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83 responses to “Friday’s Forum”
Scott
Raise your hand if you believe this. BTW, these DOGE people need to be identified, if not by name, then by qualifications and job history.
Veterans Affairs officials confirmed Wednesday that they are working with officials from the Department of Government Efficiency on ways to reform agency operations, but insisted that veterans’ medical and benefits data is not being shared with any outside offices.
In a statement from a VA spokesperson, department leaders confirmed that the department has one employee from the controversial government efficiency office “who is specifically focused on identifying wasteful contracts, improving VA operations and strengthening management of the department’s IT projects.”
Scott
Just happened to be rewatching Babylon 5 on Prime. Couple of random observations. 22 or so episodes a season. Nothing comes close these days. Storylines hold up. 90s CGI holds up and is not distracting. Watching Peter Jurasik and Andreas Katsulas chew scenery is always fun.
I’m in the middle of Season 3 and watching the storyline of an increasing Fascist Earth, growth of the authoritarian Night Watch, and the stress of deciding to go along or resist is just a bit distressing and depressing. So familiar and so current is the echo through history that we are living in.
Scott
Some military history to appreciate before it is buried.
Retired 1st Sgt. Mark Matthews was a soldier who saw the U.S. Army evolve from horse-mounted cavalry to diesel-driven, heavily armored tanks. His life connected three centuries, along with every conflict from the American Frontier Wars to World War II — and he was able to tell people about all of it well into the 2000s.
Matthews first enlisted in the Army in 1910, where he served alongside American Indian scouts in western territories that had yet to become states. He continued his career on the U.S. southern border during World War I and in the Pacific Theater of World War II. Despite his advanced age, he was a healthy man for most of his life, but a bout with pneumonia struck him suddenly and he died on Sept. 6, 2005, at age 111.
Scott
A Propublica/Texas Tribune collaboration. Good summary and resource if interested in immigration issues.
[…] Now U.S. businesses that sold goods and services to USAID are in limbo. That includes American farms, which supply about 41 percent of the food aid that the agency, working with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, sends around the world each year, according to a 2021 report by the Congressional Research Service. In 2020, the U.S. government bought $2.1 billion in food aid from American farmers.
Purchases and shipments of U.S. food aid worth over $340 million — including rice, wheat and soybeans — have been paused during Trump’s foreign-aid freeze, according to officials and an email obtained by The Post. That has left hundreds of tons of American-grown wheat stranded in Houston alone, Rep. Angie Craig of Minnesota, the highest-ranking Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee, said Tuesday. […]
MarkedMan
@Scott: Agree that Babylon 5 holds up well, but the CGI definitely did not. Fortunately, per Wiki,
Remastered version
In November 2020 a remastered version of the show in 4:3 format was released to the iTunes Store and Amazon Prime Video.[58] This version uses the original negatives for filmed elements, and algorithmically upscales the digitally created elements to HD resolution with fewer visual artifacts, for a more visually consistent presentation.
Charley in Cleveland
@Jen: And as I mentioned the other day – a soybean farmer spoke with CBS re China tariffs and conceded they hurt him and his fellow farmers before, and will do so again, but he still voted for Trump, firmly believing Trump “understands,” and wants to help him. It undoubtedly never occurred to President Musk that USAID $$$ goes to American farmers. As someone else noted in re Musk: The intelligence is artificial, but the stupidity is real.
IMO the Shadow ships were visually amazing in a creepy way.
If you want to know just how awful they were, I recommend reading Jeanne Cavelos’ Technomage trilogy. Fair warning, the whole work is rather dark and disturbing.
Stormy Dragon
Trump administration told the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children their funding will be cut if they don’t use exclusively use deadnames for missing trans children
re Musk: The intelligence is artificial, but the stupidity is real.
I am so, so stealing this.
On another, completely random note, I was thinking of the push back Michael Reynolds gets when he mentions leaving. My husband and I are thinking about our options–we do have the ability to move to the UK if we so choose. Like MR, I grew up overseas and moving, and I very much identify as a “third culture” kid. Moving abroad does not equate to abandonment, at least not in my brain. Because I’ve moved so frequently, moving overseas feels like a completely normal response. I think for those who have lived in the US their entire lives, this probably comes across as a more dramatic thing.
I’m not sure if I’m describing this adequately or not.
Scott
Petty. Vindictive. Yes, another sign of the phony respect Republicans give the military.
President Donald Trump’s administration evicted former Coast Guard Commandant Linda Fagan from her home with three hours of notice on Tuesday — not even enough time to gather her personal effects — according to two people familiar with the incident.
Fagan, a four-star admiral and the first woman to lead a branch of the military, was removed from her post as the Coast Guard’s top officer on Trump’s second day in office. Officials at the Homeland Security Department — which oversees the Coast Guard — cited border security issues and an “excessive focus” on diversity, equity and inclusion among the reasons for her dismissal.
Coast Guard leaders had given Fagan a 60-day waiver to find new housing, according to one of the sources. But on Tuesday, Homeland Security officials told the acting commandant, Kevin Lunday, that he had to kick her out because “the president wants her out of quarters,” according to one of the people familiar with the incident.
Bobert
Will there be anyone at Treasury to accept my income tax form and payment? /s/
My wife and I will be leaving in the next few months. More than that, I don’t feel the need to share. We both think very bad times are coming because when things don’t work out the way Musk told Trump they would, Trump is going to throw a huge tantrum and punish Americans for not co-operating. And there will be violence on both sides.
Get back on your meds, man. You need serious help.
JohnSF
@Paul L.:
I’d have thought there might be a sensible distinction possible between candidates for public office, and private persons.
But where’s the trollery-lollery in that, though?
Jen –
From 1996 to 2019, I spent much more time in other cities and countries than home in Los Angeles due to work. Canada, Miami, Austin, London, Paris, Mexico, Madrid, Las Vegas, Virgnia, Puerto Rico, among others. I’ve often said that I have more in common with the architect from Madrid, or the banker from Paris, than I do the truck driver from Alabama or the electrician from Tennessee. I’m comfortable away from the US, and always have been.
I left because, like @NotTheITDept, I think really bad things are coming and I don’t want to be here when they happen. I’m keeping my house in LA because I want to be able to come back if sanity ever returns. I don’t begrudge anyone staying or leaving. People have to do what’s best for themselves and their families.
But I could very easily see a scenario where I never return to the USA except for work.
And I’d be okay with that.
MarkedMan
@CSK: I especially like this quote from the article you linked to:
So why isn’t the notoriously thin-skinned Trump more upset at the younger, richer Musk for stealing his thunder?
To understand Trump’s indifference, it helps to look back at the happiest time in his life: a reality TV stint pretending to be a successful businessman on NBC’s “The Apprentice.” Before becoming a reality TV host, Trump did try to make it as a real businessman, of course, but failed so spectacularly and often that he may qualify as the biggest business failure of all time. Leaked tax records show that he blew through the half-billion he inherited from his father, sold off huge chunks of his father’s genuinely successful real estate business to pay off debts and went bankrupt multiple times.
Real business is hard for normal people, but for someone as lazy and dumb as Trump, it was impossible. Pretending to be a businessman on TV, however, was all gravy. As biographer Ramin Setoodeh and former “Apprentice” producer Bill Pruitt have carefully detailed, Trump did no real work on the hit show. As Pruitt recalls, producers and writers constructed the character of a successful businessman by “carefully misleading viewers about Trump,” an act Pruitt calls a “fraud” and a “con.” Trump breezed in for a few hours during the extensive taping to read lines, and little more. For his efforts, he was awarded almost another half-billion dollars, but because he’s an epically terrible businessman, he was soon deep in debt again.
@CSK:
Amanda “That is my final word.” Marcotte.
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA.
See Amanda’s wisdom that Due Process requires a default gag/quiet zone/let’s let justice work order on anyone accused of a crime to make it fair for the prosecution by not trying or refuting the case in the public/media.
Kathy
Kathy’s First Law: Nothing good ever comes from engaging with the troll.
Indeed. How a guy with multiple bankruptcies under his belt could claim to be a success eludes me.
What’s real, to Trump, is the part one plays on television.
Matt
@Kathy: The shadow ships are basically a timeless design that tickles a prehistoric fear ingrained in us on a near genetic level. The screams as they go by is just the cherry on top. I could only dream of developing such a beautiful and yet utterly creepy and clearly evil ship design.
just nutha
@Jen: I think you’re explaining your perception accurately and completely enough, but my sense, both as a person who has talked to people about the current insecurities and has lived abroad myself, is that the reaction has as much to do with the economics of the act as any other element.
To keep a Nazi meme going for the discussion, the pushback is anger or frustration about *the rich Jews* having the resources to abandon the rest of us. (As though having wealth equals the ability to fight, and win, against a cultural shift.)
Joe
@EddieInDR: No plans to leave here. While I think bad things are happening, I expect them to be mostly collateral to me in a way that would not hit me differently whether we remain here or move abroad. Either way I will need to look for ways to support those more directly impacted.
@CSK: @Paul L.: And here I thought that the reason that the “President Elon” meme wasn’t bothering Trump anymore was because the person who prepares the “clippings about ME” brief that Trump gets has been told to leave the “Prez Elon” ones out.
I’ve let you all slide with this for far too long.
Can we not weaponize mental illness via insult? Please?
There is one situation I can think of wherein it may be appropriate–if someone who claims to suffer from a mental illness then uses it as a shield. Or if they then try to dismantle protections and/or eliminate public programs that provide resources and support for those living with mental illness.
Other than that, please stop. If Paul actually is suffering from serious mental illness as many of you believe, poking at the wound is counter-productive. And blatantly hypocritical for some, if not, all of you.
I read somewhere long ago the texture was made by first scanning a dog’s nose. I don’t vouch for the truth in that.
What I found scarier, especially after reading the Technomage books, were the Earth ships that incorporated Shadow skin technology.
gVOR10
@CSK: @MarkedMan: By coincidence the wife and I also recently went through Bab 5 on cable. While watching, one is well aware of the rudimentary nature of the CGI without it being distracting. The same can be said of the sets, many of which appeared to be a few partitions with industrial junk strewn around. And given the rudimentary CGI, they avoided my pet peeve with more recent movies. Apparently focus groups or whatever showed people really liked the space battle scenes in the first Star Wars movie. So now every se/prequel has to have a bigger, flashier space battle than the last, culminating in whichever forgettable episode with an utterly ridiculous, interminable battle sequence including Amazons on horses charging down space ship decks. I recall Lucas saying something about the special effects should be just whatever is needed to support the story, not an end in themselves.
Bab 5 was, however, guilty of the common cliche of portraying space ships going into battle wingtip to wingtip. Necessary to get more than one in the frame I suppose, but silly. Also, too, it’s space. In the famous Battle of the Line, why didn’t the Mimbari just go over the line, or under? (Remember Khan not thinking three dimensionally?)
Not the IT Dept.
@Kurtz: Can we not weaponize mental illness via insult? Please?
All right with me. My apologies for being insensitive to the issue.
But I could very easily see a scenario where I never return to the USA except for work.
My wife and I are having a bit of a disconnect on this. As usual I’m more radical and she’s sane. She still has to book tour twice a year, and we have adult kids in the US. So we’ve reached an interim agreement – we’re taking ourselves and our dogs to the UK in late May. Americans get an automatic 6 month visa, no paperwork, and it’s renewable every time you enter the country – unless they decide you’re gaming them. We’ll rent a place, use London as a base for exploring, bounce back to Vegas for holidays and tours, head back and grab some Schengen time (3 month limit per annum) and see how we feel and decide where to stay longer term.
Moving the dogs is the critical difference between slow travel and actually inhabiting. Fortunately we are perhaps the most experienced re-locaters in the entire world. In 45 years we’ve moved more than 30 times, which is why our homes always look disorganized.
Niven and Pournelle portray realistic space combat in their Motie books. It turns out to be rather boring and unspectacular. But at least the B5 Starfuries don’t bank like F-16s or X-wings.
As to the line, going over it would expose the Minbari ships’ soft underbelly. Or, more likely, they were just as happy to slaughter Earthers in great numbers as they slowly breached the line. See the prequel movie, In The Beginning, when Delenn wants to capture a human, she’s told to pick one soon as they’re quickly running out of candidates (and then there’s some cinematic time dilation).
Reportedly, next weeks Time Magazine cover will feature a picture of Musk sitting behind the Resolute Desk. The constant drip of stories of Musk usurping the felon and his staffer’s bitching about Musk, will get to him.
Actually, he reminds me of the lesser criminal masterminds I knew 45 years ago. Like the guys who were convinced they could boost a crack house or mid-level dealer without killing everyone in the house, or the one whose brilliant plan involved bombing SPD’s South Precinct as a freaking distraction !
Idiot is, perhaps, too kind. But then again, I never had a taste for Flavor-Aid
If [someone] actually is suffering from serious mental illness as many of you believe, poking at the wound is counter-productive. And blatantly hypocritical for some, if not, all of you.
Well stated. My only note is I would change “counterproductive” to “dangerous”.
@CSK: I wouldn’t think Fox and OAN are using that meme, but I don’t watch cable news.
Mr. Prosser
@Joe: Totally agree with you. I can’t leave the country (Health reasons). I’m not much of a protest type but helping those in the community who will be seriously affected is, and will be, a prime effort for me.
This makes perfect sense to me. For me, moving to the UK does feel like tremendous abandonment. I feel guilty that I’m leaving behind a ton of trans people to the hell we’re experiencing now. I told me Dr today that it feels like I’m jumping out of the fire into the frying pan.
The trans uk subreddits are also talking about how American trans people should stay out of the UK because it’s so bad and they’re like if you’re in a blue state you’re fine. I’m like you’re missing the larger picture, I don’t see how this present situation doesn’t end in massive death and violence.
The Republicans have spend the last 40 years preparing the Pauls of the world that their redemption is coming. What happens when they find out their savior is an idiot fraud. Or when the other half of the country wakes up and tells them all to fuck off. Conservatives have told themselves a nice bedtime story that they are the only tough ones and the only ones with guns. What happens when they run into a bunch of hard ass lefties that are stick of being pushed around. Or when Black people decide the risk of being re-enslaved is worse than the risk of going to jail. That’s a whole group of people that has, by and large, not forgotten.
I don’t see how this all doesn’t end in violence and I don’t want to wait around and get got. Or my kids. Or how about going somewhere that I don’t have the full ache that any fucking day some asshole could wander into my kids school and start shooting. Republicans have decided that’s the cost of doing business. Oh well.
I’m in full agreement that bad things are coming. My gut tells me the big date for shit to really start hitting the fan is March 14. I’m pretty sure the Republicans are either going to shut the government down or agree to spending cuts that are so severe and stupid the economy will blow out. Or both. That’s assuming checks keep going out for the next couple of weeks. Musk breaking that right as the government shuts down will be hilarious.
I’ve been off my meds this week for, uh, reasons. It’s suuuuuuuucked. Bigley. Thanks for keeping up the good fight.
Also, another fun thing to think about, remember last time, Dr. Rep. Ronnie “Dr. Feelgood” Jackson was handing out all sorts of federal government grade pharmaceuticals of the White House pharmacy? No doubt that’s happening again. I wonder how much high quality MDMA, cocaine and Adderall is going out?
Michael Reynolds
@MarkedMan: @Kurtz:
Gotta tell you, guys, I respect you both, but I am done with people telling me what words I can or cannot use. I’m a big boy, I’m not out to hurt anyone, and words are both my business, and also my business. I can do more damage with the word fat or ugly than 90% of the proscribed terms, and we are not going to be able to banish either.
This scolding, condescending approach just irritates people while protecting no one. That’s not how words work. ‘Mentally ill’ or ‘fucked in the head,’ it does not matter, context and intent matter.
Like I said, respect and like you both, but when someone jumps in to correct my word choice my immediate response is, ‘fuck off,’ and then I just avoid talking to them. I will decide what words I use and how I use them.
Rob1
The infinite “lolz” of MAGA
Trump’s meme coin sparks more than 700 copycats posing as official crypto
The first lady launched her own official meme coin, $Melania, within days of her husband, which analysts say immediately halved the value of $Trump and sparked a slide that has continued since.
The names of four of Trump’s five children have also been popular among the copycats, with his youngest son, Barron, accounting for 30, his daughter Ivanka next with 26, and older sons Don and Eric Jr with 14 between them.
Other new cryptocurrency found in the Trump wallet featured names including “Elon” and “Musk” [..]
[Brookings Institution] Prasad told the Guardian last month: “The Trump meme coin represents the intersection of Trump’s grifting tendencies and his administration’s embrace of cryptocurrencies, along with his dismissive attitude toward government regulation.”
@Scott: I recently did a B5 rewatch. It is such a great show!
Rob1
THANK GOODNESS, that they identified the one, single, solitary racist on team DOGE before it was almost too late!
Teamleader Musk must be absolutely horrified, distracted by his busy schedule,
traveling abroad to confer with the AfD, and all.
Staffer at Musk’s DOGE resigns after racist social media posts exposed
The DOGE staffer, Marko Elez, earlier in the day had been approved by a federal judge to have access to the payment system at the U.S. Treasury, but the judge restricted his ability to share data from the system.
“I would not mind at all if Gaza and Israel were both wiped off the face of the Earth,” an account that the Journal linked to Elez tweeted last year. [..]
“The user behind the @nullllptr also described themselves as an employee at SpaceX and Starlink, where Elez has worked, according to archives of Elez’s personal website.” [..]
Musk is playing a major role in efforts by President Donald Trump to slash federal government spending and employee head count. Elez had been designated as a special government employee.[..]
“Just for the record, I was racist before it was cool,” the account posted in July, according to the newspaper.
Can we not weaponize mental illness via insult? Please?
Seconded. As someone who lives with some neurodiversity/spiciness and needs to be on meds for it, this is a topic I definitely care about. I get the colloquial use of “crazy”–it’s taken me four years of constant practice to resist the urge to use it–so I try to let it slide as well. But it ultimately can create a lot of stigma for some people (and be counterproductive).
All that said, I’m not going to try to control people’s speech–just ask them to think before saying things.
This makes perfect sense to me. For me, moving to the UK does feel like tremendous abandonment. I feel guilty that I’m leaving behind a ton of trans people to the hell we’re experiencing now. I told me Dr today that it feels like I’m jumping out of the fire into the frying pan.
FWIW, the number one rule of trauma recovery and being able to be there for someone else is that you need to take care of yourself first (i.e. secure your mask before helping others). It’s really easy to let guilt or shame get in your way when doing that–trust me, I have had a LOT of lessons in that area in recent years. And, from that point of experience, I just want to reiterate, you need to be safe and take care of your needs before you can help others. So if that means moving to the UK, then it means moving to the UK.
To keep a Nazi meme going for the discussion, the pushback is anger or frustration about *the rich Jews* having the resources to abandon the rest of us.
To be clear, many of those who left did so in order to remain alive to fight from other shores, including providing funds.
MarkedMan
@Michael Reynolds: To be clear, in this particular instance I really think the person has a dangerous fixation on violence towards women and I worry that engaging him here could lead to him acting out. For this reason I think it would be better for everyone, but especially him and those around him, if he were banned.
For everyone else, well, I don’t spend my time engaging with run of the mill trumpers, but others do, and that’s annoying to me but perfectly within the sphere of a blog comments section. This one case is seems unique to me.
MarkedMan
@Kathy: Yes. Don’t even joke about such things in a public forum, or you may find an unwelcome surprise the next time you attempt to clear customs in the US.
I understand. In hindsight, my post can be read as judgmental finger wagging, and I really did not intend it that way. That is definitely on me.
FWIW and OTOH: I deliberately cast my post as a request. I had you in mind, because I think your viewpoint is both understandable and necessary. The latter as a counterweight to overbearing sensitivity. And you express it better than most I have seen.
I think where we differ is “weaponization”. I do not think calling Trump or whomever “insane” or “fucked in the head” would fit that concept. Nor do I find either descriptor as particularly derogatory in that context.
However, I started thinking a little more yesterday. I replied to one of Paul’s posts to ask who he intended to address. @DK responded to me:
The agitated voices in his head, probably.
I chuckled, I will admit that. I definitely did not reach for pearls. I cannot even say I feel bad for chuckling.
Should I? Maybe. Because that comment does strike me as taking a small step over the line. Probably because Paul’s posts do appear to be the product of a disordered mind. If that is true, I do not think ridiculing that mind is appropriate. I don’t think anyone aware of the context would consider it offensive to anyone suffering from auditory hallucination.
@DK‘s post today is more appropriate, as it strikes closer to an acceptable target. BUT if the suspicions about Paul’s mental state are correct, I think the blame lies elsewhere, e.g. propagandists, those who defend a broken healthcare system. In that sense, Paul’s actions cannot be described as willful.
Moreover, to @MM’s point, it can be dangerous. We all know the extensive history of categorizing homosexuality as a form of mental illness to the point that it was officially endorsed by medical gatekeepers. It is a much less common view today, but it still exists in some corners. Most of those who at one time did or would have been of that view have chosen to focus on the T rather than the LGB when making that claim.
That form of oppression can only be effective if mental illness is discussed in a dehumanizing way. Again, I do not think that anyone has said anything that rises to that level, but I can easily see how one might interpret the “agitated voices” comment that way.
I would suggest being mindful.
Man, I still feel like I am nowhere near a fully formed position.
I’m reminded of those signs in airports that warn you not even to joke about carrying a bomb, because the airport personnel have no sense of humor.
,just nutha
@Jen: Thanks for the info. I’ve not done much WW (either one) history deep diving (or any other period for that matter). That said, conventional wisdom on lots of matters differs from fact and those differences propel reactions to events.
All that said, I’m not going to try to control people’s speech–just ask them to think before saying things.
I just posted, but this is a satisfactory tl;dr for anyone understandably disinclined to take a long(ish, by my standards), meandering walk through one of my reasoning processes.
Hmmm. I went a different direction with dangerous.
Your view is interesting.
Though, have you considered that a ban could also function as a trigger?
just nutha
@MarkedMan: Or even earlier. I’m reminded of the day I was substitute teaching at a high school evacuated temporarily for a bomb threat. The two students who had made the call from a local quick mart (as a prank, of course), were quickly arrested,* and when their parents came to enquire about how to resolve the matter, they were directed to the Federal prosecutor’s office in Yakima.
*Small town. (Who knew that the local telephone company could trace calls made to the schools? Even in the early 90s. Or that the district superintendent would call the FBI field office–and be able to secure its cooperation?)
I’ve hear a TSA agent or two crack a joke once or three times.
I’ve been asked if I have any forbidden items. I never do. But if I declared “I’ve no forbidden items in my carry on and bag”, that wouldn’t be joking about safety at all.
This comment wasn’t crafted with the aid of AI or any other kind of Dark Magick. No animals were hurt in the production of this comment.
Musk rarely makes even a cursory attempt at supporting any claim. Like Trump, he relies on exploits a long running myth about businessmen and the related cartoonish definition of leadership to give weight to his inane, ignorant utterances.
There is a reason they both love Twitter. Its format is perfect for faux-argumentation by and for poseurs highly allergic to rigor.
Am I the only one who:
can’t shake the suspicion that Musk may be in the upper meaty part of the IQ curve than the right tail;
and/or
is skeptical of his announcement on SNL that he suffers from AS?
I may be letting my distaste for him get the better of me, but the stench of week-old, unrefrigerated fish wafts from his general direction.
Intellectually, I understand this and my therapist is working overtime to help me believe it. But I don’t. I feel like an abject failure that I couldn’t do enough to change people’s minds before hand and now I have to flee. It just sucks. As my therapist says, we’re the first movers. The ones who’s guts are telling us its unsafe and time to go. There’s value in that and everyone here thinking of leaving should trust their guts and go. Knowing and feeling are different though.
I think the actual difference between your position is a willingness to be wrong and grow vs the feeling that even the gentlest of limitation is the ABSOLUTE UNCONDITIONAL ASSAULT ON HIS BEING AND EXISTENCE AND WORTH.
Daddy Reynolds is so boring with that schtick. Oh no, things have changed and we’re working to be better to those around us. It’s boring to listen to him.
It’s also hilarious to me that, as a writer, he simultaneously believes that words matter and that words don’t matter.
and before you start in on me Daddy, I don’t care what’s in your head, it bores me. You bore me.
becca
I just read this at Seeking Alpha…
“Equity returns in Brazil and other countries are outstripping that of U.S. stocks so far in 2025, with Bank of America saying investors are looking beyond the U.S. exceptionalism theme.
The S&P 500 (SP500) has risen ~2.7% this year through midday Friday. That increase is behind 12% and 10% gains in Brazil and Germany, respectively, BofA said. Chinese, U.K. and Australian equities were each returning 6%, and Canadian stocks were clocking in a 4% return.
“International stocks front-running peak U.S. exceptionalism,” Bank of America investment strategists led by Michael Hartnett said in their Flow Show note Friday.
Investors are looking at the potential of “geopolitical peace” in the Middle East, Russia and Ukraine, and betting on a lack of escalation in the U.S.-China trade war – the “only one that matters,” Hartnett said.
BofA has been cautioning about a peak in the U.S. exceptional theme that’s fueled longstanding outperformance of U.S. stocks over international markets. The S&P 500 (SP500) rose more than 20% in 2024 and 2023.
The theme is nearing its peak as investors in an “exceptionally expensive” U.S. market see excess federal fiscal spending, a fading “bubble” in AI capital expenditures, and immigration curbs, BofA said last week. Hartnett, who coined the Magnificent Seven” term, said last week the group is at risk of morphing into the “Lagnificent Seven”. “
I don’t know, “person experiencing morbid obesity and inflicting the consequences on the rest of us, not to mention all the unsuspecting and unreinforced furniture” would be pretty devastating.
At my biggest I was 310lbs. (Now 250, which sounds like a lot, but at 6’6”, it’s not as much as it sounds). “Fat” just doesn’t have an impact — yeah, I’m fat.
just nutha
@Kurtz: That Musk would be in the center of the IQ curve certainly wouldn’t constitute any sort of anomaly, most people are. As to Musk being on the autism spectrum, I’m far less concerned for him than I am for the parents of children caught in the expanded definition as those children become “clients” of school sped systems where “autistic” is still associated with the kids who wear football helmets to protect them from skull fractures instead of the array of conditions now conflated under the single label. But I don’t have any particular problem thinking he’s “on the spectrum.” I really don’t care either way, though.
just nutha
@Beth: If you’re concerned for your safety or that of your loved ones, you need to go. The only thing people’s guts lie about routinely is needing cookies to feel secure. Trust me on this.
Jax
My little town is usually very, very boring. This has turned our community upside down. The information now coming out about these two assholes indicates the school and the county justice system repeatedly slapped these two on the wrist for school threats, personal threats, and now they’re charged with murder.
I am not normally a fan of the death penalty. There are too many cases where the guilt of the defendant is in doubt.
There is no doubt about what these two animals did, and a man died. They bragged about it at school. In this particular case, I fully support a death penalty charge.
I asked the first question in the context of his public image–cult of personality, really–and the American tendency to lionize businessmen. For example, whoever originated the specious claim that CEOs read 56 books a year had a reason for it.
The process of myth making in this context is important, I think.
Outside of that context, it doesn’t matter to me what his IQ is. I don’t really care about IQ much, either. But still.
The second question is asked in the context of whether Musk would lie about it for some perceived gain. If, for example, he thought it would provide cover for poor behavior. Or if he thought it would enhance the perception of his competence.
I only really care about that question insofar as it would shed light on his character. Not that there is a lack of ammo in that department.
JohnSF
On moving to Europe (including UK in that category):
I say this with a heavy heart, and massive regret.
But anyone who does so must contemplate the possibility that within a decade, the US and Europe could end up being adversaries.
People have referred to the experience of the German (and other) exiles of the 1930’s.
Mostly Jewish, but not exclusively. Life in exile is not always easy in itself.
But many of those ended up having to fight, or encompass the possible destruction of, their former homeland.
That is not an easy road to walk.
On further reflection, I do think my first post is probably correct. I needed that second post as a check. Even if the intent is not to be hurtful, there is a normative effect.
My question to you: is it possible the alternative explanation is that a free speech absolutist must embrace the cognitive dissonance you describe?
Separate, but related: I think the distinction between speech and action, probably necessary in law to maintain freedom of speech, permeates wider culture in a negative way.
Speaking of the cognitive dissonance in your post, some people love to apply speech as an act when it aligns with their worldview, but tell others that “it’s just words” when they want to defend an ally.
I think this may also be a result of dualism. But I don’t find dualism persuasive. I see the mind/body distinction as relying on a sort of god of the gaps argument.
CSK
Trump just announced that he’s revoking Biden’s security clearance and stopping his daily intelligence briefings.
Though, have you considered that a ban could also function as a trigger?
Anything is possible, but I doubt it. This is unlikely to be the only outlet he has. And to be honest, my concern is more for James, Steven, Matt, and the regulars here. We think we are just engaging with some random trumper, but if it triggers something horrible I wouldn’t want it on us, despite the fact that he is ultimately responsible for his actions. Of course, we are unlikely to ever find out if he did commit some harm. I have a compulsion to play out the consequences of my own actions, and it unfortunately encompasses others in my daily life. I feel that the person in question is struggling with a desire to harm, and I don’t think the way we engage with him here is going to do anything but exacerbate that desire.
I’m no better than Lucy Van Pelt and her 5 cents psychiatry booth, but that doesn’t matter. I believe what I believe and feel compelled to point it out.
JohnSF
And now, DOGE decides to shut down the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
All hail the benevolent, and not at all self-interested, overlords.
The really interesting thing is going to be when Musk and Trump, and tech-bros various, attempt to force the EU to rescind their Digital Services Act.
This is simple tit-for-tat as Biden (or his staff) did similar to Trump =- we can’t trust him. And seriously when is former President Biden? This is weird.
Comments
83 responses to “Friday’s Forum”
Raise your hand if you believe this. BTW, these DOGE people need to be identified, if not by name, then by qualifications and job history.
VA leaders working with DOGE but say veterans’ personal info is secure
Just happened to be rewatching Babylon 5 on Prime. Couple of random observations. 22 or so episodes a season. Nothing comes close these days. Storylines hold up. 90s CGI holds up and is not distracting. Watching Peter Jurasik and Andreas Katsulas chew scenery is always fun.
I’m in the middle of Season 3 and watching the storyline of an increasing Fascist Earth, growth of the authoritarian Night Watch, and the stress of deciding to go along or resist is just a bit distressing and depressing. So familiar and so current is the echo through history that we are living in.
Some military history to appreciate before it is buried.
The Oldest-Ever Buffalo Soldier Enlisted in 1910 and Lived to Fight in 2 World Wars
A Propublica/Texas Tribune collaboration. Good summary and resource if interested in immigration issues.
Donald Trump’s immigration executive orders: Tracking the most impactful changes
There is a really excellent read up at BJ, links to a piece at Defector.
Here is the headline:
“Link BJ“
Never thought they’d eat MY face:
Gutting USAID threatens billions of dollars for U.S. farms, businesses
[…] Now U.S. businesses that sold goods and services to USAID are in limbo. That includes American farms, which supply about 41 percent of the food aid that the agency, working with the U.S. Department of Agriculture, sends around the world each year, according to a 2021 report by the Congressional Research Service. In 2020, the U.S. government bought $2.1 billion in food aid from American farmers.
Purchases and shipments of U.S. food aid worth over $340 million — including rice, wheat and soybeans — have been paused during Trump’s foreign-aid freeze, according to officials and an email obtained by The Post. That has left hundreds of tons of American-grown wheat stranded in Houston alone, Rep. Angie Craig of Minnesota, the highest-ranking Democrat on the House Agriculture Committee, said Tuesday. […]
@Scott: Agree that Babylon 5 holds up well, but the CGI definitely did not. Fortunately, per Wiki,
@Jen: And as I mentioned the other day – a soybean farmer spoke with CBS re China tariffs and conceded they hurt him and his fellow farmers before, and will do so again, but he still voted for Trump, firmly believing Trump “understands,” and wants to help him. It undoubtedly never occurred to President Musk that USAID $$$ goes to American farmers. As someone else noted in re Musk: The intelligence is artificial, but the stupidity is real.
@Scott:
@MarkedMan:
IMO the Shadow ships were visually amazing in a creepy way.
If you want to know just how awful they were, I recommend reading Jeanne Cavelos’ Technomage trilogy. Fair warning, the whole work is rather dark and disturbing.
Trump administration told the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children their funding will be cut if they don’t use exclusively use deadnames for missing trans children
https://bsky.app/profile/marisakabas.bsky.social/post/3lhkny4mjdk2r
@Charley in Cleveland:
I am so, so stealing this.
On another, completely random note, I was thinking of the push back Michael Reynolds gets when he mentions leaving. My husband and I are thinking about our options–we do have the ability to move to the UK if we so choose. Like MR, I grew up overseas and moving, and I very much identify as a “third culture” kid. Moving abroad does not equate to abandonment, at least not in my brain. Because I’ve moved so frequently, moving overseas feels like a completely normal response. I think for those who have lived in the US their entire lives, this probably comes across as a more dramatic thing.
I’m not sure if I’m describing this adequately or not.
Petty. Vindictive. Yes, another sign of the phony respect Republicans give the military.
Trump administration evicts former Coast Guard leader from her house with 3 hours notice
Will there be anyone at Treasury to accept my income tax form and payment? /s/
People who believe Propublica should have access to private tax returns and data now want to protect private tax returns and data.
Interesting:
http://www.salon.com/2025/02/07/why-the-president-elon-musk-mockery-doesnt-seem-to-bother-donald/
My wife and I will be leaving in the next few months. More than that, I don’t feel the need to share. We both think very bad times are coming because when things don’t work out the way Musk told Trump they would, Trump is going to throw a huge tantrum and punish Americans for not co-operating. And there will be violence on both sides.
@Paul L.:
Get back on your meds, man. You need serious help.
@Paul L.:
I’d have thought there might be a sensible distinction possible between candidates for public office, and private persons.
But where’s the trollery-lollery in that, though?
@Not the IT Dept.:
@Jen:
Jen –
From 1996 to 2019, I spent much more time in other cities and countries than home in Los Angeles due to work. Canada, Miami, Austin, London, Paris, Mexico, Madrid, Las Vegas, Virgnia, Puerto Rico, among others. I’ve often said that I have more in common with the architect from Madrid, or the banker from Paris, than I do the truck driver from Alabama or the electrician from Tennessee. I’m comfortable away from the US, and always have been.
I left because, like @NotTheITDept, I think really bad things are coming and I don’t want to be here when they happen. I’m keeping my house in LA because I want to be able to come back if sanity ever returns. I don’t begrudge anyone staying or leaving. People have to do what’s best for themselves and their families.
But I could very easily see a scenario where I never return to the USA except for work.
And I’d be okay with that.
@CSK: I especially like this quote from the article you linked to:
@CSK:
Amanda “That is my final word.” Marcotte.
HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA HA.
See Amanda’s wisdom that Due Process requires a default gag/quiet zone/let’s let justice work order on anyone accused of a crime to make it fair for the prosecution by not trying or refuting the case in the public/media.
Kathy’s First Law: Nothing good ever comes from engaging with the troll.
@MarkedMan:
Indeed. How a guy with multiple bankruptcies under his belt could claim to be a success eludes me.
What’s real, to Trump, is the part one plays on television.
@Kathy: The shadow ships are basically a timeless design that tickles a prehistoric fear ingrained in us on a near genetic level. The screams as they go by is just the cherry on top. I could only dream of developing such a beautiful and yet utterly creepy and clearly evil ship design.
@Jen: I think you’re explaining your perception accurately and completely enough, but my sense, both as a person who has talked to people about the current insecurities and has lived abroad myself, is that the reaction has as much to do with the economics of the act as any other element.
To keep a Nazi meme going for the discussion, the pushback is anger or frustration about *the rich Jews* having the resources to abandon the rest of us. (As though having wealth equals the ability to fight, and win, against a cultural shift.)
@EddieInDR: No plans to leave here. While I think bad things are happening, I expect them to be mostly collateral to me in a way that would not hit me differently whether we remain here or move abroad. Either way I will need to look for ways to support those more directly impacted.
It figures:
http://www.abcnews.go.com/Politics/trump-calls-usaid-tremendous-fraud-wife-daughter-promoted/story?id=118547473
@CSK: @Paul L.: And here I thought that the reason that the “President Elon” meme wasn’t bothering Trump anymore was because the person who prepares the “clippings about ME” brief that Trump gets has been told to leave the “Prez Elon” ones out.
But who really knows anything anyway?
@Not the IT Dept.:
I’ve let you all slide with this for far too long.
Can we not weaponize mental illness via insult? Please?
There is one situation I can think of wherein it may be appropriate–if someone who claims to suffer from a mental illness then uses it as a shield. Or if they then try to dismantle protections and/or eliminate public programs that provide resources and support for those living with mental illness.
Other than that, please stop. If Paul actually is suffering from serious mental illness as many of you believe, poking at the wound is counter-productive. And blatantly hypocritical for some, if not, all of you.
@Matt:
I read somewhere long ago the texture was made by first scanning a dog’s nose. I don’t vouch for the truth in that.
What I found scarier, especially after reading the Technomage books, were the Earth ships that incorporated Shadow skin technology.
@CSK: @MarkedMan: By coincidence the wife and I also recently went through Bab 5 on cable. While watching, one is well aware of the rudimentary nature of the CGI without it being distracting. The same can be said of the sets, many of which appeared to be a few partitions with industrial junk strewn around. And given the rudimentary CGI, they avoided my pet peeve with more recent movies. Apparently focus groups or whatever showed people really liked the space battle scenes in the first Star Wars movie. So now every se/prequel has to have a bigger, flashier space battle than the last, culminating in whichever forgettable episode with an utterly ridiculous, interminable battle sequence including Amazons on horses charging down space ship decks. I recall Lucas saying something about the special effects should be just whatever is needed to support the story, not an end in themselves.
Bab 5 was, however, guilty of the common cliche of portraying space ships going into battle wingtip to wingtip. Necessary to get more than one in the frame I suppose, but silly. Also, too, it’s space. In the famous Battle of the Line, why didn’t the Mimbari just go over the line, or under? (Remember Khan not thinking three dimensionally?)
@Kurtz: Can we not weaponize mental illness via insult? Please?
All right with me. My apologies for being insensitive to the issue.
Paul L., you’re an idiot.
@EddieInDR:
My wife and I are having a bit of a disconnect on this. As usual I’m more radical and she’s sane. She still has to book tour twice a year, and we have adult kids in the US. So we’ve reached an interim agreement – we’re taking ourselves and our dogs to the UK in late May. Americans get an automatic 6 month visa, no paperwork, and it’s renewable every time you enter the country – unless they decide you’re gaming them. We’ll rent a place, use London as a base for exploring, bounce back to Vegas for holidays and tours, head back and grab some Schengen time (3 month limit per annum) and see how we feel and decide where to stay longer term.
Moving the dogs is the critical difference between slow travel and actually inhabiting. Fortunately we are perhaps the most experienced re-locaters in the entire world. In 45 years we’ve moved more than 30 times, which is why our homes always look disorganized.
@Jen:
Well said. Me too.
Appreciate the TCK wiki link. Good to place a name to the feeling of being culturally displaced.
@gVOR10:
Niven and Pournelle portray realistic space combat in their Motie books. It turns out to be rather boring and unspectacular. But at least the B5 Starfuries don’t bank like F-16s or X-wings.
As to the line, going over it would expose the Minbari ships’ soft underbelly. Or, more likely, they were just as happy to slaughter Earthers in great numbers as they slowly breached the line. See the prequel movie, In The Beginning, when Delenn wants to capture a human, she’s told to pick one soon as they’re quickly running out of candidates (and then there’s some cinematic time dilation).
@just nutha:
Yes, but Trump’s an avid watcher of cable news, and “President Musk” has been all over that, too.
@CSK:
Reportedly, next weeks Time Magazine cover will feature a picture of Musk sitting behind the Resolute Desk. The constant drip of stories of Musk usurping the felon and his staffer’s bitching about Musk, will get to him.
Oh, FFS.
NSA museum covered plaques honoring women and people of color, provoking an uproar
So, the DEI removal order is being interpreted as “erase history if you want.”
I hate this timeline…
@Kurtz:
That’s fair. I don’t know if I’m guilty or not, but given my personal issues and traumas, will do.
@Not the IT Dept.:
Actually, he reminds me of the lesser criminal masterminds I knew 45 years ago. Like the guys who were convinced they could boost a crack house or mid-level dealer without killing everyone in the house, or the one whose brilliant plan involved bombing SPD’s South Precinct as a freaking distraction !
Idiot is, perhaps, too kind. But then again, I never had a taste for Flavor-Aid
@Kurtz:
Well stated. My only note is I would change “counterproductive” to “dangerous”.
@MarkedMan:
Agreed. Thank you.
@CSK: I wouldn’t think Fox and OAN are using that meme, but I don’t watch cable news.
@Joe: Totally agree with you. I can’t leave the country (Health reasons). I’m not much of a protest type but helping those in the community who will be seriously affected is, and will be, a prime effort for me.
@Jen:
This makes perfect sense to me. For me, moving to the UK does feel like tremendous abandonment. I feel guilty that I’m leaving behind a ton of trans people to the hell we’re experiencing now. I told me Dr today that it feels like I’m jumping out of the fire into the frying pan.
The trans uk subreddits are also talking about how American trans people should stay out of the UK because it’s so bad and they’re like if you’re in a blue state you’re fine. I’m like you’re missing the larger picture, I don’t see how this present situation doesn’t end in massive death and violence.
The Republicans have spend the last 40 years preparing the Pauls of the world that their redemption is coming. What happens when they find out their savior is an idiot fraud. Or when the other half of the country wakes up and tells them all to fuck off. Conservatives have told themselves a nice bedtime story that they are the only tough ones and the only ones with guns. What happens when they run into a bunch of hard ass lefties that are stick of being pushed around. Or when Black people decide the risk of being re-enslaved is worse than the risk of going to jail. That’s a whole group of people that has, by and large, not forgotten.
I don’t see how this all doesn’t end in violence and I don’t want to wait around and get got. Or my kids. Or how about going somewhere that I don’t have the full ache that any fucking day some asshole could wander into my kids school and start shooting. Republicans have decided that’s the cost of doing business. Oh well.
@Not the IT Dept.:
@EddieInDR:
I’m in full agreement that bad things are coming. My gut tells me the big date for shit to really start hitting the fan is March 14. I’m pretty sure the Republicans are either going to shut the government down or agree to spending cuts that are so severe and stupid the economy will blow out. Or both. That’s assuming checks keep going out for the next couple of weeks. Musk breaking that right as the government shuts down will be hilarious.
@Michael Reynolds:
lol, maybe we’ll run into each other.
@Kurtz:
I’ve been off my meds this week for, uh, reasons. It’s suuuuuuuucked. Bigley. Thanks for keeping up the good fight.
Also, another fun thing to think about, remember last time, Dr. Rep. Ronnie “Dr. Feelgood” Jackson was handing out all sorts of federal government grade pharmaceuticals of the White House pharmacy? No doubt that’s happening again. I wonder how much high quality MDMA, cocaine and Adderall is going out?
@MarkedMan: @Kurtz:
Gotta tell you, guys, I respect you both, but I am done with people telling me what words I can or cannot use. I’m a big boy, I’m not out to hurt anyone, and words are both my business, and also my business. I can do more damage with the word fat or ugly than 90% of the proscribed terms, and we are not going to be able to banish either.
This scolding, condescending approach just irritates people while protecting no one. That’s not how words work. ‘Mentally ill’ or ‘fucked in the head,’ it does not matter, context and intent matter.
Like I said, respect and like you both, but when someone jumps in to correct my word choice my immediate response is, ‘fuck off,’ and then I just avoid talking to them. I will decide what words I use and how I use them.
The infinite “lolz” of MAGA
@Scott: I recently did a B5 rewatch. It is such a great show!
THANK GOODNESS, that they identified the one, single, solitary racist on team DOGE before it was almost too late!
Teamleader Musk must be absolutely horrified, distracted by his busy schedule,
traveling abroad to confer with the AfD, and all.
@Kurtz:
Paul actively seeks to advance a fascist, antigay, white supremacist movement trying to unalive me and mine.
If anything untoward happens to Paul, thoughts and prayers to Paul.
@Rob1: Don’t know why he really resigned, but that was not why.
@just nutha:
I doubt Fox and OAN are, but even Trump can’t avoid seeing “President Musk” elsewhere. The Time cover will drive him around the bend.
@Kurtz:
Seconded. As someone who lives with some neurodiversity/spiciness and needs to be on meds for it, this is a topic I definitely care about. I get the colloquial use of “crazy”–it’s taken me four years of constant practice to resist the urge to use it–so I try to let it slide as well. But it ultimately can create a lot of stigma for some people (and be counterproductive).
All that said, I’m not going to try to control people’s speech–just ask them to think before saying things.
@Beth:
FWIW, the number one rule of trauma recovery and being able to be there for someone else is that you need to take care of yourself first (i.e. secure your mask before helping others). It’s really easy to let guilt or shame get in your way when doing that–trust me, I have had a LOT of lessons in that area in recent years. And, from that point of experience, I just want to reiterate, you need to be safe and take care of your needs before you can help others. So if that means moving to the UK, then it means moving to the UK.
@CSK:
Let’s all send Valentines to:
First class postage is 73¢.
I’m sure there are Valentine cards out there with a black heart.
@Mister Bluster:
What a great idea!
@Mister Bluster:
I wonder. If I were to send such a card with this on the front of the envelope:
WARNING! THIS ENVELOPE CONTAINS NO ANTHRAX OR EXPLOSIVES!
Would I get in trouble?
@CSK:
Fraud is a crime, yes?
Has anyone in USAID been charged yet ?
It was my understanding that Musk was to find fraud, not just to make a factless claim.
@just nutha:
To be clear, many of those who left did so in order to remain alive to fight from other shores, including providing funds.
@Michael Reynolds: To be clear, in this particular instance I really think the person has a dangerous fixation on violence towards women and I worry that engaging him here could lead to him acting out. For this reason I think it would be better for everyone, but especially him and those around him, if he were banned.
For everyone else, well, I don’t spend my time engaging with run of the mill trumpers, but others do, and that’s annoying to me but perfectly within the sphere of a blog comments section. This one case is seems unique to me.
@Kathy: Yes. Don’t even joke about such things in a public forum, or you may find an unwelcome surprise the next time you attempt to clear customs in the US.
@Michael Reynolds:
I understand. In hindsight, my post can be read as judgmental finger wagging, and I really did not intend it that way. That is definitely on me.
FWIW and OTOH: I deliberately cast my post as a request. I had you in mind, because I think your viewpoint is both understandable and necessary. The latter as a counterweight to overbearing sensitivity. And you express it better than most I have seen.
I think where we differ is “weaponization”. I do not think calling Trump or whomever “insane” or “fucked in the head” would fit that concept. Nor do I find either descriptor as particularly derogatory in that context.
However, I started thinking a little more yesterday. I replied to one of Paul’s posts to ask who he intended to address. @DK responded to me:
I chuckled, I will admit that. I definitely did not reach for pearls. I cannot even say I feel bad for chuckling.
Should I? Maybe. Because that comment does strike me as taking a small step over the line. Probably because Paul’s posts do appear to be the product of a disordered mind. If that is true, I do not think ridiculing that mind is appropriate. I don’t think anyone aware of the context would consider it offensive to anyone suffering from auditory hallucination.
@DK‘s post today is more appropriate, as it strikes closer to an acceptable target. BUT if the suspicions about Paul’s mental state are correct, I think the blame lies elsewhere, e.g. propagandists, those who defend a broken healthcare system. In that sense, Paul’s actions cannot be described as willful.
Moreover, to @MM’s point, it can be dangerous. We all know the extensive history of categorizing homosexuality as a form of mental illness to the point that it was officially endorsed by medical gatekeepers. It is a much less common view today, but it still exists in some corners. Most of those who at one time did or would have been of that view have chosen to focus on the T rather than the LGB when making that claim.
That form of oppression can only be effective if mental illness is discussed in a dehumanizing way. Again, I do not think that anyone has said anything that rises to that level, but I can easily see how one might interpret the “agitated voices” comment that way.
I would suggest being mindful.
Man, I still feel like I am nowhere near a fully formed position.
@MarkedMan:
I’m reminded of those signs in airports that warn you not even to joke about carrying a bomb, because the airport personnel have no sense of humor.
@Jen: Thanks for the info. I’ve not done much WW (either one) history deep diving (or any other period for that matter). That said, conventional wisdom on lots of matters differs from fact and those differences propel reactions to events.
@Matt Bernius:
I just posted, but this is a satisfactory tl;dr for anyone understandably disinclined to take a long(ish, by my standards), meandering walk through one of my reasoning processes.
@Bobert:
Well, Trump called USAID “a tremendous fraud” and Musk called it “criminal,” so I guess that is sufficient for them and the MAGAs,
@MarkedMan:
Hmmm. I went a different direction with dangerous.
Your view is interesting.
Though, have you considered that a ban could also function as a trigger?
@MarkedMan: Or even earlier. I’m reminded of the day I was substitute teaching at a high school evacuated temporarily for a bomb threat. The two students who had made the call from a local quick mart (as a prank, of course), were quickly arrested,* and when their parents came to enquire about how to resolve the matter, they were directed to the Federal prosecutor’s office in Yakima.
*Small town. (Who knew that the local telephone company could trace calls made to the schools? Even in the early 90s. Or that the district superintendent would call the FBI field office–and be able to secure its cooperation?)
@CSK:
I’ve hear a TSA agent or two crack a joke once or three times.
I’ve been asked if I have any forbidden items. I never do. But if I declared “I’ve no forbidden items in my carry on and bag”, that wouldn’t be joking about safety at all.
This comment wasn’t crafted with the aid of AI or any other kind of Dark Magick. No animals were hurt in the production of this comment.
@MarkedMan:
By the looks of things, I probably won’t be visiting America for the rest of the century.
@Bobert:
Hahaha. Yeah.
Musk rarely makes even a cursory attempt at supporting any claim. Like Trump, he
relies onexploits a long running myth about businessmen and the related cartoonish definition of leadership to give weight to his inane, ignorant utterances.There is a reason they both love Twitter. Its format is perfect for faux-argumentation by and for poseurs highly allergic to rigor.
Am I the only one who:
can’t shake the suspicion that Musk may be in the upper meaty part of the IQ curve than the right tail;
and/or
is skeptical of his announcement on SNL that he suffers from AS?
I may be letting my distaste for him get the better of me, but the stench of week-old, unrefrigerated fish wafts from his general direction.
@Matt Bernius:
Intellectually, I understand this and my therapist is working overtime to help me believe it. But I don’t. I feel like an abject failure that I couldn’t do enough to change people’s minds before hand and now I have to flee. It just sucks. As my therapist says, we’re the first movers. The ones who’s guts are telling us its unsafe and time to go. There’s value in that and everyone here thinking of leaving should trust their guts and go. Knowing and feeling are different though.
@Kurtz:
I think the actual difference between your position is a willingness to be wrong and grow vs the feeling that even the gentlest of limitation is the ABSOLUTE UNCONDITIONAL ASSAULT ON HIS BEING AND EXISTENCE AND WORTH.
Daddy Reynolds is so boring with that schtick. Oh no, things have changed and we’re working to be better to those around us. It’s boring to listen to him.
It’s also hilarious to me that, as a writer, he simultaneously believes that words matter and that words don’t matter.
and before you start in on me Daddy, I don’t care what’s in your head, it bores me. You bore me.
I just read this at Seeking Alpha…
“Equity returns in Brazil and other countries are outstripping that of U.S. stocks so far in 2025, with Bank of America saying investors are looking beyond the U.S. exceptionalism theme.
The S&P 500 (SP500) has risen ~2.7% this year through midday Friday. That increase is behind 12% and 10% gains in Brazil and Germany, respectively, BofA said. Chinese, U.K. and Australian equities were each returning 6%, and Canadian stocks were clocking in a 4% return.
“International stocks front-running peak U.S. exceptionalism,” Bank of America investment strategists led by Michael Hartnett said in their Flow Show note Friday.
Investors are looking at the potential of “geopolitical peace” in the Middle East, Russia and Ukraine, and betting on a lack of escalation in the U.S.-China trade war – the “only one that matters,” Hartnett said.
BofA has been cautioning about a peak in the U.S. exceptional theme that’s fueled longstanding outperformance of U.S. stocks over international markets. The S&P 500 (SP500) rose more than 20% in 2024 and 2023.
The theme is nearing its peak as investors in an “exceptionally expensive” U.S. market see excess federal fiscal spending, a fading “bubble” in AI capital expenditures, and immigration curbs, BofA said last week. Hartnett, who coined the Magnificent Seven” term, said last week the group is at risk of morphing into the “Lagnificent Seven”. “
Ouch.
@Michael Reynolds:
I don’t know, “person experiencing morbid obesity and inflicting the consequences on the rest of us, not to mention all the unsuspecting and unreinforced furniture” would be pretty devastating.
At my biggest I was 310lbs. (Now 250, which sounds like a lot, but at 6’6”, it’s not as much as it sounds). “Fat” just doesn’t have an impact — yeah, I’m fat.
@Kurtz: That Musk would be in the center of the IQ curve certainly wouldn’t constitute any sort of anomaly, most people are. As to Musk being on the autism spectrum, I’m far less concerned for him than I am for the parents of children caught in the expanded definition as those children become “clients” of school sped systems where “autistic” is still associated with the kids who wear football helmets to protect them from skull fractures instead of the array of conditions now conflated under the single label. But I don’t have any particular problem thinking he’s “on the spectrum.” I really don’t care either way, though.
@Beth: If you’re concerned for your safety or that of your loved ones, you need to go. The only thing people’s guts lie about routinely is needing cookies to feel secure. Trust me on this.
My little town is usually very, very boring. This has turned our community upside down. The information now coming out about these two assholes indicates the school and the county justice system repeatedly slapped these two on the wrist for school threats, personal threats, and now they’re charged with murder.
I am not normally a fan of the death penalty. There are too many cases where the guilt of the defendant is in doubt.
There is no doubt about what these two animals did, and a man died. They bragged about it at school. In this particular case, I fully support a death penalty charge.
https://cowboystatedaily.com/2025/02/07/death-penalty-still-on-the-table-in-big-piney-impaling-death-prosecutor-says/?fbclid=IwY2xjawITcElleHRuA2FlbQIxMQABHf0EGDv3EQ8WEGXxssWi0giNrGDRfbFI_mixBz_Lckdp4wvMsH___cU-Dw_aem_wiQdSbXeX3hERLSwBrIfRw
@just nutha:
I asked the first question in the context of his public image–cult of personality, really–and the American tendency to lionize businessmen. For example, whoever originated the specious claim that CEOs read 56 books a year had a reason for it.
The process of myth making in this context is important, I think.
Outside of that context, it doesn’t matter to me what his IQ is. I don’t really care about IQ much, either. But still.
The second question is asked in the context of whether Musk would lie about it for some perceived gain. If, for example, he thought it would provide cover for poor behavior. Or if he thought it would enhance the perception of his competence.
I only really care about that question insofar as it would shed light on his character. Not that there is a lack of ammo in that department.
On moving to Europe (including UK in that category):
I say this with a heavy heart, and massive regret.
But anyone who does so must contemplate the possibility that within a decade, the US and Europe could end up being adversaries.
People have referred to the experience of the German (and other) exiles of the 1930’s.
Mostly Jewish, but not exclusively. Life in exile is not always easy in itself.
But many of those ended up having to fight, or encompass the possible destruction of, their former homeland.
That is not an easy road to walk.
May any powers that be avert it.
@Beth:
On further reflection, I do think my first post is probably correct. I needed that second post as a check. Even if the intent is not to be hurtful, there is a normative effect.
My question to you: is it possible the alternative explanation is that a free speech absolutist must embrace the cognitive dissonance you describe?
Separate, but related: I think the distinction between speech and action, probably necessary in law to maintain freedom of speech, permeates wider culture in a negative way.
Speaking of the cognitive dissonance in your post, some people love to apply speech as an act when it aligns with their worldview, but tell others that “it’s just words” when they want to defend an ally.
I think this may also be a result of dualism. But I don’t find dualism persuasive. I see the mind/body distinction as relying on a sort of god of the gaps argument.
Trump just announced that he’s revoking Biden’s security clearance and stopping his daily intelligence briefings.
Meanwhile in Ukraine:
Mirage 2000.
Eat it, Vova.
@Kurtz:
Anything is possible, but I doubt it. This is unlikely to be the only outlet he has. And to be honest, my concern is more for James, Steven, Matt, and the regulars here. We think we are just engaging with some random trumper, but if it triggers something horrible I wouldn’t want it on us, despite the fact that he is ultimately responsible for his actions. Of course, we are unlikely to ever find out if he did commit some harm. I have a compulsion to play out the consequences of my own actions, and it unfortunately encompasses others in my daily life. I feel that the person in question is struggling with a desire to harm, and I don’t think the way we engage with him here is going to do anything but exacerbate that desire.
I’m no better than Lucy Van Pelt and her 5 cents psychiatry booth, but that doesn’t matter. I believe what I believe and feel compelled to point it out.
And now, DOGE decides to shut down the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau.
All hail the benevolent, and not at all self-interested, overlords.
The really interesting thing is going to be when Musk and Trump, and tech-bros various, attempt to force the EU to rescind their Digital Services Act.
@CSK:
This is simple tit-for-tat as Biden (or his staff) did similar to Trump =- we can’t trust him. And seriously when is former President Biden? This is weird.
Nothing-burger.