Curious Canid

I agree with you. I’m an American and it makes me want to boycott American goods.

In practice, I am trying to reduce the amount of business I do with large American companies. They’re the ones who put Trump into power. I feel better supporting local businesses anyway.

We may yet see a Buy Canadian movement in the US.

Exactly. The Democrats have their own issues, but there is a difference between a candle and a burning house and the difference does matter.

The masks tell the whole story. People with legitimate authority do not need to wear masks. Everyone involved knew this was a criminal act and wanted to avoid being implicated.

We’re seeing a lot of masks on law enforcement and government agents these days. There’s a reason.

This is just another aspect of the conviction these people all share that the rules do not apply to them. And it is a perfect demonstration as to why no one with that attitude should ever be allowed to serve in the government.

Also, my use of the term “serve” was inappropriate. None of these people are serving anyone or anything except for their personal interests and their egos.

He seems to only have one actual skill, but to be fair, being born rich is very difficult to master.

Poor grammar aside, the headline is inaccurate. I am all in favor of people dumping Teslas, but Musk neither designed nor built any of them. He paid people to design them, then he paid people to build them. And by all accounts, he did not pay them well or treat them kindly.

It sounds like they did it right. They used AI to identify things for the humans to examine in more detail.

The whole Trump administration are operating like terrorists. They don’t necessarily care about the results of any particular offense, the goal is to discourage anyone from standing against them.

Well, not legally. We need to make that matter again.

I’m still looking for ways to work toward that, short of violence.

Even if it’s a symbolic gesture, it’s one that needs to be made.

People complain all that time that the Democrats are just ignoring this mess. Don’t complain too much when a legislator proposes legislation to fix some of it. That is what they’re supposed to do.

Pocan is doing his job. By doing it, he is also bringing public attention to a situation that Musk and Trump would much rather didn’t get any.

USAID is one of the few cases where the President probably can shut it down, because it was created by an executive order. That is not true of most other agencies that are currently being gutted.

Under the Constitution, the Congress passes laws to create agencies and control the budget. The President is responsible for executing those laws, but does not have the power to remove them or change them. Malicious compliance is a violation of the oath of office. Failing to comply at all is just plain illegal. If Congress were doing its job there would be a quick impeachment and removal from office.

The problem we face is not that the Constitution allows most of what’s going on. It is that the checks and balances in the Constitution rely on the majority of Congress and the courts to act in good faith. The founders never imagined a situation where a majority of those people would be so corrupt that they would allow a situation like this.

Those qualities occasionally help people break through to wealth, but mostly the economy rewards already being rich. Having rich parents is how you become rich.

“Downplaying the financial strain his policies could impose” translates as “lying”. He knew perfectly well what would happen. He also knew that if he told the truth about it he was unlikely to be elected. So he lied. That pretty well describes his entire campaign.

What worries me is that Trump no longer has any reason to care what people think. He doesn’t need their votes or their support. And while people keep talking about how he wants to be loved, I don’t think that’s true. He wants to be important to people, but he can achieve that through fear and intimidation too. Which is what he’s doing now.

At this point I don’t expect any elected Republicans to stand up to him. Those who had a conscience have been driven out or have put it in storage for the duration. Sadly, our greatest hope is that the ultra-wealthy who financed this mess may turn on him and put pressure on the legislators they own to do something about it.

That picture has been “cleaned up” enough that it’s beginning to look kind of like Biden.