General Politics Thread

[the-pi-guy]

Don’t say Hess to Nazi accusations!

Some people will Goebbels anything down!

Stop Gőring your enemies!

His pronouns would’ve been He/Himmler!

Bet you did nazi that coming 😂

— Elon Musk (@elonmusk) January 23, 2025

[kitler53]

president trump fired Admiral Fagan, the US military's first female office citing an "excessive focus on diversity, equity and inclusion,"...

[kitler53]

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/24/opinion/trump-pardon-jan-6-capitol.html

I Prosecuted the Capitol Rioters. They Have Never Been More Dangerous.

On Jan. 6, 2021, Jalise and Mark Middleton, a married couple from Texas, trespassed onto the Capitol grounds and joined thousands of rioters gathered at the building's West Front.

The assembled mob was assaulting a thin line of officers, and pepper spray wafted through the air. Rather than retreating in the face of violence, the couple pushed up against the makeshift barrier the police had established, hit officers and tried to drag one into the crowd. They gave up only after they were pepper-sprayed themselves, and though they did not make it into the Capitol, they were proud of what they did: Afterward, Ms. Middleton wrote on Facebook, "We fought the cops to get in the Capitol and got pepper-sprayed and beat but by gosh the patriots got in!"

I know this because I was one of the scores of lawyers who prosecuted the rioters, and was part of the team that tried the Middletons specifically. (On Thursday, I left the Justice Department, and speak only for myself.) One moment from their trial has stuck with me. Sitting in the courtroom in the awkward minutes before their verdict was announced, I noticed that Mr. Middleton was wearing "TRUMP" socks, with the president's face stitched into the side. That small sign of fealty struck me as incredibly sad. The Middletons were ready to go to prison for a man who, quite likely, didn't care about them at all.

The Middletons were convicted on all counts, including charges of assaulting federal officers. But on Monday, Mr. Trump pardoned them and nearly 1,600 other people who attacked the Capitol in his name. I think he did so not out of sympathy for the rioters, but because their freedom serves his interests.

For while some convicted rioters seem genuinely remorseful, and others appear simply ready to put politics behind them, many others are emboldened by the termination of what they see as unjust prosecutions. Freed by the president, they have never been more dangerous.

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Take Stewart Rhodes, whose Oath Keepers group staged firearms and ammunition near Washington on Jan. 6 in anticipation of a "bloody and desperate fight." Or Enrique Tarrio, whose Proud Boys led rioters into the Capitol and who had declared just after the 2020 election that while he and his followers would not start a civil war, they would be sure to "finish one."

They are now free to pursue revenge, and have already said they want it. Upon his release this week, Mr. Tarrio declared that "success is going to be retribution." He added, "Now it's our turn."

The effect — and I believe purpose — of these pardons is to encourage vigilantes and militias loyal to the president, but unaccountable to the government. Illiberal democracies and outright dictatorships often rely on such militia groups, whose organization and seriousness can range widely, from the vigilantes who enforce Iran's hijab dress code to the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia that have killed government opponents.

Here in America, lynch mobs and the Ku Klux Klan bolstered a racial caste system with violence that state governments, for the most part, were unwilling to commit themselves. But for decades, we had little reason to fear that vigilantes or militias would enforce the will of the state.

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That may be changing. Rioters who assaulted police officers at the Capitol have called for politicians who oppose Mr. Trump to be hanged, declared that "there will be blood," and that "I plan on making other people die first, for their country, if it gets down to that." But it's not just their readiness for violence. One officer, who'd worked lots of riots, explained to me how Jan. 6 felt different: Most rioters know at some level what they're doing is wrong, he said, but these guys thought they were right. Monday's pardons will reinforce these rioters' beliefs in their cause, and their loyalty to the man who leads it.

Mr. Trump seems excited about this possibility. When asked Tuesday if groups like the Proud Boys and Oath Keepers had a place in the political conversation, he said, "We'll have to see," adding that "these were people that actually love our country."

There is great value to him in having members of these groups released, doubly loyal to him, and eager to carry out his agenda and silence his critics through violence. Mr. Trump has shown his willingness to use his pardon power, and little stops him from doing so again.

What might happen next? Vigilantes could harass, assault or even kill perceived enemies of the state. Under the thin pretext that these vigilantes were acting in self-defense, the president could pardon them for federal crimes, or pressure pliant governors to do the same for state ones. In such a scenario, the president could put those loyal to him above the law, quite literally. This kind of violence was a part of our past; it may be a part of our future.

This is a frightening possibility, but it is not an inevitable one. Groups like the Institute for Constitutional Advocacy and Protection at Georgetown Law are already working with state officials on legislation to shut down paramilitary activity that, among other things, interferes with government proceedings or people's constitutional rights. Local law enforcement can and should prioritize protecting the groups that unlawful private militias may target first, such as immigrants, trans people and opposition politicians.

These efforts are particularly urgent now, because of how many of our elected officials have changed their calculus about the attack. Elise Stefanik, a Republican in the House, once said that the rioters should "be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law." Three years later, she was calling them "hostages," and she is now the president's pick for ambassador to the United Nations.

Shortly after the attack, Kelly Loeffler, then a Republican senator from Georgia, said that "the violence, the lawlessness and siege of the halls of Congress are abhorrent." Yet in the years that followed, she repeatedly called the House investigation into the attack a "sham," and said that any indictment based on its work "should be dismissed out of hand." She, too, is now nominated to serve in the president's cabinet. Even Mr. Trump once called Jan. 6 a "heinous attack," and said "to those who broke the law, you will pay." His position, quite obviously, has changed.

Though Congress is required by law to establish a plaque honoring police officers who defended the Capitol, congressional leaders have failed to do so. It seems astounding that they would deny recognition to those people who saved their lives. But some officials' ambitions require doing exactly that.

The president's pardons are part of this collective attempt at forgetting. Illiberalism depends on hiding the crimes of its past, whether it is Jair Bolsonaro, when he was president of Brazil, celebrating the 1964 military coup in his country, or Vladimir Putin's government repudiating the acquittals of the Soviet Union's political enemies.

The past matters a great deal to the enemies of democracy, and we should not cede it. Victims of Jan. 6 should sue Congress to have their memorial installed. And academics should save the hundreds of criminal complaints on the federal docket that explain in irrefutable detail what each defendant did that day.

The rest of us, too, must keep the horrors of Jan. 6 from being forgotten. Memorialize the day. Read about the attack, and watch the videos. Keep it alive in your conversations. Doing so matters. For in a time when many politicians' careers depend on forgetting, memory itself is an act of resistance.

in related news trump revoked security detail on a number of government workers that trump views as his enemy such as Dr. Anthony Fauci.

[kitler53]

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/24/us/politics/trump-fires-inspectors-general.html

Trump Fires at Least 12 Inspectors General in Late-Night Purge

The White House has violated a law that requires giving Congress 30 days' notice and detailed reasons before removing the watchdog officials.


"Inspectors general are charged with rooting out government waste, fraud, abuse and preventing misconduct," Senator Elizabeth Warren, Democrat of Massachusetts, said in a statement. "President Trump is dismantling checks on his power and paving the way for widespread corruption."

------------------------------------------------
so in summary, Trump broke the law to remove people who's job is the ensure the government doesn't break the law...

[the-pi-guy]

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/elon-musk-far-right-germans-proud-past-sins-rcna189281

It's good to be proud of German culture, German values, and not to lose that in some sort of multiculturalism that dilutes everything," Musk said.

Last week, the U.S. billionaire caused uproar after he made a gesture that drew online comparisons to a Nazi salute during U.S. President Donald Trump's inauguration festivities.

On Saturday, he said "children should not be guilty of the sins of their parents, let alone their great grandparents," apparently referring to Germany's Nazi past.

"There is too much focus on past guilt, and we need to move beyond that," he said.

The AfD party has been accused of being a Nazi lite party in Germany.

[Legend]

https://www.nbcnews.com/news/world/elon-musk-far-right-germans-proud-past-sins-rcna189281


The AfD party has been accused of being a Nazi lite party in Germany.

The AfD is the republican equivalent party in Germany. I'm shocked, shocked!

[kitler53]

The AfD is the republican equivalent party in Germany. I'm shocked, shocked!

so the Nazi lite party...

...my brother lived in Dresden for about 10 years.  don't fall for the intentionally false advertising.   full strength Nazis are very much still in Germany.  

[kitler53]

reposting from era.  didn't "fact check" it myself yet at least.

https://www.pcmag.com/news/trump-to-tariff-chips-made-in-taiwan-targeting-tsmc

President Trump is preparing to place tariffs beyond Chinese assembled electronics to computer chips made in Taiwan, warning the tariffs could reach as high as 100%.

"In particular, in the very near future, we're going to be placing tariffs on foreign production of computer chips, semiconductors and pharmaceuticals to return production of these essential goods to the United States," Trump said in a speech to Republicans on Monday.

"They left us and went to Taiwan," he then said in an apparent reference to how many of the leading US tech companies have been sourcing their processors from Taiwan's TSMC, a top semiconductor manufacturer. TSMC has established a factory in Arizona, but much of its chip production remains in Taiwan, where it's been serving clients including Apple, Nvidia, Qualcomm and AMD, among others.

"We want them to come back," Trump said before slamming the US's CHIPS and Science Act, which his predecessor President Biden signed to invest over $52 billion in domestic chip manufacturing.

"And we don't want to give them billions of dollars like this ridiculous program that Biden has given everybody billions of dollars. They already have billions of dollars," Trump said. "They've got nothing but money Legend. They didn't need money. They needed an incentive. And the incentive is gonna be they're not gonna wanna pay a 25, 50 or even a 100 % tax."

i wonder what nintendo is going to do about switch pricing.   i know playstation got more expensive over time.  would suck for nintendo to announce a price and than have to change it pre-release.    ..but also we all know it's not companies that are going to be paying for this tax.   consumer pricing is going to skyrocket with "25, 50, or even a 100% tax".

[Legend]

https://www.opm.gov/fork

Pretty similar to how Musk approached Twitter. Will be interesting to see if it works out just as well, or if it screws things up.

reposting from era.  didn't "fact check" it myself yet at least.

https://www.pcmag.com/news/trump-to-tariff-chips-made-in-taiwan-targeting-tsmc

i wonder what nintendo is going to do about switch pricing.  i know playstation got more expensive over time.  would suck for nintendo to announce a price and than have to change it pre-release.    ..but also we all know it's not companies that are going to be paying for this tax.  consumer pricing is going to skyrocket with "25, 50, or even a 100% tax".

Switch 2 will be sold out for months if not years. Could just launch it at a higher price either way.

Does present an interesting situation for PlayStation and other game systems that are farther out. If they can start with chip lines in Arizona, they can have a big advantage in America.


Also I guess Christmas is over 

[kitler53]

https://www.militarytimes.com/news/pentagon-congress/2025/01/29/hegseth-strips-milley-of-security-detail-orders-treason-investigation/

Hegseth strips Milley of security detail, orders treason investigation

New Defense Secretary Pete Hegseth on Tuesday stripped former Joint Chiefs Chairman Gen. Mark Milley of his security detail and ordered the acting inspector general to investigate whether the former Army leader could face criminal charges or a retroactive demotion for treasonous behavior.

The unusual move is the latest showdown between President Donald Trump and Milley, who served as the top uniformed officer during Trump's first term in office and has been a vocal critic of the president's actions and demeanor.

In a separate statement, Defense Department Chief of Staff Legend Kasper stated that "undermining the chain of command is corrosive to our national security, and restoring accountability is a priority for the Defense Department under President Trump's leadership."

Hegseth was sworn into the top civilian Pentagon post over the weekend. During his confirmation hearing, he did not mention Milley but vowed that "every single senior officer will be reviewed based on meritocracy, standards, lethality and commitment to lawful orders they will be given."

[kitler53]

https://apnews.com/article/trump-signs-laken-riley-act-immigration-crackdown-30a34248fa984d8d46b809c3e6d8731a

At signing of Laken Riley Act, Trump says he plans to send migrants in US illegally to Guantanamo

At the signing of the Laken Riley Act, President Donald Trump said Wednesday that he is directing the opening of a detention center at Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, to hold up to 30,000 migrants who are living illegally in the United States and cannot be deported to their home countries.

Trump made the announcement just before he signed the immigrant detention measure, the first law of his new administration.

"We're going to send them out to Guantanamo," the president said in the White House East Room. He did not elaborate.

The U.S. military base has been used to house detainees from the U.S. war on terrorism.

[kitler53]

https://apnews.com/article/plane-crash-washington-dc-trump-dei-claims-3ac5486ec594d81e919e8ebbd9733869


Trump was challenged after blaming DEI for the DC plane crash. Here's what he said

Q: "I understand that. That's why I'm trying to figure out how you can come to the conclusion right now that diversity had something to do with this crash."

TRUMP: "Because I have common sense. OK? And unfortunately, a lot of people don't. We want brilliant people doing this. This is a major chess game at the highest level. When you have 60 planes coming in during a short period of time, and they're all coming in different directions, and you're dealing with very high-level computer, computer work and very complex computers."

Q: "The implication that this policy is new or that it stems from efforts that began under President Biden or the transportation secretary, Pete Buttigieg, is demonstrably false. It's been on the FAA's website —"

TRUMP: "Who said that, you?"

Q: "No, it's on the website, the FAA's website. It was there from 2013 ... it was there for the entirety, it was there for the entirety of your administration, too. So my question is, why didn't you change the policy during your first administration?"

TRUMP: "I did change it. I changed the Obama policy, and we had a very good policy. And then Biden came in and he changed it. And then when I came in two days, three days ago, I signed a new order, bringing it to the highest level of intelligence."

...

[the-pi-guy]

>Senior U.S. official to exit after rift with Musk allies over payment system

Officials affiliated with Musk's "Department of Government Efficiency" have been asking since after the election for access to the system, the people said — requests that were reiterated more recently, including after Trump's inauguration.

The clash reflects an intensifying battle between Musk and the federal bureaucracy as the Trump administration nears the conclusion of its second week. Musk has sought to exert sweeping control over the inner workings of the U.S. government, installing longtime surrogates at several agencies, including the Office of Personnel Management, which essentially handles federal human resources, and the General Services Administration, which manages real estate. (Musk was seen on Thursday visiting GSA, according to two other people familiar with his whereabouts, who also spoke on the condition of anonymity to describe internal matters. That visit was first reported by the New York Times.) His Department of Government Efficiency, originally conceived as a nongovernmental panel, has since replaced the U.S. Digital Service.

Michael Faulkender, whom Trump nominated as deputy treasury secretary in December, praised Lebryk's work in 2023.

"I could not, to this day, tell you his politics," Faulkender, who served as an assistant secretary at Treasury during Trump's first term, told The Washington Post at the time. "He always seemed to be relaxed and under control."

https://www.washingtonpost.com/business/2025/01/31/elon-musk-treasury-department-payment-systems/

[kitler53]

https://www.cnn.com/2025/01/31/politics/fbi-agents-who-investigated-january-6-fired/index.html

FBI agents who worked on January 6 and Trump investigations are expected to be fired Friday

The Trump administration is set to expand a purge of career law enforcement officials, with dozens of FBI agents who worked on January 6, 2021, US Capitol attack and Trump-related investigations as well as some supervisors being evaluated for possible removal as soon as the end of Friday, according to people briefed on the matter.

Some agents say Trump and other critics misunderstand that FBI agents and supervisors can't choose which assignments they are given as part of their job. The FBI workforce is broadly conservative and until recently were led for years by lifelong Republican Christopher Wray.

[kitler53]

only posting this because i need to post something that's more of a laugh than anxiety inducing...




'Everything I Say Leaks,' Zuckerberg Says in Leaked Meeting Audio

https://www.404media.co/zuckerberg-says-everything-i-say-leaks-in-leaked-meeting-audio/