wife, his brother and about a dozen other people,

Ah, the "nuh-uh" rebuttal. I didn't realize I was dealing with a level 7 Laser Lotus. Indeed, you don't need to say it.

Well, I guess those things seem interchangeable to those who aren't great with words. That's why you have a list that includes wherefore, exoneration,etc. -- When and how words are used matter. It's called context. You should check into it. An easy example is that when the UHC CEO was murdered, most people thought that was bad and not a correct reaction. But a LOT of people--particularly those who had been done dirty by UHC--could understand the impetus and feel it was partially justified. Or to put is in even easier terms, you've been out in public when someone else was behaving badly--whether salty talk in a bar or aggressive driving, and decided not to punch them in the mouth or ram them with your car. But if someone else did it you might smile a little. That's what we're talking about. It doesn't mean explicitly supporting that violence, but you may perceive that it's somewhat justified. Meanwhile, Trump is *literally* talking publicly about circumventing the law for a third term. Just like he *literally* tried to deploy fraudulent electors to steal the 2020 election. And his administration is *literally* ignoring judicial orders. Don't pretend he has any respect for democracy or the law. Of course some people are starting to feel sympathy toward extralegal solutions to extralegal threats. Again, that's pretty easy to understand. But you're not interested in understanding how those people feel or why. You're just trying to score cheap points in game nobody else is playing.

Tell me you have poor reading comprehension without telling me you have poor reading comprehension? The question is not whether someone supports assassination or not. The question is whether someone perceives that someone would be justified in taking such an action. And the answers are necessarily on a spectrum. Which is actually reflected in the survey, though not in your ham-handed headline. Whether it's a political leader, an oligarch or a CEO or anyone else in a position of power, the more they harm common people who have little recourse, the higher that support will get. In a functioning democracy with the rule of law, we vote out the bad actors. Or we stop buying their products. Or whatever. -- But when those bad actors increasingly disempower people and ignore the rule of law, then an increasing number of people will sympathize extra-legal remedies. It's pretty simple.

This is not a great survey, and an even worse presentation of it on this forum, but beyond that it really misses the point. This isn't an indictment of "the left," but a sign of how bad things are getting in this country. The closer we are dragged toward dictatorship the higher that number will go. That's simply what happens when dictators disempower the people. The backlash is revolt. Let Trump keep talking about a third term and ignoring the judicial branch and watch those numbers climb. Americans (well, those of us with some dignity) will be governed, but we're not interested in being ruled.

Sounds like a missed opportunity. It takes only a few bucks in gas to get across the border, and it may come with an all-expense-paid trip to El Salvador.

Canada rates just like the rest of the world, you loon.

Yes, the government should obviously not be sharing tax data. Ask Trump how he feels about sharing tax data. And it's another example of cutting one's nose off to spite one's face. Brought to you by the exact same boneheads who can't understand sanctuary cities. It's a fact that people are here without legal status. It's a fact that they work and earn money to survive because we have done almost NOTHING to stop employers from hiring (and often exploiting) them. Now that their presence in the country is jeopardized by paying taxes and other examples of legal compliance, what happens? They're not leaving the country. Rather, the Trump administration has simply incentivized non compliance with other laws. They won't pay taxes. They won't get drivers licenses. They won't get auto insurance. And on and on. --- The other thing they won't do? Leave. This kind of shortsighted action doesn't solve any core problem. It just causes a snarl of cascading issues, for which ordinary citizens pay the price.

Maybe A1 could teach you basic math. Crack open a bottle and see where it goes. You could get lucky.

Another example of a Trump appointee who we all knew was wildly unqualified for the job proving that she's wildly unqualified for the job. I mean, she didn't text classified combat plans to a journalist and she didn't crash the stock market, so she's doing relatively well for this clown car administration, but still pretty alarming. News anywhere McMahon, 76, is the former CEO of World Wrestling Entertainment. She has been placed in charge of the Department of Education, which President Donald Trump has stated publicly he wants to disband. Speaking on a panel discussion about AI, she repeatedly referred to the technology as “A1.” “I heard, think it was in a letter or report that I heard this morning, I wish I could remember the source, but that there’s a school system that’s going to start making sure that first-graders, and even pre-K have A1 teaching in every year,” McMahon told the panel. “Kids are sponges,” she continued. “They just absorb everything. It wasn’t all that long ago that it was, ‘We’re going to have internet in our schools!’ Now let’s see A1 and how that can be helpful.” At least social media marketers can have some fun at our expense.