It's hard to imagine anything good coming out of a hack to the codebase of the Treasury's payment system. These systems have been around for decades, probably written in COBOL, a language most young coders have never even heard of much less understand and whose patches have patches.

A lot of MAGA agents are going to be ticked off.

#28
Classic vulture capitalism

In Trump world, there is no win-win in any negotiation. Furthermore, there is never an end to negotiations. These tariffs are the opening gambit in the renegotiation of the North American trade deal between the US, Canada and Mexico. Leaders of Mexico and Canada need to recognize this and respond in kind; maybe even upping the ante. Tell business in their countries to remove US made goods from their shelves. Use Trump's words against him: tell US companies to build factories in their countries if they want to sell to Canadian and Mexican citizens. Finally, openly court trade relationships with European and Asia suppliers and each other.

Is there anything Trump won't lie about

When reporters get to question Trump after a lie, I think they fail to take the proper approach in calling him out. Yes, they do ask for evidence which is good. When he fails to provide it they need to call out his biases for making such an unfounded statement. For example, when Trump said that DEI was the cause of the plane/helicopter collision and justified the statement by saying "I have common sense", the reporters response should have something to the effect of "you do realize that making unfounded statements like that is the classic definition of racism, sexism, homophobia or stupidity. Mr. President, are you a racist, sexist, homophobe or just stupid?"

Boaz. You really exemplify how hateful and stupid typical Republican voters are.

Considering all of the pushback that Boaz receives, I wonder if (s)he is a real person or just an avatar.

It's good that NPR is getting its "licks" in before the Trump administration finds a way to torch it's funding.

Do Republicans have to take an oath of stupidity in order to serve?

Grover Norquist, of the "No Tax Pledge" that Republicans felt obliged to sign, got the type of president that he and other republicans wanted:

"We know what direction to go. We just need a president to sign this stuff. Pick a Republican with enough working digits to handle a pen to be president of the United States."

Most people think that Medicaid is a medical program just for the poor. Another way of looking at it is as a medical loan program if you have assets. A Medicaid application is very thorough examination of all of your finances: income, current and past assets dating back at least 5 years. When the recipient no longer needs assistance, Medicaid must be reimbursed for any assistance it has provided. When those assets are sold, Medicaid will take its cut of the proceeds.

As with most things, there are work-a-rounds that require advance planning. Potential Medicaid applicants with income and assets try to shield those resources with irrevocable trusts, asset disposal at least 5 years prior to the application date, etc.

White House Rescinds Trump's Funding Freeze after Massive Backlash

The freeze was such a massively stupid thing to do that it makes you wonder as to the real intent of the freeze. Was it to send a message to the faithful that Trump is abiding by his promises or were the people that initiated the freeze just that stupid? I imagine that even the governors of red (welfare) states were frantic and calling to ask "what the f... are you doing"?

This move is going to incentive Europe to not only rely less on the US for defense but also US weapon systems and therefore, to build their own. This will be a financial blow to America's MIC.

Red State Cesspools Take Brunt Of Dotard's Spending Freeze

Of course, this is to be expected. For the most part, red states get back more federal dollars than they send in. So, if the feds put a hold on spending, red states are going to be the ones that get hit the hardest.

As these pauses begin to bite, MAGA will begin to appreciate just how dependent they are on federal largesse. Then their position will be "don't pause my benefits; pause the benefits of all those undeserving POC".

I wouldn't be surprised if jury nullification or a mistrial occurs when Luigi Mangione, the killer of the United Healthcare executive, is tried.

There are going to be a lot of people for dems to impeach when (if?) they ever take control of Congress again.

I though republicans said they they weren't looking backward?

Disaster prone states know who they are; so does the federal government. Prior to a disaster, the feds should be advising these states of the regulations that need to be put in place to mitigate the damage resulting from those disasters. The feds should also have a risk based rating system in place that rates the preparedness of each state to deal with expected disasters. Insurance companies can then use this rating system to determine how to price insurance for residents of the state. Low compliance results in high premiums. High compliance results in lower premiums. Residents of low compliance systems would be incentivized to compel their state governments to take appropriate action to get into compliance.

Similarly, property owners that take insurance recommended mitigation steps should get a break on their insurance.

Trump Staff 'furious' after Musk Trashes AI Project

So, what are you going to do about it? Just suck it up; it's going to get worse.

Let's return to these people in a year and see if they are able to afford hamburger.

Here's what's likely to happen. Money from the program will surely be cut. After all, billionaires need their tax cuts. What's left will be block granted to the states. Red states will do what they have always done, instead of distributing money fairly across all needy communities, communities mostly populated by non whites will be short changed. IOW, non white communities will end up subsidizing white communities.

What's the worst that could happen by taking on 30 of the most developed nations there?

The initial response of those 30 will be a signal to Russia as to how to proceed. If all hell breaks loose, Russia will quick back down and look for another way to get what it wants. I suspect that Putin will never try a frontal assault but will try to undermine a country from within i.e. get enough "citizens" of the country to raise hell.

Mike Turner and other moderates need to get together and form a "leave me the f..k alone or I will tank your entire legislative agenda" caucus. Republicans have such a tiny majority that it wouldn't take but a few members to join the caucus. Furthermore, they could demand that any attempt to primary either of them will result in a stalled legislative agenda. Also, they could threaten to join with Democrats and help pass democratic priorities. IOW, if I'm going down, I will take the whole damn ship down with me.

"I don't think that anyone voted for that"

Of course they didn't. They voted for funding cuts in blue states and to keep the money flowing to red states.

His public retraction of the defamation comments should have been an essential ingredient of any settlement. That is wasn't is a disappointment.

Right wing militia on a shopping spree?

White voters point to conversations about justice " for racial minorities, for the children of immigrants, for women worried about losing their reproductive rights, for transgender teenagers " and question why nobody ever talks about justice for them

IOW they don't want to do their time in the barrel!

Why don't they just move is the comment I heard over and over when the people stuck in these old, hollowed out cities were blacks and other POC. Do they feel so entitled that they feel their cities deserve to be restored?