Turning On The Giant Faucet Of Bullshit - US Politics February 2025

Only 28 Days this time...

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/01/health/malaria-tb-hiv-trump-aid-pause-.html?unlocked_article_code=1.tk4.aapH.JXibpQybi3JW&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

Lifesaving health initiatives and medical research projects have shut down around the world in response to the Trump administration’s 90-day pause on foreign aid and stop-work orders.

In Uganda, the National Malaria Control Program has suspended spraying insecticide into village homes and ceased shipments of bed nets for distribution to pregnant women and young children, said Dr. Jimmy Opigo, the program’s director.

Medical supplies, including drugs to stop hemorrhages in pregnant women and rehydration salts that treat life-threatening diarrhea in toddlers, cannot reach villages in Zambia because the trucking companies transporting them were paid through a suspended supply project of the United States Agency for International Development, U.S.A.I.D.

Dozens of clinical trials in South Asia, Africa and Latin America have been suspended. Thousands of people enrolled in the studies have drugs, vaccines and medical devices in their bodies but no longer have access to continuing treatment or to the researchers who were supervising their care.

Grisso/McCain:

https://static.wikia.nocookie.net/ultimatepopculture/images/e/e4/28_days_later.jpg/revision/latest/scale-to-width-down/250?cb=20190320185838

Good afternoon!

https://assets-prd.ignimgs.com/2024/01/11/twenty-eight-days-later-ver2-button-1704982369363.jpg

Not yet figured out Bluesky links on my phone, but just saw that NTSB will only be sending out communications via X now - no emails, no other form of communication.

this all feels so blatantly illegal

Yeah Donald’s justice department should do something about it

Xp Well that’s one way to keep his shitty website alive

So apparently any FBI agent that had anything to do with investigating January 6 is going to be fired... which is about 6000 agents, out of a total force of under 14,000.

Planning an interstate crime spree? Might as well get on that, since the FBI is gonna be operating at half strength for quite a while, given that the Office of Personnel Management (HR for the government) is being destroyed, too.

Re the HIV, TB, and Malaria stuff posted above, the Rubio con job mentioned in there is also disgusting--

On Tuesday night, Secretary of State Marco Rubio issued an exemption to the funding freeze for “lifesaving humanitarian assistance,” including what a State Department memo called “core lifesaving medicine.” However, shuttered H.I.V. and tuberculosis treatment programs have been told by their contacts at U.S.A.I.D. that they cannot resume work until they receive written instruction that the waiver applies specifically to them.

Also on Tuesday, a federal judge blocked the freeze until Feb. 3. But in practice, most U.S.A.I.D. country offices and programs are proceeding as if the freeze remains in place.

They have been unable to obtain clarification on whether and when their work can continue because their assigned contacts at U.S.A.I.D. have either been fired or furloughed, or are under strict instructions to not talk to anyone.

Planning an interstate crime spree? Might as well get on that,

One my my only consolations as we get closer to tax season is my assumption that no one will be looking too closely at my return.

Trump just fired Chopra the Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

https://apnews.com/article/trump-chopra-consumer-financial-protection-bureau-47b6b39d0eff05ea0c9bca4eacf55b79

Replacing political appointees from a previous administration with your own appointees is standard operating practice. It's expected. What's insane is how Trump's taken so many actions to decapitate the federal government and bring everything to a screeching halt with zero regard for the repercussions. It's the psychology of a mass shooter, not a political leader.

i hope i'm wrong but i dont see how this isn't gonna lead to a massive crash very soon. gutting half the federal government and replacing the rest with extremely unqualified cronies, i don't think they can pull off too much of what they're gunning for but i do think they can very effectively torpedo this country's superpower status

gutting half the federal government and replacing the rest with extremely unqualified cronies, i don't think they can pull off too much of what they're gunning for but i do think they can very effectively torpedo this country's superpower status

Yeah, firing half the government and only afterwards trying to do stuff like hire thousands of ICE and customs agents with nobody around to a) process the applications or b) requisition/procure equipment, never mind c) issue equipment to new people doesn't seem like a very workable plan. Like, who sets up all the laptops now? Who makes sure everything is logged properly and secure and trackable? Or is "the government" (aka one of the 25-year-old morons Trump keeps around) just gonna call up Best Buy and say, send over 500 laptops we can use for military/law enforcement stuff?

This is when they start contracting the work out to private companies who give them kickbacks

^ ^ ^

One my my only consolations as we get closer to tax season is my assumption that no one will be looking too closely at my return.

Being in a blue state is not going to save you.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/01/nyregion/nyu-langone-hospital-trans-care-youth.html?unlocked_article_code=1.tk4.atPC.Y024lzDeaf8r&smid=nytcore-ios-share&referringSource=articleShare

A leading New York City hospital system has begun canceling appointments for transgender children following President Trump’s executive order threatening to withhold federal funding to hospitals that provide gender-affirming treatments, according to the children’s parents.

The hospital system, NYU Langone Health, has not made any public announcements. But word spread among parents of trans children after the hospital canceled appointments for two 12-year-olds who had been scheduled to receive implants that dispense puberty-blocking medication.

The father of one of the children said his child’s doctor had told him that because of “the new administration” — a reference to Mr. Trump’s executive order — the hospital would not able to proceed with the procedure. The child had been due on Thursday to have a small device that would release Supprelin LA, a puberty-blocking medication, implanted in the upper arm. The father said the doctor suggested that they try calling other hospital systems in New York City or one the doctor recommended in Philadelphia.

waiting for Surgeon General Dr. Phil to outlaw medicine and replace with a regimen of tough love and boot camp

Replacing political appointees from a previous administration with your own appointees is standard operating practice. It's expected. What's insane is how Trump's taken so many actions to decapitate the federal government and bring everything to a screeching halt with zero regard for the repercussions. It's the psychology of a mass shooter, not a political leader.

I was replying to:

Trump just fired Chopra the Director of the Consumer Financial Protection Bureau

hope u guys like stagflation

black market chickens, gigacock eggz brah

Canada has announced 25% tariffs on US imports effective this week.

Also pulling products from red states off shelves where they can

At least all those Democrats tried to block Rubio’s confirmation.

Oh, wait. Not a single fucking one did. Even Bernie Sanders is fine with that asshole

my province NS is removing all american alcohol from its liquor stores. all liquor stores are owned by the province so that's effectively a ban.

What’s the over/under on another Great Depression? 6 months?

American liquor is shit, anyway. Except for maybe my Mr. Black espresso martini mix

people are gonna buy up all the moosehead...

American liquor is shit, anyway.

Do you ever tire of being the most wrong, acerbic asshole on this board?

Canadian beer is like moonshine

No, I don’t tire of it. It’s so easy to annoy thin-skinned idiots who spend too much time here like you

Beer makes you fat. Why would I want to be fat like you yanks?

Pictures, plz.

Can we ban this dickhead already?

Adding to the "federal employees are getting abused" posts, a friend of mine almost replied to one of those ghoulish emails about their job status with both the video where both Don and Jeffrey Epstein are pointing at underage girls, and several pics of Elmo Muskrat before his own gender-affirming surgery on his scalp and chin (I throw no shade at people who choose such options, only at transphobic fucksticks). She refrained. But maybe we all should just flood every fucking social media platform with those!

table otm

table OTM

jinx!

I don't even drink anymore but I will not hear this Tito's slander. It's cheap without burning and makes people more palatable.

amen

table otm

flagged

Rep. Nancy Pelosi’s office has received “many, many” calls about trans people’s struggles to update their passports in the last two weeks, a source familiar with the issue told The Standard Friday.

President Donald Trump signed an executive order Jan. 20 declaring that the U.S. government would recognize only two sexes. The order also bars people from changing their gender on federal documents.

Nevada Nubes, a trans person who lives in the Mission, said the passport agency denied their request to update their name and issue a new passport showing their gender as X, citing the executive order.

Nubes said they mailed in their passport Jan. 24 to update their name, which they recently legally changed.

“They said they could only give me my passport with my updated name, and then my gender that was assigned to me at birth,” Nubes said. But the office later said it couldn’t even do that. “They’re holding my documents, and I’m not able to travel.”

When Nubes asked for the old passport back, the office was unable to produce it. As a result, they had to cancel a Friday flight to Mexico to visit a friend who is dying of AIDS.

https://sfstandard.com/2025/01/31/trans-passport-gender-donald-trump-executive-order/

The entire system for applying/renewing/replacing passports appears to be down since yesterday: "Passport Application System is undergoing maintenance".

I'm sure its fine

F.A.A.’s Main Warning System for Pilots Is Down, U.S. Official Says

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/02/us/notam-outage-faa-alerts.html

probably nothing....

But their other option is...DeSantis? Tucker?

I agree Vance is maybe even worse than Trump but I don't see the entire GOP rallying behind such a beta cuck

I didn’t see them rallying behind a whiny, petulant clown with a giant combover either, but here we are

Lest this other, shittier news get lost in the mess.

Transgender and nonbinary Iowans will no longer be shielded by state law from discrimination in housing, employment, education and more after Gov. Kim Reynolds signed a law Friday removing gender identity as a protected class in the Iowa Civil Rights Act.

The signing makes Iowa the first state in the country to take away civil rights from a group it has previously protected in law.

"beta cuck" is so the opposite of words or things i ever think about these days, so i can see how, if that's what's animating and inspiring the current "GOP" (they're not the GOP anymore, or they always were, same difference), then....you know what, even then, i think i will go ahead and say that yes, i think even then they would rally behind such a beta cuck. that just gives them cover to do what they're already doing, because even though it makes half the country vomit, the other half would bring that guy straight home to mom and be so proud of their godly warrior

does Russia currently have the capacity to try and take over other countries?

I'm not sure, but if they fuck with a NATO country, I imagine the NATO members that still have a spine would respond... and there's some pretty kick-ass armies in there. I feel like Russia has killed off a generation of young men (for no reason) and the N Korea experiment failed (they were all sent home) so I don't think Russia is currently in any position to expand their aggression.. but who knows down the road

i don't have the transcript, but there was a point where i think vance just straight up told zelensky that he wasn't going to "win". i realize that, depending on how you define "win", he was right. but what an incredible thing to say, in that fashion, at that moment, there, in that way.

― z_tbd, Friday, February 28, 2025 4:36 PM (seventeen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

This was incredible. Like no fucking shit they are losing a war to a much larger country that invaded them. Should they be embarrassed? Does JD Vance pick fights with second graders and gloat about it?

If that is our morality let’s put Trump in the octagon with Zelensky and have them fight for mineral rights. Fair is fair.

i'm not sure people understand this very common inner desire for men (and trad wife culture and white evangelicals in particular) to pursue violent moral conflict in which they get to be a sacrificial hero. some of those dudes grow big muscles and pick on little dudes like me and then buy guys and listen to rogan. others see that if they put on nice clothes and get the right accreditations, they can do white-collar violence to people they hate and get paid a shit ton while they do it, while listening to rogan. there are all sorts of flavors, but someone like vance (and those that fell victim to his persona, and yes, they exist) wants to be seeing as heroically saying the "hard truths", speaking to power, righteously. it's bizarre and it doesn't make sense but i think that has a lot more to do with it than "beta cuck" stuff

Zelensky is the sacrificial hero in this analogy

If that is our morality let’s put Trump in the octagon with Zelensky and have them fight for mineral rights.

total tangent but honestly i think zelensky is quite a bit smaller (8 inches shorter), and even though he's also 30 years younger, rumor has it that if you punch trump you will lose your hand to the goo

that iowa pro-discrimination bill is another new low in a month of new lows

Trump and Vance are just keyboard warrior losers.

NATO? kick-ass armies? There’s France and the UK… and the dropoff is pretty steep after that

I honestly thought that Vance’s persona was so weird and offputting that his selection as running mate was going to throw the election to Harris. Silly me!

My fear that I might die before J.D. Vance and so be unable to piss on his grave

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pi_YQul7XXk

Without the US supporting the sovereignty of European countries, and just a general principle that wars of aggression and expansion are a non-starter, Europe is in trouble. Trump and Vance relish this fact because they like exploiting vulnerabilities.

In the long run it will ruin the US by destabilizing the world but they will have fun throwing their weight around for a while

My favourite part is Zelenskyy's look when Trump starts screaming about Hunter Biden's bathroom.

I honestly thought that Vance’s persona was so weird and offputting that his selection as running mate was going to throw the election to Harris.

And it might have happened, but Harris “happened to turn Black.”

NATO? kick-ass armies?

Finland kicked their ass before, they can do it again

"beta cuck" is so the opposite of words or things i ever think about these days, so i can see how, if that's what's animating and inspiring the current "GOP" (they're not the GOP anymore, or they always were, same difference), then....you know what, even then, i think i will go ahead and say that yes, i think even then they would rally behind such a beta cuck. that just gives them cover to do what they're already doing, because even though it makes half the country vomit, the other half would bring that guy straight home to mom and be so proud of their godly warrior

― z_tbd, Friday, February 28, 2025 3:54 PM (eighteen minutes ago) bookmarkflaglink

the problem that he and every other GOP toady has once Trump's out of the picture is they spent so much time fellating him in public and were willing to shed every moral and political belief they had in order to curry favor with him, I don't think being such a shameless bootlicker ever really brings you that kind of power. Vance ain't gonna rally the MAGA dipshits, he's way too much of an awkward debate club nerd, he's not gonna be able to sell the "nobody's laughing at us anymore!" shit to his base like Trump does

I forgot canada is in there as well

February 7, 2025 - Canada reaffirms commitment to NATO’s collective defence and security and welcomes Sweden to the Canadian-led NATO Multinational Brigade Latvia

“Does JD Vance pick fights with second graders and gloat about it?”

Punching down is a huge part of their approach. So yes he would do that if Trump told him to.

Republican voters squealed in delight when Trump mocked a handicapped person in 2016, so yeah

seems like Vance has been playing second-fiddle to Musk so he wanted to make a show of it, to get into Trump's graces again

I generally avoid political commentary, but that meeting reminded me of the scene in Chernobyl where the plant boss berates one of the engineers who is dying of radiation poisoning. The plant boss can't accept that anything could be wrong. "You couldn't have seen graphite, you're lying".

I mention it because Zelensky has a very bleak future if he doesn't win the war.

Trump thinks it is amusing to contemplate what Putin will do to Zelensky and his family. Losers, right?

Trump is mentally deranged and psychopathic. I don’t really see a way out of this for America and the world right now. He will do significant damage and people will die.

People who believe a new multipolar world order will come out of this are deluded. Major decisions are being guided by one lunatic and his random and sadistic intuitions.

People already have died.

xp Biden has been gone for a few months now.

I know David Brooks is not beloved around here, but he's damn near weeping about the WH meeting today on PBS News Hour

I can't stand that turd, but I watched him and Capehart last Friday, which I never do because fuck him, and he seemed as close to despair as most people here

Honest question: after their misadventure in Ukraine, does Russia currently have the capacity to try and take over other countries? I suppose the Baltic nations are quite small but still.

Most European countries don't really have any defense capacity of their own, NATO is effectively in name only, and I think any form of collective European defence or NATO replacement is unlikely. Turkiye have a strong interest in preventing the Black Sea from becoming a Russian lake, and I think are currently Ukraine's best hope for support

Also I think depends on timeframe, capacity today and capacity tomorrow are different things especially if we're talking over the next decade rather than year, and at what point sanctions on Russia start to get lifted

too little too late for Brooks, just another traitor finally getting thrown under the bus

Brooks is really horrible but you have to be something worse than really horrible to approve of trump and vance’s performance today. This means almost all republicans in congress are worse than really horrible.

Watching it again, Trump seemed especially offended by Zelensky’s criticism of Putin. And he said that Putin “went through” the Russiagate scandal “with” Trump. Like what the fuck

treesh in all seriousness I have a book recommendation 4 u

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/560830.My_Name_is_Chellis_and_I_m_in_Recovery_from_Western_Civilization

They survived the Biden Bathroom Offensive together.

I get that USAID wasn’t perfect, but their work fighting malaria, aids, and tuberculosis was a good thing. So my wife and I did the least we could today and showed up and cheered USAID employees who had been fired and were given 15 minutes slots today to clear their personal belongings out of the Reagan Building office some of them were in. . My wife and others gave them flowers too. Anti- Musk signs were waved too. I get that this might sound corny lib resistance to some, but it felt like the right thing to do to us.

"we are the leaders we’ve been waiting for."

https://robertreich.substack.com/p/ten-reasons-for-optimism

This feels like 1919 in an alternative timeline

We need a new thread in which to vent our anger and anguish over the state of (mostly) national politics in the USA for the month of March.

Do you even own a suit?

There's a whole administration's worth of thread titles in that press conference.

Before we close up this one, I just want to say that 29 days ago when I merged two Trumpisms* for this thread title I really had no idea how fully and completely apt it would be.

*The California water thing and him describing Mayor Pete's "Great line of bullshit" during the post-DC plane crash presser.

Putting this here even though it's March. The backlash is real.

Senator Marshall (R-KS) RUNS AWAY, fleeing his own town hall after being asked about DOGE firing Veterans. MAKE HIM GO VIRAL.

https://bsky.app/profile/muellershewrote.bsky.social/post/3ljdjznddic2m

note that the second line in my post is taken from the bsky post, it's not mine

I bet most of the people in that room voted for Trump. Now they are shocked to discover that the face-eating leopards they voted for are going to eat people's faces indiscriminately!!

Magical, Alluring, Galvanizing, Adventurous: US Politics March 2025