Pres Trump trying to take control of the elections.

Plain and simple.

... In a speech, he ticked through defunded outlets, ousted journalists and looming ownership changes -- then said the president is 'winning' ...

The issue, as I see it, is that the general population wants to be ~entertained~ when they view "news" media.

That's why more people have been getting their "news" from social media of late.

They want to be entertained, so they watch the social media channels that tell them what they want to hear.

Meanwhile, the news media that reports the facts seem to be losing their audience.

@#17 ... And MAGA was so stupid they went along. They still go along. ...

But, Pres Trump relied upon the Independents to put him in the Oval office.

Now, poll after poll seem to be showing that Pres Trump is losing the support of those Independents.

But, looking at those polls, a question I have to ask is along the lines of ...

OK, if Pres Trump is losing the support of the Independents, are the Democrats gaining from that changing support?

Or, will the Independents just stay home and not vote in 2026 and 2028?

Asked differently, how are the Democrats working to get people to the polls?

I wish I knew ...

... "Something I've noticed lately is all the military guys are coming in and they're spending all of their money," Daze says in he TikTok clip. "It's sad. They're kind of depressed ... ...

So, now Tik-Tok may be a breach of National Security?

@#3 ... Make-believe soldiers disappearing real soldiers family members? ...

I wish I could disagree.

More from the cited article ...

... Free-market zealots have long wanted to gamble with the retirement savings of Americans. Republicans regularly fantasize about privatizing Social Security, handing over a wildly popular pillar of the social safety net to the whims of Wall Street. But the public strongly opposes the idea, so the president has turned to the next best thing.

It's the latest brazen example of Trump socializing risk and privatizing profit through his own pitiless brand of market capitalism"and yet another opportunity for him to haul off with loot on the backs of the American people.

It should shock no one that Trump is delivering a giant gift to the crypto industry. He and his family own billions of dollars' worth of crypto and related investments, and will personally benefit as swarms of new buyers push up the price of those assets. ...

Another question I have ...

Is this just for 401(k) retirement plans, or might, say, Roth IRAs also be included?

From the cited article ...

... The stakes are enormous: If Americans collectively shifted just 1 percent of their 401(k) assets into crypto and private equity, those industries would be flooded with more than $100 billion in new capital. ...

... and how much income would Pres Trump's crypto companies stand to make?

@#2 ... That will only happen in an emergency situation ...

Agreed.

imo, this is a key event for NASA.

After leading the Country into space decades ago (and, yes, I remember when, e.g., the NBC network preempted all programming to broadcast for hours minute-by-minute details of the first lunar landing), NASA now has to show that it remains relevant in the world of capitalistic commercialism of space.

More from the article ...

... Job openings, a measure of labor demand, decreased 358,000 to 6.882 million by the last day of February, the Labor Department's Bureau of Labor Statistics said in its Job Openings and Labor Turnover Survey, or JOLTS report. Economists polled by Reuters had forecast 6.918 million unfilled jobs. The job openings rate dropped to 4.2% from 4.4% in January.

Hiring decreased by 498,000 positions to 4.849 million last month, the lowest level since March 2020 at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The hires rate dropped to 3.1% from 3.4% in January. Layoffs and discharges increased 61,000 to a still-low 1.721 million, with the rate rising to 1.1% from 1.0% in the prior month.

A reluctance by employers to engage in large-scale hiring or layoffs has created what Federal Reserve Chair Jerome Powell this month called a "zero-employment growth equilibrium" that has "a feel of downside risk."

Economists blame the labor market stasis on lingering uncertainty caused by President Donald Trump's trade and immigration policies that have undercut demand for and supply of workers. Private nonfarm payrolls growth averaged only 18,000 jobs per month in the three months through February. ...

@#4 ... These firings seem to reflect that promise for revenge and retribution. ...

Probably the only campaign promise Pres Trump has lived up to.

But, then again, it may be the only campaign promise that benefits him directly.

The other campaign promises (lowering inflation, reducing cost of groceries, etc) that seem to be more for the benefit of the working class, and not Pres Trump. Those look like they are among the ones he has not fulfilled.

@#4 ... Who still supports this garbage? ...

Support for Israel seems to be waning.

@#1 ... Anyone want odds? ...

That's the huge problem our NATO allies have been facing.

i.e., why should we commit our troops to a war when Pres Trump is not even able to state the goals of the war?

@#68

Is your current trolling alias sure it wants to cite that song?

Lyrics excerpt ...

@#53 ... Loser ...

Well, since there is no indication of the comment to which it is replying, I would say that the comment being replied to is the immediate prior one.

So, what was comment @52 and what trolling alias authored it?

I saw this ...
@52

... #52 | Posted by lfthndthrds at 2026-03-31 08:11 PM ...

Oh, that's gonna leave a mark, apparently calling itself a loser. ...

@#10 ... "No punishment. No investigation. Carry on, patriots," the defense secretary posted on social media ...

Stated differently...

If you suck up to Pres Trump, crimes you may commit are not prosecuted because the Trump admin considers you to be a "patriot.".

@#58 ... To be clear. This would be a surrender of epic proportions ...

Agreed.

Especially because the closure of the Strait was due to Pres Trump.

@#12 ... This is a minuscule percentage of the corrupt looting of this administration ...

Agreed.

But these apparent ~stock trading just before an announcement is made~ events seem to be occurring too frequently.

And then there is the "Prediction Market" bets being placed.

@#2

Yeah.

While Pres Trump seems desperately to be trying to find an exit ramp from the war he started, Israel seems to be of a differing opinion.

@#36 ... It's to keep the garbage news from being sued. ...

Yeah, but FoxNews was already sued and settled to the tune of $700+ million dollars.

More from the article...

...Israel Katz reiterated Israeli plans to establish a buffer zone in southern Lebanon, saying that it would maintain control over a swathe of territory up to the Litani River once the war with the Iran-backed Hezbollah group ended.

More than 1.2 million people have been displaced and another 1,200 have been killed in Lebanon since Israel launched an offensive against Hezbollah on March 2, ignited by the group's decision to open fire in support of Tehran in the regional war.

The Litani River meets the Mediterranean about 30 km (20 miles) north of Israel's border, and the area between it and the Israeli border amounts to nearly a 10th of Lebanon's territory.

The Israeli military earlier this month ordered residents to leave swathes of the south, the Hezbollah-controlled southern suburbs of Beirut, and the group's political heartlands in eastern Lebanon. ...

... under a proposed risk-based policy ...

It seems that ICE agents are not trained to act as local law enforcement acts.

@#17 ... I am really tired of all this winning. ...

The Strait of Hormuz was open to maritime traffic a mere six weeks ago.

Now, because of Pres Trump's actions, where are we now regarding the Strait of Hormuz?