This banning press and attempt to make illegal any FREE SPEECH that calls Trump and company out is as fascist as fascist gets. Tell me again how I’m radical. I got a whole level of radical you haven’t seen yet… but you’re about to MAGA.
Trump threatens to sue authors and media who use anonymous sources
US President Donald Trump, furious over a disparaging new tell-all book about him, threatened Wednesday to sue authors and media outlets that use anonymous sources.
Trump has made suing people an integral part of his brand as he made his way up from New York real estate mogul to the US presidency twice, and this time he is taking aim at the common practice of books and news stories using unnamed sources.
Trump is also famously contemptuous of mainstream media in America, which he routinely labels the "fake news" media.
His latest move comes after the publication of a new expose by journalist Michael Wolff that has Trump and his team livid.
Among other assertions the book says that after surviving an assassination attempt last summer during the election campaign, Trump "seemed possibly on the verge of cracking," unable to finish sentences and flying into rages that were stunning even for the famously thin-skinned former reality TV star.
In a social media post Trump said that after what he called his wildly successful first month back in power, "Fake books and stories" with anonymous sources are coming out and "at some point I am going to sue some of these dishonest authors and book publishers" to determine if these sources exist, "which they largely do not."
Trump added: "They are made up, defamatory fiction, and a big price should be paid for this blatant dishonesty. I'll do it as a service to our Country. Who knows, maybe we will create some NICE NEW LAW!!!
The new book by Wolff -- he had a bestseller that came out in 2018 called "Fire and Fury: Inside the Trump White House" -- among other bombshell claims also quotes a Mar-a-Lago source as saying Trump's wife Melania hates him.
The Trump White House is skirmishing early and often with the news media as the president presses relentlessly his hard-right agenda targeting immigrants and gutting the federal government through the free-wheeling work of billionaire Elon Musk, an adviser with an outsize role in Trump's so far very busy second term.
On Tuesday the administration broke decades of tradition by announcing that the White House itself would pick which media get close access to the president in confined quarters like the Oval Office as part of what is known as a press pool.
Until now an independent association of American media organizations covering the White House made this selection.
You cannot shame American citizens who have already willingly chosen to abdicate their responsibility to democratic principles. They've already crossed that Rubicon. They have chosen to separate themselves from the social agreement that that the Founding Fathers hashed out hundreds of years ago.
In a country that has 1A in its Constitution, an outspoken citizen (in a public gathering) was physically subdued and removed from an open forum. In front of a room full of witnesses.
____________
America's history is rife with stories similar to this, from its earliest days. And in every story, there are instances where other American citizens looked on... but didn't step up.
"Evil flourishes when good people do nothing."
Which makes me ask: "If they did nothing, were they actually good people at all?"
Look... I love the "both sides" argument as much as the next guy, but it sounds really lame when you have DA's claiming that they are "Donald Trump's lawyers" (which is the exact opposite of the oath they took), a president who is saying that what he says the law is is what goes, and an unelected and un-appointed billionaire who's running roughshod over whole govt departments and gaining access (and unintentionally sharing) sensitive information all along the way.
... oh, and that same billionaire that's gutting departments (like the ATC) is also first in line for the contract to "fix" the department he's tearing apart right now. Gee, what a coincidence.
There is no level of sucking we haven't seen; in fact, I'm pretty sure we hold the patents on a few levels of sucking NOBODY had seen until the past few years.
Yeah, the "both sides" argument at this point is only being presented by people who aren't really paying attention to what's actually going on right now. If there was ever a time to get into "Good trouble", now is that time.
Intoducing for The Cleveland Browns, Quarterback Deshawn "The Predator" Watson. He will also be the one to choose your next head coach.
No they don't.....it is sad in America when a group of people can't discuss issues QUIETLY until it is their turn to talk.....unfortunately, the general population probably watches CSAN and know how Reps and Senators berate each other as they talk with constant interuptions and disrespect----this is the new normal.
Interesting MAGA- Trump and his legions still state they won in 2020....four years Biden was President, but our current President will tell you he never lost--- WOW, have we got nut cases leading us. Biden was unfit physically and mentally.....Trump unfit morally and probably mentally=== ie invisible airplanes/ stealth....and his comments about Washington/ President Washington protecting the airports.....look it up.....Trump's not all there.
"You've never lived till you've almost died, life has a flavor the protected will never know" A vet or cop
Trump is going down the FASCIST as hell checklist and checking every box.
Uses his position to target enemies, rather blatantly hating on him or merely perceived slights.
Deporting people without due process. And today expressing the desire to do the same to US citizens. WTF?
Tears down the checks and balances infrastructure. Destroys truth and disbands any institution that may hold him accountable.
Now ignores the highest courts orders and flaunts that like it’s a child’s game.
Anyone who still thinks these people are not fascist needs to introduce me to their drug dealer.
You gotta try to remember, This isn't Trump doing this.. I mean, he's clearly the figure head. No doubt. But frankly he's not smart enough to pull this off. This is the work of those at the Federalist Society and those that wrote Project 2025
I encourage you all to read P2025... Then watch how they rip down barriers....
#GMSTRONG
“Everyone is entitled to his own opinion, but not to his own facts.” Daniel Patrick Moynahan
"Alternative facts hurt us all. Think before you blindly believe." Damanshot
Remember when we were saying there was going to be American citizens getting caught up in this and being illegally deported? And all the maga people here saying it nah, would never happen? Pffft happening.
"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." Thomas Jefferson.
Typical, how the “party of law and order” are the usual suspects these days. Breaking the law illegally deporting folks on false narratives, misinformation, while destroying our democracy. Putin the communist bastard is clapping his hands. And they call liberals communists. lol.
"The tree of liberty must be refreshed from time to time with the blood of patriots and tyrants." Thomas Jefferson.
Trump is going down the FASCIST as hell checklist and checking every box.
Uses his position to target enemies, rather blatantly hating on him or merely perceived slights.
Deporting people without due process. And today expressing the desire to do the same to US citizens. WTF?
Tears down the checks and balances infrastructure. Destroys truth and disbands any institution that may hold him accountable.
Now ignores the highest courts orders and flaunts that like it’s a child’s game.
Anyone who still thinks these people are not fascist needs to introduce me to their drug dealer.
You gotta try to remember, This isn't Trump doing this.. I mean, he's clearly the figure head. No doubt. But frankly he's not smart enough to pull this off. This is the work of those at the Federalist Society and those that wrote Project 2025
I encourage you all to read P2025... Then watch how they rip down barriers....
I just went back and looked at when I started the Project 2025 thread on July 7, 2024 and what I posted and damn, it is unreal how they are following the script.
From the Project 2025-their mission statement The 2025 Presidential Transition Project paves the way for an effective conservative Administration based on four pillars: a policy agenda, Presidential Personnel Database, Presidential Administration Academy, and playbook for the first 180 days of the next Administration.
Project 2025 Is A Blueprint For Business Disaster Jeff Raikes
Whatever your politics, the extreme, ideologically driven policies being suggested for Trump's second term will undermine democracy, supercharge government corruption, and devastate the American economy.
A Race Few Wanted
Though it's only June, we're already back in presidential election season. This week saw the earliest-ever general election debate in our history, as President Joe Biden and former President Donald Trump squared off before their respective party had officially nominated either. One reason both men agreed to this June debate is because the (pre-debate) polls show a neck-and-neck race. For now, many Americans seem unenthused about either candidate, and interest in this election is lower than it's been in two decades.
All that said, I hope everyone – and especially my fellow business leaders – start paying close attention because these two candidates have vastly different visions for America's future, and one of them – Donald J. Trump – is essentially advocating for the end of our democracy and the economic prosperity it drives. Throughout this cycle, Trump has been doubling down on his usual brand of extreme rhetoric – he has called his political opponents "vermin," said immigration is "poisoning the blood of our country," and pledged to be a "dictator" on day one of his second term. It'd be natural to think that Trump is just mouthing off again, except, this time, he has a playbook in hand to accomplish his goals as soon as he gets into office.
Project 2025: A Road Map to Oblivion
That playbook is Project 2025, a 900-page report developed by the Heritage Foundation and a large coalition of conservative groups to help a second Trump presidency hit the ground running. "If we are going to rescue the country from the grip of the radical Left," its authors opine, "we need both a governing agenda and the right people in place, ready to carry this agenda out on day one of the next conservative administration."
Unfortunately, this Project 2025 agenda is brimming with extremely outside-the-mainstream ideas that threaten to roll back many Americans' fundamental rights and cause grave and perhaps permanent damage to our democratic system of government. Even if you agree with the far-right ideology this report espouses, the policies it advocates will very likely plunge the American economy into a death spiral.
A Litany of Terrible Ideas
Education: America's continued prosperity and competitiveness worldwide rests on its educated workforce, but Project 2025 would defund and dismantle public education purely for ideological reasons. The Project 2025 agenda calls for eliminating a huge number of federal bureaus and departments that offend the far-right worldview. Among them is the Department of Education, which they deem a "convenient one-stop shop for the woke education cartel," Title 1, which provides $18 billion in funding to support low-income students across America," and Head Start, which helps over one million kids gain access to early education. Anything involving diversity, equity, and inclusion is also out, even though studies show that companies with diverse leadership and workforces tend to be more profitable than those without.
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Climate: The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, the federal department that tracks hurricanes, is also marked for deletion by Project 2025 because it's "one of the main drivers of the climate change alarm industry." (One would think the hurricanes are the driver, but nevertheless.) The report also argues that the Environmental Protection Agency should be gutted for similar reasons.
Climate change is already costing the US $150 billion a year, and those costs are expected to grow substantially in the years to come if left unchecked – which is what this report argues for. That's why the Sierra Club calls Project 2025 "a death sentence for federal climate and environmental protections" and "game over for climate progress." At this late date, a head-in-the-sand approach is not a serious response.
Immigration: Project 2025, as the Niskanen Center put it, "aims to demolish the American immigration system," even though immigration has always been one of the American economy's great sources of strength. (In fact, US GDP is estimated to gain $7 trillion over the next ten years because of immigrants.) Among the many harsh policies proposed are drastically reducing visas, suspending country lists for H-2A and H-2B temporary worker visas, blocking federal financial aid to states that allow immigrants access to in-state tuition, and ending the protections of the Dream Act.
Trump himself has gone even further, saying he would quickly deport 15-20 million undocumented immigrants, even though Pew only counts 10.5 million in the US. The moral dimensions of this purge aside, many economists have noted that these draconian policies will cause a rapid rise in unemployment and inflation, especially in industries like food service, construction, and agriculture.
Cronyism: One of Project 2025's most pernicious elements is its call to return America to a nineteenth-century "spoils system" of government. Under the so-called "Schedule F" plan, about 50,000 federal workers would lose their civil service protections and become at-will employees, meaning they can be fired if they are not sufficiently loyal to the President.
In practice, this would create what conservative Robert Shea has called "an army of suck-ups…if you told your boss that what he or she was proposing was illegal, impractical, [or] unwise they could brand you disloyal and terminate you." It would also mean "a massive exodus of competence" from Washington, as well-trained, knowledgeable civil servants who gather and report data on all kinds of issues leave and are replaced with conservatives chosen only for loyalty.
Fiscal Policy: Along with the usual slate of tax cuts for the wealthy, Project 2025 also calls for abolishing the Federal Reserve, ending its role as the lender of last resort, and letting the President weigh in on interest rate hikes. Trump has also called for a 10% across-the-board tariff on imported goods, which could kick off a global trade war, rapidly accelerate inflation, and cost the average family $1500 a year. It doesn't sound great for business.
On top of everything else, Project 2025 also aims to roll back protections for LGBTQ Americans, further reduce women's access to abortion, cut overtime protections for 4.3 million workers, slash food assistance for 21.6 million households, weaken Social Security and Medicaid, stop efforts to lower prescription drug costs, and much else. This is a remarkably ideological document and one that's far more concerned with putting far-right ideas at the center of government than doing right by families.
Ultimately, as Carlos Lozada put it, the goal of Project 2025 is "capturing the administrative state," so it becomes "a tool for concentrating power and entrenching ideology." In other words, Project 2025 threatens to undermine both our democracy and economy only to benefit a small cadre of far-right faithful at the expense of the vast majority of companies and workers. This could be our new reality in just a few short months unless Americans step up and be counted this November. Even if nobody is excited about this upcoming election, it will decide our future, and we must act accordingly.
He straight lied to MAGA and is hurting red states as much or more than blue, yet the hardcore MAGA still defends him. I guess they will until they come for them.
I don’t know about that, but they seem much less ethical than they used to. Most wealthy figures in modern history were glamorized. Yet all the bad crap that happens in this country seems to start with them.
I think the watershed moment was the Jack Welch era that promoted shareholders above all else. That dynamic gave the controlling shareholders (billionaires) immense power that eventually started leaking out of corporate control and then into government control. A steady dose of mergers, acquisitions and anti-competitive regulations consolidated power even further. There is hardly a Senator or Representative now who isn’t beholden to some master(s) with deep pockets, vs their constituents. Top that all off with Citizens United and here we are.
Blue ostriches on crack float on milkshakes between the sidewalk titans of gurglefitz. --YTown
It's funny how the Dems seem to have a codlock on the wealthy elite.
What's funny is you actually believe this.
There is no level of sucking we haven't seen; in fact, I'm pretty sure we hold the patents on a few levels of sucking NOBODY had seen until the past few years.
Look at this group of blue-collar everyday people featured behind the president at the inauguration.
There is no level of sucking we haven't seen; in fact, I'm pretty sure we hold the patents on a few levels of sucking NOBODY had seen until the past few years.
It's funny how the Dems seem to have a codlock on the wealthy elite.
I've been earnestly trying lately to see the issue from multi-faceted viewpoints, but this one leaves me speechless.
I mean, you literally have the richest person in the world backing up the admin and playing a role in it. The top 3 richest people in the world literally attended the inauguration.
Blue ostriches on crack float on milkshakes between the sidewalk titans of gurglefitz. --YTown
It's funny how the Dems seem to have a codlock on the wealthy elite.
Time to tax the rich into oblivion. Not to harm them physically in any way, just take enough wealth away to break the stranglehold they have on government and the working class. Wealth redistribution via programs to offset the burdens of the poor and increase quality of life for the many. You always bellyache about how good the 50s and 60s were… that’s how you get back to that. I’m sorry your tax bracket blinds you to the price others are paying for billionaire greed. But the status quo is unsustainable. And 90% of America is sick of being the elite’s ATM.
Why do you feel entitled to other people's money? Most rich people got rich because they worked for it, or took the risk and started a business. Even if that's their inheritance, why do you feel entitled to another person's inheritance? Why are libtards so greedy for other people's money? Just because they have more money than you? So take it from them? Don't you see a problem with that?
Warren Buffett doesn’t think the rich in America are paying enough in taxes. “The wealthy are definitely undertaxed relative to the general population,” he told CNBC’s Becky Quick during an interview on “Squawk Box” on Monday.
As industries become more specific and as workers develop more specialized skill sets, Buffett said, it’s the wealthy who benefit.
Back in the 1800s, for example, when most people worked on farms, those who were stronger and worked harder still earned more, Buffett explained, but “the top person working on that farm would be worth one-and-a-half to two times what the bottom person was.”
However, that disparity has grown. Today, the richest 10 percent of people worldwide own 85 percent of global wealth, according to Credit Suisse’s 2018 Global Wealth Report. And as the market system continues to become increasingly specialized, “the rich will get even richer,” Buffett said.
To Buffett, that means the next step should be figuring how to take care of people like “a guy who is a wonderful citizen” but “just doesn’t have market skills.”
His solution: Expand the earned income tax credit, which benefits people with low incomes. Even though “that probably means more taxes for guys like me,” Buffet said, “I’m fine with it.”
Fellow billionaire Bill Gates has made similar comments. “There’s no doubt that what we want government to do in terms of better education and better health care means that we need to collect more in taxes,” he said during a recent conversation in New York City. “And there’s no doubt that as we raise taxes, we can have most of that additional money come from those who are better off.”
Gates, like Buffett, acknowledges that he’s among those whose taxes should go up. “I need to pay higher taxes,” he told CNN’s Fareed Zakaria during a 2018 interview. “I’ve paid more taxes, over $10 billion, than anyone else, but the government should require people in my position to pay significantly higher taxes.”
The wealthy are definitely undertaxed relative to the general population.
The wealthy are definitely undertaxed relative to the general population.
Warren Buffett chairman and CEO of Berkshire Hathaway In order to keep up with the growing deficit and also fund programs that provide health care and pensions, for example, the government needs to bring in more revenue, Gates says. Plus, “some people think the government should provide new promises, which is fine. It just emphasizes there’s no free lunch here, you’d have to collect more money,” he told Zakaria in 2019.
One way to collect more money, Gates says, is to hike the capital gains tax, which would increase how much the wealthy are paying on their investments.
“I think our system can be a lot more progressive (that is, richer people paying a higher share),” he wrote on Reddit on Monday. “A key element is making capital gains taxation more like ordinary income and having an estate tax more like we had in the past.”
Buffett doesn’t think he and Gates would be alone in supporting or accepting higher tax rates, either. Though some critics contend that the tax changes proposed by politicians like Bernie Sanders and Elizabeth Warren would provoke the rich to flee the U.S., the idea doesn’t scare Buffett.
He could move to a state like South Dakota or Wyoming that doesn’t impose an income tax, after all, he told Quick, but he doesn’t. “I think people want to come here,” Buffett said, not leave. Even with higher taxes, he thinks, “they would come.”
I don’t feel entitled to anyone’s money. The rich have had the game rigged for decades. We hit a rough patch they get bailed out. Times are good, we pay more. If you watched some of the economics videos I posted, you’d see that hoarding wealth like Elon and the tech Bros, all the mega corps, etc. deteriorates our democracy making it harder for everyday people to have fulfilling lives. And as far as I’m concerned it’s not their money, it’s plunder from bad actors rigging the system. I’m not saying the rich can’t still be rich, but the money has to flow in our economy for regular people to live decent lives.
Trump has us on track to collapse the working middle class to the levels of slums in India… then we will be able to compete for factories. Wake up, Eve.
We need to set limits on wealth hoarding, keep money flowing with a fair but appropriate tax system. We need an economy that works for everyone, not just those at the top. Unless you love poverty and think people who work their assess off deserve to live in it, something needs to change. Watch Gary’s economics on Youtube. It’s rational, reasonable, and well thought out. He explains it much better than I can. Same thing Bernie’s been preaching for years.
And BTW- I don’t fight for me. I won’t be around long enough to realize gains from any meaningful change. I do it for my kids and grandkids. they deserve the same opportunities we all had, and as of now, that is impossible. You can still eek out a living and save if you’re lucky, but every job today is about to go away. Rather you can see it or not, people will be in dire need of a way to thrive, not simple survive.
All of that is imaginary brain washing. If you think taxing 600 billionaires is somehow going to support the country, then you don't have a clue. If you don't think there is enough money to go around, then maybe you should be more concerned about the mass migration of illegals during braindead's term. They get medicaid and all the perks of being normal citizens. They are parasites on the system.
The working class is fine because they GET PAID because THEY WORK. If they want to get paid EVEN MORE they can start businesses, get advance degrees or more job training. Work hard for a promotion. There are any number of avenues for them.
If the govt required more people to work before getting handouts this country would be better off. Too many slackers in this country wanting everything to come easily and with no effort.
I don't have any problem with wealth hoarding. They earned it, and they deserve to do what they want with their earnings. Just because you have greedy fingers trying to steal their money from them doesn't make it right.
But by all means continue with your sky is falling rhetoric. You're beyond help.
Like I said, you’re not ready for the truth. It must be nice living in lala-land with your fingers in your ears blind to the truth and suffering around you. I didn’t realize I was talking to Martha Stewart.
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