Life in Post Democracy Era: The Trump 2/Elon Dictatatorship

[Renegade7]

Translation: We’ve already broken the govt., probably irreparably, and put the fix in for future elections, so the job is done and there won’t be a need anymore.

Fwiw I took it as nobody still likes me even though I keep giving them money. So I'm taking my ball home.

I took it as, Tesla board members and my loss in money due to falling tesla stock and decline in Tesla sales has finally convinced me to shut the fuck up and not cost me more billions.

Hope it translates to public realizing they have more power en mass against these billionaires then they realize.

Their was the protest against Snyder to save the Redskins...that was nothing compared to this on an international level.

[China]

Judge dismisses Baraka charges, reprimands prosecutors

A federal judge on Wednesday scolded federal prosecutors and announced he will dismiss trespassing charges against Newark Mayor Ras Baraka related to a standoff at a migrant detention center.

Interim U.S. Attorney for New Jersey Alina Habba announced earlier this week she would drop charges against Baraka (but at the same time announced new charges against Rep. LaMonica McIver stemming from a scuffle during Baraka’s arrest). Federal magistrate judge Andre Espinosa reprimanded the federal prosecutors for more than five minutes, calling the retraction of the charges “embarrassing.”

“The hasty arrest of Newark Mayor Ras Baraka, followed swiftly by the dismissal of these trespassing charges a mere 13 days later, suggests a worrying misstep by your office,” Espinosa said. “An arrest, particularly of a public figure, is not a preliminary investigative tool. It is a severe action, carrying significant reputational and personal consequences, and it should only be undertaken after a thorough, dispassionate evaluation of credible evidence.”

The judge directed his comments to Assistant U.S. Attorney Stephen Demanovich — the judge said Demanovich had acted appropriately throughout the case, but as the representative of the U.S. Attorney’s Office, he was responsible for hearing the message.

Federal magistrate judge Andre Espinosa said he found out about the dismissal through reports in the media, rather than from prosecutors themselves. The judge said that while there will be no trial, he believed Baraka deserved the chance to defend himself against the accusations.

Click on the link for the full article

[The Evil Genius]

I can't believe we are having conversations about publicly funding religions in America in 2025.

[Jumbo]

More on Apartheid Clyde aka Phony Stark.

Even (some percentage of) magas have limits, though those limits are of scatter-brain "reasoning."

Had Elon looked and talked like what maga perceives as more "home-grown 'murikan" he'd still be in the circle.

But he was too wimpy squishy intelekshual furrineer weird for them, his OG nazi appeal notwithstanding.

[ixcuincle]

[China]

A new report shows how the government handles inefficiency better than Elon Musk

President Donald Trump fired inspectors general across 18 federal agencies in his first week in office, and then another IG in February, in a systematic ousting of the independent watchdogs who monitor the federal government for waste, fraud and abuse. Now a new report released by Democrats on the Senate Homeland Security and Governmental Affairs Committee says the potential savings the IGs had identified before being fired exceeds what Elon Musk claims he has saved with his so-called Department of Government Efficiency.

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Judge Blocks Trump Administration From Dismantling Education Department

A federal judge on Thursday blocked President Trump’s executive order aimed at dismantling the Education Department and ordered officials to reinstate thousands of fired employees in a ruling that was at least a temporary setback for the president and his plans.

The decision from Judge Myong J. Joun of the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts was a preliminary injunction, meaning it will remain in force until the case is resolved or a higher court overturns it.

The injunction was requested by a pair of school districts in Massachusetts, the American Federation of Teachers and 21 Democratic state attorneys general who sued Mr. Trump in March to block his executive order and reverse a massive round of layoffs. Judge Joun agreed with their argument that the actions equated to an illegal shutdown of the agency, which only Congress can abolish.

Click on the link for the full article

[China]

Graphics: Here's what it will take to transform the Qatari jet into Air Force One

A luxury jetliner gifted by Qatar is currently sitting on a tarmac at an airport in San Antonio waiting for a specialized overhaul to become the next Air Force One.

The United States officially accepted the Boeing 747-8 on Wednesday, and the Air Force has been tasked to upgrade it to be used as a new plane for President Trump, according to the Defense Department.

Democratic lawmakers and independent watchdogs say the gift violates the Constitution's Foreign Emoluments Clause, which bans government officials from taking gifts from foreign countries. Trump says it would be a gift to the DOD and that he would not use it after leaving office, when it would be kept at his presidential library.

The plane is worth hundreds of millions of dollars. Trump said he would be "stupid" to turn it down, suggesting that it could be converted quickly to be ready for use as a presidential aircraft. But experts warn that no matter how luxurious the plane is, it would take years to rework it to meet the current standards set for Air Force One.

"It just seems to me an interesting dream that President Trump has to bring this plane online very quickly," says Ken Walsh, a journalist who has written a book on Air Force One, after covering the White House for decades and riding on the famed aircraft more than 200 times.

"Anybody who knows anything about these planes and the history of Air Force One knows that these are difficult to construct, and the technology is always improving. They don't just show up at your airport. They have to be built," he says.

Two new Boeing 747-8 planes are currently being specially customized to become the next generation of Air Force One — a project that has been in the works for years and subject to delays. The new Boeing planes were supposed to be ready by last year but now aren't expected for several more years.

Richard Aboulafia, managing director of AeroDynamic Advisory and an aviation analyst, told NPR's Morning Edition that some of the responsibility for the delays lies with "poor execution" by Boeing. "But some of that is just due to the huge amount of requirements and work needed to take a commercial jet and wire it up for war."

He said Trump's plan that the gifted plane could be ready soon was a "fantasy."

Click on the link for the full article

I believe the word you're looking for is "boondoggle."

[China]

Eerie dystopian radio message from Kristi Noem being blared at a 76 gas station in California, played on Pandora.

[China]

Trump's FEMA thumbs nose at state that backed him 3 times: 'Gonna cost a lot'

Under President Donald Trump, the Federal Emergency Management Agency has turned down a request from a storm-ravaged state that narrowly voted for him three times.

Western North Carolina saw massive devastation last year from Hurricane Helene, which killed over 100 people and left the city of Asheville, along with a number of small communities in the Appalachian Mountains, struggling to pick up the pieces after flooding in areas that had hardly ever seen floods before. At the time, Trump supporters spread baseless conspiracy theories that the federal government was ignoring communities there, or only giving aid to Democratic areas, and Trump himself vowed to improve emergency management.

According to Rolling Stone, however, Trump's administration is now denying an extension of a commitment to pay the full amount for a vital portion of the recovery process.

"Four months into his administration North Carolina Governor Josh Stein, a Democrat, has become the latest lawmaker from a disaster-ravaged state who has been forced to beg the president to provide much-needed aid," said the report. "On Friday, Stein published a video on social media informing the public that the Trump administration had denied the state’s request for FEMA to honor a Biden-era commitment to pay for 100 percent of debris removal costs."

FEMA is still expected to pay for 90 percent of the debris removal, which the agency argues is already larger than the standard 75 percent commitment — but this still falls short of what the agency has done in similar disasters, Stein argued.

“It’s going to cost a lot, up to $2 billion to fully clean the roads and waterways of western North Carolina,” said Stein in the video. “That’s why I asked the federal government to continue to pay 100 percent of our cleanup costs beyond the first 180 days, just like it did with hurricanes Ike, Maria, and Katrina.”

Click on the link for the full article