Ontario(for those Americans who know nothing about Canada, that is a province in eastern Canada!) just announced the cessation of a $100million Starlink contract. This will mean the poorest Canadians in remote areas will no longer have internet access. It will hurt Canadians, but Canada is committed to fighting back. Canadians are very passive/aggressive...we are nice until you cross us, and then we are vicious.
It also hits Musk in the pocketbook -- the only place he cares about. We should have a worldwide boycott of everything Musk has his sticky fingers in -- worldwide, because he's trying to influence governments around the world. I'm afraid his useful idiot Trump has given him the tools to milk Americans dry, but there's no reason the rest of you should play his games.
The destruction of our republic isn’t inching along as a small, creeping weed, it's proceeding as an all-out 24/7 assault on law, decency, morality, expertise and common sense.
A ‘lightning war’ wasn’t designed by the Nazis to give you time to catch your breath, but to force immediate capitulation. The take-over of Treasury by Musk and his brownshirts, the roundups of terrified laborers, toilet cleaners, and poultry pickers, the sacking of Inspectors General, the shutting down of USAID, the demonization of the small trans community, a presidential press conference blaming “wokeism” even as human remains were still being retrieved from the Potomac, the assembly-line rubber-stamping of a Cabinet of idiots, wormtongues, loons, dickheads and louts, and now Operation Pissy Pants — a simultaneous War on Avocados and Maple Syrup, the annexation of Greenland, the Reconquista of Panama…
It's all psychological warfare designed to hit us in our solar plexus and compel immediate surrender. Somehow we must all catch our breaths and get busy organizing a real strategy for gumming up the works for the next two years, or we will lose our republic forever.
The Democratic leaders need to respond. Do they have a plan? Are the Congressional Dems meeting as a group to discuss strategy, particularly improving the party's communications so they have unified messages conveyed in clear, punchy language. One of the keys is to cue who will be at fault when something goes wrong. So, for example, we should be talking about the Trump Tariffs. Never, in fact, mention those tariffs without the qualifier Trump. I don't remember Trump's firings at the FAA being reported in any significant way when they happened. But now they should be mentioned all the time. "This is what happens when you fire qualified people and leave those slots empty." It is rather unfair--after all it was only a week or so before the accidents. But they have no problem being ridiculous in their blame. Come on Dem leaders. It's time to get fierce outside of Senate hearings.
The democrats are going the way of Vichy France. We need to refer to them as the Vichy Democrats until they can manage to find some balls somewhere. I'm disgusted to have donated to them in the past election.
The Nazi technique of overloading people with horrendous activity so they are confused and malleable was addressed by the wonderful Adam Schiff in your excellent Contrarian interview.
Acknowledging this classic dictatorial technique, he advised us "not to pay attention to all the crazy squirrels running out of the White House." I use that analogy frequently.
That's good, but Schiff and other leaders need to tell us what issues we should take seriously. It's not enough to say "don't pay attention to all the crazy squirrels." Help us figure out the ones to focus on.
Agree. All this outrageous bullshit is meant to be taxing and exhausting, and it is. Each of these issues represent a serious assault on law and order, on norms of governing, on ethics and intelligence. Were Daniel Patrick-Moynihan were alive, he'd showcase this as the greatest proof of his theory of "defining deviancy down."
These people are aggressive, cruel social deviants out to destroy, convinced they'll get away with it. Right now, It's not at all clear how to respond.
Right now, it doesn't really matter. Your elected Democrats do not control Congress or the courts. They are powerless, except to figure out how best to gum up the works. And the Republicans are deep into cult and orifice-worship. The problem is so much worse than anything we have experienced in decades.
Sure, it would be nice if they were more specific, even better if they had formed committees or some other organized attack, but the first priority has to be "relax, don't panic." That's the overall message I got from him: don't get sucked in and completely afraid. Choosing is implicit in that; in the meantime, I bet you could pick half a dozen urgent matters to focus on.
I can't imagine any one person, even one as brilliant and well-spoken as Schiff, who could enumerate ALL the egregious targets off the cuff...
True. But he doesn’t have to enumerate all of them. That’s not what I’d like to see. I want Dem leadership to determine the most important and most impactful issues so we can get targeted on our messaging. It looks like they might have a “presser” on US foreign aid. But of all the issues that seems the least impactful for the average voter.
Good point. But I bet Congresspeople are just as overwhelmed and confused as the public by the many targets that were flung into the air. Where do you start?
Actually I take it back about USAID. The presser today by the Dems was powerful and made it clear that USAID is actually a good issue. They are using this as a launching pad for a lot of different important issues.
Many got it together yesterday in front of the USAID bldg, in DC where they held an impromptu press conference....surrounded by several hundred citizens. So, FINALLY. I think it took awhile for them to absorb, digest, understand what has happened in order to prioritize their own thoughts so they COULD organize themselves. And pretty sure the thousands upon thousands of calls they'd been receiving re, well, ALL of it forced them register the realities of the orange scourge. They DO live in a bubble; We The People have to "enlighten" them.
Exactly - the coup is on right now. There is no time to catch your breath. Take to the streets, protect your finances and data. "Elon Musk’s team yesterday took control of the Treasury’s payment system, thus essentially gaining access to the checkbook with which the United States handles about $6 trillion annually and to all the financial information of Americans and American businesses with it."https://open.substack.com/pub/heathercoxrichardson/p/february-2-2025?r=5l28e&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
Disinvest in anything related to Musk and get off his social media. Make sure that includes money market accounts where those investments may be hidden. If you rely on a government check for anything, talk to your bank to find out what protection you have if payments stop or are slowed down.
There are ramifications to consider, but I really do NOT want to have to pay the federal part of the April 15 income taxes this year. I don't trust that it somehow won't end up where it's supposed to go, but be stolen, and NOT as part of a giant tax cut but as an "addition to" it.
Where are the DEMS, hiding with their heads in the sand? Where are all the elected officials at the national and state level? They are being paid well to do a job, why are they not doing it? Allowing this dismantling of the government and constitution to continue is on them.
Lets all remember this..if they are benign when we need them the most, why do we need them at all?
I am another vicious Canadian. I haven't travelled to the US since you folks first elected the orange man. I & all my friends will immediately stop buying anything American. We can live without orange juice & get our fresh veggies from Mexico. No more mr/ms nice person. (And we have no problem with transgenders.)
And yet so many Americans admire Canadians. Please note that we raise Canadian Horses (the national horse of Canada) here in the U.S. and are dedicated to restoring the numbers of this endangered breed. This has been a personal quest for decades, working together with Canadian breeders and nonprofits--not for our benefit, but for the horses and the people who love them. (We also do not care what their sexual orientation is :) Best wishes, friend.
I have to think the Price of Eggs Voter will be angry very soon over this idiotic consumer tax Trump just levied on all of us. As a Kamala Harris supporter, I agree that she made regular, coherent and spot-on arguments about why levying such taxes would hurt us and worsen the economy. Now we have the Ignoramus-In-Chief who is cool with us experiencing financial pain, and for ridiculous reasons, no less.
We all need to reach out to our representatives in Congress and let them know we don't want these consumer taxes. The President gets to levy these (and maybe that needs to change) but he can certainly be made to feel the heat from all of us.
Those of us hoping for Ben Wikler for DNC chair were told Ken Martin is great, we just don't know who he is. That is fine. But this quote is an awful start.
Kevin Martin almost got it right when he declared, “Here’s the thing about Donald Trump’s erratic tariff policy: Trump isn’t going to make corporate billionaires pay for these tariffs – working families and small businesses will. He’s using American workers as pawns in his petty political games.”
"tariff policy"? C'mon man. This is not a policy, it is a corrupt, incoherent, illegal lie. Corrupt because it is a payoff to the Nazi saluting dipshit to harm Tesla competitors. Incoherent since on the one hand he says to avoid the tariffs make stuff in USA and on the other he says stop tariffs by decreasing Fetanyl and border crossings. Which is it? It takes time and money to build a factory, that requires a permanent policy and not a negotiation tactic (i.e. extortion). Illegal because it is based on the lie that the invasion over the border is an emergency. There is no emergency.
I don't know Kevin Martin. I cannot agree with you more, DJU. When will the resistance stop using polite terms like "policy" and trite speak and get real? Trumpiffs are simply part of the chaos stew and the blitz of BS. I don't care who the paper shuffler is at the head of the DNCC, but there needs to be a spokesperson with a big fucking loudmouth to wake people up. There is a big difference between fake outrage and real- time damage.
As Will Rogers said, "I don't belong an organized political party, I'm a Democrat ". And we just keep proving that over and over. Time for a new 3rd party that can draw in people who aren't insane. I'm done donating to Democrats unless they can find some balls and fight this coup.
We can rant and rave and post comments and have journalists opinionate. But I think the real work is up to Congress. Their jobs and decisions are being usurped, not only by elected personnel, but also by a fellow who is wealthy and has control of communications and other technology. I want to hear at least every Democrat Senator and Representative stand up and be counted against the madness being unleashed. Who is in charge of legislative powers???? Show up!
Irene, I trust my Congress people and I know they are working hard to convince others to take action. But I write almost every week to let them know I support them, and to say something about whatever is going on that week. The good ones need the support of their constituents, and the ones who are trying to walk a line need to hear from their constituents to get off the effing line and take a stance. As for the right-wing radicals, in Congress, I feel for their constituents, because they effectively do not have representation, even those who voted for them. We need to find ways to reach our to those folks directly. Some of the action groups are working on ways to do just that: for instance by phone banking and talking ONLY about the impacts of the tariffs on things that people need, leaving the personalities out of it. We need to find ways to reconnect with our neighbors about real issues so that they can address their reps about those issues.
In other words, the part of the equation that you left out is us. The people, and how we can organize to speak to the issues. Lots of hot air in blame is not going to change anybody at this point.
As a NY resident I had already reached out to Gillibrand, Schumer, and Jeffries. The latter had 2 press conferences last week. They must have been effective; the WH demanded an apology. I hope all Contrarian readers take your advice. I agree that we must stay on the actions, not on personalities. At this point, there is so much more to deal with than tariffs, much, much more.
I like your style. As with people who only post public reviews after a bad experience, we tend to contact our elected reps for the same reason. I revere our Oregon senators and reps Wyden, Merkley, recently retired Earl Blumenauer, and newly elected Maxine Dexter; and they should hear that more often.
NO - by the time Congress acts - if they ever do - this country will be gone. Show up at your Congress persons office - take to the streets - stop buying anything. We must act now. Get off any Musk related products, divest from the billionaires. The 5 alarm fire is now!
Trump lied and idiots gave him AND his Republican lackeys power. They spit in the faces of those voters and laugh as Musk puts his minions to task raiding the treasury. And Americans go about their days thinking it can't happen here. NEWSFLASH - it already did. We have be overtaken by a hostile coup from Tump and Musk and Republicans. Fight back or roll over.
In his inaugural address in 1981 Reagan said "Government is not the solution to the problem; government is the problem." This was the philosophy of rightwing millionaires (now billionaires) like the Kochs (who, by the way, inherited their wealth) for decades. Since Reagan, the republican party has at every opportunity made his statement true by sabotaging gov't agencies. The IRS is a primary example.
This is a big tax to exact on the American public. But unless enough members of Congress grow a spine and start to tackle his illegal and dangerous tactics, we are going to be an international pariah. (Note - Jen, I don't know if anyone else has experienced this, but I stopped getting email notifications of Contrarian posts over the weekend. )
Mitch McConnell could have stopped all of this. He even admitted on 60 Minutes last night, on national TV, that he puts party over country. His “Legacy?” Assuming our democracy can withstand this onslaught of corruption, will go down in history for what he is. The epitome of hypocrisy and a horrible person.
He couldn't care less about legacy. All he cares about is the millions he made in politics. My only hope is that we get to see MoscowMitch glitch and drop dead on live TV.
He may not…but I think it is important to let him know the one he is leaving is just pathetic. He thinks he is such a great man. Just another narcissist in sheep’s clothing.
In Maine, the state with the greatest percentage of homes using heating oil, keep an eye on your oil price. It’s mostly coming from JDIrving in Canada. And keep your fingers crossed that LIHEAP won’t be cut by DOGE/Trump
Watch your oil prices go through the roof and then what? Do you think they care? They are laughing at all of us as they take our money and - like the felons they are - will make sure they get your money. You better act today or there will not be a tomorrow.
Let me sum up: the Loser has now given an unelected billionaire control of our tax money, is erasing governmental communication and transparency avenues, has threatened our food supply with a trade war, and is about to throw half of the electorate off of their health insurance. I'd say we are well and truly Effed. Shoulda voted for Kamala, kids.
Repent fools. You are going to feel the pain probably more than the people that voted for Kamala. Unfortunately that would be a good thing if we have midterm election but by then, the Mu$k dictatorship will be fully established.
The present one is not, as you said, "any president". He is very special since couldn't be worse and I hope we won't have to go through this same experience again, ever.
My Cuban-born father came to the US before the revolution and could never return home, could never see his mother again. I have closely followed how Cubans have lived their lives--in grinding poverty and fear despite their natural good humor--under Castro and his successors, and I never thought I would have to apply that knowledge to my own American life. I'm afraid that once a dictator takes hold, that's it. We have like 10 seconds to turn this around.
It's true that once a dictator takes over that's it . Russia, Cuba, Venezuela Hungary are few of them. I had my dose of dictatorship as a young man born in Argentina and the last one was particularly bloody. And that's the reason I moved with my wife and three little kids to the US, where I thought we will be free and safe forever. I couldn't imagine we will have to have the same fears and uncertainty as we felt back then. Lately I been posting that we might have a last opportunity to revert the direction we are on at the midterm election, I call that the turning point, but as the maga horde and the billionaires ,at astonishing speed, destroy our institutions I believe we won't have the opportunity. Sorry to say.
I feel for people who have big families that will be paying more for food and gas during these difficult times. I really feel for the young people who are still paying off student loans. Thankfully I paid the last of mine off during Joe Biden’s first 6 months in office. As a side note if anyone has a student loan from a private lender be aware they don’t give you the leeway like the federal lenders do. I had to pay the full payment amount with interest even during the pandemic. If you aren’t sure if your loan is from a federal or a private lender just look at the account number code. If you are having issues making payments then apply for either a forbearance or a deferment. Just don’t default on the loan. If you are planning to attend school and wondering how to pay for it my suggestion would be to apply for scholarships and grants if you are an
undergraduate student. These are my suggestions if you’re a student.
I am sorry for the job losses due to this move but welcome the fact that the odious Musk is getting his contract cancelled. It outrages me that this corrupt billionaire is allowed to meddle in our current government, despite having no legitimate skills, integrity, or any other kind of experience that would make his appointment halfway feasible. Since the Democratic Party seems to have no spine left (at least the Congressional ones) that we the people need to start fighting back. Call, email, and write your representative and let them know how you the voter are reacting to horrendous attack on our constitution, and our basic rights as Americans.
Since when does an unelected businessman with every conflict of every interest gain entry to the WH? And by unelected businessman, I mean both the Nazi from South Africa and the liar who allowed said Nazi to help him purchase the previous election. Pretty sure paying people to vote ain't ... kosher.
I called my only Congressman's Washington office this morning and spoke to a nice young girl who said yes, they've been getting lots of constituent calls like this, and charting them all. He is Republican Mike Lawler, and his Washington # is 202-225-6500.
Honestly, I think you've missed the point. The rush is going to be on... the US automobile industry and half of the US Chamber of Commerce will be figuring ways to buy Trump's Meme bitcoin. And once the bribe is received the exemptions will start flowing. This is not a policy, this is all about paying protection money. Watch and see.... over the next week the bribes will begin, followed shortly by the tariff exemptions.
Robin, I really don't want to be told essentially "why bother". The bitcoin thing has been pointed out a number of times (repeatedly) and analyzed to bits. We already have had this explained by many concerned people. The ones I appreciate are the ones who consider and explore other possible outcomes. But we still can have an impact IF we quit moaning and IF we refuse to obey in advance, as you seem to be suggesting, by not even trying. You are part of the problem. I am reading posts from groups who are hard at work already and getting results. We are organizing a resistance movement, and if we all do our bit, that alone could create enough noise to bring the P25 administration to a halt. (P25 because it's clear that that is driving this administration, Trump is having trouble again with reality, and Elon is unelected and ignorant as hell. I still think he'll quit when he runs into something that is beyond his capabilities- if he's capable of even recognizing that possibility. (I hope whatever it is blows up in his face.)
Your statements about the bitcoin bribery scheme are based on the assumption that the Trump bitcoin thing will work. But there are experts in the field pointing the myriad ways it could fail. One of them being that IF people seeking favors donate, they have no guarantee they will get what they seek. It is a fund-raising scheme by Trump, and his fund-raising schemes have a long history of failing. And he has a long history of not following through on his promises. My favorite scenario, though is that bitcoin operations are highly energy dependent. A nice solar mass ejection could fry the circuits and bingo, bitcoin all gone. This has happened. It would be fun to watch.
Ontario(for those Americans who know nothing about Canada, that is a province in eastern Canada!) just announced the cessation of a $100million Starlink contract. This will mean the poorest Canadians in remote areas will no longer have internet access. It will hurt Canadians, but Canada is committed to fighting back. Canadians are very passive/aggressive...we are nice until you cross us, and then we are vicious.
It also hits Musk in the pocketbook -- the only place he cares about. We should have a worldwide boycott of everything Musk has his sticky fingers in -- worldwide, because he's trying to influence governments around the world. I'm afraid his useful idiot Trump has given him the tools to milk Americans dry, but there's no reason the rest of you should play his games.
Absolutely true. Btw, Ontario is not on the east cost of Canada. It borders the Great Lakes.
Semantics. Correction made.
Isn’t Starlink one of Musk’s companies?
By Doug Ford no less. Canada's own version of Trump
Ford was the first provincial premier to stand up against Trump; and for that, I will forgive all his many other sins and sleaze.
This is what a Blitzkrieg looks like.
The destruction of our republic isn’t inching along as a small, creeping weed, it's proceeding as an all-out 24/7 assault on law, decency, morality, expertise and common sense.
A ‘lightning war’ wasn’t designed by the Nazis to give you time to catch your breath, but to force immediate capitulation. The take-over of Treasury by Musk and his brownshirts, the roundups of terrified laborers, toilet cleaners, and poultry pickers, the sacking of Inspectors General, the shutting down of USAID, the demonization of the small trans community, a presidential press conference blaming “wokeism” even as human remains were still being retrieved from the Potomac, the assembly-line rubber-stamping of a Cabinet of idiots, wormtongues, loons, dickheads and louts, and now Operation Pissy Pants — a simultaneous War on Avocados and Maple Syrup, the annexation of Greenland, the Reconquista of Panama…
It's all psychological warfare designed to hit us in our solar plexus and compel immediate surrender. Somehow we must all catch our breaths and get busy organizing a real strategy for gumming up the works for the next two years, or we will lose our republic forever.
The Democratic leaders need to respond. Do they have a plan? Are the Congressional Dems meeting as a group to discuss strategy, particularly improving the party's communications so they have unified messages conveyed in clear, punchy language. One of the keys is to cue who will be at fault when something goes wrong. So, for example, we should be talking about the Trump Tariffs. Never, in fact, mention those tariffs without the qualifier Trump. I don't remember Trump's firings at the FAA being reported in any significant way when they happened. But now they should be mentioned all the time. "This is what happens when you fire qualified people and leave those slots empty." It is rather unfair--after all it was only a week or so before the accidents. But they have no problem being ridiculous in their blame. Come on Dem leaders. It's time to get fierce outside of Senate hearings.
The democrats are going the way of Vichy France. We need to refer to them as the Vichy Democrats until they can manage to find some balls somewhere. I'm disgusted to have donated to them in the past election.
The Nazi technique of overloading people with horrendous activity so they are confused and malleable was addressed by the wonderful Adam Schiff in your excellent Contrarian interview.
Acknowledging this classic dictatorial technique, he advised us "not to pay attention to all the crazy squirrels running out of the White House." I use that analogy frequently.
That's good, but Schiff and other leaders need to tell us what issues we should take seriously. It's not enough to say "don't pay attention to all the crazy squirrels." Help us figure out the ones to focus on.
Agree. All this outrageous bullshit is meant to be taxing and exhausting, and it is. Each of these issues represent a serious assault on law and order, on norms of governing, on ethics and intelligence. Were Daniel Patrick-Moynihan were alive, he'd showcase this as the greatest proof of his theory of "defining deviancy down."
These people are aggressive, cruel social deviants out to destroy, convinced they'll get away with it. Right now, It's not at all clear how to respond.
How to respond? Among other tactics that will undoubtedly emerge, put pressure on your elected officials to grow a spine!!!!
Right now, it doesn't really matter. Your elected Democrats do not control Congress or the courts. They are powerless, except to figure out how best to gum up the works. And the Republicans are deep into cult and orifice-worship. The problem is so much worse than anything we have experienced in decades.
Sure, it would be nice if they were more specific, even better if they had formed committees or some other organized attack, but the first priority has to be "relax, don't panic." That's the overall message I got from him: don't get sucked in and completely afraid. Choosing is implicit in that; in the meantime, I bet you could pick half a dozen urgent matters to focus on.
I can't imagine any one person, even one as brilliant and well-spoken as Schiff, who could enumerate ALL the egregious targets off the cuff...
I can: Heather Cox Richardson.
True. But he doesn’t have to enumerate all of them. That’s not what I’d like to see. I want Dem leadership to determine the most important and most impactful issues so we can get targeted on our messaging. It looks like they might have a “presser” on US foreign aid. But of all the issues that seems the least impactful for the average voter.
Good point. But I bet Congresspeople are just as overwhelmed and confused as the public by the many targets that were flung into the air. Where do you start?
Actually I take it back about USAID. The presser today by the Dems was powerful and made it clear that USAID is actually a good issue. They are using this as a launching pad for a lot of different important issues.
Many got it together yesterday in front of the USAID bldg, in DC where they held an impromptu press conference....surrounded by several hundred citizens. So, FINALLY. I think it took awhile for them to absorb, digest, understand what has happened in order to prioritize their own thoughts so they COULD organize themselves. And pretty sure the thousands upon thousands of calls they'd been receiving re, well, ALL of it forced them register the realities of the orange scourge. They DO live in a bubble; We The People have to "enlighten" them.
Exactly - the coup is on right now. There is no time to catch your breath. Take to the streets, protect your finances and data. "Elon Musk’s team yesterday took control of the Treasury’s payment system, thus essentially gaining access to the checkbook with which the United States handles about $6 trillion annually and to all the financial information of Americans and American businesses with it."https://open.substack.com/pub/heathercoxrichardson/p/february-2-2025?r=5l28e&utm_campaign=post&utm_medium=email
How do we protect our finances? Honestly, I don't know. Maybe someone here can chime in on this.
Disinvest in anything related to Musk and get off his social media. Make sure that includes money market accounts where those investments may be hidden. If you rely on a government check for anything, talk to your bank to find out what protection you have if payments stop or are slowed down.
Other ideas anyone?
There are ramifications to consider, but I really do NOT want to have to pay the federal part of the April 15 income taxes this year. I don't trust that it somehow won't end up where it's supposed to go, but be stolen, and NOT as part of a giant tax cut but as an "addition to" it.
Mexico has returned the serve neatly.
I like their new president.
Where are the DEMS, hiding with their heads in the sand? Where are all the elected officials at the national and state level? They are being paid well to do a job, why are they not doing it? Allowing this dismantling of the government and constitution to continue is on them.
Lets all remember this..if they are benign when we need them the most, why do we need them at all?
Corbin: Your "Blitzkrieg" comment -- Post of the day!
His shameful acts go on and on.
I am another vicious Canadian. I haven't travelled to the US since you folks first elected the orange man. I & all my friends will immediately stop buying anything American. We can live without orange juice & get our fresh veggies from Mexico. No more mr/ms nice person. (And we have no problem with transgenders.)
And yet so many Americans admire Canadians. Please note that we raise Canadian Horses (the national horse of Canada) here in the U.S. and are dedicated to restoring the numbers of this endangered breed. This has been a personal quest for decades, working together with Canadian breeders and nonprofits--not for our benefit, but for the horses and the people who love them. (We also do not care what their sexual orientation is :) Best wishes, friend.
I have to think the Price of Eggs Voter will be angry very soon over this idiotic consumer tax Trump just levied on all of us. As a Kamala Harris supporter, I agree that she made regular, coherent and spot-on arguments about why levying such taxes would hurt us and worsen the economy. Now we have the Ignoramus-In-Chief who is cool with us experiencing financial pain, and for ridiculous reasons, no less.
We all need to reach out to our representatives in Congress and let them know we don't want these consumer taxes. The President gets to levy these (and maybe that needs to change) but he can certainly be made to feel the heat from all of us.
Those of us hoping for Ben Wikler for DNC chair were told Ken Martin is great, we just don't know who he is. That is fine. But this quote is an awful start.
Kevin Martin almost got it right when he declared, “Here’s the thing about Donald Trump’s erratic tariff policy: Trump isn’t going to make corporate billionaires pay for these tariffs – working families and small businesses will. He’s using American workers as pawns in his petty political games.”
"tariff policy"? C'mon man. This is not a policy, it is a corrupt, incoherent, illegal lie. Corrupt because it is a payoff to the Nazi saluting dipshit to harm Tesla competitors. Incoherent since on the one hand he says to avoid the tariffs make stuff in USA and on the other he says stop tariffs by decreasing Fetanyl and border crossings. Which is it? It takes time and money to build a factory, that requires a permanent policy and not a negotiation tactic (i.e. extortion). Illegal because it is based on the lie that the invasion over the border is an emergency. There is no emergency.
I don't know Kevin Martin. I cannot agree with you more, DJU. When will the resistance stop using polite terms like "policy" and trite speak and get real? Trumpiffs are simply part of the chaos stew and the blitz of BS. I don't care who the paper shuffler is at the head of the DNCC, but there needs to be a spokesperson with a big fucking loudmouth to wake people up. There is a big difference between fake outrage and real- time damage.
As Will Rogers said, "I don't belong an organized political party, I'm a Democrat ". And we just keep proving that over and over. Time for a new 3rd party that can draw in people who aren't insane. I'm done donating to Democrats unless they can find some balls and fight this coup.
We can rant and rave and post comments and have journalists opinionate. But I think the real work is up to Congress. Their jobs and decisions are being usurped, not only by elected personnel, but also by a fellow who is wealthy and has control of communications and other technology. I want to hear at least every Democrat Senator and Representative stand up and be counted against the madness being unleashed. Who is in charge of legislative powers???? Show up!
Irene, I trust my Congress people and I know they are working hard to convince others to take action. But I write almost every week to let them know I support them, and to say something about whatever is going on that week. The good ones need the support of their constituents, and the ones who are trying to walk a line need to hear from their constituents to get off the effing line and take a stance. As for the right-wing radicals, in Congress, I feel for their constituents, because they effectively do not have representation, even those who voted for them. We need to find ways to reach our to those folks directly. Some of the action groups are working on ways to do just that: for instance by phone banking and talking ONLY about the impacts of the tariffs on things that people need, leaving the personalities out of it. We need to find ways to reconnect with our neighbors about real issues so that they can address their reps about those issues.
In other words, the part of the equation that you left out is us. The people, and how we can organize to speak to the issues. Lots of hot air in blame is not going to change anybody at this point.
As a NY resident I had already reached out to Gillibrand, Schumer, and Jeffries. The latter had 2 press conferences last week. They must have been effective; the WH demanded an apology. I hope all Contrarian readers take your advice. I agree that we must stay on the actions, not on personalities. At this point, there is so much more to deal with than tariffs, much, much more.
I like your style. As with people who only post public reviews after a bad experience, we tend to contact our elected reps for the same reason. I revere our Oregon senators and reps Wyden, Merkley, recently retired Earl Blumenauer, and newly elected Maxine Dexter; and they should hear that more often.
NO - by the time Congress acts - if they ever do - this country will be gone. Show up at your Congress persons office - take to the streets - stop buying anything. We must act now. Get off any Musk related products, divest from the billionaires. The 5 alarm fire is now!
Trump lied and idiots gave him AND his Republican lackeys power. They spit in the faces of those voters and laugh as Musk puts his minions to task raiding the treasury. And Americans go about their days thinking it can't happen here. NEWSFLASH - it already did. We have be overtaken by a hostile coup from Tump and Musk and Republicans. Fight back or roll over.
In his inaugural address in 1981 Reagan said "Government is not the solution to the problem; government is the problem." This was the philosophy of rightwing millionaires (now billionaires) like the Kochs (who, by the way, inherited their wealth) for decades. Since Reagan, the republican party has at every opportunity made his statement true by sabotaging gov't agencies. The IRS is a primary example.
This is a big tax to exact on the American public. But unless enough members of Congress grow a spine and start to tackle his illegal and dangerous tactics, we are going to be an international pariah. (Note - Jen, I don't know if anyone else has experienced this, but I stopped getting email notifications of Contrarian posts over the weekend. )
Mitch McConnell could have stopped all of this. He even admitted on 60 Minutes last night, on national TV, that he puts party over country. His “Legacy?” Assuming our democracy can withstand this onslaught of corruption, will go down in history for what he is. The epitome of hypocrisy and a horrible person.
He couldn't care less about legacy. All he cares about is the millions he made in politics. My only hope is that we get to see MoscowMitch glitch and drop dead on live TV.
He may not…but I think it is important to let him know the one he is leaving is just pathetic. He thinks he is such a great man. Just another narcissist in sheep’s clothing.
I wonder if there is any chance that Trump voters will object to Musk (not Congress, not even Trump) cutting funds to faith-based charities such as Lutheran Social Services and Catholic Charities? https://www.yahoo.com/news/musk-says-doge-halting-treasury-020337006.html
No, they are Christians in name only.
In Maine, the state with the greatest percentage of homes using heating oil, keep an eye on your oil price. It’s mostly coming from JDIrving in Canada. And keep your fingers crossed that LIHEAP won’t be cut by DOGE/Trump
Not to mention hydro-power generated in Quebec that supplies 27% of Maine's electricity.
I hope the Canucks cut the power on Super Bowl Sunday!
Watch your oil prices go through the roof and then what? Do you think they care? They are laughing at all of us as they take our money and - like the felons they are - will make sure they get your money. You better act today or there will not be a tomorrow.
Let me sum up: the Loser has now given an unelected billionaire control of our tax money, is erasing governmental communication and transparency avenues, has threatened our food supply with a trade war, and is about to throw half of the electorate off of their health insurance. I'd say we are well and truly Effed. Shoulda voted for Kamala, kids.
Repent fools. You are going to feel the pain probably more than the people that voted for Kamala. Unfortunately that would be a good thing if we have midterm election but by then, the Mu$k dictatorship will be fully established.
Thanks for your post.
It's terrifying that any president would hand the keys to an unelected foreign-born bigot who detests the majority of Americans. With ya, friend.
The present one is not, as you said, "any president". He is very special since couldn't be worse and I hope we won't have to go through this same experience again, ever.
My Cuban-born father came to the US before the revolution and could never return home, could never see his mother again. I have closely followed how Cubans have lived their lives--in grinding poverty and fear despite their natural good humor--under Castro and his successors, and I never thought I would have to apply that knowledge to my own American life. I'm afraid that once a dictator takes hold, that's it. We have like 10 seconds to turn this around.
It's true that once a dictator takes over that's it . Russia, Cuba, Venezuela Hungary are few of them. I had my dose of dictatorship as a young man born in Argentina and the last one was particularly bloody. And that's the reason I moved with my wife and three little kids to the US, where I thought we will be free and safe forever. I couldn't imagine we will have to have the same fears and uncertainty as we felt back then. Lately I been posting that we might have a last opportunity to revert the direction we are on at the midterm election, I call that the turning point, but as the maga horde and the billionaires ,at astonishing speed, destroy our institutions I believe we won't have the opportunity. Sorry to say.
I feel for people who have big families that will be paying more for food and gas during these difficult times. I really feel for the young people who are still paying off student loans. Thankfully I paid the last of mine off during Joe Biden’s first 6 months in office. As a side note if anyone has a student loan from a private lender be aware they don’t give you the leeway like the federal lenders do. I had to pay the full payment amount with interest even during the pandemic. If you aren’t sure if your loan is from a federal or a private lender just look at the account number code. If you are having issues making payments then apply for either a forbearance or a deferment. Just don’t default on the loan. If you are planning to attend school and wondering how to pay for it my suggestion would be to apply for scholarships and grants if you are an
undergraduate student. These are my suggestions if you’re a student.
I am sorry for the job losses due to this move but welcome the fact that the odious Musk is getting his contract cancelled. It outrages me that this corrupt billionaire is allowed to meddle in our current government, despite having no legitimate skills, integrity, or any other kind of experience that would make his appointment halfway feasible. Since the Democratic Party seems to have no spine left (at least the Congressional ones) that we the people need to start fighting back. Call, email, and write your representative and let them know how you the voter are reacting to horrendous attack on our constitution, and our basic rights as Americans.
Since when does an unelected businessman with every conflict of every interest gain entry to the WH? And by unelected businessman, I mean both the Nazi from South Africa and the liar who allowed said Nazi to help him purchase the previous election. Pretty sure paying people to vote ain't ... kosher.
I called my only Congressman's Washington office this morning and spoke to a nice young girl who said yes, they've been getting lots of constituent calls like this, and charting them all. He is Republican Mike Lawler, and his Washington # is 202-225-6500.
Honestly, I think you've missed the point. The rush is going to be on... the US automobile industry and half of the US Chamber of Commerce will be figuring ways to buy Trump's Meme bitcoin. And once the bribe is received the exemptions will start flowing. This is not a policy, this is all about paying protection money. Watch and see.... over the next week the bribes will begin, followed shortly by the tariff exemptions.
Robin, I really don't want to be told essentially "why bother". The bitcoin thing has been pointed out a number of times (repeatedly) and analyzed to bits. We already have had this explained by many concerned people. The ones I appreciate are the ones who consider and explore other possible outcomes. But we still can have an impact IF we quit moaning and IF we refuse to obey in advance, as you seem to be suggesting, by not even trying. You are part of the problem. I am reading posts from groups who are hard at work already and getting results. We are organizing a resistance movement, and if we all do our bit, that alone could create enough noise to bring the P25 administration to a halt. (P25 because it's clear that that is driving this administration, Trump is having trouble again with reality, and Elon is unelected and ignorant as hell. I still think he'll quit when he runs into something that is beyond his capabilities- if he's capable of even recognizing that possibility. (I hope whatever it is blows up in his face.)
Your statements about the bitcoin bribery scheme are based on the assumption that the Trump bitcoin thing will work. But there are experts in the field pointing the myriad ways it could fail. One of them being that IF people seeking favors donate, they have no guarantee they will get what they seek. It is a fund-raising scheme by Trump, and his fund-raising schemes have a long history of failing. And he has a long history of not following through on his promises. My favorite scenario, though is that bitcoin operations are highly energy dependent. A nice solar mass ejection could fry the circuits and bingo, bitcoin all gone. This has happened. It would be fun to watch.