Well... it's Trump... again. #47, here we go.

[Loren Pechtel]

I mean, it would take months to perform a serious audit of any ONE federal agency, let alone the entire federal government. Yet Musk would have us believe that his handful of 20-something tech bros have found billions of dollars worth of "fraud" in just the last few weeks.

I've said elsewhere that I used to work for a small "community" bank (assets under $1 billion) and when we were audited, we had a group of profession auditors...ALL of them old enough to be served a beer at a bar...and they would look at financials and interview departments and take detailed notes...analyzing it and putting it into a report, with recommendations, that was turned over to management to review. They fired ZERO employees. They cut ZERO spending...that was not their job It took them over a month to do this audit and analysis. So I have a tough time believing that Elon and his Wonderkinds can "audfit" an entire department of the US government in under a week.

Yeah, I've had to deal with auditors and explain why my code would occasionally insert a penny or two of use tax roundoff correction. Hey, I had asked what to do when faced with impossible numbers and got no guidance, I did the best I could. The fundamental problem is that we bid on a final contract price but the accountants needed it broken out to cost and tax. Oops, there's no solution in some cases. They had thought it was too rare to happen, I had seen it was theoretically possible but hadn't concerned myself with the probability. In hindsight the chance of it happening is equal to the tax rate. Did they like my answer? No--but neither was a better solution presented and the code remained until the housing collapse destroyed the company. Was anybody fired? No.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

And almost like they lie about everything, which is why the "they'll only deport illegal immigrants" claim is BS, but moronic conservatives don't get a basic thing like that.

American's of Hispanic decent or Hispanics that are naturalized citizens will soon be required to carry their proof of citizenship wtih them, as right now the only criteria is black hair, olive skin and often speaking Spanish. I have a very good friend who was born in Peru but became as US citizen 8 years ago. She is a very pretty girl with jet black hair, dark eyes and beautiful olive skin, yet she has been approached by strangers who told her she needed to go back to Mexico. Not sure why Mexico since she is Peruvian.

Yeah. My wife is Chinese, naturalized. So far nobody's told her to go home but I'm worried.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Post Office in Winston Salem locked an acquaintance out of her mail box until she proved her citizenship.

And why do you need to be a citizen to receive mail? Hint: When her parents were visiting they received a little bit of mail. While here on tourist visas. Shopper card for the local store--tourists are allowed to buy food. Nothing even slightly questionable.

 

[crazyfingers]

Trump doesn't care about conflict of interest. It's out the window.

Elon Musk says upgrade of FAA’s air traffic control system is failing and SpaceX needs take over Verizon’s contract​

Such a move could face legal challenges, as canceling federal contracts is a complex process that can take a year or more, the paper reported. It would be a large financial award for SpaceX at a time when Musk is leading Trump administration efforts to make massive cuts in federal spending, including staffing and spending at the FAA.

The contract could also raise new questions about conflicts of interest for Musk’s role recommending cuts in agencies with which his businesses have contracts or which have regulatory oversight of his businesses. The FAA is among the agencies that oversees the operations of SpaceX.

https://www.cnn.com/2025/02/27/business/elon-musk-faa-air-traffic-control-failing-spacex/index.html

 

[starwater]

I sure hope that Verizon will not roll over on this.

 

[Politesse]

https://www.crisisgroup.org/africa/southern-africa/south-africa/land-reform-south-africa-fact-and-fiction

A lot of good information in the article.

Apologists:

According to South Africa’s ruling African National Congress (ANC), the proposed amendment would introduce greater clarity to existing expropriation provisions, though it would remove the stipulation “subject to compensation”.

In other words, they're going to steal it.

So if a thief steals a valuable piece of jewelry from your grandmother, does the thief's grandson get to keep it even though it's known it belonged to your grandmother?

Basically every bit of land has been stolen from it's original owners, generally many times. Specific objects from specific people, ok, return is generally appropriate. General objects from populations--no. Two wrongs don't make a right.

Most of the land on question has a clear paper trail, so why shouldn't the government recover it? Returning stolen property is not a second wrong, it's the righting of a wrong.

Your ethics are basically saying that redress for a theft should be impossible as long if the thief fenced or laundered the stuff they stole quickly enough, that they are no longer owned by the original thief. But that's not how the law works. If you know the Rolex is a fenced good, you're also on the hook for buying it, and the grandson of a thief should similarly be the hook for the stolen goods he inherits. On what basis does a current owner of a farm on stolen land have rights to it? They didn't pay for it, it wasn't granted to them, they didn't work for it. They just inherited a criminal enterprise, which is not a kind of type of "right" that a nation is morally obliged to honor.

Yeah, the land has a paper trail. What the left conveniently ignores is when that paper trail leads to a seizure/ethnic cleansing by the Arabs.

I don't see how this response relates to the content of my post, despite quoting it.

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

link

When asked if he still believes Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is a “dictator,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday

Did I say that? I can’t believe I said that. Next question.

So liar, dementia, both?

Oh... speaking of shit shows, Trump is giving an address next week, so stock up on alcohol this weekend.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

That's exactly the video I was thinking off.

Most cars don't have laminated glass in the side windows. The CB obviouly does. That doesn't make it armored.

Yeah, most cars use tempered glass for side windows.

If you hurl a baseball at tempered glass, it bounces off, leaving the glass unblemished.

If it does fail (due to an impact from a sharp object, or a very high velocity impact, far faster than you anyone throw a baseball), if fails completely, turning into small granules that are (mostly) harmless.

Yeah, the windows are specifically engineered to fail that way. We know how to make them stronger--but we've learned the hard way that's bad. Consider what happens when the object hitting the window is a body part of an occupant (typically the head but it could be other parts) and the window holds together. Punch through, now there's a necklace of glass around them in a position to inflict lethal injuries if they were to fall back (as they likely would after having been thrown.) There's a lot of sacrificial stuff in cars, built to take damage in order to protect the occupants of the car. Look at the Hummer--it fares well in an accident, it's passengers do not.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Want a Green Card, but better? Trump now offering Gold Cards! For a mere $5 million you can get started on your pathway to citizenship!

Trump Announces Plan To Sell Pathway To Citizenship For The Wealthy With Trump ‘Gold Card’

Trump referred to his gold card idea as a green card with a “higher level of sophistication."

www.huffpost.com

I wouldn't bash him over this one, other than the name. Many countries offer golden visas. The US has for more than 30 years, but with a required investment into job-making rather than straight up cash.

 

[Elixir]

Many countries offer golden visas. The US has for more than 30 years, but with a required investment into job-making rather than straight up cash.

Donny doesn’t care about jobs. He’s the guy - the only guy ever - who left the Office of the Presidency with fewer people employed than when they took office.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

The more Musk is in the news cycle being a dick to people, the more he tarnishes his brands and himself. Not a good return on his investment so far.

He can''t rely on .gov to bail him out long term. The first thing a dem president could do is freeze all SpaceX launces from US territory while there is an extensive review of his contracts.

Seeing that SpaceX is currently the only player in town because Boeing sucks, that isn't an option. Musk is tarnishing Tesla badly, but not as badly as he is having the company wander the desert, for the riches of AI.

The longer this goes, the more Musk exposes himself as not being remotely the genius he has remarkably done a great job at convincing people he is. His DOGE has committed countless violations of the law and hasn't performed any actual analysis to this point on efficiency. So much for AI.

Yeah, I think they would put in government overseers while things are sorted out rather than simply suspend their operations. We want the rockets, but we want to make sure he's not letting Putin examine or tamper with the payloads.

 

[Elixir]

I think they would put in government overseers

Why bother? Their intent is to get rid of anything that requires oversight.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

I've minimized my digital footprint for decades and don't need Musk tech in my life anywhere. That was last year, before they got into government systems. Now it wouldn't surprise me if they are tapping in to all government records for long term personal gain. That's how little I trust Musk and the X, Tesla, and SpaceX employees working in Musk's DOGE group.

I'm not a luddite. In fact it takes more tech savvy to avoid excessive data collection. Of course, it's impossible to be totally off unless you are homeless.

Fearing the misuse of data isn't being a luddite. I used to consider myself a small enough fish not to have reason to be afraid, but things are getting worrisome these days.

 

[Loren Pechtel]

Trump has removed the security clearances from Jack Smith's lawyers so they cannot defend him.

In an honest court that would result in a dismissal.

 

[ZiprHead]

link

When asked if he still believes Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is a “dictator,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday

Did I say that? I can’t believe I said that. Next question.

So liar, dementia, both?

Oh... speaking of shit shows, Trump is giving an address next week, so stock up on alcohol this weekend.

Don Jr said the US should be supplying weapons to Russia to use against Ukraine. These people are psychopaths.

 

[ImGod]

Probably a conflict if interest. They fired 400 employees from the FAA last week.

https://www.wired.com/story/faa-doge-elon-musk-space-x/

 

[Jimmy Higgins]

Probably a conflict if interest. They fired 400 employees from the FAA last week.

https://www.wired.com/story/faa-doge-elon-musk-space-x/

I can't grasp how blind to optics one would need to be, to have had the January / February in aviation the US had, and to still cut positions at the FAA. Those would have to be some fat cats to justify sending them out the door.

 

[ZiprHead]

Did anyone who saw the Trump Gaza video notice the belly dancers had beards? Trump was dancing with trans women.

 

[Elixir]

Did anyone who saw the Trump Gaza video notice the belly dancers had beards? Trump was dancing with trans women.

He’s a modern man of letters.
Like LGBTQ and sometimes, X.

 

[Politesse]

link

When asked if he still believes Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky is a “dictator,” Trump told reporters in the Oval Office on Thursday

Did I say that? I can’t believe I said that. Next question.

So liar, dementia, both?

Oh... speaking of shit shows, Trump is giving an address next week, so stock up on alcohol this weekend.

I'm surprised he even knows his address. He seems like the kind of guy that would be filling out a form and just write "MAR A LAGO" in the address field.