Political Posts

[cubsfan]

10 hours ago, Spekulatius said:

Biden incompetent staff has never had a security leak like that. If you run a chat group discussing war plans, you are already incompetent, even if you don’t invite journalist to it by accident.

 

This is what happens if you hire people like this do the important jobs:

 

 

Ha - Biden's Pentagon - loser Llyod Austin & fat-boy Mark Milley got 13 Americans killed in Kabul.

 Anyone fired?

 

Myorkas lets 500,000 criminals in to kill and rape.

Fired?  

 

Nope

[John Hjorth]

Reuters - World - Europe [March 25^th 2025] : US says Russia and Ukraine agree to ensure safe navigation in Black Sea.

 

This is actually great news, and also related to the discussion in this topic lately. It is 'for starters', - perhaps not much, but at least something very tangible. Certainly better than mutually just throwing explosive things in the head of the adversary and killing adversary citizens.

[Sweet]

5 hours ago, Spekulatius said:

I think the bigger concern is that blocking the Baltic and Black Sea would be seen as an act of war. I don’t think taking off Russian crude off the market is the biggest concern.

 

There are a lot of things that the Euopean could do but still tip toe around like acceding the frozen Russian funds in Belgium and Luxembourg. I think slowly they will come around that Europe can and has to escalate too, not just Putin.

The Russians have been accused of sabotage in a range of countries, which arguably is an act of war:

https://apnews.com/article/russia-ukraine-war-europe-hybrid-campaign-d61887dd3ec6151adf354c5bd3e6273e

[Ulti]

https://ritholtz.com/2025/03/government-spending-lol/
 

interesting take on “ out of control “ government spending 

[LC]

8 minutes ago, Ulti said:

https://ritholtz.com/2025/03/government-spending-lol/
 

interesting take on “ out of control “ government spending 

 

Just to make the point clearly:

 

Gov't spending as a %of GDP has remained relatively stable for the past 80 years, in fact at a low point as of 2022-2024:

 

I wonder, what could the true raison d'etre of DOGE be?

[Ulti]

14 minutes ago, LC said:

wonder, what could the true raison d'etre of DOGE be?

 I look at it from the prism of all power corrupts and absolute power corrupts absolutely… ( and this is true of both political parties and why checks and balances initiated by the founding fathers are so important)… when you do things as haphazardly and secretly …think signal app( hopefully it is at least secure) it looks simply a power and money / money control play… I think Tom Friedman’s analogy of the USA is “broadway “ and Israel is “ off broadway “… and I’m talking about the current political powers in office in both countries ….. is pretty appropriate. I’m sure the MAGA’ s both here on this board as well as many of my good friends will and do disagree ….just as many of my progressive friends disagreed with me in the Obama / Biden years… if all 3 branches were progressive/ democratic ( and I’m not talking about centrist) we would still be talking about power and corruption with a progressive twist 

[Ulti]

As an aside 

https://www.reuters.com/world/china/secretive-chinese-network-tries-lure-fired-federal-workers-research-shows-2025-03-25/

[Ulti]

https://www.npr.org/2025/03/25/nx-s1-5339801/pentagon-email-signal-vulnerability
 

Several days after top national security officials accidentally included a reporter in a Signal chat about bombing Houthi sites in Yemen, a Pentagon-wide advisory warned against using the messaging app, even for unclassified information.

 

F9T53 OPSEC SPECIAL BULLETIN
Signal Vulnerability (U) A vulnerability has been identified in the Signal Messenger Application. The use of Signal by common targets of surueillance and espionage activiry has made the application
a high value target to intercept sensitive information. (U) Russian professional hacking groups are employing the "Tirked devices" feature to spy on encrypted conversations. The feature allows the chat and soice messenger appliection to be utilized on multiple devices concurrentiy. The hacking groups embed malicious QR codes in phishing pages or conceal then in group invite links. After gaining access via the malicious code, the groups add their own derices as a linked devire, This allows the group to view every messoge sent by the unvitting user in real time, bypassing the end-to-end
encryption. (U//FOUO) Steps to safeguand your Signal application are on the following pages. The
pages are unclassified and con be printed for use outside of SCIF spaces. (U//FODO) Pleuse note: third party messaging apps (e.g. Signal) are permitted by polley for unclassified accountability/recull exercises but are NOT approved to process or store nonpublic unclassified information (eg. Protected, FOOJO, CUI, etc.). Ay use or application must abide by DoD and NSA/CSS 

[SharperDingaan]

1 hour ago, LC said:

 

Just to make the point clearly:

 

Gov't spending as a %of GDP has remained relatively stable for the past 80 years, in fact at a low point as of 2022-2024:

 

I wonder, what could the true raison d'etre of DOGE be?

 

It strongly implies that US debt has begun to hit the wall. All the tariff and cost cutting drama intended to raise as much cash as possible, as quickly as possible, and keep the public eye off the debt. Less debt rolling over, blamed on adverse tariff reaction versus buyers balking at it. There is very little difference to an EM sovereign in financial trouble, and the US at the moment. Opportunity 

 

That debt restructuring is also  getting a lot closer, and when much of it is domestically held ... it's Americans who take the hit. Can't spend when your zero coupon bond no longer pays interest.

 

SD

 

Edited March 25, 2025 by SharperDingaan

[TwoCitiesCapital]

19 hours ago, Buckeye said:

This is clearly Biden’s fault. Hillary is probably involved too. Pam Bondi will get to the bottom of it. 

 

The problem in 2025 is I can't tell when people are being sarcastic/trolling and when they're being serious - because that's exactly how ridiculous some of these political stances have become 

 

1 hour ago, LC said:

 

Just to make the point clearly:

 

Gov't spending as a %of GDP has remained relatively stable for the past 80 years, in fact at a low point as of 2022-2024:

 

I wonder, what could the true raison d'etre of DOGE be?

 

I shared a chart in a thread that has since been removed that shows that deficit spending historically has exploded under Republicans and tends to fall under Democrats (though never reverting to prior levels).

 

Really ruins the narrative that Republicans are budget conscious and that Democrats are spend-thrifts. Seems the only times Republicans are budget conscious is when they're being obstructions to anything Democrats want to do. 

Edited March 25, 2025 by TwoCitiesCapital

[Sweet]

Noticing a degradation in Twitter past week.  Timeline is full of jew hatred, conspiracies, gore, porn… might be time to leave.  And I don’t search for this so not sure why it is on my timeline.  Blocked about 10 accounts the last few days.

[John Hjorth]

@Sweet,

 

Just continue blocking, untill you get what you want. You will eventually get there. Today, I can't live without it. I get a really good laugh about every day from there.

 

- - - o 0 o - - -

 

Here is one - I suppose the Greenlandic population has complained about there has not been time enough to let eggs and tomatoes get rotten up there. Mind you, it's cold up  there! So changes to Second Ladys travel plans [ ]:

 

 

 

[Sweet]

5 minutes ago, John Hjorth said:

@Sweet,

 

Just continue blocking, untill you get what you want. You will eventually get there. Today, I can't live without it. I get a really good laugh about every day from there.

 

- - - o 0 o - - -

 

Here is one - I suppose the Greenlandic population has complained about there has not been time enough to let eggs and tomatoes get rotten up there. Mind you, it's cold up  there! So changes to Second Ladys travel plans [ ]:

 

 

 

I’ll keep blocking for now, don’t want to leave other but it’s just toxic at times.

 

Greenland is in NATO right?  

[Buckeye]

1 hour ago, TwoCitiesCapital said:

 

The problem in 2025 is I can't tell when people are being sarcastic/trolling and when they're being serious - because that's exactly how ridiculous some of these political stances have become 

 

 

I shared a chart in a thread that has since been removed that shows that deficit spending historically has exploded under Republicans and tends to fall under Democrats (though never reverting to prior levels).

 

Really ruins the narrative that Republicans are budget conscious and that Democrats are spend-thrifts. Seems the only times Republicans are budget conscious is when they're being obstructions to anything Democrats want to do. 

Sorry Two, that was supposed to be a joke. Can’t even tell what’s sarcasm anymore, that sucks. Wasn’t intending to troll.  MAGAIWBF

Edited March 25, 2025 by Buckeye

[John Hjorth]

34 minutes ago, Sweet said:

... Greenland is in NATO right?  

 

Yes, @Sweet,

 

Denmark, since 4^th April 1949, at NATOs founding, and Greenland ceased to be a Danish colony in 1953, where it by ammendment to the Danish constitution became a part of Denmark, like a county.

 

- - - o 0 o - - -

 

JD Vance and the current US administration made the right call here, to stop this thing, here. It was on its way to get totally out of hand. [UN security counsel and what do I know.]

 

And there are lunatics everywhere. About every guy in Greenland with respect for him self owns a rifle, for seal hunt. It would be madness to let the nice second lady expose herself to such risk while visiting something as trivial as a sled dog race.

 

Even sled dogs aren't just dogs. They live just about their whole life on a leash. Children learn from the start never to get near them alone, because, for a sled dog 'small hooman' equals 'food'.

Edited March 25, 2025 by John Hjorth

[Spekulatius]

2 hours ago, Sweet said:

Noticing a degradation in Twitter past week.  Timeline is full of jew hatred, conspiracies, gore, porn… might be time to leave.  And I don’t search for this so not sure why it is on my timeline.  Blocked about 10 accounts the last few days.

Blocking Elon Musk helps a bit too, no kidding.

[Cigarbutt]

6 hours ago, Ulti said:

As an aside 

https://www.reuters.com/world/china/secretive-chinese-network-tries-lure-fired-federal-workers-research-shows-2025-03-25/

This is interesting but what governments "spend" vs gdp is a relevant measure which is an indicator of government size versus the economy. One of the main reasons for the apparent decoupling of both measures has been the growing size of deficits/debt to GDP.

i'm not saying the Doge way is the way to go but i'm suggesting that there's been a bipartisan "accord" to dodge the issue that led to a situation where enough people think that Doge may be a good idea..

My basic training is not economics, finance or investing but i've been told to look for (and deal with) root causes and not symptoms when trying to 'solve' a problem.

For those tempted to criticize CBO numbers, please remember that, historically, they have tended to underestimate (sometimes wildly) the debt to gdp decoupling that has been under way.

[Cigarbutt]

On 3/24/2025 at 9:08 PM, John Hjorth said:

I've personally myself - for quite some time - been thinking about why you have not engaged recently here on CofB&F for quite some time, Carl [ @Cigarbutt ],

That was untill I finally realized that the answer to my question was embedded in your last post..

Oh-well.

Hello from Canada, a region now under threat    .

Somehow, some kind of Resistance has become necessary but, in this space (this Board), the idea is to make money, opportunistically, on a personal level.

If interested (Musk-type propaganda, democratic drift, modern imperialism etc), i've recently found the two following books useful.

https://www.amazon.com/Nexus-Brief-History-Information-Networks/dp/059373422X

The author wrote Sapiens and suggests that humanity has become civilized because of the human capacity to think, communicate and collaborate.

https://www.amazon.com/Wizard-Kremlin-Novel-Giuliano-Empoli-ebook/dp/B0BTL6NSZT

This second book is fiction but has been inspired by the true life of an individual who, somehow, played a significant part in the rise of the Great Vladimir the Conqueror..

 

[Parsad]

On 3/24/2025 at 8:49 PM, Parsad said:

https://www.defense.gov/News/News-Stories/Article/Article/4131804/trump-hegseth-announce-air-forces-next-generation-fighter-platform/

 

Great name for the plane!  Eff 47!    You cannot make this shit up. 

 

Hegseth is also the numb nuts who added the Atlantic journalist to the secure Yemen Houthi attack plan texts!  Cheers!

 

Numb nuts gang and their media cronies went on the offensive today by all blaming the Atlantic reporter...how he's such a twat, scum, fool, loser, etc.  

 

Sooooooo, why was he on the God-damn chat?!    These guys make Hillary look competent!  Cheers!

[Charlie]

2 hours ago, Parsad said:

Numb nuts gang

Great name for them. I sometimes think of them as Bonnie and Clyde.

Lying, stealing etc. etc. 

Next target Greenland. 

Edited March 26, 2025 by Charlie

[John Hjorth]

2 hours ago, Charlie said:

Great name for them. I sometimes think of them as Bonnie and Clyde.

Lying, stealing etc. etc. 

Next target Greenland. 

 

Private visit to Nuuk and preparation activities with the use of two Lockheed C-130 Hercules and four bullet-proof cars. Somebody should ask Elon Musk and DOGE to take a closer look into such use of military assets! 

[Spekulatius]

Trump might have as well selected the second man from your local biker gang to be defense secretary. He has the tattoos and the same mind set. Is he still on gin diet or did he went back to beer?

Add people like Tulsi Gabbard (Russias girlfriend) and RFK (anti vaxer and voodoo scientist ) and a few others and it’s clear how shockingly incompetent US leadership is. If you want to come up with people to destroy the institution they lead, you could not make made a better choice.

 

I sort of wonder if that’s the point with those appointments.

Edited March 26, 2025 by Spekulatius

[dwy000]

Loyalty over competence 

[Gregmal]

9 hours ago, Parsad said:

 

why was he on the God-damn chat?!    These guys make Hillary look competent!  Cheers!

Yup, that’s the only place the blame lands here….media is enemy of the people and Atlantic is like tier 1 propaganda status sooooo….why TF do you even have this losers contact information then? Quite contradictory. 

Edited March 26, 2025 by Gregmal

[Sweet]

24 minutes ago, Gregmal said:

Yup, that’s the only place the blame lands here….media is enemy of the people and Atlantic is like tier 1 propaganda status sooooo….why TF do you even have this losers contact information then? Quite contradictory. 

Maybe deliberate?