From the Record:
Single-family home listings in NJ were down in 2024. See by how much
The number of new listings for single-family homes in New Jersey grew in 2024 compared with the prior year, but that number remained well below the levels seen in 2022.
The Garden State saw a total of 75,101 new single-family home listings in 2024 — a 4.5% increase from 2023. But this number was 14.6% lower than the 91,781 new single-family listings the state had in 2022. This suggests that elevated mortgage rates and rising home prices continue to keep homeowners from putting their properties on the market.
This is according to New Jersey Realtors — a state branch of the National Association of Realtors — which released its 2024 end-of-year report that recaps how real estate performed throughout the state.
With a total of 56,541 closed single-family home sales last year, the report said, the state had a 0.8% decrease in single-family homes sold compared with the previous year.
Home prices were on the rise last year compared with 2023, though, just as they have been for the last several years. The median sales price in New Jersey was $560,000 at the end of 2024, an 11% jump from 2023, the report said. The report said most New Jersey homes sold over asking price in 2024, at about 102.8% of what they were listed for.
Single-family homes stayed on the market for about 35 days in New Jersey last year, 5.4% less time than in 2023.
As for the townhouse-condo market, the report said there were a total of 19,760 housing units sold in 2024, or 2.3% more than in 2023. New listings increased by 8.7%, with 27,380 listings.
The prices of these housing units were 11% more in 2024 than the year before, with a median sale price of $417,000. And most of these properties sold for about 101.6% of their listing price — 0.2% more than 2023 — after staying on the market for about 34 days, according to the report.
Friskies
I”lol see your 10 and raise you 5.
The Chinese government slapped tariffs of up to 15% on U.S. imports of coal and liquefied natural gas and 10% higher duties on crude oil, farm equipment and selected cars, effective Feb. 10.
Grrrr
And export controls/restrictions on rare earths.
https://www.reuters.com/world/china/chinas-curbs-exports-strategic-minerals-2025-02-04/
The median sales price in New Jersey was $560,000 at the end of 2024, an 11% jump from 2023, the report said. The report said most New Jersey homes sold over asking price in 2024, at about 102.8% of what they were listed for.
Gen Z’ers are going to start hacking Boomers to death. Or, if you want to side with Boomers. you can say they fell into an asset that skyrocketed in value.
Watch out Grim. You may face 10 years for downloading DeepSeek.
https://www.404media.co/senator-hawley-proposes-jail-time-for-people-who-download-deepseek/
Nobody admirers the Boomer generation. They Implemented Trickle Down Economics and then turned Maga because Trickle Down Economics was a fraud. so stupid
Fast Eddie says:
February 4, 2025 at 7:56 am
Gen Z’ers are going to start hacking Boomers to death. Or, if you want to side with Boomers. you can say they fell into an asset that skyrocketed in value.
Hello All….been a while….cursory glance seems to show everyone staying calm and carrying on….:)
Given the crazy proliferation of AI models, a couple questions for our resident AI experts, including our gracious host….
1. Which overall LLM is ‘best’ (paid and free) for general queries
2. Which model is best to draft standard documents, eg legal, financial
3. Best model (if any) to upload a specific ‘standard type form’ document (think something like a will or trust), then request and get updated copy or reply
The last two points are basically asking, I suppose, is there a model that can replace a lawyer or FA to originate updates or replies to standard documents in the industry.
TYIA, and well wishes to all.
I found Qwen from Alibaba to be giving great reaults. Better than openAI
https://chat.qwenlm.ai/
My 2 yuan
For paid – Anthropic/Claude and OpenAI/ChatGPT (o1) are basically the two top platforms/models when it comes to security, reliability, latency, applications, etc.
IMHO, Claude has better UI/UX, and I personally think it edges out ChatGPT when it comes to coding. I pay for both, I flip flop between them. I’ve been an OpenAI member/customer since before GPT3, so I’m a bit partial there. I have Google early access to Gemini and similar. Cool, but I feel like Google is locked into playing catchup, and their UI/UX, tools, seem so incredibly crude (and the bar is NOT high). The only exception at all here is Google’s Notebook LM, which is hands down awesome for content generation.
Microsoft’s Copilot chat is obviously a gimped version of OpenAI – likely quantized to reduce the compute requirements. Trying to use Copilot, after using Claude, feels like an incredible step backwards.
Local models are interesting, but outside of playing around, hobby, r&d, the level of upfront investment required, management required, it is not something I would ever recommend.
Free cloud-hosted AI? Well, the answer is simple. If you aren’t paying for the service, it’s because you, and your data, are the product.
Hey Left.
I still write my own materials and occasionally do it in cursive.
I still write my own materials and occasionally do it in cursive.
You should see his cursive when he’s mad…
Where the fuck have you’ve been? Someone said you had a minidiatribe and bailed. Big Red shitting the bed. In the NCAA ranking they received ONE vote, and that was probably Shaefer.
leftwing says:
February 4, 2025 at 8:19 am
Hello All….been a while….cursory glance seems to show everyone staying calm and carrying on….:)
Given the crazy proliferation of AI models, a couple questions for our resident AI experts, including our gracious host….
1. Which overall LLM is ‘best’ (paid and free) for general queries
2. Which model is best to draft standard documents, eg legal, financial
3. Best model (if any) to upload a specific ‘standard type form’ document (think something like a will or trust), then request and get updated copy or reply
The last two points are basically asking, I suppose, is there a model that can replace a lawyer or FA to originate updates or replies to standard documents in the industry.
TYIA, and well wishes to all
Chatgpt still messes up images.
I had several images generated that had d1ck pictures (kid you not) in some corner or a shadow.
Barring minor differences, for text most seem ok. For something high value, spending time on the context to provide as input will go a long way.
Its so refreshing to geek out on ai and not think of the world burning.
I need ideas beyond Gold to hedge against the madman. I asked chatgpt by the way, but it only had stock responses.
I heard there has been a 10% increase in shipments from bank of england to nyc.
Here is a nice writeup on DeepSeek vs Qwen.
https://x.com/thisguyknowsai/status/1886676719207375239
For me, I dumped ChatGPT4 for Gemini. 4 started strong and went off the rails.
Can’t hack the boomers to death, too messy. Smother them.
Call it the Velvet Pillow program.
Leftwiiiiiing out there living!
good to hear from you left
general queries – Google Gemeni is getting real time feeds so it would be more up to date. Google indexes everything already and have the partnerships established for the data. Gemini does block certain categories political etc.
draft standard documents, eg legal, financial – Genie AI. Thousands of templates and legal clauses all wrapped up in that one. Uses ChatGPT, give it a try. It’s used by law firms today.
Lexus Nexus probably has an AI that is as good as a paralegal, probably super expensive.
When I Google a question Gemini provides the paragraph long answer up top, and I find that I rarely if ever click through on a page to essentially extract the same information manually. This surely must have an effect on page visits going forward.
I use chatgpt or grok for the small amount of scripting I have to do for work. Grok is free now with an x account.
I use ChatGTP to wipe my ass in the morning.
Job openings drop 556,000 to 7.6 million in December
Layoffs fall 29,000; hires rise 89,000 to 5.462 million
Jobs openings to unemployed ratio dips to 1.1 from 1.15
U.S. job openings dropped by the most in 14 months in December, but steady hiring and low layoffs suggested that the labor market was not abruptly slowing down and probably keep the Federal Reserve on the sidelines at least until June.
Trump is a moron level mercantilist when it comes to economics.
Going after Mexico and Canada seems extra dumb. China at least there’s actual national security at stake, given their regime and stated intentions.
Sovereign Wealth Fund – more nonsense, bad idea even if the Federal budget was in surplus, but there will be a deficit and a need to pay interest and debt for decades to come.
Trump is really a legend in his own mind.
DOGE might do something ok, but they are working on the small fringes of the federal budget. Most federal spending now is really coming from social programs that nobody is seriously trying to cut. And rising interest expenses which they can’t cut.
“An egg shortage has restaurants scrambling”
Intensional pun?
Google Gemini’s advanced subscription has MOE (Mixture of experts) built in.
Legal questions are routed there, contract law, criminal law, legal docs and contracts, amongst others. No idea how good it is for legal stuff or how well it with with google docs.
NoOne- who says you need a surplus? Right now Treasury holds as of Today about 800 billion in cash parked at the Fed mostly. Who is to say they cannot play the markets with it? One account is at the Fed in cash and others at commercial banks. As far as I know cash and UST only.
How about let some of it ride? Stocks, bonds, options, crypto etc…Donnie was a gambler he has an itch still I bet.
yesterday Eric pumped ETH and it went to bagholders.
Once Soverign Wealth Fund, named as TrumpFund or MagaFund is created, it will be used in DJT, Kalshi, Rumble, Tether etc. In a downturn, they need to protect the bank.
Juice,
Why not gamble it all. Put it all on black. We know how well fund managers behave. There is a very good reason it is in safe places. We gonna need it one day. And it can’t be like Fannie or Freddie that’s solvent on Monday and bankrupt on Tuesday.
Feeling great is everyone no?
No One says:
February 4, 2025 at 12:36 pm
“Trump is really a legend…DOGE might do something ok…”
It’s certainly been a spectacular start for DJT. All rational, law-abiding, tax-paying citizens have to be thrilled at what’s been accomplished on their behalf — border problem for instance, is completely fixed. And then of course there are the Dems, who are completely flummoxed and so mad that they’re actively rooting for illegal alien criminals. Speaking of DOGE, shining a light on the rot and decay at USAID might turn out to be one of the biggest stories of the year — it appears to be a massive, swampy slush fund. Go DOGE!
Lib – re: safe places
You mean that now 36 trillion pile of IOUs known as UST. It’s going to be 37 trillion before the ides of March.
Every geriatric politician in Washington DC is hoping they die before the cows come home on that debt.
Unfunded liabilities of Social Security and Medicare. 226 Trillion with a T…
I don’t blame the crypto kiddies for wanting to buy meme coins.
https://www.usdebtclock.org
You mean like DJT? and $TRUMP?
Let me know when the fentanyl deaths decrease won’t you please?
Juice,
I worked in the city back when Clinton actually got the debt clock to stop. They even turned it off for a while since it couldn’t count down, only up. Long gone are those days.
I see Trump is doing his best to make friends all over the world. I mean, who needs friends when you can sucker your supporters into giving you 7 billion dollars? Heck, that’s probably many billions less than was wasted in USAID. But, MAGA not so good at math. MAGA not so good at anything but getting felt up in the movie theater and grabbing them by the pussy.
This is MAGA.
https://www.youtube.com/live/SvT5cEjymxU?si=GbuNTpoXxd9_kV-N&t=12
Watch 60 seconds. It is so cringeworthy. This is MAGA. This is your future. It’s like Idiocracy, only here and now. Smalls. Do you find this crap entertaining?
Trump coin hits another all time low today. How much did you idiots contribute?
Lib,
I’ve noticed that you have become a lot more vocal and negative of MAGA as of late. MAGA’s been around for quite some time, but I get the sense that something’s changed for you.
I think something has changed for a lot of people. I just got invited to my first celebrity shindig. Not really feeling it. I would rather just hang out of with ordinary folks.
Lib really has gone all in on the Trump resistance as is his right! (no pun intended) What has really got me thinking is “narrative” and the narrative of who is good and who is bad in the World. You really have to wonder when so much of the image famous people put forth is crafted by a PR machine. Are we really getting authenticity or are we getting some version of an image. This polarization is also really tedious and tests the bounds of friendship and family. When in fact you and I are all pawns here.
To the folks who have previously in the past raised the issue of Hillary’s emails: How do you feel about citizen Musk being allowed to plug into Treasury’s records/systems?
What Trump represents is the worst in all of us. I used to have a lot of pride in our country. He duped all of you. He really did. He is held to no standards by his idiot supporters who are just as willing to lie as he is. Nothing has changed in me. I know there was plenty of corruption with the Dems. But Trump has taken assholery to a whole new level. I mean, who lies about a meeting with Trudeau? What world leader lies about deals with China?
If anyone besides a MAGA candidate did 100th the foolishness that Trump is doing, you would never hear the end of it. Sure, I hated the HRC bathroom server and Hunter’s dealings in Russia. But 7 billion???? in free money overnight. It’s the most abhorrent thing I have ever witnessed in my life. It’s truly disgusting and no one cares. One can’t be silent when this much damage is occuring sorry, but it truly is. Who the fuck pardons a cop murderer?
Nothing has changed in me. What has changed is the level of tolerance in everyone else.
At least in the coming months, I can offer you one great, big, I told you so.
Boomer,
At least you are noticing.
And the worst part of all of this is that the economy was in pretty decent shape considering. Now we are dismantling so much of what makes America who we are. Trump doesn’t care about you or me or even the country. All he cares about is how many golden toilets he can purchase and show off. 7 billion dollars is a lot of dough to someone who supposedly didn’t make any money for the four years prior. Or at least that’s what the tax forms he refused to share revealed. We let that go too. He hugged the flag!
What suprises me is how everyone can sit back and take this pussy grabber at his word.
Remember, last time around he enriched the rich. This time he is really working hard to enrich himself and his friends at the expense of you and me.
Did you see this Project 2025. It’s like Mein Kampf. But no one seems to care. He hugged the flag.
Meanwhile Tulsi and RFK, jr advance to the Senate.
This is what happens when a clueless person makes a deal with China.
https://www.piie.com/blogs/realtime-economics/2022/china-bought-none-extra-200-billion-us-exports-trumps-trade-deal
Yet he keeps on doubling down on his past failures. But no one says boo. He hugged the flag!!!
Can’t wait to see our healthcare destroyed by the whale head.
This is MAGA. Kiss the ring. Get some DJT shares. Nothing to see here. MAGA can do no wrong.
All three indexes up. DJT and $TRUMP down. What a loser.
Tathat DC plane crash was due to the Jews, I meant DEI. This is your President.
Let me ask you guys something. I know I am annoying the fuck out of a bunch of you. But has anything I said been wrong? Any of it conspiracy? And of it even non-sensicle? Because I don’t lie. I don’t exagerate. I just tell it like it is. Shame no one seems to care any more.
Lib, I think most people have very little faith in the government to operate efficiently or offer anything other than a minimum of satisfaction to it’s populace. In many cases government is an obstacle to good sense. EPA needs twenty acres for each burn site to dump waste en masse and then move it from there? WTF. It’s the lack of execution and common sense in most areas that make government the enemy to many folks. But yeah, I don’t think you are wrong at all. We are witnessing history.
Listen. I’m not denying that the Dems deserved to be thrown out. But to be replaced by having the richest man in the world (who made most of it off of government subsidies and then had the gaul to promote DOGEcoin on SNL I mean, when is enough, enough?) end US Aid and have access to the inner workings of our entire government simply because he kissed Trump’s ring? You can’t make this shit up. It’s 100 times worse than anything anyone has done before and nobody cares. The middle class and poor in this country are going to get railed, much like the gays and the transgendered. Shouldn’t be long before us Jews get thrown into the trash heap with them.
Libturd says:
February 4, 2025 at 2:59 pm
“I can offer you one great, big, I told you so”
Like you told us that the SCOTUS reversal of Roe would absolutely, positively, most definitely ensure that SlowJoe would beat DJT? Unfortunately Lib, you’ve become a blow-hard; completely overcome with hatred of DJT — and incredulous that anyone would disagree with you. It’s going to be a long four years so please go back to dropping stock tips and investment strategies, that’s your strong suit.
The Jews can’t win. We were villainized under the Squad members of the far left. The right likes us because we are an important part of their end of days scenario. I’m not really sure which is worse.
^^ Agreed.
Juice, wasn’t it you who used to foam at the mouth over Hillary’s emails? Apologies if it wasn’t.
Bro, the hairplug PayPal pedo-diver guy has interns going through Treasury records as you are reading this.
wtf is a “special government employee”? Is he even on payroll?
I meant to agree with Lib’s 3:42 post
Lib, your sentiment is echoed by a lot of folks I’m close to. Me being one of them, and I come off as annoying as well.
I have moved from a state of disbelief to a state of “what can I do about it”… as are a lot of folks I know.
We don’t have the guts of the middle east folks who are willing to give up their lives (sometimes misguided). Or the Bangladeshis who overthrew a corrupt woman prime ministrer. We don’t even have the resolve of the tank man in china. We are in the midst of a government coup by the world’s second richest man and what we do is fight amongst ourselves.
So, What do we do now – given that the govt has been taken over?
3:52 We Hope like hell the DEMs can field enough decent candidates to restore some balance to both the House and Senate in….checks calendar….two years.
Libturd,
I doubt Trump is grabbing much pussy these days. Melania doesn’t seem very loving, and he surrounds himself mostly with men. It would be entertaining if he and Tulsi were caught having an affair though.
Though I live around people who are more Republican than not, I don’t hang out with any truly MAGA people who claim everything he does is right. The people I know who voted for him did so because the alternative was so bad. As I predicted, Trump would bring chaos, and he wouldn’t be more stable. Occasionally his changes are for the better, often for the worse. The best news is that Trump can only serve 4 years, if he survives that long, while I might have been stuck having to hear Quota Queen Special K talk for eight more years.
LAX says:
February 4, 2025 at 3:57 pm
“We Hope like hell the DEMs can field enough decent candidates…”
Ritchie Torres from da Bronx. The most impressive, level-headed Dem that I’ve seen in decades. DNC should do everything it can to raise this guy’s profile and make him the face of the party. But alas, they’ll probably push AOC and Gavin Gruesome
You are right. People were struggling in Biden’s economy. Kamala was filled with “joy” and other emotions that seems refreshing at first glance, but wound up being empty and kind of off-topic for most. She was “loyal” to Biden in that she didn’t try to distance herself from his policies. But that was another facade. Many on this board called it though when Kamala was appointed to represent us rather than go through any Democratic process. These miscalculations and the fact that most Americans were tired of the politics de jour. Trump was just waiting for the moment Biden sun downed during the debate. It was “easy” pickins’ and the Dems have now proven to be completely ineffectual. One does hope that Elon didn’t rig the election though. That would be a pretty bad offense. But I would not put it past him.
4:05 I think Newsom is probably “done” on the National Stage. The fires really cost him.
AOC is an acquired taste that I haven’t acquired.
If any of you dem lefists were defense lawyers and fed the jury nothing but hyperbole, the defendant would be convicted in an hour. Trump Derangement Syndrome feasts on hyperbole, void of anything substantial. Distortion, hype and your gingerbread antics are the reason the democrat party no longer exists. Even during slo joes regime, it was Legacy media’s 90/10 proliferation of exaggerated insanity that blinded your flunkies which ended the 197 year reign of the democrat party.
You didn’t want to admit you had nothing left to stand for, nothing left to fight for and nothing left to offer. The American people saw the wounded seal drifting in the wake; Trump was just the bull shark that put it… a failed political movement, out of it’s misery.
LAX,
When you mention acquiring the taste for AOC, I remember the Gentle Giant album cover “Acquiring the Taste”
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Acquiring_the_Taste
“Artwork
The album cover artwork shows a giant tongue licking what appear to be buttocks. When the album gatefold sleeve is opened completely, however, it actually shows the tongue licking a peach. In 2005 the cover was featured in Pitchfork’s list of “The Worst Record Covers of All Time”
$:35 That is where you are wrong. We still need clean rivers and oceans. We still need some checks on Corporate greed and overreach, and we still need decent healthcare and benefits for retirees and those in need. I agree that the arguments that Trump ran on were FAKE. He claimed he’s fix XYZ on “day one” and yet all he has managed to do is paralyze government.
Trump won because most people stayed home on election day. Many of those stay at homes might regret that decision as the years go on. I have friends who are true believers in Trump. He’s a reaction to some really misplaced priorities on the part of the Federal Government. Trump is what you get when you stop caring and turn over the keys to the kingdom to a con man.
Well to keep the dupe train on the tracks, today he called for abolishing the current DOE and merging it with the department of labor. I suppose his emergency powers invoked due to all the DEI in the DOE. Fortunately, there are enough sane minds in DC to make sure the moron in chief didn’t get his way. And the right had issues with Obama’s executive orders. So another Trump campaign promise broken. But at least he’ll claim he tried. Because it’s one big mouth and the worl’s smallest stick marketing to his cult followers once again.
Last night, the tariffs never went into effect and Trump gained absolutely nothing except pissed off a ton of Mexicans and Canadians who will now boycott American products. His so called deals were already in effect as I linked to the articles that showed both the Mexican military had been in place since Biden requested them back in 2023 and since Trudeau revealed his plan for border guards back in December. Yet Gary and Smalls thinks Trump actually accomplished something. In truth, all he did was hurt future relations. I applaud the Canadians who booed our national anthem at the hockey games last night. I hope most Americans start booing ours too. And I full well expect them to.
Feeling great yet?
Gary,
Give me one substantial thing that Trump has done to improve your lot or the lot of anyone around you?
“void of anything substantial.”
Did you listen to that Gutfeld post I linked? Holy crap is that man a moron. It’s not even the slightest bit humorous. And the parrots on the stage with him? It’s worse than that awful Joy/Whoopie morning show which I thought would be impossible to top. A bunch of alpha males all one-upping each other is what passes for entertainment for the cult.
Midterms can’t come soon enough. My honest to goodness, absolute greatest worry is that Trump is going to make things so bad, that an unqualified Dem nincompoop is going to win and just up their idiotic identity politics game and will try to up the personally enriching corrupt Federal leadership game to compete with Trump’s new benchmark of fraudulance. And America has proved it’s stupidity to allow it to happen.
Perhaps, when things get as bad I expect them too, when other sane nations around the world form alliances leaving MAGA out of it, Americans will get off their fat asses and march on Washington. Everyone knows that all that Trump cares about besides getting rich is for everyone to love him. The only way to slow him is to show him for the farce that he is.
And since the Cult is about to get their asses reamed financially, I have two stock picks. NICE and MP. Wait for a pullback in the latter. Forget gold and meme coins (wtf is a meme coin?) and crypto and invest in great American companies that profit right here in America.
I could shoot myself for missing Spotify too. Even my kid subscribes. No brainer, especially with the playlist sharing.
Trump is president because of the Democrats. They caused this. Ya dun goofed.
This is a blitzkrieg. Musk was an avid reader growing up and the power – akin to all his heroes in the books, really gets him off. He has done it with twitter.
Too fast for people on the Left to react and the Right still waking up.
Two years is too long. We are now inside that little blue bird.
Boomer re: ” foam at the mouth over Hillary’s emails”.
Not quite foam. Like most people who understand technology when I heard about here home brew server Windows that had Remote Desktop access from her toilet right to anywhere on the internet I was a bit perturbed by the coverup which had been going on since she was made Secretary of State by Obama in 2009. This only got worse later during the election in the summer and fall of 2016 when the criminal investigation(s) the FBI was performing were twice concluded with a recommendation of no charges. Two official coverups….by Comey and crew. The DNC had time to switch to a better candidate one who could defeat Trump. Some of us say it was Bernie.
But hey I was foaming over Trump right? Nope…..
I don’t think Bernie stood a chance. People just aren’t ready for his brand of socialism.
5:26 You aren’t wrong. It was a complete debacle. But buckle up buttercup. It’s gonna be nuuuuuuts.
Thanks guys on the replies, especially grim.
Chi, how you! Yes, Red hurts…what can you do? You going to be seeing a lot of games up there (son must have picked a school by now)? And Minidia Tribe, you think I’m in the SW smoking peyote? I’m on a Liberal island for the loose women, unique drinks, and interesting music surrounded by a sea of Red that would make Eddie blush.
Lib, to grims point, you breaking many pens lol? Love you man so…be well. Big picture, honestly, none of it really matters…..More importantly how’s your son, good year in FL?
LAX, you good with fires? BRT, still gardening, Spring be here before we know it…
Cheers!!
I have to say allot of foaming at the mouth today over Democrats. That would be RFK, Tulsi and well Elon and Trump. They were Democrats a long long time before they changed their stripes and became MAGA.
I just noticed the Dems elected two white males to run the party. Why exactly?
Ken Martin a straight white male from flyover country and 24 year old David Hogg who some of the left believe David Hogg can be the masculine figure they need to regain the young males….
BRT – Are they going to be missed by the teachers?
“President Donald Trump could soon sign an executive order directing the secretary of education to dismantle the federal Department of Education, according to sources briefed on drafts of the order that have circulated among top administration officials.”
The muslim bloc is the stupidest of them all. If they voted for Kamala they would have had a chance.
https://apnews.com/article/trump-netanyahu-washington-ceasefire-1c8deec4dd46177e08e07d669d595ed3
Gaza will be razed to the ground for a few beach houses.
“President Donald Trump could soon sign an executive order directing the secretary of education to dismantle the federal Department of Education, according to sources briefed on drafts of the order that have circulated among top administration officials.”
The DOE was created by congressional statute. I don’t think the president has the constitutional authority to dismantle it under our constitution.
Give me one substantial thing that Trump has done to improve your lot or the lot of anyone around you?
Destroyed hiring quotas based on race, equity and gender and encouraged hiring based on merit, experience and qualifications. Firms are still free to hire as they please but they’re not afraid to change course. And many have done a 180 after being hog-tied for years out of fear of retribution. I work for a global firm and all of a sudden, the DEI notifications in TEAMS and SLACK have vanished. And, I’ve received one email and one call from a recruiter asking if I’m interested in a full time role with another global firm. I’m not even looking. The name on my resume doesn’t exactly scream some ethnicity other than American/European nor do I have a pronoun beside it. And the guy is in office for 12 fucking business days… to say he “failed” to implement his plan(s) is beyond absurd. But, in 12 days, he’s done more than the vegetable has done in four years. The transition and ground-breaking of a new era is simply remarkable. You asked for on thing that has opened the door for me personally, I gave it above. As for the country… things are just starting to ramp up.
“You didn’t want to admit you had nothing left to stand for, nothing left to fight for and nothing left to offer. ”
No, the issue is with the GOP who are rotten to the core and spineless. They laid out the plan with Project 2025, they denied it and now we see the implementation. Forget about the midterms, we will not get there. Donnie already said that that was the last vote you needed to cast.
The Dems will still fight and we have a great new generation of leaders.
https://x.com/CalltoActivism/status/1886917622412828773
Your GOP.
Senator Bill Cassidy was the deciding vote to advance RFK Jr.’s nomination. As CNN’s
@jeffzeleny told me on @InsidePolitics
, “The reality here is, it is virtually impossible, politically speaking, to withstand the opposition particularly if you are up for reelection.”
https://x.com/DanaBashCNN/status/1886843614426181785
Left,
D’s brother is kicking ass taking names in UF. Halfway through and his GPA is a 3.92. He’s already got two semesters of research work under his belt and has a full time job as a RBT lined up for all Summer and Winter breaks. I’m taking him on a cruise for Spring Break on a Virgin Voyage cruise. He’ll be legal to gamble and drink so it’s going to be a week long party.
Hope all is well with you. By the way, I keep telling myself it doesn’t matter too. But I fear that this time, it really might. Mainly due to complicity. Nonetheless, figuring out a way to profit off the chaos as usual.
Toodles.
DEI is a real issue for a lot of people. Especially white people.
Senator Bill Cassidy is a doctor. He knows better. Not a cult.
Doe has zero influence on schools teachers or students. It’s a political patronage pit masquerading as an important organization
Doe has zero influence on schools teachers or students. It’s a political patronage pit masquerading as an important organization
That may be true. If so, Trump should ask Mike Johnson to write a bill to eliminate it, and congress should vote on it.
That’s the legal way.
That may be true. If so, Trump should ask Mike Johnson to write a bill to eliminate it, and congress should vote on it.
That’s the legal way.
BREAKING: White House prepares executive order to DISMANTLE the Dept. of Education, per WSJ.
“The officials have discussed an executive order that would shut down all functions of the agency that aren’t written explicitly into statute or move certain functions to other departments. The order would call for developing a legislative proposal to abolish the department.”
Trump taking a strong stand in Gaza. Daaayyyyyamn
The Dems will still fight and we have a great new generation of leaders.
https://x.com/CalltoActivism/status/1886917622412828773
Again, fighting for what? More raiding the till in the name of democracy? More fake crisis’ to mask the slight of hand? More transgender comic books for Peru? A DEI musical in the UK? Did anyone know what the USAID stood for and how much they pilfered? I didn’t. I do now. It’s in the BILLIONS for what amounts to money laundering.
Democrats were going wild… WILD… in the street in Washington today, vowing to start a war and fight back. Fight for what? They were taking a manufactured outrage and embellishing on it. Then they pivoted, pedal to the floor and went with the “Constitutional Crisis.” The dems hate that they’re being exposed.
How about a few million to support LGBTQ awareness in the Balkans. DEI scholarships for Burma? Yes, we need to stage a war for that. Once again, it’s a multi billion dollar laundering operation around the globe and at home to feed the grifters. We’re being fucked from every angle.
BREAKING: White House prepares executive order to DISMANTLE the Dept. of Education, per WSJ.
“The officials have discussed an executive order that would shut down all functions of the agency that aren’t written explicitly into statute or move certain functions to other departments. The order would call for developing a legislative proposal to abolish the department.”
Go for it!
BTW, I have no opinion on whether the DOE should be abolished or not.
But until it is abolished, it should be doing the things and spending the money that congess has approved.
How about a few million to support LGBTQ awareness in the Balkans. DEI scholarships for Burma?
Yeah, if gays in the Balkans or women in Burma are being persecuted or discriminated against, that’s their problem- they should have picked better countries to be born in!
That’s the problem, it grew into a multi-hundred-billion dollar behemoth that adopts whatever functions it wants, just like every other government agency. It seems they are going the legal route and acting right away by eliminating any functions that violate the initial legislation
Yeah, all 50 billion went to gender and DEI initiatives, just like every immigrant is a rapist. Rinse and repeat. Sure, some of that shit was sleazy. But just wait until the lobbyists get their paws on the flea market reps in the Capital Building. Oh the corruption you’ll see.
No talk about the US taking over GAZA?
Lib,
one thing at a time. We haven’t invaded Greenland yet.
I don’t know how you don’t get annoyed with large sums of money being stolen. Or is it we just get mad when specific people are the ones stealing?
Personally, I don’t like to see money stolen.
Just need to know exactly what money and who’s stealing it.
Agreed. The whole thing is really unseemly. Not even sure why RFKJ would want the job except to grift.
Fabius Maximus says:
February 4, 2025 at 6:43 pm
Your GOP.
Senator Bill Cassidy was the deciding vote to advance RFK Jr.’s nomination. As CNN’s
@jeffzeleny told me on @InsidePolitics
, “The reality here is, it is virtually impossible, politically speaking, to withstand the opposition particularly if you are up for reelection.”
Lib 10:16, check 5:58
Jewish vote was 79% for Harris in 2024.
The Muslim vote was 23% for Harris.
Voting in anger and hate instead of a rational mind has consequences.
He certainly likes beachfront. Greenland, Panama, Gaza.
Next, would be California which he will try to depose Newsom himself. This will re-energize Newsom though. In the meantime cold war started with China. I am amazed so many buffoons fell for him as a peace guy.
https://x.com/acnewsitics/status/1886680071320080749?s=46&t=JBEIpyGkpFlKn3zp8fw5tQ
Apparently, Trump decided to take Gaza, after seeing Free Palestine posters.
Water Front property in Gaza!!! Not on my Bingo card.
We don’t no education.
We don’t need no birth control.
Hey, Teacher, leave those kids alone.
Trump
Eddie,
And, I’ve received one email and one call from a recruiter asking if I’m interested in a full time role with another global firm. I’m not even looking.
Your name likely screams “good old boy’s name”. Couple that with your non-stop posting shows “upper management potential”. So, they may be aiming to non-DEI fast-track you over many women or persons of color.
Think of it as a sort of reverse DEI, like the ones your pops and pop-pops enjoyed. Enjoy.
Doesn’t the latter conflict with the former?
Phoenix says:
February 5, 2025 at 1:04 am
We don’t need no birth control.
Hey, Teacher, leave those kids alone.
Bezos must be doing a dance. Postal service just suspended package freight from China and Hong Kong. It’s estimated to be 3.7 million packages a day.
https://www.wired.com/story/tariffs-trump-ecommerce-amazon-temu/#:~:text=That%20amounts%20to%203.7%20million,border%20for%20the%20first%20time.
Excellent
Libturd says:
February 4, 2025 at 11:11 pm
Apparently, Trump decided to take Gaza, after seeing Free Palestine posters.
This hurts my eyes. It looks like this house was on a street in Fort Lee then blasted off and landed here:
https://www.trulia.com/home/130-field-stone-dr-gilboa-ny-12076-401897654
So, let me get this straight; the immigration protesters are burning the American flag while waving the Mexican flag because they want to stay in America and refuse to go back to Mexico. Plug this into an AI platform and watch it explode.
It’s funny. Trump is cutting all spending except on Gaza.
Go MAGA!
Chi. I can’t take credit for the Free Palestine joke. I saw it somewhere on the internets.
Libturd
take a look at METC since you like MP.
Personally I‘d rather have Panama over Gaza, but you can only take what is on the market. The US should be able to get a good deal due to the undesirable location of the real estate. However, the property is in tear-down condition so ideally can rebuild with a couple of Trump Towers close to the beach.
Maybe Trump will use some of his newfound 7 billion to aid in his imperialism.
Trump taking over Gaza is a moral conundrum.
First, who is he? to take over another country without congressional approval? the king of america?
But then, this postage sized area needs a solution. Natenyahu is an asshole.
I think this whole thing has been orchestrated from before the election. Here’s how it worked:
The techbros including Musk feed real-time data that supports Trumps win. It showed Trump will win, but he needs a little nudge from the muslim bloc.
Natenyahoo starts bombing the heck out of gaza and refuses to listen to Biden and even shows the middle finger. Detroit is upset and fall in line with Trump’s message.
Soon as Trump wins, Natenyahoo stops the aggression. Trump walks in and buys the beach properties and the two political pros share the spoil.
Nothing for you guys.. it’s just 2 million poor gazans. Who, even the moderate Jews agree are in such bad shape that they need help.
Tl;dr – the whole Gaza thing was orchestrated by Trump and Natenyahoo
Hold. As bad as Trump is, I don’t see us returning to coal. And with the pending trading wars, they might have a hard time selling when tariffs are up on both sides. Plus, there was an insider selling bonanza on 1/31 and they lost money last quarter. Unless they are acquired by China, I don’t like them at all.
Rent, I doubt it.
Lib, just rewind and look at all the steps. Why would Bibi show Biden the finger so early in the game. Its a big gamble.
I’m not a conspiracy theorist.
Bibi is very lucky October 7th ocurred. It allowed him to flex his military muscle. The US will always have Israeli’s back. They are our only reliable ally in the Middle East. Trump has and had absolutely nothing to do with Gaza or Israel. Trump only respects Bibi because Bibi kissed the ring. Trust me, it’s just 100% noise as usual. All a cover up to keep his 7 billion intact. As long as he keeps playing the alpha male, the dumber citizens will keep purchasing his DJT and $TRUMP. That is what he is in it for.
Check this out. From my unbiased SOFI daily newsletter.
On Saturday, President Donald Trump fulfilled a campaign promise, signing executive orders imposing 25% tariffs on imports from Canada and Mexico (with a partial exception for Canadian energy products) and a 10% tariff on Chinese goods.
Although Mexico and Canada have since negotiated monthlong delays on their start dates, you can’t understate the potential impact of these moves: Those three countries account for over 40% of products imported into the U.S.
The initial reactions from world leaders, the U.S. stock market, and the media were… not positive. Leaders from Canada, Mexico, and China expressed deep concerns. Major U.S. stock indexes fell. And for the second time in three days, the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal published a piece calling it “The Dumbest Trade War.”
Lib
One of their coal mines is in Wyoming, has one of the largest known deposit of REE outside of china. And it’s in soft coal like ore so it might be easier and cheaper to extract. Most REE deposits in hard ore are radioactive they’re building a pilot plant this year or next year to test extracting and processing the REE.
https://ramacoresources.com/critical-minerals-rees/
The majority of their coal is metallurgical which is used for making steel.
Even the most optimistic greens admit there wont be a viable alternative for making new steel for decades. ARC furnaces can only recycle steel.
I have no idea what their rEE is worth or even if it can be mined.
Of course if coal prices collapse they could go bust and they may not be able to ever mine REE so due your own due diligence.
The US needs Israel and vice versa. It dies not matter who runs the US. Biden never stopped any funding of the bombs. Yet, Bibi had the balls to show the finger. The 70%+ American Jews voting for Biden shows that they were not with bibi.
There is no other explanation. He could have just stayed neutral.
Even the liberal zionists don’t want this.
With USAID, just as with federal employment in general through the Office of Management and Budget, Trump seems to be following the Project 2025 playbook of consolidating the executive branch’s powers under the president. As the head of the branch that’s his prerogative, but the method he’s employing to do so has been frankly terrible: Give unfettered access to poorly vetted DOGE contractors, haphazardly shut everything down, and pursue a policy change of unspecified benefit at a massive cost. Doing so destabilizes the agencies that Trump is tasked with managing, it puts the civil servants who work with or for those organizations (and their families) in tremendous stress, and it creates real concern abroad about wanting to work with the U.S.
There are plenty of good reasons to want to shake up USAID, but citizens and non-citizens alike shouldn’t be left trying to give our best guess on what those reasons are — and “government by rug pull” isn’t a great strategy for the most powerful person on the planet.
Ten 445
My instinct tells me that a lot of these government bureaucrats are highly partisan and are comfortable adopting the tactics that we see all over academia. Regardless of one’s feelings, professionals are supposed to respond to the orders of their superiors. I think that the experience of the prior Trump presidency is that many of The bureaucrats in place completely obstructed what the incoming administration was attempting to execute. Emotionally I understand why they might want to do that, but sabotage is simply not professional. The rug pull is an attempt to circumvent sabotage. It is how it is done in corporate America. What bothers me is the moral authority people have. Seriously, it is just your opinion and others disagree. Get over it.
Libturd says:
February 5, 2025 at 9:44 am
and “government by rug pull” isn’t a great strategy for the most powerful person on the planet
Closest thing to a “God” i’ve ever seen. Given such power by the dolts of America.
Plus you tried to imprison him, don’t think he forgets. The whole bullet thing pumped up his ego. He is going to be unstoppable except for outside forces, Americans have no control over thier country now.
He is on fire now.
RentL0rd says:
February 5, 2025 at 8:46 am
Trump taking over Gaza is a moral conundrum.
First, who is he? to take over another country without congressional approval? the king of america?
The largest financial heist is about to occur in America, and the people here voted for it.
It’s acutally comical, every day Bin Laden’s dream comes closer to being a reality.
That freaky god like looking character with his long beard and Jesus sandals had this all figured out, and did it with just a few commercial airplanes and box cutters.
Gotta give credit where credit is due.
Going: Department of Education
Going : Medicare and Medicaid.
Gone: USAID, Deportees to Guantanomo bay to be waterboarded.
Oh, and God wanted all of this.
Well, I should say Gods. Cause there are like thousands of these made up creatures that humans believe in while other humans are the ones actually deciding their fate.
Humans, considering their ” so called” educations, are really very irrational creatures. AI is going to have fun playing with their emotions, irrational fears, and generalized laziness.
Musk and all of the other AI titians are going to turn most of them into their lab rats.
Going: CDC
Going: NIH
It won’t be long before anyone who doesn’t agree with the current administration is going to be shipped off to Guantanamo bay.
All cell phones will be factory equipped with the DOGE version of Pegasus.
It’s over boys. Game over. Time to leave the stadium, get in your car, and enjoy the traffic on the ride to hell.
Openai rolls out chatbots to university. Will involve layoffs of course.
https://fortune.com/education/articles/chatgpt-access-for-california-state-university-system/
Next comes your local govts. You will not be able to talk to a human for any service any more.
Gulf of America.
If that doesn’t tell you someone is crazy, I don’t know what does.
One sentence. F’n Captain Obvious.
And now he is your leader. Hehe.
Lib, the entire 2016 was dirty politics from the other side and government agencies for 4 years straight. This is a classic example of play nice and play by the rules, you lose. Now to be fair, it’s not clear if it’s not by the rules right now…but it’s definitely not playing nice.
RentL0rd says:
February 5, 2025 at 10:46 am
Openai rolls out chatbots to university. Will involve layoffs of course.
Got one trying to help me reset my password at work. Creepy co-worker standing over my shoulder trying to get my hospital password.
America really breeds some high level shitheads doesn’t it.
Chi 10:14,
You take an Oath to the Constitution, not the flavor of the day.
You respond to the Legal and Constitutional Orders of your superior.
King Mojon Naranja first term had people that followed above, not lackeys.
Corporate America can go bankrupt and is a just lawyers doing paperwork and checks that bounce. Country America is not comparable to Corporate America, maybe when we get to the mythical Weyland Corporation of the Alien movies series, which I think is Lord Turd Musk’s goal.
Is not moral authority, I just don’t want to wear my underwear outside
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=EV4N2dk0cMk&pp=ygUqQmFuYW5hcyB3b29keSBhbGxlbiBkaWN0YXRvciBzaG9ydCBvdXRzaWRl
All of this could have been avoided if the corrupt democraps would have chosen Bernie Sanders.
But those fat fingered greedy fuccs knew he would destroy the endless slop in the trough they were feeding from. So they put up lousy candidates, and the dems stayed home and refused to vote.
A ham sandwich could have become President over Trump had one been a candidate. Instead the dems put up Horse Faced Harris. Willlllllburrrrrrrr. The end.
Juice, I think you inadvertently missed my original post which contained the question. I think you only got the tail end of it. So here it is again:
“To the folks who have previously in the past raised the issue of Hillary’s emails: How do you feel about citizen Musk being allowed to plug into Treasury’s records/systems?”
“folks who in the past raised the issue of emails” is how I originally framed those who posted about it. Anyhow, would love to hear your thoughts on Musk’s access.
You will wear it ouside, and we will check it every 30 minutes.
Or you will end up in Guantanamo Bay and be waterboarded until you do.
Hehe.
Please join my kickstarter.
I’ve invented Constution Toilet Paper.
It’s really soft, and is designed to be shit on, unlike the real thing.
Founding fathers never met a guy like Trump.
BRT’s right. These very well may be the correct steps to take but there is the issue of laws, procedures, and governing bodies.
Are we really going to pretend that four years of rule by executive order jives with the constitution?
LIke Dick Dastardly?
President Donald Trump received the first real threat of impeachment during his second term from a lawmaker on Wednesday.
Rep. Al Green (D-Texas) said: ‘The movement to impeach the president has begun.’
‘I rise to announce that I will bring Articles of Impeachment against the president for dastardly deeds proposed and dastardly deeds done,’ he added in House floor remarks.
Constitution?
Who needs some stupid constitution?
I am Trump, leader of everyone, except Musk.
Go ahead, try and stop me. You won’t get far.
“To the folks who have previously in the past raised the issue of Hillary’s emails: How do you feel about citizen Musk being allowed to plug into Treasury’s records/systems?”
Doesn’t matter how you feel.
It’s gonna get done. Stop resisting.
Trump is going to end the war in Ukraine in 24 hours. Which 24 hours?
Still waiting, while Trump is going to try to purchase Ukrainian minerals.
Sounds like fun times ahead.
Biden offers weapons to Ukraine for free. Gets voted out.
Trump in, tells Ukraine, here is your 3ooB bill for what you got, now give me your mineral rights or else.
Hehe. ‘murica.
Here you go Lib
https://babylonbee.com/news/trump-unveils-exciting-never-before-tried-strategy-of-having-america-take-over-country-in-the-middle-east
What Trump is doing aught to make some big government types rethink the growth of the executive branch and the rise of the administrative agency state. Whenever you create an agency or bureaucracy, you should ask yourself how you would like it if your worst enemy controlled it. And if you don’t like that vision, then don’t give it so much power over our lives in the first place, because it will eventually be controlled by the worst politicians.
Congress has delegated so much of its authority by making laws that basically say “go spend a lot of money on what feels right on this topic, and also massively regulate these categories as you feel is right”. Then every president gets to appoint the heads of these bureaucracies and effectively change laws based on their attitudes. The main thing stopping them is the thousands of feet high weight of already-written bureaucratic edicts that are precedent until someone makes the effort of rewriting them.
The government is too big, it’s over a third of the economy, and regulations are silently pulling and pushing our citizens this way and that.
10:14 checks and balances – a hallmark of American government.
Without them we are certainly in trouble.
So they put up lousy candidates, and the dems stayed home and refused to vote.
158,429,631 people voted in the 2020 presidential election.
157,302,382 people voted in the 2024 presidential election.
This isn’t exactly earth-shattering, stay at home numbers but technically, you’re correct. As a democrat though, was anyone jazzed about voting for a candidate who not only couldn’t construct a sentence but didn’t one have one intelligent thought in her brain. Cumella was the final nail in the democrat coffin. O’biden riddled the body with bullets, she chopped it up and scattered it. Stay at home? If I was a democrat, I’d drink myself silly. Did anyone see Schmuck Schumer and Maxine Waters along with a few others give one of the most embarrassing rally cries you’ve ever see. It was the quintessential tragedy/comedy combination. No direction, no message, no plan and no ideas.
11:23 Biden gave Ukraine enough weapons to fight a War, but not the weapon to Win a War.
10:48 I think many Americans respect action and the actions of a strong leader acting in their interests. Something about optics.
So you agree that Tejmp won by a razor thin margin.
With the illegal lottery system from Musk + Bibi bombing the sh1t out of gaza and muslims sitting out, is what pushed Trumps fat ass to the top.
Death (for dems) by a dozen cuts, not even a thousand.
Those in the democratic party no longer resemble the Americans they were supposed to represent.
Nancy Pelosi with her 14 facelifts and insider trading? These types of creatures were the face of the democrats.
The kind of face that gives you nightmares.
No one in in America is going to stand up for any Palestinians. They don’t have anything that Americans want.
Bomb it, flatten it, bury the bodies under the rubble, and build some Trump resorts there.
Americans don’t care about people, they care about money. The blood appears red to the naked eye, but if you look at it closely with an electron microscope it actually is green, shaped like rectangles, and looks eerily like 100 dollar bills with triangles and eyeballs on it.
158,429,631 people voted in the 2020 presidential election.
157,302,382 people voted in the 2024 presidential election.
Of course I am correct. And plenty didn’t vote in 2020 either cause those candidates sucked as well.
You want to see almost everyone show up? Put someone in who has the middle class’s interest at heart.
Never gonna happen though. Better chance the Ruskies gonna nuke this place when Trump tries to take Ukraine.
Gary, thanks for your response yesterday and I actually agree that it was Trump’s only notable accomplishment so far. I will give credit where credit is due and he is owed that one.
For everyone else, this is a great Captain Cheapo Offer. It’s like a Mint or Empower which consolidates all of your finances into one page, but you can just link a bank account to get the offer. And the offer is $5 into your bank account and a $5 credit at Starbucks every week for a year placed directly into your Starbucks app. You just have to launch the app every Monday. Just link your bank account (if you are a homeowner and have > 700 credit).
I hate Starbucks, but my wife goes about once a week. Now it’ll be free for a year.
https://www.mymoneyblog.com/aven-advisor-starbucks-promo.html
So you agree that Tejmp won by a razor thin margin.
Those are total numbers. I don’t care if he won by one vote, a win is a win.
So the UK signaling they wont work with Tulsi.
https://x.com/highbrow_nobrow/status/1887173779559715234
Fabius Maximus says:
February 5, 2025 at 12:45 pm
So the UK signaling they wont work with Tulsi.
Trump will tariff them.
Threaten them with the SWIFT system.
They will fall in line. But they won’t forget the BasTurd child they created. Cause the nut didn’t fall far from the tree.
where the price of eggs at?
Very Stable Genius says:
February 5, 2025 at 12:54 pm
where the price of eggs at?
18 DOGE dollars per dozen
Musk views everyone below him as subhumans.
Phoenix,
I agree that the Democrats set everything in motion for where we are today by rigging the system against Bernie Sanders. That seems to be their go to solution, rig the system. I also think that if they hadn‘t conducted Lawfare on steroids that Trump would never have been re-elected. Too smart by half. One criminal indictment isn’t enough, lets try to get him on 100 indictments. Problem is that most rational people viewed all these court cases as being unfair. While no one is above the law, neither is Trump below the law. Especially when it appeared that Biden committed similiar offenses yet faced significantly different treatment from the FBI and DOJ.
Chad,
No argument from me. Without a doubt if Trump and Biden were regular people like us both would be in prison many years ago.
You don’t have a functioning legal system in America. You have one that is for sale to the highest bidder.
The democrats never needed to prosecute Trump, they needed to put in a better candidate- but a better candidate to regular proletariat Americans is not in the democrat elite’s best interest.
Both parties are infested with criminal immoral behavior. It’s just a fact. This isn’t gonna change, there is no hero, their are no Gods.
F U boomer, you created this mess, and your children are going to pay the price as that piece of paper, the Constitution, that so many fought and died for, is turned into toilet paper.
Now sit down in the booth, turn the flashlight on your phone to full brightness, and look at the menu to feed your fat asses. Fuckin’ gluttons.
This country has as much fiber in it as a Boomers diet. None.
On inflation. It’s not just eggs. It’s everything. I went into a grocery store twice in the last week. Shoprite in Nutley (which I really liked compared to our dumpy one in Bloomfield and Little Falls) and Walmart in Little Egg Harbor. Produce has already moved up. $4 a pound for non-organic red peppers in ShopRite? Come on now. The multi-colored three pak was $5.99. It’s up a dollar since I last bought it. Fortunately, it’s still $2.99 in Walmart.
https://www.shoprite.com/sm/pickup/rsid/111/product/fresh-rainbow-bell-peppers-3-each-id-00808362330434
Blueberries were $4 pint in SR and $3.37 at WM. I know they are not in season, but they were never more than $3 at either place. Tomatoes, the same thing. Especially the cherry tomatoes which used be under $2 and are now $3.
Though I noticed, potatoes are the same price as are a lot of the other non-hand picked produced.
Chips and soda, two things I don’t eat anymore, are way up. A family size bag of Lays or Tostito’s is now $5.75. Meat, so far seems the same. But anything that requires labor, like the food they cook there and sell, or cold cuts are all going up.
Even gas. Our local places are admiteddly expensive, so I always try to go to those rest areas in Woodbridge and Iselin on the GSP. The cheapest place by me is a BP and it’s $3.09 a gallon. It had gotten down to $2.83 about a month ago.
Inflation, like housing, always takes a month or two to show up in the data. Combine the recent inflation with the last quarters lackluster GDP and if housing doesn’t come down, you better hope your Crypto, which has no intrinsic value, goes up.
At least I saved some on Starbucks.
And don’t try to go bowling. A family of four on a Saturday night, bowling 2 games each is $100.
Thanks Donald.
Gas prices:
https://www.gasbuddy.com/gasprices/new-jersey
So many empty promises.
The annual inflation rate in the US rose for a 3rd consecutive month to 2.9% in December 2024 from 2.7% in November, in line with market expectations. This year-end rise is partly driven by low base effects from last year, particularly for energy. Energy costs declined much less (-0.5% vs -3.2% in November), mainly due to gasoline (-3.4% vs -8.1%), fuel oil (-13.1% vs -19.5%) and natural gas (4.9% vs 1.8%). Also, inflation accelerated for food (2.5% vs 2.4%) and transportation (7.3% vs 7.1%) and prices fell less for new vehicles (-0.4% vs -0.7%). On the other hand, inflation slowed for shelter (4.6%, the lowest since January 2022, vs 4.7%) and prices continued to decline for used cars and trucks (-3.3% vs -3.4%). On a monthly basis, the CPI rose by 0.4%, the most since March, and above forecasts of 0.3%. The index for energy rose 2.6%, accounting for over 40% of the monthly increase, mainly due to gasoline (4.4%). Also, food prices went up 0.3% and shelter also edged up 0.3%. source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics
I know of gas buddy. You really don’t need it. You just have to know which stations are cheaper than others historically.
Party size chips:
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Lay-s-Classic-Potato-Snack-Chips-Party-Size-13-oz-Bag/677669806
Looks like Walmart is the best bet:
https://www.walmart.com/ip/Fresh-Blueberries-11-oz-or-1-Pint-Container/1732560925?wmlspartner=wlpa&selectedSellerId=0&wl13=3795&gclsrc=aw.ds&adid=222222222771732560925_161193766053_21214199653&wl0=&wl1=g&wl2=c&wl3=697173827980&wl4=pla-2348450966064&wl5=9058761&wl6=&wl7=&wl8=&wl9=pla&wl10=8175035&wl11=local&wl12=1732560925&veh=sem_LIA&gad_source=1&gclid=EAIaIQobChMIx6uX6ZWtiwMVdQezAB2OmR5iEAQYAiABEgImE_D_BwE
Phoenix,
Here’s what the Gaza deal is about. Same as it ever was. Selling weapons to the Saudis.
Nomalization = weapons deal
https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2025-02-05/saudi-crown-prince-mbs-torn-between-trump-and-his-people-on-possible-israel-deal?srnd=homepage-americas&embedded-checkout=true
For my muppet Gen Z’ers:
https://www.amazon.com/Chex-Mix-Traditional-Savory-Family/dp/B0CTSYP8NK/ref=asc_df_B0CTSYP8NK?mcid=91e2adf6fe7e376cb0f40a06d1241fd4&hvocijid=336267919622214151-B0CTSYP8NK-&hvexpln=73&tag=hyprod-20&linkCode=df0&hvadid=721245378154&hvpos=&hvnetw=g&hvrand=336267919622214151&hvpone=&hvptwo=&hvqmt=&hvdev=c&hvdvcmdl=&hvlocint=&hvlocphy=9058761&hvtargid=pla-2281435175938&psc=1
I told you all about Walmart+ ages ago. Their produce is far superior to ShopRite too. It’s the greatest thing since sliced bread. Probably going to drop Amazon Prime since you can get everything there and more for much less. A few credit cards will halve the annual cost down to like $45 too.
Captain Cheapo out.
Funny Gary,
I bought this for my son in college this morning. Was $5.50 if you subscribed (which I’ll cancel after it’s delivered).
https://www.amazon.com/dp/B0CP6N89ZL?ref=ppx_yo2ov_dt_b_fed_asin_title
I like to surprise him with Captain Cheapo treats about once a week. He gives them all away to his friends and roommates anyway.
Oh I nearly forgot to share.
When I flew down to Florida on Friday, I sat next to a biology prof from Rutgers. He was a super smart guy and was really into tech and AI. I asked him about DNA, Gingko Bioworks, and the work they were doing. He said they were a complete farce. He said the only thing smart about them was that they knew how easily they could fool investors. He said he expected the gig would be up this year.
What a polarizing day in this corner of the internet.
Listen guys, I also want to pay as little taxes as lawfully possible and get trans athletes out of my kid’s sporting teams, I just don’t want to raze the constitution in the process.
I think that the auto industry is going to suffer most. I can’t imagine buying the crap they are selling today. No interest what-so-ever. Couple that with sky high prices and interest rates. Nope. I just put $1700 into my Outback at 100k miles. It’s been flawless. Timing belt had some cracks and it needed brakes. Otherwise…..Zilch.
Lib, I am a Trader Joe’s shopper. Even managed to grab four of those mini insulated bags that everyone loves this morning.
Get a Mazda next time.
The beater keeps on beating. Our 2012 CX-9 is approaching 170K still with everything original but the struts and regular wear and tear replacements. Even original wires still. Oh, the passenger side window doesn’t go down, but that’s from a Gator smashola.
Cali is so Trader Joe centric. We don’t go there anymore. No great shakes price wise or quality wise. I miss their canned cuban beans though.
It certainly feels that way, Phoenix.
Musk simps born male give me incel/cuck vibes.
” Phoenix says:
February 5, 2025 at 1:02 pm
Musk views everyone below him as subhumans.
“
Musk reminds me a little of Quentin Tarantino for some reason. Must be that whiny awkwardness.
Who’s Gary?
2:11 an overt unlikability.
2:02 Don’t be a hater, man. I go there with my special lady friend.
Not a hater. You could shop at Whole Paycheck like ChiFi.
Tariff to China, 15 percent, paid by consumer. Cost to collect new tariffs, 30 percent, paid by consumer.
Hehe. You like inflation. Stick it up your ass and inflate it for twice the pleasure.
Your politicians HATE the lower and middle class. Just f’n go away already.
USPS, in reversal, resumes accepting packages from China and Hong Kong
The Postal Service says it will work with Customs and Border Protection on a way to collect new tariffs imposed by President Donald Trump.
LAX says:
February 5, 2025 at 2:26 pm
2:02 Don’t be a hater, man. I go there with my special lady friend.
In matching Lululemon outfits?
Post a pic. Hehe.
But really, I admire any couple that can survive today.
2:31 Whole Foods did West Orange a solid when they moved into that plaza. Really boosted the area in real Estate, yo.
2:41 We have our moments, believe me. But she’s a freakin’ catch man. I’d never ever meet anyone even remotely in her league. I outkicked my coverage.
Is she vision impaired?
This one is for all the mouthbreathers who exclaimed but wut AboUt Benghazi! PuT peOplEs LiveS in Dangerr! hurr durrr…
” The C.I.A. sent the White House an unclassified email listing all employees hired by the spy agency over the last two years to comply with an executive order to shrink the federal work force, in a move that former officials say risked the list leaking to adversaries.
The list included first names and the first initial of the last name of the new hires, who are still on probation — and thus easy to dismiss. It included a large crop of young analysts and operatives who were hired specifically to focus on China, and whose identities are usually closely guarded because Chinese hackers are constantly seeking to identify them.”
Google on Tuesday updated its ethical guidelines around artificial intelligence, removing commitments not to apply the technology to weapons or surveillance.
Un zO now wie can get zose who oppose us. We are zie new master race.
4:15 “timing” is everything.
Of course.
“Arab Americans for Trump” changes it s name.
https://apnews.com/article/arab-americans-trump-gaza-name-peace-479f6777cac7bac52fb098daa0821cb5
If they voted for Harris, they would have been better off.
5:00
Another proof for the “wisdom of crowd fallacy”. People are dumber than you imagine. See Tea Party/MAGA supporters who make only five figures annually.
5:00 Hahahaha love it
“ Hossan” not happening after all!
https://www.reuters.com/markets/deals/nissan-honda-may-call-off-merger-talks-asahi-says-2025-02-04/
I wonder if Carlos Ghosn has an invisible hand on this
You can look at it both ways – Arab Americans For Trump are –
Stupid af for their formation
OR
Smart for realizing their faux pas faster than MAGA did.
resistance is futile…NJ Rt 4 in Paramus…
https://x.com/JamesTate121/status/1887223590967292284/photo/1
Persons are smart, people are dumb.
Gluteus still around? Wanted to know if he was gonna blame the ball?
Anyone disagree here? Trump’s EO no men in women’s sports.
https://x.com/AutismCapital/status/1887248911729107454
Costco Marlboro is $2.81 for credit card and using Costco Visa provides 5% cash back on gas…… as well as the Executive Membership which offers 2% cash back within the store itself. The Executivee Membership essentially generates enough to AT LEAST pay the annual membership.
Libturd says:
February 5, 2025 at 1:21 pm
The cheapest place by me is a BP and it’s $3.09 a gallon. It had gotten down to $2.83 about a month ago.
Costco sells 4LB bags of high quality organic blueberries for $7.99 (at least as of last Sunday).
Hell Yea! I have no problem with the next generation on this side of the aisle.
https://x.com/CalltoActivism/status/1887246015612452966
It must be the ball
It must be the ball
Mikel Arteta
It must be the ball
Message from a parent we know:
We are in serious turbulent times.
My grandson is 8 and came home wondering why there were only 4 kids in his class. ¾ of them are Hispanic☹. My daughter called one of the parents and they are too scared to send their children to school in ☹☹☹
Not to mention the ones that rely on school breakfast and lunches when there is not enough food at home. This is all so heartbreaking…
Eddie Ray,
What brings you out of the woodwork, the Saudi Blood team must have won today. You only seem to be in here when their winning. If we lost to you in the league cup, good luck in the rest of the competition. My drought in silverware is far less than yours.
And as I always pointed out to Clot. I always have this. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wecjbt-mSP8
How are you enjoying this rise of GOP Theocracy at the moment. You must be loving this Donnie start.
People are dumber than you imagine.
Not dumber than I imagine.
I see everything were I work. Plus read the chart that shows how they got there.
Hold my beer.
RentLord,
We don’t care about children in America, it’s bull shite.
Too bad Trump doesn’t drain the biggest swamp, the police departments, who don’t do crap when children are being abused.
Trump has effectively eliminated the total of 6 students in America that were trans in sports.
Wow, big accomplishment. Barely a problem in a world with major issues.
But hey, a win is a win. You fixed America’s hangnail problem. Hey big boy what ya gonna do about the cancer that has metastasized?
F’n loser. Just like SLow JOE.
This country needs a savior, and SpraY ORange Hair ain’t it.
https://apnews.com/article/arab-americans-trump-gaza-name-peace-479f6777cac7bac52fb098daa0821cb5
At least they were smart enough to admit THEY WERE DUPED.
Do you guys think Trump knows the story of Chicken Little?
And yes Juice. I think even most liberals support the end of trans men in women sports. We all know the pendulum swung to far. But resetting everything to zero in a vindictive fashion and destroying all the tenets of our government is not the way. You’ll all see it soon enough. Being an asshole is not the way.
Off come the guard rails. We have already had the IGs fired. Here is the next level.
NEW: The Muskified OPM sent out a memo to all heads/ acting heads of federal depts & agencies asking them to request a change in the status of chief information officers from “senior executive service” & “career reserved” to “general.” Meaning Musk-approved outsiders can be given these jobs and politicos and Trump loyalists can be installed in CIO positions. Also, there will be fewer job protections for CIOs. A CIO’s job is to oversee the effective & secure use of IT to accomplish an agency’s mission. If that person answers to Musk, it will give him more influence everywhere.
https://x.com/DavidCornDC/status/1887172795563442423
Its going according to the plan. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sLMRh62sazs&t=56s
$20 million for Sesame Street shows in Iraq?
Millions for a transgender opera?
Small beans Gary. I’m glad they are shutting them down, yes. But it’s a 50 billion dollar budget. It’s not like you scrap your car when you catch a flat. Then again, MAGA can do no wrong.
How’s that Project 2025 Playbook coming along that Trump didn’t even read or have nothing to do with. That was you Juice who pointed that out. Wasn’t it? But cult leaders can get away with anything.
But it’s a 50 billion dollar budget.
A total pig slush fund. Total abuse. I can’t imagine how many other programs are being robbed like crazy.
I’m sure you are right. Have any issues with the Lutheran Sovereign Fund?
But resetting everything to zero in a vindictive fashion and destroying all the tenets of our government is not the way.
Democrats: Hold my beer.
Italics off
Just wait until you see the garbage Trump is replacing these workers with.
It’s just like old times here today.
Lots of change means old friends are more important than ever.
They aren’t resetting everything to zero. But multibillion dollar slush funds deserve scrutiny and halting before you allow them to continue. Whenever we spot medicaid/medicare fraud, we pause all payments on a particular service before proceeding.
Big storm potential next week starting on Tuesday, btw.
$20 million for Sesame Street shows in Iraq?
Millions for a transgender opera?
IF this is true (and most of these wild spending claims have been false), then that certainly justifies freezing PEPFAR (the program administered by USAID that provides anti-HIV drugs).
I mean, so what if a thousands of Africans contract AIDS as a result and die horrible deaths?
But whats wrong with an Iraqi version of Sesame Street anyway?
How would you propose teaching Iraqi children that they don’t need to kill people who choose to worship god in a different way?
They aren’t resetting everything to zero. But multibillion dollar slush funds deserve scrutiny and halting before you allow them to continue.
“Slush funds”?
Really BRT? You’re dropping down to small gov levels here.
What about PEPFAR, drug trials, vaccination campaigns…
Freezing USAID spending, and bringing all the USAID workers home, has some serious consequences, People will die because of this.
Shutting every program down BEFORE you understand what they do, (or how difficult it will be to restart the good ones- especially after you’ve already sent the USAID workers home) is a really stupid and cruel way to do things,
And all the spending done by USAID is not even a rounding error in the US budget.
But this is Trump; the cruelty is the point.
Spend the money on the Gazan.Riviera instead.
USAID was picked because of how it was created an Executive Order way back by JFK.
This move to shut it down and move it under the State Dept has better chance of withstanding court challenges to rein in the power of the executive branch. Once the Trump Administration gets a win in court they can go after other government programs.
EPA was an Executive Order under Nixon
NOAA was an Executive Order under Nixon
FEMA was an Executive Order under Carter
DHS was an Executive Order under GHWB
NASA was an Executive Order under Eisenhower
Congress also creates agencies through legislation those will be harder to change. The courts traditionally won’t side with the Executive Branch here.
FBI
NPS
The Fed
USPS
NFS
There will be court battles over the meaning of Constitution’s Article I, Section 9
and spending the money congress appropriates. It has to be spent is the current interpretation. Even wastefully which it is in many examples.
Congressional Budget and Impoundment Control Act of 1974 came about because NIXON refused refused to spend funds. The Supreme Court in Train v. City of New York (1975). Nixon did not want the Federal government to subsidize the construction of sewers in NYC, so he told his folks not to give them the money. Nixon lost…and congress changed the law, Nixon’s assumption of veto on spending does not exist.
To anyone here who understands the money MUST be spent even wastefully. There should not be one red penny held in reserve even if it means cutting a Treasury check to terrorists or scammers.
Don’t discount USAID being picked by Elon because of its role in helping end apartheid in South Africa.
It is a big accomplishment. Watching high school sports, it is a complete slap in the face to every girl training and sacrificing. The point is that those 6 are likely the best in girl’s sports, and it is indulging the emotionally weak.
Out of a sense of justice they should not participate.
Bear in mind, as male athletes they were totally mediocre. It’s not as if they were champion male athletes, and decided to become females
Phoenix says:
February 5, 2025 at 8:35 pm
Trump has effectively eliminated the total of 6 students in America that were trans in sports.
Wow, big accomplishment. Barely a problem in a world with major issues.
I continue to be amazed at the fact that more people, more radical people, are not resolving their differences with a bullet.
The number of assassinations in this country as a percentage of citizens who own long guns is mind-boggingly low.
I’m not talking unibomber like mental health disorders, I’m talking about regular folks like Luigi who take matters into their own hands.
I think about this because Teterboro is my closest Costco. As I push the cart out of the store I often see jets landing just overhead, and then look at all these folks scurrying about with their carts, and the Walmart nearby and it just brings the juxtaposition front and center for me.
One of the more interesting debates of our time is coming home to roost, but it is a very slow boil.
Limiting the governments ability to legislatively print and spend money without any real challenges. Inflation does not seem to worry them down in DC, neither does the countless unfunded liabilities they have signed up future generations to pay for. They don’t even read these massive omnibus bills anymore, why would they read them? Clinton had the line item veto signed into law in 1996. The power to curb spending before it became law. It lasted just two years until a Supreme Court ruling in Clinton v. City of New York. They sued because well Clinton was actually using the line item veto to cancel pork spending found in these giant omnibus bills.
Today this process is out of control. Why would Congress Critters actually write or read legislation? Lobbyists who are not government employees draft this spending legislation in many cases. All those legislative directors, counsels, and policy advisors on the staff of congress rely on lobbyists, think tanks, and other advocacy groups to write the legislation especially these massive spending bills. Everybody is on on it. It’s almost a RICO racket to defraud us all legally.
Lobbyists who are not government employees draft this spending legislation in many cases.
And those who are not government employees will now turn over the rock to expose the creepy crawly things under it.
Enter DOGE.
Hughesrep exactly how does that work? The funding for aids drugs is going to stop apartheid from ending? It was infact ended 30 years ago, it a democratic country now. Nelson Mandela in 1994, Thabo Mbeki, Ivy Matsepe-Casaburri, Kgalema Motlanthe, Jacob Zuma, and now Cyril Ramaphosa. Their leadership for the last 30 years have all been from the ANC.
14 percent of South Africans have HIV. South Africa’s government has vowed to make up the difference in the USAID HIV funding by reallocating budgets for “key priorities”.
Sounds like a smart move to be less dependent on the USA. They are after all the #1 economy in all of Africa and should lead the way.
Egg prices rose under Biden — from $1.60 per dozen in February 2021 to $4.10 in December 2024 (his first and last full months in office), Bureau of Labor Statistics data shows.
Wait. Wh.. wh… what?
Chi,
I agree with you that it needed to be done. It’s a freakshow.
But it still only affects a handful of people. What percentage of the population is actually affected by this? I wonder how many of those people are actually trans, or just some losers who pretend they are to get a scholarship knowing it would be easier to win that way.
I don’t like Trump, but I do like that he did this.
The rest of the world understands this. BRICS didn’t come out of nowhere.
It’s all about SWIFT and the way the world is controlled by the US Banking system.
Don’t do what they say, out you go. It’s all very silent.
America acts like a bully cause it has a weapon to control everyone financially. Don’t worry, Canada and Mexico aren’t going to forget how they were threatened. No one wants to feel that way, especially from a ‘so called” friend. They are going to consider alternate avenues while pretenting to be hitched to the USA Anchor.
Juice Box says:
February 6, 2025 at 8:43 am
Sounds like a smart move to be less dependent on the USA.
Americans have been mentally declawed.
Alcohol, Xanax bars, goofy crap on the internet, years of television production letting the mopes think that courtrooms are just and police are heroes, and that some guy like Reacher is out there to save the world. Now give them THC legal to calm their nerves some more, bags of chips, wash them down with Ozempic to cure their fatness.
Have almost naked women walking around everywhere, no class, all on birth control so they don’t have to be selective, they can Hauk Tuah all day for money.
The majority of the youth today are just out giggling at silly cat AI videos now, and they think they know everything, or are just annoying on purpose. None of them understand what is being talked about on this forum.
They should just raise the age of adulthood in America to 40. Pretty sad when you think about what age some of the founding fathers were when they started America from scratch.
Boomer Remover says:
February 6, 2025 at 8:20 am
I continue to be amazed at the fact that more people, more radical people, are not resolving their differences with a bullet.
“It’s all about SWIFT and the way the world is controlled by the US Banking system.”
Swift is not controlled by the US banks, but they do have influence. It is made up of worldwide banks and headquartered in Belgium.
Guess there hasn’t been a seperation between church and state for quite some time.
God has nothing to do with any of the above. Only humans. God ain’t saving no one, cause no God exists. You are wasting your one brain cell asking for someone from above to save you instead of using that poor brain cell to actually do some work and figure out an answer.
Americans use prayer and lottery tickets as hope.
President Donald Trump got personal at the National Prayer Breakfast on Thursday, talking about his own faith journey, noting how last year’s assassination attempt ‘changed something in me.’
Trump noted that ‘God was watching me’ on July 13. 2024, when he was shot and wounded in his ear during his rally in Bulter, Pennsylvania.
‘But it’s still, honestly, it’s a very – it changed something in me. I feel even stronger. I believed in God but I feel much more strongly about it, something happened,’ he said.
It was an unusual moment for the president, who doesn’t publicly show off his faith.
The National Prayer Breakfast is an annual event in the Capitol, where the president of the United States joins lawmakers from both parties for a morning of prayer and reflection.
The breakfast has been a tradition since 1953.
Swift is not controlled by the US banks, but they do have influence.
Where does the backbone of Swift reside?
The way I read it, it is in Virginia, a state in the USA.
Sounds like a smart move to be less dependent on the USA.
Maybe that works for the rishest country in Africa- what about the rest?
Phoenix @ 9:10 AM,
Such an uplifting image! Lol! Should I start drinking heavily?
Maybe that works for the rishest country in Africa- what about the rest?
Let them eat cake. ;)
I’m surprised Trump didn’t find God when he was grabbing them by the pussy?
Phoenix – SWIFT was actually created to prevent the USA from controlling financial flows between countries.
We have had the CIA and the NSA and other three letter agency programs trying to surveil those SWIFT transaction for decades now. Some believe the NSA sees all the data although it’s heavily encrypted.
They actually hide transactions under EU privacy laws. We actually sanctioned SWIFT to kick Iran off the system, they were kicked off but are back on again. Russia was only banned from SWIFT last year because the pissed off the Europeans controlling it.
Treasury looking to borrow 815B in first quarter, with a projected 123B in the second.
Gee Mr Wilson, is that a lot of money?
Oh, no Dennis. Just shut up and go away.
I’ve been to the datacenter in VA, it is impressive, but everything is controlled from Belgium. A lot of countries said they did not want their data in the US so they had to open a third datacenter in Switzerland.
We are getting to a point where even Canada is saying certain data cannot come over the border.
Fast Eddie says:
February 6, 2025 at 9:31 am
Phoenix @ 9:10 AM,
Such an uplifting image! Lol! Should I start drinking heavily?
You do you. The odds of it being me doing chest compressions on you are less than slim.
But it’s a job and we get paid to do it. So some poor schlep will have the honors of looking at your pannus and sweaty hairy chest as the color of your face turns from pink to blue.
OC1: re: what about the rest?
They have already pivoted. Africa now has 53 of their countries part of China’s belt and road program. They can ask them for the HIV drugs and food.
Panama just exited Belt and Road due to our threats to Annex the country…
https://greenfdc.org/countries-of-the-belt-and-road-initiative-bri/
I read a book on this. It kind of started this way accidentally. But America can snoop and control anyone it wants to based on the fact that the physical wiring is right here in Virginia.
Data Center Alley spans across the Fairfax and Loudoun counties in VA, but its infrastructure is utilized all around the globe; an estimated 70% of the world’s internet traffic travels through Data Center Alley each day.
Panama just exited Belt and Road due to our threats to Annex the country…
No one likes to be threatened. It’s a temporary capitulation, before Panama comes up with a new plan with the help of others.
You don’t threaten your friends.
America is scared, it’s losing control. Everything screams dying empire.
Phoenix – 33 Thomas Street… NYC….. this goes back to what Snowden alluded….
It’s all legal and nobody can talk about it, just like the drones flying over New Jersey.
https://tinyurl.com/nb6n99mx
Oh, and Eddie,
Just so you know, I checked.
Your body bag is made in China.
So if you want one that isn’t just a white one made in America, or a flag on it, maybe keep one with you. I’m not sure even if you brought one to the hospital they would use it, you know, policy and everything.
Juice,
Is that where the original beam splitter was? Nah, I just looked it up. I guess it’s more than one like Klein said
Room 641A is located in the SBC Communications building at 611 Folsom Street, San Francisco, three floors of which were occupied by AT&T before SBC purchased AT&T.[1] The room was referred to in internal AT&T documents as the SG3 [Study Group 3] Secure Room.
The room measures about 24 by 48 feet (7.3 by 14.6 m) and contains several racks of equipment, including a Narus STA 6400, a device designed to intercept and analyze Internet communications at very high speeds.[1] It is fed by fiber optic lines from beam splitters installed in fiber optic trunks carrying Internet backbone traffic.[3] In the analysis of J. Scott Marcus, a former CTO for GTE and a former adviser to the Federal Communications Commission, it has access to all Internet traffic that passes through the building, and therefore “the capability to enable surveillance and analysis of internet content on a massive scale, including both overseas and purely domestic traffic.”[4]
The existence of the room was revealed by former AT&T technician Mark Klein and was the subject of a 2006 class action lawsuit by the Electronic Frontier Foundation against AT&T.[5] Klein claims he was told that similar black rooms are operated at other facilities around the country.[6]
Room 641A and the controversies surrounding it were subjects of an episode of Frontline,[7] the current affairs documentary program on PBS. It was originally broadcast on May 15, 2007. It was also featured on PBS’s NOW on March 14, 2008. The room was also covered in the PBS Nova episode “The Spy Factory”.
Phoenix -goes back decades….Legally Americans’ phone calls and internet communications since at least 2001, and citizens from other countries allot longer..
How do you think Comey caught Trump’s first incoming National Security Advisor in 2016 talking and texting the Russian Ambassador before he was confirmed and sworn in?
Isn’t that from the finale of the movie Animal House?
Libturd says:
February 6, 2025 at 9:37 am
I’m surprised Trump didn’t find God when he was grabbing them by the pussy?
So some poor schlep will have the honors of looking at your pannus…
Will it be a 31 year old brunette observing my… oh wait… you said pannus.
Never mind.
Chicago,
Zero point zero.
Interesting they used a foreign made beam splitter. One would think that putting in a spy device on your own citizens that it would be American made for the safety of fellow Americans.
I guess Russia should install a Ukrainian made one in their internet backbone.
Common sense is gone in America. It’s a turd. And judging from the last few years it’s about to be flushed by the rest of the world.
They have already pivoted. Africa now has 53 of their countries part of China’s belt and road program.
All the more reason to continue with our own aid programs!
“Pivots” don’t have to be permanent.
Let’s go Ian!
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=FD2SfQJOK08&pp=ygUZam95IGRpdmlzaW9uIGxvc3QgY29udHJvbA%3D%3D
Phoenix says:
February 6, 2025 at 9:50 am
America is scared, it’s losing control. Everything screams dying empire
Fast Eddie says:
February 6, 2025 at 10:20 am
So some poor schlep will have the honors of looking at your pannus…
Will it be a 31 year old brunette observing my… oh wait… you said pannus.
Never mind.
That thing will be shriveled up. Won’t even see it over your pannus. So you don’t have to worry about her having nightmares.
OC1 – We are headed back to gun boat diplomacy…. Might even include some Rods from God if Elon has anything to do with it.
No country for old men Eddie.
Smoke ’em if you got ’em.
Are we Great yet?
Let me know when we achieve Greatness please. I’m having trouble finding a benchmark. Maybe Nazi Germany early 1942? When they controlled most of Europe and lots of Africa?
Phoenix – It is the very reason why Huawei and ZTE networking gear is banned.
Our Postal service etc helps to they take the package of our homegrown networking gear and ship it sometimes to a lab where a back door is installed before it’s delivered.
It’s in Glenn Greenwald’s book…..
I guess the USA is going to have to take it’s warships from Taiwan and put them in Panama.
The Chinese can make a warship a day. They built a hospital in one month during Covid.
Thats how it works when you aren’t lazy and your government isn’t a trough with hundreds of pig elected officials eating the pork slop in the trough in congress. You just f’n do.
All that wasted TEMU and SCHEIN production should now go to making weapons to give to Russia in order to stop America from plundering Ukraine.
Libturd says:
February 6, 2025 at 10:28 am
Are we Great yet?
Yeah, we have a fantasy where a young brunette nurse gets all moist and hot over a boomer who has a heart attack. She gets excited over thinking about his pe nn is that is not really visible over his pannus and she feels his cold wet clammy skin and his hoping to bring him back for some really hot exiting sex.
MAGA.
Rumor has it that Musk is going to give out some free pagers.
Boom.
One could argue it’s already too late. 40 percent of the semiconductors that sustain US weapons systems and associated infrastructure are now sourced from China.
For example the new Ford class Aircraft carrier contains 6,500 Chinese made semiconductors. Only one is in service the Gerald R. Ford, The JFK is coming this year, the USS Enterprise in 2029, USS Doris Miller, the USS Clinton and the USS GWB coming in the next decade. All running on Chinese chips.
Who knows if all those Fabs we are paying for and being constructed now will replace our reliance on those cheap chips made in China.
Juice,
With your permission, can I patent the term “Chinese Chips?”
When I was a kid, there was Charlie’s chips.
I’ve got a business idea with your term.
What an amazing, historic time to be alive. We’re witnessing the hardest working administration ever, making things better for law-abiding, tax-paying citizens every single day; literally accomplishing more each 24 hours than previous admins accomplished in 4 (or 8) years — and don’t get me started on the utterly useless SlowJoe admin. By the way, did anyone see that the illegal alien-enabling NGO’s are closing up shop all along the border because business has dried up? And did anyone see the record breaking army recruiting numbers? As for DOGE, the only reasonable response from citizens is to be thankful for the diligence and hard work of DJT’s team, and to be appalled at the waste and corruption (8 mill to Politico to be the official propaganda arm of the DNC) they’re uncovering — USAID is literally the wellspring that feeds the DC swamp.
Eddie,
In your scenario that brunette would get your heart beating again.
I hope you get your wish.
Problem is then your wife will stomp the life out of you.
Lib – Is Mac’s move making a comeback?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eFdnyITLpxI
And did anyone see the record breaking army recruiting numbers?
Yeah, that’s a bunch of desperate kids who won’t be going to college to cure cancer, or get STEM degrees.
Boomer likes dead children. Boomer doesn’t have to pay for them, or yell at them to get off his front lawn.
Libturd says:
February 6, 2025 at 9:37 am
“when he was grabbing them by the pussy?”
Lib, in case you haven’t figured it out after having muttered this for the 1000th time — No.One.Cares! In fact, normal men (and women) find DJT’s womanizing (which was most certainly encouraged by the grab-ees) far more acceptable than SlowJoe’s pre-teen hair-sniffing or Oblama’s gay cruising. Time for some new material, Lib.
I never understood why the Army doesn’t use up old people first during a war. I mean do you bring your nice car to an event down in Baltimore or do you drive the old clunker so you don’t have to worry about it?
Juice,
I never watched that show, but it seems kind of clever.
SGC,
How many pussies do you grab on an average day, being that you consider this normal behavior.
Any cuties in your family we can all go and grab normally?
One guy on here prefers brunettes. So asking for a friend.
Behaving like a neanderthal is what turns on MAGA cavemen. I guess it only makes sense our health director would attach a whale’s head to the family cruiser.
Best show from Philadelphia ever
https://youtu.be/3jMhoGUiIkk?t=11
Lib,
Maybe you know.
Is it ok to grab the pussy of the daughter of a MAGA man without asking him for permission?
Or if you ask for permission does that make you a pussy as well, so you should just walk in the front door and grab pussies?
Is there any place to get the instruction manual on how to do this properly and with manners?
Enough with the sick politics.
Back to mundane stuff. I got a couple of quotes for a wood fireplace insert.
One guy- small shop owner in business for 30 years gave me a quote for $8500(!) . The actual insert costs $2700, but he added this and that.. a chimney lining, blah blah and brought it to that price. Not to mention taxes.
The other guy had a small shop near the PA border that I drove by to check out. His quote was lower at $6500, but he only carries catalytic stove inserts. They give out far less heat, a lot more maintenance because of more creosote but can burn for 20 hours. The unit itself is $4800. The extra maintenance is a big turn off, and I don’t understand why a more expensive unit should cost less for the overall quote. On the phone he appeared competent. But when I visited the shop – turns out this guy is a 20ish dude, who did not even know what a non-catalytic stove was! Looks like his dad bought the store for him and his buddies to man and make a buck – cuz he couldn’t fine any other job.
Now I’m like screw this. I’ll just weather the winters with a space heater. This area is on a slab and a heat sink.
It will probably be cheaper for a guy from mexico to fly over, do the work and return home. It’s an absolute rip off. Installing a stove insert should not cost that much. Just because someone can afford something doesn’t mean they should.
/end rant
@smallgov 10:44 – can you rightfully even call yourself American, if everything you believe is not based on the concept of America?
America, where the streets are lined with golden toilets.
Anyone here have experience with chicken? Especially silkies? More as pets than for the eggs.
They give out far less heat, a lot more maintenance because of more creosote but can burn for 20 hours.
What clown told you this?
Go here and talk to the people who do this. I burned wood for years, 2 different catalytic stoves. They were awesome and low maintenance.
Go to Biden’s state to purchase, and keep Menendez from purchasing more gold bars with your tax dollars.
https://www.hearth.com/talk/forums/the-hearth-room-wood-stoves-and-fireplaces.6/
I’ve got two pussies, one calico, one domestic short hair.
I put one in each hand and do at least 25 reps, 3 sets. Usually before breakfast.
My guns look amazing. Nothing like that upper arm strength.
I might even try to join the Army now that it’s becoming so popular.
It will probably be cheaper for a guy from mexico to fly over, do the work and return home.
Before Trump, you could have just went to Home Depot and picked one up.
I guess you could adopt one.
Or just go to a jobsite where you see a police car. They know how to get and keep the illegal labor. I saw that first hand, and how they not so carefully did away with asbestos.
Oh, and wood burning. Dry is key. Yeah, I know you have heard it before.
Start collecting early. Even March, April is when I started. Cut and split and stack. Make sure you cover only on the top. Sun and wind will lower the moisture. Wet wood uses most of it’s energy to turn water to steam ( physics latent heat of vaporization) uses a lot of energy.
Cat stoves easy. Dry wood. Get stove up to temp before engaging cat. Cat engaged, it lights off- smoke, creosote disappear. Now you choke the stove to get long burn if you don’t need as much heat-smoke in older stove, but cat stays hot and burns off the smoke, stove burns clean at lower temperature and longer burn time.
Cat lasts 5 years or so, if you treat it nice and don’t burn wet wood. Long burn times are awesome, some stoves do 40 hours.
It’s work. Also if you are not a wood splitter, buy your wood early in April/May and stack it then. Don’t try to buy seasoned wood in September, you and every other dolt do it that way. Buy early, know its dry.
If you can’t handle that, then buy a heat pump and some Grim spirits.
Phoenix, I got that information about Cat inserts needing more maintenance from reddit forums. The newer non-cat ones are almost as efficient.
That’s great that your catalytic inserts are working great. Thanks for sharing.
This is the cat: https://www.blazeking.com/products/ashford-25/ priced at $5,231.33
and the non cat: https://osburnwoodstoves.com/products/osburn-2000-wood-insert-ob02016?srsltid=AfmBOoqthfat4RMeDBQO7JX6Wz1m9-4TNtJxsh0cFxnwEOjAGDFlaQJ9 at $2729
What are your thoughts on each?
Been out for a while on that. I didn’t have an insert.
I had 2 wood stoves. Loved both, but the Blaze King was amazing. I installed the thing myself. Cutting the hole in the roof was one of the last things I did with my father when he was still alive. Bought stove in Delaware , 3.5 k at the time, no sales tax. Drove it home myself.
Blaze King, one match for the whole season. Light it once and you are done. Bigger stove, yup, you can do that.
Mine wasn’t a 40 hr, but I pushed 15-20 regularly. Its nice when it’s not so cold where you don’t cook yourself to death, to have embers in the morning, de-energize the cat, throw in a few small pieces, stove relights, get it back up to temp, re-energize the cat, good to go.
There will always be a debate on cat vs non cat.
Go to that forum. Really, really smart wonderful guys on there. Taught me so much.
I don’t go there anymore, but I love them all. Just regular Americans trying to keep warm.
I highly recommend the site. And I don’t want to steer you wrong with your choices.
But dry wood my friend. Start early. Learn how to stack properly. No way around that.
Good point about dry wood.
When my big oak died, I got a wood splitter from homedepot and chopped it all up. This was 2 years ago and I have a ton of wood. I cover just the top with a tarp.. but I just looked outside and half of it has blown away and some are wet.
I’m no expert at wood splitting, but when it gets tough, I get my lawn guy to do it for me.
And there’s another oak with leaf scorch that’s going to die soon. So even more wood.
One guy on here prefers brunettes.
Actually, really hot red heads are the absolute bomb!
By the way, at 350 lbs., it is difficult to see my pen1s over my pannus. Actually, it’s buried in my apron belly. Hmm… apron belly… good name for a really fat rap star.
By the way, at 350 lbs., it is difficult to see my pen1s over my pannus.
We should all chip in and get Fast Eddie a prescription for Ozempic so he can see his pen1s again.
Or maybe he’s going for that “body by Trump” look.
Whooopss…Temu cars selling well in Europe…
Tesla sales crash in Europe
“Germany’s Kraftfahrt-Bundesamt vehicle authority reported Wednesday that sales of Musk’s EV brand dropped by nearly 60 percent in January compared to the same period last year. The French automotive industry recorded a 63 percent year-over-year decline in registrations last month. The UK fared slightly better, though registrations still dipped by nearly eight percent in January, according to the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders logging.
Numbers are similar across Europe, trade publication Electrek noted Tesla registrations in the Netherlands, Sweden, Denmark, and Norway fell more than 40 percent, while Spain saw the steepest decline of 75 percent.
Despite Tesla’s decline in the UK, France, and Germany, sales of battery electric vehicles (BEVs) are up in those countries. The UK reported a 41 percent YoY increase in BEV registrations in January 2025, and Germany, despite an overall decline in automotive sales, saw a 53.5 percent increase in BEV purchases. The French automotive market, meanwhile, saw a sizable decline in sales overall, but BEV purchases as a share of total automotive sales increased YoY in January.”
It’s tempting to blame the falls on Britons and Europeans’ distaste for Tesla boss Elon Musk, who as well as going through the US federal government like a wrecking ball for President Trump has recently spent a lot of time supporting right-wing causes in Europe. Tesla’s European operations have also been the subject of protests, and an arson attack near its Berlin Gigafactory. A long-running strike that began in Sweden in October 2023 saw Tesla service workers protest the car-maker’s disinterest in bargain with a local union. That strike is ongoing and has spilled into other countries, where workers continue to refuse to work with Tesla in solidarity.
The data we’ve linked to above reports new vehicle registrations, though, not consumer sentiment.
And the registration data suggests another explanation for Tesla’s sales slump in the form strong growth for rival EV brands. In the UK, Chinese leccy vehicle maker BYD saw year-over-year registrations increase by 550 percent to 1,614 vehicles, and a 69 percent jump in Germany. Polestar, a brand co-owed by Chinese concerns and Sweden’s Volvo, enjoyed 216 percent growth in the UK and 113 percent in Germany but sold in small numbers compared to Tesla.
BYD EVs are cheaper than Teslas in many territories. And Polestars are very posh.
Boomer is the first generation to leave the world in worse shape
Greedy, selfish, uneducated, shortsighted
Phoenix says:
February 6, 2025 at 10:47 am
And did anyone see the record breaking army recruiting numbers?
Yeah, that’s a bunch of desperate kids who won’t be going to college to cure cancer, or get STEM degrees.
Boomer likes dead children. Boomer doesn’t have to pay for them, or yell at them to get off his front lawn.
Temu/Alibaba cars selling well in the UK.
“Chinese electric car titan BYD has overtaken Tesla in British sales for the first time as public opinion sours towards Elon Musk. BYD sold 1,614 passenger cars last month, with Tesla selling just 1,458 by comparison, according to data published by the Society of Motor Manufacturers and Traders (SMMT).”
Maga Boomer gets big government universal socialism healthcare
No Dodge there
President Musk will never touch all the wasted welfare going to Maga boomers
No auditing Medicare
Next Tues-Thursday snowstorm is still brewing.
Who are you kidding? Trump said he was going to reform healthcare over ten years ago. We are still waiting to see his great plan.
Eddie,
By the way, at 350 lbs., it is difficult to see my pen1s over my pannus. Actually, it’s buried in my apron belly. Hmm… apron belly… good name for a really fat rap star.
If you were actually 350 lbs, would you still think you should be the fitness expert and action movie star, just because the anti-DEI effort should put you at the front of the line?
In Wasteland by Robert Kaplan it took H!yler 2 months to end the democracy
-Scarumucci
Eddie what’s USAID budget vs Medicare?
Ask Libturd how big I am, he’ll tell you.
Eddie what’s USAID budget vs Medicare?
Medicare is close to a trillion. What until you see the size of the band saw used to chop the fat off that behemoth!
Speaking of trickle down, all the waste and fraud in USAID, Medicare, Medicaid and numerous other programs are the quintessential blue print for trickle down fraud. After everyone has their hands in the pot, crumbs are left to go to it’s intended cause. It’s like scavengers fighting over scraps after the consultants, administrators, lawyers, mentors and associates have pilfered most of it. DOGE is one of the best programs invented in an administration during our lifetimes.
$Trump should also defend us from some books like the one in https://x.com/ArmaLite15OU812/status/1887261050552091110
Musk should assign team to the rescue perhaps
**Wait**
re: VSG as usual you were already wrong before you completed your sentence.
Right now Elon’s army of young idiot savants are combing over the data.
“Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) has gained access to key data systems within Health and Human Services, including Medicare and Medicaid records, as it looks for waste and fraud in federal health spending.”
https://www.newsweek.com/donald-trump-elon-musk-doge-live-updates-2027182
1:24, In concept DOGE sounds great. Part of the reason suckers voted him in.
But in reality, you take a few thousand “corrupt” yet functional hands out of the pot and add a couple of big, greedy oligarch’s hand who doesn’t know how to execute.
Do you really believe, a convicted, 4 time bankrupt guy can execute efficiency? Or any of the guys who are in his cabinet? Musk is bringing interns ala accenture noobs into a space who have no idea of the domain.
In the startup world, if you look at investors like Y-Combinator, they look at the team as much as the product before they pour in the money.
Nothing to see here. It’s only a $1.5 trillion spend annually and growing.
Everything is on the up and up….
1:18 that sounded ….ewww
More importantly why do you think LordTurd Musk has the nerd male equivalent of Leonardo DiCaprio’s under 25 girlfriend rule in effect?
These smart nerds are not wise to the ways of the world and liabilities they’re taking. How many laws they are violating and when things go south they’ll be the scapegoat and likely do prison time.
Again this morning in Bloomberg they had this professor from Brown. She estimates they will show LordTurd Musk the door by summer. Her angle is that strategically GOP don’t have the votes to override the debt ceiling vote without the dems. The dems are just going have a government shut down.
Add the shutdown to the small crisis building like spreading bird flu and the small TB and measles break out. All building slowly and the phone are not being answered at the usual federal agencies that respond to these little fires with seriously understaffed and unmotivated employees left.
Does anyone actually OrangeTurd is going to bailout or pardons any of LordTurd Musk little turds? LordTurd Musk better get back to manage Tesla as sales are collapsing worldwide and he’s now a magnet for hatred. And if that rocket does not get going too, his plan for a Hugo Drax will end just like the movie Moonraker.
“his plan for a Hugo Drax will end just like the movie Moonraker.”
Maybe, but I see a bit of a 2001 crossover, Grok ai will control the airlock.
It’s not how much DOGE saves. It’s where the savings are going to go. He didn’t save you a dime last time around. Why do you think the savings are going to go to you this time around. As I’ve said all along, the ultra rich will win handsomely. Those who worship him? Not so much, if at all.
re: “savings are going to go?”
Sovereign Wealth Fund to buy ticker $TRUMP (TRUMP2024-USD).
The only thing trump “saved” was himself spending time in a prison.
As I’ve said all along, the ultra rich will win handsomely. Those who worship him? Not so much, if at all.
You haven’t made the case to not cut waste with this statement.
3:55 The case is “waste” is one thing, but cutting corporate taxes will put us further in the hole.
Last time I looked Corporate Profits were doing pretty well while wages haven’t budged in ages. Deeerrrrrrrrrrrrrrr
Honestly in the real world, a bit of corruption is fine, so long as things are moving forward. Nothing is perfect. But in the guise of perfection, if we destroy a working machine, that’s no good.
DOGE is like having great documentation for a product that does not work.
BRT,
The rich don’t use government services like the rest of us do. They just pay for what they need. In many cases, they make too much to qualify for the services. Looking at the average MAGA crowd, a hell of a lot of them look like they are on disability. So their services are cut, because a few blacks were put in charge, and the savings will go to John Michaels, CEO of mynotspecialpillow.com.
It doesn’t matter. It seems everything Trump is saying he’ll do is illegal because our government is not a dictatorship. Someone ought to tell Trump this, before he burns every bridge built between America and the rest of the world in the past 250 years.
there’s a difference between an actual government service and a federal agency. Hell, the services we are happy to pay for don’t even work anymore.
4:44 Wrong. There is room for streamlining and improvement but seriously?? Net Taker-States would perish if it wasn’t for the productive blue states funding their entitlements. Yes, the checks cash. Yes, the roads are functional. EtcEtc
4:44 …..did you opt-out of the public pension system….?
Medicare is close to a trillion. What until you see the size of the band saw used to chop the fat off that behemoth!
That would devestate rural hospitals.
Guess who the rural counties voted for?
And all the senior citizens in Florida will be pleased too!
You haven’t made the case to not cut waste with this statement.
Nobody, absolutely nobody, is against cutting “waste”.
But I haven’t seen much real waste being cut (or at least, proposed to be cut.)
I have seen a lot of “I don’t agree with this program! Therefore it’s waste/fraud”
Have Elon’s Incels gotten to the Dept of Agriculture yet?
Then we will see whether this is all about Trump trying to get some cruel payback, or is really about cutting govt waste.
Paying farmers not to grow food so Americans have to pay more to eat seems the ultimate in wasteful spending!
Wonder how much “waste” Elon will find in NASA?
RentL0rd says:
February 6, 2025 at 4:14 pm
“a bit of corruption is fine…”
This might be the dumbest, most hair-brained thing that you or any of the other stooges have posted. TDS is real, and people who suffer from it truly need mental health help.
By the way, did you see where only 20% of men still have a favorable view of the modern Dem party; those of you that are still on board need to take an honest look at yourselves and figure out what went wrong.
5:32 Right…..I’d venture to say the current administration is the most corrupt and inept group to ever gain power. It is a signal of the end of our democracy. I’d like to say it was fun while it lasted but it’s been a complete failure. TDS…what a joke.
Eddie
Just more of you to love ❤️
Fast Eddie says:
February 6, 2025 at 1:18 pm
Ask Libturd how big I am, he’ll tell you.
OC1 – re: “Paying farmers not to grow food so Americans have to pay more to eat seems the ultimate in wasteful spending!”
I still have PWSD…..”Post Wedding Stress Disorder”
Yup family member at my wedding years ago. This guy owned over 10,000 acres and was paid by our government for a long time not to farm. When that surge for more corn ethanol came they said nope don’t have no equipment and ain’t gonna do it the windfarm pays plenty anyway… double and triple dip for gas rights too.
BTW- Said farmer gave me a $25 check as a wedding present.
LAX – re: “productive blue states funding their entitlements”
Which part of 37 Trillion debt by the Ides of March don’t you understand? The young folks understand this. They protest by purchasing mime coins….worthless crypto…
You continue to repeat crap too.. Really our government is unable to fund via taxation so for a long time it’s been money printing for perhaps too long.
I suspect like you aren’t a History teacher. Go ask one, one you trust……
SmallGov, why did I know you would jump on that comment?
Now, could you also respond to the other questions?
6:46 eat a huge dick, bro
Paying farmers not to grow food so Americans have to pay more to eat seems the ultimate in wasteful spending!
Unless FDR did it in a time when Americans were actually starving. Then it’s just good policy
But I haven’t seen much real waste being cut (or at least, proposed to be cut.)
I guess it’s true, one man’s trash is another man’s treasure.
Are we great yet Gary?
https://x.com/thetonymichaels/status/1887660198619148372/photo/1
Unless FDR did it in a time when Americans were actually starving. Then it’s just good policy
Maybe it is good policy during a global depression with massive deflation (I don’t know), but it certainly isn’t good economic policy now.
Russia Russia Russia! I’ve been calling it for years.
https://x.com/CalltoActivism/status/1887662615977193680
CALL TO ACTIVISM @CalltoActivism
BREAKING NEWS:
Trump’s new Attorney General Pam Bondi has just disbanded the DOJ task force dedicated to enforcing sanctions against Russia and targeting oligarchs close to the Kremlin.
The task force previously helped bring indictments against several prominent Russian oligarchs, including Konstantin Malofeyev.
This administration works for Putin.
Trump appointed Vought OMB director in 2020, after he served as deputy director in 2017 then acting director in 2019. Vought was a Senate aide before becoming executive director of the conservative Republican Study Committee caucus then policy director for House Republicans. After Trump left office, Vought founded the right-wing nonprofit Center for Renewing America and was a key adviser to the Heritage Foundation’s controversial Project 2025 blueprint for a second Trump presidency. Vought, 48, received his bachelor’s degree from Wheaton College and his law degree from George Washington University.
From the Wall Street Journal,
How Trump’s Sweeping Expulsions Have Thrown the FBI Into Chaos
Firings at the Justice Department and FBI herald revenge—and a broad shift from white-collar and national-security cases to illegal immigration and street crime
Follow the WSJ in Apple News
WASHINGTON—A half-dozen of the most senior officials at the Federal Bureau of Investigation gathered at headquarters last week to hear an urgent directive from the Trump administration.
One official had been a lead investigator in the 9/11 attacks. Another ran the investigation into the attempted assassination of President Trump last summer. They all waited for Brian Driscoll, the FBI acting director.
Driscoll arrived from a tense meeting with Emil Bove, the Trump-appointed second in command at the Justice Department. Bove told him to deliver an ultimatum to the senior officials: Resign by Monday or be fired. They had four days to decide. We tried to stop this, Driscoll told the group.
Two weeks into Trump’s second term, the president and his team have moved quickly to gut aid programs, kill diversity initiatives and push out civil servants by the thousands.
At the Justice Department and FBI, the expulsions have been swift and far-reaching, targeting investigators and prosecutors involved in the Trump probes. More than two dozen senior career officials across both agencies and dozens more prosecutors have already been pushed out. The Trump administration has set about compiling lists of thousands of others it will review, sparking fears that many more could be fired.
The administration has also signaled it would shift more of the FBI’s 38,000 agents, analysts and technical experts to illegal immigration, which traditionally held a limited role for the bureau.
For the past decade, leaders at the FBI and Justice Department have concentrated on threats from overseas, including terrorism, cybercrimes, as well as Chinese and Russian espionage—including the vast “Salt Typhoon” hack of the U.S. telecom system attributed to Beijing and the Kremlin’s escalating acts of sabotage.
Kash Patel, Trump’s pick to run the FBI, is expected to shrink the bureau’s counterintelligence and counterterrorism work, according to his aides. During a Senate confirmation hearing last week, Patel mentioned China only in passing and didn’t speak about any threat from Russia. Republicans said the bureau had for years unfairly targeted Trump and the GOP.
Patel, a Trump surrogate during the president’s 2024 campaign, will likely move agents from securities fraud, antitrust violations and other white-collar cases to pursue drug-trafficking and violent street crime, according to his aides.
Bove, who was Trump’s criminal defense attorney, has called at least a half-dozen FBI supervisors in several cities, some in the middle of the night, to make sure they were carrying out Trump’s tough-on-immigration agenda and publicizing their role on social media, said people familiar with the calls. In Bove’s No. 2 job at the Justice Department, he has oversight of the FBI, which serves as the DOJ’s investigative arm.
Some agents working on criminal or national-security investigations have been given a list of names and addresses of suspected illegal immigrants, a law-enforcement official said, leaving them confused about their exact roles.
Other FBI officials say agents are trying to juggle current cases with new assignments. One agent who investigates child exploitation was recently directed to help the Department of Homeland Security with immigration work. A supervisor in counterintelligence received similar orders.
Bove ordered the joint-terrorism task forces, set up after 9/11 to coordinate federal and state terrorism probes, to join the immigration crackdown, according to people familiar with the matter. He relented after FBI officials told him the reassignment would take agents away from the surveillance of suspected terrorists.
This account is based on interviews with more than two dozen current and former law-enforcement officials and a review of internal government communications.
The White House didn’t respond to a request for comment. On Jan. 20, Trump’s first day in office, the president signed an executive order to investigate the Biden administration’s alleged “weaponization of prosecutorial power.”
Firing squads
More than a dozen federal prosecutors who had worked on Trump investigations received an email on Jan. 27 saying they were fired because they couldn’t be trusted to carry out the president’s agenda. One prosecutor was escorted to his desk to retrieve personal belongings, barred from even sending a goodbye email to colleagues.
On Friday, Bove sent a memo to Driscoll announcing that senior FBI officials had to resign or be fired to ensure “responsiveness to the leadership and directives of President Trump.” In the memo, the acting attorney general also requested the bureau provide a list of everyone who had worked on the investigation of the Jan. 6, 2021 attack on the Capitol.
The federal probe had involved personnel in every FBI field office, including Driscoll, fueling fears of mass purge.
Also on Friday, roughly 30 prosecutors in the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington were dismissed. All of them had worked on Jan. 6 prosecutions. Bove sent a memo saying they had been inappropriately hired as part of “subversive personnel actions” by the Biden administration.
Thousands of FBI agents were ordered to answer a 12-question survey about their work on the Jan. 6 riot. Agents paused field work to complete the survey, including one who had been helping recover bodies from wreckage of the collision between an Army Black Hawk helicopter and a passenger jet over the Potomac River.
The central question asked, “What was your role in the investigations or prosecutions relating to events that occurred at or near the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.”
Driscoll, who had served on the FBI hostage-rescue team, said Tuesday in an email to employees that the bureau had complied with Bove’s request for the list but that some 5,000 FBI personnel had been identified only by title, office and role—not by name.
Bove called Driscoll insubordinate on Wednesday, saying the acting FBI director had refused to turn over names of the “core team” in Washington who had worked on the Jan. 6 probe. Driscoll’s refusal prompted Bove to demand the bureau-wide list, he said. The only agents who should worry, Bove said, “are those who acted with corrupt or partisan intent.“
FBI agents who participated in the Jan. 6 investigations filed a pair of lawsuits Tuesday over the Justice Department’s list, saying they feared Trump allies would publish it, putting agents and their families in danger.
Trump administration officials fired Justice Department staff in the Executive Office for Immigration Review with emails that included the word “removal” in the subject line. Staffers were told only that they were terminated under Article II authority, according to people familiar with the matter. Article II of the Constitution, which established the presidency and assigned it executive powers, traditionally hasn’t been understood to give the president unlimited authority to fire career civil servants.
The FBI Agents Association said some employees were so worried about being fired that they packed up their desks in preparation. At 2:15 p.m. on Saturday, seeking to quash a fast-spreading rumor, the FBI released a statement saying Driscoll “continued to serve in his role.”
In the chaos, officials said, work at the bureau has slowed. The daily threat briefing for senior FBI leaders has been scaled back, and, for the first time in years, an official from the cyber team had for several days nothing to report, giving the impression work had stalled.
Equal protection
Last Thursday, when Driscoll told the senior FBI officials about Bove’s orders to retire or be fired, Patel’s FBI confirmation hearing aired on TV screens in the bureau’s 7th floor leadership suites.
Patel told lawmakers that FBI employees would be protected from political retribution. “Every FBI employee will be held to the same standard and no one will be terminated for case assignments,” he said under oath, adding that he had no idea “what’s going on right now over there.”
On Saturday, the FBI agents association in a note told its members not to resign or offer to resign: “While we would never advocate for physical noncompliance, you need to be clear your removal is not voluntary.”
The agents association followed up with another message Sunday, telling members to answer the Jan. 6 survey with a response that included the sentence, “I have not been advised of my rights in this matter.”
On Monday, the association and other advocates in a letter to Congress said the Justice Department’s actions risked disrupting the bureau’s work, “creating dangerous distractions” and imperiling investigations.
The senior FBI executives given the Justice Department ultimatum last week had by the Monday deadline cleared out their offices and turned in their badges.
Together, they represented close to 200 years of FBI experience.
‘Great failure’
At 3 p.m. on Inauguration Day, several senior government officials in top criminal and national-security roles, including some that overlapped with Trump investigations, all received the same email. It said only, “see attached,” according to a person who viewed it.
The accompanying file was a memo assigning the officials to a position on a new task force targeting U.S. cities with policies that bar cooperation with federal immigration authorities. The memo gave the federal officials 15 days to accept the assignment, a steep demotion for most of them, or face disciplinary action.
Trump administration officials have “declared war on their own workforce,” said Stacey Young, a litigator in the Justice Department’s civil rights division who resigned last month and set up an outside group, Justice Connection, to help employees navigate the workplace confusion.
Few government offices have felt the administration’s hand as much as the U.S. attorney’s office in Washington, which spearheaded the nearly 1,600 prosecutions from the Jan. 6 attack. Law-enforcement officials have described the investigation as the largest in U.S. history.
On his first day in office, Trump granted broad clemency that eviscerated those cases and installed Ed Martin as interim U.S. Attorney in Washington. Martin, a Missouri lawyer and former chair of the state’s Republican Party, said he, too, was at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021.
“I’m at the Capitol right now,” he posted on social media that day. “Rowdy crowd but nothing out of hand. Ignore the #FakeNews.”
Martin served on the board of the Patriot Freedom Project, a group that supported people charged in connection with the Capitol riot.
On Martin’s first full day as interim U.S. attorney, he turned his attention to Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer. Martin wrote a letter to Schumer, asking him to clarify comments the Democratic lawmaker made in 2020 about Supreme Court Justices Brett Kavanaugh and Neil Gorsuch.
Schumer had said, ”You have released the whirlwind and you will pay the price,” during a rally outside the Supreme Court on the day of arguments in an abortion-rights case. Soon after, Schumer walked back the remarks, saying he was talking about political consequences for Trump and Senate Republicans if the High Court “stripped away a woman’s right to choose.”
In his letter, nearly five years after Schumer’s remarks, Martin warned, “We take threats against public officials very seriously.”
Martin sent an officewide email later that week saying Trump had been “kind enough” to invite him to a ceremony pardoning two Washington, D.C., police officers who had been prosecuted by the office. A jury convicted one of the officers of second-degree murder. Both were found guilty of conspiring to cover up the circumstances of a chase that led to the death of a 20-year-old man in 2020.
“What a great act by the President to protect our colleagues in these efforts to make DC safe,” Martin wrote. “As I stood in the Oval Office, I thought about you all and the great work you do and we will do.”
The following week, Martin opened an internal review of prosecutors’ use of a felony obstruction charge in the Jan. 6 cases, calling it a “great failure” in an officewide email. He followed it with a warning that anyone who didn’t cooperate with the inquiry would be viewed as “insubordinate.”
In a letter Monday to Elon Musk, Martin said his office was ready to support Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency. Musk staffers have gotten into standoffs with career personnel after showing up and demanding access to sensitive government agency systems. Confrontations or other actions affecting DOGE work, Martin said, “may break numerous laws.”
Some longtime officials at the Justice Department say they are weighing whether to quit. One talked about it Monday with a former colleague.
“I can’t imagine the Justice Department without you,” the former colleague said.
“The department is dead,” the official replied.
Former Florida attorney general Pam Bondi, who more recently worked as a lawyer for Trump, was sworn in Wednesday by Justice Clarence Thomas as attorney general and head of the Justice Department.
Shortly after, Bondi signed a memo establishing a “Weaponization Working Group” to review cases against Trump brought by local, state and federal prosecutors.
— Dave Michaels contributed to this article.
From Vox
Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency is moving fast and breaking the law — lots of laws.
The scope of Trump and Musk’s sweeping effort to purge the federal workforce and slash government spending has shocked the political world — in part for its ambition, but also in part because of its disregard for the law.
What Trump and Musk are doing could change the American system forever
David Super, an administrative law professor at Georgetown Law School, recently told the Washington Post that so many of Musk’s moves were “so wildly illegal” that he seemed to be “playing a quantity game, and assuming the system can’t react to all this illegality at once.”
I reached out to Super so he could walk through this quantity game — so he could take me on a tour of all of the apparent lawbreaking in Musk’s effort so far. A transcript of our conversation, condensed and edited for clarity, follows.
The legality of Musk’s use of administrative leave to sideline civil servants
Andrew Prokop
One thing that really has struck me about the new administration’s tactics so far is this extremely aggressive use of paid administrative leave. Career officials who’ve resisted DOGE’s demands have been quickly put on administrative leave. So were government officials working on DEI. Nearly all of the staff of USAID, the US Agency for International Development, has met that fate.
Is this a legal use of administrative leave? How do normal administrations use it?
David Super
This is very strange and likely illegal. Federal law limits administrative leave to 10 workdays per year. So they will be exhausting the cap very quickly for many of these people.
Normal administrations use it the way normal businesses use it, as a patch for a variety of problems. If there’s someone who’s accused of wrongdoing and you need time to investigate and the matter is serious, administrative leave can be the solution. If somebody clearly needs some time off for a compelling reason, such as major losses, and there’s no way of doing it with other forms of leave, this can be done. So it’s a bit of a gap filler in statute and in intent and in ordinary use.
This is making strategic use of it on a vastly grander scale and there’s simply no legal authority for that.
Andrew Prokop
The administration also sent the “fork in the road” email, saying that if civil servants agreed to resign, they’ll go on administrative leave and be paid their full salaries until September 30. What are the legal issues there?
RELATEDTrump and Musk’s plan for a massive purge of the federal workforce, explained
David Super
Well, they’re making a promise that is contrary to federal law — and that has very serious consequences.
The appropriations clause of the Constitution says that federal money can only be spent pursuant to an appropriation by Congress, and Congress can limit its appropriation in any number of ways. They’ve limited the appropriation, for salaries, to generally only 10 days of administrative leave per calendar year.
So when they’re promising more than that, they are violating the appropriations clause. They’re also violating the Antideficiency Act [a law prohibiting federal employees from committing funds that haven’t been appropriated]. And then, when they make promises of money to people past March 14, the end of the current continuing resolution, they’re also committing federal funds in advance of an appropriation, which is both unconstitutional and unlawful.
Andrew Prokop
They seem to be thinking of it as a “hack” — they likely think that firing people is legally risky, but putting them on paid administrative leave is a tricky step short of that, that perhaps they could get away with.
David Super
Well, one question is whether they’ll actually do it. They’re certainly promising it. But they’ve also suggested that they may not be bound by contracts.
So it’s very possible that people will submit their resignation on this basis, that OPM [Office of Personnel Management] will sign them to contracts committing that, and then will simply not comply, and will argue that they can’t legally comply because of the cap on administrative leave.
At that point the people who were foolish enough to take this invitation may sue to try to enforce their deals. And my guess is the courts will say, we can’t enforce the deal that no one had any authority to make.
Asserting presidential authority not to spend money Congress passed into law
Andrew Prokop
Alright, let’s move to spending. We’ve seen an incredibly broad order about freezing federal grants put on hold by the courts. There’s also been talk of Musk’s team trying to block specific grants from being paid out. What are the legal issues with that?
David Super
Well, the biggest issue is that the Supreme Court ruled nine to nothing that when Congress directs that money be spent, the president is obliged to do it. So that’s an obstacle that will be very difficult for them to overcome.
Presidents can certainly send recommendations to Congress that funds should be cut. The Impoundment Control Act provides an expedited procedure for having those recommendations considered. But the president simply doesn’t have this unilateral authority.
The Trump administration has come up with a lot of far-fetched legal theories about why they’re able to do all these things. But these legal theories really come from the same place as that idea that the vice president has the power to overturn the popular judgment in a presidential election and give the election to whomever the vice president chooses. That was an absurd theory when they tried to persuade Mr. Pence to do it, and it’s been an absurd theory ever since. Yet the ideas that we’re seeing popping up here come from the same very strange form of bizarre Constitutional ideas.
Andrew Prokop
Trump and Musk are trying to disband USAID and move it over to the State Department. This seems to be blatantly defying the face of the congressional statute creating that agency, right? Is it any more complicated than that?
David Super
It really isn’t. Section 6563(a) of Title 22 of the US code says, there is a USAID. It doesn’t say there can be. It doesn’t say, “If the president wants to.” It says, there is a USAID. So to close it down means to defy that statute.
Musk’s own appointment and the Treasury Department’s payment system
Andrew Prokop
I also want to ask about Elon Musk himself and his position in the government. The administration has said he is a special government employee, though they are not saying exactly when he officially got that status. They’re saying that it’s up to him whether to declare a conflict of interest regarding his business, with anything he’s working on. What are the legal problems here?
David Super
Well, there are many such problems. There are a number of integrity-of-government rules designed to keep people who do business from governments controlling the purse strings that affect them.
We don’t know what Mr. Musk’s status is. We don’t know if he has any status at all or they’re waiting to see what happens and they try to provide it to him retrospectively. So we’re really very much at a loss to how all of this might come together. But it appears that he is being given access to information that could be extremely helpful to use against his competitors. Simply saying, “Well, we hope that he’ll do the right thing on conflicts of interest,” falls far, far short of the obligations of the government.
Andrew Prokop
There’s been much reporting about Musk and his team getting into the Treasury Department’s payment systems. What are the legal red flags about that?
RELATEDElon Musk’s secretive government IT takeover, explained
David Super
There are a number of those. There are very elaborate requirements in federal law about who can control federal funds — who can issue payments on the behalf of the federal government. In all likelihood, the people involved do not qualify under those terms.
It also means that they’re getting access to extraordinarily sensitive private information that is covered by the Privacy Act and a number of other statutes and regulations designed to protect the American people from identity theft. If reports that they’ve copied this information onto other servers are true, and those servers get hacked, then many of us could have our bank accounts emptied by the federal government.
By contrast, Mr. Musk has been saying that he’s identifying false payments, or illegal payments, and saving the federal government $4 billion a day or some enormous figure of that kind. There’s no reason to believe that the data in this system would allow one to tell what’s legal and what’s not, leaving aside the fact that Mr. Musk is not authorized to make those sorts of decisions. So it seems that there’s either wishful thinking or something worse going on in how they’re trying to justify this.
(Update: After this conversation, the Trump administration agreed to temporary limits on DOGE’s access to Treasury’s payment systems.)
Will the courts stop this?
Andrew Prokop
Is there any other area of blatant lawbreaking that I neglected to mention?
David Super
He has said that he has the authority to abrogate federal rules without going through the procedures required by the Administrative Procedure Act. That would fundamentally upend the regulatory system in this country and could be very disturbing for regulated businesses. If a different president decided to use that reported power to ratchet up regulations, I suspect both liberals and conservatives would be very concerned about that proposal.
Andrew Prokop
You told the Washington Post that you thought they were playing a “quantity game” of betting that if they blatantly defied a lot of laws at the same time, the system wouldn’t be able to handle or effectively respond to what they’re doing. How do you think that that has worked out for them so far?
David Super
The funding freeze was enjoined. Many of these other moves are unlawful and likely will be fairly quickly enjoined.
But I think that President Trump is following through on the statements he’s made a number of times that his appointments to the Supreme Court owe him and should show him loyalty, and he believes that between his three appointees and Justices Thomas and Alito, that he can have a majority willing to allow him to violate any federal law he wants to.
From the Daily Beast,
POLITICS
DOGE Staffer ‘Resigns’ After Secret Racist X Posts Revealed
GETTING OUT OF DOGE
Emell Derra Adolphus
News Reporter
Updated Feb. 6 2025 6:43PM EST
Published Feb. 6 2025 5:17PM EST
One of Elon Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency goons resigned Thursday amid growing inquiries over his links to a social media account pushing racism and eugenics theories.
Marko Elez, 25, was identified earlier this week as the engineer who was granted access to the Treasury’s “top-secret” payment system, which controlled social security and tax distributions.
Yet outside of helping his billionaire boss cut down federal inefficiencies, the Wall Street Journal reported that Elez may have used a secret social media account to push “eugenic immigration policy.”
“You could not pay me to marry outside of my ethnicity,” read a September X post from the now-deleted account. Another post urged, “Normalize Indian hate,” allegedly referring to Indian workers in Silicon Valley, reported WSJ.
When the Trump administration was asked about Elez’s connection with the account, spokesperson Karoline Leavitt said he had resigned, reported WSJ.
The account in question, @nullllptr, made several disparaging remarks about Indians and immigration in the lead-up to the 2024 presidential election.
In a post appearing to be directed at Indian software engineers and Musk’s H1B fight, the account wrote, “99% of Indian H1Bs will be replaced by slightly smarter LLMs, they’re going back don’t worry guys.”
A July post by @nullllptr boasted, “Just for the record, I was racist before it was cool.”
Unmasked: Elon’s Secret DOGE Goon Squad—Every One Under 26
BEST PEOPLE
Josh Fiallo
A photo illustration of DOGE Akash Bobba, – 21 / Edward Coristine, – 19 / Luke Farritor – 23 / Gautier Cole Killian – 24 / Gavin Kliger – 25 / Ethan Shaotran 22
Commenting on the Israel-Gaza war in July, a post read, “I would not mind at all if Gaza and Israel were both wiped off the face of the Earth.”
Elez and his colleagues reportedly left chaos and contempt in their wake as they systemically gained access to the federal government’s most sensitive databases and departments.
Allegations include screaming fits and physical altercations with security as the young staffers were met with resistance by some senior government workers.
Elez has worked for Musk’s SpaceX, Starlink, and X companies, focusing on artificial intelligence, reported WSJ.
The Daily Beast has reached out to Elez for comment.
Three federal employee unions have sued the Trump administration for what they allege has been the illegal turn over of access to government records, The Guardian reported.
Piloting a plan to expedite DOGE’s inefficiency cuts, The Washington Post reported DOGE has been offloading sensitive information from the Department of Education into an artificial intelligence portal to let the tech determine what gets chopped.
When news broke that DOGE would be helping to “upgrade” the Federal Aviation’s air traffic control system, former secretary of state Hillary Clinton zinged the whiz kids over their age and experience.
Hillary Mocks Musk’s Baby-Faced Air Traffic Control Minions
FLY BY NIGHT
Liam Archacki
Hillary Clinton and Elon Musk.
“Most of them aren’t old enough to rent a car,” she tweeted.
Elez and his DOGE colleagues have all been reported to be under age 26, with one staffer as young as 19.
Maybe it is good policy during a global depression with massive deflation (I don’t know), but it certainly isn’t good economic policy now.
It’s never good policy.
Putin won.
We are witnessing a coup.
Meanwhile, there is a Tuberculosis outbreak in Kansas and there is functioning CDC to warn the citizenry.
https://www.coronavirus.kdheks.gov/CivicAlerts.aspx?AID=1436#:~:text=TB%20to%20others.-,There%20are%2079%20confirmed%20latent%20TB%20cases%2C%20including%2077%20in,2022%20and%2046%20in%202023.
*no functioning