He’s probably talking about all the equity deals the US government is getting involved in

https://www.cfr.org/articles/washingtons-growing-portfolio-tracking-u-s-government-investments

Remember when Republicans had a cow when part of the Obama administration’s bailout of GM involved the US government taking an equity stake in the company (which it has a plan to sell a few years later?) Well, now that Republicans are in charge, they’re doing the same thing, in overdrive.

According to that link, it’s only 27B total to far. But, of course Trump not only takes credit for it all, but overvalues it by at least 10x…

The America Files, apparently.

Kinda sucks that the USPS is diminished either way. Even if we nip this creeping fascism in the bud, the price is forcing states to use these private couriers for ballots, further eroding the Postal Service’s reason for existing.

The USPS operates under a Universal Service Obligation to provide mail service to every addressing the US, no matter how remote, and regardless of whether the delivery is part of a profitable route. The irony is that if Republicans suceed in abolishing or privatizing it, Republican voters in rural areas will find themselves paying the true cost of delivery to their locations. Yet again, Republicans vote for politicians who actively work to undermine those voter’s interests.

I think it’s more about mobilizing voters. Yes, voters who are paying attention have chosen their side already, for the most part. Both parties are now going after the apathetic voters.

Since we are talking about Texas, I found some data from Texas about voter turnout.

First, for the non-Americans, not that the “Primary” elections are just to pick the candidates from each major party, and in many cases are not highly contested. So many Americans just skip those. They have 12 to 15% turnout of registered voters, but those elections maybe outright canceled in some districts if neither party has multiple candidates.

For the purposes of this, also ignore elections in odd years. No Federal races are on these ballots.

The even years labeled “Presidential” have over 60% turnout the last few years. But the even years labeled “Gubernatorial” correspond to mid-term elections like this one, because Texas elects their governor at the same time. And note how that turnout is < 50% most years.

The goal of each party in the midterms is to try to motivate the 10%+ of their voters who only pay attention to the Predisential election to show up for this one, while at the same time try to discourage the voters from the other party from making the effort. Margins are so thin right now that even a Democrat can win in Texas if enough of their people show up.

Donald Trump did not become President (twice!) by listening to anything experts had to say.

Turns out the “Tabletop exercise” was just Hillary Clinton playing Avalon Hill’s “Diplomacy”…

This might be a good time to remind you all that a significant part of this wealth has been accumulated in the past two years. In fact, when NYS was going after his companies, and those big financial judgements came in, it was assumed he didn’t have that much liquid cash on hand, and would have to liquidate some of his properties to pay it off.

But then not only did the judgement get reduced, and he got reelected, but he also found crypto. He stated his Trump coin only a few days before inauguration, and has made bank on it.

All this wealth is due primarily to fleecing his supporters into buying his meme coin.

That’s funny, his wife tells him the same thing

It’s not that the army is out of Generals, but rather that the main civilian leadership posts in the Army (that require Senate confirmation) are all vacant. The ones who are currently in those posts in an acting capacity can’t get confirmed, because even Republican Senators think they are morons.

https://thehill.com/policy/defense/6062211-army-secretary-driscoll-to-depart-pentagon/

And while we are not out of Generals, it turns out Kegsbreath has pissed off quite a few generals who have resigned, and he has fired a bunch more who he doesn’t like. So there are a shit-ton of openings.

https://www.ndtv.com/world-news/us-army-faces-leadership-crisis-after-pete-hegseth-fires-top-generals-11960093

In January 2025, when Hegseth became Defence Secretary, the Army had 10 active-duty four-star generals. It now has only five, the lowest number in decades. Some senior positions have been removed, while others are being filled by officers from other military services.

I don’t think Trump voters asked the rest of the world for permission to be bigots

“We have no government-owned operational capability per se in the oil and gas sector,” says Gerald Kepes, president of Competitive Energy Strategies, an energy consultancy in Washington, D.C. “The question is, who’s going to operate on the ground?”

I bet it’s hidden behind a bunch of shell companies which obfuscates that whatever entity is involved on the US side is already owned by Trump and/or Kushner, and designed to siphon all the profit away and leave the government with the bill.

It was only about one third of the country. Another one third didn’t bother voting.

But a significant part of that one third of the country who voted for him (and the 1/3 who opted out entirely) just couldn’t seriously consider voting for a woman for President. It’s that simple. They’re all intimidated by the thought of a woman taking that last step towards real power.

But you can guarantee the cost of a toilet’s worth of pee will be 3x by the end of next year.

At least the Musical Theater nerds saw this coming

An awful lot of Americans are racist and sexist, and he says things they wish they could say.

If he holds on to power past January 2029, he won’t need anyone’s approval to do it.

Socialists of Lemmy: let’s not take Mamdani out behind the woodshed just yet.

First of all, the article makes it sound like Mamdani has pledged his undying devotion to Jeffries, above all other options, but as far as I can tell all he said was “I support him as Speaker”, with no actual timeframe given. Jeffries is the current Minority Leader, and no other candidate has come out to say they want to challenge him, at least not publicly. So, there technically isn’t another option right now. Mamdani could make an announcement that he supports Rob Manfred as Commissioner of Baseball, and it would have the same practical impact.

Also, Mamdani seems to be a savvy political operator. Remember how he had Trump mesmerized when they talked? This announcement didn’t come out of nowhere, I’m sure Mamdani has his reasons to announce this right now. I think it’s likely that Mamdani is trying to send a message to Jeffries. Yes, this is a public endorsement now, but Mamdani could change his mind, and the amount of press this is getting for a relatively minor announcement should be an indicator to Jeffries that he might not be able to hold on to his Leadership position while still ignoring progressives, since Mamdani is such a public figure in the progressive movement and his endorsement is meaningful.

I would Trust in the Zohran, he knows what he’s doing.

Lake Take Off, Hoser!

Ohio is chock full of speed traps, though, he might be saving money this way

Sure, stock up to protect your compound if you want, but I don’t think we are heading for a full-scale conflict on US soil. While war is generally good for business, that’s only when the fighting and dying are done Over There. Both sides would agree that war here is bad for business.

I can see us going through a National Divorce at some point. Here’s the script I would write: if the National Christians (Let’s call them Nat-C’s for short, it is fitting) want to hold a Constitutional Convention to remake government, why not let them? We’ll simply hold a parallel one for the sane states to make our own Government, with less Fascism. The two sets of delegates will have to get together at some point, though, to work out how the Federal Govenrment’s Assets and Liabilities are divided among the States.

Once all the delegates finish, we will have two competing Constitutions, and each State should be required to run a referendum to decide which they join. If things work out the way we expect, the Nat-C’s have all the Red states, we get all the sane states, and we are all better off.

But, the large Red states like Florida and Texas still have their own sizeable urban populations. If presented an “A/B” choice of this magnitude, they may come out and vote. If the new Nat-C country just has all the backwater states, it will go bankrupt faster than a Trump Casino. At that point, you will need the guns and ammo that the Nat-C’s let you keep, to fend off your God-fearing neighbors.

If we pull out of this fascist nosedive, one reason will be the prescience of the writers of the Constitution to put the administration of elections in the hands of the States, subject to regulation by Congress. The President simply cant do that much on his own. He can bloviate all he wants on this topic, but absent any new action from Congress states are free to ignore him.

This sole clause does a lot of work in preventing the Presidency from becoming a full-on dictatorship. But only if the States don’t comply with the President.