The Second Trump Presidency

Musk is perhaps the most untrustworthy person when it comes to timelines. We were supposed to have full self-driving cars how many years ago? "It's easy" Musk said?

Exactly the example that came to mind when I saw PaulK's comment. I've tried FSD a couple times - they occasionally offer a free month as an enticement. It is absolutely amazing on the highway, but it can be scary as all get out on local roads. For example, try a left turn onto a busy road. It stops, edges out a bit, hits the brakes, edges out a bit more, repeats this a few times, then makes a decision that often involves a very small window, i.e., very aggressive.And of course, accidents do happen and people have been killed. Tesla's response is that FSD requires active driver supervision and does not make the vehicle autonomous. But this is Musk we're talking about and he doesn't really care. He will push the technology whether it's safe or not, figuring that the damages Tesla occasionally pays out is just the cost of doing business and promoting Tesla technology.I'm actually with Musk on this one. I think that if every car on the road were FSD all the time that total vehicular fatalities would go down dramatically. But we'll never do this because, at least at this stage, most people don't feel comfortable blaming software instead of a person.Because Tesla uses only cameras and does not use the more expensive LIDAR/RADAR combination, FSD should never be used in snow or heavy rain or fog. I also don't think it can recognize icy roads, meaning it might think normal speeds are okay when extreme caution is actually called for.--Percy

Didn't Obama have a good nuclear treaty with Iran, that *****(1) took the U.S. out off?Moose

There is so much that needs to be said or called out by the media that they are not. They're not stupid people, so I can only imagine that they're saying to themselves, "We called him out on all the bad he did during his first term from the big to the small, yet he's president again. Obviously it didn't work. What now? We don't know. Except for the occasional piercing op-ed we'll just publish milquetoast pieces until some good strategies come to mind, or he does something so horrendous it can't be met with minor mews of disapproval."--Percy

Kilmer Armado Abrego-Garcia, legally living in Maryland with his wife and son, now sits in an El Salvador prison after arrest by ICE officers, detention in Texas, and a flight to El Salvador. His lawyers are challenging the deportation, claiming it was an administrative error because an immigration judge had considered his application for asylum and "granted him withholding of removal to El Salvador." ICE acting field office director Robert L. Cerna filed a sworn declaration saying, "This removal was an error."One might be tempted to say, "So far, so good," but because Abrego-Garcia is now under El Salvadoran jurisdiction the U.S. has no power to order El Salvador to send him back. He is stuck in El Salvador with no hope of returning. This is an object lesson that one would think that responsible adults in positions of power would have learned long ago: the government, indeed anyone, should take great care in taking irreversible actions, but since the Trump administration's first day our government has not been taking great care in almost anything.But even that is not the biggest problem. The filing by Abrego-Garcia's lawyers says that the U.S. government "has never produced an iota of evidence to support this unfounded accusation." In response the government said, "He had the opportunity to give evidence tending to show he was not part of MS-13, which he did not proffer." The current government has turned the law upside-down. Instead of the government having to prove you're guilty, you now have to prove you're innocent.ICE admits to an 'administrative error' after Maryland man sent to El Salvador prison - ABC News--Percy

On Wednesday Trump is expected (because he said he would, so if he doesn't that's no surprise since he impulsively changes his mind all the time) to announce new tariffs that will bring in $600 billion annually to the federal government. It is a $600 billion dollar tax increase, which makes it one of the biggest in U.S. history.Ironically, after all Trump's declarations that he will reduce the size of government, it would increase federal taxes to more than 19% of GDP, its highest level in history.From the Wall Street Journal (it's behind a paywall, but the non-op-ed part of the information can be found anywhere): A $6 Trillion Trump Tax Increase?--Percy

It gets worse. Building on my message that I'm replying to, not only are you now guilty until proven innocent, apparently the Trump administration doesn't care about you or your family. Quoting from An ‘Administrative Error’ Sends a Maryland Father to a Salvadoran Prison - The Atlantic:

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Trump-administration attorneys told the court to dismiss the request on multiple grounds, including that Trump’s “primacy in foreign affairs” outweighs the interests of Abrego Garcia and his family.

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Not only are we now guilty until proven innocent, we have no recourse to injurious acts by our government when it serves "Trump's primacy in foreign affairs."Trump has not yet achieved official status as dictator or king (stay tuned), but he's sure acting like one.--Percy

This is an updated version of the famous poem:

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First they came for the gay barbers. Then they came for the computer-illiterate retirees. And then...

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It comes from the article I just cited, An ‘Administrative Error’ Sends a Maryland Father to a Salvadoran Prison - The Atlantic. What I quoted is as much of the poem as the author decided to write, but it feels like it deserves completion. Some of our members are gifted in this area and maybe will give it a try.--Percy

A more practiced aim could end this for us.

Another reason for these tariffs are blackmail, . . . shakedown, . . . mob protection racket.

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“After multiple White House aides insisted that the new tariffs were not a negotiation, The president said he would be open to negotiating with other countries about the duties.

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The president said he would be open to tariff talks with other counties if they offer something phenomenal, Reuters reported him saying on Air Force One.

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The president suggesting he is willing to “negotiate” is nothing more than him saying he is open to personal bribes.Mob boss talk. All he and his mentally- and ethically-impaired supporters understand.

The worst part is who is being made to pay for protection. That would be the American people because that is who pays the tariffs.

I'm now starting to see no plan. Is Trump overplaying his hand? What if the wheels fall off? Sometimes, a bluff gets called. Sometimes, in a "deal," the negotiator overestimates his strength. To quote from Top Gun: Maverick, "Rooster, your strategy is going to run us into the ground!"Are we about to see an implosion?

Christ on a bike, it's like none of this was predicted in advance and spelled out for you."Was this what you voted for Phat?"I'll send you the bloody teeshirt.My best hope for all of us is that this is your Liz Truss moment and the crash of the economy kills the driver.

You've always been a quick study professor.

He has a hand? The wheels fell of on Liberation Day. I'm starting to understand why they made us read the novel 1984 when we were in high school.“War is peace.
Freedom is slavery.
Ignorance is strength.”
--George Orwell, "1984"