Political Posts

[cubsfan]

Elon just saved the American astronauts - make sure you dump on him asap!

 

 

[LC]

1 hour ago, Eng12345 said:

In simplistic terms - why didn't President Trump address this cRiTiCaL issue in 2016-2020

 

“Never play chess with a pigeon.

The pigeon just knocks all the pieces over.

Then shits all over the board.

Then struts around like it won.”

[LC]

8 hours ago, rogermunibond said:

The one lesson for me is that the "executive power" within the office of the President is too great.

 

I think it's due to checks and balances being eroded - complicit congress, crooked supreme court.

 

Difficult to distribute political power, when economic power has become more and more concentrated.

[Spekulatius]

3 hours ago, Eng12345 said:

I’m American. I live in Missouri. I’ll ask again. What threat does Canada need protection from? 
 

This seems like a lot of fussing over .6% of gdp which is what 13 billion? To put that in perspective we spend what $820 billion a year on defense?
 

Maybe the goal is seen another way: If the admin drops the GDP of their neighbors then they will be seen as meeting the goal!

It’s not a check to the USA either. There is no bill from NATO. Defense spending is essentially a check that each country writes to itself. 
 

Now, I agree commitment should be kept , but it’s not what is driving the story of tariff warfare here.

[Gregmal]

The courts aren’t supposed to be political and yet they consistently vote along party lines. Fuck em

[cubsfan]

15 minutes ago, LC said:

 

I think it's due to checks and balances being eroded - complicit congress, crooked supreme court.

 

Difficult to distribute political power, when economic power has become more and more concentrated.

 

The real power lies within the administrative state, the deeply embedded bureaucrats that believe they answer to no one - they always bet on outlasting any adminstration and doing what they like against the wishes of the President. 

 

It will be a long war to deconstruct these "accountable to no one" bureaucrats.

 

But it's game on this time around.

[Sweet]

1 hour ago, Ghost said:

Conservative...what does that even mean today?

 

 

Yeh that’s a good question.  Differs from one person to another, and from country to country.

 

Western Conservatism generally is smaller government, emphasis on self-reliance, family orientated, law and order and from that you get liberty, market oriented economy, strong national defence.

 

I believe it should explicitly acknowledge our unique culture and history, the bad and the good, and seeks to preserve that.

 

I think conservatism should always acknowledge truths, even if they are uncomfortable.  Reject radicalism, understand that policies are trade offs between what’s practically and ideology.

 

Lots more to the discussion, don’t want to get into it really.  Would need a policy by policy breakdown to highlight differences

[cwericb]

4 hours ago, cubsfan said:

 

You should wear your stiffing of your best allies in Europe with a badge of honor.

 

NATO will protect you, but you don't have to pay for it, as long as the US has you covered.

 

Can't use trade deficit as an excuse, you got a $60B surplus and still stiff NATO.

 

Cubs that surplus is entirely due to energy Canada supplies to the U.S., Oil, Natural Gas, and electricity. 

Should we stop supplying that? Shut off your electricity? Shut down your refineries?

When we suggested we might start to shut a little bit of electricity why did the US they nearly had a fit if they don't want it?

Y'all can't have it both ways. 

And by the way, why is Canada supplying our oil to the US at a substantial discount?

[Spekulatius]

You can’t understand what Trump is don f without understanding his personally.

 

Trump cares about himself and he wants the peace Nobel price. He think he can get it if he makes peace in Ukraine or at least s9e thing that seems like it as well as in Gaza/ Middle East. Thats his motivation.

 

The motivation about annexing Greenland and to a lesser extend Canada is that he wants to get his bust on Mt Rushmore. He thinks he can get there by making Amerika not greater but literally larger. These things areI

 no joke to him and they are actually projects that he started during his first term but obviously remained unfinished. His second term term is about finishing these projects.

 

Both Vexler and later Michael Clark predicted both above as they obviously have studied his personality. I thought that Mt Rushmore a joke but you can see below in his office apparently.

 

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/barack-obama/japan-nominated-trump-nobel-peace-prize-after-white-house-asked-n972661

 

I think the key to dealing with Trump is tat you need to treat him like a King. Thats what he want to be, he doesn’t like to be a President, with his power do trains by now and time (term limit). he doesn’t believe in power given by means of the office, he think the power he has is granted to himself. I think Macron understood this very well and was prepared to deal with this on his recent visit. Zelenskyy has not clue about this and was unprepared on his visit to deal with Trump and that’s why it went sideways because he couldn’t feed Trump’s ego.

Vexler sort of explained this and somewhat predicted it before it actually happened.

Edited March 18, 2025 by Spekulatius

[Mephistopheles]

 

[flesh]

I’ll repeat myself and then leave again because it will be forgotten or skipped over. The idea here is what the answers may be not what I know they are. 
 

1. nato costs

2. trade imbalance, saying but it’s because x doesn’t mean anything, you could then say well then buy more y. 
3. distortional effects/not level playing field of free trade, who has more? Is it a level playing field? Do YOU know? How? 
4. Onshoring means buying less of other peoples stuff.. some of that stuff comes from Canada. Some of its strategic some is for jobs so inequality doesn’t cause total destruction. 
5. saying trump signed the deal years ago , he changed his mind and has a new strategy. In 7 years people often change as they learn. It’s not a for political points but something he believes in. One of his Econ staff guys wrote a book on this and I posted a debate of recent vintage where the books points are made and like 2 people probably watched it. 
6. illegal border crossings/fentanyl. 
7. he negotiates by saying I want more than x and then accepts less than x if he gets more than he had previously and he can say he won. 
8. reciprocal tariffs, sounds fair, we will see. How you do this and onshore/have mild protectionism and still say you’re being fair is possible but won’t know until we know. 

[cubsfan]

Oh shit!   Now Trump is going to declare himself King of the United States!

 

And he's responsible for Child Sex Trafficking in Ukraine!

 

Damn he's evil!

[vinod1]

Canada is playing this all wrong, it should

 

1. Send out an RFP for SAM 400 from Russia

2. Send out an RFP for Chengdu J-20 from China

 

 

[cwericb]

4 hours ago, Viking said:

@cubsfan , if you do not know the answer to this question you might want to spend some time on that important topic called history. I’ll give you a hint… when it mattered - WW1 and WW2 - Canada could be counted on to support its allies. Actually, Canada did much more than its fair share. 

• https://www.veterans.gc.ca/en/remembrance/wars-and-conflicts/first-world-war
• https://www.veterans.gc.ca/en/remembrance/wars-and-conflicts/second-world-war
• More than one million Canadians and Newfoundlanders served in uniform, both here at home and around the world. Over 45,000 of our brave men and women in uniform gave their lives and another 55,000 were wounded.

 

"More than one million Canadians and Newfoundlanders served in uniform, both here at home and around the world. Over 45,000 of our brave men and women in uniform gave their lives and another 55,000 were wounded."

 

To put this in perspective Canada had a population during the war of just 11 million.

[Sweet]

33 minutes ago, flesh said:

I’ll repeat myself and then leave again because it will be forgotten or skipped over. The idea here is what the answers may be not what I know they are. 
 

1. nato costs

2. trade imbalance, saying but it’s because x doesn’t mean anything, you could then say well then buy more y. 
3. distortional effects/not level playing field of free trade, who has more? Is it a level playing field? Do YOU know? How? 
4. Onshoring means buying less of other peoples stuff.. some of that stuff comes from Canada. Some of its strategic some is for jobs so inequality doesn’t cause total destruction. 
5. saying trump signed the deal years ago , he changed his mind and has a new strategy. In 7 years people often change as they learn. It’s not a for political points but something he believes in. One of his Econ staff guys wrote a book on this and I posted a debate of recent vintage where the books points are made and like 2 people probably watched it. 
6. illegal border crossings/fentanyl. 
7. he negotiates by saying I want more than x and then accepts less than x if he gets more than he had previously and he can say he won. 
8. reciprocal tariffs, sounds fair, we will see. How you do this and onshore/have mild protectionism and still say you’re being fair is possible but won’t know until we know. 

2. If it’s heavy oil etc, how do you rectify that when it cannot be locally produced?

3. Examples?

5. Clearly but the contention is not that wants a new deal or changes his mind but his approach to getting one.

6. Is this even true?  Heard 48 pounds was seized in 2024.

7. who cares?

It isn’t so much what the ask above is but the manner it is sought.

 

Telling partners your being ripped off, taken advantage of, lousy trade deals (the NA one he negotiated and signed), Canada 51st state, Canada doesn’t work, Canada will be coerced economically etc etc.  This is what pisses people off - no mention of it in your post.

 

Nobody gives a crap if it is a negotiating tactic anymore either.  Moreover, some of the bluster this time I don’t think is a negotiating tactic.

 

 

Edited March 19, 2025 by Sweet

[Ulti]

7 minutes ago, cubsfan said:

Damn he's evil!

1st accurate thing you’ve posted in awhile 

[Xerxes]

So the Kremlin agreed to not target energy infrastructure…. Knowing that summer is coming 

[John Hjorth]

42 minutes ago, Xerxes said:

So the Kremlin agreed to not target energy infrastructure…. Knowing that summer is coming 

 

@Xerxes,

 

Imagine perhaps living in Kyiv by now in a perhaps damaged and leaky home, perhaps even with children.

 

[Long live our cheap district heating, combined with our app controlled [via the cloud] temperature managment Danfoss Link system, that we can adjust, even while not being home, by our phones!]

 

 

[LC]

These "bureaucrats" exist because laws exist which enable them. 

Laws which were created and passed by Congress, and signed by the then-President.

 

Two of the three branches of our gov't approved the existence of these "bureaucrats"

 

If you want to remove them, follow the process. Congress can revise laws, or Trump can beg Congress for permission:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Presidential_reorganization_authority

 

Otherwise we have a dictator, who gets to ignore Congress and the judiciary. Not what our country was founded on. In fact, the exact opposite.

 

So to anyone who doesn't like one of the fundamental principles of our gov't...well they got flights from JFK to Putingrad every day. 

 

Maybe AF1 will give you a lift if you agree to schlep Melania's purse filled with White House silverware

[Sweet]

 

To those that think we don’t need tariffs.
 

How does it play out when the Chinese government stimulates their economy, i.e. provides money to factories like this to produce at or below cost cars, and then floods international markets with them?  

What happens our factories, our companies, our jobs?

 

I can’t believe that a car company with a net profit of $1.6 bn can produce something like this without massive government support.

 

 

[Spekulatius]

Bureaucrats were never elected anywhere since the Babylonians invented them to run their city states. They are bound by civil service rules.

 

It worries me much more that an unelected technocrat Elon has been given the power to get access and meddle with all these institutions.

Edited March 19, 2025 by Spekulatius

[Spekulatius]

Impeaching judges, right of the dictators handbook.

 

[whiskybravo]

You’re right.  Bureaucracies will never go away and indeed will probably inevitably grow over time.  If we can’t significantly cut wasted taxpayer money under the current administration, under what possible future circumstances could we?

 

[John Hjorth]

14 hours ago, Spekulatius said:

You can’t understand what Trump is don f without understanding his personally.

 

Trump cares about himself and he wants the peace Nobel price. He think he can get it if he makes peace in Ukraine or at least s9e thing that seems like it as well as in Gaza/ Middle East. Thats his motivation.

 

The motivation about annexing Greenland and to a lesser extend Canada is that he wants to get his bust on Mt Rushmore. He thinks he can get there by making Amerika not greater but literally larger. These things areI

 no joke to him and they are actually projects that he started during his first term but obviously remained unfinished. His second term term is about finishing these projects.

 

Both Vexler and later Michael Clark predicted both above as they obviously have studied his personality. I thought that Mt Rushmore a joke but you can see below in his office apparently.

 

https://www.nbcnews.com/politics/barack-obama/japan-nominated-trump-nobel-peace-prize-after-white-house-asked-n972661

 

I think the key to dealing with Trump is tat you need to treat him like a King. Thats what he want to be, he doesn’t like to be a President, with his power do trains by now and time (term limit). he doesn’t believe in power given by means of the office, he think the power he has is granted to himself. I think Macron understood this very well and was prepared to deal with this on his recent visit. Zelenskyy has not clue about this and was unprepared on his visit to deal with Trump and that’s why it went sideways because he couldn’t feed Trump’s ego.

Vexler sort of explained this and somewhat predicted it before it actually happened.

 

@Spekulatius,

 

That's the most impressive, scary description of POTUS's personality, motivations etc. I've ever read.

 

I'm indifferent to what USA does with Mount Rushmore, but this wish, wet dream of POTUS just appear really odd to me, also a bit kinky.  Why isen't a flamboyant gravesite financed by Deutsche Bank, or who ever he banks with today, sufficient?

 

There is absolutely no way he's going to get the Nobel peace price, for three reasons :

 

1. He can't affect the election proces for winners, what's going on in a given year isen't public available,

2. He can't buy [bribe?] his way into the election process,

3. He can't 'just' take over the election proces,

 

combined with

 

that the Norwegian population general sentiment towards the POTUS is as expressed everywhere else in the Northern part of Europe.

 

Norway has a group of islands up in the North Sea called Svalbard, all while staring at the Greenlandic soap opera by now. [Svalbard next?]

 

Add to that, that Norway is actually a direct neighbour to Russia, all while the Norwegian population has been witnessing POTUSs almost pleasing Russia by cost of bullying of Ukraine.

 

Add to that the Norwegian population also witnessing how he treats Canada [tariffs, '51^st state'].

Edited March 19, 2025 by John Hjorth

[Ulti]

https://www.washingtonpost.com/opinions/2025/03/19/trump-musk-government-borrowing-spending/
 

good piped by George Will