81

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Trump

« on: March 01, 2025, 02:35:04 AM »

https://apnews.com/article/romania-andrew-tate-us-04749679b90fad821c2b945955f5b145

Again, it needs to be stressed that this is not a coincidence. The Trump administration lobbied and pressured the Romanian government into releasing the Tates.

The article you posted doesn't say that though.

And yet it's true. Of course Romania isn't going to go on the record and say "The Trump administration pressured us to let the Tates go and we folded." Seeing through obvious attempts at saving face is an important part of interpreting political news, and we already know from previous reports that Trump officials were lobbying on behalf of the Tates. Romania doesn't need to publicly acknowledge this as true for it to be true.

I won't waste time discussing the details of the case against the Tates, especially not with someone who's just going to reflexively argue every single point. It's been extensively documented online, and needless to say, goes well beyond simply operating a camgirl service. And even if I believed that Tate was entirely innocent, he's still such an openly vile person that the Trump administration going out of its way (it's not like it's the president's "job" to secure the release of every American citizen facing prosecution in other countries, after all) so early in its term to lobby on his behalf is a very ugly look - as it was undoubtedly meant to be.

82

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Trump

« on: February 28, 2025, 02:54:53 AM »

https://apnews.com/article/romania-andrew-tate-us-04749679b90fad821c2b945955f5b145

Again, it needs to be stressed that this is not a coincidence. The Trump administration lobbied and pressured the Romanian government into releasing the Tates. I'll avoid talking about the brother for now because I don't know enough about his involvement to fairly judge him, but Andrew Tate is a vile piece of shit who has openly bragged about the women he's abused, exploited, and yes, raped, even though he's denied the specific crimes he's been charged with. Does he deserve his day in court, and until that time, to be treated by the government as innocent until proved guilty? Of course. Does he deserve to have the President of the United States, within his first six weeks of office, directly intervene in his case on his behalf and get him out of the country that's prosecuting him? Absolutely fucking not.

83

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Trump

« on: February 26, 2025, 04:45:22 AM »

https://www.bbc.com/news/articles/c7435pnle0go

Pathetic. Absolutely pathetic. Trump is desperate to impress Putin. No, don't even start with talking about how this has anything to do with strategy or the budget (the latter claim is especially unbelievable given how Trump and Republicans have now passed their enormous tax cuts for the rich). This is entirely personal and comes down to nothing more than Trump's fawning crush on Putin. That's literally all it is. Your big strong macho president is Putin's little bitch.

84

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Trump

« on: February 23, 2025, 04:09:44 PM »

Only a resignation is a resignation. You can't just say "I'm taking this as a resignation." As for taxes, I haven't seen anything about Musk paying billions since 2021, when he claimed he'd be paying $11 billion from selling stock. It's worth noting that every article that covered that subject seems to be taking Musk's word for it. It's extremely likely that he was lying or exaggerating. Like I posted a while back, Trump is planning trillions in tax cuts. Those tax cuts aren't for you or me. They're for the enormously wealthy. Trump has you so convinced that you're being taken advantage of a bunch of bureaucrats earning median paychecks that you're entirely blind to the oligarchs who really are taking advantage of you, to a degree many times worse than the federal workforce (even assuming all the FUD about them being a bunch of lazy freeloaders is true - which it isn't).

85

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Trump

« on: February 23, 2025, 02:42:24 PM »

https://apnews.com/article/elon-musk-trump-federal-workers-f44257ce4cf8c04c96c8ce0ce262842f

“Consistent with President @realDonaldTrump’s instructions, all federal employees will shortly receive an email requesting to understand what they got done last week,” Musk posted on X, which he owns. “Failure to respond will be taken as a resignation.”

Pretty sure that's not how it works. Anyway, like I said, the salaries for federal employees comes to only a very small percentage of the budget. If the concern really is saving money, then I would again suggest we tax the oligarchs. Make Musk and his fellow billionaires pay their fair share. But that won't happen, because the real goal is of course crippling the federal government.

86

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Trump

« on: February 20, 2025, 03:44:12 AM »

The problem being discussed isn't the nuclear stockpile or whether or not we should be in fear for our lives over nuclear stability, but that Trump and Musk have proved, once again, that they have no idea what they're doing.

So if they haven't put me in danger, why should I care? I don't see any argument for why anyone should care about these firings. If the President wants them out of the branch he oversees, then they are out. You seem to think that I care deeply about random probationary executive branch employees who were given the boot in cost cutting. I don't.

Again, what you should be concerned about is the fact that Trump and Musk don't know what they're doing and are making major decisions without doing basic research or preparation first. Perhaps no harm was done in this particular incident, but it won't be the only time something like this happens. Someone who always thinks that they're smarter and better-informed on every subject than everyone else, and assumes that every idea they have is a good one that should be carried out immediately without taking any time to consider the possible consequences is not going to be a good leader. In other news:

https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/politics-news/trump-andrew-tate-romania-lift-travel-restrictions-1236139575/

Pathetic. Trump and co. are now going to bat for an odious rapist and sex trafficker. This case shouldn't even be crossing their desks. They're busy and have a million things to do running the country. But no, this is a priority for them. They're going out of their way to help out Andrew fucking Tate. They're sending a clear signal that Tate is their guy, that they have his back.

87

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Trump

« on: February 19, 2025, 04:44:37 AM »

The employees fired were probationary clerical workers. Therefore it is not likely that it they were critical to the integrity of America's nuclear stockpile. Probationary employees are not put in critical and sensitive positions for the reason that the permanence of their role is still in evaluation. This is also why probationary employees were terminated rather than regular employees.

The only reason why probationary employees rather than regular ones were fired is that probationary employees are a lot easier to fire. That's it. If Trump and Musk could have fired the regular employees as easily, they would have done so as well.

I don't see why I should be concerned for my safety knowing that some probationary employees were fired and then rehired and that the NNSA has a lot of other tasks that they are doing around the world which do not directly relate to America's nuclear stockpile. This alarmism is pretty dumb.

That's a blatant strawman. The problem being discussed isn't the nuclear stockpile or whether or not we should be in fear for our lives over nuclear stability, but that Trump and Musk have proved, once again, that they have no idea what they're doing. They fired a bunch of people from the Department of Energy without realizing that the department controls the nuclear stockpile, and presumably because those jobs were too important to be so casually cut, they had to offer the fired workers their jobs back. I won't claim that the DOE controlling the nuclear stockpile is basic common knowledge or something that "everyone" knows (I'm saying this because I suspect that otherwise someone will accuse me of implying that everyone knows about what the DOE does), but it's still information that's readily available to anyone willing to Google it. If Trump and Musk are going to gut the federal workforce, they owe it to the country to at the very least do some very, very basic research about the people they're firing before they, you know, fire them.

88

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Trump

« on: February 16, 2025, 03:36:31 PM »

Correct. There are many justly layoffs occurring in the federal government right now. The DOE gave the orders, and they likely know what the NNSA is, so they should know if they are actually putting the nuclear stockpile at risk with the layoffs.

You're very gullible if you believe that, which I seriously doubt you do. The Department of Energy knows what it's doing when it comes to properly managing nuclear weapons. Trump and Musk don't. The obvious conclusion is that it was Trump and Musk who ordered these firings without realizing what they meant, not that the DOE coincidentally just happened to fire a bunch of employees at the same time that Trump and Musk have been pursuing mass firings of federal employees. In other news:

https://abcnews.go.com/US/doj-files-motion-dismiss-charges-mayor-eric-adams/story?id=118847473

This is transparently corrupt. Adams is a crook who should have been drummed out of office a long time ago. Instead, Trump has thrown out the charges against him in a blatant quid pro quo for his own political benefit. It's not draining the swamp, it's not telling it like it is, it's two crooks making a deal.

89

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Trump

« on: February 15, 2025, 09:25:16 PM »

https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/14/climate/nuclear-nnsa-firings-trump/index.html

Even if we take it for granted that the federal budget is in urgent need of cutting, and even if we take it for granted that this cutting needs to take the form of mass firings (despite the salaries of federal employees making up only a tiny part of the federal budget), this is ample evidence that Elon Musk and his team of broccoli-headed kids aren't the ones who should be doing it. They're morons.

I don't see "DOGE" or "Elon" mentioned anywhere in that article. It says "Congress is freaking out because it appears DOE didn’t really realize NNSA oversees the nuclear stockpile". Why wouldn't the Department of Energy know that the National Nuclear Security Administration maintains the nuclear stockpile? This article cites anonymous sources "with knowledge on the matter". That is code that they interviewed random nitwits.

Read the article, DOGE or Elon are not mentioned. It accusing the Department of Energy of not knowing that the NNSA is, which is questionable. The article is also trying really hard to conflate Department of Energy officials with "Trump administration officials":

Trump administration officials fired more than 300 staffers Thursday night at the National Nuclear Security Administration — the agency tasked with managing the nation’s nuclear stockpile — as part of broader Energy Department layoffs, according to four people with knowledge of the matter.

Sources told CNN the officials did not seem to know this agency oversees America’s nuclear weapons.

An Energy Department spokesperson disputed the number of personnel affected, telling CNN that “less than 50 people” were “dismissed” from NNSA, and that the dismissed staffers “held primarily administrative and clerical roles.”

The DOE spokesperson says that it is false alarmism. If you keep reading it turns out that the DOE had terminated new probationary employees, and then brought them back. If they fired them and brought them back it could be for a number of reasons, such as budget or priority revision, and it is a stretch to imply that there was ever a direct danger of nuclear accident without these people. The article heavily suggests that everyone in the NNSA is an incredibly important and critical part of nuclear safety, and that job losses undoubtedly put us all in grave danger, which is blatantly false. This is just fear mongering and yellow journalism.

Of course it wasn't really the Department of Energy that suddenly, independently decided to fire a large number of employees at the exact same time that Musk and Trump have begun their promised purge of the federal workforce. That's obviously just how they're dressing it up. They gave the orders, and everyone fired is told "(insert agency/department name here) has determined that your position is now redundant," blah blah blah. That's obvious. And of course career officials at the Department of Energy would know that nuclear weapons would fall under their own purview. They wouldn't make that mistake. The two famously arrogant and not particularly bright businessmen now running this country, both of whom have spent their whole lives thinking they know better than everyone else? They would.

90

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Trump

« on: February 15, 2025, 05:47:36 PM »

https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/14/climate/nuclear-nnsa-firings-trump/index.html

Even if we take it for granted that the federal budget is in urgent need of cutting, and even if we take it for granted that this cutting needs to take the form of mass firings (despite the salaries of federal employees making up only a tiny part of the federal budget), this is ample evidence that Elon Musk and his team of broccoli-headed kids aren't the ones who should be doing it. They're morons.

91

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Trump

« on: February 13, 2025, 03:51:02 AM »

https://www.newsweek.com/republicans-reveal-trump-tax-plan-will-cost-us-45-trillion-2030024

It's all about fiscal responsibility, guys. Reducing government waste, managing the national debt, and giving the extremely wealthy more enormous tax cuts.

92

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Trump

« on: February 12, 2025, 03:01:59 AM »

That headline is extremely misleading, in case anyone is wondering. Certainly no fraud was involved.

93

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Trump

« on: February 08, 2025, 07:02:04 PM »

Yeah, sure. If one of the right-wing techbro oligarchs pulling Trump's strings says these things, they must be true. It's not like he'd lie, right? If he's really concerned about this country's debt, maybe he should support rolling back the enormous tax cuts that Trump gave him and his fellow oligarchs.

94

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Trump

« on: February 06, 2025, 09:36:14 PM »

Bitch away, LD, bitch away...

Triggered...LOL!

This is the real Trumpian Manifesto. At its core, it's a juvenile eagerness to upset, hurt, or otherwise oppress the people they hate. Conservatives don't vote in their own best interests; they vote in whatever they think will be the worst interests of the people they hate. They'd rather ensure everyone, including themselves, are miserable rather than be happy and risk the people they hate being happy too. The cruelty is the point.

95

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Trump

« on: February 06, 2025, 06:39:06 PM »

It's really interesting how the men who are deeply concerned about trans people ruining women's sports are the exact same men who ordinarily show zero interest in women's sports except to mock them. I'm qualifying this as "men" because there are a number of female transphobes, as well as a few mediocre female athletes who have seen profit in complaining about supposedly being unfairly beaten by trans athletes. But 100% of the men who treat this as a huge issue have nothing but disdain for women's sports to begin with. Not 90%, not 99%, 100%.

96

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Trump

« on: February 06, 2025, 03:27:43 AM »

Then why does the President have the power to assassinate US Citizens at will?

That's a dubious piece of hyperbole, but even if we assume it to be true, there's an easy answer - because the Supreme Court, the body representing the judicial branch of government, chose to allow him to. They didn't have to. They could have - and, needless to say, absolutely should have - ruled against him, and if they had, Trump couldn't have done anything about it, just as Biden couldn't do anything about them ruling in Trump's favor. Like Congress, the Supreme Court has a number of ways to check Trump's power, and also like Congress, they're refusing to use them.

97

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Trump

« on: February 05, 2025, 03:07:43 AM »

Okay, there's a lot of wildly incorrect stuff being posted here. No, the president is not a king or dictator, nor were they ever intended to be. Avoiding having a single ruler with overwhelming power is arguably the one issue that every single one of the Founding Fathers were agreed upon. We have separation of powers, and Congress has several means at its disposal to check the executive branch. They are currently choosing to exercise none of them.

Personally, I think a strong case to impeach Trump could be made over his essential abdication of his office to a group of unelected oligarchs and ideologues. The president has the right to choose their advisors and listen to them, certainly, but I'd argue that he doesn't have the right to let them govern in his stead, which is clearly what's going on right now. It's very obvious that Trump has had no input or involvement in planning the orders he's been obediently signing off on, and he doesn't seem to be involved in any way with the current systematic crippling of the federal government. Trump was the one elected president, not Elon Musk. If he doesn't want to do the job anymore, then there's a line of succession that needs to be followed.

98

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Trump

« on: February 02, 2025, 01:19:19 AM »

Trump was the one who made this political by immediately insisting without evidence (and incorrectly, as it turned out) that this was caused by DEI policies. Any other president would have offered consolation and enjoyed some positive press for leading the country through tragedy, but Trump can't let a single incident pass without turning it into an us-vs-them moment. Of course, Trump's cynical strategy of fostering division rather than unity has now gotten him elected twice, so who am I to say it's ineffective?

99

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Trump

« on: February 01, 2025, 12:52:36 AM »

I guess "needs training" is its own DEI category, then? Clearly, the military should only be recruiting people who are already fully trained to do the job.

100

Philosophy, Religion & Society / Re: Trump

« on: January 31, 2025, 10:54:48 PM »

Apparently the pilot was an unidentified woman who was undergoing flight instruction. Close enough.

I don't understand how that's even remotely close to DEI being responsible for what happened. If the argument is that the pilot's lack of extensive experience is what caused the crash, then why assume that her being a woman is relevant? All pilots need to be trained.