Oh, they are going to have elections, the kind of fake elections Orban and Putin have.

Trump tells farmers to have fun with the tariffs. Maybe he'll toss them a bunch of paper towels too:

Stupid is as stupid does:

Brooke Jarvis @brookejarvis.bsky.social

ProPublica looked into science grants that Ted Cruz's team flagged as "radical" and "neo-Marxist" and, uh.

This would be good comedy if it didn't matter so much:

A Study of Mint Plants. A Device to Stop Bleeding. This Is the Scientific Research Ted Cruz Calls "Woke."

The senator flagged thousands of National Science Foundation grants for using words like "female" and "diversify." A ProPublica analysis found numerous examples of projects caught up in his crude method for identifying research he calls "woke."

The time to "speak up" was Tuesday, November 5th 2024.
#35 | Posted by donnerboy

You're preaching to the choir.

Mission almost accomplished:

News Eye
@newseye.bsky.social

If I was Putin, with agents inside US Govt, these would be the instructions to finish off the US as a global force:

1. Gut safety agencies covering aviation, nuclear, food & disease protection.

2. Dismantle USAID

3. Introduce tariffs to crash economy & cripple food production

4. Betray Europe

The Social Security Administration is cutting 7,000 jobs and closing half of its regional offices. It's no coincidence that Elon Musk called Social Security a "ponzi scheme." They're gutting the program to make room for more billionaire tax cuts. It's time to speak up.

~ Robert Reich

Yes, time is of the essence. Get this information out there to every senior you know, everyone who will soon be a senior and everyone who has a parent who follows into one of those two groups and who will have to support their parents if social security is disrupted:

Elon Musk is Dismantling Social Security
(Washington, DC) " The following is a statement from Nancy Altman, President of Social Security Works:

"Elon Musk slandered Social Security over the weekend by calling the vital and beloved program a criminal Ponzi scheme, the same lie Donald Trump used before he decided to run for president. Musk's comment is no surprise, given his recent actions to begin the wholesale dismantling of our Social Security system.

try and follow along...
Z met with democrat Senator Murphy CT who convinced Z to reject Trump's offer h
Posted by shrimptacodan

Hmm, Bellringer said it was that dirty Obama Democrat Susan Rice who convinced him.

Link?

#24 | Posted by donnerboy

Yes, they are breaking the federal government, and then they are going to say, "See, we told you it was broken." Precisely.

If you haven't gotten any SS benefits yet it's quite possible now that you never will.
Posted by donnerboy

People need to speak up, protest, push back NOW:

Aaron Rupar
@atrupar.com
Mike Lawler: "I've been very clear: I will not cut Social Security, Medicare, or Medicaid."

(Bookmark this one.)

DOGE v. Safety Net UPDATE: February 28, 2025

The Trump administration, through Elon Musk's DOGE, is moving to slash up to 50% of the Social Security Administration's (SSA) workforce"a move that could bring the agency's ability to process benefits to a standstill. This is a direct assault on Social Security, targeting the very infrastructure that ensures payments reach 72.5 million retirees, disabled individuals, and survivors each month.

Key Developments:

Mass Layoffs Imminent--Acting SSA Commissioner Leland Dudek has ordered agency managers to prepare for mass workforce reductions, with up to 30,000 employees set to be fired.

Offices Set to Close Nationwide--With fewer staff, hundreds of SSA field offices are expected to shut down, making it harder for Americans to apply for or manage their benefits.

Deliberate Chaos as a Strategy--DOGE's goal is not to streamline' Social Security--it's to cripple it, creating delays and dysfunction so that Republicans can later argue the program is broken and push for privatization.

Federal Judge Blocks Some Firings--A recent court ruling temporarily halted the mass firing of probationary federal employees, citing concerns over due process and legality. However, this does not stop broader agency downsizing.

Consequences:

Longer Wait Times for Benefits--SSA is already struggling with backlogs. With half its workforce gone, waiting months--or even years"for Social Security benefits could become the norm.

Massive Economic Disruption--Social Security pumps $1.4 trillion into the economy each year. If processing slows or payments are delayed, millions of seniors, disabled individuals, and families could face financial ruin.

Gutting SSA to Justify Privatization--This is a calculated sabotage of one of the most popular government programs in U.S. history. By crippling its ability to function, Trump and Musk's endgame is to push for privatization"handing Social Security over to Wall Street.

The Bottom Line: This isn't about efficiencyit's about dismantling Social Security from the inside. By making the program unworkable, Trump's administration is laying the groundwork to gut it entirely. Millions of Americans who paid into Social Security their entire lives now stand to lose the benefits they earned.

If the Social Security office in your area closes, you will know it:

As the ramifications of Trump's actions on the economy through DOGE cuts, the GOP budget, Trump's tariffs, etc. are felt by voters throughout the country, it will be harder for Trump, Musk and the Republicans in Congress to lie about what they are doing and about the pain and havoc they are causing. If you lose your Medicaid benefit, the price of cars goes up thousand of dollars, you can't get your Social Security processed or the IRS to answer your tax questions, the price of groceries continues to rise, etc., people will know it.

This all part of the GOP's plan to make people turn against government services like Social Security and Medicare that folks have relied on for decades:

"The American public needs to understand that one of their major social safety nets is in dire jeopardy," said Jill Hornick, a union official at the American Federation of Government Employees Local 1395, which primarily represents Social Security offices in Illinois.

"It'll take a while for the effects to be felt, but they're coming," Hornick said, predicting what will happen to Social Security is going to be "far worse" than the planned cuts to Medicaid.

For people who are already receiving Social Security benefits, most of that is automated and may not be affected, she said. However, processing new claims " whether it be for retirement or disability benefits --may take longer since those cannot be processed without Social Security employees, Hornick said.

"there are parts of the plan that we will not share with the left."

No, there were parts of the plan that they wouldn't share with the American people, because they knew if they did, Trump wouldn't have won re-election.

"People that survive only on social security cannot save money"

They will have to cut back on nonessentials as much as possible (no new clothes, e.g.) and cut down on essentials as much as possible (lots of rice and beans, etc.).

Which kind of king do you think King Trumpy will be?
Mad.
#32 | Posted by REDIAL

Trump Tariffs Set to Send Car Prices Soaring Up to $12,000 Higher

President Donald Trump's tariffs are expected to send car prices soaring by as much as $12,000 per vehicle, according to automotive experts. On Tuesday, Trump plans to impose sweeping tariffs"an import tax paid by American companies that is typically passed along to consumers"on products from Canada and Mexico, raising prices on vehicles and vehicle parts manufactured in those countries. If Trump follows through with his pledged tariff rate of 25 percent, automotive groups say it will cost at least $4,000 more to build crossover utility vehicles. A large SUV with "significant" parts manufactured in Mexico will see an increase of $9,000, while a pickup truck will see an $8,000 increase. The price to produce an electric vehicle will jump $12,000. In each case, the increased costs will lead to comparably higher prices, which analysts say will quickly result in fewer sales. Best sellers including the Chevrolet Silverado pickup truck and Ford Bronco Sport SUV are likely to be affected. Car sales have already suffered recently thanks to high prices and elevated borrowing costs. Even before the tariffs, sticker prices were up more than 20 percent this year compared to 2020.

I also heard that the weapons we are sending are mostly from old stockpiles here in the US and that the new weapons being manufactured here in the US are going to replace those stockpiles. I don't have time right now to research that, but if all the info I have cited is true, I think our leaders have been smart in how they have been using the Ukraine funding to benefit ourselves as well as Ukraine, keeping in mind a point I made the other day:

"With US money but no US boots on the ground, Ukraine has significantly degraded Russia's military capablity, something Republicans would have cheered in the past."

"It's a stance I happen toagree with and I've felt that way since after the first year of this conflict. Ukraine is not a NATO ally and while Europe offers loans for Ukraine (and in way smaller numbers than what we've provided) we have been giving grants to the tune of nearly $200 billion with no end in sight if we stay the course."

The numbers cited by Trump about the contributions of the US vs Europe are wrong. Charts at link:

The Real Ukraine Numbers

The Trump administration is closing in on a deal for the United States to receive a financial interest in Ukraine's critical minerals industry. The first question, of course, is why we are asking an ally that was attacked to pay a kind of reparations. But apart from that, the president has characteristically exaggerated and misrepresented the facts.

As he often does, the president has been wildly misrepresenting the facts around Ukrainian war aid. He claims that the United States has provided around $350 billion in aid; the actual figure is $120 billion. He has said that Europe has provided about $100 billion; the correct figure is $138 billion. (It is true that some portion of the European aid is in the form of loans.)

As a share of gross domestic product, the U.S. is roughly in the middle of the pack, well below small countries like Estonia and Denmark that are geographically close to Ukraine but roughly in line with larger countries like France and the U.K.

Against that backdrop, it is not clear why Trump believes that the U.S. is entitled to his requested $500 billion of compensation from Ukraine's critical minerals industry, large resources of titanium, lithium, uranium and others. Regardless, the Ukrainians appear likely to agree to something as soon as Friday, when Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy visits Washington.

It's also important to note that the European Union and its members have promised an additional $121 billion in assistance while the U.S. has only pledged an additional $5 billion.

#311 | Posted by BellRinger

Link?

Rubio was devastated in that clip. Especially when Trump went off the rails of "russia russia russia" "hoax" nonsense. Rubio knew Trump was off his rocker. Rubio, after all, wrote all about it.
#306 | Posted by YAV

Rubio wrote the Senate Intel committee's report on the Russian interference in the 2016 election. He knows Putin is a dictator and not to be trusted. At least he did. I keep hoping he is working with the intel community within the FBI and CIA to keep an eye on DonOLD from within his administration. I keep hoping he isn't/won't sell out America and American democracy in the end. He is about the only person in Trump's cabinet I hold out such hope for. I know. I'll probably be proven naive and gullible.

Crazy coincidence, huh?:

"Kirchgaessner also noted that under Trump, the Cybersecurity and Infrastructure Security Agency (CISA), which monitors cyberthreats against critical infrastructure, has set new priorities. Although Russian threats, especially those against U.S. election systems, were a top priority for the agency in the past, a source told Kirchgaessner that analysts were told not to follow or report on Russian threats."

This is one way Republicans plan to steal the next supposedly free elections.

Michale Steele, who says the ambush was planned/staged, pointed out over the weekend that the statement "last question" was made and that's when JD launched into his attack on Zelensky. It was all political theater for Putin/Russia and the MAGA base, both audiences of whom seem to be eating it up.

"Something odd here."

As seen on Bluesky: "It was a meeting between a man without a suit and a suit without a man." That pretty much sums it up for me.

She also said "An amazing job was done by first respondsers. Follow Horry County Fire and Rescue. All hands on deck every surrounding area sent crews trucks planes aircraft."