American Politics

[QUOTE=SubCmdr;3011407]The current POTUS is the most serious threat to the democracy of the Dis-United States of America that the country has EVER faced.

When the courts rule against them he wants the judges involved to be impeached and their families killed. When they rule for him it is [I]an amazing decision, one that we're very happy about[/I]. It is like having a child with his finger on the nuclear button. Very sad. You MAGA mother fucks can have the country you live in currently. I'm good. I'm waiting for the mid terms and for his rule (excuse me) term to end.[/QUOTE]Every Repub of the last 100 years or so laid out the Russian Red carpet and fired up the gold escalator to usher that America-hating clown Trump into the world.

He could not do what he is doing or pose the existential threat to America and democracy without his Repub MAGA Congress, his 6 Repub MAGA majority in The Supreme Court, which extends all the way back to Reagan's VP's administration, and every other Repub MAGA Governor, Mayor, Council Member and Dog Catcher.

That is why well-informed and observant patriotic Americans who value the Rule of Law, Democracy, a strong and healthy National Security and economy have only voted Democrat up and down their ballot in every election at least since the middle of Reagan's 1st presidential term.

Just letting one Repub in at any level anywhere in the country triggered the cancer we are experiencing right now.

[QUOTE=EihTooms;3011482]Every Repub of the last 100 years or so laid out the Russian Red carpet and fired up the gold escalator to usher that America-hating clown Trump into the world.

He could not do what he is doing or pose the existential threat to America and democracy without his Repub MAGA Congress, his 6 Repub MAGA majority in The Supreme Court, which extends all the way back to Reagan's VP's administration, and every other Repub MAGA Governor, Mayor, Council Member and Dog Catcher.

That is why well-informed and observant patriotic Americans who value the Rule of Law, Democracy, a strong and healthy National Security and economy have only voted Democrat up and down their ballot in every election at least since the middle of Reagan's 1st presidential term.

Just letting one Repub in at any level anywhere in the country triggered the cancer we are experiencing right now.[/QUOTE]MAGA voters are his Republican Guard evinced on Jan 6 in Washington DC etc etc.

[URL]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2MeaP7o5cow[/URL]

[URL]https://www.newsmax.com/politics/donald-trump-tariffs-wall-street/2025/06/27/id/1216774/[/URL]

Allahu Akbar.

[QUOTE=EihTooms;3011482]Every Repub of the last 100 years or so laid out the Russian Red carpet and fired up the gold escalator to usher that America-hating clown Trump into the world.

He could not do what he is doing or pose the existential threat to America and democracy without his Repub MAGA Congress, his 6 Repub MAGA majority in The Supreme Court, which extends all the way back to Reagan's VP's administration, and every other Repub MAGA Governor, Mayor, Council Member and Dog Catcher.

That is why well-informed and observant patriotic Americans who value the Rule of Law, Democracy, a strong and healthy National Security and economy have only voted Democrat up and down their ballot in every election at least since the middle of Reagan's 1st presidential term.

Just letting one Repub in at any level anywhere in the country triggered the cancer we are experiencing right now.[/QUOTE]WTF suppressing human traffiking WTF seriously?

[URL]https://www.cbsnews.com/chicago/news/27-men-arrested-human-trafficking-sting-lake-county/[/URL]

Israel and Trump are faking with AI about shootings in Iran. Master of bullshit for the old fat senile, fucking deeply his citizens.

[QUOTE=EihTooms;3011241]

Your Seymour Hersh had this to say about it[/QUOTE]Yeah, it figures. You are so drenched in partisan bullshit Loony Tooms you cannot handle a journalist who tells his version of what he sees without a partisan lens. He called out Biden on Nordstream and here is but one of his articles critical of Trump.

Last July, I wrote about one of Joe Biden's last televised Cabinet meetings—a dreary affair at which the president opened by reading from a three- or four-page introduction in large type that had been prepared by aides who covered each page with plastic, perhaps to make it easier, so I thought but did not write, to turn the pages.

At last Wednesday's Cabinet meeting in the White House, television cameras were present and the proceedings were broadcast live and in real time by see-SPAN. I was more than a little curious about the event. I've had no direct or indirect contact with Trump, but I knew a great deal about Vice President Dick Cheney when he worked for President George W. Bush. Cheney did not suffer fools. Period. While watching see-SPAN, I recalled being told that, after a testy meeting in his office with a smug four-star admiral, the vice president told his staff with a laugh that he wished there were a trap door under the admiral's feet and a button within easy reach.

Here was a chance, perhaps, to see the president at work. Surely there would be moments of give-and-take with aides and advisors. There were a few questions about relevant issues – he asked Secretary of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins, a former Republican congressman from Georgia, about the high suicide rate among veterans. But such substance was a rarity. There was not much to be learned other than the fact the president was perfectly content to let his Cabinet leaders speak without much interruption as long as the subject was his own superb leadership. Inevitably, the event was marked by fulsome flattery and absurd misstatements of fact. But whether or not he's done so legally or constitutionally, Trump has done a few of the things he said he would do: slash the federal government to a level beyond comprehension; shut down the United States' southern border; and stem the flow of migrants into the country. It was in part his repeated promise to do so that won him the presidency last fall along with majorities in the House and Senate.

America may go off the economic cliff on tariffs, as most serious economists have predicted, but there might be enough time for a mid-course correction. Trump's foreign policy is a shambles. As of this week the settlement of the Ukraine War he promised seems far out of reach, but the generals there are still talking, even if the political leaders are not. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of Italy may be Trump's only friend today among the political leadership of Western Europe, and for him there are no friends to be had now in China, but international politics have always been fungible.

Current polls show that the American public disapproves of Trump's tariffs, his brutal new budget proposals, and his use of Elon Musk and his team of punks to dismantle the federal government, but Trump's poll numbers are much cheerier for him when Americans are asked about his standing against the Democratic Party. The president is still running ahead when matched against any of today's Democratic leaders. The Democratic Party's national approval rating is 27 percent.

How much clearer could it be that the Democrats need a drastic overhaul before the midterm elections? It would be a gift to them if a few of the cowed and terrified Republicans in the Senate could find the integrity to vote against presidential proposals that don't deserve to become law. The embarrassments peaked when not one republican could find the gumption to vote against the nomination of Russell Vought to be director of the White House's office of planning and budget. Many of Trump's initial executive orders calling for drastic cutbacks throughout the bureaucracy were drafted in that office. Vought and Stephen Miller, the White House's deputy for policy and Homeland Security, were the architects of Project 2025, the right-wing outline for today's unwinding of the federal government and the fanatical drive to rid America of immigrants. During a televised press appearance in the White House last week, the unabashed Miller described the many federal judges who have challenged the administration's legal view of due process as "communists. ".

Last week's televised Cabinet meeting featured plenty of lies and inanities from the members of the Cabinet as they reported to the boss throughout the show. Trump turned first to Pete Hegseth, his beleaguered secretary of defense whom he depicted, amid laughter, as "my least controversial person at the table. " Hegseth, who has been demonstrating how little secretaries of defense have to do with the running of the Pentagon, told the president that he had inherited "a demoralized military that couldn't recruit and that was perceived as weak after what happened in Afghanistan and elsewhere because of Joe Biden. " Since Trump's election, Hegseth said, there has been "nothing short of a recruiting renaissance. . . . The men and women of America want to join the United States military led by President Donald Trump. ".

The Associated Press called Hegseth's recruitment claim "an overstatement. . . Missing context. Recruitment numbers for all military branches have been on the rise for the last few years, according to Defense Department data. Experts cite factors such as improving recruitment strategies, increased bonuses, and new prep courses that predated the 2024 presidential election as factors in the change, although they acknowledge Trump's election could have also played a role. " There is no data to support that assessment, however. Overall, military enlistment was 12.5 percent higher in the fiscal year 2024 than in fiscal 2023.

Hegseth, nonetheless, indulged his boss. "We're going to get 100 percent operational control of the border," he said. "Our NATO allies know they have to step up. The Houthis in the Middle East are feeling the weight of American power and we're deterring Communist China. So because of your leadership, sir, I believe we are making the military great again. I thank you. ".

Another exchange took place with Howard Lutnick, the self-assured billionaire secretary of commerce. Lutnick is an avid Trump supporter who donated at least $9 million to his 2024 campaign. He shares the president's enthusiasm for giving rich foreigners a pathway to becoming US citizens simply by paying $5 million dollars to buy what the president has called a "gold card" that would replace the existing investor green card visa program that offers foreign investors an option to become permanent residents by investing between $500,000 and $1 million to create or preserve American jobs. Immigration experts have called the president's plan illegal because only Congress can broaden immigration categories.

Nonetheless, the program seems to be going forward, as Lutnick excitedly told Trump, after describing himself as running the "investment accelerator. " Major companies all over the world are committing to investing in America, he said. "They all want to invest in America," he said. The world's pharmaceutical industry knows "it's got to come home because America pays for all the drugs of the world. . . . Autos coming home. Industrial is coming home. ".

Lutnick saved the best news for last. As he travels around the world, he said, there has been interest in what he called the Trump gold card: "It makes me very popular. " he clearly had the president's attention. "Last night I was out to dinner and someone came up and said, 'Can I buy ten? And how do I buy ten? And I'm like, 'That's pretty good. That's fifty million for dinner. '" he continued, to laughter from the president and his fellow Cabinet members: "It's paying for my dinner. ".

There was a touch of pathos, too, as soon to be ousted National Security Adviser Mike Waltz said, very simply: "It's an honor to serve you in this administration, and I think the world is far better, far safer, for it. " Should he have been more fulsome in his praise?

Most of the other Cabinet member reports were far more upbeat, and focused on cheering on the president's goals, whether by cutting back the number of federal employees or eliminating programs deemed excessively woke by the new sheriffs in town. There was the inevitable overzealous flattery about what was repeatedly described as an overwhelming election victory. But of course none of the Cabinet officials could beat the gushing praise from Pam Bondi, the attorney general: "Mr. President," she said with no sign of embarrassment, "Your first one hundred days has far exceeded that of any other presidency in this country ever, ever. Never seen anything like it. Thank you. Your directive to me was very simple, make America safe. And despite that, we are still defending over 200 civil lawsuits filed against you on top of everything else. . . And now we've got multiple cases in front of the Supreme Court and we will succeed and we are doing great. . . . We have rescinded 200 policies. . . And we are doing everything in our power to keep America safe at your direction. " In a fit of hyperbole, she asserted that Trump has saved 258 million American lives through Fentanyl seizures, but the main thrust of her remarks is that her mission is to do everything possible to prevent the American legal system from working. It's not a course taught at law school.

The Democratic Party must come to understand that Trump's political success was primarily based on his promise to get tough with immigrants, an issue that has for decades befuddled many Democrats and Republicans in the Congress with good intentions but no politically acceptable answers. It became a legislative nightmare that stumped some of the best minds in the Congress.

Trump's solution was to demonize the immigrant community and blur the distinctions between the millions who have made America a better place and the few who have not. He spoke to a dark side that exists here and won an election by doing so.

His Cabinet by and large reflects his vanity and his political ignorance. There may be a surprise as his administration carries on. But the early signs provided by his Cabinet can only be seen as a warning that what we see now isn't going to get better.

End of link. I do not even like this column that much, but I appreciate that it is 100% what the author believes. And that is why I call you Loony Tooms. You are not authentic. Everything that you see that is bad in the world is somehow Trump's fault. The worst was the idiotic Trump's pandemic. Every single issue you address is spinning why Dems are brilliant and MAGA is stupid.

[QUOTE=MarquisdeSade1;3011379]Name things after Military Heroes not psychotic sexual deviants, ok but maybe we can name all death rows after Ole Harvey (Leche).

[URL]https://www.breitbart.com/politics/2025/06/27/we-are-taking-the-politics-out-of-ship-naming-navy-renames-harvey-milk-with-medal-of-honor-recipient/[/URL][/QUOTE]I am glad about the change but naming a ship after Milk was pathetic!

[U]Written in 2022[/U]

[QUOTE=Elvis2008;2772791]Cryptocurrency / bitcoin was supposed to be an antidote to the endless American money printing as was gold. One has gone tits up while the other has done nothing. If a Colombian held his savings in dollars versus pesos over the last 3 years, he would be like 50 or 60% richer today.[/QUOTE]Let's check how this statement aged. - [U]ROTFLMAO![/U].

[B]Both Bitcoin and Gold at historic highs. The USD of 10% off for the year![/B]

Oh and by the way, did you know that in Texas, Gold (Au) is legal tender?

[B]Ballin like mother fuckin pro![/B]

MAGA racists are posing as ICE agents wearing plain clothes and masks and they are kidnapping people.

[QUOTE]Federal agents wearing masks and casual clothing significantly increased this risk of any citizen dressing up in a way the fools the public in to believing they are law enforcement so they can engage in illegal activity. It is is a public safety thread, and it is also a threat to the agents and officers themselves because people will not immediately be able to distinguish between who is engaged in legitimate activity or illegitimate activity when violence is occurring in public. - [b]Former FBI Agent[/b][/QUOTE]The POLICE state in the Dis-United States of America is here. Why does MAGA not care? They don't look like the people the head of the corrupt MAGA element is targeting!

[B]Real Talk![/B]

[QUOTE=Elvis2008;3011571]I am glad about the change but naming a ship after Milk was pathetic![/QUOTE][URL]https://fidelitymonth.com/[/URL]

[QUOTE=Elvis2008;3011570]Yeah, it figures. You are so drenched in partisan bullshit Loony Tooms you cannot handle a journalist who tells his version of what he sees without a partisan lens. He called out Biden on Nordstream and here is but one of his articles critical of Trump.

Last July, I wrote about one of Joe Biden's last televised Cabinet meetingsa dreary affair at which the president opened by reading from a three- or four-page introduction in large type that had been prepared by aides who covered each page with plastic, perhaps to make it easier, so I thought but did not write, to turn the pages.

At last Wednesday's Cabinet meeting in the White House, television cameras were present and the proceedings were broadcast live and in real time by see-SPAN. I was more than a little curious about the event. I've had no direct or indirect contact with Trump, but I knew a great deal about Vice President Dick Cheney when he worked for President George W. Bush. Cheney did not suffer fools. Period. While watching see-SPAN, I recalled being told that, after a testy meeting in his office with a smug four-star admiral, the vice president told his staff with a laugh that he wished there were a trap door under the admiral's feet and a button within easy reach.

Here was a chance, perhaps, to see the president at work. Surely there would be moments of give-and-take with aides and advisors. There were a few questions about relevant issues he asked Secretary of Veterans Affairs Doug Collins, a former Republican congressman from Georgia, about the high suicide rate among veterans. But such substance was a rarity. There was not much to be learned other than the fact the president was perfectly content to let his Cabinet leaders speak without much interruption as long as the subject was his own superb leadership. Inevitably, the event was marked by fulsome flattery and absurd misstatements of fact. But whether or not he's done so legally or constitutionally, Trump has done a few of the things he said he would do: slash the federal government to a level beyond comprehension; shut down the United States' southern border; and stem the flow of migrants into the country. It was in part his repeated promise to do so that won him the presidency last fall along with majorities in the House and Senate.

America may go off the economic cliff on tariffs, as most serious economists have predicted, but there might be enough time for a mid-course correction. Trump's foreign policy is a shambles. As of this week the settlement of the Ukraine War he promised seems far out of reach, but the generals there are still talking, even if the political leaders are not. Prime Minister Giorgia Meloni of Italy may be Trump's only friend today among the political leadership of Western Europe, and for him there are no friends to be had now in China, but international politics have always been fungible.

Current polls show that the American public disapproves of Trump's tariffs, his brutal new budget proposals, and his use of Elon Musk and his team of punks to dismantle the federal government, but Trump's poll numbers are much cheerier for him when Americans are asked about his standing against the Democratic Party. The president is still running ahead when matched against any of today's Democratic leaders. The Democratic Party's national approval rating is 27 percent.

How much clearer could it be that the Democrats need a drastic overhaul before the midterm elections? It would be a gift to them if a few of the cowed and terrified Republicans in the Senate could find the integrity to vote against presidential proposals that don't deserve to become law. The embarrassments peaked when not one republican could find the gumption to vote against the nomination of Russell Vought to be director of the White House's office of planning and budget. Many of Trump's initial executive orders calling for drastic cutbacks throughout the bureaucracy were drafted in that office. Vought and Stephen Miller, the White House's deputy for policy and Homeland Security, were the architects of Project 2025, the right-wing outline for today's unwinding of the federal government and the fanatical drive to rid America of immigrants. During a televised press appearance in the White House last week, the unabashed Miller described the many federal judges who have challenged the administration's legal view of due process as "communists. ".

Last week's televised Cabinet meeting featured plenty of lies and inanities from the members of the Cabinet as they reported to the boss throughout the show. Trump turned first to Pete Hegseth, his beleaguered secretary of defense whom he depicted, amid laughter, as "my least controversial person at the table. " Hegseth, who has been demonstrating how little secretaries of defense have to do with the running of the Pentagon, told the president that he had inherited "a demoralized military that couldn't recruit and that was perceived as weak after what happened in Afghanistan and elsewhere because of Joe Biden. " Since Trump's election, Hegseth said, there has been "nothing short of a recruiting renaissance. . . . The men and women of America want to join the United States military led by President Donald Trump. ".

The Associated Press called Hegseth's recruitment claim "an overstatement. . . Missing context. Recruitment numbers for all military branches have been on the rise for the last few years, according to Defense Department data. Experts cite factors such as improving recruitment strategies, increased bonuses, and new prep courses that predated the 2024 presidential election as factors in the change, although they acknowledge Trump's election could have also played a role. " There is no data to support that assessment, however. Overall, military enlistment was 12.5 percent higher in the fiscal year 2024 than in fiscal 2023.

Hegseth, nonetheless, indulged his boss. "We're going to get 100 percent operational control of the border," he said. "Our NATO allies know they have to step up. The Houthis in the Middle East are feeling the weight of American power and we're deterring Communist China. So because of your leadership, sir, I believe we are making the military great again. I thank you. ".

Another exchange took place with Howard Lutnick, the self-assured billionaire secretary of commerce. Lutnick is an avid Trump supporter who donated at least $9 million to his 2024 campaign. He shares the president's enthusiasm for giving rich foreigners a pathway to becoming US citizens simply by paying $5 million dollars to buy what the president has called a "gold card" that would replace the existing investor green card visa program that offers foreign investors an option to become permanent residents by investing between $500,000 and $1 million to create or preserve American jobs. Immigration experts have called the president's plan illegal because only Congress can broaden immigration categories.

Nonetheless, the program seems to be going forward, as Lutnick excitedly told Trump, after describing himself as running the "investment accelerator. " Major companies all over the world are committing to investing in America, he said. "They all want to invest in America," he said. The world's pharmaceutical industry knows "it's got to come home because America pays for all the drugs of the world. . . . Autos coming home. Industrial is coming home. ".

Lutnick saved the best news for last. As he travels around the world, he said, there has been interest in what he called the Trump gold card: "It makes me very popular. " he clearly had the president's attention. "Last night I was out to dinner and someone came up and said, 'Can I buy ten? And how do I buy ten? And I'm like, 'That's pretty good. That's fifty million for dinner. '" he continued, to laughter from the president and his fellow Cabinet members: "It's paying for my dinner. ".

There was a touch of pathos, too, as soon to be ousted National Security Adviser Mike Waltz said, very simply: "It's an honor to serve you in this administration, and I think the world is far better, far safer, for it. " Should he have been more fulsome in his praise?

Most of the other Cabinet member reports were far more upbeat, and focused on cheering on the president's goals, whether by cutting back the number of federal employees or eliminating programs deemed excessively woke by the new sheriffs in town. There was the inevitable overzealous flattery about what was repeatedly described as an overwhelming election victory. But of course none of the Cabinet officials could beat the gushing praise from Pam Bondi, the attorney general: "Mr. President," she said with no sign of embarrassment, "Your first one hundred days has far exceeded that of any other presidency in this country ever, ever. Never seen anything like it. Thank you. Your directive to me was very simple, make America safe. And despite that, we are still defending over 200 civil lawsuits filed against you on top of everything else. . . And now we've got multiple cases in front of the Supreme Court and we will succeed and we are doing great. . . . We have rescinded 200 policies. . . And we are doing everything in our power to keep America safe at your direction. " In a fit of hyperbole, she asserted that Trump has saved 258 million American lives through Fentanyl seizures, but the main thrust of her remarks is that her mission is to do everything possible to prevent the American legal system from working. It's not a course taught at law school.

The Democratic Party must come to understand that Trump's political success was primarily based on his promise to get tough with immigrants, an issue that has for decades befuddled many Democrats and Republicans in the Congress with good intentions but no politically acceptable answers. It became a legislative nightmare that stumped some of the best minds in the Congress.

Trump's solution was to demonize the immigrant community and blur the distinctions between the millions who have made America a better place and the few who have not. He spoke to a dark side that exists here and won an election by doing so.

His Cabinet by and large reflects his vanity and his political ignorance. There may be a surprise as his administration carries on. But the early signs provided by his Cabinet can only be seen as a warning that what we see now isn't going to get better.

End of link. I do not even like this column that much, but I appreciate that it is 100% what the author believes. And that is why I call you Loony Tooms. You are not authentic. Everything that you see that is bad in the world is somehow Trump's fault. The worst was the idiotic Trump's pandemic. Every single issue you address is spinning why Dems are brilliant and MAGA is stupid.[/QUOTE]Now we can all see that, despite your Seymour Hersh justifiably calling out Trump's Horrific Mistake of Historic Proportions in his tearing up the Obama / Kerry-negotiated Iran Nuclear Agrement, as if it would take a genius to recognize it and only a total numbskull could miss or ignore that reality, it turns out your Seymour Hersh is nothing more than a garden variety "false equivalency", pro Repub "Bothsider-Neithersider" bent on pretending to hate both sides equally while knowing full well that hatred for both sides equally only serves the Repub side's purposes and helps them win elections.

No wonder. My god, what would Seymour Hersh have had to write about to draw any attention at all to his stuff if there hadn't been decades of horrific Repub economic and national security disasters for him to comment on and occasionally try to twist them into blaming Dems for it falsely?

[QUOTE=Elvis2008;3011167]Oh yeah, if he were in California where a black man can do no wrong, he would be let go like OJ. But in the Marxist republic of New York, Coombs being convicted (like Trump was) is a done deal in that rigged system.

By the way, some of the Democratic are orgasmic with the guy slotted to be NYC mayor.

Taibbi wrote a great piece about this soon to be mayor, Zohran Mamdani: As they floundered, Trump oozed confidence and claimed to have answers. Mamdani does too, at a time when the heads of the traditional Democratic party look either ancient or dead and have no ideas beyond bleating about democracy and denouncing critics as Russian traitors. A confident salesman will win in this moment. The difference between Trump and Mamdani, of course, lay in their respective "answers. "

There were few true Marxists in America then even among college grads, since we'd been through The Discussion. 17-year-old males of my generation reached college trained to see the main logistical challenges of life as scoring beer, scoring weed, and chasing girls. If you went to a certain type of school (Mamdani's Bowdoin definitely qualifies), there was pretty much always beer and weed somewhere in your dorm, and often girls too. The only admission price was The Discussion. I went to Bard, where a handful of dudes I envied deeply wore Daniel Ortega jackets and Che-style facial hair and talked about Systems of Oppression until women threw themselves at them. It was a great rap. Human problems would disappear if society would just meet citizen needs, not force people to fight for resources, and eliminate sociopathic mechanisms like the corporation that profit from war, disease, and addiction. You can make it sound awesome even now!

If the concept only has to hold up long enough to get a college student laid, socialism works. You only land in the big LOL once you take the step New York just has, into reality. The part no one mentions at campus parties is that the replacement for markets in socialism is not just human authority, but dumb authority. Yes, prices can be oppressive, but try swapping out organic pricing for committees of sociology majors and AOC types deciding how much they think shoes or ice cream or a house should cost. Assuming Mamdani wins, this is going to be a hilarious surprise to voters eager for city-run stores and the fantastic services we've been told, apparently falsely, need to cost something. Why, just look at the Staten Island ferry:

[URL]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RScORcC0ssQ[/URL]

And then there is the Taibbi zinger: Billy Mays graphics notwithstanding, Mamdani doesn't inform us that the MTA is running an annual $3 billion deficit, which won't improve once Mr. Mayor cuts into the 25% of revenues the Authority earns from fares and tolls. Ferry rides are free, somewhat randomly and for political reasons, but the service is obviously not devoid of cost.

But you can see that even that the guy is full of shit idea wise, he has Obama like charisma. He even did a decent rap video: [URL]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iQVsVNPkPmE[/URL].

Of course, you can imagine Goatbrain wanting to go down on this guy and his I am going to make everything free pledge.

And seeing as how Loony Tooms and Spidy the Amazing China Humper have gone off on Taibbi or anyone else who dares to criticize the Democratic douches, Taibbi had to write a response to a Democratic douche who questioned what he stood for.

The question: Okay, good to lampoon foolishness, regardless of the source, and Democrats are now as soaked in bullshit and rot as Republicans, and your grandpa's half-assed socialism has failed and disgraced itself around the world, but what the fuck are you for, Taibbi? Anything? Have you become a convert to fucking vicious, evil, and stupid predatory Capitalism? Is that what you've decided is the wave of the future? It's hard to tell from your smarmy negativity.

And Taibbi's response: It's a fair question. I do a lot of ridiculing here and don't advocate for much. But to answer seriously: it's strange to ask if someone is a "convert" to "fucking vicious, evil, and stupid predatory capitalism," since it presupposes I started out as something other than a capitalist, which most Americans (including those ostensibly socialist podcasters) naturally are. I'm certainly no zealot about it, but I favor free markets, because I like the idea of people starting their own restaurant or bank or rock band or whatever and being rewarded if they do a good job, a beautiful thing when it happens. I'm not in favor of big enterprises like Goldman, Sachs or GM being backstopped by the government and insulated from failure when smaller companies don't enjoy the same privilege. I don't think everything should be private, and do favor some relief programs to take the harder edges off a free-market system, though I think those work better when they're universally available. I think government should be small and prioritize protecting rights and freedoms over solving the world's problems. In short I'm what used to be called a moderate, and believe society isn't that far from being in great shape, if we could just calm down, find fixes for a problem or two, and learn to appreciate what we have. Hope that answers your question.

So you can see why Goatbrain and Loony Tooms and Spidy the Amazing China humper do not like him![/QUOTE]As an Australian reading this.

I enjoy all the comments. TDS is a real thing. I follow your politics closely and never watch the free to air stations.

I would classify myself as a republican only because any sane person can see that Biden is busted and Kamilla and Tampon Tim are just a joke.

The bloke who is running for Mayor of NY and AOC and that other Lady are also pretty laughable.

I think that Trump is doing a great job and The Dems need to come up with some policies that are real.

[QUOTE=SubCmdr;3011306]Spidy,

I thought you were interested in debating the issues. If all you are going do is disqualify my points because you don't like the source, that's not a debate. That is an opinion. I am still waiting to see you my very valid point that despite renewables actually becoming less expensive than fossil fuels, electricity rates for the end users are not dropping. Might that be because most utilities are publicly traded companies with a responsibility to their bond holders and shareholder and end users are just customers?

[B]Why should I give fuck how my electricity is generated if it does not result in any benefit to me?[/B][/QUOTE]

I don't know, Why "should" YOU give a fuck or shit about it, or anything? Or to put another way, [i]"Why give a fuck how the sausage is made?"[/i]

Sounds like a personal "tree hugging" question, you need to seriously ask yourself? Especially if it something you can control. [b]But I'm not here to convenience you of anything![/b]

That said, here are several reasons to consider, that impact, why consumers aren't seeing immediate lower electricity bills or rates, through a transition to a grid with more renewables.

[u]Factors in the Transition to Renewables and lower power bills:[/u]

Several Key Factors Influencing Energy Bills, to consider:

. Cost of Fuels
. Power Plant Costs
. Transmission and Distribution System Costs
. Weather
. Regulations/Policies
. Seasons
. Location
. Type of Consumer

Key Factors: [url]https://www.electricchoice.com/blog/8-key-factors-impact-electricity-prices[/url]

[u]History provides us answers, as to why renewable grids' power bills aren't lower: [/u]

To find out why the transition to lower cost renewables, in some places, states or countries, hasn't immediately lowered electricity/power bills, I looked at historical transitions, to provide some answers and insight.

Bottom line, when we take a look at the past U.S. transitions in history, they tell us that, technology/ infrastructure transitions take time and while NOT immediately realized, [b]prices do eventually fall.[/b]

[u]Here are some parallels in U.S. history:[/u]
[LIST]Take the early electricity era (of the late 19th century in the U.S.), initial costs were high due to grid buildout, which is eerily similar to today's transmission and distribution upgrades, experienced with renewable integration and buildouts.[/LIST][LIST]Or the telephone transition in the 1980s also shows parallels, despite cheaper long-distance technology, as bills for a long while, included high legacy system costs and the burden of legacy policies, until restructuring of pricing to reflect the newer technology.[/LIST][LIST]Consider the natural gas transition in the throughout the 1950s to 1970's, when gas replaced manufactured gas (or coal gas), and utilities made massive infrastructure investments, passing costs to consumers. It wasn't until years after that the transition cost for consumers were realized.[/LIST]Three (3) big transition historical cases, where in all 3 cases, long-term savings/investments eventually materialize, after infrastructure catches up and transitional buildouts and growing pains subside.

Keep in mind, along the way to [b]eventually[/b] getting lower energy bills/electricity prices, there will be legacy costs and the natural ebbs and flows, from the key factors that influence energy bills (ie. especially legacy regulations/policies), that delay consumer benefits. Today's transmission and distribution costs, account for around, roughly 1/3 of U.S. power bills.

[b]Don't blame clean energy for rising electric bills[/b], Jul 15th, 2025
[url]https://www.canarymedia.com/articles/utilities/dont-blame-clean-energy-for-rising-electric-bills[/url]

[u][b]The Rise if AI:[/b] Extenuating/Additional Factors Influencing Today's Grids:[/u]

The race to build AI and Data Centers (and EV's to a wayyyyyyyy lesser extent, IMHO) are exacerbating and complicating, the cost of electricity and energy "fairness", as many regions and jurisdictions transition to renewables.
[LIST][i]Harvard Magazine (Jul-Aug 2025): [b]How AI energy demand costs consumers[/b] - Utilities shift AI infrastructure costs onto consumers:

"The rush to build new data centers to meet growing AI demand risks [u]shifting the infrastructure costs onto consumers in the form of increased electricity rates,[/u] effectively subsidizing the development of such facilities for trillion-dollar technology companies."

"The costs of expanding and operating energy infrastructure have [u]historically been socialized by utilities[/u] because it was recognized that [b]increasing access to electricity was in the public interest,[/b] ...but now there is dramatic growth in data center energy use, driven by the worlds wealthiest corporations racing to develop AI, which raises the question of whether the socialization of those costs makes sense anymore.[/i] [url]https://www.harvardmagazine.com/2025/07/harvard-ai-increasing-energy-costs[/url][/LIST]To compare and contrast this with EV power consumption usage, according to OPEC, the electricity used by data centers alone, is already as much as Germany or France, and by 2030 will be as much as India (world's 3rd large consumer of electricity). This would be 1,500 TWh, more than 1.5 times all the world's EVs in 2030. [URL]https://www.imf.org/en/Blogs/Articles/2025/05/13/ai-needs-more-abundant-power-supplies-to-keep-driving-economic-growth[/URL]

The impact of AI and data centers, is indeed a contributing factor in some regions, why lower power bill aren't be achieved.

[u][b]Conclusion:[/b] When do I get lower power bills?:[/u]

In various countries, regions and jurisdictions around the world, where there are projects (large and small) transitioning to renewables, I think you can make the argument on a case by case basis, as to "Why am I NOT seeing lower electricity power bills?"

And yet there are pockets of communities and consumers (around the world), that are seeing lower to zero and even credit cost savings on their energy bills, from the integration of renewables, like rooftop solar and home (or community) batteries.

So while history shows, on large scale capital intensive utility infrastructure transitional projects, there will be short-term pain, for long-term gain, consumers eventually, do see lower electricity/power utility bills, a few years after transitional buildouts happen.

However, I would say, that our new found desire and ever increasing demand, for more and more electricity, AI and Data Centers, is going to hamper progress towards "lower" electricity prices/bills. Either way the power supply will need to match the increase in demands.

[b]Again, there is no one solution fits all.[/b] In the transition to cleaner energy grid, both renewables and fossil fuels are needed. Naturally of course (IMO), with fossil fuels in a very diminished capacity, when and where possible.

In the bi-directional "smart grids" of tomorrow, all sources of energy will play a part/role in providing a flexible, sustainable grid. How every jurisdiction, state or country, solves their geo-eco-political energy security and sources their energy-mix to power their grids, to meet the demands of their consumers, is what I think will be most interesting, to watch and debate.

[QUOTE=Tlito;3011639]As an Australian reading this.

I enjoy all the comments. TDS is a real thing. I follow your politics closely and never watch the free to air stations.

I would classify myself as a republican only because any sane person can see that Biden is busted and Kamilla and Tampon Tim are just a joke.

The bloke who is running for Mayor of NY and AOC and that other Lady are also pretty laughable.

I think that Trump is doing a great job and The Dems need to come up with some policies that are real.[/QUOTE]Totally ignorant Trump doing a great job? For what? Pollution? Wars? Making kangaroos going better? A master of bullshit putting messe in our world.

[QUOTE=SubCmdr;3011304]More pie in the sky ideas that are unproven in the real world. Things that do not take into account the installed base. When it is being used in an operating grid and has lowered the costs of electricity to the end user: [B]get back with me![/B].

[B]ROTFLMAO![/B].[/QUOTE][I][b](...kkkk!)[/b][/I] Always a pleasure having naysayers!

Fair enough though, 24 M's tech, may not yet be battle tested in the real world, but it's far from being just a "pie in the sky" idea and is very much an award winning reality!
[LIST][b]Next-Generation Battery Technology Insights:[/b]

[i]"24M Technologies represents a rare leapfrog in battery design: one that addresses energy density, safety, manufacturability, and recyclability all at once." ...

"Engineers will appreciate that this method supports up to 660 Wh/kg surpassing the 400 Wh/kg threshold critical for sectors like aerospace, high-performance EVs, and eVTOLs. Lighter batteries with higher energy density directly translate into longer range, better efficiency, and lower system costs." [/i][/LIST][url]https://leandesign.com/next-generation-battery-technology-insights/[/url]

I remain surprised at how otherwise intelligent individuals swallow whole without chewing the racist bullshit others proffer here as insight into race and politics in the Dis-United States of America.

[QUOTE]Oh yeah, [b]if he were in California where a black man can do no wrong[/b], he would be let go like OJ. But in the Marxist republic of New York, Coombs being convicted (like Trump was) is a done deal in that rigged system.[/QUOTE]Written by a man of privilege who hate others in the Dis-United States of America who do not look like him. You two can wear matching hoodies the next time you decide to burn something on someone's lawn. 
.

[QUOTE=Tlito;3011639][b]As an Australian reading this. I enjoy all the comments.[/b] [/QUOTE]You support the racist commentary as I have outlined above?

[QUOTE=Tlito;3011639][b]I follow your politics closely[/b][/QUOTE]If that is the case then you know [B]ICE[/B]has become the new [U]Secret Police[/U] hopping out of unmarked vehicles, wearing masks, kidnaping off the street and killing people in custody. The are pulling US Citizens off of the street because of how they look. [B]You think that is right and that Trump is doing a good job[/B]? Thanks for showing everyone up in here you true colors.

There absolute no reason for a legitimate Law Enforcement Agency in the Dis-United States of America to allow it's personal to operate in the fashion that ICE is operating. I covered that in another post.

[QUOTE=Tlito;3011639][b]I would classify myself as a republican[/b][/QUOTE]In my opinion, that means you identify with the party that for years has been the place where those that support institutional racism in the Dis-United States of America to post up politically in their masks and white hoodies.

[QUOTE]I think Republicans use the pronouns,
I
HATE
BLACKS![/QUOTE]

[QUOTE=Tlito;3011639][b]The bloke who is running for Mayor of NY and AOC and that other Lady are also pretty laughable.[/b][/QUOTE]Would rather have any of them sit in the big chair over the [I]man who would be KING[/I] occupying it now.

[QUOTE=Tlito;3011639][b]I think that Trump is doing a great job[/b][/QUOTE]Only because you probably wear a white hoodie and look just like the MAGAs. Therefore if you were in the Dis-United Stated of America you would have no worry. ICE and the regular police would not even look in your direction.

Why don't you elect a Trump type politician in your own country? When you do come back here and tell us how that worked out.

[B]Calling it the way I see it until I a mother fucking dead![/B]